Category: Blog

Reconciliation–WN Contribution to:

illustration above: The rescue by (Anabaptist) Dirk Willems. Engraving by Jan Luiken in Martyrs Mirror, v. 2, p. 387 of Dutch edition. Scan provided by Mennonite Library and Archives WN: Reconciliation is a key term in the New Testament. The article excerpted below was written in 1989 at the invitation of The Mennonite Encyclopedia (Volume […]

New Report Confirms: Human Rights Are Integral to Climate Action

Thursday, December 5, 2019 WN: Greed and Care for Human Rights have never gone together: they are an oxymoron of course. excerpts: MADRID, Spain – Rights in a Changing Climate, a new report released today by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), and funded by the Government of Luxembourg, provides the first comprehensive review […]

Re-issuing: How Fossil Fuel Money Made Climate Change Denial the Word of God

by Brendan O’Connor August 8, 2017 WN: I decided to republish this article of seven years ago. The supreme haughty superiority of Christians who just know all the massive, irrefutable science about human-caused climate change — as the massive scientific support for the Darwinian theory of evolution — are all a big hoax, “because the […]

Rwanda Dispatches May 18 to July 12, 2018

At 30 years on to this day, April 7, 2024, the Rwanda Genocide broke out, that saw more than 1 million Rwandans murdered. CBC did the interview you see below. 30 years after Rwandan genocide, Roméo Dallaire feels ‘rage’ amid global crises | Watch (msn.com) Roméo Dallaire led the UN’s peacekeeping mission when more than […]

End Abuse Programs

WN: Esther, my partner, and I have been hugely privileged to have been connected to the End Abuse Programs for many years: Esther since 2009. She co-facilitates groups of women in Phase Two at the MCCBC Office (33933 Gladys Avenue, Abbotsford–all Phases are for 10 weeks), and a Respectful Relationships for Survivors of Trauma Program […]

Easter Song and Reflections on the Resurrection

***NOTE: Please check out the footnotes for additional, more detailed commentary. Also, there are poetry and songs in the final footnote; and four additional songs below that.*** Please also see two great sermons, one on Good Friday, the other on Easter Sunday, by my colleague Randy Klassen: both in the context of criminal/restorative justice. Easter […]

Comments On: Amazing Disgrace

By Sarah Posner Illustration above by Brian Reedy. Think of the illustration in conjunction with this hugely ironic quote, one that said far more about Christian Nationalist sentiment than the good reverend knew: “We put God right at the center of the White House.” —Paula White, speaking at an Evangelicals for Trump event at Solid […]

Is Violence Master Of Us All?

April 22, 2001; April 29, 2001; May 6, 2001 – 3 Sunday School classes image above: A History of Violence: Edge Master Class 2011 | Edge.org WN: That’s right. I presented the three papers highlighted below at three successive adult Sunday School classes. It was fun! This material with similar titles is elsewhere on this […]

Commentary On: How can I reconcile the good and evil of Jean Vanier?

Colleen Dulle photo above: Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities, is pictured in a Feb. 17, 2015, photo. (CNS photo/courtesy Jean Vanier Association)  WN: What does one do with this revelation of a man almost universally considered a saint? My mind goes to: what, in the end is the difference between Vanier and (dare I […]

The Great Sumas Lake Heist: A Guilty Little Secret in Plain Sight

Sumas Lake until a century ago covered about 10% of the Fraser Valley’s fertile farmland. Then it was ‘disappeared.’ Whatever happened? And what to do about it? NOTE: There are several footnotes that add related material to the article, that for some may be of interest. NOTE 2:It was exactly a year ago that the […]

The Secret Path – Gord Downie’s Secret Path In Concert

WN: The concert and the TV Special, “The Secret Path” (the latter written and directed by Gord Downie of “The Tragically Hip,” co-created by his brother Mike), are simply powerful. They remind of Canada’s horrific treatment of Aboriginal children in a longstanding cultural genocide through residential schools that has left an enduring legacy of profound […]

Focus On: Mapping Militarism 2020

by David Swanson May 6, 2020 WN: The article highlighted below represents a brilliant and multiplex presentation of the worldwide realities of the premier world blight of militarism. One could call it the Ultimate Virus, the Unremitting Pandemic–that few even recognize for the Monstrous World Nightmare it is. The other day I was forwarded an […]

Homo Homini Ubuntu

WN: “Homo Homini Ubuntu” – Man is Ubuntu To Man – is title of the talk given on the wonderful African concept of Ubuntu at our M2/W2 Fall Promotional Event, October 27, 2012. An excerpt: By contrast, to quote Tutu on Ubuntu: Ubuntu is the essence of being a person. It means that we are […]

Kingdom Ethics

excerpt: The Pattern Continues Throughout The Sermon We have examined three of the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and have seen that their basic pattern is threefold. They are not impossible ideals but transforming initiatives based on God’s grace. They are the way of deliverance from the vicious cycles in which we get […]

Why I Oppose the Death Penalty

WN: I was invited to dialogue with Dr. Richard Land of (later) “The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission” of the Southern Baptist Convention. The dialogue was organized by the Presbyterian Church in Alaska because debate was heating up in a state with no death penalty on the books. (Since the death penalty’s abolition in 1957, […]

Silent Genocide

By Robert C. Koehler image above: An example of the damage done by depleted uranium shells on armour plating. WN: Below is another form of blowback we keep hearing about, but it is consistently denied by militaries . . . What do you think? An excerpt: It’s time to listen for a moment not to […]

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us

talk by Jim Forest An excerpt: In the dawn of time, back in the fifties, my favorite comic strip concerned an assortment of animals living in Florida’s Okefenokee Swamp. The artist, a whimsical man named Walt Kelly – Wikipedia, referred to them as “nature’s schreechers.” … You may wonder why Jim Forest – Wikipedia, who […]

Inside the CIA’s secret Kabul base, burned out and abandoned in haste

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul Sun 3 Oct 2021 image above: The burnt-out remains of cars, minibuses and armoured vehicles at the CIA secret base. Photograph: Emma Graham-Harrison/The Observer WN: Sick beyond description! An excerpt: [su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]he cars, minibuses and armoured vehicles that the CIA used to run its shadow war in Afghanistan had been lined up and incinerated beyond […]

Devotional – M2/W2 Staff-Board Retreat, June 12, 1999

WN: In 1998, I became Executive Director of M2/W2, a Restorative Justice/Prison Visitation program. I held that position until retirement in 2014. The first several years were good. Relationships between Board and myself fared well. In my last four years with the agency, with the arrival of a new Board member, whose express purpose I […]

The Mumbai Bombs, July 2006

July 12, 2006 Dear Editor: Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter MacKay predictably was the pot that called the kettle black in (otherwise legitimately) condemning the bombing horror in Mumbai this week. Last July Prime Minister Tony Blair likewise as hypocritically called the London bombings “barbaric attacks.” On September 1, 1939, President Roosevelt similarly wrote […]

The Impact of Christ on Female/Male Relationships

This study still has pertinence today. There are two versions, which titles below explain. The second was presented on the University of British Columbia campus to a secular/Christian audience. An excerpt from the first: Introduction A few years ago, a man phoned me and asked if I had some time for a talk. I replied […]

Paul and Christian Social Responsibility

WN: New Testament scholar Chris Marshall first published this piece in 2000. There is another piece on this site (Is Paul the Father of Misogyny and Antisemitism?), by Pamela Eisenbaum, Pauline scholar, practising Jew, feminist, and professor at a Christian seminary (Iliff School of Theology). She subsequently wrote Paul was not a Christian: The Original […]

Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey Discussion Group with David Cayley

David Cayley is introduced on this website here. This summer, he consented to meet with a group of us on Zoom, to discuss his new book on Ivan Illich. It is titled, as you can see: Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey. We are delighted. Our meetings are the last Tuesdays of each month at 3:30 […]

Restorative Justice and Spiritual Origins, November 19, 2004

WN: Some of the papers on Restorative Justice are understandably repetitive, though I culling the obviously such. image above: sikhnet.com Restorative Justice and Spiritual Origins, November 19, 2004 By Wayne Northey In 1974 two youths who had been drinking and had been “talked to” by the police already, took out their frustrations on the small […]

Is Violence Master of Us All?: Fight, Flight or Just Peacemaking

WN: The host was the affable lawyer Gerry Palmer, quite well-known in Abbotsford for his work with numerous non-profit organizations, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Business at the University of the Fraser Valley. Is Violence Master of Us All?: Fight, Flight or Just Peacemaking Philosopher’s Café: Legal Grounds Coffee House, Abbotsford, April […]

The 10 Worst Americans of 2021

Jon Schwarz December 24 2021 image above: watchmojo.com WN: And the Game-Changing Wisdom humanity learned for the first time ever, according to Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt and Roman Catholic thinker Ivan Illich, is the spontaneous love of enemy–no questions asked, no conditions demanded, no holds barred . . . (See: Luke 10:25-37 NIV – The […]

God in a Cave

By G. K. Chesterton December 23, 2020 WN: Wow! Beautifully stated. Such is God . . . excerpts: [su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]he old trinity was of father and mother and child and is called the human family. The new is of child and mother and father and has the name of the Holy Family. It is in no […]

Sing, Choirs of Angels

By Sr. Carino Hodder, OP December 9, 2020 WN: Quite lovely. Quite heartening. excerpts: “O, little town of Bethlehem,” said my devoutly Sikh taxi driver. “How still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and . . .” (I chimed in from the back seat, providing the elusive word) – “dreamless – thank you – […]

Vandana Shiva: The Great Seed Piracy

June 21, 2016 Vandana Shiva Environment photo above: Source: The Asian Age WN: The account of the article highlighted below is compelling and tragic. excerpts: A great seed and biodiversity piracy is underway and it must be stopped. The privateers of today include not just the corporations — which are becoming fewer and larger through […]

Into This Demented Inn

Into This Demented Inn –Thomas Merton Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it – because he is out of place in it, and yet must be in it – his place is […]

Commentary on: “The Invention of Thanksgiving”

By Philip Deloria November 18, 2019 image above: The Indians who joined the mistrustful Pilgrims, Wampanoag tradition suggests, were honoring a mutual-defense pact. Illustration by Rui Tenreiro WN: If the article highlighted below shocks the reader, I suggest gently that you have grown up on a different planet . . . It is a story […]

What is “Evangelical” Theology?

November 4, 2019 by Scot McKnight WN: In my book review of Kristin Kobes du Mez’ outstanding Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, I write: In essence therefore, being “conservative evangelical” “is as much about culture as it is about theology.” (p. 9) And therein lies its […]

The Teacher Who Never Spoke

By Maureen Swinger November 22, 2021 WN: So beautiful. So very humbling. So complicatedly hopeful. excerpts: [su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]he summer my brother Duane turned twenty, a formidable young man stayed with us on a break from the Ivy League. He had never, to anyone’s knowledge, lost an argument. Several weeks into his visit, my mother walked into […]

All the Lawyers Who Stood Between Ahmaud Arbery and Justice

Pilar Melendez November 24, 2021  photo above: groyourwealth.com WN: An enormous tragedy . . . A muted victory . . . A deepseated racism . . . See too: Ken Sehested, Accountability for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, November 24, 2021. We read: Then my mind traversed to the penal system’s dysfunction. Travis McMichael, his […]

Learning to Love Recklessly

Dorothy Day Whenever I groan within myself and think how hard it is to keep writing about love in these times of tension and strife, which may at any moment become for us all a time of terror, I think to myself, “What else is the world interested in?” What else do we all want, […]

New Revelations Emerge on How Donald Trump Killed 400,000 (or More) Americans

David Corn Washington, DC, Bureau Chief, Bio | Follow photo above: President Donald Trump at a coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, on March 22, 2020, with Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vice President Mike Pence, and FEMA head Peter Gaynor. Patrick Semansky/AP WN: The concluding lines […]

Paper and Story: “The Sex Offender as Scapegoat”

 John 12:20 – 33; John 11:49-52: 49But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51Caiaphas did not say this on […]

Thoughts on: “White People Explain Racism to Me”

By Elie Mystal Twitter November 15, 2021 photo above: (Fizkes / Shutterstock) WN: We Whites, lacking the lifelong experiences described in the article highlighted below, just don’t begin to get it. Anymore than a victim of serious and violent crime knows no one but others similarly harmed really get it. The next best, which is […]

Commentary on: “Gomez, painting Catholics as victims, goes after his woke oppressors”

Nov 10, 2021 by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Opinion Politics photo above: Wikipedia WN: I felt gobsmacked by the Archbishop’s earlier speech. More: I felt embarrassed to identify as a Christian alongside such seeming anti-Christ sentiments (though I’m not Roman Catholic). As I read that article, I kept thinking, surely he’ll pull up from […]

Who Knew Being Silent With Monks Could Be So Liberating?

Sarah Sands Nov. 10, 2021 photo above: Education Images WN: Beautifully written: the deafening joy of silence . . . excerpts: [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap] watched Of Gods and Men on a winter’s afternoon in Norfolk because a great Dominican friar and priest, named [pullquote]Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, the former Superior General of the Jesuits, believes that the most profound […]

Jordan Peterson: Sic et Non

WN: Ron has been a longstanding friend–over many decades. I’ve been privileged to work with him on writing projects; read much of his writings; join the Contemplative Order of Sons of the Holy Cross Order co-founded by him; often visit in his home; hike new mountain trails with him–literally and metaphorically; and throughout the Pandemic […]

Passages to New Life

Now & Then Podcast In this week’s episode of Henri Nouwen, Now & Then, author and artist Carol A. Berry reveals how Vincent van Gogh’s life and work influenced Henri Nouwen’s spirituality and his desire to live an authentically compassionate life. LISTEN NOW WN: What is below is so very wise and hopeful.DAILY MEDITATION | NOVEMBER 9, 2021 […]

Wisdom: “Thoughts on Freedom”

Life; Thanksgiving and Gratitude; Theology   November 9, 2021 WN: The last lines of the meditation below are beautiful: Let us not build walls with hatred and rage. Let us meet in the open meadows of God’s love and peace. Amen. excerpts: The Cold War began after World War II, between the USA and Russia […]

Consider: “U.S. Covid Deaths Get Even Redder”

By David Leonhardt Nov. 8, 2021 photo above: Image by torstensimon from Pixabay WN: This remains consistent everywhere: vaccinations save lives. See too: Partisan Gap in Covid Deaths Growing Thanks to Right-Wing Vaccine Disinformation. We read: The fact that heavily Trump counties had over three times more Covid-19 deaths in October than heavily Biden counties […]

Walter Wink & “The Myth of Redemptive Violence”

November 8, 2021 by Robert Koehler WN: The author of the highlighted article below is right on. For background to Walter Wink’s use of the term, please see: Facing the Myth of Redemptive Violence The myth of redemptive violence and ‘The Hateful Eight’ Book Extract: The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium by […]

The European Union makes a policy play in Venezuela.

by Anthony Faiola with Claire Parker photo above: istockphoto.com WN: Just as the “free press” is that only for the corporations who own the presses/news, so “Pro-Democracy” seems to be limited to the Pro-elites that run the world: namely militarized capitalism‘s titans such as Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. A story such as that highlighted […]

Reflections on “Drone Strikes and Torture Will Cause Big Blowback”

November 5, 2021 by Brian Cloughley photo above: AK Rockefeller – CC BY 2.0 WN: It is ominous to read at the end of the highlighted article: Although the long-term consequences are measureless, there is no doubt that “explosive events” will blow back for a long time to come. The military-industrial complex has been manufacturing […]

Irrelevant Saints

By Terence Sweeney November 1, 2021 WN: A great challenge to everyday sainthood. excerpts: [su_dropcap]W[/su_dropcap]hen I made my First Communion, I received some money, a few rosaries, and copy of Picture Book of Saints. I don’t remember what I did with the money, and I lost the rosaries to my voracious dog. But the Picture […]

Highlighting: ” ‘Our ecological crisis is fundamentally a moral one’: Catholic Climate Covenant’s new executive director hopes to inspire care for creation”

Sarah Vincent November 4, 2021 photo above: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash WN: Hope! excerpts: Pope Francis is not in attendance at the United Nations’ COP26 conference this week, but according to the new executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, Jose Aguto, the church will play an important part at the gathering. Our […]

Pope Francis meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Gerard O’Connell November 04, 2021 photo above: Pope Francis and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas embrace during an audience at the Vatican Nov. 4, 2021. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) WN: Hope! excerpts: After Pope Francis and his senior advisors had separate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the morning of Nov. 4, the Vatican issued a […]

Highlighting “Absolute Carbon Reduction Is an ‘Issue of Life and Death’ for Indigenous Peoples”

By Amy Goodman Juan González, Democracy Now! Published November 2, 2021 photo above: flickr.com WN: Tom Goldtooth (Native American environmental, climate, and economic justice activist, speaker, film producer, and Indigenous rights leader within the climate and environmental justice and indigenous movement) sums up the challenge: Traditional knowledge means that the government is going to have […]

Nearly a Third of Republicans Surveyed Are Ready to Support Violence

By Matthew Rozsa, Salon Published November 2, 2021 photo above: aljazeera.com WN: Founder and CEO of PRRI, Robert Jones said: I’ve been doing this a while, for decades, and it’s not the kind of finding that as a sociologist, a public opinion pollster, that you’re used to seeing. This is deeply ominous . . . […]

Focus on “I’m With Condoleezza Rice About White Guilt”

By John McWhorter image above: Michael Morris WN: The writer makes a compelling case . . .   excerpt: I can see how someone arrives at that perspective, because white guilt can seem so central to what Black progress needs to be about — emphasis on “seem.” We’re increasingly encouraged to dwell on “white privilege” […]

Spotlight on “Why MAGA Social Media Is a Hacker’s Wet Dream”

Adam Rawnsley, Senior Researcher; Shannon Vavra, National Security Reporter Oct. 31, 2021 image above: Optimized Hate WN: Fools rush in . . . excerpts: When a photo of a pig in an obscene position smothered in poop was posted to an account that appeared to belong to former President Donald Trump on his newest social […]

Interaction With “Neuroscience’s Existential Crisis”

By Grigori Guitchounts October 27, 2021 image above: A rendering of dendrites (red)—a neuron’s branching processes—and protruding spines that receive synaptic information, along with a saturated reconstruction (multicolored cylinder) from a mouse cortex. Courtesy of Lichtman Lab at Harvard University. WN: The article highlighted below got me thinking . . . In my post Easter Song: […]

Concerning “Military vs Climate Spending: A Moral Catastrophe in Three Pictures”

Richard Eskow October 28, 2021 photo above: youtube.com WN: The charts below tell a compelling story of overweening Greed, Hatred and Fear–the three longstanding Counter-Virtues of American militarized capitalism.1 The Three Theological Virtues  by contrast are . . . Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love), and can trace their importance in Christian theology to Paul the […]

Reflections on “God, Trump and the Closed-Door World of a Major Conservative Group”

By Robert O’Harrow Jr. October 25, 2021 image above: Nick Ogonosky WN: There is a telling quote in the article highlighted below: “We’ve got an amazing opportunity here,” [Jim DeMint, a former senator and tea party favorite] told them. “And it’s incredible with this president, who is the last person I ever thought would promote […]

Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny

WN: The video below is highly disturbing. It is an interview with Yale historian Timothy Snyder, author of the widely acclaimed study: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. It is indeed ominous. A portion of the transcript reads: ARI MELBER: “When you see this effort to put this much pressure on installing partisan […]

Daily Wisdom

Daily Wisdom There is this direct relationship between having nothing and having everything; between poverty of spirit, the first of the Beatitudes, and the kingdom of God. That’s why we let go of everything. And that’s why in all the great mystical traditions we have the terms like nothingness, emptiness, poverty, to describe what we […]

Interaction With “The CIA: 70 Years of Organized Crime”

September 22, 2017 by Douglas Valentine – Lars Schall photo above by Tom Thai | CC BY 2.0 WN: Welcome to America the Beautiful. As kids, my brothers and I loved the highlighted song, as sung by George Beverly Shea–who performed in front of more people than any other singer in history. We played it […]

Mapping the Evangelical Mind

By Abbie Storch October 20, 2021 WN: The review of Reading Evangelicals: How Christian Fiction Shaped a Culture and a Faith below offers fascinating insights. Most troubling is this observation: Whether through their embrace of individualism or their diagnosis of pluralism as the death knell of Christianity, Silliman argues, these books shaped the imaginations of […]

Legacy of Shame:

October 19, 2021 by Kenn Orphan photo above: Photograph Source: Reagan White House Photographs – Public Domain WN: Saint Augustine recounts this story of Empire: The king asked the fellow, “What is your idea, in infesting the sea?” And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence, “the same as yours, in infesting the earth! But because […]

Responding to Persecution

By Luma Simms October 11, 2021 WN: What a beautiful, compelling, encouraging story. excerpt: [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]n 2007, my friend Ishraq was an Iraqi biologist working in quality control in a government agency testing products coming into the country for contaminants – food products and plants, anything meant for consumption or planting – a job she had studied and […]

Good Shepherd New York

WN: In a Home Study Group, we have begun to study together a new book by Melissa Florer-Bixler: How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace. The author is a writer and pastor with degrees from Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. Her ministry at Raleigh Mennonite Church has been featured […]

Comrade Ruskin

By Eugene McCarraher August 26, 2019 photo above: John Ruskin in 1863 WN: This is a wonderful, encouraging article about the “Economics of Heaven.” It concludes with the words: That’s why we need Ruskin’s sacramental economics more than ever. It offers an imagination, if not quite a program, for reclaiming the wealth of the world […]

What the Future May Hold for the Coronavirus and Us

By Emily Anthes Oct. 12, 2021 image above: Bianca Bagnarelli WN: The article lays out well several scenarios. excerpt: The genetic lottery Viruses are replication machines, hijacking our cells to make copies of their own genomes. Sometimes they make small mistakes, akin to typos, as they replicate. Most of the time, these errors have no […]

The Hopkins doc vs. the vaccine consensus

By MYAH WARD With help from Tyler Weyant 10/13/2021 photo above: witf.org WN: Openness to the science from all directions is the key, surely . . . But decisions must also be made. excerpts: VIRAL UNBOXING — It’s easy to put a person in a box, to write someone off as an anti-vaxxer. But it […]

A Handful of Reasons to Join a Church [despite the exodus] – Sharad Yadav

posted in Clarion Journal for Religion, Peace & Justice by Sharad Yadav WN: I like what I read below! One asks though, how can the church accept me with all my _____? The answer obviously is: because everyone else at church has a variation of that _____ too. During the pandemic, there have been a […]

First, Impressive Vaccines for Covid. Next Up: The Flu.

By Carl Zimmer Oct. 9, 2021 photo above: Large-scale mRNA manufacturing development at the headquarters of Translate Bio, an mRNA therapeutics company in Lexington, Mass, recently acquired by Sanofi. Credit… Sanofi WN: This sound very hopeful! excerpt: As the world grapples with Covid-19, influenza isn’t getting much attention these days. But the flu’s global impact […]

Justice and Peace:

Lumen Christi Institute Streamed live, October 7, 2021 image above: smp.org WN: The Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network does excellent events. One presentation you will hear is not just about reform: it is about “radical reconsideration” of Public Safety, including a call for abolition of the police–in favour of a far more powerful communal presence […]

Revelations of Divine Love

WN: This arrived in my inbox today. So simple. So profound. So uplifting. Deeds are done which appear so evil to us and people suffer such terrible evils that it does not seem as though any good will ever come of them; and we consider this, sorrowing and grieving over it so that we cannot […]

On A letter from Hell

By Robin Schumacher, Exclusive Columnist photo above: pxhere.com WN: It is interesting that the photo chosen for the article highlighted below (not shown above) is along the lines of what Larry Dixon wrote (The Other Side of the Good News: Contemporary Challenges to Jesus’ teaching on hell 1 in apparent approval of an instance of […]

They Went to Bible College to Deepen Their Faith.

Becca Andrews September 30, 2021 photo above: yelp.com WN: The article highlighted below begins with Megan Wohlers telling her story of abuse, and ends with these understated words from her: And that’s not how Jesus would have acted. I added October 24, 2021 almost an identical story, only from Jerry Falwell’s (Founder) Liberty University. His […]

Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows

Mark Follman, Dan Friedman, Ryan Little, and Sam Van Pykeren September 30, 2021 photo above: Mother Jones illustration; John Minchillo/AP; Official Congressional Directory WN: And so it goes . . . Tragic. Sick. Dangerous. Deadly. Some family members are speaking out against some of the rally’s ringleaders: Republican Accountability Project, which has been calling out […]

Josh McDowell steps back from ministry after controversial remarks on black families

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter September 23, 2021 photo above: Josh McDowell speaks at Talbot Chapel at Biola University in California on January 21, 2020. | YouTube/Biola University WN: Meanwhile, 82 years and 150 books in, Christian “intellectual” McDowell has finally learned something about Black History in America? Thank God we’re never too old […]

Engelhardt, A Hellfire World

By Tom Engelhardt photo above: ‘THEY ARE ALL DEAD’: Harrowing leaked footage shows US drone strikes in Afghanistan as pilot admits killing two civilians & child by mistake; Imogen Braddick WN: What can one say? God damn the monstrous capacity of the West (of course elsewhere too!) to cold-bloodedly commit mass murder via drone strike […]

Harvard cracks and a dam breaks

By LORRAINE WOELLERT  09/28/2021 photo above: Harvard and Yale students took to the field during halftime of a 2019 NCAA college football game to protest investments in fossil fuels. | Nic Antaya/The Boston Globe via AP, File WN: Amen! excerpts: THE DAM BREAKS — Academic endowments are entering a new normal after Harvard University, the […]

Insuring Heaven or Hell on Earth?

Peter Bosshard,  Rev. Fletcher Harper September 28, 2021 photo above: psmag.com WN: As seen in the article: “We disagree.” excerpts: For almost 75 years, GuideOne has been an insurance firm whose primary business has been insuring places of worship, faith organizations, and religious schools. The firm has consistently projected a wholesome image suitable for an […]

Mapping America’s hospitalization and vaccination divide

By Zach Levitt Zach Levitt is a graphics reporter focusing on cartography for The Washington Post. He previously worked at National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times. Twitter By  Dan Keating Dan Keating analyzes data for projects, stories, graphics and interactive online presentations. Twitter  September 25, 2021 WN: From what I understand, the overwhelming […]

Alberta COVID party sends several people to hospital with virus

by Darcy Ropchan and News Staff Posted Sep 23, 2021 7:23 am MDT WN: A relative from the same general area in Alberta Canada as the story highlighted below, assured me: “No one’s sticking any of that stuff into my arm!” That’s one thing. And legitimate fear of the vaccines containing whatever is another: that […]

Six Rules That Will Define Our Second Pandemic Winter

By Katherine J. Wu, Ed Yong, and Sarah Zhang September 21, 2021 image above: Shannon Lin/The Atlantic WN: A hugely helpful article. excerpt: For nearly two years now, Americans have lived with SARS-CoV-2. We know it better than we once did. We know that it can set off both acute and chronic illness, that it […]

A Canadian Amazon Warehouse Could Soon Be the First to Unionize in North America

By Candice Bernd, Truthout Published September 17, 2021 photo above: Members of Teamsters Locals 987 and 362 protest outside an Amazon fulfillment center in Alberta, Canada, on July 14, 2021, after meeting with Amazon workers across the country to discuss working conditions and union organizing.COURTESY: TEAMSTERS CANADA WN: One wonders what the expense of Mr. […]

What Jason Kenney’s ‘mission accomplished’ moment has reaped for Alberta

By Jason Markusoff September 15, 2021 photo above: Jason Kenney speaks on July 12 at the Premier’s annual Stampede breakfast in Calgary. (Jeff McIntosh/CP)  WN: Jason Kenney, a conservative Catholic, should go back and read Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. My wife and I attended a Memorial for […]

How America Fractured Into Four Parts

By George Packer July/August 2021 Issue The Atlantic image above: Lucy Jones WN: Wow! The essay is stunning as it is brilliant. At least read my excerpts below. Better though, purchase the book it is excerpted/adapted from: Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. It challenges understanding about America’s past and present place in […]

States of Incarceration

by Emily Widra and Tiana Herring   Tweet this September 2021 WN: My strongest statement about the horrors of worldwide incarceration and penal abolition is here: Restorative Justice: Peacemaking Not Warmaking; Transformative Justice: Penal Abolitionism Not Prison Reform. It was done for The Kenarchy Journal, Volume 2, Article. For the full PDF, please click on the […]

9/11 was a test:

Essay by Carlos Lozada Illustration above: by Patrik Svensson Sept. 3, 2021 [pullquote]. . . the official response to 9/11 unleashed some of its worst qualities: deception, brutality, arrogance, ignorance, delusion, overreach and carelessness.[/pullquote]WN: Below are excerpts from an outstanding essay by a Pulitzer Prizer winner for criticism in 2019. But the last lines, though […]

Empire or Humanity?

By Howard Zinn Posted on August 15, 2021 image above from the Movie Poster: The Fall of the American Empire WN: A character in the movie highlighted says: “That’s what destroyed the United States: money.” Now greed, fear and power—these three–remain for every empire known to humanity. But the greatest of these is Greed. And […]

Bomber Biden Sends in B-52 Bombers in a Tantrum over Taliban Advance

August 12, 2021 by Dave Lindorff photo above: AC-130 Spectre gunship rains random death from the sky in the name of America (US Air Force photo) WN: So much for “Mr. Nice Guy Biden”–who is just one more of a long line of Presidential mass murderers. The West fawns over his repeated–indeed admirable–rising above personal […]

Earth’s climate outlook grim but not hopeless, faith leaders say

Aug 10, 2021 by Brian Roewe Action photo above: A girl in Falmouth, Britain, plays with sand during a climate protest June 11. (CNS/Reuters/Tom Nicholson)  WN: Hopeful indeed! Jesus would say: Faith communities arise! excerpts: Grim but not hopeless. A foreboding future but the potential for a better one, if immediate, systemic and sustainable action […]

‘Get scared’: World’s scientists say disastrous climate change is here

By ZACK COLMAN and KARL MATHIESEN 08/09/2021 04:01 AM EDT Updated: 08/09/2021 03:29 PM EDT photo above: Fire burns during a wildfire near the village of Schinos, Greece, on May 19, 2021. | Valerie Gache/AP Photo WN: We have met the enemy, and he is US.–Pogo We have seen the forecast, and it is NOW! […]

Cuomo investigation returns spotlight to workplace harassment

By Julia Manchester – 08/08/21 WN: This continues to be tragic for women. We read: “The real root of the issue is this extremely large gap of power between people who are most frequently being harmed in the workplace, who are often times not working in professional jobs, who are people who are making minimum […]

When Even the Conservative IEA Sounds an Alarm on Climate, the World Must Listen

By Daniel Ross, Truthout August 8, 2021 WN: The last quotation in this article is arresting: “We’re already the proverbial frog boiling in the pot,” [Rachel Cleetus, policy director with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists] says. “Every day we need to get up and fight for the world to […]

Looking to a post-pandemic Canada: What can we learn from the U.K.?

By Fahad Razak, Arthur Slutsky and David Naylor Fahad Razak, Arthur Slutsky and David Naylor are physicians and professors in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Drs. Razak and Slutsky are also on the medical staff of Unity Health Toronto. August 3, 2021 photo above: cardealermagazine.co.uk WN: Consensus health wisdom is: get vaccinated. […]

Am I Woke? Perhaps I am Awakening

by Christy Thomas July 31, 2021 photo above: youtube.com photo below: from the article, AREN’T JESUS’ TEACHINGS CONSIDERED “WOKE?” WN: Woke is described by Wikipedia thus: Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a term, originating in the United States, that originally referred to awareness about racial prejudice and discrimination. It subsequently came to encompass an awareness of […]

This Is Why America Needs Catholicism

By Matthew Walther Mr. Walther is the editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary journal, and a contributing editor at The American Conservative. image above: Vartika Sharma WN: Cogently presented and inspiring. Amen! excerpts: When I began reading through the archives of Triumph several years ago, I found these arguments striking. This was not because […]

Covid Is Now a Crisis for the Unvaccinated

By Aaron E. Carroll Dr. Carroll is the chief health officer for Indiana University. He’s also a writer who focuses on health research and policy. photo above: Tim Gruber for The New York Times WN1: The consistent messaging is: If for no other reason, because of our neighbour, we should get vaccinated. There is also […]

We ARE the bowls of wrath – Lazar Puhalo

by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo July 28, 2021 photo above: Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”–Revelation 16:1 WN: Below is a pointed finger that has humanity in the crosshairs. Immediately below is Walt Kelly’s classic cartoon […]

Hot planet summer

By MICHAEL GRUNWALD 07/30/2021 photo above: trofire.com WN: All sobering. excerpts: OPINION: TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH — During a summer of record-breaking heat waves, hideous wildfires and brutal droughts, as seas rise, storms intensify and glaciers vanish, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are pushing the boldest climate measures Washington has ever seen. They’re […]

Concerning Life

by David Cayley June 12, 2021 photo above and to the right (clickable): Cover of David Cayley’s new (massive) book on Ivan Illich:  a brilliant critic of modernity; polyglot; priest; educator; gadfly; peripatetic nomad; (should be called) Doctor of the Church–though adamantly refused by him; saint–above all friend to an array of those who knew […]

Opinion: The Jan. 6 select committee is already exceeding all expectations

Opinion by Columnist Jennifer Rubin July 28, 2021 photo above: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) hugs Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn on Tuesday after he testified to the House select committee hearing on regarding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Pool/Reuters) [pullquote] Fox News’ decision to air segments mocking the bravery of Capitol Police […]

Beyond human endurance

By Ruby Mellen and William Neff July 28, 2021 image above: convergence.unc.edu WN: The concluding quote is ominous: “As humans, we have learned to adapt,” Tereza Cavazos [a senior researcher in the department of physical oceanography at the Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education], said. “The problem is the cost. Some will not […]

Apocalypse Right Now

Opinion Maureen Dowd July 24, 2021 photo above: Fire consumed a home as the Sugar Fire tore through Doyle, Calif., this month.Credit…Noah Berger/Associated Press WN: As the author’s last line states: Après moi, le déluge –This is generally regarded as a nihilistic expression of indifference to whatever happens after one is gone,[2] though it may […]

The Threat of an Unvaccinated South

By Adam Harris July 22, 2021 photo above: kyma.com WN: Sadly, idiot politicians like the one mentioned in the second last paragraph (see if you can guess who!) are creating enormous smoke screens of outright lies, and thereby threaten potentially millions. For, As [Shweta Bansal, an associate professor and an infectious-disease expert at Georgetown University] […]

What were the Capitol rioters thinking on Jan. 6?

By Dan Zak and Karen Heller July 20, 2021 photo above: (Robert Carter for The Washington Post) WN: Sadly, the person guilty of First Degree Insurrection–along with a sycophantic GOP almost en masse–is not yet in the dock or jail. May his day hasten . . . Please see also: ‘Some are still suffering’: Months […]

Opinion: We are fiddling while the world burns, floods and chokes

Opinion by Eugene Robinson Columnist July 21, 2021 photo above: Pyrocumulus clouds rise above the Bootleg Fire near Klamath Falls, Ore., on July 14. (Mason Trinca for The Washington Post) WN: Indeed . . . excerpts: We are fiddling while the world burns. And floods. And chokes. And maybe even careens past some kind of […]

The Democrat blocking progressive change is beholden to big oil. Surprised?

Alex Kotch Tue 20 Jul 2021 photo above: Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, chairs a Senate energy and natural resources committee hearing. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP WN: One word: greed . . . excerpts: As “thousand-year” heat waves caused by the climate crisis rock the west coast and biblical floods engulf major cities, […]

How to worry about the Delta variant

By MYAH WARD  07/20/2021 image above: wrex.com WN: I have a close relative who “won’t let anybody shoot that stuff into my body!” And like the best–or worst–of religious fundamentalists, he always knows best–always only knows–from past discussions with me. Whether it is ACD (Anthropogenic Climate Disruption–ain’t happening!); people of colour (no historic wrongs to […]

Opinion: The thirsty West’s dreaded water crisis is here

Opinion by David Von Drehle Columnist photo above: Lake Mead just above the Hoover Dam in Nevada last month. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg) WN: As in much else of the world, water in the American South and West  is more precious than gold. As the writer above indicates: Water was [always] the golden ticket, the key to […]

There’s a Word for What Trumpism Is Becoming

Ideas by David Frum July 13, 2021 image above: Adam Maida / The Atlantic WN: Sobering and eerily prophetic. Please also see the video below, August 5, 2021. Of it, we read: Right-wing FOX News host Tucker Carlson is broadcasting from Hungary and praising that nation’s hardline policies. We discuss what’s really going on with […]

South Africa’s riots are a warning to the world

Ishaan Tharoor July 18, 2021 photo above: A scene at Chris Hani Mall in the aftermath of the unrest in Vosloorus, Johannesburg, on July 15. (Gulshan Khan for The Washington Post) WN: Activist theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez puts the issue highlighted below simply thus: “I hope my life tries to give testimony to the message of […]

Tucker Carlson’s Manufactured America

By Megan Garber July 12, 2021 WN: Sick . . . Please also see an earlier piece by  Timothy Karr, April 27, 2021: Tucker Carlson’s Racism: Paid for by You. We read: Racism pays in America—especially if you’re the primetime host of a cable channel that panders to the country’s sizable population of white nationalists. […]

Around the World, Excessive Corporate Power Breeds Political Repression

Inequality.org 07/17/2021 By Manuel Perez-Rocha | – an Associate Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., and an Associate of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. Follow him @ManuelPerezIPS WN: Lord, have mercy! excerpts: [pullquote]In the face of extractive industries’ enormous economic clout, Central Americans are facing increasing displacement and threats to their […]

Four Pinocchios for Ron Johnson’s campaign of vaccine misinformation

Fact Checker Analysis Salvador Rizzo Reporter July 16, 2021 photo above: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)  WN: Speaks for itself . . . Watch too this brief video: See too: The Disinformation Dozen by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which found that just 12 people were responsible for all anti-vaccine misinformation […]

Cartoon: Thanks, anti-vaxxers!

