Hard Pass

Interesting re-examination of 'The Time Machine' in the light of the Information Revolution. Maybe a stretching of the metaphor, maybe not.

Sign language

hello everypony welcome to my biannual 196 post

Yes, this is an old tweet referring to past circumstances, but still.

By Alex BallingallDeputy Ottawa Bureau Chief

OTTAWA — Defence Minister David McGuinty is standing by his department’s decision to sign a new contract with the American data giant Palantir, stating the deal is a “legitimate procurement” with the Canadian branch of the controversial company.

McGuinty was responding after the Star revealed the Department of Defence quietly inked a $3.7-million contract with Palantir, sparking concerns from some artificial intelligence experts who say the company’s track record and the philosophy of its chief executive raise questions as the federal government promises to pursue “data sovereignty” for digital services in the military.

“Palantir Canada is a Canadian company, subsidiary to Palantir global,” McGuinty said, referring to the parent company based in the United States that was co-founded by a tech billionaire with ties to U.S. President Donald Trump.

“It was a legitimate procurement and it’s moving forward,” McGuinty said, speaking to reporters at the CANSEC military industrial conference near the Ottawa airport on Wednesday.

The minister added that “we’ll look at this question of data sovereignty,” and stressed that the Carney government will direct its military spending as much as possible to companies that “build in Canada.”

The existence of the latest Palantir contract came in a trove of documents tabled in April in response to a question from a Conservative MP, who asked for a list of government contracts with AI companies since January 2023. It showed the Canadian military used a “call up” on an existing “supply arrangement” with Palantir for a “data integration and analytics platform subscription.” The contract was worth more than $3.7 million, with a timeline from June 2025 to June 2026.

Spokespeople for the Defence Department have not responded to questions about this contract since Monday, and told the Star on Wednesday that they were still working on an official written answer.

Palantir has also not responded to the Star’s inquiries this week.

It’s not clear whether the new contract is linked to an earlier agreement with Palantir from March 2020, earmarked last year in a separate tranche of at $14.4 million. The government also signed a contract worth almost $1 million with Palantir in 2019 for “information technology and telecommunications consultants,” according to an online federal database.

The company has been criticized by organizations like Amnesty International and the American Immigration Council, including for its work with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), the agency that has sent masked officers to rounded up alleged illegal immigrants under the Trump administration.

Its chief executive officer has also argued in a recent book about the alleged perils of “hollow pluralism” in Western countries and proclaimed Big Tech companies have a “moral obligation” to defend the United States, according to a summary that Palantir posted to social media in April.

Jennifer Evans, a principal at the consultancy and research firm PatternPulse AI, said the military’s use of Palantir is concerning because of a 2018 law in the U.S. that could compel companies to hand over data to the American government.

Ottawa began negotiations with the U.S. government for an agreement under that law in 2022, while the Carney government has pledged a strategy to establish “data sovereignty” and keep Canadian control over sensitive online information.

Maine oyster farmer Graham Platner is leading Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) by 9 points in polling ahead of their November faceoff.

The Pine Tree State Poll from the University of New Hampshire, released Wednesday, found that 51 percent of likely voters said they would cast their ballot for Platner while 42 percent said they’d back Collins. Another 2 percent said they would choose another candidate and 6 percent are undecided.

The findings resemble results from February, when the numbers showed the Democratic candidate with 49 percent support compared to the incumbent’s 38 percent. Platner rose as a front-runner for Democrats in the state after Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) dropped her bid.

Alabama on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year’s elections, despite a lower court’s ruling that the redistricting plan intentionally discriminates against Black people.

The state’s Republican leadership filed an emergency appeal with the justices a day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts.

The judges instead required Alabama to continue using a court-ordered map that was put in place for the 2024 elections that includes two districts where Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.

In CBS interview set to air Sunday, former first lady says she was ‘frightened’ during husband’s debate with Trump

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump gleefully painted his opponents as trigger-happy interventionists who would get the United States bogged down in all manner of foreign wars — up to and including World War III.

As president, Trump has racked up an astonishing list of countries he’s both threatened to attack and actually attacked.

Trump added a new entry to that list on Wednesday, threatening to strike Oman if it tries to control the Strait of Hormuz along with Iran.

“Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow ‘em up,” Trump said at a White House Cabinet meeting.

The US' leniency means Ori Solomon faces just improper waste disposal charges for unlawful biolab that made people "deathly ill"

If Trump’s name is removed, a ‘vital fundraising connection will be severed,’ the center’s chief executive argued

A Trump-Kennedy Center official warned a federal judge that stripping the president’s name from the renowned arts institution would cause unbearable financial damage, marking the latest twist in a months-long legal battle.

Charles Matthew Floca, the center’s 39-year-old executive director, filed a declaration Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing the institution’s funding is inextricably linked to President Donald Trump.

“President Trump’s fundraising on behalf of the Center is exemplified by the tens of millions of dollars already raised,” Floca wrote. “Further, the President has committed to raise $150 billion on its behalf from private donors over the next two years.”