American Kool Aid

I've been studying about social stratification as seen from South & North Korea 사회 계층.

Americans don't talk about this topic sufficiently. We're taught about meritocracy, and the problems of prejudice, but do not really analyze caste & class in the USA.

Some squeamishness stems from American racial prejudices. I'll not write about common conceptions, but some citizens have difficulty shedding linkages to such words as hordes or savages or slaves.

We should recognize Native Americans as victims of deliberate GENOCIDE.  ... as Landowners deprived of their inheritance by voracious intruders led by a handful of resource-extracting capitalists. This is not "maybe" - it is fact.

Americans prefer make-believe: pretending there's a bedrock justice in the land of the free & the brave, while in fact the foundation is theft & bullshit. Do you yourself dare to confront Truth? If so you'll find Truly Criminal Hype.

Anyhow, South Koreans passionately discuss social caste and class rigidities in many books and on TV. The film "Parasite" is a further example.

The typical American could learn valuable lessons from South Korean analyses of social stratification. While my Korean abilities are poor, I'm smart enough to recognize bits of their wisdom.

「대통령을 꿈꾸는 아이들은 어디로 갔을까」의 저자 오찬호는 대다수의 젊은이들이 ‘9급 공무원’을 희망하는 열풍을 들여다보며 미래가 없는 우리 사회의 어두운 면을 지적하고 있다.

https://brunch.co.kr/@onlys/15

"Difference in wealth under the capitalist system is inevitable. The problem is the wealth gap. Instead of leaving the economy to market alone, the government should actively intervene in fair distribution and make efforts to bridge the wealth gap. A good society should be equipped with a social safety net that does not give up what is human, meaning you'll not be poor in any job. Minimum salary guaranteed, and not undermining dignity. So valuable jobs exist but poor jobs do not exist. Young people can then challenge a variety of jobs that aren't ninth-class civil servants. Through this, our communities will cultivate many more types of lives. If diversity is guaranteed, opinions will inevitably increase and our tolerance index will naturally rise. If the tolerance index rises, our society will be able to move away from "focus on self" and be happy with solidarity and cooperation."
-- Hye-kyung Shin   신혜경  [excerpt]


(I saved as HTML and ran the page through Google translate)

Republican Bloomberg is an Asshole

Occupy Wall Street began in New York City's Zuccotti Park on 17 Sept 2011. Occupy drew attention to oligarchy injustices and how corporations reach deep into our lives.

Occupy protests soon flared-up around the globe, educating & debating about political corruption, corporate environmental destruction and wealth inequality. Each gathering, each encampment, became a place for education. Financial district parks, typically dark & empty at night, grew lively. Support and donations quickly flowed from surrounding communities. Growing political awareness worried the oligarchs.

After 60 days, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg used paramilitary riot police to forcibly uproot the Wall Street encampment - and tried to block the press from covering the eviction. 😠 Nine years later (9 years gone), suppressed anger & community pain undoubtedly are...
Worse!

Wake Up World. Democracy is shit-on by big shots.
Democracy can allow us some true Public Spaces. 

Zuccotti Park was never so important as in those 60 days.

Occupy Stockholm lasted at Brunkebergstorg in front of Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's National Bank, the world's oldest central bank) from 15 October 2011 to 29 February 2012 (138 days) before being similarly attacked & crushed by riot police. The site's now a stark corporate-controlled concrete plaza, as some years later developers ripped-up all the earth & landscaping, and cut-down every tree. Very GRIM.


Victims of Violence:
          return tamely for more beatings...

Build PRIDE. The intruder is the parasite.

Disgrace. John Bull imperialists claim "discovery" justifies theft & murder, keeping stolen wealth & criminal proceeds.

Their permanent universe revolves around English-speakers & Yankees, where non-whites are foreigners, savage, and ethnic.

To aggressively topple governments & destroy communities by large-scale military land appropriation is CRIMINAL.

Colonized peoples are stripped of inheritance, property & PRIDE.

Recognize abuse. Fight for inheritance, fight for culture, against occupier manipulation.
Build Local Pride.

Some inherit, others do not

Aggressive intruders stole lands & murdered peaceful locals, and now label indigenous efforts to reclaim inheritance as favoritism or anti-white racism. Struggles continue against theft & genuine racism. 

If you think indigenous people should "Get Over It" you are part of the problem. 

