Dogs Dying In Cold Left Behind By Animal Organizations And Police

     If a dog is left out in the cold without adequate shelter to the point that its life is in jeopardy, then that constitutes a crime. There is in place a million plus people across the United States that are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, to respond to crimes. They are called the police.

     Non police entities, including animal organizations, have no business responding to crimes. If dogs are left out in the cold to the point where it is life threatening, it requires a police response. The argument that police do not respond appropriately to animal abuse related crimes has long been used as the justification for animal organizations to fill the shoes of the police, no matter how deficient, harmful, inadequate and ineffective this has proven to be.
      If police responded appropriately to animal cruelty, would there be a need for animal organizations to advertise that they rescue dogs left out in the cold or that suffer from other forms of animal cruelty?  Animal organizations prefer the existing, dysfunctional status quo because it is major source for their fundraising. As long as the public believes animal organizations, not the police, are the answer to animal cruelty, money will keep pouring in to these organizations.
       Animal organizations should be advocates to ensure police respond appropriately to animal cruelty. This is what anti domestic violence and anti drunk driving organizations did for domestic violence and drunk driving. The only reason animal organizations have failed to do for animal cruelty what organizations did for those other crimes comes down to one single thing- greed. And because animals cannot speak the way people can, animal organizations get away with their exploitation.
       When people see the commercials of animals suffering out in the cold, and they hear an animal organization claim to be the rescuer, they may reach for their checkbooks. If only they would turn their heads in disgust at the blatant exploitation. At least they should think hard about the message the animal organization is selling and ask - how can an animal organization, or all the animal organizations combined, ever respond to animal cruelty in all but the most minimal way, even if every animal organization has complete police powers? Only public law enforcement is capable of responding to crimes 24 hours a day, every day of the year, across the United States.
        Dogs left dying in the cold, animals that are the victims of animal cruelty, deserve a broad based, widespread police response. Not the highly deficient, spotty, inefficient response that animal organizations provide. Token police teams that some police departments field to address animal cruelty, (or when police powers are granted to an animal organization) are ineffective public relations gimmicks that enable law enforcement to continue to minimally respond to animal related crimes. For every animal that is rescued from dying out in the cold, thousands of animals will not be as fortunate. As long as law enforcement continues to do little to nothing in regards to animal cruelty and dog fighting, and as long as animal organizations are the enablers that allow this to continue, few dogs dying out in the cold ever stand a chance.
       
          

Iranian Protesters Resist Unrevolutionary Clerical Regime

     A regime run by clerics is not revolutionary, no matter how frequent the mullahs and their lackeys use the term. The shah was a reactionary dictator, but what took his place, rule by an ayatollah and mullahs, is far more ruthless and reactionary. Rule by an ayatollah and mullahs, as with all clerical ruled regimes, use religion - God or Allah- as the justification for having unchecked and unlimited power.  By invoking themselves as the representatives for Allah or God, they delegitimize everyone who would think otherwise. Afterall, if they are in power because of God or Allah, then that means any opposition to them goes against God or Allah itself.

      Every ayatollah, every mullah, every priest, every minister, every rabbi, every imam, every single religious figure or leader is a human being and nothing more. They are not God. They are not Gods. They are not Allah. 

      Clerics in power use religion, God or Allah as the cover behind which they and/or their lackeys rob a country blind. They oppress all opposition on the pretense the opposition goes against God or Allah. 

       Clerical regimes are reactionary. They are throwbacks to the dark ages. In the darkness, untold numbers of people that oppose the regime, or are members of religions that are deemed undesirable, or that are not mindless slaves to their clerical masters, suffer greatly with many tortured and murdered.  

       Adults are not children. They must be allowed their freedom, which includes religious freedom. Religious freedom includes the right to reject or not choose religion. 

       All over the world, the countries that are most prosperous separate church or mosque from state. Clerical regimes are consistently corrupt, oppressive, and export throughout the world their hatred, bigotry and thirst for violence.

         

Unseen Plastic Microfiber Nightmare For Wildlife And Human Health

     Clothing, cleaning cloths, other textiles and materials made from petrochemical derived synthetic materials (including nylon, polyester and more) are a major reason there are now microfibers inside the bodies of many animal species, including humans. A single wash of clothing containing synthetic materials can release hundreds of thousands of non biodegradable microfibers into the environment.
      Microfibers contaminate fish and other marine life. Microfibers cannot be filtered out, and are  known to be present in many tap and bottled waters.
       As alarming as it is to visually see the enormous amounts of plastics and other non biodegradable waste along many of the world's coasts or in the world's oceans, it must be understood that this is but the tip of the iceberg. Plastics, styrofoam and other oil based materials break down into smaller pieces that do not degrade. The world is drowning in trillions of plastic microbeads, plastic particles, and  non biodegradable microfibers.
       It is not only what we see that is killing wildlife and ourselves, it is also that which we cannot see.
       As far down as the Mariana Trench, the ocean's' deepest point, animals have synthetic microfibers in their bodies.
       No one knows how many microfibers, plastic strands and beads are inside of our bodies, and at what point they cause disease.
        Plastic and other oil based contaminants are killing wildlife. The toll that unseen synthetic microfibers exact is far greater than imagined.
        Keep things as they are, and this will kill the oceans and ultimately mankind. Or change and reduce the way plastics and other petrochemicals are used (including styrofoam and plastics used in the fast food industry, synthetic materials used in clothing and other textiles, plastic and other oil based materials used to wrap foods and for packaging, and much more).

Plastic: Harming Animals From The Mariana Trench To Honduras and Everywhere Else

       A large garbage patch of plastic and other non biodegradable trash has accumulated around the island of Roatan, Honduras. It is believed that the trash originated from the Montagua River in nearby Guatemala. All over the world, thousands upon thousands of tons of plastic and other non biodegradable waste makes its way daily into the oceans of the world. The enormous amounts of plastics, styrofoam and other oil based nonbiodegradable contaminants do not leave any part of the oceans unaffected.
       Plastics and other non biodegradable contaminants enter the oceans by a number of ways. Most of it originates from land based sources. Much of the waste enters waterways which lead into the oceans. Trash from many coastal communities and coastal cities often go directly into the oceans.
       The failure to stop plastic and other non biodegradable contaminants from poisoning the oceans will ultimately doom mankind itself.
       100 percent of marine life recovered by scientists from the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean, were found to contain plastic particles and other synthetic materials in their bodies, including, "Rayon, Lyocell, Ramie, as well as textiles such as Nylon, polyethylene and polyvinyl".
       Over 90 per cent of the world's seabirds have plastic particles inside of their bodies. No one knows to what degree plastics and other synthetic contaminants now reside inside of the bodies of fish, sea turtles, cetaceans, other marine life and animals. A high number of humans have plastic particles, fibres and other synthetic materials inside of their bodies - materials that are virtually indestructible . No one knows at what point these materials sufficiently accumulate to start causing diseases, including cancers.

Failure To Protect Oceans And Our Future From Plastic

In the video below, the garbage from one small coastal community located near the habitat of a highly endangered coastal dolphin species can be seen. Everyday worldwide, thousands of tons of plastics, styrofoam, oil based food wrappers and so forth pour into the oceans. Almost all of it breaks down into smaller pieces nearly impossible to capture that disperse throughout the oceans and that are virtually indestructible. Hardly any of it reaches the ocean garbage patches, where people foolishly imagine that technology can capture most of it. It is destroying wildlife, the health of the oceans, and is now consumed by humans in the water that we drink, in the air that we breathe, and in the food that we consume. This enormously understated threat to human health and existence is already causing the collapse of biodiversity and the death and suffering of millions of seabirds, turtles, dolphins, whales, fish and other wildlife. 

Comparing Anti Drunk Driving, Anti Domestic Violence And Anti Animal Cruelty Organizations

     Anti drunk driving and anti domestic violence organizations obtained a widespread police response to domestic violence and driving under the influence crimes that animal organizations never achieved in regards to dog fighting and animal cruelty. The only reason that many animal organizations continue to do little to nothing, or even that which is harmful, is that animals cannot verbalize in the way that humans can. Therefore, many animal organizations continue with ineffective programs, harmful programs, shameless propaganda about their alleged accomplishments, all on the backs of suffering animals, while the police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting continues to be  minimal.

Poor Police Response To Animal Cruelty Supported By Animal Organizations

         It was brought to the attention of a number of animal organizations, including their executives and other officials, regarding the poor police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting. This was not hypothetical information. To a person, they feigned interest at best, and did nothing.

