Aftermath of the US election

So it's over. The American people have elected Donald Trump as their next president. The Republicans have also gained control of the Senate; the state of the House of Representatives is yet to be determined but a Republican majority seems extremely likely.

The consequences of this are hard to predict with certainty, but it is not going to be good. The Globe and Mail's Andrew Coyne paints an especially bleak picture - he figures Ukraine is likely finished (notwithstanding Zelensky's desperate attempt to put on a brave face); I think he is likely correct in that assessment. Scarier is the possibility that this will embolden Putin to invade other European countries. Coyne reckons NATO can be considered a non-factor here. He may be right about that; if Putin concurs he may well try to conquer the Baltic states and parts of Poland. Some more alarmist types think he would go beyond that; I have my doubts (Russia would be pretty badly overextended in such a scenario); the most dangerous possible situation, though, is if the alarmists prevail and the nuclear-armed UK and France send troops in and get into direct combat with Russia.

Another specter raised by Coyne is that of China having a go at Taiwan. That seems a lot less likely to me; the US is heavily dependent on microchips from Taiwan and would be much more likely to step in in such a scenario. Presumably China knows that, so they unlikely to take the risk of going up against the US right now (especially a US led by someone as unstable as Trump). This might become a bigger risk in the long term, though; the US has been trying to bring chip manufacture home, and while that has a ways to go China might bank on them throwing Taiwan under the bus a few years down the line.

Assuming (as I still do, for the time being) that nuclear disaster is averted, there is still plenty that can and will go badly. Coyne again sees severe erosion of democracy at home, with little prospect for improvement:

We should not count upon the majority of Americans coming to their senses in any event. They were not able to see Mr. Trump for what he was before: why should that change? Would they not, rather, be further coarsened by the experience of seeing their neighbours dragged off by the police, or the military, further steeled to the necessity of doing "tough things" to "restore order?"

Some won’t, of course. But they will find in time that the democratic levers they might once have pulled to demand change are no longer attached to anything. There are still elections, but the rules have been altered: there are certain obstacles, certain disadvantages if you are not with the party of power. It will seem easier at first to try to change things from within. Then it will be easier not to change things.

While Coyne focuses on only a handful of issues, there are plenty of other reasons to consider this an abject disaster. Abortion access, for starters, may not be secure even in blue states - beyond revoking the FDA's approval of mifepristone, some fear the Trump administration will make use of the archaic Comstock Act, an 1873 law that prohibits the movement by mail of any "article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion", which could include not only drugs but the equipment needed for abortions in clinics. While previous court decisions have interpreted this to mean only the mailing of these things for illegal use, the current Supreme Court can't be expected to uphold that precedent. I suppose this might create opportunities for enterprising new med school graduates in this country to set up abortion clinics in places like Emerson, Sarnia, and Windsor...

And speaking of the Supreme Court, it will probably be decades before the rightwing stranglehold on the court is broken. This means that even if non-crazy people are able to win elections at some point in the future, they will be severely constrained on what they can do.

But the worst consequence by far (assuming nuclear war is averted) is that climate change is almost certain to be a lot worse than it would have had Trump not regained power. Trump plans to completely dismantle the measures put in by the Biden administration; including the invaluable (if misnamed) Inflation Reduction Act, which has (had?) the potential to radically transform the power grid in the US by expanding renewable energy, while creating numerous jobs in the process. Some point to the fact that red states have benefited enormously from the jobs already created, which might be a disincentive for Republican representatives in those states to repeal the legislation. Others have their doubts though:

"It’s one thing to say you don’t want these tax credits repealed. That’s a good start," said Adrian Deveny, who helped write the Inflation Reduction Act when she worked for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "It’s another thing to vote no on a [future] tax package put forward by the president."

Trump also vows to slash climate research (and most other scientific research as well); even in his first term some scientists gave up and left the country, and it is likely to be a lot worse the second time around. He further vows to rescind all manner of environmental rules, opening the door for massive fossil fuel drilling.

Regarding who is to blame for this mess, the recriminations will doubtless echo for years. Bernie Sanders has roundly condemned the Democratic leadership for years of neglecting the working class, and he is not wrong about that. More centrist types blame the Harris campaign for failure to communicate properly, for focusing too much on reasons not to vote for Trump and not enough on reasons to vote for Harris. There may be something in that too; although some were claiming record turnout this time around, the evidence suggests otherwise - turnout seems to have been lower than in 2020. That indicates that a lot of people just didn't think there was anyone to vote for.

But having said all that, much of the blame lies squarely on the American people themselves (including but not limited to the aforementioned working class). I know this is considered impolite to say in some circles; a lot of democratic idealist types (be they social democrats, liberals, or moderate conservatives) say things like "the people are always right". While it's forgivable (and gracious) for a losing candidate to say that in a concession speech, there is no way any reasonable person can say that an electorate who selected a man who is a sexual predator, racist, con artist, pathological liar, and likely spiralling into dementia has made a good and wise decision. I'm sorry, America, but you got this one wrong. Very, very wrong, and the whole world now has to figure out how to deal with the consequences.

One final thought - it's easy to imagine a microbiologist with access to CRISPR technology looking at the way things have gone, and the way it looks like they're going, and deciding to come up with a real-life version of the Captain Trips virus from Stephen King's The Stand, so as to give humanity the kind of "Great Reset" that seems so sorely needed. At this point things are so far gone that I'm not sure I'm prepared to even say they'd be wrong to do so.

News roundup, 6 Nov 2024

- And it's over. Donald Trump has defeated Kamala Harris and will be going back into the White House. I plan to say more about this later. It's worth noting, though, that while several false bomb threats were called into polling stations in swing states, that almost certainly was not the reason. It may not even be possible to blame the electoral college, as unfair as that institution is - as of this post, Trump is leading in the popular vote as well. No, unfortunately much of the blame for this debacle lies squarely on the American people.

- A team of outreach workers and volunteers is conducting a "street census" of homeless people in Winnipeg, while St. Boniface Street Links is trying to finalize a deal with the City of Winnipeg to lease a city-owned building as a service centre for the homeless community. Contrast the situation one province to the east, where as mentioned previously mayors of several cities in Ontario are calling for the provincial government to use the notwithstanding clause to enable them to clear out encampments, much to the chagrin of activists (and indeed anyone capable of recognizing that such measures are not going to cause homeless people to disappear).

- There's been yet another violent carjacking in Winnipeg; this one occurred in Elmwood and the victim was a delivery driver.

