Until a few days ago, I respected Lara Logan as a thoughtful broadcast journalist. Her reports for the American news magazine show, 60 Minutes, were informed and incisive. Logan came across as a fine investigative reporter. As she told The Washington Post recently, “I believe that the truth matters.” This is a cardinal and indispensable […]
Morris Dees, an American civil rights litigation lawyer and the co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, has been fighting hate organizations in the United States for some 50 years now. In what he describes as an epiphany, he decided that the most effective way of bringing down neo-Nazis and their ilk was to hit them […]
Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, should be censured for having promoted the outrageous notion that the United States should have only one religion. At a recent rally in Texas, he said, “If we are going to have one nation under God, we must have one religion.” He added, “One nation under […]
November is a revered month in Poland, marking the restoration of Polish independence. Poland lost its sovereignty following the partitions of 1772, 1793 and 1775. Having been successively swallowed up by the Habsburg monarchy, Prussia and the Russian Empire, Poland ceased to exist for 123 years until the advent of the Second Polish Republic on […]
Irish novelist Sally Rooney is looking for a new Hebrew publisher, having decided she can no longer work with an Israeli publishing house. Rooney is entitled to her views, however skewed they may be. And she is not the first foreign author to boycott Israel. Alice Walker and Kamila Shamsie preceded her. But Rooney should […]
Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, should be ashamed of himself. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, he has recklessly ingored the best scientific advice and flouted the soundest public health measures to keep it at bay, thereby exposing Brazilians to the full deadly impact of Covid-19. A right-wing populist, he has minimized the […]
The executive director for curriculum and instruction in a Texas school district recently caused a needless, harmful and anguished commotion when she instructed teachers to offer “opposing” views of the Holocaust in accordance with a new state law. Gina Peddy, the administrator in question, was recorded telling teachers in the Carroll Independent School District that […]
Individuals who adamantly refuse to get vaccinated to protect themselves against the deadly coronavirus are simply beyond the pale. These anti-vaxxers are not only utterly selfish and illogical, but a clear and present threat to the community at large. The unbiased scientific evidence at hand conclusively shows that Covid-19 has more or less become a pandemic […]
Helmut Oberlander died at home in Waterloo, Ontario, on September 23 “surrounded by loved ones,” according to his lawyer, Ronald Poulton. “A loving family man, he will be dearly missed.” As far as I’m concerned, he will not be missed. Not today. Not tomorrow. Or ever. Oberlander, an ethnic German from Ukraine, died peacefully at […]
In the lead up to the Canadian election on September 20, a friend of mine voted at an advance poll for Sidney Coles, the New Democratic Party candidate running in the heavily Jewish riding of Toronto-St Paul’s, which is held by Carolyn Bennett of the ruling Liberal Party. Several days on, he regrets his choice, […]