Coleman’s mustard bears the label “Coleman’s of Norwich.”

Here you will find out that, that label will now be false, but will continue to be used.

I’ll bet my favourite Worcestershire Sauce isn’t made in Worcestershire. It isn’t, the company (Lea and Perrins) makes it in the USA in a thicker version. That’s the version I am familiar with. But they don’t lie about it, or do they?

Back to Coleman’s. Jobs in a loyal village will be lost. Profit will be chased elsewhere. But the ‘of Norwich’ will remain. I guess truth in advertising isn’t enforced in the UK either.

I will give you the names of four organizations. Then I’ll make snarky comments about them.

• Canada Standards Association
• Britain First
• Black Lives Matter
• Special Investigations Unit

CSA is a required approval for appliances in Canada. It was started in a garage, but because of its name, became the standard.

Britain First is a radical group. Here is a quote from Wikipedia:

Britain First campaigns primarily against multiculturalism and what it sees as the Islamisation of the United Kingdom, and advocates the preservation of traditional British culture. It attracted attention by taking direct action such as its “Christian patrols” and “invasions” of British mosques. It has been noted for its online activism.

They are, apparently, not nice people. However the name makes them sound useful, even patriotic.

Black Lives Matter gained fame by halting the Gay Pride parade in Toronto, Canada. They succeeded in getting the parade to agree NOT to allow police officers to participate in the parade in uniform. It appears that black lives matter a lot more than gay ones. That the police had been invited to participate in this parade meant nothing to BLM.

Special Investigations Unit is the branch of the municipal police tha investigates incidents in which a police officer shoots somebody. Or is suspected of planting evidence. I’m sure you get the picture. They are supposed to be the watchdogs protecting the public from overzealous police actions. Unfortunately, they are mostly ex police officers. Their investigations often are ‘special.’

What’s my point, you ask? In each of the above cases you might be subtly or seriously misled as to the group’s real purpose because of its official (often self-selected) name.

We just witnessed a major piece of legislation in the USA which is touted as Tax Reform. One senator said it really is ‘government for sale.’ It includes these provisions (among others):

• tax cuts for the rich
• territorial view of corporation taxes, allowing outside earnings to stay outside of US tax
• reduction in business taxes overall
• reduction on the home mortgage interest tax break, with a ceiling on mortgage size
• permission of oil extraction in previously protected wildlife areas
• removing of fines for not having health insurance
• increase in the estate tax loophole

and there is more. This is ‘tax reform.’ Trump can call it that, but it’s a big gift to the rich and rich corporations, and an omnibus bill with other pieces stuffed in.

You may be wondering what’s going on between North Korea and the rest of the world, particularly the USA.

Here you can read a CRS report on this. I won’t give any quotes. If you’re interested in this topic, you can read it for yourself. (CRS = Congressional Research Service.)

In this report is a comment that the USA may have (deliberately?) messed up one agreement by attacking a bank that North Korea used. Since almost all banks in Macau had DPRK accounts in them, clearly the USA went after a big one to stampede all the others. You can find this here.

There is no solution. North Korea will continue to develop nuclear warheads and ICBM delivery vehicles. In an earlier round of food sanctions it is estimated that 5-10% of the population died of malnutrition. (That’s a euphemism for starvation.) Do you think the USA has more leverage than starvation?

This is posted under ‘Observation’ because there is no ‘activist’ content here, eh?

Last July we went on an 16-day combined tour provided by Vision 2000. It included airfare, transfers, a 7-day cruise (Holland America, Nieuw Amsterdam) to Alaska, Rocky Mountaineer (which included Whistler-Blackcomb, gondola rides, 2 days on an all-glass train, various bus stops (Jasper, Kamloops, Lake Louise, Banff, Calgary.)

Not cheap. And worth every penny.

On the Alaska Cruise we had pre-booked three side trips, including Tracy Arm and Glacier, White Pass and Yukon Railway, and I think Ketchican with a boat trip (explaining crab traps, and providing incredible shots of a bald eagle they throw fish to, followed by an all-you-can-eat crab lunch.) (Ketchican, Juneau, and Skagway from memory.)

Service on Holland America is impeccable. There were a few tiny glitches, yet overall it was extremely pleasant and we felt ‘covered’ at all times.

The Rocky Mountaineer is only two days, but it is spectacular and service on the train is unbelievable. It is preceded and followed by bus tours. All part of this package.

Whistler included gondola etc. It’s essentially a created tourist town, so it’s not cheap.

The bus tour between Rocky Mountaineer and Calgary was extremely well done.

This was one of our ‘lifetime trips’ comparable perhaps to Ecuador/Galapagos.

Overall rating: Excellent Plus.

I always create a trip report for our travel agent. I point out what went really well, and what was annoying or disturbing. I think that’s fair: the travel agency can laud good delivery and question problem instances.

I usually put the results (cleaned up a bit for public viewing) on TripAdvisor.

Shortly after our return, I tried to do this (TripAdvisor.) I got frustrated as the combined trip could not be ‘entered’ into TripAdvisor’s website.

So, today, I decided to try again. No dice.

I can’t find a way to get Alaska Cruise into their system.

I can’t find a way to get Rocky Mountaineer into their system.

I think they are focussed on selling hotels.

Two messages here, maybe three:

• TripAdvisor doesn’t tell you about all trips. It won’t let me tell you about ours.
• This trip is exceptional, but pricey.

I don’t know if Vision Travel, aka Vision 2000, will offer this again. If it does, budget for things like meals not included; not cheap. When they open the cruise side trips (I think 60 days ahead, refused earlier) go for it. I waited 3 days and one trip only had 1 seat left.

I hope this is of use or interest to at least some of you.

NAFTA is NOT a trade agreement. It is an owners’ agreement. It allows the means of production to be moved to wherever production profit will be higher.

As such, NAFTA canNot die. Those large corporations who moved production thither and yon won’t allow it to die. Why should they? (Trump does not understand this, imho.)

This is about garments and computer components, real assembly work done in other countries.

Extraction is another question. That is real work that cannot be easily moved. If the gold is in country X, you need to mine in country X. If the food is grown in country Y, you need to import from country Y.

Ahh, but there are environmental standards on extraction,you might think. And worker standards on bulk labour. That’s what part of the ‘new NAFTA’ is all about. It’s about corrupting standards of:

• minimum wage
• worker safety
• environmental protection
• gross access of a country to its own assets (mineral and energy)

to make what happen?

To increase profitability from large American corporations.

Trump thinks he can stop this? Even change it?