An Iceberg has Split in Antarctica... and Saudis have arrested a girl...

An iceberg about the size of the state of Delaware split off from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf sometime between July 10 and July 12. 

It's been a week since NASA revealed that a giant iceberg has broken away from the ice shelf in Antarctica...
I have always been fascinated by nature and its beauty and might... Walking in nature relaxes the nerves and makes a person think about the very fundamentals of being existence... and underscores the basics of being alive...
In the city jungle makes people nervous and depressed... The traffic and the noise and the chemical pollution... the crowds... oppress peoples existence... while open nature transcends the pettiness of everyday living and opens up new horizons and new vision of existence...
An iceberg has broken from the ice shelve in Antarctica... It makes the evolution of nature more real and it brings the changing climate closer to the cities...
Imagine being on that breaking iceberg... Imagine floating inch by inch to the cities and "civilization..."

The beauty of the nature... the mighty iceberg... imagine being on it... and floating towards the horrors of modern civilization... Imagine floating towards Mosul and Raqqa or maybe Afghanistan... Travelling from pristine nature to the horrors of war and mutilation and maiming and murder...  

Imagine yourself on the breakaway iceberg... and floating towards the civilization of wars and greed and profit... where humans are valued by their net worth of money...!

The more money one has the more "human" one is...

Imagine that the iceberg is just like Sindbad's magic carpet... and you are on it... what will you want to change...?

Maybe you want to stop the wars and ban the manufacturing of arms... whose only function is to maim, mutilate and murder...

Maybe instead of arms you will manufacture food to feed the hungry... and built shelters for the homeless... and the refugees...

Maybe you will establish peace for all humankind... Maybe... Maybe... you will stop the wars... and hug your neighbour... feed the people... and built homes instead of bombing them...

A huge iceberg has split from the main shelf... they speculate that sea-ocean levels will rise... Maybe the coasts of Florida will be flooded... Maybe...! But we are more concerned with our profit... we are more engaged in accumulating things that we do not need... things that we will throw away in few days...

These class of penguins are happy... and satisfied... they do not have much but whatever nature has provided...! They are sharing and living together in a class...

An iceberg has broken in Antarctica and floating away...
Imagine it floating towards British Colombia and 
California... where wild fires are raging...

Wild fires in California... devastating... 

Fire... Fire everywhere... It is deadly and it is like hell... Just like the wars in Middle East and Africa...

California wild fires... Nature raging and burning... threatening cities...

Nature spewing smoke... 

Fire in British Columbia... The green space is burned... and humans, and AI has not found a cure for this devastation... 

An iceberg is broken away... and on the other side wild 

fire is burning... 

Nature is evolving... but humans are instigating more wars and more creating more misery... Humans are moreinterested in satisfying their greed... and wars are 

profitable to the arms manufacturers... to the 1%...

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Police in Saudi Arabia detain woman in miniskirt...

Police in Saudi Arabia have detained a woman who featured in a social media video wearing a miniskirt and a crop-top as she strolled through a Saudi city, according to a Saudi police statement.

The state or any religion should not dictate people how to live... and what to wear...

The Big Brothers 

should not have power to stifle freedoms and suppress women and minorities... if a woman wants to follow the rules of Islamic dress codes... so be it... They should be allowed!

But,

If a woman wants to wear a western clothing then she 

should be allowed... Why Saudi, or Turkish or Azeri men 

should be impose their religious or cultural values on 

women and minorities... ?

Freedom and liberties are for ALL... that's how human 

reasoning dictates...

Men are not superior to anyone... !!!

Check the rules for women in Saudi Arabia...

Women in Saudi Arabia must wear loose-fitting, full-length robes known as "abayas" in public, as well as a headscarf...                                                                                                        

They are also banned from driving, are separated from unrelated men, and must be accompanied by or receive written permission from a male guardian - usually a father, husband or brother - if they want to travel, work or access healthcare.

Neither God nor Allah or any other extraterrestrial being has granted men superiority... over women and over each other...
Western "liberal democracies" know the oppressive rules of Saudi Arabia and Turkey and Azerbaijan... So why they defend these oppressive regimes...? 


Women in the West they are conditioned to be beautiful objects... and a whole industry has flourished for "beauty products..."  Women are conditioned to consume the products manufactured by men... at times even harming their health... like breast implants...! 
I always wonder why men wear suits and women wear dresses exposing their body parts...!
Western "liberal democracies" have objectified women in a different way... and allowed "pussy grabbers..." to be glorified... Islamic societies have subjugated women as possessions...
Both societies subjugate women just for the "pleasure" and above all for the greed and profit of the ruling 1%... !

