Julie Penner

@julespenner

Musician, mother, arts worker. I play violin with Do Make Say Think, Broken Social Scene, JP Hoe, etc. Made radio/podcasts with The Vinyl Cafe and William Prince. I tend to post about Winnipeg, biking, urbanism, and politics.

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Bluesky

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Julie Penner@julespenner· 6d

My Grandpa Penner (on the left) singing in the parlour 👇🏻. Mennonites are actually quite good at bringing singing into the home. Anyone who’s been present for a 4-part harmony “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” before meals can attest to this!

Black and white photo from 1944 with Mennonite men and women singing around a piano.

Julie Penner@julespenner· 9d

“And me and my anger sit, folding a paper bird / Letting the curtains turn to beating wings” #Weakerthans #Prisons

But for the past few years, he’s been teaching creative writing and literacy to people in Manitoba jails.

“Three weeks ago, while I was still preparing for this talk, I got a furious email from a manager from the Winnipeg Remand Centre where I lead classes,” Samson Fellows told his audience as they put the finishing touches on their paper cups.

“He informed me that origami paper is contraband and told me to stop sharing it with my students immediately.”

When Samson Fellows called back to apologize and ask why origami paper was considered contraband, he was told that any object that could be modified into something else was forbidden.

“So,” he said, pausing to give weight to his next words: “Anything that can be changed or transformed is not permitted in the Winnipeg Remand Centre. Any change or transformation is not allowed in Manitoba prisons,” he repeated.

“In case I am being too subtle, this is an anecdote about how prisons can’t be reformed, and must be abolished.”

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jul 16

On “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present” at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights”: “This exhibition matters. But I have come to think that the reaction to it matters just as much.” By Judith Dueck, first director of research, content and scholarship at the CMHR. #Winnipeg

That is precisely why institutions such as the Canadian Museum for Human Rights matter. They give us opportunities to encounter experiences we may never have lived ourselves.

Not so that we will all reach the same conclusions. Not so that one history replaces another. But so that our understanding of one another becomes a little larger than it was before.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jul 8

Ugh. I need to know more details about what’s needed at the animal health centre. But our urban forest is crucial to battling climate change. #Winnipeg #Trees

A provincial spokesperson said funding for Assiniboine Park was crucial.

“This funding will help ensure that the conservancy can continue to deliver quality services to families by enhancing its animal health centre, which is essential for attractions like the bears in the Journey to Churchill,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

City council is expected to cast the final vote on the proposal July 16.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jul 4

Sneaky Dee’s lives on. ❤️

Kissing in front of Sneaky Dee’s on our wedding day.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jul 2

Via Tom Gara www.threads.com/@tomgara/pos...

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jul 2

Arwa Damon, former senior correspondent for CNN, who left to focus on humanitarian work. 👇🏻 #Gaza #Biden open.substack.com/pub/arwadamo...

Excerpt: After I left Gaza, I got on a call with some members of the Biden administration’s Gaza team. I figured if we can simplify it all down to a bar of soap maybe the needle would move. Maybe they would be willing to get the Israelis to just let in soap. I have to say I have never in my life briefed people less interested in what I had to say. Not even the perfunctory grunt of “oh that’s terrible.”

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jun 27

I’m glad the opening of “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present” went smoothly last night (according to friends who attended). I hope the staff of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights get a chance to rest and recover from what has likely been the most stressful opening of their careers.

Gail Asper, whose father, Israel Asper, was the driving force behind the museum’s inception, expects formal complaints about the exhibition to be filed.

Asper was not privy to the display before its public opening, but was sent photos of it by a visitor.

“This museum was supposed to be a place of information, good, bad and ugly truths that would bring people together respectfully to debate and discuss and enlighten. And this has just caused division and concern and worry because of a concerted effort to suppress the Jewish voice in this historical conflict,” she said.

Charles Levkoe, a member of the Jewish Faculty Network, an advocacy group made up of Jewish academics and scholars, called the controversy surrounding the exhibition ironic, given that it hadn’t yet opened to the public ahead of the protest.

