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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻

@janetbufton.ca
3.7K followers 492 following 4.1K posts

Canadian mum, 3D liberal in Babylon Writing collected at janetbufton.ca Co-founder, theILS.ca. Contributing fellow @Liberalism.org diversity dynamism democracy Detroit Lions

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Reposted by Janet Bufton 🍁🌻
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 5h
There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...
But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.
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Liberalism.org @liberalism.org · 38m
According to Matt Zwolinski, democracy is essential to classical liberalism because it keeps rulers answerable to the people they govern. www.liberalism.org/p/democracy-...
liberalism.org
Democracy Belongs on the List
Classical liberalism has sometimes been suspicious of democracy. But it shouldn’t be.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 3h
@mattzwolinski.bsky.social on making classical liberal support for democracy explicit and a central commitment @liberalism.org
liberalism.org
Democracy Belongs on the List
Classical liberalism has sometimes been suspicious of democracy. But it shouldn’t be.
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Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 6h
Just saying that the best contestation of Christian nationalism is a better politics, not a better religion.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 9h
"If America ends up an autocracy, Trump will not be its culmination but something closer to its forerunner." And the next one probably won't be such an extraordinarily delusional and incompetent buffoon. Disgrace and disincentives on him and his enablers have to be imposed now, while we still can.
theunpopulist.net
America Can Pull Back From the Slippery Slope to Rome
The decline of the rule of law and our republic is not inevitable
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 9h
Merely being unpopular at the end isn't enough. Lots of two-term presidents left office unpopular only to then be rehabilitated and remembered as history's winners, or at least within the acceptable bounds of mainstream politics. That's the real danger for where we'll be 20, 30, 40 years from now.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 9h
Despite his best efforts, Trump isn't going to establish a consolidated autocracy before he's gone, thankfully relatively soon. But it matters how much he's repudiated as a disgraceful aberration. Because if not, he's just setting the floor for what the next wannabe dictator can get away with.
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Justin Ling @justinling.ca · 28/09/2026
NEW DISPATCH: When the going gets tough, legitimate opposition is needed more than ever. www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/good-leade...
bugeyedandshameless.com
Good Leaders Need Candid Friends
Legitimate opposition spurs innovation, even if it irks
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Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social · 23h
The event was held on the 98th anniversary of Judith Shklar's birth.
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Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It serves as the meeting room for the weekly reading group meetings of the RGCS Charles Taylor Student Fellowship (and includes a complete collection of the works the Fellowship has read together since it was established in 2010).
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Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Thanks to the 265 donors who have supported the Fellowship and the Reading Room where it meets, making it possible for us to name both in honour of two of McGill's most distinguished alumni in political theory and philosphy!
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Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
On September 24, students, alums, postdocs, and faculty of RGCS came together to celebrate the naming of our central shared intellectual space as the Judith Nisse Shklar (BA '49 MA '50) Reading Room.
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 29/09/2026
A Turkish media outlet is reporting the fake AI journalist “Daniel Robson,” who was published by the Ottawa Citizen, Policy Options, Western Standard and The Hub, was targeting a “critic of the Moroccan ruling elite” The dissident suspects “Daniel Robson” may have links to “Moroccan intelligence”
turkiyetoday.com
Exclusive—Fake AI columnist dupes Canadian press to target Moroccan dissidents, and a Turkish 'middleman' - Türkiye Today
The phantom writer communicated exclusively via email and rarely phoned Canadian publications, who were oblivious until Türkiye Today unraveled the matter
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Jennifer Robson 🇨🇦 @jrobson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
USTR is carrying some heavy buckets of water these days. Recall (per USTR), only 2 countries retaliated against Trump tariffs: 1) China; 2) Canada. This presser suggests USD$30B in forthcoming tariff relief for imports from China. On Tuesday, ~$1B in booze from Canada will banned from import by US
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 28/09/2026
For the first time Thing 1 (7yo) and Thing 2 (4yo) both requested a garden purchase (spring bulbs) and followed through with the project the same weekend, rather than demanding I not do it without them until I have to panic-complete the task alone before winter. 🌷🪻
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Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social
sammatey.substack.com
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day
Take five minutes to not destroy civilization
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Tu Thanh Ha @tuthanhha.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"The three of us abandoned the car and dove separately into the nearby fields. It was a tactic we’d learned at drone safety courses that are now de rigueur for anyone working near the front lines in Ukraine. The drone is likely to be faster than your car, so best to abandon it ..."
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Tu Thanh Ha @tuthanhha.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Our drone detectors – a tool that any journalist heading near the front line now needs to be trained to use – were beginning to beep warning sounds ... As we sprinted away from Kramatorsk, the number of beeps from the drone detectors grew into a cacophony." www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...
theglobeandmail.com
In the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, drones rule the skies and everything below
The last Ukrainian-controlled corner of Donbas has become a focus for both sides
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Jason Kuznicki @jkuznicki.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I’m thinking particularly of the overlap between “we’ve got to do something about the wokes” and “we’ve got to bring back civility in political discourse.” You can have the one or the other, but I don’t see how you can have both.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 25/09/2026
