Not sure I'd agree with calling this a 'Tactical Failure'.

Regarding this -> https://blackagendareport.com/tactical-failure-israelus-attacks-iran-leading-both-strategic-disaster

I have my doubts about what this can mean down the road, given the following. 

That being said, I did finally get an apt description to something I've always wondered about.

For the people of Iran and all of the peoples and nations involved in the ongoing struggle against Western imperialism, we all have one decisive weapon that will inevitably serve our interests at some point – the psychopathology of white supremacy. This affliction, representing a non-material conceptual frame has had a material impact on the lives, societies, cultures of millions of since the first significant contacts between the peoples later to become “Europeans” or white, and the non-European world.

This phenomenon is:

A racialized narcissistic cognitive disorder that centers so-called white people’s and European civilization and renders the afflicted with an inability to perceive objective reality in the same way as others. This affliction is not reducible to the race of so-called whites but can affect all those who have come in counter with the ideological and cultural mechanisms of the Pan-European colonial project.

 

Think the United States ISN'T in a recession?

Check this link from time to time, and see how it's evolved -

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/comprehensive-list-2025-tech-layoffs-134836336.html 

It's not a bug.

It's not a feature.

It's how crapitalism operates. It's their basic function. 

Finally, someone takes apart the lie that is 'good' or 'morality'.

Rules for thee (the majority), and not for the oligopoly.

 

The time has finally arrived ... shitty software being used to do horrible things.

Combine crapitalism, private investors, horrible acts, and a lack of software testing.

This is what's coming.

 

Quote of the day - 06-22-2025.

Vijay Prashad

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/06/22/the-us-strikes-on-iran-will-increase-nuclear-weapons-proliferation/

The greatest spur to nuclear weapons proliferation will be this attack on Iran.

Slowly, larger and larger groups of people have begun to drift onto the streets, horrified by the implications of this hyper-imperialist attack by Israel and then by the United States. There have been statements from groups across the world to condemn these attacks and to assert the fact that peace and development are the desires of the world’s people, not war and backwardness. There is no confusion amidst the people of the Global South that this attack by Israel and the United States has nothing to do with Iran’s behavior but everything to do with the war aims of the Global North to dominate West Asia.

 

If I thought I was the only one who felt the ever-changing view of IT work, I was wrong.

Obviously I'm not.

And this episode of this podcast makes it clear why.

In any crapitalist system - Any time technology and it's evolution is under the control of a few, they will use it to further their own interests over all else.

 

This whole attack on Iran by the US is very suspicious to me.

After all, this is the same Iranian government that was secretly negotiating with the Ronald Reagan 1980 US Presidential Campaign to delay releasing the hostages until after said referenced election.

It's also the same Iranian government that participated in sales of weapons, funds of which were diverted to the Contras in Nicaragua (in violation of several American laws).

With those in mind, it does make me wonder then why they'd blunder into any limitations around the development of nuclear energy technology (back in 2016). 

It also makes me wonder why these same facilities are evidently left to relative open attack by US weapons (sent from US Military bases around the region).

Almost like this is a war that's been planned for a very long time. None of which changes the fact that people have been killed, crimes have been committed, and more will die, all to enable a few group of powerful and wealthy accrue more power and more wealth.

And of course, it benefits Israel. 

Reminder - software only does what it's progammed to do, and based on what data it has access.

https://scheerpost.com/2025/06/19/groks-white-genocide-responses-show-how-generative-ai-can-be-weaponized/

This also applies to 'AI'. 

The land. It's always about the land.

https://blackagendareport.com/unhoused-why-its-always-about-land

For those of us who aren't white or rich, having land means something.

Which means for those who control the US Crapitalist Empire, that means taking it wherever and whenever possible.

