Friday, February 19th, 2016 §§ — -7˚C / +19˚F — Clear with a nice warm sun om Atlantic Canada @ 10:45 am §§ —
CBC Radio One News this morning aired a discussion between Those who believe that Apple would give away too much if they caved in to the F.B.I.’s demand that they hand over code to help the F.B.I. crack into the iPhone of accused Terrorists in the recent California mass killings & Those who claim that this would only be a ‘one-off’ event.
— The guy who was arguing that the F.B.I. should be able to protect civilians from terrorists scoffed at the ‘slippery slope’ argument that if Apple gave government agents any help in cracking into their iPhones Then nobody’s privacy would be protected. He called Apple’s argument ‘disingenuous’. — The other side in this discussion did not mention anything about the idea that Government should be the servants of the citizenry, not despotic dictators who believe they should control everything and everybody and should have the right to snoop on everybody’s private thoughts, words and deeds. — The weird thing was, as a kind of aside in this discussion, it was mentioned that young people don’t believe their potential lack of privacy is as big a deal as do older people.
And – “[Telling The-] Truth is Treason In An Empire Of Lies”— Whistle-Blowers are often stunned by the revelation that the people they believe they are protecting and defending by maintaining their high level of ethics don’t appreciate their efforts. — I remember hearing one US citizen announce that if he ever saw Ralph Nader crossing a road on a dark night he would not hesitate to attempt vehicular homicide. — This person bought the propaganda put out by the auto industry saying that automobile prices had to rise astronomically because of safety legislation brought on by Ralph Nader’s revealing that the industry knowingly sold vehicles that were “Unsafe At Any Speed”.
— Several Earthquakes in the past couple weeks have also caught my attention, and Earthquakes and Volcanic eruptions were accurately predicted by Astrologer Dr. Luis Turi.
— This will have to be all for now. I have some ‘Real World’ commitments to fulfill.
Sunday, January 31st, 2016 -( 0˚C / +32˚F — Dark and fairly warm for this time of year in Atlantic Canada @ 8:37 pm )-
I had to look twice at the snowman before I realized what was up. 🙂
— I spent too much of last night trying to undo weird glitches on my laptop – Then I switched to this computer to look up “How do you delete a user account that isn’t working right on a Mac with OS X 10.9.5?” ( It won’t accept its passwords – and nobody logged in and changed those passwords, so I haven’t the foggiest what might be going on there. )
Jesse Ventura likes the idea that Donald Trump is dismantling the Republican Party in the U.S.A.
— But ya know what? There’s a lot of back and forth grumbling about politiks, especially back in the “States” where the Iowans are about to kick off another round of Presidential Election Season maneuvering.
Michael Moore has been tweeting up a storm about the differences between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. – Somebody from Fox News believes Michael Moore is laughable because he generalized about the Republicans stance on issues he believes are very important – Fox News Pointing their finger at anyone’s shortcomings? That’s what’s laughable.
— Michael Moore has been poking holes in a lot of arguments about the Republicrats’ race to the White House, including citing poles that say that Bernie can’t get enough Democrats’ votes to beat Trump – But when Independent voters are figured into the mix Sanders clobbers Trump – But Hillary wouldn’t.
Meanwhile, in Canada, There are ‘Spin-Wars’ going on with Conservatives claiming they handed the new Liberal Government a Big Surplus. As this series of tweets and retweets (above) points out, The Conservatives tried to un-fund several areas and with-held funds earmarked – for instance – for Veterans Health care – Where they shut down 9 regional offices – which made it harder, nearly impossible for some vets to get help for their PTSD issues – which resulted in and “Epidemic” of Veterans committing suicide, and then the Minister of Veterans Affairs became extraordinarily unpopular by appearing on television newsbyte news handing the Prime Minister a cheque for a Billion Dollars in ‘savings’/money not spent saving veterans’ lives. So what we had here was the rich robbing the poor and powerless and handing each other the spoils of their privateering. EI = Employment Insurance. The Harper Conservatives tried to make it so hard for downsized / laid off and retired workers to get help that the middle class is shrinking catastrophically up here – Retirement Benefits were basically ‘put on hold’ with retired citizens waiting so long for their benefits to start that it really looked like the Conservatives were hoping the retirees would drop dead before they could collect any of the money they’d earned over their life times.
