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We’re back to the racist and MAGA scapegoating of immigrants and asylum seekers for the failing healthcare systems. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) February 24, 2026 at 1:34 PM
....if everything is just attention now, and attention is completely commodified by algorithmic tech platforms, how can you push back against that? Well, I am slowly coming around to a theory on the new cool: You have to essentially pre-deplatform yourself.Broderick follows up with a related piece this week An endless feed of celebrities eating chicken wings.
Culture right now is determined not by human teams of editors and producers picking and choosing what youth culture gets the spotlight, but, instead, by the unthinking algorithms that power YouTube and TikTok. Which means the only things that have the level of scarcity and danger required to be seen as cool by young people will, slowly, but surely, be whatever is unacceptable on those platforms.
... But politics, left or right, is actually not actually the most subversive thing you can do right now. It’s copyright infringement.
In 2022, filmmaker Vera Drew created a movie called The People’s Joker, which turned the story of The Joker from Batman into a trans allegory. Drew received a cease and desist from Warner Bros. and held guerilla screenings of the film until the rights were worked out. And this trend, of filmmakers using the corpse of the theater system to bypass the world of algorithms, has only continued. The 2022 film Hundreds Of Beavers had a similar renegade quality to how it was screened. Hell, even Taylor Swift was savvy enough to screen the Eras Tour concert in theaters directly through AMC. And you could argue that’s what YouTuber Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach just did with Iron Lung, which bypassed the studio system entirely and caused such a stir in Hollywood its massive ticket sales were removed from box office charts.
In fact, just this week, filmmaker Matt Johnson released Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie. It had the biggest opening ever for a live-action Canadian film and not only is the film itself a massive copyright rats nest, but the web series it’s based on is completely illegal to watch on streaming platforms currently. Johnson, at a screening I attended last week, said he was excited to find out if they were going to get sued once the film debuted this week. (They haven’t yet, it seems.)
... The culture that feels the most dangerous, and, thus, exciting to young people, will be what you can’t see online. And the most dangerous thing for platforms is not racist garbage. It’s unmonetizeable content. The “metric” that will matter most going forward will not be the numbers at the bottom of a post or video, but the human beings in a room that left their house to experience something. Which, of course, will be filmed and put back online. You can’t escape the matrix entirely.
Canada now has 19 medals at the Olympics after this Ivanie Blondin silver. And with guaranteed medals in curling and hockey, Canada will surpass 20 medals at the Winter Olympics once again. It’s a streak that started 20 years ago in Italy. And continues.
— Devin Heroux (@devinheroux.bsky.social) February 21, 2026 at 10:43 AM
(On a side note, it always amuses me when reporters get so prissy about somebody swearing. Of course, if I had a job where I could be fired for dropping an f-bomb, I guess I'd be pretty careful about it too.)View on Threads
...Many pundits and observers have clearly stated that Smith wants, and maybe even needs a campaign. She’s at her best when she’s meeting with people directly, not in the legislature.
A polarizing referendum gives her the opportunity to control with certainty what she wouldn’t be able to control in an early election, the election question.
And with a referendum, she gets complete control over what the questions are, how they are framed, where she gets to place herself, and perhaps most importantly, where she gets to place her opponents.
The referendum she announced tonight has two major themes.
The first is immigration.
Even Smith acknowledged that because she is attempting to alter the social fabric of the province so drastically, she needs a mandate to do so.
How does she intend to alter it?
On October 19, 2026, Smith will be asking Albertans for a mandate to...
-Giving Alberta greater control over immigration in order to decrease it and prioritizing Albertan jobs to Albertans first.
-Introducing a law to limit access to services to only Canadian citizens, permanent residents or people that Alberta approves of.
-Introducing a low requiring 12 months of residency in Alberta before accessing Alberta social programs.
-Charging fees for non-citizens or non-permanent residents to access healthcare and education.
-Requiring proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate, or citizenship card to vote in provincial elections.
So while many Americans are preparing for midterms that many expect will be the first major repudiation of MAGA, Danielle SMith is embracing some of their core principles.
But that’s not all...
Smith is also bringing forward 4 questions on constitutional changes.
Despite the requirements for constitutional change being outside of the reach of a single province, Smith will be asking Albertans if they...
-Believe that provincial governments should appoint all judges at all levels.
-Believe that the senate should be abolished.
-Believe that provinces should be allowed to opt out of federal programs “intruding on provincial jurisdiction such as health, education, and social services, without losing any of the associated federal funding” for use in their own provincial social programs.
-Believe that provincial laws should be given supremacy when they are in conflict with federal laws.
