Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Really starting to prepare for the United Nations trip.







If I get cut from speaking there - we do have a "Plan B" that again takes us out of the usual advocacy but the speech is best!



I had to print off all the paperwork for the grounds
pass. Send the shirts or the dry cleaners and all that. Make sure the toiletries are new.


These dates jump on you faster than you know. So I get on top of it now.


We also have family coming to visit tomorrow so I have no time.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

So running around doing things. I finally found a good belt for my suits that actually fits. As usual it costs money but it has to be real leather and a name that is out there. A quick look at ties - I must have at least 30 ties - but I don't want to look dated. We shall see. I have a bunch of suits I never wear but since this event is on video, it's probably navy suit and deep blue or red tie as usual.



Just get ready for the trip and prepare plan "B" if needed but hopefully not.







Life is what in is and a nice cheque from Amazon for book sales. Money from book sales? Reality is stranger than fiction is seems.







I'll close with links to one guy affected by AI using his videos from its own use and the reaction he is getting from Youtube. It is interesting and concerning.




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/RIiKGoYXHVs?si=RD1SA2igDsiO4qq4


https://youtu.be/ie3skZnsCMI?si=a0dbkR0xsKy1kILe

[Maurice Ali]

Just a quickie.....



Participating in some remote WSIS Events today.



These are in Geneva so there is the time delay and all that.


I'll update things tonight!




Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

Some more for the WSIS Forum 2026 today.....







I won't go there but the time differential is something I have to deal with and you probably don't. Anyway that is Tuesday for me.


I'll start practicing the speech I may or may not give next week. I'll finalize everything and just go there and see what happens.



Then it's back to things like FOFSTOCK. I sure hope we can get some traction on getting a good venue and like Canada Day? I will keep something going on from a good 'ol hootenanny to another big music festival. Anyway, just concentrate on the UN stuff now.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/75Cv-l259Ks?si=72W8Jd8iHairxLx1

[Maurice Ali]

I am checking out the AI and WSIS stuff going on in Geneva. I like the fact it's mostly young people there because in the end it is their world. For me it's breaking the ice internationally with my ideas that aren't really my ideas but everyone's. Anyway I've selected what I'm wearing and all that for the trip next week. Maybe just running through the speech, but it so short it reads itself.



AI, where do I begin. I won't even get started except to say that apart from an AI dealing with us and us being impressed and possibly praying to it as a God, for the AI itself, why would it even think like us? The way we think is how a biological animal thinks - why would it want to think like that except to deal with us on our level? When I was young and creative people thought I was crazy with all my different philosophies and thought processes, then later in life when all that creativity is gone, I lament the inability of people to even consider the most rational and straight forward ways of advancing human development. Why on earth would an AI that becomes 1000 percent more intelligent that me want do deal with humans when even I - a human - am exasperated with humans? Humans ask the AI to solve starvation - AI kills 30% of humanity - problem solved.....



Something like that.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/FS_hLDTDI1w?si=YIL7V6ohqUuviZoK

[Maurice Ali]

I got a whole bunch of paperwork for that Trademark (TM) renewal we go by email. The actual certificate looks cool, but nobody is mounting that thing on the office wall.







I'm practicing the short speech even now. I'll just lift my eyes from the paper at the middle. This speech should be a "slam dunk" - so watch all kinds of stuff happen!



I continue to get bad luck and at the time I was pissed off getting this minor niggling bad luck. However, I need this bad luck to increase the probabilities of good luck at the United Nations.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Our written statement with the High Level Segment for 2026 has been published:







We are on page 68. As you can see, while you get to express yourself it is buried under so far in the United Nations paperwork that very few people will find it let alone read it.



https://ecosoc.un.org/sites/default/files/2026-07/Statements%20by%20NGOs%20in%20consultative%20status.pdf



The oral statement has more impact and is why I am flying there on Tuesday. I was going to fly there on Sunday and pick up my grounds pass on Monday and come home later the same day but now it's Tuesday and Wednesday. No guarantees - I was going there anyway to get my pass for General Assembly in September as it's used to get into the balcony to listen to the speeches going on there.


