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By: Marieke Walsh in Ottawa, ON
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was repeatedly under attack and on the defensive Wednesday night during a debate on issues facing the black community.
The debate in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood featured all major party leaders except Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford.
Wynne was taken to task for her government's record on disproportionate numbers of black children facing suspension and expulsion, inequities in the health care system and the persistence of carding by police.
Throughout, the premier stuck to her talking points that the Liberal government has taken these issues "head on" and that "more needs to be done."
At one point moderator Royson James called Wynne out for her response to systemic racism in the education system.
"You do know that whatever you're doing isn't working," James asked Wynne. And he wondered if the people responsible for the school system understand the "urgency."
His follow-up was met with laughs and a shout of "clueless" from someone in the crowd of roughly 200 people.
"I get that there's a huge frustration and I feel that frustration," Wynne said.
At which point NDP Leader Andrea Horwath broke in with "15 years" — referencing the Liberal's time in power.
James had previously listed several statistics pointing to the experience of black children in the Toronto District School Board in 2011.
Calling them "crushing statistics" he said the stats show almost half of the black students who graduate high school don't have the credits and grades needed to go to university and 42 per cent didn't apply to post secondary school. Moreover he said, of those students that apply, only one in four are accepted.
Of every 100 black students only 69 graduate, James said. Out of that number, he said only 18 end up in university or college.
He said the numbers are "worse" for boys, adding that half of the students expelled from school are black kids. "What do you plan to do about this abject failure of our schools to educate black students," James asked the three leaders.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the "first thing you have to do is admit that there's a problem."
"These stats aren't new," Horwath said. "I'd suggest that it's getting worse and not better." She said the government should deal with the curriculum in schools and ensure supports are there for students. This online casino prepares plenty of exciting offers and bonuses. But in order to try some online casino games it is better to start with free online slots.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the statistics show how much the "status quo is failing our young people."
Meanwhile, Wynne defended her government's record on implementing items like the Black Youth Action Plan and the Education Equity Action Plan while agreeing that more needs to be done.
"There is absolutely no doubt that there is more structural change that's needed," Wynne said.
Wynne got the loudest applause when she was first introduced at the event but it went downhill from there — she was at times jeered, challenged and interrupted by the crowd.
Speaking to reporters after the debate, she said the issues debated "are not simple" nor "easily dealt with."
"What I was saying was that we have been tackling them, we have been addressing them and yes there is still more to be done," Wynne said.
Horwath, who got a warm reception from the crowd by the end of the night, called the debate "very enjoyable."
The Elephant not in the Room
Ford's absence wasn't addressed very much by the leaders during the debate, but was met with boos from the crowd when the event organizers noted his absence.
Speaking to iPolitics afterward, several audience members said his absence would hurt Ford, while another said he would still hear out the ideas put forward from the Progressive Conservatives.
Earlier in the day Wynne issued a letter challenging Ford to three debates, saying he hasn't yet agreed to a single one ahead of the June election.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Wynne said Ford is "the one person who wouldn't have agreed with anything that we were saying and he wasn't there to put his position forward."
"It is really important that he show up and that he put his opinions forward because people need to understand what that contrast is," she said.
Ford was in Northern Ontario on a campaign-style tour.
Horwath questioned Ford's priorities and said the "community was pretty disappointed" by his absence.
Republished under arrangement with iPolitics.
By: Janice Dickson in Ottawa, ON
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is urging Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to help Iranians who have reported painfully long wait times to become permanent residents.
"I am writing about public reports of systemic discrimination by Canada against Iranians, both residents here and overseas," said Michael Bryant, the CCLA's executive director in the letter to Hussen on April 6.
"We will work with the Iranian community to marshal the legal effort to investigate and remedy any discrimination. We urge your Ministry to announce immediate remedial steps to assure Iranians that Canada takes these allegations very seriously," said Bryant.
According to the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC), more than 200 Iranian nationals, who are students or recent graduates in Canada, have reported long waits to become permanent residents.
The Iranians believe they are being treated unfairly and have taken to Twitter using the #DelayedIranianApplications hashtag to share their stories.
Bryant wrote that the ICC told him Hussen has not write essay agreed to meet personally with their organization, but that a meeting with officials has been scheduled.
Hursh Jaswal, a spokesman for Hussen said security checks have no set processing time and they will vary as they are done case by case.
"The CBSA performs background checks on all visitors, immigrants and refugee claimants of 18 years of age or over to ensure that inadmissible person — such as criminals or persons considered security risks — are not allowed to enter or remain in Canada," he said in an email.
Jaswal said the department understands the "frustration" of applicants and their loved ones, but thorough security screening of all applicants is important to ensure the safety and security of Canadians.
"BSA and the Government of Canada are committed to a fair and non-discriminatory application of immigration procedures while protecting the safety and security of Canadians," he said. Keep an eye on the casino bonus UK offers, because a lot of Casino allow all their new members to claim their sign up bonus.
The processing time currently listed for Quebec skilled workers, for example, is 15 months, said Jaswal, that figure represents the time it takes IRCC to process 80 per cent of applications, which means that 20 per cent of applications have taken longer than that.
Republished under arrangement with iPolitics.
By: Kasi Rao in Toronto, ON
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's arrival in New Delhi on February 17 for a week-long state visit marks the 12th visit by a member of his cabinet to India, and given his position, the most important one.
The significance of Trudeau's visit is clear — India matters to Canada, as a friend and a trading partner with still-unrealized potential at a time when Canada seeks to broaden and deepen its international markets.
Canada and India have been talking for a while about reaching more comprehensive trade and investment agreements. But the real significance of this visit is already comprehensive — there's a positive shift in our relationship that we're ready to build on together.
The building blocks are there. Two-way trade between Canada and India was nearly $8 billion in 2016, even though there have been setbacks and slow progress in formal trade talks.
We do that amount of two-way trade with the United States every four days. But when it comes to Canada-India trade, the modesty of the numbers is a reflection of the past, not the promise of the future.
The obstacles are obvious too. Late last year, Indian government officials slapped an increased tariff on pulses — the little yellow peas that are a staple in South Asia, which Canadian farmers export to India.
Yet we have common ground. Canada is the biggest contributor of pulses to India, and India benefits when our supply is not constricted by tariffs.
There's no substitute for a meeting between two leaders to reach a better understanding and make it easier to trade commodities.
Canada and India have been negotiating those free trade and investments agreements for some time now — and they may well take longer. That doesn't negate the need for a sustained engagement with India across multiple sectors.
This visit is an opportunity — to find more common ground. The elements for stronger trade, business and investment relationships between Canada and India are apparent in the number of sectors that are robust and growing yet still relatively untapped.
There are huge opportunities to expand in tourism, research and skills, medical science, technology and innovation.
Some trading partners in the world lament a brain drain, where talented people leave. Between Canada and India it's a brain chain, where the best and brightest in both countries complement and bolster each others' achievements.
For example, Canada is one of the most welcoming countries, reflected in our increased immigration targets at a time when others in the G7 are cutting back.
More than a million Canadians trace their roots to India; they provide a natural bridge to newcomers. Canada has increasing potential as a magnet for higher education among promising Indian students, which contributes to research and innovation in both countries.
Canadians and Indians also share many similar attitudes and values in their outlook to solving global problems. On the economic front, Indian states now embrace cooperative and competitive federalism, marketing themselves internationally the way our provinces do.
Canadians and Indians also share many values when it comes to pluralism and diversity, and both countries are in sync on combatting climate change and the Paris Accord.
Public institutions in both countries have legitimacy in ways that either don't exist in other places or are under severe strain.
Global studies such as the Pew Global Survey and 2018 Edelman Public Trust Barometer show that Canada and India rank consistently high in the public's trust of institutions.
The strong Canadian team led by Prime Minister Trudeau, who is accompanied by senior Cabinet ministers, demonstrates Canada's commitment to a wider and deeper relationship with India.
The Canadian brand is a compelling one that resonates with India. There is nothing like a prime ministerial visit — it provides an extraordinary platform to demonstrate the breadth and depth of our engagement.
Kasi Rao is President and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC). Republished under arrangement with iPolitics.
Commentary by: Don Curry in North Bay, Ontario
Don't buy Vic Fedeli a yellow tie. He has dozens of them.
That's his signature trademark, but he is just as well known for his intellect, knack for getting things done, workaholic tendencies, a big smile and a handshake for everyone who crosses his path.
Now interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, the 61-year-old aims to be the permanent leader after a leadership convention that has to be held before the end of March to give the party time to campaign before the June provincial election. Underestimate his chances at your peril.
But what does the Nipissing MPP and former mayor of North Bay know about immigration? Quite a bit, actually.
Of Italian immigrant stock and a big supporter of the city's Davedi Club, as mayor he saw immigration as a key to the future well-being of the city. Northern Ontario has faced youth out-migration, baby boomer retirements and a declining birth rate and does not have an immigration strategy.
Update: Fedeli steps away from leadership race
Fedeli identified the local need as mayor in his first term starting in 2003 when he tasked the Mayor's Office of Economic Development with getting the city involved in attracting and retaining immigrants. The North Bay Newcomer Network, a Local Immigration Partnership, was formed and it later led to the establishment of an immigrant support agency, the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, in 2008.
Full disclosure, I have known him for almost 40 years. He formed Fedeli Advertising in 1978, the same year I moved to the city to teach journalism at Canadore College. I interviewed him in the early 1980s for a feature article for Northern Ontario Business magazine and our paths have crossed many times since. I would describe him as conservative on fiscal issues and liberal on social issues.