Levkoe said one of his fellow members was part of the consultations for the exhibition and provided regular updates to the group.

“As Jews, as members of the people that have experienced lots of discrimination and persecution over the centuries … I think as a group we collectively were very excited about it, because we know how important it is for people who’ve been marginalized to tell their stories and have their perspectives heard,” Levkoe said.

The story of the Nakba is not often told because of its controversy, but Levkoe did not expect the exhibition to be the subject of such backlash.

“It’s like this knee-jerk reaction to just try to shut this thing down without even saying, ‘Well, let’s give it a chance, let’s see it first,’” he said.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jun 21

I’m having a very on-brand Saturday night: reporting potholes in my neighbourhood (some for the third time in as many years). 🎉🍻 #Winnipeg #GoodTimes

My hand is in the pothole to help show how deep it is.

Two potholes *right* where cyclists ride on this Neighbourhood Greenway.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jun 20

God forbid a 6-story apartment disturb this bucolic scene.

470 Des Meurons St. in Winnipeg. Parking lot on a 4-lane street - future site of a residential tower.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jun 20

Classic. #Winnipeg #NIMBY

However, many nearby residents opposed the project, with nearly all of them calling to reduce its size.

Gilbert Michaud stressed he supports dense residential construction but feels the proposed building would be too large for the area.

“Support zoning for a smaller-scale development that better reflects and respects the characteristics of the surrounding community. Allow the developer to build what is permitted under existing regulations, low-rise residential (of) up to four storeys and nothing more,” said Michaud.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jun 15

Oh, Ehlers. This is bittersweet, but our household is very happy for you. #StanleyCup

Nikolaj Ehlers with two very happy young hockey fans.

A young boy holding his signed Ehlers Winnipeg Jets jersey.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jun 13

We need to prepare for the extreme weather that will become more common. #MBStorm

Wainikka said the province needs to look at ditches, culverts and watersheds, so water has somewhere to go.

“I think that there needs to be a collection of people from the insurance industry, of people from environmental firms that understand, engineering firms that understand how to mitigate the damage here, and how to possibly respond better once it does,” he said.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Jun 4

I usually ignore these kind of “MPs are complaining” articles because you rarely get the full context. But there does seem to be a pattern emerging with PM Carney.

Over the course of several caucus meetings now, Grit MPs report Carney lashing out at certain members when he doesn’t like the message they deliver. They include Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste, a Mi’kmaw from Cape Breton, raising concerns over negative perceptions of the government’s changes to the Indian Act and receiving a stunning rebuke; Winnipeg MP Doug Eyolfson, a physician, being told not to come to the prime minister with his concerns over the lack of federal response to Alberta’s two-tiered health care Bill 11; and Laval MP Angelo Iacono, who wanted the prime minister to visit his riding and was met with Carney insisting he’d been to Laval recently, though he had not. The experiences have left a lasting imprint on several MPs.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 27

I assumed this was a joke. Nope.

AI response saying that there are 2 “p” s in the word “Google.”

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 27

Disgusting. Imagine your co-worker doing this to you and then having to continue working with him. Police officers should be held to a *higher* standard - not lower. #Windsor

He admitted in court to calling a female co-worker seven times over 14 days while off duty.

In those phone calls, Smith didn’t say a word, but the victim could hear him performing a sex act on himself.

That criminal offence triggered a penalty hearing under the Police Services Act to determine a punishment for discreditable conduct. Smith has been an officer for 18 years with no previous complaints.

At the decision hearing Monday, Smith was demoted from first to third class constable for one year, then he will be elevated to second class the year after that and then back to first class constable.

The Windsor Police Service had asked Smith to be fired from his role while the police association asked for a demotion to second class Constable.

The Hearing Officer ruled Smith’s remorse, guilty plea, and counselling mean he is unlikely to reoffend and can be rehabilitated to return to work as a police officer.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 24

“I reached out and said he’s welcome to call whenever,” Hurricanes goaltender and fellow Denmark native Frederik Andersen said of trying to help his club woo Ehlers last July 1. “But I think he was very, very set on coming here. Just the way the team has been doing (in the standings) the last few years, the quality of living here. He’s enjoyed it so far.”

Andersen described Ehlers’ personality as “low key,” another thing that has made him a good fit with Carolina. Part of what he was looking to avoid in moving on from the Winnipeg Jets, the only NHL home he had known, was somewhere he could blend in and avoid the noise of a, well, noisier media market.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 19

Fair enough. Though this was the Red River on May 22, 2014. And my kid was running through a sprinkler the following week!

The Red River in downtown Winnipeg without ice on May 22, 2014.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 19

Get ready for the 30-degree swing, Winnipeg. 🙄 We are nothing if not extreme.

Winnipeg forecast showing a low of +2 today and a predicted high of +30 a week from today.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 17

Bob Odenkirk: “Canadians are down-to-earth people and Chicagoans are, too. They don’t suffer fancy-pants people and they’re hard people, they’re tough people, but they’re friendly and I like them very much.”

The fictional American small town was replicated mostly in Starbuck, 42 kilometres west of Winnipeg, but also in Carberry and West St. Paul, locations that all felt familiar to screenwriter Derek Kolstad (John Wick), who especially enjoyed Starbuck.

“I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and my mom’s side of the family lived in a small little town called Mazomanie,” Kolstad said. “I love the kind of town that has the one streetlight, or the one stop sign, and if you blink, you’ve passed it through it.”

In fact, Kolstad (who also worked on Nobody and Nobody 2), was familiar with Winnipeg from visiting it as a kid.

“For years, we would go up to Lake Superior to see family, we’d go to Winnipeg, drive over to Toronto and down. We’d do the loop,” he said in a red carpet interview during TIFF.

“So what’s so weird about coming back to Winnipeg to shoot is how much that city has changed in 20 years,” Kolstad said. “But what I loved about Winnipeg is the best parts that I remember as a kid haven’t changed: the neighbourly feel.

“Hands down, it’s some of the best cast and crew I’ve ever worked with.”

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 17

Javier Bardem on the genocide in Gaza. “You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror.”

“The fear does exist, granted, but one has to do things even if you feel a bit scared or afraid,” he said. “You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror, look at yourself in the eyes and that was my case. My mother taught me to be the way I am. There is no plan B. This entails consequences, which I am fully ready to shoulder.”

He also said that genocide being committed in Gaza is a “fact.” “You can fight against it, you can try to justify it, explain it. That is a fact. You can be against it, or you can justify it,” Bardem said. “If you justify it with your silence or with your support, you are pro-genocide. Those are facts, for me.”

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 16

At the time, CMHR CEO Isha Khan released a statement about the exhibit saying it is “not a historical retrospective, but rather a multi-media exhibit that will share the personal stories of Palestinian Canadians who were displaced during the 1948 Nakba to today.”

The display is scheduled to open next month.

The Israel Law Centre says its concerns are heightened due to the rise in antisemitism across Canada, including Winnipeg. It claims the exhibit exceeds the mandate of the federal government-funded national museum, which is to explore the subject of human rights “with special but not exclusive reference to Canada” in order to enhance the public’s understanding of human rights, promote respect for others and encourage reflection and dialogue.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 15

!!!

Janis Sarts, director of NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, told The Globe and Mail that it was more likely to have been an “autonomous decision” of drones that had been programmed to hit Russian oil facilities but, after having their navigation systems jammed by Russian electronic warfare, chose to strike a similar-looking structure in Latvia instead.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 11

Imagine our Prime Minister saying this: Netanyahu hailed the dropping of charges as the end of a “blood libel.” “The State of Israel must hunt down its enemies — not its heroic fighters,” he said.

One Palestinian prisoner from Gaza reportedly was hospitalized in July 2024 with a tear in his rectum, cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Investigators obtained a prison video purportedly showing the abuse. The authorities detained nine reservist soldiers — but Israel’s right-wingers erupted in outrage, with a mob of furious protesters, including politicians, breaking into the prison to show support for the guards. The last charges against the soldiers were dropped in March, and last month the military approved the soldiers’ return to duty.

Julie Penner@julespenner· May 5

Does anyone know how to fix the issue with CBC’s website and Safari? Every time I look up solutions, it says to turn off Content Blockers in the Safari settings (which I’ve already done).

Julie Penner@julespenner· Apr 30

This is so dystopian. 😬

Crane said that he was monitoring the agent as it deleted this data. When he asked the coding agent why, it replied: “NEVER FUCKING GUESS!” – and that’s exactly what I did.” The agent appeared to plead guilty in its own response: “The system rules I operate under explicitly state: ‘NEVER run destructive/irreversible git commands (like push --force, hard reset, etc) unless the user explicitly requests them.’” While PocketOS relied on the safeguards that Cursor is expected to have in place – it deleted the data anyway. “I violated every principle I was given,” the coding agent wrote.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Apr 27

This is excellent. #AmalKhalil #Lebanon

International humanitarian law does not leave this question open. Journalists are civilians under Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. Their protection is not conditional on political alignment, geographic location, or the content of their reporting. It is absolute, unless individuals are actively engaged in hostilities. On paper, this is one of the clearest protections in the laws of war.

This distinction matters because if we collapse all civilian deaths in war into inevitability, we remove the legal and moral pressure points that constrain conduct. International humanitarian law is not built on the assumption that civilian harm can be eliminated in war; it focuses on the requirement that harm be limited, that combatants be distinguished from civilians, and that it not be intentionally caused.

The obstruction of rescue efforts is particularly significant here. Under international humanitarian law, parties to conflict have obligations not only to avoid targeting civilians, but to allow and facilitate rapid humanitarian assistance. When ambulances are delayed, when access is conditioned under fire, when rescue teams are forced to withdraw repeatedly, the issue is no longer only about the initial strike—it becomes about whether there is compliance with the continuing duty to preserve life after harm has occurred.

That is a greater duty to preserve life after an attack, and one that is often overlooked in public discourse, which tends to focus on the moment of impact rather than the critical hours after an attack when rescue can save lives.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Apr 12

The Guardian: “The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations.”

Ahmad Ibrahim, a 50-year-old farmer from Deir Seryan, has only a few pictures of his house. He left the rest back home, leaving them behind as he fled the town on 2 March, expecting that he would collect them when he came back.

“My whole life is there, I’ve never really left beyond 10-13km. It’s a beautiful, typical village – at least it was before the war. Its people are kind and generous,” Ibrahim said. (Picture of lovely home with arched doorways and trees.)

“In summer, occupancy would reach 100%. We received good ratings and awards. Overall, we were happy – living peacefully, with good productivity,” said Hashem. “It really was a family business.”

Picture of hotel. Caption: Dr Mohammed Hashem saved up for 15 years to build the Luna hotel in Naqoura.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Apr 12

“In 1968, William F. Buckley Jr., the archconservative founder of National Review, hosted Eldridge Cleaver, the minister of information for the Black Panthers, on “Firing Line.” Neither man was there to endorse the other’s politics.”

The impulse to cut off those with whom we disagree reaches far beyond Piker or the Israel-Palestinian debate. It sits at the heart of cancellation as a political tactic. It relies on a belief in the power of gatekeepers that might have been true in an earlier age but no longer reflects the way attention is earned and held. Tucker Carlson was ejected from Fox News and grew stronger on X and YouTube. Nick Fuentes was banned from major social media platforms and gathered strength in the shadows. Trump went from being banned by every major social media platform to retaking the presidency.

Beneath this is an important principle: Conversation is not a reward to be bestowed on those with whom we agree; it’s a necessary habit in a democracy. The point is not to find agreement so much as to deepen understanding. To talk with others is to believe in the possibility of change — theirs and your own. Whether you like everything that someone has said should be severed from the question of whether that person is worth talking to.

Julie Penner@julespenner· Apr 9

“Even if readers didn’t make it all the way to the ends of the papers, they would have encountered red flags early on, such as statements that “this entire paper is made up.” #AI