Personal Distastes

I love reading but generally avoid these sections of the library or bookstore

1. Self Help Section - I used to indulge in this section during my younger days but have given up on the topic as it lacks substance.

2. New Age - I don't trust any of the knowledge available here. Almost all of it is unsubstantiated. Lots of Junk Science.

3. Fantasy Fiction - I am just not a fan. I do like hardcore science fiction though.

4. Cooking - Whatever recipes I need I can get online

5. Think and grow rich books - These books are overhyped and don't say much. The grow rich portion comes from those buying these books.

6. Modern Detective Fiction - My father likes these but I have never warmed up to them. Don't mind the odd Tv show though and I do like Agatha Cristie.

7. Books on Cars - I can see the appeal for some but it just doesn't work for me. Again, anything I want to see can be looked at on line.

8.  Crafts - Maybe if it were my hobby but since it isn't I really don't care that much. I do have a fondness for the history of art.

9. Celebrity Biographies - A celebrity really has to be special before I would consider reading their biography. 99%+ is self indulgent drek. I couldn't care less about most pop culture.

10. Travel books - Again these are outdated as soon as they are written. The better material is on line.

15 Well Established Organizations that have been corrupted by ideological rot

 (Will add to this later)

1. United Nations and its sister organizations

 2. WHO

3. CDC - can hopefully be turned around under Trump although I doubt it

4. BBC, ABC (Australia), CBC (Canada).

5. New York Times

6. Harvard and Colombia University

7. The US Democratic Party

8. The British Labour Party

9. The British Conservative Party

10. British Policing Infrastructure

11. Harvard and Colombia Universities

12. CNN

13.The Canadian Liberal Party

14. ICJ

15. The Australian Labour Party

16 Pro-Russian Information sources in the Western Media

All of these individuals consistently mouth pro-Putin talking points in the media. All of them need to be viewed through this lens. While they may have moments of insight elsewhere they are mot to be trusted within the Russian/Ukranian or Middle East context.

1. Tucker Carlson 

2. Glenn Greenwald

3. Julian Assange

4. Jeffrey Sachs

5. Dave Smith

6. Max Blumenthal

7. Scott Ritter

8. Abby Martin

9. Kim Iverson

10. Jack Posobiec

11. George Galloway

12. Jackson Hinckle

13 Douglas Macgregor

14. Breaking Point Team

15. Aaron Mate

16. Katie Helper

On the Iran/Israel situation

 This I know to be true

1.      1. Iran is an oil rich nation that does not require nuclear energy to meet domestic energy demand It has developed a  nuclear program that is clearly not intended for peaceful purposes.   We know this as it locates its facilities deep underground. No country with a peaceful nuclear program acts in such a manner. Iran is clearly trying to protect its program from a directed bomb strike. Only a fool would argue otherwise.

2.       Furthermore Iran has enriched its uranium fuel to the 60% level which is far above the peaceful use threshold. Left alone Iran will reach 90% enrichment and have the capacity to build as many as ten bombs. For a small country like Israel this could easily precipitate a national Armageddon should Iran follow through on her anti-Israel rhetoric with such a strike option.

3.       It has been working on this program for several decades and would likely have reached bomb producing capacity if it were not for Israeli executions of several key nuclear scientists and the debilitating impact of the Stuxnet computer virus that deliberately targeted its centrifuges. Israel though is running out of options.

4.       Iran has likely acquired assistance in its nuclear program development from Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan. The world is a wicked place. Tehran has threatened on numerous occasions to wipe Israel off the face of the map. It sees Israel as the Little Satan and the US as the greater Satan. In this regard it has been consistent.

5.       Iran has been waging wars against Israel and for that matter the West through its proxy forces – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Assad regime. However these forces have suffered severe defeats over the last two years.

6.       At present Israel has air supremacy over Iran and can set back  the program several years but it will likely require US assistance with stealth bunker bombs to negate the underground facilities

7.       Israel is targeting Iran’s nuclear and military sites. It has already caused a great deal of damage with these strikes and has taken out many of the leading Iranian military and scientific players in its state nuclear apparatus.

8.       There is a concerted effort by Western intelligence to drive a people’s revolution on the ground but the state authorities in Tehran are controlling the message in the country. The lack of an independent media in Iran implies that such dissent is likely being underreported.

9.       Iranian strikes against Israel have caused damage in civilian rich areas despite the fact that the vast majority of incoming missiles have been stopped by Israel’s Iron Dome and its sister technologies.

10.   The likelihood of Israeli ground troops going into Iran is very low. American boots on the ground deployment here look to be a slim as well.