         Anti drunk driving and anti domestic violence organizations would never stand idly by and allow for a poor police response to those crimes. Unfortunately, when it comes to animals, many animal organizations have found it lucrative to keep the illusion going that they are the voice for animals, no matter how untrue this might be.

         If anyone is interested, which unfortunately seems not to be the case, the police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting can be accessed. All calls to 911 are recorded. In one large city alone, of the thousands upon thousands of calls made to 911 regarding dog fighting and animal cruelty, hardly a single call results in police action. No report taken, no animal recovered, no one arrested. 

         There are reasons why crimes are not addressed by ineffective token police teams. There are reasons why crimes are not addressed by non police entities or organizations, even if some of these organizations are granted police powers. There are reasons why humane investigators are often ineffective or harmful, including in the way their "investigations" are frequently opportunities (or early warning systems) for dog fighters and animal abusers to move their animals to other locations.

         There are reasons why the only effective way to combat crime is to have a widespread, consistent law enforcement response. This will never happen in regards to animal cruelty and dog fighting as long as animal organizations continue exploiting animals for their own gain, and continue in their failure to change how both they and the police respond to these crimes. 

         

Losing The Pristine

There are fewer pristine places left as people relentlessly pollute, trash, overdevelop, overpopulate and destroy this planet. Also, religious imperialism continues to be ignored as millions of people believe it is their obligation to ram their religious beliefs down the throats of others, no matter how many must die, suffer, be enslaved, raped, murdered and tortured in the process.

Wildlife With No Place To Go

   Loss of habitat and overpopulation continues to decimate wildlife. When animals seek mates or to expand their range, they often find themselves with no place to go. Traffic ends the life of many. 

  Too often religions teach that people can breed endlessly without consequences.They think this world does not matter, and that all that counts is their imagined paradises. Wildlife/conservation/animal welfare organizations will not touch overpopulation or anything controversial, as their focus is on making money.

Catching Wild Parrots

Poverty and overpopulation helps drive wildlife decimation. These people would give the shirts off their backs to help a stranger, but in their desperate attempt to escape poverty, they paid no attention to how their wild parrot capture operation ensured the loss of parrots. It certainly was not a sustainable operation. As wildlife continues to be decimated by the capture or killing of wildlife and by the development and destruction of the rainforest, many species teeter that much nearer to extinction.

      

A Simple Act Of Kindness China Can Provide North Korean Escapees

      It was recently reported that China may set up refugee camps along its border with North Korea and no longer return fleeing North Koreans back to North Korea.
      The world knows that returning a North Korean to North Korea is a death sentence. North Korea routinely practices torture, murder and rape against its own population. While the leader eats imported European wine and cheeses, many North Koreans are starving, with many eating grass, frogs and rats.
       No North Korean that escapes that hellhole should ever have to return. China knew that sending back North Korean refugees fleeing that hellhole was a certain death sentence. It is the right thing for China to reverse that policy.
     

A Bakery And Racial Politics In Oberlin

       A small bakery in Oberlin, Ohio has been in the news. It was reported that the bakery is harmed financially from the fallout of an incident in which a store employee tried to stop a shoplifter that attends Oberlin College, and was then beaten for his effort. Three students from the college were arrested.

      Maybe because the lives of students and pampered professors at American colleges and universities are far too often one of self indulgence and hedonistic excess, a choice was made to turn a criminal incident into something it never as - a racial matter. College campuses are becoming notorious homes for social warrior hysteria, groupthink and mob rule

       Excusing, condoning, ignoring, explaining away or outright support for criminal and bad behavior is the surest way to guarantee an escalation of such behavior. 

Trump And The Misuse Of The Mentally Ill Label

      Plenty of people are mentally ill. Even mentally healthy people may experience periods of mental illness in the course of their lives. Accusations of mental illness have been used as a way to stigmatize and diminish people. The Soviet communists were notorious in their misuse of psychiatry and psychology in order to crush dissidents.
      It is fair game to criticize Trump for his politics, his policies, his behavior and for his personality. People that enter politics open themselves up for such criticism. But going down the mentally ill road in order to go after Trump is the misuse and further stigmatization of what mental illness really means. Furthermore, plenty of mentally ill people are moral and ethical. Plenty of people considered mentally healthy are not. Mental illness in and of itself is not a determiner of a person's propensity towards violence, cruelty, and so forth. People brainwashed into believing, or that choose to believe in violent ideologies or religious ideas are a threat. Mental illness is a far different matter. Disease, whether physical or mental, is something many people have to treat if possible, or learn to live with. The stigmatization of disease or using it as an insult to diminish another human being, president or not, is misguided and harmful.

Plastic Peril To The Oceans Survival

     There is no amount of science and technology that can counteract the damage people are doing to the oceans. Added to the following threats - overfishing, coral reef destruction, mangrove destruction, seabed destruction, seagrass destruction, trawlers daily scraping enormous areas of the seabed floor, the loss of enormous amounts of marine life and biodiversity, ocean acidification, ocean poisoning by toxic chemicals, the destruction of coral reefs and islands for military bases (think South China Sea), and more - is the daily entry of thousands upon thousands of tons of plastics and other non biodegradable oil based contaminants and waste.  Why this massive threat to the survival of the oceans and mankind itself continues to be ignored or underestimated is beyond comprehension.

 

     

What Racism And Hate Provides

     Racism and hate provides an easy way out from worrying about complex issues, problems and perils. Hate provides the luxury of not having to worry about anything at all except how to destroy the object of hate. Such things as mankind's destruction of the environment, plastic and toxic poisoning of the oceans, poverty, nuclear proliferation, disease and so forth are ignored by weak minded people that are lost without their hate crutch.

Self Indulgent Racism

       Black racists and those that pander to them use the tired excuse that only whites are privileged and only privileged people can be racist. This is an evasion of responsibility and self indulgent. Furthermore, not all whites are privileged and not all blacks are without privilege.
       In many third world countries many people live without running water, no access to clean water, without electricity, without homes, barely able to scrape together enough food to ward off starvation, without any dental or medical care, without any opportunity for an education, decent job or a better life. They do not luxuriate in hatreds. America, the land of  many spoiled people of all races, is luxuriating in hatred by far too many.                                                                                                                Racism in all its forms must be resisted. People should count the blessings that they have, do their best to make this world a better, more humane place, and stop devoting so much time and energy going at each other's' throats.

New York Times: Pandering To Black Racism

      Recently the New York Times ran an editorial written by a black law professor about the racism he wants to teach his children. It is not worth the time or energy getting into the details about what this educated, privileged black law professor wrote. It is troubling enough that he is a professor influencing young people. It is even more troubling that the New York Times chose to give him a platform.
      White racism has for decades been the excuse to ignore or condone black racism. Black racists are no better than their white racist counterparts. They both teach ignorance. They both evade responsibility by blaming or scapegoating someone else. Even though they despise each other, often they have a shared hatred for the Jew - their favorite scapegoat and object of hate. One black racist leader that is a multimillionaire from a career of hatred, preaches black self reliance when in fact hate is a crutch that ensures reliance on him and his ignorant hate religion.
       Black racism contributes to dependency and failure. Rage, misguided and poorly directed anger and resentment are not recipes for success. Racism is a business that has made many a lazy white and black person rich.
       The whites that pander to black racism do so perhaps because it makes them feel self righteous. It makes them feel good about themselves for some perverted reason. It makes them feel like they are holier than those that do not share their corrosive beliefs. It also makes them look weak and foolish, but they are too self righteous to ever see that.
        A man that was badly bullied by blacks when he was a student related why his parents did not do anything - they believed blacks were victims and could do no wrong. Weak people will sacrifice even their own children in order to pander to their beliefs.
        The nonsense that only whites can be racist because of white privilege and the power that some whites hold is evasive garbage. Plenty of blacks are born to privilege, or have privilege handed to them. Plenty of whites are born to nothing. Some spoiled whites that are born with silver spoons in their mouths, including many white racist leaders, try to manipulate and speak for millions of whites  that do not have silver spoons in their mouths.
        There are many situations where blacks hold power over white and non black people, and where that power is abused. This includes in a number of schools and other institutions where poorly disciplined blacks terrorize weaker, less assertive whites, blacks and others. Often adults who should intervene do nothing out of fear or out of fear of being called racist. Other adults are incapable of any action other than patronizing those they see as downtrodden, even if this means tolerating abusive behavior.
        Standing up to bullies, standing up to racism, means standing up against all racists and bullies. This means not resisting one form of racism while pandering to another. Only weaklings, just like racists and other hate mongers, do that.
       

