Ontario responds to Trump tariff by pitching Starlink deal into the trash The provincial government in Ontario, Canada is hitting back at President Trump's 25 percent tariffs on the US' northern neighbor by scrapping a deal with Elon Musk's Starlink. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the move at a press conference today during a campaign stop. The decision to abandon its deal with Starlink, …
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And Hitler was just doing a Charlie Chaplin tribute act European tour that got a little out of hand.
That's why Musk followed it up with the innocent explanation :
“Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down!” “Stop Gőring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming,” Musk added.
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You're getting the wrong end of the stick here. El Reg are mocking Musk and the press who defended his Nazi salute along with reminding us what he did so we don't forget.
I think that is admirable and I think my family who were bombed by Hitler would agree. Long may it continue.
And the "other side" will mock people like you and the majority lefty journos who are just idealogically opposed so can't be objective. Nobody except Musk himself will ever really know what was meant by it. That won't stop either "side" from having their 2p on it. And you and your ilk would have being spewing anti Trump anti Musk posts every hour of every day of every week into every single post on El Reg whether he did his mad gesture or not. Nobody needed reminding to post their toxicity here. You're all naturals. (And still musing "can't understand how we lost the election") Oh yeah, such a mystery :)
Because if anyone who is NOT a Nazi was accused of doing something that looked to people (especially Germans who are the most qualified to recognize it) like a Nazi salute that they DID NOT INTEND as a Nazi salute, they would not sit silent and let others defend them, then make their only comment a mocking post with "Nazi jokes" that no one found funny. They would not sit idly by while actual Nazis cheered this as the biggest thing for their movement in decades (there are MANY such posts on the social media platform that Musk owns)
No they would immediately and loudly say THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT. They would apologize profusely for making a gesture that could be confused with a Nazi salute. They would say they hate Nazis, do not support them in any way, and want to see them all die a horrible and painful death.
Musk did not do ANY of that. The only possible explanation is that Musk has decided to come out of the closet as a Nazi. Why now? Because Trump has been elected, and he's basically been handed the root password to the US government. He no longer has to pretend he is something other than he really is. The only reason he's mad about the backlash is because he knows it is going to further damage Tesla's brand and sales.
It's funny how the republican that copied it is now out of a job because of it.
https://www.newsweek.com/pennsylvania-county-official-resigned-after-salute-video-2021155
And that weird guy who was sacked from GB news had been sacked by the church for doing it too.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/british-priest-calvin-robinson-elon-musk-salute-anglican-church-b1208076.html
Maybe the OP should out then straight(!)
What's funny is that republican county official resigned AFTER she apologized (though it sounds like few found her apologies sincere) She clearly made that video in response to Musk's Nazi salutes, hoping to either help the Musk apologists' story or because she felt emboldened to do a Nazi salute now that Musk had done it at Trump's inauguration. FAFO.
It's not all that pathetic when you watch the video of him doing it twice in a row https://youtu.be/-VfYjPzj1Xw?si=GGXp_bcMc2K34Cfl
Honestly, I thought this was going to be one of those overhyped outrages where "it looks like". But this isn't really the case here. He's quite deliberate. Now, what we don't know is if he understood beforehand what this looks like. Or if he was just imitating happily some of his bosom buddies with... questionable historical and racial views.
Maybe they take down their swastikas when he drops in for a round of beers in steins?
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The ADL are not anti Semitic crusaders. They are hard right Zionist tools, and like netanyahu and the rest of the right wing in Israel, they use anti Semitism as an excuse to squash any criticism.
Both myself and my Israeli Jewish girlfriend were labelled it just because we dared to recognise Palestine.
Musk and trump are great supporters of netanyahu, both financially, and strategically, so they could goose-step around Autzwitz for all they care.
I'm sure the 3.3 million Soviet POWs (scroll down to Table 3) and the 1.8 million Poles that were killed as well (among many others) would slightly disagree with that assessment.
But hey, what's a little fact to stand in the way of ignorance ?
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If you mean Nazi salutes, no, I think this has more of a Mussolini etymology.
But it really really doesn't look all that kosher. I think anyone anywhere near vaguely careful would have avoided that particular look.
But OK, go right ahead and tell us we all imagined it, we all conveniently forgot that Musk has profusely apologized and we all imagined him then doubling down and making "you did Na-zi that coming" jokes on Twitter (good for its shares btw) which got even the ADL annoyed.
