Global
I dedicate this question, which is at the core of the book with which I am struggling, to Donald Trump.
When we think of power, the word itself commands that we carve the concept into something isolated and wieldable: a sword, a gun, a scepter. Power means power over. There is no basic concept of power – no word for power in the English language – that also means collaboration, collective participation: people working together, individually empowered at the same time that they are part of a larger whole.
Israel launched an airstrike on a densely populated Palestinian refugee camp Ain al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon late Tuesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding nearly 70 more, according to Lebanese Health Ministry.
Paramedics and people rushed to the site of an Israeli strike located in a crowded area between mosque and football pitch in the refugee camp, for a search and rescue efforts.
The Israeli military said, without providing any evidence, that the strike targeted a Hamas "military compound" allegedly used for training fighters.
Names of the martyrs of the Ain al-Hilweh massacre. Date, November 18, 2025:
1- Martyr Muhammad Khalil
2- Martyr Ahmad Othman
3- Martyr Jihad al-Sidawi
4- Martyr Amjad Khashan
5- Martyr Bilal al-Natour
6-Martyr Youssef Shamma
7- Martyr Ali Ibrahim
8- Martyr Hussein al-Shouli
9- Martyr Obaida Ghoutani
10- Martyr Mustafa Ghoutani
11- Martyr Daniel Ghoutani
12- Martyr Mahmoud Muhammad
12- Martyr Ali Hamad
Just because patients don’t understand the opaque layers/players behind the drug procurement affordability crisis, doesn’t mean that lawmakers do, say experts--which is part of the problem.
The bigger problem, though, is that “Big Pharma” (increasingly “BioPharma”) is a silent funder of two thirds of Congress members, 57 percent of US doctors, hospitals, medical schools and medical practices and notably almost all news outlets thanks to “ask your doctor” ads. (See: “Chronic” diseases requiring large molecule biologic$.) No wonder some call drugmakers the fourth branch of government.
The government/medical/news capture is why many don’t know about prescription drug alternative funding programs that work directly with employer-sponsored health plans outside traditional channels to bring down costs.
Imagine your kitchen fridge is completely packed with ice, and the room is slowly warming up due to the heat from the fridge's motor and coils running continuously. The kitchen gets gradually warmer.
Now someone opens the fridge door and leaves it open.
What happens?
For a while, the kitchen actually gets cooler - even though the fridge motor is working harder than ever, pumping out more heat. The melting ice absorbs enormous amounts of energy, and cold air spills out into the room.
But here's the crucial point: this cooling is temporary. Once the ice melts away, the kitchen will become much hotter than it ever was before, because now there's no ice left to absorb energy, and the overworked motor is dumping even more heat into the room.
The Climate Reality
This is exactly what's happening with Earth's climate right now.
Canada has launched a criminal investigation into Israeli-Canadian IDF veterans for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict according to report by ynetnews.com last June. The story said, "The RCMP began the investigation in early 2024 and confirmed it in June 2025.
"The probe targets Canadian citizens with dual Israeli-Canadian citizenship who served in the IDF as well as lone soldiers and Israeli citizens residing in Canada who traveled to Israel to enlist." The RCMP described the investigation as a "structural investigation" under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program, which aims to prevent Canada from becoming a haven for individuals accused of committing atrocities abroad. The investigation has caused concern and controversy within Canada's Jewish and Israeli communities, with many fearing a wave of arrests or summons.
I actually thought there might be some good news coming out of the Donald Trump White House but it turns out that I was likely mistaken. Trump treated the American public and a worldwide audience to an extended harangue targeting Nigeria for its alleged mistreatment and even killing of Christians. He threatened something like a military intervention similar to his aggressive posturing in Latin America and the Middle East complete with US soldiers “boots on the ground” to address the situation.
When the United States passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and then the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, it seemed like the days of restaurants, movie theaters, and places of entertainment being able to refuse service to anyone were far behind us. But some recent incident in New York City with Ms. Rachel was denied service in three venues. This kind of conduct is illegal as it violates the 1964 federal law that bans discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin in public places and places of entertainment.
However, businesses have the right to refuse service only for reasons like disruptive behavior or violating dress codes. Restaurants are also not permitted to refuse service on the basis of national origin or citizenship status, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, and veteran status.
It occurs to me that “giving birth to the future” isn’t simply a metaphor.
I say this as I continue wrestling with infinity – that is to say, working on the book project I began a decade ago: a book about creating peace. My exploration into all this goes beyond politics, global or otherwise. There are countless ways that humanity needs to change and, indeed, is changing. For instance:
“For much of the 20th century, the childbirth process in this country didn’t invite a lot of active participation from parents. Mothers in labor were given heavy doses of drugs, and fathers were banished to waiting rooms.”
Israel’s allies worldwide are desperately scrambling to help Tel Aviv re-establish a convincing narrative, not only concerning the Gaza genocide, but the entire legacy of Israeli colonialism in Palestine and the Middle East.
The perfect little story, built on myths and outright fabrications — that of a small nation fighting for survival amid ‘hordes of Arabs and Muslims’ — is rapidly collapsing. It was a lie from the start, but the Gaza genocide has made it utterly indefensible.
The harrowing details of the Israeli genocide in Gaza were more than enough for people globally to fundamentally question the Zionist narrative, particularly the racist Western trope of the ‘villa in the Jungle’ used by Israel to describe its existence among the colonized population.