Line 2 TTC Riders Deserve Respect

Toronto City Council intends to spend another $80 million more on transit in the upcoming budget. In a column published by the Toronto Sun yesterday, Mayor John Tory specifically mentioned signal upgrades on the Line 1 subway, among other things (see: Keeping our city on the move). Indeed, the Yonge-University-Spadina line seems to be getting all of the attention these days. Folks on that subway line get to ride new, modern trains and will soon be reaping the benefits of automatic train control and trains running closer together.

In contrast, folks on Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) still have to make do with old, klunky trains and are not going to see significant service improvements any time soon. Most people on Line 2 would probably settle for working air conditioning on trains so that they don't have to go through another summer of the hot subway, never mind yearning for fancy new trains or automatic train control. It's time for the mayor and City Council to start showing riders on Line 2 some respect.

Electoral Reform in Canada is Wishful Thinking

Supporters of electoral reform held a day of action yesterday to protest Justin Trudeau's decision to scrap plans to change the way we vote in federal elections. First off, everyone should have known that junior was lying when he said that the 2015 vote would be the last one that would be held under the first-past-the-post system. After all, no one here in Canada lies better than a Liberal, or should I say, a Lie-beral.

Second, demonstrating against Trudeau the younger is futile, because neither he nor the rest of the cronies in his party will listen. They don't have to listen, because they have a majority government, which gives them 100% of the power when they just got under 40% of the votes in the last election. And no, they won't have to listen when the next election comes around either. You know why? Because the other parties won't produce a leader that can overcome Justin Trudeau's ability to woo gullible voters with selfies and speeches that are high on charisma and low on substance. Hence, junior will most likely be re-elected with another fake majority government.

Third and lastly, if proponents of electoral reform knew enough about Canadian history, they would know that this country has been resisting any change to its politics since before Confederation. It's no coincidence that the same two parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, have always been the ones holding the reigns of power. Do you really think that change will happen if you just substitute one group of elites with another? No, of course not. Furthermore, you can't expect these elites to do away with an electoral system that has served them so well throughout this country's history.

I think it is very unlikely that Canada will move away from its first-past-the-post electoral system. It's probably wishful thinking, just like an elected senate, an end to excessive party discipline and any other change Canadians would like to see made to this country's politics. Nevertheless, I will continue to advocate for these things, because sometimes dreams and wishes can come true.

International Community Cannot Stop Jews From Reclaiming Their Birthright

Israel's usual detractors are now complaining about the so-called Regulation Bill, just passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament (see: UN Secretary-General denounces Regulation Bill, European Union adds to condemnation of Regulation Bill. The bill gives legal status to homes built in Judea and Samaria (aka, the West Bank). Israel-haters around the world would rather throw Jews out of their homes simply because they are Jews living in their Biblical, ancestral homeland. It doesn't matter to Israel's critics that the Palestinian owners of land on which some of the aforementioned homes will be given compensation ABOVE market value. Hell, even if Israel offered the Palestinians compensation at 1000% of the value of their properties, the world would still condemn us. The international community condemns anything Israel does that doesn't involve dispossessing Jews from their homes and their birthright.

No one in the international community made even a peep when Jews fled or were forced from their properties in the Arab world with NO compensation at all. And to this day, NOT ONE U.N. resolution has been passed demanding compensation or restitution for lost or stolen Jewish property in North Africa and the Middle East. Hell, the compensation that the Palestinians will be getting for their properties under the Regulations Bill is probably better than what your average big city, like my home city of Toronto, gives whenever it needs to expropriate land to build things like highways and public mass transit.

So let the U.N., the E.U. and the rest of Israel's critics whine all they want, because we the Jewish people have returned to our motherland and we're not leaving it again, EVER!

