Venezuela: Poverty and Repression While Domestic and Foreign Oligarchs Prosper

     Venezuela continues to descend into economic hardship. The oligarchs that loot Venezuela call themselves socialists and thereby have won the support of many mindless leftists the world over (killing is ok to them as long as it is done under the banner of Islam, socialism or the left). Meanwhile, the oligarchs, aka thieves and murderous crooks, will do anything to maintain their rule and riches. Resistance to these crooks has weakened after being ruthlessly suppressed.
      External support from other corrupt oligarch regimes, including Russia and Iran, ensure the Venezuelan people will continue to suffer. Venezuela has become an open door for Hezbollah, Russia, Iran, state sanctioned drug dealing, and more.
       No matter what one thinks of Trump, republicans, the direction of the United States, opposing the further decline of Venezuela (not through violence but by firm economic sanctions against all the oligarchs, Venezuelan, Russian, Iranian and more, that are causing this once prosperous nation to become a hellhole of poverty, hunger, repression and suffering) should be bipartisan.
       For those that consider themselves leftists as long as the suffering is caused by the regimes they despise, not by the murderers they support, it is long past overdue in which these hypocrites are called out.
     

The Philippines Must Not Turn Its Back On The Scarborough Shoal

          The Scarborough Shoal is not an inconsequential place. It is a vitally important fishery upon which thousands of families depend for their fish and protein. China has made claim to most of the South China Sea. Even though the Scarborough Shoal and other contested shoals and islands are within the maritime waters of the Philippines, and even though an international tribunal has declared these areas belong to the Philippines, China has chosen to disregard this.

          The Philippines should not disregard Chinese actions. Not by a declaration of war or by any violent intention, but by making it clear that the Philippines will not just roll over and relinquish their rights to these vital fisheries. The Philippines can limit trade with China, including halting Chinese mining activities, hotels, casinos, etc., if China proceeds to develop and destroy the Scarborough Shoal. Massive Chinese projects in the Philippines, including wind, solar, oil and gas projects and more can be halted if China proceeds down this path. 

           It cannot be business as usual for an impoverished nation whose people depend on healthy fisheries. 

           At the very least, the Philippines should insist that there be no development on the Scarborough Shoal. Already China has turned other reef areas, islands, atolls and shoals into military bases, thereby destroying important ecosystems, seabeds, coral reefs and fisheries. 

           It is also important that the fishing that takes place in the Scarborough Shoal remains the small scale fishing operations that have existed there for centuries. If Chinese factory fishing fleets and trawlers continue to work the area, there will soon be nothing left but yet another ocean dead zone.

           It is in the vital interest of all the people in the region that depend on the South China Sea, including people in China, that the South China Sea not be turned into a dead zone. Not that long ago, countless sea turtles and other marine life were found on Chinese fishing vessels. These animals were illegally poached in Philippine waters that China now claims.

          Now that China has asserted that the Scarborough Shoal belongs to China, not the Philippines, there may be the complete destruction of marine life in that area.  

          No matter how militaristic China becomes, it is still not in their long term interest to destroy the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal.

           It is not in the Philippine national interest to ignore what happens in the South China Sea, and  to give up on its right to the Scarborough Shoal and other places that belong to the Philippines. It is in the vital interest of the Philippines, because people need healthy oceans, food and fish. So do the Chinese. Dredged and ruined coral reefs, seabeds, islands, atolls and shoals cannot feed people. Neither can places completely ruined by factory fishing and trawlers. Not a single person in China or elsewhere can eat a military base, an airplane, a weapon. The Philippines has a long history where the people are connected to a living, vibrant, healthy ocean. Too much has already been destroyed. Too much is already lost. Do not let the Scarborough Shoal be the next causality of mankind's wanton destruction of the oceans.

Animal Cruelty/Humane Investigations - Fiction Or Effective?

        A prominent, well funded animal organization presented itself as the answer to animal cruelty. Call 911 or us, they informed the public, even though the police rarely respond correctly to 911 calls regarding dogfighting and animal cruelty, and even though the organization is incapable of properly responding to animal cruelty. Meanwhile, the head of the organization, many of their staff, board members and others (including other animal organizations) were informed of the following: 1. The organization failed to advocate for a proper police response police to animal cruelty and dog fighting calls. It was already documented that calling 911 was useless unless the police response changed. 2. The organization's humane investigations were ineffective and often harmful, and frequently amounted to nothing more then opportunities for dog fighters and animal abusers to move their animals elsewhere. ( Also, humane investigators that are off duty or retired law enforcement may look good on paper, but they are as ineffective and harmful as other humane investigators.) 3. By embarking on their campaign to present themselves as the go to place regarding animal cruelty, they were harming animals, not only by their ineffective, often harmful investigations, but by being the enablers that allow police to ignore, with few exceptions, animal cruelty and dog fighting calls, including those made to 911.

