We’ve had it, and I hope sincerely that you are not reëlected. Millions of Americans and millions of human beings on Planet Earth have to suffer paralyzing and deadly heat waves, while you dismiss “climate change” as “fake news.”
I would also like to speak to you about the fate of women in your country. Do not think for one minute that a woman should always be exposed to unwanted, not to mention yearly, pregnancies. Open planned-parenthood facilities, so women never have to undergo a life-threatening and unwanted abortion. The life of a woman is dear to her, dear to her husband/partner, and dear to her family. Let women be.
As well, tackle doctors. They deserve an excellent salary, but in no way do they need to be very wealthy. They may well be more compassionate than you thought. As well, tackle pharmaceutical companies. This discussion includes everyone. Everyone is part of the equation.
You are lucky to have a fine wife. She’s an immigrant! Will you deport her? In fact, will you deport yourself? Except for Amerindians, North-Americans are immigrants.
By the way, ordinary people do not need guns. If some Americans enjoy target practice, safe facilities are available.
I will not cover other issues, but I am asking you to
deal with the very real problem of climate change,
to open planned-parenthood clinics,
to make health care affordable, preferably free,
to stop deporting innocent immigrants,
to take guns away from ordinary citizens, and
to drive out poverty.
Dear Donald,
The current year is 2019. When will humanity be protected?
If you do not deal with the above-mentioned issues as quickly as possible, Americans, the World and the climate will deal with you.
I should say I rather liked you when you visited the United Kingdom. Melania looked gorgeous. As for the Queen, she is a professional.
Would that I could watch you a little more, but I’m trying to write a book on Molière and providing information to the excellent people who read my posts as a I write the book. I require funding, but I doubt that my university will provide it.
Ironically, as a Presidential hopeful, Donald J. Trump was endorsed by the National Rifle Association of America. He was also endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, a hate group who participated in the Charlottesville events. By accepting such endorsements, President Trump may have emboldened the killers. Stephen Paddock (9 April 1953 – 1st October 2017) was shooting from the 32nd floor of a hotel, which allowed him to kill or wound many people and complicated the work of the police. Fifty-eight (58) concertgoers are dead and some five hundred were wounded. Mr. Paddock had booked a room at the Mandalay Bay. So far, authorities are at a loss in determining a motive. Stephen Paddock is “unknowable.”
I wish to offer my condolences to the family and friends of the victims of both tragedies. The Last Vegas shooting was by far the bloodier, but although the Charlottesville events did not lead to numerous deaths, they were the more meaningful tragedy.
The Charlottesville tragedy is particularly significant because it is rooted in the American Civil War, the worst of American tragedies. Less than a hundred years after Americans fought the American Revolution, secession was unthinkable. Robert E. Lee attended West Point and served in the United States army.
Yet, on “18 April, he [Lee] was offered by presidential advisor Francis P. Blair, a role as major general to command the defense of Washington. He replied:
Mr. Blair, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state?
The Civil War (1861-1865) opposed the Union, the North, and the Confederates, or the South. When Abraham Lincoln was elected to the Presidency of the United States, in November 1860, slave states, the South, stood to lose “their way of life, based on slavery.”
First, the slave trade was abolished in 1807 by an act of the British Parliament (see The Slave Trade Act of 1807, Wikipedia). Second, in 1833, slavery itself was abolished (see The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Wikipedia). What had been considered morally acceptable when the slave trade began in the 16th century had become unacceptable. For centuries, captured Africans were packed like sardines in slave ships, the penultimate of which was the Wanderer. It sailed to Jekyll Island, Georgia delivering some 400 slaves.
Wanderer in U.S. Navy service during the American Civil War (1861–1865), after her days in the slave trade were over. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Besides, the economy of the South was an agricultural economy. The South was rich, but unlike the Union, its economy demanded the cheap labour that had long been provided by slaves. As for the North, the Union, its economy was developing into an industrial economy. Furthermore, the 1840 a World Anti-Slavery Convention was held in Exeter Hall, a Masonic Hall. Exeter Hall is a synonym for the Anti-Slavery Society. Freemasons played a significant role in the abolition of slavery. (See World Anti-Slavery Convention, Wikipedia.) To sum up, the South was doomed, but didn’t act.