— A lot of people are now openly calling ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper a Corporate Fascist.
And in the United Kingdom – Something that some of us thought was a joke that couldn’t be true – looks like it’s reality : The elected government over there wants to institute a “Bedroom Tax” with provisions that exclude the Royalty and the very rich from having to pay anywhere near as much as the middle class and especially the poor – who would be paying for this new tax – which sounds like an old Monty Python Routine.
— [ ‘Carers’ listed above would be ‘Home Health Care Providers’, as in: someone taking care of a sick parent or relative, or foster child, etc. ]
– I’m not entirely sure who the ‘she’ is – referred to in the comment that accompanied this tweet. I’m not even sure it’s someone in the UK, but that would be my best guess – And the quote is something worth pondering, if only to wonder if it might be more true if a couple of the words were slightly changed.
— How about, “The problem is that Sensitive People take their time to think about the consequences of their propsed actions while Belligerant people turn their minds off and charge straight ahead swinging virtual and verbal clubs and axes at anything in their way.” ?
And this final photograph of the evening reminds me both of times when New York City felt like a wondrous and almost strangely beautiful place and it ‘scared the living cement out of me’ with the brutality of its indifference and greed.
— This is probably enough damage for anyone’s peace of mind to suffer through tonight –
Jim W. posted this on “Latest News From Arendel” – Copied and Pasted below:
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Wednesday, January 27th, 2016 -( +5˚C / +41˚F — Grey skies & damp in Atlantic Canada @ 8:00 am )-
Corporate Welfare? In Canada – ‘Fossil Fuel’ Corporations get $34 Billion dollars in taxpayer funded subsidies – In the UK – Google gets a sweetheart deal, which, when exposed, leads to a hand slapping pittance in back taxes. – Meanwhile – Provincial Governments in Canada – crying “Poverty!” are trying to convince taxpayers that they will need to pay new tolls that could cost heavy commuters $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 more every year?
— Economic Warfare —
— The oil and gas industries received $34 Billion dollars per year in taxpayer-funded subsidies? Mid-priced Electric cars cost about $31,000.00 Canadian Dollars. They figure there are 9 million families in Canada?
– So the ‘government’ of New Brunswick has been ‘studying’ how to fraudulently fleece the citizens of New Brunswick and anyone else who uses their roads, and reduce their health care benefits and other services which New Brunswickers are entitled to. And, from the looks of this photo (above) it looks like they believe they can get away with that. –
— The Province of New Brunswick, crying poverty, has told the people of New Brunswick that their ‘duly elected government’ is trying to decide how to institute tolls on New Brunswick’s highways to raise money because they’re not bringing in enough tax revenues? ***Why don’t they raise taxes on the corporations that have been getting away with downsizing, knocking hardworking people from their ability to pay those taxes, which may be fraudulently reported to the media which, in turn, ‘report’ those fraudulent figures to the news-consuming public.
— Walter Burien – of cafr1.com [ (CAFR+the number 1) dot com ] is an investment counselor who has been trying to explain that virtually every level of Federal, State or Provincial, County, and municipal government has more income streams than they admit to, that tax revenues amount to one third of their actual income, and if they’re not receiving two thirds of their income from non-tax revenues, well then, shame on them for being incredibly stupid – Mr. Burien has been trying to explain this for years, has been politely screaming at seemingly sleeping citizens who, apparently, would much rather plug their ears than listen to him.