- The Regional Municipality of Waterloo is hoping to move ahead with plans for additional bike lanes, even as the provincial government prepares to make it more difficult. Perhaps they hope to get them under the wire before new provincial legislation comes into effect to make it more difficult, and that Doug Ford won't use a special regulation to force their removal simply because he doesn't have to drive down those streets.

- Three people have been charged after violent protests at places of worship in Brampton, Ontario. One happened at a Hindu temple while another was at a Sikh gurdwara. Of course, Pierre Poilievre can't help but say that it's all Trudeau's fault.

News roundup, 5 Nov 2024

- The polls in today's election remain extremely close. The margin of error is big enough that either candidate could win a healthy majority of electoral votes. Notably, Harris needs to win the popular vote by 2.1 points in order to have a realistic chance of actually winning the Electoral College - and she'd need to beat Trump by 4.5 points in order to have a landslide. One of the things to worry about is that if Harris' margin of victory is narrow enough that a single state could make the difference, Trump's pawns in the Supreme Court could decide to award the election to him.

- Besides the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, numerous other American newspapers have declared that they will not be endorsing any candidate. More interestingly, there seems to have been a precipitous drop in endorsements since 2016. Admittedly, there were signs of a downward trend before then (and in and of itself it might not even a bad thing), but it's really taken off since Trump first rose to the presidency. Now some of this might come down to newspaper owners preferring to avoid paying taxes, and so papers that might previously have endorsed the Republican candidate might just avoid an endorsement since endorsing Trump looks so darned bad. But it's noteworthy that among papers that have stopped endorsing candidates, a disproportionate number of them were papers based in states that Trump won and which had endorsed Clinton in that election. It sure looks like the papers are downright scared of Trump... or rather of his supporters. Which makes sense given that Trump recently said at a rally that he wouldn't mind if a few journalists got shot...

- Murray Sinclair, groundbreaking judge and senator, has died at the age of 73. A member of Peguis First Nation, he became Manitoba's first indigenous judge (and the second in Canada) in 1988, presiding over the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in 1988 and later the Truth and Reconciliation commission before being appointed to the Senate in 2016.

- The newly elected BC legislature now faces the task of selecting a speaker. This is a tricky matter, as the speaker does not vote on bills except to break a tie, and they are constrained by convention on how to vote on such matters (essentially, they vote to preserve the status quo, so on first and second readings they vote yes to preserve debate, while on the third reading they vote no unless it is a confidence matter, in which case they vote yes). And if an NDP MLA is chosen as speaker, the NDP will have a minority government in all but name; they'll need the support of the Greens (or the Cons) to pass anything beyond a budget. Meanwhile the Cons are fulminating over an apparent error that resulted in a box containing 861 ballots not being counted on election night. It should be noted that this occurred in the constituency of Prince George-Mackenzie, a riding that the Cons won by over 5,000 votes. A smaller, yet potentially more consequential error occurred in Surrey-Guildford, in which 14 votes were initially overlooked in a constituency that the NDP held by only 27 votes. Of course the Cons will continue to scream malfeasance regardless of what any future inquiries reveal, because that's what they do.

- There's been another violent carjacking in Winnipeg, in which the driver was hit by his own vehicle after being bear-sprayed. The vehicle was later recovered but the suspect remains at large.

- Manitoba's Independent Investigation Unit, which is supposed to investigate potential criminal activity by police officers, has recommended no criminal charges for a Winnipeg cop who failed an alcohol screening after being uncooperative with RCMP officers who pulled him over near Rennie. I guess most of the members of the IIU still have to drive to work and thus are vulnerable to police harassment...

- A man who ran his truck into a march for residential school survivors after making racist threats towards the marchers has avoided jail, instead receiving a 9-month conditional sentence and a 12-month driving prohibition.

- I can't say I've ever seen a Hallmark movie (some of which are made right here in Winnipeg, incidentally). Those whose judgment I trust generally seem to think that they constitute a high crime against the cinematic arts. Others might disagree, but I think even those people could agree that overtly ageist casting policies are worthy of disapproval.

News roundup, 4 Nov 2024

- A new social media trend is calling on people to "cancel" the votes of more rightwing family members by voting for the Democrats. The Harris campaign, and others supporting them such as the Lincoln Project, are getting involved in the trend, with ads like this one that remind women that their husbands will never know who they actually voted for; not surprisingly rightwingers are having a conniption about this representing the "downfall of the American family".

- In response to last year's Supreme Court ruling which says that municipalities can't evict homeless encampments from public land if there's not enough shelter space for the people living there, the mayors of thirteen Ontario municipalities have called on Doug Ford to use the notwithstanding clause to override this decision.

- Even as a bill to limit cities' ability to build bike lanes works its way through the Ontario legislature, the Ford government is not waiting; they're moving forward with a regulation that specifically orders the removal of bike lanes from three major streets in Toronto; these YouTubers suggest that those streets might be the ones used by Doug Ford for his commute to Queen's Park from his home in Etobicoke. It won't actually solve congestion, of course, but at least Ford won't have to watch people on bikes whizz by as he steams in traffic.

- Winnipeg city councillor Vivian Santos, in her role as chair of the community services committee, questioned whether the city can afford the approximately $260,000 a year budgeted for picking up needles and other sharp objects in playgrounds. The fact that this is something they'd consider cutting is a sign of desperation. Talks are on with the province about possibly empowering the city to levy new taxes; certainly something has to be done. The city is studying the impact of some possible new taxes, including on such things as alcohol and online deliveries; curiously there is no mention of an income tax, gas tax, or sales tax among the proposals.

- A welcome sign in the lobby of Montreal's city hall will be removed following criticism of the inclusion of a picture of a woman in a hijab on the sign.

- Someone in Calgary's Bowness neighbourhood thought it would be cool to leave out a bowl of disposable razors for Halloween, with a sign saying that they couldn't afford apples "because of Trudeau".

News roundup, 31 Oct 2024

- An 18-year-old Florida resident has been arrested for threatening Democratic activists with a machete outside a polling station.

- Polymarket, a blockchain-based platform where bets can be placed on election outcomes, has confirmed that a single individual, using four different accounts, has bet $28 million on Donald Trump winning the US presidential election. This represents more than 1% of all bets on the outcome. The trader in question has not been publicly identified except by their accounts. The platform is currently giving 63% odds of Trump winning, considerably higher than poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight, which gives Trump a 52% chance. Some Redditors are speculating that this simply reflects the biases of those who bet on these things; betting sites tend to skew male, and this one is crypto-based which also skews male. Hopefully this is the case...

