dialamah

I don't like Burkas either, or the Chador or niqabs. But its difficult for me to condone limiting personal freedoms about what women can wear. If I supported banning burkas because they arise from a female-oppressive tradition, I would also have to support banning the bonnets/hats and long dresses some more fundamentalist Christian women choose (or are forced) to wear.

No. Ontario has voted, the Liberals lost and they should pay the price for that loss. They fucked up royally, or they would have more than 7 seats.

Funny funny; you are the one who started with the 'university' analogy. The analogy describes the current state of Western society, more apparent in the States than in Canada, but certainly Canada has a habit of following in US footsteps.

How about the current system explained: Because the Professor is buds with their parents, one or two kids get straight A's regardless of the effort they put in, or even if they show up. Another 2 or 3 kids have parents who the professor only knows slightly, so he gives them B's, unless they really screw up badly, in which case they may get a single C. There are another 5 or 6 kids who the professor really actively dislikes; they all get F's no matter what. Most of them are minorities. The rest of the kids get C's or D's depending on how the professor assesses their social standing. Occassionally a particularly hardworking student will get a B and even more occassionally an extremely hardworking student may even a manage an A. These rarities are held up as "proof" that the professor is fair. The "C", "D" and "F" students are told they just have to work hard to achieve B's and A's, even though working hard is the least important factor in their earned grade. How long can this go on before the C, D and F students start simply disrupting the class and destroying the classroom?

Refuting any responsibility for the things in the world that Western\European people (and nations) have done is not "taking responsibilty". 150 years of slavery in the US, another hundred years of blatant racism and 50 years of discrimination affects people and their community. Denying this is not "taking responsibility". Blaming people who have been actively oppressed and disadvantaged for generations for not measuring up to the standards of those who have not been oppressed or disadadvantaged is not taking reaponsibility. Falling back on "that was before my time" is not taking responsibility. Especially when that attitude of "not me" is combined with the demand that other ethnic groups take responsibility for their own group's historical and current misdeeds, whether those misdeeds were carried out by leaders or individuals. Right-wingers "take responsibility" ideology is merely a convenient trope to blame others for their own shortcomings and poor behavior.

Paranoid much?

Sounds about right. They'll conveniently forget that they consistently chose economics over environment.

It does not impress me that so many Americans approve of such an unethical and intellectually lacking commander in chief. America used to be admired, even when being criticized. Now its just a laughingstock.

The moron you call "President" is the only screw up. He hasn't closed a deal since he's been in office, merely taken credit for deals others have negotiated and pulling out of deals in his goal to make America weak and unstable. Congrats to you for having the dumbest, most unethical leader in modern history.

I think Trump is a moron who could care less about real life and cares only about applause over the reality TV image of himself he likes to portray. Why would anyone agree to anything with someone who changes his mind every other tweet, who has proven himself a liar over and over again, who has broken vows to his wives, promises to business partners and contractors and with US allies. Good on JT for not rolling over like a beaten dog for Trump; may the rest of the world follow suit and show America that "taking your ball and going home" hurts you as much as anyone.

This improvement is more apparent in the Western world than other parts of the world. Religious people do tend to fight this kind of progress, but are then quite proud of themselves when they finally accept it; they then give credit for those improvements to God, conveniently forgetting that his representatives had to be dragged kicking and screaming to these progressive ideals.

I would support that completely. Any parent(s) who take their kid to a war zone and put him into battle should face prosecution, in my opinion. I do not know why that doesn't happen. You are right; killing people is very different than wearing a scarf on one's head or face. Still, we either acknowledge their influence on kids in all cases or in none. If we, as a society, believe kids are less able to make decisions and deny them "adult" rights in certain things such as choosing not to go to school, not able to vote, not able to drive or drink or smoke cigarettes, then how can we turn around and then declare them absolutely able to make a decision to go to war. Right. Hyperbole and bullshit. If I had my way, I would prevent parents from putting even a hijab on a girl under 18, because of the risk to health that I believe exists. I would do a lot more to ensure neither boys nor girls were circumcised; they could choose as adults. I would prevent parents from home-schooling their child if that home-schooling included religious indoctrination, whether Christian or Muslim. I would eliminate "religious" schools, Catholic, Christian, Jewish or Muslim. Having a different viewpoint about a teenager's culpability when he's been raised in an extremist family and then taken to an extremist country and expected to fight doesn't mean I automatically "approve" of terrorists, terrorism, extremist or even Islam or e everything Muslims teach their children. Thats a stupid assumption on your part and is the same "us against them", "black vs. white", "if you're not for me, you're against me" mentality that has (some) Muslims believing that non-Muslims do not even deserve to live. Do you really think blaming the parents for creating a teenage terrorist is "supporting" them?

Yeah. Both the US and Canada fail miserably at protecting child soldiers as laid out in UN Declaration 1261. We sign on to these agreements but we do whatever we want, including using these kids for intelligence gathering when we find them, rather than taking them out of the conflict. I condemn the Khadrs for their actions that put their son in harm's way. I condemn the government that failed to uphold the rights of both a child and a citizen of Canada. I don't find either of these behaviors at all conscionable. I don't care to scapegoat Omar while ignoring both his parents' actions and the inaction of our own government.

Omar did not make the choice; his parents made the choice for him, a fact you continue to ignore. Your position would be consistent if you also advocated tossing young women out of Canada because, as a teenager, they wore the niqab or hijab because their parents forced them too. Yeah, I think its a shame that Khadr got $10 million dollars because the previous government failed to follow our laws, another fact you continue to ignore.

Yawn. You cry about poor girls forced to wear hijabs/niqabs/get married by their parents, but are only too happy to pillory boys whose parents are no less influential. You also advocate for the breaking of our own laws on how we treat our citizens and agreements we've made about the treatment of child soldiers; how is that any different than an Islamic country imposing punishments on non-Muslim citizens, just because they aren't Muslims? Double standards in applying laws is not a practice I want Canada to follow.

Elimination of Palestinian people seems like their only out.

Canada is not an Islamic country, so why would this be remotely relevant? Unless you are advocating that Canada implement a system where stupid Islamic practices and beliefs are allowed for Muslims, while everyone else lives under our more progressive treatment.

That doesn't matter. He was brainwashed by his family for 15 years and ought to have known better than to take up arms against the West. Its perfectly acceptable for Canada to treat child soldiers like evil, murdering warlords, regardless of any UN resolutions about treatment of child soldiers that we signed on to, and our own laws.

Actual data and evidence from around the world clearly demonstrate that abortion rates go down when abortion is made legal and contraception is easily available to women. So who "prefers to be stupid"? The people who pay attention to data and evidence or those who don't?

Even if that were true, at least we aren't cheering on policies that result in more abortions and more dead women.

If the pro-life movement was really looking for success, they would support things that reduce abortion instead of calling women murderers and displaying pictures designed to shame people while demanding that abortion be outlawed. Abortion decreases in countries that promote sex-ed and access to birth control and increases in countries that restrict abortion. https://trib.al/aJJ3SOL

If so, then people can also belong to more than one tribe.

Way too reasonable a viewpoint, Michael. So what if its true? The point here isn't reasonable discussion; its to throw shade at the other side through extreme statements.

And as Ms. Lawton found - if whiny university students can't get an evil leftist fired, the conservative politicians will step in and do it for her - even as the group they expected to back them says first free speech rights apply to everyone, even rude people. I suppose the right-wing lot won't be satisfied until (leftist) free speech is *outlawed*; no more nasty yelling from leftists then, eh? Can just toss them in jail.