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.

The Dishonesty of our Opponents

 I recall a post I wrote years ago decrying that I prefer then president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over then president of the US, Barak Obama. Because Mahmoud was honest about his hatred for us. He made no secret about his desire to wipe Israel and the US off the map. Obama on the other hand tried to hide his hatred for Israel and America. He would from time to time say the right things, like: 'Don't worry Israel, we've got your back' but his actions were to constantly stab Israel & America in the back. At election time he declared that there is no black or white Americans, there are simply Americans yet today he is on a mission to divide Americans by colour (something he started when he became president). 

Democrat leaders in the US and Liberal leaders in Canada and elsewhere seem to be consistent in their dishonesty. One can see thousands of videos and statements of these people saying one thing years ago and saying quite the opposite today. Here is a clip of Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer voicing his opposition to letting in illegal immigrants into the US from 11 years ago. His immigration policy then mirrors President Trump's immigration policy today. Today he stands for open borders because he takes his orders from the Squad with members like Ilhan Omar and AOC.  

Here is a clip of Obama prior to becoming president on immigration reform. Although his policy then didn't mirror that of Schumer at the time or President Trump, it certainly didn't match his immigration policy when he became president. 

Here is a clip of an interview of senator Gabbord in 2019 on her calling out senator Harris (when they were both running for the Democratic nominee) on her promise to reform prisoners. Here is another clip of Harris (chosen by Biden's handlers to be his VP and she of course accepted the nomination) calling him out as a racist and sexual predator. Watch at 3:50 minutes into the clip. Now it's a virtual love in between them. Biden has said that because 'he is an old guy' we can expect her to lead the country as early as 2021!

Here is the infamous clip in 2012 of then president Obama declaring to an AIPAC (mostly Jewish) audience that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that it must remain undivided. Here he walks back his previous statement that Jerusalem must remain undivided.

I think you get the point. Now I'm not saying that one can't change their minds on things. Sometimes events change causing the person to change their minds on policy issues. I'm also not saying that Conservative, Republican or otherwise Right leaning people haven't also behaved this way. I even admit to having confirmation bias. That is since I agree with most right wing policies I have obviously attempted to prove my case right here. But I'll leave it to you to decide if this insidious and dangerous behaviour is more common on the Republican/Conservative/Right or more common on the Democrat/Liberal/Left. To me it's blatantly obvious who is more guilty of this dishonesty. 

To make a more general point, let's use the Iran deal as an example. There are many people out there (I won't even use labels like Left or Right) who claimed that they supported Obama's Iran deal because as he stated 'it would stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and in fact would protect Israel. '

Most Israelis of all parties and many of us outside of Israel knew better. We knew that Obama was trying to befriend Iran mainly so he could add to his legacy that he brokered the biggest and most important peace deal in history. At the time Iran could have (and did) ask for anything including all kinds of loop holes and money in order to get Obama to sign the deal which he did with a smile. He bent over backwards to appease them. 

Most of those people who claimed to support the deal because they wanted peace in the Middle East were lying. Not all of them because some of them believed the main stream media who defended Obama at every corner and helped to paint the picture that he wanted them to paint. But as for the rest of them: They were DISHONEST. The truth was that they really didn't give a crap whether or not Israel ceased to exist. They were no fans of Jews so why worry about Israel. Why start a potential war with Iran just because Iran is threatening to wipe Israel off the map? (They did neglect Iran's same threat against the great satan, the USA). It was a similar mindset to most of the world who looked the other way when the Nazis were gassing Jews during the Holocaust. 

I'd respect our opponents who are honest with their hatred or indifference towards us much more than those who are dishonest in their approach for attacking us or not defending us. It's so important to know the policies of our leaders and the reasons for their policies. If our leaders only policy is to get elected and therefore behave like a leaf in the wind and consult surveys of the public on every issue prior to deciding their own policy, we are in big trouble. 

All Lives Matter

The world is not in a good place right now. We are always in a perpetual war between good and evil. That will never change. When evil pushes good down, we are in trouble. 

