Recent Developments

ANNIVERSARY OF ATTICA PRISON UPRISING

This is the 50th anniversary of New York State's Attica Prison uprising, not too far from where this is being written. The majority of the inmates in the prison rioted over prison conditions, taking 42 guards and prison employees as hostages. Negotiations went on for several days before Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered the retaking of the prison by the National Guard, State Troopers and, prison guards.

The retaking of the prison was successful. 43 people were killed, including ten of the prison guards and employees that were being held hostage. The uprising did result in somewhat better conditions for prisoners.

The scandal is that almost all of the dead hostages were believed to have been killed by bullets from those retaking the prison.

The lower right quadrant is D Block, where the uprising began. The shapes in the center are baseball diamonds. (Image Credit-Google Earth)

CANADIAN POLITICS MADE REALLY SIMPLE

There is an election campaign going on in Canada. There used to be four main political parties, aside from special interest parties like the Bloc Quebecois. There were two main parties on the right, and two on the left.

But what happened is that the two rightward parties, the Conservative Alliance and Progressive Conservatives, merged. This means that there is only one main party on the right but two on the left, the Liberals and New Democrats.

So if 40% of voters vote right, and 60% vote left, the right will still likely win because the left is splitting it's vote between two candidates while the right isn't.

What many democracies do to avoid vote-splitting, although not the U.S. or Canada, is to count the votes for each party, and then have a final "runoff" election between the two top parties.

A major issue in the Canadian election campaign is the availability of housing. We saw in section 4) CITIES OF CONFLICT of the compound posting, "Economics" November 2019, that Toronto really needs a whole new "center" to build out from in the same way that North York became a new center in the postwar era.

Just because Canada's socialist party, the New Democrat Party or NDP, has never had a prime minister doesn't mean it doesn't have an important role to play in national politics. We have seen how I consider the NDP to be an ideal example of a "message party". 

A message party fulfills it's role not by actually winning but by pulling the entire system in it's direction. Here is a link to it:

www.markmeekeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/07/message-parties.html?m=0

AMERICA AT WAR

We have seen in "America's War Icons" that, to be really motivated to go to war, America needs an icon such as "Remember the Alamo" or "Remember Pearl Harbor".

The icon for the war in Afghanistan was, of course, 9 / 11. But what happened is that 9 / 11 was almost a generation ago and the icon is past it's expiration date. Here is a link to the original posting:

www.markmeekeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/07/economic-boom-and-bust-cycles.html?m=0

WAR TROPHIES

U.S. forces have left behind a lot of war trophies in Afghanistan. Even if the helicopters and planes aren't operational they will still serve as war trophies. But war trophies can inadvertently serve as an advertisement for the country's technology.

I climbed inside a Tiger Tank once.

Almost certainly the most famous war trophy in the world is the U.S. Navy intelligence-gathering ship, the U.S.S. Pueblo, that was captured by North Korea. We saw the ship in our visit to "Pyongyang". The crew was eventually released but the ship was kept as a war trophy.

TEXAS ABORTION BAN

The recent ban on abortion by Texas, and several other states due to religious conservativism, has a simple explanation. There are also stories from across the U.S. of women being denied entry to certain businesses for being dressed inappropriately.

What is happening, as we saw in the posting on this blog "The Great Revolution Of Our Time", is that the Iranian Revolution has arrived in America.

VACCINE PASSPORTS

A number of countries and provinces are now issuing vaccine passports, proof that the holder is completely vaccinated against the Coronavirus. The passport is on the holder's phone, not in hard copy or a stamp on the skin.

This goes to show what I have long been writing on this blog. The fabled "Mark of the Beast" is actually a phone. This is detailed in the posting on this blog, "The End Of The World As We Know It". 

These vaccine passports are not the "Mark of the Beast" but are certainly a major step toward it.

If you would like a book-length posting about Bible prophecy here is a link to it:

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2016/10/new-insight-into-bible-prophecy.html?m=0