Politicking the Welfare of a Nation

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in The Debt Ceiling, The United States

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Anti-vaxxers, Charles Schumer, D-Day, Destroying President Biden, Division, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Janet Yellen., Republicans politicking, Samuel Barber, Self-harm, The Civil War, the debt, The Debt Ceiling

© J. Scott Applewhite/AP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate chamber for a vote after attending a bipartisan barbecue luncheon, at the Capitol, Sept. 23, 2021.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services about the FY22 Treasury budget request on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, U.S., June 23, 2021. Shawn Thew/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo (Pool/Reuters)

—ooo—

Republicans in Congress are opposing a rise in the debt ceiling, which they cannot do if they care for the citizens of the United States. It has been a terrible year. The Pandemic is costing a fortune; storms have bedevilled the United States and, after the Taliban takeover, the United States chose to leave Afghanistan. The debt has grown.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/23/government-shutdown/

Americans do not seem too frightened. In my opinion, they are used to the government rescuing itself. Based on experience, they perhaps feel that Democrats and Republicans will raise the debt ceiling. What if they don’t? They would be acting against their best interest, but it appears that polictiking brings immense pleasure. So, they will do it at the expense of Americans, and at their own expense. Their behaviour ressembles that of anti-vaxxers. Anti-vaxxers are, albeit unknowingly, in the process of destroying themselves.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a Tuesday letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that if the debt ceiling is not raised, “it is uncertain whether we could continue to meet all the nation’s commitments after that date.” (The New York Times, 28 September 2021.)

In the sorry days of Covid-19, glitches are possible. It seems that Republicans want to make United States President Joe Biden look as though he is destroying the United States. Everything he does is criticized. All Presidents make mistakes. They are human beings. If they make mistakes, good presidents apologize and go on to rectify matters, if that is possible.

But not raising the debt ceiling would be a big and largely “intentional” mistake that could affect an entire generation or two and spread abroad. Among Republicans, many have not recovered from the United States’ Civil War. The North won the Civil War (12 April 1861 – 9 May 1865), depriving the South (the Confederacy) of free labour, its slaves. But slavery had to be abolished. Republicans know this. The Civil War, however, happened a relatively short time ago and the past lingers in the mind of those who lost. Plantation owners were royalty. However, although the Civil War divided Americans, there is more to the United States’ mindset than the Civil War. Politicking is a source of pleasure, but the pleasure Republicans seek is greater power, and greater power alone. If they do not allow the government of the United States to raise its debt ceiling, there will ensue a financial debacle that will spare no one, which is nonsensical.

Politicking

In the days of Covid-19, one can expect a death. As well, climate changes are leading to major storms. Hurricanes, floods, and other calamities have plagued the United States. But it is clear that a game is being played aimed to make United States President Joe Biden look as though he is at fault in every instance. All Presidents make mistakes, some more consequential than others. They are human beings. If good presidents make mistakes, they apologize and go on to correct matters, if that is possible. But Joe Biden is not the source of all evil. Republicans use him as scapegoat, revealing a wish to replace him. That is politicking and an offence to the nation.

Great Days

Americans should remember that on 6 June 1944, they landed on the beaches and cliffs of Normandy to liberate Europe. They then marched North and ended the War and thus the persecution of millions of Jews and other “undesirable” populations. Canadians were part of that operation.

Remembering “great days” is inspirational. Republicans have a memory. They and all Americans are proud of Roosevelt‘s gift to an occupied Europe. After the war, Americans also set about rebuilding Europe. Today, the world is being tested by a catastrophic pandemic, climate changes, natural disasters, and other catastrophes. Better years will come, if we promote them. Americans must help themselves. They can and they will.

Love to everyone 💕
Congress must raise the debt ceiling.

Samuel Barber‘s Agnus Dei

web3-st-raphael-the-archangel-suffering-tobias-god-heals-remedy-of-god-pd — **The Archangel Raphael** (Photo credit: Aleteia)

Chronicling Covid-19 (18), Pause

06 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Covid-19

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Covid-19, D-Day, Orderlies, Pause

Tam speaks at a 2019 World Health Assembly event in Geneva (Wikipedia)

Dr Theresa Tam

The novel Coronavirus has taken many lives in Canada, 90% of which were in Quebec and Ontario. Moreover, we have no way of knowing whether persons who have recovered will be as they were before they contracted Covid-19. I caught the H1N1 virus in early February 1976 and developed what used to be called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is now called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Covid-19 could trigger other illnesses.

Quebec is reopening, but the number of cases is nevertheless rising though not significantly. It has been ascertained that fewer people are infected on days when rules are observed. Social distancing and wearing a face mask protect people. However, the government is testing everyone.

As you know, most of the victims were living in long-term care facilities. Premier Legault could not recruit the health care givers he needed. So he has taken action. Ten thousand individuals will be trained as orderlies. Training will be condensed, but it is not for the Armed Forces to be doctors and health workers outside the Armed Forces are working as though they had been dispatched to a mission abroad and are remunerated accordingly.