It is the last two that Albertans should be paying closest attention to in this bunch.
Smith has framed the relationship between the provinces and the federal government as one being locked in eternal conflict and is creating a de facto state of administrative separation instead of a literal one that separatists are advocating for across the province (albeit in smaller numbers than they would like to admit).
Again, any of these constitutional changes are outside of the reach of a single province to enact and if Alberta’s last referendum on equalization is any kind of barometer on the direct weight and consequence of what these questions can accomplish, they are likely of little concern in that context.
But that’s far from the real point, or the real risks.
Canada is under attack economically and under threat geographically from it’s former best friend. Donald Trump and his ilk have repeatedly made threats of taking over Canada and making it the 51st state.
At perhaps one of the most important times in Canada’s history for national unity to be a priority, Smith is seeking a mandate to drive a wedge directly into the heart of Confederation.
Make no mistake, with this last batch of questions, the subtext of all of these questions is, “Are you an Albertan first or a Canadian first?” There’s no room in this referendum for those identities to be equally weighted.
And that fact alone shows a fundamental failure to meet the demands of the moment on behalf of the people she has been elected to represent.
Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux has joined the Liberal caucus, making him the third Conservative MP to break with his party since November – a move that puts the Carney government on the cusp of a majority.But what everyone is talking about tonight isn't Carney's success in (almost) achieving a majority government, but rather Pierre Poilievre's weakened leadership.
Though they now hold 169 seats in the House of Commons, the Liberals are expected to pick up two more when by-elections are called in two safe Liberal ridings.
To attain a majority government, they would still need a seat in addition to those two. They have a chance to secure one in a third by-election, set to be called in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne. But the Liberal candidate won there by just a single vote in last April’s elections. The Supreme Court recently annulled that result, making the by-election necessary.
Another path to a majority could come about if Prime Minister Mark Carney recruits another MP from a rival party to join his caucus.
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...Foreign affairs journalist Anne Applebaum noted that the word in Munich was that “Europe needs to emancipate itself from the U.S. as fast as possible.” In Germany, Der Spiegel reports plans to bring Ukrainian veterans to teach German armed forces drone use and counter-drone practices the Ukrainians are perfecting in their war against Russian occupation. Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney is working to reduce Canada’s defense dependence on the U.S., ramping up domestic defense production.
Carney has advanced a foreign policy that centers “middle powers” and operates without the U.S. That global reorientation has profound consequences for the U.S. economy, as well. Canada is leading discussions between the European Union and a 12-nation Indo-Pacific bloc to form one of the globe’s largest economic alliances. A new agreement would enable the countries to share supply chains and to share a low-tariff system. Canada also announced it is renewing its partnership with China. As of this week, Canadians can travel to China without a visa.
Today France’s president Emmanuel Macron and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi upgraded Indian-French relations to a “Special Strategic Partnership” during a three-day visit of Macron to Mumbai. They have promised to increase cooperation between the two countries in defense, trade, and critical materials.
Trump insisted that abandoning the free trade principles under which the U.S. economy had boomed since World War II would enable the U.S. to leverage its extraordinary economic might through tariffs, but it appears, as economist Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute wrote today for Bloomberg, that the rest of the world is simply moving on without the U.S....
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What a great photo of Brazilian alpine skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, the first South American to ever win a medal at the Winter Olympic Games.
— Jerad Walker (@jeradwalker.bsky.social) February 14, 2026 at 3:06 PM
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Meanwhile, Canada's political leaders are gathering together in Tumbler Ridge.Stories of brave students, teachers emerging after Tumbler Ridge shooting, B.C. premier says
— CTV News Vancouver (@ctvnewsvancouver.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM
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#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...
— The Torontonian🍁🇨🇦 🇪🇺 🇬🇱 🇮🇱 🇲🇽 🇺🇦 🏒⚽️ (@thetorontonian.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 12:14 AM
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I so wonder what Carney said to Trump on that Gordie Howe Bridge call. "No, Mr. President. Bridges go over water. Yes I'll bring you a new choo choo next time I come."
— Jaye Rich (@thesurplusjayerich.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 12:16 AM
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The family and friends reactions one of my favourite parts of the Olympics. They’ve been on this journey too. And they couldn’t be in Beijing for Megan Oldham’s debut. But they’re here today for her bronze medal for Canada. Outstanding.
— Devin Heroux (@devinheroux.bsky.social) February 9, 2026 at 6:58 AM
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So say we all.
— Sister Golden Bear (@sistergoldenbear.bsky.social) February 7, 2026 at 4:53 PM
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