Deadmen Valley, Canada was one of the coldest places on Earth on Christmas Eve


Isabella O'Malley, M.Env.Sc

WEATHERNETWORK. CA
Fri, December 24, 2021, 6:44 PM

A lobe of the Polar Vortex, which is an area of cold air and low pressure that is always circulating around the poles, is creeping down from the Arctic and spilling over parts of Canada.

Western and northern regions of the country normally see particularly chilly temperatures at the end of December, but the temperatures that are currently being recorded are amongst the coldest on the entire planet.

Deadmen Valley, Northwest Territories recorded a brutally cold temperature of -45°C (-49.0°F) and the only place that was colder was Jakutsk, Russia at -48°C (-54.4°F) at 4:00 p.m. EST on December 24. In fact, the bone-chilling air that sent temperatures tumbling so low in Deadmen Valley originated in Russia before it migrated over the North Pole.

Temperatures are ranging from the low minus teens to nearly -30°C (-22°F) across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. This region also has wind in the forecast, meaning that temperatures will feel several degrees colder.

Sunday

Unsurprisingly, this frigid air could be record-breaking. Edmonton, Alberta could experience its coldest Christmas Day ever if the city surpasses -27.8°C, which was recorded in 1971.

Temperatures are expected to continue dropping early next week with daytime highs approaching -30°C and wind chill values dipping well into the -30s and even -40s in some areas.

Meteorologists and public health experts are warning of the dangers this cold snap is bringing, even for folks that are acclimated to extreme winter weather.

“Dress in layers that you can remove if you get too warm. The outer layer should be wind-resistant,” Environment Canada and Climate Change advised in their extreme cold warnings for northern Alberta. With wind chill values dipping into the -30s, it can take as little as 10 minutes for exposed skin to freeze and hypothermia can set in not long after.

THEY HAVE A POST WWII PACIFIST CONSTITUTION

Japan plans record defence spending in 2022 with 10th straight annual increase


Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks before the media at his official residence in Tokyo

Thu, December 23, 2021
By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government on Friday approved record defence spending, with a 10th straight annual increase in 2022, against a backdrop of China's rapid military expansion and North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

The budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 will rise 1.1% to 5.4 trillion yen ($47.18 billion), still less than a quarter of China's military budget this year according to official Beijing data.

The higher spending plan follows a meeting in April between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japan's then-premier Yoshihide Suga, in which Suga pledged to strengthen his country's defence capability in light of a more challenging regional security environment.

Tensions over Chinese-claimed Taiwan have risen as President Xi Jinping seeks to assert his country's sovereignty claims on the island. Taiwan's government says it wants peace, but will defend itself if needed.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister before Suga who remains an influential figure in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said this month that any emergency over Taiwan would mean an emergency for Japan, as well as for its security alliance with the United States.

Big-ticket items in the draft budget include 128 billion yen for 12 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighters, four of which will be short take-off and vertical landing variants operating off converted helicopter carriers.

The defence ministry is also setting aside 86 billion yen in next year's budget to develop its first new domestic jet fighter in three decades. The project, expected to be completed in the 2030s, is being led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

The ministry is also earmarking 34 billion yen to strengthen defences against cyber attacks, and 79 billion yen for space-related projects, such as satellites and lasers to track targets beyond the atmosphere.

The draft budget still needs to pass parliament, where Kishida's ruling bloc holds a majority, for enactment.

($1 = 114.4600 yen)
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

Japan Cabinet OKs record defense budget amid Taiwan concerns


Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, rides on a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Type 10 tank during a review at the JGSDF Camp Asaka in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. Kishida’s Cabinet approved record 5.4 trillion yen ($47 billion) budget Friday, Dec. 24, for fiscal 2022 that includes researches and development into future fighter jets and other “game-changer” arsenals as Japan bolsters its arms capability amid China's rise and its tension with Taiwan.

 (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool Photo via AP, File)

MARI YAMAGUCHI
Fri, December 24, 2021

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Cabinet approved a record 5.4 trillion yen ($47 billion) defense budget for fiscal 2022 on Friday that includes funding for research and development of a new fighter jet and other “game-changing” weapons as Japan bolsters its defense capabilities in response to China’s growing military might and its tensions with Taiwan.

The 1.1% budget increase for the year beginning in April is the 10th consecutive defense spending increase and is in line with Japan’s pledge to the United States to strengthen its own defense capabilities to tackle increasingly challenging security issues in the region.

The budget, which still needs to be approved by parliament, includes a record 291 billion yen ($2.55 billion) for defense research and development, up 38% from the current year.

Of that, 100 billion yen ($870 million) is for development of the F-X fighter jet to replace Japan’s aging fleet of F-2 aircraft around 2035. It would be Japan's first domestically developed fighter jet in 40 years.

