News roundup, 30 June 2026

- Federal heritage minister Marc Miller is bothered by the fact that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights' exhibit on the Nakba does not describe Hamas as a terrorist group. Perhaps he needs to do some brushing up on his history; the Nakba took place in 1948 and Hamas was not founded until 1987. I guess Miller is more concerned about virtue signalling to those who might donate to his campaign (or to his opponents) than actual history.

- Politicians in the US are starting to lose elections over their support of AI data centres. The president of Utah's state senate and a county commissioner were defeated in primaries; both believe that this resulted from their support of Stratos, a large data centre planned for near Great Salt Lake that was backed by Dragon's Den and Shark Tank investor (and former Conservative leadership candidate) Kevin O'Leary.

- The attorneys general of 17 Republican-dominated states are suing California over that state's Plastic Act. The legislation requires an immediate 25% reduction in single use plastics for packaging and requires all packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032. The Republican AGs claim that California's law will significantly increase product prices in their own states, and that this constitutes a violation of the US Constitution's "Commerce Clause".

- A data breach at Crime Stoppers has aroused fears that the lives of informants could be at risk. The breach occurred several months ago; the Canadian branch of the organization says that it's unsure if tipsters' info was part of the breach, but there are allegations that this information has been offered for sale on the dark web. Canadian Crime Stoppers Association president David Forster declined an interview and told board members across the country to do the same. Reports from the US say that decades worth of information was stolen, and Portland's police service is warning people not to submit tips using the organization's platform while the matter is being investigated.

- Manitoba's Hanover School Division, which covers Steinbach and surrounding area, has introduced a new policy on student activism that it claims is meant to support "age-appropriate activism". Given that the division keeps getting hauled into the minister's office over possible censorship, this bears close watching.

- Courts are seeing an increase in the use of phony, AI-generated case law. This happens most often with people representing themselves, but actual lawyers have been taken in by this as well.

News roundup, 17 Oct 2025

 - In addition to the surviving hostages they have released, Hamas has released the bodies of 10 others, but say that they'll need specialized equipment to recover the rest due to them being buried in rubble. The Israelis also claim that one of the bodies they returned was not one of the hostages. Hamas also accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire by killing at least 24 people since Friday. It's almost as if Netanyahu doesn't really want the ceasefire to last (not that Hamas likely does either).

- The US Supreme Court is hearing a legal challenge to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which limits states' ability to gerrymander based on race. Not surprisingly, it is widely expected that the court will rule in favour of the challenge. The potential impact of this is hard to overstate - in parts of the country the Democrats could be virtually shut out. On the other hand, some are pointing out that blue states could play the same game. This could conceivably work in the Democrats' favour - but at a cost of reducing the diversity of Congress overall. Ultimately, though, I think that debate is pretty much academic - I don't see any scenario in which next year's midterms are sufficiently free and fair for the Dems to have any real chance of regaining control of either house of Congress no matter what some blue states try. Heck, I'm not 100% certain if there will be any midterms. I'd like to be proven wrong on that; I guess we'll know in just over a year.

- As of next month, the most populous and wealthiest US state will no longer be using coal to generate electricity. Some of this capacity is being replaced by natural gas, and some by hydrogen of unspecified origin (note that a lot of hydrogen is produced using carbon-heavy techniques), but a lot of it is because of huge improvements in renewables. California is also the first state to prohibit the use of AI to replicate real people. And Hollywood is having second thoughts about the technology given its implications for their intellectual property.

- Nearly every news media outlet in the US has refused to agree to new rules set by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, despite being told that they will have to turn in their Pentagon press passes if they don't sign on. This includes not only those you'd expect such as the New York Times, CNN, and NBC but also rightwing outlets like Fox News and Newsmax; only the One America News Network agreed. The rules prohibit reporters working at the Pentagon from using any "unauthorized" material for their work, even if it is not classified material.

The Centers for Disease Control has lost some 25% of its workforce to the Trump regime's purges. Damage from a loss of expertise like that could take decades to repair, if ever.

