The leader of NATO bends the knee to Trump, while the Prime Minister of Denmark stands up to him.

Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO sat next to Trump and listened to him bash Spain and threaten Greenland, again.

Instead of sticking up for these NATO allies, Rutte just sat there nodding and smilingx

A Danish reporter called him out and asked him if he had any self-respect.

Meanwhile, the prime minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen stood up for the people of Greenland, like a real leader should.

It’s not surprising that the woman stands up to Trump while the man bends the knee

Mark Rutte sure looks weak

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A new poll shows that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is viewed more favorably by American Jews than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Since taking office, Mamdani refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and said he wouldn’t travel to the country.

He has also pledged to order the arrest of Netanyahu if he visits the city on his watch, complying with an ICC arrest warrant.

Recently, the mayor skipped the annual Israel Day parade, where participation is a longstanding tradition for New York City leaders, and he also called for divestment from Israel’s economy.

In congressional races in New York City, Mamdani actively campaigned for candidates who made inflammatory statements on Israel.

The poll shows that Mamdani’s positions on Israel has not prevented him from maintaining a positive image among American Jews.

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Canadaland founder Jesse Brown went on CNN and repeatedly blamed Muslims, immigrants, anti-Zionists, and Palestine solidarity activists for the rise of antisemitism in Canada.

Rather than challenging Jesse Brown’s Islamophobic rhetoric, CNN allowed it to pass unquestioned.

Brown linked a rise in antisemitism to Canada “tripling its Muslim population,” claiming that Canada is importing people from countries where “hatred of Jews is taught in schools.”

These are baseless claims.

Brown characterized the entire Palestine solidarity movement as an “anti-Zionist hate movement” driven exclusively by “radicals.”

This is anti-Palestinian, anti-immigrant, and Islamophobic scapegoating.

CNN allowed a guest to dehumanize Palestinians and defame an entire religious demographic as inherently radicalized without any journalistic skepticism or pushback.

Brown suggested that criticism of Israel by Canadian politicians contributes to attacks on Jews because anti-Zionists allegedly view politicians and protesters as being “on the same side.”

This reinforces the false notion that anti-Zionism or public criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic.

To draft and send an email, address it to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

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What does Pierre Poilievre mean by “woke” culture? He must have read Pete Hegseth’s book, The War on Warriors. Last year, Hegseth told U.S. military leaders he wanted to end what he called “woke” culture in the army. He said: “For too long we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons. Based on their race. Based on gender quotas. Based on historic, so called firsts. We became the woke department. But not anymore.”

Hegseth is conflating woke with DEI, or diversity, equity, inclusion. So what he’s really saying is that women, Black people, Indigenous people, LGBTQ people, or any marginalized group, have not earned their way into the military because they were a DEI hire. Never mind that these groups still had to meet the same physical, mental, and tactical standards as everyone else. The whole point of DEI is to make sure that these marginalized groups are not being overlooked by the old boys’ club.

And Hegseth has followed through on his promise. He fired many of the highest ranking women and Black leaders in U.S. military history. Nearly 60 percent of the senior military officers removed from leadership have been women or Black service members. Is this what Poilievre plans to do if he became Prime Minister?

Hegseth also denounced what he called “stupid rules of engagement.” “We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.” Under Hegseth’s command, the U.S. launched a joint war of aggression with Israel against Iran, killing at least 3,700 civilians, including 110 schoolgirls on the first day of the attacks on February 28. Poilievre gave his support for the U.S.-Israeli attacks, despite a majority of Canadians being opposed to the war.

The U.S. military has also been blowing boats out of the Caribbean, with reports that they are sometimes striking innocent fishermen. They kidnapped the President of Venezuela. Does Poilievre want the Canadian military to remove stupid rules of engagement, just like the Americans?

Let me know what you think he means by woke and whether you agree with him.

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The Coast Is The Argument

The tanker ban is a law built from 50 years of coastal protection, First Nations leadership, local opposition, federal policy and environmental risk. It protects Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait, Queen Charlotte Sound and Haida Gwaii from large crude oil tankers. That coast carries salmon, whales, seabirds, fisheries, tourism, Indigenous law and local economies that depend on clean water. A major spill in those waters would threaten food systems, marine life, cultural practice, coastal jobs and the public trust that governments owe to people who live beside the risk.

Poilievre says there is no environmental argument against lifting the tanker ban. The coast is the environmental argument. The law exists because those waters are remote, rough, productive and hard to protect after a spill. It blocks tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tonnes of crude oil or persistent oil from stopping, loading or unloading at ports along the north coast, and it allows smaller shipments so northern communities can receive fuel.

