Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday placed restrictive conditions on the recognition of a Palestinian state, stressing the need to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the ongoing violations in the West Bank, while simultaneously rejecting any future Palestinian government that includes the Resistance movement Hamas,... Continue Reading →
A stomach-churning crystal ball gazing exercise
A stylized black and white image of the U.S. Capitol building beneath cloud-dotted skies. Photo by Nicolas Raymond, Creative Commons licensed. SPOILER ALERT โ Long, but worth a careful read. In the words of Gilbert and Sullivan: โNever, say never.โ Reposted from The Tyee -- Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee. We... Continue Reading →
No long sermon from me today
Amongst other gifts and duties, deacons preach in congregations as they connect us with the wider community In fact, no sermon at all today. As I now only preach on the first and third Sundays of each month today is truly a day of rest. Instead I share a reflection on sermons as an art... Continue Reading →
PBS โ Defunded but not defeated
[Cartoon by Joe Wos] Three simple letters, PBS. Itโs arguably one of the best known and revered acronyms in the US today. Along with CBS, NBC, and ABC three-letter acronyms identified the media landscape throughout my childhood and coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Now add to that FOX, CNN, and international sources... Continue Reading →
Itโs no laughing matter โ Or is it?
Years ago I suggested to a justice-seeking colleague that we should investigate the role of humour in our social and ecological justice advocacy. We can be awfully serious, I said. Off-putting even. She replied that the context โ human rights abuse; the climate crisis; avaricious market hegemony โ didnโt lend itself well to comedic treatment.... Continue Reading →
How to stop the ruthless men who play with our lives and the life of the world
In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, David Brooks gave an answer to a question we are all asking: When will the political chaos in the United States end, and how will that come about? Some place their hope in the 2026 mid-term elections. By that time however congress itself may be so... Continue Reading →
Finding Anna
โImaginative, open-minded and a brilliant musician, the organist and conductor Anna Lapwood is the dream ambassador for classical music.โ-- Gramophone The comments range from savour to sour. A recent Facebook post regarding the amazing Anna Lapwood โ former director of music at Pembroke College, Cambridge and now resident organist of the Henry Willis organ at... Continue Reading →
Get the picture, using AI?
I am always suspicious of the promises of emerging technology. Existing tech allows me to do so much more than I could five years ago. Why bother? My writing, conversation, photography, research, and most recently sports entertainment all benefit from hi-tech resources and solutions. Social media algorithms however suggest I need to go further in... Continue Reading →
Timothy Snyder one week after marching in Philadelphia
This is a repost from Timothy Snyder's Substack post published Thursday June 19, 2025 It was a thrill to march at the No Kings Rally in Philadelphia on Saturday with friends and about a hundred thousand people. On the stage, I led a chant of "no kings -- freedom," and I tried to explain three... Continue Reading →
Love one another: It actually works, if we work at it
Re post from Holy Incongruence with thanks to Connie Foss Moore THE MOMENT WE HAVE FEARED HAS ARRIVED: Donald Trump is set to deploy ICE tactical units to five Democrat-run cities amid the protests in Los Angeles as Gavin Newsom blamed his administration for inciting the California chaos. The military-style units are set to storm... Continue Reading →