Gaza, Canada & America
Here’s your weekly roundup of everything I’ve curated or created online, March 17–23, 2024.
Trad Wives Perils, Moral Vacuums, Internet Ideology, Emergent Failures, and Cruciform Snakes by Bryan J. in Mockingbird:
Arguing that the primary moral framework of modern America is simply an “anti-authority-ism,” we can see why tolerance and safety and happiness become the highest ethical codes of our time. Anything more demanding requires too much authority to execute.
This one is a curation article (like your servant’s newsletter). The themes are worked in together very well in this edition and the articles worth reading in their own right. I recommend taking your time with it.
Voices from Gaza by Russ Roberts with Ahmed Alkhatib on Econtalk (podcast with transcript):
“Any time I talk to Palestinians or pro-Palestine activists or people who want to do a ceasefire proposal or resolution, city councils and across the United States, I say, ‘Don't call for a ceasefire without calling for the immediate and release of Israeli hostages. Pair both of them.’”
How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers by Abraham Wyner in Tablet:
While the evidence is not dispositive, it is highly suggestive that a process unconnected or loosely connected to reality was used to report the numbers.
Some objective commentators have acknowledged Hamas’ numbers in previous battles with Israel to be roughly accurate. Nevertheless, this war is wholly unlike its predecessors in scale or scope; international observers who were able to monitor previous wars are now completely absent, so the past can’t be assumed to be a reliable guide. The fog of war is especially thick in Gaza, making it impossible to quickly determine civilian death totals with any accuracy.
Our Enemies and Allies Alike Have Realized that Canada Is an Easy Mark by Richard Shimooka in The Hub:
Despite the two scientists being escorted from the Winnipeg lab in 2019 (and subsequently fired in 2021) as a result of the alleged covert actions on behalf of the CCP, the government still decided to partner with the Chinese government on the ill-fated CanSino vaccine deal in 2020.
The unwillingness to fully acknowledge and own the situation will delay the security reforms desperately needed to address the breach and prevent such incidents from occurring again.
Do You Guys Ever Think About Dying? by James Duesterberg in The Point:
It was not just nuclear power, but a new and fantastically abstract consumer desire, a power hidden in images and objects, that marked the postwar era of American hegemony. Neither power has proven possible to control.
Secret RCMP Report Warns Canadians May Revolt Once They Realize How Broke They Are by Tristin Hoper in National Post:
“Economic forecasts for the next five years and beyond are bleak,” reads the RCMP’s assessment of the rest of the decade, even adding a quote from French President Emmanuel Macron that “the end of abundance” is nigh.
God in Gaza by Marci Evans in Adventist Review:
The Love Bridge Projects is a partnership of Adventists and Muslims that builds feed mills, goat farms, chicken farms, and wells along with supporting schools in different parts of the world.
Music
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me,
Christ with me.
"I open my mouth to the Lord,
And I won’t turn back.
I will go!
I shall go!
To see what the end’s going be."
Sermons
It turns out that I’ve overlooked sharing these. This time I won’t be linking to the exact time the sermon starts. My apologies for the inconvenience.