Stewart Prest
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stewartprest.ca
Stewart Prest
@stewartprest.ca
5.2K followers 1.4K following 2K posts
Recalcitrant Canadian. Political scientist at UBC in Vancouver. I research, teach and talk international relations, BCpoli, comparative democratic institutions, and contentious politics. stewartprest.ca | https://stewartprest.substack.com
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Stewart Prest @stewartprest.ca · 16d
It would happen no matter what. The US President is basically a Roomba. When he runs into opposition he turns and starts devouring in another direction. Sooner or later he always circles back, though.
Reposted by Stewart Prest
nkalamb.bsky.social
Full story:

apnews.com/article/immi...
Immigrant whose skull was broken in eight places during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked
A Mexican immigrant whose skull was broken during his arrest by immigration officers last month in Minnesota says the beating was unprovoked.
apnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
chadbourn.bsky.social
Fixing the Midterms is now the main driver for Trump.
Donald J. Trump @reaDonaldTrump America's Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World. We are either going to fix them, or we won't have a Country any longer. I am asking all Republicans to fight for the following: SAVE AMERICA ACT! 1. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW VOTER ID (IDENTIFICATION!). 2. ALL VOTERS MUST SHOW PROOF OF UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP TO REGISTER FOR VOTING. 3. NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPT FOR ILLNESS, DISABILITY, MILITARY, OR TRAVEL!).
February 8, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
nkalamb.bsky.social
ICE told nurses this Minneapolis man “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall.”

What actually happened is that they pulled him from a car, beat him so viciously with a steel baton that he had 8 skull fractures, 5 life-threatening brain hemorrhages, and couldn’t remember he had a daughter.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that he initially could not remember he had a daughter and still struggles to recall treasured moments like the night he taught her to dance. But the violence he endured last month in Minnesota while being detained is seared into his battered brain. He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friend’s car on Jan. 8 outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton. He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again. He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.
February 7, 2026 at 5:54 PM
stewartprest.ca
I'm about as hawkish as they come on Canada insulating itself against developments in the US. Ironically it's because of that I think Canada nuclearizing is a bad idea. It is one of the few ways to open the door to support in the US for an attack on Canada. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...
Canada should ‘keep our options open’ on acquiring nuclear weapons, former defence chief says
Retired general Wayne Eyre told an Ottawa crowd that developing a nuclear deterrent is not an immediate concern, but should be an option
www.theglobeandmail.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
justinling.ca
Here's the gift link: www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Justin Ling: For years, Canada has used a secret U.S.-run terror watchlist. Now Trump could use it against us
It's called TUSCAN, and it's a nightmare for civil liberties. We need to put a stop to it.
www.thestar.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
justinling.ca
As America weaponizes its post-9/11 security state to terrorize migrants and target dissidents, her (former) allies need to unplug from it ASAP. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Justin Ling: For years, Canada has used a secret U.S.-run terror watchlist. Now Trump could use it against us
It's called TUSCAN, and it's a nightmare for civil liberties. We need to put a stop to it.
www.thestar.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
sobittersosweet.bsky.social
BC is seeking leave to appeal the Gitxaala decision to the Supreme Court of Canada

The provincial appeals court deemed the Declaration Act legally enforceable and the mineral claim-staking system inconsistent with that law in Dec. 2025

Premier David Eby has repeatedly criticized the ruling #bcpoli
February 5, 2026 at 7:36 PM
stewartprest.ca
I regret to inform you AI is not going to save the Canadian economy. www.ctvnews.ca/business/art...
Canada must ‘lean into’ economic disruption, BoC’s Macklem urges
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says businesses ought to “lean into” the forces disrupting the economy or risk failing to adapt.
www.ctvnews.ca
February 5, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
andytakagi.bsky.social
The long-winding saga for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT goes back further than you think...
Check out this super fun and interactive timeline made by McKenna Hart with words from me!

