Training in accountancy encourages my reliance on data to improve understanding of various issues. One valuable source of information is Our World in Data. It was founded by Max Roser, Professor of Practice in Global Data Analytics at the University of Oxford. Dr. Roser’s research has focused on large global problems, including poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, existential risks, and war.
Several members of the party expected to form the next government in Ottawa are enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump and his cohort. Canadian resistance to American hegemony may be negligible.
If Trump is reelected, millions of Americans think democracy is at risk. If his totalitarian followers seize control of the American government in the next few months, this Canadian thinks Canada may cease to exist.
Dan Rather was a star of the news business for years before he left CBS. From the 1980s to the mid-2000s, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather were the “Big Three” of TV news in the USA. At the peak, about one in five Americans watched them. Today, about one in twenty Americans see flagship news shows of the legacy networks…
Rutger University professor Wenwen Zhang, wrote a 2018 dissertation that said conceptions of amorality in business literature are diverse and ambiguous. Belief that morality is irrelevant and inapplicable in business results in unethical behaviors, done for the benefit of individuals, organizations and nations. Discarding or downplaying morality is a shortcoming of business education….
Overall, Canada ranks 15th in the World Happiness Report, although it is first among nations with populations of more than 30 million. However, when the happiness of citizens under age thirty was ranked, Canada was listed at a miserable 58th, trailing countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Some may wonder if those countries will be receptive if youthful Canadian refugees turn up at their borders.
A child of an American Jewish and Catholic German couple, Maximilian Hess has had his life shaped by antisemitism. Hess says today’s world seems turned upside down. Comments that are undeniably antisemitic are ignored while legitimate criticisms of Israeli actions in Gaza are labeled as hostility toward all Jews.
I understand people who believe that Israel should defend its lands against armed attacks and fervently assert the country has a right to a peaceful existence. But I sympathize with innocent Palestinians whom Israel has displaced, starved, and massacred. I reject the notion that Israel can be excused when the country destroys hospitals, schools, mosques, food and water supplies, and kills or injures more than 100,000 people not responsible for attacks on Israel…
This country was once known as a peacemaker and peacekeeper. Now it is better known for selling instruments of death and destruction. As occurs in other sectors, profit-seeking arms dealers are either amoral or immoral. In this ProPublica article, Canada is mentioned 26 times…
In the 1960s, Gabor Mate was a brave young man standing up to bullies and stating unpopular ideas. Now Dr. Mate, he is still a man of conscience not afraid to speak hard truths.
Professor Robert Reich describes meeting with students to discuss tragic events in Gaza and Israel. It was a mixed group, some Jewish, some Palestinian, and some with other backgrounds. They sought common ground as they examined what basic moral principles were at stake. Conclusions the group determined…
The first World Happiness Report was presented in 2012. This week the 2022 report was published. Perhaps surprisingly, in most nations, average life evaluations have remained “remarkably resilient during COVID-19.” Although, according to report authors, life satisfaction has fallen for the young and increased for people over 60, and levels of stress have risen measurably since pre-pandemic days…
History Professor Alfred McCoy produced The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia in 1972. The CIA interfered with the book’s publication but its condemnation of American complicity in the drug trade is accepted as accurate and reliable. Dr. McCoy appeared with Jeremy Scahill on the March 7 edition of Intercepted Podcast. I found their wide ranging discussion informative, shocking and alarming…
An SDS radical, Dr. Lawrence Davidson took voluntary exile in Canada during the early seventies. Returning home after six years, he became an educator and now writes commentary, often about American responses […]
The Trudeau government will alter Canada’s harsh tone on international affairs to emphasize conflict resolution and peacekeeping. The Prime Minister said when deploying our men and women in uniform, the case must […]
Psychologist Dr. Mike Webster writes often about relationships between senior management and the men and women delivering police services in our communities. He knows about moral disengagement, which allows virtuous people to commit inhumane acts and Webster’s words can help us gain understanding…
CTV reported late Friday that “the streets of Paris are streaked with blood” and one of its star reporters spoke about “terror acts empty of human purpose.” If Tom Walter’s opinion is […]
. Photos of Kobani, Syria, a former city described by The Guardian: …it’s an extraordinary, nightmarish place they find, barely recognisable as a city. Piles of rubble where buildings once stood, burnt-out […]
Being troubled by patriotic zealotry and glorification of war, I feel vaguely discomforted by Remembrance Days, particularly when craven politicians take centre stage at memorials. While struggling to find words that conveyed […]
“…we actually share some responsibility for those deaths because, for us, it is no priority whatever, to stop it. Our United Nations, our Government, our World is not that interested…” Jon Snow […]
Some facts. Denmark’s healthcare system employs around 26,200 physicians, which translates to 4.38 doctors per 1,000 residents. A figure above…
Only the top thinkers, the best people money can buy are in on this, you say? And it's No Risk?…
No reason to get nervous. It's only speculation, an estimate, a rumour. I’m sure there are many recovery plans, incredible…
Is there an Iron Law of Panic? MAGA patriots and NRA enthusiasts will just love this! https://www.rawstory.com/karoline-leavitts-stunning-admission-on-trump-war-plans-sends-shockwaves-unbelievable/ White House Press Secretary…
in-sights.ca 
My sole comment is, it should be in the building code that every new build house/condo, have a government approved…