I don't dislike Musk in general. But his politics are a bit tainted at this point. Probably due to him having a very thin skin, despite his "free speech absolutist" claims. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/the-penthouse-marquee-hate-speech-allegation-1.7428625
If I had to guess, it's a bit like JK Rowlings who got so much flak from the progressives that she went deep right. Interesting psychological phenomenon, but unlike drunk uncle Cletus ranting about minorities after too many beers these people have enough money and social media reach to influence a lot of other people.
In this case, moving the Overton window to the point where Nazi-like salutes get defended by worthy commentards ;-)
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@JLV
Rowling was castigated as far right for standing up for women's rights.
That "persona non grata" from people who should know better (last I looked, supporting rights of women & girls was supposed to be socialist & allowing fully intact men into spaces where women are naked used to be seen as a bad thing)
Which doubtless led Rowling more rightwards as the "left" rejected her so she would have ended up in a more "right" leaning group on social media.
Though in UK, "left" & "right" (in terms of Lab & Con) are almost identical anyway.
> He's quite deliberate.
Exactly.
Whatever you think of Musk, he's *not* stupid. So he deliberates and thinks: 'Oh, I do a Nazi salute and decorate it a wee bit so that the liberals get fooled.' Anybody believes Nazis won't like this because he thumps his breast before saluting? I have a bridge to sell you...
He is South African, and his parents were wealthy whites who owned an emerald mine. I'm sure now they try to claim they were among the "good" whites who were against apartheid but I'll bet his father was quite happy to be able to hire from a subclass at low wages with poor working conditions in his mine and didn't want that to end!
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A beer, for you for mentioning that, and one for Mr Buffet for saying that in the first place
And I think he's the one who got Bill Gates to join him in giving it all away...
It’s easy to be generous when you are effectively in possession of unlimited wealth have tens of billions of £$€….. and no mention of the impact to and on others of how you gained your wealth…..
When you are hand to mouth, putting something - anything - in the foodbank basket at Tesco’s or a donation to the local homeless centre is more impactful and of greater overall character.
> is ... of greater overall character
Probably; giving away what you can not really afford to lose.
> is more impactful
How? Even if it is a pathetic sum to a billionaire, 100 cans of beans has more effect than 1 can.
Unless you mean "impactful" as "I did this good thing and it hurt me to do it, what a good martyr I am" or I can share this on social media and look amazing". "Greater overall character"???
Giving is good. Just seems a strange additional claim to make.
Shame if the paintwork got scratched
Whoopsadaisy
Ask the "stranded" astronauts what they did in their last EVA :-)
Being stuck up there because EM is not able to send the next Dragon capsule on the expected schedule because he asked to remove the LIDAR system... and then having the gal to say it is because of NASA?
Hmmm... I wonder... does that include soft drinks? Is there a single eatery of any type in The Great White North which doesn't offer Coke or Pepsi? Perhaps the beverages are locally bottled.Perhaps the fact that they have to make payments to the Mothership might make that moot...
Of course, alleged American 'beer' is right out. The Stupor Bowl is coming up, there will be lots of 'beer' ads, but those ads will be for products not available in Ontario. All that lovely ad money, wasted on the denizens of The Land Of White Bears. I understand that Fox has already sold multiple 30-second ad slots for $8 million and more. https://admeter.usatoday.com/story/sports/ad-meter/2025/01/29/super-bowl-commercial-cost-history/78032191007/ The top management of Miller and Bud will be crying into their 'beer'.
Popcorn time. Canadian popcorn only, of course.
No, just alcoholic ones. Ontario has a near monopoly on alcohol sales, especially to restaurants, so it can make that happen. Individuals can still purchase US-produced alcohol from independent stores, but restaurants generally aren't allowed to do that and then distribute it. It does not apply to soft drinks or any other US product.
"Perhaps the beverages are locally bottled."
Yes they are. Guinness does that too in certain parts of the world.
It would make sense for Canada to require that SpaceX has a Canadian registered operating company located within Canada and maybe even in each province as well to be able to provide services to entities in Canada. Starlink isn't the only alternative and this seems to be a situation where the government is subsidizing connections for people living in low density areas. Since I expect that these people would have electricity, I'm not seeing why it wouldn't be better for the government to string some fiber along the same pylons if they're subsidizing service and keep the whole thing owned within the country.
It would make sense for Canada to require that SpaceX has a Canadian registered operating company located within Canada and maybe even in each province as well to be able to provide services to entities in Canada.
I think they should continue to cancel the contract, if a Canadian company can provide the service, just to show that actions have consequences. Chaos is the purpose of the tariff announcements. If they were simply a tool to force opponents to the bargaining table there would be no need to announce them until negotiations failed. The same with pulling the liquor out of stores. Just let the shelves sit empty for a week before putting things back.
