Petro Poroshenko used to be one of the top oligarchs in Ukraine; those few dozens of visionaries who, due to their integrity, intelligence, and hard work managed to divide up the nation's wealth amongst themselves in the glorious (for them) window of opportunity that opened up just as the sun was setting on the Soviet empire.
While the fortunes of the vast majority of Ukrainians were going down the toilet, Poroshenko and his fellow oligarchs were shamelessly enriching themselves. Like his fellow oligarchs, Petro studiously scaffolded his political connections into an ever-growing personal fortune. In 2012 Forbes magazine welcomed him into the ranks of the world's billionaires. A year later his net worth stood at US$1.6 billions.
Alas, there then blew in the "Nuland-Pyatt Spring," the gentle breezes of which wafted through the Maidan in early 2014, grew and grew and grew in intensity until it was a virtual hurricane for freedom and human rights, its virtuous force 5 winds blowing an elected government clear out of the country!
Under a recent law, Ukraine's parliamentarians are now required to self-disclose their net worth. All to do with the never-ending war on corruption, don't you know, and according this story at Deutsche Welle, Poroshenko has declared a meagre 26 millions!
Wow! From 1,600 millions to 26 millions in a mere two years? That loss is almost Trumpian in scale!
But perhaps we should not feel pity for the man prematurely. Didn't his name come up in those Panama Papers revelations? You don't suppose those shell companies were part of a plan to disappear his assets, do you?
Hmm...
Monday, October 31, 2016
Saturday, October 29, 2016
The relentless pursuit of happiness
What the fuck is "happiness" anyway?
I've got two divorces and a bankruptcy under my belt. Not a Trump or Reichmann bankruptcy, where you diddle the creditors while paying teams of $1,000/hour lawyers to ensure that you're going to keep your mansions and your yachts etc.
I'm talking about the kind of bankruptcy where you do in fact lose everything.
Regular folks have a different bankruptcy experience than the Trump and Reichmann crowd.
They get to keep everything while their buddies in the big banks take a loss on the balance sheet, and "business as usual" sails merrily along on its pre-ordained course.
That wasn't my bankruptcy.
And I've got the credit rating to prove it.
The Farm Manager is bitter that a bunch of her colleagues at her day job are taking time off to go on those all-inclusive holidays to Cuba or the Dominican Republic.
I figure why not just drink yourself silly in the comfort of your home?
If nothing else you'll save yourself all those hassles at the airport.
I can fire up the Ninja 500 or the Mustang 50 and be at the Wiarton liquor store in ten minutes.
Mind you, that only happens when you probably shouldn't be driving anyway.
Otherwise it's closer to fifteen minutes.
Shit happens.
Wiarton is changing. There's some decent restaurant action going on.
The Green Door would do a brisk business even if it was in downtown Toronto. Tim's a superb chef and he and Sarah make a great team. They're big city restauranteurs in a small town, and I've never had a bad experience at their place.
The guy who transformed Coalshed Willie's into Dockside Willie's deserves some accolades too. Don't let that Ford pick-up with the six inch lift fool you; this guy knows his culinary shit.
When you drive past the marina you notice there's a couple of fifty-foot-plus Sea-Rays berthed there. A nice used Sea-Ray 52 Sundancer is going to set you back half a million bucks.
You can still buy a decent abode in Wiarton for under 150.
When you go past the marina there's a few houses on the shore of Colpoy Bay before you get to the water treatment plant. One of those was on offer this year for half a million. It must have sold, because last weekend we drove up that road and there was a brand new Aston Martin parked outside that place that had been for sale.
In the rain.
When there's a perfectly good garage attached to the house...
Makes me wonder, what's in the garage?
Seems to me that the Aston Martin and fifty foot Sea Ray crowd are finding happiness right here in Wiarton.
I've got two divorces and a bankruptcy under my belt. Not a Trump or Reichmann bankruptcy, where you diddle the creditors while paying teams of $1,000/hour lawyers to ensure that you're going to keep your mansions and your yachts etc.
I'm talking about the kind of bankruptcy where you do in fact lose everything.
