One of the more remarkable things to observe right now is Donald Trump claiming that Canadians wish for their country to join the United States, which we absolutely do not, while Canada contributes fire fighting aircraft to the terrible fires in California.
This speaks highly in favor of Canadians, who continue to support the US in this sort of aid while the putative future chief executive insults their intelligence and sovereignty.
Of course, the same supposed economic genius has said Canada has nothing the US wants, quite the statement in regard to one of the US's largest trading partners, which begs the question why the aged wanna be Napoleon of the West wants it. Is there some club in Moscow where you get a key to the special dining room by threatening this kind of stuff?
Of course, the same childish brain that has insulted Canada, Panama and Denmark in the last couple of weeks (a Danish friend of mine who lives in Greenland refers to him as the "Orange Clown") also has assigned one of his sophomoric nicknames to California's Governor, and is blaming him for the forest fires that the "drill baby drill" mentality is contributing to.
The 25th Amendment can 't be invoked soon enough.
According to the Quality of Life Index, one way of measuring the Quality of Life, in 2025 these were the countries with the top ten rank in that category. We've included some others as well.
The flag of Luxembourg. Luxembourg doesn't want to be part of the US, but I'm sure Donald Trump thinks it does.
Country. Quality of Life, Purchasing Power, Safety Index, Cost of Living, Traffic, Pollution, Climate
1 Luxembourg 220.1 184.3 65.8 75.2 64.8 8.6 27.0 23.3 82.6
2 Netherlands 211.3 134.5 73.1 79.3 60.5 7.7 23.5 21.6 87.2
3 Denmark 209.9 137.3 74.0 78.4 66.9 6.5 27.8 20.6 82.5
4 Oman 208.9 153.8 81.7 65.1 39.8 3.1 22.1 35.6 67.2
5 Switzerland 205.0 164.8 73.5 71.5 98.4 11.0 33.0 23.1 79.2
6 Finland 203.8 127.6 73.2 77.5 58.7 8.0 25.5 11.8 58.6
7 Iceland 202.0 127.9 74.3 67.6 83.4 6.7 21.4 16.0 68.8
8 Norway 195.0 122.7 67.0 75.6 69.0 8.4 26.4 18.3 68.5
9 Qatar 193.3 185.7 84.2 73.4 47.5 5.2 29.0 60.0 36.0
10 Sweden 193.2 133.8 52.0 68.3 54.2 7.7 28.7 17.6 76.5
11 Austria 192.9 110.0 70.5 77.9 60.7 11.5 23.8 20.9 77.8
12 New Zealand 192.5 134.4 51.8 68.4 55.3 7.3 32.2 26.1 95.5
13 Australia 192.2 140.0 52.7 73.4 60.9 8.1 37.4 26.8 93.8
14 Germany 190.2 130.7 60.6 71.9 58.4 8.9 29.7 28.9 82.9
15 United States 188.8 152.1 50.8 67.8 64.9 3.3 32.9 36.7 78.5
16 Estonia 185.7 86.0 76.3 75.5 49.4 11.4 21.5 17.0 64.3
17 Japan 185.2 122.7 77.1 80.0 45.6 12.2 40.7 38.5 85.3
18 Spain 184.4 101.4 63.4 77.3 43.5 8.5 26.8 35.7 93.6
19 Slovenia 179.3 86.1 76.2 66.1 46.2 13.0 25.2 22.2 76.1
20 United Arab Emirates 177.0 133.9 84.5 70.6 54.1 7.0 35.7 48.1 45.8
21 Saudi Arabia 177.0 149.2 76.1 61.8 41.9 3.1 29.9 62.5 55.3
22 Czech Republic 174.8 91.1 73.5 75.5 42.6 13.5 28.9 34.6 80.1
23 Croatia 174.6 80.8 74.5 64.7 43.2 12.8 25.3 31.2 89.2