New Tax Bill; Deficits And Special Interests

        Tax reform is needed. Simplicity and reform, not special interests, should be the driver. Instead, the United States ends up with a 479 page document that few have read or reviewed. Interesting how many senators and congressmen assert the tax bill will grow the economy when they themselves have not read it.

        Why the urgent rush to pass the tax bill? Because the Republicans and Trump need a legislative victory, so the reasoning goes. A simple, sensible reformed tax code has been left behind in favor of political posturing, deficits and special interests. Two opportunistic political parties govern the United States, and both pander to special interests.

        The Dow is happy, removed as usual from reality. The Dow is not a living being. It is not a forward thinking indicator. It merely reflects if more money goes into it than what is taken out. And for now money continues to pour into it as the euphoria continues, and as governments worldwide keep making sure stock markets are the only game in town. (Real wealth, a healthy sustainable environment, continues to collapse. Today, for example, the oceans will not welcome, but will receive thousands upon thousands of tons of plastics and other human generated non biodegradable garbage, just as they have been for years. Almost all of this garbage will break down into smaller, virtually indestructible but highly destructive pieces that are impossible to ever remove. The amount of waste entering daily is only increasing.)

         Even if corporate tax rates go to zero, most corporations that have already gone overseas in search of cheap labor and low environmental and labor standards are not coming back with jobs. The new tax bill will not bring back well paying jobs. Some new jobs will be created, while others will be lost.

         Haste makes waste. This 479 tax bill should be released to the public, and there should be time for public discourse and debate before it is passed. 

New Tax Bill; Bigger Deficits And Arctic Drilling

      A massive tax bill has been passed that most senators and congressmen have not read. According to Senator Ron Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin, "You really don't read this kind of legislation."

      Even though this tax bill will add significantly to the already enormous national debt, fiscally irresponsible Republicans wishfully declare the tax cuts will stimulate the economy enough to make up for the shortfall. Passing one piece of major legislation, no matter how flawed, is more important to them than continuing to demonstrate they are as incompetent and beholden to special interests as the Democrats.

       In 2013, House Speaker Paul Ryan warned that deficits, "weigh the country down like an anchor. In short, we are on the verge of a debt crisis." Only one Republican, Senator Bob Corker, remained true to his fiscally conservative beliefs regarding deficits, and opposed the bill.

       The United States will incur massive new debt by this new, read by only a few, poorly thought out legislation. Furthermore, when interests rates go up, which will happen inevitably, it will be that much harder to service the national debt.

       The tax bill will create jobs, some argue. It is true some jobs will be created, but other jobs will be lost. More importantly, reduced taxes on corporations and the wealthy will not result in a massive influx of jobs. Corporations will continue to seek places that have the cheapest labor along with the lowest environmental and workplace standards.

       The tax bill will not be a job creator. It will not sufficiently grow the economy to make up for the more than trillion or trillions of dollars of new debt it will create. 

       The new tax bill will continue America's destruction of the middle class. It will continue America's slide into oligarchy or aristocracy. It will fuel the stock market euphoria so the bubble gets even bigger. Except this time when it bursts, a massively in debt nation with already excessively low interest rates will have no ammunition left to get out of the hole it created.

        Meanwhile, military spending will continue unchecked, paid for by deficit spending. All the new gifts to the wealthy, to corporations, to Republican special interests, will be paid for by deficits, which means an unwanted gift to future generations.

         Senator Flake of Arizona, one of the few that opposed the new tax bill, capitulated on some kind of flimsy promise that DACA will be addressed. He cares about DACA, but not about the fiscal well being and health of the nation as a whole. DACA should have had nothing to do with his unprincipled capitulation. In exchange for his selling out, he did not even receive a pledge that DACA safeguards will be implemented again.

         The new tax bill will help kill the Affordable Care Act (without putting anything better in place), ensuring millions of new uninsured and underinsured Americans, which will add significantly to the national debt.

         Sneaked into the new tax bill is authorization for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Afterall, what good is a new tax bill that does not include special interest agendas?  

      

Chicago, Ensuring No Control For Cats And Dogs

     A man in Chicago made the news several days ago after trapping more than 40 cats that he brought into the city animal care and control facility. He allegedly complained that he trapped the cats because the city animal care and control department is not doing its job. City animal care and control, under the control of powerful, incredibly lucrative money making local based animal organizations that take in fortunes pretending to be the voice for animals, want animals on the streets, not in their facility. In this way, the lucrative animal organizations and the city animal control can pretend the city is becoming no kill - which means less and less dogs and cats are humanely euthanized. The euthanasia rate goes down, which makes the adherents of the mythical no kill movement feel better, when in reality what really happens is that dogs and cats die out on the streets out of sight, out of mind, suffering greatly in the process. Meanwhile, wildlife populations, including songbirds, continue to be wiped out from the lethalness of outdoor cats.
     There is no such thing as a no kill movement (disregarding for the moment that animals have to be killed in order to feed dogs and cats). There is only a choice that some so called animal lovers have made regarding where cats and dogs will die - out on the streets out of sight, out of mind, (which means that great numbers of birds and other wildlife also are killed) - or painlessly and humanely in the city facility. By giving little to no priority to animal control, the city animal care and control department, controlled by animal organizations that care about money, not animals, harms dogs, cats, wildlife, and jeopardizes human safety.
   

Supervisors Dating Subordinates

      In work settings, supervisors should not date subordinates. If two consenting adults decide they want to date, then the remedy is for one to seek employment or transfer elsewhere. If a college professor wants to date a student, transfer to another college or quit. If a politician, media figure or someone else has an intern, do not date the intern.
      Supervisors dating staff is corrosive and inappropriate, and creates an unhealthy work environment.

Sexual Related Crimes And Politics

     A number of celebrities, politicians, actors, tycoons, religious and political leaders and other prominent figures are accused of inappropriate sexual conduct. Some of the accusations are criminal in nature, including allegations regarding sexual contact with minors and other allegations regarding non consensual sexual conduct, coercion, force, and more. As with any crime, criminal allegations need to be thoroughly investigated by law enforcement. People are innocent until proven guilty. But the law is not something that should only apply to the weak and powerless.
     No matter the politics, religion, high and mighty status of the possible offender, no politics should be played when it comes to crime. For years Catholic priests that committed pedophilia were untouchable, (which still might be the case in certain third world nations). The high and mighty people now accused of criminal sexual conduct must not be allowed a pass. The lesson must not be repeated over and over how not holding people accountable for criminal activity only allows crimes to flourish. Innocent until proven guilty must not mean innocent even if guilty by virtue of position, title and status.
      False accusations have ruined lives. Failure to properly investigate real accusations have also ruined lives. As with all crimes, investigations must be impartial, professional, and detached from political, religious or any other influences.

Ignoring The Messenger Does Not make The Message Go Away

      It is easier to dismiss unpleasant realities or pretend they do not exist rather than face them. Ignoring, discrediting, or making irrelevant the messenger does not make the message go away.
      People do not mind hearing about a problem or form of suffering if they are told there is someone or some organization addressing the problem. But if they are told the ones they believe are addressing the problem are instead exploiting it, or are at best ineffective, it is not a message people want to hear. People want hope. But wishful thinking does not make anything better, and so the standards for ethics and efficacy remain pathetically low in much of the nonprofit world, especially when it comes to voiceless populations.
     
     
     

Animal Cruelty And Dogfighting; Exploiting Suffering

      Over the course of many years, I took thousands of pictures (much of it when film was still widely used) and spent thousands of dollars photographing and documenting animal cruelty and dogfighting. I also hold copyrights to my photographs.
       I documented this abuse with no thought of monetary compensation, and never received a monetary benefit of any sort. I wanted to raise awareness as to the crimes of animal abuse and dogfighting with the hope that the dysfunctional approach to these crimes would change. 
       Instead my pictures and efforts were used by others for their personal gain, including in documentaries.
       There is something worse than the lack of awareness about a form of suffering, and that is when awareness is exploited by individuals and organizations. At least when there is no awareness, there is the hope that things will change for the better when awareness is raised.  But when the very people and organizations that are supposed to address a problem or form of suffering exploit awareness for their own gain, not only does the suffering not get properly addressed, people are falsely lulled into thinking the opposite. There is then no longer any impetus for change. Just because individuals and nonprofit organizations claim to care about animals or other serious issues does not mean they are not selfish, exploitative and greedy.  Millions of animals have suffered, and will continue to suffer from the dysfunctional approach to animal cruelty and dogfighting, and by the exploitation of these crimes by people and organizations that claim to speak on their behalf.                                                                                                      

     

Third World Street Dogs and Cats

      On behalf of the hundreds of millions of dogs and cats roaming the streets of third world nations in which many are badly malnourished and diseased, there is no one to speak for them. Millions of these dogs and cats suffer from sarcoptic mange, which causes great agony and pain. Not only do these animals suffer, but often they spread disease through their feces and by other means to humans, other domestic animals and wildlife.

