The imposition of tariffs being linked to fentanyl in the United States

Are they paying as much attention to the oceans that lap up against their land from top to bottom? I still think it is easy for people to arrive at a country's shore, enter, transfer things and leave without anyone being the wiser (the coasts are very long). How much fentanyl do they actually have? Is it home grown in the United States? We also have fentanyl deaths here in Canada - far too many. So many questions. 

Well the week of expectation will soon be over in terms of the new Leader of the Liberal Party here in Canada. The people have spoken and Justin Trudeau  has resigned but agreed to stay on until the new leader is selected and a new leader is to be announced very shortly. He/she will be Prime Minister until the next election which could be anytime in the next year and a half. That will surely be tested in the House of Commons soon enough unless the Liberals move straight to an election - time will tell. I do like it that when a leader becomes unacceptable it is very easy to have a new leader - the Westminster Model of governance has stood us in good stead all these years and indeed in my case since the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1216 when the rule of the people was declared since I am of English ancestry going back a very very long way. 

Yesterday I accomplished very little on the books but it was a busy day with the dogs. It rained so cleaning up the dogs after their runs took a lot of time. But they are happy and at day 10 (must check that) I am more than half way through looking after them. They have boundless energy (which I actually have as well but I am noticing that caring for two for ten days is a lot of work). They truly are a perfectly matched/bonded set of dogs. But they are half first cousins and perhaps that helps. Plus the older one is also the largest - the bully factor perhaps although she doesn't very often show that. They just get along very well. The younger one seems less barky as the days go by or I am just getting used to that. 

Today I wonder what I will accomplish - rain and snow mix again today and this milder weather probably lets some of the melting start at ground level instead of just running off. I did renew my Solitaire Subscription (Microsoft) just because it is good brain exercise and they politely inform me of the price in Canadian dollars and considering our dollar at the moment is a bargain compared to the American dollar. We didn't do that it just rises and falls depending on how we are regarded - at the moment we are under  tariffs so look less interesting although not entirely it would appear after all we are a consumer base of 41 million plus people. That is a good sized consumer base for sure. Plus we live in a northern climate so buy more stuff externally with the United States being our usual place of purchase but they decided to tariff us so we are looking elsewhere for both our purchases and our sales. Not our preferred choice but a free trade deal is just that and they were already putting a tariff on softwood lumber for a while now which strictly is wrong under a free trade deal. We did like the status quo but we can return to pre Free Trade too and make everything ourself for ourselves that we can and buy what we need. We can actually survive without American alcohol, Florida orange juice and a number of other items that we generally buy in huge quantities apparently (paying a tax on those items not happening (we are adding tax to some items to counter the tariffs)). It was our oil that they buy that put us into a deficit position. So we are going to build pipelines and keep what we usually buy back from them here to refine so that the trade will be balanced or a deficit on our side. We were paying them 3x more than what we sold it to them for and one would have thought that was a really good deal. But life always flows forward no one can control the clock. 

Which reminds me President Trump when he was campaigning said he would eliminate Daylight Savings and it hasn't happened - we would really like to be rid of daylight savings for sure. We can not eliminate it unless they do; it is much too confusing. 

I can hear the baby down there; she must have awakened and someone went by the window likely. Exercise and breakfast.

The President of Finland

 The President of Finland (Alexander Stubb) has come up with a brilliant idea. If Russia breaks a ceasefire to come then Ukraine automatically becomes a member of NATO. 

It is interesting to be grouped with China as references to us lately have us listed as China, Mexico and Canada (the largest trading partners of the United States currently under tariff by the United States). Because Canada (and perhaps Mexico too) is so entwined with the United States (in our case the Auto Pact goes back to 1965) that to disengage would be a loss for that company here and would they gain enough by being solely American trying to sell cars in Canada. Whenever that is attempted it does not work as we do not buy the cars. I do believe in Free Enterprise and when you have set up a system that works government should follow the preferences of the company whose future is on the line rather than pursuing a 100% practise that can work for some industries to protect them whilst they grow but not for others that have an established pattern that has existed for several generations. Private companies do their own shake-ups when the system isn't working for them; they do not need government help and it is injurious to them for government to interfere. Time will tell; it always does. I am happy to see Taiwan bringing the chip business to the United States in such a big way - the entire American continent will benefit from this huge addition. 

China has said it intends to pursue union with Taiwan by extending the hand of friendship and good trade.