Throughout the U.S., disproportionate numbers of unhoused people are of African and Native descent, depending on which part of the country the analysis centers. When figures who directly serve the ruling class, like Donald Trump, publicly commit to “buying and owning Gaza” to make it into a site for future development, connections must be made to fully understand what that means. Trump says he wants to clean out 1.5 million Gazans remaining (inadvertently admitting to understanding that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were slaughtered throughout the duration of the genocide, while corporate media holds steady at an estimated 50,000 deaths). In the U.S., while cities and towns are not being literally burned as in the past, they are being figuratively torched via policies designed to ensure the same outcomes of people with no place to live and a government that serves the wealthy, operating with callous disregard for its citizenry. When Western organizations such as the World Economic Forum initiate so-called economic recovery plans for The Great Reset , we must recognize that the actions of a psychopathic ruling class, intent on the centuries-old practice of clearing, just like in Palestine, in a myriad of forms, continue unabashedly. 

 

Sunrise in Florida.

Sunset for Edmonton Losers.

Congrats to the Florida Panthers for their 2nd Stanley Cup. 

As if on queue - tell me again WHO has nuclear weapons?

Right after posting this -> https://vultcult.blogspot.com/2025/06/is-this-true-reason-for-attack-on-iran.html

Say it with me -> Israel.

https://scheerpost.com/2025/06/17/hidden-history-how-israel-acquired-nukes/ 

Oh, and let's not forget Israel's continued assault on the West Bank.

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/06/as-confrontation-with-iran-escalates-israel-continues-attacks-on-gaza-and-west-bank/

Israel also cut off internet and telecommunications services to large parts of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, imposing an effective media and information blackout on millions of Palestinians as Israeli strikes continue to rain down on them.

Israeli forces also continued to impose a total closure on the occupied West Bank since Friday, including the roads between West Bank towns and cities. Closures have caused a total halt to public transportation in several parts of the West Bank.

Alongside the closures, Israeli forces raided the Palestinian cities of Hebron, Bethlehem, Nablus, and Ramallah, arresting at least 35 Palestinians, including a woman and four children, according to the Wafa news agency. In Hebron, residents reported that Israeli soldiers threatened Palestinian families during the raids with unspecified “consequences” for whoever celebrated Iranian missile strikes on Israel.

 

Is this the true reason for the attack on Iran, by Israel?

Over the past decades, Iran has called for the establishment of a Middle East Nuclear Free Zone, a strange idea coming from a country accused of wanting to build a nuclear weapon. But this idea of the nuclear free zone has been rejected by the West, largely to protect Israel, which has an illegal nuclear weapons programme. Israel is the only country in the Middle East with a nuclear weapon, although it has never tested it openly nor acknowledged its existence. If Israel was so keen on eliminating any nuclear threat, it should have taken the offer for the creation of a nuclear-free zone heartily.

https://consortiumnews.com/2025/06/16/vijay-prasahd-the-illegal-attack-on-iran/ 

Round-up of the latest outward criminal acts of the US Crapitalist Empire, and its proxies.

Chief among them - Israel.

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/06/weekly-briefing-israel-attacks-iran-as-gaza-genocide-reaches-new-depths/ 

This settler/colonial entity of the West sure knows how to stir up shit and be the bully.

Attacking no less than five (5) countries in the last twelve (12) months alone - Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and Iraq. 

Wow can't believe this guy has connections w/my hometown.

Wow, seriously?

https://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2025/03/jeffrey-epsteins-ties-to-montreal.html 

So much ugliness there. 

What it's all about.

Israel isn’t simply assembling a reactive sequence of military gestures; it’s a calibrated strategy of provocations that create the conditions for American leverage. Israel acts; the United States, while nominally uninvolved, capitalizes on the fallout, and even invokes the specter of its own military involvement as both a deterrent and a bargaining chip. 

The strikes are less about immediate tactical gains than they are about constructing a field of pressure. Their strategic ambiguity is weaponized to test red lines and gauge responses.

In this scheme, Washington appears to maintain a distance, but its fingerprints are never entirely absent. The more Israel escalates, the more the U.S. can posture as the moderating force — while simultaneously tightening the screws on Iran through sanctions, backchannel warnings, or displays of force in the Gulf. 

