Meidas Touch (podcast)
Now This News – No comment.
Really American – We all know this by now, but the “shock” is kind of fun.
“End notes” to “The Alt-Right Playbook” I haven’t seen enough yet to decide whether I should intersperse them orlistthem separately when I make the compendium … so that will be delayed somewhat. End note 1:
After the first meeting, and before they got used to each other, Cole and Marmalade did this.
Beau – Teaching and learning history – the Scooby-Doo method.
Meidas Touch parody (“Drivers License”)
NBC – TODAY – posted without comment
Nancy’s remarks on MCConnell. She is REALLY angry. This is the nearest I have evre heard her to incoherent (not that it’s very near, but less organized than usual.)
Parody Project – As a big fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, I really love this one. (TC, close your eyes and pretend the picture’s a dog.)
This should help to rehabilitate cats’ image from the parody.
Beau – This has kind of gotten lost in the trial news, but if it should happen, it could be good for us.
Keith from yesterday – I love Keith, but he is not being realistic about this.
On 22 October 2019, TomCat wrote an article entitled “Who Won the Election . . . Eh?” about the results of the 19 October 2019 Canadian federal election. It must have been a slow news day! In the article, he claimed:
“Fortunately, we have an expert here at the site to flesh out my report. For starters, I’d like our resident Sasquatch to explain the ‘Speech from the Throne’ to us.”
Well I am not an expert, but I am a proud Canuck (Canadian) who has studied Canadian history as well as American history. So, I am going to give you a bit of a Canadian history and civics lesson, heavy on the civics.
The first settlements in what is now Canada were Viking settlements in Newfoundland and Labrador (Newfoundland is the island, affectionately called The Rock by locals, and Labrador is on the mainland but they together make up the 10th Canadian province) as well as in the Canadian Arctic around 1,000 CE, so settlement predates Columbus by almost 500 years. These Vikings first expanded to Iceland then Greenland and their expansion into Canada was the culmination of their westward journey for land and riches. The first name for what is now part of Canada was Vinland (pronounced Winland). Evidence of these settlements has been found at L’Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland.
Canada’s First English Settlement, Cupers Cove, now Cupids, Nfld was established by John Guy in 1610 under a royal charter from James I. It was England’s first attempt at organised colonization in Canada and the second plantation in North America. Jamestown, Virginia was the first in 1607.
Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he called “The Country of Canadas “, after the Iroquois names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona (Quebec City) and at Hochelaga (Montréal).
With two countries, England and France, fighting the 7 Years War in Europe, it was only logical that they brought the war to the New World where they both had interests. The British under General James Wolfe soundly beat General Louis-Joseph Montcalm, Marquis de Montcalm of France and so, Canada became English territory.
It is interesting to note that Canada and the United States are both children of the same European country, England. But as siblings, we were quite different and remain so today. The Americans of the Thirteen Colonies chose to revolt against the British proclaiming no taxation without representation and subsequently defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) with the assistance of France. As we know, the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 signalling the independence from Britain. The English colonies in Canada never went to war against Britain in order to win their independence. Canada petitioned Britain for independence in 1867 which was granted. On 01 July 1867, under the British North America Act, Canada became the Dominion of Canada. At this point, Canada still relied on the English Constitution (Magna Carta) but slowly we wrote our own Constitution. Interestingly, it was the father of our current Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, who repatriated the constitution in 1982 when he was Prime Minister. In my opinion, the true characters of our two countries are shown in how we chose to cut our mother’s apron strings.
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Canada |
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United States |
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Queen Elizabeth II |
Head of State |
President |
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Governor General – Vice Regal (the Queen’s representative in Canada) |
Executive |
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Bicameral – based on Westminster Parliamentary System of Britain; elected House of Commons 338 total seats; appointed Senate 105 seats |
Legislature |
Bicameral – elected House of Representatives 435 seats; elected Senate 100 seats |
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Liberal (centre left) Conservative (right) New Democratic Party (left – social democrat) Green Party; Bloc Québécois (Québec only) |
Political Parties |
Democratic Party (centre left & progressive) Republican Party (conservative, alt right) With other parties from time to time such as the Libertarians and the Green |
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Supreme Court of Canada |
Judicial |
SCOTUS |
From this, you might wonder where the Canadian Prime Minister is situated. The PM is the head of one of the political parties in the legislative body or House of Commons. The term Prime Minister means the first or prime minister to the Crown. After the 2015 election, the Liberal party had a majority with 184 seats but today is a minority having fallen short of the 170 seats needed for a majority. The Liberals still had more seats than any other party with 157 seats, so they negotiated with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support a Liberal government. As such, the Liberal party formed a minority government. No other party would align itself with the Conservative party to throw the win to them, although there was speculation at the time. There are 338 seats in the Canadian parliament. Justin Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal party in 2013 and has been the Prime Minister since 2015. To be PM, Trudeau also must be a seated Member of Parliament and was elected in the Papineau riding in greater Montréal. The PM must represent his riding but also must represent all the people of Canada. To my American friends, do you think Trump could have done this? In my opinion, Trudeau does better than Trump by far and he does more than Trump even including Trump’s golf time! Also note that the Prime Minister is directly elected by some of the people (his constituency) and those in the Liberal Party who voted to make him leader of the party.
