Intermission

With less than 50 days left in 2021 (for those who rely on the Gregorian calendar), it's an action packed schedule of votes around the world. We all need a little intermission before the home stretch. As of publishing, Argentina (half of the seats in Chamber of Deputies and third in Senate up for grabs) and Bulgaria (President and Parliament) are tallying up the votes. 

It can be discombobulating keeping up with all the voting patterns, so let's take a breather, an intermission if you will. With film festival season heating up, what better way to relax, than by digesting some classic tandem vlogs from the heart of "crime-ridden" Sydney (a city that will never be on par with New York globally, blame the lack of rats). To add a little incentive, you decide which clip will be submitted to the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, no pressure! 

Warning: you might need an interpreter to decipher the words emanating on two-wheels

Unity is a dirty word

It's gabfest season in Scotland (weather gods really are up to tricks, snow storm hits Glasgow as the world talks about over heating), where you would think the whole world would come together to finally do the most logical thing: put earth before nationalistic tendencies. We all know planet earth is not known for unity, it's made up of a bunch of nation states that perfect the most disgusting of human art forms, jingoism. Imagine if a leader of a powerful country used the following slogan to seek reelection: I stand for an open door policy towards migrants, but will close the door on all climate abusers. 

Brazil, China, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey representing some 2.240 billion earthlings can't even be bothered to send their leaders to attend a climate change conference. You'll be happy to know these same leaders have time to go to the toilet (sorry to place that image in your head), but when it comes to planet earth expiring they have more important things to do. Here's a novel idea, how about we send a memo to all the heads of government, and asked them to answer the following simple question: It's a proven fact that humans cannot choose their country of origin, so with this in mind, please click yes to working as one with your fellow earthlings to protect our homeland. 

Let's return the favour, if they can boycott something they clearly believe is not vital, then it's time to boycott products/services from the aforementioned countries. I understand that it's near impossible, China itself dictates our day-to-day lives, imagine what your kitchen would look like without our favourite communists input. One thing for sure, it will lead to the destruction of shopping. Any excuse to destroy Amazon will boost global morale. Even harder, how can we function without eating those delectable Brazilian oranges. You get the drift, don't you dare order sushi on your made in China smart phone. 

When climate is discussed, people will always quote someone that represents their views, let me reword that, climate deniers will die on a hill just to be a token. The poster boy for the 'what's the big deal' crowd are now swooning over Bjørn Lomberg, author of, 'False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet'. Depending on your critical thinking skills, this might just become your bible. (Dear, American conspiracy theorists: Lomberg is Danish, so hopefully you're comfortable quoting a man raised and educated in socialist Denmark). 

In other news...Nov 2, 2021 offered a spicy meatball of results across the US. (Not quite as riveting as the penultimate episode of 'American Crime Story: Impeachment'. To think, sleazy Billy boy is four years younger than JRB). Starting with the Virginia gubernatorial race, where Democrats were crushed. Joey, how's that middle-of-the-road agenda working out for your party? Not since 2009 have the GOP led this state, the moniker Virginia is for Lovers, will now read: Virginia is for fruitcakes. The Governor-elect lives up to the billing, he doesn't understand what leads to climate change and is all bout not protecting transgender students (FYI: he graduated from Harvard). New Jersey was on the brink of a boilover, but the incumbent held on for dear life, marking the first time in 44 years a Dem was reelected as NJ Governor.

No matter how much a bunch of white men jockey for power in the US, it's always countered by diversity doing its thing at the grassroots level. Michelle Wu (Taiwanese heritage) and Aftab Pureval (Indian-Tibetan heritage) were both elected as the first Asian-American mayors of their respective cities, Boston and Cincinnati. In another rarity, Wu won running as a Progressive Democrat, proving once more that Boston is America's true liberal bastion.