24 United Kingdom 174.5 124.0 51.7 72.7 59.2 8.8 34.7 40.7 87.2
25 Lithuania 173.0 81.8 67.6 75.0 44.0 12.4 23.6 26.3 67.8
26 Belgium 169.3 119.1 50.6 75.9 56.5 6.8 34.8 49.2 86.0
27 Portugal 167.8 61.9 67.9 72.2 41.2 14.7 28.5 28.8 97.3
28 Ireland 166.5 113.4 52.4 51.5 59.8 6.7 37.7 35.0 87.8
29 Canada 166.4 112.9 54.3 68.7 58.7 10.2 33.5 29.8 57.8
30 France 166.3 112.8 44.6 77.7 58.0 10.3 34.5 43.5 90.2
31 Latvia 164.7 77.2 62.9 62.4 43.4 8.6 28.7 30.3 74.7
32 Israel 163.6 113.3 68.2 73.2 65.2 13.7 36.5 56.8 93.8
33 Taiwan 160.7 103.5 82.9 86.5 44.4 21.3 32.7 64.2 84.4
34 Kuwait 160.6 180.3 67.2 58.4 40.4 7.3 35.3 69.4 20.2
35 Cyprus 158.5 83.1 66.9 57.1 49.5 8.2 23.6 55.3 92.2
36 Slovakia 157.6 75.8 69.0 58.4 42.1 14.0 27.5 37.1 78.1
37 Poland 153.9 94.2 71.0 58.0 38.9 11.0 31.9 55.4 75.9
38 Singapore 152.8 98.3 77.4 71.8 79.1 23.2 40.7 32.6 57.5
39 South Africa 152.4 114.2 25.3 63.8 30.0 3.2 38.6 56.6 95.3
40 Italy 151.0 87.3 53.1 65.1 51.0 9.5 32.4 53.5 90.2
41 South Korea 147.7 107.2 75.1 82.8 56.5 22.2 40.3 60.9 68.4
42 Hungary 144.6 72.4 66.3 54.3 36.6 13.0 35.6 46.5 78.7
43 Bulgaria 143.8 76.0 63.9 58.1 35.4 9.3 29.2 62.8 82.8
44 Romania 142.2 74.7 67.7 56.5 34.0 10.3 33.4 58.7 76.2
45 Uruguay 139.8 55.2 48.0 68.6 46.3 13.0 39.5 43.5 98.0
46 Greece 138.1 60.7 53.6 58.5 46.5 13.0 32.8 49.4 91.8
47 Malaysia 135.8 85.6 51.1 70.3 29.7 8.7 37.3 61.0 56.6
48 Bosnia And Herzegovina 134.8 64.3 58.3 55.6 31.6 13.2 26.0 59.7 80.5
49 Hong Kong (China) 134.0 105.5 78.5 66.1 73.6 29.1 41.8 66.5 83.6
50 Malta 132.7 77.8 57.0 52.5 48.0 11.2 28.1 75.5 97.4
51 Turkey 131.1 52.6 58.8 71.2 34.7 10.7 43.7 64.3 93.3
52 Costa Rica 129.4 52.3 45.9 64.3 50.1 10.3 60.0 42.0 99.5
53 Ecuador 128.5 46.6 37.5 77.1 30.0 11.9 36.6 59.0 98.7
54 Belarus 127.5 56.1 50.2 48.5 25.0 12.8 31.2 44.9 64.4
55 Mexico 126.3 48.3 46.6 72.5 34.5 11.8 39.1 58.4 85.3
56 Jordan 125.0 52.6 60.0 65.2 37.2 7.0 39.4 77.1 89.0
57 Georgia 124.9 40.8 73.7 55.6 30.4 12.7 38.4 67.8 88.5
58 Serbia 124.8 59.1 62.8 52.1 35.9 16.0 30.7 65.8 83.2
59 Panama 124.4 47.9 57.3 60.7 43.9 11.2 35.2 55.6 67.8
60 India 124.0 83.9 55.7 65.5 19.5 10.9 46.5 72.9 63.3
61 China 121.4 80.0 76.0 68.7 30.7 28.5 38.7 77.3 79.2
62 North Macedonia 120.3 60.7 58.9 55.1 30.3 12.3 24.9 79.6 76.3
63 Armenia 119.7 38.8 77.9 59.0 39.6 19.4 29.3 62.3 63.4
64 Argentina 118.0 41.9 36.6 68.0 35.7 17.7 43.8 50.8 98.3
65 Brazil 117.9 43.2 35.5 59.1 25.6 15.2 40.4 52.9 97.4
66 Tunisia 117.3 35.3 54.9 57.2 25.5 12.2 33.4 70.1 93.2
67 Russia 116.6 57.6 61.3 61.5 22.3 14.3 43.3 59.0 47.4
68 Ukraine 115.0 47.4 53.0 55.9 24.6 13.6 37.9 62.1 70.7
69 Azerbaijan 113.5 42.4 68.2 48.3 29.5 15.6 40.6 72.7 91.4
70 Morocco 110.8 42.6 52.2 46.8 27.2 13.4 35.2 68.7 85.2
71 Colombia 108.8 36.9 39.1 68.6 26.0 18.1 47.0 62.5 98.4
72 Chile 107.3 52.2 39.5 63.5 35.1 15.6 36.0 77.5 90.2
73 Kazakhstan 106.8 52.3 54.8 60.7 26.6 9.9 35.5 73.2 39.8
74 Thailand 106.2 47.2 62.7 77.5 33.7 25.2 38.4 75.7 69.4
75 Albania 104.3 43.7 55.3 48.2 39.9 15.3 36.7 77.0 86.4