Electoral districts or ridings in Canada are established by Elections Canada, a non-partisan agency. Unlike in the US where electoral districts are established by the individual states and therefore controlled by the political party in power at the time the boundaries are established, political parties in Canada are not involved at all. Canada does not have the gerrymandering issues very evident in the US.
Prorogation is the action of discontinuing a session of a parliament or other legislative assembly without dissolving it. When an election writ is dropped, Parliament is dissolved. We also have recesses for Christmas or annual vacations. Prorogation is not unlike a recess in the US.
From Huffington Post
“And on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he asked Gov. Gen. Julie Payette to prorogue Parliament until Sept. 23, when a throne speech will be delivered and, in short order, a confidence vote will be held.
Prorogation is a tricky subject in Canadian politics. It’s been called a natural part of the political process, while also criticized in recent years as something mobilized by PMs to get out of tough situations. …
A parliamentary “reset” — and the new throne speech that comes with it — could also spell danger for the Trudeau government, as a vote of no-confidence on the plan could trigger an election. …
Trudeau said that since the December throne speech that outlined his government’s agenda obviously made no mention of COVID-19 crisis that would disrupt the world months later, a new plan for a “stronger, more resilient Canada″ was in order.”
In this case, the WE Charity scandal which involved the Finance Minister and relatives of the PM, in addition to the changing financial position of the country and the COVID-19 pandemic are the prime reasons for the prorogation. Any investigations into WE were halted, and the Finance Minister stepped down. It is interesting to note that in 2015, PM Trudeau spoke of Stephen Harper’s prorogation of Parliament in 2007, 2008 and 2010 and said the Liberals would never do that. Short memories! In 2008, the prorogation of Parliament was strictly a political move by Harper (Conservative) to out-maneuver the opposition and should not have happened.
The Prime Minister asked the Governor General to prorogue Parliament on 18/08/2020 until 23/09/2020 when Parliament would resume with a Speech from the Throne. The Speech from the Throne, a very formal affair conducted alternately in French and English in the Senate Chamber, is used to open the first sitting of Parliament after an election or to restart a sitting after prorogation. The Speech is always read by the Governor General but is prepared by the Prime Minister and his office. You might remember from the news that HRM Queen Elizabeth II prorogued the British Parliament on 28/08/2019 at the request of PM Boris Johnson. Effective from 10/09/2019 until the State Opening of Parliament on 14/10/2019, the prorogation was cut short because of political opposition. As I recall, Johnson wanted prorogation in regards to limiting debate over the issue of leaving the European Union.
Speech from the Throne — The Speech from the Throne, whether it follows an election or prorogation, is a statement of the government’s priorities, essentially a roadmap of what the government hopes to accomplish during this session of Parliament. After the October 2019 election, the PM was faced with bringing a plan together which a majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) would support. Talk about “Let’s Make a Deal”! Trudeau was able to negotiate with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support that plan. Had he not been successful obtaining support, Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party at the time, would have been asked by the Governor General to form the government. The Conservatives had fewer seats than the Liberals so they would have to have received the support of the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, neither of which would even think of that. Had neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives been able to form a government, the only alternative is a new election.
Rather than going through the 2019 Speech from the Throne, which is obsolete now except as history, I’ll show the highlights of the 2020 Speech from the Throne that came out on 23/09/2020. It is interesting to note that Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP, was able to get some changes to the roadmap in exchange for NDP support. Had Trudeau not been successful in gaining NDP support, Trudeau would have presented the Liberal plan and it would be voted upon. If the vote failed, which it almost certainly would have, that would be a vote of non confidence. The government would fall and Canada would be having a federal election. We are not having an election.
As a small dig to my American friends, election campaigns in Canada must be, according to the Elections Act, a minimum of 36 days and a maximum of 50 days. It sure beats the American system of 2 years, or in the case of presidential elections with Trump, 4 years of campaigning. There is little chance of getting bored with election talk.
