Appreciating the Longform Universe

I was thinking the other day about the difference between Trump's second term now and his first in 2015, the difference between Poilievre's conservative leadership now and Harper's in 2012, the difference between Carney's leadership now and Trudeau's in 2015.

Well, lots of stuff I guess, but one of the big things I think is this: before about 2022, we expressed most of our opinions and reactions in 140 characters. That's all we had available in so-called "social media". 

And while it was often funny, it also tried to be thoughtful but people just didn't have enough space to be informative or educational, or deep. It created memes but it didn't do much to improve the conversation. 

We got some funny-haha or funny-weird tweets like this:

Each day on twitter there is one main character. The goal is to never be it

— maple cocaine (@maplecocaine) January 3, 2019

Happy happy joy joy times 2! The Jays are going to the World Series!

What a game! Not a blowout at all, the Mariners just couldn't get another run in the last two innings.

George Springer gives the Jays the lead

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— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) October 20, 2025 at 8:34 PM

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Sunday Funday: Love those Jays! plus a No Kings roundup, Carney as the Trump-Trainer, Canada stuff, other random stuff, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers

Love those Jays!

So now the boys have to win on Sunday AND on Monday. 

Canada is cheering for them!
At The Globe and Mail, Cathal Kelly writes about the Seattle fans booing Springer when he was hit by a pitch in that awful Game 5 blowout:

....If there’s anything missing in this Jays’ run, it’s that streak of animus. All great Toronto runs have featured some sort of blood lust.
In Atlanta in ’92, they hung the flag upside down and the country wigged out. In ’93, the Phillies could not hide their disdain for the city and the country. In 2015 and ’16, it was José Bautista vs. the rock ’em sock ’em Rangers.
Now, thanks to the crowd and Springer and Jays relievers Brandon Little and Seranthony Domínguez, Toronto has a reason to feel a little hostile. The Jays were on their way to tying this one off. They’re coming home in the midst of trying to hand it back...
You want to win this thing? What would you tell a hockey team who just got shown up in the other club’s barn, and is coming home out of options?
You’d tell them that the time for good manners is over. Now is the time to return fire. Don’t just wait for nine guys to give you what you want. Be the mean-spirited change you want to see in the world. Be like Seattle.

🇨🇦 Halifax pilot Dimitri Neonakis showed his Blue Jays pride during the American League Championship Series, sketching the team’s logo across the sky using his flight path. #bluejays #Canada www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Ok...

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— Joe Public 🇨🇦 (@joepublic.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM

Max Scherzer sending John Schneider back to the dugout might be the single most badass thing I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/f53cmbtmUm

— Blue Jays Today (@TodayJays) October 17, 2025

Today's News: Conservatives are under-bussing Poilievre. It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

It seems pretty clear now that Poilievre is so worried about the leadership vote in January that he's lost his marbles.

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Poilievre's whole October 3 interview is here, on a YouTube program called Northern Perspectives. One of the things Poilievre talks about is the importance of creating a team.
I guess he thinks the Conservatives will stay united and engaged by calling the RCMP despicable?
Say what?

"We're going into these weird, strange, fringe issues". Conservative strategist Fred Delorey reacting to Poilievre attacking the RCMP. Maybe it's because the leader is a weirdo, a strange man, who sits on the fringe of political society. #cdnpoli

— Steve Valeriote (@stevev68.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 4:06 PM

I think the Conservative Party powers-that-be are sending a message to Poilievre: you've had it, fella. And they're sending a message to the party members voting on Poilievre's leadership in January: we can do better. 

And they're also sending a message to prospective leadership candidates (Doug Ford? Leona Aglukkaq? Brad Wall?): start organizing now. 

One froggy evening....

I was going to save the Portland frog until my Saturday night post, but there's just too much of it, and its just too funny.

Today's News: Poilievre is demonizing DEI

So now Poilievre has jumped on the anti-DEI bandwagon - he is promoting a petition and he thinks he can make headway with Canadians by demonizing DEI.