76 Pakistan 104.2 30.9 56.3 59.3 17.8 14.3 38.0 73.3 71.9
77 Indonesia 102.4 34.7 54.0 60.9 24.6 14.9 42.8 68.0 63.8
78 Kenya 101.7 35.9 44.0 62.0 28.2 18.5 50.6 69.0 99.8
79 Lebanon 100.1 36.0 53.2 63.7 38.8 15.0 38.7 89.4 94.7
80 Philippines 96.9 38.1 56.9 67.3 28.8 22.2 41.3 72.4 61.2
81 Vietnam 95.8 43.4 59.2 61.3 26.6 25.8 29.7 84.2 71.2
82 Peru 86.0 39.1 32.9 56.3 29.4 18.4 49.8 82.4 97.7
83 Iran 85.6 29.1 49.5 52.8 23.6 19.7 46.7 75.2 71.0
84 Egypt 85.3 21.4 52.7 47.3 19.0 18.2 48.0 82.7 92.0
85 Sri Lanka 81.1 18.5 57.9 71.4 33.5 34.2 54.5 57.9 59.1
86 Venezuela 79.7 16.0 19.3 38.7 35.9 15.1 32.8 75.1 99.9
87 Bangladesh 73.9 35.9 38.4 42.2 20.9 12.8 57.1 85.4 71.3
88 Nigeria 21.5 11.1 33.4 49.1 26.4 45.7 65.3 87.9 60.8
So, as you can see, we're number 15.
Denmark, whose possession Donald Trump is demanding, is 3.
Canada does come in at 29, to my surprise. Lower than I would have thought.
Flag of Finland, which also doesn't want to be part of the US.
How about happiness? I.e., the countries with the happiest populations?
This is how that comes out. The number next to the country is its rank:
Finland 1 7.74 -0.06 1 7.8 1 7.82
Denmark 2 7.58 -0.01 2 7.59 2 7.64
Iceland 3 7.53 3 7.53 3 7.56
Sweden 4 7.34 -0.05 6 7.39 7 7.38
Israel 5 7.34 -0.13 4 7.47 9 7.36
Netherlands 6 7.32 -0.08 5 7.4 5 7.42
Norway 7 7.3 -0.02 7 7.32 8 7.37
Luxembourg 8 7.12 -0.11 9 7.23 6 7.4
Switzerland 9 7.06 -0.18 8 7.24 4 7.51
Australia 10 7.06 -0.04 12 7.09 12 7.16
New Zealand 11 7.03 -0.09 10 7.12 10 7.2
Costa Rica 12 6.96 0.35 23 6.61 23 6.58
Kuwait 13 6.95 50 6.11
Austria 14 6.91 -0.19 11 7.1 11 7.16
Canada 15 6.9 -0.06 13 6.96 15 7.03
Belgium 16 6.89 0.03 17 6.86 19 6.8
Ireland 17 6.84 -0.07 14 6.91 13 7.04
Czech Republic 18 6.82 -0.02 18 6.84 18 6.92
Lithuania 19 6.82 0.06 20 6.76 34 6.45
United Kingdom 20 6.75 -0.05 19 6.8 17 6.94
Slovenia 21 6.74 0.09 22 6.65 22 6.63
United Arab Emirates 22 6.73 0.16 26 6.57 24 6.58
United States 23 6.73 -0.16 15 6.89 16 6.98
Germany 24 6.72 -0.17 16 6.89 14 7.03
Mexico 25 6.68 0.35 36 6.33 46 6.13
Uruguay 26 6.61 0.12 28 6.49 30 6.47
France 27 6.61 -0.05 21 6.66 20 6.69
Saudi Arabia 28 6.59 0.13 30 6.46 25 6.52
Singapore 30 6.52 -0.07 25 6.59 27 6.48
Taiwan 31 6.5 -0.04 27 6.54 26 6.51
Romania 32 6.49 -0.1 24 6.59 28 6.48
El Salvador 33 6.47 0.35 50 6.12 49 6.12
Estonia 34 6.45 0 31 6.46 36 6.34
Poland 35 6.44 0.18 39 6.26 48 6.12
Spain 36 6.42 -0.02 32 6.44 29 6.48
Serbia 37 6.41 0.27 45 6.14 43 6.18
Chile 38 6.36 0.03 35 6.33 44 6.17
Panama 39 6.36 0.1 38 6.26 37 6.31
Malta 40 6.35 0.05 37 6.3 33 6.45
Italy 41 6.32 -0.08 33 6.41 31 6.47
Guatemala 42 6.29 0.14 43 6.15 39 6.26
Nicaragua 43 6.28 0.02 40 6.26 45 6.17
Brazil 44 6.27 0.14 49 6.13 38 6.29
Slovakia 45 6.26 -0.21 29 6.47 35 6.39
Latvia 46 6.23 0.02 41 6.21 42 6.18
Uzbekistan 47 6.2 0.19 54 6.01 53 6.06
Argentina 48 6.19 0.17 52 6.02 57 5.97
Kazakhstan 49 6.19 0.05 44 6.14 40 6.23
Cyprus 50 6.07 -0.06 46 6.13 41 6.22
