News roundup, 30 Aug 2024

- Users of X/Twitter were warned by the platform that NPR's article about the Trump campaign's altercation with staff at the Arlington National Cemetery was "unsafe". Now it's true that sometimes the AIs that scan links for potential risks (such as malware) get it wrong, and an X representative said that this was indeed one of those false positives. It's hard not to wonder, though, if this was a direct move by Elon Musk to suppress a story that's potentially damaging to Trump. Without a doubt, there's potential for damage in the story; given the near-sacred status of the military in American mythology, having a Trump staffer shove a female employee of the cemetery who was just trying to ensure that rules set up to ensure respectful behaviour around the graves of fallen soldiers is not a good look. And some observers think Trump himself is in a state of panic as he loses it on his Truth Social platform. Perhaps the fact that new registrations by Democratic voters have dramatically increased in some swing states is contributing to his declining mental state.

- Republican Royce White, who is trying to unseat Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, went on a rant on his podcast about how Republicans trying to appeal to suburban women are "delusional" and "living in a cucked mentality". Given the electoral system and the demographics, though, you have to win over a fair chunk of that vote to get elected (even Trump knows that), yet White continues to push on. It's as if the far right true believers are the delusional ones.

- Cornel West seems to have been afflicted by RFK Jr.'s wild delusions about vaccines - or at least he's trying to pick up some votes that would have gone to Kennedy had the latter not dropped out of the race.

- A South Korean court has ruled that the country's climate legislation's lack of legally binding targets for greenhouse gas reduction is unconstitutional, because it violates the rights of future generations.

- Israel is buying Google ads to discredit the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), trying to present the agency as being in the pocket of Hamas.

- BC Conservative leader John Rustad is refusing to moderate his position on climate change. Notably Rustad was kicked out of the BC Liberals (who were already considerably to the right of their federal counterparts) over this very issue, yet now he's trying to get former supporters of that party to vote for his. One hopes it won't work, though you can't always count on voters to do the right or sensible thing.

- A youth pastor at Oak View Baptist Church in High Point, North Carolina has been charged with 30 counts of sexual battery against teenage victims. You can be sure, though, that the church will continue to say that drag queens are the real threat.

- The mayor of a municipality in New Zealand gave a nice concise response to a "sovereign citizen" who requested personal information about council staff.

News roundup, 29 Aug 2024

- A new poll, commissioned by Fox News no less, shows Kamala Harris doing increasingly well in key swing states. Trump isn't safely buried yet by any means, but this is a promising sign. The fact that Trump has been hit with yet another indictment probably isn't helping him at this point, nor the fact that his staff had an altercation with staff at the Arlington National Cemetery. Meanwhile Harris, wants unmuted microphones when she debates Trump, presumably so that he can show his true character on TV.

- People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier was in Winnipeg over the weekend to campaign for Sarah Couture, his party's candidate in the Elmwood-Transcona byelection. This could be good news for the NDP, assuming the visit has any impact at all, since the PPC could pull a few votes away from the Conservatives.

- BC United leader Kevin Falcon is suspending his party's campaign in the provincial election set for this fall, and endorsing the BC Conservatives. This could have unfortunate consequences for the province.

- Researchers at West Virginia University are looking for rare earth elements in abandoned coal mines. This is important work not only because of the importance of securing domestic sources for these increasingly critical metals, but also because it's necessary to show West Virginia's residents how there can be a life beyond coal.

- In much of Canada, public transit is recovering ridership following the precipitous decline at the start of the pandemic. Unfortunately in Manitoba this is not happening; in fact transit use has declined in the last year. One can't help but think that part of this is that for a couple of years the only people who did use the bus were people who had nowhere else to go, with all that this implies.

- Serial killer Jeremy Skibicki has been sentenced to four concurrent life terms with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. The sentencing hearing was a formality as this is automatic for first-degree murder.

- Robots are being deployed to assist police and security guards in many places in the US. The ones in use so far are not capable of any kind of deadly force and are primarily for reconnaissance; civil liberties folks are concerned about the use of AI and facial recognition software, though, not least for the potential for racial bias in the training of AIs.

News roundup, 27 Aug 2024

- Despite Justin Trudeau's unpopularity with the general public, his cabinet are standing solidly behind him - at least publicly. The fact that the party has no mechanism to force him out probably has something to do with that.

