News roundup, 29 Feb 2024

- The US Supreme Court has agreed to decide on whether Donald Trump can claim presidential immunity on the election interference case, which means that the actual trial will be, at best, delayed until April. This virtually guarantees that the trial, if allowed to continue at all, will not be decided until after the election in November - and if he wins, he'll likely be able to stop the trial himself. Naturally this means Trump will have a very strong incentive to win (though it's not like he'd roll over if this didn't happen). Oh, and then there's the Clarence Thomas factor.

- On the positive side, it appears that Trump doesn't have enough liquid assets to cover the bond in the New York civil fraud trial. He is, of course, now asking the court to allow him to appeal the decision without putting up the bond, and the Attorney General of the state now suspects that he's moving his assets to Florida to limit what gets seized. It seems he may not be as rich as he says he is (surprise surprise); what effect that has on his sheeple remains to be seen.

- Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, one of the most influential (and disliked) leaders this country has seen in living memory, has died at the age of 84.

- Premier Wab Kinew is looking to meet another of his campaign commitments, namely bail reform. New policies are being drafted to give prosecutors more leeway in considering the potential impact on victims and the community when a suspect is released.

- A report from CSIS states that Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, the scientist fired from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg along with her husband, may have shared sensitive scientific data with China. Besides the theft of intellectual property, there are fears that some of this data might be militarily useful.

- Joe Biden has called Chinese electric cars a "security threat" on the grounds that the tracking software on those cars might be sending information to different places than that on all other modern cars, and is looking at ways to stop the importation of such vehicles. Of course, the bigger threat they pose is probably to the economic security of Michigan.

- The crime spree in which Lauren Boebert's son and several others are alleged to have participated in included the robbery of a woman with a brain tumour. Apparently he was seen on surveillance video wearing a sweatshirt featuring the logo of his mum's former business, which made identification a lot easier. He's also alleged to have made a sex tape with an underage female co-conspirator.

- When the school board in Kingsville, Ontario wanted a name for a new school which will replace three existing facilities, they settled on "Erie Migration Academy", as a nod to the town's proximity to Point Pelee, an important migration route for birds and butterflies. Some locals are absolutely apoplectic at the fact that it does not include the name of the town; the school board says that the school will serve a large area, not just Kingsville, and thus they don't want to be seen as excluding anyone. Students in the current schools have staged walkouts in protest; more alarmingly, one trustee says that she has received threats serious enough that she's reported them to the police.

- A Canadian tourist in Hawaii took a wrong turn and drove off a 20 metre high cliff, then upon escaping from the vehicle he fell into the water and was swept out to sea. Amazingly he was rescued after 90 minutes in the water and survived with no more than minor injuries and mild hypothermia.

News roundup, 28 Feb 2024

- The Kinew government continues to work on undoing the damage done by the previous government. They're looking to make it easier for nurses who have left the profession to return if they did so in the last 5 years. They also providing a new mandate for Efficiency Manitoba, which has failed to meet its most recent targets in reducing energy consumption.

- NDP MP Daniel Blaikie is resigning his seat to serve as Premier Kinew's senior adviser on intergovernmental affairs. Can't blame him, but I do hope that the party can come up with a good candidate for the byelection; false consciousness is a powerful force, and Poilievre is disturbingly good at exploiting it. And some misguided tactical voters will doubtless vote for the Liberals in order to stop the Cons, not understanding that in Elmwood-Transcona this would actually help the Tories rather than hurting them. It's possible, though, that Blaikie is just reading the writing on the wall; in addition to the aforementioned factors, under the new riding boundaries (which will be used for the general election, though not the byelection) most of the RM of Springfield will be included, which also favours the Tories.

- The Manitoba Nurses' Union is calling for the emergency ward at Health Sciences Centre to be equipped with metal detectors following numerous incidents involving weapons, most recently a stabbing last week. No doubt this will make some social justice types uncomfortable, as with the scanners at the Millennium Library, but it's probably a necessary evil, and apparently a similar move at Windsor General Hospital has been well-received.

- Alberta is making it harder to build solar and wind farms, even as they continue in their gung-ho push for more oil drilling. This is similar to what is happening in many places in the US. Perhaps not coincidentally, Danielle Smith recently gave a private audience to Wind Concerns, an organization noted for disinformation about climate change and clean energy.

- A disturbing number of Michigan residents don't see enough difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump to care. This is ungood, because Michigan is a key swing state. Among other things, the state's large Muslim community is (understandably) quite dissatisfied with Biden's response the Gaza war. It's not that they think Trump is better, mind you, but it seems awfully short-sighted to say "well, my people are going to be screwed either way, so I won't bother comparing them on any other issues" and thus potentially allow Trump to win, ensuring that a lot more people are going to be screwed.

- Speaking of Michigan, many think that the major US automakers are woefully unprepared for an impending influx of Chinese-built electric cars.

- Lauren Boebert's teenage son has been arrested on numerous charges, following a string of thefts and related crimes.

- A bill before the Arizona legislature would allow the use of lethal force on someone trespassing on your property. Since migrants crossing the border usually end up on someone's private property, it's not hard to see who most of the victims of this bill would be. Fortunately Governor Katie Hobbs is expected to veto the bill in the event that it lands on her desk.

- Not quite in the Mexico City class, but the city of Morden, Manitoba is significantly short of water.

- Nearly 75 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street value of over $9 million, was found in some suitcases which entered the country earlier this month and were left unclaimed at Winnipeg International Airport.

- The Province of Manitoba is cutting ties with Spirit Rising House, a for-profit company that owns numerous foster homes, following revelations that the company was providing its wards with marijuana. Supposedly this was for the sake of harm reduction; there's a kind of logic to it but on the face of it this doesn't seem to be a good idea.

News roundup, 27 Feb 2024

- Aaron Bushnell, the American airman who burned himself to death in front of the Israeli embassy this past weekend, grew up in a peculiar Christian sect, and apparently had identified as an anarchist at some point. There is a long (albeit not large) history of suicides similar to his.

- In other news on the Israel-Gaza war, the governments of Ireland and Spain are calling for an "urgent review" of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. This treaty "makes respect for human rights and democratic principles an essential element of the relationship", which is kind of awkward when a senior UN human rights expert is accusing Israel of deliberately starving the inhabitants of Gaza, something generally recognized as a war crime.

- Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh believes that Alberta will eventually reverse their decision to opt out of a national pharmacare program, and points out that there were similar holdouts when medicare was brought in back in the 1960s. Meanwhile Quebec has also said that they'll opt out given the option.

