May 11:I think we're heading to the last chapter

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-food-shortage-rationing-1.5132297

The United States is the only country in the world, it seems, that has the right to tell other countries who they're allowed to trade with - and if they're allowed to trade at all. It can - and does - use this power to starve nations (yes, starve to death) nations. This is why 40,000 children have starved to death in  Venezuela. This is why a war against Iran is very likely.

Is any other country allowed to tell the U.S. who it can trade with? Of course not.
God bless America. God bless the American right to rule the world.

And why has the U.S.  commanded who is allowed to trade and who isn't? That's because God has given the U.S. to rule the world.

(No. I'm not exaggerating. The U.S. has been given by God the right to rule the world. And the first thing it has to do is to make the world safe for Christian capitalists. Let's get serious. I'm not exaggerating. Millions of Americans - perhaps a majority - believe this.)

Why Cuba? That's because it has been the first to successfully challenge the power of the American empire. And so it is that Cuba must suffer, and Cubans must die.  But don't worry about it.

Canadians will never suffer this. Canadian governments would never dream of anything that would interfere with  the will of American capitalists. That's why Canadian leaders cheer the hardships and death that America is imposing.

The U.S. is the bastard child of the vilest empire in history - the old British Empire. And, like the old British Empire, it's way, way above the second and third-raters - like Hitler.

I mean, Hitler never asked God to bless him for his murders.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cystic-fibrosis-vertex-cadth-orphan-drugs-prices-health-technology-assessment-1.5132294

Gee! I don't want to sound like a communist or nuthin'. But maybe we should think of drugs as being something to help people; not just something to make billionaires richer.
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https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/gig-economy-workers-unite-trump-s-billion-dollar-con-hatari-vs-eurovision-ramadan-in-xinjiang-and-more-1.5126682/how-donald-trump-lied-his-way-onto-the-forbes-400-richest-people-list-1.5126688

This is not just an amusing story. In fact, it's not amusing at all.
Trump is a compulsive liar. His lying, his self-worship affect all his decisions. And he is leading the world into some very dangerous waters.

His leadership is not for the good of the American people. It's for himself and his own glorification. In short, the world's most powerful nation and the one Canada is glued to is led  by the man who has the power and the self-delusion to destroy the whole planet.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/11/thousands-march-in-cardiff-calling-for-welsh-independence

Ireland, Scotland, Wales-- the sun is setting on "the empire on which the sun never sets". In my own lifetime as a child of the empire, it can remember the school morning which began with saluting 'Canada's flag', the Union Jack, and reciting, "I pledge allegiance to this flag, and to the empire for which it stands. "God save our gracious King.
Long live out noble king.
God Save the King.
Send him victorious, happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the King."
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If you have tears....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2019/may/09/beaming-young-afghan-amputee-dances-on-new-prosthetic-leg-video
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/09/trump-iran-regime-change-resistance

Conditions were better after the first revolt of the Iranians against British rule  (and plunder). But that ended when Britain and the U.S. leaped in again to set up a dictator.

So Iran revolted again - but this time with a much less democratic leadership.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/08/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-us-withdrawal
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/08/the-eurovision-boycott-row-confirms-it-palestinian-lives-dont-matter

The holocaust of our time is the destruction of Palestine - and Palestinians.
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12099384
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https://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/9347776-gwynne-dyer-the-real-risk-of-trump-s-trade-fumbling-a-long-worldwide-recession/

Long ago when the world was young, I shared radio space with Gwynne Dyer. He was on just before me on a CBC morning show. He will have forgotten me by now. But I remember him as the best commentator I ever heard.
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/11/staffers-top-democrats-reportedly-attended-luxury-retreat-hosted-lobbyists-fighting
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/10/show-breathtaking-cruelty-trump-white-house-unveils-plan-would-evict-tens-thousands
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https://consortiumnews.com/2019/05/10/is-leaked-document-trumps-deal-of-the-century/

Take a good look at the map at this site. Israel  has already stolen most of Palestine.
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/we-can-survive-and-live-well-if-we-fully-cooperate-with-the-planet-and-its-life
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Don't ever get sick in the U.S. It's view is that the purpose of sickness is to create  profits for privately owned health care. The middle class go poor paying for it. The poor just die.

https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/the-nightmare-of-medical-care-in-america
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https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2019/05/10/Business-Hijacked-Mothers-Day-Take-It-Back/

Cards and chocolates are very nice. But they don't to anything for anybody - except the dealers who sell them.
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/10/pompeos-arctic-shipping-lanes/
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Almost all popular writing about war is false. The war against Germany was NOT fought to stop Naziism. It was not fought to save Jews. Indeed, Canada and the U.S. were almost as anti-semitic as Hitler was. Many Canadian and American business leaders actually collaborated with Hitler almost to the end of the war. Why did the U.S. drop two atomic bombs on Japan when it was already beaten?   (hint - it had nothing to do with defeating Japan.)