- The antivaxxer, far-right activist, and multiple times failed political candidate Patrick Allard has lost his defamation suit against the Manitoba NDP. Allard had sued after the party described him as someone who spouts "racist rhetoric" during the 2022 byelection campaign in Fort Whyte. The judge acknowledged that the statements the NDP was referring to were sufficiently vague to have some plausible deniability, but concluded that the doctrine of "qualified privilege" applies here. The judge also noted that Allard had breached a court rule by leaking texts that had surfaced during the trial to the Winnipeg Sun.

News roundup, 10 Sept 2025

- The US and the EU have tentatively agreed on a "Framework Agreement" on trade; what's disconcerting is what Europe seems prepared to give up in order to continue their trade relationship with the Americans. Buried in the document is a statement that the countries "intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards" with regard to motor vehicles; in other words, the EU is prepared to accept gigantic hulking American trucks and SUVs on their streets in order to satisfy the current US regime. The European Transport Safety Council has issued a statement condemning the move; whether it can be reversed, though, is a good question. I suspect that most European leaders know that it really isn't a good idea but are preparing to move forward due to fears about the economic impact of tariffs. Unfortunately they're in a tight spot, because much of the voting public takes a very short-sighted, immediate view of such matters and are willing to accept a worse future in order to avoid a pay cut in the present.

- Israel bombed Doha on Tuesday, attempting to justify the attack by saying that they were targeting Hamas leaders who were in the Qatari capital for peace negotiations. The Israelis were at one point claiming that the attack was greenlighted by the Trump regime, but later retracted the statement, saying that they had acted alone. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the attack "an intolerable expansion of violence"; even Trump seems to think it may not have been a good idea. It's definitely not good for the peace negotiations. Presumably that was Netanyahu's goal, since what he seems to want is the ethnic cleansing of Gaza so he can just annex it to Israel, and that would be a hard thing to justify even to his own people if the negotiations were still active.

- Poland says that they have shot down Russian drones that had strayed into their airspace in the course of a Russian attack on Ukraine. 

- The Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles caused a stir with an Instagram post that read "Never again can’t only mean never again for Jews". There was an instant backlash as the museum's social media followers thought about who else the post might be referring to, and the post was removed with a grovelling apology.

- Manitoba's Minister of Health, Uzoma Asagwara, has announced that two police officers will be stationed at the emergency ward of Health Sciences Centre at all times, and weapon detection equipment will be installed at all entrances. This follows the "greylisting" of HSC, the province's largest hospital, by the Manitoba Nurses' Union. The union's president isn't sure this is the best way to do it, favouring more funding for specialized safety officers rather than tying up police resources. It might be a necessary evil, though.

- Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald, encouragingly, has not ruled out lifting the tariffs on Chinese EVs in the hope of getting Chinese restrictions on Canadian canola lifted. On the other hand, he also says that the government wants to "ensure any changes wouldn't jeopardize other industries or sectors"; that suggests that we shouldn't get our hopes up, though, since those autoworker votes are important.

- The mayor of Barrie, Ontario, Alex Nuttall, has declared a state of emergency in the city in order to address concerns about homeless encampments. Ontario's emergency management law empowers the city to create a new task force to oversee the response to encampments, as well as hiring contractors and consultants to assist them in the matter.

-Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm warns that the Trump regime has "basically destroyed what capacity we had to respond to a pandemic" since taking office the second time around. On the bright side, if we get a big enough pandemic it will do wonders for the fight against climate change.

News roundup, 19 Aug 2025

- To the surprise of few, Pierre Poilievre appears to have won the byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot. The full count is not in yet, but Poilievre has over 80% of the votes counted so far.

- In other byelection news, the Conservative candidate in the provincial byelection in Spruce Woods is apologizing for past comments about residential schools. Colleen Robbins had expressed the opinion a few years back that the schools had been created with good intentions, but characterizing "killing the Indian inside the child" as well-meaning is not a good look.

- Hamas has accepted a proposal for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange following negotiations in Cairo.

- The CUPE local that represents Air Canada's flight attendants has reached a tentative deal with the airline, which could bring an end to the strike if ratified.

- An eight year old Toronto boy has died after being hit in his bed by a stray bullet from outside his building. Bullets also entered two other units, but nobody else was hit.

