News roundup, 31 Jan 2024

- Much of western Canada is seeing record high temperatures for this time of year, a far cry from the polar vortex of a couple of weeks ago. This is especially true in BC; West Vancouver recorded a high of 18.2°C yesterday.

- With drought conditions in much of Alberta, several municipalities are prohibiting the fossil fuel industry from using municipal water, at least until the province decides to intervene.

- The Conservative Party of Canada is reporting that 2023 was one of their best fundraising years ever. They collected over $35 million, a record for a non-election year. This is unfortunately not surprising; people want the Liberals gone (for a mix of good and bad reasons) and think the Conservatives will be an improvement (almost entirely for bad reasons). Interestingly, though, the use of the Emergencies Act to take down the "Freedom Convoy" is not one of them; even after the recent court decision, more Canadians approve of the use of the Act than not.

- The Manitoba government plans to roll out Canada's most comprehensive school meal program in the fall. Everybody seems to approve except the Conservatives (surprise surprise).

- The City of Greater Sudbury has been scammed out of over $1.5 million by imposters posing as a project manager for a construction company that had a contract with the city. Stuff like that has happened before, but usually to smaller municipalities, rather than a medium-sized city.

- Boris Nadezhdin, a fierce critic of the war in Ukraine, is running in Russia's presidential election. I do hope he carries a Geiger counter with him at all times and stays away from windows.

- Following the allegations of UNRWA staff being involved on the attack on Israel in October, many donor countries have cut off funds for the organization, leaving ordinary Palestinians high and dry.

- Liberal MP Ben Carr says that it would be desirable for Benjamin Netanyahu to leave office. No doubt it would, but you know what they say about wishes and horses.

- Arij Al Khafagi, the nursing student suspended by the University of Manitoba over social media posts that some people claimed to be antisemitic, has been reinstated after the panel investigating her case concluded that her posts did not constitute discrimination.

- A man in Pennsylvania apparently beheaded his father, who he considered a "traitor" because he'd worked for the federal government, then waved the head around on his YouTube channel during an unhinged rightwing rant.

News roundup, 30 Jan 2024

- Manitoba Hydro's CEO says that new generating capacity may be needed by the end of this decade. They're looking at wind, which is a good move because wind farms can be built a lot more quickly than dams.

- Toronto mayor Olivia Chow plans to introduce a "municipal non-resident speculation tax" in the hope of preventing her city from going the way of Vancouver.

- A participant in the 2022 Coutts border protest who accelerated towards police has been sentenced to 10 months in prison as well as being prohibited from driving for a year.

- Ontario is planning to refurbish four reactors at the Pickering nuclear plant, so as to extend the life of the plant for another 30 years. This is, essentially, the path of least resistance; building a new plant would be extremely expensive and take time that we just don't have. One hopes that they'll expand renewables in a big way too, though.

- A Republican member of the Oregon legislature (and congressional candidate) suggested in an interview that non-Christians are unfit for elected office, though he partially walked back his comments following criticism.

- Israeli soldiers disguised as doctors assassinated three Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin. Israel's government says that the victims belonged to a Hamas cell that was planning an attack. Meanwhile, members of Netanyahu's cabinet spoke at a far-right conference and effectively endorsed ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Stuff like this is probably not helping Israel's image abroad.

- Chicago is the latest city to look at banning natural gas in new buildings, though hospitals, crematoria, and commercial kitchens will be exempt. The natural gas industry is not pleased, of course.

- Marjory Taylor Greene is calling Republican senators working with Democrats on immigration control measures "traitors", doubtless because it will make it harder to attack the Dems on immigration. In other border news, the "God's Army" truck convoy has thinned out following conspiracy theories that it's actually an FBI front.

- A man in Birmingham, England has pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm following an altercation at a concert. Apparently he became enraged because the glare from the victim's bald head was getting in his eyes.

News roundup, 29 Jan 2024

- A report prepared by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and ISN Maskwa has concluded that a search of the Prairie Green Landfill is feasible, and may actually be cheaper than initially feared, however searchers could face significant risks from the asbestos buried in the landfill. Also on the MMIWG* file, police have a suspect in custody in the death of Crystal Saunders, whose body was found in a ditch near St. Ambroise in 2007.

- A curious fact - neither of Canada's two largest political parties has a mechanism for tossing out their leader unless they first lose an election. If you want to throw out your leader to reduce the risk of losing, you're out of luck.

- A new president and CEO will be announced for MPI next week. The job of cleaning up the mess made by the previous management will no doubt take some time.

- Low water levels due to insufficient precipitation are interfering with hydroelectric generation, forcing Manitoba and BC to buy electricity from other jurisdictions. Hopefully they're looking at adding more solar and wind capacity to reduce the chance of this having to happen in the future.

- Joe Biden's economic policies have had some benefits for Americans, but getting the people to believe that things are improving is a problem. The Democrats are also having a hard time selling the public on the climate benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, which has largely been sold to the public as a jobs program.

- Illinois is the latest state to consider keeping Trump off the ballot, however the state's elections board are looking for a court ruling to advise whether the 14th Amendment applies in this case. Presumably the board would rather judges get death threats than themselves.

- Israel is claiming that employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) participated in atrocities during the Hamas attack in October. Palestinian officials have accused Israel of falsifying information about the attack; the UN is investigating, but in the meantime several countries have suspended funding to the agency.

- A Labour MP in the UK has been suspended from the party's caucus for a tweet made the day before Holocaust Memorial Day. The tweet simply said "Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza"; I guess that's too hot for Labour to handle right now.

- A teenager in Utah is facing charges of causing property damage after allegedly duct taping dead fish to bank machines. The motive is unclear.

News roundup, 27 Jan 2024

- The International Court of Justice has made an interim ruling on the genocide case raised against Israel by South Africa.  The court has not ordered a complete ceasefire, much to the chagrin of the Palestinians; it did however order Israel to abide by the terms of the Genocide Convention of 1948, ensure that its military does not commit any genocidal acts, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and allow fact-finding missions to search for evidence of such acts. The ruling also has implications for those who supply weapons to Israel; the US, in particular, has been unwilling to make the supply of weapons conditional on Israel respecting human rights. The Israelis, not surprisingly, are defiant. Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, is holding off on commenting; perhaps he's still trying to figure out whether his already poor reelection chances will be harmed more by antagonizing Mississauga or Thornhill.