Listen - anything can happen but you take the chance if the probabilities show you have a chance and we do as we are on the speaker's list. For me personally this is looked at as a part of the experiment. If I get to speak it's: "how about that - I finally got to speak on the Worldwide Vote issue" as opposed to it just being personal. No speech and it's back to Zuckerberg and Elon and holding the Worldwide Vote there. I'm not getting any younger and in the end you see the signs and have to make choices as the average person never has a say on global worldwide issues as in a direct vote, even if it's just a popular vote. They do all the living and dying in the world and at least they deserve some kind of voice or self-determination in the issues that shape their lives.....



That is why I am going there in a few days.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Wow.....












Just popped by the forums to see 2362 people online! That would probably have been a record were it not for the 17,469 people on July 9th at 4:00am which seems a convenient Geneva time. Actually I was surprised that the server and old message board could handle this. Back in the day 99 online the same time was a "sensation" - but over 17K at the same time is "Twilight Zone" time! It happened early Thursday.



On Friday I found out my "locked in" hotel reservation was null and void for some fantastical reason and I had to search for another hotel. That never happened before. Bad luck or is someone after me? Who knows but I subscribe to Ian Fleming's philosophy:


Once : Happenstance

Twice: Coincidence

Three times: Enemy Action!


Anyway, I welcome newcomers who like me and those who dislike me. Perhaps I can bring around the haters with my ongoing rational philosophy! At 4:40am my time on July 9 pretty much points to WSIS in Geneva. Just remember, there are a lot of people at the UN and its special agencies that absolutely hate this idea of a Worldwide Vote. There is more than a good chance I won't get to speak, while they can say they have no issue with us speaking as we made the speakers list and published our written statement - they just ran out of time.....



I just hate letting people down - especially on things I have little control over. I'll just hope I make it down there without issues and show up and see what happens. This blocking of the vote idea has been going on for years, so keep that in mind if everything goes bad on Wednesday.







From the email I got on Friday:


" As instructed earlier, due to the high volume of organizations requesting to speak at the event, the opportunity to speak is time permitting. We are therefore unable to guarantee that you will be given the floor. The authority to decide on the list of speakers rests with the President of ECOSOC and such decision will be made during the event, in line with protocol and the established practice. We anticipate that NGOs, Major groups, and other stakeholders will deliver their statements on 15 July 2026 in the Trusteeship Council Chamber between 10AM and 1PM. We will update you on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, on the exact timing and on whether it is possible for NGOs to deliver their statement."


They said "whether it is possible for NGOs to deliver their statement" - that doesn't sound promising - so just keep all this in mind. During General Assembly, you were lucky to get like two NGOs to speak. It's like that at the more important events.



In other news:







Here is a picture of all the physical stuff I got for our Trademark renewal. At 600 dollars - actually just a letter with the email would suffice.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Hum, the daily update.....



I did nothing on Saturday. Only slept and spent time with the family. This is probably a good thing.







I have moved on from the UN event on Wednesday, what happens - happens. I should know what the UN thinks of my Worldwide Vote idea in 2026 on Wednesday though.




There are other things in play though, like the Positive Mandate and that Global Social Contract.



What about AI? I was so sure about it happening in quantum computers. Instead of huge data centres this would happen in a much smaller scale with less environmental damage in quantum. Years ago I could see scientists with ethics steering things away from quantum - I thank you! Qubits and quantum computing is nothing new. It was table talk at the Thanksgiving table dinner. "Qubits at MIT", that was the discussion between my dad and one of his former students who ran a mainframe computer sharing company in Toronto at the time. This was the early to mid-eighties.



Back then I had the edge on everyone. That probably hindered me - a complete opposite of what you would expect - but the brown skin and Muslim name hindered me more in retrospect. No graduate school for me even though I was told I was in.....