The way I see it is that evil is winning. To me it’s dead obvious. I live in Canada. A relatively safe place. Actually one of the safest places to live in the world right now. But even here, evil is flourishing. Starting with our PM who is enjoying his second term, Trudeau junior must be living the dream. He and his people (those are the ones actually running the show) are grabbing a little more power every day. The Conservative party which normally acts as counter balance to the left leaning Liberal and NDP parties is weak. Conservative citizens have lost their collective voice. They are either intimidated to speak their minds or have slowly been brainwashed by everyone else. The anti-Trump movement combined with Antifa and BLM (Black Lives Matter) movements have spilled into Canada as expected. My casual interactions with Canadians of all backgrounds backs this up. Even if the discussion revolves around BLM and even if the people I talk to believe in the rule of law and are against the looting & violence caused by BLM or Antifa they somehow think it’s all president Trump’s fault. While he is one of the few leaders who is trying to protect Americans from BLM or Antifa (an almost impossible job), he continues to be attacked on all sides. Meanwhile his opponents continue to get away with murder. I suspect that the current world view of Trump from almost all Westernized countries is the same. Israel is the notable exception. But even there one can see huge cracks. 

So I appear to stand alone in Canada as the sole Trump supporter. I’m alone in my abhorrence of BLM. I’m alone in my objection to shutting down the world over covid-19. I’m alone in my dislike of my own prime minister. I’m alone in my absolute support of Israel. I’m alone in my decree that Jewish Lives Matter. I even stand alone in my shout out that All Lives Matter. I’m alone in my cries to fix our education system. My calls to shut down the UN and Canada’s CBC (Cdn Broadcasting Corp) have fallen on deaf ears. My insistence that Israel is an owner of Judea and Samaria (aka West Bank), not an occupier seems also to be a minority opinion. 

I don’t have a solution. I can only hope that good people will prevail in the end. Is this wishful thinking? Perhaps. Like minded voices seem to be getting quiet. With the economic crisis affecting the world thanks to those nefarious people, organizations, politicians and corporations who are using the pandemic to exploit their dark plans to destroy the West, many of us are just too busy trying to stay afloat than bother to react to any of this.  That’s why I cherish those that do react properly. Those that vociferously oppose evil. I can’t wait to read the many emails I get that continue to posit wonderful ideas and unfortunately but necessarily inform us of ongoing evils all around us that I receive  every day. From big names like Caroline Glick to the far too many to name, lessor known people who often write insightful articles about these important topics. 

But the pressure to conform is great. Those of us who watch TV regularly are exposed to a constant array of insidious, left wing brainwashing. It’s impossible to escape. The MSM (main stream media) are not our friends. They are in a de facto partnership with Leftist politicians and states.  

So I’m asking you now. Please do your best to ignore all of the lies and dishonesty. If you can please speak out. Speak out now or forever hold your words. The Left certainly has been emboldened. Antisemitic and anti-white organizations like BLM continue to make gains. Many businesses including large corporations as well as governments have been intimidated enough to appease them. Even many Jewish organizations such as the ADL have bought their poison. They partner with vile antisemites like Al Sharpton and Linda Sarsour. One can attend many liberal synagogues (especially Reform ones) and expect to hear cries of support for the Black community while hearing silence in support of our own Jewish community. No one dares mention the antisemitism that prevails within the BLM movement. If we can’t be an example to the world of how people should behave, then how are third wold countries supposed to behave? And the third world has a huge segment of the world’s population. They may be poor but they are many. 

What really hurts is that Jews should know better. We should have learned by now, that we are alone. We can’t rely on anyone else to protect us (other than G-d if you believe in him). When Jews were attacked and murdered earlier this year in the US mostly by Black people, the silence was deafening.  Other than a few Jewish rags who reported it, it was mostly ignored by the MSM. And what was the reaction by us? Did we start looting stores? Damage property? Attack Blacks? Ask to defund the police? Attack the President? Can you imagine what would have happened if that cop who killed the black criminal was Jewish?

G-d Help Us!

Covid 19 - Overreaction?

A friend of mine sent this email to me. It's from an American. I have been bombarded with all sorts of information about the virus we call Covid 19. I assume you have as well. This email poses a new paradigm that I think is not only worth considering but it has been totally ignored by most of us, especially in the media:

I have never posted a “my thoughts“ narrative on Facebook before, and I hope never will again, but the hysteria, political posturing, and unreasonable virtue signaling stemming from the current coronavirus pandemic has compelled me to do so - so here goes:
What is most needed is to analyze what we know about the virus and it’s effects, how to minimize it spread (within reason and social acceptability), assess our relative risk as individuals, look at collective characteristics for group risk determination, and balance our response within a cost/benefit framework.
With that approach in mind, I offer the following (my thesis is derived from a cross-section of sources, and I recognize the data is in flux, but the reasoning I have used is sound):

— The risk of death to healthy individuals under the age of 50 is extremely low, even if one contracts the virus. People over 60 and those with underlying health conditions are the most vulnerable, but over 90% of them are not going to die from this virus.
— The death rates reported are not reflective of the actual number of cases out there, just the number that are confirmed. Thus, it represents a maximum rate of death, not the actual rate of death. Since this virus is often undetected, and many cases go unreported, the actual death rate is almost certain to be well under 1% when all the data is collected. There is good statistical evidence to suggest that the rate of infection is much higher than has been assumed. It is not unreasonable to anticipate that we will learn the death rate from this virus is much closer to a conventional flu death rate than it is to the current stated rate of 1.4% in the U.S.   Keep in mind that this is the death rate for those who are infected. The death rate for the entire population will be less than 1/10 of 1%. So the absolute risk of death for a US citizen is EXTREMELY low. And the relative risk for healthy, young individuals is virtually zero. And that is the best news we could hope for, as children die from conventional flu at much higher rates than they do from covid 19. That is a bright spot that is too often overlooked as we deal with this pandemic.
I suspect we will develop an accurate test for antibodies that will at some point in the future determine the death rate to be much lower than the current rate stated in the media, and we will become fully aware that the media fueled panic was extremely overdone.
   Given these facts, why aren’t we focusing on isolating/quarantining the most at risk individuals, with measures as extreme as necessary to prevent them from being infected? If one is at high risk, their self interest should  make them much more amenable to extreme measures, and much more likely to follow recommended protocol than is the general population. Keeping them protected would have the greatest likelihood of preventing the healthcare system from being overwhelmed when the viral peak occurs since they are the ones being hospitalized most frequently. Self interest and the will to survive are great motivators, and the most vulnerable have the most at stake. Let’s harness that rather than relying on the non existent wisdom and understanding of a younger population who simply are not at risk of death from this virus. Their sense of invincibility makes them poor allies in the effort to fight this virus in the current approach. The existing shut down of business and industry across the board will be less effective in protecting the most vulnerable than what I propose. In terms of protecting the most vulnerable, it doesn’t matter what the infection rate is among the younger and healthy population if we keep the vulnerable isolated and protected from them. If this were the focus of our efforts it would allow a more rapid peak of the virus and allow the vulnerable to return to normal life more quickly in a controlled manner based upon their level of vulnerability. This approach would prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed, which is the fundamental purpose behind our efforts.
     The continued shut down of our economy will have cascading affects resulting in more overall harm to our society then will the health effects from the virus. These effects happen to be diffuse and not transparently linked to the shut down, and are too easily ignored in the calculus of a cost/benefit analysis. But they are real and quantifiable with close scrutiny and study. I know I set myself up for criticism as a cold, heartless person to state this, but the emotionally appealing mantra of “anything it takes to save even one life is worth it“ is simply intellectual fraud, usually invoked as a virtue signal to rally others to embrace a course of action that may not be the best when viewed through a broader and deeper perspective. Our real world experience is based upon trade offs that frequently accept a level of lives lost. We are dealing with a novel virus that is forcing us to confront this harsh, painful reality. A prolonged economic shutdown could easily be more deadly and more painful than the approach I am suggesting.
    Finally, there is the danger of losing something that is as precious and valuable as life itself, something that can be easily lost in the “fog of war” that the fight against the virus has caused to descend upon us. That “something” is the ability to live our lives as free people, protected by the United States Constitution from the tyranny of unrestrained government. Restrictions on our freedom of movement, our right to assembly, the use and control of our property, and the ability to provide for and defend our families and loved ones are all at stake in our response to this virus. The risks to our health are real and must be addressed, but let’s do so without fear, panic, and devoid of reasoned analysis. We have much more at stake than we can readily see.

I loved that and agree with it and it’s pretty much what I’ve been saying. That in every decision we make in life we do a cost/benefit analysis. We’ve done it so often, thousands of times a day, that it’s almost done by rote. The rush to shut down the world over this virus seems like an over reaction to me. We’ve never done this before yet we’ve had serious pandemics before. Why then are we doing this now? 

