WHY IS BASEBALL LIKE THIS?!

"The world is undeniably a worse place for Mr. Trump being part of it, let alone running the joint. And the last thing anyone needs is some jumped-up Trump tribute band, playing the same songs slightly off-key and waiting for a nod of approval from the big guy." 👏 @sproudfoot.bsky.social

New from me. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little tired of Canada being treated like a toy at a spoiled rich kid’s birthday party, so I wrote about Pete Hoekstra’s public meltdown in Ottawa this week.

Someone should be arrested for how small Halloween chocolate bars have gotten.

For some reason, after that Jays game, I am thinking of what Ilya Bryzgalov said about another team of Canadians in 2010: “They came like gorillas coming out of a cage.”

“It’s tempting … to fill the airwaves with Reagan reminding Americans, as their lives get harder and more expensive, who did it to them. But that solution belongs to a saner and more satisfying world than this one, in which the mad king holds all the cards.
Instead, the only thing to do is wait.”

To me, Donald Trump's reaction to the Reagan ad looks like genuine fury, not negotiation posturing, so I took a stab at explaining why that 60 seconds is so threatening to him. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

ICYMI: new from me. This feels extra pertinent today after the extra 10 percent in love that his tangerine majesty showered on Canada yesterday.

Oh for the love of god. I really hate living in the stupidest timeline in the history of the world. www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

It took me a while to work it out, but I think Carney’s entire political career is about timing - friendly and not. Also, there is a tiny inconsequential Easter egg in this column that pleases me greatly and I hope at least one person clocks it. #cdnpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

Whoever brought Paul MacLean in to do Sens commentary on TSN deserves a big fat bug-eyed walrus raise.

The first few days I had The Life of a Show Girl, it reminded me uncomfortably that I write best when I’m pissed off, and “everything is amazing” often makes for delightful living but a meh audience experience. But it’s really grown on me. With one exception…

Every time I watch this woman speak, I wonder if it’s possible to raise a child to have this kind of confidence, but…a significantly better moral compass? It’s absolutely wild to watch her operate, I’ve never seen anyone this self-assured in my entire life.

Ahem. The aesthetic and emotional landscape of The Fate of Ophelia is entirely Moulin Rouge, and with all due respect to the excellence of Taylor, you kids today gotta load up on early-aughts Baz Luhrmann because he did not screw around. Thank you for coming to my musical theatre nerd TEDtalk.

This is Ramona (the Pest). She is so beautiful and perfect that she seems less like *a* cat or *the* cat than just “Cat,” the essence of catness embodied. I’m pretty sure she’s descended directly from someone in ancient Egypt. She’s a terrible brat and we love her to pieces.

😂

Pierre Poilievre sure had himself a time this week after the White House visit, blaming Mark Carney for everything under the sun - including sunburn. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

Always read @sproudfoot.bsky.social, folks. #cdnpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

ICYMI, here's my write-up of Carney's visit to the Oval Office yesterday, and the very different approach from his last visit. #cdnpoli

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

Oh this will be good.

After Mark Carney’s White House visit today, I really think Keir Starmer, ridiculous brown-noser though he was, figured out something about Donald Trump long before the rest of us. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

Oh my god I just realized that Wood is going to be played at every bachelorette party for the next 18 months.

Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre both claim they can solve Canada‘s housing crisis. So I decided to ask someone in the industry what the real problems are, and what will make a difference. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

ICYMI: here lies the federal carbon tax, which left this world on March 31, 2025. What can its short, violent life teach us about politics and policy? #cdnpoli

I thought the end of the carbon tax unlocked some fascinating truths about politics and policy so I wrote it an obituary. RIP carbon tax: how it was born, how it lived in the world - and what killed it. #cdnpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

This is your annual reminder that the Ottawa International Animation Festival is the best world-class event in this city you’ve probably never heard of. Amazing art in motion all weekend, including the buffet of award winners tomorrow night. www.animationfestival.ca

What's weird about his schtick is that he's constantly saying insane, provocative, explosive things, but the net effect quickly becomes white noise. He's so extreme that he just gets boring. It's kind of wild, it's like he violates some basic law of emotional physics.

Please believe me when I say that as bananas as this is, it may not crack the top 10 from today's tour of the inside of Donald's skull.

This address to the UNGA is...a lot...even by Trump's standards. Low-wattage, needy campaign ramblings; periodic electric cattle prod to the brain when he says something especially batshit; Stephen Miller erogenous zone interludes. I wonder if they're passing coping flasks on the floor.

I think it's probably tempting to think that a democracy ends when elections are cancelled. @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social's writing has been really valuable (for my own thinking) in showing how much more there is to think about and watch out for. www.vox.com/politics/462...

Because it feels right for where the world (read: the downstairs neighbour) is right now, here’s a video of cats puking to techno music. youtu.be/V0qhsUxifVQ?...

This essay unpacks something essential - and vexing - about this moment that I haven’t seen nailed anywhere else. Even if we get our elbows cocked at a stout 90 degrees again, are we just fiddling around the margins?

The most tragic possible manifestation of the leopards eating people's faces party. Some of the sentences and sentiments in this broke my brain. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/o...

This is the best product listing copy I’ve ever read

This is probably the 12th time I’ve reposted it, but I still think @davidjroth.bsky.social explained the entire functioning of Trump back in 2017. I find myself constantly thinking about this piece, including yesterday, and nodding in exhaustion. thebaffler.com/latest/the-p...

Give ‘er, Canada. 💪🇨🇦

This is a riveting story from @dougsaunders.bsky.social and Wazhma Hamidi. Extraordinary journalism.

My editor wants to know if I’ll make my deadline. Me: “There’s no story until there’s a story.”

Talking head on CNN just now, summing up how Trump got played and it wasn’t even hard to do. “You don’t have to be a KGB agent to tell Trump he’s awesome and you agree with everything he said.”

Grotesque and chilling. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/a...

That bang you may have heard this afternoon was the end of One Last Time blowing the roof off the NAC. I was genuinely breathless by A.D. Weaver’s final soaring notes. Do yourself a favour if it’s in your budget and go see Hamilton, this touring company is truly spectacular.

Donald Trump climbing willfully into a cannon and Barbra Streisanding himself into the sun is just about perfect. My compliments to the writers of this season of the hellscape in which we live.

Come work with me! 🤠 @theglobeandmail.com is hiring a Calgary-based reporter to cover Alberta on a 12-month contract. Details below.

The cat thermometer functions with perfect accuracy. The fewer bones left in the cat, the hotter it is outside. We are at full void melt.

This is maybe the most delightful broadcast conversation I’ve ever been part of - even though I ended up in tears. Come hear a bunch of word nerds talk with Paul Wells about what we’re reading this summer and our favourite reads from a long-ago summer. paulwells.substack.com/p/the-summer...

I am so bored of this.

Of course, 35 per cent! I read The Art of the Deal and watched a bunch of Apprentice episodes a few months ago because I apparently hate myself, and this is classic, screamingly obvious Trump tactics. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

Sometimes I wonder what it was like to be a parent before your phone was constantly reminding you of how small your kids used to be or how fast the time goes. I'm really not sure we're meant to carry memento mori in our pockets.

Me, invoking press conference martial law on the first week of summer holidays: “Last question!”