Zeitgeist

I think that if you look at religious persecution worldwide, you will find far more persecution of Christians than of Muslims, if that is what Altai is trying to disprove. Please don't misunderstand me: Any religious persecution is wrong, but if you're trying to say that Muslims get a rougher deal than Christians, you need look no further than Pakistan: Muslim extremist violence against Christians[edit] See also: Religious discrimination in Pakistan, Peshawar church attack, Lahore church bombings, and List of terrorist incidents in Pakistan since 2001 Christians in Pakistan report being targeted by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.[34][35][36] On August 9, 2002 gunmen threw grenades into a chapel on the grounds of the Taxila Christian Hospital in northern Punjab 15 miles west of Islamabad, killing four, including two nurses and a paramedic, and wounding 25 men and women.[37] On September 25, 2002, unidentified Muslim gunmen shot dead six people at a Christian charity in Karachi's central business district. They entered the third-floor offices of the Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) and shot their victims in the head. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.[38] On December 25, 2002, several days after an Islamic cleric called for Muslims to kill Christians, two burqa-clad Muslim gunmen tossed a grenade into a Presbyterian church during a Christian sermon in Chianwala in east Pakistan, killing three girls.[39] After the Karachi killings, Shahbaz Bhatti, the head of the All Pakistan Minority Alliance, told BBC News Online, "We have become increasingly victimised since the launch of the US-led international War on Terror. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the international community to ensure that the government protects us."[40] In November 2005, 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.[41] However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, said the police have not committed to trial any of those arrested for committing the assaults, and the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He said that Muslim clerics still "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".[42] In February 2006, churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over publication of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in Denmark, leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and much property destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police, but not all.[43] On June 5, 2006, a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near Lahore when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was immediately assaulted by Muslims for "polluting the glass". A mob gathered and beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog". Bystanders encouraged the beating, saying it was a "good" deed that would help the attackers get into heaven. Ashraf was hospitalized.[44][45] In August 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of Lahore in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one reported missing after about 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.[46] Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.[46] In July 2008, a mob stormed a Protestant church during a prayer service on the outskirts of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, denouncing the Christians as "infidels" and injuring several, including a pastor.[47] The 2009 Gojra riots was a series of violent pogroms against Christian minorities by Muslims.[48] In June 2009, International Christian Concern reported the rape and killing of a Christian man in Pakistan, for refusing to convert to Islam.[49] In March 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti was killed by gunmen after he spoke out against Pakistan's blasphemy laws. The U.K. increased financial aid to the country, sparking criticism of British foreign secretary William Hague. Cardinal Keith O’Brien stated, "To increase aid to the Pakistan government when religious freedom is not upheld and those who speak up for religious freedom are gunned down is tantamount to an anti-Christian foreign policy."[50] The Catholic Church in Pakistan requested that Pope Benedict declare martyrdom of Shahbaz Bhatti.[51] At least 20 people, including police officials, were wounded as 500 Muslim demonstrators attacked the Christian community in Gujranwala city on April 29, 2011, Minorities Concern of Pakistan has learnt.[52] During a press conference in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, on May 30, 2011, Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooqi and other clerics of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam quoted “immoral Biblical stories” and demanded to ban the Bible. Maulana Farooqi said, “Our lawyers are preparing to ask the court to ban the book.”[53] On September 23, 2012, a mob of protesters in Mardan, angry at the anti Islamic film Innocence of Muslims, reportedly "set on fire the church, St Paul's high school, a library, a computer laboratory and houses of four clergymen, including Bishop Peter Majeed." and went on to rough up Zeeshan Chand, the pastor's son.[54][55] On October 12, 2012, Ryan Stanton, a Christian boy of 16 went into hiding after being accused of blasphemy and after his home was ransacked by a crowd. Stanton stated that he had been framed because he had rebuffed pressures to convert to Islam.[30][56] In March 2013, Muslims attacked a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, where more than 100 houses were burned after a Christian was alleged to have made blasphemous remarks.[57] On September 22, 2013, 75 Christians were killed in a suicide attack at the historic All Saints Church in the old quarter of the regional capital, Peshawar.[58] On February 14, 2014 Muslims stormed the Church building and attacked school property in Multan. They were led by Anwar Khushi, a Muslim gangster who struck a deal with the local people's spokesperson. They seized the Church property and displaced the people and deprived them of their building. On 15 March 2015, two blasts took place at a Roman Catholic Church and a Christ Church during Sunday service at Youhanabad town of Lahore.[59] At least 15 people were killed and seventy were wounded in the attacks.[60][61] On March 27, 2016, at least 70 were killed and over 340 wounded when a suicide bomber targeting Christians celebrating Easter attacked a playground in Lahore. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing.[19][62][63][64][65] On December 17, 2017, a bomb killed nine and injured fifty-seven.[66] The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took responsibility.[67]

