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Politics is a subject to be avoided, as it often leads to disagreements. However, I am passionate about improving humanity so I cannot help but air my views, in the hopes of nudging the world in that direction. We should always extoll self-sacrificing heroes and denounce murderous dictators. I am indebted to the politicians and veterans of my country and its allies for the right to free speech and free press, to journalists for promoting truth and therefore integrity, to scientists and engineers for progress, and to honest laborers for prosperity. I feel a responsibility to protect the fragile heritage bequeathed by my ancestors. My arch-enemies outnumber my super heroes so there is lots of work to be done. I am a member of Reporters Sans Frontières. I am not engaged in political activities right now, but stay tuned, as I think that time will come.
Super Heroes
Volodymyr Zelensky, although outgunned and without political experience, united the valiant Ukrainian people and the world against a ruthless Russian invader.
Mahatma Gandhi peacefully led India to independence.
Nelson Mandela gave up his freedom in his fight against apartheid in South Africa.
Barack Obama had a scandal-free United States presidency.
Alexei Navalny risks his life, health and liberty for democracy in Russia.
Sergei Magnitsky lost his life promoting truth and integrity in Russia.
Leonhard Euler discovered the formula: eiπ + 1 = 0. He discovered the transcendental number e. How cool is that!?
Leonardo Da Vinci was a great scientist and artist.
José Pepe Mujica was Uruguay’s humble president.
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin and chose not to patent it.
Other honorable mentions go to the American astronaut Neil Armstrong, the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci, the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., the British musician Jeff Lynne, doctor Henry Morgentaler, doctor Jack Kavorkian, the whistleblower Edward Snowden, astronomer Galileo Galilei, naturalist Charles Darwin, anthropologist Jane Goodall, environmentalist Steve Irwin, Soviet whistleblower Valery Legasov, movie director Theo van Gogh, Polish dissident Lech Wałęsa, computer scientist Alan Turing, first Canadian prime minister John A. Macdonald, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, explorer Christopher Columbus, Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, former US president Abraham Lincoln, musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, inventor Nikola Tesla, physicist Albert Einstein, intellectual Noam Chomsky, author Mordecai Richler, artist Ai Weiwei, physicist and humanist Andrei Sakharov, anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the former British prime minister Winston Churchill. I don’t think heroes always have to be perfect but they should contribute toward progress in the context of their time and circumstance. I hope that humanity will continue delivering in great achievements and I hope that reason, rationality and brilliance will increasingly replace falsehoods, superstition and ignorance.
Arch-enemies
Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea and Donbass, backed evil leaders like Bashar al-Assad of Syria and ex-president Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine, sidestepped the Russian electoral process, invaded Georgia and cheated in the Olympics. Putin poisoned auditor Sergei Magnitsky, whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny and Russian politician Vladimir Kara-Murza. On England soil, Putin poisoned Alexander Litvinenko, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, and novelist Georgi Markov. Billionaire Boris Berezovsky is but one of Putin’s critics, who proved susceptible of dying under suspicious circumstances. His adversaries keep unexpectedly dying of heart attacks or falling inexplicably out of windows. Kleptocratic Putin emprisoned and exiled billionaire Mikhail Khordorkovsky. Author Paul Joyal, Ukrainian politician Viktor Yushchenko and politician Alexei Navalny have narrowly survived Putin’s poisonings. The International Criminal Court in the Hague issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest because he directed the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. Putin invaded Ukraine, a smaller democratic country, under the guise of his fictional security concerns that scarcely show any effort to disguise his indefensible imperialistic greed and megalomania. Despite his stellar acquisition in ill-gotten wealth, despite the massive toll of Ukrainian and Russian human lives at his hands, despite any expansion of his huge empire, he remains utterly insignificant in character.
Kim Jong-un starved North Koreans to increase his personal wealth. Failing to respect the photo or statue of this cowardly creep is punishable by death. For defectors, 3 generations of relatives are sent to internal camps. For orphans, slavery in mines is the sentence. For those caught with a foreign movie, it is a public execution. North Korea tortured and killed Otto Warmbier, an American tourist, for stealing a poster. It is said that Kim Jong-un was driving at 3 years of age and the first time he bowled, he scored a perfect 300-point game. In photos, his army of sycophants are taking notes as he speaks, possibly describing how their Dear Leader is so full of himself. He could be the most selfish person on the planet.
