March 07: Ah-Ah-Ah, Vera Lynn.....

Vera Lynn was the darling of the troops in World War 2. She was the darling,, too, of this kid who heard a recording of her when he was six or so. And I just learned she is still alive at 102.

Listen to We'll Meet Again, There'll Be Blue Birds Over the White Cliffs of Dover,and oh, listen to all you can find on the web. And catch the magic of the response of the thousands of soldiers who listened to her. And that's really when you have to watch her and feel the atmosphere - when she was singing to the troops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5C4meGkNyc
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5C4meGkNyc
_https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/mar/06/salvini-crackdown-bulldozers-clear-italian-camp-housing-1500-refugees

We face decades of refugees - except that we aren't facing that at all. We are falling back on our racist tradition of deciding the refugee people are inferior to us.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/05/justin-trudeau-canada-government-scandal-cabinet-rallies-behind-pm

Trudeau may well be right. It may well be that no laws have been broken. But...

The reality is that corporations have been buying governments from the beginnings of Canada. Routinely, governments ask corporations for support - and routinely  corporations demand chunks of our tax money. And it's not just the Liberals. It's also been the Conservatives - big time. I don't think we have reached the profound corruption of American government. But we're well on our way.

There are no laws? Of course not. The Liberals, Conservatives and corporations live on this game. Why on earth would they pass laws to stop it?

And Canadians should vote Conservative to clean this up? Get real.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/07/trump-very-disappointed-if-north-korea-rebuilding-rocket-site

The U.S. has thousands of nuclear missiles. North Korea has only a few. The US could obliterate North Korea with a very tiny part of its weapons. North Korea has few - and it's not clear that these could even reach the U.S.

The U.S. fought a war against North Korea in which it killed over a third of the population. It fought that war as a base to invade China. It could certainly fight such a war again. In fact, the U.S. has fought wars non-stop since 1950. It, not North Korea, is the one that's on a tear. It's the one with the capacity for world destruction.
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good news - maybe.

https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/dyer-still-hope-for-peaceful-outcome-in-venezuela
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2019/03/averting-layoffs-poor-excuse-giving-snc-lavalin-pass
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http://www.rabble.ca/columnists/2019/03/how-can-we-counter-corporate-capture-government
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/david-suzuki/2019/03/carbon-climate-and-corruption-coalesce-concrete
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/06/green-new-deal-too-expensive-new-gao-report-details-hundreds-billions-climate
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/07/this-jew-tells-speaker-pelosi-you-may-well-prove-ilhan-omar-correct/

In Canada and the U.S. there is a remarkable   (and painful) change going on in Jewish thinking. Jews are turning against the murderous and thieving state  that Israel has become.

And it's going to be complicated because, in fairness, what is the modern and murderous state of Israel is the product of the horror of a holocaust that was carried out by Naziis but which, in fact,  had the full support of Canada, the U.S., and many others. (Yes. it did. We could have saved large numbers of Jews. But we refused to. And to rub it home, we sent back those who escaped and came to us for shelter.)
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This is a very long but very useful account of disorders and violence in Haiti. No. They don't happen because the people of Haiti are excitable - though that is the impression often given by our news media.

The reality is that the U.S. will tolerate only the most obedient nations in South America and the Caribbean. For over a century, it has maintained governments that keep costs down so that American corporations can make maxiumum profits. ( And Canada has helped the U.S. with 'peacekeepers'. Of course. Canadian corporations want a shot at plundering these countries.)

Occasionally, this has led to violence as people rise against American-imposed dictators and local thugs. The reality of life in South America has been American-imposed poverty, and brutal dictatorship.

Hey. Capitalists do that. They also did it around the world in the British, French, Dutch, Spanish empires. And they still do it with joy. And Canada sends 'peacekeepers'.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/06/why-has-haiti-risen-up-once-again-2/
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The Vennezuela story may be much more complicated than we have been told.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51220.htm
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Most of Latin America is made up of semi-slave colonies of the U.S. That's been true for well over a hundred years. This was actually and openly planned 200 years ago. It exists only the make American billionaires rich. It has been as brutal an empire as those of Britain and the rest of the gang. And they were very brutal, indeed.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51221.htm
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Another very long, but not a cheerful, entry.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51223.htm
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Almost all of Trump's bragging on twitter is untrue.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51228.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51222.htm
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https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/us-homeless-health-impact/

But who gives a damn, right?

If the wealthy would pay their taxes like the rest of us, we could house every homeless family in North America, offer free medical care to everybody in the U.S., and have billions of dollars left over.

But our wealthy are economic pigs. They take - only take. And they cause massive suffering for the rest of us. This is where greed has taken us.
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https://theantimedia.com/trump-cancels-report-civilians-killed-us-drone-strikes/
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https://www.voltairenet.org/article205496.html
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https://www.voltairenet.org/article204656.html
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I began today's blog with Vera  Lynn and World War 2. The wonder of Vera Lynn's singing and the adoration of her listeners was all about the world, the very wonderful world, we were going to create.

"There'll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow when the world is free.'

And we betrayed it.

Capitalists didn't want the world to be free. They wanted it to be ruled by them, and to exist only to serve their greed. That's why the U.S. has invaded some 80 countries since the war. That's why it  has murdered at least twenty million.

We have, very unwisely, bought into their game. Instead of spreading democracy after the war, we gave up democracy so the very wealthy could plunder the world. So we now have rule by greed.

To hell with the poor. They can always sleep on the streets. In the wealthy U.S., they can die there of curable illnesses. We have utterly destroyed any trace of democracy or hope in Latin America, in much of Africa, in the middle east. We have driven our own poor into filth and uncertainty so the top 1% can count their money.

And where is this going to take us? To social and financial collapse.

Our very wealthy - our non-tax paying upper class- live only for greed. And their greed destroys their intelligence. And it makes them destructive. Thus the Irvings and Trumps of this world. And they will destroy themselves - and the rest of us.

Can this be stopped? I don't know. My guess is the time  is very, very short.

"We'll meet again.
Don't know where don't know when...."

We have done enormous damage to ourselves. And the dreadful thing about it is that our Canadian Legion, our Veteran's Group, has always supported those who destroyed "Love and laughter and peace every after."