- It's a good time to be a rightwing blowhard in this country apparently. The latest Nanos poll puts the Conservatives 17 points ahead of the governing Liberals; the difference between the Liberals and NDP is less than the margin of error. That's not surprising given Trudeau's low popularity; harder to explain is Doug Ford's continued popularity in a recent poll from Abacus. It's enough to bring to mind George Carlin's infamous remark: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

- Remember how a few years ago Cape Town was on the verge of running out of water? Well that's nothing compared to the potential crisis in Mexico City, one of the largest cities on the planet, which could run out in a matter of months.

- A judge in Texas has blocked a new federal requirement that cryptocurrency miners make public the amount of energy they consume, saying that the industry would face "irreparable injury" if made to comply. I don't know about you, but I think an industry that can't survive exposure to the truth deserves to die.

- France is outlawing the use of words like "steak" and "ham" to describe vegetarian substitutes for meat, presumably fearing that a bunch of hayseeds with pitchforks will come for them.

- Donald Trump is trying to argue that he's "too rich" to have to post bond while he appeals the judgment against him in the E. Jean Carroll case (apparently bond is for the poors), while simultaneously claiming that requiring him to post bond would do him "irreparable injury". Go figure.

News roundup, 26 Feb 2024

- A man burned himself to death in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, apparently in protest of the war in Gaza.

- Russia managed to do in two years what the US couldn't do in 74 - get Sweden to join NATO.

- Donald Trump's base can't get enough of him, but while they love the craziness he spouts, it creates a problem for him if he wants to win the votes of the non-crazy. Meanwhile his legal troubles are creating financial problems for his campaign, and now the prosecutor in the Stormy Daniels case is asking the judge for a gag order to keep Trump from siccing his sheeple on jurors.

- Even in West Virginia, people in the know understand that the coal industry isn't going to recover to its earlier strength. It's been declining for decades, long before renewables entered the picture. Unfortunately while there are new jobs in the renewable energy sector, there are a lot fewer of them, and they aren't always in the same place (the best place to mine coal often isn't the best place to build a solar or wind farm).

- The federal NDP has managed to get the Liberals to move ahead with a national pharmacare program. The NDP had threatened to withdraw their support from the minority Liberal government unless an agreement was reached by the end of the month. Among things to be covered will be diabetes medications and contraceptives; for their part, the Alberta government has announced that they intend to opt out of the whole thing. Because freedumb, or something.

- Manitoba finance minister Adrien Sala accuses the previous government of presenting an "incomplete picture" of the province's finances following an external review ordered by the new government shortly after taking office. Among the things the Tories are accused of ignoring are the impact of last year's drought on Hydro revenues, as well as the impact of their own tax cuts on revenue.

- The former CAO of the Rural Municipality of North Cypress-Langford, Manitoba has been charged with theft after allegedly stealing around $30,000 from a curling club and then using municipal funds to repay it. No information about the motive, but if I were to guess I'd say gambling has something to do with it.

- Syphilis in the US is now at a 70 year high, and some doctors are rationing penicillin in order to keep it available to treat the disease.

- A number of "smart vending machines" at the University of Waterloo were discovered to be using facial recognition, for reasons that are not clear. This was discovered by accident when a software glitch led to a reference to facial recognition appearing on a screen on one of the machines. The university has announced that the machines will be removed.

- A branch of the Royal Canadian Legion in Vaughan, Ontario has had its charter revoked by the national body after allegedly being taken over by outlaw bikers.

News roundup, 23 Feb 2024

- Donald Trump's legal and financial troubles continue. New York's Attorney General, Letitia James, is not shy about her willingness to start seizing assets if he doesn't come up with the $350 million in cash needed to cover the fine resulting from the civil fraud verdict. Since much of his fortune is tied up in real estate rather than liquid assets, this is a very real possibility. For his part, Trump seems to be trying to evade liability by changing his business address to one in Florida.

- At the opening of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) in Washington, yet another Trump booster, one Jack Posobiec, said the quiet part out loud by vowing to overthrow democracy. 

- The man convicted of driving his truck into a Muslim family in London, killing four of them, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. The judge also ruled that his crime constituted an act of terrorism, although the latter is largely symbolic, as is the concurrent life sentence given for the attempted murder of the fifth victim.

- The city's draft budget is winning plaudits from some activists for prioritizing trees over new roads, a sentiment I agree with. Less positive is the decision of city council to reject the motion from Councillors Matt Allard and Cindy Gilroy calling for all city staff, as well as employees of city contractors, to be paid a living wage by next year.

- It's sometimes said that ad hominem attacks (a direct attack on the person rather than their position or argument) used to be frowned on in politics. I'm not sure how much of this is true and how much is looking at the past through rose coloured glasses, but there's no doubt that it's rampant today. A couple of recent examples come from David Parker, founder of Take Back Alberta, who recently tweeted "The fact that a man as grotesque as [former Calgary mayor Naheed] Nenshi ever won 'sexiest man of the year' in Calgary (let alone four years in a row); tells you everything you need to know about the mainstream media in Calgary." Then he had a go at provincial NDP leadership candidate Sarah Hoffman in even worse fashion. The Take Back Alberta folks, of course, are following the lead of the likes of Donald Trump, and unfortunately this sort of thing works with the kind of rabble they're trying to rouse.

- Following recent legislation in Florida making it easier to get books removed from schools for "inappropriate" content, some activists have targeted the Bible (which, after all, contains plenty of stuff that many folks wouldn't consider child friendly - incest, torture, genocide, and the like). In response, legislators are planning to charge fees for complaints by people who don't have kids in the school system.

- A Catholic priest in Slovenia has been accused of sexual misconduct; among his sins, he is alleged to have pressured nuns into watching porn and then participating in a threesome with him. I don't think that's what most people have in mind when they think of the phrase "Holy Trinity".

News roundup, 22 Feb 2024

- The IDF opened fire on a UN convoy carrying food supplies in Gaza earlier this month, then blocked the trucks from going where the food is most needed. One can't help but think of the phrase "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction" from Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention, though I guess there's enough plausible deniability for the "calculated to bring about" part. Maybe we'll have a clearer picture of the Israelis' intentions in a few decades, but it's certainly not a good look.

- Donald Trump has pretty much admitted that he didn't want the Congressional deal on border controls to go through because the Democrats might get some of the credit for it.

- Alexander Smirnov, the FBI informant charged with fabricating claims about Hunter Biden's activities in Ukraine, is alleged to have had extensive contact with Russian intelligence agencies. Prosecutors say that he has admitted that "officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story".

