It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
An international team has identified a new amphicyonid species, named Paludocyon moyasolai, from a skull found 30 years ago at Els Casots near Barcelona. The discovery, reported in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution, expands knowledge of these Miocene carnivores.
The skull was unearthed in the 1990s during one of the excavation campaigns at Els Casots, the site in the municipality of Subirats (Alt Penedès) that over time has become one of the key Miocene locations in Europe.
At the time, researchers assumed it belonged to an already known specimen of the genus Paludocyon, of which fragmentary remains had been found in the area and in other countries. With nothing new to investigate, the piece was put into storage.
It was not until 2014, in the course of a doctoral thesis, that someone took another look at that skull and realised something did not quite add up. The species it had been compared with was much more robust, roughly the size of a lion or tiger and with a weight close to 200 kilograms.
What they actually had in front of them seemed smaller and probably less muscular. The team at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont spent the last two years confirming their suspicion: it was not a known Paludocyon, but a species that no one had described before.
The newly identified species has been named Paludocyon moyasolai, in honour of the palaeontologist Salvador Moyà-Solà, and makes Els Casots the global reference site for this species.
Alongside the ICP, the study involved the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC), the University of Valencia, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Complutense University of Madrid, Ecuador’s National Institute of Biodiversity and the Iziko museum in South Africa.
Skull and teeth recovered at Els Casots, Catalonia, Spain Journal of Mammalian Evolution
A medium-sized predator in a tropical lagoon
According to the researchers’ calculations, this amphicyonid, a member of an extinct group of carnivores that combined dog-like and bear-like traits without truly belonging to either, was about the size of a large dog and weighed between 50 and 70 kilograms.
The remains recovered include the skull, much of the dentition and a single isolated lower molar, enough material to reveal something that caught the team’s attention: the unusual development of the posterior molars, with a second upper molar that is especially broad and a third that is larger than usual for the genus.
That dentition points to a varied diet, consistent with a mesocarnivorous hunter capable of chasing small and medium-sized prey – primitive deer, bovids, ancestral pigs – without being the most powerful animal in its environment. In fact, the same site yielded a second, considerably larger amphicyonid species, roughly the size of a leopard, which has not yet been formally described.
The setting in which it lived around 15.9 million years ago was very different from today: a shallow lagoon surrounded by tropical forest, with crocodiles, snakes, fish and a striking diversity of mammals sharing the same space.
That aquatic environment, the excavation leaders point out, is precisely what allowed such good preservation of the fossils: after death, the bodies became trapped in the mud, which protected them from decomposition.
Reconstruction of the bear-dog discovered in Catalonia that lived 15.9 million years ago Recreación IA
Another piece in the map of Miocene carnivores
The find adds to a broader body of research on how communities of large carnivores were organised during the Miocene on the Iberian Peninsula. A previous study, involving Complutense University of Madrid, had already examined slightly more recent sites, Los Valles de Fuentidueña in Segovia and Cerro de los Batallones in Madrid, where an unusually high number of carnivore species lived side by side: bear-dogs, felids, hyenas and bears.
Using stable isotope analysis on more than 200 samples of tooth enamel, that study, published in Palaeontology, showed that competition between them was intense, except in cases such as the amphicyonid itself or the primitive hyena, which hunted different prey in more open habitats.
This kind of work with isotopes makes it possible to reconstruct with considerable precision what each animal ate while barely damaging the fossil: just a few milligrams of enamel need to be extracted with a dentist’s drill and analysed by mass spectrometry.
Carnivores from the Miocene period in the area Paper UCM
Applied to different sites and different moments of the Miocene, this approach is gradually building an increasingly detailed picture of how fauna responded to the environmental changes of the time – the shift from dense forests to more open, arid landscapes – and of the strategies that allowed some species to coexist despite such fierce competition for the same territory.
Paludocyon moyasolai fits into that story as one more piece of the puzzle, slightly earlier in time than the episodes studied at Fuentidueña or Batallones but belonging to the same amphicyonid family that dominated much of Eurasia and North America during the Cenozoic. Every new specimen described, researchers agree, helps to refine the group’s evolutionary tree and to better understand how it became completely extinct a few million years ago.