       There is rarely any money, grandstanding or self promotional benefit for any animal organization or individual, so other than a mere handful of animals that might be helped occasionally, the plight of street dogs and cats in poor nations is ignored.  

Eating Dogs And Cats In Asia and Cruelty In The U.S.

       The effort by some U.S. politicians and animal organizations to stop the eating of dogs and cats in places in Asia where dogs and cats are eaten needs to be clear about what they want to accomplish.
Some argue that the brutal and cruel way in which many of these animals are treated and slaughtered is the reason why dogs and cats must not be eaten. But they use this standard only for dogs and cats because they do not want dogs and cats to be eaten, when they know full well other animals that are consumed by humans are treated just as horrifically. Furthermore, dogfighting and animal cruelty is alive and well in the United States. As for the hundreds of millions of starving, badly diseased dogs and cats living all over the poorer nations of the world, nothing is done. Many so called animal advocates believe it is better for dogs and cats to starve to death or die slow deaths from disease and malnutrition than to be humanely euthanized. Millions of dogs and cats on the streets of third world countries are badly infected with sarcoptic mange that causes them great suffering.
        Many of the factory farms in the United States and elsewhere are brutal places. Rather than ensure the highest humane care for factory farm animals, the direction has been otherwise. If someone gets employed by one of these factory farms and photographs what really takes place inside, they will be arrested and charged with a federal crime. Protecting the factory farm industry's image is more important than ensuring the highest level of care for factory farm animals.
         It is disengenuine to pretend to care about animals only when it comes to some dogs and cats, while disregarding the much greater extent and amount of cruelty that is inflicted upon other dogs, cats, pigs, cows, chickens and other animals.
          It is estimated that approximately 30 million dogs and cats are consumed in certain parts of Asia. This nowhere equals the billions of pigs, cows, chickens and other animals that are consumed across the world.
          Wildlife continues to be decimated. Domestic animals continue to be brutalized by the billions. There needs to be consistent standards for the proper care and treatment of animals. Exposing brutality in factory farms and slaughterhouses should not be criminalized conduct. Dogfighting flourishes in the United States, and practically no one ever gets arrested because of the pathological approach to this crime by law enforcement and animal organizations. There are many things on the homefront that United States politicians and animals organizations have completely failed at when it comes to reducing animal cruelty.
           All animals need to be treated humanely. Just because one animal is a dog or cat raised for food and another animal is a pig, chicken or cow raised for food does not mean the standard of care and treatment should be any less for one species than the other.
            If they want to end the eating of dogs and cats because of the special place dogs and cats hold, then simply say so. Do not pretend it is about cruelty when their own house is not in order. But if they want to make it about cruelty, then damn well make sure they bring that fight inside of the United States as well. Because until now, other than exploit and manipulate animal cruelty for personal and organizational gain, animal cruelty has been allowed to flourish.
         
     

Animal Cruelty Is A Lucrative Business For Its Alleged Opponents

      When it comes to protecting animals, grandstanding and exploitation by those claiming to be animal protectors have contributed to an ugly history of failure and animal suffering, which they never will acknowledge.
     
       

Mugabe Ruins A Nation, The Triumph Of Evil Over Good

         37 years in power, in which time Mugabe turned a food exporting nation into a poverty stricken nation while he turned himself, his cronies and his family into multimillionaires. Political opponents brutalized and murdered, elections rigged, poor people displaced and made homeless, white farmers beaten and murdered with their lands given not to war veterans and poor people as Mugabe claimed, but to his friends and family, including his corrupt, insatiably greedy wife. The breadbasket of Africa is now a basketcase.

         Emmerson Mnangagwa , Mugabe's former right hand man and considered complicit in Mugabe's crimes, will take over as interim president. While Zimbabweans rejoice about the end to the Mugabe regime, it might be more of the same corruption and brutality that Mugabe served.

        Why was this allowed to happen?  Mugabe played the race card, demonizing the small white minority while he looted and destroyed a nation. Look at the nations, powerful people and business interests that helped keep him in power.       
        Mugabe and his wife have been freed from prosecution. How this one evil, greedy man stayed in power for so long while inflicting so much damage on millions of poor Zimbabweans is a testimony to the lasting power of evil in a world filled with far too little good. 

Trump And Conway: Elect Moore For Law And Order

     Trump and company argue that Roy Moore should be elected because he is the candidate that is strong on crime. Republicans are no better for law and order than ineffective democrats. They have been spinning this nonsense that they are tough on crime for years, as they rehash their same ineffective strategies and programs. Roy Moore, accused of having sexually abused at least one woman when she was a minor, which is a crime, is the law and order candidate Trump, Conway and company stand behind.

Burmese Pythons, Everglades Dying Wildlife And Their Worldwide Implication

             In a still relatively healthy wildlife refuge north of the Florida Everglades, a person remarked, "The Everglades have lost more than 95 per cent of its mammal population from the Burmese pythons. They are coming this way. They have already been spotted in the area. And when they come in numbers, everything will change. People will walk through here and what they can see now will never be seen again. The pythons will eat up everything. Raccoons, otters, muskrats, opossums, armadillos, marsh rabbits,  bobcats, sandhill cranes, and anything else they can catch. Other predators will die from starvation because the snakes will eat everything."
             Cute burrowing owls will not stand a chance if the Burmese python reaches their areas. As the invasion goes north, which seems to be happening, common and uncommon species will be wiped out. At some point the snakes will start eating each other out of hunger after they have eaten up everything else. Alligators compete with the Burmese python, and they eat each other depending on which one is bigger. The Burmese python is hell for native reptiles, birds and mammals.
              In places in the third world, where there is enormous biodiversity and few resources for conservation and wildlife protection, the situation is even more dire. Invasive species are not even on the list of top threats. Habitat loss and fragmentation, trashing of the oceans with plastic and other contaminants and other threats spell doom for wildlife. Invasive species are just one more poison in the pot that even a rich and powerful nation like the United States cannot control. As for the other, even greater threats, little to nothing is being done.
           

         

Awareness Raised That Is Exploited; The Sad World Of Animal Suffering

       A wildlife photographer gave a vigorous defense of animal, conservation and wildlife organizations. The photographer is paid well by these organizations. It was too much to expect that the wildlife and animals that are the real source of his fortune (but that are incapable of paying out even a penny) would be his first loyalty. These organizations raise awareness, the photographer insisted, and that is what matters.
       Animal and wildlife organizations raise awareness that they channel into contributions and support for themselves. It often does not translate into conservation success. It often does not translate into a reduction of animal cruelty. It often translates into nothing more than contributions and support for these organizations.
       If there is ignorance, there is at least hope that if there is awareness, suffering and harm will diminish because a positive direction will result from the raising of awareness. But too often ignorance is turned into awareness that becomes nothing more than the means for an organization to grow and enrich itself.
       Failure in the nonprofit world is about more than the dismal failure to hold many organizations accountable as to their efficacy. While wildlife populations continue to collapse, while animal cruelty continues as awful as ever, while oceans and other life sustaining habitats continue to be destroyed, it is long past the time to pay homage to self serving organizations. Their failures, although often hidden, are massive. Just because an organization claims to be concerned about such things as animal cruelty, conservation, wildlife, bats, birds, chimpanzees, elephants, dogs, cats and so forth does not mean it is not exploitative.
     

The Greatest, Unaddressed Threat To Elephant Survival

     The population of Africa continues to explode. Projections that world population growth will stabilize and level off simply do not hold true for most of Africa and some other parts of the world. A simple graph shows that corresponding to the rapid rise in Africa's human population has been a rapid decline in Africa's wildlife, especially that of large mammals.
      Any serious, long term plan to protect elephants and other wildlife must include family planning.
      This is one of the times in which what is good for wildlife is also good for humans. When women have access to safe family planning, poverty decreases. Abortions and sexually transmitted diseases also decrease.
      An overcrowded world has little place for wildlife. Other problems are made worse by large human populations, including environmental degradation and proper disposal of garbage (much of which now ends up in the oceans).
      By 2100, if nothing changes, billions of Africans will live in desperate poverty, beset by war and politically instability. Africa will be deforested and severely degraded. Elephants will be gone from the wild.
     

