Wukan (烏坎村): China’s Democracy Experiment – great documentary

A documentary about the Wukan Village’s (烏坎村) Democracy Experiment that happened after the protests is a film that I wish I had the guts, access, ability, and talent to make. Have a watch of the full six-part series playlist on Youtube (more info on Aljazeera) or you can click the episodes below. Also check out Lianain Films’ James and Lynn Facebook and website.

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 1

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 2

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 3

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 4

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 5

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 6

Why I think President Trump has made the world a much worse place on Day One of his presidency

*** Why I think President Trump has made the world a much worse place on Day One of his presidency *** //I respect my FB friend for his professional work but I disagree with him. Here is my comment (with added web links & slight updates).//

XXXX, One day I would love to chat in person. Until then, here is my wordy take of why I think President Trump has made the world a much worse place on Day One. Starting with the least damaging (the mere “monetary” damages). Trump said the following in his Inauguration Speech and he has said all of these during the campaign so they are not new.

1) “For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry;”
>>> International trades benefit everyone or we just don’t do it. Stances like this is getting China, Canada, etc worrying about trade wars. For the record, //Canada is the top export destination for 35 states. Nearly 9 million U.S. jobs depend on trade and investment with Canada.//

2) “Subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military;”
>>> Forgoing defence of NATO, Japan, etc?? Should they pay? How much? Think like a foreign leader for a moment. Which sovereign leader is stupid enough to be held hostage for a king’s ransom for its defence? This will force the world into an arms race? EU politicians are taking notice and starting to distrust US. Putin’s mission accomplished in Day One of Trump’s presidency. Fantastic!

3) “We’ve defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own;” & “From this moment on, it’s going to be America First.”
>>> This is probably one of the saddest part of this cluster-beep.
Spoiler alert, I’m giving the answer before I tell the story.
We Canadians are PROUD of us NOT putting Canada First! We PRIDE ourselves of putting “Others First”!

Some Americans have very short memory. On one sunny 9/11 day years ago, some evil people thought of turning planes into high-tech guided missiles with built-in human collateral protection. In that uncertain time, Canada let ~200 flights fully loaded with people (potential terrorists flown missiles) diverted to our major cities like Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal and Toronto (all with millions of people).

The “Others” we Canadians put “First” happened to be thousands of Americans and people visiting US! I would say the probability of me winning the lottery last night is higher than Trump coming to aid of Canadians if the shoes were swapped.

I’m human but I try to live by the Golden Rule when I can. What kind of horrible world we live in if we always and only put ourselves first?!

Right now, with “America First”, it feels like a great friend has flipped and become a psychopath.

And 1, 2, 3 and many more are the reasons why Trump Day One is the worst day of any US President’s Day One!

P.S. For me to write this wordy blah blah blah, I had to take a strong dose of Trump-vaccination. So I watch a 9 minute CBC News video of U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson paying tribute to the town of Gander, N.L. for “its generosity on 9/11, hailing its residents for their grace and good humour and representing “the best of us.””

//“This could well be the motto of this town: ‘Without waiting to be asked,'” Jacobson said.
He spoke about one stranded passenger, a child, who turned four in Gander soon after 9/11. All his gifts were stuck on the plane he had been on, so to make him feel better, a local Gander family threw him a party.
“They consoled and they cooked, they cooked and they cooked,” Jacobson recalled.//

Ref (with video, an easy Google): Gander on 9/11 told ‘you were the best of us’ CBC News Posted: Sep 11, 2011

Watch “Revolution Trilogy” 睇「革命三部曲」

Director/producer/independent reporter Kempton Lam has made three full-length documentaries from 2004 – 2015. Kempton’s debut documentary Long Hair Revolution 「長毛革命」 has been collected by the Canadian National Archive since 2009. The three documentaries are collectively known as “Revolution Trilogy” 「革命三部曲」 and are in Cantonese with English subtitles (廣東話、英文字幕). You can watch the three films at this YouTube Playlist (beautifully projected on your big screen HDTV or on your computer). Enjoy!

Long Hair Revolution 「長毛革命」 (full-length 2005) (read film & Canadian national archive info)

HKtv Revolution 「香港電視革命」 (full-length 2015) (read Director’s Statement)

Umbrella Revolution: History as Mirror Reflection 「雨傘革命實錄：以史為鏡」 (full-length 2015) (read Director’s Statement)

Peterborough mosque arson/hate crime reactions – Without waiting to be asked

“Community Support for Peterborough’s Only Mosque” crowdfunding campaign screen capture

It sickens decent Canadians to watch the news of Peterborough mosque arson (a suspected hate crime) and knowing the fire has caused ~$80,000 in estimated smoke damage. Peterborough mayor Daryl Bennett, MP Maryam Monsef and Imam Shazim Khan came together quickly to condemn the attack and the mayor said the attack was “totally out of character”. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also issued a statement in response to multiple recent incidents, “Diversity is Canada’s strength. These vicious and senseless acts of intolerance have no place in our country and run absolutely contrary to Canadian values of pluralism and acceptance.”

Sometimes darkness gives people a chance to shine light. A crowdfunding project entitled “Community Support for Peterborough’s Only Mosque” was quick in raising $110,536 (far exceeding the upper estimate of the repair costs) from 2097 contributors in just 2 days, all “without waiting to be asked” (to quote the five eloquent words by U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson’s 2011/09/11 tribute (CBC video) at the town of Gander, N.L.).