Mark Fiore for Daily Kos Community Friday July 16, 2021 WN: This is brilliant–but so tragic! And so richly deserved! Please click on image to view. Then there is text below. Feel like supporting my work? You can join me over on Patreon. Tucker Carlson of Fox News fame is leading the anti-vaxxer charge among the right-wing […]

How Tucker Carlson became the voice of White grievance

By Michael Kranish July 14, 2021 photo above: patheos.com WN: What does one do with such elite entitlement; with such endless prevarication; with such premeditated blindness/deafness? In short, with such just plain awfulness?! Mark 8:18 and John 12:38 – 41 in Jesus’ words are pointers to a response: Do you have eyes but fail to […]

Screaming into silence

By Cindy Blackstock June 30, 2021 photo above: Memorial to residential school victims outside Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (Shelby Lisk)  WN: Just what will it take? . . . See too my post, December 10, 2018: Black Toronto residents 20 times more likely to be shot dead by police, study says. Just what will it […]

This entire country is haunted

By Alicia Elliott July 12, 2021 photo above: The Mohawk Institute Residential School, referred to by former students as ‘the Mush Hole’ (Photograph by Alex Jacobs-Blum) WN: This statement from the article highlighted below haunts me: These acts were done on behalf of every non-Indigenous family who proudly calls themselves Canadians, because this is what […]

“The Apocalypse Has Begun”:

by David Cayley January 2, 2016 WN: This is a highly instructive essay. There is much on my website about David Cayley’s writings. Please see as well his masterful and massive book on Ivan Illich: Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey. excerpts: Ivan Illich, Christ and Anti-Christ, René Girard  This article was written for The Palgrave […]

An American Kingdom

By Stephanie McCrummen July 11, 2021 photo above: Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth. (Dylan Hollingsworth for The Washington Post) WN: Oh dear! Oh dear! As my good Jesuit-trained friend Gerry Ayotte says, drawing on Tradition back to the Fathers and Mothers of the Church, God speaks loudest in the silence. In the fully choreographed […]

Signs of a Need to Hate

By Community last July 11, 2021 image above: David G. Brown / Flickr WN: The article highlighted below asks why Conservatives (not all) have such a need to hate. Sadly, Liberals (not all) evoke such a question too. The answer for puzzling Liberals according to the author is: Trump’s supporters love him, this hypothesis declares, […]

How to Love an Atheist Spouse

by Stephanie Williamson July 5, 2021 photo above: Élizabeth and Félix WN: So beautifully instructive! excerpts: [su_dropcap]F[/su_dropcap]or Christians living in a culture prone to “canceling” those with unacceptable views, Salt and Light offers a different perspective. This biography of Élisabeth Leseur and her atheist husband, Félix, is a testament to the vocation of marriage and […]

The Ascension of Bernie Sanders

Opinion Maureen Dowd July 10, 2021 photo above: Senator Bernie Sanders heading back to his office after breakfast in Burlington, Vt. Credit… Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for The New York Times WN: Go for it, Bernie! excerpts: At 79, Bernie Sanders is a man on a mission, laser-focused on a list that represents trillions of dollars […]

Pro-Impeachment Republicans Face Voters’ Wrath

By Jake Jackson July 10, 2021 WN: All so tragic! But for some comic relief: The Replacement Republican Party from MarkFiore on Vimeo. excerpts: GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Rep. Peter Meijer cites Gerald R. Ford as his inspiration these days, not because the former president held his House seat for 24 years or because his […]

The Christian Right Is in Decline, and It’s Taking America With It

Opinion Michelle Goldberg July 9, 2021 photo above: Mark Peterson/Redux WN: To the first part of the title: Amen!!!1 To the second part: Whenever Christianity “owns” a culture it becomes corrupt. British 19th-century Catholic historian Lord John Acton observed: Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, […]

Opinion: Grand Old McCarthyism

Opinion by Michael de Adder Editorial cartoonist July 9, 2021 photo above: Brilliant yet tragic! Please click on: Grand Old McCarthyism

Haiti’s fate is intertwined with the U.S.

By Ishaan Tharoor with Claire Parker  Email photo above: A man speaks on the phone next to a mural in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami on July 8. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) WN: Haiti is a made-in-France-and-America tragedy . . . Please see Egberto Willies on this: My wife Esther and I visited there in 1991, […]

Opinion: Nikole Hannah-Jones just proved the correctness of critical race theory

Opinion by Paul Butler Contributing columnist July 8, 2021 photo above: Nikole Hannah-Jones during an interview in Brooklyn on Tuesday. (John Minchillo/AP) WN: The highlighted article is all tragically true. excerpts: Nikole Hannah-Jones, and the epic failure of the University of North Carolina to recruit the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to its faculty, just proved the […]

The war inside the Canadian Armed Forces

By Marie-Danielle Smith July 8, 2021 illustration above: by Anna Minzhulina WN: Military. Police. Prisons.1 All are rife with abuse within. As the article states: The Canadian Armed Forces, as an institution, has a necessarily coercive culture. Leaders must have a high degree of authority and control over their subordinates in order for the military […]

Welcome to crazy town: The QAnon movement explained

By Brian Bethune July 7, 2021 photo above: mindbrews.in WN: Loony and terrifying! You will also find interesting this story by Shawn Boburg, July 7, 2021, interesting and . . . sick: From corporate America to conspiracy theory promotion: How a Minnesota man made a career out of anonymously amplifying dark plots. We learn: Turnbull’s […]

Opinion: Texas Republicans rush to guard the Alamo from the facts

Opinion by Jason Stanford July 5, 2021 photo above: The Alamo in San Antonio, seen in 2013. (Eric Gay/AP) WN: This is parable of course as well about American Exceptionalism ever since Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in the 1830s of the United States as “exceptional” . . .1 Grand irony: those most railing against “political […]

It’s All Fun and War Games at the Air Show!

photo above: The last US troop withdrawal from Vietnam occurred in 1973, after almost ten years of continuous bombings with napalm: “South Vietnam, despite the assistance of perhaps 400,000 tons of napalm dropped on its behalf, surrendered on April 30, 1975. Napalm, and with it America, had lost its first war.” (Marine Guillaume, Napalm in […]

Are Pro-Choice Catholics Worthy of Communion?

By Michael F. Pettinger June 29, 2021 photo above: Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden attend a church service before his presidential inauguration, at St. Matthews Catholic Church in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021.Tom Brenner / Reuters WN: This by a thoughtful reclaimed Catholic is very wise, irenic, challenging, compassionate, understanding. excerpts: [su_dropcap]W[/su_dropcap]hen it […]

War Criminal Donald Rumsfeld Found Dead at 88

by Phyllis Bennis July 1, 2021 photo above: Then-US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld addresses a press conference at the Pentagon on 4 May 2004, more than a month after the US invasion of Iraq (AFP/File photo) WN: Rumsfeld did monstrous evil around the world, on a scale not unlike that of World War II […]

Inside the Capitol Riot: An Exclusive Video Investigation

By The New York Times June 30, 2021 WN: While video images can be selectively strung together, they are real images just the same. And this was anything but the proverbial walk in the park–or a tourist visit to the Capitol. Søren Kierkegaard wrote: The crowd is untruth. Anthropologist René Girard spent a career explicating […]

Pope Francis is not a liberal! (He’s not a conservative either.)

by James T. Keane June 28, 2021 photo above: Pope Francis stands apart from U.S. political factions. (CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters) WN: I have a brother who endlessly pegs/dismisses me as a “liberal.” Perhaps he indeed knows me better than I. At minimum, though, I embraced a credo that long since eschews self-appropriation of such categories, […]

Eyes of Compassion: Learning From Thich Nhat Hanh

Book Review of Eyes of Compassion: Learning From Thich Nhat Hanh, Jim Forest, Orbis Books, 2021 When I was working for Amnesty International in the 1980s, I began a correspondence with Jim Forest (who was working for Fellowship of Reconciliation at the time) that continues to thrive and flourish. I also began in the 1990s […]

House approves Juneteenth holiday, sends bill to Biden’s desk

By Marty Johnson – 06/16/21 WN: So momentous! And this announced on Thursday the 17th!: The federal government will give employees the day off on Friday after President Biden signs a bill making Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in America, a federal holiday. “Today @POTUS will sign the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, […]

What the Rich Don’t Want to Admit About the Poor

By Ezra Klein Opinion Columnist June 13, 2021 photo above: Peter van Agtmael/Magnum Photos WN: In Mark 14:1-11, there is a story of an unnamed woman who came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. The story continues: 4 Some […]

The Wisdom of Trauma

WN: The video is beautifully presented and wonderfully hopeful! Dr. Gabor Maté is an amazingly wise and compassionate healer. TAKE NOTE: It is free to view these next two days. There is also much of interest and help on the SAND (Science and Nonduality) website. We read there: The mission of SAND is to forge […]

‘Green technology’ is fine, but to really save the planet we need to shop less

By Brian Bethune May 25, 2021 WN: A discussion of a brilliant book casting new light on ACD (Anthropogenic Climate Disruption). excerpts: If the purpose of a thought experiment is to cast new light on familiar phenomena, the better to inspire a cascade of new thoughts on scarcely registered realities, J.B. MacKinnon certainly delivers in […]

One priest’s message to the church: ‘Shut your mouth and just listen’

By Maclean’s June 8, 2021 photo above: Shoes are placed on the lawn outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on June 4, 2021 (Darryl Dyck/CP)  WN: I think I’ll just shut my mouth and listen . . . You may wish to view the video first, then read some excerpts. excerpts: Last Sunday, Father […]

John A. Macdonald can wait

By Stephen Maher June 7, 2021 photo above: Shoes sit in front of the Parliament buildings during a ceremony on June 3, 2021 in Ottawa (Adrian Wyld/CP)  WN: It is the human condition that historians from within a culture generally silence any contrary narrative that might put into a negative light the moral rectitude of […]

How to ensure Indigenous tourism experiences support the right communities

By Mike Alexander | June 4, 2021 photo above: Jusquan Bedard paints finishing touches on the Gwaii Haanas legacy totem pole before it is raised in Haida Gwaii, B.C., in 2013. (Photo: The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck) WN: We’re gently called as settlers to embrace reconciliation by learning about our Aboriginal Neighbours . . . excerpts: Growing up […]

Canada’s Solitary Confinement Deemed “Torture”:

WN: Please consider signing the petition begun today. After nearly fifty years of work in Canada’s Criminal Justice System, and seeing personally and professionally how prisons in general, solitary confinement in particular, often do irrevocable harm to their keep, it seemed appropriate to use this platform for the petition. All statements are supported in the […]

Thoughts and Prayers for my right wing aunt and uncle

By Community May 29, 2021 WN: I found this wise, caring and touching. excerpts: So I just found out today that both my elderly aunt and uncle have tested positive for COVID 19.  Both of them belong to a very conservative church, and have like so many Americans been fed a heavy stream of lies […]

Opinion: It’s ‘The Code’ of the NHL, and it has no cure for stupid

Opinion by Ken Dryden May 27, 2021 photo above: Toronto center John Tavares is taken from the ice on a stretcher on May 20 after being injured during Game 1 of the Maple Leafs’ first-round playoff series against Montreal. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)  Ken Dryden, a former goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens and […]

René Girard, Conversion, and the Present Media Moment

WN: This is immensely helpful in this historical moment. Lumen Christi Institute René Girard, Conversion, and the Present Media Moment Grant Kaplan Saint Louis University Carly Osborn University of Divinity Fr. Steve Grunow Word on Fire Catholic Ministries Cynthia Haven National Endowment for the Humanities This event is co-sponsored by Word on Fire Catholic Ministries […]

Chris Hedges: God’s Covenant in the Promised Land

WN: The following video, God’s Covenant in the Promised Land, was powerful in 2014. It is tragically as true now as then! Below is the text with some commentary from Canadian Catholic writer/activist/professor Ted Schmidt (please see his recent book: I Was a Catholic Zionist: A Biblical Challenge to Tribalism and Idolatry); jtschmidt@bell.net. Then Jesus said […]

Eyes Open: An Anti-Asian Racism PSA

May 13, 2021 by Cindy Lu WN: This video speaks for itself . . . Description: Melissa Grelo and Elaine Lui, the co-hosts of (Canadian Television Network) CTV’s The Social, created a video about Anti-Asian racism during COVID, in support of the work by the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice. This video, which […]

Why Canada’s special forces ‘shadow army’ is still fighting ISIS

By Adnan R. Khan May 11, 2021 photo above: Spec Ops Magazine WN: In short, Canada’s Special Operations Regiment (CSOR), are a bunch of trained hitmen. There is no declared war Canada is in1. Testimonials are ubiquitous that intelligence gathered by CSOR and others by its very nature is often faulty, frequently manipulated, at best […]

Mass Psychosis May Follow Cheney’s Ouster

By Community May 11, 2021 [pullquote]During the Obama administration, Cheney was a Fox News regular who, as was the fashion at the time, insisted that the president was secretly sympathetic to jihadists. She enthusiastically defended the use of torture, dismissed the constitutional right to due process as an inconvenience, and amplified the Obama-era campaign to […]

Return the National Parks to the Tribes

Story by David Treuer May 2021 Issue Editor’s note: This article is part of a new series called “Who Owns America’s Wilderness?” photo above: Katy Grannan–Glacier National Park, in Montana, as seen from the Blackfeet Reservation, near Duck Lake. WN: It’s hard to fathom the horror of White genocide against the Indigenous of North America. […]

Alfred McCoy, How Washington Lost the Ultimate Drug War

May 6, 2021 By Alfred McCoy photo above: Afghan War Kills 3 Children a Day: Report | Common Dreams News WN: The folly and futility of American Empire Wars know no bounds. This applies to Canada too and the West in general–all bundled together by greed, fear, will to domination, xenophobia, and arrogant incompetence. Democracy?–not […]

Joe Biden’s War Powers:

Intercepted with Jeremy Scahill April 28 2021 Recording: Go to website and listen to Joe Biden’s War Powers 2021-04-28·36 min. Transcript excerpts below. illustration above: Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can’t Kick Militarism by Joel Andreas. WN: In the end, Joe Biden’s devout Catholicism, his profound empathy from personal tragedy, his commitment to the welfare […]

Ron Dart Interviewed by Lauren Southern

WN: Lauren Southern is vilified by the Left because of much of her past activism: a Canadian alt-right political activist, white nationalist and YouTuber.[a] according to Wikipedia. She gave up political activism however in 2019, and is now on a deliberate life quest. Many friends from the Right cannot understand her journey. This is reflected […]

Trump’s Secret Rules for Drone Strikes Outside War Zones Are Disclosed

By Charlie Savage May 1, 2021 photo above: Targeted killings away from conventional war zones have been a central feature of the sprawling war on terrorism, raising legal and policy questions that remain in flux. Credit… Janis Laizans/Reuters WN: Of course the use of drones–as any aerial bombing–invariably murders civilians–often vast numbers. Two classic studies […]

Empire Politician:

The new president’s paper trail reveals a man who has often betrayed his own bedrock principles. Jeremy Scahill April 28 2021 WN: The article highlighted pulls no punches in underscoring Biden’s war-hawk and pro-police brutality policies over a lifetime as a politician. He–as anyone–still may change! But not his brutal record, as laid out in […]

Jamaal Bowman Explains How Progressives Will Make Biden’s Presidency Even Bolder

By John Nichols April 29, 2021 photo above: yourbasin.com; Jamaal Bowman topples US Rep. Engel in NY Democratic Primary WN: Go for it, Mr. Bowman! For the U.S. For the world! excerpt: [su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]he most compelling response to President Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress was not the ably enough delivered yet largely […]

Opinion: The American right is becoming completely untethered from reality

Opinion by  Max Boot April 28, 2021 photo above: President Biden in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 8. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post) WN: The article highlighted speaks to the current tragedy of the GOP. Please also see: Almost Everything Biden Said About Ending the Afghanistan War Was a Lie. Trump is […]

Opinion: Prolonged solitary confinement is torture. It’s time for all states to ban it.

Opinion by Tammie Gregg and Donna Lieberman April 28, 2021 at 5:00 a.m. PDT image above: Julie Lai for The Washington Post WN: My wife Esther and I felt uniquely fortunate to have attended the Conference below: CURE International Conference Costa Rica 2017 Over 40 prison reform advocates representing a dozen countries participated in CURE’s 7th […]

Almost Everything Biden Said About Ending the Afghanistan War Was a Lie

April 27, 2021 by Sonali Kolhatkar image above: Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair chart below: The Washington Post, Fatal Force WN: Ethicist A. J. Coates writes in The Ethics of War: The moral prohibition of lying, for example, makes good sense in the context of personal relations, but no sense at all in affairs of […]

Out of Sight / Out of Mind

The Magazine: Spring 2021 COVID-19 in prisons got our attention. Manitoba has quietly been home to the highest incarceration rates in the country, with a grossly disproportionate number of Indigenous people behind bars. And Canada has one of the highest prison rates in the world. Members of our UM community who’ve witnessed a broken system […]

The look in Derek Chauvin’s eyes was something worse than hate

By Jake Jackson April 24, 2021 photo above: Daily Sound and Fury WN: The Prophets and Jesus constantly call us to have eyes to see, ears to hear . . .  A documentary series based on events of the April 19, 1989, Central Park jogger case, has the riveting title: When They See Us. To […]

Tribes Want Medals Awarded for Wounded Knee Massacre Rescinded

Mark Walker April 23, 2021 photo above: Kristina Barker for The New York Times WN: This kind of story can be repeated ubiquitously in European worldwide Empire/colonization history over many centuries. One post of many is:  The Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and American Exceptionalism. Related posts may be pursued there. “Moving on” as beneficiaries […]

Saving the salmon and Beauty:

After years of trying to get the province to protect an important salmon watershed, one northwest B.C. First Nation is taking matters into its own hands Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative reporter April 17, 2021 photo above: Chief Wii Litsxw (Gregory Rush) hiking in Gitanyow territory. The area behind him is part of the so-called […]

America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 16 maps and charts

By German Lopez @germanrlopez german.lopez@vox.com Updated Apr 16, 2021 WN: I will embed below the video produced. Please view that first, then read the article and charts carefully. My brother gave me a book years ago claiming studies showed that the more guns in a population, the less crime. While the research was flawed according […]

Dear White America – “History Has its Eye on You”

By Community April 16, 2021 photo above: The quote is from The Talmud. WN: The above from The Talmud echoes Micah 6:8, seen to the left. It in turn is picked up in Matthew 23:23, featuring Jesus’ indictment of the religious establishment of the day: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you […]

Compliance Will Not Save Me

April 19, 2021 Ibram X. Kendi, Contributing writer at The Atlantic photo above: Charmaine Edwards (left) speaks to supporters during a protest outside a courthouse in Dallas in 2017. Her stepson, Jordan Edwards, was a 15-year-old in Balch Springs, Texas, when he was shot and killed by police. LM Otero/AP WN: According to The Washington […]

Driving While Black is still a death sentence

By BRAKKTON BOOKER 04/13/2021 WN: Words fail. . . . Please also see here and here: Black Toronto residents 20 times more likely to be shot dead by police, study says. Canada is also deeply racist: rampant in the criminal justice system. excerpts: [pullquote]There is still reform that could be done like with policing in […]

How Trump Unleashed a Domestic Terrorism Movement—

“He tells them what to do. He tells them why they’re angry.” Mark Follman March+April 2021 Issue photo above: Nate Gowdy WN: Trump continues to inspire hatred and acts of violence worldwide. His is the height of White Grievance Politics–and so tragic for the millions of victims who fall prey to such xenophobia. A rewording […]

Everyone Belongs to God

Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt.  Foreword by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Plough Publishing House, 2015. Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (1842–1919) was born in Möttlingen, Germany, at the very time his father, Johann Christoph Blumhardt, was engaged in the amazing events recounted in Plough’s book The Awakening. The younger Blumhardt was raised in an atmosphere of the reality of the presence […]

Dianne Tramutola-Lawson–Class of ’60

WN: Dianne is one of the amazing volunteers in charge of Colorado CURE. Please enjoy this brief interview: You may also click on St. Mary’s Academy link to article; and here is the link for St. Mary’s Academy. My wife and I have had the good fortune of being members, and I represent Canadian CURE. […]

I’ve been a priest for 50 years and still struggle with the problem of evil

John J. Strynkowski March 28, 2021 photo above: Photo by Markus Schumacher on Unsplash WN: The reflection highlighted below is profound and humbling. excerpts: I have been a priest for 57 years. Ever since I read The Brothers Karamazov as a seminarian, with its description of the rejection of God by Ivan, the middle brother, […]

America Must Understand How Bad Trump Truly Was in Order to See What’s Coming

By Jake Jackson March 24, 2021 image source: Blog for Arizona WN: The situation in the U.S. continues to be dire, as it teeters on the brink of fascism. excerpts: Seldom do you come across a man who changed so much in so little time. His efforts normalised authoritarian tendencies, legitimised fascism, and shaped the […]

The fight to unionize Amazon is the most important labor story of this century

John W. Miller March 25, 2021 photo above: Screenshot, America: The Jesuit Review WN: Amazon/Jeff Bezos is possibly America’s most virulent symbol of full-bore sellout to Unadulterated Greed. Go for it, unions! excerpts: The campaign by Amazon workers to unionize in Alabama, with a vote that concludes on March 29, marks a new age in […]

Why America’s Great Crime Decline Is Over

March 24, 2021 Derek Thompson Staff writer at The Atlantic photo above: wisegeek.com WN: The “new model” called for in the interview highlighted below is ever one of the “Beloved Community.” Brutal, violent response to crime is in itself the greater crime; one that has short-term benefits, but massive long term harms. I argue this […]

The wrong kind of normal

By RENUKA RAYASAM and MYAH WARD  03/23/2021 photo above: There Have Already Been 104 Mass Shootings In US So Far In 2021, by Cameron Frew on 24 Mar 2021. WN: Mass shootings in America, like genocide in Rwanda, are the first thing to come to mind when one thinks about gun violence. Please see my […]

Wall Street May Finally Be Taking Climate Change Seriously

Dominic Rushe Bio Environment  March 19, 2021 photo above: Axiom/Zuma WN: Hope springs eternal. The article highlighted is hopeful! excerpts: This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Wildfires burned nearly 10.4 million acres across the US last year. The most costly thunderstorm in US […]

Neoliberalism Doesn’t Care

Published on Saturday, March 20, 2021 by Common Dreams by Tim Koechlin photo above: economist.com WN: In short: Neoliberalism is polar opposite of Kingdom Come and fully aligned with Empire. The piece highlighted below is powerful! excerpt: Neoliberalism is alluring mantras and sales pitches about all that we need to embrace (privatization, liberalization, free trade, […]

Introducing: The Kenarchy Journal

NOTE on image above: Foot washing by UK artist Dinah Roe Kendall WN: It is exciting to introduce The Kenarchy Journal! Roger Mitchell1, the Editor and Founder, created the neologism, “kenarchy,” explaining: Kenarchy is a newly constructed word signifying an innovative, inclusive reconfiguration of Jesus’ politics of love. It is derived from ken(osis): emptying out […]

Cornel West: The Whiteness of Harvard and Wall Street Is “Jim Crow, New Style”

By George Yancy, Truthout Published March 5, 2021 photo above: yankeewikis.com WN: I first became involved with men in prison in 1974, at a time the first prison I visited (Oakalla Prison, Burnaby BC, Canada) still operated under a military regimen with many ex-military hired as guards; with an ex-air force serviceman as chaplain who […]

Houses of hate:

Dangerous, racist and falling apart. By nearly every metric, the nation’s penal system is not just failing, it’s making things worse. By Justin Ling February 28, 2021 photo above: Medium security range at Stony Mountain Institution in Stony Mountain, Manitoba (Correctional Services Canada/Flickr) WN: The article highlighted does not sugar-coat the reality: Canadian prisons (and […]

The Useful Idiot:

02/28/2021 By S.V. Dáte, HuffPost US illustration above: Rebecca Zisser/HuffPost; Photo: Getty WN: I can only add: I have two close relatives who belong to that cast of Deplorables highlighted below. That is agonizingly incredible!. . . Sigh. . . excerpts: The following is excerpted from “The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump Killed the Republican […]

10 Years After His Passing, Howard Zinn Remains a Threat to the Status Quo

By Anthony Arnove, Truthout Published January 27, 2020 photo above: wikiwand.com WN: Trump and white nationalists, for starters, would not be pleased . . . Jesus’ message too is ever a call to see the world upside down–consequently right-side-up Ultimate Reality. . . For that, we need the right lens . . . Invariably, this […]

How the Military-Industrial Complex Gets Away With Murder in Contract After Contract

January 23, 2020 by Mandy Smithberger illustration above: Matt Wuerker (Politico/Reddit) WN: In short: reducing military spending/international arms sales/wars is ever an American non-starter. It will remain so as long as the United States–regardless of which party–remains in thrall to militarized neoliberalism/capitalism. As Nick Turse’s The Complex makes abundantly clear, it is, since World War […]

On Misreading Victory

Tomgram January 7, 2020 By Andrew Bacevich illustration above: lindsaysocialstudies.weebly.com (President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.“) WN: There is great wisdom in the article highlighted. “Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh when will they ever learn?”–Peter, Paul and Mary excerpts: Thirty years ago this […]

There Is No Christian Case for Trump

January 30, 2020 Peter Wehner Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC photo above: President Trump speaking to evangelical supporters in Miami, Florida on January 3, 2020.Eva Marie Uzcategui / Reuters WN: There are multiple reasons for critiquing “Christian” behaviour in America. Especially egregious is white Evangelical embrace of Trump. In this […]

Technology of Death:

March 26, 2020 by Ramzy Baroud photo above: Sgt. Paul L. Anstine III, U.S. Marine Corps – Public Domain WN: Israel is a brutal Empire, only less so than the U.S in one respect: scale. excerpts: The Middle East region, battered by wars and adjoining humanitarian crises that have left millions of people stateless, hungry […]

Christians as Dangerously Empathic Good Samaritans

January 8, 2021 by Gary Olson image above: The Good Samaritan Painting by Tissot WN: In short: for us in the wealthy West, Jesus makes us, at minimum, squirm. . . excerpts: Is the idea of Christians becoming political radicals, a far-fetched one? To state my case from the outset: Whatever other differences may exist […]

His pastors tried to steer him away from social media rage.

By Peter Manseau Feb. 19, 2021 photo above: Michael Sparks, far left, stands with other Trump supporters as they are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate chamber on Jan. 6. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) WN: The article highlighted is an anatomy of a Trump cultist who stormed the Capitol. It did not turn […]

Daily Wisdom

February 19, 2021 WN: Read the devotional below, then read a much longer and powerful reflection: Living in Communion: AN INTERVIEW WITH FATHER THOMAS HOPKO. ♦ What heals the wounds of division is love. Love unites, unifies and heals the wound of the divided self. It overcomes the deep wounds of our alienation. It simplifies […]

The Prognosis

October 2020 | Pandemic By David Cayley WN: There are recent posts and others here, that inform you about David Cayley. Cayley is a powerful prophet crying, perhaps in the wilderness. . . excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]I[/su_dropcap]t is striking how often historical events arrive with their meanings plainly legible. When Napoleon clattered by Hegel’s window in […]

Pandemic Revelations

December 4, 2020 WN: I recently posted an article about David Cayley. There have been a few others. So I will not repeat what I have shared earlier. Except: he is arguably one of the most informed thinkers in Canada–and across multiple disciplines. I’ll highlight the second reflection that Cayley did on his website. That […]

Neoliberalism –

Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative? George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot Fri 15 Apr 2016 photo above: ‘No alternative’ … Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher at the White House. Photograph: Rex Features […]

Weather messed with Texas —

POLITICO Nightly Tomorrow’s conversation, tonight. Know where the news is going next. By MICHAEL GRUNWALD–With help from Renuka Rayasam and Myah Ward 02/17/2021 photo above: People stand in line outside an HEB grocery store in the snow Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Austin, Texas. The store did not have milk, eggs, meat or refrigerated items. […]

Frederick Douglass’ Hope

Gerald McDermott January 25, 2021 WN: This highlighted article is about challenge and hope. excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]I[/su_dropcap]n January 1862 Frederick Douglass, former slave who became America’s greatest socio-political prophet of the nineteenth century, declared that America was facing Armageddon. “The fate of the greatest of all Modern Republics trembles in the balance.” God was in […]

Not Everyone Was Surprised by the Attack on the Capitol

Crime and Justice February 16, 2021 Abigail Weinberg Mark Helenowski photo above: Rev. Dr. William Barber II at an interfaith service in 2020. Amy Katz/Zuma WN: Dr. Barber together with his family are amazing civil rights activists and leaders. This interview is powerful! excerpts from article about it: Let our journalists help you make sense […]

Legalizing All Drugs Is Just the Beginning of a Compassionate Drug Policy

By Maya Schenwar, Truthout Published February 13, 2021 photo above: Dr. Carl Hart WN: The contention discussed in this article has been demonstrated repeatedly in many other countries. See for instance a review of: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. And please see as well […]

This Valentine’s Day, Celebrate Love as Growth and Liberation

By adrienne maree brown, Truthout Published February 14, 2021 photo above: Participants take part in an event organized by Love & Protect to lift up the names and celebrate the lives of Black women and girls who have been killed by state violence at Rekia’s Tree in Douglass Park, Chicago, on June 13, 2018. Sarah-ji […]

On Some Bad House Manager Language

February 12, 2021 by Paul Street photo above: Backbone Campaign – CC BY 2. WN: The highlighted article is a succinct dismantling of any notion that the United States is a democracy. We Canadians and other democracies are plagued by some of the same issues. But the so-claimed “oldest democracy” was never intended to be, […]

The Incomparable David Cayley

WN: Introduction Below is a clickable list of many of David Cayley’s Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) about 50-minute-long podcasts. They were presented between 1980 and 2012, the latter date when he retired. Who is David Cayley? To quote theologian Brad Jersak, Clarion Journal‘s curator: I think he’s truly among Canada’s greatest thinkers. Few who know his […]

Reckoning with the Toxicity of Christian Nationalism

By Bill Berkowitz February 8, 2021 WN: The article highlighted below is very disturbing for followers of the one Mark Lewis Taylor dubs The Executed God (book review here, with the subtitle: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America). I stand in perpetual amazement at how the New Testament Jesus is read to be […]

AOC’s Stirring Call to Reject Insurrection Amnesia

Going against Republicans, the media, and some on the left, the New York representative makes the case for accountability. By Jeet Heer Twitter February 3, 2021 photo above: uproxx.com WN: Amen! excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]O[/su_dropcap]n Monday night, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke on a live video on her Instagram page about her fears during […]

Killing Nora: The Real Reason Trump Should Have Been Impeached

January 22, 2021 by Nicky Reid cartoon: too true! WN: What is true of the Criminal Justice System is also “too true” in general of our living “normal lives” in the West. And it extends: to us in the West aware enough of what being in league/lockstep with Western powers (Five Eyes, NATO, NORAD etc., […]

Donald Trump’s new reality:

By George T. Conway III January 22, 2021 WN: George Conway knows American law and history, clearly has done his homework, and makes eminent sense–at least to one fairly deficient in the above! 🙂  In my Restorative Justice work, there was no substitute for accountability, however much the scales invariably tilt towards grace and truth […]

After Attempted Coup, We Must Fight White Supremacy and Sow Revolutionary Love

After Attempted Coup, We Must Fight White Supremacy and Sow Revolutionary Love By adrienne maree brown, Truthout January 10, 2021 Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels WN: These are beautiful words, and a call to “revolutionary love” not only for fellow Blacks, but for all–Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Beloved Community”. All I can add: Amen!!! […]

The American Abyss

A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next. By Timothy Snyder Jan. 9, 2021 photo above (screenshot): The police forced the crowd out of the Capitol building after facing off in the Rotunda, Jan. 6, 3:40 p.m.Credit…Ashley Gilbertson/VII, for The New York Times WN: This is brilliant–and scary!–analysis. […]

National Security Experts Warn Trump “Is Promoting Terrorism”

National Security Experts Warn Trump “Is Promoting Terrorism” The president’s post-election incitement expands on a tactic he has long used: stochastic terrorism. Mark Follman National Affairs Editor Bio | Follow Politics photo above: A person in a gas mask protests Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s pandemic policies at the Michigan State Capitol in May 2020Paul Sancya/AP December […]

Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity.

Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity. By Christine Mungai, Truthout Part of the Series: Religion’s Role in the Struggle for Justice December 16, 2020 photo above: howafrica.com WN: This is the central theme of this website! A significant portion of what follows is from the previous highlighted part. There is […]

The COVID-19 tsunami is coming, and it will be worse than most people can imagine

The COVID-19 tsunami is coming, and it will be worse than most people can imagine SquireForYou Tuesday December 01, 2020 WN: The article highlighted is heart-wrenching! The gross absolutely unfeeling negligence and incompetence of the White House makes one wish to scream bloody murder to high heaven! It’s a slow-moving endlessly replaying (like the movie […]

Trump Has Pushed Ahead With Drone Strikes, Putting US Citizens in the Crosshairs

Trump Has Pushed Ahead With Drone Strikes, Putting US Citizens in the Crosshairs by Adam Hudson, Truthout Published December 5, 2020 WN: This excerpt from the article highlighted is devastatingly the case, one that gives the lie to the strictly compartmentalized/schizophrenic “decency” of Biden: Where does that leave Biden and where does he stand? Biden has […]

A New Technology That Will Dangerously Expand Government Spying on Citizens

A New Technology That Will Dangerously Expand Government Spying on Citizens December 2, 2020 by Jack Rasmus Image by Hebi B. from Pixabay WN: The highlighted article is truly scary. Makes one want to revert to the era of Morse code or pictograms or simply unplug . . . If such surveillance is widely deployed, […]

Manmeet Singh Bhullar Left A Legacy Of Making Others Feel Like They Belong

Manmeet Singh Bhullar Left A Legacy Of Making Others Feel Like They Belong The grief and lessons, five years after I lost my brother. By Tarjinder Bhullar, Special To HuffPost photo: Courtesy of Tarjinder Bhullar WN: This testimonial is powerful and delightful, while tinged with acknowledging a tragic loss to his family–also to Canada and […]

Is This the Beginning of the End of American Racism?

Is This the Beginning of the End of American Racism? Donald Trump has revealed the depths of the country’s prejudice—and has inadvertently forced a reckoning. by Ibram X. Kendi September 2020 Issue Ideas image above: The Atlantic WN: I love the ironic optimism of this piece! As you will see excerpted in context below, I […]

Washington Post Publishes Names and Details of 1,400 Civilians Killed in US-Led Bombings of ISIS

Washington Post Publishes Names and Details of 1,400 Civilians Killed in US-Led Bombings of ISIS By Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams (11/19/2020) November 20, 2020 WN: “Collateral damage” has always meant huge numbers of civilians–aged and young, noncombatants of both sexes, etc.–indiscriminately slaughtered during U.S. drone strikes and other bombings the world over. American military […]

RCMP Perpetuates Misogynistic, Homophobic And Racist Culture: Report

11/19/2020 By Samantha Beattie photo above: Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS WN: My short response to the current Commissioner: She does not know (or admit knowing) and does not care to know (more); so there will be no external review–and no systemic change–unless imposed and done independently of police and prison personnel. Then who will implement […]

The United States Is Not a Democracy. Stop Telling Students That It Is.

When our students only learn about this exceptionally strange system from their corporate-produced history and government textbooks, they have no clue why this is how we choose our president. Published on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca (Zinn Education Project) photo above: Students deserve an explanation for the origins of the Electoral College. (Photo: […]

Trump’s Politics Fractured My Family. Where Do We Go After The Election?

Trump’s Politics Fractured My Family. Where Do We Go After The Election? I’m a Democrat, they’re Republicans. Healing the political divide will be America’s next challenge. Updated 11/13/2020 By Jenn Merritt, Special To HuffPost     WN: The article highlighted below holds special sadness for me, given a similar concern in our family with some […]

Gustavo Gutiérrez and the preferential option for the poor

Nov 8, 2011 by John Dear Blog | On the Road to Peace WN: What can one say? The highlighted article is deeply humbling. I could have cited the entire article, so full of wisdom and insight–and great challenge! As well, the overwhelming opposite juxtaposition leaps out in light of the just-released McCarrick Report: The […]

The McCarrick Report: The Vatican Owns Up To Enabling Abuse

The McCarrick Report: The Vatican Owns Up To Enabling Abuse November 10, 2020 by Mary Pezzulo WN: The article highlighted is powerful! It also points to exponential pain, horror, and abuse of those reporting their abuse by priests–by the wider Church which gaslighted/gaslights/revictimized/revictimizes victims beyond imagining . . . One reads and weeps all over […]

Two more reasons Kamala Harris as VP will be a historic milestone for our nation

Ian Reifowitz  for  Community Contributors Team November 07, 2020 photo above: people.com WN: The article highlighted is immensely hopeful! An emphatic Amen! excerpts: Editor’s Note, Nov. 7, 2020: Kamala Harris and Douglas Emhoff are officially going to be the nation’s first Second Family. As you may have heard, Sen. Kamala Harris would WILL be a historic vice president. […]

No. I will not meet you halfway. You must change.

MindMatter Saturday November 07, 2020 photo above: Politico WN: I suppose the highlighted article could best be summed up: There is no compromise with evil. I’ve posted the opening paragraphs. The rest is also simply great! excerpt: Dear Trump supporter, Let’s make a deal.  I will not accuse you of being evil as Satan or […]

Plough: Daily Dig for  November 6

    Daily Dig for  November 6 D. L. Mayfield Xenophobia is the opposite of hospitality. It means “fear of the stranger.” It’s in the very air we breathe: it’s built into our mortgage contracts, our Constitution, our foreign policy, our immigration system, and the speeches that elect our politicians. The fear of the other […]

The Man Card

WN: Please see this new and powerful video–free until November 3! It tells America’s story of the past half century through White Male Identity Politics. Canadian-born Liz Plank in her fall 2019 book (before the pandemic!), For the Love of Men: From Toxic to a More Mindful Masculinity states baldly: Although the news often focuses […]

The Trial of the Chicago Seven: A Review by Martha Sonnenberg

The Intersection of Memory and History: A Review of “The Trial of the Chicago Seven,” written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, Netflix By Martha Sonnenberg October 28, 2020 WN: While I lived through this history as a young university student, I was largely oblivious, since back then politics had (so I thought, and a Regent […]

The Priority of Peaceableness in a Disruptive Election

Craig M. Watts October 26, 2020 General, Peace & Nonviolence, Politics WN: The article highlighted is very sobering. Amen to the last two sentences: Blood may be shed. But may it never be by our hands. excerpts: Extensive studies have shown the vast majority of political violence in the US in nearly thirty years –with […]

Study: Breitbart-led right-wing media ecosystem altered broader media agenda

Study: Breitbart-led right-wing media ecosystem altered broader media agenda By Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, Hal Roberts, and Ethan Zuckerman March 3, 2017 WN: This is a fascinating study, discovered in this article in the New York Times by Ben Smith: Trump Had One Last Story to Sell. The Wall Street Journal Wouldn’t Buy It.: Inside […]

Tomgram: Ariel Dorfman, Trump’s Divine Fate

Posted by Ariel Dorfman  October 22, 2020. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. WN: In a word: brilliant! More so: incredibly legitimate! Trump like other (would-be) tinpot despots, is a Self turned downwards on a (seeming) endless spiral of Evildoing that also seems to know no bounds. But if every saint has a past, every sinner […]

The World Order That Donald Trump Revealed

When it comes to foreign policy, the president’s most important characteristic is not amorality or a lack of curiosity; it is naïveté. Story by Tom McTague and Peter Nicholas Photo illustrations by Rohan Hande October 20, 2020 Global WN: This analysis is fascinating and insightful. While one celebrates America’s loss of hegemonic power, its sting […]

Trump’s Wild Lies Down the Election Homestretch Are Not Crazy

The president isn’t nuts—he’s trying to make you nuts. Disinformation October 19, 2020 Mark Follman National Affairs Editor Bio | Follow Mother Jones illustration; Chris Kleponis/CNP/Zuma WN: But what about his crazed cultic followers?! Of whom I have two close relatives . . . Deplorables, yes! But what else? . . . excerpts: What can […]

Seminario John Main 2020

WN: Please consider joining still in this amazing worldwide seminar! The World Community for Christian Community (WCCM) is to be thanked for this looked at in light of the great worldwide trauma the Church delivered to indigenous people . . . All I can say is: Lord, have mercy. Copyright © 2020 | THE WORLD COMMUNITY […]

Is abortion the only thing that matters to Jesus?

