Category World Affairs
Refugees and Migrants II – The Logistics
I said yesterday that someone needs to talk about the logistics involved in Canada opening its doors to an increased number of refugees fleeing the war in Syria. It is not enough just to be moved by the pictures, there are practical considerations. Canada took in 40,000 Vietnamese refugees in 1979-1980, a number made possible […]
Refugees and Migrants I – Election Fodder
It suddenly became the biggest issue of the Canadian federal election, sparked by a photograph of a dead Syrian boy whose family had supposedly desired to emigrate Canada. He (and other family members) had drowned trying to get from Turkey to Greece. According to the news media, the family had applied to for refugee status […]
On Church and State in Rowan County
The case was huge on Twitter and Facebook. Depending on your slant, either a Christian was jailed for her faith or a scoff-law was put in her place, when Kim Davis, County Clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, was jailed for contempt of court (she has since been released). Her crime was to defy a court […]
Elizabeth Regina
When I was first in school, a long time ago now, we started every day by singing God Save The Queen, which at the time was still officially the Canadian national anthem. The present anthem, O Canada, has been around for more than a century, but didn’t become official until 1980. I mention this today […]
Tea In The Ruins
The Peshmerga guards ask if we would like some tea. I don’t drink hot drinks, but I know it would be culturally insensitive to refuse such an offer. So I sit with a glass of hot tea, very sweet the way Iraqis like it, and look out over the valley, a view worthy of a […]
The Road Up The Mountain
Stay on the asphalt and you’ll be fine. That is the basic warning on the red triangular signs. Or so I was told – I can’t read Arabic. But it seemed to be a sensible precaution. If I was a dictator I would probably plant the odd land mine around my palace too. And somehow […]
Trump Withdrawal
I have been back from my vacation in Maine for four days. I am missing the beach and the sound of the ocean waves. I am missing the fresh seafood and the lazy days with nothing more important to do than read. But more than anything else, I am missing Donald Trump. It is not […]
The Debate
Thursday night is fireworks night in Old Orchard Beach. That meant I missed the first debate of American Republican presidential hopefuls. It was on television, but I was on the beach. The television coverage the next day and through the weekend was extensive. There are after all 17 people running (at this point) for the […]
And They’re Off!
The writ has dropped. For those of you not familiar with Westminster tradition, that’s just a formal way of saying the Canadian federal election is underway. I am a political junkie. But this is not a political blog and I will for the most part steer clear of this election campaign. I may, over the […]
The Guns of America
In Canada we take government restrictions on the possession of weapons as the norm. There is a general agreement, even among gun owners, that possessing firearms is a responsibility, not a right. There is from time to time debate about how intrusive governments should be in regulating firearms, but the basics, such as criminal record […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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