Japan and Britain recently announced joint development of a future demonstration fighter jet engine and agreed to explore further combat air technologies and subsystems. The project includes Mitsubishi and IHI in Japan and Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems in the U.K.

As China’s military buildup extends to cyberspace and outer space, Japan's Defense Ministry is also pushing for research into artificial intelligence-operated autonomous vehicles for aerial and undersea use, supersonic flight, and other “game-changing” technologies.

The budget allocates 128 billion yen ($1.1 billion) for purchase of a dozen F-35 stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin Corp., including four with short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities for use on two helicopter carriers being converted into aircraft carriers, key to Japan's joint operations with the United States in the defense of the Indo-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, formerly known as a dove, has quickly adopted more hawkish policies and said Japan should consider acquiring a pre-emptive strike capability in response to China’s military buildup and North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear capabilities.

The Japanese and U.S. militaries have compiled a draft joint contingency preparedness plan for a possible Taiwan emergency, such as fighting between Chinese and Taiwanese forces, Kyodo news agency reported Thursday, citing unidentified Japanese government sources, amid rising tensions between Taiwan and China.

China claims self-governing Taiwan is its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. It has increased its military threats by holding exercises near the island and frequently sending warplanes into its air defense identification zone.

Under the reported plan, the U.S. Marine Corps will set up temporary bases on islands in Japan’s Nansei chain between Kyushu and Taiwan for the deployment of troops in the early stages of a Taiwan emergency, while Japan’s military will provide logistical support as well as ammunition and fuel supplies, Kyodo said.

Japan and the United States are likely to agree to start drawing up an official preparedness plan at a meeting of their foreign and defense ministers expected in January, Kyodo said.

The plan, which also includes islands near Okinawa, the site of the bloodiest battle in World War II, is certain to face protests from local residents.

Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi refused to comment Friday on the report, saying only that Japan and the United Sates have action plans in case of emergencies and plan to update them, but that the details could not be disclosed. Kishi added that a decision by the Japan-U.S. committee in charge of negotiating the status of forces agreement between the nations would allow the U.S. military to open a new base on Japanese soil.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who remains influential in the governing Liberal Democratic Party, recently cautioned Chinese President Xi Jinping against triggering a Taiwan emergency, saying that China should be aware of the serious consequences.

Japan’s defense spending now ranks among the top 10 in the world, according to international defense research organizations.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

U.S. Exchanges Eye Indian Tech And Energy As Chinese Companies Get The Boot


Editor OilPrice.com
Fri, December 24, 2021

The federal government is about to finally force Chinese companies to de-list from American exchanges for refusing to adhere to American accounting standards. And for the last five months since the disastrous Didi IPO, no Chinese firms have sought to list on the NYSE and Nasdaq, which in turn is forcing the exchange operators to look to make up that shortfall in other Asian markets.

For a time, it seemed as if the tensions between the US and China would chill US offerings involving other Asian firms from outside China. But apparently, the US exchanges are having some success at lining up deals elsewhere in the region.

Or at least that's what they want us to think, because that's what Nasdaq's AsiaPac Chair Bob McCooey told the FT in an interview published Wednesday. McCooey claims that in the span of just a year, the "pipeline" of deals from his corner of the world had increased 2x or 3x.

"We think the entire region is ripe for IPO activity," said Bob McCooey, Nasdaq’s Asia-Pacific chair. "The pipeline has grown from a handful of companies, if you asked me a year ago, into a few dozen today," McCooey told the Financial Times. Over time the region could become as big a source of business as China was until recently, he said.

The outlook for US IPOs from Chinese companies has soured in the past few months amid mutual recriminations over the sharing of sensitive data and a crackdown on large private companies by Beijing.

However, Chinese companies are still pulling previously scheduled deals. Insurance group FWD this week became the latest firm to pull plans for a US offering after warning about the risk of intervention from both Chinese and US regulators. As for Didi, the expectation is that it will delist from the NYSE and do the offering over in Hong Kong.

To illustrate just how big of a shift would need to occur for AsiaPac business to even come close to offsetting the losses from China, consider this: Over the past year, there have been more offerings involving Chinese companies than from the rest of Asia combined.

Of course, the recent listing of Singapore-based Grab is one notable recent highlight. The company went public via the SPAC route in a deal that was announced back in April.

One major reason for the discrepancy is that India has rules that make it extremely difficult for local companies to list in the US. To date, renewables operator Azure Power is the only company based in India trading on US exchanges.

The FT also spoke with Alex Ibrahim, NYSE's head of international capital markets, who said exchange officials had been "spending a lot of time focused on south-east Asia, more so than in previous years, and I think this will continue."

Bottom line: both exchanges are hoping to find ways to recruit more offerings from India (perhaps they'll find a new loophole to hoodwink gullible US investors, like they did for China with the VIE), and also Indonesia. Those countries are obvious targets due to the sheer size of their populations (and economies). But already, Delhi-based software company Coforge is expected to list in the US next year (it already trades in India) and Bangalore-based education firm Byju is expected to list in a SPAC deal.

