controversies
It seems every time one racially-charged incident ends, a gender or religious controversy takes its place; Ruminate on the issues dividing our nation and world.
Why Do Cops Shoot?
Before I decided to dedicate myself to writing, my career was in law enforcement. I spent seventeen years in the Canada Border Services Agency, Canada’s border cops. I saw a lot of transition in my time at the border, and the greatest change was the introduction of firearms to our toolkit.
By Grant Patterson7 years ago in The Swamp
News Flash! Trump Betraying Kurds Set US Foreign Policy Back by at Least 20 Years
For all of those who try to defend Donald Trump’s decision to abandon Kurds to the fate of facing the full might of Turkey, maybe it’s time you revise your understanding of the word “alliance”.
By Giorgi Mikhelidze7 years ago in The Swamp
Mexico: To Be, Or Not to Be?
On a dirt road in the Sierra Madre, the LeBaron family met its terrible end. Nine women and children in a convoy, riddled with machine gun fire, then burned, victims of Mexico’s ruthless drug cartels. But, unlike so many tens of thousands of other innocent victims of these bestial organizations, there was something about them that caused people to take notice.
By Grant Patterson7 years ago in The Swamp
More Than 39 People
I lived in both Saigon, and Ha Noi, for 8 years altogether during which time I saw many changes and a lot of development. Việt Nam grew into a developing country and expects to be a developed country by 2020. Something that hasn’t changed is the beauty of Vietnam: the beauty of the scenery, and of the people. Vietnamese people are generous, and kind with a great sense of humour. They are either laughing at themselves, at you, or with you – and sometimes all three!
By Andrea Dix (www.andreadix.weebly.com)7 years ago in The Swamp
Media Brainwashing
Whenever an anti-vaxxer friend of mine posts rude things about how vaccines cause autism, I’m reminded that vaccines do not cause autism. It is impossible to correct somebody that brainwashed, if only because they truly believe what they have been told. College teaches you to think for yourself. Some of these people lack a college education since college teaches one to think for themselves. Having met people on the autism spectrum, I’m now more aware that autism has genetic causes. Autism is something you are born with, not made into. I’m just a neurotypical schizoaffective according to Community Health Awareness Council’s psychiatric evaluation. I’m just an ordinary schizophrenic, in which case, we will be moving on to what fake news is. Our current climate has people brainwashed into believing that normal media outlets that criticize are fake news. Well, there is such thing as the tabloids, which are pretty much fake news.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez7 years ago in The Swamp
Make America Think Again
I Heard It From Friend My life revolves around investigating matters brought before our Board. This includes preparing documents such as subpoenas, case summaries, and recordings. I have to sit through countless hours of testimony in an informal or formal setting. We often hear secondhand accounts, but those accounts must be proven with evidence. It can provide some context, but it cannot be used to revoke a license. It sounds boring to most, but it is necessary to keep the public safe. For this reason, I was curious about the hearings last week, so I listened to hours of the recorded hearings since last week since I refuse to believe anything in the media. Of course, it also helps if you have an old song playing in your head. As I listened, it reminded me of a song by REO Speedwagon, “Take It On The Run.” While it would not quite fit, I retooled the first two stanzas for today, and it would go like this:
By Bill Croft7 years ago in The Swamp
Latin America Burns
Latin America is a hotbed these days. Fire, violence, chaos, and even death make up a gloomy panorama that reveals the generalized feeling of tiredness and indignation of a society that has endured too much. One that cries out as if its survival depended on it, "No more!
By creatorsklub7 years ago in The Swamp
Make America Think Again (Pt. 2)
If impeachment is necessary as claimed by the Democrats in the House of Representatives, everyone, regardless of political alignment and feelings for the President, should want the process to be transparent. Love him or hate him; you should care about the process. Why? According to Representatives Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler, the evidence shows that the President has violated the law and oath of office. If so, they are obligated by law to impeach if this is true with a full House vote then place him on trial in the Senate. Otherwise, it should be dropped due to the lack of evidence. While they cite the mandate by the US Constitution, most proceedings are not laid out in the US Constitution at all. The Constitution is a framework “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America (The Constitution of the United States, 2015).”
By Bill Croft7 years ago in The Swamp
The Abject Cowardice of Concealed Carry
I grew up in what would now correctly be considered a toxically masculine culture. Casual homophobia and racism were part of my cultural landscape, as was fighting, bragging, guns, and hunting. To a sixteen-year-old me, there was no greater insult than to be accused of acting feminine, and no greater show of weakness than to back down from a physical confrontation. Almost as bad as the ultimate cowardice of running away from a physical confrontation, however, was to over-prepare: The euphemism of bringing a gun to a knife fight. By the honor code I lived by, this was unthinkable. In fact, most of the teen boys my age wore a belt knife every day, even to school. We engaged in serious fistfights without ever considering drawing the deadly weapon from our own belt.
By David Bulley7 years ago in The Swamp
