Jonathan Harris

everything this admin does falls into the "really stupid" bucket or the "insanely sinister" bucket. by default most stuff goes into the really stupid bucket. while putting a really stupid item in the insanely sinister bucket looks bad, putting an insanely sinister item in the stupid bucket is worse

On the left: Image of two federal ICE agents wearing camouflage clothes and vests. On the right: text that reads “What stops ICE from crossing into Canada to snatch people? Very little. The legal reality Canadians don’t want to face.”

Reports of ICE activity near the New Brunswick–Maine border last month left many Canadians uneasy. In this Q&A with The Walrus editor-in-chief Carmine Starnino constitutional law expert Kent Roach breaks down what ICE's relationship to Canada looks like: https://ow.ly/xKqK50Y9KEn

If you're rich you get a tax cut, if you're not you have to work longer and harder. Populism! bsky.app/profile/atru...

This Friday, the House of Commons will be debating our Standing Orders.

I think this would be a great time to talk about whether Question Period is serving Canadians well as currently constructed (35 second questions, 35 second answers).

Here's some ideas: 🧵 (1/6)

Between this and Bovino/Lockjaw an underrated Trump 2 runner has been "deliberately ridiculous fictional characters who are accidentally timed so that future audiences wil assume they were satirizing equally ridiculous government officials"

Canadian Literature
Gender in Sport
Exercise Metabolism
History of Popular Music
Organic Chemistry

Wild that there was an open lane called "what if we just explain things clearly to people?" and he's the first one to ever fill it

YouTube video by TVO Today Retired General Eyre Won't Indulge Trump's Trolling | TVO Today Live

www.youtube.com/shorts/tGPcY...

Retired General Eyre Won't Indulge Trump's Trolling | TVO Today Live - YouTube🇨🇦

Screencap of the Globe editorial, listing Canadian military personnel who died in Afghanistan.

Screencap of the Globe editorial, listing Canadian military personnel who died in Afghanistan.

Screencap of the Globe editorial, listing Canadian military personnel who died in Afghanistan.

The Globe's editorial this morning is a list of all the Canadian military personnel who died in Afghanistan.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

me, absolutely not misremembering anything: i could be misremembering that

Making C-15 better. When Parliament resumes sitting this week, C-15 will be back at Committee for a chance to improve the bill. Here are some suggestions for one of the more controversial sections of the bill.

Since before the holidays, I've been musing about ways to address the problems in C-15, Div. 2. Parliament comes back tomorrow to think about the bill. Here are some thoughts.
open.substack.com/pub/robsonj/...

i've been dumping trash around the park every day for 20 years. many times people told me "hey stop dumping trash in the park" but i scoffed because trash dumper was a very prestigious job. now that we know dumping trash is bad, some have asked why i should be chairperson for the recycling committee

Re "cooperative federalism":

Even though Danielle Smith is part of the problem, Canada needs a coordinated intergovernmental approach to address such challenges.

Similar to the EU's "Democracy Shield" initiative - which is far from perfect, but at least a framework that can be further developed.

two images of an arrest, one digitally altered by the White House to make it look like the arrestee is crying

This is the first example I’ve seen of an American government using AI to meaningfully misrepresent actual events with the intent to deceive the public. We are at Stalinesque levels of propaganda.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...

Doug Ford rails about spy cars and we wring our hands about bots on Twitter, and meanwhile we just allow this overt foreign interference to happen unanswered

I cannot tell you how absolutely infuriatingly this stuff comes across to Europeans.

When we say America is no longer a reliable ally, it goes considerably deeper than Donald Trump himself. This kind of complacent, condescending shit is a *huge* part of it.

never forget

‘Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops’: ‘Enshittification’ author issues stark warning to Ottawa over AI policy Cory Doctorow says he believes AI firms will intentionally degrade their products to recoup large infrastructure expenditures—and it’s up to policymakers to protect Canadians from this.

The government "should be serious about the future of AI, instead of trying to be buzzword-compliant or following the herd,” says @doctorow.

www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0...

This US analysis on Canada is doing the rounds today, and I'll simply say that everything is a racist conspiracy when you're stupid

defenseanalyses.org/work/our-can...

The most antisocial animating force in American politics - whether you’re being shot in the face by a republican or yelled at online by a liberal - is crybullying. Just an unbelievably excruciating nation of crybullies yearning for victimhood

There are many times over the past week when I've actually been shocked at how the CBC is internalizing authoritarian disinformation and assumptions right into their coverage.

Canadian journalists: don't print lies in the newspaper. When you do, you are enabling fascism.

"...we are not simply a strong midterm-showing away from fixing this."

This is the most important thing both Americans and the rest of the world have to realise asap if they haven't already.

We see this similar garbage logic in Canada. There are people defending timid-ass statements from our leaders because speaking out to defend democratic and law-based norms won't move Trump or might antagonize him. As if Trump is the only audience. The public reinforcing of norms is its own good.

People at a city intersection

Do supervised consumption sites bring increased crime? Study suggests that's a myth https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/do-supervised-consumption-sites-bring-increased-crime-study-suggests-thats-myth-370062

𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca 🍁

Deep down America's allies know that only Americans can put a stop to the madness.

The fact that they can't or won't is why the damage to our partnerships will last far beyond this President.

I get that, for Canada, U.S. belligerence is incentive to try to further diversify oil exports to overseas markets. But at some point we may need to take into account that the geopolitical situation is also incentive for most countries to try to accelerate their shift away from oil reliance.

2016 tweet from IRA leader Gerry Adams: "This house is like Santa's Grotto. Takes half an hour 2 switch off fairy lights and assorted Yule illuminations. Feel like a grinch now." Response from @EddieIzzard'sBeret: "Surely you know someone who can fit a timer."

'Tis The Season

welcome home to your parents’ house, the channels are Yellowstone, masterpiece mystery, and Jimmy fallon, btw someone from your high school died in a real weird way

AI in the NHS: rewards, risks, and reality The NHS must avoid AI's seductive overdiagnosis trap, writes Professor Christina Pagel, director of UCL’s clinical operational research unit

AI could be hugely beneficial to the NHS, but only if it augments, not replaces, human judgement, and is deployed with strong governance and equity-aware data.

Plus of course the challenges of workforce and infrastructure remain!

A new piece by me.
www.digitalhealth.net/2025/12/ai-i...