Trump's Threat

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called to congratulate  President-Elect Donald Trump.  How fortunate the owner of Starlink, Elon Musk, happened at that moment to be with Trump who handed him the phone.  Starlink is essential to Ukraine's defence efforts against Russia's illegal invasion.  The call turned into a bold-faced threat -- give in to Russian demands, or else. 

This farce was motivated by Trump's unquenchable thirst for adulation. Should Zelensky cede any Ukrainian land and the war ends, Trump will claim all the credit.  He lusts after the Nobel Peace Prize.  For it, Trump would betray any "shithole country" -- his words for nations that refuse consent to his demands. 

History Ecoes

 

"Some of the movements that sprang from this longing were evil. Some people believed that they could impose order on an unruly society through bogus race science and white supremacy. This was the era of lynching and racial terrorism."   That's New York Times columnist David Brooks speaking of a time in U.S. history.  

Much of what Brooks said echoes the earlier evil of late eighteenth century France.  In the Reign of Terror, the revolutionaries believed that science would cleanse the nation of social evil.   Those not in favour of the Revolution were summarily executed--about three thousand in Paris alone and tens of thousands more across the nation.

In both cases, wholesale killing was done  in the name of public safety.

The ultimate in state killing echoed in  twentieth century Germany.  Despotic Adolf Hitler called his version of public safety "a new world order".  Science was  very much involved in the slaughter of millions of Jews, intellectuals and others who failed to adhere to the Nazi line.  

Truly "history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."  History also has a strange echo.  I'm thinking of fully blown despots  Vladimir Putin of Russia and China's Xi Jinping. And among the world's punk despots we have Hungary's Victor Orban and supremely so Kim Jong Un of North Korea.  Echoes will always be with us.

Ukraine and Hiroshima

 In today's news, wannabe Russian czar Vladimir Putin has objected to a Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory calling it a provocation. To what exactly?  He calls his intrusion into Ukraine a military operation  The war of words continues.

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On  the 79th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many still seem unsure why it was necessary.  At that time, there was talk of  Operation Coronet -- the invasion of Japan in March 1946.  In his memoirs U.S. President Harry Truman refused to answer why he approved the bombing.  Here's my theory, likely copied from some other source. 

Everyone knew World War Two was virtually won.  In Europe, the repatriation of  Allied troops had already begun.  Meanwhile, the U.S.S.R. maintained  its military numbering tens of millions, a force strong enough to resume its western march to occupy all Europe.

Truman's decision was a message to Russia not to budge from the Europe they already occupied. Had they not heeded the message, it is not difficult to imagine the next nuclear target.  

Grocery store revisited

 Time was that when you entered a grocery store you walked up to a counter. A clerk greeted you and asked what you needed today. As you read your list, said clerk went about the store gathering your needed items. He totaled your purchases, placed your money in a cash register and gave you the change and a receipt. The clerk placed your purchases in the required number of paper bags.

You then headed for the meat counter where various types of meat where displayed. If you wanted a half a pound of hamburger, that's the exact  amount the clerk gave you. If you wanted a roast of a certain weight, and none that size was in the counter, he asked the butcher to cut one of approximately the required size, And after all this the grocer made a profit.

When the supermarket arrived, you did the gathering of your groceries using a basket. Then came the cart. Meat came pre-packaged. If only pounds of hamburger were on display, or none at all, pity. Take it or leave whatever an anonymous person has put on display.  On the decreasing number of cases where a meat counter exists, the prohibitive prices tell you to return to the prepackaged section. 

You placed your purchases in the basket or cart and joined the line at the check-out counter.  The cashier rang up the cost while an assistant placed your purchases in paper, later in plastic, bags, and still later,  imitation cloth bags. And you must ask for a receipt. The grocer made a still greater profit.

The cashier's assistant has disappeared. You are expected to package you own purchases not with bags supplied by the grocer, but your own. Or the cashier will sell you a bag for which the grocer makes an indecently high profit. 

The system will next require you to register by inserting your credit card in a device at the entrance.  There will be an entrance charge.  The need be no cashiers or clerks. The grocer's profit will be immoral.

Eating, Tattoos, Noise

Eating contests exist while others in the community barely survive on minimal rations.  In the U.S. people gain notoriety for downing hot dogs by the dozen  while Toronto has a pasta eating contest.  

And my city recently hosted a get-together for skin doodlers self-styled "tattoo artists".  Beautiful bodies submit to questionable art. Once age takes hold, all that colourful "art" will hang on flabby flesh and bony limbs.  It's the only "art show" that requires the approval of Public Health officials ensuring the health and safety of the misguided who pay big money for the mutilation of their bodies.

And there has been a get-together of motorcyclists. What have we missed in our lives other that the noise of mufflers and the smell of exhaust fumes? Should I ever encounter such a enthusiast, I would ask a question: If someone should market a machine identical to your bike other then it was totally silent, would you buy it?

 Some people revel in noise.  Years ago the battlefield weapon of choice was the lumbering mussel-loading cannon. In time, the breach-loading gun with its rifled barrel appeared. Old-timers appreciated the lighter weight and the improved accuracy. Their complaint was that it was not as loud its predecessor.  That's how the noiseless motorcycle would be received.

Artistic inspiration

Creative inspiration in the arts may have come from a source beyond the human.

When asked the meaning of one of his poems, Robert Browning replied, "When I composed that poem only God and I knew what it meant. Now, only God knows." That is not as bad as it sounds. Artists offer messages, and messengers need not know the full import of their messages.   

With reference to St. Peter's dome by Michelangelo, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "He builded better than he knew."  The many messages of Buonarotti's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contain messages unintended by the artist.

We should not feel the need to ask the meaning or source of an artist's creativity.  Enjoy the work for what it says to you.

 

Unrelated notes (October 29)

 China’s top diplomat is meeting with his counterparts from five Muslim countries saying his country would work with “our brothers and sisters” to try to end the war in Gaza. There is no mention of weapons but it is reasonable to assume it topped the agenda.  The brutal war gives China another opportunity to destabilize another region.

 Today’s Toronto Star's editorial attempts to treat of hate, stating, “Education can help. Ontario is expanding Holocaust education in public schools.”   The secular mind, which is in play here, is limited.  It cannot invoke higher motives tin advocating the right thing, other than the good thing, i.e more education.  My hope is that in the Catholic schools the holocaust is taught along with the deeper message of neighbourly love which was noticeably lacking at that murderous time.  Non-Catholic schools dare not appeal to higher motives by citing the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Secularists would decry that as ‘shoving religion down young peoples’ throats.’  

 In a misunderstanding of “equity” the Toronto and District School Board in 2022 did away with merit-based admission to specialized programs. Students needed only express interest. So the Board introduced a lottery in the belief it would give priority to students from under-served communities. The Board has now returned to merit as the basis of acceptance into these costlier programs.  Applicants expressing interest must include a portfolio, video, audio or written submission.  The lesson is that equity is aspiration not a virtue.

Responsible Journalism

 A Toronto firefighter has taken the Fire Department to the Human Rights Tribunal.  His grievances are the usual complaints of an aggrieved homosexual.   Suffice it to say the list was drawn up by a lawyer with the usual boilerplate complaints.

My grievance is that the Toronto Star presents them in disgusting detail, and covers its tracks by

Stating “none of the allegations in the complaint have [sic] been tested before the tribunal.”  The Star proceeds with a report of more than 1,000 words stating every possible complaint of the appellant, presenting them as truth, all shielded by the disclaimer.  Based on experience, the tribunal will give the aggrieved a bag of money of which the lawyer will take one-third, and all with bask in righteousness.   

Questionable Leadership

Fortunately not all of our political leaders are stupid but here are two.