Blog / Paradigm Shift Guest Contributor September 4, 2020 “I have felt a heaviness in my soul lately.” by Jennifer Abel WN: This is powerful! I also highly recommend another powerful piece addressing the same issues, that I posted about four years ago: White, Conservative, Christian Friend—I Wish You Really Were Pro-Life. Abel writes below: […]

James Murdoch, Rebellious Scion

Increasingly uncomfortable with News Corp’s politics and profit motives, Rupert’s younger son chose chickens and sheep over Fox, and insists he doesn’t watch ‘Succession.’   By Maureen Dowd Oct. 10, 2020 photo above: John Phillips/Getty Images   WN: A very telling article highlighted below . . . excerpts: WASHINGTON — As we sat down to […]

The Entire Presidency Is a Superspreading Event Down in the polls, high on steroids, and clinging to good health while endangering everyone else’s. By Olivia Nuzzi

The Entire Presidency Is a Superspreading Event Down in the polls, high on steroids, and clinging to good health while endangering everyone else’s. THE SWAMP Oct. 9, 2020 Art: Eric Fischl WN: The article highlighted is tragic recounting of an incredibly sick man on every level–and an administration trying desperately to keep the four-year con-job […]

The TSN anchor is a proud voice for the Black community

Kayla Grey is using her platform to fight racism By Claire Sibonney October 5, 2020 WN: The article highlighted below is immensely hopeful! With all colours represented in our extended family, my greatest yearning is that the world over be inflicted with an enduring colour-blindness. Sadly it needs to start in that same extended family, […]

Dying in a Leadership Vacuum

Editorial 4 References 1 Citing Article WN: Wow! I’ve decided to post this Editorial in its entirety. This is the first time in 208 years that one of the most prestigious journals in the world has spoken against an American presidential candidate–and his enablers!–up for re-election! All I can add: Get this monster narcissist who […]

Restorative Justice: Peacemaking NOT Warmaking

IRPJ.org (Institute for Religion, Peace & Justice) presents an interview with Wayne Northey (host: Brad Jersak) highlighting the contrast between Western criminal justice as retributive pain-delivery and the inclusive, restorative, community justice that more effectively serves those who offend, those they’ve harmed, and the communities in which they live. Transcript: IRPJ Q & A with […]

‘He’s Destroyed Conservatism’: The Republican Case Against Trump’s GOP

Stuart Stevens was a winning GOP operative. Now he feels terrible about what he’s done to the country. By MICHAEL GRUNWALD Michael Grunwald is a senior staff writer for Politico Magazine. 08/19/2020 photo above: AP/Patrick Semansky [NOTE: It took an article by Bob Ekblad (Blind and Deaf) in Clarion Journal, noted below, to occasion a revision […]

The Unraveling of America

by Wade Davis August 6, 2020 Wade Davis holds the Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. His award-winning books include “Into the Silence” and “The Wayfinders.” His new book, “Magdalena: River of Dreams,” is published by Knopf. WN: This is an exceptional article! There is however a […]

RJWorld eConference, August 22 – 31, 2020: Robbie Robidoux & Wayne Northey

RJWorld eConference, August 22 – September 6, 2020: Robbie Robidoux & Wayne Northey RJ World 2020 was a 17-day (extended by 7 days) online showcase of more than 100 inspiring presenters from around the world – facilitators / practitioners / teachers / researchers / artists – who are passionate about sharing insights and ideas in […]

Life Under the Bomb Means a Life of Resistance

Published on Thursday, August 06, 2020 by Common Dreams by Rev. John Dear photo above: “Our message over the years has been simple and urgent: Nuclear weapons have totally failed us. They don’t make us safer; they don’t provide jobs; they don’t make us more secure—these are age-old lies. Instead they bankrupt us, economically and […]

RJWorld eConference, August 22 – 31, 2020: David Milgaard & Wayne Northey

RJ World 2020 was a 17-day (extended 7 days) online showcase of more than 100 inspiring presenters from around the world – facilitators / practitioners / teachers / researchers / artists – who are passionate about sharing insights and ideas in the realm of restorative justice and restorative practices in all sectors. WN: David Milgaard […]

Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act

Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act July 22, 2020 Bats With Napalm Vests and Other Great American Innovations by David Swanson WN: This is horrible! Unconscionable! Despicable! Exponentially Hypocritical! . . . and whatever other superlative expletives can be thrown at U.S. planning, developing, experimenting, and deploying […]

George Yancy: To Be Black in the US Is to Have a Knee Against Your Neck Each Day

By Woojin Lim,Truthout Published July 18, 2020 photo above: reddit.com WN: A close relative saw the post, The Case for Reparations, ((a long essay about the history of Black repression in the U.S.),  and in response merely indicated that these things happen and moved on  . . . Another close relative who did not read […]

The Price of White Evangelical Patriarchy

By Eric C. Miller | July 7, 2020 photo above: Donald Trump stands near a statue of John Wayne during a news conference at the John Wayne Museum in Winterset, Iowa. (AP/Jae C. Hong) WN: Though not declamatory, this interview with Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of just published Jesus and John Wayne: How White […]

The Case for Reparations

Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole. Story by Ta-Nehisi Coates June 2014 Issue WN: NOTE: This piece appeared in The Atlantic  6 years ago. It […]

A Long Talk With Anthony Fauci’s Boss About the Pandemic, Vaccines, and Faith

A Long Talk With Anthony Fauci’s Boss About the Pandemic, Vaccines, and Faith just asking questions July 1, 2020 By Jebediah Reed@jebediahreed photo above: statnews.com WN: So much could be said that is positive about the article. As to the first two items in the title, I have excerpted a little on that. As to […]

A Report Card on the Failed American Project of the Last Three Decades

Published on Tuesday, January 07, 2020 by Andrew Bacevich in TomDispatch photo above caption: But really… what has the U.S. accomplished over the last thirty years? WN: This article by a premier researcher/historian is as usual superb–and the answer to the title, poignantly tragic. What elder Bush stated is part of the (probably) greatest sustained con […]

How We Will All Solve the Climate Crisis

We only have one Earth. And we have the technology to save it. 04.01.2020 Illustration: Eiko Ojala Nicholas Thompson is the editor in chief of Wired. You can send him story tips at nxthompson@protonmail or via Twitter DM. And you can find more information at nickthompson.com. WN: There is so much worthwhile in this special […]

Doctors Are Covid’s First Historians

Since March, 40 physicians have created a record of a pandemic in which “grief was the overwhelming theme.” By Ron Suskind, Illustrations by Lilli Carré June 12, 2020 Ron Suskind is the author of six books including, most recently, “Life, Animated.” photo above: Two doctors (Kelly Griffin and Lindsay Lief) discussing fighting COVID-19 WN: This […]

Institute for Religion, Peace and Justice–IRPJ: Update

Check out IRPJ’s new video featuring the testimonials of a few of their wonderful students! WN: What you see in the video is very inspiring! Institute for Religion, Peace and Justice (St. Stephen’s University) – Join them in 2020/21!

An Open Letter To Joe Biden

Dear Mr. Biden. If I might be so bold, I wonder about connecting some dots at this incredible kairos moment of U.S. and world history. I was moved by your empathetic videoed message to the Floyd family during the funeral service in Houston. You have deeply suffered multiple losses as this article sensitively points out: […]

Black Toronto residents 20 times more likely to be shot dead by police, study says

Black people made up 61% of cases where police used force that resulted in death, Ontario human rights commission report said Leyland Cecco in Toronto Mon 10 Dec 2018 photo above: rt.com WN: The article from a year and a half ago highlighted below was brought to mind by today’s “Trudeau: Canadians watching US unrest […]

‘Republican Voters Against Trump’ Launches to Make Biden President

Meghan Roos May 25, 2020 photo above: @RepublicanAgainstTrump   WN: Wow! This is immensely hopeful! Though Biden is nonetheless a neoliberal tragedy . . . See “An Open Letter To Joe Biden“. excerpt: Republican voters who do not want to see President Donald Trump win reelection in the fall are coming together as part of […]

Inside the Influential Evangelical Group Mobilizing to Reelect Trump

Lee Fang May 23 2020, 3:00 a.m. photo above: politifact.com WN: These Evangelicals are very dangerous and scary–like their conservative Catholic counterparts. As they have embraced increasingly the Alt-Right, they like a close relative, will be among the first to take up arms in defence of Trump.  They could not any more blatantly reject the Way […]

A Top Obama-Biden Aide Slams Trump for Missing the Moment for “Economic Dignity”

A Top Obama-Biden Aide Slams Trump for Missing the Moment for “Economic Dignity” May 18, 2020 David Corn Washington, DC, Bureau Chief Bio | Follow photo above: Susan Walsh/AP WN: This is lovely to hear. Everyone on the Planet yearns for “economic dignity”. Of course, this is the very essence of “democratic socialism”. excerpt: Gene […]

Subverting Subversiveness: Weird Christians in the NYTimes

May 12, 2020 by Stephen G. Adubato WN: The Real Deal has always been weirdly countercultural. Both the highlighted article below and the New York Times article mentioned are delightful–and very well written. The trendy “progressive” does not cut it or satisfy. excerpts: Surprisingly enough, the New York Times published a piece about “weird” Christians. […]

Voices Rock Medicine Women Physicians’ Choir

A Toronto-Based Choir of Women Physicians singing “Rise Again” by Leon Dubinsky WN: The first video below is so inspiring–and beautifully sung; full of hope! Further: a beloved Spiritual Director/Singer/Songwriter in Mission BC, Cathy AJ Hardy, has written and performed a powerful song in relation to working with women in abusive relationships; drawn from experience. […]

Editorial: Dolan delivers the church to Trump and the GOP

Editorial: Dolan delivers the church to Trump and the GOP Apr 28, 2020 by NCR Editorial Staff photo above: New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan celebrates Easter Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral April 12 during the coronavirus pandemic. (CNS/Reuters/Jeenah Moon) WN: The article highlighted below shows American Catholic leadership in relation to Trump and his party […]

The Liar Tweets Tonight

WN: Below is pure brilliance. It would be hilarious were The Supreme Lout not tragically so deadly to the health of millions. And that extends to multiplied millions around the world victims of the U.S.T.S.– U.S. Targeted Slaughters. See also: All the President’s Lies About the Coronavirus: An unfinished compendium of Trump’s overwhelming dishonesty during […]

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus by Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger, Maggie Haberman, Michael D. Shear, Mark Mazzetti and Julian E. Barnes of . photo above: © Erin Schaff/The New York Times “Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion,” President Trump said […]

COVID-19: SIGN THE CALL FOR A GLOBAL CEASEFIRE

WN: This brilliant/urgent call speaks for itself! The Call (via Avaaz) “Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19. The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly. Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world. The most vulnerable — women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalized and […]

How China’s Fails, Lies and Secrecy Ignited a Pandemic Explosion

The regime now is in full propaganda mode, aided by the World Health Organization. Andrew Nikiforuk April 2, 2020| TheTyee.ca Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about the energy industry for three decades and is a contributing editor to The Tyee. Find his previous stories here. photo above: Xi Jinping, general […]

N.J. comedian’s riff on Trump’s coronavirus response goes viral

WN: This outstanding riff on Trump’s Easter, God and Jesus sadly (for America, for Planet Earth) nails it! The memes too nail it about World-Loud-Mouth-in-Chief. Please also see the article highlighted below. excerpt: A New Jersey comedian’s dead-on impersonation of President Donald Trump vowing to move past the coronavirus crisis by Easter is going viral. […]

John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, Coronavirus & Trump

WN: John Oliver calls it with great humour and insight! But this is already dated. Here is what the situation is today (source: worldometer–several columns omitted below): Country, Other   Total Cases   Total Deaths Total Recovered Active Cases World 842,320 41,408 176,504 624,408 USA 180,723 3,578 6,241 170,904 Italy 105,792 12,428 15,729 77,635 Spain […]

From us, for you.

WN: Spine-chillingly joyful! 1,389,630 views •Mar 20, 2020 Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest From us, for you. We’re adjusting to a new reality and we’ll have to find solutions in order to support each other. Creative forces help us, let’s think outside of the box and use innovation to keep our connection and make it work, together. […]

Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance

What the Next 18 Months Can Look Like, if Leaders Buy Us Time Tomas Pueyo Mar 19–29 min read WN: This is an immensely important paper, one that every politician in any way connected to the COVID-19 outbreak in the world should be reading–outside a handfull of countries that have already implemented the policies compellingly […]

The Doctor Who Helped Defeat Smallpox Explains What’s Coming

Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant, who warned of pandemic in 2006, says we can beat the novel coronavirus—but first, we need lots more testing. 03.19.2020 photo above: Dr. Larry Brilliant is known, among other things, for his work with the World Health Organization in the 1970s, helping to successfully eradicate smallpox in India. REUTERS/Carlos Barria WN: Dr. Brilliant […]

Inside the COVID-Denialist Internet Bubble

While many of the president’s ardent supporters have come around to the seriousness of the disease, others have come up with elaborate conspiracies. KEITH KLOOR03/22/2020 Keith Kloor is a writer in New York and adjunct professor of journalism at New York University. WN: Jesus and the OT Prophets say: If you have eyes to see, […]

Beyond the Economic Chaos of Coronavirus Is a Global War Economy

Beyond the Economic Chaos of Coronavirus Is a Global War Economy By William I. Robinson, Truthout March 23, 2020 photo above: Image by Unknown Owner WN: Great wisdom here. Only the extremely naïve believe that the militarized capitalism of the West is about democracy. Anything but! excerpts: [pullquote]When the pandemic comes to an end, we […]

New Self-paced online Courses From IRPJ – $49 USD –

WN: The Institute for Religion, Peace and Justice is an outstanding resource, headed by Andrew Klager and Brad Jersak, both in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia. Please do peruse their great offerings. The parent institution is St. Stephen’s University. About Self-paced Courses With a special offer to help with the COVID19 crisis within the next […]

Can the Coronavirus and the Stock Market Meltdown Break America’s Addiction to Fantasy?

image above: Fantasy Landscape HD Wallpapers, Pictures, Images hdwallpaper.nu Jon Schwarz March 18 2020, 9:14 a.m. WN: Such a telling article! Added to all other epithets about Trump such as Ugly-American-in-Chief, Liar-in-Chief, Buffoon-in-Chief, Narcissist-in-Chief, Ignoramus-in-Chief, World-Enemy-in-Chief, is Fantasizer-in-Chief.1 America will never become “White Again”. Such days are forever gone–regardless of Trump’s short-lived success to the contrary. . […]

All about COVID-19 with Physician and Writer Kevin Patterson

VIDEO: The conversation with the smart doctor you’ve been wanting to have. Speaking with Aletha Humphreys (Executive Director, Greenwoods Elder Care Society), Dr. Kevin Patterson praises other nations’ ‘massive’ testing and sweeping measures. ‘We’re going to do it sooner or later. Better to do it too soon rather than too late.’ David Beers March 16, […]

“A FIRE STRONG ENOUGH TO CONSUME THE HOUSE”:

by William T. Cavanaugh first published in: Modem Theology 11:4 October 1995 ISSN 0266-7177 WN: Dr. Cavanaugh has been producing an impressive list of scholarly works challenging certain Enlightenment narratives about Christianity in the West. I previously reviewed two of his books together: The Myth of Religious Violence and Migrations of the Holy. I can […]

How America’s Elites Lost Their Grip

By Anand Giridharadas November 21, 2019 Giridharadas is a TIME editor-at-large and the author of Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, The True American and India Calling. He is also a political analyst for NBC News and teaches writing at NYU. Illustration by Shout for TIME WN: Compelling–and hopeful–analysis in light […]

The boss who put everyone on 70K

By Stephanie Hegarty Population correspondent 28 February 2020 photo above: In 2015, the boss of a card payments company in Seattle introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 staff – and personally took a pay cut of $1m. Five years later he’s still on the minimum salary, and says the gamble has […]

New Book! — Justice That Transforms: Volume 1

WN: Wipf and Stock Publishers gratefully re-published (my re-edited) Volume 1 of a series by the same title, January 9, 2020. The first edition had been published September 2018. The graphic artist created a beautiful cover, as you can see! You may click on the cover to be taken to the Publishers’ website page for […]

“Nothing” bishop gets frank on married priests, Vatican under Francis

“Nothing” bishop gets frank on married priests, Vatican under Francis Feb 19, 2020 by Joshua J. McElwee photo above: Bishop John Michael Botean of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St George’s in Canton, Ohio, returns to his seat after receiving Communion as bishops of the Eastern Catholic churches in the U.S. concelebrate a Divine Liturgy […]

Canada drops on corruption index

WN: There is no surprise in what one views/reads below. Canada drops on corruption index By Juliette Faraut, Editor at LinkedIn Updated 3 weeks ago Canada fell four places in this year’s Corruption Perception Index, ranking 12th least corrupt out of 180 countries, according to annual Transparency International report. The drop comes after construction company […]

Itching for a brawl

To interpret the latest round of US-Iran tension, here is some history you need to know by Ken Sehested WN: This site provides thoughtful, informed, and pointed commentary on the sins of (American) Empire. The masthead reads: Daily Manna The eye sees what it brings the power to see. — Thomas Carlyle At the intersection […]

Freedom, Valor, Love: On Snowden’s Permanent Record

November 20, 2019 by Michelle Renee Matisons WN: Former Canadian Member of Parliament Chuck Strahl once remonstrated at a workshop when I had the temerity, as facilitator, to suggest that the United States was hardly a democracy… It most decidedly is not, and has never been. Then again, as Astra Taylor argues in Democracy May […]

Many Evangelicals Excuse Anything Trump Does —

By Sasha Abramsky, Truthout Published November 30, 2019 WN: This kind of veneration is not only despicable, it is beyond heretical into a twilight zone of anti-religion: and profoundly anti-Christ. Please also see the daft: “‘An Idiotic False Equivalency’: GOP Rep. Loudermilk Implies Trump Impeachment Worse Than Trial of Jesus Christ“. excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]E[/su_dropcap]nergy Secretary […]

Poet Mary Szybist: Whose version of Mary am I holding?

Poet Mary Szybist: Whose version of Mary am I holding? Mary Szybist Mary Szybist is a poet, professor and the author of Incarnadine, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Poetry. She is the 2019 laureate of the George W. Hunt, S.J., Prize for Journalism, Arts and Letters, which is co-sponsored by America: The Jesuit […]

Progressives Rebel as House Hands Trump War Spending Package

Progressives Rebel as House Hands Trump War Spending Package By Mike Ludwig, Truthout December 12, 2019 WN: And this is the “Land of the Free and Defender of worldwide Human Rights?!” The sheer obscenity of such military spending is exponentially staggering. The country since inception, and astronomically beyond comparison with any other State in world […]

When the Facts Are Not Debatable

The House’s two charges against Trump get right to the point, are easy to prove, and precisely describe the threat the president poses to American democracy. December 11, 2019 Kim Wehle Professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law photo above: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters WN: As a non-lawyer and Canadian, I find the […]

In ‘A Hidden Life,’ martyrdom is the cost of faith

Ryan Di Corpo December 7, 2019 photo above: August Diehl (right) as Franz Jägerstätter in Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life.” (Courtesy of Fox Searchlight)  WN: I learned about Franz Jägerstätter several years ago. While for decades I have known that “Love your enemies” is a definitive statement by Christ that separates a vast swath of […]

Punishment and Prison Bibliography

Patrick S. O’Donnell WN: This is an outstanding Bibliography! The author explains: From 2000-2015, I was an adjunct instructor in the Department of Philosophy at Santa Barbara City College. If you click on the above name, you will discover links to several other Bibliographies–and so very much more! Including (clickables): 138  Papers 6  Teaching Documents One may […]

In a polarized world, dialogue is a radical act

Julie Schumacher Cohen Julie Schumacher Cohen is Director of Community and Government Relations at The University of Scranton. She is the former Deputy Director of Churches for Middle East Peace, Senior Fellow for the Telos Group and a facilitator for Soliya’s Connect Program. December 03, 2019 photo above: iStock  WN: A very wise and hopeful […]

My Bonnevaux Pilgrimage Reflections 2.0

Paola Di Pietro – November 28, 2019 photo above: Hong Kong meditators arriving in Bonnevaux   WN: A delightful reflection! I’ll also include after the excerpts the latest update video on Bonnevaux. Esther and I had the beautiful experience of volunteering at Bonnevaux for two weeks in 2018. excerpts: When I decided to join my […]

Canada’s Best Hope Of Meeting Emission Targets Is Hiking Carbon Price: Economists

Canada’s Best Hope Of Meeting Emission Targets Is Hiking Carbon Price: Economists  NEWS 11/26/2019 18:27 EST | Updated 8 hours ago photo above: Activists rally for action on climate change on Sept. 27, 2019 in Montreal. WN: No doubt future generations will look at us with great anger, though not incomprehension. It is the human […]

America’s Arms Sales Addiction

November 17, 2019 The 50-Year History of U.S. Dominance of the Middle Eastern Arms Trade By William D. Hartung Honestly, if a single corporate entity controlled three-quarters of the global market in a product, you’d call it a monopoly, right? Well, in 2011, that was the situation of the United States when it came to […]

The Exposure of the Republican Party

The Exposure of the Republican Party The GOP will not be a great or good party until those who lead it straighten their backbone. November 13, 2019 Peter Wehner Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC photo above: Pool / Reuters WN: This rings so true. When unchecked hubris and unbridled greed […]

Uncovering Russiagate’s Origins Could Prevent Future Scandals

There are legitimate grounds to probe the intelligence officials behind the all-consuming Trump-Russia affair. By Aaron Maté October 28, 2019 photo above: Trump shakes hands with Attorney General William Barr before taking the podium in the East Room of the White House in September. He was awarding police officers and civilians for their role in […]

Scheer, Who Is Toast, Should Have Listened to Preston Manning

To win, Tories must chuck their leader and Harper’s old playbook. Michael Harris Today | TheTyee.ca Michael Harris, a Tyee contributing editor, is a highly awarded journalist and documentary maker. Author of Party of One, the bestselling exposé of the Harper government, his investigations have sparked four commissions of inquiry. photo above: Manning saw the potential of […]

Saying Goodbye to Sam

Oct 28, 2019 Opinion | TD originals sketch above: Mr. Fish / Truthdig Chris Hedges Columnist Chris Hedges is a Truthdig columnist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a New York Times best-selling author, a professor in the college degree program offered to New Jersey state prisoners by Rutgers… And so much more! WN: Chris Hedges is […]

Donald Trump: An American Tragedy for the U.S. and the Entire World

By Prof Rodrigue Tremblay Global Research, October 24, 2019 “If this [U.S.] government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful […]

Harry Nigh started groundbreaking sex-offender support group

The Circles of Support and Accountability model has spread worldwide By Julie McGonegal October 22, 2019 WN: Last week in Canmore Alberta, CoSA Canada held a celebration of 25 years of work with sex offenders returning to the community, and deemed high risk to reoffend. We had a small reception Wednesday October 16 in the […]

It’s Time For One Per Cent Families Like Mine To Pay A Super Wealth Tax

PERSONAL 10/20/2019 This election, we have a chance to vote for a party with a serious plan to tackle inequality. By Bronwyn Oatley, Special To HuffPost photo above: Living the high life: the richest 1% have got richer at the expense of the rest of us. Photograph: Getty Images WN: A relative regularly contends that […]

The Collusion Of Church and State

Published on Thursday, October 17, 2019 Common Dreams by Robert C. Koehler Where are the values—religious or otherwise—that can save this recklessly careening, war-addicted, carbon-spewing state from participating both in its own and the whole planet’s destruction? photo above: Considering that Pompeo is widely known as both a war hawk—a proponent of war with Iran—and […]

Our Mad Dog President—and His Bible-Thumping Kennel Pals

Published on Wednesday, October 16, 2019 Common Dreams by Michael Winship The White House theocrats may be the biggest danger of all. photo above: Like Trump, a would-be dictator madly claiming the overwhelming support of the populace, the real-life Capone insisted that his criminal acts satisfied “a public demand.” (Photo-Illustration: Daily Intelligencer; Photos: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty […]

Crises in Iraq and Haiti Expose the Failure of Militarized Neoliberalism

It should be no surprise that the new governments installed by all these U.S. wars and coups are among the most corrupt regimes on earth.  Published on Thursday, October 10, 2019 by Common Dreams by Medea Benjamin and by Nicolas J S Davies photo above: Not only are they reeling from protests against government corruption […]

Why this ‘genius’ scholar is mapping out the world’s largest jail system

photo above: Kelly Lytle Hernández, who received the MacArthur ‘genius’ grant, views prison abolition through the eyes of rebels Fri 11 Oct 2019 by Sam Levin WN: In a revised forthcoming publication by Wipf and Stock Publishers, namely Volume One of Justice That Transforms, I write: Longtime Restorative Justice promoter Howard Zehr once directly critiqued […]

Donald Trump’s Iran Humiliation

U.S. Military bases and Iran photo above: infiniteunknown.net Oct 08, 2019 Opinion | TD originals by Scott Ritter WN: One rightly asks, in light of the map showing U.S. military bases encircling Iran, “Who is the aggressor/terrorist here?” excerpts: Exactly 17 months have passed since President Donald Trump precipitously withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement, […]

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century The Real Cover-Up: Putting Donald Trump’s Impeachment in Context Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 7:28am, October 8, 2019. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. WN: Mr. Bacevich I find always on target and persuasive. excerpts: As this process unspools, what politicians like to call […]

My Life Without Sugar

My plan was to have a sugar-free month. But now I feel so much better that I can’t imagine going back. The Guardian | Olivia Judson photo above: Sugar: life is more savory without it. Photograph: Yulia Reznikov/Getty Images WN: Very doable; reasonable presented. excerpts: Three years ago, I stopped eating sugar. My plan was […]

Introducing The Gap Year Project: Joshua Rempel

photos above and below: Purcell Mountains wilderness hike August 2019, with Josh’s dad and his dad’s friend–Josh in foreground, bottom left. WN: Joshua Rempel is our 18-year-old grandson who with help primarily from his dad Mark Northey, has chosen not to go directly to university after having graduated this year from Grade 12 in Abbotsford […]

Impeachment, Brought to You by the CIA

October 4, 2019 by Rob Urie photo above: Photograph Source: Master Steve Rapport – CC BY 2.0 WN: There is always more going on geopolitically than meets the eye! This account is to be taken seriously. excerpts: For the first time in half a century, the political left in the U.S. is ascendant. Bernie Sanders […]

Playing the Trump Card in Ukraine

October 1, 2019 by Victor Grossman WN: Indeed! excerpts: Yes, we all detest Trump and would be gladdened and relieved to see the last of those orange-yellow tresses now defiling the pure White House! Therefore: impeachment – olé! But does all such current enthusiasm have the same motivation? The reasons stressed by most of the […]

Beyond Impeachment: Remove This Regime from Below

October 1, 2019 by Paul Street photo above: White House – Public Domain WN: This is a powerful broadside against the Ultimate Bad Guy on the Planet: the Evil Empire of the United States of America! The vehemence is found not only in the colourful language, but even in the typos . . . Mr. […]

Donald Trump Is Finished

Sep 30, 2019 TD originals Bill Blum photo above: President Donald Trump, with Vice President Mike Pence at left, takes part in an Armed Forces event at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va., on Monday. (Evan Vucci / AP) WN: Of all the vile presidents I have lived through, Trump is clearly the worst: as I […]

Everything You Need to Know About Pregnancy and Drugs

Mother-Fetus Connection WN: This amazing site is a mother-lode of information about mothers and substance use. I will add a Canadian site if there is such. From the site: The profound connection between mother and fetus is deeper than most think. While mother and child don’t share blood, the placenta provides a connection between the […]

Why Would a Whistle-Blower Save This Nation of Cowards?

For nearly three years, none of our leaders have held Trump accountable—yet we expect the Ukraine scandal to be different. By Elie Mystal September 23, 2019 WN: Very sad . . . excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]W[/su_dropcap]e cannot guarantee the safety of whistle-blowers. Oh, we pass all kinds of laws with fancy names like the “Whistleblower Protection […]

Ronald Wright: Can We Still Dodge the Progress Trap?

Author of 2004’s ‘A Short History of Progress’ issues a progress report. Ronald Wright 20 Sep 2019 | TheTyee.ca Ronald Wright’s 10 books include Time Among the Maya, Stolen Continents, and the award-winning dystopia A Scientific Romance. His Massey Lectures inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2011 documentary Surviving Progress. See also “‘Which Will Win, Wisdom or Greed?’“. For the […]

Unconditional

Unconditional Willing to experience aloneness, I discover connection everywhere; Turning to face my fear, I meet the warrior who lives within; Opening to my loss, I gain the embrace of the universe; Surrendering into emptiness, I find fullness without end. Each condition I flee from pursues me, Each condition I welcome transforms me And becomes […]

Under Donald Trump, drone strikes far exceed Obama’s numbers

By S. E. Cupp May 8, 2019 photo above: In this 2013 file photo, an X47-B Navy drone grabs the wire as it lands aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Virginia coast. | AP Photo/Steve Helber WN: This is, I believe, the first article I have highlighted about Trump’s […]

John Bolton’s Ouster Makes the World Safer

But only a little. Trump’s clownish foreign policy shouldn’t be used to discredit diplomacy. By Jeet Heer September 11, 2019 photo above: John Bolton talks to reporters about outside the White House on May 1, 2019. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) WN: This analysis strikes as reading Trump all too well: thereby accentuating Trump’s continued […]

Mozart’s Music of Forgiveness

Mozart’s Music of Forgiveness Plough Music Series Colin Fields WN: Absolutely beautiful in every measure! Commentary and Text: Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute whimsically portrays a cosmic contest between two forces: one of light, enlightenment, and love, represented by Sarastro, priest of the sun, and the other of darkness, craft, and vindictiveness, represented by the […]

A Killer Cop Gets Fired, and Somehow the Cops Are Angry

Daniel Pantaleo suffered the absolute minimal consequence for killing Eric Garner. The fact that the police union is throwing a tantrum is sick and outrageous. By Elie Mystal August 21, 2019 photo above: Police Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch, left, speaks during a press conference at PBA headquarters following a decision to terminate Daniel […]

We must call the El Paso shooting what it is: Trump-inspired terrorism

It is staggering to imagine how much more violence this president may motivate if he continues down this deeply disturbing path photo above: Trump’s rhetoric is infused with notions of violence and dehumanization’. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images  by  David Schanzer WN: While I do not believe anyone is pure evil, manifestations of such are arguably […]

In Joyful Act of Resistance, Pink Seesaws Installed at Border Fence

“We are all connected.” Published on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 photo above: “The symbolism of the seesaw is just magical.” (Photo: Twitter/Channel 2 KWGN) by Common Dreams by  Jenna McGuire, newsroom staff WN: Wow! What a delightful act of defiance! How totally “uplifting”! 🙂  excerpt: Two California professors built three pink seesaws on the U.S.-Mexico […]

On Judging

28/07/2019 photo above: KayR Studios from Pexels WN: All I can say is: wow! Letter 19: On Judging Desert Fathers and Mothers based their life and prayer on the teaching of Jesus. The Beatitudes were their Commandments. They experienced personally that one of the most difficult things to do in life is not to judge […]

A US-born teen was in border custody for 23 days. Now he’s suing the government

A US-born teen was in border custody for 23 days. Now he’s suing the government Francisco Galicia and his mother are speaking out on the inhumane conditions they say he endured while detained Christine Bolaños in Austin,  @bolanosnews08 Sat 27 Jul 2019  photo above: Francisco Galicia is reunited with his mother Sanjuana Galicia at the […]

Imperialist Made Crisis of Migrants and Refugees

For the last 18 years, since the new era of war and occupation began, there has been no end to the war, violence, and economic devastation imposed on people around the world by imperialist governments like the U.S., Canada, and the countries of the European Union Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 by Common Dreams […]

Review: A lifetime of studying the three great monotheistic faiths

Jack Miles July 24, 2019 Facebook Twitter Email WN: Sounds utterly fascinating! My Orthodox son reminds me that Christianity did not begin as opposition to other spiritualities, rather as their fulfilment. Christopher Marshall in “Paul and Social Responsibility” writes: Stanley Hauerwas has suggested [‘The Moral Authority of Scripture: the Politics and Ethics of Remembering’, Interpretation […]

Puerto Ricans Demonstrate How to Oust a Corrupt Leader

Jul 25, 2019 Opinion | TD originals Sonali Kolhatkar photo above: Puerto Ricans gather in San Juan to celebrate the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. (Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo / AP) WN: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Ultimate Corrupt/Ultimate Despicable/Ultimate Deplorable Trump were next (or better went through a genuine Christian conversion)?! 🙂 excerpts: […]

Editorial: The politics of division stripped of any disguise

Jul 18, 2019 by NCR Editorial Staff photo above: The White House is seen in Washington July 12. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)  WN: This is so well stated, it bears quoting in full. Opinion The stock market indexes keep pushing through the ceiling. Your portfolio looks better than it has in years. The jobless rate recently hit […]

American Jews Divided On Israel Are Uniting — In Anti-ICE ‘Never Again’ Protests

American Jews Divided On Israel Are Uniting — In Anti-ICE ‘Never Again’ Protests July 16, 2019 by Aiden Pink and Ari Feldman photo above: Getty WN: Wonderful! excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]I[/su_dropcap]f you’re liberal, Jewish and Zionist, it has been difficult to find a home in the earth-shaking activist movements of the past decade. A leading Black […]

AOC’s ‘Squad’ Represents Me As An American Jew – More Than Any Republican

July 16, 2019 by Shoshana Hershkowitz photo above: Getty Images WN: White American “Christian” Evangelicals, meet real (Judeo-)Christian values! Amen! excerpts: For me as an American Jew, seeing a diverse group of young women who are focused on progressive policies inspires me. As a Jewish woman, social and economic justice are inextricably connected with “Tikkun […]

The evolution of Ilia Delio

Jul 16, 2014 by Jamie Manson Global Sisters Report photo above: Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio delivers the keynote address Aug. 14, 2013, during the Leadership Conference of Women Religious assembly in Kissimmee, Fla. (CNS/Roberto Gonzalez) WN: What an incredible woman of God! Please visit Amazon for her books in print. And if in the Vancouver […]

It Has Long Been Past Time To Take A Stand

July 16, 2019 by Henry Karlson image above: GDJ: Stop Racism / Pixabay WN: Trump is doing great evil in America and across the world. Every Christian pulpit in the nation — and beyond — should be declaring with Amos, Micah and Jesus: Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless […]

Progressives Need to Start Preaching Hell Again

July 16, 2019 by Chuck McKnight   photo above: Gage Skidmore, Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 Generic. WN: Amen! Except: I so dislike the term “progressive”, which in my view can smack of just another kind of (religious) elitism. “Justice-seekers” or some such term is what I’d rather identify with. Please also read about the Poor […]

Facial Recognition Tech Is Growing Stronger, Thanks to Your Face

By Cade Metz July 13, 2019 photo above: The Brainwash database, created by Stanford University researchers, contained more than 10,000 images and nearly 82,000 annotated heads. .CreditCreditOpen Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License, via Megapixels WN: The article highlighted is very foreboding. Please read some of the other articles that are clickable in the […]

American Carnage: a masterful must-read on Trump’s Republican takeover

Tim Alberta of Politico has written a compelling, alarming and scoop-heavy history of the fall of the party of Lincoln Lloyd Green Sat 13 Jul 2019 photo above: Mike Pence and Paul Ryan applaud as Donald Trump delivers his first address to Congress in February 2017. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool/EPA WN: Trump is beyond vile, […]

‘You’re excluding people that look like me’: Megan Rapinoe’s message to Trump

US soccer captain again rejects White House visit, saying team does not want to be ‘corrupted’ Sarah Marsh Wed 10 Jul 2019 photo above: Megan Rapinoe and team during the Broadway ticker tape parade. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters  WN: Bottom line: Trump is Scapegoater-in-Chief — the Ultimately Deplorable Ugly American — as are unwittingly or cynically […]

How Can We Celebrate “Freedom” While Kids Are in Concentration Camps?

How Can We Celebrate “Freedom” While Kids Are in Concentration Camps? By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Published July 4, 2019 photo above: Pro tip, flag-waver: Your July Fourth “freedom” narrative is a bald-faced lie.Lauren Walker / Truthout WN: And damned if anyone out there for the most part cares!… I have a close relative who […]

This Palestinian hip hop group’s new record is a feminist rallying cry

Eloise Blondiau July 05, 2019 photo above: Tamer Nafar, Maysa Daw and Mahmood Jhere (image courtesy of damrap.com) WN: Incredibly powerful! excerpts from story: When Maysa Daw was a teenager, she remembers going to a concert by DAM, which calls itself the first ever Palestinian hip-hop group, and asking herself: “Would I be able to […]

Kids Locked In Cages Aren’t So Sure You’re Actually “Pro-Life”

Benjamin L. Corey July 1, 2019   WN: Of course, the persons addressed in the article highlighted below in the end are neither “pro-life” nor “Christian”. They have always happily supported bombing the hell out of whatever perceived enemy of the month America is targeting “now” (and that is anyone/state not bowing to its hegemony […]

Good Friday Sermon and Easter Sermon, 2017 by Randy Klassen

Good Friday Sermon and Easter Sermon, 2017 by Randy Klassen photo above: Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem WN: Randy Klassen is an esteemed member of the CoSA Canada Board, and past National Restorative Justice Coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee Canada. That position and others were sadly eliminated due to financial restructuring at MCCC […]

What’s the Problem with Masculinity?

