News roundup, 31 July 2024

- The leader of the political wing of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an airstrike in Tehran. Launching an airstrike at a foreign country to take out someone who lives there might seem to be a reckless move, but I'm guessing Netanyahu wouldn't mind a war with Iran. After all, he needs some kind of foreign threat in order to maintain his grip on power. And given that he's at risk of going to jail as soon as he leaves office, he has a rather strong incentive to retain power at all costs, no matter how many people (including Israelis) have to die as a result. As for the Americans, they say they hope it doesn't escalate, but that they'll step in to defend Israel if it comes down to it. Because, well...

- In 2016, Facebook introduced a feature called CrowdTangle, a feature that journalists have found extremely useful to track what's going viral. Now, parent company Meta has decided to shut it down, perhaps fearing that it reveals too much about the effects of Facebook's algorithms on the broader society. This is alarming to many, especially given that it's happening in the lead-up to one of the most divisive elections in American history.

- The County Recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, Stephen Richter, has been defeated in the Republican primary by far-right challenger Justin Heap. Richter, a moderate Republican, had been a strong defender of the integrity of the 2020 election, which naturally made him a target. Stuff like this does not bode well for the integrity of future elections.

- Following a mass stabbing at a children's dance workshop in the English town of Southport that killed three young girls, disinformation circulating on social media attributed the attack to Islam (even though the actual suspect has no known links to the religion). As a result, rioters vandalized cars in the parking lot of a mosque, torched a police van, and injured several cops.

- Just weeks after a cyclist was killed in a hit and run on Wellington Crescent, a teenage cyclist was injured by another motorist. She'll apparently be OK, but the cycling community is calling for a 30 km/h speed limit for the entirety of Wellington. That might be a big ask; even though much of the street is already subject to such limits during the summer, the section from River to Academy is a major route for motorists and one could expect a lot of sound and fury from them if such measures were taken there.

News roundup, 29 July 2024

- The fire that devastated Jasper last week went from nothing to uncontrollable in less than 48 hours. The extremely dry and windy conditions in the park, as well as the numerous dead trees from the mountain pine beetle infestation, created a 100 metre high wall of flame that firefighters could do nothing to stop. A former Parks Canada scientist believes Banff's days may be numbered as well; he thinks proper risk mitigation around that community could take 20-30 years, and the risk of another huge wildfire in the meantime is high.

- The wildfire situation in the western US is no better. The town of Paradise, California, devastated in a fire in 2018, is under notice to prepare for another evacuation, along with several nearby communities, due to a fire that has already damaged structures. Further south another fire in the Sequoia National Forest has forced more evacuations.

- Joe Biden is calling for term limits and enforceable ethics rules for the US Supreme Court. The chance of getting this through the current House of Representatives, much less meeting all the other requirements for a constitutional amendment, is pretty much nonexistent though.

- Israel blames the Lebanese based militant group Hezbollah for a rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah has denied responsibility, but Israel is bombing first and asking questions later.

- A megachurch in Oakville, Ontario is "pausing" programming because their insurer is unwilling to renew coverage for liability following sexual abuse allegations against one of their pastors.

- A Westjet flight from Las Vegas to Winnipeg was cancelled due to weather, but not before the passengers were left waiting for hours in 40 degree heat in the idle aircraft without air conditioning. The flight was initially delayed due to being overloaded and having insufficient fuel, and by the time those issues were resolved the weather had taken a turn for the worse, leading to the cancellation.

News roundup, 26 July 2024

- An estimated 30-50% of the structures in Jasper have been burned in the wildfire that hit the town yesterday. Surprisingly one of the videos embedded in that article shows that parts of the town survived with no apparent damage; on the other hand the iconic Jasper Park Lodge has been damaged, although the main building is apparently intact. While the destroyed parts of the town will doubtless be rebuilt, some on this Reddit thread fear that when it does come back it will be more like Banff than like the Jasper they knew and loved. One thing that should definitely be considered, though, is replanting burned areas of the park with different tree species, in particular broad-leaved trees from further south that are both less flammable and better adapted to a warmer climate. This would probably be at odds with Parks Canada's philosophy, because they'd doubtless like to bring the park back to the way it was before, but primeval conditions are probably gone irrevocably no matter what, so better to plant something that's good for the longevity of the park in the long term (not to mention the safety of the people living in Jasper itself).

- In California, the state's largest wildfire so far this year has been attributed to someone pushing a burning car into a gully. The fire has burned more than 500 km² near the city of Chico in the Central Valley. An arrest has been made but there is no information about the suspect or their motives so far.

- The Democrats will be holding a virtual vote on the presidential nomination as soon as Aug 1. Candidates will have until July 27 to declare their candidacy. A convention will still be held later in August, but it will be symbolic only. This is necessary to minimize the risk of the nominee being kept of the ballot in some states.

- Saboteurs damaged high speed rail infrastructure at multiple locations in rural France in what is believed to be an attempt to disrupt the opening of the Olympics. Many high-speed routes are out of service, and the situation is not expected to be fixed until early next week.

- While Norway is a leader in the reduction of fossil fuels at home, they seem to be betting on the rest of the world continuing to burn them. They continue to issue new licenses for fossil fuel exploration; they argue, though, that if they don't drill someone else will anyway.

- The mayor of Wasaga Beach, Ontario is addressing rumours of people defecating on the beach. According to the mayor, the town has seen no actual evidence of this occurring; I suspect that the folks in this Reddit thread are correct in saying that the stories are being circulated by far-right extremists trying to play up stereotypes of immigrants.

News roundup, 25 July 2024

- The worst fears for Jasper have been realized as the wildfire that sprung up almost overnight swept into the townsite. The full extent of the damage is not clear, but the photos that have come out so far suggest that not much will be left when the smoke clears. This hits home to many people more than other recent wildfires since a lot of us have actually been there; spare a thought, though, for the people who actually lived in the town.