Xi Jinping imposes the National Security Laws on Hong Kong, threatens the sovereignty of Taiwan, implements re-education camps in Xinjiang, deploys intrusive surveillance, builds expansionistic artificial islands, and steals hundreds of billions of dollars in trade secrets and intellectual property. This consummate control freak is in cahoots with the World Health Organization, embraced the Taliban in Afghanistan, tortured Zhang Zhan for reporting on the pandemic and jailed activists Jimmy Lai and Sun Dawu. China strategically and ruthlessly manipulates, deceives, bullies and hacks. You know your territory is in big trouble when China wants to “liberate” you.
Donald Trump said that there are good and bad people on both sides when referring to the Ku Klux Klan. He is a notorious swindler, a slick pathological liar, a one-man crime wave, and a pandemic downplayer. He attempted to stay in power after losing an election. He forges alliances with dictators. He is a convicted rapist. He has 2 impeachments, 4 indictments and 91 felony charges.
Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel builds Jewish settlements in Palestine and utilizes disproportionate brutality.
Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia assassinated the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Pol Pot murdered a quarter of the population of Cambodia.
Augusto Pinochet of Chile tortured and executed people. He made his enemies systematically disappear.
Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union killed 20 million people. He is responsible for labor colonies and mass starvation.
Vladimir Lenin of the Soviet Union was responsible for the most unimaginable cruelty. He ordered mass killings and the deliberate starvation of millions of people. Nowadays, his corpse is exposed for people to pay their respect!
Adolf Hitler killed 6 million Jews and flirted with the idea of world domination.
Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus kidnaps, tortures and murders dissidents, politicians, journalists and minorities. He redirected a commercial airplane to arrest blogger Roman Protasevich.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban condemned race-mixing. Other dishonorable pieces of garbage include the Philippino president Rodrigo Duterte, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the senior general of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing, the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the former Ugandan president Idi Amin, the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, the former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, the former president Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, the Hungarian president János Áder, the Yugoslav ex-president Slobodan Milošević, the former Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu, the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the former Haitian despot François “Papa Doc” Duvalier and the former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong.
Purchasing Strategies
Australian wine is the only wine I buy now. This is to counter China’s imposed 218% tariff on Australian wine. This was China’s retaliation because Australia requested more transparency on the origins of the Wuhan virus.
Chiquita Banana killed perhaps thousands of its employees in Colombia because they were on strike. For me, it is now Dole bananas, Del Monte bananas, or nothing, thank you.
Coke turned a blind eyed to subcontractors killing many union leaders in Colombia and Guatemala. After watching the documentary Killer Coke, you too might want to switch to Pepsi, or drink something healthful.
Foie gras is produced by forcibly overfeeding geese via tubing inserted into the esophagus causing the liver to swell to 10 times its original size. This is extremely cruel. I will not eat this.
Shark fin soup is possible using a cruel and unsustainable fishing practice. What’s more, the fins contain high levels in mercury. I don’t want any sharks in my soup.
Ben & Jerry’s campaigns for issues such as LGBTQ+ rights and climate change but it campaigns against apartheid in Israel. For that, I am giving their ice cream a try.
Ford stole the intermittent windshield wiper patent. After watching the movie Flash of Genius, I know not to deal with this unethical company. I never had and never will have a Ford.
Likes and Dislikes
This is less political, but just for fun, here are a few other things I have an opinion about.
I love old cheese, bitter dark beer, chocolate ice cream, blueberry pie and mint tea. I love to see dinosaurs in museums, bugs in amber, vintage cars and passing trains. I find rhinoceroses, owls and lynxes nice. My favorite movies are Terminator 1 & 2, the Exorcist, Total Recall, The Joy Luck Club, About Schmidt, Basic Instinct, Pulp Fiction, Single White Female and When Harry Met Sally. My favorite books are Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird. I like investigative journalism (like 60 Minutes) and Forensic Files. My favorite bands are E.L.O., Pink Floyd and Roxette. My favorite songs are Hotel California by the Eagles, Funkytown by Lipps Inc., I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder, and Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues.
I have a strong aversion to jihadists, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and sharia law. I think flat earthers score low on the scale of evolution. I fear that depraved individuals, like Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones, who fabricate conspiracy theories are weakening our democracies. I stay clear of the over-empowered right. Even the left can be a bit much when the snowflakes start rewriting history. I find actor-scientologist Tom Cruise annoying. I don’t care to hear opera, rap and jazz. I find the cheap Ontario license plates that peel off very embarrassing.