Weekly Wrap: Tumbler Ridge Strong, Minnesota is winning, the Trump administration is losing all over, and Olympics Catch-up

Tumbler Ridge Strong
Stories of courage will be coming

Stories of brave students, teachers emerging after Tumbler Ridge shooting, B.C. premier says

[image or embed]

— CTV News Vancouver (@ctvnewsvancouver.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM

Meanwhile, Canada's political leaders are gathering together in Tumbler Ridge.

#CanadianNews - Prime Minister Mark Carney and other federal party leaders will travel to Tumbler Ridge, B.C., to attend a vigil commemorating the victims of Tuesday's shooting. I by CBC news - via The Torontonian Magazine 🇨🇦🍁 www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

[image or embed]

— The Torontonian🍁🇨🇦 🇪🇺 🇬🇱 🇮🇱 🇲🇽 🇺🇦 🏒⚽️ (@thetorontonian.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 12:14 AM

The CBC At Issue panel talked tonight about Tumbler Ridge - they couldn't resist focusing on the political side of the tragedy though, with Andrew Coyne being particularly obtuse. Chantal Hebert and Althia Raj noted that Carney, Poilievre, Lewis, May and Blanchet were reacting as parents, not as politicians, and why shouldn't they?
The other impact of this mass shooting is the unwarranted demonizing of trans people.

I thought Evan Scrimshaw summed it all up very well:

...The shooting is obviously the greatest tragedy the country currently faces, a brutal and devastating attack on a community that never could have expected it. It’s horrific, and we should not let this tragedy recede into the background, one of a hundred things that are happening at the same time. This is a horrible, tragic, and consequential moment in our history, and we need to meet this moment with the urgency it requires.
But that does not mean it is acceptable to use this to further hatred and bigotry. The idea that this shooting tells us anything about trans people, as some on the right are trying to say, is as nonsensical as it is offensive. The Ecole Polytechnique and Dawson College and Nova Scotia didn’t prove that white men were all murderous psychos, and anybody who might have been crass and indifferent enough to say it would have been resoundingly hounded for such a horrific use of tragedy to score points. Those attacking the trans community now should equally wind in their necks and shut the fuck up....

Moving on to other news:

Minnesota is winning- or at least, I hope so

Homan: "Operation Metro Surge is ending. In the next week, we're going to deploy the officers here on detail back to their home stations or to other areas of the country where they're needed."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 12, 2026 at 8:28 AM

WATCH: “This administration made a bet—and they keep making it—that most Americans, the majority of us, are as bigoted as Stephen Miller. And they’re wrong,” says Chris Hayes as the Trump administration says it’s ending its ICE surge in Minneapolis.

[image or embed]

— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris.bsky.social) February 12, 2026 at 7:51 PM

Minnesota can be proud of what they have done:

I'm not crying, you're crying. 🥹🥹🥹😭😭😭👇

[image or embed]

— Bill Madden (@maddenifico.bsky.social) February 12, 2026 at 9:40 PM

View on Threads

View on Threads

And the Trump administration is losing
Trump has finally pissed off Republican politicians

Trump has lost two heavily whipped votes in the House on his signature economic policy in the last 24 hours. This is a big f-ing deal.

[image or embed]

— Simon Rosenberg (@simonwdc.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 7:18 PM

And Europe no longer trusts the United States.

View on Threads

View on Threads

Neither do we. They still don't get it, do they?

Fuck off, USA, all the way to… you know which mountain. And fuck off with your “USMCA Act”. Fix your shit, stop terrorizing Canada and the rest of the world, and shove the rest of your “concerns” up your exceptional asses. I hope you suffer the way you’ve made us suffer all these years, and for longer too. Maybe that will change your attitude. No effs to give. The proposal, called the USMCA Travel and Tourism Resiliency Act, would create a working group focused specifically on travel and tourism during the next review of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

- JBO

Read on Substack

An amazing article in The Atlantic about the impact of vaccine hesitancy:

View on Threads

I get the feeling that if the United States can make it through the next three years without a civil war, Canada will be very lucky:

Hey, it's @smsaideman.bsky.social in Maclean's talking about incredibly cheerful things. Oh, wait...

[image or embed]

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) February 12, 2026 at 10:36 PM

In Macleans, Steve Saideman writes about how a US civil war could start:

...There are three ways I could see a civil war breaking out in the U.S. First off: now that ICE has directed terrifying violence against its own civilians, Good and Pretti among them, people may start shooting back. ....
The second possibility is that ICE simply shoots into a crowd. An agent shot Pretti when he’d already been tackled and disarmed. Is it so hard to imagine that they might direct their gunfire indiscriminately? ...
The third option is that federal forces would directly clash with the state National Guard. ...
In each of the scenarios I outlined, the reaction of the military will make all the difference. If the military splits into different sides, we could see two or more heavily trained and armed factions fighting against each other.
What happens over the next few months will be crucial. If Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy the military or federalize the National Guard to suppress domestic uprisings, then that will be a surefire sign of impending violence. After that, the question will be whether the resistance responds in kind.

Wow.

Saideman also discusses how Canada could be affected economically and socially by an American civil war, including whether we would find ourselves dealing with millions of refugees, or whether we would be pulled into the Resistance.

Olympics Catch-up
Bronze


Silver


Silver


Plus both hockey teams won today, to the likely consternation of Cathal Kelly, who is trying now start the 2026 Canadian media "why hasn't Canada won more medals???" whine - which usually happens about a week in.
And here are Canada's Day 6 results and upcoming Day 7 events

The other news of the day was the IOC's cruel decision to disqualify Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych because he wanted to wear a helmet of remembrance showing some of the Ukrainian athletes who have died in the Russian invasion - which began a week after the 2022 winter Olympics.

[image or embed]

— The Globe and Mail (@theglobeandmail.com) February 12, 2026 at 9:53 AM

View on Threads

View on Threads

View on Threads

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych thanked Ukrainians for their support. “Together we are stronger,” he said, pledging to keep going.

[image or embed]

— UNITED24 Media (@united24media.com) February 12, 2026 at 6:05 AM

🇺🇦 President Zelenskyy has awarded Vladyslav Heraskevych the Order of Freedom. “For his selfless service to the Ukrainian people, his civic courage, and patriotism in defending the ideals of freedom and democratic values,” the presidential decree states.

[image or embed]

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) February 12, 2026 at 8:08 AM

Better statement/question would have been, "Who pressured the IOC to remove him" ?

[image or embed]

— JeffTrnka (@jefftrnka.bsky.social) February 12, 2026 at 1:43 PM

If the IOC's goal was to prevent athletes from demonstrating support for Ukraine, this decision backfired spectacularly. 

A run down the skeleton track would have been over in a few minutes, but now the whole world has heard of this athlete and his tribute.

View on Threads

Finally, this:

View on Threads

I guess you missed Atlanta 1996, didn't you?