A couple folks thought this post was "blaming women for the problem." No. First, I don't even think low birth rates are a bad thing. Second, the long-term decline in birth rates originates from two GOOD things: women's labour force participation, and women gaining bodily autonomy over reproduction.

Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦@emmettmacfarlane.com · 4h ago

I'm not sure I entirely buy this. Are costs - esp housing - mitigating the growth of families? Probably! But how significant is it relative to other factors (particularly women prioritizing careers)? This is an empirical question that remains too understudied to make definitive claims about. 1/2

We will keep re-electing Doug Ford, even though everyone agrees the province is worse off under him, he's terrible at governing, and mired by corruption.

David Coletto@davidcoletto.bsky.social · 1h ago

The immediate impact of Ontario’s expense scandal is marginal. The PCs still lead by eight. But a majority of Ontarians see a broader culture of entitlement, and 41% say the story has made them more negative about the Ford government. NEW POLL: abacusdata.ca/expense-sca...

Also we should look abroad, where many countries have gone far further than Canada has in subsidizing families. There might be some evidence of it moving the needle, but no country has substantially reversed the trend. Costs vs benefits warrant skepticism.

This is genuinely astonishing: a piece by the Globe and Mail’s editorial board lamenting the “new normal” of wildfires and summer smoke and no mention whatsoever of a) climate change, or b) the burning of fossil fuels that causes it. #cdnpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

Globe editorial: A summer season of fire, smoke, ashes and fear

The carefree feeling of summers past has been incinerated as wildfires rage across the country

theglobeandmail.com

I'm not sure I entirely buy this. Are costs - esp housing - mitigating the growth of families? Probably! But how significant is it relative to other factors (particularly women prioritizing careers)? This is an empirical question that remains too understudied to make definitive claims about. 1/2

Meredith Martin 🇨🇦@meredithmartin.bsky.social · 4h ago

"We end up with declining fertility not becuase women have stopped wanting families but because the math of building one keeps getting harder." @SabrinaMaddeaux speaks hard truths with @MikePMoffatt in today's podcast episdoe.

BREAKING: We’re suing Texas A&M University’s Board of Regents to challenge their censorship policy that restricts instruction on race, sexual orientation, and gender. Public universities can't ban ideas they don't like.

Donald Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ means reneging on them. That’s why Canada cannot capitulate

Donald Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ means reneging on them. That’s why Canada cannot capitulate

Countries that sign deals with the Trump administration are quickly finding out that the stability and certainty they hoped to purchase was an illusion.

theconversation.com

The coup de grace: "Your new delivery window is tomorrow between 3:45-6:45pm"

Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦@emmettmacfarlane.com · yesterday

UPS: Your delivery window is 3:45-6:45pm. Also UPS: *attempts delivery between 1:00-2:00pm* UPS note on door: "Sorry we missed you. You can pick up the package at our distribution centre located at [address]." UPS Distribution Centre: "Oh, we don't have it, they'll try to deliver again tomorrow."

UPS: Your delivery window is 3:45-6:45pm. Also UPS: *attempts delivery between 1:00-2:00pm* UPS note on door: "Sorry we missed you. You can pick up the package at our distribution centre located at [address]." UPS Distribution Centre: "Oh, we don't have it, they'll try to deliver again tomorrow."

This is the tamest, most sanitized version of the shift taking place in the party (and that has been going on for several years now). Absolutely nothing about sucking up to the far-right, MAGA adherents, or winking at authoritarian populism. No, it's just about online influencers. Come on.

Talk of Conservative 'infighting' misses the bigger story: the party is messily reinventing itself

For one longtime Tory, it’s another sign that the ground beneath his party’s intellectual movement is shifting violently.

nationalpost.com

[Also: It can't separate, not legally at least.]

Jason Markusoff@markusoff.bsky.social · yesterday

If it separates, Alberta would have to reckon with fact that nearly all the oil it exports to US gets shipped through other Canadian provinces. By me: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Everyone killed by these strikes was killed illegally. Deliberate killing of humans outside of armed conflict is murder. And murder is illegal.

