Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
@janetbufton.ca
Canadian mum, 3D liberal in Babylon
Writing collected at janetbufton.ca
Co-founder, theILS.ca. Contributing fellow @Liberalism.org
diversity dynamism democracy Detroit Lions
Writing collected at janetbufton.ca
Co-founder, theILS.ca. Contributing fellow @Liberalism.org
diversity dynamism democracy Detroit Lions
Pinned
Tribes, Coalitions, Parties
A theory of how political organizations form, cooperate, rise, and decline.
www.liberalism.org
Today at @liberalism.org, I offer a corollary to an earlier piece at @liberalcurrents.com where I proposed a new political coalition to reunite liberals. Today, I want to talk about when and why coalitions end.
More than anything, I want to convince you that it's good for spent coalitions to end.
More than anything, I want to convince you that it's good for spent coalitions to end.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Imagine you were a car insurer and decided to get rid of all of your customers who hadn't been in car accidents.
Dr Oz says the Trump administration will kick more than a million people off health insurance because some of them have "never filed a claim"
September 22, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Imagine you were a car insurer and decided to get rid of all of your customers who hadn't been in car accidents.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
A lot of authoritarian politics is exactly trying to make fetch happen, then judging people by their fetch.
September 22, 2026 at 4:53 PM
A lot of authoritarian politics is exactly trying to make fetch happen, then judging people by their fetch.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
I agree with QP.
However, if you view trade as submission, this matters in the same way that a spousal abuser doesn’t want his spouse to leave. Trump has a grim mental model of the world
However, if you view trade as submission, this matters in the same way that a spousal abuser doesn’t want his spouse to leave. Trump has a grim mental model of the world
If Canada is such a terrible trade partner that’s been “ripping you off for decades”…
Why are you so upset to see us taking our business elsewhere? 🤭🇨🇦🇪🇺
Why are you so upset to see us taking our business elsewhere? 🤭🇨🇦🇪🇺
September 18, 2026 at 3:56 AM
I agree with QP.
However, if you view trade as submission, this matters in the same way that a spousal abuser doesn’t want his spouse to leave. Trump has a grim mental model of the world
However, if you view trade as submission, this matters in the same way that a spousal abuser doesn’t want his spouse to leave. Trump has a grim mental model of the world
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
The wealthy don't just compete in markets. @mattzwolinski.bsky.social on why classical liberals can no longer afford to look away from what concentrated wealth does to political power.
www.liberalism.org/p/the-power-...
www.liberalism.org/p/the-power-...
The Power of Wealth
In every political system, wealthy and powerful people will try to write the rules to favor themselves. Liberal democracies should use a range of policy tools to resist elite capture.
www.liberalism.org
September 17, 2026 at 7:01 PM
The wealthy don't just compete in markets. @mattzwolinski.bsky.social on why classical liberals can no longer afford to look away from what concentrated wealth does to political power.
www.liberalism.org/p/the-power-...
www.liberalism.org/p/the-power-...
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Over the last two weeks in Europe, I heard lots of solidarity around Trump's threats against Canada — and painfully little recognition that the American president is an existential threat to Europe, too. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Justin Ling: On his latest trip abroad, Carney needs to warn Europe: Trump is coming for you next
During my own recent Euro trip, I kept meeting people terrified by the U.S. president's autocratic turn yet blithe to the threat he poses to them.
www.thestar.com
September 17, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Over the last two weeks in Europe, I heard lots of solidarity around Trump's threats against Canada — and painfully little recognition that the American president is an existential threat to Europe, too. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Trump thinks that it's a hostile act against the US if other countries trade with the US, and also if other countries trade with each other without the US.
Trump threatens to cut off all trade with Europe if Canada associates closer with the EU
September 17, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Trump thinks that it's a hostile act against the US if other countries trade with the US, and also if other countries trade with each other without the US.
Teaching the kids about Eurovision in preparation for whatever Associate EU membership means, which means reviewing the Most Eurovision entry.
Let 3 - Mama ŠČ! (LIVE) | Croatia 🇭🇷 | Grand Final | Eurovision 2023
YouTube video by Eurovision Song Contest
youtu.be
September 17, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Teaching the kids about Eurovision in preparation for whatever Associate EU membership means, which means reviewing the Most Eurovision entry.
