News roundup, 17 Feb 2025

- The US Federal Trade Commission chair Andrew Ferguson is accusing Apple News of "suppressing" rightwing news outlets, including the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Fox News, Breitbart, and Gateway Pundit. Ferguson claims that Apple may be violating part of its terms of service agreement with its customers, though he did not specify any specific provisions that the company might be violating.

- A French far-right activist who was providing "security" for protesters against a speech by leftwing MEP Rima Hassan in Lyon was beaten to death after getting separated from his fellow fascists. A manslaughter investigation has been opened; President Emmanuel Macron has appealed for calm.

- Two Latvian fans who waved a Greenland flag during the warmups for the US-Denmark hockey game at the Olympics were told to stop after organizers feared that it could provoke violence from American fans.

- Longtime American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84. 

- The Winnipeg city councillor behind the proposed anti-protest bylaw has withdrawn his support for the move following a public outcry. Coun. Evan Duncan also says that a bill before Parliament covers much of what the bylaw was intended to address anyway.

- Winnipeg's police headquarters suffered substantial water damage after a valve was opened in a standpipe on an upper floor of the building. Two people have been arrested on mischief charges.

News roundup, 23 Jan 2026

- One of the things about Donald Trump's sudden retreat in the Greenland crisis is the extent to which it undermines his case for taking the territory in the first place. After all, if it were really essential to national security as he was claiming, there would be no room for compromise - but yet he backed down quite abruptly, no doubt having been finally convinced of the economic disaster that could result to his country - and his and his friends' stock holdings - if he went ahead and Europeans started dumping Treasuries and other key American securities. One hopes that this might, ever so slightly, chip away at his tough-guy image among the MAGA crowd. This is certainly not the end, or even the beginning of the end. Is it the end of the beginning? Time will tell.

- A leaked internal ICE memo advises officers that they don't need a warrant to enter private homes, contrary to officially acknowledged training materials (not to mention the Constitution).

- The US has followed through with its threats to withdraw from the World Health Organization. Under their own laws they're supposed to give a year's notice and pay all outstanding fees (around $260 million), but a State Department official denies this.

- Pierre Poilievre says that he will not run in his current riding in the next election, saying that Damien Kurek (who stepped aside to allow him to sit in the House after he was defeated in his old riding of Carleton) will be allowed to have the riding back, no nomination needed. Where he is going to run remains to be seen; maybe he'll just slink away with his tail between his legs if we're lucky.

- Edmonton mayor Andrew Knack reports that there has been a disturbing amount of harassment of snowplow operators as well as a city councillor, Erin Rutherford. Plow operators have had shovels thrown at them, while Rutherford has been the target of an online disinformation and doxxing campaign by rightwing influencer Jesse Watson (who was Rutherford's opponent in the last municipal election). More information about this charming character may be found here.

- Power generation from coal has declined in both China and India for the first time in 52 years, with clean energy technology taking up the slack.  

- A teacher in the Louis Riel School Division in southeast Winnipeg was suspended for five days without pay and transferred to a different school after mimicking a nine year old's temper tantrum to mock the child, prompting other kids to do the same.

- Investigators in Queensland have concluded that the Canadian woman found dead on a beach surrounded by dingoes most likely drowned and that the bite marks on her body were inflicted after death. 

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, 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, 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, 19 Sept 2025

- Denmark held a large military exercise in Greenland this week, the largest in the territory's history. They invited several NATO allies, but pointedly left the US off the invite list.

- Alberta premier Danielle Smith's approval rating has declined to 46%. Despite this, other polling indicates that Smith and her United Conservative Party would win handily over Naheed Nenshi's NDP if an election were held today.

- The New York Times reports that the Trump regime approved the export of advanced computer technology to the United Arab Emirates only two weeks after the UAE invested $2 billion in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency startup founded by Trump, his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and their families.

- Elon Musk spoke at the gigantic anti-immigration rally held in the UK by far-right activist Tommy Robinson over the weekend, and declared that "violence is coming" to the country. This brings to mind the notorious "rivers of blood" speech given by MP Enoch Powell in 1968. Musk also called for a change of government, and it's a safe bet that he will do his utmost to ensure that happens.

- Insiders reporting on the executive meetings following the Jimmy Kimmel episode that got the show cancelled say that multiple executives acknowledged that Kimmel hadn't said anything that crosses a line, but that senior execs feared retaliation from Trump. The fears may not have been unfounded; FCC chair Brendan Carr had hinted in an interview that ABC affiliates might have difficulty renewing their broadcast licenses if something wasn't done to "take action" on Kimmel.