I was part of a delegation from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) that met with him in his Queen's Park office to brief him on provincial immigration issues. My OCASI colleagues, perhaps anticipating some pushback from a Conservative, were impressed with his knowledge. I have met with him in his North Bay constituency office to discuss local and regional immigration issues and see that he always does his homework to prepare for the meeting.
I played golf with him at a fundraiser for the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre. I drove the cart and he worked his smart phone to stay in touch with provincial issues. Although we are members of the same golf club, he rarely plays, as his workaholic tendencies continue through the summer. We tried our hands at cricket together with the local cricket club. Club members stifled their laughter.
Fedeli ran for the party's leadership in 2015 and bowed out of the race to support Christine Elliott. Since then he has been the party's bulldog in the Legislature as finance critic, holding Premier Kathleen Wynne's feet to the fire on numerous issues.
He has the unanimous support of the PC provincial caucus and Northern Ontario politicians of more than just Tory persuasions. The North Bay Nugget quoted Mayor Al McDonald, a former MPP himself, saying Mr. Fedeli would be a "great choice" for party leader. He pointed to the need for an immigration strategy for Northern Ontario that Fedeli could champion, plus a rollback of provincial policies that have impaired the potential for development in the north.
The article quoted other North Bay municipal politicians singing Fedeli's praises. He has also generated excitement province-wide on social media.
He is a proven winner in North Bay. A two-term mayor, he won the 2003 campaign against three challengers, including a former deputy-mayor, earning 75 per cent of the total votes cast. In the 2006 campaign, opposed by a former mayor, he earned more than two-thirds of the votes. Each year he donated his approximately $50,000 salary to a different charity.
His business was a roaring success. It was listed as number 34 of the top 50 Canadian best places to work by Profit, a magazine for small business. He was recognized as one of Canada's most successful entrepreneurs in an episode of Money Makers. He sold his business in 1992 for a large profit, and has been a leading philanthropist in the city ever since.
He donated $250,000 to Nipissing University, $100,000 to Canadore College, and then $100,000 more. He donated $250,000 for the Harris Learning Library at Nipissing University and $150,000 for the city's new hospital.
Prior to taking over the finance critic role in 2013, he was the energy critic and critic of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. He was the main party investigator and agitator over gas plant scandals in Oakville and Mississauga. In 2013, he wrote to the Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner to ask for an investigation of the removal of emails in the Premier's Office pertaining to the gas plant controversy. The then Premier's chief of staff was recently found guilty.
He also fought the Liberal government on the divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, based in North Bay. His efforts were successful and the ONTC is now on sound financial footing.
North Bay is excited. We had a premier from here before – Mike Harris. Could Vic Fedeli be the second from this city of 50,000, just a few hours north of Toronto?
Don Curry is the president of Curry Consulting. He was the founding executive director of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre and the Timmins & District Multicultural Centre and is now chair of the board of directors.
Commentary by: Muhammad Ali in Toronto, ON
I'm the child of Indian immigrants and, for my family, 'Indian Standard Time' is a term used to determine that even when we are running late, we are arriving with the party in full-swing. In the case of trade negotiations between Canada and India, we have reached Indian Standard Time.
Our two countries have long had a 'complex' bilateral relationship. While the previous Canadian government was able to successfully end a long-simmering nuclear dispute, allowing for the sale of Canadian uranium to India, it was unable to complete the free trade negotiations started back in 2010. Several cabinet ministers have visited India over the past two years, in addition to visits by various provincial premiers and big-city mayors to encourage more bilateral trade and investment between their respected jurisdictions.
But progress remains slow on a formal trade agreement.
Part of the reason for this slow progress is the lack of high-level discussions between Prime Minister Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With Trudeau visiting China twice and hosting President Xi Jinping in Canada, Indian officials may wonder how high of a priority trade with India is for the Canadian government. China and India are regional rivals economically, militarily and politically. They want assurances Canada cares and understands India.
Trudeau experiences a high degree of popularity amongst India's population and within the Indo-Canadian community, an important political force in Canadian politics. To appease his key voter base and the interests of Canadian businesses, Trudeau will need to maximize his impact during his trip to India.
The purpose of this trip will be threefold: First, to quell any concerns Prime Minister Modi may have with the priority Canada has assigned to its relationship with China; second, to address any issues arising from the differences between the Indian and Indo-Canadian diasporas; and lastly, on issues impacting trade negotiations.
It will be part of Trudeau's task to get Modi's focus on the urgency and benefits of stronger trade ties with a trade agreement and use his popularity and charisma to show Modi that his commitment to improving our bilateral relationship is real and not calculated to only shore up domestic support.
South Asians in Canada hold tremendous political influence reflected by the appointment of four Sikh-Canadian ministers in important portfolios, and nearly two dozen MPs and Senators currently serving our country. Indo-Canadians have become engaged citizens who are shaping industry, culture and policy for Canadians. Addressing the delicate relationship between the Indian and Indo-Canadian diasporas will aide Trudeau to move negotiations forward.
Finally, Trudeau will be looking to address core economic issues such as agricultural exports to India, access to natural resources and migrant skilled workers coming to Canada. At the moment, India has raised tariffs on pulse seed imports, the majority of which comes from Saskatchewan. Canada produces a third of the worlds pulse crops (ex. lentils, peas, chickpeas) and this will have a ripple effect throughout the Canadian agricultural industry.
India and Canada can benefit from greater mobility of technology-trained workers, such as software engineers, between both countries. With the Waterloo-Toronto corridor and Bangalore-Hyderabad tech-centres hosting a thriving technology sector, a trade agreement would be able to enhance a bilateral ecosystem for companies to further develop.
Of most importance for Trudeau will be securing environmental and labour standards that have become core negotiating principles for this government. Canada's leverage to securing these standards is giving India its first free-trade access to a Western market, including Canadian businesses that have access to North America, the EU, several countries in South America and potentially 10 Pacific-coast nations. Amidst the populist rhetoric to protectionism and anti-trade, Trudeau is positioning Canada as a beacon of economic opportunity that India would benefit from tremendously.
This trip to India, if successful, may cement Trudeau's ability to deliver on his promise to diversify Canadian market access and reduce our dependence on the Americans, who continue to play Russian roulette with NAFTA discussions. Given the NAFTA risks, Canada needs this trade deal more than India does — to which Trudeau must move quickly before he loses any leverage in these talks.
This piece was republished under arrangement with iPolitics.
Commentary by: Rodel J Ramos in Mississauga
It seems our Filipino leaders have no vision and no ambition except to lead their small ethnic tribes and followers to socials, beauty contest, religious, sports and yearly traditions that lead to nowhere and no future for our people. While some are involved in politics, we do not seem to know how to play the game and benefit from it. Some of us are already proud to know well known politicians and kiss their ass.
We can't blame anyone else but ourselves. When you do nothing and just watch your people being abused by the system and politicians, you are to blame. Most of us do not go out and vote and therefore are irrelevant to the system. Yet it is our taxes that make the government work and it is our efforts that make Canada grow. We need good leaders but we are good at doubting, maligning and shooting our leaders who rise above us specially when it comes to money. We do not know how to encourage and reward good leaders who have the our concern and have the expertise to lead and manage. We always doubt their intentions. And then we go to court, spend hundreds of thousands of our money just to prove that we are right.
While other ethnic groups get millions of grants from the Government, we are getting peanuts and our concerns are not being addressed. Our community gets ignored. They approach us only during election time to get our votes. Our community is only good at fiestas and small parties every weekend which only drains the pockets of our people. No wonder we all retire poor. After more than 40 years we can only see a few significant accomplishments and legacies. Yet we claim to be a great people.
We are more than 350,000 Filipino Canadians in Ontario and less than a million in the whole of Canada in a country with less than 35 million population. And we are acting as if we are powerless and being played around by politicians.
We are the most active community with more than 350 organizations in Metro Toronto alone. We have chapters in most of the Churches specially Couples for Christ and Bukas Loob sa Diyos. We even have an organization of Filipino priests. Our Filipino Freemasons, Knights of Columbus, Knights of Rizal, Jaycees, and Rotarians have wide influence in our society. Even our caregivers who work for the rich specially the political leaders have connection and influence. We rejuvenated the Catholic Churches and other religious churches. Our talents and taxes have contributed much to the progress of this country.
Most of us are well educated but our foreign education is not recognized.
It is time we show that we have the power to bring down a government that is not responsive to our needs and concerns and just flatter us during elections. It is also to show that we can make an unknown leader take over the government with our help. The Liberals in power have no room for Filipinos to rise because all their positions are filled. And they show no desire to even appoint our best in any position in the government. They talk about diversity but only appoint the whites.
The Progressive Conservatives under Patrick Brown have accepted Atty. Angely Pacis as their official candidate in Mississauga Centre. She is a lawyer, a journalist and a graduate of Harvard, the daughter of the late Doctor Lydia and Antonio Pacis. She is most qualified to be a Member of the Provincial Parliament and a pride for our people. I am sure with her qualifications, Patrick Brown will give her a portfolio as a Minister when they win.
The Liberals in spite of our years of loyalty to them has never done much for our people. They never appointed any of our people to high positions in government. The Conservatives under former Prime Minister Harper appointed Senator Tobias (Jun) Enverga, and Ontario Supreme Court Judge Steve Corroza and helped the caregivers with cancer who were about to be deported stay in Canada and brought their families here. He brought about the Juana Tejada Law.
