I think we can safely agree that the American government and American system is whatever the wealthy owners and corporate overseers want to do with it.
I'm convinced that the phrase 'counting the dead' doesn't mean anything to Americans anymore ... it won't mean anything to them until they start seeing piles of body bags or mounds of human bodies in the streets before they think that things are going bad.
If this is the analogy of a frog boiling in water .... America's frog eyes are starting to grow grey as their skin starts to harder in the extremely hot water
Now that's putting it into perspective ... holy shit
All throughout most modern history ... if you set up an economic system where you allow humans to gain unbelievable amounts of wealth and ask them or wait for them to share it, they never do and instead use that wealth to gain even more sums of wealth in a never ending cycle. I know plenty of wealthy people and they do share their wealth, just not in the sums you want to imagine - they share a few hundreds or thousands here and there but never enough to create meaningful change and never in the amounts to affect the growth of their wealth.
I know plenty of millionaires ... people who own property, vehicles and wealth that all amount to one or two million ... and they are still just getting by. They aren't that terribly wealthy - they don't live with any more luxury than most people, they just have more things.
Billionaires on the other hand are something else ... it's like comparing someone with a weight problem and calling millionaires slightly pudgy and billionaires are grossly overweight behemoths that can affect the structure of your house.
Here's a visual comparison using grains of rice of what a millionaire and billionaire and the wealth of someone like Jeff Bezos is
Millionaires with a few million dollars aren't the problem
The biggest problems are the handful of billionaires and the billionaires that are not Canadian but have a strangle hold on companies or corporations that affect Canada.
If the government could just tax the ever loving shit out of billionaires, they'd remove the single root cause of a lot of problems in the country and actually allow some sort of competition in all industries. This would allow the economy to spread the wealth to more Canadians than to a bunch of non-aligned billionaires who could care less what country they are attached to because their wealth is so great, they are basically their own country at this point.
Millionaires aren't the problem .... Billionaires are
No need for a tracker, predictions or allusions .... we're going to have proof soon when the country gets hit with a major hurricane, tornado or extreme weather storm.
I'll take a guess that it will take about three or four major events before everyone will say or do anything about it ... but even then, their corporate media will play it all down while the country continues to break down.
Always have to remind people about stuff like this .... decent regulated work hours? weekends? over time pay? child labour laws? health care? worker benefits? worker protections? minimum wage?
All those things came about because workers unions fought to get them in place. I have family and friends who picketed in strikes in the 1940s and 1950s and had to fight and even get killed for standing in the way to get these basic rights. I have one old friend from my wife's family ... a crusty old Irishman who looked like Popeye, short, stout with big massive arms and hands. He was Merchant seaman and worked on both coasts of the country during the war ... he said he wanted to go overseas but he was too young at the start of the war and by the time he came of age, the war was over. So instead, he ran away from home and worked on ships who didn't care how old you were, as long as you looked the part and could lift 100lbs. Their mother was a communist, when communism wasn't a hellfire, demonic idea in Canada. They grew up knowing and understanding that they had to look after themselves and that companies and corporations would always exploit them. After the war, he and his brother joined workers unions and dock workers unions on the west coast of Canada. They took part in lots of ugly strike actions and work stoppages in the 1950s ... and in one of those standoffs, late one night, his brother was killed ... murdered because he was high ranking union leader.
My old Irish friend Freddie always reminded us of why we live in the world we have now. It was because people fought and died for it ... it wasn't given freely by government or corporations ... people fought for it.
Frustrated that the 20 year you are considering to hire doesn't have ten years experience.
Yes there were ... we just didn't call them billionaires ... we called them Kings, Queens, Supreme Rulers, Emperors, God Kings
The world looks exactly the same now as it did 2,000 years ago politically because the idea of supreme and infinite wealth never went away. We've always had men who believed they could rule or own the entire world ... and we still do.
I always say and think about all this from the perspective of billionaires .... all they ever care about is money and the free flow of money everywhere. As long as money is moving and people believe in it, praise it and worship it, everything else can be tolerated and controlled.
The internet and free flowing communication allows for money to flow a lot .... without it money would quickly become segmented into tight regions and countries and everything becomes closed .... which makes it harder for money to flow, which makes it harder for a billionaire to make more money.
Same with World War or even nuclear war ... I don't think it will ever happen on purpose because once that first bomb goes off, billionaires will cease to be billionaires as the world financial system collapses. The billionaires won't care how many millions die, they'll be more upset that their imaginary digitally managed wealth will either decrease a lot or even completely. They know that in a post apocalyptic world, no one will care if you claim to be a billionaire if banks no longer exist. You might say that billionaires will have gold stashes around to fund their own personal army .... but that won't work either because their army will just kill them to take the wealth.
All of it is possible because of human greed .... all of it is under threat because of human greed .... and all of it is held in balance because of human greed.
It's Mel Brooks' 99th Birthday today ... for anyone that's ever memed, they are sure to have referenced Mel Brooks at one point or another.
Modern comedy wouldn't be the same without him.
Happy Indigenous Peoples Day to everyone. I know right now there is not much cause to celebrate with the passing of an Ontario government Bill 5 and Federal Government Bill C5 that directly threaten First Nation lands, people and rights.
We've always dealt with issues, events, changes and developments ... it's become our ongoing legacy to constantly fight and we are and will continue to fight on.
What everyone doesn't understand is that we are not just fighting for ourselves, its a fight to protect the future of our people and of all Ontario and all Canada as well. Unrestrained and uncontrolled resource development only destroys the land, air and water ... the same land, air and water we all share no matter our race, group or identity.