- Pierre Poilievre is whining that it would be "not fair" for the Liberals to replace Trudeau as leader before the next election. I guess he's concerned that it might force the Cons to actually talk about policy, which is something of a weak point with that party.

- University of Pennsylvania economist Benjamin Keys suggests that the growing risk of climate related disasters should encourage people to reconsider whether it's a good idea to buy a house, at least if you live in a high-risk area. Given that insurance and property taxes have the potential to increase very suddenly, and that insurance might be difficult or impossible to obtain in the future, it might be safer to rent in such places.

- Mount Fuji has seen no snow at all this fall, the first time that this has occurred in the 130 years since detailed records began.

- Peg City Car Co-op, with the help of the Assiniboine Credit Union, is working on electrifying its fleet; the credit union is covering the cost of two charging stations to facilitate this.

- Kelly Vasas, the owner of the College Avenue building where all the tenants were illegally evicted this past summer, tried pulling the same stunt at another building he owns in August. It's almost as if the maximum fines for such actions are so small as to be just the cost of doing business for slumlords like him.

- New Zealand's governing coalition recently banned the public display of gang patches. The leader of one of the parties in the coalition, ACT, was asked what he thought about extending the ban to symbols such as the swastika - turns out he objects to the idea. I guess he wouldn't like us to draw the obvious conclusion, though.

- Russia has issued a fine of 2x10³⁶ rubles (approximately 2x10³⁴ US dollars) to Google for restricting Russian channels on YouTube. They probably will have a hard time collecting though.

News roundup, 28 Oct 2024

- Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has warned Russia that any attempt to annex his country would lead to war. Belarus has until now been seen as a pretty reliable ally for Russia, but there are suspicions that the annexation of the country is part of Putin's long-term plans. Others scoff at this; some in this Reddit thread think this is just a show for the West, or else Lukashenko trying to keep a door to the West open in case Russia's ambitions in Ukraine are thwarted.

- Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, speaking as the warmup act for a Donald Trump rally in Georgia, gave a rather graphic metaphor for what he hopes a second Trump presidency would mean for America:

“If you allow your hormone-addled 15-year-old daughter to slam the door and give you the finger, you’re going to get more of it,” Carlson said. “There has to be a point at which Dad comes home.” At this point the crowd erupted into raucous cheers.

“Dad comes home and he’s pissed,” Carlson continues. “He’s not vengeful, he loves his children. Disobedient as they may be, he loves them … And when Dad gets home, you know what he says? You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now. And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it’s not. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You’re getting a vigorous spanking because you’ve been a bad girl, and it has to be this way.”

Clearly this struck a chord with the crowd. Later, when Trump came on stage, they screamed “Daddy’s home” and “Daddy Don”. Sigmund Freud almost rose from his grave.

It's becoming more and more apparent that close to half of the American population is, to put it kindly, not of sound mind.

- The Washington Post has announced that they will not endorse any candidate for president this year, for the first time since 1988. Reportedly the editorial page editor, David Shipley, had approved an endorsement of Harris, but it was shot down by "management" (presumably meaning Jeff Bezos). The move sparked resignations from the board; the same thing also happened at the Los Angeles Times. This has led to speculation that management is scared of what Trump might do to them if he does win the presidency - or at least insufficiently scared of what he might do to other people.

- New Flyer Industries is significantly expanding their production of electric transit buses. This will enable some buses to be completely assembled at the Winnipeg plant; until now only the shells of the buses have been manufactured here, while the mechanicals have been added at a plant in Alabama. One hopes that some of these buses can be put to use on our own streets...

- A final seat count for BC's election last week is still pending as some 22,000 absentee ballots await counting.

- The robotics industry is now producing farm equipment that can harvest crops autonomously. This will help deal with the shortage of farm labour; it will probably also hasten the depopulation (and resulting decline in political influence) of rural areas.

- Chris Alexander, who served as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration under Stephen Harper, has accused Postmedia reporter David Pugliese of having been a Russian asset since the 1980s. The allegation was made during Alexander's testimony before the House of Commons standing committee on public safety and national security on Thursday.

- A private member's bill introduced to the Ontario legislature by Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon aimed to facilitate the conversion of vacant office space into housing. Unfortunately the government has shot the bill down; whether this is just the knee-jerk reaction of a government that doesn't want anything done that they can't take credit for, or whether they have a deeper opposition to the idea, is not clear. I could see Doug Ford not relishing an expansion of housing in the inner city, though, as such housing tends to be occupied by people less inclined to vote for his party. Not to mention, a disproportionate amount of Ford's base comes from people who work jobs that can't be done remotely, and some of those people are downright resentful of people who are able to do so.

News roundup, 22 Oct 2024

- Control over BC's legislature remains up in the air due to several recounts, but one thing that's clear - the knuckle-dragging loogans did way better than they ought to, and not just in the purely rural ares either. Several Conservatives singles out by the NDP for their extreme views won their seats, including Brent Chapman (the guy who made overtly racist social media posts about Palestinians and suggested that several mass shootings were hoaxes), Jordan Kealy (who promoted the "chemtrails" conspiracy theory), and Jody Toor (who claimed to be a "medical doctor" on the basis of a degree from a crackpot online institution in Hawaii). On a more positive note, Chris Sankey (who claimed that vaccines cause AIDS and claimed that the Jan 6 riot was a hoax) appears to have been defeated, and Bryan Breguet (who questioned the existence of anti-indigenous racism) is still awaiting the results of a recount. Nonetheless, it all brings to mind the quote sometimes attributed (questionably) to Winston Churchill, that "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter".

- Related to that Churchill "quote", Liberal MP Sean Casey, who has joined the growing ranks of those calling for Justin Trudeau's resignation as party leader, said something interesting on the subject:

Voting is an emotional exercise. It’s not based on logic. If it was based on logic and rational thinking, we’d be 20 points up, not down. But there’s been baggage accumulated. People have tuned him out.

There's definitely something to that; while "20 points up" is overstating the case given the rather mediocre performance of the government, decent people voting on the basis of reason and logic would not be going for the Poilievre Conservatives.

- In the US, the ever-gullible masses are in thrall to absurd claims about the recent hurricanes, from claims about Biden and Harris' supposed indifference to the plight of victims to the idea that some nebulous "they" (presumably including Democrats, Jews, etc) are controlling the hurricanes. Of course stuff like this is not without consequence - one man has been arrested for threats against FEMA workers (he is of course unrepentant, like most such people).