         Giving the public the impression that an organization is the answer to animal cruelty can be very lucrative. Donors are quick to send in money, never paying attention to efficacy. 

         To this day, animal cruelty and dog fighting are some of the least enforced crimes because of the lack of an appropriate police response and because of the exploitative, ineffective and often harmful response by many animal organizations.

         The organization's head humane investigator remarked that he had conducted thousands of animal cruelty or humane investigations, as though it was a great accomplishment. He was then asked, of the thousands of investigations, how many resulted in animals recovered? How many resulted in people getting arrested? He got angry, refused to answer and stormed away. Humane investigations are about showmanship, with rarely a constructive outcome like the arrest of an animal abuser or the confiscation of the abuser's animals. Plenty are the times that animal abusers and dogfighters move their animals to another location after being paid a visit by a humane investigator.

          A number of reporters were asked, even begged, to look into the results of these humane investigations, along with an examination of the police response to animal cruelty and dog fighting calls. The dynamic of a poor police response and an exploitative response by animal organizations ensures animal abusers and dogfighters prevail. 

         The response by reporters and others was a wall of indifference and lack of concern. Animal cruelty and dog fighting are crimes where the victims cannot articulate the ineffective and harmful actions of those that claim to speak on their behalf.
         A number of animal organizations spend millions of dollars on their so called animal abuse/humane investigations. It is squandered money that brings them fortunes in donations, but that does great harm to animals. No one is willing to look objectively at the results of their investigations.
         And so continues the poor police response to animal cruelty, with few exceptions (token police teams, whether fielded by a police department or by an animal organization, are not the exception. Rather, they are ineffective public relations ploys that allow the rest of law enforcement to continue ignoring these crimes). And so continues the exploitation of animal cruelty by a number of animal organizations. All of this at the expense of animals and the public well being.
        The time is long past due in which animal cruelty and dogfighting are responded to appropriately by public law enforcement. The time is long past due in which animal organizations ensure there is a proper police response and stop exploiting animal cruelty for their own gain.
               

The Stock Market Disconnect From Reality And The Trashing Of The Oceans

     Every day thousands upon thousands of tons of plastic, styrofoam and other oil based materials pour into the oceans. The planet gets trashed, and it falls on deaf years. In the years to come species after species will go extinct as the oceans and habitats the world over continue to be degraded and destroyed.

     What is there to show for the artificial wealth that the stock market produces? Does it save coral reefs? Does it save species or anything of real value? Does it stop the plastic poisoning of the oceans and massive plastic poisoning of wildlife? Instead, it gives the false illusion of prosperity.

      Plastic and other oil based garbage are threatening the very life of this planet. This enormously understated threat continues to be ignored. Some have childish beliefs in the ability of technology to remove ocean plastic. Instead, almost all of the plastic and other oil based materials break down into smaller pieces that disperse throughout the oceans. The small plastic beads, pieces and fibers are virtually impossible to remove. The thousands of tons of plastics entering the oceans daily bring the oceans and humanity closer to a tipping point from which there is no return. And still there is no serious effort to alter this sad reality.

  

      

  

Animal Cruelty Golddiggers

     Over two decades ago, a police officer working one of the highest crime areas in the United States, tried to bring attention to the fact that dog fighting and animal cruelty related crimes were massively ignored. These crimes were ignored by law enforcement, which allowed them to flourish.

      At the start of that cops career in the early 1980's, domestic violence crimes and drunk driving were also minimally responded to by law enforcement. Rather than accept this, anti domestic violence groups and anti drunk driving organizations aggressively campaigned for law enforcement to respond appropriately to those crimes. The law enforcement response today to domestic violence and driving under the influence (drunk driving, etc.), while not perfect, is far better then it was decades ago. 

       Animal organizations and police departments will not hesitate to say that dogfighting and animal cruelty are bad, even as they either ignore or exploit these crimes. Because police continue to minimally respond to animal cruelty related crimes, including dog fighting, with very few exceptions (exceptions include token, ineffective teams that are nothing more than excuses for greater law enforcement to continue to do nothing), the enforcement of animal cruelty laws are but a tiny fraction of what they should be. 

       Anti drunk driving and anti domestic violence organizations never said - "Because the police do not do their jobs in regards to these crimes, we will take over". For that reason, there are not mothers running around chasing down drunk drivers. There are not anti domestic violence organizations and anti drink driving organizations running around chasing after domestic violence offenders and drunk drivers. Bike shops do not have bike shop employees chasing down bicycle thieves. Car dealerships do not have employees responding to vehicle theft.