What’s the Problem with Masculinity? Meeting Pablo Escobar’s brother turned out to be one of the more disappointing moments of my life. In Medellin, Colombia, you can go to the Escobar house. In fact, there’s a whole tourism industry that’s sprouted up around Escobar and the old cartel. January 19, 2019 by Mark Manson WN: […]

From Restorative Justice to Transformative Justice, Tri-Cities Justice Forum, November 29, 1999

From Restorative Justice to Transformative Justice, Tri-Cities Justice Forum, November 29, 1999 WN: I had forgotten about presentations such as the above. As I recall, the provincial government of British Columbia Canada was offering grants to municipalities wishing to do Restorative Justice initiatives. In 1999 CERA (Communities Embracing Restorative Action) was formally founded as a […]

Good Riddance to Cultural Christianity

Good Riddance to Cultural Christianity April 19, 2019| nones, Religious Right, voluntary association photo above: Pat Robertson speaks at the Road to Victory event at the Christian Coalition Conference September 19, 1998 in Washington, DC (Richard Ellis / Alamy Stock Photo). WN: Of course, “cultural Christianity” is ever part of Christian expression in all eras, […]

Canadian Company, Peace Collective, Reinvents MAGA Hat As Anti-Hate Toque

By Charmaine Noronha photo: Victor, who immigrated to Canada from Kampala, Uganda, is proud to “unravel hate,” and call Canada home. WN: The article highlighted below is a wonderful made-in-Canada response to the vituperative hatred of — on the MAGA issue at least — Trump’s Deplorables. Sadly, a close relative is amongst that TD Hate […]

Ecuador legalized gangs. Murder rates plummeted.

Ecuador legalized gangs. Murder rates plummeted. A stunningly successful experiment has the potential to upend the mainstream US approach to deviance. By Sigal Samuel Mar 26, 2019, 7:40am photo above: insightcrime.org WN: All the evidence-based research supports what we read in the article highlighted below. In it we read: Absolutely. It’s all about a progressive, […]

These are all the world’s major religions in one map

This article was originally published by Big Think by Frank Jacobs 26 March 2019 photo above: Devotees try to form a human pyramid to break a clay pot, to mark the Hindu festival of Janmashtami in Mumbai; Image: REUTERS/Danish Siddiqu WN: A fascinating series of infographics with commentary tells the story. excerpt: A picture says […]

Why Did Bush Go to War in Iraq? The Answer Is More Sinister Than You Think

Why Did Bush Go to War in Iraq? The Answer Is More Sinister Than You Think No, it wasn’t because of WMDs, democracy or Iraqi oil. Published on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 by Ahsan I Butt Al-Jazeera English photo above: (From left) Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick […]

The Rapid Decline Of The Natural World Is A Crisis Even Bigger Than Climate Change

The Rapid Decline Of The Natural World Is A Crisis Even Bigger Than Climate Change A three-year UN-backed study from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform On Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has grim implications for the future of humanity. 03/15/2019 05:45 EDT | Updated 03/16/2019 15:18 EDT by John Vidal On Assignment For HuffPost WN: I know […]

Christchurch, the White Victim Complex and Savage Capitalism

Christchurch, the White Victim Complex and Savage Capitalism March 15, 2019 by Ben Debney drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair WN: There is much on “savage capitalism” on this website. This expression likely references Rudyard Kipling’s famous line “The savage wars of peace” from his classic pro-American Empire poem: “The White Man’s Burden: The United States […]

Tribunal Declares Trump and Duterte Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity

Tribunal Declares Trump and Duterte Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout Published March 14, 2019 photo above: CNN Politics WN: The article highlighted below describes a continuing horror story… Lord, have mercy. Then, I must confess that this article makes me hopping furious for another reason! I’m livid about the majority of […]

On March 15, the Climate Kids Are Coming

On March 15, the Climate Kids Are Coming A massive, international, youth-led mobilization will demand action on the climate crisis. By Mark Hertsgaard  Twitter March 4, 2019 photo above:  Mad as hell: Greta Thunberg is not letting leaders get away with inaction on the climate crisis. (Christian Charisius / Picture-Alliance / dpa / AP Images) […]

On the Record: Jody Wilson-Raybould’s Devastating Testimony on the SNC-Lavalin Scandal

On the Record: Jody Wilson-Raybould’s Devastating Testimony on the SNC-Lavalin Scandal Trudeau tried to pressure justice minister to cut deal to let corporation avoid bribery prosecution, she says. By Tyee Staff February 27, 2019 | TheTyee.ca photo above:Jody Wilson-Raybould: ‘I come from a long line of matriarchs and I am a truth teller in accordance with the […]

John Walton’s Finest?

John Walton’s Finest? February 25, 2019 by Scot McKnight WN: John Walton (often with a co-author, including his son, J. Harvey Walton — as in this case) has been producing amazing publications on Hebrew Bible interpretation in the context of the Ancient Near East. One such explains his approach well: Ancient Near Eastern Thought and […]

A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy

[irp]A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy The Green New Deal’s mastermind is a precocious New Yorker with big ambitions. Sound familiar? Robinson Meyer Feb 19, 2019 illustration above: John Trumbull / Caitlin Ochs / Eric Vidall / Reuters / Thanh Do / The Atlantic WN: The Deal continues to sound hopeful! However, as we […]

How Colin Kaepernick Beat the NFL

How Colin Kaepernick Beat the NFL His settlement with the league is a major victory for the leader of the league’s protest movement. By Jeremy Stahl Feb 15, 2019 5:22 PM photo above: New York City, New York, JuLY 12 ,2020: In this photo we see a graphic artist drawing, painting, an artist made of […]

Nova Scotia Chocolatier Peace by Chocolate Pledges To Hire 50 Refugees By 2022

Nova Scotia Chocolatier Peace by Chocolate Pledges To Hire 50 Refugees By 2022 The now-famous company will also mentor 10 refugee startups over the next few years. Holly McKenzie-Sutter Canadian Press photo above: Andrew Vaughan/CP — Assam Hadhad, a Syrian refugee, displays a tray of chocolates at Peace by Chocolate in Antigonish, N.S. on Sept. […]

Millennials are so over US domination of world affairs

by Bruce Jentleson Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Duke University July 26, 2018 6.36am EDT photo above: Millennials are not into the ‘We are the greatest country’ idea. Shutterstock   WN: The article highlighted below is immensely hopeful – if millennials stay the course. Its final paragraphs read – significantly understated that they […]

Catholic leaders resist Trump’s ‘national emergency’ plan to fund border wall

Politics & Society Dispatches Catholic leaders resist Trump’s ‘national emergency’ plan to fund border wall Kevin Clarke February 15, 2019   photo above: President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House to declare a national emergency in order to build a wall along the southern border. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez […]

Is Trump’s National Emergency (ANOTHER) Step Toward Fascism?

Is Trump’s National Emergency (ANOTHER)1 Step Toward Fascism? By Mark Bray, Truthout February 15, 2019 photo above: VALENCIA, SPAIN – MARCH 19, 2017: Photo with blurred background Ninot sculpture representing of Donald Trump placing a brick on the wall with mexico   WN: The article highlighted is a balanced response to the question above. excerpts: […]

The case for capping all prison sentences at 20 years

The case for capping all prison sentences at 20 years America’s prison sentences are far too long. It’s time to do something about it. By German Lopez; @germanrlopez; german.lopez@vox.com Feb 12, 2019, 7:30am EST image above: Christina Animashaun/Vox WN: The article highlighted is eminently reasonable, the evidence-based research solid, the way forward worldwide hopeful in […]

Why today’s criminal justice reform efforts won’t end mass incarceration

Why today’s criminal justice reform efforts won’t end mass incarceration WN: The article highlighted below is outstanding commentary on the horror and bankruptcy of mass incarceration. John Pfaff December 21, 2018 excerpts: Even with all the attention it receives, the scale of incarceration and punishment in the United States can still be hard to comprehend. […]

WATCH: This Viral Video of Ocasio-Cortez Explaining “Fundamentally Broken” US Democracy Has Been Viewed More Than 16 Million Times

WATCH: This Viral Video of Ocasio-Cortez Explaining “Fundamentally Broken” US Democracy Has Been Viewed More Than 16 Million Times Lawmaker “exposes just how much ‘bad guys’ can get away with”. Friday, February 08, 2019 by Common Dreams Andrea Germanos, staff writer WN: Wow! This is incredibly powerful! Please click on: “Fundamentally Broken” US Democracy

Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America

Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America By Joseph Kishore October 29, 2018 photo above: Reaction to anti-Semitic violence in Pittsburg, October 2018 WN: World News Daily Information Clearing House tends towards right wing distortion. But it carries as well great analysis such as that highlighted below. excerpts: Eleven people were killed in the slaughter in Pittsburgh, […]

Venezuela: The U.S.’s 68th Regime Change Disaster

Venezuela: The U.S.’s 68th Regime Change Disaster February 6, 2019 by Medea Benjamin – Nicolas J. S. Davies WN: An all-too-familiar story again is playing itself out in Venezuela. Western leadership, the U.S. in particular, foments lies and economic collapse towards regime-change goals. The article highlighted below tells thjat story. Similarly, “US ‘Regime Changes’: The […]

The Cautious Case for Climate Optimism

The Cautious Case for Climate Optimism Believing in a comfortable future for our planet probably means some giant carbon-sucking machines. life after warming Feb. 4, 2019 By David Wallace-Wells   Photo illustration by Joe Darrow Adapted from The Uninhabitable Earth, by David Wallace-Wells, to be published on February 19 by Tim Duggan Books, an imprint […]

The man who stood behind Trump

The man who stood behind Trump After his laugh was heard around the country, Joe Davidson is wondering: “I’m a good person. Isn’t that what people say about me?” By Stephanie McCrummen   Photos by Michael S. Williamson January 19, 2019 WN: The article highlighted below says so much about not only privileged whites in […]

Why Poverty Is Like a Disease

Why Poverty Is Like a Disease Emerging science is putting the lie to American meritocracy. By Christian H. Cooper April 20, 2017 WN: Deeply embedded in the right-of-centre in my experience is the profound myth of meritocracy. Wherever it has taken root, it is a false narrative… We do well to heed the wisdom in […]

New Pro-Life Movement: ‘No’ to Trump; ‘yes’ to atheists

New Pro-Life Movement: ‘No’ to Trump; ‘yes’ to atheists Jan 17, 2019 by Peter Feuerherd Justice People photo above: Aimee Murphy, executive director of Rehumanize International, tells a group of pro-life activists at the 2018 March for Life Jan. 19 in Washington that it’s important for people to know that being pro-life means being against […]

American Psychological Association links ‘masculinity ideology’ to homophobia, misogyny

American Psychological Association links ‘masculinity ideology’ to homophobia, misogyny For the first time in its 127-year history, the APA has issued guidelines to help psychologists specifically address the issues of men and boys. photo above: vintag.es Jan. 8, 2019, 3:28 PM PST By Tim Fitzsimons WN: The article is about powerful, hopeful moves by Gillette […]

Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019

Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019 By Michael I. Niman,Truthout Published January 13, 2019 WN: The article highlighted below is a call to see beyond dystopian rise of fascism in the world to what we Christians call “Kingdom Come”. The article is nonetheless very sobering. excerpts: bitchute.com [su_dropcap size=”5″]T[/su_dropcap]he New Year’s Day […]

Former New York Times reporter slams grand jury report on clerical abuse

Former New York Times reporter slams grand jury report on clerical abuse Jan 11, 2019 by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Accountability Opinion   photo above: Attorney General Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania speaks at a news conference in the state Capitol after legislation to respond to a landmark grand jury report accusing hundreds of Roman […]

Tucker Carlson has sparked the most interesting debate in conservative politics

Tucker Carlson has sparked the most interesting debate in conservative politics “All I’m saying is don’t act like the way things are is somehow ordained by God.” By Jane Coastonjane.coaston@vox.com Jan 10, 2019, 5:00am EST   photo above: Tucker Carlson, host of Tucker Carlson Tonight, in his Fox News Channel studio in New York on […]

Theology That Builds Walls

Theology That Builds Walls   January 8, 2019 by Morgan Guyton    photo above: First Baptist Church of Dallas on “Freedom Sunday” WN: “Salvation Industrial Complex” (S.I.C.)  is a new one on me, and quite apt! So is the entire article, that is highlighted below. The author’s book also looks quite interesting: especially when so […]

Donald Trump Is the Damn Emergency

Donald Trump Is the Damn Emergency By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout January 9, 2019 WN: I hate now mentioning the guy’s name on the website, his actions so beneath the otherwise modicum of dignity every human is accorded, created in the image of God. The article highlighted below captures deftly the political reality south of […]

No, Heaven Does Not Have A Border Wall

No, Heaven Does Not Have A Border Wall January 7, 2019 by Zack Hunt (Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons) WN: In fact, Christ is in the business of tearing down walls, as in Ephesians 2: 14For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility […]

Why World Peace Is Possible

WN: Below is an outstanding talk by a highly unusual young man!: Paul K. Chappell. Well worth the lesson – and checking out the website too.

Biggest Stories of 2018: Israel Announced Apartheid, Shot Thousands of Civilians

A systematic pattern of war crimes amounts to crimes against humanity, which Israel is certainly guilty of this year, even if the international institutions are too cowardly to indict the Netanyahus and the Liebermans Published on Wednesday, December 26, 2018 by Informed Comment photo above: By Fars News Agency, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69833225 WN: The […]

What’s Behind U.S. Troop Withdrawals Announced for Syria and Afghanistan?

By Sara Flounders Global Research, December 27, 2018 WN: What is indisputable is the U.S. remains singularly guided in the Greater Middle East (as everywhere else in the world) by unapologetic imperialist impulse. It is also indisputable that Israel is likewise an imperial power which not only does the bidding of the U.S., but also […]

How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually.

life in pixels Dec. 26, 2018 WN: This article is sobering about our capacity to create and believe illusion. Photo above: Artwork by Ayatgali Tuleubek excerpt: How much of the internet is fake? Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, […]

Deadly weather: the human cost of 2018’s climate disasters – visual guide

Deadly weather: the human cost of 2018’s climate disasters – visual guide Scientists say extreme weather events are getting worse as emissions rise and the planet warms ‘Uneasy about the heatwave’: readers on a year of climate anxiety Daniel Levitt, Peter Andringa, Frank Hulley-Jones, Lydia Smears and Jonathan Watts Fri 21 Dec 2018 06.45 GMT Image […]

Escape From the Trump Cult

Escape from the Trump Cult Millions of Americans are blindly devoted to their Dear Leader. What will it take for them to snap out of it? By Alexander Hurst December 13, 2018 Illustration by Zach Meyer WN: The very well-researched article highlighted below is fascinating, not because about Trump, but about deprogramming cultists from fundamental […]

Book Review of Long Have I Loved You

Book Review of Long Have I Loved You: A Theologian Reflects on His Church, Orbis Books, 2000, Walter J. Burghardt by Ron Dart WN: I so appreciate the wisdom of Professor Burghardt’s book seen in Ron Dart’s excellent review below.  I love to discover new witnesses to joy and justice in the faith journey! Please […]

Trump routinely says things that aren’t true. Few Americans believe him.

Trump routinely says things that aren’t true. Few Americans believe him. Polling A new Washington Post Fact Checker poll Take the quiz to see how your fact-checking skills stack up against others nationwide. Reporting by Glenn Kessler and Scott Clement Graphics by Kevin Schaul Analysis and fact-checking by Emily Guskin, Meg Kelly and Salvador Rizzo […]

Bush the Archvillain

Bush the Archvillain By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Published December 4, 2018 photo above: President George H.W. Bush speaks during his unsuccessful bid for re-election for the presidency, October 29, 1992.Wally McNamee / Corbis via Getty Images WN: My commentary from the previous post is fitting again: Of course any lineup of contemporary former Presidents […]

An Eye for Eternity

An Introduction to William Blake Malcolm Muggeridge WN: Malcolm Muggeridge’s conversion to Christianity was amongst the most remarkable of the 20th century. His witness to the profound presence of God in his life was no less outstanding. You will appreciate this classic introduction to William Blake. an excerpt: Touching that mysterious place in each of […]

Archbishop Óscar Romero: setting the record straight

Archbishop Óscar Romero: setting the record straight Seeing firsthand the poverty and repression of rural farmworkers led him to change Oct 10, 2018 by Gene Palumbo Opinion People photo above: People look at a painting of slain Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero at the cathedral in San Salvador in 2015. (CNS/Reuters/Jose Cabezas)  WN: This is a […]

Trump’s Massive Corruption Exposé

Trump’s Massive Corruption Exposé WN: The sooner the All-In-One Ultimate Ugly American, Planet Enemy Number One and Supreme Narcissist is off the World Stage, the more safely we can all breathe again… Not that the brutal American Empire will fall because of Trump’s exiting Stage Alt-Right. But it’s for the moment a good start…   […]

Evangelicals, Let’s Talk About Violence Against Women

Evangelicals, Let’s Talk About Violence Against Women October 4, 2018 by Kristin Du Mez photo above: Kavanaugh Family at the The White House – courtesy Wikimedia Commons WN: When half of all white evangelicals think Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed even if Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault are true. (An NPR/PBS NewHour/Marist poll […]

Georgetown Prep President: Working for Hope in a Season of Contempt

Georgetown Prep President: Working for Hope in a Season of Contempt Politics & Society Short Take James Van Dyke, S.J. October 03, 2018 photo above: Georgetown Preparatory School WN: This strikes as significantly sane and hopeful. By virtue of living in the wealthy West with a white male middle class pedigree, I am “privileged”. I […]

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Bad Character Has Nothing to Do With His Bad Politics

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Bad Character Has Nothing to Do With His Bad Politics Published on Wednesday, October 03, 2018 by T.S. Mendola Rewire.News photo above: usapoliticstoday.org [pullquote]No saint is without a past; no sinner is without a future.[/pullquote]WN: And Hitler was apparently an animal lover… excerpt: Brett Kavanaugh’s politics are bad—not in the sense that […]

The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help

WN: Below is a passage from Jackson Katz’ book with same title of this post. Below that are links to the book, and to a page on “Goodreads” with more quotes. My wife and I work with men who have harmed their partners. It is gratifying to see lights turn on, even to observe “aha!” […]

The Kavanaugh Hearings

The Kavanaugh Hearings by John Graham WN: This is very wise commentary — thanks to one of my nieces for sending it our way. Of course, the issue is far greater: ultimate American Empire privilege in a world designed and brutally buttressed to be its oyster. No one in the American political system is exempt, […]

Brace for Impact, as the Climate “End Game” Has Arrived

By Dahr Jamail — Truthout Published September 25, 2018 photo above: Smoke from wildfires in British Columbia, Eastern Washington and Montana enshrouds the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. In the Pacific Northwest, experiencing weeks on end of wildfire smoke during the summer months has become the “new normal.” Dahr Jamail WN: The author updates readers […]

Obama’s Imperial Presidency

September 14, 2018 by Carl Boggs photo above: The U.S. Army | CC BY 2.0 WN: It is astounding that Obama (no less Hillary Clinton) was through and through a warmonger on a grand scale exceeding both Bushes, and far more so far than Trump. This is laid out in the article below. Obama is […]

Trump’s Pantheistic Temptation

February 06, 2017 by Vern Redekop WN: Anything my friend and scholar Vern Redekop writes — and he is prolific! — is invariably thoughtful/thought-provoking. To understand a greater context for his article copied in full below, please see: René Girard. Vern is a noted Girardian scholar. ********** In the book, René Girard and Creative Mimesis, […]

How Israel Spies on US Citizens

A never-shown Al Jazeera documentary on the pro-Israel lobby in the United States reveals possibly illegal Israeli spying on American citizens, and the lobby’s fear of a changing political mood. By Alain Gresh August 31, 2018 photo above: Kids play next to an Israeli flag near the Israel-Syria border at the occupied Golan Heights in […]

Reckoning With John McCain

Respecting the best of McCain requires grappling with the rest of McCain. By Timothy Patrick McCarthy Twitter August 27, 2018 photo above: John McCain in 2007. (Dennis Van Tine / MediaPunch / IPX) WN: In my view, the article highlighted below is a respectful, balanced assessment of Senator McCain, when seen through the lenses of […]

Millennial Evangelicals Diverge from Their Parents’ Beliefs

The separation of families at the border, climate change, and various progressive causes have galvanized young Christians. By Eliza Griswold August 27, 2018 WN: I have a white Canadian Evangelical friend who expresses being fed up with white Evangelical-bashing — in particular towards white Evangelicals south of the border1. I argue on the contrary that […]

The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism

The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean August 24, 2018 Slavery and the Origins of Capitalism by Louis Proyect WN: I wrote the following in introduction to a book similar in its findings about 19th-century American capitalism to 17th-century colonial capitalism, entitled The Half  Has Never […]

Uri Avnery: One of My Few Heroes in the Middle East

August 22, 2018 by Robert Fisk photo above: dovblog | CC BY 2.0 excerpts: I must admit that Uri Avnery was one of my Middle East heroes – there aren’t many – and his story is worthy of a movie, though there will be no Spielbergs to direct it: writer, journalist, leftist, veteran of the […]

Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Will China Be the Next Global Hegemon?

Beijing’s Bid for Global Power in the Age of Trump “America First” Versus China’s Strategy of the Four Continents By Alfred W. McCoy image above: Visual Capitalist, from “The world’s top economy: the US vs China in five charts” WN: As usual, Dr. McCoy’s trenchant analysis proves compelling, sage, hugely informed, and immensely helpful. Trump’s […]

Trump’s War on Regulation Is Just Another Form of Trickle-Down Economics

Aug 14, 2018 by Robert Reich photo above: Economist Robert Reich. (YouTube screen grab) WN: True to expectation, an acquaintance immediately blamed California’s 2018 wildfires on environmental extremists… He is an absolute climate change/anthropocentric climate disruption (ACD) denier offering not a shred of evidence but constant bombastic fundamentalist pronouncements that brook no discussion, no questioning1… […]

Why the Vatican continues to struggle with sex abuse scandals

by Chico Harlan August 12 at 6:53 PM Email the author photo above: Members of Chile’s bishops conference, Luis Fernando Ramos Perez and Juan Ignacio Gonzalez, give a news conference at the Vatican in May. (LUCA PRIZIA/AFP/Getty Images) WN: Pope Francis by all accounts is faltering on this, rather than robustly pursuing justice in all […]

How Does This All End? How Do We Come Back Together?

August 1, 2018 by Tim Suttle 8 Comments WN: In the article highlighted below, we are told — again by this author — that America has a wisdom problem. I have no doubt that he is right. What must be asserted however much more so is that America has an Evil Empire problem. When an […]

Willow Creek, Your Time Is Now

August 6, 2018 by Scot McKnight 68 Comments photo above: Pat Baranowski was the executive assistant to the Rev. Bill Hybels at the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., one of the largest megachurches in the country. CreditAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times WN: What can one add — that is not […]

A Paradigm Shift in Christian Theology: What It Means to Say “God is Jesus”

August 6, 2018 by Roger E. Olson   19 Comments That “God is Jesus” is commonplace for Christian peace theologians/peacemakers of every era. The “paradigm shift” I suggest is really therefore with two kinds of believers: those throughout Church history who have refused to read the New Testament as God’s final or ultimate self-revelation in […]

America just won the world’s hardest math contest. Again.

by Mahbub Majumdar August 1, 2018 Mahbub Majumdar is the national coach for the Bangladesh Mathematical Olympiad and a professor at BRAC University in Bangladesh. photo above: (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) WN: I’m not anti-America! I am though anti-bullying, bullying of which America is Ultimate Example,  Ultimate Offender. Just as Trump is of all Americans, […]

Melania Trump trolls her husband

photo above: First lady Melania Trump with President Trump at the White House on Monday. (Andrew Harnik/AP) by Karen Tumulty, May 7, 2018 Email the author WN: Way to go Melania! And she has just spoken out in favour of LeBron James whose intelligence Trump publicly ridiculed. excerpts: It may be that the most effective […]

DAILY MEDITATION

photo above: courtesy of Judith Leckie WN: You may sign up for these Daily Meditations from the Henri Nouwen Society here. Sharing the Abundant Love Why must we go out to the far ends of the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus when people do not have to know Jesus in order to enter […]

What It’s Like Inside the Largest Immigrant Prison in the US

By Christina Fialho  Salon Published August 4, 2018 photo above: A guard escorts an immigrant detainee from his ‘segregation cell’ back into the general population at the Adelanto Detention Facility on November 15, 2013 in Adelanto, California. John Moore/Getty Images WN: It is ever true that the measure of any civilization is its prisons. Fyodor […]

Pope revises catechism to say death penalty is ‘inadmissible’

Commits the church to working toward its abolition worldwide1 Aug 2, 2018 by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service Theology   photo above: Pope Francis gestures before speaking about the death penalty at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, at the Vatican in this Oct. 11, 2017, file photo. […]

After meditation

  God, whose love and joy                     are present everywhere, can’t come to visit you                     unless you aren’t there.   Carla Cooper Angelus Silesius in The Enlightened Heart, An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, ed. Stephen Mitchell […]

HERE’S WHAT RUSSIA `HAS’ ON TRUMP

  Reader’s Editorials Donald Trump Vladimir Putin Russia WN: The article highlighted below does not surprise… It is also no surprise that such information rolls off supporters’ backs like water off a duck’s…1 Mother Jones published recently “The Very Strange Case of Two Russian Gun Lovers, the NRA, and Donald Trump“, that tells a very […]

Judgment days

In a small Alabama town, an evangelical congregation reckons with God, President Trump and the meaning of morality Please go to the end to read the fascinating article by the above title and subtitle1. WN: Trump – “Angel of Light” A kind of mantra in my Canadian white evangelical upbringing went, “You can be sincere […]

How Pope Francis gives witness to the ‘new holiness’

11 April 2018 | by Laurence Freeman Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman on the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate The Pope’s idea of holiness embeds a prophetic anger against the dull mediocrity of consumerist individualism but, no less, against intellectualised religiosity. In the five short, well-crafted chapters of his new exhortation Francis speaks from a Catholic […]

Enough Bombs Bursting in Air. We Need to Love One Another.

By William Rivers Pitt Truthout, Published July 4, 2018 WN: I love it when people not necessarily in the faith reflect back to us Jesus’ central message to “love one another”. And I think it singularly sobering that they remind people of faith about its central tenet. Would that the white evangelical majority everywhere in […]

Trump is now dangerous – that makes his mental health a matter of public interest

Bandy Lee This world authority in psychiatry, consulted by US politicians, argues that the president’s mental fitness deserves scrutiny Sun 7 Jan 2018 00.05 GMT Last modified on Fri 9 Feb 2018 18.35 GMT WN: Today in Rwanda, we discussed why many African leaders have destroyed home and people over whom they rule(d).  When traits such as […]

How Martin Luther Paved the Way for Donald Trump

To understand why evangelicals support the president, look to the first Protestant. By Michael Massing April 19, 2018 illustration above by Sabine Formane WN: This article draws a fascinating direct line from Martin Luther in the early 16th century to Donald Trump in the 21st. There is likewise a fascinating/tragic direct line to be drawn […]

Jesus Was Not White. Here Is Why Recognizing That Matters

Newsweek Newsweek Europe 2018-03-31   by: Robyn J. Whitaker photo above: © Provided by IBT Media (UK) Depictions of Jesus WN: Racial bias is overwhelmingly problematic in Western Christianity. Change must surely start with the “most radical of all” proposals according to the article highlighted, “if we were more mindful that the person Christians celebrate […]

The Last Temptation

How evangelicals, once culturally confident, became an anxious minority seeking political protection from the least traditionally religious president in living memory Michael Gerson April 2018 Issue Politics WN: This is a greatly informed, wise and even hopeful assessment of what has happened to white Evangelicals in America since their embrace of Trump (81% voted for […]

Parenting the Resistance: 5 Ways to Have Hard Conversations with Kids

March 5, 2018 by Erin Wathen WN: I guess the realities discussed here are universal. For people who care — Christian or whatever — teachable moments can and should always be seized. And it is true, what the author says at the end: These practices work for a wide range of topics, beyond race and […]

Chuck Feeney: the billionaire who gave it all away

Philanthropist lives modestly in rented apartment after giving away $8bn fortune Sat, Mar 3, 2018, 06:00 Conor O’Clery photo above: In 2003, Chuck Feeney signed off on a decision to spend all of his fortune in his lifetime. “Giving while living,” he called it. WN: In light of the following verse, I kind of think […]

The Arctic Is Melting Down as the Antarctic Food Chain Is Breaking

Monday, March 05, 2018 By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report photo above: Little Visuals excerpts: A draft UN report has warned that missing the 1.5°C warming target set by the Paris Climate Accords will multiply hunger, migration and conflict around the globe. The 1.5°C target means limiting atmospheric temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C above what they […]

The Last Real Evangelical: Evangelist Billy Graham

Feb 23, 2018 photo above: Evangelist Billy Graham speaks in Dallas at the 1974 Southern Baptist Convention. (AP) by Mel White / MelWhite.org1 WN: On the day of Billy Graham’s death (February 21, 2018), I posted a critical commentary on Graham. Today I post a positive reflection by Mel White, who counted Graham as a […]

Tech companies should stop pretending AI won’t destroy jobs

No matter what anyone tells you, we’re not ready for the massive societal upheavals on the way. This story is part of the March/April 2018 Issue of the magazine pictured. See the rest of the issue Subscribe February 21, 2018 A View from Kai-Fu Lee   excerpts: [pullquote]It will soon be obvious that half our […]

Billy Graham and the Gospel of Fear

February 21, 2018 byCecil Bothwell Photo above by Richard Bromley | CC BY 2.0 [NOTE: For a differing view with my reflection on it, please also see my February 23, 2018 post about Billy Graham.] WN: Billy Graham’s passing (February 21, 2018) will occasion countless eulogies the world over; he will be touted as the […]

The Christ Hymn

The above is powerful/deeply moving/glorious/spine-tingling… The Christ Hymn from Colossians 1:15-20 (Common English Bible): The Son is the image of the invisible God, the one who is first over all creation, Because all things were created by him: both in the heavens and on the earth, the things that are visible and the things that […]

Hostiles

Does the latest revisionist western get it right or wrong? Vic Thiessen Media Matters February 16, 2018 excerpts: The new revisionist western by Scott Cooper hasn’t been wowing either critics or audiences. A glacially paced old-fashioned epic full of predictable violence, Hostiles has been criticized for its failed attempts at political correctness, its poor character […]

Meet a True Story

Plough Quarterly magazine 15: Staying Human Feature by Michael T. McRay Technology feeds our insatiable hunger for stories, but fails to satisfy our need for human connection. A boom in live storytelling could be changing that. excerpts: When I moved to Ireland for graduate school in 2012, Pádraig Ó Tuama, a leader of the Corrymeela […]

The Land of No Men: Inside Kenya’s Women-Only Village

WN: These are fascinating stories of Kenyan villages where women are in charge. You may notice they are a tad biased against men… One wonders why… Just as of course one cannot imagine why there is bias against white men who have the “burden” to “take care”of their “lesser brethren” when all they offer is […]

Kipling, the ‘White Man’s Burden,’ and U.S. Imperialism

by John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney (Nov 01, 2003) photo above: The Moro Massacre (March 9, 1906): Phillipines – emblematic of the real meaning of “the white man’s burden” WN: The “white man’s burden” has ever been the white man’s horror, or the white man’s alibi, or the white man’s curse, or the […]

The Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and American Exceptionalism

Posted on July 21, 2015 by christian hegemony Challenging Christian Hegemony Practical tools for recognizing and resisting Christian dominance WN: Every time I read an essay so well presented as that highlighted below (and so beyond tragic!), as a committed follower of Jesus, I know that I don’t have to wear the blame, but I […]

Let’s all agree to ‘live in tension’

Jan 25, 2018 by Dennis Coday [Dennis Coday was named editor of NCR Jan. 1, 2012. He has worked for NCR since 2003.]Opinion photo above: (Unsplash/Davide Ragusa) WN: Wow, eh?! (Okay, I’m Canadian…) an excerpt: The No. 1 example of [setting aside “the familiar rhetoric” and talking with folks as people] is found in the […]

Pope Francis’ blind spot on sexual abuse

Jan 25, 2018 by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Opinion photo above: Pope Francis talks with Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, left, as they arrive for a consistory at the Vatican on Feb. 13, 2015. (Courtesy of Reuters/Tony Gentile) WN: Given so many cover-ups of the horror of sexual abuse by priests, Pope Francis on down […]

Francis’ commitment to abuse survivors in question

Jan 23, 2018 by NCR Editorial Staff Accountability Opinion photo above: Pope Francis listens to a question from a journalist aboard his flight from Lima, Peru, to Rome Jan. 21. (CNS/Paul Haring) WN: This is a blunt and powerful Editorial. One wonders: What is it about (especially?) men in power that blinds us about getting […]

New York City vs. Big Oil

Flanked by Nation contributors Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, Bill de Blasio announced that New York City would divest from and sue fossil-fuel companies. By Mark HertsgaardTwitter January 10, 2018, 10:35 pm photo above: Mayor Bill de Blasio announces NYC’s plan to divest from fossil fuels, January 10, 2018. (Sipa via AP Images) WN:   […]

And the Trumpie goes to . . .

By Dana Milbank Opinion writer January 5 at 7:48 PM WN: despite what the article highlights below, there is someone I know well enough who accepts every Trump claim as Gospel truth. This staggers comprehension… excerpts: Of all the scandalous revelations in the Michael Wolff book, the most revealing may be the one about the […]

“Fox Evangelicals” Embrace Trump’s White Nationalism

Wednesday, 27 December 2017 07:36 BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo: Alan / Flickr [su_pullquote align=”right”]”But you will recognize them by their fruits.” – Jesus[/su_pullquote] WN: We know that the ultimate “fruit” is Love. From my Home page: Personal Mantra The Gospels indicate that the test case for love of God is love of […]

Justin Trudeau, Israel and the Palestinians

photo above: A just peace for Palestine, means peace for Israel too. by Michael Rose from Flickr Creative Commons WN: My friend Ron Dart suggests three reasons that the Liberal Party of Canada is in fact not liberal towards the Palestinians. Unsurprisingly, each has to do with power and money. As pointed out elsewhere, Trudeau […]

Erasmus: Wild Bird

WN: I had the privilege of editing, copy-editing, writing the Foreword, and publishing on Amazon/Kindle, Ron Dart’s excellent book on Erasmus. Ron describes 10 points about Erasmus in this brief video, done in his home, December 19. 2017: Below is my Foreword, then Ron’s Introduction. And finally, there is a quote from another article on […]

A running list of the eyewitnesses who prove Trump’s innocence on sexual misconduct

By Philip Bump December 12 at 9:36 AM WN: “Prove” in the title is of course patently ironic, as is the tongue in cheek below about  Trump’s having been “exonerated”. Trump is a tragic piece of self-consumed humanity — grand counter-model to all that makes one human. Still loved by God of course. But what positive can […]

N.T. Wright: Working on a building

Institutions are essential to the church’s mission, but they are not reality, Wright says. They are merely the scaffolding and plumbing that make possible the building called community. Monday, October 25, 2010 an excerpt: Q: What does your understanding of Jesus’ bodily resurrection mean for how we treat people along those lines of justice and […]

The Jesus Revolution is a long way from finished

Sermon by Bruce Hiebert Langley (British Columbia) Mennonite Fellowship 26 November 2017 Text: Matthew 25:31-46 WN: My scholar friend Bruce Hiebert is ever willing to challenge and provoke. No less in the sermon highlighted below. In response to my response to it, he wrote: “I’m glad you enjoyed the sermon. I never know quite how […]

Daily Dig for December 10 — Oscar Romero

Oscar Romero The people’s suffering should not be made a motive for resentment and desperation; it should make people look to the justice of God and realize that this situation must change. And if necessary, like those who have already given their lives, we must be ready to die, but always with the hope that […]

“Apocalyptic” Melting Transpires in Antarctica as Earth Wraps Up a Scorching Year

Monday, December 04, 2017 By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report photo above: (Photo: Ghost Presenter; Edited: LW / TO) WN: The capacity to deny ACD (Anthropogenic Climate Disruption) despite massive evidence otherwise is mind-boggling. Yet someone I know well enough (who never reads my blogs!) has been doing this for years. His favourite whipping boys are David Suzuki and […]

Utilizing Indigenous Thought to Cope in the Age of Trump

Sunday, November 26, 2017 By Four Arrows, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: aljazeera.com WN: Below is a wise, challenging, hopeful piece. As I read it, I reflected on how similar it is to The Great Tradition within the Judaeo-Christian Story, and beyond. Today’s reading on this is copied below: An excerpt from Laurence Freeman OSB, “Reverence,” […]

A Better Man

WN: This is a riveting film about a former couple who meet up 20 years after the male subjected his partner to horrific violence in their relationship, before she finally, after two years, breaks away. It is brilliantly edited, and offers great hope and insight to women who are abused, as well as huge challenge […]

Hellrazed? — edited by Kevin Miller

WN: Kevin Miller produced the movie Hellbound? five years ago to look at changing views on the doctrine of hell. As he began “exploring” hell, partially motivated by having read his friend Brad Jersak’s book, Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hope, Hell and the New Jerusalem, he was alerted to the publication of Rob […]

Pope Denounces ‘Mentality of Fear’ Caused by Nuclear Regimes, Urges Disarmament

Published on Friday, November 10, 2017 by Common Dreams At a seminar at the Vatican, Pope Francis praised the U.N.’s recent anti-nuclear weapons treaty by Julia Conley, staff writer photo above: Pope Francis called for nuclear disarmament at a Vatican summit on Friday, a week after an emotional anti-war speech at a military cemetery in […]

Submission to BC Government’s consultation on cannabis regulation

CULTURE, JUSTICE by Archbishop Michael Miller • November 9, 2017 WN: The issue of cannabis legalization internationally is well summarized here. A breakdown of jurisdictions internationally in relation to cannabis and other drugs is found here, and a comprehensive worldwide chart is found here. Archbishop Miller is incorrect about Canada’s being “only the second country in the world, to […]

Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race

For years, racism has been defined by the violence of far-right extremists, but a more insidious kind of prejudice can be found where many least expect it – at the heart of respectable society Listen to the audio version of this long read Tuesday 30 May 2017 05.30 BST (Last modified on Wednesday 31 May 2017 […]

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, Vol 3 (3) (2011) pp 54-70 ©2011 International Journal of Critical Pedagogy Permission to quote from paper granted by the author, Dr. Robin diAngelo WN: In our immediate family, we have a non-white daughter and daughter-in-law, a non-white nephew and his non-white partner, and two non-white grandsons. As I reflect […]

North Korea Nuclear Testing Tunnel Collapse, Fears of Radiation Leaks, Will Trump Resort to “Fire and Fury” Insanity?

