Category Archives: Philosophy

Philosophy, Politics

Uncivil Civil Society Canada Vs U.S.A.

In Canada, we do not execute people. It’s a barbaric act in contradiction to the essence of our human soul. We protect our citizens from such heinous individuals and we pay a price in treasure to ensure no future acts by such perpetrators unfold. This system of protection absent of execution not only protects our person physically but also our collective consciousness as a civil being of higher order.

Canada is not perfect. Aberrant beings arise and are not always managed in ways to perfectly protect from their deeds. There are occasions where offenders repeat when they should never have been given an opportunity. Work needs to be done during stages of growth and development. We need to not turn away but to engage when witnessing conduct unbecoming of healthy contributing citizens. Teachers need empowerment. Households require two parent families. Social service agencies require funding and programming. Citizens should be incentivized to help given that there has been failure and indifference.

Turning a blind eye to deviance is indifferent and akin to sanctioning the “firing squad”. If we want to make better citizens and prevent heinous crime and murder, we must fixate on the earliest signs of distress expressed by a young person and show them love and belongingness and paths forward for fulfilling lives. A society needs a mechanism for this in a digital world absent of from emotional connectedness. 

On April 11th, 2025 the State of South Carolina put to death a man named Mikal Mahdi by firing squad. Global News has reported the execution as botched despite what was estimated to be the method with the least probability of producing a problem with protocol. Witnesses watched a man with a bag over his head scream out, flex his arms and gasp intensely for 80 seconds before expiring limp. A legal system had determined his fate 19 years prior yet had kept him waiting in a jail cell whereby he apparently without rehabilitative resources had attempted yet another murder but this time of a penitentiary employee. The legal system sought clemency up until the last remaining minutes (not hours) of gunfire.

Was Mikal Mahdi possessed with the devil from birth or was there a cause and effect element to an erratic childhood, a family afflicted with alcoholism, a depressive disorder, and a self-esteem problem which had been identified but not necessarily addressed? His father had struggled with work so Mikal was sent to live with his Aunt at one point. While incarcerated he had spent 75 days in solitary confinement from the ages 14 to 17 and another 8 months of solitary confinement at the age of 21.

The death of Mikal Mahdi was the fifth execution by firing squad in the United States since 1976. On January 25, 1996 Billie Bailey died of hanging sanctioned by the State of Delaware. Gas chambers, electrocution, lethal injection, and nitrogen hypoxia remain as alternatives for States still implementing this form of “justice”. Although not referenced as a feature whereby Canadian society distinguishes itself from the U.S. during the tumultuous first 100 days of the Trump Presidency, this one goes without saying.     

Philosophy, Politics

The Canadian English Campaign Debate 2025

Although there were four present there, it was mostly a showdown between Carney and Poilievre. Mr. Singh was rather annoying and unstatesmanlike with his interruptions. Mr. Blanchet was out of step with a preponderance of Quebec’s interests over Canadians as a whole. If one election cycle could defrock the Bloc…let it be this one.

Mr. Singh did him and his party no favors with this performance. In fact, he didn’t seem to be as intellectually engaged on issues of substance which may have compelled him to sling the occasional unsolicited barb to score points that were beyond his reach.

There is no denying the intelligence of Pierre Poilievre but the trouble with his smarts is that in this age of Trump….the visceral from a leader is far more important. We’ve been down this road before in Canadian elections whereby the Conservatives have all the momentum but then seem to sputter when it counts the most – right before election day. Whether it’s a foot in the mouth or a failure to take a swing at the pitch down the pipe…the Conservatives have a problem closing.

Carney defended and kept composure. It was evidently apparent that he possesses the capacity to listen. Poilievre was effective at communicating his positions around industry, the housing crisis, and crime. Carney coyly reminded Poilievre on the conservative record on gun control. There was much agreement on Ukraine but few specifics on how to deal with the plight of Palestinian people.

Carney couldn’t muster an answer on the question of concealing disclosure of his personal assets which leads one to believe that there may be a real conflict despite him meeting ethics rules. His positions around “clean energy” are fuelling speculation.

The elephant in the room was Donald Trump and the only one on the stage who seriously engineered commentary on Trump’s presence was Carney and he did so directly during closing remarks. Carney told you the truth of Trump’s desire for Canada’s resources, it’s land, and it’s people and he gave you a message of defiance toward Trump’s covetousness of Canada. This message has been complemented by handshakes of both France’s President and the U.K’s Prime Minister. In his closing remark, Carney gave you the chance to believe him or not about his conviction around protecting Canadian’s interests from what has grown quickly from a perceived threat to a real threat.

