A Few Impressions

I realize that Ontario's pending provincial election is likely less than riveting for those living outside the province; however, the fact that a demagogue like PC leader Doug Ford has been leading in the polls until recently should concern all of us.

As Canadians, we like to feel smug vis-à-vis the United States, saddled as it is with its choice of an imbecile for president. However, that smugness needs to be tempered both by the election of populist crack user Rob Ford, who was the mayor of Toronto, and the realization that brother Doug's robotic presentation of himself as "for the people" has yielded him quite a following. To ignore those realities does no one any service.

Last night's debate, featuring the leaders of all three major parties, was a study in contrasts. Both the NDP's Andrea Horwath and (outgoing?) Premier Kathleen Wynne acquitted themselves quite well (although I thought Horwath interrupted too frequently), displaying a poise and a depth of knowledge that one would hope for in a leader. On the other hand, Doug Ford relied on boilerplate promises to lower taxes and find efficiencies, at the same time 'guaranteeing that no one would lose their jobs.

And it got even better, as he

promised a 20-per-cent cut to the second-lowest income-tax bracket, an end to the province’s cap-and-trade system, and a 10-cent-per-litre cut to the gasoline tax.

Welcome to Magical Thinking 101.

To compound his amateurish bluster, Ford warned of dire consequences should the NDP form government:

“I travel around, I’ve talked to hundreds and hundreds of companies — they are terrified of the NDP coming in,” Ford told viewers during the raucous 90-minute televised debate.

“They’ve told me personally, ‘We will pack up and we will go down south in half a second.’ God forbid the NDP ever get in, they will destroy our province,” he said, predicting Horwath “would annihilate the middle class” and “bankrupt this province.”

To the thick-headed, this strategy (Hyperbole/Fearmongering 101) would surely strike fear and loathing of those godless socialists. To drive home his point about the perils of an NDP government, repetition being his forte, Ford Added,

“They will destroy our province, destroy our economy. That’s a fact..."

This has been but a brief reflection by one who has followed politics for many, many years. As a student of human nature, I find all elections fascinating, offering as they do a kind of Rorschach test of one's fellow citizens.

Elections help determine the kind of society we live in. For those who feel strongly (and everyone should) about such matters, their responsibility to cast a vote is undeniable. Otherwise, of course, you are letting someone else impose their vision.

Ah yes, the beauty of democracy.

For those who didn't see the debate and might want to dip into it, here it is in its entirety:

Guest Post: A Response To Be Careful What You Wish For

As I indicated in my last post, I have been having problems with readers' comments. I have not been receiving them. I have found a workaround the situation; although I am still not being notified of them, I went into the dashboard and looked under Comments Awaiting Moderation, where I found several. The following is one of them, a response from BM to my post, Be Careful What You Wish For:

Walmart has been pulling off the same manoeuvre for years. Come into an area just outside town to get cheap real estate, ruin local businesses with cheap prices, employ people at minimum wage so that municipalities and state/provincial governments end up effectively having to provide top-ups - and the ruin is complete. Of everybody and everything.

Amazon merely does it on an even lower cost base. Get stupid local governments to bid (can you imagine the utter stupidity of anyone actually "paying" for an Amazom warehouse?), then running a military operation of having people running around filling orders with no breaks for no money. There are many descriptions online of the hell it is, from the UK and US. Gernany has no Walmarts because they insisted on work standards that Sam's boys could not tolerate - don't know about Amazon.

Still your average modern twit sails blindly to their doom blissfully unaware that hailing Uber sends money to California instead of local taxi drivers. Money gaily sent off to a central collection house instead of being spent locally,the only rationale being it's a bit cheaper for you personally upfront. Gradually, all these centralized businesses hollow out local economies. Then you pay for more welfare as taxi firms go bust. Enjoy your cheap ride! Disruptors, these firms call themselves. Spot on.

The whole thing is an extension of the offshoring of jobs to China. Now the offshoring is to send money to some app developer in a place far away who is feted as a business hero.

And so we blindly march to the destruction of our societies apparently saving a loonie at a time, until eventually nobody can afford anything because we all work crap jobs. The rich get incredibly richer and the plebs stand around wondering what hit them.

And people slave to develop apps that will let them hit the hackpot, screw everyone else.

Nobody ever claimed the average dude or dudette wandering down the street glued to their phone actually had reasoning power, after all. They might have a PhD, but they're still terminally stupid, because they simply do not bother to think, and say "hang on a minute!". No, saving a nickel now means they regard themselves as smart.

And Bezos laughs at hundreds of millions of dummies, collects their data as well as money, and becomes a de facto emperor.

I buy local, I use the post office. I would not pay a dime for an Amazon warehouse in land or subsidies. Let the predator pay his own way.

UPDATED: Technical Problems

It has come to my attention via email that the comments function is not working properly. If you made a comment and I did not publish it, it is because I did not receive it. I understand that at least one other blog, Northern Reflections, is experiencing the same problem. I shall let you know when the issue is resolved.

In the interim, feel free to use the blogger contact form here to send along comments. Your anonymity, if you request it, I guarantee.

UPDATE: While I haven't found the source of the problem, I have found a workaround, so please feel free to start sending comments again.

The Power Of Real Communication

UPDATED: A True American Hero

Colin Kaepernick speaks a truth that, unfortunately, too many of his fellow Americans refuse to acknowledge.



UPDATE: Thanks to The Mound for the following which, I think you will agree, puts things into their proper perspective:

Careful What You Wish For

With so many cities, including Toronto, vying to become Amazon's second headquarters, they might be mindful of some basic truths about Jeff Bezos and his business practices:

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' wealth increases by $275 million every single day. Meanwhile, Amazon workers have to rely on food stamps and public assistance just to survive. This is what a rigged economy is all about. pic.twitter.com/Ty7ECxvOkl

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 22, 2018

Now what was that thing Jesus said about rich men, camels and eyes of needles?

Don't You Just Love It?

Of course, the rabid, insensate right will see no contradiction or hypocrisy here.