Yet, to some extent, the South was a victim of history. Slavery had not been looked upon as a wrong when the Atlantic Slave Trade began, in the 16th century. Slaves were brought to the Americas, packed like sardines aboard slave ships. They were then purchased by plantation owners who probably believed the blacks were not human beings, at least not altogether. The impact of the Age of Enlightenment on the morally acceptable was enormous and it put slavery where it belonged, in the wrong. However, vested interests and an ingrained state of mind, not altogether American, stood in the way of abolition. Abraham Lincoln himself feared for the South’s economy.
For instance, Lincoln asked Giuseppe Garibaldi to lead an army, but Lincoln knew about an agricultural crisis.
“Garibaldi was ready to accept Lincoln’s 1862 offer but on one condition, said Mr Petacco: that the war’s objective be declared as the abolition of slavery. But at that stage Lincoln was unwilling to make such a statement lest he worsen an agricultural crisis.” (The Guardian, UK)
It remains that a right, slavery, had become a wrong and that it could not be made a right again. It violated the United States’ very own Declaration of Independence, whose main author was Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner:
But a black could not be transformed into a white. Once they were freed, former slaves were targeted by white supremacists. They became the victims of such groups as the Ku Klux Klan. After the Union won the war, Robert E. Lee himself could not see the blacks as equals. He thought the blacks should not be given the right to vote, which remained the case until the 1960s.
Slavery and Racism: the colour black
At this point, the necessity arises to distinguish between slavery and racism. One can assume that slavery is as old as the world and that slaves have not always been members of the black race. Arabs have enslaved white women. However, the blacks have long been held in contempt. In two former posts, I noted that Senator John C. Calhoun (18 March 1782 – 31 March 1850) did not favour the annexation of Texas by the “Union” because some Mexicans were métis (see Manifest Destiny, Wikipedia).
“We have never dreamt [sic] of incorporating into our Union any but the Caucasian race—the free white race.”
North-African philosopher Ibn Khaldūn (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406) did not consider the black race as equal to the white race. He saw them as “dumb animals” and, therefore, candidates for slavery.
“Therefore, the Negro nations are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because (Negroes) have little that is (essentially) human and possess attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated.” (See Racism, Wikipedia.)
Historically, the blacks have been considered the inferior race, “dumb animals,” and “submissive to slavery.” Had the whites and the blacks been put on an equal footing, there would not have been an Atlantic Slave Trade and plantation owners would not have grown very wealthy by making slaves do the work. French CountArthur de Gobineau (14 July 1816 – 13 October 1882), a friend of Alexis de Tocqueville, also considered the black race as inferior to the white race. Gobineau is the author of An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races, published in 1853. (See Related Articles #2)
The Abolition of Slavery
The Union won the war and slavery was abolished. By 1865, United States President Abraham Lincoln had already emancipated 3 million slaves. On the 1st of January 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order. On the 1st of January 1863. (See Emancipation Proclamation, Wikipedia.) However, slavery was not ended officially until the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed by the Senate, on 8 April 1864, and by the House of Representatives, on 31 January 1865. A total of four million slaves were freed and Abraham Lincoln paid the ultimate price. He was assassinated on 15 April 1865, six days after Robert E. Lee “surrendered his entire army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.” (See Robert E. Lee, Wikipedia)
But it had been a very bloody war:
Four years of intense combat left 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers dead, a higher number than the number of American military deaths in all other wars combined.
The Civil War left profound traces. It ended slavery, but racism grew and it intensified the discussion about the nature of the American federalism. After the Civil War, “power shifted away from the states and towards the national government.” (See Federalism in the United States, Wikipedia.) Several Americans fear their government.
Labour unions remembered Lincoln, which is also significant.
Flyer distributed in Lawrence, Massachusetts, September 1912. The Lawrence textile strike was a strike of immigrant workers.
President Trump was criticized for stating that there was violence on “both sides:” a hate group, who protested “legally,” and counter protesters. There was indeed a mêlée, but a permit to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee (19 January 1807 – 12 October 1870) cannot justify the killing of Heather D. Heyer. Besides, there is violence and there is violence.
In other words, a hate crime was perpetrated in Charlottesville. Although the neo-Nazi group had a permit, twenty-year-old James Alex Fields drove a motor vehicle into a group of counter protesters killing 32-year-old Heather D. Heyer, a paralegal from Charlottesville, and wounding 19 other counter protesters. James Alex Fields killed, which is a crime.
May you rest in peace, Heather Heyer.
