A tough leader enacted tough policies, and wiped out COVID-19 in New Zealand

Florida is a red-hot COVID zone, Texas is on a one-way ride up the infection escalator and California is reversing course after early lockdown success. Together, these three states make up 20 percent of all new global coronavirus cases. The United States is a pandemic-policy mess, and the whole world is watching the meltdown.

Not every nation, however, is experiencing Washington’s infighting, chaotic approach and inability to implement a nationally coordinated pandemic response. New Zealand is an odd exception in a coronavirus world in turmoil.

How did such a small place take on such a big role on the world stage to lead the fight against infection’s spread throughout its country? READ MORE

When it comes to bearing brunt of war’s brutality, it’s women and children first

Sex and gender decide our fate more than some like to admit. Men and money make the world go ‘round, after all, and grown men are mostly responsible for society’s most critical decisions surrounding war and peace. Children don’t vote, and women often don’t have a voice.

The latest military rout taking place in northern Syria is only the most recent installment of war’s practice of disappearing the dead. Not because the killed are invisible, but because they are unseen. There are many victims in these conflicts, but the ones who suffer most and longest always seem to be the women and children.

ISIS remains a particularly vile scourge to both moms and kids. READ MORE