And if the Churchill's of Britain really cared about the murderous behaviour of the Naziis, why had they created the most murderous and savage empire in history?
If the U.S. really gave a damn about the spread of Naziism, why did it wait until 1942 to enter the war against Germany?

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/10/thank-russia-for-winning-world-war-ii/
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Information clearing house does not have an entry for today. That is very unusual. Even more unusual - there is no notice of why it has not appeared.
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Gee! Who woulda guessed?

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/04/23/news/oilsands-lobby-speechless-government-scientists-point-higher-pollution
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Gee! What a surprise!

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/racial-inequalities-maternal-mortality-rates/
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https://off-guardian.org/2019/05/11/how-lies-become-facts-in-us-news/
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https://off-guardian.org/2019/05/10/chemical-torture-of-julian-assange/

God bless America.
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https://theantimedia.com/chelsea-manning-released-from-jail/

She will almost certainly be sent back to jail.
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https://truthout.org/articles/as-capitalism-fails-we-need-a-roadmap-to-survive-climate-change/

Wake up and smell the roses. Capitalism HAS failed.
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Trump is all heart.

https://truthout.org/articles/the-government-isnt-reuniting-migrant-children-with-legal-guardians/
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https://theantimedia.com/stop-arming-israel-stop-bombing-gaza-thousands-march-london/
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Long. But very,  very good.

https://theintercept.com/2019/05/04/climate-change-book-end-of-ice/
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We are in very serious trouble.

Our share of the world is controlled by people who understand only personal profit. That's not an exaggeration. People of great wealth are often like that. Narrow-minded, vastly impressed of themselves, and in utter contempt of the rest of us.

I was exposed to one of the types some years ago. She was a Canadian TV star, born wealthy and with a wealthy husband. He was a decent guy. But she?

Her whole   (and endless) supper was spent in spilling out contempt for anyone who wasn't rich. She was furious that we wasted tax money on health care for people who could die with no loss to the world. This went on for several hours.

As for the wealthier of capitalists, they give not a damn for human life. They send thousands, sometimes millions, every year to kill and to die - something their own offspring usually escape dying. Typical of that was a billionaire in Montreal in World War Two. His sons were dratted. And they were promptly assigned to military desk jobs in Washington.

Almost all wars are fought for them. Millions have died for them.

You think the U.S. fought World War Two to  block evil? Get real. It was fought so that American billionaires could take over the dying British Empire in places like the Middle East and, as they hoped, in China.

They have contempt for anyone who pays taxes. They have opposed just about every measure designed to help the Canadian people. They will murder millions. They will starve millions - for their own profit.

Is climate change happening? Of course it is. But for now, for example, the oil industry can think only of stretching out its oil sales as long as possible. The only real event of importance is the annual report.

How else can one explain the idiot joy of oil and mining companies over the loss of North Pole ice?

And they have no trouble finding servile politicians  to help them out. They have Donald Trump, of course. They have Doug Ford in Ontario. They have Jason Kenney in Alberta.

In Canada, they can always count on the Liberals and Conservatives. Both parties have built their histories on serving the rich. In the U.S., both parties have a long history of servility toward their masters. Even today, the Democrats who want to make change are in the minority.

And so our children (at best our grandchildren) will suffer and die. And still this country is full of people who mutter, "I vote conservative. My family has always voted Conservative."\

Can this be solved peacefully? I'm not at all sure it can be. Canadians and Americans have always slobbered at the feet of their billionaires. They call it patriotism. Certainly, any attempt to solve this will be regarded as a threat to the nation,  and be used to support the wealthy.

But we're going to be hurt anyway. So we had just as well hit the bastards first.

May 09: VERY dangerous times

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/08/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-us-withdrawal

This one is very, very dangerous. It's also without any excuse.Until shortly after World War Two, Iran was  controlled by British oil companies. It was a dictatorship. And it was bled dry by a Britain that forced Iran to supply all oil for the Royal Navy - at no charge.

Iran overthrew the dictator and elected a government.

Britain appealed to the U.S. for  help. U.S. oil companies were happy to jump in. They and the British overthrew the elected government and installed the old dictatorship under the Shah. And the U.S., of course, happily took over real control.

So the Iranians overthrew the Shah, and reinstalled an elected government. That's why the U.S. says Iran is evil. And that's why, in the U.S. news media, Iran is evil. That's why the U.S. is now  placing sanctions on Iran's oil sales. (Despite it's common use of trade sanctions, the U.S. has no right to tell nations who they're allowed to trade with.) And that's why Bush is now preparing an invasion. This is all very much like the case of Venezuela.

But it's much more dangerous. This could blow up the whole Middle East. It also raises the risk of intervention by both Russia and China. And of an Israel which has its own ambitions about Iran. And - well - of Britain and France and other countries that require American kisses.

Oh, and it's illegal. Iran has not attacked the U.S. Nor can it. This is a war of pure theft - and it's all for the benefit of the God-worshiping American oil barons. And it's yet another war paid for by the American people - a war of no benefit to them, but of huge profit for the non-tax-paying billionaires of the U.S. oil industry.

