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The countdown is on to E. Lloyd Kelly's two day free book giveaway
Its my birthday but you gets the gifts, here is the chance which you have been waiting for, to read any or all of my published books on Amazon/Kindle. Between Jan. 9th and 10th, from midnight to midnight, you can read the complete stories in books on my bookshelf. Titles such as: “76” Clancy’s journey, Some Shitty Vacation, Waters of silver spring, Spaces, The Tattooed Trails, and the latest and brand spanking new: Black blood, (Trace the family tree).
Just one request in return: take a minute to leave a review on the book(s) you’ve read. Thanks much.
Here is an excerpt from this book: Black blood. Though it may be difficult to envision it now, there was actually a time not very long ago, when Jamaicans would have done any and everything just to get out of Jamaica, it didn't matter where they were going, they just wanted out. And many did migrate and swore on their mother’s grave that they would not return for all the gold in the world… “I will not return to that godforsaken place even if they should find as much gold as there are bicycles in Beijing,” she had said. But that was then, this is now, oh how things have changed. While some of the very astute and forward thinking Jamaicans living in the diaspora was busy preaching the gospel of, the return to the land of their birth, and appealing to them to, help in the building and re-building processes which were happening then, And while the government and business leaders there on the Island was busily carving out the new paths into the future, the doubters and naysayers were busily dragging their feet or holding fast to those long-time beliefs and pledges to never go back. The government and their economic growth team made it their mission to go and build a new Jamaica. And build they did, and boy did the people came- in droves. Note: Black blood is a futuristic story depicting a close up look at the life and times of Jamaican police commissioner Watkins, and his encounters with count Lasco: a trans-continental drug lord and wanna-Jamaican king-pin. Find all these titles on my page at: Amazon.com/author/elloydkelly Marcus Garvey's beliefs and what drove him into action, as seen through his son's eyesThis message was delivered by Dr. Julius Garvey at an event in Montreal to mark the celebration of Jamaica 55th and hero’s day. We believe it was important enough a message for as much of the world to hear as possible. Here is the message as transcribed from the recorded speech. Note: there are a few omitted bits of the speech which were inaudible due to overriding noises, low volume or enthusiastic cheering. But we do not think that those were enough to take away from the essentials of the speech. Also note, some names of individuals mentioned may be spelt incorrectly, we want to apologies to such individuals or interested parties. Thanks and enjoy. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Garvey. I would like to thank the Jamaica association of Montreal for this invitation, for having me here to celebrate Jamaica's 55th, and to celebrate hero's day with this banquet. As you've heard, I'm not a stranger to Montreal, I was here from 53_62 and then left for the United States, and I've been practicing surgery in the United States since then. I've been going back and forth to Jamaica. I think Jamaican are a very special people do you agree? Then you're right. I think that the reason why we are so special, is because we have gone through so much- we've gone through the horrors of slavery and the subsequent horrors of colonialization, without any restitution for stolen, free labor and we have had to develop out of that background. Which went on for 350-400 years. That's a very long time to be brutalized- for having to go through hell on Earth. And I think that is why it is important for us to honor our heros, because our heros are the ones who fought free from the Spanish in 1865 and then from the British subsequently in: Tacky, and Nanny, and Sam Sharpe who said he would rather die on yonder gallows than to live as a slave. And of course, he paid with his life for so many others. But his rebellion in 1832 was what paved the way for the end of slavery in the Caribbean in 1834 Sponsored By: The Tattooed Trails Book. #Doyoudare No restitution for slavery And then there was Paul Bogle because, as many of you know, there was no restitution given to the slave. At the end of the period of enslavement, but the restitution was given to the slave master. To the tune of millions and millions of dollars. So the slave was landless, and he was going through then, another period of de-humanization... Many left Jamaica to go to other countries to work on plantations, the Panama canal etc., etc. And you know, Paul Bogle was a Baptist minister and he could not feed his family without land and so he took up the question of land and along with many of his compatriots, he was marching from Morant Bay to the seat of government and of course the British troops and the governor met them and started abusing them. They killed there approximately 800, and that was the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865. So our ancestors have paid an enormous price for what we now considered to be our freedom. The inhumane Berlin conference. As we've heard, Marcus Garvey was born in 1887, that was two years after the Berlin conference in 1884-1885, when European countries simply sat down at the conference of Berlin, looked at the map of Africa and divided it up and said: you take this piece, and you take that piece and so on. Totally inhumane, totally brutal, totally greedy, totally selfish. And that was how colonialism began, and of course, imperialism extended out into globalization. Marcus Garvey was born two years after that process