NetFlix Documentary Review: The Untold History of the United States

As with many, I am (or a least was) perplexed by how the United States managed to elect a President that, in almost every way, is the polar opposite of his predecessor, Barack Obama. After reading dozens of news articles linked by various FB friends, as well as having rooted out others from various sources, I was no further ahead. Heck, no one came close to understanding how the man managed to become President.

Almost all sought to explain the troubling aspects of Donald Trump’s ascent to power, in terms of his personality and the cult surrounding him. Of course, the same explanations, from the flip side of the coin, could be applied to Barack Obama. However, none of the explanations took into account the historical aspects of America’s ascent to world domination, both militarily and economically, over the middle part of the last century (1940 – 1960). It was a time when politics flowed out much as it has over the past two decades, with the Obama Presidency being the most peaceful interlude in decades of US hegemony.

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Photos (family files as well as from a High School buddy, Guy Venne). Yes, that’s me in the lower right (left) with another buddy, Aaron Pinsky.  Aaron’s dad’s Caddy, in which we spend many a lost night, and on the right one of our girlfriends, Dorothy Hartman. The photo centre top is three more High School buddies performing at one of the school 50’s dances that became so popular.

Are Schools Really Failing?

Never a week goes without some FB post, newspaper article or TV program lamenting the abysmal state of our education system. These discussions often spike when teachers threaten to strike, or a ‘think tank’ such as the Fraser Institute disparages public schools when comparing them to their private school counterparts, or when the government implements some policy mandating an action that is not pleasing to all.

Others rail about a lack of discipline among students or point to cell phones and texting as destroying the ability of our youth to socialize. Many suggest kids today are mollycoddled to the point of graduating without having achieved the slightest degree of competency in “reading, writing, and arithmetic.” If only, they suggest, we could get back to basics as was present in an earlier age (presumably their age).

Then, I happened upon an English Literature textbook written in 1974, in which one essay clearly articulated the criticisms being levied against students and the system “back in the day”. Some may recognize the problems as first witnessed in our misspent youth at the Cold Lake High School. The article was first published in the early 1950’s, a time when I was just entering Junior High.

(The essay was copied from the book as an online link could not be located).

Cheers,

Harold

Let’s Take Bubble Gum Out of the Schools

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Chart (2011): Statistics Canada tends to
Perpetuate Myths about Immigration

One of the many strengths of Canada is in the diversity of its ethnocultural mix and the fact a majority of Canadians take pride in that mix.  Because we have never expanded our economy much beyond being the “drawers of water and hewers of wood” (1) and because our birth rate of the past fifty years has steadily decreased (more below), Canada still needs a steady intake of immigrants and foreign workers to help keep our country moving forward.

This gives rise to the question of why Statistics Canada plays games with the immigration numbers and how much influence do governments of the day have in shaping graphs, reports, and summaries towards political ends? The above chart is but one of many examples suggesting the influence is strong.

Perhaps the canceling of the Census Long Form in 2010, an action that gained considerable public attention, was just a smokescreen to cover the deeper manipulation of census numbers and summaries in a manner better suited to ideological purposes of the day. Going back to 2006 brings forth many more changes that skewed the manner in which the number of immigrants was counted.  

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November 16, 2016.  Until I watched the news tonight I had never heard of the ALT-RIGHT or 1488ers. Perhaps I just live a sheltered life.  In any event, media outlets across the country are expressing outrage at the racist comments directed towards any number of minorities including Muslims, Chinese, Jews, etc., by the Alt Right Group.  The following link takes to to one article.
CBC East York Alt Right Racist Posters

In order to gain a better understanding of who the Alt-Right represent, I checked out their Web Site but it was nothing like Britain First and other sites that openly preach racism and hatred.   Following that, I found an article titled, An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right.  I found the article informative to say the least and have become somewhat suspicious of the media slant on this.  In post I am lead to believe the Alt Right Twitter account was suspended.

I encourage friends of every political stripes to take a few minutes to read the article and let me know your opinion. Send a private note if you wish.  I have not put in my opinion here as I don’t want to taint your thoughts with mine. Suffice it to say I was very surprised.

Note: It is a fairly long article and it would be helpful to read to the end as speaks to a group known as the 1488ers, another group I had never heard of.  Following are some of the comments on the Alt-Right poster.  I can’t find a copy of the bottom half as this stuff seems quite new to the scene.

I have deliberately left out the location of the article and the authors name at the beginning.  Both are included at the end.

Regards,

Harold

An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right (verbatim)

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Photos (Web Source)

October 6, 2016: The twenty-five faces above is just a small sample of the 500 female RCMP members who joined in a Class Action Lawsuit against the force. Since the first woman was sworn in as a regular member in 1974, she and many hundreds who followed were subjected to unrelenting harassment and sexual misconduct up to and including rape. In light of the $100,000,000 settlement announced this week, which in effect is Government acknowledgment of that harassment, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson should do the honourable thing and resign.

Releases from government sources state the Commissioner was forced to accept this settlement as well, was required to make an unambiguous apology. The alternative would have been an extremely costly and ugly trial in which the sins of RCMP senior management would be put on full display for all Canadians to witness. Such a trial would have spelled the death of the RCMP in its present form. Will this settlement reform the RCMP, or is it just a means to protect senior officers who were part of the coverup and quite likely a large part of the problem.

We can only hope it’s “Goodbye to Mr. Paulson” and that the next Commissioner
will quickly establish the ways and means to end this shameful period in the history of the force.

Dear Mr. Paulson,

First, we must all thank you Krista Carle (photo right), Janet Merlo, Catherine Galliford (Audio Link) and all those brave women from the RCMP, who stood against an old boy’s you lead and whose network had closed ranks against them at every turn (1) since women were accepted into the Force. Mr. Paulson, you condoned this during your career, and as Commissioner you allowed it to continue as no one would dare question your good judgment.

Like the old saying goes about changing a man if it were cast in terms of the RCMP, “you can take the man out of the old school, but you can’t take the old school out of the man.” You are clearly an old school guy steeped in a tradition that viewed women as lesser officers in a force created for men.  Times might chance, but many older officers, as well few younger men will to tow the party line, preferred the old ways.

I clearly recall a favourite expression of one of the Chief Constable’s in my early career, a former military Regimental Sergeant Major, when dressing down a junior member in his office: “when I say jump, you just ask, “how high SIR.” Over the course of my career which ran from 1964 – 1994, my force along with the most other Municipal and City forces, changed in hundreds of ways, including fully accepting women as equals. It was a long struggle, but that change was fully accepted at twenty years ago.  A few of the old dogs still resisted, but they, not those who harassed, were soon drummed out of the service.

During the same period I worked with a number of members of your force and even by 1994 when I left, those attitudes were still deeply entrenched by the Senior ranked members who controlled the very lives and well being of rank and file members. There are thousands of good women and men in the RCMP who only wish to do a good job, but the top-down, authoritarian approach used by management has resulted in the force facing a crisis of considerable proportion as we move through the first two decades of this century. 

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Randolph Hearst established exactly the same path now being taken by Donald Trump.
The similarities between the two men is quite amazing as they seek to bring out the worst
in people as a means to advance their own interests.

The Rise and Fall of Randolf Hearst as a Presidential Candidate

While many fret over possible outcomes as Donald Trump continues his seemingly unstoppable ascent to the leadership of the Republican Party, an excellent article appeared in several papers this morning, written by Kelly McParland, in which he traced a similar situation occurring within the Democratic Party in 1924.

At that time it was William Randolph Hearst, an equally rich American who was determined to use his mighty empire, including control of most of the nations newspapers, to add the Presidency to his empire.  The path he followed was very similar to that now being followed by Donald Trump, the outcome of which is likely to be very similar to that experienced by Hearst.

You can link the storyhttp://www.pressreader.com on Press Reader (you may need to Google the title). If that does secure the article, the eight columns below can be opened to full size by clicking (make sure to go back rather than close the page).

Cheers,

Harold

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Photo (Web Source) In what is expected to become a flood over the coming months, 1500 Illegal aliens from the Michigan were intercepted while attempting to cross the St. Clair River into southern Ontario.  Earlier in the day, the above group posed as party goers in an attempt to evade detection as they crossed the river, however a change in the weather turned their escape plans into a near disaster.

The OPP and Sarnia police as well as the Canadian Coast Guard, Canada Border Service Agency and employees from a nearby chemical company Lanxess helped to pull dozens of exhausted men, women and children from the frigid waters. Some were suffering from the early stages of hypothermia and if rescue personnel had not arrived when they did, many might have died from exposure.

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 In another somber moment on Parliament Hill, RCMP Commissioner, Bob Paulson. has encouraged the Federal Government to chart a new direction for law enforcement. As with previous recommendations, Civil Liberties and the Charter of Rights is not of any concern.

Introduction

While it is likely just coincidence, it is reported the FBI has again alerted the RCMP Security Service to a potential terrorist in our midst just at a time when the Federal Government is looking at rolling back parts of Bill C-51.  The last time that happened was also when the Government was considering Bill-C7 and at that time opposition was also heavy. Back then (2013), the FBI alerted the RCMP to another potential terrorist attack and the Via Rail guys were taken down a couple of days after the Boston Bombing. Media around the world covered The Fog of War. Together, the timing of these two events was a little too neat in countries that have so few terrorists and terrorist sympathizers.

While  Bill C-51 is extremely intrusive in its present form, it will become even more so if Commissioner Paulson’s recommendations are accepted. In this post, I have replaced the word “terrorism” with that of “criminalization” as a means of demonstrating how far federal agencies, namely the RCMP, CSIS and the CBSA, is willing to go in order to enhance agency interest over public interest.

If you happen to support Bill C-51, a bill that is related solely to ‘terrorism’ and, perhaps, support even more invasive laws being included, what would you think about the entire content of C-57 (present and proposed) being folded into the Criminal Code?  Do you think that would give police to much power to simply bypass the checks and balances developed over the past 150 years? (check this post on Oversight)

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