Features
NEVER SURRENDER – AGAIN EXPOSING FAKE NEWS
by Vijaya Chandrasoma
One of the most humiliating weeks in American history ended last week, with the fake news media covering, almost exclusively, the arrest of former President Donald J. Trump at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday, August 24.
No former president had been arrested on criminal charges in the history of the United States. This arrest of President Trump, and the others in Manhattan, Washington D.C. and Miami, had only been carried out to shame the greatest President since Abraham Lincoln, a continuation of a seven-year-long witch hunt. An insidious conspiracy by the Deep State, led by George Soros, the New York billionaire who hates Republicans.
During his first term, President Trump had carved, out of the terrible economic mess left by the illegal administration of the “Muslim Kenyan” Hussein Obama, the greatest economy the world has ever seen, in spite of a global pandemic. President Trump never doubted that Obama was born a Muslim in Kenya, which he announced repeatedly at his campaign rallies, even though Obama had produced the long-form birth certificate that he was born in Hawaii.
One of his greatest achievements was bringing our people together. He has proved himself to be the least racist president ever. During the race riots in Charlottesville, VA in 2017, he showed his impartiality and tact when he said, “there were very fine people, on both sides”, referring to the patriots who were exercising their First Amendment rights, chanting, most peacefully, “the Jews will never replace us”, and the Zionist war-mongers attacking them.
We will never forget how President Trump sprang to the aid of Puerto Rico, after it was hit by Hurricane Maria, one of the worst disasters in its history. He visited the island, even though, as he said, “it was surrounded by water, big water, ocean water”. He eased the suffering of the hurricane-hit Puerto Ricans by lobbing paper towels to them at a press conference, which were received with tearful gratitude.
After his outstanding first term performance, the American people overwhelmingly elected Trump for a second term in November 2020. His win was announced on election night, but by the next morning, his own elections officials, weaponized by Biden, had stolen the landslide that was his 2020 presidential victory. President Trump will never concede that he lost this election because he was cheated of it. Neither will we. In our minds, he remains the 46th President of the United States.
Because of this stolen election, the USA is now the joke of the world. Sleepy Joe’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, without any exit strategy, was the worst military decision in history, one that cost us billions of dollars and thousands of precious American lives.
The economy is near recession, inflation out of control, crime at its highest levels and Biden’s foreign policy decisions are threatening the security of the nation and its citizens.
Biden is trying to ingratiate himself with our so-called NATO allies, who have been a huge financial burden for decades. They haven’t been paying their fair share for their own defense. President Trump will withdraw immediately from NATO when he is elected president in 2024. He will never again engage in meaningless wars unless they are in the best interests of the United States. When he is back in the White House, it will always be America First.
He will also give notice of America’s withdrawal from the toothless United Nations Organization, which has proved to be a complete failure. Like NATO, we are sick of financially carrying those shithole, third world countries, who refuse to pay their outstanding UN dues.
President Trump will resume the relationships he had been carefully nurturing during his administration with the Superpowers that matter in the world today. He has always had a very cordial relationship with President Putin, a strong but compassionate leader. Had he been the president, the Ukraine war would never have got off the ground. He would have persuaded Zelensky to submit to Russia, Ukraine being an integral part of Russia. Maybe the annexation of Ukraine would have encouraged Putin to invade other countries of Europe, but that is not our problem. The Europeans have brought these ethnic divisions amongst themselves by mollycoddling Jews and encouraging immigrants from their erstwhile colonies.
President Trump will never get America involved and throw billions of dollars in these European internecine wars, especially because we may never know if we are backing the right horse.
Biden has antagonized not only Putin but also President Kim of North Korea, with whom he had not just cordial relations, but a love affair. And President Xi of China was literally eating out of his hand. All these fine relationships ruined by Senile Joe’s misguided policies.
There is every chance that our Congress will impeach Biden before November 2024 for making millions of dollars, in collusion with his drug addict son, Hunter, from Ukrainian and Chinese companies. These crimes are real, unlike the 91 phony felony charges alleged to have been committed by him. President Trump’s innocence of all these false charges will be proved after he wins the presidency in 2024, when he will pardon himself or get his Attorney General to dismiss them.
How we miss the beauty of Melania, and the incorruptibility of his children, especially Ivanka and Jared, who helped consolidate our relationships with China and Saudi Arabia. They all brought a touch of integrity and class to the primitive White House we inherited from Hussein Obama. Thank God the Trumps will be back where they belong soon.
