News roundup, 31 Dec 2024

- Gerald Butts, a former advisor to Justin Trudeau, thinks Chrystia Freeland's resignation from cabinet increases the likelyhood of Trudeau stepping down. Whether that matters or not is another question; in a recent poll, 25% of Canadians said that none of the potential candidates for the Liberal leadership were appealing to them. This is higher than the degree of support for any of the hypothetical candidates, including Mark Carney at 18% and Chrystia Freeland who is tied with Trudeau at 11%. Of course Carney and Freeland will likely wait for Trudeau or his short-term replacement to crash and burn in the hope of getting credit for rebuilding the party later on.

- Apparently another Jeju Air Boeing 737 reported landing gear issues similar to those apparently experienced by the aircraft that crashed on Sunday. And others are reporting that the plane that crashed had been forced to divert only two days before the accident. Stuff like this does not build confidence in the airline's maintenance culture.

- Donald Trump is calling on the US Supreme Court to delay the implementation of legislation that will ban TikTok in the US if it is not sold by its parent company by then. This has led to speculation that his puppeteer Elon Musk is hoping to buy the platform.

- The Saudi-born doctor accused of ramming his car into a Christmas market in Germany appears to be a Muslim apostate and a supporter of the far-right AfD party. This will no doubt be ignored by AfD when they use him as an example of why they shouldn't allow immigration from such countries.

- Belgium is banning disposable e-cigarettes as of the new year, both for environmental reasons and because they're suspected of getting teens addicted to nicotine.

- Ten years ago, Manitoba premier Greg Selinger routinely rode his bicycle to the legislature for work. Wab Kinew does not, due to security concerns, something that does not speak well to the evolution of our political culture.

News roundup, 30 Dec 2024

- Jimmy Carter, possibly the most decent human being to occupy the White House in living memory, has died at the age of 100. He probably didn't want to wait around for Trump's inauguration anyway.

- An Embraer 190 operated by Azerbaijan Airlines on a flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, Chechnya has crashed after diverting to Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board. Russia is attributing the crash to a birdstrike; however, images of the crashed aircraft show shrapnel damage that is not consistent with this, and footage from inside the aircraft indicates that the cabin had depressurized. This has led others to suspect that the aircraft was damaged by Russian air defense systems, especially since according to some reports there was Ukrainian drone activity in Chechnya around the time of the crash. Russia is predictably warning against promoting "hypotheses" about the incident, but Azerbaijan says that it was indeed a missile and claims that the diversion to Aktau was necessary because the Russians wouldn't let them attempt a landing at Grozny.

- Skepticism about the Russians' claims about the Azerbaijan Airlines crash notwithstanding, a birdstrike is being investigated as the possible cause of a landing gear problem that led a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air, a low-cost South Korean carrier, to crash and burn at Muan, killing 179 people. Two flight attendants are the only survivors; they were apparently seated in the tail section which separated before the rest of the fuselage was consumed by fire.

- Finland has seized an oil tanker after an undersea electrical cable between Finland and Estonia was disrupted just as the ship passed over it; it is suspected that the ship's anchor caused the damage. Finland suspects that the tanker, which is officially registered in the Cook Islands, is actually part of Russia's "shadow fleet" and that the disruption of the cables was deliberate. Sweden is calling for NATO members to meet to discuss the matter.

- An Oregon pet food company, Northwest Naturals, has recalled one of its products after discovering that it was infected with avian influenza.

News roundup, 24 Dec 2024

- The outgoing Biden administration is trying to push through a new regulation that will require natural gas utilities to address leakage from distribution networks. There are already requirements for them to address large leaks (big enough to cause an explosion) but the administration wants them to take into account the climate impact of leakage. Of course, it's questionable whether the incoming administration will let such a regulation survive. On a positive note, though, the gas industry does seem to be losing the war in the long term; the total installed renewal energy capacity in the US is expected to exceed that of natural gas within a few years. And the owners of a coal-fired plant in Texas have received federal funding to convert the facility to a solar farm.

- The judge who will be hearing Luigi Mangione's murder trial is married to a former Pfizer executive. This has led to skepticism among some as to whether he will receive a fair trial. Meanwhile, someone claiming to represent United Healthcare is submitting takedown requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to suppress the sales of merchandise depicting Mangione's face and related materials. No explanation why United Healthcare has any copyright in such images, but they're not letting that stop them. And a poll has found that 41% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 consider Mangione's actions "acceptable".

- Donald Trump wants to take back the Panama Canal from Panama, saying that shippers are charged "ridiculous" fees to use the canal. Perhaps we'll soon be hearing accusations of drug trafficking against Panama's president; it's not like stuff like that hasn't happened before.

- Honda and Nissan are in merger talks in the hope of becoming the world's third largest automaker and thus increase their competitiveness against Toyota and Volkswagen, not to mention Tesla and Chinese upstart BYD.

- The gas tax will be returning to Manitoba in the new year, albeit at a lower rate than before the tax holiday brought in by the government. I still think a reduction in the PST would be a more equitable, not to mention more environmentally friendly, way of providing tax relief, but that's just me.

- A Flin Flon man has had his charges of possessing child pornography thrown out due to excessive delays in the case. This is in keeping with a 2016 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that limits the time to prosecute to 18 months in most cases. A major factor in the delay was the RCMP's failure to hand over evidence in a timely manner.

News roundup, 23 Dec 2024

- Justin Trudeau's new cabinet includes eight MPs who have never served in cabinet before. Given that Jagmeet Singh has decided that enough is enough and that the NDP is ready to vote non-confidence at the first opportunity, they may have little more to show for it than the right to say that they were once a cabinet minister.

- Manitoba's government hopes to have some movement on the homelessness file in the near future; they plan to have people moving from encampments into more stable housing within the first few months of 2025.

- The US narrowly averted a government shutdown after passing a budget at the last minute in the wee hours of Saturday morning with some provisions sought by the Democrats removed.

- Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates so as to deprive Trump of the pleasure of kicking off his second term with an orgy of executions.

- Ukraine's prosecution service says that at least 147 Ukrainian POWs have been executed by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Of those, 127 occurred just this year.

- In a rare bit of good news on the invasive species front, a population of the Asian Giant Hornet (often known as the "murder hornet") that got established in Washington State a few years ago has apparently been eradicated, as has another population in BC. Across the Atlantic, a population in England seems to have been contained as well. Of course, it's a lot easier to locate nests to eradicate when the target is a spectacular orange and black wasp that grows up to 5 cm long and is active out in the open during the daytime than it is with many invasive animals.

- A 31 year old employee of a manufacturer in Michigan is accused of stabbing his boss at a staff meeting.

News roundup, 20 Dec 2024

- Donald Trump is suing media outlets who report negative stories about him. Among the defendants are a newspaper that published a negative poll about him (he's suing the pollster too, of course), as well as the Pulitzer Prize foundation for giving awards to newspapers that reported on his ties to Russia.

- Justin Trudeau is reportedly preparing to announce a major cabinet shuffle today, in an attempt to fill the holes left by recent resignations; meanwhile more MPs keep coming out of the woodwork and calling for him to step down. For his part, Jagmeet Singh is unwilling to commit to bringing down the government in a confidence vote, but he isn't saying he won't either; he says it depends on the specific situation at the time of the vote. This is an eminently reasonable position, but unfortunately it probably won't endear him to a public who, especially in these times, tend to view caution as dithering.

- As has been predicted for some time, insurance companies are starting to cancel policies in areas facing serious climate-related risks. Nearly 2 million policies have been cancelled since 2018 for such reasons.

- Joe Biden has directed the Environmental Protection Agency to give California a waiver to enable the state to ban the sales of new fossil fuel-powered cars and light trucks by 2035. Eleven other states are also on board; the hope is that this will delay Trump's efforts to reverse course on EVs long enough for the automakers to shift their production to a degree that they won't want to undo.

- Montana's supreme court has upheld a ruling by a lower court that issuing permits for fossil fuel extraction without regard for climate change is a violation of the right to a clean environment that is written into the state's constitution.

- Residents of a Winnipeg apartment block who were evacuated last spring after structural issues were found in the building have been allowed to return home, though some lack confidence in the safety of the building and are declining the offer.

- A Winnipeg police officer who crashed his motorcycle last year was acquitted of impaired driving because the folks who took the blood samples used as evidence somehow "forgot" to label them with the date.

- Police in the Spanish town of Soria got a break in a missing person case when they found a Google Street View image of someone stuffing a corpse-sized object into the trunk of a car. Further investigation led to the discovery of remains believed to be the victim and the arrest of the deceased's ex and her new boyfriend.

News roundup, 19 Dec 2024

- Following the retirement of Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth, the city's police board had announced earlier this month that they had a candidate for the new chief and would make an announcement by the end of the year. However, this decision has now been deferred; Coun. Markus Chambers, the chair of the board, says that this is needed in order to "ensure the selection is the best decision" for the force. The Free Press has revealed that the board was planning to appoint the current deputy chief, Gene Bowers, and that the deferral was because of unspecified allegations against Bowers that were emailed to the board.

- Assiniboine College in Brandon is shutting down five programs following the federal government's decision to cap the number of international student visas it issues. This is happening to a number of post-secondary institutions in this country. Some are faring even worse; Oakville-based Sheridan College announced last month that it is suspending 40 programs.

- California has declared a state of emergency as avian influenza spreads through the state's cattle, while in Louisiana officials are reporting the first case of serious illness in the US due to the disease.

- A BC man who suffered from chronic back pain as well as bipolar disorder received approval for medical assistance in dying, however his family claims that he subsequently told them he did not want to go through with the procedure. He appears to have changed his mind; after leaving hospital on a day pass, he went to a MAID clinic and got himself put to sleep. His family is now suing the federal and provincial governments on the grounds that his psychiatric condition rendered him incompetent to make such a decision.

- The Wisconsin teenager who killed two people and wounded six before turning the gun on herself at the ironically named Abundant Life Christian School appears to have had an interest in school shootings and neo-Nazi ideology, based on examination of her internet activity. Apparently her profile picture on Tumblr was a screenshot from a security camera from a previous shooting.

- Three men have been arrested in the UK and are now facing extradition to Canada in the death of Sharif Rahman, a well-loved restaurant owner in Owen Sound, Ontario. Rahman was beaten to death outside his restaurant after confronting dine-and-dash customers over an unpaid $150 tab.

News roundup, 18 Dec 2024

- Many Liberal MPs are now calling on Justin Trudeau to step down. This includes people like Francis Drouin, who had previously defended the prime minister. Notably, another MP who had previously been silent, Chad Collins, said that Chrystia Freeland received a standing ovation at the caucus meeting following her resignation from cabinet. Whether this will be enough to overcome Trudeau's ego remains to be seen. Meanwhile the Globe and Mail is reporting that Freeland's resignation came after Trudeau told her in a Zoom call that he intended to replace her with former central banker Mark Carney; curiously, Carney himself has so far said nothing about such a plan. Jumping the gun like this on a highly competent and loyal member of cabinet is not a good look for the PM.

- The school shooting in Wisconsin yesterday appears to have been the work of a 15 year old female student at the school, who appears to have shot herself. A manifesto entitled "War Against Humanity", claimed to have been written by the shooter, has been circulating on social media, though its authenticity has yet to be confirmed. The school in question is a private institution called the Abundant Life Christian School; it's almost as if posting the Ten Commandments in schools isn't enough to prevent violence. Who'd have thought?

- Joe Biden is now calling for a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. That would be an excellent idea, but it's rather unfortunate that he waited till now, when the proposal has nearly no chance of going forward in the foreseeable future, to speak up about the matter.

- Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland in July on an Interpol notice from Japan, has been freed after Danish authorities refused to extradite him. The Danish justice minister says that this is because of a lack of assurances from Japanese authorities that time served would be deducted from whatever sentence he received; given that he was facing up to 15 years in prison, it seems odd that Japan was unwilling to waver on a few months.

- A dietary supplement, Bovaer, has the potential to significantly reduce methane emissions from cattle and other ruminants when added to their feed. Of course, it would be much better to eliminate the farming of such livestock entirely, but it's probably unrealistic due to the romanticization of agriculture in so many different societies. Unfortunately, even this modest measure is receiving a lot of pushback from the masses, some of whom apparently think this is yet another sinister plot to control their minds or some such nonsense.

- Doctors Manitoba has been placing recruitment ads in several Republican-dominated American states, notably the Dakotas and Florida, suggesting that the political environment here might be better for them than where they are currently. A worthwhile move, though probably more useful for getting ob-gyns than regular family doctors.

- The Thompson Citizen, the last remaining local newspaper in the northern Manitoba city, is expected to shut down in the near future. The province has lost 31 news outlets since 2008.

- In much of Canada the number of "winter days" (defined as days in a year with temperatures below 0°C) has decreased significantly in just the last decade. Vancouver has lost 19 such days since 2014 and Toronto has lost 13; Winnipeg has only lost one so far, though.

News roundup, 17 Dec 2024

- In a surprise move, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from Justin Trudeau's cabinet, mere hours before she was scheduled to deliver the government's fall economic statement. Freeland says her resignation was prompted by Trudeau approaching her about moving her to another cabinet role. She also cited concerns about what she calls "costly political gimmicks" (assumed to refer to the GST "holiday" that began this past weekend) at a time when Freeland believes it is necessary to "keep our fiscal powder dry" owing to the uncertainties arising from the impending Trump presidency in the US. Freeland says she will remain as an MP and plans to run for the Liberals in the next election; whether Trudeau will allow her to run under the party banner (or whether he'll even be leader by then) remains to be seen. In the meantime, the fiscal update was tabled by Liberal house leader Karina Gould; subsequently public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc was appointed finance minister. And housing minister Sean Fraser has also announced that he will be leaving cabinet and will not run again next year. And the Liberals were defeated yesterday in yet another byelection, this one in BC.

- In Ontario, there is speculation that an early election may be in the offing; presumably the Ford government sees hard times coming due to the looming tariff threat from the US. The threats may not be limited to tariffs; some fear that the incoming Trump administration could push the US economy into stagflation, and something like that is likely to make it very difficult for all governments. So it's not surprising that they want to get the election out of the way before that happens. It's worth noting that when David Peterson called an early election in anticipation of a recession, he got thumped... not sure if we can hope for the same thing here though.

- The minority government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been defeated in a confidence vote in the Bundestag (the lower house of the country's parliament). The government's minority status and resulting defeat follows the withdrawal of the neoliberal Free Democrats from the "traffic light" coalition with the Greens and Scholz' Social Democrats. An election has been called for the 23rd of February; opinion polls so far seem to favour the centre-right Christian Democrats to win the most seats. Disturbingly, the party coming second in these polls is the far-right AfD; this could well tempt the Christian Democrats to abandon the longstanding unwritten rule in postwar Europe that you don't take extremist parties into your coalition.

- Some 77% of aquifers in coastal areas could be vulnerable to saltwater intrusion as sea levels rise, making the water unsuitable for drinking or agriculture.

- A Russian general, who has been accused of ordering the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, was killed in an explosion in Moscow; Ukraine's SBU security service has claimed responsibility for the explosion.

- Two Winnipeg high schools, Elmwood High School and Oak Park High School in Charleswood, were closed yesterday after receiving emailed threats. Police have not said whether the two cases are linked. Meanwhile in Madison, Wisconsin, there was a fatal shooting at a Christian school... but only three fatalities so it's pretty mild by American standards.

- A Florida woman, in a heated phone discussion with her health insurance provider, blurted out "Delay, deny, depose, you people are next"; she has been charged with "threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism".

News roundup, 16 Dec 2024

- Undeterred by the failure of the previous attempt, South Korea's National Assembly has impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law. The president is now suspended from his role pending a hearing from the country's Constitutional Court; the prime minister, Han Duck-soo, will serve as interim president until the matter is resolved.

- Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has referred the dispute between Canada Post and its workers to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. He has further directed the board to order striking employees back to work if it determines the dispute is at an impasse. No doubt this is an attempt to be seen as helping to save Christmas, but it probably won't sit well with a lot of unionized federal employees. Conceivably this could create some opportunities for the NDP in places like Ottawa, since the current state of the Liberals is such that tactical voting to stop the Conservatives is probably futile, and in light of that civil servants might just decide to throw their vote behind a party that continues to stand up for them.

- The City of Winnipeg's decision to defer the full electrification of Winnipeg Transit's fleet is drawing negative reviews from some. Tom Brodbeck points out that while it is indeed true that the initial purchase costs of diesel buses are lower than electric buses, the actual operating costs (including maintenance) are higher, and suggests that the overall cost difference is pretty much a wash. He could also have pointed out that in many cases the service problems seen at Transit have more to do with the availability of drivers than buses, and that it will be a lot easier to get federal funding for electric buses now than it will be in another year. On a somewhat related note, the Amalgamated Transit Union is calling for fare evasion enforcement, ideally by community safety officers. They point out that most of the acts of violence against drivers and passengers come from fare evaders.

- Two women who are trying to sue a youth leader at a Winnipeg church for sexually assaulting them as well as the church for their alleged complicity have been ordered to front $50,000 each because they live outside the province and the court doesn't want any trouble collecting court costs if they lose.

- A whistleblower who alleged that OpenAI's use of copyright material goes beyond fair use has died in an apparent suicide. Naturally this has led to speculation that it wasn't really a suicide, though others have pointed out that it's quite possible for tech industry folks to make your life hell without taking any direct action to kill you; "you'll never work in this town again" applies to Palo Alto just as much as to Hollywood. In other OpenAI-related news, the company's CEO, Sam Altman, is donating a million dollars to Donald Trump's inauguration fund.

- Trump's transition team seeks to discard a policy of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which requires vehicle manufacturers to report report crashes if advanced driver-assistance or autonomous-driving technologies were engaged within 30 seconds of impact. Elon Musk vehemently opposes the policy, perhaps because 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported under the policy have involved his company's vehicles.

- A 19 year old conscript in the Russian military was reportedly shot to death by his commander after refusing to sign a contract to fight in Ukraine, after attempts at persuasion using a whip failed to deliver the desired results.

- The Southern Chiefs' Organization has announced that their grand chief Jerry Daniels will be taking a leave of absence for "health reasons" following an incident in which he was hospitalized following a fight outside an Ottawa bar.

News roundup, 13 Dec 2024

 - While the City of Winnipeg's latest budget does not introduce major service cuts (with the exception of the proposal to defer residential snow clearing until 15 cm of snow falls, which is getting negative reviews from some), it fails to address the state of the city's fiscal stabilization reserve. The reserve, which should have about $85 million in it, is nearly depleted, which could prove disastrous if there is a recession, another pandemic, or other sudden financial hit.

- A plan to completely replace Winnipeg Transit's fleet with electric buses is being shelved. The city will still be buying about 100 of them owing to commitments made under the Investing in the Canada Infrastructure Program, but they have decided to buy some more diesel buses as well. The argument is being made that this could actually be more beneficial, because it will allow more buses to be deployed and thus get more cars off the road, but that line of reasoning only works if they can hire the drivers necessary to drive the buses - and perhaps also the community safety officers necessary to get people to take transit voluntarily.

- A woman who was admitted to hospital for a knee replacement had follow up surgery to remove dead tissue deferred due to a bed shortage, resulting in an infection that means the leg is likely going to have to come off.

- The Manitoba government is attempting to address Trump's threats to impose crushing tariffs if we don't control the border by redirecting some conservation officers to patrol the border. I guess that's less harsh than Alberta's plan to deploy large numbers of heavily armed cops to the border. I'm not convinced that using conservation officers this way is a good idea, but I don't have a better one.

- After Doug Ford's threat to cut off electricity to neighbouring US states was brushed off by Trump (presumably the Americans have ways of making up the shortfall) he came out with a new proposal - to prohibit the LCBO from buying American alcohol. That may actually be a more viable solution to the problem.

- Gukesh Dommaraju of India has defeated China's Ding Liren to become the youngest world chess champion in history, at the age of 18. The final game seemed headed for a draw when Ding blundered and Dommaraju took full advantage of the error.

- At Ohio State University, the uniquely American fusion of Christianity and football seems to be pretty much complete. Then again, it isn't really that new, as this classic song illustrates.

News roundup, 12 Dec 2024

- As expected, the new draft budget for the City of Winnipeg includes a 5.95% property tax increase. The budget includes money for 36 more police officers and 15 community safety officers, but none for the Community Connections facility in the Millennium Library lobby; it also initiates a pilot study to defer residential snow clearing until a 15 cm snowfall instead of the current 10. Even with the tax increase the city will still have some of the lowest property taxes in the country, but that may be a hard sell with a lot of residents. There seems to be little alternative, though.

- Cycling activists in Toronto have launched a court challenge against the Ford government's anti-bike lane legislation, citing the rights to life and security of the person in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Not sure what the chances of success are, but one thing they have in their favour - the fact that the government saw the need to specifically exclude lawsuits for deaths or injuries resulting from the law does suggest that it is not a good thing for the aforementioned rights.

- Doug Ford has responded to Trump's proposed tariffs by threatening to stop supplying electricity to the US. Whether he has the nerve to actually follow through on this threat is another question, though.

- A poll has found that just over a third of Canadians think the response of governments to COVID-19 was excessive. This happens to be in the same ballpark as the baseline level of support for the Conservatives, which shouldn't be surprising.

- FBI director Christopher Wray will be stepping down at the end of Biden's term in January, despite having more than two years left in his own appointment. Trump has expressed the intention to appoint former national security aide Kash Patel; RFK Jr., though, thinks his daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy would be a better choice. Trump is apparently open to the idea.

- One of the more disconcerting things about the climate crisis is that as it proceeds, it causes inflation, not least because it impacts food production and thus increases prices. And because measures to contain and mitigate climate change are expensive, inflation dampens the political will to proceed with such measures, even as they're needed more than ever; instead the sheeple are driven to vote for rightwing populists who tell them what they want to hear. This has the potential to create what some call a "doom loop" where climate change and far-right politics feed on each other.

- Teachers at the London District Catholic School Board have apparently been ordered not to teach certain books by black authors because they contain the N-word. Among them is The Book of Negroes, by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill, who had this to say about the matter. A teacher who spoke to Hill about the matter was subsequently reprimanded.

- A Houston judge has rejected an attempt by The Onion to buy Alex Jones' media empire. Judge Christopher Lopez cited what he considered a "lack of transparency" in the process, as well as an alleged failure to maximize value towards Jones' creditors. It's worth noting that bankruptcy courts are federal courts, and that Lopez was appointed to the court in 2019, so it's just possible that he's not as impartial as judges are theoretically supposed to be.

- Researchers at MIT have found that people are more likely to eat vegan food if it isn't labeled as vegan. I guess some of them are worried that if they eat it they might become annoying or something.

- Tokyo University's website for graduate student applications apparently had a hidden keyword, not visible by looking at the page normally, that made reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre, thus preventing the page from being displayed in mainland China and preventing Chinese students from applying. The university says that they have since removed the offending word.

- The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba has suspended the license of a man who was found not criminally responsible for killing his parents and attacking a former coworker. Seems like a reasonable decision to me...

News roundup, 11 Dec 2024

- Not surprisingly, it appears that Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, had suffered some medical issues, including a back injury that required spinal fusion surgery; he had also experienced "brain fog" and suspected that he might have irritable bowel syndrome. He came from a very wealthy background; family and friends report that he suddenly stopped communicating with them about 6 months ago, and his mother reported him missing in November. Many have pointed out that Mangione is 26, which just happens to be the age when people are typically removed from their parents' health insurance coverage. His social media accounts seem to have been shut down, though one Redditor seems to have found his old Reddit posts and summarized them before they could be removed. One thing that's clear in any case - an awful lot of Americans think that the CEO got what was coming to him. Some people have been selling merchandise with the words "deny", "defend", and "depose" (words which were written on shell casings found at the murder scene), though Amazon removed them from sale as soon as they clued into what it was about.

- The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says it met with Canada Post for the first time in two weeks, submitting their latest proposal on Friday. The corporation says it is "extremely disappointed" with the proposal, suggesting that it may be quite some time before the dispute is settled.

- The BC Conservative caucus is in turmoil over the aftermath of the resignation of the vice-chair of the Vancouver Police Board. The board member, Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba, had made worrying remarks on social media about immigration and LBGT* issues; after Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko (a former RCMP officer) told the media that she agreed with the resignation, much of the caucus turned on her. Then she defied a request from party leader John Rustad that she meet with Sakoma-Fadugba. I guess after losing an election that they think they should have won they're taking out their anger on each other, which is more than fine by me.

- A new solar farm and energy storage facility in California combines 384 MW of solar generation with 600 MWh worth of battery storage; this will increase to 758 MW of generation and 1,200 MWh of energy storage when the second phase is completed next year.

- I know nobody wants to hear this, but current levels of air travel are not sustainable. Emissions from tourism have surged in the last decade and now account for 9% of the global total. To be fair, on a per capita basis the owners of private jets are considerably worse, but people need to get it through their heads that you don't have to fly down to Mexico or Cuba every year. On a somewhat more promising note, researchers in Sweden are looking at ways to replace coal with hydrogen as the reducing agent in steel production.

News roundup, 10 Dec 2024

- A suspect is in custody in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Luigi Mangione was picked up at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania; more information about the suspect may be found here. He seems to be an avid reader; he left reviews on Goodreads of a number of interesting books, including Ted Kaczynski's manifesto Industrial Society and its Future. This comes despite the general public not having much enthusiasm for the manhunt, with the shooter approaching folk hero status. Even many prominent "internet sleuths" wanted nothing to do with the search, and the McDonald's location in question has been flooded with one-star reviews due to the staff ratting Mangione out. This probably has something to do with the nature of the private health insurance business; such companies are notorious for denying coverage under questionable circumstances. Thompson's own company has been accused of using unreliable AI systems to screen claims, for instance. For his part, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth, thinks it's "offensive" for the media to be talking about this right now. Insurers are responding to this by taking down biographical info about their executives from their websites (hey, it's a lot cheaper than actually paying out claims).

- The fall of the Syrian regime seems to have resulted from the actions of many disparate forces. The largest of these is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Levant Liberation Union); others include a Kurdish group (the Syrian Democratic Forces) as well as others, which disconcertingly include ISIS/Daesh. Given that several of these groups (especially Daesh) are likely to be unwilling to work with the others, we can expect a fair bit of instability for the foreseeable future.

- The European Commission, the EU's executive, has delayed the implementation of their deforestation law by a year, but fortunately has refused to water down the legislation despite the efforts of some EU parliamentarians.

- The proposed property tax increase in Winnipeg has led to a lot of whining from some homeowners; the CBC quoted one resident of the Crescentwood neighbourhood as saying "it hurts". I dunno, I figure if you own a house in Crescentwood you aren't really too hard done by.

- Vancouver mayor Ken Sim wants to create a bitcoin reserve for the city; experts who haven't drunk the crypto Kool-Aid think this is a bad idea due to the volatility of the product.

News roundup, 9 Dec 2024

- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown and forced to flee the country. This apparently came as a surprise to the Americans; Biden spoke of both "historical opportunity" and of "risk and uncertainty", which when combined essentially means "we're not sure what to think of this yet". That didn't stop them from launching a few airstrikes at ISIS/Daesh sites in the country, because that's what they do when they're not sure how to proceed.

- The attempt to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has failed after his party's parliamentary caucus boycotted the vote, with the result that the parliament did not have quorum. His own justice ministry, however, has imposed an overseas travel ban on him, which indicates that his troubles have not ended.

- A former Calgary police officer is the subject of a Canada-wide warrant for breach of trust and misuse of a computer system, after allegedly using police information systems to stalk women who he initially met as a result of service calls. He is believed, however, to have left the country.

- New Manitoba legislation will prohibit the sale of long bladed weapons including machetes to persons under the age of 18 as of the new year and require purchasers to show photo ID; information pertaining to the sales must be retained by retailers for two years. Stores where a majority of products sold are kitchenware products are, however, exempt from the legislation, which sounds like a pretty big loophole to me.

- Alberta is planning to recruit foreign workers from the United Arab Emirates, which has raised alarms among labour leaders that it will drive down wages.