- Switzerland, despite their longstanding neutral stance, has signed onto the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), which seeks to build a unified air and missile defence system across the European subcontinent. They reserve the right, however, to withdraw their participation in the event of an actual war.

- A baseless story being circulated that alleges that Tim Walz sexually assaulted one of his students seems to be getting a boost from Storm-1516, a network affiliated with the so-called Internet Research Agency and believed to operate out of St. Petersburg. They've previously circulated stuff about Kamala Harris as well; stuff like this makes claims that Russia's leaders are becoming more leery of Trump seem like wishful thinking.

- Winnipeg councillor Brian Mayes, who never met a NIMBY he didn't like, continues to cozy up to those people; he's now demanding a map of every location in the city that would be impacted by the proposed "as of right" zoning (which would enable buildings of up to 4 storeys to be constructed without a hearing as long as they're within 800 metres of a transit route).

News roundup, 26 Sept 2024

- A recent poll gives Kamala Harris a 5 point lead over Donald Trump, which is promising news. Trump has a 52-40 lead over Harris among male voters, while Harris has a 58-37 lead among female voters. Lawrence Martin thinks this will tip the balance in favour of Harris; we'll have to see.

- A vertical farm that just opened in Richmond, Virginia is expected to produce almost 2 million kilograms of strawberries in a year, while using less than an acre of land. Meanwhile a startup in Singapore hopes to produce milk and derivatives from altered yeast cells. Hopefully this is the way of the future, though rural folks will probably not take their increasing irrelevance gently.

- Documents from the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) provided to the CBC under an access to information request indicate that "public scrutiny" was a major factor in the federal government's decision to force civil servants who were working from home back to the office. The documents indicate that there was little or no indication that productivity was a factor; it seems it's just an attempt to placate voters who can't work from home, and perhaps also to placate business interests such as the owners of private parking lots.

- CTV has apologized after editing a clip of Pierre Poilievre from a policy scrum with reporters. Apparently they spliced together audio in such a way as to make it appear that the dental plan was Poilievre's motivation for a non-confidence motion; definitely not a good look, and moreover it adds fuel to Poilievre's rage that is so uncannily popular with the masses.

- Despite misgivings, the federal NDP has reactivated its TikTok account, saying that they have consulted security experts and accordingly have installed the app only on a dedicated phone that isn't taken anywhere. The fact that they went to such efforts suggests that they've concluded that there's a sizeable chunk of the electorate that can't be reached without it. Which I find quite believable, unfortunately.

- A proposed homeless shelter at the former Saskatchewan Transportation Company facility in Saskatoon is drawing fire from the chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council, due to the plan to surround it with a chain-link fence that the chief says will make it "look like a jail". He is also not happy that the new shelter, which will be run by a faith-based organization, is getting more resources than the tribal council's own facility. It's certainly not clear how the fence will actually enhance safety, though granted it will probably enhance the perception of safety. Meanwhile in Victoria, the perception of safety is a huge driver of opposition to a facility to help the homeless access treatment and long-term housing; perhaps someone should ask those people whether they'd prefer the homeless to just camp out in their neighbourhood parks instead.

- You might recall from a few months ago how the Mountain View School Division in western Manitoba fired its superintendent a few months ago, triggering the resignations of three of its nine trustees. Well, an advisory panel appointed by the province has now walked away from talks with the division, saying that they are unable to do their jobs under the terms the division has set. Following this, four of the trustees held a meeting in which some policy decisions were made despite not having quorum. The votes included a ban on all flags other than the Canadian or Manitoban flag and the flags of the individual schools; I'm pretty sure we can all guess some of the flags they're primarily concerned with.

News roundup, 25 Sept 2024

- An American Airlines flight from Dallas to Seoul earlier this month turned around over the Pacific and went all the way back to Dallas. Passengers say they were not given a clear explanation for the turnaround, nor for why the plane didn't just land somewhere on the west coast so that the next flight wouldn't be so long, though they surmised (probably accurately) that the airline would rather they just went home rather than stay in a hotel at the airline's expense.

- BC Conservative leader John Rustad apparently expressed regret for having taken COVID-19 vaccines. Not because of any side effects (you can be sure that if he experienced any we'd never hear the end of it) but because he thinks it's somehow about "shaping opinion and control on the population". When asked about this by the media at an announcement he was evasive.

- The possibility of a strike by 25,000 healthcare workers in Manitoba is looming; CUPE and MGEU say they will walk out on Oct 8 unless they get a satisfactory contract.

- Montana's electronic absentee ballot system was shut down for troubleshooting after it was discovered that Kamala Harris was not on the ballot. Of course Montana is about as red a state as they come, so it wouldn't affect the outcome of the presidential race even if it weren't fixed (they say it has been), but it might affect some downballot races in relatively sane places like Missoula. Some might wonder if that was the intent.

- The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, with a mean elevation of only 2 metres above sea level and a maximum of 4.6 m, faces oblivion within decades. They are hoping, however, to retain their status as a sovereign state, and in particular the marine boundaries with associated resource rights.

- Despite fears of unintended consequences, more and more scientists are saying that it's necessary to take geoengineering seriously, not least because it's a virtual certainty that some will try it anyway and it's important to do some research on the possible consequences as well as efficacy of such measures.

News roundup, 23 Sept 2024

- French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed a new government from the fragmented parliament elected in a snap election earlier this year. The new government is a coalition between his own Renaissance party and the conservative Republicans; however the two parties combined do not have a majority and they will need the support of other parties to pass legislation - possibly including Marine Le Pen's National Rally.

- The author of a recent article in the Manitoba Law Journal on the question of whether it's OK for a backbench MLA such as Mark Wasyliw to be practicing criminal law at the same time thinks there are real issues with the matter, with potentials for conflict of interest as well as the more basic question of whether it's advisable to be trying to do two fairly demanding jobs at the same time. He is, however, critical of the focus on the connection with Peter Nygard. Meanwhile NDP caucus chair Mike Moyes has stated that Wasyliw was a difficult person to deal with; that he may well have been, but I guess that doesn't resonate with the public the way the Nygard thing does. In any case, the matter does not seem to have impacted Wab Kinew's popularity; he still has the highest approval rating of any premier in the country.

- In Ontario, the Ford government is planning to override municipal powers again, this time to restrict municipalities' ability to build bike lanes. The proposed legislation is called the "Reducing Gridlock and Saving You Time Act". In actual fact, fewer bike lanes likely means more motor vehicles on the road and hence more gridlock, but the suburbanites Ford is trying to court seem incapable of understanding that. Or else they don't care because they're stuck driving anyway thanks to their questionable lifestyle choices, so they want to make sure inner city residents don't have it any better.