began and approximately fifty years after the end of slavery. He traveled throughout the Caribbean and Europe and he saw what went on, on the plantations in the Caribbean and he saw what went on, on the Panama canal. He worked there in Panama and he traveled throughout Europe as well as in England and he saw the way how they paralyzed the colonies, and he saw what the condition of the colonized were there in the colonies. Our history did not start with slavery. He worked for a magazine: Africa time and orient review, and he learned a lot about Africa and his own history... He learned where he really came from, he learned the actual history of Africa. And he learned that people who had been enslaved, their history did not start with slavery, and this is the thing which we have to teach our kids: (that our history does not start with slavery). He saw the brutalization, he saw the results of the brutalization. And on the ship coming back to Jamaica in 1914, he contemplated all that had happened up to that point in terms of his life, his experience, and what he'd read and it came to him: his epiphany... Where is the black man's representation? Where is his country? Where is his economic power? He hasn't seen it anywhere and he committed himself to reconstructing the African Civilization. Right there in 1948. So we know he had a significant vision, it wasn't just an ego trip or something. I think it really had to be his meeting with his master and his master telling him: this is your job: To rebuild the African Civilization- to redeem African people after 400 years of degradation, and he spent the rest of his life doing that. What does freedom mean? He was a Nation builder and out of that we have the Jamaican Nation. Out of that he influenced people like: Kwame Nkrumah and Kenyatta. And we have all free Nation in Africa, from about 1952... All of Africa is theoretically free, and the Caribbean is theoretically free. But I think if you understand current affairs, and if you understand that after the plantations system was over, that we have neo-colonialism: Kwame Nkrumah told us about that, and neo colonialism is with us today in the presence of the IMF, World Bank, The world trade organization and even in the presence of the United Nations. Where you have a large number of countries that represents most of the people in the world, in terms of the general Assembly, but the Security Council has the veto power within the eyes of very few peoples. So we have the continuing inequality, Mal distribution of wealth and globalization. And this is maintained by systems of government and systems of international treaties which maintained that inequality. So we continue to have wars, rumors of war and fake news, where people invade other people's countries and kill other people's country with fake news when they are really after their oil and their resources. And so much of our leaders have been marginalized. Marcus Garvey have been killed, Martin Luther King have been killed, Malcolm X, Namumba etc, etc. Others have been killed, whenever they would stand up for the rights of their people. So that, we still have Injustice, inequality. I think those of us who are from Jamaica can honor our history, can honor our freedom fighters by creating a country that is both just and moral, this is what is needed. These so-called great countries that are in existence today, they are not societies that place Justice and morality first. The whole period of the last five hundred years,(rep) of the domination of Europe over the rest of the world has been an Injustice. Justice has been fractured Justice itself has been fractured, and the world has gone in the direction of selfishness and greed and even while many of these countries profess religious values and morality, their actions on a day by day basis are absolutely immoral. I dare to say that every day in the cooperate structures of the world, the seven deadly sins are practiced routinely. Every day. And many of these Nations are so called Christian nations, or religious Nations. Jamaica needs to be in the forefront of a transformation that needs to happen, because if you understand what is going on in the world today, the current paradigm: global warming, inequality, people are not standing for that anymore. Self-sufficiency The white economic structures is going to have to change. Jamaica has got to be prepared for that, where we've got to be self-sufficient, at the present time we import even something as simple as onions. That is absolutely and totally ridiculous, when we have a tropical country and we can have two or three growing seasons where you can grow anything: you can sow a seed out there and tomorrow you have a massive tree, not just a plant, so it's absolutely ridiculous for us not to be self-sufficient in food. Marijuana/Diaspora must help We have a marijuana industry that: now in Canada and the United States is reaping billions and billions of dollars... The freedom to utilize that resource which in some sense, we pioneered, so we shoot ourselves in our own foot. We called ourselves independent but we don't have independent policies, because the world Bank and the IMF still controls what we do with our economies, that's not Independence. We have as many Jamaican living overseas as we have living in Jamaica, there are about three million of us. We all have to help Jamaica to become truly independent. Independence is not about having a national anthem. Independence is not about flag, Independence is about having your own vision for your Nation and then working towards that as your destiny, without any interference from anyone else. We are a proud people, we have a right to be a proud people because we fought free from slavery and we fought free from colonialism but we have not defined what that freedom means in terms of an industrial and post-industrial