I often comment that pursuing education for education itself is a good goal for youth and that includes a university education as it broadens the mind. I have a personal experience in that regard in that my father's parents wanted him to go into banking and encouraged him to go to Westervelt (a college which specialized in those days (the 20-30s) in a solid business education for those planning to go on into banking, commerce and other such careers. My father did do that; studied and completed the entire course at Westervelt but at the end of it all after completion he apprenticed to a master electrician because that was what he really wanted to do - a new and exciting field and he wanted to be there. His parents were probably disappointed but they stayed with him as he then entered into that apprenticeship. He never regretted it in any way I would say as he loved electricity. And the plus, he did use his business training running his own business. We need to let the youth discover, follow education to its fullest and then move on to what really tugs at their brain. 

Fentanyl is a curse on the North American continent as so many youth have succumbed to its evil. Ridding ourselves of it would perhaps entail having the entire water borders controlled on both sides of the continent and as the melting continues in the north up there as well. How it enters is a mystery in some ways (the land borders are becoming secure so they will move to the place of least resistance. When there is money to be made  you can be sure that the blood suckers are out there doing anything and everything to make it. When money is no longer the centerpiece of our society but rather achievement and purpose then the fentanyl will disappear. Wish it could be sooner as it is evil taking away young lives on a daily basis but time is on our side as we move to that upper plain of peace if Russia, North Korea and Iran will let that happen. Their forays into evil are the malicious undercurrents of our world at this time. They will seek any path that they find in order to perpetrate their satanic devastation. 

Still no work yesterday but the dogs are happy and I am into day 9 now. The baby is barking as the world wakes up and people take their dogs for a walk. It is warmer today 0 degrees celsius and we will get either rain or snow today; yesterday was pretty much all snow and there is accumulation again as the soft moist snow filled in the cracks and the crevices that are created by the minus 20+ degrees celsius temperatures of the last few days. 

I shall think about the books whilst caring for the dogs today. It will be a chore drying them off when they come in and takes a little while as the young one has thick curly hair. As I rub them down I am reminded of my children and caring for them when they were young. I would do my proofreading in between and at nap times and the evenings in those days. On the warm days I would sit outside and watch them play as I proofread. I love proofreading/copyediting; there is a quiet satisfaction as the eyes run along the lines in the page finding and correcting any errors. It consumes the mind when you are working at it and the completion is a fulfilling moment in time. 

The new way to put out your message

It is truly amazing the internet and how  much you can do with it. Myself, I was into computers in the mid 1960s learning Fortran first and then COBOL. Although I did use both in my working life, I do not now. But the internet lets the words of anyone travel around the world and they get to set the pace in a way. My setup of four newsletters four times a year has resulted in my having many emails a week with queries. I do not mind queries; I can not always answer them particularly on American research - my husband was the expert on American research because of his Colonial ancestry in New England/New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania. On his father's side his ancestors are Patriots and came to Canada between 1800 and 1830, on his mother's side some of them are New England loyalists leaving New York to go to New Brunswick although a number of them were planters who went to Nova Scotia years earlier from the New England States. His mother's Link line were his only loyalists out of New York (Cherry Valley) into what is now Quebec. They left from Cherry Valley in the dead of winter on foot moving up to Sorel, Quebec where they found safety (mostly women and children). But he has written about all of that and spoken on it at Palatines to America group meetings which we attended for many years. With his more recent German ancestry (his great grandparents came from Germany in 1848 and 1867 to Canada) he fitted into the group very well as it is now more of a German ancestry group I believe. I always found it somewhat fascinating that the descendant of patriots would marry the descendant of loyalists here in Canada! 

But back to the internet and how amazing it really is. It provides a mechanism for revealing events as they happen and certainly the management of those events does show very clearly as you view them. I think that this was the first time I ever heard anyone mention in the moment as the event was occurring that World War III was a possibility. Mis-step can rule the day on occasion but definitely World War III would be nuclear and it would be Armageddon - we do not want to swamp God with so many returnees. I suspect he would not be happy with that.  The fires of Satan would certainly be full that day and for many days! But back to the value of the internet in getting a message out I certainly have found it to be excellent as a sounding board for my Siderfin books (although no complaints which still amazes me as I did postulate several of my own theories in those books although I had accumulated a fair amount of proof that allowed one to reach the conclusion especially with the aid of autosomal DNA match results where I was bringing Thomas back home to his family - lots of three way checks).

