Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 8h

✈️: your safety is our top priority. And also would anyone like to buy some vodka at this moment?

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 21h

In Canada, it is considered normal to fund healthcare through gambling competitions....

....where the prizes include the same oversized vehicles that increase safety risks to kids.

SickKids Lottery advert to win a pick up truck, Sea-Doo or $120,000

Paper: "Effects of large vehicles on pedestrian and pedalcyclist injury severity" by Mickey Edwards & Daniel Leonard.

Quote: "Though pickup trucks were the striking vehicle in just 5.6% of pedestrian and pedalcyclist crashes, they were involved in 12.6% of fatalities."

1 2 8

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 2d

Donald Trump, has been touting himself as a suitable candidate for the prize. BBC News credited Trump for securing a deal in the Israeli-Gaza war, a deal that would see a ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages. But, the Nobel Institute gives out peace prizes, not ceasefire prizes.

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 2d

My latest article notes who won the Nobel Peace Prize, and who didn't.

Topics included: Sudan, Gaza, Venezuela, and Donald Trump.

chrishouston.ca/stories-of-p...

María Corina Machado wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

On October 10, María Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Machado has been a key figure in uniting the once-fractured opposition parties in Venezuela. The Nobel Committee praised Machado for...

chrishouston.ca

1 3

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 2d

My latest article notes who won the Nobel Peace Prize, and who didn't.

Topics included: Sudan, Gaza, Venezuela, and Donald Trump.

chrishouston.ca/stories-of-p...

María Corina Machado wins 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

On October 10, María Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Machado has been a key figure in uniting the once-fractured opposition parties in Venezuela. The Nobel Committee praised Machado for...

chrishouston.ca

1 3

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 3d

It's World Mental Health Day.

Here's my 2024 piece for @counterpunchmedia.bsky.social

www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/28/h...

How’s Your Mental Health?

Nobody would hesitate to explain that they missed hockey practice due to a broken leg. In some circles, scars are badges of honor. When I was a kid,

www.counterpunch.org

1

Reposted by Chris Houston

Canadian Peace Museum @canadianpeacemuseum.ca · 3d

María Corina Machado, the opposition leader in Venezuela, has just been announced as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

1 6

Reposted by Chris Houston

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 23d

CW: protester being struck in the head by a pepper ball

Footage I took earlier of the moment Reverend David Black, a regular protester outside of the Broadview Detention Center, was shot in the head with a pepper ball by ICE agents on the roof of the facility.

160 1.3K 2.6K

Reposted by Chris Houston

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 5d

Prosecute war criminals, not protesters

The real problem of humanity: we have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology

That sentiment has never felt more true, as we try to make sense of an increasingly connected and chaotic world

chrishouston.ca/stories-of-p...

Prosecute war criminals, not protesters

American sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson once said that “The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology.” That sentiment has...

chrishouston.ca

4 21

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 5d

Poverty, underfunded healthcare, poor services, and a lack of jobs. That's what damages communities.

Blaming immigrants is a distraction.

I say that as an immigrant. Kemi described herself as "to all intents and purposes a first-generation immigrant" (Politico, 2022)

www.bbc.com/news/article...

High immigration levels damage communities, Kemi Badenoch warns

The Conservative leader says society is in danger of fragmenting unless concerns are acted on.

www.bbc.com

5 6

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 5d

Prosecute war criminals, not protesters

The real problem of humanity: we have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology

That sentiment has never felt more true, as we try to make sense of an increasingly connected and chaotic world

chrishouston.ca/stories-of-p...

Prosecute war criminals, not protesters

American sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson once said that “The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology.” That sentiment has...

chrishouston.ca

4 21

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 6d

My heart: “give them a little hug”

My brain: “yeah, probably don’t do that”

1

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 6d

1 2 6

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 6d

I’m trying to enjoy the supermoon, but my roomies only care about dinner. Typical trash pandas.

1 3 22

Reposted by Chris Houston

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 9d

MSF accused the US government of a war crime. And it the bombing of Kunduz trauma centre obviously is a war crime.

But the body set up in 1977 to investigate allegations of war crimes, despite their frequency, has only ever done 1 investigation (Russia in 2017).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...

International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1 1 3

Reposted by Chris Houston

Alex Cosh @alexcosh.bsky.social · 9d

A Veteran Reporter Was Branded as a Russian Spy. The Proof Didn’t Hold Up thewalrus.ca/a-veteran-re...

A Veteran Reporter Was Branded as a Russian Spy. The Proof Didn’t Hold Up | The Walrus

Former MP Chris Alexander accused David Pugliese of treason. Experts now argue his evidence was fake

thewalrus.ca

1 6 9

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 9d

🕯️

Photos of the 14 MSF staff killed in Kunduz.

3

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 9d

MSF accused the US government of a war crime. And it the bombing of Kunduz trauma centre obviously is a war crime.

But the body set up in 1977 to investigate allegations of war crimes, despite their frequency, has only ever done 1 investigation (Russia in 2017).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...

International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1 1 3

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 9d

Bombing hospitals is almost always a war crime.

Of course, it's also morally, ethically abominable.

www.icrc.org/en/document/...

The protection of hospitals during armed conflicts: What the law says

According to international humanitarian law (IHL), health establishments and units, including hospitals, should not be attacked. This protection extends to the wounded and sick as well as to medical s...

www.icrc.org

1 5

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 10d

Fuck war. And fuck all the politicians who make war.

1 4

Reposted by Chris Houston

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 10d

10 years ago, the US military killed my colleugues and their patients in Kunduz trauma centre. 42 died in a war crime that was never independently investigated.

Photo below, me and others at the @msf.org Pakistan offices.

www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/afghanistan-...

2 11 30

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 10d

10 years ago, the US military killed my colleugues and their patients in Kunduz trauma centre. 42 died in a war crime that was never independently investigated.

Photo below, me and others at the @msf.org Pakistan offices.

www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/afghanistan-...

2 11 30

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 10d

Disgusting news from Manchester. A deadly attack on a synagogue on Yom Kippur.

Sadly, antisemitism is on the rise in the UK.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/02/u...

At least two killed in stabbing and car ramming attack on Yom Kippur at synagogue in Manchester, UK police say | CNN

At least two Jewish worshippers were killed and several others injured in a car ramming and stabbing attack outside a synagogue in the English city of Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Juda...

www.cnn.com

2 8

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 11d

My column this week also notes the peace awards, which happened on World Peace Day. The same day, three countries made the long-overdue step of recognising the statehood of Palestine.

chrishouston.ca/stories-of-p...

Peace Day, Peace Awards, and Palestine

A lot happened on Sunday 21st September 2025. Peaceful proclamations were made, the Canadian Peace Museum issued a suite of awards, buildings were illuminated, and three countries recognised Palestini...

chrishouston.ca

3

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 11d

A report on the third annual peace awards ceremony from the Canadian Peace Museum

Canadian Peace Museum @canadianpeacemuseum.ca · 11d

Delighted to see news of our recent awards in Bancroft This Week.
www.calameo.com/read/0032892...

Newspaper article with headline: Canadian Peace Museum celebrates its third annual Award Ceremony

1 3

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 11d

A lot happened on World Peace Day 2025. My latest article covers the local, the national, and the international.

chrishouston.ca/stories-of-p...

Peace Day, Peace Awards, and Palestine

A lot happened on Sunday 21st September 2025. Peaceful proclamations were made, the Canadian Peace Museum issued a suite of awards, buildings were illuminated, and three countries recognised Palestini...

chrishouston.ca

1