Steven Nuss

Cc: Canada. #cdnpoli

Appreciate this post, since I think about this idea a lot. I also think it dove tails with findings like this: doi.org/10.1017/S000...

As a political scientist and an avid golfer, I have to say: cheater!

It is OUT the last (printed) version of Handbook of Affective Polarization doi.org/10.4337/9781...
It is open Access!!!

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Or do we need to rethink our democratic theories?

Maybe the drivers of voter anger and disillusionment today aren’t primarily economic.

Maybe they’re symbolic and driven by opportunistic elites.

This is super relevant for my dissertation work on cross-border political attitudes and video-based social media. Excited to take a look!

With more cases than the entire United States, it's incredible to me (not really, sigh...) that the Premier seems so unconcerned with this issue. She should be asked about this at each and every presser. #ableg

"Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections"

People & parties who believe in democracy do not speak like this about other people & parties in their country. It's fundamentally incompatible with democracy. Tolerating it is how concentration camps & stripping people of citizenship happen.

Globe and Mail reporter targeted by online campaign, photographed surreptitiously in public settings An anonymous X account posted photos of Alberta reporter Carrie Tait and described her movements as she reported on a health authority controversy

Hi, yes, g'morning. This is awkward.

But targeting a reporter - hi! - with
surreptitiously obtained photos and details of her tooling around town is an attack on the public's right to know.

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

In my view, the window to *forestall* autocratization of the US political system is basically closed. We're now in the consolidation phase of a new authoritarian constitutional settlement. The question is how far it'll get (will it achieve its apparent goal of fascism?) & at what pace.

Here's why:

What a headline www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Misinformation-laden website almost convinces Alberta town to abandon climate program The town of Cochrane, Alberta, came within minutes of withdrawing from a national net-zero framework based on arguments from an AI-powered misinformation campaign uncovered by Canada's National Observ...

"This website I'm quoting from, I don't know a whole lot about," a town councillor told his colleagues. "I just thought their words were better than mine."

The site is run by "a group using an AI chatbot to craft talking points aimed at persuading local politicians to abandon net-zero programs."

The Republican budget is a climate horror Not content to ignore climate change, they decided to make it even worse.

"The bill includes the most aggressive assault on climate action of any legislation in history. In fact, it represents a profound shift in policy. Trump and Republicans are not just ignoring climate change — they’re actually trying to make it worse." — @paulwaldman.bsky.social

The dark side of public visibility: How academic authors perceive and cope with anti-press hostility From Facts&Frictions/Faits&Frictions, a journal about journalism

Study of Canadian academics who venture into writing for the general public finds online threats/abuse they get in return are "leading to self-censorship":

• 19.9% avoid expressing their viewpoints
• 13.4% avoid writing about certain topics
• 26.9% reconsider their "knowledge mobilization efforts"

Wow so you’re telling me everyone who cheered on the Iraq war is on board with this now too? And so are the people who opposed the Iran nuclear deal and killed it?

You’re kidding.

Most Albertans Will Soon Have to Get Out Their Wallets for COVID Shots Experts and advocates sound the alarm about the new policy, which will see even health care workers have to pay up for protection

In the 2023 election, Danielle Smith declared that "under no circumstances will any Albertan ever have to pay out of pocket for access to their family doctor or to get the medical treatment that they need."

Starting soon, Albertans will have to pay for COVID shots.

pressprogress.ca/alberta-will...

Alberta government faces mounting pushback to new COVID-19 vaccine policy | CBC News The Alberta government continues to face fierce opposition to plans that will reduce access to publicly funded COVID-19 vaccines in the province.

"This is saying if you want to prevent yourself from getting a serious illness and the serious consequences that go with it, if you have money you're fine. If you're a member of the working poor or a single-parent family, you're out of luck."

–Former chief medical officer of health Dr. James Talbot

What I found striking about No Kings! was the complete absence of the Democratic Party. I read several stories, looked at lots of picture, and did not find a single slogan saying "Vote Democratic." "Defending Democracy" was frequent among the slogans but not the Democratic Party. The demonstrations were organized by an alliance of 203 organizations. They have no eminent leaders and no organizational structure. They are not a vehicle of anybody running for any office. I assume that the people participating in the demonstrations had voted and will vote Democratic, even if only to vote against Trump. But at least thus far, No Kings! is a movement and movements that at some time do not orient themselves toward winning elections do not survive long under democracy. Moreover, not only were the demonstrations devoid of electoral slogans, the Democratic Party makes no attempts to instrumentalize it electorally. It is just politically absent. I just learned from the New York Times why the Democratic Party elite was absent. The Clintons, Harris, Schumer, Jeffries, and Pelosi were attending a wedding of Alex Soros to Huma Abeldi at the estate of Mr Soros in the Hamptons.

Adam Przeworski

Just to let Gen Z know this is exactly how things played out with invading Iraq.

Russia was kicked out of the G8 in March 2014 exactly BECAUSE it launched its war in Ukraine by invading and forcibly annexing Crimea.

RFK Jr. sent Congress 'medical disinformation' to defend COVID vaccine schedule change A document circulated to members of Congress misinterprets studies and cites debunked research, scientists say. It could influence congressional perceptions of vaccine safety.

I'll stress: not a great look or good policy for the GoA to hang their hat on this:

"One health expert called the document 'willful medical disinformation' about the safety of COVID vaccines for children and pregnant women." #ableg

www.npr.org/2025/06/13/n...

So, about this quick fact, #ableg – the document describing the decision to Congress "cites scientific studies that are unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterizes others."
www.npr.org/2025/06/13/n...

Now why on Earth would the FDA have made that recommendation? We’ll never know… #ableg

"The American regime today arrested a member of the legislative opposition, after declaring it would 'liberate' that senator's province from opposition control using the armed forces"

Three charts showing the months of May, June, July, August and September for 2023, 2024 and 2025. Each day on the charts is coloured either blue for no smoke hours, or increasingly dark colours of orange/burnt red/black to depict more smoke (up to 24 hours for a given day.) Chart hopefully shows just how smoky 2023 was, with many smoky days and many heavy smoky days throughout the whole season. 2024 wasn't quite as bad with periods of heavy smoke in July and August but mostly smoke-free the rest of the time. 2025 was clear through may and a few smoky days in early June so far.

Working on a new way of visualizing smoky days:

Calendar-style charts.

These show the number of 'smoke hours' (as defined by Environment Canada) each day in Calgary during the wildfire season in 2023, 2024 & 2025 to date.

Thoughts / feedback welcome.

Aiming to publish these soon-ish on cbc.ca

Indian agent had Jagmeet Singh under close surveillance | Globalnews.ca The incident, detected in late 2023, prompted police to place tight security around the NDP leader.

Kananaskis is beautiful. Given the news below, I hope Carney and Modi go for a walk and have a very stern conversation about human rights and Canadian sovereignty: #cdnpoli #ableg

globalnews.ca/news/1122919...

In a few years, I cannot wait to see the research on elite political behaviour. 🤪

"Leveraging the natural experiment of the Trump/Musk social media breakup, we find that attitudes of congressional representatives..."

LOL.