Conclusion
No permit can justify murder. The President of the United States therefore blundered by suggesting that a permit lessened James Alex Fields’ guilt. Words such as “permit” and “legally” were uttered by white nationalists to excuse their crime. One wonders whether a hate group should be provided with a permit to protest. In Charlottesville, a permit could and did invite disorder including murder. Freedom is not a free-for-all. Freedom and a free-for-all are poles apart.
It may be judicious for the American Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.) to reëxamine its position regarding the Charlottesville events. Everything has its limits including liberty. Liberty cannot be put into the service of criminal conduct. The Charlottesville events border on Thomas Hobbes‘ view of man “in a state of nature:”
“in a state of nature each person would have a right, or license, to everything in the world. This, Hobbes argues, would lead to a ‘war of all against all’ (bellum omnium contra omnes).” (See Related Articles #9)
As for the Las Vegas shooting, there is a sense in which Stephen Paddock also acted “legally.” In the United States, civilians are permitted to carry firearms. What could Stephen Paddock do with his collection of firearms? I suspect that when a President such as Donald J. Trump is in office, a person who has a collection of firearms may shoot and kill. It would be in the best interest of a Presidential hopeful to refuse an endorsement from the National Rifle Association and the Ku Klux Klana fortiori. Deaths by gun are far too numerous and too many victims are blacks. The right to bear arms makes it difficult for a police officer to know whether he or she is addressing a person bearing arms. Not that police brutality is acceptable, but that in the United States police officers are caught between a rock and a hard place. It’s “a war of all against all.”
I would like to express my condolences to the people of Britain. On 22 May 2017, only two months after the 22 March Westminster bridge attack, the Manchester Arena was targeted. Twenty-two (22) persons were killed, including 8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos, and 53, perhaps more, were wounded. The victims were attending a performance by American singer Ariana Grande.
The killer has been identified as 22-year-old Salman Abedi who was born to Libyan parents in Manchester, England, on 31 January 1994. French and British authorities have confirmed that Salman Abedi travelled to Syria and was radicalized.
Once again, it would be my opinion that the attacker, 22-year-old Salman Abedi, who has been described as a “regular kid,” may have acted in response to the current wave of Islamophobia, in the United States especially. The President’s professed Islamophobia may be incitement to murder.
On Monday, 29 May 2017, “two men were stabbed to death on an Oregon train trying to stop an anti-Muslim rant.”
President Trump was in Europe last week, but he first visited Saudi Arabia. After his visit, the Saudis suggested that President Trump’s Islamophobia was a ploy aimed at attracting votes. He, Donald Trump, would not allow would-be killers to enter the United States.
This was a callous response to the European Migrant Crisis[1]and, contrary to the Saudis’ view, Mr Trump “made good” on his campaign promises. On 27 January 2017, a newly-inaugurated President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order 13769 restricting the entry of Syrian refugees[2] into the United States and imposing a travel-ban affecting seven countries of the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. (See Executive Order 13769, Wikipedia.)
In late March, the Canadian government passed an anti-Islamophobia motion in an attempt to protect its Muslim citizens. I would never have suspected the government of my country would have to resort to a forceful measure to discourage discrimination.
I should also note that the New Year’s eve attack on Istanbul has revealed a reëmergence of a fear, and probably dislike, of the United States in Turkey.
Turkey is an officially secular country, but at birth, citizens of Turkey are registered as Muslims. (See Religion in Turkey, Wikipedia). Istanbul, the former Constantinople, was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was defeated during World War I.
Since the 15 July 2016 coup d’état, harshly repressed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, there has been a shift away from the West in Turkey. On 4 January 2017, New York Times journalist Tim Arango reported that: “instead of unifying to confront terrorism, Turkish society is fracturing further with each attack. The West, symbolized by the United States, is the perennial bogeyman.”
Turkey is a member of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, l’Organisation du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord, l’OTAN (see Member States of NATO).
Conclusion
I will conclude by quoting writer, journalist and commentator Fareed Zakaria. On 4 May 2017, Mr Zakaria wrote that “Trump is turning other countries against the United States.”
President Trump is now attacking Germany, and Adam Taylor of the Washington Post reports that “even Angela Merkel’s political rivals are on her side against Trump.” Of course! President Trump is attacking Germany, all of Germany!
In fact, Europe is folding back. On 28 May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke in no uncertain terms when she stated that the continent, we, “really must take our fate into our own hands.”