Of course, and as always, the U.S. will be careful not to hurt any women or children.

Will Canada be asked (told) to join in?  Quite possibly. This is very much like the American assault on Venezuela which Trudeau has clapped hands for.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/opinion/campaign-stops/bernie-sanders-democrats-need-to-wake-up.html?_r=2

To a dangerous degree, American Democrats are from the same bag as American Republicans.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/09/nazi-rhetoric-and-holocaust-denial-belgiums-alarming-rise-in-antisemitism

Antisemitism was by no means exclusively German. We have record of large doses of it across the western world, including Britain, Canada, and the U.S. And it still lurks.

And also check out Israel's treatment of Palestinians (who are a semitic people.) Yes, the are. And Israel kills them every day. Hitler must be  laughing in whatever hell he is in.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/09/georgia-effective-abortion-ban-cruelty-anti-choice-movement

The good Christians of the U.S. are taking a stand against abortion. They say it's murder. Quite so. That's why they should jail themselves for murdering millions of babies in places like Korea, Iraq and Yemen since 1945. (And with the present crisis of tens of thousands of children, including babies, the U.S. is starving to death in Venezuela....)

Tell you what all you righteous Christians..think hard. When The Bible said 'Thou shalt not kill'. it didn't just mean unborn American babies.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/07/britain-palestine-independent-state
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/07/trump-pardon-us-soldier-michael-behenna-iraq

Sounds reasonable? Would Bush pardon an Iraqi soldier who tortured and killed an American?
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alberta-diary/2019/05/jason-kenneys-blue-ribbon-panel-sharpening-its-razors
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I'm so proud of our Canadian capitalists and the good work they're doing all over the world.

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/2019/05/when-pan-american-silver-bought-escobal-mine-it-bought-legacy-violence
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Sometimes we do the right thing.

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/david-suzuki/2019/05/government-support-electric-vehicles-drives-down-emissions
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Medicine is one of this world's great rep-off industries, especially in the U.S.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/08/caravantocanada-facing-insulin-prices-10x-higher-us-group-heads-across-border
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/09/unhinged-insensitive-and-lying-trump-uses-bar-graph-spread-falsehood-about-puerto

Like most American presidents, Trump always rushes to the aid of the very, very rich. To hell with the rest. He has an obligation to Puerto Rico because it's an American territory. But it's people are all poor, so who gives a damn.
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/an-education-that-kills
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https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/05/07/Trudeau-Liberals-Corporate-Pressue/
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51575.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51574.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51579.htm

There are many, many Jews who think that Israel has become a Nazi regime.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51582.htm

And Canada's government, too, lies about it's unemployment rate. This has been going on for many, many years.
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Think about this one. It's all too true.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51581.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51563.htm
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People who lie go into politics. People who tell the truth go into jail.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51564.htm
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https://consortiumnews.com/2019/05/08/stefania-maurizio-on-how-julian-assange-changed-journalism/

Nothing worse in our society than a journalist who tells the truth.
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There is no room for freedom or democracy or international law in today's U.S.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/05/03/activists-protecting-venezuelan-embassy-under-threat-from-violent-mobs/
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And so the province of Ontario maintains it's record of duh-uh-uh.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/05/08/news/one-million-species-risk-extinction-doug-ford-sending-bulldozers
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https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/china-uigher-minority-ramadan/

Sometimes, modern China reminds me of the U.S.
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https://theantimedia.com/

...the land of the free and the home of the brave....
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https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-09/trump-turns-bolton-accuses-him-trying-start-war-venezuela-wapo

It's a little too early to believe this story - but it sounds possible.
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The most frightening story of the day?  It's that the sending of a carrier and bombers to Iran was announced by Bolton.

What's frightening about that?

Any announcement of such a warlike move is always made by the leader of a nation. John Bolton is pretty high level in the American government. But he's not the head of state.

It's still confusing because the military statements suggest that this is not a declaration or war or of any recent decision - but a tactical move planned long ago.

Maybe. But that is not the impression John Bolton gave. His speech was the closest possible to a declaration of war.  And such declarations are always made by the head of state.

Did the head of state approve this? That doesn't make sense. He supports it now - but in the very different sense of this being a routine move.

Has John Bolton slipped his leash?

Bolton wants war. He wants world conquest. And he doesn't tolerate any power above him - no, not even a president.
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Oh, our commercial news media pay no attention to it, but the U.S. has a sort of private, free enterprise army of at least five thousand. Such people are called mercenaries - which means they will happily kill anybody so long as they get paid.

They come from all over the world - and they live only to torture and kill - and rape and steal.

God bless America! It needs all the blessing it can get.

But don't be jealous of them. They'll soon be inviting Canada to join with the big kids. And both Liberals and Conservatives will be widdling on the floor in their eagerness to serve.
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May 7: To hell with everybody...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/un-global-biodiversity-report-1.5124089

_https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/07/the-future-of-life-on-earth-lies-in-the-balance-a-picture-essay

Yes. This really is happening. And we are doing almost nothing about it.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/06/us-deploys-aircraft-carrier-and-bombers-after-troubling-indications-from-iran

The U.S. has not done well in most of its wars since 1945. And Iran is not a pushover.

