Tag Archives: Nobel Peace Prize

Da Queen of Snark Strikes Again!

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary

There are so many things that have crossed my radar in the past 24 hours that my head is reeling and I don’t know where to begin.  I’ll try to be brief in my snippetry today …

Nobel PEACE Prize???  Surely NOT!

I guess every country has its share of nutcases in government.  I really thought Norway was better than this, but apparently I was wrong.  For the second time, Donald Trump, the person who stirs conflict wherever he goes and pits people against each other, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.  His very nomination disgusts and sickens me, rather reminiscent of Trump awarding the Medal of Freedom to the very dishonourable Rush Limbaugh.

The person who nominated Trump this year is the same one who nominated him in 2018, far right, xenophobic member of Norway’s parliament, Christian Tybring-Gjedde.  He claims he is not a big fan of Trump, but that …

“The committee should look at the facts and judge him on the facts – not on the way he behaves sometimes.”

The facts are, Mr. Tybring-Gjedde, that Donald Trump is the most hateful, cruel person ever to lead this nation!  Donald Trump is the least peace-promoting person on this planet!  He has done more to divide the people of this nation than any other president in our history, and he is continuing to do so every day.  Peace???  HAH!  If he is awarded this prize, then every past recipient should return their awards, for they will have lost all meaning.

Hopefully, the Nobel Prize Committee will have good sense as they did in 2018, and ignore Trump.  His odds are at about 20/1, and the most likely projected winners are among the World Health Organization, Greta Thunberg, and Jacinda Ardern … all three are excellent choices … far more worthy than a cruel tyrant.  He does have the support of QAnon, however, and gun-totin’ member Marjorie Taylor Greene, possibly the next U.S. representative from Georgia tweeted her gushing support.  DISGUSTING!

We the People pay for Trump’s sexual harassment???  WHY???

Author E. Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of rape, in a Bergdorf’s dressing room in the mid-1990s. After Trump denied ever meeting her and dismissed her story as a Democratic plot, she sued him for defamation.  There is much I could say here … I fully believe Ms. Carroll’s story, as well as those of the many other women who have accused Trump of everything from grabbing them inappropriately to out and out rape. Trump called Ms. Carroll a liar and said he did not know her, even though the two had been photographed together at a party in 1987 with Ms. Carroll’s former husband. However, none of that is my point today.

Ms. Carroll’s defamation suit is still pending, but this week, the corrupt Attorney General of the United States made a decision that means if Ms. Carroll wins her suit, it will be We the Taxpayers who pay the penalty, while Trump skates free.

The White House asked the Justice Department to replace Trump’s private lawyers in this suit.  The Justice Department’s intervention in the lawsuit means that taxpayer money will be used to defend Trump, and it threatens the continued viability of the case of the plaintiff, Ms. Carroll.

Mr. Barr defended the decision to intervene, arguing that it was routine for the department to take over lawsuits against federal officials — substituting the government as the defendant.  Ms. Carroll’s lawsuit has been reassigned from a New York State court to a Federal District Court judge in New York, Lewis A. Kaplan. If he signs off on the department’s certification that it meets the standards to substitute the government as the defendant, he could dismiss the lawsuit because the government has sovereign immunity and cannot be sued for defamation.

Ms. Carroll has requested a DNA sample from Trump to determine a match.  An innocent man would give up the sample and be done with it … case closed.  But, this is akin to his withholding of his tax returns … a man with nothing to hide would release the returns!

So, Trump rapes a woman and we pay the price.  Frankly, she should have done a Lorena Bobbitt on him when she had the chance!

Destroy the nation, but don’t make “Trump look bad”

Brian Murphy, who had previously served as undersecretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis within the Department of Homeland Security, filed a 24-page complaint on September 8th, alleging that he was instructed to halt the reports on Russian influence activities in the United States because they were making “the president look bad.” The report was delivered by Murphy’s attorney, Mark Zaid, to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

The report alleges that acting Secretary Chad Wolf, his predecessor Kirstjen Nielsen, and other senior DHS brass engaged in “a repeated pattern of abuse of authority, attempted censorship of intelligence analysis and improper administration of an intelligence program related to Russian efforts to influence and undermine United States interests.”