Animal Organization Windfall From Elephant Hunting, Michael Vick, Dogfighting

       Allowing tusks and other elephant parts taken from elephant hunting in Zimbabwe and Zambia to enter the United States does not mean that all of a sudden the door becomes open to elephant hunting by Americans. The door was already open in that trophy elephants parts are allowed into the states if the hunt takes place in South Africa or Namibia.
       The ban was put in place by the Obama administration on Zimbabwe and Zambia because the corruption that exists in those countries means elephant hunting could not be properly regulated.
        So why the outrage from the against cruelty, humane type animal organizations when they know full well that elephant hunting is legal in certain African countries, and that adding Zimbabwe and Zambia only expands the list but does not create any new precedent? Furthermore, it is well known that elephants and other wildlife are being decimated by the loss of habitat, not just from other threats, and that little to nothing is being done to stop this tidal wave of damage.
        They are outraged because the public is outraged. And if they properly follow public sentiment, or even better yet, lead public sentiment (through their blogs, magazines, and their other widely followed media outlets), there is a fortune to be made.
         Just like how the Michael Vick dogfighting arrest inspired anti dogfighting sentiment that these organizations capitalized on, they will also capitalize on any high profile event or issue that is potentially lucrative.
         People care about dogs, elephants and certain other animals, and that is where these organizations and certain others know there is money to be made.
         Dogfighting never went away. Ever wonder why practically no one gets arrested for the common occurring crime of dogfighting? Michael Vick was a one in a million rare exception, and his celebrity status was a huge windfall for certain animal organizations that played that arrest and the publicity it generated for everything it was worth. The same pathological dynamic that is written about extensively in previous blogs - the almost complete lack of an appropriate law enforcement response to dogfighting and animal cruelty, and the massive exploitation of these crimes by a number of animal organizations and individuals - has never changed.
          Animal cruelty is an ugly reality, but it is also a lucrative reality for a number of animal organizations and individuals that exploit and profit from this suffering. They claim to be against cruelty and for the humane or ethical treatment of animals, which allows them to continue to exploit animal suffering and take in fortunes.
          Just like dogfighting is alive and well, no thanks to a number of animal organizations and individuals that have profited well by riding the wave of sentiment against this crime, so too will the plight of elephants and other wildlife continue unabated.
           It does not have to be this way.

Hunting Elephants, Dogfighting And The Animal Organization That Gains

       The blogging from the president of one of the wealthiest animal organizations in the world about the Trump administration's decision regarding elephant hunting falsely gives the impression that this organization and its president will actually do something for elephants.
       They will do the same thing for elephants that they do for dog fighting and animal cruelty- ride the wave of public sentiment, take in a fortune, and accomplish nothing. They exploit these issues for their own gain, which is unfortunately fine with their unquestioning donor base.
        If only there was a tiny amount of scrutiny regarding the programs and efficacy of these organizations. For those of us that witnessed first hand their exploitation, their greed, their shameful exploitation of animal suffering and the plight of animals, domestic and wildlife, we can only lower our heads in disgust knowing that animals have few if any true defenders.
     

Duterte And Trump, Goodbye South China Sea

   When it comes to soft targets, Duterte and Trump are as tough as can be. Not so in the presence of strongmen and hard targets. Duterte can be seen in front of Putin begging for his friendship. It is like a Godfather movie, where the mafia underling ingratiates himself to the mafia godfather. Trump is no different. Both men in the presence of Xi and Putin are like little boys.
    Duterte has given his reasons for giving up the South China Sea and the islands that rightfully belong to the Philippines. He does not want war with China. But no one is asking him to engage in war with China. Why would Filipinos that care about their country, and not just about money, want the South China Sea to be militarized and destroyed, which is what is happening right now, knowing full well that this means less fish and food for the Philippine people?
     Is the Philippines an independent country, or a soon to be Chinese and perhaps Russian colony?
     And why is tough talking Trump putty in the hands of Xi and Putin?
     There should be an immediate call for an end to all militarization and further destruction of the South China Sea. There are ways of resisting destruction without going to war.
     Note to the people of the Philippines and China: no matter what your governments tell you, you cannot eat planes, military bases, railroads, or anything that humans create. You can and do eat fish and marine life, and that is not something any human can create.
     Rising populations in the world, backed too often by religions that call for unlimited breeding, in a world that keeps destroying its natural environment and food sources, guarantees a future of poverty and hunger.

The South China Sea Is Worth Fighting For

      The South China Sea cannot continue to be destroyed in the pursuit of territorial ambitions. If the sea is destroyed, it will mean hunger for millions. The Philippines especially, already overpopulated with an enormously high poverty and birth rate, cannot afford to lose this invaluable food source.

      World leaders are meeting in Southeast Asia, including Trump, who has offered to mediate this conflict. 

      Every nation that relies on this sea has a stake in ensuring its protection. This does not mean going to war with China, which only a fool or madman would desire. But it does mean not rolling over like a lapdog and doing nothing while this ecological treasure is dredged and ruined. 

     This issue must be put front and center. It must be made clear that there cannot be business as usual unless this sea is protected and not further destroyed in order to further a nation's ambitions.

Trump On Twitter And North Korean Nuclear Weapons

     Trump is exchanging insults with the North Korean dictator. It is meaningless and does not accomplish anything useful. It makes him look weak and foolish.
     North Korean nuclear weapons and all nuclear weapon proliferation is a world problem of enormous magnitude. It is not a problem confined to the United States. Trump said he is one of the world's greatest dealmakers. He needs to show it and stop this infantile exchange of insults.
     Note to China, the North Korean nuclear testing radioactive fallout is contaminating your country, not just North Korea.
     There needs to be a complete ban on all nuclear testing.
      It is in the interest of Russia, China, Japan, the whole world for that matter, that nuclear weapons proliferation ends, and not just with North Korea.

Failing Leadership Of The Rich And Powerful

       Powerful, rich men and women, including political leaders, too often focus on the petty, the insignificant insults to their ego, the inconsequential, and miss the big picture. They are amongst the few people that can do something about the big picture things. Yet they squander the opportunity on their own self indulgence.
       This world is in serious trouble. The environmental degradation and depletion that is occurring will exact a far worse toll than anyone can imagine. Not only in terms of suffering, but in that humankind itself will not survive this continued degradation. The only thing that can stop this dismal future, assuming nuclear weapons have not already destroyed mankind, is concerted, selfless and intelligent action.

Putin Can Stop Nuclear Weapons Proliferation And Secure A World Class Legacy

     Putin is now one of the most powerful, wealthiest men in the world. In his hands is the power to destroy this planet many times over. Far more important than reigniting the cold war, which includes supporting every murderous dictator in the world simply because they oppose the United States (the reverse also applies for the United States), Putin could instead ensure his place in history as one of the greatest leaders ever. He could do this by using his power to stop nuclear weapons proliferation and by reducing the threat to all human life that nuclear weapons pose. Petty things like whether RT must register or not in the United States do not matter. What mankind does with nuclear weapons does matter. 

Putin And RT's Freedom Of Speech Concerns

       If only Putin would extend to Russian journalists that oppose him just a tiny amount of the concern for freedom of speech and the press that he is so adamant that Americans provide his Russian television propaganda arm (RT).
       Opposition journalists in Russia get murdered. Recently one of the few opposition journalists remaining was stabbed in the neck. Fortunately she survived the attack.
       RT may have to register as a foreign agent in the American market. No one gets stabbed. No one  gets murdered. Registering Putin's propaganda network in a foreign country makes Putin and the RT gang angry that their right to free speech is violated, while murdering opposition journalists to shut them up does not elicit a whimper of a response.

The South China Sea Is Dying

     The populations of China, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and other countries that rely on the South China Sea are going up, not down. The wholesale destruction of the South China Sea ensures it will not be a food source for these growing populations. It will be another once thriving, biologically rich resource that humans destroyed.

      The South China Sea is being dredged. Its coral reefs, atolls and coral reef islands are being destroyed in order to create military bases. Protected by the militarization, wholesale poaching and further destruction of coral is occurring. Every sea turtle, giant clam, shark, manta ray and more are being pulled from the ocean, guarenting another human created dead zone.

      Thriving colorful coral reefs have been turned into dead zones littered with the skeletons of dead coral. 

      Asian countries are meeting. They will discuss business as usual. Trade, commerce, everything other than protecting their most important marine resource.