- The removal of Toronto's bike lanes, which Doug Ford is still trying to bring about as he appeals a lower court decision, could force organizations to suspend food deliveries to the needy. Bikes get through traffic faster and don't need to worry about parking, and volunteers are less willing to use cars (and spend their own money on fuel and parking) to make the deliveries.

- MAGA musician Sean Feucht has found a new venue for his Manitoba show after the City of Winnipeg denied him a permit to perform in Central Park. Feucht will instead perform at a farm in the Rural Municipality of La Broquerie. Of course that's really more where his kind of people will be found anyway.

News roundup, 25 Feb 2025

- Healthcare workers are subject to protections under the Geneva convention in times of war, whereby they are supposed to be protected from attacks and permitted to continue their work. The IDF don't seem to think those rules apply to them; as of last month over a thousand healthcare professionals had been killed by them (comparable to the total number of Israelis killed in the October 7 attacks). 22 hospitals had been more or less destroyed as well. Over 500 doctors were taken prisoner; some of them now report that the Israelis subjected them to what their American friends like to call "enhanced interrogation techniques". Sadly, it's almost certain that the perpetrators will not be punished. And if they are, it will probably be a punishment based on vengeance rather than actual justice.

- A resolution before the UN General Assembly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine passed by 93 to 18 with 65 abstentions; the US voted along with Russia against the resolution. Meanwhile Ukraine has expressed willingness to pay protection money to ol' Don in the form of critical minerals.

- Danielle Smith's Minister of Infrastructure, Peter Guthrie, has resigned in protest of his own government's procurement policy, including problematic and potentially criminal insider deals with private healthcare companies.

- On the other side of the border, 21 civil servants, including engineers, data scientists and product managers, who had been seconded to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have also resigned, saying that the Muskrats' Silicon Valley-inspired "move fast and break things" approach threatens to "dismantle critical public services" and create a privacy nightmare.

- Doug Ford's cop son-in-law is facing charges under the Police Act for insubordination, discreditable conduct, and breach of trust for leaking inside police information. Apparently confidential information about a sexual assault case was leaked to the victim; while this is easy to sympathize with it could very well make it harder to get a conviction in the case.

- A man who stood outside near the courthouse where serial killer Jeremy Skibicki was being tried and hurled abuse and threats at friends and relatives of the victims has pleaded guilty to uttering threats in that and another incident.

- Green Party candidates in Ontario's upcoming provincial election in the constituency of Kitchener-Conestoga, as well as in Waterloo where NDP incumbent Catherine Fife is running again, have called on their supporters to cast a tactical vote for the NDP in order to try to keep the Tories from winning those seats.

- Last month police were called to remove a pilot from a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that he was about to attempt to fly from Savannah to Chicago after a TSA agent noticed that he appeared to smell of alcohol. I daresay this was not a good career move.

News roundup, 17 Jan 2024

- The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas (which both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are trying to take credit for) has experienced a last-minute hiccup after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu delayed the cabinet meeting where this was supposed to be ratified. Netanyahu claims that Hamas made demands for a "last minute concession"; Hamas denies this, and Netanyahu refuses to discuss what part of the agreement Hamas has reneged on. Extremist members of his cabinet had allegedly threatened to resign if the agreement is ratified, which would bring down the government and possibly end Netanyahu's premiership - and with it the protection from prosecution that he has enjoyed until now. In any case, these issues seem to have been contained; Netanyahu now expects the deal to be approved today.

- South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, who is suspended pending his impeachment trial in the country's Constitutional Court, has been arrested following a lengthy standoff, something that has never previously happened to a sitting president in the country.

- Residents of the Ukrainian city of Kherson are accusing Russian drone pilots of using civilians for target practice. Local officials say that at least 16 people have been killed and 144 injured in this way.

- The City of Winnipeg has cancelled a plan to save money for the snow clearing budget by deferring residential plowing until 15 cm of snow have fallen, instead of the current 10 cm. Mayor Scott Gillingham says that his office received more complaints about this proposal than about a planned tax increase.