        Why do animal organizations like to continue the charade that they are the answer to animal cruelty? Because whoever wears the cloak that has the public convinced that they are the answer to animal cruelty gets all the riches. The gains are enormous. Huge sums of money flows to the organizations claiming to address animal cruelty and dog fighting.

          No matter how ineffective they are, no matter how harmful they are (many animals have been hurt and killed by ineffective, often harmful investigations by animal organizations), they will not stop what they are doing. Because animals cannot communicate in the way humans can, these organizations can continue their destructive behavior.

          Animals left dying out in the cold, like other forms of animal cruelty, requires a simple police response. It is not brain surgery. But the animal organizations want the public to believe that they, not the police, are the main answer to  animal cruelty.

           Big money is involved when it comes to animal cruelty and dog fighting. The cop learned the hard way how whorish people can be, including when photographs that he took to expose dog fighting and animal cruelty were plagiarized. He observed how greedy people exploited dogfighting and animal cruelty in order to make money through self serving documentaries and other media events. He observed how dogfighting and animal cruelty became huge money makers for a variety of animal organizations and individuals. When Michael Vick was arrested for dogfighting, an incredibly rare event due to the lack of proper law enforcement, it was free publicity and a money maker for a number of ineffective animal organizations.
            Crime belongs in the hands of police. Animal cruelty golddiggers have made sure this will never happen except in the most minimal way when it comes to animal related crimes.
             

Underfunded Pensions And Stock Market Euphoria

   When the stock market party that has everyone giddy with joy and numbed to reality ends, what happens then? There are millions of people relying on pensions that are deeply underfunded. As long as the stock market continues its euphoric rise, that reality is ignored. Many pension funds depend on unsustainable stock market returns that cannot go on forever.   
   When interest rates rise, trillions of dollars of unpaid debts, including the national debt, will be harder to pay back. As long as there is stock market euphoria, many things are ignored that should be faced now. Interest rates will rise one day, whether the government likes it or not. And one day the stock market party will end. No one is prepared for the day after.
         
       

Hero Worshiping While Wildlife Declines

    Every media interest and nonprofit entity knows that heroes and celebrities are a sure way to get attention and make money.
     And so they like to turn mere mortals into heroes, and make of human beings more than what they are actually. It would not matter if it worked to the benefit of wildlife and conservation, but it does not. Instead, the created heroes earn fame and fortune, as do the organizations bearing their names or that they represent, while the wildlife and specific species or animals they are supposed to  protect continue to suffer and decline.
      To the organization bearing the name of one particular human being made into a saint, the very species she and her organization have made fortunes from has decline by over 90 percent in the wild. The more the remaining population of the species and similar species are hunted, eaten, wiped out by the loss of their habitat, the more people send the organization money.
       In the world of wildlife and animal welfare, even when animals lose, there are organizations and individuals making out like bandits.

Stock Market T.V. Gurus: Panic To Get Out, Panic To Get In

      During the great recession, when the direction was down and panic was in the air, there they were, person after person, with few exceptions, reinforcing the gloom and doom. Many people listened and learned the hard way that following these television market gurus led to nothing good.

      When the market went down, there was barely a contrarian voice telling people that it was the time to buy, or at least not sell. 

       Now that the market is in a tear upwards, people are panicking to get in. There is hardly a contrarian voice out there urging caution. 

        Panic to get out, panic to get in. It is interesting to note that when the market crashed, it had little value to many of the gurus. Now that the market is at an all time high, they are full of reasons why it is undervalued or why it has to keep going up.

        No one has a crystal ball that can predict the future. Maybe the market will go up. Maybe it will finally correct or turn bearish. Whatever it does, it is better not to listen to the noise. For young people without the interest or desire to follow the market, long term investing can be simple and rewarding by following the advice of those that recommend low cost broad based mutual or etf index funds. Older folks are made vulnerable to the combined efforts of governments worldwide to inflate risky assets, including stock markets. If this turns out to be an ugly bubble born out of short sighted policies, older folks will not have the time to ride it out.

         It is too bad that speculation and gambling are what gets rewarded, and that hard honest labor too often gets punished.

         

           

Iran Unleashes Its Islamic Reactionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

     People have the right to protest. The clerical regime of Iran blames outside influences for the present protests, failing to accept responsibility for its own corruption and oppression. They are unleashing the IRGC, known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps, but which should be called the Islamic Reactionary Guard Corps.
     There is nothing revolutionary about the clerical regime that chokes Iran. The regime will kill and brutalize instead of reform.
     

Dark World Of Animal Cruelty, Wildlife And Conservation Gold Diggers

  Every conservation problem, every wildlife concern, everything about animal cruelty, gets turned into business or money making opportunities by some nonprofit entity and individual. Pain, suffering, awareness and concern are exploited for profit, which ensures continued failures.