March 05: No. Things are not getting better.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/antarctica-greenland-weather-1.5011904
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-jane-philpot-resignation-1.5042920

Trudeau is in real trouble. He has now lost two very high profile members of his government - both highly respected for intelligence and honesty.  And that means Canada is now in real trouble. The Liberals have not been an impressive government. But their collapse at this point could well bring to power a Conservative party that is even worse.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/philpott-resignation-1.5042965
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/05/the-last-great-tree-a-majestic-relic-of-canadas-vanishing-boreal-forest
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/04/when-we-say-pharma-greed-kills-what-we-mean-critics-respond-possible-purdue

Always trust your local capitalist.
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http://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/03/wilson-rayboulds-testimony-was-not-about-rule-law
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alberta-diary/2019/03/jason-kenney-promises-massive-corporate-tax-cuts-create-jobs

Think hard. Our very wealthy don't pay taxes. None. Zero. Zilch. So how can cutting their taxes create jobs?

It can't. It never has and it never will. This is the kind of lame-brain politics that Trump specializes in, too. He routinely talks about how he has created jobs in the U.S. The truth is that jobs in the U.S. are in decline. So is the  size of weekly pay cheques for the working class. That has been happening for a long time thanks to job automation.

What we are watching is a decline in working class incomes and in   general purchasing power. Well, of course. How could it be otherwise? The wealthy are avoiding their taxes by hiding their money overseas. They take uncounted billions away and hide them. That doesn't and can't create jobs. On the contrary, it destroys them.

They take monster sums OUT of the country and hide them. And that twit, Jason-Kenney, wants to do it even more?

And the sad thing is that many people actually believe the nonsense spouted by the Kenneys and the Trumps (and the Fords as in my home province of Ontario.) In countries where we have thousands living in the streets and millions living in poverty, we pat billionaires on the head as we tuck more billions into their pockets.
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Here is a calmer-than-usual look at the Lavalin-Trudeau affair. I agree with it. But, unlike the columnist, I'm not at all sure Trudeau will survive this.

http://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/03/scheers-approach-gives-trudeau-opening-snc-lavalin-affair
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This next one may sound trivial. But it's not trivial if you have to live in it.

https://www.thenation.com/article/hair-school-education-betsy-devos/

You think this is reasonable? Okay. I have a petition here demanding a change to Trump's hairdo. I find it's present form distracting.
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/03/05/giving-the-bomb-to-saudi-arabias-dr-strangelove/
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/03/05/the-plot-to-attack-iran/

From World War One to almost 1950, Iran was controlled by Britain And Britain plundered it for its oil. All the profits went to British capitalists. Worse, Iran was required to provide oil for all of the ships of the Royal Navy - free. And, of course, Iran was not allowed to have elections.

Then Iran sinned. It held a democratic election. And it set out to control its own oil industry.

Britain was furious - but not strong enough to invade. It had to call on the U.S. for help. The U.S. was pleased to do so seeing this as a chance to cheat both Britain and Iran out of all that oil. The elected government of Iran was dismissed by that lover of democracy - the U.S, - and replaced by a puppet shah (king). And the U.S. then  owned Iran oil.  So the Iranians kicked out the shah,  and took  back their own country.

Ever since, Iran has been evil in the western news media. (Gee. Sounds something like Venezuela.)
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In 1939, Britain was the owner of the biggest and most profitable empire in world history. (and perhaps the most murderous). When I was in school we saluted the British flag every morning.
But the empire collapsed soon after  1945. Now it is possible that soon Britain, itself,  and it's flag may no longer exist.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/05/stupid-stupid-stupid-english/
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https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/03/04/Five-Facts-SNC-Lavalin-Affair/
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It's a  nice thought. But I'm not at all sure about the prophecy of this next itme. The Liberals and Conservatives have been on the take for 152 years (and years before that). And they are still the major parties of Canada. (Canadian voters, like American ones, can be very slow to get real.)

Nor am I convinced the NDP would offer any change great enough to make a difference. The creation of the NDP was built on the rubble of a CCF that had pretty strong principles. And the NDP wimped itself by leaving those principles behind.

https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2019/02/27/NDP-Slow-Rise/
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Gee. Funny how our local news media missed this.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51195.htm
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Judaism, by any standard, is a quite remarkable faith. And we don't do that faith any favors when we pretend not to see the damage that Israel has done to it. There is nothing Judaic about people who steal the land of others, and who murder them and abuse them.

https://kurtnimmo.blog/2019/03/02/democrats-and-republicans-move-to-silence-rep-omars-criticism-of-israel/
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And this is an important one.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51204.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51206.htm

The Australians were, of course, British. So were the Americans who slaughtered their native peoples. Of course. George Washington was not a new breed. He was British.

Of course, and unlike Australia, we cover up the viciousness of our British (and French) ancestors - just as the U.S. does. Thus all the Hollywood movies about cowboys fighting off vicious native peoples.

Actually, the British did even worse in places like India and China where they worked and starved millions to death..
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It's important for a moral society to have a private you-pay-for-it medical system. You can't let people off just because they're poor. No. The American God wants us to pay for health care.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51209.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51199.htm
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No. Most of the world does not like the Americans. They're much too much like their British ancestors.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51198.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51200.htm
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/03/05/news/trudeaus-climate-night-danforth-music-hall-are-there-any-liberals-house

Unfortunately, Canada does not have a political party that represents the scale of change we need.
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https://theantimedia.com/us-drops-banned-white-phosphorous-syria/
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We are back in the worst years of nuclear confrontation.

https://theantimedia.com/russia-suspends-inf-treaty/
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There is nothing that is very judaic about Netanyahu's Israel.

https://theantimedia.com/israel-india-pakistan-conflict/
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https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabias-jubeir-says-arms-deal-canada-will-go-ahead

Sometimes, I'm SO proud to be a Canadian. Not often, though.
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American politics - both parties - are so hopelessly corrupt it is  hard to see where any change might be coming from.

https://truthout.org/articles/moderate-democrats-are-really-conservatives-and-they-are-dangerous/
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https://truthout.org/video/un-finds-israel-intentionally-shot-children-journalists-and-disabled-people/

Again - don't confuse Israel with Judaism.
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https://www.voltairenet.org/article205496.html
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As I write these blogs it becomes obvious to me. Adolph Hitler was a small timer.
The British Empire was far more murderous and thieving than Nazi Germany ever was. While Hitler piddled around in Europe, Britain had been plundering much of the world with mass murders, with slavery, with starvation in the hundreds of millions. Hitler came nowhere close to the British record to its evil.