- Solar energy continues to surge worldwide, and some are predicting that this could finally be the tipping point that starts to cause a reduction in global carbon emissions. Some environmentalists are concerned about the impact of some solar installations, fearing that this will alter some pristine habitats, but the truth is that no habitat is likely to escape dramatic change in the next few decades, so maybe the best approach is to focus on keeping as many habitats viable as possible, rather than pristine. Meanwhile in Norway, electric cars now outnumber gas-powered ones.

- Speaking of keeping habitats viable, as opposed to pristine, researchers in the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean have had some success in breeding heat-resistant corals. Stuff like this is necessary, though it will probably also make some uncomfortable because it's pretty much an admission that wilderness, as we understand it, is essentially a thing of the past. In a similar vein, I think it would make a lot of sense to replant the burned areas of Jasper National Park, say, with broad-leaved trees that are better suited to a warmer climate (and less prone to severe wildfires), but that might be unpopular since it would greatly change the nature of the park. Like it or not, though, engineered ecosystems are going to have to be a much bigger part of our world in the future.

- A large housing and commercial project planned for the French city of Caen has been scrapped following a study that concluded that the sea level rise that's already locked in from climate change will render the site where it was planned uninhabitable in a matter of decades.

- While Kamala Harris stands a good chance of winning in the fall, the possibility that a state with enough electors to decide the outcome could end up in the Supreme Court is worrisome.

- Bruce Zuchowski, the sheriff of Portage County, Ohio, suggested that residents of his county keep lists of addresses with Democratic election signs. One resident who called the sheriff's office and left a message critical of this says that they started getting calls from blocked numbers, and when they finally answered the caller simply read out their name and address. Not particularly subtle of them, that's for sure.

News roundup, 4 Sept 2024

- Jagmeet Singh and the federal NDP has evidently lost their patience with the Liberal government, saying that several of the promises made by the Liberals in making the confidence and supply accord have not been fulfilled. Accordingly, they have torn up the agreement, potentially meaning that the government could fall at any time.

- Kamala Harris has a solid lead against Donald Trump in the nationwide popular vote, but remains statistically tied with him in key swing states. So somewhat promising but a sane outcome remains far from assured thanks to the peculiarities of the Electoral College. A big concern is the possibility of something analogous to the "shy Tory" factor in British politics.

- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to get his name removed from the ballot in several states following his endorsement of Donald Trump - but in Michigan and in North Carolina this request has been denied. Yet strangely, he is still trying to get reinstated to the ballot in New York after having been previously removed for misrepresenting his residency.

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he plans to hold onto the seized Russian territories indefinitely, not because he wants to annex them but as a bargaining chip.

- Doug Ford has severely restricted safe injection sites, banning them within 200 metres of a school among other things. Yet he's more than willing to allow stores near schools to sell one of the most socially damaging drugs. He doesn't like it when this is pointed out, though.

- A list of donors to the so-called "Freedom Convoy" in 2022 includes several of the BC Conservative Party's candidates in the upcoming provincial election.

- The TTC has introduced a feature to its transit app that will show unplanned reroutes in real time. Seems to me that something like that is needed in Winnipeg (and elsewhere).

- While leaded gasoline has been banned for automotive use in most places for decades, it is still widely used in aviation. California is moving to change that, and plans on a full ban by 2031.

News roundup, 29 Aug 2024

- A new poll, commissioned by Fox News no less, shows Kamala Harris doing increasingly well in key swing states. Trump isn't safely buried yet by any means, but this is a promising sign. The fact that Trump has been hit with yet another indictment probably isn't helping him at this point, nor the fact that his staff had an altercation with staff at the Arlington National Cemetery. Meanwhile Harris, wants unmuted microphones when she debates Trump, presumably so that he can show his true character on TV.

- People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier was in Winnipeg over the weekend to campaign for Sarah Couture, his party's candidate in the Elmwood-Transcona byelection. This could be good news for the NDP, assuming the visit has any impact at all, since the PPC could pull a few votes away from the Conservatives.

- BC United leader Kevin Falcon is suspending his party's campaign in the provincial election set for this fall, and endorsing the BC Conservatives. This could have unfortunate consequences for the province.

- Researchers at West Virginia University are looking for rare earth elements in abandoned coal mines. This is important work not only because of the importance of securing domestic sources for these increasingly critical metals, but also because it's necessary to show West Virginia's residents how there can be a life beyond coal.

- In much of Canada, public transit is recovering ridership following the precipitous decline at the start of the pandemic. Unfortunately in Manitoba this is not happening; in fact transit use has declined in the last year. One can't help but think that part of this is that for a couple of years the only people who did use the bus were people who had nowhere else to go, with all that this implies.

- Serial killer Jeremy Skibicki has been sentenced to four concurrent life terms with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. The sentencing hearing was a formality as this is automatic for first-degree murder.

- Robots are being deployed to assist police and security guards in many places in the US. The ones in use so far are not capable of any kind of deadly force and are primarily for reconnaissance; civil liberties folks are concerned about the use of AI and facial recognition software, though, not least for the potential for racial bias in the training of AIs.

News roundup, 26 Aug 2024

 - Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has been arrested in France on suspicion of facilitating various crimes, including "fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism" through his company's app. Durov is a Russian-French dual citizen, and Russia is accusing France of "totalitarian" behaviour. Now that sounds pretty rich coming from the Russians; that said, it's worth questioning whether making it possible to securely communicate, which is no doubt useful for the above and other crimes, is sufficient grounds for considering you complicit in those crimes.

- The Trudeau government has slapped a 100% surtax on all Chinese-made electric vehicles, ostensibly to support the EV industry at home. This follows the lead of the US, which took similar measures earlier this year. The editorial board at the Globe and Mail are arguing that this is a necessary move, even as they claim that tariffs are generally a bad thing. I'm not sure it is so good on the big picture, though; while it's definitely true that Chinese EVs are subsidized heavily by the state, subsidies to shift away from environmentally damaging things such as internal combustion engines are a sound and reasonable move, and notably the Trudeau government is not above such measures themselves when it benefits Canadian workers.

- The Canada Industrial Relations Board has ordered an end to the lockout at Canada's two main railways. This was seen as necessary due to the economic impact of the dispute; however, the union plans to fight it in court, and raises concerns that such a move could make it harder for other unions in federally regulated industries.

