43 Signs of Western Decline (not in any order)

1.       Population growth rate numbers below 2.1 in almost every OECD country. 

2.       Somali Fraud scandal in Minnesota estimated in the billions of dollars.

3.       No Go zones  in various European cities with large muslim populations.

4.       Increase in mass stabbing kills and rapes in European cities.

5.       Illegal immigrant influx into sanctuary cities in the US.

6.       Human trafficking epidemic.

7.       Grooming gang scandals in the UK.

8.       Substantial decrease in University undergraduate average IQ.

9.       Dangerously high inflation levels in many Western European countries.

10.      Increase in Random subway attacks in American cities.

11.   Growth of Democratic Socialist politics in the United States.

12.   Post-Truth narratives being pushed by both sides of the political agenda. Disdain for historical truth.

13.   Rise of Identitarian politics in many Western countries.

14.   Multiple gender movement insanity.

15.   DEI policies triumphing over common sense meritocracy.

16.   Falling academic standards in the West and the subsequent increase in grade inflation.

17.   The cancerous spread of Islamism in the West.

18.   The empowerment of a political elite that seems indifferent to the needs of the population and has pushed through a radical agenda of increased immigration.

19.   Increase in overt anti-Semitism in the West.

20.   Decrease in the quality of art and music.

21.   Growing rise of AI as a dominant force in the creativity industry.

22.   External Bot farms corrupting political narratives.

23.   Growing corruption of government institutions by ideological actors.

24.   Failed green policies handicapping nations. Looking at you Germany.2

26.   Growth of crypto currency scamming initiatives

27.   Cultures of entitlement permeating western society.

28.   State restrictions on freedom of speech in the UK and other European countries

29.   The fall and breakdown of the family unit.

30.   The prevalence of deleterious crony capitalism.

31.   Criminal use of legal loopholes in various Western countries.

32.   Weak and indecisive leadership.

33.   Cultural Relativism winning over shared standards.

34.   Poor city management in almost every large American urban area.

35.   Chinese economic and intellectual penetration of American industry and the subsequent theft of technology

36.   Two tiered policing and multiple standards based on ethnicity.

37.   White guilt and self loathing epidemics.

38.   Corruption of the churches by external agents

39.   The ideological corruption of international law

40.   Clash of cultures as a result of obvious population replacement

41.   Fall of local manufacturing as a function of global initiatives.

42.   Low levels of wage increase and the affordability crisis.

43.   The Fentanyl crisis

Reflections - XXXVII - Necessary Distractions

There was no single type of feudalism that served as the model for European society but almost all systems gave the lord tremendous power with respect to sentencing for criminal offences, the initiation of capital punishment and rigid control of agricultural policy.

 It seems as though humanity has an innate desire to create art and that is certainly a wonderful characteristic of our species. While the judgement of art is no doubt subjective the compulsion is universal and in the long run western civilization has been the better for it.

Every football (soccer) fan, regardless of the quality of the team, always seem to hover just one defeat away from an apocalyptic catastrophe.

Add genocide to a list of descriptors that include racist, diversity and discrimination that have been so overly used by hyperbole that they have lost all meaning.

The modus operandi for all grafters is when in doubt virtue signal.

What is true of Edward Snowdon is that he was a necessary whistleblower who in fleeing to Russia ultimately betrayed his country. Two apparently oppositional points can exist concurrently.

Relections XXXVI - Sunday Simmerings

 We worship many false gods today. The worst of these is the notion that we ourselves are deserving of respect.

Once the physics fails the rest of the science comes crashing down.

At the end of the day every political system produces a ruling elite.

Canada itself is somewhat of a forced alliance. A marriage of convenience between English and French segments who from the get go never trusted each other. The fact that it has stayed together this long is a miracle of deception perpetrated by an elite who have used an elaborate system of transfer payments, necessary bullying and smokescreens of Canadian Identity to add filler to the fractures

. A sound mind is free to choose but one must realize that there will be consequences to your decisions. This is the definition of adulthood.

Reflections XXXV - December Digressions

 How much anti-Semitism is driven by jealousy? Methinks at its core...all of it.

There is always a surplus of bad ideas.

The biggest impediment for the Kurds and their quest for international homeland recognition is that they are not in direct conflict with the Jews but rather other Muslim nations.

As  sports evolve they lose their diversity and become captive to a uniform style – baseliners dominate tennis, grapplers control MMA and the high press is universal in football.

Putin has bitten off more than he intended to chew with the Ukraine however he will fight to the last Russian soldier to convince the public that this is not the case. He will welcome any pyrrhic victory.

Watching some conservatives cheer on Putin’s Russia must make the Gipper roll over in his grave.

If a war doesn’t kill a country the post war malaise augmented by socialism will.

The problem with so many intellectuals is that they cannot distinguish the ought from the is. Nor do I think they care to.

Reflections XXXIV - Digesting reality

It doesn’t matter if your heart is in the right place if it is disconnected from your head.

The problem with punditry is that there is often no consequences,  to their failed predictions. Having nothing to lose should be the first warning sign in heeding their analysis.

Put your money where your mouth is was a phrase that was customized for Muhammad Ali.

Ali is the not the greatest for the number of fights he won but he ranks #1 for the quality of opponents he defeated.

It intrigues me to think how great Spain may have become if they had not made the ill fated decision to expel the Jews in 1492 as they approached the zenith of their power.