The result is a strategic double-bind: Iran is meant to feel besieged from multiple directions, but never entirely certain where the next blow might come from. 

 

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/06/israel-started-a-war-with-iran-but-it-doesnt-know-how-it-ends/ 

An exercise in futility?

https://consortiumnews.com/2025/06/14/watch-un-security-council-on-israels-war/

What else is there to say about white settler/colonial aggression?

https://liberationnews.org/psl-statement-on-the-israeli-aggression-against-iran/

From solidarity to action.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/06/10/from-solidarity-to-action-the-global-march-to-gaza-unites-the-world-against-israels-genocide/

Oh that OTHER global environmental catastrophe?

Nuclear War.

https://scheerpost.com/2025/06/10/norman-solomon-is-nuclear-winter-a-climate-issue/ 

Every now and then, I am reminded that past information and technology can be useful - if we learn from it.

Take this for example -

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/oct/16/men-can-find-miss-right/

Yes it was from a newspaper.  And one day I read this in MY local paper, and found it surprisingly good.

1. Don’t look for Miss Right in a bar. Try a supermarket, church, your work place or friends who “know somebody.” If you have young children, she could be a kindergarten teacher or a divorced woman who goes to PTA meetings.

2. If she tells you she is married or separated, or her husband doesn’t understand her, she has TROUBLE stamped on her forehead.

3. If she expects you to buy her expensive gifts or wants to borrow money to pay for her mother’s operation, be careful. She may be looking for a sucker or a sugar daddy.

4. If she doesn’t get along with her neighbors, her siblings or the people she works with, watch out. The problem could be her.

5. Does her apartment look clean and orderly? If she’s a bit of a slob now, it will only get worse.

6. If she has children, decide if you want to marry them, too, because they are part of the package. And be aware that her children are a direct link to her former husband.

7. If you feel you need a woman to complete your life, choose her; don’t let her choose you. Be selective. No one has the power to make you happier than the right woman or more miserable than the wrong one.

8. If she is hung up on her father and he isn’t very fond of you, that could be trouble.

9. Find someone who laughs at the same things you laugh at. A shared sense of humor will make the good times better and the bad times less difficult.

10. Pay attention to how she treats others. If she has no long-term friendships, it is possible that she is incapable of maintaining one.

11. Does she expect her daddy to bail her out every time something goes wrong? If so, it means she needs to grow up.

12. Don’t get married because she looks good on your arm. Looks often fade. It’s important to like the whole package.

13. No matter how wonderful her other qualities may be, do not marry a woman who has threatened, hit or humiliated you. In fact, don’t go out with her a second time. Such a woman is hazardous to your emotional and physical health and should be avoided like the plague.

14. Is she trustworthy and truthful? If you have caught her in a few little lies, you will surely catch her in some big ones later.

15. If your idea of a good time is renting a video, drinking beer and eating pretzels on the sofa, make sure she will settle for that. Courtship, after the glamour wears off, is a fairly good preview of what your married life will be like.

I am forced to agree with this commenter.

The Western crapitalist countries that either are or move in lockstep with the American Empire will never stop the genocide of the Palestinians.

https://scheerpost.com/2025/06/06/when-will-western-support-for-israeli-genocide-finally-crack/#comment-116757 

We must first stop calling the US “complicit” in genocide. The US is NOT complicit – it is committing genocide. This is no more an Israeli genocide than it is an American genocide. If anything, it is Israel that is complicit, by being the US “Hit Man” – a co-conspirator.

Whatever the US Empire’s reason for committing genocide in Palestine – whether it’s the off shore gas and oil reserves or simply its penchant for evil deeds – there’s no possibility of the US compelling or even pleading with the Israelis to stop its Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Nor will the US ever allow any other nation or group of nations to intercede on behalf of the Palestinians.

We’re constantly told the world has gone crazy. The proof of this universal madness is that the only hope for peace on Earth is for Americans to wish their country out of existence.

 

Seems like I was deceived all this time.

