tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79944274079001286922024-03-13T11:05:59.370-07:00THE RUNAGATES CLUB"There is no such crime as a crime of thought: there are only crimes of action." Clarence Darrow, 1917.Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.comBlogger257125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-48626544455632753922019-10-10T11:23:00.003-07:002019-10-15T11:55:35.576-07:00THE ART OF PROTEST - Defenders of Hong Kong. 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EmqTZ7fAlks/XZ9rQ7WaNfI/AAAAAAAAT5I/g4AtybES7r4JPCAVIZUWeSCD775M5W_CgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Tear%2BGas%2Bwarrior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tear Gas defender - Hong Kong Protest Art 2019" border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="929" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EmqTZ7fAlks/XZ9rQ7WaNfI/AAAAAAAAT5I/g4AtybES7r4JPCAVIZUWeSCD775M5W_CgCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Tear%2BGas%2Bwarrior.jpg" title="Tear Gas Defender - Hong Kong Protest Art 2019" width="397" /></a></div>
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Hong Kong protest-art. This is a character I like to call</div>
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"<b>TEAR GAS DEFENDER</b>". He is equipped to combat</div>
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police tear gas volleys. With his badminton racket he can</div>
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return some CS rounds, and for those already burning on</div>
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the asphalt, he covers with a warming lid from a restaurant.</div>
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The young people of Hong Kong are truly amazing. They are are passionate about life and truly committed to defending the remaining freedoms that have made life tolerable since the Chinese occupation force arrived. Hong Kong people are well-educated, creative, hard working and fiercely proud of the city and their Cantonese Culture. What began as a protest months ago is now morphing into a revolution. It is extremely impressive to witness their bravery and also their inexhaustible capability to innovate protest. Western sheeple are easily bored, and in Hong Kong art has become a tool in the competition for attention on the world stage.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VbdVzdCQrhg/XZ9u1HptojI/AAAAAAAAT5U/TNlLEl1D0H45rs18D0F-aHsaZiAXLg8FACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Guardians%2Bof%2BHong%2BKong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Guardians of Hong Kong - protest poster, 2019" border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="960" height="237" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VbdVzdCQrhg/XZ9u1HptojI/AAAAAAAAT5U/TNlLEl1D0H45rs18D0F-aHsaZiAXLg8FACNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Guardians%2Bof%2BHong%2BKong.jpg" title="Guardians of Hong Kong - protest poster, 2019" width="400" /></a></div>
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Two-colour poster - GUARDIANS OF HONG KONG. Manga style.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rldd5DGoXS0/XZ9vgHSnkoI/AAAAAAAAT5c/8owXCS3e3lkMhQRdXdQpVHQ-5nBo2BH8ACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Protest%2Bposter%252C%2BSept%2B2%252C%2B2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=""Fight for Freedom - Stand With Hong Kong" - Hong Kong Protest art 2019" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1168" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rldd5DGoXS0/XZ9vgHSnkoI/AAAAAAAAT5c/8owXCS3e3lkMhQRdXdQpVHQ-5nBo2BH8ACNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Protest%2Bposter%252C%2BSept%2B2%252C%2B2019.jpg" title=""Fight for Freedom - Stand With Hong Kong" - Hong Kong Protest art 2019" width="466" /></a></div>
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<b>A pyramid of hero figures - and at its apex the Black flag of</b></div>
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<b>Hong Kong' 2019 Revolution. The battle colours of the</b></div>
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<b>Hong Kong Revolution - Yellow and Black, are a superb</b></div>
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<b>choice and a brilliant contrast to the sickening blood-colour</b></div>
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<b>of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Each hero figure depicted</b></div>
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<b>is carefully crafted, and has something to the whole image.</b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3nOCKAeL4Z4/XZ9xvSekD4I/AAAAAAAAT5o/xQu_tYlQ8II8h7NTRM9VZXO9B6P7sHmigCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hong%2BKonger%2Bwearing%2Bprotester%2Bgear%2Bclimbs%2Bto%2Bsummit%2Bof%2BMount%2BFuji%2Bwith%2Bflag%2Breading.%2B%2BSept%2B2019png.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Flag of the 2019 Hong Kong Revolution - atop Mount Fuji, Japan" border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="1189" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3nOCKAeL4Z4/XZ9xvSekD4I/AAAAAAAAT5o/xQu_tYlQ8II8h7NTRM9VZXO9B6P7sHmigCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Hong%2BKonger%2Bwearing%2Bprotester%2Bgear%2Bclimbs%2Bto%2Bsummit%2Bof%2BMount%2BFuji%2Bwith%2Bflag%2Breading.%2B%2BSept%2B2019png.png" title="Flag of the 2019 Hong Kong Revolution - atop Mount Fuji ,Japan" width="400" /></a></div>
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The 8-character flag of the Hong Kong revolution.</div>
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It reads (in English) "<b>LIBERATE HONG KONG; </b></div>
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<b>REVOLUTION OF OUR TIME</b>"</div>
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The students are using distributed-Network system of organization, with no identifiable leaders. Not so much to outfox the Hong Kong Police but to confuse China's secret services. The Chinese fascists are adept at snatching political opponents and taking them into China for interrogation and imprisonment. Recently the Revolutionary movement issued a Manifesto and declared a "Provisional Government" in Hong Kong. Of course they were not taken seriously because they do not possess a single firearm. As <span style="color: red;"><b>MAO</b></span> so famously declared in 1968, "<span style="color: red;"><b>Political power grows out of barrel of a gun</b></span>." Nevertheless, the banner of the Hong Kong Revolutionary Front does fly all over the city, and one proud Hong Konger recently carried the Freedom Flag to the summit of Mount Fuji in Japan. This is his photograph. (above)</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ebwRvmuGKAg/XZ90a3OzFVI/AAAAAAAAT50/p6ItFnjFyQ8CQlHaHFH-XfCgPGQnhU4awCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Global%2BAnti-Totalitarianism%2BRally%2BMedia%2BTweets%2Bby%2BHKDemoNow%2B%2528%2Bhkdemonow%2529%2BTwitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=""Global Anti-Totalitarianism Rally". Protest grafitti in Hong Kong 2019" border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="891" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ebwRvmuGKAg/XZ90a3OzFVI/AAAAAAAAT50/p6ItFnjFyQ8CQlHaHFH-XfCgPGQnhU4awCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Global%2BAnti-Totalitarianism%2BRally%2BMedia%2BTweets%2Bby%2BHKDemoNow%2B%2528%2Bhkdemonow%2529%2BTwitter.jpg" title=""Global Anti- Totalitarianism Rally". Protest grafitti in Hong Kong 2019" width="483" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"GLOBAL ANTI-TOTALITARIANISM RALLY"</span> </div>
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<b>This photograph of protest posters, inspirational messages,</b></div>
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<b>symbols and graffiti, was taken recently in Hong Kong.</b></div>
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<b>If the PLA is unleashed and Hong Kong falls, the history</b></div>
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<b>of protest will be totally erased. If you care about Freedom</b></div>
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<b>and you have a heart for these brave people, please search for,</b></div>
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<b>collect and spread the glorious record of their Revolution. </b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TMEnJnwXDdw/XZ92wd-EtKI/AAAAAAAAT6A/G9cF1HML4fMWjckV6nLf1IJCTes_WlFAwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Tear%2BGas%2Bmap.%2BAFP%2BGetty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="1368" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TMEnJnwXDdw/XZ92wd-EtKI/AAAAAAAAT6A/G9cF1HML4fMWjckV6nLf1IJCTes_WlFAwCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Tear%2BGas%2Bmap.%2BAFP%2BGetty.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A subversive Graphic - the Hong Kong "<span style="color: red;"><b>MTR TEAR GAS MAP</b></span>"</div>
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And finally, something very clever, made from the weapons used by police to suppress the will of the Hong Kong people. <b> James Pomfret</b> shared this photo on his social media page. A creative protester has gathered the base cups of dozens of spent tear gas cartridges, and used them to outline the open-umbrella symbol of the "<b>2014 Umbrella Revolution</b>". The handle of the umbrella is fashioned from four larger Federal-type gas cartridges. A rather excellent sidewalk statement.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HcyokZAkQyY/XaYUHr8uqyI/AAAAAAAAT7o/OPbCQGNVbcAQtTyy-ikUpZ9WSCj3X7d_gCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/James%2BPomfret%2Bon%2BTwitter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1005" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HcyokZAkQyY/XaYUHr8uqyI/AAAAAAAAT7o/OPbCQGNVbcAQtTyy-ikUpZ9WSCj3X7d_gCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/James%2BPomfret%2Bon%2BTwitter.png" width="488" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>NOTE - all images can be enlarged with a mouse click </b></span></div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-34603351716309295382019-10-07T21:30:00.000-07:002019-10-14T11:01:16.051-07:00 Hong Kong's LADY LIBERTY - She symbolizes a new People's Revolution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>(H.K.) Lady Liberty</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">香港民主女神像</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">She wears a </span></span>豬嘴 Juu Jui ("Snout") and goggles, to protect her from the riot chemicals fired by Hong Kong's police. A helmet protects her head from their blows, and a folded umbrella symbolizes the first-stage of Hong Kong's courageous resistance - the so-called "<b>Umbrella Revolution</b>". In her left hand is a banner promoting a call to revolution. The shape and form of that revolution is unknown, but we should not doubt that the people of Hong Kong are resolved to fight for what remains of their freedoms.</div>
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Lady Liberty is the new symbol of Hong Kong's defiance of the <span style="color: red;"><b>C.C.P.</b></span> , the former "<b><span style="color: red;">Chinese Communist Party</span></b>" which has morphed into the world's most dangerous fascist state. </div>
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<img alt="Statue of the Hong Kong - LADY LIBERTY, 2019" border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="801" height="388" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WL_PdKwUpgk/XZwS0i-9PUI/AAAAAAAAT3k/YNYq9ZZsrzw0ti6J7zzMEURKv5NYDplFACNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Hong%2BKong%252C%2BLady%2BLiberty%2B2019.jpg" title="Statue of the Hong Kong - LADY LIBERTY, 2019" width="400" /></div>
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The helmeted rebel has been left unpainted for an excellent reason. When Hong Kong residents witness <b>LADY LIBERTY </b>carried through their streets, she is an instantaneous reminder of the <b>GODDESS OF DEMOCRACY</b>, evidence of a surviving hunger for freedom in China. The statue, crushed by tyrants, had been hurriedly sculpted of white plaster on a light skeletal frame. The Goddess of Freedom was erected on Tienanmen Square in Beijing in 1989, a simple act of peaceful protest that succeeded in thrilling the entire world. I was just one among millions of television viewers who watched in horror, as an entire regiment of PLA tanks and several columns of motorized infantry, moved into the square and proceeded to massacre thousands of unarmed Beijing citizens. Taking the example, and accepting the fallen torch of freedom, the good people of Hong Kong have commemorated the <b><span style="color: red;">Beijing Massacre</span></b> each and every summer, for thirty years.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XInQClf2cX0/XZwZzEfit7I/AAAAAAAAT3w/E-FmKYBAit0snrLPY7N70A4s7rvqcL4CwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Goddess%2Bof%2BDemocracy%2B%2BTienanmen%2B1989%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Goddess of Democracy, Tienanmen, China. 1989" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XInQClf2cX0/XZwZzEfit7I/AAAAAAAAT3w/E-FmKYBAit0snrLPY7N70A4s7rvqcL4CwCEwYBhgL/s400/Goddess%2Bof%2BDemocracy%2B%2BTienanmen%2B1989%2B2.jpg" title="The Goddess of Democracy, Tienanmen, China 1989" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A_8u8xqwJYA/XZwgcwEY7PI/AAAAAAAAT38/JjSPQIBL55Ex-txj57Lb_v5Qfyhrh7noACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Goddess%2Bof%2BDemocracy%2Bwaves%2Btorch%2Bof%2Bfreedom%2Bin%2BMao%2527s%2Bface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Goddess of Democracy faces Mao on Tienanmen Square, 1989" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1120" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A_8u8xqwJYA/XZwgcwEY7PI/AAAAAAAAT38/JjSPQIBL55Ex-txj57Lb_v5Qfyhrh7noACNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Goddess%2Bof%2BDemocracy%2Bwaves%2Btorch%2Bof%2Bfreedom%2Bin%2BMao%2527s%2Bface.jpg" title="Goddess of Democracy faces Mao on Tienanmen Square, 1989." width="278" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> The 豬嘴 Juu Jui of open defiance</span></div>
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The protests in Hong Kong are the most sophisticated we have seen, and they are an unexpected but truly welcome indication of many clever stratagems and improvisations to come. The fascist regime in Beijing is nearing completion of a truly Orwellian nightmare - a society where surveillance is constant, and resistance will be rewarded with torture and extermination. Resistance in Hong Kong, which must certainly evolve into an underground revolutionary struggle, will ultimately infect other Chinese cities with the contagious germ of freedom. </div>
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The protesters have necessarily developed a rich slang vocabulary, and one has actually become a symbol of the rebellion.</div>
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豬嘴 Juu Jui - Cantonese for "snout". The name given to the industrial-grade gas masks that protesters have adopted in the streets of Hong Kong.</h3>
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And a few have even crafted improvised masks, such as these which appeared on Facebook on September 30.</h3>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qjbLk_Q5swc/XZwjVs38ijI/AAAAAAAAT4U/33fL8jFma5MNRYC2OqB_nH5OsL5vlSkmACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Improvised%2Bgas%2Bmasks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Improvised gas masks in Hong Kong, September 2019" border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="934" height="396" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qjbLk_Q5swc/XZwjVs38ijI/AAAAAAAAT4U/33fL8jFma5MNRYC2OqB_nH5OsL5vlSkmACNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Improvised%2Bgas%2Bmasks.jpg" title="Improvised gas masks in Hong Kong, September 2019" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The photograph below is rather clever, and it is a great example of the creativity that is common to Hong Kong's well-educated and hard working people. Hong Kong's LADY LIBERTY is modular and is often moved about the city to create a rally point for the highly-mobile legions of protesters. We see here some of the team members who move her about. The five young people are each wearing the disposable type surgical masks that have been used to deny intelligence to the tens of thousands surveillance cameras deployed in the city. Worse, undercover spies don black T-Shirts and try to infiltrate the movement. They take photos of all who take a swig of water or need to wipe itchy perspiration from their face. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The photograph simulates a diorama kit, the type of toy or souvenir that is popular throughout Asia.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b>CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rgNDgr6a7Ag/XZwpBgcUr-I/AAAAAAAAT4k/6qQuQzSp6SUZ-9N1EKV3dRN1dr4IQVuSQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Liberty%2527s%2Bcrew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rgNDgr6a7Ag/XZwpBgcUr-I/AAAAAAAAT4k/6qQuQzSp6SUZ-9N1EKV3dRN1dr4IQVuSQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Liberty%2527s%2Bcrew.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>I have not encountered any merchandise supporting Hong Kong freedom, and it is even scarce on the Internet. China maintains an army of goblins to fuck with any online merchandiser who dares to stand up to their naked aggression. Ask Jeff Bezos, the Amazon billionaire. Here is a news scrape of two protest T-shirts that were spotted, and apologies demanded. When I locate any good "HK Lady Liberty" merchandise I will add information and links to this article.</b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLURg69ocsU/XZw878O-s8I/AAAAAAAAT4w/gM8cSa-Ee-EOsblMC2uieOVAVjzyCSDGQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/%2BChina%2Bwants%2Bapologies%2Bfrom%2BAmazon%2527s%2BJeff%2BBezos%2Bover%2BHong%2BKong%2BT-shirts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hong Kong protest T-shirts that were briefly available on Amazon." border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="664" height="375" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLURg69ocsU/XZw878O-s8I/AAAAAAAAT4w/gM8cSa-Ee-EOsblMC2uieOVAVjzyCSDGQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/%2BChina%2Bwants%2Bapologies%2Bfrom%2BAmazon%2527s%2BJeff%2BBezos%2Bover%2BHong%2BKong%2BT-shirts.png" title="Hong Kong protest T-shirts that were briefly available on Amazon." width="400" /></a></div>
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UPDATE - October 13, 2019</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wbSE8U_mwBQ/XaNVZp04pRI/AAAAAAAAT64/PhOpKKOOCGgHnudBf5VQmbAfELzMl0tuQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Protesters%2Berect%2B%2527Lady%2BLiberty%2527%2Bstatue%2Bon%2BHong%2BKong%2Bmountain%2BOCT%2B13%252C%2B2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lady Liberty guards Hong Kong - October 2019" border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1042" height="383" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wbSE8U_mwBQ/XaNVZp04pRI/AAAAAAAAT64/PhOpKKOOCGgHnudBf5VQmbAfELzMl0tuQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Protesters%2Berect%2B%2527Lady%2BLiberty%2527%2Bstatue%2Bon%2BHong%2BKong%2Bmountain%2BOCT%2B13%252C%2B2019.jpg" title="Lady Liberty guards Hong Kong - October 2019" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">UPDATE - 9AM Oct. 14, 2019</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">That didn't take long. <b>Lady Liberty </b>has already been assaulted and symbolically killed. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A can of red spray-paint was used to inflict symbolic gashes, including a slower, heavier 'cut' to her crotch. But at least she wasn't beheaded. The was the work of a <b><span style="color: red;">red "Ripper"</span></b> and not a Muslim head-chopper. Note also that the destruction was not thorough. This guy was in a rage but he was also unsure of his footing and afraid of falling off Lion Rock.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yETayX9cNQw/XaS0_VJNDDI/AAAAAAAAT7c/G61VTpz_rAEBVjpcMJ4ufmGF-FeNZxirQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lady%2BLiberty%2Bstatue%2Bvandalised%2Bafter%2Bbeing%2Binstalled%2Batop%2BLion%2BRock%2BHong%2BKong%2BFree%2BPress%2B%255B...%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lady Liberty already vandalized in Hong Kong" border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="842" height="393" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yETayX9cNQw/XaS0_VJNDDI/AAAAAAAAT7c/G61VTpz_rAEBVjpcMJ4ufmGF-FeNZxirQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Lady%2BLiberty%2Bstatue%2Bvandalised%2Bafter%2Bbeing%2Binstalled%2Batop%2BLion%2BRock%2BHong%2BKong%2BFree%2BPress%2B%255B...%255D.jpg" title="Lady Liberty already vandalized in Hong Kong" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-52217835668986417122019-10-06T21:35:00.004-07:002019-10-14T10:19:57.695-07:00HONG KONG RESISTANCE - student heroism has been unprecedented. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQrf6K16p7A/XZqyuPE332I/AAAAAAAAT24/wJRTjslbuM4WuljteHWa9FsnqNGBmIIjwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Masked%2Bpara-militaries%2Barrest%2B%2Bpartly%2Bmasked%2Bstudents%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="HK Cops arrest a pair of students disobeying the "No Mask" Ordinance" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQrf6K16p7A/XZqyuPE332I/AAAAAAAAT24/wJRTjslbuM4WuljteHWa9FsnqNGBmIIjwCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Masked%2Bpara-militaries%2Barrest%2B%2Bpartly%2Bmasked%2Bstudents%2B3.jpg" title="HK Cops arrest a pair of students disobeying the "No mask Ordinance" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b>HK police wear balaclavas for the same reason Canadian police </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b>snipers and SWAT team members conceal identity. If they murder</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b>or maim innocent civilians, it makes it harder to prosecute them.</b></span> </div>
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This morning I encountered this incredible photograph. (above) I was searching for news about the imposition, on October 6, 2019, of the <b>no-mask</b> ordinance in Hong Kong and BAM! ... I found this shot of two bare-legged Hong Kong students being taken down by a trio of Hong Kong cops. </div>
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The cops are wearing full-facial balaclavas, helmets and armour. They deploy with pistols, batons, and chemical agents in spray canisters. The students wear T-shirts and shorts, and they offend law enforcement by wearing surgical masks with elastic bands around the ears. In a totalitarian jurisdiction it doesn't take much to piss off the demons!</div>
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I enlarged the arrest photo to full-screen and let it impress me all day. My wife, who is Taiwan-Chinese, got upset and insisted on showing me "<i>the other side of the story</i>", video clips of HK policemen who were bloodied in one-on-one combat with rioters. The news videos don't impress me as much as still photographs of kids standing their ground against oppression. Some of the images of Hong Kong kids organizing themselves, and demonstrating for basic freedoms, are so damn humbling that I am embarrassed to be a mere bystander.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L9Kpnc9663M/XaSrbtSI4UI/AAAAAAAAT7Q/fXqUSBoPsHwo3NAybqC0RZzv1QI7DIeXgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Black%2BLace%2BPanties.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="HK police constantly conceal their identity with "panty-masks"" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1126" height="226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L9Kpnc9663M/XaSrbtSI4UI/AAAAAAAAT7Q/fXqUSBoPsHwo3NAybqC0RZzv1QI7DIeXgCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Black%2BLace%2BPanties.jpeg" title="HK police constantly conceal their identity with "panty-masks"" width="400" /></a></div>
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In this photo we see Hong Kong police in "panty-masks".</div>
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This is to hide their identity. Masks are used to disrupt the </div>
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efforts of citizen journalists and <u><b>public evidence gathering</b></u>. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb1e6Ph8bNI/XZ0470f6e_I/AAAAAAAAT48/ejo8Rq2e9Fwe26vRb7g0lI_ymNGoSKa1gCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/girls%2Bdefy%2Bmask%2Bordinance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hong Kong schoolgirls defy Lam's anti-mask law" border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="992" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb1e6Ph8bNI/XZ0470f6e_I/AAAAAAAAT48/ejo8Rq2e9Fwe26vRb7g0lI_ymNGoSKa1gCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/girls%2Bdefy%2Bmask%2Bordinance.jpg" title="Hong Kong schoolgirls defy Lam's anti-mask law" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">HONG KONG SCHOOL PRINCIPALS</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">MUST INFORM ON THEIR OWN STUDENTS</span></span></b></span></div>
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I clipped this a few hours ago.</div>
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In defiance of the H.K. government ban on demonstrators wearing any kind of masks, high school students formed human chains around their schools, and every student wore a light, disposable mask.</div>
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These kids have been witness to terrifying violence for weeks, and yet they are prepared to make this gutsy stand in front of their schools. And their teachers are being coerced into informing on them, no doubt under threat of losing their government employment. (See the clipping that follows.) </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7RUJAvDvwo0/XZq3Xynr4QI/AAAAAAAAT3I/Kacwid1jQOsWlROvcgS6uCo2pmzSDxP1QCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hong%2BKong%2Bschools%2Bmust%2Btell%2Bgovernment%2Bif%2Bstudents%2Bwear%2Bmasks%2BSCMP.%2BOct%2B7%252C%2B2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hong Kong highschool students form human-chain around their school" border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="1158" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7RUJAvDvwo0/XZq3Xynr4QI/AAAAAAAAT3I/Kacwid1jQOsWlROvcgS6uCo2pmzSDxP1QCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Hong%2BKong%2Bschools%2Bmust%2Btell%2Bgovernment%2Bif%2Bstudents%2Bwear%2Bmasks%2BSCMP.%2BOct%2B7%252C%2B2019.jpg" title="Hong Kong highschool students form human-chain around their school" width="393" /></a></div>
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And here are a couple of student spokesmen in Hong Kong today. </div>
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"<b><i>We must protect our home despite our limited strength</i></b>." Their parents will be frightened for them, but also extremely proud. No doubt of that.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EmZATn_LrBQ/XZq3PB0blzI/AAAAAAAAT3E/4Tmi8ck576AJ0T-mSC5iR_u3yEJFWRDAQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hong%2BKong%2Bschools%2Bmust%2Btell%2Bgovernment%2Bif%2Bstudents%2Bwear%2Bmasks%252C%2BSCMP.%2BOct%2B7%252C%2B2019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="RTHK interviews masked students who defy "no mask" ordinance in Hong Kong" border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="830" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EmZATn_LrBQ/XZq3PB0blzI/AAAAAAAAT3E/4Tmi8ck576AJ0T-mSC5iR_u3yEJFWRDAQCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/Hong%2BKong%2Bschools%2Bmust%2Btell%2Bgovernment%2Bif%2Bstudents%2Bwear%2Bmasks%252C%2BSCMP.%2BOct%2B7%252C%2B2019.png" title="RTHK interviews masked students who defy "no mask" ordinance in Hong Kong" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Fascists in Beijing are "mad-as-bastards" that a million or more unarmed civilians in Hong Kong continue to defy them. Most Canadians don't know that when China was still Communist it fomented revolutions and insurrections all over the globe. In Hong Kong, back in 1967, Red provocateurs orchestrated a far more violent uprising than we have been witnessing in 2019. Reds terrorized the old British colony by planting thousands of bombs, most of which police and army sappers managed to defuse. Still, 51 people were killed between May - August 1967. The rulers of China remember what they did, but they demand we "foreigners" feign amnesia.</div>
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Extremely mouthy Beijing propagandists label the 2019 protesters "terrorists" and demand that foreign news media also use their mush-mouth jargon. Let me instead quote directly from the <span style="color: red;"><b>PEKING REVIEW</b></span> of July 28, 1967. The <span style="color: red;"><b>PEKING REVIEW </b></span>was an official organ of the Chinese Communist Party.</div>
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"<span style="color: red;"><b><i>An old Chinese saying goes, it is discourteous not to give</i><i> tit-for-tat</i><i>. The Chinese people must reply with fitting counter-blows to British imperialist provocations</i></b></span>." It sounds 'made-up' to me, but lets play along and believe the Communist functionary. Might I then suggest, that if HK Police or even PLA infantrymen beat on these wonderful kids, many tens of thousands of Dads and Uncles are sure to demand <b>"tit-for-tat</b>". Just as a 'courtesy', mind you.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YaN5M0pZx84/XZrYz01NYxI/AAAAAAAAT3Y/FmAyCD32qkA5W7uORhw2oqeKnHLvM19wgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/The%2Bface%2Bmasks%2BHong%2BKong%2Bwants%2Bto%2Bban%252C%2BOct%2B6%252C%2B2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hong Kong Protest - Anti-Mask law won't work" border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YaN5M0pZx84/XZrYz01NYxI/AAAAAAAAT3Y/FmAyCD32qkA5W7uORhw2oqeKnHLvM19wgCNcBGAsYHQ/s400/The%2Bface%2Bmasks%2BHong%2BKong%2Bwants%2Bto%2Bban%252C%2BOct%2B6%252C%2B2019.jpg" title="Hong Kong Protest - Anti-Mask law won't work" width="400" /></a></div>
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"<span style="color: red;">IF WE BURN YOU BURN WITH US</span>."</div>
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The face of a young Freedom-fighter in</div>
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Hong Kong, October 2019. This is the level</div>
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of tenacity we saw at Tiennmen Square in 1989.</div>
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-4399085902229786902017-01-16T07:47:00.001-08:002017-01-16T08:19:57.127-08:00No such thing as "Fake News" in a World of Lies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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During periods of political tension or our own personal stress, we should turn to humour. </div>
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Laughter is, as they say, "the best medicine".</div>
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Given that the Canadian media refuses to SHUT UP about the Trump Presidency, and are determined to drive us all crazy with their carping and sniping...</div>
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I recommend a brash new Blog called <b><a href="http://comicallyincorrect.com/">COMICALLY INCORRECT,</a></b> published by cartoonist A.F. BRANCO.</div>
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Here is one of Branco's latest digs at the media elites.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9FfunwP31W4/WHzhxynPD_I/AAAAAAAAQWw/Wr7nb-0W2VMdYKucN3Wp7CIM37v9tM7XACLcB/s1600/FAKE%2BNEWS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Trump fingers Buzzed and CNN - cartoon by A.F. Branco" border="0" height="296" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9FfunwP31W4/WHzhxynPD_I/AAAAAAAAQWw/Wr7nb-0W2VMdYKucN3Wp7CIM37v9tM7XACLcB/s400/FAKE%2BNEWS.jpg" title="Trump fingers Buzzfeed and CNN - cartoon by A.F. Branco" width="400" /></a></div>
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Robert Fisk, a British journalist whom I respect and trust, recently discussed the rabid response of the media elites to President Trump's personality and achievements. Specifically he addressed the use of the term "<b>Fake News</b>" and another equally smelly meme - "<b>post-truth</b>". Fisk's verdict:</div>
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<b><i>"We do not live in a "post truth" world, neither in the Middle East nor in the West - nor in Russia, for that matter. We live in a world of lies. And we always have lived in a world of lies."</i></b></div>
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Exactly. Last night I was immersed in a text used in the Communications Studies program here at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. In an essay on the influence of newspapers (written, ironically, in 1984) I paused over one sentence in particular. <b style="font-style: italic;">"Today's news stories cover predictable themes, with place of occurrence a fill-in-the blank exercise." That is something we have all observed. </b>Television news operates on the same principle. Doesn't it? Fill-in-the blanks and fill their heads with worthless crap. Do they ever cover events and stories you would wish them to? Rarely.</div>
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That is the core problem, and millions of thinking people are sick of it. Media elites, especially those who insist on being referred to as "journalists"... that is "Licensed Information Practitioners", have been marching in lockstep with the political elites for decades, and that too, we are sick of. </div>
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I don't use Twitter or Facebook, so I don't witness firsthand what President Trump has to say. I only get the the ferocious media response. </div>
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I have bookmarked <b><a href="http://comicallyincorrect.com/">COMICALLY INCORRECT</a>. </b>I need a good laugh now and then.</div>
<br />Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-47276721845833173702016-11-09T00:44:00.003-08:002016-11-11T14:25:25.523-08:00DING, DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD !!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oKdGXHO-vAo/WCK_z7DAodI/AAAAAAAAQKU/LEhgWQX3q9UxSHyD_tFuf37HsEU0QmiRgCLcB/s1600/DING%252C%2BDONG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hillary Clinton's Defeat - Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead !" border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oKdGXHO-vAo/WCK_z7DAodI/AAAAAAAAQKU/LEhgWQX3q9UxSHyD_tFuf37HsEU0QmiRgCLcB/s400/DING%252C%2BDONG.jpg" title="Hillary Clinton's Defeat - Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead !" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is no time to attempt to be wise or witty. Happy tastes real good.<br />
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I feel like singing... but I'll let the Munchkins do it for me. <br />
<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM13ebbVrdQ">DING, DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD !!</a></b>, from that classic musical, <b>The Wizard of Oz</b>.<br />
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I used to tell my kids that I wanted to live just long enough to witness human beings walking on MARS.<br />
Recently I came to realize that I could take equal satisfaction from watching Mrs. Hillary Clinton getting her ass kicked in a general election. Her ruin is<b> just</b>..<b>that</b>... <b>significant</b>.<br />
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I have been watching the Clinton duo with distaste since they were Mr. and Mrs. Governor of Arkansas. It is hard to believe but Hillary has been prancing and posing since 1969, when<b> <span style="color: red;">LIFE</span> </b>magazine sent a photographer to do a shoot at her home. <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GH9pYjWHSyc/WCLRIDDIuiI/AAAAAAAAQKk/21XtN1T4nAQd8mCJitXXYA512AOff5vtQCLcB/s1600/HRC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hillary Rodham Clinton - posing for a LIFE magazine photographer in 1969" border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GH9pYjWHSyc/WCLRIDDIuiI/AAAAAAAAQKk/21XtN1T4nAQd8mCJitXXYA512AOff5vtQCLcB/s640/HRC.jpg" title="Hillary Rodham Clinton - posing for a LIFE magazine photographer in 1969" width="424" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eeEcGIrpJQM/WCLczbQL8mI/AAAAAAAAQK0/04d7rslL1T8uqszdWGUU8GL0KMgFC2LjwCLcB/s1600/practice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hillary Rodham Clinton learning to pose for the camera - 1969" border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eeEcGIrpJQM/WCLczbQL8mI/AAAAAAAAQK0/04d7rslL1T8uqszdWGUU8GL0KMgFC2LjwCLcB/s640/practice.jpg" title="Hillary Rodham Clinton learning to pose for the camera -1969" width="372" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">She also took the glasses off for a few poses.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">But this is enough Hillary for today.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">LIFE</span></b> magazine - June 1969. I was an eleven year old boy. Some of you were not yet alive! This was here first fawning photo-shoot, and my, my, my didn't she enjoy posing. Of course years later she benefited from professional training by acting coaches - those who taught her the political Vaudeville routine (her <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtick">Shtick</a></b>) - the perfected lies, the constant eye-popping, the finger pointing to fawning acolytes, and that phony southern drawl she could turn to like a radio channel. <br />
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Well there were<b> two monsters </b>slain tonight.<br />
One dangerous witch and one arrogant, bloated dragon - the News Media suffered a crippling blow. Not fatal, but the editors and the meat puppets will never fully recover this humiliation.His was the first time in my life when I ignored broadcast media during an election campaign. Today I monitored unfolding events through my iMac, and only turned on TV to watch the Trump family accept the verdict of the American people.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DbA65NnnZ2Y/WCLed3Y2KXI/AAAAAAAAQLA/My4-xDbXzRs-MGMvwHgkwD9sA5FhnFKQACLcB/s1600/snide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Wikileaks - journalists outed as Clinton stooges" border="0" height="253" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DbA65NnnZ2Y/WCLed3Y2KXI/AAAAAAAAQLA/My4-xDbXzRs-MGMvwHgkwD9sA5FhnFKQACLcB/s400/snide.jpg" title="Wikileaks - journalists outed as Clinton stooges" width="400" /></a></div>
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President-elect Trump was gracious in his speech tonight. It was nearly 3AM in New York and his family was exhausted. He forgot to thank someone really essential to his victory - Matt Drudge. <b> Bravo Mr. Drudge. Bravo!!</b><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXRlMiuL7Is/WCLvo0CMY1I/AAAAAAAAQLQ/hNH9-YAmYjYyWSWQ7-VoAq4DnozMgVjeQCLcB/s1600/idiots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CNN POLITICS and Google Ads" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXRlMiuL7Is/WCLvo0CMY1I/AAAAAAAAQLQ/hNH9-YAmYjYyWSWQ7-VoAq4DnozMgVjeQCLcB/s400/idiots.jpg" title="CNN POLITICS and Google Ads" width="357" /></a></div>
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<b>Google, CNN and assorted media swine just don't know when to turn it off.</b><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">There's got to be a Morning After</span><br />
