Here we go. Time for session one (for me) of the Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA) annual conference. A session on Municipal resilience in the face of multiple, inter-related threats. Learning time!

Yeah. Nice reboot of their old 1988 ad.

I’m gonna bet that you won’t find the senior advisors of any other party leader wearing one of these.

For the curious, here’s the original:

Translation: if this keeps up, the foundation of American constitutionalism is dead. It will be a failed state run by the whims of rich people, with compliance enforced through basic economic deprivation.

Yes. Definitely. Except they may also be right.

Hey, Canadian media: where are the stories on this? I understand that the tariffs are first priority but… this is really serious. Get on it, will ya?

It’s been a long time coming. I always wanted to attend this event with my dad but we never did. Now that it’s in my city, I couldn’t miss it. I grabbed a ticket to the opening game and here we are, 10 minutes to puck drop.

Good god, yes. I could not believe my eyes when a friend got one of these… then Christmas came and there it was! I did not leave the couch for days.

This is the disconnected, childish assessment of a deeply immature and dangerously powerful person.

We are going to die… sooner than anticipated.

This is always a day for personal reflection for me. War had a deep, intergenerational impact on my family. Remembrance is about “never again,” not glory. There is no glory in war. The costs are high and ripple through families with quiet violence.

From the conclusion of a paper I wrote in 2015 (with @JonathanRose). Our systems of discourse are becoming more and more democratically unstable. And potential fixes now seem even more politically and practically out of reach. Buckle up.

I have no doubt at all that he grew up watching Moonraker and, instead of dreaming of being Bond, his heart sang with the ambition of Hugo Drax.

This is the Ottawa we need right now. Calm, kind, compassionate, and focused on solutions. Acting from fear simply breeds hate and solves nothing. Good for Jamine. Thank you. Now we need every compassionate Ottawa resident who’s able to stand up and help. Don’t let fear win.

This’s what toxic, entitled hypocrisy looks like. This, from an elected official who has repeatedly begged for compassion from her constituents to make allowances for her own serious mental health battles… now denigrating basic mental health supports… to score partisan points.

This description (from Ivison) captures much that is wrong with the political culture in this country. The parties and the pundits seem to only see the partisan lines and over-excited participants on each "side." This isn't a damn sport. This is not your NFL fantasy league. /1

Merry Christmas, everyone.