Canadian Consumers Win With Superbowl Commercials

The bigwigs at Bell Media are whining like babies because for the first time, Canadians were allowed to see the always highly-anticipated American Superbowl commercials. For once, the CRTC listened to Canadian consumers instead of this country's corporate fat cats and Can-con lobby. Canadian consumers have said loud and clear for years that they wanted to see the Superbowl commercials and not have to watch the crappy, boring Canadian ads. So let Bell whine and complain all they want. This time, Canadian consumers have won the day!

No New Canada Under Justin Trudeau

I hate to say I told you so. Prime Minister Selfie just confirmed it today. He will not change Canada's unfair and undemocratic electoral system. The Toronto Star, from which this article comes, proudly proclaimed, "It's a New Canada," on their front page after Justin Trudeau and the Liberals won the last federal election with less than 40% of the vote. After all, the Star led the cheerleading section for Trudeau the younger along with the CBC during the 2015 election campaign. What a bunch of crap!

This latest flip-flop by the former drama teacher turned prime minister proves once and for all that there is no new Canada, nor will there ever be a new Canada under Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. There will just be the same old Canada that there is every time the Liberals are in power. Once again, the Liberals have fooled Canadians into believing that they are true harbingers of change, when in fact all they do once they get into power is bring back the same old policies that the Tories get rid of every time they're in power.

Now I already hear the folks who support our fraud of a prime minister saying something like, "Would you rather live down south where President Trump rules the roost?" Isn't it interesting how the first thing supporters of the status quo will tell you is that it's worse somewhere else. You know why? Because they don't want you to believe that there can be something or someone better. But I say that surely we the Canadian people can find a leader that has more substance than just a famous name and policy ideas he stole from someone else's playbook. I sincerely hope we find that leader before the next election comes around. 

With Friends Like Obama, Who Needs Enemies?

Barack Obama will soon end his term as U.S. President, but not before delivering another slap in the face to Israel. If you follow the news, you know what I'm talking about. Obama allowed a U.N. resolution condemning Israel's "settlement" building in the so-called "occupied territories" by not exercising the U.S. veto at the Security Council. It was Obama's way of saying that his administration would abandon its greatest ally in the Middle East and not put a stop to a clearly antisemitic declaration telling Jews that living in their ancestral homeland is a war crime. 

I knew there was no way that Obama would end his presidency without taking a parting shot at Israel and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the U.S. president's obvious antithesis. Bibi is of course a leader who believes in standing up to terrorists and power-hungry, genocidal dictators, whereas Obama believes in appeasing them and trying to reason with them. Indeed, even members of Israel's left wing are not as naive as the outgoing U.S. president. Obama has kept taking shots at Israel, not necessarily because he hates the state and hates the Jewish people, but because Israel and its current prime minister in particular have refused to bend to his naive worldview.

Actually, Obama isn't just naive. He's also ignorant. He doesn't know his history. If he did, he'd know that trying to trade land for peace, as he has encouraged Israel to do, is a bad bargain and always has been. Israel has tried multiple times to give up land in the hopes of achieving peace, only to be attacked again and again and again. Israel withdrew from large Palestinian towns and cities, only to see them turned into safe havens from which terrorists could launch suicide bombings and other attacks to kill and maim Israeli citizens. Israel left southern Lebanon, only to be attacked again by the Islamist terrorist group, Hezbollah. Israel vacated the Gaza Strip, and in a matter of days, terrorists turned once thriving Jewish towns into sites from which to launch rockets at Israeli civilians. 

"Oh, but what about Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula," Obama might ask. Well Mr. President, the first time Israel withdrew from Sinai and the Gaza Strip after the 1956 Suez Conflict, it was under threat of annihilation from Egypt and several other Arab states just a decade later. So Israel took preemptive action to defend itself in the 1967 war and again took control of Sinai and Gaza. Egypt eventually agreed to a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, in exchange for the return of Sinai. But fast forward a few decades and Israel is still regarded by most Egyptians as an enemy state. In fact, anyone in Egypt who appears to support normalization of relations with Israel is swiftly condemned, even within the country's political leadership, despite the existence of a peace treaty for over three decades. In addition, the Sinai has most recently become a base from which Islamist terrorists like Hamas and the Islamic State attempt to infiltrate and attack Israel. So did Israel really get peace in exchange for leaving the Sinai? It doesn't appear that way, Mr. President, does it?  

