Michael Byers 🇨🇦
@michael-byers.bsky.social
Co-director, Outer Space Institute
Chair, Salt Spring Forum
UBC Professor
Author, citizen, troublemaker
He/him
Michael Byers is a Canadian legal scholar and non-fiction author.
Source: Wikipedia
Political science
60%
Physics
18%
Opinion: It’s not too late to prevent a U.S. invasion of Greenland
If Donald Trump plans to acquire Greenland ‘one way or another,’ he should feel the ire of the international community
www.theglobeandmail.com
This essay, published last April, could have been written yesterday:
Reposted by Michael Byers, Lindsay M. Tedds
The Hill Times
@hilltimes.com
· 4d
‘Get the f**k off there’: MPs, Senators call on government to abandon X/Twitter following wave of ‘Grok porn’
A proliferation of sexual deepfakes on X (formerly Twitter) has prompted other countries to investigate Grok, the platform’s AI software, but, so far, Ottawa remains silent.
www.hilltimes.com
A proliferation of sexual deepfakes on X has prompted other countries to investigate Grok, the platform’s AI software, but, so far, Ottawa remains silent.
www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0...
www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0...
© CBC/Radio-Canada 2026. All rights reserved.
www.cbc.ca
CBC radio host Stephen Quinn and I had a nice chat this morning - about Donald Trump, Venezuela, and Canadian self-respect.
Tottenham lost to Liverpool on Saturday, which was bad news for my PhD student Ewan Wright. But he's a good sport, and I tried hard not to celebrate.
At least one part of the U.S. campaign against Venezuela makes sense: taking on the ‘dark fleet’
Amid debatably legal efforts to remove Nicolas Maduro, including a new blockade, the U.S. did show leadership on the world stage when it seized a falsely registered ‘dark fleet’ oil tanker
www.theglobeandmail.com
Can you name one good thing that Donald Trump has done?
I played that game in today's Globe and Mail.
Gift article here:
I played that game in today's Globe and Mail.
Gift article here:
My "fun" evening: Frantically rewriting a newspaper op-ed minutes before publication in response to a major policy announcement on social media by Donald Trump.
SACPA to host double-header
Joe Manio Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) will be hosting a double-header at
lethbridgeherald.com
If you're in frigid Lethbridge tonight, let me raise your temperature with some frank thoughts on Canada and Donald Trump:
Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs
Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs was founded in 1967. It is an independent forum, moderated by volunteers, debating issues of concern to the residents of Lethbridge and Southern Alberta.
www.sacpa.ca
"Elbows Up, Elbows Down? Donald Trump and the future of Canada"
That's the topic of my presentation in Lethbridge this Thursday night. All welcome!
That's the topic of my presentation in Lethbridge this Thursday night. All welcome!
The Weird Spectacle of the World Cup Draw
At the event, the matchups seemed beside the point, eclipsed by FIFA’s bizarre Peace Prize ceremony for Donald Trump and other cringey moments.
www.newyorker.com
I'm a serious football (soccer) fan, but Gianni Infantino has perverted himself and FIFA so very badly that I've decided to boycott the World Cup.
Angela Rasmussen - College of Medicine - Medicine
Angela Rasmussen
medicine.usask.ca
Angela Rasmussen gave a master class in virology to the Salt Spring Forum last night.
From polio to COVID19 to bird flu -- why we should worry, and what we can all do (starting with updated vaccinations for COVID and flu).
From polio to COVID19 to bird flu -- why we should worry, and what we can all do (starting with updated vaccinations for COVID and flu).
World Cup 2026 draw updates: England to meet Croatia, Brazil await Scotland, USA will face Australia – live
Join our writers for updates from the draw in Washington DC for the 48-team tournament next summer
www.theguardian.com
What a coincidence! The three host countries all have easy runs through the group stage.
"Donald Trump with the First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence." - Guardian photo caption says it all!
ICC judge speaks out on impact of US sanctions
Canadian ICC Judge Kimberly Prost has told Al Jazeera that US sanctions have had a ‘crippling effect’ on her life.
www.aljazeera.com
Want to see courage? Watch this short interview with Kimberly Prost, the Canadian judge on the International Criminal Court.
