Hey, I want to apologize for disappearing for a few days. Things got quite stressful and chaotic in my real life for a few days there, and I just wasn’t able to work on this newsletter or even do my actual job. Anyway, things seem to have finally calmed down, but still dealing with a few stressful things at the moment. I hope I don’t disappear again, but with how much stress is going on right now, it might. Anyway, sorry for that disappearance act.

Featured News

Mongabay: 146 environmental defenders were killed or disappeared last year

The Breach: B.C. Green leadership race rocked by verification fight as anti-establishment candidate surges

The Globe and Mail: New bill will define hatred in the Criminal Code, make glorifying terror groups illegal

The Kicker with Ashlee Banks: Student Found Hanging on Delta State University Campus, Family and Advocates Call for Transparency

VTDigger: Trump administration asks judge to rule against Vermont’s climate superfund law

Canada & USA

Canadian news:

• Allegations of fake sign-ups, ballot stuffing cloud B.C. Conservative leadership review

• Bank of Canada cuts key interest rate to 2.5%

• Canada blocked visa applications without explanation for Gazans fleeing war: lawyer

• Family ‘outraged’ after police watchdog recommends no charges in in-custody death

• Freeland leaving cabinet, won't run in next federal election

• Man accused of sexually assaulting youths at N.S. correctional facility faces 66 charges

• Ontario premier urges Carney to maintain tariff on Chinese EVs despite canola levy

• Police Involvement With Pro-Israel Charity Raises Concerns

• Top Trudeau-era ministers headed for diplomatic appointments

USA news:

• Clemency hearing shifts after Indiana death row inmate declines parole board interview

• Fed approves quarter-point interest rate cut and sees two more coming this year

• Judge dismisses environmental lawsuit against FAA over failed SpaceX launch

• Record 12th execution set in Florida this year for a man convicted of killing wife’s family

• SC Supreme Court upholds voting map, throws out partisan gerrymandering claim

• Solitary confinement in ICE detention surges under Trump admin.

• Trump Backs Pride Flag Ban as Allies Spread False Claims Tying Transgender People to Violence

• Trump Brokering Deal to Hand TikTok Over to Right-Wing Billionaires Andreessen and Ellison

• UAW wins tentative contract with GE Aerospace

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World News

• Brazil’s Bolsonaro discharged from hospital

• Israeli forces forcibly displacing residents of southern Syria: HRW

• Israeli Minister Smotrich Calls Gaza “Real Estate Bonanza” Amid Talks With US

• King and Queen greet Trump at Windsor Castle for historic two-day UK state visit

• Only 13 survivors from capsized boat carrying 74 refugees off Libya: UNHCR

• Police clash with French fans, while Palestine flag banned at Real Madrid

• Students, teachers, and workers to march in a mass protest against Milei

• Thousands of Palestinians flee as Israeli bombs rain down on Gaza City

• US to invest £150bn in UK, promising thousands of jobs

What I’m Reading

• A Citizenship Test Designed for Failure

• All Hands on Deck: a Letter From the Veterans’ Boat on the Gaza Flotilla

• Canada’s media is advising elites to invest in oligoplies—and laugh all the way to the bank

• Taking stock of the Air Canada strike

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