President Trump is the prohibitive favorite for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidency. Even the Republicans who are running against him support him. After all, who else is there, in either party? Just a bunch of sycophants, demented octogenarians, commies and poofters. Donald Trump, convicted felon or not, is our only patriotic choice for four more years, maybe longer, when he will be able to complete the job he started in 2016.
The corrupt District County Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, Fani Willis is attempting to criminalize his polite request to the Georgia Secretary of State to “find” 11,780 votes in the 2020 election. A request is not a crime, it is covered by the First Amendment. In any event, we all know Trump won Georgia by hundreds of thousands of votes. President Trump was being more than modest when he asked Rafffensperger to find only 11,780 votes, one more than the 11,779 votes that gave the state fraudulently to Biden. Raffensperger could have found 111,780 votes, had he looked in the right places. He is a traitor, just another RINO (Republican In Name Only).
And the Department of Justice, weaponized by Biden, has alleged that he stole top-secret documents when he left the White House. He only removed these, which in any case belonged to him and were declassified telepathically by him, to keep them out of the crooked hands of the Biden crime family. They would surely have sold these documents to the Chinese.
Another blasphemous rumor is being floated by the fake media: that many so-called “distinguished constitutional lawyers, from the right and left” contend that, according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, President Trump, by virtue of “his incitement of an insurrection and having given aid to the enemies of the United States”, has disqualified himself from running for any future public office. A pure Constitutional delusion.
They are falsely alleging that he was involved in the insurrection on January 6, 2021. On that very pleasant day, President Trump requested his supporters to protest the stolen election peacefully at the Capitol, and to plead with Vice-President Pence to postpone the fraudulent Electoral College count submitted by the states. They did their peaceful best, but the cowardly Pence refused, citing a false interpretation of the Constitution, thereby handing over the presidency to Biden.
The President then told them to go home, “that he loves them, they are very special”. He is convinced, even today, that those patriots who visited the Capitol that day, went there as tourists, to peacefully protest the unlawful transfer of power. How can such patriotic behavior ever be construed as “giving aid to the enemies of the United States?”
Even during his arrest in Atlanta last week, Biden’s law enforcement authorities were maliciously skeptical about the personal details Trump had submitted, that he was 6 ft. 3 ins. tall and weighed 215 lbs., exactly the same statistics as the great Muhammad Ali at the peak of his boxing career. Anyone who has seen photographs of the athletic Trump playing tennis will have no doubt about the veracity of this comparison. Actually, except for differences in skin colors, Ali’s a light caramel compared to Trump’s beautiful orange, they show a striking resemblance in their magnificent physiques.
The real action was in the marketplace, where Trump memorabilia emerged within hours of his arrest. Although the fake media contrived to depict his arrest in a bad light, we consider this, his fourth arrest, a badge of honor, actually the Grand Slam of badges, if you will, achieved as they were in four different venues.
The Trump SAVE AMERICA Campaign launched the sale of various items: T- Shirts, posters, beer mugs, etc. with Trump’s mug shot, and the words NEVER SURRENDER printed boldly below, hours after he had surrendered at Fulton County Jail. We have, in the first few days, collected over $9 million from our devoted supporters from the sale of Trump merchandise.
Trump’s mug shot is the most photographed picture in history, one that schoolboys will admire in their history books in 300 and more years from now. This stuff will be worth their weight in gold in due time. We have to help our leader, he is so innocent that he said after his release from jail, “I don’t even know what a mug shot is. They didn’t teach me anything about mug shots and indictments at the Wharton College of Finance”, where he ended his academic career at the top of his class, with a Summa Cum Laude Masters’ degree in business management.
The partisan, unwarranted hostility, even by RINOs, shown against the greatest president in the nation’s history, cannot be better illustrated than by a comment made last week by Republican traitor, Lt. Governor of Georgia, Jeff Duncan. He said that President Trump has the moral compass that would be the envy of an axe murderer.
This is the kind of maleficent hatred with which we are forced to contend. But contend we will. President Trump will be triumphant in the 2024 presidential election in a landslide. And he promised in an interview with rightwing broadcaster Glenn Beck last Tuesday, that he “will lock up his political opponents if he returns to the White House”.
Should the Democrats once again deny President Trump his rightful victory by rigging the 2024 elections, then we will be ready, we will be standing by. We will never let the commies imprison our President Trump. To quote the President, “I am the most innocent man in history. I have never done anything wrong in my life. As God is my witness”. Brace yourselves, we are no longer playing games.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
