Coronavirus: Some Provoking Thoughts

I hope to do a series on COVID-19

Today's piece is a quick and dirty history

and, also, some thoughts on global warming and governments

In the months after 911, I told our pastor that something had changed in 'the Heavenlies', and the world will never be the same again. That was followed by several plagues, SARS, the Bird Flu, etc., and by an increase in mostly Islamic terrorism. 

In 2008, we had that incredible stock market crash and serious depression. In 2011, the Arab Spring, and the beginning of the Syrian proxy war which is not over yet. In 2015, the consequences of the Syrian war and the rape of African countries by European colonialists came home to roost as millions of migrants made their way into Europe. 

In 2020, came COVID-19! It actually started in China sometime in 2019, but they managed to keep it hidden until a courageous doctor, now deceased, managed to announce it to the world around New Years. By then it had taken hold in Hubei Province and the bodies were beginning to pile up. China appeared to take very drastic action, which, in retrospect, should have come months earlier.

About the same time, doctors in Lombardy region, in northern Italy, began to notice people were dying from a strange form of Pneumonia. It was soon realized that that new type of Pneumonia which was how the Coronavirus claimed most of its victims.

It has now spread to most countries in the world. Some countries, like Canada, are somewhat prepared for it, because of SARS, while others are not the least bit prepared, like Italy and Iran.

In Hubei Province, 60 million people were locked down for nearly three months. Just yesterday, India locked down 1.3 billion people, one 6th of the population of the earth. Shelter-in-place orders are happening across Europe's most populated countries, with increasing penalties for those idiots who flagrantly ignore those orders. 

Cruise ships are being grounded, those that can find a port to take them in. Container ship traffic will be reduced significantly, if it hasn't already, as many factories making frivolous things for which the market is dwindling, are shut down. Large ships make a lot of pollution!

Airlines around the world are laying off most of their staff, some, all of their staff, as airports everywhere are closing, even to some domestic traffic. That's a lot of airplanes that are not flying.

Many businesses are shutting down, and most are likely to in the next little while. Videos from cities in most countries show empty streets during 'rush hours'. Boeing closed its Washington State production plants putting about 40,000 people out of work. That's a lot of commuters who are not commuting. 

Globally, probably close to a billion commuters are out of work or working from home, but not commuting. Taxi companies are laying off staff. 

In less than 3 months, Coronavirus has done more to reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere than any climate change heroics could do in 15 years. And it will continue for at least another couple months - much longer in countries where it is just arriving.

Wuhan has had its movement restrictions loosened just today. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel. How long that tunnel is we don't really know because of China's secrecy at the beginning. But certainly, it can be measured in months. We may not get completely rid of COVID-19 for a few years, if ever, but its dramatic effects will reduce greatly after some months, especially in countries with good health-care systems and sensible governments. I greatly fear for those countries where there is much crowding and poor health-care. This emergency will lead to draconian measures that might never be removed even after the virus is. 

A crisis is the most dangerous time

in the governance of any country

In Canada, Trudeau has embedded clauses that gives him and his Finance Minister sweeping powers to tax, to borrow, to spend without consulting parliament, in an emergency measures bill. The purpose is not to help Canadians, but to allow Trudeau to continue to govern with his minority without fear of being overthrown by a finance bill in the House of Commons. The clause was not for a few weeks or months, but for 21 months. This is playing politics at a time of crisis and is shameful.

Trudeau hasn't done a terrible job at managing this crisis until now, especially compared to some. Except that he has sunk Canada so deeply into debt that we have no budgetary room to handle this crisis. I have been warning us about this for years. Now, he will be borrowing at least 100 billion dollars over the next few months which means another generation of Canadians will be living off a fraction of their taxes as much of our tax money will go to pay interest on a more than $1 trillion debt. I can't see where the next three generations of Canadians will be able to pay this down, and, God-forbid, another crisis in a few years, or a few decades, and we will completely crash.

Politics trumps humanity

One good thing Trudeau and his Finance Minister could do to help a rapidly crumbling economy is to remove the carbon tax he so recently installed. Atmospheric carbon should be dramatically reduced this year, and if our climate 'scientists' are right, that should result in a significant drop in global temperatures sometime over the next several years. 