The smaller communities have better strategies than us. They can elect their own people into high offices by mere show of strength and manipulations. Look at what happened to Atty. Antonio Villarin in a nomination in Scarborough where he was defeated by a Sri Lankan, a Tamil, a small ethnic community. Shame on us all. We can also have our own representative but we have to know the game, work harder and stand together, otherwise we are powerless and hopeless as a people. We have to cultivate and train potential politicians in our community. It takes years to learn the game. And it needs the whole community to raise a candidate. We have to contribute to the funds and promote them. We have to be there to vote during the nomination and election. We can't just brag about our greatness but show nothing.
Patrick Brown is our chance to shine. He is close to the Filipino community. He choose to take not just one but three vacations in the Philippines instead of other places. Patrick loves halo halo and even had a Halo Halo Party at Queens Park. He was even inducted by Sir Joe Damasco as member of the Knights of Rizal. He recognizes the talents and strength of the Filipino community.
There is no room for us to grow in the Liberal Party. I understand the loyalty of the Filipinos to the Liberals. Some say because of Pierre Trudeau who opened up Canada to the Filipinos during his time. Did he open Canada to us because of his love for Filipinos or that Canada needed the talents and industry of the Filipinos? We worked hard and paid our taxes for many years. We are not free loaders. It was this contribution that enriched Canada. Even if we owe our gratitude, does it mean we have to serve all our lives with gratitude or servitude?
The Provincial Liberals under Kathleen Wynne wasted millions of dollars with their bad decisions of cancelling the two energy power plants in Mississauga in their incompetence. They sold the Hydro shares and made our electricity so expensive, yet we subsidize electricity in the U.S.
They are not doing anything to bring the cost of housing down. Let's make this housing crises into job opportunities for Ontarians specially the poor. We are attracting a million immigrants every 3 years and 40% of that goes to Ontario. They should open up lands in farming communities close to Toronto for housing. We should built houses for these people at an affordable rate. Our children will not be able to afford the present real estate prices.
Republished under arrangement with The Philippine Reporter.
By: Davina Bhandar in Vancouver
Within the space of a few moments, Jagmeet Singh became one of Canada's most admired politicians. His cool-under-pressure reaction to being confronted by an angry heckler is just one of the reasons Singh is considered to be the favourite contender for leadership of the federal New Democratic Party.
A video of the Sept. 6 incident at Singh's campaign event in Brampton, Ont., went viral and has been viewed millions of times in Canada and around the world. Moments into the event, an angry white woman interrupted Singh and shouted Islamophobic and vitriolic statements at him, and physically gesticulated, demonstrating her feeling of entitlement — to space, voice and position - in relation to others at the event.
Singh seemed undeterred by the outburst. His response to her rant was to rally his audience to help him relay his campaign message. He asked his guests to chant: "Love and courage."
What is the nature of Singh's call for love? His political slogan is based on a message of universal love and courage. Singh's message — and chant that evening — is uniquely situated among the slogans of the three other candidates: Charlie Angus "Got your back," Niki Ashton "Building a movement, together," and Guy Caron, "Let's Build a Progressive and Sustainable Economy."
The dramatic events at the Sept. 6 meeting demonstrates something about Singh, as a person and as a candidate. It also points to new undercurrents of religion and spirituality and its role — not only in Canadian politics, but also in the leadership race for the NDP.
Singh's campaign and potential leadership arrives in a climate of increasing hatred, fear and division. His call for universal love is coherent with Sikhism, which challenges the division between daily life and a devotional love that guides all thought and action. How does the language of love and courage relate to a New Democratic Party trying to find its way in a shifting political landscape?
Singh's outward appearance solicits questions from some Canadians — as in the case of the heckler — regarding his secular position: To what degree does Singh's religion relate to his policy ideas or conduct?
Canadian political institutions and traditions are imbued with Judeo-Christian values and symbols. Yet the separation of church and state maintains religion does not dictate the making of policy and law. However, in the game of politics, courting ethno-racial, national and religious identified voters has become a central art of party campaign strategists.
Political parties of all persuasions have had to navigate this division in a variety of ways. In Canada, the left social democratic tradition, represented now by the NDP, has had less experience with faith-based movements and the religious identity of its leaders than their right-wing counterparts and left-leaning parties elsewhere in the world. Singh's leadership challenge will likely change that.
While Singh is positioned as a secular politician, his ethos, sense of justice and formation of his identity is connected to a Sikh practice. The very essence of the message of universal love and courage is embedded in a Sikh devotion, rather than a secular idea of loving all humankind. Practising Sikhism defines a way of life — one that is contemplative, meditative and committed to spiritualism and positive actions.
To understand the contemporary role of religion in politics, we need to look at one of our turning points: 9/11. The attacks on New York City and the Pentagon served as a marker of the time foreign and domestic policy in North America was called upon to name Islamic terrorism as a universal enemy.
Once North America and other western governments embraced the rhetoric of a civilization divide, the psyche of liberal democratic nations split apart. The already tenuous divide between the religious and secular began to rupture further.
This reinforced a binary division and emboldened a powerful discourse of racism and Islamophobia. The basic premise is that Islam represents something universally distinct from Christian belief systems.
This discourse of racism and difference has gained strength and societal control through the election of conservative governments with moral platforms that build on fears and anxieties of susceptible citizens.
Sixteen years of corrosive discourses since 9/11 has led to: Us vs. Them, the Clash of Civilizations and racism. We are now at the point of the normalization of white supremacy. It is no longer an oddity or a left-wing conspiracy theory to discuss the presence of fascism and neo-Nazis — these are events widely circulated in our social media feeds and featured during the evening news.
Islamophobia and racism are often understood to be twinned structures of oppression. In many ways they are, but there are complex differences between them. They disseminate and exist in different political, cultural and social taxonomies.
Islamophobia operates through systems of stereotypes, often misunderstanding or misrepresenting the traditions, religious practices and customs of highly diverse ethno-national and racial communities. Islamophobia has been manufactured in multiple ways in society through popular culture, media, policy and criminalizing targeting Islam and Muslims.
Racism is a larger systemic operation of power denigrating one race while validating or elevating another.
When the Harper Conservatives were in government, they attempted to map onto Canadian national values a form of social conservatism. This was articulated through a distinction between Canada and the "barbaric cultural practices" of others.
The clear lines that were being drawn between what Harper referred to as "old stock Canadians" during a 2015 federal leaders' debate brought into discourse front and center the relationship between white supremacy and Islamophobia. It connected the dots between a normative white Christian Canadian identity that could stand against the racialized others.
Now the Conservative Party has a leader who proudly accepts the label: "Harper with a Smile."" Andrew Scheer has the support of social conservatives in the Conservative Party. He has steadfastly supported free speech over the condemnation of Islamophobia and was absent during the House of Commons vote for the Anti-Islamophobia Motion M-103, overwhelmingly passed in the House of Commons.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
Singh said his ability to remain cool under pressure was largely owed to his experience of being a brown, Sikh and turbaned man, growing up in the 1980s in Brampton, Ont., just northwest of Toronto.
His past experiences of religious and racist intolerance helped to fortify him against racist language and assault.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)
In the moment in which the racist woman yelled at him, she assumed he was a Muslim. Many wondered why Singh did not attempt to correct her misconceived perception; he is not a Muslim, but rather, a Sikh.
Suggesting such a distinction in the moment, he said, would only further the misunderstanding that somehow being Muslim means such treatment is considered justifiable. His reaction, he said, should not be to proclaim his religion. By not correcting this misconception, Singh was acting in solidarity against Islamophobia.
Sikhs have been affected throughout the post-9/11 discourses of Islamophobia, mainly because of this misunderstood identity. In the U.S., and elsewhere, there has been a rise in hate bias attacks against Sikhs, with the 2012 Oak Creek, Wis., shooting as a visible example.
While there are those who, in the similar vein as Singh, have sought to challenge Islamophobia by standing in solidarity, there have also been many instances where Sikhs in America, the U.K. and Canada painstakingly distinguish themselves from Muslims.
However, in countless examples, when Islamophobia is experienced in the public sphere against properly identified Muslims, there has been a lack of outcry.
In Canada, the shooting deaths in Quebec's Sainte-Foy's Mosque, in which Azzedine Soufiane, Khaled Belkacemi, Aboubakar Thabthi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Mamadou Tanou Barry, and Ibrahim Barry were killed, was unmistakably an act of terrorism. Canadians across the country mourned this tragedy. And yet was it recognized as an act of terrorism against the citizens of this state?
The day-to-day effects of Islamophobia have led to many Muslims living with heightened experiences of fear and not knowing what they might encounter on a walk to school, a day at work or even waiting for a bus.
The left social-democrats of the NDP hold steadfastly to their conception of justice, fairness and equality in a secular world. The ways in which people are encountering the public today, however, is seemingly much murkier than these stark divisions.
The issues of racism, religious intolerance and social justice are not central issues for any federal political party. These issues, however, should no longer be viewed as separate from major policy platforms including health, welfare reform, employment, national defense, national security, aboriginal relations and education. Perhaps a political leader such as Jagmeet Singh will be able to navigate these debates with an alacrity and style we have yet to witness in the Canadian political world.