 As a child I heard so many stories when we visited with my Pincombe relatives and they did become somewhat blended. For instance I knew that we had cousins in Australia and than George Pincomb had gone there leaving  his wife and children at their farm just outside of London, England because his wife refused to move. Then there was a another individual who left his family and moved elsewhere in England because he had had a run away marriage but I never could remember the names for that one. Perhaps one day it will come to me. I also had a great grandfather who married a woman with an illegitimate child (not his; he was serving as a medic in the First Boer War in Africa and she was definitely in England) and he was disowned for that. But my grandmother did meet her relatives when her grandmother died as her father took her (she was the eldest child (the illegitimate child had gone to Canada by then)) with him to the funeral. There were so many tidbits that come back to me when I am working on the different lines. 

The Blake Book and the Pencombe Book are neglected for this period of time whilst the dogs are visiting me. They have been good except for the baby that barks. I have not been able to cure her although I have managed to restrain her somewhat by reminding her as she goes out the door not to bark. She stays up close to the house whilst she remembers but the desire to run overcomes her and there she is where she can see the very large dog two doors up and it panics her. Poor Little thing; so I knock on the window and in she comes - she knows that she has done the wrong thing. 

So today is cleaning day two and the first day of tariffs and the beginning of taxes on the products going to and coming from the United States - 25% tariff = 25% taxes (should be interesting as that is how I would do it). Mind you I suspect we may find it hard to buy the amount that we are going to tax as our purchase of American goods is going to be as close to zero as it can get (we do not like to do without American liquor apparently (not me, I do not drink or if I do it is just a small glass of Canadian wine) or Florida orange juice and there is more like dishwashers and other small appliances). Maybe we will walk more and save on gas until we have our new pipelines built so as to keep that low as well. Should be interesting but the people still buying Canadian goods going across the border will have to pay 25% to the wealthy tariff (is that what it is called?) so that the ultra rich can have their taxes reduced and help to pay off the trillions in debt that was created by the ultra rich being given a tax break back in this current President's first term. The American people will face higher prices apparently which really doesn't seem fair (those who are not the ultra rich although perhaps the ultra rich still buy groceries). But then with our dollar being depressed by tariff (and probably even further now that it has been put on) and threat of tariff we really can not do anything else; we need to support our people and of course recreate our industries that were destroyed by NAFTA/CUSMA if necessary). Although we were getting tired of paying a tariff on our softwood lumber which is really illegal under NAFTA/CUSMA.

The Gulf of America continues to fascinate me somewhat as it is surrounded on three sides by South America, Central America and North America. In some ways I am surprised that the name wasn't chosen originally since the continent got called America very early on when the settlers arrived (it is Turtle Island though; that is the First Nations name for this continent (Gulf of Turtle Island maybe?)). However it is also the Gulf of Mexico and probably there are portions of it that have names such as the Gulf of Cuba, etc. etc. Would have to check on that.

I am of the opinion that we should just move on

I think that we need to just move on as a country and put NAFTA/CUSMA deep into the past. It did create a lot of co-joined industries (mostly the auto industry) between Canada and the United States but it also destroyed our home industries that made all sorts of small machinery; we made everything pretty much with so many small businesses gone now but could be rebuilt. The main reason being that our companies were out-priced/out-competed by larger American companies and they either closed down or were bought out. Those American companies in return took their business off-shore in the United States and built everything in Asia where it was cheaper and the net result is what we see. An individual wanting to bring industry back to the United States and we will suffer for it so we should quickly turn about and start creating the industries we lost that existed before NAFTA/CUSMA. I am not in favour of turning off the power particularly but I am in favour of taxing whatever is added to the cost of the electricity or any other commodity when it crosses the border. After all it is a charge being levied on us so we should charge it back. In the meantime we have to get those pipelines built; there should be lots of workers because layoffs will begin soon enough. People are going to have to think of this as like the depression where people worked at whatever needed doing to get our self into the position where we can offshore more of our oil and start producing canned gas to sell abroad. The same with regard to small machines; we have to stop buying them from external markets and make our own. We must turn inward to protect ourselves. We can do this and must. 