- A new poll indicates that Kamala Harris is winning over swing voters following Joe Biden's withdrawal from the race. To anyone with the slightest bit of political awareness it is downright bizarre that there are any swing voters; how ignorant do you have to be to think "maybe I'll vote for a Democrat, or maybe I'll vote for Donald Trump". But heck, we'll take it. Meanwhile Colorado Republican representative Lauren Boebert is peddling MAGA conspiracy theories that Joe Biden is already dead.

- A delegation from Manitoba, including housing minister Bernadette Smith as well as the mayors of Brandon and Thompson, is visiting Houston to study their efforts to house the homeless. Houston has adopted a "housing first" model that has successfully housed 30,000 people since it was initiated just over a decade ago.

- The City of Winnipeg is making it easier to build housing by eliminating the need for a traffic study for projects with 20 or more units. Of course the NIMBY types are up in arms; perhaps that's part of the reason that Coun. Brian Mayes, who notwithstanding his other virtues is all too happy to advocate for those people, has been dropped from the Executive Policy Committee. I'm not too keen on the fact that he is being replaced on the committee by the erratic Vivian Santos, but that's another story.

- The Manitoba government has denied a request by the City of Winnipeg to extend by two years the deadline to complete an extensive upgrade of a sewage treatment plant. The effluent from the plant is a significant contributor to the decline of Lake Winnipeg.

- Following electrical problems that cut power to some units of an apartment building in Toronto's St James Town neighbourhood, some residents expressed their displeasure by throwing their own feces at workers who had been sent to fix the matter. Evidently they don't understand that this will only prolong the outage; meanwhile some others think that the strongly worded letter sent to building residents advising them not to do this is an inadequate measure. Nonetheless, the Toronto Police Service does not yet have anything on file regarding the matter.

- The International Olympic Committee is strongly objecting to an American investigation into a scandal in which the positive drug tests of 23 Chinese athletes were never disclosed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The IOC is threatening to reject Salt Lake City's bid for the 2034 Winter Games unless the officials sign a contract affirming "respect" for the WADA.

- Remember the confrontation between two Niagara Regional Police officers back in 2018 that led to one of them shooting the other 10 times? The shooter, Det.-Sgt. Shane Donovan, was initially charged with attempted murder but stated that the other officer, Const. Nathan Parker, had pulled his gun first after previously attacking with a baton, following a dispute over bathroom breaks. Parker's own brother has described him as a "monster". Subsequently Parker was charged with assault with a weapon, but Donovan's testimony was later found to be tainted by having allegedly seen information that he shouldn't have had access to; his denial of this led to a perjury charge against him. He has now been acquitted of that charge. It's really not easy to get a conviction against a cop...

- A judge in St. Louis has overturned the conviction of a man who has served 33 years in prison for a murder. Christopher Dunn was convicted on the basis of testimony from two boys who later recanted their statements, saying they were coerced. The judge has ordered his release, but this has not yet occurred, and the state Attorney General Andrew Bailey intends to appeal the decision.

News roundup, 24 July 2024

- US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned following a grilling from a congressional committee regarding the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

- Marcel Colomb First Nation in northern Manitoba is evacuating vulnerable residents to Lynn Lake due to a wildfire. Further south, closer to Flin Flon, a wilderness camp has been destroyed by another fire; fortunately nobody seems to have been there when it happened. Meanwhile in Alberta, Jasper remains under evacuation following the pair of surprise fires that sprung up the other day, although a handful of residents refuse to leave and crews with helicopters are trying to find backcountry hikers. One of the fires is within 12 km of the townsite.

- A student at at Memorial University of Newfoundland emailed the university's board of regents as part of a campaign in support of pro-Palestinian protesters on campus. The chair of the board forwarded the email to her father; the father thought this to be inappropriate and replied accordingly, whereupon the chair replied "I am telling parents that I know just what their kids are doing. They need to grow up." The university is investigating.

- Donald Trump is apparently having second thoughts about his selection of JD Vance as his running mate this fall. Vance was apparently selected to appeal to Trump's base, not swing voters, and the withdrawal of Joe Biden from the race has changed the dynamics in a way that worries some Trump allies.

- Given Trump Nation's obsession with fossil fuels, as well as their disdain for science and reason in general, many scientists are quite fearful of what another Trump administration might mean for them. Many fear that it will be worse than the previous one, especially with Project 2025 to guide them.

- An American manufacturer of herbal supplements has announced a nationwide recall of one of their products, marketed as a pain reliever, after the discovery of acetaminophen and two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in samples of the product.

- The coach of the Canadian women's Olympic soccer team has withdrawn from coaching a match against New Zealand, and two staffers have been fired, following revelations that a drone was used to spy on the New Zealand team.

- A Portage la Prairie man was one of seven people charged and publicly named in connection with a teen sexual exploitation case, only to have the RCMP suddenly say "oops, he had nothing to do with it". The retraction comes a bit too late for him, though, given that he's already been facing the wrath of the public for two weeks.

- Two teenage boys in Saskatoon have been arrested following the robbery of a 7 year old girl's lemonade stand. One of them, aged 16, already had outstanding warrants, while the other, 14, was in possession of a knife and was allegedly in violation of a previous court order.

News roundup, 23 July 2024

- Kamala Harris has come out swinging in the campaign, having raised a record $81 million in campaign donations in a 24-hour period. This may bode well for her chances in the fall, though even if she gets the votes in the necessary states it remains to be seen if she'll get the electors. The members of the Electoral College, one of the more bizarre things you can find in a modern democracy, are not constitutionally bound to vote the way the citizens want them to. In some states "faithless electors" can be legally punished, but even in that case their votes still count. And nothing will necessarily stop a Trump-friendly state legislature from appointing their own electors in place of the ones chosen by the citizenry, especially with a Trump-friendly Supreme Court waiting to hear any challenges. And whatever else happens, it will be a nasty campaign. The Republicans are trying to argue that Harris is not entitled to money that was donated to the Biden campaign. Most experts argue otherwise, saying that since she was going to be on the same ticket anyway she is entitled to the money. It might be more problematic if someone else is chosen, but that seems to be academic now that Harris has enough delegates to secure the nomination.

- Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign following the failure to stop the attempt on Trump's life. So far she has stood firm, but I suspect her days in the position are numbered.

- Given continued greenhouse gas emissions, many are looking more closely at geoengineering. This is raising considerable alarm, as the possibilities for unintended consequences are significant, and is also a potential distraction from better solutions... but if those better solutions aren't forthcoming for political reasons, it might nonetheless be necessary.

- A wildfire has forced a last-minute evacuation of Jasper National Park in Alberta, including the Jasper townsite.

- The Executive Director of St. Boniface Street Links, Marion Willis, was fined for trespassing after visiting that North End apartment building whose tenants who were evicted en masse last week. Willis, who was working to assist the tenants, says this resulted after her organization's lawyer contacted the landlord's, and the latter attorney responded by saying that all Street Links staff and volunteers were banned from the premises; Willis attended anyway and was fined. She plans to fight the ticket. One would think she has a good case if she was attending as a guest of a tenant. Meanwhile, tenants returning to their units following the province's order are finding almost nothing in the units - in at least one case, even the appliances were removed.

- The City of Winnipeg's recent push to take action against the owners of vacant buildings is not going unopposed. Lawyer John Prystanski, a former city councillor who never met a slumlord he didn't like, is representing three of them, and is demanding that the city cancel invoices issued to his clients for the costs of fighting fires, claiming that the vacant building bylaw is not being properly applied.

- Besides the developing zebra mussel situation at Clear Lake, the invasive molluscs have been found at the St. Malo Reservoir south of Winnipeg.

- Two Alberta men are being charged with uttering death threats against Justin Trudeau; one of them is also accused of similar threats against Jagmeet Singh and Chrystia Freeland.

News roundup, 22 July 2024

- Joe Biden has abandoned his bid for reelection and endorsed Kamala Harris. European leaders are praising him for his decision (even if it comes a bit late in the game) as well as for his actions as President. One thing is clear - you likely won't see much talk about the candidates' ages coming from the Republicans anymore.

- Many Republican strategists fear that their legislative agenda will alienate women. Many Democrats hope for that very thing; certainly if Harris becomes the candidate as expected she is expected to put this front and centre. And there are promising signs that the Republicans may have peaked too early; hopefully a relatively fresh and young candidate will be able to take advantage of this.

- While OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly made statements about the need for caution with AI, whistleblowers from his company say that in actual practice he is using the traditional Silicon Valley "move fast and break things" approach.

- Over half of Turkey's power grid is now supplied by renewables, though they have a long way to go to catch up with places like the EU. The shift has been recent, and seems to be primarily motivated by a desire to reduce dependence on Russia, who supplies most of their fossil fuels.

- The zebra mussel situation at Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park is not looking good. Parks Canada is still looking at what measures they can take, but this ship may well have sailed. In other invasive species-related news, some lakes in Manitoba seem to have been illegally stocked with largemouth bass (a popular species with sport anglers). This is a potential problem for native trout and pickerel species.

- Manitoba's Residential Tenancies Branch has ordered the owners of that North End apartment block to reverse the eviction of all their tenants. Still not a good look, especially given that the landlord threw out some tenants' possessions without warning. The province warns that additional orders, and charges, may be pending. In other somewhat promising Winnipeg housing news, a long-vacant block in the Riverview neighbourhood has been purchased by Fisher River Cree Nation and may well be up and running by next year.

- CO₂ levels are now comparable to what they are thought to have been in the middle of the Pliocene epoch, around 3 million years ago. At that time the mean global temperature is estimated to have been about 3°C above present levels; this can be expected to happen over the next few decades unless dramatic changes are made right quick (and possibly even then). Much of Greenland was ice-free at the time; sea level may have been close to 10 metres above current levels. For an idea of what that might look like, check out this site.

- It's so hot in parts of the US that pop cans are under significantly more pressure than usual. When carried in airplanes, they're sometimes bursting as a result. In 20 cases, injuries have resulted.

- A former Ukrainian MP was fatally shot on Friday. She had been a member of an ultranationalist party and had drawn criticism for not considering Russian-speaking Ukrainians to be properly Ukrainian; nonetheless, this is not the optimal way of dealing with people with problematic views.

- Thefts of catalytic converters have dropped significantly in the past year. Some of this may be attributable to legislation that makes it harder for thieves to sell them, but a big part of it is simply that the precious metals in them aren't worth as much as they were before.

- At least 12 Russian soldiers died after eating poisoned watermelons in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

News roundup, 19 July 2024

- A problem with a piece of cybersecurity software, Falcon Sensor, has knocked a lot of Windows computers offline, affecting numerous industries. The product's manufacturer, CrowdStrike, attributes this to a software update. It didn't affect any of the systems at my workplace, but caused major disruption elsewhere; Porter Airlines had to ground all their flights this morning because of the outage. Air Canada and Westjet were not affected, though some American carriers were. Much more serious, it had a significant impact on healthcare in some places; kinda gives a whole new meaning to "Blue Screen of Death".

- Bookmakers are saying that Donald Trump's chances of winning this fall have declined since his speech at the RNC yesterday. David Axelrod, who served as Barack Obama's chief strategist for both of his campaigns, called the speech "the first good thing that's happened to Democrats in the last three weeks". It's worth noting, though, that the day before bookies were saying that Joe Biden's chances had fallen since his COVID-19 diagnosis.

- People close to Biden are apparently saying that he might be recognizing the need to drop out of the race. Publicly, though, he still says he'll be staying on. One thing is clear, though - the longer this uncertainty goes on, the worse things start looking for the election.

- A federal court has blocked the remaining parts of Biden's student debt relief package that had not already been blocked in a previous decision. Whether this will motivate young voters to vote for the Democrats, or give them the impression that it's pointless, remains to be seen.

