Very worrisome

A friend sent me this, however, the source is 'The Guardian'.   I am posting it because if any of it is true, it is very worrisome indeed:

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► Trump was first compromised by the Russians back in the 80s. In 1984, the Russian Mafia began to use Trump real estate to launder money and it continued for decades. In 1987, the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, Yuri Dubinin, arranged for Trump and his then-wife, Ivana, to enjoy an all-expense-paid trip to Moscow to consider possible business prospects. Only seven weeks after his trip, Trump ran full-page ads in the Boston Globe, the NYT and WaPO calling for, in effect, the dismantling of the postwar Western foreign policy alliance. The whole Trump/Russian connection started out as laundering money for the Russian mob through Trump's real estate, but evolved into something far bigger.

► In 1984, David Bogatin — a Russian mobster, convicted gasoline bootlegger, and close ally of Semion Mogilevich, a major Russian mob boss — met with Trump in Trump Tower right after it opened. Bogatin bought five condos from Trump at that meeting. Those condos were later seized by the government, which claimed they were used to launder money for the Russian mob. (NY Times, Apr 30, 1992)

► Felix Sater is a Russian-born former mobster, and former managing director of real estate conglomerate Bayrock Group LLC located on the 24th floor of Trump Tower. He is a convict who became a cooperator for the FBI and other agencies. He grew up with Michael Cohen, Trump's former "fixer" attorney. Cohen's family owned El Caribe, which was a mob hangout for the Russian Mafia in Brooklyn. Cohen had ties to Ukrainian oligarchs through his in-laws and his brother's in-laws. Felix Sater's father had ties to the Russian mob. This goes back more than 30 years.

► Trump was $4 billion in debt after his Atlantic City casinos went bankrupt. No U.S. bank would touch him. Then foreign money began flowing in through Bayrock. Bayrock was run by two investors: Tevfik Arif, a Kazakhstan-born former Soviet official who drew on bottomless sources of money from the former Soviet republic; and Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman who had pleaded guilty in the 1990s to a huge stock-fraud scheme involving the Russian mafia. Bayrock partnered with Trump in 2005 and poured money into the Trump organization under the legal guise of licensing his name and property management.

► Semion Mogilevich was the brains behind the Russian Mafia. Mogilevich operatives have been using Trump real estate for decades to launder money. That means Russian Mafia operatives have been part of his fortune for years, that many of them have owned condos in Trump Towers and other properties, running their operations out of Trump's crown jewel.

► One of the most important things that is often overlooked is that the Russian Mafia is part and parcel of Russian intelligence. Russia is a mafia state. That is not a metaphor. Putin is head of the Mafia. So the fact that they operated out of the home of a president of the United States is deeply disturbing.

Beware

We should have been prepared

But we weren't.  Just like the COVID epidemic, into which Canada bumbled and lurched, thanks to the incompetent Theresa Tam and a boatload of sleep-walking health ministers, Trudeau has left us once again wide open to what Trump is unleashing.  

I have to laugh at all the weeping and wailing about how tariffs will destroy the Canadian economy.  Guess who destroyed the economy way before Trump arrived?  For the answer to that, Trudeau and Freeland can look directly in the mirror -- not to find out who is the fairest of them all -- but for answers on what happened to our economy?  The tax-spend-and-borrow Liberals tanked it thanks to their global, woke, insanity policies.

Answers are always in the mirror.

In a breathtaking act of pure spite, Trudeau is further destroying the economy so Carney will have an even bigger pile to deal with when he takes over.  Giving more billions to the natives, stacking the Senate -- you name it, he's pouring money all over it.  I mean, why does the McMichael Gallery need $22 million??!!

You don't want me, so I'll wreck everything on my way out the door, is his attitude.  What a petulant, spoiled brat.  Instead of uniting Canadians, as he vowed, he has left us more divided and angrier than ever.  "Canada is back" is now "Canada is destroyed".

But I have a hunch Trump will back down some because Republican governors in Red states reliant on trade with Canada will be forced to put pressure on him.  In the meantime, he has at least cancelled DEI and the hysterical woke hoards it engendered.

Canada's federal public service had its own DEI agenda back when I was working for the Public Service Commission.  They called it 'The merit principle'.  Except it wasn't.  That principle was actually suspended so visible minorities, the handicapped, women and francophones could be hired for positions they weren't necessarily the best qualified for.

The NHL is dropping all its "Pride" initiatives, which is a good thing.  Stick to playing hockey, fellas, and drop all the pink shirt bunk.  The Russian players are refusing to wear "pride" jerseys and so is Sharks goalie James Reimer.