This morning the NEW YORK TIMES, bastion of snot and the cheap shot, dismissed the Trump achievement as the equivalent of scurvy haters pouring out of the garrets of Paris - yes, they used the French Revolution metaphor! In the graphics department they were equally tart:"<i><b>Areas with many white voters without a college degree formed the core of Mr. Trump's support</b></i>." <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YoDzr0Yziu4/WCNqQRllUnI/AAAAAAAAQLg/-Y34ufFrpus2KzwSxCHjIJjq7fwNafi7gCLcB/s1600/Republicans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="TRUMP TRIUMPHS- New York Times graphic Nov. 9, 2016" border="0" height="296" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YoDzr0Yziu4/WCNqQRllUnI/AAAAAAAAQLg/-Y34ufFrpus2KzwSxCHjIJjq7fwNafi7gCLcB/s400/Republicans.jpg" title="TRUMP TRIUMPHS - New York Times graphic Nov 9, 2016" width="400" /></a></div>
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Look what Trump <u><b>just handed the Republican Party</b></u>, and the bastards did everything they could to destroy his chances of winning.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MaZ9V5xwpxQ/WCOHyy8eHJI/AAAAAAAAQL0/ND0RZrgpTN8JJn29Ma85tpODLGHulvrtACLcB/s1600/cheap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Trump - less than $5 per vote" border="0" height="114" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MaZ9V5xwpxQ/WCOHyy8eHJI/AAAAAAAAQL0/ND0RZrgpTN8JJn29Ma85tpODLGHulvrtACLcB/s200/cheap.jpg" title="Trump - less than $5 per vote. " width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Wm-IqK286I/WCOHsbL87tI/AAAAAAAAQLw/hT7n4N6zGCAEY_ZozGEZPQGRrr7-Ju5HACLcB/s1600/%25235%2B%2Bper%2Bvote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="TRUMP - 57 million votes - less than $5 each" border="0" height="96" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Wm-IqK286I/WCOHsbL87tI/AAAAAAAAQLw/hT7n4N6zGCAEY_ZozGEZPQGRrr7-Ju5HACLcB/s640/%25235%2B%2Bper%2Bvote.jpg" title="TRUMP - 57 million votes - less than $5 each" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>THE MORNING AFTER + 1</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KwV4LdWq8uo/WCZEgpeNn9I/AAAAAAAAQOY/r1KEIetVGdEgIxT1DYwqpwG3gaJW_0pngCLcB/s1600/Jonathan%2BErnst%2B-%2BReuters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Trump and Obama - The Whole Picture - Jonathan Ernst - REUTERS" border="0" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KwV4LdWq8uo/WCZEgpeNn9I/AAAAAAAAQOY/r1KEIetVGdEgIxT1DYwqpwG3gaJW_0pngCLcB/s640/Jonathan%2BErnst%2B-%2BReuters.jpg" title="Trump and Obama - The Whole Picture - Jonathan Ernst - REUTERS" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>From here on in, this is the kind of journalism we demand. THE WHOLE PICTURE !!</b></div>
<br />Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-33336340775725790172016-09-03T02:32:00.002-07:002016-09-08T09:28:17.187-07:00THE BELLEVILLE SECRET - the Mackenzie-King funeral train stops for ice (July 27, 1950)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Ronald J. Jack</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Blog Author and Publisher</b></span></div>
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"<i><b>You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.</b></i>" - often attributed to Abraham Lincoln.</div>
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Canada's tenth Prime Minister, <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lyon_Mackenzie_King">William Lyon Mackenzie King</a></b>, (the man on our $50 dollar bill), managed to outsmart his rivals and fool Canadian voters almost all of the time. His three terms in office were from <b>1921-1926</b>, <b>1926-1930</b>, and <b>1935-1948</b>. With an M.A. and PhD. awarded by <b>Harvard University</b>, he remains Canada's most educated, and literary Prime Minister. For twenty two years King was in control of this nation, and yet those millions he enjoyed governing knew very little about him. A man who died a virgin at age 75, King did not waste his energies on personal relationships. His only project was his personal ambition and political career, and the thousands of days he saved by avoiding women, he invested in self promotion and in endless secret consultations with ghosts and spirits. He was also careful to plan his own<b> State Funeral</b>, and when he died in July of 1950, his written instructions were followed to the the letter.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjhhgfZLBlo/V8qA-fBosDI/AAAAAAAAPv0/ZBsz5Yzh3WsYk6Pgidqo1isMnebbb0HRgCLcB/s1600/State%2BFuneral%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Mackenzie King State Funeral - Parliament Hill, July 1950" border="0" height="392" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjhhgfZLBlo/V8qA-fBosDI/AAAAAAAAPv0/ZBsz5Yzh3WsYk6Pgidqo1isMnebbb0HRgCLcB/s400/State%2BFuneral%2B1.jpg" title="The Mackenzie King State Funeral - Parliament Hill, July 1950" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The body of W.L. Mackenzie King on Parliament Hill, Ottawa.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>It was July 25, 1950 and air conditioning was not yet installed.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Temperatures were seasonal, and consistently warm.</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tJPKFUjtJJo/V8qBGF22j9I/AAAAAAAAPv4/n5igToj1gWcqZj0UUkbqOu-9DFqKy2r4gCLcB/s1600/State%2BFuneral%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tJPKFUjtJJo/V8qBGF22j9I/AAAAAAAAPv4/n5igToj1gWcqZj0UUkbqOu-9DFqKy2r4gCLcB/s400/State%2BFuneral%2B2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>King did not want to be embalmed, but he had the misfortune of</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>dying in July. The OTTAWA CITIZEN was certainly tactful,</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>but one header was a bit awkward: "<i>Odor of Flowers Fills the Commons</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>When Mourners Set Out in Sunshine.</i>" Say what?</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-erewYGZ1Ia4/V8qVBDQfWpI/AAAAAAAAPxE/pHbIN-oY_iMVDeDuSQ9JPFPLUm_3kwgeACLcB/s1600/Temps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ottawa - Toronto temperature forecast for July 25, 1950" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-erewYGZ1Ia4/V8qVBDQfWpI/AAAAAAAAPxE/pHbIN-oY_iMVDeDuSQ9JPFPLUm_3kwgeACLcB/s400/Temps.jpg" title="Ottawa - Toronto temperature forecast for July 25, 1950" width="137" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The temperature forecast for Ottawa during the historic </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Mackenzie King "Laying in State" was a balmy 81 Fahrenheit.</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-93omwA3ryFY/V8qBQ_XhqmI/AAAAAAAAPv8/o0ect9g9sYQ_0h7sNZpNE4cuZitMeAQgACLcB/s1600/50%2Bdollars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Liberal politician Mackenzie King on our $50 since 1975" border="0" height="181" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-93omwA3ryFY/V8qBQ_XhqmI/AAAAAAAAPv8/o0ect9g9sYQ_0h7sNZpNE4cuZitMeAQgACLcB/s400/50%2Bdollars.jpg" title="The Liberal politician Mackenzie King on our $50 since 1975" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Liberal politician has been on our $50 banknote since 1975.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Conservative, Robert Borden, will soon be bounced from</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>the $100., but Justin will keep Mackenzie on the red bill.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The Overnight Train to Toronto</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-491v6G9qo70/V8qBbHZHEMI/AAAAAAAAPwA/WEVClVQOzYslSIxUxv7dPEuGVMoaY7KlACLcB/s1600/Ottawa%2BStation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mackenzie King's funeral train leaving Ottawa Station, July 26, 1950" border="0" height="306" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-491v6G9qo70/V8qBbHZHEMI/AAAAAAAAPwA/WEVClVQOzYslSIxUxv7dPEuGVMoaY7KlACLcB/s400/Ottawa%2BStation.jpg" title="Mackenzie King;s funeral train leaving Ottawa Station, July 26, 1950" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Mackenzie King funeral train, a C.N.R. Special, is here seen just</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>leaving Ottawa Station. It was about 6:15 P.M., July 26, 1950 and on the platform, </b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">crowded with onlookers, were an R.C.A.F. and R.C.M.P. band playing dirges.</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fX1KNoc1UfE/V8s7orocDXI/AAAAAAAAPxk/TifTnhgi_QENfSuuZt1RpXSW5r0-PM15ACLcB/s1600/schedule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mackenzie King Funeral Train, July 26 - 27, 1950 (Schedule)" border="0" height="139" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fX1KNoc1UfE/V8s7orocDXI/AAAAAAAAPxk/TifTnhgi_QENfSuuZt1RpXSW5r0-PM15ACLcB/s320/schedule.jpg" title="Mackenzie King Funeral Train, July 26 -27, 1950 (Schedule)" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23gG-G9TOBM/V8qBp5JQmhI/AAAAAAAAPwM/bfhuqUuah5IGSfeK8yVtwAXuNkAbRG6nACLcB/s1600/train%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Cart load of ice at Belleville Station, the Mackenzie King funeral train, 1950" border="0" height="316" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23gG-G9TOBM/V8qBp5JQmhI/AAAAAAAAPwM/bfhuqUuah5IGSfeK8yVtwAXuNkAbRG6nACLcB/s320/train%2B1.jpg" title="Cart load of ice at Belleville Station, the Mackenzie King funeral train, 1950" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the train pulled in, some time after Midnight, the train station at Belleville was very quiet. There were very few passengers waiting for the first train of the day - the 2:53 A.M. into Toronto. The train remained buttoned up, and as a crew opened the rooftop and belly hatches on "<b>BONAVENTURE</b>", the King funeral car, the only men who stepped off onto the platform were a Black porter, a uniformed C.N.R. conductor and (I believe) one plain-clothes security officer. He is the man (above) in the fedora. In a 12-photo sequence, the photographer was careful not to show his face. All in all, it was an eerie scene.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pm-KBvtwE5U/V8qBvPwOV9I/AAAAAAAAPwQ/g-ontaGLvwY95QWhJK7fVTM0lDr02OtJQCLcB/s1600/train%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Secret stop at Belleville Station for ice - Mackenzie King funeral train, July 27, 1950" border="0" height="314" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pm-KBvtwE5U/V8qBvPwOV9I/AAAAAAAAPwQ/g-ontaGLvwY95QWhJK7fVTM0lDr02OtJQCLcB/s320/train%2B2.jpg" title="Secret stop at Belleville station for ice - Mackenzie King funeral train, July 26, 1950" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The station at Belleville, Ontario - midway between</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Ottawa and Toronto. Even though it was past midnight</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>the ice was was melting fast. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belleville_railway_station">The station still exists.</a></b></span></div>
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A full dozen men were involved in loading the blocks of ice into the funeral car, likely a mix of C.N.R. employees and a Belleville ice company. The servicing was done in secret, and the Press who were travelling with the body kept the experience to themselves. Yet, if we are to believe news reports - that the funeral train was carrying most of the <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_St._Laurent">St. Laurent Cabinet</a></b>, and historians - that an impromptu Cabinet meeting took place onboard, in which they discussed committing Canadian troops to the war in Korea - this sequence is all the more bizarre. Is it not? <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xdoZTzkLwJk/V8tSYOYEUCI/AAAAAAAAPyk/sQJrEXR_btE98YpsC0LFgavu-PdS43mBgCLcB/s1600/Bercuson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="St. Laurent Cabinet decides on Korean War - Mackenzie King funeral train 1950" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xdoZTzkLwJk/V8tSYOYEUCI/AAAAAAAAPyk/sQJrEXR_btE98YpsC0LFgavu-PdS43mBgCLcB/s400/Bercuson.jpg" title="St. Laurent Cabinet decides on Korean War - Mackenzie King funeral train 1950" width="351" /></a></div>
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In this passage from his recent book. David Bercuson tells us that, "<b style="font-style: italic;">In a somewhat macabre twist of events, </b><span style="font-style: italic;">[Lester]</span><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b><b style="font-style: italic;">Pearson informed cabinet members of Acheson's request </b>[for Commonwealth ground forces]<b style="font-style: italic;"> on 27 July while all were aboard William Lyon Mackenzie King's funeral train enroute to Toronto from Ottawa; King had died five days earlier.</b>" Quite a club-car gathering was it not? A dead Liberal P.M., the sitting Liberal P.M. and a future Liberal P.M. While those working men were stowing Mackenzie King's ice, powerful politicians were sitting behind closed blinds discussing taking Canada into an Asian ground war. <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZK7LmxEjToA/V8qB283OvQI/AAAAAAAAPwU/Gb4yxahg0Vg6WjGSad9jZJRwg0vmM9lOwCLcB/s1600/Witnesses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Late night passengers, Belleville Train Station, July 26, 1950" border="0" height="314" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZK7LmxEjToA/V8qB283OvQI/AAAAAAAAPwU/Gb4yxahg0Vg6WjGSad9jZJRwg0vmM9lOwCLcB/s320/Witnesses.jpg" title="Late night passengers, Belleville Train Stain, July 26, 1950" width="320" /></a></div>
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The photographer who took these fascinating images was composing a visual essay that was never published. (Undoubtedly his editor realized it would be deemed offensive, and alienate many Canadian readers.) Though I do not use the entire photo-sequence in this blog, you can see how thorough the lensman was. For example, the C.N.R. sign board shows the schedule of East - West bound trains for July 27, 1950. Belleville, Ontario was the mid-way point the Mackenzie King funeral train, which was scheduled to arrive at Toronto at 10 A.M. on July 27. It was past midnight and one of these women, probably the girl wearing pearls, is waiting for the first train of the day - <b>the 2.53 A.M. to Toronto</b>.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bDRVhYO7VrU/V8qB9tRHR8I/AAAAAAAAPwY/5sHfaJ5TRo8DafIFHRhdjnt7H5G02HDjQCLcB/s1600/train%2B%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Crew quickly stow ice under the Mackenzie King funeral train, July 27, 1950" border="0" height="157" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bDRVhYO7VrU/V8qB9tRHR8I/AAAAAAAAPwY/5sHfaJ5TRo8DafIFHRhdjnt7H5G02HDjQCLcB/s320/train%2B%2B3.jpg" title="Crew quickly stow ice under the Mackenzie King funeral train, July 27, 1950" width="320" /></a></div>
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You, the viewer, will form impressions of your own, but I have had these images for several years. My mind keeps coming back to the security aspect. Only hours before, in Ottawa, military personnel in their thousands and R.C.M.P. troopers were involved in the grand ceremonial, including an RCAF flypast - and yet not a single R.C.M.P. officer stepped off the funeral train at Belleville Station. The security detail do not even peep out from behind the drawn blinds. Even the Canadian Press (C.P.) and CBC staffers accompanying King's corpse, remained hidden or perhaps asleep. The man who stayed awake and took these photos was an American, and not at all beholden to the Ottawa power structure which shaped and preserved the image W.L. Mackenzie King insisted upon. The photographer got the story, but it was never published. As an American, he probably didn't care one way or another. As Canadians, we should care.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E1WiGBVZrYA/V8qCPX2TumI/AAAAAAAAPwg/kwQ-i3Niu3QVkntQzXaAvVyaoGNhLi4_wCLcB/s1600/train%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CNR crew quickly load ice into the Mackenzie King funeral train, July 27, 1950" border="0" height="156" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E1WiGBVZrYA/V8qCPX2TumI/AAAAAAAAPwg/kwQ-i3Niu3QVkntQzXaAvVyaoGNhLi4_wCLcB/s320/train%2B4.jpg" title="CNR crew quickly load ice into the Mackenzie King funeral train, July 27, 1950" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vrnXsCvD7NU/V8qCHZ8U5zI/AAAAAAAAPwc/J16WrB3JVpE7oubHq_eyD5bGUOPKfPUvACLcB/s1600/train%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mackenzie King funeral train, July 1950 - empty ice cart" border="0" height="317" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vrnXsCvD7NU/V8qCHZ8U5zI/AAAAAAAAPwc/J16WrB3JVpE7oubHq_eyD5bGUOPKfPUvACLcB/s320/train%2B5.jpg" title="Mackenzie King funeral train, July 1950 - empty ice cart" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>SECRET NO MORE</b></span><br />
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The Ottawa newspaper ran with saturation coverage of the State Funeral, as one would expect. Much of the prose was grossly overwrought, and would have readers believe that Canadians virtually worshipped Mackenzie King. Yet a few factual fragments slipped through the hagiography, including the names of the <b>C.N.R. crew on the funeral train</b>. They were all from the town of <b>Belleville, Ontario</b>. My suspicion is that one of them made a telephone call when government officials ordered the train halted in their town. While the "BONAVENTURE" funeral coach was loaded with ice, there was time for a few Belleville residents to dress and rush over to the station.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ajABO5iu40/V8tR7OtOCxI/AAAAAAAAPyg/NjfgY3PFa68MkTf2KohMbqAkSsgjwF-bwCLcB/s1600/crew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="C.N. crew members of Mackenzie King funeral train, July 25, 1950" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2ajABO5iu40/V8tR7OtOCxI/AAAAAAAAPyg/NjfgY3PFa68MkTf2KohMbqAkSsgjwF-bwCLcB/s320/crew.jpg" title="C.N. crew members of Mackenzie King funeral train, July 25, 1950" width="269" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>C.N.R. - Belleville crewmen mentioned by name: </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>McIlmoyle, Marshall, Burrows, and Secker.</b></span></div>
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This small clipping tells us that on the funeral train, as on Parliament Hill, flowers were used to mask the stink of death. "<i><b>The back portion of the coach, divided by a black mantle, was filled to capacity with baskets, sprays and wreaths of flowers in an overwhelming burst of colour and scent.</b></i>" The curtains were drawn tight on the funeral car, and the gorgeous interior display was never photographed. The sweet flowers were for the benefit of ranking officials, including Liberal Cabinet Ministers, who accompanied the body on the long ride from Ottawa to Toronto.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y6f9sX7An8U/V8qCVlcOV4I/AAAAAAAAPwk/stVvVqZnjwwUL_pMqzMI0WnqPAWyZOLdQCLcB/s1600/Train%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Mackenzie King funeral train, July 27, 1950 - disappointment at Belleville" border="0" height="312" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y6f9sX7An8U/V8qCVlcOV4I/AAAAAAAAPwk/stVvVqZnjwwUL_pMqzMI0WnqPAWyZOLdQCLcB/s320/Train%2B6.jpg" title="The Mackenzie King funeral train, July 27, 1950 - disappointment at Belleville" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>RECLAIMING OUR HISTORY - It matters</b></span><br />
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William Lyon Mackenzie King was a master at self-promotion and he was polishing his own apple long before the Liberal Party helped him secure the role of Canadian Prime Minister. Too much of what history tells us is varnished or redacted, and to leave matters as they stand is to indict us all for having a lack of passion for the truth. An obvious example was King's meetings with Hitler, Goering, Hess and other Nazi Party leaders. It is true that we now have faint acknowledgement of King's German episode in high school text, but we are also now a visual culture, and modern Canadians do not read books. The Third Reich prepared a set of souvenir photographs for King, so that he might remember Hitler with fondness. When war came, he briefly overcame his vanity, and burned them. </div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OuVI6Ze0Tl0/V8tKW-2Wq8I/AAAAAAAAPyM/vXCLla6-A9AjpMSZD_ePmGyT4lW299_PwCLcB/s1600/King%2B-%2BHilter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mackenzie King meets Adolph Hitler - Berlin 1937" border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OuVI6Ze0Tl0/V8tKW-2Wq8I/AAAAAAAAPyM/vXCLla6-A9AjpMSZD_ePmGyT4lW299_PwCLcB/s640/King%2B-%2BHilter.jpg" title="Mackenzie King meets Adolph Hitler - Berlin 1937" width="158" /></a></div>
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The point is not to portray King in a bad light, but to get us a little closer to who he really was. Should we have let Mackenzie King get away with such subterfuge? Should not Canadian historians (especially teaching historians who are taxpayer funded) have left no German stone unturned, and located duplicate copies? I am rather convinced that such evidence of King's graphic image still waits for discovery. With today's photo-essay I hope to persuade you that digging into the soil of history may profit us more than reading books written by doting admirers of Canada's political elite.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tnAYZh6iw9E/V8xdlD-HaJI/AAAAAAAAPzE/020UlE4jFiM0sulCpmihr9lVeii-OXv2wCLcB/s1600/1937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Canada's Prime Minister Mackenzie King visiting Nazi Germany, 1937" border="0" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tnAYZh6iw9E/V8xdlD-HaJI/AAAAAAAAPzE/020UlE4jFiM0sulCpmihr9lVeii-OXv2wCLcB/s400/1937.jpg" title="Canada's Prime Minister Mackenzie King visiting Nazi Germany, 1937" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>One of four surviving Press photos of Mackenzie King's tour to Nazi Germany in 1937.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>This one has appeared in COUNTER POINTS, a Social Studies text published by Prentice Hall .</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>HISTORY MATTERS</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: small;">The production of history articles and books in Canada is largely a voluntary effort, (few can earn a living at it) and for that reason the field is thickly sewn with ideologues. As someone who has been reading our history for fifty years I can attest that the Socialist mindset won the battle for hearts and minds decades ago, and yet they refuse to stand down. They still patrol the perimeters of our cemeteries, to ensure that the spirits of those they detest can never rise through the sod. A typical example was an attack article published by <b>ActiveHistory.ca,</b> on the subject of <b>Prime Minister R.B. Bennett</b>, our P.M. from 1930-1935 who is flippantly dismissed as "<i>Canada's millionaire prime minister</i>"<b>. </b><i><a href="http://activehistory.ca/2015/09/one-monument-too-many-why-r-b-bennett-doesnt-deserve-a-spot-on-parliament-hill/">R.B. Bennett Doesn't Deserve a Spot on Parliament Hill</a> </i> In fact it is rather easy to take a hatchet to most of Canada's Prime Ministers, including the current fellow, but it is more fun to simply sleuth the hidden truth that they struggled to conceal.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_A73If6734/V9GROatgqmI/AAAAAAAAPzU/MGE-QZGi3OkKimbMBrnI6MzxRVHdqYqqACLcB/s1600/Star%2BWeekly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="W.L.M. "Rex" King and the real King, Ottawa 1939" border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_A73If6734/V9GROatgqmI/AAAAAAAAPzU/MGE-QZGi3OkKimbMBrnI6MzxRVHdqYqqACLcB/s640/Star%2BWeekly.jpg" title="W.L.M. "Rex" King and the real King, Ottawa 1939" width="446" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Blog "Circulation" Report:</b></span><br />
It is gratifying to note that we have surpassed four million page views. (At Sept. 1, 2016 we were at 4,007,802) Some of you may be aware of the fact that GOOGLE is imposing changes upon content publishers who use the <b>Blogger </b>platform. For those of you who are also on Blogger and who may bewildering why your<b> Page View</b> display has disappeared, you should to the lower left-hand corner and click on "<b>Blogger Classic</b>" or on Google + "Classic". Unfortunately, you may have to do it on a daily basis.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XN7x2vESsZY/V8qQm0ta-5I/AAAAAAAAPw4/DWe0f7VL1mMXrtwW_T-CU2MrkWLQteW-wCLcB/s1600/XXJJ%2B%2BSept%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ronald J. Jack - Blogger, Page Views at Sept. 1, 2016" border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XN7x2vESsZY/V8qQm0ta-5I/AAAAAAAAPw4/DWe0f7VL1mMXrtwW_T-CU2MrkWLQteW-wCLcB/s200/XXJJ%2B%2BSept%2B2.jpg" title="Ronald J. Jack - Blogger, Page Views at Sept 1, 2016" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-29325733736695251212016-08-05T14:44:00.002-07:002016-08-12T10:06:46.726-07:00Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson - a Hound Dog and his Tale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TaSsNaOVp_Y/V6UAAnpWX0I/AAAAAAAAPnQ/GIglhOYLCTsnOTSSVF4netFib3ifT4ZpACLcB/s1600/choice%2Bchinese%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vancouver Mayor Robertson - and young Chinese girlfriend Wanting Qu" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TaSsNaOVp_Y/V6UAAnpWX0I/AAAAAAAAPnQ/GIglhOYLCTsnOTSSVF4netFib3ifT4ZpACLcB/s400/choice%2Bchinese%2B.jpg" title="Vancouver Mayor Robertson - and young Chinese Girlfriend Wanting Qu" width="352" /></a></div>
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I don't often use the Blog to point readers directly to a news story, unless it contains something of strength to alter our perspective, or information that is certain to be suppressed by the media elites. This one is important. Vancouver has a mayor who, like many<b> con-men</b> who become pubic office holders, is adept at the art of misdirection. A paragon of feigned virtue, he is a royal figure among Vancouver's political elite, and so the media never, ever digs. More to the point, "his worship" controls the disbursement of millions of dollars in annual advertising and promotion fees, and no media outlet will risk his revenge.</div>
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So when he started promoting his phone campaign against "Chinese Dirty Money" that was supposedly corruptly the virtuous Vancouverites, the media was in lock-step. And when the B.C. Provincial Government recently resuscitated that old racist measure known as the <b>CHINESE HEAD TAX</b>, (imposing a 15 percent tax on "offshore" property buyers), the local White media was still in lockstep with the political class. <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-92GB1Z7N9Y0/V6WN1SZmmHI/AAAAAAAAPoA/MMT6CRF2wXASa7hjTKv2oWWLV5JMN2cBgCLcB/s1600/Difference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christy Clark and "British Columbians First"" border="0" height="262" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-92GB1Z7N9Y0/V6WN1SZmmHI/AAAAAAAAPoA/MMT6CRF2wXASa7hjTKv2oWWLV5JMN2cBgCLcB/s320/Difference.jpg" title="Christy Clark and "British Columbians First"" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red;">"British Columbians First" </span> - Just harmless wording?</div>
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So how is that different from "<span style="color: red;">Americans Come First</span>" ?</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4CfZT-BC9RI/V6WOdxALf3I/AAAAAAAAPoE/Tu_J0x95-r0W9zmOE3rFbfVdC5KbTgGbACLcB/s1600/Americans%2BFirst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Americans Come First - Donald J. Trump" border="0" height="196" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4CfZT-BC9RI/V6WOdxALf3I/AAAAAAAAPoE/Tu_J0x95-r0W9zmOE3rFbfVdC5KbTgGbACLcB/s400/Americans%2BFirst.jpg" title="Americans Come First - Donald J. Trump" width="400" /></a></div>
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How interesting to learn that <b>Gregor Robertson</b> is dipping his dick in one of the deepest pools of illicit Chinese wealth that any White boy ever gained access to. Soon... because he's bedding a young Chinese, Gregor is no racist, right? There is no racial dimension to the <b>2016 Chinese Head Tax</b>, right? Decide for yourself. We Canadians are carefully bred (schooled) to be politically correct, but we still maintain emergency statutes that will allow Ottawa to re-establish <b>Internment Camps</b> for any group that begins to frighten us, or threaten economic security.<br />
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The Toronto news magazine <b>MACLEAN'S</b> has the story - <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/politics/gregor-robertson-his-pop-star-girlfriend-and-a-corruption-trial/"><i>Gregor Robertson, his pop-star girlfriend and a corruption trial</i>.</a> The teaser line boasts: "<b><i>T</i></b><i><b>he Vancouver mayor's relationship with Wanting Qu has largely escaped media scrutiny. Until now</b></i>." The editors at Maclean's are deluded. The story will gain no traction, and in fact after 24 hours it's already dead. And speaking of dead things, even if the Chinese Court did sentence <b>Gregor's future Ma-in-law</b> to death, and a Chinese rifleman actually put a bullet through her head, that profoundly ironic news will NOT be reported here. The Chinese government is quite effective lately in investigating the professional money launderers and property fraudsters on their side of the Pacific, but Beijing has no brief for dealing with White-people's petty jealousies in the City of Vancouver. <br />
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<b>LATER:</b> "<b>Christy Trump</b>" - That didn't take long. Since Canadian's have adopted Donald Trump as their new pet hate, they will now label everything they hate as being "Trump" this or "Trump" that. Aaaah. It's so, so soothing to relax and enjoy letting others do your thinking for you. <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IcpcrJQrDME/V639RcceJ4I/AAAAAAAAPqw/ZhmhaAx_yigSgcwtQiIfk7zbhVegACQcQCLcB/s1600/Christy%2BTrump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christy Trump - Trump the new Canadian epithet" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IcpcrJQrDME/V639RcceJ4I/AAAAAAAAPqw/ZhmhaAx_yigSgcwtQiIfk7zbhVegACQcQCLcB/s320/Christy%2BTrump.jpg" title="Christy Trump - Trump the new Canadian epithet" width="247" /></a></div>
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Christy shouldn't have done it, but the racist property purchase tax has nothing to do with Donald Trump. (And of course Terence Corcoran ignore the Canadian metaphor. We don't build walls, we build <b>internment camps</b>. All our government initiatives must create <b>sustainable employment</b>.) Christy takes the flak while Gregor Robertson continues to fuck-over Vancouver taxpayers, unscathed by a narcissistic local media that is content to bury us in info-tainment. </div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-48461742607524498292016-07-22T17:53:00.002-07:002016-07-23T12:25:03.092-07:00Trump Made History Last Night - Canadians Should Take Heed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GKy1vjIqsYs/V5KswTNOfsI/AAAAAAAAPiE/opnIsk9w6UoqXwa907B9FUHjNfyLyzFDwCLcB/s1600/pun%2Bplus%2Bmetaphor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ARC de TRUMPH - Trump crushes G.O.P. - SACDK cartoon, May 5, 2016" border="0" height="307" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GKy1vjIqsYs/V5KswTNOfsI/AAAAAAAAPiE/opnIsk9w6UoqXwa907B9FUHjNfyLyzFDwCLcB/s400/pun%2Bplus%2Bmetaphor.jpg" title="ARC de TRUMPH - Trump crushes G.O.P. - SACK cartoon, May 5, 2016" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This editorial cartoon, by "Sack" was published in the</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Minneapolis Star-Tribune on May 5, 2016. It combines</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pun with tasty metaphor, characterizing Donald J. Trump's</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">securing of the Republican Party nomination by literally </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">crushing </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the elephant. (An elephant is the G.O.P. symbol.)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>TRUMP - Let Us Enjoy the Moment</b></span></div>
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- Ronald J. Jack </div>
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I am a daily news <b>reader</b>, doing my utmost to avoid broadcast television, but I simply had to watch the closing hours of the <b>Republican Convention</b> last night. The Internet had told me a leaked copy of the alleged text of<b> Donald Trump</b>'s speech was circulating among the haters yesterday afternoon. Early in the evening I caught <b>Peter Mansbridge</b> (<span style="color: red;">Papa CBC**</span>) shepherding a sarcastic segment that assured Canadians Trump's speech would be short, and little more than a rehash of campaign rhetoric. Peter is a dick, and no judge of character or veracity. Undaunted, I watched the G.O.P. convention and thoroughly enjoyed myself.<br />
<span style="color: red;">** DRUDGE REPORT 2016 links to the BBC and ten U.K. newspapers.</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"> It does NOT link to Canada's government-owned CBC. </span></div>
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The coverage of the G.O.P. convention has been, all week, nothing short of smart-ass showmanship, led of course by the assholes working for CNN. Many Canadian TV journalists (particularly CBC staffers) are equally breathtaking in their crass ignorance and make no attempt at all to disguise their hatred of Trump, and of the democratic process when it threatens to turn against received bias. </div>
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I no longer vote in elections because Canada's political landscape is a blasted wasteland, and our Tax and Spend governments are run by faceless functionaries who drone on, bulletproof, and totally oblivious to "democratic" electoral results... LIB-CON, CON-LIB, LIB-CON, CON-LIB. The truth is we Canadians embrace a diverse bundle of values and beliefs, and no single political party sings a tune that we can recognize. Certainly the now meaningless 18th Century concept of a <b>Left-Right political spectrum</b> is an insult to our intelligence, and yet the pundits go right on don't they? Insulting us.</div>
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I don't profess to agree with everything Donald Trump espouses, but I now believe it is not all rhetoric. Boldness is an effective strategy that is going to win him the Presidency, and I do agree that the American people would do very well to choose an experienced businessman for a leader, rather than a career politician who exemplifies the stereotype of a "Lying Lawyer". True, American does NOT need more weaponry and firepower. America does NOT need more surveillance capability. America does NOT need more police and incarcerations. But America DOES need to build an impervious wall between itself and Mexico. It does need to annihilate every Muslim terrorist it can reach. And America certainly DOES need to force its major corporations to restore millions of exported jobs, or be banned from bidding on U.S. government contracts. The Clinton Democrats lust after power, but do not love anyone but themselves. They simply must be defeated or these years are truly America's last years as a successful nation.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aH6uhCCBgnQ/V5K4K2H_yLI/AAAAAAAAPic/m0Zhma0mMOYi2j_K5IskCIxd7Jrwotj5wCLcB/s1600/PUCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="William Jennings Bryan swallows the Democratic Party, PUCK July 11, 1900" border="0" height="271" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aH6uhCCBgnQ/V5K4K2H_yLI/AAAAAAAAPic/m0Zhma0mMOYi2j_K5IskCIxd7Jrwotj5wCLcB/s400/PUCK.jpg" title="William Jennings Bryan swallows the Democratic Party, PUCK July 11, 1900" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Some have suggested a Trump victory is analogous to the success of</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>William Jennings Bryan who is shown here in a cartoon published by</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>PUCK on July 11, 1900. Bryan is characterized as a great Anaconda</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>snake that swallowed the Democratic Party (The Donkey) whole. It is</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>a clever carton that makes a powerful point. The difference of course</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>is that Bryan failed to become President, while Trump will certainly win.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Need I emphasize that I do not have a penny invested in the United States, (although my wife does) and a Blog article is not a vote? I have nothing at stake in the November U.S. election, and have placed no bets. For months though, I have been predicting dire consequences for our <b>Boy-Trudeau</b> should Mr. Trump become President. Not to make too big a deal about it, what I have predicted is that "<b>Donald Trump will kick Justin Trudeau's ass over the North Pole</b>." It's a delicious thought. So imagine my delight last evening when Trump declared on live television that after winning the Presidency one of his goals will be to "<b>re-negotiate NAFTA</b>". That sounds very much like a warning to me. Kick-in-the-ass ...number one. He will also lift the Federal embargo on exploitation of key domestic energy sectors (coal and oil) in order to create jobs and wealth for Americans. That sounds like kick-in-the-ass ... number two.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well gentle readers.. did you notice the BIAS this morning.? Our media brats mocked Trump but they didn't report what he warned about NAFTA. No Canadian media mentioned the threat to NAFTA and Boy-Trudeau's ass. Look again at the Bryan-Anaconda cartoon. That is now Trump and the Republicans. His campaign rhetoric is becoming the Republican platform. Hee-haw! This is going to be so entertaining.</span></div>
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-63165360756564721922016-07-09T00:06:00.000-07:002016-07-16T09:29:22.688-07:00Diamond Reynolds - an astounding act of individual courage - documenting a murder despite the pistol muzzle in her face<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mnB5CdYtpzs/V4CO49ip8EI/AAAAAAAAPcI/U54Cq1J8Ajwkxmlwik9GPzuzhMwN5FuCQCLcB/s1600/HERO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Diamond Reynolds - survivor, citizen journalist, N.Y. Times page 1, July 8, 2016" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mnB5CdYtpzs/V4CO49ip8EI/AAAAAAAAPcI/U54Cq1J8Ajwkxmlwik9GPzuzhMwN5FuCQCLcB/s400/HERO.jpg" title="Diamond Reynolds - survivor, citizen journalist , N.Y.Times page 1, July 8, 2016" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>A masterpiece of journo-Juxtaposition - on page 1 of today's </b><br />
<b>NEW YORK TIMES. </b><b>A montage of screenshots from Diamond </b><br />
<b>Reynolds' </b><b>FACEBOOK page, </b><b>documenting her encounter with </b><br />
<b>a freaked-out </b><b>Minnesota police officer, </b><b>is paired with a developing </b><br />
<b>story from Dallas - </b><b>of a Black U.S. Army veteran </b><b>("the active shooter") </b><br />
<b>who was </b><b>exacting BLACK revenge on WHITE police officers.</b></div>