- China's demand for oil seems to have peaked in 2023; an increase in aviation fuel consumption was more than offset by a decrease in other fuel use, as surface transportation has been increasingly electrified. This is good news for the climate, though nowhere near good enough to prevent an awful lot of bad stuff in the coming decades. I suspect it's got the Russians worried too.

- A Donald Trump campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota last summer has left the city wondering how to collect on a $209,000 bill for measures taken to accommodate the rally. Trump's campaign says the costs are the responsibility of the Secret Service; the SS, for their part, claim that the agency "lacks a mechanism" to reimburse states or municipalities for these costs.

- Trump wants to stop the impending TikTok ban, presumably because no other social media platform is as effective at rallying the sheeple for him.

- A SpaceX rocket disintegrated shortly after launch, forcing several flights to alter their courses to avoid falling debris. In response Elon Musk, trying to put the best possible face on the situation, tweeted that "Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!"

- The Washington Post has scrapped the slogan "Democracy Dies in Darkness" in favour of a new one, "Riveting Storytelling for All of America". Because journalism is just storytelling, right? I guess in Trump's America, Jeff Bezos doesn't want it to be more than that - certainly not any journalism that the administration can associate with him, lest he fall out a window or something. One is also reminded of Google's abandonment of their old motto "don't be evil" a few years back.

- An employee of a flight training school in St. Andrews, Manitoba was severely injured after attempting to hand-prop an aircraft and getting hit by the propeller.

News roundup, 30 Aug 2024

- Users of X/Twitter were warned by the platform that NPR's article about the Trump campaign's altercation with staff at the Arlington National Cemetery was "unsafe". Now it's true that sometimes the AIs that scan links for potential risks (such as malware) get it wrong, and an X representative said that this was indeed one of those false positives. It's hard not to wonder, though, if this was a direct move by Elon Musk to suppress a story that's potentially damaging to Trump. Without a doubt, there's potential for damage in the story; given the near-sacred status of the military in American mythology, having a Trump staffer shove a female employee of the cemetery who was just trying to ensure that rules set up to ensure respectful behaviour around the graves of fallen soldiers is not a good look. And some observers think Trump himself is in a state of panic as he loses it on his Truth Social platform. Perhaps the fact that new registrations by Democratic voters have dramatically increased in some swing states is contributing to his declining mental state.

- Republican Royce White, who is trying to unseat Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, went on a rant on his podcast about how Republicans trying to appeal to suburban women are "delusional" and "living in a cucked mentality". Given the electoral system and the demographics, though, you have to win over a fair chunk of that vote to get elected (even Trump knows that), yet White continues to push on. It's as if the far right true believers are the delusional ones.

- Cornel West seems to have been afflicted by RFK Jr.'s wild delusions about vaccines - or at least he's trying to pick up some votes that would have gone to Kennedy had the latter not dropped out of the race.

- A South Korean court has ruled that the country's climate legislation's lack of legally binding targets for greenhouse gas reduction is unconstitutional, because it violates the rights of future generations.

- Israel is buying Google ads to discredit the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), trying to present the agency as being in the pocket of Hamas.

- BC Conservative leader John Rustad is refusing to moderate his position on climate change. Notably Rustad was kicked out of the BC Liberals (who were already considerably to the right of their federal counterparts) over this very issue, yet now he's trying to get former supporters of that party to vote for his. One hopes it won't work, though you can't always count on voters to do the right or sensible thing.

- A youth pastor at Oak View Baptist Church in High Point, North Carolina has been charged with 30 counts of sexual battery against teenage victims. You can be sure, though, that the church will continue to say that drag queens are the real threat.

- The mayor of a municipality in New Zealand gave a nice concise response to a "sovereign citizen" who requested personal information about council staff.

News roundup, 14 Aug 2024

- The City of Winnipeg is joining with 17 other municipalities in the metro area to come up with a loose plan for what the region will look like in 2050. Of course, whenever you talk about collective planning for a metro area, you trigger something in the reptilian brains of some of the simpler folk out in the sticks, resulting in people showing up at public meetings utterly convinced that they're going to be restricted to their own neighbourhoods because that's what some far-out unbathed basement dwellers have told them in the TikTok videos they make from their cars.