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On the Russia/Ukraine file, have you ever seen such a display of panicked "leaders" running to London over the weekend to huddle in dread over what to do about Trump's rapping of Zelensky's knuckles?  Of course, they fawned all over Zelensky and issued a meaningless statement claiming they were united as the "coalition of the willing" and would commit to "as long as it takes" to save Ukraine.  What does that mean?  Frankly, absolutely nothing.

That ship, however, has long since sailed.  Trump will have to do what they failed to accomplish in three years:  Get a peace deal signed.  My bet is he will -- especially since Zelensky has now agreed to the rare minerals deal.

Well, buckle up, as Bette Davis said in 'All About Eve', "It's going to be a bumpy ride." 

      

Finally

I know many people will disagree vehemently, but I was glad to see Zelensky put in his place by Trump and Vance.  He has been over his skis for years, but finally, he has been handed a dose of reality.  Frankly, Canada is in the same boat as Ukraine, when it comes to mooching militarily off the US.  We've been delinquent on that file for decades and Trump is making us pay too.  

Zelensky getting a scolding.

Zelensky himself admits he doesn't know where billions of dollars have gone.  Well, I'll tell you where a bunch of it has gone:  Into his own pockets.  Has anyone noticed how wealthy the man and his family have become since the war started and the world began to funnel billions into Ukraine's coffers?  The US alone has handed them $175 billion.  Canada has given them $19.7 billion out of our own meagre money chest.

Zelensky is worth $30 million.  Not bad for a standup comedian.  He has also bought luxury properties and villas in the Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Belize, Egypt and London, as well as a fleet of luxury cars and other goodies.

And isn't it a coincidence that his relatives and in-laws also started buying luxury properties and yachts right after the war began.  If you don't believe me, have a google of 'The Pandora Papers'.  It's all in there.

Flying around the world in his battle fatigue, dress up costume is getting a bit old.  To all the bed wetters calling Trump a dictator, I'd say the real dictator is Zelensky.  Who's running around he world demanding -- and getting -- money?  Who has everyone drinking his Koolaid?  Not Trump.

If Zelensky gives the US the right to Ukraine's minerals, which are on the border with Russia, Putin will never invade because to do so, he would declaring war on the US.  Not going to happen.  So, that's the key and for Zelensky to leave without that deal was just dumb because that was his ticket to peace and security.  

I read that just before his meeting with Trump, he met with anti-Trump Democrats, who urged him not to sign the deal he had already agreed to.  So, you can thank the Dem's for the mass killing that will continue without a peace agreement.

Frankly, I don't believe Zelensky wants peace.  I mean why would he?  His off-shore bank accounts are the beneficiaries of the world's largesse as long as the war continues.

As Trump said, there has been no success at getting Putin to the table to talk peace in the last three years with Zelensky in charge.  Without Trump's intervention, it still would not be happening.

Can you imagine Kamala Harris achieving this?  It's laughable.  I could never understand why so many people actually supported her -- including my apparently left-wing sisters.  Call me what you will, I am glad Trump put his foot down.  

My only fear is how long will he last until the deep state finally succeeds in killing him.     

You've got to pull back the curtain

Whenever I read about something dumb and un-Canadian some official or other is proposing, I look into the background of who is doing the proposing.

That's what I did when I read about the Toronto District School Board deciding to remove the name of Sir John A. Macdonald from one of its schools.

People, we are talking about the guy who created Canada!  The visionary who had the guts and determination to envision a huge country from sea to sea and then make it happen.  The guy who hailed from a teeny, tiny country, yet imagined a massive land of hundreds of thousands of acres and actually created it.

Canada's sacred public schools.

Ya, that guy.

Yes, we know that Macdonald did a lot of things that are now considered evil in some quarters, but let's remember that many native parents pushed for residential schools so their kids could be educated and fed.  That's another inconvenient fact no one ever mentions.  Children on reserves were starving to death and residential schools saved them.

And as to the sexual abuse, the majority of it was perpetrated on younger children by older.  Another reality always overlooked, but I always do my research and that's a fact.

But back to the school board.  Who is the head?  A guy called Neethan Shan.  The vice-chair is a guy called Zakir Patel and the director of education is a guy called Clayton La Touche.  None is of Canadian heritage, so none can really be expected to grasp the gravitas of Macdonald's accomplishments.  La Touche is also the guy who led a group of high school kids on a field trip to the Grassy Narrows First Nation to stage a noisy and violent protest, joined by pro-Palestinian disrupters.

Ya, that guy.