Home run hitters produce the imagery of a water melon when the pitcher’s fast ball loses the heat in and around the sixth inning and the projectile sits there right in the middle of the strike zone looking to be launched into the bleachers. Pierre Poilievre in all his intelligence right close to an election decided not to go on CBC and emphatically denounce the rhetoric of Donald Trump. He looked at the melon stunned like a deer in the headlights. Then almost as if hiding from him again despite the shadow’s succinctness haunting that Montreal debate stage…Mr. Poilievre with a chance for one last swing with his last at bat took the strike and instead emotionally mused about his rise to leadership from modest means.

Lifes Lessons, Philosophy, Politics

Ambivalence Must Now Be Shown The Door

You grew up in a household which taught values. You learned them and you now hold them dear. You also use them on a daily basis but you’ve seldom been tasked to deploy them within your macro social environment. Now is the time for that.  

You see…not everyone is as blessed as you. Some had not been blessed with a functioning household infused with integrity. Some folks now peer through a dark lens void from the loving canvas of a warm home. Cynicism has overtaken some of them so that their judgment has become clouded with apathy. Some have come to trust no one. Imagine that! 

You cannot allow the cynicism to develop into policy like it has recently in the United States of America. You cannot rationalize complicity and succumb to the lowest common denominator of life. You cannot exempt yourself from expression because of fear. You must speak. You must now express those values which have brought you abundance in spirit and peace in your heart. Help others come to know that covetousness and greed imperil and that love conquers all.     

Philosophy, Politics

Trump The Benevolent Soul In Gaza

So Marco Rubio (remember the guy with the small hands), the new Secretary of State, suggests that what Trump meant was that Palestinians could move temporarily until the U.S. pours American treasure into cleaning debris and rebuilding so that then the Palestinians could come back home to livable conditions. That’s quite the offer and set back for the U.S. taxpayer. Trouble is that Donald Trump is a proven liar. You see….that’s one good reason in an of itself why you don’t elevate a guy like him to a position of political power. Imagine what these people must be thinking given what they’ve been through!


Articles of Impeachment are now being drafted yet again for Mr. Trump – this time in near record time having taken back the Office of the Presidency. Congressman Al Green is citing “ethnic cleansing” for suggesting that the U.S. move them from their home and taking “ownership” of their land. It was a nice job of oration amongst a near empty Congress today while city streets are filling with protesters.

Lifes Lessons, Philosophy, Politics

Donald Trump – I Told You So

Finally those Canadians with financial and social stature have come to the table wholeheartedly to denounce Trump. If it’s taken you this long….we needed you in 2014/ 2015. We needed you to speak out emphatically that a man of deviant morals and conduct unbecoming of political party leadership could not ascend to a position of political power. However; most of you were mute. You didn’t want to ruffle feathers. You didn’t want to leave any kind of perception with others that you empathized with his policies and that you could rationalize his character in favor of Republican ideals. You may have been fearful of retribution. I say this emphatically now if you were mute – shame on you!!


Shame on you if you bought into some conspiracy theory about the “deep state” without presenting proof. Shame on you if bought into his lies and deceit. Shame on you if you were so naive that he had nothing to do with the Capitol attack on January 6th, 2021 especially in lieu of his conduct on that day and a reference to a vigilante group of whose name he was familiar. Shame on you if you thought that all women alleging sexual assault conspired together for financial gain by falsifying claims of sexual assault. Shame on you if you discounted the 3,500 – 4,000 lawsuits for which he or his companies were cited in lawsuits as standard practice for business. Shame on you if you believed that he had every right morally to withhold presentation of his tax returns upon request given a quest for the Presidency. Shame on you if you had normalized in your mind a fabrication of Barak Obama’s birth records. Shame on you if you normalized a a man with a tawdry record as his 2016 campaign manager. Shame on you if you had watched episodes of “The Apprentice” and had not picked up samples of his character flaws. Shame on you if you hadn’t surmised that bankrupting companies would correlate with mismanaging a government. Shame on you if you were indifferent by his indifference toward Russia invading Ukraine. Shame on you if you believe that the fabrication of real estate’s market value is an innocuous clerical mishap in the context of a loan application. Shame on you if you believe that paying money to a pornstar in order to conceal a perceived character flaw is all good campaign practice. Shame on you if you believe that engaging in acts of deceit is what can be expected of a Presidential candidate.


Now Donald Trump near the date of his second inauguration has appeared before the media handling a question about whether he would annex Canada by force. Imagine that. Here we are. Canada’s relationship with the U.S. has been severely damaged by the imposition of tariffs and the abrogation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. He is referencing Canada as a “failed state”.