Right now, the carbon tax is useless as only essential workers and truck-drivers are driving. We should be encouraging these heroes, not punishing them for their heroics.

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Angry S Africa Heading for Famine While Forgiving Zimbabwe Heading for Prosperity

Land expropriation failed miserably in Zimbabwe and the new government has wisely reversed courses

South Africa has learned no lessons from Zimbabwe's descent into poverty and seems determined to follow its course

‘Time for Reconciliation Over’: South Africa Votes to Confiscate White-Owned Land

A worker leaves after working at a farm in Eikenhof, South Africa © Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

The South African parliament voted on Tuesday in favor of a motion seeking to change the constitution to allow white-owned land expropriation without compensation.

The motion, which was brought by Julius Malema – the leader of the radical Marxist opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters – passed by a wide margin of 241 votes to 83 against. 

Several parties – the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, Cope and the African Christian Democratic Party – did not support the motion. The matter has been referred to the parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee, which must report back by August 30.

“The time for reconciliation is over. Now is the time for justice,” Malema told the parliament. “We must ensure that we restore the dignity of our people without compensating the criminals who stole our land.”

South Africa has a population of over 50 million people. According to a 2017 government audit, white people own 72 percent of farmland.

Last week, South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, pledged to return the lands owned by white farmers since the 1600s to the black citizens of the country. He added that food production and security must be preserved.

The official opposition Democratic Alliance party (DA) has criticized the motion, saying it will undermine property rights and scare off potential investors.

The DA’s Thandeka Mbabama told the parliament that expropriation without compensation was a way to divert attention from the failure by successive ANC-led (African National Congress) governments.

“It is shocking that at the current rate it will take 35 years to finalize (land) restitution claims lodged before 1998,” said Mbabama, who is deputy shadow minister for rural development and land reform.

It’s been more than two decades since the end of apartheid in the 1990s, and the ruling ANC party is still trying to tackle racial disparities in land ownership in South Africa.

The president of farmers’ group the Transvaal Agricultural Union, Louis Meintjes, warned the country risks going down the same route as Zimbabwe, which plunged into famine after a government-sanctioned purge of white farmers in the 2000s.

“Where in the world has expropriation without compensation coupled to the waste of agricultural land, resulted in foreign confidence, economic growth and increased food production?” Meintjes said, as cited by Australia’s news.com.au.

“If Mr Ramaphosa is set on creating an untenable situation, he should actively create circumstances which will promote famine. His promise to expropriate land without compensation sows the seed for revolution. Expropriation without compensation is theft.”

White farmer gets land back under Zimbabwe's new leader

Farmer Darryn Smart and his family are welcomed back to their farm by workers and community members CREDIT:  FARAI MUTSAKA/AP

A white Zimbabwean farmer evicted by the government of Robert Mugabe has returned to a hero's welcome as the first to get his land back under the new president, in a sign of reform on an issue that had hastened the country's international isolation.

With a military escort, Robert Smart made his way into Lesbury farm about 124 miles east of the capital, Harare, on Thursday to cheers and song by dozens of workers and community members.

Such scenes were once unthinkable in a country where land ownership is an emotional issue with political and racial overtones.

"We have come to reclaim our farm," sang black women and men, rushing into the compound.

Two decades ago, their arrival would have meant that Smart and his family would have to leave. Ruling Zanu-PF party supporters, led by veterans of the 1970s war against white minority rule, evicted many of Zimbabwe's white farmers under an often violent land reform program led by Mugabe.

Farmers, Darryn, left and Robert Smart, right, are welcomed back to their farm 

CREDIT:  FARAI MUTSAKA/AP

Whites make up less than one per cent of the southern African country's population, but they owned huge tracts of land while blacks remained in largely unproductive areas.

The evictions were meant to address colonial land ownership imbalances skewed against blacks, Mugabe said. Some in the international community responded with outrage and sanctions.

Of the roughly 4,500 white farmers before the land reforms began in 2000, only a few hundred are left.