Keir Starmer took a growing trend of national decline in the UK and gave it the accelerated boost downward to expedite the rot.

If you have faith in humanity remind yourself that over 80 million people voted for Joe Biden despite obvious signs of the onset of dementia.

Liverpool Football Club are in dire straits.

 As a diehard Liverpool fan this kills me to say it but we look terrible at present. This from a comment I wrote on an Anfield Agenda youtube video.

My biggest concern, as Craig (owner of the channel) indicated several weeks ago, centers around the dressing room environment. It looks fractured. The players clearly didn't respond to Slot's half-time talk v City or Forest in a meaningful manner. If slot has lost the dressing room then he has to go. If the players still respect him then at least you have something to build on. The chief problem on the field though is the defence. It is an absolute shambles. We have conceded two or more goals in 8 of the 12 league fixtures. If Slot cannot fix this ny returning to the basics ASAP he will have to go.

I also wrote this elsewhere.

Liverpool's defence lacks a sense of urgency. They almost appear at times to play at a testimonial pace and I say this as a diehard Liverpool fan. Forest on the other handed defended as though their lives were on the line. No chemistry in the back four as is the case with the rest of the team.

Antisemitic tunnel vision

In 2024 the US Federal budget stood at $6750 billion. Aid to Israel was 3.3 billion of which well over $2 billion had to be spent in the US (on American military items). Therefore the aid to Israel makes up less than 0.05% of the US Federal budget. But hey, according to some it is the Israel lobby that has the greatest impact on the US

Reflections XXXIII - Saturday musings

Chinese leadership is loyal to the party not the state and even less so to the people. The party is the God. Western observers rarely understand this which explains the shock it sensed with the Tiananmen Square Massacre and before that the Cultural Revolution.

We need to articulate and celebrate Western exceptionalism for it has been leading driver in the advancement of science, commerce, the legal system and the war against poverty.

Great societies need people of vision. Inventions don’t matter much if you don’t have people with clear ideas who can utilize them with efficacy.. A competitive free market selects for such vision.

We can be certain of change but not certain of the direction of change.

If Japan can turn its falling birth rate around without the destructive resort to mass immigration it will emerge once again as a force to be reckoned with. A leader who prioritizes this will become the saviour of the nation. The same is true of South Korea.

Taking comfort in lies seems to be a unique human trait. So is parroting those lies.

Reflections XXXII - Saturday Surmising

 

The most common mistake in science is to confuse a scientific model with the real itself. This is the main pitfall of digitized thinking.

Alternative histories are fun to play around with but can only be taken so far as no progressions are linear, unforeseen events are ever present and pathways of alternatives are constantly emerging.

Europe is struggling right now to age with dignity. Its moral soul is being picked apart by both internal and external forces.

An assured way to kill a society is to dominate the politics with an overriding sense of guilt. It is such a poison that is killing the west.

Most people don’t know the facts what they subscribe to is cultivated version of the facts.

One rarely gains anything from a formal debate. This is understandable as it prejudices rhetorical victory over meaningful understanding of truth.

Nations decline when they fail to appreciate the many downsides of Empire. Limitations exit for a reason.

Materialism is ultimately grounded in the very concept of lack of meaning which explains why its unfulfilling Physicality which defines much of science is bounded.

Nick Fuentes Praises Stalin...

My take...

Fuentes is full of it. Putting aside the death tolls resulting from the collectivization/forced famines and purges, Stain's handling of World War Two was abyssmal. He dismissed early reports of the upcoming Operation Barbarossa (June 22 1941) leaving the Soviet Union under prepared for the six months of German victories that only came to a halt in January 1942 at Moscow. The Red Army suffered defeats at Smolensk, Minsk, Kiev, Vitobesk with Leningrad placed under a terrible siege that lasted three years. It was only after he gave more authority to generals such as Zhokov, Rokossovsky and Vasilevsky coupled with German folly (much of it courtesy of Hitler himself) did the tide begin turning. Stalin also relied heavily on US Lend Lease Aid. The Five Year plans are considered to have mixed results. In the absence of a counterfactual it is easy to extol Stalin especially when much of the information about the plans has been filtered through Soviet Propaganda.

Reflections - XXXI - Morning Insights

Religion ought never to be the mechanism of state control. Its domain is one of strict spirituality and moral guidance. Christendom had to be forced through the enlightenment to see this. Islam may never as statecraft is intrinsic to the religion.

Without a sense of peoplehood a nation cannot survive. Internationalist movement viz. Globalism, Communism and Islamism therefore target such a sense for destruction.

For those obsessed with power above everything else, no lie is too much.

All ideology is god centric. They differ in how they define god. With ecoism it is the Earth, with Communism a classless utopia, Islamists make it the afterlife. Even Libertarians have raised freedom to the level of a deity. Meaning abhors a vacuum which is why atheists will gravitate to another belief. The New Atheists marinated in scientism.

The problem with the Left wing Jew is that they have made a god of social justice, replacing the dual and delicate balancing act of kind and tough by spiritually elevating the former. Such a shifting of the frame of reference means that they cannot see past their own sense of self righteousness.

The sad truth of life is that logic and reason rarely dissuades somebody who has an emotional commitment to their current paradigm.

The universe may be digital at its core which may account for the lack of nuanced thinking.. We have an innate sense to digitize information and with that its interpretation into digestible blocks that we can process.