As well,this war could draw in many countries, including China, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia.... And why is the U.S. so keen on attacking Iran? Because Iran had the nerve to kick out an American dictator,  and elect it's own government many years ago.

Will Canada support this? Of course. Mr. Trump will bend over, and Trudeau will kiss. We can only hope he has the courage to refuse to send Canadian troops.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/07/bear-clan-a-model-of-indigenous-activism-thats-swept-across-canada
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/07/mike-pompeo-canada-northwest-passage-illegitimate
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alberta-diary/2019/05/albertas-new-political-strategy-when-doubt-blame-ottawa

We are slipping into the politics of hate just as Trump did in the U.S. and Hitler in Germany
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The U.S. is for plundering by U.S billionaires That's why there is so much poverty in South America. The whole purpose of an empire is to  debase and plunder its victims.

In the U.S., this plundering extends to the plundering and debasing of Americans. And it's become increasingly obvious ( except in our new media) what is happening.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/07/big-attack-working-people-trump-moves-redefine-poverty-order-slash-social-programs
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/07/big-attack-working-people-trump-moves-redefine-poverty-order-slash-social-programs
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/atmospheric-co2-at-mauna-loa-hits-415-ppm

This can't be true. If it were, our local news sources would have told us.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51550.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51559.htm
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In just the last 10 years, the U.S. has spent almost 5 TRILLION dollars on war.
Correction - the common American has spent almost 5 trillion dollars on war. Very wealthy American haven't spent a cent on it. That's because they're allowed to escape paying taxes. Indeed, most of those trillions simply went into the pockets of the very wealthy.

This is an astonishing plundering of the American people - a plundering that shows up in homelessness, in lack of free medical care for all, in the debasement of  public education..... as almost all the wealth of the nation becomes held by a small number of billionaires.

I don't know where this is going - except that it is going to violence. In the US and to a lesser degree  Canada, we have probably long past a peaceful solution. Nor has it ever been possible  that the very wealthy would temper their greed.\________________________________________________________

https://www.nationalobserver.com/
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/05/02/opinion/kenney-already-facing-albertas-reckoning-over-mismanaged-oilfield-cleanup

There is not the slightest possibility the polluters will pay.
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/05/07/news/exam-question-climate-change-draws-anger-memes-quebec-students
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https://off-guardian.org/2019/05/05/at-venezuelan-embassy-u-s-government-ignoring-vienna-convention-facilitating-right-wing-mobs-illegal-acts/
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https://theantimedia.com/trump-pardons-us-soldier-tortured-killed-iraqi-prisoner/
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https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-fee-for-asylum-seekers-could-send-many-back-to-their-deaths/
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https://theintercept.com/2019/05/04/climate-change-book-end-of-ice/
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This has not been a good day. As I plowed through the news stories, mostly about western brutality, torture, murder, deliberate starvation of children, eternal killing, stories of a Canada   complicit in this - at the insanely murderous leadership of the US, of unlimited greed and plunder and brutality - and our slack-jawed acceptance of this - I can only be depressed by it - and by us.

Either murderous or gutless, we have hit bottom in our acceptance of a world society that is destroying itself. As things are going, there is no hope of our society surviving this. We are led by slavering animals who will destroy us even as they destroy themselves. (Yes,  I am thinking of Trump and Bolton, and Doug Ford of Ontario and the slavering stupidity of a  Jason Kenney and all those Albertans who voted for him.)

And then there's a Trudeau who will roll over - and maybe even take a hand - in the killing that is going on.

We have become a shambles of a society led by people so insane they don't even know  they are laying the ground for their own destruction.

Meanwhile, the rich are plundering the rest of us on a massive scale. U.S. poverty is actually growing as the wealthy rob their workers every payday.

And the Christian churches seemingly. haven't noticed any of this.

It gets harder every day to read of the greed and  stupidity that has become - all of us. It is bad enough that the wealthy are leading all of this. It is contemptible that the rest of us pretend it isn't happening.

May 4: my apologies.

Damn! I just lost the whole blog I  had written in this page.

Look. The first page of today's blog appears on another blog just below this one. I  have no idea why. I only know that when I wrote that page, it suddenly stopped, and would not continue. Thus this second part of it.

And I have just lost this page as it disappeared and refuses to peek out.

I'll have it in for repairs tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'll cry as I trye to restore this page.

Is that clear?

No. I didn't think it would be.
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__https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/04/disproportionate-sentences-julian-assange-bail-and-extradition/_

Is it  normal for Assange to appear mentally disturbed. I don't know. Try it out for many years while imprisoned in a small room you're not allowed to leave.

Did he assault women? I don't know that, either. But the Trump cabinet has a pretty fair collection, including Trump, of those who have.

