Sierra Rayne

The Drug Cartels Long March on El Salvador

More than two decades after the civil war in El Salvador ended, the nation remains fractured -- a situation being worsened by increasing drug cartel presence and influence. In its recent presidential election, Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the governing left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) barely defeated Norman Quijano of the right-wing National Republican Alliance (Arena). With more than three million votes cast, the margin of Ceren's victory was only 6,364 votes, or 51.1 to 49.9 percent.

Belize Falling Under the Drug Cartel Influence

In 2011, Belize was added to the USA's "blacklist" of nations considered to be major producers or transit routes for illegal drugs as it became further enmeshed in the cocaine pipeline from South America up to Mexico and the United States.

Southern Alberta's 2013 Floods and Climate Change

During late June 2013, many areas of southern Alberta experienced severe flooding following heavy regional rainstorms.

March Data Show Denver's Post-Pot Legalization Crime Rate Still High

With the Denver Police Department's release of its crime statistics for March 2014, the higher post-pot legalization crime rates in the Mile-High City roll on.

Costa Rica and the Drug Cartels

Costa Rica is under threat. Despite recent claims that "no terrorist groups or drug cartels lurk in the nation's mountains and rain forests," the evidence is quite the contrary.

ObamaCare fail: Health expenditures in the United States are still rising

With the latest release of its international health expenditure dataset, the World Bank's 2012 database reveals that total health care spending in the United States under ObamaCare is exploding. Total health expenditures in 2012 increased to 17.91% of GDP, up from 17.68% in 2011, and are – of course – the highest level in American history. In 2008 before Obama came to office, total health expenditures comprised “only” 16.54% of GDP.

Pot Legalization and Crime Rates in Denver, Colorado

Over at Ezra Klein's new site, Vox.com, German Lopez has an article claiming to show that Colorado's recent marijuana legalization experiment hasn't increased crime rates in Denver. In contrast, when we actually look at the raw data Lopez uses, the message isn't so clear. In fact, using Lopez's own methods, we might conclude pot legalization has dramatically increased crime in Denver.

The Continuing Problem of Mexico's Crime Statistics

With the latest release of Mexico's supposedly official crime rate statistics, which include full data for 2013 as well as the first couple months of 2014, security experts need to -- once again -- be cautioned in the use of this information for drawing any conclusions about crime in Mexico.

Big Government and Lower Economic Growth: An American History

Between 1800 and 1916, total government expenditures in the United States generally ranged between 2% and 3% of GDP. There were higher peaks for the War of 1812 (5.1%) and the Civil War (13.8%), but in both cases pre-war government spending levels were re-established within about a decade after the end of the conflict. Even after WWI, the wartime peak of government spending (24.2% of GDP) declined rapidly to a slightly higher than historical spending base (3%) by the mid-1920s.

No Evidence Legalizing Ecstasy Would Save Lives

With the news that two people died from taking the illicit drug ecstasy at the Electric Zoo festival in New York City on Labor Day weekend, it is a good time to take a critical look at calls for ecstasy legalization. We have seen recent propositions to legalize ecstasy in Canada, Australia and Colombia, often calling for the drug to be sold in pure form like alcohol. This represents part of a long string of bizarre policy advocations being made by the medical establishment in western democracies over the past decade, and which has also led to the predictable outpouring of support from the drug legalization lobby.

NHL hockey in the 1980s: A unique era of exceptionalism

In recent days, we have seen the resurfacing of a seminal moment in Canadian hockey history (and indeed, Canadian history): the 25th anniversary for the trading of National Hockey League (NHL) superstar Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in August 1988 by Peter Pocklington.

The Truth About Putin’s Russia

Dissatisfaction with Obama's weak performance on the geopolitical stage and the economy, and his increasing regulation and oversight of the personal and professional components in American lives, have, sadly, led some apparent conservatives to express various forms of admiration for Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Thomas Friedman’s First Law of Petropolitics is Nonsense

In 2006, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times wrote a highly influential and widely cited article in Foreign Policy magazine entitled "The First Law of Petropolitics."

Canada’s Substandard Tertiary Education System

In late 2012, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD) released a report looking at the educational systems of its member states. The results are not promising for tertiary education in Canada.

Time to get tough with Mexico

Mexico is a failing narco-state and an economic parasite, and the United States and Canada are unfortunately hitched to the wagon. The weak foreign policies and welcoming trade agreements towards Mexico by its two democratic and wealthy northern neighbors have not been productive.

Canada’s incoherent foreign policy towards Cuba

Following the Cuban revolution in 1959 which brought the brutal communist dictator Fidel Castro to power, Canada and Mexico were the only two countries in the hemisphere not to break relations with Cuba. Canada's foreign policy is generally incoherent and often works at cross-purposes to that of our strongest ally, the United States, but with Cuba it achieves new lows.

Fiddling while Rome burns: Saskatchewan’s pre-occupation with distracted driving

Saskatchewan has a massive crime problem, and it's been this way for many years. And yet, you wouldn't realize it from looking at government policies, apparent law enforcement priorities, and stories in the mainstream media.

The National Round Table on Nonsense

As the life span of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) ends, hopefully we will not see a future reincarnation of a similarly wasteful enterprise at Canadian taxpayer's expense.

The Conservative Case Against the Long-Form Census

The mandatory long-form census is -- and needs to continue to be -- a cause for action among libertarians and conservatives, particularly in the United States and Canada. Strong arguments based on the resistance to Big Brother phenomena and social engineering efforts, and the support for other freedom-loving principles, mitigate against a mandatory long-form census. The fight for the long-form census has typically come from the liberals, but even some conservatives are taking the bait. Regardless of who supports or opposes the long-form census and why, the strongest conservative case against these census forms generally rests with their lack of scientific rigor.

Gun Laws and Gun Crime

Gun control advocates have long promoted a wide range of policies and laws intended to restrict the "right of the people to keep and bear arms."