- Ukraine may face an uphill battle to retain all their territory, but they're doing their darnedest. They've now started targeting oil refineries and depots with low-cost drones in the hope of disrupting the oil exports Russia depends on to finance their "special military operation".

- Donald Trump has been ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million, including $65 million in punitive damages, for his continued social media attacks on her. This is on top of $5 million previously awarded to Carroll for sexual assault and defamation.

- Texas has blocked federal border patrol agents from a park in the town of Eagle Pass, apparently because they might not just leave migrants to die like Texas would prefer. There's a timeline here; alarmingly, a trucker convoy calling themselves "God's Army" is headed for the area. It's almost as if they want to fight Civil War II. Meanwhile, even though the Democrats were willing to make huge concessions on the border in return for continued aid for Ukraine, the Republicans are having second thoughts out of fear that it could end up making Biden look good and harm Trump's chances in the fall.

- Several Rwandans were granted refugee status in the UK during the time when they were trying to argue that Rwanda was a safe country to which other refugee claimants could be sent. Certainly its president does not seem to handle criticism well.

News roundup, 26 Jan 2024

- Pierre Poilievre likes to say that "Canada is broken". Well, he's actually kind of right about that, but not for the reasons he and his followers think; it's nothing that can be laid at the feet of the present-day Liberals (or the Conservatives, or any other party). As the Globe and Mail's Andrew Coyne points out, there are serious problems with representation by population - and they're burned right into our constitution. Perhaps the worst of these is a 1915 amendment known as the "senatorial clause" (section 51A of the Constitution Act), which stipulates that no province may have fewer seats in the House of Commons than it has in the Senate - meaning that PEI, which was given four Senate seats as an enticement to join Confederation in 1873, is guaranteed four seats in the House in perpetuity, despite having a population smaller than Sudbury. Someone on the rabble.ca discussion board once referred to the province as "Canada's constitutionally protected rotten borough".

- The suspect in Tuesday's shooting incident at Edmonton's city hall has been identified as a security guard employed by the Corps of Commissionaires. He had apparently recorded a "manifesto video" (since deleted from YouTube) that one commentator described as "salad bar extremism", referencing grievances ranging from the war in Gaza to "wokeism" and taxes. He also cited both racism and immigration as other grievances, which suggests that he's not all there; this seems to be at least as much a psychiatric story as a political one. When a traumatic event strikes a provincial capital you might expect the premier to make some sort of statement, even if it's just a "thoughts and prayers" one, but she was too busy welcoming Tucker Carlson to address the matter.

- Kenneth Law, the man accused of selling toxic substances to suicidal people, has just had his charges upgraded to first degree murder. No detailed info about the reason for this upgrade, but it seems to suggest that the authorities think that he actually enjoyed causing deaths as opposed to say, just wanting to help people ease their suffering or even wanting to make money off of them. There have been people like that before, such as William Melchert-Dinkel, though notably even he was not actually convicted of murder.

- Coal is expected to account for a smaller share of global electricity production than renewables by next year; new projects are going online all the time. This does add to my conviction that the hardcore doomers are wrong; I believe civilization as a whole is going to make it in the long run. A reality check though - even in the best case, a lot of people won't make it; there's just too much warming locked in already. How we deal with that grim reality is going to be a big test of our ability to balance idealism with pragmatism in the coming decades.

- Alabama just executed a man by asphyxia with nitrogen, the first time that particular procedure has been used in the US.

- There's a risk to having parrots in a zoo - they might learn some naughty words and use them in front of zoo visitors. One facility in the UK has decided to run with it, though.

News roundup, 25 Jan 2024

- The UAW has strongly endorsed Joe Biden for this fall's elections, which is expected to significantly help him in rust belt states. You can never be sure about these things, of course; the kind of people inclined to vote for Trump aren't easily persuaded by reason.

- The chair of the Republican Party in Arizona has resigned following revelations that he tried to bribe Trump loyalist Kari Lake into abandoning her run for the Senate. Setting aside the crookedness of doing this, one could understand why, given that Arizona is kind of purple and the GOP would have a better chance running someone who isn't insane, but as David Shribman points out, it's essentially Trump's party now; the New Hampshire primary should remove all doubts about that.

- Despite some recent cold weather, the ice road serving Temagami First Nation in northern Ontario, which normally opens before Christmas, is still closed, because the ice is not considered safe for anything larger than a snowmobile.

- BC is considering a ban on the installation of new natural gas furnaces by 2030.

- Following the little misadventure on an Alaska Airlines flight a couple of weeks ago, inspections are revealing "many loose bolts" on Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft like the one involved in the incident. The FAA is also calling for the inspection of another 737 variant with similar "door plugs" to the one that blew out, and a whistleblower is reporting numerous lapses (or, as CEO Dave Calhoun would say, "quality escapes") at one of Boeing's plants.

- The Ford government in Ontario is still taking a beating from the Greenbelt scandal, especially with new revelations that the government was far more involved (not to mention less truthful) than they'd have us believe.

- Part of the Merced River in California has dried up completely as a result of diversion of water for agriculture. The farmers who did so were within their legal rights; the regulation of water in that state definitely leaves something to be desired. Essentially, the onus is on the state to stop them from using the water, something that generally only happens when it's already reached a crisis point.

- Researchers have managed to grow chickpeas in simulated lunar soil, making the idea of a self-sustaining colony on the Moon a bit more plausible.

- Despite some grumbling from the usual suspects, bans on single-use plastic bags have been successful in reducing litter and other related issues.

- Following an ugly incident this past Christmas in which a young woman from a First Nation in northern Manitoba was restrained and bound with zip ties at the Marlborough Hotel in Winnipeg, allegedly after pulling a knife on hotel staff, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has cut business ties with the hotel, and the hotel has been temporarily closed as a result of threats. From an outsider's point of view this might seem to be a questionable hill to die on, especially since the woman has previously been charged with stabbing somebody, but given the decades of mistreatment experienced by the First Nations community in this province it's understandable that the community is skeptical that this situation is different from all the other stuff they've gone through.

- A man found a dead snake in a box of strawberries at a Safeway in Winnipeg's River East neighbourhood.