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Where to begin after another astonishing week of extreme barbarism and hatred in the good 'ole U.S.A.? Americans seem forever determined to bury the world in their overflowing landfill of violent shit-culture, and yet, try as we might, it is nearly impossible for Canadians to turn away. Our neighbours are suffering intensely from their birthright - an addiction to self-inflicted trauma. What <b>Diamond Reynolds</b> just demonstrated with her incredibly brave act of citizen journalism, (she streamed the murder of her boyfriend <b>Philando Castile </b>live on FACEBOOK), is that we had better prepare ourselves for an overpowering assault on our sensorium - by ultra-intrusive forms of video technology that will make us virtual participants in murder, mayhem and modern warfare.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SHPdTH1c_a0/V4DT2yQjXdI/AAAAAAAAPdE/v4clTdPViR0RPcoXKRjJ9FQT6l-X9kNhwCLcB/s1600/Yanez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Officer Geronimo Yanez - shot Philando Castile to death" border="0" height="328" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SHPdTH1c_a0/V4DT2yQjXdI/AAAAAAAAPdE/v4clTdPViR0RPcoXKRjJ9FQT6l-X9kNhwCLcB/s400/Yanez.jpg" title="Officer Geronimo Yanez - shot Philando Castile to death" width="400" /></a></div>
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Officer Geronimo Yanez was the killer of Philando Castile.<br />
He works for the Saint Anthony, Minnesota Police Department.</div>
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In my lifetime I have watched with (I confess) only modest discomfort as hundreds of thousands of people were murdered. I am not exaggerating. Not at all. As a military historian and a "news junkie" to boot, I have viewed an endless stream of barbarous acts recorded on film, video tape, and digital recording devices - and now I truly wonder what my life would be like if I had never willingly exposed myself to recorded atrocities. A few select killings still give me the chills, especially the earliest I viewed, because I wasn't yet trained to depersonalize the victims. As a child I watched news coverage of the war in Bangladesh (1970) - witnessing rows of tightly-bound prisoners being bayoneted for the benefit of foreign newsmen... I recall war in Rhodesia (1970s) - the cameraman ducks but a rifle bullet smashes the head of a black soldier, who slumps in a heap and turns his lifeless eyes toward the lens... In 1968 a Saigon a police general executes a Viet Cong assassin, and the head sprays a stream of arterial blood. But that was just the beginning. For forty years I have been watching the carnage but not considering the psychic cost of all that viewing.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h8dJUHLzaKo/V4E8AcoRvlI/AAAAAAAAPdU/Cett6tUhLkIBZz5B5ZptyNrqp4z9S_euQCLcB/s1600/OZ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><img alt="OZ magazine, No. 10 - The Pornography of Violence" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h8dJUHLzaKo/V4E8AcoRvlI/AAAAAAAAPdU/Cett6tUhLkIBZz5B5ZptyNrqp4z9S_euQCLcB/s400/OZ.jpg" title="OZ magazine, No. 10 - The Pornography of Violence" width="311" /></b></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Violent image etched in my boyhood memory - a Vietnamese General executes a </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Viet Cong </b><b>sapper, in front of a group of American TV and newspaper reporters.</b></span></div>
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I thought I had literally seen it all. A foolish hope. As the arms merchants and even the WALMART Super-centres continue to market the latest generation of lethal gadgets, it is a certainty that all of the ensuing carnage will be recorded and streamed into our homes. America is a culture in chaotic decline, and this new wrinkle in documenting urban crime, watching both civilians and cops as they are being executed in the streets, is only the beginning of a more violent chapter in American history, and I think our collective sanity is at risk. Early this morning the enraged Dallas Police used a robot to kill the cornered gunman -<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers"> <b>Micah Xavier Johnson</b></a>. [<span style="color: red;">One columnist has suggested the robot was offering Johnson some food or a telephone, as a ruse to get close enough to kill him with the bomb.</span>] There are more than 120 such wheeled robots on inventory with the F.B.I. in Dallas office, and the Dallas P.D. - all supplied by <b>Homeland Security.</b> Soon robot technology will be hunting humans more actively, and we humans will witness their machine-executions via live video feed.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gQzgaVubXRI/V4CjIX7_EQI/AAAAAAAAPcY/k2_g-fuciggeJW0cXlsRMxc6szGPfI-iQCLcB/s1600/Johnson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Micah Johnson - U.S. Army Reserve, the Dallas sniper - July 2016" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gQzgaVubXRI/V4CjIX7_EQI/AAAAAAAAPcY/k2_g-fuciggeJW0cXlsRMxc6szGPfI-iQCLcB/s400/Johnson.jpg" title="Micah Johnson - U.S. Army Reserve, the Dallas sniper - July 2016" width="267" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Micah Xavier Johnson in 2009. He was then 18 years old.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>President Obama described him as a "demented individual".</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>but the Dallas Police Chief claimed the opposite - angry, but sane.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Diamond Reynolds - A new breed of Citizen Hero:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">You have to marvel at the insanity of conflicted values and attitudes that reside in the minds of the average American. They profess to being inclusive and freedom loving, and yet they are constantly at war with foreign cultures they consider scary or simply unwilling to embrace Star-Spangled modes of living. They profess to being patriotic and fair-minded, a yet they are clearly divided by racial, political and economic fault-lines. "Civil War" is openly discussed, and indeed it was the screaming headline of one New York tabloid paper this morning. <b>Private Micah Xavier Johnson</b> was "proud" to serve his country in a foreign war, but he was equally proud to avenge "his people" by waging war on the Dallas Police. <b>Philando Castile </b>was obviously a model-American with an unblemished record, but a nervous cop was feeding off of stereotypic images and paramilitary machismo, when he pulled the black couple over. (The old "busted tail light" gambit. <span style="color: red;">Sidewalk witnesses have stepped forward and posted video proving that both tail lights were functioning.</span>) Castile was managing food services at a Montessori school, and was trusted enough to be issued a concealed-carry permit for a handgun. The cop saw only skin colour and style of hair, and though he made the usual demands that all armed policeman expect to be complied with (if you want to live) he wasn't in the world of the rational. He was prepared for combat... and he engaged the target. Four shots into the body of a man who complied, but still died. Fortunately for us, and very sadly for the victim, <b>Diamond Reynolds</b> remained calm and bore witness to the murder, thereby saving her own life and the life of her four year old daughter in the back seat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">There is an essay which I can almost recite from memory, because I have been teaching it for years. It is Brent Staples', "<i><b>Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders his Power to Alter Public Space"</b></i> (1986) in which he describes a lifetime of encounters with nervous white people, frequently using psychology to defuse dangerous situations where they might actually hurt him. He wrote, for example, "<i>I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi"</i> to convince nervous New Yorkers that he is not a potential mugger.Virtually every Canadian between the age of 20 - 40 has seen <b>Michael Moore's</b> <i>BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE</i>, so we know well his oft-stated thesis that the U.S. media actively promotes a fear of American Black men. Several recent dash-cam and cellphone videos have documented extreme over-reaction of police officers, especially when their victims are not instantly cowed by "lawful authority". Well we have just been exposed to extraordinary evidence of a rogue cop in action - a recording that I believe is of permanent and historic significance. Diamond Reynolds' ten-minute FACEBOOK video contributes to a visual-history of her country, and it equates to the 8mm <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapruder_film">Zapruder film</a> that documented <b>President Kennedy'</b>s murder in Dallas in 1963. </span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ngx0KzGm14k/V4DJy649UqI/AAAAAAAAPc0/JmDv45DHMQAUbyz-fabDkodsYaaEB0ZvgCLcB/s1600/Z.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Zapruder film - JFK assassination - Jackie climbs back" border="0" height="236" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ngx0KzGm14k/V4DJy649UqI/AAAAAAAAPc0/JmDv45DHMQAUbyz-fabDkodsYaaEB0ZvgCLcB/s400/Z.png" title="Zapruder film - JFK assassination - Jackie climbs back" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">On first viewing, I was of course immensely impressed by Ms. Reynold's handling of the situation. She didn't whistle a happy tune, but did work calmly and valiantly to dissipate the cop's rage, and thereby deny him any excuse to empty the rest of his clip into her face. (She also was communicating with family and friends - a posse of witnesses assembled online.) Had the officer known he was on live-stream, he might have shot her too, and worked with his buddies to fabricate a cover story. What really made me angry, angry enough to want to go after that insane cop myself, was that AFTER he realized his criminal mistake (He screams, literally screams, "<i>Why did you make me do that!</i>") he did not holster his fucking pistol and attempt to give the victim first aid. Three more cops arrive and continue to treat the victim as dog shit. Four men trained in first-aid were on scene, and they just let Castile bleed out. How many times have we witnessed video of cops, swarming like hornets around a single target, continuing to aim weapons at a body riddled by bullets, and even hand-cuffing the dead body? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">On the battlefield when the enemy has been overcome, they are entitled to medical attention, and most soldiers will honour the international laws regulating warfare. Again and again we see evidence that Black men in the U.S. are often denied the same basic rights of an enemy combatant. <b>Micah Johnson</b>, from Mesquite, Texas had served in Afghanistan, and when he came home he was disgusted by the hypocrisy of the American value system, and I am equally sure, the hypocrisy of a Black president who has done virtually nothing to alleviate the carnage on American streets. He, <b>Barack Hussein Obama</b>, has presided over the arming of police departments big and small, with armoured vehicles, machine guns and surveillance drones - all of which will be used to monitor, control and frequently murder American citizens. Shame on him. Legacy? Another lying lawyer come and gone. </span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-inI1Pb4dvxc/V4DFQqtMFZI/AAAAAAAAPco/CQALHQ90-rc8mBmJVffjaO-WVEDaSU2JQCLcB/s1600/Dallas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dallas P.D. - robot used to kill armed suspect July 8, 2016" border="0" height="295" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-inI1Pb4dvxc/V4DFQqtMFZI/AAAAAAAAPco/CQALHQ90-rc8mBmJVffjaO-WVEDaSU2JQCLcB/s400/Dallas.jpg" title="Dallas P.D. - robot used to kill armed suspect July 8, 2016" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Dallas P.D. adapted a bomb-disposal robot to DEPLOY</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>a bomb - killing their sniper suspect Micah Xavier Johnson.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Homeland Security funding is turning America into a battlefield.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Summer 2016 - Stay away from the U.S.A.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">So where do we go from here? Well, like most Canadians, I enter the U.S. at least once or twice a year, usually to shop for antiques (photos and heritage documents) and share an interesting meal. For most of my life I put America up on a pedestal, openly praising its political system and its respect for rights and liberties. All of that changed with 9/11, and certainly with the creation of "Department of Homeland Security". All of sudden a simple trip into America is a scary proposition, even for a 9th generation Canadian with pink skin and a spotless record. I am totally deaf in one ear, and sometimes misinterpret what is said to me, if their is background noise. I can easily imagine the fatal consequences of being pulled over by a heavily armed American cop, and failing to follow his threatening instructions - precisely and with exaggerated care. This is going to be an exceptionally violent summer in the U.S. and I plan to stay home on the sane side of the border. You should too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">SMOKING GUN - the Obligatory Update:</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cf557jQAXdU/V4Gg7EGRDtI/AAAAAAAAPeI/Z2r68LXSfnIEu2tg3QcwPWujlhIRS6wmgCLcB/s1600/Notice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Saint Anthony, Minnesota Police - Servicing Falcon Heights" border="0" height="192" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cf557jQAXdU/V4Gg7EGRDtI/AAAAAAAAPeI/Z2r68LXSfnIEu2tg3QcwPWujlhIRS6wmgCLcB/s320/Notice.jpg" title="Saint Anthony, Minnesota Police - servicing Falcon Heights" width="320" /></a></div>
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A website called <b>HEAVY.COM </b>has a recording made by a civilian who was monitoring Saint Anthony, Minnesota police radio calls, the night of the of the <b>Philando Castile</b> deadly shooting incident in Falcon Heights. Television station <b>KARE11</b> broadcast a report that lays a transcript over the audio recording:</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EVhJEJftUU/V4Fra78HoZI/AAAAAAAAPdk/Oqcxm1CCYAcJPf4-JJY3Jzr_wKe7gjUBgCLcB/s1600/Heavy.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Officer Geronimo Yanez reveals his motive to Police Dispatch" border="0" height="297" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EVhJEJftUU/V4Fra78HoZI/AAAAAAAAPdk/Oqcxm1CCYAcJPf4-JJY3Jzr_wKe7gjUBgCLcB/s400/Heavy.com.jpg" title="Officer Geronimo Yanez reveals his motive to Police Dispatch" width="400" /></a></div>
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This montage is assembled from audiovisual elements produced by HEAVY.COM and KARE11 Television in Minnesota. </div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B-qUTGPgcag/V4Ftbd2PkVI/AAAAAAAAPd0/lZXdXpXSFFsoBhZYdiMzoefuNMvuipWeACLcB/s1600/Transcript%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Philando Castile shooting - audio transcript of police traffic" border="0" height="312" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B-qUTGPgcag/V4Ftbd2PkVI/AAAAAAAAPd0/lZXdXpXSFFsoBhZYdiMzoefuNMvuipWeACLcB/s320/Transcript%2B2.jpg" title="Philando Castile shooting - audio transcript of police traffic" width="320" /></a></div>
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In the mind of Officer Yanez, motor vehicle operator Philandro Castile fit the profile of a robbery suspect, so he felt entitled to pull him over and point a heavy automatic pistol in his face. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iO1mEsVVau0/V4FtSZ914BI/AAAAAAAAPdw/aOAgJLIn1CAai4QHtmoUaSFvnLIF741cwCLcB/s1600/Transcript%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Philando Castile - audio of police check-stop in St. Anthony, Minnesota" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iO1mEsVVau0/V4FtSZ914BI/AAAAAAAAPdw/aOAgJLIn1CAai4QHtmoUaSFvnLIF741cwCLcB/s400/Transcript%2B1.jpg" title="Philando Castile - audio of police check-stop in St. Anthony, Minnesota" width="225" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Down in Mesquite, Texas, <b>Private Micah X. Johnson</b>, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, was already stewing over the most recent incidents of police brutality perpetrated on Black American men. He snapped, and decided to go out for some bloody revenge. What happens next?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;">Update 2: via Live Leak </span> The body of Micah X. Johnson amid the debris, after Dallas Police detonated one pound of C4 plastic explosive carried into the garage by a Robot.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zqwiQoSn51E/V4QU5olDilI/AAAAAAAAPeo/MCpvT9kiaKkjZkbTTAgiToPNp55uhDRQgCLcB/s1600/Micah%2B%2BX%2B%2B...Down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Body of Dallas sniper - Micah X. Johnson, after police detonated C4 bomb" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zqwiQoSn51E/V4QU5olDilI/AAAAAAAAPeo/MCpvT9kiaKkjZkbTTAgiToPNp55uhDRQgCLcB/s1600/Micah%2B%2BX%2B%2B...Down.jpg" title="Body of Dallas sniper - Micah X. Johnson, after police detonated C4 bomb" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>BULLETPROOF WARRIOR</b></span><br />
There was an interesting piece in the<b> New York Times</b> today that describes "<b>Bulletproof Warrior</b>", a training seminar that officer Geronimo Yanez had attended. It pretty much explains how snap-shooting of suspects has become something of a <b>conditioned-response</b> for nervous police officers who are convinced they are in the "Front Line" of a war-equivalent situation.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E5SdbBvV9so/V4pfmVXbZWI/AAAAAAAAPfI/8tcYOUw5MlAYfDucfdOCJxXB1V9RtJoAACLcB/s1600/Bulletproof%2BWarrior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Bullet Proof Warrior - an article in the New York Times" border="0" height="275" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E5SdbBvV9so/V4pfmVXbZWI/AAAAAAAAPfI/8tcYOUw5MlAYfDucfdOCJxXB1V9RtJoAACLcB/s400/Bulletproof%2BWarrior.jpg" title="Bullet Proof Warrior - an article in the New York Times" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you cannot access the <b>New York Times </b>article, try the <a href="http://www.startribune.com/officer-in-castile-case-attended-bulletproof-warrior-training/386717431/">Minneapolis Star-Tribune article</a>, (JULY 12, 2016) which lead the investigation into the company (Calibre Press) providing combat training to law enforcement personnel.</div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-2477032162746851852016-06-20T18:54:00.001-07:002016-06-23T13:26:56.916-07:00EPITAPH FOR 14 GURKHAS - Canada's courageous leader condemns a "cowardly attack" in Kabul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Ah yes, Afghanistan. The war we lost years ago, but still pretend to care about. We Canadians do TOKENISM really well. Everything about our efforts in A-Stan reeks of tokenism. Take for example<b> Justin Trudeau'</b>s response this morning to the most recent Kabul carnage - <b>the murder of 14 Gurkha's </b>of the Canadian Embassy security force: </div>
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Justin Tweeted: "<i><b>Today's attack on security workers in Kabul is appalling and cowardly. Our thoughts are with the victims as we stand with the Afghan people</b></i>."</div>
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Justin is wrong of course. He often is. The weekend attack wasn't cowardly at all but it was certainly cunning. Kabul is one of the most locked-down cities in any war zone, and a Taliban Kamikaze who manages to strike a military target inside that city has balls the size of B.C. apples. The attack on our Embassy security personnel was precise and extremely lethal. Latest word from Kabul is that several team-mates on staff are seriously thinking of quitting and going home. They should. Unemployment in earthquake ravaged Nepal, is preferable to taking a salvo of steel pellets from the next suicide bomber. Canada has set these brave men up to be killed, and the fourteen families deserve huge financial compensation.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5hYLvMVu2UM/V2h4RSvJDNI/AAAAAAAAPYg/LxZQYT5bolQa9ffpWrecMqx-cwwEqAkdQCLcB/s1600/epitaph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="14 murdered Gurkhas - Justin Trudeau Tweets" border="0" height="212" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5hYLvMVu2UM/V2h4RSvJDNI/AAAAAAAAPYg/LxZQYT5bolQa9ffpWrecMqx-cwwEqAkdQCLcB/s320/epitaph.jpg" title="14 murdered Gurkhas - Justin Trudeau Tweets" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Packed like Tourists in a Mini-bus</b></span></div>
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The Ambassador herself, <b>Ms. Deborah Lyons</b>, didn''t go anywhere in Kabul unless her fanny was riding above armour plate and she was waving to the Afghan children through bullet-proof glass. Why then would we ever cheap-out and transport the Canadian embassy security crews in rickety tour buses? The very idea is grotesque and SHAMEFUL. We would never put Canadian troops or RCMP officers at such risk, so which parsimonious Ottawa bureaucrat gave the O.K. to transport out Gurkha guard force in vehicles that have the bullet resistance of a Coca-Cola can?</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qVJcDLdTZrw/V2hxsPdFi6I/AAAAAAAAPYI/ProR04Ibbx4AGufeT54eaSa6169TFHlGACLcB/s1600/Blog%2BMini%2Bbus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kabul Suicide bombing, June 20, 2016" border="0" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qVJcDLdTZrw/V2hxsPdFi6I/AAAAAAAAPYI/ProR04Ibbx4AGufeT54eaSa6169TFHlGACLcB/s400/Blog%2BMini%2Bbus.jpg" title="Kabul suicide bombing, June 20, 2016" width="400" /></a></div>
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Look closely at these photos. A few hours ago the punctured bodies of 14 Gurkha security officers (12 Nepalese and 2 Indian) were pulled from those seats. Kabul firemen broke the windows with pick axes to ease the extraction of dead and wounded. Those who survived have pellet wounds to the head. The Taliban suicide bomber was wearing a carefully manufactured explosive belt that rammed a high-velocity pattern through the windshield and into the faces of the passengers. </div>
If our Gurkha security personnel had been riding in an armoured vehicle, not a single man would have been killed by that type of explosive belt. So why weren't they?<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SzDZDISgso4/V2hx0q7zE1I/AAAAAAAAPYQ/nAw4q77zK5Mpq116JhwHBoD03R6mSTu1gCLcB/s1600/Blog%2Bducks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="suicide bomber - Canadian Embassy Kabul" border="0" height="265" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SzDZDISgso4/V2hx0q7zE1I/AAAAAAAAPYQ/nAw4q77zK5Mpq116JhwHBoD03R6mSTu1gCLcB/s400/Blog%2Bducks.jpg" title="suicide bomber - Canadian Embassy Kabul" width="400" /></a></div>
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I draw your attention, once again, to the photo evidence. Not a single hole in the aluminum body of the bus. Not even a flat tire. The entire dispersion pattern is through the front windshield. How much do you bet that the suicide bomber stepped directly in front of the bus, and that the passengers were craning their necks to look at him? In that frozen moment in time, most of those killed probably understood they were staring at death. These "security workers" as Trudeau so stupidly labeled them, were all ex-military, with years of experience in war zones. All are veterans of the British, Indian or Nepalese Armies. These were all employed by <b>SABRE INTERNATIONAL</b>, the private security company that currently holds the contract for defending the Canadian Embassy from Taliban insurgents. The requirements for Guard Force employment are six years of military or police service, of which two years must have been in "<i>Iraq, Afghanistan or other high threat location</i>". All of that professional training and experience for US$1200 per month. A really sweet deal for us, eh?</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IbrYUBK64l0/V2iC-N1J3FI/AAAAAAAAPY8/pDNUcGMR2BQfbJZJSFwXs1-DdikcVXzaACLcB/s1600/Dispersion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="suicide bombing Kabul - 14 dead in mini-bus" border="0" height="236" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IbrYUBK64l0/V2iC-N1J3FI/AAAAAAAAPY8/pDNUcGMR2BQfbJZJSFwXs1-DdikcVXzaACLcB/s400/Dispersion.jpg" title="suicide bombing Kabul - 14 dead in mini-bus" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Our Ambassador on Vacation - </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The Gurkhas were the Target </b></span></div>
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The Canadian Embassy in Kabul is a very hard target, and it would be near impossible for the Taliban to take it out. There are said to be 147 Nepali's on the payroll, and always a few dozen on home leave. That leaves a total of 82 Gurkhas on the guard force, divided between two teams, working in three shifts. There are never less than twenty on the property. At the slightest sign of trouble the Ambassador is whisked into a self-contained bunker, and the gunships would be overhead before the assault team could breach the door. But that wasn't the point. The Ambassador, Deborah Lyons, is actually on vacation. The Trudeau government has reassigned her to Israel, and she packed her green scarves away. The Tweet attributed to her, earlier today, and from various Ottawa luminaries, is actually staff work. The Gurkhas are now responsible for guarding all the major embassies in Kabul, and the Taliban is sending a potent message. So potent in fact, that some of the Gurkhas are sure to buckle, especially if cheapskate employers like Canada, persist in sending them back to barracks each day in tour coaches. </div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9bsy6Op_KJ4/V2iFBSBVppI/AAAAAAAAPZU/LD5JPg9qoIEuMnNmY1innoN7b1I2sh0fgCLcB/s1600/meet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Deborah Lyons - Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan" border="0" height="292" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9bsy6Op_KJ4/V2iFBSBVppI/AAAAAAAAPZU/LD5JPg9qoIEuMnNmY1innoN7b1I2sh0fgCLcB/s400/meet.jpg" title="Deborah Lyons - Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The Canadian Government </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Squandered 14 Good Men</b></span></div>
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As a Canadian, I am sincerely ashamed that we set these men up for a brutal and needless death. In fact it is my fervent wish that a Toronto or Vancouver law firm will take up the case of their grieving families, and negotiate a meaningful settlement... say a million dollars per family. I didn't vote for Justin but I'd vote "Yes" for compensating Canada's most loyal employees in Kabul. Describing the dead men as part off the Embassy "family" (as was attributed to Ms. Lyons) is meaningless horse shit. At minimum she should be required to fly to Nepal to attend the funerals, and deliver the first compensation cheques to the grieving families. </div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">Updated- June 22 - Toll is now 15 Dead Security Guards. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OICukP4sHPU/V2xFcE4yLiI/AAAAAAAAPbY/IyDvekv5FhU86hAHhvqUSdKZBOYWN3pBQCLcB/s1600/Toll%2Bis%2B15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Canadian Embassy Kabul - Death Toll is now 15" border="0" height="93" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OICukP4sHPU/V2xFcE4yLiI/AAAAAAAAPbY/IyDvekv5FhU86hAHhvqUSdKZBOYWN3pBQCLcB/s320/Toll%2Bis%2B15.jpg" title="Canadian Embassy Kabul - Death Toll is now 15" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HnH8nhKEbA/V2iBXmhjenI/AAAAAAAAPYw/vQBByJjzLewVoz-RgDqHkhyDCh2mM_tNgCLcB/s1600/0na.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Gurkha hero in Afghanistan terror war" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HnH8nhKEbA/V2iBXmhjenI/AAAAAAAAPYw/vQBByJjzLewVoz-RgDqHkhyDCh2mM_tNgCLcB/s320/0na.jpg" title="Gurkha hero in Afghanistan terror war" width="303" /></a></div>
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The Gurkhas are of course a legendary breed of fighting men, and there is no need for me to rehash their battlefield accomplishments here. This single Internet scrape ("A one-man army") is illustrative of Gurkha valour - specifically as it pertains to Afghanistan. </div>
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I did search today for some statement from the security contractor, SABRE INTERNATIONAL, but did not find one. Let us all hope that Ottawa, and SABRE, will now budget for some armoured transport for the remaining members of our Embassy security force. I suppose buckets of hot blood may not be sufficient to effect change. It will be up to Her Majesty's Official Opposition, supported by a few Ottawa journalists, to turn this ugly incident into a political issue. Actually, I don't believe many Canadians will give a shit about dead Gurkhas, but Trudeau has to because more will die unless we learn from this tragic blunder. </div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fpq-ps4Y6kI/V2iDJjgFnlI/AAAAAAAAPZE/JMkfWadm2AE6aeLeoVAzwTtW6PsWFEvXgCLcB/s1600/Sabre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sabre International - Employment requirements, Ex military staff" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fpq-ps4Y6kI/V2iDJjgFnlI/AAAAAAAAPZE/JMkfWadm2AE6aeLeoVAzwTtW6PsWFEvXgCLcB/s400/Sabre.jpg" title="Sabre International - Employment requirements, Ex military staff" width="366" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WHY AWKWARD?</b></span><br />
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This story is going to disappear extremely fast simply because there are no photographs of the dead. Canadian brains in the 21st Century don't register words. They only respond to images. Unfortunately for the Gurkhas, the Kabul security forces were EXTREMELY EFFICIENT at the blast site, and the media cowed. If photos were taken of the carnage, not a single news agency has released any. All evidence of the gore was hosed away within a few hours, and the bus itself was secured in a compound with high walls. </div>
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I close with an extract from a column in the TORONTO STAR today (June 20/16)<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRuFwq-2834/V2lDrsa866I/AAAAAAAAPZk/cychfEljA8kN1EC6Pg8WOAsVaHHihOJBACLcB/s1600/Awkward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Gurkha rights - Canadian responsibility" border="0" height="93" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRuFwq-2834/V2lDrsa866I/AAAAAAAAPZk/cychfEljA8kN1EC6Pg8WOAsVaHHihOJBACLcB/s400/Awkward.jpg" title="Gurkha rights - Canadian responsibility" width="400" /></a></div>
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UPDATE TO STORY:<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">NEPALI M.P. slams Canadian "negligence"... as he should.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">DO THE RIGHT THEING OTTAWA . DON'T MAKE THEM BEG ! </span></b><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">AFTERMATH - </span><span style="font-size: large;">12 returned to Nepal, 2 to India</span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gKJDBjtTpsw/V2wzmyCPn3I/AAAAAAAAPag/Erw0gLxOCho0lphTSdbMjWzDzzgQRGRnwCLcB/s1600/Coffins%2B%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Canadian Embassy Afghanistan - coffins of 14 murdered Gurkha guards" border="0" height="408" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gKJDBjtTpsw/V2wzmyCPn3I/AAAAAAAAPag/Erw0gLxOCho0lphTSdbMjWzDzzgQRGRnwCLcB/s640/Coffins%2B%2B2.jpg" title="Canadian Embassy Afghanistan - coffins of 14 murdered Gurkha guards" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Nepal Airlines today returned the bodies of twelve Gurkha guards to their grieving families. The dead, all employed as security at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, were slain by a Taliban guerrilla who detonated a suicide vest in their faces. In addition to the dead, 24 Nepalese from our Embassy guard force returned on the Nepal Airlines flight.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pNDn9w4BI-8/V2w1HJ3Y7mI/AAAAAAAAPas/cYaoWRx9rE05M_NRZuU52TjlMdNGT8-4gCLcB/s1600/coffins%2B1jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Grieving family members of Nepalese personnel killed in Afghanistan" border="0" height="425" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pNDn9w4BI-8/V2w1HJ3Y7mI/AAAAAAAAPas/cYaoWRx9rE05M_NRZuU52TjlMdNGT8-4gCLcB/s640/coffins%2B1jpg.jpg" title="Grieving family members of Nepalese personnel killed in Afghanistan" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>A widow is comforted at the ceremony. Each of the 12 coffins returned from Kabul was labeled (by the Kabul Police Forensic Lab)with a colour enlargement from their Nepal passport. The coffins were transported from the airport to the gravesite in Nepal Army trucks. All of the Canadian Embassy guards are ex-soldiers and entitled to full military honours.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QNpKJQp2yEw/V2w2Zc5jq-I/AAAAAAAAPa4/ilR3neE6-ko1T9j9UEPw7UTIuXnkkSUOgCLcB/s1600/Coffins%2B%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Military funeral (June 21, 2016) for Gurkha guards slain enroute to Canadian Embassy Kabul" border="0" height="394" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QNpKJQp2yEw/V2w2Zc5jq-I/AAAAAAAAPa4/ilR3neE6-ko1T9j9UEPw7UTIuXnkkSUOgCLcB/s640/Coffins%2B%2B3.jpg" title="Military funeral (June 21, 2016) for Gurkha guards slain enroute to Canadian Embassy Kabul" width="640" /></a></div>
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If these men were White Canadians, employed by our Embassy in Kabul, this service would be broadcast live on all television networks. <b> This IS a Canadian event</b>, and we shouldn't turn our face away. As well, we must not turn our backs on these grieving families.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;"><b>BANG ! Our Embassy loses Gurkha Guards</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GWnV6FwtGqk/V2w_IeVLgcI/AAAAAAAAPbI/RAjVF_OIlzcTjxkIxkzKnzkpiQ58zdd7QCLcB/s1600/Ban.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nepal Government pulls security guards from Canadian Embassy, Kabul" border="0" height="103" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GWnV6FwtGqk/V2w_IeVLgcI/AAAAAAAAPbI/RAjVF_OIlzcTjxkIxkzKnzkpiQ58zdd7QCLcB/s400/Ban.jpg" title="Nepal Government pulls security guards from Canadian Embassy, Kabul" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>KATHMANDU, June 23: Following the Afghanistan bomb attack which killed 13 Nepali citizens, the government has imposed a ban on employment for Nepali workers in the four conflict-ravaged countries of Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Iraq. </b><br />
A cabinet meeting held at Baluwatar Thursday decided not to issue any kind of work permit to Nepali nationals in any of the four countries for the time being. <br />
"Until the government takes another decision on the matter, Nepali workers will not be allowed to work in the four countries," Minister for Information and Communications Sher Dhan Rai said.<br />
Likewise, the cabinet has decided to immediately hold talks with the Afghanistan government to seek guarantees for the security of Nepali workers still in that country. <br />
"The meeting has also decided to make necessary arrangements to bring back Nepali nationals from Afghanistan who want to return home in the wake of the bomb attack," said Minister Rai.<br />
According to Tourism Minister Ananda Pokharel, over 20,000 Nepalis may be working in Afghanistan both legally and illegally. Government records show that it has issued permits to over 8,889 Nepalis to work as security guards in Afghanistan.<br />
"The government has also decided to ask the Afghanistan government to immediately investigate the attack and make the details public," said Minister Rai, who is the spokesperson of the government. <br />
<b>Likewise, the government has decided to ask the Canadian government for its official statement about the attack. The Canadian government has not issued any statement so far. </b><br />
As many as 24 Nepalis, who returned to Nepal on Thursday along with the bodies of 12 of those killed in the attack, said the embassy had intelligence reports about the attack but did not caution them. <b>As many as 147 Nepali security guards were providing security at the Canadian embassy in Kabul. </b><br />
"<b>The cabinet meeting also decided to provide Rs 1 million each to the families of the 13 Nepalis killed in the attack," Minister Rai said, adding that the government will cover the medical expense of six other Nepalis, who were injured in the attack. The injured are currently undergoing medical treatment at a hospital in India. </b></div>
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<b>Ronald J. Jack</b><br />
<b>Burnaby, B.C.</b>Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-45385952226789265042016-05-05T23:23:00.000-07:002016-08-03T19:16:42.427-07:00Nineteen Eighty-four - The Reader's Digest version (Really!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1wbBvX_6xnA/VywcDn3nHyI/AAAAAAAAPD0/LIcN62TXWxsuOwhtUlfYgUcA3wa1g33GACLcB/s1600/RD%2B1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1984 - George Orwell. Covers displayed by a Google search" border="0" height="308" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1wbBvX_6xnA/VywcDn3nHyI/AAAAAAAAPD0/LIcN62TXWxsuOwhtUlfYgUcA3wa1g33GACLcB/s400/RD%2B1984.jpg" title="1984 - George Orwell. Covers displayed by a Google search" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Ronald J. Jack</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>May 5, 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have probably been guiding students through the 300-plus pages of George Orwell's</span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Nineteen Eighty-four</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: bold;"> far </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">longer than is good for me, but the job is not yet done. "<b>1984</b>" grows more influential each year, and it simply cannot be dispensed with. Once young adults are convinced of its importance as a literary work, and its significance to modern political criticism, they commit to it, and finish the reading. However, too many students simply cannot read, or refuse to try. Here in British Columbia the novel is still in the Curriculum, but I know of teachers who simply show the movie, thus avoiding the obvious frustrations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now and then I have caught myself giving up on a complainer, "<i>Look, if I had a Reader's Digest edition I would give it to you</i>!" Frustration often peaks when we hit "Goldstein's book", or to be more precise, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> "THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Image my surprise, and delight, to learn that there really was a <b>Reader's Digest</b> edition of <i><b>Nineteen Eighty-four</b></i>. On Tuesday I encountered an old and very yellowed anthology, printed in postwar England. I paid my Loonie and carried home my prize. As you will see for yourself, an un-named wordsmith had rendered the 312 page Orwell novel to a scant 29 pages!!! Of course the irony is as thick as a mattress, given that very brutal process is the subject of the novel. <b> Winston Smith</b>, a skilled employee of the <b>Ministry of Truth</b>, spends his days destroying printed texts and condemned images, as well as rewriting other men's prose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This<b> Reader's Digest </b>novel "condensation" is now 67 years old. Long out of print, it has no commercial value whatever. And yet I did promise several students, if I had a copy... So, as a gift to lazy students worldwide, I hereunder present you the scanned pages of George Orwell, his masterpiece gutted and trimmed as no literary work should ever be rendered. </span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SF6RgZaB3SU/VywcmQOuq2I/AAAAAAAAPD4/bA8EDjeQ_gwI-IpWDn-hhzj13bjHrfYgQCLcB/s1600/1984%2Bex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="George Orwell's Literary Estate - the 2004 Sunday Times investigation" border="0" height="272" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SF6RgZaB3SU/VywcmQOuq2I/AAAAAAAAPD4/bA8EDjeQ_gwI-IpWDn-hhzj13bjHrfYgQCLcB/s400/1984%2Bex.jpg" title="George Orwell's Literary Estate - the 2004 Sunday Times investigation" width="400" /></a></div>