- The Clean Air Act in the US has a provision known as the "good neighbour rule", which is meant to oblige states to consider the effects of air pollution on other states downwind of them. Unfortunately it is being whittled down in the courts, and now Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia are challenging the whole thing in the Supreme Court. In related (and also disconcerting) news, an appeals court has ended a moratorium on new coal mines on public lands.

- Manitoba Hydro's Jenpeg generating station is offline for more detailed inspections after problems were found with one of the plant's turbines. An awkward fact is that the turbines were made in the Soviet Union half a century ago, so if replacement is necessary, it will not be a simple matter.

- At one time the Canadian federal government was heavily involved in the construction of housing, until the neocons and neoliberals came along and sold the masses on the idea that the market should handle all that stuff. It would be good if we had a government that was willing to seriously invest in housing, but it's worth noting that there was a problem with the way it was implemented back in the day - it was mostly single-family houses, which shifted the population towards the suburbs.

- In Minnesota, a bill to limit municipalities' ability to stop the construction of the "missing middle" housing with 2-4 units is expected to pass. It has broad support from environmentalists, the state's Chamber of Commerce, and social justice organizations. Notably, the biggest opponents of the bill are the actual municipalities; presumably this is because they're the ones who have to put up with the whining and bleating from the NIMBYs.

- Any regular reader of this blog knows what I think of building more highways as a solution to congestion (in case you're new here, it's freaking stupid). Doug Ford seems to disagree; he's introducing what he calls the "Get It Done Act" (the Ontario Tories love lame populist names like that) to weaken the environmental assessment process and facilitate expropriations in order to indulge in the aforementioned stupidity.

- The ice trail on the Red River has been closed after only 9 days in operation owing to the warm weather.

News roundup, 21 Feb 2024

- The question as to whether Donald Trump has enough liquid assets to cover his rapidly accumulating costs for fines and lawsuits continues to swirl. Of course the MAGA sheeple are opening their wallets, but that's not likely to be enough, and in the case of the $354 million dollar fine from the civil fraud trial, New York Attorney General Letitia James says she's prepared to start seizing his assets if he doesn't pay up soon.

- Not too long ago, many Wall Street investors were starting to talk seriously about divestment from climate-harming companies. An international coalition of money managers known as Climate Action 100+ has pushed for change, but in recent days several large American companies, including JP Morgan and Pimco, pulled out of the coalition. The reason, apparently, is fear that US antitrust legislation could be weaponized against them. This is a big victory for the likes of Jim Jordan, a Republican member of Congress from Ohio who has been fiercely fighting the use of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors to guide investments.

- The Manitoba government is putting the Amphibex icebreaking machines into action on the Red River north of Selkirk, in preparation for the spring melt. Not that there's much risk of a major flood this year given how little snow we have.

- A broken pipe in Winnipeg's sewage system has been discharging untreated sewage into the Red River for the last couple of weeks, and has resisted attempts to fix it. The city is politely asking the residents of the suburban area that feeds into that part of the system to limit their water consumption until the problem can be properly addressed.

- An Italian physicist, Cesare Marchetti, decided to apply his knowledge of such things as particle behaviour and fluid dynamics to that ubiquitous "fluid" known as traffic and its constituent "particles" known as people. He studied urban development patterns over the centuries and concluded that people will tolerate a commute of up to 30 minutes in each direction, a value now called Marchetti's Constant. This explains the phenomenon of "induced demand" very well; when you add additional lanes, people think they can move further out from urban centres and still make it to work in half an hour. In fact they only can for a short time, because this leads to more traffic which slows everything down again.

- Winnipeg Transit's safety officers have now been deployed, complete with the power to detain and arrest people. Like it or not, this is probably necessary if you're going to get anyone to take transit by choice, and the people who have the choice to take the bus rather than drive are the people you need to reach if you're going to truly deal with congestion (not to mention climate change).

- Two years have passed since the "Freedom Convoy" (aka "Flu Trux Klan") debacle, and TVO's Matt Gurney has some thoughts on the matter. The article rambles somewhat; the real takeaway message, though, is that Canada is not a country that's well suited to handle a major crisis at the best of times, and that COVID-19 and the convoy have made that worse. If we should face another pandemic or similar crisis (and it may come sooner than you would expect from past history) the populace would likely be a lot less compliant with restrictions than they were with COVID.

- Speaking of freedom, it's kind of funny how many of the kinds of people who opposed vaccine mandates, even if it's to protect the public, are in a huge rush to ban or restrict books from school libraries, supposedly to protect children (we all know that what they're really trying to protect is parental control over children, of course). Just a couple of months ago the Catholic school board in Waterloo placed restrictions on a book because there's a gay character in it; the book has to be kept behind a desk, and any teacher or librarian giving a kid access to it is required to provide "a Catholic understanding of the book" before letting the kid read it. Of course, this isn't as bad as what just happened in West Virginia, where a bill just passed that will potentially enable teachers, librarians, and museum staff to face criminal charges if they allow a minor to see something that the wrong person considers to be pornographic.

- Vladimir Putin's efforts to lure good Christian Americans and Canadians to his country so they can escape their evil decadent lefty homelands looked pretty attractive to one rightwing couple from Saskatchewan who wanted to live somewhere where they wouldn't have to explain to their kids what a rainbow flag is. Things didn't turn out as well as they'd hoped.

News roundup, 20 Feb 2024

- Canadian senators have been issued panic buttons following an increase in security incidents involving aggressive protesters. The issues motivating the protesters in question are various, but whatever the cause, it seems more of them are crossing the line into intimidation.

- The fuss over Steven Guilbeaut's remarks about not wanting to invest in more roads continues, as well as a related fuss over his desire to phase out pure fossil fuel vehicles (not hybrids, despite what you might think from the unhinged rants from Danielle Smith). Columnist Deveryn Ross spins the infrastructure ideas as "coercive", which is ridiculous - they're not going to put you in jail for driving to work, at most they'll make it more convenient to get to work by some other means. Unfortunately, such rhetoric works very well on Joe and Jane Sixpack, and the Conservatives are salivating at the opportunity.

- The US has submitted a resolution to the UN calling for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, even as they vow to veto an existing resolution set to be heard by the Security Council today. Meanwhile the UK Labour Party is now calling for an immediate end to fighting, and even the Prince of Wales is expressing concern that "too many" have been killed (though he hasn't made any actual calls for a ceasefire).

