Thursday, August 29, 2024

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.

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