[2] Refugees from the Middle East are Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans. Most are Muslims, but Canada has also welcomed Christians, Armenians and Assyrians (Syriacs) and Yazidis, whose faith combines a number of beliefs. The persecution of Yazidis by ISIL was genocidal.
“I expected this to be an uneventful few weeks,” Sally Yates said, of her role as the acting Attorney General. Instead, she was embroiled in two of the biggest controversies of Trump’s early Presidency. PHOTOGRAPH BY CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY
On 26 January 2017, the acting Attorney General of the United States, Sally Yates, expected an “uneventful few weeks.” President Trump had just been inaugurated and usually Presidents of the United States do not infringe upon the laws of the land. By and large, human beings expect what I will call “normal” circumstances. However, Ms Yates soon informed the President that United States ArmyLieutenant-GeneralMichael Flynn “was vulnerable to blackmail by Russia.”
Our Interview with Sally Yates on the Russia Investigation – The New Yorker
“I expected this to be an uneventful few weeks,” Yates said, of her role minding the Justice Department until Jeff Sessions was confirmed by the Senate. Instead, she was embroiled in two of the biggest controversies of Trump’s early Presidency. On January 26th, Yates informed the White House that Michael Flynn, then the national-security adviser, was vulnerable to blackmail by Russia. Four days later, she wrote in a letter to Justice Department lawyers that she was not convinced the travel ban was lawful.
In the photograph below, taken in 2015, Lieutenant-General Michael Flynn is sitting next to RussianPresident Vladimir Putin. That Russia had interfered with the United States Presidential election, held on 8 November 2016, was common knowledge almost as soon as the votes were counted, but talks began earlier. (See Michael T. Flynn, Wikipedia.)
In December 2015, Flynnand Jill Stein attended RT’s (Russia Today) 10th anniversary gala. Flynn is sitting next to Vladimir Putin during the dinner. (Caption and Photo credit: Wikipedia)
President Trump failed to take seriously Sally Yates’ findings seriously. In fact, on 27 January 2017, he complicated his relationship with the acting Attorney General by issuing Executive Order 13769, a travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, but not Saudi Arabia, where President Trump just travelled. Executive Order 13769 provoked anger and indignation among Muslims and the more tolerant citizens of the United States, but it was a violation of the American Constitution. As a result, a temporary restraining order saved the day. More consequential, however, was the Russian connection: heads fell, so to speak.
Sally Yates was dismissed on 30 January 2017. Yet, she was the acting Attorney General of the United States. As for Michael T. Flynn’s tenure as national security advisor, it lasted 24 days. Mr Flynn was in office from 20 January 2017 until 13 February 2017 (see Michael T. Flynn, Wikipedia), which takes us to James Comey, the Federal Bureau of Investigation who broke with protocol by reöpening the investigation into Mrs Clinton’s emails on the eve of the November 2016 United States Presidential election and may still have been examining Mrs Clinton’s email when he was fired, on 9 May 2017. It is as though President Donald Trump were dismissing the ‘judges.’
The Russian Connection
Dismissing the judges? Not quite. Mr Comey was merely investigating possible collusion between Michael Flynn and Russia. At any rate, there was a private dinner at which President Trump asked for James Comey’s “loyalty.” President Trump wanted Mr Comey to “let this go,” ‘this’ being his investigation into Michael T. Flynn and Russia. Not only did Mr Comey continue investigating the Russian connection, but he also kept notes of his conversations with Mr Trump and prepared thoroughly for his meetings with the President.
Given allegations of meddling in the 8 November 2016 United States Presidential election; given also that the President fired Mr Comey on 9 May 2017, why did President Trump meet behind closed doors with Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, and Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak on 10 May 2017?
The strange Oval Office meeting between Trump, Lavrov and Kislyak – The Washington Post, right, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the White House on May 10. (Russian Foreign Ministry via Associated Press)
The Investigation
The Justice Department has therefore appointed former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, Mr James Comey’s predecessor as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr Mueller has been asked to conduct a thorough inquiry into the Russian connection, including possible interference in the 8 November 2016 American Presidential elections. Will President Trump also dismiss former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller? There is a pattern. President Trump dismisses the judges.
For instance, President Trump has given his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, too important a role. There has not been a significant public outcry, at least not in the United States. She is the first daughter. However, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has used the word “nepotism” with respect to Ivanka’s prominence in President Trump’s administration. Moreover, during President Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Jared Kushner negotiated a $110B Saudi arms deal.
