Pick Your Poison
I am pretty well versed in U.S. and Canadian politics. For that, I probably need to thank Johnny Carson and Andy Donato. Carson would do a joke in his monologue about some obscure U.S. politician, and I would wonder what he was talking about. Donato would do an editorial cartoon on page 5 of The Sun and send me scurrying through the paper for that back story (after I had thoroughly analyzed all the news on page 3). It's funny that the political vulnerabilities of each side have shifted almost 180° over the past fifty years. It used to be, conservatives wouldn't be caught dead running huge deficits or telling regional governments what to do. With those issues "stolen" from them, the liberals have needed to find new debates to get on the wrong side of. The Jeff Daniels soliloquy in the first eight minutes of television series Network is now famous and should be required viewing for anyone considering the decline of liberal values. Hand the fascists these three stout clubs; and they will gleefully take them to the heads of the electorate in both of our counties. They resonate perfectly in our twenty-second TicToc world.
1) Trans athletes in girls' sports. The Republicans have a TV ad they ran 85,000 times in the mid-west states just before winning those states (and the election) for Trump. They are queuing it up for 2026. Polievre is playing straight from the MAGA playbook, so it's only a matter of time until this clarion trumpet of feigned outrage is blasted up here. The ad shows the current "girls" champion in shot put, powerlifting and swimming. It is not a good look. I'm sorry. If the child, the parents, and their doctors think a transition is the right thing to do, then go for it, but competing in girls' sports must remain off the table. The right honourable gentleman from Edmonton needs to get out over his skis on this.
2) Illegal Immigration. Under Biden, in four years, 2.8 million crossed the southern border. Under Trump, in his first year ... zero. We talked last week about the foreign student debacle in Ontario. First, you couldn't afford a house. Now you can't sell one. Our new home market is collapsing, and the condo market is a rotting corpse according to our very own real estate guru Ron Butler. He predicts another 30% on the downside. That sound bite writes itself. Want the borders opened? Vote Liberal.
3) Nuking drug runners from orbit. (It's the only way to be sure). Rightly or wrongly (and it is wrong on a few levels), those are not anglers pictured above. I don't know what they could be trolling for; in eight thousand feet of water going sixty miles an hour, but I suspect it is not haddock! I also noticed the twin 250 HP Yamahas on the back of the boat. Those engines are about $35,000 each. At least if they were fishing for haddock, it would explain why Golden Fish and Chips here in Guelph is so expensive!
Time Traveler Alert
I was doing the New York Times' Place These Historical Events In Order Quiz last week, and one question sent me digging. I fluked the answer correctly, but the implication blew my mind. The Palais Ferstel was a bustling intellectual hub in Vienna just before the First World War. It had a popular coffee shop that was frequented by just about everyone. In the summer of 1913, and unbeknownst to each other, Joseph Stalin, Sigmund Freud, Leon Trotsky, Adolf Hitler and Josip Tito were regulars! Of course, on the day where all their paths may have crossed, they couldn't know that they each would go on to shape a significant portion of global events for the next half century. Oh, to be a time traveler with an iPhone!
Our Optimum Week
What I'm Reading
The YouTube Formula by Derrel Eves - I'm trying to gain an understanding of the next steps in my vanity project toward the creation of the MitchzKitchen Universe. Don't get all hoity toity with me? It's just the term they use. I plan to publish video versions of my Optimum Prime newsletter under that umbrella. Long versions on YouTube, snippets on Instagram, FB Shorts, etc.
We Are Watching
New episodes of Landman and The Mayor of Kingstown.
Two periods of the Leafs if they are sucking. Three periods when they try.
gHHqdm5a4UySnUFM
Do you sit at traffic lights and try to work out what they were going for with their personalized license plate? Having owned several boats (both power and sail) over the years, a related activity is being on the lookout for clever boat names. This one was always my favourite (because it paid for the boat):
MIST ..
It was a pretty big yacht owned by a very successful gynecologist. When you see it, you see it. The header for this section shows the plate on a 911 Porche. The hint was you say it with a New Jersey accent? It escapes me? If you get it, I will buy you a beer while you mansplain it to me!
... and finally
So, that's a wrap for 2025. We started with weekly Outlook emails from the spring of 2022 to the fall of 2024 (142 publications). With the help of two dear friends, they got me onto a real hosting site, and you have been seeing those from my Optimum Prime Ghost site (60 episodes). Next year, some video output. I'm not promising when as the greatest invention of all time is the nap! I am blessed with a wonderful partner, two dogs that I spoil rotten, interesting hobbies, fantastic friends and family. I have a connection with everyone of you that is getting this newsletter. As you watch the news from across the nation or around the world, I would ask that you try to do what I try to do. Remember that we live in a paradise. By any historical standard, or from any place on Earth today, it just doesn't get much better than this. When I used to whine about something, a buddy (BD) always reminded me ... "first world problems." Secondly ... every day is a gift. The greatest gift. Each morning, open it with joy.
Merry Christmas 🎄
Mitch & Maddie