Josh

Teacher, Coach, Jock, and Nerd...and my twitter feed is equally as eclectic.

[Alberta Emergency Alert @AB_EmergAlert]

This is an Alberta Emergency Alert. Beaver Emergency Services Commission has issued a flood alert.

In effect for the Town of Tofield and Beaver County from RR 171 to the west borders of Beaver County.

Heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours has pushed the Town's wastewater system over capacity. Roads currently closed are 51st street between 51 and 52 ave and at 55 ave between 47 and 48 street. Municipal emergency services are at risk of flooding and becoming inoperable. No evacuation is necessary at this time.

Everyone in Tofield must cease all non-essential water use. Refrain from showering, flushing toilets, using laundry machines and dishwashers. Prepare for a potential evacuation. If you need help call 780.662.3269. If you are displaced go to the Tofield Community hall at 5309 50 st. Updates will be posted on https://t.co/1uBHkfqkid, https://t.co/ZmjzHx9tqB, and the Town of Tofield, BESC and AEA Facebook pages.

https://t.co/WQOF3QrRj9 #ABemerg #ABflood

[Alberta Emergency Alert @AB_EmergAlert]

This is an Alberta Emergency Alert. Beaver Emergency Services Commission has issued a flood alert.: https://t.co/VEpGwjhPyw #ABemerg #ABflood

[Alberta Emergency Alert @AB_EmergAlert]

This is an Alberta Emergency Alert. The City of Edmonton is issuing a water supply alert.

This alert is in effect for the entire City of Edmonton.

Heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours has pushed the region's stormwater system to capacity, with localized flooding and backups being reported in neighbouring communities. If the stormwater system continues to operate over-capacity, flooding and sewer backups will continue to increase.

Avoid unnecessary indoor water use. Limit showers and baths. Delay laundry and dishwasher use. Ensure sump pumps and downspouts are functioning properly to direct water away from homes. For more information, check https://t.co/K8qEsFjXIT

https://t.co/OzP9LzTUMT #ABemerg #ABflood

[Alberta Emergency Alert @AB_EmergAlert]

This is an Alberta Emergency Alert. The Town of Stony Plain has issued a flood alert.

In effect for the entire Town of Stony Plain.

Heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours has pushed the wastewater system to capacity. The Town has received reports of sewer backups affecting individual homes and businesses. Continued excessive water use may increase the risk of additional sewer backups and flooding.

Everyone in Stony Plain must reduce all non-essential water use. Avoid washing dishes, doing laundry, showering, and other unnecessary water consumption. Limit toilet flushing to essential use only. Businesses must reduce water usage and wastewater discharge where possible. Stay away from creeks, stormwater ponds, and areas affected by high water. All roads, sidewalks, and pathways remain open. For updates, visit https://t.co/Xa4UxP2erK or follow the Town of Stony Plain's official Facebook page.

https://t.co/aLWMdSNoug #ABemerg #ABflood

[Bruce Arthur @bruce_arthur]

There will still be hockey on Saturday night, but it won’t be Hockey Night in Canada on the CBC anymore, in a Rogers Sportsnet world. I wrote about the end of an era that spanned most of our lifetimes https://t.co/UAX4fLTMJ2

[The Breakdown @TheBreakdownAB]

"Every child who walks through a school door in this province deserves to be there. This should not be a political question. It is a commitment every Albertan should be proud to uphold."

The Alberta Teachers Association is calling out Smith's prejudiced referendum question.

[ArtButMakeItSports @ArtButSports]

Cast of Laocoön and his Sons (Roman version of a lost Greek original), 100BC-50AD

[Front Office Sports @FOS]

This is what a nosebleed seat at MSG cost for the 1999 NBA Finals compared to the 2026 NBA Finals.

1999 (Game 4, Section 417): $60
2026 (Game 3, Section 418): $6,793

That's an 11,221% increase.

Via @TickPick

[AJE Sport @AJE_Sport]

Alphonso Davies, Canada’s greatest footballer and one of the world’s top full-backs, began his journey in Edmonton after emigrating from Ghana at age five.

Al Jazeera’s David Mercer visits the pitches where Davies first dreamed of making it to the top.

[Jared Wesley @DrJaredWesley]

Danielle Smith's latest move — a referendum on whether to have another referendum — gives separatists yet another set of advantages.

And it's been left up to committed federalists to settle the fight she's started.

My latest.

🔗 https://t.co/YPsu65S0Wt

[Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie]

“If we erase January 6th, it didn’t happen”

“If we don’t release certain inflation data, there’s no inflation”

“If we don’t measure food insecurity, no one’s hungry”

“If we delete research on right-wing violence, there’s no right-wing violence”

“If we stop Covid testing, we’ll have fewer cases”

The Trump administration wants you to believe their propaganda is fact, and control the majority of mainstream media and social platforms to reinforce their lies.

This is what authoritarianism looks like.

[The Breakdown @TheBreakdownAB]

“Albertans are now seeing Danielle Smith's government for what it is: undemocratic, authoritarian, and willing to bend to the whims of a loud, angry minority.”

