News roundup, 30 Dec 2023

- A councillor with the RM of Springfield has added his voice to those calling for Tory MLA and former economic development minister Jeff Wharton to come clean about his having pressured other members of the moribund Stefanson government to approve a silica mine in the municipality. The ethics commissioner is tight-lipped about whether he has been asked to investigate so far, but it does seem like someone should look into what kind of connections Wharton might have with the company behind the project.

- The controversy over keeping Trump off the ballot continues. Even some Democrats are uncomfortable with the idea because of the implications for democracy - except that the implications for democracy if Trump wins again are even worse. Amusingly, at least one Trump supporter tweeted that she won't vote at all if Trump isn't on the ballot, which isn't really the threat she thinks it is.

- Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen has admitted to having submitted phony, AI-generated legal case citations to his own lawyer as part of a legal motion, but says it was an accident.

- Russia has launched what has been described as their "most massive aerial attack" on Ukraine since the invasion in 2022, killing at least 31 people, while a Russian border town has been shelled, killing 14. Meanwhile in Gaza, an aid convoy has come under fire from the IDF. This has not stopped the Biden administration from using an emergency provision to bypass Congress to supply weapons to Israel.

- A tennis match in Brisbane was paused when a small (50cm) but potentially deadly Eastern Brown Snake slithered onto the court. The snake was successfully removed by a professional snake catcher and the match continued to completion.

- Also in Australia, large amounts of cocaine are washing up on shore following a storm. A total of 124 kilograms have been found so far.

News roundup, 29 Dec 2023

- Rochelle Squires has become the second former minister in the Stefanson government has corroborated the Kinew government's claim that the Tories tried to ram through a sand mining deal during the "caretaker period" between the election and the transfer of power. Of course, this isn't the first time she's said something negative about the government she was part of; the first time was right after the election in which she lost her seat, so it could be sour grapes. Nonetheless, her own article on the matter is worth a read.

- Premier Kinew has been advised by the ethics commissioner not to attempt to publish any more books while serving as premier. Kinew, for his part, welcomes the advice, saying that he's too busy serving as premier to write books right now anyway.

- A man shot dead by police during a hostage taking in West Broadway was also the prime suspect in the death of a trucker a short distance away.

- A middle-aged couple from India visiting their children in Caledon, Ontario were shot to death and their daughter wounded back in November. It has come out that the Peel Regional Police visited a few days before their deaths and interviewed them, using a family friend to translate as they were alone at the time and did not speak English. Interestingly, even though Caledon is part of Peel Region their regular policing is done by the OPP, so it's not clear what the Peel cops were interested in. Needless to say, their son and severely wounded daughter would like to know more.

- Winnipeg Transit is consulting with experts from St. Louis about how to handle crime on public transit. They do say that they're "taking a social justice, human rights approach and trying to be collaborative", but the devil is in the details with that sort of thing. Some will undoubtedly feel uncomfortable with uniformed peace officers (even if they're not "cops" per se) riding on buses, especially since there's no denying that some ethnic communities are overpoliced, and this will inevitably make the bus less welcoming to those communities. On the other hand, there's also no denying that, as the author of the article says, "the perception of safety is nearly as important as safety itself" in terms of getting people to use transit - and the brutal truth is that the people who feel comfortable with more security, rather than less, tend to be the people who actually have a choice whether to drive or use transit. And if you want to actually reduce the number of cars on the road, those are the people you have to satisfy.

- Maine has followed the lead of Colorado by invoking the 14th amendment to keep Trump off the ballot. Of course this is going to be appealed (as is already happening in Colorado) and the Supreme Court is conservative dominated. You'd hope they'd at least have the self-respect to be consistent on the doctrine of "originalism", which these kind of conservatives claim to swear by, but you certainly can't count on that. Even so, this may still be beneficial if the Republican Party's resources are stretched as thinly as some people claim, since every dollar spent on lawyers is a dollar that can't be spent on TV ads. We'll have to see.

- The French city of Montpelier is making public transit free for residents, though non-residents still have to pay €1.60 (still cheaper than most Canadian cities).

- Many fear that Benjamin Netanyahu will be best served by endless war. This is uncomfortably plausible given that Netanyahu is still facing possible corruption charges, and being at war is a disincentive to prosecute your prime minister. And if you're a prime minister facing criminal charges the moment the conflict ends, having a go at Iran might seem just the ticket to him and his lot.

News roundup, 28 Dec 2023

- The Kinew government is looking at bringing in anti-scab legislation. Depending on the outcome and speed of consultations, the legislation could be in place as soon as spring. Also positive is the apparent plans to abandon the P3 model for building schools. They also hope to look into relocation of rail lines and railyards to the city's outskirts, although this will presumably require the cooperation of the feds.

- Apparently the outgoing Tory government tried to approve an Alberta mining company's bid to mine sand in Manitoba during the "caretaker period" between the election and the handover of power. Most of them are denying it, but Kevin Klein, who served as environment minister in the Stefanson government, admits that it's true.

- The European Union's foreign policy chief is concerned about the possibility of a far-right surge in the EU parliamentary elections this coming June, and the implications for the fate of Ukraine as well as the EU itself.

- The Russia-Ukraine war grinds on. Having failed to conquer the country outright when they first invaded, they seem to hope that the attention of Western countries, especially the US and EU will be drawn to other things and that domestic politics, which is already leading to questions on the cost of aid to Ukraine, will tip things in Russia's favour.

- Health experts are urging the Trudeau government to follow the lead of the previous New Zealand government and impose a lifetime ban on cigarette sales to anyone born after 2008. It would likely be a lot harder to successfully implement such a ban here, though, given our rather long border with the US.

- Apparently Cornel West is concerned about the implications of the Colorado court decision potentially keeping Trump off the ballot in that state. One is tempted to ask how many rubles he was paid to say that. Nonetheless, there is one valid concern, namely that it may provoke other states to try to take Biden off.

- Amid a lot of bad news on the climate front, there are still some positives. Renewable energy is surging, deforestation in the Amazon is being reduced, and EV sales are on the rise. Even the deeply flawed COP28 deal is better than nothing, though nowhere near good enough. Also on that front, Uruguay is setting a shining example, at least as far as their power grid is concerned.

- The UK is pushing ahead with plans to ship refugees to Rwanda. I guess they figure if that sort of thing worked for Australia...

