The World's Societies Have Gone Off The Rails !!!

Today's Blog is limited to the recent, excellent and insightful writings of Mark Mallett entitled The Now World Reflections of Our Times.

MARK MALLETT, is a Roman Catholic singer/songwriter and missionary. He has performed and preached throughout North America and abroad.

It is a long read but a most comprehensive one and if you like the bent of my writing, you are going to find his most interesting indeed.

https://www.markmallett.com/blog/black-and-white/


As I Read It....

'K.D. Bell'

JOGGING WHILE BLACK

We are seeing today riots occurring throughout America and indeed across the world because of the recent killing of George Floyd ...a black man...at the hands or should I say foot of a white policeman in Minnesota.

To me this is a result of a buildup in resentment on the part of blacks and indeed on the part of concerned citizens regardless of colour or creed.

I need not review what happened in the case of Mr. Floyd since it is fresh in all of our minds but I would like to review a few similar others that have occurred in recent history.

But before I get into that, I would like to take you back to 1939 with the courageous and yet star-crossed Billie Holiday's and her most famous signing of Strange Fruit:

Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Holiday was vilified for her temerity in the American South, where Blacks could not eat at white only restaurants, drink at white only water fountains,  use white only toilets, their transportation and schools and neighbourhoods were similarly segregated.

And of course Justice was meted out to Blacks in the exception as opposed to the rule.

It was simply awful and difficult for us in the year 2020 to even imagine how bad things were for these poor people.  Things since then have improved but George Floyd's indiscriminate killing and the cases I am about to focus on - show that we in society have a long way to go to ensure everyone is treated equally.

So let's begin with a look at the 2012 Florida murder of 17 year old Trayvon Martin who was murdered by self-appointed vigilante George Zimmerman.  Trayvon's offence was in wearing a hoodie and walking through his neighbourhood at the ungodly hour of 7 p.m. in the early evening.

Zimmerman was found Not Guilty !!

2014 saw 18 year old Michael Brown killed by a Missouri Ferguson Police Officer who had fired 14 shots at Brown ...6 hitting their target.  Witnesses say Brown had his hands up in a surrender position.

2014 also saw Dontre Hamilton, 31, fatally shot 14 times by a police officer in a Milwaukee park. The officer was responding to a call from employees at a nearby Starbucks alleging that Hamilton, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was disturbing the peace. In my readings there is no indication that Hamilton was armed.  No charges were laid against the police officer. 

There are just too many for me to even begin to itemize but for now ...one more.

And that pertains to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery who made the mistake of Jogging While Black in Georgia.  We have all heard of the offence of Driving While Black . but this is a first for me though I doubt in the annals of Racism against Blacks that this is by any means the first.

Anyway a former cop and his son, their pick-up, took it upon themselves to see that this fellow paid the ultimate price for his jogging.   Too bad for them, they were caught on tape doing it.

Surprisingly the Georgia Authorities for a month turned a blind eye to what had occurred.  It was only when the video became public that heads rolled and charges against these two pieces of white trash were laid. 

I would like to go on and on here with countless other such cases but for want of time now - I will leave it at this.  Over the course though I will continue to add more such cases at the top ....in honour of those mentioned above and in honour of those yet to be mentioned and hopefully not forgotten.

As I See It....

'K.D. Bell'

DURING COVID 19 WHAT IS MOST LIKE A HOSPITAL STAY?....

Why a Term in the Slammer ....aka Prison.

And don't just take my word for it...take my hospital room-mate's, a former Crown Attourney of over 30 years.  He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1975 one year after me.

One night during my recent 10 day stay in hospital he said to me - you know when I was sending offenders off to jail during my career I often wondered what it would be like to have to go there myself.  "Having now stayed several days in hospital, during Covid, I believe I have some idea".

I told him it was funny that he had said that since the idea had also gone through my mind too as a retired lawyer who did some defence work during my career.

We both agreed too that it might have proven helpful if  part of our training had included a stay in a crowbar hotel.

Our conversation then went on to list what we saw as the similarities:

• Close confined quarters;
• Meer curtains to provide a semblance of privacy.  You quickly learned everyone's diagnosis including whether they had a successful bowel movement withing the last 24 hrs;
• We could not leave the floor;
• There were no telephones nor t.v. nor radios permitted;
• There was lights out; 
• And no visitors...even inmates are allowed visitors;
• No choice in meals - you got what was sent - for instance, I was served room temp tea 2x per day irrespective of the fact that I do not like tea...coffee is my weakness.  One patient mentioned that he knew for a fact that prisoners in provincial jails were being served the same food as us and here I thought all they got was bread and water....in thinking about it, maybe that would have been preferable;
• Lights came on a 6 am.   so no sleeping in. Good thing we were put to bed early.; 
• You were powerless - constantly told what to do and how to it;
• Beds were seldom made...you did it yourself and sponge baths ever given.  You had to ask for a towel to shave and wash yourself....I could go on but you get the idea.