You clearly know little about this important historical achievement: the first aircraft to approach Mach 2, successfully developed in Canada. I did some consulting at Orenda, which developed the engines behind these planes. The Avro Arrow was groundbreaking at the time but shut down for political and budgetary reasons. Basics: A top speed of Mach 1.98 was achieved, and this was not at the limits of its performance. Avro Arrow. Avro Arrow (CF-105), an advanced, supersonic, twin-engined, all-weather interceptor jet aircraft developed by A.V. ... Test flights indicated that with the proper engines the plane could well be the world's fastest and most advanced interceptor.

I disagree with that. Canada has always had a very strong space program, from having the fastest aircraft (until Eisenhower asked us to shut it down) to being the third country to launch a satellite into space to the Canadarm to leading ISS missions. It's not about risk-taking, which Canada does very well. Read our world war histories. It's about avoiding reckless policies like the 2nd Amendment.

Okay, a little anecdote from one of my last trips south. In a small town where we were staying in Florida, I'd just come back from a walk to a traffic jam outside our place. When I asked people on the street what the fuss was about, I was told that a man smashed his car into another car, got out of his car and walked towards the car he hit to ask the woman driving it if she was alright. He pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head. That kind of shit just doesn't happen very much in small-town Canada, I don't feel as safe in the U.S. by a longshot. It's a great place like many places, on the whole, but it's quite a spectacle. So when you say that America draws so many people because of opportunities, I'd say that opportunity is a relative idea. There's economic opportunity and opportunity for safety, education, health and so much more to consider. Canada tends to fall under the radar internationally. If that prevents our country from facing some of the chaos and downsides of our big neigbour to the south, I'm good with that.

Below are some regulations and incentives that I think would reduce climate change and improve quality of life as a whole: 1. Require all new large housing developments to be self-sustaining: Make solar part of building code. There are now solar shingles. Include deep water cooling systems, geothermal heating, and wind wherever they are viable and make ascertaining their viability a requirement of environmental assessments. All electrical loads in communities should be reduced through material tech, such as LED lighting, self-shading windows, and draft reduction double glazing. Water supply can be more self-sustaining through rain barrel or similar water retention systems and making sidewalks and roads more porous. Older developments can be retrofitted with much of this tech, incentivized through tax breaks. 2. Build "complete communities" where structures are live/work adaptable and both work and commercial/retail spaces are within walking/biking distance of residences. Integrate micro-farming into new developments, so that families can "grow their own" and increase local food supply. Every city/community should have quick access to locally grown food. This is also about food security. 3. Massively increase the size and quantity of carbon sinks: Launch tree planting and green roofing programs. Incentivize them through tax breaks. Divert some public spending at all levels of government to forestation, especially where settlements and industry put the greatest pressure on the environment. 4. Build far more mass transit: In all urban centres, build electrified mass transit networks that are practically accessible. Subways, light rail, and RER heavy rail in cities. High speed rail in corridors such as Quebec-Windsor and Calgary-Red Deer-Edmonton. 5 Set a price on carbon and return to cap and trade. The model was already set up between Quebec, Ontario and California. If we must have carbon taxes, they should be revenue neutral, such that revenues are returned to consumers. That's the Trudeau plan. We'll see how it bears out. 6. Direct immigration to under-serviced, far-flung communities to make them viable: Transportation, service costs, and waste are reduced by consolidating and in some cases combining struggling communities and supplementing their populations. 7. Increase brownfield development (developing formerly industrial/commercial and abandoned lands). Reduce greenfield development, especially in our most fertile and environmentally sensitive areas. 8. Increase hydro-electric energy production and eliminate coal energy production (unless clean coal energy becomes viable, which hasn't happened). Natural gas is a better energy fuel than coal by far, but renewables are best. We need to increase nuclear energy production if costs are sensible. 9. Follow France's example of moving towards eliminating the combustion engine. By 2050 there will be no combustion engines in France. France leads in nuclear energy production too, which is better for the environment than many of the non-renewable options out there. 10. Make Canada a world leader in green tech. I realize there's skepticism about the various subsidies and tax breaks given to green industries over the years, but once a critical mass of such industries is reached and centres of excellence are created, Canada can become a go-to exporter and employer in green tech. 11. Incentivize industry to boost productivity through upgrading efficiencies and equipment, for example by allowing total expensing within the year of purchase for tax purposes. Boosting productivity has the huge side benefit of increasing wages and product quality. These measures will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They will reduce commute times, increase convenience and access to amenities, create high paying, high tech jobs, improve air and water quality, reduce health care costs (especially in the north), and improve quality of life overall.

