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War (What Is It Good For)

New! STAYING POWER by Zena Sharman is a remarkably frank memoir about interdependence, grieving, and parenting as a queer femme that doesn’t leave out the messy or the erotic. 👉 Out now in Canada & the US: arsenalpulp.com/Books/S/Stay...

Batshyte crazy stuff. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

NEW FROM ME: While US and Israeli forces launched strikes against Iran this weekend, Global News' The West Block host Ben Mulroney reposted video of fighter jets that had been miscaptioned as American F-15s attacking Iran I double-checked. Ben was actually sharing footage from a video game

Important potato technology.

Pierre Poilievre has launched a “free speech” petition in support of Barry Neufeld, an anti-LGBTQ+ bigot and antisemitic conspiracy theorists with a history of filing anti-free speech SLAPP lawsuits against his critics www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The filmmaker who was supposed to make this residential school denial film had a YouTube account full of Nazi propaganda, Holocaust denial, caustic racism and antisemitism and conspiracy theories. Too much even for Juno News.

New episode of #EvenMoreNews with @margaret.bsky.social! We discuss her experience reporting from Minneapolis, how people there are organizing and providing mutual aid, Trump's threats to "nationalize" elections, and how he wishes Kaitlan Collins would smile more. Link: youtu.be/V_Cpz4xOfAw

You know how I keep saying that every damn skill and capacity is needed in this moment??? What do you know how to do that can serve in this critical time??

Taylor Rehmet's win in a Texas state senate shocked pundits. But, as I found in interviews with people close to the ground, it's not so surprising. A lot of it is about the books bans. People hate the book bans. Even some Republicans! An analysis. www.salon.com/2026/02/06/s...

Langston Hughes (1943)

That ‘can we go back to regular police brutality’ comment has me reeling. Because once you hear it, you realize that even when it’s not phrased that bluntly, that’s the underlying demand a lot of white people are making. I'm not going to pretend that is okay.

Another question I came here with was: how effective are the whistles and honking? Does it stop abductions? And the answer is, surprisingly to my cynical self, yes, and often. I have talked to so many people who have successfully interrupted kidnappings.

Entirely predictable.

We could all learn a lot from Finland's approach It's brilliant that they're just adding AI education to the existing media literacy curriculum www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/ar...

1. Sometimes, the absurdity of the situation we're all in just hits me. Going forward, ongoing and continuous transmission of SARS-CoV-2 will lead to an ever-increasing percentage of the global population developing chronic illnesses due to sequelae of infection.

"Academics literally cannot make genAI go away" we also can't make underage drinking go away and we're not advocating for installing bar carts in every classroom.

this needs an overwhelming amount of genuine signatures. canadians pls add yours

‘This is preventative medicine.’ Toronto hospital starts $1-million fund to help patients with rent. Research shows a link between evictions and worse health outcomes, says Dr. Andrew Boozary of the University Health Network. www.thestar.com/news/gta/thi... via @thestar.com

You know a thing that is very bad about this? This is the anti-trans playbook being played against women. Start with 'has the x movement failed the people it's supposed to help', then infantilize them, then make the case they can't be responsible for their own choices, then take their rights away

As a chronically ill person, I still mask. For my own safety. Covid isn’t gone, and is still actively disabling people. I am disabled because of covid. Not only is masking super awesome and even fashionable, it protects you and your loved ones. So please, wear a mask <3

Canada is supposed to be a beacon of pro-LGBTQ+ acceptance in the face of the fascist United States but if you look closely at how it's passing anti-trans legislation it starts to turn just as red

I guess this has probably already gone viral somewhere but I am simply dying at this picture of a bear that looks like it hired a photographer to do a glamour shoot

Speaking of which… www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

Today's newsletter: The same machine that destroyed 600 lives over Charlie Kirk has nothing to say about Trump mocking Rob Reiner. www.readtpa.com/p/the-rules-...

💯 This must be the norm not the exception. Parents tend to work quietly behind the scenes to support their child. Alice’s death released me from that dynamic. Going public with her inquest, then Her Name Is Alice, was a choice. It came with personal cost but not doing it felt more uncomfortable.

The Trump-Vance admin has been committing illegal strike after illegal strike. They're trying to normalize it. They're counting on you to lose track, to be too overwhelmed to remember the gravity of what they're doing. But we're keeping track of every single strike. So far: 22 strikes. 87 killed.

Have a dose of hope!

My grandpa was born in the US to German parents. He had younger cousins who were in Hitler youth in Germany. Decades later I talked with some of them about it (with the ruthless candor of youth). Why did you do that? What were you thinking? What they described was a lot like this.

"Americans spend more on medication than every other country in the world combined." www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

A reminder this holiday season and always

Results are in for Iowa City’s two-year pilot of free public transit… www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/c...

Good introductory site about puberty blockers: "Withholding puberty blockers is not a neutral option. Health care providers who refuse to provide puberty blockers to youth can cause additional distress leading to an increased risk of mental health issues." www.transcarebc.ca/hormone-ther...

"Maybe it’s important to them to create spaces that are accessible because the next several years are going to require community - and they want that community to include everyone and to be healthy enough to respond and act."

Bingo

Thomas Jefferson was 44 when he started in creeping on 14-year-old Sally Hemings. And Sally, who was enslaved, shared a father with Martha Wayles Jefferson—Tom's wife. He's been dead literally centuries and the US refuses to reckon squarely with what this meant for definitions of American greatness

Teen Vogue eliminated all their Black and trans staff today. It's resegregation in real time.

Ić hæbbe mīn ġécynd ġewendod 🏳️‍⚧️ #english #trans #mtf #oldEnglish #linguistics

Long ago, the actor Peter Ustinov described Toronto as "New York run by the Swiss."

BIG RED FLAG

As queer barista in the '90s, this checks out. It also explains the coffee shop-to-library pipeline.

He did not call for a general strike but that's an interesting headline from HuffPost.

Remember when Action4Canada was just a COVID-denial grift? A couple years later, the group pivoted to being anti-trans+ and suddenly there were bible verses on every page of the site, among the many DONATE buttons.

"That's why your kids don't like you... and your wife is f***in on you..." 🔥 (I think the woman is 🇯🇲? She is also brave *AF* here.)

Those who understand SARS-CoV-2 (Covid) causes neurological, endothelial, cardiovascular, and immune system damage, and that damage from repeated infections is cumulative, mask. And those who don’t will soon find out. I don’t “live in fear” typically means, I prefer to “live in denial.”

I hope other countries as well as the new regional health systems in the US pick up as much of this work as they can.

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning: www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

Sending this back around because it's so dang good. Do yourself a favor and enjoy this queer musician who played a pro trans song at a straight pride festival in Boise over the summer.