The Strait And The Standoff

Hecate Strait separates Haida Gwaii from mainland B.C. and is famous for treacherous water. Fishing vessels, ferries and container ships have all run into trouble in this stretch. Mariah McCooey, director of hydrography for the Pacific region of the Canadian Hydrographic Service, describes a cocktail of risks in any area of open water. Hecate Strait adds a danger of its own. The strait is shallow, and that shallow bottom stacks big Pacific waves even higher.

Alberta’s oil sector, Premier Danielle Smith and federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre want the ban lifted or changed. They argue it hinders Alberta’s ability to export oil to key markets in Asia. First Nations and environmental groups want the moratorium kept. They say the ban protects sensitive coastal areas and marine ecosystems that anchor the provincial economy and Indigenous ways of life.

The People He Erases

Poilievre called the opposition a radical group of fake environmentalists. That phrase erases First Nations, coastal communities, fishers, local governments and families who have opposed crude tankers for decades. Coastal First Nations describe the ban as the product of generations of advocacy by the people whose territories, fisheries, beaches and economies would face the damage first. The insult asks Canadians to ignore the people who would live with the spill so the pipeline can be discussed as a national project instead of a local risk. A serious leader asks who carries the danger, who gets the profit and who pays when the promise fails.

Whales Share These Waters

The tanker debate is also a whale debate. B.C. waters are used by killer whales and other marine mammals that depend on sound, salmon and clean habitat. Southern Resident killer whales are endangered, and federal measures in 2026 include distance rules and management zones because vessel disturbance, prey loss and contaminants threaten their survival. More tanker traffic would add pressure in waters already governed by rules protecting whales.

Poilievre says pipelines are safer than rail, but that comparison narrows the issue to one part of the chain. A pipeline to the southern coast also carries whale risk because more tanker traffic affects waters used by Southern Residents. Oil must be produced, moved, stored, loaded and shipped, and each stage creates risk. A project can reduce some danger on land while increasing danger at sea.

Read The Polls Closely

Poilievre says British Columbians overwhelmingly support pipelines from Alberta to the Pacific. Some polls show majority support for pipeline access in broad terms, and those polls measure a general idea. This project asks for specific things: lifting the north coast tanker ban, crude tankers in Hecate Strait, consent from First Nations and public financing. Support for each of those remains an open question.

The Alberta numbers don’t even show overwhelming support. Polling released by the Pembina Institute found 61 per cent of Albertans oppose using taxpayer money for a new pipeline, and 67 per cent believe Alberta’s economy depends too heavily on oil and gas. Poilievre says government should get out of the way and let the private sector build. Alberta voters appear far less enthusiastic when the bill moves to public money.

Taxpayers Hold The Risk

A project with overwhelming public support and a strong business case would have a private proponent ready to finance it. Reuters reported the plan would be built by Trans Mountain Corporation, which the federal government owns, with Pembina Pipeline holding a 10 per cent stake during construction. The federal and Alberta governments would be majority owners. That structure puts public ownership in the lead and private capital in a limited position.

That structure exposes the weakness inside Poilievre’s slogan. The project still needs review, financing, route decisions, Indigenous participation, port capacity, whale protections and public risk tolerance. Projects built to run for decades also face demand risk as markets and governments shift away from fossil fuels. By the time a new pipeline reaches completion, taxpayers could be left with a stranded asset they were told the private sector would build.

Authority Comes With Conditions

Ottawa regulates pipelines that cross provincial or international borders. The Canada Energy Regulator confirms that federal role, and the Constitution gives Parliament authority over works and undertakings that connect provinces. That authority gives Ottawa the lead role over an interprovincial pipeline. It also requires a regulator, review, Indigenous consultation, project conditions and legal compliance.

British Columbia keeps authority over land and water a pipeline would cross. The B.C. Energy Regulator says interprovincial pipelines can require provincial approvals under the Land Act, the Water Sustainability Act and the Forest Act. Those approvals concern Crown land, water use and permits to cut trees. Federal jurisdiction gives Ottawa power over the undertaking, provincial law governs parts of the route.

The Alaska Comparison Falls Apart

Poilievre says Americans already move tankers through the same waters. Canada has routing rules, reporting rules, restrictions and a voluntary tanker exclusion zone that keeps loaded Alaska tankers away from the coast. The north coast ban concerns large crude tankers stopping, loading or unloading at northern B.C. ports. A tanker travelling offshore under routing rules carries a different risk than an export system that brings crude tankers repeatedly into the north coast.

What Poilievre Wants Forgotten

Canada is being asked to weaken coastal protection so a project backed by public money can search for export access through waters that governments have guarded for decades. The tanker ban protects one of the most sensitive coasts in Canada from large crude oil tankers. It reflects First Nations leadership, local opposition, environmental risk and decades of public policy. Poilievre wants Canadians to believe Mark Carney is the only obstacle to a pipeline. The Spin Doctor is hoping Canadians forget why the tanker ban exists in the first place.