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As an additional service, I would also point readers in the direction of a fascinating investigation into the fate of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell">Eric Blair's</a> literary estate. Written by <b>Tim Carroll</b> and originally published by the SUNDAY TIMES in 2004, the scanned pages of the article "<i><a href="http://www.orwelltoday.com/orwellwriterwronged.shtml">A WRITER WRONGED</a></i>" can be read on the website called ORWELL TODAY. The magazine cuttings are greatly reduced from the original page size, so I have enhanced them a bit, and share them again here. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qBYJYluxikI/Vyy3glgHuXI/AAAAAAAAPGU/4r1pjYnw6KAavpeasgagknhQ3YH0A8hmQCLcB/s1600/Blog%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Orwell - A Writer Wronged, by Tim Carroll (2004)" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qBYJYluxikI/Vyy3glgHuXI/AAAAAAAAPGU/4r1pjYnw6KAavpeasgagknhQ3YH0A8hmQCLcB/s400/Blog%2B2.jpg" title="Orwell - A Writer Wronged, by Tim Carroll (2004)" width="293" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmcwJvoEfwc/Vyy3_7QxnCI/AAAAAAAAPGY/UyguMBE9Yeok5Ek-ucPSDOZKHHtXmue5gCLcB/s1600/Blog%2BThree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Orwell - A Writer Wronged, by Tim Carroll (2004)" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmcwJvoEfwc/Vyy3_7QxnCI/AAAAAAAAPGY/UyguMBE9Yeok5Ek-ucPSDOZKHHtXmue5gCLcB/s400/Blog%2BThree.jpg" title="Orwell - A Writer Wronged, by Tim Carroll (2004)" width="296" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">On April 22, 1947 Orwell's American publisher,<i> Harcourt, Brace and Company</i>, sent an ADVANCE COPY of the novel to <b>J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the F.B.I. </b> The key points, I think, are the forthright statements - "<b><i>The world of 1984 that he depicts is one in which wars are continually maintained without victories or defeats as an economic policy. ... The book leaves the reader with the shocked feeling that there is not a single horrible feature in the world of 1984 that is not present, in embryo, today</i>.</b>" Some embryo.</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZOV3yQsuHis/V6KjAcmpJnI/AAAAAAAAPnA/gG0LMRwQTRA_M300_iqu5JCGA9pdkwCPQCLcB/s1600/1947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Orwell - Nineteen Eighty Four - Advance Copy to J. Edgar Hoover, F.B.I. Director" border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZOV3yQsuHis/V6KjAcmpJnI/AAAAAAAAPnA/gG0LMRwQTRA_M300_iqu5JCGA9pdkwCPQCLcB/s640/1947.jpg" title="Orwell - Nineteen Eighty Four - Advance Copy to J. Edgar Hoover, F.B.I. Director" width="488" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The READER'S DIGEST version (Sept. 1949)</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTrFsolhPek/Vywd8RxtFbI/AAAAAAAAPEI/jdBq8xZ__RsILBjkYReOJanKo2EtIJcSgCLcB/s1600/84%2B-%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1984 by George Orwell - the Reader's Digest 1949, Introduction" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTrFsolhPek/Vywd8RxtFbI/AAAAAAAAPEI/jdBq8xZ__RsILBjkYReOJanKo2EtIJcSgCLcB/s320/84%2B-%2B1.jpg" title="1984 by George Orwell - the Reader's Digest 1949, Introduction" width="234" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M7pg56_nPn4/VyweE-tfKHI/AAAAAAAAPEM/-qxOreC7OWoozq3guWL-HST8CVzBPVRMACLcB/s1600/1984%2B-%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1984 - The Reader's Digest version, 29 pages long" border="0" height="217" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M7pg56_nPn4/VyweE-tfKHI/AAAAAAAAPEM/-qxOreC7OWoozq3guWL-HST8CVzBPVRMACLcB/s320/1984%2B-%2B2.jpg" title="1984 - The Reader's Digest version, 29 pages long" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P-uBCgOHnR4/VyweK0feSJI/AAAAAAAAPEQ/lcjzGITvs3cnMgNVTZagonn_J1N9zYJ3gCLcB/s1600/1984%2B-%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1984 - The READER'S DIGEST condensation - 29 pages" border="0" height="220" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P-uBCgOHnR4/VyweK0feSJI/AAAAAAAAPEQ/lcjzGITvs3cnMgNVTZagonn_J1N9zYJ3gCLcB/s320/1984%2B-%2B3.jpg" title="1984 - The READER'S DIGEST condensation - 29 pages" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V6kQ6I0-AIM/VyweQysgeqI/AAAAAAAAPEU/-5ZQXRyeWIg2un0TcNHfg1ZOpzaP579NACLcB/s1600/1984%2B-%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nineteen Eighty-four, The READER'S DIGEST version, 29 pages" border="0" height="220" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V6kQ6I0-AIM/VyweQysgeqI/AAAAAAAAPEU/-5ZQXRyeWIg2un0TcNHfg1ZOpzaP579NACLcB/s320/1984%2B-%2B4.jpg" title="Nineteen Eighty-four, The READER'S DIGEST version, 29 pages" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2wAPUEpjU7g/VyweWh8gu_I/AAAAAAAAPEY/-EGs29ops5cgUKAmBSXsgHilkFli4xIzACLcB/s1600/1984%2B-%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nineteen Eighty-four, George Orwell, READER'S DIGEST, 1949" border="0" height="221" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2wAPUEpjU7g/VyweWh8gu_I/AAAAAAAAPEY/-EGs29ops5cgUKAmBSXsgHilkFli4xIzACLcB/s320/1984%2B-%2B5.jpg" title="Nineteen Eighty-four, George Orwell, RESDER'S DIGEST, 1949" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hBDRB8mA4_g/VyyvkAIVg_I/AAAAAAAAPGE/EfdiFp2A9GI_Y_ym96I6G8MM8GmNmu-IACLcB/s1600/Youtube%2Bcommentary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1984 - Official trailer on YOUTUBE, high school student's posted comment" border="0" height="333" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hBDRB8mA4_g/VyyvkAIVg_I/AAAAAAAAPGE/EfdiFp2A9GI_Y_ym96I6G8MM8GmNmu-IACLcB/s400/Youtube%2Bcommentary.jpg" title="1984 - Official trailer on YOUTUBE, high school student's posted comment" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red;">This is a screen grab from the DVD edition of NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR. I checked for the official movie trailer on YOUTUBE today, and read a few of the posted comments. I don't know where Amy Cardenas is living, but I would believe Vancouver, Canada. Her experience matches what I have observed.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kKrJ0n3Jyx8/VyzRCuW0jVI/AAAAAAAAPGs/ecBC_w4lwXoQ4I1S9lhUKl4y3Nc9zGL8gCLcB/s1600/amy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Amy Cardenas - the apple who makes a difference" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kKrJ0n3Jyx8/VyzRCuW0jVI/AAAAAAAAPGs/ecBC_w4lwXoQ4I1S9lhUKl4y3Nc9zGL8gCLcB/s320/amy.jpg" title="Amy Cardenas - the apple who makes a difference" width="261" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X8WBUYSY8YU/VywedsqIk4I/AAAAAAAAPEc/60gao98xMeclY94EcyiQfAUltOcXqNebACLcB/s1600/1984%2B-%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="George Orwell - 1984, READER'S DIGEST condensed book, 1949" border="0" height="221" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X8WBUYSY8YU/VywedsqIk4I/AAAAAAAAPEc/60gao98xMeclY94EcyiQfAUltOcXqNebACLcB/s320/1984%2B-%2B6.jpg" title="George Orwell - 1984, READER'S DIGEST condensed book, 1949" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BxwhOCpYghM/VywejRpCdBI/AAAAAAAAPEk/MKVaa8rPI047SNgguAP_4R4iXPLVlkTZwCLcB/s1600/1984%2B%2B-%2B7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1984b- by George Orwell, The Reader's Digest version = 29 pages" border="0" height="221" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BxwhOCpYghM/VywejRpCdBI/AAAAAAAAPEk/MKVaa8rPI047SNgguAP_4R4iXPLVlkTZwCLcB/s320/1984%2B%2B-%2B7.jpg" title="1984 - by George Orwell, The Reader's Digest version = 29 pages" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qAEym1mPsVE/VywjMxUVD3I/AAAAAAAAPF0/LizwgNZz7CETEFMdUCRxNI899Mfqlra7ACLcB/s1600/Jacket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell, First edition, London 1949" border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qAEym1mPsVE/VywjMxUVD3I/AAAAAAAAPF0/LizwgNZz7CETEFMdUCRxNI899Mfqlra7ACLcB/s640/Jacket.jpg" title="Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell, First edition, London 1949" width="472" /></a></div>
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Book collectors, (and I am one) often favour one edition of a novel over all others. I have <b>Nineteen Eighty-four</b> in several editions as well as audio and video products, but I suppose I do prefer the Penguin paperback edition that I encountered in high school English class. The first London edition (above) had a jacket designed by <b>Michael Kennard.</b> He superimposed the novels title over the numeral "1984". Students of today's FACEBOOK - TWITTER generation (who are easily bored by vocabulary) often consider spelling out the year date to be a fussy pretence, even after reading the opening line: "<i>It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen</i>." By the end of the novel they are receptive to Orwell's ideas about language as employed by totalitarian authority.</div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-71224556209081535492016-04-01T22:25:00.002-07:002016-04-07T20:46:08.073-07:00Margaret Trudeau's Bum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Canadian Folk Culture images selected from </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>the RUNAGATES CLUB digital archives,</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>by Ronald J. Jack</b></span></div>
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Most Canadians of middle-age (my age) have seen photographs of <b>Margaret Trudeau</b>'s... "bum". The word bum is of course, a euphemism. Canadian slang for what Margaret flashed to the paparazzi is her "beaver", although folks today are more direct.</div>
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So why did Maggie's "bum" become a political story back in 1979? </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yIFTPNe-u6k/Vv85Aai74II/AAAAAAAAOzs/_jTt2TW7H8EOA0yfsQBtHqC33EB-Pszeg/s1600/bum%2Bbutton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Margaret Trudeau campaign button - 1979 or 1980 Federal election" border="0" height="388" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yIFTPNe-u6k/Vv85Aai74II/AAAAAAAAOzs/_jTt2TW7H8EOA0yfsQBtHqC33EB-Pszeg/s400/bum%2Bbutton.jpg" title="Margaret Trudeau campaign button - 1979 or 1980 Federal election" width="400" /></a></div>
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Pierre Elliott Trudeau resigned his party leadership following its defeat in the <b>1979 Federal Election</b>. The <b>LIBERAL PARTY</b> was thrown into chaos and could not find a new leader. The pitiful TORY government under Joe Clark collapsed after only a few months, and Trudeau rushed back to lead his party in a crushing defeat of the <b>CONSERVATIVES.</b></div>
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I was at university during both Federal elections and I considered both federal parties archaic and corrupt. During the 1980 Canadian Federal Election, though busy with my studies, I was asked to work as campaign manager for the <b>LIBERTARIAN</b> candidate in Fredericton, N.B. We didn't have a pot to piss in, no campaign buttons or lawn signs, but we offered an alternative to voters in the UNB campus area. I was aware that Trudeau's wife had disgraced herself in New York, but I had not seen what many Canadians had seen - the photographs in<b> HIGH SOCIETY </b>magazine.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JCRHkZPmId8/Vv85GpADkDI/AAAAAAAAOzw/MnyYHxJELmM2t8svIcb5H1Af8IXtJhfVA/s1600/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Margaret Trudeau - cover of HIGH SOCIETY, September 1979" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JCRHkZPmId8/Vv85GpADkDI/AAAAAAAAOzw/MnyYHxJELmM2t8svIcb5H1Af8IXtJhfVA/s400/cover.jpg" title="Margaret Trudeau - cover of HIGH SOCIETY, September 1979" width="316" /></a></div>
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In 1979 Margaret Trudeau was separated from her husband, promoting her memoirs, and trying to establish herself as a serious career woman. Trading on her fame as the wife of Canada's "playboy" prime minister, she spent too much time in New York nightclubs, including <b>STUDIO 54</b>, where she mixed with bigger egos and competed for attention. Her chosen stratagem was to deliberately hitch up her skirt and expose herself to photographers. </div>
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HIGH SOCIETY magazine (two million copy circulation in 1979) bought a few photos and decided to give Mrs. Trudeau the cover. In August of 1979 Canadians were salivating to get their hands on a copy. When a Canadian reporter questioned the magazine's motives, the editor responded: "<i>She's a public figure. If she doesn't want this kind of attention, then I think she should keep her panties on</i>."</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MIe9L9o2Iqo/Vv85Mi2Yh8I/AAAAAAAAOz0/46opTaCmwxws0YY3qlW0M6eErW918_Z-g/s1600/yellow%2Bpen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Margaret Trudeau poses without panties, New York 1979" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MIe9L9o2Iqo/Vv85Mi2Yh8I/AAAAAAAAOz0/46opTaCmwxws0YY3qlW0M6eErW918_Z-g/s400/yellow%2Bpen.jpg" title="Margaret Trudeau poses without panties, New York 1979" width="273" /></a></div>
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The insinuation had always been that the pussy photos had damaged the Liberals, but I don't think that was true. In the region of Canada I come from, the Maritime Provinces, you needed few excuses to denigrate your political opponent. I do recall hollow comments at the time like, "<i>If he can't control his wife, how can he run the country</i>?" Any honest critic had to admit the truth - that Pierre Trudeau was a master tactician, and he would continue Lord it over Canada as long as it pleased him. </div>
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I was not one of those mocking the Emperor for his wife's indecent exposure, because at the time I just didn't think Margaret Trudeau was interesting in any respect. And I was far too serious in my studies to think of buying a trashy magazine to snicker over. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztvVq3nu6Ho/Vv85SdxtRlI/AAAAAAAAOz4/UbZiVNJRj_oonQZDt62YDg91593t1X5zw/s1600/flashing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Margaret Trudeau at STUDIO 54 - exposing her vagina to cameras" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztvVq3nu6Ho/Vv85SdxtRlI/AAAAAAAAOz4/UbZiVNJRj_oonQZDt62YDg91593t1X5zw/s400/flashing.jpg" title="Margaret Trudeau at STUDIO 54 - exposing her vagina to cameras" width="261" /></a></div>
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But something odd happened. In the summer of 1984 I was invited to travel to Taiwan to join with representatives from twenty-four countries on a fact-finding tour. We were introduced to dozens of top business and political leaders, and toured everything of interest in the country including military bases. As the sole delegate representing Canada, I was approached by a radio reporter from South African Broadcasting who was doing a story on the cultural exchange. I just couldn't fathom his initial question. A full five years after the Margaret Trudeau photo-scandal, a reporter wanted me to record what Canadians thought about her behaviour. Now, Maggie's hairy monkey hadn't meant a thing to me, but I had to respond with something worthy of his recording tape. But I'm sure I disappointed him.</div>
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I found interesting employment in Taiwan and stayed for a few years, but on return to Canada I did eventually encounter the infamous edition of HIGH SOCIETY. The shots of Maggie's pudenda are not so hot, but they are reflective of where society was already headed. Margaret's mania was only limited by technology. Had she a cellphone back in 1979, Mrs. Trudeau would have taken her own crotch-shots and posted them all over Social Media. Showing your body to the world is a rather obligatory stunt among the truly desperate in 2016. It was sad then, and it is boring today.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RSfq4zS2YVE/Vv85Yn6K0nI/AAAAAAAAOz8/qYq2ZJDSA5gF8_6ksNLKmM3xv-wI_Bczw/s1600/one-piece.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Margaret Trudeau - posing in a bathing suit, 1979" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RSfq4zS2YVE/Vv85Yn6K0nI/AAAAAAAAOz8/qYq2ZJDSA5gF8_6ksNLKmM3xv-wI_Bczw/s400/one-piece.jpg" title="Margaret Trudeau - posing in a bathing suit, 1979" width="307" /></a></div>
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It might amaze a few readers to know that the assorted Trudeau scandals have been studied by serious scholars, including Canadian folklorists. One research paper I have at hand is a collection of Trudeauisms, including satire songs and jokes. Two of the more amusing are:</div>
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Q: What has the most fingerprints - the RCMP, CIA or MTA?</div>
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A: MTA - Margaret Trudeau's ass.</div>
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Q: What do Margaret Trudeau and Maureen McTeer have in common?</div>
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A: They both like to blow a little dope? </div>
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[Ms. McTeer was P.M. Joe Clark's wife. Margaret Trudeau was widely known to be an addictive pot smoker. She passed that pleasure on to her son Justin.]<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PNpOI3Lhw2c/VwAd09CkdAI/AAAAAAAAO0s/VEVPIz61zMYD26cu__IDQQ4jUWEIyFPeg/s1600/Margaret.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=""MARGARET" - satire recorded by Toronto disc jockey Frank Proctor" border="0" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PNpOI3Lhw2c/VwAd09CkdAI/AAAAAAAAO0s/VEVPIz61zMYD26cu__IDQQ4jUWEIyFPeg/s320/Margaret.jpg" title=""MARGARET" - satire recorded by Toronto disc jockey Frank Proctor " width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>D-jay Frank Proctor recorded the satire "MARGARET" in 1977,</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>but it got banned from Canadian radio after a few weeks. The</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>song predated Maggie's display of pudenda by two years.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The recording is on YOUTUBE. Just jump to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdwXR53Zakc">MARGARET</a>.</b></span></div>
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WIKIPEDIA articles often discuss a given events "<b>Cultural Impact</b>", or how often it is referenced or parodied in the Popular Culture. There is certainly other Trudeau trash besides the campaign button I could share here in the Blog, but perhaps the most interesting referent is a printed album jacket produced in Vancouver in 1979. It is for the<b> punk rock band "D.O.A." </b> who recorded a record entitled "<i>TRIUMPH OF THE IGNOROIDS</i>". The first pressing off the record was 1000 copies and it sold out instantly... perhaps a testament to the qualities of the music, or maybe because buyers sensed that a shot of Margaret Trudeau's hairy snatch might amuse their friends.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NywiW5AdW0Q/Vv85epRBTSI/AAAAAAAAO0A/RRPkD1zPNDMiphmnEbvQmVFht-270qXkw/s1600/punk%2Bpussy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="D.O.A. - Vancouver punk band - 1979 Margaret Trudeau album cover" border="0" height="518" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NywiW5AdW0Q/Vv85epRBTSI/AAAAAAAAO0A/RRPkD1zPNDMiphmnEbvQmVFht-270qXkw/s640/punk%2Bpussy.jpg" title="D.O.A. - Vancouver punk band - 1979 Margaret Trudeau album cover" width="640" /></a></div>
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Trudeau went into deep psycho-therapy and claimed to have given up the recreational drugs. But there is is some evidence that she never managed to pull herself together. All through her life she continued to act weird, especially when anyone pointed a camera at her.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sOY8CvV3mkg/Vv85mBZR-nI/AAAAAAAAO0I/pBfLpS47gZUQbVLT2bD0_zwCJSMg8ttaw/s1600/weird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Margaret Trudeau exposes her naked son Kyle to camera, Ottawa 1979" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sOY8CvV3mkg/Vv85mBZR-nI/AAAAAAAAO0I/pBfLpS47gZUQbVLT2bD0_zwCJSMg8ttaw/s400/weird.jpg" title="Margaret Trudeau exposes her naked son Kyle to camera, Ottawa 1988" width="397" /></a></div>
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Following the election of another Trudeau in 2015, CBC meat puppets and journal fawned over the Trudeau's like they were witnessing the second coming of "Camelot". One of the more obnoxious suggestions came from a very senior reporter - <b>Neil MacDonald</b>, who wrote a column "<b>Let's give Margaret Trudeau the credit she deserves</b>". If at some point in life I had been lobotomized, I would be his man. The myth making was well and truly underway. Today's blog is for those Canadians who value historical memory. I doubt any of this material is preserved in the collection of our National Archives in Ottawa.</div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-31933973624240954582016-01-26T19:43:00.003-08:002016-01-27T07:59:39.385-08:00Classic VOLVO Advertising - Mocking Planned Obsolesence Didn't Defeat It<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0O4j-FUyRhg/VqgiujSOR2I/AAAAAAAAOXY/joOAZvQpCZs/s1600/VOLVO%2B%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classic VOLVO ad - Your symbol has just lost its status" border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0O4j-FUyRhg/VqgiujSOR2I/AAAAAAAAOXY/joOAZvQpCZs/s400/VOLVO%2B%2B1.jpg" title="Classic VOLVO ad - Your symbol has just lost its status" width="306" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>This VOLVO advertisement from the 1960s is more</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>relevant than ever. Our expensive products are made</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>redundant and valueless at a very alarming rate.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Classic VOLVO ADS - A Gallery of Greats</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Ronald J. Jack</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of us, I think, are annoyed by the constant failure of critical components in our household appliances, bathroom fixtures, consumer electronics and so much more. When they break or wear out, we are faced with disposing of the whole unit and buying a replacement. The alternative is living in</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a graveyard of failed technology.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I recall going through eight drip coffee-makers (in every case a heating element failure) before switching to a simple French Press. I burned through ten desktop laser printers before finding one that could survive 24 months of light usage (a Brother DCP) and I suffered the existence of a dozen pole lamps (all made in China, and priced from $50 to $300) fitted with extremely shoddy dial switches, before learning my lesson. Now I simply pull the plugs from the wall and NEVER reach for the damned switches. </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Today I watched a roofing crew rip off and replace my </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>neighbours entire roof, because of a reported leak. The roof was just two years old. They quickly carted away the incriminating evidence - a truck load of new asphalt shingles and 20 sheets of new plywood sheathing. Insane waste. A "rip off" it was.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So what if the products we buy passed a C.S.A. bench test? So many gadgets are designed to fail we take it for granted that nothing we own is permanent. Even if it was "Warranted" most of the time it is is easier to junk the item than search for a receipt. Last week I acquired a used product that is 51 years old, cost 60 cents when new, and shows no sign of wearing out. It is a copy of THE WASTE MAKERS, written by social critic Vance Packard. In his time, at the beginning of the Space Age, there was plenty of debate about the growing dependence of the U.S. economy on planned obsolescence, and the "ethics" of engineers who designed products that would fail on a schedule. At the time the book was published the jury was out, discussing the overwhelming evidence of industry building products that were </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">programmed</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> to fail. We now know the manufacturers won the case. Consumers lost and had to pay all costs. We are still paying.</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Packard has chapters on the American automotive industry, and they are of course long out-of-date. Yet one constant remains - the drive to convince us that the cars we own are less </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">desirable</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> than new models in dealer showrooms. It is a pretty good guess that every copy-writer in the advertising industry read Packard's book, because industry counter-measures were not long in coming.</span></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5gCJEfxff0/VqgkMIlXmgI/AAAAAAAAOXk/3IH-ktyStRg/s1600/Blog%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="THE WASTE MAKERS - best=selling book by Vance Packard" border="0" height="322" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5gCJEfxff0/VqgkMIlXmgI/AAAAAAAAOXk/3IH-ktyStRg/s400/Blog%2B2.jpg" title="THE WASTE MAKERS - best-selling book by Vance Packard" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Truth as a Counter-Measure</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For a twenty year period, from about 1966 to 1986, the Swedish automobile manufacturer VOLVO, </span> ridiculed "planned obsolescence" in it marketing campaigns. You sometimes encounter their ads if you riffle through the pages of old magazines, and I have collected eight of them here. I hope you enjoy them. VOLVO still employs very effective advertising, but the theme is different.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eDcjMayk-ZE/Vqgt_tA6G8I/AAAAAAAAOX0/iGKkw3NYrlY/s1600/1966%2BBlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classic VOLVO advertisement. "This is the eleven year car."" border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eDcjMayk-ZE/Vqgt_tA6G8I/AAAAAAAAOX0/iGKkw3NYrlY/s400/1966%2BBlog.jpg" title="Classic VOLVO advertisement. "This is the eleven year car."" width="296" /></a></div>
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<b>The VOLVO ad that really started it all:</b></div>
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<b>"This is the eleven year car." [1966]</b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q-4Y1gdYjBg/Vqgup_Zt9MI/AAAAAAAAOX8/6XoGzKlzTDM/s1600/1966%2BBlog%2BB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classic VOLVO ad. "If you really want to impress someone..."" border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q-4Y1gdYjBg/Vqgup_Zt9MI/AAAAAAAAOX8/6XoGzKlzTDM/s400/1966%2BBlog%2BB.jpg" title="Classic VOLVO ad. "If your really want to impress someone..."" width="290" /></a></div>
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<b>A companion VOLVO ad in 1966: "If you really want to</b></div>
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<b>impress someone with your car, tell him it's paid for."</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The point was made, but it got more interesting. "THE PAPER CAR" With reference to BOTH "<i><b>planned obsolescence</b></i>" and the reality of a new, <i><b>"throw-away society</b></i>" the wasteful consumer became an accomplice of industry.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1mTNW5WyaVg/VqgwXUc6BzI/AAAAAAAAOYI/Qvwa1A5plOU/s1600/1967%2B%2BVolvo%2Badvert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classic VOLVO advertising 1967 - THE PAPER CAR" border="0" height="270" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1mTNW5WyaVg/VqgwXUc6BzI/AAAAAAAAOYI/Qvwa1A5plOU/s400/1967%2B%2BVolvo%2Badvert.jpg" title="Classic VOLVO advertising 1967 - THE PAPER CAR " width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>This VOLVO ad was the most forceful and blatant on the subject of</b></div>
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<b>planned obsolescence and wasteful consumerism. [THE PAPER CAR! 1967]</b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SG1rprek8v8/VqgxPckHz4I/AAAAAAAAOYQ/u8sYTzeddgo/s1600/1971%2B%2BBLOG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SG1rprek8v8/VqgxPckHz4I/AAAAAAAAOYQ/u8sYTzeddgo/s400/1971%2B%2BBLOG.jpg" width="295" /></a></div>
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<b>Pop culture of the 1960s and 1970s was filled with</b></div>
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<b>references to "The System"and social conformity.</b></div>
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<b>"BEAT THE SYSTEM. BUY A VOLVO." [1971]</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1979 the campaign matured and VOLVO could literally harvest satisfied customers. Thirteen years had elapsed and many of those 1966 sedans were still on the road.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RuhaKUqHAvo/VqgyAW04F6I/AAAAAAAAOYY/B8YElCfUAIA/s1600/1979%2B%2BBlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classic VOLVO advertising. "13 years ago I bought this VOLVO because"" border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RuhaKUqHAvo/VqgyAW04F6I/AAAAAAAAOYY/B8YElCfUAIA/s400/1979%2B%2BBlog.jpg" title="Classic VOLVO advertising. "13 years ago I bought this VOLVO because"" width="306" /></a></div>
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<b>VOLVO ad 1979 - "13 Years Ago I Bought This Volvo</b></div>
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<b>Because It Was Advertised As The 11 Year Car."</b></div>
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Note that the customer the advertisement featured was an historian. An expert on aboriginal art and culture. "<i>13 years ago, William Stiles, an expert in American Indian history and artifacts, discover the treasure you see here: a 1966 Volvo</i>." How cool was that? Yes, there really was a William Stiles, and there is a Canadian connection. Stiles is featured on the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BLOG (<a href="http://si-siris.blogspot.ca/2012/07/cool-stiles.html">Here</a>). After scoring points by showcasing an expert on well-made artifacts, the folks who ran the VOLVO ad campaign came up with another expert - a psychiatrist.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b2JQHXUgnTA/Vqg0n1-8WrI/AAAAAAAAOYk/U4H3EmIgULo/s1600/1980%2B%2BBlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classic VOLVO ad, 1980 "Anyone Who's Thinking of Spending $24,000"" border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b2JQHXUgnTA/Vqg0n1-8WrI/AAAAAAAAOYk/U4H3EmIgULo/s400/1980%2B%2BBlog.jpg" title="Classic VOLVO ad, 1980. "Anyone Who's Thinking of Spending $24,000"" width="298" /></a></div>
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a <b>In 1980, ad copy that is both clever and amusing:</b></div>
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<b>"<i>Anyone Who's Thinking of Spending $24,000 For A</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Luxury Car Should Talk To A Psychiatrist.</i>"</b></div>
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In the Ad copy the psychiatrist is quoted: "<i>In my opinion the individual buying this car would have a strong, unsuppressed need to get his or her money's worth. He or she would probably also have a strong enough self-image not to need a blatant status symbol.</i>" Ouch! That still hurts, 36 years later.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i_CL9Gy9Aao/Vqg4CHDJxXI/AAAAAAAAOYw/XOfLEFMNIis/s1600/1986%2B%2BBlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classic VOLVO advertising - 1986 For Those Whose Values Haven't Changed" border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i_CL9Gy9Aao/Vqg4CHDJxXI/AAAAAAAAOYw/XOfLEFMNIis/s400/1986%2B%2BBlog.jpg" title="Classic VOLVO advertising - 1986. "For Those Who's Values Haven't Changed"" width="287" /></a></div>
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And then it was 1986. VOLVO customers had worked hard and they had prospered. Another generation of buyers was prowling the car lots, and certainly were influenced by clever advertising. We end our gallery with this great display ad that certainly must have struck a chord with many satisfied drivers: "<b><i>The Car For People Whose Means Have Changed But Whose Values Haven't</i>.</b>" You are either that sort of person, or you are not.</div>
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I have never owned or even driven a VOLVO, but there are other quality vehicles on the roads. </div>
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-45740234231671183762016-01-20T15:21:00.002-08:002016-01-21T14:15:43.762-08:00Hugh Glass Back From The Dead - THE REVENANT is Cinema Gold<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3DGm1y2kS9M/Vp_cd4RvxWI/AAAAAAAAOSg/gLI606g5pDg/s1600/REV%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hugh Glass shoots an Indian in - THE REVENANT" border="0" height="210" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3DGm1y2kS9M/Vp_cd4RvxWI/AAAAAAAAOSg/gLI606g5pDg/s400/REV%2Bcopy.jpg" title="Hugh Glass shoots an Indian in - THE REVENANT" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A Response to a Cinematic Phenomenon</span><br />
By Ronald J. Jack<br />
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After two weeks of 'gush', is there anything left to say about <b>THE REVENANT</b> ? Well, if you are Canadian like me, you might have something to throw in. We love this movie too, but perhaps for different reasons than our American cousins. We are starving for stories free of modern political ideologies, in which men and women also step away from our dependance on machine culture. Just two days before the movie opened in Canada, a Taiwan friend sent me a hot-link to a pirated Chinese edition, but I ignored him. I did not want to experience THE REVENANT through my iMac. We waited till the afternoon of January 8th to enjoy this impressive cinematic vision, and I do attest that we got more than our money's worth.</div>
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In 1823 frontiersman <b>Hugh Glass</b> was clawed and chewed by a female grizzly, and then abandoned by his companions, who also stripped him of his prize Kentucky long-rifle and his "<i>little fixens</i>" (fire making tools and other essentials for survival). Glass pulled himself from an open grave and began an epic crawl in pursuit of the thieves. It is a much-told-tale of superhuman willpower and a man's burning determination to have his revenge. In the movie the Glass motive for revenge is given some justification - for the murder of a half-breed son. In addition the hate is tempered by to extreme winter conditions. In fact the weather becomes a character in THE REVENANT. In American history, Hugh Glass was mauled in the summertime, but no matter. No matter at all. The glory of this extraordinary film is its realism, not its devotion to reality. No movie-goer will go home feeling cheated because <b>Sam Peckinpah</b> could not have delivered more violence, and <b>Steven Spielberg </b>could not have made the unreal more realistic.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bqCscFZvFqs/VqAPEpHPgZI/AAAAAAAAOTQ/iasDblDW7s4/s1600/De%2BSpook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="THE REVENANT German edition - DE SPOOK VERSCHIJNING" border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bqCscFZvFqs/VqAPEpHPgZI/AAAAAAAAOTQ/iasDblDW7s4/s320/De%2BSpook.jpg" title="THE REVENANT German edition - DE SPOOK VERSCHIJNING" width="200" /></a></div>
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The novel's title translated into German.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">HUGH GLASS IN POP CULTURE</span></b><br />
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Actually when Hugh Glass was mauled in 1823, the word "<b>revenant</b>" did not yet exist in the English language, and it would not get any play for almost a century. In the original meaning, as coined by French novelists in the 1820s, the word meant "<i>one who returns after a long absence</i>" and was even more commonly used as a synonym for "ghost". Last summer when the trailer for THE REVENANT was web-published I looked up the meaning and it wasn't even in my dictionary. (<i>Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary</i> - 6th Edition). It was startling to discover that the title had already been used for a zombie movie, and was fully woven into gothic fiction decades ago. But again, no matter.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bXhmtIkULBQ/VqAQo-9_IWI/AAAAAAAAOTc/ng-Ny5dw3u0/s1600/L.G..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="LORD GRIZZLY - a novel by Frederick Manfred, Signet paperback" border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bXhmtIkULBQ/VqAQo-9_IWI/AAAAAAAAOTc/ng-Ny5dw3u0/s320/L.G..jpg" title="LORD GRIZZLY - a novel by Frederick Manfred, Signet paperback" width="194" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The best available historical fiction detailing the life of Hugh Glass mountain man,</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>is LORD GRIZZLY by Frederick Manfred. Trust me, I've researched all the novels!</b></span></div>
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The immediate and obvious comparison to Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of Hugh Glass in THE REVENANT, must be the Richard Harris performance in <b>MAN IN THE WILDERNESS</b> (1971). <i>"They couldn't find the time to bury him. They should have.</i>" (Poster below) Mr. Harris made several Westerns including MAJOR DUNDEE for Peckinpah, and the sado-masochistic A MAN CALLED HORSE, (based on a short story) that seemed the acme of Western hyper-realism. MAN IN THE WILDERNESS was shot in temperate Spain, without the chill intrusion of frost or flakes. Leonardo DiCaprio has shown a willingness to endure misery and physical pain that Richard Harris would not have contracted to simulate. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-35OxDRAsbjQ/Vp_nO5H7dwI/AAAAAAAAOSw/EDC35FYFvNE/s1600/Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="MAN IN THE WILDERNESS - precursor to THE REVENANT" border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-35OxDRAsbjQ/Vp_nO5H7dwI/AAAAAAAAOSw/EDC35FYFvNE/s400/Man.jpg" title="MAN IN THE WILDERNESS - precursor to THE REVENANT" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The 1971 Richard Harris movie made a film prop, a Missouri River flat-boat</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>an extra character. In THE REVENANT the weather is definitely a character.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">THE MISSOURI TRAPPER</span><br />
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The original screenplay of THE REVENANT, was actually written rather close to the real-life telling of the Hugh Glass story. The Movie Director is the ultimate creative voice and it was <b>Alejandro Inarritu </b>who made up supporting characters in the shooting script, a pretty aboriginal wife and a wilful son. He was quite right in deciding that a 21st Century movie audience (and politicized film critics) would reject the actual motive of Hugh Glass in 1823, to hunt down the bastards who stole his prized flint-lock rifle. </div>
