Yes it is very cold in most of Canada in the winter. The exception is Vancouver, British Columbia on the Pacific coast where it rains in buckets. So weather is not Canada’s best feature. However, the people are super friendly, helpful, and caring. Over 20% of the population are immigrants and while the population is majority White the country has open to immigrants from everywhere. Just half of Vancouver’s population is European White.
Category: Good Mood
A Real Life Action Movie
This real story could be made into a movie.
In 2013, Vanessa Rodel, a Filipina woman escaped violence and human trafficking in the Philippines and traveled to Hong Kong with her baby daughter. She had hoped to gain asylum there. With limited funds she lived in Hong Kong’s slums. Her lawyer, Robert Tibbo, asked her if she would take in Eric Snowden for a short time.
Edward Snowden is an American fugitive, a former Central Intelligence Agency employee, and former contractor for the United States government who copied and leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013.
Rodel became part of a group known as Edward Snowden’s “Guardian Angels.” They helped the fugitive while he was in Hong Kong. Snowden was there for two weeks before being granted asylum in Moscow.
Subsequently Rodel’s application for asylum in Hong Kong was denied in 2017. News sites do not explain where she and her daughter lived after being denied her petition.
Lawyer Tibbo, from Montreal contacted lawyer friends in Canada to help a process appeal for asylum in Canada. It was granted and she and her daughter arrived in Toronto on Monday March 26, 2019. Money has been raised privately for her to live in Montreal, learn French, and start a new life.
Vanessa Rodel and her daughter at her seven-year-old daughter Keana at Toronto airport
Resolutions for 2019
Some ideas on making everyone happier in 2019
Happy Thanksgiving
More than a day of turkey, stuffing, and apple pie; this is the day that all Americans can all come together to be thankful that we live in a country that is bountiful in every way imaginable. We have energy resources, fabulous farm lands, and some of the most creative people in the world. To top that off we have a freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom to pursue our goals.
“America was always great.”
Meghan McCain said during her father’s memorial service that “America was always great.” She also said. “The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great.”
I would have added the words “and is still great today.” These have been my words from the beginning of the Trump candidacy for president. I just don’t have the same following as Meghan McCain.
Looking at some facts supports the contention that the United States continues to be the greatest country the world has ever known.
Our country’s GDP is over $19.3 trillion dollars. In second place is China at $12 trillion. Japan is 3rd at $4.5 trillion. Then Germany at $3.6 trillion
Note: This list is based IMF’s World Economic Outlook Database, April 2018.
Military strength? Global Firepower’s 2017 Military Strength Ranking uses more than 50 factors to assign a Power Index score to 133 countries.
The finalized Global Firepower ranking relies on over 55 individual factors to determine a given nation’s PowerIndex (‘PwrIndx’) score. Ranked number 1 is the United States. Number 2 is Russia and number three is China.
The country with the most billionaires? It is estimated there are 680 in the United States worth $3.2 billion. Second place is China with a wealth of $1.1 trillion.
The American dollar is recognized as the reserve currency of the world. Many countries use the US dollar exclusively: Ecuador, East Timor, El Salvador, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Turks and Caicos, British Virgin Islands, Zimbabwe. Many countries employ it as an accepted alternative to their own currency.
We have the universities people want to attend. The number of international students in the U.S. reached an all-time high – 1,078,822 students – during the 2016-2017 school year.
The American constitution and our capitalist enterprise system has made the United States the envy of the world. Our constitution guarantees freedom of religion, a free press, and a judicial system that protects the innocent. Immigrants migrate to the United States because they know that this is a country that rewards hard working people and helps the downtrodden.
We are great and we have always been great!
U.S. Job Openings Exceed Number of Unemployed
U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose to a fresh record in April, with vacancies increasingly exceeding the number of unemployed workers amid a robust labor market, Labor Department data showed Tuesday.
March’s upward revision made it the first time in data back to 2000 that vacancies exceeded the number of unemployed, a gap of 48,000. That difference grew to 352,000 in April and is poised to keep widening, as the number of unemployed dropped further in May, to 6.07 million.
I believe most Americans are primarily concerned with their economic situation over any other issue. If collusion with Russia, attacks on the Justice Department, immigration policy, health care, equal opportunity, the environment and other issues are far less important than the economy the Republicans will most likely retain both houses of Congress.
The November election will tell us all what Americans think is really important.
Rolls-Royce’s Yacht-Inspired Phantom Convertible
There it was parked on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, California. A Rolls-Royce Convertible with the top down. It was parked like any other car. I could see the entire car in the morning sun.
I was taking Freddy, my terrier, into the groomer for a trim and bath. After I parallel parked I realized that there was a Rolls-Royce in front of me. When you go to the car show they have these cars on display but you really can’t see the interior easily. This car could be seen by everyone walking or driving by. No one was around and I ran my hand over the wood not certain that it was really wood. No license plate on the back told me it was very new. The owner was definitely showing off.
Check out the luxurious teak wood decking on the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe Convertible. “The optional teak decking was inspired by classic racing yachts – hand-made from 30 separate pieces and cut from the same tree for consistent grain,” explained on the hogring.com web site. The teak wood decking is optional and comes at a hefty price of $9,875. Anyone willing to spend nearly $500,000 on the base model would not baulk at paying an extra $10K for such a gorgeous feature.
Here are the pictures all taken by me.
The United States is not the Happiest Country in the World
You probably already intuitively knew this data but here it is. The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network evaluated 117 countries by the happiness and well-being of their immigrants. The United States fell to 18th place from 14th last year. The United States was 11th in the first index and has never been in the Top 10.
Europe’s Nordic nations, none particularly diverse, have dominated the index since it first was produced in 2012. In reaching No. 1, Finland nudged neighbouring Norway into second place.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada at No. 7, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.
The least happy country in the world is Burundi. I will leave it to inquiring minds to locate that country on the map.
As to the “happiest place in the world” just Google it and you will see that Disneyland and Disney World do appear as possibilities. Was that a commercial insertion on my computer? Well I never met anyone saying they had a bad time visiting a Disney amusement park.
Then again these people lounging at the beach in Malibu California seem just as happy as a picture of people lounging in Helsinki’s Esplanade Park.
Happy New Year 2018!
Happy New Year 2018!
Giving to Worthwhile Charities
This is the time of the year when many of us feel charitable. We not only give gifts to our family members but give a gift to the gardener, the people who clean our house, the hairdresser, and some of the charities begging for help on television.
The Wounded Warrior Project seems to advertise frequently on CNN. A few years ago CNN provided some damaging data about many charities. They identified Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org) as a good source to obtain evaluations of charities and how much of the money collected actually goes to the intended needy. The Wounded Warrior Project earned 3 out of 5 stars. Only 70.5% of the money raised actually went to the services provided. The former chief executive was paid $575,470 annually but the report say the current chief executive receives no pay. Charity Watch, another organization identified by CNN as a charity evaluator, (charitywatch.org) says The Wounded Warrior Project spend only 61% of the money collected on the needy victims. Charity Watch gives The Wounded Warrior Project a C+.
I donate money to six charities and have carefully considered their performance. You should too!
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