I agree. That's why we need serious policy to fight climate change. We are in the Sixth Extinction.

Yes, we outperform the UK. International testing (PISA) is every three years: Canada's 15-year-old students among best global performers in science, math Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn Students in Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia among the best in the country Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News · Posted: Dec 06, 2016 1:36 PM ET | Last Updated: December 6, 2016 Canadian high school students are faring better than those in most other OECD countries. (Laura DaSilva/CBC) Canadian 15-year-olds are among the best in the world in science and science-based technology, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Canada ranked fourth among OECD countries, tied with Finland and surpassed only by Singapore, Japan and Estonia, according to the report involving 540,000 students from around the world. Among all participating countries and economies, Canada ranked fourth. Technology in the classroom no shortcut to success: OECD report The ranking comes from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which surveys adolescents every three years for their proficiency in science, math and reading. The focus of the testing, however, is science. https://twitter.com/OECD/status/806075954460315648/photo/1 The results didn't differ much from 2006, when Canadian teens also were ranked high in science. In both 2009 and 2012, however, students scored slightly lower than in 2015. Despite the high ranking for Canada, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, concluded in its report on the findings "that there is cause for some concern." "Almost one in 10 Canadian students do not meet the benchmark level of science proficiency, a proportion which has not changed since the baseline year in 2006, and students in minority-language settings achieve lower results in science compared to their counterparts in majority-language settings," it said. When it comes to mathematics and reading, 15-year-old students in Canada also performed well above the OECD average. Only Singapore surpassed Canada in reading. Canada was also one of the highest-performing countries when it came to equity between boys and girls. Provincially, students in Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia performed particularly well in science, among the best with the highest-performing countries and economies. Approximately 20,000 students were tested across 10 provinces in both English and French. "The results from PISA 2015 are extremely gratifying. In every domain, Canada is not only near the very top internationally, we have increased our ranking since PISA 2012," Doug W. Currie, chair of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, and minister of education, early learning and culture for Prince Edward Island, said in a press release.

Top 5 Winners Canada #1 inBest Countries: Quality of Life #2 in Best Countries A typical Canadian consumer spends $28,996 on goods and services each year, according to the World Bank. Denmark #2 inBest Countries: Quality of Life #11 in Best Countries A typical Danish consumer spends $28,282 on goods and services each year. Sweden #3 inBest Countries: Quality of Life #6 in Best Countries A typical Swedish consumer spends $25,770 on goods and services each year. Norway #4 inBest Countries: Quality of Life #12 in Best Countries A typical Norwegian consumer spends $39,797 on goods and services each year. Australia #5 inBest Countries: Quality of Life #7 in Best Countries A typical Australian consumer spends $30,762 on goods and services each year.

You need to read Steven Pinker. He basically proves through multiple statistics that on every metric of progress, people are better off these days in both developed and developing countries than ever before. Our poor are fed, clothed, have housing, TV’s, computers, and literacy. The world is a better place than it was 50 or even 20 years ago. It will get better if we follow the science and data and make a concerted effort at progress.

You can’t make all of these claims without data to support them, just by looking around. We have the best public education system in the English speaking world. Our teens score in the top five countries internationally in reading, writing, math and science. Our unemployment rate at 5.8% is the lowest in 40 years. While housing prices are high in our biggest cities, that is mostly a mark of our success. Home prices have steadily risen since the mid-90’s, which means that if you have a home (a non-taxable investment as the primary residence), your nest egg has grown tremendously in value, adding to household wealth. If anything Canada is experiencing the growing pains of success. People want to be here. It speaks to our values that we welcomed vulnerable refugees fleeing civil war in Syria. The US will not be looked on with admiration for its government’s xenophobic policies. Believe it or not our immigration policies are among the best as they are largely skills based. Don’t buy into the anti-scientific, fear mongering rhetoric south of the border. We have good anti-climate change policy. We are on the right side of history. Trump is a concern, not a model for democracy. Appreciate what you have in Canada. Our social policies prevent vast inequality. We need to do more to make housing affordable for young people, but if you think that Trumpists like Ford will do it, you’re sadly mistaken. He is removing the foreign buyers’ tax on housing. Trudeau is problematic too. Canada needs to toughen up, at least militarily, to defend our way of life, but be wary of simplistic answers and inhumane policies that play on fear.