- Two Utah men were arrested after an incendiary device was placed under a vehicle owned by a media outlet in Salt Lake City. The device did not go off. And a Texas man was arrested for making threats against New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. I guess they're all counting on getting a presidential pardon.

News roundup, 27 Aug 2025

- The Manitoba Progressive Conservatives have won the Spruce Woods byelection, but by a surprisingly narrow margin. Colleen Robbins defeated the NDP's Ray Berthelette by only 70 votes.

- Danish authorities have found evidence of Americans conducting covert operations in Greenland, apparently in an attempt to sway public opinion in the territory in favour of US annexation.

- A man who sent letter bombs to his ex-wife and two lawyers, one of whom lost a hand in the explosion, has been denied parole. Guido Amsel had been sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 10 years, something usually reserved for those convicted of second-degree murder; then again, the fact that nobody died is not for want of trying on Amsel's part. The parole board concluded that while he hadn't caused any problems while incarcerated, he showed no sign of remorse and in fact tried to argue in his parole hearing that the police had planted his DNA during the investigation; he was deemed a high risk to reoffend.

- A law firm that represents several anti-wind power organizations is trying to pressure Brown University to retract a report published by the university's Climate and Development Lab. The report pointed out the similarities between statements from the organizations and from fossil fuel organizations, and uses Marzulla Law LLC in a case study to map connections between different organizations. The firm is threatening to go to the university's funders to pressure them; so far the university is standing firm.

- The Carney government is considering major upgrades to the Port of Churchill. Wab Kinew called this an exciting moment for the province; he's not wrong, though it's unfortunate that much of the incentive for the upgrades is LNG exports.

- Ireland's Central Statistics Office reports that while the total number of people emigrating to the country has decreased by 16% compared with the same time last year, the number emigrating specifically from the US has almost doubled. I'm pretty sure that weather isn't the reason.

- An autopsy has concluded that Norwegian hiker Steffen Skjottelvik died from drowning. It's thought he may have been swept away while trying to cross the Hayes River. 

- Police in the Australian state of Victoria are seeking a man suspected of shooting three cops, two of them fatally, following an attempt to execute a search warrant related to historical sex crimes on his rural property. The suspect is thought to be associated with the so-called "sovereign citizen" movement.

News roundup, 8 May 2025

- The death toll in the Indian strike on Pakistan in retaliation for the terrorist attack in the Indian part of Kashmir is now reportedly at least 31. Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has vowed to "avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs". This is not the kind of language you want to hear in a dispute between two nuclear powers.

- Danielle Smith plans to introduce legislation to change the rules concerning citizen-initiated referenda, which would reduce the number of signatures necessary to force a referendum from 20% of eligible voters to 10%, as well as increasing the time period during which the signatures are collected from 90 to 120 days. This is clearly advantageous to Alberta separatists, despite Smith's claim that she does not favour secession. And meanwhile, it is reported (anecdotally) that people claiming to represent the "Alberta Republican Party" have apparently been going door to door in Alberta, canvassing in groups kinda like Mormons - and many of them seem to be Americans. And as someone in that thread pointed out, Smith is spending a lot of time at Trump's mansion - as one might if one wanted to discuss certain matters outside of the earshot of Canadian intelligence. One almost wonders if Smith is collaborating with the Americans to stir up a secessionist movement - perhaps so that Trump can try to "liberate" the province, Donetsk style. Let's hope not, but...

- The UK Conservative Party is tanking big time, with one recent poll putting them in third place behind Nigel Farage's Reform Party at 29% and Labour at 22%. If Labour were smart, they'd take the opportunity to bring in electoral reform to minimize the risk of a Reform majority, but I wouldn't count on that.

- The Danish government is summoning the US ambassador following reports that American intelligence has been ordered to increase their spying activities in Greenland. Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, has responded with fury at the Wall Street Journal for its role in publicizing the order, accusing the paper of "aiding deep state actors who seek to undermine the President".

- Cargo at the Port of Los Angeles is down by 35% following Trump's tariffs. This is already impacting businesses in southern California and is expected to have significant impacts on the broader economy.

- The gigantic containment vessel around the infamous Reactor #4 at the Chornobyl nuclear plant was severely damaged in a drone strike earlier this year. While no release of radioactive material occurred in the strike, it leaves the reactor vulnerable to the elements and could lead to leakage unless it is fixed soon. The cost of repair is expected to be significantly more than the €25 million available in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's international contingency fund, and the shortfall is likely to have to be made up by the EU and UK. Ukrainian officials believe that the structure may have been deliberately targeted, making it a potential war crime. The Russians, for their part, are suggesting that it was a false flag attack by the Ukrainians.