thestar.com/interactives... via
@thestar.com
Relive the twists and turns in the Eglinton LRT’s 50-year odyssey before Sunday’s launch — if you’re game
For more than five decades, rapid transit along Eglinton Avenue has been a must-have in any city plan. What took it so long?
thestar.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
johnperich.com
Set aside one's horror at the depravity evinced by the ICE officers here and consider coldly, logically, this question: would an agency that defies a court order so brazenly be restrained by any other regulation that Congress might pass?
kathleenclark.bsky.social Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 3d
‘One officer told me that I "had no chance of returning to Minnesota" and that "the best thing for (me] is self-deportation." …
She offered me $2600 to self-deport.
I refused.
I wanted to talk to my attorney.
They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota.’
February 5, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
mattmfm.bsky.social
“U.S. employers announced 108,435 layoffs for the month, up 118% from the same period a year ago. The total marked the highest for any January since 2009, while the economy was in the final months of its steepest downturn since the Great Depression.”
Layoffs in January were the highest to start a year since 2009, Challenger says
With the recent narrative centering on a no-hire, no-fire labor market, the data suggests that the layoff part of the equation could be stepping up.
www.cnbc.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
jenstden.bsky.social
While we are reading the news about journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort being arrested, a reminder that a Canadian journalist was arrested while covering a protest action in Northern B.C. in 2021. thetyee.ca/News/2026/01...
The Narwhal Is Suing the RCMP. Stakes Are High for Journalism | The Tyee
The judge’s ruling could reinforce the right of journalists to report from inside police ‘exclusion zones.’
thetyee.ca
January 30, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
lalahaenzy.com
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
mehlerpaperny.bsky.social
Canada considers the US to be a safe country for asylum-seekers.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3d
🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.
Thus, rather than require such adjudications, the Department is changing its regulations to provide the Board more flexibility in reviewing appeals. Instead, for appeals taken from decisions issued after this IF becomes effective, as explained in Section IV.A of this preamble, the default will be summary dismissal unless a majority of current Board members vote to consider the appeal on the merits. And such dismissals will occur quickly—within 15 days of filing the appeal—allowing aliens to seek Federal court review expeditiously, rather than potentially waiting for years for a Board decision that in the vast majority of cases would affirm the underlying Immigration Judge decision.
February 5, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
timothysnyder.bsky.social
We are deciding right now whether we want to be a country with ethnic cleansing and concentration camps.
February 5, 2026 at 2:01 AM
stewartprest.ca
Editors, any chance you can stop putting pictures of Epststein on every article about anything even vaguely Epstein related? Really don't need to see his face every time I venture online.
February 5, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
weratedogs.com
This pup found a stick shaped like an old timey pipe earlier today and has already solved three mysteries. 13/10
a brown wire-haired pup stands on a wooden deck in a grassy yard. he looks at us with golden eyes and his right ear flipped inside out. he has a pipe-shaped stick in his mouth, giving him the appearance of a sophisticated and dapper gentleman. just give him a deerstalker cap and a cloak, and he'd give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money.
February 4, 2026 at 9:59 PM
stewartprest.ca
You know I'm starting to think creating a lavishly funded, poorly trained paramilitary force recruited on partisan lines and loyal to the administration rather than the flag was a bad idea.
February 4, 2026 at 7:32 PM
stewartprest.ca
Thanks for having me on! It was fun to be in living Vancolour this week.
vancolour.bsky.social Mo Amir @vancolour.bsky.social · 4d
This is VANCOLOUR
Thursday. 9pm.
@cheknews.ca 📺

👉 B.C. could owe you money and you might not know it! 🤑
(Sherry MacLennan, BC Unclaimed)

👉 Is another pipeline in B.C. just a pipe dream? 💭
(@stewartprest.ca)

👉 Can Canada deny Hasan Piker entry into the country? 🛑
(@kylalee.ca)
February 4, 2026 at 4:33 PM
stewartprest.ca
Seems this article is once again relevant.

theconversation.com/what-if-albe...
What if Alberta really did vote to separate?
An independent Alberta would be a landlocked, oil-exporting nation. It would have to enter into long and painful negotiations with Canada and the U.S. over every aspect of its new status.
theconversation.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
akurjata.ca
"In these perilous times both parties, whatever their other differences, must come together against external forces that threaten our independence and against domestic policies that threaten our unity."
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Stephen Harper calls for Liberals, Conservatives to come together in the face of Trump, separatist threats | CBC News
Former prime minister Stephen Harper urged the Liberal and Conservative parties to take on the challenges of our time together as the country stares down potentially two existential threats to its sov...
www.cbc.ca
February 3, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
drewharwell.com
A retiree wrote this email to a DHS attorney. Within five hours, DHS demanded Google turn over records for his account.

A Kafkaesque form of domestic surveillance, intimidating Americans for lawful speech.

New from us at the Post: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio... @johnwoodrowcox.bsky.social
“Unconscionable,” Jon thought as he found an email address online for the lead prosecutor, Joseph Dernbach, who was named in the story. Peering through metal-rimmed glasses, Jon opened Gmail on his computer monitor. “Mr. Dernbach, don’t play Russian roulette with H’s life,” he wrote. “Err on the side of caution. There’s a reason the US government along with many other governments don’t recognise the Taliban. Apply principles of common sense and decency.” That was it. In five minutes, Jon said, he finished the note, signed his first and last name, pressed send and hoped his plea would make a difference. Five hours and one minute later, Jon was watching TV with his wife when an email popped up in his inbox. He noticed it on his phone. “Google,” the message read, “has received legal process from a Law Enforcement authority compelling the release of information related to your Google Account.”
February 3, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
janinadill.bsky.social
I had the opportunity to speak to the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the illegal US intervention in Venezuela.

The UK must decide between "leading on international law" and "the special relationship", if the latter is a reflexive support of now legally unconstrained US Foreign Policy.
blavatnikschool.bsky.social Blavatnik School of Government @blavatnikschool.bsky.social · 5d
Professor @janinadill.bsky.social spoke on the Foreign Affairs Committee today about lessons from the Trump administration’s approach to Venezuela, emphasising the consequences when states do not stand up for international law. Listen from 11:37:41 👇
parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...
February 3, 2026 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
kwilsonhfx.bsky.social
Meme about the circular nature of subsidizing demand.
February 3, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Stewart Prest
emmettmacfarlane.com
"If these folks really hate Canada and they really adore the United States and [President] Donald Trump, then there's a border crossing or two that they can take tomorrow," Kenney said.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Alberta UCP caucus has 'no business' signing separation vote petition: former premier | CBC News
Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney says the governing United Conservative Party caucus has "no business" signing a petition to force a vote on the province quitting Canada.
www.cbc.ca
February 3, 2026 at 12:27 PM