world. And that is what we have to do, we have to give the world that new paradigm. We can't do it all by ourselves but we can participate with those Nations who will move in that direction and of course, we have to blaze the trails when there is no other Nation that is moving in that direction. But, all of us need a just and moral society and that is what my father is all about: Nation building. One God And he was about one God for all of us, he didn't see any difference between a black god and a white god, he didn't see a difference between different religions because we believe in the spirit of the mind and the body. And he did not believe that any religious entity ought to interfere or come between you and God. So you can worship your god by yourself, because you are made in the image of God, and the Christ figure is a figure that's in all of us, and of course, if a person comes out of the African religion which is the original religion and it's... (Could not hear) And that's what it's all about. It is the ideal... for us. It’s the idea of the human being, the human man... What we can be if we live up to the expectation of our ancestors who made the first Civilization. And the definition of a Civilization is a society which humanizes its members and if society is not humanizing its members then it is not a civilization. You can call it a technological Civilization or you can call it a materialistic Civilization but it's not truly a civilization. A Civilization has to be centered on human being and it has to be humanistic and it's what Africa has given the world from day one in: the first human being and two, the first Civilization. So we need to be proud of that and you need to teach your kids that, because, you knew, part of my journey is, not just in terms of: choosing my parents very carefully, (laughs) but part of my journey has been to find out what was my history. Read about Marcus That's what my father was all about, what was he trying to know, reconstruct? That has been part of my journey. And then I think that part of everybody's journey is to know yourself, and I'm very thankful that I've had the opportunity for an education here at McGill and to be part of a different culture for nine years because: coming from Jamaica, I was pretty much an introverted kid and then coming to Canada and: you know, I used to take the Trolley from Cote des Neige to come down to Sherbrook you hear the kids talking about their dates the night before and those kinds of things, this to me was totally a... You never talk about your personal affairs in public. So it was a total cultural shock so I had to adjust and I had to rebuild my thinking etc, etc. And therefore, I had to look for my own self, who am I? And it leads you deeper and deeper into yourself and then, one of the beautiful things at McGill is, when you graduate medical school, they give you a little book by Sir William Osler: A way of life, and that was very precious to me and what he talked about (in the book) is: compartmentalizing your life day by day. In other words, when you go home at the end of the day, you should look at what you've done that day and examine it to see the things you've done right and what you've done wrong. What caused you to do the right thing and what caused you to do the wrong things, and then you make that effort to do better the next day, and then, if you do that every day, that's a form of introspection which I think you can only gain from. And it then allows you to do something which my father was very, very big on: which is to transform yourself because he thought that the human being is perfectible, that you have the Christ image in you and that you can be the perfect human being. It is a type of Christ... I am very happy that I chose him as my father and that I have him as my inspiration, and I offer his life to you as an inspiration, and I ask you to read as much as you can about Marcus Garvey. And pass that on to your children. I don't see as many young people here as I would have liked to see and therefore I would like to say that: you are not passing on your heritage to the younger generation, and that's my charge to you. The head of the UNIA earlier on today said that he may invite me back in 2019. I said, If God willing. But if I do come back in 2019, I would like to see this place filled and I would want to see it filled at least half way with young people. Study Jewish people
And I think we can take an example from our Jewish guests here that Jewish people are able to pass on their culture and they've been able to pass on their culture for thousands upon thousands of years because the older ones teach the younger ones. Even where they don't get it in the schools, but they do get it at home. So I think we need to follow that example, and we need after school programs and so on and there are many other groups that do just the same thing. Trump is not a good example But we need to teach kids their history, because it seems as if the trends nowadays are just to be a person, and a person, you know, is somebody who is on Facebook, somebody who tweets and somebody who twitters. Of course we have the president of Tweeting back in the USA, where I live and he is not a good example for your kids. So, you know they're much more knowledgeable than what they gain on social media, and at the present time, I think it's the responsibility of the elders to pass on that heritage because people died so that you can be free, people suffered so that you can be free. Freedom is not free You have to remember, really, every day, that freedom is not free, we've got to earn freedom, and as my dad said: the battles of the future are going to be the battles of the mind. It's all about knowledge, and you know, there's a lot of senior peoples here but education never ends. Like dad says, read four hours a day. I may