The United States has been at war almost all of its history. It slaughtered its native peoples, stole half of Mexico, invaded Latin America, murdering uncounted numbers of its people and maintaining the Latin American countries as virtual slave operations for the benefit of American billionaires. After 1945, it failed in its big goal to murder, plunder, abuse the people of China. It also tried but failed to take Vietnam, North Korea and, now, Afghanistan and, disguised as a voluntary quitting after victory, it is withdrawing from Syria,  (a posture that ignores the fact that the U.S. did not go to Syria to  help it but to defeat it.)

Indeed, given its size and the money that it can pour into its military, the U.S. has been amazingly feeble in its major wars since 1945. This is unlike the British Empire which was just as greedy and murderous as the U.S. but which, unlike the U.S., knew how to win wars.

So what's coming?

Watch for a growing concern of the U.S. as climate change dramatically moves its population away from climatic danger zones. American capitalists are going to demand that neighbouring countries be generous to their fleeing people. And their target will be Canada as the neighbour suffering the least from climate change.

The U.S. is not our friend. The U.S. has no friends.  (In fact, most countries have no friends.) It has invaded Canada several times, threatened invasion in 1904, and retained invasion plans until at least the 1930s.

Canada is next door to a U.S. that has invaded almost every country in the Americas. Don't kid yourself about being friends. The U.S. is ruled by its capitalists, a group as murderous as was Nazi Germany at its peak.  (Okay.  It still has a bit to go to beat the Nazi British Empire.)

March 2; Do you work hard for your money?

Then you must be rich. Only rich people work hard. The rest of us are slobs. I'll go back to this near the end.
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I publish this first one mainly as a curiosity. Though it slobbers all over Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, he has always been more talk - far more talk - than action. What keeps him in power is that the Conservative party has always been worse.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/01/justin-trudeau-disgrace-unicorn-political-scandal-canadian
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_https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/01/explained-the-case-that-could-bring-down-canadas-justin-trudeau
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Our good friends in the world struggle for democracy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/02/saudi-arabia-detained-womens-rights-activists-to-be-put-on-trial
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https://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/columnists/gwynne-dyer-india-pakistan-a-dangerous-game-288250/
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Canada's Liberals are, at best, bland. It's Conservatives worship greed. It's NDP is nowhere close to the reality of the problems we face.

http://rabble.ca/news/2019/02/trudeau-ropes-can-ndp-provide-viable-progressive-alternative
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/brad-hornicks-blog/2019/03/environmental-justice-and-green-new-deal
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Of course, Trump is profonndly racist. That racism is what his Mexican border     wall is about. And it plays like a symphony to a large, American audience of racists. Canada has a long history of racism, though it had been receding in recent years. Now, however, it seems to be rising in a French Quebec hostile to Muslims. And anti-African racism remains a presence, if a subdued one,  in Nova Scotia.

http://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/02/cohen-describes-trumps-profound-racism-congress
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/01/youth-climate-movement-world-leaders-we-will-change-fate-humanity-whether-you-it-or

Of course, young people are getting involved in action on climate change. They're the ones who will suffer most from it.

One cannot be so kind in noting the response (or lack of it) in the business community.  Seriously. Think about this. I have never heard a billionaire or even a lower member of the business class taking up the issue of climate change.

Virtually all of them deny it. I can't think of any other social group that that done that so unanimously - not teachers, not doctors...  No, the deniers are our business leaders and their political hacks - like Doug Ford of Ontario and Donald Trump of the U.S.

And what scientific qualifications do these people have to ignore the warnings of virtually all of the world's leading scientists? None whatever. And what evidence have they produced to support their view? None. None whatever.

How can one explain that very strange behaviour?

Start with the nature of capitalism. It begins with only one concern - one only and no other - making a personal profit. You don't think so? Name another one.

There is no other purpose. Oh, there are some who will occasionally donate money to charity. But that's mostly from the ones who hide their money from taxes - so what they give is a very small percentage of they should be giving in taxes. That way, they - not we - decide what society needs.

And they just love to be praised. When I lived in New Brunswick, the local billionaire who doesn't pay a cent in taxes, gave a modest contribution to a local charity. And all the sucks of the business world who surrounded him held a monstrously expensive dinner to praise him. The billionaire was of course the speaker who lavished praise on himself. (And I'm sure the dinner was one hell of a better one than all the poor got.)

Capitalism has produced an upper classs that lives on self-interest, praise, and greed.

It is possible that some of them are in ignorance of climate change - but not many. So why do we have this large, social class that denies climate change? It is, so far as I know, the only social class that unanimously denies it. That calls for explaining.

The answer, almost certainly, is that these people are raised in an atmosphere of greed. All that exists is personal profit. And so that plunge into years of denying the climate change that is the result of their greed.

Do they need that extra money? Of course not. Donald Trump and his family could live in great comfort and style for centuries on his money. But, raised as a capitalist, his only goal in life is profit.

Capitalism does not exist for most people, only for a relatively small number. But for that small number, capitalism consumes them. Their only value in life is greed. And, therefore, climate change cannot be allowed to exist. All that exists is millions upon millions of people all over the world to be exploited, underpaid, murdered, abused by capitalists. That's what it means when we read the U.S. has invaded yet another country - some 80 in less than 80 years - and with deaths in uncounted millions. For the capitalist, all that matters is his own profit. And profit is the only meaning of life.

