FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jan 26

Liar. Liar. Lie Your Pants On Fire.

by bcurry

Do you remember this little rhyme when you were a child? I do.  Having listened to Donald Trump’s speeches and having read his tweets over the last three years, one cannot believe that it doesn’t apply to the current President of the United States? I don’t need to go into outlining each and every account since most major American news media has clearly recorded the hundreds of outright lies.  Now, the President’s staff do try to downplay Trump’s lies and inaccuracies but to no avail.  They suggest that the President was misquoted or misunderstood.  Indeed, no one has ever apologized for his “gross misstatements” or downright “lies”.  Interestingly, the Democrats are focusing on Trump’s character as they argue in the impeachment trial for his removal from office.

Trump has come up with every excuse under the book. He frequently claims that he doesn’t know people who he has had business with or have had their pictures taken on several occasions with him.  His number one co-liar is of course Rudi Giuliani who claims to be Trump’s personal lawyer.  Indeed, the impeachment trial has shown just how Giuliani is the President’s personal henchman.  The problem is that Giuliani has a tendency to open his mouth before first thinking about what he is saying.  Even Fox News has questioned why Giuliani was working in Ukraine as the president’s attorney, instead as a government official or an appointed presidential envoy with an official title. The impeachment proceedings have made it very clear that the President was initially withholding military aid to the Ukraine as a club to get the Ukraine authorities to launch a fraud investigation into past dealings by Joe Biden and his son with the Ukraine. Of course, despite all the evidence, Trump denies the allegations, seconded by Giuliani who proclaims that the President did no wrong. Instead, Giuliani is on record as proclaiming that “Joe Biden is a crook and he sold out the United States of America — in Iraq, in Ukraine, in China” without ever offering a thread of proof.

Meanwhile, despite being on trial, the President is calling the shots for the Republican Senators in the impeachment trial. The President’s defense has yet to offer any new evidence or witnesses to counter the charges that were brought forward.  All you get are “conspiracy” theories and deny, deny and deny some more.  After all, Trump did nothing wrong as the President has publicly declared a hundred times before.  Can one really believe him?  Unfortunately, with a Republican controlled Senate, there isn’t any chance that the President will be impeached.  Too bad!

Impeachment Proceedings US US Politics

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Jan 19

U.S. Lags Behind Most Other Countries In Paid Maternity Leave

by bcurry

The U.S. provides no paid leave for mothers.  Any kind of leave is regulated by federal labour laws.  The U.S. ranks right up there with Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea which are the only other countries found to not guarantee leave with income to new mothers.  Not something to brag about!  For the majority of American workers at companies with fewer than 50 employees, there is no legal right to paid or unpaid leave to care for a new child or recover from childbirth.  Furthermore, recent studies show that the current laws disproportionately impact women of color and low-income women, who are less likely to take unpaid leave.

On the other hand, the Canadian government mandates both a leave and a benefits component, the latter being administered by employment insurance (EI) plans. Depending on the length of employment history and the hours worked, eligible new mothers can take between 17 and 52 weeks of leave from their jobs. Their employers are required to accept the employees back into their jobs, or the equivalent, at the end of the mandated leave at the same rate of pay with the same employment benefits. On top of mandating maternity leave, the government offers paid leave for one or both parents through Canada’s EI plan. A pregnant employee or new mother can take a paid maternity leave of up to 15 weeks. Subsequently, paid EI parental benefits are also offered to parents who are caring for a newborn or newly adopted child or children, most often up to one year. In addition, in Canada, many companies and public services top up their employee allocated EI amounts for maternity and parental leave.

The reality of new working motherhood in America is both hidden and horrible: millions of women, every year, are forced back to work within just days or weeks after giving birth. Isn’t it about time that U.S. governments recognize the importance of allowing new mothers to nurture their babies at least for an appropriate length of time after giving birth or following an adoption. Surely, such a rich country can afford to ensure that mothers are provided with some form of mandatory financial assistance and “return-to-work” assurances found in all industrialized countries.  Maybe it’s about time that Congress act quickly on reforming its labour laws.  The time for more debate is over!

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Jan 13

American Assertions of Imminent Iranian Threat to Attack U.S. Embassies Appears to be Questionable

by bcurry

Trump’s claim made to justify the decision to kill Iranian general Qasem Soleimani that attacks were being planned to attack four U.S. embassies has not been verified by actual intelligence. Even his Defence Secretary Mark Esper stated that he ‘didn’t see’ evidence of an Iranian plot to attack four U.S. embassies. Kind of reminds you of another President’s rationale for invading and occupying Iraq after 9-11.