It's also a fight for the future, as from the quote from Wendell Berry ....
“We do not inherit the earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children.”
The quote is often attributed as a wise old Native saying or proverb but in actual fact the modern quote comes from an environmentalist in the environmental, ecological movement.
Saying the environment to save ourselves and the future generations to come is not just an idea central to First Nation belief systems .... it's a belief system by those who can see beyond the length of their own lifespans.
Happy Indigenous Peoples Day everyone.
I'm up in Canada so we are all just on edge watching to see what will happen tomorrow for mass protesting.
Whatever happens, everyone stay safe, protect and guard yourself from danger and keep aware of your surroundings. Stay with a small group of allies and keep yourselves safe.
If you are not prepared and don't know what you are doing .... stay back and don't become front line fodder.
If you are prepared and equipped, stay safe, protect yourself, run and hide if you must. I'd rather see you running than to be put in danger.
Whatever you do tomorrow to take part, we're all cheering for our American brothers and sisters standing for democratic rights and fighting against fascism.
I just saw Star Trek Enterprise Season 4 Episode 18: 'In A Mirror Darkly' and I noticed that someone that looks vaguely like Karl Marx leads the mob to raid the Vulcan ship.
Also on another note .... what the hell kind of fever dream did the writers drift into with this side story that lasted a few episodes? They just come out of left field for no apparent reason.
I work in a bit of construction, building and renovations. I've gone through several health and safety training over the years. Some of it has to do with protecting yourself from sharp objects and flying debris. There is quite a bit of training in protecting your eyes, especially when you are around metal saws, wood saws and anything to do with cutting machinery. You don't want small particles or objects flying into your face, especially onto your eye.
Which is why there are so many stringent regulations on eye protection and the technology is so far advanced now that you can wear eye protection that can protect your eye from flying debris or objects like a nail gun fired right at your eye.
Nail gun on safety glasses test
A broken angle grinder blade can travel at extremely high speeds, potentially reaching 120 m/s (430 kmph) or even higher. That's basically a small piece of hardened material flying like a knife through the air that can slice through your skin, into your bone or puncture your eye and blind you.
Worker's angle grinder blade snaps and gets stuck in safety glasses
If you are wondering which safety glasses to get ... buy them at a hardware store. They are more likely to carry actual safety glasses. Department stores or discount stores sell 'safety glasses' but they are usually not industry rated and are only meant to protect against dust and liquids - they will not protect you against high velocity impact.
Look for safety glasses with anything marked ANSI Z87+, sometimes written Z87.1+ (note the plus) rated or CSA Z94.3 rated are ensured to safely withstand a direct high energy strike. These glasses are meant to supply workers everywhere so you can buy these for about $10 to $30 depending style and type. Buy them in bulk and they're much cheaper overall (just make sure they well marked and approved). Well worth the money to save your eyes.
After all this work, effort and technological development to get to the point where there can be political protests on the street and police and security forces can fire small projectiles at people and put their faces and eyes in danger. Small pellets, bean bags or tear gas canisters can give you a bruise or even cut you if they hit your back, legs, arms or chest. But these things can potentially blind people if they are hit in the face. Police are told not to aim them at people's faces but in a chaotic situation where people on all sides are angry, anxious, tired and afraid, anything can happen. In some parts of the world, police and security forces are directed to purposefully aim at people's heads and faces.
Safety glasses will protect you from these low velocity munitions from police. If they are firing things at people that are faster and stronger than this, then they are using lethal force and basically shooting at people with shotguns. If your glasses can stop flying objects, then they are firing non-lethal or less-lethal rounds .... anything stronger or faster than that and no safety glasses can protect you and your whole body and not just your eyes are in danger. Basically, if an object can be fired through a pair of industry rated safety glasses ... the same object can blast through your skull.
In the workplace, I can't walk into a potentially dangerous situation without wearing safety glasses .... but at a public protest where police are firing things without much control? No one is told of the danger and in some jurisdictions people are discouraged or punished for trying to wear any kind of safety gear. Even in first world countries like the US, Germany, France and Canada, people wearing safety glasses at a protest are targeted as terrorists, criminals, instigators, or potential violent criminals.
I really don't care what anyone has to say on the matter whether for legal, moral, ethical, political or security reasons ... if you are joining a major protest anywhere in the world from now on ... wear safety glasses ... approved, industry rated safety glasses. They are easy to find and not that expensive and they can be found in most hardware stores or ordered online. They are made freely and easily available to protect workers in just about every industry, so there is no excuse for young people joining in a major protest to not wear them.
One of the saddest stories I ever saw was the story of 20 year old Gustavo Gatica in 2019 who was part of a protest against the government in Chile. Police were actively shooting at protesters' faces on purpose blinding many people in one eye. Gustavo was hit in both eyes and was rendered completely blind.
https://www.amnestyusa.org/gustavo-gatica/
It's one of the saddest and most infuriating images I've seen in a long time ... no matter where you are and you want to join a protest ... wear safety glasses and save your eyes. Police might not try to aim for your face but if they do, they'll just make the excuse that you shouldn't have been there in the first place and blame you for your injuries.
To me the distinction is striking ... if we are working for corporations and government, they will protect and defend the right to our safety to the utmost degree ... but if we disagree or protest against government and corporations, then our safety no longer matters and is instead endangered.
Wear your safety glasses
I saw this today and thought you'd all enjoy it
I think we have one of those in the Office of President of the United States of America