Countdown to Christmas (with the coronavirus)

At least Thanksgiving is over here

Justin Trudeau @JustinTrudeau

Update on the Canada-US border: We’ve extended the current border measures by another 30 days. Non-essential travel between our two countries remains restricted until at least December 21st.

The briefings will return to Justin Trudeau’s home as the second wave of COVID-19 becomes more of a thing. And while tighter restrictions loomed in Ontario, a “moral contract” has been proposed in Quebec to allow for a four-way leeway at Christmas time. Millions of doses of a vaccine are now increasingly expected as soon as January.

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Fresh obsessed with Dominion

GOP @GOP

"We will not be intimidated...We are going to clean this mess up now. President Trump won by a landslide. We are going to prove it. And we are going to reclaim the United States of America for the people who vote for freedom."—Sidney Powell

Donald Trump arguing that Dominion Voting Systems is a “radical left” firm that rigged the U.S. election results has brought more attention to the company. That attention continued at a press conference where one Trump lawyer noted Dominion’s head office was located until recently in the same Toronto building as the MakeWay Foundation.

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Ana Poilievre claps back at a question about nepotism. CBC News reporter Ashley Burke asked Conservative MP Michael Cooper about employing the spouse of his colleague, as the party has called for a clampdown on hiring family members. Ana’s MP husband, Pierre Poilievre, seems more concerned with stopping “The Great Reset.”

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The consolidation of clickbait

BuzzFeed’s acquisition of HuffPost sparked a variation on the arguments currently wielded by Canadian newspaper publishers: that the tech giants made the media business more difficult. Meanwhile, as Facebook Canada policy director Kevin Chan faces scrutiny over dealings with Ottawa, he co-signed a case for certain regulations:

Globe Opinion @GlobeDebate

We should regulate social media - but in a way that makes sense

bit.lyOpinion: We should regulate social media – but in a way that makes senseThere is a widespread belief that social media companies don’t want regulation, but in fact, that’s not the case

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Canada’s aspiring saviour of alternative weeklies is out of that job. Brian Kalish headed Media Central as the company bought Now Magazine and the Georgia Straight, but a shareholder proxy battle led to his resignation. At the same time, Now co-founder Michael Hollett is readying the launch of an entertainment magazine, Next.

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Finally, living in the afterworld

Leonard Cohen left a legacy set to be examined for decades to come, as this fall brought Michael Posner’s first volume of Untold Stories about him, concurrent with George Walker’s biography cut from wood. The recurrence of “Hallelujah” has also done its part to ensure that Cohen’s death will seem forever tethered to Donald Trump:

Jayson Greene @Jayson_Greene

He slipped away just as tyrants took over. Four years after his death, we are still living in his afterworld. My latest Overtones for @pitchfork on the spirit of Leonard Cohen:

pitchfork.comHow Leonard Cohen Haunted the Trump EraThe late singer-songwriter’s baleful devotionals offered a spiritual soundtrack to the cynicism and chaos around us.