In his complaint, Murphy claimed he was instructed by Wolf to stop reporting on Russian activities altogether and “instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran.” Wolf told him that the instructions came from Robert O’Brien, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, and Murphy pushed back and said he would not comply “as doing so would put the country in substantial and specific danger.”homeland-securityTaken in conjunction with last week’s announcement by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe that he was suspending in-person briefings to Congress about foreign threats to the 2020 election, I think we all have ample reason to be concerned … very concerned.  Our government, led by a cruel tyrant, is withholding vital information from us, and from Congress.  THIS, my friends, is an abomination!  It’s as if … as if we are naught but cardboard cutouts with no ears, no eyes, no brains.  Funny, though, how the government that doesn’t even pretend to represent us still takes our taxes every week, isn’t it?

I’m not even halfway through my list, so you can count on more later!  On a brighter note, even though George Conway is no longer an active participant in The Lincoln Project, they are still turning out some great, hard-hitting ads!  Here is one of their latest …

Words of Un-Wisdom …

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Humour, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Trump held a rally in Toledo, Ohio, last Thursday, less than a week after ordering the assassination of a high-level foreign official, nearly starting a war, and indirectly causing the deaths of 176 people.  Tonight, I would like to share some of his words of wisdom with you, so you can see just what a brilliant leader this nation has.  And, of course I cannot resist an occasional snarky comment of my own.

  • “So, we have all forms of energy. We have every form of energy and we are doing great, but they want to cripple your state’s economy. And our air and our water right now is cleaner than it’s been in 40 years, and sadly, I can’t say historic because, you know, a couple of hundred years ago there was nobody here, right? So, I assume that 200 or 300 years ago was cleaner, probably. You never know, but our water and our air is as clean as it’s ever been, and I took us out of that horrible Paris accord.” A couple of hundred years ago there was nobody here?  According to the latest scientific journals, humans have been on earth for approximately 60,000 years, and on what is now known as the North American continent for some 17,000 years.  Dumb, Donnie, dumb.  And about that clean air … that you have made progressively worse in your vendetta against our last real president, President Barack Obama.
  • “We are finally putting America first. But while we are creating jobs and killing terrorists, the Washington Democrats are wasting America’s time with demented hoaxes and crazy witch hunts. Think of it. From the day I came down that escalator, it started. Who the hell else could have taken this stuff, right? Do I get some credit for that? Most guys would have been in the corner with their thumb in their mouth. Saying, mommy, mommy take me home. These are bad people.”  Why should “America” be first?  We are among the most arrogant, greedy, bigoted people on earth!  Really, Donnie?  You who whines like a toddler whenever anybody criticizes you?
  • “Last year alone, ICE officers, who by the way, are heroes. These are brave people. I don’t want to do it. You don’t want to do it. Let’s see if you could do it? You could do it over there, you could do it. Mostly, you would not. I mean, I’ve seen it. They have these people, they like are killers and our guys are here and they run and they call them nets, they have nets, and they run and they’re swinging and punching.” Do what, Donnie???  Chase poor refugees with butterfly nets?  Do you know what you’re talking about?  I sure as hell don’t!
  • “Democrats stand for crime, corruption, and chaos. Republicans stand for law, order, and justice. That’s really the way it is. I have to tell you, a lot of things are happening.” Um, yeah, like the illegal assassination of an Iranian general that has no justification, like nearly starting a war, like destroying our reputation in the Western world, like …
  • “But see, I don’t like doing this too soon. I did it with Pocahontas. I came up with this great name. I came up with a lot of different stuff. I said she was a total fraud and everybody believed me, and she went down.” The leader of one of the largest western nations bragging about his bigotry and misogyny, and about making up childish names to taunt an opponent.   Just wow.
  • “Virtually, every top Democrat also now supports late-term abortion, ripping babies straight from the mother’s womb right up until the moment of birth. That is why I’ve asked Congress to prohibit late-term abortion because Republicans believe that every child is a sacred gift from God.” Um, Donnie? “Ripping babies from the womb at the moment of birth”?  That’s called “childbirth” and it is a natural process … the same one by which you, unfortunately, came into the world.
  • “Now, you have a President who is standing up for America. Great. At stake in our present battle is the survival of the American nation. If you want your children to inherit the blessings that generations of Americans have fought and died for, and fought so hard to secure, then, we must devote everything we have toward victory in 2020. We have to win. Only this way can we save the America that we love and drain the Washington swamp once and for all, and I have seen that dirty, rotten swamp better than anybody else in America, a lot of crooked people.” YOU appointed all those crooked people, Donnie! YOU filled the swamp! “Who would’ve thought that’s possible? Who would have thought that’s possible? We will defend privacy, free speech, religious liberty, and the right to keep and bear arms. And above all, we will never stop fighting for the sacred values that bind us together as one big beautiful America. We support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”  Would that be the same Constitution you have trampled, spat on, and lit afire?
  • “I am such a smart guy. I said this is the most brilliant thing ever and I went back to my people and I said, you know, I have an idea.” Mark the day on your calendar folks.
  • “And we have Bernie and Nancy Pelosi, we have them all.” All two of ’em, Donnie?  Let’s just count and make sure, shall we?
  • “We got to get lined up, Adam, you little pencil neck, nine inches.” If he has nine inches, he’s got you beat by five, Donnie.