News roundup, 24 Jan 2024

- Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire primary by an 11 point margin; Nikki Haley is not giving up, however, and this is sending Trump into conniptions. Meanwhile Hawaii has joined the ranks of states planning to keep him off the ballot.

- A Federal Court judge has handed the Freedom Convoy (or as some have called them, the "Flu Trux Klan") a significant legal victory by ruling that the use of the Emergencies Act did not meet the standards of reasonableness. The judge in question, Richard Mosley, was appointed to the court in 2003, thus it would have been the Chrétien government that appointed him. One person commenting on this Reddit thread remarked that while the invocation of the Emergencies Act would indeed have been unnecessary if the police had done their jobs, they did not; perhaps the judge was unwilling to open that can of worms though. In any case, the decision is being appealed.

- Ken McDonald, the Liberal MP for Avalon in Newfoundland, is calling for a leadership review, though he stopped short of calling for Justin Trudeau's resignation. It's worth noting that McDonald voted against his own government on the carbon tax issue on two occasions. Nonetheless, Trudeau's brand has become sufficiently toxic that McDonald has a point, though the question of who could replace him looms large. On a related note, a recent poll suggests that most Canadians who plan on voting Liberal would do it to stop Pierre Poilievre rather than out of enthusiasm for Trudeau and the Liberals.

- The City of Winnipeg is suing the owners of two vacant buildings over unpaid inspection bills and other  fees. The provincial government is looking at further measures, so that such buildings could be expropriated and turned into social housing, though this will take some time. No doubt something needs to be done for housing, in any case, and more than just a few expropriations. The Free Press' Brent Bellamy has some ideas for other measures.

- A long-serving and high profile Winnipeg city councillor, Janice Lukes, is considering a run for the federal Conservatives, despite some possible qualms about Poilievre.

- The City of Calgary is planning to turn one of the parking lots at an LRT station into social housing, though this is getting pushback from park-and-ride users. The city says that there will still be enough parking for this, however, while adding an estimated 200 to 300 housing units.

- A man entered Edmonton's city hall and opened fire with a firearm described by police as a long gun capable of firing multiple rounds, then threw a Molotov cocktail. Evidently he's not a very good shot; nobody was injured. The suspect has not been identified publicly as of this post, but given that he was captured alive I'm guessing he's probably white. Whether this was politically motivated, the actions of a disgruntled employee, or a failed attempt at suicide by cop remains to be seen.

- Democrats in Minnesota plan to introduce legislation prohibiting municipalities from introducing mandatory parking minimums, something widely recognized as necessary to facilitate the construction of more housing.

- The cap on student visas announced by the federal government is raising concerns at universities and other postsecondary institutions; these institutions get a lot of revenue from international students, and that needs to be replaced somehow.

- Pro-Palestinian protesters were attacked with an unknown foul-smelling substance at Columbia University in New York City last Friday. Some protesters sought medical treatment; police are investigating.

- A Russian IL-76 military transport plane has crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia; 74 people, including 65 Ukrainian POWs being transported for a prisoner exchange, have been reported killed. Russia claims that the aircraft was shot down by the Ukrainian military; Ukraine has not yet commented on these allegations.

- Pastor Dwayne Waden of Elevated Life International Ministries in High Point, North Carolina received a complaint from his wife, a manager-in-training at a McDonald's, that her employees were "disrespecting" her. In response, he apparently showed up at the restaurant, punched a cook in the face, and shoved the man's head in the direction of the deep fryer. I guess he interpreted "turn the other cheek" as "turn the enemy's cheeks towards the hot oil".

News roundup, 23 Jan 2024

- A Republican member of the House of Representatives, Andy Biggs, admitted in a TV interview that despite their majority, House Republicans have no actual achievements to point to. And their counterparts in the Senate are worried that enthusiasm for Donald Trump seems to be on the wane, as evidenced by a fairly low turnout for the Iowa caucuses. There has, however, been no loss of enthusiasm on the part of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis, who has proposed that state funds should be used to pay Trump's legal bills.

- An Israeli biotechnology company has, in cooperation with a Japanese chef, developed lab grown eel meat for the table. This is important, since populations of freshwater eels have been in serious decline due to overfishing and other factors.

- Protesters in Jerusalem blockaded Israel's parliament, the Knesset, calling for Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation and new elections. The protest had initially been allowed by police but was cracked down upon when it turned into a blockade.

- Climate scientist Michael Mann has filed defamation suits against Rand Simberg of the rightwing thinktank Competitive Enterprise Institute and Mark Steyn of the National Review for, among other things, comparing him to a serial child molester.

- A bill currently being debated in the Kentucky legislature would, among other things, allow property owners to use lethal force against residentially challenged folks who they find camping on their property.

- Cameroon has commenced the world's first mass vaccination campaign to combat malaria.

- Researchers at a Google-backed firm, Anthropic, decided to try to train an AI to be evil. They say they succeeded, but were not so successful in then training the AI to change its ways. There has been research done in this field before; a couple of years ago one researcher thought it would be a good idea to use 4chan to train an AI, with disturbingly predictable results. I have to say that this stuff is a far cry from the Three Laws of Robotics.

- Golriz Ghahraman, a Green Party MP in the New Zealand parliament, has resigned after being charged with shoplifting.

News roundup, 22 Jan 2024

- Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the Republican primary race and endorsed Donald Trump for the nomination. David Shribman has some analysis here; he quotes political scientist Andrew Smith as saying "DeSantis tried to be Trump without the Trumpiness, but the Trumpiness is the fun thing that the Trump people love". In other words, the fact that he's inarticulate, boorish, rude, hateful, and generally outrageous is not a bug, it's a feature - it makes him seem like "one of them". This should be no surprise to anyone who's read what Susan McWilliams said about Trump's followers back in 2016.

- Whatever the merits of nuclear energy, one thing that's undeniable is that it's expensive and slow to build, especially compared to solar and wind. While it's more consistent than renewables, on the face of it you'd think that you could build renewables and energy storage for less cost than a nuclear plant. Despite this, the UK is planning their biggest expansion of nuclear energy in 70 years. One might ask why; the most plausible explanation seems to be that the military wants it. Simply put, "civil nuclear energy maintains the skills and supply chains needed for military nuclear programmes". And they certainly don't want to forgo the latter.