So one wonders. Will Mr Mueller be the judge of President Trump, or President Trump, the judge of Mr Mueller? I think Mr Mueller will be the investigator and ‘judge,’ and that no one will manipulate his findings.
It has all been so strange that I must close and return to Reynard the Fox after a long, unavoidable and unintentional interruption. I apologize.
Many Canadians fear refugees and some politicians oppose our providing free medical care to refugees. However, Canada’s Prime Minister has reversed a decision not to pay for the medical treatment of refugees. Some lost fingers. Moreover, Canada cannot allow refugees to bring diseases into the country.
In other words, the RCMP (the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is overworked at the moment and so are civil servants. Everyone entering Canada must apply, but given that they may be deported, border-crossers may apply after they have entered the country to avoid the risk of being deported. Refugees who are not “criminals” will have a home in Canada. They now live in shelters and are fed properly.
A deported immigrant paused while crossing back into Tijuana, Mexico, after being returned by the United States immigration authorities in 2013.Credit John Moore/Getty Images
Expulsions
Under President Obama, the first to be deported were “people who had been convicted of dangerous crimes.”[1] Matters differ at the moment. First, there is a large number of undocumented “aliens” in the United States, and as Amy Davidson writes, “[t]he Trump executive order starts with the idea that criminal aliens are the problem, but then widens the definition of criminality and blurs its edges.”[2]
Various incidents, such as vandalism, point to a degree of anti-Semitism in the United States, which Mr Trump condemning. Yet, anti-Semitism is a form of xenophobia, fear of foreigners, and xenophobia is what is driving Mr Trump to deport “aliens.” These are not necessarily criminal aliens. The refugees who cross the border illegally know that Canada does not allow criminals to enter the country.
Among refugees crossing the border, many are not Muslims, but Mr Trump is planning another ban. Islamophobia on the part of the United States could lead to acts of terrorism. So, ironically, President Trump is fostering the violence he fears.
At this point, we return to fairy tales and pretty pictures. I have a niece who would say: “Tante Micheline, just pour yourself a glass of very good wine and enjoy.”
After posting my article about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to Washington, I started feeling uneasy. Had I intimated that I supported President Trump? No, I fear Mr Trump and Canadians feared the first meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Trump. Would Mr Trudeau sell the country? No, but Canada is a signatory of the Paris Agreement. Yet, Trudeau and members of his government agreed to re-open the Keystone XL Pipeline. That worried me. Would our prime minister agree to another arrangement that could cause an environmental accident? The pipeline is in need of repairs. Will this be done? With respect to climate change, experts have determined that we are about two minutes before midnight. (See Doomsday Clock, Wikipedia.)
Prime Minister Trudeau managed his first meeting with President Trump successfully. He achieved this victory by stating that he had not travelled to Washington to “lecture” President Trump on how to govern. He also stated that Canada and the United States had lived in harmony on their respective side of a border that stretches from sea to sea. Canada’s motto is A Mari usque ad Mare (see the Canadian Encyclopedia). Moreover, Americans and Canadians had fought together and died together on various battlefields. D-Day is the foremost example of a combined effort. In short, we have respected one another so Canadians have earned the right to welcome refugees while fighting terrorism.
“One swallow does not a summer make”
No, I have not turned into a supporter of Mr Trump. I fear Mr Trump and reject his belief that all Muslims are terrorists.
However, until President Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met, I believed that solidarity and résistance were the United States’ and the world’s only way of surviving the Trump era. One swallow does not a summer make, but last Monday I saw a relaxed and happy Mr Trump. He was not the man who had been issuing no end of executive orders, as though he did not have an administration and the United States had lost its government. But there had been a dialogue and an acceptance of differences. In other words, Canada could continue to welcome refugees.
Many refugees have now entered Canada illegally and to my knowledge, none have been returned. Two men were outside in the bitter cold when finally a trucker stopped and picked them up. The trucker called 9-1-1. The men were frost-bitten and no one can enter Canada illegally.
To my knowledge, however, refugees have not been returned, but Canada has to amend its immigration legislation to accommodate circumstances it did not expect. President Trump’s Islamophobia and xenophobia are driving people out of the United States.
At the moment, refugees to Canada are applying for refugee status after entering Canada. The Canadian government has yet to amend its immigration laws, so applying after entering is a temporary policy. Authorities are also making arrangements so frost-bitten refugees can be hospitalized at no cost.
