Chit-Chat: The Feels

[tres bien]

Oh Canada! 
🇨🇦 👊🔥

 

[PRgal]

Basically nothing much has changed for us here.  It was a Liberal minority the last time around as well.  The NDP (far left), however, only won five seats so it’s lost “official” status and its leader has resigned.  

[Mollywolly555]

3 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

Where did anyone say they felt persecuted?  I certainly don't. In fact, I'm quite used to it and wind up repeating the same thing back.

Fox News and conservative media push "the war on Christmas" ad nauseum.

 

[PRgal]

Conservative Party leader loses seat.  I wonder if he’s going to resign.  

[Affogato]

3 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

Where did anyone say they felt persecuted?  I certainly don't. In fact, I'm quite used to it and wind up repeating the same thing back.

Christians and lions. A lot of the more evangelical and or fundamentalist groups in particular feel any slight greatly, because being persecuted for their faith is oddly central to the self image. There is no reason anyone should care if starbucks has nonsecular winter cups, right? But people look for something so they can, what is the word, bear witness. 

[Bookworm 1979]

I'm dreading going into work today. The majority of my co-workers are conservative. There's going to be a lot of angry people. 

[Affogato]

10 minutes ago, Bookworm 1979 said:

I'm dreading going into work today. The majority of my co-workers are conservative. There's going to be a lot of angry people. 

Maybe there will be donuts. 

Edited Tuesday at 11:33 AM by Affogato

[tearknee]

[Annber03]

5 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

Where did anyone say they felt persecuted?  I certainly don't. In fact, I'm quite used to it and wind up repeating the same thing back.

Never said you did, was speaking on a general level. 

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, Bookworm 1979 said:

I'm dreading going into work today. The majority of my co-workers are conservative. There's going to be a lot of angry people. 

My maga maple sister is furious but is claiming a win since Trudeau isn't PM.

I woke up to confirmation that Poilievre lost his seat in the House. On the plus side for him,  now be doesn't need to worry about getting his security clearance. I will always wonder why he wouldn't do it - what was he trying to hide?

Edited Tuesday at 12:38 PM by Dimity

[bluegirl147]

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

A lot of the more evangelical and or fundamentalist groups in particular feel any slight greatly, because being persecuted for their faith is oddly central to the self image

They think anyone not believing what they believe is persecution. If you don't follow their faith they feel attacked. When they hear freedom of religion they interpret it as they can force their religion on everyone else. 

1 hour ago, Bookworm 1979 said:

I'm dreading going into work today. The majority of my co-workers are conservative. There's going to be a lot of angry people. 

Hold your head high knowing you guys dodged a bullet.

 

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, Bookworm 1979 said:

I'm dreading going into work today. The majority of my co-workers are conservative. There's going to be a lot of angry people. 

My mom talked about how the place she used to work had a lot of conservative voters, and they were so certain that Obama would not get elected to a second term in 2012.

The day after the election, she said those coworkers were awfully quiet :p. 

[fastiller]

[Yeah No]

39 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

2 hours ago, Affogato said:

A lot of the more evangelical and or fundamentalist groups in particular feel any slight greatly, because being persecuted for their faith is oddly central to the self image

They think anyone not believing what they believe is persecution. If you don't follow their faith they feel attacked. When they hear freedom of religion they interpret it as they can force their religion on everyone else. 

I don't think they had any persecution complex here in the U.S. before they felt they had to share this country with people of other faiths. For close to two centuries if not more this country was predominantly Christian, especially down South, so they take having to share it with people of other faiths as if outsiders are encroaching on their dominance and territory and trying to push them out. Even though there was no national religion and supposedly a separation of church and state it didn't really work quite that way in the South where Christian churches had a lot of power. And of course the conservative media encourages the persecution mentality and stokes paranoia and fear. And then their pastors liken it to the early days of Christianity when Christians WERE being persecuted and put to death by the Romans and other non-Christians to get their parishoniers upset. But no one's being persecuted here. If they take having to have respect for other faiths as "persecution" they need to learn a thing or two about what persecution really is.

