Is that a Murder?!

I saw an SUV had parked near where I usually park, or close to it, a few weeks ago. They were parking like a blind! The only thing is our street is not busy or they could have been hit or complained about. I wondered who that belongs to until one day, eventually, I think, I saw where the driver went. It was a woman who lives at a corner house with a man of a different ethnicity who is usually not home and when he comes he comes late, driving a big and noisy pick-up truck. I didn't mind that until one day she parked closer to where I usually park. Now it's difficult for me to get the other vehicle out of the garage because the first car is blocking it and the SUV has been sitting there for more than a week and that's the vehicle which was driven every day! I think there are only three possibilities:

1) The woman is on vacation, alone, without her partner.

2) The woman, unfortunately, has left the man, which is very unlikely, or

3) The woman has been murdered!

It's hard to believe that someone who lives with a certain someone and has never been on a trip by herself, all of a sudden travels and it's as unusual as thinking she has left either! So where are we getting at? 
I was going to wait another week to see if she's coming back and if not I'd report that to the police but the vehicle was moved on Sun. afternoon.

(Photo: I could park really close to this idiot and once someone is parked in front, she would be trapped like a filthy mouse she is, but gave her space to get the hell out)

Reactions to the new Vehicle

I drove my newly purchased vehicles to work for the first time and of course parked it in the provided parking lot which half of the employees park there (There are have three separate parking lots) and received all sorts of reactions which I kind of had expected but perhaps not to that extent:

1) The first person was my supervisor. He stepped in the office and after Good morning he went: You brought the ..., naming the model of the car!

2) Then it was my manager who asked me if I had purchased a new vehicle. I said I had borrowed it citing the issue I currently have with it. The second part was right! 

3) Then there was this guy who has been working for the company for over 12 years or so and believes his job is the most important one. I have a plan to demolish him, partially, at least, later, and I will write about it! He came out of his nest! (he sits on his ass for at least 7 straight hours a day, coming out only for a lunch which he purchases from one of the local businesses or goes to the shop, rarely) and went to a couple of colleagues and said: Who drives that electric vehicle? My supervisor says: It's his, pointing at me and a colleague makes a face and says: The Troublemaker drivers an electric car?! 🤯. The Nestle guy(!), I think I'm going to call him that from now on(!) says he would like to ask the CEO to provide him with a gasoline pump now that I can simply charge my battery! Then he adds: If I disconnected your car, you wouldn't be able to get home tonight, would you? I told him that it was not my vehicle, firstly and secondly, I would easily get home, even if he disconnected the vehicle because the car has a gasoline operated engine! I add that it was a Hybrid Plug-in vehicle! He said nothing much after that! 

4) The next two people were two ladies who work together and I bumped to them when we were all leaving work. They said they had wondered who drove a vehicle with a licence plate from the State of ..., considering it was a very long trip! It's more than 2,300 Miles or 3,700 Km! I told them that the vehicle belonged to a relative and that was it. 

(Photo: Almost all of the major auto manufacturers have started electric, hybrid and plug-in vehicles. I saw this Fiat a few years ago in a parking lot in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not mine though!)

The Crafty Government of Alberta

I once suggested to one of my colleagues to talk to an MLA to have periodic, at least once in two years, maybe, and it would depend on the age and records of the driver, driving tests both in practical and theory format for all the drivers in the Province, considering we have lots of crazy and careless ones on the roads. My intention is to not only improve the driving knowledge and skills of the drivers but also to generate some revenue for the Provincial Government. His answer was logical: No MLA would take any steps for that because they knew they would lose their seat!   

I agree but I have decided to do this myself and I will write about this later after I go forward with the plan. Nevertheless, it was just yesterday that I realized the Government has easier plans to make more money and no one would lose their seats! They want to increase the maximum speed on the divided highways to 120 Km/h! As crazy and stupid as it sounds, I understand what they're looking for: More incidents, which, of course, will lead to more revenue for, not only the Government, but also many businesses which eventually have to pay taxes to the Government! 