- Chinese diaspora organizations in Canada say they are boycotting the public inquiry into foreign interference, due to the standing granted by the inquiry's commissioner to three politicians that they consider excessively close to the Chinese state. The organizations appear to fear that the ability granted to the politicians to cross-examine witnesses could expose the identities of activists in China.

- The US Supreme Court is set to hear a case to determine whether municipalities can fine homeless people for camping on public property when there is no proper shelter available. In Canada, courts have ruled against cities more than once on this issue, but things may be different down there.

- Over 21,000 households used Harvest Manitoba's food bank in January, an increase of over 3,000 from the same month last year.

- Louis Riel was honoured with an update to the portrait of him at the legislature, naming him as the honourary first premier of Manitoba.

News roundup, 19 Feb 2024

- Sio Silica is exploring their legal options following the Manitoba government's decision to disallow the sand mine in Springfield. The government, however, may well come out ahead because of their handling of the issue.

- A resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza will be voted on by the UN Security Council tomorrow; the US is expected to veto it, however. Meanwhile Israel has been accused of opening fire on civilians rushing towards aid trucks, while Egypt seems to be building containment facilities for potential refugees. And the International Court of Justice is now looking at the broader question of the consequences of the half-century long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is facing what could be his last shot at avoiding extradition to the US; the UK's High Court will hear arguments tomorrow on whether he can ask an appeals court to block his extradition; his wife claims that he would not survive incarceration. Not sure what his chances are given the fabled "special relationship" between the US and UK.

- Volodymyr Zelensky is in a rather tight spot, since Ukraine's summer offensive produced no significant gains and the Russians have a numerical advantage that favours them in a war of attrition. Gwynne Dyer suggests that the calculation Zelensky has to make is "how much more territory Ukraine would lose in a ceasefire in 2025 than it would lose by making some kind of peace right now." Not an easy judgment to make.

- The new Polish government is trying to undo years of far-right control of the country's public broadcaster, TVP. It won't be easy or clean. 

- A man in Cumberland, BC was killed in a hit and run while cycling last week; now a suspect has been charged, not only with failure to remain at the scene but with first degree murder. The details of why this charge was laid have not been stated so far, but a charge like that normally means that the death was intentional and preplanned. Even a typical road rage incident would likely only have led to a charge of manslaughter, or second degree murder at most.

- When Jake Moffatt's grandmother died, he asked the chatbot on Air Canada's website about bereavement rates for such travel, and was advised that he should pay the full fare for the ticket and claim reimbursement after the fact, contrary to Air Canada's actual policy. The airline tried to argue before a small claims tribunal that the chatbot was a separate entity and thus not their responsibility, but the tribunal wasn't having any of it and ordered them to pay Moffatt the difference.

News roundup, 18 Feb 2024

- Donald Trump, his company, and two of his sons have been hit with a $364 million judgment in the civil fraud case, most of which is owed by Trump himself and the company. This is on top of the $83 million he owes to E. Jean Carroll as a result of last month's ruling by another court. While he's expected to appeal, he could well have to front the money. No doubt he can find someone, somewhere, who will help him out, but there will likely be conditions on that assistance, and that could get mighty awkward for national security if he regains the presidency (and the associated access to state secrets) while owing large amounts of money to shadowy operatives somewhere.

- Professors at Brandon University have voted 87% in favour of a strike, with a 76% turnout. Pensions are one of the biggest issues; retirees currently receive between $30,000 to $40,000 a year, a figure unchanged in a decade in a half despite recent inflation.

- Besides the devastating consequences for Gaza, the conflict there has inconvenienced Israeli businesspeople who depend on Palestinians for cheap labour. So they're hiring migrant labourers from overseas to make up for the loss.

- The Philippines is accusing China of using cyanide to destroy the fishery at the Scarborough Shoal, which falls into the Philippines' 200 NM exclusion zone but is claimed by China as their own territory. After all, they need those pesky fishers to go away if they want to be able to "properly" make use of their claim.

- Controversy has arisen over the 2023 Hugo Awards, which were held in Chengdu, China. It has come to light that the organizers of the event excluded numerous authors, including Neil Gaiman, R.F. Kuang, Xiran Jay Zhao, and Paul Weimer from the awards, despite getting enough fan votes, out of fear that honouring them and/or their works could upset the Chinese authorities.

- Australia's new government is following France's lead in giving workers the "right to disconnect" so as not to be bothered by their bosses once they finish work for the day. The opposition is already vowing to support those poor beleaguered bosses by repealing the legislation if they regain power in the next election, but the claims that this will destroy productivity are very much open to question.

- A WestJet flight from Vancouver to Toronto was forced to divert to Winnipeg after a passenger decided they couldn't take another minute in the air and tried to open a door. This seems to be happening a lot nowadays. It's as if the people who were freaking out at the height of the pandemic because they couldn't travel are losing their minds now when they discover that flying isn't the pleasant experience that their rose-coloured nostalgic memories tell them it is.

News roundup, 16 Feb 2024

- The federal Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, said earlier this week that the federal government would stop investing in new road infrastructure, then revised this statement to say that the government would not invest in "large" road projects. This has led to a backlash from many politicians. Winnipeg councillor Janice Lukes, who represents the suburban Waverley West ward, nattered on about how we "need to move goods" (not that Guilbeault or anyone else is saying we don't, but whatever), while Mayor Scott Gillingham said Guilbeaut is "out of touch" with the reality of what Winnipeg and other cities need. In fact he isn't, though perhaps he is out of touch with the reality of what suburbanites want. Or maybe he no longer cares; given the dismal situation of his party in the polls, perhaps he figures the best that he can do is kick the can down the road a bit. Unfortunately, the present political culture combined with first past the post voting means that it's suburbanites who determine the results of most elections.

- The Manitoba government has rejected Sio Silica's application to mine sand in Springfield (the one the Tories tried to push through during the transition period). They have, however, approved Canadian Premium Sand's application to mine sand near Hollow Water First Nation; a notable difference is that the First Nation itself has agreements with the company (though not all of its residents agree with the decision). This project is also linked with plans to create a solar panel manufacturing facility in Selkirk; if nothing else solar panels are a far better use for sand than fracking is.

- The cyclotron at Health Sciences Centre, which is critical for the production of isotopes needed for PET scans, has failed a safety audit by Health Canada for the fourth time in a decade. This could theoretically lead to it being shut down, which would not be good news for cancer patients in this province.

- Several mayors in BC are complaining about the provincial government's abolition of exclusive single-family zoning. Tellingly, most of the cities in question are suburbs; the exceptions are Nanaimo and Nelson.