When I left Canada and pressed my ambitions internationally - things changed immediately. However I was over 50 years old when that happened, years of my life lost - but starting things late in life had its benefits as I didn't get corrupted like some many idealists do over the decades - it's is just a different path with its pluses and minuses. And so here we are.....



I figure my chances of speaking are 50/50 or less considering everything. In the end nothing that happens that day is as big as you think. It means that the vote is now a legitimate talking point and that is a marker of advancement to me personally. But it is not a big win or crashing loss either way.




At the start it was me, myself and I.....



Like I said before, I feel bad for the others following this as opposed to what happens to me personally. I have been blocked for years from speaking about the vote directly, so I am prepared for this - it's the default situation not to speak right now. Speaking changes things a bit but the vote will not be a reality because I can talk about it openly - just remember that.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I'm now seriously packing.


I leave on Tuesday and back on Wednesday so just an overnight trip and not a real holiday.



Everything is set up but In l did a few things differently this year. I updated my red tie. The first one I don't use anymore is from the 1980s. The next one I bought from a department store maybe when I got in to the UN for consultative status meetings in 2015 but most likely 2017 so almost ten years. The current ties are 3" to 3 1/2" which is almost the same but it's best to get new ones. The belt also needed updating and the new belt actually fits me. Then new dress socks. I kid you not, I must have 35 pairs of black
socks in two cupboards and it is a chore to find a matching pair that meets your needs. So these new socks are just the thing to replace all of that. Some of those socks are from the 1980s and I don't wear those anymore. Like the ties, the socks were from when I was a salesman. I also rocked a genuine Rolex watch back in the day as a salesman, but I sold that with a busted mainspring for a 400 dollar loss - actual not bad.



Anyway, I'm all set up but anything can happen with these trips these days. You just set things up - cross your fingers and if everything works out, then you deal with the speech you are not guaranteed to make that brought you there in the first place - this is my life.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Ok I've made it and I'm in New York now.



More later - I will do as much in the short time I'm here.....



Later folks.....

[Maurice Ali]

I did one of my "death marches" on Tuesday and went to all the places I wanted to go to - including Guitar Center. That leaves Wednesday free for whatever happens.....



In the end it's all luck now.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

SCORE!




https://fortressoffreedom.com/Goal.mp3

[Maurice Ali]

Well the speech went well and now I'm paying the price. Get to Laguardia at around 4:00pm and with Air Canada I could alway book earlier - but not at Delta. Ok, so I leave at 9:48 - but wait, delay of 87 minutes and nothing else leaving for Toronto. Who wants to guess that the trip gets cancelled and I am F**ked with a capital F!







And earlier I was dying of the heat and now I'm freezing cold in his airport. The speech went well and now it's payback for that bit of good luck. I'll post a couple of photos of the event - but this evening sucks the big one.






Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I figured I would do the intelligent thing and sleep on it. Did that for a few hours and I'm still incensed that I have to put it on the record - although with less swear words.




I'm that tiny spec at the front left lecturn!



So I was successful with that speech about the general public vote at the UN. They threw us a fast one changing from 2 minutes to one and a half minutes and mine was about one forty. So I just penciled out the first sentence that tied the vote to the theme of the SDGs and it was now even more of a direct plea for the vote! As I was ending the speech I even had the presence of mind to reach into my suit jacket and pull out my phone and wave it around snarling at the high table - I really looked ugly and possessed, every ugly feature of my face and his intense stare at the UN representatives, ending about self-determination for all - and then turning around and the camera panning to my back as the President thanked IAIJ for the speech. I watched that and thought "that guy is wearing a nice fitting suit" folded and thrown into a back pack and without a steam it looks like that in action! Thank you Calvin Klein for making one of the best travel suits around!




Here I am glaring at the high table waving the cellphone pitching the vote idea at the UN!