- A patchwork of treaties and compacts dictate how water in the Colorado River system is shared between Mexico and the various affected US states. The problem is, the rules were drawn up over a century ago, at a time when the watershed received a lot more rainfall than it does now, and serious conflicts are looming unless new agreements can be reached. The one silver lining is that those conflicts would probably be worked through in courts rather than on the battlefield, which is more than can be said for the situation on the Nile or, much worse, the Indus.

- An Irish climate scientist is calling on her country to be proactive in moving people and key infrastructure, such as railway lines, away from the coasts before sea level rise becomes too severe.

- The push to force workers back to the office continues. This article concedes that working from home generally does not harm productivity or collaboration - but still argues that the push for RTO is a good thing. It blames working from home for the so-called "loneliness epidemic", which is kind of dubious (how many of your strongest social connections come from work?) but also says the quiet part out loud by admitting that the decline in commercial real estate is one of the biggest reasons. Strangely, it also blames remote work for "the growing homelessness and crime in city 'ghost towns'", which seems to me to be getting it backwards - devaluing real estate is a potential solution to homelessness, not a cause. That said, it does mention one valid concern - a decline in commercial real estate means declining tax revenues for municipalities.

- The Manitoba government has appointed an adviser to the Hanover school division, which serves the city of Steinbach and surrounding areas and has thus been riven with culture wars. The Tory opposition, predictably, is making angry noises about the move.

- Further to the reports that 7-Eleven is considering closing up to 10 locations in Winnipeg, the one at Arlington and Notre Dame was robbed six times in a single day.

News roundup, 26 Aug 2024

 - Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has been arrested in France on suspicion of facilitating various crimes, including "fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism" through his company's app. Durov is a Russian-French dual citizen, and Russia is accusing France of "totalitarian" behaviour. Now that sounds pretty rich coming from the Russians; that said, it's worth questioning whether making it possible to securely communicate, which is no doubt useful for the above and other crimes, is sufficient grounds for considering you complicit in those crimes.

- The Trudeau government has slapped a 100% surtax on all Chinese-made electric vehicles, ostensibly to support the EV industry at home. This follows the lead of the US, which took similar measures earlier this year. The editorial board at the Globe and Mail are arguing that this is a necessary move, even as they claim that tariffs are generally a bad thing. I'm not sure it is so good on the big picture, though; while it's definitely true that Chinese EVs are subsidized heavily by the state, subsidies to shift away from environmentally damaging things such as internal combustion engines are a sound and reasonable move, and notably the Trudeau government is not above such measures themselves when it benefits Canadian workers.

- The Canada Industrial Relations Board has ordered an end to the lockout at Canada's two main railways. This was seen as necessary due to the economic impact of the dispute; however, the union plans to fight it in court, and raises concerns that such a move could make it harder for other unions in federally regulated industries.

- A startup called Form Energy plans to build the world's largest battery in Maine, as a measure to maintain the stability of New England's power grid and improve the capacity for the use of renewable energy on the grid. The battery is a new type called an iron-air battery that doesn't require a lot of the hard-to-secure materials needed to build many battery types.

- A new poll suggests that Texas might be within reach for Kamala Harris. While Trump still holds onto a 5% lead, which is outside the margin of error, things could get interesting if his lead continues to slip. Also notable is that of those who planned to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prior to his withdrawal, 44% had switched their allegiance to Harris, while only 21% had switched to Trump. If that holds nationwide, this is very good news.

- Manitoba health minister Uzoma Asagwara has announced that prescription birth control medications will be made available free of charge in the province. The measure has been applauded by many, though some would like to ensure that the "morning after" pill is covered as well, which it currently is not due to its not being available by prescription.

- Some cycling advocates in Winnipeg are calling for the introduction of the "Idaho stop" law in Manitoba. Under this proposal, cyclists would be permitted to treat stop signs as motor vehicles treat yield signs, and to treat red lights as motorists would treat stop signs. The part relating to stop signs makes a great deal of sense, since it enables cyclists to clear the intersection faster (which is beneficial to them as well as to motorists). I used to be more skeptical about the part related to traffic signals until someone tried to bikejack me at a red light last year. Getting a government to resist populist fury sufficiently to introduce such a measure might be a challenge though.