When pigmentation is no barrier to virtue

One of my pet peeves are nations built by immigrants turning inward, you know, promoting their inner Land of the Rising Sun (Japan). By that I mean, promoting monoculturalism. Japan is not a melting pot, hence why it's suffering from a declining population. That's what happens when they have a hard time accepting foreigners (such a gross term, my dream is for the world to use fellow earthlings instead). On the other hand, countries like Canada and Australia thrive on it, and for that reason it's even more embarrassing if they go down a bigoted path.

Thankfully, Canada has a habit of installing diversity at the forefront of their leadership. (One thing left to improve on, actually elect a non-European PM, but at least one of the main political parties, NDP is led by a Sikh). Trudeau's new cabinet continues the trend. The following is a list of all the visible minorities that were sworn in at Rideau Hall on Oct 26, 2021.

Omar Alghabra: Minister of Transport

Anita Anand: Minister of National Defence

Ahmed Hussen: Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion

Marci Ien: Minister for Women, Gender Equality and Youth

Kamal Khera: Minister of Seniors

Mary Ng: Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development

Pablo Rodriguez: Minister of Canadian Heritage and Quebec Lieutenant

Harjit Sajjan: Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada

Now compare the above list to a similar sized fellow Commonwealth nation known for multiculturalism, Australia and it's like comparing apples to oranges. Australia's current cabinet is literally bare. For all its diversity, they have a total of zero non white skin tones holding a cabinet portfolio, best they can manage is having a Treasurer who has Jewish Hungarian/Polish roots. Should we be surprised, this a nation that keeps electing leaders that are racist, yes, the general Anglo-Saxon/European populace is still a good two decades behind the openness of Canada's white population (as you can see, an Argentine born Latino is heading up Canadian heritage, that would be unheard of in Australia), add to that the fact many products of immigrants in Australia have a jealousy towards new arrivals. Who knows, maybe one day Anglo's won't dominate the power structure of the rear end of the world.

Talking about diversity, the great nation of Chile could well elect as President, Gabriel Boric, a 35-year-old with a Croatian father. I expect wall-to-wall coverage of Chile votes on Nov 21. Imagine if an election outside the US actually gave the globe a collective shortness of breath (too soon). The irony is, Americans care little about the world, yet knowingly give out all their personal data to a company (known to propagate imbecility, named after something a clock does) founded and operated in a "little" communist land known as China. I can see it now, Gambia's presidential election on Dec 4 will break the internet, you might even forget to eat that day due to the intrigue and anticipation. 

How-to guide: gaining power in a convict outpost

An idiot's guide to running for political office in a nation that still has the Union Jack (represents Anglo-Saxon's that exterminated natives) on their flag. Best known for selling nickel to China then importing made in China cookware, that's only the beginning. They rely so much on mineral wealth that their populace uses phones designed in Korea and the US, and every app on their phones is American or Chinese owned. You get my drift, this nation doesn't do innovation, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that its politics is obsolete.

Now, please join me on my daily bike commute in Sydney's satanic east. Sydneysiders will know this reference. To outsiders, basically, this is the part of town that is synonymous with white people problems. (People who think life is tough, yet own property worth 7-figures). I understand that consuming a 418-second Op-ed is tough in a 15-second attention span society, so go ahead and watch cat videos in-between viewing.

Part I

Part II

News & notes from around the world

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! One more sleep till hockey is back! Should be a cracking NHL season with the aptly named Seattle Kraken making their debut as the leagues 32nd franchise.  The Canadian government is not giving any exemption to millionaire athletes, all players/coaching staff that will play in Canada have to be vaccinated or else will be suspended without pay. All arenas in Canada will only admit vaccinated crowds. US teams will follow their local jurisdictions, for instance, San Jose are under strict guidelines for vaccination due to being in Santa Clara County, CA. Whereas Pittsburgh has zero rules, folk can roam around like it's 2019. Here's to the 1312-game regular season, and then four rounds of playoffs, ending up with my beloved Minnesota Wild lifting Lord Stanley - talk about a pipe-dream! 