Another difference between Canada and the US is the amount that political parties can spend. The amount that a political party and its candidates can spend is limited by a formula of approximately one dollar for every eligible voter in Canada. If an election were to be called now, it is estimated that each party could spend approximately $25 million. I am not saying this is a small amount, but when compared to US election spending, it is a pittance.
Yet another difference, Canada can dispose of its government with a non confidence vote. Of course, that means an election, but it would also be a way to dump Trump, all other factors being met. It beats 4 years of buyers’ remorse!
In these COVID times, if you see Parliament in session you will notice that everyone is sporting masks which does not seem to happen in the US Congress to the same degree. Social distancing is maintained as much as possible as well.
Highlights of the Speech from the Throne 23 September 2020
1. PROTECTING CANADIANS FROM COVID-19
Vaccine efforts; PPE production.
2. HELPING CANADIANS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC
Creating jobs; Financial supports (CERB – Canada Emergency Relief Benefit) and Employment Insurance benefits;
From Huffington Post:
“NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had been calling on the government to extend the CERB until the benefit could be replaced by something paying the same level of support. CERB has paid $2,000 for a four-week period, up to 28 weeks, to eligible Canadians.”
Women in the economy;
From Huffington Post:
The government is promising an action plan for women in the economy, led by a task force of diverse experts, to ensure the pandemic’s legacy is not “one of rolling back the clock on women’s participation in the workforce.”
Supporting business; From Huffington Post: The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy
Fiscal sustainability.
3. BUILDING BACK BETTER — A RESILIENCY AGENDA FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
Addressing gaps in our social systems; a stronger workforce; Taking action on extreme risks from climate change.
4. THE CANADA WE’RE FIGHTING FOR
Reconciliation with Indigenous communities; Addressing systemic racism; Protecting two official languages; A welcoming Canada (Immigration); Canada in the world.
I cannot go into the detail required on each category in the Speech here, however I have included an English version pdf below put out by the government.
The Speech from the Throne pdf
I know that Nameless likes our national anthem so I have included it here for him. We only sing the first verse and chorus but there are 3 more verses. Enjoy Nameless!
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
[Chorus]
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada!
Where pines and maples grow,
Great prairies spread, and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From east to western sea.
The land of hope for all who toil,
The true north strong and free!
[Chorus]
O Canada!
Beneath our shining skies,
May stalwart sons, and gentle maidens rise.
To keep thee steadfast through the years,
From east to western sea,
Our own beloved native land,
Our true north strong and free!
[Chorus]
Ruler Supreme!
Who hearest humble prayer,
Hold thy dominion in thy loving care.
Help us to find, Oh God, in thee,
A lasting rich reward.
As waiting for the better day,
We ever stand on guard!
[Chorus]
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
Back to history this week. It has been obvious for a long time that the Versailles Treaty got the world into World War II. I learned that in school. But it’s less obvious how much of a factor it was in getting us into the mess we are in today. Let’s look.
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Elizabeth Thompson, American University School of International Service
The racism that is now the target of protest across the globe is rooted in the tragic choices of leaders seeking to roll back change a century ago.
Nearly all historians now agree that at the end of World War I, the choice to return to an imperialist world order by the victorious Allied, or Entente, powers – France, Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan and the United States – was a historic error. It not only prepared the ground for the rise of fascism in Europe, but also sparked decades of political violence in Asia and Africa by people denied their rights and humanity.
As World War I ended in November 1918, the Spanish Flu pandemic swept across the globe, killing more than 50 million people. Most vulnerable were soldiers living in crowded barracks and their families back home, where hunger weakened immunity.
Like today, the effect of pandemic was aggravated by economic recession and unemployment. Worse, the people of the defeated German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empires suffered chaos under political collapse.
Amid these multiple crises, the Paris Peace Conference opened in January 1919. American President Woodrow Wilson personally traveled to Paris to ensure that the conference would make the world “safe for democracy.”
Wilson had promised a new era of peace and justice in his famous Fourteen Points statement of war aims, which included an end to secret treaties, the curtailment of colonial empires, the right of all people to choose their own government and a League of Nations to adjudicate international conflicts.
In 1920, like 2020, race became the pivot of a historic turning point. In both moments, world leaders faced a choice: to restore the previous status quo that had produced the crisis – or to embrace the need for a new world order.