Pouting Vladimir Putin, still sucking his finger, continues his rampage against Ukraine. He uses prison inmates, mercenaries and conscripts in the war against his neighbour.  Facing a continued shortfall in troops, he is now recruiting Ukrainian prisoners of war to help carry on his ill-fated invasion.  Such behaviour offends decency as well as the Geneva Conventions, two things knowledge of with he appears devoid.

Political silliness also comes in a domestic package.  Alberta Premier Danielle Smith  has agreed to join discredited American political commentator Tucker Carlson.  In January, she will appear on stage with  him in front of an audience who will pay from $224 to $442 to witness the mischief those two will generate.  It would be offensive, I hope illegal, should Smith profit financially from this event.

Carlton is of the mentality of people who believe Donald Trump won the last U.S. election. He would also like to see American troops invade Canada to free us from Justine Trudeau.  That man has earned millions by spouting similar nonsense in his country. It does make us question the mental reserves of some people.

Smith is of that mentality that claims, against all evidence to the contrary, that Alberta is being short-changed by the Canada Pension Plan. Fortunately, polls show that a majority of Albertans disagree with her.

Vladimir Putin Goes Shopping

Czar wannabe Vladimir Putin, whom one can only picture as a pouting little boy in short pants, is in the market for weapons to bolster his failing effort in Ukraine. 

To that end, he is meeting with neighbouring tin-pot dictator, North Korean leader of people starving in the dark,  Kim Jong Un. Travelling with him in his personal green and yellow armoured train is an entourage of toadies and boot-lickers so necessary for his type of government.  

Strange it is that traditionally the beggar with cap in hand visits the country of the provider.  Putin's official dinner for Kim might overcome that miscue. The visitors, I suspect, still packed an extra lunch lest the Russian economy collapses while they're in town.

When he meets murderous Un, murderous Putin will be smiling and gracious. Unconfirmed is whether he will be on his knees to better kiss all the appropriate places. However, it is to be hoped he will not need to endure the ultimate humiliation by expressing admiration for Un's hair style; it would be a sure-fire deal-clincher.

Historians vs. Peter Newman

The newspapers have been agog lately over the death of journalist Peter Newman.  Curious it is that all comments, reminiscences  and obituaries were by writers with journalistic background.  And not one word from historians who on occasion took issue with Newman's treatment of historical events. 

Were none asked to comment on Newman's passing?  One such University of Toronto history professor, the late Michael Bliss, author of two dozen books on Canadian personalities and events, expressed opinions on Newman's approach to history, opinions contrary to the journalist's  liking. 

Newman's reaction was the lowest form of argumentation:  the personal ad hominem reply, a hoary and unimaginative pun on the historian's name. 

Could it be that Prof. Bliss did not care to see "facts dance" as Newman told his helpers to produce but preferred  the academic approach to history?

There is still time for the common media to elicit professional comment on possibly contrary interpretation of events in our history.  Balanced reportage is the motto, is it not?

Reflections and Reactions

 A few days ago, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was caught pumping money into the pockets of his real estate friends.  In his defence, he again placed himself on the side of the angels claiming he was unaware of all this which involved billions of dollars.  Today, he awaits the return from a holiday Ryan Amato the chief of staff of one of Ford's cabinet ministers who was apparently involved in all this.  I predict he will be thrown under the bus and folksy Ford again try to distance himself from a problem of his own making.

*  *  *

"Survivors tell harrowing tale" reads the headline of the latest disaster of people wishing to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.  Surely it's apparent to Italian authorities that it's organized crime that sells leaky boats to wouldbe migrants, often to their death.  Has the Italian government posted spies in North Africa to monitor the behaviour of these criminals? 

* * *

"Investors off-load condos as rates increase" reads the headline.  These investors made this decision before the announcement that Taylor Swift would perform in Toronto in fifteen months. Therefore I wonder how many investors will pull the condo from the market until after Swift's appearance in Toronto. One hotel has already  announced their current overnight rate for November of $460 will be $917 during Swift's November visit next year.  Let's give a cheer for the glory of capitalism.

