On Friday, before their three-day holiday weekend kicked off, City of Minneapolis employees got their marching orders on how to continue to undermine Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.
Can you call it an “insurrection” yet?
Why U.S. military coercion is unlikely, though Canada should take proactive steps
Should Canadians be prepared for the United States to use military coercion to achieve its goals?
Economic coercion is the more viable choice for President Donald Trump if he presses his objectives in Canada, since he has the means to apply that pressure without the unpopular move of sending in troops, said University of Windsor political science Prof. Jamey Essex
Hollywood Death Spiral: Bank to Foreclose on Historic TV Studios After Loan Default
A bank is set to take over ownership of an historic Los Angeles TV and film studio because the current owner has defaulted on the $1.1 billion loan, as Hollywood continues its collapse.
Goldman Sachs is reportedly on the verge of taking control of the famous Radford Studio Center in Studio City, California, because Hackman Capital Partners (HCP) can’t seem to come up with the cash to stay current on its mortgage, according to The Wrap.
‘Looking like a supplicant is undignified’: Michael Kovrig on Carney’s China trip
Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig — who was detained by China for more than 1,000 days between 2018 and 2021 — says Prime Minister Mark Carney’s tone and messaging during his trip to China were “worrisome.”
In a bid to reset relations with China and counter trade threats from the United States, Carney became the first Canadian prime minister to travel to the Asian country in eight years this week.
Thread by @andrewmichta on Thread Reader App
The announcement by Canadian PM @MarkJCarney of a reset in Canada-China ties accompanied by a trade deal of dramatic proportions will likely go down in history as a major political blunder. But don’t listen to me: Premier Doug Ford of Ontario already denounced the deal. 1/9
Anger, however justified, should never be the principal driver of policy. This is true both about our Canadian brethren, and true about our European allies. We are living through a rocky transformation of the international system, but the geopolitical realities remain
Pub landlord told painting a St George’s Cross needs planning permission
A pub landlord has been forced to apply for permission to keep a St George’s cross painted on the front of his pub.
Jerry Kunkler first painted the red cross on the white exterior of the Moonrakers Inn in Pewsey, Wilts, for the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, and repainted it in 2022 for the World Cup in the Middle East.
But after it featured in a Reform UK promotional video, a local complained it looked like “the headquarters of the National Front”.
From surge in patriotism to fewer US trips – Trump’s impact on Canada
In the year since US President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term, he has brought with him significant global shifts.
Like many countries, Canada – America’s closest neighbour to the north – has felt the impact and seen a change in the long-standing relationship with its close security ally and trading partner.
Trump has imposed tariffs on several key Canadian sectors and has warned of more to come. He has also referred to Canada as “the 51st state” — a jab that has been met with a mix of anxiety and an uncharactaristically fierce display of patriotism.
🤯 “China quietly mobilized thousands of fishing boats twice in recent weeks to form massive floating barriers of at least 200 miles long, showing a new level of coordination that could give Beijing more ways to impose control in contested seas. The two recent operations unfolded… pic.twitter.com/jTvEQmsDJV
— Michael Kovrig (@MichaelKovrig) January 17, 2026
White House press secretary tells CBS ‘we’ll sue your ass off’ if it edits Trump interview
Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, was recently recorded warning CBS News to broadcast a new interview with the president in full and without edits – or “we’ll sue your ass off”.
Trump “said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Leavitt told CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil after he had interviewed the president, according to an audio exchange first reported on by the New York Times. The 13-minute exclusive segment aired on Tuesday, months after CBS’ parent company Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16m over its editing of an unrelated interview ahead of the 2024 election that vaulted him to a second presidency.
🚨 NEW AUDIO: Karoline Leavitt just threatened CBS News over Trump’s interview:
“Air it in full… or we’ll sue your ass off.”
The White House is now openly trying to bully the media into compliance.
This isn’t “transparency.” It’s intimidation. pic.twitter.com/8pMBBJzYhC
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 18, 2026
Terry Newman: Was Mark Carney really the best choice to negotiate with Trump?