- A startup called Form Energy plans to build the world's largest battery in Maine, as a measure to maintain the stability of New England's power grid and improve the capacity for the use of renewable energy on the grid. The battery is a new type called an iron-air battery that doesn't require a lot of the hard-to-secure materials needed to build many battery types.

- A new poll suggests that Texas might be within reach for Kamala Harris. While Trump still holds onto a 5% lead, which is outside the margin of error, things could get interesting if his lead continues to slip. Also notable is that of those who planned to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prior to his withdrawal, 44% had switched their allegiance to Harris, while only 21% had switched to Trump. If that holds nationwide, this is very good news.

- Manitoba health minister Uzoma Asagwara has announced that prescription birth control medications will be made available free of charge in the province. The measure has been applauded by many, though some would like to ensure that the "morning after" pill is covered as well, which it currently is not due to its not being available by prescription.

- Some cycling advocates in Winnipeg are calling for the introduction of the "Idaho stop" law in Manitoba. Under this proposal, cyclists would be permitted to treat stop signs as motor vehicles treat yield signs, and to treat red lights as motorists would treat stop signs. The part relating to stop signs makes a great deal of sense, since it enables cyclists to clear the intersection faster (which is beneficial to them as well as to motorists). I used to be more skeptical about the part related to traffic signals until someone tried to bikejack me at a red light last year. Getting a government to resist populist fury sufficiently to introduce such a measure might be a challenge though.

News roundup, 8 Aug 2024

- Justin Trudeau was in Winnipeg earlier this week, attending several Folklorama pavilions and a Black History Manitoba event. He did not, however, make an appearance in the Elmwood-Transcona riding where a byelection is in progress. This is probably a good thing given that the NDP is the only party with a realistic chance of beating the Conservatives, but it's a sign of how toxic Trudeau's brand has become.

- A law passed last year in Minnesota that requires schools to provide menstrual products such as tampons to students in grades 4 and up is being used by the Republicans as "evidence" of Gov. Tim Walz's supposed radicalism; they've given him the nickname "Tampon Tim". The Democrats, though, don't consider this to be the insult the Republicans think it is. Analysts are still trying to figure out whether Walz was a good choice for a running mate; his lack of ties to the "coastal elites" is definitely a positive, though some wonder if his relatively progressive policies will spook voters. The latest polls, though, suggest a positive trend for the Harris/Walz ticket. Walz is also well liked by environmentalists, though this may not be as big a selling point as it ought to be.

- Carla Devlin, the mayor of East St. Paul (and a potential candidate for the leadership of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party) has been hired by Sio Silica as its vice-president for Manitoba. This doesn't help the Tories in their attempt to distance themselves from their attempts to ram through the approval of a sand mine during the dying days of their government.

- The BC government is using Singapore as a model for housing policy. The plan calls for the use of "government, community and non-profit owned" lands to increase the availability of rental housing. Critics argue that this will be hard to replicate. This seems counterintuitive on the face of it, since it ought to be easier to take action when there's more land actually available, but maybe the real problem is in convincing the masses that it's necessary. Singapore does have the advantage of being a unitary city-state and thus does not suffer from the jurisdictional and funding issues involved with a federal system like we have in Canada, though.

- Several books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, and other authors are now banned in all of Utah's public schools. The law even specifies that the books cannot be sold but must be "legally disposed of". But yeah, we're supposed to believe that the Republicans are all about "freedom".

- Fugitive Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont made an appearance in Barcelona to address a crowd of thousands. He slipped away before the police could get their hands on him; a police officer has been arrested for allegedly helping him escape. A massive manhunt is now on for him.

- Three Taylor Swift concerts scheduled in Vienna have been cancelled after organizers were warned of plans for a terrorist attack. One suspect has been arrested and found in possession of possible bomb-making substances; two others remain at large.

- A Russian chess player has been accused of attempting to poison one of her rivals with mercury at a tournament in Dagestan. Amina Abakarova has reportedly confessed to the crime after her actions were caught on video.

News roundup, 7 Aug 2024

- Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Some info about him here; he's apparently fairly well liked by those on the (relative) left. Meanwhile Harris seems to be gaining somewhat in the polls; she's ahead of Trump nationally, though the situation in critical swing states is murkier.

- Apparently Texas and Florida, despite being extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, are gaining population from migration within the US. That's certainly counterintuitive, but it makes sense if you consider the fact that the kind of people who want to move to those states are more likely to be climate change deniers.

- In parts of rural America, solar energy rollouts are a lifeline to many farmers, but they often have to endure the wrath of their neighbours thanks to the success of the right in making clean energy a culture war issue.

- A new potassium-ion battery has the potential to free the green energy industry from dependence on lithium. Unlike sodium-ion batteries, this design has a similar energy density to lithium and could potentially quite easily replace batteries in existing devices.

- Rightwing American commentator Matt Walsh says he's willing to "fight to the death" to protect the precious freedom of Americans to use plastic cutlery. That's cool, as long as his opponent gets to use a steel knife while he uses a plastic one.

- The family accused of staging an antisemitic attack against their Winnipeg restaurant in 2019 are now in Los Angeles, having been given approval by the court to relocate there while waiting for their trial. The prospects of extradition are slim, though; due to limited resources such measures are usually reserved for the most serious crimes, and I guess crying Focke-Wulf doesn't qualify.

- Elon Musk is trying to sue advertisers for boycotting Twitter/X. Apparently advertisers aren't keen on their ads showing up next to neo-Nazi propaganda, but Musk is accusing them of colluding on this matter, in violation of antitrust laws.

- A cyclist died after rear-ending a stopped semi in south Winnipeg. According to one of the people in this Reddit thread, he was actually riding an e-bike; one wonders if the bike was modified to remove the speed limiter that such vehicles are supposed to have.

- The City of Winnipeg has signed a new contract with Tartan Towing, despite the fact that the city is in the midst of suing that very company for allegedly billing the city for tows that never occurred.

News roundup, 6 Aug 2024

- Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate today. The most likely choices are two governors, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, as well as Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. Polling suggests that Kelly is the most popular with the public.

- A Virginia man has been charged with posting large numbers of threats to social media. Targets include Kamala Harris as well as Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, and FBI director Christopher Wray.

- Across the UK, the rioting sparked by disinformation about the identity of the suspect in the mass stabbing in the town of Southport that killed three children continues. The suspect is Rwandan and has no apparent connection to Islam, but the rioters aren't letting the truth get in the way of a good time.