- People are starting to use AI chatbots for spiritual advice. This is going about as well as you'd expect.

News roundup, 6 Feb 2025

- Donald Trump has declared, in a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the US will take over the Gaza Strip, with American troops if necessary. He gently suggested that some other Middle Eastern country should just take the inhabitants off his hands. I believe that there's a term for that sort of thing...

- The Trump administration is effectively shutting down the US Agency for International Development. The agency is not without its critics (some say, for instance, its relationship with the CIA has at times been a bit too close for comfort) but a complete shutdown might not be such a good idea. I'm sure the fact that it was investigating the behaviour of Elon Musk's Starlink is purely coincidental.

- The huge wildfires that swept through parts of greater Los Angeles have now been fully contained after nearly a month. The costs, though, are just beginning - while the impact on the greater economy so far hasn't been too severe, a lot of people are probably already underwater on their mortgages as a result of these fires; another disaster or two like that could change things as losses pile up, potentially causing a financial crisis as severe as the subprime crisis of 2007-2008 if not worse. Already, some people think that housing prices have peaked in areas most vulnerable to such disasters, partly driven by skyrocketing insurance rates.

- During the COVID-19 lockdowns, most Canadian provinces treated their liquor stores as an essential service. At the time, this was justified on the grounds that for people with severe alcoholism, sudden withdrawal can be life-threatening and those who don't die would add to the burden on the healthcare system. Now, however, many are wondering whether that hypothetical would be enough to outweigh the impact of increased consumption on public well-being. An inconvenient truth is that South Africa banned alcohol sales during the lockdowns, so that people would have less incentive to gather in violation of the lockdowns, and immediately experienced a huge decrease in violence as a result.

- Apparently some activist investors in Tesla are starting to sour on Elon Musk. Whether a bunch of Redditors are going to be enough to fire the CEO is another question, of course - at least unless and until the stock starts to tank.

- Greenland's parliament passed a bill banning foreign political donations, for reasons that will no doubt be obvious. The bill also prohibits donations over 20,000 kroner (about $2,500) from any individual, and no party may receive over 200,000 kroner in total from all donors.

- Knox United Church in Brandon, Manitoba is being forced to increase security following harassment and vandalism over their support for the LGBT* community. To his credit, the church's minister refuses to tone down his messaging on the matter; then again he has the support of his congregation and the church hierarchy. Less fortunate is a Baptist minister in Charlotte, NC who has been ousted for being too progressive.

News roundup, 28 Jan 2024

- The latest poll from EKOS has the Liberals recovering some lost support. The party now sits at 32%, only seven points shy of the Conservatives, and is statistically tied with them in Ontario. Perhaps Poilievre's courting of the MAGA crowd will turn out to be his downfall? Doubtful, but stay tuned.

- Following Mexico's refusal to accept a deportation flight, Colombia attempted to follow suit, only to cave after Trump threatened the country with massive tariffs. Nice coffee industry you've got, it would be a shame if something happened to it...

- The EU's top military official believes that EU countries should station their own troops in Greenland instead of leaving the military presence on the island to the Americans. I guess until now it never occurred to them that they might have to defend the territory from the Americans.

- A man arrested in the UK on hacking charges has claimed to have been hired by ExxonMobil to obtain information from environmental activists - including people assisting in lawsuits against energy companies.

- The introduction by China of the low-cost DeepSeek AI chatbot has caused panic selling of AI-related stocks in the US.

- An Indiana man who was among the Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump has been shot dead in a traffic stop after allegedly resisting arrest.

- The CIA, which had previously been skeptical of the "lab leak" theory of the origin of COVID-19, has suddenly reversed their stance. I'm sure their new Trump-appointed director has something to do with this.

- BC premier David Eby has proposed a ban on the sale of American alcohol in the province as a response to Donald Trump's tariff threats. The proposal is getting good reviews from domestic alcohol producers, but some industry groups are alarmed by the idea - the B.C. Alliance of Beverage Licensees has expressed concerns that it could reduce selection for consumers (but then, that's kind of the point here). They also fear that it could force some bars to import more expensive products from elsewhere and thus cut into their profits.

- Toronto Animal Services have seized a Spectacled Caiman that was being kept as a pet. Caimans are relatives of alligators, and can grow to more than 2 metres in length. Apparently the owner had kept it for 12 years without knowing it was prohibited in the city; the animal has been turned over to a reptile zoo outside of Peterborough.