Thoreau and Corruption and Civil Disobedience...

Rulers-Protectors of the 1% ... Thoreau in 
the U.S. and Liu Xiaobo in China and 
Nissanian in Turkey and Kara Murza in 
Russia 


Yesterday I wrote about $10 000 a day... Is it enough...?
$10 000 a day for 90 years makes $325 500 000... How much more a person needs...?
How much more one needs the cheat and exploit other people and contaminate the environment... ?

When human greed and the profit motive pushes the 1% of each country to accumulate more... and more... and more... 
I wonder what they will do with that accumulated fantasy... What will they do with $10 000 a day...? What will they do with the rest...?
I always wondered... and I have no answer...!
Putin sushes his opponents and warns us... not to speak... not to criticize... and let him eat his 200 billion dollars...
How many millions... billions... a person needs...?
How much greed is justified...?




Simplify... and get rid of the junk... The essential to live and be happy is enough... Happiness is not in how much a person has... but in how much they help others... 
Check Thoreau's simple cabin... maybe Putin and the like can learn from him...


I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe- "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have... and not the oppression that the Big Brothers impose on people... 
Simplify your life and enjoy your day... 

“Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,” Thoreau instructs us. “Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.” To be free from the distractions of modern life — of the endlessly diverting display of the ordinary, social world of stuff, stuff and more stuff — allowed a person to focus and think. What could we think if worldly possessions didn’t occupy our thoughts? What and whom could we attend to if we stopped attending only to ourselves?

A person is not obliged to devote his life to eliminating evils from the world, but he is obligated not to participate in such evils. This includes not being a member of an unjust institution (like the government)...

Thoreau further argues that the United States fits this criteria for an unjust government, given its support of slavery and its practice of aggressive war.

They say power corrupts, and absolute power will corrupt absolutely... and the governments have the power... and each of them protects the 1% of their respective countries...
The power is a matter of degree... In the Western Liberal Democracies it is less and hence the corruption is less... In Russia the power of the government is much more... and the corruption is much more... in China and Turkey the power of the government it is almost absolute, and hence the corruption is almost absolute...

Thoreau writes: 
I do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation. I do not wish to split hairs, to make fine distinctions, or set myself up as better than my neighbors. 

Once we set up ourselves as "Better than [our] neighbors" then eventually we will be in "aggressive wars."
But wars kill and the responsibility of killing rests with the governments... They lead the people in wars and instigate them to kill...
All advanced countries manufacture arms... and they export those arms... they profit from the arms... and also they profit from the wars...
Wars are profitable to the 1%... and people like Putin or the other rulers and governments profit from the murderous wars...

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Liu Xiaobo died during the week... He was a peace activist and defender of human rights in China...

Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Chinese activist who won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, has been transferred to a hospital from prison to be treated for late-stage cancer.
Supporters called for his wife, Liu Xia, to be freed from house arrest and allowed to visit him.

The life and death of this Nobel laureate underline the cost of political defiance in China. Liu Xiaobo had enjoyed a comfortable early career as a university professor, but the massacre which followed the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests was the fork in his path.

Where many gave up demanding democracy, he stood firm and was jailed repeatedly.

When he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, he was serving an 11-year prison sentence for subversion. A furious Beijing subsequently placed his wife under house arrest.

 

An image of his empty chair has been inspiration for artists - such as in this work by Badiucao

The 11-year jail term he was serving when he died was handed down in 2009 after he compiled, with other intellectuals, the Charter 08 manifesto which was a call for an end to one-party rule and the introduction of multi-party democracy. 
Mr Liu was found guilty of trying to overthrow the state... That's what the dictators say when they are confronted with demands of liberty and human rights...

One source of inspiration was the well-documented love between Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, who has also been placed under house arrest. Their love for each other is legendary...

  

Chinese cartoonist Xiaoguai also drew inspiration from the same picture and tweeted this image of two candles symbolising the couple.

 

Thoreau advises people to resist the diktats of the governments and is obligated not to participate in such evils...

That's what Xiaobo... DID... and resisted the corrupt power of the government...

This photo of Chinese resistance has always been with me... I saw that on a mural in my school and has been an inspiration of resistance to corruption of power in the governments...