News roundup, 21 Aug 2024

- The Conservative Party of Canada posted a video to their Twitter/X feed which was supposed to promote their support of Canadian values. Funny thing is, the jet fighters in the video that were supposedly "defending our home and native land" turned out to actually be Russian; the party has deleted the video but not before someone found it and made a copy. You have to wonder - were they actually so sloppy as to not pay attention to what stock footage they were using, or was this meant as a dog whistle to far-right elements that actually like Putin? Hard to say, but it's not a good look either way.

- The Kinew government will allow municipalities to withdraw from the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region and the associated Plan 20-50. Not sure what the benefit for the government is; perhaps they're hoping to win Selkirk back in the next election, but I don't know if it will work.

- People in the AI industry have paid lip service to the need for caution with the technology. Now that a new bill before California's legislature seeks to actually regulate it, Silicon Valley is having a conniption.

- A Winnipeg police officer who allegedly threatened an employee of a convenience store is denying the accusations against him. Now of course you'd expect him to do that; however this isn't the first time this particular cop has been accused of abusive and threatening behaviour.

- Researchers at the University of Manitoba are working with Opaskwayak Cree Nation on a vertical farm project in the community. The crops are being tailored to improve their nutritional value, potentially reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

- The federal Liberal Party has withdrawn from Ottawa's Pride parade following a pledge of solidarity with Palestinians by the parade's organizers.

- A man who was the subject of a protection order related to his ex forced his way into her home in McCreary, Manitoba. When she escaped, he proceeded to go to her parents' house and kill them and her brother, then himself.

News roundup, 20 Aug 2024

- The 1972 report The Limits to Growth, commissioned by the Club of Rome, predicted that unfettered economic growth without sufficient regard for the environment would eventually lead to "the total stagnation of industrial growth and a significant decline in human welfare". Unfortunately, the report's predictions have been holding up pretty well so far.

- Justin Trudeau has appointed two new Senators to fill vacancies in the upper house, including journalist Charles Adler. The latter pick is not going over well with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, who are requesting that the appointment be rescinded owing to on-air comments he made about First Nations leaders in 1999 while a broadcaster for CJOB, for which the AMC filed a formal complaint with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Even Dan Vandal, a member of Trudeau's cabinet, expressed concerns about the appointment. Admittedly, Adler says that his political views have moderated in recent years and that he no longer considers himself a conservative, though I don't know if he has ever apologized for the specific comments he made in 1999.

- The controversy over Plan 20-50, the regional growth plan for the Winnipeg metro area, is not limited to the lunatic fringe. The City of Selkirk, the Town of Niverville and the RMs of St. Andrews, East St. Paul, and Headingley are expressing concerns about the plan, fearing a loss of control over local land-use decisions. Those concerns are certainly easier to sympathize with than the absurd idea that this is some sinister plot to lock people into their neighbourhoods, but it has to be noted that some land use decisions made by suburban and exurban municipalities have a significant effect on their neighbours. In particular, when they build huge suburban developments to house people who want to benefit from the jobs in Winnipeg and subject the city to the increased traffic and the resulting wear and tear on the streets, but don't want to pay taxes to support the city's people and infrastructure, their land use decisions should not be solely their decision.

- Ontario premier Doug Ford, who a few years ago cancelled over $230 million worth of wind power contracts in order to satisfy his rural base, has changed his tune somewhat; his government has presented plans to more than double the province's current wind power installations by 2034. Ford may be a scumbag, but he's no fool, and he knows he has to win some of the non-crazy vote in order to secure reelection.

- Efforts to control pollution from plastics have lead to negotiations for a global treaty on the issue. The negotiations began earlier this year; while some countries (among them Canada, the EU, South Korea, Rwanda, and Peru) want a global cap on production, other countries (such as Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and until recently the US) have opposed this, saying that the issue should be managed solely by recycling more. However, the Americans, perhaps not wanting to be in such company, seem to be changing their tune and have expressed willingness to impose a cap.

- When Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, went to a restaurant at Walt Disney World with her husband and her mother-in-law last year, they warned staff of her serious food allergies and asked repeatedly for them to be accommodated. Unfortunately, whatever accommodations were made weren't enough - she suffered a severe allergic reaction and died shortly afterwards. Her husband launched a lawsuit, and Disney attempted to have the suit dismissed on the grounds that when he clicked on the terms and conditions of his Disney+ account years previously, he had agreed to binding arbitration for "any dispute between you and us, except for small claims". Of course, once it hit the news clearer heads prevailed in Duckburg and they withdrew the request.