News roundup, 23 Dec 2023

- Abortion rights activists are working to get a referendum question put on the ballot in Arizona for the 2024 election. This is important both for its own sake as well as for its potential to increase turnout among Democratic-leaning voters.

- Nikki Haley is polling well in the New Hampshire primary, coming within 4% of Trump. Of course this is New England, where being a Republican is somewhat different from what it is in much of the US, so it may not mean much for the national race. And while she is certainly smarter and saner than Trump, she's hardly a moderate compared to anyone except him.

- Russian journalist Yekaterina Duntsova attempted to get on the ballot for the next Russian presidential election, but her candidacy has been vetoed by the country's electoral commission, ostensibly over "errors" on the application.

- Hamas has ruled out the release of any further hostages until Israel agrees to a "full cessation of aggression". The Israelis, for their part, have stepped up their efforts to take full control of northern Gaza, and in a recent airstrike killed an aid worker along with 70 members of his extended family.

- Ukraine reports shooting down three Russian Su-34 fighters, a much needed gain as their counteroffensive has been stagnating of late, and by some estimates have suffered far more losses than Russia has. Meanwhile, Russia is warning of "serious consequences" if its seized assets in the West are handed over to Ukraine.

News roundup, 22 Dec 2023

- Some more goodish news on the climate front. The EPA reports that electric and hybrid vehicles have had a noticeable effect on fuel consumption. Also good news is the fact that while beef consumption is still way too high, it's disproportionately boomers who eat a lot of the stuff, meaning sheer demographics could bring a big drop in consumption in the next couple of decades.

- More promising signs that the Manitoba government is taking the housing crisis seriously. Premier Kinew is looking at ways to make it easier to expropriate vacant buildings so that they can be converted into social housing. One province over, things aren't looking so good - the city of Cambridge, for instance, has just killed a proposal to build public housing over surface parking lots, leaving the lots intact. Evidently the NIMBYs were making noises about "safety" (and we all know what they mean by that; those poors are scary after all) and the possibility that some of those people might have cars and take up parking spaces.

- The Kinew government has also announced that the search of the Prairie Green Landfill could occur before summer.

- The new Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, has announced reforms to state media, which were stacked with supporters of the previous government and largely served as propaganda outlets for the ironically named "Law and Justice Party". The country's president is a member of that party and has denounced the reforms. Poland is a parliamentary republic rather than a presidential republic like the US or a semi-presidential republic like France, so the president's opposition may not matter; on the other hand, the devil may be in the details of the constitution, so we'll have to see if the president decides he has the right to veto legislation and potentially plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.

- David Shribman draws an unsettling analogy between Joe Biden and Louis St-Laurent in his last term. St-Laurent was well-regarded as a prime minister, but the sudden wide availability of television reminded Canadians of how old he was, and his defeat at the hands of John Diefenbaker has been attributed to this. There are differences, of course, not least the fact that Diefenbaker was not a fascistic sociopathic monster. Meanwhile, actor John Schneider, best known for playing Bo Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard, has just called for Biden and his son to be executed, and the Colorado judges who made the ruling about Trump's eligibility to get on the ballot have been doxxed.

- The response to comments about the Israel-Gaza war has been severe in some cases. People who express support for Palestinians are routinely fired or face academic sanctions, ostensibly for antisemitism or promoting terrorism, while curiously people who rabidly support Israel don't have a problem. One professor quoted in the article makes an interesting point:

"Oftentimes, the thing that's being evaluated in terms of 'Did you or did you not abide by the social media policy?' is not the post itself," Nelson said. "It's often about the reception — how did people react to that post?"

This is noteworthy, since it is in keeping with one school of thought about racism in general, one especially popular in universities - that if someone perceives what you said to be racist, you have committed a racist act, no matter what you were actually trying to say. This time, though, the rule is being applied to many people who would have approved of such a rule until now, as their comments about Palestine are declared to be making Jewish students or coworkers "feel unsafe".

- Another casualty of the conflict may well be a lot of familial relationships in the Jewish community. There is a very strong generational divide in that community on the Palestine issue, one that some fear will never be resolved.

- A 63 year old woman in the Belgian town of Oudenaarde was killed and two other people were injured when a 20 metre high Christmas tree blew over in a storm.

News roundup, 21 Dec 2023

- Following the court ruling in Colorado the other day, California's Lieutenant Governor is calling for similar measures in her own state. While none of these actions, even if upheld by the Supreme Court, are likely to make a difference in the presidential race (since so far it's just happening in states where Trump has little chance anyway), I wouldn't be surprised if it could have an impact on down-ballot races, notably for Congress - if Trump isn't on the ballot, many of his supporters probably won't bother to go to the polls, or else will write in his name and not bother with the rest of the ballot. This could conceivably tip the balance in some races, weakening the Republicans' chances of retaining their majority in the House. Not surprisingly, the Republicans are having a meltdown, and the judges in Colorado who made the ruling are receiving death threats.

- Rudy Giuliani is filing for bankruptcy, with debts that include a $146 million judgment against him for defamation of election workers in Georgia, as well as nearly a million in unpaid federal and state taxes.

- In Colorado, the local natural gas utility has been furiously lobbying to stop municipalities from taking action to reduce natural gas consumption. In the town of Gunnison, an update to the building code that would have required new construction to have sufficient wiring to make it easier to switch away from natural gas was blocked following pressure from the utility.

- A court in Texas has ruled that power companies cannot be held liable for failure to deliver their product to citizens, thanks to the state's deregulated electricity market.

- Around 1,430 bird species have become extinct in the last 130,000 years, and researchers believe humans are to blame for the vast majority of these extinctions. 61% of these extinctions occurred in the Pacific region.

- Healthcare systems across Canada are severely stressed by a dramatic rise in respiratory viruses. Meanwhile, documents show that the Alberta government ordered their health department to remove all references to COVID and flu and to limit information on the efficacy of vaccines in their fall vaccination campaign.

- The UN human rights office has called for an independent inquiry into the deaths of 11 Palestinians who were reportedly "summarily executed" by IDF soldiers.

- Geert Wilders is having trouble building a stable coalition government in the Netherlands. Unfortunately he may still succeed, and even if he doesn't it may lead to new elections which may be more favourable to him - his popularity has actually increased since November's election.

- A 17 year old boy has been charged with second degree murder in the stabbing death of a teenage girl in downtown Winnipeg last week. Sadly, just a day before the girl's death, a judge had expressed concern that she was not getting the support she needed to keep her safe.