Regular folks have a different bankruptcy experience than the Trump and Reichmann crowd.
They get to keep everything while their buddies in the big banks take a loss on the balance sheet, and "business as usual" sails merrily along on its pre-ordained course.
That wasn't my bankruptcy.
And I've got the credit rating to prove it.
The Farm Manager is bitter that a bunch of her colleagues at her day job are taking time off to go on those all-inclusive holidays to Cuba or the Dominican Republic.
I figure why not just drink yourself silly in the comfort of your home?
If nothing else you'll save yourself all those hassles at the airport.
I can fire up the Ninja 500 or the Mustang 50 and be at the Wiarton liquor store in ten minutes.
Mind you, that only happens when you probably shouldn't be driving anyway.
Otherwise it's closer to fifteen minutes.
Shit happens.
Wiarton is changing. There's some decent restaurant action going on.
The Green Door would do a brisk business even if it was in downtown Toronto. Tim's a superb chef and he and Sarah make a great team. They're big city restauranteurs in a small town, and I've never had a bad experience at their place.
The guy who transformed Coalshed Willie's into Dockside Willie's deserves some accolades too. Don't let that Ford pick-up with the six inch lift fool you; this guy knows his culinary shit.
When you drive past the marina you notice there's a couple of fifty-foot-plus Sea-Rays berthed there. A nice used Sea-Ray 52 Sundancer is going to set you back half a million bucks.
You can still buy a decent abode in Wiarton for under 150.
When you go past the marina there's a few houses on the shore of Colpoy Bay before you get to the water treatment plant. One of those was on offer this year for half a million. It must have sold, because last weekend we drove up that road and there was a brand new Aston Martin parked outside that place that had been for sale.
In the rain.
When there's a perfectly good garage attached to the house...
Makes me wonder, what's in the garage?
Seems to me that the Aston Martin and fifty foot Sea Ray crowd are finding happiness right here in Wiarton.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Standing up to "Russian aggression"
I see where the Daily Mail is all-aboard for ramping up NATO provocations on Russia's borders.
And you have to love this map that details Putin's plan of attack!
Does Putin even know about this?
Thank God for that battalion of 800 UK troops who will stop the Ruskies overunning the Baltic states!
Would you call this a news story, or would you call it irresponsible war-mongering?
And you have to love this map that details Putin's plan of attack!
Does Putin even know about this?
Thank God for that battalion of 800 UK troops who will stop the Ruskies overunning the Baltic states!
Would you call this a news story, or would you call it irresponsible war-mongering?
Dateline Canada: Is Trudeaumania on the wane?
Justin has had a year now to do something.
I mean do something other than swanning about on the world stage sniffing out photo-ops.
Electoral reform? Not so fast... we need to study it a little more...
Legalizing marijuana? Hey, we need more time to study that too...
Oh bullshit!
Lot's of countries have done it, plenty of US states too. It can't be rocket science. My hunch is they'll keep studying it till they're satisfied that their friends on Bay Street are going to be the big winners. Ya, it'll happen eventually, but welcome to corporate cannabis.
Big bud.
But there are signs that Justin's bottomless well of charisma isn't charming the rubes the way it used to. Check out this story at CBC about Justin's reception at the Young Workers Summit on the weekend.
Shouting and jeering?... forsooth!
Good on those millennials for asking real questions and demanding real answers instead of settling for a selfie with the golden boy.
The think tank here at Falling Downs figures we're seeing the emergence in Canada of the wave of disenchantment that has been sweeping the Western world, a disenchantment driven by working people who have had enough of the bullshit of their ruling elites.
It's another manifestation of the same rejection of business-as-usual that shocked the GOP aristocracy when an interloper pulled the Republican nomination out from under the stable of elite insiders who absolutely knew it belonged to one of them.
The same disgust with the establishment that, had it not been for a primary campaign utterly rigged by the Clinton machine, would have made Bernie Sanders the Democratic Party candidate.
People are choosing to say no to the status quo.
Good!
I mean do something other than swanning about on the world stage sniffing out photo-ops.
Electoral reform? Not so fast... we need to study it a little more...