- The wife of Corey Comperatore, the man killed at the Trump rally last weekend, says she has yet to get any message of condolences from the former president. Meanwhile, one doctor is questioning the nature of Trump's injuries, pointing out the fact that no medical report has been made public, suggesting that what actually wounded him was glass from a teleprompter that was hit in the shooting (which doesn't sound as cool as actually taking a bullet, of course).

- A blogger with far more patience than I have has gone through the recently released transportation master plan for Winnipeg and found some curious paradoxes. While a lot of ink is spilled (rightly) on the need to shift to more sustainable modes of transportation and get more cars off the road, and to give priority to maintaining existing roadways rather than building new ones, 42% of the spending recommended in the plan is actually for building new roads. The blogger suggests that "the whole 'new roads' angle really reads like someone wrote a good plan, then someone else came up behind them with a red marker to insert road expansions as a key priority, in order to justify what they already want to do".

- Apparently the risk of developing "long COVID" has declined since the early days of the pandemic. Vaccination is thought to be a possible reason, though changes in the virus itself may also be a factor. In any case, the risk of developing long COVID after getting infected is still about 3.5%, which is not insignificant.

News roundup, 18 July 2024

- US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reportedly had a "blunt" private conversation with Joe Biden this past weekend; the exact nature of the discussion has not been made public but I think we can guess. Interestingly, there are signs that the message might be getting through; several top Democrats are predicting his exit from the campaign as early as this weekend. And Kamala Harris is filling in for him on the campaign trail as he recovers from COVID-19. The Republicans seem to suspect that something may be coming as well; they're already testing out new messaging for attack ads. Meanwhile some recent polling suggests that both Biden and Harris are statistically tied with Trump; note however that this polling predates the actions of that over-zealous patriot over the weekend.

- Steelmaking is responsible for 11% of CO₂ emissions worldwide. In a positive development, though, 93% of new steelmaking capacity announced so far this year will be done with electric arc furnaces, which produce far less in the way of emissions.

- In 1977, an article in Marathon World, an internal company publication of Marathon Oil (now Marathon Petroleum) warned that climate change from fossil fuel use could cause "widespread starvation and other social and economic calamities". This is awkward for Marathon, since they are one of a number of oil companies now being sued by the City of Honolulu for subsequently engaging in activity to promote climate change denial.

- Seamus O'Regan has resigned his position as Minister of Labour and Seniors, apparently for family reasons, and while he will stay on as MP until the next election, he will not be running again. I don't doubt that the family reasons are real, but I can't help but think maybe he'd have been more inclined to stick around if he thought there was any chance of holding onto government after the next election.

- Tom Brodbeck is (rightly) praising the City of Winnipeg's moves towards a more bike-friendly city. He's not the first person to point this out, of course, but better late than never. Gotta hand it to him, Brodbeck has become a much more thoughtful writer on this as well as numerous other subjects since moving to a paper that allows you to write thoughtfully on any non-sports subject. Of course the suburbanites are whining about losing a few parking spaces in the downtown that they would otherwise blather on about being scared to visit.

- Five climate activists in the UK who organized a blockade of a major motorway have received substantial prison sentences. One of them received a five year sentence while the others got four each; the article suggests that these are the longest sentences for nonviolent protest in UK history. I don't know, could they have meant recent UK history? I'm sure that during the Troubles the authorities had relatively little compunction about jailing nonviolent protesters, given that at times they showed a willingness to shoot them en masse.

- A Georgian neo-Nazi, Michail Chkhikvishvili, was arrested in Moldova earlier this month and extradited to the US on charges that he was attempting to recruit someone to poison candy and give it out to minority children while dressed as Santa Claus in New York City.

- A Florida woman who had booked a birthday party for her daughter at a roller rink in the Tampa suburb of Brandon became incensed when the venue cancelled the booking. Apparently the contract required her to hire two off-duty deputies to provide security and the cancellation resulted from her failure to do this. It seems she did not take it well; she apparently made a series of social media posts urging her followers to "tear the fuck out of them". Around 500 people obliged; she has been charged with inciting a riot.

News roundup, 17 July 2024

- The City of Winnipeg has released a transportation plan that calls for residents to be using private automobiles for no more than 50% of trips by 2050 (it's currently about 80%). Of course 26 years is a long time; one would hope that some reductions in car use could happen before then.

- The UBC professor who made an injudicious tweet about the attempt on Donald Trump's life was apparently responding to another one by Shoshanah Jacobs, a biology professor at the University of Guelph, who had posted the video of the shooting with the comment "When 4 inches really matters". That university is also investigating the matter.

- Trump has selected JD Vance as his running mate for the fall. I guess Mike Pence was never in the running this time around. Vance apparently once declared himself to be a "Never Trumper", but it turns out he really meant "not a Trumper until it's necessary to further my political career". He's calling for tax rebates for fossil fuel powered cars instead of the ones for electrics, something that serves no real purpose other than to "own the libs". None of this, though, is enough to prevent some of the Republican base from making racist insults about his wife, who is the daughter of Indian immigrants.

- Wyoming has imposed restrictions on who can bid on oil and gas leases after a conservation organization, Wyoming Outdoor Council, bid on some leases in the hopes of preventing them from being developed.

- A severe storm hit Toronto on Tuesday morning, with roughly 76 mm of rain falling in the downtown core over a few hours and around 100 at Pearson Airport. Major flooding and power outages have resulted.

- Lab-grown meat has been approved in the UK for pet food; this is important because many pets (most notably cats) are obligate carnivores and can't live on a conventional vegan diet. Hopefully approval for human consumption will follow.

- Viet Duong Hoang, an engineering researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, has developed an autonomous drone that can recharge itself from the magnetic fields emitted by power lines without tapping into the lines So far, plans are to use them for the most obvious purpose - inspecting power lines.

