Margaret Stimson🇨🇦 @stimson

Dear @ScottJenningsKY Let's talk cows. Canada’s dairy system is not simply a tariff wall designed to keep American milk out. It is a supply-management system designed to keep production roughly aligned with demand, stabilize farm income and preserve a viable network of family-owned farms. Imports are allowed in significant negotiated quantities at low or zero tariffs; the very high tariffs people hear about generally apply only after those agreed import quotas have been filled. The United States protects its farmers too, often much more extensively, but it uses different mechanisms. American taxpayers support agriculture through crop insurance subsidies, income and price-support programs, disaster payments, commodity programs and direct government payments. Dairy farmers have access to federally supported margin-protection and insurance programs. The U.S. also restricts imports in sensitive sectors. Sugar is an especially obvious example: the United States uses tariff-rate quotas that limit how much foreign sugar can enter at low tariffs, precisely to protect domestic producers and prices. USDA explicitly describes this system. So there is a real hypocrisy in attacking Canada as a protectionist outlier. Canada essentially says to its dairy farmers: we will control production and imports so you can earn a reasonably predictable income from the market. The United States more often says to its farmers: we will expose you more directly to the market, but protect your income through subsidies, federally supported insurance, price and commodity programs, and, where politically important, import restrictions. In 2026 alone, USDA forecasts federal Dairy Margin Coverage payments, while its broader farm programs continue to provide income, commodity and insurance support. Both countries protect agriculture. They just write the cheque differently. And that matters to the family farm. Canada’s system was designed in part to prevent the boom-and-bust cycle in which oversupply collapses milk prices, smaller farmers fail, and increasingly large operations buy them out. Supply management gives a farmer greater certainty that producing milk efficiently can provide a viable living without having to become an enormous industrial-scale operation merely to survive the next price collapse. That does not make Canada’s system perfect. Quota is expensive and can make it difficult for new farmers to enter. But portraying Canadian dairy protection as some extraordinary trade offence while the United States protects its own farmers with quotas, tariffs, subsidies, insurance and government support is fundamentally misleading. Canada protects a relatively small number of agricultural sectors openly through supply management. The United States protects agriculture through an enormous, less visible architecture of federal programs and selective trade barriers. Calling one “protectionism” while pretending the other is “free trade” is the hypocrisy. Hope next time you will fact check yourself. Sincerely Glen

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@StimsonCenter

Barbara Slavin @barbaraslavin1

a month ago

fascinating piece on how the US and Israeli war on #Iran has mobilized supporters of the Islamic Republic in 'revolutionary rallies'. As Shi'ite Muslims mark #Ashura, read @stimson @J_Heirannia on The Ascendance of Religious over National Identity stimson.org/2026/post-war-…

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fascinating piece on how the US and Israeli war on #Iran has mobilized supporters of the Islamic Republic in 'revolutionary rallies'. As Shi'ite Muslims mark #Ashura, read @stimson @J_Heirannia on The Ascendance of Religious over National Identity stimson.org/2026/post-war-…

@StimsonCenter

Barbara Slavin @barbaraslavin1

4 weeks ago

icymi @stimson ran 3 very insightful pieces this week on #Syria and justice #Iraq 's predicament and the revival of the religious right in #Iran. take a look: stimson.org/2026/post-war-… stimson.org/2026/the-statu… stimson.org/2026/the-negat…

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PM Carney tells immigrants to leave behind the feuds of their homelands: "We don't welcome the world's hatreds" "When you come to Canada you bring your faith, your tradition, your language, your story - you leave behind your animosities"

Rep. @AOC: Corporations are absolutely poisoning the American people and they are absolutely buying off Congress and the Presidential administration to get away with it. Glyphosate and Roundup is one of the big scandals of our time.

A MIT professor taught the same lecture every January for 40 years, and every single time it was standing room only. I watched it at 2am and it completely rewired how I think about communication. His name was Patrick Winston. The lecture is called "How to Speak." His opening line hit like a truck: your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas in that order. Not your GPA. Not your pedigree. Not your IQ. How you speak is what separates people who get heard from people who get ignored. Here's the framework he drilled into MIT students for four decades. He said never start with a joke. Start by telling people exactly what they're going to learn. Prime the pump before you pour anything in. He called it the "empowerment promise" give people a reason to stay in their seats within the first 60 seconds. Then he broke down the 5S rule for making ideas stick: Symbol, Slogan, Surprise, Salient, and Story. Every idea worth remembering hits at least three of these. The part that floored me was his "near miss" technique. Don't just show what's right show what almost looks right but isn't. That contrast is when the brain actually locks something in permanently. His final rule before any big talk: end with a contribution, not a summary. Don't recap what you said. Tell people what you gave them that they didn't have before they walked in. I've used this framework in pitches, interviews, and presentations ever since watching it, and the results are not subtle. Patrick Winston passed away in 2019, but this lecture is still free on MIT OpenCourseWare. One hour, watched by millions, and it costs absolutely nothing. The most important class MIT ever put on the internet isn't about code or math. It's about how to make people actually listen to you.

@StimsonCenter

Richard Cupitt @RichardCupitt

5 months ago

And as we said in a recent @Stimson paper, also watch for chem and bio materials and expertise (and of course missile and drone expertise). @ABCNewsLive

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Berries of North America

Texas now requires teachers to post the Ten Commandments. This is how one courageous teacher chose inclusion in her classroom. Because public schools should welcome every child, every faith, every family.

A Cambridge study maps five distinct phases of brain development: Childhood (birth–9) Adolescence (9–32) Adulthood (32–66) Early ageing (66–83) Late ageing (83+) The findings show major shifts well into our 30s, reshaping how researchers view maturity and long-term mental-health vulnerability.

PD GENEration is a global research initiative offering free genetic testing and counseling for people living with Parkinson’s disease. 🧬 Unlike traditional research studies, participants not only contribute to scientific advancement but also receive something back — their test results. By joining the study, participants can discover new knowledge about their genetic makeup, understand their family’s risk for PD and help benefit generations to come. Learn more about participating: Parkinson.org/advancing-rese…

Two young men with the last name Fox went to high school 24kms apart just outside of Vancouver, BC in the mid 1970s. Both young men would inspire the world and combine to fundraise over $3billion for Cancer and Parkinson’s research. Two amazing Canadians, Terry Fox and Michael J Fox.

Reporters will be volunteering time to build out this one-of-a-kind project w/ teachers who are on hiatus from the classroom. Big shtuff happening at the WFP HQ!

Maggie Macintosh @macintoshmaggie

a year ago

New: The Manitoba government is turning to Western Canada’s oldest newspaper to teach students across the province how to debunk misinformation #mbed #wfp winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2…

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The largest review, including >2700 trials, was just published. Exercise significantly improved cognition, memory & executive function across all populations. Exercise is essential for cognitive health.

@NHLJets @BudweiserCanada We think it will be Brandon Tanev who scores first tonight! Go Jets Go!!

Good neighbours. Always. 🇨🇦🇺🇲

If you would like to get out of Elon Musk's pocket and stop letting algorithms decide what you see, give the Marginalian newsletter a try — free, ad-free, algorithm-free, entirely human, made of feeling and time for 19 years running: themarginalian.org/newsletter

4) Support your gut-brain axis Did you know 95% of serotonin is produced in your gut? Your gut microbiome communicates with your brain via the vagus nerve, influencing neurotransmitter function. Gut issues = brain issues. It's that simple.