- A former sessional lecturer at Brandon University believes that at least half of his students have used AI to cheat. Among other things, he says some of their essays referenced sources that didn't exist (a common issue with using AI for this purpose). On a possibly more positive note, there seems to be a backlash building against the widespread use of AI, with some companies withdrawing their use of the technology (or at least not promoting their use of it anymore).

- Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre is looking at installing weapon scanners to reduce the risk of violence to front line staff.

- Fentanyl was involved in four out of five overdose deaths in Canada last year. Up until now, most of the fentanyl sold on Canadian streets has been imported, but since 2019, when China cracked down on the export of the drug, more of the production has been domestic. The pandemic, with its impact on supply chains, has accelerated the trend. Now I'm all in favour of "on-shoring" industry, but maybe not this one.

- The man convicted of manslaughter after throwing the trailer hitch that fatally injured Barbara Kentner in Thunder Bay in 2016 has had his day parole revoked following several breaches of his conditions. These include impaired driving, theft, and associating with people with whom he was ordered not to consort. The parole board also noted that he'd gotten a Confederate flag tattoo while on day parole, which doesn't speak favourably to the success of efforts to rehabilitate him.

- Power utilities are paying people to hand over control of their thermostats during high demand periods. The energy savings are significant; the utilities sometimes refer to such measures as "virtual power plants" because of the amount of additional energy they make available to the system.

News roundup, 25 July 2024

- The worst fears for Jasper have been realized as the wildfire that sprung up almost overnight swept into the townsite. The full extent of the damage is not clear, but the photos that have come out so far suggest that not much will be left when the smoke clears. This hits home to many people more than other recent wildfires since a lot of us have actually been there; spare a thought, though, for the people who actually lived in the town.

- A new poll indicates that Kamala Harris is winning over swing voters following Joe Biden's withdrawal from the race. To anyone with the slightest bit of political awareness it is downright bizarre that there are any swing voters; how ignorant do you have to be to think "maybe I'll vote for a Democrat, or maybe I'll vote for Donald Trump". But heck, we'll take it. Meanwhile Colorado Republican representative Lauren Boebert is peddling MAGA conspiracy theories that Joe Biden is already dead.

- A delegation from Manitoba, including housing minister Bernadette Smith as well as the mayors of Brandon and Thompson, is visiting Houston to study their efforts to house the homeless. Houston has adopted a "housing first" model that has successfully housed 30,000 people since it was initiated just over a decade ago.

- The City of Winnipeg is making it easier to build housing by eliminating the need for a traffic study for projects with 20 or more units. Of course the NIMBY types are up in arms; perhaps that's part of the reason that Coun. Brian Mayes, who notwithstanding his other virtues is all too happy to advocate for those people, has been dropped from the Executive Policy Committee. I'm not too keen on the fact that he is being replaced on the committee by the erratic Vivian Santos, but that's another story.

- The Manitoba government has denied a request by the City of Winnipeg to extend by two years the deadline to complete an extensive upgrade of a sewage treatment plant. The effluent from the plant is a significant contributor to the decline of Lake Winnipeg.

- Following electrical problems that cut power to some units of an apartment building in Toronto's St James Town neighbourhood, some residents expressed their displeasure by throwing their own feces at workers who had been sent to fix the matter. Evidently they don't understand that this will only prolong the outage; meanwhile some others think that the strongly worded letter sent to building residents advising them not to do this is an inadequate measure. Nonetheless, the Toronto Police Service does not yet have anything on file regarding the matter.

- The International Olympic Committee is strongly objecting to an American investigation into a scandal in which the positive drug tests of 23 Chinese athletes were never disclosed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The IOC is threatening to reject Salt Lake City's bid for the 2034 Winter Games unless the officials sign a contract affirming "respect" for the WADA.

- Remember the confrontation between two Niagara Regional Police officers back in 2018 that led to one of them shooting the other 10 times? The shooter, Det.-Sgt. Shane Donovan, was initially charged with attempted murder but stated that the other officer, Const. Nathan Parker, had pulled his gun first after previously attacking with a baton, following a dispute over bathroom breaks. Parker's own brother has described him as a "monster". Subsequently Parker was charged with assault with a weapon, but Donovan's testimony was later found to be tainted by having allegedly seen information that he shouldn't have had access to; his denial of this led to a perjury charge against him. He has now been acquitted of that charge. It's really not easy to get a conviction against a cop...

- A judge in St. Louis has overturned the conviction of a man who has served 33 years in prison for a murder. Christopher Dunn was convicted on the basis of testimony from two boys who later recanted their statements, saying they were coerced. The judge has ordered his release, but this has not yet occurred, and the state Attorney General Andrew Bailey intends to appeal the decision.

News roundup, 23 July 2024

- Kamala Harris has come out swinging in the campaign, having raised a record $81 million in campaign donations in a 24-hour period. This may bode well for her chances in the fall, though even if she gets the votes in the necessary states it remains to be seen if she'll get the electors. The members of the Electoral College, one of the more bizarre things you can find in a modern democracy, are not constitutionally bound to vote the way the citizens want them to. In some states "faithless electors" can be legally punished, but even in that case their votes still count. And nothing will necessarily stop a Trump-friendly state legislature from appointing their own electors in place of the ones chosen by the citizenry, especially with a Trump-friendly Supreme Court waiting to hear any challenges. And whatever else happens, it will be a nasty campaign. The Republicans are trying to argue that Harris is not entitled to money that was donated to the Biden campaign. Most experts argue otherwise, saying that since she was going to be on the same ticket anyway she is entitled to the money. It might be more problematic if someone else is chosen, but that seems to be academic now that Harris has enough delegates to secure the nomination.

- Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign following the failure to stop the attempt on Trump's life. So far she has stood firm, but I suspect her days in the position are numbered.

- Given continued greenhouse gas emissions, many are looking more closely at geoengineering. This is raising considerable alarm, as the possibilities for unintended consequences are significant, and is also a potential distraction from better solutions... but if those better solutions aren't forthcoming for political reasons, it might nonetheless be necessary.

- A wildfire has forced a last-minute evacuation of Jasper National Park in Alberta, including the Jasper townsite.

- The Executive Director of St. Boniface Street Links, Marion Willis, was fined for trespassing after visiting that North End apartment building whose tenants who were evicted en masse last week. Willis, who was working to assist the tenants, says this resulted after her organization's lawyer contacted the landlord's, and the latter attorney responded by saying that all Street Links staff and volunteers were banned from the premises; Willis attended anyway and was fined. She plans to fight the ticket. One would think she has a good case if she was attending as a guest of a tenant. Meanwhile, tenants returning to their units following the province's order are finding almost nothing in the units - in at least one case, even the appliances were removed.