Davina Bhandar, Adjunct Professor in School of Communication and Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, Simon Fraser University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Commentary By: Avi Benlolo in Toronto
Today is International Day of Democracy. Yet, the western world seems to have lost hope of the very fundamentals we are supposed to hold dear to our hearts – freedom, equality, respect and peace building. Democracies are far from perfect and disparities within exist and must be addressed to alleviate hardship and continued inequality. However, Gross Domestic Product, mortality and literacy rates are amongst the highest in the world among leading nation states which practice democracy. Third-world developing nations struggle with persistent war, poverty, disparity, environmental degradation and inequity. It's no wonder that democracies like Canada enjoy an inflow of migrants who hope to live in a nation which respects the UN Declaration for Human Rights, unlike the majority of the UN General Assembly.
Still, democracies have become far too forgiving or compromising. While we preach gender equality, we look the other way as non-democracies practice gender apartheid and withhold women's rights, for example. We say we want to promote "women and girls' leadership and participation in political, social and peace-building processes" which would be essential to building democracies worldwide, but we timidly look the other way. We provide military equipment as Canada has to Saudi Arabia and promote trade with nations that discriminate against others, and in many cases are spreading the seeds of hate and intolerance worldwide.
For all of its good deeds in assisting the developing world with billions of dollars of investment aid in order to further democracy, the west is targeted relentlessly by terrorists who use the very freedom of movement and assembly to harm innocent people. Today, on International Day of Democracy, European cities have been placed on high alert as a result of a number of incidents, including a bomb in the London subway which injured 22 people; a hammer attack in Lyon that critically injured two women by a man running down the street yelling "Allahu Akhbar"; a knifeman stopped by police in Birmingham and a highway closed in Malmo after explosives were found in a car.
Yet our democracy is failing to curb the attack on the west, on our institutions and our citizens. We have seen a slow and steady degradation of our way of life since 9/11 with increasing spate of terrorism and relentless usage of rights like 'free speech' to sow hate and discord. In many ways, Jewish communities across Europe have been like the so-called canaries in the coal mine – having been the initial recipients of most terror attacks. Now it has spread to society at large.
In Canada, while we speak about equity, anti-racism, tolerance and peace building, our hate crime laws fail to be enforced giving way to more hate crime. We learned this week that in Quebec, the Crown Attorney dropped charges against two imams who were captured on video preaching hatred and violence against Jews at a Montreal mosque. In Toronto, a Muslim community calls for the elimination of Jews each year at its annual "Al Quds" protest at Queen's Park while violence promoting antisemitic pamphlet circulates the province, with little reaction from authorities. Graffiti stating "Hitler was Right" is spray painted on bridges without condemnation from our premier or leading public figures.
If we are going to celebrate democracy and its fundamentals, we must learn to protect and defend our values and ideals. If democracies celebrate tolerance, they cannot and should not tolerate those who are intolerant of others. They must stand up to hate, enforce hate crime and hate speech laws and place our very values and ideals – like women's rights, justice and equality – first and foremost. Otherwise, I fear that if we are not passionate about our exceptional democratic system, hope for humanity might be lost.
Avi Benlolo is a Canadian human rights activist, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, the Canadian branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
By: Jeremy J. Nuttall in Ottawa
Canada could turn into a U.S.-style partisan battleground if its politicians and media don't mend their ways, says former Conservative MP Chris Alexander.
Alexander, one of the Harper government cabinet ministers defeated in the 2015 election and an unsuccessful leadership candidate, has recently been vocal about the media, politics and the "alt-right" in Canada.
In a Tyee interview he acknowledged extreme right-wing factions were allowed a place in the Conservative party, but predicted that will change as a result of the backlash after deadly racist demonstrations in Virginia last month.
That kind of violence hasn't hit Canada, Alexander said, and politicians and journalists need to work to make sure it never does.
But Alexander's attempt to set out the failings of the Canadian media in an opinion piece he wrote for Maclean's has drawn its own backlash.
Alexander accused the media of viewing Canadian politics through an American lens and inflaming tensions that divide the country.
And he set out what he called false accusations that he was anti-Muslim, linking them to a March 2015 speech by Justin Trudeau at McGill University reprinted in Maclean's and then repeated "over and over."
In the speech Trudeau says Alexander stood in the House of Commons and declared a woman's hijab was "an indefensible perversion of Canadian values."
"I never said any such thing," Alexander wrote in the Maclean's piece. "My wife Hedvig, who is Danish, wore a hijab through seven years in Afghanistan." Alexander was Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005 and representative of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan until 2009.
Alexander, defending the Conservative government's bid to require women to remove their hijabs — head scarves — during citizenship ceremonies, did say "the hijab has been used to cover the face of women... under the terrible influence of the Taliban in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan."
"Those practices have no place in our citizenship ceremonies, where we insist on confirming the identity and confirming the commitment of new citizens to our laws, to our sovereign, to our values, and to our traditions," he told the House of Commons.
Alexander's opinion piece sparked a rebuke from Ottawa Citizen columnist Shannon Gormley.
She said Alexander and other "far-right populists" were trying to "scapegoat elites" for their own failings.
"Adding insult to self-inflicted injuries, perhaps they should be pitied and politely ignored," she wrote. "Only, in largely blaming others for their own fall just as they blamed them for social decline, populist misopportunists diminish the truth and the social cohesion they claim to desire."
Failings of media
Alexander told The Tyee the Citizen column highlighted the failings of Canadian media he described in Maclean's.
The column noted Alexander's role in the 2015 pre-election announcement of a "barbaric cultural practices tip line" widely panned as anti-Muslim by pundits and political opponents.
But he maintains the tip line plan didn't reflect bigotry or anti-Muslim sentiments. Alexander said he spoke to victims of cultural practices like forced marriage as he researched the initiative and they used the word "barbaric" to describe their experiences.
Victims even insisted the word be used in the government's tip line name, Alexander said.
But the media mislead the public, he alleged, painting it as a bigoted policy.
"Literally people go around calling it an anti-Muslim snitch line," he said. "They are misleading the audience in the most dangerous way. There was nothing exclusive anti-anybody in that legislation."
Alexander said if he had a dime for every person who referred to the line negatively without mentioning things like "forced marriage" or "honour killings" he'd be a rich man.
Alexander still speaks to the news media. But he said the barbaric cultural practices tip line coverage is the kind of story causing Conservatives to boycott media outlets like the CBC, which they say is biased against them.
While some won't speak to the CBC, many Conservatives — including Alexander — did speak to the Rebel, a controversial right-wing online media outlet.
Alexander had been interviewed by the Rebel and appeared at the organization's rallies.
In March he tweeted he would no longer attend Rebel events after a piece by contributor Gavin McInnes entitled "10 things I hate about Jews."
"We have a responsibility, all of us, to hold media and social media to account to the extent they allow themselves to be platforms for spreading hate," Alexander said then.
Alexander said he wants to talk to all media, and deciding what organizations he won't speak to is subject to "constant review."
He said his philosophy is "talk to everyone, pander to no one" and not to say different things to different outlets.
"I don't think we should be, as a matter of course, boycotting media just because we disagree with reports that they put out," he said. "I will continue to talk to the CBC and all the other professional media outlets."
Alexander said the Canadian media is generally "professional" but declining circulations and audiences are having a noticeable affect on quality.
The downward trend, he said, has many Canadians relying on foreign news services as their go-to source for information.
During his years in Parliament from 2011 to 2015, Alexander said he noticed Canadians were increasingly less interested in consuming news from Canadian outlets.
One result has been the growing influence of the polarized political coverage from the United States, he said. "It crowds out our national story," he said.
The Canadian media needs to change to avoid the same kind of partisan breakdown, Alexander said.
Media must create a "shared sense of public service," he said, rather than existing to produce clickbait. Canadians should feel served by their media.
Often Canadian media seem to allow their headlines to be determined by negative attacks from a politician's opponents, he added.
Reporters can't allow the spin coming out of someone's war room to drive their coverage, Alexander said, calling for more in-depth reporting and analysis.
"Let's put things in the context of real policy."
Jeremy J. Nuttall is The Tyee's reader-funded Parliament Hill reporter in Ottawa. This piece was republished under arrangement with the Tyee.
Commentary by: Surjit Singh Flora in Brampton
Time is quickly running out for this liberal government. With recent polls showing Kathleen Wynne's approval rating hovering at 19 per cent within her home province, a historically low rate which stands below all other active Premiers.
Premier Wynne needs to step aside soon and allow another member of the party an opportunity to rebuild the Ontario Liberal brand at a time when they can still recover ahead of the next provincial election. If she waits any longer, she risks depriving her party of any chance to enjoy the grace period that is usually afforded to new leaders. On another tangent, refusal to leave could result in further economic hardships for a province that was once looked at as a prosperous financial state.
Since that election, the gaffes and examples of Liberal mismanagement have been stacking up like cordwood and polls have shown that Ontario voters are ready for a change. The Tories have made significant gains, now finding themselves sitting at 38% in the polls to the Liberals' 30% and NDP 24%. The recent Forum poll even suggests, say it isn't so, that the Tories are ahead in Toronto!
Wynne's hubris is larger than the budget deficit she and her party have racked up under their leadership, yet she insists she will not relinquish her position of leadership. If that is the case, then I am convinced we are going to see a catastrophic meltdown of her party from which the Liberals are not likely to recover for some time.
Liberal failures are beginning to add up: the "billion-dollar gas plant boondoggle", the disastrously inept mismanagement of hydro in general, the more than $300 billion in provincial deficit, Wynne's costly handling of the carbon tax and environment files, the Sudbury by-election scandal, and the botched sale of Hydro-One; are all contributing to the province's mistrust of the ruling party.