- Remember Spirit Rising, the group home operator that made the news a while back for allegedly giving cannabis to their teenage wards, supposedly in the name of harm reduction? That already stretches the boundaries, but at least there was a kind of logic to it. More recently, though, it has been reported that they were also allowing their wards to be sexually exploited in return for alcohol and other drugs. That's worse than Sandra Guiboche's claim that she was helping with harm reduction because she was selling cleaner crack than the competition. And you can bet donuts to dollars that Poilievre will use this case as a "typical" example of harm reduction; one hopes that if he brings it up in an interview the reporter will ask him how many other cases like that he can name.

- Following an inspection that found that some fire safety systems were not working at a North End apartment complex, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service issued an order to the building's owner last Friday to remedy the situation. In particular, they ordered that the exits must remain clear and that a "fire watch" be put in place over the weekend, to keep the tenants safe until the problems were fixed. Instead the slumlord immediately evicted all tenants with no notice, giving them each a wad of cash equivalent to slightly over a month's rent to go away, presumably calculating that this would be cheaper than making the necessary repairs. Presumably they plan to either charge hire rents for the units once the fix is eventually made (essentially a low-budget renoviction), or else let the building become yet another vacant derelict building that someone can break into and burn down. Housing Minister Bernadette Smith is rightly appalled and condemns the mass eviction as illegal. Be nice if the province could just seize the building, fix it up, and permanently add it to Manitoba Housing's stock; we'll have to see.

- Members of a community Facebook page for Saskatoon's Fairhaven neighbourhood (yeah, those kind of people) are calling on the city to prune the lower branches of pine trees in parks in the hopes that this will stop people from sleeping under them.

- Winnipeg lawyer David Davis has pleaded guilty to professional misconduct after punching an articling student in the groin. He has been convicted of professional misconduct on three previous occasions; nonetheless he escaped with a six month suspension.

News roundup, 15 July 2024

- A would-be assassin fired shots at Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump escaped almost unscathed, although one person in addition to the shooter was killed and two were critically wounded. The shooter was a registered Republican, but had also donated to ActBlue, a Democratic PAC. Condemnation of the attack has come from across the political spectrum, including from Biden; the motive for the attack remains under investigation. Disinformation, of course, is spreading wildly, with one expert on the subject calling the attack "an accelerationist's wet dream". The possible consequences remain to be seen but will probably not be positive in this political environment. In the past, similar incidents have boosted the target's popularity.

- Following the attempt on Trump's life, a professor at UBC's medical school tweeted "Damn, so close. Too bad." BC Conservatives are calling for her dismissal; while the government doesn't run the day-to-day operations of the university, the Cons are apparently counting on the masses not to know that and are hoping to use this to score political points.

- Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the classified documents case against the former president. Ostensibly the reason is the manner in which special counsel Jack Smith was appointed to the case, but I think we all know the real reason. The full ruling can be found here.

- Following an incident in which pro-Palestinian protesters were sprayed with a noxious chemical, Katherine Franke, a law professor at Columbia University, gave an interview with Democracy Now in which she spoke about allegations that the attackers had previously served in the Israeli army (which uses the chemical in question). In the course of the interview she stated that a number of former Israeli soldiers had attended the university and had been known to harass Palestinian and other students. Some interpreted her words as a call for the banning of all Israeli students from campus; this is likely to have negative consequences for her career.

- One of the problems with selling Canada's system of carbon taxes and rebates to the masses is that banks seem to have been concealing the nature of the rebate, giving it a generic label like "federal payment". As a result, many people don't even know that they're getting it You'd almost think the banks had their thumb on the electoral scale. New legislation requires the payments to be identified with standardized labels.

- Doug Ford seriously considered a deposit/return system for pop bottles and cans. The beverage industry was on board, but the grocery chains went ballistic, and the government disbanded the working group studying the matter earlier this month. I guess if nothing else, at least I'm spared having to say something good about Doug Ford.

- The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and several agencies that certify meat as kosher are taking the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to court. Although the kosher slaughter method is not prohibited, the organizations are arguing that the CFIA guidelines, which are designed to limit the suffering of the animals, are onerous enough to cause some slaughterhouses to pull out of the kosher business entirely; the organizations say in their court submission that "Canadian Jews' access to essential kosher meat products is in jeopardy". Well I hate to break it to you, but meat, kosher or otherwise, is not an "essential" part of anyone's diet, Jewish or otherwise. That said, if it can be shown that kosher slaughter without the mandated extra measures involves no more suffering than typical slaughter, then I'd be open to their claim that this is unwarranted discrimination.

- A player was killed in what is believed to have been a targeted shooting at a soccer complex in suburban Winnipeg. The shooting is believed to have been targeted; it happened in the parking lot outside the complex after a game.

News roundup, 13 July 2024

- Jeremy Skibicki has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of four women after the judge rejected his lawyers' arguments that he should be found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder. He faces an automatic sentence of life in prison with no eligibility for parole for at least 25 years.

- The US House of Representatives has passed a bill which prohibits non-citizens from registering to vote. If your first thought was, "wasn't that already illegal?" you would be entirely correct. In fact, it is a felony. And contrary to claims that huge numbers of migrants voted last time around, actual instances of this are extremely rare. So from a practical point of view, the bill is useless, though from a populist politician's point of view it is potentially very useful as a rallying point. Democrats fear that the measures contained in the bill would make it more difficult for actually eligible voters to register, something that suits Trump and the Republicans just fine.

- Many Democrats fear that previously safe states could be in play thanks to Joe Biden's refusal to leave the presidential race. Worryingly, his gaffes continue; earlier this week he confused Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Vladimir Putin at a press conference. Meanwhile, Trump seems unusually disciplined in the face he shows to the public. I don't know, it's not a good sign when a dottering old man is the only thing standing in the way of fascism.

- The Manitoba government is providing money for a safe consumption site in Winnipeg, to open in 2025. The site will be run by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre and will provide numerous other services. Pierre Poilievre says that he intends to shut such sites down, at least in certain areas; he claims that they have "made everything worse". The available evidence suggests otherwise, but populist politics is not about that ay-leet stuff like evidence.