And this is the one that takes the cake, my friends …

  • “I’m going to tell you about the Nobel Peace Prize. I’ll tell you about that. I made a deal. I saved a country, and I just heard that the head of that country is now getting the Nobel Peace Prize for saving the country. I said, what — did I have something to do with it? Yeah, but you know that’s the way it is. As long as we know, that’s all that matters, OK? I saved a big war, saved a couple of them, but under my administration, we will never make excuses for America’s enemies. We will never hesitate in defending American lives, and we will never stop working to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, never.” The winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize was Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.  Mr Abiy has introduced massive liberalising reforms to Ethiopia, shaking up what was a tightly controlled nation.  He freed thousands of opposition activists from jail and allowed exiled dissidents to return home. He has also allowed the media to operate freely and appointed women to prominent positions.  I fail to see what Trump believes he contributed … 🤷

Well, there you have it folks … as they say in poker … “read ‘em and weep”.  These are the words of the person who holds our lives in his tiny hands.  Think about that one for a minute.

Greta Thunberg — Simply Amazing

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

I have written before about the young Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, and in fact she was one of my ‘good people’ one Wednesday last December.  Sometimes an activist will start like gangbusters, and then after a few months you hear nothing more about them, but not so Ms. Thunberg.  I see her name in the news at least once a week, and she has been inspirational to many young climate-conscious groups around the world.

Today, she is back in the news, and in a big way! A couple of big ways, actually.

Greta-Thunberg

Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and The 1975’s Matty Healy pose for a photo. (Photo: Jordan Hughes)

The first is that she is featured on the first track of the forthcoming album of British pop-rock band The 1975.  In the track, Greta delivers a speech about the global climate emergency, against an instrumental background by the band.  Now, I have never heard of The 1975, but I give them two thumbs up for this effort, as well as the fact that all proceeds from the track will be going to the climate action group Extinction Rebellion.

The full text of Greta’s speech on the track is at the end of this post.

In an interview with The Guardian, Greta said …

“I’m grateful to get the opportunity to get my message out to a broad new audience in a new way. I think it’s great that The 1975 is so strongly engaged in the climate crisis. We quickly need to get people in all branches of society to get involved. And this collaboration I think is something new.”

The second thing is that Greta has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize this year.  She was nominated by Freddy Andre Oevstegaard, a parliamentary representative in Norway …

“We have nominated Greta because the climate threat may be one of the most important causes of war and conflict.”

greta-2.pngThe Norwegian Nobel Committee will announce its latest laureates in October, and those selected will receive their prizes in December.  I do so want to see her win it!