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Thoughts on Nuclear Warfare 

In August 1945, the United States unleashed the fury of two atomic bombs on Japanese cities.  The question is raised: would it have been equally effective had the first bomb been dropped at sea, say twenty miles to the east of Tokyo and a second ten miles miles from the capital city.  Such a display of strength, and impending doom, would have been sufficient to produce the desired surrender. This seemingly reasonable approach, however, misses the crucial point. 

By August, the war in Europe had ended three months earlier.  Most of the allied troops were back home.  Russia, on the other hand, maintained its force of millions of troops.  Had Russian  leader, Josef Stalin, so wished, he could have, with minimal opposition, occupied the entire continent.  There was no force strong enough to restrain him.  Or was there such a force?

My thought is that U.S. President Harry Truman had to create more than  a display of strength.  He had to prove his resolve to drop the bomb on a Russian city should that massive army continue its westward march. 

Of relevance today is the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin introducing nuclear weapons into his war with Ukraine. I trust a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine has in its sights Putin's summer palace on the Black Sea coast.  Its destruction would make him worry about explosion number two.

The Evolution of the Grocery Store

 Time was that when you entered a grocery store you approached a counter. A clerk greeted you and asked what you needed today. As you read your list, the clerk went about the store gathering your need items.  The clerk entered your purchases and put your money in the cash register. The clerk then placed the groceries in the required number of paper bags.

 You then headed for the meat counter where various meats were displayed.  If you wanted a half-pound of hamburger, that’s the exact amount the clerk doled out.  If you wanted a roast of a certain weight, and none of that size was in the counter, he asked the butcher to cut one of approximately the size you wanted. And the company made a profit.

Later in the supermarket, you did the gathering of your groceries. Meat is prepackaged.  If only pounds of hamburger were in the display case, or none at all, too bad.  Meat clerks no longer exist. Take or leave what an anonymous person has put in the counter.  In the decreasing number of cases where a meat counter exists, the prohibitive prices tell you to go back to the prepackaged section. You placed your purchases in a basket and joined the line at a checkout counter.   The cashier rang up the cost. An assistant placed your purchases in bags.   And the grocer made a greater profit.

 The cashier’s assistant has disappeared. You are expected to package your own purchases.  You may hand you bags but they prefer you bring you own.  And the grocer’s profits improved greatly.

 Today, the number of cashiers has dwindled.  You are expected to do your own checkout, paid only by credit card and package your purchases.  And the grocer made a yet greater profit.

 During an epidemic, the grocer cries poor mouth due to rising costs. And the grocer makes obscene profits as a COVID profiteer.

Putin's double-edged New Year's message

With the continued bombing of residential areas in Ukraine, that murderous fellow in the Kremlin sends two messages.  

The first to the free people of Ukraine telling them to rise up against their government and demand an end to the war. 

With the second message, Putin warns the oppressed people of Russia that reprisals on the scale of their neighbour's bombing will occur to them should they rise up against him.

The world (at least the civilized part) hopes the reverse of both messages will come to pass, and soon.

Putin versus Zelenskyy

The personalities of Russia's President Putin and Ukraine's President Zelenskyy are described in Ecclesiasticus, a book of the Apocrypha, where we read in Chapter One, "The furious man cannot be justified." 

What better description of a wee man intent on destroying another's country?  His rage was heightened by the recent damage to his showpiece bridge.  To give vent to his fury, he is currently sending against innocent Ukrainian civilians suicide drones purchased from Iran (whose sclerotic leadership has problems of its own).  

Putin takes his cues from the playbook of Adolf Hitler while his personality is described in the Bible.  The behaviour of this wee man is nothing new; the wicked have been in a rage for millenia. The world awaits the "sway of his fury" to bring about his destruction.

Ecclesiasticus then tells us: "The patient man will hold out till the time comes," but he "will tear for a time." The world stands amazed at the cool presence of besieged leader Zelenskyy and his ability to communicate so succinctly to the world.

Both leaders are of a type. We pray for the weight of the wee man's rage to do its work in the near future and for the patient man to hold on so that "his joy will break out in the end."   