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The first attempt by a professional writer to convey the Hugh Glass story into prose, was made by <b>James E. Hall</b> in 1825, and published by his brothers in Philadelphia. "<b>The Missouri Trapper</b>" was first published in <b>THE PORT FOLIO</b>, in the March 1825 edition, and by the summer of that year it migrated into the pages of several newspapers in the U.S., British North America, and our shared Western Frontier. The provenance is rather interesting I think. A literary stylist, Hall made Hugh Glass a romantic hero figure, comparing his survival skills to those of Robinson Crusoe. His essay was re-published intact by news sellers, and one Canadian newspaper gave it prominence. <b>THE BRITISH COLONIST</b> of Stanstead, Lower Canada (now the Province of Quebec) regularly culled news from American papers. The July 21, 1825 edition of the Loyalist paper not only reprinted "The Missouri Trapper" but supported it with two other stories lifted from <span style="font-weight: bold;">THE MISSOURI ADVOCATE</span>, the St. Louis newspaper that Hugh Glass himself would have read, before using it to wipe his ass. </div>
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A knowledgeable Canadian reading "The Fur Trade" extracted from the St. Louis, must be amused to read the complaints about "<i><b>the British</b></i>" stealing American pelts from "<i><b>our own territories</b></i>". Though we had lost the <b>WAR OF 1812</b> most of the productive fur-yielding lands were then still <u>our</u> territory, but of course the Americans ultimately wrested it from us. As well the St. Louis paper included the age-old commercial moan about government interference - "<i>The British have the advantages of introducing their goods without payment of duties</i>." That same paper demanded that Washington establish a fortress at the mouth of the Columbia River to interdict the flow ("smuggling") of furs by British ships loading there for China. Hugh Glass was a Pennsylvanian, and would have Hurrahed such expansionist jingoism.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gl5OVPK7nHo/VqAJndWhS5I/AAAAAAAAOTA/5XF7NihFR5s/s1600/Colonist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gl5OVPK7nHo/VqAJndWhS5I/AAAAAAAAOTA/5XF7NihFR5s/s400/Colonist.jpg" width="340" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>THE BRITISH COLONIST was a Loyalist newspaper published</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>on the Canada-U.S. border. In 1825 it published the Hugh Glass story as news,</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>accompanied by anti-British commentary lifted from the MISSOURI ADVOCATE.</b></span></div>
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After watching a particularly good film, my inclination is always to do a little research. I anticipate some fabulous extras on the DVD, but as an historian myself, I could not sit still for three whole months waiting for the Movie DVD to be published. I craved knowing more. There are many factual books available on Hugh Glass and the larger-than-life figures of the American fur-trading era, and an equal number of novels. THE REVENANT is a "revenge" story, and given the American obsession with guns, it was interesting to learn that the modern novelist <b>Michael Punke</b> knows so little about them. Hugh Glass himself knew plenty about firearms. He had been a boy apprentice to a Pennsylvania gunsmith and he was an armed man his entire life. Glass valued no horse or woman as highly as his rifle.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0rCDNAQAKgY/VqAUoG1Y5zI/AAAAAAAAOTo/n26aAcE5kls/s1600/1820%2BMap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Map of British Fur Trading outposts in 1821 - THE REVENANT" border="0" height="282" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0rCDNAQAKgY/VqAUoG1Y5zI/AAAAAAAAOTo/n26aAcE5kls/s400/1820%2BMap.jpg" title="Map of British Fur Trading outposts in 1821 - THE REVENANT" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The men of the North West Company were encouraged by their employers to marry</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>native women and put down roots among the tribes. The Hudson's Bay Company officially</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>discouraged employees from marrying natives. After the business merger "mixing" continued.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">GLASS GUNS AND PLAGIARIST NONSENSE</span></b></div>
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The Internet is now peppered with commentary about Mr. DiCaprio's new movie, much of it neither helpful nor informed. Typical of the remarks you will encounter are those of Rebecca Onion, who is to be found on <b>SLATE</b>, an online magazine. Ms. Onion is "<i>Slate's history writer</i>" no less, who "<i>also runs the site's history blog</i>". She promises her readers "<i>Here's what we know about the historical Glass</i>." offering a scantier and more dubious description than the average UFO sighting. That is an apt analogy because Ms. Onion's piece is scoffing of the Glass story altogether. I am tempted to label her a plagiarist but that would be generous. She's basically a garden variety scrape and paste artist, who injures herself by poachng from even snarkier content than her own. A good example is her repeating the standard <b>put-down</b> of James Hall, author of the earliest published source material on Hugh Glass - "The Missouri Trapper". Says Ms. Onion, "<i>That circus started with James Hall, a lawyer and aspiring writer who moved to Illinois to harvest stories of the American wes</i>t." Ah yes, Hall the hack. This was a man who, when war came, left his study of the Law and joined the U.S. Army. He served at the <b>Battle of Lundy's Lane</b> and the <b>Siege of Fort Erie</b>. He was later assigned officer on a U.S. warship and sailed with Decatur in the 2nd Barbary War. After completing his studies his set up a law practice in Illinois and was later made a Judge. He wrote more than a dozen books, mostly American history and biography. In fact James Hall would be eminently qualified to serve as SLATE'S history writer and Blog compiler, had he only lived to be 220 years old. <br />
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The point is folks, Hugh Glass was an extraordinary man and THE REVENANT is an amazing movie. As written by <b>Mark L. Smith</b> and <b>Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu</b>, the much discussed grizzly bear attack is a composite of two incidents. Hugh Glass and Jim Bridger were both mauled by bears. If you haven't the patience to read a good book on Mountain Men, (try Stanley Vestal or John Myers Myers) just buy the DiCaprio movie. It is an education in itself.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PgikRxfv2mI/VqB-ib7CfjI/AAAAAAAAOT4/xmWtX4b_98k/s1600/smith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ron Luckenbill built THE REVENANT gun used by actor Leonardo De Caprio" border="0" height="298" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PgikRxfv2mI/VqB-ib7CfjI/AAAAAAAAOT4/xmWtX4b_98k/s400/smith.jpg" title="Ron Luckenbill built THE REVENANT gun used by actor Leonardo De Caprio" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Ron Luckenbill built two authentic 1820s flintlocks for THE REVENANT production </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>company. The project was profiled by his local newspaper. [photo by Amanda Jones]</b></span></div>
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One truly fascinating story associated with the production of the movie, was the recreation of the weapon carried by Hugh Glass, and stolen from him by Fitzgerald. The website of <i><b>The American Rifleman</b> </i>(Journal of NRA members) has an interesting article on the movie that mentions how a gunsmith was chosen to build a functioning replica arm. Ron Luckenbill is an NRA member, a retired policeman and an accomplished gunsmith. He was contracted to build two flintlocks (the signature arm plus a spare) and ship them to the producers in <b>British Columbia, Canada.</b> Our border agency created so much fuss over the first shipment, delaying its delivery to the film set with needless objections and red tape, that the production company had the second Luckenbill weapon hand-carried across the border to Vancouver. While the first firearm was still being manufactured Luckenbill was requested to cut the barrel down ten full inches. (Maybe the Director felt it made DiCaprio appear too short in stature??) Luckenbill refused to do so, but clearly the Canadian armourer employed on the production was not so squeamish. Both Hugh Glass weapons were cut down, and DiCaprio is shown in his scenes carrying a shortened flintlock. Below is a screen capture that illustrates what I refer to.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ITR30OV_qpo/VqCGYni20wI/AAAAAAAAOUI/tKjCZF9Z6lQ/s1600/GG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="THE REVENANT - the gun used by De Caprio to portray Hugh Glass" border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ITR30OV_qpo/VqCGYni20wI/AAAAAAAAOUI/tKjCZF9Z6lQ/s400/GG.jpg" title="THE REVENANT - the gun used by De Caprio to portray Hugh Glass" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The fur traders retreat to the flat-boat. This movie still illustrates the point about </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>the band-crafted flintlocks Ron Luckenbill made for THE REVENANT. After delivery</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>to the movie makers, the flintlock barrel-length was reduced by about ten inches.</b></span></div>
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R/C</div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-37855489534417670722015-12-06T19:53:00.000-08:002015-12-12T09:49:46.503-08:00Weaponize your Hate - MR. AND MRS. MASSACRE terrorize San Bernardino<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">THE AMERICAN DREAM</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>"Weaponize your Hate!"</b> - a Heavy Metal lyric</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> has described them as "<i>one of the most perplexing pairs in the recent history of mass homicide</i>".</span><br />
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"<i>They were living the American Dream</i>." So claimed an acquaintance of the Muslim couple, quickly identified as <b>Syed Rizwan Farook</b> and <b>Tashfeen Malik</b>. Really? He was born in California, but clearly was not coping. She was a new arrival, and never intended to assimilate. But before I go any further, let's be very clear about the U.S.A. in 2015. There is no longer an "American Dream". Since 9/11 that comforting myth has morphed into an <b>American Nightmare</b>, and there is no evidence that the dreamers will ever awake. I have written before in this Blog, and I confidently repeat, "<i>Americans are Crazy</i>". Some will find that remark offensive, but it is an obvious conclusion.</div>
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<b>Syed Rizwan Farook - Mr. Massacre.</b></div>
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<b>His California State University ID card.</b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">TELEVISED MAYHEM</span></b> - <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Audio recording on the periphery of the kill zone - a Medical Centre in San Bernardino:<b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">"<i>Oh, that is scary!</i>" ... "<i>They're all geared up! Rifles and everything!</i>"</span></b></span></div>
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On December 2, 2015 the news channels locked into the most recent American "mass shooting" and the video stream began hypnotizing millions of television viewers. I watched about ten minutes of Live Coverage on <b><i>Al Jazeera</i></b>, caught the gist of the story, and turned off the noise. I have observed "saturation" event coverage hundreds of times, with events stretching back to the 1970s, and I have learned to ignore the first day of the cycle. (The exception was 9/11 itself. Those images and that pain simply had to be shared and endured.) </div>
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I could write the script on a typical A.M.S. (<b>American Mass Shooting</b>) and hand out pages to the participants. I don't have to because there are already hundreds of thousands of copy writers worldwide who perform that function. The morning after, I woke refreshed and learned that the American news media (and the Obama White House) had classified this one as a <b>Non-Terrorist massacre</b>. President Obama was hopeful the event was just a typical A.M.S. He said:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"<i>It is possible that this was terrorist related, but we don't know. It is also possible that this was workplace related</i>."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now Barack Obama is no body's fool. He was just talking lawyer trash, stalling for time.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For three days the news media cooperated with the White House, downplaying the attack to a garden variety "Mass Shooting". The Americans have a definition for it... I kid you not. A mass shooting is "<i>any shooting of four or more people at one time</i>". The <b>F.B.I. </b>is a little fussier with their definition. It's still four or more, but the F.B.I. doesn't include mass killings by ghetto thugs or biker gangs. Those folks are outlaws, and their slaughter is just a little extra-judicial house cleaning.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Semantics also come into play when deciding when a gunman gets to be labelled a "<b>Terrorist</b>". When is it safe for the media to label an A.M.S. a "<b>Terrorist Attack</b>"? <b>A)</b> When the killers are proven members or self-confessed affiliates of a Terrorist Organizations on the U.S. State Department's <b><a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm">Official List</a></b>. or B) When the shooter is identified as a "<b>Right Wing, Christian Fundamentalist, Gun Lovin' whack job</b>". Those losers don't have to have an ideological affiliation. They are assumed to be Republican, and at large. Big Government and its handmaiden Big Media, are the official arbiters of the <i>Terror Lexicon</i>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tashfeen Malik - Mrs. Massacre.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>One of her Pakistani ID cards.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>"THE LATEST MASSACRE"</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The morning after - a screen grab documents the confusion </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>and the deception. "<i>Could be Terrorism</i>" Obama says.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>"<i>Attack Doesn't Fit Our Familiar Scripts</i>". Whose scripts?</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>"ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILLS" the new norm</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Mr. and Mrs. Massacre</i></b> - Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, were killed in a shootout with SWAT before they could upload their political manifesto or any of their attack video. (Like the recent Muslim monsters in Paris, the San Bernardino terrorists were wearing<b> GoPro</b> video cameras. This is standard <b>ISIS</b> methodology. Record and upload your gore to the Internet because only Coroner's juries will get to see images of the carnage left in the kill zone. Video of an assault on the American "Homeland" would be a gift to Muslim fanatics worldwide, and their attack would be celebrated. In fact it's not another <b>San Bernardino-style attack</b> the White House fears, it's the video of that next attack being enjoyed by millions of Muslim fanatics.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The really shocking fact about the carnage in California was that many in San Bernardino were not that terrorized. Most bystanders were trying to be citizen reporters for a day, recording the action. Many of those evacuees who filed off buses were not hysterical or even reaching out to be hugged. I don't say they all took events in their stride, but this wasn't <b>Columbine</b>. In fact <b>most of them were prepared for an attack</b>. Everyone in America who assembles each day in a large public building to work or study is being trained to respond, like Israelis, to sudden attacks. Just as the American Public was trained to "<i>Duck and Cover</i>" during the first two decades of the <b>Cold War</b>, modern Americans are trained to "<i>Shelter in Place</i>", or if licensed to carry a weapon, to defend themselves.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the concussion of rifle fire shook the walls of the INLAND REGIONAL CENTER, many of the trapped were taking cellphone videos. One nurse who recorded video, and shared it, pointed out that staff "<i><b>have active shooter drills every month or so</b></i>". How nuts is that? A medical outreach facility holding anti-terror drills every other month! Not to be outdone a College just up the street from the massacre site had its own "Active Shooter Drill" less than a week before (Nov. 30th). Hundreds of college students lay down and pretended to be be shooting victims, while SWAT teams moved about the simulated carnage and rooted out fake shooters. Jesus Christ, how insane is that? Students play-acting their own deaths, doctors and nurses learning to "shelter in place", and then as if on cue, the neighbourhood terror cell springs from cover and gives them all a damned good workout. In fact the San Bernardino SWAT were running a training exercise nearby - suited up, fully armed and mobile - when the terrorists stormed a Christmas party at the Center. Mr. Massacre, possibly having participated in "Active Shooter Drills", new better than to hole up, and so he and Mrs. Massacre got out so fast that SWAT missed them.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>BLACK FRIDAY GUN SALES - Off the Chart!</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">How crazy are Americans? You can't judge an entire nation by their leading actors - politicians, the pantheon of celebrities and the editorial writers who hog the stage of public performance, but there is much hard evidence to ponder. A case in point: Remember those "Black Friday" feeding frenzies the Network News made so much of? It turns out that Black Friday set an all-time record for gun sales in a single day. The <b>F.B.I.</b> processed <b>185,345 gun sale background checks</b> on that single day! [ref. TIME magazine website] Even nuttier, the Bureau processed <b>2,243,030 gun buyer records checks in the month of November 2015</b>. Here is the kicker. There are now <b>several million assault rifles</b> in private hands in the U.S.A. - each and every one of them of sufficient lethality to produce its own "mass shooting". Now that's a statistic to scare the hell out of anyone down there who is still sane!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You can't make this shit up. In America brutal gun violence is so routine that it doesn't really scare the hell out of anyone. Terrorism just pisses them and makes them buy more guns. "Terrorism" is actually any act of extreme violence that satisfies the need of the TWO political factions to score points on each other. When the President responds each month to the "latest massacre" he has to measure his words very carefully, because bleeding bodies at the curb is not the issue. The issue is whether that "latest massacre" hurts the chances of his party winning the upcoming election. And the Republicans are no better. If they win the election they will let Homeland Security put mini-guns in every Precinct House in America. Welcome to their Nightmare!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j48QE3-ddEA/VmT-fKQyzII/AAAAAAAAOFM/gU9-S7VFAG0/s1600/Hillary%2BClinton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hillary Clinton - San Bernardino Massacre Dec 2015" border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j48QE3-ddEA/VmT-fKQyzII/AAAAAAAAOFM/gU9-S7VFAG0/s400/Hillary%2BClinton.jpg" title="Hillary Clinton - San Bernardino massacre Dec 2015" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Hillary Clinton - She plans to become the Head Keeper of the American Bedlam</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When news of Mr. and Mrs. Massacre hit Social Media, the Presidential hopefuls on each side of the American Divide took a deep breath, and chose their words with care. Hillary Clinton tweeted "<i><b>I refuse to accept this as normal. We must take action to stop gun violence now</b></i>." Well Hillary, as Queen of National Dysfunction must know that "Mass Shootings" are now a staple of American middle-class political expression. (Assault weapons, ammo and tactical gear cost thousands of dollars.) They are certainly the new norm. Obama know it, because one of his very first actions when elected, was to draft and pass a law requiring the Secret Service to protect <b>his wife and their children for the rest of their lives</b>. His family is <b>the only American Family</b>, protected by Federal Agents, forever. Even the Clinton's don't have that. If the Democrats grab guns, the Democrats lose power. He'll tinker and toy, but he won't confiscate. Hillary, if victorious, will only further militarize American cities, and double the Orwellian surveillance. None of the totalitarian surveillance and domestic firepower stopped Mr. Farook and Ms. Malik, nor could it have.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">A HATE UPDATE, on DECEMBER 8</span> - </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mcRpwizI9ko/VmcTmXry8fI/AAAAAAAAOFc/9g9xrJmXgu4/s1600/Priceless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tashfeen Malik arriving in the U.S., July 27, 2014 (US Official Photo)" border="0" height="325" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mcRpwizI9ko/VmcTmXry8fI/AAAAAAAAOFc/9g9xrJmXgu4/s400/Priceless.jpg" title="Tashfeen Malik arriving in the U.S., July 27, 2014 (US Official Photo)" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>This photo is priceless! It shows Muslim Terrorist Tashfeen Malik</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>arriving in the U.S. from Saudi Arabia on July 27, 2014. (Saudi Arabia </b></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">also the origin of almost all of the "radicalized" 9/11 Terrorists.)</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>She is entering the MOST heavily defended and most surveilled nation</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>on earth, and she has already defeated her enemy. Cool as a cucumber!</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>THE SAN BERNARDINO MASSACRE VICTIMS HAD PRACTICED AN "ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILL" in the very room they were all murdered. It's astounding! </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>We now know why Mr. and Mrs. Massacre chose as their terror target a center for the developmentally disabled. THE ROOM was the target, NOT the health facility. The room in Building Three was the venue for their "<i>annual training and Christmas potluck party</i>". What training? Well last year it included an "Active Shooter Drill". So picture this... one year ago Farook attends an Active Shooter Drill. He goes home and the couple discusses what he learned. They look at each other and share a laugh. "They think they can protect themselves from the justice of Allah! Hah, those American fools." They begin stockpiling weapons in earnest, and we now know, a week before their attack they went twice to a nearby gun range to practice shooting weapons. On December 2nd Mr. Farook was the first to arrive at the "party", and when the conference room was full he left to collect his wife. She was waiting. They had already given their baby into the care of the grandmother. Every planning detail was already covered - the black SUV, the black clothing and black masks, the pipe bombs, and their arsenal. The only thing missing was a black I.S.I.S. flag. </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>"<i>They considered Farook a friend</i>." When he and his wife stormed the room, the party goers did exactly as they had been trained to do in the Active Shooter Drill. They scattered and sheltered behind overturned trestle tables and other upended furniture. Some feigned death, pretending they had already been shot. But there was insufficient cover for so many people. The survivors recognized their co-worker and his wife, and using cellphones they immediately began calling in precise details to local law enforcement. Mr. and Mrs. Massacre fled the scene and the chase was on. SWAT wa already deployed.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>ALL ABOARD THE LUNATIC EXPRESS:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Even if...if, the Americans ever won the "War on Terror", they now have a worse problem on their doorstep. A frightened political class protecting itself with "Homeland Security" and a suspicious civil population arming itself against oppressive government. There is no possibility of this turning out well.</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>UPDATE: Bitter Humour Department</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Dec. 12, 2015 - there is this from the N.Y. TIMES this morning:</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>The Americans record everything on the Internet. EVERYTHING. But they don't read it.</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Look at that face. She makes me think of think of Kipling...</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">"<i>When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i><b>And the women come out to cut up what remains</b>,<br />Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains<br />An' go to your Gawd like a soldier</i>."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-71021625084673033872015-12-01T12:32:00.000-08:002015-12-18T05:54:43.018-08:00Beauty and the Beasts - the Tragic Murder of a Young Russian Politician <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zfEQ2mhOwCs/Vl3tfhUOy7I/AAAAAAAAN84/YxmQN1l58lo/s1600/OB%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Crime Scene in Novosibirsk - Russian M.P. murdered Nov. 2015" border="0" height="230" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zfEQ2mhOwCs/Vl3tfhUOy7I/AAAAAAAAN84/YxmQN1l58lo/s400/OB%2B1.jpg" title="Crime scene in Novosibirsk - Russian M.P. murdered Nov. 2015" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>The crime scene - Novosibirsk, Siberia, Nov. 26, 2015.</b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">DEBUT</span></b></div>
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Imagine having your face punched in by thumb-sized hand grenade fragments. The air outside was a frigid -6 Celsius, but you were bathed in the flow of heat forced through the dashboard louvres. You were also being carelessly intimate with your husband, just a few steps from the entrance to a massive apartment block. Now you are dead. In the seven seconds it took for the ugly little weapon to detonate, did you even know it threatened to your life?</div>
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Within minutes police filled the parking lot, their heavy boots crunching on the hard-packed snow. They huddle in thick coats and fur caps, hands thrust into deep pockets. They pull your body, and that of your husband from the Toyota sedan, and do a careful search for additional explosives. In minutes your husband's body is bagged and whisked away. Later a flat-bed truck arrives and loads your white <b>RAV- 4</b>, and then it too is trundled out of sight. All the while you lay there on the packed snow, naked and needlessly exposed to dozens of pairs of greedy eyes. All of them have made you their trophy, taking countless photos of the kill, and at least to full-length videos. For over an hour you are humiliated, until finally someone throws a cloth over your smashed head. Just your head. They continue to leave your trim torso and your sexuality on display. You have never been photographed naked before. This is your screen debut. Within hours one video is uploaded to the <b>Internet</b>, and the foreign press begins to crow. Caw, caw. Haw, haw.</div>
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She was <b>Oksana Bobrovskaya</b>, a neophyte Russian politician. Young and beautiful, she was in love with life and doted on her 4yr. old daughter. The pretty child was a fixture of the proud mother's <b>social media</b> pages. Though she was an M.P.in Putin's government (I know all the current connotations) there was no stain on her public record. In fact <b>Mrs. Bobrovskaya</b> had committed no crime, and she was certainly deserving of respect and a little common decency. Her death was a vicious atrocity, but the world's reaction was uglier.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rN_WT2ivZZw/Vl37Q3cHAPI/AAAAAAAAN9Q/kOaeujpeGdk/s1600/F1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Grenade used to kill Oksana Bobrovskaya, Russian M.P." border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rN_WT2ivZZw/Vl37Q3cHAPI/AAAAAAAAN9Q/kOaeujpeGdk/s320/F1.jpg" title="Grenade used to kill Oksana Bobrovskaya, Russian M.P." width="227" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>An Ugly, Disturbing Trend in "Journalism"</b></span></div>
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Old-style journalism is dead. Investigative reporting is now very rare, because the consuming public has no patience with in-depth coverage of a story that has already completed its "cycle". Most newspapers don't even employ photographers any more, because they can easily strip all the visuals they need from Social Media, or harvest the flood of "leaked" imagery that always accompanies any notorious event. In fact Social Media "channels" are now leading news coverage, and we all know it. As the news media struggles to survive, it adopts the sloppy habits of our instant culture, and in the process is virtually shredding its credibility and reputation. Consider this:<br />
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Within hours of the recent Paris Terror Attacks, a group of suspects was cornered and all were killed in the shootout and explosions. It was immediately claimed that one Muslim female had detonated a suicide vest (she was blown into large chunks by one powerful blast) and she was dubbed "<i>Europe's first female suicide bomber</i>". The London <i>DAILY MAIL</i> purchased a set of private photographs of that woman and published the "scoop" above the banner "<b>BOMBER IN THE BATH</b>", coyly blacking out her exposed nipple. Within hours most major news organizations were featuring the photos, and several used the nude in the bathtub image as a lead graphic. The New York Post dubbed the lady "<b>THUG IN A TUB</b>", and the general public, taking their cue from the news media, called her worse names. Much, much worse.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BQoLPEmjz94/Vl4I6q7yx1I/AAAAAAAAN9g/xazfhQdzwl8/s1600/scrape%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="BOMBER IN THE BATH - The Daily Mail, November 2015" border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BQoLPEmjz94/Vl4I6q7yx1I/AAAAAAAAN9g/xazfhQdzwl8/s320/scrape%2B1.jpg" title="BOMBER IN THE BATH - The Daily Mail, November 2015" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of course the whole point of the photo-splash was to develop <b>an aggressive narrative widely shared</b> in news circles. The way to interdict the steady flow to the Islamic State of "radicalized" Muslim youth, is to discredit individuals. Relishing a "gotcha" moment, they pounced on the Paris woman, describing her as a "party animal" who drank and smoked and used make up. More she was photographed in an American cowboy hat, and posed nude in a bathtub. She was not only a "fake" Muslim, but a "scuzz" and as such, she was poster-girl for a bastardized brand of Islam and richly deserving of our collective contempt. (I emphasize CONTEMPT.) Left unsaid of course, was that the woman in all the photos was behaving exactly the way a majority of young women now conduct themselves. Better zipper up some of that contempt Mr. Journalist, Sir. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GU3qzZZjWQQ/Vl4JAYeMgAI/AAAAAAAAN9o/JPLGe-LS64I/s1600/Scrape%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="New York Post - Thug in a Tub, November 2015" border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GU3qzZZjWQQ/Vl4JAYeMgAI/AAAAAAAAN9o/JPLGe-LS64I/s320/Scrape%2B2.jpg" title="New York Post - Thug in a Tub, November 2015" width="285" /></a></div>
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It wasn't long before we found out that <b>there was no female suicide bomber</b> on November 17th. The woman shredded in Paris was <b>not</b> wearing a suicide vest after all. That was hasty reporting. In the seconds before death, she actually cried out that she wasn't a militant. ... All over the world news staff began deleting headlines and whole articles, to cover their journalistic tracks. <b>Winston Smith </b>couldn't have orchestrated a more thorough sweep. And then it got worse. It has since been revealed that all of the salacious photos the <i>DAILY MAIL</i> had peddled were not even of the dead "terrorist". The Lady in the bathtub still lives, and she has taken the matter of her stolen privacy to court. And of course the many, many News sites that published the story and pictures engaged in the same <b>Orwellian cover-up</b> - they deleted all evidence, or at least the digital caches. You can't recall and burn a printed edition.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6fQuprgWwIQ/VnQPDIBbDlI/AAAAAAAAOJw/-nNXZ8-eoI8/s1600/telltale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=""Suicide Blonde" - ISIS attack on Paris - horrid journalism" border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6fQuprgWwIQ/VnQPDIBbDlI/AAAAAAAAOJw/-nNXZ8-eoI8/s320/telltale.jpg" title=""Suicide Blonde" - ISIS attack on Paris - horrid journalism" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>"Suicide Blonde" British tabloid journalism at its worst.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The wrong woman and, an insult to half of the female population.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>UNREPENTANT SCRIBBLERS</b></span></div>
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It might seem unfair to single out the <i>DAILY MAIL</i>, but they earned my contempt with their "<i>Bomber in the Bath</i>" nonsense. Consider this:</div>
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"<i><b>Glamorous Russian M.P. is blown up while having sex with her husband in the back of their car 'after he detonated explosives in a fit of jealousy' </b></i>" That's rather a mouthful, and given that the <i>Daily Mail </i>has a reporter in Siberia, how do they manage to put a story together? And why bother? After all, a Russian woman totally unknown to MAIL readers, was having sex with her husband in their own car, when he (allegedly) committed an act of murder-suicide. The powerful motive (journalistic motive, not the husband's) is delivered in a sub-headline: "<i><b>Oksana Bobrovskaya, 30, was in Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party</b></i>". Once again we see a coherent strategy at play, and one that is shared by papers throughout Europe and North America. Denigrating an individual who exists within a group you despise, is a guaranteed method to diminish the group itself. Putin is despised by every squishy Liberal from Paris to Pittsburgh, and in fact <b>we are collectively waging undeclared economic and political warfare against the Russian Federation</b>. Our media will pounce on any figure or story that could discredit the Mr. Putin's "regime". If there is sex in the story, all the better. The Prols will drool over it.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-snngvzoTIc8/Vl4VMU8wOOI/AAAAAAAAN94/x0hDPt2LRFs/s1600/Glamorous.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Glamourous Russian M.P. Blown Up - DAILY MAIL" border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-snngvzoTIc8/Vl4VMU8wOOI/AAAAAAAAN94/x0hDPt2LRFs/s400/Glamorous.jpg" title="Glamourous Russian M.P. Blown Up - DAILY MAIL" width="250" /></a></div>
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<b>"Glamorous"? Really? Mrs. Bobrovskaya had two photo-packages</b></div>
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<b>taken by a Novosibirsk studio that specializes in family</b></div>
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<b>portraits. One set to promote her candidacy, and the other set</b><br />
<b>Christmas portraits. She looks great, but not "glamorous". Most of</b></div>
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<b>the shots were scraped by media from her Instagram account.</b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bsHNqyGUmjk/Vl43WlFxzMI/AAAAAAAAN-I/cBdacYhA6IE/s1600/Xmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Oksana Bobrovskaya - the murdered Russian M.P." border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bsHNqyGUmjk/Vl43WlFxzMI/AAAAAAAAN-I/cBdacYhA6IE/s400/Xmas.jpg" title="Oksana Bobrovskaya - the murdered Russian M.P." width="397" /></a></div>
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<b>A beautiful, caring mother. Keep this charming image in mind</b></div>
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<b>when you remember her - not the beastly ugliness that follows.</b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?</b></span><br />
Novosibirsk is Russia's third largest city. Mrs. Bobrovskaya's political party, <b>United Russia</b>, has not faired well of late. In 2014 they lost the mayoralty, and Moscow had sent in "political technologists" to train and support local candidates. Bobrovskaya was a federal M.P., representing United Russia and had not been associated with scandal. Her husband, a former member of the Security Services, was reported to be unemployed and brooding. If you believe the husband's alleged motive for killing her, the lady was having an affair with her boss at <b>DISCUS</b>, a major construction company, a man who is also Deputy of the Novosibirsk City Council. The businessman is said to have been her political mentor, and the supplier of the <b>RAV-4</b> she had been driving since March. The husband, lurid news report insist, was insanely jealous and decided to have one last go at his wife, and detonate a grenade while they were in the throws of passion. Their bodies were found in the back seat of the Toyota, naked from the waist down.<br />