By Felicity Arbuthnot Global Research, November 02, 2017 Region: Asia, USA Theme: Media Disinformation, US NATO War Agenda In-depth Report: NORTH KOREA, Nuclear War photo above: November 1951 nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. Test is shot “Dog” from Operation Buster, with a yield of 21 kilotons of TNT (88 TJ). It was the first U.S. nuclear field exercise conducted with live troops […]

Everything Just Got Worse for Donald Trump

WN: The video is indeed hilarious. And millions around the planet feel smug satisfaction at seeing the Trump Gang of Thieves beginning to get their due. Few doubted that day would come. All knew it was long “over-due” – in Trump’s case, about 70 years and counting! I once asked an avid Trump supporter if […]

Forget Trump, This Huge Volcano Could Literally Wipe Out Life on Earth

If only for a moment, this story is forcing many to put the current political chaos “into perspective” by Jake Johnson, staff writer  WN: Hmmmmm!… Where is God in such a possibility? Hmmmmm! It’s not April 1st … It would be wonderful to have the Planet pull together to stop such a kind of (extremely […]

Katharine Hayhoe: A leading climate scientist, and an evangelical

by Lloyd Mackey • October 12, 2017 • 0 Comments chart above: How Fossil Fuel Money Made Climate Change Denial the Word of God WN: Sadly, faith and politics have been a toxic mix that has led to enormous denialism (like Holocaust deniers) in the Plymouth Brethren/evangelical communities Hayhoe was raised in. Her appeal to Christians to embrace what Catholics […]

Eden, Evil and the Surprising Message of ‘Wonder Woman’

The unnoticed parallels between Diana’s upbringing and the average Christian’s BY TYLER HUCKABEE CULTURE June 05, 2017 WN: The link to the article below about the values of Wonder Woman in a Christian light is great – and well-written. However, my daughter points out the glaring discrepancy between the character Gal Godot plays and her […]

As Trump Carves Path of Destruction, Nader Asks Obama: Where Are You?

While list of programs and rules under attack grows, a call for former president to fight back against “Trump-led assault on our weakening democracy” Tuesday, October 10, 2017 by Common Dreams  by Jake Johnson, staff writer photo above: President Obama and president-elect Trump in the Oval office on November 10, 2016. Picture: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/APSource:News Corp […]

If Thou Could’st Empty All Thyself Of Self

by Thomas Edward Brown If thou could’st empty all thyself of self, Like to a shell dishabited, Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf, And say, “This is not dead,” And fill thee with Himself instead. But thou are all replete with very thou And hast such shrewd activity, That when He comes […]

1,516 mass shootings in 1,735 days: America’s gun crisis – in one chart

Monday 2 October 2017 19.09 BST WN: In the introductory essay to my website, I write: ***************************************************************** Nuclear strategist Albert Wohlstetter described this longstanding [American] policy as a “delicate balance of terror (ibid, p. 27).” In short, any number of nuclear war planners in Washington contemplated striking 295 Soviet cities, with an estimated death toll total of […]

Deuteronomy, Jewish Prophets and the Sermon on the Mount: Moral Formulas, Comedy and Tragedy: Monophony or Polyphony?

photo above: Ron Dart, amongst many scholarly pursuits and prolific writing, is an enthusiastic mountaineer! WN: Ron sent me this outstanding article on Deuteronomy. It is an amazing reflection on the tensions between the prophetic and the nationalist ethics of ancient Israel, what authors Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence dub “zealous nationalism” versus “prophetic […]

CAMPAIGN NONVIOLENCE WEEK OF ACTIONS 2017

TAKE ACTION SEPTEMBER 16-24, 2017! Campaign Nonviolence is a long-term grassroots movement for a culture of peace and nonviolence free from war, poverty, racism, environmental destruction and the epidemic of violence. We invite people and organizations in the U.S. and worldwide to take action during CNV Action Week around the International Day of Peace, September […]

The Racial Wealth Gap Is Leading to An Almost-Nonexistent Middle Class

With people of color projected to make up the majority of Americans by 2043, a new study warns against policies that keep many black and Latino households out of the middle class by Julia Conley, staff writer, ips-dc.org excerpts: image above: 10 Practical Steps to Bridge the Racial Wealth Gap – Institute for Policy Studies […]

Tomgram: Engelhardt, The Last Men Standing

Posted by Tom Engelhardt at 8:03am, September 5, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. Victory at Last!  In America’s Wars, Failure Is the New Success By Tom Engelhardt photo above: Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (left), speaks to White House chief of staff Gen. John F. Kelly. (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of […]

On 9/11: How We Hyped Terrorism and Slighted the Real Threat: Climate Change

SEP 11, 2017 Juan Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and the proprietor of the Informed Comment e-zine. He has written extensively on modern Islamic movements in Egypt, the Persian Gulf and South Asia and has given numerous media interviews on the war on terrorism and […]

The Pentagon’s New Wonder Weapons for World Dominion

Or Buck Rogers in the 21st Century By Alfred W. McCoy [This piece has been adapted and expanded from Alfred W. McCoy’s new book, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power.]  illustration above: Mongol airships fire disintegrator rays to destroy America. (Buck Rodgers, 2429 A.D., 2-9-1929, Roland […]

Exploring the Shadows of America’s Security State

Or How I Learned Not to Love Big Brother By Alfred W. McCoy [This piece has been adapted and expanded from the introduction to Alfred W. McCoy’s new book, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power.] WN: A family member once quipped about the United States that she would […]

Don’t Just Protect Affirmative Action From Trump—Demand More

Racism’s economic effects are pernicious.​ August 24, 2017 By Bryce Covert WN: Similar realities obtain of course in Canada. Please see for instance a trilogy edited by Steve Heinrichs of Mennonite Church Canada. Affirmative action – railed against by a close family member – is a drop in the bucket for what is needed. As the […]

‘Shades of 1933 Germany’: Trump’s Hostile Rally Prompts Third Reich Comparisons

Former British ambassador expresses shock at president’s rhetoric as U.N. panel issues warning on Charlottesville response Published on Wednesday, August 23, 2017 by Common Dreams WN: Things begin to become genuinely scary. Especially in light of a former Trump advisor who warned of armed insurrection if Trump is impeached. Lord, have mercy. In the wake […]

Ex-intelligence chief – Trump’s access to nuclear codes is ‘pretty damn scary’

James Clapper questioned the US president’s ‘fitness to be in this office’ after his speech in Phoenix, joining a growing chorus of alarm over his erratic behavior Julian Borger in Washington Wednesday 23 August 2017 16.17 BST excerpts: Donald Trump’s access to the nuclear codes is “pretty damn scary”, a former US intelligence chief has said, calling Trump’s […]

Why Are There No Eclipse Deniers?

AUG 21, 2017 COLUMNS by Juan Cole an excerpt: In fact, we are all climate criminals and saboteurs. The US is putting 5.4 billion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. Year in, year out. We should be rapidly reducing our carbon footprint. We aren’t. You’re endangering your grandchildren. If you own a […]

The Fundamentalists Holding Us Back from a Climate Change Solution

The evangelical Christian movement has been at war with environmentalism for decades—but the stakes have never been higher. By ALLIE CONTI illustrated by LIA KANTROWITZ Aug 20 2017, 7:15pm WN: It is truly tragic to see US politics swayed by a minority of religious climate change deniers – out of all proportion to their numbers. […]

Christianity Does Not Justify Trump’s ‘Fire and Fury’

Steven Paulikas THE STONE AUG. 14, 2017 photo above: Jeff Swensen for The New York Times excerpts: Jeffress told The Post, “God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary — including war — to stop evil.” I argue that recent history has already demonstrated that the invocation of evil in political rhetoric leads […]

Why Trump Could Be Gone Before 2020

AUGUST 18, 2017 by PAUL STREET excerpts: Increasingly, though, one really must wonder if the arch-authoritarian racist idiot Donald Trump will make it to 2020. The supreme madness and evil of the rolling atrocity that is the Insane Clown Trump presidency has just now reached a new level of bizarre and scary-weird ruling-class dysfunction. Just last […]

We Must Speak Out: Christian Leaders on the White Nationalist Rally

The hate must end. August 13, 2017 This weekend, hundreds of alt-right white supremacists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, to hold a “Unite the Right” rally. Their stated goal was to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a park. Their rally, which consisted of neo-Nazis, heavily armed militia members […]

Parked Electric Cars Earn Cash While Feeding the Power Grid

  Lorraine Chow Aug. 11, 2017 09:56AM EST In Europe, electric vehicles are not just a low-emission way of getting from A to B, they are also being built as mobile generators. Newly designed Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) models can both receive electricity from the grid and supply excess power right back during peak demand. Notably, the Parker Project in Denmark—carried out by […]

How to Challenge Media Narratives Without Being Called a Conspiracy Theorist

August 12, 2017 John Kiriakou Contributor photo above: President Kennedy minutes before his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Also in the presidential limousine: Jackie Kennedy, Texas Gov. John Connally and Connally’s wife, Nellie. (Walt Cisco / Wikimedia) WN: As to the last line of the quote below: You can fool all the people […]

Denier-in-Chief Trump Should Read NOAA’s Frightening New Climate Report

With “highest concentration of CO2 in the air in 800,000 years,” how much more proof does president need? Published on Thursday, August 10, 2017 by Common Dreams by Jake Johnson, staff writer photo above: The report—based on contributions from over 450 scientists from around 60 countries—is the most detailed climate assessment that has emerged from […]

Note To Wall Street: Never Mind Your Nuclear Stock Tips For “Highly Dovish Forward Guidance.” On Account of Everyone Being, You Know, Dead.

by Abby Zimet, staff writer illustration above: by The Spectator We can’t even. Tensions with North Korea continue to escalate, in large part thanks to the belligerent rhetoric of our moronic Narcissist-In-Chief – who, despite claims to the contrary, has not done anything  to “renovate and modernize” our nuclear arsenal. Though he has in fact fired the people who […]

Two Tracks – One Goal

How Alcoholics Anonymous Relates to Christianity, Cal Chambers, North Vancouver BC: Bridging the Gap Enterprise, 1998. WN: The book is by a friend of many decades, who died in 2014. Cal was always very supportive of the prison work I was engaged in, and was also involved with people with addictions for many decades.  We […]

Trump has taken us to the brink of nuclear war. Can he be stopped?

In previous nuclear standoffs, Trump’s predecessors knew when to hold back from further antagonising the other side. But now there is no such certainty Wednesday 9 August 2017 12.39 BST Jonathan Freedland WN: A few months ago, Germany’s Der Spiegel used an online headline about Trump and Jong un thus: “The Two Crazies with the Bomb”“. I […]

On Fighting Inequality, Which Nations Do More Than Pay Lip Service?

Sunday, July 23, 2017 By Sam Pizzigati, Inequality.org | News Analysis WN: Jesus says more about wealth and power than most things. The Prophets likewise repeatedly address ill-gotten wealth and oppressive power. James chapter 5 raises those issues thus: Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths […]

Deforestation and Climate Disruption Are Degrading the Amazon, Endangering Our Survival

Monday, August 07, 2017 By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report photo above: The Amazon Rainforest, the most biologically diverse place on Earth, is threatened by deforestation and anthropogenic climate disruption. (Photo: CIAT; Edited: LW / TO) an excerpt: Sao Paolo and Brasilia, Brazil — Warwick Manfrinato, the director of Brazil’s Department of Protected Areas, has a deep understanding of […]

Slouching Toward Mar-a-Lago

The Post-Cold-War Consensus Collapses Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, The Great Hysteria Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 6:10am, August 8, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. By Andrew J. Bacevich WN: The article highlighted below claims that “Trumps R Us“. Another way of expressing it of course: Trump is the Ultimate Ugly American! Tragically, America got exactly what it had become. […]

Internet Party of New Zealand Hosts #AntiSpyBill Campaign Event

Posted on Aug 6, 2017 On Sunday [August 6, 2017], the Internet Party of New Zealand live-streamed a general election campaign event featuring guests such as award-winning investigative journalist Barrett Brown, hacktivist Lauri Love and stand-up comedian Lee Camp. The party’s platform is based on internet freedom and consumer privacy protections, and it looked to the public to help draft legislation during the […]

Salvation as At-One-Ment

book cover above: Stricken By God? is an anthology of papers by authors from all the major Christian traditions, arguing for a nonviolent atonement. WN: My paper1 specifically argues for a restorative justice view in contradistinction to the the retributive view of justice as described below, one that flows out of a violent atonement theory. […]

Church program offers hope to released sex offenders

CATHOLIC VANCOUVER JUL 17, 2017 BY AGNIESZKA KRAWCZYNSKI photo above: Maureen Donegan heads the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s prison ministry, including the COSA program for released sex offenders. (Agnieszka Krawczynski / The B.C. Catholic) WN: I had the good fortune for many years of helping lead CoSA with Maureen Donegan. I also am fortunate to now serve on […]

Now Is The Time For Prophetic Moral Action

Published on Monday, July 17, 2017 by Red Letter Christians photo above: arrest of Rev. Barber. “It’s time,” writes Rev. Barber, “for those of us who are called to proclaim and embody God’s Word to put on our clerical robes, take up our holy books, and speak truth in the public square.” by Rev. Dr. […]

Pope Francis allies accuse Trump White House of ‘apocalyptic geopolitics’

Article vetted by the Vatican offers scathing critique of Steve Bannon, who is Catholic, the Trump White House and ‘evangelical fundamentalism’ in the US photo above: Ivanka Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump stand with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on May 24, 2017. Evan Vucci—AP WN: Utterly appalling and […]

The Demolition of U.S. Global Power

Donald Trump’s Road to Debacle in the Greater Middle East  Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Trumping the Empire Posted by Alfred McCoy at 4:23pm, July 16, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. By Alfred W. McCoy excerpts: Trump’s Demolition Job Despite the obvious differences in their economic circumstances, there remain some telling resonances between Britain’s postwar politics and America’s troubles today. […]

The Fallout

Report Climate & EnvironmentHealthJustice July 10, 2017 In St. Louis, America’s nuclear history creeps into the present, leaching into streams and bodies. By Lacy M. Johnson photo above: For the first three months, the AEC didn’t own the property onto which it was dumping. The drivers worked for an independent company; one, Tom Greene, was a […]

Trump Bet Americans Would Like His Un-Presidential Antics. He May Be Right.

Posted on Jul 15, 2017 By Neal Gabler / Moyers & Company WN: Of course nonsense about “American exceptionalism” stinks to high heaven! Always has! Most of the rest of the world is too aware of that – and increasingly so with President Ultimate American Con, President Ultimate Ugly American. (OK! I know! Christians are to love their enemies. […]

Courts Must Hold Executive Branch Accountable for Drone Strikes

Thursday, July 13, 2017 By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout | News Analysis WN: Of course all Presidents by definition are mass murderers. Trump is on track to be the worst of them all. an excerpt: Judge Brown Invites Courts to Review the Legality of Drone Strikes In addition to writing the majority opinion, Judge Brown also authored a separate […]

Tomgram: Engelhardt, Aiding and Abetting the Tweeter-in-Chief

The Insult Wars in Washington  How They Blind Us to Our Troubles  By Tom Engelhardt Posted by Tom Engelhardt at 5:15pm, July 9, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. photo above: From the article highlighted below is this: But one tweet truly caught my attention, even if it was at the very beginning of a donnybrook that, with twists […]

Doctrine of Discovery Task Force – Christian Reformed Church of North America

WN: There are so many in dominant North American culture who simply deny any relevance in the past treatment of indigenous peoples to North American realities of today. At least, if acknowledged, they say that nothing can be done about it, and that indigenous peoples should just “get over it, and move on”. They usually […]

Tomgram: Dilip Hiro, Two Impulsive Leaders Fan the Global Flames

Posted by Dilip Hiro at 6:51am, July 6, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. image above: Winning entry of this year’s International Trumpism Cartoon and Caricature Contest in Tehran. WN: The article highlighted below shows two impulsive leaders, Trump and Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Salman, to be hell-bent on fanning the flames of the Middle East, and thereby […]

The Unacknowledged Logic of North Korea’s Missile Tests

We may not like it, but nuclear weapons may be all that stands in the way of another US-conducted “regime change.” By Patrick Lawrence July 6, 2017 2:05 PM photo above: South Korean and U.S. Army tanks fire live rounds during a joint live-fire military exercise near the demilitarized zone in Pocheon, South Korea, April 21, […]

We Are the 99 Percent—Except for the Top 20 Percent of Us

 In a new book Dream Hoarders, Richard V. Reeves argues that members of the upper middle class, not just the ultra-wealthy, are making our society profoundly unequal. By Bryce Covert JULY 3, 2017 WN: What the author calls for in the article highlighted below is what biblical Jubilee Justice repeatedly heralds: that for everyone “enough should be […]

Urgent Special Appeal From Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPJ)

We Need You! Dear Friends, On April 19, 2017, Issam Al Yamani, a prominent Palestinian activist in the Greater Toronto Area, was told by Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA)  that they will enforce a deportation order that was issued in 2005. Issam could be deported as early as next month. Please help us keep Issam in […]

Worried About Those Global Cyber Attacks? They Were Started by Washington

Worried About Those Global Cyber Attacks? They Were Started by Washington The notorious US spy agencies invented this monster, first with the Stuxnet virus against Iran—but then they lost control over it. By William Greider JUNE 30, 2017 WN: Of course, the United States has never been the “peacekeeper that upholds the world’s higher values”, as […]

Reality Check: The End of Growth in the Tar Sands. So Now What?

Published on Friday, June 30, 2017 by Oil Change International A managed decline is highly preferable to an unmanaged one, but it requires recognition that the decline part is inevitable By Hannah McKinnon an excerpt: A managed decline of the tar sands isn’t a popular idea in Alberta, or in Canada for that matter. The […]

There Trump Goes Again

Published on Friday, June 30, 2017 by Washington Post by Eugene Robinson photo above: White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) an excerpt: One doesn’t need a degree in psychology to wonder if the president suffers from some deep-seated insecurity. I can’t help but think about that Cabinet meeting this […]

Who Weeps Not, Sees Not: Celebrating Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables

Friday, June 30, 2017 by Abby Zimet, staff writer full text: For a break from the current squalor, we pay tribute to Victor Hugo (1802-1885), who on this date in 1862 published the last chapter of Les Misérables, his extraordinary, timeless, 1,500 page paean to the wretched of the earth that gave voice to the long-suffering voiceless. […]

Institute for Religion, Peace and Justice (St. Stephen’s University)

WN: Below is notice of a new Institute to address our fractured world with a message and initiatives for peace and peacemaking. There are highlights from their website. Here are some considerations that make the IRPJ unique. It is headed by a friend of my son Mark, Andrew Klager. He is an up-and-coming scholar, already […]

Naomi Klein: How to Resist Trump’s Shock Doctrine

Naomi Klein is brilliant, articulate, and deeply committed to the well-being of humanity. She recently published No is Not Enough, on which the video above is based. Please click on: Resist Trump’s Shock Doctrine You may also listen to an interview with Naomi Klein, June 12, 2017, on CBC’s “The Current”. The discussion was entitled: […]

White Supremacy Is Anti-Gospel. I’m Glad the Southern Baptist Convention Agrees

WN: I copied the entire article below. It is about an historic decision by the Southern Baptist Convention. Russell Moore has been the head of the (SBC) Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission since 2013. As you can see from the links, he has been an amazing voice within those ranks for actually […]

The Gospel Counter-Narrative

WN On April 4, 2017, our pastor, Rob Brown, at Eden Mennonite Church in Chilliwack BC preached a great sermon about the Counter-Narrative in the Gospel stories, including the Ultimate Counter-Narrative: The Resurrection. I asked Rob for permission to upload the audio recording (you do not have to sign up for DropBox!) of the sermon (mp3 […]

Avaaz: 21 Children vs Trump

Momentum is building! Just last week the court shut down Trump’s latest attempt to kill the case. Let’s send the children to trial with a wave of support — click below: Dear friends, One lawsuit could stop Trump wrecking our planet. And here’s the kicker — it’s a case brought by 21 children! Yup, after […]

Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas

Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas JUNE 2, 2017 by PAUL STREET WN: The review below of the recent massive biography of Barack Obama is scathing with reference to Obama’s supreme narcissism (matching Trump’s one could argue, though not in constant bombast). Paul Street powerfully demonstrates how Obama, in a long line […]

The US tried to derail climate action before – and it ended in humiliating defeat

George W Bush failed in his attempt to block global action on climate change. His mistake – about to be repeated by Trump – was to imagine the UN process was weak Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent Thursday 1 June 2017 16.50 BSTLast modified on Friday 2 June 2017 00.36 BST photo above: A polar bear leaps over melting ice, Svalbard […]

The US and Israel Share a History of Ethnic Cleansing

Sunday, May 28, 2017 By Mark Karlin, Truthout | Interview an excerpt: Mark Karlin Historically, what are some examples of the US and Israel sharing a history of ethnic cleansing against Indians and Palestinians, respectively? TRUTHOUT PROGRESSIVE PICK ________________________________________ What will liberation look like for Indigenous America and Palestine? Click on how to order his new […]

Ajamu Baraka, “Uncle Tom,” and the Pathology of White Liberal Racism

AUGUST 24, 2016 by ERIC DRAITSER WN: White Supremacy has many disguised faces. One is “white liberal”, worn by those who supported a Black President because it is the “liberal thing” to be anti-racist, and who smugly know they do the right thing: end of all discourse. But the issue is far deeper – and […]

Jaroslav Pelikan: Magister Ludi of Christian Castalia – with Ron Dart

Magister Ludi – “Master of the Game” (Latin) Castalia – “Of or pertaining to Castalia, a mythical fountain of inspiration on Mt. Parnassus sacred to the Muses.” Ron S. Dart (UFV) uses the imagery of Hermann Hesse‘s The Glass Bead Game to reflect on the career and works of Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006).

America’s Iran Hysteria

The Irrationality of Iran Vilification By Danny Sjursen Posted by Danny Sjursen at 7:46am, May 30, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. WN: It is now almost in every geopolitical instance a truism that if the United States says “black” the reality is the inverse – or significantly other. Such is the case in the article highlighted below. America’s view […]

Indigenous Alliance Launches Divestment Campaign Against US and Canadian Pipelines

Thursday, May 25, 2017 By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, Truthout | Report photo above: Indigenous activists march with allies in the Tar Sands Healing Walk in northern Alberta, Canada. (Photo: Velcrow Ripper) The struggle is interminable – and sometimes what to do intangible. What is suggested here and below is hopeful and doable. an excerpt: Earlier this month, the Treaty […]

ANCIENT PRACTICES OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

7th International CURE Conference on Human Rights & Prison Reform April 25-29, Alajuela San Jose, Costa Rica by Bruno van der Maat WN: It was great having spent time at the Conference with Bruno van der Maat, Senior Professor, Director of Master Studies, Universidad Católica de Santa María Graduate School, Arequipa, Peru. He is a very gentle, thoughtful […]

Hermann Hesse and Thomas Merton: Countercultural Affinities

WN: This is a fascinating article that brings together Hermann Hesse and Thomas Merton, likely the two most countercultural influencers of the 20th century in the West. Of course both were responsive in their various ways to the supreme countercultural call in the West: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s […]

‘Death row nun’ explains why she does it

Sister Prejean tells prisoners they’re worth more than their crimes By Agnieszka Krawczynski of The B.C. Catholic Wednesday, 10 May 2017 11:56p photo above: Sister Helen Prejean meets Joel Ivany, the director of the Vancouver Opera’s performance of Dead Man Walking, in Vancouver April 29. (Agnieszka Krawczynski / The B.C. Catholic) WN: Canada abolished the death […]

Help Build a Strong Canadian Anti-Poverty Plan

Consultations to inform the Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy (CPRS) have begun!  For the first time, the federal government is now ready to develop a national poverty reduction strategy. Make sure your voice is heard! Sign our Dignity for All form!  On February 13th, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Jean-Yves Duclos, launched consultations for the CPRS. The government […]

It’s Time for our Prime Minister to Commemorate Nakba Day

May 15, 2017 in the Huffington Post Blog Tyler Levitan, Campaigns Coordinator for Independent Jewish Voices Canada WN: Sadly, Justin Trudeau is a repeated disgrace: regarding women; oil/climate change; Palestine/Israel – and the list gets longer… ********* Editor: Our readers will be interested in this [already happened] free webinar organized by Independent Jewish Voices Canada on May […]

Select Bibliography of Key Restorative Justice Works

Select Bibliography of Key Restorative Justice Works Compiled by Wayne Northey WN: Today, I updated a bibliography, especially weighted towards theological and generally academic works, that I have appreciated. Compilation of this list began decades ago. I think most are still discoverable, the links current. It is copied below, and there is a link to […]

Getting Through U.S. Immigration – Spoof

WN: This brief spoof captures something tragically larger about American Empire. [su_video url=”http://waynenorthey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/USA-spoof.mp4″]

Apply Domestic ‌Law: Provide Prisoners with Adequate Medical Care

Atena Daemi Tehran, Iran WN: In light of the Nelson Mandela Rules issued by the United Nations in 2015, what Iran is doing to its dissidents is flagrant violation. This apart from violation of what is described below. Please read on, and consider clicking below to be taken to a page where you may sign a […]

Stop swooning over Justin Trudeau. The man is a disaster for the planet

Donald Trump is a creep and unpleasant to look at, but at least he’s not a stunning hypocrite when it comes to climate change Bill McKibben @billmckibben Monday 17 April 2017 11.00 BST Last modified on Tuesday 18 April 2017 19.35 BST an excerpt: Last month, speaking at a Houston petroleum industry gathering, he got a standing ovation from the […]

Global Resource Depletion

Home › 2013 › Volume 64, Issue 08 (January) › Global Resource Depletion Is Population the Problem? by Fred Magdoff Topics: Ecology , Marxist Ecology , Stagnation Places: Africa illustration above found here WN: A fascinating article! So much to understand. So little time to learn and act! It is a long article, but so rewarding to read. an excerpt: The original 1972 Limits to Growth study [see update 30 […]

Video: “Trump Won’t Be Cancelling World War 3 After All”. #StandDownMrTrump

Mr Trump is a liar, a hypocrite and a fool By StormCloudsGathering Global Research, April 15, 2017 stormcloudsgathering.com WN: It is a towering truism in relation to Trump, that “one should never trust a liar.” If only it were that simple, and we could all go to bed tonight with full assurance that the world is safe […]

HOW TO JAM THE TRUMP BRAND

Naomi Klein April 12 2017, 8:19 a.m. WN: Anything short of violence to reduce this man’s power to do evil. Click below for a kind of Planet Harm Reduction 101. Naomi Klein is quite brilliant – and funny. Video below. Please click on: HOW TO JAM THE TRUMP BRAND

Is Trump Turning to Missile Strikes to Salvage His Failing Presidency?

Friday, April 14, 2017 By Michael Meurer, Truthout | News Analysis photo above: President Donald Trump makes a statement about the American attack on an air base in Syria, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, April 6, 2017. (Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times) WN: Trump is a colossal failure: at being a […]

VOW – Statement on Syria

Justin Trudeau has shown his true colours in his complete flip-flop on what The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) calls for below. He lacks the spine of his father, who in part was willing to stand up to U.S. Empire. Without doubt, he will also bless (has done so already?) the MOAB dropped […]

Mandela Rules Highlight Conference April 25-29 in Costa Rica

I’ll be speaking at this conference and will present this paper. Below is the press release for this event: The revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners will be the theme of the 7th International Conference on Human Rights and Prison Reform which will  be held at the Marriott Courtyard (near […]

Restorative Justice Then, Now and A Dream

WN: A massive body of Restorative Justice literature has emerged. A superb early study is Restoring Justice (Strong and Van Ness, 1997). A great early overview of the wider context is The Expanding Prison (Cayley, 1998). The first major study was Changing Lenses (Zehr, 1990) – considered a classic. The two best Christian theological studies […]

Pope opens free launderette for Rome’s homeless people

 Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent @harrietsherwood Pope Francis Laundry – which provides detergent, irons and tumble dryers – is latest papal initiative to help city’s poor photo above: The Pope Francis Laundry in Rome. Francis makes people on the margins of society a focus of his work. Photograph: Office Of Papal Charities/EPA WN: I love it! an excerpt: […]

Neoliberalism in the Driver’s Seat: Trump and Ryan’s Ruling-Class Schemes

Thursday, April 06, 2017By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout | Interview photo above: House Speaker Paul Ryan looks on as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 28, 2017. (Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times) an excerpt: Donald Trump ran a campaign to “make America great again,” promising […]

The Banality of War

WN: Below is the first footnote of an essay for a possible chapter in an upcoming book slated for fall publication, Hellrazed, edited by Kevin Miller, of Hellbound? (the documentary) fame. I look at the issues of war and hell together from a Christian perspective. I periodically update the essay, then upload the revised version […]

The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria

Glenn Greenwald April 7 2017, 7:43 a.m. WN: “The first casualty of war is truth“, is an adage proved invariably true throughout human history under all kinds of regimes: not least democracies. Or, as author/activist David Swanson tirelessly and convincingly argues: War Is a Lie – not only title of his most recent book, but a reality […]

Observers Warn That Syria Attack is Trump’s “Wag the Dog” Moment

Published on Friday, April 07, 2017 by Common Dreams Reports that Russia was warned about strike fuel accusations that military action was taken to distract from mounting domestic problems photo above: Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro appear in the 1997 film “Wag the Dog,” about a political consultant and a Hollywood director who construct a […]

Who Rules America?

WN: Of course who rules America in turn rules the world. Such unbounded ruthlessly greedy power brokers have embraced and even to a large extent realized in the 21st century what was offered Jesus in the 1st (Matthew 4:1 – 11): “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.“ But “the art of the deal” represents in fact […]

Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) is in crisis.

photo above: Council of Canadians campaigner Daniel Cayley-Daoust presenting to the NEB modernization panel February 22, 2017. Revelations of secret lobby meetings forced the resignation of its Energy East pipeline review panel last year. The NEB has long been accused of being biased in favour of industry, and leading pipeline reviews that don’t take transparency, public input […]

Fifty Years On: MLK’s Concerns Still Plague Us, Including Militarism

Tuesday, 04 April 2017 photo above: Racism, extreme materialism and militarism are still inextricably linked, and still prevent our society’s becoming anything close to Dr. King’s “beloved community.” (Photo: Susan Melkisethian) KEVIN MARTIN AND REVEREND DR. HERBERT DAUGHTRY WN: The United States has acted like an empire since its inception: its two foundational sins are indigenous […]

‘No Walls, No War, No Warming’: Progressives Call for Priorities Shift

Published on Tuesday, April 04, 2017 by Common Dreams Under President Donald Trump’s budget, “war wins out”—over pretty much everything photo above: Fifty years ago Tuesday, Martin Luther King, Jr. warned that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual […]

Statement re Israeli Ministry’s Attack on JVP ahead of National Conference Today

For Immediate Release Friday, March 31, 2017 – 2:30pm Organization Profile:  Jewish Voice for Peace Contact: 510.465.1777, info@jewishvoiceforpeace.org Israeli Ministry’s Attack on JVP a sign of the movement for Palestinian rights’ growing power an excerpt: CHICAGO, IL. – Ahead of the largest ever gathering of Jewish Voice for Peace members, the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs reportedly issued a statement attacking […]

Justice for Hassan Diab, April 5, 7pm, Vancouver Public Library

Facebook events page March 28, 2017 Sponsored by BCCLA and Hassan Diab Support Committee ———————————— Justice for Hassan Diab: End Hassan Diab’s 8-year legal nightmare With: Don Bayne – Hassan Diab’s lawyer and Hasan Alam – Critical Muslim Voices Wednesday, April 5 @ 7pm VPL Central Branch 350 West Georgia Street, Unceded Coast Salish Territories Why is […]

Palestinian Women – One for All, All for One

Editor: We are proud that Samah, one of the women profiled in the article below [click on Palestinian Women] from International Women’s Day got her start in activism as a member of CFOS Ottawa. She will be touring Canada next month with her play, mentioned below [click on Palestinian Women]. Look for more info shortly on our website. […]

CREDO – Dorothee Soelle

photo above:Dorothee Soelle (1929 – 2003). Image Source. This was sent me by my friend Herb Baldwin. I obtained the photo from this website. It introduces people to Jürgen Moltmann’s theology. Lots of resources there. CREDO I believe in God who created the world not ready made like a thing that must forever stay what […]

Evangelist Franklin Graham hits perfect storm in Vancouver

Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun  03.05.2017 photo above: Thirty-three Vancouver Christian leaders wrote a public letter admonishing Graham for saying “Islam is a ‘very evil and wicked religion’” and for “portraying … U.S. President Donald Trump as intrinsically aligned with the Christian church.” Photo: Graham takes the stage in Alabama. Mark Wallheiser / Vancouver Sun WN: […]

** OUT NOW ** 
Dancing with Elephants: Mindfulness Training

Hello from Winnipeg! I couldn’t put it off any longer. The new self-help/memoir, Dancing with Elephants, is now available everywhere. You’ll find all the links you could possibly need below the blurb. Diagnosed with a disease that can’t be reversed? Learn how to keep living life to the fullest.   Have you received a terminal […]

Constantine in Canada – Ron Dart – with Vancouver letter re: Franklin Graham

February 27, 2017 Constantine in Canada: The Conservative Evangelicals Ron S. Dart WN: Years ago, I wrote an editorial in The Mennonite, a U.S.-based periodical, about evangelism being carried out – without the Gospel.  The Editor later informed me that he had never received so many angry Letters to the Editor attacking my article in his […]

Truthdiggers of the Week: Sanctuary Churches, Havens for Undocumented Immigrants

photo above: Members of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, N.J., show support for undocumented immigrants. (Reformed Church of Highland Park / Facebook) Posted on Feb 18, 2017 By Emma Niles an excerpt: Since President Trump took office less than one month ago, fears of increased deportations at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have […]

You’re Fired! The Unemployable Trump Administration

February 23, 2017 Dana Snitzky Longreads photo above: British (Canadians) burn White House in War of 1812. (Metaphorically, would that Trudeau and Company do the same now! Then again, Trump the Arsonist is working hard on that project himself! “Give a man enough rope…”) an excerpt: The second takeaway is that Donald Trump is made […]

Conservative evangelicals join letter denouncing Trump’s order on refugees

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey February 8, 2017 WN: My question is really amazement. How is it possible that conservative Christians reading Jesus are so blinded to what Jesus calls for? The story below is hugely encouraging. Some conservative Christians actually get Jesus! Go figure… an excerpt: “This is not the usual list of left-leaning, social […]

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them – Jesus

WN: Across the United States, there has been massive support by conservative Evangelical Christians for Donald Trump. For instance, before election, he was fêted by 1,000 Evangelical leaders in New York City who embraced him as a great Christian leader. At his inauguration, Franklin Graham (Billy Graham’s son) ad libbed that God’s blessing was on […]

EKOS: Most Catholics view Israel negatively; Canadians overwhelmingly understand that criticism of Israeli gov’t policy is not necessarily anti-Semitic and Israel Lobby reports failure of anti-BDS efforts

February 17, 2017 Disconnect: Canadians’ views of the Israeli government vs. Canadian gov’t policy toward Israel and Palestine Issued by: Independent Jewish Voices Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Murray Dobbin, Dimitri Lascaris, LL.B. Authored by Diana Ralph Executive Summary This survey exposes a dramatic disconnect between the opinions of Canadians and the positions […]

If Being a Christian Means XYZ, then I am not a Christian.

February 15, 2017 by Kimberly Stover WN: I have copied the entire posting below, with a link at the end for where you may see the original, become a “Follower” of the author, etc. Billy Graham was definitely right on in the citation below from 1981. Would that he too had stayed away form the […]

Trump’s anti-press conference would be funny – if it weren’t so scary

Friday 17 February 2017 15.09 GMT Richard Wolffe If Donald Trump is qualified for any job – and that’s a rather big if, based on this press conference – it’s clear that he wants to be a media critic on Fox News WN: It is extremely painful to continue to post about Donald Trump. A friend […]

Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science

by Dennis Venema / Scot McKnight • February 16, 2017 WN: Almost anyone raised fundamentalist or evangelical was fed on the almost total disconnect between science and the Bible, with the Bible, according to reigning wisdom, winning out. Sadly, a great number of those so raised who went on to study the biological sciences and similar fields […]

Fake News and Donald Trump’s War on Truth

Published on Friday, February 10, 2017 by Truthdig by Sonali Kolhatkar photo above: President Trump with chief of staff Reince Priebus, center, adviser Kellyanne Conway and members of the press aboard Air Force One in January. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP) an excerpt: “Fake news” and “alternative facts” are hardly new concepts. Right-wing websites, […]

For America’s Sake, We Need Answers about Russia. Now.

Why we must now ask famous questions that so bedeviled Richard Nixon: What did Donald Trump know and when did he know it? Published on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 by  Common Dreams By Michael Winship image above: Russian President Vladimir Putin. ‘The bottom line is that Putin is far shrewder than Trump,’ writes Winship. (Image: […]

John Oliver on Trump and the truth: ‘a pathological liar’

In his return to HBO, the host of Last Week Tonight dissected the troubling falsehoods in the president’s statements and exactly where they originate Guardian staff Monday 13 February 2017 23.59 GMT John Oliver has criticized reality TV star turned president Donald Trump’s rhetoric, calling him “a pathological liar”. Brilliant satire in the video embedded below. […]

Tomgram: Rajan Menon, The China Missile Crisis of 2018?

Posted by Rajan Menon at 5:11pm, February 12, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. an excerpt: “We’re Going to War in the South China Sea…” Facing off against China, President Trump could find himself in a similar predicament, having so emphasized his toughness, his determination to regain America’s lost respect and make the country great […]

“I’ve Never Been So Ashamed To Be an American.” Really?

These are shameful times, but the current ugliness did not start simply with Donald Trump Published on Friday, February 10, 2017 by Common Dreams By Christian Christensen photo above: ‘How deep is our disconnect from that of which we should be most ashamed?’ asks Christensen.  (Photo: Ted S. Warren/ AP) WN: Of course the author […]

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

Feisty Harriet’s Reviews In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (Goodreads Author) Feisty Harriet‘s review Nov 16, 2016 bookshelves: world-war-ii Read from November 16 to 20, 2016 WN: “I am not comparing the incoming US administration to Hitler’s Third Reich, however the similarities in the […]

Trump travel ban hits major setback after judges uphold temporary restraining order

Ben Jacobs in Washington @Bencjacobs Thursday 9 February 2017 23.17 GMT Complete victory’: attorney general celebrates Trump travel ban verdict Judges upheld order issued last week to prevent 90-day travel ban from seven Muslim-majority countries and 120-day freeze on US admission of any refugees Travel ban: judges refuse to reinstate Trump’s order – live WN: One […]

Trump’s War on the Courts, the Press, and the States

Published on Wednesday, February 08, 2017 by RobertReich.org In short: Trump is a robber baron control freak who wishes to become the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world. A narcissistic megalomaniacal Ugly American to outdo all former contesters. an excerpt: Trump’s real beef is California is independent of him. It has defied Trump […]

Why We March: Reflections from Women’s Marches

Jan 26, 2017 Donald Trump Women’s March photo above: Sean Talbot joined thousands of people marching in the rain in Portland, Oregon. See more of his photos from the day at Stumptown Lives. On Saturday, January 21st, the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, millions of people […]

Trump Revives a Shameful Tradition: Targeting a Minority Group with Crime Reports

February 8, 2017 What the author is describing is scapegoating, ubiquitous in human cultures and history. René Girard, recently deceased, is the dominant modern theorist in this regard. For more on scapegoating violence and Girard on my website, please see amongst others this and this. (You will also see below each article  related posts highlighted.) […]

Tomgram: Engelhardt, It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s The Donald in the News!

