Higher Education and Leadership

 The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.

The Google AI overview on the topic “The Trump administration has reduced funding for health and education” presented the following summary drawing on information from the Center for American Progress.

The Trump administration (as of mid-2026) has proposed and implemented significant cuts to health and education, aiming to reduce federal spending by billions, targeting agencies like the CDC and NIH while seeking to eliminate specific education grants. Proposed budgets include slashing CDC funding by up to 50% and reducing NIH funding by over 10%.

On April 3, 2026, President Donald Trump submitted his annual budget request to Congress, calling for historic cuts to domestic funding and shifting that money toward historic increases in the military budget. Across steep cuts to education, housing, health, and other priorities, the budget calls for cutting nondefense discretionary funding—the portion of the budget that funds most domestic activities aside from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—to its lowest levels as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) since at least the Eisenhower administration. In contrast, the Trump administration’s budget calls for the biggest annual increase in the military budget as a share of GDP outside a ground war in U.S. history—and the largest increase inclusive of ground wars in more than 50 years. Within the context of the war in Iran, the budget should be seen as taking money away from Americans and sinking it into war. (Miller, n.d.)

The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. AP reported that Donald Trump decisively won Nevada's Republican caucuses for his third straight victory in February 2016. Trump told supporters in Las Vegas that he got votes from well educated and poorly educated people, adding "I love the poorly educated." (Feb. 24, 2016).

The leaders in Canada and Mexico may not be recipients of the love of the President for the poorly educated.

References

Miller, A. (n.d.). About Us. Center for American Progress. Retrieved June 10, 2026, from https://www.americanprogress.org/about-us/

Sports and Status

 As a “Boomer” who grew up in “Industrial Cape Breton” with families supported by coal miners and steel workers I am grateful for the role of sports in communities in which I was formed and in the community in HRM where my children and grandchildren have the opportunity to grow through their participation as athletes and coaches in sports that included paddling, soccer, figure skating, hockey, rugby, Canadian football, volleyball and skiing.

Sports and Life

They have been fortunate to travel to National and Provincial Competitions and training sessions across Canada and in the United States. One of the most impactful aspects of their coaching experiences, to me, was a sincere desire to reach out to young athletes and provide, when possible, support for athletes who had to work harder to play and compete with physical, developmental, social and financial challenges. Just one of the pressures my “coaches” had to address in team sports was the tension between giving the athletes who were not yet as skilled in the sport an opportunity to get “on the court, in the boat, on the field, on the ice,” during competitions when the important desire to win needed to be carefully balanced with fairness to all. I don’t doubt that this is an increasingly difficult dilemma for coaches, particularly as our society seems in general to be more inclined to favour “individualism” over “community”. Some of the feedback from my coaching family is the importance of the “grace moment” when the less skilled athletes on the team indicate to the coach that they wish to stay on the bench for this shift or event to get a chance for a win for the team today. As adults, I see in the work my athletes/coaches do in their professions as continuing their experience of the value of community and providing a coach's desire to enable participation for people who face financial and life experience challenges. They “coach” and work to address their clients' need for efficient and functional housing, reliable and affordable transportation, restoration and refurbishment of rental accommodation, and skills to enable their growth as skilled electricians. GO TEAM!

Trump and War Crimes

 

Annie Crabill, Senior digital editor at the Economist, reports:

If Donald Trump goes ahead with his latest threats against Iran—every bridge “will be decimated”, he promised on Monday, and every power plant “out of business, burning”—he will probably violate the laws of war. Strikes on civilian infrastructure may also fail to achieve their primary objective: to rob Iran’s regime of funding. The civilian economy has long been in a dire state. The regime relies on other sources of income, and war has been good for business. (Crabill, n.d.)

International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

(International Criminal Court, n.d.)

 

Jayme Poisson, correspondent with CBC Front Burner, broadcast, on April 7, 2026, a check-in on Israel’s expanding wars in Iran and Lebanon, violence in the West Bank and details of a new law that could see the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks. Meron Rapoport returns to the show. Meron has been reporting on Israel for over 30 years, and was formerly the head of news at Israel's Ha’aretz newspaper. He’s now an editor with the Hebrew-language news site Local Call. Israel cannot conquer Lebanon and Iran, certainly not at the same time, even as Netanu claims that Israel is going to be a “Super Sparta” CBC transcripts (Poisson, n.d.)