Still, the total addressable market for unicorns is relatively small outside China.

But smaller markets like Vietnam and Malaysia are expected to contribute to the uptick as well. There are only 80 private companies worth more than $1 billion in the Asia-Pacific region outside China, according to CB Insights.

Although Hong Kong's exchange business is likely to get a bit of a boost from Chinese firms, the CCP's "closure" of the Hong Kong money gateway to the west might create enough of a chill in other areas to incentivize HKEX to look for more deals in neighboring countries as well. Hong Kong has already one major victory: Indonesian delivery group J&T just listed there. The company's currently worth $20 billion.

By Zerohedge.com

IMPERIALISM IS FINANCE CAPITALI$M

TD on deal hunt after BancWest bid as Canadian lenders pursue U.S. growth


FILE PHOTO: Toronto-Dominion Bank logos are seen outside of a branch in Ottawa

Thu, December 23, 2021
By Pamela Barbaglia and Nichola Saminather

LONDON/TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bank is leading the charge of cash-rich Canadian banks seeking to make a foray in the United States and find growth away from their home turf where the Big Six banks already control nearly 90% of the market.

Billions of dollars of excess cash amassed during a nearly two-year moratorium on capital redistributions that was only lifted last month, and share prices close to record highs have given Canadian banks an acquisition currency to bet on the exit and downsizings of several European and international banks.

The sale of BNP Paribas' U.S. unit, Bank of the West (BancWest), is the latest example of pent-up demand, with Toronto-Dominion Bank battling it out with rival Canadian lender Bank of Montreal, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Bank of Montreal said on Monday it will buy BNP Paribas' unit, Bank of the West, for $16.3 billion in its biggest deal ever.

TD, Canada's second-largest bank by market value, had looked at every major asset portfolio that came up for sale, including the U.S. businesses sold by Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) in September and BBVA in November 2020, the sources said.

It remains on the hunt for acquisitions in the United States after its narrow loss to BMO.

TD and BMO spokespersons did not comment on the bidding process or future growth plans in the United States. MUFG declined comment on the Canadian banks' interest in their assets and BBVA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Banking is a scale, technology and sophistication game," said Brian Madden, portfolio manager at Goodreid Investment Counsel.

He added that Canadian banks already in the United States are well placed to scale up their U.S. operations since they "happen to be directly adjacent to the largest banking market on the planet."

TD executives said earlier this year that the bank "will not be shy" to do a bank deal in the U.S. Southeast or in any area where it currently has operations, primarily on the East Coast.

Having missed out on some big acquisitions, TD is now likely to turn its attention to smaller banks, one of the sources said.

Along with TD and BMO, Royal Bank of Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Bank of Nova Scotia and National Bank of Canada round out Canada's Big Six banks.

TD is one of the top 10 banks in the United States, and Royal Bank owns City National, the ninth-largest bank in California by deposits.

Royal Bank has also been undergoing U.S. expansion, although Canada's biggest lender is more focused on its wealth management https://www.reuters.com/article/us-rbc-wealth-idUSKBN25U1I6 business in the United States.

And CIBC, which entered the United States in 2017 with its acquisition of PrivateBancorp, has said it is aiming for increased earnings from the country in the coming years.

Royal Bank did not respond to a request for comment. CIBC declined to comment.

BMO'S CHASE

BMO had pursued BancWest after losing out on the U.S. retail business of MUFG, Japan's biggest lender, one of the sources said. MUFG ended up selling its U.S. retail business to U.S. Bancorp for $8 billion.

BMO made a competitive bid for MUFG's assets, and its disappointment at losing out propelled Canada's fourth-largest bank to move fast on the BancWest sale, the source said.

BNP Paribas, advised by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, entered parallel discussions with both TD and BMO, raising pressure on both bidders to finalise their offers as it fretted that regulatory headwinds could hamper the sale, the sources said.

BNP Paribas did not respond to a request for comment.

While TD initially made a low bid and subsequently raised it, BMO was more aggressive with its first proposal and was quick at declaring its offer "best and final" in December after offering a final sweetener, one of the sources said.

The deal will make BMO the 16th biggest bank by assets in the United States, up from 19th now, and lifts its assets to nearly $300 billion.

By merging with U.S. rivals, Canadian banks with an existing U.S. presence are expected to extract better returns from these businesses than smaller players, even when they appear to pay a premium as BMO did for BancWest, said Anthony Visano, portfolio manager at Kingwest & Co.

"Sometimes the strategic value trumps the financial consideration," Goodreid Investment's Madden said.

(Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia in London and Nichola Saminather in Toronto; Editing by Megan Davies and Matthew Lewis)

Customers hate tipping before they're served – and asking makes them less likely to return

Nathan B. Warren, Ph.D. Candidate, Marketing, University of Oregon

 Sara Hanson, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Richmond

Fri, December 24, 2021

Imagine you’re in line at a coffee shop. You order your usual cappuccino and swipe your credit card to pay. Then the cashier swivels a little screen that prompts you for a tip – before the espresso shot is pulled or a drop of milk steamed.

Do you tip more, perhaps hoping that it will lead to a better drink? Or less or none at all, peeved at being asked to reward service that hasn’t happened yet? Do you feel pressured into tipping the suggested amounts, which can equate to more than half the price of the drink?

This is a dilemma that most of us are increasingly facing in a variety of settings where previously you might have encountered a lone tip jar with change and crumpled dollar bills. Now we’re being asked to fork a over US tip for a coffee drink.

In a 2020 research study, we explored how this new pre-service tipping etiquette is affecting consumers – and what it meant for the baristas and other employees hoping for a reward for their efforts.

Long live the tip jar. Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images

The pre-service tip invasion

Point of sale platforms such as Square and Clover are making it easier than ever for businesses large and small to seamlessly integrate tip requests into the service experience.

While most of us are used to filling out the tip line on a receipt at a full-service, sit-down restaurant, we are now seeing tip requests occur in many new environments, such as cafes and bakeries, fast-casual delis and food trucks, and even retail stores, flower shops and liquor stores.

Articles in the popular press about the trend suggest that some prefer the convenience of tipping when placing their order. Others say they feel that they are being guilted into tipping employees who have not yet provided a service – and who have done little more than type in an order and hand over a muffin.
How consumers really feel about it

To find out how people respond to differences in tip timing – before or after service – we conducted a series of experiments with fellow marketing professor Hong Yuan.

We looked at how it affected tip amounts, ratings and likelihood of returning to the business, controlling for variables that might affect tip amounts, most notably the effects of repeat customers or attractive workers.

The first study compared real tip amounts at two locations of a popular smoothie chain on the East Coast. At one location, tips were collected while ordering – before receiving the smoothie. At the other, gratuities were requested only after someone handed the customer her order. After analyzing 7,523 transactions, we found that tips were 75% higher on average at the location that asked for them only after people received their smoothie.

Next, to dive a little deeper into why, we conducted three experiments in which we recruited participants online and asked them to imagine themselves a customer in a scenario. In one, participants imagined ordering a drink and a sandwich at a cafe, while the other two involved getting a haircut at a salon. In all three, participants were randomly prompted to tip either before or after receiving service.

Then we asked them to fill out a scaled survey rating the experience in terms of how likely they’d be to return to the business and how they felt about the tip request. In the third study, we also asked participants to select how much they’d tip and and how they’d rate the service on Yelp.

In each study, we found that participants viewed pre-service tip requests as unfair and manipulative and reduced the likelihood that they would become repeat customers. In the third study, requests for tips before a haircut also led to lower gratuities and online ratings.

We also found that businesses that emphasize the convenience of tipping can offset some, but not all, of the other negative feelings.

Consumers prefer to drink their coffee before handing over a tip. 

Anastasiya Aleksandrenko/Shutterstock.com

Tip benefits

Tipping trends are constantly shifting.

Some innovations include the introduction of recommended tip amounts on receipts and the proliferation of tip jars in the 1990s and most recently digital tip requests. Each has contributed to “tip creep,” which has pushed up the average tip from 10% in the 1940s to over 20% today, and made tipping the norm in more and more types of business.

Our findings, however, suggest that businesses should be careful when adopting new innovations. Customers, employees and owners all benefit if businesses stick to tradition – and request the tip only after the coffee is poured.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Nathan B. Warren, University of Oregon and Sara Hanson, University of Richmond.

Read more:

Why we should get rid of tipping

How the war on tipping harms customers

Are you a stingy tipper? You may have unresolved trust issues

WE ARE ALL CUSTOMERS AS WE ARE ALL WORKERS, THIS IS AN IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCT LIKE MIDDLE CLASS ( NO SUCH CREATURE)  ITS ALL ABOUT WHICH SIDE OF THE COUNTER YOU ARE ON.

THE TIP IS A WAGE IT IS NOT AN OPTION, IN ALL PROVINCES IT IS PART OF THE STATE'S DETERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE SERVICE SECTOR BEING PAID LESS ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT FELLOW WORKERS WILL RECOGNIZE THE EMPLOYER CHEATS ITS WORKERS LEGALLY AND WE WILL MAKE UP FOR IT.

THE MYTH THAT IT IS FOR 'SERVICE' IS JUST THAT SOMETHING THE BOSSES AND THEIR STATE WANT US TO BELIEVE.