If I were an artist, I would draw . . .

The Statue of Liberty informing Donald Trump:"You're fired." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin a little boy in short pants, in a sandbox, holding a broken bridge while stomping on other children's toy houses. 

China President Xi Jinping and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi waving a cautionary finger at Vladimir Putin cuddling atomic weaponry.

Animal rights and wrongs

No reasonable person condones gratuitous cruelty to animals. Surely the line is drawn when one attempts to equate animals and humans?  

A media report of February 9, 2016, told of placard-waving protesters demanding justice for an maltreated dog. This, based on the belief that "the mind of a dog is roughly equivalent to that of a child of two or three years of age." 

Such loathsome comparisons are the work of Peter Singer. The Princeton professor claims that highly aware animals, such as the chimp, are owed more respect and protection than mentally-challenged humans. 

One of Singer's followers proclaims, "We are seeking to break the species barrier." There is no barrier, just a measureless chasm between humans and animals, no matter what tricks the animal can perform or how debased the human behaviour. 

Animals are deserving of limited protection with no equivalence to humans at any age or in any condition.

Peter Singer's heart must be broken today. 

To the professor's chagrin, a New York appeals court recently ruled that chimpanzees do not have legal rights. The court rejected the contention that chimps are worthy of a writ of habeas corpus, as animal activists demanded.

There is no legal precedent for the animals to be considered people, the court ruled. They do not have the capacity to be held legally accountable for their actions. 

Sorry, Professor Singer, common sense occasionally holds sway, even for an off-the-rails philosopher.

There is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher  -- Cicero

The Police That Couldn't Shoot Straight

February 12, 2019
A man with a gun was robbing a Queens convenience store. Seven New York City police officers arrived. They fired 42 shots in 11 seconds, the police acknowledged. When the gunfire ended, two officers lay bleeding on the sidewalk outside the store. One died. Neither victim was the robber who had been hit eight times and survived. He carried a fake gun. The police had shot their own.

December 1, 2017
A Toronto police officer chased a home robbery suspect.  According to a newspaper report, the officer justifiably feared for his life. However, "the officer shot at the man multiple times, and the man fled. The perpetrator later raised his arm at the officer who "shot at him again." With all that shooting, the suspect was hit only once, and then only in the arm.  Where did the "multiple" bullets lodge? And why was the target hit only once?

October 31, 2017
The New York terror attack of this day ended with the shooting of a terrorist by a officer of the NYPD.  According to the NY Times, the officer fired nine shots at the perpetrator, one of which hit the target. A five-year police veteran misses eight time out of nine. Aside from concern about where the stray bullets may have lodged, the incident raises concern about the officer's training.

June 3, 2017
Twelve Toronto police officers confronted on the street a man with a history of mental illness holding a pellet gun. Three officers discharged their weapons killing Devon LaFleur.  He was hit by eight bullets, no report on how many went astray. The SIU report make no mention why the police did not use Tasers or rubber bullets. Nor did the report make mention of the commendable restraint of the other nine officers who did not shoot. Or did they all shoot and missed?

October 14, 2016
An inquest into the shooting of John Caleb Ross by York Regional Police in April 2014 disclosed that the two fatal shots were fired by one police officer after the victim refused to drop a toy gun made to look like a real weapon. A second officer fired his shotgun and missed the victim. The question again arises: A trained police officer armed with a shotgun, in sight of his target, fires and misses? Again police weapons training is in question.

August 11, 2016
Punta Gorda, Florida. In a demonstration, a police officer accidentally shot and killed a community volunteer. The event was a role-playing scenario illustrating the split-second decisions an officer must make about firing. What live ammunition was doing at a demonstration has not been explained.

July 23, 2016
A North Miami policeman shot and wounded an unarmed man as he lay on the sidewalk, arms outstretched, shouting he did not have a weapon. The policeman fired three shots. One hit the victim in the leg. That's a thirty per cent accuracy rate.

