News roundup, 22 Jan 2026

- Donald Trump's plane had to turn back shortly after departing on a flight to the World Economic Forum in Davos due to a failure of some electrical systems on the aircraft. Sadly the plane made a safe return to DC. Trump then boarded another one, which made it to Davos where he started backpedalling on the whole Greenland issue in return for a "framework of a future deal". I wouldn't be surprised if Trump was spooked by the prospect of Europe unloading a lot of Treasuries (with other countries and all manner of other investors inevitably following suit). Perhaps the people around him explained how, if that were to happen, he would be losing as much money as they would. And then there's one more factor...

- The Pentagon has ordered military police from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to prepare for a possible deployment to Minneapolis. The fact that it's specifically military police suggests that there are plans to use them for law enforcement. This would require Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, which is supposed to occur only in response to a "rebellion". And the Justice Department has opened an investigation into Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey on the grounds that some of their public statements constituted "conspiracy" and "obstruction" of federal immigration officers. The Department declined further comment, but possible grounds might include Walz's recommendation that people record video of ICE in action so as to provide evidence for future prosecutions once the fascists are out of power. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had previously declared the intention to stop Walz and Frey by "whatever means necessary", and it seems that the regime is doing what such regimes do. It also might be part of the reason Trump is backing down on Greenland - he thinks he's going to need those troops at home.

- The school attended by Renee Good's six year old son has had to move to online lessons after receiving phone and email threats from far right extremists. The depravity of a sizeable chunk of that country knows no bounds, it seems.

- A senior curator and two longtime volunteers at the Art Gallery of Ontario have resigned in protest of a decision by the gallery's board to back out of acquiring a video work by acclaimed American artist Nan Goldin. The gallery had been planning to jointly buy the work along with the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, but some board members considered Goldin's public statements on the situation in Gaza to be "antisemitic" (notwithstanding the fact that Goldin is herself Jewish).

- The student federation at the University of Guelph's agriculture college is under investigation by the university and police following a pub night that allegedly featured racist and homophobic language and the use of hate symbols, including swastikas, on T-shirts.

- Mark Edward Grant, who was initially convicted of the 1984 murder of Candace Derksen before being acquitted on appeal, is facing new charges in BC, including sexual assault and unlawful confinement.

- It appears that the polling company that inserted questions about immigration affecting the "purity" of the country into a customer experience survey for the Thermea spa has a history of this sort of thing. Back in 2018 CROP was hired by Aeroplan for a similar survey and included a question almost identical to the one in the recent Thermea one.

- A Toronto man named Dallas Pokornik posed as a commercial pilot for several years. Fortunately he never actually flew an aircraft; his plan was simply to pose as a deadheading crew member and get free flights. He had obtained fake employee ID from three different airlines. His past experience as a flight attendant probably helped give him an idea of what he could get away with (until he couldn't). He's hardly the first person to do so, however; a sixteen year old boy from the English town of Wigan pulled it off decades ago. I can't find anything online, but according to the account in Brian Moynahan's book Airport International he hitchhiked down to London, started hanging out with flight attendants, talked his way into getting issued "replacement" ID and a uniform, and took flights to Nairobi and Hong Kong before getting caught and sent home. Some time later he stole a pilot's uniform and got a free flight to Frankfurt before getting caught again. He got off relatively lightly; Pokornik, on the other hand, could face up to 20 years in prison.

News roundup, 21 Jan 2026

- Mark Carney, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, warned that "the old order is not coming back" and that mid-range powers such as Canada need to adapt and cooperate rather than competing with each other for the crumbs from the US and China. His full speech may be found here. Meanwhile EU leader Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at the same conference, vowed that if Donald Trump follows through with his latest tariff threats, the federation's response will be "unflinching" and "united". Some European leaders, including French president Emmanuel Macron, are calling for the union to enact a never-before-used regulation known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could be used to impose measures such as tariffs, trade and foreign investment restrictions, and measures affecting the intellectual property rights of the target country. A potential spanner in the works is the European far right, who are polling a little too well for elections that are due over the next few years. And you can be sure that the Trump regime will pull out all the stops to maximize the chance of those parties taking over. For his part, Trump himself is scheduled to address the WEF today, and continues to be as belligerent as ever. Perhaps the most ridiculous part is the fact that Trump is actually saying that he's pushing ahead with this in response to not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He's not so much a Bond villain as a Maxwell Smart or Austin Powers villain.

- Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir, also spoke at the WEF, and claimed that AI will create so many jobs that immigration won't be a problem anymore. Whether anyone actually believed him is another question.

- Doug Ford claims that Chinese cars are a security risk, saying that "when you get on your cellphone, it’s the Chinese that are going to be listening to your … telephone conversation". Now to be fair, there might be a kernel of truth to that - but given the way the US is going I'm not sure that the risk is any lower with American cars. In any case, the risk probably isn't as big as Ford thinks; BYD sells a lot of cars in Europe, where they have significantly better privacy protections than we do. The fact that they're allowed to do that suggests that Ford is wrong. In taking this position he's also doing the bidding of the US, but don't tell him that.

- A Danish pension fund, AkademikerPension, is selling off its entire holdings of US Treasuries, worth approximately $100 million. They cite concerns about the financial stability of the country under Trump.

- Donald Trump has reposted private texts from Emmanuel Macron, apparently under the impression that what he posted would make Macron look bad. Macron stands by his words (and why shouldn't he?) Then again, why would you expect Trump to understand the concept of a rhetorical question?

News roundup, 20 Jan 2026

- Two directors of a German nonprofit, HateAid, have been banned from entering the US due to their efforts to fight disinformation and hate speech online. Also banned are people from several other nonprofits (including one that simply provided risk ratings warning advertisers so that they could decide whether to allow their ads on a site) and former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who had helped author the federation's Digital Services Act. Secretary of State Marco Rubio apparently believes in a conspiracy theory called the "censorship-industrial complex", whereby the tech companies, the US government, and nonprofit organizations are conspiring to suppress conservative views. It's absurd on so many levels, yet those affected have no choice but to take it seriously. To their credit, the French and German governments are taking the matter seriously too - but they're also warning those affected to take precautions by moving their assets somewhere where it won't be within reach of the Americans.

- Adam Kadyrov, the son of Chechnya's gravely ill leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has apparently been seriously injured in a car crash. Given that he had been touted as a possible successor to his father, this could get interesting; a succession crisis in Chechnya is probably not something Vladimir Putin wants to see right now.

- Winnipeg had nearly 5,000 housing starts in 2025 according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The article does not state where this new construction is occurring; it makes a big difference whether it's infill (generally good) or greenfield development on the outskirts (bad). The city does attribute this to such things as the Housing Accelerator Fund and changes to zoning bylaws, so if their statement can be taken at face value that's a promising sign.

- The mayor of the Rural Municipality of Gimli, Manitoba has been slapped with a 7 day suspension (with pay, mind you) after a formal complaint about his behaviour was deemed by an investigation to be "founded". The exact nature of said behaviour was not made public. The municipality has also stated that "members of council" (the article does not specify whether this means all members or just certain ones who came close to the line) will have to take mandatory training on conflict resolution and respectful workplace practices. Folks in this Reddit thread add some context, saying that the municipality's CAO was essentially bullied out of her job, so perhaps that has something to do with it. It does seem like rural and small town politics is becoming extremely toxic, as evidenced buy such things as this, this, this, this, and this.

- Police in Queensland are investigating after the body of a 19 year old Canadian woman was found on a beach surrounded by dingoes after she had gone for an early morning swim. There is some uncertainty as to whether she was killed by the dogs or whether she died by some other means and was just seen by them as an opportunity.

News roundup, 19 Jan 2026

- Around 10,000 people rallied in Copenhagen's city hall square in opposition to the Trump regime's designs on Greenland. Many of the protesters wore caps with the slogan "Make America Go Away". This coincides with a visit by a congressional delegation to Denmark in an attempt to turn down the heat.

- Hundreds of high school students in the Twin Cities area walked out of class on Friday in protest against the ICE crackdown in the region. Several schools had already cancelled classes due to security concerns, and St. Paul's school system is looking into the possibility of online classes as many students are afraid to go to class due to the chaos unleashed by the Trump regime.