Reflections XXX - Some Wisdom

The curse of the Irish on a generalized level is that they cannot shake their affiliation with the underdog, even if the so-called underdog acts in a morally reprehensible manner. It is for this reason that they have often embraced Palestinian nationalism in its most toxic form.

The Jesuit Pope Francis probably did more to advance progressivism than any other papal figure. Like other popes before him he deluded himself into believing that he was on the right side of history, giving more space than he ought to have to Hegelian idealism.

The French are one of the few nations that take more of a sense of power from their growing irrelevancy.

Communism, National Socialism and Islamism have in addition for their embrace of collectivism a particular hatred for the Jew. One explanation is that Judaism embraces the sanctity of the Individual and is encouraged to debate with G-d thereby questioning any power structure.

Progressivisms biggest weakness is its very nature scorns self control thereby opening itself to extremes by its radical elements.

Reflections - XXIX - October Thoughts

 A person whose sole motivation is pleasure in the afterlife will likely do great harm to themselves in present life as they as they chase a reward for goodness instead of acting with moral intent for the righteous act in and of itself.

Its difficult to not take seriously the notion that the success of the American Revolution wasn’t so much a patriotic victory but a move by the British to minimize their losses.

One can always rely on mathematics to find a safe way of hiding a model from criticism if the evidence in its support is lacking.

The devil is always in the quality and validity of the assumptions.

The success of the British Empire lay with its ability to delegate. It therefore made great use of local networks of administration, designated ‘poopahs’, foreign mercenaries and regional businessmen. The failure of the Mongol empire outside China itself  (with the Yuan dynasty) is that it never came to terms with this idea.

No system, no matter how robust it is on paper can stand up to the folly of the ego of those who run it.

Reflections - XXVIII - Grasping at Sanity

Marvel comics blurred the line between Science in the Spiderman origin and Magic as exemplified by the Norse hero Thor. The distinction became indecipherable until the world was given no choice but to rescue itself with alternative universes. By that time it was too late. Credibility had collapsed.

The fertile ground for Islamism in the west is the post modernist platform that has elevated indifference as the mainstay of the liberal democracies today.

The agenda of the elites has always been about the control of information. Artificial Intelligence is merely the latest phase in the application of this philosophy.

Christianity would never have enjoyed the success it has had without its skillful manipulation of pagan iconography.

If the Jew didn’t exist it would be necessary to invent him as failed ideas and evil need a scapegoat to redirect attention away from their lack of success. The Jew is the convenient other for all types of charlatans, of which there is no short supply.

The great Hegelian lie is that history has direction. This is no more true than the intended directionality of history. Cause and effect eschews such simplification.

A deep concern is not that we may never learn the truth but that so many people have no desire or need to ever want to find it.

This is awkward but not surpising _ Pakistan Saudi Arabia Defense Pact

My thoughts

Pakistani military wants to renew its contacts with the US military. Chinese weaponery which Imran Khan faced was shown to be inferior. Both countries are not trustworthy in my opinion. Saudi Arabia still has a strong Wahhabist influence and Pakistan is a failed Sunni state. Lets not forget that Osama Bin Laden was a Saudi and Pakistan gave him refuge in his hour of need.

Reflections XXVII - Through Life's Looking Glass

The United Nations is a toothless beast that became irrelevant less than a decade of its founding. If it weren’t for a global longing of what it ought to be (but won’t) then it should have been euthanized some time ago. Today it is a country club catering to the worst of humanity.

Extremists have a tendency to oscillate from one polarity to another for they have a mindset drawn to bad ideas regardless of where they reside on any political spectrum. Mussolini for one went from Socialism to Fascism while Peron in Argentina entertained all sorts of bad ideas.

Sometimes I think that the story of history is a tale of recovery from bad ideas implemented.

Every leader given enough time will come crashing down from their pedestal.

The function of bureaucracy in the modern state is to protect the power structure from radical change and circumvent reform. Democracy is the illusion sold to the public that the change is possible.

The best way to violate people’s rights and do so with their consent is to rebrand it under the labels of safety and security. The Covid lockdowns typified this.

The greatest apocalyptic threat isn’t war, famine or disease but the embrace of bad ideas by the population who have been coerced to forgo common sense.

Reflections XXVI - Sunday Thoughts

The United Nations is a toothless beast that became irrelevant less than a decade of its founding. If it weren’t for a global longing of what it ought to be (but won’t) then it should have been euthanized some time ago. Today it is a country club catering to the worst of humanity.

Extremists have a tendency to oscillate from one polarity to another for they have a mindset drawn to bad ideas regardless of where they reside on any political spectrum. Mussolini for one went from Socialism to Fascism while Peron in Argentina entertained all sorts of bad ideas.

Sometimes I think that the story of history is a tale of recovery from bad ideas implemented.

Every leader given enough time will come crashing down from their pedestal.

The function of bureaucracy in the modern state is to protect the power structure from radical change and circumvent reform. Democracy is the illusion sold to the public that the change is possible.

Reflections - XXV - Necessary Reflections

The modern world has been built on the notion that materialism is realism. This has had the consequence of imprisoning us in a convenient thought cage.

Media News is designed to elicit emotion. Transmission of Information is at best an afterthought. Nuanced accounting is never desirable.

An act of unapologetic evil is easily identified. This is not the case with those who produce harm through supposed good intention which makes the latter all the more dangerous in the long run.

Once you have accepted the fact that your control is limited then life’s jigsaw starts to make more sense.