- San Francisco's city attorney's office has filed a motion in a state court to shut down 16 websites that "nudify" pictures of people. The sites use AI that is trained using porn, reportly including child porn. In a reasonable world that alone should be grounds for taking action, though I don't know the fine-grained legalities of that, especially in a country whose courts often label such activities as "speech" that is protected by free speech laws.

News roundup, 16 Aug 2023

- Earlier this month a Toronto man came across a group of people surrounding a man on the ground, and went up to see what was going on. Unfortunately, the people turned out to be plainclothes cops arresting a suspected fentanyl dealer, and one of them shoved him violently, causing him to strike his head on the pavement. For their part, the police are doubling down, charging the victim with somehow "obstructing" the people that he had no reason to believe were peace officers. One might think they'd have a better sense of public relations than to charge the victim, but that only applies if you assume they want to be loved rather than feared; perhaps most cops would prefer the latter.

- Ukraine's military has reportedly captured the town of Sudzha in Russia's Kursk Oblast, the largest centre so far taken in the recent invasion. Russia is downplaying the situation, saying that this is merely "the incursion of terrorist sabotage groups" and that "there is no front line as such".

- IDF soldiers blew up a water facility in southern Gaza last month. Their leadership is claiming that this was a rogue action not sanctioned by them; nonetheless the Canadian government is calling for an investigation (at least so long as said investigation doesn't lead to anything of substance).

- Manitoba is banning the use of cellphones in schools for K-8 students and restricting it to lunch and other breaks for grades 9-12. Some divisions had already introduced restrictions, but limiting such devices province-wide will come as a welcome move to most adults (helicopter parents excepted).

- An investigation into the cyberattack at the University of Winnipeg has confirmed that banking information of people employed at the university as far back as 2015, and other information including social insurance numbers going back to 2003, was taken. Some stolen information goes back as far as 1987.

- A Missouri woman who spent 43 years in prison for murder was released last month after a judge found that "clear and convincing evidence of actual innocence" had been presented. Despite this, the state's Republican attorney general refused to release her until the judge threatened to hold him in contempt of court.

- A restaurant owner in Owen Sound, Ontario was killed last year after following three patrons out of the restaurant after they left without paying. Police now say they made some arrests at the end of July but have released no details about the case so far.

- After the body of a man from Pimicikamak Cree Nation who drowned last month was sent to Winnipeg for an autopsy, remains were sent to a funeral home and sent back in a sealed coffin. Unfortunately, they sent the wrong body.

News roundup, 15 Aug 2024

- Canada's two main railways, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) are both in talks with their unions, and a strike and/or lockout is expected if they don't have a deal by the 22nd of August. The impact on industry in Canada as well as in the US could be dramatic.

- WestJet expects flight cancellations "for the foreseeable future" after 16 of their aircraft, representing some 10% of their entire fleet, were heavily damaged in a hailstorm in Calgary earlier this month.

- A new political party called the "Canadian Future Party", billing itself as a "centrist" party for "politically homeless" voters, has just been launched. The thing is, Canada already has a centrist party - it's called the Liberal Party. The interim party president is a former Conservative Party activist, which gives a clue to how they claim to position themselves; a moderate centre-right party might seem "centrist" if you think of the Liberals as "left". In any case, though, I don't see this party going anywhere of significance.

- Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American dual citizen who was arrested on a family visit last January, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason. The "treason" in this case consisted of donating $51.80 to a charitable organization that says it is focused on humanitarian aid and disaster relief; the Russians claim, though, that the organization provides arms to the Ukrainian military.

- Winnipeg has long been known as the "Slurpee capital of the world" despite not having suitable Slurpee weather for a sizeable chunk of the year. The reason is likely the fact that we have a huge number of 7-Eleven locations; up to ten of them could be facing closure in the near future, though. The chain attributes this to increased theft cutting too much into profit margins. Some folks in this Reddit thread, though, think that this might just be cover for questionable franchising decisions, especially given that some of the closing locations are almost new.

- Moosomin is a small town on the Trans-Canada just west of the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. The town is trying to resist the global trend of declining small-town and rural populations by paying people $30,000 to move there. I guess if you had a full-time remote job that could be attractive.

- The organizers of Texas' State Fair are prohibiting guns on the fairgrounds following a shooting at last year's event. The state's attorney general is not pleased with this, and is threatening to take them to court if they don't reverse their decision.