No. The U.S. doesn't care about any of that. His great sin wasn't breaking any law. It was the sin of publishing the truth.
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__https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/05/03/Oilsands-Emissions-Wildly-Underestimated/

Premier Cheney is a very dangerous man. He uses warlike language to boost his political goals. And that's the kind of language that most easily goes out of control. He has loudly proclaimed that Alberta could break away from Canada - perhaps to form a union of Albert and - guess who. And guess who would, I expect, support the breakup of Canada with Alberta becoming an American state.

Cheney is dangerous. And he's unscrupulous. Canada has not been in a crisis like this since the heyday of Quebec separatism.
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https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/03/big-corporations-pay-no-income-tax-unlike-you/
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51536.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51539.htm
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https://truthout.org/articles/mission-accomplished-is-old-enough-to-drive-were-still-in-iraq/
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https://truthout.org/articles/fascism-is-on-the-march-we-need-radical-education-to-fight-back/

Education is the most important experience of our lives. Alas! It is increasingly designed to keep the poor poor through our public schools,  and to make the rich, no matter how stupid, even richer, through our private schools.

Schooling is actually what shapes the capacities and the self-pride that all of us need but, as a rule, is designed as a model for society. The thinking is -  stuff those public school classes to 30 and more. So it is that we have trained the poor to  remain poor and to expect that this is their proper role in society.

Schools run on the cheap deliberately make their students accept their role as being in poverty. Expensive ones for rich kids don't necessarily make them more intelligent. It makes them expect to get rich.

I grew up   on the poor end of this stick. I know well what it means to see yourself as forever ignorant, forever the lowest paid, forever the least esteemed.

That's why people like Trump and  Ford and, probably, Cheney deliberately undercut the public schools. The damage is enormous, and it lasts for life.

Trump, Ford, Cheney the destructive bastards of our societies. We are governed by their ignorance and greed. I have never seen such a dreadful day for writing about the news.
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(don't forget the part of the blog that is in the one below.)
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May 4: And now it's suddemly working.

I finished the last edition of this blog with an afterthought. The point of it was not just thinking good things about dealing with climate change, but understanding what "good things" has to mean. It's not just a matter of cutting out oil.

I remember long, long ago, the cheering crowds in Montreal when the war against Germany ended. I remember the signs that said 'We've won the war. Now we 've got to win the peace."  That puzzled me.

We had won the war. Wasn't that the same as winning the peace?

The news stories seemed to say we had. We set up the United Nations to end war.  Wasn't that winning the peace?


In fact, we have had nothing but war since them - and the U.S. has been the major offender. It has far, far the largest 'defence' budget in the world. It has used the UN as an instrument of US power. It's troops have been in action almost every year since 1945. It has murdered at least 20 million people -most of them civilians, including children. In short, it became the international murderer that Britain, France and a few others had been.

And the UN. It became largely an American tool, starting with the Korean war.

We didn't just lose the peace. We threw it away. And that brings us to the climate change crisis.

To deal with climate change, we have to work together - the whole world. It's not just a matter getting excited about oil. This is a massive job requiring the cooperation of the whole world. And we're nowhere close to doing that. Indeed, the most recent effort by the U.S. has been to try to steal the oil of Venezuela. And instead of raising criticism, it has caused the dozens of US puppet nations, including Canada, to cheer for the U.S.

If we are to survive, we need to cooperate - with everybody. We can't afford wars. We can't afford to compete as individuals. The evidence of that is the effects of our behaviour over the last 30 years as we have been made aware of   climate change. In 30 years, knowing about climate change, we  have done almost nothing.

The history of the world is a history of competition, killing,  and plunder. That's the history of almost all of us. It's an old, old habit. How do we change that?

I don't know.

But that's what we have to achieve. To continue with competition, killing and plunder (and greed and capitalism) will destroy us. This world cannot survive the idiocies of Trumps,of Doug Fords in Ontario, and Cheneys in Alberta.

The dangerous people who face us are 'the people'. In Canada, for example, voters, angry at the corruption of the Liberals, are switching to the Conservatives.

Get real.

Canadian voters from the day of the founding of this country have voted for Liberals, become disgusted at them, switched votes to the Conservatives, become disgusted with them, so they voted tor the Liberals......Wake up Canada!

To make it worse, we have no party ready to deal with the world collapse that faces us.

"We've won the war. Now we've got to win the peace."

In all the years since this child saw those signs, we haven't advanced an inch. And there's not much time left. In that time, we have to get away from war, and learn how to organize a world that can win the peace.
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https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/may/04/stop-and-search-new-row-racial-bias

Racism. When Hitler practiced it, racism was evil. When the U.S., Britain, or Canada practice it, it's understandable.
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The above excerpt from The Guardian was, pretty lean pickings. The CBC was even leaner. In particular, I find their coverage of Venezuela very lean,   indeed.

That is strange for a situation with some very dangerous possibilities.

American capitalists want control of Venezuela's oil fields. They have so far failed in their attempt to stage a civil war in Venezuela. But a civil war would have unforseeable implications.