New term learned - overshooting.

Hard to think we on this planet aren't already at the point of eco-collapse.

 

 

Quote of the day - 06-04-2025.

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright

 

Rising Temperatures and the Rising Need for a Black Radical Lens in the Climate Change Discourse. 

 

https://blackagendareport.com/rising-temperatures-and-rising-need-black-radical-lens-climate-change-discourse 

When knowledge of what needs to happen is met with an inertia that’s unwilling to exercise the necessary steps to make it happen, the conditions have been set for a revolutionary response - this irrefutable conclusion,  in itself, vindicates the need for a BRT lens to inform, influence, and shape any discussion about the climate crisis as well as the collective initiatives necessary to confront and dismantle it. Robin D.G. Kelly, in discussing the BRT,  adroitly espouses this idea, once writing, “the need to politicize the link between capitalism and racial domination is itself a response to how this link has been depoliticized and concealed by liberal and influential left theorists of capitalism.” Dr. Kelly could easily be describing a growing chorus of liberals, and even some leftists, who are calling for so-called Abundance theory that completely perambulates the myriad and incontrovertible ways that the climate crisis is also a crisis of racism and exploitation of poor and working class people and fails to connect environmental racism to fascism.

An understanding of the symbiotic relationship between racial capitalism and the climate crisis has yet to be demonstrated by the mainstream environmental community in the U.S. and globally.  There are many reasons for this, chief among them is the fact that these liberal nonprofit organizations and institutions are not anti-capitalist in the slightest and believe that capitalism can be tweaked to be fairer, safer, and less racist. We saw this when far too many climate groups touted Biden and the Democrats’ so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) while also knowing that numerous elements of the bill would sacrifice Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor environmental justice communities.

This is why I have not much hope for most environmental advocacy entities in America

Realy eye-opening video about the music business, and the American Black community.

So many dimensions and layers behind this. It may take more than one view.

 

Meanwhile, the genocide continues.

Brown people killed by white people.

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/06/aid-massacre-israeli-forces-kill-31-palestinians-at-u-s-run-aid-distribution-center/ 

Aid massacre: Israeli forces kill 75 Palestinians at U.S.-run aid distribution center

Another U.S.-run aid center was the site of a massacre in southern Gaza after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians. “The Americans and Israelis set a huge trap for us to lure us here and kill us,” an eyewitness told Mondoweiss.

 

Still think corporations can't kill people?

Guess again.

 

Why this isn't a bigger issue - is a result of US Crapitalism trying to shield its crimes.

https://blackagendareport.com/forensic-failures-36-police-custody-deaths-should-have-been-ruled-homicide-audit-finds

Forensic Failures: 36 Police-Custody Deaths Should Have Been Ruled a Homicide, Audit Finds 

Independent audit finds patterns of racial, pro-police bias in Maryland’s chief medical examiner’s office.

Originally published in Baltimore Beat .

An unprecedented independent audit found that 36 deaths in police custody over a two-decade span in Maryland should have been ruled homicides by the state’s top medical examiner, a stinging rebuke of Maryland‘s past efforts to investigate the deaths of those once held by law enforcement.

The yearslong audit, shared exclusively with The Baltimore Banner ahead of Thursday’s release, cited a likely reason behind the massive failure: racial and pro-police bias in the work of the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which had been led for nearly 20 years by Dr. David Fowler.

Before the audit, the deaths had been classified as accidents, natural causes or simply undetermined. But many of them involved police restraining people during arrests or shocking them with Tasers. The affected cases were spread across the state with the most — 12 — connected to Baltimore.

 

Remember her name - Ward al-Sheikh Khalil.

She's seven years old. 

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ward-al-sheikh-khalil (h/t Black Agenda Report)

Seven-year-old Palestinian girl Ward al-Sheikh Khalil is seen trying to escape from the inferno following a May 26, 2025 Israeli bombing of the Fahmi al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City, Palestine.