The Wynne Government's recent report on Ontario education reported that hardly half of Ontario's Grade 6 students passed provincial standards in math this year. The lack of improvement has lead the party to suggest a curriculum overhaul. Education Minister Mitzie Hunter went on to say, "there's still more work to do, especially when it comes to math overall."
Even with the additional $60 million provided to schools for improved Math curriculums, students continue to struggle with the subject.
Ontarians and pundits alike are reaching the same conclusion that the Liberal party's popularity and prospects cannot recover with Wynne at the helm of the government.
Ontario's economy is being subjected to damage, the likes of which it has never seen and may never recover from. Which may leave the citizens of this once great and prosperous province to struggle against epic currents just to keep their heads above the proverbial water.
Wynne's terrible leadership and numerous failures have done real and lasting damage to the Province of Ontario. It is time for her to accept responsibility for her mismanagement, step aside, and allow another to take over.
This is now Patrick Brown's election to lose and he needs to step up and show he has what it takes to lead Ontario out of the bleak state of affairs that Wynne and her Liberals have dragged us into.
Brampton-based Surjit Flora is a veteran journalist and freelance writer who has previously contributed to the Huffington Post, Toronto Sun and other publications.
-- Canada's economic development minister Navdeep Bains at a Public Policy Forum economic summit


text:
March 14, 2007
San Diego, CA - The No. 71 Bulldogs (3-5) came up short against the No. 28 Anteaters (15-2) 5-2 Tuesday in their San Diego spring break opener. Sophomore Janet Kim and junior Lindsey Dashiell came up with victories for Yale in the loss.
Kim, playing at No. 1 singles, defeated national ranked Becky Bernhard in straight sets 7-5, 6-4. Dasheill pulled off a straight set victory against Lisa Shih at No. 6 7-6, 6-3.
Seniors Christine Alford and Olivia Nix defeated Inna Agababian and Claire Fermin of UC Irvine at No. 1 doubles, but the Bulldogs dropped the other two doubles matches and the doubles point.
Head Coach Danielle Lund said Yale will take a lot out of Tuesday's loss to highly ranked UC Irvine.
"UC Irvine was a very competitive, tough team that deserved to win today," Lund said. "I was very proud of Janet and Lindsey pulling out two good singles wins for us as well as Christine and Olivia who played a great doubles match at #1. I think we learned a lot in terms of what we need to work on in order to take our team to the next level and we're anxious to get back on the practice court tomorrow to prepare for Cal State Northridge on Thursday."
Yale plays Cal State Northridge Thursday at 2 p.m. PT.
1. Janet Kim (Y) def. #94 Becky Bernhard (UCI) 7-5, 6-4
2. Inna Agababian (UCI) def. Sarah Lederhandler (Y) 6-3,6-3
3. Clare Fermin (UCI) def. Christine Alford (Y) 6-0,6-1
4. Heidi Kaloi (UCI) def. Olivia Nix (Y) 6-1,6-0
5. Jessica Broadfoot (UCI) def. Lilian Nguyen (Y) 6-3,6-1
6. Lindsey Dashiell (Y) def. Lisa Shih (UCI) 7-6(2), 6-3
1. Christine Alford/Olivia Nix (Y) def. Inna Agababian/Clare Fermin (UCI) 8-4
2. Jessica Broadfoot/Heidi Kaloi (UCI) def. Sarah Lederhandler/Janet Kim (Y) 8-5
3. Jayme Hu/Lisa Shih (UCI) def. Lindsey Dashiell/Lilian Nguyen (Y) 8-3
Report filed by Steven Horn '10, Yale Sports Publicity

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Of all the days to hold President Obama's inauguration, it happened to fall on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That day was a monumental day for our community as we celebrated two of our most notable leaders in history and their shared dream for a country of fiscal equality. And now as Black History month is ending and Sequestration is about to begin, it is imperative that we make their dreams a reality.
In Pennsylvania, devastating automatic cuts to critical programs are slated to take effect on March 1. On the chopping block is $13 million from the Head Start program, almost 4,000 rental housing vouchers will be eliminated and many more cuts that affect the poor will take place. These programs are vital to our African-American community, and cuts to them would disproportionately affect us. Unemployment benefits, for example, are crucial for our community's survival as our unemployment rates are double that of our Caucasian counterparts. This is in direct contrast of the vision that both Dr. King and President Obama had for this country.
On Dec. 8, 1963, just four months after Dr. King's legendary "I Have A Dream" speech, he gave another profound address at Western Michigan University where he said, "I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few."


text:
Kieron needed a new button or icon design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 57 designs submitted by 16 freelance designers.
A "vitural" album cover, kind of what you see when you select an album to play in iTunes.
A 140 x 140 graphic that says:
Kieron's R&B Mixtape
Volume 1
I will also need a 300 x 300 version of the image, Photoshop format.
- The image must be in Photoshop .PSD format
- The design can be plain or can have an image associated with modern R&B but nothing too "over the top". No gold chains, gangsta icons or anything that's too cliche.
- Be as creative as you want!


text:
Reflector 7 has changed its assembly version (previously 18.104.22.168, now 22.214.171.124), so that lots of plugins fail to load, but without any plugin API changes.
Here is a simple tool to patch all references to Reflector assembly with custom version, so you don't need to get the plugin source code and recompile.
Tested with Reflexil 1.1, BamlViewer, Graph, CppCli.
Hope it can be useful.Download


text:
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Securing the Open Enterprise - API Security Threats, Risks and Solutions
Enterprises around the globe are rapidly opening up their back-end systems and databases to the outside world using APIs. Drivers for doing this include everything from improving customer service, to monetizing corporate information assets and meeting regulatory requirements. For businesses and systems, however, that were never designed to be opened up to the outside world, APIs can expose them to a whole new range of major security threats and attacks. This webinar will examine this important and growing industry trend from a vendor-agnostic perspective, including:
- What are the emerging threats and risks with APIs?
- What API security controls and practices should be considered and how can cloud-based solutions assist?
- What to look for when evaluating API security solutions?
About Ron
Ron, an IT risk, security and compliance executive, has 20+ years experience in international leadership roles, including Big 4 consulting and financial services. He specializes in "building bridges" between business and IT and working strategically with organizations looking to securely adopt new and emerging technologies, such as cloud, mobility, APIs, big data and IoT. Ron's a recognized thought leader in such areas as cloud risk management and Fintech / blockchain security.
Oct 10 2017
53 mins
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Cloud Security Alliance: CloudBytes
Preventing AWS Misconfiguration and the Risk of Data Breaches
Mar 28 2019
4:00 pm
60 mins
Josh Stella, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Fugue
Today's enterprise needs to move fast at scale in the cloud, but the dynamic and complex nature of the cloud has introduced a significant new risk: a data breach due to misconfiguration and human error. In large enterprise cloud environments, it's not uncommon to have tens of thousands of resources spanning hundreds of AWS accounts. This creates a challenge for security and compliance teams: How can you ensure critical data is secure and your AWS environments always adhere to policy—without deploying an army of cloud security engineers? Join Fugue as we explore why AWS misconfiguration is such a pervasive problem and how you can successfully address it. You'll learn how to:
- Prevent misconfiguration in your DevOps workflow
- Identify critical misconfiguration events when they occur
- Remediate misconfiguration and drift using automation
- Measure your misconfiguration risk—and your success in addressing it
Save your seat
BigID, AWS, & Cloud Security Alliance Webinar
Mar 14 2019
5:00 pm
60 mins
Nimrod Vax, BigID Head of Product & Bill Reid, AWS Senior Manager, Leader, Security and Compliance Solution Architecture
PI / PII Discovery, Protection & Privacy in the Cloud
New privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA make finding and protecting personal information more critical than ever. This means being able to identify both PII and contextual PI by person at scale. This Webinar featuring BigID's Head of Product and AWS's Leader of Security and Compliance Solution Architecture will examine best practices for finding, protecting and automating PI/PII-centric privacy tasks at scale.
What You Will Learn:
- How to find PII/PI across AWS
- The difference between Protection and Privacy
- How to actualize privacy tasks like DSAR
- The role of ML in cloud-first privacy engineering
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Third-Party Cloud Management
Feb 28 2019
5:00 pm
60 mins
Sam Abadir, Vice President of Industry Solutions, Lockpath
Cloud computing offers massive scalability, availability and low-cost services as major benefits, but as with most new technologies, it introduces new risks. Because there is so much opportunity in the cloud, the cloud service provider network is continuously growing. Service providers are using different technologies, different standards, and like all companies have different competency levels.
A couple of the major challenges organizations have when using cloud computing is managing these third-party operational and security risks. As more technology is moved from your company's infrastructure to cloud, understanding and management of these risks often overwhelms technology and procurement teams.
This can be managed if an effective third-party framework is put into place, appropriately managed and cross-organizational guidelines are being followed.
Save your seat
CSA Summit at RSA Conference 2019 Preview (Part 2)
Feb 26 2019
6:00 pm
60 mins
McAfee and IBM
Want to know what you can expect at CSA Summit at RSA Conference 2019? Join this webinar to get a preview of....
Case Study: Behind the Scenes of MGM Resorts' Digital Transformation
As a leader in their industry, MGM is transforming into a digital business by aggressively adopting the cloud. Hear how MGM is protecting their enterprise data across the whole spectrum of their evolving infrastructure, from on-prem, to the device, to their SaaS, IaaS and PaaS cloud instances.
Lessons from the Cloud
Large enterprises are rethinking technology and data to build a platform for the future and cloud is at the center of this transformation. During this session we will discuss key drivers for cloud adoption, regulatory landscape, building effective controls and solutions, and the cloud journey for large organizations.