- A five-storey warehouse in inner-city Winnipeg is in such bad condition that a neighbouring residential building has been evacuated, as officials fear that the warehouse is in imminent danger of collapse. Looking at those photos, things sure don't look good; the city evidently concurs, as they have ordered the building demolished starting Monday.

- The UN projects the world population to peak within this century as a result of falling birthrates. From an environmentalist point of view this is definitely a good thing, while from a capitalist point of view it is definitely a bad thing - much for the same reason. From a public policy point of view it will definitely involve its challenges (those associated with ageing populations) but I have to say that's still a lot better than the alternative.

- Temperatures are so high in places like Death Valley that it's not always possible to fly helicopters due to the lower density of warm air and the resulting reduction in lift. This actually prevented a rescue helicopter from being sent to help a motorcyclist who succumbed to heatstroke in temperatures as high as 53°C.

- Following an assault on a paramedic in Victoria, first responders are saying that they will only attend calls on the block where this occurred if they have a police escort.

- Some landlords have taken to using AI chatbots to interact with their tenants. Does that sound like a good idea to you? If it does, you might be a landlord.

News roundup, 10 July 2024

- Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado has said publicly what many people have been thinking for some time - that Joe Biden cannot beat Donald Trump. And even Nancy Pelosi, who is no spring chicken herself, is hinting that Biden should reconsider his decision to stay in the race. Even longtime supporter George Clooney is calling for him to withdraw.

- Some jurisdictions in the US are looking at introducing mask bans, blaming masks for "emboldening" protesters to commit acts of vandalism or violence. Notably, this includes some relatively progressive cities such as New York and Los Angeles, which seems strange until you consider that it's largely a measure against pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The fact that COVID-19 infections seem to be on the rise ought to make them reconsider, but since no politician seems to want to admit that...

- The Israelis bombed a crowd of people watching a soccer game at a school playground, killing at least 31 people. No doubt they'll claim to have prevented a terrorist attack or something.

- The Manitoba government is extending funding for the remainder of the summer for the crackdown on retail crime. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe acknowledges, however, that simple crackdowns aren't enough; you also need to address the root causes.

- The City of Winnipeg is looking to tighten boarding standards for vacant buildings to prevent break-ins and resulting fires, as well increasing the related fees. They are also looking at speeding up the process to seize such buildings so that they (or at least the land they're on) can be put to good use actually housing people.

- A pastor whose wife had her seat upgraded when he didn't reportedly lost his temper and hit her in the head. He has been charged with assault.

- Chinese authorities have arrested a man who allegedly tried to smuggle 100 live snakes in his pants.

News roundup, 9 July 2024

- Democrats in the House and Senate seem reluctant to talk to the media about what was discussed in a meeting this morning about Joe Biden's future. One representative, on being asked if there was a consensus in the meeting, replied that "the consensus was not to talk to you guys". Another, who spoke anonymously to NPR, said the meeting was "like a funeral"; a third, when asked if they were on the same page, replied "We’re not even in the same book". If something isn't done soon, Joe Biden could be remembered as the American version of Paul von Hindenburg.

- Hot on the heels of National Rally's defeat in France's parliamentary elections, party leader Marine Le Pen is being investigated for campaign finance irregularities from her last presidential campaign.

- Michelle Ferreri, Conservative MP for Peterborough-Kawartha, tweeted her thanks to the Peterborough police for their arrest of a suspect in a homophobic hate crime. Pretty reasonable; much as I'd like to condemn everything a Tory says or does, I can't fault her for this. Evidently some of her constituents think otherwise, though; following the tweet she was bombarded with hate messages calling her a "fake Conservative" as well as far worse things.

- Scientists say that Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, was worsened by high ocean temperatures. Of course you can't tell Texans that, even as they're picking up the pieces from the hurricane hitting the Houston area. The remnants of the hurricane are expected to have an impact as far north as Toronto.

- The world's largest wetland, the Pantanal in Brazil, has not been so wet of late, and as a result has been devastated by wildfires.

- The IDF bombed an encampment of displaced people in Gaza, killing dozens. I guess they figure those people must be mad at being displaced, which obviously makes them a security threat. Can't be too careful, right?

- Several Silk and Great Value dairy substitutes have been recalled due to potential Listeria contamination. None of the products in question are soy-based; perhaps those products are made in a different facility.

- Migrants who arrived on the island of Diego Garcia, in the British Indian Ocean Territory, are being denied legal representation because the US, who operate a military base there, refuses to allow lawyers representing the migrants to set foot on the island. Supposedly this relates to security concerns regarding a site visit of some sort that would coincide with the migrants' hearing.

News roundup, 8 July 2024

 - French voters in the second round of parliamentary elections have largely rejected the far right; Marine Le Pen's National Rally came third after the left alliance and Macron's centrists. The party's parliamentary leader Jordan Bardella, who hoped to become prime minister, declared that "alliances of dishonor" were responsible for the outcome; perhaps he's learned something from the late Jacques Parizeau. Building a viable coalition may take some time; they don't have a lot of experience with hung parliaments there.

- Joe Biden says he's still not quitting. Unless something happens soon, the Democrats are going to be stuck with him for the fall. This is ungood.

- California has imposed permanent restrictions on water utilities across the state, requiring the utilities to reduce their total consumption by around 40%. How the goal is to be met is up to the individual utilities. There are also efforts by the WWF to encourage other places to grow the crops that California has traditionally supplied. Meanwhile in Florida, where the citrus industry has been decimated by disease, efforts are being made to get farmers to grow pongamia trees, potentially a valuable source of biofuel. Getting farmers to switch away from crops they've been growing for years isn't easy, but it's going to be increasingly necessary in the coming years.

- Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to fraud in connection to the 737 Max disasters in 2018 and 2019, following revelations that the company violated a settlement related to the accidents.