(Photo: screen grab)

Video Shows Girl Trying to Escape Inferno as Gaza Family 'Burned Alive' in Israeli Massacre

 

 

Santa's Snow Cat - a review.

My youngest does reading every evening. So I have him reading to me. He normally picks a book and starting reading to me. Last evening, he picked this book.

Oh my.

No, not his reading - it's getting better.

I mean the book.

Never have I seen such a compact and concise combination of capitalism, white supremacy, delusion of a religious kind, and female privilege, all wrapped into a single 'children's' book.

Where do I possibly begin? Well let's start with the plot -

'Santa' is up in the Arctic/North Pole with his favorite 'cat'; his 'snow cat', who's his object of devotion and love (no Mrs.Claus in this book, but we'll get to that later). Oh, and the 'Wind' and 'Moon' are devoted to this cat also.

'Santa' then goes on his yearly 'Christmas Eve' trip to give all the American children (apparently he only goes to once place - New York City) presents. While on the trip (i.e. up high in the sky), the cat falls out of the sleigh and - amazingly - lands safely on the ground without turning into a plop of red furry mush.

The rest of the book is all about this 'cat' trying to then find 'Santa' in New York City, while she goes from place to place, house to house, causing all sorts of destruction, mischief, breaking and entering, foraging in people's houses, trespassing, and general idiocy.

Eventually 'Santa' finds her and saves her. And they return to the North Pole, where they continue their lovefest and devotion.

Yes - that's basically the story. But don't take my word for it. Here's the 'summary' from the book itself -

Santa and his favorite cat search for each other after she falls out of his sleigh and lands in New York City on Christmas Eve.

So let's start deconstructing this mess along the following areas -

Capitalism - Children's books are nothing more than a way to sell shorter/crappier 'content' to really the parents of children. Indeed the idea of taking a fictional character from a religious background is itself something businesses do all the time, and have done so for hundreds of years.

And to be clear, the character of Santa Claus is just that - a fictional character invented by a set of businesses many years ago from religious invention (this this case Western Christianity) to be a vehicle to sell all sort of merchandise (media, toys, etc.).

White Supremacy - Santa Claus is a character of profit, but that's ignoring it's origins. The very idea of a fat jolly white man living in the Arctic/North Pole reeks of racism, colonialism, and imperialism all in one. What about the Indigenous People who'd been already living there for centuries? In any lore told about Jolly Ole Saint Nick, none of them exist. It may have something to do with the reality that those Indigenous People originated from somewhere in Asia, and - by remarkable coincidence - aren't white-skinned.

Delusion - Writing about fictional characters isn't an issue, but pretending to children that they are real is wrong. A lie is a lie is a lie. It always bothered me when presumably grown adults like to convince especially small and young children that 'Santa Claus' will come down their chimney (as if kids today live in homes with those). But just the idea that this character is derived from a 'Christian' character - Saint Nick - speaks volumes about the level of malevolence Christians will go to to inflict their beliefs on others.

Female Privilege  And then there's the 'writers' of this book - two (presumably) white women from the birthplace of capitalism itself - England. The actual main character of this book (i.e. the cat) is white and female. The 'cat' is drawn pretty much exactly the same way on every page - with absolutely no emotion or visual impact whatsoever. Certainly no personality. She's all about attention from all the other characters, and an object thereof. She exists only to be loved and devoted to by all the other 'characters'. 

So there you have it - just one example of the garbage inflicted on people - both knowingly and unknowingly.

To think, we paid $7.99 for this at Half-Price Books. The writers/publisher should be paying me to have survived their crap.

 

Finally. Someone says the obviously quiet part out loud - Rich People Want Fascism.

That's been the case for over 100 years.

 

Nice sunny day at Dash Point State Park.

Great video. I wouldn't be surprised if some tech company came up with the term 'going viral'.

As far as the United States in '1984' goes ...

My own view is that in Orwell's book, Oceania is essentially the US Crapitalist Empire, and fusing of the remnants of the previous British Empire.