P.S. For the record, I like to acknowledge Duane Rousselle‘s awesome work by quoting a 2015 Nov 15 Huffington Post Canada article,

“Duane Rousselle, a Peterborough resident, quickly started a FundRazr page on Sunday to encourage those “of all or no faiths” to help the Muslim community rebuild the mosque.

Donations immediately started flooding in, totalling roughly $6,600 in two hours.

“It is heartwarming, to say the least,” Rousselle wrote on his personal Facebook page, about these initial figures.

Four hours later, the campaign hit the $20,000 mark — and reached over 25 per cent of its total fundraising goal.“

On Nov 18, 2015, Duane gave the following public Facebook update plus some feedback to the online fund raising tool Fundrazr.

“The numbers are in:
Total amount raised before fees = $110,536.35
Total combined FundRazr/WePay fees removed = $9,361.47
Total amount remaining after fees = $101,174.88”

P.P.S. In a previous post, I wrote about my tiny volunteering work in “Thanks from Office of Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman – Without waiting to be asked” not to “brag” but simply trying to inspire others to volunteer and to help “without waiting to be asked”. Just like Duane, we can all do what we can, big or small.

Remembrance Day – Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman (year round care, vigilance and actions)

Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan’s 2015 Remembrance Day message

Remembrance

On Remembrance Day, it is customary to honour and show our appreciation of our veterans past and present for their service and sacrifice for Canada. Quoting our new Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan‘s Facebook posting,

On this Remembrance Day, we honour the courage shown, time and again, by our men and women in uniform, past and present. We show our deep appreciation for all they have sacrificed for Canada.

Once a year, we buy our poppy pins and wear them on our clothing to show we remember and we care.

Year round care, vigilance and actions

In 2010, Canada’s first Veteran’s Ombudsman Colonel Pat Stogran, via his passionate/frank words and actions (Ottawa Citizen “Embattled ombudsman Pat Stogran makes his last stand for Canada’s veterans“), got my blood boiled and taught me that as Canadians we could and should do more by speaking up to help our veterans at home by holding our governments in Ottawa accountable to keep our promises to take care of our veterans and their families.

Power of social media

As a start, please LIKE & SHARE the Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman & Ombudsman des vétérans du Canada official Facebook pages.

“The Veterans Ombudsman works toward ensuring that the sacrifices of Canada’s Veterans and their families are recognized through the provision of services, benefits, and support in a fair, accessible, and timely manner. The Ombudsman plays an important role in raising awareness of the needs and concerns of Veterans and their families.“

LIKE & SHARE these pages so we Canadians can help the Ombudsman to keep issues important to our veterans in Canadians’ hearts & minds and hold our government accountable to do the right thing for our veterans all year round. When we make noises in social media, call or email our MPs, they listen.

Blood boiled since 2010

In 2010, Rick Mercer talked about Canada’s first Veteran’s Ombudsman Colonel Pat Stogran’s battle with our government to fight for our veterans. My blood boiled and I was changed forever

Dianne Feinstein on the CIA and the Separation of Powers

Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, on the CIA and the Separation of Powers.  Watching and reading American history in the making (I hope).

Video via C-Span. Full text via Guardian.

The CIA: the double life of Dianne Feinstein (Guardian editorial)

March 13, 2014 update: “The CIA shows its fangs at home: Neil Macdonald – Spy agency allegedly hacked into senate committee computer“

60 Minutes interview with ex-CIA No. 2 Mike Morell – Op-ed

This most insightful 60 Minutes segment from last night is totally worth checking out,

“An interview with ex-CIA No. 2 Mike Morell opens a rare window into the inside affairs of the U.S. intelligence agency during a trying time in U.S. history. John Miller reports.”

First of all, I think former Deputy CIA director Mr. Mike Morell is a consummate professional. The likes of Mr. Morell and former deep cover CIA operative Ms. Valerie Plame command my respect as they are professional spies that have been trained and spent their lives to serve and protect the interest and safety of the United States.

Having declared my respect for Mr. Morell, I have to say I disagree with his view re Mr. Edward Snowden and I consider Mr. Snowden a whistleblower.  I shared this in a Facebook status,

“Former CIA Deputy Director Mr. Mike Morell is entitled to his opinion. As a Canadian, I beg to differ. The United States used to stand as a beacon of light and a shining example for countries and citizens around the world. Now, US is no better than second rate countries like China who spy on her own citizens and snoop around the world for military and business gains. In fact, if one day America were to learn Chinese thuggish and lawless behaviours towards her own citizens, then US will become one step closer to being like China, a country that sends her plain cloths police to beat up her own citizens. Thinking about it, the US does send drones to kill her own citizens already, so congrats, the US has officially worst than China in some area already!“

Take this news “NSA’s alleged spying on Merkel may have broken German law” for example. My dear NSA, what the beep were you thinking?? Sure POTUS may have plausible deniability but did you guys think through the full implications? What the beep?!!

My dear NSA, imagine you are married to 10 hot supermodel babes, why the beep would you want to spy on your Germany hot babe?!!

In more serious words, do you remember the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)? Germany along with Canada and eight other countries helped and risked the lives of our soldiers and citizens’  to help you fight that war. You bunch of beeping morons were now found to have spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel since 2002!!! How dare you?! Enough said for now. It is time for the US to talk to the world, allies and enemies (China, Russia, etc) and rebuild lost trust.

Oct 28, 2013, 11:10pm HK time update: CNN Opinion, “NSA scandal highlights Obama’s unfulfilled promise“