I think I’ve briefed you all on the Gordie Howe Bridge, the new piece of infrastructure that is now officially finished and ready for its ribbon-cutting, but said ribbon-cutting hasn’t happened. Why? Because the president is a c*nt, that’s why.
Seriously. The opening ceremony was actually set, then cancelled, because the two sides — the Canadians and the Americans — couldn’t come to terms. The president is said to “want a better deal.” And I remind you, the deal that got the bridge built was about a good a deal as they come. The Canadians covered 100 percent of the costs, allowed the U.S. to do 50 percent of the labor, using American steel and materials. In return, they’ll take 100 percent of the tolls until the debt is repaid (which will, admittedly, take decades), at which point the split goes to 50-50.
It’s safe to say everybody wants the bridge to open except for one party — the Moroun family, which owns the existing Ambassador Bridge, and would certainly see its revenue slide, but that’s what happens when monopolies are challenged.
So we wait.
Meanwhile, today, a story dropped that quoted our “ambassador” to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, well, let him tell it:
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra is calling claims that Canada paid for the Gordie Howe Bridge’s construction “a big myth,” even as the Canadian government insists it bore the full cost of building the span.
The former Michigan congressman appeared last week on “The Food Professor” podcast to discuss trade between the U.S. and Canada and food security.
The topic of the Gordie Howe Bridge came up. Hoekstra asked the hosts, Sylvain Charlebois and Michael LeBlanc, if they could tell him who paid for the new crossing between Detroit and Windsor, which still hasn’t opened.
…He explained that the Canadian government loaned the authority behind the bridge $4.5 billion to $5 billion.
“Canada is serving as the bank for the bridge,” the ambassador said. “The expectation is that over the years, as the bridge generates revenue, the bridge will be paid back. So the bridge will actually be paid for by the folks who are using the bridge. It will not be paid for by the Canadian government.”
What an asshole.
During the blast-furnace heat last week, I watched a few clips of this or that person in the administration, doing their part to fluff Tubby. And I wondered, do they think we have the memory of a single-celled organism? Do they think we won’t remember, oh, Usha Vance smirking through an interview with Trump about what he quote reads for fun unquote? Do they think that when the tide turns, they can just slither out onto the shore and wait for it to come back? Pete Hoekstra has always been a piece of crap. (Besties with Mark Souder, Hoosiers.) And he’s growing long in the tooth. But Caroline Leavitt, Natalie Harp? A lot of these folks are still young, and if there’s any justice, they’ll be in the wilderness for a long damn time, well after Tubby is finally planted.
It’s depressing, thinking of the recovery ahead, assuming it can even happen.
What else? The victory of the Belgian soccer team was sweet, coming as it did after you-know-what. And now we’re back at it with Iran, so expect a nice stock market hit today. Happy goddamn Wednesday.
Jeff Borden said on July 8, 2026 at 9:53 am
Whoever succeeds Lumpy will face a task equal to cleaning the Augean stables, but they won’t be able to divert two rivers. There is simply so much to repair at every level that it’s difficult to wrap your mind around it. Where to start? Rebuild relationships with long-time allies who are now deAmericanizi g? Pursue the corruption that is part of this “administration’s” DNA? Address the gutting of expertise at the departments of defense, state, CDC, etc. And then there’s Iran, which looks to displace the invasion of Iraq as the greatest foreign policy fuckup in the past 25 years? Whoever “wins” the presidency will age 50 years in four just trying to get a handle on everything this hideous man and his movement have done.
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Mark P said on July 8, 2026 at 10:51 am
9/11 is to the World Trade Center as Jan 20, 2025 is to America. Rebuilding the US will be equivalent to rebuilding the old WTC. I wish/pray/hope that we don’t simply rebuild the US as it was BT (before Trump), but that we build something new and better. Unfortunately, I don’t think the goddamned republicans will help unless Trump does so much more damage that even their little, tiny pea-sized brains can figure it out.