- Alexey Navalny has died at the gulag where he was imprisoned; official Russian reports make no mention of radioisotopes or defenestration.

- Some people involved with the "Freedom Convoy" plan to be back in Ottawa to mark the second anniversary of their protest/occupation, despite the fact that the mandates that they were protesting are long gone. It's as if this has become their entire identity and they don't know what else to do with themselves other than to make lots of noise and disruption to stick it to the big city libtard ay-leets.

- The credit union that sponsored Tucker Carlson's recent visit to Alberta is reaping significant rewards, as Carlson fans move their money to the institution, though other members are repelled by this.

- A New York City resident apparently bought three young Burmese Pythons in Montreal, then tried to smuggle them home in his pants. Unfortunately for him US customs officers noticed something amiss and he was fined $5,000 US as well as getting a year of probation.

News roundup, 15 Feb 2024

- Donald Trump's threat to NATO members demanding that they pay up or risk being thrown to the wolves (or perhaps bears) has raised eyebrows, but not so much among Republican politicians (with a few exceptions). One of his former advisors is predicting that Trump will pull out of NATO entirely if he wins another term. While many are naturally spooked by this, some are suggesting that this might be a good thing - because it will force the EU to take defense seriously. At least one MEP is calling for Europe to have its own military in response.

- A man was fatally shot by Winnipeg police on Tuesday. The police had attended to apprehend him under the province's Mental Health Act, so you'd hope they'd be prepared to deal with someone who might not be in his right mind. Unfortunately they reverted to type when he became combative.

- A man was stabbed and racially abused on a Winnipeg Transit bus on Tuesday; the suspect remains at large.

- Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who serves as parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, admitted in a conversation with a constituent that he is extremely frustrated with his government over the handling of the Gaza issue, particularly the suspension of funds for UNRWA. The conversation was apparently recorded without his knowledge. He said that that he has considered quitting his parliamentary secretary's position, but that he'd decided to stay after a staffer told him that "there needs to be a voice on the inside". Now that this has slipped out, though, one wonders if he'll have a choice.

- The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is warning that rabid antifeminist and anti-LGBT* sentiment could lead to serious violence. In fact it already has, but the risk is not expected to abate any time soon.

- The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Belgium's legislation prohibiting kosher and halal slaughter of animals as cruel can stand. I guess that's one issue on which the Jewish and Muslim communities can agree, anyway...

- Apparently even Putin was shocked by the softball questions lobbed at him by Tucker Carlson in the recent interview.

News roundup, 14 Feb 2024

- Manitoba Hydro is "parting ways" with CEO Jay Grewal, according to the chair of Hydro's board. This seems to be related to Grewal's plans to buy privately generated power for the utility; the Tories accuse the NDP of being "ideologically rigid" on the matter.

- Some housing advocates are cautiously optimistic about a report from federal housing advocate Marie-Josée Houle; others see this as "just one more report" making similar recommendations to previous reports. It's worth noting that Finland is well on the way to eliminating homelessness with a "housing first" model; on the other hand the devil is in the details with these things; Houston and San Diego both tried such an approach at the municipal level, with widely differing success (and not in the way you'd expect, either).

- Legal Aid Manitoba hired Mainstreet Research to conduct a poll asking members of the public questions about what they know and believe about Jeremy Skibiki, who is facing murder charges in the deaths of four First Nations women in Winnipeg. Skibiki's lawyers are working with Legal Aid, and it's widely suspected that they're trying to find support for his request for a judge-only trial in the case. MMIWG advocates are decidedly uncomfortable with this; a representative of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says this "disregards the dignity of the victims and their families", though others argue that they're just trying to act in the interests of their client.

- The federal Liberals would be well advised to have a talk with their leader about whether he ought to stay on, if recent polls are any indication. I doubt that any replacement could prevent a Tory majority, but Trudeau's brand is so tarnished that the party could face virtual annihilation unless something changes.

- The Democrats have captured George Santos' old seat in the special election necessitated by Santos' ouster from Congress. This is a good sign for sure.

- The US House of Representatives has voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the Mexican border. Of course it won't go anywhere in the Senate. Meanwhile many Republicans in the House are admitting that tossing Kevin McCarthy as speaker in favour of Mike Johnson may have been a mistake.

- The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is cancelling plans to have controlled entrances to liquor stores, similar to those ubiquitous in Manitoba. Notably, this was only supposed to apply to northwestern Ontario, not the whole province; there were some privacy concerns raised, as well as concern by the union that they weren't consulted adequately.

- Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital is stepping up security, and police are investigating, following several incidents alleged to have occurred at a pro-Palestinian protest that spilled onto hospital grounds. While I generally support their cause, and tend to be skeptical when such protesters are accused of antisemitism, I have to question whether a hospital is an appropriate target for this, any more than hospitals were appropriate targets for the trucker convoy a couple of years ago. And given this particular hospital's historic connection to the Jewish community, in this case the charge of antisemitism just might be valid if the motivation for targeting it was what it looks like from the outside.

- A shooting incident at the Kansas City Super Bowl victory celebration parade has left multiple people injured. Whether this was actually an attack on the parade or a coincidence is not clear. One attendee was quoted as saying "It sucks that someone had to ruin the celebration, but we are in a big city". I have to wonder, though - if it really was politically motivated, it's far more likely that the shooter came from a small town.

News roundup, 13 Feb 2024

- The Kinew government is reevaluating the outsourcing of Manitoba's park reservations and hunting and fishing licenses by the previous government, which has handed over $5 million to a Texas based company.

- Former Tory cabinet minister Rochelle Squires thinks that when the NDP's honeymoon period is over, it is the Liberals, rather than her own party, that stand to make gains. She attributes this to the Tories' hard right turn in the election campaign.

- Following a spike in 2020, violent crime rates in the US have dropped considerably. When you ask people, though, they tend to think it's still increasing; in a poll released in November, 77% of respondents believed that there was more crime in the US than the previous year. That said, some specific crimes, such as carjacking, have increased in recent years.

- The US Senate has approved a $95 billion aid package for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. 22 Republican senators voted along with the Democrats on the matter. Whether it will make it through the House of Representatives is more doubtful. After all, if the government manages to get anything done in the next seven months, Biden might get credit for it.

- A PAC called Fairshake is pulling out all the stops to try to stop Democrat Katie Porter from getting elected to the Senate. The PAC is backed by the cryptocurrency industry; she has not made much in the way of specific statements about crypto, but she is in favour of consumer protections and is an ally of Elizabeth Warren, so I guess that spooks the techbros.

