Queen Elizabeth was crowned when Great Britain was a world power. Today the UK is no longer considered a consequential power in the world. What did the queen do to stop the end of GB’s declining power? Nothing. What did the queen stand for in all her years? Nothing. MARY MCNAMARA is correct. This is a soap opera.
If I was English I would not be celebrating the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. On her watch the British Empire deteriorated to a nation where some of its remaining parts are contemplating withdrawing from the UK.
Above is a map of the British Empire as it was on 6 February 1952, the day Queen Elizabeth II began her reign. Colonies, protectorates and mandates are shown in dark red, while dominions are shown in pink. The United Kingdom itself is shown in light red.
The British Empire does not exist today. However, the Commonwealth is a free association of sovereign states comprising the United Kingdom and many of its former dependencies that acknowledge the British monarch as the association’s symbolic head. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are the primary remaining Commonwealth nations. Other countries that are part of the Commonwealth are The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Tuvalia, St Christopher and Nevis. Gibraltar and The Falkland Islands are a self-governing British Overseas Territories.
So exactly what are the British honoring with the death of the queen? She had no authority and did nothing to help sustain the UK.
President Obama was far from perfect. He made mistakes. There was no bombast.
At a rally on Saturday August 3 the former president described Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin as “fierce” and “smart” before anticipating the reaction from the media. He called both leaders “fierce,” adding that Xi is “smart” to rule China with an “iron fist.”
“He rules with an iron fist, 1.5 billion people, yeah I’d say he’s smart,” he continued. “Wouldn’t you say he’s smart?”
Xi, whose authoritarian tenure has been marked by an increase in censorship and mass surveillance, has been accused by Human Rights Watch of starting a “broad and sustained offensive on human rights” since he became China’s leader in 2012.
Imagine what a second term for Trump would be like. He would be taking revenge on those who opposed him. There would be no guard rails preventing him from withdrawing from NATO. Military parades in Washington D.C. would be the order of the day.
Donald Trump dreams of absolute power and our system of government could permit him to obtain his objective.
The President clearly stated at a speech he presented at Independence Hall in Philadelphia that MAGA is an attack on American democracy. He pointed out that those supporting MAGA beliefs take the position that there are only two consequences of an election. Either they won or they lost due to a corrupt election.
In other words they do not accept any loss. That means there is no democracy. President Biden said American democracy remains in great peril and declared former President Trump and his supporters the biggest threat to American democracy. While it was a political speech meant to rally Democratic Party loyalists to go to the polls in November the point he made rang true.
When do the MAGA Republicans accept an election loss? Apparently the answer is they do not accept any loss. To me Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are a threat to the very soul of this country.
The New York Times editorial board called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to seek an indictment of former President Trump if “sufficient evidence” exists to establish his guilt “on a serious charge.”
The board argued in a piece published Friday that, “Mr. Trump’s unprecedented assault on the integrity of American democracy requires a criminal investigation” following the Jan. 6 select committee hearings and news of the Justice Department’s search of Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., home for classified documents.
“This board is aware that in deciding how Mr. Trump should be held accountable under the law it is necessary to consider not just whether criminal prosecution would be warranted but whether it would be wise.”
The board mentioned former President Ford’s pardon of former President Nixon for any crimes he may have committed during the Watergate scandal, with Ford justifying the decision as avoiding the “rousing” of “ugly passions” and polarization.
The board stated that prosecuting Trump could entrench support for him and “play into the conspiracy theories he has sought to stoke.” They argued it could also allow future presidents to misuse the precedent set to go after their political rivals.
But, the paper warned that doing nothing poses a much more significant risk and not holding him accountable for his actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection would could set an “irresistible” precedent for future presidents.
“Why not attempt to stay in power by any means necessary or use the power of the office to enrich oneself or punish one’s enemies, knowing that the law does not apply to presidents in or out of office?” the board wrote.
In Les Misérables, author Victor Hugo criticizes the injustices of the nineteenth century. Issues such as women’s rights, intergenerational conflict, cruelty of the justice system, and the failure of society’s institutions are all discussed in the novel, which is still resonate.
I have a four year degree from CSUN (California State University Northridge) in the San Fernando Valley. The first two years of my college experience was at a community college. The cost was $6.50 per semester. The two years at CSUN coast $42 per semester. The cost of a college degree was affordable for everyone.
I know, it was a long time ago but what happened? Why did the cost at the community college grow to $1238 per semester? CSUN now costs $7,064. I am not reporting on the cost of books or the cost or the cost of room and board.
