Friday, February 14, 2025

News roundup, 14 Feb 2025

- The Trump regime has banned an Associated Press reporter from White House events due to the news service's failure to immediately start calling the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America". AP's style guide now calls for the internationally recognized name to be used, while acknowledging the name the regime uses; evidently this isn't enough for Trump, though.

- The White House is saying that the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum will be in addition to the 25% across the board tariffs that they plan to impose on all Canadian and Mexican imports. And that's not even considering the fact that the regime has plenty more tariffs planned. The Bank of Canada fears that a drawn out trade war could lead to a permanent decline in the country's GDP.

- Video evidence used to convict one of the Jan. 6 rioters has been removed from government websites, to the alarm of  news organizations. Several of these organizations have taken legal action, and a judge has responded by ordering the administration to stop removing such things and to provide an explanation for their removal.

- Donald Trump discussed Ukraine in a phone conversation with Russia and has agreed to help negotiate a ceasefire. To the surprise of few, and to the alarm of much of Europe, he seems to have agreed that Russia should be able to keep most of the territory it has seized from Ukraine, and that NATO membership for that unfortunate country is not in the cards.

- The City of Toronto has issued a cease and desist order to a man who was making tiny trailer homes, designed to be towable with a bicycle. The letter said that the trailers were unlawfully occupying city property; in one sense this is kind of odd because usually in this country municipalities only have the power to regulate how something is used, not whether you can sell it or not. Maybe Toronto is an exception to that rule, or maybe nonprofits that give things to people are held to different legal standards than businesses that sell things. Apparently the trailers include smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms as well as fire extinguishers in an effort to make them safer. On the other hand, according to a councillor who supports the idea in principle but wants the current operation stopped for now, they also have heaters that burn diesel fuel, which could be a safety concern as well as an environmental and health concern. Whether that outweighs the health and safety concerns about people living in tents in the dead of winter is another question.

- In a campaign speech at a gala held by the London, Ontario police chief, Doug Ford was recorded saying that judges should have the power to "send 'em right to sparky". Once this became public, though, he told reporters that he was joking and that he doesn't actually support the death penalty.

- The mayor of Swift Current, Saskatchewan has asked city council to make a recommendation on whether to remove the US flag from the city's flag court. The matter has provoked some lively (but surprisingly civil) debate but has not come to a resolution.

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