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Valerie Freeland

@valeriefreeland.bsky.social
74 followers 65 following 424 posts

Senior Policy Analyst, author of Power, Patronage and International Norms: A Grand Masquerade

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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
First, I wonder where this concern was when half the girls I knew were starving the trauma out of our bodies in the 90s. Second, nothing will change until men become willing to blame global capitalism instead of women's bodily autonomy (the lack of which is why our mental health has NEVER been OK).
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
An inquiry would be necessary even if the impacts were unforeseen. But we know both governments had FULL knowledge that these laws would cause kids' deaths. They knew. This was not just predicted, it was planned.
globalnews.ca
Advocates plea for feds to call inquiry into Alberta, Sask. trans laws | Globalnews.ca
LGBTQ+ advocates say members of Parliament need to hear from those impacted by these laws, adding that some have taken their own lives since the policies were enacted.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Don't forget "If THAT counted as assault, half the men I know would be guilty!" It's an anomaly of physics that someone can simultaneously be so close to, yet so far from, the point.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Data or it didn't happen, Marco. Americans, this is what it looks like when you're being groomed to accept yet another round of war crimes being committed in your name. Happy?
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Love you, Charlie, but no. Canadians are as affected by rape culture as anyone, and a good portion of your audience has had Canadian loved ones side with their abuser. It's true it won't happen this time, but only because he's our enemy, and survivors - as always - are props of convenience.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Treaties matter intrinsically before all else, but Sinclair also hits on the ludicrous false choice between honouring treaties and Canadian sovereignty. The latter is built on and around the former, so it's not treaties vs security, it's treaties as a non-negotiable precondition to security.
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Reposted by Valerie Freeland
The Ehlers-Danlos Society @ehlers-danlos.com · 28/09/2026
"Receiving my diagnosis didn’t change who I was, but it changed how I understood myself. Suddenly, years of seemingly unrelated symptoms made sense." www.ehlers-danlos.com/story/disa-k/ #HypermobileEDS #hEDS
ehlers-danlos.com
I don’t want my diagnosis to be the end of my story - The Ehlers Danlos Society
If you had met me years ago, you probably would have seen someone who looked healthy, capable, and full of energy. What you wouldn’t have seen was the constant effort
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm usually not a fan of naming things violence that aren't literally so, but the white nationalists' choice to gather on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc land of all places, presumably informed by the proximity of Truth and Reconciliation Day and the Kamloops school's significance, is a strong candidate.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
How would you say this connects to our exchange so far?
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Uganda walking out is such a sick burn. Museveni used to want to be a US-style neoliberal authoritarian back in the regime's earliest days, but now the US is aspiring to late-stage Museveni military governance, right down to the strategically-placed regime actors just standing near polling stations.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It does not, in fact, "have to be this way." It is this way because the US ignored 25 years of warnings and is still passively accepting its fascist regime's actions. Either act or change your national anthem immediately.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
As Wednesday approaches, it's worth remembering that our sovereignty and territorial integrity hinges on reconciliation. It matters most intrinsically, but it should be becoming clear that honouring treaties and honing relationships with those with intimate knowledge of specific terrains is vital.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Hardness" isn't the key variable. It's not even a meaningful concept one can analyze in conflict studies. Look instead to your country's record in holding on to rugged terrain sparsely populated by a networked population that hates you and has a long, deep memory. It has never once gone your way.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
If you had any questions regarding Poilievre's competence rather than just his moral compass, here he is displaying belief that MAID leaves a patient "covered in blood," and cosigning the implication that a person's religion has any bearing on their right to consent.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Our neighbours' decline into fascism steepened a quarter century ago when they were told certain rights needed to be curtailed because their country was under attack. They had historical precedents to learn from, but failed to learn. Are we different?