It is no surprise that college attendance has resulted in high student debt. Since 1980, the total cost of both four-year public and four-year private college has nearly tripled, even after accounting for inflation. Federal support has not kept up: Pell Grants once covered nearly 80 percent of the cost of a four-year public college degree for students from working families, but now only cover a third. That has left many students from low- and middle-income families with no choice but to borrow if they want to get a degree. According to a Department of Education analysis, the typical undergraduate student with loans now graduates with nearly $25,000 in debt.
This country refuses to help its youth obtain a college education. Sean Hannity: “We have a lot of young people that work on my TV show, they’re not making a $125,000. They’re now eligible to get in some cases up to $20,000 and in other cases $10,000. This is New Green Deal radical socialism.”
The Rich don’t care about the rest of us. The philosophy is to hell with the Proletariat. After all they are just the working class.
The debt reduction by President Biden is a nice gesture but it does not address the issue of the excessive fees to obtain a degree.
Where was Donald Trump during those four years he was president?
The Colorado River, major river of North America, rising in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, U.S., and flowing generally west and south for 1,450 miles (2,330 kilometres) into the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico.
The Colorado River basin is drying up thanks to less snow and rain. Sadly the seven states are not working together to find an equitable agreement on sharing the shrinking amount of available water.
After Colorado River Basin states failed to meet a deadline for emergency drought reductions, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it would continue to work with affected states and tribes to reach an agreement.
Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at historically low levels and risk falling to “dead pool” status, which would mean there isn’t enough water to generate hydroelectricity for the tens of millions of people that rely on it, according to United Nations Environment Programme.
The seven states that benefit from the Colorado basin have been told to develop plans to drastically reduce water use by 2 million to 4 million acre-feet, but talks have grown acrimonious. At a press conference Tuesday, federal officials said that an agreement was urgently needed and that it was also declaring a tier 2 shortage for the next water year.
Under tier 2 shortage conditions, Arizona’s annual water apportionment will be reduce by 21%, Nevada’s by 8% and Mexico’s by 7%. There is no required water savings contribution for California however.
This situation will undoubtedly lead to a court fight over how much water each state must reduce consumption. There have been growing tensions between the states of the river’s Lower Basin — California, Arizona and Nevada — and those of the Upper Basin — Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah.
A few calm meetings would be far better than a court fight.
The Mar-a-Lago search warrant identifies three federal crimes that the Justice Department is looking at as part of its investigation: violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records. The inclusion of the crimes indicates the Justice Department has probable cause to investigate those offenses as it was gathering evidence in the search. No one has been charged with a crime at this time.
In 1951, Julius and his wife Ethel Rosenberg were tried and convicted of espionage for providing the Soviet Union with classified information. They were executed in 1953. Their trial remains controversial today.
What do you suppose Donald Trump planned to do with that classified material? It is frightening to imagine what that classified information can mean to an adversary.
The politics of this situation could mean that Trump will never be tried for treason. Millions of Americans still believe that the 2020 election was stolen. The January 6, 2021 insurrection tells us that there are Americans who are willing to fight for Trump.
Can Attorney General Merrick Garland convince a majority of Americans that Donald Trump is guilty of espionage? Frankly I doubt it.
Trump should be executed but it probably won’t happen.
If you are not a resident of Canada but want to buy a piece of real estate in British Columbia or Ontario you must pay a tax of 20% of the purchase price. The tax was implemented to discourage foreign buyers who have driven up demand.
That is not the situation in the United States but that kind of tax should be implanted. Los Angeles area Southern Regional Association of Realtors, Inc. published an article in the Los Angeles Times Advertising Supplement on Saturday August 6, 2022 reporting that sales to foreign buyers is up 8.5%. International buyers purchased $59 billion worth of U.S. residential properties from April 2021 to March 2022.
In the Los Angeles area San Gabriel Valley is a well known area where Chinese buyers have bought homes where they do not reside.
Forbes magazine reports July 19, 2022. Anyone who bought a home – or tried to – over the past couple of years knows that it was rip-roaringly competitive, with bidding wars and all-cash deals. But it actually could have been worse. One group all but disappeared from the market during the pandemic: foreign buyers with mega millions. But now foreign real estate investments are slowly coming back, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors.
Ensuring affordable housing for all Americans is not on the agenda in Congress but it should be.
Coast Contact 