And why, with a strong commitment to liberalism, our utopian visions can become a positive force in politics.
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Liberalism.org @liberalism.org · 25/09/2026
Adam Smith's "man of system" is usually invoked against central planners. @janetbufton.ca on why liberals should be honest about how often it applies to themselves. www.liberalism.org/p/the-libera...
liberalism.org
The Liberal Spirit of System
The “man of system” is a famous figure in the work of Adam Smith, and not in a good way. And yet we all think in systems. They can be both beautiful and helpful. What gives?
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 24/09/2026
If Zuck manages to create something else useful (early Facebook and the Portal TV were pretty great) then I have full faith in him to kill it.
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Paul Matzko @paulmatzko.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
An aside here but a key feature of talk radio was that it was mostly impenetrable to deep analysis by researchers because of the sheer volume of time required to analyze the thousands of hours of output produced every week. But now, AI makes it feasible. www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
wsj.com
MAGA Podcasters Are Tuning Out Trump. We Tracked What They Are Talking About Now.
The Wall Street Journal analyzed nearly 70,000 hours of podcasts, using a new AI tool, to find out why conservative creators appear to be losing interest in the president.
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Jane Lytvynenko @janelytv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In Oleshky, a town on Russian-occupied territory, residents are starving. There are no shops. A husband and wife returning with bags of food from another town were killed by a drone. Children are malnourished. The Russians are imposing a "full blocade," Ukraine says. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Oleshky: Residents eating garden weeds in Russian-occupied city cut off from food and water
The BBC has spoken to residents in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky who say they are being "constantly shelled".
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Ryan Murray @domezig.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
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Steve Lafleur @stevelafleur.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Imagine you were a car insurer and decided to get rid of all of your customers who hadn't been in car accidents.
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Jason Kuznicki @jkuznicki.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A lot of authoritarian politics is exactly trying to make fetch happen, then judging people by their fetch.
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In Medias Malone @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
davebarry.substack.com/p/michelle?r...
davebarry.substack.com
Michelle
A tribute.
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In Medias Malone @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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
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Liberalism.org @liberalism.org · 17/09/2026
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-...
liberalism.org
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.
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Justin Ling @justinling.ca · 17/09/2026
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...
thestar.com
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.
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
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.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 17/09/2026
Teaching the kids about Eurovision in preparation for whatever Associate EU membership means, which means reviewing the Most Eurovision entry.
youtu.be
Let 3 - Mama ŠČ! (LIVE) | Croatia 🇭🇷 | Grand Final | Eurovision 2023
YouTube video by Eurovision Song Contest
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 16/09/2026
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.
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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
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
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 16/09/2026
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.
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Aaron Wherry @aaronwherry.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
No party getting to 30% would be wild. www.thewrit.ca/p/pq-lead-ho...
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 14/09/2026
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."
static.klipy.com
Waving Canadian Flag
ALT: Waving Canadian Flag
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Seabird @seabirdreader.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
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 fighting back against US tariffs
They are willing to pay some price simply as an act of defiance
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 13/09/2026
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.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 12/09/2026
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.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 12/09/2026
From @aaronwherry.bsky.social
cbc.ca
ANALYSIS | Trade 'war' or not, are Canada and the United States now dug in? | CBC News
Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative, might not like to think of it as a trade 'war.' But whatever you call it — a difference of opinion? an incongruity? the unpleasantness? — it's been going...
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 12/09/2026
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.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 12/09/2026
The very end of this isn't what is getting the headlines but it is the part that made me exhale hardest.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 11/09/2026
EVERYONE. LEAVE THE BOATS ALONE.
CBC News headline is: Why isn't Canada blocking the Welland Canal? Other trade war questions answered 

The image is of container ships seen from a beach, near Niagara one assumes.
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Mark MacKinnon @markmackinnon.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Lovely story.
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 11/09/2026
Love it.
cbc.ca
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 ...
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Aaron Wherry @aaronwherry.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Hmm.
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
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?
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Janet Bufton 🍁🌻 @janetbufton.ca · 10/09/2026
Thinking of the economists from the free market movement sure they can do some good by working with this US administration.
ca.finance.yahoo.com
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
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