Friday, September 09, 2022

Page 1 Roundup (09/09)

 






















2 comments:

Sean D said...

I am a longtime fan/reader of your site, but was disappointed to see how you chose to cover the death of Queen Elizabeth II. I am an Irish-American, which causes me some pause in praising the British establishment, but I do think its hard to criticize someone who devoted themselves selflessly to public service their entire lives, including an unprecedented visit to the Republic of Ireland. We should also remember that many countries still have monarchies and divide the duties of head of state (monarch) and head of government (prime minister) in a common sense act of checks and balances. The USA is the odd man out for choosing to combine these two positions into one not-so-democratically elected office.

AM said...

My late father and mother would be aghast at the attention given to this woman in the US, the one whose ancestors forced my Irish ancestors from their own country, sending them to Canada where the English Canadians posted signs, wherever there was hiring for men, saying "No Irish Need Apply".

My dad had to leave home (Toronto) at the age of 16-17 to go to the western wilderness of Canada, and do hard labor on farms for pitiful pay, on which he supported his widowed mother and the other six kids.

And then, he went into the Canadian military to fight for the freedom of the English in WWI. Irony.

He was able to eventually get himself into the US, where he worked at menial jobs then found a 'draftsman' job, at Detroit Safety Pipe company, after teaching himself drafting -- from Library books.

And some time after, got his US citizenship, as did my mom, though later. (She was busy raising kids soon after arriving in the early twenties.)

Not bad for a guy with a fifth grade education, no thanks to the royals of England, the ones who took his folks' Irish land for themselves after they evacuated thousands of the Irish to other places, like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, where the oppression continued under the monarchies of the English.

That's just a bit of my remembered history. I still cannot celebrate any of the royals whose ancestors, simply put, stole, plundered, killed, banished, oppressed, etc. many thousands of folks and took over governing their lands. And that includes lands in Africa and Asia -- like all of India.

No celebration of Liz here. She lived a life without paying taxes, had multiple paid-for furnished homes, servants around the clock, and traveled at no expense to her. I just don't get it ... all this ado.

The networks seem to have increased viewer watching numbers for this 24-hour coverage. That's capitalism.