- Solar power is growing so fast that it may be the biggest source of energy on the planet in a decade or so. Growth that experts had predicted could take 20 years happened in only 6. And various industries, notably data centres, are moving to "behind the meter" projects that produce electricity in their own microgrids without having to worry about such matters as feed-in tariffs.

- Canada's new anti-greenwashing law is already spooking energy companies into removing claims from their websites about how environmentally friendly they are, even as they try to claim that the sites they've taken down aren't greenwashing.

- 21 species are being removed from the US Endangered Species list; unfortunately the reason is that they are thought to be extinct.

- Ukraine's largest pediatric facility was severely damaged in a Russian missile strike. At least two people were killed there, in addition to 34 others killed in strikes in other locations.

News roundup, 5 July 2024

- Kier Starmer will be the UK's Prime Minister as his Labour Party has scored a decisive victory over the Conservatives in yesterday's election. They are projected to win 412 seats, though a number of seats still have not been decided. The Conservatives are forecast to win 122 seats, and the centrist Liberal Democrats 71. The SNP is down to 10 seats, while the Greens, Reform UK (the former UKIP) and Plaid Cymru win four each. This is Labour's second biggest win ever after Tony Blair's victory in 1997; a detailed breakdown is here.

- In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally are now expected to fall short of a majority in the second round of parliamentary elections this weekend, so France is safe from a fascist takeover for the time being. That's not to say there aren't problems, as evidenced by a disturbing number of threats and acts of violence against candidates and party activists in recent days. Nonetheless, Emmanuel Macron's roll of the dice may have paid off.

- In the US, Joe Biden is down two points following last week's disastrous debate. Interestingly, Trump didn't actually make any gains, suggesting that there may be a firm limit to his support. Unfortunately that's still more than enough for him to win unless something changes, and Biden is still vowing to stay in the race (so far at least). His campaign points to polling that suggests that none of the proposed replacements would fare significantly better than him - but they have far less name recognition, something that would change if one of them became the candidate. New reports that Trump is being accused of sexually assaulting a 13 year old ought to be decisive but probably won't convince his diehard supporters to change.

- TVO's Steve Paikin suggests that Justin Trudeau's best chance of holding onto power might be to revisit the electoral reform that he previously rejected. In principle this might well be true, although in practice it would be very difficult to actually implement this in time for the election. While there is no legal requirement for a referendum, making such a sweeping change without one might be a bridge too far, politically (and if one were somehow held, it would be seen as a referendum on Justin Trudeau by too many people). Plus, even if the change were somehow made in time for the next election, the Bloc would effectively become kingmaker, and they cannot be trusted not to back the Conservatives.

- Manitoba Hydro warns that millions of dollars of infrastructure investment are required to maintain the reliability of the power grid in the province. This includes upgrades to the power plants themselves (one of which dates back to 1911) as well as towers, lines, etc.

- Liquor Control Board of Ontario employees are striking as of today, something expected to greatly increase sightings of pink elephants in the province. Issues include too much dependence on part-time workers as well as plans to put alcohol in convenience stores.

- The City of Winnipeg has approved over 6,600 new housing units, a figure expected to rise to 8,000 by the end of November. Of those, at least 123 are considered "affordable", though the devil is in the details with something like that. Actual construction of these units will doubtless take a few years.

- A Toronto police detective with the force's drug squad was arrested in neighbouring Mississauga and charged with impaired driving, leaving the scene of an accident, fleeing police, and possession of cocaine and meth. Two Peel Regional Police officers were reportedly injured in the course of the arrest.

- A 72 year old man in Florida has been arrested for shooting a Walmart delivery drone as it passed over his house; he apparently believed that he was under surveillance. Say what you will, but anyone who can hit a moving target 75 feet up with a 9 mm pistol is a pretty good shot.

News roundup, 4 July 2024

- Justin Trudeau refuses to commit to a national caucus meeting following the crushing byelection defeat in Toronto-St. Paul's, despite pressure from several of his party's MPs, though the astute reader will note that this is not the same as refusing to consider one. One MP who spoke anonymously said that several MPs are planning not to run in the next election, presumably seeing the situation as hopeless.

-  South of the border, there are hints that Joe Biden just might recognize that he's in over his head. According to unnamed sources close to him, he understands that his viability as a candidate may be on the line, although his public statements indicate otherwise. Of course a lot of people already know what the stakes are; whether he can be made to understand this remains to be seen. Nate Silver thinks it's worth a try, at least.

- Donald Trump is promoting a social media post that advocates holding a televised military trial for Liz Cheney on the grounds that she is guilty of "treason". The post was created by another user, but Trump's retweeting of it is all too much in character.

- The news is somewhat better in the UK, where the opposition Labour Party is expected to win today's election handily. Just how big the win will be remains to be seen.

- The City of Winnipeg is making moves to speed up the process by which vacant buildings can be seized by the city, to be sold to nonprofits for the construction of affordable housing. Clearly something like this is needed for numerous reasons; hopefully it can be made to work.

- One of the people injured in an act of arson in Winnipeg's Tyndall Park neighbourhood has died; the suspect has now been charged with manslaughter. Another resident of the same unit has survived but with what are expected to be life-altering injuries.

- Recent heavy rains have overwhelmed the drainage systems of the small but fast-growing cities of Morden and Winkler in southern Manitoba. Both cities have issued notices to their residents advising them to limit water use, though Morden's advisory has now been lifted. One business owner in Winkler whose restaurant was flooded says he hopes it's "not the future"; unfortunately stuff like this is likely to become more common.

- Hurricane Beryl is bearing down on Mexico after causing substantial damage in Jamaica as well as devastating two islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Ten people are known to have died, though this is expected to be higher once the situation in those islands becomes more apparent. Meteorologists say it's unprecedented for the hurricane season to take off this big, this early.