The other word for objections to diversity, equity, and inclusion is "racism"

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— Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 (@emmettmacfarlane.com) October 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM

DEI is the greatest social and economic advance of the 21st century. It codifies everything we spent the last 40 years of the 20th century fighting for. Demonizing it now is really just an extinction burst - diversity, equity and inclusion cannot be stopped anymore, regardless of what we call it. We won't go back!

- Cathie from Canada

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Comments on the passing scene: Carney the grown-up, ideas for the China tariffs, plus good stuff from Leni Spooner, Timothy Snyder, Hamilton Nolan, Paul Krugman, Jack Hopkins, JoJoFromJerz

I thought there was a lot of good sense in these articles:

First, I printed a snippet from this one in my post last night, but I think it deserves more:
The Frank ConversNation

Mark Carney and the Canadian Malaise: The Grown-Up Enters the Room
The Dichotomy of the Political Establishment and the Media World vs People
We are entering hunting season — and this year, the prey is political.
It’s that predictable Canadian ritual where journalists, pundits, and partisan warriors load their rhetorical rifles and take aim at whoever happens to sit in the Prime Minister’s chair. It’s entertainment disguised as accountability, the old Trudeau Syndrome: the persistence of disbelief that any leader could act with competence or restraint.
...Carney’s critics come in two noisy varieties.
First, the Twitter revolutionaries, who treat compromise as heresy and policy as theatre. For them, moderation is cowardice, and incrementalism is a sin.
Then, the Maple MAGA crowd — the low-intellectual populists who shout “freedom” while living off the very public systems they denounce. They demand lower taxes, better services, and zero trade-offs — a fantasy menu no serious adult believes in.
They won’t like Carney because he embodies what they resent most: discipline, intellect, and calm authority....
Carney doesn’t need to charm; he needs to endure. The test of leadership today isn’t charisma — it’s competence. He will be mocked by the press, derided by populists, and misunderstood by both. Let them talk.
Because while they scream, Carney works.
And in today’s Canada, that’s the most radical act of all.

Today's News: the Jays lose 😢. But Portland's frogs give everyone hope, and Carney plays it right.

So now the Jays have lost twice and that's just awful news. 

But all over social media, I see Jays fans agreeing, if we have to lose, at least its to the Mariners, a team we respect. And vice versa:

I’m a Blue Jays fan who will IMMEDIATELY pivot to support the Mariners this year, if they advance to the World Series

— Luc (@lcfrst.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 10:06 PM

Mariner fan and I feel the same way about Blue Jays. I’ve always loved the Blue Jay fans.

— MoonChild 🌙 (@jdmoon.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 11:02 PM

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Sunday Funday: The Modern-Day Canadian song, Trump lose mind, That rascally Antifa, Funny Stuff, TrumpWatch, and Animal Crackers

I Am The Very Model Of A Modern-Day Canadian!

Here are the lyrics:

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Trump lose mind:

live your life in such a way that the entire world doesn't laugh its ass off when you don't get the Nobel Peace Prize

- Jeff Tiedrich

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Compare and contrast: Canada vs US - "how about those hellholes, eh?"

I saw several tweets today about events in Canada and the US:

Making the school lunch program permanent will burn Maple MAGAT PoiLIEvre's and the ReformaKKKlowns' balls, seeing as they were opposed to it and voted against it when it was first introduced. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

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— JeffTrnka (@jefftrnka.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 11:53 AM

The Trump Administration will oversee deep slashes to the SNAP food-assistance program, and fewer children will be automatically eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch at school.

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— The New Yorker (@newyorker.com) October 4, 2025 at 9:33 AM

Thinking about: homelessness in Saskatoon; why Notwithstanding is important; Carney gets the "Nobel Patience Prize"; what Canadians think about American fascism

Here's what I'm thinking about today:

Homelessness in Saskatoon 

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix has published three excellent articles this week about homelessness in our city. Reporter Brody Langager has really done a great job investigating the issue.

The growth of homelessness: Looking back at Saskatoon survey findings
A significant jump in the number of people facing homelessness was recorded in 2024.
In this article, Langager reports that the city, the Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership and the Community-University Institute for Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan have been doing an annual fall homeless count since 2008. While there were 368 adults and 11 children counted in 2012, the number had risen to 464 adults and 11 children by 2018.

