Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Welcome to the New Banana Republic

I'm talking about the United States of America. 

For the last 4 years the Trump administration has been undermined in every possible way. It has been spied upon by its own organizations like the FBI & FISA courts who are normally relied on to uphold the law. It all began under Obama's watch when he decided to spy on Trump's campaign and it continues on until now. All means of hoaxes were brought on Trump and his associates. Hillary Clinton and her pals were behind some of the most nefarious of these. There are too many to mention here so I'll just mention a couple. The multiple investigations on the president for collusion with the Russians and later the Ukrainians stand out. You might recall the multi-year, multi-million dollar scam known now as the Muller Report which yielded absolutely nothing but somehow still managed to 'indict' Trump for misbehaviour. So many innocent people including generals in the US armed forces were scapegoated under the guise of Russian collusion. Turned out that the real collusion was done by the former Obama administration. The Hillary campaign used their money and influence to buy a disgraced British spy (Steele) who was a Trump hater (what else is new) who made up the entire story of Trump's Russian collusion. Actual fact that it was Hillary and the Clinton Foundation who were paying off the Russians to try and turn the election in her favour. The Biden family similarly enriched themselves by colluding with enemy states.

For far too long we have seen a 24/7 attack against a sitting president. The Democratic party, the MSM (mainstream media like CNN, MSNBC and just about every news outlet in the world), the Tech social giants (Google, Facebook, Twitter), our higher learning institutions which are all Leftwing and continue to brainwash our children, government law and order organizations (as mentioned above), nefarious billionaires like George Soros & Michael Bloomberg who fund the constant attacks on Trump and try to commit chaos unto normal American citizens and others. 

So what this had done is made us think that this is acceptable. This has become the new normal. Heck, if I didn't wake up on any given day to hear about some new charge against the president, I'd be surprised. 

The swamp that the President referred to in Washington was/is deep. It also contained many two faced Republicans who would be only too happy to throw the president under the bus and certainly have done so. 

Nothing like this has happened in US history. Despite doing the things he promised, like turning the US economy around, bringing manufacturing back to the States (Obama said it couldn't be done), bringing a semblance of peace to the world (have you noticed that under his watch there was no 9/11 like disasters?), moved the US embassy to it's long term and most reliable ally in the world, Israel, more real jobs to every segment of the US population including Blacks, Hispanics, women and other minorities, the steady stream of libellous attacks on him continue.  Despite people saying that he'll bring us into WWIII with the Russians, North Koreans, China and Iran he has done the opposite. He rebuilt the military which Obama emasculated. Peace through power is the Reagan policy he followed and it worked. There are far too many fantastic things that President Trump has managed to accomplish in less than 4 short years. Far too many to document here. It probably works out to about the same number of attacks against him. There is no doubt that he is the hardest working president who refuses to accept a dime from his salary (as promised). 

He wisely used his power (American power) to coerce uncooperative states (both friends and enemies) to do their share to combat terror. Unlike all previous administrations, he thinks out of the box and tries new ideas. No longer letting the Palestinians run the show is just one example of this. By bypassing them he was able to  negotiate once unheard of peace deals between Israel and some Muslim Gulf states.

But now the US has entered a new low. It is on the cusp of stealing an election. Despite the constant mantra by his aforementioned enemies calling for a blue Democratic wave with fake pollsters predicting a 17% gain in some states, the election was close. As Trump predicted, the Dems changed the voting rules to allow all sorts of crazy mail in ballots which would put the election in a handful of swing states in limbo. 

It's obvious that voter fraud has been committed in all of these swing states and probably others as well. Secretly, large dumps of weird (democratic only) ballots were delivered in the middle of the night to many election poll offices. Magically computer glitches appeared whereby thousands of Republican votes were tabulated as Democrat votes. Large numbers of deceased people voted for Biden. Many Democrats voted in multiple states. The math doesn't add up either. Read this.

Despite all of the odds stacked against him, President Trump still managed to garner over 70 million votes. But it's not enough. One can expect this type of behaviour from a typical banana republic. I would expect this to happen in Iran, Russia, China, Venezuela or one of a dozen other dictatorial regimes whereby elections are a joke. Everyone in their respective countries know this, as do we. When Iran has an election, does anyone really think that the radical Muslim Ayatollahs would lose?