One is that Cuba, Russia and China are all involved. (The U.S., after all those years it maintained a dictatorship in Cuba, and then all the years it survived American efforts to destroy it, still faces a US that wants to make Cuba an American puppet state again.)

Cubans fought hard to run their own country since the 1950s.  And, for all it's bullying, the U.S. has not changed that. Now, consider this - Latin America is full of countries deliberately controlled and plundered by American and Canadian mining  agricultural corporations.

How would those countries react to an American invasion of Cuba and/or Venezuela? They well remember (though it never made our news) the U.S. alaughter of 200,000 Guatemalans in the 1950s. They live in a world of poverty and abuse inflicted by American billionaires with the blessing of American governments.  Nor, I'm sure, are they cheered by a Trump who horribly abuses Latin Americans at the U.S. border, and who daily characterizes them as evil, murderous, criminal, perverted......and who crams their children into wire cages for years.

This has the potential to be a crash of the American empire.

Then, of course, there are the Chinese and Russian troops in Venezuela. The could not stop an American invasion - but shooting at them could start a world, nuclear war.
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https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/dyer-guaidos-patience-runs-out-in-venezuela

...a clear and balanced summary of what is going on in Venezuela - something I have not seen in most of our press.
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This isn't really news. But, oh, in my twenties  I worshipped Pete Seeger as the prophet of a world that never came. And that was a terrible loss for all of us.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/03/his-legacy-lives-pete-seeger-remembered-what-would-have-been-100th-birthday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnPVP23rzo

Oh, that's not enough...

https://www.thenation.com/article/pete-seegers-top-ten-songs/

We shall over co--o-ome
We shal over co-o-ome
We shall overcome some day-ay-ay -ay.
Oh, it's deep in my heart, I do  believe,
That we shall overcome some day.

We remember you, Pete.

We remember he sang with sincerity and passion and simplicity about a world that had already abandoned all that it said it had fought for in the 1940s.
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https://www.commondreams.org/further/2019/05/02/no-way-treat-child
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/04/28/the-climate-crisis-and-the-extinction-rebellion-andrew-glikson/

Chinese capialists are remarkably like western capitalists. (Ah, oh, yes, China has lots of capitalists.
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/04/the-u-s-is-waging-a-war-on-the-bolivarian-republic-venezuela-roundup/
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well, now it's working. but just to play safe I'll use the other page to finish this blog.
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May 2: Let's get real....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/kenney-court-bill-c69-senate-1.5119675

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/permafrost-melting-1.5119767

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-uprising-1.5117870

Let's see now.Premier Kenney of Alberta is refusing to recognize global warming in any way. The U.S. is creating chaos in Venezuela so it's billionaires can steal more oil fields, and put more oil on the market.

And the Arctic ice is melting fast. How come we are not dealing with that fast melt?  How come we don't have leading billionaires urging some action?

That's because all they can think of is their profits. That's why a Kenney is doing nothing. That's why tens of thousands of Venezuelans have died. That's why we are risking a world war.

Our billionaires don't have to worry about a war. No, they don't because they don't pay taxes. Wars are fought for our billionaires. But they don't have to pay a cent. That's because they're allowed to hide their money in secret bank accounts.
So we - especially in the U.S. - have to pay for the wars that benefit only the very rich. And that's why, in Canada and the U.S., we can't afford education for our children, and why the U.S. can't afford medical care for its people.

Talk about moral rot.
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Here's a story you're not going to find in any Canadian or American newspaper.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/02/six-people-who-prove-capitalism-is-broken-in-america

We are watching a massive shift of national wealth from the poor and the middle class to the super-wealthy. And that is going to lead to a massive crash.
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Canada and the U.S. fight only to bring democracy to the world. Yeah. That's why both are getting tough with Venezuela. Yeah. Democracy. So why are both cuddling up to the world's most brutal dictatorship?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/saudi-canada-executions-arms-1.5117422
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Here's an item on Venezuela  that I haven't seen in much of the western press.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/02/venezuela-military-and-maduro-hold-early-morning-parade-we-will-never-surrender

No, I'm not an admirer of Maduro. But compared to the muck and mire of the Canadian and American role in all this, Maduro comes close to looking like a sweetheart.

Canada, incidentally, has consistently kissed Trump's rear end in all this. Of course. Once the property of the British Empire, Canada is now the property of the American empire. This goes back to very shortly after World War Two. With the Korean war, Canadians have fought and died only for their American rulers.