Intruder aggressions are becoming more extreme in Hawai'i. Local resistance is increasing. Many Hawaiians refuse to submissively allow heavily militarized, American-occupied Hawai'i as proper or legal. Acts of War on Hawaiians begun with Capt. James Cook are continuing since 1778. Yankee Must Stop Trespassing  ❤️  Aloha 'Āina

Marketing the EU

Let's Celebrate Europe! Add three annual EU-holidays to learn about our European neighbors. More EuroFun promotes peace & boosts the economy !  😊  

BREXIT was bad for all of Europe.

Expand European Holidays! The European Union must better market its strengths. Each year throughout Europe let's celebrate three of the 27 national days as holidays: a rolling experience of culture, teachable moments. European foods, and leisure.  Envied riches!  

                                  --  Lambert Proposal for EU Holidays 

Booo BREXIT

I'm very sad about Brexit.

I hope the British well.

I created a video goodbye. Have a Look: 

https://thoughtsmart.com/RuleBritannia!.mp4

I'm particularly concerned for Scotland.The EU flag will continue to fly outside the Scottish Parliament, and this week Scottish lawmakers voted 64-54 to hold a referendum "so the people of Scotland can decide whether they wish it to become an independent country." (But no binding referendum can be held without the government in London's approval).

ALOHA 

Thirty-Meter Telescope International Observatory LLC

TMT (Thirty-Meter Telescope International Observatory LLC) is a foreign entity demanding trespass on Hawaiian Maunakea. Partners include Government components from Japan, India, Canada, China; State of California & Caltech; while US Federal Government maintains continuous expropriating interest "in the event of military necessity."

Trespassers deliberately corrode indigenous communities. Cosmopolitan invaders disrespect & misframe native communities, aiming to disrupt inheritance and dismantle local sovereignty. 

BEWARE the suffix LLC - the invading consortium already contrived legal protections to abandon problems in case of trouble.

XX TMT LLC = X NO NO NO

Japanese Justice SHAME

A few months ago I posted about Japan's troubles with Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan Motors (link: "Business Beware! Japan's Jellyfish Justice"). It's tricky to discuss this delicate topic. The Rule of Law in Japan seems brutal, arbitrary & unreliable, so it's generally better to shut up. "出る釘は打たれる"  - "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down."

Ghosn, under indictment in Japan for financial crimes and contrary to his bail conditions, recently was able to leave the country and to meet with his family.

Illegality is bad. I don't personally know Carlos Ghosn. I believe Prosecutor's unwise entanglement in Nissan Motors' corporate fight damages Japan.

The case highlights a very disturbing unjust "crime" in Japan - Ghosn was humiliated & imprisoned for many months in the infamous Tokyo Kōchisho detention centre (東京拘置所). Even when released on bail he was not allowed to use email or the internet, or to communicate with his wife & family. He was not accused of crimes of violence, nor were people damaged or injured from his supposed crimes. Ghosn became a high-profile Enemy of the State for the crime of being non-Japanese.

I'm reminded of the Stallone film I first saw 25 years ago in Japan - "First Blood" (in Japanese ランボー  "Rambo") where a small town harasses a highly-decorated US military veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor winner, mistreating him as a vagrant. Carlos Ghosn, a supremely successful global businessman, has been bullied by Japan on suspicion of minor bookkeeping lapses.

Japan's corporate corruption is legendary (click for links): Food fraud (such as at prestigious Hotel Okura), deliberately substandard manufacturing (Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials, etc.), deadly pollution (Chisso poisoning of Minamata, etc.), circumvented building codes (hundreds of substandard buildings by Sumitomo Mitsui Construction, Kimura, etc.), cronyism & bribery (PM Abe's Moritomo Gakuen scandal), inattention to nuclear safety, karōshi (death from overwork, e.g. Dentsu), links to yakuza criminals,  etc., etc. Bureaucrats & politicians seldom publicly interfere.

(True, the huge $1.7 billion Olympus scandal generated some suspended prison sentences when great sums over many years couldn't be covered-up with apologies. It may even be Ghosn suffers as proxy for Olympus whistleblower Michael Woodford, another of the few foreign devils near the Japan Inc. power centre).

But Ghosn was taken-down, detained, and subsequently hobbled in unprecedented ways for suspected accounting irregularities. This attracts criticism for Japan's justice system when considering the many modern Japanese corporate actions which escape indictment - neglecting widespread public harm & deaths.