And they control governments all over the world. They are unspeakably vicious, murderous...the scum of the earth....and made stupid and dangerous by their delusions.
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/01/global-warming-decimating-world-fisheries-and-studies-warn-its-track-get-worse
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/01/global-warming-decimating-world-fisheries-and-studies-warn-its-track-get-worse
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https://www.thenation.com/article/israel-netanyahu-indicted-elections/

For most of my life, my closest friends have been Jews. But Netanyahu - and perhaps Israel itself - is not what Judaism is about.
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https://www.thenation.com/article/end-of-world-order-empire-climate-change/

Alas. The expectation of American capitalists is that there empire,  unlike all those that preceded it, will last forever.
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https://www.thenation.com/article/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/

And that Ukraine was created by the U.S.
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https://www.thenation.com/article/border-patrol-guatemala-dictatorship/

Onward Christian Soldiers.
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https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/02/22/SNC-Lavalin-Criminal-Record-Corruption/

This is a new source for me, given by a reader. It seems to be quite good.
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Universities in Canada and the U.S. have severe problems to face in terms of rising expenses. But it might help if they were to deal with problems that have left them several centuries out of step. Among those are the growing power of business leaders over the university world, the complete failure of universities to train professors in how to teach, their failure (of many, perhaps most) to see their teaching role as anything but a nuisance, the huge classes that make it impossible to teach anything but memorization, the refusal of the very wealthy to pay the taxes that we need for universities...

https://thetyee.ca/News/2019/02/25/International-Student-Tuition-Climbs/
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/03/02/can-we-imagine-a-just-peace-for-palestine/

There is nothing judaic about Israel. In fact, Israelis now act more murderously and brutally than even Christians do.
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It's not Russia or China that will destroy us. It's capitalism.

https://countercurrents.org/2019/03/02/government-inaction-while-reports-signal-a-climate-crisis/
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/01/remember-the-maine-cia-intervention-in-venezuela/

How many of the following U.S. invasions of Latin American did you read of or hear about in your news media?

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/01/remember-the-maine-cia-intervention-in-venezuela/
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/01/the-cias-view-of-venezuela-what-we-learn-from-archives/
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/02/26/opinion/ndps-only-hope-green-new-deal-canada
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https://off-guardian.org/2019/03/02/crocodile-tears-for-venezuela/
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https://theantimedia.com/israel-intentionally-shot-children-journalists-gaza/
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https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/01/13/record-number-of-americans-no-longer-want-live-in-us.html

In Donald Trump's twitters he frequently notes that Americans are now better paid and more prosperous than ever. But the facts tell a different story. The U.S. has been suffering a steady decline in the incomes of most Americans. Of course.
They live in a system in which the wealthy are steadily increasing profits - and that means somebody else is losinig them.
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https://truthout.org/articles/ivankas-attack-on-aoc-reveals-ignorance-about-universalbasicincome

Oh, I know what she means. one of my first jobs was as a labourer in a factory. It involved moving heavy, metal parts, risking with dangerous materials and electric belts, filth. And I was so happy I was really working hard and earning my twelve dollars a week.

Ivanaka reminds me of the American politician who proposed the wealthy should not pay taxes because "they worked hard for their money." Yeah. Not a all like us working class slobs who loafed all day.
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The defence of Syria was fought largely by Syrians - with Russian help. Their opposition was not predominantly Syrians who were anti-Assad. It was made up of what the western press used to call terrorists (When they weren't fighting on the U.S. side.)

So now that these terrorists  (freedom loving defenders of western values) have lost, What's to be done with them? Large numbers of them were immigrants recruited in western countries. But can they simply be returned to their western homes?

Not in Britain. Dicey in Canada. Questionable in most countries. And how will a Trump respond to taking in 'terrorists'?

https://www.voltairenet.org/article205314.html
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February 28::We're at a tipping point.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/michael-cohen-testimony-trump-prosecution-statute-of-limitations-1.5036442

Wouldn't that give the prison a bad name?
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wilson-raybould-freeland-trudeau-snc-lavalin-1.5036795

I don't  understand the surprise. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives have a long, long history of accepting bribes from business leaders. That's why those two parties always have big bundles of money to fight elections with. There's surely nothing new about this.

That's why the wealthy also send 'bagmen' to provincial premiers to collect the money and to learn what the wealthy want in return.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/28/global-confidence-us-russia-gallup-poll-report-tie
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/28/benjamin-netanyahu-corruption-charges-decision-expected-today

This should come as no surprise.
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https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/opinion/editorials/gwynne-dyer-kim-trump-summit-2019-287946/

Is Korea being unreasonable? Not at all.  Would the U.S. disarm all of its nuclear weapons?
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You think Korea is being  unreasonable? Actually, a nuclear attack on North Korea by the U.S. is a thousand times more likely than any attack by North Korea on the U.S.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/28/major-failure-north-korea-summit-cut-short-trump-refuses-lift-sanctions
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/28/bolsonaro-trudeau-et-al-exterminators-in-chief/
________________________________________________________________

Here's a balanced look at Venezuela's situation.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/22/why-is-the-venezuelan-government-rejecting-u-s-food-supplies/
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51167.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51172.htm
_________________________________________________________________
Make America Great Again says Trump. In fact, that hour of greatness ended at least fifty years ago. The rest can only be downhill. But there is, alas, still room for acts of great stupidity...including nuclear acts.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51174.htm
_________________________________________________________________

And now for something completely different.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51168.htm
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/cuba-approves-new-socialist-constitution

The Guardian view of this is that it is a disaster. ONLY 88% of the Cubans voted for it. Gee. How can you get ONLY 88% of the vote and be taken seriously?

Now, George Washington got 100% of the votes in the first election. But there were only 69 voters in that one. Then, and for years after, only the rich were permitted to vote in U.S. presidential elections. There were no votes permitted for most of the population in the land of the free. None for women, of course. None for the poor. None for those of the wrong religion. 69 voters. And it stayed close to that for the first three elections.

The Guardian also refers to the Cuba vote as a vote for socialism and even, gasp, communism. And those, of course, are evil.

In fact, I doubt very much whether one American (or Canadian) in many hundreds has the faintest idea what communism means. In the western press, it's always just evil. I admit I don't clearly understand what it means. But I have read some of Karl Marx. And he was certainly not a purveyor of cruelty. Indeed, his teaching seems to have a close resemblance to that of Jesus.

Stalin? He was never a communist.All that interested him was power and control - though, in fairness - it was Stalin's Soviet Union that was the biggest single factor in defeating Germany.

Hitler, of course, was a supporter of capitalism, and was long admired by leading western capitalists like Henry Ford.

We live in a very dangerous world. We have murdered at least twenty million people, mostly civilians, since 1945. We have helped the capitalist U.S. in its invasion of  some 80 countries. We are on the edge of a world nuclear war.