"I think they should continue to cancel the contract, if a Canadian company can provide the service, just to show that actions have consequences. "
There's also a difference when looking at price when it's the government spending the money. While it might be more expensive for a Canadian company to supply an internet connection, that company's profits will be subject to tax, their employees in the country will be paying tax, etc. Just the circulation of money in the economy stimulates more economic activity. Sending the money to Elon in another country removes that economic activity.
Loss of control is also an issue. How would Canada regulate Starlink if it wanted to? If customers paid their fees to Starlink in the US and ground stations were on the US side of the border, Canada would have no way to place any restrictions or collect taxes which could mean that domestic providers could be squeezed out of the market. It's too easy to hide the Starlink dish if the service is banned. The government would find it really hard to purchase internet connections for their use if domestic companies have been forced out of the market.
Since I expect that these people would have electricity, I'm not seeing why it wouldn't be better for the government to string some fiber along the same pylons
Why do you expect that? What if they have a town generator plant running off of natural gas or oil or geothermal or some such, or they have their own home generators or similar?
Some of these places are pretty remote.
"What if they have a town generator plant running off of natural gas or oil or geothermal or some such, or they have their own home generators or similar?"
The lash up would then be something different than running fiber all the way from a trunk to that location.
Fast internet is not a deity given human right. If one chooses to live way out in the boonies, there are sacrifices to be made. That particular person could sign up for satellite service on their own money rather than their looking for a government subsidy to support their choice of residence. It can get very hot in the summer where I live, but I don't go begging for handouts to pay for my AC. It's also quite dry so an evaporitive cooler works very well and mine is solar powered (on my money with no grants). My choice of where to live, my problem to work through.
I'm not seeing why it wouldn't be better for the government to string some fiber along the same pylons if they're subsidizing service and keep the whole thing owned within the country.
Firstly, Ice storms happen, and wind storms. We bury our comms as much as possible these days.
Secondly, *all* of the EU would fit inside Ontario and Quebec. The distances involved in some cases are 600 to 800 Kms.
Third, many of the more remote communities generate their own 'leccy, sometimes with small waste incineration plants, sometimes using renewables.
Outdoor fibre… in a country where places can go from -20 to +10 in an hour, while the wind blows at 50k the whole time. Ice an inch thick forming overnight. Hours of intense direct sunlight causing heating while gusts cool things back down. Places where the wind can roar at 80k with 120k gusts as *normal weather*. Hail. +40 summers, also with hail. Moose, bears, fucking squirrels.
And this is the *nice* weather where most of us live (seriously, there are large communities and cities in all those zones), nevermind the crazy shit out in the sticks. -40 with a foot of snow an hour with 40k winds for three days straight, for instance. Never mind the winter is our HUMID season in the west half.
I wish. Given that ties remained to the US economy even after the mortgage CDO scandal which proved you couldn't trust them (nobody involved went to jail), I don't have much hope there.
That said, their comeuppance is already on the cards and they know it, that's why these robber barons are pressurisiong the world. They know they have four year to utterly empty the coffers in the US, and then they'll quickly walk away. Keep an eye out for forfeign purchases with US capital and the odd war here and there.
After Trump II, there won't be much left of the US, yet the moronic well armed chest thumpers will still blame everyone else for what's going to happen - because that's the only play they have left to avoid facing their own stupidity.
So yes, the world needs to disconnect, if only to avoid sinking with the ship. That National Debt (which Trump is planning to raise massively) will slowly become a massive problem. If you borrow big, the bank has a problem. But if you borrow big and spend even more, eventually the bank will say no. And they're heading towards that point, but on a global scale.
As a Canadian, we can all do our bit.
- Starbucks
- Amazon
- Netflix
- Tesla
- vacations there
- ...
What we should not do so much tho is boo the US anthem at sport events. I know it is cathartic and I share the feeling. However, at the end of the day, these are ideal photo ops to plays into the hands of Trump's propaganda of an aggrieved and victimized USA. With Americans being as batshit rah rah as they are about their flag, this is unlikely to win over the hearts and minds of the people we need to tell Trump to fuck off, his own electorate.
Be polite to Americans and aim your vitriol directly at the Orange Buffoon instead. After all, much as it sucks dealing with him north of the 49th, at least he's not in charge of our government and we don't have to worry about our democracy.
" these are ideal photo ops to plays into the hands of Trump's propaganda of an aggrieved and victimized USA..."