- An Episcopalian bishop in New Hampshire is urging his clergy to prepare their wills in preparation for a "new era of martyrdom". Bishop Rob Hirschfeld says that the ICE crackdown means that "it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable".

- A passenger train derailed into the oncoming track near the Spanish city of Córdoba, resulting in a collision with another train. At least 39 people have been confirmed dead and 112 injured in the accident, Spain's worst in over a decade.

- A "guest experience survey" conducted by Quebec based polling firm CROP on behalf of Winnipeg's Thermea spa has been pulled after a respondent went public with some of the problematic questions that came up, some of which had nothing to do with the actual spa experience. One of the questions asked respondents if they agree or disagree with the statement that too much immigration "threatens the purity of the country".

News roundup, 16 Jan 2026

- Donald Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, which would enable him to send regular military into the state to maintain order. This follows widespread protests against the killing of Renee Good and the wounding of another person. Some protesters (and/or agents provocateurs, and/or straight-up nihilists) apparently threw stones at law enforcement, and tear gas and flashbangs were used by police. Meanwhile governor Tim Walz is calling on citizens to film ICE agents operating in their communities, stating that this footage may be useful for future prosecutions. A bold move for sure; Walz had better stay well away from upstairs windows for the next while. And someone in this Reddit thread made this comment:

Firearms for liberals is like abortion for Republicans. We have them too, we just don't talk about it.

 All in all, things could get rather interesting down there.

- Mark Carney has made a major breakthrough on tariffs after meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. China will drop tariffs on canola and other products, and in return Canada will allow the import of 49,000 electric cars at a tariff rate of 6.1%. It's the right move I think, but a politically dangerous one given the importance of the auto industry.

- Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan has endorsed Avi Lewis for the federal NDP leadership. She is the first sitting member to issue an endorsement for this race; former MP Charlie Angus has endorsed Alberta MP Heather McPherson. 

- A former Winnipegger who now heads the Anhart Community Housing Society, a BC-based housing nonprofit. is interested in redeveloping the site of the destroyed Manwin Hotel. They hope to work with the Main Street Project to build affordable housing on the site. The organization is also interested in redeveloping the site of the Sutherland Hotel which burned last year. A snag has arisen already, however - the cleanup of the Manwin site has been delayed due to concerns about asbestos.

- The Manitoba government will not be participating in the federal government's buyback program for firearms that were banned in legislation passed in 2020. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe has expressed concerns about the cost and effectiveness of the program, especially given that a pilot of the buyback in Cape Breton that was expected to collect some 200 firearms netted only 25.

- A construction crane fell onto a passenger train in Thailand, killing at least 32 people and putting another 64 in hospital, seven of them in serious condition. The accident is under investigation.

- UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has removed MP Robert Jenrick from her shadow cabinet and suspended him from caucus after being presented with what she calls "irrefutable evidence" that he was planning to defect to another party, which other sources identified as the far-right Reform UK.

- As of the new year, all margarine and dairy milk sold in Canada is required to be fortified with vitamin D. This is a good idea, but it will be interesting to see how the antivax/anti-flouridation crowd will react. I suspect they won't like it; anything done by the government that improves people's health goes against their libertarian individualist spirit.

News roundup, 15 Jan 2025

- Several NATO countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, are sending troops to Greenland as a message to Donald Trump. Subsequently, France announced that they'll be sending troops as well. This follows an unsuccessful attempt by Danish diplomats to talk sense into the orange monster. There is talk of Canada sending troops as well, though Defense Minister David McGuinty says that no decision has been made on the matter.

- Unions and community organizations in Minnesota are calling for a general strike on the 23rd of January. Meanwhile, ICE is being accused of using private information, of the sort that's not supposed to be readily accessible to them, to intimidate people keeping an eye on them. Under Minnesota law, license plate readers and car registration data is only supposed to be accessible to law enforcement during a criminal investigation, but ICE seems to be getting around the safeguards. ICE has also shot another person, this one non-fatally.

- The FBI searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on Wednesday and seized several devices, apparently in an attempt to find the source of a leak about a defense contractor that Natanson had covered in one of her articles.