News roundup, 27 Jan 2024

- Advisers to UK prime minister Keir Starmer were reportedly left in "tears of laughter" after hearing a phone conversation between their boss and Donald Trump. Across the North Sea, however, Danish officials were not so amused, saying that Trump was "aggressive and confrontational" in discussing the status of Greenland with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen. The Danes had previously been fairly dismissive of Trump's musings, but are described as "utterly freaked out" by the president's aggression. Some in this Reddit thread think that part of the issue is that Trump has a hard time being told no by anyone, but especially by a woman. For his part, Trump says the failure to turn the territory over to the US would be a "very unfriendly act". One thing is clear - if he does decide to use military force to take the island, there's little that could stop him - not even Article 5 of the NATO treaty, for it requires unanimity among NATO members in order to compel action. The fact that the US was the aggressor apparently wouldn't disqualify them from the vote - apparently nobody thought to consider the possibility of aggression between NATO members, so they didn't make a rule about that when they drew up the treaty.

- Trump is openly calling for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, suggesting "We just clean out that whole thing" and asking for Jordan to take in the territory's residents.

- Days after ordering an end to his country's membership in the World Health Organization, the president is having second thoughts about his decision. Perhaps there's still one or two people around him that can talk sense into him; how long that situation will last remains to be seen, though.

- Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's centre-right Christian Democratic Union, wants to introduce an immigration bill and has expressed willingness to work with anyone in order to get it passed, including the far-right AfD. This is raising additional fears that the "cordon sanitaire", the unwritten rule in most of Europe that you don't work with Nazis, is breaking down and that the CDU might be willing to seek AfD support to form a government after the coming election.

- US Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan, the first woman to head any division of the US military, has been removed by the Trump administration. An official quoted by Fox News attributed her sacking to "excessive focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion" as well as failure to address "border security threats"; just as likely, though, the MAGA crowd wanted her gone simply because she was a woman leading one of the armed services.

- The Anti-Defamation League, perhaps realizing that their initial handling of Elon Musk's Nazi salute with kid gloves was not a good look for a Jewish organization that claims to be all about promoting human rights, is now being a tiny bit more critical, calling Musk's gesture an "inappropriate and highly offensive joke". I guess that's a bit of an improvement, but I'm not so sure he was joking.

- Mark Carney seems to be the front runner in the federal Liberal leadership race, at least among MPs. He has won the endorsements of 16 cabinet members, while Chrystia Freeland has gained five. Another prospective candidate, Nepean MP Chandra Arya, has had his run blocked by the party for reasons that have not been made public.

- A Hamilton man who attempted to rob a bank, but came away empty-handed, was forced to flee on foot after the bike he had left waiting for him outside the bank was stolen; evidently there is no honour among thieves. Both the would-be robber and the bike thief remain at large.

News roundup, 20 Jan 2025

- As expected, both Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney have announced their candidacy for the federal Liberal leadership. Health Minister Mark Holland and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Diane Lebouthillier have endorsed Freeland, while Holland has the support of several backbenchers but no ministers so far. Globe and Mail columnist Robyn Urback notes that Carney might benefit from having a greater distance from Trudeau's policies and personality; while nothing is likely to keep the Liberals in government, the party's time in the political wilderness might be shorter under Carney than Freeland.

- The pundits are still trying to work out what's behind Donald Trump's obsession with Greenland. One hypothesis is that this centres around security concerns. Greenland has deepwater harbours that might be seen as necessary to maintain a military presence in the area; while the US already has full access to this, there are concerns in some circles that an independent Greenland might not continue with Denmark's tolerance of this. Perhaps more significant, though, is the prospect for harvesting resources left behind as the ice cap melts; in addition to such things as rare-earth metals, there is the debris left behind by the glaciers themselves, known as "rock flour", which has proven to be useful for improving the productivity of agricultural soils - something that will no doubt be crucial in the coming decades, and which the Americans most definitely want a part of.

- An oil embargo might be the strongest response Canada can make to the tariffs Trump is vowing to impose on imports, as the costs of retooling refineries to use oil from other sources would be high. Of course, this would cost the Canadian oil industry dearly, since there are few other places to export the oil to; of course this is the reason Danielle Smith is so intransigent on the matter. There's also the scenario envisioned by Richard Rohmer in his 1973 novel Ultimatum, but you'd hope it wouldn't come to that...

- The US Supreme Court has upheld the bipartisan legislation that bans TikTok from being downloaded in that country as of today. In fact, even existing American users are finding that the app is not working for them; perhaps the company is hoping that this will strengthen opposition to the ban. Some critics think that notwithstanding the concerns raised about espionage, the real motivation may be to do the bidding of Silicon Valley; however, the fact that Trump isn't so sure about upholding the ban suggests otherwise, given that Silicon Valley has their own representative pulling many of Trump's strings.

- The Gaza ceasefire has taken effect. Whether it will last long enough for anything more than for the two sides to reload remains to be seen.

- Apparently it's become trendy for people in the US to give their sons weapon-related names such as Wesson, Caliber, and even Gunner (not to be confused with Gunnar, which is a legitimate name in Scandinavian culture). One hypothesis is that this is a hope on the parents' part to nip any less-than-masculine tendencies in the bud.

News roundup, 13 Jan 2025

- At least 24 people are now confirmed to have died in the wildfires sweeping the Los Angeles area, and 12,000 structures have been destroyed. Officials warn that everyone in Los Angeles County - population 10 million - should be prepared to evacuate at short notice. Notably, one climate scientist saw this coming years ago, and moved out of the area in 2022. Probably a wise move, since the risks are only going to get worse for the foreseeable future, and people leaving now may have a hard time selling their properties - especially if prospective buyers can't get affordable insurance. Elon Musk, on cue, is saying that this is all because of woke fire departments hiring black people. Meanwhile idiots playing with drones are interfering with firefighting efforts. On a more positive note, a Winnipeg firefighter who was on vacation in LA has risen to the occasion - he, along with his girlfriend and their host, got to work and have been credited with saving several houses.

- The prospect of the next federal election coming earlier than expected has worried several housing organizations, who fear that the almost certain defeat of the Trudeau government will cut off funding for their organizations.

- The fact that there seems to be a fair bit of lithium in Greenland has led to speculation that this may be the real reason why the incoming Trump administration is so interested in taking over the territory.

- Ryanair is calling for a two drink limit for alcohol sales at airports, to avoid situations like a recent case where one of their flights was diverted due to a drunken idiot, which the airline says cost them €15,000. Of course, when your business model consists of trying to pack as many soccer hooligans as possible onto an airplane, you have to expect troubles like this.

- A Winnipeg man who spotted a broken window on his vehicle investigated and found a man sleeping in the car. The man was armed with a machete and an air pistol; he faces several charges.

News roundup, 8 Jan 2024

- Joe Biden has tried to throw a monkey wrench into any plans Donald Trump might have to drill for oil in offshore waters, by using his powers under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to withdraw areas without existing leases from availability. It's unclear from the article why Trump can't just reverse the decision by a similar executive order, though, and Trump has vowed to do just that.

- Trump has refused to rule out military action in order to secure control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is calling his bluff, saying that she doesn't believe the US will use military or economic power to seize the territory. Probably true, but she'd have to say that even if she thought otherwise...

- The City of Winnipeg is looking at introducing speed limits for e-bikes and e-scooters on multi-use paths, perhaps going with the 25-30 km/h limits used in Quebec. While an experienced cyclist on a good road bike can go faster than that, many e-bikes enable someone who isn't experienced to go that fast, which is problematic. Enforcement will likely be an issue in any case, though.

- Some legal experts fear that the use of anti-terrorism laws in the prosecution of Luigi Mangione could backfire on the prosecution by motivating one or more jurors to refuse to convict him and force a mistrial. Meanwhile, moderators on the various social media platforms are having a hard time figuring out how to deal with some Mangione-related content.

- Meta's plan to pad their engagement statistics by flooding everyone's Facebook and Instagram feeds with bots has encountered a setback - the first batch of bots they released is so lame and/or creepy that nobody wants to interact with them. In other Meta-related news, they're doing away with fact checking for their American users - but leaving fact checking in place in the EU, where it's required by law. No doubt this is being done to stay in the good books of the incoming president.

- Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre is concerned about Elon Musk's willingness to openly meddle in other countries' domestic politics (notably his endorsement of the far-right AfD in Germany and his call for King Charles III to use his reserve powers to dismiss Kier Starmer's government).

- Those Waymo robotaxis running around San Francisco have a rather significant problem - they aren't very good at yielding to pedestrians. I guess that's what happens when AIs are trained by techbros who don't like following rules at the best of times.

- Kentucky State Police showed up at the wrong address to execute a search warrant over the theft of a Weed Eater, seemingly unaware that the actual thief was already in custody. The guy who got raided responded the way any red-blooded American would when a bunch of armed strangers showed up on his property without warning - and got killed for it. Since the victim in this case was white it's possible that the cops responsible will face justice, but probably not; they're still cops after all.