No, I have not become a Trump supporter, but it would be my opinion that Justin Trudeau shaped events skillfully. There are times when humans are powerless and times when humans can configure reality. At the moment, Canadians are probably configuring reality.
However will President Trump stop building a wall to keep Mexicans out of the United States ? Will he stop thinking that all Muslims are terrorists and attempt to prevent them from entering the United States, in defiance of the American Constitution and the decision of courts. I don’t know and we don’t know.
On Wednesday, President Trump asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to “hold back” on settlements and told him that it was for the Israeli and the Palestinians to decide whether they would be one state or two states.
“I’m looking at two-state and one-state and I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one that both parties like,” he said.
President Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (AP Photo/Andrew Harnick)
Justin Trudeau goes to Washington: a Mouse and an Elephant
Years ago, when Pierre Elliott Trudeau or Trudeau père, was Prime Minister of Canada, he compared Canada to a mouse and the United States, to an elephant. One does not put a mouse and an elephant in the same bed. The mouse would be crushed.
Well, the mouse, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, travelled to Washington to meet the elephant, President Donald J. Trump. Canadians were afraid but all is as well as it can be, under the circumstances.
However, when President Trump met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mr Trudeau won his heart, so to speak, and the heart of Canada’s neighbours to the south. Trudeau noted that Canada was very different from the United States but that both countries respected one another despite differences. Canada has welcomed 40,000 refugees from the Middle East: Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, etc. mostly Muslims, but a few Christians. Canada is nevertheless committed to ending terrorism as are the United States and other countries. Canada did not welcome refugees without the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, first looking into their background.
Terrorism is a reality. Justin Trudeau spoke truthfully. He saw the World Trade Centre towers crumble and he knows ISIL has attacked Europe countries several times, France in particular. However, Canadians welcomes refugees and mourned when Muslims were attacked at Quebec City’s main mosque. The shooter was Laval University student Alexandre Bissonnette, a French Canadian who was not associated with an Islamic terrorist organisation. Mr Trump would prefer to prevent all Muslims from entering the United States. This matter was not discussed on 13 February.
A Common Border from the Pacific to the Atlantic
There are differences between Canadians and Americans but Trudeau stated that Canadians and Americans respect one another and that past events have joined them. Americans an Canadians fought together and Americans and Canadians on D-Day. Many died on Normandy’s beaches and steep cliffs.
Mr Trudeau quoted Winston Churchill who praised Canadians and Americans, and vice versa, for sharing peacefully a border that stretches from sea to sea, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Such words invite the continuation of a good relationship between Canada and the United States.
Winston Churchill, December 30th, 1941 (Yousuf Karsh)
Common Values
The two leaders, the mouse and the elephant, spoke about another common values. Both want to create jobs that will ensure that citizens of both countries will have an income without which they cannot put bread on the family table. Creating jobs was a matter Mr Trump emphasized during his campaign and it is a common value. The maintenance and prosperity of the middle class is important for Mr Trudeau. Canadians and Americans have been good trading partners for a long time and they will continue to work together for the welfare of their nations. Both nations will strive to create jobs.
Moreover, the United States and Canada will promote the importance of women as leaders, women who share raising a family and working outside their home. Several women are the CEOs of large companies and organisations.
Ivanka Trump (MSN)
Prime Minister Trudeau and President Trump, 13 February 2017 (MSN)
Conclusion
One cannot tell what the future will bring. President Trump has started to deport illegal immigrants, separating families. A daughter watched her mother being led away. Will President Trump continue to build his wall between the United States and Mexico? During the weekend, 22 asylum seekers entered Manitoba at Emerson. They had to call 9-1-1 for help. At this time of the year, the cold weather could have killed them. It seems refugees will be able to enter Canada safely and officially. Canada will remain what it has become: multicultural.
President Trump has found a congenial neighbour in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Canadian leader did not utter a word that could be interpreted as divisive during his visit to Mr Trump’s Washington. His meeting with President Trump was in no way confrontational. It was a friendly meeting as I hope further meetings will be.
Justin Trudeau may not be the polished intellectual his father was. But he has a sunny disposition, in two languages, and, during his visit to Washington, his disposition may have served Canadians well. The welfare of the middle class was mentioned, but I believe Wall Street was on many minds. At any rate, President Trump knows that all’s well in Canada and that ‘Justin’ is a mere phone call away. I believe both President Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were reassured. Ivanka sat at the presidential desk, an agreement having been reached to empower women. That is now on an official agenda, but I suspect Justin Trudeau proposed this agenda to please Ivanka.