      How much money has been paid to win the silence of one nation in particular that is unwilling to fight for its fishermen, its fish, its future?

      

Jew Is The Weaklings' Crutch

     Weaklings need a crutch. Someone to blame and hate. They come up with a thousand reasons to justify their hate. They think there is strength in their hate, anger or violence, but it only disguises  their weakness. If ever the day should come in which people can stand on their own two feet and not rely on a crutch that hides their weakness, humankind will advance.

Elephants Set On Fire Photo

     The sad photo of a young elephant set on fire chasing after her partially on fire mother has drawn a great deal of attention. Some people have responded with anger at the photographer, or the magazine that published the photo. What action they imagine the photographer could have taken is beyond comprehension. Elephants can easily kill human beings, and these tormented elephants were already highly stressed. Regarding the magazine that published the photograph, it is good they highlighted the terrible plight elephants and other wildlife are in. Too many animal lovers and animal organizations are utterly useless when it comes to animal welfare and stopping cruelty. Their interests do not extend beyond what makes them feel good, or in exploiting the suffering of animals to raise money, advance careers or further personal agendas. Animal cruelty is far more extensive, and far more gruesome than most people realize.
       Someone noted, it is hell on earth for these elephants. An exploding human population leaves little room for wildlife. All over the world, wildlife suffers from the enormous loss of habitat and habitat fragmentation. An exploding human population, a topic money seeking conservation organizations shy away from and which is a main driver of habitat loss, ensures the plight of elephants and other wildlife will not lessen.
        In the decades to come, when the human population exceeds 9 billion, there will be little left of wildlife, especially large animals. Already the populations of many species have dramatically declined.
        If there is any hope, there must be a concerted, worldwide effort to preserve and protect critical habitat.

China Should Be At Forefront Of Ban On Nuclear Weapon Tests

     China should be at the forefront of a complete ban on nuclear weapon tests. Articles about why China does little to nothing about the North Korean regime usually include unchallenged assertions that China does not want a North Korean collapse because it will lead to a flood of refugees and a U.S. aligned Korea right at the Chinese border. Whether this is true or not fails to address a much greater threat.
      North Korean nuclear test contamination does affect China. China, outside of North Korea, has the most to lose from North Korea nuclear testing radiation poisoning. There is not a second North Korea, nor a second China, nor another earth that people can run to after poisoning what already exists.
      Humans may be incapable at present of reigning in their nuclear weapons demon, but they are capable of calling for an immediate and worldwide ban on any and all nuclear weapon tests.
     

North Korea Nuclear Contamination; UN Ban On All Nuclear Weapon Tests Must Be Implemented

     The short and ugly history of nuclear weapon tests are cancers, shortened lives, ruined islands and lands, radioactive fallout, to name but a few of the deleterious consequences of these tests. Now it appears that the site of North Korean nuclear testing has collapsed, hundreds have died and the area is contaminated.
      Even though nuclear weapon states are unwilling, unfortunately, to give up their weapons (which might be mankind's final doom), there should be an immediate resolution by the UN to ban completely and without exception all nuclear testing. A price must be paid for any nation that violates this understanding. It is disgraceful that a complete ban has never been implemented.

Increased Wealth And Power Of A Few In An A Degraded World

     Wealth and power increasingly is concentrated into the hands of a few. Theirs is a world of abundance in a world that is increasingly depleted. As daily their personal wealth increases, the real wealth of the world, the health of the environment, decreases. Not just from the thousands of tons of plastic, Styrofoam and other non biodegradable contaminants that daily enter the oceans, but from an array of threats.
   

Myth Of One True Religion

      In many corners of the world, people have their own religions, faiths and beliefs. But there are those that still insist that only the religion they follow is correct, and that everyone else is doomed for hell. They continually fail to understand that there are people in this world that either never heard of their god or set of beliefs, or were raised to believe in something different. Even worse, there are those that believe they have the right to inflict hell on earth to those that believe differently.
      The few remote tribes in this world, mostly in the Amazon, that avoid contact with the modern world, and that have their own cultures, religions, beliefs and faiths, are not primitive like those that ram their beliefs down the throats of others.
       There is not one single human being walking the face of this planet that actually died and then  returned to life and can say with certainty what there is or is not after death. Religion is a matter of faith. It should make people wiser and more tolerant. It should not be what it has been for far too often; a way for people to be intolerant, bigoted, narrow minded and ignorant.
     

Religion; Action Over Belief

      Religion is only good if it leads people to be more compassionate, more caring, braver and kinder. Far too many people believe that if they worship Jesus, Allah or God or something else, little else is required. If God, Jesus, Allah or something else wanted only blind loyalty, then why did God not turn people into mindless slaves? People have free will to choose to be better people, including how they treat not only their friends, but also their enemies. Far too many people believe that by being a mindless slave for God, they can act as God, choosing who to murder, who to harm, who to abuse. Humans are not God, and have no right to act as if they are.
      Who cares what someone believes if they are a rotten person full of hate, selfishness and ill intent? What matters is character, not what someone was indoctrinated to believe. People that insist only their religion is correct ignore that the world is a large place where people from different places and cultures follow paths that are no less true or valid. The pursuit of religious monopolies have caused enormous bloodshed. What matters far more than what one believes is how one acts.
     

Wind, Solar, Birds and Bats

       In the search for alternative energy, wind turbines and solar plants are looked at as godsends. There is a need for these fossil fuel alternatives, but it has to be thought out. Areas where there are rare species of birds and bats or that are in migratory flight paths must be avoided. There is enough research and science to point these fossil fuel alternatives in the right direction. But who will advocate for wind turbines and solar facilities to be placed in the least damaging to wildlife places, and fight to stop projects that are wrongly placed?
        A number of bat, bird, wildlife and conservation organizations would not lift a finger to do anything as a rainforest was destroyed in order to build a wind turbine and solar facility. The rainforest was habitat for rare species of bats, parrots, raptors and other wildlife.
       Bat, bird, wildlife, conservation, animal welfare organizations are businesses. They do not stick their necks out unless there is something in it for them.
       Maybe some smart young person, not yet corrupted by life, will make it a mission to ensure alternative energy projects are constructed in the least damaging locations. Meanwhile, wind turbines and solar facilities will continue to kill bats and birds by the millions worldwide.
       
       

The Stock Market God That Is Worshipped, Nurtured And Fed

      No matter the news, no matter how incompetent, corrupt, ruthless and worthless is the leadership of the world, the only important measure of wealth the world considers, the stock market, keeps going up. The lessons of the stock market are clear. Real labor is devalued. Speculators get rewarded.
      Imagine if the trillions of dollars poured into the stock markets were used for a more useful purpose. Like cleaning up a contaminated, trashed earth, which in and of itself would employ millions.
      But higher stock prices create jobs, they argue. No, they create some jobs, but not many. Not nearly as much as what such massive amounts of money and resources would create if used differently. At some point, the cheap money and "all that matters is the market" bubble will burst. The people that will again lose their shirts- and it will not be the big players- may or may not recover depending on their age.
      If nuclear weapons are unleashed, the companies related to radiation protection and nuclear bomb making will go up. It does not matter what happens in the real world anymore. The stock market exists in its own reality that governments and movers and shakers around the world nurture and protect. They do not protect their oceans, rivers, lakes or lands, or even their own people in many instances. The stock market, that artificial measure of wealth and not the real health of the planet, is worshiped, studied, analyzed and treated like a God.
       For individuals, since this has become the only game in town, and since saving money in a bank has become a form of punishment, the aforementioned is not financial.advice. Warren Buffett advises people to put money in broad based low cost index funds. Even loud mouth Jim, who has recklessly caused many to lose money, follows this bandwagon in advice he now gives, contrary to the destructive advice he gave in the past. But he still wants people to follow his mad money ride that keeps his ratings high with some portion of their money.
        It is unfortunate that in a world so highly degraded and troubled, the stock market is the beast that gets fed, worshipped, studied and picked apart from every angle. Outside of that center of power and money, in the real world, poverty, fanaticism and environmental degradation accelerate.

Wealth Foolishly Defined As The Stock Market's Health

      No matter how deteriorated our environment becomes, no matter how much nuclear weapons proliferate, no matter how much hate, fanaticism, war and terror spread, no matter how incompetent, ruthless and greedy are the leaders, movers and shakers of the world, all that seems to matter is feeding the stock market and ensuring it keeps going up. This artificial measure of wealth does not reflect reality.
       Every single day, as thousands of tons of plastics and other non biodegradable contaminants enter the oceans, one of a number of major threats to the health and well being of humanity and the planet, no one cares. The only game in town is the stock market. Wealth means its health, and foolishly nothing else.