- Trump is backing away from threats to strike Iran, saying that the government has reassured him that the killing has stopped. This is good news for international stability, unless of course it's happening because he thinks he needs to focus on Greenland. The least bad possibility (still very bad though) is that he wants his troops close at hand to use at home.

- Quebec premier François Legault has announced his resignation, just under nine months prior to the scheduled election. Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec is being clobbered in the polls; only 18% of eligible voters plan to support them. If an election were held today, the CAQ would come third in the popular vote, and fifth in seat count. Also resigning is Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, who fared poorly in a post-election leadership review.

- Winnipeg's infamous Manwin Hotel, which had been vacant since last year when it was declared unfit for habitation, was destroyed by fire yesterday morning. The fire forced the evacuation of the Main Street Project next door, and it may be several days before the facility is able to reopen. Nobody died, which is more than can be said for rather a lot of days when the hotel was actually open. Housing advocate Marion Willis of St. Boniface Street Links calls the fire a "predictable outcome" of the city's lax approach towards vacant buildings. To their credit, the city seems to be moving towards potential seizure of such buildings; we'll have to wait and see how well they follow through with that.

News roundup, 14 Jan 2026

- Austria's advisor on NATO enlargement, Gunther Fehlinger, has warned the US that if they go ahead with trying to take Greenland, Europe just might respond with the seizure of US bases in their territory. I do hope this is policy and not just bluster.

- ICE appear to be conducting door to door raids in the Twin Cities. Meanwhile, more than half the staff at the US Attorney's office in Minnesota, responsible for federal prosecutions in the state, have resigned in protest over directives from Washington following the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. In addition to locking state officials out of the investigation, the Justice Department is asking the office to look into possible charges against Good's widow.

- Philadelphia's district attorney, Larry Krasner, is echoing the warnings of the city's sheriff, saying that ICE agents who commit crimes will be prosecuted.

- The Toronto Sun's parliamentary bureau chief has been suspended after his tweet calling Renee Good's death at the hands of ICE "well-deserved" embarrassed his employer just a bit too much.

- Manitoba premier Wab Kinew says his government will not mandate full-time return to office for its employees, in contrast to Alberta and Ontario. Instead, the current policy of up to 2 remote days per week will be continued. This will not apply to managers of frontline staff. I can kind of see the reasoning behind that from a staff morale point of view, but on the other hand fewer cars on the road and less crowding on buses is good no matter who it is that gets to stay home. A side note - the CBC interviewed the founder of a company called Gov Fox Municipal Consulting for the contrary view; she actually admitted that RTO isn't about productivity but still favours it due to nebulous notions of "improving culture". I looked at her company's client list, and most of them are rural municipalities. So her position may be more a reflection of rural prejudices than actual good business.

- Rob Ashton, a union leader who is one of the frontrunners in the NDP leadership race, recently participated in one of those "ask me anything" sessions on Reddit. Ashton has raised (entirely legitimate) concerns about the growth of AI, but Redditors are an astute bunch and several of them noticed telltale signs that he was using AI to generate his responses. Having been caught out, he confessed and apologized. Hopefully this will harm his campaign; he seems to be the "anti-environmentalist" candidate, accusing fellow candidate Avi Lewis of being "divisive" due to his focus on climate change.

- The City of Winnipeg will be installing tempered glass suicide barriers in the Millennium Library to prevent future tragedies like the one last August.

- An Air Canada flight from Toronto to Moncton was cancelled after a baggage handler was locked in the cargo hold. Passengers heard the man screaming and banging as the aircraft began to taxi. By the time the matter was addressed, the flight had to be cancelled because the crew would have exceeded their maximum work hours by the time they reached their destination.

News roundup, 13 Jan 2026

- Manitoba premier Wab Kinew is voicing solidarity with Minnesota following the killing of Renee Good last week. Less sympathetic is far-right perennial candidate Patrick Allard, who has had his membership and board position with the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party suspended following some unpleasant social media posts about the killing. One tweet quoted in the article was posted as an inquiry about whether ICE is hiring in Canada; not mentioned in the article is that he also declared that Good was "rightfully terminated". I guess stuff like that is a bridge too far even for Obby Khan. The thing is, the Cons presumably knew he was a scumbag when he was elected to their board (he hasn't exactly made a big secret of it) so they're presumably just annoyed that he said the quiet part out loud.