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Is multi-cloud a cost-cutter or complexity adder?
Feb 21 2019
52 mins
Petri Kallberg, CTO at Nordcloud Finland & Markku Rossi CTO at SSH.COM
The cloud promises to bring savings, agility and scalability. All of this is attainable provided that you know which services to choose for which purpose and how to set up your environment properly. Join multi-cloud experts from Nordcloud and SSH.COM for this exclusive webinar hosted by Cloud Security Alliance where we will discuss the following topics:
•Why vendor-lock might not be your best option in the cloud
•Why ensuring the best possible privileged access experience for developers and administrators is vital for your business
•How to make daily access routines operationally efficient with automation
•How to choose best-of-breed services for the cloud based on your business needs
•Why existing cloud vendor or legacy solutions might sometimes add increase costs
Watch now
CSA Summit at RSA Conference 2019 Preview (Part 1)
Feb 19 2019
18 mins
OneTrust and Cyxtera
Want to know what you can expect at CSA Summit at RSA Conference 2019? Join this webinar to get a preview of...
- From GDPR to California Privacy: Managing Cloud Vendor Risk
Managing vendor risk is a continuous effort under GDPR, California CCPA and other global regulations. As organizations continue to improve their privacy and security programs, streamlining 3rd and 4th party vendor risk has become a priority. This includes everything from filling out vendor assessments, such as the CSA CAIQ, getting sufficient guarantees from your vendors to efficiently working with them during an audit or incident and much more. In this session, you'll learn how to implement successful vendor risk processes, expedite vendor onboarding, and hear practical advice to automate vendor risk management within a software technology platform.
- Can you trust your eyes? Context as the basis for "Zero Trust" systems
In a digital world, you can't trust everything you see. While the digital transformation has created countless benefits for enterprises, it has also made it possible to easily disguise reality, increasing the difficulty and complexity of security. Authenticating users and controlling access to critical workloads is challenging, due to the many vulnerabilities that only require network access, and security systems that neglect a key component: context. In this session, Cyxtera VP of Products and Co-Chair of the CSA Software Defined Perimeter Working Group discusses shortcomings with current authentication and authorization protocols, requirements for a consistent and effective security model, and portrays a way forward with a dynamic, context- based security solution.
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Avoid the Breach with Effective Application Security Testing
Feb 13 2019
41 mins
Andrew Dunbar, VP of Security Engineering and IT at Shopify and Luke Tucker, Senior Director of Marketing at HackerOne
Security is a top priority for e-commerce giant Shopify, with over 800,000 businesses in 175 countries trusting them to sell online and everywhere in the world. Join Shopify's Vice President of Security Engineering and IT, Andrew Dunbar and HackerOne as they discuss best practices for testing and securing your cloud-based web applications. The session will also cover how you can scale application security for high-growth DevOps organizations and the tools and programs Shopify relies on to reduce security risk.
In this webinar, you'll learn to:
- Develop and improve your application security strategy
- Discover and manage critical vulnerabilities effectively
- Scale security for high-growth organizations—with a DevOps methodology
- Identify systematic issues and root causes to reduce long-term risk
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The Top 10 Things I Learned by Phishing my Company
Feb 7 2019
50 mins
Steve Edwards, Manager - Corporate Security Engineering, Duo
Ninety-one percent of organizations in a recent TechValidate survey say they have seen phishing attacks on their organization in the past year. What's more, 42% report more than 10 phishing attacks on their network in that time. What can be done to reduce these risks and protect your data and users? Phishing simulation tools are a powerful way to see how many and which employees are prone to fall for phishing attacks. With this information in hand, you can determine how to train those who are susceptible to avoid these attempts, and provide the tools to protect against them.
In this webinar you'll hear from Steve Edwards, who manages Duo's Corporate Security Engineering team, on his experience conducting internal phishing campaigns at education and tech organizations. In addition to interesting metrics and appropriate techniques that come from phishing simulations, Steve has 10 valuable lessons to share. Join us on February 7 for this webinar to learn several unexpected things about phishing, your company, and human psychology.
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Want Better Management of Cloud Security Risk? Live Where Your People Live
Jan 31 2019
56 mins
Julia Knecht, Manager for Security and Privacy Architecture, Adobe
Expecting your (relatively) small staff of security specialists we all have to handle security, risk management, and good governance entirely on their own is a recipe for disaster. While specialists are critical to ensuring products and processes are designed well, promote security, and ease compliance, real security and good governance requires dissemination of knowledge throughout the organization. To truly understand what you are securing, and who does that work, you have to play in their sandbox, integrate into their existing processes, remove overhead wherever possible, and gather that data, data, data… did I mention the data? To scale, push knowledge and requirements downstream as much as possible, in the language your teams can use.
To scale to properly meet evolving risk management and compliance challenges, your own teams need to operate as a service. Automate processes wherever possible to help capture the necessary data to ensure good security is happening – and constantly evolve and improve the quality of that information to ensure it is driving expected behavior. Flow that data into simple dashboards that can help executives understand that things are really working as expected, and where they need to take action. After all, if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. In this talk you'll learn from Julia Knecht how Adobe was able to make this work in relatively short order and how you can take all of the best practices we learned and developed back to your organization and create your own "culture of security."
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Measuring Cybersecurity through Behavioral Analytics - an Outside-In Approach
Jan 17 2019
62 mins
Jasson Casey - CTO at SecurityScorecard
Please join us on the 17th of January as Jasson Casey, CTO at SecurityScorecard, describes the state of cybersecurity in the modern world, and what best practices are for measuring it - differently. He will discuss the importance of behavioral analytics, and how to make use of an "outside-in approach" when measuring cybersecurity.
He will relate how to apply security analytics to different facets of our business, including devops. With 20 years in the industry, Jasson will discuss his perspective on what tactics work, and which do not. Please join us to learn more.
Watch now
Vendor Risk Management from the GDPR to California Privacy (CCPA)
Jan 10 2019
55 mins
Blake Brannon, VP of Products, OneTrust
In this webinar, we will deep dive into managing the vendor lifecycle under the GDPR, California Privacy (CCPA), and other global regulations. As organizations continue to improve their privacy and security programs, streamlining third-and fourth-party vendor risk has become a priority. This includes everything from filling out vendor assessments like the CSA Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ), gaining sufficient guarantees from your vendors, to efficiently working with them during an audit or incident and much more.
Together, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and OneTrust launched a free Vendor Risk Management (VRM) tool to automate the vendor risk lifecycle for compliance with global privacy and security frameworks. Learn how to implement CSA-OneTrust Vendor Risk Management (VRM) tool to create successful vendor risk processes, expedite vendor onboarding with built in assessments, and hear practical advice on how to automate vendor risk within a software platform, all while meeting legal compliance obligations.
Watch now
Container Security Best Practices: A How-To Discussion
Dec 18 2018
56 mins
Nate Dyer, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Tenable
Application containers like Docker help DevOps work faster and quicken time-to-market, but they also create a major Cyber Exposure gap. Traditional vulnerability management approaches can't easily secure containers – let alone keep pace with the high-velocity world of DevOps and continuous innovation. But don't despair. We've got just the thing to save you from this nightmarish ordeal. Join us as we discuss a number of container security best practices to help you:
- Learn why "shifting left" is critical to gaining visibility into containers
- Understand how container security is a win for both security and DevOps
- Find out three steps you can take to master container security
Watch now
2018: The Year in Data Security Panel Discussion
Dec 12 2018
48 mins
Todd Thorsen, Sr Mgr, Security; Michelle Killian, Sr Mgr, Security Risk and Compliance; and Nathan Hunstad, Dir, Security
The data security world changes so quickly it can be hard to keep up with the latest threats to corporate data. With countless stories of breaches, phishing scams, insider threats, government whistleblowers and cyber warfare, 2018 was the year all eyes turned to security teams and their role within an organization. In this webinar, a panel of security experts will recap the year in data security, with critical lessons learned, tips for security teams, a few fun stories and more.
Join us to hear from your security peers about what they learned in 2018 and what they expect from the year to come.
Watch now
Zero Trust in Practice: Why Identity Drives Next-Gen Access
Dec 6 2018
33 mins
Nick Fisher, Solutions Marketing at Okta
Zero Trust is quickly becoming the dominant security model for the cloud, shifting the perimeter from the network to the people and devices that make up a modern workforce. As a model with many moving parts, the immediate question is where to start?
This session will focus on:
- The full Zero Trust reference architecture and steps to get there
- Why Identity is the foundational layer to build contextual access controls from
Watch now
Taking Control of Your Complex Security Policy Across Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Env
Dec 4 2018
42 mins
Yitzy Tannenbaum, Product Marketing Manager at AlgoSec
As the network estate grows in size and complexity, the enterprise security team is responsible for ensuring a unified, comprehensive network security policy. But how can the team be sure about application connectivity and the correct implementation of change requests when applications span the breadth of on-premise, private and multi-cloud environments, each with its own security controls? In the face of application migration to multiple clouds, how can the enterprise be sure about its risk and compliance posture at all times?