- A utility robot that worked at the city hall of Gumi, South Korea threw itself down a two metre drop after circling erratically, in an event being described as the "first robot suicide" in the country. You know the future looks bad when even the robots don't want to be part of it.

News roundup, 3 July 2024

- Hurricane Beryl is moving towards Jamaica as a category 4 hurricane, with winds of up to 270 km/h (145 kt). The storm has already killed at least six people and caused widespread devastation on smaller islands.

- Joe Biden's fitness to serve as the Democratic presidential candidate continues to be the subject of intense discussion. A longtime member of the DNC, James Zogby, is calling on the party to establish a process to replace him as candidate in the event that he drops out; Gavin Newsom has hinted that he is "ready to step up". All this, of course, presupposes that Biden is willing to go quietly; unfortunately all evidence suggests otherwise.

- Given the increasing chances of a second Trump presidency, the recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity is all the more alarming. Consider this:

The text of the ruling states: "Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority."

So much for checks and balances and all that good stuff.

The ruling goes on to specify that, while a former president is "entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts", there is "no immunity for unofficial acts'. But in distinguishing between "official" and "unofficial" acts, where the hell does one draw the line?

As it turns out, the Supreme Court doesn’t really know either. Several pages down in the ruling, we find the ostensible lead-up to an explanation: "When the President acts pursuant to ‘constitutional and statutory authority,’ he takes official action to perform the functions of his office. … Determining whether an action is covered by immunity thus begins with assessing the President’s authority to take that action."

So far so good. But then some confusion arises because "the breadth of the president’s 'discretionary responsibilities' under the Constitution and laws of the United States frequently makes it 'difficult to determine which of [his] innumerable "functions" encompassed a particular action'".

In other words, because the president is the president, any of his actions can at least to some extent be construed as official. The ruling concludes: "The immunity the Court has recognised therefore extends to the 'outer perimeter' of the President’s official responsibilities, covering actions so long as they are ‘not manifestly or palpably beyond [his] authority'".

Never mind that if you abolish the rule of law, the "outer perimeter" of authority is not exactly, um, palpable.

That has the potential to undermine many of the criminal cases against Trump as well, though that is probably academic if he wins the election anyway. Andrew Coyne goes so far as to say that the decision has "removed the last bar to Trump's dictatorship".

- The news is somewhat more promising in France, as leftist and centrist parties have withdrawn hundreds of candidates from the second round of parliamentary elections, to avoid vote-splitting that could give Marine Le Pen's National Rally a majority. Of course the French have a rather deeper cultural understanding than the Americans do of what it means to live in a fascist state.

- German industry is strongly embracing solar power, as companies generate their own power to minimize costs. In fact, the country plans on meeting 80% of its electricity needs by renewables by 2030. Ambitious, but some much-needed good news.

- The dysfunctional state of American politics is undermining plans for a global minimum corporate tax agreement. Biden is in favour of it but Congress isn't; of course if Trump wins in the fall it's dead for the foreseeable future.

- Oklahoma's Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, is ordering teachers in the state's public schools to teach the Bible in grades 5-12, and says that teachers who refuse could be stripped of their licenses. The state Attorney General's office says that there is no legal authority for the Superintendent to specifically mandate the content of classes, but Walters is confident that Trump's Supreme Court appointments will solve that problem for him.

- BC's building code has been updated to allow apartment buildings with a single staircase, something common in much of the world but prohibited in new construction in most of North America. At one time there was a good reason for the rule, since it was a fire safety rule, but new building materials mean that this is less relevant today, and it contributes to the shortage of "missing middle" housing. More info on this in this video.

- In what can only be a positive move, another school board has banned cellphones.

News roundup, 2 June 2024

- Two former Liberal cabinet ministers who served under Jean Chrétien are calling for Justin Trudeau to step down as leader following the loss of a longtime safe seat in the Toronto-St. Pauls byelection. Perhaps more relevant to Trudeau's plight, current backbencher Wayne Long, who represents Saint John-Rothesay in New Brunswick, sent out a mass email to the entire caucus calling for his resignation, and at least one caucus member responded with "Well said!"; Kingston MP Mark Gerritsen advised his colleagues to stop hitting "reply all" to the email.

- An Ipsos poll conducted between June 12 and 14 found that Poilievre's "Canada is broken" slogan is resonating with an awful lot of people. This is unfortunate, because while there is indeed a lot wrong with this country, if given the chance Poilievre is just going to break the country far more thoroughly than it currently is.

- South of the border, the fears being felt among Democrats (and indeed among democrats generally) are hard to ignore. Ezra Klein and Maureen Dowd are quite concerned for sure. Unfortunately Biden's family are urging him to fight on.

- Republicans are attacking an executive order issued by Biden three years ago which calls for federal agencies to promote voter registration and participation in ways that are "consistent with applicable law". Because you don't want the wrong kind of people to find it too easy to vote, right?

- In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally party won a plurality of votes in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday. France uses a two round system, so all constituencies where no candidate got more than 50% of the vote will hold a second round next Sunday, and candidates who received more than 12.5% of the vote in the first round will be on the ballot for the second. This means that vote splitting can still occur in the second round; a record number of constituencies will be facing three-way runoffs next week. Left and centre activists are calling for tactical voting to prevent National Rally from getting a majority.

- A Labor senator from Western Australia, Fatima Payman, has been indefinitely suspended from caucus for voting for a Green motion in support of a Palestinian state.

- Manitoba's Progressive Conservative party has launched their leadership campaign. Interim leader Wayne Ewasko does not plan to run; the deadline for candidates to register is Oct 15 and the convention will be held next April.

- Despite the federal government's imposition of binding arbitration, WestJet mechanics walked off the job anyway over the weekend, forcing the cancellation of the majority of the airline's flights on the busy long weekend. The strike has now ended.

- McDonald's say they will not be introducing a plant-based burger after a pilot study in San Francisco and Dallas failed. My guess is that the sort of people who want plant-based burgers don't want to go to McDonald's anyway. I know I don't.