A single man... against the might of the government... against the corruption and greed of the 1%...

Power image... indestructible will of a single person... 

Xiaobo defended the people and students of China against the power of the government of the 1%...

In his honour we will repeat... Power to the People... In his honour we should act too...

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The Turkish Coup D'Etat was a pretext... and 

it is a tool in the hands of the Turkish 

government to stifle opposition and subjugate 

the people... Some even say that the coup d'etat 

was staged by the government to suppress the 

liberties... That's what Swedish papers wrote 

and reported about the coup d'etat...


Erdogan and his government are attemting to roll back the 

liberties of the people... and subjugate the minorities... They 

have arrested 1000s of writers, reporters and intellectuals... 

Sevan Nisanyan was one of them...

Turkish Armenian Writer Sevan Nisanyan Escapes from Prison ISTANBUL—Turkish-Armenian writer Sevan Nisanyan, who has been serving a 17-year prison term since 2014 has reportedly escaped from the correctional facility where he was being held and fled Turkey, according to Turkish media reports. Nisanyan left the minimum security prison on Friday morning and has not returned. A message on his Twitter page said: “The bird flew away: Same wishes to the remaining 80 million.” Turkish historian and scholar Taner Akcam, reacted to the news by tweeting: “Sevan Nisanyan has escaped by saying ‘the bird flew away.’ With expectations of a free world for all birds….” Nisanyan was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey for carrying out “illegal” construction in his own garden, charges that were so obviously made up by Turkish authorities who had been seeking ways to silence the outspoken scholar and writer. Even the Turkish media said that his arrest was an obviously an effort by Turkish authorities to frame him since he was a staunch critic of the Turkish regime.

In Turkey when one criticizes the Islamist regime... the regime 

comes after them... In Turkey the regime and the government 

jail and torture their opponents...

Here power has corrupted absolutely...

********************************************
Putin's Russia is a state of oppression...

People's rights are violated... and citizens are 

arrested for their opposition to Putin and his 

government...

Kara-Murza was poisoned twice... because of 

his opposition to Putin and his corrupt 

oligarchs...

Putin has accumulated 200 billion dollars in 

the last 17 years... That is, almost 12 billion 

each year...

Kara-Murza exposed the corruption of Putin's government... and he was poisoned twice and jailed...

In Russia, power is absolute... and the corruption is absolute too...

Kara-Murza campaigned against Putin and Russian government corruption... but the regime went after him...

Like Turkey, Russian government power is absolute... and the 

corruption is absolute too...

******************************************

Priest in Florida Road Rage 

A North Carolina priest faces assault charges after he pulled out a gun in a road rage incident, police officials say. They say the priest, William Rian Adams, was driving near Palm City in Florida when a pick-up truck that had been following his Chevrolet Corvette closely tried to overtake him.

Mr Adams, 35, then "pointed a semi-automatic hand gun" at the two people in the other vehicle, police say.

The gun gave the priest power and corrupted his judgement...
I guess this priest has not read the verse of the Bible where it says... LOVE THY NEIGHBOR...
Religion has given the CHURCH absolute power... and the CHURCH has been corrupted absolutely... for centuries... and there is no end in sight...

Isn't 10 000 Dollars Each Day Enough...?

Check below…

The three of the most powerful people in the world and their amassed wealth...

I am not interested in their wealth... but I am reporting these just to ask a simple question...

Check these...

The Two most powerful people in the world...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed a massive fortune, potentially the largest in the world. "After 14 years in power of Russia, and the amount of money that the country has made, and the amount of money that hasn't been spent on schools and roads and hospitals and so on, all that money is in property, bank--Swiss bank accounts--shares, hedge funds, managed for Putin and his cronies," he added. "I believe that it's $200 billion," Bill Browder, author and a former fund manager in Russia, told CNN. But Browder is not alone in thinking Putin is the world's richest, even richer than Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and philanthropist. Gates, officially at least, ranks No. 1, according to Forbes' latest list, with a net worth of $75 Billion. Former Kremlin insiders have backed Browder's assessment, but have shied away from specific estimates... Also: International Business Times pointed out on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 that Putin's fortune could be as much as $200 billion. Earlier Time Magazine reported similarly in January, citing estimates from $40 billion to $70 billion. Here Putin is seen with another fascist dictator... Turkey's Erdogan... Both are plundering their country and ruling as dictators...