Anyway I guess with my recent hospital stay I can now truly say I do have some idea of what it would be like to have spent some time in jail.  

So, dear reader, I can now mark that off my Bucket List !

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell'

China's Xi Jinping & America's Donald Trump are both dangerous to the future of our World....

Update Note:  In today's paper it is reported that a Motion put forward by our Conservative Party in Parliament, condemning China for its harsh crack-down on Hong Kong was defeated by the gutless trilogy led by our Liberal Government and supported by the New Democratic Party and the Green Party.  SHAME

In 1997 Prince Charles handed over Hong Kong to the Chinese on the understanding that there would be 2 forms of government ...a more liberal and open government for Hong Kong and a more dictatorial and closed one for the rest of China.  China is now in blatant opposition to that agreement.  I would hope if I were Prince Charles that I would have the courage to go back to Hong Kong to remind China of their agreement some 23 years ago.


But China's Jinping is by far and away worse.

And I am not talking about viruses, or Hong Kong, or denial of human rights, or Taiwan; or lack of rule of law; or imprisoning Canadian Citizens without cause; or locking up their journalists who write anything negative about the glorious State Dictatorship  etc etc.

I am referring to International Trade...that which makes the world go round and that which is needed to see the world go forward and truly put the current pandemic behind us.

Both Trump and Xi use their offices to continually mess with Unfeddered Trade but Xi is the most ruthless of the two and both personages spell trouble for the World Economy if they continue to hold office.

But at least the USA is a Democracy...China is a Dictatorial, Ruthless Nation.

In that regard, I have read many articles of late suggesting that we in the West should simply stop trading with China but that would be a fool-hardly and self defeating thing to do.

If China can provide things cheaper and with relative quality we would be fools to cut that off.  If for its petty purposes, they cut us off something, we simply go tit for tat and cut off a comparable amount of things that China wishes to receive from us.  And we look elsewhere to get what the Chinese have stopped sending to us. 

I have used similar examples in the past...but if Country A can produce apples at twice the quality and half the cost that Country B does - it borders on stupidity for the latter to not take advantage of that.  Country B can then focus on trading items - let's say Oranges - that it can produce better and at less cost than Country A.

Indeed China is only hurting itself when it plays games with Trade and they are certifiable for playing such a game.  It has made $Trillions in trade, raised Millions out of Poverty and now has the world's second biggest economy... soon be number one.

So Galagher are you saying we simply keep trading with China and turn a blind eye to all their negatives much like what Canada's Progressive Government appears so keen n doing?

NOT AT ALL.

I have said in previous blogs and recently read in a major newspaper editorial suggesting that the Democracies of the world ...a club of less than 30 nations out of nearly 200, need to come together and form their own Organizations to mirror but not replace the UN type of Associations.

Let's call this Club The Democracies of the World Club (DWC) and other countries - the remaining 170, will be free to join the DWC as soon as they can prove that they too have truly become Democratic and support the Rule of Law.

Leave the Dictators to sputter and spew in the UN and related organizations ....talking never hurts and it will give them something to occupy their time.  But for the real work - let's leave it to the Democracies.

Watch how fast countries like China come around ...they have too much to lose -  i.e. hard cash.

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell'

BETTER THAN WATCHING T.V.

Just home from a 10 day stay in Hospital and glad to be here.

I was housed in a semi-like ICU where patients were on top of each other and staff ratios were roughly one to one - one nurse for each patient. 

From my perspective, that number was at least twice what it should have been - i.e. one staffer for per 2 patients would have been more than sufficient.  But it did allow for some interesting insights:  staff spent most of their time chatting to each other followed closely glued to their cell phones. The remaining time - not much - was devoted reluctantly to patient care.

Not surprisingly then, most of the staff had worked there for years.  They know a good thing when they have it.

And my next door neighbour, like me, was bedded directly in front of the nurses' station.  He made no attempt to hide the fact that he was tuned in completely to their discussions and in fact on numerous occasions he joyfully told them he was doing just that. They just smiled. He was also overheard saying several times that their discussions were better than watching t.v..

I think he somewhat overstated that since I personally did not find it so spell-binding but I did find it interesting none-the-less.  Their discussions mirrored life in general:  a group of young nurses - for the most part female - were centred on their partners, boy-friends and where applicable, their children.  Sometimes they discussed issues related to us patients but that was done in the exception and little attempt was made to keep things secret.  In essence though, they were projecting their hopes and dreams for the future as we, who were once young, did too.  It was heartening to hear and in the case of my roomie -  apparently gripping.

