Sunday, January 21, 2024

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.

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