Canada is a member of the International Criminal Court. The United States and Israel are not. If President Donald Trump or Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu were to find themselves in one of the member countries of the ICC (125 countries are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.) does that country have the power or responsibility to arrest them and charge them with war crimes and retain them in custody prior to trial at the International Court of Justice at the Hague, charged to bring justice to leaders of Nazi Germany.

References

Crabill, A. (n.d.). Trump and War Crimes. The Economist | Go beyond breaking news. Retrieved April 7, 2026, from https://www.economist.com/ 

International Criminal Court. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 7, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court 

Poisson, J. (n.d.). Front Burner. Trump and War Crimes. Retrieved April 7, 2026, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner 

VENN at SCANS

 Alex Bickerton got into Food, Cuba and Jazz courses( in person) and Zoom..Cancer, Gaza and Travel (on ZOOM).

SCANS IN PERSON

Ray Cooke got into Food and Gaza live plus cancer on ZOOM.

SCANS ON ZOOM

David Macpherson is zooming Food, Cancer, Gaza In person for Spy School, North of 60, Cuba 

See you at SCANS!

Life for Ordinary Cubans

 Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the National Security Archive and author of ‘Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana.’ was interviewed recently by Jayme Poisson on CBC Podcasts News Front Burner who asked …

Havana Harbour

“And what about life for ordinary Cubans on the island?”

There's a lot of controversy about Fidel's legacy in Cuba. On the one hand, he universalized education, he made sure that all Cubans had health care. He expanded Cuba's doctors program not only to create many, many doctors for the Cubans themselves, but also a surplus of doctors to send around the world. They are still in countries now, although the Trump administration is pressuring those countries to expel Cuban doctors. And you know, so the Cuban Revolution had for a while great fame for its levels of education and the levels of health care but of course, there were no kind of democratic rights, there was no opposition. There were no political parties besides the Communist Party that Fidel led. He was in power for over 50 years. And then, of course, his brother took over from him, Raul Castro. So, you know the, Cuba is, I think, a great mixed legacy. In the end, when the revolution in some ways depended on having subsidies from first the Soviet Union and then from countries like China and then finally Venezuela. So in some ways the revolution was kind of made possible by these very unique arrangements that Castro was able to secure but once those arrangements were no longer possible, as is the case today, the Cubans are looking at the United States once again becoming the dominant patron and dominant power in Cuban society, Cuban economy and Cuban politics. And that's where we are today. (Kornbluh, 2026)

References

Kornbluh, P. (2026, March 25). America’s long standoff with Cuba - Transcript. CBC Radio Front Burner. Retrieved March 31, 2026, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/americas-long-standoff-with-cuba-transcript-9.7141962 

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Trump After Pope Leo XIV’s Call for Ceasefire in Iran: ‘We’re Not Looking to Do That’

EWTN News White House Correspondent Owen Jensen asked the president about the Holy Father’s calls for dialogue instead of war in the Middle East conflict.

Cardinal Parolin to Trump, Israel: End the war as soon as possible

Responding to questions by journalists on the sidelines of a book presentation, Cardinal Pietro Parolin shares what he would say if face-to-face with U.S. President Trump: "Put an end to it as soon as possible because the real danger is that an escalation is just around the corner."

Leave Money in Their Pockets

Premier Tim Houston spoke with Jeff Douglas of CBC Mainstreet about removing the bridge tolls and reducing the HST as a means for the NS Government to leave money in people’s pockets.

Student Money for Transit?

Some of the people who cross the bridges with Halifax Transit see no benefit by removal of the toll. Many people who bring their cars across the bridges can afford to pay for the infrastructure that benefits them when crossing the harbour.

The HST reduction leaves more money in the pockets of people who can afford to buy expensive goods and provides a little relief for those who cannot buy expensive items.

As a 40 year retired resident of suburban HRM who travelled to work in Dartmouth and Halifax on the bus, and who, now, often chooses Halifax Transit to avoid street congestion and parking difficulties along the harbour, I can testify to the benefit to students of a bus pass. If the students or their financial supporters are denied help with the cost of transit, money will be removed from the pockets of another group that often has very little disposable income. A petition to restore the bus pass is available to sign for submission to the Premier.

The hardship that the Premier is concerned about is likely to increase for young people and low income residents and be even more unlikely to over-tax the residents who may not notice the 1% HST reduction.