- An Israeli lobbyist who has worked for despots and dictators around the world is finding that banks and insurance companies in Canada don't want to do business with him. For his part, he says it's all Trudeau's fault.

News roundup, 20 Dec 2023

- The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on primary ballots next year, owing to the "disqualification clause" of the 14th Amendment to the US constitution, overruling a lower court. Needless to say, Trump and his followers are going absolutely mad; Republicans are threatening to remove Biden from the ballot in states they control.

- The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is calling on nurses to take extra shifts to help deal with staffing shortages at two hospitals. Not clear how many will answer the call.

- Manitoba's auto dealers are calling on the province to provide incentives to the public to encourage the purchase of electric cars, in response to a federal directive to phase out internal combustion powered vehicles entirely by 2035. The NDP is receptive, having promised such incentives during the election campaign. Meanwhile Alberta's government plans to fight the mandate because, you know, Alberta.

- Following a court decision in April which ruled that the city of Berkeley is unable to prohibit the use of natural gas appliances in new construction, cities across the US are looking for workarounds. Seattle, for instance, has introduced a law requiring even existing multi-family and commercial buildings to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, which will necessitate replacing natural gas appliances.

- A study in California of the effects of providing homeless people with $750 per month has concluded that most of the money was spent on things like food, housing, and transportation, with only 2% spent on drugs (including alcohol and tobacco). Yet another argument for universal basic income, it would seem.

- In Ohio, a referendum earlier this year to put abortion rights in the state constitution passed by a landslide. The Republicans aren't taking this lying down; they're trying to introduce legislation to undo what they consider an "immoral" choice made by voters.

- Solar and wind power are expected to overtake coal next year in terms of share of the US electrical supply.

News roundup, 19 Dec 2023

- The Kinew government certainly has its work cut out for it in salvaging the healthcare system from the ravages of COVID-19 and the Tories. The Manitoba Nurses' Union says that the ER at Manitoba's largest hospital is "drowning", with wait times up to 30 hours and patients left unattended in hallways.

- Myrna Driedger, who served as speaker of the Manitoba legislature under the Tories, has come under fire for a social media post that implies that the refugees that Premier Kinew wants to welcome to Manitoba are a bunch of terrorists.

- A recent poll suggests that the federal Liberals would improve their chances by ditching Trudeau in favour of Chrystia Freeland or Mark Carney. Of course, attempting to turf a leader can turn out badly, as the Manitoba NDP found out (and the Australian Labor Party before them). Whether Trudeau's ego will allow him to leave of his own accord is also questionable.

- Since the start of the most recent conflict in Gaza, nearly 20,000 Palestinians have died and close to 2 million have been displaced. Meanwhile another Israeli has been killed by one of his own as he attempted to stop a terrorist attack and was mistaken for one of the terrorists. And Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen (who is Jewish, incidentally) was scheduled to be awarded the Hannah Arendt Prize but was almost denied it over an article which drew uncomfortable parallels between the Jewish ghettos of Europe during WWII and present-day Gaza. This has led some to wonder whether Arendt herself would be eligible for the prize today.

- London's High Court will rule in February on whether to hand Julian Assange over to the Americans to face what is likely to be a long prison term.

- Poland's new government is busily working to restore their country's democratic institutions. This will be a monumental task; the previous government has spent the last two terms stacking the courts and civil service with their flunkies.

- Four patrons at a London, UK nightclub were hospitalized after bar staff, in a frenzied search for salt to accompany tequila shots, grabbed the first white powder they could find in the back room. Unfortunately the powder in question turned out to be lye.

News roundup, 18 Dec 2023

- The US, along with several other countries including Canada, are sending a naval force to protect ships passing through the Red Sea, in response to attacks with drones and missiles, which are being attributed to Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen.

- Manitoba's Shared Health is not renewing the lease on at least one of the office spaces it rents in downtown Winnipeg when it expires at the end of the year. The office, as well as another one whose lease expires in February, has been essentially vacant since the start of the pandemic as workers transitioned to working from home. This is expected to save $787,000 a year, and if the second one isn't renewed it will save another $446,000. Bad news for the commercial real estate business no doubt, but good for the workers as well as for the province's bottom line.

- While New Brunswick had among the lowest COVID-19 death rates in Canada during the first 18 months of the pandemic, in 2022 their death rate jumped to the worst in the country and the fourth worst in North America after Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Their government doesn't want to talk about it, though.

- Although China still burns disturbing amounts of coal, their embrace of green energy is expected to dramatically change that. Global consumption of the fuel is expected to start falling in 2024.

- Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has proposed tripling parking rates for SUVs, charging €18 an hour in the city centre and €12 an hour for the rest of the city. A start, but what is really needed is a progressive tax at the EU level, based on vehicle weight.

- The EU is going to investigate X (the former Twitter) for violations of laws regarding hate speech and false news.

- The chair of the Florida Republican Party (and husband of a Moms for Liberty co-founder) has been suspended following a rape accusation.

- Former Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman has been appointed as a judge for the Court of King's Bench in Manitoba.

- A teenager in Ottawa has been charged with possession of explosives as well as directing another person to commit a terrorist act or acts against the Jewish community. The substance in question is acetone, which is commonly available as nail polish remover, however it can be used to synthesize the highly unstable explosive acetone peroxide.

- The original Star Wars film is being translated into Ojibwe and voice actors are being auditioned for the dubbed version. I guess they knew better than to start with the prequels.

- Apparently it's possible to use an AI chatbot to find workarounds for the protections on other chatbots that are designed to prevent people from learning how to do illegal things.

News roundup, 17 Dec 2023

- Eleven people, including an employee of France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, have been killed in an Israeli bombing in an area of Gaza that had previously been declared a safe zone. In response, France's foreign minister has called for an "immediate and durable" ceasefire.

- Donald Trump is accusing immigrants of "poisoning the blood" of America. Not so much a dog whistle as a foghorn at this stage, given that none other than Hitler used similar language in Mein Kampf in reference to the Jews. Just another reason to pay attention to those (such as Liz Cheney) who are warning that the country is "sleepwalking into dictatorship".

- A teenage girl has died following a daylight stabbing in downtown Winnipeg. Whether misogyny, meth, or something else is the cause isn't publicly known at this stage. Regardless, it marks a grim milestone as the city's 40th homicide of 2023. There was also a violent gunpoint carjacking in Fort Rouge. Not to be outdone, a guy in Kitchener has been charged with threatening someone with an axe.