- The former clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, a Republican who claimed that the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump, has been found guilty of... trying to rig the election in favour of Donald Trump. It's sometimes said that "every accusation is a confession" with these people; in this case that adage applies perfectly.

- The Israelis bombed another school that was being used as a shelter for displaced people in Gaza, killing over 100 of them. Predictably, they claimed they were after Hamas operatives, but almost as predictably there is nothing to confirm the truth of this claim.

- Earlier this summer, independent videographer Samuel Seligson accompanied a group of pro-Palestinian protesters in New York City and filmed some of their actions. The protesters hurled red paint at the homes of several directors of the Brooklyn Museum as well as some other targets. While targeting their homes does seem to be crossing a line, the fact that Seligson has been accused of complicity with them and charged with felony hate crimes would seem to cross a line of its own.

- Ilhan Omar, the left-leaning member of Congress from Minnesota, has won her primary despite the efforts of the pro-Israel crowd to get rid of her. Two other left-leaning Democrats, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, were not so fortunate; both were defeated in their respective primaries after millions of dollars were poured into their opponents' campaigns.

- Ukraine is claiming success in their recent cross-border raid into the Kursk region of Russia. They say they now control over 1,000 km² of territory, though this is viewed with skepticism by some - but if nothing else they seem to be getting a badly needed morale boost as well as causing difficulties for Russia's activities in Ukraine.

- A Ukrainian refugee mother and son were viciously attacked with a baseball bat in an apparent robbery.

- A Texas judge who was set to hear a lawsuit from Elon Musk's X/Twitter against advertisers who pulled out of the platform has recused himself following revelations that he owns stock in Tesla as well as in Unilever, one of the defendants. I guess while having a conflict of interest is no big deal, having a conflict between your conflicts of interest is too much even for a Texas judge.

News roundup, 31 July 2024

- The leader of the political wing of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an airstrike in Tehran. Launching an airstrike at a foreign country to take out someone who lives there might seem to be a reckless move, but I'm guessing Netanyahu wouldn't mind a war with Iran. After all, he needs some kind of foreign threat in order to maintain his grip on power. And given that he's at risk of going to jail as soon as he leaves office, he has a rather strong incentive to retain power at all costs, no matter how many people (including Israelis) have to die as a result. As for the Americans, they say they hope it doesn't escalate, but that they'll step in to defend Israel if it comes down to it. Because, well...

- In 2016, Facebook introduced a feature called CrowdTangle, a feature that journalists have found extremely useful to track what's going viral. Now, parent company Meta has decided to shut it down, perhaps fearing that it reveals too much about the effects of Facebook's algorithms on the broader society. This is alarming to many, especially given that it's happening in the lead-up to one of the most divisive elections in American history.

- The County Recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, Stephen Richter, has been defeated in the Republican primary by far-right challenger Justin Heap. Richter, a moderate Republican, had been a strong defender of the integrity of the 2020 election, which naturally made him a target. Stuff like this does not bode well for the integrity of future elections.

- Following a mass stabbing at a children's dance workshop in the English town of Southport that killed three young girls, disinformation circulating on social media attributed the attack to Islam (even though the actual suspect has no known links to the religion). As a result, rioters vandalized cars in the parking lot of a mosque, torched a police van, and injured several cops.

- Just weeks after a cyclist was killed in a hit and run on Wellington Crescent, a teenage cyclist was injured by another motorist. She'll apparently be OK, but the cycling community is calling for a 30 km/h speed limit for the entirety of Wellington. That might be a big ask; even though much of the street is already subject to such limits during the summer, the section from River to Academy is a major route for motorists and one could expect a lot of sound and fury from them if such measures were taken there.

News roundup, 7 May 2024

- Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire under a proposal from Egypt and Qatar. Despite some international pressure, including a warning from France that the forced removal of thousands of Palestinians from Rafah (pretty much the last refuge in Gaza for them) could constitute a war crime, the Israelis seem bent on pushing ahead. Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group (who is Israeli, by the way) thinks that "Netanyahu is sensing that this deal could go through, so he’s looking to avert it". One can't help thinking that he fears that being prime minister in wartime might be the only thing standing between him and prison, so he's going to try to maintain a permanent state of war.

- Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was scheduled to give a video address to a conference in Germany on the Israel-Palestine conflict last month, however the event was cancelled by German authorities who claimed that they were trying to prevent "antisemitic and violence-glorifying remarks", despite the fact that one of the organizations behind the conference was Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East. Varoufakis says that in response he recorded the speech and posted it to his blog; he says that the following day German authorities warned pro-Palestinian activists against playing the speech on loudspeakers at any protest.

- Ukrainian men of military age (defined as between 18 and 60) who live abroad face loss of consular services if they don't return home to fight. This applies to those who left before the war as well as during it.

- Donald Trump has been held in contempt of court for the tenth time for violating the order not to speak publicly about witnesses or jurors in his trial regarding the Stormy Daniels hush money. Judge Juan Merchan is warning that he will impose a jail sentence if this keeps up, even while admitting that this is "the last thing" he wants to do. Not sure of the reason for his reluctance.

- A Republican fundraiser in Colorado was cancelled due to "safety concerns". These concerns appear to have arisen because of threats stemming from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's admission that she shot her dog for being unruly. As an aside, the first article indicates that the chair of the Republican Party's Jefferson County wing is named Nancy Pallozzi; I bet she has to put up with a lot of ribbing about her name from her fellow Republicans.

- Despite all the FUD about how Canada's deficits will scare off investors, Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, is looking north of the border. Buffett himself says "We do not feel uncomfortable in any way, shape or form, putting our money into Canada".

- The Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation will redevelop a housing complex closed by Manitoba Housing in 2019, in cooperation with Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Spence Neighbourhood Association. The province is donating the site; the existing units (which were problematic from the start) will be demolished and a new building constructed.

- Two men in Headingley were arrested for possession of a large amount of explosives as well as firearms. One of them has a significant record already. Meanwhile, police in Winkler arrested another man and seized an enormous arsenal of firearms, including a homemade cannon as well as 21 rifles (two of them were loaded; in addition one was fitted with an over-capacity magazine, and one with a suppressor), 4 shotguns, explosives, body armour, and over 6,500 rounds of ammunition.

- The suspected serial killer being tried in Winnipeg for the deaths of four women has admitted to the killings but is trying to argue that he is not criminally responsible due to mental illness. Following this development the prosecution has agreed to allow the case to be heard by a judge alone, and the jury will be discharged.

- A large species of catfish, indigenous to the American South, has turned up in the Thames River in Ontario. In other invasive species news, several large flatworm species have also been found in the province.

- A former Hamilton police officer who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman he was mentoring has been sentenced to 12 months of house arrest followed by 12 months of probation. What stands out about this story, though, is that the judge had already told him that he wouldn't serve any jail time, two weeks before the actual sentence was issued.

- In Saskatchewan, sexual health education is pretty much banned from all classrooms; this includes such things as educating kids about consent. I guess Saskatchewan Party MLAs don't want their kids' victims to know what their rights are.

News roundup, 22 April 2024

- The Manitoba government has confirmed that they will be lifting the ban on homegrown cannabis in the province. Most other provinces (except Quebec) already allow this.

- The Israel Defense Force's head of intelligence has resigned over the failure to see the October 7 attack coming. Some are asking why the shekel stops there, though; opposition leader Yair Lapid is calling for Netanyahu to resign as well. In related news, the US is reportedly preparing sanctions against a specific battalion of the IDF, following reports of human rights violations by the battalion. The Israelis are not pleased.

- The US Supreme Court will be hearing a case on whether laws against sleeping rough are enforceable if there is no adequate shelter elsewhere. Courts in Canada have ruled against such laws in similar cases, though whether the current makeup of the American court is conducive to this is another question.

- Sections of Ontario's Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, an "ag-gag" law, have been declared unconstitutional. The affected sections are those that allow activists or journalists who take on a job at livestock facilities to be considered trespassers if they are found to have misrepresented their backgrounds in order to get the job.

- A climate activist in the UK was charged with contempt of court for standing outside a courthouse where other activists were on trial while holding a placard advising jurors of their right to acquit based on conscience. The charges have been dismissed, however.