In this enlightening webinar, Yitzy Tannenbaum, Product Marketing Manager at AlgoSec, will explain how unified security policy automation can help you:
•Obtain complete visibility across the entire network estate
•Maintain uniform security policy across complex multi-cloud and hybrid environments
•Monitor multi-cloud and hybrid network-security configuration changes to properly analyze and assess risk and to maintain compliance posture
•Generate audit-ready reports for major regulations, including PCI, HIPAA, SOX and NERC, on demand
•Correctly provision application connectivity flows with zero touch across the myriad security controls in hybrid environments
Watch now
2018 Data Exposure Report
Nov 28 2018
43 mins
Molly Quinlan, Market Research Manager, Code42
Are your C-suiters putting valuable company IP at risk through careless data practices? If they're like most business leaders, they are. Nearly three-quarters of CEOs admit they've taken IP, ideas, and data from a former employer, and 95 percent admit to keeping a copy of their work on a personal device.
A new report from Code42 and Sapio Research raises startling concerns about the role of human emotions in risky data practices such as these. The Data Exposure Report includes feedback from nearly 1,700 security, IT and business leaders in the U.S. and Europe.
Attend this webinar to learn about:
- The ways business leaders and employees put data at risk
- How lack of data visibility hampers the ability of IT departments to protect data
- Strategies for keeping your valuable IP safe--whether you experience a data breach or not
Watch now
Ready for Liftoff? Planning a Safe and Secure Cloud Migration
Nov 20 2018
48 mins
Jason Garbis of Cyxtera
Want to transition on-premises workloads to the cloud, but are concerned about consistently securing access? Join us for a webinar where we discuss how you can easily and effectively apply secure access policies throughout your cloud migration, regardless of your infrastructure complexity or architectural starting point. By utilizing a modern, cloud-ready security architecture, you can maintain – and in fact, improve – your enterprise security controls throughout the entire migration process.
In this webinar, Jason Garbis, CISSP – Vice President of Products at Cyxtera, will discuss
- Challenges (real and perceived) that enterprises face when moving to the cloud
- Managing policies and permissions for cloud vs. on-premises workloads
- The pitfalls of inconsistent security
- How to secure any application, on any platform, anywhere.
This webinar is for IT / Security leadership (director, VP, CISO, CIO).
Watch now
Using Machine Learning to Detect Command Line Anomalies
Nov 13 2018
52 mins
Andrei Cotaie and Tiberiu Boros of Adobe
As we all know, cybersecurity is often a game of cat and mouse - attackers are always trying to outsmart us defenders. At Adobe, we face the same issues and concerns as all the other major companies. We must ask ourselves simple questions with non-simple answers: How do we ensure that all assets are protected? How do we ensure that our employees are secure from the outside threats? How can we mitigate future emerging threats? Attackers will always try to find the next unconventional attack that will bypass our security systems and our security mindset. In this case, how do we protect our self from the unknown? We believe machine learning techniques can assist us in this defense. This presentation will discuss one of our current machine learning innovations that is helping us detect anomalies in command lines. Command line interfaces are frequently used by users, system administrators and applications alike. Many applications launch console scripts to perform tasks, especially in cloud services where conformity in service environments is also helpful for security. When they can, attackers do like to leverage those native system capabilities. This presentation will discuss machine learning methods developed by Adobe computer scientists to help detect anomalies in command line scripts and calls to help prevent these types of attacks.
Watch now
Protecting What's Left: Cloud Security in the Serverless Age
Nov 8 2018
40 mins
Edward Smith of Cloud Passage
Serverless architectures and FaaS services such as AWS Lambda make application development scalable, easy, and cheap. Plus, there's no server to maintain or patch! But just because there's no server doesn't mean there's nothing to secure. Serverless services and their dependencies still need to be used and configured correctly, which is why it's important to maintain security visibility into your serverless architecture.
Join CloudPassage for an introduction on protecting serverless applications and underlying infrastructure and learn:
- What a serverless application looks like from a security perspective
- What threats, risks, and potential vulnerabilities could be leaving your organization exposed
- Steps you can take to secure your serverless architecture
Watch now
Data Breach Myths vs. Reality
Oct 25 2018
31 mins
Sami Laine of Okta
Data breaches can happen to any organization, so it's important to understand your organization's risk of a data breach. But where should you start your assessment? What practical and pragmatic steps can you take?
In this presentation, we'll discuss the myths vs. the realities on how:
- Breaches happen
- The rapidly growing cloud and SaaS adoption changes the game for
- Identity-driven security can help reduce the probability of a breach happening to your organization
Watch now
Educational series on cloud computing, security and privacy.
CSA CloudBytes was launched as a webinar series to help us educate the industry on all matters related to the cloud. Our channel is designed to inform our audience about trending topics, new technologies, and latest research. It also allows audience members the opportunity to earn (ISC)2 CPE Credits.
Learn more at cloudsecurityalliance.org. Join the Cloud Security Alliance on LinkedIn and follow us on twitter: @cloudsa, @CSAResearchGuy
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Title: Securing the Open Enterprise - API Security Threats, Risks and Solutions
Live at:
Oct 10 2017 4:00 pm
Presented by: Ron Speed of TrustedImpact
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Securing the Open Enterprise - API Security Threats, Risks and Solutions
Ron Speed of TrustedImpact
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53 mins


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Color Toddler Tees
Color Youth Tees
We currently use the United States Postal Service (USPS). All of your shipments are tracked and you can expect to receive tracking information via email within 5-7 business days of shipment. Please note, shipping election (first class, priority, etc.) does not start until after our processing time
Once your order has been dispatched, Beacon Threads accepts no responsibility for loss or any damage to your package. If there are any delays or concerns with your package once posted (including the rare case of your package not arriving) Beacon Threads is not liable as we have no control once it is with the postal service. In this instance, please contact your local postal service with the tracking number that was provided when the package was sent (USPS for US customers & Your local postal service for International customers). Unfortunately, we are not able to give any refunds or resend orders in these circumstances.
Typically, orders will ship out within 5-7 business days of ordering and will be shipped Standard Service. Once shipped, orders are generally received within 5 business days. We do not ship on Sundays or holidays. While we will do all we can to ensure your order is delivered on time, Beacon Threads cannot be held responsible for conditions beyond our control such as severe weather, service interruptions, etc. You will only be charged for the items that are shipped to you, along with the applicable shipping and tax charges.
All international orders are shipped through USPS. Currently, International buyers can expect to pay between $16 - $28 for international shipping service. Please note, First Class Mail is the cheapest option, but can be slow and cannot be tracked or insured. INTERNATIONAL BUYERS NOTE: Import duties, taxes, and charges required to release your order from customs upon arrival are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility and will not be refunded or reimbursed by Beacon Threads.
We do not offer cash refunds at this time. However, if an item does not work out for you, we would be happy to offer you a store credit that will go toward your next order once your item has been returned.
Our policy lasts 14 days. Returned items must be postmarked within 14 days of the customer receiving the order. Items must be unworn and unwashed. Unfortunately, items that do not meet these criteria are non-returnable and will be denied. We recommend using registered mail as we cannot be held liable for any lost items in the post.
All postage costs for returns must be covered by the customer. To exchange your items, please return them to:
Beacon Threads
9140 Grant Ave
Laurel, Maryland 20723
Write us a note on your packing slip stating the product and size you would like instead. For further questions, please contact us at email@example.com.
How can I make the extra string of my Bracelet shorter?
Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivBCs_w-rXI#action=share
Are bracelets able to withstand water and be worn in the shower?
Yes - all our current bracelet bands are either nylon or cotton based and can withstand water.
Which characters can I use for my word? Currently we only have the English / Latin alphabet (A-Z), Numbers (0-9) and a few punctuation marks (*!?,'$#.@;/:♡)
We do not support accent marks, fadas or tildes on our letters
Do you create words in other languages?
Currently we only have the English / Latin alphabet (A-Z), Numbers (0-9) and a few punctuation marks (!?,'$#.@;/:). For other languages, we suggest spelling it out phonetically (e.g., love in Chinese would be "ai")
How long do your bracelets last?
Our bracelets are intended to last 2-3 months while you are working on your WORD.
How will my WORD appear?
For our bracelets, if it is a single word, we wrap the word continuously. If it is two short words, we will typically place one on top and one at the bottom.
We can only stamp your WORD on one side of the token as the MyIntent company brand is already pre-stamped on the back side of the token.
What happens after your rope breaks?
This often means you're done with your current word and it's time for a new one. The rings make a great addition to another necklace you have and also to your keychain.
Rate and time to ship within the USA?
We handcraft each piece within 2 business days of receiving your order and ship it right away. If clothing is purchased in conjunction with your MyIntent item(s), your entire order will be shipped within the 5-7 day turnaround time for apparel.
Rate and time to ship outside the USA?
We handcraft each piece within 3 days of receiving your order and we ship right away. Customs and import duties are the responsibility of the customer. These charges vary and are charged when your package reaches its destination country. For delivery, please allow 1 to 3 weeks from the day you placed your order.
Can I change my word after an order is placed?
Once an order is placed we are unable to change your word. All of our pieces are custom made with in 1-2 days of placing the order. Please be sure of your word of intent before placing your order.
Return, Refunds and Order Cancellation Policy
Product orders cannot be cancelled, returned or refunded once payment is received because these are all custom orders. Please be sure of your word and style choice before placing order.
Defective Order Policy (Or Replacement Policy)
If there is a defect in the product such as a broken band or mis-spelled word, we will replace the piece. Please email us at email@example.com with your order number and a photo of your defective product and we will replace immediately. This "defective" is only for misspelling and wrong product. Preference for spacing or alignment is not considered defective.
Please remember these are all unique handmade pieces and perceived "imperfections" are part of the charm of the product.
All requests for adjustments or replacements must be submitted within 30 days of ordering for us to replace.