Japan's Nissan Scandal involves great international & financial intrigue, far beyond the personal circumstances of Carlos Ghosn. Businesspeople around the world are quietly alarmed. The Nissan case has been very badly mishandled -- and brings SHAME on Japan.

Magnesium Batteries

The potential for rechargeable magnesium batteries is hugely exciting, a truly disruptive technology. Properly constructed, Magnesium (Mg) batteries have a better energy density than lithium batteries, offering superior output at lower weight. Component cost and availability is also superior to rechargeable lithium battery components, e.g. cobalt, with positive implications for energy security.

Magnesium can be harvested from seawater if necessary.

MgBatteries.com aims to become a key platform for promoting these emerging energy technologies.

Advances in surface preparation of magnesium electrodes, and new developments with electrolytes and anodes, offer great opportunity. European research very much recognizes the potential, with the European Magnesium Interactive Battery Community (E-MAGIC) as a leading light (reported as predominantly guided by Spanish / Israeli partners). Tough competition is also already developing from other major players including the US Department of Energy, IBM, assorted transnational consortia (example link), and Asian producers now heavily invested in lithium battery technology.

We've entered the decade of Magnesium Batteries (Mg Batteries)

Inheriting Hawaiians

What do I want for New Year? I'm Hawaiian & 100 years after the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, I'd like that the Act's Hawaiian ancestry (50%) rights be recognized for those who died before application or processing, and the benefits fully inherited by their descendants. Hawaiians are still robbed of land by US colonial treachery - it's time for change.

If a Hawaiian qualified in the early 1920s under US federal HHCA, the Native Hawaiian benefits should be inherited by their progeny.

http://dhhl.hawaii.gov/hhc/laws-and-rules/

Trump CHUMP?

Have we reached a Tipping Point?

Charities rip-off... National rip-off.

Supporters regretfully accept he's a weasel & criminal. (Esquire quote): "As part of the settlement, the president paid eight charities a total of $2 million while admitting "he misused funds raised by the Donald J. Trump Foundation to promote his presidential bid and pay off business debts....""

Trump also employs a daughter & Giuliani's son on federal budget.

Sorry I refuse to be a TRUMP CHUMP
(Democratic Party corruption also unacceptable)

MISUSE of charity money?  or THEFT?

F U 2 Limey

Forget Spin & Bullshit.
Bottom-line: 
                "Brexit" is ANTI-EU. 

Of course neighbors feel England's negativity. To what backlash? 

Sad 
"Cheers!" & Bye-bye

Ugly America

Hawaiian people are naturally responsible for Hawaiian lands & sea. Never displaced by colonization! We've sacred obligation to protect iwi kūpuna -- burials & cultural places. 

Hope to develop Hawai'i's "empty spaces" ... ?

American intruder  --  Non-resident Asian speculator  --  Don't be that guy.

Hawaiians Need Science !

Hawaiians Need Science !

Science Can Help Control Hawai'i's Rat Lungworm Epidemic!

Science Can Help Control 'Ōhi'a Blight!

Science Can Help Control Pollution from Military-occupied Pohakuloa Training Area!

Science Can Help Control Invasive Critters! 🙂

Why Focus WORLDS AWAY w/ TMT when HOME is dangerously menaced?

❤️   Aloha 'Āina  ❤️

Business Beware! Japan's Jellyfish Justice

I've never met former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn. Perhaps I'd not like him.

But looking at the Japanese "Justice" system, one might easily imagine Ghosn is exceptionally horrible and dangerous: No other corporate executives in Japan have been arrested and jailed in a similar manner. Ghosn's defense team claims the prosecution is Highly Prejudiced (link).

Other Japanese corporate officials have been found to cheat the tax man; they've lied and swindled and circumvented safety checks. Deliberate Mislabeling and shoddy workmanship has resulted in dozens, hundreds, thousands of cases of injury, serious disfigurement, and death. Those corporate executives have somehow escaped arrest and imprisonment.

They are Japanese.

Ghosn is a Foreign devil, with assumed foreign interests.

Looking at the case against Ghosn, and Ministry of Justice inaction against so many others responsible for MUCH more harm, the world can only conclude Japanese justice is CORRUPT, and severely prejudiced against foreigners.

There's only an internal logic.
No backbone.
Foreigners will be stung.

Japanese Jellyfish Justice.

Hunting Season

Disturbing thoughts? Everyone gets 'em. What sticks?