Ok, the speech was a success and made the Worldwide Vote idea a legitimate talking point at the United Nations - it only took nine years of trying. We will continue as a private website really cannot work as - more and more - private websites can become spoofed and all the rest. It has to come from the United Nations or the ITU or even UNESCO or one one of large social platforms to really be embraced. What happened on Wednesday keeps the advocacy alive!



Now on to another matter:




I got swift and rapid bad luck after the speech. It was literally an oven when I left the UN and walked back to the hotel. I changed into my jeans and t-shirt and couldn't use the Delta app to see if I could change flights so I just went to LaGuardia. Then more bad news as all the flights were booked up and no standby. So I just waited for my last flight which got later - delayed twice. Now over two hours late. Anyway, I get back to Toronto at one thirty in the morning. I had to do the ArriveCan app that Delta forces you to do now and I asked two people there if it worked, the staff said yes and sent me to the express lane which asked me again what ArriveCan asked and the staff came over, separated the lane ribbons and put me in line with all the non-Canadians to be assessed by Canadian Border Security. So basically I'm being treated the same as foreigners while my white travellers just answered the questions and walked out of there but wait - it gets worse.



I'm in line all pissed off and get to the border officer. He asks what the purpose of my trip is and I said coming home. Then he asks how long I've been in the country and I said 66 years - then I add I was born here. Then he asks how long I'll be staying and steam starts coming out of my ears. I explain what is going on, and he and the woman in the other booth are just not sure about me.....



How come I never see any of this shit on the reality TV shows on these people? Anyways he comes up with some stupid excuse without saying I was actually profiled (I was actually profiled) - third trip in a row. So now he asked me the same questions I answered before - his is the third time - Fills out some yellow card instead of the white one and sends me on my way with the rest of the immigrants/visitors.



Realize that this was the third time in a row. One the last times I was waiting in line and a long one, and I just waved a guard over and showed him stuff and me actually let me duck under the ribbon into the line for Canadians. However, I was always profiled and sent to the immigrant/visiter line to be vetted, which for a born and raised Canadian past retirement age just sucks. You dare not get angry as then you get put in an holding area. Remember what I said about the Ian Fleming quip:



Once: Happenstance


Twice: Coincidence


Three Times: Enemy Action



I hate this, but have to acknowledge that I will die of old age never being considered "Canadian". In fact the Americans treated me better at border security than Canada, I actually get through faster than the other Canadians! Then while in town I stayed at a really nice hotel beside Rockefeller Centre. Leave the Hotel there's a cop right there on the street, two more just down the street. Manhattan is actually safer than Toronto and the subways are safer also.



I have status in this town of New York I now hide my UN lanyard grounds pass card when I leave the UN but people look at you differently with that thing dangling from your neck - and no, I never once worried about ICE in New York. And what was I doing in New York? Giving a speech along with member nations, with me actually trying to give the ordinary person in the world - anywhere in the world - a voice there and making progress. You leave New York thinking you could actually change the world - and then face this crap coming back.....



That explanation above was the sanitized, expletive free, watered down version I originally wanted to post here. But the internet is forever so you get this diatribe. Yes, in all metrics, the United States of America treated me better in every way than in the place I supposedly call home! In fact it is the Americans that allowed me to be all I can be and self-actualize! Cross the border and you are unabashedly a second or third class citizen and relegated to the crappiest existence with no career, no women, no higher education and no self-esteem! This is the real Canada all you Canadians think is better than America.....



I'll leave it at that. This is why I'm not nationalistic - I have pride and for a country that treated me like shit all my life, I'm not going to lie and continue the "Great Canadian Lie" and ask for "seconds"! I really have no national culture or identity; it's all international morphed into the global identity I now espouse. Nothing reinforced the ideas that my ideas are best for all of humanity than coming back to my "home" that was never, ever, my real "home".....



I actually took a real - more expensive - limo home and tipped the brown driver a decent tip.....




Goodnight.....