Canadians have not heard much about why negotiations with the United States seem to have gone nowhere. One has to ask: was Mark Carney really the best choice to negotiate with Donald Trump? All signs point to “absolutely not.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Beijing this week, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other high-ranking Communist party officials. After landing in China on Wednesday, Carney posted a video of himself waving before descending the steps of his plane to enjoy the red-carpet treatment.
We’ve secured a new trade agreement with China — unlocking more than $7 billion in export markets for Canadian workers and businesses.
Watch my full remarks ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0Nyrilm1DM
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) January 17, 2026
Germany’s Military Recruitment Drive Has a Gen Z Problem
BERLIN—The country on the front line of Europe’s rearmament effort is struggling to meet its military recruitment goals. The problem isn’t pacifism, but young people posing a new variation on the age-old question: “What is in it for me?”
European nations have stepped up military spending and begun preparing for a potential conflict with Russia. As a part of the effort, countries such as Germany and France have sought to get young people thinking about military service again.
Germany has introduced a new military service, initially on a voluntary basis. Some 700,000 men and women born in 2008 started receiving questionnaires this month about their fitness and willingness to serve. Only men are obliged to answer, and they will have to report for medical evaluation, whether they want to serve or not.
Related – German weapons failing in Ukraine
GOLDSTEIN: Trudeau’s anti-oil, anti-gas policies still costing us billions
So, as it turns out, oil and natural gas aren’t dead fossil fuels and the previous Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, which kept insisting they were, was dead wrong.
That blunder is costing the Canadian economy up to $25.6 billion a year and who knows how much more if Canadian politicians don’t get their act together.
BBC anchor faces backlash after ‘hissing’ when musician DC3 names Jesus Christ as his hero
A BBC News anchor set off an online firestorm after she apparently “hissed” at a young musician who named Jesus Christ as one of his heroes.
Geeta Guru-Murthy let loose with the unfiltered reaction Saturday while interviewing up and coming musician DC3, whose given name is Daniel Chenjerai.
Carney visiting Qatar to drum up investment despite ‘brutal’ human rights record
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Qatar to drum up investment deals with a country known for both its brutal dictatorship and its growing diplomatic and economic influence.
“Today, the epicentre of diplomatic, economic, financial and commercial power in the Middle East is in the Gulf,” said University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau, an expert on the Persian Gulf.
“For Canada to neglect the region, as it did for the past 10 years, is a way to erase ourselves from the equation in the Middle East.”
Trump’s latest Western Hemisphere fixation: Canada
The president has intensified his criticism of Canada in private conversations with aides in recent weeks over what he sees as the country’s vulnerability to U.S. adversaries in the Arctic.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is privately ramping up his focus on another target in the Western Hemisphere, increasingly complaining to aides in recent weeks about Canada’s vulnerability to U.S. adversaries in the Arctic, according to two U.S. officials, a senior administration official and three former senior U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.
As Trump’s advisers work toward his goal of acquiring Greenland, the president has privately grown more exercised about what he sees as Canada’s similar inability to defend its borders against any encroachment from Russia or China, specifically arguing Canada needs to spend more on defense, the officials said. They said his push has accelerated internal discussions about a broader Arctic strategy and potentially reaching an agreement with Canada this year to fortify its northern border.
Conrad Black: Formidable Trump changes the world
The violent cavalcade of events in Iran is starting to reveal the new range of aggressive-responsive policy options that U.S. President Donald Trump has developed to replace the obsolete concept of most of his recent predecessors. For 80 years from 1941 the basic framework was defined by Franklin D. Roosevelt in two addresses he gave at the beginning and end of that year in the Congress. In the State of the Union message in January, he warned against those who, “With sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal would preach the ‘ism’ of appeasement.”
OMG! Brilliant! 🤣
pic.twitter.com/K4gvWJFsXo— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) January 17, 2026
Trump Admin Was In ‘Discussions’ With Venezuelan Minister Months Before Raid
The White House was conducting back-channel communications with Venezuela’s hardline interior minister Diosdado Cabello months before the US operation to seize President Nicolas Maduro, and has been in communication with him since then, according to Reuters, citing multiple government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
h/t handy n handsome