“The leader of Quebec’s separatist party said Tuesday he would delay any referendum on independence from Canada until Donald Trump is no longer U.S. president. Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose party is out of power but could win Quebec’s next election that must be held by Oct. 5, said a PQ government would still hold a referendum during its first term — but not before Jan. 20, 2029, when Trump’s term ends. He said a question as consequential as Quebec’s future requires a clear and calm debate. ‘It must not be hijacked by the upheavals of American politics, nor by the outbursts of an unpredictable president, nor by fear campaigns,’ St-Pierre Plamondon said.” (08/18/260
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s wholly reasonable to see the possibilities of technology in schools. After all, pencils, paper, calculators, whiteboards, and buses are all technologies, too. Finding a way to make sensible use of new tools is part and parcel of every profession. But every healthy impulse can easily be corrupted by schlock-peddling vendors, ed school fixations, quick-fix reformers, and assorted grifters. This is education’s evergreen problem, and we now see the result: a flood of dubious ed tech that washed over teachers ill-equipped to navigate the tide. Students were distracted, and teachers were left at sea, even as the wave of Chromebooks, tablets, and learning management systems helped normalize screens at home and in school.” (08/18/26)
“The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate the criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported by the Trump administration last year, by reversing a lower court order that found them to be vindictive in nature. In May, a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed a criminal indictment against Abrego Garcia, who had been accused by federal prosecutors of smuggling immigrants in the U.S. illegally. The judge found that the Justice Department prosecuted Abrego Garcia in retaliation for his efforts to challenge his wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year. In a filing Monday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, the Justice Department denied that the prosecution was vindictive, arguing it had ‘multiple legitimate bases to prosecute’ Abrego Garcia.” (08/18/26)
“It’s my weekly conversation with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. We talk about how to become a human truth-detector in a time when deception rules our world.” (08/18/26)
“It is a testament to the moralism of the eco-doom movement that there has been so much focus on shaming ‘deniers’. Practical matters – like, I don’t know, making the case for the mass rollout of aircon – play second fiddle to the pillorying of heretics. The argument seems to be that these wicked doubters have landed us in the inferno of a neverending summer, just as their witchy forebears gave us crop failure and icy winters. I see it differently. To me, the punishing impact of the heatwaves is less the handiwork of ‘deniers’ than a byproduct of the moral circus of eco-alarmism itself.” (08/18/26)
“Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be moved to hospital for medical checks, after a petition by his lawyers over claims of poor health. Justice Shahid Waheed said 73-year-old Khan, who has been in jail since 2023 on corruption charges, will be shifted in the next two days to Shifa International hospital in the capital Islamabad. Khan and his wife and spiritual guide Bushra Bibi were both sentenced late last year to 17 years behind bars. … Khan was prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being removed in a no-confidence vote during a political crisis over tensions between his government and the South Asian country’s powerful military establishment.” (08/18/26)