But Mugabe is gone, resigning last month after the military and ruling party turned against him amid fears that his wife was positioning herself to take power. New President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a longtime Mugabe ally but stung by his firing as vice president, has promised to undo some land reforms as he seeks to revive the once-prosperous economy.

Mr Smart is the first to have his farm returned. On Thursday, some war veterans and local traditional leaders joined farm workers and villagers in song to welcome his family home.

"Oh, Darryn," one woman cried, dashing to embrace Mr Smart's son.

In a flash, dozens followed her. Some ululated, and others waved triumphant fists in the air. "I am ecstatic. Words cannot describe the feeling," Darryn told The Associated Press.

Smart's return, facilitated by Mnangagwa's government, could mark a new turn in the politics of land ownership. During his inauguration last month, Mnangagwa described the land reform as "inevitable," calling land management key to economic recovery.

Months before an election scheduled for August 2018 at the latest, the new president is desperate to bring back foreign investors and resolve a severe currency shortage, mass unemployment and dramatic price increases.

Zimbabwe is mainly agricultural, with 80 percent of the population depending on it for their livelihoods, according to government figures.

Earlier this month, deputy finance minister Terrence Mukupe traveled to neighboring Zambia to engage former white Zimbabwean farmers who have settled there.

Christian Beaten to Death by Muslim Classmates

BY CLARION PROJECT 

A 17-year old Christian boy in Pakistan was beaten to death in Pakistan by his fellow Muslim students in their classroom, reported the British Pakistani Christian Association.

A gifted intellect and head of his class, Sharoon Masih was the only Christian student in his grade. He had faced isolation and bullying from the first day he entered the school in Verahi District in Punjab.

His mother said he was warned from the beginning not to mix with the Muslims at school, with one fellow classmate saying, “You’re a Christian. Don’t dare sit with us if you want to live.”

Repeated attempts were made to convert Sharoon, but he refused. His family reported that he used his isolation to concentrate on his studies and reached the top of his class – a position which infuriated his fellow students even more.

“Sharoon and I cried every night as he described the daily torture he was subjected to,” related his mother. “He only told me about the abuse and violence he was facing. He did not want to upset his father because he had such a caring heart for others.”

Sharoon’a father, a laborer at a brick kiln had saved money to send his gifted son to the best school in the area.

While the instigator of the beating was been arrested, many other boys took part in the murder remain at large as witnesses to the horrific beating refuse to come forward.

There are varying reports about why no teachers stopped the fight. Initial reports out of the classroom allege the teacher ignored the fight. Others say it occurred between classes when the teacher was not present. Still, there was no teacher at the school that responded to the noise of the melee.

The headmaster of the school was dismissed, but to date, all the teachers remain in their positions.

“Christians are despised and detested in Pakistan they are a constant target for persecution,” said Wilson Chowdhry, chair of the British Pakistani Christian Association.

“This killing of a young Christian teenager at school serves only to remind us that hatred towards religious minorities is bred into the majority population at a young age, through cultural norms and a biased national curriculum. However by no means is such treatment an anomaly – it is an expectation that Christians will face abuse and violence during the years in the educational system.”

Choudary charged that culpability for the crime goes all the way to the Pakistani government, which has failed to remove materials with the national curriculum that teaches and reinforces this attitude toward Christians.

Notably, the curriculum was flagged by the United States Commission for International Freedom as a potential bar to foreign aid.

“Such poor governance has inculcated generations of Pakistani citizens with false stereotypes that undermine the basic human rights of the non-Muslims in their midst,” Choudary said. “This mis-education has reciprocally also made Muslims more susceptible to the hate ideology espoused by the many rogue Imams following hardline sects of Islam.

Hate ideology is basically fundamental Islam!

“Sharoon was bright and intelligent young boy who had a potentially good future has now been killed.  Yet once again in Pakistan, the debate is not on who is culpable but who is not culpable of a most heinous crime.”

The association is calling on the Pakistani government to reform of the educational system to remove the biases which openly demonize minorities. To sign the petition, click here.

And we wonder why Pakistan is still in the dark ages? It is determined to stay there.