- Populist politicians (most of whom are rightwing these days) love the phrase "common sense". Whenever I hear it, though, I am reminded of a saying (often attributed to Einstein, though as with most "Einstein" quotes it's unclear whether he actually said it) that "Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before age eighteen". Lurking behind the phrase is anti-intellectualism, atavism, and in a lot of cases, xenophobia. John Wiens has a lot to say on the subject here.

A rather curious journalistic error

At least I hope it's an error rather than a deliberate falsehood:

Dozens of Palestinian smugglers have died in collapses and strikes against the tunnels, which are used to bring everything from cigarettes and chocolate to livestock and weapons into the blockaded territory. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade to weaken Gaza's rulers, the Islamic militants of Hamas, who violently seized power in 2007.

So says an AP story on the CBC website. But as pogge points out, the bolded part is completely false. Hamas were elected in 2007. Hamas aren't great folks by any means, but the MSM should be able to find enough true negative stories about them without having to make up false ones.

George Galloway banned from Canada!

Even the Bush administration didn't do this:

Anti-war MP George Galloway has been banned from Canada, it emerged today.

A Canadian spokesman confirmed that the Respect MP had been deemed inadmissible on national security grounds and would not be allowed into the country.

Galloway today branded the ban "idiotic" and vowed to fight the ruling with "all means" at his disposal. He is due to give a speech in Toronto on 30 March.

Earlier today the Sun said border security officials had declared Galloway, 54, "inadmissible" because of his views on Afghanistan and the presence of Canadian troops there and would be turned away if he attempted to enter the country.

A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada said the decision had been taken by border security officials "based on a number of factors" in accordance with section 34(1) of the country's immigration act.

From the Guardian. Immigration minister Jason Kenney says that he has given "financial support" to Hamas; as far as I can tell that refers to his participation in this. What a load of crap (though I can see why the Cons would be scared of Galloway; he can't be intimidated).

Robert Fisk: Keeping out the cameras and reporters simply doesn't work

Surprise surprise:

What is Israel afraid of? Using the old "enclosed military area" excuse to prevent coverage of its occupation of Palestinian land has been going on for years. But the last time Israel played this game – in Jenin in 2000 – it was a disaster. Prevented from seeing the truth with their own eyes, reporters quoted Palestinians who claimed there had been a massacre by Israeli soldiers – and Israel spent years denying it. In fact, there was a massacre, but not on the scale that it was originally reported.

Now the Israeli army is trying the same doomed tactic again. Ban the press. Keep the cameras out. By yesterday morning, only hours after the Israeli army went clanking into Gaza to kill more Hamas members – and, of course, more civilians – Hamas was reporting the capture of two Israeli soldiers. Reporters on the ground could have sorted out the truth or the lie about that. But without a single Western journalist in Gaza, the Israelis were left to tell the world that they didn't know if the story was true.

On the other hand, the Israelis are so ruthless that the reasons for the ban on journalism may be quite easily explained: that so many Israeli soldiers are going to kill so many innocents – more than three score by last night, and that's only the ones we know about – that images of the slaughter would be too much to tolerate. Not that the Palestinians have done much to help. The kidnapping by a Palestinian mafia family of the BBC's man in Gaza – finally released by Hamas, although that's not being recalled right now – put paid to any permanent Western television presence in Gaza months ago. Yet the results are the same.

From the Independent. Meanwhile, there's plenty of speculation about a possible reason for the timing of the attack itself:

Many Middle East experts say Israel timed its move against Hamas, which began with airstrikes on Dec. 27, 24 days before Mr. Bush leaves office, with the expectation of such backing in Washington. Israeli officials could not be certain that President-elect Barack Obama, despite past statements of sympathy for Israel’s right of self-defense, would match the Bush administration’s unconditional endorsement.

“Obviously Bush, even by comparison with past U.S. presidents, has been very, very pro-Israel,” said Sami G. Hajjar, a longtime scholar of Middle East politics and a visiting professor at the National Defense University. “Despite Obama’s statements, and his advisers who are quite pro-Israel, the Israelis really didn’t know how he’d react. His first instinct is for diplomacy, not military action.”

From the New York Times.