I decided to take a break from work on a rainy Sunday afternoon to read the new issue of the New York Times Magazine. And what do you think I found?

The stupid smug face of the useless rich Papa’s boy Justin Trudeau. There is no escaping from this fellow.

Since being sworn in 15 seconds ago, Trudeau has already managed to turn his rich spoiled brattiness into the country’s issue #1. For two weeks, Canada has been debating whether it’s reasonable to use public funds to pay for the 2 (TWO!) nannies this wealthy man is employing. Apparently, expecting Trudeau to pay for his own damn nannies is way too much to ask. In the meanwhile, the same Trudeau is taking away the childcare subsidies of the working middle class.

From the Nanny State to state nannies for the fortunate few, this is the journey that Canada is traveling with Trudeau whose political philosophy rests on creating as many divisions, antagonisms, and resentments among Canadians as possible.

It’s like Canadians are playing a cruel joke on the immigrants. First they welcome them into a kinder, gentler version of Canada where everybody is super stoked to see them, the Prime Minister rushes to embrace them, the helpful bureaucrats show up of their own free will to facilitate the paperwork acquisition, there are free pre-paid international phone cards, toys, clothes, beautifully appointed rest areas, etc. 

So the immigrants understandably think, “Ah, this is what Canada is like!”

But after Canadians decide that they’ve derived all the value they could from this new toy, they toss it and move on. And the immigrants get to emigrate for the second time. This time, they arrive in the real Canada, a capitalist society that is harsh, unforgiving, with a bureaucracy that is anything but helpful, locals who are not that welcoming or eager to have them there, and a realization that free cheese in this society can only be found in mousetraps.

And it’s like, “Ta-da! Gotcha, you fools! Did you really think that the fake Canada constructed for the sake of making the Prime Minister look good is real?”

One positive thing is that most refugees are not active on Canadian social media and don’t read the Canadian press so they have no exposure just yet to the avalanche of smug, self-congratulatory writing Canadians engage in on the subject of their arrival.

A second group of Syrian refugees arrived in Toronto on late Thursday night. They were sponsored by Canada’s Armenian community. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at the airport greeting everyone. It was extremely touching. All very given their Social Insurance Number card as well as their Health Insurance Card.

When we arrived in Toronto as immigrants, nobody gave us SIN and Health Insurance cards. We had to go through the entire (convoluted and painful, especially for an immigrant) process of getting them on our own. And that was a very good, helpful thing.

People who want to live in Canada need to know how to engage with the country’s complex bureaucratic system. This is not a fun process but the experience of standing in five different lines that will finally take you to the Health Insurance card is important on both a symbolic and a practical level and helps you feel like all other Canadians.

There are rites of passage for every immigrant where they integrate themselves into the new society in a way that absolutely does have to be somewhat uncomfortable. Finding a place of your own, figuring out what a “security deposit” is, getting registered with the electrical company and the phone company – I still get a headache when I remember how I navigated this process (and twice within just 3 months, too) as a newcomer to Canada. (I also had to get the blasted SIN and HIC twice because my first ones were stolen in the first year of immigration.)

But these were all invaluable experiences. I’m not resentful about them but grateful. Canadians treated me, right from the start, as one of their own and not as a rare zoo animal or a circus freak who has to be coddled for exactly as long as s/he can provide touching photo ops and then cast aside for the benefit of a fresher one-day wonder. 

I just hope that these things were more thought out and immigrants were not subdivided into the categories of “those we want to integrate” and “those we don’t want to integrate” from the start.

Russia celebrated its Constitution Day today. As part of the festivities, one of the authors of the current constitution was arrested in Moscow for exercising one of the rights guaranteed in the constitution he authored, i.e. the right to peacefully protest.

Kirchner lost in Argentina, chavismo suffered a huge defeat in Venezuela. This looks like a very hopeful moment for Latin America.

Even as recently as the 1960s it was still perfectly acceptable for an eminent historian to speak of “the Spaniards of the paleolithic era” and the temperamental qualities they share with the Spaniards of the XXth century.

Today such a statement would cause a huge burst of laughter.

Is the idiot who was telling me that tenured professors can’t be fired because his brain-dead bozo buddy told him so still around? Hello, loser, this is for you:

At least a dozen faculty at the College of Saint Rose were informed Friday that their positions are being cut.

The faculty who are being let go include several longtime and tenured members.

Whenever I mention that I watch Dr. Phil, people begin to snob over me in a way that makes me suspect they only interrupted their rereading of Baudrillard to notice my blog for two minutes.

Of course, there are many silly Dr. Phil segments but there are also very important ones where Dr. Phil educates the woefully ignorant audience about some basics of human psychology.

To give an example, the favorite argument of the proponents of “there is no connection between the process of parenting and its results” philosophy is that children who grow up in the same family are always very different. Often, these idiots claim triumphantly, one sibling is good and another is bad, so what is this if not proof that some people are born bad and nobody is responsible for their badness?

In yesterday’s segment, Dr. Phil explained to the stunned audience that roles are assigned inside families and children have no choice but follow the script. Many families have a black sheep because it’s easier to revel in one’s goodness against the background of losership or evilness the black sheep provides.

We’ve all known families where one sister is pretty and the other one is bookish or one brother is athletic and another one nerdy. In reality, neither we nor these siblings know what they really are like. They are playing roles handed to them (mostly, but not always, without consciously meaning to do so) because it’s easier to control them this way. Pretty and Smart will always feel too different and too resentful of each other to form a profound relationship. And people who lack an ally are easy to control.

This is also a strategy that induces a permanent sense of guilt in a person who feels that s/he can never be all s/he needs to be. Athletic will feel guilty for not being as smart as Nerd, and Nerd will feel clumsy and unpopular next to Athletic. People who are perennially guilty and who feel not good enough are, again, very easy to control.

You don’t need to have siblings to be part of this dynamic. A super neat mother might have a messy daughter who’ll never even suspect that her messiness is nothing but a way to please Mommy by letting her cleanliness shine brighter against the background of the hapless daughter. A professionally successful father might have a deadbeat son who has no idea that his incapacity to hold down a job is a favor he keeps doing for Daddy. And so on. It’s important not to be confused by the protestations of Mommy and Daddy that they want the exact opposite of what they are getting. What we really want can best be seen in what we actually have (constantly and not situationally, of course) and not in our protestations.

Even a local jewelry store is mocking me in my woe. Its promotional message is, “IF IT SNOWS OVER 2 INCHES ON CHRISTMAS, YOUR DIAMOND PURCHASE IS ON US!”

I just went out to pick up the paper in the sundress I wore in Florida back in August, so yeah, the diamonds are safe.

Italy and unnamed Southern European allies are trying to block anti-Putin sanctions. That will bring them nothing positive whatsoever but yelping like stupid little puppies is all that these countries can do in the direction of the parental EU authorities. 

If Italy and Co tried to make something of themselves on their own, that would be one thing. But they want kind Uncle Putin to adopt them instead of the mean Auntie Merkel, and that’s just pathetic.

Sic transit, indeed, my friends. What Italy and Greece used to be and what they are now. . .