The European members of the Entente powers at Paris – Britain, France, and Italy – ignored Wilson’s call for world order based on law and rights. With the implementation of the Treaty of Versailles in January 1920, they chose to restore a racial hierarchy across the globe, extending their colonial rule over territories once held by the defeated German and Ottoman empires in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
The treaty, which included establishment of the League of Nations, betrayed not only Wilson’s ideals, but also the Entente’s nonwhite allies and the colonial soldiers who fought in the “war to end all wars.” The racial injustice of the 1919-20 peace settlement sparked decades of political violence – not only in the colonized Middle East, Africa and Asia, but also in the United States.
In January 1919, activists from around the world traveled to Paris despite risks to their health. They embraced Wilson’s Fourteen Points as a chance to remake a broken world system of imperial rivalry that had led to World War I and the deaths of 10 million soldiers and 50 million civilians.
Among those activists was NAACP leader W.E.B. Du Bois, who had fought against the spread of racist, segregationist Jim Crow laws from southern states to the North. He now feared that a similar legal double standard might be imposed in international law, to the detriment of African rights.
Du Bois asked to join the American delegation at Paris, but the Wilson administration refused him. Wilson feared that Du Bois’ call for racial equality might spoil his negotiations with the other conference leaders – prime ministers of Britain, France and Italy – who ruled most of Africa as colonies.
Undeterred, Du Bois organized a Pan African Congress to defend Africans’ rights. He understood, as others did in Paris, that racial inequality was the foundation of the old imperial world order.
Like Du Bois and his African allies, Arabs and Egyptians claimed their right to sovereignty. But they found that the Entente leaders also considered Arab Muslims a lower species of human, unfit for self-rule.
Prince Faisal of Mecca gained entry to the conference because his Arab army had fought against the Ottoman Turks alongside Britain, with the understanding that Arabs would gain an independent state. But the British broke their promise and denied independence to Faisal’s Syrian Arab Kingdom. They instead joined French colonialists to divide Arab lands between them.
Asians, too, were regarded as an inferior race. Japan had fought alongside the victorious Allies and had won a leading role at the conference.
But when the Japanese delegation proposed a racial equality clause for the Covenant of the new League of Nations, the conference’s white leaders rejected it.
The Covenant of the League of Nations, drafted by those same leaders at Paris in 1919, codified the inequality of races in international law. Article 22 denied independence to Arabs, Africans and Pacific Islanders once ruled by the Ottomans and Germans.
In the condescending language of moral uplift, the article designated them as “peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world.” Therefore, they would be placed under temporary European rule as “a sacred trust of civilisation.”
In other words, the League of Nations would administer temporary colonies, called mandates, to tutor uncivilized (nonwhite) people in politics. Racial inequality was enshrined in the very institution, the League of Nations, that was to ensure the governance of international law.
The mandates were imposed by gunpoint, with no pretense to respect self-determination. In July 1920, the French army occupied Damascus, destroyed the Syrian Arab Kingdom and sent Faisal into exile. Likewise, the British battled mass opposition to claim its mandates in Iraq and Palestine. Meanwhile, South Africa imposed a brutal racist regime upon southwest Africa.
Racial exclusion from the club of so-called civilized nations provoked anti-colonial movements for the rest of the 20th century.
The president of the Syrian Arab Kingdom’s Congress, Sheikh Rashid Rida, foresaw violent consequences in his 1921 appeal to the League of Nations.
“It does not befit the honor of this League, which President Wilson proposed to include all civilized nations for the good of all human beings,” he wrote, “for it to be used as a tool by two colonial states. These states seek to use this Assembly to guarantee … the subjugation of peoples.”
Rida prophetically warned that “Syria, Palestine, and other Arab countries will ignite the fires of war in both the West and the East.” The bitter sheikh turned against European liberalism and inspired the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928.
In the later 20th century, this racial exclusion of Arab Muslims inspired the violent Islamist movements that drew the United States into seeming endless conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
In the United States, racial hierarchy was similarly reimposed by violence. Black veterans returned from Europe to confront lynching and race riots.
[The Conversation’s newsletter explains what’s going on with the coronavirus pandemic. Subscribe now.]
The link between the American racial order and the new world order was made explicit by President Wilson’s adviser, Colonel Edward M. House. He advised Wilson that racial equality would cost him votes in the South and California. Worse, such a clause could empower the League of Nations to intervene in the United States against Jim Crow laws.
In March 1920, the U.S. Senate rejected American membership in the League of Nations precisely because clauses on transnational law enforcement and collective security threatened U.S. sovereignty.
It is no accident that the current crisis in the U.S. has come to focus on racial injustice. Among its several sources are the decisions made 100 years ago by white men from powerful countries who believed maintaining their dominance was more important than seeking peace through justice.
