Jeff Gray

“On June 15, 1992, [Dan] Quayle altered 12-year-old student William Figueroa's correct spelling of "potato" to "potatoe" at the Muñoz Rivera Elementary School spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the subject of widespread ridicule for his error.” — @wikipedia.org

Smithsonian removes Trump from impeachment exhibit in American History Museum A temporary placard, on display since 2021, described the president's historic impeachments. Officials said the exhibit was restored to an earlier version following a review of legacy content.

Exclusive: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History removed references to President Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit — an apparent change to its plans to update its collection of artifacts about the historic U.S. proceedings.

"Schabas’ decision makes it abundantly clear, now and going forward, that governments can’t just pass laws that are steeped in, well, bullshit"

Ontario confirms Starlink deal dead, won’t reveal cost of ending contract Ford government will not say how much it must pay Musk-owned company

As first reported today by the good folks at Global News: Starlink deal officially cancelled, but kill fee still a secret. #ONpoli
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Ford walks back vow to have province issue asylum seekers work permits Ontario Premier says his assertion of two-year delays came from people in his riding

Ford walks back vow to unilaterally issue provincial work permits for refugee claimants facing (alleged) federal delays of more than two years.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Ford claims asylum seekers wait 2 years for work permits. Feds say it’s actually 45 days | Globalnews.ca At the end of a three-day leaders' summit in Huntsville, Ont., the country's premiers agreed to look at ways to use their constitutional powers to hand out work permits.

Populism at work....

Ford claims asylum seekers wait 2 years for work permits. Feds say it’s actually 45 days globalnews.ca/news/1130460...

#onpoli #canpoli #Ontario #Canada

Page One in Scotland.

I agree with this whole thread but do think it’s been very clear for decades that the defunding and cultural marginalization of the Humanities has been an ideological project

What that means is that it needs only to be fought on that terrain

Screenshot of Columbia's settlement with the White House

Columbia University has handed over its undergraduate admissions process to Donald Trump and his MAGA allies, who will now decide at their sole discretion whether the university has admitted enough white people. It's no longer an independent institution.

This is really evil, demented, panicky stuff--just psychotic behavior from a sitting president, including the mid-thought digression about decorating--and political reporters and major media whose take on it is "You know, that's just how he is" should be viewed as his willing courtiers.

My favourite line: "As authoritarianism rises and global supply chains fracture, America's instinct to turn inward is understandable but misguided."

As if the US isn't the cause of supply chain fracturing and itself isn't barrelling toward authoritarianism.

If your proposal to deal with the US dynamiting the North American rules-based order involves calling for a North American rules-based order, you might not understand the actual problem Canada's facing.
Utterly delusional.

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...

A Globe and Mail reporter investigating allegations of political interference in Alberta healthcare has been targeted by an anonymous X account, which posted surreptitiously obtained photographs of her in public settings and described her private movements.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Steve Paikin on the end of TVO’s The Agenda – and 19 years of agenda-free programming Paikin earned a reputation as one of Ontario’s – and Canada’s – most trusted television journalists

I spoke with @spaikin.bsky.social about the end of The Agenda.
Congratulations to everyone at TVO who worked on this current affairs program over the last 19 years. True public broadcasting. www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/televis...

I've been saying to friends for a few months that the more I study authoritarianism in other countries, the more concerned I become that the CBS story is the sleeping giant here. The process has been a simmer (people inside the network have spoken out in real-time) but don't mistake slow for safe.

Orban is a stone-cold anti-Semite, racist and has mobilized the power of the state to quash opposition, dissent and independent media.

So it tracks that Smith is watching what he’s up to on immigration, I guess

"After he finished making brief remarks, media were escorted out of the room and barred from hearing National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak address the hundreds of chiefs gathered, despite her wishes for media to remain present."

This image is one of several pages of emails which the Ford government said couldn't be released via freedom of information because their release could cause the government economic harm. #onpoli

Full story 👇
globalnews.ca/news/1128824...

Nine First Nations in Ontario launch constitutional challenge against Bill 5 and Bill C-5 Lawyers for the Indigenous groups say in a legal filing that the two laws ‘violate the constitutional obligation of the Crown’ and want both struck down

The case appears to hinge on the fleshing out of the definition of "the honour of the Crown," a key legal concept in relations with First Nations
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

As part of intelligent retaliation, a coordinated response between the EU, Canada, Mexico ++, would be great to see. Difficult to maintain, but more likely to be effective than separate actions

It’s almost as if the problem with Trump is that he doesn’t feel bound by any agreements.
Obviously, the solution to this problem is to negotiate a comprehensive trade and security agreement. And maybe even throw in a few sweeteners, like repealing a law or two, to entice Trump to keep negotiating.

What's the point of negotiating a deal with a bloke who won't stick to his side of it, eh?

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

Every day we get new insight into the tools that the MAGA fascist regime is gathering to destroy democracy and freedom.

In Canada, we have no power over the outcome of this battle. But what we need to do every day is prepare for the worst outcome. We are not close to being ready.

What it’s like to be inside a Kyiv bomb shelter as Russia’s air assault escalates In the past two weeks, the Ukrainian capital has been hit by three mass attacks, sending civilians underground in pursuit of safety

Crouching in a darkened parking garage, doom-scrolling as explosions rumble above.

My bit on what it's like to live through the grim lottery that is one of the escalating Russian drone-and-missile bombardments of Kyiv...

www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

VOA's Persian Service did not carry live President Trump's speech about bombing Iran. The few remaining staffers describe a catastrophic failure due to Kari Lake's removal of most of their colleagues. The video of the speech could not be uploaded to the VOA Farsi website for 12 hours.

IT'S. NOT. A. BITTER. DISPUTE.

It's a one-sided authoritarian assault on a private institution. What are we doing here, and what is journalism, anyway?