About DHughes

Straightspeak’s purpose is to be a catalyst for conversations that make a difference, conversations that foster and elevate thinking. Conversations that change perspective. "Amid the noise and haste” straightspeak is a colloquium for thoughts and knowledge that stimulate the mind. Enjoy! And share.

Dr. Who? Dr. Strangelove? Dr. Frankenstein?

By |2020-04-07T08:39:44-04:00April 6th, 2020|Categories: business, community, politics, social|Tags: , , , , , |

Maybe Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Certainly not Dr. Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine" (4 minute read) "First, do no harm." – Hippocrates (460-370 BC) Hippocrates of Kos Surely, the most ardent supporters of Donald Trump would not want him to be their doctor. He even declared, "What do I know? I'm not a doctor." There are Read more...

“Hindsight is worth a million bucks” … but is it worth the loss of millions of lives?

By |2020-03-26T16:11:50-04:00March 26th, 2020|Categories: business, community, politics, social|Tags: , , , , , , , |

The ignorance of our so-called leaders is exposed when real leaders can say, "I told you so." (2 min read) Nobody was listening then. Is anyone listening now? Bill Gates, one of the more enlightened animals in the genus homo sapiens, told us in 2015 – 5 years ago – "We’ve actually invested very little in a system to Read more...

“Did we just strike out on 200,000 small businesses?”

By |2020-03-25T16:47:39-04:00March 25th, 2020|Categories: business, community, politics|Tags: , , , |

"Afraid so. We're trashing the start-up and entrepreneurs' farm system ...  Mike's going along." (4 min read) In the last three years, over 300,000 Canadian small businesses started up (on average, 104,000 a year) [1], and today approximately 206,000 of these “new” businesses are still operating. Until now. Until COVID-19. Now, with the lack of federal government support, Read more...

Poor leadership is not only painful … it’s deadly!

By |2020-03-24T16:43:16-04:00March 24th, 2020|Categories: business, community, politics, social|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

(3 min read) We all know the short-comings of Donald Trump, U.S. President, and we all know he and his "merry band of sycophants" will always act like the Sheriff of Nottingham rather than Robin Hood. We also know he can't change. He is what he is, he can only do what he's capable of, and, unfortunately, that's not Read more...

Fascism versus Democracy …

By |2020-03-25T07:58:09-04:00November 10th, 2018|Categories: community, communitywatch, politics, social|Tags: , , , |

or 'the strong and wrong versus the right and weak' (7 minute read) I've borrowed the heading from something President Bill Clinton said, and former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright restated in her new book, Fascism: A Warning. It's a must read for anyone who gives a damn about the stopping the decline in our democracy and the Read more...

Every mayor must foster community spirit and hope …

By |2018-11-05T14:11:32-05:00November 5th, 2018|Categories: community, communitywatch, politics, social|

to measure up to this mayor and his community (5 minute read) The municipal elections are behind us and the rush of community spirit that leads up to elections has subsided, so now is a good time for reflection and self-assessment. To take stock of the state of affairs in our communities. With continuing low voter turnout and high Read more...

Double, double, toil and trouble …

By |2018-10-14T19:26:52-04:00October 14th, 2018|Categories: community, communitywatch, politics, social, uncategorized|

fire burn and politics bubble – until we stop drinking witches' brew and vote incumbents out (4 minute read) It's simple. Change means change. Don't re-elect anybody. It's folly. It's drinking the same witches brew – and it's worse than the Kool-Aid. If a bunch of drunken arsonists kept lighting fires, stirring up a toxic brew and feeding it Read more...

The most important four-letter word is …

By |2018-10-09T08:10:52-04:00October 7th, 2018|Categories: community, communitywatch, politics, social, trumpwatch|Tags: , , , , , , , |

vote – and you can use the other four-letter words to curse the outcomes if you don't vote Photo: Emily Howard Stowe (1831-1904) (9 minute read) Emily Howard Stowe was a great Canadian. She was the first female doctor to practice in Canada and she and her daughter Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen, spearheaded Ontario's suffrage campaign for 40 years. Hell, Read more...

“I was raised to know that I should never …

By |2018-08-30T07:11:29-04:00August 29th, 2018|Categories: community, politics, social, trumpwatch, uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

sacrifice a principle for personal ambition." Who said it? (7 minute read) Oh, okay, that's an easy question to answer. But inherent in the answer is a much larger question and a much more revealing answer. In death, John McCain's belief in putting principle before personal will not only be amplified but may well write one of his most Read more...

Go to Top