Allah Does Not Welcome Islamic Jihadists

   Let us imagine that religious murderous fanatics, including one of the abundant Islamic jihadists, are capable of rational thought. Let us imagine that they can think logically and not just be mindless murderous sheep. Now, in that moment of rationality, can they conceive of a single reason why the God or Allah they are so eager to kill for would want to spend even a single second in their presence? Why would God or Allah want to be surrounded by a pack of murderers, rapists, torturers, complete degenerates, and for all eternity?

Trump, LowerTaxes, And Deficit Spending

     The difference between republicans and democrats is in their rhetoric, not in their actions. They both love to deficit spend. Trump will lower taxes. Many will be happy because the deficit spending that will result is a tax passed on to future generations. The rich that complain about paying too much in taxes like the tax bill to be passed on to the next generation. Many of the people that for years complained about deficit spending are now silent.

America Replaces Manufacturers With Social Media Advertisers

      Social media companies are little more than advertising companies. They produce and manufacture nothing. They inundate people with mindless ad after ad. Some of their ads serve the interests of foreign governments hostile to the United States. They don't care, as long as they can make a buck.
      Long gone are the manufacturers that made shoes, bicycles, toys, sports equipment, electronics, phones, computers, a million other things. Instead, some of America's biggest companies are nothing but unproductive, mind warping advertising companies. At least with television, people can walk away during commercials. Social media companies try to prevent any escape from their ads.

A Different Bubble Than The Dotcom Stock Market Bubble

     At the time of the dotcom bubble, analysts and other experts declared the times were different, and that new technologies were ushering in a new era in which it did not matter if companies were profitable or not. The house of cards collapsed finally and a whole lot of people lost their shirts.
     Fast forward to now, and the analysts and other experts declare this time is different. High growth  companies have real earnings, they insist. Therefore, no matter how inflated the stocks of companies might be, at least they have earnings to differentiate them from the worthless tech companies of the dotcom era.
     But wait, some dotcom era companies did have earnings. Some of them are still around. In this new era of boom, not bust, analysts insist inflated stock prices are justified because...this time it is different.
     Governments around the world have made it clear that the only game in town is the stock market. Money in the bank gets punished.  Pensions, pension funds, unions, management, municipalities, almost all are in the stock market. Everyone is happy while it keeps going up.
     But one day it will not. And if one day this was one big bubble that was recklessly created, there will be no one that will take the blame, no ammunition left to get back on track, and hell to pay.

Saving Elephants Or Serving Propaganda? Tsavo National Park And Poaching

     A recent article about elephants in Tsavo National Park, Kenya, was an uncritical look at one organization's alleged success. The organization has embarked on a path that is somewhat military without being military, and that sounds good and convincing on paper. 

      There are huge, unaddressed problems facing the elephants of Tsavo and elsewhere. This includes habitat loss and human encroachment. Human encroachment includes the use of land for cattle and agriculture, which has significant adverse impacts on elephants, buffalo and other species. Anti poaching efforts attract contributions, even if these efforts are ineffective or self serving. This allows the other enormous threats to elephants and other wildlife to continue to be ignored by contribution seeking organizations.

New York Islamic Jihad Terror Attack And The Politically Convenient Road Trump Follows

       What possesses a man with a wife and three children to completely throw away all love and obligations to his family and go commit mass murder?
       Trump looks for an easy answer. So do a lot of people. Trump thinks it can be found in an immigration system that is flawed. This murderer entered the United states legally. He was not an illegal immigrant. He was not one of the millions of illegal immigrants that do nothing but labor at low paying, shitty jobs that Americans refuse to do, and that are honest, decent people.
       Trump is doing the same thing Obama and Bush did. Refuse to face the sources of this evil.
Trump, like Obama, like Bush, does not want to to look at the sources, especially the states, some of which are U.S. allies, some of which are Russian allies, that spread virulent, intolerant jihadist ideologies all over the world.
        Anyone can read the Koran and see for themselves that there are passages, if followed, will lead  down the demented path where ISIS, Hamas, Al Shabaab, Hezbollah, Boko Haram, Abu Sayyaf, Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Taliban, and many more have already gone.
        There are passages in the Koran, if followed, lead to war, killing, bigotry, slavery, rape, torture, amputations, conquest, colonialism, child marriage, and more.
         There are passages in the Koran, if followed, lead to a complete opposite life of goodwill, tolerance, peace, charity and co existence.
         What is it that Islamic states, especially the oil rich countries of the world, have chosen to follow and spread throughout the world?
          It is easier for Trump, like Obama and Bush,  to go down the politically convenient road and not hold these states responsible for the cancer many of them are spreading. If these states reverse direction and actively promote tolerance, goodwill, mutual respect and coexistence, imagine how the world will prosper.
         
     

Islamic Jihadist Mass Murder In Somalia, And The Usual silence

     The recent bombings in Somalia barely generated any news coverage in the western media, and little outrage. In one attack, over 358 people were killed, with hundreds more wounded in Mogadishu. With such a high casualty number, the usual suspect, terrorist group Al Shabaab, did not claim responsibility. They do not mind murdering innocent people to create their demented Islamic state (which will be another Islamic jihadist hellhole if ever implemented), but realized that even this action of theirs was too excessive. So they have kept silent.
      And so has the west.

The Hamas And Islamic Jihadist Approach To Climate Change, Poverty, Environmental Protection

     Hamas, like Islamic jihadists everywhere, never have to worry about such things as climate change, environmental disaster, garbage cleanup, reducing poverty, creating jobs, living productive lives where women and children and people different than themselves are respected. All they have to worry about is killing and fueling their self serving hatred, which liberates them and their apologists from human responsibility and decency.
      And so there will be no end to the wars that they want.

The EPA, Or IPA, Climate Change And Environmental Policy

     The EPA, now the IPA (Industry Protection Agency), does not want IPA scientists to present their findings regarding climate change. Denying climate change allows for nothing to change. Development and industry can proceed as usual, and we can all wish away environmental catastrophe, increased cancer rates, collapsed biodiversity, and a degraded environment. This allows the live experiment to continue of turning the ocean into a plasticized (and other oil based material) garbage pit, the air into a contaminated mess that causes the death of millions, and for insect, bird and other essential for life populations to continue to collapse.

Israeli/Arab Conflict - Only Moderation Offers Hope

     If moderation and tolerance prevails, there is hope. Extremism and hate make nothing possible except war and killing.

The Normans, Jews And Hamas, And Pretending To Care About Child Casualties Of War

        When the leader of Hamas carries out his effort to wipe Israel off the map, the Normans will emerge from the woodwork, appearing on every Israel bashing network to talk about how the Jews are killing Palestinian children. The Normans have made careers pandering to jihadists. The Normans that are Jewish born believe that gives them a special authority about Jews or Israel even though though they despise Jews.

         The Normans bear responsibility for civilian deaths. They infantilize Arab jihadists. They free them of any responsibility for causing civilian deaths by not only waging war, but by waging war from densely populated areas, hiding amongst civilian populations and using civilians as shields. The Normans even encourage jihadists to wage war and terror, and then pretend to be appalled by civilian casualties when the other side responds.

         The Normans use child casualties to disguise their deep and pathological hatred for Jews. 

         Jihadists love war and killing. That is what they live for. Even if there was no Israel, or when Israel is not involved in any way, the jihadists fight and kill. Marawi, where Islamic jihadists have destroyed a city and waged war that has killed children and other civilians, is of no concern to the Normans of the world because if Jews are not involved, human life does not matter to them.

Hamas Leader Wants For Gaza What Islamic Jihadists Gave To Marawi

     The leader of Hamas, determined to pass on his hate and love of killing to the next generation, spoke at a youth gathering. He declared his determination to wipe Israel off the map. He bragged about how Gaza gets militarily stronger by the day. Bragging, while each day Hamas drags Gaza deeper into poverty. Garbage gathers on the shores of the Mediterranean, as Hamas wages war preparations and tunnel building, but is incapable of cleaning up garbage.
       If the Gazan Arab Islamic jihadists go all out with their war plans, Gaza will become like Marawi, where Islamic jihadists hid amongst civilians, built tunnels and used civilians as shields. After thousands of lives taken and ruined, with billions of dollars worth of damage, what did the Islamists of Marawi gain? This is what the Hamas leader filled with his hate and selfishness wants to give to Gaza.