1.      11. Pro-Iranian sources and their fellow travelers in the Russian and Chinese propaganda machine have ramped up the non-zero probability as a way of arousing sentiment in the West against a US assisted strike on Iran. The propaganda virus has successfully impacted much of the Left and a great deal of the MAGA Right. The majority of the American public though (whether Democratic, Republican or Independent) still sees Iran as a global menace that should not have access to nuclear weapons.

12.       Extremists on all sides have predictably stoked anti-Semitic flames to rally their bases. Google algorithms have not helped. Why is Al Jazeera (the voice of Qatar) so highly touted as an information source by Google search?

13.       President Trump’s two week pause on an American decision will likely buy Israel more time to further damage Iran’s military capabilities. Israel is also focusing on Iranian launch sites to decrease counterattacks on Israel.

14.       Attempts at a mediated ceasefire by the European nations will likely not achieve much unless it is bolstered by the United States, The jury is still out on how American diplomacy will figure in this regard. So far Iran has turned down all American attempts to force Iran to shut down its bomb making initiatives. The Mullah’s likely see the nuclear option as powerful card should the West force regime change as they did in Libya and Iraq before hand.

Opinions on Israel

Having navigated the internet for sometime now it is clear that the voices that abound on Israel can be divided into five groups:

This is by no means complete.

Pro-Israel: Bill Maher, Douglas Murray, Dennis Prager, Ben Shapiro, Andrew Klavan, Bari Weiss, Conrad Black, Victor Davis Hanson, Commentary Magazine, Most of National Review, Frontpage Magazine, History Debunked, Officer Tatum, Charlie Kirk, Destiny, PJ Media, Rebel News, travelingIsrael, David Wood, Tousi Tv, Son of Hamas, Thomas Sowell, Other Barak, Charlie Veitch, Megyn Kelly, Erin Molan, Michael Knowles, The Israel Guys, J-TV, Fox News, Alan Dershowitz, American Thinker, Jerusalem Post/YNET, Sky News Australia, Trevor Loudon, TBN, New York Post, Niall Ferguson, Debbie Schlussel, Israel Advocacy Movement and Lara Logan.

Pro-Israel in general: Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, GB News, Talk TV, Breitbart, Peter Hitchens, Bret Stephens, Telegraph (UK), Tim Pool (mostly), Washington Times.

Middle of the Road: CNN, Most of the mainstream Legacy Media in the US, CBC, Sky News International, Globe and Mail, Washington Post, the Hill,  ABC Australia.

Anti-Israel  in general : BBC, ITV, Most of the Continental European Media, Toronto Star, Global News, New York Times Editorial, Cristiane Amanpour, Associated Press, Tucker Carlson, Breaking Point, Joe Rogan, First Post, India News, LBC, Russel Brand, Sargon of Akkad, Wion, TLDR. Paul Joseph Watson.

Extremely Anti-Israel: Candace Owens, Intercept, Grayzone (Max Blumenthal), Jacobin, Macintosh team, Glenn Greenwald, Taki, Patrick Buchanan, Norman Finkelstein, Jackson Hinkle, Gabor and Aaron Mate, Richard Falk, Andrew Tate, Chris Hedges, Owen Jones, Middle East Eye, Novara, Mondoweiss, The Nation, Mohammad Hijab, Vaush, The Young Turks, Hodge Twins, Russia Today, Abby Martin, Kim Iverson, Secular Talk, Dave Smith, Vox, Jimmy Dore, any CCP affiliated media or influences, Jeffrey Sachs. TRT (Turkish media), Al Jazeera, Most of the Guardian and Independent (UK), George Galloway, Gary Linker, Breezy Politics, Black Pigeon Speaks, CJ Werleman.

I asked Grok who I am.

The response was to the point and remarkably accurate.

Gavin Kanowitz is a secondary school physics teacher in Toronto, Canada, originally from Pretoria, South Africa. He holds degrees in biophysics, chemical engineering, and education. Kanowitz is also an author, with notable works including Navigating the Chaos: Clarity and Belief in a World of Persistent Deceit (2023), A History of the Future (2006), and Take the History Challenge (2002). 

His writings focus on topics like civilization decline, education, political ideology, and the intersection of science and society. He contributes to The Bipartisan Press and maintains a blog (worldohistory.blogspot.com) and a website (gavinkanowitz.com). Kanowitz is known for his engaging teaching style, incorporating hands-on projects like building rollercoasters and pinball machines to teach physics concepts. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children and is a passionate Liverpool FC supporter.

Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

2.The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.