News roundup, 14 Aug 2024

- The City of Winnipeg is joining with 17 other municipalities in the metro area to come up with a loose plan for what the region will look like in 2050. Of course, whenever you talk about collective planning for a metro area, you trigger something in the reptilian brains of some of the simpler folk out in the sticks, resulting in people showing up at public meetings utterly convinced that they're going to be restricted to their own neighbourhoods because that's what some far-out unbathed basement dwellers have told them in the TikTok videos they make from their cars.

- The former clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, a Republican who claimed that the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump, has been found guilty of... trying to rig the election in favour of Donald Trump. It's sometimes said that "every accusation is a confession" with these people; in this case that adage applies perfectly.

- The Israelis bombed another school that was being used as a shelter for displaced people in Gaza, killing over 100 of them. Predictably, they claimed they were after Hamas operatives, but almost as predictably there is nothing to confirm the truth of this claim.

- Earlier this summer, independent videographer Samuel Seligson accompanied a group of pro-Palestinian protesters in New York City and filmed some of their actions. The protesters hurled red paint at the homes of several directors of the Brooklyn Museum as well as some other targets. While targeting their homes does seem to be crossing a line, the fact that Seligson has been accused of complicity with them and charged with felony hate crimes would seem to cross a line of its own.

- Ilhan Omar, the left-leaning member of Congress from Minnesota, has won her primary despite the efforts of the pro-Israel crowd to get rid of her. Two other left-leaning Democrats, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, were not so fortunate; both were defeated in their respective primaries after millions of dollars were poured into their opponents' campaigns.

- Ukraine is claiming success in their recent cross-border raid into the Kursk region of Russia. They say they now control over 1,000 km² of territory, though this is viewed with skepticism by some - but if nothing else they seem to be getting a badly needed morale boost as well as causing difficulties for Russia's activities in Ukraine.

- A Ukrainian refugee mother and son were viciously attacked with a baseball bat in an apparent robbery.

- A Texas judge who was set to hear a lawsuit from Elon Musk's X/Twitter against advertisers who pulled out of the platform has recused himself following revelations that he owns stock in Tesla as well as in Unilever, one of the defendants. I guess while having a conflict of interest is no big deal, having a conflict between your conflicts of interest is too much even for a Texas judge.

News roundup, 13 Aug 2024

- The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) has received numerous complaints about unprofessional actions by their staff at Ottawa International Airport. This includes overly invasive searches, sometimes conducted in front of other passengers, as well as damage to items carried and general power-tripping behaviour.

- Tim Walz has a history of relatively progressive economic policies (for the US). Interestingly, unusual for American politicians he's not a big investor; he owns no individual stocks or bonds, or really anything except his pensions from his careers in politics, the National Guard and as a teacher. To those want to avoid politicians who can take part in insider trading without consequence, this is a good thing, and in keeping with legislation he co-sponsored as a member of Congress in 2011 that would prohibits legislators and staffers from trading on non-public information. Interestingly, some in the r/austrian_economics subreddit think it's a sign of "financial illiteracy". Because of course it couldn't be integrity...

- The Manitoba government has reduced the number of moose hunting licenses to be issued to hunters from out of the province by 75% until 2030. Actual biologists think that this is a necessary (and in fact overdue) move, but outfitters really have their knickers in a knot.

- The Manitoba government has extended the funding for the retail theft initiative in Winnipeg, following positive results. The hard part, of course, will be changing social conditions so that the crime doesn't just surge back once suppression efforts are reduced.

- A woman was run over by a car and killed while lying on the road at 1:45 AM on Winnipeg's Harry Lazarenko Bridge. There have been a lot of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists in the city lately, some of them fatal, but this one sounds more like a suicide than an accident.

- A 15 year old boy suffered life-altering injuries after being attacked with a machete by another 15 year old over the weekend, in an apparent robbery.

- A man in Cairns, Queensland was celebrating a recent promotion to a ground crew position with a helicopter tour company when made the rather curious decision to steal a helicopter from his employer. He subsequently crashed it into a hotel, killing himself and injuring two hotel guests.

News roundup, 12 Aug 2024

- An ATR-72 turboprop operated by the Brazilian carrier Voepass crashed in a residential neighbourhood outside São Paulo, killing all 62 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft. Dramatic videos shot by onlookers show the aircraft descending in what appears to be a flat spin; preliminary analysis by Juan Browne (of the blancoliro YouTube channel) suggests that icing is a likely factor, though an official report is probably months away.

