The killing of critical thinking.

 The removal of any one critical of any literature that does not match that of the new U.S. regime has now reached even the naval libraries. When the those in the armed services are only permuted to read authorized books the U.S. of Eh is truly well on the way to authoritarianism and perhaps already is an oligarchy.

Steve Israel who represented New York in the House of Representatives for eight terms writes in part...

The New York Times reported that the U.S. Naval Academy is identifying books in the school’s Nimitz Library that may be pulled from circulation because they relate to so-called diversity, equity and inclusion. Among the 900 potential offenders: a biography of Jackie Robinson, “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” and “Einstein on Race and Racism.”........

The move is part of the Trump administration’s campaign to purge its way through federal museums, concert halls and now the military. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — who might want to focus on threats closer to home, like how he communicates war plans — ordered the review......

(this)act of banning history books in a naval library is a betrayal of the men and women who keep us free.

The irony in this move is rich. In the name of freedom, we mustn’t let our future leaders do things like, oh, read what they want to read. We must treat them like snowflakes, so brittle and sensitive that they must be protected from the offensive views of Robinson, King, Einstein and whoever else is on the blacklist of the Navy Blue and Gold.........

Instead of supporting our warriors with libraries that will give them an unvarnished telling of history, the Pentagon has decided to whitewash it. Instead of encouraging critical thinking skills, the Navy has decided to dull them.

In a world of volatile, complex military threats; of cyberwarfare and an artificial intelligence arms race; of existential enemies like Iran nearing imminent development of a nuclear warhead; the Hegseth doctrine suggests that there is nothing to fear but ink on pages, bound on the shelves in the Navy library. In the war on so-called “cancel culture,” the U.S. military is canceling history.

When the leader of our neighboring country starts dictating what his military can read and think things are getting VERY scary, particularly when at the same time he is firing hundreds of leaders that do not conform to his twisted view of the world. Full article below....

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5228318-the-navy-cant-fight-for-freedom-while-banning-books/

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Special for our friends in the U.S. of Eh

 

I was recently watching a rather poor movie that was featuring individuals totally screwing up everything around them, it was so boring that I was switching back and forth between them and MSNBC programming just to pass the time, it got to the point where I could not tell the difference between the main actors, particularly when the feature individual was on screen!

Its getting bad when a President is more unpredictable and entertaining than a cheap movie, mind you I suspect most of the U.S. citizens do not view it that way. Frankly nor do the Canadians or the rest of the world.....A poor movie you can at least turn off, a poor President takes a bit more time and effort !!!

I hesitate to publish this opinion, there are far more qualified folks writing on this issue but for I am but an almost 80 year old man who had been around on two continents for a while who can perhaps see where this is going. Trumph himself brought up those WWIII words in treating a fellow leader who is currently being invaded by a hostile neighboring country as he was treated like one of the accompanying lackeys.

That we here in Canada right next door are in top a of a political upheaval as this goes all down does not help but I must give ALL our leaders both provincial and federal and incoming for pulling together on this one. We the general public are watching, DO NOT start fighting between you, work together for the good of CANADA against this sick leader to the south!

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The American Oligarchy

 For years, Oxfam—along with advocates and activists around the world—has argued that extreme concentration of wealth is leading to extreme concentration of power, allowing an ultra-rich few to tighten their grip on governments, economies, and media.

What is oligarchy?

Oligarchy is about the ability of an ultra-wealthy elite to shape political decision-making in ways that increase their wealth. Oligarchic power is ultimately rooted in wealth. The power of oligarchs is enabled by huge concentrations of wealth.

Given the massive amount of wealth and power that the ultra-rich have amassed, coupled with the way too many U.S. politicians have embraced them, it’s only fitting to use the term for the direction that America is headed.........

What about the electoral process? Don’t we all have equal power in that system? Not quite. We’ve seen 150 billionaire families spend a total of $1.9 billion in support of presidential and congressional candidates in 2024.

Right now, we’re getting a view into just how the ultra-rich have bought themselves a seat—if not a couch—in the Oval Office.  Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos are a few examples of the wealthy elite who have not only cozied up to president-elect Trump to influence policy, but also benefitted under previous administrations. So far, Trump has 13 billionaires—and counting—in his proposed administration whose total wealth is more than $450 billion. And even without Musk, Trump’s cabinet would be the richest in history..............

Trump’s blueprint for new oligarchy: three things to watch

First is a massive upward redistribution of wealth from everyday people, chiefly through a massive tax giveaway to the ultra-rich and to corporations.

Second is cutting away the public programs that we all rely upon and to take it a step further, privatizing programs to give them to profit-making corporations.

And third is taking a sledgehammer to the rules and referees that protect ordinary people from excessive corporate and monopoly power.

See https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/economic-justice/is-the-us-witnessing-the-rise-of-oligarchy/

It seems to me that this has already been accomplished in just a few short weeks the only question remaining at this point being can the U.S. ….and indeed the rest of the world …... ever recover from this attack on our democracy and if so how many years will that take?

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