His Naked Ambition

By now it should be clear to most rational people that the emperor has no clothes. His naked ambition to rule the world is becoming quite, quite clear. And unless nations stand in unison against him, Emperor Trump will have his way.

Take his massive abuse of power, currently wielded by the cudgel of tariffs. Consider, for example, his treatment of Brazil, as reported by the New York Times.

The United States on Wednesday made good on its threats to apply 50 percent tariffs on Brazil two days ahead of schedule and slapped sanctions on the Supreme Court justice overseeing the criminal case against former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Trump appears to have two reasons for going after Brazil. First, its president, Lula Da Silva, will not bow down before Rome, openly criticizing Trump's heavy-handed tactics. 

“I think it’s important for President Trump to consider: If he wants to have a political fight, then let’s treat it as a political fight,” Mr. Lula told The Times. “If he wants to talk trade, let’s sit down and discuss trade. But you can’t mix everything together.”

Secondly, the Emperor doesn't like the way Brazil is treating his friend, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

Mr. Trump is targeting Brazil for what he calls political persecution of his ally, Mr. Bolsonaro, and illegal censorship of conservative voices online. In an executive order on Wednesday, he said actions by Brazil’s government and Supreme Court “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

The Supreme Court Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, is facing sanctions.

The Treasury Department sanctions against Justice Moraes would revoke his U.S. visa and freeze any U.S. assets, as well as generally prohibit many financial institutions from doing transactions with him. 

The sanctions against Justice Moraes were issued under the Global Magnitsky Act, a measure that is usually meant to punish foreigners accused of serious human-rights violations or corruption.

Interfering with the sovereignty of other nations is apparently now part of the Emperor's remit, and it is now striking closer to home as well. Canada's tentative recognition of Palestine as a state has provoked his anger and consternation.

Donald Trump has threatened Canada after it moved to recognise a Palestinian state, reacting to Mark Carney’s announcement by saying that signing a US trade deal would now be “very hard”.

Despite other nations, including the U.K.,  moving to recognize Palestine without trade retaliation, Trump seems to have Canada specifically within his sights.

Trump ... reacted to Carney’s decision by posting on social media: “Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”

Trump’s latest broadside at Canada comes amid other attempts to use tariffs as leverage over the domestic and foreign policies of other nations.

The 20th century saw a broad coalition of countries banding together against the threat of world domination by power hungry, depraved forces. Can the 21st century afford to do anything less?

We Can't Afford To Look Away

As much as the world might wish to, none of us can afford to look away from the horror of Gaza, the man-made genocidal starvation underway, orchestrated by Israel. While the majority of us feel helpless in the face of such abject suffering, the widespread knowledge of it is forcing governments to act. Right now it may be only with words, but one hopes that will soon escalate into concrete actions, including sanctions against the rogue nation.

Already, that knowledge has forced Israel to loosen its death grip on aid;  it is clearly in response to worldwide condemnation, condemnation that is fueled by all of us bearing witness to the atrocities happening in Gaza. Whether this miniscule increase in aid will save lives remains to be seen.

You may wish to skip the following video; the first few minutes graphically show the toll starvation is taking on Gazans. After the video, I am reproducing some letters to the editor about the situation.

And these letters attest to the widespread moral repugnance the world is feeling:

What I know about the situation in Gaza: Israel should not be presiding over the starvation of defenceless civilians, July 25

The images of starving Palestinian children and the stories of those who were killed or maimed trying to secure food for their families recalls the inhumanity perpetrated on the Jewish people during the Second World War. While leaders of powerful nations greet one another with handshakes and smiles as if they were buddies meeting up at a bar, children in Palestine are experiencing the same sort of fear that Anne Frank once did. That people who were once oppressed could become the oppressors leaves me questioning my faith in humanity.

Giselle Déziel, Cornwall, PE

For weeks, we have witnessed civilians being shot as they’ve tried to access food. And it’s not only the health ministry in Gaza that’s listing the casualties. Palestinian and international doctors serving in the region have been reporting on the casualties that arrive daily at their hospitals. As of July 13, the United Nations confirmed that 875 Palestinians were killed seeking food, 201 on aid routes and the others at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured.

Israel has been blocking humanitarian aid, bombing supply convoys and shooting civilians waiting for food. Canada must now take action by imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel, sanctioning Israeli political and military leaders and refusing to do business with companies complicit in the illegal occupation. Unless the international community acts, Palestinians living in Gaza will continue to be trapped in a cycle of hope, heartbreak and hunger, waiting for assistance and praying for a ceasefire.

Debbie Hubbard, Kelowna, BC

On Monday, July 21, Canada joined Japan, New Zealand, and 23 European allies in calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, and stating they were prepared to take “further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.”

These are just empty words. What “action’ are you going to take and when are you going to take it? Now is not the time for words, but for action — while there are still people alive in Gaza.

There can be no further delay. For  thousands  in Gaza  it is already too late.  

 Our leaders are far from powerless if they act together. They must tell the Israeli government what it has to do, when it has to do it, and what sanctions they will impose  if it doesn’t.

Clearly, we cannot depend on the U.S.A. President Donald Trump, whose evident contempt for human life and for the rule of law knows no bounds, has already stated that he wants the Palestinians out of Gaza, and is providing the Israeli government with everything it needs .

 It’s up to the leaders of the democratic world to  end this. 

Robert Burns McDonald, Montreal QC

We all have a role to play in helping end the Gazans' suffering, whether it be by bearing witness to it or taking actions we deem efficacious. To do anything other is a grave disservice to both the people of Gaza and our collective humanity.

The Door Is Slamming Shut

I have been retired from teaching high-school English for almost 20 years. When I look back, I realize how fortunate I was to have been able to spend the bulk of my career free from too much interference from administrators and public sentiment. For me, teaching literature was the gateway to helping create analytic skills, reading appreciation and, perhaps most importantly, critical thinking skills. Honest inquiry was sacred in my classroom, and nothing was ever really off-topic, given the range of human experience that literature encompasses: human dignity, cruelty, exploitation, savage monopolistic business practices (read The Grapes of Wrath for a full display of those qualities) among them. 

Alas, that is no longer the case. I doubt that I could thrive or even survive in today's atmosphere, an atmosphere that sees increasing restrictions on what can be discussed in the classroom. 

A temporary ban on students sharing their family’s culture in class. A parent-organized Pride event moved outside school hours. Teachers afraid to answer students’ questions around the Israel-Hamas war.

Over the past academic year, Toronto parents and teachers say activities and discussions that would typically be normal to have in the classroom have suddenly become a source of fear and confusion — and they pin the blame on an edict dropped by the Ontario government last September.

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, then-education minister Jill Dunlop issued a memo to Ontario school boards to keep “political biases” out of the classroom to ensure these spaces remain “safe, inclusive and welcoming for all students and staff.”

Given the risk-averse nature of today's school administrators, that memo is having a chilling effect, even though the directive is vague as to what constitutes political biases.

Can civic lessons on who is prime minister continue as normal? What about sex-ed lessons on different genders and sexualities? Class discussions around race?

“Nothing is neutral,” said Carl James, a professor and the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora at York University. “The curriculum cannot be seen as outside of providing and producing a way of seeing things.”

The Star spoke to a number of Toronto teachers and parent, many of whom do not wish to be identified for fear of reprisal.

When a public speaking competition was coming up at the elementary school of Zoë Wool’s child this past year, the west-end parent said students were invited to write a short speech on an important issue.

But when Wool’s child wanted to talk about Palestine, she said they were told it was “not a good idea.”

Wool said the incident came around the same time the school’s principal allegedly put a blanket ban on students sharing their culture in class — but that the ban was later lifted after the principal met with parents.

Neither Wool nor her child is Palestinian (they are Jewish), but she worries about the impact the ministry’s memo will have on those who are.

“Palestinian families are being given the message by the Ministry of Education that there is something wrong or dangerous or problematic about their very identity and history and that acknowledging their existence puts other kids at risk,” Wool said.

The Palestinian issue has presented a problem for many. 

Palestinian teachers who spoke to the Star said they, too, felt constrained by the province’s edict, even when students ask them questions about their heritage. 

“I’m too scared,” said a Palestinian TDSB elementary teacher, who explained how she doesn’t answer her young students’ questions on what the Palestinian flag and watermelon pins attached to her fanny pack represent.

Amongst the other casualties of the memo are Pride events, now being forced to take place outside of school hours. Indigenous issues may also be sidelined.

Unfortunately, some of the public (and they are usually a loud minority) conflate discussion and information with indoctrination, preferring that children learn in a sterile and contextless environment.

However, we have already seen where that has taken Americans, further down the road of prejudice, intolerance and ignorance. If we allow the door of critical inquiry to slam shut here in Canada, will we not follow the same trajectory?

 

Trump Gets Fact-Checked

I'm not sure about the prospects of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell keeping his head attached to the rest of his body after this brutal fact check of Trump.

President Donald Trump’s attempt to shame Federal Reserve Board of Governors chair Jerome Powell over the cost of a long-running renovation to the central bank’s Washington headquarters went horribly wrong on Thursday when Powell had a ready response for the president’s accusations during a tour of the construction site.

 Trump said the cost of the years-long project was now “about $3.1 billion” rather than the $2.7 billion previously stated by Powell.

“So we're taking a look, and it looks like it's about 3.1 billion went up a little bit or a lot. So the 2.7 is now 3.1 it just came out,” he said reading from a piece of paper, as Powell looked on and shook his head in the negative before interjecting.

The chairman replied: “I haven’t heard that from anybody” and asked if the paper Trump was reading from came from the central bank.

At that point, Trump handed him the paper and continued talking while Powell pulled out his reading glasses to look.