Five years after George Floyd's murder.

https://liberationnews.org/five-years-after-the-murder-of-george-floyd-the-fight-for-black-liberation-continues/

 

The last five years have shown us that we must do more than mobilize. As Malcolm X said — we are not outnumbered, we are out-organized.

The power of the people created unprecedented threats to the racist, capitalist system in 2014 and in 2020 that forced unimaginable concessions from the ruling class. But with local and national progress in perpetual danger of being reversed, we need to build strong political organizations that are capable of defending hard-won mass victories through coordination and escalation. We know that the state has learned from the mobilization of the masses in 2020 — we too must learn. The movement of 2020 taught us that we can only defeat repression and racist policing if we are organized enough to strike at the root of this rotten, capitalist system.

 

Death and Destruction of brown children.

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/05/amid-catastrophic-food-insecurity-child-illness-in-gaza-turns-deadly/ 

Amid ‘catastrophic’ food insecurity, child illness in Gaza turns deadly

Illnesses that were manageable before the war are turning deadly amid "catastrophic levels" of food insecurity in Gaza, and 19 months of genocide have now led to the spread of new diseases, reaching record numbers.

By Noor Alyacoubi May 26, 2025

That those who control US Crapitalism will never be brought to justice for the crime committed, should be confirmation that it cannot be 'reformed'. It cannot be 'fixed'. Its rough edges cannot be softened.

It doesn't work for the majority of people on the planet.

It's works only for a small group of wealthy and powerful corporations and billionaires. And they themselves are wrecking it in the hopes of moving to a more fascist one.

It's a reminder that this small group of wealthy and powerful corporations and billionaires are psychopaths and criminals.

RIP Pepe.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/05/18/jose-pepe-mujica-the-revolutionary-who-never-surrendered-his-ideals/

José “Pepe” Mujica: The revolutionary who never surrendered his ideals

A living embodiment of resistance against capitalist excess and a testament to the enduring relevance of revolutionary values in contemporary politics.

May 18, 2025 by Ali Abutalebi

During his presidency (2010–2015), Mujica’s revolutionary ethos manifested in bold policy decisions. His administration conducted legal rectifications, not as moderate reforms but as radical assertions of sovereignty and people’s rights. His stance against neoliberalism was uncompromising: state power existed to serve the people, not enrich elites.

Mujica’s decision to donate 90% of his presidential salary to social causes and continue living in his modest farmhouse rather than the presidential palace embodied his belief that political leaders should share the material conditions of those they represent. This was not mere symbolism but revolutionary praxis – a deliberate rejection of the trappings of power. His criticism of consumerism was not a liberal gesture; he was deeply critical of neoliberalism and believed that preserving our planet would only be possible by stopping the insane consumption system that serves the Global North.

His foreign policy maintained an anti-imperialist edge, challenging multinational corporations and advocating for Latin American solidarity against global capitalism. In international forums, his speeches echoed revolutionary figures, offering searing critiques of consumerism and environmental destruction while calling for global solidarity among oppressed people. Additionally, mainstream media attempts to exaggerate and decontextualize his criticism of the Venezuelan government; meanwhile, they overlook his praise for the Chavista movement and recognition of Maduro’s efforts as Chavez’s legitimate successor in advancing the Bolivarian Revolution.

 

 

Artists Against Apartheid

Yeah where are all the fucking feminists in the West?

Oh yes - if white, it's alright.

If brown, keep it down.

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/05/the-war-where-womens-bodies-lost-their-rights/

Even now, on the 100th year of his birth, Malcolm X remains far ahead of his time.

You have to wonder if this all contributed to his death -

It was also on his 1964 trip to Africa and the Middle East that Malcolm traveled to Palestine and during his stay in Egypt met the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) who educated him on the history of Israeli Zionist settler colonialism, prompting him to advocate for the support of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli apartheid. He wrote an essay, Zionist Logic , and he once again led the way in helping us through his example of international solidarity to decolonize our thinking and actions.