not read four hours but probably at least two hours, or three hours, Ah, If it's on basketball season I ended up not reading quite as much. But no, otherwise I do read and read... Knowledge is power and again, the battles of the future are going to be the battle are going to be about knowledge and science but science has to be guided by spirit and that is one of the other things that, as we've said: you have to know your spiritual self, because you are made in the image of God and you can communicate with your spiritual self without any intermediary at all, you know, no priest, no Rabbi you know any religious person, you can communicate with God because God made you in his or her image. And it is your job to perfect yourself. That's the purpose of life, that's what gives life meaning- that struggle on a day to day basis to perfect yourself, and again I think I got some of that inspiration from McGill in terms of the stretching of my mind, in terms of a knowledge base. My professors were great people and I admire them and they stimulated me in terms of my learning process. Sir William Osler as I mentioned before, helped me to look at myself... Introspection is important, you know, some people call it meditation, some call it contemplation but you all have to do that, you all have to know who you are because if you don't know who you are, somebody else is going to tell you who you are, but when you know who you are then you can know what it is that you want to do, where it is that you want to go. So read, read, read. Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. And impart that to the younger generation. I'm very pleased that you are carrying on the Jamaican culture here with this large number of people here. I spent a great bit of time this morning with your current president and I'm very, very impressed with his knowledge base and his innovative spirit and intelligence. So I know that during the rest of his tenure you will be drawing, and definitely you need to give him a second tenure as president when his first ends, so that you can draw some more. And I do hope when I come back I'll see a more thriving Jamaican community, not that it isn't thriving now but you need to push yourself and go from one level to the next level and I thank you very much for having me here and hope you will have me some other time this year. One God, one aim, one destiny. If you like it, Share it If you have a trial judge telling you that you are lucky, well then you must be pretty darn lucky indeedAnd that’s just what this lowly writer have happened to him. A while back, I have an encounter with a police officer which left me holding a traffic ticket to pay.
This is part 2 of the two-part series on the subject of luck. Read part one here Since I did not think that the ticket was warranted, I contest it in court. It happened like this: we were, (my wife and I) on our way home on a Saturday night from a fashion show in which our son, along with a close friend of his were participants. After we stopped at the friend home to get something for the lad who was sleeping over at our place that night, we continued on our way On route home from the friend’s house, we noticed a car parked in an Alleyway but did not make anything particular of it. We passed by and then noticed that the vehicle came out onto the roadway and was following behind us. On every street that we turned, the car would follow, it took a while but I noticed that it was a police car but, because I’m not a wrong-doer, I don’t go worrying about police cars traveling behind my vehicle, they have as much rights as me or anyone else to be there. After a while, “I saw the lights come shining,” so I pulled over and stopped. An officer came up and asked: where were we coming from if we were drinking. Other than water, and the canned pop drinks my son was, the answer is no. He asked who were these boys in the back seat? I told him that one of them is my son and the other, his friend. He wanted to know which one was mine? He then pointed out that: the boys were not wearing seatbelts. He wanted my son’s name, age etc. asked why he said that he was issuing a citation for not wearing seats with which the vehicle was equipped. He served his ticket and we went our separate ways. Needless to say: I contested the ticket. When the case finally I got to court to find that he (the policeman) did not show so it was just me against them. After I walked the court through the chains of events from where we leave the venue for home that night, up until we encounter the police and then the events up until he issued the ticket. They interrupted my testimony twice to ask if I was a passenger in the car or was I driving, and whether or not I was wearing a seatbelt. I told them that I was driving and wearing a seatbelt. I noticed that the judge and the clerk of the court were discussing a point so I stopped the testimony and waited. Again the judge asked if I was the driver and if I was wearing a seatbelt? Again my reply was- Yes: I was the driver and was wearing a seatbelt. The judge then said: consider yourself a lucky man- on the charge of driving a car without wearing the seatbelt with which the vehicle was equipped, you are acquitted. What I found out later was that the officer wrote that ticket in my name instead of in the name of the person whom he said was in violation, and I didn’t even take the time to examine it. If I did I might have seen that error. Anyways the point here is: the judge said that I was lucky, he is a judge: he should know, but as of yet, I haven’t won the lotteries. Even with all that luck. Hmmm. Who then wants to be my lucky charm? The word lucky: according to Webster, means: having good luck, producing or resulting in good, by chance, seeming to bring good luck.All very desirous virtues for one to possess or seek after. But how often have you heard someone say: S/he’s so lucky, or that person is lucky to be… And it’s usually after something terrible has happened? The question then is: at what point did such a person start and/or stop being lucky? Luck then would seem to me to be, a state of having or being left with the best of an otherwise bad or terrible situation. Therefore, to be really lucky, or for one to truly appreciate how lucky one is, such a person must first be: "unlucky or unfortunate." Take this headline for example: Man 'lucky to be alive' after he was trapped under telegraph pole
