I’ve advised Helsinki, Finland a few times in the past, and among the many conversations I’ve had with the Finns, we’ve talked about what it’s like to live right next to an aggressive dictatorship like Russia. I’m not the first one to say it, but Canada needs to be vigorously learning from Finland.

A friendly request to Americans: Please stop pretending to be Canadians when traveling. Find other ways to display that you're not MAGA. A 🌈 sticker, an "I didn't vote for 🍊" tag, anything. Be creative, but also be honest about who you are. As a Canadian living in Europe, it's already 1/2

Another farmer gave us some habaneros he grew. I'm using one—carefully—in supper tonight. Their odor reminds me of Putin. Why? I ate my first habanero (I grew it!) as a 15 y/o in 2000 while watching BBC covering the 2000 Russian election. When dictators grab power, they retain it for a long time.

A woman protesting outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, was brutally assaulted by goons who used mace and sting balls on her.

👇 The important context that many people forget. Covid vaccines are a powerful and effective tool, but they have to go into your arm regularly to work their magic. We'd see significantly attenuated transmission, as well, if the majority of people were vaccinated regularly.

This frightens me because behind this #ChristianNationalism are #HardRight #extremists and groups like #TakeBackAlberta which sounds very dangerous #fascist nonsense. #abpoli #ableg #

The ludicrous performance put on by the British military to make a fat dotard from the US feel important, is beyond embarrassing. This man is a criminal, irredeemably stupid, sex-abusing, fraudster whose actions seriously threaten the future of civilisation, and his wife is a former soft porn model.

I feel like Wesley Crusher in 'The Game', where the game is this inexplicable lurch toward regressive rightwing ideologies. It's not just a case of bigots being more vocal. It's also not just bots. People are turning into racists, misogynists & anti-science luddites in real-time, & I'm creeped out.

There’s a big difference between the victims of misogyny and those complicit in the system they’re trying to reinforce

I always wonder if the synchronized rise of far-right ideology around the world & the comcomitant gaslighting into ignoring how far the Overton window is shifting are partially linked to this virus. I see cognitive issues in family members who've had it. www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/underst...

Big question whether those calling for remigration would be so enthusiastic if the indigenous populations of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Brazil, Argentine, S Africa started repatriating their white European immigrant population.

A powerful essay about how the concept of "remigration", once a term relegated to vocabulary of fringe white supremacists, is now mainstream. It's written in the context of the UK but, sadly, the US is far ahead in this process and other countries not far behind. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Elon Musk is calling for "remigration" (Nazi code for ethnic cleansing) of non-whites from "white countries" and it is not even news nor will any elected official comment. That's how far the Overton window has shifted.

I would remind Canadians if Charlie Kirk said what he said in Canada 🇨🇦 he would be arrested under our hate speech laws. So admonishing women for pointing that out is bonkers.

The media's obsession with bothsidesing, when one side is advocating for mass ethnic cleansing, helps launder that intolerance. We're in this mess because they think objectivity = platforming fringe beliefs until they're not so fringe anymore. Tolerating intolerance only breeds more intolerance.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... Small but interesting study contributing to the plethora of evidence that vaccination engenders better immunity than infection (+safer, but we all know that). This is despite the fact the vaccinated-not-infected group was suboptimally vaccinated (<1 dose/year). 1/

A 3 hour drive to Basel, Switzerland, and we've been #Covid #vaccinated with the Moderna LP.8.1 vaccine. H/t to @hwiesenmueller.bsky.social for mentioning Anfos Apotheke to me. I prefer Moderna's higher dose over Pfizer (the latter will work fine for our 2nd dose in France in Dec.). Paid ~125CHF pp

It started there when it started in the US Meanwhile Canada has white supremacists marching in a public park in Niagara It’s being financed and promoted everywhere 💔

Thank you for this extremely important article. As usual, most Canadians are quietly observing what is unfolding not only across the border, but within our own country. White nationalist groups have popped up all over the country. The enemy is already here. The hatred has already seeped upwards.

Members of these fight clubs, known in white nationalist communities as “active clubs,” are hiding in plain sight. As part of their recruitment & online propaganda, they post videos of their training sessions, taking care to hide their faces and obscure their locations. www.cbc.ca/newsinteract...

Fellow Canadians, we cannot simultaneously scream at immigrants for "not integrating" into our culture and then try to link cultural identity to the colour of one's skin. This rising white nationalist discourse will further discourage new immigrants from integrating or making efforts to adapt.

Why the f**k does Bonnie Henry keep getting a free pass?! @governmentofbc.bsky.social #bcpoli

For those skeptical about the efficacy of #cleanair in schools, I'm pleased to say that after having a #Covid pos student in my facility a few weeks ago, we had ZERO forward transmission. I attribute it having 2 HEPA air purifiers running in every room and maintaining good ventilation. #MaskUp

Conventional values correlate with “dark-side” personality traits www.psypost.org/conventional... @psypost.bsky.social "Those who are intolerant of ambiguity [have] to resort to black-and-white solutions & are often characterized by rapid & overconfident judgement, often at the neglect of reality."

Yep. It's popping up across the entire Anglosphere.

This full-on open white nationalist discourse is starting to pop up everywhere publicly and feels frighteningly out of control. Seems we either really push back on this hard, every time, everywhere... or it becomes normalized and we've accepted full-on fascism.