Japan 51 6.06 -0.07 47 6.13 54 6.04
South Korea 52 6.06 0.11 57 5.95 59 5.93
Philippines 53 6.05 0.53 76 5.52 60 5.9
Vietnam 54 6.04 0.28 65 5.76 77 5.49
Portugal 55 6.03 0.06 56 5.97 56 6.02
Hungary 56 6.02 -0.02 51 6.04 51 6.09
Paraguay 57 5.98 0.24 66 5.74 73 5.58
Thailand 58 5.98 0.14 60 5.84 61 5.89
Malaysia 59 5.98 -0.03 55 6.01 70 5.71
China 60 5.97 0.15 64 5.82 72 5.58
Honduras 61 5.97 -0.05 53 6.02 55 6.02
Bahrain 62 5.96 -0.21 42 6.17 21 6.65
Croatia 63 5.94 -0.18 48 6.13 47 6.13
Greece 64 5.93 0 58 5.93 58 5.95
Bosnia and Herzegovina 65 5.88 0.25 71 5.63 67 5.77
Libya 66 5.87 86 5.33
Jamaica 67 5.84 0.14 68 5.7 63 5.85
Peru 68 5.84 0.31 75 5.53 74 5.56
Dominican Republic 69 5.82 0.25 73 5.57 69 5.74
Mauritius 70 5.82 -0.08 59 5.9 52 6.07
Moldova 71 5.82 0 63 5.82 62 5.86
Russia 72 5.79 0.13 70 5.66 80 5.46
Bolivia 73 5.78 0.1 69 5.68 71 5.6
Ecuador 74 5.73 0.17 74 5.56 76 5.55
Montenegro 75 5.71 -0.01 67 5.72 75 5.55
Mongolia 77 5.7 -0.14 61 5.84 68 5.76
Colombia 78 5.7 0.07 72 5.63 66 5.78
Venezuela 79 5.61 0.4 88 5.21 108 4.92
Indonesia 80 5.57 0.29 84 5.28 87 5.24
Bulgaria 81 5.46 -0.01 77 5.47 85 5.37
Armenia 82 5.46 0.12 79 5.34 82 5.4
South Africa 83 5.42 0.14 85 5.28 91 5.19
North Macedonia 84 5.37 0.12 87 5.25 89 5.2
Algeria 85 5.36 0.03 81 5.33 96 5.12
Hong Kong 86 5.32 0.01 82 5.31 81 5.42
Albania 87 5.3 0.02 83 5.28 90 5.2
Tajikistan 88 5.28 -0.05 80 5.33 83 5.38
Republic of the Congo 89 5.22 -0.05 86 5.27 99 5.08
Mozambique 90 5.22 0.27 97 4.95 101 5.05
Georgia 91 5.19 0.08 90 5.11 105 4.97
Iraq 92 5.17 0.23 98 4.94 107 4.94
Nepal 93 5.16 -0.2 78 5.36 84 5.38
Laos 94 5.14 0.03 89 5.11 95 5.14
Gabon 95 5.11 0.08 94 5.04 106 4.96
Ivory Coast 96 5.08 0.03 93 5.05 88 5.24
Guinea 97 5.02 -0.05 91 5.07 109 4.89
Turkey 98 4.98 0.37 106 4.61 112 4.74
Senegal 99 4.97 0.11 102 4.86 103 5.05
Iran 100 4.92 0.04 101 4.88 110 4.89
Azerbaijan 101 4.89 92 5.17
Nigeria 102 4.88 -0.1 95 4.98 118 4.55
Palestine 103 4.88 -0.03 99 4.91 122 4.48
Cameroon 104 4.87 -0.1 96 4.97 102 5.05
Ukraine 105 4.87 -0.2 92 5.07 98 5.08
Namibia 106 4.83 0.2 105 4.63 124 4.46
Morocco 107 4.8 -0.1 100 4.9 100 5.06
Pakistan 108 4.66 0.11 108 4.55 121 4.52
Niger 109 4.56 0.06 109 4.5 104 5
Burkina Faso 110 4.55 -0.09 104 4.64 113 4.67
Mauritania 111 4.51 -0.21 103 4.72 133 4.15
Gambia 112 4.49 0.21 119 4.28 93 5.16
Chad 113 4.47 0.07 114 4.4 130 4.25
Kenya 114 4.47 -0.02 111 4.49 119 4.54
Tunisia 115 4.42 -0.08 110 4.5 120 4.52
Benin 116 4.38 0.01 116 4.37 115 4.62
Uganda 117 4.37 -0.06 113 4.43 117 4.6
Myanmar 118 4.35 -0.02 117 4.37 126 4.39
Cambodia 119 4.34 -0.05 115 4.39 114 4.64
Ghana 120 4.29 -0.32 107 4.61 111 4.87
Liberia 121 4.27 0.23 125 4.04 97 5.12
Mali 122 4.23 0.03 120 4.2 123 4.48
Madagascar 123 4.23 0.21 127 4.02 128 4.34
Togo 124 4.21 0.07 122 4.14 135 4.11
Jordan 125 4.19 0.07 123 4.12 134 4.15
India 126 4.05 0.01 126 4.04 136 3.78
Egypt 127 3.98 -0.19 121 4.17 129 4.29
Sri Lanka 128 3.9 -0.54 112 4.44 127 4.36
