Lessons from the Argentine approach to immigration — Whenever I make my way to or from the subway station, Marina’s there, manning her post on the footpath. She offers avocados to passers-by for about 40 cents each, a far better price than what you’d get at the surrounding greengrocers. Sometimes, I buy her produce, making small talk as…

Argentina, 1976–1983 — Your military’s fighting an existential war for the country’s very future. That’s what you’re being told, at least, and you’re inclined to believe it, though you haven’t really seen anything that would indicate as such yourself. It’s 1976 and you’re an Argentine living in Nuñez, Buenos Aires, a neighbourhood on…

There’s no shortage of legitimate criticisms, so why be bigoted? — President Donald Trump is an all around terrible person. He’s a racist, a climate change denier, a sexual predator, a massive homophobe and transphobe, pro-corporation/anti-poor — the list goes on and on. On top of it all, there’s no shortage of ridiculous utterances coming out of his mouth. …

20TH DECEMBER, 2018: In a series of announcements, Donald Trump stated that the USA would finally withdraw its forces from Syria and half of its number in Afghanistan. Reactions to this news were swift and came with a clear consensus; Trump is wrong. US interventionism is actually a good thing…

Pro-refugee arguments should focus on morality, not economics — The right-wing’s reaction to the ongoing Honduran migrant caravan saga hasn’t defied expectations; they continue to portray people exercising their legal and moral right to seek asylum as a mindless barbarian horde intent on destroying everything good about the world. Refugees desperately fleeing violence and poverty have been tear gassed…

Many Democrats crying ageism are ageists themselves — because it’s not really about age in the first place — We’ve been hearing a lot about ageism recently. Many conservatives have attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her age, while a featured article on Medium addressed ageism levied against Nancy Pelosi, arguing that its roots are sexist. Yet ageism in politics is nothing new, nor are men immune to it. In fact…

We’re in the midst of a red scare — and this time, it’s global — A popular protest movement, typified by the ‘yellow vests’ worn by protestors, has spread through France like wildfire over the last three weeks. While plans for a fuel tax that would have disproportionately affected working and middle-class people were the straw that broke the camel’s back, the protests are about…

Piecing together the story of a settler family, one source at a time — There’s a veritable treasure trove of historical sources out there; census data, shipping manifests, letters, birth/death/marriage certificates, inventory accounts, last will & testaments, etc, all just waiting for someone to notice them and piece their stories together. It is, of course, natural that there’s more interest in big people and…