Too busy... Doing what, exactly? Is this not just a kind of campaigning? This instinct to shut down any campaign strategy that isn't sucking up to billionaire donors and big tech is so embarrassing.

My mom's HP printer has a cap on the number of pages she can print a month, on her own printer. The amount of ink isn't the limiting factor — the subscription is. Enshittification should be a capital offense.

Just wow. @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy came out swinging in this article. He's right though and that's the coolest part.

Figured out where Dril was buying his candles

It's Trump policy that U.S. tech must be globally dominant. It's also US policy that its tech corps must be free from: Regulation. Taxation. Fact checking and monitoring for hate lies, disinformation. All are now being treated as attacks on the U.S. itself. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Not sure what the American aversion to calling concentration camps "concentration camps" is, but the distinction is breaking down pretty quickly

A year ago, U of T’s Laura Tozer was adding climate policies to her lecture slides. This year, she’s deleting them, and asking Prime Minister Mark Carney to explain the rollbacks directly to her students. @cloelogan.bsky.social reports.

How your email finds me

The climate lab the Trump administration is closing "is very much the infrastructure for the field as a whole," said Paul Kushner, a professor at the @utoronto.ca. Closing it "will weaken atmospheric science as a whole [and] certainly will weaken Canadian science as collateral damage."

We had an awesome year @nationalobserver.com! So excited for the work we have planned for the New Year!!

Postmedia issues another strong statement in support of @davidpugliese.bsky.social and his reporting. www.postmedia.com/2025/12/19/p...

@lindasolomonwood.bsky.social: “2026 can be the year we build more shared infrastructure that makes municipal governance searchable, comparable, and trackable at national scale.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/how-...

I have had a national observer subscription for years. Easy "yes" every time it's up for renewal.

I’ve supported Canada’s National Observer for a long time — donating $ annually or monthly for maybe a decade or more. 🤯 LOOK AT THEIR IMPACT. 🤯 Support hard-hitting media. Subscribe. Donate. Share. www.nationalobserver.com/donate

Canada has the authority to enforce environmental laws, yet is choosing not to as climate targets fade into the distance. Former environment minister Steven Guilbeault says it's time for the federal government to tell provinces: "Actually, you can't break the law."

Finally, some owners we can trust

Who's showrunning this season? Aaron Sorkin? This is heavy handed even for him

It has been so gratifying to work with the incredible staff at @nationalobserver.com as EIC this year. I published this letter to our readers and supporters to document some of the impact we had this year and plans for 2026. Some highlights:

The lesson here is not that AI is useless. It's that LLMs are not smart, and that they're not people. It's silly to say that not-smart-not-people tools, like wrenches or semiconductors, have never changed work or the economy. But you wouldn't put a wrench in charge of sales at your company.

Why is the BBC not commenting on the fact that this is obviously complete bullshit?

Yes, Mr. FTC chair, our fusion company needs the President's social media company for, um, technology, you see. We need it for its Truths

The world's largest carbon capture and storage complex planned for northern Alberta could use most of the surplus water in the giant Cold Lake-Beaver River basin, potentially forcing water rationing in the province. Read @nationalobserver.com’s exclusive: www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/18/a...

AI is coming for what is famously the easiest job on the planet... and absolutely eating shit in the attempt.

The frequency of ads on ad-supported Prime is pushing the limits of what's even possible without sticking ads in the middle of scenes. A master class in enshittification

Welcome to hell Just step over here so our staff photographer, Christopher Anderson, can get your passport photo... Great... And now Isaac Chotiner has a couple questions for you.

The Vanity Fair photographer from the Susie Wiles story. Holy. Shit. www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...

Will BC Conservatives double down on climate denial and all its related conspiracies? Or will they return to the middle ground their predecessors occupied for decades? By no coincidence, their federal counterparts are weighing the exact same question, @arnokopecky.bsky.social writes.

we need to have a conversation about what "breaking" and "news" mean

One of the two members of OneBC, which was a party for approximately the length of the Lord of the Rings director's cut, is proud of the party's groundbreaking work

What gets me about executives at movie/videogame studios being taken aback at consumer backlash to AI is that they seem genuinely surprised that we like the human beings that make the things that we like

I really didn’t think I’d be doing this story again in 2025, but here we are www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

Has anyone noticed the way that "AI is a shitty, counterproductive, anti-human, messy, regressive and unpleasant trap" has shot from the edges of pop culture to the mainstream in what seems like a matter of a few weeks? Or is that just my algorithm bubble?

This story is such a great example of one of the use cases for Civic Searchlight. By searching across municipalities, @natashabulowski.bsky.social was able to build a far more comprehensive picture of data centre debates than we could have done even a year ago.

With an unexpected "presidential address" coming tomorrow, this might be a good primer

Great read from @natashabulowski.bsky.social for @nationalobserver.com. Alberta is pitching AI data centres as the next oil boom. It's fitting when you think of the impacts they'll have on communities, which will have to pony up billions of litres of water+commit to locking in more gas-fired power.

25 recipients. In 2 years.

I remain unconvinced that public opposition to the carbon tax was grounded in some identifiable impact of the carbon tax. I think people were mad about higher prices and the carbon tax became a convenient focus of those complaints. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

It's not just Kevin O'Leary's big (stalled) project: using Civic Searchlight, @natashabulowski.bsky.social got inside the data centre debates happening across Alberta, from the prairies to mountain towns.

This is half-baked at best but imo the president should maybe just be statutorily barred from filing lawsuits.

My former professor used to talk about his aunt and uncle, Holocaust survivors, having to watch Nazis parade past their home. I think they lived in Ohio.

Jokes on them, I’m going to use AI to come up with 8000 businesses for dipshits

I hope they get inundated with AI generated cover letters

This Christmas, get your kids two dolls instead of 37. And a subscription to @nationalobserver.com

Do I miss Ocarina of Time or do I miss being 11

Feverishly working on this

Just a reminder that at least 600 Americans were fired for failing to show sufficient respect after Charlie Kirk's murder.

This entire weekend

Anyway, the only way to get trustworthy news is to pick a source you trust and pay. I like @nationalobserver.com for Canadian news, @aftermath.site for games culture stuff & @404media.co for tech. If an outlet uses AI for anything public-facing, run. Sorry @washingtonpost.com, you're dead.

BREAKING: Another Conservative has left the party. Michael Ma, MP for the Ontario riding of Markham–Unionville, said he had joined the Liberals in a late Thursday announcement. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/11/n...