There are currently 172 #ForeverCanadian locations across Alberta collecting petition signatures. Please, take a moment to find a location nearest you and reaffirm your commitment to Canada. All locations are listed here: www.forever-canadian.ca/sign-the-pet... We need your signature. #ableg

We now have over 4000 #ForeverCanadian signature collectors across Alberta. This movement is growing like no other before, but we need more of you to pitch in. Please, join our team and let’s make history. Let’s show our love for Canada.🇨🇦 #ableg #cdnpoli #Yeg #Yyc

SHERWOOD PARK is determined to break signature collecting records. Let’s help them out and sign the #ForeverCanadian petition.

The problem isn't the majority. It's the significantly disruptive minority, that intercedes itself just enough to make life uncomfortable for everyone. And that is their point. A Canadian consensus that identifies, calls out, and de-escalates Maga values is essential.

We desperately need white voices and faces giving racists pushback. Politely ignoring it has just allowed it to fester. You have to shut it down, face to face, every day. Silence = Assent. Ive thrown people out of my home. I interrupt street scenes. Im a bigmouth libra who cant help it.

Ok, how do we make enough noise about this - and to whom - to make impact? @tizzyent.bsky.social @coopspeak.bsky.social @theresisters.bsky.social @timabray.bsky.social @geoffypjohnston.bsky.social

The right wing hate storm is coming to Canada. It is going to be about immigrant blaming. This is the fascist playbook being used across Europe, Australia, the US. It's coming here. We need to be ready and to push back. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkVR...

A solid 40% of the population of every country is an insane, brain-damaged peasant who decides who to vote for based on the last conspiracy theory they saw on Instagram Reels

Klemperer emphasized that it wasn’t speeches or symbols that eased Nazi ideology into people’s heads but constant repetition of the same droning language. This still applies and manifests in the casual, repeated use of ideas like “remigration,” which is another way of saying “ethnic cleansing.”

TW (racism). Canadians, we have a problem. A comment on @charlieangus104.bsky.social FB page took me down a rabbit hole to the grandiosely named "Dominion Society of Canada". It's a white nationalist organization that makes ICE look like child's play. They operate in plain sight. 1/

A corollary I'd add is I frequently see the statement "Effectiveness fell off a cliff after Omicron" (or similar). We did hit a nadir in VE in 2022 & early 2023 when we were still using WT & WT/BA.5 vaccines against some very distant variants, such as XBB.1.5. The antigenic match of subsequent 1/3

x melts brains. it's why everything is so messed up. i don't think news editors, columnists, journalists, politicians and so on should be on there at all. it's poison and nobody is 'clever' enough for the propaganda and bile to have zero impact. it's always going to insidiously seep in.

Interesting. Having had 2 JN.1 immunizations (2x Novavax) and one KP.2 (Pfizer), my bet-hedging strategy compels me to pick LP.8.1 (Pfizer or Moderna, since Novavax remains at JN.1) for my first dose this autumn. I'm heading to Germany for it, as they always immunize a month earlier than France.

It doesn’t matter if you feed your kids organic foods, MAHA moms. It doesn’t matter if you lift every day, bro. It doesn’t matter how many supplements you consume. When polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, and whooping cough come a calling, all that matters is if you are vaccinated or not.

It's rich that European migrants and their descendants in non-European countries are whining about migration.

I am just trying to understand what in the hell is going on worldwide. Why did the entire world seem to become anti-immigrant at the same time? And transphobic at the same time? And nationalist at the same time?

We have the same dangerous white nationalist voices in Canada and (obviously) the U.S. They are closely connected to Alberta separatists and MAGA lunatics. The hate rally in Toronto is connected to this. This is a coordinated movement that people need to be aware of and speak up against.

Agreed. And Dana Parish as well. And a bunch of other antivax American nutters who've manipulated a fringe of the Covid-cautious community, especially in the US. Please stop following these charlatans.

Convo in the wild: Is your account political? Me: not intentionally… As a doctor, vaccination was a given until it suddenly became ‘political’ As a Canadian, having an independent country was a given, until it suddenly became ‘political’ #WeirdTimeline

I just blocked her. Here in America, we heard and read comments such as that and LOOK where we are now. Please, I beg you. Crush that type of rhetoric now. Do not allow it to creep into Canada any further. You will live to regret it. Look south to see just how bad.

💯 I generally have a modest preference for Novavax, but since Pfizer's/Moderna's version (LP.8.1) is antigenically closer to current variants than Novavax's JN.1 (unchanged from last year), I'm going to choose mRNA for at least 1 of my 2-3 doses over the next year.

Yes. My spouse has a ton of dental work to catch up on (largely shelved because of Covid). We're trying to wait until we can get a dose of the updated (LP.8.1) vaccine this autumn. Why? Because regular vaccination reduces infection & Long Covid risk as well, not *just* the risk of severe illness.

Vaccination significantly reduces transmission, and high vaccination rates significantly reduce overall transmission in the community. Some people in the disabled community are loud and wrong about this, and it’s a really big problem.

Yes. This is a point I keep trying to explain, but many people remain fixated on the word "prevent". Don't think of it as "prevent/does not prevent" (FWIW, even the measles vaccine doesn't prevent *all* infections). Think of it as risk reduction—a spectrum from 0 to 100. 1/3