Just a few weeks before this, the crazy, dictator woman of the Province introduced a new licence plate with a new stupid slogan: Strong and Free! While all the provinces, including Alberta, so far have non-political slogans, this woman becomes a hero all of a sudden and thinks Alberta has not been strong and free until she calls it on the plates! 

(Photo: This is a divided highway for which the Government of Alberta intends to increase the speed limit)

Thank You Mr. Cheney

Dick Cheney the former Vice President at the time of George W. Bush presidency died last night at the age of 84. He was repeatedly criticized for his major role in the 2003 US led invasion of Iraq which led to the fall of one of the biggest dictator's of history Saddam Hussain. The US led invasion destroyed the Iraqi forces in just 100 days, the army which was considered the 5th most powerful at the time. Saddam with all the money he earned selling oil made on of the strongest forces but that didn't stand long against " Desert Storm ". That was the name of the operation which wiped out Saddam and his men quickly and effectively. Some people in the West opposed Cheney strongly and even demonstrated against him for orchestrating the war citing he was lying about the Weapons of Mass Destruction that had been said Saddam had. It does not matter if Iraqis had or did not have any weapons of that magnitude, although I believe they had because my definition of such weapons is different from Westerners (Weapons of Mass Destruction in the view of Western people and politicians are the weapons which are able only to hit Western targets!), Saddam and Iraqis deserved the punishment.

When Saddam Hussain came into power in 1979, Iran was still a very strong and powerful country. Neither Saddam nor any other Arab or non-Arab politician did not even think of doing something to upset the Shah (King) of Iran but when the Shah left in early 1979, Saddam though he could use the confusion and chaos in Iran to gain what he always wanted: Arvand-Rud a river between the two country with the imaginary line in the middle as the border. For that Iraqi forces cross into Iran in Sep.1980 and that was the beginning of the 8-year devastating war. Iraqi forces committed every possible crimes to defeat Iranians including dropping chemical bombs in the forces and civilians, attacking cities with surface-to-surface missiles, you name it but because no Westerner was hurt, none of those was considered Weapons of Mass Destruction or War Crime!

Saddam did not stop there. He attacked his own people of Kurdish ethnicity in north of the country with chemical bombs and killed nearly 5000 civilians including elderly, women and kids. 

Kuwait was his next and last target which led to two operations: " Desert Shield " which in that the US led collision defended Saudi Arabia as at the time they were convinced that they would be the next target and " Desert Storm " which was briefly referred to above. 

Stories about the crimes of the brutal regime of Saddam Hussain, his sons and Ba'ath Party is numerous but then again as long as no Westerner is hurt, he shall be free to do whatever he wanted to do unless people like Saudis and Kuwaitis ask him to come to their aid! For that I say: Thanks Mr. Cheney. You did great by planning to topple the brutal regime of Saddam Hussain. Rest in Peace. When I get a chance to go to the States next, I will make sure I pay my respects to the gentleman. Whatever else he has done is not my business! 

(Photo: Cheney is seen next to Rumsfeld in his early years. Rumy, as they called him, was his trainer and mentor. He passed away in 2021)

Poking the Bear!

I'm no politician but I've read about politics a lot. This new era of Trump imposing tariffs on different countries seems not easy to handle, particularly for a country like Canada which has its most of its trade with the US. The good thing is many of the merchandise do not fall under the list because of CUSMA but the ones which are affected, have little chance to survive and the government has plans to provide assistance. 

Trump does all this to help to improve his country which is, of course, not understood by the other simply because they suffer from it. Let's look at a short list of the decisions that Trump administration has made since he took the office:

1) Throwing many border-jumpers out and securing the borders.

2) Increasing the cost of H1-B visa so high that the companies can barely thinking of using a foreigner.

3) Imposing tariffs on many imported goods to induce domestic businesses to make them at home. Whether it will work or not, I can't be sure. many say it won't at least not in a short term as the infrastructure does not exist. 