Crimes of the Trump Era (a Preview) The 25/8 News Cycle Is Already Rolling, But the Looting of America Hasn’t Really Begun By Tom Engelhardt Posted by Tom Engelhardt at 7:45am, February 7, 2017. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. an excerpt: Call it perfect scheduling, but just two days before his inauguration — two days, […]

Dear Mr. Trump…

Recent news about campaign by Avaaz highlighted below: With the Muslim ban, Trump has shown that the worst fears about his Presidency are true. Add your voice to the open letter below to join the resistance — then spread it far and wide: —- Dear Mr. Trump, This is not what greatness looks like. The […]

Jeremy Scahill on Donald Trump and the Military-Industrial Complex

Posted on Feb 2, 2017 In an interview with acTVism, investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill discussed the connection between President Trump’s Cabinet picks and the military-industrial complex. Scahill also addressed the history of anti-war movements and Germany’s role in the United States’ “war on terror.” He examined the significance of the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and questioned […]

Pope Francis: You cannot reject refugees and call yourself a Christian

Kenneth Lipp | January 28, 2017 Pope Francis condemned the hypocrisy from Christians who are merciless to refugees and people of other faiths, addressing a gathering of a pilgrimage of Catholics and Lutherans from Germany, reports Catholic News Service. Francis rebuked “the contradiction of those who want to defend Christianity in the West, and, on the […]

Donald Trump Intentionally Lies to Us

He has no mandate. That fact has so unhinged Trump that he is shaming himself and his office by promulgating obvious lies. Picture above: President-elect Trump calls on a reporter during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) By John Nichols January 24, […]

Diving into an Ocean of Gratitude for Living and Caring with Patch Adams

January 17, 2017 Not only is the posting by Jarem Sawatsky about Patch Adams wonderful. The link on which you may click for book giveaways leads you to some great-looking stuff. Take a gander! And of course, you may wish to sign up for Jarem’s Blog, so real, so poignant, so powerful! He can tell […]

Obama: Prevent nuclear war!

From Avaaz: What’s the scariest thing about Trump?? He’s completely unpredictable, and if he decides to launch US nuclear weapons — there’s nothing that can stop him. That’s cause once the President says “go”, there’s just 4 minutes til launch. It’s a crazy dangerous system that started in the Cold War and is totally unnecessary today […]

Meaning and Relationship

08/01/2017 by Kim Nataraja Each one of us is born with the knowledge at a deep level of or being what the meaning of our life is. But this meaning cannot be accessed by the discursive mind. It can only be found in the silence of contemplative prayer. We then experientially and through our intuitive […]

David Fahrenthold tells the behind-the-scenes story of his year covering Trump

Magazine/By David A. Fahrenthold December 29 photo above: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post an excerpt: The point of my stories was not to defeat Trump. The point was to tell readers the facts about this man running for president. How reliable was he at keeping promises? How much moral responsibility did he feel to help those […]

Israeli Ministers Throw Trump-Like Tantrums After U.N. Security Council Slam

Posted on Dec 27, 2016 By Juan Cole / Informed Comment an excerpt: He criticized President Obama:  “The heart aches that after eight years of friendship and cooperation with the Obama Administration — a friendship that did see some disagreements over the Iranian issue and other issues — this is the parting shot; a painful, unpleasant, unfair […]

If You Think Jesus Was White, Here Are Five Reasons You’re Wrong

Posted on Dec 26, 2016 By Juan Cole Jesus is the polar opposite of Donald Trump. And sadly, so are some Trump supporters opposite to Jesus, for whom another name than “deplorables” is “goats” à la Matthew 25. Jesus was however, in today’s terms neither Left nor Right, Progressive nor Conservative, and, à la Galatians 3:28, Jew […]

2016 Annual Christmas Appeal

an excerpt: Dear Friends, “All we want is our dignity, and to stop being treated like animals in a cage.” This sentiment was heard across six Canadian time zones and a dozen venues from Newfoundland to B.C. by participants in our live videoconference – ‘Gaza Calls: Canada Answers’ (watch the recording online!). Along with it came […]

James Mattis Is a War Criminal: I Experienced His Attack on Fallujah Firsthand

Tuesday, 06 December 2016 00:00 By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | News Analysis photo above: Marine Gen. James Mattis testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 27, 2010. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / The New York Times) an excerpt: Standing near the ambulance in frustration, Maki told […]

Tomgram: Engelhardt, The Most Dangerous Country on Earth

Was 11/8 a New 9/11? The Election That Changed Everything and Could Prove History’s Deal-Breaker By Tom Engelhardt Posted by Tom Engelhardt at 7:31am, December 1, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. an excerpt: Whatever Americans may have ushered in with the events of 11/8, one thing is increasingly certain about the country that Donald […]

The Challenge of Jubilee

“…to bring good news to the poor… to proclaim release to the captives… recovery of sight to the blind …to let the oppressed go free …to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Jubilee).” The last fifty years have brought untold suffering upon our Palestinian people. Our only crime was to say ‘no’ to the […]

Millions Will Be Harmed by Trump’s Policies, Warns Rights Advocate in Open Letter

‘As president, you will have the heavy responsibility to prevent enactment of dangerous pledges and proposals that were made in the course of the campaign’ Published on Thursday, November 24, 2016 by Common Dreams By Nika Knight, staff writer WN: Human Rights Watch Director Kenneth Roth, subject of the article highlighted below, valid as it […]

Vengeance is Love – Klaas Goverts (trans. Floris and Judith Kersloot)

WN: The brief article below so captures the absolute essence of biblical justice, biblical vengeance. See also my book review of God’s Just Vengeance; and also Christopher Marshall’s two outstanding studies on biblical justice that is invariably restorative, here, and again here. “Vengeance is Love” (Mar 26, 2012) by Klaas Goverts, translated by Floris and Judith […]

Letter to First Ministers from major business and civil society leaders

More than 60 CEOs and civil society leaders urge Prime Minister and Premiers to take bold action on clean growth and climate change Media release: November 24, 2016 This looks highly promising, in direct contradistinction to the new administration to the south, and seemingly to this woman vying for Conservative Party leadership. an excerpt: Dear […]

No, Everything Is Not Going to Be Alright

Published on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 by Common Dreams By Ted Rall photo above: ‘Trump’s fascism,’ writes Rall, ‘will come about naturally, caused by the perfect storm of his ego, his CEO mentality, the politics and personalities of the men and women with whom he is surrounding himself, and a set of developments that are […]

Pope Francis Denounces Growing ‘Demonization’ of Enemies and Outsiders

By David Gibson, Religion News Service 11-21-2016 an excerpt: “God has only sons and daughters,” the pope said. “We are the ones who raise walls, build barriers, and label people. God has sons and daughters precisely so that no one will be turned away.” Francis said “our instinctive reaction” is to “discredit or curse” those whois anathema […]

We Are All Deplorables

Posted on Nov 20, 2016 By Chris Hedges an excerpt: Those cast aside by the neoliberal order have an economic identity that both the liberal class and the right wing are unwilling to acknowledge. This economic identity is one the white underclass shares with other discarded people, including the undocumented workers and the people of color demonized by the carnival […]

George Takei: They interned my family. Don’t let them do it to Muslims.

By George Takei November 18 at 6:00 AM Follow @GeorgeTakei George Takei is an actor, activist and social media maven. The United States apologized for locking up Japanese Americans. Have we learned nothing? an excerpt: There is dangerous talk these days by those who have the ear of some at the highest levels of government. […]

White, Conservative, Christian Friend—I Wish You Really Were Pro-Life

October 12, 2016 / John Pavlovitz WN: The highlighted article below is truly powerful and wise! Likewise in relation to the article: I am not a “progressive,” because too many “progressives” I read are not consistently pro-Life. They (of course not all) favour the use of abortion as birth control, elevating women’s right to choose […]

As a Muslim, How Do I Tell My Child the New President Doesn’t Like Us?

Donald Trump’s victory has led to a surge in anti-Muslim feeling in the US. Explain that to a nine-year-old. By Mehdi Hasan an excerpt: How do I explain to my daughter, a proud US citizen who recites the pledge of allegiance in class every morning, that millions of her fellow Americans elected as her next […]

How could we — I — get so much so wrong? – Michael’s essay

CBC: The Sunday Edition With Michael Enright Sunday November 13, 2016 excerpts: On the morning after, an early warming sun lit up the street now covered in freshly fallen leaves. A beautiful young woman walking briskly on the other side of the road suddenly looked over and smiled beatifically. Everything was as it should be in […]

For Abolition: Prisons and Police Are More Than Brutality, They’re State Terror

Saturday, 12 November 2016 00:00 By Frank Castro, The Hampton Institute | News Analysis photo above: Jobs For Felons Hub; Edited: LW / TO This is an incredibly powerful assessment of “state terror” in arguably the most oppressive democracy of recent times: the United States of America. The author’s analysis rings true at every turn: […]

Rising European Fascists Welcome Trump Victory

Saturday, 12 November 2016 00:00 By Ryan Harvey, Truthout | Report photo above: Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, the largest far-right party in France, speaks to reporters at a political meeting in Perpignan, France, February 15, 2014. Under Le Pen, the daughter of the party’s founder, the National Front has moved […]

The Republic Repeals Itself

By Andrew Sullivan WN: The article linked below is one of despair. There is no doubt this is a sentiment joined in by untold millions around the world, not least in America. However, Andrew Sullivan’s painting of the American Republic as an ideal to emulate was only ever that: an ideal with a hollowed-out centre. […]

GLOBAL MILITARY SPEND

List of countries by military expenditures  Staggering! When will we ever learn? an excerpt: This article is a list of countries by military expenditure in a given year. Military expenditure figures are presented in United States dollars based on either constant or current exchange rates.[1] These results can vary greatly from one year to another […]

Israel breaching Palestine’s right to development, UN human rights expert finds

NEW YORK (27 October 2016) – Palestine’s right to development is being denied by Israel, creating an environment plagued by poverty, “epic” unemployment and economic stagnation, according to a new report from a United Nations human rights expert. Michael Lynk – the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories […]

The world vs Donald Trump

Dear friends, The unimaginable has happened. President Trump. And worse, there are Trumps in every town. Threatening all our democracies. What’s most important now is to build a global movement to stop them. Over 2 million of us have signed the open letter, below, from the world to Trump, and it’s been covered across major […]

HOW TRUMP TOOK HATE GROUPS MAINSTREAM

The full story of his connection with far-right extremists. Sarah Posner and David Neiwert Oct. 14, 2016 5:00 AM photo above: Donald J. Trump Credit Randall Hill/Reuters This is the second in-depth look at Trump and hate/white extremists that I have posted on this site. The first is here. Surely with this exposure of the […]

Election 2016 and the Growing Global Nuclear Threat

Playing a Game of Chicken with Nuclear Strategy By Michael T. Klare Tomgram: Michael Klare, Whose Finger on the Nuclear Button? | TomDispatch an excerpt: It’s clear that we’re on the threshold of a new nuclear era: a time when the actual use of atomic weapons is being accorded greater plausibility by military and political […]

Will American politics survive Trump?

Sunday November 06, 2016 The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright Perhaps the most fascinating are David Frum’s comments. Frum (son of former CBC “As It Happens” personality Barbara Frum) is a long-standing Canadian/American conservative, former speech-writer for George W. Bush, and ardent Republican: who also voted already this season for Hillary Clinton! – and is […]

“The system not only failed Adam Capay. It buried him alive”

Sunday October 30, 2016 by Michael Enright Everything about the situation of Adam Capay described below could not be more contradictory to that mandated by the recently promulgated United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules. The United States has Guantanamo Bay. Ontario has the Thunder Bay Jail. Not much difference, really, when it comes to solitary confinement […]

Meditation

November 6, 2016 An excerpt from Laurence Freeman OSB, CHRISTIAN MEDITATION NEWSLETTER, Vol. 34, No. 3, October 2010, pp. 4-5. The other is essential to the mystical and loving mind. Otherness stimulates the mind to let go of its fixed points and expand beyond itself, enlarging the view we have of the world and of […]

Nasty Women: Donald Trump, the Greatest Victim in the History of the World

Tomgram: Ann Jones, Donald Trump’s Open Carry | TomDispatch By Ann Jones an excerpt: Donald Trump grabbed a new lifeline. Speaking at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 15th, he raised a hand as if to take an oath and declared: “I am a victim!” The great business tycoon, the one and only […]

Trump, America, and the Abyss

November 3, 2016 4:47 p.m. By Andrew Sullivan I have decided to post a few articles warning against Trump’s America. It is that dire. The world never has seen a potential evil dictator like Trump, in terms of capacity to do evil like no other before. Period. An evil dictator heading up the most evil […]

My Journey to the Center of the Alt-Right – The Huffington Post

By Luke O’Brien Illustrations By Mariano Pascual November 3, 2016 I went to a white nationalist ethnostate in Indiana. I got bounced from a secret meeting in D.C. I spent weeks figuring out how hate gurgles up from the nastiest recesses of the Internet. And I’m sorry to report that unconscionable racists will be a […]

How Many Nuclear Warheads Does the United States Need?

Friday, 04 November 2016 00:00 By Lawrence S. Wittner The Asia-Pacific Journal | News Analysis photo above: interestingengineering.com It is a moral obscenity, replete with preparedness to commit unthinkable evil, that drives all nuclear powers, bar none. By any standard of human decency or morality, the retention of nuclear weaponry is an assault against every […]

Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance

WN: President Obama meanwhile, has committed $1 trillion over 30 years to rebuild the US nuclear arsenal. So much for the Nobel Prize winning President! Quite a legacy… What an obscene tragedy! See schematic of where nuclear weapons are held in Europe alone. an excerpt: At the dawn of the nuclear age, the United States […]

Infographic: 8 Canadian Symptoms of a Changing Climate

By Asha Kerr-Wilson on September 23rd, 2016 The effects of climate change are seen and felt around the world. These are the big signals that the changes in global temperatures are impacting the balance of the Earth’s systems: floods and droughts; extreme storms and rising seas level; and melting glaciers and ocean acidification. Like an […]

The Religious Right: A Eulogy

By ROD DREHER • October 24, 2016, 11:44 PM photo above: That was then, this is now (kwest/Shutterstock) This is about a powerful talk from within North American Evangelicalism that, as suggested by the author above, if heeded by its leaders, could be a game-changer. Imagine!: a North American Evangelicalism that actually heeds the Gospel; […]

PAULIST FATHERS STATEMENT ON MORAL ISSUES IN THE 2016 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

photo above: St. Mary’s of the Lake, Lake George, N.Y. – Paulist Fathers, www.paulist.org Though this is not a ringing disavowal of war (when will the RC Church – and so many other churches – ultimately reject “just war” for the heresy it is?), it in many ways is encouraging. And though the Paulist Bishops […]

Donald Trump’s Campaign Has Been Vile and Offensive—and We Should Thank Him for That

How Trump stopped the gaslighting of America. By Matthew Arnold October 26 9:07 photo above: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Monday, October 10, 2016, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) an excerpt: It’s quite possible that a decade from now, we’ll look back on Donald Trump’s norms-transgressing, concession-refusing […]

Why would Christians vote for Trump?: Coren

It is difficult to understand how millions of evangelicals and conservative Roman Catholics can still be committed to Trump and ignore or justify his repugnant actions By Michael Coren Amen! Tues., Oct. 25, 2016 an excerpt: Donald Trump is a winner. Not that he’s likely to win the election but his style, approach and entire […]

Ontario — Stop torturing Adam Capay

Right now Adam Capay sits in solitary confinement with the lights blaring above his plexiglass cell 24 hours a day, but our call can help free him. He’s been there 4 years without a trial — and the UN says it’s torture. The Minister for prisons just said he wouldn’t let Adam free but the […]

British physicist will address science, religion and wisdom

by Olaf Slaymaker October 21, 2016 photo above: Dr. Tom McLeish will speak at UBC, SFU, TWU and Regent College. an excerpt: A prominent British scientist will make a speaking tour of local universities October 31 – November 3. Covering topics from ‘Science, Religion and the Search for Wisdom’ to ‘A Modern Scientist in the […]

Buying sex is a crime – though you’d never know it in BC

by Flyn Ritchie October 21, 2016 photo above: Gwendoline Allison was one of several speakers at an October 18 press conference / rally which urged the police and government to enforce Bill C-36. an excerpt: Two years ago the federal government passed Bill C-36, which made the purchase of sex illegal. So far, however, no […]

Donald Trump’s Apocalypse Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Whatever happens in November, the forecast is more stormy weather ahead. By John Feffer October 13, 2016 1:30 photo above: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to a campaign rally at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Tuesday, August 9, 2016. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) an excerpt: In the United States, meanwhile, Trump’s economic […]

An Open Letter to Michelle Obama, October 13, 2016

 WN: A friend reminded me, in response to that below, that none of us in the first world is untainted vis à vis violence. And with that taintedness is a bending at least towards hypocrisy and Pharisaism – which my friend also reminded me about. So with that mea culpa, please read on.: Dear […]

‘Either We Destroy War or It Will Destroy Us’: Happy Birthday, Philip Berrigan

Published on Wednesday, October 05, 2016 by Common Dreams | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community photo above: The Plowshares Movement during the 1997 action at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. From left to right: Susan Crane, Steve Kelley, Philip Berrigan, Mark Colville, Steve Baggarly, and Tom Lewis-Borbely. (Photo […]

Dangerous New ‘Group Think’ for War with Syria/Russia

Official Washington has a new ‘group think’ that is even more dangerous than the one that led to the Iraq War. This one calls for U.S. escalation of conflicts against Syria and nuclear-armed Russia. | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community Wednesday, October 05, 2016 by Consortium News by Robert […]

Liberty Is Security

The Lesson Not Drawn From Post-9/11 Government Overreach Tomgram: Karen Greenberg, What Actually Keeps Americans Safe | TomDispatch By Karen J. Greenberg The single lesson drawn in the article highlighted below about US widespread use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (torture), and its mind-boggling worldwide surveillance since 9/11 is: the title of the article. Neither torture […]

Marjorie Cohn: President Obama: ‘Patron’ of the Israeli Occupation

Marjorie Cohn: President Obama: ‘Patron’ of the Israeli Occupation – Truthdig Posted on Sep 29, 2016 By Marjorie Cohn President Obama has without fanfare pursued some of the most evil policies of any previous president: • creation of a permawar culture in Washington with consequent thousands into the millions of victims slaughtered in the Greater Middle East […]

Donald Trump Is a Worse Crook Than Bernie Madoff

Madoff only scammed his rich clients. Trump could scam us all. By Nomi Prins September 29, 2016 photo above: Gage Skidmore an excerpt: Trump vs. Madoff, The Scorecard Trump is much richer than Madoff ever was, though we have no idea by how much. Forbes puts his wealth at $3.7 billion. Trump says it’s $10 […]

Health, Spirituality and Culture

Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health 15th Annual Mental Health & Spirituality Conference Los Angeles, CA 26th May 2016 photo above: WCCM (World Community for Christian Meditation) by Laurence Freeman OSB (Please click here for the WCCM website with which he is affiliated. Its “Meditatio Radio” may be clicked on at my Home page.) […]

A PEBBLE IN MY SHOE

This was written by my friend, Bill Thiessen. It speaks its own profound truth. A PEBBLE IN MY SHOE An irritation. It happened again (on Saturday). It happened to the Lord as well—often. It happens on the road. I was leisurely cycling through the parking lot Stopped in the shade to send a message He […]

the Iconocast: Fr. John Dear, S.J. (episode 20) – WWW.JESUSRADICALS.COM

December 2, 2010 In this interview, Jarrod and Mark interview Father John Dear. Dear is a Jesuit priest, peace activist, lecturer, and writer of twenty books on nonviolence. He has been arrested many times in the course of his activist career. His longest period of incarceration lasted eight months, plus nine months of house arrest, following […]

25 and counting

September 2016 My friend Ron Dart has just published his 25th book: The North American High Tory Tradition. Please see a review by my friend Henk Smidstra here. Well worth getting the book! – any of Ron’s, on a wide variety of topics.  

Rafeef Ziadah – We Teach Life, Sir and Shades of Anger

December 11, 2012 This is an incredibly powerful voice! A Palestinian woman, third generation refugee, expressing the pent-up hurt and anger in response to the massive injustice of US-sponsored Israeli Occupation and generations long attendant brutality. She was live streamed from Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto Tuesday, September 20, 2016. Please click on […]

Human Element Makes Oliver Stone’s ‘Snowden’ Quite Captivating

Published on Sunday, September 18, 2016 by Shadowproof photo above:  Screen shot from the new film “Snowden,” featuring actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden and Shailene Woodley as the whistleblower’s influential girlfriend Lindsay Mills. by Kevin Gosztola an excerpt: “Oliver Stone met with Snowden in Russia at least half a dozen times over a period […]

Will Trumpism, Brexit, and Geopolitical Exceptionalism Sink the Planet?

The Mounting Threat to Climate Progress Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Rise of the Right and Climate Catastrophe photo above: In his first major speech on energy, delivered in May, Donald Trump—who has called global warming a Chinese hoax—pledged to “cancel the Paris climate agreement” and scrap the various measures announced by President Obama to ensure […]

Empire’s Religion: Arundhati Roy Confronts the Tyranny of the Free Market

Published on Thursday, September 15, 2016 by Common Dreams by Jake Johnson photo above: ‘Whether she is writing of Kashmir or of the Palestinians, of American foreign policy or of terror in the Middle East, of environmental degradation or of the threat posed by nuclear proliferation, [author and activist Arundhati] Roy,’ writes Johnson,  ‘maintains a […]

Walking from Wrongs to Rights: UN Declaration shows the way | Church for Vancouver

By Laurel Dykstra September 15, 2016 image above: cover of the new Mennonite Church Canada publication well worth ordering – for individuals and groups! an excerpt: A couple of weeks ago, members of our community joined a circle of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in our diocese to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls […]

How America became a 1% society | The Guardian

Since 1980, the economy has continued to grow impressively, but most of the benefits have migrated to the top. Bill Moyers asks why. Monday 12 September 2016 17.50 BST photo above: idiamonds.blogspot.com The article linked with excerpts below, is incredibly compelling, in the direction of what is ultimately paramount in living our lives: love of neighbour. […]

How Breitbart Conquered the Media

 TA-NEHISI COATES Sep 12, 2016 Politics Why the Media Didn’t Bother to Verify if Hillary Clinton’s Remark About Half of Donald Trump’s Supporters Being ‘Deplorable’ Was True – The Atlantic Political reporters were taken aback by Hillary Clinton’s charge that half of Trump’s supporters are prejudiced. Few bothered to investigate the claim itself. an excerpt: […]

“A Continuous War Mentality”: Richard Falk on Israel’s Human Rights Abuses

Written by C. J. Polychroniou and Lily Sage By C.J. Polychroniou and Lily Sage, Truthout | Interview photo above: Israel Defense Forces operating in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, July, 2014. (Photo: Israel Defense Forces) WN: Israel to Palestine is the United States to the entire world: a brutal (mini-)Empire that is deeply committed to […]

North Korea accused of ‘maniacal recklessness’ after new nuclear test

US Geological Survey records 5.3 seismic event at ground level near nuclear test site Friday 9 September 2016 Martin Farrer and agencies WN: The grand irony is ever there: the US and the Western  world accuse North Korea of “maniacal recklessness” (indeed, absolutely accurately), and we read in the article linked below that “the United […]

America and the Plague of ‘Moral Idiocy’

Tuesday, September 06, 2016 by Consortium News When it comes to applying rules of international law and ethics, the U.S. government and its mainstream media operate with stunning hypocrisy, what might be called “moral idiocy” photo above: Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger. (Photo: Atlantic Council/flickr/cc) Hillary Rodham Clinton was awarded, May 1, 2013, the Atlantic Council‘s Distinguished […]

The NSA Abroad: The UK Base That Makes US Targeted Killing Possible

Newly revealed documents leaked by Edward Snowden and reported by The Intercept detail the inner workings of the NSA’s largest overseas base Tuesday, September 06, 2016 by Common Dreams by Lauren McCauley, staff writer photo above: The National Security Agency’s largest overseas spying base, Menwith Hill. (Photo: Trevor Paglen via The Intercept) an excerpt: Another […]

UN Human Rights Chief Urges Action Against Western ‘Demagogues’ | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Comparing the likes of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, and Geert Wilders to ISIS, UN’s Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein implores: “Speak out and up…Draw the line!” Tuesday, September 06, 2016 by Common Dreams photo above: “The formula is…simple: make people, already nervous, feel terrible, and then emphasize it’s all because of a group, lying within, foreign […]

The Revenge of Roger’s Angels

How Fox News women took down the most powerful, and predatory, man in media. September 2, 2016 7:30 a.m. By Gabriel Sherman photo above: Wesley Mann/AUGUST: Roger Ailes. WN: There is something profoundly disturbing, but in no way surprising, about Roger Ailes, who recently was fired from Fox News, after his decades-long harassment and abuse […]

LeBron And Friends Opened The ESPYs With A Speech You Need To Hear

“The urgency to create change is at an all-time high.” 07/13/2016 09:04 pm ET Updated Jul 15, 2016 Read the text, and watch the video (linked below) of the four honoured athletes who articulately and straightforwardly call for all gun violence to end: in particular by police, and in retaliation for police killings of Blacks. […]

Where Movements Meet: Black Lives Matter Organizers Visit #NoDAPL

photo above: by Melinda Lee By Kelly Hayes, Truthout | News Analysis an excerpt: Last weekend, as thousands of Indigenous protesters continued their efforts to ward off construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a delegation from another life-and-death struggle visited the Native encampments in Standing Rock, North Dakota. While there have been numerous expressions of […]

When this is over, you will have nothing that you want – Chicago Tribune

photo above: Donald Trump calls for ideological screening tests of all immigrants. Aug. 31, 2016. (C-SPAN) By Garrison Keillor Special To The Washington Post an excerpt: Why doesn’t someone in your entourage dare to say these things? So sad. The fans in the arenas are wild about you, and Sean Hannity is as loyal as […]

Deeming Pollution of Earth Sinful, Pope Proposes Climate Action as Sacred Duty

Humans are turning the planet into a ‘polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation, and filth,’ says Pope Francis Published on Thursday, September 01, 2016 by Common Dreams by Nika Knight, staff writer photo above: “The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact,” Pope Francis said. (Andrew […]

Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism

September 26, 2014 by CHARLES R. LARSON WN: There is someone of my acquaintance who rails against the US Black community for its violence of Black on Black, while almost completely downplaying police violence against Blacks. He also rails against them for their poverty: they just are not enterprising, and therefore deserve their state, end […]

Platform – The Movement for Black Lives

photo above (from this article): A sign marking the number of days activists have occupied Freedom Square, an encampment across the street from the Chicago Police Departments’s “black site” of Homan Square. (Photo: Sarah Ji) Released August 1, 2016 Click on each of the six categories below “DEMANDS” to read the much fuller statements. an […]

Why Solidarity Between the Movement for Black Lives and Palestine Makes Sense

By David Palumbo-Liu, Truthout | News Analysis Image above: Lauren Walker / Truthout an excerpt: Why is the claim that the common causes of Black Americans and Palestinians are centered on rights, and that the broader view that social justice issues for people of color in the US “intersect” with those of the Palestinians such […]

This Rio Olympic Medalist Risked His Life to Show Solidarity | The Nation

With one gesture, Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa seized the Olympics spotlight and educated the world.  By Dave Zirin August 25, 2016 an excerpt: “If I go back to Ethiopia, the government will kill me.” This is not usually what you hear after an Olympian shocks the running world by winning a silver medal in the marathon, but […]

Nearly 15 Years and $70 Billion Later, US Troops Still Endlessly Fighting Taliban | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Monday, August 22, 2016 by Common Dreams Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland said mission would be ‘temporary,’ but would not say how long it would last, citing ‘security reasons’ by Nadia Prupis, staff writer photo above: Sources in Helmand say about 130 U.S. troops have arrived to their base in the region. (Photo: Kenny Holston/flickr/cc) an […]

US War Crimes or “Normalized Deviance”

Tuesday, 23 August 2016 09:22 By Nicolas J.S. Davies, Consortium News | Op-Ed photo above: 1986 launch of the doomed spaceshuttle Challenger, with reference to the “normalization of deviance” in the NASA culture that led up to the disaster, an expression coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan [WN] This is as succinct and compelling a statement […]

There’s a Bigger Problem at the Border Than Trump’s Proposed Wall

We live in fear of Trump’s plan for the Mexican border—not realizing that much of it already exists. By Todd Miller August 23, 2016 12:02 pm photo above: US Border Patrol agent Jerry Conlin looks out over Tijuana, Mexico, along the old border wall at the US-Mexico border ending at the base of a hill […]

How Obama Helped Lay the Groundwork for Trump’s Thuggery

His refusal to prosecute torturers and his Wild West assassination of bin Laden show how moral complacency can all too easily degenerate into full-blown corruption. By Rochelle Gurstein August 23, 2016 11:25 am photos above: Thugs an excerpt: Trump’s particular brand of maliciousness—his belief, as lazy as it is insolent, that he need not abide […]

Best of TomDispatch: Andrew Bacevich, Pentagon, Inc. | TomDispatch

photo above from this story Cow Most Sacred Why Military Spending Remains Untouchable By Andrew J. Bacevich introduction to piece: A writer who dares to revisit a snarky article dashed off five-plus years earlier will necessarily approach the task with some trepidation. Pieces such as the one republished below are not drafted with the expectation […]

Special Investigation: My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard

by Shane Bauer July/August 2016 issue of Mother Jones This is a highly poignant story, at once courageous and deeply unsettling. With the news August 18, 2016, that the US federal Justice Department will shut down private prisons over the next five years, this is a great victory. Though the story by Truthout posted here […]

Diaspora Jews Are Joining Palestinians in Nonviolent Resistance to the Occupation

There’s a power in using our privilege as American Jews to stand for peace and justice. By Ilana Sumka August 17, 2016 photo above: Protesters march in an annual demonstration to reopen Shuhada Street to Palestinians, Hebron, West Bank, February 2015. an excerpt: The entire premise of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence is that there’s […]

The Scary History of Trump’s Second-Amendment Call to Action | The Nation

In North Carolina, we have heard this before, and lived through the bloody consequences of white terrorist rhetoric. By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II photo above: Top: Donald Trump. Bottom: A group of rioters pose outside the ruins of the Record building in Wilmington, 1898. (Top: Reuters / Carlo Allegri; bottom: Library of Congress) […]

Three Fact-Checking Websites of Note

Image above: from Politifact: I’ll highlight the All Pants-On-Fire assertions by Donald Trump – there are of course so many such by other politicians too! But PolitiFact did award Trump “2015 Lie of the Year“. I’m sitting back not a little dumbfounded by a recent exchange I had about Obama and the US elections candidates. […]

Islamic Law: Europe’s Shari’a Debate

Below is a link to a nuanced scholarly article on Europe and Sharia Law, and some mention of North America. I could not find a date when posted. an excerpt: Conclusion Europe has many incentives to accommodate some aspects of shari’a law into its legal systems and societies. As already recognized by the British government, […]

An Open Letter to Ivanka Trump From Michael Moore: ‘Your Dad Is Not Well’

Posted on Aug 11, 2016 By Michael Moore / AlterNet an excerpt: Dear Ivanka: I’m writing to you because your dad is not well. Every day he continues his spiral downward—and after his call for gun owners to commit acts of violence against Mrs. Clinton, it is clear he needs help, serious help. His comments […]

Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (C.U.R.E.)

Upcoming World Conference Human Rights and Prison Reform Seventh International CURE Conference April 25-29, 2017, San Jose, Costa Rica, Courtyard Marriott Airport Alajuela Theme: Implementing United Nations Mandela Rules in the Americas (the treatment of prisoners in the Twenty First century) Photo above is an Argentine prisoner, the dove of peace is actually a pigeon. […]

An ‘American Holocaust’

Dr. Stannard, by most accounts, published in 1993 a meticulously researched, powerful book about genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas: in fact by far the greatest generations long genocide in the history of the world; primarily promulgated by white Christians. See. for instance, the Kirkus review that sums up the book thus: Genocide on […]

Eat Me: The Cannibalistic Origins of the State

David Gornoski Friday, August 05, 2016 This an outstanding piece, especially in the writer’s powerful juxtaposition of Jesus’ invitation to a common meal of his “flesh and blood”,and our otherwise consuming each other in ongoing acts of mimetic rivalry. However, I take serious note of this caveat: Eat Me: The Cannabilistic Origins of State – […]

The Olympics Are a Colossal Waste and a Shameful Distraction

photo above: The Olympic torch being carried in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue on the way to the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5. (Felipe Dana / AP) Besides what we read in the article linked below, the origin of the Games in ancient Greece was […]

Gaza’s Sick Pay Price of Blockade

photo above: Gaza has had chronic shortages of medicines as a result of political division between the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Israel’s siege. Eyad Al Baba APA images Friday, 12 August 2016 00:00 By Isra Saleh el-Namey, The Electronic Intifada | Report an excerpt: “The wellbeing of our patients is our first priority,” […]

The US Government Can’t Stop Loving Nukes​

Thursday, 11 August 2016 06:17 ROBERT C. KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT an excerpt: In essence, nuclear deterrence — a.k.a., M.A.D. — depends not only on having a nuclear arsenal ready to go, but having a president perceived by the other guys to be ready to use it, kind of like we imagine President Trump […]

The Myth of Trump’s Alternative Worldview

photo above: Supporters attend a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, August 3, 2016. (Reuters / Eric Thayer) His foreign policy isn’t an alternative to US empire. It’s a cruder rendition of it. By John Feffer AUGUST 10, 2016 an excerpt: AN EXCEPTIONAL RULER Let […]

‘They’re Coming for the Ones You Love’: My Weekend of Gun Training in the Desert

photo above: “John Wayne,” an active- duty serviceman, watches his trainer demonstrate a “controlled pair”—two shots to the center of a target. (Evan Simko-Bednarski) At Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, fear is a booming business. By Patrick Blanchfield August 9, 2016 WN: John Lott published a book that has gone through two reissues, most recently […]

The Average Black Family Would Need 228 Years to Build the Wealth of a White Family Today

Just as past public policies created the racial wealth gap, current policy widens it. By Joshua Holland AUGUST 8, 2016 WN: The poor are invariably blamed for their poverty. This article, applicable to other “democracies,” challenges this perverse blaming of victims. excerpts: [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]f current economic trends continue, the average black household will need 228 years to […]

The Neocon Project for a New Democratic Party

photo above: White House Monday, 08 August 2016 08:45 J.P. SOTTILE FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT an excerpt: Unlike Hillary Clinton, of course, which brings the whole thing back to the miasma of confusion hanging over this strange election. Hillary is on the Neocon team — if not in name, certainly in deed. She will “stand up” […]

The Revenge of the Lower Classes and the Rise of American Fascism

Posted on Aug 8, 2016 By Chris Hedges an excerpt: College-educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. Now they are being made to pay. Their duplicity—embodied in politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama—succeeded for decades. These elites, many from East Coast Ivy […]

Henry A. Giroux | Donald Trump and the Plague of Atomization in a Neoliberal Age

Monday, 08 August 2016 00:00 photo above: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a crowd during his campaign rally at Windham High School in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 6, 2016. (Ilana Panich-Linsman / The New York Times) I have recently returned to reading Leo Lowenthal, particularly his insightful essay, “Terror’s Atomization of Man,” first […]

How a new source of water is helping reduce conflict in the Middle East

Scientists and others look to desalination as a way to unite longtime enemies in a common cause. photo above: Sorek Desalination Plant. Photo courtesy of IDE Technologies July 19, 2016 Writer Rowan Jacobsen @rowanjacobsen Author specializing in food, sustainability and natural systems an excerpt: Desalination used to be an expensive energy hog, but the kind […]

Nuclear disarmament: back on centre stage

by Elizabeth Renzetti The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Aug. 05, 2016 6:00 AM EDT Last updated Friday, Aug. 05, 2016 9:27AM EDT an excerpt: Could Donald Trump accidentally be the best friend of the nuclear disarmament movement? This may sound like Dr. Strangelove-level madness, but the prospect of the Republican presidential candidate anywhere near […]

Dear Donald Trump: This Is Why Nuclear Weapons Are Bad

Wired: Author: Issie Lapowsky  Business Date of Publication: 08.03.16. Donald Trump is incredibly dangerous! PERIOD. an excerpt: This morning on his show Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said that according to one of Donald Trump’s foreign policy advisors, the Republican nominee recently asked why the United States can’t use nuclear weapons. “Three times he asked […]

The Decay of American Politics

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Pseudo-Election 2016 Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 7:50am, August 4, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. An Ode to Ike and Adlai By Andrew J. Bacevich an excerpt: So while a Trump presidency holds the prospect of the United States driving off a cliff, a Clinton presidency promises to be the equivalent […]

Cold War, Détente, Neo-McCarthyism, and Donald Trump

August 2, 2016 By Stephen F. Cohen What’s going is that the United States and its neocon war hawks are flirting dangerously with the possibility of real war with Russia, as Michael Klare and Stephen Cohen have noted. As Ignatius certainly knows but most Americans may not, the United States was deeply involved in agitating […]

Teargassing of Indigenous Youth in Australian Detention System Reeks of Colonialism

photo above: Activists display a sign decrying the murders of Aboriginal Australians in prison at an Invasion Day march and rally in Brisbane, Australia, on January 26, 2007. (Photo: David Jackmanson) Wednesday, 03 August 2016 00:00 By Leila Nasr, IC Magazine | News Analysis an excerpt: During the peak of colonial conquest in Australia, the […]

Marc Maron Speaks on the Rush of Shameless Hate Motivating Trump Voters

Wednesday, 03 August 2016 10:48 BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo above: Marc Maron Regarding the election, “I can’t understand what the decision is to vote for a man like that. Look if you don’t want to vote, fine. I suggest you vote. If you don’t like Hillary, fine. But whatever you got to […]

Sovereignty? The UK Government Will Sell Us to the Highest Bidder

Tuesday, 02 August 2016 00:00 By George Monbiot, The Guardian | Op-Ed photo above: George Monbiot What does it mean to love your country? What does it mean to defend its sovereignty? For some of the leaders of the Brexit campaign, it means reducing the United Kingdom to a franchise of corporate capital, governed from […]

Breaking the Camouflage Wall of Silence

When AFRICOM Evaluates Itself, the News Is Grim By Nick Turse Posted by Nick Turse at 7:45am, August 2, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. photo above: Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, outgoing commander of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), incoming Africom commander, Marine Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser and Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman […]

Trump’s Rape Rhetoric Appeals to Male Anxiety

photo above: Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 22, 2016. (Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr) Saturday, 30 July 2016 00:00 By Nicholas Powers, Truthout | Op-Ed an excerpt: In 1989, the same year as the Central Park Five case, Donald Trump assaulted […]