Trump's $3.5 Billion Dollar Net Worth In Assets... President Trump may have faced a multitude of success, but it did not come with failure. Throughout his career, he has encountered four bankruptcies. Though he has faced financial turmoil throughout the years, the 45th president is currently sitting on a $3.5 billion net worth, according to Forbes.

Tayyip Erdagon... The Islamist Fascist Dictator of Turkey...  Tayyip Erdagon has got all the guts to be in the present year’s hottest lime light. He took first spot on the list of ‘People with Money’ as the highest paid politician of the world in 2016. The combined earnings that include upfront pay, endorsements, profit and salary and advertising activities make Erdagon have a net worth of $185 million. Erdogan is more and more acting like a one man rule dictator... imprisoning journalist/reporters and arresting civil liberties advocates and people who oppose his Islamist dictatorial rule... His regime oppresses the minories . kurds, Greeks, Alewites, Assyrians and Armenians... and denies the Genocides that successive Turkish regimes committed against Pontic Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians...

As I mentioned above, I am not interested in the wealth of these powerful rulers... But I would like to have a simple arithmetic with you...

Let us assume that a person needs to spend $10 000 U.S. dollars each day...

• So $10 000 in a 365 day year will be $3 650 000... That is three million and six hundred and fifty thousand U.S. dollars...
• If the person leaves for 90 years... then,                       $3 650 000 x 90 = $325 500 000 U.S. dollars... 
• So spending $10 000 every day for 90 years a person needs $325 500 000 U.S. dollars...                                                                                    NOT EVEN A BILLION...
• Erdogan is the "poorest" of the three above mentioned leaders... but since his worth only $185 million dollars... the above calculations do not apply to him... But since he is 63 years old... he has 27 tears to hit 90...                                                             So 27 years and 365 days in each year and 10 000 daily expenses will make  $98 550 000 ...                     So even poor Erdogan can gave $10 000 U.S. dollars per day...!

Now my question...

What will people do with all that greed...?

Isn't 10 000 enough for one day...?

Why they still exploit and repress the peoples of the world...?

It puzzles me...

Maybe this will be your weekend amusement... Think about it...

They have more than 10 000 a day and they are still shooting for more... oppressing people and declaring wars and devastating the world and ruining nature and poisoning the environment...

Greed leads to wars and wars never usher in peace... Wars just kill and maim and murder and subjugate peoples... 

War is not and never will be a solution... 

Isn't 10 000 dollars each day enough...?

People who Need People...

I enjoy walking and jogging in the mornings when the sun is rising and the city is waking up...



The rush of the people and the whizzing cars look funny and at times I stop and observe the rat race... looks stressful and mad... I always think people should find a more relaxed way to go to work... more enjoyable way at work... but changing habits is difficult... to unlearn the bad and relearn the good and the new is always based on the social mores... and conditioned on the norms accepted by the silent majority and imposed on us by the ruling 1%...

While walking, I think democracy is a sham... an idea devoid of meaning... It has as 
many meanings as there are people in the world... Both Russia and the West claim to be democratic... China insists on its democracy too... 

But the West accuses Russia of undemocratic practices based on oligarchic bureaucracy... Russia and China accuse the West as the dictatorship of the 1%... and the West accuses China as one party state...

I enjoy thinking while I walk... and I toy with different types of democracies... I find it funny... semantics instigates ALL the disputes... and the disputes are not because of democracy or lack of democratic norms... and the wars are not because on system is better than the other... Wars are essentially because the 1% of one country/system is not able to share the pie with the 1% of another country/system...

It is insanely ridiculous... the 1%'s cannot share the pie and then the people go to war and kill each other... 

How the Vietnam War help us...?
How the Iraqi War is helping us...?
... and how the Afghan War will help us...? 
All three wars have a common denominator... they kill people and they sell arms... and the sale of arms profits the 1% of one country or another...

War is insane... and it legalizes killing and murder...

Today, while walking, I encountered six, maybe seven homeless people... 

The first one was wrapped in big plastic bags and was sleeping... dirt and dust was all around him... and the leaves were teasing him... He was not bothered by the noise of the cars... He was not annoyed by the honking of the rushing person... He was just knocked out by the chilling breeze of the evening and now that it was warmer... he just wanted to sleep... 
I wondered whether he was dreaming too... I asked myself whether homeless people dream too... Do they...? I do not know...! Maybe they will have nightmares... are the nightmares considered dream... ? Maybe...