He then told the president that the higher number he was claiming included a separate project that wasn’t part of the renovation at issue.

“You just added in a third building,” he said.

He told Trump that he was mistakenly counting long-completed renovations to a building named for William Martin Jr., who served as Fed chair from 1951–1970, as part of the renovation of the Fed’s main headquarters.

 

Lese majeste, eh? The Don never forgets a slight.

Stay tuned for the decapitation.

Look Over There! - Nothing To See Here

With all the troubles in the world, and all of the evil things that Trump and his henchmen have done, it almost beggars belief that the only thing the MAGATS obsess about is the release of the Epstein files. While there is nothing to suggest that Trump himself is implicated in the notorious pedophilia of the late Epstein, I suspect the thing Don worries most about is the probability possibility that he was fully aware of what the 'financier' was up to with underage girls, perhaps even expressing admiration for his depraved appetites.

Be that as it may, Trump is doing everything in his power to divert scrutiny. The first diversion is the release, two years ahead of schedule, of all the files on Martin Luther King, most of them compiled by the FBI under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, a racist who saw the rise of Black people as a threat to American social stability. (If you want a very comprehensive portrait of the longtime head of the FBI, I highly recommend the meticulously researched G -Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, by Beverly Gage.)

"Trump releasing the MLK assassination files is not about transparency or justice," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "It's a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unravelling of his credibility among the MAGA base."

The King Center, founded by King's widow and now led by Bernice King, reacted separately from what Bernice said jointly with her brother. The King Center statement framed the release as a distraction — but from more than short-term political controversy.

"It is unfortunate and ill-timed, given the myriad of pressing issues and injustices affecting the United States and the global society," the King Center said, linking those challenges to MLK's efforts. "This righteous work should be our collective response to renewed attention on the assassination of a great purveyor of true peace."

King, despite his heroic battles on behalf of Black people, was no saint. He was quite the womanizer.  I suspect it is that titillating aspect of the files, essentially the Hoover-orchestrated illegal invasion of King's privacy through bugging devices and wiretaps, that Don hopes will deflect from the Epstein controversy.

Then there is the lame attempt to get the release of grand jury testimony that led to Epstein's indictment. Even if it is released (highly unusual given the secret nature of grand jury testimony), it likely would have no reference to Trump. 

As well, there is the sideshow of Trump's attorney-general, Pam Bondi, sending her deputy, Todd Blanche, (Trump's former personal attorney) to interview Ghislane Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year sentence for her part in procuring young girls for Epstein's vile pleasures.

"President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say," Blanche said in the statement posted by Bondi on X.

Does anyone with half a brain (admittedly, that excludes the MAGATS) believe that Maxwell, who is trying to appeal her sentence and perhaps hopes for a presidential pardon, will say anything bad about her potential saviour?

Finally, there is the preposterous and profoundly hypocritical behaviour of Mike Johnson, the Republican Speak of the House. You may recall that only recently he was calling for the full-disclosure of all files relating to Epstein. That sudden whiff of spine quickly transmogrified into his usual craven subservience to Trump.  

 House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday ground the House of Representatives to a screeching halt in order to block Democrats from bringing up amendments calling for the release of files related to sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The speaker’s decision to virtually shut down procedure in the House of Representatives — a week before Congress’ summer break — comes as President Donald Trump continues to receive criticism from all sides for his handling of the promised release of all government files related to Epstein. 

The move to halt the action of the House Rules committee came after Democrats repeatedly tried to introduce amendments to force the disclosure of files related to Epstein, who was found hanged in his New York prison cell in 2019.

I was going to end the post here, but I've decided to leave you with something even more outlandish (except, again, to the MAGATS): an A.I. generated fake video of Obama being arrested in the Oval Office. 

Can things get any worse in Amerika? That is, of course, merely a rhetorical question.

 

A Note About Progressive Bloggers

Just a brief note: I was in recent contact with Scott Tribe, who operates the Progressive Bloggers aggregator. It appears that, owing to financial considerations, the website is down for the count. The only thing I can suggest is to do what I have done: bookmark your favourite bloggers and check regularly for new posts.

I'd like to thank Scott for all the years he has put into the site. I know that it has made a real impact on my blog in driving traffic to Politics and its Discontents, and I shall miss it a great deal.

A Timely Warning

I think all of us are aware of the multitude of scams being practised at any given time, be it the granny scam ("Hi Gramma, I was in an accident and am in jail. Please send money for my bail"), computer phishing scams, romance scams, etc. Most of the time, we assume they target the elderly or the lonely, and we are certain we would never fall for such deceptions.

However, as the following item makes clear, the scams have reached a new level of sophistication that even young people are falling victim to them. I present this only as a public service, the message being we can never let our guard down these days. The particular bank involved here, Scotia Bank, will accept no responsibility here, even though there should have been red flag protocols in place before this man lost $25,000.