Legalizing marijuana? Hey, we need more time to study that too...
Oh bullshit!
Lot's of countries have done it, plenty of US states too. It can't be rocket science. My hunch is they'll keep studying it till they're satisfied that their friends on Bay Street are going to be the big winners. Ya, it'll happen eventually, but welcome to corporate cannabis.
Big bud.
But there are signs that Justin's bottomless well of charisma isn't charming the rubes the way it used to. Check out this story at CBC about Justin's reception at the Young Workers Summit on the weekend.
Shouting and jeering?... forsooth!
Good on those millennials for asking real questions and demanding real answers instead of settling for a selfie with the golden boy.
The think tank here at Falling Downs figures we're seeing the emergence in Canada of the wave of disenchantment that has been sweeping the Western world, a disenchantment driven by working people who have had enough of the bullshit of their ruling elites.
It's another manifestation of the same rejection of business-as-usual that shocked the GOP aristocracy when an interloper pulled the Republican nomination out from under the stable of elite insiders who absolutely knew it belonged to one of them.
The same disgust with the establishment that, had it not been for a primary campaign utterly rigged by the Clinton machine, would have made Bernie Sanders the Democratic Party candidate.
People are choosing to say no to the status quo.
Good!
Monday, October 24, 2016
Walloons save Canada from CETA
CETA, the latest "free trade" boondoggle, negotiated by the Harper gang but now fully embraced by the Justinians, has been dealt a hopefully fatal blow by the Belgian state of Wallonia.
Trade agreements are so beloved by Canada's opinion makers that it has for a long time been deemed unnecessary to explain WHY these deals are good for us. They just are.
CETA offers little or nothing in gains for the average Canadian, but brings a whole lot of risks.
CETA will open up labour mobility for Canadian workers!
In fact, that will be Canada's biggest "win" under the agreement.
Whoopee!
Yup, Canadian workers will be able to collect those massive EU paycheques our brothers and sisters in France and Germany take home!
Only one problem with that scenario; why would an employer in a high wage EU country hire Canadians, when they've got ready access to workers from EU members like Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia, where wages are typically less than half of what they are here or in Western Europe?
They wouldn't.
But under CETA Canadian employers would have access to those eastern European workers.
CETA also opens up government infrastructure programs to foreign companies. So, in the event that Toronto ever gets around to letting contracts on that $3 billion one-stop subway line Mayor John Tory has been touting, there's nothing to prevent a EU conglomerate from bidding on the contract and then building it with Bulgarian labour.
And this is a good deal for Canadian workers?
Get the fuck outta here!
Trade agreements are so beloved by Canada's opinion makers that it has for a long time been deemed unnecessary to explain WHY these deals are good for us. They just are.
CETA offers little or nothing in gains for the average Canadian, but brings a whole lot of risks.
CETA will open up labour mobility for Canadian workers!
In fact, that will be Canada's biggest "win" under the agreement.
Whoopee!
Yup, Canadian workers will be able to collect those massive EU paycheques our brothers and sisters in France and Germany take home!
Only one problem with that scenario; why would an employer in a high wage EU country hire Canadians, when they've got ready access to workers from EU members like Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia, where wages are typically less than half of what they are here or in Western Europe?
They wouldn't.
But under CETA Canadian employers would have access to those eastern European workers.
CETA also opens up government infrastructure programs to foreign companies. So, in the event that Toronto ever gets around to letting contracts on that $3 billion one-stop subway line Mayor John Tory has been touting, there's nothing to prevent a EU conglomerate from bidding on the contract and then building it with Bulgarian labour.
And this is a good deal for Canadian workers?
Get the fuck outta here!
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Ten things I learned from today's Globe and Mail
1. Elizabeth Renzetti wants me to know that she appeared alongside Margaret Atwood at a fundraising breakfast this week. Her column on A2 was devoted to sliming Donald Trump, who really doesn't need any help with that. She is very sad that "a sizeable proportion of the electorate" is prepared to vote "an alleged groper" into the Oval Office. Don't cry Liz; it's happened before.