Applebee’s server sparks debate with photo of customer’s low tip: ‘The nerve of some of y’all’

Alex Lasker

Thu, December 23, 2021

A TikToker has sparked debate on the platform after sharing an Applebee’s receipt exposing a customer’s substandard tip.

The user @kingj24__ posted footage of a receipt from a franchise location in Staten Island, N.Y., showing a $6.55 tip left for a server named Dana G. The total bill plus the tip is $80, meaning the cost of the meal was $73.45. The tip comes out to around 9% of the bill. That’s significantly less than the standard 20% tip, which would have been $13.49 in this instance. 

It is unclear if the TikToker who shared the receipt is the server in question.

The customer also left a hand-written message on the receipt explaining the low tip. 

“You [were] great,” they wrote. “Holidays are just rough right now.”

They added in an arrow pointing to the tip and a frowning face. 

TikTokers were divided in the comments of the video, which has since racked up over 711,000 views. Some pointed out that the customer, who seemed to be going through some financial struggle, did at least leave a tip, albeit a small one.

"It's only $4.45 less than the typical 15% average tip," one user commented. "But at the same time, you don't know that family's struggle. [At] least they left you a tip."

"The nerve of some of y'all," wrote another. "Gatekeeping taking your family out to dinner for the financially blessed. What type of BS is 'stay home if you're broke.'"

"This makes me really not want to go to Applebee's," commented a third. "It's a low tip, but it's still a tip. Calling out customers like this is wrong."

Still, others believed that the customer shouldn't be dining out if they cannot tip fully, as waiters rely on their tips as a primary source of income.

"You can afford $73 and some change to feed yourself but not enough to tip?" commented one person. "Don’t eat out if you can’t afford the service.

"If I can't afford a 20% tip, then [I'm] not going out for an $80 meal," wrote another.

Some TikTokers turned the conversation around, noting that restaurants should be fairly compensating their employees so they do not have to live off of tips.

“Ban tipping,” one user wrote. “Force the restaurants to pay servers living wages.”

“Don’t blame the tipper, blame the establishment,” wrote another. “These people shouldn’t have to rely on tips to barely make ends meet.”

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. 

However, as trial attorney Laura Lawless explains for The National Law Review, businesses that employ tipped workers are legally allowed to pay them as little as $2.13 per hour, though the number varies by state.

This is because employers can take a “tip credit” of up to $5.12 per hour against the $7.25 federal minimum wage obligation — meaning that as long as an employee’s hourly wage plus their tips equals $7.25 an hour or over, the low wage is considered legal.

According to tax and auditing firm Plante Moran, tip credits are meant to “give some relief to businesses that pay an employer’s share of employment taxes on tip income paid to their employees by someone else.”

But Lawless notes that the long-standing tip credit model “presumes that tipped employees receive a steady flow of tips and spend nearly all of their working hours engaged in tip-generating labor,” which does not “always align with reality.”

Many tipped employees, for instance, might be tasked with time-consuming duties for which they are not tipped, such as bookkeeping and cleaning, while receiving just $2.13 an hour for such labor.

On Oct. 28, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the “Final Rule,” which will require employers to pay the full federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour to tipped workers who spend more than 20% of the workweek on tasks not directly engaged in tip-producing work. 

The rule will go into effect on Dec. 28.

The post Applebee’s server sparks debate with photo of customer’s low tip: ‘The nerve of some of y’all’ appeared first on In The Know.

HIP CAPITALI$M

Marijuana Stocks -- What Are You Waiting For?

Benjamin Rains

Fri, December 24, 2021, 5

Marijuana transformed at lightning-fast speeds from a mostly underground black market into a dynamic, booming, $20 billion a year industry full of public companies. And the best part about investing in legal marijuana right now is that we are still in the very early days.

The legal tides have already changed dramatically in a short time and we are on the verge of a truly seismic shift that will only happen once. Heading into 2022, there are multiple marijuana legalization bills being debated and reworked in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. is poised to introduce wide-ranging federal cannabis legalization in the near future, on the back of overwhelming bipartisan support. When this happens, the entire industry will change overnight and current projections that call for global marijuana sales reach to $90 billion by 2026 might look super conservative.¹

Legalization is Gaining Steam

Only a decade ago, recreational pot was totally illegal in the U.S. By the end of 2021, a total of 18 states and Washington, D.C. had legalized adult-use marijuana. Meanwhile, the number of legal medical cannabis states is fast-approaching 40.

On top of that, Canada legalized recreational marijuana in 2018, becoming the first major economy to do so. Since then, Mexico has made a series of legal changes that will soon see it operate a large legal pot market. Across the Atlantic, multiple European countries are prepared to legalize nationally.

The tiny European nations of Malta and Luxembourg legalized weed near the end of 2021. More importantly, Germany is reportedly ready to legalize marijuana under its new coalition government in the early months of 2022. Italy and a few other countries are showing solid potential to join the legal ranks in the near future. And with every new market, new marijuana firms are sure to emerge, as the dollars flow.

