- 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment