Emerson Howitt

Political junkie. He/him

[Maria Sherwood @MariaSherwood2]

What an interview with Luxon on Breakfast. @JohnJCampbell had him by the short and curlies. Did his homework, (read cabinet papers), listened to a speech Luxon made yesterday where his spoke about being a Christian.
It showed us how interviews should be done

[Chris Hipkins @chrishipkins]

This morning, Christopher Luxon said New Zealanders should be proud of not recognising Palestine as a State.

Out of touch and embarrassing.

[Craig Sauvé 🌹 @CraigSauve]

PRESS RELEASE - @transitionmtl unveils its third campaign pillar: Major Democratic Reform.

🗳️ Electoral reform in Montreal
⛓️‍💥 Ville-Marie: Ending an undemocratic injustice
✋🏾✋🏼 A free vote for our elected officials

#polmtl

[U2 @U2]

On Gaza - Everyone has long been horrified by what is unfolding in Gaza - but the blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory. We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.

Read on https://t.co/WVBQm9jSAk: https://t.co/AnNcoN2GKk

[TTCriders @ttcriders]

Please see our letter to the Mayor's Executive Committee, about RapidTO dedicated transit lanes, requesting they be approved as originally proposed, and clear timelines for their implementation. https://t.co/83Cm1PSccw

[NCCM @nccm]

Yesterday, an important letter was sent by faith leaders to @MarkJCarney of different backgrounds, representing over 7000 members of the clergy in Canada on the horrific situation in Gaza.

We invite all Canadians to read this important letter.

[TTCriders @ttcriders]

(1/7) We are disappointed that City Staff have backed away from recommending RapidTO dedicated transit lanes on Bathurst and Dufferin north of Bloor. These routes—especially Dufferin—have been held up as a cornerstone commitment by this City Council to prioritize transit riders.

[Politics with Sami @politics_w_sami]

This point about the Greens doesn’t work with me since I don’t support PR for partisan reasons. Even if it means the GPC would get 0 seats under a PR system, I would still support PR because it would significantly improve Canadian democracy.

[xenoglossy 🪐 @Sorcerer0fEld]

Ford and Chow collaborate on housing initiatives with cute little press conferences about how they get along great. But who does this collaboration serve?

And why does the most important solution seem to be off the table for both of them?

Link in next tweet 👇

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🚨 BREAKING: Premature infant Hasan Barbakh has died of starvation as Gaza runs out of baby formula under Israel’s ongoing blockade.

Despite repeated appeals from Nasser Hospital, no milk has entered the Strip.

Babies are expected to begin dying day after day as hospitals ration the last remaining cans.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

Poem by Palestinian journalist in Gaza Mo.Alami (Instagram), who filmed the child in the video below, yesterday.

—

A child not more than eight years old,
His features are as smooth as an angel, but his face was covered by dust,
It’s as if life has turned its light out in it.

His eyes are closed, as if he fell asleep in his mother’s lap,
But his mother is not here .. Or maybe yell his relative,
Calling him by a name she used to repeat every night before going to bed,
But now his voice is gone, and his smile that used to fill the place .. She is gone as well.

A little blood flowing from his head and feet..
Ripped dress, missing shoes,
And his little body is glued together..
As if he hugged him for the last time.

Around him there is heavy silence,
People’s eyes are crying ..

This is not a scene from a novel,
A daily reality in a bleeding land.
and the baby is ….
It was only a flower that was plucked before its time..

A child not older than eight years,

His features are as soft as an angel, but the dust covered his face,

As if life had turned off its light in it.

His eyes are closed, like a man who fell asleep in his mother’s lap,

But his mother is not here.. Or maybe you scream near him,

She called him a bassem, she used to repeat it every night before going to sleep,

But his voice is now absent, and his smile that was filling the place.. I was also absent.

Small blood flowing from his head and feet..

His dress is torn, his shoes are missing,

And his little body has stuck together..

It’s like hugging him for the last time.

Around him is a heavy silence,

People’s eyes are watering..