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The crime scene was the parking area of a five-storey apartment building located handy to the DISCUS Construction Company. Try to believe this story line... because I cannot. The husband, who has guns at home, has decided to kill her and himself in the bargain, with a fragmentation grenade. And he will do it in a public setting. In sub-zero temperatures she has consented to sex, so they pull into a decidedly unromantic setting - a residential complex. Though it is night, the lot is well illuminated, and they don't even bother to park the car. The leave the engine to idle, and with headlights on they feed each others passion. Now I drive a Toyota RAV-4 and I can tell you that about the only possibility up front is mutual masturbation, as a console divides the two seats. Near the building entrance, and overlooked by dozens of apartment windows, they would have had to get out and re-enter the RAV by the passenger doors - a suspicious act in itself. You cannot climb over the seats. Now remember that the lady is a sitting member of the Russian Parliament and has everything to lose if bystanders recognize her and take photos. (Since she was found naked we know she was acting recklessly.) We already know the two local TV stations will broadcast ANYTHING sordid, because we have ample evidence.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1343CU45_74/Vl48suIBQGI/AAAAAAAAN-Y/sg2fISfVdqY/s1600/doors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1343CU45_74/Vl48suIBQGI/AAAAAAAAN-Y/sg2fISfVdqY/s400/doors.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now remember that she stands accused of having an affair, and if her husband was angry enough to kill her, he would not easily have concealed his suspicions. With his military training he was capable of killing her with his bare hands, but we are told, he chose to mutilate the woman he loved. If I were that young man, I would be fragging the boss, and not my wife, but perhaps I do not understand Russian men. If he did murder her, and this was not a professional frame-up, he might also have tipped off the local news media. They were on site and filming even before the crime scene was secured.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4FZgX-2-8zA/Vl5TwdlbCfI/AAAAAAAAN-o/XvmXKnzdV6o/s1600/still.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Murder of Russian woman M.P. in Siberia, Nov 24, 2015" border="0" height="158" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4FZgX-2-8zA/Vl5TwdlbCfI/AAAAAAAAN-o/XvmXKnzdV6o/s320/still.jpg" title="Murder of Russian woman M.P. in Siberia, Nov 24, 2015" width="320" /></a></div>
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Closeup pictures of the couple show that he was disembowelled by the blast and she had her face caved in. About what you might expect from a hand grenade. No attempt was made to conceal the gore from the media or from the tenants of the apartment block. In fact the crime scene was left entirely open, and the display of her body was so obvious, as to constitute a crime in itself.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k3El26WJtlI/Vl5Xaq-EPpI/AAAAAAAAN-0/hAGhlFXl4us/s1600/abandoned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Oksana Bobrovskaya - her car taken awa" border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k3El26WJtlI/Vl5Xaq-EPpI/AAAAAAAAN-0/hAGhlFXl4us/s320/abandoned.jpg" title="Oksana Bobrovskaya - her car taken away" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have watched two lengthy videos made at the crime scene, as well as edited footage broadcast in Russia, and I can come to only one conclusion. Mrs. Bobrovskaya's body was callously left on display for news media and passers by to photograph with impunity. Nobody cared enough about her to intervene or even cover her up. The husband mutilated her, the media denigrated her, and the police humiliated her. A very thorough job. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jbWa89PvKFc/Vl5Z0s8-4QI/AAAAAAAAN_A/_tE9f12tmUw/s1600/on%2Bdisplay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jbWa89PvKFc/Vl5Z0s8-4QI/AAAAAAAAN_A/_tE9f12tmUw/s400/on%2Bdisplay.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The final act was to share Novosibirsk's disgrace with the wide world.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mdTZxKAb2TU/Vl5ct2YwUWI/AAAAAAAAN_M/M4tPAq6ifVc/s1600/Life%2BNews%2Bpixilated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mdTZxKAb2TU/Vl5ct2YwUWI/AAAAAAAAN_M/M4tPAq6ifVc/s320/Life%2BNews%2Bpixilated.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The final indignity to the victim was recorded by<b> LIFE NEWS</b>, which broadcast the removal of Mrs. Bobrovskaya with her body pixelated. At first the morgue attendant crossed her ankles, the very first man to acknowledge that this was a woman he was grabbing hold of. Then with a shrug, he spread her legs and had a good look. <b>CHANNEL 8</b> had the footage and someone from the station uploaded it to the Internet. These images are graphic of course, but I have spared you the worst of it.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f2NYR_eayw8/Vl5fpFc0EQI/AAAAAAAAN_Y/2GFT5rV2lgI/s1600/needless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Body of murdered Russian M.P. removed from crime scene" border="0" height="262" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f2NYR_eayw8/Vl5fpFc0EQI/AAAAAAAAN_Y/2GFT5rV2lgI/s400/needless.jpg" title="Body of murdered Russian M.P. removed from crime scene" width="400" /></a></div>
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I invite you now to go back to the scraped article from the London <i>DAILY MAIL</i>, and understand that hundreds of newspapers and websites (including Canadian) published the same smarmy account of what happened to her. More important, be on guard for more stories like this one - moments in which a woman's sexuality is used to humiliate her, and where her dignity is far less important than the opportunity for news writers or propagandists to score cheap political points. Beauty and the Beasts.<br />
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R/C</div>
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-35573596031796832302015-11-18T22:11:00.000-08:002015-11-26T12:56:10.138-08:00EVERY GUN TELLS A STORY - Even Mr. Zehah-Bibeau's Model 1894 Winchester<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ronald J. Jack</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sn57ncxTLmg/Vk07S5vPAWI/AAAAAAAAN2Q/vp6rrWYVbF8/s1600/Gun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Gun - that killed J.F.K. - Bantam, 1976" border="0" height="322" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sn57ncxTLmg/Vk07S5vPAWI/AAAAAAAAN2Q/vp6rrWYVbF8/s400/Gun.jpg" title="The Gun - that killed J.F.K - Bantam, 1976" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>THE GUN</i> (that killed J.F.K.) by Henry Bloomgarden - was a</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Bantam paperback, 1976. An example of pre-Internet gun prose.</b></span></div>
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When I was a junior-high school student I shared the enthusiasms of Canadian boys my own age. Many of us developed an interest in the history of weaponry and warfare, and we could rattle off the names and specifications of almost any model that could fire a projectile. I couldn't afford to buy a gun of my own, but we had a shop teacher who was also a gunsmith. If we brought scrap lead to class he would let us melt it down in a crucible and pour the molten metal into bullet moulds for .45 and .38 slugs. He also let us watch as he cut down the barrels of .12 Gauge and .410 Gauge shotguns and re-bedded them with pistol grips, sans any butt-stock. He was breaking the law, but we didn't know any better. He was our teacher.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0tEo7c-GUlg/Vk1e7l4WjWI/AAAAAAAAN3Y/LyklJBzULo0/s1600/WB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="THE WAR BUSINESS - George Thayer, 1970 - book cover" border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0tEo7c-GUlg/Vk1e7l4WjWI/AAAAAAAAN3Y/LyklJBzULo0/s400/WB.jpg" title="THE WAR BUSINESS - George Thayer, 1970 - book cover" width="241" /></a></div>
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At about that time I read a book that opened my eyes to much bigger issues. <b>George Thayer</b>'s, <b>T</b><i><b>HE WAR BUSINESS</b>: The International Trade in Armaments</i> (AVON 1970) alerted me to the fact that Canadians companies also sold weapons illicitly, and they didn't particularly care if they were enabling foreign dictators or mercenary armies. More interesting were a few pages on the importation of cheap war surplus firearms, typified by the Italian carbine (a Mannlicher-Carcano Serial No. C2766) that <b>Lee Harvey Oswald</b> used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. A few years later, <b>Henry S. Bloomgarden</b> had an original idea, or so I thought at the time. Why not write a biography of the rifle used to kill Kennedy? Bantam Books published <i><b>THE GUN</b></i> in 1976 and I pounced on a copy. The story satisfied because the book described not only the life story of the infamous rifle, but something of of Terni, the company town that produced it, and the lives of the Italian craftsmen who designed and built firearms. More, Bloomgarden detailed the U.S. laws and the lawmakers who aided the importation of surplus weaponry. </div>
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During high school I became aware of the fact that many thousands of collectors were researching the 'biographiies' of individual firearms, and I read many fascinating articles in the gun press which were in effect 'dual biographies' of interesting weapons and the men who once owned them. Some firearms historians spare no effort or expense when sleuthing out the life story of a gun, and many maintain private reference libraries that have cost tens of thousands of dollars to assemble. With the advent of the Internet came the added ability to swap data with collector-researchers worldwide, and for modest fees acquire personal records that were once impossible to acquire. I haven't fired a weapon since completing my service in the Canadian Militia in 1981 (Military Police and Infantry) but I have maintained a research/writing interest in modern warfare and weapons design.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8yxqZk_SEd4/Vk4KpBIsmnI/AAAAAAAAN4E/--5p-xXWN1I/s1600/Ottawa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8yxqZk_SEd4/Vk4KpBIsmnI/AAAAAAAAN4E/--5p-xXWN1I/s400/Ottawa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - Ottawa.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>He killed a sentry, but fired few shots. The Winchester Model 1894</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>holds only a few cartridges in its spring-loaded tube magazine.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>"Dead End" on tracing Zehaf-Bibeau's Winchester</b></span><br />
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And so when I read reporter <b>Jim Bronskill's</b> claim (November 10, 2015) of a "Dead End" in the <b>Michael Zehaf-Bibeau</b> investigation, I could smell the fish rotting. Zehaf-Bibeau, most will recall, was the disturbed man who terrorized Parliament Hill in 2014, brandishing a very old Winchester lever-action rifle, and fatally shooting a reservist in the back at the National War Memorial. Under intense pressure, the R.C.M.P. released a photo of the damaged weapon, but not a single detail about its history. Had they shared even basic information with the public, I feel certain that gun historians would have done their part, and in combination with investigative journalists who could canvass appropriate neighbourhoods and gun enthusiasts, would have done the R.C.M.P.s job for it. And that, the federal troopers will never allow.</div>
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Mr. Bronskill, of the <b>Canadian Press</b> news agency, is one of our most reliable journalists specializing in matters of National Defence, Canada's Intelligence gathering agencies, and Official Secrecy. He wrote that an inside source had tipped him of the R.C.M.P.s inability to solve the mystery of how and where the gunman acquired his Winchester .30-.30. "<i>The RCMP devoted more than 130 full-time investigators and staff to the case, interviewing several hundred people across the country</i>."<br />
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Just as interesting was a CBC News report, on the same day, that described an internal dispute among the current and former members of the House of Commons security detail. "<i><b>RCMP accused of rewriting history of Parliament Hill attack</b></i>" Only days after the attack on Canada's Parliament, the House of Commons security force was disbanded (without ceremony) and the R.C.M.P. immediately took over the assignment. In order to keep the Ottawa media out of the government's laundry basket, <b>Kevin Vickers</b> was declared a 'Hero' (or National distraction) for his firing a 9 mm. bullet into the back of the gunman's head, and quickly shipped off to an Ambassadorship in Ireland. (<b>Refer to my previous Runagates Club article</b>.) Clearly the whole matter has become completely politicized, and the biography of the Zehaf-Bibeau Winchester 94, is not a book that anyone in Ottawa ever plans to write. Inquiring minds just don't want to know.</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">FIREARMS SLEUTHING 101</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In truth, Federal authorities would have known quite quickly the genesis or "birth date" of the rifle and when it was shipped into Canada. The early records of the factory are in the custody of the Cody Firearms Museum in Wyoming, which has (like Colt) made millions of dollars selling <b>authentication letters</b> to Winchester collectors over the years. I have R.L. Wilson's history of Winchester, but there are a host of expensive "collector-grade" reference works, including one just on the <b>Model 1894</b> rifle. Basic information on serial numbers (never released by the RCMP) are available all over the Internet, as are archived discussions between serious collectors. Even pamphlets distributed by Winchester (below) give basic historical information, just to whet the appetite for owning a piece of firearms history. Collectors maintain files of vintage Canadian sales catalogs and advertising for individual communities, and it is often possible to determine which retailer (usually a hardware store) was stocking particular makes in a given community. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><b>SADDLE GUN</b> :"<i>Since the world was powered by horse flesh at the </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><i>time of </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">its introduction, the 1894 just begs to be slipped into a horse </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">scabbard with a </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">string of rawhide or braided suede tied around the </span></i></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">saddle </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">ring to hold her in </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><i>place on a rough ride</i>." - <b>Kevin Gibson</b></span></div>
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Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau's rifle appears to be of pre-WW1 manufacture, with an octagonal barrel and a crescent shaped steel butt-plate. It was officially an "antique" (100+ years) when he used it to murder a sentry in Ottawa. Such weapons are noticed, and valued. One identical to it, and with no history, sold recently at auction for<b> $ U.S. 1,175.</b> If you owned one, or had one stolen from you, it would matter. Zehaf-Bibeau did not transport it from British Columbia back to Ontario or Quebec. He acquired it there, and quite possibly it came to him through the family. They deny it, and this is Canada, so there will be no nail-pulling. Of course the R.C.M.P. are only interested in establishing if there is another person tied to the rifle, who is chargeable with a crime. Should you think that the registration of rifles and shotguns is a very modern phenomenon in Canada, think again. Handgun registration started very early, but in 1940 our government decreed that all rifles and shotguns had to be registered. (See the clipping below.) Of course many rural Canadians ignored the law, but that is beside the point. The salient point is that taxpayers have forked over more than a <b>Billion Dollars</b> for the funding of a registration system for so-called "long arms", ostensibly in an attempt to eliminate gun crime, and the very moment in our history that a nut dashes onto Parliament Hill with a hunting rifle, the entire program is shown to be a mirage. A year has passed and we are told "the probe has come to a dead end". My gawd! Even more exasperating, very few newspapers bothered to print Bronskill's story, and <u>NONE</u> have attempted a followup.</div>
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<b>In 1940 War Measures allowed the government </b></div>
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<b>to require that all rifles and shotguns be registered. </b></div>
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<b>Handguns were already tightly controlled in Canada.</b></div>
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So how could this happen? The<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Firearms_Registry"> Canadian Firearms Registry</a> cost Canadian taxpayers somewhere between $1 Billion - $2 Billion dollars. The exact dollar figure is lost in the fog of political warfare. The project was a Chretien-Liberal boondoggle and was cancelled in 2012, although federal law enforcement still requires individual gun owners be licensed.</div>
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The first mass-registration of ALL guns in Canada took place during World War II, and might then have picked up the Winchester Model 94. But it didn't. Surely the Chretien Era registration, with its dire threats of jail time for non-compliance, would have detected it? Well, NO. According to the Bronskill report, the Mounties are at a "Dead End". So gun registration was one of the more costly job creation schemes run by Ottawa, but it didn't make a bit of difference in preventing gun crimes like the Zehaf-Bibeau shooting.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Canadian - U.S. Cooperation on Tracing Guns</b></span></div>
We Canadians are very aware of the American obsession with the right to own unlimited numbers of guns, and the resulting carnage that ensues. For a look at how the<b> Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms </b>handles illicit gun tracing, I turned to YOUTUBE. The ATF <b>National Tracing Center</b> is located in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and it employs approximately 400 full-time staff. The video is only a few minutes long, and I provide a hot link below.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>"<i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lFdLaYcDNQ">A Rare Look Inside the A.T.F. National Tracing Center</a></i>",</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>published on YOUTUBE, in early February 2013.</b></span></div>
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Despite claims of overwork by staff and the complaint of somehow being handicapped by U.S. Federal privacy laws (somewhat of a hollow joke from an employee of the world's leading surveillance-state) the vaunted A.T.F. racks up an impressive success rate. So is it fair to make a direct comparison between American and Canadian capabilities? It would be IF we Canadians had a little more to go on. With respect to current operations and programs, the level of information control in Ottawa is now so routine and pervasive, that it is virtually equivalent to wartime conditions. I daresay, for example, that Canadians during World War II were able to follow the campaigns in Europe more easily than we were able to do with units deployed to Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, or currently bombing Syria. Could you even secure a list of the names of R.C.M.P. officers serving in your community, much less specific details on why investigators were skunked by Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau? Not a chance. It's interesting to note that when the <i>Windsor Star </i>did a five-part investigative series (2013) on smuggled guns and Canadian victims, they consulted staff at the ATF in West Virginia, and not our own specialists.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Eight Bandido bikers murdered in Shedden, Ontario in 2006</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>with one Hi-Point .380 pistol. The ATF traced its biography.</b></span></div>
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Did you know that Canada has a "Commissioner of Firearms"? Did you know that each year the <b>Canadian Firearms Program</b> (CFP) publishes a glossy report summarizing annual achievements? The CFP is "<i>Canada's Authority on Firearms</i>", and so the Commissioner's next report may include a paragraph or two on the Zehaf-Bibeau case - arguably the most important attempt to trace a firearm that the CFP have yet attempted. It depends on your P.O.V., I guess. It seems to me that the program has too many chiefs, and not enough Indians. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-llbr2-jdQ2M/Vk0-4Fe956I/AAAAAAAAN3A/HEbGXZZUHj4/s1600/Authority.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Commissioner of Firearms - 2013 Report, Ottawa" border="0" height="171" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-llbr2-jdQ2M/Vk0-4Fe956I/AAAAAAAAN3A/HEbGXZZUHj4/s320/Authority.jpg" title="Commissioner of Firearms - 2013 Report, Ottawa" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you read the most recent annual report, you will find a "Program Overview". (Provided below) You will see listed:</div>
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And these CFP "Directorates" have "components," and are further supported by Department of Justice lawyers in regional offices.</div>
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And if that were not enough, consider this recent refinement in Canada's federal gun tracing efforts:<br />
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"<i>The Canadian Integrated Ballistics Information Network - CIBIN</i>"<br />
Based in Ottawa this program seeks to instantly link criminal occurrences anywhere in Canada (and by extension the U.S.) by matching digital records of fired bullets, marks left on cartridge casings, etc. The really sneaky component of the service to "frontline" law enforcement is the "Suspicious Firearms Index" which is a growing compilation of evidence taken from "firearms of interest not known to be associated with a criminal charge but that may generate intelligence for investigators". In other words, the goal is to surreptitiously collect firearms evidence from citizens you don't trust, and hold it for a future match when the weapon is illegally used. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"It's 2015"</span></div>
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On the R.C.M.P.s wish list is "<i>Pursuit of the establishment of a live connection between NIBIN and CIBIN</i>". NIBIN is the U.S.A.'s <b>National Integrated Ballistic Information Network</b>.</div>
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And yet none of this technology and bureaucracy would have stopped an attack like that perpetrated in Ottawa by one angry and disturbed man who had access to an antique Winchester found somewhere in a closet. What it does do, is employ a large number R.C.M.P. officers at six-figure salaries, who are counting on pension cycles guaranteed to far exceed their actual years of service. And bureaucratic waste is a whole different category of crime best left for another time. Ironically, many American crime labs are abandoning the technology the RCMP are boasting of acquiring. The consensus among lab staff is that massive centralized databases are not resulting in local arrests and prosecutions, so they don't feel particularly obligated to waste precious hours feeding information to the insatiable Intelligence dragon. ...But I digress. The killer was himself killed, so if the R.C.M.P. would just share what they do know about the Model 1894 in discussion, then citizen sleuths might get to work and contribute something helpful to the investigation.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>R/C</b></span></div>
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-89685483721738997482015-08-27T11:20:00.001-07:002016-05-28T10:10:58.751-07:00Kevin Vickers - the Mountie and the Head Shot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vwJMRXdFe0I/Vd9JK3DX69I/AAAAAAAANRw/modqO-J1_Pc/s1600/Vickers%2B2001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kevin Vickers - R.C.M.P. career officer" border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vwJMRXdFe0I/Vd9JK3DX69I/AAAAAAAANRw/modqO-J1_Pc/s640/Vickers%2B2001.jpg" title="Kevin Vickers - R.C.M.P. career officer" width="458" /></a></div>
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<b>Ambassador Kevin Michael Vickers</b> is receiving visitors in Dublin. This week it was the dubious duo from CTV - Craig Oliver and Lloyd Robertson - checking out the lush back pasture Mr. Vickers is grazing. Vickers' wall is covered with plastic plaques, Maritime universities now invite him to give inspirational speeches, and many feckless Canadians even call him a "hero". (He's the Mountie who performed the coup-de-grace on that well-riddled mental defective on Parliament Hill.) You can check out the list of his honours and ribbon bars <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Vickers">here</a>, but I think Mr. Vickers is richly deserving of at least one more distinction - the <b>Flying Fickle Finger of Fate</b>. This was a trophy first awarded to the U.S. Congress for failing to pass much needed Gun Control Legislation - That golden moment, a clip from <b><i>Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in</i></b>, is on Youtube - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYG6L9jcFOE">FICKLE FINGER OF FATE</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7MZeaSuhTU/Vd9J5rrNqUI/AAAAAAAANR4/Pa3qgtHoQpU/s1600/FFFF%2BVickers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7MZeaSuhTU/Vd9J5rrNqUI/AAAAAAAANR4/Pa3qgtHoQpU/s400/FFFF%2BVickers.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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By now you may not even remember <b>Michael Zehaf-Bibeau</b>. He was an angry Canadian drifter who used to "crash" at night in a mosque just a few blocks from my home. It was an anger fuelled by his twisted perception of an alleged Muslim cultural marginalization. His story can be instructive, if told with calm and a pinch of honesty. But we don't get that much these days. Here is why I'm tossing in my two cents:</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">AN EVIL DAY IN OTTAWA</span></b><br />
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There were two men shot to death in Ottawa on October 22, 2014. One death was a tragedy, and the other death a complete farce. We were all outraged when an unarmed Canadian soldier was shot in the back at the National War Memorial. But Canadians should have been apoplectic with outrage by the ensuing events. Video surveillance, and bystander cell-video documented the breakneck dash by car to Parliament Hill, where the murderer... a<b> totally untrained man,</b> penetrated the RCMP defensive perimeter - and then (<b>armed with an antique saddle gun</b>) burst past the House of Commons Security Detail... and came within killing distance of our National Leader. </div>
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But there was no outrage at all - not on the Hill, nor anywhere across this "Fair Land". We were fed a shovel full of murky disinformation and then witnessed "Sergeant at Arms" Vickers (who was just one of six trained men who threw lead at Zehaf-Bibeau) - anointed a national "Hero" for doing the job he was <b>very well paid</b> to perform these past 30 years. More odious still, he was elevated to an ambassadorship! This to provide a smokescreen for the fact that Parliament Hill Security was a slack-ass joke, and in fact so bad that the government had just quietly disbanded the whole outfit. And what about those bozos in the LPC and NDP... they who want to govern this country? Did they demand an inquiry into how and why Parliament Hill has been successfully penetrated, again and again? <b>No. </b></div>
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There is a very lengthy and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_shootings_at_Parliament_Hill,_Ottawa">detailed wiki page</a> on the shooting incident, if you have time to read it.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ed2y8n3fYQM/Vd-zwY2UM3I/AAAAAAAANSI/VL_TNTrgh48/s1600/30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ed2y8n3fYQM/Vd-zwY2UM3I/AAAAAAAANSI/VL_TNTrgh48/s400/30.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>The Winchester Model 94 rifle (M1894), was popularly known </b><br />
<b>as a </b><b>"saddle gun" because cowboys and ranchers carried it in </b><br />
<b>a leather scabbard strapped to the saddle. </b></div>
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Almost a year later, the RCMP have not discovered where the shooter acquired the antique rifle. (An "antique" is any artifact over 100 years old.) The official report does not say how the fore-stock came to be shattered. There were 56 spent 9mm cartridge casings collected from the scene, and we should trust that nobody pocketed any casings. The <b>target was hit 31 times</b>, with 8 pistol slugs remaining lodged in his body. These gory details may impress the casual reader, but the report neglects to offer us a tally of bullet strikes - on walls, pillars and the floor around and underneath the deceased. There is no doubt in my mind that such evidence was collected. But in whose interest is it to bury that evidence?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KXHVtgY7B2Q/VeH2rp6OoMI/AAAAAAAANUA/8YCVJRDAGmk/s1600/Samearn%2BSon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Constable Samearn Son - wounded by .30-30 round" border="0" height="257" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KXHVtgY7B2Q/VeH2rp6OoMI/AAAAAAAANUA/8YCVJRDAGmk/s400/Samearn%2BSon.jpg" title="Constable Samearn Son - wounded by .30-30 round" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">There is no Wiki-page for Constable Samearn Son. The Laotion-Canadian</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">had ten years of service on the Hill on the day that Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">burst through the entrance doors. Son grabbed at the Winchester rifle and</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">alerted his colleagues: "<i>Gun, gun, gun</i>!" He took a .30-30 bullet in the</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">foot. I don't know if he was awarded a medal, but he did receive a round</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">of applause from M.P.s in the Federal Parliament on December 14, 2014.</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMiZgHavoow/Vd-z4JxmL3I/AAAAAAAANSQ/117AIK59HlI/s1600/9mil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMiZgHavoow/Vd-z4JxmL3I/AAAAAAAANSQ/117AIK59HlI/s400/9mil.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And what was the Mountie packing in Parliament?<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92HV1GRLOzM/Vfwssos53UI/AAAAAAAANZg/aGIjFMbo-2U/s1600/gun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=""Speaker" Kevin Vickers pistol " border="0" height="361" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92HV1GRLOzM/Vfwssos53UI/AAAAAAAANZg/aGIjFMbo-2U/s400/gun.jpg" title=""Speaker" Kevin Vickers pistol" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Coup de Grace</b></span></div>
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At the time of the shooting inside the Center Block on Parliament, both sides were lacking crucial information. Hill Security did not know that a serious shooting incident was underway at the National War Memorial, and the shooter himself was equally confused. He was now INSIDE, but he didn't know the layout of the building. All that was left to him was death. It has always been alleged that <b>Chief Superintendent Vickers</b> fired the fatal shot that finished off the intruder, but the official report makes no such claim. What it does say, under "<b>Fatal Wounds</b>" : "<i>The penetrating wound to the back of the neck that perforated the brain would have been immediately incapacitating and rapidly fatal</i>." Media accounts make the claim that Vickers, using a stone pillar as a barrier, stretched around and fired two shots upward into his target. Kevin Vickers collected all the rewards and public acclaim for making the kill shot. <b>The fatal shot was to the back of the head</b>. Two men were fatally shot in the back on that black day. One unlawfully, and the other quite lawfully.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rMUvNPhr2Ok/Vd-03lPUASI/AAAAAAAANSk/3NPzY3Ygqj4/s1600/report.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Official Report - Investigation Into the Death of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rMUvNPhr2Ok/Vd-03lPUASI/AAAAAAAANSk/3NPzY3Ygqj4/s400/report.jpg" title="Official Report - Investigation into the Death of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau" width="308" /></a></div>
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Mr. Vickers has now had plenty of time to sort out his thoughts. I would like to see him make a definitive statement under oath, and stick to it. The most ridiculous of his statements that I have read is an extract from a speech he gave in May of 2015, when his birthplace honoured him with a dinner. "<i><b>I was on one side of the wall and the gunman was on the other side of the wall and I remember thinking, and this is the truth, about being with my friend from Eel Ground Hubert Barnaby, hiding on the bank of the river as the</b></i> [game] <i><b>warden was coming and his feet were so close to us we could almost reach out and touch them</b></i>." ??? No, I'm not naive. I know that Vickers' claim, "<b>This is the truth</b>" is a sure tip off that he was bullshitting. The legal issue at stake here, is that Vickers has never been required to swear to what actually transpired. The Wikipedia page reports that Vickers told members of the federal cabinet, "<i><b>I put him down</b></i>." </div>
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Notice how quickly the Tories whisked him out of town? Notice how fast they threw the Canadian public a <b>hero-bone</b> to chew on? Arf Arf! The irony of course is that many, many more Canadians will hate me for pricking their hero-balloon, than would ever turn on those who constantly manipulate their feelings and make a habit of deceiving them. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4N5ZC3mMb9k/Vd-0EEHsITI/AAAAAAAANSY/vvBYCyowyoU/s1600/SA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kevin Vickers = Poster Boy for the Salvation Army" border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4N5ZC3mMb9k/Vd-0EEHsITI/AAAAAAAANSY/vvBYCyowyoU/s640/SA.jpg" title="Kevin Vickers - Poster Boy for the Salvation Army" width="352" /></a></div>
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<b>This is nothing short of obnoxious: Kevin Vickers chosen Poster Boy</b></div>
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<b>for the Salvation Army ?! For shooting a man in the back of the head?</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Vickers will speak at a "Leadership Breakfast" at the Saint John Trade</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">And Convention Center on Nov. 12, 2015. No mention that he was a career Mountie.</span></b></div>
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<b>Michael Zihaf-Bibeau (though a criminal) was exactly the</b></div>
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<b>type of troubled misfit, (a drifter with probable mental deficits) who</b><br />
<b>was living in an Ottawa homeless shelter at the time he snapped. </b></div>
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<b>The very profile of indigents the Sally Ann has a history of helping. </b><br />
<b>How confused was Zehaf-Bibeau's mind?</b><br />
<b>After spewing hate in a recorded video, he ended with "<i>Thank you</i>."</b><br />
<b>Vickers was not in </b><b>ceremonial </b><b>Sarge-At-Arms getup, when he joined </b><br />
<b>in pursuit of the suspect, with his service pistol drawn. </b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">PTSD - Pass it Around</span></b></div>
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If we are to believe news report, virtually ever Canadian soldier who served in Afghanistan is suffering, or will eventually suffer, from <b>Post Traumatic Stress Disorder</b>. If we add to their ranks the hundreds of mounties and municipal cops who volunteered as Afghan police trainers, (to goose their pension portfolios?), and who will also be claiming PTSD, then appreciative Canadian taxpayers are saddled with a billion dollar problem over the next 50-60 years. Call it a - Post-Taxation Stress Disorder.</div>
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Now we learn that a band of brothers have "Declared War" on the Harper Tories this election season - all in the name of getting "veterans" the treatment and compensation they deserve. The subject of "Veteran's Rights" is just as frightening to the average Canadian politician as an honest chat about abortion, religion, worker productivity - or anything else that gets folks on their feet punching and screaming. It's never a fair fight. So just pay up Stevie. It's only money.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kw1_mBr-lYI/Vd_suyUr0bI/AAAAAAAANS0/bKG4bHIT9UM/s1600/War.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kw1_mBr-lYI/Vd_suyUr0bI/AAAAAAAANS0/bKG4bHIT9UM/s400/War.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The alternative to letting men with mental health issues go untreated or ignored, is to risk having a trained man storm Parliament. A man well-armed and experienced in battle tactics and simple countermeasures. And did I mention, ANGRY. Don't say it can't happen, because it certainly will happen. If not in Ottawa, in one of the provincial legislatures, which are also equipped for live television broadcast. I'm old enough to remember Corporal Lortie, the disturbed serviceman from C.F.S. Carp, (Ottawa) who murdered three people when he stormed the Quebec Legislature back in 1984. If there is another Lortie lurking out there, the boys-in-black-balaclavas will certainly be in for some traumatic stress. Our world gets nuttier by the minute.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Major Jalbert vs. Corporal Lortie - May 8, 1984</b></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yTVCRBt6hNc/Vd_y-qVx6GI/AAAAAAAANTE/A4rpaDbJh-Q/s1600/1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Corporal Lortie - Quebec Legislature 1984" border="0" height="286" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yTVCRBt6hNc/Vd_y-qVx6GI/AAAAAAAANTE/A4rpaDbJh-Q/s400/1984.jpg" title="Corporal Lortie - Quebec Legislature 1984" width="400" /></a></div>
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It is interesting to recall that earlier, and far more interesting assault on a Canadian legislative chamber, because heroism doesn't have to trigger a deceitful response from government. Major Jalbert was a veteran of WW2 and Korea. He was a modest man possessed of an iron nerve. He could hear Cpl. Lortie ranting and firing indiscriminately inside the chamber of government, yet he stepped inside (unarmed) and faced the gunman. Even as Lortie continued to fire rounds 3-4 feet in front of his chest, Jalbert stood his ground. After four hours of reasoning and pleading with him, the deranged soldier surrendered.<br />
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Major Jalbert was a <b>awarded a medal</b>, and he had a street named after him.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nuO6rOT7X6s/VeCQhY3vkUI/AAAAAAAANTU/uV8hZOZ2OoU/s1600/Medal%2Bwinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lortie fires his submachinegun in Quebec Legislature - May 8, 1984" border="0" height="262" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nuO6rOT7X6s/VeCQhY3vkUI/AAAAAAAANTU/uV8hZOZ2OoU/s400/Medal%2Bwinner.jpg" title="Lortie fires his submachinegun in Quebec Legislature - May 8, 1984" width="400" /></a></div>
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Mr. Vickers was coasting toward retirement when fate chose to cast him for a National television broadcast. Television networks cut into their scheduled broadcasts to give the Ottawa incident saturation coverage. It went on for the better part of the week, when the show was moved inside the House of Commons, so that Canadian M.P.s could share the spotlight. A Big Show requires a kick-ass finish. Hello Mr. Ambassador! <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">THE LAST WORD GOES TO... THE CBC</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hnxrMwtnWmA/VeH8XTcqlpI/AAAAAAAANUQ/riCDezDsWTw/s1600/Analysis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="90" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hnxrMwtnWmA/VeH8XTcqlpI/AAAAAAAANUQ/riCDezDsWTw/s320/Analysis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Because the "Official Opposition" was out to lunch.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">UPDATE - May 27, 2016</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a7jU171MI58/V0nQFz5kWsI/AAAAAAAAPOE/VO11G_RjWwAubPricWAKa7q0QE5OcD8XwCLcB/s1600/Beating.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kevin Vickers - ex RCMP "Hero" performs in Dublin" border="0" height="304" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a7jU171MI58/V0nQFz5kWsI/AAAAAAAAPOE/VO11G_RjWwAubPricWAKa7q0QE5OcD8XwCLcB/s640/Beating.jpg" title="Kevin Vickers - ex RCMP "Hero" performs in Dublin" width="640" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This was the lead National story yesterday. Kevin Vickers at it again, this time in Dublin. I don't really mind our "Ambassador" to Ireland acting like a bar-room bouncer, but what I do mind is absent-minded news reporting and myth-making. He didn't"take dow the terrorist". He finished him off after he was already riddled by the Parliament Hill security detail. </span><br />
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-83154801155202302062015-05-04T01:53:00.001-07:002015-11-16T09:01:37.297-08:00Everybody was a liar in Garland, Texas - but mostly the Law Enforcement Agencies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">Garland, Texas - SWAT shootout with two wanna-be jihadis. Just another sickening story of American gun violence triggering a cascade of lying by Police, FBI and ATF officials. </span></div>
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The first words I read on the Garland, Texas shooting were from the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">New York Times</span>, picked up by the Google News aggregator. The N.Y.T. headline was "<i><b>Police in Texas Kill Gunman at Exhibit Defying Islam</b></i>". As we all know, the "defiance" of Islam's militancy is a modern blood sport that takes great courage to play. I never forget what film maker Theo Van Gogh got for "defying Islam". He was gutted and had his throat cut, on a public street in Amsterdam. I decided to follow the Garland incident on the Net:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PvzyYwka8yk/VUcsswYxhVI/AAAAAAAAMk8/LoZ91pvNTqQ/s1600/Defiance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Garland Texas SWAT meets Muhammad" border="0" height="307" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PvzyYwka8yk/VUcsswYxhVI/AAAAAAAAMk8/LoZ91pvNTqQ/s1600/Defiance.jpg" title="Garland Texas SWAT meets Muhammad" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Dateline:</b> <b>Garland Texas, May 3, 2015</b> - American and Dutch Free Speech advocates held a cartoon drawing contest, to make a point about FREE SPEECH. A $10,000 prize was awarded for the best cartoon to caricature Muhammad (aka "the prophet"..."the messenger"..."the blessed and merciful" yadda yadda). The local Police expected trouble and established a security perimeter, comprised of both uniformed cops and off-duty officers hired out for security. They were not going to allow a <i>CHARLIE HEBDO</i> type massacre on their watch. No sir! <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KjMPHmytbzY/VU-Zcog3--I/AAAAAAAAMqg/nLKTJI_W4aE/s1600/L.A.%2BTimes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="57" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KjMPHmytbzY/VU-Zcog3--I/AAAAAAAAMqg/nLKTJI_W4aE/s640/L.A.%2BTimes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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On a death-defying mission from Muhammad, two lunatics drove into the <b>kill zone</b>, and opened fire on the exhibition building. They were dead in seconds. Minutes later, heavily armed Garland SWAT team members took to the stage, and informed the audience that there had been an incident outside. They also posed with the winning Muhammad cartoons. The American media is obsessed with Baltimore at the moment, so the Garland shootout got short shrift. Given the firepower deployed at the cartoon Expo, it's clear that the Juhadis went into action blind. No recon at all. Did I hear somebody say, "Don't mess with Texas!" The SWAT officer (above) staring down the Muhammad snakehead painting is the craziest photo I saw all weekend. I just had to share.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9KxNfJAehzw/VUeTBhQcv9I/AAAAAAAAMlc/aQ-UuHvoG84/s1600/Event%2BPoster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Event Poster - Muhammad Cartoon Contest - Garland, Texas" border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9KxNfJAehzw/VUeTBhQcv9I/AAAAAAAAMlc/aQ-UuHvoG84/s640/Event%2BPoster.jpg" title="Event Poster - Muhammad Cartoon Contest - Garland, Texas" width="345" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>This is the poster advertising the cartoon contest at Garland, Texas.</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>It references the JYLLANDS POSTEN Muhammad cartoons Furor,</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>the CHARLIE HEBDO massacre in Paris, and Muslim child brides. </b></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UryHWpAoXXQ/VUej8iQTRsI/AAAAAAAAMmE/VcC64ryROMo/s1600/Twitter%2BScrape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Twitter posting from Terrorist in Garland, Texas" border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UryHWpAoXXQ/VUej8iQTRsI/AAAAAAAAMmE/VcC64ryROMo/s320/Twitter%2BScrape.jpg" title="Twitter posting from Terrorist in Garland, Texas" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Getting some revenge for U.S. Drone Strikes and the killing of U.S. citizen</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Anwar Al-Alwaki.</b> If you don't know who he WAS, watch the documentary</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>DIRTY WARS</b> on Netflix. The <b>Muhammad </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Art Expo</b> was just a convenient place </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">for a slaughter. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Fortunately nobody got slaughtered except the Jihadists.</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0v89fE-pGAo/VkoLqyx8c_I/AAAAAAAAN1U/2vG5Z5aYQps/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Texas Attack - Twitter traffic" border="0" height="152" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0v89fE-pGAo/VkoLqyx8c_I/AAAAAAAAN1U/2vG5Z5aYQps/s320/2.jpg" title="Texas Attack - Twitter traffic" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Mocking Muslim No. 1</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NKFMegfgYyg/VUggHeX7WXI/AAAAAAAAMmY/nf-PSAG3Shs/s1600/Winning%2BCartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Winning Muhammad cartoon, Garland, Texas" border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NKFMegfgYyg/VUggHeX7WXI/AAAAAAAAMmY/nf-PSAG3Shs/s400/Winning%2BCartoon.jpg" title="Winning Muhammed cartoon, Garland, Texas" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Winner of the <i>People's Choice Award</i>, and the $10,000 prize:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Comic Book artist and fellow blogger, <a href="http://fawstin.blogspot.ca/">Bosch Fawstin</a>.<br />
It really is ludicrous that techno-Muslims, those who Twitter<br />
and Youtube their hate and butchery, are so obsessed with<br />
this nonsense of banning any depiction of Muslim No. 1.</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Morning After:</span></b><br />
And how will the Media report the crazy attempt to murder people at a FREE SPEECH event? Badly. Here is another photo - from the webpage of <i>THE DAILY MAIL</i>, London. What a crude insult to citizens who still turn to daily newspapers for information. I'm insulted, and so should you be. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzWqOwhj5Yc/VUeGCHg0o6I/AAAAAAAAMlM/dZ0NhQGqnTc/s1600/Mail%2BOnline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Censored photo of Garland Texas SWAT officers" border="0" height="301" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzWqOwhj5Yc/VUeGCHg0o6I/AAAAAAAAMlM/dZ0NhQGqnTc/s400/Mail%2BOnline.jpg" title="Censored photo of Garland Texas SWAT officers " width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>THE DAILY MAIL crudely censored a photo taken at the site of the</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>May 3, 2015 attack in Garland, Texas. </b></span></div>
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We live in a culture where most people are taking their information and political messages visually. That is why I.S.I.S. militants do not issue manifestos, they publish videos. And that is why newspapers are filled with colour photos these days. <i> Readers</i> have turned into <i>lookers</i>. Publishing a mutilated news photo like the DAILY MAIL has done this morning, is the equivalent to using the silly phrase "<i>the N-Word</i>" or "<i>the F-Word</i>" in your conversation. In seeking not to offend the self-righteous, we betray whatever integrity we think we possess.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mwqY9wSvO5s/VUeZU87SyHI/AAAAAAAAMl0/wtDd7NP9R-I/s1600/posing%2Bwith%2BSWAT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Geert Wilders, Dutch M.P. posing with Garland, Texas SWAT Team" border="0" height="286" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mwqY9wSvO5s/VUeZU87SyHI/AAAAAAAAMl0/wtDd7NP9R-I/s400/posing%2Bwith%2BSWAT.jpg" title="Geert Wilders, Dutch M.P. posing with Garland, Texas SWAT Team" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Garland, Texas SWAT Team posed with</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>visiting Dutch M.P. Geert Wilders, May 3, 2015.</b></span></div>
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Early morning reports tell us that security for the Muhammad Cartoon Expo was months in preparation. The event co-ordinators<b> paid $10,000 to the City of Garland for extra police protection</b>. They got the entire Garland, Texas SWAT Team, and before the event got underway, the keynote speaker (<b>Geert Wilders, Dutch M.P.</b>) posed with the SWAT Team. This is a scrape from <b>A.F.P.</b> - Agence France Press which says Wilders released the photo to them. The irony is that these SWAT dudes, dressed for war, didn't get the kills. An off duty Texas cop faced off with the two gunmen, and shot them dead with his pistol. They were armed with assault rifles.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QepzAWjdYXo/VU42IMAS-AI/AAAAAAAAMp8/U-CD9pgtMX8/s1600/Crossing%2Bthe%2BLine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Garland Texas - mPOLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS" border="0" height="270" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QepzAWjdYXo/VU42IMAS-AI/AAAAAAAAMp8/U-CD9pgtMX8/s400/Crossing%2Bthe%2BLine.jpg" title="Garland Texas - POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>"They crossed the line" is usually just a metaphorical expression.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>But in Garland, Texas the Jihadis literally tried to cross the line.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The entire venue was demarcated with yellow police tape, and the entrance</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>to the building was closed off with barriers. Even with assault rifles</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>there was no way in hell the TWO HOMEGROWN JIHADIS were getting inside. </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">UPDATE</span>: As of noon May 7th, no photos have been released of the weapons used by the Juihadis in Garland Texas. They have their reasons. But at least one fully loaded magazine is visible in a crime-scene photo. The officer is holding a South Korean manufactured KCI <b>100-round</b> dual-drum mag. Note that it is fully charged with .223 rounds. <b> Elton Simpson</b> had enough ammunition in that one magazine to kill everyone in the audience at the Garland Free Speech event ...without reloading. He was planning a massacre of colossal proportions, but instead he stepped into a buzz saw. No doubt there are a few Jihadi whackos in the U.S. who are smart enough to learn from Simpson's stupidity. The next target will be oh, so very soft. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--aCoqrZpFbY/VUvysPFQX7I/AAAAAAAAMpI/qIR6vP2oSb0/s1600/100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Garland Texas Shooting - 100 round drum for assault rifle" border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--aCoqrZpFbY/VUvysPFQX7I/AAAAAAAAMpI/qIR6vP2oSb0/s400/100.jpg" title="Garland Texas Shooting - 100 round drum for assault rifle" width="318" /></a></div>
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And for a YOUTUBE test firing of the ultra-high capacity KCI dual-drum magazine, jump to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7xq7mW1pE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">BANG</span></a>.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UjW7uaZ4Dg/VUv2un6BfrI/AAAAAAAAMpU/Nzln0_vAH9Q/s1600/100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="KCI 100-round dual drum magazine, Garland, Texas crime scene" border="0" height="281" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UjW7uaZ4Dg/VUv2un6BfrI/AAAAAAAAMpU/Nzln0_vAH9Q/s400/100.jpg" title="KCI 100-round dual drum magazine, Garland, Texas crime scene" width="400" /></a></div>
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Such things are illegal in Canada. And for good reason. We don't want <b>our</b> home-grown Jihadis being able to put the implements of murder on their credit cards. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">FINAL UPDATE </span>: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">The story just gets too obnoxious. The police stuck to the "off duty traffic cop" lie for days. Then the coroner's report was released. The bodies of the two toasted jihadis had been riddled by several pistols and at least three separate Colt M4 assault rifles ... just like those carried by all Garland Texas SWAT team members.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ie8I-S-XduI/VY9Rcqk7T-I/AAAAAAAAM5I/1ibgHrjHH1M/s1600/Change%2BDetail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ie8I-S-XduI/VY9Rcqk7T-I/AAAAAAAAM5I/1ibgHrjHH1M/s400/Change%2BDetail.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_mMTT3rxscw/VY9RkaVNhGI/AAAAAAAAM5Q/PFb8TNLX6F4/s1600/SWAT%2Bkilled%2BJihadis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_mMTT3rxscw/VY9RkaVNhGI/AAAAAAAAM5Q/PFb8TNLX6F4/s400/SWAT%2Bkilled%2BJihadis.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">What happened to the story about a Cartoon contest? Two dead Jihadis? Garland morphed into yet another example of lying law enforcement flaks and third-rate media coverage. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kR71TyIw_xY/VY9TL1rUpxI/AAAAAAAAM5c/LDXwaZ10lRg/s1600/Garland%2BLying%2BContest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kR71TyIw_xY/VY9TL1rUpxI/AAAAAAAAM5c/LDXwaZ10lRg/s400/Garland%2BLying%2BContest.jpg" width="332" /></a></div>
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-27379849945744365792015-02-06T21:55:00.002-08:002015-05-04T15:58:16.955-07:00I.S.I.S. Snuff Films - that "GITMO-Orange" metaphor goes over many heads<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lY-qOyFNyXw/VNWWa3zqBeI/AAAAAAAAMMs/PNVMoXnBu-U/s1600/orange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Jihadi John - I.S.I.S. video star" border="0" height="301" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lY-qOyFNyXw/VNWWa3zqBeI/AAAAAAAAMMs/PNVMoXnBu-U/s1600/orange.jpg" title="Jihadi John - I.S.I.S. video star" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Jihadi John - the I.S.I.S. video star of 2014</b></div>
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Week-by-week the fanatics who call themselves the "Islamic State" struggle with the same problem facing Hollywood celebrities, Rock bands, and politicians of every stripe. How do we hold our audience? With I.S.I.S. it's all about brutality and sadistic forms of execution. To listen to CNN meat puppets talking about the "slick production values" used in I.S.I.S. videos, is to realize that they are acknowledging a competitor for American 'eyes and ears'.... because 'hearts and minds' are completely out of the question.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>I.S.I.S. - the so-called "<a href="http://nypost.com/2015/05/03/a-paltry-50k-reward-for-the-goebbels-of-isis/">Jihadeos</a>"</b></span></div>
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Recently though, I was startled to learn that Canadians don't "get" many of the metaphors common to political theatre as practiced by Muslim militants. They certainly don't understand the <b>orange-jumpsuit metaphor</b> which is common to all I.S.I.S. snuff videos directed toward a Western audience. Following the recent murder of the two Japanese captives I asked several students their best guess why the videos were always staged the same way. Not a clue! Then I moved on to adults. Nobody knew! That's very, very odd because evidence suggests that millions of news viewers in the U.S. and Europe are savvy to "Gitmo-orange", but why not Canadians?</div>
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In short, the I.S.I.S. executioners are reminding us all of the Muslims imprisoned and indoctrinated at the American military base on Cuba. The whole sordid freak-show of the United States handling high risk enemy militants - with offshore military prisons, C.I.A. torture centers, rendition flights, etc., gets thrown back into American faces when I.S.I.S. puts its own prisoners on display and administers its own own sadistic and perverted form of "justice". </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jd4tDVgVRfs/VNWTRxDeCVI/AAAAAAAAMMg/rUjj47680hA/s1600/X-Ray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Muslim detainees 2002 - Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay" border="0" height="434" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jd4tDVgVRfs/VNWTRxDeCVI/AAAAAAAAMMg/rUjj47680hA/s1600/X-Ray.jpg" title="Muslim detainees 2002 - Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's January 11, 2002 - and the first twenty "detainees" arrive at Camp X-Ray in the American Zone on Cuba. The prisoners, shackled and wearing orange jumpsuits, kneel with their heads bowed during "in-processing". [U.S. D.O.D. handout photo - click to enlarge] Twelve years later I.S.I.S. would storm out of Syria into Iraq and carve out a sinuous territory they call the "Islamic State" The Black banner and kneeling prisoners garbed in "Gitmo-orange" was evidence of a new form of militant threat and the Americans took several months to recover from the shock.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hhIcXm0Go7A/VNWf91tBZZI/AAAAAAAAMM8/iCCvQJsmrWg/s1600/UK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Protestors in England wear distinctive GITMO orange" border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hhIcXm0Go7A/VNWf91tBZZI/AAAAAAAAMM8/iCCvQJsmrWg/s1600/UK.jpg" title="Protestors in England wear distinctive GITMO orange" width="400" /></a></div>
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All over Europe and in many American cities, the display of political prisoners in orange jumpsuits, bound and often hooded, became the new shock-metaphor for those publicly rejecting American foreign policy, U.S. global surveillance, and Washington's continued illegal occupation of a corner of Cuba. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-obVe-RVVC1E/VNWkgEuAEFI/AAAAAAAAMNU/atmwcpUQ8T8/s1600/Syrians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mass beheadings of Syrian Soldiers by ISIS" border="0" height="344" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-obVe-RVVC1E/VNWkgEuAEFI/AAAAAAAAMNU/atmwcpUQ8T8/s1600/Syrians.jpg" title="Mass beheading of Syrian soldiers by ISIS" width="640" /></a></div>
Click on photos if you need enlargement.<br />
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The Islamic State has captured thousands of Syrian soldiers and officers. Most have been executed by rifle fire, but a number have been beheaded on camera. None were garbed in "Gitmo-orange". The colour orange is reserved for "<i>high value detainees</i>", a term invented by the Americans and now whole-heartedly adopted by I.S.I.S. The use of video is common to both sides. For example, the Americans have given hundreds of T.O.W. missile launchers to an A.B.C. of crackpot Syrian guerrilla groups. The stipulation is that every missile launch MUST be videotaped. Not for publication on YOUTUBE (although many TOW shots have appeared) but because the Americans want to count every missile firing. After <b>Syrian President Assad</b> is dragged out and killed like <b>Gaddafi</b>, the U.S. will probably bomb the guerrilla arms depots, in attempt to destroy the borrowed launchers and unexpended missiles. Likewise every American assassination by Predator drone is video recorded, and I would suggest that atomizing a Toyota sedan and its passengers with a Hellfire missile is <u>no less cowardly</u> that taking the head of a bound captive.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ap24-M3-deU/VNWhJUNyphI/AAAAAAAAMNI/1pgmFlQ4sZg/s1600/orange%2Bdoves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CLOSE GUANTANAMO BAY, an Amnesty International poster" border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ap24-M3-deU/VNWhJUNyphI/AAAAAAAAMNI/1pgmFlQ4sZg/s1600/orange%2Bdoves.jpg" title="CLOSE GUANTANAMO BAY, an Amnesty International poster" width="456" /></a></div>
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I close with this <b>Amnesty International</b> poster (above) which is simple yet eloquent. I think you would agree that it is clever and definitely ironic. Three symbols - the dove of peace, the Amnesty International motif of barbed wire, and the bright orange of Guantanamo, combined into one. What I find especially ironic is that those first photographs taken of the kneeling terrorists at <b>Camp X-Ray</b> were not the work of some intrepid journalist using a long lens. They were taken by a U.S. Navy petty officer and released to the media by the D.O.D. Fast forward to 2015. I.S.I.S. captives are now posed on their knees as Muslim "detainees" were posed on their knees in 2002. Both sides kill, and kill often, but I.S.I.S. is much more clever at satisfying the worldwide thirst for menacing images and vicarious thrills.</div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-65441808079335039112015-01-25T21:42:00.000-08:002015-02-02T11:54:03.656-08:00I.S.I.S. takes Japanese Head Trophies - when will it be a Canadian's turn?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OoYRWsnIDS0/VMW2y2yfb2I/AAAAAAAAMGQ/cy4iAwbLpyE/s1600/KG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kenji Goto displays the photo of beheaded ISIS hostage Haruna Yukawa" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OoYRWsnIDS0/VMW2y2yfb2I/AAAAAAAAMGQ/cy4iAwbLpyE/s1600/KG.jpg" height="640" title="Kenji Goto displays the photo of beheaded ISIS hostage Haruna Yukawa" width="476" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Japanese hostage Kenji Goto displays photo of fellow prisoner Haruna Yukawa,</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>who was beheaded by an I.S.I.S. guerrilla on January 25, 2015. The latest</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>instalment of Islamic vengeance killings designed to weaken our resolve.</b></span></div>
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Or, if you prefer, the tremulous media version... pixilated:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gchKZhljBjo/VMXEv23dOPI/AAAAAAAAMGg/mODaL1ix7CE/s1600/ouch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="pixilated I.S.I.S. Japanese hostages - Yukaw3a and Goto" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gchKZhljBjo/VMXEv23dOPI/AAAAAAAAMGg/mODaL1ix7CE/s1600/ouch.jpg" height="176" title="pixilated I.S.I.S. Japanese hostages - Yukawa and Goto" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's really rather amazing how quickly the iconic image of </div>
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kneeling I.S.I.S. hostages has burned into our subconscious.</div>
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It's been less than a year, and we easily recognize the black and</div>
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bright-orange hostage photos <b>pixilated</b> AND <b>miniaturized</b>:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Yukawa Haruna - Japan's wannabe mercenary</b></span><br />
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There have been very few Japanese mercenaries in the modern era. I can think of perhaps two who made a name for themselves. <b>Yukawa Haruna</b> was not made of the "right stuff". Like millions of his fellow Japanese, he enjoyed dressing up in costumes and posing for the camera, but he was not a killer. He should not have journeyed into the most dangerous war zone in the world unless he was very prepared to die. Now he is dead, and <b>Kenji Goto</b> may soon join him.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rdbZ6z_OFK0/VMXIbcHkuAI/AAAAAAAAMG0/BuNuC20TI1Y/s1600/tb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Yukawa Haruna - tank boy, a childhood pose in front of Japanese tank" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rdbZ6z_OFK0/VMXIbcHkuAI/AAAAAAAAMG0/BuNuC20TI1Y/s1600/tb.jpg" height="277" title="Yukawa Haruna - tank boy, a childhood pose in front of Japanese tank" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yukawa Haruna - as tank boy. Nobody could fault the lad, or his dad, for this playful childhood pose. We've all done it with our kids. Here he stands in front of a Japanese Self-Defence Force M.B.T. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g0OI_bvgXW4/VMXLCBmjajI/AAAAAAAAMHA/siuDokNvfR0/s1600/cosplay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Yukawa Haruna - posing in tactical gear - Japan" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g0OI_bvgXW4/VMXLCBmjajI/AAAAAAAAMHA/siuDokNvfR0/s1600/cosplay.jpg" height="640" title="Yukawa Haruna - posing in tactical gear - Japan" width="342" /></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Just cosplay, or was he serious? Yukawa Haruna poses in</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">tactical gear, somewhere in Japan, before leaving for Syria.</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAaBp4WPHDE/VMXLus1x0lI/AAAAAAAAMHI/zN8YOK1T4eU/s1600/Yukawa%2Bpassport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fAaBp4WPHDE/VMXLus1x0lI/AAAAAAAAMHI/zN8YOK1T4eU/s1600/Yukawa%2Bpassport.jpg" height="564" width="640" /></a></div>
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One is struck by the feminine appearance of the Yukawa face in the passport photo, (above) in comparison to the matured face of the I.S.I.S. hostage. I guess certain knowledge of your impending death by decapitation will do that to a fellow.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--F86_STER2g/VMXNTr_nmAI/AAAAAAAAMHU/SemKia-jI0o/s1600/RPG%2Bpose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Yukawa Haruna posing with RPG launcher, Aleppo, Syria 2014" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--F86_STER2g/VMXNTr_nmAI/AAAAAAAAMHU/SemKia-jI0o/s1600/RPG%2Bpose.jpg" height="515" title="Yukawa Haruna posing with RPG launcher, Aleppo, Syria 2014" width="640" /></a></div>
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Professional mercenaries do not Blog from the battlefield. Yukawa Haruna posed for and posted war-zone portraits constantly to the Internet, and he had a small fan following among members of Japan's para-military sub-culture. It is quite obvious why I.S.I.S. chose to execute him first. On his quirky FACEBOOK page he listed among his favorite music -<b> Justin Bieber</b> ! Another sure indication, as we Canadians might phrase it... that Yukawa "wasn't all there!" </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>THE WHEEL OF HISTORY STILL TURNS</b></span></div>
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It's interesting that I.S.I.S. executioners have now beheaded two Japanese, with a third condemned man soon to die. This ferocious head trophy fetish was the big atrocity story of 2014, and may not burn itself out for a few years. My generation was raised on history which emphasized <b>Bushido</b> and Japanese war crimes of civilian massacres and the beheading of Allied prisoners. And now Japanese society is said to be severely shaken by recent events. Are they really?<br />
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For my earlier introduction to the history of head trophies, jump to <i><a href="http://therunagatesclub.blogspot.ca/2014/07/black-june-isis-selfies-of-head.html">BLACK JUNE - ISIS "Selfies" of head trophies shouldn't surprise anyone</a></i>.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vTWJBDWVOvg/VMXQck-m6CI/AAAAAAAAMHg/7jyg9e9P0bs/s1600/Aussie%2Bin%2BNew%2BGuinea%2B1943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vTWJBDWVOvg/VMXQck-m6CI/AAAAAAAAMHg/7jyg9e9P0bs/s1600/Aussie%2Bin%2BNew%2BGuinea%2B1943.jpg" height="640" width="444" /></a></div>
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An Australian P.O.W. shown the instant before he was beheaded</div>
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by a Japanese with a sword. Thousands of civilians were so murdered.</div>
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I can't help speculating on how well the Canadian people will take it should I.S.I.S. get ahold of one of our <b>CF18 pilots</b>, or one of our <b>Special Forces</b> soldiers who are currently "painting" targets with lasers in assistance of the bombing campaign. I don't think our people can stomach that level of bestiality directed at one of our own, but they may have to. Worse, I already shudder at the paroxysms of faux-suffering and genuine political theatrics that will ensue. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bIgvtvckboY/VMXXOcZKCPI/AAAAAAAAMHw/Nq7P8rnV5zE/s1600/Hairy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CANSOFCOM - Canadian elite soldier deployed to Iraq" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bIgvtvckboY/VMXXOcZKCPI/AAAAAAAAMHw/Nq7P8rnV5zE/s1600/Hairy.jpg" height="526" title="CANSOFCOM - Canadian elite soldier deployed to Iraq" width="640" /></a></div>
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In 2014 <b>CANSOFCOM</b> deployed to Iraq and un-named countries in that region. This is one of Canada's elite warriors - who are authorized to engage I.S.I.S. and exterminate as many possible. This past week our Prime Minister altered an unimportant speech to include a few words about Canadian operations in Iraq and Syria. I quote Mr. Harper:<br />
"<i>Let me be clear. This is a robust mission. We're there to make those guys</i> [Special Forces] <i>effective so they can take on the Islamic State and deal with them. And if those guys fire at us, <b>we're going to fire back and we're going to kill them</b>, just like our guys did, and we're very proud of what they're doing in Iraq</i>." <br />
To my knowledge, that is the first time a Canadian prime minister has uttered the words "<b>we're going to kill them</b>" or anything even close to that phrase. I am proud of <b>him </b>for showing some balls at the appropriate moment. I haven't voted <b>Tory </b>in decades but with that genuine <b>response to ISIS terror</b> he just earned my vote, and a donation at election time.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Feb. 2, 2015 Update</span></b> - And now the Japanese Prime MInister shows us he too has a pair of testicles. Kenji Goto was beheaded on the weekend, and the Japanese are naturally feeling outrage and even a little vengeful. <b>Haruna Yakuna</b> was an adventurer who needlessly exposed himself to I.S.I.S. killers, but the <b>Kenji Goto</b> was a harmless reporter of the news, with no connection to the Western intelligence agencies. The Japanese Prime Minister said his country "<i>will cooperate with the international community and make the terrorists pay the price.</i>" Hopefully he means providing additional funding for the Japanese military, and not simply letting the NSA bug the toilets in every mosque in Japan.</div>
Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-87017332899570824722015-01-13T22:04:00.000-08:002015-01-13T22:11:04.578-08:00G. Gordon Liddy - in 1988 he described how terrorists could cripple the U.S. with a few cheap tricks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3m3HShL-QQE/VLXsIcp04vI/AAAAAAAAMBo/9IkG63TmFGc/s1600/G.%2BGordon%2BLiddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="G. Gordon Liddy - former FBI agent discussed terror scenario in 1988" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3m3HShL-QQE/VLXsIcp04vI/AAAAAAAAMBo/9IkG63TmFGc/s1600/G.%2BGordon%2BLiddy.jpg" height="277" title="G. Gordon Liddy - former FBI agent discussed terror scenario in 1988" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>G. Gordon Liddy</b> is now 84 years old and he's enjoyed a very full life. A former FBI agent and lawyer, he served 4 and 1/2 years in prison for his part in the <b>Watergate Scandal </b>during the Nixon administration. His life after prison was even more interesting. He wrote books, performed in movies and television, and was host of a nationally syndicated Talk-Radio program. He must be content with all of that.</div>
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In 1988 <b>OMNI</b> magazine commissioned him to write a fictional projection of what happen to America if it were hit by a team of well trained and motivated terrorists. (It was published in their January 1989 edition.) By coincidence, Mr. Liddy was writing his piece just about the time <b>Osama bin Laden</b> was founding "The Base" or <b>Al-Qaeda</b>, and it would be years before the young Saudi would appear on anyone's radar. Liddy's tale has the Soviets assisting in the attack, and at the time Liddy shared in America's total preoccupation with the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. This background dates the story, and as a result it will likely never be reprinted. That is a shame because on my recent second reading I found that it still holds up. As a public service I thought I would take the time to extract the text from amid the vintage ads and other clutter.</div>
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It takes only fifteen minutes to read. I will meet you at the bottom. <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (click on photos to enlarge)</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xdxYzGihKhY/VLXyBaYRxkI/AAAAAAAAMB4/cyVQm3IgIzg/s1600/one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xdxYzGihKhY/VLXyBaYRxkI/AAAAAAAAMB4/cyVQm3IgIzg/s1600/one.jpg" title="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" /></a></div>
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"<i>Liquid Metal Embrittlement (LME) agent</i>"<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xma5x3bstNo/VLXyG6xxIOI/AAAAAAAAMCA/LgrWBgblwqc/s1600/two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xma5x3bstNo/VLXyG6xxIOI/AAAAAAAAMCA/LgrWBgblwqc/s1600/two.jpg" height="246" title="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" width="640" /></a></div>
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"<i>EHV transformers</i>"<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FdASjQ3Keow/VLXzZF1bjbI/AAAAAAAAMCI/2VZzdWylueo/s1600/three.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub Jan. 1989" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FdASjQ3Keow/VLXzZF1bjbI/AAAAAAAAMCI/2VZzdWylueo/s1600/three.jpg" title="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00vCJzjDXrY/VLX0_tedsiI/AAAAAAAAMCQ/mY2jNpDOOlM/s1600/Liddy's%2BS%26P.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Gordon Liddy - Stacked & Packed, 2001 girls and guns Calendar" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00vCJzjDXrY/VLX0_tedsiI/AAAAAAAAMCQ/mY2jNpDOOlM/s1600/Liddy's%2BS%26P.jpg" height="400" title="Gordon Liddy - Stacked & Packed, 2001 girls and guns Calendar" width="393" /></a></div>
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<b>Many Americans love putting up Girls and Guns type calendars.</b></div>
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<b>Gordon Liddy was a master of self-promotion, and having served both </b></div>
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<b>in the FBI and in prison, </b><b>he was a natural fit for the genre.</b></div>
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"<i>The EMPG, cruder and more bulky than our own classified device.</i>.."<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcsVeSb-z9w/VLX1GShky6I/AAAAAAAAMCY/PsAfIxZaQa4/s1600/five.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcsVeSb-z9w/VLX1GShky6I/AAAAAAAAMCY/PsAfIxZaQa4/s1600/five.jpg" height="640" title="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" width="470" /></a></div>
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"<i>the prayer of public officials has always been</i>..."<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RECp104MpTQ/VLX2XuslkTI/AAAAAAAAMCg/2jBwNBj4VNc/s1600/five.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="G. Gordon Liddy, THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RECp104MpTQ/VLX2XuslkTI/AAAAAAAAMCg/2jBwNBj4VNc/s1600/five.jpg" height="640" title="G. Gordon Liddy - THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" width="290" /></a></div>
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"<i>The Capital Hill Riot</i>"<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_kqijQDuZ_c/VLX3RpBcumI/AAAAAAAAMCo/VhWk22IGO0g/s1600/six.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="G. Gordon Liddy, THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_kqijQDuZ_c/VLX3RpBcumI/AAAAAAAAMCo/VhWk22IGO0g/s1600/six.jpg" height="640" title="G. Gordon Liddy, THE RULES OF THE GAME, pub. Jan. 1989" width="300" /></a></div>
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There you have it. What is unique in this fiction is that the author resisted the temptation to describe the American retaliation, which is inevitable and is which is always disproportionally greater than the original offence against the Stars and Stripes. Of course we now know that it would be a cunning band of Saudi Arabians which would execute the most effective surprise attack on the Americans since Pearl Harbour. But there was no way at all for Liddy to know, in mid-1988, what the geo-political fallout would be to United States pro-insurgency in Afghanistan. </div>
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And finally, the one thing in the story which seemed bogus, turns out to be true. <b>Liquid Metal Embrittlement</b> or LME. I had never heard of it, but there is a Wikipedia page and much more on the Internet. In a few minutes I found plenty to catch up on, including a recent <b>U.S. Army</b> study on LME which might further improve the lethality of U.S. munitions by "<i>making a round with selectable fragment distribution</i>". Just what the word needs. Improved lethality.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nn4wViTZIE8/VLYF3hL8EhI/AAAAAAAAMC4/3QZQCQqGOZU/s1600/prov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Liquid Metal Embrittlement LME for improving U.S. explosive ordnance" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nn4wViTZIE8/VLYF3hL8EhI/AAAAAAAAMC4/3QZQCQqGOZU/s1600/prov.jpg" height="236" title="Liquid Metal Embrittlement LME for improving U.S. explosive ordnance" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Liquid Metal Embrittlement (LME) for improving</b></div>