The existing pipeline would be ‘upgraded’ & converted to carry crude oil instead of gas through areas threatened by possible ‘Fracking’ and extended to where the crude oil would reportedly be shipped away from Canada to where foreign jobs would either be created or insured at the expense of any possible Canadian jobs. Renewable Energy Development would create a lot more jobs and a lot more economic stability for a lot less money.
— The proposed Energy East Pipeline upgrade would bring oil from Alberta to Saint John, New Brunswick, – reportedly: not to be refined here, an operation which would create Canadian jobs, but to be loaded on ships and carried off to refineries in the USA, where US citizens would have job security that is lacking in Canada?
— Meanwhile, Fracking has been shown to create earthquakes. Earthquakes endanger pipelines. Oil pipelines that split open spill poison into the groundwater. Poisoned groundwater forces humans to pay extra for water that isn’t poisoned, and it kills animals. Animals that die from poisoned water include farm animals that people eat, and pets that people love, and wild animals, like the Beluga whales in the Saint Lawrence River/Seaway.
— When the Mayor of Montreal cried out against the pipeline, he was first accused of being selfish, then accused of trying to divide Canadians along East Versus West, or even Anglophones versus Francophones lines. Then, after a talk with Justin Trudeau, the Mayor of Montreal clarified that his stance against the pipeline was not against economic progress or opportunities, but against the shoddy inability of industry controlled watchdogs to insure that the pipelines would be properly built, properly inspected, and properly maintained. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, for his part, has announced that he is not a cheerleader for this pipeline project, or any other pipeline project. First Nations/Native Americans – the people whose country was stolen out from under them by Europeans – who claimed they were saving the aboriginal citizens of the ‘Americas’ from ignorance, eternal damnation and poverty – have been fighting pipelines both in the east and in the west. They have also been fighting against the practice of ‘Fracking’, which threatens their drinking water and the stability of their lands.
— Canadian ‘Law’ sees mineral rights as belonging to the ‘Crown’, land owners have been shocked and dismayed to discover that their property has been invaded without their permission by somebody who dug a hole, searching for possible minerals or other exploitable resources, & left the ‘exploratory’ holes open and dangerous to children and other living things. And then the property owners discovered that (1) they are powerless to stop this sort of thing, (2) if anything valuable was discovered on or under their property, they would not benefit from that discovery, or its exploitation or development – at all – and (3) they just might have to pay the cost of filling any dangerous holes left in their own property, or be held financially liable if the next trespasser looking to make money at the property owners’ expense fell into a hole and injured their precious selves.
— First Nations people have been fighting for centuries to keep their land and mineral rights, citing the fact that they never did sign away their mineral rights. Miners want to be able to walk onto Tribal lands and poison and ruin the area, grab whatever minerals and ores they find there, cart the valuable substances away and gesture obscenely as they ‘laugh all the way to the bank’ and capitalize on what they’ve stolen.
Meanwhile, in the UK – This is probably too small for you to read it, but it tells of large tax breaks given to Google and Apple Computer –
— Corporations have also been getting away with not paying their fair share of taxes in the United Kingdom. Google, which ‘mines’ information from the browsers of anybody connecting to their ‘services’ – and selling that information to the highest bidder – has recently been slapped on the wrist and asked to pay a pittance to cover back taxes – while ‘common’ taxpayers in the UK have discovered that they are now being charged unbelievably ridiculous new taxes [ like a bedroom tax? ] that sound more like Monty Python routines than anything like a real tax that any government in the Western ‘Free World’ would have the gall to suggest.
– After the U.S. War For Independence – Corporations were severely limited in the scope of what they were allowed to do and length of time they would be allowed to function. When their charters were up, and their time expired, their assets would revert to public ownership. This was before their lobbyists basically pooped all over the 99% who couldn’t afford their over paid lawyers.Do you really want to support an industry that exploits slave labour?Human Rights Watch is raising the alarm about governments using the politiks of fear to avoid respecting the Human Rights of their own citizens as well as the Human Rights of refugees.Inspiring words during times when the threat of darkness is raising its head right in front of you?At least today’s news isn’t all bad – This Japanese “Raccoon-Dog”, called a “Tanuki’ is neither a raccoon nor a dog and is not recommended to be kept as a pet. Sounds like a shame, because a dog that cute would probably be fun to share your life with.