- The US sanctions against the International Criminal Court are making life difficult for the court's judges. They find themselves unable to do business with any American company, including credit card companies, or even buy US dollars. The court itself is having to adopt new payment systems in order to pay its employees and receive payments from the countries that recognize its authority; it has also abandoned Microsoft Office in favour of openDesk, an open source package similar to LibreOffice. This doesn't solve all their problems by any means; there are fears that even non-American companies might be reluctant to deal with them for fear of annoying the US.

- Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has managed to talk Trump down from intervening militarily in her country. Trump has mused lately about doing just that to deal with drug cartels; hopefully he can be sufficiently distracted by something else (and hopefully that something else won't be Canada).

- The US Department of Labor released a promotional video that contains the slogan "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage". The similarity to "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer" is hard not to notice; whether they're actively trying to sound like Nazis or just using punchy slogans that will resonate with the simple-minded folks that they're trying to appeal to and just end up sounding that way is uncertain. Either way, not a good thing.

- A Dallas woman who worked for a subcontractor for the Hilton hotel chain was apparently fired after posting a warning on TikTok about ICE agents staying in one of the chain's hotels. 

- A novel that had been awarded both the grand prize and "reader's choice" awards in a contest in Japan has had the prizes revoked after it was discovered that it had been written mostly by AI. 

- A 19 year old woman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was apparently irate at being blocked on TikTok by an 18 year old acquaintance. She's now accused of killing her over the matter. 

News roundup, 12 Jan 2026

- Philadelphia's sheriff, Rochelle Bilal, has called ICE "fake, made-up law enforcement" and warns that members who commit crimes will be prosecuted. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons was not impressed with Bilal's warning, replying "try it. Try [and] arrest my folks and see what happens". I kind of hope she does; this could get interesting.

- A clinic in Gaza started by Médecins Sans Frontières is in danger of shutting down after Israel banned the organization from sending new staff and supplies as of the new year. Israel claims MSF as well as around 40 other organizations including Oxfam and Save The Children were banned because they allegedly "failed to meet new security and transparency standards".

- Eight people were arrested on Saturday following an anti-immigration protest in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square. The protesters were met with counter-protesters from Community Solidarity Toronto and other organizations. Police allege that following confrontations between the two groups, some attendees assaulted their opponents and then police officers; the Toronto Police Association says that its members were pelted with eggs, used toilet paper, and bags of urine. It is not stated in the article who started the confrontation or which group those arrested came from; a Toronto Sun article points the finger at the counterprotesters, though.

- The death rate from motor vehicle accidents in Toronto in 2025 was the lowest it's been in a decade. Coincidentally (or not), the number of speed cameras in the city doubled last year, until the provincial government banned municipalities from using the cameras at all. Doug Ford, of course, refuses to consider the possibility that the two are connected.

- Texas has eliminated American Bar Association oversight of its law schools, the first state to do so. I guess if you're worried about your graduates leaving the state, making it difficult for them to get jobs anywhere else might help...

News roundup, 9 Jan 2026

- Fiona Hill, a former advisor to Donald Trump, alleges that Russian officials indicated to Trump in 2019 that they would be willing to throw Venezuela under the bus so long as Trump would let them have their way with Ukraine. I guess from a realpolitik point of view, it makes perfect sense. Meanwhile Columbia's president, Gustavo Petro, fears that his country may be next to be attacked by the US. 

- Two people were shot and wounded by a Customs and Border Patrol officer in Portland on Thursday. The regime once again claims that this was self-defense after the victims allegedly tried to use a vehicle as a weapon and that they were involved in a Venezuelan gang.

- State investigators in Minnesota say that Kash Patel's FBI is denying them access to evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good by one of Trump's ICE stormtroopers. For his part, JD Vance says that the suspect (recently identified as Jonathan Ross, though the agency refuses to confirm this) has absolute immunity from prosecution for her death. Meanwhile some witnesses say that a doctor was denied access to the scene and ambulances were delayed because ICE had blocked the street.

- A hotel in Lakeville, Minnesota that refused to rent rooms to ICE agents has had its franchising agreement with the Hilton chain cancelled despite issuing a grovelling apology.

- Iran has shut down all internet access as protests rock the country. Trump is threatening to intervene if protesters are hurt; kind of ironic in view of his attitude towards protests against his own regime.

- A NASA mission to the International Space Station is being cut short due to a medical emergency experienced by one of the crew.

- A philosophy professor at Texas A&M University has been ordered to remove Plato's Symposium from an introductory course reading list due to it being too woke on gender and sexuality matters. 

News roundup, 8 Jan 2025

- A woman was shot and killed by ICE agents in a traffic stop in Minneapolis on Wednesday, apparently while serving as an observer keeping track of the agency's activities. The city's mayor, Jacob Frey, has condemned the killing and called for ICE to "get the fuck out of Minneapolis", but of course the Trump regime is spinning it as "domestic terrorism" on the part of the victim, claiming that she was trying to run down their officers with her vehicle (there's video here so you can judge for yourself). The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says that they will investigate the shooting "with federal authorities"; sadly that probably means that nothing will happen to the suspect, at least not through legal means. There are a couple of photos said to be of him here though. More information on the victim may be found here.

- Donald Trump mused about cancelling this year's midterm elections while speaking at a retreat for Republican members of the House. He quickly walked that back, but warned that he will be at risk of impeachment if the Republicans don't win the midterms.

- A professor at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee who was fired after posting a tweet with Charlie Kirk's famous quote on gun violence being a necessary evil shortly after Kirk himself fell victim to it has been reinstated and will be getting a $500,000 payout from the university.

- An antiwar protester in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was arrested immediately after being interviewed by a local TV station, as the cameras still rolled. 

- A newly enacted ministerial order by the Danielle Smith's education minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, requires schools to remove "sexually explicit" books from their libraries. School divisions are complying, but notably most of them, including those in the big cities, are not revealing what books are on the banned list. This is in stark contrast to the response to an earlier version of the order announced in July, which specifically included written descriptions as qualifying as "explicit". Back then, the Edmonton public school board publicly released a list of books that would have to be removed based on their interpretation of the order. Among the books listed were some of the usual suspects (The Handmaid's Tale, The Color Purple, A Game of Thrones, American Psycho) as well as some that you don't usually see on such lists (including The Godfather, Jaws, and, amusingly enough, two Ayn Rand novels (The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged). This put one of the activists who had been calling for the bans in the first place into a tizzy, accusing the school division of "malicious compliance" (and Smith later called it "vicious compliance").  It appears that the new version is more directed at comics/manga/graphic novels; perhaps the school divisions figure those aren't such a good hill to die on as stuff that older folks recognize as literature, so they're keeping their heads down for now.

- In the last couple of days Winnipeg has seen antisemitic graffiti at a school and Islamophobic graffiti at a mosque. While it's possible that one was done as a sort of collective revenge for the other, I think it's more likely that the people responsible don't come from either of those communities.

- Donna Cox, a councillor for a Manitoba municipality, was reinstated by a court after an attempt to remove her. The Rural Municipality of Thompson (a confusing name, since it's nowhere near the city of the same name) had rescheduled council meetings so they conflicted with her work, then removed her after she missed three consecutive meetings. The change in schedule happened shortly after Cox was elected; previously, council had alternated between morning and evening meetings, but then the entire council except Cox voted to hold all their meetings in the morning. I'd be very curious to know what kind of policy differences Cox has with her colleagues; this sounds malicious to me.

News roundup, 7 Jan 2026

- A widely circulated video that purports to show Venezuelans celebrating the ouster of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro appears to be an AI-generated hoax. In other related news, the BBC has ordered its journalists not to use the word "kidnapped" when talking about Maduro's abduction. They can say "seized" or, when quoting US sources, "captured", but I guess they're afraid of not sounding impartial enough or something.

- The Pentagon is moving to cut the military retirement pay of former US Navy captain (and current senator) Mark Kelly. Pete Hegseth justified the move on the grounds that Kelly's reminder to active servicepeople that they have the right to refuse illegal orders constitutes "reckless misconduct".