Welcome to 2020 where one of the most fair minded and powerful countries in the world has finally crossed the line to join up with their former enemies. 

This story has not yet ended. Trump is still the president until January. He has every right and in fact obligation to prove voter fraud to the courts. The problem is that there is not much time for these complex cases to be investigated and litigated before the Supreme Court which is where this must ultimately be heard. 

I suspect that one day, (if in fact Trump gives up) years from now, the history books might see this election as I see it. The title might be '2020, the Year that the Election was Stolen'. If we let this happen, democracy will be dealt a sharp blow to the once largest democratic country in the world. 


Monday, October 19, 2020

Bari Weiss, Why are you shocked?

Dear Ms. Weiss,

You used to work for the New York Times (NYT) and recently quit after seeing the insidious antisemitism that is allowed to grow like fungus over there. Now you recently wrote a good article titled:

Stop Being Shocked - American Liberalism Is In Danger

I am not in the least shocked with Leftist/Liberal institutional antisemitism. They have a long record of hating Jews and attacking Israel. These institutions include the Democratic Party, the Mainstream Media (including the NYT), our educational system and others. The difference between you and I is that I have never been sucked in to believe their arrogant paradigms. Before I would have ever even applied to work at the NYT I would have researched their historical record on Israel and other Jewish matters. After doing that, I would have surely ran the other way. The NYT in particular had a hand in helping to forget about Jews being slaughtered and gassed in places like Auschwitz during the war. And for all these years since then, they have almost always sided against Israel and the Jews. 




So after a few years working at the infamous NYT you finally realized that the place is an antisemitic shit hole? Now you are telling us not to be shocked?

Perhaps you should remove your blinders alltogether and realize that the man you hate (President Trump) is your friend. He is the Jews best friend in the US right now and has been his entire life (this you too can and should research). 

I’m thrilled that you finally realized exactly who you were working for  and more thrilled that you are speaking out against them and against the big powerful progressive machine. But you still seem to be sitting on the fence. Why? You still have a Leftist style ‘hate’ for President Trump. Perhaps you have swallowed so much of the disinformation, lies and garbage being spoken and written by organizations like your previous employer that you are not even aware of it. 

As a journalist who’s now finally free of the tangled web of the NYT, I urge you to do what you do best and independently identify who the real Donald Trump is, based on his policies and actions. Please try to ignore his many mispoken words or words taken out of context. He is a man of action after all and has a great resume as President to prove it. Unlike you and perhaps myself, he is not the best communicator. He as much said so in his previous debate. But like you and perhaps me has courage. But he has it in spades! He also has an excellent instinct to do what is right, at the right time. I sure hope that this post reaches you in good time!

Best Regards,

Leon Kushner
Toronto, Canada

 

Friday, October 16, 2020

Don't be fooled by the Liberal's candidate in our riding of York Centre

The previous Liberal MP (Member of parliament) for our mostly Jewish suburb in Toronto, (called York Centre) was a Jewish man named Michael Levitt who resigned in order to take the CEO of the Canadian Simon Wiesenthal Centre after they fired Avi Benlolo from this post. 

Much like in the US where Jews tend to vote Democratic, here in Canada, Jews tend to vote for the Liberal party which currently holds power with the likes of PM Justin Trudeau. Even when Liberal party policy and actions prove that they are not our best friends (our = Jews and Israel) and in fact have an ongoing love affair with Islam, Palestinians and Arabs, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. This holds doubly true for the Democrats as many of their leaders are vile Jew haters. 

Sadly, I have little faith in my Jewish community to change this practise. The last time a Conservative won in my riding of York Centre was 9 years ago when Stephen Harper was our PM. I see the problem as a mix of blind stupidity and laziness. The Liberal party leaders know this too since despite the many serious, treasonous actions and behaviours that our current PM has gotten away with proves this point. Despite all the damage that he has done to us and our beautiful country, he was elected again in a second term. So all they had to do was to find a Jewish candidate and a female to boot. Heck she’s even an Israeli and a graduate of Hebrew University in Jerusalem! I know her personally as she taught yoga classes (as a substitute instructor) at the Jewish Y a few years ago. A pleasant woman to look at and talk to, she’s arguably the perfect candidate, right? After all, if you want to win this seat you must appease the mostly Jewish constituents here. Her name (a nice Israeli one) is Ya'ara Saks.