In the U.S. that paragon of wealth and capitalism, there is no medical care for many, many millions who need it. In that context, I think it reasonable to learn a little bit about socialism, at least.

(capitalist lover of the month category - I recently saw, but lost, a news report. An American woman - in Congress, I think, - is crusading to reduce taxes for billionaires. After all, she says, they work hard for their money.

What the hell does she think the rest of us do?)
____________________________________________________________

http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2019/896-we-don-t-do-propaganda.html
________________________________________________________________

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/02/27/news/pro-trump-billionaires-continue-bankroll-climate-denial
_______________________________________________________________

Another chapter in the Netanyahu story.

https://theantimedia.com/israel-netanyahu-bribery-fraud/
_______________________________________________________________
Now, let's see. Which economic system has fought the most wars and killed the most people since 1950 - in fact the most wars and the most killed in the last several hundred years.

Ok - push the buzzer - yes - it's capitalism. And  nothing else is even close.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-right-may-finally-get-its-war-on-iran/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://theantimedia.com/thousands-detained-children-sexually-abused/

It's okay. All those migrants are evil.
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Feb. 26: How we lost the greatest opportunity in history.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/25/modern-slavery-trafficking-persons-one-in-200
_______________________________________________________
https://www.rt.com/news/452431-venezuela-us-oust-maduro/

Russia Times is not a good source of news about Russia or China.Of course not. It isn't going to say anything critical of those. But it's reporting  on the western world is pretty solid.

So, yes it has a bias. But no, that doesn't affect the honesty of its reporting on the West.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/26/dutch-customs-seize-90000-bottles-of-vodka-believed-to-be-for-kim-jong-un

90,000 bottles? Where does he find the time?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/spain-would-roundly-condemn-use-of-force-in-venezuela-nicolas-maduro

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/venezuela-mike-pence-maduro-guaido

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/25/us-hypocrisy-on-venezuela-sanctions

Well. the U.S. is bringing freedom and joy to Venezuela. Don't you know?

This is a repeat of the British Empire which murdered hundreds of millions of people, robbed the survivors blind, and sent its own children into factories for pennies a day and 15 hour work days.

British workers who suffered as much as any from the greed and brutality of their capitalists were taught  (and believed) that this was all God's will and symbolic of the greatness of Britain and or BG - British Greatness. Yes. Trump's MAGA  motto is a sucker's game which has worked for centuries.

The U.S. is bringing democracy to Venezuela. How can people be so stupid as to believe that. Far from bringing democracy to Latin America, the U.S. has spent over a century killing at least hundreds of thousands of Latin American who wanted democracy.In that process, it murdered at least 200,000 in Guatemala alone. But our news media have never bothered to mention that. It set up dictatorships (and supports them)  all over the continent - something like its good friends in Brazil and Chile and Guatemala and Haiti  (where it destroyed democracy. Didn't you notice? Didn't your newspaper have a mention of it - perhaps in the sports section?)

No. Americans, the British before them, believe in a history that tells them they were doing God''s work. (And Canadians should be embarrassed at the role being  played by their wimpy prime minster.)

Led by some of the greediest and most brutal people this earth has known, Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the U.S; have unleashed horrors that make Hitler look like a Salvation Army drummer. And, oh, we've blamed God for it all.

And you're prepared to support that greed? Good luck - because they also and increasingly are taking out that greed on us.
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http://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/02/jagmeet-singh-wins-big-burnaby-south-puts-fears-rest

I have a feeling this story is not as good as it looks. But, what the hell, it is good news. So enjoy it while you can.
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I believe I ran this one once before. I'm repeating it because i have a little to add.

https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/dyer-trump-may-satisfy-base-with-partial-border-wall

On any night, over half a million Americans are homeless. They are sleeping outside in the winter. They have only the food they can  beg for. Large numbers of these homeless are children.

The proportion is similar to Canada. There are also more - many more - living in vile, dangerous, unhealthy conditions.

And Canada and the U.S. aren't doing a damn thing about it.

So why is the U.S; getting all excited about spending billions for its border/ The number of migrants is actually down steeply from previous years. Nor is there the slightest reason to believe that significant numbers of them are criminals and drug dealers. Why the panic for one but not for the other/

Naziism 101 - Many, many people are racist. Appeal to their racism and you win elections.  Sieg Heil.

And very, very few give a damn about the poor. So there are no votes to be gained by helping them.

Recently, Canadian TV carried pictures of native Canadians living in a northern wilderness. There "houses" are really one-room boxes made of plywood with no windows or insulation.

(What's that, Mr. Irving? you need two billions dollars from the government to 'create jobs' in one of your factories/  Right away, Mr. Irving.

(Mr. Irving is a Canadian billionaire. He lives in a nice house.)
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/26/sanders-tackles-democratic-socialism-racial-inequality-fraud-trump-existential
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/25/we-are-crushing-next-generation-young-millennials-saddled-1005000000000-student-debt

It took me 20 years to pay my (relatively small) college debts. And I never made up that loss.  It's now far, far worse.
________________________________________________________________

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/25/evidence-human-caused-climate-crisis-has-now-reached-gold-standard-level-certainty

Don't believe those scientists. I mean, what do they know? We have the word of real smart oil billionaires like Mr Irving,who sent to college for two years, and  politicians like Donald Trump and Doug Ford. And some real smart truckers who drive real BIG trucks in their caravan from the Canadian oil fields to Ottawa. I mean, they know things.

Let the good times roll!
________________________________________________________________


https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/25/us-dropping-more-and-more-bombs-afghan-civilian-deaths-hit-record-high-2018

God bless America.
_______________________________________________________________

And here's a story that the Canadian press has covered but without saying a whole lot.