CNN@cnn.com · 2d ago

The US military’s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed “individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House, following “a careful review” of classified information he has seen so far.

Negligent homicide is a defining characteristic of concentration camps.

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 2d ago

ICE has killed another person.

In Game of Thrones, there were characters to root for. The problem with House of Dragon is all of the characters deserve nothing.

Canada wasn't built by men like those leading the separatist movement. Let's not let it be ripped apart by them. open.substack.com/pub/theline/...

Jared Wesley: Alberta's separatists are all hat, no cattle

The thing about cowboys is that they don't run away when things get hard.

open.substack.com

If I were a CEO I would be proud that many of my customers were, in fact, sane.

The Verge@theverge.com · 2d ago

Bluesky's new CEO Toni Schneider on the platform's reputation for being a liberal bubble: "Yes, we definitely want that to change. It is already changing. It certainly wasn’t designed to attract one specific group of people."

Submitted a paper nearly two months ago and the status is still "with Editor" - not actually out for peer review yet. Super frustrating, especially when I suspect that the glut of AI crap being submitted by others is a key cause of slowing everything down.

This is almost certainly true in Canada as well.

Josh Sternberg@joshsternberg.com · 2d ago

There are 7 PR people for every journalist in the US. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

🎵 Nazi-man, Nazi-man Does whatever a Nazi can Burns a cross, any size Wants to kill, the DEIs In the chill of the night He's into global crimes Like a streak of blight He arrives to ruin times Nazi-man, Nazi-man Broken Internet Nazi-man Wealth and fame He's engorged Fascism is his reward 🎵

Alan Richardson@alanrichardson.bsky.social · 3d ago

I hope Musk makes an historically accurate Spider-Man movie asap.

More Americans died as a result of COVID than were killed in combat in every one of their wars since 1775 combined.

Dr. Lucky Tran@luckytran.com · 3d ago

I worked for New York’s largest medical center at the start of the pandemic. There were morgue trucks on the streets. They set up emergency medical tents in Central Park. Healthcare worker colleagues died. It is horrific that RFK Jr is on national TV lying that ICUs were empty.

The question is, Do you want more money or less? Carney repealing carbon pricing means you now have less.

Andrew Leach nailing PP's war on carbon pricing:

Terrorism arrests in the UK increased by 1,200% this year The 2,800 people arrested for supporting Palestine Action, is more than the number of people arrested for all terrorism offences in the last decade combined inews.co.uk/news/retired...

How retired teachers, nurses and vicars became Britain's newest terror suspects

Suspects arrested for holding signs reading, 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action'

inews.co.uk

Ooooh, just got 'reposted' by Jane Espenson, writer of my favourite TV shows.

🎵 Nazi-man, Nazi-man Does whatever a Nazi can Burns a cross, any size Wants to kill, the DEIs In the chill of the night He's into global crimes Like a streak of blight He arrives to ruin times Nazi-man, Nazi-man Broken Internet Nazi-man Wealth and fame He's engorged Fascism is his reward 🎵

Alan Richardson@alanrichardson.bsky.social · 3d ago

I hope Musk makes an historically accurate Spider-Man movie asap.

The reason people don't vaccinate their children against Covid now is because they are idiots, spoon-fed stupid nonsense from bad reporters like you, you hack.

Lewis Goodall@lewisgoodall.com · 4d ago

Covid was- overwhelmingly- not a threat to children. Hence why (generally) we don’t vaccinate them now.

Men will literally create a humanity destroying technology before talking to their kids.

Got a new laptop this week and first thing I did was uninstall Microsoft CoPilot, so... y'know, go fuck yourself.

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 7mo ago

AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns

“Pay us money or be annihilated in a financial crisis” sounds like mobster stuff er um I mean Trump admin stuff

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 7mo ago

AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns

Re-upping this, and looking forward to taking the 9 year-old to see it next week.

Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦@emmettmacfarlane.com · 5d ago

Brand New Day is... a great movie. Kinda Thunderbolts-esque 3rd act resolution. Great character stuff. Some good action. Well acted. A couple surprise appearances. Top 15 Marvel film.