16 years ago on February 5, 2003, then Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered his infamous presentation at the United Nations making the case for war with Iraq. Remember that Powell insisted that the Iraqis, and in particular their dictator Saddam Hussein, were behind the attacks on 9-11 and had “weapons of mass destruction (WMD)”, including tons of the deadly nerve agent VX. This despite the fact that Iraqi insiders and American intelligence sources had confirmed that the Iraqi regime had secretly destroyed the nerve agent soon after the Gulf War in 1991. Indeed, legitimate sources concluded that all WMDs — biological, chemical, missiles, nuclear — were subsequently destroyed.  Following the occupation of Iraq and an extensive search, the Americans did not find any WMDs. The result was that over four thousand Americans and coalition troops died and almost 32,000 were wounded in action in the Iraq War.  In addition, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that about $1.9 trillion would be the long-term price tag for the war.

Unfortunately, Congress never investigated Powell’s use of the intelligence he was given. Furthermore, based on misinformation regarding the actual intelligence, most members of Congress supported the decision by President George W. Bush to invade Iraq. Now, history may have just repeated itself.  President Trump decided to kill a top Iranian commander without providing clear and unquestionable facts to justify the action.  On top of which, Congressional leaders were not consulted beforehand because Trump has accused some as being “corrupt”.  We have also now learned that Trump reportedly okayed assassinating Soleimani seven months ago.

Whether or not you agree that Soleimani should have been assassinated is not real question. Let’s face it, he will most likely be replaced by one of his underlings.  However, we now have increased the instability in the region and raised the risks to Iraqis, Iranians and foreigners.  This is unfortunately demonstrated by the tragic shooting down of the Ukraine International Airline flight 752 by an Iranian missile, resulting in the deaths of all 176 passengers and crew.  Hopefully, all sides will attempt to deescalate these new tensions and Congress will do a better job of overseeing the President’s actions then it did in the past.

Iran Iraq Today The Middle East US

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Jan 7

Trump Is Completely Out To Lunch When It Comes To Iran

by bcurry

Here we go again! Hasn’t the American administration learned from past mistakes in the Middle East?  Remember supporting the former dictator, the Shah of Iran, against the Iranian people who suffered terribly under his regime.  Remember the flimsy excuses given by Bush Jr. to invade Iraq based on false intelligence about  Saddam Hussein’s supposed “weapons of mass destruction”.  Remember how the American occupation of Iraq and failure of subsequent Iraqi governments led to the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIL) and subsequent years of terror in the region.

Now, we have an American President ordering the assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who the Trump administration claimed to pose a “clear and present danger.”  One can always ask “why now”?  Seems all too convenient as a distraction for a President who is smack in the middle of the impeachment process.  Now, U.S. and NATO forces and Westerners in the region are at real risk from Iranian reprisals.  The Iraqi parliament has voted to kick American and foreign forces out of the country, despite Trump’s threats of placing stiff sanctions on Iraq and making the Iraqis pay for the al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq.  This important base hosts many U.S. troops and was a strategic key in the war against ISIL.  Indeed, the U.S.-Iranian conflict may have just opened the door for the reemergence of ISIL in the region which is a much greater threat to everyone.  Remember that Iranian-backed forces fought against ISIL in Syria.

The actions by Trump carried out by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo  and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper may have just complicated what is already a dangerous situation in the region.  As was the past case in Iraq and Afghanistan, the current administration appears to have no strategy to deal with the likely escalation of U.S.-Iranian conflict that will most definitely follow.  Iran on the other hand has been given an opportunity by the American actions to distract the Iranian people from recent protests and uprisings within Iran against the regime driven by the country’s poor economic conditions.  In addition, the Iranian regime now has an excuse to recommense its nuclear arms program by withdrawing from the current accord which, under Trump, is no longer recognized by the U.S.

Canada, which has hundreds of military and other personnel in the region, has helped in the training of Iraqi security forces. With the recent events, they have been told to stand down.  The Americans have unfortunately paused their counterterrorism operations and are now focused on ensuring their security on bases throughout the region.  Some retaliatory moves by Iran are bound to happen, leaving Westerners throughout the region in a very dangerous position.  Trump’s further threats of potential reprisals, military or economic, may only add to what is already a very volatile situation.  Indeed, I would advocate that all Canadian personnel be withdrawn immediately and entirely from the region, in particular from Iraq.  Once again, why should Canadians pay with their lives for U.S. mistakes in the region?

Canada Donald Trump Iran Iraq Iraq Today Terrorism US

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