Huge Bipartisan Support

Global marijuana sales soared roughly 50% to a whopping $31 billion in 2021, based on some recent data, and the U.S. is by far the largest legal cannabis market. The expansion was driven by continued growth in legacy states such as Colorado and California, alongside a wave of relative newbies ranging from Illinois to Arizona. And more states are set to climb on the legal cannabis train in 2022.

More importantly, multiple bills are under debate in Washington to federally legalize marijuana. Furthermore, Republicans, the party traditionally opposed to weed, are in the midst of a dramatic, paradigm-shifting transformation at both the state and national level.

Multiple GOP lawmakers are pushing for marijuana legalization in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. On top of that, the first major Republican-led federal legalization effort was introduced in November. The bill grabbed a huge amount of national media attention and could gain steam as more Republicans come on board.

The growing number of federal legalization efforts on both sides of the aisle make sense given mounting public support. A total of 68% of U.S. adults are now in favor of legal marijuana, including 50% of Republicans. This is up from just 50% of the entire country as recently as 2013. And just think how hard it is to find any issue nearly 70% of Americans agree on these days.

Nine into Two: 

The Failure of the US Two-Party System

When the so-called “Founding Fathers”-- the elites who constructed the US republic-- unfolded their unique vision of republicanism and political decision-making, they went long on stability and continuity and short on broad participation and social change.

Accordingly, most of them opposed political factions or parties, but very soon after the new government came into existence, major differences arose, leading to factions and swiftly into parties.

Predictably, the break in unanimity came with the formation of two parties, in the US, a Federalist and an anti-Federalist party.

But what is truly remarkable is that subsequent political differences in the US have been contained by only two parties for over two centuries. In most countries that embrace a parliamentary system, political parties emerge with the development of social classes and distinctive social strata. 

Further, as social classes generate internal differences, they too spawn new parties. In addition, religious, regional, and economic differences have generated distinctive political parties.

This is the pattern that exists throughout the advanced capitalist countries, creating multi-party parliaments as a commonplace. But not in the US.

Where there have been emergent third or fourth parties, the two parties have either placed insurmountable obstacles in their way or absorbed their political identity.

Stunted class consciousness, illusions of social mobility, perceived opportunities afforded by an expanding frontier, and entrenched loyalties are among the many factors securing a two-party system. The distractions of wars and conflicts, demanding unity and stability, have also played a role in preserving the two-party system.

In truth, the US ruling class has won a remarkable achievement in maintaining an electoral vessel filled to overflowing with diverse, incompatible interests. When will that vessel fracture?

A Pew Research Center study enlisting over 10,000 respondents in a political typology study, the most robust of those conducted by Pew since 1987 suggests a possible answer. What they found bears directly upon the validity and viability of the-two party system. In the words of the study, “...the gulf that separates Republicans and Democrats sometimes obscures the divisions and diversity of views that exist within both partisan coalitions – and the fact that many Americans do not fit easily into either one.”

Researchers found clusters of political attitudes that define independent voter perspectives that are hard to coexist comfortably in the two existing parties. They identify the following clusters and their respective percentages of the population:



It should be noted that these clusters are constructed from answers to questions that were posed to those participating in the survey. Thus, they are biased by the researchers' preconceived notions of the issues that they believe divide the US. Nonetheless, they do identify potential factions that coexist uneasily in both parties.

So we find that Pew identifies eight significant factions-- four that tend to vote Democratic and four that vote Republican (with stressed sideliners representing disinterested, disgusted, less frequent voters)-- funneling their votes into two electoral vehicles that cannot possibly represent them all adequately!

Moreover, the conventional illusion that each of the two parties represent a consistent, shared ideology obscures the many possibilities of creating useful coalitions or alliances in moving politics out of the stagnation and ineffectiveness of the US system.

Just to mention one of the insights to be drawn from the Pew study: [Members of the] "...Populist Right hold highly restrictive views about immigration policy and are very critical of government. But, in contrast to other parts of the GOP coalition, their criticism extends well beyond government to views of big business and to the economic system as a whole: 82% say that large corporations are having a negative impact on the way things are going in the country, and nearly half support higher taxes on the wealthy and on large corporations." In addition, more than any other group, they believe that they have been left behind. They also share with the left, the view that profits are too high.

While they share many left views that might be the basis for a tentative or calculated alliance with left forces, any such approach has been hysterically denounced by the liberal media, political purists, and smug elitists as consorting with evil, those who Hilary Clinton famously called "the deplorables".

If we were to burrow even deeper than the Pew topology and examine class differences-- and even more tellingly, various class ideologies-- it would become apparent that the two-party framework would fail abysmally in giving voice to the broad spectrum of political opinion characteristic of a modern, advanced capitalist state. In that regard, the two-party framework is a hindrance to democracy and neither a vehicle for nor exemplar of democratic decision-making.

