Owner facing 15 charges after Old Montreal fire that killed 7, including guests in illegal Airbnbs The owner of a building in Old Montreal that burned down in 2023, killing seven people, is now facing seven charges of manslaughter and eight charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

Émile Haïm Benamor was finally charged and arrested today for the deaths of his tenants in two separate heritage buildings in Old Montreal, one having been an illegal Airbnb.

– cc @greglindsay.org
– cc @twieditz.bsky.social
– cc @jjforward.bsky.social

🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional!

ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press reveals that the agency allows immigration officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant.

BREAKING: Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, a memo obtained by AP says.

Blow for OpenAI in Germany as court rules song lyrics used illegally A German court ruled on Tuesday that OpenAI violated copyright on nine popular songs in a lawsuit that marked another attempt to prevent the free use of artists' content online. The Munich Regional Co...

Open AI loses copyright case in Germany.

Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."

‘It’s anti-science,’ This expert is sounding the alarm on climate change effects after Ford government scraps Toronto’s Green Roof Bylaw - NOW Toronto The Ontario government ended a policy that required new buildings in the city to have a green roof, and one expert warns of consequences.

TEA's Sarah Buchanan spoke to @nowtoronto.bsky.social about the damage caused by Ford's attack on Toronto's green roof bylaw ➡️ nowtoronto.com/news/this-ex... #topoli

If it seems like everyone is on strike, it's because austerity is being imposed with a vengeance

Rather than taking on the billionaires and oligarchs, austerity is imposed to discipline workers

We're being told that we can't afford to have quality public services and fairness

Fight back ✊

'We are prepared to help get rid of them,' Ont. government says after 16 speed cameras vandalized | CBC News Sixteen Toronto speed cameras were found damaged on Tuesday morning, only two days after the Parkside Drive speed camera was cut down for the seventh time in less than a year.

Trying to come up with an equivalent to this speed camera story but for transit riders. Imagine if, in wake of hypothetical reports of people getting mad about fines and vandalizing Presto readers, the gov was just like, well, I guess we should stop fare enforcement. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Unbelievable

New Vancouver councillor wants to reverse ABC's changes to empty homes tax COPE Coun. Sean Orr wants to ramp up the municipality's taxes on empty homes, reversing changes made by the city's ruling ABC party.

NEW: Councillor @seanorr.bsky.social
is introducing a motion at City Council to increase the rate of the Empty Homes Tax.

vancouversun.com/news/local-n... #FightForHousing #vanpoli #EmptyHomesTax

AI Watchdog is indeed an excellent resource and is, for example, how I know that my books have been ingested into the LibGen dataset and used without my consent to train commercial AI systems

enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits

Domestically made, updated Moderna vaccines

Let’s Go Canada 🇨🇦 !

“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

NEW: “Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat

A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

By @abrahm.bsky.social

Statistics Canada says income gap hit record high in first quarter Statistics Canada says the income gap between the country's highest and lowest income households reached a record high in the first quarter of 2025.

"Unemployment is rising...in particular for young people — young graduates coming out of school, they're not finding their first job," said @kjscott.bsky.social, a senior researcher focused on gender equality and public policy at @policyalternatives. ottawa.citynews.ca/2025/07/16/s...

Wait, this guy is running for reelection?

Yeah I just know some places you can’t get them because they’re on a fire route and/or classified as an arterial (my street!)

Toronto: Let's get moving on public transit improvements! Are you tired of traffic and slow, unreliable travel times? Show your support for priority bus and streetcar lanes as a win for reliable transit, cost of living, and the environment!

Thanks @environmentaldefence.ca for launching this campaign calling on Toronto City Council to support priority bus & streetcar lanes ahead of the July 16 Executive Committee meeting. We can't afford to let our carbrain opponents win! #TTC #TOpoli #RapidTO act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/174280/...

“These transit lanes are a win-win," says @HowSenChong from TEA. "They will move more people quickly to where they need to go, and help Toronto cut pollution and make important progress towards its climate goals." #topoli

Both can be true - lots of people chilling, and a dedicated hardcore set continuing to drive, erm, revenues whenever there’s road capacity. That said, if they install speed bumps and the hardcore set tries to jackhammer them, we’d probably be able to catch them in the act

Canada should build public cloud infrastructure rather than relying on U.S. tech giants - CCPA During the 2025 election campaign, prime minister Mark Carney made a striking admission about Canada’s dependence on U.S. tech companies. The Canadian government was in the process of choosing a partn...

The Canadian government is deeply reliant on U.S. tech companies for internet infrastructure. In a period of "nation-building projects," Canada should begin building the infrastructure for a public Canadian internet. By @parismarx.com @policyalternatives.ca
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Canada should build public cloud infrastructure rather than relying on U.S. tech giants - CCPA During the 2025 election campaign, prime minister Mark Carney made a striking admission about Canada’s dependence on U.S. tech companies. The Canadian government was in the process of choosing a partn...

Canada needs to reduce its dependence on US tech companies — and cloud infrastructure is a perfect place to start.

For @policyalternatives.ca, I explain the threat posed by our dependence on US-owned data centres and why we need a public cloud that isn’t shaped by the need for shareholder profits.

I've argued here that a US annexation of Canada will not be done militarily -- it will be done economically. Limiting Canada's ability to raise revenues could be part of a broader strategy to undermine our sovereignty.

Something to watch out for, anyway.

www.canada.ca/en/departmen...

I struggle with this interpretation as I haven’t seen any real moves by the feds to take on the gatekeeper role these US tech companies play. If you see any signs, please share…

Happy Canada Day. We won’t become the 51st state, just a branch office for Microsoft, Uber, Airbnb and Amazon. #ElbowsGone #CUSMA

What are the signs of heat illness? Heat-related illness exists on a spectrum, so recognizing early symptoms is key to avoiding progression

Gift article: heat exhaustion and heat stroke www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/0b2b304...

Harvard hired a researcher to uncover its ties to slavery. He says the results cost him his job: ‘We found too many slaves’ When the extent of the university’s involvement with slavery was unearthed, a scholar tracking descendants of enslaved workers was suddenly fired

Hey, everybody! We can all hate Harvard again.

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ju...

Tactics without strategy: How Trump’s weakness and Netanyahu’s self-interest exploded in Iran The attacks bore the twin hallmarks of Israeli military actions under Netanyahu: Tactically brilliant but lacking any strategic vision

Gift article: Saunders on Iran//Israel www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/0b2b304...

What about the UNDRIP Act?

Yikes

Hi anonymous person. As with bike lanes, transit priority plans should be fixed, not discarded. We need affordable and effective transportation alternatives - the questions are all around how, not whether.