And the third thing that has put Greta in the news this week is that she will be coming to the U.S. next month to attend a United Nations summit meeting on global warming in New York!  Now, you may remember from my previous post about Greta that she does not fly on airplanes because of the CO2 emissions, so you may be wondering how she plans to get here.

“Good news! I’ll be joining the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York. I’ve been offered a ride on the 60ft racing boat Malizia II.”

Malizia-2

Malizia II

Malizia II, is outfitted with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate electricity. That should make the entire trip possible without burning any fossil fuels.

Boris Herrmann, who will skipper the boat, said the voyage would not be the luxury cruise that a high-tech yacht might conjure in the popular imagination. The Malizia II is built for speed, not comfort. It has no kitchen, refrigeration system, air-conditioning or showers.

Think about this one for a minute, folks.  This young woman is so committed to saving our planet that she is willing to spend two weeks on a small boat, eating mostly freeze-dried and vacuum-packed meals, in order to do her part to save the environment.  Greta is sixteen years old … most kids her age are attached at the hip to their cell phones, ipods, laptops, and wouldn’t dream of missing a shower or a hot meal, let alone spend two weeks in a small boat on choppy seas!

Greta will be accompanied on the trip by a filmmaker; her father, Svante; and Pierre Casiraghi, the head of the Malizia II racing team who is also the grandson of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and the American actress Grace Kelly.

Greta is, with her parents’ approval, taking the year off from school to campaign against climate change, also plans to attend the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change talks in December in Santiago, Chile.

I was impressed by this young woman when I first wrote about her eight months ago, but today … the only word I have is “WOW!!!”  She puts us all to shame, and particularly those who would “deny” climate science in order to justify their own greed.

I would like to end with a quote that was sent to me tonight by a very special friend:

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” – Helen Keller

Ms. Thunberg is doing something that she can do … let’s all try to do just one thing more that we can do to help heal and protect our home, planet Earth.

Full text of Greta’s speech on The 1975 track:

We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis.

And we need to call it what it is. An emergency.

We must acknowledge that we do not have the situation under control and that we don’t have all the solutions yet. Unless those solutions mean that we simply stop doing certain things.

We admit that we are losing this battle.

We have to acknowledge that the older generations have failed. All political movements in their present form have failed.

But homo sapiens have not yet failed.

Yes, we are failing, but there is still time to turn everything around. We can still fix this. We still have everything in our own hands.

But unless we recognise the overall failures of our current systems, we most probably don’t stand a chance.

We are facing a disaster of unspoken sufferings for enormous amounts of people. And now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now is the time to speak clearly.

Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge that homo sapiens have ever faced. The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases.

And either we do that, or we don’t.

You say that nothing in life is black or white.

But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie.

Either we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming, or we don’t.

Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, or we don’t.

Either we choose to go on as a civilization or we don’t.

That is as black or white as it gets.

Because there are no grey areas when it comes to survival.

Now we all have a choice.

We can create transformational action that will safeguard the living conditions for future generations.

Or we can continue with our business as usual and fail.

That is up to you and me.

And yes, we need a system change rather than individual change. But you cannot have one without the other.

If you look through history, all the big changes in society have been started by people at the grassroots level. People like you and me.

So, I ask you to please wake up and make the changes required possible. To do your best is no longer good enough. We must all do the seemingly impossible.

Today, we use about 100 million barrels of oil every single day. There are no politics to change that. There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground.

So, we can no longer save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed.

Everything needs to change. And it has to start today.

So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel.

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8 years of suffering under Barack Obama

Posted on by under Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

I came across this quite by accident … I do not know this blogger, have never read any of his posts before, but I felt this was well worth sharing … w reminder of a better time, a better president.

Teri Carter's Library

andersonlogo

3C54DC7D00000578-4140672-Barack_Obama_waves_as_he_boards_Marine_One_and_departs_the_Capit-a-77_1484945371469 Photo credit: The Associated Press

The sentence I hear most from well-meaning, conservative friends since President Trump’s election is this: “We suffered 8 years under Barack Obama.”