— And so, sadly, tragically, this has been a snapshot of this morning’s schnarr news of the world as perceived and shared from Atlantic Canada.
— & On the Ethics front: In France, the Justice Minister resigned her post in protest over the new French law that strips citizenship from those accused of terrorism. So human beings with their humanity and moral values intact actually still do exist as of today, the 27th day of January/janvier, 2016. Of course, the newscast that announced this brave and ethical act went on to tell us that the Justice Minister who resigned had already been replaced by a schnarr ice-hole of an Elitist shill who was firmly in favour of advancing himself without regard for ethical behaviour, due process of any law, or the health and well-being of anybody but himself.
– & This, like all the graphics included here, does not contain a valid link. You might be able to copy and paste something from the graphic itself, or you might have o ‘google it’ – or, more safely, look it up at startpage dot-com, But, yeah, I think I’d rather be watching the sun rise in Ireland than sitting here, allowing myself to become upset / depressed over the latest burnt offerings from the mass media news.
Sunday, January 17th, 2016 -( -6˚C / +21˚F — Cloudy & grey in Atlantic Canada @ 8:30 am )-
“How to distract and deceive the decent, honest, working people of this world while you pick their pockets”?
“The Rich [ top 1%? ] Don’t believe inequality is an issue? ” Quote from Russell Brand.— It’s “The Atrocity of the Day” show in main stream media.
— Yesterday, If anyone asked me what Burkina Faso was, or where it might be, I’d admit ignorance and guess it might be a city or an island and might guess it would be in the Pacific, somewhere near Singapore?
— Today, it looks like Burkina Faso has been firmly put on the map, just south of Mali in Africa. 28 in a luxury hotel dead – from 18 countries, including 6 from Canada? All of the Canadians were from Quebec?
— I have several friends who follow Conspiracy Investigators. Many of them believe that Al-Qaeda and ISIS were deliberately created by the C.I.A. and/or M.I.6 under orders from the ‘Elite’ who want to control everything and everybody and have learned that if they can keep the general population of this world in a constant state of fear, they can con anyone who believes they live in the ‘Free World’ into voluntarily surrendering all their rights, privileges and freedoms in the name of a ‘National Security’ – which then turns their own governments guns around and points deadly force at their own foreheads.
— I have heard radio interviews with lawyers and psychological ‘de-programmers’ who say they have evidence that ‘dark ops’ groups – break off ‘rogue’ units of especially US Armed Services have been ‘targeting’ individuals, kidnapping them from their homes, taking them to places where they are conditioned using “MK-Ultra” techniques, brainwashed into becoming “Manchurian Candidate” type assassins who have been hypnotized and had their memories wiped, but who can be contacted and activated any time by their handlers, had the right word whispered in their ears and sent out on a suicide mission to kill as many innocent civilians as possible and hopefully get themselves killed in the process so nobody can hypnotize them and learn what has actually happened. The Conspiracy Investigators say this has been happening since the Texas Tower killer in the 1970’s and maybe before that. Sirhan Sirhan, who was charged with assassinating Robert Kennedy, was supposed to be one of the victims or this kind of programming, and eye witnesses have testified that Sirhan Sirhan was ‘glassy eyed’ and fired his gun at nothing while the real assassin was somebody wearing a security officer’s uniform who stepped up behind Senator Kennedy and shot him in the back of the head. Other victims of that kind of conditioning include the Unibomber, the guy who shot John Lennon, and maybe most of the recent mass shootings in the USA and around the world, including the guy who shot up the six-year olds in Sandy Hook (Newtown), Connecticut – The guy who shot up the the theatre in Colorado, and others – & I have deliberately not included a few of these mass killings because I’m not sure they quite fit the profile.