I met another one... sleeping on a metal bench provided by the city ( that is by the taxpayers like you and me...) at the bus stops... he sat down suddenly on the bench and looked around... He had four, maybe five bags full of things... those were his possessions... and that was ALL that he had... he checked the bags... all were there and closed his eyes again... He was grimy and the others waiting for the bus... stood away from him... he had a peculiar smell that you will comprehend when you have not showered for ages... and when you are living on the dust and sooth of the city...
People separated themselves from him... and waited for the bust few yards away from the homeless guy...

There was another one... with a shopping cart... He was on a side street and was reading a daily paper... The cart was all that he have in the world... "Do people rob them...?" I thought... 

Then there was this girl... relaxing at the sidewalk cafe... and she had her dog, a huge one lying besides her... and blocking the side walk... I changed my path, bypassed them... She yelled after me, "He will not bite you... He is very friendly..." 
What made her think that I wanted to be friends with her dog beats me...!

I love my morning walks... and I love observing the rush hour, the traffic, the honking and noisy people... but the homeless make me think... and I always ask, "How come a wealthy country in Western Europe or North America... has so many homeless...?"

Does the 1% care...? I don't think so... but then, maybe they do...

*************************************
People helping people made me happy...


Eighty beachgoers linked hands at Panama City beach in Florida to rescue a family that was sucked up by the waves into the ocean... 
The family was in danger... but the people on the beach came to their rescue...
I thought: "Who needs the fucked up 1%...?"

In a testament to the true human spirit, 80 beachgoers formed a human chain in Panama City Beach in Florida to help save a family pulled in to the water by strong tides...

People helping each other... it's wonderful...

Fuck the 1%... Who needs them... I wonder...!

*********************************************

I am fascinated by Van Gogh since my early teens days... I read The Lust For Life... few times... and then the movie too...
Fascinating artist... Great human being... wonderful painter...

The sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh...

Declaring Victory Over the Ruins...

Mosul: 

They declare victory... They say the Islamic-Jihadists are defeated... 

They raise the flags... and shout slogans of victory... They congratulate each other... but then the reality is sad and once again the reality attests that wars kill... and create ruins... and displace people and create refugees...

   The guns are provided by Russia and China and the Western "liberal democracies..." The guns are provided by Europe-Russia-U.S. and China... and the people of the world fight each other... holes are created in the walls.. cities are devastated... ruined... and then one side or the other declare victory... and the victories stand on the ruins and brandish their arms and flags...  

Mosul... another city in ruins... All buildings have holes in them... and most of the population has fled... most of the people have become refugees...
They, the 1% and their governments, may have a victory... but we, the people, have paid the price... WE are murdered... WE are killed... and our cities devastated and our houses ruined...
They benefited and profited from the war... but WE the people suffered... and became refugees. 

  

Houses have collapsed... and have to be razed to the ground... they are not livable... they are not habitable... 
They sold the guns and ammunition... They sold the bombs... and profited... But the people have no place to live now...
Of course they claimed victory... but the people are left in the ruins... without food and home...

 
Ruins of a liberated city... The ruins of Mosul... and on the ruins of the city... surrounded by famished people... they declared victory...

But,

Liberation of Mosul does not end the crisis in the Middle East... It does not herald fraternity, equality and liberty...

Indeed one side overwhelmed the other, but the root causes of the turmoil in the Middle East and in the world still persist... 

People want equality, fraternity and liberty... but the Western Liberal Democracies essentially defend the greed of the 1% and exploit the rest of the world... devastate the natural resources and exploit the people... The 1% and their system want cheap labour... they want cheap resources... 

As long as the 1% wants the satisfy its insatiable greed and profit from the exploitation of the peoples of the Middle East and the rest of the world... then wars will be instigated... wars will be fought and the 1% will declare victories on the ruins of Mosul and other cities...

The Islamic Jihadists have exploited the misery of the people... and as long as miser,  hunger, exploitation and oppression continues... there will always be groups, like the Islamic Jihadist to take advantage of the situation...

The Islamic Jihadists may go away... but other Jihadists and other fascist groups will sprout and attempt to take advantage of the turmoil...

If the West persist on its course of greed and exploitation... If the West allies with fascist rulers like Erdogan of Turkey, Like Aliev of Azerbaijan... and defend the brutal monarchy of Saudi Arabia... then turmoil will persist...

We should stop manufacturing arms... after all if arms are manufactured, then for sure they will be used... and wars kill the youth of BOTH SIDES...