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Forty new migratory species win international protection: UN body
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (AFP) – The UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) on Sunday approved the listing of 40 new species for international protection, including the snowy owl featured in the Harry Potter saga.
Issued on: 30/03/2026 - RFI
The Hudsonian godwit is one of 40 species newly listed for international protection
The decision came at the conclusion of the COP15 summit on migratory species in Campo Verde, Brazil, which brought together representatives from 132 countries and the European Union.
It is one of the world's most important global meetings for wildlife conservation.
Also on the new list for protection along with the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) are the Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica) -- a long-beaked shorebird threatened with extinction -- and the great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran).
The new list featured land mammals like the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) and other aquatic wildlife such as the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis).
The countries that are party to the CMS are legally obliged to protect species listed as at risk of extinction, conserve and restore their habitats, prevent obstacles to migration and cooperate with other range states.
Campo Verde is in Brazil's biodiversity-rich Pantanal wetlands, in the southern Amazon.
According to a report released ahead of the summit, nearly half (49 percent) of all species catalogued by the CMS are showing signs of declining numbers, and nearly one in four are threatened with extinction on a worldwide scale.
Another major UN assessment, published on Tuesday as the summit opened, warned that migratory freshwater fish populations crucial to river health and sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people are in freefall and risk collapse.
Habitat destruction, overfishing and water pollution from the Amazon to the Danube threaten the very survival of hundreds of species whose epic voyages along the world's great rivers go largely unnoticed.
Last November, Brazil hosted the COP30 climate summit in the Amazonian city of Belem.
The 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15), a legally-binding UN treaty, will take place in Campo Grande Brazil March 23-29. With high-level political attention from host-country Brazil, the meeting is set to tackle an ambitious set of actions in addressing a vital aspect of the global biodiversity crisis.
Campo Grande, Brazil — The 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) opens here today amid new reports that almost half (49%) of all CMS-listed species have decreasing population trends, and nearly one in four are threatened with extinction.
The State of the World's Migratory Species: Interim Report (2026) paints a stark picture of animals under pressure from a combination of overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, and invasive species.
Over 2,000 participants are expected, including delegates from among the 133 countries that are Parties to the treaty, scientists, indigenous peoples and local communities, and conservation organizations. The meeting is taking place at the gateway to the Pantanal – the Earth's largest tropical wetland, increasingly under threat from drought, wildfire and land-use change.
“It is a great honor for Brazil to host COP15. Holding this event in Campo Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, is a strategic choice. We are at the gateway to the Pantanal—the world’s largest tropical wetland. This region uniquely symbolizes the natural wealth of South America and the interdependence among countries whose fauna and flora cross borders. The Convention on Migratory Species reminds us of a simple yet powerful message: migration is natural.”
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil
“Paraguay is convinced that protecting migratory species is not only an environmental task but also a development one. Ensuring the stability of natural systems guarantees the stability of our people, acknowledging the human right to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.”
- President Santiago Peña of Paraguay
High stakes
The UN wildlife conservation meeting carries particular resonance in Brazil, home to more biodiversity than any nation on Earth. On Sunday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil convened a High-Level Segment with President Santiago Peña Palacios of Paraguay, minister of foreign affairs of Bolivia, leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme, and the heads of the world's major biodiversity environmental agreements — the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), CITES, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands among them — signaling that migratory species have moved firmly onto the political agenda as part of global efforts to tackle biodiversity loss.
What's on the table
Across more than 100 agenda items, negotiators will grapple with threats that mirror the full breadth of the impacts of human activities on nature: illegal and unsustainable hunting or capturing of species, bycatch, habitat destruction and fragmentation, deep-sea mining, light, noise and chemical pollution, impacts from infrastructure, and the accelerating disruption of climate change.
Negotiators will consider proposals to include 42 additional species under the treaty, including iconic animals such as the snowy owl, the great hammerhead shark and the striped hyena.
What happens next
Plenary and working group negotiations run through the week. Listing proposals, concerted actions, resolutions and decisions, which will shape conservation policy and species protections for years to come, will be considered for adoption on Sunday, 29 March 2026.