- The craft brewing industry is concerned about the arrangements Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries has with the major brewers, saying it makes it difficult for them to compete.

- While there's been no announcement from her, it's widely expected that Rachel Notley will step down as leader of the Alberta NDP next year. Many are already quietly preparing for a leadership campaign, at any rate.

- A high school in Thunder Bay went on lockdown after receiving their seventh threat of violence within a period of a few weeks. Someone was just charged for some previous threats; not clear if all are from the same person or if some are copycats.

News roundup, 16 Dec 2023

- The IDF managed to kill three of the hostages they were trying to rescue. The victims were reportedly shirtless and waving a white flag; given that that flag is internationally recognized as a sign of non-aggression, opening fire on people waving one would be considered a war crime if they were actually shooting at the enemy. Not sure what international law says about shooting your own civilians who are waving such a flag, but I imagine Israeli law has something to say about it.

- Manitoba Public Insurance is ordering some of its employees back to the office for two to three days a week. Well, the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ is pleased, anyway...

- Wab Kinew has expressed willingness to accept refugees from Gaza. While this is laudable, there are some who fear that once Palestinians leave their territories, they'll never be allowed back and Israel will be able to permanently annex said territories.

- A former PPC candidate has been ordered by a BC court to stop calling himself an engineer. He does have an engineering degree but is not licensed to practice.

- It seems that one of the founders of the rabidly socially conservative lobby group Moms for Liberty behaved in a way that's inconsistent with the group's values by engaging in a threesome with her husband and another woman. Oh, and her husband is being investigated for sexual assault.

- A cardinal has been convicted in a Vatican court of embezzling tens of millions of euros and sentenced to 5 ½ years in prison. I guess he'll have to say rather a lot of Hail Marys as well.

- The only runway at Tuvalu's only airport has been damaged, apparently by heavy rains, and all flights are cancelled until further notice. This is a problem for foreigners in the country, especially as there is no network like Interac or Cirrus - it's an entirely cash-based economy, and visitors are expected to bring enough cash to cover their stay. So if your stay is unexpectedly extended...

- A British boy who was 11 years old when he was abducted in Spain in 2017, has been found alive and is being returned to the UK.

News roundup, 15 Dec 2023

- Greta Thunberg is the latest person to condemn the results of COP28, calling it a "stab in the back" for the countries who will be most affected by climate change. Meanwhile the likes of Danielle Smith are having a full-on freakout at the slightest suggestion that emissions caps are necessary. The folks at PBS have a few ideas about how to slash emissions, but strangely they say next to nothing about air travel or meat production, two of the worst sources of emissions.

- Hawaii has experienced more extinctions since humans first showed up there than anywhere else on Earth.

- The Kinew government is moving ahead with plans to apply school tax rebates as credits to property taxes instead of mailing cheques. Unfortunately a more significant part of their agenda, namely an end to rebates for out-of-province billionaires, is proving harder to implement and is being deferred until later. Meanwhile unions and columnists are calling on the government to cancel the tax cuts brought in by the Tories; I'd have to agree.

- Former NDP cabinet minister Tim Sale reports that Manitoba Hydro executives "fought tooth and nail" against attempts by the Doer government to build a couple of wind farms, which would have been an excellent backstop against the low water levels due to drought, and suggests that the new Hydro board of directors needs to be more forceful. I don't think Sale is wrong (although one of the aforementioned executives claims he is) but I wish he'd pushed harder himself when he was minister rather than just telling the current government to do so.

- At the municipal level, Winnipeg is expecting a big hit due to increased costs at Winnipeg Transit, and Brandon is facing substantial tax increases to make up for keeping taxes low for too long.

- Some unsavoury individuals are apparently using AI to make fake porn of real teenagers at a Winnipeg high school.

- The Satanic display at the Iowa legislature has been vandalized, and a former candidate for the Mississippi legislature has been charged with causing the damage. His GiveSendGo legal defense begging website has already received over $40,000 in donations.

- A school in New York State requires students to check their cellphones at the door. The effect on mental health of students has apparently been so positive that even the students recognize it.

News roundup, 14 Dec 2023

- The scientific community is roundly condemning the final agreement at COP28, and some say the structure of these summits is set up to fail thanks to the requirement for consensus rather than just majority vote, as well as the fact that the summits are crawling with fossil fuel lobbyists. And to make matters worse, rightwing politicians' attempts to get the bleating masses to blame carbon taxes for inflation are succeeding.

- In Germany, the government has had to revise their budget after their plans to transfer €60 billion from a fund created to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic into a "climate and transformation fund" were declared to be unconstitutional by the country's top court. Apparently Germany has strict rules limiting government borrowing except in case of emergency, and debt taken on to deal with COVID thus cannot be reallocated to other purposes (even though many of us would consider the climate crisis to be an emergency).

- The Colorado River system continues to get drier and drier, and agriculture is the main culprit. Worse, the main crops that are being grown with this water are hay and alfalfa for cattle feed. Reducing beef consumption would thus be hugely beneficial to the river and the whole American southwest, but getting people to do that, or even not to hate you for suggesting that they do that, is very difficult.

- The far right is gaining ground in some European countries. Whether they can sweep the subcontinent remains to be seen, but there are some worrying signs, notably the shortsighted willingness of many centre-right parties to cooperate with the far right. And if Trump wins in the US, all bets are off elsewhere.

- There are some promising signs that the American economy may have a soft landing after all, in which inflation stabilizes without sending the country into recession. Even if this happens, though, the question of whether the voting public is smart enough to recognize that it has happened is still up in the air, and this could have big implications next fall.

- A man started a small fire in the courthouse where Trump's civil fraud trial is being heard, and 17 people suffered minor injuries. A suspect has been arrested but the motive remains to be determined.

- The US House of Representatives is moving ahead with an impeachment inquiry for Joe Biden.

- Apple's total value has hit $3.1 trillion. For comparison, the total value of all the companies traded on France's stock exchange, the largest in the EU, is $3.2 trillion.

- The co-founder of a San Francisco-based tech company has been accused in a lawsuit of forcing his former executive assistant to sign a "slave contract" and sexually trafficking her, resulting in her being subjected to horrific abuses. This does not help to improve the image of "techbros".

- The Ontario government is abandoning plans to dissolve Peel Region. Apparently the fiscal consequences would have been too extreme even for Doug Ford and his cronies.

