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[tiffany4president-blog]

Lest we forget...

In Flander's Field, where poppies grow, Between the crosses, row on row... They say 'Lest we forget'...but I think perhaps the world has forgotten. (Sadly) the world seems to be heading that way again, as intolerance, arrogance and religious hysteria (all the guise of nationalism) allows the far-right to make themselves mainstream. Egypt, Hungary, Italy, Japan, India, and more have let the banners of the global community fall into the well.

On the other side of the coin, nationalism is literally every nation for itself, allowing the strongest (China, Russia and the US) to pretty much do whatever they want.

- In Russia, Putin is stating his right to intervene 'For Russian (speakers) everywhere'.

- China is asserting it's right to the entirety of the South China Sea

- and the US is refusing to protect allies unless they 'pay up', forcing new trade agreements that penalize any country the US doesn't approve of, and are now making noises about increasing their nuclear arsenal for the first time since 1990.

It’s looking like we are in countdown for another (or several) large-scale conflicts...

(** please always note that I have nothing against the citizens of any of these countries (and I have many American family members!), and recognize that this is the ‘ruling class’, those at the highest levels of government or industry, that is taking advantage, not the people in the mainstream. Much love! **)

[tiffany4president-blog]

The Great Child Debate

I live in BC, and tonight I watched the (provincial) NDP premier and the Liberal leader square off in a debate that was supposed to be about Proportional Representation in the province.  I was tuning in because I wanted to know more information to make an informed decision.

Specifically, I wanted to know (1) why this rollout was done with little or no advance notice and (2) why STV was not on the ballot, instead there were 2 options that have never been used before anywhere. (I already knew the Liberals would be against it, because it would impact their stranglehold on BC politics.  They don’t want anything that would change the base that they lied to every few years and then ignored, but I wondered if they would bring up anything I hadn’t considered that would impact my decision.) Unfortunately, The two ‘leaders’ wouldn’t stop bickering and yelling over each other, and I was left with the impression that this was all about the bully and the whiner (though those roles changed periodically?)

I’m still a proponent of Proportional Representation, but still have no idea why the government is pursuing it the way they are or even what they intend to do with our votes (so much left in the hands of the NDP policymakers rather than the public!). I learned nothing in the ‘debate’, and in the end all I was left with was the feeling that I can’t support EITHER of these leaders if this is how they solved problems. Let the race to the bottom continue. *sigh*

[tiffany4president-blog]

Wow, so true.

Trump = white nationalism = Republicans

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Again with the ‘Scary America’ caption, the amount of backward change going on in the US right now leads me to believe that the US is falling into a dark pit.  I mean, transphobia, homophobia, racism, ‘pigeonholing’ (singling out certain races/ethnicities based strictly on bogus criteria), elitism...again, this is not the country I knew or loved so much.

[tiffany4president-blog]

Although this article is based in the US, these factors will be felt all over the world.  In the face of our own folly, we need to look again at our own infrastructure, something that was also brought to bear by the recent municipal elections.  As you will hear me say again more than once: lets go back to trains! (A fraction of the carbon footprint, and quite safe way to travel.(As the significant majority of injuries and fatalities blamed on trains occur from not from passengers but at crossings or from trespassers on the tracks.)

Excerpt:

The most recent international report on climate change paints a picture of disruption to society unless there are drastic and rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Although it’s early days, some cities and municipalities are starting to recognize that past conditions can no longer serve as reasonable proxies for the future.

This is particularly true for the country’s infrastructure. Highways, water treatment facilities and the power grid are at increasing risk to extreme weather events and other effects of a changing climate.

The problem is that most infrastructure projects, including the Trump administration’s infrastructure revitalization plan, typically ignore the risks of climate change.

How can infrastructure systems adapt? First let’s consider the reasons infrastructure systems fail at extremes:

The hazard exceeds design tolerances. This was the case of Interstate 10 flooding in Phoenix in fall 2014, where the intensity of the rainfall exceeded design conditions.

During these times there is less extra capacity across the system: When something goes wrong there are fewer options for managing the stressor, such as rerouting flows, whether it’s water, electricity or even traffic.

We often demand the most from our infrastructure during extreme events, pushing systems at a time when there is little extra capacity.

Gradual change also presents serious problems, partly because there is no distinguishing event that spurs a call to action. This type of situation can be especially troublesome in the context of maintenance backlogs and budget shortfalls which currently plague many infrastructure systems. Will cities and towns be lulled into complacency only to find that their long-lifetime infrastructure are no longer operating like they should?