The only problem is that she is a self hater. Like Bernie Sanders in the US, he was touted by many Jewish (even Israeli) organizations as a Jewish hero. Some of the headlines I recall went something like this: "For the first time in American history, they may get a Jewish president!” They were too lazy to look into his history. As soon as they found out that he was Jewish, they looked no farther. 

So the Liberals found Ya’ara Saks. Here are but a few of her thoughts:

She wants Jews all over the world to end the ‘occupation’ of Palestinians.

She supported the AirBNB boycott of Israel.

She said: We must explore the darker chapters in Zionism.

She supported the 2019 anti-Israel at the UN.

You can see these points on a flyer from our Conservative party candidate. They finally gave up on the Jews (who can blame them) and brought forward a Philippine candidate by the name of Julius Tiangson. Here are the bullet points for his party on that same flyer:

Voted with Israel in the UN during Harper’s tenure.

Opposed BDS including the failed AirBNB boycott of Israel.

Recognized Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.

Wants to move our embassy to Jerusalem.

Supports the right of Israelis to self determination.

Supports the only true democracy in the region - Israel.

Our neighbourhood has a large Philippino population. Thanks to many Jewish families, we brought mostly young Philippino nannies here to help raise our children. They thrived here. They grew so large that every year in our neighbourhood they have a huge street party here with all sorts of vendors & entertainment. In our local park where I often walk my dogs, there is a huge outdoor amphitheatre where their community usually performs (music and dancing) on Israel’s birthday. 

So please, don’t be fooled by the Liberal’s candidate. If you hate Jews/Israel then by all means for the self hating Jew, Ya’ara Saks. If you like Jews and support Israel then you must vote for Julius Tiangson.


If you want to know more about her, read this.

Friday, October 9, 2020

Let Me Spell It Out For You

The upcoming US election brings 2 extreme opposites up for contention and the results will be extremely different. 

On the one hand, if President Trump is reelected, the world will be in a better place. He has proved his capability in turning around a stilted economy to one that has resulted in more jobs for ALL citizens, women, men, young, old, Black, White, poor & rich. And these are good jobs in valuable sectors like manufacturing and energy, not the low paying service jobs that the previous administration bragged about creating. These are real jobs in the private sector, not the 'fake' jobs in the bureaucratic government sector. These jobs are the same jobs that Obama said were lost forever and will never come back. 

The only manufacturing that the Democrats are good at is the manufacturing of bold lies. We all know that the bigger the lie, the best chance it has to stick. And boy have they ever told some big ones. Their entire policy (yes they do have a policy) has been to not allow Donald Trump to be their president. They built every possible lie up front, prior to the 2016 election and of course over the past 4 years. They are experts at projection. They accused Trump of colluding with the Russians to generate dirt against the Hillary campaign, when in fact that's exactly what THEY did. Every hoax they put in place to attack the president was built on exactly the terrible, treasonous actions that they themselves did. 

The President has made the world a whole lot safer with his policies and actions. Like abrogating Obama's Iran deal. You know the one where the former president and VP Biden air lifted millions of dollars of cold hard cash to the mullahs in Iran in the middle of the night to try to convince them (appease) not to continue to develop nuclear bombs and missiles. Making the US energy independent by cancelling ridiculous laws from the previous regime, that made it impossible for American companies to drill for oil either by fracking or off shore in their own country instead of relying on enemies to supply it. 

The Trump administration stands for law and order which means that its citizens will be safe. This should be the prime focus for every state leader. He has the support of every police office in the country because they know he means it because he not only says it, he's done it. As opposed to Biden and his handlers who want to defund the police and eliminate other security agencies.

His accomplishments are so staggering that it would take me hundreds of pages to list them all. Likewise it would take many pages to list all the policies and actions that Biden has gotten wrong during his 47 years in politics. 