This is patently untrue. Canada consistently ranks near the top of every quality of life index, ahead of the US and other developed countries. Canada is a bastion (one of the last?) of progressive policy. We have our limitations, challenged to provide all the modern advantages available with a small population spread over a vast territory with many indigenous and ethnic groups that have various perspectives, but we’ve held up quite well under the pressure of retrograde quasi-fascist pressure from almost every continent. Be grateful, stop whining, and work hard to improve the the great country we have.

You’re clearly not a serious person and you probably haven’t seen real hardship. Learn about Pol Pot, Stalin, Auswitz, Treaty of Versailles, Spanish Civil War, rise of fascism, etc. Then put forward considered responses or get out of the kitchen.

The US lost Vietnam and sent soldiers home. The was was painful, protracted, involved lottery conscription (the draft), and extremely expensive. More troublesome was the secret CIA military involvement prior to the war, which included selling opium to fund war. I was a close observer of the collapse of the Soviet Union and spent time there before and after the collapse (China never collapsed, though the farming policies and Cultural Revolution cost it greatly). Both systems transformed due to the economic advantages and political freedom offered by western liberal democracy. Voice of America radio and the black market flood of western goods such as Levi’s or instant coffee played a much greater role in the transformation than the arms race. It’s expensive to occupy countries and impose economic and political systems that don’t represent the interests of the people. Such systems collapse from within when better systems exist in the world for all to see. Yes, a form of Cold War was probably inevitable, but trade and political engagement, such as that between Gorbachev and Reagan, were more important than outspending the Russians on arms. Russians were hungry for Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (economic reform). Same goes for China. Russia actually moved too fast, handed off the state enterprises to oligarchs, and got a quasi-fascist backlash with Putin, where they are today, trying to reestablish the empire some feel they lost (though the Soviets shouldn’t really have had it in the first place).

We maintain close relations despite the problems like most families. Most Canadians value the relationships. Severing ties would be weird, antisocial, and not what most people want. I don’t know any Canadians who “hate the Americans”. Such a posture would be immature and foolish. I do worry about the capacity of certain politicians to damage relations.

And yet you and some other Muricans do...Not sure why. Maybe there's a shred of humanity buried within? Not counting on it...

TMZ is shite by any measure. Not my problem that it's such a hit in Trumplandia

No it isn’t. There’s a big difference between success among 34 million people and 340 million, or 3.4 billion. No mystery there.

Don’t flatter yourself. It’s strictly a numbers game. It’s harder to get attention internationally than nationally. Canadians also appreciate the attention of Britain and many other countries. The US is bigger, so it’s a bigger audience. I love good British and Australian tv and film, as well as American. There’s no national favouritism. There are sometimes more cultural similarities to the US. Cool and lame are universal, transnational categories.

I think many Canadians think Canada is the greatest country on Earth. I know I do. We don’t say it or run around shouting, “Canada Canada Canada” because politeness and modesty are Canadian values. It’s fine to be proud of your country to a point, but you should really only be proud of what you contribute, not what has been given to you or what you’ve been born into. Grateful, yes. People matter more than countries anyway. We’re blessed to live here. It’s what you do with what you’ve been given that counts.

What I find concerning is that there are many out there, not just in the U.S., who think they should be taken care of and that one person is capable of doing this. Echoes of czarist Russia and 30's fascism. No one person should wield that much power. Hope that your system of checks and balances works...

I wouldn't give him that much weight. If you think he's so powerful, you should be worried for your country, let alone the rest of the world.

Why wouldn’t we? You’re our neighbor, 10 times our size, and we have a common language.

Our debt is substantially lower than in the US and our economy is strong. Lowest unemployment level in 40 years. The US is doing well too. My comments are about developing policies that have the highest positive impact on the society.

Ignoring the environment, borrowing money to give tax cuts to the rich, damaging foreign relations, and cozying up to dictators isn’t my idea of progress. The economy was doing well before Trump got there. He has pumped borrowed money into it unnecessarily.

How many of the pre-movie newsreels did Hitler dominate? Power in and of itself is neither good nor bad. You value circuses above all else. What’s important is the agenda that gets advanced through the media. Media is a communications tool, nothing more. I agree that Trump understands media well and how to propagandize.