For those who don’t know it, I have a Twitter presence (@duanegundrum). It’s not extremely popular, and I’m lucky if I get a “like” here or there. Mostly, it’s me ranting or making jokes, and no one in the world knowing the difference. As a writer, I have about 5,000 followers. I follow about 500 people. Not great, but not … Read More
Hate crimes that seem to sneak in under the radar
We all know there are some hateful people out there. We see the evidence in the news each and every day. What often escapes us is the fact that a lot of this stuff is happening around us, or in places we’d least expect it. Take Thunder Bay, Ontario for an example. You may wonder why I’m discussing Thunder Bay, … Read More
The Problem With National Intelligence and Classified Information
One of my pet peeves has been the concept of classified information. It’s commonly used as a gatekeeper to give some people access to information and keep others away from it. When people talk about it and think about it, it’s often considered of significant importance that this information is kept classified and away from other people who don’t have … Read More
A political media trend I wish would end yesterday
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this, but I’m getting really sick and tired of media portrayals of political people that include unflattering pictures of the politician, mainly because the publication responsible for the article doesn’t like the politician. I don’t mean a one-off picture here and there, but I mean EVERY media outlet using the same image … Read More
The Problem With Our Government and Classified Information
For those of you who already know me or about me, you know I used to be a counterintelligence agent. I worked with and about classified information. It was basically my job. What I’m about to say now is probably going to be taken as a bit of hypocrisy or at least with a sense of strangeness. You see, I … Read More
Why white privilege is the wrong battle to be waged in seeking equality and justice
There’s been a lot of talk lately involving the concept of “white privilege” and how quite often a Caucasian will misunderstand his or her benefits of being white while trying to appear just towards those who do not maintain the same generic status. Some examples are the #alllivesmatter versus #blacklivesmatter, which is often used as an erroneous argument of “I … Read More
The Problem of Dealing With Race By Invoking Historical Ancestors
Race seems to be a big issue these days. I guess that’s a good thing. It means people are thinking about the concept and discussing it with others. At least that’s my hope. In some cases this is massively necessary because it helps deal with oversights that have been going on way too long. In other cases, not so much. … Read More
The Problem with Bernie Sanders Isn’t Exactly Bernie Sanders
There’s been a lot of talk recently about Bernie Sanders as an alternative to Hillary Clinton for those who really don’t like Hillary Clinton as a candidate. Sanders has done a great job of showing that he’s an “outside” candidate that doesn’t go along with corporate greed and all of that. As someone who basically isn’t all that fond of … Read More
Why Has the World Gone Downhill? An Analysis of Violence
One of the common tropes in storylines, especially for fantastical fiction, is the idea of returning to a period of time when things were “the old ways”, kind of like a time travel journey to the 1950s, or even a trip to the ancient past. The main character is seen as a fish out of water as he or … Read More
The Importance of Dates on Modern Civilization
Yesterday was the official celebration of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. If you didn’t know any better, you might think that January 19 (yesterday) was the day he was born. He wasn’t. He was born on January 15, 1929. We celebrate it on the 19th because, well, because that’s when we decided to start celebrating it. During … Read More