The president is not a good a communicator. We know it, the Dems know it and the president knows it. But actions speak louder than words. Always have, always will. He is a man of action. I wish he was better at using words but it's certainly not my first wish. His handling of just about every issue (with policy and actions) has been right on. From being the first president to really stand by its closest and most reliable ally, Israel to his razor focus on a giant enemy, China who has managed somehow to slip under the radar all these years until now. He is arguably one of the most courageous presidents of all time. He has no problem with holding our enemies to the fire and asking our 'friends' for moneys that are owed (a great example of this is how he managed to get members of NATO to fork up the billions of dollars of delinquent payments). 

While Trump was dealing with the Corona virus and other real, existential threats (like eliminating the worlds most dangerous terrorists: Bin Laden's son, al-Baghdadi, al-Muhajir of ISIS & Soleimani to name a few), the Dems were busy building a coup to up-seat him. But despite investigation after investigation they came up empty. The multi-year Muller report yielded nothing for example. While the president took the virus seriously (I know that's not the narrative that the Dems want you to believe) by early on stopping incoming flights from China (exactly where the virus was created), the Dems (Biden in particular) accused him of xenophobia. Nancy Pelosi rushed to China Town on camera to help make their point. Now suddenly they accuse him of not taking the virus seriously. 

So thanks to the President's excellent good sense, he and his excellent people would turn the economy around again and soon. He wants to open it up. He wants to keep you safe while not destroying the lives and businesses of ordinary citizens. The Dems who have clearly turned sharp left in the last 10 years, want to bring Socialism to the US. This is not just a statement by me. This is their stated goal. It's part of their Green New Deal. It's about getting rid of cars, cows, coal, nuclear energy (in fact all and any American energy sectors). It includes policies like open borders. Their plans are designed to create a larger government with more power than ever before, built to control Americans. It's designed to make us dependant on the government for EVERYTHING while destroying the natural ingenuuity, work ethic and morality of its citizens. These combined policies will destroy America from the inside out. And since America is currently the world's largest and most powerful country, it will have a disastrous impact on the world. 

While the Dems are composed and support nasty, racist, violent organizations like BLM, Antifa, CAIR and other vile, terror sponsoring, war mongering states like Iran & China, the Republicans and their mensch of a leader Donald Trump fights these existential threats and supports and rewards their allies like Israel.  And he's done all of this while being attacked at home by the Democratic party, the MSM (mainstream media), colleges and universities &  the worlds largest tech giants and even some members within his own party who are part of the swamp. 

If G-d forbid Biden wins, the stock market will plummet that very day and will proceed lower in the weeks and months ahead. Because businesses know that Trump policies helped them succeed and Biden's policies will help them go bankrupt. Once again manufacturing will leave the US. The Excellent (fair) trade deals that the president had worked so hard to create would be destroyed over night. All those very real jobs that existed thanks to Trump that were created due to his trade deals, tax code simplification and removal of vast chunks of crippling red tape regulations from previous administrations would come flying back. 

Biden's love affair with the US's enemies like China and Iran would help destroy us all. Spying on American citizens and their opponents in particular would increase 100 fold. Islam terror which if you haven't noticed has been very quiet lately, will come back to haunt us. He is the first president from either party who has thrown away previous insane foreign policies like the one that has let Arabs who call themselves 'Palestinians'  (who have been led by some of the most nefarious leaders of our time), call the shots. Every prior president (especially Obama) has bent over backwards to appease them in order to achieve 'peace' in the Middle East. Trump and his team who are definitely the opposite of insane and who in fact saw the insanity of prior administrations and the EU in particular, finally came to the only logical conclusion. If you want to help make peace over there, one must go around the problem players (The Palis!). And he did. His latest deals with some Gulf States help to prove this point. Under Obama or even Bush, these deals would never have a chance, and they did not. They were never even attempted. 

Those nefarious people who want Biden to win, want him to win for their own slimy reasons. This post is not meant for them. They won't read it and if they did they'd want to shut me down. I'm writing this for those folks who know at heart that at least some of the facts I've mentioned are true. They know that finally under Trump's administration they had finally found real, well paying jobs despite some of them being Black and the president being White (at least before the pandemic hit). They know that thanks to Trump the world is a safer place. They know that their leaders have never admitted defeat in 2016 and have tried every trick in the book (going as far as impeaching him for nothing) to oust him. They know that despite Trump being a poor talker, he is one of the hardest workers they've ever seen. They know deep down (they might not admit it), that Biden suffers from dementia. They know that he's a puppet and that soon after he becomes president, he'd be removed. His handlers would appoint Harris who's record is no less dismal than that of Biden's. And who is equally (if not more so) beholden to the uber Left Islamic-Socialists Squad, led by AOC. While sleepy Joe spends most of his time hiding in his basement, the president never ceases to do his job (the most important job in the world) even when sick with the Covid virus.