Throughout the week, special events will include the unveiling of a major scientific study on migratory freshwater fish (Global Assessment of Migratory Freshwater Fishes), and the introduction of the Americas Flyways Atlas, a groundbreaking new online platform developed by CMS and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology highlighting vital corridors and stopover sites for migratory birds.
A new CMS effort to address the serious threat of illegal and unsustainable taking – the Global Initiative on Taking of Migratory Species (GTI) will also be launched at COP15 to help governments, experts and local communities to ensure that any taking of migratory species is legal, sustainable and safe – and achieve their commitment under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The Initiative focuses on domestic use, which may pose a significantly greater risk than international trade.
“The conservation of migratory species challenges humanity’s ability to cooperate in the face of a simple fact: life on Earth is interdependent. At this moment in history, this is not merely a scientific observation — it is an ethical and political imperative that demands responses commensurate with the multiple crises we face: climate, ecological, and global governance.”
- Marina Silva, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Brazil
“The theme of COP15, ‘Connecting Nature to Sustain Life,’ has never been more important. Migratory animals — from elephants, big cats, raptors, freshwater fish, sea turtles, whales, waterbirds, and even butterflies — are not just wildlife spectacles. They are the planet's circulatory system, driving pollination, seed dispersal, carbon storage, pest control and nutrient cycling across entire continents. When their corridors break down, ecosystems follow.”
Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme.“COP15 in Brazil – the world’s most biodiverse country – represents a significant milestone for advancing international collaboration on the conservation of migratory species and more broadly on reversing biodiversity loss. The 2024 State of the World’s Migratory Species report and the 2026 Interim Report provide invaluable information on the conservation status of migratory species, the major threats, and the actions needed to address such threats. The main drivers of declines remain unchanged - habitat loss, overexploitation, climate change, and pollution. We know what needs to be done, and Parties here in Campo Grande have the opportunity to adopt measures to ensure the long-term survival of migratory wildlife and healthy ecosystems for future generations,”
- Amy Fraenkel, CMS Executive Secretary.
At a glance: CMS and COP15
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the governing body of CMS, which meets every 3 years to review progress, add new species under the Treaty, and strengthen actions to address conservation needs as well as continuing or emerging threats. Strong science underpins the COP’s agenda, ensuring that policy discussions reflect the best available evidence on threats, population trends and effective response measures.
COP15 primer: Key issues and events -- what’s on the table, what to expect: https://conta.cc/4aK8t3K
COP15 opening press conference
Monday, March 23, 2026,
COP15 venue in Campo Grande.
1:45 pm AMT/ EDT (5:45 pm GMT)
The event will be livestreamed via the CMS Youtube Channel COP15 Playlist and will feature the presentation of the State of the World’s Migratory Species: Interim Report 2026.
Key speakers:
Marina Silva, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Brazil;
João Paulo Capobianco, Chair of COP15 and Executive Secretary, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (Brazil);
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Assistant UN Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment Programme;
Amy Fraenkel, Executive Secretary, Convention on Migratory Species;
Kelly Malsch, Head of Nature Conserved, UNEP-WCMC, and lead author of the State of the World’s Migratory Species: Interim Report (2026).
The press conference will provide an overview of the week’s agenda, major scientific findings, and anticipated negotiations and outcomes.
On the evening of 23 March, the Migratory Species Champion Night will recognize CMS Parties for outstanding contributions to protecting wildlife on the move.
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals is a legally binding international treaty under the United Nations. CMS is one of the most important global frameworks for wildlife conservation and plays a vital role in addressing the global biodiversity crisis.
By fostering international collaboration, supporting research, and developing conservation agreements and actions among the Range States in which these species are found, CMS ensures the long-term survival of migratory species of wild animals and their habitats, and the vital benefits they provide.
132 countries plus the European Union are Parties to CMS. In addition, several non-Party countries have signed one or more binding CMS Agreements to protect migratory species.
CMS Appendices I and II
CMS Appendix I comprises migratory species in danger of extinction in the wild throughout all or a significant portion of their range. Parties that are Range States to a migratory species listed on Appendix I endeavour to strictly protect them by prohibiting the taking of such species (including the deliberate killing, capture or disturbance), with a very restricted scope for exceptions; conserving and, where appropriate, restoring their habitats; preventing, removing or mitigating obstacles to their migration; and controlling other factors that might endanger them.