You can sell any lie by addressing it in enough pomp. This is the business model for large swathes of organized religion.

Reflections XXIV - As Summer enters the twilight

 Surviving a genocide does not necessarily make that individual a good person in and of itself. Plenty of morally questionable were the victims of awful people.

If hell did it exist it should have a floor reserved for those who take the political opinions of celebrities as gospel.

Anti-Semitism has a unique characteristic to mutate and morph into a different form. In an echo of McLuhan’s message it can readapt to the medium of transmission which is why it has become go to clickbait for any half-baked you-tuber and podcaster out there.

Its really tragic to see how some great science fiction universes with dynamic power structures have been mauled by the poor story and plot lines that were set around them. Star Wars is of course being the most obvious example. Star Trek in its rebirth was not far behind.

There is no more assured way of destroying a superhero character then by granting them too much power and apparent invincibility. This was Superman’s problem from the start. The miracle of the series was how he has been kept going as a cultural icon with such an obvious flaw.

Reflections XXIII - August Insights

Russian history would be dull if it weren't for the national culture of paranoia - both justifued and unjustified.

The unspoken gift of globalization is that it globalizes problems.....makes them universal tradgedy when they could be local.

A crime against all future generations is the deliberate distortion of the actual truth. It is also a crime that largely goes un punished.

The party wanted us to believe the narrative not the facts.

Faith in humanity is the short road to disappointment.

Juan Peron's Argentinian regime demonstrated with action how fascism and comminism could exist similuateneously under the banner of statism.

No people have a greater admitation for human competency and efficacy of  outcome than conspiracy theorists

What books would you recommend for those interested in reading more on the topic of Physics in general?

 This would be my top fifteen:

1.The Elegant Universe – Brian Greene – an excellent introduction to the fundamentals of Modern Physics.

2. Hyperspace – Michio Kaku - wonderful take on extra dimensions by a strong narrator.

3. The Ideas of Physics – Ernest Hutten - an oldie but a goldie – discusses key ideas that shaped the discipline.

4. Fearful Symmetry – A. Zee - Looks at the Beauty in Physics.

5. Physics of Immortality – Frank Tipler - a bit over the top but highly entertaining, nevertheless.

6. Theories of Everything – John Barrow - Low key but well written.

7. Feynman Lecture Series – Richard Feynman - A struggle for the layperson, but if you can get through a third of it, your effort will be rewarded.

8. The Trouble with Physics – Lee Smolin - an important critique of the groupthink that has worked its way into particle physics.

9. Physics – Douglas Giancoli - Doesn’t matter what the edition is; its treatment of classical physics is splendid.

10. The Flying circus of Physics – Jearl Walker – Challenging problems that force one to really think deeply about everyday physics.

11. Relativity Simply Explained – Martin Gardiner – Its title says it all.

12. The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe – Steven Weinberg- Still one of the best treatments of the Big Bang.

13. The Constants of Nature – John Barrow – Delves into the details of these definitive constants that so encapsulate our universe.

14. Thirty Years that Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory – Gamow is a great storyteller, and he didn’t disappoint with this useful read.

15. Fifty Physics Ideas – Joanne Baker – Lots of fun and really easy to navigate

The State of the World at Present - Part 1 - The US

 The United States

1. The United States is a deeply divided country but still remains as the best hope for the West

2. Both the Republican and Democratic Parties are bleeding support from their traditional center to the Populist voices at the extremes. MAGA dominates the former and the far left is increasingly calling the shots with the latter. In each case the normative center is being squeezed.

3. Globalist forces  have less of a stranglehold in the United States than they do in Western Europe but the country is being pulled strongly in two opposing directions. It remains to be seen if the center will hold. 

4. Large Urban centers are facing a rot bought about by the Fentanyl Epidemic, poor city governance, corruption, white flight, a drop in law and order and illegal immigration that has run rampant. The Far Left dominates most of the power structures in the immediate center with corporate investment moving outward.

5. Gen Z is being radicalized by both the far left (socialism, Communism etc) and radical right (fascism). Identity politics of both an ethnic and religious type have infused both sides.Radicals are driven by romantic ideals that are dismissive of the necessary complement of empricism and racism that has historically definted the classical liberal and Burkean conservative heritage of the nation.

6. The trajecctory has a negative prognosis unless cooler and more calculating heads can prevail. There is an urgent need for an emergent and non-compromised centrism.

7. Donald Trump is a divisive President but so were Messrs Bush II, Obama and Biden. However Trunp's policies on reinforcing border control, rolling back DEI and flexing US muscle against his BRICS adversaries is most welcome. Whether these policies hold for the reamainder of his term or are reversed by a future Democratic Party leadership remains to be seen.

8. Without a strong US on the global front international politics will be dominated by China, Russia and the various Middle Eastern powers. This will likely lead to more turmoil. US hegemony is not a perfect solution (far from it) but it is a better option than the alternatives of America rebranding itself as a European analogue (viz. Germany, France or Britain) or even worse still adopting an American First policy that will needlessly empower authoritarian forces across the globe.

.