Rev. William Barber Drops the Mic at the DNC

Wow! Except for the part about Hilary Clinton, who gets a pass from him, she ultimate Warmonger and rapacious Neoliberal. meaning of “drop the mic” Please also see: Barber on Trump and Second Amendment

West Bank Home Demolitions Hit 10-year High

­ Published on July 29th, 2016 | by Guest ­ by Natasha Roth Israeli authorities have demolished more Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank thus far in 2016 than in any other calendar year in the last decade, according to data provided by Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem Wednesday and statistics from the UN […]

Part 2: Michael Moore with Piers Morgan: Good Morning Britain

Published on Jul 5, 2016 With over one million Americans killed by guns since John Lennon, Michael Moore is in Britain and speaking with Piers Morgan about guns, Donald Trump, Brexit and the EU. Full Interview Good Morning Britain (06/24/16) Please also see this about Michael Moore’s new film, Fahrenheit 11/9, release date September 21, […]

Part 1: Michael Moore on Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Brexit (06/10/16)

Published on Jul 5, 2016 Michael Moore was in Britain and speaking with British journalist Owen Jones (The Guardian) on June 10th, 2016. To quote Moore: ‘Trump is like the sound of dying dinosaurs’. Please also see this about Michael Moore’s new film, Fahrenheit 11/9, release date September 21, 2018:

There’s No Business Like the Arms Business

photo above: A mural near the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. (David Holt / CC-BY-2.0) July 26, 2016 Tomgram: William Hartung, How to Arm a “Volatile” Planet Editorial by WN It is a very strange world: Michelle Obama makes a highly impassioned, brilliant speech at the Democratic National Convention – one nearly universally praised, […]

Michael Jordan: ‘I can no longer stay silent’

His statement on the shootings of African-Americans and the targeting of police officers July 25, 2016 an excerpt: “As a proud American, a father who lost his own dad in a senseless act of violence, and a black man, I have been deeply troubled by the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement […]

Facing Down Trump’s Demagoguery: Lessons From Weimar Germany

Friday, 22 July 2016 00:00 By Charles Derber, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Donald Trump points to his vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, on the final night of the Republican National Convention, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, July 21, 2016. (Photo: Stephen Crowley / The New York Times) an excerpt: Donald Trump […]

Battle Over Palestine May Spill Into Democratic Convention

Thursday, 21 July 2016 09:17 By Rania Khalek, The Electronic Intifada | News Analysis photo above: destruction in Gaza by Israel – 2014 an excerpt: The Democratic primary race for president is effectively over following Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Hillary Clinton. But the battle over Israel and Palestine within the party is just getting started […]

Donald Trump’s Acceptance Speech Reconfirmed His Fascist Authoritarianism

Friday, 22 July 2016 05:14 MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT an excerpt:   “Law and order” were the key code words for Nixon’s Southern strategy that finalized the conversion of the deep South from voting Democratic in presidential elections to voting Republican. The words sent the message that Nixon would seek to keep […]

Hatred Unlimited

Uri Avnery’s Column 09/07/16 an excerpt: By now, hatred is everywhere. Arabs and Israelis use different highways, but it is far worse than South African apartheid, because the whites there had no interest in driving the blacks out. It is also far worse than most forms of colonialism, because the imperial powers did not generally […]

The Appalling Violence of the World’s Three Superpowers

Thursday, 21 July 2016 00:00 By Lawrence S. Wittner, History News Network | Op-Ed an excerpt: This state-organized violence is often accompanied by citizen violence. In 2015, the use of firearms in the United States resulted in the deaths of 13,286 people and the wounding of another 26,819. These figures include 372 mass shootings, but […]

Canada, Do Not Follow US Into Permawar

Thursday, 02 April 2015 00:00 By Robert Fantina and David Swanson, World Beyond War | Op-Ed an excerpt: The Canadian government, like the U.S. government, uses fear-mongering to implement its war policies. But again, there is cause for some limited optimism. A recently-proposed anti-terror bill, that legal experts have decried as depriving Canada of some […]

Review: The Need for a New Economic System by John S. Avery

Posted on Feb 17, 2016 In: Just Third Way Feature | Tagged: Review by Dr. Dorothy Guyot of The Need for a New Economic System by John Scales Avery. Opening comments by CESJ President Norman Kurland: In his November 24, 2015 book The Need for a New Economic System, Dr. John Scales Avery, a scientist […]

Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ)

Below is information about a highly insightful and motivating website. Welcome to CESJ – Center for Economic and Social Justice Thank you for visiting the on-line library and learning center of the Center for Economic and Social Justice. CESJ is a non-profit educational organization, think tank and social action catalyst founded in 1984. We are […]

Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All

The Political Scene July 25, 2016 Issue By Jane Mayer image above: “I put lipstick on a pig,” Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter, says. He feels “deep remorse.”  Illustration by Javier Jaén “The Art of the Deal” made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth—and […]

Life turned upside down in Gaza

Sarah Algherbawi The Electronic Intifada 15 July 2016 photo above: Rajaa Abu Khalil and her children have lived in a makeshift shelter ever since their home was destroyed by Israeli bombing in July 2014. Ahmed Salama an excerpt: Trauma is widespread in Gaza, which has endured three major Israeli assaults since December 2008. The World […]

Lawless Drone Killings

By Stephen Lendman Global Research, October 25, 2013 Obama and his advisors are obscene serial killers – with impunity. an excerpt: It bears repeating. Drones are instruments of state terror. Killing is done extrajudicially. America bears most responsibility. Obama’s kill list decides who, where and when. Human lives don’t matter. Nor do rule of law […]

The Network

Leaked Data Reveals How the U.S. Trains Vast Numbers of Foreign Soldiers and Police With Little Oversight Douglas Gillison, Nick Turse, Moiz Syed July 13 2016, 7:00 a.m. photo above: U.S. Special Forces members advise and assist soldiers assigned to the Belize Special Assignment Group during a marksmanship range exercise near Belize City, Belize, April […]

The Most Important US Air Force Base You’ve Never Heard Of

Sunday, 17 July 2016 00:00By Norman Solomon, The Nation | News Analysis photo above: The US government’s far-flung system for extrajudicial killing uses Ramstein Air Base as a kind of digital switchboard in a process that fogs accountability and often kills bystanders. (Photo: Lucas Wirl / Flickr) an excerpt: Ramstein receives visual images from drones […]

Grace Always Bats Last

Friday, July 15, 2016 by Abby Zimet, staff writer Another savage week, from St. Paul to Nice. Because we have no words left, we turn to Canada’s Choir! Choir! Choir!, an experiment in harmony and community that has pulled crowds of strangers together to pay tribute to Prince and David Bowie, and has raised money […]

Canadian Friends of Sabeel

July 17, 2016 image above: from Sabeel website Below is representative of what you can find on the website linked here. Justice is denied to Palestinians in myriad ways by the modern state of Israel. Twelve years ago (July 9), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion at the request of the […]

Adventures in the Trump Twittersphere

Zeynep Tufekci MARCH 31, 2016 Mr. Trump’s rise is actually a symptom of the mass media’s growing weakness, especially in controlling the limits of what it is acceptable to say. an excerpt: For decades, journalists at major media organizations acted as gatekeepers who passed judgment on what ideas could be publicly discussed, and what was […]

How technology disrupted the truth

Social media has swallowed the news – threatening the funding of public-interest reporting and ushering in an era when everyone has their own facts. But the consequences go far beyond journalism. [However, it has been known since the rise of Big Corporation ownership of major news outlets, that truth disruption (“manufacturing consent” – Noam Chompsky) […]

Ex-Seattle Police Chief Condemns Systemic Police Racism Dating Back to Slave Patrols

Thursday, 14 July 2016 00:00 By Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now! | Video Interview an excerpt: On Wednesday, President Obama met at the White House with law enforcement officials and civil rights leaders. President Obama hosted the meeting one week after the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and […]

Beyond Dallas and Orlando, a Global Arc of Violence

Thursday, 14 July 2016 00:00 By Michelle Chen, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Motorcycle officers in a motorcade escort for the coffin of Dallas police officer Lorne Ahrens, one of the five victims of the gunman-involved shooting that took place at an otherwise peaceful protest, after funeral services at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, […]

Hari Kondabolu

Mainstream American Comic by Hari Kondabolu Hari Kondabolu is a Brooklyn-based comedian and writer who the NY Times has described as “one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today.” His new album Mainstream American Comic is a follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut Waiting for 2042, which was also released on legendary indie […]

23 Ways You Could be Killed While Being Black

The video features celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, and Rihanna. Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn Jul. 13, 2016 6:50 PM In the week after shootings that left two black men dead, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and other notable celebrities have teamed up to create this powerful video on the everyday interactions that can get black people killed in […]

The Chilcot Report Fails to Speak Plain Truth: Bush Lied, So Did Blair

Sunday, 10 July 2016 00:00 By Calvin F. Exoo, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair during a news conference from the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, May 17, 2007. (Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times) As David Swanson’s 2011 anti-war […]

State Terrorism and Racist Violence in the Age of Disposability: Expanded Version

Sunday, 10 July 2016 00:00 By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Demonstrators record a crowd of police officers on hand in New York’s Times Square, where a large crowd protested after fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota, July 7, 2016. (Photo: Christopher Lee / The New York Times) an excerpt: Note […]

The Iraq War, Brexit and Imperial Blowback

Wednesday, 06 July 2016 00:00 By Nadine El-Enany, Truthout | Op-Ed image above: Lauren Walker / Truthout an excerpt: Brexit is not only nostalgia for empire — it is also the fruit of empire. Britain is reaping what it sowed. The legacies of British imperialism have never been addressed, including that of racism. British colonial […]

The Illusion of Security

Thursday, 07 July 2016 07:07 ROBERT C. KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo above: Gerard Van der Leun an excerpt: “We imagine a line between good and evil . . .” These are the words of Philip Zimbardo, addressing an Association of Psychological Science convention some years ago. He continued: “. . . and we like […]

Seeking False Security at Fortress Europe’s Gates

Seeking False Security at Fortress Europe’s Gates Thursday, 07 July 2016 00:00 By Michelle Chen, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Seeking False Security at Fortress Europe’s Gates Refugees at the former De Koepel prison, now being used as a refugee camp, in Haarlem, Netherlands, June 16, 2016. The Netherlands has repurposed prisons to house migrants […]

Trump, the Man and the Image

His words increasingly signify his confusion about who he is and what he has got himself into. Trump vs. “Trump” – The New Yorker Comment July 11 & 18, 2016 Issue By Mark Singer an excerpt: Actually, for Trump it is all a game, one in which, though this seems an odd way to characterize […]

The Seas Are Rising Around Donald Trump

He may deny global warming, but it’s still threatening to swamp his properties. image above: Trump: Helga Esteb/Shutterstock; Bear: FloridaStock/Shutterstock an excerpt: Scientists have long expected sea level rise on the southeast Florida coast to occur faster than the global average, advancing rapidly on barrier islands and beaches. The low-lying coastal areas are exposed to […]

Of Lethal Drones and Police Shootings

Friday, 08 July 2016 00:00 By Kathy Kelly, Consortium News | Op-Ed photo above: Demonstrators record a crowd of police officers on hand in New York’s Times Square, where a large crowd protested after fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota on July 7, 2016. (Christopher Lee / The New York Times) WN: Police brutality […]

The System That Killed Alton Sterling and Philando Castile Cannot Be Reformed

Friday, 08 July 2016 00:00 By Aislinn Pulley, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Demonstrators protest police violence after Alton Sterling was killed by Baton Rouge police officers in the parking lot of a Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 7, 2016. (William Widmer / The New York Times) an excerpt: There are […]

Bush, Blair and the Lies That Justified the Illegal Iraq War

July 6, 2016 By Robin Andersen image above: Extra!‘s cover story (7-8/05) on the Downing Street Memo an excerpt: The Chilcot report, released today by the British government, concluded what most have known for a long time: that Tony Blair took Britain to war on the basis of “flawed intelligence” before all peaceful means were […]

Modern US Wars Are Largely Fought to Ensure Our Wealth, Not Our Security

Thursday, 07 July 2016 07:42 MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT an excerpt: In the attacks of 9/11, the US government found the ideal motivating factor to pursue wars across the globe (particularly in the Middle East): fear. Yes, there were terrorist attacks in the United States. And those attacks were all the more […]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

image above: Traumaline1 June is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month. To learn more about PTSD and how it affects victims of child abuse and domestic violence, please visit PTSD.

It Is Important to Have Perspective on Elie Wiesel’s Legacy

Wednesday, 06 July 2016 00:00 By Max Blumenthal, AlterNet | Op-Ed an excerpt: On the day of Wiesel’s death, those who took a critical view of his legacy were subjected to the same wrath as the survivors who challenged the segregationist principle he represented. Condemning his anti-Palestinian tirades was painted by right-wing and pro-Israel outlets […]

WHO ARE ALL THESE TRUMP SUPPORTERS?

At the candidate’s rallies, a new understanding of America emerges. image above: Trump’s energy flows out of him, as if channelled in thousands of micro wires, and enters the minds of his followers. ILLUSTRATION BY SEYMOUR CHWAST  AMERICAN CHRONICLES JULY 11 & 18, 2016 ISSUE By George Saunders an excerpt: From the beginning, America has […]

Electronic Monitoring Is Not the Answer

Critical reflections on a flawed alternative James Kilgore October 2015 This is a very well researched paper that applies to Canada and to the United States, and to many other countries. an excerpt: Executive Summary This report offers a critical assessment of electronic monitoring (EM) in the criminal justice system. The author, who spent a […]

What the US Can Learn From Canada’s Experiment With Electoral Reform

Monday, 04 July 2016 00:00 By Kit O’Connell, Truthout | News Analysis photo above: McGill University students take part in a “vote mob” in Montreal, Quebec, April 14, 2011. (Photo: Adam Scotti / Flickr) You will enjoy John Oliver’s take on Canada’s 2015 election. an excerpt: Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party took power with […]

Poverty Has Always Accompanied Capitalism

Sunday, 03 July 2016 00:00 By Mark Karlin, Truthout | Interview photo above: “Poverty has always accompanied capitalism (as Thomas Piketty’s work documents yet again),” says economist Richard D. Wolff. (Photo: Jeremy Brooks / Flickr) an excerpt:In this presidential election, there has been very little talk about poverty. How is poverty an inevitable by-product of […]

You Never Die Twice

MULTIPLE KILLS IN THE US DRONE PROGRAM REPRIEVE: Delivering Justice. Saving Lives 2014 And next year, Chief Executive Terrorist Obama will doubtless go on the lecture circuit telling Americans and the world that and how he kept the world safe from terrorists. The hypocrisy is utter: under Obama’s watch, many times over innocents have been […]

The Remaking of the Global Working Class

Saturday, 02 July 2016 00:00 By Beverly Silver, ROAR Magazine | News Analysis photo above: The Remaking of the Global Working Class Bangladeshi workers protest on September 13, 2007. (Photo: Clean Clothes Campaign) an excerpt: A Worldwide Upsurge of Class-Based Mobilization Indeed, it is likely that we are just at the beginnings of a new […]

In Transparent Act, Obama Administration Erases Civilian Deaths From Drone Strikes

photo above: President Barack Obama convenes a meeting in the Situation Room to discuss the latest on the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015. Photo by the White House on Flickr. Obama and his administration are not only outright liars: they are mass serial killers with impunity. Under either Clinton or Trump, the […]

After Brexit: Reckoning With Britain’s Racism and Xenophobia

Thursday, 30 June 2016 00:00 By Laleh Khalili, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: A woman reacts during a referendum results party at the Lexington pub in London, June 23, 2016. (Andrew Testa / The New York Times) an excerpt: Theoretically, there was a progressive case to be made for Britain exiting the European Union via […]

The Age of Disintegration: An Endless Cycle of Indecisive Wars

Tuesday, 28 June 2016 00:00 By Patrick Cockburn, TomDispatch | News Analysis an excerpt: We live in an age of disintegration. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Greater Middle East and Africa. Across the vast swath of territory between Pakistan and Nigeria, there are at least seven ongoing wars — in Afghanistan, Iraq, […]

Edward Snowden’s Strangely Free Life – As a Robot

New York News & Politics by Andrew Rice June 26, 2016 9:00 p.m. For a man accused of espionage and effectively exiled in Russia, Edward Snowden is also, strangely, free. an excerpt: Edward Snowden lay on his back in the rear of a Ford Escape, hidden from view and momentarily unconscious, as I drove him […]

Tomgram: John Feffer, Donald Trump and America B

Posted by John Feffer at 3:58pm, June 26, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. an excerpt: America B has a fondness for Donald Trump and his almost childlike audacity. (Gosh, kids say the darndest things!) Right now, his fans are attached to an individual, rather than a platform or a party. Many of his supporters […]

The Rise of Superweeds— and What to Do About It

Union of Concerned Scientists: Policy Brief an excerpt: In what may sound like science fiction but is all too real, “superweeds” are overrunning America’s farm landscape, immune to the herbicides that used to keep crop-choking weeds largely in check. This plague has spread across much of the country—some 60 million acres of U.S. cropland are […]

The Case for a Child-Centered Energy and Climate Policy

By Frederica Perera, Environmental Health News | Op-Ed photo above: Frederica Perera (Credit: Columbia.edu) an excerpt: Fossil fuel combustion and associated air pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) is the root cause of much of children’s ill health children today as well as their uncertain future. There are strong scientific arguments, as well persuasive economic ones, […]

Why Dying Coral Reefs Will Bring Planetary Instability

By The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program | Op-Ed I’m with those who have an accepting view, with considered scepticism, on climate change. That there is climate change is indisputable, as is the reality of massive pollution the world over realted to it. an excerpt: Instead of protecting the Great Barrier Reef and […]

It’s Time for the US to Disarm Itself

Thursday, 23 June 2016 07:03 ROBERT C. KOEHLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo above: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons an excerpt: The time has come for extraordinary change. Who we are — this monstrous, planet-destroying entity called America — needs to be decommissioned and reconstructed on a foundation more solid than the present myths […]

Tomgram: Ann Jones, Donald Trump Has the Traits of a Wife Abuser and Women Know It

Posted by Ann Jones at 8:01am, June 14, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch There are two other articles I’ve posted about Trump’s bullying ways here: Bully, and here: Bully Trump. There is a related article about Donald Trump and potential running mate Newt Gingrich here. an excerpt: In fact, Donald J. Trump perfectly fits […]

How One French Town Combines Welcome for Migrants, Ecology and Social Emancipation

Wednesday, 22 June 2016 00:00 By Olivier Favier and Translated by Leslie Thatcher, Basta! | Report photo above: Volunteers work at the refugee camp in Grande-Synthe, France, on May 11, 2016. (Photo: OSCE Parliamentary Assembly) an excerpt: Grande-Synthe, in the north of France, is one of the very few French towns that welcome hundreds of […]

Evangelicals Embrace Profane, Bigoted, Thrice-Divorced Trump

Wednesday, 22 June 2016 08:14 BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photo above: Michael Valdon an excerpt: The Post report also noted that “Catholic conservative Robert George, former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a Princeton professor, declined to attend the meeting, saying that while he may think even lower of […]

Donald Trump and the Rise of the Far Right on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Wednesday, 22 June 2016 00:00 By Ryan Harvey, Truthout | News Analysis photo above: Donald Trump speaks with supporters at a campaign rally at Fountain Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona, on March 16, 2016. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) an excerpt: A Fading Global Hegemony While steeped in their complicated domestic histories, the rise of this new […]

Democrats’ War on Due Process and Terrorist Fearmongering Long Predate Orlando

Glenn Greenwald June 21 2016, 6:45 a.m. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert took on Attorney General Eric Holder’s legal justification for killing American citizens abroad suspected of terrorism, particularly Holder’s argument that “due process and judicial process are not one and the same.” “Trial by jury, trial by fire, rock, paper scissors, who cares? Due process […]

The Language of War

Posted on June 19, 2016 by wjastore an excerpt: The language of war fascinates me. I was reading President Obama’s response to Donald Trump on whether Obama “gets it” when it comes to the threat of terrorism and came across this passage: “Someone [Donald Trump] seriously thinks that we don’t know who we are fighting? […]

Climate Change Could Alter the Chemistry of Deepwater Lakes and Harm Ecosystems

Tuesday, 21 June 2016 00:00 By Alexander L. Forrest, The Conversation | News Analysis an excerpt: In an age of rapid global population growth, demand for safe, clean water is constantly increasing. In 2010 the United States alone used 355 billion gallons of water per day. Most of the available fresh water on Earth’s surface […]

Smartphone Users Are Paying for Their Own Surveillance

Monday, 20 June 2016 00:00 By Bill Blunden, Truthout | News Analysis photo above: Melissa BARRA an excerpt: In the movie Sneakers, a motley gang of security experts chase after a little black box that can crack any form of encryption. Though the idea of a digital skeleton key may seem like the stuff of […]

Cornel West: Black Lives Matter Is an Indictment of Neoliberal Power

By George Souvlis, openDemocracy | Interview photo above: Dr. Cornel West speaks at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 3, 2009. (Photo: James Stewart; Edited: LW / TO) an excerpt: George Souvlis: What is the legacy of the Obama administration? Cornel West: We are at a crossroads in American history. We must choose […]

Cornel West and the Fight to Save the Black Prophetic Tradition

Monday, 09 September 2013 09:17 By Chris Hedges, TruthDig | Report photo above: Cornel West. (Photo: TIA / Flickr). an excerpt: There is an insidious and largely unseen effort by the White House to silence the handful of voices that remain true to the black prophetic tradition. This tradition, which stretches back to Sojourner Truth […]

The Foreign Consequences of Trump’s Racism

Published on June 18th, 2016 | by Guest by Paul R. Pillar an excerpt: Donald Trump is waging the most explicitly racist major U.S. presidential campaign since the third-party candidacy of segregationist George C. Wallace in 1968. The exploitation of bias based on ethnicity or religion has taken more subtle forms in other election campaigns […]

Finding your calling for the ‘third third’ of your life

by Paul Stevens • June 16, 2016 an excerpt: There is no question that we have a population bulge in the seniors group that, on the population charts, is like an awkwardly large animal going through the long neck of a snake. In the late Middle Ages those who survived to 20 could on average […]

Where Were You?: A Profile of Modern Slavery

by Matt Friedman • June 16, 2016 photo above: Matt Friedman and Sylvia Yu Friedman an excerpt: If the Holocaust nearly a century ago remains on the world’s conscience, why have we not cared that today six times that number of young people, even children, have vanished into brief lives of unspeakable cruelty, exploitation and […]

No Welcome Mat for Monsanto: Vietnam Must Draw the Line

Monday, 13 June 2016 00:00 By Dien Luong, Truthout | Op-Ed above picture: A young boy walks through fields of rice in Sa Pa, Vietnam. (Photo: Rory MacLeod) Monsato produced Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, that has devastated at least 3 million lives in Vietnam. an excerpt: Monsanto — the US biotech company that […]

Tomgram: Noam Chomsky, The Challenges of 2016

Posted by Noam Chomsky at 5:04pm, May 8, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. Excerpt from Noam Chomsky’s new book: Who Rules the World? (Part I) an excerpt from the excerpt: When we ask “Who rules the world?” we commonly adopt the standard convention that the actors in world affairs are states, primarily the great […]

Tomgram: Noam Chomsky, Tick… Tick… Tick…

Posted by Noam Chomsky at 5:04pm, June 12, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. Excerpt from Noam Chomsky’s new book. Who Rules the World? (Part II) an excerpt from the excerpt: The Black Swan We Can Never See Let us turn to the other (and traditional) concern of the atomic scientists who adjust the Doomsday […]

Tomgram: Mark Wilkerson, Batman in a Hospital Bed

Posted by Mark Wilkerson at 7:44am, June 9, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. How to Buy the book This is a powerful story about the personal impact of war on a soldier who as a war vet became an antiwar activist. an excerpt: Memorial Day is over. You had your barbeque. Now, you can […]

The United States Is Ranked 103rd on Global Peace Index

Thursday, 09 June 2016 05:17 MARK KARLIN, BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT caption for photo above: Could the United States government live without war? (Photo: Dave Hogg) And we in Canada are in bed with the anti-peace military behemoth to the south, epitome of the opposite of “democratic beacon” to the world. an excerpt: The 2016 Global […]

Race in the US: What if your identity was a lie?

Features Racism 21 August 2015 @JohnMetta John Metta is a writer on racial issues in the US. Caption beneath above image: “There was a deep anger in my father …. ‘We are Indian,’ he said, pointing toward the street, ‘but out there, I am just a black man’.” [Samar Zureik] Powerful! an excerpt: As an […]

Hiroshima: Like Fr. Arrupe, We Must Pray for Guidance

May 27, 2016/1 Comment/in Voices for Justice /by Christopher Kerr Fr. Arrupe was in Hiroshima the day of The Bomb. Re. bomb dropped: The US President [Truman] said the atomic bomb heralded the “harnessing of the basic power of the universe”. It also marked a victory over the Germans in the race to be first […]

War Crimes in a Punitive Age

2 May 2016 Joseph Margulies photo above: Joseph Margulies an excerpt: Do you want to know the real problem with criminal justice reform? If we cut through all the stories that now dominate the airwaves—all the chatter about bad police, underfunded defense lawyers, over-zealous prosecutors, and heartless prisons—it is this: Criminal justice reform, as it […]

Tomgram: Rebecca Gordon, Justice for Torturers?

Posted by Rebecca Gordon at 7:25am, June 7, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. photo above: A composite showing some of the torture images from US military, among 198 photographs released in February. Photograph: Department of Defense (See: torture photos) an excerpt: In other words, one of the leading legal opponents of everything the war […]

The US Militarizes Children in (Their) Schools​

ROBERT C. KOEHLER OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT photp above: alamosbasement an excerpt: The United States no longer has a draft because the nation no longer believes in war, except abstractly, as background noise. But it has an economic draft: It claims recruits largely from the neighborhoods of hopelessness. Joining the U.S. military is the only […]

The arsonists of Fort McMurray have a name

Martin Lukacs @Martin_Lukacs Thursday 12 May 2016 13.23 BST photo above: thesource.com an excerpt: These arsonists have a name and they’re hiding in plain view—because their actions, at the moment, are still considered legal. They’re the companies that helped turn the boreal forest into a flammable tinder-box. The same companies that have undermined attempts to […]

Crisis Narratives and the Ongoing Drought in Ethiopia

Wednesday, 01 June 2016 00:00 By Christine Ro, Truthout | News Analysis an excerpt: But Ethiopia is much more than a Live Aid poster country, and the crisis situation it’s facing now differs from the one in the 1980s — the country has a more stable government and a stronger emergency management system. And El […]

Soul to Soul at Honeywell

Wednesday, 01 June 2016 00:00 By Nick Mottern, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Chris Antal and Nick Mottern stand outside Honeywell on the day they attended the shareholders meeting. (Photo: Chris Antal) an excerpt: “Broken at the Top,” an April 2016 report by Oxfam America, suggests that the “substantial portion” of Honeywell’s offshore cash between […]

In Wake of Coup, Should Brazil’s Olympics Be Moved or Become a Site of Protest?

Wednesday, 01 June 2016 00:00 By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! | Video Report an excerpt: AMY GOODMAN: Jules Boykoff, can you talk about the police violence and the hypersecurity situation around the Olympics? JULES BOYKOFF: Absolutely. Eighty-five thousand security officials will descend on Rio. That’s double the number of the London Olympics just four years […]

Preparing for the Next Memorial Day

Wednesday, 01 June 2016 00:00 By Medea Benjamin, PINK Tank | Op-Ed an excerpt: The barbarism of targeting “suspects” by remote control from the comfort of an air-conditioned base in the United States, including in countries where we are not at war, should enrage all Americans who cherish the rule of law. As Army Chaplain […]

Limit the Next President’s Power to Wage Drone Warfare

image by Brian Stauffer By JAMEEL JAFFER and BRETT MAX KAUFMAN MARCH 8, 2016 And President Obama repeatedly vociferously calls for gun control in America! Obviously, only American lives matter to this murderous President. Though even there, exceptions are made! See below. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert took on Attorney General Eric Holder’s legal justification for […]

Drone Strikes Reveal Uncomfortable Truth: U.S. Is Often Unsure About Who Will Die

By SCOTT SHANE APRIL 23, 2015 photo above: The rubble of a building that was destroyed in Yemen by a drone strike in 2011 against Qaeda militants, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the only one of eight American drone victims over all who was a target. Credit Khaled Abdullah/Reuters Can one deny the accusation that President Obama […]

Tomgram: Mattea Kramer, The Grief of Others and the Boasts of Candidates

photo above: An injured Afghan boy is put on a stretcher at a hospital in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan. Photograph: Nesar Ahmad Posted by Mattea Kramer at 7:01am, March 3, 2016. An excerpt from the introduction: Here’s a what-if that continues to haunt me. What if some disturbed “lone wolf,” “inspired” by the Islamic State’s online […]

Best of TomDispatch: Nick Turse, From the Missing Archives of a Lost War

Posted by Nick Turse and Tam Turse at 5:02pm, May 29, 2016. an excerpt from the introduction: On this Memorial Day weekend dedicated to remembering those who died in America’s wars, TomDispatch brings back a powerful 2008 Nick Turse piece about two civilians, two Vietnamese, who did not, in fact, die in the long ago […]

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, America’s Sinkhole Wars

an excerpt: We have it on highest authority: the recent killing of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan marks “an important milestone.” So the president of the United States has declared, with that claim duly echoed and implicitly endorsed by media commentary — the New York Times reporting, […]

Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Oil World in Chaos

an excerpt from the introduction to the piece: Only one problem: climate change threatens to screw up the formula. That phenomenon has complicated weather coverage by inserting human (that is, fossil fuel) politics where only the periodically awesome destructive power of nature and raw human emotion once were. All too often, bad weather may now […]

God of the Depressed

by Stephen H. Webb 2. 19. 16 In that I’m given to depression, I greatly appreciated this theological reflection. an excerpt: Christians don’t talk enough about depression. Emotional pain, for one thing, can be hard to share. Despair can feel very physical for the sufferer, weighing heavily on the heart and clogging the brain, but […]

Will Canada Recognize Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Poor Countries?

photo above: Indigenous women and children in Guatemala are among those most impacted by Canadian mining companies’ destructive practices. (Photo: Danilo Valladares / IPS) an excerpt: It’s estimated that 75 percent of the world’s mining and exploration companies are based in Canada, and mining is one of Canada’s most economically powerful sectors. Activists say as […]

Jeremy Scahill: Corporations Are Making a Killing Off US Targeted Killing

Jeremy Scahill authored this recent book: , already covered in my blog here: The Assassination Complex. an excerpt from this most recent interview with the author: Laura Flanders: Let’s start with the meat of the matter, the book. It is based on a mountain of classified documents that you and your colleagues went through. Briefly, […]

US Officials Responsible for Torture Should Be Prosecuted Under Nuremberg Protocols

photo above: Congressional Republicans surround President George W. Bush as he signs the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, in Washington, October 26, 2005. (Stephen Crowley / The New York Times) The article by Rebecca Gordon is an excerpt from the foreward of her […]

“Isolation Devastates the Brain”: The Neuroscience of Solitary Confinement

By Carol Schaeffer May 11, 2016 an excerpt: “Isolation devastates the brain. There is no question about that,” said Zigmund. “Without air, we will live minutes. Without water, we will live days. Without nutrition, we live weeks. Without physical activity, our lives are decreased by years. Social interaction is part of these basic elements of […]

Trump Card: The Bully Who Exposes Our Bully Nation

By Charles Derber and Yale Magrass photo above: by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels WN: There is much on this website about America’s–and the West’s concomitant–“militarized capitalism.” None of it is good news . . . an excerpt: The mainstream media and party establishments say, “Isn’t it terrible that Trump is such a bully?” Many ordinary people say […]

Archbishop’s – Rowan Williams – address to the Synod of Bishops in Rome

Wednesday 10th October 2012 In the first address by an Archbishop of Canterbury to the Synod of Bishops in Rome, Archbishop Rowan Williams spoke about the profound connection between contemplation and the task of evangelisation, saying it “must be rooted in a profound confidence that we have a distinctive human destiny to show and share […]

US Army Chaplain Resigns in Opposition to Use of Assassin Drones by the United States

If only hundreds more U.S. army chaplains would do this! an excerpt: [US Army Reserve Chaplain Captain Christopher John] Antal wrote, “We have sanitized killing and condoned extrajudicial assassinations … war made easy without due process, protecting ourselves from the human cost of war. We have deceived ourselves … denying the colossal misery our wars […]

Snowden interview: Why the media isn’t doing its job

The Tow Center for Digital Journalism’s Emily Bell spoke to Edward Snowden over a secure channel about his experiences working with journalists and his perspective on the shifting media world. This is an excerpt of that conversation, conducted in December 2015. It will appear in a forthcoming book: Journalism After Snowden: The Future of the […]

In Washington, Why Is Militarism the Only Option?

by Tom Engelhardt This is a brilliant, devastating piece that presents militarism in the United States as their current “drug of choice” worldwide, with devastating results for the global community: the very inverse of human rights, freedom, and democracy. And Obama was once awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?! How ridiculous is that? What a crazy […]

The Untold History of US War Crimes

(Photo: atomic cloud over Nagasaki, August 9, 1945. (Photo: Hiromichi Matsuda) An interview with Professor (of History) Peter Kuznick It is a truism that the United States has been committing war crimes almost since its inception. This interview looks at U.S. war crimes during and since World War II. An excerpt: As a freshman in […]

Nonviolence and the Book of Revelation with an Annotated Bibliography

by Paul Nuechterlein an excerpt: When I wrote the first draft of this page (May 2007), I was wondering if one of the most popular phenomenons of our time would be on the side of this way of nonviolent love. I believed J. K. Rowling to be presenting us with the choice between Lord Voldemort’s […]

Re-Sacralizing Violence in the Left Behind Books

by Paul Nuechterlein An excerpt: From the perspective of mimetic theory, the most serious problem with the Left Behind series of novels, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins,(1[ Published by Tyndale in twelve volumes, 1995-2004.]) is their re-sacralization of violence. Their version of Jesus is no longer the Lamb slain but the same beastly […]

Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald Probe Secret US Drone Wars in New Book

The United States is a world-wide assassin. Plain and simple. They act with impunity as judge, jury, and executioner. They slaughter countless innocent civilians in their assassinations wake. It is morally utterly deplorable, with no end in sight. The book highlighted here is one of the exposés. An excerpt: Major revelations about the US government’s […]

Global pitbulls: the US military mission to support corporate colonialism

This is tragically our planet’s reality… An excerpt: [su_pullquote]“I spent thirty three years and four months in the Marine Corps. During that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.”[/su_pullquote]With its 800 bases in […]

The Science of Killing Has Become an Impractical Instrument of Political Domination

WN: This is an excellent article. An excerpt: Surveying the U.S.’s imminent defeat in Vietnam in his 1972 book, Roots of War, Richard Barnet observed, …at the very moment the number one nation has perfected the science of killing, it has become an impractical instrument of political domination. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has systematically […]

World Social Forum, August 9 – 14, Montréal

Canadian Friends of Sabeel, a pro-reconciliation entity encouraging justice and peace between Palestine and Israel, and part of a worldwide movement, is promoting the 2016 World Social Forum in which it will be participating. Within the World Social Forum, Sabeel will be participating in the World Forum on Theology and Liberation. Please click on Sabeel’s […]

Neighbors in Rwanda: An Interview with Denise Uwimana

Denise and her sons survived the [Rwandan] genocide against immense odds. Many of her relatives, though, were killed. So was her husband – she still does not know how or when his death occurred. In spite of this loss, Denise chose to forgive the perpetrators of the genocide and work for reconciliation in her country. […]

Does Faith Breed Violence?

Book review of Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, New York: Schoken Books, 2015. You may read an interview with the author here: Interview with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. You may find the spoken interview here: Spoken Interview. An excerpt from the book review: Old secularization theories die hard. The twenty-first century […]

Putting a Human Face on Capital Punishment

Jamie Arpin-Ricci, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016 This book appears to be very good! The interview with the author is here: Human Face on Capital Punishment An excerpt: 2) You have a new novella, The Last Verdict, that has just been published? What is your elevator speech? “The Last Verdict” is the story of two […]

Some Relationship Advice From Pope Francis

This is great stuff! An excerpt: Make Time For One Another, Even If You’re Busy. “Love needs time and space; everything else is secondary. Time is needed to talk things over, to embrace leisurely, to share plans, to listen to one other and gaze in each other’s eyes, to appreciate one another and to build […]

Pope Francis and the Just Third Way

BY MICHAEL D. GREANEY, CPA, MBA JUNE 13, 2015 WN: This in my view is an outstanding article. Read it, and the extensive interaction with it afterwards. excerpt: Pope Francis faces many challenges in his efforts to modernize the application of Catholic social doctrine to today’s problems, particularly the growing global wealth, income, and power […]

Just War, Just Deserts, Just Hell

WN: This was inspired by Brad Jersak after we jointly (with Ron Dart and Archbishop Lazar (see the earlier post, “Wrestling With Jacob”) did a video-taping. It could and may be some day greatly expanded. Please click on: Just War, Just Deserts, Just Hell

Wrestling With Jacob: The Divine Dilemma

This is a five-part series of talks by: Ron Dart, Brad Jersak, Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Wayne Northey. Please click: Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Epilogue (to follow)

Judging

This piece kind of just willed out. An excerpt: I recently spent extended time with several relatives. I listened to severe condemnations of a range of persons and person-types (homosexuals for instance). I’m part of an extended family that demonstrates extreme intolerance and judgmentalism towards certain others in their ideas and beliefs: religious beliefs for […]

Terrorism

We all know this… Since war itself is the most extreme form of terrorism, a war on terrorism is profoundly self-contradictory. – Howard Zinn

“Christian” Zionism’s flawed vision of Israel

by Rabbi Dow Marmur An excerpt: Of late, however, some have argued that nowadays this may not be the primary motivation of mainstream Christian evangelicals. Their commitment to Israel may be more about being ashamed of what has been done to Jews in the name of Christianity through the ages. Supporting the Jewish state is […]

The Inside-Out Gospel

By Rev. Michael F. Blevins, J.D., M.Div., LL.M. Executive Director of the NE Iowa Peace & Justice Center, Inc., Decorah, IA The article is also located here. An excerpt: The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.3 million people currently in the nation’s prisons or jails—an astounding 500% increase over the past […]

Who Are the War Criminals?

WN: Another now-and-then article. An excerpt: In Errol Morris’ 2003 film, The Fog of War, former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, architect of the Vietnam War strategy, reminisces on lessons learned from his life, organized by Morris around issues of war. At one point, some detail has been gone into about the military campaign against […]

When Billy Graham Planned To Kill One Million People

photo above: Billy Graham visited troops in Vietnam around Christmastime 1966 and returned in 1968. His son Franklin Graham, CEO and president of the BGEA, shared: “My father felt it was important to go and minister to the U.S. Military. He went to Vietnam not because he supported the war, he was going there to […]

What Olympic Ideal?