Currently the default seems to be securing funding to build more of what we’ve had for the past century. But infrastructure managers should take a step back and ask what our infrastructure systems need to do for us into the future.

[tiffany4president-blog]

Termites...who knew!  But amazing nonetheless.  There are so many things that we could do instead of oil, and the only reason we don’t is Big Business (and some would say Government, but the reason for that are the hundreds of million$ sponsored and lobbied by Big Business.)  Why is this the first time I’ve heard of this?

Excerpt:

Termites, of all things, might provide a surprising shortcut around the slow process of fighting over gas-mileage standards and carbon taxes, people said, because termites had an amazing ability to break down the fibers in wood and grass into elements that might replace petroleum.

If you fully understood how termite guts worked and put them to use, you could be a sort of alchemist, transforming corn stalks into fuel, sawdust into oil, and grass clippings into “grassoline.” You’d also have a new source of alternative fuel.

“Termites, I was told, could turn a piece of paper into a liter of hydrogen,” Margonelli said, in the course of a conversation about her new book, Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology.Turning paper into hydrogen that could be used for fuel would be just the start. Organic chemistry and everything it makes comes from oil: fleece vests, fabric softeners, fertilizer, it’s all just rearranged hydrocarbons. If scientists relearn chemistry from termites that could change.

Until recently, we didn’t know much about termites. Almost all the science published on them was about how to kill them. But just as Margonelli’s obsession was setting in, lots of scientists started studying these bugs.

The Department of Defense poured $100 million into synthetic biology between 2010 and 2014 and got a return on its investment: The termite research helped scientists develop advanced rocket fuel that sells for $25 a gallon.

But we still can’t fill up our cars with termite fuel. That would require political action. It would take a nationwide push to stop burning oil and spend enough money and effort to make grassoline a thing. To be sure, the bugs have showed scientists how to bring the cost of “grassoline” from $100,000 per gallon to about $30 — that’s amazing progress, but it still doesn’t beat the price of gasoline.

[tiffany4president-blog]

Welcome to the party

I don’t usually comment on the US political system.  One, I’m so not a fan.  And two, I’m not a US citizen!

But some things just can’t go by without a comment.  The Saudis, in a move that surprised ...Trump, apparently(?) (Everyone else could see the writing on the wall.  In blood.) have finally admitted that they killed Jamal Khashoggi. (they say in a fistfight now.  Sure, 15 against one, and he was tied up and held down.)

But what to say about the supposedly most powerful man in the world when he can apparently be told a bald-faced lie that he swallows without qualm? This doesn’t seem like the act of a very smart man...at best, this seems like the act of a very gullible one! I mean, he ignored the words of his own intelligence people to formulate an opinion made out of thin air!  His fawning adoration of petty despots (and his destruction of environmental and social protections) is getting to the point that it’s a really scary thing for the world, not just the US. 

When I was young, the US was somewhere we went all the time.  They were our friends and neighbours and we got along fabulously. I was very envious of my family members in California! 

But America today is a scary place. 

Those family in the US now? 

I worry for them...

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The Deep Southern(US) media.

I’ve wanted to talk about this for a while, but before I do I should explain first: I’m Canadian.  My exposure to American TV media is based mostly on the high numbers on my cable box (65-399).  I have no idea why (maybe they are cheaper for the cable company to piggyback?) but many of these channels are based in the Southern states: Georgia, NC and even Texas. There is almost nothing from Florida or much of the Northern States except New York (and the closest to me in BC) Seattle, Washington.

Although I have seen the bias before in the Southern media, it grew worse over the last 5 years and then The Trump Phenomena seemed to cause it to explode.  The reporters and the anchors seem to work together to cast wide spreads of ‘breaking’ news, seeming to feed off each other in producing wilder and wilder stories based on each others increasingly untrue rumours.  Do people there really believe it really more important to be FIRST than it is to be ACCURATE, or is this simply a media misconception?  (I say that Trump caused it to explode because this is the first time I saw it across all American media, all platforms?)

In the beginning I thought that this ignorance was on purpose, just putting their head in the sand and singing ‘LaLaLaLa..’ whenever someone tried to bring up the truth.  But I’m no longer so sure this is deliberate ignorance as much as the alternative viewpoints just having no access to programming time in those areas?  Both the candidates in this election were flawed, but Trump did a much better job of capitalizing on it.  Hillary, the better politician, tried to play politics with Trump, while he just played to the media (even while he derided it! This way just played up his audience on any particular night.  He just made a bunch of vague pledges he probably had no intention of following through with.  He was just a better TV personality.  This is why nobody knows what a Trump presidency will look like!)  