2. It must have been a busy week for Renzetti. In addition to rubbing elbows with Atwood, she's got a feature interview with Bruce Springsteen in the Arts section. Not only is he a mega-zillionaire rock star, I learned that he is quite an audacious political pundit with some astute insights. He likes Hillary and thinks she'd be a very good president, whereas Donald is a real danger to democracy. Who knew?
3. The Focus section is mostly focused on Donald Trump this week. Tabatha Southey assures us that "there's little to remark upon in WikiLeaks heavily hyped document dump." Really? Wonder what Brad Marshall, Luis Miranda, Amy Dacey, or Debbie Wasserman Shultz would think about that assertion? She's also alerting us to the fact that Bad Vlad, Donald's hero, is probably behind this WikiLeaks outrage. The most recent document dumps also illustrate that, while Obama may be right that it's impossible to rig an American election, the Podesta emails convincingly demonstrate that the Dem hierarchy is determined to try.
4. Joanna Slater and Affan Chowdry inform me that the suggestion the election could be rigged is "preposterous." Whew! Good to know!
5. Joanna and Affan also make the observation that Al Gore was gracious after being swindled out of the 2000 election. They're worried Trump might not be as gracious. Yes, when the preposterous happens, it's good to have a gracious loser who is happy to roll over... for the good of the country, of course.
6. Still in the Focus section, John Ibbitsson informs me that to steal the election would require corrupting the media, the pollsters, and the vote itself. On the last point, google "hacking voting machines." For the former, see what you can find in those innocuous WikiLeaks revelations.
7. John also throws in a plug for the journalism profession, informing me there's a "crusading tradition of the craft." Sorry John; the tradition of progressive muck-raking journalism was dead by the time Washington unleashed shock and awe to vanquish Saddam's arsenal of WMDs, to the enthusiastic cheer-leading of your profession. And that was a quarter century ago. Get real!
8. John quotes professor Arthur Lupia of U of Michigan who assures us that "voter fraud is a myth." Good enough then, I guess. That tidbit follows a paragraph which references Project Veritas. Two high-end Dem operatives, one of whom has allegedly made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, lost their jobs this past week after they admitted hiring people to stir up violence at Trump rallies. Corruption? What corruption? Shades of Hitler's Brown Shirts?
9. Slate's culture podcast host Stephen Metcalf gets a guest slot in the Focus section. He informs me that in the Trump camp "...preparations are being made for a ghastly finale, in which populism is turned loose on democracy itself." Wow! That's some scary shit!
10. I don't want to leave the impression that Canada's newspaper of record was only about American politics today. I did in fact learn about Adam Capay, a young native Canadian man who has spent over 1,500 days in solitary confinement. Thank you Patrick White!
For that The Korean charged me $5.75. I'm returning the paper tomorrow to get my money back.
2. It must have been a busy week for Renzetti. In addition to rubbing elbows with Atwood, she's got a feature interview with Bruce Springsteen in the Arts section. Not only is he a mega-zillionaire rock star, I learned that he is quite an audacious political pundit with some astute insights. He likes Hillary and thinks she'd be a very good president, whereas Donald is a real danger to democracy. Who knew?
3. The Focus section is mostly focused on Donald Trump this week. Tabatha Southey assures us that "there's little to remark upon in WikiLeaks heavily hyped document dump." Really? Wonder what Brad Marshall, Luis Miranda, Amy Dacey, or Debbie Wasserman Shultz would think about that assertion? She's also alerting us to the fact that Bad Vlad, Donald's hero, is probably behind this WikiLeaks outrage. The most recent document dumps also illustrate that, while Obama may be right that it's impossible to rig an American election, the Podesta emails convincingly demonstrate that the Dem hierarchy is determined to try.
4. Joanna Slater and Affan Chowdry inform me that the suggestion the election could be rigged is "preposterous." Whew! Good to know!
5. Joanna and Affan also make the observation that Al Gore was gracious after being swindled out of the 2000 election. They're worried Trump might not be as gracious. Yes, when the preposterous happens, it's good to have a gracious loser who is happy to roll over... for the good of the country, of course.