Luck for this man is relative to the end or after effect of the earlier occurrences. (The not so lucky parts.) At what point then, did this person start being lucky? And what, or who was he before and after that point? Read the story here My lucky break So here is my "lucky" break, if one may call it that: Lucky." a few days ago, I had this experience which got me to thinking about the whole issue of luck, or being lucky. I’m a bus driver. I had changed my regular bus on this day because there were some minor repairs to be done on it. I have a bracket setup on my regular bus’ dashboard, where I place my cell phone so as not to be handling it while driving, plus: I sometimes run the camera (just-in-case I should capture something interesting on the road) Because this current vehicle which I am now driving on this day is to be only for temporary purposes, I did not bother to: uninstall and reinstall my bracket setups. Instead, I just rested my cell phone on or near the dashboard of this bus, and forgot about it, as usual. About halfway through one of my trips, I saw from the corner of my eye, as if something fell from my bus. Thinking that it might have been a passenger who disposed of something, (an illegal act) I was searching to see if I could detect a suspect who might have done it, but not seeing any tell-tale signs, I continued along on my way, while keeping a watchful eye over my passengers. After getting to my destination and having all passengers off the bus, I parked and then reached for my phone (as usual) to continue the writings which I was doing earlier, but I couldn’t find my phone. That was when it clicked: the thing which fell from the bus down the road, was actually my phone. (Bad luck, very bad luck) I immediately turned around and went back to search for it. I happened to have a good idea where to start looking, (good luck?) Having just about 40 minutes to spare before the next trip, I had was to hurry. Making sure to go past the point where I needed to start looking, I then turn around, and reduced my speed to start the search. I noticed one of those road service crew vehicles (those with flashing amber lights and arrows which serves to detour vehicles around them,) (good luck?) I pulled up behind and stopped, then went to ask for assistance in helping me to find it, but this person was already there to do another job, so she called for help, which she said would be there shortly. After waiting for a while and seeing the time slipping away, I decided to continue the search on my own. With the hazard lights still going, I drove on or close to the shoulder, while scanning the road surface for sightings. And then: voila! There it was, the phone and its case from which it had popped and was separated on the impact. (Good luck?) After stopping my vehicle and getting out, I had was to cross two lanes of highway traffic to the other side (with very careful timing,) retrieve the device and then cross back to my bus, so I have found my phone which I thought was lost and gone for good. (Good luck?) With not much time remaining before my next trip, I just securely store away the device and went back to work. The next break time between trips, afforded me enough time to inspect the device, well, the screen was cracked, the back cover on one side was open slightly, and rested adjarred on the volume and power switches. (Bad luck?) I tried the power button: nothing- not good. Not very long afterward though, I heard the sounds of incoming messages- (very good,) the thing still works, only needed to release the jammed power and volume buttons. (Good luck?) Upon closer scrutiny, I noticed that the back cover was not that easily removed, it is held securely together with two small screws, which must first be removed in order to remove the back cover, so all I needed to do was to wait until I get the time and tool to do the job. (Not too bad?) But then I discovered that: these are very unique and very small screws, which needed special tools to undo. (Bad luck?) My research has found though, that this tool can be bought at some hardware store so after I’m done here, I shall be going out in search of said tool, (good luck?) in the meantime: I can still receive calls, (good luck?) but cannot make them until I rectify the issue with the jammed power button. (Bad luck?) So, until then: if you need me? you call me, because I can’t call you. ((Bad or good luck?) How lucky am I So, how lucky am I? Really? I remember once I had a case at the traffic court… More on this in part 2 of this article, coming in a couple of days. Join us then. Tell us how lucky (or unlucky) you are via the comments area below. aftermath of MonTreaL's freak stormMontreal’s Freak Storm leaves a trail of destruction in it’s wake A day after Montreal’s freak storm struck, Montrealers are busily trying to get what’s left of their lives together. The thunderstorm strike yesterday afternoon with all it’s rage and poor out fury on many like they had never seen before As seen in the photograph, large trees some said to be well over a hundred years old, were uprooted or split in two falling on houses, cars and anything that were in the way. NDG seems to be the borough which fared the worst in this however, other regions did get more than their fair share of the fury.