I will leave you with two quotes.  The first is by the great American science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, talking about wilful ignorance.  “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”  (abridged)

This quote is from one of my favourite movies of all time, ‘The American President’, voiced by actor Michael J. Fox ‘The America People want leadership. In the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand. We've had Presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand, because they're thirsty. They drink it because they don't know the difference.

How ironic that this is an American movie about American politics, and it may have hit the nail right on the head.

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This is beyond scary.  The 50s and 60s were an incredibly dark time in America, when a few powerful men (Hoover and cronies) and conservatives literally held the power of life and liberty over everyone else (during that period, many a great actor and musician had their careers abruptly cut off because they were blacklisted, often for just pissing off the wrong person.  Do you really want the return of that...and with the Republicans in charge of everything, can it even BE stopped?

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Yet another example of the Duck using ‘fair’ (actually unfair) as a slogan.  Is he ten? (By which time most of the rest of us have realized that ‘fair’ is a child’s dream.  There is no fair.  If there was, he wouldn’t exist.)  Or is he that narcissistic, that any opposition to himself is inherently wrong? Ludicrous.

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Even in this time of so much uncertainty, there will always be lights in the darkness.  Let us hope that they never completely obscure the sun

This is a great story of acceptance. Think society needs to hear more of these types of stories.

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Wow, this is absolutely bizarre.  How would you call some of these crimes ‘non-violent’?  

Human trafficking?  Tearing someone from their life, forcing them to do heinous things for years, including but not limited to addicting them to drugs, forcing them into prostitution, possible years of rape culture - no violence or lasting trauma there. Supplying a firearm to a gang member? I guess gang members just need a firearm for when they deliver flowers for the elderly? (yes, sarcasm) Arson causing bodily harm is NON-violent?? Domestic violence involving trauma?  The very mention of trauma IS violence!! For the rapes listed, sure, the victim involved wasn’t aware AT THE TIME.   They just pay for the crime for the rest of their lives.

california just deemed rape a non-violent crime and we also passed a law that lets people who commit rape to be let out earlier and I feel distraught and destroyed. 

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Wake up!

IN CANADA, the real tragedy of the Trump win may not be his victory but that it gives every redneck bumpkin hillbilly (yes, Canada has its share) the authority to give in to his (until now internalized) anger at any slight that someone else has done wrong them because now they have a face (immigrants and Muslims), to give them someone to blame.  Suddenly the comparison to Hitler is so much stronger (this is EXACTLY what Hitler did when he pointed at the Jews).  Are we really seeing the world descend into chaos, as Britain, then America, then possibly Germany (their election is within the year, and Angela Merkel's party (which has tried to be calm and rational, and brought close to 1,000,000 immigrants to Germany) is now losing badly to a party that is anti-immigrant, anti-outsider, and anti-trade.  And then there is Russia and China, who are playing on the fact that no-one is stopping them to scoop up huge swaths of land and just gobbling up the small nations around them. And to Canadians that continue to say that there is nothing to worry about, to just de-stress and not worry about it, that our government would never hurt us or do things not in our best interest, the only thing that I can say is

---------====>>    WAKE UP!     <<====---------- (though these outside influences are happy that you don't pay attention.)

Both our government and international companies are doing things not in our best interests every day!  

- Why else would they put less and less money in Education and Health Care (once considered our One and Two priorities in Canada)?

EDUCATION: Why are our teachers almost screaming at us (especially when nobody seems to be interested, and our media just minimizes the news (or worse, penalizes our teachers for trying to tell us!). Our government has the money, but chooses to happily spend our money on billion dollar jets (that we don't need in Canada) and government missions around the globe (that seem to be aimed mostly at big businesses and providing nice paid vacations to high-end government workers?).  Oh, by the way, education boards don’t actually care about education.  They care about allocating budgets, and protecting their own jobs.  

HEALTH CARE: Ever wonder about those companies like Manulife, that are today selling health insurance (a US medical staple) INSIDE Canada?  It is because the Canadian government very quietly de-list surgeries and treatments that used to be included in our ‘inclusive’ health care!

ENVIRONMENT and CIVIL LIBERTIES: Nobody seems to have noticed that the Canadian government quietly de-funded all our watchdog programs, including all the ones that protect our environment, and others that protect our civil liberties? (Yes, that was Stephen Harper's gov't that did it, but the current government hasn't reinstated them.)   CSIS has more powers than ever before, and in fact was just nailed for listening in on the conversations of 6 journalists, and all we got was a minor footnote?