Those who continue to call the President names, like children do to one another, names like racist, women hater and too many other nasty names (including 'clown' by Biden during the debate) have devolved into small people. When you've got no facts to back up your argument you always revert to name calling. They suffer from cognitive dissonance. This is a form of self brain washing. They have been told by almost every TV show, be it news channels like CNN or MSNBC, entertainment shows like Saturday Night Live who have constantly insulted the president in the most demeaning ways or sports where they get to watch their favourite athletes take a knee when the Star Spangled Banner is being played, to hate Donald Trump. After all he has orange hair!  Most of these people are not fools. Deep down they know that something is wrong with this picture. But they've swallowed too much of the kool-aid to back out now. It's simply easier to follow this charade despite this being their (and our) demise. It might be painful (ie. they might get a head ache) to even consider alternate views now. But believe me, it will be (not might be) far more painful if they take the easy route, put their blinders on and vote for Biden. He is the real racist. He stands for all the wrong things (if he even stands for anything). He is the real crook. He represents all of the evil in the world right now.  

President Trump is not perfect. Far from it. Because after all, he is a human being like the rest of us. But he is the real patriot in the room. He truly wants the best for all Americans. While Biden and his family (his son Hunter in particular) have made a career in politics to help them gain money (lots of it) and power, the president who was a successful businessman has pushed aside his aspirations to succeed in business for the sake of his country. He risks his life to do so every day.

Some of you might think that the terrible violence that's going on in many Democrat led cities will stop if only we elect Biden. You couldn't be more wrong. That would only embolden them to attack more and harder. 

Some of you might think that I'm exaggerating the issue. That even if Biden wins and even if some of what I say comes true, after 4 years we can throw the Dems out and try again. Again, you couldn't be more wrong. They have stated (if not clearly) that they want to change the rules to help keep them in power.  If elected they plan to appoint more (stack the Supreme Court) Left leaning Democrat judges. Even the Left leaning, late, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg was against this (read this) idea. Remember people that these are life time appointments! 

Perhaps even more devious is their plan to 'stack the electoral college' by creating 2 more Democratic voting states (Washington DC & Puerto Rico). They don't want what's best for the country, they want what's best for them to get into power and stay there forever. Their policies all point to this. Open borders whereby illegal aliens are encouraged to sneak in here and become citizens instantly and of course vote for them are more proof of this. 

If you believe in G-d and agree with what I've said here, I urge you to pray for a Trump/Pence win. 

Even if you don't believe in G-d I urge you to stand with the president. 

I hope I spelled it out for you!

MAGA!







 

Friday, October 2, 2020

Add Chris Wallace to my list of Self Haters

I’ve watched the journalist, Chris Wallace move up through the ranks over his career. His father was the late, famous, Mike Wallace of the TV show ’60 Minutes’. In the US there is only one right wing news channel ‘Fox News’. There one can watch shows like Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Ingraham Angle and others. People like Sean Hannity are super patriots who adore President Trump. But even on Fox there are those who are Left if not official Democrats. People like Juan Williams is definitely one of these. You can watch him on The Five. He is usually one of 5 pundits who analyze the latest news bites. He typically attacks Trump (regardless of the issue) while the rest usually defend and praise the president. Chris Wallace also fits in there like Juan. The pretence is to appear neutral and objective. But in actuality he is neither. It’s a facade.