Would that her father stopped issuing executive orders as though he were an absolute monarch. Would that he relented on deporting people, forcing them to risk their lives to enter Canada. Would that he no longer looked upon Muslims as terrorists. And would that he could see climate change as a major risk.
A Happy Valentine’s Day. My page entitled “Love celebrated” contains the story of Valentine’s day. ♥
John Lennon and Yoko Ono meeting with Trudeau père
Europa and bull on a Greek vase. Tarquinia Museum, circa 480 BCE (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Changing Computers
Changing computers is a challenge. One has the feeling one is entering a store. One no longer buys Office. Every year Office 365 takes money from your credit card and renews itself. Pressure is put on users to choose Microsoft Edge as one’s default browser. Etc.
Fortunately, WordPress was not a problem except that my one image disappeared and my past post, which I started writing on 6 February, but did not post until 7 February, is dated 6 February 2017.
—ooo—
That post contains important information.
The RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, has determined that Alexandre Bissonnette, the Quebec City shooter, was influenced by Donald Trump, the President of the United States, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National, a nativist, far-right French political party.
The media wanted to link Alexandre Bissonnette, the shooter in the Quebec City mosque attack, to a Muslim terrorist association. Investigators found no evidence linking the shooter, Alexandre Bissonnette, to a terrorist organization. But his Facebook account reveals that he admired President Trump and Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front. Both Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen are nativists.
So a young French-Canadian student killed and wounded Muslims because he was influenced by President Donald Trump’s Islamophobia and by the President’s hatred of foreigners, which was spread by the media and in particular the social media. He was also influenced by Marine Le Pen’s nativism or xenophobia (fear of foreigners).
The Quebec shooting is case number one, but there could be more shootings if Donald Trump does not abandon all plans of barring Muslims from entering the United States.
President Trump’s Islamophobia and the media conveying his message have caused one young man to kill Muslims, which means that Mr Trump and the media, including the social media, are endangering the life of North-American Muslims.
President Trump should be impeached on the grounds that he is inciting violence.
The notion persists, in President Trump’s mind, that all Muslims are terrorists. Moreover, it had been suggested that the shooter in the Quebec City attack was supported by a Muslin terrorist organization, but such is not the case..
The shooter in Quebec City is Alexandre Bissonnette, a student at Laval University. He loved guns and, according to his Facebook account, he was interested in nativistMarine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, a far-right French political party, and nativist Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States. After the attack, he phone 911, the emergency telephone number, to alert the police and tell where he could be picked up.
But we now have news.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson waits to appear before the Senate Committee on National Security and Defense, Monday, February 6, 2017 in Ottawa (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Alexandre Bissonnette: “non-classic” terrorism
Alexandre Bissonnette is considered a “criminal extremist,” which is a crime that is somewhat new to criminologists. I will quote RCMP [RoyalCanadian Mounted Police] Commissioner Bob Paulson.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson is warning about “non-classic” terrorism that feeds on hate and controversy on social media, blaming growing political polarization for the deadly shooting at a mosque in Quebec City.
It was first reported that two men were suspects, one of whom was a Muslim. This Muslim, the “second man,” was not the shooter. He was shoveling snow outside the mosque, heard shots, and entered the building. He saw bleeding bodies and dialed 911, to report that an attack had taken place.
After Mr Bissonnette was taken into custody the “second man” was released. There is no evidence that some Islamic terrorist organization supported Alexandre Bissonnette.Therefore, Alexandre Bissonnette is unlikely to face terror charges.
President Trump’s Islamophobia and the influence he exerts on the media are extremely dangerous and could set the planet ablaze. The Quebec City attack is an example of the harm President Trump’s Islamophobia and xenophobia can cause. Mr Trump is now fuming because, despite the ban, he is hanging on to his conviction that all Muslims are terrorists. Rumour has it that President Trump is also searching the White House to eliminate traces left by President Obama whom he still sees as a Muslim and, therefore, a terrorist.
Three of the injured have been discharged from the L’Enfant-Jésus Hospital, one of three teaching hospitals affiliated with Laval University. Two, however, remain in intensive care. It seems their life is not threatened, but there are complications. Dr Julien Clément was called in. He is a former military surgeon and a trauma specialist who served in the Middle East. Dr Clément originates from Windsor, Ontario, and studied medicine in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and British Columbia. He and his team had difficulty operating because the victims bled profusely. Dr Clément didn’t think he would ever see such carnage in Quebec City.