Appendix II migratory species require international agreement for their conservation and management. It also includes species whose conservation status would significantly benefit from the international cooperation that could be achieved by an international agreement. This can include setting common objectives and management measures for shared populations, preparing and implementing joint action plans, coordinating monitoring and research, sharing data and best practices, and working together to conserve and restore key habitats along the species’ migration routes. The aim is to ensure that protection and management efforts are aligned across borders so that conservation gains in one country are not lost in another.
* * * * *
Can science and society align to save biodiversity? Alternet Summer School participants will set out to investigate
Organised by Alternet in cooperation with Biodiversa+, the 2026 edition is titled “Biodiversity and society: transforming science and policy.”
The Alternet Summer School aims to support the next generation of scientists and practitioners in developing integrative approaches to complex environmental challenges.
The Alternet Summer School will return from 19–29 August 2026 in the mountain village of Peyresq, France, bringing together PhD candidates, early career researchers, and professionals to examine one of the most pressing challenges of our time: the relationship between biodiversity and society.
Organised in cooperation with Biodiversa+, the 2026 edition is titled “Biodiversity and society: transforming science and policy.” The programme is designed to foster transdisciplinary dialogue at the interface of ecological science, social science, and policy-making. Set in the remote and historically preserved mountaintop town of Peyresq, the Summer School provides an immersive environment for critical reflection, collaborative learning, and intellectual exchange.
Global biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates, with profound consequences for ecosystems and human well-being. Against this backdrop, the Summer School addresses biodiversity management and conservation through a systemic lens, focusing on the drivers of biodiversity loss and the integration of ecological knowledge with social science approaches. Participants will engage with socio-ecological systems thinking and explore pathways for transformative change in multifunctional landscapes, where competing values and stakeholder interests must be reconciled.
The programme combines lectures with interactive formats, including field trips, collaborative group projects, and participant-led discussions. A defining feature of the Summer School is the integration of participants’ own research topics into the learning process, creating a reflexive and co-creative academic setting.
“At the Alternet Summer School, it’s amazing to see the change in the students even during their stay,” notes former participant and now convener Dr. Marie Vandewalle. “They begin questioning their work and their teachers. And they ask really deep questions, which they would never dare to ask at a conference. It is because the Summer School provides a safe environment where students and mentors can be themselves, with their emotions, doubts, struggles, and insecurities.
The Alternet Summer School is an annual initiative of Alternet, a European network of research institutions focused on biodiversity and ecosystem services. It aims to support the next generation of scientists and practitioners in developing integrative approaches to complex environmental challenges.
The Alternet Summer School is an annual initiative of Alternet, a European network of research institutions focused on biodiversity and ecosystem services. It aims to support the next generation of scientists and practitioners in developing integrative approaches to complex environmental challenges. The first edition was back in 2006. Each year, approximately 30 students from every corner of Europe and the world participate.
Martin Sharman, a recurrent speaker at the event, describes the Summer School as “a modern-day School of Aristotle, where lecturers learn as much as students - if not more.”
Applications for the Alternet Summer School 2026 are open from 10 March to 20 April 2026 at alterneteurope.eu
Monday, March 23, 2026
COP15
Nearly half of migratory species in decline as UN summit opens
A UN summit on migratory species opens in Brazil on Monday as scientists warn that the long journeys of whales, fish, birds and other animals are being disrupted by climate change and human activity – with risks for ecosystems, food supplies and coastal economies.
Issued on: 23/03/2026 - RFI
A blue whale raises its tail off the California coast, part of a species known for long-distance migration in search of food and breeding grounds. AP - Nick Ut
Cop15 brings together governments to protect animals that move across borders and oceans.
The latest State of the World’s Migratory Species report – first published in 2024 and updated ahead of this summit – found that 49 percent of migratory species populations are now in decline, up from 44 percent two years earlier.
Around 24 percent face extinction globally.
Many of these animals travel long distances to find food or places to reproduce. Like humans, they move to find better living conditions, with food as the main driver.
One of the most striking examples takes place off southern Africa. A bloom of plankton attracts billions of sardines, which form huge shoals stretching for kilometres.