Elizabeth Thompson, Professor and Mohamed S. Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, American University School of International Service
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, Wilson (a racist himself) probably did not envision what we would envision today as a “world order based on law and rights.” That’s nothing new. When the Magna Carta was signed, the barons who forced it did not envision a world in which anyone other than the nobility would have the rights it prescribes. When the Constitution was written and adopted, our founding fathers almost certainly did not envision a world without slavery. Even after we abolished slavery, few envisioned a eorld in which women had rights. Historically, freedom has a tendency to spread and to embrace groups those writing the rules never considered. It would be most interesting if we were able to follow the history of a parallel world which did rally behind Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and see what would have been different.
On the other hand, I was looking at some numbers – I cannot call what I did crunching because I wasn’t rigorous, and made adjustments based on guesses. I took as a starting point the premise that 30% of Americans still support Trump. I made an assumption that, while we all know that black racists, and female misogynists, and Jewish anti-Semites exist, their actual numbers would be small enough to disregard. I looked up the percentage of non-Hispanic whites in America, and learned it was a little under two-thirds. Well, 30% is almost one-third. I concluded that, as a very rough estimate, half of all the whites in the United States are racist. And we will be stuck with them long after Trump* is gone. And they vote, and they reproduce. On the bright side, without doing any math, I feel strongly that 50% is a lower percentage of racists among whites than it was in the fifties So I think there is hope. Dear Furies, help us build it better.
The Furies and I will be back.
It’s a relatively lazy holiday here in the CatBox. I looked forward to today, because I would have been able to see Portland’s main fireworks display from my window. Of course, it has been cancelled. Maybe I’ll see it next year, if I live that long. Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update or an Open Thread. WWWendy is coming so destink the pungent TomCat, change my patch, goop and help with chores. Also, because we’re running out of time, tomorrow is Infernal Revenue day in the CatBox. Have a fine weekend!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:15 (average 6:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Trump* Virus Update:
US Cases: 2,891,380
US Deaths: 132,112
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Lincoln Project Channel): Gettysburg
This could not be more appropriate for today! We must remember those murdered by criminal Fuhrer Trump’s* racist Republican Reich! God bless those very few Republicans that understand this. The smart ones have left or will soon leave the party. RESIST!!
From Raw Story: Yet another senior Donald Trump advisor has tested positive for COVID-19.
“Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of President Trump’s eldest son and a top fund-raising official for the Trump re-election campaign, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday before a Fourth of July event at Mount Rushmore, a person familiar with her condition said,” The New York Times reported shortly before Trump’s speech began.
“Ms. Guilfoyle traveled to South Dakota with Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., in anticipation of attending a huge fireworks display where the president was set to speak. They did not travel aboard Air Force One, according to the person familiar with her condition, and she was the only person in the group who tested positive,” the newspaper reported. “Still, that another person who was expected to be near Mr. Trump tested positive — and someone who most staff aides consider a member of the Trump family — is likely to renew attention around potential risks to the president.”
How rabid! She attended criminal Fuhrer Trump’s white supremacy super-spreader campaign show, while infected with Trump* virus and no mask or distancing. How many will die, because she spread her Fuhrer’s plague? She needs to do one more thing: give her boyfriend’s father* a BIG, sloppy kiss! RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from Woodstock): BERT SOMMER – AMERICA – WOODSTOCK 69
The next few songs are dedicated to all who were at Woodstock or wanted to be. Most of us gave Bert a standing ovation for this song. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!
It’s I tired day here in the CatBox. I haven’t visited the throne since 3:00 AM, si I hope the Imodium caught up to the Republicosis. The Republican Trump* defense team finishes today. Are you as sick of those sphincters as I am? Have a great day!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:36 (average 5:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Donald J. Trump has “no intention whatsoever” of having John Bolton’s book read aloud to him, Trump confirmed on Monday.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, had obtained a draft manuscript of the Bolton book and had offered to read it aloud to him “like she does with all of the other books,” Trump said.
“She reads the books to me slowly and stops when there’s a long word to tell me what it means,” Trump said. “But I told her that the Bolton book was the last book in the world that I wanted to hear.”
Dang Andy! Isn’t it a shame Senate Republicans will imitate their criminal Fuhrer? RESIST!!
From YouTube (Vox Channel): How Iran’s Soleimani became a US target
This is a well presented, unbiased history lesson to help you better understand the region, while allowing you the freedom to make your own judgement without propaganda. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from Lona’s past): The Joker
Ah… Lona’s memories! Thanks Lona! RESIST!!