I certainly agree that the challenge to save every life is a noble one and worth pursuing but at what cost? I think that the combination of economic hardship that will be with us for years after this pandemic is over plus the emotional scars and other real illnesses and deaths from dealing with the isolation, job loss, school loss and huge financial losses is a far bigger threat to us than the virus itself. 

I'm in no way saying that we shouldn't take this virus seriously. But what both the gentleman who wrote the email above and I am saying is that like in all existential events, we must consider all options, calmly and rationally and then act.  This mantra ties back to my previous post 'We Must Dig Deeper'.  

Stay safe and don't panic!

We Must Dig Deeper

This latest virus attack from China is a terrible tragedy. Mostly because it could have been averted.

Had China behaved like a normal democracy, they would have asked for and received help immediately from other states who have the expertise to limit the damage from this new virus.

Wuhan, China

But since China is the farthest thing from a 'normal democracy', the worst possible scenario came out of this. A deadly pandemic that has attacked the world and is still growing. Possibly worse than the illness is the dreadful economic impact. Sadly I think it is this impact that will affect far more people than just the illness alone. When the world is racing to stand still, when people both wealthy and poor stop working, when students stop learning, when our elderly and sick are stuck in isolation for an untold time period, when life savings disappear in mere weeks and when people are literally losing their minds, we are in serious trouble. 

And again who must we thank for all of this? China.

But wait. China on her own is not solely to blame. We are also guilty. Because we opted to buy their products that albeit were of cheaper quality but cost us less. Wealthy businesses and entrepreneurs all followed the same mantra. Make it in China. With their slave labour and government interference in private business (they give them subsidies), they obviously have an unfair advantage in keeping their costs down. How many times have I heard Kevin O'Leary on 'The Dragon's Den' (an interesting show where wealthy business people listen to all sorts of entrepreneurs pitch business ideas) lecture the guests on making the new products in China...

To save $20 dollars years ago, we chose a Chinese made TV over the US made one. Of course that had a domino effect. The less American products we bought, the fewer sales the US companies had, the more they had to raise the cost. Until finally they gave up and closed shop or worse, moved production to China. That last move was one of desperation. I guess the CEO's went for short term gain. Even they must have known that in time the Chinese would copy their products that were being made for them in China and eventually would sell them directly to the West and put these American businesses out of business. 

So greed won us over. Now we are paying the price. We should have thought this through a little deeper. Had Nazi Germany started building cheaper TV's using slave labour (ie. 6 million starving Jews and others) would we have bought them?

This concept of digging deeper is so important. So many of us read a headline or heard a rumour and run with it. Instead of spending a little bit of time to research the facts, we seem to love to parrot ideas that others have parroted to us. That's why I was worried when Obama got elected president. Based on limited research on him, like his love of Communism, his love of Arabism and his hatred of America (amongst other things) I had every right to be worried. That's why I was worried when Bernie Sanders came on the scene. When some of my friends thought that simply based on his 'great idea' that Bernie had in offering free education for all, I dug a little deeper. Without much difficulty I was able discern that there was no way in hell for Americans to afford this without destroying their economy. 

Many ideas from the left, on the surface, might sound great. Sure in a perfect world where all people are good, where all people are in good shape, healthy both physically and economically, maybe open borders might work. But obviously this is a dangerous dream. When various political leaders say they have Israel's back, dig a little deeper. Focus far more on what they do rather than on what they say. 

Unwarranted attacks on President Trump right now fall into this category. I certainly understand that many people don't like him. I think that most simply don't like his personality or more likely they don't like the persona that the Leftist media has portrayed in him. But now is not the time to attack him. If you want to remain healthy, beat this virus and regain your wealth, we must support him and his administration's efforts to win this war. I know it's easy to find fault with every little thing he said or might have said. Hopefully those that hate him, can wait until after this war is won before they continue to attack him. 

Back to China and what they've done to us with the spread of the corona virus. We must absolutely hold them to account. Likewise we must hold our political leaders and business leaders who have also helped China to succeed, to account as well. And lastly we must hold ourselves to account. China is a very large and powerful adversary with nefarious ambitions. They have already threatened to withhold medicines to us, which are mostly produced there. This is no less an act of war. 

If we learn anything from this terrible situation, I hope that we isolate China and other nefarious states like them. And make them pay! On a more general note, we must learn to dig deeper before we react.

In good health,
Leon

I Picked the Right Name for My Blog

It seems that I couldn't have picked a better name for my blog 'The World is Upside Down'.

