Shannon Proudfoot

Trump Lays Out His ‘Worst Case’ Scenario in Iran

This report is horrifying because it’s indistinguishable from a dim-witted 14-year-old being in charge. Trump hasn’t thought through any of this (of course he hasn’t) and transparently does not care, outside of whatever will directly affect Donald J. Trump. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/u...

Opinion: Trump offers Iran militarism, authoritarianism and corruption instead of a coherent plan U.S. administration’s overt corruption raises question of whether its armed forces are available for hire

Timothy Snyder: "...the U.S. government is using military force against a common enemy of the countries that have enriched Mr. Trump....This administration’s stupefyingly overt corruption raises the question of whether the U.S. armed forces are now for hire." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Home | Ottawa Lookout Ottawa's best source for hyper-local, neighbourhood news that helps you understand the city

Here's a terrific local news source in Ottawa - www.ottawalookout.com - but it's hard to ignore how thin the coverage has gotten, even in the capital. A lot of other places are much worse off. Very bad stuff happens when no one is watching and asking questions.

Ah, here’s a more recent story…still with maddeningly not-great news.

Anyway, this and a thousand other things like it are why local media matters. Pushing for answers, sustaining pressure, dishing out public shame, diligently keeping a professional eye on things is how problems get fixed and people in power don’t get away with ineptitude or worse.

You don’t live in Ottawa, right? It’s a massive amalgamated city where a ton of outlying voters do not care about the core or transit, so there isn’t enough political pressure/shame on this issue. It’s like the transit system itself: we’re living with mistakes already made.

I dunno, I hate this a LOT, but I do not have the bandwidth to do more than bitch online and hope someone is ashamed. My guess is that many of the people who have no choice but to use the train are in the same boat. This is what happens when local media disappears.

See? Even the part of the system that they’re still building has been designed for failure.

It was horrendous when the trains launched, then got better for a while (though lowered expectations played a role). But now the system is getting constantly gradually worse. Who’s going to raise hell? Gutted local media? Riders who have no choice but to suck it up? Those who abandon it to drive?

We bought crap trains and put them on tracks that don’t work. We retired a bunch of buses, and none of it works together properly. As service worsens, fewer people ride and pay fares, so council cuts services further, accelerating the drop in riders. Ottawa is aG7 capital with a $7B white elephant.

No timeline for return to full train service by OC Transpo after axle repairs At a briefing, interim GM Troy Charter said it was "too early to tell" the setback might have on the opening of the LRT east extension.

And it feels like this is just the way it is now, and everyone has given up pushing for answers or something better. This is the most recent news story I can find, from late Jan: only 18 of 60 train cars are functional, with “no timeline” for a return to service. ottawacitizen.com/news/no-time...

Oc Transpo has extra suckitude this week. Waited 25 minutes for a bus yesterday and today when there should have been half a dozen of them, and now Tunneys is so backed up that people are packed onto the platform and all the way up the stairs because of the half-trains.

Donald Trump, 79, Steps Out with Scabbing Neck Rash at Medal of Honor Ceremony President Donald Trump has fielded questions for more than a year about the near-constant bruises on the backs of his hands. Now, he has been spotted with a new skin ailment, stepping out in public wi...

Always interesting when a political story escapes containment and ends up in People. Today: Trump's nasty-looking neck rash and the absurd excuses the White House offers about the state of his health. The handshake explanation is laughable. people.com/donald-trump...

Anyway, if everything is going to hell, here’s a void in a black shopping bag definitely knowing how cute she is.

Getting really tired of having absolutely no idea what the worst-case scenario is for what comes next.

I’m reading Superfudge to my eight-year-old and it’s still a terrific book, but Peter Hatcher’s parents should really have been arrested for calling their kids Fudge and Tootsie.

we finally reached the end of this calendar event i accidentally made 12 years ago

The State of the Union was a zoo – and Team USA the monkeys Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team received about a two-minute bipartisan standing ovation during the address

Cathal Kelly: "They talk about sea-doos, watches and stick tape. A lot of them went to college, but none of them actually *went* to college. They went to hockey. I’d be shocked if more than a handful of them had ever read a book that wasn’t Harry Potter." www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/artic...

Still very true, and very weird.

My god, this man is boring. Even when he’s being banana sandwiches, he is just so boring.

really remarkable how trump seems to relish sharing this lurid stories about the terrible pain people have experienced, and he does it exclusively to score some partisan points

Incredible shot of Rep. Al Green holding up a "BLACK PEOPLE AREN'T APES!" sign with Trump in the foreground from photographer Kenny Holston (Getty)

a man in a suit and tie is dancing in front of a crowd ALT: a man in a suit and tie is dancing in front of a crowd

Talk about the corruption plundering America

Opinion: Donald Trump’s tariff game show live from the Rose Garden For the rest of the world, Trump’s liberation day will be the day they found out how many walls of their house the neighbour was about to smash

I still stand by this argument: if someone just gives him another game show, it will save everyone else a lot of trouble. Look at how sad and thirsty he is - big fella just wants another game show. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

You can see JD Vance’s remaining soul leaking out of his ears as he sits up there chortling obediently at Papa.

I only wish the women’s team had said “we can’t, we’re washing our hair.” Otherwise 10/10

That constant erosion of normalcy strikes me as one of the most dangerous and corrosive things right now. As appalling as Trump's behaviour is, we're all reacting to it at 30% volume because of how much we've been forcibly habituated to. Of course Trump operates like Tony Soprano, are you new here?

Chaos, Confusion and Defiance: The Global Fallout From the Tariff Ruling

Two things leap out in this discussion on Trump's tariff meltdown: Canada is not mentioned - a reminder of the asymmetry of it all - and everyone talks casually about companies and countries deciding their next moves based on fear of White House retribution.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/p...

You can smell loser energy from a mile away here. And it‘s not the goose.

My most hockey-obsessed kid has retired to the basement for mini sticks because he can’t take the tension. I am administering a therapeutic breakfast beer to myself.