- Donald Trump is lambasting the National Academies of Sciences over its role in the publication of a reference manual on science aimed at judges. It will surprise few that the reason for his outrage is a chapter about climate change.
- Clownvoy leader Pat King, already convicted on five criminal charges related to the protest/occupation, will be re-sentenced after the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned his acquittal on a charge of intimidation and obstructing police. The court found "overwhelming evidence" that King intended, even before the so-called "Freedom Convoy" arrived in Ottawa, to occupy the downtown core and cause distress to residents. This makes sense to everyone except supporters of the protest; it was pretty apparent to anyone who was paying attention that the clownvoy were practicing what Hunter S. Thompson so aptly called "an ethic of total retaliation".
- Gord Delbridge, the president of CUPE Local 500 representing the majority of City of Winnipeg staff, has died suddenly at the age of 55 following a medical emergency. Besides the obvious shock and sadness for his family and friends, this comes at a time when the union is trying to negotiate a new contract.
- The NDP's Jennifer Flett has won an overwhelming victory in yesterday's byelection in The Pas-Kameesak, winning nearly 75% of the vote. The byelection was necessitated by the death of Amanda Lathlin in March.
- Toronto mayor Olivia Chow has introduced a motion to investigate the city's ability to ban personalized algorithmic pricing for essentials such as groceries, including those delivered by companies like Save-On Foods or services like Instacart. The practice, also known as "surveillance pricing" or "predatory pricing", uses demographic information about you (harvested from your browser and smartphone history) to determine what you're going to be willing to pay for something so that the price can be adjusted accordingly. For his part, Doug Ford says he's opposed to such a ban; in contrast, the NDP government in Manitoba introduced a bill to outlaw the practice in March. Critics question how often this is happening (Loblaws, for instance, denies using it) but it seems to me that the best way to limit such a practice is to stop it before it becomes established.
- A physician at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children has been charged with what is described as "child abuse and exploitation material". Police say that they have "found no evidence that the child sexual abuse and exploitation material is connected to his practice as a physician", which presumably means that no photos of his actual patients have been found so far on the devices seized from him, but this is not particularly confidence-inspiring. Meanwhile a Winnipeg dermatologist has been ordered to stop most of his practice after admitting to misconduct including trying to start a relationship with a patient and continuing to message her after she turned him away.
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