On Gouin Boul. Where this picture was taken, the homeowner seemed to have not suffered too much structural damages either to his house or the car, other than for the removal and cleaning up of the mess, it would appear as if he fared very well in the end. One might have also noticed (by viewing the video) that there are some fallen roadwork signs along either sides of the road, it’s as if somebody had gone and knock down all of them for some reason, HMMM I wonder why? Could it be that even the gods are angry at the Authorities for the proliferation of “roadwork” activities and paraphernalia’s around these part now-a-days? Could it be? Just asking. Fishing for a new NAFTA agreement in the age of slackers and covenant breakers.
Today, Wed. 16th August 2017 marks the first of five days of talks aimed at drafting a fresh new agreement between NAFTA member states; USA, CANADA and MEXICO, After US president Donald Trump threatens to tear up the 23 year old deal which he describe as;
The "worst" in history and vowed to fix it — or withdraw from it. Read more
The question here is; why bother? Why would Canada and Mexico want to go fishing for a new NAFTA agreement with such a slacker and covenant breaker as the Trump’s USA? How could someone just threatens to “tear up” an agreement as willy nilly as Trump has done and hardly a voice was raised in defense of common decency and well established laws and norms of honoring agreements?
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Now let’s suppose for a brief moment that one of the other two signatories in this deal; Canada or Mexico had for some reason decided to go the exact same rout as Trump’s America did, can anyone of you venture to speculate here what the; fallout, consequences or rhetorics which follow would look like?
Not good for that partner country I’d say, and even worse. Such a Country would be made a public example of, as a show to every other countries the world over, don’t you go tearing up any agreements signed and sealed between you and the mighty US of A, or even dare threaten to do so. Because you could/would face the same fate or worse. Why then is the Trump administration and/or the USA allowed to do this and have everybody concerned scrambling to try and work out a new agreement with the very same slacker and covenant breaker? Will such persons keep the new agreement? Only if and when that agreement is working well in their favor one would think, and then you’d better not try to get out of it later if you find that it doesn't suit you and most definitely; don't go using those very same tactics which this slacker just done used on you. Say it’s not so, I really want to hear your strong arguments Here is a link to the NAFTA members website where you may learn more about the agreement and it's workings
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As difficult as it is to say, Donald Trump is actually right in what he said the first time and now again in his latest speech in response to the happenings in Charlottesville VA.
The President Trump blamed “many sides” on many sides he said. The backlash was swift and load, two days later he released another statement; crisp, pointed and obviously very well crafted, the politically correct response but definitely not Trump.
Now the Donald is back to his usual self by going back to his original standpoint by saying: "There are two sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for the country, but there are two sides to a story”. Read more
Whether it be two or many is not a point for contention here but as opposed to the “rest of the world” who seemed quick and ready to place the blame squarely at the feet of; white supremacists, Alt-right nationalists or whoever else, there are a few troubling questions here: who was it that clashes with whom and where? What were either sides doing out there?
So one group was out for a pre-planned rally, what was the other group doing out there, on their way to prayer meetings? I hardly think so. There is a reason why Donald Trump became and still remain president in spite of the toll and logic-defying odds.
Could it be that folks has just grown tired of the falsehood, fakeness, and broken promises and has now become overly willing and ready to try anyone and anything but the status quoi?
So there have been many different voices and groups lobbying for change over a long period, and change we have got no doubting that. Could it be that the pendulum has swung too far to one side and is now ripe for the swing back to the other?
So whether it be; soft nationalists, activists or anarchists, ultra-right, ultra-left or politically correct, heckler, sharp-shooters or passive aggressive.