News roundup, 13 Dec 2023

- Well, COP28 is a wrap. The final agreement calls on all countries to "transition away" from fossil fuels in a "just, orderly and equitable manner", which is better than what the Saudis wanted but still a long way from what's really needed if we want to seriously limit the severity of the disaster that is looming. More analysis here and here; perhaps the most valuable effect of these conferences, however, is the laying of foundations for a possible international authority with actual teeth. Unfortunately progress is still far too slow, and it's a virtual certainty that countless individuals and more than a few nations will be destroyed by the delays.

- The Manitoba government has apparently found $123 million in savings that can be applied towards their agenda. Fortunately, rather than just using it to pay down debt as the Tories would like, they are putting it towards action on their campaign promises. They are also issuing orders to Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, to add to the number of publicly owned liquor stores as well as to "lift the pause on gaming expansion in a targeted fashion". The latter is something I'm not keen on but it may be a necessary evil to provide the revenue needed to enact their agenda.

- Manitoba's francophone school division is considering an end to international school trips. In some ways this is lamentable, however they say it is a matter of equity, since those trips inevitably involve costs to the families and some kids get left out as a result. While this is a valid concern, there is actually a much bigger reason why this and other school divisions should consider not sending kids abroad - we need to normalize the idea of not travelling so much. Because as a society we fly way too much, and we need to greatly reduce the amount we fly if we want to limit the number of hands that have to be chopped from the proverbial gunwales of the lifeboat.

- For the first time in a long time, a provincial government is taking serious action on the housing crisis. The NDP government in BC is abolishing single-family only zoning, following the example set by New Zealand which is already starting to bear fruit. Whether voters will reward the government for their bold action remains to be seen.

- Canada has voted in favour of a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza even as the US voted against it (though Biden is mouthing platitudes about the negative effects this is having on international support for Israel). Meanwhile Israel is finding that the conflict isn't as easy to win as they hoped, even as they employ bleeding-edge AI technology towards the war. And the refugee crisis is just beginning.

- German researchers expect electric cars to be cheaper than fossil fuel-powered ones within a few years, which is a sorely needed piece of good news. Because once that happens, the decline in oil consumption will start to feed on itself; gas stations will start to close, giving the people who use them a taste of range anxiety and further reducing the appeal of the internal combustion engine. Probably too late for Tuvalu and the Maldives, but better than the alternative.

- Australia is outlawing "engineered stone" (granite countertops and the like) due to the health impact of such products on the workers who make them. The manufacturers are having a conniption of course, and probably the real estate agents are as well, but this is a good decision.

News roundup, 12 Dec 2023

- At COP28, despite the inadequacy of the draft agreement, there has been one positive development - they're at least talking about the climate impact of food production. A small step in the right direction. And Germany is making headway in reducing the use of coal for electricity production. South Africa seems to be moving in that direction as well. However, the overall picture still isn't looking all that good, given the intransigence of the fossil fuel industry and their success in getting the bleating masses to blame carbon taxes for affordability issues. Sales of electric vehicles have slowed in the US as well. Oh, and the Emiratis don't like it when you protest these things. And the Americans think it can all be sorted out by AI somehow.

- The Manitoba government has removed 19 public housing units from the market pending a review of the previous government's plans to reduce the number of "surplus or vacant" Manitoba Housing units. A step in the right direction for sure, though it comes too late for some, such as the two people who died in a tent yesterday in Winnipeg's Joe Zuken Heritage Park.

- The menorah display at Winnipeg City Hall was temporarily removed on Friday, due to fears of vandalism during a pro-Palestinian protest. The decision to remove the display did not sit well with Coun. Sherri Rollins, who thinks it sends the wrong message to the Jewish community as well as being insulting to the demonstrators.

- Speaking of religious displays, years ago the US Supreme Court ruled that they are allowed in public buildings so long as other religions get the chance to put up their own displays. Enter the Satanic Temple, who used this loophole to set up their own display at the Iowa legislature, sending Christian conservatives into a tizzy.

- A far-right extremist who Trump hosted at Mar-a-Lago last year has called for non-Christians to be executed. Talk about saying the quiet part out loud...

- Another day, another Thunder Bay police officer facing criminal charges.

- Australian researchers claim to have come up with a portable, non-invasive way of reading minds. They say it could be valuable for people who are unable to speak due to strokes or other conditions, as well as for controlling machines with your mind. Not mentioned among the potential uses is interrogation, which one imagines could be made much more effective (albeit less fun for the kind of person who takes a job as an interrogator).

News roundup, 11 Dec 2023

- Global CO₂ emissions continue to rise, making an overshoot of the 1.5 °C limit increasingly probable (and making even the 2 °C limit challenging). And that's not even considering what could happen if enough of the methane clathrates in the oceans decompose. Despite this, at COP28 the Saudis have been lobbying fiercely to keep any mention of fossil fuels out of the final deal. The draft agreement that has emerged is marginally better than that, but only marginally (it calls for reductions in fossil fuel consumption, but studiously avoids such phrases as "phase-out"). As things stand, this isn't nearly enough. Probably best to sell those Tuvalu bonds, if you have any.

- A new poll indicates that the Manitoba NDP is even more popular now than on election day, with the support of 51% of those polled. They are proceeding with their agenda, notably including cautious moves towards a safe consumption site. This is clearly needed, though I could see it negatively affecting their popularity if the wrong talking points get circulated.

- Given the decline in willingness among Western powers to provide Ukraine with the aid it needs to have a chance at fighting off the Russians, some are proposing a new source of funding - the confiscation of some $300 billion in Russian assets that have been frozen. There are concerns that this might run afoul of international law, specifically the rule about "sovereign immunity" of states, but there is some uncertainty about the applicability of this rule here.

- The Southern Chiefs' Organization and True North Real Estate are moving forward with their plans to redevelop Portage Place and the old Hudson's Bay building.

- Kenneth Law, already facing fourteen charges of counselling or aiding suicide in Ontario as well as being under investigation elsewhere, has had his charges upgraded to second degree murder. The nature of the new evidence that led to this has not been made public so far.

- Two Canadian missionaries have been charged in the Dominican Republic with multiple sex offenses involving children.

- A tech startup reverse engineered Apple's iMessage so as to enable non-Apple devices to interact with the service (and incidentally have their texts show up in the standard blue rather than the sickly green colour that Apple applies to messages coming from other devices). Apple has closed that loophole, however this anticompetitive behaviour has attracted the attention of Elizabeth Warren.