God save----whoever....
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/28/wife-tracking-apps-saudi-arabias-vile-regime-crucifixion

If the U.S. is serious about bringing democracy to the world, it might begin with one of it's best friends - the most brutal state in the world.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/30/muslim-brotherhood-white-house-egypt

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
The U.S. has killed something over 20 million people, the majority of  them civilian men, women and children. Shouldn't it be branding itself as a terrorist group?
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https://www.merrittherald.com/dyer-no-populist-breakthrough-in-europe/
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http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/needs-no-introduction/2019/05/svend-robinson-people-and-planet-profits

Alas, this item doesn't say much. But the reality is we are at the last chance of dealing with climate change. And the capitalist world will not let that chance happen.
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http://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/05/trudeau-feeds-anti-refugee-scapegoating-election

Every day takes us closer to the world we fought against in 1941.
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http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/david-suzuki/2019/05/stop-fiddling-while-planet-burns

And Alberta  has just elected as premier a man with no scientific training who tells all the world's climate scientists they don't know nuthin'.
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/01/activism-works-uk-parliament-makes-history-declaring-climate-emergency
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/04/28/the-climate-crisis-and-the-extinction-rebellion-andrew-glikson/
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/02/venezuela-another-failed-coup-attempt-whats-next-peter-koenig/

This is more sympathetic to Maduro than I am. But Koenig is a pretty good reporter.
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_https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/02/a-first-hand-account-from-caracas-on-the-rightists-failed-coup-day-peter-lackowski/

Wordy, sometimes confusing so. This one takes a lot of patience for the reader.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51527.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51532.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51534.htm
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A cautionary note. I have known many, many Jews in my life. But I never met one who shared the views in the article below. (Well, I knew a couple. But they were Israelis. And we should not think of Israelis as being representative of Jews in general.)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51533.htm

Note that the rabbis cited are leading figures in Israel.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51530.htm
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/05/02/news/ontario-greens-parody-doug-fords-anti-carbon-tax-stickers-show-costs-climate-change
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/05/02/opinion/climate-strikes-youth-mental-health-crisis
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https://off-guardian.org/2019/05/02/leaked-usas-feb-2018-plan-for-coup-in-venezuela/
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/jewish-anti-semitism-adl-stats-synagogues-houses-of-worship-1.5118345

Yes. this is very much like Hitler's Germany. Very much. A Germany shattered by World War 1 looked for an enemy to blame for it all. So Hitler won power by finding someone to blame for it all.

Western politicians of today (and including Canadians) are doing the same thing - but on an even broader scale. 'respectable' Canadians hit on Latin Americans and Muslims while Americans seek a still broader ranger of 'evil' people.

Our racism is alive and well.
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https://truthout.org/video/george-monbiot-on-the-uk-climate-emergency/

I know I have an item on this topic earlier in today's blog. But this is important because Britain is the first country IN THE WORLD to notice that climate change in happening. And it took thirty years for that to happen.

We also have to realize that dealing with climate change  can be challenged only by a world united - something we have never seen before. It calls for tremendous advance planning.

We cannot waste time on bickering Dealing with climate change is a massive challenge - far the greatest the world has ever encountered. There's no room for  billionaires on the prowl. There's no room for wars.  In thirty years, we have done virtually nothing. Now, we must remake our whole society.

The greatest threat is people like Donald Trump in the U.S.,  Doug Ford and Cheney in Caada, the oil industy.

And it's going to be monstrously complex.

The alternative - what we are doing - is simple. But fatal.

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April 30:The most dangerous day ever?

https://pressprogress.ca/corporate-canadas-pile-of-cash-in-offshore-tax-havens-has-hit-353-billion-for-the-first-time-in-history/?fbclid=IwAR2HX4jHXNy6qNDQ99hlMJqnVMoPFawJk9-eAZbZtL-6AcF6sSSySanUddU

353 billion dollars. That's our money. It's the money we should have have to finance education, poverty programmes, health care.....  If most of us refused to pay our income tax, the government would take action against us. But the wealthy can refuse to pay hundreds of billions. And not a word is whispered.

I am reminded of Irving, the billionaire of the province of New Brunswick. Some years ago, this man who does not  pay income tax on his fortune, made a relatively small donation for the poor. The newspapers got hold of the story. (Mr. Irving owns all the newspapers in the province.) And they slobbered the story all over their pages.

That threw the Chamber of Commerce into an ecstasy of praise for this man who gave thousands to the poor (while avoiding taxes in the many, many millions) So the business community wet its pants to hold a worshipful dinner for Mr. Irving. And he, of course, agreed to speak and be praised at it. (But not by the poor. They couldn't afford a Chamber dinner.)

And, again, Mr. Irving's newspapers carried the story, slobbering over their owner.

Our billionaires create jobs? Yes,   lots of them, at minimum wage. And then they hide their massive profits.   In effect, they create poverty by stealing what should be our money.

But cheer up, Canadians, the bill in the U.S. must be way over a trillion.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-guaido-final-phase-maduro-1.5116327

This story is not as informative as it should be. In the first place, and despite American propaganda reports, Guaido was never elected to the Venezuela legislature - so he has no claim whatever to being president. Then there's the problem of the Russian and Chinese troops...

...I presume they're still there. This could turn into one hell of a confrontation with the possibility of sparking a world war. And, obviously, the U.S. in backing Guaido is prepared to risk that. Good luck to all  of us.

The idea that the U.S. wants to restore democracy to Venezuela is pure rubbish. The American record in Latin America for over a century has been to create and support dictatorships - and, frequently,  to mass murder helpless thousands as it did to  the Maya people in Guatemala, as it did when Chile became a dictatorship, as it did during the Castro revolution in Cuba.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/climate-change-floods-1.5115447

Pay no attention to scientific claims our current flooding is a result of climate change. If that were true, our billionaires would  have told us, and would start paying taxes so we could deal with it. (But they don't want their billions to get all wet.)
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-sues-banks-block-house-subpoenas-1.5116320

Is it possible that Donald Trump is one of those people who hides his money from taxation? Hey! Do you think it's possible that he's not?
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/26/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-youth-mental-health-study-report

When Puerto Rico suffered a murderous hurricane that killed thousands, Trump gave minimal help - though Puerto Rico is an American territory. (He needed the money to give tax breaks to billionaires - seriously.)
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/29/call-it-crisis-new-report-details-failure-cable-and-network-outlets-accurately

Too true. And it's always been that way. Our news media,  quite accurately portrayed Hitler as evil. And that was true. But the British Empire of the time was a lot more evil. (and so was Churchill.) But you will rarely, if ever,  find a newspaper that mentioned that. Muslim warrior groups of our time are  often referred to as terrorists. Okay. Ever read a story calling Americans terrorists for their mass murder of civilians and children (as in Yemen, Iraq, Guatemala...?)

Most of our news media are extremely biased - and lying.
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/04/27/inescapable-200-250-trillion-global-carbon-debt-increasing-by-16-trillion-annually-gideon-polya/

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https://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2019/04/30/Way-Canadian-Journalism-Used-To-Be/

It's even worse than it used to be, though not all have fallen as low as The Post of Toronto. CBC has  the best journalists. But even it is under constant pressure to be less than honest.

A site I refer to commonly is rabble.ca. It was founded by an excellent CBC journalist. And it is honest.

The lying came early. When Baden-Powell (later founder of the Boy Scouts), the news media went wild with joy when he was relieved after  his long defence of Mafeking. Britain and its news media went wild with joy. The army command did not.

The fact is that Baden-Powell was not supposed to be defending Mafeking. And the British army  had a terrible time getting him out of it.
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Like I said, most of our news media lie.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm#inbox/FMfcgxwCgVRJbNGBSdzZrSGJXJXSnCpr
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51514.htm

This is not similar to an act of war. To attack a ship at sea IS an act of war. The U.S. has effectively declared war on Iran  (perhaps with the help of its democracy loving friends in Saudi Arabia.) And this is a war with the potential to draw in many more nations - among them  Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and, indeed, the whole region.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51511.htm
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51516.htm
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/04/30/features/province-wide-tuition-waiver-gives-former-foster-kids-fighting-chance

A rare, good news story.

I grew up in a very poor district. We were all kids from families that had always been poor. I still remember how, in my first year class, only one of us - a girl - would go to university. (I would, too,  but it never looked that way and I never finished high school.) My parents weren't at all upset when I announced I had been kicked out. The understood that people like us were, at best, working class - and we were forever going to stay there. Schools do that to you. They would later get very angry when I quit my awful job to sneak into university. I was trying to rise 'above my station'.

That doesn't happen with kids of a higher income family. They grow with friends who are raised to know that Kindergarten is the first year of  university studies. We need schools that teach children they have a right to be ambitious. But they can't because schools don't have the money. Our billionaires don't pay the taxes to make that possible.

The bright lights (in high school) were the Jewish kids in my high school. There is a strong tradition of learning in Judaism. And that produced children who were as poor as I was but who didn't allow that to  bog them down.
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https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/indonesia-jakarta-climate-change/
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https://off-guardian.org/2019/04/29/tipping-point-the-gilets-jaunes-are-winning-whats-next/
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https://truthout.org/articles/making-us-schools-less-great-again/

In Canada and the U.S. education systems are mostly a mess. Of course. You can't allow billionaires to avoid taxes - and that means you can't afford a decent education system. Anyway, any money that governments have left over has to be saved to give back-door deals to billionaires, and to help pay bills for the schools their children go to.
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This has been a frightening day. Trump is without doubt the most juvenile president in the history of the U.S. If he is moving in on Venezuela as seems to be the case, we  could be in one hell of a world war. Remember, both China and Russia are there. And both, like the U.S. are nuclear armed.

I never thought I'd say this, but we're lucky Putin is in charge of Russia. Putin, whatever his  faults might be, is probably far the most intelligent of  the world's leading politicians.

And Trump is just a spoiled brat.

This is a VERY dangerous situation. Anything could trigger a foolish action that would trigger the massive firing of American nuclear missiles that the U.S. has lined along the Russian border. (And damn fools in the European states allowed the U.S. to do that.)

And while we are pondering supidity and ignorance, how can Americans believe the story that the U.S. is doing this to restore democracy to Venezuela? Pu-leeze. The U.S. has spent over a century destroying any attempts at democracy in Latin America. John Bolton doesn't give a damn about democracy. He wants to capture Venezuelan oil to benefit his billionaire friends.