Malcolm explained that in the U.S. the press and many people refer to this country as America and because of U.S. exceptionalism not acknowledging that America is a continent not a country. He goes on to talk about the important fact that there are more Black people in Brazil than there are in the U.S. and combined with all the other South American and Caribbean countries the force of the Black population united is a potential force against the Empire.

He also elaborated on Congo where he exposed the neo-colonial proxy killers of Patrice Lumumba like Moise Tshombe and Mobutu Sese Seko and explained that the US paid mercenaries who were committing mass murder dropping bombs on African villages but he said there was no outcry even from white liberals because they made it appear that it was a humanitarian project.  He warned that,“They will do it to them today and do it to you tomorrow.”  Malcolm was prophetic. History would record that 20 years after his death the Philadelphia police department under direction of the first Black mayor, dropped a bomb on the MOVE organization 40 years ago this month killing 6 adults and 5 children.

https://blackagendareport.com/malcolm-x-foundational-black-internationalism-and-anti-imperialism-black-alliance-peace

 

So the Toronto Maple Leafs exited another year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

(NOTE: I actually started writing this post A WHOLE FUCKING YEAR AGO WHEN THE LEAFS LOST GAME 7 TO THE BRUINS IN 2024)

There's been a lot of back and forth among the media, fans (and likely AI too) about why, why again, why repeatedly and why since 1967.

A lot of good points have been mentioned along the way (along with a ton of emotional hyperbole and excessive whining and complaining); all of which don't really get at the root of the issue.

Indeed - even now after the supposed 'leadership' of the team has made some 'changes' - and have already been roundly criticized for the moves being strictly performative; which I don't dispute - I still don't believe any of it still tackles the larger and more basic issue that's going on.

So ... Why haven't the Toronto Maple Leafs won a Stanley Cup since 1967?

The short answer: It's not in their owner's business model to do so. 

The long answer: Well that's going to take awhile.

But to understand things, you'd have to 1st go back ~ 60-70 years.

Back in the Original Six era (1942-1967) there were six teams: Montreal, Toronto, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit. Each of the teams' owners were in it to make money, but not necessarily for the reasons above. They were owners who owned a lot of things, lots of different business, or were wealthy family outright. In other words, the teams that were owned weren't exactly a central component of their businesses. On top of that, because each team was in a different city; and thus was technically in a different market - none of them directly competed against each other for profit. And I think all the owners understood that as long as they stayed as they were, each one of them can have their own slice of the profits. 

In this regard, the only thing each team at that was really competing for, was the Stanley Cup. And that lined up with their 'customers' (i.e. fans). So on things went for 45 years.

Then along came broadcast network television and the opportunity to take their sport across all of North America. Suddenly there was a LOT more money to be made, and the owners figured out in short order that they could get the bulk of it if there were more teams. More teams means more games, and more television and more money. Granted they were anti-union from the very get-go, and they didn't relish the idea of more players out there (I truly think they thought a union would never happen after the 1st attempt; but we'll get to that later), but I think the realized they could play the long-game with any union, corrupt their leadership, and eventually have them going along with pretty much anything they wished for.

And teams in big cities figured out also that they can make more money in a big population base through television, advertisements, merchandise ... all of which would out-draw the arena ticket sales. Selling out arenas was still important, but not in the way of winning games every night.

Rather, it meant selling LOTS of tickets, as in bulk like season-tickets, or bunches of tickets to other corporations who'd in-turn offer it to their employees. Eventually the sale of the tickets became less a function of going to see one's team win, and reduced to merely a social event that drew in money.

NOW ... fast forward to today. And consider all those points, but magnified with the Internet, with Social Media, with endless 'content' about a team online, chats, posts, pictures, memes, and so on. And even the players themselves get into it. Suddenly winning a championship isn't as important as one's 'brand', one's online presences, how many clicks they get, how many likes, The sponsorships, the deals, and so on.

It's come full circle - or perhaps it's always been that way.