- The City of Winnipeg's recent push to take action against the owners of vacant buildings is not going unopposed. Lawyer John Prystanski, a former city councillor who never met a slumlord he didn't like, is representing three of them, and is demanding that the city cancel invoices issued to his clients for the costs of fighting fires, claiming that the vacant building bylaw is not being properly applied.

- Besides the developing zebra mussel situation at Clear Lake, the invasive molluscs have been found at the St. Malo Reservoir south of Winnipeg.

- Two Alberta men are being charged with uttering death threats against Justin Trudeau; one of them is also accused of similar threats against Jagmeet Singh and Chrystia Freeland.

News roundup, 22 July 2024

- Joe Biden has abandoned his bid for reelection and endorsed Kamala Harris. European leaders are praising him for his decision (even if it comes a bit late in the game) as well as for his actions as President. One thing is clear - you likely won't see much talk about the candidates' ages coming from the Republicans anymore.

- Many Republican strategists fear that their legislative agenda will alienate women. Many Democrats hope for that very thing; certainly if Harris becomes the candidate as expected she is expected to put this front and centre. And there are promising signs that the Republicans may have peaked too early; hopefully a relatively fresh and young candidate will be able to take advantage of this.

- While OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly made statements about the need for caution with AI, whistleblowers from his company say that in actual practice he is using the traditional Silicon Valley "move fast and break things" approach.

- Over half of Turkey's power grid is now supplied by renewables, though they have a long way to go to catch up with places like the EU. The shift has been recent, and seems to be primarily motivated by a desire to reduce dependence on Russia, who supplies most of their fossil fuels.

- The zebra mussel situation at Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park is not looking good. Parks Canada is still looking at what measures they can take, but this ship may well have sailed. In other invasive species-related news, some lakes in Manitoba seem to have been illegally stocked with largemouth bass (a popular species with sport anglers). This is a potential problem for native trout and pickerel species.

- Manitoba's Residential Tenancies Branch has ordered the owners of that North End apartment block to reverse the eviction of all their tenants. Still not a good look, especially given that the landlord threw out some tenants' possessions without warning. The province warns that additional orders, and charges, may be pending. In other somewhat promising Winnipeg housing news, a long-vacant block in the Riverview neighbourhood has been purchased by Fisher River Cree Nation and may well be up and running by next year.

- CO₂ levels are now comparable to what they are thought to have been in the middle of the Pliocene epoch, around 3 million years ago. At that time the mean global temperature is estimated to have been about 3°C above present levels; this can be expected to happen over the next few decades unless dramatic changes are made right quick (and possibly even then). Much of Greenland was ice-free at the time; sea level may have been close to 10 metres above current levels. For an idea of what that might look like, check out this site.

- It's so hot in parts of the US that pop cans are under significantly more pressure than usual. When carried in airplanes, they're sometimes bursting as a result. In 20 cases, injuries have resulted.

- A former Ukrainian MP was fatally shot on Friday. She had been a member of an ultranationalist party and had drawn criticism for not considering Russian-speaking Ukrainians to be properly Ukrainian; nonetheless, this is not the optimal way of dealing with people with problematic views.

- Thefts of catalytic converters have dropped significantly in the past year. Some of this may be attributable to legislation that makes it harder for thieves to sell them, but a big part of it is simply that the precious metals in them aren't worth as much as they were before.

- At least 12 Russian soldiers died after eating poisoned watermelons in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

News roundup, 18 July 2024

- US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reportedly had a "blunt" private conversation with Joe Biden this past weekend; the exact nature of the discussion has not been made public but I think we can guess. Interestingly, there are signs that the message might be getting through; several top Democrats are predicting his exit from the campaign as early as this weekend. And Kamala Harris is filling in for him on the campaign trail as he recovers from COVID-19. The Republicans seem to suspect that something may be coming as well; they're already testing out new messaging for attack ads. Meanwhile some recent polling suggests that both Biden and Harris are statistically tied with Trump; note however that this polling predates the actions of that over-zealous patriot over the weekend.

- Steelmaking is responsible for 11% of CO₂ emissions worldwide. In a positive development, though, 93% of new steelmaking capacity announced so far this year will be done with electric arc furnaces, which produce far less in the way of emissions.

- In 1977, an article in Marathon World, an internal company publication of Marathon Oil (now Marathon Petroleum) warned that climate change from fossil fuel use could cause "widespread starvation and other social and economic calamities". This is awkward for Marathon, since they are one of a number of oil companies now being sued by the City of Honolulu for subsequently engaging in activity to promote climate change denial.

- Seamus O'Regan has resigned his position as Minister of Labour and Seniors, apparently for family reasons, and while he will stay on as MP until the next election, he will not be running again. I don't doubt that the family reasons are real, but I can't help but think maybe he'd have been more inclined to stick around if he thought there was any chance of holding onto government after the next election.

- Tom Brodbeck is (rightly) praising the City of Winnipeg's moves towards a more bike-friendly city. He's not the first person to point this out, of course, but better late than never. Gotta hand it to him, Brodbeck has become a much more thoughtful writer on this as well as numerous other subjects since moving to a paper that allows you to write thoughtfully on any non-sports subject. Of course the suburbanites are whining about losing a few parking spaces in the downtown that they would otherwise blather on about being scared to visit.

- Five climate activists in the UK who organized a blockade of a major motorway have received substantial prison sentences. One of them received a five year sentence while the others got four each; the article suggests that these are the longest sentences for nonviolent protest in UK history. I don't know, could they have meant recent UK history? I'm sure that during the Troubles the authorities had relatively little compunction about jailing nonviolent protesters, given that at times they showed a willingness to shoot them en masse.

- A Georgian neo-Nazi, Michail Chkhikvishvili, was arrested in Moldova earlier this month and extradited to the US on charges that he was attempting to recruit someone to poison candy and give it out to minority children while dressed as Santa Claus in New York City.

- A Florida woman who had booked a birthday party for her daughter at a roller rink in the Tampa suburb of Brandon became incensed when the venue cancelled the booking. Apparently the contract required her to hire two off-duty deputies to provide security and the cancellation resulted from her failure to do this. It seems she did not take it well; she apparently made a series of social media posts urging her followers to "tear the fuck out of them". Around 500 people obliged; she has been charged with inciting a riot.