If only Obama would study the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict before he attempts to impose solutions on us. Actually, he should first take a look at the history of his own country. If he did, he would find out about how Native Americans gave up much of their land in exchange for promises of peace with the expanding American empire. And look where it got them. I'm sorry, Mr. President, but I don't want my own people to share the same fate as those whose conquered lands now comprise the United States of America. 

   

Donald Trump Will be the Next U.S. President. God Help Us All.

Election Day in the U.S. this past Tuesday was shocking and appalling to say the least. After all was said and done, Donald Trump, a man who has openly called for banning Muslims from the U.S., who has made countless remarks demeaning women, visible minorities, disabled people and even war veterans, and who has bragged about sexually assaulting and harassing women will be the next President of the United States, the most powerful nation-state on Earth. I see dark times ahead; very dark times indeed.

The fallout from Trump's election has already begun. In fact, even before the official result of the election was announced, Canada's Ministry of Immigration website crashed after being overwhelmed with Americans looking for information on how to immigrate to their good neighbour to the north. The day after the election became a day of hate as bigots across the country became emboldened by the election of a man that seems to think just like them (see: Day 1 in Trump's America). Protests against Trump's election have taken place all over the U.S. and some of them have turned violent. All this has happened in the span of just a few days and Trump hasn't even set foot in the Oval Office yet! Imagine what will happen when he does. I can imagine what's coming and it's not a pretty picture.

Within the first year of his presidency, mass deportations of suspected illegal immigrants will begin and will not end until millions are kicked out of U.S. territory. Trump will show no mercy to those who have come to America seeking better lives for themselves and their children, for in his mind these people are all criminals. And unfortunately they won't be the only ones forced to leave as a result of Trump's policies. Their misery will be echoed overseas by multitudes of Ukrainians and perhaps others in eastern Europe as Putin's Russia celebrates the beginning of the Trump administration by seizing more territory.  Meanwhile in the rest of Europe, the rise of anti-immigrant, pro-fascist politics will be getting a big boost. There will undoubtedly be a lot more bigots and xenophobes filling the seats of Europe's governments and legislatures.

Trump's foreign policy will make much of the world a lot more vulnerable to attacks by power-hungry dictatorships, like Russia, China and Iran. Trump's unwillingness to protect America's allies if they don't pay what he thinks they should will inevitably mean an exodus of U.S. military forces from key strategic areas. In the far east, Trump will pull U.S. forces out of South Korea and Japan, leaving the two countries and the whole region vulnerable to attack by an increasingly aggressive China. Trump will also pull American forces stationed in Europe out at the same time Putin grabs more territory on the continent. In the Middle East, as if the situation in Syria isn't bad enough in light of current U.S. President Barack Obama's ineptitude, it will become worse once Trump takes office. He'll do even less than Obama has done and leave the Syrians to suffer and die under constant bombardment by the forces of the country's dictator, Bashar Al-Assad and his Russian allies. As for the rest of the Middle East, Trump will likely sit on the sidelines as failed states like Iraq and Yemen descend further into chaos. After all, he doesn't really see the region as a worthwhile investment (see: Foreign Ministry: 'Trump doesn't see the Middle East as a "wise investment"').

All this I see happening in just the first half of Trump's presidency. And if you think it's bad, it will only get worse; catastrophically worse. As I've said in previous posts, I believe that Donald Trump will put the world on the fast track to World War III. The reason for this is because although Trump will preside over very isolationist foreign and military policies, growing Russian, Chinese and Iranian aggression will eventually force his hand. And once his ego collides with leaders like Vladimir Putin, God help us all!