Fair enough. Let’s take a look.

The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow had almost tripled, closing at 21,414.

General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind, and their failure, along with their supply chains, would have meant the loss of millions of jobs. Obama pushed through a controversial, $8o billion bailout to save the car industry. The U.S. car industry survived, started making money again, and the entire $80 billion was paid back, with interest.

While we remain vulnerable to lone-wolf attacks, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully executed a mass attack here since 9/11.

Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

He…

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A Not-So-Noble Nobel Nomination

Posted on by under Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

Just yesterday I vowed that I would not write another word about Trump until at least next week after the New Hampshire primary.  I take my vows to myself seriously, so I am hanging my head in shame as I write this vow-breaking piece, but today’s news left me gasping for breath after my first outburst of laughter, then shaking my head, and finally wondering if I had fallen down a rabbit hole.  What, you ask, is so earth-shattering that I couldn’t resist yet one more Trump post?  First, be sure you are sitting down, take a deep breath (you are going to need it) and hold on to your hat … Donald Trump, the epitome of the word “hater”, has been nominated for … drumroll, please … a Nobel Peace Prize!

Yes, you heard me right. I first saw it in Newsweek, which is a reputable publication, but I thought it couldn’t possibly be true, that perhaps the editors over at Newsweek had gotten bored with the same old election b.s. and decided to spice things up a bit.  So, I went in search of the truth.  And the truth is, my friends, that it is true. Somebody actually nominated the man who wants to bomb everyone, the man who hates Mexicans and Muslims, the man who wants to kill innocent civilians in order to eradicate terrorists, the man who makes disparaging remarks about women every chance he gets, the man who has his bodyguards “rough up” those who protest at his rallies, for a Nobel Peace Prize!

The nominator wishes to remain anonymous (understandably) and by the rules of the Nobel committee, they do not release nominations until 50 years after the nomination, so I will not live to find out who did this absurd thing.  That is too bad, as if I knew who it was, I would almost certainly have to contact them and ask if this was done as a joke, of if they really had pudding-for-brains!  I did some research and discovered that almost any member of any government and virtually any academic can nominate anyone they choose, regardless of merit.  Past nominations that are as ludicrous as this one have included Czar Nikolai (nicknamed “Bloody Nicholas”), Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, and Vladimir Putin.  In 1939, even Adolph Hitler was nominated, though that nomination was later withdrawn. According to the report, Trump’s nominator chose him based on “his vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, ISIS, nuclear Iran and Communist China.”  (Please excuse me while I choke) The Nobel committee has no choice but to accept all nominations by “qualified” individuals, however they do not have to give them serious consideration.  Let us hope that the committee members have more sense than the person who made the nomination!

Past winners of the prize have included:

  • U.S. Presidents – Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter & Barack Obama
  • World Leaders – Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Henry Kissinger, Cordell Hull, Dag Hammarskjold
  • Organizations – International Red Cross, United Nations Peacekeeping Forces, United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, United Nations Children’s Fund, International Labour Organization
  • Activists – Lech Walesa, Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jane Addams, The Dalai Lama (14th)

This is but a brief list, but even so, one can certainly see that Donald Trump is not of the same caliber as the above-named people.

A few reactions from around the world on hearing this news:

  • “Donald Trump is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and I think we all just need a break from America”
  • “Wonder how much he had to pay for this? The world is officially nuts”
  • “to those who nominated trump for the nobel peace prize, i highly HIGHLY recommend seeing a psychologist, neurologist, therapist, etc.”
  • “Donald Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. April has come around quickly this year!”
  • “Donald Trump nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize??? I could see him winning a “Disturbing the Peace” prize”

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of five Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel in his will of 1895. The prize is to be awarded annually to those who do the “best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”  I am positive the likes of Trump were not what Mr. Nobel had in mind when he established the prize, and I am equally certain that the five committee members who will be reviewing this year’s nominations, once they finish laughing, will cast the nomination of Trump aside or use it to wipe their mouths after lunch.