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<b>the fragmentation properties of U.S. explosive ordnance.</b><br />
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-49714006295307262172015-01-08T13:25:00.000-08:002015-02-06T19:45:22.163-08:00Exercising Free Speech - CHARLIE HEBDO and symbols of sadistic expressionism <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0k3BcUJiTI/VK7wjDprilI/AAAAAAAAMAA/qMDA5YiIzjg/s1600/Exercise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="John O'Brien (American cartoonist) - Exercising Free Speech" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0k3BcUJiTI/VK7wjDprilI/AAAAAAAAMAA/qMDA5YiIzjg/s1600/Exercise.jpg" height="640" title="John O'Brien (American cartoonist) - Exercising Free Speech" width="499" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Yesterday's grim massacre at CHARLIE HEBDO in Paris put me in</b></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> mind of this cartoon by the American, John O'Brien. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The metaphor </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">seems </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">appropriate as the guillotine was a French invention.</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">SADISTIC EXPRESSIONISM</span></b><br />
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<b>CHARLIE HEBDO </b>or <i>Charlie Weekly</i>, is a satirical publication with a weekly circulation of approximately 50,000 copies. It is described as "left-wing", not because it advocates the overthrow of the Western democracies but because its targets are typically religion, politicians and corporations. It does so with crudely drawn cartoons and biting sarcasm. All very low-brow, which explains the limited circulation. Its managing editor, <b>Stephane Charbonnier</b>, was one of those murdered yesterday. He sometimes took his leftist credentials rather literally, such as when he promoted his publication with the clenched fist of defiance - a traditional gesture of the Communists. It was gutsy of him, because he was courting death. Paris is polluted with Muslim fanatics, and it was inevitable that one of them would go after Charbonnier with a knife on the sidewalk outside of his office. Had I been Charbonnier, I would have kept a shotgun within reach behind my desk. Not a funny image, but a more effective gesture than a clenched fist.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PyEvnyq8MDk/VK7cYAxnzDI/AAAAAAAAL_I/PbPh1D9yZ0o/s1600/fist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Stephane Charbonnier, editor of CHARLIE HEBDO - clenched fist in 2012" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PyEvnyq8MDk/VK7cYAxnzDI/AAAAAAAAL_I/PbPh1D9yZ0o/s1600/fist.jpg" height="222" title="Stephane Charbonnier, editor of CHARLIE HEBDO - clenched fist in 2012" width="400" /></a></div>
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Many will be outraged, for a few days at least, over the massacre perpetrated inside the editorial offices of <i>CHARLIE HEBDO,</i> but the media will turn away and illuminate the next tragedy. They will blather about "free Speech" but in fact there is not one working journalist in Canada who would subscribe to CHARLIE. Not one, and I need not list the reasons. Mercifully, this time the jihadist assassins had no time to videotape themselves cutting off heads of their victims. We had enough of those gory political theatrics in 2014. </div>
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Still, it is instructive to witness the interplay of crude symbolism. Recall that after decades of wars and atrocities in post-colonial Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the world had grown weary of the bloody images and simply tuned out the carnage. So <b>ISIS</b>, the new terrorist on the block, turned up the volume by making a fetish of performing ritualistic beheading ceremonies - filming and uploading the decapitations of captured soldiers and foreigners. Ghastly. Serious.</div>
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And then we have the French cartoonists who lampooned the vicious ISIS ritual, even making it the feature gag for the cover of CHARLIE HEBDO on October 1, 2014. (below) The cartoonists in Europe are just as comfortable as the skinheads with the head-lopping motif as the Muslim murderers. I'm not being prissy in pointing that out. I have written about <a href="http://therunagatesclub.blogspot.ca/2014/07/black-june-isis-selfies-of-head.html">my Celtic ancestors</a> who were enjoyed taking head trophies and my point remains - millions of moderns are getting too comfortable with ancient forms of barbarism.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ku1rstbzNhw/VK7SkXFJu_I/AAAAAAAAL-s/mX-Skov8s00/s1600/B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CHARLIE HEBDO cover page - ISIS headhunter slays the ptophet" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ku1rstbzNhw/VK7SkXFJu_I/AAAAAAAAL-s/mX-Skov8s00/s1600/B1.jpg" height="640" title="CHARLIE HEBDO cover page - ISIS headhunter slays the prophet" width="504" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this CHARLIE HEBDO cover page, an ISIS guerrilla</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">takes the head of the prophet. The "Charlie" brand of</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">humour is so primitive that a Neanderthal would "get" it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Canadian-style cartoon humour try an earlier</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> article <a href="http://therunagatesclub.blogspot.ca/2012/01/pissing-on-taliban-some-protest-far-too.html">Pissing on the Taliban</a> - for a classic Donato cartoon.</span></div>
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And should anyone think for an instant that I am forcing the point, here is a cartoon just published by Dutch cartoonist <b>Joep Bertrams. </b> It is entitled "Onsterfelijk" with the weekly personified by a staffer in T-shirt, and rendered "Immortal" by a Muslim scimitar. It is clever and effective - the cartoon, not the killing. In fact the senior staff at CHARLIE HEBDO were lined up and shot in the head with Kalashnikov assault rifles. The Muslim killers were garbed in black fatigues and balaclavas, the well known uniform ISIS guerrillas, (or French anti-terrorist police for that matter), and one gave the raised finger ISIS salute to those filming him with cellphones. So the Dutch cartoonist simplifies matters by returning to the more shocking image of head-chopping. We get it. We get it instantly. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-umgMTRF7D18/VK7WpcxSHuI/AAAAAAAAL-4/XQ1jdlCe9vA/s1600/immortal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dutch cartoomn in support of CHARLIE HEBDO" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-umgMTRF7D18/VK7WpcxSHuI/AAAAAAAAL-4/XQ1jdlCe9vA/s1600/immortal.jpg" height="367" title="Dutch cartoon in support of CHARLIE HEBDO" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Canadian media response to the Paris Massacre have been tepid and tame - oh, so safe. The most honest was of course<b> Christie Blatchford</b> in today's NATIONAL POST [JAN 8/15] Ms. Blatchford began with these trenchant paragraphs:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LSu6OUJMNWE/VK7gByyN2iI/AAAAAAAAL_U/FId-dFiJXec/s1600/Blatchford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christie Blatchford - Terrorists Have Cowed Us All - Jan. 8, 2014" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LSu6OUJMNWE/VK7gByyN2iI/AAAAAAAAL_U/FId-dFiJXec/s1600/Blatchford.jpg" height="640" title="Christie Blatchford - Terrorists Have Cowed Us All - Jan. 8, 2014" width="347" /></a></div>
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I'm hoping the POST with archive her article for a year or more. Most of the media-rash on murderous events will disappear from websites in a few months, if not weeks, but I'm hoping Blatchford's article will have legs. Jump to the NATIONAL POST and read her piece while it is still topical.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>CHARLIE TAUNTED MUSLIM HOMOPHOBES</b></span><br />
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Of course many flaks rushed in to remind us,<i> ad nauseam</i>, that the Muslim fanatics in Western Europe are few, while their massive immigrant populations are placid and peace loving. Of course the professional talkers have never read CHARLIE HEBDO or they would know that the weekly often lampooned the prejudices of majority-Muslims. Here is a sloppy taste of HEBDO humour:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_NL7tNdshB8/VK7jrAqK2EI/AAAAAAAAL_g/CVomEIOMvG0/s1600/taunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CHARLIE HEBDO cover mocks Muslim homophobia - editor takes sloppy kiss" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_NL7tNdshB8/VK7jrAqK2EI/AAAAAAAAL_g/CVomEIOMvG0/s1600/taunt.jpg" height="640" title="CHARLIE HEBDO cover mocks Muslim homophobia - editor takes sloppy kiss" width="492" /></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CHARLIE HEBDO mocks Muslim homophobia,</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which is very widespread. Here the CHARLIE</span></b><br />
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Of course <i>CHARLIE HEBDO</i> was an enemy of all established religions - but especially <b>Christianity</b>, <b>Judaism</b> and <b>Islam</b>. And as we know, cartoonists need only fear the wrath of Muslims. The Hebdo office was guarded by a policeman, and he was the first to be cut down. Unfortunately for expectant readers, "Left-Wing" satirists have yet to discover the burgeoning cult of environmentalism, with its many associated fetishes. That's too bad. I'd like to see what they could do with it.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DmIx-PrkqP0/VK7rfkNET-I/AAAAAAAAL_w/JkxR0SHCE_4/s1600/trio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CHARLIE HEBO cover mocking religion - Rabbi, Pope and Imam" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DmIx-PrkqP0/VK7rfkNET-I/AAAAAAAAL_w/JkxR0SHCE_4/s1600/trio.jpg" height="400" title="CHARLIE HEBDO cover mocking religion - Rabbi, Pope and Imam" width="290" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>religions. Here are a crudely caricatured </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rabbi, </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Bishop and Muslim Imam.</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>"FREE SPEECH"? Now <i>that's</i> funny!</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Obligatory Update - January 10, 2015</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wikipedia pages always grow from spectacles that the public seems to be following, so I thought I would consult the Wiki-page for the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting">Charlie Hebdo shooting</a>". "Free Speech" on wikipedia</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">? Pardon me while I puke... </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At Noon today the wiki-page for the massacre of the Parisian cartoonists contains NOT A SINGLE EXAMPLE OF THEIR WORK, with the exception of a photo of a protestor holding up an old copy of the weekly. Note the careful wording of the caption (below).</span></div>
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WIKIPEDIA is a owned by <b>Jimmy Wales</b>, an American businessman who self-describes as an "atheist". He currently enjoys living in London, England and according to the most recent update of his own Wiki page, "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i>In December 2014, Wales shared the inaugural $1-million <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_bin_Rashid_Al_Maktoum#Knowledge_Award">Mohammed bin Rashid Knowledge Award </a>with World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berniers-Lee.</i>" </span></div>
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-82945987875000481842014-08-30T22:00:00.000-07:002015-11-01T21:22:24.201-08:00Adolph Hitler's public debut - August 2, 1914 - the Photograph of the Century <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Adolph Hitler. Hands down, "<i>Der Fuhrer"</i> is the most famous figure of the 20th Century. His face, even in the crudest abstract form, (a black-plastic comb under any nose), is still the most recognizable visage in the entire world. </div>
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All through the month of August the news media salted the airwaves and the Internet with blaring reminders that August marks the 100th Anniversary of the start of the First World War. I suspect most of junk reportage was ignored, as the public has been fixated on Gaza, the Ukraine, the I.S.I.S. Caliphate, and Ebola. These past four weeks I planned to write an article on<b> "the most remarkable photograph of the 20th Century" </b>- the exact moment when Adolph Hitler was first photographed at a public event, and nobody recognized him or had any inkling of what he would become. It was on the Odeonplatz in Munchen (Munich), August 2, 1914. Hitler was just "a face in the crowd," joyously cheering the Declaration of War against Russia, and joining in the lusty outburst of German National songs.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yhR65bGkcfU/VAKghRFlX2I/AAAAAAAALfM/_rl7rZn4hcQ/s1600/Supreme%2BConfidence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hitler - a studio portrait taken by Heinrich Hoffmann, in Munich" border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yhR65bGkcfU/VAKghRFlX2I/AAAAAAAALfM/_rl7rZn4hcQ/s1600/Supreme%2BConfidence.jpg" title="Hitler - a studio portrait taken by Heinrich Hoffmann, in Munich" width="276" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>This portrait, taken by Heinrich Hoffmann, was published in 1933.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>This was how Hitler saw himself and how he wanted to be portrayed.</b></span></div>
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Below, is one of a sequence of six photographs taken by <b>Heinrich Hoffman</b>, a Munich photographer. Years later Hoffmann was hired as Hitler's personal photographer, and when his boss mentioned have been at the event Hoffman took the negatives into the lab and made poster-size enlargements. He was thrilled to discover that quite by chance he had recorded Hitler's face in the Bavarian crowd. It was a stunning find, and it was first published on March 12, 1932. The photo was syndicated and appeared in an unknown number of periodicals and with sets of cigarette cards which are today in thousands of collections worldwide. In the summer of 1914 Hitler was a complete unknown, but within the week he volunteered for the German Army and was soon in the thick of the fight. An extraordinary man and I agree with <b>George Will</b> who dubbed the picture "<i>the century's most remarkable photograph</i>". </div>
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Hoffmann was not alone covering the event. Many German newspapers covered the event, as did at least one newsreel cameramen. It was even featured in the<i> Illustrated London News</i>. I have collected over a dozen images of the crowd, taken in all four directions. In addition I have found four different published versions of the shot printed in the 1930s, in which Hitler is isolated in a circle or vignette.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">THE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE CENTURY</span><br />
<b>In this photograph the citizens of Munich assemble in front of the Feldherrnhalle, a symbol of military prowess, to cheer the coming of a great war. They don't yet understand that conflict will destroy their empire and brutally humble the Germanic tribes. In that crowd is a loner, a man of intelligence but who lacks in the conventional graces, and who doesn't yet understand his own potential as a leader. Postwar, he will be responsible for rebuilding and empowering his defeated Germany, and return annually to that very symbolic spot to perform the rituals of blood and honour intended to cleanse the stink of defeat. The loner in the crowd on Aug. 2, 1914 was a man of destiny so potent in significance that a century after this photograph was taken there are writing men who seek their own notoriety in trying to debunk every aspect of Adolph Hitler's life - even to the petty extent of mocking this photograph. </b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-guw27sXk7xE/VAKr-sF6O3I/AAAAAAAALfo/aC_rGBl52GQ/s1600/supers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hitler - the face in the crowd - Aug 1, 1914" border="0" height="401" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-guw27sXk7xE/VAKr-sF6O3I/AAAAAAAALfo/aC_rGBl52GQ/s1600/supers.jpg" title="Hitler - the face in the crowd - Aug. 1, 1914" width="640" /></a></div>
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As everyone should know, the modern German state and most of the Germanic people are still traumatized by the Nazi period of social, cultural and political domination. Political correctness is expected, and few Germans today are capable of producing unbiased accounts of Adolph Hitler or the Third Reich. Some academics go so far as to make false claims which they cannot back up. For decades the Hoffmann photograph was accepted by authoritative biographers and historians. Then in December of 2010, the historian <b>Gerd Krumeich</b>, a man whom one London newspaper insisted is "<i>recognized as Germany's greatest authority on World War 1</i>", stepped forward and declared the photo a fake. His precise accusation was that Heinrich Hoffman had doctored the photo, inserting Hitler's face, for the purpose of helping him win an election. The story spread like an infectious contagion because of course Hitler bashing is easy and fun, and it panders to the lazy mobs that cannot seem to find any 21st Century witches to burn.</div>
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Krumeich claimed that he had examined many variants of the Hoffmann photo and found minute differences, such as a lock of hair hanging in one and absent in others. That is not surprising as many prints were in circulation and were screened and tinted by individual printers. I include a vignette printed in 1933 as a collectable card. It is tinted in colours and a technician has touched up the moustache to give it more definition, but there are no substantial differences. If Hitler had a hat, it was down at his side. He is not waving it in the air as many in the crowd were doing. More to the point, Hitler had become a practiced politician, and he was hyper-vigilant of his image. He spent hours in front of the mirror perfecting his body language and building a repertoire of facial gestures. Heinrich Hoffmann had photographed his client's theatrics and he had a huge archive of images on file. If he wanted to pull some photo-fakery he could have done a much better job, and he would have had the client looking at the camera, just as others standing next to Hitler are doing. How obvious is that?</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jXvax8hRHA0/VAKn9--e9dI/AAAAAAAALfc/0IJ2MJhLnUk/s1600/detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hitler - the face in the crowd, Munich 1914, tinted" border="0" height="318" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jXvax8hRHA0/VAKn9--e9dI/AAAAAAAALfc/0IJ2MJhLnUk/s1600/detail.jpg" title="Hitler - the face in the crowd, Munich 1914 - tinted" width="400" /></a></div>
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Everyone in the crowd understood they were witnessing history, and there were cameras recording faces from all points of the compass. So what was Hitler looking at, while the other men are looking into Heinrich Hoffman's camera lens? </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nceajCHMhls/VAK-JHD-QWI/AAAAAAAALf4/_clQnL7siR4/s1600/X%2Bspot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><img alt="The Feldherrnhalle, Munich, August 2, 1914 - Hitler in the crowd." border="0" height="354" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nceajCHMhls/VAK-JHD-QWI/AAAAAAAALf4/_clQnL7siR4/s1600/X%2Bspot.jpg" title="The Feldherrnhalle, Munich, August 2, 1914. - Hitler in the crowd." width="640" /></b></span></a></div>
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Hitler was intensely interested in the official proceedings - ie. the declaration of war. He longed for war, and the joy on his face is very apparent. He was at this point in his life disassociating himself with his native Austria, and would petition the government of the King of Bavaria for permission to join his army. Permission was in fact immediately granted. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R_OaNz7vRcQ/VAOCjIIofGI/AAAAAAAALgc/8QrR-rRwKQI/s1600/HOFF%2B4482.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hitler cheers the declaration of war, Munich Aug. 2, 1914" border="0" height="270" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R_OaNz7vRcQ/VAOCjIIofGI/AAAAAAAALgc/8QrR-rRwKQI/s1600/HOFF%2B4482.jpg" title="Hitler cheers the declaration of war, Munich Aug. 2, 1914" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The <b>Bavarian State Library </b>in Munich has many Hoffman images in its</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">online catalog, which it will gladly sell to publishers and film makers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">This one, "<b>HOFF 4482</b>" is offered without any editorializing about it</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">being faked or contrived. It is deemed an authentic record of German history.</span></div>
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The city of Munich was where Hitler found his courage, honed his iron will, and developed his unique form of political brilliance. He was particularly enthralled by the historical symbolism of the Feldherrnhalle and after the war, when he began moulding the <b>NSDAP</b>, he would annually meet with Nazi recruits in the Odeonplatz for oath-taking pageantry which was highly scripted and very photogenic.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IlJA-z8ZUMQ/VALC8ddF2gI/AAAAAAAALgE/YCBF9TlxBLw/s1600/water%2Bcolour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Adolph Hitler 1914 - the Feldherrnhalle on the Odeonplatz" border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IlJA-z8ZUMQ/VALC8ddF2gI/AAAAAAAALgE/YCBF9TlxBLw/s1600/water%2Bcolour.jpg" title="Adolph Hitler 1914 - the Feldherrnhalle on the Odeonplatz" width="400" /></a></div>
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I conclude <b>PART 1</b> of this article with this water colour of the <b>Feldherrnhalle</b> on the <b>Odeonplatz</b>, which was painted by Adolph Hitler. It is more evidence of just how important that ceremonial structure and that unique location were in his thinking process. All my life I have read in biographies and weighty works that Hitler did not have what it takes to become an artist. The truly nasty insisted that had no talent at all, as if the man who orchestrated the murder of six million Jews must be stripped of the merest shred of humanity. That verdict is of course absolute rubbish, shared and repeated by cowards who are afraid to form their own opinions about art and about the man. What Hitler inflicted on Europe<i> after</i> he took leadership of the Nazi Party is another story entirely. Those who make no attempt to understand the man he was before Germany's defeat in the Great War or before the coming of his leadership in the NSDAP, are not worthy of your attention. Young Hitler walked the streets of Munich carrying an artists easel and would not have bothered with a camera even if given one. He had an eye for detail and an ear for a well turned phrase, and on August 2, 1914 he pressed close enough to the great hall to catch the speeches and the military salutes. We are very fortunate that Hoffman preserved his negatives long enough for one of them to reveal something of Hitler during those formative years before he had yet to find his destiny or capture the public imagination.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Part 2 and 3 will appear when time allows.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Update Jan 7, 2015</b>: clearly I had no time in 2014 to return to this interesting subject. That is unfortunate because it's a fabulous story muddied and distorted by a couple of recent books written by academic historians with contemporary political agendas. I think I need a bigger gun than a Google Blog for this one.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ronald J. Jack</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">August 30, 2014</span><br />
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Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7994427407900128692.post-79951078439809079462014-08-13T11:11:00.002-07:002015-07-01T18:57:55.026-07:00The Livens Flame Projector - It made the Somme explode like some horrific industrial accident.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FNoRmaCAja4/U-qKtjYYiGI/AAAAAAAALMM/u4XekSc1ZeY/s1600/flame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Flamethrower - British Toy Soldier, Livens" border="0" height="250" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FNoRmaCAja4/U-qKtjYYiGI/AAAAAAAALMM/u4XekSc1ZeY/s1600/flame.jpg" title="Flamethrower - British Toy Soldier, Livens" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Toy soldier with flamethrower - for burning the beastly Boche in your backyard.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">FAKING HISTORICAL AWARENESS</span><br />
August 2014 is of course, the hundredth anniversary of the opening of World War 1 - which is being trumpeted by some as... wait for it... "The Forgotten War". How significant a cliche is that? Network television is certain that 2014 - 2018 is a golden window of opportunity to flood our eyes with NO- COST reruns of old war films and documentaries, interlarded with saccharine stories believed to be of "local interest". The <b><a href="http://www.mint.ca/store/product/mintcoins.jsp?campaignName=FirstWorldWar&pId=1900014&lang=en_CA&tab=y&rcmeid=van_FirstWorldWar">Royal Canadian Mint</a></b> and <b>Canada Post</b> are invested heavily in promoting public awareness, and will be offering tens of millions of dollars of collectible merchandise over the next four years. <b>Veterans Affairs</b> has no surviving Great War veterans to roll out, and so vigorously mines the memories and enthusiasms of descendants of C.E.F. volunteers. Our news industry (which wraps advertising around content) and the Canadian government (which wraps "Heritage" money around its perceived voter base), clearly believe we need their officially mandated and infomercial form of remembrance. Do we?<br />
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Have you noticed a nauseating stream of faux-reportage this month? Stale stories are, I think, a propaganda effort certain to fall on deaf ears. It is a campaign which I suppose will play out over four years, annoying the hell out of those who do possess historical awareness. The problem is that reporters and politicians are not believable people, and we instinctively know that there is not an ounce of genuine interest or compassion in their commemorative message. As one who frequently teaches young people about WW1, its technology, its poetry and its lasting impact on our society, I am constantly searching for stories which can cut through the avalanche of sticky, kaleidoscopic imagery which is over-stimulating our youth. Obviously such images must be arresting if they are to have any chance of competing with Hollywood's output. Archival images of the muddy trenches and the poppy fields, with a bugler blowing the Last Post in the background, doesn't cut it with the cellphone generation. Emphasizing "how very young" the boys of that "Lost Generation" were, fails to put a lump in the throat of today's teenagers. A strangers death does not scare them, and a soldiers death does not move them.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">HISTORY THAT STINGS</span><br />
Assuming the B.C. Teachers Strike ends sometime soon, and students are one again required to struggle with <i>Social Studies 11</i>, "Canada in World War One" will be on their plate. It's a given that when you teach war history it is helpful to have artifacts on the table. When a student picks up a Ross rifle bayonet and is asked to imagine the pain of a German who had that rammed threw his rib cage, it leaves an impression. I'm always seeking new ways to make such impressions. I may soon be tutoring well-rested students on really scary war-tech, like the<b> LIVENS LARGE GALLERY FLAME PROJECTOR</b>:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ibWozzqOoys/U-q_A5VOCZI/AAAAAAAALMc/LnhEQybeksc/s1600/Test%2BFiring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Test Firing - the Livens Flame Projector, 1916" border="0" height="193" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ibWozzqOoys/U-q_A5VOCZI/AAAAAAAALMc/LnhEQybeksc/s1600/Test%2BFiring.jpg" title="Test firing - the Livens Flame Projector, 1916" width="640" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Click on each photo to enlarge.</span><br />
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In May of 2010 a team of archaeologists and historians assembled on a farmer's property at Mametz, France to open an exploratory trench. They were looking to disinter a forgotten monster of WW1. They had excellent maps, photos, Regimental War Diaries and more, which made it fairly easy to locate the blasted gallery where one of the Livens Flame Projectors was sited. The whole excavation, which included the assistance of a party of Royal Engineers, was recorded for a British network television show, called "<b>TIME TEAM</b>". Over the years I have watched three or four episodes on YOUTUBE, but I had not heard of this episode. I stumbled over it just a week ago. It seems that it was co-produced for Canada's HISTORY CHANNEL, but then H.C. is not my cup of tea.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">THE DRAGON'S LAIR - SAP 14</span><br />
It is very clear to me that the reason this documentary project went off so well is because it was meticulously researched by historians who know their stuff. Kudos to them. But while I do recommend the program for its visuals, it is obviously made for people who don't know anything at all about warfare or who divide their time between the TV screen and their cell phones. The 47 minute program is extremely repetitious and filled with looped clips and contrived drama, which was totally unnecessary. (<b>In researching this article I checked the production companies website. This video project is listed as a "Docu-drama". Fair enough.</b>) The battlefield dig at Mametz was well funded, precise in execution, and fully supported by a British university, a French Museum, the British MOD and even a few French donor companies. As a result the excavations generated a wealth of physical evidence and support a highly interesting story. The team effort justified the investment of resources, and I have read that the program was "a hit".</div>
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I first watched the TIME TEAM program on YOUTUBE, cut into four segments. You can now watch the 47 minute show intact. It is here - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2pGoz4ZDgE"> <b>THE SOMME'S SECRET WEAPON</b></a>.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LK4Hkg5na-0/U-uVvnfI17I/AAAAAAAALMs/qWLr7fJuxBM/s1600/model.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector - detailed model of the weapon." border="0" height="155" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LK4Hkg5na-0/U-uVvnfI17I/AAAAAAAALMs/qWLr7fJuxBM/s1600/model.jpg" title="Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector - detailed model of the weapon" width="400" /></a></div>
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The massive flame projector was designed for a single purpose. Assembled below the front trenches in strict secrecy, they would be used as a shock weapon to neutralize a length of the German line, just as an assault was initiated. Only four were built for the Somme. Two were successful and two were destroyed by enemy action. We realize today that this type of weapon is better deployed in a defensive scenario. Image if, earlier this month, Israeli sappers had encountered such fire beasts as they entered Gaza? Fortunately Hamas weapon makers prefer I.E.D.s to flame throwers.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-64UP5AtlWNA/U-uZdlEfOmI/AAAAAAAALM4/yb2PwQJfw80/s1600/first%2Bshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Livens Flame Projector - WW1, Test firing by Royal Engineers 2011" border="0" height="237" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-64UP5AtlWNA/U-uZdlEfOmI/AAAAAAAALM4/yb2PwQJfw80/s1600/first%2Bshot.jpg" title="Livens Flame Projector - WW1, Test firing by Royal Engineers 2011" width="400" /></a></div>
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Following recovery of whole sections of a Livens Flame Projector buried in collapsed <b>SAP 14</b>, the device has been recreated in a four versions. A C.G.I. graphic, a tiny scale model, a full-size scale model (sans pressurized tanks), and incredibly - a full-sized working facsimile built and tested by the Royal Engineers. I think the last was unnecessary (and environmentally filthy) but it made for highly dramatic television images. </div>
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The Royal Engineers actually cheated. They did not even try to use Livens' original system of piston-driven compressed gas. They used an electric pump attached to very large portable fuel bladders of a type which all NATO forces have in their inventory. Still, if you compare the test firings made with the reconstructed weapon, with the original image at the top of this article, you will agree that the R.E.s succeeded in copying the effect. A horrifying flame weapon indeed.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mXEk1pwKQNE/U-uZlRpTAaI/AAAAAAAALNA/PR3GFxJSvMI/s1600/second%2Bshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Livens Flame Projector - WW1 terror weapon recreated by Royal Engineers" border="0" height="238" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mXEk1pwKQNE/U-uZlRpTAaI/AAAAAAAALNA/PR3GFxJSvMI/s1600/second%2Bshot.jpg" title="Livens Flame Projector - WW1 terror weapon recreated by Royal Engineers" width="400" /></a></div>
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Something from a madman's notebook? Not really. All weapons are murderous in intent and in use. But some are designed to scare you as well as kill you. What is amazing about this Flame Projector, which some marketing guru has now dubbed "<i>The Dragon of the Somme</i>", is that is took Livens and skilled British craftsmen and Engineers just 25 weeks from first sketch - to fabrication - to deployment in a clay tunnel. <br />
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I have learned that an 83 minute version of the TIME TEAM documentary was edited for North American viewing. I haven't seen that longer version, but it may simply be the "Two Hour Special" produced for HISTORY TELEVISION. If so, I might still watch it, hoping that the historians get to speak more than "Tony" the Time Team's on-air talent.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u5xxTsSicoc/U-umFmImTqI/AAAAAAAALNQ/vSrnwnNkklM/s1600/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Classics Illustrated - THE WAR OF THE WORLDS " border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u5xxTsSicoc/U-umFmImTqI/AAAAAAAALNQ/vSrnwnNkklM/s1600/cover.jpg" title="Classics Illustrated - THE WAR OF THE WORLDS" width="268" /></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The War That Will End Wars"</span></b><br />
If you have read the H.G. Wells novel <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds">THE WAR OF THE WORLDS</a></i>, you will recall that the Martian heat ray was an energy weapon carried by walking machines that laid waste to much of England's urban core, incinerating London and at least one Royal Navy Dreadnought. When I first read of Livens' devastating flame projector, in a history blog, I pulled down a riot of visual memories which enhanced my reading experience. Odd thoughts really, such as wondering if his diabolical design was not somehow influenced by his recreational reading. It cannot be denied that Mr. Wells was widely read, and he was influential. In his "Martian" novel, Wells described the shock effect of the hellish invaders roaming about the English countryside unchallenged, their towering machines burning all humans they encounter. Livens' more industrial version of a death ray failed only because it was so vulnerable to German artillery that it had to remain hidden sub-surface, and because its fiery charge was expended in only a few short bursts. The<b> B.E.F.</b> did make territorial gains from time to time, and the Livens flame weapon was not mobile. Of course, once I had seen the British video, with its full colour recreation of the weapons' destructive power, the imaginative component of my reading experience evaporated.</div>
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Although not a combatant, H.G. Wells was a participant in the Great War from its beginning to end. His book, <b>THE WAR THAT WILL END WAR</b> was published in October of 1914, which was months before our Canadian troops (the C.E.F.) reached the battlefield. Before long the title was "i<i>n circulation</i>" in a skeptical form as "<i>The war to end all wars</i>". The book's opening line reads "<i>The cause of a war and the object of a war are not necessarily the same</i>." is still a basic truism. In our own time the war making ambitions of radical Islam triggered an American response - the declaration of a so-called "<b>War on Terror</b>", but as some of us realize, ever since President Wilson expressed his credo of "<b>making the world safe for democracy</b>" the United States government has always managed to scare up a threat to its particular way of life.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-02Tr7pPBblg/U_domFlq9xI/AAAAAAAALQM/4nYUP1JekNg/s1600/Liven's%2Bon%2Btracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Flame Tank - Hugo Gernsback's lurid idea for a magazine cover in 1936" border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-02Tr7pPBblg/U_domFlq9xI/AAAAAAAALQM/4nYUP1JekNg/s1600/Liven's%2Bon%2Btracks.jpg" title="The Flame Tank - Hugo Gernsback's lurid idea for a magazine cover in 1936" width="297" /></a></div>
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The concept of flame projectors never died, but what they did do was become mobile. In World War ll all nations with tank armies developed flame-thrower variants. They were most famously used by the Americans during the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific. More recently, assemblers of books on Science Fiction art invariably include the more fanciful covers from <b>Hugo Gernsback</b> publications, very often including this one showing his "invention", The Flame Tank, which appeared not in a S.F. pulp but his hobbyist magazine SCIENCE AND MECHANICS (Jan. 1936). The only thing unique about this painted scenario is that the artist has the infantry garbed in flame resistant uniforms and hoods, which implies that they would fight almost amid the flames.</div>
<br />Ronald J. Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07435431062943796717noreply@blogger.com0