News roundup, 10 Dec 2023

- The president of the University of Pennsylvania has resigned following scrutiny of her testimony to a congressional hearing regarding antisemitism on university campuses. During the questioning she refused to explicitly say that calling for genocide against Jews would be a violation of the school's code of conduct, saying it was "context-dependent" (the most charitable interpretation of this might be that just what constitutes a call for genocide might be context-dependent, for instance whether the use of the "from the river to the sea" slogan qualifies). After the hearings she apologized and said that she would consider a call for genocide to constitute the sort of harassment or intimidation that the code of conduct prohibits, but the damage was done.

- Israel has designated a "humanitarian zone" to which Gaza's two million residents are expected to flee. The zone in question has an area of 8.5 km² (3.3 mi²), which is smaller than Heathrow Airport.

- Western solidarity with Ukraine is starting to show cracks, apparently driven by domestic political considerations in the US and EU. Meanwhile Putin shows no sign of giving up.

- Severe storms, including what appears to have been a tornado, struck Tennessee yesterday, killing six people.

- Prices of durable goods are declining in the US. It is hoped that this is a sign that the overall inflation rate is coming under control without getting to the point where it slips into deflation.

- Alex Jones has been allowed back on the former Twitter by Elon Musk following a poll of users. As if you needed any more reasons to stay away from that site...

- The DNA testing service 23andMe may be facing a class action lawsuit following a data breach that gave hackers access to the genetic information of around 6.9 million people.

News roundup, 9 Dec 2023

- Winnipeg Transit workers have ratified a new contract, averting a strike that was scheduled to begin on Monday.

- The Kinew government is hitting pause on plans to sell off 19 Manitoba Housing properties, accounting for a total of 35 units. The sale of the properties had been recommended under the previous government's "asset repurposing policy".

- The US has used their veto power at the UN Security Council to block a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The UK abstained. Meanwhile, a study published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz found that civilians account for 61% of the deaths in the conflict, worse than any war in the last century.

- A study on the effects of BC's carbon tax by Trevor Tombe and Jennifer Winter, two economists at the University of Calgary, has concluded that it has not significantly harmed affordability, that people with lower incomes get more back in rebates than they pay in carbon tax in the first place. More importantly, other studies have concluded that the tax has reduced BC's emissions by 5-15%. Sadly, Pierre Poilievre doesn't care about the truth, and sadly neither do a sizeable chunk of the electorate. Poilievre and his party just finished a performative filibuster attempt in the House of Commons related to the issue.

- OPEC's leader is, not surprisingly, calling for its members to reject any agreement at COP28 that might lead to actual movement on the problem.

- Ever since Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang became an unperson earlier this year, there has been speculation about what might be going on. Apparently several other formerly well-regarded officials have disappeared, leading to suggestions that there was an attempt to oust President Xi Jinping. Some fear that Xi could attempt to reestablish his grip on power by having a go at Taiwan.

- The European Union has reached an agreement with its member states to introduce the world's first comprehensive legislation to regulate artificial intelligence. The exact details of the legislation have yet to be worked out, however, and it is not expected to take effect before 2025.

- Longstanding activists in the Republican Party in Michigan are not happy with the recent influx of extremists to the party. Unfortunately they're outvoted by said extremists, who have taken over the party there as in other parts of the US.

- The kitten stolen from a Waterloo store last month has been recovered safely.

News roundup, 8 Dec 2023

- Despite the newfound fiscal situation, the Kinew government is not cancelling the impending changes to income tax brackets and resulting decrease in revenue that were introduced by the Tories. This is in keeping with their campaign promises, though some question whether keeping this particular promise is a good idea given the new information.

- The U of M's action against things that they consider antisemitic are not getting universally good reviews, even from some members of the Jewish community. Ben Baader, a historian who among other things teaches Jewish history, has called the suspension of nursing student Arij Al Khafagi a "political act" and fears that it will only add to the divisive climate at the institution.

- In Toronto, the United Jewish Appeal chartered a large number of buses to take people to a pro-Israel rally on Monday, but seventeen of the buses didn't show up, apparently because one of the subcontractors didn't approve of the cause. The organization's president has declared this an act of antisemitism, because not supporting a pro-Israel rally is exactly the same as, say, shooting at Jewish schools.

- The continued mild weather is leading some to predict that Winnipeg may have a brown Christmas this year. More ominously, Morden is asking its citizens to reduce their water consumption out of fears that there's not enough snow to replenish the city's reservoir. Substantial snow is in the forecast for parts of the province, however Winnipeg and Morden are not among those parts.

- Two Canadians, Quebec businessman Daniel Langlois and his partner Dominique Marchand, were murdered last week on the Caribbean island of Dominica. One of the suspects is an American businessman who had been engaged in a dispute with them over road access to his estate.

- Friends and relatives of the man accused of killing four people in the mass shooting last month say that he has a history of psychotic episodes, helped along by a decline into substance abuse following the murder of his brother in 2012. In other news on the random violence front, a security guard at the Dollarama in downtown Winnipeg was stabbed by a shoplifter the other day.

- Donald Trump is urging his supporters to "guard the vote", with an emphasis on large cities in swing states (notably Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta). Not hard to see what the intent is. Meanwhile the non-crazy right is freaking out (not without some cause) at the extent to which the Republican Party has been taken over by the crazies; even the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal is concerned, though some are pointing out that their concern comes a bit late given how much the Murdoch press has been enabling these people until now.

- A man who had previously filed as a candidate for George Santos' Congressional seat has been convicted of charges related to the Capitol riot. It is not clear if he will be contesting the byelection that is going to be held now that Santos has been expelled. Setting aside his involvement in an insurrection against the United States, one has to wonder about his qualifications given that during his trial he claimed not to know that Congress meets in the Capitol.

- The city of San Jose is working on an ordinance that will prohibit the possession of an unattached catalytic converter without proof of ownership. Under existing legislation, you can only be charged if the devices demonstrably belong to someone else.

News roundup, 7 Dec 2023

- The fiscal situation in Manitoba isn't as favourable as the previous government wanted us to believe during the election campaign. This is going to make it more difficult for the Kinew government to proceed with their agenda. At the municipal level things aren't looking too good either.