Neethan Shan is a Tamil from Sri Lanka; La Touche was a backup singer for Raffi.  Not exactly Canadian scholars, but nevertheless duly-elected.  Patel is of Gujarati descent, so as I say, these guys are steeped neither in Canadian history, nor heritage, so Macdonald's breathtaking accomplishments, I would wager, are by definition not top-of-mind.  Their cultural and historic heroes would obviously be Gandhi and Nehru.

This is NOT racism, so don't go there.  We are all one race, the human variety, so that's the end of that argument.  I am talking background, culture and core beliefs, which influence everything we all believe and do.  Why do you think they ran to get on the school board?  To change things because that's why anyone runs for any public office.  They want to change something.

Well, erasing Sir John is certainly one way to do it, but it's wrong.  Macdonald created Canada -- the country everyone clamors to get into.  So, settle down and leave the guy, his name and his statues in place.        

Whimsy

That's how Trump operates, on whimsy and personality.  As the Liberals prepare to pick a new leader, they'd better take heed.

Trump loathes Chrystia Freeland -- almost as much as he does Trudeau.  Freeland's problem is that she was in lock step with our hapless PM for 10 years.  She can't shrug that off.

As for Mark Carney, he probably doesn't like him either just because Carney is a snob and an elitist -- both no-no's for the Orange guy.  Since the next PM's main focus will be on dealing with Trump, neither candidates will fare too well, but his hatred of Freeland will be much more prevalent.

Freeland, you will remember, was the minister who negotiated the now-ignored Canada/Mexico/US free trade deal.  The American who had to deal with her, Robert Lighthizer, also loathed her.  The photos of her, four foot nothing, wagging her finger at the man were pathetic.  Way to bring people in, Chrystia!  She has a real knack for turning people off and I'm definitely one of them.

She made it seem negotiating the deal was such a huge task and only thanks to her brilliance was it possible!

Her she is, a wanna be prime minister, clipping her toenails in the House.  Charming!

I was on the team who negotiated the first Canada/US Free Trade agreement back in 1988, when I was with Customs and Excise.  You know what?  It wasn't that difficult because both sides negotiated from a spirit of cooperation, respect and give-and-take.  I can just picture Freeland striding into a meeting, guns blazing and pissing everyone off.  We didn't do that and it all worked out pretty well.

But what is is about Freeland that bugs people?  Is the hair flipping?  Is it the too-tight, too-short dresses she insists on wearing?  Is it those God forsaken pearls she wears with everything (probably a hand-me-down from some long-dead grandmother)?  Is it that smug look?  Is it the way she lectures and talks down to the ignorant, unwashed proletariat?  Frankly, it's all of the above.  A more annoying politician you couldn't find:

Can you seriously imagine this harridan as our prime minister?!

As for Carney, people forget that yes, he may have served as governor of the Bank of England, but only for two years.  They leave that part out.  His term was for five, but they dumped him after just two because his rabid green agenda was ruining the economy.  Brexit was being negotiated and Carney was in the way.  So, rather than having been a glittering governor, he was actually a total bust.  Too bad the lazy media never mentions this.  Don't be fooled, Carney is an hysterical greenie.

If you want to know what's really going on, watch John Mearsheimer and Victor Davis Hanson on YouTube.  That's where you will get the truth about what's happening in the world.  

You won't find it on mainstream media.    

Breathtaking hypocrisy!

Yesterday, we went to a lovely ceremony, where the Alberta Lieutenant Governor, Salma Lakhani, pinned medals onto the lapels of 40 worthy recipients of the King Charles III Coronation Medal.

B was one of them:

Brian Marley-Clarke with the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.

First name called was Alison Redford's, former premier of Alberta.  Blank, silence.  She was a disgraceful no-show.  That just confirms to me how unfit she was to be premier in the first place.  A premier doesn't thumb her nose at our Head of State, but Redford did exactly that.  When you're too great to be honoured by a mere King, you bring shame on the office itself.  A very poor show, Alison.  

What made me almost burst out laughing was the presence of five or six Indigenous people who were also getting the medal.  Remind me, isn't it the Indigenous who rail against the Crown and the colonialism it "perpetrated", ruining their culture and destroying their people and way of life?  So why were they there to accept a medal in honour of the King they blame for all their ills?!  But there they were, dressed in all their regalia and feathered headdresses, enjoying the largesse of His Majesty and basking in his glory.

Shouldn't they have indignantly refused the honour?  Rhetorical.  But I did have a nice chat with one Indigenous woman who was wearing a traditional ribbon skirt.  She was shocked I knew the history of that skirt, but, I -- an ignorant white woman -- always do my research.  There she was, running up to get a picture of her Siksika husband while Her Honour pinned a King Charles gong on his lapel.