- Speaking of nuclear, if we were to get nuclear fusion to work in something smaller than a star, it would be an almost unlimited source of energy, but the jury is still out on whether that will be possible. One alternative that's being touted is space based solar power that's beamed down via microwaves; a recent NASA report seems to indicate that this is feasible, though there are differing interpretations of the report. In any case, though, it probably won't be ready to go for at least couple of decades, so the climate problem will need to be addressed by other means.

- While the Biden administration, in theory, favours a Palestinian state, Netanyahu's response to this is, essentially, "what are ya gonna do about it?" Given the extra-special relationship between Israel and the US, the answer, almost certainly, is "nothing".

- There's no doubt that Canada (as well as numerous other countries) is experiencing a housing crisis. There's a lot of blame being cast around; one popular scapegoat for the right, even the more moderate centre-right like the Globe and Mail, is immigration. Others insist that it's real estate investors who are to blame. In truth, it's not an either-or thing; both of these, not to mention other factors like single-family zoning, play a part. Given the complexity of the situation, the focus on immigration is disconcerting, because it will tend to fuel xenophobia.

- Wab Kinew seems to have joined the ranks of those pushing for return to the office. I largely disagree, though he does have a point about the bad optics of people such as nurses whose jobs, by their very nature, have to be done onsite being managed by people working from home. It's not impossible to manage people remotely (I do it in my own job, after all) but I could see it being bad for morale when the managers are remote and the front line workers aren't.

- A passenger attempted to open a door of an airliner on a transatlantic flight. The matter appears to be mental health related and the man was not charged; perhaps Air Canada's lousy service finally made him snap.

News roundup, 21 Jan 2024

- Public sentiment about the US economy appears to be improving; even registered Republicans seem to think so. One would expect that this would help Biden and the Democrats this fall, though of course people are fickle, and far-right extremism is very much around, even in places like upstate New York.

- New Hampshire's primary looks to be a tighter race than the Iowa caucus, with only 4 percentage points separating Nikki Haley from Donald Trump. Of course even if Haley manages to squeak out a win, she'll face an uphill battle nationally; New England Republicans are a different breed than those in much of the country. Meanwhile Trump continues to warn of "chaos" and "bedlam" if he's disqualified from the ballot. He also seems to have confused Haley with Nancy Pelosi.

- Notwithstanding the Winnipeg Police Association's grievance, training for Transit's community safety officers is in full swing. The person in charge of the team, Bob Chrismas, says he hopes that they will not simply be "wannabe police" but people who want to make an actual social impact. This is a good thing, though I could see this causing discomfort among the ranks of regular cops (despite the fact that Chrismas is an ex-cop himself).

- The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, has accused the Israeli government of providing financing to Hamas, presumably so as to undermine more moderate factions like the PLO/Fatah and thus kill any chance of a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. There have been plenty of whispers about this before, but it's noteworthy that such a high profile diplomat would talk about it. In related news, Mexico and Chile have joined the countries already pressing genocide charges against Israel at the World Court.

- The physician at the University of Ottawa medical school who was suspended for pro-Palestinian social media posts has been offered reinstatement, however the experience seems to have soured him on the institution and he's looking for a job elsewhere.

- While only about 20% of Canada's electricity is now produced from fossil fuels, there are significant regional differences - it's over 80% in Alberta and Saskatchewan, for instance. It's hard to make a truly green grid when you're actually dealing with 13 different grids, and making a truly national grid will involve a lot of politics.

News roundup, 19 Jan 2024

- The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is said to be investigating the Conservative Party's nomination in Oxford County, Ontario, in which Arpan Khanna was selected as the party's candidate last year. Khanna was subsequently elected in a byelection; he has ties to Pierre Poilievre's leadership campaign.

- The US Congress has kicked the can down the road to prevent a government shutdown, but this measure only lasts till March. The Republicans' real goal seems to be to tie any long term solution to cuts to Medicare and Social Security. They're also trying to tie any aid to Ukraine to immigration reform, which does not bode well for Ukraine.

- Electoral reform advocates are appealing the decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice which dismissed their attempt to have single member plurality (first past the post) elections declared unconstitutional.

- The Winnipeg Police Association has filed a grievance over the city's new Community Safety Team which is set to be deployed on Winnipeg Transit buses. I guess the cops are worried that they might look bad if unarmed security people are able to deescalate or detain people as effectively as a cop with a sidearm.

- Liberal MPs from Toronto are furious that Olivia Chow is calling the federal government out on its inadequate support for the city. Chow is asking for $250 million to cover the costs associated with housing immigrants and refugees who end up in the city; I guess the Liberals are sensitive about that topic given the overheated rhetoric that we've been seeing about immigration in recent months.

- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that a Palestinian state is essential for Israel's long-term security. He's probably not wrong, but Benjamin Netanyahu certainly does not agree, and I doubt the US will go beyond strong words in pushing for such a state.

- The Committee to Protect Journalists has ranked Israel the sixth worst country for imprisoning journalists, after China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia and Vietnam, and just ahead of Iran.

- A midwife from Long Island has been accused of falsifying the vaccination records of about 1,500 kids in the state to enable them to attend school. Meanwhile there are outbreaks of measles happening in various parts of the US.

- The northern parts of Western Australia are facing a severe heatwave, with forecast temperatures being as high as 50°C in some places.

News roundup, 18 Jan 2024

- A man in Quebec who had circulated conspiracy theories about the 2023 wildfires having been set by the government in order to "trick" people into believing that climate change is real has pleaded guilty to setting some of the fires himself.

- The Republicans, and especially Donald Trump, are increasingly repellent to young voters. That may not hurt them too much in the short run, since older voters have a higher turnout, but those older voters aren't going to be around forever.

- Another issue for the Republicans - while many of them recognize the utility of advance voting, they're having a hard time getting the MAGA crowd to go along with it, because of Trump's messaging about it making for "crooked elections". At least one of their candidates believes that this contributed to her defeat.

- France has joined the ranks of those opposing South Africa's genocide accusation against Israel, although they are politely asking the Israelis to conduct themselves in a nicer manner, if only for their own sake.

