A network of 20 inauthentic YouTube accounts has racked up nearly 40 million views by peddling lies, grievance, division and narratives normalizing the prospect of Alberta’s secession and annexation by the United States. @charlesrusnell.bsky.social reports. #abpoli
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I have always been a big fan of Tim Cook, and likewise, Steve Jobs, but if Steve was not taken from the Planet Earth so young, and ran the company instead of Tim, the company would have done well, but nowhere near as well as it has under Tim. For me it began with a phone call from Tim at the beginning of my First Term. He had a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix. Most people would have paid millions of dollars to a consultant, who I probably would not have known, but who would say that he knew me well. The fees would be paid but the job would not have gotten done. When I got the call I said, wow, it’s Tim Apple (Cook!) calling, how big is that? I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to “kiss my ass.” Anyway, he explained his problem, a tough one it was, I felt he was right and got it taken care of, quickly and effectively. That was the beginning of a long and very nice relationship. During my five years as President, Tim would call me, but never too much, and I would help him where I could. Years latter, after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader. He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask!), and he gets the job done, QUICKLY, without a dime being given to those very expensive (millions of dollars!) consultants around town who sometimes get it done, and sometimes don’t. Anyway, Tim Cook had an AMAZING career, almost incomparable, and will go on and continue to do great work for Apple, and whatever else he chooses to work on. Quite simply, Tim Cook is an incredible guy!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP 2.16k ReTruths 12.4k Likes Apr 21, 2026, 5:42 AM
Here's Trump encouraging business execs to "kiss my ass" in order to get special favors from his government. He doesn't even bother trying to hide the rampant corruption.
SORKIN: There's a whole number of very large companies, including Apple and Amazon, that have not sought reimbursements yet for the tariffs. From what I understand, part of the reason is they're worried about offending you.
TRUMP: I think it's brilliant. They got to know me very well. I'm honored.
Interesting piece from @hbr.org that fails to consider the scenario we lay out in an @theatlantic.com piece coming out today: the CEO doesn't just engage in political messaging but builds an entire alternative informational ecosystem to support his politics.
hbr.org/2026/04/when...
As Soumaya and I researched our book, companies kept describing a disconnect between what the President said about tariffs and their everyday reality.
So I visited Fall River, Massachusetts to see exactly how made-in-America seat cushions were being caught up in President Trump's tariffs...
Add universities to this list.
A new study shows 95% of young men used at least one tactic to persuade or coerce a woman into sex. On average, men used 8 different tactics. Primarily persistent verbal pressure, isolation, and using friends to manipulate were most common
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Grenell instructed me to “get rid of” the center’s permanent art collection. New art to adorn the building’s walls after its renovation, I was taken aback. If the donors of the works didn’t pay for their removal, he said, we could auction or give them away.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
"Some", by the way, include Minister Tim Hodgson:
Canada is “very hopeful that we can get through this difficult time and we can resume the type of relationship that we’ve had with the Americans for a long, long time."
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
The Turbo was also part and parcel of Canada's last experiment with large-scale industrial policy.
A government seriously committed to nation-building would promote a historically informed public dialogue about the policy options we have today.
But: Nada.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Some techbros are more open about their politics than others. But the politics are pretty similar all round.
+1 (and I wasn’t quite sure before given the power of the Strait). Invasion insurance is not optional when the other side cannot credibly commit to a deal. Even after Trump is gone, polarization still means a deal may not outlast a change in party in the White House.
Manly pronouncements on national interests, values and human rights written with all the preachiness of an corporate editorial entity that's never worried about their own human rights being protected. 🙄
Canada’s elbows-elevated ambition to secure digital & technological sovereignty faces a lot of practical hurdles.
But, at a minimum, it requires disentangling government and public services from at least this one company. If they continue to operate here, everything else is just hand-waving.
I'd add, our government remains all over Elon Musk's Nazi site, as do many other institutions, associations, and 'respectable' people for some inexplicable reason.
One reason that we cannot have professional diplomats representing the interests of the United States is that it would disrupt a pattern of personal enrichment for the Presidents allies and families.
Finnish Pres Alexander Stubb has some wise words for Washington:
In the midst of Trump's harrowing campaign against immigrants, Palantir has been at the forefront, collaborating with ICE-- an entity complicit in killing, torture, and disappearance--to increase their number of targets.
The ACLU explains more here: www.aclu.org/news/privacy...
Have been wondering when candidates would start talking about this. One of the biggest corruption scandals is U.S. history playing out in real time.
Leblanc’s answer: “The challenge is to get the Americans to a position where they want to make a deal that’s in the interest of both economies.”
At a US House Appropriations Committee hearing on the FY2027 budget, USTR Greer responded to Rep. Cline’s concerns over South Korea’s digital trade policies. Cline called Seoul’s approach discriminatory; Greer said the US is holding Korea accountable and flagged Section 301 as an option if needed.
"Trump ended free trade for Mexican tomatoes. Prices are up 23 percent in the last year." reason.com/2026/04/17/t...
Another Fed paper finds Americans paid almost all Trump's 2025 tariffs ("pass-through of realized tariffs into import prices was close to one hundred percent"), AND that local labor market effects were "economically negligible."
All pain, no gain. www.richmondfed.org/publications...
It’s as if the Iran war was fought to sustain the Russian economy. Lifting sanctions for Russians does nothing for Americans. It just makes it easier for Russia to continue its war in Ukraine.
Worse. Definitely for worse.
“A former NASA financial officer found that while the company had driven down the cost of launching things into space, it wasn’t passing those savings along to NASA. Even adjusting for inflation, SpaceX has been charging NASA more each year for the same services.”
Here’s what a option (3) mean: a Canada picks a base tariff on the US menu of demands (the lower the base tariff, the greater the removal [or non-imposition] of regulations and laws that the US doesn’t like). This last option is the worst one for the Canadian economy in the medium to long term.
Canada’s “stupidity” explained in terms of outcome preferences:
1) Status quo (we keep negotiating)
2) US leaves USMCA
3) Canada accepts a new USMCA deal
www.cbc.ca/news/world/h...
Article de Mathieu Bock-Côté dans le Journal de Montréal intitulé "Le Québec, l'Écosse".
1. Ce matin dans le JdM, Bock-Côté parle du désir d'indépendance au Québec et en Écosse. Comme j'ai vécu en Écosse et que j'ai publié des recherches sur la politique écossaise, quelques réflexions sur la comparaison entre ces deux nations et la chronique de MBC.
An important read on transparency:
It's critical for journalists, civil society, and researchers to be able to figure out who owns what, and the EU needs to sort out this mess immediately.
www.occrp.org/en/feature/h...
Editors and reporters: Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop writing and publishing articles on “artificial intelligence” that don’t define the term precisely. They yield only useless pontifications. Focus on *specific* benefits and harms from specific tools and technologies.