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/02/22/SNC-Lavalin-Criminal-Record-Corruption/
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/02/26/imperialist-intervention-in-venezuela-update-18/

https://countercurrents.org/2019/02/26/pence-threatens-war-in-venezuela-at-colombia-summit-there-is-no-turning-back/

For a country that loves God, the U.S; fights a lot of wars and kills a lot of people.
______________________________________________________________

https://countercurrents.org/2019/02/26/venezuela-beyond-regime-change-and-oil/
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This next item I found to be a very disagreeable read. Maybe this is not the answer. But the reality is happening, and we are nowhere close to dealing with it.
And that is a world insanity. Spare a thought here for what must be the insanity of your favourite oil billionaire.

https://countercurrents.org/2019/02/26/extinction-rebellion/
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51158.htm
_______________________________________________________________

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51161.htm

Hey! If you can't trust Saudi Arabia, who can you trust?
_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------_______

This next item came as a surprise to me. Perhaps it shouldn't  have. Canadian soldiers have been sent to kiss American rear ends before. We sent Canadians to Haiti when the U.S. overthrew its elected government. And, of course, we are close to a similar role in Venezuela.

Oh, Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

Like hell we do.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51159.htm
_________________________________________________________________

https://www.mintpressnews.com/america-rescues-its-arrested-weapons-runners-after-arrest-haiti/255472/

This is the American part of the story above it.

let's see, now.

1. Haiti had an elected government

2. The U.S; that lover of democracy, overthrew it and installed a dictator..

 3. Canada sent "peacekeepers" - American flunkies.

4. The U.S. now has to save its dictator. So it sent troops.

5. And Canada sent troops to help the Americans.

6. And Canada never told the Canadian people what it had done.

7. And Canada's news media thought it wasn't important to tell us.

An attachment to the U.S. has long since ceased to make any sense for Canada. But it makes sense for Canadian billionaires. And Justin Trudeau knows who keeps him in power.

Too bad Canadian voters can spell only Liberal and Conservative.
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https://news.gallup.com/poll/247064/americans-perceptions-world-image-best-2003.aspx
______________________________________________________________
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/02/25/news/jagmeet-singh-claims-house-commons-seat-byelection-win

Well, that's nice. But that's just one in the mass of mps who are corrupt or simple-minded. And, in fairness, who are sometimes both corrupt and simple-minded.
_______________________________________________________________

The U.S. has been a Happy supplier of weapons and active participation for a Saudi Arabia which is arguably the most brutal regime in the world. The American press reacted in horror when the Saudis murdered a journalist. But it soon forgot  its pique, and the U.S. is now offering its useful help starve children to death - as a sort of favour to its good friends among the Saudis.

This is added to the millions, a high proportion of them children,  it has killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and any other place that has children to kill.

God bless America.

https://theantimedia.com/their-news/201792/

it needs all  the blessing it can get.
_______________________________________________________________

https://theantimedia.com/trump-democratic-opposition-endorses-coup-attempt-venezuela/

So much for the Christian principles of the Democrats, of most Americans and, indeed, for almost all the churches in the world.

"Jesus wept"

That's from the King James version of The Bible. But in today's America, Jesus would be an oil baron.
_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://themindunleashed.com/2019/02/monsanto-roundup-weed-killer-beer-wine-organic.html

When the Irvings started to saturate the province of New Brunswick, the provincial medical officer issued a strong warning. So she was disiposed of.

Bottoms up!, New Brunswick.
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https://thesaker.is/russia-slides-towards-internal-political-crisis-must-see-southfront-video-report/

I can still see myself that day in 1945. I had been sent home for being late for school. And hour later, I was downtown with my mother on streets swarming with joy. The war was over! My father was coming home!

But even more....

We have been prepared for a new world one without wars. We would  have a sort of world government - as in the UN - and the nations would work together. There would be no more wars - and that was reinforced by a big sign that said "We've won the war".  That was great. "We've won the war. Now we've got to win the piece." The sign sent a thrill through me.

But we never did it. Many of us never even tried. From the day that the war ended we were all separate and in competition for money and power. We were back at war immediately as Britain tried to force itself back on its withered empire. By 1950, the US was at war with China in the Korean War. And that one was pure greed. The U.S. wanted to recapture the shattered empire of China that had largely been British. By the time I was 14, some of my older friends had already fallen in Korea.

Britain, the U.S., France were probably world leaders in war at the start of the post-war wars. The U.S., in particular, has been at war almost every year since that day World War Two ended.

The UN would never become the centre of a world order that we would all share. instead, it became the old world of struggle, greed, conquest.....

We won the war. Maybe. But we lost the peace.

We never did establish a world of mutual help and cooperation. (And capitalism has been a major factor in our failure to establish such a world.)

Now? We are probably looking at our last chance. And i see no sign we are even thinking about it.

_______________________________________________________________















































friends in 

Damn! Damn! Damn!

I admit it. I was a day late in doing my blog for Friday.. But I was almost done when - I don't know  - I must have hit a bad button - and the whole thttp://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/where-to-find-our-films/nfb-film-club/ext disappeared.

So I kept writing the finish, intending to go back to start afterward. And it happened again.

I may well be that I am unfitted for the 21st century. (I can already hear the taunts of computer-wise street urchins when I appear.

So -  I shall write a proper blog on Tuesday. For tonight (it's late for us old folks at 8;15) I shall write a short piece that provides a background for all of them.
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There's nothing new about imperialism, slavery, abuse and greed. These were all  creatures of ancient worlds. Ancient Rome happily used slaves by the millions. And when the wealthy no longer needed the poor, they happily let them die, and be buried in great pits.Greed has always been a feature of human existence.

The modern age of greed and empire empire began, I suppose, with Columbus as he turned his savagery loose in South America. He enslaved. he forced the native peoples to  hand over the wealth, notably gold, of their lands. And when a local  failed to deliver is quota of gold on time, Columbus imported trained dogs to hunt him down and tear him to death.

Technically, it wasn't capitalism, I suppose. But the results were remarkably similar.

Slavery, always present, became common in Latin America and, later, as Africans were enslaved in their millions.

Countries like Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands soon got into the slavery business in a rush of  that enslaved millions. (The conditions of their capture killed unknown millions just in the sea voyage that took them into slavery.) As late as the twentieth century, the Belgian Empire was enslaving millions in Congo, and conducting mass murder of any who objected. Today, those Belgian conquerors have been succeeded by European and North American capitalists who maintain poverty, enhanced by murder. In effect, people of the Congo are still slaves.

Britain, of course, was the leading world trader in slaves until well into the 19th century. Britain also enslaved millions into the twentieth century in places like China and India. (The death toll by British imperialists came to a total of 350 million - which probably still stands as a world record.)

