. The FAFO factor often involves the highest of stakes. The people who support Hamas really ought to give their head a shake because most of their activities place them firmly in the useful idiot category. These excerpts from Susie Linfield‘s essay on called The Return of the Progressive Atrocity.
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Views from the Beltline: 7,000 children, 60 journalists, 130 UN aid workers … enough?
On September 11th, 2001, the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda carried out one of the most dramatic terrorist attacks in history on the United States. It knocked down two phallic symbols of U.S. capitalism and killed nearly 3,000 innocent people. The Americans could have sought out the perpetrators and brought them
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Is There Hope For Palestine
I wrote this in November 2007 on the hope for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The solution essentially comes down to understanding the most and least that each side can accept. We could argue forever whether the State of Israel should have been created the way it was but,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Once, I Was a Peace Advocate. Now, I Have No Idealism Left – Ilan Benjamin
The Western world needs to give its collective head a shake and *not* celebrate terrorism. The conclusion from Benjamin’s essay published on The Free Press. “How wrong I was. This past week, as over 1,300 Jews were slaughtered, the most murderous attack on Jews since the Holocaust, I saw the
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Israel’s Assault on Gaza
In the days since Hamas’s violent rampage through southern Israel, one word that keeps popping up is “unprovoked.” A Biden administration official condemned “the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians,” while Mike Pence urged every American to “condemn the unprovoked and massive attack on Israel by terrorists in
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Terrorism—weapon of the weak?
Hamas’s invasion of Israel has once again brought attention to the Palestine problem. The routine of Israel oppressing the Palestinians while simultaneously stealing their land has once again been interrupted by outright war. For over 75 years our government, parroting the United States, declares that a Palestinian state can only
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Wondering Who to Support in the Ottawa Occupation
Well, if the answer is not totally obvious this might help. The Voice of the Occupiers The Voice of the Occupied No more need be said.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Much Ado About Truckers and Building a Canadian White Supremacist Fascist Movement
So what is going on with the truckers. They are calling it a protest. But it is not like any protest I have ever been involved in. Protests are designed to attempt to make change. While they may be aimed at getting governments to change their policies, gaining public support
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Kevin Maimann discusses how Alberta’s health care system is on the brink of collapse due to a complete COVID governance failure. Zak Vescera reports on the health care workers begging Scott Moe to make some effort to avoid the same in Saskatchewan, while
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Fighting Racism in Kenney’s Alberta
Sometimes it pays to sit through a 53 minute 42 second Kenney press conference because something unexpected will happen at the very end. In this case it happened at the 46:24 mark. Last week in the wake of the horrific attack on the Afzaal family in London, premier Kenney and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Conspiracy Theory Revisited
We should remember that the cult of authority, the cult of obedience, and the cult of conformity, are profoundly anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-empirical, and anti-democratic, as well as extremely dangerous. And these three cults now reign supreme across the Western world, as Western societies close down, having imported the authoritarian model
Continue readingNorthern Currents –: Despite Their Roots, The Proud Boys Shouldn’t Be The Center of Canada’s Far-Right Terrorism Discussion
The Proud Boys themselves are not Canada’s largest far-right terror threat. Many progressive bloggers, writers, journalists, and anti-hate watchdogs have had mixed reactions to the wording of Monday’s House motion that included designating The Proud Boys — McInnes’ pet project — a terrorist organization in Canada. Some are calling for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Kate Aronoff writes about the need for a functional and representative democracy to ensure that public demand for climate action is actually represented in policy decisions. And Seth Klein rightly proposes that the NDP (or Bloc) should take the opportunity in a
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: What Albertans Can Learn From the Attack on the Capitol
Federal Judge Damon Keith said democracy dies in the dark, but as we’ve learned over the last four years, it can also die in broad daylight if it is abused by power-mad leaders like Donald Trump and, it should be noted, equally determined leaders like Jason Kenney. Trump tried to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Adam Miller writes that it’s more important than ever to protect frontline workers as the prospect of a COVID-19 vaccine approaches. Pat Armstrong and Marcy Cohen discuss what the pandemic has exposed about the need for improved standards in long-term care facilities.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Ahmed Sati offers some important – if belated – recognition of the need to fight against exclusionary bigotry. Jessica Davis focuses on the particular urgency in addressing right-wing terrorism. Thomas Woodley comments on the importance of having our political leaders do their
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Stephen Harper’s Paris speech to Mojahedin-e Khalq: No laws were broken; appropriate interests were served; get over it!
Many readers would be offended if someone were to suggest the Roman Catholic Church was a former terrorist organization with cult-like attributes. Still, wouldn’t terrorism be a fair description of the Inquisition, the brutal effort to root out heresy carried out from the 12th to the early 19th centuries by
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: In a Nutshell – Terrorism & Mass Surveillance – Kurzgesagt
Safety? Security? – A window into our fearful past and what we’ve lost of our privacy.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Did Ezra Levant’s Ghastly Rebel Trigger a Terrorist Act in Britain?
I like to mock Ezra Levant and his ratty rag The Rebel.As I did yesterday.But of course the man is not a joke, or at least not funny, and I have always worried that his relentless hate mongering might lead to tragedy.By inspiring one of his sick followers to hurt
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Rule of Law in An Age of Fear
“He who puts security before liberty deserves neither.” –Dennis Edney Q.C. quoting Benjamin Franklin Last week Dennis Edney Q.C. delivered the 2018 Milvain Lecture at the University of Calgary. His topic was The Rule of Law in an Age of Fear and his defence of Omar Khadr. Edney discussed the
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