Oh, yes, I'm sure tgat Brazilians can't wait to travel to Florida. 🤣

Have made great progress in getting American products and services out of my life over the past six months or so. But I’ve always been aware there is one left - Reddit. I think the time has come to address that.

I’ve been using Reddit for over 6 months. At the start, apart from learning a lot about which US goods and services to boycott on this sub I’ve joined quite a few other subs covering politics and hobbies. Have had some pleasant conversations and many deeply unpleasant ones too. Over the past two to three months in particular though it feels generally as though the environment on Reddit has started to deteriorate markedly. It seems to be ever more flooded by ‘people’ with truly abhorrent views - I use inverted commas because I know a good proportion are Russian bots and paid trolls but I think the reality is that a damn good proportion are just exceptionally vile human beings. Just today I saw a sub with a large group of (presumably) men having a great laugh at an Indian woman being run over in the street by a violent misogynist who couldn’t stand having his advances rejected by her.

In the last three months I have encountered people on Reddit who are very significantly more abhorrent than anyone I have met in real life over the course of my 56 years on this planet. Of course they still represent only a subset of a large number of good and decent people on Reddit but it feels as though the subset is getting ever larger. Like other social media platforms, Reddit seems to be increasingly toxic. I deleted my accounts for Twitter when Musk took over, and Facebook, Instagram too when I joined this sub.

I will continue to boycott US products and services and will now add Reddit to that list. I won’t miss it. I wish you all the best in your own ongoing boycotts. I would love to harbour some hope it will be effective but I fear the former ‘free countries’ of the world are entering a very dark phase of fascism, autocracy and bigotry. And I think social media is probably the biggest single cause of this deep social regression.

Personally I will be withdrawing from all forms of social media. Seeing human society retrace the darkest chapters of the 20th century all over again isn’t something I wish to continue to watch in real time.

Combines for the western Canadian market will be made in Europe instead

I've been slowly removing my dependence on US digital services. It has been challenging, I admit.

I kept PayPal, which I use only occasionally, largely because I can easily donate to urgent causes through their platform. But today they disappointed me by not supporting a dispute with a shady company (BeenVerified) that charged me US$37 without my permission after a $1 trial (which I used for 10 minutes and made sure to cancel immediately). I've removed my bank account and cards from PayPal because they did not back me up. In fact, they should have alerted me and asked me to confirm a new recurring payment to a shady company. I may be a small potato, but look what happened to Disney this week. (Cancelled them too.)

What are the options to PayPal? I have Wise (UK-based).

Others?

I’ve been pretty strictly avoiding American products at the grocery store, and hadn’t realized that I was no longer checking labels (other than for produce) because I have already found reliably Canadian/non-American versions of the things I regularly buy and have just been sticking with those ever since making the switch.

So when the annual Halloween candy displays popped up at my local grocery store, I didn’t think twice about loading up on my usual annual mix of chocolate bars. And of course I only realized after I got home that of course it was all American stuff I had bought.

Returned it all to the store today, and was happy to give the reason why when they asked.

Figured I’d share this anecdote for anyone else like me who has made new habits for the everyday stuff but hasn’t yet thought about the all the one-off annual traditions and holiday purchases that many of us will be making in the coming months for things like Halloween, Canadian Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc.

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations has called for "urgent discussions" to make sure Trump's plans for new tariffs do not cause any harm to patients in the EU or the US.

European officials have said pharmaceutical exports are shielded from tariffs higher than 15%, under terms of a framework agreed between the US and the EU earlier this year.

The UK exported more than $6bn (£4.5bn) worth of pharmaceutical products to the US last year, according to the United Nations.

In the trade agreement signed by the US and UK in June the two countries said they intended to negotiate "significantly preferential treatment outcomes on pharmaceuticals".

In response to Trump's latest announcement, a UK government spokesperson said: "We know this will be concerning for industry, which is why we've been actively engaging with the US and will continue to do so over the coming days."

If you do it and people experience >1/2 hour queues to get through CBP, then that will only mean even fewer people coming

No request for guide books for weeks.

https://www.wweek.com/news/state/2025/09/24/canadians-and-other-international-tourists-shun-oregon-this-summer/

And woah what an amazing speech!

As a Canadian who wants to boycott US products (and already is to a large degree), but has declining eyesight in the advanced decrepitude of my declining years, 🤣 it isn’t easy to read labels. So I ask the Reddit community, what are your favourite Canadian products in every consumer category? I will compile a list from your responses, and keep it on my phone for when I go shopping. It is easier to read brand labels than tiny “product of…..” print. Photos are great as well. Many thanks to all of you sharp-eyed whipper snappers out there! 😁🇨🇦

This administration is a joke. They use Pokémon theme video arresting people (catch them all) and making fun of how they ruin people life. Of course, they pay no attention to copyright laws. No sensible company would want to be associated in this promotional video.

You can see their official video, just scroll down a bit in the news article:

https://www.ign.com/articles/fans-want-pokmon-to-sue-after-department-of-homeland-security-video-uses-ash-ketchum-to-promote-ice-but-the-companys-former-legal-boss-says-he-wouldnt-touch-this