The training of orderlies cannot be delayed due to the expected second wave of Covid-19. The Government must act now. The last time I looked at figures, there were 55,000 applications. Orderlies will be paid close to $50,000.00 a year, with all fringe benefits, such as a pension plan. Moreover, the Armed Forces leave in mid-September. They were a blessing.

It would be my opinion that Premiers have worked responsibly. I did not know monsieur Legault, but the pandemic has lifted a veil. Moreover, Premier Legault has appointed a Secretary for Anglophone Affairs. We must live in harmony with one another.

This logic may seem a little a cracked, but it has occurred to me that Anglophone Canadians may wish for French-Canadians to keep their language. We owe Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s father, an officially bilingual Canada. Later, he described Canada as multicultural.

I am now returning to the killing of George Floyd. This post is a pause.

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According to CBC News figures, as of May 5 there were more than 62,000 confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases and 4,166 people had died.

There are 93,726 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.

Quebec: 52,143 confirmed (including 4,885 deaths, 17,098 resolved)
Ontario: 29,403 confirmed (including 2,357 deaths, 23,208 resolved)
Alberta: 7,091 confirmed (including 146 deaths, 6,611 resolved)
Nova Scotia: 1,058 confirmed (including 61 deaths, 995 resolved)
Saskatchewan: 648 confirmed (including 11 deaths, 608 resolved)
Manitoba: 287 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 284 resolved), 11 presumptive
Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 256 resolved)
New Brunswick: 136 confirmed (including 1 death, 120 resolved)
Prince Edward Island: 27 confirmed (including 27 resolved)
Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
Yukon: 11 confirmed (including 11 resolved)
Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)
Nunavut: No confirmed cases
Total: 93,726 (11 presumptive, 93,715 confirmed including 7,637 deaths, 51,501 resolved)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2020.

Love to everyone 💕

Gabriel Fauré‘s Cantique de Jean Racine
Conductor Paavo Järvi

Two men on an asphalt surface, behind a black van on which the letters "EAPOLIS" is seen, with a license plate ending "ICE". One man has light skin, a blue shirt with identifying badges on his chest and shoulder, black pants and boots, and black sunglasses pushed to the top of his close-shorn head. He is kneeling with his left knee and upper shin resting on the neck of the other man, and his right knee out of sight behind the van. The other man is lying prone, with his left cheek pressed against the asphalt close to a painted line. He is dark-skinned, with similarly short hair, and is not wearing a shirt; His mouth is slightly open, his eyes are closed with his eyebrows raised, and his arms are down, not visible behind the van. The kneeling man has his left hand in a dark glove, with his right arm hidden behind the van, and is looking at the viewer with his eyebrows slightly lifted and mouth slightly open.

A frame from a witness’ video, showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck (Wikipedia)

The World Remembers

12 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

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Bourbeau-Walker, D-Day, fine minds, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Michele Bachmann, Sainte-Mère-Église, the debt, the stimulus package, WordPress

The world is watching, but it also remembers.

It remembers, for instance, that American soldiers died to liberate France. Sainte-Mère-Église remembers.

I once lived in Normandy, just across from the Isle of Jersey. At Christmas, a green Normandy Christmas, we had as guest a gentleman who was among the American soldiers who survived D-Day. We owned a car, so he guided us to all the sights.

Among the places we visited, one was extremely moving. We saw a vast field filled with little white crosses. There was a cross for each American soldier who died in or near Caen. And there was no end of crosses.

Our guest’s life had been saved by a French family, at Sainte-Mère-Église. He therefore visited with them. Members of that family had risked their lives to save one American life, and the American whose life they saved had risked his life to save the French. In the meantime, our friend had learned French. In fact, this former soldier had become a scholar in the area of French seventeenth-century literature.

Europe will never forget the US soldiers who came to their rescue. It will never forget Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President who met with Churchill in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and also met with him at the Château Frontenac, in Quebec City, so they could discuss how to put an end to the sorry state of Europe, dominated by Hitler. Freedom is dear, so Franklin Delano Roosevelt answered Churchill’s plea for help.

When Americans are united by a “common purpose” (Lt Gen [ret] Russel L Honoré), they rise to excellence. Therefore, there can be no doubt that Americans can have their nation if, once again, they are united by a “common purpose,” and if there is bread on every table now.

Turn you back on Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter and Arianna Huffington and the laughing-stock of the world. Also turn your back on people who are self- serving and might deny the planet is melting in order to sell expensive sun-blockers. They are the enemy within.

Do not fear the debt and, particularly, do not fear investing in a stimulus package proposed by President Obama. The US must remain operative. Consider instead, that you have a remarkable leader, a leader you have elected, and rally behind his administration, not to mention America’s finest minds (your President listens), and return America to its former self. In fact, make it better.