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Week 4: Bills Blow Past Rams 31-14
Another strong second half makes up for lousy first half.
by Steve Saslow
The Bills once again used a solid second half of football to help overcome a lousy first half in their 31-14 win over the St. Louis Rams to go to 4-0 for the first time since 1992. The Bills played awful in the first half and trailed the winless Rams 14-6 at the intermission. As was the case the previous two weeks the Bills made the perfect halftime adjustments and turned it on in the second half to storm past the Rams and cruise to the victory in the final minutes.
It was a good start as Trent Edwards hit Lee Evans for a 49 yard completion on the first offensive play from scrimmage. He then hit Evans late in the fourth quarter for a 39 yard touchdown and two point conversion that gave the Bills a two touchdown lead. In between there was some bad football before the Bills came out of the locker room like a loose cannon in the second half.
The long pass to Evans setup the first of three Rian Lindell field goals to give the Bills a 3-0 lead. That didn't last long as rookie Donnie Avery made good on his promise of an end zone dance, as he scored on an end around from 37 yards out to give the Rams the lead that they would not relinquish until the opening play of the fourth quarter.
The Bills cut it to 7-6 as they continued to have the field position edge in the first half but couldn't capitalize with the exception of Lindell's second field goal. The Rams used some nice stunts and blitzes to get to Edwards for four sacks all in the first half.
While they were keeping the Bills down on offense they were rolling up some yards of their own behind the running of Steven Jackson. He ran 99 of his 110 yards in the first half including a 29 yard touchdown run where he went untouched to go up 14-6. A Trent Edwards interception late in the first half kept the Bills from closing the gap before halftime.
The offense got the ball first in the second half and decided to announce their presence with authority as they started running the ball well out of the stretch formation. They struggled opening any holes for the running game in the first half but the adjustments made in the locker room allowed them to open up running lanes for both Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson. They went 76 yards in nine plays to start the third quarter with mostly Lynch and Jackson making the plays as Jackson put it in the end zone for the first time in the game with a 22 yard run. The Bills thought they tied it when Jackson ran in the two point conversion but an unusual illegal formation penalty on Robert Royal took the points off the board and forced the Bills to settle for the extra point to pull within one at 14-13.
When the fourth quarter hits the Bills begin to shine this year. They scored 17 points in the fourth quarter last week and they topped it by one this week. It started on the first play of the fourth quarter when Trent Green was pressured into throwing a wounded duck that was picked off by Jabari Greer. He broke one tackle and headed down the sidelines for his first NFL touchdown to give the Bills the lead. Evans touchdown and two pointer made it 28-14. Lindell's final field goal of the game after the Rams turned it over on downs put a nice bow on the win.
The Bills continue to do it the hard way. The question is how long will they get away with struggling early and turning it on in the second half. Eventually they have to put a full game together or else this will catch up with them. Maybe as early as this week in the desert. There is not getting around the fact that this team has a tremendous amount of confidence that they can pull out any game at anytime. So far they have pulled them all out leaving many smiling faces in Bills Nation.
Here are our exclusive gameballs and goats from the Bills game against the Rams:


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Spain is gearing up for profound reforms to its eviction laws driven by deafening public pressure in which immigrants – particularly from Ecuador – stand out as quiet protagonists, both as victims and as advocates.
Evictions have become a social trauma amid a grueling crisis and record unemployment of 26 percent. The visible plight – from suicides to homelessness – has come to symbolize the country's pain, uniting public opinion from across the political and social spectrum in demands for new legislation.
Many people are furious that the governing Popular Party was quick to bail out its ailing banks with more than 41 billion euro in European-lent funds, but has yet to offer indebted homeowners relief or even a real reprieve from evictions.
Economists, judges, civil society, and political groups have overwhelmingly criticized government inaction and backed reforms. Firemen, municipal and regional officials, policemen, and tribunals are increasingly resorting to civil disobedience, and massive sit-in protests are shielding – even if only temporarily – those threatened by evictions.
And crucial to public demands are immigrant communities – which were specifically targeted by dozens of fraudulent schemes. They were also the first to be affected and the first to legally challenge laws on the grounds they hinder borrowers' rights by not allowing them to plead their case, even in gross cases of fraud.
The government appears to have finally budged, but is waiting for a European Court of Justice ruling Thursday that is expected to mandate a revision of Spain's eviction laws. These are "abusive" and incompatible with EU law protecting consumers, according to the court's advocate general, in a case related to an evicted Moroccan who was not allowed to challenge what appeared to be predatory clauses in his mortgage.
The Ecuadorian People's Defender Office, a national ombudsman, also sued Spain in the European Court of Human Rights in January over similar complaints. As many as 15,000 Ecuadorian families could be affected, Ombudsman Ramiro Rivadeneira Silva says.
"The Spanish government has not taken the appropriate measures to protect the rights of citizens," Mr. Rivadeneira says, referring to the legal impediments that borrowers face. "Spain has a pending debt with society. We would like Spain's political forces to change this situation, but if not, we will wait for the courts."
Public opinion will weigh more than the courts, though, in the scope and timing of the reforms. Tens of thousands marched in 50 Spanish cities in February and more than 1.5 million people petitioned in support of a citizen-tabled legislative bill that seeks a complete overhaul of Spain's century-old mortgage laws.
Preying on Ecuadorians
Aida Quinatoa, a 48-year-old Ecuadorian, was caught in a fraudulent scheme along with as many as 700 other mostly Ecuadorians. In 2004, a real estate firm tendering to immigrants bullied her into buying an overpriced, minute apartment she didn't want, under the threat of losing 25,000 euros she put down as a deposit for another much larger property she was promised.
Then, the firm conditioned the unwanted – but apparently inescapable – mortgage, coercing Mrs. Quinatoa and her husband to sign as guarantors in two separate mortgages for couples they hadn't even met, again under the threat of losing their life savings.
The cross-guarantee scam leveraged risks for the lender, but condemned those involved to very likely evictions in the future. Even if a family was never late on their payments, their apartments ran a high risk of being seized in case the others defaulted on mortgages they co-signed, in a domino effect.
"I had never been late on a payment, and one day in 2008 a bank called me to tell me they were coming for my apartment and my salary. Then we found out many more of us where in the same situation. So we started meeting to find ways to defend ourselves," Quinatoa says.
So far almost 50 families have joined a criminal suit. The firm's owner was arrested and released with charges, but the judge so far has not approved an injunction of evictions.
Quinatoa is not just a victim – she also leads an association of Ecuadorians affected by multiple forms of fraud or predatory mortgage terms. Her association has also been instrumental in the broader Spanish civil society movement to force the government to reform laws.
"There had to be deaths for the government to consider the reforms," she says. Ecuadorians "have overcome discrimination, the stigma that we are worthless and don't pay or debts, and that we couldn't change this. But we are doing it."
The challenge of reform
Spanish mortgage laws allow lenders to impose payment terms and to quickly repossess properties in case of unpaid mortgages. After the eviction, banks keep the properties but can still hold owners and their descendents accountable for debts, even in case of death.
The burden has kept Spanish loan delinquency low, to the benefit of banks, but it has also galvanized public opinion against perceived government indifference to suffering in poor and middle classes.
Eviction proceedings have soared since 2007 to some 450,000, according to the most recent court data, although that includes all types of properties. The number of those ending in evictions increased by nearly 135 percent in 2012 from the year before, pointing toward worsening trends.
The PP though has so far delayed reforms, because in this juncture, they would likely trigger an onslaught of mortgage defaults, a warning echoed by international credit rating agencies. The higher delinquency would hurt banks and their ability to finance themselves, and by extension could seriously undermine an economic recovery.
The resulting political and social upheaval, though, also carry indirect economic consequences as thousands of individuals and their families are condemned to a life of poverty, undermining economic growth over the long term and delaying a recovery as consumption suffers.
Once the European Justice Court ruling is out, the government intends to negotiate the reforms to the law with other political parties. Which is why Quinatoa knows her battle is far from over.
"This is a daily struggle," she says. "No government has helped us. But we've managed to stop hundreds of evictions. There is more public support each day and more creative ways of fighting back. This is the only reason I'm still in Spain."


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Why exactly do we believe in God even though there is no empirical evidence for His existence as far as we know?
I oftentimes hear people here making fun of Scholasticism and acting as if there were some blatantly obvious grand error about it, when in reality, they never explain what is wrong with it or why.
Why believe in God if there is no logical reason for His existence?
Truth is, we won't even ever find evidence for His existence in the natural world unless He blatantly talks to us or interacts like we hear about in the stories of the most devout Saints who've experienced the Uncreated Light.
What exactly is so wrong with demanding a good reason to believe in God?
It seems like in religion, demanding a good reason or faith with seeing is considered taboo or looked down upon. Why? Isn't it more virtuous to seek reason than to accept something with no good foundation?
People often try to answer these questions with odd, romanticist existential arguments about having a "relationship" with Him or something having to do with their feelings and emotions, but none of these really cut it or make sense. How do you "have a relationship" with someone who doesn't interact with you?
but most of us will never experience what they experienced, so why do we believe in God?
Rationalism have one great dogma: You can catch the reality only (100%) with your mind! Although there's no logical proof for that, they still believe in it out of necessity.
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Lord Of The Rings TOPPS CHROME TRILOGY Costume card set.
Complete set of 9 rare Chrome TRILOGY costume cards. Contain samples of the original costume materials used on the Lord Of the Rings Set !
Eowyn's Edoras Stable Dress
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