 My proof is the last debate. As is usually the case, when the president is involved in an official, public debate, he is tag teamed by both his opponents and the moderator. In the recent Trump vs Biden debate, this was no different. If you missed it, let me point out some disgusting points by the moderator, Mr. Wallace:

1. While the president often interrupted Biden, the VP treated the president with the most disrespect ever given to a sitting president in public and aired on TV on a debate that was watched by millions of people (if not billions). Amongst other comments, he told the president to shut up, called him a clown and a liar (more than once). Like him or not, one must treat the President of the USA with respect (in public at least). And what did the moderator (Chris) do? Nothing. In fact he admonished the president for interrupting. What would have happened had Romney told then president Obama during their televised debate to shut up? A decent moderator would have admonished Biden to watch his tongue and offer an apology immediately. With Chris appeasing Biden at every opportunity, Biden obviously felt emboldened to continue to insult the President at will. Can you imagine what world leaders were thinking when they watched that? They were probably shocked and appalled that in the US anyone can insult the President to his face in public on TV, including a former VP and not only get a pass by the moderator but also by the Democratic party and the MSM like CNN approves. 

2. As I write this, terrible violence is ongoing in many cities throughout the US. Mostly in Democratic run cities. Everyone knows that 99% of the violence is caused by Leftists. Uber left wing organizations like Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) are doing the violence. President Trump knows it and certainly speaks up about it regularly. But Biden and Wallace know it too. It’s such a big problem, that everyone knows about it whether they’ll admit it or not. It is arguably the biggest issue facing the US right now. Of course the second wave of the Covid virus and its economic impacts are huge. But if you lived in any of the many Democratic run cities that are under siege by violent rioters, looters, many carrying weapons who have murdered innocent citizens and police and caused millions of dollars of damage to property (both private and public), you would quickly forget about the loss of income or the danger of contracting Covid. You would rightly be concerned about protecting your family and your community. These places are like war zones with fires raging in the streets, sirens wailing and shots fired. So it begs the question, why would the moderator not ask Biden why he and his party seem okay with the violence. Or perhaps ask him directly if he’d disavow Black Lives Matter or Antifa. Instead he asks the President (he’s been asked this a million times already) if he would disavow white supremists who Chris claimed were also behind the violence. To make his point, Chris found a case of a white supremacist who was guilty of being a violent demonstrator. 
One would have thought that this issue of cities throughout the US being torn apart while Biden and his party are pushing to defund police departments throughout the country, close down the DEA (federal drug enforcement) and ICE (Immigration enforcement) and support violent, racist, murdering, Marxist groups like BLM and Antifa would be one of the first questions that must be put to Biden. 

Besides all of the great accomplishments that President Trump has done in less than 4 years (economy, foreign relations, trade, deregulation, jobs, etc.) he has been the best friend to Jews and Israel. Far better than any American president in history. Therefore anyone who disparages Trump for any reason is attacking the Jewish people and of course the one and only tiny Jewish nation, Israel, whether they intended to or not. 




Chris Wallace certainly helped to disparage the president (again). He made it clear who’s side he’s on. In fact just now I heard that both the President and his wife have unfortunately contracted Covid-19.  G-d willing they will both get through it in good health! But even now, instead of wishing them a quick recovery, Chris had to throw in his 2 cents here, admonishing the President’s family for not wearing masks during the debate. If any of Biden’s family were not wearing masks, I doubt we’d hear it from Chris. 

A while back I posted ‘Some Jews are the Cause of Antisemitism’ on my blog. There I laid out a short list of prominent Jewish people who are not only self haters but they promote antisemitism. Since Chris Wallace is Jewish (I have no idea how he sees himself) I hereby add him to my list. 

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

You Are Not Alone!

I write this column today to honour all of those people who are on the Right. That is, they believe that those on the Left have gone so far Left that they've lost complete focus on what's real vs what's imagined. What's important vs what might seem important. What's true and what's absolutely false. 

Trying to speak out publicly on the Right can cause you harm. It often does. Today there are so many cases of Right wingers getting hurt or even killed for wearing a Trump cap. 

Is it any wonder that most Conservatives or Republicans are quiet when it comes to everything but mundane things like talking about the weather?

That's why all the polls in the 2016 American election were wrong. They all predicted a strong win for Hillary and they all predicted that Trump had no chance of ever becoming the president. We are not looking for trouble. We are not looking for a fight. And most of us are not even looking for an argument. We are convinced that our wishes align with the policies of the leaders that WE choose. 