I noticed early on that their discussions seldom if ever dealt with current events or domestic or world politics.  I tested this with many individually and it became evident that they had little or no interest in these subjects as our older generation most certainly does.

Is this a good thing or bad?  I do not know and leave it to you to decide given your own circumstances.

Anyway, it was a long 10 day stay for me which I hope and pray does not happen again too soon or for that matter ever.  It may though generate some further blogs.

We'll see....   

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell'

THERE WILL BE TROOPS IN THE STREETS....

THEY  KIDDED  YOU  NOT.

'They' being the Liberal Party of Canada and the Troop Placers being the Conservative Party of Canada - in an Election Campaign in the early 2000s.

So flash ahead till now ...There Will Be Troops In Quebec's Nursing Homes...and to a lesser extent...in the Province of Ontario as well.  This is especially rich when you consider that Quebec's Government is Separatist and you do not get anything to represent Canada's Sovereignty more than our Army.

How Ironic and yet How Revolting.  We neither need troops in our streets nor in our nursing homes.  That dear reader is not the job of our nation's military.   Maybe things like flood control and to a lesser extent - out of control forest fires but even for events like these it would be better for us to establish a Civil Defence Force as have our American neighbours done to the south. 

So what exactly will our gallant soldiers be doing?

Well - feeding; washing; and of course.....changing diapers.

I can hear it now !!

Code Brown..."all bomb experts to floor 2 / room 5  / bed 3.  An massive explosion has taken place  and in need of immediate clean-up... Be sure to wear your body armour and most importantly... your masks.

As I Smell It...

'K. D. Bell'

The 24 hour news cycle becomes very boring when it is all about either Trump or the Virus

For Long Time Readers I must apologize for being MIA in regard to my Blog Writing or better stated - Non-Blog Writing.

My excuse is contained in today's title - whatever I read and whatever I hear on the news is all about the Trumper and/or the Corny Virus.  I know you must be as tired of that as am I.

For me to be stimulated to write -I usually need to come across something in the mass media that gets my blood flowing ...so to speak.  And the constant repetative analysis of these two all encompassing topics has just the opposite affect on me - it turns me off and out.

I enjoy blogging though and from the feedback I get, I believe you find it insightful from time to time.  As I have said before, I try to get behind the B.S. spewed by the Talking Heads and let you know what I believe is really going on...and it that regard I am usually right !! said me ...your humble servant.

Let's consider for a moment my somewhat recent blogs on the Virus.  The main thrust of my blogs was that the treatment Government and Health Personages implemented was worse than the disease itself.

But the Media was in their rapt embrace.  That lasted a long time but more recently they have come to my original conclusion - why ...the social well-being of society, our economies and our collective mental health are taking a heavy hit as bad as or even worse than the virus itself.  Dah.

I also said, rather than just health care experts advising our politicians, there also needed to be a panel composed with economists and social scientists.  Not one media type suggested this approach.  But ... of course, that was then and this is now - and I have lost track of the number of talking heads coming round to my same conclusion.  After all, do you really think a Health Care Expert is going to suggest anything but a shut-down of society.  Not a chance.

And remember dear reader your heard it first from me.  I am in my 72nd year so maybe wisdom does grow with age ...or at least by now people my age have acquired a little experience.

Okay ...here is my next prediction.  As you know, everyone appears to be predicting that everything will change in the new post virus era.   It won't of course and once that becomes crystal clear down the road - the Talking Heads will do an about face and tell you that they knew nothing of significance would change all along.

Handshakes will disappear for ever - Not;  Restaurants will be empty for a long time to come - No They Won't;  Air Traffic will take years to come back - if at all - Again after a couple of months of having slayed the Dragon - we'll be airborne in great numbers and hell bent for leather;  Stadiums and Concert Halls will be filled to capacity....etc.

At home offices will not all go back to corporate base but the vast majority will. We are after all social beings and the home front simply does not cut it for most of us. Plus managers need to face to face with their employees and there is only so much of that you can do over video.

I could go on and on ...but you get the idea.

In early February I predicted that life would return to normal in June - in fact it appears to be happening somewhat earlier though the Pol'ys and the Health'ys are doing there best to drag their heals.  By September things will be in full swing. 

I say this because unlike other tragedies that plague our economy - this shutdown was officially sanctioned - Governments turned off the Economic Switch and things naturally came to a stop.  By the same token, when Governments turn the switches back on - life will quickly return to normal.

There is one area that unfortunately may sustain serious damage and like the above, this is man-made too.  I will deal with it in my very next blog ...

As I See It ...

K.D. Bell