- The "Leahy Law" is a piece of legislation introduced in 1997 which is supposed to prohibit the US State Department and the Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign militaries with problematic human rights records. One country in particular seems to enjoy an unofficial exemption, though. Guess which country.

- There has been an exchange of fire between Iran and Pakistan. Just in case you were worried that the Middle East and South Asia were getting boring...

- High-profile lawyer Brian Greenspan is withdrawing from the Nygard case for "ethical reasons". He says this is the first time in his 50 year career that he has made such an application. 

- Lac du Bonnet MLA Wayne Ewasko has been chosen as interim leader of the Manitoba PCs.

- A Republican member of the Kentucky legislature introduced a bill to amend the state's laws concerning incest. Under the proposed legislation it wouldn't be incest if it's just your cousin, although he's since withdrawn the bill following a backlash.

News roundup, 17 Jan 2024

- More right-of-centre commentators are having doubts about Donald Trump. Joe Scarborough points out that for a former president to get only 51% the vote in a primary is not a good sign for him. Now Scarborough is one of the more moderate rightwingers, but now even Ann Coulter is saying that Trump is no longer a viable candidate - and that Trump voters are "morons". Hate to agree with Coulter on anything, but she has a point there.

- Bill O'Reilly was all in favour of Florida's law requiring books to be pulled from school libraries... until it was applied to his own books. He still says he favours the law, but thinks it shouldn't apply to him.

- Separation of church and state is supposed to be a big deal in the US. A 1954 law called the Johnson Amendment prohibits churches, as well as other nonprofits, from "engaging in any political campaign activity", but the "Christian nationalist" crowd is planning to flout the law by having MAGA-leaning churches actively work to put Trump back in the White House. No doubt they're counting on the IRS not having the guts to take away the tax exempt status of churches; we'll have to see how this goes.

- Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution in the US Senate calling for the State Department to report on whether Israel has violated human rights; the resolution was pushed aside by a 72-11 vote.

- German journalists report that several elected officials with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), as well as two members of the supposedly moderate Christian Democratic Union, attended a secret meeting with more overt neo-Nazis and other extremists, in which they discussed plans for mass deportations, not only of new immigrants and refugees but of "unassimilated" German citizens. This has sparked nationwide protests calling for AfD to be banned.

- The European Union has prohibited companies from claiming to be carbon neutral in their advertising if said "carbon neutrality" depends on carbon offsets.

- Russia plans to build a village outside of Moscow to be a safe haven for American and Canadian rightwingers. I urge those folks to take Putin up on the deal, and let the rest of us enjoy life without them.

- The thing about millennials being poor because they spend too much money on avocado toast is, of course, ridiculous, but there's actually a good reason to stay away from the stuff.

- The Great Salt Lake may be headed the way of the Aral Sea unless appropriate measures are taken.

News roundup, 16 Jan 2024

- To the surprise of few, Donald Trump has easily won the Iowa caucus, with 51% of the vote. Candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson have withdrawn. What is interesting is that 43% of Nikki Haley supporters would vote for Biden over Trump. This is definitely a positive sign, though of course many of the Haley voters were probably people who aren't normally Republicans. Meanwhile many worry that a second Trump administration would be more willing and able to take advantage of ambiguities in laws like the Insurrection Act which give the president the power to use the military on American soil under certain poorly defined conditions.

- The Capitol Police are investigating Trump advisor Roger Stone after audio allegedly surfaced in which he tells members of his security detail that he'd like to see two Democratic members of Congress rubbed out. 

- A strange fact - the US constitution does not explicitly grant Americans the right to vote. The 15th Amendment, for instance, says that people can't be prohibited from voting on the basis of race, and the 19th and 26th amendments provide similar protections for women and young adults, but none of this prohibits a state from limiting voting on other grounds, although there is case law covering some other protections.

- In addition to the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, South Africa is also planning to bring similar charges against the US and UK for their complicity. Indonesia is also preparing legal arguments against Israel.

- Israel is claiming that two journalists killed in Gaza on Sunday, one of whom worked for Al Jazeera, had connections to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a recognized terrorist group. However, this is based on a poor quality photo of a document whose authenticity is doubted by many experts.

- Weeds are developing herbicide resistance faster than new herbicides can be developed. Kinda like superbugs on a macro scale.

- If the thought of giving up flying for the sake of the climate seems like a bridge too far, maybe we should frame things differently. How about avoiding flying if possible because it's generally a miserable experience? On a similar note, I've often thought that if environmental organizations want to maximize their bang for their buck, they should be sponsoring shows like Mayday.

- New York City just had its first significant snowfall in almost 2 years. That is, if you consider 1.6in (4.1cm) to be "significant".

News roundup, 15 Jan 2024

- A new poll suggests that Joe Biden has a four point lead over Donald Trump in Michigan.

- Historian Ian Lustick comments that Israel has never ended hostilities with the Palestinians on its own, but only when pressured to do so from outside (most often the US), and doesn't expect anything different this time. Unfortunately the prospects for this in the near future are not good, especially now that the Biden administration is preoccupied with the election campaign. This doesn't bode well for Palestinians in the near future, nor even for Israelis - most recently, two of the hostages taken in October have been killed (whether by Hamas or by an Israeli airstrike is being disputed), and terrorist attacks continue as well.

- As mentioned a few days back, placing a tax on soft drinks is effective in reducing the consumption of said drinks. Boulder is going a step further - they are using the revenue to provide low-income folks with coupons to buy more nutritious food. So you have a carrot (literally) in addition to a stick.

- Speaking of taxes, even fiscal conservatives see the need to raise property taxes in Toronto. TVO's Steve Lafleur points out that even with the increase Toronto's property taxes will be among the lowest in the region, and that municipalities tend to run a pretty tight ship anyway, so there's not a lot of "fat" to trim.

- In the US, fishers are required to pay the salary of observers from the National Marine Fisheries Service who ride along on their boats. This is now going to the US Supreme Court; whatever one thinks of that particular rule, rightwing opponents of regulation of any sort are latching onto the case in the hope of getting a decision that will tie the hands of federal regulators.

