To the dogs On a recent road trip to Tofino via several other destinations, I had my dog for company and remembered a post I wrote in 2020 about how the same dog had changed my pandemic experience. This mornin…

Sometimes, I take a break from doom scrolling to write.

12.02.2025 20:43 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Academic freedom is threatened by populist governments and parties the world over.

Getting the public to understand and care is a big challenge.

Here's how I explain it.

09.02.2025 14:39 — 👍 117    🔁 29    💬 3    📌 1

The Path to American Authoritarianism What comes after democratic breakdown.

Albertans should read closely. The first steps have been taken here, too.

Why do you think the Smith government is removing checks and balances, limiting voting rights, and seeking their own tax agency and police force?

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

12.02.2025 01:33 — 👍 261    🔁 144    💬 19    📌 10

The Associated Press issued this statement on Tuesday from Executive Editor Julie Pace: As a global news organization, The Associated Press informs billions of people around the world every day with factual, nonpartisan journalism. Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing. It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment. AP’s guidance on the Gulf of Mexico and Trump’s executive order regarding the name is available here.

What if -- and I'm just spitballing here -- other major news organizations stopped attending Oval Office events out of solidarity with the AP, whose excellent reporting we and they have depended upon for decades?

(Look up the confessional that begins with "First they came for ...)

11.02.2025 22:27 — 👍 723    🔁 189    💬 44    📌 16

Getting out of the immediate moment of crisis was always a prerequisite.

But we're a very dumb country if we allow this Sword of Damocles to continue to be hung over us.

Keep buying Canadian, keep diversifying trade, keep thinking about a world with a less reliable America. Let's learn something.

03.02.2025 21:59 — 👍 307    🔁 109    💬 16    📌 10

THE ART OF THE DEAL

Chapter One

When surprised by a bully, the best deal to broker is to get them to agree to something you're already doing. They'll think they've won; you'll not have lost.

It will feel ridiculous and it will be ridiculous. But it buys you time to prepare for next surprise.

03.02.2025 22:20 — 👍 331    🔁 74    💬 9    📌 1

Well that was a thing.
To do list: Buy Canadian, diversify trade, deal with internal trade barriers, invest in military (including Arctic), get infrastructure built AND have a life and avoid social media before the chaos starts again (like tomorrow).
❤️🇨🇦 #TeamCanada

04.02.2025 00:04 — 👍 774    🔁 110    💬 21    📌 12