Not necessarily. Trump claims that taking the "strong stance" of slapping idiotic tariffs on America's main trade partners will Make America Great Again, and how much respect the US will earn from the rest of the world because of them. The truth is the exact opposite of that.
Booing might not necessarily be the best way to express one's sentiments, but it does express them and sends a clear message to US citizens about what Trump is currently doing to their reputation beyond their borders. And such a signal needs to be given, since Americans by and large are notoriously oblivious about what the world beyond their borders is really like.
The Big Two make a lot of components and sub-assemblies in Canada and Mexico. We won't count Stellantis since they haven't been a US based company for many years. VW and Toyota build vehicles with more US sourced parts than Ford and GM. I'm concerned as I hold F stock and if they try and eat the tariffs to not need to crank up vehicle prices, my dividend will go down. I expect they will have to raise prices to stay in the black which means those cars will be less competitive, I don't make as much money and fewer cars sold might mean bankruptcy since the UAW won't allow the reductions in staff so the only way to make adjustments will be for a judge to order it while telling the "family" to go pound sand (bunch of useless parasites).
Some of Mr Trumps ideas look pretty good on the surface, but once the knock-on effects are sorted, those ideas start looking horribly stupid in the way they're being sprung on people.
Ford will get an exemption, Maga can't have F150s getting more expensive. The whole point of tarrifs is that the executive gets to decide who they apply to.
Remember last time when he threatened tariffs on Mercedes built in America because he (pretended) to not like all those 'foreign' cars on Wall St.
Trash relations with the neighbours. Stir up hate crime with populist bollocks. Trash cross-border trade. Damage the economy. Turbo charge inflation. Fill pockets. Have a good time at everyone else's expense. Walk away rich leaving a broken shell of a country.
The UK should be getting a copyright fee off Trump for this.
Ontario said they would continue with Starlink if the tariffs were cancelled, the tariffs were cancelled, and they were true to their word.
Presumably if this nonsense starts up again a month from now, Starlink will be re-used as part of the pressure to get the US to back down.
Because it is the US that backed down.
By the way, Trump demanded Mexico put 10,000 troops on the border, seemingly ignorant to the fact they already have 15,000 there. I guess 5,000 were sent home for a nice holiday and Trump celebrated that he got what he wanted.
> The 51st State
OK, let's forget the dubious economic rationale for tariffs.
What's with stupidly parroting the dumbass 51st state idea? Who the fuck is cretin enough to want to take over neighbors that get along with them? You yourself? For what? To sound macho to your buds? How well did invading Iraq work out for y'all? Do you think a lot of the troops who were there would fancy their kids having to do the same again? All on the orders of Prez Chickenhawk Bonespurs? Seems to me the general sentiment of grunts there was that they were doing their duty but really really questioned the reasoning behind their mission. You volunteering to do the dirty work? Or just happy to stir the shit?
How well is China gonna be contained if each and every one of the US's allies has to question who's worse to deal with, Xi or Trump? Do you want to join Putin in becoming a nation everyone hates?
Besides which, Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories so either you make Canada the largest US state by far if you make it one state, or you make it 13 states (or 10 states and 3 territories if you want to treat them like Puerto Rico and Guam) which then all would most likely vote Democrat every election (since citizens living in full states would have voting rights). It's basically guaranteeing Democrat wins every election as the Canadian states would always tip the electoral college over to one side.
Even if I'm not correct and they don't all vote Democrat would the Republicans want to risk that? Right now they have a finely balanced electoral college which often tips in their favour, skewing it heavily one way or the other would not go down well.
The general gist of polling the minority of Americans who want to take over Canada is that they prefer NOT to grant full statehood so that problem is neatly solved.
Honestly, I am at a loss to know if idiots like the OP here are actually whacko Americans - they could be. Or full on disinfo shitkickers on Putin/Xi's payroll. I know the MAGA Trumpies are real, but I would assume some of them are relatively capable to articulate some kind of grievance about "the Dems" or whatever, if asked. At least the ones in an IT forum like this one.
On the other hand, people who day after day post trolling crap, without ever bothering to post well, anything IT-related, for the "lulz", without articulating anything (ex: "we need to tariff China to stop them developing LLMs with our GPUs"), but rather constant baiting? Are they trying to convince the other side in any way? Or just riling us all up? Certainly doesn't mind getting downvoted to oblivion, which would be disheartening to most of us. Doesn't even respond to most flames, just top-posts away drivel all day.
Call me paranoid, but I've just finished reading Likewar https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/38242140-likewar and the book is all about fake social media influencers, aka trolls.