- Alberta premier Danielle Smith has been holding what she calls "town hall" sessions across the province, but unlike most events called by that term, these are not open to the general public but are for party members only, and the media is barred from such events. Independent journalist Katie Teeling did manage to slip into one of these events, though; the general picture that one gets is that UCP members are batshit insane, so that's probably the reason for the restricted access.

- Pickering, Ontario city councillor Lisa Robinson is being condemned by her colleagues for appearing on a far-right podcast by Kevin J. Johnston. Johnson reportedly declared that it's not her that's the fascist, it's all the rest of them. More seriously, in the course of the podcast several of Robinson's colleagues were labelled as "pedophiles" by Johnson (for no obvious reason except that it's become a standard far-right buzzword for everything they don't approve of) and their private phone numbers were posted along with their photos and a statement that they deserve "a baseball bat to the face". Johnson, a onetime candidate for Mayor of Calgary, has a long history of harassing people, including an Alberta Health Services worker who he was recently ordered to pay $650,000 for defaming her. For her part, Robinson also has a history of siccing her sheeple on her colleagues and has faced sanctions from council for her actions.

- Vancouver's integrity commissioner, Lisa Southern, has released a report that raises concerns about the work environment in Mayor Ken Sim's office, including the actions of two staffers who tried to discredit the commissioner of the city's park board. Southern's report comes as the city council, dominated by Sim's party, prepares to suspend the work of the integrity commissioner's office. Coincidence?

- Manitoba's francophone school division, which has already banned cellphones in its schools, is taking further measures to reduce students' screen time by limiting computer use by students to one hour per day.

- The City of Philadelphia has ordered its remote workers back into the office five days a week, despite the clear benefits to the workers of not having to go in. Interestingly, the city's leadership has admitted that it's not about productivity, but rather about a "leadership philosophy". Strangely, the folks at NPR, who are usually pretty good at asking the right questions, have not asked any about things like commercial real estate.

- China, perhaps inspired by the bizarre "birds aren't real" satire of conspiracy theories, has developed an actual drone that looks like a bird.

News roundup, 8 Aug 2024

- Justin Trudeau was in Winnipeg earlier this week, attending several Folklorama pavilions and a Black History Manitoba event. He did not, however, make an appearance in the Elmwood-Transcona riding where a byelection is in progress. This is probably a good thing given that the NDP is the only party with a realistic chance of beating the Conservatives, but it's a sign of how toxic Trudeau's brand has become.

- A law passed last year in Minnesota that requires schools to provide menstrual products such as tampons to students in grades 4 and up is being used by the Republicans as "evidence" of Gov. Tim Walz's supposed radicalism; they've given him the nickname "Tampon Tim". The Democrats, though, don't consider this to be the insult the Republicans think it is. Analysts are still trying to figure out whether Walz was a good choice for a running mate; his lack of ties to the "coastal elites" is definitely a positive, though some wonder if his relatively progressive policies will spook voters. The latest polls, though, suggest a positive trend for the Harris/Walz ticket. Walz is also well liked by environmentalists, though this may not be as big a selling point as it ought to be.

- Carla Devlin, the mayor of East St. Paul (and a potential candidate for the leadership of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party) has been hired by Sio Silica as its vice-president for Manitoba. This doesn't help the Tories in their attempt to distance themselves from their attempts to ram through the approval of a sand mine during the dying days of their government.

- The BC government is using Singapore as a model for housing policy. The plan calls for the use of "government, community and non-profit owned" lands to increase the availability of rental housing. Critics argue that this will be hard to replicate. This seems counterintuitive on the face of it, since it ought to be easier to take action when there's more land actually available, but maybe the real problem is in convincing the masses that it's necessary. Singapore does have the advantage of being a unitary city-state and thus does not suffer from the jurisdictional and funding issues involved with a federal system like we have in Canada, though.

- Several books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, and other authors are now banned in all of Utah's public schools. The law even specifies that the books cannot be sold but must be "legally disposed of". But yeah, we're supposed to believe that the Republicans are all about "freedom".

- Fugitive Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont made an appearance in Barcelona to address a crowd of thousands. He slipped away before the police could get their hands on him; a police officer has been arrested for allegedly helping him escape. A massive manhunt is now on for him.