The truth is that they had way too much power and influence in government and society in general due to there not being any real religious plurality for a very long time. So having to respect and give those other religions any recognition and equal right to exist is seen as a "persecution" and attempt to overthrow their dominance. They think this is a Christian country founded on Christian principles and thus this gives them the right to dominance here but if they were to really study the founding fathers they would find out that none of them were "Christians" in the sense that they probably think they were although influenced by Christian values, and they certainly didn't hold that there should be any state religion, especially Thomas Jefferson, who was big on the separation of church and state.

[shapeshifter]

In case I'm not the only Yank wondering about the Canadian definition and usage of the word "riding" upthread:
https://www.thoughtco.com/riding-508186
A bit more complicated than I thought from context here.

I wish I could just call my 50-years-Canadian sister and ask/chat about it, but she gets really defensive — I guess discussing word meanings is not her thing. 🤷‍♀️

[tearknee]

Oh, Canada!

[Yeah No]

17 hours ago, Annber03 said:

The bottom line is that Christmas is THE most marketed holiday in this entire country. Many businesses still allow people to take time off for Christmas - my workplace is closed on Christmas day. If Jewish people or people celebrating any other faith want to take time off, they likely have to request PTO to do so. If Christians really wanted to complain about something, maybe they could focus on why such a supposedly sacred holiday to them has become so commercialized, to the point where the actual meaning of the holiday is lost among the retail push and the Christmas ads that start as early as freaking late summer. 

Christians make up a good portion of our government. We have the Christian right making footholds into our politics and using their beliefs to help influence our laws, laws which will affect those of us who aren't Christian and have no interest in living by Christian law.

But yeah. Sure, Christians. You are just so persecuted because somonne dares to say "happy holidays". Gimme a break. 

I do think it's hard to separate a basic morality from many of the Christian principles about the way one should live their lives. Being good to others, putting others first, a basic respect for human life and freedom, etc. is universal, not just Christian. And that's the kind of ethical foundation our very Constitution is based upon, and one that resonates with people of all faiths, which is one big reason why people of all faiths are attracted to this country. So I don't think we should "throw out the baby with the bathwater" on this. Many atheists even accept these principles, they just don't accept that they come from God or Christ or whoever. They see them as a universally accepted code of conduct created by humans. And that's fine and as it should be in a country that separates religion from the state. The problem is when certain Christian sects try to legislate their beliefs on other matters that are not generally agreed upon, such abortion, gender identity, sexual equality, etc. And by far those are not ALL Christians.

I think I've written before about how it pisses me off that people lump mainstream Christianity like Roman Catholicism and mainstream Protestant denominations (Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Church of Christ, Reformed Church, progressive Baptists, etc.) in with these hard right conservative Christians. We are so opposed to them in almost every way that it's not even funny. It would be like lumping all Americans in with MAGA. Please try to remember that when you post and specify which "Christians" you're referring to. It will help lower my blood pressure, LOL. 😉

Also, spiritual Christians in general have been complaining for generations about the commercialization of Christmas detracting from the holiday's true meaning, but the people that profit off of it are too powerful to influence because the almighty dollar is unfortunately more important than what some spiritual people feel. They tell us we are free to abstain from the commercialized Christmas if we want to and let everyone else do what they want. And so that's the way it is, unfortunately. It's not like the spiritual Christians haven't been complaining about this forever. My first exposure to this issue was via Charlie Brown. God Bless Charles Shulz, he did what he could to bring it back to the true meaning of Christmas. 

[Bliss]

I've not enjoyed politics my entire life. I've always found politicians to be somewhat phony, always saying what people want to hear... and then not delivering their promises for the most part. They also earn a lot of money and have excessive pensions for a minimal career. (I also appreciate that some of them work very hard, and sacrifice a lot of personal life.)

However... I am so relieved that we have Carney as our leader. I'm especially happy that he's intelligent, isn't mentally ill, and has integrity. I'm actually happiest that he isn't a career politician - a breath of fresh air, so to speak.

Elbows up!

p.s. saw a meme this morning which made me spew my coffee... it had to do with the last US election and that 70 million people chose to board the Titanic again.

