News roundup, 23 Jan 2026

- One of the things about Donald Trump's sudden retreat in the Greenland crisis is the extent to which it undermines his case for taking the territory in the first place. After all, if it were really essential to national security as he was claiming, there would be no room for compromise - but yet he backed down quite abruptly, no doubt having been finally convinced of the economic disaster that could result to his country - and his and his friends' stock holdings - if he went ahead and Europeans started dumping Treasuries and other key American securities. One hopes that this might, ever so slightly, chip away at his tough-guy image among the MAGA crowd. This is certainly not the end, or even the beginning of the end. Is it the end of the beginning? Time will tell.

- A leaked internal ICE memo advises officers that they don't need a warrant to enter private homes, contrary to officially acknowledged training materials (not to mention the Constitution).

- The US has followed through with its threats to withdraw from the World Health Organization. Under their own laws they're supposed to give a year's notice and pay all outstanding fees (around $260 million), but a State Department official denies this.

- Pierre Poilievre says that he will not run in his current riding in the next election, saying that Damien Kurek (who stepped aside to allow him to sit in the House after he was defeated in his old riding of Carleton) will be allowed to have the riding back, no nomination needed. Where he is going to run remains to be seen; maybe he'll just slink away with his tail between his legs if we're lucky.

- Edmonton mayor Andrew Knack reports that there has been a disturbing amount of harassment of snowplow operators as well as a city councillor, Erin Rutherford. Plow operators have had shovels thrown at them, while Rutherford has been the target of an online disinformation and doxxing campaign by rightwing influencer Jesse Watson (who was Rutherford's opponent in the last municipal election). More information about this charming character may be found here.

- Power generation from coal has declined in both China and India for the first time in 52 years, with clean energy technology taking up the slack.  

- A teacher in the Louis Riel School Division in southeast Winnipeg was suspended for five days without pay and transferred to a different school after mimicking a nine year old's temper tantrum to mock the child, prompting other kids to do the same.

- Investigators in Queensland have concluded that the Canadian woman found dead on a beach surrounded by dingoes most likely drowned and that the bite marks on her body were inflicted after death. 

News roundup, 22 Jan 2026

- Donald Trump's plane had to turn back shortly after departing on a flight to the World Economic Forum in Davos due to a failure of some electrical systems on the aircraft. Sadly the plane made a safe return to DC. Trump then boarded another one, which made it to Davos where he started backpedalling on the whole Greenland issue in return for a "framework of a future deal". I wouldn't be surprised if Trump was spooked by the prospect of Europe unloading a lot of Treasuries (with other countries and all manner of other investors inevitably following suit). Perhaps the people around him explained how, if that were to happen, he would be losing as much money as they would. And then there's one more factor...

- The Pentagon has ordered military police from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to prepare for a possible deployment to Minneapolis. The fact that it's specifically military police suggests that there are plans to use them for law enforcement. This would require Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, which is supposed to occur only in response to a "rebellion". And the Justice Department has opened an investigation into Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey on the grounds that some of their public statements constituted "conspiracy" and "obstruction" of federal immigration officers. The Department declined further comment, but possible grounds might include Walz's recommendation that people record video of ICE in action so as to provide evidence for future prosecutions once the fascists are out of power. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had previously declared the intention to stop Walz and Frey by "whatever means necessary", and it seems that the regime is doing what such regimes do. It also might be part of the reason Trump is backing down on Greenland - he thinks he's going to need those troops at home.

- The school attended by Renee Good's six year old son has had to move to online lessons after receiving phone and email threats from far right extremists. The depravity of a sizeable chunk of that country knows no bounds, it seems.

- A senior curator and two longtime volunteers at the Art Gallery of Ontario have resigned in protest of a decision by the gallery's board to back out of acquiring a video work by acclaimed American artist Nan Goldin. The gallery had been planning to jointly buy the work along with the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, but some board members considered Goldin's public statements on the situation in Gaza to be "antisemitic" (notwithstanding the fact that Goldin is herself Jewish).

- The student federation at the University of Guelph's agriculture college is under investigation by the university and police following a pub night that allegedly featured racist and homophobic language and the use of hate symbols, including swastikas, on T-shirts.

- Mark Edward Grant, who was initially convicted of the 1984 murder of Candace Derksen before being acquitted on appeal, is facing new charges in BC, including sexual assault and unlawful confinement.

- It appears that the polling company that inserted questions about immigration affecting the "purity" of the country into a customer experience survey for the Thermea spa has a history of this sort of thing. Back in 2018 CROP was hired by Aeroplan for a similar survey and included a question almost identical to the one in the recent Thermea one.

- A Toronto man named Dallas Pokornik posed as a commercial pilot for several years. Fortunately he never actually flew an aircraft; his plan was simply to pose as a deadheading crew member and get free flights. He had obtained fake employee ID from three different airlines. His past experience as a flight attendant probably helped give him an idea of what he could get away with (until he couldn't). He's hardly the first person to do so, however; a sixteen year old boy from the English town of Wigan pulled it off decades ago. I can't find anything online, but according to the account in Brian Moynahan's book Airport International he hitchhiked down to London, started hanging out with flight attendants, talked his way into getting issued "replacement" ID and a uniform, and took flights to Nairobi and Hong Kong before getting caught and sent home. Some time later he stole a pilot's uniform and got a free flight to Frankfurt before getting caught again. He got off relatively lightly; Pokornik, on the other hand, could face up to 20 years in prison.

News roundup, 21 Jan 2026

- Mark Carney, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, warned that "the old order is not coming back" and that mid-range powers such as Canada need to adapt and cooperate rather than competing with each other for the crumbs from the US and China. His full speech may be found here. Meanwhile EU leader Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at the same conference, vowed that if Donald Trump follows through with his latest tariff threats, the federation's response will be "unflinching" and "united". Some European leaders, including French president Emmanuel Macron, are calling for the union to enact a never-before-used regulation known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could be used to impose measures such as tariffs, trade and foreign investment restrictions, and measures affecting the intellectual property rights of the target country. A potential spanner in the works is the European far right, who are polling a little too well for elections that are due over the next few years. And you can be sure that the Trump regime will pull out all the stops to maximize the chance of those parties taking over. For his part, Trump himself is scheduled to address the WEF today, and continues to be as belligerent as ever. Perhaps the most ridiculous part is the fact that Trump is actually saying that he's pushing ahead with this in response to not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He's not so much a Bond villain as a Maxwell Smart or Austin Powers villain.

- Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir, also spoke at the WEF, and claimed that AI will create so many jobs that immigration won't be a problem anymore. Whether anyone actually believed him is another question.

- Doug Ford claims that Chinese cars are a security risk, saying that "when you get on your cellphone, it’s the Chinese that are going to be listening to your … telephone conversation". Now to be fair, there might be a kernel of truth to that - but given the way the US is going I'm not sure that the risk is any lower with American cars. In any case, the risk probably isn't as big as Ford thinks; BYD sells a lot of cars in Europe, where they have significantly better privacy protections than we do. The fact that they're allowed to do that suggests that Ford is wrong. In taking this position he's also doing the bidding of the US, but don't tell him that.

- A Danish pension fund, AkademikerPension, is selling off its entire holdings of US Treasuries, worth approximately $100 million. They cite concerns about the financial stability of the country under Trump.

- Donald Trump has reposted private texts from Emmanuel Macron, apparently under the impression that what he posted would make Macron look bad. Macron stands by his words (and why shouldn't he?) Then again, why would you expect Trump to understand the concept of a rhetorical question?

News roundup, 20 Jan 2026

- Two directors of a German nonprofit, HateAid, have been banned from entering the US due to their efforts to fight disinformation and hate speech online. Also banned are people from several other nonprofits (including one that simply provided risk ratings warning advertisers so that they could decide whether to allow their ads on a site) and former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who had helped author the federation's Digital Services Act. Secretary of State Marco Rubio apparently believes in a conspiracy theory called the "censorship-industrial complex", whereby the tech companies, the US government, and nonprofit organizations are conspiring to suppress conservative views. It's absurd on so many levels, yet those affected have no choice but to take it seriously. To their credit, the French and German governments are taking the matter seriously too - but they're also warning those affected to take precautions by moving their assets somewhere where it won't be within reach of the Americans.

- Adam Kadyrov, the son of Chechnya's gravely ill leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has apparently been seriously injured in a car crash. Given that he had been touted as a possible successor to his father, this could get interesting; a succession crisis in Chechnya is probably not something Vladimir Putin wants to see right now.

- Winnipeg had nearly 5,000 housing starts in 2025 according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The article does not state where this new construction is occurring; it makes a big difference whether it's infill (generally good) or greenfield development on the outskirts (bad). The city does attribute this to such things as the Housing Accelerator Fund and changes to zoning bylaws, so if their statement can be taken at face value that's a promising sign.

- The mayor of the Rural Municipality of Gimli, Manitoba has been slapped with a 7 day suspension (with pay, mind you) after a formal complaint about his behaviour was deemed by an investigation to be "founded". The exact nature of said behaviour was not made public. The municipality has also stated that "members of council" (the article does not specify whether this means all members or just certain ones who came close to the line) will have to take mandatory training on conflict resolution and respectful workplace practices. Folks in this Reddit thread add some context, saying that the municipality's CAO was essentially bullied out of her job, so perhaps that has something to do with it. It does seem like rural and small town politics is becoming extremely toxic, as evidenced buy such things as this, this, this, this, and this.

- Police in Queensland are investigating after the body of a 19 year old Canadian woman was found on a beach surrounded by dingoes after she had gone for an early morning swim. There is some uncertainty as to whether she was killed by the dogs or whether she died by some other means and was just seen by them as an opportunity.

News roundup, 19 Jan 2026

- Around 10,000 people rallied in Copenhagen's city hall square in opposition to the Trump regime's designs on Greenland. Many of the protesters wore caps with the slogan "Make America Go Away". This coincides with a visit by a congressional delegation to Denmark in an attempt to turn down the heat.

- Hundreds of high school students in the Twin Cities area walked out of class on Friday in protest against the ICE crackdown in the region. Several schools had already cancelled classes due to security concerns, and St. Paul's school system is looking into the possibility of online classes as many students are afraid to go to class due to the chaos unleashed by the Trump regime.

- An Episcopalian bishop in New Hampshire is urging his clergy to prepare their wills in preparation for a "new era of martyrdom". Bishop Rob Hirschfeld says that the ICE crackdown means that "it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable".

- A passenger train derailed into the oncoming track near the Spanish city of Córdoba, resulting in a collision with another train. At least 39 people have been confirmed dead and 112 injured in the accident, Spain's worst in over a decade.

- A "guest experience survey" conducted by Quebec based polling firm CROP on behalf of Winnipeg's Thermea spa has been pulled after a respondent went public with some of the problematic questions that came up, some of which had nothing to do with the actual spa experience. One of the questions asked respondents if they agree or disagree with the statement that too much immigration "threatens the purity of the country".

News roundup, 16 Jan 2026

- Donald Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, which would enable him to send regular military into the state to maintain order. This follows widespread protests against the killing of Renee Good and the wounding of another person. Some protesters (and/or agents provocateurs, and/or straight-up nihilists) apparently threw stones at law enforcement, and tear gas and flashbangs were used by police. Meanwhile governor Tim Walz is calling on citizens to film ICE agents operating in their communities, stating that this footage may be useful for future prosecutions. A bold move for sure; Walz had better stay well away from upstairs windows for the next while. And someone in this Reddit thread made this comment:

Firearms for liberals is like abortion for Republicans. We have them too, we just don't talk about it.

 All in all, things could get rather interesting down there.

- Mark Carney has made a major breakthrough on tariffs after meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. China will drop tariffs on canola and other products, and in return Canada will allow the import of 49,000 electric cars at a tariff rate of 6.1%. It's the right move I think, but a politically dangerous one given the importance of the auto industry.

- Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan has endorsed Avi Lewis for the federal NDP leadership. She is the first sitting member to issue an endorsement for this race; former MP Charlie Angus has endorsed Alberta MP Heather McPherson. 

- A former Winnipegger who now heads the Anhart Community Housing Society, a BC-based housing nonprofit. is interested in redeveloping the site of the destroyed Manwin Hotel. They hope to work with the Main Street Project to build affordable housing on the site. The organization is also interested in redeveloping the site of the Sutherland Hotel which burned last year. A snag has arisen already, however - the cleanup of the Manwin site has been delayed due to concerns about asbestos.

- The Manitoba government will not be participating in the federal government's buyback program for firearms that were banned in legislation passed in 2020. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe has expressed concerns about the cost and effectiveness of the program, especially given that a pilot of the buyback in Cape Breton that was expected to collect some 200 firearms netted only 25.

- A construction crane fell onto a passenger train in Thailand, killing at least 32 people and putting another 64 in hospital, seven of them in serious condition. The accident is under investigation.

- UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has removed MP Robert Jenrick from her shadow cabinet and suspended him from caucus after being presented with what she calls "irrefutable evidence" that he was planning to defect to another party, which other sources identified as the far-right Reform UK.

- As of the new year, all margarine and dairy milk sold in Canada is required to be fortified with vitamin D. This is a good idea, but it will be interesting to see how the antivax/anti-flouridation crowd will react. I suspect they won't like it; anything done by the government that improves people's health goes against their libertarian individualist spirit.

News roundup, 15 Jan 2025

- Several NATO countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, are sending troops to Greenland as a message to Donald Trump. Subsequently, France announced that they'll be sending troops as well. This follows an unsuccessful attempt by Danish diplomats to talk sense into the orange monster. There is talk of Canada sending troops as well, though Defense Minister David McGuinty says that no decision has been made on the matter.

- Unions and community organizations in Minnesota are calling for a general strike on the 23rd of January. Meanwhile, ICE is being accused of using private information, of the sort that's not supposed to be readily accessible to them, to intimidate people keeping an eye on them. Under Minnesota law, license plate readers and car registration data is only supposed to be accessible to law enforcement during a criminal investigation, but ICE seems to be getting around the safeguards. ICE has also shot another person, this one non-fatally.

- The FBI searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on Wednesday and seized several devices, apparently in an attempt to find the source of a leak about a defense contractor that Natanson had covered in one of her articles.

- Trump is backing away from threats to strike Iran, saying that the government has reassured him that the killing has stopped. This is good news for international stability, unless of course it's happening because he thinks he needs to focus on Greenland. The least bad possibility (still very bad though) is that he wants his troops close at hand to use at home.

- Quebec premier François Legault has announced his resignation, just under nine months prior to the scheduled election. Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec is being clobbered in the polls; only 18% of eligible voters plan to support them. If an election were held today, the CAQ would come third in the popular vote, and fifth in seat count. Also resigning is Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, who fared poorly in a post-election leadership review.

- Winnipeg's infamous Manwin Hotel, which had been vacant since last year when it was declared unfit for habitation, was destroyed by fire yesterday morning. The fire forced the evacuation of the Main Street Project next door, and it may be several days before the facility is able to reopen. Nobody died, which is more than can be said for rather a lot of days when the hotel was actually open. Housing advocate Marion Willis of St. Boniface Street Links calls the fire a "predictable outcome" of the city's lax approach towards vacant buildings. To their credit, the city seems to be moving towards potential seizure of such buildings; we'll have to wait and see how well they follow through with that.