May 14, 2016
A Toronto police constable stopped a car he deemed suspicious and ordered the driver out. According to conflicting evidence, he exited the car and brandished a knife. At a distance one can reasonably suppose of less than a car length, the constable fired seven shots, three killing the driver. To be questioned is why at that close range four shots missed.

March 20, 2015
In a take-down of a knife-wielding man, Marc Ekamba-Boekwa, three Peel Regional Police fired 19 bullets in quick succession at the assailant standing eight feet away. Eleven struck the target killing him. Another hit one of the officers. Yet another bullet lodged in the back of a neighbour, Suzan Zreik (in 2016 suing for $21 million), preparing dinner in her kitchen.  No mention of the resting place of the other six bullets.

One questions the quality of weapons training that resulted in six shots missing a target eight feet away. It's reasonable to presume most of the bullets that did hit the target were fired after the assailant was on the ground. Or are we to believe it required 11 shots to down him? The news release (but not the full report) of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) makes no mention of these concerns.

Yet again police training both in weapons and pacification, if any, are called into question.

February 3, 2012
Michael Eligon, a mentally troubled man fled Toronto East General Hospital wielding scissors in each hand. On the street, eight to ten Toronto police officers surrounded him. The distance between Eligon and the police narrowed from nine to two or three metres, a witness said.

According to reports, one of the officers fired three shots in quick succession. The first shot hit a garbage can. The second bullet went through a porch window. The third shot  entered the victim's chest. He dropped to the ground and soon died.

The officer in question claimed that the baton or pepper spray were not viable options. With about a dozen officers similarly armed surrounding the victim, we question why.

This incident gives rise to wondering what type of weapons training police receive. Police are trained to shoot straight at the centre of the chest, not at a nearby garbage can or house. Are front-line police required to up-date regularly their weapons skills? Should eight to ten physically fit, fully armed officers be able to disarm a lone man wielding non-projectile "weapons" without killing him?

One witness said that the officers kicked the downed man in order to clear away the scissors. Did that cause his death?

Toronto Police Chief Blair said that the police followed "sound, well-established practices and procedures." The Special Investigations Unit cleared the officer of wrongdoing. No mention of the officers who did the kicking. No mention of the stray bullets. Is Blair's "practices and procedures" the problem?

A November 2012 report tells of a Durham Region policeman facing a teenager wielding an imitation handgun. The officer shouted several warnings. The young man pointed his weapon at the officer who fired eight times. Two bullets hit the teen in the upper body. It is not reported where the other six bullets became lodged.

A few months later comes a report of the New York City police who shot and killed a man just after he had killed a former co-worker.  The disturbing part of the report, besides the two deaths, is that nine passers-by near the Empire State Building were also wounded.  Some or all were injured by police gunfire. This is not surprising the report concludes for in 2008 the accuracy rate for New York City officers firing in the line of duty was 34 per cent.

The New Face of Toronto?

A well-intentioned movement is underway in Toronto. Its motivation is concern over the lack of municipal representatives who are non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual. To state their aim in positive terms, they want more Councillors who are Black, Asian, Indigenous, female, trans-gendered, gay, indigent, disabled.

To this end, volunteer groups offer encouragement, election experience, possibly financial aid to those not currently represented on the municipal scene. Is this noble venture in accord with the purpose of a municipal  council, or indeed any elected body?

Reportedly there are more than a dozen activist groups gearing up for the October 22 election. They are concerned with issues such as transit, the environment, the arts, gun control, adequate housing, bicycle safety. What these activists want are representatives whose municipal views more or less match theirs.

Advocating facial diversity runs counter to the purpose of government.

We elect people whose platform more or less is an accord with our idea of municipal governance. That's why I support my Councillor, not because she is a woman which I am not,  not because she is homosexual which I am not, not because she is Asian which I am not, not because she is dark-skinned which I am not. I vote for her because her vision of our great city matches mine.

Otherwise, we are in danger of promoting identity politics, so condemned by Barack Obama in his July speech to South Africans. Martin Luther King, Jr.  dreamed it this way, ". . . that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character."