Tom Hawthorn 🇨🇦

I know we are the stupidest county *right now* but are we the stupidest country ever?

Team Bailey here, too. Here is Jan Smithers on the cover of Newsweek in 1966.

The shirts of Pride:

At least the Nazis and Stalinists had the good taste to not give concentration camps cutesy nicknames.

I wrote one piece on the side of a highway in the shade of our broken down media bus.

My misfortune that the only Olympics I got to cover was the worst one in the worst place. Though I did get to eat some pretty good BBQ while sitting in the same booth used by MLK Jr.

Hinchliffe Stadium gets a marker on the NJ Black Heritage Trail PATERSON, N.J. – Like a decorated ballplayer, Hinchliffe Stadium continues to pile up accolades. Already on the National Register of Historic Places and part of the Paterson Great Falls National Histo...

Hinchliffe Stadium got a marker on the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail today. Pretty cool: www.mlb.com/news/hinchli...

Jeannie Seely, Who Pushed Boundaries and Broke Hearts at the Grand Ole Opry, Dies at 85

RIP to great singer, song-writer, Opry star, and trailblazer for women, Jeanne Seely… also a fine DJ in her later years; always was glad to catch her Sunday show on Willie’s Roadhouse on XM — she played good country songs, but I’d stay tuned just to hear her talk:
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/a...

Brushstrokes of power - Saltscapes Magazine Artist Jo Napier captures the essence of great women

Brushstrokes of power — Nova Scotian artist Jo Napier captures the essence of great women. Recent Saltscapes feature by Janet Whitman. (No paywall)

Merritt Herald marks new chapter under Indigenous ownership by K’en T’em - Kamloops News After more than 120 years of continuous publication in the Nicola Valley, the Merritt Herald has entered a new era under Indigenous ownership, following its acquisition by K'en T'em Limited Partnership from Glacier Media.

Merritt Herald marks new chapter under Indigenous ownership by K’en T’em #Merritt

I only cheer for the United States in world wars. And I'm uncertain that will be the case in the next one.

(Source for all: Library and Archives Canada, Canada Post Fonds, RG3, vol. 2187, "Stamped Envelopes")

Envelope from Toronto accordion and harmonica dealer Hough and Kohler Ltd with handwritten slogan "We do not handle German Goods"

Printed envelope from International Co-Operative Trading Co. Ltd., Port Arthur [Thunder Bay], Ontario, with red printed slogan "SAVE CHINA Boycott Japanese Goods"

Label affixed to the back of an envelope. Issued by the Trade Union Section C.L.A.W.F. [i.e. Canadian League Against War and Fascism], it features a caricature of Hitler marching over dead bodies with a hand stopping him and the slogan "BOYCOTT GERMAN-MADE GOODS"

The Wallaceburg question was one part of a larger debate before WWII over political speech and the post. The Post Office worried especially about statements on envelopes calling for boycotts of Germany and Japan, as the collection of labels and handwritten slogans in the same file attests. (6/6)

Letter from District Director of Postal Services, London, Ontario, to Director, Administrative Services, Post Office Department, Ottawa, Dec 31, 1938, inquiring about sending leaflet advocating boycott of Japanese goods through the mail.

Detail of handwritten note on the letter, dated Jan 13, 1939, reading "This should not be accepted for transmission in the mail."

This leaflet only survives because the postmaster asked the district director in London, ON, for advice. The director in turn sent it to HQ in Ottawa, which vetoed sending the leaflet through the mail. (5/6)

Detail from 1938 boycott leaflet: "BOYCOTT 'Made in Japan' ... THIS IS NOT INTENDED AGAINST OUR JAPANESE CANADIANS"

Remarkably, the leaflet draws a clear distinction between boycotting Japan and targeting Japanese Canadians. This is a nuance that the Cdn government didn’t make itself, as evident in Japanese-Canadian internment four years later. (4/6)

Full leaflet from 1938: "YOU CAN HELP CHINA Defend Herself Against Japanese Aggression BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS Only by exporting Silk for hosiery, etc., Christmas Tree Ornaments, Toys, Oranges, Tinned Crab and Tuna, Chinaware, can Japan obtain credits to buy War Materials to Kill the Defenseless Chinese. BOYCOTT "Made in Japan" Issued by THE CANADIAN FRIENDS OF CHINA, Chatham, Ont. THIS IS NOT INTENDED AGAINST OUR CANADIAN JAPANESE"

The proposed leaflet, published by the Canadian Friends of China in the nearby town of Chatham, urged residents of Wallaceburg to boycott Japanese goods. In the wake of Japanese atrocities in occupied China, such as the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, this boycott would “help China defend herself.” (3/6)

Chinese Canadian Peter Lamb [sic], residing at 443 James St, Wallaceburg, ON, in the 1931 Census of Canada.

Chinese Canadian Lee Doy, residing at 444 James St, Wallaceburg, ON, in the 1931 Census of Canada.

(The restaurateur is not named in the record, but was likely either Lee Doy or Peter Lam, who operated restaurants across the street from each other. Each employed a waiter and, along with a laundry owner, these made up Wallaceburg’s five-member Chinese Canadian community in the 1931 census). (2/6)

Detail from a 1938 leaflet reading "BOYCOTT JAPANESE GOODS"

In December 1938, a Chinese restaurant owner in Wallaceburg, Ontario, asked his local postmaster if he could distribute some fliers through the mail. A #FridayFind in the archives makes for a short thread about a consumer boycott to protest human rights abuses. #cdnhist #cdnpoli (1/6)

Automobile accidents have been a leading cause of death in America for over 100 years. Yet aside from The Great Gatsby, they rarely feature in literature. Back in 2020, I looked at six neglected novels about car wrecks and their consequences.

neglectedbooks.com/?...

The Hockey Canada sexual-assault trial is over, but conversations about the sport’s culture continue Attitudes toward women and sex still need to be confronted and changed beyond the locker room, advocates say

"Gang sex was 'a focus of the male bonding and initiation process throughout a hockey player’s career in Canadian major junior hockey .... The goal was to encourage women to drink in order for them to become easy targets as sexual conquests.'”
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

I knew what goof wrote this before clicking on the link.

Bruce is terrific.

Canadian here. Kevin O'Quisling is a dumbass.

It would be hard to make this week's Midtown Manhattan shooting any more devastating. But Fortune found a way. Among the four murder victims in Monday's rampage was Wesley LePatner, a top real estate executive at Blackstone Inc. and a forty-three-year-old mother of two. On Tuesday, Fortune ran a bizarre, disrespectful, and mercifully short obituary about LePatner. Under the unfortunate subhead "FORTUNE INTELLIGENCE," the obituary: • misstated LePatner's age; • put the gunman's name into the lede; • included a graf about his football injury; • linked to a New York congressman's tweet, without offering evidence the two knew each other; • published this photo caption: "An image of Wesley LePatner"; • and added this line, which is reprinted here verbatim: He honored her sense of civics, as a ". The most informative part of the obit is the editor's note at the end: "For this story, Fortune used generative Al to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing."

When obituaries go awry.

Via this week’s Laurels & Darts/ @columjournreview.bsky.social

www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

"Responds to" in a headline? C'mon, @nytimes.com. How passive.

👇👇

It is so important to surface these stories right now and to be really clear about why censorship is happening. Kudos to @evaholland.bsky.social for taking on this risky story. We need this kind of #journalism more than ever.

For the record, Glenn Kessler was a fucking abysmal fact checker.

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.

Hell, no. We won't go.