The 2022 point-in-time homeless count found 550 people were facing homelessness, with 26 of those being children (ages 0-12) and 84 of them youth (ages 13-24).
It said 90.1 per cent of respondents identified as Indigenous, and 54.8 per cent had experienced foster care....
A significant jump in the number of people facing homelessness was recorded in 2024, with 1,499 people unhoused. Out of that number, 315 were children and 175 were youth.
The report said 66.5 per cent of respondents used shelter spaces in the past year.
It said 64 per cent of those surveyed were chronically homeless, and 50.3 per cent said their first experience of homelessness was as an adult. It was noted that 67 per cent of respondents said they experienced violence while homeless.
A total of 80.7 per cent of respondents identified as Indigenous, 50.8 per cent said they had been in the foster care system, 60.8 per cent had been in Saskatoon for over five years, and 82.3 per cent faced substance use issues....

Today's News: Happy happy joy joy! The Blue Jays won and they're going to the ALCS

What a great game! 

I was doubting all the pitching changes, but Schneider knew what he was doing. At The Globe and Mail, Cathal Kelly describes the game:

On Wednesday, Toronto played a game it was meant to lose, starring all the guys who don’t get talked about on the Fox Sports pre-game show.
You could tell by the way the Bronx crowd greeted the Yankees’ starter, Cam Schlittler, that they thought they had this one in the bag. They cheered their new talisman like he was walking off the field after winning, not coming on to it to start work.
They booed ‘O Canada’ again – louder this time, less pushback afterward. They must’ve thought it was working.
Then the Jays put their bullpen to work. Eight pitchers, almost none of whom make the big bucks, participated. The game was a toss-up until Nathan Lukes, a platoon outfielder who’s spent a decade in the minors, blew it open with a two-run single.
When it was getting dicey at the end, with men on base and Aaron Judge menacing the on-deck circle – Andres Gimenez sprinted more than 30 yards to catch a swirling pop-up in foul territory.
The name brand players were great too, but it was everyone else who set the tone. Toronto won 5-2....
“It’s an unbelievable cast of characters in there,” manager John Schneider said afterward. “We’ll enjoy tonight, and then we’ll start figuring out the next series when we wake up.”...

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Darn it! What a day for Carney and for the Jays. But it was a win for David Eby

Rats! 

So Tuesday was NOT a magical day after all.

First, Carney won't be coming home from Washington with new trade deals for steel, aluminium, or vehicles:

"You are a transformative president" -- I regret to inform you that Mark Carney is kissing Trump's ass

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 7, 2025 at 10:10 AM

Carney is, as we Canadians say, LAYING IT ON WITH A TROWEL sorry to say Aaron, this isn't ass-kissing, it's the opposite sorry you can't see that 🤭

— Giggie (@ottawaensis.bsky.social) October 7, 2025 at 8:51 PM

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Today's News: Carney goes to Washington; and the ICE Gestapo make fantasy movies so Trump can think he's a crime-fighter

 

I can't imagine how Carney stands it. 

But on Tuesday he's doing it again. 

Meeting with Trump about tariffs. 

So on the one hand Carney has to listen to Trump's bluster:

@minibubbly.bsky.social @maej43.bsky.social @anniegirl.bsky.social @ruthmkb.bsky.social @cathiecanada.bsky.social @luciecatnip.bsky.social @merlinofcanada.bsky.social This is viciousness for the sake of being vicious. 😠 #Canada refuses to bend the knee, so Mango Mussolini makes threats. #cdnpoli

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— GhostWarrior ⚔️🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@ghostwarrior.bsky.social) October 6, 2025 at 4:11 PM

Sunday Funday: Jays win Game One! Plus some good posts celebrating Canada, some funny posts from all over, TrumpWatch, and Animal Crackers

One down, two to go:

Let’s go, Blue Jays!

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— J. Kelly Nestruck (@nestruck.bsky.social) October 4, 2025 at 1:58 PM

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gets the Blue Jays on the board!

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— Carter Blazek (@carterblazek.bsky.social) October 4, 2025 at 2:23 PM