Canadians tend to please themselves by feeling superior to the Americans: Americans are violent; we are peaceful. Americans demand anarchical freedom; Canadians want “peace, order, and good government.” Americans go to extremes, e.g., by electing the awful President...
During the whole of recorded history, the empire has been the most constant and common form of political organization. A basic, self-evident feature of all empire-building has been the successful occupation of the lands of the local, Indigenous inhabitants by outside...
Sometimes, the significance of a cataclysmic event is not immediately apparent. The bombing of Pearl Harbour was an event that shocked the world. Many realized - even as it was happening - that it would bring America into a war it didn’t want to be in. But few...
Canadians are asking questions: Were the measures taken by governments in Canada appropriate to the threat? Were they based on sufficient clinical and statistical evidence? Were they suitably focused? How effective were they? Were there conflicts of interest at play?...
Recently, there has been an increasing clamour from some circles for imposing a wealth tax upon Canadians. The usual government-expanding social ‘democratic’ pressure and interest groups are especially enthused by the idea and also claim it is ‘popular’ among the...
Underneath all the media brouhaha and institutional focus on bitcoin, a struggle is brewing in the crypto world: which altcoin will pick up the baton? A fierce competition is underway for the podium, with Ethereum having a clear first-mover advantage. Bitcoin, as...
Hugh Hefner has finally died and I have competing Latin maxims battling in my head. On the one hand, De mortuis nil nisi bonum – “of the dead say nothing but good” – is a wise and charitable saying. On the other hand, so is De mortuis nil nisi verum– “of the dead...
A few months ago, State Street Global Advisors, ‘SSGA’, the self-described ‘third largest asset advisor in the world’, celebrated its first anniversary of their creation of a new specialty Exchange Traded Fund, the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE). An...
A recent Gallup poll in the United States revealed that while 62% of Democratic party voters trusted the media, only 14% of Republicans believed that the media could be relied on to get the facts straight. Is there really bias in the news and public affairs media? Is...
The attempt by a Victoria BC promoter to institute “justice pricing” for a movie series has attracted considerable attention, most of it hostile. The “Made You Look Media” company had decreed that to view their latest offering at the Roxy Theatre the “general...
The early Greek version of the Hippocratic Oath included the following commitment: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing.” A Latin version states, “I will utterly reject harm and...
Anthropologists have long known that one of the major origins of culture is diffusion, the spreading of culture from one place, one population, one society to another.[i] Since the beginning of mankind, every culture developed and evolved through both internal...
You could fill volumes with the uncomfortable statements uttered in the past by people whom we now revere, from Abraham Lincoln to Mahatma Gandhi. Frantic officials in the American south are joining with the Taliban and Islamic State as the latest group to destroy...
A steadily increasing number of successful Canadians are proud of their Aboriginal heritage, but they have integrated into the Canadian economy and society. Political actor Wab Kinew, writer Tomson Highway, and Senator Murray Sinclair come to mind. Many ethnic and...
Canada is one of the world’s most successful countries on quality of life and income indicators. Among the reasons for its success are its foundation of laws, vast natural resources, access to the huge American market, and law abiding citizens. Canada was founded by...