Go you good thing, Czechia! Further to my last piece, elections that took place over the weekend sent a massive 'no' to illiberalism. The billionaire PM, Andrej Babiš and his ANO party was given the proverbial middle finger for trying to take a page out of  Orbánesque autocracy. This is how much Czechis was going down the Hungarian path that SPOLU centre-right alliance was celebrated across Europe as a win for liberty. 

Austria's millennial wannabe nationalist, Sebastian Kurz finally took the hint and stepped down as Chancellor (at the ripe old age of 35) over the Ibiza affair. In 2018, he boasted about not signing the Global Compact for Migration. You'd think a youthful leader would be more accepting of immigrants, but I guess the appetite for getting back to 1936 is still in the Austrian DNA. Unfortunately, Kurz will still remain in Parliament as the leader of ÖVP.

Not to be a downer, but mass extermination is taking place by a former Nobel Peace Prize winner (for some reason, this prize keeps being won by blood-lust tyrants). Dear world: don't tell me I didn't warn you. 

https://globaleditorial.blogspot.com/2020/11/land-of-13-months-of-sunshine-is-on.html 

Earthlings are a contradiction, can create a vaccine for a pandemic, but have no cures to stop a fellow earthling butcher woman and children.

We are all Haitian

I warned the globe that Joey (his full name won't be uttered on this blog, until such time he drops his prejudice to those suffering) was no better than his predecessor. The expulsion of Haitian migrants is a dark chapter for the world. How dare a sitting US president (one that campaigned on being a fairer and kinder commander-in-chief), turn his back on the less fortunate. For a minute there, I thought Lady Liberty was once again a symbol of what America stands for, now we know that this statue has no place on American soil - France, can you please take it back! American programming has been suspended, will return once it realises what it does best: empathy.

Now more than ever the US needs new political parties. The GOP and Democrats are in cahoots, bashing immigrants`like there's no tomorrow. In 2024, I urge a candidate out there to run for what made America the greatest nation on earth, accepting all, even the tired and poor. I have relatives in the US right now that wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the kindness Americans showed them when they appeared at Ellis Island with no paperwork. Look at Canada, they took in 44,000 Syrian refugees, more per head of population than most of the world, including the US. Afghan, Haitian, Syrian, it doesn't matter, the land of the free must live up to its hype. You can't start using stupid excuses, my favourite line coming out of bigots on social media: countries like Japan aren't immigrant friendly, why should we be? I'll tell you why, you're the goddamn United States of America. You were created by immigrants, you're the original melting pot society. Don't take cues from nations that don't have your enlightenment for the world's impoverished.

Joey needs to forget about being reelected, this is a come-to-Jesus moment. A real Christian will not discriminate when it comes to accepting all. Tell those zealots in the GOP that real Christians take in the masses. There's nothing like religious talk to get Americans fired up, so use your Catholic roots to tell faux Christians that despise you to stand up for what Jesus would do. While you're at it, get your allies on board. Countries like Australia will do anything you say, refer to the recent submarine deal. Instead of doing military deals, how about you tell your friend to take in their share of Afghans and Haitians. Right now, Australia is an empty isolated nation turning its back on what made it the lucky country: immigration. A country this big with only 25 million inhabitants should be flooded with every earthling seeking amnesty. 

The world needs an open door policy, we all know borders are racist. That tired old argument 'those people will bring in their evil ways' is just that, redundant. Who exactly are "those'' people? they're your fellow earthlings, so treat them as such. Don't get me started on all the bad that was there before Haitian migrants tried crossing, does Ted Bundy ring a bell? He wasn't an undocumented alien, rest my case! Global Editorial will continue to champion a border less world, you know it makes sense! Unless of course, you believe being born in a certain country (that you had no control over, sorry to break it to you, your birthplace is not your choice) gives you the right to hate. Let's open the flood gates! All earthlings fleeing persecution must be admitted in the country they flee to, no questions asked. Failure to do so, is a failure of doing the one thing that makes us human: a duty to care.