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Your profile suggests you're American. Please stop asking the world to MAKE you stop the world's most powerful country from threatening to annihilate us. You're the only ones who can do that.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Love you guys, but please don't do the "what makes you feel safe" task in schools given that, statistically speaking, every class has a handful of students who are objectively unsafe at home, and perhaps everywhere else.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Once the chances of a trade deal (one the regime would ever abide by) reached zero, they couldn't be harmed any further. It doesn't go lower than zero, not even in Celsius. Could the US's bros just tell them we're seeing other people and it needs to move on?
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Can we stop acting like how we "got to this point" is a mystery? Many people wanted it, and the rest ignored at least 25 years of warnings. We got here the same way you get to work: on purpose, with all necessary tools of navigation and the ability to choose.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
30 years gone, never forgotten
youtube.com
DNB -- Sweet in the morning (1992) by Leni Wylliams
YouTube video by dancenotationbureau
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A great juxtaposition, since M7 turned neoliberal the moment he captured Kampala, whereas now, US leadership seems to see 2020s M7 as governance goals, especially in the realm of electoral manipulation and reliance on alternative means of coercion between elections.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Diplomatic as usual (no relation, apparently). But I wouldn't say most of us are *wondering* if the US can be trusted in our lifetimes. We've pretty much come to a conclusion, and we got there a couple of years ago. We will always remember Americans could wake up in a mood and threaten to kill us.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Sorry everyone, I wished on the monkey's paw that old-school Burkean conservatism would return, but forgot to ask for it to replace proto-fascism and be a third voice to true liberalism and strong socialism, both with climate literacy, so this is what we got.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As a country, we have not earned the grace of being shown the way forward by those we've colonized and oppressed. But it's on offer nonetheless, and not just in Alberta. It would not merely be cruel not to accept the challenge, it would be idiotic in the extreme.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This was left on my windshield this fine morning, and I have not yet recovered. Why are they always so close to realizing global capitalism does this all in front of our faces, but still so far, generating some elaborate schemes pushing it back into the shadows? Also, what?
Neil Hiebert, consultant; Sub-dermal, microchip implants, AI & you; "what you must know"Current climate change; "About the "future""; How to work with breaks; How to work with the information; Further helping tips; other ideas
*No, none of this makes more sense with the image!The author promises to save many people alive at fees you can affordWhat is the biochip?; What else should I know? Pre-loaded syringes are allegedly used in India, but the author offers recycling and compost.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I used to teach this phenomenon in authoritarian rulers as Michael Jackson Syndrome, that weakening grip on reality when you're surrounded by people terrified to tell you NO, leading to increasingly unhinged policy. The difference with Trump is he was afflicted by his first day in office.
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Reposted by Valerie Freeland
PEIPolitical 🇨🇦 @peipolitical.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Jean Chrétien: "It looks like they don't know what to do. When your big thing is to change the name of a lake, it's because you're running out of arguments. It is a very weak gesture, to be cheap and nasty. Lake Ontario is not suffering. It's a lake." #cdnpoli
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This is the Museveni ploy. Ensure military in uniform stand near polling stations, and work on the popular subconscious to remind voters to whom they owe loyalty. No need to stuff a single box. That said, I don't think the Trump regime has M7's elegance in its electoral choreography. Expect bumps.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Can we make "signing a beef-related executive order" the new euphemism for certain personal emissions?
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
People think I'm joking when I say this, but reparations need to get trendy in transitional justice again. "Never again" without a price tag doesn't seem to hit in this mode of production. That no apology has yet been offered is unconscionable, but maybe when it comes, it should come with resources.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The idiocy and racism are most appalling, but I'm finding myself stuck on WHY. It must take so much energy to deny the fabric of reality in this way: why? What does all that energy accomplish for the deniers? What fragile personal edifice can only stand with the scaffolding of genocide denialism?
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Schrödinger's pre-emptive Nuremberg defence.
