Canada has a long and proud history as a space-faring nation. My father's worked for Spar Aerospace in the 70s, which built some of the earliest satellites (Canada was the third nation in the world after the US and USSR to launch one). Same company built the Canadarm. Replacing Starlink is easy in comparison.

In a telephone conversation with the Ukrainian President, Pope Leo XIV expressed his hope for cooperation to allow food and medical aid to reach civilians in Oleshky, in the Kherson region, and for their safe evacuation. vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/…

Why Putin's call for a US-Russia-China summit is a plot for Ukraine's surrender.slate.com/news-and-politics/…

A baby, two kids, and three adults were killed in by russians in Kharkiv. Also, many people were injured. Paid by Trump and his supporters.

Glad to see reporting on Oleshky. Russia has kettled and is starving a population. They need to be held accountable for these colossal crimes. Crimes upon crimes upon crimes.

Russians are trying to turn the Ukrainian town of Oleshky into a death trap. Around 1,700 people are still trapped in the destroyed town. The only road out is mined and watched by attack drones. Those who try to flee risk being killed. The nearby river is mined, too. Residents doubt they can survive this winter. The hospital has run out of medicine. Dozens of bodies lie in the streets or in homes, as Russians forbid residents from burying them. Families are starving, surviving on leftover garden vegetables, preserves and even snails. Residents say Russian soldiers have threatened them at gunpoint to seize their food. Ukraine has repeatedly called for safe evacuation and international humanitarian access. These appeals cannot remain unanswered. We urge the UN, the ICRC, and all partners to use every available channel to secure safe evacuation corridors and immediate humanitarian access to Oleshky. Russia must stop obstructing efforts to save civilian lives. I thank all our partners and people around the world who refuse to stay silent and have become the voice of Oleshky’s residents. I want to personally thank Pope Leo XIV for his call on Putin for a ceasefire in Oleshky to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. People cannot survive on statements of concern. They need action. They need a way out. And they need it now. 📷 : Kherson regional military administration

Today Côte Saint-Luc (part of Greater Montreal) became the ninth city in the world to commemorate Boris Nemtsov, unveiling a plaque in its Human Rights Walkway. My deepest gratitude to Mayor David Tordjman, Professor Irwin Cotler, and The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights for paying tribute to a great statesman — and sending a strong message of solidarity to those who continue to fight for Nemtsov’s vision of a free, peaceful, and democratic Russia.

PeterGelb of @MetOpera is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. He’s an accomplished professional and a person of unbreakable integrity and exceptional honesty. What he and @kerilynnwilson have already done for Ukraine, its people, and culture is outstanding. If I miss New York it’s because of my dear friends Peter and Keri-Lynn, as well as the amazing people of @UkrInstitute , friends from the diaspora, and many former and current colleagues at the diplomatic corps in NY at the UN with whom we did so many wonderful things from the very first minutes of the full scale invasion! But tonight my special, sincere thanks goes to dear Peter and Keri-Lynn!

Overnight, Russian forces launched dozens of missiles and more than 100 drones across Ukraine, targeting the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions. The attack lasted from Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, striking homes and energy infrastructure. In Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district, a missile struck a nine-story apartment building, forcing families to evacuate. WCK teams responded at the scene, providing hot meals and support to residents and first responders as emergency crews worked through the morning. In the aftermath of an attack, a warm meal is one way we show up for the people navigating the difficult hours ahead. #ChefsForUkraine

A Canadian icon. Happy 100th to Winnie the Pooh. Winnie was named after Winnipeg, the great Canadian city where Lt. Harry Colebourn lived. In England, Christopher Robin Milne fell in love with Winnie. His Dad, A. A. Milne took note. The rest is history. mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/87…

We don’t always know what somebody else is carrying. The joy and the struggle can be there at the same time. I’ve learned to find gratitude in the middle of it, and for the people who meet me there ♥️

In Synychyno, 16 people remain. In Kamianka, around 80. Both villages in Ukraine’s Izium district have been badly damaged by years of war and occupation. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for families with children, leaving behind mostly seniors with nowhere else to go. Every month, WCK finds a way to reach them with food. The roads are increasingly dangerous. Some organizations have stopped making the journey. We keep finding a way. For the people who remain, a regular delivery means one thing: knowing that nourishing food will reach their village, even when getting there is anything but simple. #ChefsForUkraine

Happy 85th to Paul Simon!!! "I write from instinct, from inexplicable sparkle. I don't know why I'm writing what I'm writing. I let my hands wander on my guitar. And I sing anything. I play anything. And I wait till I come across a pleasing accident. Then I start to develop it."