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David C said on July 8, 2026 at 11:41 am
Be a shame if a ship loaded with fuel caught fire under the Ambassador Bridge or if a bulldozer accidentally dropped its blade and took out one, or both, of the approaches. Be doubly a shame if both happened at the same time.
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Julie Robinson said on July 8, 2026 at 11:52 am
Now he’s blown up the peace agreement by calling the Iranian leaders scum and cuckoo. Who is it that’s cuckoo scum?
Just had an hour of panic when a friend messaged to see if my mom’s facebook account had been hacked because she was surprised by a friend request from her. After figuring out how to check for that I saw no problems so asked if she had sent one. She doesn’t remember and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know how. I think she’s okay. It isn’t linked to anything else anyway. But still, fun!
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Suzanne said on July 8, 2026 at 12:05 pm
The GOP’s desire is, and has been for years, to destroy the federal government. They couldn’t do it through legislation bit by bit, so they decided to send in the wrecking ball and do it the shock and awe way, ensuring it would be done before anyone could grasp what was happening. From my perspective, it has worked. And I think a whole lotta people still don’t grasp what has and is continuing to happen. It’s the old “don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
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Jeff Gill said on July 8, 2026 at 12:17 pm
The career arc of the person Trump likes to mention from his various podiums as “Ambassador Monica Crowley” (title due to her role as Chief of Protocol) is not encouraging as to the wildernesses those engaged in fluffing are likely to inhabit. Forty years of falling upwards, fluffing all the way.
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Icarus said on July 8, 2026 at 1:49 pm
“do they think we have the memory of a single-celled organism? Do they think we won’t remember”
On our long drives to Michigan, my wife listens to several political podcasts. One of them talks about “Life Boating,” which is a term for people who use to be conservative, or GOP or even Central-Right, but have now see the errors of their ways. So they are trying to repent for the sins of what they brought upon us.
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Jeff Borden said on July 8, 2026 at 1:49 pm
Naturally, he beclowned himself again at the NATO gathering in Turkey. He got confused at the airport and had to be guided by his oligarch-loving buddy Erdogan. He referred to the “Islamic State of Japan” and confused Zelensky with Putin. He again demanded Greenland and smeared the immigration policies in Europe. And now he’s blowing up the Iran “peace deal,” which was always bullshit, sending markets tumbling and fuel prices rising. The stable genius said the leaders in Iran were “scum” and “cuckoo.” And not a single, fucking peep from the House or the Senate, of course. We must not upset our fragile leader.
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alex said on July 8, 2026 at 6:13 pm
Just got through a phone enrollment for my Medigap. It was so exhausting that I told them I’d do my Part D prescription plan on another day. But at least that’s done. Went with Humana, held them to their original quote, and also learned that I’m entitled to a 12 percent discount in the state of Indiana just for cohabiting with another adult even if that person is not a Medicare beneficiary.
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Jeff Gill said on July 8, 2026 at 9:07 pm
I’m reading some Fort Wayne news on my social media feeds and no, I will not attempt to summarize. But let’s just say a garage has been burned and leave it at that.
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alex said on July 8, 2026 at 9:21 pm
OMG, Jeff, I saw that story earlier. I don’t know if the self-mutilating arsonist was schizophrenic or on an acid trip or what, but it’s giving me the heebies, and I don’t shock easily.
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Peter said on July 9, 2026 at 7:38 am
The “Islamic Republic of Japan”. FINALLY we have a TRUE LEADER who isn’t afraid to tell the TRUTH. Shintoism my ass. If MacArthur didn’t have his hands tied by that Commie Harry Truman he would have stopped those JAPANESE MUSLIMS from entering our country in the trunks of those Hondas, Toyotas, and Soobarooos. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
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Suzanne said on July 9, 2026 at 8:52 am
Yeah, I read about the, um, unique arsonist in Fort Wayne. I can’t even…
Maybe he should run for a GOP office. He’d fit in well.
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Jeff Gill said on July 9, 2026 at 11:45 am
Secretary of Health & Human Services?
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