Bangladesh 129 3.89 -0.39 118 4.28 94 5.16
Ethiopia 130 3.86 -0.23 124 4.09 131 4.24
Tanzania 131 3.78 0.09 129 3.69 139 3.7
Comoros 132 3.57 0.02 130 3.54 116 4.61
Yemen 133 3.56 132 4.2
Zambia 134 3.5 -0.48 128 3.98 137 3.76
Eswatini 135 3.5 125 4.4
Malawi 136 3.42 -0.08 131 3.5 138 3.75
Botswana 137 3.38 -0.06 132 3.44 142 3.47
Zimbabwe 138 3.34 0.14 134 3.2 144 3
DR Congo 139 3.3 0.09 133 3.21
Sierra Leone 140 3.25 0.11 135 3.14 140 3.57
Lesotho 141 3.19 141 3.51
Lebanon 142 2.71 0.32 136 2.39 145 2.96
Afghanistan 143 1.72 -0.14 137 1.86 146 2.4
Rwanda 143 3.27
Belarus 65 5.82
Turkmenistan 78 5.47
Kyrgyzstan 62 5.83 64 5.83
The US comes in at 23, right between the UAE and Germany.
Canada is 15. Denmark is 2.
Finland is No. 1, as it always is. Denmark always rates way high.
Why do I note this?
As one of my foreign friend, a Dane living in Greenland, calls him, The Orange Clown has been doing a lot of babbling about how Canadians and Greenlanders want to join the US.
They do not, which has not stopped our putative president elect from spreading lies about how they do.
It's worth listening to.
It's worth listening to as its interesting history, but it's also worth listening to as its an example of history rhyming. Our current putative president elect lies at an epic rate. But people believe him and fall in line. Indeed the gap between lie and full scale Republican adoption of the lie now moves at warp speed. If Trump declared he was going to nuke Alabama, Tommy Tuberville would have reasons why it was a good thing to nuke Alabama and Fox News would soon declare that Alabama had always been a Monarchist Communist Fascist den of iniquity that deserved nuking.
Indeed, within the last week, a fellow I know who is very well educated, but who really isn't well informed, insisted on telling me that Canada wants to join the US and that the Chinese were running the Panama Canal, both lies, but he believes them.
Interesting times.
Footnotes:
*The radios were Volksempfänger and made to be as cheap as possible. It's interesting here to note the use of the word "Volk" in that context, which of course means "the people", or "the German people". Even today people will get into debates on whether the Nazi Party was a socialist party, as its name indicated, or a fascist party, or something sui generis. At the end of the day, it was, no matter what else it was, a populist party, and like most successful populist movements, it had to shine its populism back in the face of "the people" so they felt that the party represented them. The other notable "Volk" item was, of course, the Volkswagen, or "people's car", which was likewise designed for mass production.
Last edition:
Labels: 2020s, 2025, Donald Trump, Government, J. D. Vance, Populism, Predictions, Republican Party, Sedevacantism, The 2021 Insurrection, The Second Trump Administration, Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus, Zeitgeist
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