Joanna

Regardless of your political affiliations, theory of change, and justified skepticism of institutions, it's worthwhile, perhaps imperative, to spend 1-5 days relishing the joy of working class people making a bold choice in their own interest before resuming rigorous pessimism of the intellect

“All Souls at Mountain View Cemetery was conceived by artists Paula Jardine & Marina Szijarto. Over the years, they have been joined by others who have shared their love and regard for their dead.”

“After 20 years, Mountain View Cemetery – under the direction of the City of Vancouver – has decided to end its relationship with All Souls and the founding artists. In a statement they pledged to “ take time to review our protocols for supporting artist-led sacred events.”

BREAKING🚨

ABC votes unanimously to lock in huge cuts to Vancouver’s public services, throw out the 2026 budget consultation, and sell out the city we love to the rich.

A shameful day for the city, with impacts to be felt for years to come.

#vanpoli

One of the most beautiful declarations I've ever seen came from Assata Shakur. I learned it chanted by a great crowd of radicals, its ideal form:
"We have a duty to fight for our freedom!
We have a duty to win!
We must love each other and support each other!
We have nothing to lose but our chains!"

RIP Assata Shakur

"It is our duty to fight for our freedom,
It is our duty to win.
We must love each other and support each other;
We have nothing to lose but our chains."

The debate around what is or isn’t “cancel culture” really just obscures a simple truth that it’s BAD to be massively racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic and it’s GOOD to speak out against injustice. Some things are good and some things are bad and it’s okay to say which you think are which.

Am I the jerk? Redditors say yes — but ChatGPT and other bots say no. ChatGPT and other AI bots tell posters from Reddit's "AITA" board that, actually, they're not the jerks.

Researchers tested AI's sycophancy by putting in a bunch of r/AITA posts and seeing if AI would agree that people were jerks. They found 42% of the time, AI got it wrong.

I tested this out myself, nearly every time, AI couldn't catch the verified Asshole www.businessinsider.com/reddit-aita-...

From 2010:

Judith Butler on being named to a list of UC Berkeley faculty & students provided to the Department of Education to be investigated for anti-semitism, w/ zero transparency about what they're being accused of or by whom. Pure McCarthyism & totally indefensible. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.”

Abolish the prison system but keep one cell open for Sam Altman and never, ever let him see the light of day again.

a green square that says "fast food meals. new phenomenon burger taste. $19.90. order via seamless" and in the corner is a non-euclidean cluster of chicken finger.

a very normal 5-star review that says "I would be lost without restaurant. I would like to personally thank you for your outstanding product." - Nina Margaret, CEO apple.

another normal review that says "without food, we would have gone bankrupt by now. thanks food! the service was excellent." John Doe, manager.

an AI image of a pastrami sandwich. not to overuse the word non-euclidean but what else can I say to describe these layers of meat? this one also has some kind of yellow sauce leaking out of the bottom, and another yellow sauce being sensuously drizzled on top. in the lower right corner are baffling tubes that sort of look like if roasted carrots fucked a soft pretzel.

my roommate was trying to find the menu for a nearby bagel shop and instead found some of the most iconic slop I've ever seen. thanks food! :)

Data from an internal Israeli intelligence database indicates that at least 83 percent of Palestinians killed in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza were civilians, an investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian can reveal. Figures obtained from the classified database — which records the deaths of militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — contradict by a huge margin the public statements of Israeli army and government officials throughout the war, which have generally claimed a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of civilian to militant casualties. Instead, the classified data backs up the findings of several studies suggesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed civilians at a rate with few parallels in modern warfare. The Israeli army confirmed the existence of the database, which is managed by the Military Intelligence Directorate (known by the Hebrew acronym “Aman”). Multiple intelligence sources familiar with the database said the army views it as the only authoritative tally of militant casualty figures. In the words of one of them: “There’s no other place to check.”

An internal Israeli intelligence database reveals 83% of those killed by the IDF in Gaza were civilians, contradicting public claims to the contrary.

www.972mag.com/israeli-inte...

two scandals here: VPD fuelled panic over stranger attacks even as they fell dramatically in 2022, and then refused to release records about them for 14 months, which is against the law

* We have a multi-party parliamentary system, not a two-party system. More progressive representation among the opposition was an option.

* "Everyone must vote Lib to stop the Cons!" handed at least 8 more seats to the Conservatives over NDP or Green incumbents.

2/

In "Kaddish for David Berman"
jewishcurrents.org/kaddish-for-...

outrageous to consider this American-owned publisher receives massive amounts of federal funding to launder Israel's war crimes & justify the murder of five journalists. appalling even by the rock-bottom standards of one of the worst news outlets in Canada.

New Harlem is developing some new works with prominent hip hop elements. We are looking to broaden our casting pool and our community of practice.

Emcees who act
Actors who rap

We would like to hear from you
form.jotform.com/251975605075...
Soft Deadline: August 21, 2025

Graph detail from Language Log, showing how incomprehensibility is expressed in different languages

see “The directed graph of stereotypical incomprehensibility”
languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1024 for equivalent expressions in different languages
Detail:

Join The P2 Visa Action Campaign For Canadian Musicians - Local 1000 AFM Canadian musicians who want to perform in the U.S. must apply for a performing visa. It’s a stressful, time consuming, and expensive process. The current cost for one musician to apply for a P2 Visa i...

If a Canadian musician wants to perform in the US on less than a year's notice, the fee is over $3000 USD. In most cases, US Musicians can arrive at the Canadian border and stay for 2 weeks, no fees, no processing fees. Join this mailing list to help: www.local1000.org/join-the-p2-...

I Worked at U.S.A.I.D. for Over 8 Years. This Is Our Biggest Failure.

I worked for U.S.A.I.D. in East Africa over the past eight and a half years, selling the story of American foreign aid to people in Rwanda, Ethiopia and Kenya. Our inability to tell this same story to Americans is our great failure. It is what put the agency into the Department of Government Efficiency’s wood chipper first. It’s what allows Secretary of State Marco Rubio to get away with insisting that lifesaving humanitarian aid would continue while the administration drastically slashed its funding. And it’s what I fear will let this presidency cast the deaths from the next preventable catastrophe as unstoppable or inevitable.

You hear this a lot on the left but it isn't true. USAID did not "fail to tell its story to Americans," the right targeted the agency with lies and misinformation.

Ultimately this narrative turns conservative attacks into even more calls for the left to reform.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/o...

Jet lagged but filling up on Journée d’écologie decoloniale @ FTA in Montréal:

This is the terrifying artwork that Zionists found so offensive. A picture of a menorah and olive branches with a quote by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with MLK

The teacher was disciplined for displaying this art

I'VE SEEN ENOUGH

SEAN ORR AND LUCY MALONEY HAVE WON THE 2025 VANCOUVER COUNCIL BYELECTION

2 plus blocks of people lined up to vote along scenic Coal Harbour, water, boats, mountains in background

Impressive turn out for a city by election—ABC + their detestable policies on their way out 🤞🤞✨

AI art is the aesthetic of fascism

On Richard Hanania’s Substack, he interviews the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson about Thompson and Ezra Klein’s new book.

Flabbergasting how quickly Hanania redeemed his image from Racist Creep With Racist History Still Tweeting Racist Shit as of 2022 to Serious Person Serious People Treat Seriously.