- A recent study indicates that agriculture is by far the biggest driver of deforestation around the world. Beef alone is responsible for 41% of deforestation in the tropics; oilseeds (including soy as well as palm) are responsible for 18%. Note that much of the soy grown in the tropics is grown as cattle feed; if it were fed to humans directly rather than to cattle a lot less of it would be needed.

- In California, a new law passed by referendum in 2018 has just taken effect, requiring that meat sold in the state (whether raised domestically or imported) must meet minimum standards of care. Pregnant sows, for instance, have typically been kept in crates too small for them to even turn around, but under the new law they must be provided with a minimum of 24 ft² of space. Space requirement are also increased for hens and veal calves. The industry fought it all the way to the Supreme Court and lost; they are now hoping for the feds to intervene. Unfortunately there are a lot of exemptions, notably that it doesn't apply to processed meat like sausages, nor does it apply to meat that is sold outside the state.

- Poland gets about 70% of its electricity from coal-fired plants, but the new government there hopes to change that. 

- A Russian command aircraft was shot down and another heavily damaged over the Sea of Azov. 

- Italy's culture minister is under investigation for possessing, and exhibiting, a stolen 17th century painting.

News roundup, 14 Jan 2024

- Israel continues to reject the genocide accusation raised by South Africa at the World Court of Justice, accusing the plaintiffs of presenting a "profoundly distorted" view of the conflict. Meanwhile Namibia is condemning Germany's almost unconditional support of Israel and reminding the world of Germany's actions in Namibia between 1904 and 1908, which has been called the first act of genocide of the 20th century (not to be confused with the better known genocide that their support seems to be an attempt to atone for). Though even Germany is starting to take note of how bad things are.

- It's been known since election night that Heather Stefanson would be resigning as leader of the Manitoba PCs, but she had not announced a date and it was assumed that she would stay on as leader until the party could select a new one. This has changed; she is stepping down now, and an interim leader will be selected until the party can elect one for the long term. Perhaps the fact that she's now facing an ethics complaint has something to do with it (even if she still denies any wrongdoing).

- Meanwhile Wab Kinew is looking at what can be done at the provincial level to address the recent rise in violent crime, notably bail reform, which is something he cited during the leaders' debate during the election campaign, as well as preventative measures such as recreational programs and mental health resources to help prevent crime. While the latter is the approach more associated with the NDP, politics is the art of the possible and the former is probably also necessary to convince the public that they're serious about the problem - and given some of the disturbing stories we've been hearing of late, it's probably just a good idea anyway.

- At the municipal level, Winnipeg Transit will begin training safety officers next week in an attempt to restore confidence in the safety of the system. The first officers will be ready for deployment in mid-February.

- Taiwan has elected Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party as their next president. China has repeatedly condemned him as a separatist, and many fear that this brings the possibility of conflict closer.

- While the settlement of the SAG-AFTRA strike was beneficial to a lot of people in the industry, voice actors in particular are concerned that it leaves the door open to their replacement by AI.

News roundup, 12 Jan 2024

- The International Court of Justice is now hearing South Africa's genocide case against Israel, calling the evidence "overwhelming and incontrovertible". Naturally Israel does not agree; nor does Germany, who are warning against "political instrumentalisation" of the genocide convention.

- Brazil's environment ministry says that deforestation in the Amazon fell by nearly half in 2023 from the previous year, having been at a 12 year high under Bolsonaro. In other promising climate-related news, grid energy storage (very important to maximize the usefulness of renewables) has been growing by leaps and bounds in the US, and Spain is looking to raise power utilities' investment limits to facilitate the greening of the grid. And a Massachusetts startup claims to have found a way to produce carbon-neutral cement.

- Donald Trump is flailing helplessly and contradicting himself trying to evade criminal responsibility for the Capitol riot. Three years ago, when trying to get the courts to overturn the election result, he claimed, in the US Supreme Court no less, that he "seeks to intervene in this matter in his personal capacity as a candidate for reelection", but now he's saying he was acting in his capacity as president to ensure the election was fair. Doubtless the MAGA crowd will not notice the contradiction (or care), but hopefully swing voters will. Meanwhile even some evangelical leaders admit to having qualms about him, but they seem to be losing control of their flock on the matter.

- Hot on the heels of reports of Alabama prisons harvesting the organs of their deceased inmates, 215 bodies have been found in unmarked graves behind a jail outside Jackson, Mississippi.

- Vienna was recently declared the world's most livable city by The Economist, and part of the reason is that it's far more affordable than otherwise similar cities. One of the reasons? Public housing. There's a lesson there, if our own federal, provincial, and municipal leaders are willing to listen.

- The Manitoba NDP's caucus chair, Mike Moyes, is filing an ethics complaint against Heather Stefanson and Jeff Wharton over the attempts to ram through the Sio Silica mining deal during the transition period.

- Security cameras on a business in Regina showed a man by the side of the road after getting off a bus at about 8 PM, waving feebly for help, for several hours as motorists drove by without stopping while the temperature dropped to -8°C. Eventually, at about 3:30 in the morning, a cyclist noticed his plight, stopped, and called emergency services, but it was too late; he was already dead.

News roundup, 11 Jan 2024

- Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent has died at the age of 87.

- South African delegates to the International Court of Justice in The Hague have presented their opening arguments in a case accusing Israel of genocidal acts. Meanwhile, Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has expressed discomfort with the idea, based on past crimes against Jews in Europe. Varadkar has, in fact, articulated what is probably the main reason a lot of people in the West want to handle Israel with kid gloves; probably there's a certain amount of guilt mixed in even on the part of countries that fought against Nazi Germany, given that many of them (including Canada) were not keen on accepting Jewish refugees from there back when it was really needed. And for their part, many Israelis are questioning what the war will achieve.

- Toronto police have charged a protester with public incitement of hatred for waving what is described as a "terrorist flag" at a demonstration. Police have declined to identify the specific flag that was waved; if it was an ISIS flag that would be one thing, but if it was a Palestine flag that would be quite another.

- A bomb threat was made against the home of the judge hearing Donald Trump's civil fraud trial. This follows the judge's ruling that Trump cannot make his own final arguments because he would not agree to stick to "relevant" issues.

- The National Review has published an editorial urging Republicans to select anyone except Trump for the nomination, on the grounds that it's the only reliable way to beat Biden. Encouragingly, a poll indicates that Biden now has a three point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, so maybe the editors' fears are justified. In any case, whoever might beat Trump, it's not going to be Chris Christie.