By DANIEL MENDELSOHN image above: Ancient Olympia – Ruin in Greece – Thousand Wonders An excerpt: So too, all too obviously, with Athena and Phevos, whose demotion from august divinities to harmless cartoons is, if anything, emblematic of the way in which our Games differ from those of the ancient Greeks. This is nowhere more true […]

Western “Civilization” or Lessons on History and a Blind Eye

WN: Another now-and-then article. An excerpt: We Westerners live in a civilization of vaunted global human rights and universal equality. The reality could not be further from the truth. “Western civilization doth protest too much, methinks” to paraphrase Shakespeare. Or to quote Mahatma Gandhi’s response to, “What do you think of Western civilization?”: “I think […]

The Sickness of America, The Sickness of Humanity

image above: Walter Wink preaching at the Fellowship of Reconciliation WN: Another now-and-then article. An excerpt: The “face of fascism” turns out to be my face and your face, unless we turn our faces individually and collectively towards the neighbour and enemy in relentlessly creative new embrace. The Gospel addresses this: “For whoever wants to save […]

The Rev. Billy Graham is No Phil Berrigan!

By: William Hughes originally published in The People’s Voice WN: Neither are most of us… An excerpt: Rev. Graham has been doing his preaching gig for over 60 years. He has reportedly spoken to “more than 210 million people in 185 countries and territories.” (1) My question is this: To what end? Rev. Graham has […]

The Man Who Knew

CBS News An excerpt: In the run-up to the war in Iraq, one moment seemed to be a turning point: the day Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the United Nations to make the case for the invasion. Millions of people watched as he laid out the evidence and reached a damning conclusion — […]

The London Bombs, July 2005

By Wayne Northey July 9, 2005 Dear Editor: Prime Minister Tony Blair hypocritically called the London bombings “barbaric attacks.” On September 1, 1939, President Roosevelt similarly wrote to the major powers that aerial bombing of civilians had “profoundly shocked the conscience of humanity” and was “inhuman barbarism.” He later as disingenuously referred to the December 7, 1941 […]

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

image above: Benito Mussolini (left) and Adolf Hitler (right), the leaders of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, respectively, were both fascists. WN: Sobering. Canada anyone? See too: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder. Of it: The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces […]

Thank A Trained Killer Week, December 19 – 25, 2005

An excerpt: The week before Christmas south of the border has been designated “Thank a Soldier Week.” It may be dubbed as accurately “Thank a Trained Killer Week”.1 Retired Lt. Col. David Grossman indicates that no institution in America pays more attention to brutalization and desensitization of its recruits than the modern U.S. military: This […]

Mr. Harper, But Emperor Bush Has Nothing on At All!!!

By Wayne Northey Stephen Harper is a scary man. He is at best sycophant, at worst dupe, of the confidence racket called American Foreign Policy. There is a growing collection of articles on my computer about American Empire and “Emperor” George W. Bush. The assortment exceeds to the point of crescendo journalist Serge Schmemann’s agonizing […]

Sifting Dresden’s ashes

image above: Enormous 360-degree panoramic picture of Dresden after Allied bombing| pinterest.com WN: Sixty years after the Allies’ bombing of Dresden enveloped the city in flames, controversy persists over whether the attack was militarily justified or morally indefensible. But another question, no less crucial, is seldom asked: Did wartime conditions allow military leaders to look away as […]

Secret World of US Jails

By Jason Burke The Observer U.K. An excerpt: The United States government, in conjunction with key allies, is running an “invisible” network of prisons and detention centres into which thousands of suspects have disappeared without trace since the “war on terror” began. In the past three years, thousands of alleged militants have been transferred around […]

RAMSEY CLARK: THE TRAGEDY OF WAR AS AN END IN ITSELF

WN: This is illustrative of all war. An excerpt: Above all, it is the premeditated attack on life, the human casualties, that make “the scourge of war” so horrible and dehumanizing. The first Gulf War in January-February, 1991, is a classic example of the human destructiveness of war as an end in itself. The Pentagon […]

“Pardon Me?!”

“Pardon Me?!” A one-time friend, Lloyd Billingsley, years ago confidently told me that “the left” by definition is ideological, “the right” by contrast normal/normative. Such in turn ideological blindness still gobsmacks me. Lloyd is an intelligent man but profoundly doctrinaire, and like a close acquaintance, Lloyd sadly is highly unloving – even hateful – towards […]

Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers

By JOHN C. DANFORTH image above: bayardfaithresources.com–article valid, but the above image is how we “serve?” (whom)! An excerpt: By contrast, moderate Christians see ourselves, literally, as moderators. Far from claiming to possess God’s truth, we claim only to be imperfect seekers of the truth. We reject the notion that religion should present a series […]

Only Then… Hasidic

A rabbi asked his students, “When is it at dawn that one can tell the light from the darkness?” One student replied, “When I can tell a goat from a donkey.” “No,” answered the rabbi. Another said, “When I can tell a palm tree from a fig.” “No,” answered the rabbi again. “Well, then what […]

One War is Enough

By Edgar L. Jones image above: Love is the only way. There has been enough pain, enough war … picturequotes.com WN: This is a very sobering piece by a war correspondent and a veteran about what is usually considered a “just war”: World War II. An excerpt: WE Americans have the dangerous tendency in our international […]

Militarism Leads to Torture

By Scott Galindez image above: Revealed: Senate report contains new details on CIA black sites WN: There is no Empire known to history not guilty of “militarism.” An excerpt: I am not anti-soldier. They joined the military, like I did, to defend their country, get an education, learn a skill, etc. I am against militarism, a […]

Mercy, Mr. Harper, Not Sacrifice (Jesus)

WN: Canada’s Prime Minister Harper has consistently chosen to “enemize” the other in response to Canada’s domestic (criminals) and international (whatever flavour) neighbours, thereby creating ever greater numbers of “enemies” to vanquish. An excerpt: Is the final biblical word for God love or hate? Is there any scriptural word for God that means hate? How […]

Just War Theory Revisited

by Olga Bonfiglio image above: What is the just war theory? | GotQuestions.org WN: In light of what has happened since in the region, this article shows a lot of wisdom. An excerpt: Secondly, four and a half years of war have gotten us over 3,700 dead Americans and between 70,182 and 655,000 dead Iraqis; mass […]

Jarhead, Montréal Shooting Spree, and Western Civilization

It was while descending from a hike up Elk Mountain in the eastern Fraser Valley of British Columbia that someone shared about his son, one of Canada’s finest trained élite soldiers, who had recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. His son said the movie Jarhead would be the closest to depicting accurately […]

Is War the Real [U.S.] National Pastime?

These are excerpts from an interview with Eugene Jarecki, director of the documentary: “Why We Fight“. For consideration: “Pax Americana: War is the means by which Americans learn geography.” – Ambrose Bierce an excerpt: Q: It is very interesting that in the film you used the footage of [current US Defence Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld’s meeting […]

Is U.S. like Germany of the ’30s?

WN: I think this is a classic – by Andrew Greeley. An excerpt: He is not another Hitler. Yet there is a certain parallelism. They have in common a demagogic appeal to the worst side of a country’s heritage in a crisis. Bush is doubtless sincere in his vision of what is best for America. […]

Inhuman Barbarism of President Roosevelt

This, issued by President Roosevelt on the eve of World War II, speaks for itself. No. 325 Appeal of President Roosevelt to Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Poland September 1, 1939. “THE ruthless bombing from the air of civilians in unfortified centres of population during the course of the hostilities which have raged in […]

I Was Told It Was Necessary

by Charles C. McCarthy WN: See also on this site: Blessing The Bombs. An excerpt: Zabelka: The destruction of civilians in war was always forbidden by the Church, and if a soldier came to me and asked if he could put a bullet through a child’s head, I would have told him absolutely not. That […]

We Are Mansfield Park

image above: The young Fanny and the “well-meant condescensions of Sir Thomas Bertram” on her arrival at Mansfield Park. A 1903 edition WN: This was published in the Calgary Herald on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of D-Day. An excerpt: Western culture is committed to a mass mythology of the righteousness of war. The […]

Bush’s “Christian” Blood Cult

by Wayne Masden image above: New Poll: George W. Bush Now Ranked 3rd Best President, Was 40th Last …  bullshit.ist An excerpt: George W. Bush proclaims himself a born-again Christian. However, Bush and fellow self-anointed neo-Christians like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, John Ashcroft, and sports arena Book of Revelations [sic] carnival hawker Franklin Graham appear […]

Bush the Would-Be Torturer

by Marjorie Cohn WN: Bush’s presidency established torture as legal practice, though it has been used by the C.I.A. and other agencies all along with impunity. An excerpt: The legal advice which would permit Bush to order torture without sanction is consistent with his policy to ignore or denounce treaties and federal laws that don’t […]

The International George W. Bush Laugh-In Campaign

WN: This never did happen – but was a good idea… An excerpt: It is time for all people of good mirth on earth to begin laughing at George W. Bush. Hilariously. Uproariously. To utter scorn. He is owed innate dignity as a fellow-human, but his political leadership is absurdly laughable – while so tragically […]

Boycott Chicken!

This again a now-and-then piece. An excerpt: I told him of an organization in America that marched annually in a death penalty state. One of those was born-again Governor George Bush’s Texas, whose Huntsville was site of the most “killing fields” in the history of American governors. One could not be a member, I explained, […]

Blessing the Bombs

WN: This speech was given by George Zabelka, former U.S. chaplain who blessed the dropping of the two atomic bombs in August 1945. It also appears here. Please also see on this site: I Was Told It Was Necessary. An excerpt: I never preached a single sermon against killing civilians to the men who were […]

Blessed Are the Warmakers?

WN: This is in my view an excellent piece by Christopher Manion – from 2003. An excerpt: Mr. Thomas, normally a sensible man writing from an evangelical Christian point of view, has just announced that the biblical “Time for War” is at hand. Invoking Woodrow Wilson, that most peaceable, honest, Christian creature, Thomas explains that […]

Billy Graham – Echoes in the Shadows

This was written by Bill C. Davis. WN: Billy Graham has been the most known representative Evangelical for the last half of the twentieth century. No one has emerged in the twenty-first to take his place. This is why in my novel he appeared as THE representative Evangelical. As such, he most represents the tragedy […]

Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence

photo above: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964 WN: The sermon, preached one year to the day before his murder (April 4, 1968), by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. perhaps explains why, especially the excerpt below, the U.S. government conspired to kill Dr. King. There was also his participation in organizing a March in […]

Sixtieth Anniversary of Hiroshima and The World Safe

WN: This was a “what if” piece that when first published online several took to be in fact true… image above: Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right) An excerpt: They said it would hasten making the world safe for democracy. It was novel and bold. British Joint Chiefs of Staff first floated it, and the Americans […]

A Partial List of Democides in the Last Hundred Years

WN: Democide: “the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.” While this is a partial list, Wikipedia contains an expanded list of Genocide here. The Most Dangerous Animal by David Livingstone Smith of course puts humans at the top of the list. [pullquote]If there were a Last […]

A Modest Proposal Lite

WN: Another now-and-then article. An excerpt: In Western civilization, logic and ethics are usually mutually exclusive, while ideology and ethics are invariably bedfellows. Take Michael Ignatieff for instance, a great Canadian intellectual and current Liberal Party leadership hopeful. He salutes the United States as Empire-Lite (title of one of his books), and applauds its Nation-Building […]

Three Quotes and Two Dictionary Entries

Three Quotes and Two Dictionary Entries 1. “In [a true fairy-story] when the sudden ‘turn’ [or ‘eucatastrophe’] comes we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and heart’s desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come through… The Birth of Christ is the […]

The Bombs of August 1945

image above: wm.org.uk WN: This was written by Howard Zinn. You may also find it here. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand as the two greatest one-time mass murders in history. Yet they cannot publicly be so named without huge backlash. What kind of mostrosity is Western “civilization” to have for even a moment […]

Homosexuality Question, October 23, 2004

WN: Dr. Willard Swartley is an outstanding New Testament exegete, whom I now consider a friend, after our meeting in 2006. I had this two-part question that did not receive an answer (not his fault) on the occasion of his presentation on the subject in Abbotsford BC in 2004. Homosexuality Question, October 23, 2004 Dr. […]

“First They Came For”…

by Reverend Martin Niemöller In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then the came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a […]

Canadian Federal Candidates Questions: June 2004

Two questions that never received a response during election year 2004 . . . Mr. Warawa, the Conservative Party of Canada in its earlier incarnations was committed to upholding victims rights, and opposing criminal behaviour. According to The Langley Advance, February, 2004: [Stephen] Harper clearly accepted a connection between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11, […]

Letter To the Editor: September 12, 2001

WN: One small attempt at perspective… An excerpt: Yesterday’s tragedy is horrific beyond words. Victims’ and their families’ losses are unspeakable. When retaliation is countenanced, some perspective, though, is needed. Tuesday’s reprehensible terrorist attack was not unprecedented, unless by definition (which is the art of myth making, otherwise known as propaganda). Lest we forget (though […]

Introduction to Crime Forum

June 3, 2001, Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, 7:00 – 9:30 p.m. WN: I definitely remembered this forum! Randy White, one of the panelists, then an MP for what now is called the Conservative Party (“Reform” back then) commented to one of our staff that he thought he might get “crucified” – or words to that effect. […]

Scapegoating The Sex Offender

WN: This was written 16 years ago, but is ever pertinent. An excerpt: Can one hope that some Canadian communities will refuse to scapegoat, and develop safe ways of working with sex offenders in their midst? In fact, that is what has emerged in the past four years through Correctional Services Canada funded community agencies. […]

The Spirit of Antichrist

WN: Another of my now-and-then reflections. An excerpt: One of my good friends several years ago gave up on the church. Still a “believer,” he embarked on a private study of Christian doctrine, only to “discover” that the traditional biblical texts were no longer to be trusted, and instead needed to be rewritten à la […]

Why I Am (Try to Be) Consistently Pro-Life

An excerpt: During World War II, famed literary scholar and “mere Christian” C.S. Lewis delivered a lecture to a pacifist society entitled, “Why I am Not a Pacifist.” From a writer whose pen could never be dull, this piece was Lewis’ authorial nadir. It is akin to Bertrand Russell’s essay, “Why I am Not a […]

Why Most Christians Are Not Consistently Pro-Life

An excerpt: The other day Pat Robertson of the 700 Club called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. That would be, bluntly, counsel to commit murder. And some people acted surprised! One thing that should not surprise anyone is Christians supporting and carrying out murder of others. Almost ever since good religious […]

Whither Now?

Justice Without Violence Conference, June 5 – 7, 1997, Albany, New York An excerpt: Introduction Whither Now? The question presupposes a prior: Whence Already? Part of knowing who we are is discerning from where we have come. Do we feel rooted in a hopeful story? Part of our cultural milieu is to deny there is […]

Victims, violence and Christianity

by René Girard. WN: It is an edited version of The Martin D’Arcy Lecture delivered in Oxford in November 1997. Please click on: Victims, violence and Christianity

U.S., Like McVeigh, Guilty of Terrorist Attacks

This article of course states the all-too-obvious. It does not absolve ISIS or the Boko Haram (for instance): it simply puts their killings in perspective. An excerpt: AUSTIN, Texas – Timothy McVeigh killed twice in his life. For one of those acts, he was sentenced to die. For the other, he was awarded a Bronze […]

True Christian Spirituality

An excerpt: It seems that we Christians always have had difficulty keeping together Christian points of tension. Whether the two natures of Christ, our will and God’s choice, faith and works, etc., we tend almost invariably towards extremes. Likewise on the issue of spirituality. I was raised in a conservative evangelical church tradition. The spirituality […]

Transformative Justice Vision and Spirituality

WN: Some of the material in the essay below, now reworked, first appeared in The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice, “Christianity: The Rediscovery of Restorative Justice”, editor, Michael Hadley, by Pierre Allard and Wayne Northey; New York: SUNY Press, 2001. In light of two books by historian William Cavanaugh, I would be less sweeping about […]

The world is a beautiful place… and Yes

The first was written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti; the second by Wendell Berry. I also juxtapose the first with David Bentley Hart‘s The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth. It is a brilliant (and for me difficult-to-read) Christian interaction with modernity and postmodernity. Please click on: The world is a beautiful place… Please […]

The War Prayer

By Mark Twain WN: It is a quite powerful piece. Read it in its entirety. It may be found online as well here. Under Teddy Roosevelt (later President), the Americans “pacified” (read liquidated) thousands of soldiers and as many as 200,000 civilians. (See here, and here.) Please click on: The War Prayer

The Mother of All Christian Heresies

WN: Another incidental writing. An excerpt: The War just fought against pirate Saddam Hussein and Iraq, with recently reported Iraqi civilian casualties of over 37,000(1) [Twelve times the civilian casualties of September 11, 2001, in America!] is another classic instance of the pot calling the kettle black; of Emperor Bush demonstrating moral equivalency to Saddam […]

The Sickness of America, The Sickness of Humanity

WN: Another now-and-then piece. An excerpt: This was sent to me over the Internet: All Time Best Quote In a recent interview, General Norman Schwarzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward the people who have harbored and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on America. His answer was […]

The Jesus Quest & The Real Jesus

WN: This is still a worthwhile article by New Testament scholar Richard B. Hays almost 20 years later. The original may be found here. An excerpt: As the “historical Jesus” debate heats up and more participants enter the fray, the general reader may understandably feel bewildered by the claims and counterclaims being bandied about. Ben […]

Statements About the Church

WN: I collected such for a while… They are all below: The church is hopeless, but it is the only hope. (African saying) The church is that great totalitarian beast with an irreducible kernel of truth. (Simone Weil, 20th century French mystic) The church is like Noah’s ark: you wouldn’t stand the stench within were […]

The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice – Christianity

WN: This paper was jointly written by Pierre Allard and me. It arose from a book publication by the same title as above (minus “Christianity”). The actual paper as it appeared in the book in part may be found here. The paper as I believe sent to the publisher’s is below. An excerpt: Introduction “It […]

War, Police and Prisons: Cross-Examining State-Sanctioned Violence

War, Police and Prisons: Cross-Examining State-Sanctioned Violence Streams of Justice, September 28, 2009 WN: I was asked by the above-named Justice group to do this as part of a series. I never learn well to do such presentations to the right tailor length! You may also find interesting my discussion of WAR and HELL. An […]

Spirituality of Restorative Justice

WN: Presented at Arts & Peace Festival, Restorative Justice Workshop, March 1, 2001. Something similar was also presented at Regent College in 2003. It is also clickable. an excerpt: Centrality of Western Christian Spirituality for Criminal Justice The defining religious ethos of Western spirituality historically has been Christianity. Christianity has also been the reigning ideology […]

Spirituality Evaluation of Restorative Justice

Sixth International Conference on Restorative Justice, “Best Practices in Restorative Justice”, June 4, 2003 WN: I attended and presented at a few such Conferences over the years, especially in the years I worked for Mennonite Central Committee (MCCC): 1989 to 1998. an excerpt: I thought I’d look at a Christian Spirituality of Restorative Justice through […]

Restorative Justice and M2/W2 Ministry

M2/W2 (Man-To-Man/Woman-To-Woman) is the Restorative Justice agency with which I was associated for forty years. An excerpt: A few years ago, at a VOMA (Victim Offender Mediation Association) conference in Des Moines, Iowa, I saw a plaintive note on a bulletin board: DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANY RESTORATIVE JUSTICE VIDEO RESOURCES THAT ARE NOT RELIGIOUS?! […]

Restorative Justice

WN: This was written for a now defunct magazine called “Friend“. It is a brief statement about Restorative Justice. Please click on: Restorative Justice – for Friend

“A Great Irony of History”: The Cross and Peace

WN: There is a similar paper on this site. This was the original. Exactly a week before I was to deliver this to a Regent College class of first year students in a “World Christianity” course (April 8, 2007 was the day of the lecture, at the invitation of Loren Wilkinson), Dean Davey declared to […]

Reflections on Capital Punishment

An excerpt: Christian support for capital punishment, like Christian participation in war, has known a majority Christendom approbation since the era of Constantine in the fourth century. This support has likewise dominated Western secular jurisdictions until the last century – a tragic Christian legacy of fear and vengeance! The church moved in the fourth century […]

The Sports Crowd is Untruth

WN: This was written in response to the Vancouver Stanley Cup riot in 2011. An excerpt: Søren Kierkegaard wrote “The crowd is untruth.” René Girard saw it in the hidden uncouth: Scapegoating violence, originary, in all human cultures. It is all innocent fun say dominant culture vultures Of every sports win. Yet there lurks deeper […]

Rediscovering Spiritual Roots:

WN: This was done in 1996 for a double issue of a U.S. journal, called The Justice Professional. I began and ended with the story of Claire Culhane who, though atheistic, so represented justice to me. A few peculiarities: the «» marks could not be replaced with quotation marks; and the Endnotes could not be […]

All Allied/NATO Political Leaders Since World War II are Racist and Nepotistic

WN: The rest of the title reads: (and so are their supporting constituents); OR: Tell Me it Isn’t So, and I’ll Tell You About 120,000 Civilian Bombing Deaths, August, 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and 5,000 Civilian Bombing Deaths, Fall, 2001, in Afghanistan; OR: What Do You Think of Western Civilization? – It Would Be […]

Peace and the Church

WN: There are several short papers (hundreds) that I wrote in this or that context in the past. This is one such. An excerpt: One frequent argument from the non-pacifist historians went: If the early church was pacifist, how is it that by the era of Constantine (fourth century) it jettisoned that position effortlessly, with […]

Call For a Church Apology Vis À Vis Crime and Punishment

photo above: freeimages.com An excerpt: When Anselm of Canterbury wrote Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man) in the 11th century, the Church gradually changed the nature of the understanding of God, salvation, grace, law, sin, and crime. God became increasingly a “sentencing Judge”, salvation became something earned, sin, crime and law became separated from […]

Politics and Religion in the Thought of Ivan Illich

WN: This paper is on David Cayley’s website here. You may read about David Cayley here. David has broadcast and written about Ivan Illich numerous times. He is currently (2015) working on yet another book on him. (Update: published in 2021 and clickable.) An excerpt: One could say a lot more about the segregation of […]

Clark Pinnock Letters, June 14, 1991; October 9, 1991; October 22, 1991

image above: topfamousquotes.com WN:When I lived for nearly two years in the basement of noted Evangelical scholar Clark Pinnock’s home, I was a student at Regent College (1974 – 1976). Clark was my mentor in occasioning two conversions: 1. that the Gospel had to do centrally with the social and political because it had to […]

Paul’s Gospel and Caesar’s Empire

WN: Arguably the two greatest New Testament era historians in the world today are James D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright, both British. In this piece by N.T. Wright, we see Paul as the towering dissenter against (Roman) Empire. Paul was impossibly radical, whose life and ideas shatter social conventions of the civitas terrena […]

On the Front Lines

WN: Brian Stewart is a well-known Canadian journalist who a dozen or so years ago found his way to Christian faith. The piece here was a Convocation address to a bunch of Presbyterian seminary graduates. I showed this piece to a friend who long since, though raised a Christian, disavowed the Church as an evil […]

Jesus, Evangelicals, and American Empire

image above: thenile.com.au WN: “Empire” by nature is gargantuan evil. There is none known to history that has not been such. Most American Evangelicals and conservative Roman Catholics amongst other religious instinctively oppose thinking the United States is precisely such an Empire. Billy Graham and a host of lesser religious routinely prayed for Empire victory […]

The Man Who Chose To See

WN: Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy is a tireless Eastern Catholic voice for nonviolence. See his: Center for Christian Nonviolence website. This is a sermon preached in 1993 on the life of Franz Jägerstätter, executed by the Nazis 50 years previously for his refusal to kill for the Nazis. More about him may be found here: […]

Spirituality of Penal Abolition

image above: goodreads.com WN: Ruth Morris, Canadian Quaker who won numerous humanitarian awards, invited me to present this paper at ICOPA IX in 2000. ICOPA stands for: International Conference on Penal Abolition. It was the ninth conference, held in Toronto, where the first such conference, then on “Prison Abolition”, was held, also organized by Ruth. […]

Making Friends of Enemies: Father Elias Chacour

WN: I love this story! Father Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian still very active today (and now Archbishop Chacour) in making peace between Palestinians and Jews, was confronted for several months by the cold, unforgiving hearts of his parishioners. Then: On Palm Sunday of his first year as pastor of Ibillin, Elias looked from the […]

Is Paul the Father of Misogyny and Antisemitism?

WN: This paper highlighted below answers in the negative the question posed in the title. It was written by Pamela Eisenbaum, Pauline scholar, practising Jew, feminist, and professor at a Christian seminary. She subsequently wrote Paul was not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle. I delivered a sermon inspired by her, entitled […]

‘In the Middle:’ Biblical Reflections on Restorative Justice

WN: Tom Yoder Neufeld presented this to the Mennonite Central Committee Canada Restorative Justice Network in Winnipeg in 2003. It well deserves a current readership. The second footnote below was a reader compiled by me for MCCC. An excerpt: I have been asked to reflect on Restorative Justice in relation both to ways the Bible […]

The Camel in the Anointment: Homosexuality and the Church

WN: I invite response. To be noted: two authors adduced below–Willard Swartley and Richard Hays–both support/ed a church ban on homosexuality. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices– mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law– justice, […]

The Craft of Forgiveness

WN: This was prepared in 2005 for a church curriculum. An excerpt: Forgiveness is not only the ultimate “craft” for all wishing to become fully human, it is also ticket to freedom and joy. New Testament theologian Luke Timothy Johnson says the greatest act of forgiveness must be towards our fathers (or parents, one could […]

Living in Communion: AN INTERVIEW WITH FATHER THOMAS HOPKO

Excerpted from Parabola: The Magazine of Myth and Tradition, “Forgiveness”, Volume XII, Number 3, August 1987, pp. 50 – 59. WN: This piece had an immediate profound impact on me – at least I return to it repeatedly! How much internalized? Ah… The connection of forgiveness to our being made in the image of God […]

Emperor Bush, Pirate bin Laden, Calvin College, and the Gospel

image above: webpages.uidaho.edu WN: Evangelicals were in bed with former President George W. Bush like never before. They of course are out of sorts with President Obama. The Christian Left however hugely welcomed Obama, who has hardly since in any way (if ever) shown desert of the Nobel Peace Prize. The paper, written during the […]

Cruciform anthropology: an introduction to the thought of René Girard

WN: This was written by Simon J. Taylor, and is so helpful in understanding René Girard. An excerpt: What difference does it make to human society that Jesus was crucified? This is, I think, the fundamental question that René Girard addresses in what he has called ‘the anthropology of the cross’. Girard’s work on anthropology, […]

A Great Irony of History: The Anthropological Significance of the Cross, and Peace

WN: I wrote this and presented it at the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R) June 19, 2008. Paul Nuechterlein whom I cited often, as it turns out, was present at the workshop… He has done a wonderful Lectionary of Readings from a Girardian perspective. An excerpt: In this presentation, I propose a very simple […]

The Criminal Justice System and “Criminal” Justice

image above: hub.wsu.edu WN: This is a true story in which in 2000 we intervened on behalf of a friend, with names changed or removed. The first part was a letter sent to two police officers; the second part an attached reflection. They never responded. They were also never heard from again in relation to […]

The Gospel and Prisons

image above: christianlifemissions.org WN: I wrote this several years ago. A very brief touching on biblical prison abolitionism. An excerpt: “The gospel is profoundly scandalous, and until we hear at least a whisper of its scandal, we risk not hearing any part of it (The Fall of the Prison: Biblical Perspectives on Prison Abolition, Lee […]

Christians! – Don’t You Just Love to Hate ‘Em?

image above: turnbacktogod.com WN: I might not have written this today… But there is irony in the piece, and some names could be updated to fit similar current circumstances… An excerpt: I’m glad in our apoplectic politically correct world it’s still open season on Christians. Jews, Aboriginals, Blacks, etc. – not a chance! But Christians! […]

Christianity and the Subversion of Just About Everything!

April 16, 2017 WN: This essay was initially written in the 1980’s while I was preparing a sermon on Romans 13. My “aha” moment is that described in the excerpt below. I’ve never seen this elsewhere in biblical scholarship. Someday a New Testament scholar may tell me it really is not good exegesis. But until […]

Christian Zionism

image above: azquotes.com WN: This was done for a new book by Ron Dart, Canadian Christian Zionism: A Tangled Tale. Of it: There has been considerable research and writing done on English, American, and German Christian Zionism, but there is a paucity of serious and substantive writing and research on Canadian Christian Zionism. This prier […]

Capital Punishment

image above: izquotes.com WN: I was invited to dialogue with Dr. Richard Land of (later) “The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission” of the Southern Baptist Convention. The dialogue was organized by the Presbyterian Church in Alaska, and took place March 22, 1997 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It was teleconferenced throughout Alaska including into […]

Atheists and “Echthrosists”

WN: I am having a bit of fun in this article… excerpts: I live in a world of functional atheists and operative “echthrosists.” What is the latter you ask? In a moment. … An atheist is one who denies [the existence of] God, from the Greek meaning literally “without God”. In my linguistic word play, […]

A Response to the Response to the Critics of the Abbotsford Airshow

WN: Many local Christians opposed opposition to the military presence at the International Abbotsford Airshow, an annual event and one of the largest in North America. This was written in response to the critics of the critics. An excerpt: The nationally and internationally popular sex trade in recent years has come under increased criticism from […]

A Halting Spiritual Quest

A Halting Spiritual Quest WN: This was given as a talk to a Mennonite Fellowship, and to a group of prison visitation volunteers; both sometime in the early 2000’s. An excerpt: As a Christian, I affirm three things in my work with prisoners. I think all Christians should! The burden of this meditation is to […]

David Cayley of CBC Ideas for over 30 years Presents…

WN: Greetings all. About 25 years ago, I wrote to David Cayley in response to a CBC Ideas series broadcast on the program by that name. (CBC is Canada’s public broadcasting network). It was a series of interviews with noted Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie. I wrote to Cayley, expressing my appreciation. That began a friendship […]

Chapter Seventy-Three

In 2007 I first published Chrysalis Crucible, a coming-of-age novel about young Andy Norton who goes off to West Berlin in the early seventies to evangelize – with all the answers. You can find a page about it on this website. I’ve republished it (2015) as Kindle eBook and Amazon print-on-demand. Andy discovers in West […]

Chapter Sixty-Three

In 2007 I first published Chrysalis Crucible, a coming-of-age novel about young Andy Norton who goes off to West Berlin in the early seventies to evangelize – with all the answers. You can find a page about it on this website. I’ve republished it (2015) as Kindle eBook and Amazon print-on-demand. Andy discovers in West […]

Chapter Sixty-One

In 2007 I first published Chrysalis Crucible, a coming-of-age novel about young Andy Norton who goes off to West Berlin in the early seventies to evangelize – with all the answers. You can find a page about it on this website. I’ve republished it (2015) as Kindle eBook and Amazon print-on-demand. Andy discovers in West […]

Chapter Forty-Eight

In 2007 I first published Chrysalis Crucible, a coming-of-age novel about young Andy Norton who goes off to West Berlin in the early seventies to evangelize – with all the answers. You can find a page about it on this website. I’ve republished it (2015) as Kindle eBook and Amazon print-on-demand. Andy discovers in West […]

Chapter Forty-Five

In 2007 I first published Chrysalis Crucible, a coming-of-age novel about young Andy Norton who goes off to West Berlin in the early seventies to evangelize – with all the answers. You can find a page about it on this website. I’ve republished it (2015) as Kindle eBook and Amazon print-on-demand. Andy discovers in West […]

Blindness and Sight, Darkness and Light

Blindness and Sight, Darkness and Light [NOTE: You will also find an alphabetical list of presentations under “Traces of Verbal Holding Forth”, besides under “See All Blog Articles”.] WN: I first preached a version of this sermon in 2002 at a Mennonite Church in Didsbury, Alberta. I recently preached a variation at Agassiz Christian Reformed […]

How To Save the World: Perennial Juxtaposition

WN: Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy has been a powerful voice for the Gospel of Peace over many decades. He recently posted these two images, with no commentary. They obviously speak for themselves: How to Save the World Resurrection

Mailied

WN: Mailied by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe has been a most loved poem since we memorized it in university. It means simply: May Song. My friend Bernie just e-mailed to wish us well this month. The words to Mailied “welled” up in response. So I’m posting them for all… It was set to music by […]

WAR AND HELL – and Exception-Clause Footnote Theology

WN: War and Hell is an interactive essay with a movie and a book. The movie: Saving Private Ryan. The book: The Other Side of The Good News: Contemporary Challenges to Jesus’ Teaching on Hell, Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992 (later published by one other at least). The current iteration of this document was prepared for […]

Easter 2014

I wrote this moments before we celebrated Easter with 19 family members. Easter 2014 Breath held through long wintry snow and rain Orchestral stage, hushed audience before first baton thrust Shimmering dancers at every bush and tree tip All wait. Signal flares. New life rises! Concert begins.

Transformative Justice Vision and Spirituality

WN: Much of this material first appeared in The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice, “Christianity: The Rediscovery of Restorative Justice”, editor, Michael Hadley, by Pierre Allard and Wayne Northey; New York: SUNY Press, 2001. In August 1998, all contributors to the above book project converged on Sorrento Centre for a week. The book project and […]

The Two Great Commandments and Prison Ministry

WN: This was my first devotional as new Executive Director given at M2/W2’s  Annual General Meeting, May 21, 1998. I began as ED April 1, 1998. An excerpt: Matthew 22:35-40 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the […]

Is There A Place For Dreaming?

WN: The title was of a wonderful song by singer/songwriter, Ken Medema, from his album, “In the Dragon’s Jaws” (no date), that I played at the end of the presentation. The occasion?: The end of a six-month sabbatical (April to September 2007) wherein I was the first (guinea pig!) “Scholar-In-Residence” at the above university in […]

Enemy Love As Core Gospel

WN: I wrote this in the context of M2/W2 ministry. Ironically, the Board and one contractor displayed profound enmity towards me just as I was moving towards retirement from M2/W2. The enmity began October 2013 that led to a contractor’s filing a “WorkSafeBC” complaint against me December 2013. It was rejected by WorkSafeBC, but there […]

“Not Enough!” and International Restorative Justice

Colloquium on Violence & Religion (COV&R) Presentation, May 31 – June 4, 2006, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada WN: When I finally decided to register to present a paper at my friend Vern Redekop’s urging (he was the Conference host), there was only a slot left under French language workshops. I immediately asked two bilingual colleagues about […]

Restorative Justice Stories – MCCC 50th Anniversary, December 14, 2013

WN: This paper was presented in Winnipeg exactly 50 years after 40 men(!) gathered to establish Mennoninte Central Committee Canada: 43 years after its US counterpart had been founded. It was a privilege to have been part of the “story-telling” on that occasion. (If the notice is kept on the website, see: MCCC 50th Anniversary.) […]

Restorative Justice and Spiritual Origins

November 19, 2004 WN: I cannot recall where this was published/presented. A similar article also on this website (“Restorative Justice Stories – MCCC 50th Anniversary, December 14, 2013”) was presented nine years later in Winnipeg exactly on the MCCC 50th anniversay weekend, and on the occasion of the launching of Esther Epp-Tiessen’s book, Mennonite Central […]

Restorative Reintegration

Sixth International Conference on Restorative Justice, “Best Practices in Restorative Justice”, June 1, 2003 photo above: reintegrationaustralia.com.au An excerpt: For over 25 years, the terminology of “Restorative Justice” has had increasingly wider acceptance and resonance within criminal justice jurisdictions around the world. As has come widely to be acknowledged, Restorative Justice is more than an […]

Restorative Justice Vision and Spirituality

Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Presentation, Langley Canadian Reformed Church, March 5, 2005 WN: I was grateful to co-present at this evening with current MP Mark Warawa, a former volunteer with M2/W2 Association. It was politically a stretch, but the church is all about “strange bedfellows” brought together in the messiness of God’s grace. […]

René Girard and Violence

WN: The paper below was (re)written just for my own joy in 1997, with subsequent rewrites. A version was prepared for a Fraser Valley BC “Christ and Violence” conference in 1998. It almost got me fired before hired! One of the interviewers for my (new) position as Executive Director of M2/W2 Association had taken exception […]

Punishment and Retribution

By C.F.D. Moule WN: The following is from the “Preface” of the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee “Occasional Paper” Publication, 1990) edition: Ever since I first saw a footnote about this essay (in William Klassen’s Release to Those in Prison, Herald Press, 1977), I was very taken with its central thesis “…that the word ‘punishment’ and […]

Spirituality Evaluation of Restorative Justice

Sixth International Conference on Restorative Justice, “Best Practices in Restorative Justice”, June 4, 2003 An excerpt: A few years ago, at a VOMA (Victim Offender Mediation Association) conference in Des Moines, Iowa, I saw a plaintive note on a bulletin board: DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANY RESTORATIVE JUSTICE VIDEO RESOURCES THAT ARE NOT RELIGIOUS?! Restorative […]

Restorative Justice and Prison Visitation

WN: The following was written for the Mennonite Brethren Herald, and published August 2001. This was also typical of similar articles and presentations while I worked with M2/W2 Association (eventually known fully under my leadership as Man-To-Man/Woman-To-Woman – Restorative Christian Ministries). I was a volunteer with the program beginning in 1974, and never stopped visiting prisoners […]

The Spirituality of Penal Abolition

ICOPA IX Presentation 2000 Noted Canadian Quaker activist and author Dr. Ruth Morris was the main organizer of the above annual event, that year in Toronto. She later was a recipient of Correctional Services Canada’s Restorative Justice Award, and of The Order of Canada. Her death from cancer (September 17, 2001) was a huge loss […]

Creating New Hearts: Moving From Retributive to Restorative Justice

New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: A Pastoral Letter to the Catholic People of New Zealand Wednesday August 30, 1995 – Wellington. Signed, The New Zealand Catholic Bishops This call was powerful and prophetic. An excerpt: Restoration was the primary focus of biblical justice systems. Despite the widely popular misuse of the concept of lex talionis, […]

A Brief Look At Restorative Justice

NOTE: This was written several years ago to give a basic look at Restorative Justice.  It has been slightly updated, August 2013. An excerpt: To set a context for the programmatic emergence of Restorative Justice late in the twentieth century some historical and anthropological comments are helpful. Please click on: A Brief Look At Restorative […]

Towards A New Paradigm of Justice

WN: Contemporary Western Restorative Justice theory and practice were not first developed by Americans, though they have greatly contributed to its worldwide expansion. In particular Howard Zehr’s name stands out in the earlier and subsequent years; but not as theory originator, or first practitioner. From a Canadian vantage point, Dr. Herman Bianchi, a Dutch criminologist, […]