Despite living in a Left leaning, Liberal country (Canada), I am constantly, happily surprised to meet and hear from people on the Right. Some are people I might have known for years but out of fear of attacks or otherwise negative consequences for them liking President Trump, being avid Zionists, disliking our PM Trudeau, identifying BLM for the antisemitic, communist organization that it really is and conforming to other Right wing thinking, have kept quiet. They have done their best to keep their innermost feelings under wraps. Rather than getting into heated debates with family, friends, colleagues at work, employers or even strangers and risk losing close relationships or even a job, they have decided that it's best to keep quiet. I can certainly relate. Although I

consider myself an exception to a point as I am quite vociferous when it comes to antisemitism and other important issues, I too do not look for a fight. I consider myself non-confrontational. I think most people who know me would agree. Yet I can't tell you how many times I've been sucked in to arguments (actually more like attacks) surrounded by people who can't fathom why anyone would like President Trump or why anyone doesn't like PM Trudeau or why people like me don't agree with THEM on the thought of the day (ie. anything they might come up with on any given moment because tomorrow they might reverse course and think the opposite). I never look for trouble but if asked a question I don't hesitate to give an honest answer. 

I'm in a good position because I'm old and I'm retired. I'm also not famous or wealthy. So I have little to lose by exposing myself as a Jewish activist, proud white Conservative male. Although not a fan of labels like Conservative, I'm okay with using them as a general way to describe who I am. No one can fire me for my Right Wing remarks. Suing me won't get them any money either. Calling me out publicly would probably help my cause. I feel sorry for my fellow colleagues who would love to speak out about their innermost feelings about the dangers facing the world today and our grandchildren tomorrow. The indoctrination of our youth by a Left Wing educational system, the constant brainwashing of the rest of us by the Mainstream Media (MSM), the disturbing lawlessness by many on the Left and cooperation and in fact push for the destruction of democracy, capitalism, family, freedom of speech and many other hallmarks of good people by some in government and by many large social media giants are just a few points that many of us on the Right want to fix. The first step in fixing a problem is to identify it in words. If we can't get to that first step, then we'll never fix the problem. 

Do a search for something like 'boy attacked for wearing a Maga hat' on youtube and you will find an endless list of videos depicting all sorts of people being attacked by those on the Left. From children to war vets, you can watch all of the disturbing things taking place on a daily basis and that's just in the US. I picked one at random here.

There are many ways to express yourself without exposing yourself to trouble. One can often post articles or comments on social media anonymously for example. Similarly one can make donations to excellent organizations anonymously as well. I will never judge someone on the Right who keeps silent, negatively. Maybe he or she runs a business and does not want to risk losing customers. Maybe someone is an employee and does not want to lose their job. There are a myriad reasons why one keeps quiet on political issues. An obvious baseline reason is that 'It's no one's business who I plan to vote for' for example. 

The point is that you are not alone. Please rest assured that there are many of us who share your well thought out views. These same thoughts that were rolling around in your mind for years have also been shared by many others who might be as silent as you or as loud as me. So let me suggest to you, the silent majority that you need not let the Left silence you. I'm not saying not to use common sense when you want to voice your opinion.  But I am saying not to totally give in or give up. Together we can make a difference. Together we can set an example for others who either share our views or are thirsting for another opinion. We don't all have to agree on everything. People rarely do. But we would be wise to seek out like minded people from whom we can draw strength and gain insights. It's not healthy to keep your concerns to yourself. It is healthy to talk them over with friends (real friends) who care about you and the things that concern you. Do yourself a favour. If you are the silent type, write your thoughts/concern down. Afterwards you are free to share your written words just like I'm doing now. Even if no one reads them, you'll feel better. Trust me!





Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Ode to Ageing Skiers

I thought I'd take a break from politics and write about something that's personal to me. Water skiing! 

Here's a great pic of my daughter water skiing into the sunset! (She is not however, who I'm referring to in this post)

I just turned 64 last week and celebrated with my family and some cottage friends up north at our cottage. One of them lent us a portable karaoke machine and we sang, ate and drank on our dock. It was a blast.

The point is, I'm no longer young. Now when I get injured or sick, it seems to take forever to recover. So prior to every cottage season I get anxious about one of my favourite past times: water skiing. My wife and late father in law taught me how to ski when I joined their family in my twenties. I had never had the chance to water ski before. In fact until then, I had never seen a cottage that was on the shore of a lake with a boat! I fell, what seemed like hundreds of times before I finally got up on 2 skis. Then I proceeded to fall another hundred times before I got up on one ski and finally learned how to slalom ski. The more my wife and friends laughed at my spectacular falls and after drinking half the lake, the more I was determined to learn this sport and excel at it. By the time I hit 30 I was a fairly good water skier.