Look at the election in the US. On the one hand we have a former TV personality (amongst other professions) from a German background  who is currently the president and who is without a doubt the most pro-Israel and Jew-friendly president in the history of the United States. On the other we have the leading Democratic nominee who is a senator and Jewish, who comes from a Polish/Jewish background and who lost many relatives in the Holocaust. He is without a doubt the most anti-Israel (read antisemitic) candidate in US history. I'm talking about Bernie Sanders of course. 

This is the stuff one might read in a fiction novel. In fact one would have to have quite an imagination to even come up with this. I could see writing a novel with this theme and getting it rejected by publishers because it was too off the top. 

I, like most people, (even including Democrats) don't believe Bernie Sanders has a hope in hell of being the next president. Based on their performance to date, none of the Democratic candidates have that chance. Based on President Trump's performance he not only looks unbeatable, he deserves to win and G-d help us if he doesn't.

Bernie is not only a self hating Jew, but he is also a Communist (yes Trump said it correctly) and is quite willing to destroy America, a country that he despises. Whereas President Trump considers America to be the greatest country the world has ever seen and wants to make it even better, Bernie thinks that America is rotten to the core and needs to be reinvented as yet one more failed, communist state. He wants to bankrupt America with his multi-trillion dollar policies including but not limited to: free healthcare for all (which includes illegal aliens who have committed crimes), free college tuition for all (which includes illegal aliens who have committed crimes), higher taxes for all, open borders (anyone in the world including criminals can come to the US), income limits (ie. if you work your ass off and make try to get ahead, your income will be capped), more government, more spending (higher debt), cut off aid to Israel, more aid to the murderous Palestinians, etc, etc. 

Again, anyone running for the leader of the US with these horrific policies, one might think can only be the fantasy of a creative, fictional writer. But this is real. Unlike some of his competitors on the Democratic stage, he sincerely believes them and if given the chance, he will make them happen. He could easily be running for the president of communist, dictatorships or Islamic theocracies like Russia, Cuba, China or Iran. His policies mostly match theirs and he would fit right in. The notable exception is his open border policy. This btw, is one he's flip flopped on. For thirty years he was all about jobs (a laudable objective no doubt). Back then he was against open borders because he rightly claimed that the more illegal immigrants came in, the fewer jobs would be left for Americans. But now he has conceded this policy to follow the current Leftist agenda. It makes sense for them because after all, the more illegals you let in, the more votes you'll get. 

He is constantly decrying the many great things these and other countries have accomplished. At least he's not as two faced as his predecessor Obama. Obama held similar beliefs but realized that he couldn't come totally out of the closet at the time. Bernie is different. He's held those beliefs his entire life and now he sees that the time is right to not only not hide them, but shout them out at rallies and on TV to millions of viewers. His honeymoon in the Soviet Union years ago, speaks volumes. I mean, who does that?

You can see him drunk and almost naked in the USSR in this video here.

On every debate he consistently mentions how the dictator Fidel Castro helped get Cubans to be literate. That's like me saying I love dogs (which I absolutely do) and then saying how Adolf Hitler liked dogs too so he wasn't all bad. Hitler and Castro had many things in common. They were both brutal dictators who killed many innocent people. The fact that Castro helped teach his people to write is so irrelevant it hurts my ears to hear it. Tens of thousands of Cubans risked their lives to escape Cuba to come to the States on flimsy rafts, many not making it. That's how great the communist state of Cuba was and still is. My wife's cousin died in Cuba in some backwater 'hospital' because they wouldn't even examine his chest pains because he left his passport at his hotel. That's how great their medical system is. But don't tell that to Bernie. 

It should be no surprise that most young Americans love him. After all, they have been indoctrinated by Leftist educators at colleges all over the country for years. And we let them get away with it. Free stuff has an appeal to all of us. For most people, when we hear the word 'free' our ears perk up. I run the other way. For other, older Americans who love Bernie, they are simply ignorant. They have no idea what communism is or what it represents. They are sick of the wealthy getting away without paying their fair share of taxes while there is still so much poverty all around them. I am too. But I'm not nearly that naive to think that Socialism/Communism (whatever you wish to call it) is the answer. Capitalism isn't perfect. Neither is Trump. But any objective person or anyone who's studied history can't ignore the benefits of both. I'm sure I've said this before but I'll say it again. My dear mother who survived the Holocaust in a gulag in Siberia explained communism to me when I was just a child with this short story: 
"Leon, there is nothing more humiliating than being slowly starved to death in the stark cold, waiting for hours every day in long lines to get a piece of bread while listening to speakers telling us how great the Soviet Union was."

