I'm no Americologist but I thought the Founding Fathers' whole deal was declining King George III's request without the help of Gemini?

Excited to find out which country US politicians will blame for this in the coming years.

This but for Maximum Canada and surviving the trade war with the US. Defeat the largest trade "partner" by becoming the largest trade partner.

TO ONTARIO: The joy of seeing Premier Ford learn that someone is getting money for a tunnel but it's not him.

Not a great look for scientific publishing. In addition to claiming the 2011 retraction information is with Planck, who has been dead since 1947, they fully removed the paper rather than stamping it with "Retracted." For $39.95, you get a blank pdf.

For those of you who think the Lawrence East bus is too far to travel, new perspective.

This is a world-historic mistake that will not help diplomatic efforts or finding new allies and partners in the parts of the world that will be worst affected. Canada is not going to be a global leader people follow while making core problems for their countries worse.

A lot of talk about Trump but let's not forget to congratulate Shawn Fain and the American members of the UAW. Solidarity stops at the border, I guess.

Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦 Canada will make its Eurovision Song Contest debut in Bulgaria next year 🎤 Now that CBC/Radio-Canada has become a full EBU Member, Canada will be the first new country to join our lineup since Australia in 2015 🥳 www.eurovision.com/stories/cana...

Understanding the geopolitics of World Cup rivalries just in time to get into the geopolitics rivalries of Eurovision.

"In the absence of spending limits, it is possible for the affluent... to dominate the political discourse, depriving their opponents of the ability to speak and be heard, undermining the voter's ability to be adequately informed of all views." Such good judgement, it oughta be their jobs.

Inspired by my walk into work: get rid of beg buttons that aren't buttons. In day, it's too bright to see the light indicating that tapping it worked and tapping it doesn't always work and ten pedestrians end up waiting through a very long light cycle because there's no indication what's happening.

For peak discourse, someone needs to post a graph of air conditioning usage vs 2026 World Cup progress.

Stop the count!

Nothing is ever banned at Toronto Public Library -- except the words "World Cup" and "FIFA" 😂

We don't have easily accessible data to do this in Ontario BUT a dedicated person can pull individual records from the assessment rolls and, as it happens, I went on a walk through St. James Town/Rosedale yesterday with someone who did that. Much like this video. www.instagram.com/p/DZlp10ARdfc/

Being cynical is fun sometimes. But there's nothing like getting out on the street and realizing humanity is mostly good. Or, for the introverts, constructing the perfect strongly worded letter.

Since I had to go into work for a bit on a Saturday, might as well make people jealous with my lunchtime view.

All right, one take from me: shrimp discourse is actually housing/generational discourse. If you eat fast food twice a day, you're obviously not the worst off. But saving $ by eating at home isn't enough to afford a downpayment on a home in a major city like in the '80s. Numbers from the UK, here:

Afrofest organizers worry they're being targeted with extra conditions. But, from Taste of the Danforth to Church St pedestrianization and on, it could be even worse: we're going to stop allowing anything good over our fears that it could result in something bad. www.thestar.com/news/gta/tor...

Too many people are fixated on political aesthetics and not nearly concerned enough with material outcomes.

Hmmm. Arterials might be noisy and that could impact people lively there. Interesting. Interesting. Sure hope we don't have an Official Plan to put more density on arterials than on nearby Neighbourhood streets.

Same councillor last month. Glad we're educating those kids about the use of phones while crossing the street. Maybe we could expand the program?

Anecdotes from selling agents and developers so take it as you will but, logically, we know that people want homes in Toronto. We know that sellers are waiting because they don't want to sell at a loss. The HST rebate (or lower DCs) lets them sell lower without taking the hit & get homes occupied.

"The fact that the city more than doubled development charges in less than five years... puts the lie to the assertion that municipalities are merely forcing 'growth to pay for growth'; they’ve been loading as many costs as possible onto the construction and sale of new homes because they could."

I get that this is a subsidy for something good but it's telling that the city expands subsidies for things that benefit homeowners with backyards (trees, compost, rain barrels, basement flood protection), but had to be bribed with $1.5 billion to lower their $80,000 tax on 2-bedroom apartments.

Once again, there is one simple solution completely under the city of Toronto's control that would resolve this immediately.

Literally debating an item about getting paid $1.5 billion by the province to stop shooting yourself in the foot and we can't stop complaining.

For context, this takes us back to around 2018 levels (for non-rentals). Yes, DCs went up about 120% in eight years. Inflation was about 28%, for reference. Just something about sewer construction costs during that time, I guess.

If I have to revive #MTSAwatch, I'll do it.

For those not bothering to click through, even if you don't believe that taxes affect supply and supply affects prices, there is in fact a link to affordable housing. I'm sure that won't stop some from declaring the program a strings-free handout that does nothing though.

We can’t solve Etobicoke Centre’s transit gaps by freezing housing and parking reform. If service is the issue, the responsibility is to improve transit, not use its shortcomings as a reason to delay change. #TOpoli #Etobicoke

Oh, wow. Councillor Holyday wants to add on extra requirements for housing because he has concerns about transit service gaps in Etobicoke-York? Surely a good faith concern he's been working consistently to address. Now to take a big drink of water and search the City Hall Watcher Live archives.

Where are all of those people who come out and talk about Jane Jacobs' legacy in order to block housing? We need you to do some "eyes on the street" explanation.

Heard a couple of people ask why the street was closed and Mark and the ambassador crew had to try to explain to them that it wasn't for a particular event but was just for living, for people. They were amazed. That's how strange an idea this is in Toronto.

It’s surreal seeing it come full circle. The people stuck in the crowded Church Street sidewalk are now free to roam the streets! (At least during the 2 month pedestrianization pilot) Streets are for the people!

It's not just a win for Toronto, but also a huge win for the chronically online to policy influencer pipeline.

Okay, so we have successfully pedestrianized Yonge BUT you gotta come to midtown. Smart thinking from whoever put the Brazilian festival during the World Cup. www.mybia.ca/arraiaonyong...

That's me in the orange jacket. Highly recommended for all parking lot conversion fans and for any Council candidate looking to build affordable housing. Because if you don't know the math, you don't know affordable housing.

An embarrassment that this man is invited anywhere to talk about housing. He's just a denialist.

Still preparing for The Purge this fall in Ward 15. toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/2026-candi...

This is a big opportunity. Toronto's Official Plan has become a mess. We got a new Chapter One with some lofty goals, all of which are undermined by the later chapters that prioritize low-rise Neighbourhoods over new homes, equity, the environment and more. Let's just start over.

Much to say about this article but I'll start with the claims that kids don't or can't live in "skyscrapers" (the building under discussion is 15 storeys) when the census data show that such neighbourhoods have way more kids than nearby low-rise. (left: land use, right: kids/km^2)

Mayor Chow: you know what you need to do.

Everyone of of these nyc videos is great. After more than a year of American cities under attack from MAGA it all seems so joyful & defiantly big city.

Excuse me. The @biketarrytown.bsky.social (home of Sleepy Hollow) logo is a headless cyclist and none of you told me?

Burying the lede that it's the opening of the @cycletoronto.bsky.social community hub at the Brickworks! For learning about repairs, etc. I guess this means that midtown is the centre of cycling in Toronto now. www.cycleto.ca/rec_hub

Broke: we need to reduce car dependency to reduce congestion and combat climate change. Woke: we need to reduce car dependency to reduce tow truck dependency and deal with gun crime