Apart from its failure to capture ideological diversity, the two-party system encourages conformity on issues that are easily susceptible to patriotic or nationalistic zeolatry-- foreign policy, the military, loyalty, etc. Politicians in a two-party system dare not allow the other party to challenge them on these matters.

Consequently, we have two-party conformity on the “evils” of such diverse nations as Russia, PRC, Iran, DPRK, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Syria, and others, who share only one common feature-- they are made a target by our two-party dominated government. 

Nor do politicians of each party dare to question the glory or budgets of the military, the FBI, the CIA, etc. for fear that they will be called out by zealots in the other party-- again, a demonstration of the surfeit of democratic debate in a two-party parliamentary system.

Pepsi or Coke, Yankees or Blue Jays, ketchup or mustard are frivolous, but harmless choices. Democrat or Republican-- in the crises before us-- too often becomes frivolous as well, but increasingly harmful.

Unfortunately, too many people have invested heavily in their respective parties, succumbing again to empty, cynical promises like Obama’s risible “hope and change” slogan in our day. No amount of disappointment can seemingly separate the act of faith that cements voters to the two-parties. The prior investment in the Democratic and Republican parties generates what economists call the “sunk cost fallacy”, the idea that too much has been expended on the respective parties to jettison them now.

But it is a fallacy and until we learn to break away from the irrationality of the two-party charade, the Democratic Party will be an obstacle to the kind of changes that we desperately need to make.

Greg Godels
zzsblogml@gmail.com

ZZ's blog (zzs-blg.blogspot.com)

THE REBEL JESUS THE CHIEFTANS/JACKSON BROWNE

 

What I'm Getting the American Oligarchs This Year for Christmas

For America's CEOs, my gift is a beautifully boxed, brand-new set of corporate ethics.

Wall Street and Broad Street signs are seen as The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and a Christmas tree are illuminated in New York City, United States on December 1, 2021.

 (Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

JIM HIGHTOWER

December 24, 2021 by Creators.com

Ho-ho-ho, wait till you hear about the gifts I gave to some of America's power elites for Christmas.

To each of our Congress critters, I sent my fondest wish that from now on they receive the exact same income, health care, and pensions that we average citizens get. If they receive only the American average, it might make them a bit more humble—and less cavalier about ignoring the needs of regular folks.

To the stockings of GOP leaders who've so eagerly debased themselves to serve the madness of former President Donald Trump, I added individual spritzer bottles of fragrances like "Essence of Integrity" and "Eau de Self-Respect" to help cover up their stench. And in the stockings of Democratic congressional leaders, I put "Spice of Viagra" and "Bouquet du Grassroots" to stiffen their spines and remind them of who they represent.

"We're a people who believe in the notion that we're all in this together, that we can make our individual lives better by contributing to the common good."

For America's CEOs, my gift is a beautifully boxed, brand-new set of corporate ethics. It's called the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Going to pollute someone's neighborhood? Then you have to live there, too. Going to slash wages and benefits? Then slash yours as well. Going to move your manufacturing to sweatshops in China? Then put your office right inside the worst sweatshop. Executive life wouldn't be as luxurious, but CEOs would glow with a new purity of spirit.

To the Wall Street hedge-fund hucksters who've conglomerated, plundered and degraded hundreds of America's newspapers, I've sent copies of "Journalism For Dummies" and offered jobs for each of them in their stripped-down, Dickensian newsrooms. Good luck.

And what better gift to the Trump family—Donald, Ivanka and Jared, Eric, Donnie Jr. and the whole nest of them—than to wish that they live with one another constantly and permanently. No, really, each of you deserve it.

Yes, I have finally mastered the art of finding perfect gifts for people on my list—gifts that rise above crass commercialism and are genuinely appreciated by the people who receive them. I wholeheartedly recommend such gift-giving to you.

This holiday season got me thinking about America's spirit of giving, and I don't mean this overdone business of Christmas, Hanukkah and other holiday gifts. I mean our true spirit of giving—giving of ourselves.

Yes, we are a country of rugged individualists, yet there's also a deep, community-minded streak in each of us. We're a people who believe in the notion that we're all in this together, that we can make our individual lives better by contributing to the common good.

The establishment media pay little attention to grassroots generosity, focusing instead on the occasional showy donation by what it calls "philanthropists"—big tycoons who give a little piece of their billions to some university or museum in exchange for getting a building named after them. But in my mind, the real philanthropists are the millions of you ordinary folks who have precious little money to give, but consistently give of themselves, and do it without demanding that their name be engraved on a granite wall.

