Canada committed to supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit and intersex policies domestically and abroad

That's according to a "backgrounder" at the Global Affairs Canada website yesterday.

The only other items on the site yesterday are a news release on the Equal Rights Coalition Conference in Vancouver, and a statement marking the tenth anniversary of Saakashvili's very short war with Bad Vlad, in which we are reminded yet again that we Canadians stand, unequivocally, no matter how corrupt or compromised they may be, with anyone who may have a quibble with Russia.

Because that's what we do...

We are gung-ho for human rights, we Canucks are!

Not a mention of the ongoing squabble with our Saudi friends over the jailing of a couple of high-profile Saudi dissidents. Interesting that Chystia and Justin are only concerned with the rights of internationally known dissidents. That gets headlines.

We won't condemn the Saudis for their genocidal war on Yemen, their support for radical Islamic fundamentalism, or their discrimination against ethnic minorities and foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, not to mention Saudi lesbians, gays, bisexuals, etc etc. That might antagonise you-know-who in Washington who greenlights these Saudi outrages.

If Justin and Christia had spent a few minutes contemplating this picture, they might have guessed they'd antagonise you-know-who anyway.

 

Musk trolls markets with 420 tweet

Hey, Musk's gonna take Tesla private! Yessiree!.. and he already has the financing in place!

Suuuuuure he does. Tesla is burning through (borrowed) money at the rate of five million dollars per day, give or take, and somebody wants to pony up $420 a share to take that black hole private?!

Colour me skeptical.

You also have to wonder about that number, but think about it. When you're as smart as Elon is, and you're making stuff up, you don't just make up random numbers; you pick numbers that resonate.

420 just has way more resonance than 410 or 430. Could the Age of Aquarius be just around the corner?


I think Elon's been smoking unicorn turds again

Some questions about King James' school

Lebron James is getting a gusher of positive press over "his" new school in Ohio. It's a good thing, what he's doing, but...

Why are public schools in America so under-funded that private philanthropy is required to provide a solid educational foundation for America's youth?

(And why does Raytheon not have to rely on charity to develop more efficient ways of killing?)

Why does American society pay one sports celebrity the same as sixty school-teachers?

(That's based on the average teacher salary in Ohio.)

Why is this being fobbed off as Lebron's school when the public board of education will be paying the lion's share of the bills?

(Because without Lebron's name this would not be a story.)

Why is a commitment of two million dollars per year from a guy making forty million per year to play hoops treated as an unprecedented exercise in generosity?

(Because when you or me or some other nobody gives a greater percentage of our income to worthy causes, we won't be making news headlines, because... we're not celebrities!)

Why?

Because in America's celebrity-obsessed culture, nothing ever happens until an A-list celeb attaches their name to it.

I'd be far more impressed if Lebron used that two million a year and his celebrity profile to lobby governments at all levels to prioritize education for all kids, everywhere.

Why should the quality of a child's education depend on the whims of a wealthy benefactor?

Socialism coming back from dustbin of history

For the first time in very many years Americans, at least some of them, are no longer afraid of the word "socialism."

You noticed that in the Sanders campaign of 2016, and again in the recent Ocasio Cortez breakthrough. I think we're seeing the beginnings of a wave that's going to be picking up momentum as more and more folks realize that capitalism, American style, is not working out for them.


It's about time!

The vast majority of folks, white and black and all shades of brown, find themselves going backwards. On the other hand, Jeff Bezos has made his million 150,000 times over.


That's not sustainable.

What would Jesus do?

On considerable reflection, I fear I've perhaps been a little harsh in my dismissal of the White Helmets.

And it's not because they're not terrorists.

No, it's because of my Christian values. Yup, believe it or not, I was baptised into the Christian faith at Schloss Beuggen way back in '55. My understanding is that was an orphanage at the time.

I may want to take the matter up with my alleged parents.

But irregardless, I do try to temper my commentary by asking myself, just before I push "publish," what would Jesus do?

Well, I think Jesus would give the vile head-choppers another chance.

Wasn't it Jesus who said "let they without blame cast the first stone?"

And let's face it; none among us is without blame for something or other.

I further believe that the attitude of Jesus in showing mercy to the miscreants reflects Canadian values through and through.

I mean, look at our Foreign Minister's dear Nazi grampa. Over 40,000 Canadians gave their lives in the fight against the Nazis, yet once the war was over, we let bygones be bygones.

We didn't sit around holding grudges against Nazi-collaborators. No, we gave them a warm Canadian welcome!


There's no reason we can't do the same for the White Helmets.

Chomsky reads this blog!

It was but a week ago that the think tank here at Falling Downs unleashed on the world the revelation of Trump's treason. Yup, Trump's a traitor, but he's colluding with Israel, not Russia.

A week later, here's Noam Chomsky revealing that Israel interferes in US democracy way more than Russia does.

Coincidence?

I think not!

No hard feelings, Noam, but a shout-out would have been nice.

Justice for billionaires; the final frontier

Let's face it; only a year and a half in, the Trump regime has almost made America great again.

Seems more folks than ever, and not just white ones, are now part of the workforce! Hey, better to be working poor than just poor!

And there's no question we've got Putin on the run. Those Trumpian policy reversals, denials, double-downs, reversals of the reversals, denials of the double-downs, and doubling down on the denials have got Bad Vlad so confused he won't be able to annex any more countries till his head stops spinning, and that could take years.

Trump has brought Arab and Jew together as never before. The lambs of Likud are snuggling down with the wolves of the Arab dictatorships just like the Good Book promised... except for the habitually disgruntled Palestinians of course, and they'll be getting their own homeland in the Sinai any day now, mark my words!

It's all coming up roses!

Except for one little thing. Before we settle in for what promises to be a thousand year reich run of peace and prosperity, we've got to make things right for the billionaires. Those poor bastards can't be expected to carry the burden of tens of millions of working poor on their backs forever.

No, it's time to cut the super-rich some slack.

It's true that Trump took a step in that direction with his generous tax cuts of last year. Now it's time for the next step. That's right; adjusting asset costs for inflation is a social justice issue that is long overdue. The $100 billion per year hit to tax revenue is a small price to pay to remove this last stain from America's mantle of humanitarianism.

So stop mulling, Donald, and get moving.


America's billionaires are counting on you!