Professional sports is a business. That's how it started, and today it's only more so. Ironic in that what many  'fans' (i.e. customers) want from the 'product they 'buy' (i.e pay tickets to see their team win the Stanley Cup) isn't what the 'teams' (i.e. corporations) actually provide. Instead, the illusion of success is what most are being conned into - the idea that this team 'could' win, maybe not this year, but next year, or next year, or next decade, but KEEP BUYING, KEEP SPENDING, KEEP BELIEVING, AND KEEP GIVING IN, AND GOING ON.

So .. how do fans 'fix' this issue? 

From a socialist perspective, I think competition to be the best is all good and fine, but you need to take the profit motive out of it. Bar any corporations and all the mass monied interests from owning and controlling things ... that's a start.

But from a capitalist perspective, there is a (albeit short-term) option ...

Stop buying the product, Stop supporting the 'team', because it isn't actually one, nor has it ever really been. Encourage new 'businesses' (i.e. new teams) to form in these markets where essentially monopolies and oligopolies have formed, and force the existing 'businesses' to put out a better 'product.. 

Toronto is a prime example. I think it actually can house two, if not three teams. Montreal can house two teams. If you want your teams to actually win, have other teams in those cities, and force the existing ones to come up with a better team. As long as they are monopolies and oligopolies who continue to be supported by fans, they have NO incentive to improve or doing anything other than what they've always done.

No. The players there aren't losers. The coaches, trainers, managers, and so on. They know how to run a hockey team. Many of them even have experience in winning the Stanley Cup. But it will simply not happen in Toronto, as long as MSLE has a monopoly on that city, and have no real reason to change. 

And in case you think otherwise, in case you think none of what I said is true ... look at this image and tell me you can't admit you've been duped or played or conned -

 

Survived another weekend of work.

Technically we finished early.

However there was some issue afterward. Some missed steps, or missing data.

I'm sure I'll get blamed for it. I'm sure there are lots above my pay grade who are waiting to point their dirty fingers at me.

We'll see.

The real history of Palestine’s Nakba.

https://liberationnews.org/the-real-history-of-palestines-nakba

The connection between Black Liberation here in America, and the Liberation of Palestine - could not be more clearly connected.

https://blackagendareport.com/black-people-palestine-and-maintenance-empire

Historically within the U.S., there exists a decades-long history of those fighting for Black liberation who developed a broader perspective in analyzing our material condition within the belly of the beast.  Unfortunately, many people remain focused on our internal experiences as though they operate isolated from the rest of the world.  Analyzing our circumstances within the heart of empire causes confusion when we don’t see the connections as one global, functioning system run by the descendants of the same people who first began colonizing the globe centuries ago. When some activists —such as Ethel Minor, secretary to Malcolm X at the time of his assassination and later communications coordinator for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee —turned their lens outward, a picture formed that revealed a direct relationship between the actions in which the U.S. and its collaborators engage abroad that produce adverse conditions inside the U.S.  Minor’s article, The Palestine Problem: Test Your Knowledge , was key. Just like Ghassan Kanafani saw the struggle for Palestinian liberation as tied to the broader global fight against imperialism, exploitation and white hegemony, so too did Black people inside the imperial core once we looked.

 

Well another weekend of work.

This time it'll be 10 hours.

Oh joy.

Well it's certainly a test of sorts.

https://consortiumnews.com/2025/05/12/medhurst-case-test-of-a-turning-tide-on-gaza/

 

Capitalism in the US has always been about cosplaying Communisim.

Along with pretending it's about democracy, meritocracy, and of course, individualism.

It's none of those things.

 

If you want further evidence that billion-dollar American corporations are complicit in the Israeli Genocide of brown people in Palestine, look no further than Google.

Believe that's false (or a big run-on sentence)?

Think and understand -

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/05/what-googles-largest-ever-acquisition-of-an-israeli-software-company-tells-us-about-big-techs-complicity-in-genocide/

If a boy can use his brain and call bullshit ...

... why can't the rest of his country?

 

I should try and enjoy the weekend while I can.

 One never knows when things will turn to shit, and fast.