Tuesday, December 31, 2024

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.

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