- The storm that hit the UK over the weekend has killed at least two people when trees fell on their vehicles in separate incidents; power was cut to thousands and rail services have been disrupted.

- Apparently black Republicans are having a hard time understanding why Trump hasn't appointed any of their number to his cabinet. Gee I dunno, I think this might be an example of what the young folks call "FAFO".

News roundup, 6 Dec 2024

- Police continue to search for the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Many people definitely understand the anger towards such companies, even if they wouldn't advocate such a drastic solution to the problem.

- A storm bearing down on the UK may subject parts of Wales and southwestern England to hurricane-force winds, and may be potentially damaging as far away as Scotland and Northern Ireland.

- Joe Biden is considering preemptive pardons for some critics of Donald Trump, in the hope of shielding them from the revenge that Trump has vowed to take against them. Potential recipients including former Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci as well as Democrats involved in the impeachment proceedings against Trump. California representative turned Senator-elect Adam Schiff, who has been cited as a possible recipient, questions the need for this, saying that he is confident that the courts are robust enough to deal with Trump and throw out spurious cases, but I'm not sure I share his confidence given Trump's stacking of federal courts during his first term. Maybe Schiff is afraid to admit just how broken his country's democracy is.

- Winnipeg appears poised to announce the largest property tax hike since 1990, according to unnamed sources who say a preliminary draft of the budget includes a 5.95% increase. This is probably necessary but will come as a shock to some.

- A bill before the Manitoba legislature will amend the Highway Traffic Act to allow for lifetime suspensions to be given to drivers convicted of impaired driving causing death or bodily harm for a second time within a 10 year period (currently the maximum suspension is 10 years). The bill would also require that anyone whose license is reinstated after their first conviction for such offenses have a zero BAC for driving for a seven year period.

- A plea deal in which Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a single count of criminal fraud related to what it failed to tell regulators about the MCAS system used on the Boeing 737 Max which killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 has been rejected by a judge, who said that the deal gave the court too little power to monitor Boeing's compliance with its side of the deal.

- The Grand Chief of the Southern Chiefs Association was beaten up in front of a bar in Ottawa ahead of an Assembly of First Nations conference. Someone in this Reddit thread alleges that the assailants were councillors from Lake Manitoba First Nation but this is unconfirmed.

- Hongchi Xiao, an "alternative healer" who practiced "slap therapy" has been convicted of manslaughter in the UK after a 71 year old client with Type 1 diabetes to stop taking her insulin in favour of his treatments, with fatal results. This is actually his second conviction for this; he was convicted by an Australian court in the death of a six year old boy whose parents stopped giving him insulin on Xiao's advice.

News roundup, 5 Dec 2024

- The number of homicides in rural and small-town Manitoba has surged in the last year. A total of 55 have been reported so far this year in jurisdictions policed by the RCMP; by comparison there were only 30 confirmed homicides and 3 suspicious deaths in the entirety of last year.

- A location has been tentatively selected for Manitoba's first supervised consumption site (not counting bars of course). The location is on Disraeli near Henry Street; concerns are being raised by some about the proximity of Argyle Alternative High School, but the government has assured the Winnipeg School Division that they will not proceed unless the site is secure.

- Former Conservative party leadership candidate (and current Brampton mayor) Patrick Brown has been summoned to testify before a parliamentary committee regarding allegations of Indian interference in Canadian politics. This includes the accusation that volunteers on Brown's leadership campaign, including MP Michelle Rempel Garner, were pressured to withdraw their support; according to someone connected to the campaign, Rempel Garner was approached by representatives of the Indian consulate who warned that it "was not in her best interest" to continue working with Brown. Rempel Garner denies this, however.

- French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government has been defeated, as expected, in a non-confidence vote, though they are expected to remain in a caretaker position until a new government is appointed. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to address the nation today, but finding an actual solution to the problem may be difficult as France's parliament is split into three similar-sized blocs, none of which is keen to work with the others.

- Amnesty International has joined the ranks of those who condemn Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal, while acknowledging that the attacks on Israel that were the immediate trigger for the attacks were also atrocities.

- The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a division of the largest health insurer in the US, was shot dead outside the hotel where he was about to speak at a conference of investors in the company. The suspect currently remains at large.

- A nun is among those arrested in Italy in a crackdown on the country's most powerful mafia network. Prosecutors allege that she served as a conduit between the gang and its incarcerated associates while serving as a volunteer at prisons. Two former politicians from parties associated with the country's rightwing government were also caught in the net.

News roundup, 4 Dec 2024

- At Justin Trudeau's meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago this past Friday, the incoming president quipped that Canada should join the US if we can't handle the 25% tariffs being slapped on imports. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc insists that Trump was joking, but he has previously expressed interest in our water, and as anyone who's read Richard Rohmer's novel Ultimatum or seen the miniseries H₂O knows, these things should not be taken lightly.