Everyone of them has an agenda on which they are campaigning when they hit the streets, the platform or in the glare of the camera. Some of you may not believe it when I say that; I’m not a Trump apologist, Nor do I support him in most of his policies or rhetoric, nor would I vote for him if I could. However, when the answer to a question is correct, one cannot make it incorrect and this time I must say that; Donald Trump is correct And that’s just the way I see it. Wait till you see my next post, you just might change your mind on how you think that I feel about The Donald. Walk good. Who really pays to build cities and howThe question was asked: who really pays to build a city and how is it done? And the answer is as I always say to many including my young son; cities are built on the backs of the poor, the young and the ignorant. One might ask; how so? And I would say, take a look at the video above and tell me, what do you see At a glance, it seemed very clear that a truck has got pulled over by a transport authority personnel (driver of the car behind the truck with flashing red lights). Nothing strange about that, it happens all the time. Transport authority people does (random) spot checks all the time to ensure that motorists, especially truckers do observe and obey the rules as well as making sure that these vehicles are safe enough to operate on the roads and highways. But, and there is a BIG “but” here, in this particular situation, this is not just any ole random stop. If one had been traversing these roads over the past couple of weeks and months, one would have noticed that this has become a regular occurrence of late. And what’s the catalyst you asked. Let me try to tell you. A while back, maybe a month or two, it was announced that; the sources south ramp to the westbound highway 20 is in need of major repairs. A Transports Quebec engineering report from November 2016, shows page after page of corroded metal, exposed rebar and crumbling asphalt. However, the minister responsible for the Montreal region, announced that there was no money available to repair the overpass in 2017. “Ideally, the City of Pointe-Claire would like to see that overpass torn down and reconfigured and rebuilt brand new Rebuilding is going to cost a lot of money But Transport Quebec said it will take between $10 to $25m, as is now needed, in order to fix the structure. Repairs are only planned starting in 2018. Meanwhile, the authorities have had to put up Jersey’s [concrete barriers] to prevent vehicles from touching the walls, and have been diverting heavy vehicles away from the westbound ramp onto highway 20 west. This detour sends heavy vehicles towards the eastbound 20 where they need to loop back around if they wants to go west. So the signs are placed there at the top of the ramp (I was told since I haven’t gone that way to see them for myself) but I also know how these things work. In the meantime though, a transport Quebec inspector or "personnel" may be seen sitting in his car there at the bottom of that ramp (sometimes two of them) and their job is, (it would appears) to catch and fine every heavy vehicle driver who comes down off of that ramp. Over the first two weeks or so since they have instituted those changes and detours I’ve grown tired of seeing those red flashing lights there at the bottom end of that ramp, right there at the sources overpass as I drive pass by there back and forth several times per day.
A nice and easy way for them to amass the necessary funds to effect the repairs don’t you think? So let’s dig in a bit deeper here. What if that overpass was really in danger of crumbling under the weight of a heavy vehicle? Would they have left it accessible any at all to those vehicles (even with the warnings)? Or, Wouldn’t they close it off totally before the tragedy occurs? Furthermore, and this may be the most important point here which you need to grasp in order to understand how cities are built on the backs of the poor, the young and the ignorant. Every time a heavy vehicle is caught coming down off of that ramp, the cash register goes; chi-chim, at the transport authority offices. That was a working person, someone who is most likely to be at or close to the bottom of the economic ladder, yet, it was s/he who was just taxed, again. Maybe he is a young driver too who hasn’t been hit and hurt hard enough yet to begin to learn and start really thinking things through, and/or he's foolish enough to be constantly doing the same thing (wrong) and be expecting different results. (Right one for him/her). Say it ain’t so So you may wish to dispute my theory and try to prove me wrong but consider this: As was said earlier; if the structure was as bad as you say that it is, (and I’m not saying here that they aren’t in a bad state, but) why not close it completely and prevent those vehicles from getting on and risking a terrible disaster? Ok, I hear you. You want to allow access to smaller vehicles which don’t pose such big a threat. I hear you too. But seriously though. Why didn’t you think to place those (same) transport authority personnel and the vehicles which they are sitting in down there at the bottom, why not place them at the top of the ramp, to stop them from venturing on before they do? Stop them up there before those: poor, young and/or foolish heavy vehicle drivers actually gets onto the ramp and risk a catastrophe, why take that risk? Could it be because it is worth your while? Could it possibly be because you did think about this long and hard, and you did take the conscious decision to go this “route”? Because! Oh, no, it's not that at all. So... Could it be though? Could it be that the intended purposes from the get go was to mitigate the cost of repairs at the hands of these “certain” types of people who you have learnt by experience that they will come through for you every time, could it be? Could it possibly be? Just asking. |
AuthorE Lloyd Kelly is an Author, poet and blogger born in Jamaica W.i. to Raglan and Alma Kelly. Now lives in Montreal Qc. where when not writing, he drives a shuttle bus between campuses at McGill university Via: Poetry Foundation
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