We are on a small lake called Dark Lake which is about 1 km long and less than half a km wide. Thankfully it does connect to the much larger Lake Muskoka through a small channel. 

When the stars line up -Ie. no serious injuries, the boat works, my wife (an excellent boat driver) is available and up to it driving, a spotter is available (one needs another person in the boat besides the driver to watch the skier),  the weather is good, the lake is calm and there are no other boats on the lake, I just might have the ski of my life. But as I age, the stars seem to rarely line up. Mostly it's me. Every year I develop more issues. This year it was tennis elbow on both arms (no I don't play tennis so I don't even know why I have this) and breathing issues. My knees have been shot for many years now. I tore my ACL on my right knee years ago and have 2 metal screws holding it together. I think the screws are loosening up now so when I ski hard or ski on choppy water they hurt even more. 

I know I'm not alone. I have a few friends that are also not young anymore who also love to ski. We all share the same concerns. One of them I've yet to mention is lake etiquette. This happens so often to many of us. We get ready to go skiing. We get the driver, the spotter, setup the tow rope, life jacket, water ski and gloves ready. In my case I wear a double boot ski which takes a bit of extra time to put on. Since we are old farts, it's a good idea to stretch prior to ski in order to avoid injury. I am usually exhausted before I even put my ski in the water!  So just when we are ready to begin our wild ride on the water at good speed, an exhilarating ride that typically lasts no more than 10 minutes, another boat magically appears on the water shlepping kids on a tube or maybe some sea doers pop up out of no where running circles on our little lake. So we wait patiently on our docks hoping that they will quit soon and give someone else a chance to enjoy the water (us). But it rarely works out that way. They are having too much fun to realize that maybe someone else wants to use the lake if only for 10 minutes. So quite often we either try to ski somewhere else (ie. in a quiet bay in the larger Lake Muskoka) or we simply give up. Sometimes (I've done this before out of rage- not a good idea), I've gone skiing amidst the mayhem. What usually ends up happening is that I have a terrible ski. The waves caused by the tube riders or other boats make my ability to cut back and forth and get into a nice slalom rhythm, impossible. Rarely do they get the message that they don't own the lake. My knees hurt more and more injuries are likely. 

Is there a solution? I doubt it. Some of us are considering publishing and distributing a short list of rules for lakeside etiquette. An example might be to take the tube rides and sea doers out in the big lake. Another might be to wait 10 minutes after towing someone in order to give someone else a turn. Yet another would be to drive in the same direction as any other boat(s) that might already be on the water. Believe it or not I recall way too often on a busy summer long weekend watching 2 boats going in one direction and a third going in the opposite direction. This is a recipe for disaster! One might think this should be a matter of common sense yet this happens so often it's hard to believe. I also know the psychology of many cottagers. Especially ones that are new to the lake. They have a limited time frame to use it and by gosh nothing is going to stop them form enjoying every minute of it. 

Many of us elders have tried to talk nicely to a cottager who needed to understand for safety sake what the required lakeside etiquette is, only to be told in few words exactly where to go. 

But water skiing is like golf. I'm a typical, average player (if that). I don't get out that often but when I do I enjoy myself. I can't forget learning the game not that many years ago. My first couple dozen shots either went a few yards forwards or worse, a few yards backwards. Eventually though I finally hit the ball high and kind of far and more or less in the right direction. It reminded me of watching a professional golfer hit the ball. (It was nothing like a pro though, believe me.)

Video of me water skiing on our little lake

That's what draws us back to the game. That one good shot is what we remember. Hopefully we forget the dozens of terrible shots we made. The same holds true with water skiing. Despite all of the hurdles we face (especially us ageing skiers) like the ones I already mentioned, when the stars line up and we manage to ski on glass like water and have some of the best cuts ever with large rooster tails, our eyes light up and the adrenaline kicks in. Those skies at sunset flying over the boat wake at sun set, looking at the beautiful purple and orange colours reflecting on the water as we criss cross over it are memories that are etched in our minds and call us back for more.