Life was easier and quieter before these trade pacts and we can actually turn the clock back because we have all the raw materials we need here in Canada to build most things. It will be a lot of work though and perhaps we old people will have to do the things that we know how to do as well. I am good at wiring although at nearly 80 I will be slower. It is the trades that we need for sure. I mean I can still work in a lab no problem but the trades are the important thing now. A lot will have to be done by hand until we have created the machinery that exists for speeding up production but I am sure we can do it. 

I think choosing to remain Canada is in our best interests and that of our First peoples and together we will make Canada strong (and really better for the United States as we would not be content as a 51st State with limited representation and they are not offering the ability to have 13 more states which would be the only way that would work for us). 

As for our currency being low against the American dollar ours rides freely and we do not force it down. When I was a child the Canadian dollar was worth more than the American dollar and did before the market collapse in 2008 but has not come back since then. So we should not be charged for our dollar being at 70 cents American. Free trade works well as it turns out; I was not that keen on it when we first got into it but I think it can be an equalizer around the world if currencies are permitted to float freely; if not the countries controlling its value should be penalized. Free Trade with Europe has been very interesting especially as we spent time there (seven trips covering quite a bit of western Europe and the British Isles). Also our many trips to the United States revealed some interesting items that we grew to enjoy at the time. 

Minus 28 degrees celsius and it is cleaning day

 Another cold night and minus 28 degrees celsius at 6:00 a.m. It is supposed to warm up to minus 5 though today and a warming trend. Time will tell. Generally March is a warmer month than January and February but the Arctic Vortex controls the weather not anything else. Another day in cold snowy covered Canada but I do love the winter. I can manage quite a bit of cold but the house is heated which makes a big difference. I always remember one summer's day not long after one of the students came from Africa and said in his liberal fashion Canada should really accept far more people to come and live here. That was way back in the mid 1990s and we have always had controlled migration because it is a lot of work to immigrate into this land and establish yourself. By mid January following that comment, he said he had no idea how people could live in this country so I suggested he might want to invest in heavy clothing because it has just begun still another couple of months to go before that warm sunshine would heat up our world here and melt away the snows. It continues being a great truth. That is the paradox of Canada really - beautiful in the warm summer months but really cold in the winter and the further north you go the colder it is. 

Cleaning day and it is the top floor; I have moved to my new methodology of cleaning with my combining the basement with the main floor rather than the two floors above the basement together. It was too much for this old woman for sure as I approach 80 years. Should have done that a few years ago but I am stubborn and just kept doing it but the past couple of weeks have been much better and less exhausting. Everyone has to learn logic in their lives; no one is exempt really. The path forward should always be the path that best suits you. 

The Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter is published on the website and it is up to Volume 10 Issue 2 2025. The newsletters are shrinking and will continue to do that as I concentrate on the books. This interval is not going to be a lot of accomplishment but I will get back to it soon enough. A good break for me and the dogs are a lot of fun. The youngest one woke early but I think I forget to push the couch against the window so that she couldn't look outside and the world is waking up now and some people walk their dogs early although it is a cold one today!

The discussion in the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter is looking at the first and second generation of the Pencombe family at North Molton. The Devon Lay Subsidy 1524-1527 was most helpful in that regard and actually identifies John Pencombe as being the individual who accompanied John Lord Zouch to North Molton. I am becoming more and more convinced that likely this was an accompaniment which the King (Henry VII) requested as John Lord Zouch was attainted following the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1483 (John Lord Zouch supported Richard III against Henry VIII and paid the price for that for a short period - the attainment was lifted less than ten years later and he returned to his somewhat diminished properties to live out the rest of his life. But the Pencombe family arrived in North Molton and there they stayed in the North Devon area into the present day although my line came to Upper Canada in March 1851 having arrived on the North American continent at the Port of New York on the 7th January 1851. They traveled to Genesee New York where his older brother was living (he had gone to the United States prior to 1835 then returning to England to marry and the two of them returned to New York in 1835 where their two sons were born. Eventually that family ended up in the mid-West and I have corresponded with them. But my ancestor John Pincomb decided to make his home in the now London area of Southwestern Ontario. Land was definitely cheaper in Ontario and was perhaps the draw no ideas on that. No one ever said that I recall. 

Probably not much work done on Richard Blake's will today but we will see. I can sort of see that the gist of it that I acquired twelve years ago is pretty close but I would like to untangle the latin that is somewhat difficult to read so might work away at that. 

Already the 3rd of March 2025 and this year has been a rather astronomical one already; one never knows what the next day will bring.