- Federal NDP leadership candidate Avi Lewis says that he wants to implement a "Green New Deal". The plan is ambitious, to say the least - a complete ban on new fossil fuel projects (not that his opponents won't still claim he wants to forcibly shut down all existing ones) and creating large numbers of new high quality manufacturing jobs making renewable energy infrastructure, electric buses, trucks, and farm equipment, and the like.  He probably won't become prime minister, of course, but I kind of doubt any of the other candidates in the race will be either. Certainly someone has to keep banging the climate gong to the masses, and Lewis is better qualified than most to do so.

- The push to force workers back into the office continues apace. Naturally, the employers justify this partly on the grounds of productivity (despite the fact that some studies suggest the opposite); CTV didn't cite those studies, though, they just quoted a couple of civil servants who "think" that you're more productive in the office, while quoting a human resources professor claiming otherwise. To be fair, the proponents of the return to office gave other reasons as well (vague platitudes about "collaboration" and "organizational culture" as well as some hand-wringing about downtown businesses), but there was no mention of the idea that the valuation of commercial real estate could be a factor. In the case of public sector employers, there's also straight up populism - a sizeable chunk of the electorate consists of people who can't work remotely due to the nature of their jobs - and they think it's "unfair" that others are able to, and vote for rightwing populists like Doug Ford. This resentment is shortsighed, of course - if more people worked from home, the people who can't would face much less traffic on their commutes.

- European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde is concerned about the lack of progress in the development of a "digital euro" to enable Europeans to continue to conduct e-commerce while distancing themselves from the American banking industry. The big barrier to this is a Spanish MEP, Fernando Navarrete Rojas of the centre-right European People's Party, who thinks that for a government to do this is an affront to the sanctity of the private sector and has been doing everything in his power to hold up the implementation bill for the currency. Not surprisingly, the big banks don't like it either, presumably because it would also enable Europeans to cut them out of the loop along with their American counterparts.

- A ban on the use of cellphones by students in New York City schools has been getting very good reviews, but it has revealed the rather awkward fact that many students don't know how to read an analogue clock. This isn't really a new phenomenon, of course; I heard anecdotes about that some 25 years ago, but I guess the fact that everyone had a digital clock in their pocket has masked that until now.

- Police in Heber City, Utah were caught in the awkward situation of having to explain why a report written with AI-driven report-writing software stated that an officer had been polymorphed into a frog. The cops believe that the situation arose when their bodycams, which apparently fed data directly into the software, picked up part of the film The Princess and the Frog playing in the background at a location they attended.

News roundup, 6 Jan 2026

- UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo has condemned the raid on Venezuela in which the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted. DiCarlo warns that it could lead to more instability, both in Latin America and elsewhere, setting a precedent that could make violent conflicts more likely. The generally accepted reason for the invasion and kidnapping is control over Venezuela's huge oil reserves; that said, American oil companies say they aren't in a hurry to set up there due to fears of more violence and instability. Undeterred, Trump is now musing about paying US oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure. Notably, Vladimir Putin, who has treated Maduro as an ally in the past, has been awfully quiet on the matter; I suspect that he has quietly indicated to Trump "let us have Ukraine and you can have Venezuela".

- Trump continues to muse about taking over Greenland, by force if necessary. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen warns that such a move would mean the end of NATO.

- The US State Department has announced that it will be denying visas to five European citizens who it accuses of "censoring" American viewpoints. These include former French finance minister and EU commissioner Thierry Bréton, who was heavily involved in the development of the EU's Digital Service Act; the legislation requires illegal content (such as hate speech) to be flagged, which obviously is a non-starter with the Republicans. Others targeted with these sanctions have been involved in activism to counter digital hate and disinformation.

- The bar at the ski resort in Crans-Montana, Switzerland where 40 people died and 116 were injured in a New Year's fire hadn't been inspected in five years. The town's mayor had no explanation why they had gone so long without inspecting the facility, but vows that sparklers - which are thought to have been the cause of the disaster - will be banned in indoor venues. The town will also be hiring an outside contractor to inspect all venues in their jurisdiction.

- Thunder Bay had the highest homicide rate in Canada in 2025, with 6.08 homicides per 100,000 residents, followed by Chilliwack, BC at 4.75. Winnipeg came third this year, at 4.66.