These shoals draw predators such as penguins, sharks and whales in a spectacle sometimes described as “the beating heart of the ocean”.
Whales are among the biggest travellers. Grey whales in the North Pacific migrate to warmer waters to reproduce.
The record belongs to a female called Varvara, who travelled more than 22,000 kilometres in six months between the Russian Arctic and Mexico at an average speed of six kilometres an hour.
But these long journeys are becoming harder.
Snowy egrets gather in Brazil’s Pantanal, an important stopover for migratory birds, as scientists warn that climate change and human activity are disrupting migration routes. AFP - PABLO PORCIUNCULA
Off course at sea
Fishing and noise from ships can throw whales off course.
“We see them going in circles, making squares instead of following their usual route,” Noémie Coulon, a researcher at the University of Montpellier, told RFI.
“The animals will eventually find their way, but they will have used more energy than if they had not been disturbed.”
Climate change is also altering migration. Warmer waters are pushing marine species towards the poles in search of cooler conditions.
“Marine animals are moving around 70 kilometres every 10 years towards the poles,” Coulon said.
“What we are seeing today is not just a change in temperature, but a reorganisation of marine ecosystems.”
Some species are also moving deeper into the ocean, by about seven metres every 10 years, to avoid human activity near the coast.
That shift is not without consequences. It is already affecting how species reproduce.
“There is a very strong relationship between water temperature and the time it takes for embryos to develop,” Coulon said, adding that at greater depths development is slower.
Since these species already have very slow life cycles, she said, it becomes much harder to renew populations.
The effects are also felt by people.
“Changes in the migration of these animals can affect cities and countries that depend mainly on the sea for their protein supply,” Coulon said. If a species moves from one country’s waters to another’s over time, “it can create tensions”.
The pressure is not limited to the oceans. The Hudsonian godwit, a shorebird that travels about 30,000 kilometres each year between the Arctic and South America, has seen its population fall by 95 percent in four decades.
Scientists say the bird depends on reliable food sources along its route, but those conditions are becoming less predictable.
“They need really predictable, abundant food resources at every step of the journey,” Nathan Senner, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told the French news agency AFP.
He said the birds are now migrating later than before. Something “has either disrupted the cues that they use to time their migrations or their ability to successfully and rapidly prepare for the migration”.
A Hudsonian godwit, one of the world’s great migratory birds, whose journey is becoming harder as changing conditions disrupt its route. AFP - LUKE SEITZ
Senner added: “I think that is emblematic of lots of species, that most species can respond to one kind of change, but not a whole bunch of them all at the same time."
Other species proposed for protection at this week's summit include the snowy owl, the striped hyena and the hammerhead shark.
Amy Fraenkel, executive secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), said the situation was “particularly alarming” for fish, with 97 percent of listed species threatened with extinction.
Declining numbers
Sharks and rays have seen their populations decline by about half since 1970. Freshwater migratory fish have been hit even harder, with monitored populations dropping by an average of 81 percent between 1970 and 2020.
Scientists say barriers such as dams are disrupting migration routes, preventing species from reaching feeding and breeding grounds.
Recent figures also show that 26 migratory species have moved into higher extinction-risk categories, including 18 birds. At the same time, seven species have improved, among them the saiga antelope, the scimitar-horned oryx and the Mediterranean monk seal.
Some conservation groups argue that protecting these species could also help tackle climate change.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), an animal protection group, points to research showing that dugongs play a key role in seagrass ecosystems.
Where they are present, carbon capture more than doubles, while the amount stored in sediments nearly triples.
“Protecting dugongs isn’t just about saving a species,” Catherine Bell, IFAW’s director of international policy, said.
“Where dugongs thrive, seagrass meadows flourish, and these ecosystems become even more powerful carbon sinks when dugongs are present.”
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Please Advise! Is Trump’s Brain Totally Pucked?
Why else vow to block the Gordie Howe bridge while proclaiming China will ban the Stanley Cup?
Donald Trump’s threats to halt the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge would have drawn a sharp elbow from the hockey legend. Howe photo by Doug Ball, the Canadian Press. Trump photo via Shutterstock.
