Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: My girlfriend and I are in love, living together — a deeply committed couple who’d like to go travelling. She wants to quickly get married before we do that, “because of less trouble crossing borders.” I think that’s NOT a very romantic reason for getting married!

Now she’s upset and questioning why she’s even “just living” with me! I don’t know what to say. I just don’t want to get married unromantically, for travel’s sake. It’s a feeling deep in my gut. What do you think? — Romantic Canadian Guy, Winnipeg

Dear Romantic Canuck: There are cracks growing in your relationship right now as expressed by your girlfriend, who’s questioning why you’re “just living together.”

Could you do some Canadian exploration together for now, and test out how you travel longer-term as a couple — and then decide on marriage, before you consider leaving the safety of this modern country?

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I received an angry, old-fashioned breakup letter from my boyfriend today with “What I should have sent you” printed on the envelope. It was a nasty followup to a kinder text message he sent me the day before with some of his regrets about the two of us and about himself.

This one listed all my faults — social, political, personal and sexual. I guess he had taken time to really dig around in his strange little mind. He’s definitely not short on cutting remarks.

I don’t know which of the two makes me madder. Should I respond to either?

— Shaking My Head, downtown Winnipeg

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I recently forgot my girlfriend’s birthday and went to the bar with my friends instead. She phoned me at 10 p.m. and told me I was dumped. So, I got a little drunker and went over at midnight to her parents’ house where she lives and started singing Happy Birthday to her out on the front lawn!

Her dad came out and told me, “Get lost and never come back!” and that he was calling the cops next. My two buddies and I took off fast.

Now my girlfriend won’t even pick up the phone. It was just a little mistake. I really do love her! It was a bit late, but I put a stuffed animal and a card on her lawn last night saying I loved her. What can I do next?

— Blew It For Good? South St. Vital

For several decades now, if you have been a patient suspected to have a chronic disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, etc, your typical route to get care is to meet with your primary care provider (family physician or nurse practitioner), if you have one, and be referred to a specialist physician.

Once diagnosed with one of these chronic diseases, ongoing care will typically be provided by your primary care provider and by the specialist.

The frequency of specialist visits will depend on the nature of your specific chronic disease and the style of practice of the specialist. If your chronic disease is uncomplicated, this paradigm can work well enough for patients.

If your disease becomes complicated or at least very active, you will need more immediate input from your primary care provider and/or specialist. This is one of the “pressure points” for patients and, if not appropriately managed, patients may have delayed care that will compromise their health, and/or spend inordinate amounts of time in emergency departments.

If Donald Trump were a religious man, he might have said “There but for the grace of God go I” when he heard that former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years in prison. Bolsonaro’s crime was to have plotted a coup to take back the presidency he lost in the 2022 election.

Trump is acutely aware of the similarities between Bolsonaro’s case and his own bumbling, half-hearted attempt to incite a coup on Jan. 6, 2021. Both men were voted out after a single term in office, both immediately declared that the election had been stolen by the opposition, and both then chickened out of a coup at the last moment.

Trump feels the parallels so keenly that he did not just condemn the Bolsonaro trial, claiming that it was a “witch-hunt.” Although the United States has a positive trade balance with Brazil, Trump has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on imports from Brazil as an explicit punishment for putting his friend and ally on trial.

Trump must be feeling close to all-powerful right now. Only eight months into his second term after a triumphant comeback election, he is nearing the point where he can sweep the whole 238-year-old constitutional apparatus of the United States aside and rule by decree.