15 Well Established Organizations that have been corrupted by ideological rot

 (Will add to this later)

1. United Nations and its sister organizations

 2. WHO

3. CDC - can hopefully be turned around under Trump although I doubt it

4. BBC, ABC (Australia), CBC (Canada).

5. New York Times

6. Harvard and Colombia University

7. The US Democratic Party

8. The British Labour Party

9. The British Conservative Party

10. British Policing Infrastructure

11. Harvard and Colombia Universities

12. CNN

13.The Canadian Liberal Party

14. ICJ

15. The Australian Labour Party

16 Pro-Russian Information sources in the Western Media

All of these individuals consistently mouth pro-Putin talking points in the media. All of them need to be viewed through this lens. While they may have moments of insight elsewhere they are mot to be trusted within the Russian/Ukranian or Middle East context.

1. Tucker Carlson 

2. Glenn Greenwald

3. Julian Assange

4. Jeffrey Sachs

5. Dave Smith

6. Max Blumenthal

7. Scott Ritter

8. Abby Martin

9. Kim Iverson

10. Jack Posobiec

11. George Galloway

12. Jackson Hinckle

13 Douglas Macgregor

14. Breaking Point Team

15. Aaron Mate

16. Katie Helper

Opinions on Israel

Having navigated the internet for sometime now it is clear that the voices that abound on Israel can be divided into five groups:

This is by no means complete.

Pro-Israel: Bill Maher, Douglas Murray, Dennis Prager, Ben Shapiro, Andrew Klavan, Bari Weiss, Conrad Black, Victor Davis Hanson, Commentary Magazine, Most of National Review, Frontpage Magazine, History Debunked, Officer Tatum, Charlie Kirk, Destiny, PJ Media, Rebel News, travelingIsrael, David Wood, Tousi Tv, Son of Hamas, Thomas Sowell, Other Barak, Charlie Veitch, Megyn Kelly, Erin Molan, Michael Knowles, The Israel Guys, J-TV, Fox News, Alan Dershowitz, American Thinker, Jerusalem Post/YNET, Sky News Australia, Trevor Loudon, TBN, New York Post, Niall Ferguson, Debbie Schlussel, Israel Advocacy Movement and Lara Logan.

Pro-Israel in general: Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, GB News, Talk TV, Breitbart, Peter Hitchens, Bret Stephens, Telegraph (UK), Tim Pool (mostly), Washington Times.

Middle of the Road: CNN, Most of the mainstream Legacy Media in the US, CBC, Sky News International, Globe and Mail, Washington Post, the Hill,  ABC Australia.

Anti-Israel  in general : BBC, ITV, Most of the Continental European Media, Toronto Star, Global News, New York Times Editorial, Cristiane Amanpour, Associated Press, Tucker Carlson, Breaking Point, Joe Rogan, First Post, India News, LBC, Russel Brand, Sargon of Akkad, Wion, TLDR. Paul Joseph Watson.

Extremely Anti-Israel: Candace Owens, Intercept, Grayzone (Max Blumenthal), Jacobin, Macintosh team, Glenn Greenwald, Taki, Patrick Buchanan, Norman Finkelstein, Jackson Hinkle, Gabor and Aaron Mate, Richard Falk, Andrew Tate, Chris Hedges, Owen Jones, Middle East Eye, Novara, Mondoweiss, The Nation, Mohammad Hijab, Vaush, The Young Turks, Hodge Twins, Russia Today, Abby Martin, Kim Iverson, Secular Talk, Dave Smith, Vox, Jimmy Dore, any CCP affiliated media or influences, Jeffrey Sachs. TRT (Turkish media), Al Jazeera, Most of the Guardian and Independent (UK), George Galloway, Gary Linker, Breezy Politics, Black Pigeon Speaks, CJ Werleman.

I asked Grok who I am.

The response was to the point and remarkably accurate.

Gavin Kanowitz is a secondary school physics teacher in Toronto, Canada, originally from Pretoria, South Africa. He holds degrees in biophysics, chemical engineering, and education. Kanowitz is also an author, with notable works including Navigating the Chaos: Clarity and Belief in a World of Persistent Deceit (2023), A History of the Future (2006), and Take the History Challenge (2002). 

His writings focus on topics like civilization decline, education, political ideology, and the intersection of science and society. He contributes to The Bipartisan Press and maintains a blog (worldohistory.blogspot.com) and a website (gavinkanowitz.com). Kanowitz is known for his engaging teaching style, incorporating hands-on projects like building rollercoasters and pinball machines to teach physics concepts. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children and is a passionate Liverpool FC supporter.

Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

2.The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Thoughts on History

A deference to credentialism is never a viable approach to reinforce one's argument. Nevertheless this still doesn't imply that all opinions are equally valid. They simply are not. When analyzing an event and its repercussions a theoretical interpretation must still ride on the evidence presented and the plausibility of the thinking advanced to buttress it. Primary sources count more than their secondary sources. They are less clouded by a degree of removal from the event.

While originality of thought and dissenting view should be welcomed the originality counts for nothing if it fails to adhere to the factual constraints. There is no substitution for a thoroughness of investigation. The problem with many amateurs dabbling in history is that they often fail to recognize these truisms.

 

Ten concerns that I have with the overly slick Mark Carney

1.    He has very little political experience and appears to have been vaunted into his prime minister role by a great deal of non-transparent back dealing.

2.   He is very well connected to the WEF and the Davos crowd which means that he will likely continue Trudeau’s globalist outlook. He appears to be cut from the same cloth as Macron, Starmer and Merkel.

3.   He has surrounded himself with the same incompetent politicians Joly, Friedland etc that characterized the Trudeau administration.

4.     He has a personal vision, as outlined in his book ,that is strongly rooted in with the Net Zero Environmental philosophy. When actioned such policies have been disastrous in Germany and other parts of Europe.