As I say, it's both hypocritical and bullsh-t.  

Most of the Indigenous recipients were leaders in the "recovery" industry.  More irony was when we were stopped at a red light as we left and were harassed by a drunk Indigenous man who banged on our car window for money.  What a bizarre juxtaposition  -- leaving an awards ceremony honouring the Indigenous and then encountering the main problem with that population in Canadian downtowns everywhere.

Particularly galling was that Her Honour announced she was awarding the medal to a slew of aides de camp who work in her office.  What?!?!  Why were they getting one?!  A healthy dose of blatant nepotism there because it cheapened the currency of the award a tad.

As for the reception, I have to say it was cheesy.  A few small tortilla wrap bites, a couple of danishes and tons of sweets (which I don't eat).  As for beverages, coffee and tea only.  That was a real slap in the face for the medal recipients who collectively have given thousands and thousands of volunteer hours for their various causes.

But Her Honour Salmabegum Lakhani, a self-proclaimed "proud Ismaili Muslim", was born in Kampala, Uganda, and doesn't imbibe.  So, the rest of us weren't permitted a drop of the grape either.  She evidently forgot that this is Alberta, Canada, where traditional toasting with a little alcohol is the expected norm.  We are not in Uganda any more, Salma.  Open the bar, please.  But it stayed closed.

She was appointed by Jason Kenny, who must have done so in a moment of extreme diversity-ism.  Poor Jason, so many misguided moments in his brief tenure.

As for Salma, time to let a little "Alberta" rub off on your shoulders.  Afterall, as Lieutenant Governor that's where your pride should be draped -- not in Kampala at the local mosque.  Take a page from B's grandfather's book, who told him when they immigrated, "Forget about India, forget about England, my boy.  This is Canada.  Just be a Canadian."  Wise words of advice B has heeded since.

One other bizarre moment was when the emcee announced that the words to 'God Save the King' were written on the back of the programme.  Huh?!  Are you telling me that Canadian medal recipients in Alberta, Canada, were not expected to know the words to the Royal Anthem when they received a medal from His Majesty?!  But there they were, written on the back so we could sing along;

Seared into the minds of most Canadians, one would have thought.

All in all, it was a lovely sight to see B up there getting his second Royal gong, but as I say, all a bit cheesy.

There we are, B and son, Gene, who drove us there and looked after everything.

 

He actually cried

After the strip J.D. Vance tore off the European Union the other day in Munich, Security Conference chairman Christoph Heusgen broke down in tears and had to be comforted and helped off the podium:

 Wailing over failing.

How ludicrous!  If you watch 'Plank of the Week' on YouTube, they actually awarded him the plank the other day for this pathetic display.  Watch it, it's hilarious because it's always accurate.

Vance, of course, was absolutely correct to upbraid Europe for doing absolutely nothing over three years to end the Russia/Ukraine war that has dragged on and killed millions on both sides.  Nero fiddles while Rome burns, comes to mind.  

Frankly, it's all thanks to Ukrainian president Zelensky -- that sawed off ego maniac who keeps flying around the world in his phony fatigues costume extracting money from all sorts of virtue-signaling countries who keep giving him billions for his personal fight with Putin.  Oh, and a lot of it goes to his yachts, dachas and luxury homes and condos all over the world.  (See "My theory", Sept. 6, 2023).  

Of the more than $100 billion the world has given him, he has skimmed off and pocketed about $100 million personally.  Canada has given $19 billion, which is ludicrous.

Trump is calling him a dictator and I agree.  He is.  He is complaining that he hasn't been given a seat at the table.  He's been at the table for three years and has accomplished nothing except the death of millions and the complete destruction of many cities.  He has cancelled elections and rules with neither oversight, nor rules -- just does what he wants.  Wrong.   

Thank God Trump is coming to the rescue.  And he has correctly cut Zelensky completely out of the peace process he will forge with Putin.  It had to be done and now all European leaders are exposed for what they are:  Posers whose self interest has rendered them moribund.

Starmer and Macron are the Eunuchs-in-Chief on this file.  All bluster, no action.  Just a lot of blah blah blah.

Zelensky saying Ukraine will never accept any settlement made without him at the table reminds me of Monty Python's 'Holy Grail', where the knight keeps railing against his opponents as all his legs and arms are being been cut off, rendering him immobile and impotent.

In my opinion, Zelensky is a war criminal who has committed the mass murder of millions of his own people -- as well as those of Russia -- in a vain and egomaniacal quest for the glory of Ukraine and himself.

Who does he think he is?  As I say, thank God for Trump and Vance.  It has to stop.