Edited Tuesday at 02:04 PM by Bliss

[PRgal]

A weird observation:  Mark Carney's wife wore Liberal red last night while Pierre Poilievre's wife wore purple.  Makes me think she wasn't confident on a victory.  But that's just me over-observing and over-thinking things.  

[Dimity]

36 minutes ago, PRgal said:

A weird observation:  Mark Carney's wife wore Liberal red last night while Pierre Poilievre's wife wore purple.  Makes me think she wasn't confident on a victory.  But that's just me over-observing and over-thinking things.  

Isn't purple the colour of Bernier's far right People's Party?  He lost his seat BTW.  I'll join you on the overthinking things bench and wonder if this was an intentional message   meant to show how Poilievre spent the last few months (well years really) catering to the far right component of the Conservative party.

Edited Tuesday at 02:50 PM by Dimity

[tres bien]

The White House calls Amazon hostile as Amazon reportedly plans to soon display how much tariffs are increasing prices next to products 

The White House calls it “a hostile political act”

🤣

[tearknee]

Is it too late to ask Anne of Green Gables or one of the girls from Road to Avonlea to be PM?

 

[PRgal]

This is hilarious:  the leader of Canada’s Green Party (and winner of its only seat) sings her at her victory party

https://www.narcity.com/elizabeth-may-green-party-singing

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

A weird observation:  Mark Carney's wife wore Liberal red last night while Pierre Poilievre's wife wore purple.  Makes me think she wasn't confident on a victory.  But that's just me over-observing and over-thinking things.  

So why does Canada have the reverse colors for liberal and conservative?  I don't even know why we have the colors we have in the US. 

[Dimity]

Just now, EtheltoTillie said:

So why does Canada have the reverse colors for liberal and conservative?  I don't even know why we have the colors we have in the US. 

No idea but believe me it's mega confusing during US elections.  "Oh yay the reds are winning...oops...!"

 

[fastiller]

1 minute ago, EtheltoTillie said:

So why does Canada have the reverse colors for liberal and conservative?  I don't even know why we have the colors we have in the US. 

 

Just now, Dimity said:

No idea but believe me it's mega confusing during US elections.  "Oh yay the reds are winning...oops...!"

 

I think Canada follows along with what the designations are in the UK.

CNN: How Britain’s political parties got their colors (can you spot the misspelling?)

CNN: Republicans are red and Democrats blue. But it wasn’t always that way (looks like the change happened in the early 80s.)

[bluegirl147]

40 minutes ago, tres bien said:

The White House calls Amazon hostile as Amazon reportedly plans to soon display how much tariffs are increasing prices next to products 

The White House calls it “a hostile political act”

🤣

Of course they call the truth hostile.  You know what actually is hostile? Trump and his Republican lackeys in Congress destroying this country.

[tearknee]

1 minute ago, fastiller said:

 

I think Canada follows along with what the designations are in the UK.

CNN: How Britain’s political parties got their colors (can you spot the misspelling?)

CNN: Republicans are red and Democrats blue. But it wasn’t always that way (looks like the change happened in the early 80s.)

Yes - red is the socialist color and blue is the aristocratic conservative one.

[Bookish Jen]

23 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Our local grocery store has signage up saying they will be be showing which products are being affected by the Mad King's tariffs.  It is something I would imagine most businesses will do if they have to raise their prices.

With regard to Amazon it will be interesting to see which Bezos values most, his customers or his King.

A sign at my local Penzys Spices.

[tres bien]

Holy shit democrats get your act together!!

In a recent GOP NRCC poll  from April 13 - 18 voters were asked who cares about people like me

Dems and Republicans were tied 47 - 47.  In 2017 Democrats were +13 at this point and won back the House by gaining a net total of 41 seats from the total number of seats they had won in 2016

[ProudMary]

A few more election questions for our Canadian friends here. Thank you for all you've answered so far. I'm adding that same NYT graphic from last night, updated to 11:30 a.m.

I guess my main question is about Bloc Québécois. They're shown on the chart on the same side as the Liberals. (I'm assuming that the Liberals are roughly equivalent to moderate Democrats in the US. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Does BQ tend to vote with the Liberals? From the graphic, that's a fairly substantial number of votes.