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation would also like a word.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

[Andrew Knack @AndrewKnack]

Edmonton is and always will be a vital part of Canada. Premier Smith and the UCP Government's separatist agenda is catastrophic for Edmontonians, Albertans, and all Canadians.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

This New York Times piece is worth your time. Here’s what is happening, as simply as I can put it.

Back in January, Trump sued the IRS, an agency he controls, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns a number of years ago.

IRS lawyers did their jobs. They wrote a memo laying out the defenses that could beat the suit, including the fact that Trump filed too late. His own lawyer was in court when the leaker pleaded guilty in October 2023, more than two years before Trump sued.

The Justice Department never showed up to court. Never argued back. Never used the defenses sitting on their desk.

The judge got suspicious and ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually opposing each other or just colluding. The day before that brief was due, Trump dropped the suit.

Same day, his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund.” 

Trump gets a formal apology. The IRS agrees to drop any audits of him and his family, even though a 2024 Times report found a loss in an ongoing audit could cost him over $100 million.

The acting Attorney General, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid. Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out.

This is the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen from an American president.

Where in the hell are my Republican colleagues?

https://t.co/La0nlLuz1r

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The Superpower Liquidation Sale
Something remarkable has happened to the U.S. It has made itself irrelevant. Voluntarily. With great enthusiasm.

This is not the work of China or Russia. Or maybe it is. It is one man in an ill-fitting suit who cannot stop talking about how strong he is, which is, of course, the clearest possible sign that something has gone catastrophically wrong.

The evidence is no longer coming from enemies. It is coming from friends. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney stood in Davos in January and told the entire assembled global elite that American hegemony had experienced “a rupture, not a transition.” He got a standing ovation. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that his government would seek “independence from the USA.” France’s Emmanuel Macron told Europe it can no longer rely on NATO because of Trump’s approach.

When your oldest friends start calling you unreliable, you are not the victim of a misunderstanding. You are the problem.

Now. The balance sheet.

Alliance credibility. Gone. NATO’s entire value rests on the guarantee that an attack on one is an attack on all. Trump spent two terms suggesting he might not bother. Everybody noticed.

Diplomatic weight. Evaporating. China and Russia are not filling the vacuum because they got stronger. They are filling it because America keeps leaving rooms it used to own.

Institutional presence. Sold off for parts. The US has walked out of UNESCO, the WHO, and the Paris Agreement. Every exit is a chair at a table now occupied by Beijing.
Red lines. Worthless. Trump set a deadline for Putin to end the Ukraine war. September 2, 2025, the clock ran out. Nothing happened. Not a single new penalty. Adversaries everywhere wrote down what they learned that day and underlined it twice.

Soft power. In freefall. US favorability has collapsed by more than 80 percentage points in Mexico, Sweden, Poland and Canada. Poland. A country that was genuinely, emotionally grateful to America for forty years. Points gone.

What is left? The aircraft carriers are still there, admittedly. The dollar barely functions, though with noticeably less swagger than before. And there is a reputation for unpredictability, which Trump clearly considers an asset and which literally everyone else on earth considers a liability.

Here is the thing about being a superpower. You do not get dethroned in a war. You get quietly replaced while you are busy shouting about how great you are. The world is not waiting for America to collapse. It has already started building roads around it.
The store is still open. The shelves are just increasingly empty.

[Peter Guthrie @PeterGuthrie99]

When Government Protects Itself First

Last week, Elections Alberta confirmed something deeply disturbing.

The provincial list of electors — personal information tied to nearly 3 million Albertans — was exploited without authorization.

Now the RCMP are involved with yet another tie to this government.

This is not just a breach of privacy — it’s a dereliction of duty.

Government dismissed the warnings, changed the law and UCP staff participated in the disclosure.

When a government works this hard to keep information hidden — it’s not transparency they’re protecting — it’s themselves.

Control without accountability.
Power without consequence.

This is NOT a conservative government. Conservatives believe in stewardship and accountability – protecting the public.

This is a government that protects itself first…
refuses to investigate suspect dealings…
won’t even listen to its own institutions.

This is much bigger than one breach — it’s about trust in our democracy.

And there must be consequences.

#alberta #abpoli #ableg #albertatory #abtory

[Richard Warnica @richardwarnica]

Shortly before this story went to bed, a spokesman told me Sylvestre did not literally mean much of what he said. I sent his team almost 30 fact checking questions and in at least 11, the spokesman said Sylvestre was speaking rhetorically, not literally.

[Hon. Thomas A. Lukaszuk @LukaszukAB]

“It becomes ever more obvious that Alberta’s separatists and the UCP are so tight they squeak.

And now, the separatists are bent on deepening their influence on the party.

Some might call it a takeover.”

#ableg https://t.co/51dOIXvgLF

[Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩 @acoyne]

Alberta separatism is the latest niche for disinformation merchants | Canada's National Observer https://t.co/LuHWelkxJ2

[TIME @TIME]

"People are tired of AI slop and misinformation. They were told the internet would connect them, inform them, and empower them. Instead, many feel manipulated, polarized, and desensitized," writes Hank Green https://t.co/ATnxm1KYDq