Why the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill looms large over northern pipeline debate | CBC News
The Exxon Valdez disaster happened more than 36 years ago off Alaska's coast, but the catastrophic oil spill still looms over plans for a pipeline from Alberta to the northern British Columbia coast.
www.cbc.ca
"It's spectacularly dangerous to conceive of putting a pipeline to northern B.C. and hauling that oil across the Gulf of Alaska to Asian markets."
The Canadian prime minister knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing. This National Geographic photo is from the Great Bear Rainforest, through which Mark Carney's new pipeline for heavy oil would pass.
Inconvenient Indian author Thomas King says he is not part Cherokee
Writer ‘still in shock’ after a whistle-blowing organization showed him genealogical evidence that he wasn’t part Indigenous as he originally assumed
www.theglobeandmail.com
I grew up with a family rumour about Indigenous ancestry. As a young adult, I checked it out with genealogical research and DNA testing. I am not Indigenous. Neither, it turns out, is Thomas King.
Reposted by Michael Byers
Alex Neve
@alexneve.bsky.social
· Nov 24
Minister ‘Can’t Confirm’ If Canadian Officers Went To Israeli Seminar
The seminar reportedly focused on Israel’s experiences in waging its genocidal war on Gaza.
www.readthemaple.com
Minister McGuinty, what gives? Surely the Canadian military has no interest in learning IDF lessons about waging genocide. We need confirmation no Canadian soldiers took part. And if they did, a whole lot of explaining & accountability.
No more feminist foreign policy, Carney says
Prime Minister, who made the comments at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, has placed less emphasis on feminist policies than the Trudeau government
www.theglobeandmail.com
Mark Carney continues to distance himself from Justin Trudeau. But if there's a political calculation here, I can't see it.
The Crisis of Canadian Democracy - Sutherland House Publishing
Andrew Coyne, one of Canada’s most esteemed political thinkers, delivers a powerful exposé of the nation’s crumbling democratic institutions. With characteristic wit, insight, and rigor, Coyne disma...
sutherlandhousebooks.com
Andrew Coyne is visiting the Salt Spring Forum tonight -- for a community discussion about Canadian democracy, the topic of his new book.
Reposted by Michael Byers
On this Trans Day of Remembrance, I hope Albertans will remember that trans kids and teens are living breathing humans who just want to be themselves, without fear of hate and discrimination. Demonizing kids merely to score political points in some weird culture war is craven and cruel.
Top military lawyer raised legal concerns about boat strikes
The lawyer at U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the operations against alleged drug-smuggling boats near Venezuela, disagreed that the strikes are legal and was overruled, according to six sources...
www.nbcnews.com
Political appointees overruled a senior U.S. military lawyer who was concerned the strikes "could amount to extrajudicial killings."
Russian spy ship enters British waters and shines lasers at military pilots
Defence secretary reveals details of recent incursions as he warns UK is facing ‘new era of threat’ from hostile countries
www.theguardian.com
Sloppy reporting by @theguardian.com, which should have made clear that foreign vessels are free to enter the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone, which is different from the 12 nautical mile territorial sea.
Turns out that Russian officials weren't the only ones reading my op-eds in the Globe and Mail about their war crimes and crimes against humanity.
I remain in awe of the courage and perseverance of the Ukrainian people.
I remain in awe of the courage and perseverance of the Ukrainian people.
Reposted by Amir Attaran
Memo Approving Boat Strikes Is Said to Rely on Trump’s Claims About Cartels
www.nytimes.com
In 2002, political hacks in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel produced the notorious "torture memos".
They're at it again now, trying to excuse extrajudicial killings on the most implausible of legal grounds.
They're at it again now, trying to excuse extrajudicial killings on the most implausible of legal grounds.
Prominent legal scholar detained at Canadian border while on his way to a conference on Palestine | CBC News
A well-known academic and former UN special rapporteur says he was detained by customs agents in Toronto while on his way to speak at a conference on human rights violations against Palestinians.
www.cbc.ca
95-year-old Richard Falk detained by Canadian border officials, questioned as possible "national security threat".
Canada should pull out of refugee pact with U.S. over Trump policies, says former Liberal foreign minister
Lloyd Axworthy says the U.S. should no longer be considered a safe country for Canada to return asylum seekers to
www.theglobeandmail.com
Lloyd Axworthy is right: Canada needs to do the right thing, especially when the U.S. is not.