- South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is facing possible impeachment following the short-lived imposition of martial law overnight. Yoon says his move was necessitated by "North Korea-sympathizing anti-state forces" and accuses the opposition of "attempting to overthrow the liberal democratic system through legislative dictatorship", but the fact that he's facing serious corruption allegations that were being investigated by the opposition is probably the real reason.

- French prime minister Michel Barnier, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron only 90 days ago, is facing a motion of non-confidence, after using executive powers to push a budget through without parliamentary support.

- The Auto Trader website forecasts that the number of gasoline-powered cars in the UK will fall by over 40% over the next decade.

- Several businesses in Winnipeg are no longer accepting cash, apparently to deter robberies. This has become somewhat common elsewhere as well, and has raised concerns. Some are calling for legislation to limit this, since it discriminates against people who don't have a bank account or credit card, and from a certain point of view this could be seen as discrimination on the grounds of "social condition", which is prohibited in some jurisdictions. Some cities and states in the US have adopted or are considering such legislation.

- More than six weeks after a BC man, Jim Barnes, went missing on a hunting trip, a dog believed to be his has been found alive. The dog is not tattooed or microchipped, but appeared to recognize Barnes' partner and other people that it would have been familiar with.

News roundup, 3 Dec 2024

- The US has promised another $725 million in aid to the Ukrainian military before the end of Biden's administration in January. Unfortunately at this point it's not so much about saving Ukraine as about making Russia's probable victory more costly to them.

- It now appears that Donald Trump didn't quite win a majority of the popular vote nationally, not that it matters to the outcome. With 96% of the votes now counted, Trump has 49.97% and Harris 48.36%. This remains, however, the highest percentage of the vote that Trump has received. Turnout was about 63.8%, slightly lower than in 2020 but still the second highest in a century.

- In most provinces it is prosecutors, not police, who make the decision to lay criminal charges. In Ontario this is not the case; as a result, the backlog in their courts is considerable. The justice ministry is looking to change this, but not surprisingly the police don't want to give up that power.

- The Manitoba government is considering a ban on disinformation about election workers and the electoral system. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe cites the rise in "deepfakes" and similar AI-driven techniques that have been quite effective in weakening democracy elsewhere. Of course this is double edged (there are grey areas about what constitutes disinformation, not to mention when someone should be assumed to be "knowingly" circulating it), but it should be noted that the provincial Elections Act already has similar prohibitions regarding disinformation about candidates, so maybe a similar prohibition regarding election officials isn't a big step.

- A long-term care home in Windsor, Ontario has barred a man from visiting his mother at the facility; he says that this occurred after he expressed concerns about how his mother was being cared for. The management of the facility claim that this is justified because he had "demonstrated anger" and behaved in a "threatening and abusive manner". Without knowing the specific nature of his conduct it's hard to say if he was actually threatening or abusive. I don't doubt that he demonstrated anger, but that by itself doesn't seem like enough reason. This isn't the first time something like this has happened, either.

- Manitoba has recorded 323 overdose deaths in the first 7 months of 2024, including 105 in June and July alone.

- A woman in Fannin County, Georgia was arrested on a reckless endangerment charge after her 10 year old son walked to a nearby dollar store unaccompanied.

News roundup, 2 Dec 2024

- The International Court of Justice is opening two weeks of hearings into the obligations of the international community towards countries vulnerable to climate change. The plaintiffs, including several island nations that face annihilation due to rising sea levels, are calling on the court to rule that they are being unlawfully subjected to harm and to specify what actions are required. Any ruling will be non-binding, however.

- The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a section of BC's Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act (ORA), which allows the province to sue manufacturers and distributors of opioids, is legal. The companies had argued that the section was unconstitutional due to interprovincial jurisdiction issues.

- Vancouver's city council has voted to retain a rule that prohibits natural gas heating in new construction in the city, after three councillors from the dominant ABC party broke ranks and voted with the opposition.

- Siloam Mission, a Winnipeg homeless shelter, reports an increasing number of seniors accessing their services. Other organizations, such as the seniors' advocacy group CanAge, also say that there has been a sharp rise in homelessness in that demographic.

- The Public Works Committee of Winnipeg City Council has voted to move ahead with a reduction of the speed limit on Wellington Crescent between River Avenue and Academy Road following the fatality earlier this year. If passed by council as a whole, the speed limit will be reduced from 50 to 30 km/h until protected bike lanes can be installed.

- The town of Gravenhurst in Ontario's Muskoka Region has declared a state of emergency after receiving around 140 centimetres of snow over the weekend.

- Searchers at the Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg have narrowed down the part of the landfill most likely to contain the remains of two of Jeremy Skibicki's victims, and this week the debris will be sifted for the remains.

- A mall in Montreal is playing the rather grating children's song "Baby Shark" in its emergency exit stairwells in order to discourage homeless people from loitering there.