Hamas Needs Jews

     Hamas and other jihadists need Jews more than their expressed desire to kill Jews (a desire supported by Jew hating weaklings in the west on the right and left and among the Christians that want to worship Jesus but deny Jesus's Judaism and that of Peter, Paul, Jesus's mother Mary, and that of all the early Christians). Without Jews, how else can Hamas and other Islamic jihadists explain their miserable failures? Weak people thrive on hatred and anger.

The World Would do Better With Less Religion

   The world would do a whole lot better with less religion and more faith and kindness. They are not one and the same. Religion is too often a business, with pampered elitists dictating how people should think and act, while never wanting to be told how they should think and act. Name one single human being walking the face of this planet that has died, really died, and then returned to life with the certain knowledge of what exists beyond death? No such person exists.
    Religion offers the promise of something better beyond, and often this promise enables religion to be a mind numbing force for conformity that keeps priestly, pampered people and other elitists in power - people that worship money or power the same as others that worship money and power. Meanwhile, the earth is being destroyed while people mistakenly believe this world does not matter, and that only what comes after this life matters.

California Regulates Who Can Sell Pets, Empowering Animal Hoarders And Exploiters

     California passed a law making it mandatory that people that buy dogs, cats and other animals from pet stores must buy pets that only animal organizations provide. The excuse given to provide this unprecedented power to animal organizations is that it a way of stopping puppy mills. Puppy mills could have been stopped simply by licensing and regulating those that breed animals. By assuming that only animal organizations look out for the interests of animals is completely untrue. A number of animal organizations have a long history of exploiting and manipulating animal cruelty and dog fighting for their own gain, which is discussed extensively in previous blogs. A number of animal organizations and their falsely stated no kill movement are sanctuary for animal hoarders and abusers that keep animals in conditions no better, and at times far worse, than the puppy mills. Framing the conversation in terms of well meaning animal organizations versus puppy mills is simply misleading.

Crybabies Are Drawn To Racism And Hate

     Working a real job and constructing a productive life is too much for crybabies. It is easier to have a target to hate. It is easier to be proud of something that is absolutely not an accomplishment - the pigmentation of one's skin.

The Trump Undoing Of Obama

     Trump is determined to undo whatever Obama did. This will make sense if undoing one thing to create something better is the result. So far, there is only the undoing, with nothing better offered.

Plasticized World And New Stock Market Highs

     Every day humans continue their massive effort, deliberate or not, to turn the oceans into a toxic stew of plastics and other oil based non biodegradable garbage. Everyday more species, rain forests, coral reefs, mangroves and other important habitats are lost. Instead of fighting the most important war humans can ever fight - the fight to save the planet on which they depend- people would rather fight and kill each other.
     The stock market reaches new highs, while the health of the planet - the real wealth - continues to deteriorate.

It's Easier To Deny Climate Change Than Change

     Dismissing any relation between human activity and climate change allows business to continue as usual. No one has to change anything, and over development and destruction can continue.

Lowering Taxes While Spending Billions Because Of Natural Disasters

     Whether the federal government likes it or not, it is forced to spend billions, even trillions of dollars on natural disaster emergencies. Nonetheless, the mantra of limited government and reduced taxes remains the same, and as that goal is pursued, money will be printed to make up for the deficit.

Jamie Dimon, And The Delusional World Of Overpaid CEO's

     Jamie Dimon has declared that the U.S. consumer is healthy and wage growth is solid. The only real and massively excessive wage growth in the United states is for ceos and others at the top. A shrinking middle and working class are not what Dimon sees. Most manufacturing, once the backbone of a strong American middle class, has been transferred overseas in one of the most massive wealth transfers ever known. And for no reason other than to obtain cheap labor in places with low environmental and safety standards. Meanwhile, the hard, difficult low wage jobs in the states that Americans do not want to do, and that honest, hard working illegal immigrants are more than willing to do, have become even more difficult. Chase away all the illegal immigrants, and the United States is still left with low wage jobs that few Americans are willing to do. Jobs that will not return Americans to the middle class. Meanwhile, overpaid ceos and others at the top reap all benefits and rewards, and are about to receive a new gift courtesy of Trump - lower taxes. Not to worry though, because the shortfall will be made up by the conservative and liberal way - printing more money.

Trump Tax Reform - Ensuring The Rich Are Not Inconvenienced

     Millions of working and middle class Americans rushed to embrace Trump, certain that his circle of billionaires and millionaires were looking out for their interests. If people could ignore the noise of the culture wars that politicians try to ignite, and which politicians can do nothing about, and focus instead on the class wars that politicians do something about, perhaps then they will vote out of their own economic self interest. The much promised tax reform that Trump most certainly did not write, and probably never read, will benefit the same group of people that American politicians have been pandering to for decades - the rich. Regarding the estate tax, where the super rich can pass on their estates without paying taxes, it is another way to continue America's slide into oligarchy.

     It appears to be more important to have deficit spending than to have the pampered wealthy pay more taxes. And so, the Trump tax reform will continue the unproud tradition of ensuring America is a land for the rich ruled by the rich. 

Climate Change Deflection And Wealth Redistribution

     Every time there is a discussion about climate change, the interests that want nothing changed say the same tired lines that climate change is nothing but a hoax used in order to redistribute wealth. Many people buy into this deflection.
     Wealth has already been redistributed. Much of America's manufacturing base was given to the Chinese and others in order to take advantage of underpaid laborers or slave laborers. Tax and other policies have long favored the wealthy, improving their already enriched lot in life while decreasing the wealth of working and middle class people.
     Climate change is not about wealth redistribution. Climate change is about one of a number of deadly ways in which humans impact the planet.

Scott Pruitt And Trump's EPA, Now The IPA

     The EPA headed by Scott Pruitt, has become the IPA, the protection agency for special industrial interests. They believe there is no consequence from the burning of fossil fuels. They believe there is an unlimited capacity for the world to absorb all the garbage humans throw its way. The tradition of never thinking beyond the present remains alive and well. For those that are young, what will it be like to grow old in a world filled with plastic contaminated oceans, few healthy coral reefs, few healthy rainforests, and far less biodiversity? What will it be like to live in a polluted, contaminated, overpopulated world that is beyond repair?

The Rich And Privileged And Misery

     The world faces terrible problems, and in it there is great suffering. The people with the greatest capacity to change things for the better too often squander the opportunity in order to pursue their own selfish desires. Those with the power, money and ability to enact change have the least incentive to change anything. Their privileged lives, their world of abundance, their pursuit of their own pleasures, allows them the luxury of never waking up to reality.

Tribes That Do Not Destroy The Land Or Shove Religion Down The Throats Of Others

     Somewhere in the Amazon there are still a few tribes left that live in harmony with the land instead of destroying it. Somewhere in the Amazon there are people living with religious beliefs that they do not shove down the throats of others. Somewhere in the Amazon there are no religions that originated in the middle east and that aggressively spread throughout the world by sword, by slavery, by crushing domination. Somewhere in the Amazon there are people that live as equals without a few having in their possession everything while the rest live in crushing poverty.  Somewhere in the Amazon there are people that do not destroy the land upon which they depend, that do not destroy each other in the name of religion, that do not give to a few everything and crumbs to everyone else. Outside of the Amazon, except for in a few other remote corners of the world, is a civilization built on greed, on destruction, and on the myth of its own superiority, religious and otherwise.

Trump And The Worship Of Money

     The slavish devotion to money, and the worship of people with money, has led to the presidency of a man that in no way would be president if he was not rich. If he was a teacher, a bus driver, an average working class or middle class person, he never would have been taken seriously. Too often people give preferential treatment to those that have money. Too often those that have money believe in their own superiority.

     

Conservative Hypocrisy, Guns And Mass Murder

     Every time there is a mass murder and people question guns, the tried and true response is that it is not the time to politicize the matter, and that it is only time for mourning. It is interesting how conservatives that want minimal intrusion by others when it does not suit their purpose, and maximum intrusion by government when it does, are quick to tell people how they should think. Whenever there is a  tragedy, it is right to question how to prevent the next one. Nothing should be off the table.

Natural Disasters And The Myth Of Lowered Taxes

     The United States has been hammered by hurricanes. Politicians want to lower taxes. (That is all amoral wall street wants to hear.) Nobody thinks about the high costs of natural disasters, and how the government is forced to spend money whether it likes it or not. The money printing presses keep rolling and deficit spending continues. Spending money that the government does not have and then lowering taxes may seem like tax decreases, but they are taxes placed on the future.