This is not a scene from a novel,

It is a daily reality in a bleeding land,

And the child ….

It was nothing but a flower that was picked prematurely.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🚨Gaza Medical Services: All ambulance vehicles in Gaza City have come to a complete halt due to Israel’s continued ban on fuel entry.

[Abubaker Abed @AbubakerAbedW]

Israel had already created the hugest record of child amputees in Gaza some months ago. Instead of the world uniting and stopping the genocide immediately, Israel is adding more children daily to this record.

A baby in his diaper amputated. Aaah 💔💔💔
https://t.co/rmqGCNOvlT

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

NEW: Israeli snipers shot and killed a young girl as she was playing in the sand near a displacement camp in Mawasi, Khan Younis.

Journalist Ibrahim Alsallouti reports the child was directly struck by the bullet.

🎥 @ibrahim.st7 | From the camps in Mawasi, Gaza

[Abdulruhman Ismail @a_abdulruhman]

The Eleventh Time I Survived

This morning, I was on my way to the north of Gaza, heading through the slow, broken veins of a city that has forgotten how to breathe. The car moved sluggishly, weighed down by the silence of those inside it and the ache of a land too familiar with grief. I was not alone—two sat in front, and beside me in the back, two others leaned into the stillness of the journey.
We had barely passed a group of people standing near us—faces I would never know—when the sky cracked open.
An explosion erupted without warning. It was not just a sound. It was a force that tore through the air and rewrote reality in an instant. My ears rang violently, like something inside them had burst. Smoke swallowed the world. I couldn't see. I couldn’t think. Only instinct remained.
The car lurched forward suddenly. It had been hit. The rear was shattered, the windows blown out. The metallic taste of dust and blood filled my mouth. Around me, chaos took shape in color: red. Blood everywhere. On the windows. On the seats. On me. The men beside me were both injured—one slumped, the other writhing. The driver, too, was wounded. And the passenger next to him.
I screamed—raw, desperate, disbelieving.
“Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?”
But I already knew.
I should’ve checked myself. I should’ve asked if I was still whole. But instead, I reached for the small medical kit strapped to my waist. My hands worked on autopilot, pulling gauze, pressing wounds, whispering frantic words to the barely-conscious.
We reached a nearby hospital—just a few hundred meters away, yet it felt like another world. We stumbled out, drenched in blood and terror. Inside the hospital, I was met not with relief, but with more devastation. More bodies. More cries. The wounded kept coming. The dead, too. I began to document. To help. To do anything but collapse.
It was horrific. Unspeakable.
And I survived. Again.
This was the eleventh time. Eleven times I’ve come back from the edge since this war began. Eleven times I’ve been granted a breath while others had theirs stolen.
I wonder how.
How am I still alive, when so many are not?
How many more times will I get to ask that question?
I no longer sleep—just fall into nightmares disguised as rest. Every dream is soaked in fire and sirens. Every heartbeat echoes with the screams I’ve heard and the ones I’ve tried to silence.
Today, I was simply on my way to work—to document the shattered lives that remain. But the story I sought became my own. Again.
And I don’t know how to carry it anymore.

[Kerry Burgess @KerryBurgess]

Israel is starting to look like Gaza. The bill for the US taxpayer to rebuild is going to be colossal...

[Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩 @acoyne]

You shouldn’t choose an electoral system based on whether it would help or hurt your party. Nevertheless, if it helps Conservatives get over their mulish and mistaken opposition to electoral reform — it’s not as if they’ve particularly flourished under first past the post — this piece is worth a read.

[Politics with Sami @politics_w_sami]

Implementing a #ProportionalRepresentation system could help lead to more regional unity

[The Lefty Canadian Radical 🇵🇸 @Tori_TLCR]

All the western separatist people should just fight for proportional representation in elections if they feel so unrepresented. You protect a voting system that leaves you feeling like a victim, that doesn't make sense.

[Politics with Sami @politics_w_sami]

After this election, we need MPs of different stripes to work together to end FPTP and replace it with a fair, proportional voting system that truly reflects the voices of all Canadians, and decreases the pressure to vote strategically