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I don't think they had any persecution complex here in the U.S. before they felt they had to share this country with people of other faiths. For close to two centuries if not more this country was predominantly Christian, especially down South, so they take having to share it with people of other faiths as if outsiders are encroaching on their dominance and territory and trying to push them out. Even though there was no national religion and supposedly a separation of church and state it didn't really work quite that way in the South where Christian churches had a lot of power. And of course the conservative media encourages the persecution mentality and stokes paranoia and fear. And then their pastors liken it to the early days of Christianity when Christians WERE being persecuted and put to death by the Romans and other non-Christians to get their parishoniers upset. But no one's being persecuted here. If they take having to have respect for other faiths as "persecution" they need to learn a thing or two about what persecution really is.

The truth is that they had way too much power and influence in government and society in general due to there not being any real religious plurality for a very long time. So having to respect and give those other religions any recognition and equal right to exist is seen as a "persecution" and attempt to overthrow their dominance. They think this is a Christian country founded on Christian principles and thus this gives them the right to dominance here but if they were to really study the founding fathers they would find out that none of them were "Christians" in the sense that they probably think they were although influenced by Christian values, and they certainly didn't hold that there should be any state religion, especially Thomas Jefferson, who was big on the separation of church and state.

And Thomas Paine. 

[DrSpaceman73]

Good job canada

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I do think it's hard to separate a basic morality from many of the Christian principles about the way one should live their lives. Being good to others, putting others first, a basic respect for human life and freedom, etc. is universal, not just Christian. And that's the kind of ethical foundation our very Constitution is based upon, and one that resonates with people of all faiths, which is one big reason why people of all faiths are attracted to this country. So I don't think we should "throw out the baby with the bathwater" on this. Many atheists even accept these principles, they just don't accept that they come from God or Christ or whoever. They see them as a universally accepted code of conduct created by humans. And that's fine and as it should be in a country that separates religion from the state. The problem is when certain Christian sects try to legislate their beliefs on other matters that are not generally agreed upon, such abortion, gender identity, sexual equality, etc. And by far those are not ALL Christians.

I think I've written before about how it pisses me off that people lump mainstream Christianity like Roman Catholicism and mainstream Protestant denominations (Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Church of Christ, Reformed Church, progressive Baptists, etc.) in with these hard right conservative Christians. We are so opposed to them in almost every way that it's not even funny. It would be like lumping all Americans in with MAGA. Please try to remember that when you post and specify which "Christians" you're referring to. It will help lower my blood pressure, LOL. 😉

Also, spiritual Christians in general have been complaining for generations about the commercialization of Christmas detracting from the holiday's true meaning, but the people that profit off of it are too powerful to influence because the almighty dollar is unfortunately more important than what some spiritual people feel. They tell us we are free to abstain from the commercialized Christmas if we want to and let everyone else do what they want. And so that's the way it is, unfortunately. It's not like the spiritual Christians haven't been complaining about this forever. My first exposure to this issue was via Charlie Brown. God Bless Charles Shulz, he did what he could to bring it back to the true meaning of Christmas. 

https://giphy.com/stickers/peanuts-vote-president-snoopy-tcxOdeGDflpJ07FzRO
 

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

Isn't purple the colour of Bernier's far right People's Party?  He lost his seat BTW.  I'll join you on the overthinking things bench and wonder if this was an intentional message   meant to show how Poilievre spent the last few months (well years really) catering to the far right component of the Conservative party.

Are they anti-immigrant?  I haven't paid much attention to the People's Party's platform.  If so, well, Anaida (spelling?) is an immigrant herself - she came to Canada when she was a child.  That said, a lot of immigrant communities, at least in Toronto's suburbs, went Conservative.

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

So why does Canada have the reverse colors for liberal and conservative?  I don't even know why we have the colors we have in the US. 

CBC Kids has a video, but it really doesn't explain much.

 

 

[bluegirl147]

1 minute ago, PRgal said:

That said, a lot of immigrant communities, at least in Toronto's suburbs, went Conservative.

That  happens here too.  Like Cubans in South Florida.