If anyone of the Democrats became president, the US and the world would suffer irreparable damage.  But if Bernie won, the economy of the States would plummet before he would even begin his acceptance speech. 

The problem is, thanks to Bernie and his quartet (AOC, Omar, et all) they have legitimized a far Left paradigm that promotes communism, antisemitism, anti-Americanism and polices that would absolutely cripple Americans. The only people that would benefit would be illegal alien criminals. I doubt the he wins and hopefully he won't but his agenda is so powerful that he's got ALL of the other Democratic candidates crawling over each other to sign on to most of his insane, far left policies. Even the so called 'moderates' have crossed the line to Bernie's party. 

Trump won't be president forever. One day a Democrat will be voted back in and the millions of Americans who voted for Bernie will have their chance to rule the world again and to put it mildly, it won't be good. 

3 Party System in the US

Here in Canada we have had a 3 party political system for many years. If we didn't have it, we would never elect a Conservative leader. The 3 main parties we've had are: Conservative, Liberal and the New Democratic Party (NDP). Canadians for the most part vote Liberal. There are a variety reasons for this and I won't get into this now. The fact is that when the NDP party is strong, they take votes away from the Liberal party and therefore give the Conservative party a chance at leading our government. So for someone like me who for the most part, votes Conservative, this is great news. Said the other way around, despite me disliking the NDP immensely, without them, we'd never have a Conservative leader. 

To be sure, there are other parties that have come and gone, like the Reform party and new parties that are trying to push their way up. Currently Canadians can vote for the Green, Libertarian, People's party, Separatist and other parties that have no chance at winning (Thank G-d).

But until now, the US has had only 2 main parties: Republican and Democrat. 

I believe in G-d and as such I see that He works in mysterious ways. On the surface of it, many of the Democrat leaders like Bernie Sanders, AOC and others like them are really outright Communists and they have millions of real followers. They rightly scare the crap out me and others who know what Communism is and the very real danger it poses. The other half like the Clintons, Biden, Bloomberg and others are certainly far Left of the Republicans but I wouldn't call them Communists or even Socialists. Perhaps I'd call them Opportunists. 

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders

In the coming months you will see some serious cat fights between the 2 factions. One can see this happening right now. It's highly entertaining if you like the Republicans (like me). Whereas President Trump has united the Republican party big time, the Democrat party is in serious trouble of fracturing. We saw in the last election how Hilary and the Democratic party cheated Bernie and got clean away with it. I found it disturbing on the one hand but on the other, I thought that either person would destroy America and leave the world in tatters. This scenario seems on cue to replay itself but perhaps even more so. Bloomberg is using his billions (70 or more) to help ensure that Bernie loses their nomination and perhaps put either himself (he's got no real chance) or Hillary in power via a brokered convention. 

Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg

Most of the powerful players behind the Democratic party don't want the socialist/communists amongst them to lead them. But look at the choices Democrat voters have. On the one hand extreme Socialists (Trump had it right when he called them communists) like Bernie or Warren vs 'moderates' like Biden who has quite obviously lost his mind (if he ever had one). 

The process of breaking down the Democratic Party started with former President Obama who was quite happy to see the demise of America and who championed more government and more power to the state. You recall his infamous speech about how the infrastructure in America was built by the government ('You didn't build that'). He stripped down American businesses from large corporations to small ma and pop shops at every opportunity. He was schooled in Socialism and followed its doctrine. I'm not sure that he prophesied that an old Jewish communist (albeit a self hater) would one day take over what he started but no one could have (no human that is). 

To sum up: The two factions within the Democratic party hate each other, possibly as much or more than they despise the president. As such they could easily split into 2 parties. The way things are playing out, it looks like they will. It might not happen tomorrow but at the current rate, it could happen sooner that one might think. And if it does, it will be great news for the Republicans. Like my country, Canada (which has many mostly Leftwing parties and more or less only 1 Rightwing party), todays supporters of the Democratic candidates will be forced to split their votes between 2 parties (Democrat vs the new party which might be called Labour like Israel's one time formidable party). Few if any votes will be drawn from the Republican party. 

Anyway you cut it, it's great news!