5.       He seems as based on his rhetoric so far that he does not personally have solid grasp of the nuances of the Arab-Israel crisis.

6.       He says almost nothing about his plans for dealing with the broken judicial and criminal enforcement system in the country.

7.       He will likely not do away with the DEI encroachment in federal government.

8.    His new found nationalism is not  believable. The Liberal party mishandled immigration and  lampooned Canadian essentialism  under Justin Trudeau. Fast forward to now and  Carney now wants us accept that his anti-Trump stance is grounded in an intrinsic pro-Canadian mantra.

9.       His supporters make him out to be an economic whiz kid even though his record at the Bank of England was sketchy at best.

10   The backtrack on the Carbon tax seems to be an election ploy. Expect this lost revenue to surface elsewhere in a tax as Carney prioritizes his Net zero vision.

Two Months in - The pros and Cons of Trump 2.0

These are the Positives of Trump 2.0:

• Taking a broad stroke to DEI  by removing these programs from the federal government and related institution. People should not be judged, promoted or hired on any other category than individual merit.
• Securing the border, stamping down on illegal immigration and deporting violent aliens.
• Ending student visas for external political troublemakers and rabble rousers on University campuses.
• Forcing universities through the withholding on funds to deal actively with anti-Semitism on campus. Next stop anti-White racism.
• Auditing of Federal government budgeting (through DOGE) to reduce gross waste and the mismanagement of funds. Closing down of inefficient federal branches.
• Issuing a federal ban for men competing in women’s sports
• Changing the leadership in the FBI to enhance a global cleanup of that organization.
• Setting in motion a process for ending the ineffective Department of Education.
• Pushing Europe to increase their individual nation funding of their own defence.
• Using pressure on Panama to end their deal with Chinese related groups regarding control of both ends of the canal.
• Dealing a blow to the Houthis for their attack on shipping in the Red Sea.
• Forcing Hamas to release hostages taken on October 7^th. Trump has shown strong support for Israel.
• Removing aid to the South African government for their racist policies.
• Restabilising a necessary cooperation between Space X and NASA as seen by the rescue of the stranded astronauts.
• Beginning the process for the recognition of the Lumbee tribe in North Carolina.
• Replacing Steve Bannon with Elon Musk as a key advisor. Bannon is a walking media disaster and a fraud.

Here though are the Negatives

• Raising Tariffs – While it is likely part of the ‘art of the deal’ this is a terrible way to negotiate with countries especially if they are traditional allies as Canada is with the US. Flip flopping with respect to tariff start dates is also adding much uncertainty to the global and US economy.
• Focusing on Trade deficits as economic polic.One cannot look at trade deficits with another country and necessarily see it as a bad idea without looking at the sum total of trade with all nations. The United States runs a trade deficit with Canada as it is heavily reliant on Canada’s natural resources to drive its industrial machine. Trump is veering into the Mercantilist trap if he sees this as an ongoing economic policy.
• Childish name calling – While Justin Trudeau was a poor Canadian prime minister and should never have mocked Trump behind his back (as he foolishly did) – Trump needs to do better than his 51^st state or Governor Trudeau jibe. Two wrongs don’t make a right. He has also re-energized the moribund Canadian Liberal Party in a way that could well salvage election victory, from a once likely defeat.
• Threatening to annex Greenland is another ill-timed approach that is damaging relations with another ally (this time Denmark)
• Removing security clearances from Mike Pompeo and John Bolton indicates a pettiness that further augments the notion that Trump doesn’t tolerate dissent or difference of opinion. Not only is the optics terrible but both men (who are well established American patriots) don’t deserve such treatment.
• Some of Trump’s selections for top positions in government are somewhat dubious. Both Tulsi Gabbard (a far leftist who was somewhat of a Bernie bro) and RFK Jr (who has a tendency to sink into conspiracy theory) spring to mind. Steve Witkoff, the Middle East, who has controiversial close ties with terror supporting Qatar still has the jury open on him.
• Trump should never have allowed his differences with the Ukrainian leader Volodymr Zelenskyy to spill out on stage as they did in the White House Meeting. The meeting should have been held behind close doors. The events that unfolded painted a picture of the POTUS as not being an honest broker between Russia and the Ukraine. If anything it appeared to greatly embolden Vladimir Putin who is the actual aggressor in this war.
• Trump needs to tone down his uncontrolled deference to exaggerating numbers and statistics. Superlatives are useful for salesmen not as an instrumernt for winning the public trust as leader of the free world.

Quick Questions I have answered on Quora

Why has Europe failed to match the power of the USA?

The two world wars greatly weakened Europe. It also fostered a mindset that encouraged self flagellation and a national drop off in the will to power. Add to that a declining birth rate, the adoption of cradle-to-grave socialism and a reluctance to spend on its own defense and the reasons for the decline become obvious. In many ways the individual European countries have lost their identity. Poorly crafted immigration policies have not helped. For the record, until recently (although the jury is still out) the US was not far behind.

Is Turkey's relationship with its allies being affected by Erdogan's actions?

Yes. Erdogan’s shift toward a type of Islamic nationalism runs contrary to NATO’s western liberal ideals. Turkey’s presence in NATO is equivalent to having a fox in the hen house. It needs to restore Ataturk type secularism in its national outlook or leave.

Why are more and more people now believing in conspiracy theories compared to, let's say, 10 years ago?

