Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice for 23 years from 1916. He was nominated by Woodrow Wilson but the President’s choice was hotly contested. Writing for the New York Times in 1964, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas explained the opposition was because the nominee frightened the
Continue readingTag: Justice
Views from the Beltline: The Housefather fallacy
Liberal MP and prominent Israeli apologist, Anthony Housefather, has neatly expressed Canada’s approach to the illusory two-state solution proposed for Palestine. On Monday, the NDP proposed a motion in the House of Commons that would support a ceasefire in Gaza and recognition of a Palestinian state. In rather tortured prose,
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: “Never again” must mean never again by anyone, against anyone
Maximilian Hess is a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in London. He calls himself the child of an American Jewish and Catholic German couple and said antisemitism has indelibly shaped his life. Hess says the world seems turned upside down. Comments that are antisemitic are ignored while legitimate criticisms
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Claims of antisemitism used to defend Israel’s atrocities
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
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: How to measure prosperity
A 1953 speech by W.E.B. Du Bois discussed the fundamental injustices and shortcomings of the American economy. It includes one of his most famous quotes:
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Big Picture: Markers Of The Global Tectonic Shift, Now Underway
Or, The Big Picture: Economic Strength vs Economic Insolvency: US, Canada and Uruguay compared Uruguayan national debt in 2023:$40 billion USD(52% of GDP) Canadian national debt in 2023:$1.4 trillion USDOr$1,400 billion USD US national debt in 2023:Roughly $30 trillionOr$30,000 billion(Not including corporate and household debt, which brings the total to
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Earth cannot satisfy human greed
Revenues of Chevron Corporation in 2022 were one-third of a trillion Canadian dollars and the company’s comprehensive income was C$50 billion. Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth’s 2022 compensation was C$32 million. So it is not surprising that Chevron’s CEO recently defended his company, saying “We are not selling a product
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Collapse Of The West: Chapter One: The Global Tectonic Shift
By J. Todd Ring Preface: I wrote this essay in January of 2020, then the covid crisis hit, and it was shelved for over a year. The macro-scale patterns have not changed fundamentally since then, although the slow-motion collapse of the US, and the West more broadly, has accelerated. I
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Constructive anarchism
Yale political scientist and anthropologist James C. Scott, author of the whimsical 2013 book Two Cheers for Anarchism, suggested pursuit of justice demands occasional insubordination and disregard for rules. He described “…an anarchist sensibility that celebrates the local knowledge, common sense, and creativity of ordinary people. The result is a
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Police-involved deaths involving force
Data collected by Tracking (In)Justice shows disturbingly high police-involved deaths Canada’s northern region and reports police-involved fatalities in four western provinces (2.69 per 100,000) are much higher the six provinces to the east (1.44 per 100,000).
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Protect the unborn, not the already born
Some who favour right wing politics believe in protecting the unborn, but vehemently oppose protection of children already born. This is largely an American problem, where guns overtook car crashes to become the leading cause of death for US children and teenagers in 2020. But this is something that Poilievre’s
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Canada, land of vanishing wonders
Mike Hanafin, “Brilliant doesn’t do this justice. @thejuicemedia usually skewers Australian (Australien!) govts/politicians for kissing up to Big Oil, Fossil Fuel extractors, & monopolist billionaires. But they noticed it was happening here too. Great cameos from Galen Weston, Jimmy Pattison, and John Horgan.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Protecting the protected, abusing the abused
Amanda Follett Hosgood, northern BC reporter for The Tyee, has done a thorough job of detailing the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal examination of RCMP conduct after a staff member of a Burn’s Lake residential school was accused of sexually abusing an 11 year-old Indigenous child. Information from the hearings is troubling. .
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On The Limits of Victim-Centred Justice
With Paul Bernardo’s name back in the news (this time over a move to a new prison cell), it’s time to spend a few moments discussing the role of victims of crime in the justice system, and how far it should really go. Criminals like Bernardo are notorious, and their
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Major police reforms needed but near impossible
“It’s no coincidence that the cities we most associate with violence also have long and documented histories of police abuse. When people don’t trust law enforcement, they stop cooperating and resolve disputes in other ways. Instead of fighting to retain police officers who feel threatened by accountability and perpetuate that
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Marginalized citizens gain protection
On May 19, Canada’s Supreme Court resolved an important defamation case with six of seven judges finding against former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld. Doing so, the court further defined boundaries of fair public comment and strengthened provincial laws discouraging Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation or “SLAPP” suits.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Thin blue line bleeds red
Eight years after Myles Gray was beaten to death by a police gang, almost nothing has changed in the process of holding officers accountable for violent misdeeds. Those Vancouver police should count themselves lucky the Memphis chief and prosecutors weren’t in charge here.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Hollow words, and deep down we know it
When people gather, it is common to hear acknowledgements that the group is meeting on unceded traditional territories of Indigenous people who have populated western Canada for roughly 14,000 years. The announcements make me uncomfortable. They are hollow words and deep down we know it…
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A warrant for the world’s “most brazen mobster”
If there has been a knock on the International Criminal Court (ICC) it’s that it has focussed excessively on developing countries. Of the over 50 individuals the court has indicted, the majority are from Africa. The court has now issued a warrant for a European and they couldn’t have made
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A warrant for the world’s “most brazen mobster”
If there has been a knock on the International Criminal Court (ICC) it’s that it has focussed excessively on developing countries. Of the over 50 individuals the court has indicted, the majority are from Africa. The court has now issued a warrant for a European and they couldn’t have made
Continue reading