[peacheslatour]

12 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

That  happens here too.  Like Cubans in South Florida.

It's called pulling the ladder up after you.

[Bookish Jen]

12 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

It's called pulling the ladder up after you.

The "I've got mine; screw the rest of you" BS.

[tearknee]

Some non-white cultures, regimes, and insurgencies are pretty toxic and reactionary, but few western activists appear to care so long as they are anti-USA and/or anti-Western.

 

 

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, bluegirl147 said:

Of course they call the truth hostile.  You know what actually is hostile? Trump and his Republican lackeys in Congress destroying this country.

I wonder if he will be going after UPS now too:

 

1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

I guess my main question is about Bloc Québécois. They're shown on the chart on the same side as the Liberals. (I'm assuming that the Liberals are roughly equivalent to moderate Democrats in the US. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Does BQ tend to vote with the Liberals?

IMO anyway the Bloc should not even be a national party.  They exist only in Quebec and are a thinly disguised iteration of the Separatistes.  In theory at least all parties at the federal level should represent the whole country.

To answer your question the Bloc is centre left so would tend to support the Liberals over the Cons but with them there are no guarantees!

[bluegirl147]

8 minutes ago, Dimity said:

To answer your question the Bloc is centre left so would tend to support the Liberals over the Cons but with them there are no guarantees!

We have some people like that here in our country too.

[peacheslatour]

[bluegirl147]

18 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

That is the difference between people who voted for Trump and people who vote for non vindictive cruel candidates.  After voting for Bill Clinton or Barack Obama or even Joe Biden I never once thought well geez I never thought they would help those people I don't like. I vote for someone who I hope will help everyone do better not just those people who voted for them.

[Anela]

3 hours ago, tres bien said:

The White House calls Amazon hostile as Amazon reportedly plans to soon display how much tariffs are increasing prices next to products 

The White House calls it “a hostile political act”

🤣

Bezos is now apparently saying that they won't do this. 

[Dimity]

2 minutes ago, Anela said:

Bezos is now apparently saying that they won't do this. 

Bowing to the King but also a reflection of the fact that they're running out of stuff to sell!

[PRgal]

50 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I wonder if he will be going after UPS now too:

 

IMO anyway the Bloc should not even be a national party.  They exist only in Quebec and are a thinly disguised iteration of the Separatistes.  In theory at least all parties at the federal level should represent the whole country.

To answer your question the Bloc is centre left so would tend to support the Liberals over the Cons but with them there are no guarantees!

They're a bit self-centred...everything out of Blanchet's mouth during the leadership debates was Quebec __________.  Dude, it's not JUST ABOUT YOUR PROVINCE!!!!!

[Anela]

I shared a link last night, and then deleted it, because I wasn't sure about it, but now I'm seeing it all over the place. Another executive order was signed, that sounded a lot like Martial law, going about it in a different way. Three months from now, when some people expect protests to be happening everywhere, because of what's happening re: tariffs. 

 

[tres bien]

33 minutes ago, Anela said:

Bezos is now apparently saying that they won't do this. 

Yep

Bezos really is scared of Big Daddy apparently he’s finding out that no matter how much you feed the beast you can’t satisfy him 

[shapeshifter]

31 minutes ago, Anela said:

I shared a link last night, and then deleted it, because I wasn't sure about it, but now I'm seeing it all over the place. Another executive order was signed, that sounded a lot like Martial law, going about it in a different way. Three months from now, when some people expect protests to be happening everywhere, because of what's happening re: tariffs. 

 

I think this is “just” about the “Border Czar” trying to enforce contested laws in “sanctuary cities,” of which my current place of residence is one:
democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2025/04/29/tom-homan-visit-rochester-ny-immigration-policy-clash-protests-live-updates/83339163007

[Anela]

16 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I think this is “just” about the “Border Czar” trying to enforce contested laws in “sanctuary cities,” of which my current place of residence is one:
democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2025/04/29/tom-homan-visit-rochester-ny-immigration-policy-clash-protests-live-updates/83339163007

I remember him threatening the governors of sanctuary cities, as soon as the election was over.