My own Daddy, rest his soul, was a fine example of this. With half a dozen other guys in Denison, Texas, he started the Little League baseball program, volunteering to build the park, sponsor and coach the teams, run the squawking PA system, etc., etc. Even after I graduated from Little League, Daddy stayed working at it, because his involvement was not merely for his kids ... but for all. He felt the same way about being taxed to build a public library in town. I don't recall him ever going in that building, much less checking out a book, but he wanted it to be there for the community and he was happy to pay his part. Not that he was a do-good liberal, for God's sake—indeed, he called himself a conservative.

My Daddy didn't even know he had a political philosophy, but he did, and it's the best I've ever heard. He would often say to me, "Everybody does better when everybody does better." If only our leaders in Washington and on Wall Street would begin practicing this true American philosophy.

© 2021 Creators Syndicate


Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.

Don't Let the Deeper Meaning of Christmas Be Lost in Materialism

The teachings of Jesus are more important than ever now as Covid-19 threatens us all. It respects no boundaries. We can only defeat it together.


A traveler sits next to a Christmas tree looking out the window while waiting for ground transportation for the Christmas and holiday travel season, although some people cancelling or rethinking their holiday travel plans because of the COVID-19 Omicron variant at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)


JESSE JACKSON

December 24, 2021 by Chicago Sun-Times


On Saturday, millions of people across the world will celebrate Christmas. Even with COVID-19 still plaguing the world, families will gather; bells will ring; music will be in the air. Each year, I use this column to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas has become a holiday, a time to exchange presents and cards, to see friends and family. Yet Christmas is literally the mass for Christ, the celebration of the birth of Jesus, a time for prayer, for reflection, for service. The story of Jesus speaks to us still this day.

"In an age of global pandemics, good will to all is not merely a holiday slogan, it is a survival imperative."

He was born under occupation. Joseph and Mary were ordered to go far from home to register with authorities. The innkeeper told Joseph there was no room at the inn. Jesus was born on a cold night, in a stable, lying in a manger. He was an “at-risk” baby. His earthly father was a carpenter, a worker, not a prince or a banker.

He was born at a time of great misery and turmoil. Prophets predicted that a new Messiah was coming who would rout the occupiers and free the people. Many expected a mighty warrior like the superheroes of today’s movies. Fearing the prophecy, King Herod, whose authority stemmed from the Romans, ordered the “massacre of the innocents,” the slaughter of all boys two and under in Bethlehem and the nearby region.

Jesus confounded both Herod’s fears and the people’s fantasies. He was a prince of peace, not of war. He gathered disciples, not soldiers. His ministry was guided by Isaiah 62:1: “the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” We will be judged, he taught us, not for our wealth or our finery or our armaments, but by how we treat “the least of these,” how we treat the stranger on the Jericho Road. He called on us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, comfort the refugee.

He became a great liberator, by his teachings and his example, not by his sword. He converted rather than conquered. He threw the money lenders from the temple. He did not accumulate worldly wealth. His brief ministry led to his crucifixion. And yet he succeeded beyond all imagination to transform the world.

Today his teachings are more important than ever. The pandemic threatens us all. It respects no boundaries. We can only defeat it together, by organizing across the world to ensure that all are vaccinated, that care is available for those who get sick, that safety precautions from masks to ventilation are universally available.
No one is safe until we all are

Yet too often, our instinct is to turn away from one another, not toward one another. For example, the Omicron variant that is now spreading across the world was discovered first by a scientist, Dr. Sikhulile Moyo, working in Botswana in Africa. He and his colleagues found the new strain in international visitors from the Netherlands. They immediately alerted public health authorities across the world, shared their research and findings, and helped mobilize immediate action to counter the new variant.

Sadly, the reaction of the world was to lock the scientist and the countries of his region out. He was not brought to the U.S. to help further the work. The administration joined some European nations in imposing travel bans on Botswana and neighboring countries, with devastating effect on their economies. Cooperation was punished, not rewarded. Worse, while Europeans and Americans are lining up for booster shots after being vaccinated, only a miniscule percentage of Africans have access to vaccination.

Even though none of us will be safe until all are safe, nationalism, drug company profits and patents and inadequate global assistance have combined to abandon millions in poorer nations without the treatments and public health capacities that they need. We put ourselves at risk even as we leave them at risk.

Once more the practical imperative of Jesus’ teachings is clear. Jesus demonstrated the astonishing power of faith, hope and charity, the importance of love. He called upon us to care for the stranger on the Jericho Road. In an age of global pandemics, good will to all is not merely a holiday slogan, it is a survival imperative.

In this secular age, we should not let the deeper meaning of Christmas be lost in the wrappings. Jesus called us to turn to one another, not on one another. He demonstrated the power of summoning our better angels, rather than rousing our fears or furthering our divisions.

This Christmas, this surely is a message not merely to remember but to practice. Merry Christmas, everybody.

© 2021 Chicago Sun-Times

Jesse Jackson is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH.