- Israel ordered 1.1 million people to evacuate from the northern part of Gaza within 24 hours, in preparation for the ground invasion they have now started. Logistically this would be rather difficult (especially considering that with power and internet outages a lot of people may not even have gotten the warning), but I suppose it allows Israel to say "you were warned" when civilians get caught up in the bloodshed of that they are embarking on. Human Rights Watch has also accused Israel of using white phosphorus near civilians; this is prohibited under the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons, but Israel isn't a signatory to that convention. Gwynne Dyer rather cynically (but perhaps accurately) suggests that "the Israeli public expects and will accept nothing less than the traditional ten-to-one kill ratio". Looked at that way, the brutality of their response makes a perverse sort of sense.
- The conflict is, not surprisingly, causing huge divisions on university campuses in the West. In the UK, a 22 year old protester has been arrested following a rally in Brighton on charges of supporting a proscribed organization (namely Hamas), allegedly for saying calling the last weekend's attacks "beautiful and inspiring to see". It is also leading to severe harassment for some Palestinians living in the West, including Canada. In all likelihood the ugliness will endure long after this round of the actual fighting.
- The US House of Representatives still hasn't chosen a speaker. Steve Scalise has dropped out of the race due to insufficient support. They're now looking to put forward Trump favourite Jim Jordan; the House will be unable to pass legislation until it is resolved.
- The Supreme Court of Canada has handed the fossil fuel industry an ill-deserved victory by ruling that the federal Impact Assessment Act is "largely unconstitutional". Now to me, this is exactly the sort of thing the notwithstanding clause was created for. Unfortunately, recent uses of the clause by rightwing arsehole governments in Quebec, Ontario, and now Saskatchewan make such a move politically very difficult for the feds.
- The EU is investigating X (formerly known as Twitter) for possible violations of their Digital Services Act with regards to disinformation.
- The far right loves, loves, to accuse their opponents of being pedophiles, groomers, etc. So why is it that so often it's them that are committing these kinds of crimes? It's like every accusation is a confession with these people.
- The woman who recently pleaded guilty to running a large drug distribution network "branded her crack by having workers add pink food colouring to the product so her customers could tell it apart from that of competitors". And no, this article is not on the site of the Onion or the Beaverton but CBC Manitoba.
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