Search: “Islamic State”

As more and more of the New York Times podcasts created by journalist Rukmini Callimachi and her team are released we are learning more and more of the adventures of a Canadian member of Islamic State (IS) codenamed Abu Huzayfah.  The Pakistani-Canadian left of his own accord to join IS, admits to killing at least […]

There is an old saying ‘the law is an ass’. It refers to those times when the application of the law is asinine, obstinate and counter to common sense (the phrase dates back, apparently, to the mid-17th century).  I submit that some of Canada’ laws, the ones that pertain to terrorism, are not just an […]

We have just celebrated Mother’s Day in Canada, a chance for children to recognise and give thanks for their mothers.  Mothers are, after all, often the bedrock of families. It is they who give birth to the next generation, nurture their sons and daughters through the early years of life and usually act as confidantes […]

The news is full, every single day, of reports of violence from a number of actors: murders, sexual assaults, shootings, etc.  Occasionally we read of a terrorist attack somewhere in the world – depending on where you live the frequency of this particular form of violence will vary.  Not surprisingly, if you live in Somalia […]

There is a brilliant set of podcasts on the New York Times Web site by reporter Rukmini Callimachi and her team on Islamic State (IS).  If you haven’t listened to it and are interested in a first-hand account of what it was like to live in the so-called ‘Caliphate ‘ you are missing out. Yes, […]

In the wake of the van attack in Toronto last week there has been a lot of ink spilled and airtime filled on the problem of what to do with young men. Regardless of motive, it seems that serious violence is carried out overwhelmingly by the male half of the human species.  Many researchers and […]

I have a confession to make.  I am a huge New York Times fan.  I have read it religiously for decades and even in my retirement I buy a copy that a downtown Ottawa news seller sets aside for me on a daily basis (thanks Comerford Cigar Store!).  No one source is exhaustive or 100% […]

OK, OK, I know I really should lay off the Monty Python analogies.  I imagine you are getting sick of them.  But can anyone REALLY get tired of the greatest comic group in history?  Come on, admit it, you love them as much as I do. Staying with this obsession of mine, then, I want […]

There is an old saying that goes “If my grandmother had wheels she’d be a bus (or a bike, apparently. in the original Spanish)”.  This very silly sentence means that there are things that are unlikely to happen and therefore are not worth mentioning. This phrase was the very first thing that came to my […]

One of the most difficult challenges for governments around the world is what to do with their citizens who left to join Islamic State (IS) or other terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq from 2013ish to 2017.  As we all know, IS is a shadow of its former self. It has lost swaths of territory.  […]