- On a more positive note, the provincial Tories are in considerable disarray trying to figure out how they're going to choose a new leader. All memberships in that party expire at the end of the year, just two weeks before a special meeting is to be held to determine the rules of the leadership race; given that many people may not get their memberships renewed in time, those decisions could end up being made by a fairly small number of people, which is making the likes of Kevin Klein uncomfortable.

- There's a new uproar about posters that have been put up at the University of Manitoba that the university claims are antisemitic. They say that the police have been brought in to investigate. Over at Reddit, someone has posted a photo of one of the posters; to my eyes it looks more like an attack on the legacy of one individual than on an entire people. However, since that individual's family are big donors to the university (their business school is named after him, after all) the university considers this to be a hate crime, when really it's more a crime against the aesthetics of poster design.

- An officer with the Thunder Bay police service has been charged with assault, breach of trust, and obstruction of justice over a number of incidents occurring between 2014 and 2020. If found guilty, I daresay he risks being docked a day of pay, maybe even two. A similar fate might well await an RCMP officer in Surrey who abused his power to take advantage of a teenage sex worker.

- The city of Miramachi is being taken to court by a group of businesses in the hope of forcing them to  reverse their decision to allow a nonprofit to open a homeless shelter on city property.

- Kevin McCarthy is retiring from Congress at the end of the month. Combined with the expulsion of George Santos, this will bring the Republicans to a razor-thin margin, and many believe this increases the risk of a government shutdown. Meanwhile, his successor is showing his true colours to anyone who didn't already know (or hadn't guessed). And Donald Trump is refusing to rule out abusing his power if reelected.

- The first turbine in a new offshore wind farm off Long Island is now supplying power to the grid. A second is undergoing testing, and ten more are under construction. When complete, the wind farm will generate up to 132 megawatts of power, enough to supply 70,000 homes.

- Federal funding has been approved for a high speed rail line between Las Vegas and the LA exurb of Rancho Cucamonga. It will be capable of speeds up to 180 mph (almost 290 km/h).

- A conspiracy theorist is presumed dead after his house blew up during a police standoff. In other all-American news, a former professor killed three people and wounded one in Las Vegas before perishing in a shootout with police.

News roundup, 6 Dec 2023

- President Biden is expressing willingness to use his veto powers in the event that Congress passes H.R. 4468, a bill that would stop the EPA from limiting tailpipe emissions from vehicles.

- At a rally in New Hampshire in October, Trump told his supporters that they don't need to worry about voting, they just have to focus on "watching" (read: intimidating) other voters. Assuming Trump hasn't simply gone so far off the deep end that he simply no longer knows what he's doing (which is possible), one wonders what he hopes to accomplish by something like this; perhaps he's trying to set himself up to lose a narrow and controversial election, banking on the next coup attempt being more successful than Jan 6 was. Certainly he seems to have shed all pretense of believing in democracy; he happily shared a post from Republican representative Cory Mills on his "Truth Social" (a supporter of his) saying that a Trump dictatorship is "inevitable" and that supporters should "stop pretending" that there's a democratic route to power. And Steve Bannon is openly calling for purges in Trump's next term. One columnist thinks that the real strategy here is to demoralize opponents by making them think Trump is unstoppable, a popular tactic of authoritarian leaders in the past.

- The Indian government attempted to recruit an assassin to rub someone out on American soil, not realizing that the guy they were trying to recruit was employed by the DEA. Oops. Of course, broader political considerations (i.e. the perceived need to keep India on side against China) will probably limit the consequences of this.

- The City of Winnipeg is planning extra security for the ceremonial menorah lighting at City Hall this year, due to fears about the current political climate. In Moncton, that city's administration was all set to cancel a similar ceremony entirely, but the decision was reversed following a public outcry.

- The Kinew government has announced that the provincial deficit will be higher than anticipated, owing to a softening economy and worse than expected performance by Manitoba Hydro. This needn't be a catastrophic outcome, however they should beware how the opposition will spin this.

- The new president and CEO of Hydro, Ben Graham, previously served as the head of MPI, and according to leaked emails pushed back (unsuccessfully) against the previous government when they decided that insurance brokers should get commissions even for online insurance sales made directly through the corporation without the brokers' involvement. This speaks well for his own integrity, rather less well for that of then-premier (and longtime insurance broker) Brian Pallister.

- A recent global poll found that 4 out of 5 people say they're willing to do "whatever it takes" to limit the effects of climate change. The article points out (not without some cause) that there's a disconnect between this and what politicians are willing to do, but shies away from pointing out another awkward fact, namely that when people are angry with politicians, the "throw the bums out" sentiment all too often rules even when the likely successor is going to be worse (e.g. the apparent willingness of Canadians to replace the undeniably mediocre Trudeau with the much worse Poilievre).

- An Edmonton cop who beat the living crap out of a homeless man and then dumped him bleeding along the riverbank has been demoted. I guess that's better than nothing...

- Trevor Jacob, the YouTuber who deliberately crashed a plane for hits on his channel, has been sentenced to six months in prison for concealing evidence related to the crash.

News roundup, 5 Dec 2023

- Pierre Poilievre wants you to believe that he's standing up for the little guy by calling for an end to the carbon tax. However, since this would also mean an end to the rebates, it would actually be the wealthy who benefit - 94% of households with incomes below $50,000 receive rebates that exceed their carbon-tax costs, while only about 55% of households with incomes above $250,000 do. Sadly, Poilievre's recent polling numbers seem to indicate that people are sticking their fingers in their ears and going "la la la la I can't hear you".

- Wab Kinew is now the most popular premier in Canada, with a 57% approval rating. In contrast, Heather Stefanson languished in the 21-28% range, and Brian Pallister was at 32% by the end of his tenure.

- The Kinew government is cleaning house at Manitoba Hydro. In a better world this would not be necessary, but given that the Tories are widely suspected of having had plans to privatize the utility, it's best to scrub the place of their appointees.

- The Winnipeg Police Service are giving additional attention to retail theft after a spike in threatening and sometimes violent incidents, most recently the stabbing of a store employee by a shoplifter. Until the MLCC's security upgrades, most of these incidents took place in liquor stores, but since then there's been a shift.

- Winnipeg Transit employees are voting on another contract offer and suspending their refusal of overtime until the vote. Results are expected on Friday. Meanwhile, in New Brunswick, civil servants could be headed towards a wildcat strike after the provincial government introduced a bill to unilaterally rewrite their pension plan.

- A court in BC has upheld the dismissal of a doctor who refused the COVID-19 vaccine. This is a good move, since she clearly either doesn't know her stuff, or else is so ideologically committed to libertarianism that she's willing to put the public at risk for it. Either way, not someone you want working at a hospital.