4) Shutting down assembly plants in Ontario and perhaps in places in Mexico to transfer them to the States and increase employment rate. What would happened to the cost to the end-user? I don't know! Would the potential customers be willing to pay the difference?! 

5) Imposing fees to frequent travelers to the US, mostly the Snowbirds from Canada.

6) Shutting down many radio stations and websites including VOA and Radio Free Europe (I think that was the name!).

7) Stopping the US aid to many organizations around the world.

Every different nation has reacted to the tariffs differently. The Chinese have upper hand so they came back with their own tariffs and pushed the US to an agreement. Canada is not as strong. The only thing Canada has done is reducing the number of visitors which has significant affect on the south of the border businesses which enjoyed the Canadians visitors for decades and the By Canadian policy which has not been bad but not very effective. Every thing else has not been futile. PM Carney has had meetings with Trump but not much has come out of them. In one case Canada had to take back the imposed tariffs. 

The Ontario Premier, Ford, is the one who has been trying to land powerful punches on Trump but hasn't been much successful. His last attempt was cutting a part of Ronald Reagan speech regarding tariffs and sending it to the American networks by paying them! 

That pissed Trump a whole lot off! He immediately put a sort of pause on the negotiations! Ford suspended the ad(!) but why would you do that in the first place?! That's stupid! You're telling another country how to select their policies and then pocking bear! Do you not know that this guy is crazy?! You need to have a good plan before approaching him! The Chinese had a Bear Spray! What the hell did you use? Beside that is the responsibility of handling the bear is the PM's?! You just ruined everything that he had built, you moron! 

(Photo: The 40th President of the US is seen here shortly before being assassinated in 1980. He survived that) 

Flashback (38): The Young African Woman

There has been nothing but work recently and I barely even have time to exercise and it's not only because I'm usually tired or not strong enough, emotionally and have no determination and inspiration but also because I don't have good nigh sleep, most of the weeks! I think there's something wrong with the damn heating system and I don't dare calling a service guy because most of them are fraudulent! I will eventually have too, though! 

With that said, I thought I shall say one of the short stories about the time that I worked for Cargill Meat Solutions in High River, some 20 years ago! To this say I still don't know why I worked for that company and in that situation for such a long time! I know partially. The job was very hard physically and maybe it still is, although I think there must have been some technological advances but I got used to it and I was amongst a handful of the people who were able to do the job and there was lots of fun. We tortured people and we enjoyed it! It was basically me and a gigantic Nigerian fella (I was told that is where he was from) who were ruling there until one day it seemed that it was a wakeup call. I went to another company and they hired me! It was a much easier job but it didn't take long until I realized I got tricked and my mistakes were another reason and I got kicked out! The only good thing was that I was eligible for E. I. and I apply it but I will tell this story later. 

Cargill Meat Solutions, High River location worked two shifts with lots of refugees and permit worker from everywhere in the world. The majority of the nationalities were Filipinos, Vietnamese, Latinos, Indian Punjabis, Cambodians, some Canadians from the town or other corners of the country and Africans of different tribes. The reason why I was there was simply being stupid and misled but that will be told later, in a separate post, if there is a need.

There was a pretty young African woman with a beautiful smile whom I talked to once or twice and then she ripped her home address off her paystub and handed it to me! The next day or next week I went to see her. I remember her address was in 11th Avenue, SW and it was a dark night! There was no Google Maps or Smart Phones back then and I didn't find it and went back home! That was it! I never talked to her and nothing ever happened after that! Stories like that has happened many times in my life and that's simply because I never felt the need for having anyone in my life to be essential, neither physically, nor emotionally. Now that I have that feeling, it's too late and it seems I have to spend the remaining years of my life alone! 

(Photo: There are many small two or three-story rental buildings in 11th Ave., SW, in the western part of Downtown Calgary. This, by the way, was not and is not the building that the pretty African woman used to live!)