The U.S. was very much a child of its imperial  mother. The American revolution really had little to with freedom. The poor remained poor (and, contrary to the ideal of equality of all men) those so poor as not to own any property were commonly denied the right to vote.

In fact, the U.S. was so much a child of its imperial mother  that it immediately used the revolution to build an empire of its own. The U.S. of 1776 had only 13 states. And George Washington, along with other member of the revolutionary leadership wanted more land for the wealth it would produce. And that's really what the revolution was about.

From the start of 1776, the purpose of America was to murder native people so speculators   (like Washington) could steal their land. (For the same reason, they attacked Canada - and failed. They were more successful in setting up a war with Mexico that stole  the huge areas of Mexico, Arizona, California and other areas.)

Yes. America proved that it could be just as brutal, exploitive and murderous as Britain was. (Yes. Canada too.)

But much earlier on, capitalism had entered the scene. It was overlapped with slavery and imperialism from the start. But, alas, there was no chance of getting slaves any more. So capitalism had to make do with low,low wages and, for itself, no taxes whatever.

With that, the U.S. began the work of getting control of Latin America about 1900. It was easy. The couldn't get slaves. But it was quite easy to buy off local leaders - and then to open employment by U.S. companies with starvation labour. (Canada was quite happy to buy into that game.) Commonly  the companies have bare survival minimum wage - though they did pretty young. As well, the American and Canada companies commonly don't pay any taxes. So the encaptured state cannot afford to help it's starving people or to provide anything adequate in education.

And if people object?

A good example of what happens happened in Guatemala in the 1950 and later

The CIA was created as a massive goon squad to stamp on the poor. It's leader in the 1950s was George Bush Sr. - a highly respected American and church-goer - as our news media said when he died.

He murdered 200,000 Guatemalan civilians. When the Catholic Church objected to this butchery, he ordered the widespread murder of priests, lay missionaries and nuns.

Praise the Lord!

Leger was killed late in the slaughter - in 1981. You want more information on that? Good luck. NO news medium in all of North America mentioned it. The only North American medium of any sort I know of that carried the story is

https://www.mcintyre.ca/titles/NFB520584

http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/where-to-find-our-films/nfb-film-club/

His body was brought to his native New Brunswick for burial. Alas! Even  the newspapers of his own province didn't carry the story. Of course not. The owner of the New Brunswick papers is a billionaire who had a stake in Venezuela oil.

You can get similar stories from all over Latin America. It is the  cheap labour base for American and Canadian corporations who carry out their control through torture and murder. This is not just one company. Is is all of them.
The U.S. added an extra  touch in the pre-Castro days when it handed over all the gambling rights in Cuba to the Mafia.

We lavish power on major corporations, power that they should never be permitted to hold. We allow them to destroy. And surely, one of the worst episodes in Canadian history was that recent day when Justin Trudeau pulled down Trump's pants and laid a kiss, naming the Venezuela government as evil.

I have no idea when Maduro is capable of leading an efficient government. nor is that any of my business.

The reality is that modern capitalism has become the greediest and most evil force we have seen.

(If you read history, you soon learn that capitalists have controlled our major governments for centuries. And they use that control to make us send troops to kill anybody who is in the way of the capitalists. Hitler murdered Jews. Hitler was evil. Hitler was an empire builder. But read some history and learn that is not whey we went to war in 1939.

In fact, looking at mass murder in the hundreds of millions, in looking at brutality, in looking at horrible exploitation, Hitler was a sweetheart compared to the capitalists of Britain. (no. that's not an exaggeration).

And we are living through another period of capitalist murder, exploitation....
There are two, possible results.

1. The dishonesty, confusion, and partiality of our news media will destroy whatever rational powers we have left. That confusion is already widespread - and that is what has produced a Trump.

2. We shall, in any case, become a society that will allow the major capitalists to destroy the planet.

This is the most dangerous time the world has ever seen. And we have allowed it to happen.

Feb. 21: Decline and Fall - of all of us.

Long, long ago, when I was a darling child (You'll have to accept my word on that) my favourite comic book story was one based on truth. It was called Murder, Inc.

At the time, thee was such an organization based largely  in the U.S. The mobs of the time frequently needed to kill people who were interfering with business. (This was just after American prohibition.) The problem was that the police were well aware of what was going on in the various mobs - so the risk of getting caught in such an awkward was unpleasantly high.

Enter a low profile mob calling itself Murder Inc. which specialized in assassinations.. amid relatively unknown to the police. It was, in my comics at least, a profitable operation.

I thought of that as i read up on the Venezuela crisis.

It's the same process.

American oil billionaires want to own the Venezuela oilfields. But all those billionaires tumbling into Venezuela and shooting the place  up would be a little too obvious.  So, they turn to their Murder Inc. And this Murder Inc is even better than the old one because nobody can arrest it.

The Murder Incs  of our time are governments. In just about every war the U.S. has fought since 1950 was fought to satisfy American billionaires And that has meant over 80 wars.

And what's really great about this is that our smart billionaires are a step up on Murder Inc. They don't have to pay a cent for all that killing, No. Our government pays for it with our tax money. How's that for a double whammy?

This is nothing new. The governments of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands have, for some hundreds of years been the Murder  Incs for their wealthy. And it works - usually. It didn't work for Hitler. But the world rose in righteous indignation about Hitler because he cheated. He openly crashed in on the activities of all the other Murder Incs.

No. No. There must be honour among thieves.

Oh - a  problem with Venezuela. Russia is sending food to Venezuela. Does that mean we risk having two Murder Incs operating in the same country?

And note that Canada is playing a prominent role in the U.S. Murder Inc. We may now find it difficult to get out of this.

And both the U.S. and Russia are re-activating their nuclear threats.

It worked better in the comics.
___________________________________________________________

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-polls-snclavalin-1.5026798

Sometimes I have to give up on Canada.

Canadians are turning against Trudeau for his dealings with a private corporation. And they're going to vote Conservative?

How the hell does he think the Conservatives get big money to win elections?
The cuddle up to big corporations, that's how. Vote Liberal or Conservative. It doesn't matter. Whichever one we elect, big money will be the real winner of the election.