Recently I was greatly surprised to learn The Righteous Brothers ain't brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" ... "Unchained Melody" / theme from Ghost). Perhaps I'd not really thought about it before.

That sadly ain't worst-case:
Trump reportedly solicited foreign help to crush US political opponents. Surely opportunists everywhere now grasp the corrosive suggestion = Cripple Trump Enemy & Gain Advantage. 

Trump will reward those who undermine his opposition.

Bums Who Worked for TRUMP

Disenchanted Trump Team appointee James Mattis now snipes at his former boss after two years as US Defense Secretary.

Today's embittered soundbites don't rehabilitate Mattis.

Dozens of Bums profited from Evil and now claim Regret.

Look beyond Trump family feuds & recognize Mattis as an enabler & scumbag opportunist.

Fuck Columbus

FAQ Columbus            by Genki

Columbus sailed the ocean blue
The trip brought pain & insult too.

They labeled each non-Christian "savage"
Deceit permitted, homes to ravage

Resources stolen, corruptly "borrowed"
Aggressive theft & murder followed

We're taught perverted history:
Before Your "New World" -- mystery...

First Nations raped, survival hellish
Yet mock the dispossessed with relish.

Resist extractive financiers!
Who'd sell our skins for souvenirs.

Communities not yet rebounded
Can't celebrate the mess he founded

We victims still seek crime review
Since fourteen hundred ninety-two.

Sudden Sayōnara (Nuclear Stupidity)

さようなら (Sayōnara) is Japanese for Goodbye.

Too many people in Japan are essentially captive - not only to natural disasters, but to continuing stupidity that should be criminal. Visitors expecting Rugby World Cup or Tokyo Olympic adventures must also recognize threats: typhoon, earthquake, fires, tsunami, flooding, diseases, stupidity...

Consider the continuing fallout from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake & tsunami -- a high-cost super-disaster not yet over.

The TEPCO (東京電力 Tokyo Electric Power Company) nuclear accident at their Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture was preventable: Significant human error was largely responsible (link). The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant (女川原子力発電所) was closer to the earthquake epicenter, exposed to similar stresses, yet shutdown successfully (different operator = Tohoku Electric Power Company). Somehow, TEPCO escaped justice & has evaded responsibility to wholly pay for ongoing fallout. "Fukushima" is a damaged brand outside the TEPCO service area. The local governments and towns that allowed TEPCO reactor construction are depopulated due to mandatory evacuation (Fukushim'sa nuclear plants are outside TEPCO's service area). In the worst-hit Red Zone, TEPCO uses euphemism: "Difficult-to-return zone, 帰還困難区域" = Death Zone. Nobody speaks of corruption. 

People still need to move around the damaged region. The Fukushima Nukeway (link) is a portion of the Jōban Expressway (常磐自動車道) passing through the irradiated zone. Fourteen months after opening, disaster struck during Japan's Golden Week travels (4 May 2016): a car collided head-on with a bus in the radiation danger zone (link). The 40 bus passengers, including children, waited two hours without masks on the radiation-zone roadside for treatment / rescue; the car passengers died at the spot. 

Problems are widespread everywhere, but you likely don't hear the worst of Japan's embarrassments. Typhoon Hagibis (台風19号) hit Japan this week, and killed 75+ people. Does that number include the Fukushima lady dropped 40 meters during helicopter rescue (link)? At least one Tokyo evacuation center turned away homeless people during the storm -- which is surely unkind but also life-threatening (two such people survived, link). Many people in Japan now criticize such incidents, but it's too little, too late. Nobody criticized bureaucracy when the suffering were turned away, and now one homeless person is confirmed dead.


There's been insufficient global attention to Japan's improper storage of contaminated nuclear waste from TEPCO's Fukushima nuclear disaster. Do YOU know about the bad storage conditions, and that unknown quantities of once-collected radioactive waste now pollute the wider environment? (link to article here) Welcome to the Land of Rising Radiation.

he lesson here is simple: Japan can't take care of you. Enjoy the beautiful countryside, great people, rich culture, but beware of Japan's many repeated disasters. You must PREPARE - or prepare to die. 

 

America Bombs Hawai'i

Many Hawaiian cultural properties on lands under control of the US military are by definition under threat. 

Damage from the extensive test-bombing at Pohakuloa is not independently monitored.

US Army Garrison Pōhakuloa consists of more than 133,000 acres (the size of Guam). Most land was "appropriated" under presidential Executive Order # 11167, but 22,971 acres are leased by the Federal Government to 16 Aug 2029 (they paid $1 for 65 years, and trash the land).