- The MAGA crowd are claiming, as expected, that the Super Bowl was rigged in order to shine a spotlight on Taylor Swift so that she can encourage young people to vote. I guess most young adult Americans hadn't heard of her before the game. In any case, Trump has had a hate on for the NFL for some four decades, dating back to his ownership of the New Jersey Generals of the rival USFL. That league collapsed within a few years, a collapse for which he has been partly blamed.

- Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, as well has her state secretary and the Lithuanian culture minister, have been put on a wanted list by Russia, over the removal of Soviet era war memorials that were considered to excessively glorify the USSR.

- Two Al Jazeera journalists were seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike. Both were apparently clearly identifiable as media; they were relatively lucky compared to the 85 journalists (78 of them Palestinian) who have been killed in the conflict so far.

- The woman killed after opening fire at that megachurch in Houston had a lengthy criminal and psychiatric history, but somehow was able to get her hands on an AR-15. There are some indications that she may have been partly motivated by the church's open support of Israel.

- A legislator in Idaho has introduced a bill to amend the state's existing cannibalism law (yes, they have one) to make it an offense to "willfully provide the flesh or blood of a human being to another person to ingest without such person’s knowledge or consent". Fair enough I guess, but I don't think cannibalism is a major problem even in Idaho; apparently she was motivated by Washington's recent legalization of "human composting" and imagined that the compost resulting from this would turn up on the shelf at her local Home Depot (spoiler: it won't anyway) as well as a decade-old clip from a TV show in which someone was pranked into thinking they'd consumed human flesh, which led her to believe that cannibalism was going to be somehow "normalized" any day now.

News roundup, 12 Feb 2024

- Winnipeg's draft budget continues to be debated. On the positive side, the additional money for the planting and maintenance of city trees was well received by community groups like Trees Winnipeg, although the executive director of that organization fears that it won't be enough to make up for years of neglect. On the other hand, arts organizations are not happy that there's no money for public art in the budget.

- Also in city news - Mayor Gillingham gave his State of the City speech; he and Premier Kinew are looking at ways to increase the availability of housing, mostly by removing potential barriers (notably, the Municipal Board's ability to block housing developments already approved by council).

- An interesting fact - Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission, while sometimes thought of as a "regulatory body", is actually only able to make recommendations to the Minister. Until the Filmon government took power in 1988, this was not the case. The Manitoba Law Reform Commission has recommended changes to this and other sections of the Environment Act; a former deputy minister, Norm Brandson, has concerns about this, being of the view that elected officials should have the final say. This view has some populist appeal, but I'm not at all sure I agree. And it's worth noting that while the article does not say when Brandson held that position, this earlier one does; sure enough, he served from 1990 to 2006, which would make him a Tory appointee (albeit not one so partisan that the incoming NDP government saw reason to immediately get rid of him).

- The European Union is toning down its climate policies in response to a paroxysm of populist rage led by farmer protests. These protests aren't spontaneous, though; they're being whipped up by the usual suspects.

- On a more positive note, China's rollout of clean energy continues apace. Actually it's a bit better than that; international observers are now predicting that their emissions will peak much sooner than predicted even a few years ago, possibly as early as next year. And while the prospect of Trump retaking the White House is very disconcerting, some think that even that won't be the end of the world (though it will definitely mean the end of more individuals, and possibly more communities or even nations, than if Trump doesn't win). What a Trump victory will do, though, is pretty much guarantee that the US will fall behind in clean energy technology and will have to buy it from China and the EU.

- Fears of political violence are growing in the US. It's not just actual politicians who are at risk either; just ask this guy or this one. Oh wait, you can't - they're both dead.

- The Liberal candidate in the federal byelection in Durham booked an event at a small brewery in Bowmanville, Ontario last week, which was attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This, of course, sent the frothing-at-the-mouth right into a tizzy; the brewery was barraged with negative online reviews, offensive emails, and threatening phone calls. Now maybe you could argue it would be wise for businesses not to book such events at all, but never forget that these are the same kind of people who did the same thing to an Alberta restaurant for not hosting a Take Back Alberta event. Then again, consistency isn't a big thing for these people; they probably think it's only for big city libtard ay-leets anyway, and having to be consistent is an affront to their freedumb.

- The extent to which Canada (and most other developed countries) has urbanized in the last half century is dramatic. For example, in 1966 Ontario had a population of 7 million, of which 2.6 million lived in rural communities. In 2021, the rural population of Ontario has actually declined slightly to 2.5 million, while the overall population of the province had more than doubled. The biggest reason - fewer and fewer immigrants want to settle in those communities, something sociologist Lindsay Finlay attributes to limited opportunities as well as xenophobia. But as one comment on this Reddit thread points out, maybe it's a bigger problem than that:

This article doesn't really address the question of why you want to prevent these places from withering away? If less people need to live there because, for example, agriculture has become more efficient, is that a bad thing? Should policies just be focused on managing the decline rather than reversing it?

Of course, to a lot of rural folk, them's fightin' words.

- A physician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is alarmed at a dramatic rise in the incidence of congenital syphilis. Nor is the problem limited to Canada; the Center for Disease Control in the US reports an 80% increase in syphilis cases since 2018 and a staggering 937% increase in a decade. Curiously, the word "swinger" does not appear in either article.

- A woman opened fire at the Houston megachurch run by celebrity pastor Joel Osteen. Two people, including a child, were wounded before the attacker was shot to death by off-duty cops.

News roundup, 9 Feb 2024

- The proposed City of Winnipeg budget does not include money for the repair or replacement of the Arlington bridge. This is unfortunate; on the other hand the fact that it also doesn't include money for the widening of Kenaston or the extension of Chief Peguis may turn out to be a good thing in the long run; adding lanes almost never fixes congestion in the long run, due to "induced demand". And maybe the bridge issue will add to the impetus to relocate the rail yards, which would be better for everyone.

- Winnipeg's infamous Balmoral Hotel is now known as the Pimicikamak Wellness Centre; its guest rooms will be used by residents of northern First Nations while in the city for medical reasons. A daycare, walk-in clinic, and pharmacy are expected to be added soon.

- The US economy is doing well, at least by the traditional measures. This is awkward for the Republicans, not that they'll admit it of course. Well, except their leader.

- It will be interesting to see how the conservative judges on the US Supreme Court will be able to rationalize ruling in favour of Trump (if they do so as expected) in the Colorado ballot case. 

- Climate scientist Michael Mann has won a defamation case against two rightwing writers, journalist Mark Steyn (who used to write for the National Post) and policy analyst Rand Simberg, for calling his work "fraudulent" and comparing him to convicted child abuser Jerry Sandusky.