Monk Meditations, Monk Movements and Black Mozart, three of the four Batiste Piano Series albums, all recently released and I’m ecstatic! This piano series is part of how I process the world through the piano 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾   With Black Mozart, in the spirit of celebrating Mozart’s genius, I dreamt of this album as a collaboration between two musicians both sharing a piano bench, trading ideas across hundreds of years. I brought my life story to it and the music of my ancestors: the blues, stride, ragtime, gospel and the sounds of home in New Orleans. In all this transformation, the essence of the original composition is preserved while being infused with new meaning. The end result is something that pushes to expand the canon, and extend what we consider ‘classical’ work.   Thelonious Monk is a musical north star for me. The Monk Meditations album captures the spiritual heartbeat of his music, stretched across a whole album. You can meditate to it, pray to it, rest with it. The approach to how this album is recorded, tuned, performed and sequenced along with the musical arrangements, synth soundscapes, overtones and repetitive breath based/heart based tempos creates an atmospheric journey tailored for meditation. The tracks are woven together as one extended meditative sequence and musically constructed to induce intentional flow state, opening your mind in a focused workflow, or serving as the soundtrack to your dream state, or meditation.   This music is minimalist as a musical allegory for the stillness I believe we all must cultivate in our lives in order to hear our deepest, truest thoughts and the guidance of the Creator. There are accompanying prayer mantras in the liner notes to manifest internal and external peace. These notes are included to encourage the listener to slow down and discover the still, small voice within themselves. Jazz is a sacred tradition and this album frames jazz music as such, while also drawing deep influence from the tradition of new age and ambient music. It honors Thelonious Monk while simultaneously evoking the musical and cultural practices of Tibetan “monks”, thus creating Monk Meditations. The music is exploratory and improvisational but the improvisation is focused on building expressive, meditative textures that utilize a lot of repetition in the melody, rhythm and harmony. On Monk Movements, I arranged his compositions Blue Monk, In Walked Bud, Ugly Beauty and Brilliant Corners into piano movements that retain their essence while infusing them with my vision for pianistic glory, with the intention of eventually sharing the sheet music of these spontaneous arrangements as works to be played by pianists of all disciplines. In addition to these movements, I created original movements of my own influenced by the architectural “movement” of Monk’s music which melodically, harmonically and structurally has a very distinctive movement. I then sequenced all the pieces to exist as a whole; an extended  movement. The album was inspired a lot by the abstract expressionist art movement as well, particularly in regard to how I approached my improvisation over the forms.   Each album captures all the rawness and immediacy of performance, leaving my footsteps, exclamations and breathing in the recording to emphasize the humanistic essence of the recording. I look to continue the series for years to come exploring many threads of inspiration and sharing these time stamps with you all. Soul and science. Stillness and movement. A conversation that keeps going.

In Ojibwe our words for thanksgiving day are miigwechwe giizhigad.

Lebanese farmers have been dealing with drought since 2025—an additional blow to an already strained food system on top of the ongoing conflict. Many have had to pivot away from crops they have grown for years, like cucumbers, to drought-resistant varieties that require less water. At the same time, the cost of sourcing enough water for irrigation has spiked as fuel prices have climbed. Combined, these pressures have made it extremely difficult for Lebanese farmers to sustain their livelihoods. WCK #ChefsForMidEast teams are supporting farmers by buying their produce directly, then redistributing it to communities in need in the form of our hot meals. This way, farmers can have a consistent source of income to support their families, and community members impacted by displacement and violence can benefit from the produce their neighbors worked so hard to grow. By building these networks, WCK is reinforcing the local economy while providing people with the food they need.

every time you feel powerless, hear a Ukrainian speak. Kateryna from my native Zaporizhzhia went viral this morning: after surviving russian bombing she still managed to send a very clear message to russian terrorists that their efforts are futile. are we also ready to send a clear signal in the rest of Europe? the time is now.

President Zelenskyy: Right now, our Ukrainian negotiating team is in Florida on a two-day visit, holding talks with the American team about ending this terrible war. An energy ceasefire could be the first step. This is extremely important for our people, for our families. At this very moment, the US president is having a conversation with the leader of the Kremlin, the leader of this war, the leader of this aggression. And he has reached an agreement that allows Russia to export diesel fuel. This means more money for this war and, of course, more suffering for us. It only strengthens Putin and gives him the means to wage war on an even greater scale. All of this money goes toward the war against people, against Ukraine, against all of us. I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And this is certainly not fair. This is certainly not how partners should act. And in my opinion, this is a weak decision. Unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners.

Another way to think about Trump announcement today: If he increased US diesel imports from Canada by 4%, he would gain as much fuel as from this Russia deal. But the Canadians are global super-villains, so who wants to buy from them when you could enrich Putin instead?

‼️ Razom for Ukraine expresses its unequivocal opposition to President Trump’s decision to allow nearly 5 million tons of Russian diesel to enter the American and global market. Every dollar America spends on Russian diesel is a dollar that Putin uses to kill Ukrainians in hospitals, schools, and shelters. Yesterday, Russia bombed two buses in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, killing 33 people. The day before, Russia bombed an apartment building in Pryluky, killing 22, including children. Russian oil money bankrolls these crimes. President Trump says he wants to save lives. The decision to buy Russian diesel undercuts that goal. Razom for Ukraine calls on President Trump to rescind this decision and urges members of Congress to explore every available legislative and oversight mechanism to reverse it.