Science in Hawai'i

Local scientific emergencies outweigh far-off pie in the sky !

Ignoring Scientific Needs

Clobbering the Hawaiian community over "science" overlooks the social science of colonial oppression & state-sponsored aggression, the clinical psychosis of ethnic cleansing, and the annual Ig Nobel Prizes for improbable research. 

Science offers challenge & opportunities beyond another monster telescope. 

In respect to Moku o Keawe, how about the epidemiology of rat lungworm (parasitic nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis) or controlling the fungal blight killing native 'ōhi'a trees? Beware malignant logic crafted by Colonial Administrators.

In other words, Hawai'i's telescope supporters studiously ignore acute local scientific emergencies in favor of far-away pie in the sky... Science-loving TMT supporters should help tourists understand mucus from infected snails can be in the water or on vegetables, and lead to meningitis. Basic scientific information and public health are poor.


 

Orange Shirt Day?

September 30 each year is "Orange Shirt Day" - begun in Canada to direct attention at indigenous boarding schools and the brutal force of church & state domination.

[ From orangeshirtday.net ] September 30th, annual Orange Shirt Day, recognizes how the residential school system harmed children's self-esteem, and seeks to ensure everyone around us matters. The story in Phyllis Jack Webstad's own words: "I went to the Mission for one school year in 1973/1974. I had just turned 6 years old. I lived with my grandmother on the Dog Creek reserve. We never had very much money, and there was no welfare, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission school. I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had string laced up in front, and was so bright and exciting – just like I felt to be going to school!

When I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt! I never saw it again. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! The color orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared. I was 13.8 years old and in grade 8 when my son Jeremy was born. Because my grandmother and mother both attended residential school for 10 years each, I never knew what a parent was supposed to be like. With the help of my aunt, Agness Jack, I was able to raise my son and have him know me as his mother. I went to a treatment centre for healing when I was 27 and have been on this healing journey since then.

I finally get it, that the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years. Even now, when I know nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter. Even with all the work I’ve done! I am honored to be able to tell my story so that others may benefit and understand, and maybe other survivors will feel comfortable enough to share their stories.

WE are VICTIM

We're intimidated livestock, unaware of betrayal.

We can't see what our rulers hide.

https://thejns.org/view/journals/j-neurosurg/27/3/article-p216.xml

Bluster Unwelcome

Bad Example Leadership claims "ALL is Well" when major problems are evident. = Bad Leader

Young people learn dishonesty & fraud. 

Communities infected by Bluster & Dishonesty destroy our world. 

Let's illuminate difficulties & Try to fix problems. 

Reject Bluster please.

On the Ving

We've taken a few trips with travel operator Ving Sverige.

They've been good. We were sad to see their parent company, Thomas Cook, fail miserably.

Ving operations were badly disrupted on the day of Thomas Cook bankruptcy, 23 Sept 2019. The worst thing about Thomas Cook were ultimately-empty reassurances up to the last minute that everything was OK and all flights were operating. Then Thomas Cook shutdown.

Ving.se now reports they are back, strong, ready to take bookings.

BUT - The Thomas Cook bankruptcy shows we live in a dog-eat-dog environment, where companies are able to say "ALL OK!" until suddenly it's NOT.

We must pity the vendors & suppliers who remain unpaid for services billed to Thomas Cook this summer. Some such accounts are alongside Ving operations, or integrated. 

Smaller hotels and service providers are being reassured billing for customers SINCE Monday 23 September and from now will be paid. But previously unpaid bills are outstanding claims unlikely to be paid in full or even partly. 

So what can we believe?

I've had good results with Ving. But I'd not book with them just now.

Here's what's being said in Swedish on Ving.com today:

De flesta av våra flyg går just nu enligt tidtabell, men i spåren av Thomas Cooks konkurs möter vi en del operationella utmaningar med våra flyg, bla kring licencer och avtal, som kan drabba en del flygavgångar. Detta ska vara löst inom kort. Berörda resenärer informeras löpande via sms. Vi beklagar förseningarna och de besvär som de medför. Som alltid vid flygförseningar jobbar vi intensivt med att lösa det så snabbt som möjligt med alternativ.