- Three Taylor Swift concerts scheduled in Vienna have been cancelled after organizers were warned of plans for a terrorist attack. One suspect has been arrested and found in possession of possible bomb-making substances; two others remain at large.

- A Russian chess player has been accused of attempting to poison one of her rivals with mercury at a tournament in Dagestan. Amina Abakarova has reportedly confessed to the crime after her actions were caught on video.

News roundup, 7 Aug 2024

- Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Some info about him here; he's apparently fairly well liked by those on the (relative) left. Meanwhile Harris seems to be gaining somewhat in the polls; she's ahead of Trump nationally, though the situation in critical swing states is murkier.

- Apparently Texas and Florida, despite being extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, are gaining population from migration within the US. That's certainly counterintuitive, but it makes sense if you consider the fact that the kind of people who want to move to those states are more likely to be climate change deniers.

- In parts of rural America, solar energy rollouts are a lifeline to many farmers, but they often have to endure the wrath of their neighbours thanks to the success of the right in making clean energy a culture war issue.

- A new potassium-ion battery has the potential to free the green energy industry from dependence on lithium. Unlike sodium-ion batteries, this design has a similar energy density to lithium and could potentially quite easily replace batteries in existing devices.

- Rightwing American commentator Matt Walsh says he's willing to "fight to the death" to protect the precious freedom of Americans to use plastic cutlery. That's cool, as long as his opponent gets to use a steel knife while he uses a plastic one.

- The family accused of staging an antisemitic attack against their Winnipeg restaurant in 2019 are now in Los Angeles, having been given approval by the court to relocate there while waiting for their trial. The prospects of extradition are slim, though; due to limited resources such measures are usually reserved for the most serious crimes, and I guess crying Focke-Wulf doesn't qualify.

- Elon Musk is trying to sue advertisers for boycotting Twitter/X. Apparently advertisers aren't keen on their ads showing up next to neo-Nazi propaganda, but Musk is accusing them of colluding on this matter, in violation of antitrust laws.

- A cyclist died after rear-ending a stopped semi in south Winnipeg. According to one of the people in this Reddit thread, he was actually riding an e-bike; one wonders if the bike was modified to remove the speed limiter that such vehicles are supposed to have.

- The City of Winnipeg has signed a new contract with Tartan Towing, despite the fact that the city is in the midst of suing that very company for allegedly billing the city for tows that never occurred.

News roundup, 6 Aug 2024

- Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate today. The most likely choices are two governors, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, as well as Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. Polling suggests that Kelly is the most popular with the public.

- A Virginia man has been charged with posting large numbers of threats to social media. Targets include Kamala Harris as well as Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, and FBI director Christopher Wray.

- Across the UK, the rioting sparked by disinformation about the identity of the suspect in the mass stabbing in the town of Southport that killed three children continues. The suspect is Rwandan and has no apparent connection to Islam, but the rioters aren't letting the truth get in the way of a good time.

- A former sessional lecturer at Brandon University believes that at least half of his students have used AI to cheat. Among other things, he says some of their essays referenced sources that didn't exist (a common issue with using AI for this purpose). On a possibly more positive note, there seems to be a backlash building against the widespread use of AI, with some companies withdrawing their use of the technology (or at least not promoting their use of it anymore).

- Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre is looking at installing weapon scanners to reduce the risk of violence to front line staff.

- Fentanyl was involved in four out of five overdose deaths in Canada last year. Up until now, most of the fentanyl sold on Canadian streets has been imported, but since 2019, when China cracked down on the export of the drug, more of the production has been domestic. The pandemic, with its impact on supply chains, has accelerated the trend. Now I'm all in favour of "on-shoring" industry, but maybe not this one.

- The man convicted of manslaughter after throwing the trailer hitch that fatally injured Barbara Kentner in Thunder Bay in 2016 has had his day parole revoked following several breaches of his conditions. These include impaired driving, theft, and associating with people with whom he was ordered not to consort. The parole board also noted that he'd gotten a Confederate flag tattoo while on day parole, which doesn't speak favourably to the success of efforts to rehabilitate him.

- Power utilities are paying people to hand over control of their thermostats during high demand periods. The energy savings are significant; the utilities sometimes refer to such measures as "virtual power plants" because of the amount of additional energy they make available to the system.