We need to wake up before our country is gone and we didn’t even notice!

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Yes, this is much the same as I’m trying to break onto the Canadian radar.

Maybe it’s time to let people fight their own fights

Constant messages from “liberals” and “democrats” telling me to stop using scare tactics or being over the top is exhausting.  Republicans are spewing hate and people want to counter that with rainbows and butterflies, holding hands in a meadow while inspiring hope…. I can’t.  I’ve got my queue full of posts.  I’m going to let what is scheduled be posted, and walk away from the computer.  The level of sadness, hopelessness and depression I’ve felt this week has left me broken.  As a member of the lgbt community, I sit here waiting to see if and when my rights are going to be taken away.  I see what’s already happening to other people.  I see the fear in peoples’ eyes, and my only response is anger.  I can’t be a beacon of hope. 

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Yes, very true.  I often wonder how it comes to be that we can be so critical of things that have little or no impact on anything, and then be absolutely blasé about things that affect thousands, if not millions of people?

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Oh, this is good. :)  Just the right touches of sarcasm and political savvy, poking fun at a system that calls itself democratic but is actually just bureaucratic. Not because it is claiming a viewpoint in the election, but because there really is only one choice this election.

And as I keep saying, PLEASE VOTE AND ENCOURAGE EVERYONE ELSE. To not vote in this election is to give your vote to the other side - and can we afford for the other side to have it?

“In its 144-year history, The Yale Record has never endorsed a Democratic candidate for president. In fact, we have never endorsed any candidate for president. This is, in part, due to our strong commitment to being a tax-exempt 501©3 organization, which mandates that we are “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”

This year’s presidential election is highly unusual, but ultimately no different: The Yale Record believes both candidates to be equally un-endorsable, due to our faithful compliance with the tax code.

In particular, we do not endorse Hillary Clinton’s exemplary leadership during her 30 years in the public eye. We do not support her impressive commitment to serving and improving this country—a commitment to which she has dedicated her entire professional career. Because of unambiguous tax law, we do not encourage you to support the most qualified presidential candidate in modern American history, nor do we encourage all citizens to shatter the glass ceiling once and for all by electing Secretary Clinton on November 8.”

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This is what I was saying.  The FBI seems to have a definite interest in getting Trump the Presidency, by any means fair or foul including re-tweeting a conspiracy that has long since been debunked.  I just hope Americans are smarter than this.

Weinergate explained

The FBI is investigating former congressman Anthony Weiner regarding accusations that he sent nude pictures to an underage girl.  When someone is being investigated by a law enforcement agency for these type of allegations, it is common for them to turn over personal electronics to be searched.  In fact, it is common that all the personal electronic devices in the house (i.e. computers, laptops) are turned over to police even if the device(s) was shared with others and not exclusively used by the suspect.  Anthony Weiner is married to Huma Abedin.  Huma Abedin is a top aide to Hillary Clinton.  Weiner and Abedin are separated and going through a divorce.  However, a laptop Weiner gave to the FBI was also used by Abedin, obviously before they separated.

While the FBI was searching through Anthony Weiner’s personal devices, they discovered that the laptop he shared with Abedin contained some of her emails.  Duh, she used the laptop so of course some of her stuff was found on it.  What is not known is what is in these emails.  There is a strong possibility that these emails, if they are emails sent to Hillary Clinton, are emails that the FBI has already seen because they would have been found on Clinton’s server, which the FBI has had for a year.

There is no information that these are secret, hidden or never before seen emails.  Again, to break this down in simple terms:  The FBI has a laptop.  The laptop was used by Abedin.  Abedin is one of Hillary’s top aides.  Some of Abedin’s emails are on the laptop.  As Hillary Clinton’s aide there are of course emails on the laptop sent to or from Clinton.  The FBI has decided to look at them.  There is a strong possibility the FBI has already seen these emails because they would have been on Clinton’s server, which the FBI has.

Today, for shits and giggles, FBI Director James Comey (a Republican) decides he wants to help Donald Trump and Republicans get elected in 11 days, so he sends a vague letter to Congress full of speculation and innuendo, but short on facts.  The letter says we (FBI) have a laptop from somewhere regarding something else that may have something on it that we might believe is related to Hillary Clinton’s emails.  This is totally not politically motivated at all.