The proliferation of various news sources and the failure of the legacy media to report objectively on key issues. This is further compounded by the drop off in trust regarding key institutions. Some of it is unfortunately warranted.

Which religion do you think will still be in existence in 20 years time?

All of the major religions will be around. All boast adherents in the millions (albeit to different orders of magnitude) and twenty years is not a long time in religious history.

Why did the Roman Empire choose Christianity over Islam?

Islam was not around in 313 AD when religious tolerance was granted via the Edict of Milan. Nor did it it exist in 380 AD when the Edict of Thessalonica made Christianity the official religion. Muhammad, the founder of Islam lived between 570 and 632 AD.

Stoicism

I have been reading considerably on the philosophy of Stoicism, whose central tenet is the concept of virtue. In its essence Stoicism isn't so much a philosophy but a way of life. It is rooted in a pragmatism that can be applied to our experiential existence. 

Here are some key points about Stoicism:

1. Its origin goes back to the time of Ancient Greece and the thinking of Zeno of Citium who agued that 'The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.'

2. However it was the Romans especially Seneca the Younger (and his notion of time management), Epictetus (on Resilience) and the philosopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius (most famous for the wisdom outlined in his work Meditations) that developed the framework for Stoicism.

3. Stoicism divides the realm that personally impacts an individual into aspects that one can control (internals) and those that are beyond our control (externals). It is the former that it focuses on. In this regard it asks us as an individual to harness our perceptions, decisions and attitudes towards a 'Call to Action'.

4. One's work, fitness and personal relationships are aspects we can manage as well as the challenge of facing our death.

5. Virtue is key to Stoicism . It through virtue that we can navigate the struggles and turbulence of life. Four factors define virtue viz. wisdom, courage, justice and temperance.

6. Wisdom extends beyond knowledge. It urges us to understand the world and seek out truths. Courage requires that we use rationality and strength to face adversity and avoid choosing paths of ease that do not permit us the opportunity to grow.

7. Justice requires that we balance kindness and fairness in making decisions and finally temperance challenges us to control our emotions and desires.

8. It is through a focus on virtue that we cultivate character. and gravitate towards Eudaimonia which is the stoic goal of happiness and flourishing.

9. Virtue requires perspective and an understanding of the impression (initial perceptions) and assent (processing of said perceptions) to regulate our beliefs. A view from above is necessary to transcend our material existence. This will allow us to motion towards tranquility and an embrace of Amor Fati (loving one's fate).

Reflections XXII - It needs to be said

Wisdom is rarely achieved by rapidly mastering a task with speed. It is process that combines failure, questioning and then smaller increments of success.

 The problem with socialism is that it divides wealth instead of multiplying it.

 Nobody has a clue of what the afterlife brings which may be G-d’s finest ever move.

 Cultural supremacy should be celebrated by a society not scorned. For once it is internally negated then decline is not far behind.

 No leader epitomized the decline that is Britain than Keir Starmer – the very essence of a global fraud masquerading as a national leader. His role is to manage Britain’s downfall.

 If you tolerate evil on the grounds of cultural relativism then you burn into a society’s fabric an inevitable pattern of regression to full on failure. This is the European curse.

Reflections XXI - Racing through my mind

Every society requires a reboot. This is especially true if its fundamentals have been eroded beyond recognition. The United States in 2025 was primed for such energy. Contemporary Europe was still debating whether it had any life to reboot at all.

 Academia is in a constant battle between the majority who play loosely with the facts and those brave souls who prioritize the truth above all else.

 The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a chance for Moscow to play her final hand and prove to the world that she was still a master of the war of attrition. Sunken costs rarely bothered the Kremlin.

There are givers and takers in geopolitics and no taker has grasped the opportunity so well as did the Chinese with its much favoured nation status. The US was completely outmaneuvered.

Reflections XX - Making sense of some observations

 Intelligent people can be closed minded as intelligence is no guarantor of wisdom.

 No science has been more powerful than physics in understanding the universe, as its principles underpin so many phenomena that cut across other disciplines.

 The Irish have a great affinity for the Palestinians as they too have a national spirit that tends to unfortunately marinate in victimhood.

 It still astounds me as to how the European elite are content in allowing their continent to burn while they fiddle with unearned smugness.

 What made Mohammad Ali great was that he was capable of beating any type of fighter from brawler to hard hitter. He simply had the skillset and quickness of feet to adapt to differing opponents.

Reflections XIX - Obsevational Realities

The United States would be better served if it stopped viewing politics as a team sport that requires consistent and unnecessary nourishment and over stimulation.

 The Covid-19 disaster outlined two important facts about humanity viz. there is no shortage of bullies willing to abuse the rights of the other nor is there a deficiency of the weak minded who will voluntarily give up their freedoms.

 The tragedy of the liberation movement in South Africa is that it sacrificed its long term future for gains in the present by promoting liberation before education.

 Robert Mugabe continued the powerful post-colonial tradition in Africa of turning his country (Zimbabwe) into an economic disaster by wrecking its agricultural self-sufficiency.

 In regularly voting into power the ANC the South African electorate shows once again that democracy is no guarantor that the incompetent and the corrupt will be replaced.

In the News - January 2025

DeepSeek shatters AI market. The US needs to wake up. AI is turning into a battleground. My prediction is that they will however until then one can expect more short term jitter (and itchy bums) for investors. Great boost though for high tech STEM jobs in the West. Also gives another significant direction indication of the importance of the H1-B visa argument. I am with Elon Musk over Steve Bannon on this one.India is a natural ally of the West and their technical expertise cannot hurt.