- Yang Hengjun, a Chinese-Australian novelist and blogger, has been sentenced to death by a court in China, albeit with a two year reprieve that could lead to his sentence being commuted. His crime was ostensibly "espionage".

- A man in Palm Beach County, Florida, is accused of murdering his father for getting vaccinated. Not to be confused with the guy in Pennsylvania who allegedly killed his dad for working for the feds.

News roundup, 8 Feb 2024

- A preliminary version of the City of Winnipeg's 2024 budget has been presented. Transit is faring better than I'd feared; the reworking of the system is still scheduled to go ahead and service will be added to some suburban neighbourhoods; on the downside the fares are expected to increase by 10 cents each year for four years. We may also see the ability to use credit or debit cards on buses (something implemented by other cities years ago). There's also more being budgeted towards urban forestry, and they're looking at new sources of sorely needed revenue. On the downside, three city pools and 20 wading pools will be closing.

- The city is also looking at selling landfill gas on the natural gas market, rather than just flaring it as they do now. This could mean a 40% reduction in emissions, as well as $10 million in revenue for the city over a 20 year period.

- Manitoba is making moves towards faster accreditation of foreign-educated healthcare professionals. This is very much needed, both for the sake of our healthcare system and the professionals themselves (lets face it, driving a cab isn't the living it used to be).

- The question of what Justin Trudeau should say about the American presidential election is a tricky one. There's said to be a tradition of Canadian and American leaders not interfering in each other's elections (well, JFK actively worked to elect Lester Pearson but I guess we don't talk about that). The thing is, Trudeau is naturally tempted to draw comparisons between Trump and Pierre Poilievre; this is definitely a bit of an exaggeration but there are similarities in their populist style (and stronger similarities in terms of who tends to support them). This could have short-term benefits for Trudeau if it forces Poilievre to take a position on Trump, but two senior diplomats are warning that this could make things much worse for Canada if Trump manages to win.

- The Conservatives continue to be at the top of the polls nationally. The latest Nanos poll has the Cons at 40%, the Liberals at 24.7%, and the NDP at 20.6%, with the other parties in single digits.

- A private member's motion by NDP MP Lisa Marie Barron, which called for a citizens' assembly on electoral reform, has been defeated, despite the support of all of the NDP, Green, and Bloc MPs as well as 40 Liberals and 3 Conservatives. The only surprise is that so many Liberals did vote for it; most of their colleagues, though, as well as all other Conservatives, voted to protect their own perceived interests.

- The US Environmental Protection Agency is tightening the rules on soot emissions. Industry groups, though, are making angry noises.

News roundup, 7 Feb 2024

- The City of Winnipeg's budget is expected to be tabled before council's Executive Policy Committee this afternoon. Mayor Scott Gillingham has already vowed that taxes will not increase by more than 3.5%, but given the city's known and expected costs many fear that this will necessitate service cuts.

- Several remote First Nations in northeastern Manitoba have declared a state of emergency because the mild winter has prevented winter roads from being put into operation, leading to shortages of essential supplies.

- Solar and wind produced 27% of all electricity in the European Union last year. Good news for everyone except the fossil fuel fans, though much more is needed to meet emissions targets.

- NDP MP Charlie Angus has introduced a private member's bill that would restrict advertising by the fossil fuel industry in a similar way to what was done with tobacco ads in the 1990s. Given that the two industries have very similar relationships with the truth, this seems like fair game, but no doubt the oil barons will do some extra rabble rousing among the "freedumb" sheeple if this bill looks like it might pass.

- Say what you will about Joe Biden, he's taken a very promising stand against the fossil fuel industry by announcing a halt to new permits for liquefied natural gas export terminals. He's also vowing to veto any Israel aid bill that doesn't also include aid for Ukraine and for the border. These might be signs that he's kinda, sorta developing a backbone, which is sorely needed if he's to move past his mediocre position in the polls.

- Water pollution with nitrogen compounds that cause potentially toxic algal blooms threatens the drinking water of 3 billion people worldwide.

- A California legislator has introduced a bill that would require all new vehicles sold in the state to be equipped with a governor that would use GPS information to determine the speed limit and prevent the car from exceeding the limit by more than 10 mph. Expect a lot of Rams and F-150s to suffer dents to the firewall under the accelerator pedal if this passes.

- Far-right American "journalist" Tucker Carlson conducted an interview with Vladimir Putin; Carlson may face sanctions from the European Union as a result.

- A man has been charged with handing out free samples of cocaine, with a business card attached, to casino patrons in Calgary. The name on the card was fake, and presumably the phone number was a burner, but he was caught anyway.

News roundup, 6 Feb 2024

- Conservative Party supporters in Canada are increasingly of the view that Canada gives "too much support" to Ukraine. When polling Canadians overall, 25% of those polled agreed with the statement, compared to 13% a couple of years ago - and among Conservative supporters this has jumped from 19% to 43% over the same time period. It seems like the Cons are betting on the Canadian public hating Justin Trudeau so much that they'll blindly vote for whoever has the best chance of beating him; sadly, it's a pretty good bet. Not that there isn't reason to dislike Trudeau, quite the contrary (just look at his latest gaffe for instance), but the public's willingness to jump from the frying pan into the fire is unfortunate.

- Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi is said to be considering a run for the Alberta NDP leadership. This could make for a very interesting provincial election in 2027. Nenshi isn't that left by non-Alberta standards, but he'd certainly be an improvement on their current premier.

- Calgary's current mayor, Jyoti Gondek, could theoretically face a recall election - that is, if the petitioner is able to collect signatures from 40% of the city's nearly 1.3 million residents by the 4th of April. Reasons cited include a bylaw prohibiting stores from giving out free single use bags, as well as tax increases and a deal entered into by the city and the owners of the Flames, among others, to build an event centre. Don't know enough about the event centre issue to comment but the other two reasons reek of rightwing populism, and I suspect the petitioner will be able to get some support from the same kind of people who show up at city hearings talking about "neighbourhood integrity" out of fear that someone might build a duplex down the street from them. Meanwhile in the neighbouring city of Chestermere, the mayor and half the council have been ousted by the provincial government; I know essentially nothing about the place, but the folks on Reddit seem to think this move by the province is a case of a stopped clock being right twice a day.