- The US Food and Drug Administration is warning that vaccination rates, not only for COVID-19 but for numerous other diseases, are low enough that herd immunity is now at risk. Unfortunately the prospects for fixing this any time soon are poor, especially when even the Democrats don't want to talk about the subject, even as some 1,500 Americans a week are still dying from COVID. And some reports indicate that, in the case of COVID, that which does not kill you might make you weaker.

- At a Fox News town hall session, Trump was asked about a congressional report that found that he was paid almost $8 million from multiple foreign governments while president. His reply was that he was "doing services" for those governments, and that it was "a small amount" of money anyway.

- The Conservative Party of Canada's entire strategy under Pierre Poilievre is centred around framing the next election as a referendum on Justin Trudeau. Given Trudeau's dismal standing in the polls, that is understandable, and it may well work, but it's interesting to note that Deveryn Ross, a columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press and the Brandon Sun who tends to lean right, is not comfortable with this, fearing that it could backfire. Jagmeet Singh's NDP is not mentioned in the article at all, but a situation like this would seem to be ripe for exploitation for them, if they are both bold and lucky. Maybe that's what Ross is really afraid of.

- Worldwide renewable energy production is growing at a remarkable rate, which is very good news (in a "the future may not be very good, but at least there probably is going to be a future" kind of way. In Europe, wind has overtaken coal for electricity production, for instance.

- The Max 9 variant of the Boeing 737 remains grounded in the US following Alaska Airlines' little misadventure with one last week. In the course of inspections of their fleet, as well as that of United Airlines (the only other North American carrier to operate the type) several other aircraft were found to have loose bolts that would have the potential to cause a similar failure; it appears that the aircraft may have been delivered to the airlines in that condition. Boeing CEO David Calhoun admitted the existence of the loose bolts; when asked how something like this could have happened, he replied "Because a quality escape occurred". Have to remember that one, "quality escape". If you want the really geeky details of what is known about the incident so far, check this video out.

- It appears that China isn't the only place where they actively harvest the organs of people who die in custody. Several families in Alabama say that their deceased relatives have been returned to them with organs missing.

- In Florida, the Escambia County School District, serving Pensacola and vicinity off in the western panhandle, has apparently gone above and beyond in their effort to keep forbidden thoughts from impressionable minds - they've removed dictionaries and encyclopedias from school libraries.

News roundup, 10 Jan 2024

- Thanks to climate change, snow accumulation is declining across the Northern Hemisphere. Researchers warn of a tipping point, called the "snow-loss cliff", whereby once average winter temperatures rise above -8°C even modest temperature increases will significantly reduce the total amount of water stored (the -8°C figure is an average, so significant melting could occur on warmer days). By the end of this century it could mean that parts of the southwestern and northeastern US will have very little snow by the end of March each year, with significant implications for agriculture, power generation, and other things. And things aren't getting better any time soon; European researchers have just confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year since detailed records have been kept. Oh, and the southeastern US got severe storms, including suspected tornadoes, this week. Slightly positive is the fact that US greenhouse emissions declined last year even as the economy grew; unfortunately much bigger declines are needed to limit the severity of climate change. And geoengineering is still quite problematic as a solution. 

- The US government plans to invest a billion dollars in electrifying the country's school bus fleet.

- Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is taking significant action against illegal mining in indigenous lands. This is a good thing; less positive, though, is his government's plans to ramp up oil production. Meanwhile India is planning to double coal production.

- Donald Trump has said that he hopes for an economic crisis this year so that he can win the election. No doubt he does hope for that (it's probably one of the few truthful things he's said) but it would seem unwise to actually say that out loud - except for the fact that his followers don't seem to care what he says or does. He is also warning of "bedlam" if he loses the election, and insinuating that his most serious opponent in the Republican primary race isn't eligible for the presidency (as we all know, he has a history of saying stuff like that). Somewhat reassuring is the fact that his leads over Biden in key swing states (Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania) are slipping.

- The Province of Manitoba is adding 36 new acute-care beds at St. Boniface Hospital in an attempt to reduce wait times. It's a start, certainly, though there's a long way to go.

- Following the revelations about Ferdinand Eckhardt's Nazi past, the province has posthumously revoked his membership in the Order of the Buffalo Hunt.

- While the University of Manitoba offers subsidized bus passes for students, there is no such arrangement for faculty and staff - yet on-campus parking is considerably cheaper than a full-fare bus pass. The university's biennial commuter survey is recommending that this be changed.

- Since the revelations of mass graves at residential schools, there has been a steep rise in church fires across the country, most of them suspected of being arson. Unfortunate, but given the huge role churches had in the residential school system, not a surprise.

- Toronto mayor Olivia Chow is asking for federal help in providing affordable housing, saying it's either that or substantial municipal tax increases. She may well succeed, given the federal Liberals' desperate situation in the polls and the fact that Toronto ridings are among the ones they're best poised to hold onto.

- A former "psychic" who abandoned her "calling" upon converting to Christianity is condemning Fox News' use of tarot cards in one of their bizarre shows. Meanwhile Fox is insinuating that Taylor Swift is a deep state psyop.

News roundup, 9 Jan 2023

- Former Tory MLA Kevin Klein is not happy with the proposed changes to his party's leadership selection process, which among other things will cap the influence of constituencies with a lot of members. The proposal is for a point system whereby each constituency's votes would be weighted based on the number of votes cast in that constituency; the changes will be voted on in the party's convention on Saturday. Klein, who is considering a run for the leadership himself, believes that the new system will "tilt the playing field", however he declined to elaborate when asked.

- The province is planning a redesign of the intersection near Carberry where 17 people were killed in a bus-truck collision last year. One proposed design, known as a "restricted crossing U-turn" (RCUT) or "superstreet" is uncommon in Canada but is used in some places in the US.

- Montreal mayor Valerie Plante has announced that a major street through Mount Royal Park will be closed to non-emergency motor traffic. Expect a lot of screaming and stomping from the "truck go vroom vroom" crowd, but it's a good move.