Now, what would such a troll's post look like, on the Register's forums? What would a fake Trumpy version look like? What would a fake overwoke version look like? Maybe don't assume it is necessarily a real American, Brexiter, whatever doing the talking.
Trump likely fears looking impotent by failing to unilaterally intimidate and/or exploit via absurdly-unjust 25%-across-the-board tariffs against the relatively weak(er) nation, notably Canada, that resists his skewed concept of equality, the one typically giving him the lion’s share.
How does/did that 25% money-grab go with at least some Americans? In one survey discussed on CBC radio in mid-January, most of the Americans polled who said they support Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods (albeit a minority opinion) suddenly change their minds if that tariff ends up costing them that much more for Canadian exports. The Only If It’s In My Own Back Yard mindset is depressingly alive and well, even between supposedly good neighbors.
The school-bully analogy once again is warranted and befitting. Such a bully is especially angered by the relative weakling who in the least stands up to him. And this, unfortunately, goes beyond the U.S.
I’ve noticed a particular irritation expressed by the governments of China and (increasingly) India when Canada’s government — unlike with, say, mighty American assertiveness — dared to politically challenge them, even when on reasonable grounds.
Most recently, Canada dealt (at least somewhat) firmly with India’s government after Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Canadian Sikh separatist, was assassinated in Surrey, B.C., last year. Undoubtedly already aware of the diplomatic furor likely to come, even at Canada’s expense, an investigation nonetheless resulted in Canada charging three Indian nationals for the killing.
Besides a few other examples, China seemed particularly angered by it being the relatively weak Canada that on Dec.1, 2018, had arrested and held on house arrest Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive and daughter of the tech corporation’s founder. Considering that a U.S. arrest warrant obligated Canada to detain her, why didn’t Beijing publicly express similar bluster towards Washington D.C. and, most notably, the then first administration of Donald Trump?!
Such nations’ governments apparently are feeling and expressing a growing sense of foreign relations and power-politics entitlement involving Canada, one that Canadians are expected to simply get used to.
Many faithfully-following fans of Donald [Gimme’a Bl-w Jo-] Trump — including some Canadians! — still admire him as some sort of genius that resists/challenges the Deep State (etcetera).
And then there's “the swamp” that Trump still claims he'll drain if re-elected — although he himself was and will again be a part of it. Since the Trump administration kowtowed to big fossil fuel, mostly via the recklessly significant loosening of environmental protections, he, far from genuinely trying to “drain the swamp”, actually wallowed in it.
The latest thing is the new Sovereign Wealth Fund that Trump has exec ordered into existence. Now that Musk has access to the Treasury they can transfer as much money as they want across to the SWF ("to ensure it is spent correctly") over which Congress has no control. Interestingly this will also reduce the influence of the project 2025 guys and of the other tech bros.
Trump wants to buy Canada so that America extends all the way from Florida to Alaska without break.
And ultimately join with Vlad’s happy kingdom of Russia and also North Korea.
The Trump Highway, Moscow to Miami. Pyongyang To Pismo Beach! (Via the DJ Trump bridge)
What a bigly road trip!
"The canal locks are filled from a lake."
A river was diverted to fill that lake so it's more than local rainfall filling the lake. The river was a major issue in the building of the canal as it really got going during the rainy season and would often cause problems/flooding. I believe that they've always had to bleed water from the system to keep it from flooding. It could take a very unusual and extreme few years of weather to make the Panama canal unusable.
They have had a drought for a few years which has led to reduced traffic capacity .
Interestingly searching for this story, Google returns page after page of links to a (legitimate) study showing that a lot of the Panama drought was due to el'Nino rather than climate change - all from sites called "climate truth", "carbon action", "global weather truth". Odd that all these new sites are suddenly at the top of the search results head of the BBC
This is a government contract. As such there's no guarantee that the Americans won't be using the network to gain access to vital private and confidential information. I totally vote for terminating US carriers of any kind of having access to Canadian internet traffic. They have proven to be the enemy and must be treated as such. My position about the USA is this : want to threaten us ? then you;re no longer a friendly country. We have to treat you as such, Yanks go home.
I lived in Australia. Whatever locally run satellite service run was a dud, compared with Starlink - which presently has no peers. (China is working on it). In fires and floods, or mobile towers crap out after 2 hours or so. I believe Canada is big, and outages occur there too, especially 100km from major cities. I get the backlash feeling. But better to impose an EXCISE on digital whatever's. Hey - that is not a tariff, and too bad we do make any. Copy what Thailand does - big on excise, and sneakily exempting narrow ranges that just happen to be produced locally.
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