- On Thursday the US Supreme Court will be hearing Donald Trump's appeal of Colorado's move to exclude him from the ballot. This will be the first time in history that the court hears a case related to the "disqualification clause" in the Fourteenth Amendment; it seems that it would take some pretty intense mental gymnastics for self-professed "originalists" like the conservatives on the court to keep Trump on the ballot, but they may well find a way.

- The International Code Council is a nonprofit dedicated to developing model building codes. Lately they seem to have been bending to every demand of the natural gas lobby, even hastily changing their own rules to give the lobbyists more favourable treatment.

- The European Union had a plan to cut pesticide use in half by the end of the decade, as well as setting carbon reduction targets for the agriculture sector, but is backing away in the face of an outburst of populist rage.

- Apparently those convoy protesters who went down to Texas to "defend" the border against the supposed "invasion" were disappointed to see that things weren't as they'd been led to believe. The convoy's leaders managed to crowdfund a lot of money though, so there's that.

- Pakistan International Airlines just had a flight attendant walk away in Toronto and not show up for their return flight. This would not be very newsworthy in itself, but the same thing has happened several times in the last few years, which is starting to look like a pattern.

News roundup, 5 Feb 2024

- Some good news - the International Energy Agency (IEA) and others are forecasting that carbon emissions from electricity generation are likely to peak this year. This would be a welcome development for sure, as it gives hope that overall emissions could start falling, though there's a long way to go.

- That said, one of the hardest problems to solve is air travel. When people are polled about whether they favour "doing whatever it takes" to address climate change, some 80% of people favour action in the abstract, but when something specific is mentioned support decreases. In particular, any mention in the question about a "ban", "phaseout", or "mandate" triggers something in people's reptilian brains, and when the thing for which these measures are proposed is leisure travel, the problem is doubly hard. When philosopher Agnes Collard wrote an article last year entitled "The Case Against Travel" (which, incidentally, does not focus on the environmental consequences but simply whether travel accomplishes what people think it's "supposed" to accomplish in terms of personal growth) the Reddit community responded with fierce resistance (including a lot of ad homenim remarks like "The author has convinced me that I would not enjoy traveling with them").

- Also disconcerting is the power of the fossil fuel industry to get the sheeple to oppose green energy projects. At least 15% of counties in the US, many of them in the most productive areas for solar and wind, have banned or restricted such projects.

- Another issue - the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, aka the Jones Act, requires any domestic marine transport in the US to use US ships - and the US doesn't have the specialized ships used to build offshore wind farms efficiently, so the parts have to be hauled out on ordinary barges, adding costs and complexity to the process.

- A check of old documents has found that fossil fuel companies knew that climate change could eventually be a problem as far back as 1954. If nothing else, this might be useful in court to support litigation against those companies.

- Publicly available AI chatbots have "guardrails" in place to prevent people from getting the wrong sort of information from the services (e.g. information on bomb-making). Interestingly, though, these can sometimes be evaded by the use of obscure languages (such as Scots Gaelic or Zulu) because the chatbots have not been properly trained on those languages. Apparently you don't need to even speak the language, just put your question into Google Translate and put the output of that into the chatbot. Ironically, AIs not meant for the public, in wargame simulations, seem a bit too keen to recommend bombing.

- A passenger on a bus in Winnipeg demanded that the driver divert from the scheduled route to drop him off at a location he considered more convenient from him, and viciously attacked the driver when his request was denied.

News roundup, 3 Feb 2024

- Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill has become the First Minister of Northern Ireland, the first nationalist to do so. Whether this means the imminent reunification of Ireland is doubtful, though.

- More than 150,000 people protested against the far right in Berlin today. Reassuringly, this seems not to be an isolated incident either. Must be nice to live in a country that actually learned from its history.

- BC's Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Selina Robinson, has come under fire for comments made at a pro-Israel rally in which she described pre-1948 Palestine as "a crappy piece of land with nothing on it" which didn't produce anything. I guess maybe she was channelling John Locke, whose "labour theory of property" has been used in the past to justify taking land from people who weren't seen as making sufficiently good use of it.

- The conflict in Gaza has led to bitter divisions among scholars who study the topic of genocide. Some fear that the entire field of "genocide studies" is at risk from those divisions.

- An outbreak of measles in Europe has public health officials worldwide concerned about possible spread. Ironically, efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 are a contributing factor, due to delays in vaccination that resulted. The disease is one of the most contagious known and is fatal in 3 out of 1,000 cases, not factoring in nonfatal but still serious complications.

- Cryptocurrency "mining" is now responsible for over 2% of all electricity consumption in the US. 

- A Kenyan scientist is making building materials from waste plastic.

- The bar and vendor at Winnipeg's Sherbrook Hotel has closed, possibly for good. Not everyone in the neighbourhood is sorry to see it go.

- An oral surgeon in Newfoundland has pleaded guilty to allowing an unqualified prison guard to remove four teeth from a sedated prisoner.

News roundup, 2 Feb 2024

- The Manitoba PCs are accusing the NDP government of "interfering" in the operations of Manitoba Hydro, because they intend for new power generation to be built by the utility itself rather than contracted out. No surprise here, the Cons are an enemy of the public sector. A bit rich, though, considering how much they interfered with MPI as well as Hydro when they were in power.

- Half of all American adults now say that Israel has gone too far in their campaign against Hamas. 

- China installed more solar capacity last year than the US has in total.

- The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often referred to as "forever chemicals", be categorized as "hazardous to human health".

- Legislators in several American states are introducing bills aimed at stopping the use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria for public investments such as pension funds. One of the most extreme was introduced in New Hampshire of all places, and if passed would have made it a felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, for any official with the state treasury, pension fund or executive branch to "knowingly" make investment decisions using ESG criteria. Fortunately that bill was killed off in committee.

- A community organization called SABE Peacewalkers, which calls itself a "relationship-based de-escalation team", has come under fire after a couple of its members were caught on video being less than peaceful with vulnerable people.

- Glenn and Jennifer Ferris, a couple who installed security cameras in their home, are getting pushback from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, following objections from the home care staff looking after his elderly mother. This despite the fact that the cameras are on the outside of the house, and in rooms where the home care workers shouldn't have to go, which calls into question the workers' motives for wanting them turned off. The WRHA has threatened to withhold service if the cameras are not turned off.

- A trucker was arrested at the border crossing at Boissevain, south of Brandon, after allegedly trying to smuggle more than 400 kilograms of meth. That's equivalent to about three doses for every resident of the province.

- The erratic Lauren Boebert has called for measures such as "alligator moats" to secure the border with Mexico. Sounds like something out of Jacob Two-Two Meets The Hooded Fang rather than a serious proposal.