- 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.
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