Vings resor går som vanligt igen

Uppdaterat 26/9 10:20

De flesta av våra flyg går just nu enligt tidtabell, men i spåren av Thomas Cooks konkurs möter vi en del operationella utmaningar med våra flyg, bla kring licencer och avtal, som kan drabba en del flygavgångar. Detta ska vara löst inom kort.

Vi har just nu högt tryck på våra telefoner, i sociala medier och i kundsupporten och ber om er förståelse för att våra svarstider tar lite längre tid än vanligt.

Aware of manipulation, I'll ...

The Hill (thehill.com) is a serious forum for US political news & analysis. Good, but diminished by teaser marketing.

These tricks are too common w/ US news ("Tune-in at 10 for the full story").

I've only just noticed abbreviated headlines deliberately designed to hook audience, as we click-through following bait. SCUMMY.

If service-minded, they'd not leave us hanging. The incomplete headline infiltrates a directive: -- "Click here, SHEEPLE"

Aware of manipulation, I'll ...

Deadly Plague Strikes Egypt

Dictator   السيسي  Abdel Fattah el-Sisi  a.k.a. the Butcher of Egypt.

Kills & imprisons under American / UK directives.

[ General Sisi = Trump's "favorite dictator" (link) and (link) ]

Terrible.

I Must Fund Your Holiday?

Thomas Cook travel agency steadily collapsed these last years, even while top management sucked out £20m in bonuses. Now the British government spends public funds to alleviate disruption. TEPCO's Fukushima scandal was much worse, and more costly. Should the rich enjoy good-time profits, but then be allowed irresponsibly to run away when conditions turn bad?

Remember TARP in the USA. Bush & buddies sucked the economy dry, and US politicians pumped public funds to private businesses with the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Democrat & Republican corporate flunkies in Congress helped big capital & rich friends w/ public money (and few requirements). They basically stole from mid-level workers (who'd take-over with slimmer corporations) and smaller businesses (who'd salvage from the corporate carcass). Bailouts alter industrial ecology.

155,000 UK travelers and 500,000 from elsewhere are in trouble. Thomas Cook has not paid for most services provided to them over the summer, damaging small businesses worldwide. 

😞 UK reputation drops. A British government "shadow airline" will repatriate 155,000 UK tourists:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49796827

Governments around the world are now using public funds to fly home holidaymakers stranded in exotic locations. If passengers had each paid an extra $500, they'd have private insurance, or maybe the UK travel firm might not have collapsed. The public should NOT pay for such private mistakes.

America Learns About Varsity Blues

Sleazy, filthy and outrageous are visions triggered by the widespread "Varsity Blues" Federal indictments over corruption in US university entrance procedures.

The US Dept. of Justice synopsis reads as follows: "Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme: Dozens of individuals allegedly involved in a nationwide conspiracy that facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and the admission of students to elite universities as purported athletic recruits were arrested by federal agents in multiple states and charged in documents unsealed on March 12, 2019, in federal court in Boston. Athletic coaches from Yale, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest and Georgetown, among others, are implicated, as well as parents and exam administrators."

A key reason something happened is because a few Hollywood people are involved. The cheating parents are highlighted; their adult children, mostly unnamed, have not (thus far) been indicted or punished.

A recent article in Vanity Fair magazine describes the scandal:
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/07/to-cheat-and-lie-in-la-college-admissions-scandal

How must it feel if an astute 16-year old student, without special connections, preparing for higher education, and recognizing the system is so deeply corrupt?

Even the overall label "Operation Varsity Blues" is a ripoff of the Oxford-Cambridge rivalry, extending back to the 1827 Cricket Match at Lord's and the 1829 Boat Race.

The University of Toronto (Canada) also gained some form of Varsity Blues design trademark (index designated "Varsity Blues UT T" in 9 April 1984 application, claiming "Used in CANADA since at least as early as 1983") and later clarified in 9 Sept 1988 filing as Prohibited Mark "VARSITY BLUES"

"Varsity Blues" was later made into a 1999 US high school football film. Paramount Pictures was sued by the University of Toronto over use of the label, resulting in a significant monetary settlement & requiring the film disclaim relationship to UT athletics.

The concept was earlier demeaned in a film released in 1984 "Oxford Blues" starring smarmy newcomer Rob Lowe, which in turn was a remake of the 1938 film "A Yank at Oxford"

Anyhow, the bottom line is that American youth should recognize extreme corruption in their educational and legal systems. But what can they do about it? Mmmm.

® The Governing Council Of The University Of Toronto