News roundup, 5 Jan 2025

- The US has abducted Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife after a series of intense strikes on the country early Saturday morning. He was quickly spirited out of the country and incarcerated in New York; Donald Trump says that the US will "run" Venezuela for the foreseeable future. Whatever you can say about Maduro (and most of it is not good), this is a pretty big demonstration (as if one were needed) that the Trump regime doesn't care about international law - or stability. Mark Carney seems nervous about rocking the boat, though, reminding anyone who will listen that his government does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate ruler of the country, while calling on "all parties" to respect conventions. The NDP and Greens were more direct, condemning the attack. Regardless, the consequences of the invasion may well impact Canada, as if the US is able to get a firm grip on Venezuela (a big if, mind you) it will dump a lot of oil on the market that competes directly with Alberta. The implications for the rest of Latin America, of course, are far more ominous, and in fact Trump is already making thinly veiled threats towards Columbia, Mexico, and Cuba. Oh, and he also wants to remind us that he still wants Greenland.

- Abacus Research has concluded that prospective referenda in Quebec and Alberta are unlikely to succeed due to what they call a "precarity mindset".

- One of the Alberta MLAs facing a recall has preempted the process by resigning. UCP MLA Rebecca Schulz will stay on until the spring, after which a byelection must be called within 6 months. Another 25 MLAs, 23 from the UCP and two from the NDP, are also facing possible recall in the near future.

- Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have very little in common - but one thing they agree on is that maybe, just maybe, the boom in AI data centres shouldn't be allowed to proceed unchecked, due if nothing else to the impact on electricity prices.

- Following last year's highly destructive fire season, the insurance industry is warning that Manitoba is facing increases in premiums on residential and cottage insurance. 

News roundup, 2 Jan 2025

- The US job market is, by some measures, the worst it's been since 2010. While the actual unemployment rate was only 4.6% in November, a mere 50,000 net new jobs have been added per month across the entire country since May, meaning that those not currently employed find a hard time getting work. This is based on official stats, but Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell thinks this is an overestimation - and that there may in fact be a net loss in jobs. Regardless, about half the country will say it's all Biden's fault anyway...

- A Norwegian startup, Flocean, claims to have developed a desalination technology that cuts the (very considerable) energy consumption by half. According to the company, the technique takes advantage of the pressure of the ocean itself at depths of 300 to 600 metres. They plan to have a proof of concept up and running within the year.

- The BC government has conducted its first comprehensive assessment since 1997 of potentially catastrophic risks facing the province. Among other things, the report has concluded that if a 9.0 magnitude quake were to strike off the coast of Vancouver Island the province would suffer $128 billion in economic losses in addition to the deaths and injuries - and the entire property and casualty insurance industry across Canada could be threatened.

- A travel website called "The Travel" published an article that tries to claim that Canada's boycott of US travel is "backfiring" - partly because it has become more unpleasant to cross the border now that agents have more time to interrogate each person. I dunno, sounds more like the boycott will just strengthen further if that's the case. The article also claims that it's driven up the price of domestic travel in Canada, leading boycotters of the US to travel elsewhere (such as Europe). Again, though, if the demand for domestic travel is up, there's no reasonable basis to say the boycott is "backfiring" - rather, travel to the US is being replaced both by domestic and overseas travel. It reads like the author is in denial of the possibility that there's any good substitute for the US as a travel destination. However, one group who are taking a hit are snowbirds who want to sell their vacation properties in Florida.

- A police vehicle fatally hit a pedestrian in Surrey, BC on Christmas, less than a month after the last time this sort of thing happened. I daresay Surrey's police force might benefit from some driving lessons.

- Around 40 people have died in a fire at a Swiss ski resort on New Year's Eve. Officials say it could be days before all of the bodies have been identified; the cause is under identification.

- A Florida-based YouTuber is under investigation for animal abuse after posting video of the operation of a trap he had developed called the "Opossum Launcher". He had apparently lured the animal onto a makeshift catapult; it appears to have survived the incident but that's probably not the sort of thing that should be encouraged.

- In a story that sounds like it should be from Florida, a man in Brandon, Manitoba was arrested after attempting to pay a business with drugs instead of any conventional method of payment.