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Reposted by Valerie Freeland
Reuters @reuters.com · 03/09/2026
UNICEF estimates 20 million children suffered online sexual abuse in one year reut.rs/4xwNBXR
reut.rs
UNICEF estimates 20 million children suffered online sexual abuse in one year
About 20 million internet-using children across ​21 countries were subjected to sexual exploitation or abuse on digital platforms in a single year, with most cases occurring ‌on social media platforms, a new report by the U.N. children's charity said on Thursday.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Another reminder that accurate, well-managed data tend to support compassionate policy. Evil always relies on shite research methodology, and often violations of research ethics.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
“That’s what the message needs to be, that Americans are not Trump, Americans are not this government.” That depends on their actions, not their feelings. Americans who resist are not Trump. Americans who merely *feel bad* about his actions are another matter.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
100% genocidal rhetoric. Cis allies, keep your secret annexes quietly ready for guests. And Canadians, reject any public official who expresses the slightest inclination to follow suit, even if "only" in education policy under the cutesy misnomer of "parents' rights."
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It's the Republicans who were trying to become the candidate in 2015 and were already referring to migrants as "dogs." It's not just that the world won't forget once Trump is gone and it's "over." It's that, when he's gone, it won't be over. The fascism runs so deep.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
From the world's point of view, at this point, it absolutely is the US doing this. The "but I didn't vote for him" refrain lost salience 24h after you voted. Anyone who isn't actively, daily resisting while the US threatens and bombs other countries while genociding your own is part of the problem.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I'm so bored of Americans with feelings, and only feelings. As Yeats said, "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity." I never understood that line as a kid. Now, it's obvious.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
None of the clues were redacted. One of Trump's competitors to the Republican candidacy was referring to migrants as "dogs" in 2015, which is not at the level of rats or cockroaches, but definitely in the génocidaire escalation handbook. You were all warned, SO MANY TIMES.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Stop trying to make Lake Fetch happen, Donald. It's not going to happen.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
We've got them covered in Manitoba en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupid_...
en.wikipedia.org
Stupid Lake - Wikipedia
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Allowing this & the Alberta referendum is a travesty regardless of outcome. First, we DO NOT put minority rights up to majority rule. Poli Sci 101, eejits. Second, this undermines our sovereignty, which even in BC rests on a bedrock of treaty because Canada's does. And UNDRIP is international law.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
SUDDEN? This is why Canada will always prevail: a long, deep, dark winter fosters a long, deep and sometimes dark memory. Meanwhile, the US forgot they'd been attacking us economically and threatening us with violence for the past couple of years. Maybe PET was wrong, maybe we're the elephant.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I love XKCD, but this is a terrible analogy. What we've been sending the US is in no way equivalent to de-oxygenated blood, only traveling back south to be replenished. Don't, for instance, send this to the families of firefighters or soldiers who died saving your lives.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
You guys need Rick Mercer's old Talking To Americans clips. Belated thanks for your politicians' support when Canada began the long process of restoring our national igloo, and intellectuals who spoke out against the Saskatchewan seal hunt. This is not partisan. It's the ignorance of the powerful.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
What Americans don't seem to understand is once the unthinkable became thinkable a couple of years ago, there was no going back. We have long, deep, dark winters and - behind the politeness - long, deep, sometimes dark memories. This will never again be unthinkable, trust is lost for generations.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Check aussi l'Alberta et Saskatchewan et leurs politiques éducatives. "Trop politisée" ça n'existe pas. Sauver ou tuer du monde, c'est toujours politique.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Liquor aside, I beg of Canadians to give themselves the gift of exploring our local alternatives to American products. It turns out we never needed them and have amazing things at home, including many Indigenous-owned brands. There is so much JOY in fighting fascism. We find ourselves.
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Valerie Freeland @valeriefreeland.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Part of fighting Trumpism is fighting Scott Moe and his proto-fascist ilk. He still has policies in place that he KNEW and knows push many trans kids into the unhoused population and cause others' deaths. This statement erases none of that.
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