War in the Congo DR- Access to Mineral resources (including many used in the computing industry) is the big factor here. Rwanda is a key ally of the West and the small nation is backing the M-23 rebels in the East (who have likely taken the city of Goma). However there is strong poterntial that the conflict will spill over into the rest of the country and indeed the continent. Expect the war here to dominate news cycle for the next few months. Once again the United Nations looks ineffective. US and China (possibly) will have to act before this becomes another proxy front in a war between these powers.

Land Expropriation in South Africa without compensation - I saw this happening as early as 1994. It wasn't difficult. This is straight out of the Marxist playbook. A concerted effort by the West is needed to force South Africa to reverse such a policy. It still astounds me as to how the ANC has managed to outplay the free market DA in South Africa. If the latter represents the voice of reason in the country then the nation is in a worse state than I could have imagined.

Good News for Trump - The cabinet nominees are falling into place. Trump has promised a lot and looks to be delivering in the immediate. Most important is that his administration stays the course with respect to the deportation of illegal aliens.

Relections XVIII - Historical Observations

There is no more profound characteristic of the Russian people than to internalize its own misery. It is so prevalent that one can think of it as a survival technique.

 Two aspects define societal decline – the collapse of moral clarity and the demise of reason. One sees this in the contemporary west.

 Beware of credentials that are not backed up by experience for it is the latter that is the great teacher.

No institution can remain in workable equilibrium forever as the urge to make bad decisions is so great.

 The most obvious mistake by globalists is that it erroneously reached the conclusion that it was at the endpoint of the Hegelian march of history. It never was and perhaps will never be.

Quick Answers to Quora Questions

 My answers on Quora

How did Nazi Germany react to Japan's attack on Southeast Asia instead of the USSR?

It was not what Nazi Germany wanted. However from Japan’s perspective it made complete sense as the country is resource poor. South East Asian was too great a target. The Germans did declare war on the US very soon after Pearl Harbor with the hope (it is believed) of encouraging Japan to assist them in the USSR. However after Japanese setbacks in the fight against the Soviets at Khalkhin Gol (1939) and further struggles against China on the mainland such an approach was unlikely to come to fruition.

Why do wealthy individuals fund far left revolutionary causes?

I suspect that many of said individuals are either motivated by guilt and/or more importantly see themselves as buying dominance in the new ruling vanguard that will hold power should the revolution succeed.

Should Trump go after those lying sycophants in the press who oppose him?

No. They are doing well destroying their credibility on their own. Trump should focus rather on the issues that matter - border control, the economy and fixing the broken state apparatus that is urgent need of repair.

From the Archives V - Camping

 Written in 2015.

Every year Dina , the kids and myself embark on our long weekend camping venture. This past weekend represented this year’s instalment. Not being the greatest outdoorsman camping challenges me on many different levels. It is not so much the pure vacation aspect but the feat of moving outside my zone of comfort that I most appreciate. Watching the kids have fun (and they always do) is even more of a reward. Our site this year was the Bon Echo Park (located off Highway Seven going east from Toronto toward Kingston). Like most provincial parks in Southern Ontario it is well delineated, clean and densely populated with humid continental deciduous forest-like vegetation.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon (a bit later than expected courtesy of the traffic exiting the city) and set up shop as soon as possible. Our friends had reached the destination beforehand and assisted us with the tent assembly and site preparation.

Despite the user-friendly nature of the modern tent there are still one or two rods that are remarkably similar and have the tendency to torpedo a well thought out assembly strategy. Ever the theorist the lesson in practicality drawn from this experience is most humbling.

That night we barbecued the required Hamburgers (which I like) and Hot Dogs (which I don’t) as the kids took off with their respective friends – riding bikes, playing on the grounds and taking full advantage of what can only be described as leisure heaven (for them anyway).

Sunday was the day at the beach and boy did we enjoy ourselves. Seven hours or so in the water – canoeing, paddle boating, building sand castles and swimming. Armed with water pistols, the kids sprayed one another (and their father) during a frenzy period of activity uninterrupted by time’s stingy hand. I loved it and so did they. It reminded me of my fortunate childhood vacationing in Durban, Umhlanga Rocks, Cape Town, Muisenberg and George with not a care in the world. We celebrated the air, the water and the blissful feeling of freedom - a life with no worries. This is what I wanted for my own kids and right here on an isolated beach somewhere on Turtle Island they were enjoying the same experience.

The evening events took a bit of a turn for the worse as the storm that was threatening unleashed its torrent of rain that continued throughout the night. Out came the rain ponchos as we huddled under tarps hoping for an end to the onslaught that only came in the wee hours of the morning. However its moments like this that build strength (at least this is what I kept telling myself) and our team of campers held firm against an onslaught of lightning and thunder that at times seemed relentless. The tent leaked a bit but we managed to contain it and although our sleep was not restful we emerged the next morning bedraggled, unkempt and tired but with our spirits still up.

Onward to Monday and of course the clean-up. The kids enjoyed their last moments at the site and I pattered myself on the back knowing that I had once again overcome my own personal OCD demons around dirt and chaos. Despite the weather we had a great time and would do it again in a second for at the end we were together as a family. This is what matters. Dina and I couldn’t have asked for more.