Pierre Poilievre said: "We will NEVER be the 51st U.S. state. And we will NEVER be the 28th EU state."
I have more thoughts on this but the biggest one is that a lot of people on the Canadian right (and the anti-Trump U.S.) right have forgotten how foundational EU opposition is for the new right.
I have more thoughts on this but the biggest one is that a lot of people on the Canadian right (and the anti-Trump U.S.) right have forgotten how foundational EU opposition is for the new right.
September 16, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Pierre Poilievre said: "We will NEVER be the 51st U.S. state. And we will NEVER be the 28th EU state."
I have more thoughts on this but the biggest one is that a lot of people on the Canadian right (and the anti-Trump U.S.) right have forgotten how foundational EU opposition is for the new right.
I have more thoughts on this but the biggest one is that a lot of people on the Canadian right (and the anti-Trump U.S.) right have forgotten how foundational EU opposition is for the new right.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
One thing I learned from Hungary is that moving on the free press requires overwhelming dominance.
If an authoritarian can't shutter the vast majority of opposition media quickly, voters will simply shift to different free outlets — and get angrier at both the state and its would-be mouthpieces
If an authoritarian can't shutter the vast majority of opposition media quickly, voters will simply shift to different free outlets — and get angrier at both the state and its would-be mouthpieces
Bari Weiss has plunged CBS News into ratings calamity.
—"Evening News" has posted worst ratings of 21st century
—"CBS Mornings" has posted worst ratings of 21st century
—And now "60 Minutes" has posted worst ratings of 21st century
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/60-minutes...
—"Evening News" has posted worst ratings of 21st century
—"CBS Mornings" has posted worst ratings of 21st century
—And now "60 Minutes" has posted worst ratings of 21st century
More in @status.news: www.status.news/p/60-minutes...
Bari’s ‘60’ Bust
Bari Weiss blew up “60 Minutes," ostensibly to create a better show. Instead, her revamped premiere just suffered its worst debut ratings of the 21st century—what one longtime TV executive told Status...
www.status.news
September 16, 2026 at 12:51 PM
One thing I learned from Hungary is that moving on the free press requires overwhelming dominance.
If an authoritarian can't shutter the vast majority of opposition media quickly, voters will simply shift to different free outlets — and get angrier at both the state and its would-be mouthpieces
If an authoritarian can't shutter the vast majority of opposition media quickly, voters will simply shift to different free outlets — and get angrier at both the state and its would-be mouthpieces
If you go into moderate, anti-Trump but firmly right-wing U.S. (and Canadian) political circles, many will assure you that The Free Press is an excellent outlet. TFP represents an aspirational standard and helps define the range of views they see.
a lot of people think that faillison hired bari weiss to deliberately destroy CBS news and i think all of you need to consider the possibility that he hired her because he genuinely thought she would be successful.
a wild thing is that they didn’t just give her editorial control, they gave her what sounds like operational control (over hiring/firing), which would be objectively an insane thing to do even if she was good at editorial, which she isn’t, or had experience at an org this size, which she doesn’t
September 16, 2026 at 1:05 PM
If you go into moderate, anti-Trump but firmly right-wing U.S. (and Canadian) political circles, many will assure you that The Free Press is an excellent outlet. TFP represents an aspirational standard and helps define the range of views they see.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
September 14, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Filing out a volunteer form and required abilities include "endure varied weather, including temperatures ranging from -30 to 38 degrees C (humidex to 45 C), rain and snow."
Waving Canadian Flag
ALT: Waving Canadian Flag
static.klipy.com
September 14, 2026 at 1:23 AM
Filing out a volunteer form and required abilities include "endure varied weather, including temperatures ranging from -30 to 38 degrees C (humidex to 45 C), rain and snow."
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
From @janetbufton.ca: "Canadians have decided, it seems, that we won’t go quietly. The trade war has morphed, in some ways, into an information war."
capx.co/canada-is-fi...
capx.co/canada-is-fi...