[Editor’s note: Steve Burgess is an accredited spin doctor with a PhD in Centrifugal Rhetoric from the University of SASE, situated on the lovely campus of PO Box 7650, Cayman Islands. In this space he dispenses PR advice to politicians, the rich and famous, the troubled and well-heeled, the wealthy and gullible.]
Dear Dr. Steve,
Donald Trump has threatened to block the opening of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor over his continued complaints about Canada. “I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them,” Trump wrote. The president posted his online rant shortly after Matthew Moroun, the billionaire owner of the nearby tolled Ambassador Bridge, met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Will the bridge ever open, Dr. Steve?
Signed,
Red Kelly
Dear Red,
Before discussing this further, let’s pause first to consider Trump’s online post. Like farmers who learn to distinguish hail clouds from incipient tornadoes, we have all become unwilling experts in Trump storm fronts. At this point it’s common knowledge that, morally, Trump has no bottom, but that observation does not convey the astonishing breadth of his absurdity. This guy is giving dementia a bad name. His bridge babble was one for the ages.
After some preliminary spittle about perfidious, predatory Canada, the stupidity of “Barack Hussein Obama” and the absence of American poison from Canadian liquor store shelves, Trump’s Truth Social ramble turned to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trade deal with China. “The first thing China will do is terminate ALL ice hockey being played in Canada, and permanently eliminate the Stanley Cup,” he wrote.
Eliminate the Stanley Cup? Why? Is China cutting a deal with Florida? And if China truly intends to destroy the game of hockey, could that explain what’s been going on with the Canucks? Did China trade Quinn Hughes to those troublemaking socialists in Minnesota?
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Trump also opined that China will “eat Canada alive! We’ll just get the leftovers.”
“The leftovers?” So Canada is a half-empty Styrofoam container of moo shu pork with a couple of stale wraps? In the world according to Trump, it seems the United States and China are a jackal and a hyena barking over a water buffalo carcass, or two drunken frat bros staring at the last remaining slice of Domino’s Pepperoni Feast. Canada is not the 51st state — we’re the fifth plate of jumbo shrimp at the Sizzler in Grand Rapids.
Trump’s latest Mad Libs effort apparently followed a conversation with Lutnick. The commerce secretary had been lobbied by Matthew Moroun, member of the Billionaire Brotherhood and owner of the Ambassador Bridge. The Gordie Howe International Bridge will cut into Moroun’s toll revenues, so Lutnick probably endorsed the plan to stop truck traffic over the new crossing. Considering the recent revelation that Lutnick was chummy with Jeffrey Epstein, you wouldn’t expect him to have a problem with trafficking. In fact they should probably call it the Epstein Bridge, since it’s sitting right there but Trump doesn’t want it open.
To be fair, Detroit-Windsor isn’t the only crossing point targeted for closure recently. Last week, airspace over El Paso, Texas, was briefly closed, apparently because U.S. Customs and Border Protection used lasers to shoot down some party balloons. Overreaction? Maybe. But maybe the party had been a quinceañera. Maybe they had been speaking Spanish and playing the music of Bad Bunny. For U.S. border agents, that’s triggering.
As for Gordie Howe, he spoke Canadian, often with his fists. It was Howe who inspired the defiant “Elbows Up” slogan. Historically, he is Even Worse Bunny. Clearly, Trump has been triggered too.
How to placate the president? Qatar bribed Trump with a $400-million jet. The bridge reportedly cost $3.8 billion. Seems a bit much.
There’s another Gordie Howe Bridge in Saskatoon though. We could give him that and hope he won’t notice. Kind of like a box of Kirkland chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Just as good, really.
Trump says he will keep the Gordie Howe International Bridge closed until the U.S. is “fully compensated” for all they have given Canada. Great. Not only do we get more measles, but now we get charged for them too.
Come to think of it, maybe we need to rethink this. Maybe we need to seriously consider Trump’s remark about all we have received from the U.S. And maybe that bridge ought to stay closed.
Steve Burgess writes about politics and culture for The Tyee. Read his previous articles.
Donald Trump’s threats to halt the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge would have drawn a sharp elbow from the hockey legend. Howe photo by Doug Ball, the Canadian Press. Trump photo via Shutterstock.