We must resist President Trump and other nativists and extremists. Allow me to repeat that the suspect in the Quebec City attack is Alexandre Bissonnette, a French-Canadian Laval University student.
I will close by saying that the brutal loss in Quebec City of innocent lives has saddened Canadians “from coast to coast.”
Love to everyone♥
Gregorio ALLEGRI – Miserere Mei, Deus (+ Lyrics / OXFORD, Choir of New College)
These are frightening times. The Canadian economy could use an infusion of money, but the Keystone Pipeline should be safe before crude oil travels to the United States. I hope President Donald Trump is not considering using the very pipeline President Obama had to close because it wasn’t safe. If that pipeline has been closed, exporting crude oil is not advantageous to Canadians until the pipeline is safe. I am certain former President Obama asked experts to assess the safety of the pipeline before closing the project. If it isn’t safe on the Canadian side of the border, the side Canadians control, prudence dictates vigilance and the construction of a safe pipeline, one that will not leak or threaten the environment in any way. So I had to edit my views. Exportation of crude oil may benefit Canada, but not if it uses an unsafe pipeline.
The First Nations and other Canadians must make sure they are drinking uncontaminated water and protecting the life of animals and the soil. Canada ratified the Paris Agreement. If the planet dies, we all die.
President Trump is also endangering relations between Israel and Palestinian authorities. According to Isabel Kershner of the New York Times, Israeli are feeling “emboldened” by Mr Trump’s election to the presidency. Israel is therefore beginning to build housing units in the “conquered territories.” Naftali Bennet, Israel’s education minister, is encouraging Prime Minister Netanyahu to begin “a process of annexing the West Bank settlements to Israel.” Annexationwould be a violation of the United Nations Security Council’s resolution calling for an end to the encroachment of land not allotted Israel. The United States did not veto the United Nations Security Council‘s resolution 2334 (23 December 2016) condemning encroachments by Israel on territory it was not given in 1948, when Israel was created.
The New York Times also quotes Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s “hard-line” defense minister: “We are going back to normal life in Judea and Samaria[.]” These are the West Bank’s biblical names. Israel seems to be claiming Palestine, on the grounds that it was home to Israelites two thousand years ago. In fact, the Jewish diaspora started before the Jewish-Roman wars, the last of which was fought by Emperor Hadrian (24 January 76 – 10 July 138). There is no Judea. The only territory Israeli can claim is the territory it was allotted by the United Nations in 1948. With respect to annexing territory, priority is given international laws, not scriptures. (See Jewish diaspora, Wikipedia.)
Yet, last Sunday, 22 January 2017, the Jerusalem City Council approved 566 new housing units in East Jerusalem. Oded Revivi, who represents the more than 400,000 settlers in the West Bank, says that settlers “hope that this is just the beginning of a wave of new building across our ancestral homeland after eightvery difficult years.” President Obama was cautious, but President Trump could be helping Israel provoke Palestinian authorities, the United Nations and the Arab world.
Bust of Hadrian Musei Capitolini MC817 cropped (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
Conclusion
The United States may also move its Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. People are protesting. The Middle East is a very sensitive area. At the moment, the conflict in Syria is abating but it could be reignited if the United States supports expansion. Peace is the main goal. Former President Obama was simply very cautious. Isil is the target of the Coalition fighting terrorism.
Millions have fled the Middle East creating a crisis in Europe. Peace and reconstruction are the current objectives.
Having made his views regarding Muslims and Mexicans public knowledge, President Trump’s only option is to help stop the crisis. I fear a resurgence of terrorist attacks. In fact, war could erupt. Europe cannot accommodate every refugee and Europe must not be imperiled.
President Trump is impetuous. Climate change and peace in the Middle East are sensitive issues. The new President should be careful.
Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv against President Donald Trump on Jan. 21, 2017. Among their messages: don’t move the embassy to Jesuralem(Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
Amazing Grace
Moses breaking the Tabletsof the Law by Rembrandt, 1659 (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
“I expected this to be an uneventful few weeks,” Sally Yates said, of her role as the acting Attorney General. Instead, she was embroiled in two of the biggest controversies of Trump’s early Presidency. PHOTOGRAPH BY CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY
©Micheline Walker