Canada is fighting back against US tariffs
They are willing to pay some price simply as an act of defiance
capx.co
September 13, 2026 at 4:27 PM
From @janetbufton.ca: "Canadians have decided, it seems, that we won’t go quietly. The trade war has morphed, in some ways, into an information war."
capx.co/canada-is-fi...
capx.co/canada-is-fi...
My pal Sarah has said from the first time we talked about it that the thing we have not to do with AI is outsource what makes us human.
Work doesn't make us human. But what we work on is part of what makes some of us human. What makes you human might not do it for me.
Work doesn't make us human. But what we work on is part of what makes some of us human. What makes you human might not do it for me.
Been thinking about this since I read it. If things keep progressing, I worry you arrive at a psychologically horrible point, where one after another, all knowledge workers are forced to argue that their jobs, and the way they've been done traditionally, have value beyond the straightforward output.
Very forceful statement by Terry Tao about AI and math.
terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...
Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.
terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a...
Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.
September 13, 2026 at 12:05 PM
My pal Sarah has said from the first time we talked about it that the thing we have not to do with AI is outsource what makes us human.
Work doesn't make us human. But what we work on is part of what makes some of us human. What makes you human might not do it for me.
Work doesn't make us human. But what we work on is part of what makes some of us human. What makes you human might not do it for me.
I started reading The Murderbot Diaries because people were raving about the show. But at the end of Network Effect I think I care too much to let a TV show do anything with it in my brain.
September 12, 2026 at 10:38 PM
I started reading The Murderbot Diaries because people were raving about the show. But at the end of Network Effect I think I care too much to let a TV show do anything with it in my brain.
People say (or used to) that they don't agree with Trump but he's funny. I've never found Trump funny. So I just assume that watching Trump is for those people like watching Chretien often is for me.
September 12, 2026 at 4:19 PM
People say (or used to) that they don't agree with Trump but he's funny. I've never found Trump funny. So I just assume that watching Trump is for those people like watching Chretien often is for me.
The very end of this isn't what is getting the headlines but it is the part that made me exhale hardest.
For those who didn't catch Jean Chrétien's remarks to the Gander 9/11 commemoration...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Jean Chrétien says ‘we bow to no one’ in stirring 9/11 speech in Gander, N.L. | CBC News
Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien drew thunderous applause on Friday during a fiery and patriotic speech in Gander, N.L, where many had gathered at a sports arena to commemorate the 25th an...
www.cbc.ca
September 12, 2026 at 2:55 PM
The very end of this isn't what is getting the headlines but it is the part that made me exhale hardest.
EVERYONE. LEAVE THE BOATS ALONE.
September 11, 2026 at 1:03 PM
EVERYONE. LEAVE THE BOATS ALONE.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Lovely story.
September 11, 2026 at 5:38 AM
Lovely story.
Love it.
Alberta First Nation wants to set up safe haven for gender-affirming care | CBC News
Saddle Lake Cree Nation says its aiming to defy Premier Danielle Smith's government by establishing a safe haven for gender-affirming care. Chief Dale Steinhauer described the law as dehumanizing and ...
www.cbc.ca
September 11, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Love it.
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
A $1 trillion fiscal stimulus— in an environment of high debt, high interest rates, and high upside risks of inflation— with no forward-looking incentives at all, no possible supply-side effects, in the overt service of vote-buying.
Which center-right economist will be the first to praise it?
Which center-right economist will be the first to praise it?
September 10, 2026 at 1:01 PM
A $1 trillion fiscal stimulus— in an environment of high debt, high interest rates, and high upside risks of inflation— with no forward-looking incentives at all, no possible supply-side effects, in the overt service of vote-buying.
Which center-right economist will be the first to praise it?
Which center-right economist will be the first to praise it?
Thinking of the economists from the free market movement sure they can do some good by working with this US administration.
Portuguese economist Ricardo Reis dropped by IMF after criticising Trump tariffs
Ricardo Reis warned that tariffs could drive up prices in the United States and potentially trigger a new wave of inflation.View on euronews
ca.finance.yahoo.com
September 10, 2026 at 10:17 AM
Thinking of the economists from the free market movement sure they can do some good by working with this US administration.