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What follows is a transcript of remarks delivered at a recent press conference by Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, and by Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti, a member of the commission. I have included a link to the report and the press conference so that readers can hear the commissioners in their own words. The report contains descriptions of harm done to children and will be difficult for some people to read.

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has found that Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, concluding that their actions amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In a report released globally today, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, found that Palestinian children had been subjected to targeted killing, starvation, torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, and repeated displacement. The commission found that much of the harm suffered by Palestinian children was not incidental, but intended to destroy the existence of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group.

The report is titled: The Essence of Childhood Has Been Destroyed: Israel’s Deliberate Targeting of Palestinian Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Since 7 October 2023.

It reports that more than 20,000 children have been killed directly, with many more dead from starvation, disease, and the collapse of Gaza’s health system.

Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar

Based on all the evidence gathered, the report makes legal findings and concludes that the Israeli authorities and the Israeli security forces have deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children and destroyed their childhood. Israeli authorities and the Israeli security forces are responsible for crimes against humanity, including persecution, and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The report released today further substantiates the finding on genocide. The protection, care, and survival of Palestinian children and pregnant women are inextricably linked to the Palestinian people’s fundamental rights to self determination, as children represent the future bearers of their collective identity and resilience. By targeting children, Israel is eroding the foundational structure of Palestinian society, weakening the demographic vitality and overall capacity of the Palestinian people to sustain and exercise its right to determine its future as a people.

The report concludes that settler violence in the West Bank functions as a means of implementing Israeli state policies, with both the state and violent settler groups working in collaboration towards the same strategic objective: unlawful territorial expansion.

The report by the Board of Peace to the Security Council in May this year, pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2803, claims that the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza have improved. This contradicts the findings of this commission.

The Israeli Prime Minister has been clear. Israel aims to seize at least 70% of the Gaza Strip, in clear violation of the ceasefire agreement and international law.

The reality is that Palestinians continue to be killed and harmed in Gaza, even after the ceasefire was announced in October last year, and the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza remains very much below the necessary levels needed.

Lastly, the commission condemns the severe mistreatment of the flotilla activists detained by the Israeli forces. Such public disregard of international law would support the findings of the commission in previous reports that Palestinian detainees were severely mistreated, including tortured, raped, and sexually abused by Israeli forces.

The commission welcomes the opening of judicial investigations in a number of countries about these events.

In this report, we made a series of recommendations to the State of Israel and to the member states, as well as the Security Council, which we hope the member states will act upon and the other bodies to whom we have addressed them will act upon.

We intend to continue pursuing the fulfillment of our mandate, including in relation to making recommendations, in particular on accountability measures with a view to preventing and ending impunity and ensuring accountability, including state responsibility and individual criminal and command responsibility.

Chris Sidoti

This report is a thematic report dealing with the situation of children. When presenting reports, I try to be legal, technical, and dispassionate. But today I want to speak very personally.

For me, this report has been the most difficult of the 17 reports that the commission has produced. Some events stay with me long after a report is investigated, written, and released. The events that stay with me are the events concerning children.

The report we released today is looking at the Israeli military killing, maiming, and damaging the lives of Palestinian children. The chair has referred to the fact that there were over 20,000 Palestinian children in Gaza killed between October 2023 and October 2025. Twenty thousand or more, maybe 22,000, directly killed by the violence.

The child whose death struck me most personally was not killed directly by the violence and was not included amongst those 20,000 to 22,000 recorded deaths. Those deaths were all children whose bodies were identified and who were injured by warfare or bombings.

The girl I am talking about, age 12, had celiac disease. Celiac disease is a manageable disease. Children do not die with celiac disease.

When her situation came to public attention, it was dismissed by the Israeli authorities on the basis that this girl had a pre existing condition. The evidence was there. We saw the photos and the videos of this child.

She suffered seriously from malnutrition and diarrhea. She lost a third of her body weight over a six month period. From March to May 2025, Israeli authorities imposed a total siege on Gaza. No food was getting in during that period, and certainly not the food required by a child with celiac disease. That is when her weight loss began.

In October 2025, suffering from severe acute malnutrition, she was admitted to the Nasser Medical Center. The doctors applied for her to be medically evacuated from Gaza so that she could receive the level of treatment needed to save her life. The Israeli authorities did not reply.

In October 2025, the child died. She did not die of celiac disease. Children do not die of celiac disease. She died of starvation, the direct result of the policies implemented by the Israeli government and the Israeli military.

Oh, and I should add that two weeks after she died, the Israeli authorities approved her medical evacuation.

The child whose death struck me most on the West Bank was in a different situation. He was directly killed. He was in the refugee camp of Al Farah, in the town of Tubas. A 14 year old boy.

