Braedon McDonald

Got to meet SCC Justice Malcolm Rowe today on campus (UofG)! He discussed many themes from my Qualifying Exam that we often discuss in political science which was pretty cool. His main talk was about constitutional totalism and its consequences!

Yes, there are ethical and useful applications of AI: quick scans of large text files; protein folding, routine coding, all that.

But in current higher ed they are MASSIVELY outweighed by the harms: students using “Chat” to skip reading, writing, thinking. And admins are determined to deny that.

So now taxpayers will have to pay for traffic safety measures, rather than having law-breakers foot the bill through fines. How is that good for taxpayers? www.cp24.com/local/toront...

We are told that Charlie Kirk was "doing politics the right way" by going to universities to speak his mind.

We are told that universities do not allow people with Charlie Kirk's views to speak their minds.

It is odd to be told both those things.

If you drill deep enough into almost anything, what you arrive at is "It's complicated and difficult to give a tidy and satisfying explanation."

That's the headsspace PhDs operate in, or at least the ones I've known. That's very much not the mindset of ChatGPT users.

Look around, the case for more, not less, liberal arts education remains stronger than ever.

Prime Minister Mark Carney sits across from US President Donald Trump, and actively wishes for his soul to leave his own body.

NEWS IN PHOTO: Carney instantly regrets winning election

How consecutive life sentences and the notwithstanding clause work - National | Globalnews.ca Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's proposal has raised concerns about the rule of law in Canada, with some warning it could erode constitutional norms.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre plans to use the notwithstanding clause to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences for mass murderers—a practice the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled unconstitutional.

@allard.ubc.ca prof. Debra Parkes weighs in on @globalnews.ca: bit.ly/43VbkoL

Canadian academics: it's not worth the trip.

Ex-University of Waterloo, Ont., student sentenced to 11 years in prison for gender-studies class stabbings | CBC News A former University of Waterloo, Ont., student who pleaded guilty to stabbing several people in a gender-studies class in 2023 was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison. The judge said Geovanny Villa...

The perpetrator of the stabbing attack on my UWaterloo colleague and students in June 2023 was sentenced today to 11 years in prison for their calculated, hate-motivated crime. Good to see a serious penalty imposed. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Trump is really just doing what he said he'd do all last year during the presidential campaign.

On a really important level, the problem is that a plurality of idiot Americans voted for the fascist demagogue spouting deranged economic ideas who'd already tried to overthrow their democracy once.

It’s like saying it must be fun to be a nuclear engineer, when said engineer is being lowered into a nuclear reactor in a last-ditch effort to replace some control rods to prevent a meltdown.

This case involves challenge to Ontario legislature's use of Charter s33 #notwithstanding clause and Charter s3 'right to vote' which is not subject to s33. #onlaw #constitution #elections

So Trump’s plan was to pause military funding to Ukraine this whole time. He didn’t need to bully Zelenskiy before doing it. I guess that made him feel better about it…

Ditto. And - if necessary - I hope the feds are willing to step up even if certain premiers oppose stronger measures. There's very little the feds can't do unilaterally here.

You already have. Most of you are just too blinded by a lack of international media coverage to realize it. Your country is literally now the greatest threat to global democracy this generation has ever seen, and the remaining democracies of the world will react accordingly.

That’s fucking brilliant.

Don’t Buy a Tesla. Sell Your Tesla. Refuse a Tesla at the Rental Counter. Yes—It Will Help. Elon Musk’s car company is in a precarious spot.

The best way to fight back against Musk: Don’t buy a Tesla. (And if you own one, sell it.)

The company was already in a precarious position before Musk launched his assault on democracy. A Tesla boycott would be devastating – and richly deserved.

Me, in Slate 🧵

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@isaluciecote.bsky.social @jonathanmalloy.bsky.social @twiets.bsky.social @arcattapan.bsky.social apan.bsky.social
@lturgeon.bsky.social eon.bsky.social
@cedunton.bsky.social

My university is arguably the No. 1 postsecondary institution in Canada for producing future Tech leaders. Maybe it should try to do something to prevent the next generation of Tech Bros from being Elon Musk-style illiberal fascist monsters. I dunno. Maybe some mandatory Arts classes or something.

Who wants to be the 51st version of this?

Trump responds to Washington plane crash with racist, ableist diatribe The president used the tragedy, which killed 67, to deliver a bigoted and self-promoting tirade about DEI.

I'm really gonna need folks to pay attention to the anti-disability language that Donald Trump used today. You can read @metrauxjulia.bsky.social for details. It is as central to what he's doing as the misogyny and racism and homophobia and ....

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Just like some of the recent uses of the notwithstanding clause has impacted the legitimacy of certain governments

Do voters support democracy at all costs? Input and output legitimacy in Australia and the United Kingdom Are voters willing to sacrifice democracy if they get everything else they want from their political leaders? Recent trends towards illiberalism in established democracies have called into question...

Ever get the feeling that folks are willing to tolerate democratic backsliding as long as they get what they want in terms of policy outcomes? @profannikawerner.bsky.social and @fsnagovsky.bsky.social put this to the test. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Poilievre knows that temporary residents already get deported for violent crime. The point is to associate visiting migrants with violence. Suggest a "woke" liberal plot is to blame. And create a climate of suspicion.
Remember: Trump won an election with this playbook.

Online platforms risk becoming ideological echo chambers that undermine meaningful dialogue The migrations of left-leaning users to Bluesky could deepen the divide with right-leaning users on X, and undermine cross-ideological discourse and democracy.

Online platforms risk becoming ideological echo chambers that undermine meaningful dialogue

Good post on the need for a Plan B.

I hope the Court finally recognizes the clear and proper relationship between s28 and s33. A recent decision the SCC made re: s25 may be relevant, as I wrote in a paper for the Constitutional Forum last year: journals.library.ualberta.ca/constitution...