- Some more goodish news on the climate front - Indonesia is closing a major coal power plant seven years earlier than anticipated. And California's Salton Sea conceals enough lithium to make 375 million electric vehicle batteries. This is also good news for the local region, which has struggled economically in recent years. Less favourable is a reality check about the recent test flight of an airliner powered by biofuel - it's unlikely that you could produce enough biofuel to sustain anywhere near the amount of flying we like to do. "Fly less" (and probably a lot less) is going to have to be a rule to live by for the foreseeable future if we want to seriously tackle climate change.

- Boris Johnson reportedly considered a military raid on a Dutch pharmaceutical plant to get vaccines that would have been readily available to the UK if Brexit hadn't happened. Fortunately his handlers talked some sense into him.

- A former chief prosecutor of the ICC is among those now calling Israel's actions in Gaza genocidal.

- In Akron, Ohio, a man was shot in the face after refusing a request for some of the potato chips he was eating.

News roundup, 4 Dec 2023

- Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE's minister of industry and advanced technology as well as the president of the COP28 summit, is making absurd statements to the effect that there is "no science" behind the almost universal scientific consensus that a phaseout of fossil fuels is necessary to keep climate change below the 1.5 °C limit. This is obviously not a good thing, nor is the fact that emissions from the US, China, and India keep rising and many scientists now think exceeding that particular limit is almost inevitable. But maybe there's some vaguely goodish news buried in there; the very fact that fossil fuel interests are bothering to get involved in the summit could be viewed as a sign that they're running scared. So even if we don't keep to 1.5 °C, maybe we'll keep to 2 °C. That will still mean a hell of a lot of human misery and devastation of the natural world, but a lot less than if we don't. Can't look at these things in all-or-nothing terms, otherwise the natural response is just to give up.

- In terms of policy moves, one thing that has come up is the idea of a "carbon passport", which could for instance limit the number of flights a citizen could take. No doubt the freedumb crowd would be up in arms at such a move, much as they already are about any token effort to encourage people to eat less meat, but at a certain point you just have to push the dinosaurs to the side and move ahead.

- Several dozen people protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday against the resumption of fighting in Gaza. And I don't doubt that for every person who had the courage to attend the protest, there were several more who sympathized but didn't want to be seen in public taking that position. Nonetheless, I suspect that they were still greatly outnumbered by the people who bought the new hit single "Charbu Darbu" by Israeli rap duo Ness Ve Stilla, which is topping the charts in that country and is all about raining hell upon the enemy. According to translations that may be found here, the song also calls for the deaths of celebrities who have criticized Israel's response. I imagine being an Israeli who cares about peace and justice is a very, very lonely place to be right now.

- In swing states in the US, Muslim Americans are launching an anti-Biden campaign. This is understandable given Biden's slavish support of Israel at all costs, but short-sighted given that a second Trump presidency will almost certainly be worse for the actual conditions on the ground for Muslims in the US and elsewhere. It's called "cutting off your nose to spite your face", I believe.

- Ukraine is accusing Russia of executing captured Ukrainian soldiers, something that all except the most pro-Putin among us would consider to be a war crime.

- Hot on the heels of the shootings of five homeless people in Las Vegas, we have the story of someone who was doing the same thing in LA.

- New Zealand's new government is scrapping the groundbreaking legislation introduced by the previous government regarding tobacco (which among other things meant that anyone born after 2008 would never be permitted to purchase it), saying that this is necessary to fund the tax cuts that they've promised. Presumably this is because falling tobacco sales would mean less revenue that would have to be made up in other taxes; notably, though, the junior partners in the coalition were particularly insistent that the law be repealed (because freedumb, you know).

- A man in Waterloo has been charged with stealing a kitten from a store. The kitten's whereabouts are unknown.

- The automakers, and their dealerships, make a lot of their money on financing. Given that there's no shortage of buyers, many dealerships will cancel a sale rather than accept payment in full for the vehicle.

News roundup, 3 Dec 2023

- Winnipeg Transit is looking to hire a team of safety officers for buses. As I've said before, I expect that some in the community will oppose this on the grounds that it will be alienating to vulnerable people. They are probably not wrong that it will be alienating to some, but nonetheless this is a necessary evil if we want people who actually have a choice in the matter to take the bus rather than drive.

- The ceasefire in Gaza ended Friday morning. A cynic would say that the Israelis were just waiting for some new weapons from the Americans.

- Two Tory MLAs have apologized for coming to the defense of Arij Al Khafagi, the nursing student suspended by the U of M over her social media posts. I hate having to actually defend Tories, but in this case I don't think the MLAs did anything wrong. Nothing in the story indicates who pressured them into apologizing; if I had to guess I'd say it was their own party.

- In the case of the vandalism by protesters at an Indigo Books location in Toronto last month, several protesters have been charged with mischief that police called "hate-motivated", implying that the store was targeted specifically because Heather Reisman is Jewish. Others, however, argue that the store was targeted not because of Reisman's identity but because of her support of an organization that provides recruits IDF soldiers among the diaspora. Three employees of York University, including a professor, have been suspended for their involvement in the protest.

- A movie theatre in Hamilton made a move to cancel a showing of the documentary Israelism, which is about the disillusionment of two American Jews upon seeing Israel up close, after some members of the local Jewish community claimed that it would "spread more hate" and "inflame" the situation (notwithstanding the fact that it was also a Jewish organization, Independent Jewish Voices, that was working to get the movie shown). They reversed the decision following pressure from other sectors of the Jewish community.

- George Santos has now officially been expelled from Congress. He says he's going to file ethics complaints against the representatives who voted to kick him out.

- Some positive news - if the price of meat rises sufficiently, people will switch to other protein sources. Of course, making actual policy moves to raise the price of meat would be politically very difficult.

- In the latest labour unrest, employees at Winnipeg's casinos have voted in favour of a strike. If the strike goes ahead, expect to see a lot of seniors wandering around with a vacant look in their eyes, their entire purpose in life stripped from them.

- In Las Vegas, police are searching for a single suspect in the shootings of five homeless people, one of whom died.

- New Zealand's new government, in keeping with the classic rightwing "international is a four-letter word" philosophy, is lodging a "reservation" against adopting recommendations from the World Health Organization, a policy that former PM Helen Clark calls "cringeworthy".