He was shot by an Israeli military patrol as he was leaving his house. The patrol had been in the area, but at the time there had been no fighting taking place.

He was shot, badly injured, and was lying on the ground. He was surrounded by a company of Israeli soldiers who were chatting, and probably some of them smoking, over a period of 45 minutes while this 14 year old boy bled to death.

During the period, he was able to move a little. He pushed his cap out to indicate that he was still alive and needed attention. A soldier kicked the cap back at him.

On another occasion, he was crying out and, again, the response was kicking towards him.

Later in the period, a soldier came up and dropped a stone next to him, trying to frame this innocent child as a stone thrower when there is no evidence whatsoever that the child was doing anything more than going out to play.

His mother was watching from the house that he had just left. As the mother sought to leave the house to go to the child, to rescue him or attend to him, she was shot at by the Israeli military patrol.

There was a Palestinian Red Cross ambulance nearby. Whenever the ambulance tried to approach the scene of the child lying there, a laser targeted weapon was aimed at the driver of the ambulance so that the laser was hitting the driver in the middle of the head. The driver, of course, withdrew in fear of being shot.

For 45 minutes, this child bled to death while surrounded by Israeli soldiers who not only showed no concern for him whatsoever, not only did nothing themselves to assist the child, but actively prevented the child’s mother from reaching him and the ambulance from assisting him.

After this child died, the soldiers took his body away, and the body has still not been returned to the family for burial. An Israeli military force holding a child’s body as hostage.

I have three questions today for Israeli people. Through this press conference, I want to speak to them directly.

What kind of people are your soldiers who would allow a 14 year old child to bleed to death over a 45 minute period?

What kind of people are your military leaders that would inculcate a culture where soldiers feel free to do this, acting with total impunity?

What kind of people are your leaders when they give orders? They make statements that encourage this kind of conduct, not merely permit it, but encourage it.

I saw a couple of weeks ago that Israeli President Herzog made a statement about some extremist Israeli settlers. He described, and I quote the report of what he said directly: “a wave of terrible violence that is being carried out by an anarchist mob, acts that defile and violate every basic moral, legal, and Jewish norm.”

Herzog was speaking about a handful of extremist settlers, and he was right in the way in which he described them. But he should have gone on to describe the key institutions of Israeli society, the government, the Knesset, the political parties, and the military in exactly the same terms. An anarchist mob committing acts that defile and violate every basic moral, legal, and Jewish norm.

I am a lawyer, so I can only speak legally. There is no doubt whatsoever. There can be no doubt in anyone who reads today’s report that every international legal norm has been violated by the actions of the Israeli authorities towards Palestinian children. And they need to be held accountable.

Recommendations to Canada

In the report, the commission makes recommendations to all the Member States and those involved in ceasefire negotiations:

(a) Arrest any Israeli officials against whom arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC and extradite them into the custody of the ICC;

(b) Employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent the commission of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and to ensure full compliance with the Geneva Conventions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;

(c) Cease the transfer of arms and other equipment or items, including jet fuel, to the State of Israel or third States where there is reason to suspect their use in military trade or operations that have involved or could involve the commission of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity or other violations of the Geneva Conventions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;

(d) Conduct investigations under domestic or universal jurisdiction of Israeli individuals or organisations suspected of having participated in unlawful acts of violence against Palestinian children, including Israeli suspects holding dual or multiple nationalities;

(e) Impose targeted sanctions, including prohibiting financial dealings and revoking or denying visas of individual Israeli ministers and officials and Israeli military personnel who may be responsible for inciting or committing violence relating to the abuse, killing or maiming of children;

(f) Impose targeted sanctions on extremist settlers, including a ban on financial transactions and travel, as well as on private entities, including charities, that support the settlement enterprise;

(g) Exhort Israel to end the siege of Gaza immediately, completely and permanently and allow unhindered humanitarian access to deliver aid and other support tailored to children’s needs in Gaza;

(h) Support political solutions and processes aimed at achieving lasting peace in Palestine, based on the right of Palestinians to self-determination and rooted in the principle of inclusivity and ownership, engaging and listening to Palestinians, including children;

(i) Support and facilitate access to justice for victims of crimes against children as a key component of any political solutions and process.

Call to Action

These are the findings of a United Nations commission of inquiry. Canadians should be asking Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand what the government intends to do, and asking the same of every Canadian business that maintains commercial ties to the Israeli government or military.

Read the report, watch the press conference, and decide what you expect of them.

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Let’s find his kilt.

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Let’s help him find his beloved kilt.

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The universal appeal of the ultimate underdog story.

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The tartan army from Scotland invade Boston. And Bostonians fall in love. World Cup 2026.