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Why can’t Canada get rid of people we don’t want here?

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on April 2, 2018   Is it just me or is it strange that an independent, secular democracy cannot make simple decisions on whom it wants to allow to stay in the country?  We are speaking here of immigrants, of course, since those lucky enough to have been […]

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The defence rests – on an abysmal understanding of terrorism

Look, I get it. I know why defence lawyers try to get their clients’ cases thrown out on technicalities or by feigning outrage that anyone could harbour any suspicion that the individual they represent could possibly in a million years be guilty of the offences alleged by the Crown.  That is, after all, why we […]

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What John Cleese taught me about terrorism

I apologise if I am repeating myself but I am a HUGE Monty Python fan (after 600+ blog posts in almost 3 years I forget whether I am have already said this).  Yesterday, thanks to my eldest daughter, I had the distinct pleasure of attending a public talk by Python alumnus and master comedian John […]

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When Vulcans become terrorists

Star Trek needs to give us hope for what is to come. Wouldn’t it be nice to imagine a future without suicide bombers? Or am I just a dreamer?

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Sorry, ‘Beatles’, but beheading is unforgivable

According to the standards of witches and warlocks in the Harry Potter series there were three curses or spells that were ‘unforgivable ‘.  These three are the Imperius curse (it forces one to do the bidding of the caster), the Cruciatus curse (it subjects the victim to excruciating pain) and the Killing curse (which does […]

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When protection from bad events is too much

Have you ever been to a baseball game or a hockey game?  If so, then you know that there are risks at both from flying balls or pucks.  Some people get hurt, sometimes seriously, when they are struck by a horsehide ball or a vulcanised rubber puck traveling at very high speeds.  Hockey made changes […]

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Steven Pinker and terrorism – time for some good news

I have just had the pleasure of seeing Steven Pinker give a talk at the Ottawa Writers’ Festival about his new book Enlightenment Now: The case for reason, science, humanism and progress.  Picking up where he left off in The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why violence has declined, Mr. Pinker makes a compelling case […]

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Canada’s self-style ‘Freemen’ should not get off scot free

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on March 19, 2018 Of all the groups that we can describe as extremist in nature, if not necessarily violent extremist, none can be as bizarre as the one that calls itself ‘Freemen on the Land’ (a.k.a. sovereign citizens).  This small coterie of Canadians hews to a number […]

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What should we reasonably expect in police response to a terrorist situation?

Here we go again.  Another terrorist attack by someone ‘known to police’, this time in southwestern France.  A Moroccan  hijacked a car after shooting the driver and a passenger, followed some police officers jogging nearby, shot and wounded one, went to a local supermarket where he took hostages and shot several before a tactical squad […]

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Reflections on the US invasion of Iraq: it was still bad intelligence

I know I have gone over this material before but there is nothing like an anniversary to occasion yet another look at an incident.  The ‘incident’ I am referring to is the 15th anniversary of the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003.  No matter what side of the political spectrum you belong to I […]