- The US Supreme Court will hear Donald Trump's appeal of the Colorado court decision barring him from the primary ballot in February. If the "originalists" want to reverse the decision they'll have to do a lot of legal gymnastics to justify such a move, and in any case whichever way they rule will be very divisive, especially given the number of death threats that are already being made by the MAGA crowd.

- Speaking of The Donald's legal troubles, one of his lawyers argued in a federal appeals court that executive immunity is absolute, to the point where even a president who had ordered a rival to be assassinated could not be prosecuted unless convicted in an impeachment. Some have pointed out that if Trump wins this argument, it would essentially give Biden license to have him rubbed out prior to the election. In the words of newspaper editor Mark Jacobs, "Good lord, his lawyer is a dipshit." Nor has this stopped Trump from saying that he would have Biden indicted if he wins.

- Trump himself is demanding that the charges against him be dropped on the grounds that nobody told him that his conduct could be considered criminal; I don't think the argument that ignorance of the law is an excuse holds water in any jurisdiction, though.

- Lauren Boebert is running in a different district to maximize her chances of being reelected. No guarantee that she will succeed, mind you.

- The man who attacked the judge about to sentence him has been returned to court for sentencing... by the same judge. He got four years; he has yet to be tried for attacking the judge though.

- Some American officials are worried about their ability to keep a reign on Benjamin Netanyahu, since he depends on even more extreme politicians than himself to retain his power (and quite possibly his freedom). It's been said in the past that Israel is to the US what the DPRK is to China - that extreme and unstable friend that is a source of trouble and embarrassment but that they feel like they can't afford to drop. That is more true now than ever.

- The Winnipeg Art Gallery is dropping founder Ferdinand Eckhardt's name from its main entrance hall following revelations about his Nazi past.

- A Rebel News personality was arrested following a scuffle with Chrystia Freeland's security detail, however he was released after it was determined that there was "no credible security threat".

- A Republican legislator in Florida has introduced a bill that would make "an allegation that the plaintiff has discriminated against another person or group because of their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity constitutes defamation per se". Previous attempts to pass such a law have failed, and if passed it would likely not withstand a court challenge, however that may not be the point.

News roundup, 8 Jan 2024

- The Biden administration plans to add new restrictions on logging in old-growth forests. Such a move is sorely needed in this country; a huge amount of damage has been done to the boreal forest in Ontario and Quebec in recent decades.

- The water crisis in the American southwest is being exacerbated by corporate farms that are exporting water-intensive crops such as alfalfa. In 2022, exports of alfalfa from Arizona consumed as much water as 241,500 residents.

- The Great Lakes are seeing far less ice than usual for this time of year. The total ice cover as of 1 January was less than 1% of the lakes' surface, compared to the 50 year average of 9.45%. Lake Erie and Lake Ontario have no ice at all.

- The fossil fuel industry in the US is playing the freedom card to ensure that they're able to keep misleading the masses about climate change. They argue that their messaging constitutes First Amendment-protected "political speech" - even as they ruthlessly fight people's right to protest their operations.

- The City of Winnipeg has projected a deficit of $7.1 million for 2023. Causes include higher-than-expected costs for snow clearing, road construction and street cleaning, as well as other factors; this may lend support to the concerns raised by Coun. Russ Wyatt about budget cuts, unless council can agree on a tax increase.

- A total of 14 MPs, 10 of them Liberals, have announced that they will not be running again in the next election. This is not a surprise given the Liberals' poor standing in the polls.

News roundup, 7 Jan 2024

- The US Supreme Court will be reviewing a Colorado court's decision to keep Donald Trump off the primary ballot in that state. The matter is of some urgency because Colorado's primaries occur in early March and a decision is needed in time to print advance ballots.

- Trump's competitors for the nomination are starting to overcome their reluctance to criticize him, perhaps concluding that they have nothing to lose.

- Justin Trudeau's approval ratings are at historic lows. Some of this is justified, some of it not; in any case the prospects for recovery by 2025 are not good.

- Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt is warning that across the board cuts to the city budget are expected. This follows a confidential briefing to council regarding a draft version of the budget; it's not clear if Wyatt will face any penalty for releasing details.

- Winnipeg police are investigating after explosives were found in a condo building in the St Vital neighbourhood of River Park South.

- A study has found that taxes on sugary beverages like pop are effective in reducing sales. So yes, sin taxes work, to an extent at least.

- Alaska Airlines has grounded its fleet of 737 MAX 9 aircraft for inspection following an incident in which a window and a piece of the fuselage skin tore off as the aircraft climbed through 16,000ft. The FAA has ordered other airlines to follow suit.

News roundup, 6 Jan 2024

- Tory MLA (and former cabinet minister) Jeff Wharton is denying the claims made by the new government as well as by two of his former colleagues, Kevin Klein and Rochelle Squires, that he tried to push through the Sio Silica mine during the caretaker period. Seems not too many people believe him.

- A trustee in the River East Transcona School Division has been suspended for releasing confidential information; this is the second time within a matter of months that he's been suspended for this.

- Over 2,000 Manitoba Housing units are vacant currently, including over a thousand in Winnipeg, due to a backlog in repairs. Apparently there hasn't been sufficient money in the corporation's budget to properly repair them; hopefully the new government will add that to their rather long list of tasks. It should be possible, though; certainly public housing wasn't always the hellhole it is now.

- A federal court has denied a student visa to a Chinese engineering student on the grounds that he could be "pressured" into spying for China, despite the lack of evidence of his previous involvement in espionage, or that his field of research has military uses.

- The founder and CEO of GFL Environmental, which holds the contract to collect garbage and recycling in the eastern half of Winnipeg, owns a yacht worth $350 million. Ain't contracting out grand?

- It appears that the next COP summit will be headed by yet another oil industry veteran. Mukhtar Babayev, the ecology and natural resources minister of host country Azerbaijan, spent 26 years with that country's state oil company before entering politics.

- ISIS has claimed responsibility for a bombing at a memorial for Iranian general Qassem Soleimani which killed nearly 100 people.

- A conservation organization in BC has been buying up trophy hunting rights for the Great Bear rainforest; even though this doesn't impact most hunters, there's some predictable outrage from hunting advocates.

- An Air Canada flight from Toronto to Calgary was forced to divert to Winnipeg after a teenage boy allegedly assaulted a family member on the plane.