I was born in 1950, and came to (albeit nascent) political consciousness about the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, by which all I mean is I knew some of what was going on in the world, the names… Read More ›
Everything You Wanted to Know About What’s Going On in the World But Were Afraid to Ask
MASS SHOOTINGS AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT
In the wake of the El Paso and Dayton shootings, Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has just taken her turn at the now-obligatory think-of-the-children bleat. It’s almost, but not quite, as obligatory as our-hearts-go-out-to. Politicians have simply got to hire some… Read More ›
ISRAEL’S NEW NATION STATE LAW
Like the proverbial boiling of the frog, it always starts with an imperceptible change in temperature. And every change thereafter is just as imperceptible. If you worry it’s the thin edge of some mephistophilian wedge, you’re an alarmist. You’re awfulizing…. Read More ›
THE UCP GOVERNMENT’S FREE EXPRESSION PROPOSAL
It’s rare that I find myself expressing unqualified support for a piece of legislation that the government, or so I hope, is about to enact.. But the UCP’s proposal for An Act to Protect Free Expression at Alberta’s Public Colleges… Read More ›
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL YOU 9/11 TRUTHERS
For the prosecution to get a conviction, it’s not enough that I confess to the crime. I have to make good on every element the prosecution would have had to make good on had I not confessed, including means, motive,… Read More ›
ON LIKENING GAZA TO THE WARSAW GHETTO
Academics sometimes use words in ways that may not correspond to how they’re used among the hoi polloi. For example, I’d have thought that to discriminate means to ascertain a difference and act accordingly. But among the unwashed it means… Read More ›
WHAT IS HOLOCAUST DENIAL?
“I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.” In case you’re not old enough to remember, it’s an Eric Clapton song from 1974. “Yes we killed millions of Jews during the war, but not only Jews.” “Yes… Read More ›
THE UNIVERSITY’S SEXUAL VIOLENCE POLICY
I’ve just had the opportunity to read the University of Lethbridge’s recently adopted Revised Sexual Violence Policy. On the one hand I’m bound, by what I’m supposed to do for a living, to point out in what respects it’s a… Read More ›
RAPE CULTURE
Apparently there’s something called ‘rape culture’. I wouldn’t have guessed that. Having specialized in the Philosophy of War, I’d have thought rape was pretty much endemic to the human species. In fact isn’t there a biologist, Randy Thornhill, and an… Read More ›
AT THE RISK OF SOUNDING TRANSPHOBIC …
Apart from the half dozen things I do care about – and for aught I know I’m the only one who does – I pretty much live in my own little world. My wife, by contrast, researches everything. She even… Read More ›
Paulosophical Vimplications 