— I can’t endorse my friends’ theories one hundred percent, but every time another atrocity like this hits the main stream media and tries to shock the world’s state of mind off-center to make everyone more manipulate-able, I begin to wonder again, if maybe they just might be right.
– “You can’t call this ‘Education’-“– Wiki Leaks: “How to Surrender All Your Rights and Priveleges: – Begins when you believe everything your government tells you.”
— Maybe we never left the Age of Superficiality. Maybe it’s always been with us. But was it always so glamorized? Never mind ‘Glamorized’ – it suddenly seems canonized.
— Maybe I didn’t pay attention to a lot of things in the last few years. Maybe I dismissed mindless ‘entertainment’ and ‘infotainment’ as if was totally insignificant. But wait – Somebody is paying attention to this stuff. There are way too many programs celebrating celebrity. Reality TV shows look too much like they were designed to convince us that housewives in every city in this world, especially housewives who believe they are rich and powerful – are complete idiots – and not just idiots, but mean spiteful egotistical bitches who believe they should be able to kill and eat their neighbours as long as some good conservative party member makes a profit in terms of votes for their candidates – or better yet, gold and silver in their untraceable emergency escape fund.
— Remember the song “Dirty Laundry” bu Don Henley? I thought it was brilliant. I thought I could laugh about dumbed down television news and walk away from that and never be bothered by its mindlessness again.
— But now the ‘Bubble headed bleached blondes’ are everywhere – and they’re not necessarily blonde any more – sometimes they are wearing grey hair like badges as they try to get you to spend your hard earned money to buy more life insurance (that the insurance companies welcome as ‘free money’ – maximum input with minimum output for them). – Buy more life insurance than you’d ever need so you can die with a smile on your face, safe in the illusion that your grandchildren will have hundreds of thousands of dollars to deposit as a down-payment toward a multi-million dollar education as the universities of this world become more and more greedy and less and less effective? Remember when we thought that a university education would teach us how to think effectively? Did they ever teach us how to see through shuck?
— Maybe I was able to tolerate the superficiality of many things because I thought they had no impact on the vast majority of the human race. Maybe I believed that average humans were much more intelligent and much more wise than the ‘pundits’ of Madison Avenue gave anybody credit for being. Was I wrong?
— And why, all of a sudden, with the beginning of this New Year – has it become so painful for me to sit in front of a television monitor and see smiling faces of attractive people as they try to appear completely guile-less while they attempt to deceive anybody stupid enough to believe they might be telling the truth as they read their news or sell the garbage we never wanted and never believed we needed until some hyper-attractive young member of the opposite sex smiled at us with his or her eyes dilating at the prospect of engaging in possible sexual fulfillment with the proud owner of whatever it is that they’re trying to sell you at the moment?
— Or am I completely insane to believe that, if for instance, you want to do something for the good of humanity, like feeding starving children in third world countries – or smuggling innocent followers of non-sanctioned religions out from under the military dictatorships in countries where the ‘leadership’ believes they have every right to vivisect anyone who doesn’t follow their proclamations to the letter and then sell their precious bodily organs to the highest bidder –– you should do that anonymously – and you should do it because you know that it pleases God and strengthens everything that makes life on this planet worth living? The fact that you would be doing something selfless and good for the benefit of all life on this planet is one thing. Handing somebody a huge cheque on television, more concerned about how you look while you’re doing it and ‘who you are wearing’ at the time the cameras are rolling is not what charity is all about. Is it?
— And like I hinted at a couple paragraphs up. Why has knowing that this kind of activity is going on become so much more painful in the last two weeks? Have I given up believing in the sanctity and sovereignty of each and every human being on planet Earth?
— Or have I just watched too many television commercials lately and taken them much too seriously?