Simon Houpt

Europe Worries Trump Poses Threat to Its Financial and Tech Sovereignty

If it’s not already, all Canadian government investment in digital sovereignty should count toward our defence spending.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/b...

The @thestar.com editorial board on the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge www.thestar.com/opinion/edit...

The Tumbler Ridge shooter was a trans female. How rare is that? Transgender people account for less than a tenth of one per cent of mass shootings, despite making up a larger proportion of the population.

Good just-the-facts work here from @chrisknightfilm.bsky.social
nationalpost.com/news/canada/...

From blackouts to food shortages: How US blockade is crippling life in Cuba US pressure pushes island nation's 11 million people to the brink as Cuba imposes emergency measures amid fuel crisis.

There's a lot going on, but also Cuba being crushed by the Trump regime's sanctions. Planes will no longer be able to refuel there. People without food. Blackouts.
aje.news/v5g5z3

On the bright side, the patriots won the halftime show.

Yes. But it was a little obscured. Lower angle shot.

Really enjoying CBC’s biennial Olympic Opening Ceremony Ad Show. Gold medal performances from AirBNB, Audible, RBC, Scotties, Intact Insurance, Turbotax, Ozempic, and Nintendo. Too bad they have to interrupt it with occasional stuff from Milan.

Was driving my kids to school and the first thing on the radio was reporting about Trump's video depicting the Obamas as apes and I think many people still don't fully appreciate what it means to have to raise Black children in a country where the president is so brazenly and consistently racist

Opinion | The Globalization of Canadian Rage

🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 🇩🇰 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 🇪🇸 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🇬🇱 🇫🇮 🇱🇺 🇨🇭 🇧🇪 🇳🇱 🇬🇷 🇮🇸 🇮🇹 🇵🇱 🇵🇹 🇱🇻

“The West is feeling its betrayal turn into rage. The world is waking up to both its vulnerability and its value. But better late than never: We’re all Canadian now.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...

Canadian Province New Brunswick to Quit Using Elon Musk’s X New Brunswick, an east coast Canadian province of about 900,000 people, will no longer use billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X for routine government communications, its leader announced Thursday.

New Brunswick, an east coast Canadian province of about 900,000 people, will no longer use billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X for routine government communications, its leader announced

Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post Cuts 30% of Staff, Laying Off More Than 300 Employees Including Amazon Beat Reporter The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is enacting layoffs that will eliminate "hundreds" of jobs.

"Those who were laid off include Caroline O’Donovan, the Post’s beat reporter covering Amazon"

I was also targeted by Honest Reporting Canada for a column about the killing of journalists in Gaza. A badge of honour, I guess.

"As part of this push for relevance, xAI embraced making sexualized material, publicly releasing sexy AI companions, rolling back guardrails on sexual material and ignoring internal warnings about the potentially serious legal and ethical risks of such content."

Canadian officials are still on X

RIP Catherine O’Hara. I do not accept this.

AGO dissolving committee that declined to acquire a Nan Goldin artwork Some members alleged that the Jewish-American artist’s views on Israel were ‘antisemitic’

The AGO is disbanding the committee that decided not to go ahead with the Nan Goldin acquisition. @joshokane.bsky.social has been leading and breaking this story for the past week and a bit. A huge amount of work has gone into reporting this story.

www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/arti...

Amber Bracken is one of Canada’s greatest photojournalists, and for the RCMP to mistake observers for participants, arrest her and prevent her from doing her vital work is a deeply dangerous precedent. This case is important for all of us.

Screenshot of Cineplex page for Melania “documentary” showing 2 tickets sold so far for today’s 8:45 pm screening at Toronto’s Scotiabank Theatre.

13 tix sold across four screenings today at Toronto’s Scotiabank Theatre. (One of them is probably @hertzbarry.bsky.social, who’s always championing little-seen films.) 723 seats still available.

What is Nick Shirley? Slop doesn’t need to be AI-generated

The violent occupation of Minneapolis started with a vlog. I've wanted to find a framework to describe Nick Shirley & others like him: "Influencer" is too quaint. "Journalist" is obviously wrong.

I landed on "slopagandist."

Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...

‘Anne Frank was in Amsterdam legally,’ Trump antisemitism envoy says in refuting Walz’s ICE comparison - Jewish Telegraphic Agency Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun joined the US Holocaust museum in criticizing Walz.

Whole lotta prominent people for whom "Never again" means "Never again will Nazis murder Jews between 1933 and 1945." www.jta.org/2026/01/27/p...

The front page of Alberta Courts website is now joint statement by chief justices of all three court levels, proclaiming the importance of judicial independence. albertacourts.ca

Journalism! The way you always wanted it to be.

www.instagram.com/p/DT_zBaIgAxR/

Not kidding. It has almost everything. Plain speaking. Respect for your eyes and ears. Exact quote: "That was a lie." Lots of context. Dead on in their editing. Truth to power. And more.

Via @froomkin.bsky.social

Who decides what journalists can see? - World Press Freedom Canada When police arrested photojournalist Amber Bracken while she was documenting a protest in northern British Columbia, they didn’t just detain a reporter — they set the stage for a major test of press f...

It's the third week of trial in our case against the RCMP for arresting photojournalist Amber Bracken. World Press Freedom Canada says "Its implications could shape ... whether journalists can safely observe and document conflicts without fear of arrest." worldpressfreedomcanada.ca/who-decides-...

Alex Pretti’s coworkers take a moment of silence this morning

AGO trustee, major donor Judy Schulich led internal push to prevent Nan Goldin acquisition Some gallery committee members alleged Jewish-American artist’s views on Israel were ‘antisemitic’

NEW: The push to prevent the Art Gallery of Ontario from acquiring a Nan Goldin work last year – which led to four resignations + an internal review – was prompted by AGO trustee + significant donor Judy Schulich, according to newly reviewed documentation
www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

Minneapolis Live Updates: Man Killed by Federal Agents Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun

Please note that NYT is leading with what the videos show, not the lies from the feds. This is what every news organization should be doing. This is how you cover a government that lies as it breathes. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/us/minneapolis-shooting-ice

"They stayed a little back."

America is the only country that has ever called for help from NATO. NATO answered, thosuands of allied troops fought and hundreds died.

Every time he belittles this, global fury at this guy and the nation that elected him grows. Americans will not be forgiven.

AGO rocked by resignations after failed Nan Goldin acquisition Senior curator and two volunteers stepped down over gallery’s vote to not acquire work

Scoop: The AGO is reckoning with the resignations of a senior curator & two members of a collections committee after the group narrowly voted to not acquire a work by Nan Goldin over accusations that the Jewish-American photographer’s views are antisemitic www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

Penn Calls Government’s Demand for Lists of Jewish Staff ‘Disconcerting’

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/u...

German Jews were citizens of Germany at the start of 1933. By the end of 1933, the Nazis had
removed citizenship from naturalized citizen Jews.

In 1935, all German Jews were fully stripped of their German citizenship.

Citizenship under dictatorships is contingent for targeted minorities.