6. Still in the Focus section, John Ibbitsson informs me that to steal the election would require corrupting the media, the pollsters, and the vote itself. On the last point, google "hacking voting machines." For the former, see what you can find in those innocuous WikiLeaks revelations.
7. John also throws in a plug for the journalism profession, informing me there's a "crusading tradition of the craft." Sorry John; the tradition of progressive muck-raking journalism was dead by the time Washington unleashed shock and awe to vanquish Saddam's arsenal of WMDs, to the enthusiastic cheer-leading of your profession. And that was a quarter century ago. Get real!
8. John quotes professor Arthur Lupia of U of Michigan who assures us that "voter fraud is a myth." Good enough then, I guess. That tidbit follows a paragraph which references Project Veritas. Two high-end Dem operatives, one of whom has allegedly made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, lost their jobs this past week after they admitted hiring people to stir up violence at Trump rallies. Corruption? What corruption? Shades of Hitler's Brown Shirts?
9. Slate's culture podcast host Stephen Metcalf gets a guest slot in the Focus section. He informs me that in the Trump camp "...preparations are being made for a ghastly finale, in which populism is turned loose on democracy itself." Wow! That's some scary shit!
10. I don't want to leave the impression that Canada's newspaper of record was only about American politics today. I did in fact learn about Adam Capay, a young native Canadian man who has spent over 1,500 days in solitary confinement. Thank you Patrick White!
For that The Korean charged me $5.75. I'm returning the paper tomorrow to get my money back.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Pot-addled hillbilly screwed now that baseball season is over
Well, I guess it's not over if you're an Indians fan.
Speaking of which, did you hear about the Canadian do-gooders who went to court to prevent MLB using the term "Indians" and the Chief Wahoo logo?
They lost. Cleveland's MLB team are still the Indians, and their mascot is still that fake Indian chief.
I was surprised at the loss. MLB must have sent some pretty high-powered pinch-hitting lawyers up here to make that happen.
I get the point of the do-gooders; that buck-toothed Indian chief is derogatory in every way.
Here's my problem.
Native Canadians have had the dirty end of the stick for about 400 years.
When the do-gooders score a symbolic victory like getting the Cleveland Indians to change their name or drop their mascot, a lot of well-meaning people figure, hey, the work is done!
These symbolic victories take the pressure off governments to do anything meaningful.
So the Cleveland MLB team changes their name, they get a new mascot, and everything is happy happy except that the vast majority of North American native people still live in sub-standard housing, still have sub-standard health care and education, and still have incarceration rates and suicide rates that should make every social justice warrior blush.
But nobody sees that shit anymore because, hey looky here!... what a great symbolic victory we just won over Chief Wahoo and the dominant white racist culture.
Sure...
Anyway, for a Toronto sports fan I guess we've got the Leafs to look forward to...
And those Blackhawks.
Speaking of which, did you hear about the Canadian do-gooders who went to court to prevent MLB using the term "Indians" and the Chief Wahoo logo?
They lost. Cleveland's MLB team are still the Indians, and their mascot is still that fake Indian chief.
I was surprised at the loss. MLB must have sent some pretty high-powered pinch-hitting lawyers up here to make that happen.
I get the point of the do-gooders; that buck-toothed Indian chief is derogatory in every way.
Here's my problem.
Native Canadians have had the dirty end of the stick for about 400 years.
When the do-gooders score a symbolic victory like getting the Cleveland Indians to change their name or drop their mascot, a lot of well-meaning people figure, hey, the work is done!
These symbolic victories take the pressure off governments to do anything meaningful.
So the Cleveland MLB team changes their name, they get a new mascot, and everything is happy happy except that the vast majority of North American native people still live in sub-standard housing, still have sub-standard health care and education, and still have incarceration rates and suicide rates that should make every social justice warrior blush.
But nobody sees that shit anymore because, hey looky here!... what a great symbolic victory we just won over Chief Wahoo and the dominant white racist culture.
Sure...
Anyway, for a Toronto sports fan I guess we've got the Leafs to look forward to...
And those Blackhawks.
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