Liberals? Conservatives? It doesn't matter. That's the way it is. And that's the way it's always been.

Wake up, Canada!
___________________________________________________________

Just what we need! A war with Russia.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-us-russia-aid-wars-humanitarian-1.5026963

And this was foreseeable. However, U.S. oil billionaires and their president decided not to see it. And this raises an interesting question for Canada. If this continues, it's quite possible that Canada will be asked (told) to send troops. (Thank you, Justin, for tying us to a very foolish and greedy American venture.
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2019/02/capitalism-worst-possible-economic-system-planet-ravaged

Multi- billionaires are not nice people. Get used to it.
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/brent-patterson/2019/02/curtailing-corporate-impunity-would-defend-human-rights
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/david-suzuki/2019/02/you-may-not-insects-you-need-them

Our future is not about climate change. It's also about many, many crises attached to that.
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http://rabble.ca/babble/national-news/trudeau-betrays-trudeau-canada%E2%80%99s-big-mistake-venezuela
_______________________________________________________________

I had a piece to include here, but I've lost it. However, it's simple enough. A poll asked Canadians how they felt about Muslim immigrants. A disturbingly large number expressed anger at the 'hordes' of Muslim terrorists on our streets.

What hordes? This is like the American horror at swarms of Latin migrants at the U.S. border. (In fact, the number of  migrants seeking to cross the border has been down dramatically in recent years. And most of them are there because U.S. capitalists have destroyed the economies of their home countries.)

And swarms of Muslim terrorists in Canada? Gee! I missed that.

Oh, and our news media commonly call  them terrorists. Funny thing, though.
American soldiers who kill people by the millions, who make it a practice to bomb civilians and children   (Yes. More of those than all the killing  by Muslims.) And, of course, the U.S. has made a practice of starving children to death.

So why don't our news media call American soldiers terrorists?

The fact is that the streets of Canada are not flooded with Muslim terrorists. The U.S. may be - a very, very little bit - but , at worst, their kill score is far less than that of bad drivers in the U.S.

But our news media use loaded language - terrorists, evil..... In fact, the Muslim world is a great deal less terrorist than our side is. And in the Muslim world, the worst killers are the Saudis - to who we sell  weapons.

But a Trump has the knack for seeing evil that isn't there   (except on his part). That's what got him elected. That's why so many Americans are inflicting horror on thousands of desperate people at their border. And Canadians, too, are victims of this.
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This story is stunning. And, best of all, it does not appear to be coming from big time capitalists. I never though he'd be able to do this. And, oh, I'm glad i was wrong.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/20/bernie-sanders-2020-presidential-campaign-fundraising
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https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/dyer-trump-may-satisfy-base-with-partial-border-wall
____________________________________________________________


https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/21/who-refusing-back-green-new-deal-follow-fossil-fuel-money

Quelle surprise!
_______________________________________________________________

https://countercurrents.org/2019/02/21/the-international-rogue-nation-america/

Sieg Heil!
_______________________________________________________________

The U.S., land of the free, has long been a close buddy of the world's most ruthless of all the anti-democratic nations. And it (Saudi Arabia) wants a nuclear bomb.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/20/when-saudi-arabia-gets-the-bomb/
________________________________________________________________

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/21/the-bill-and-melinda-gates-fair-taxation-scaremongering-tour/

Gates and his wife remind me of Richard Hatfield, the New Brunswick politician who is, at least, honest - remarkably selfish and greedy. He's the one who advocates that the wealthy should take over all government. And, as an attack on democracy, this one really stands out.
_______________________________________________________________

We are very, very close, closer than even before, to a nuclear war. And for no good reason.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51130.htm

This would probably mean the launching of over 15,000 bombs. But I'm sure that we - or some of us - would win.
_________________________________________________________________
Reality.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51135.htm

Oh. All t hose countries are so evil.
______________________________________________________________

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-us-russia-aid-wars-humanitarian-1.5026963
___________________________________________________________

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/02/19/news/canadian-regulator-wont-consider-climate-impacts-trans-mountain
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https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/food-crises-climate-change-care-international/
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https://off-guardian.org/2019/02/20/the-year-of-the-pig-is-here-literally/
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And no, the following is not an exaggeration.

https://off-guardian.org/2019/02/21/goebbels-is-alive-and-well-in-amerika/
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https://theantimedia.com/saudis-khashoggi-body/

Oh, well, if Saudi Arabia doesn't know who killed the reporter, we can safely give them their very own nuclear bombs.
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https://truthout.org/articles/oakland-teachers-strike-joining-redfored-movement-on-picket-lines/

I grew up in a district that was, to say the least, poor. It was a district of people who had been poor for generations - perhaps forever. Most of the guys I played with couldn't read. All of them dropped out of school in grade 9. I was kicked out in grade 11. But it didn't cause any stir. Nobody, including my parents, expected kids to finish school in that district.

There have been millions of us in Canadian history. We were permanently poor. And we were raised to be permanently poor. But in the end, I had one thing that would save me. My father read books. And every Saturday he would buy me a book from a used book store. And, oh, I read constantly. My friends called me the walking dictionary. In the end, after lots of delays, after four years in a dead end job, I got the chance for the worthwhile life of teaching.

Education is the key to getting out of poverty - and dreadful jobs. But often it doesn't. I started my teaching in hopelessly oversized classes. (Two of the boys I taught there died in shootouts with police just a few years after they dropped out.)

Education requires small classes. It requires programmes that bring out the potential in children. (And, yes, even the poor ones have potential.) It requires a staff with a wide range of skills, with lots of support.. And it usually doesn't  have that. It doesn't have it because the wealthy people who sit on school boards don't give much of a damn about the students. They send their own children to private (and expensive) schools. The hell with the rest.

This has taken a vicious form in the U.S. which now offers a large number of private ('Charter") schools. And they're expensive, too expensive for most kids.
So these private schools suck up the resources that should go to the public schools. Public school resources are cut every year. And that means more generations every year of the poor being tramped down.

Charter schools are not just schools for the greedy rich. They are also destructive for millions of children who have to stay poor for generation after generation. U.S. capitalism, running on pure greed, is destroying children.
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https://theintercept.com/2019/02/21/why-wont-the-media-discuss-trumps-mental-instability/
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