News roundup, 11 June 2024

- Climate scientist Susan Solomon is somewhat optimistic that the worst of climate change can be prevented, though she acknowledges that the situation is still scary. Gwynne Dyer also has some optimism based on the potential technological solutions.

- Student editors at the Columbia Law Review were apparently pressured to halt publication of an article written by a Palestinian human rights lawyer. When they refused, the publication's website abruptly went offline with a notice that it was down for "maintenance", although it came back online after an uproar about potential censorship.

- The Public Service Alliance of Canada held a seminar yesterday evening on antisemitism and Islamophobia. One of the panelists is Avi Lewis of Independent Jewish Voices, and some Jewish members of the union are incensed that the wrong kind of Jew was selected for the panel.

- Ontario is cancelling their wastewater surveillance program that had made the province a world leader in tracking of infectious diseases, including but not limited to COVID-19. The province says this is to "avoid duplication" because the federal government has a program in place, however the move will drastically reduce the number of sites being monitored. It's almost as if the government wanted to avoid knowing in advance about future infections that might compel them to take action that might be unpopular with the masses.

- Charges against a man accused of uttering death threats against NDP MP Charlie Angus and his staff have been stayed... because the police "lost" the evidence. Not sure if the police are actually that incompetent or if they are actually complicit, but either way it's not a good look. For his part Angus says that the threats were not the reason for his decision not to run again in the next election, but it probably made the decision easier. 

- In Alberta, documents have come out suggesting that Alberta police chiefs actively campaigned for the UCP. 

- A neo-Nazi organization, Blood Tribe, waved Nazi flags at a demonstration at the South Dakota legislature. Apparently that was too extreme even for Gov. Kristi Noem.

- Ian Walker has won a convincing victory in the byelection to replace trustee Francine Champagne, who resigned after being suspended three times for hateful behaviour. Walker received 1,554 votes; the second place contender, far-right candidate Sandra Saint-Cyr, received only 430. Definitely good news, but the turnout in a school board byelection is usually pretty low, and there's no question that the hillbillies will be back for another try at the first opportunity.

- A City of Winnipeg bylaw allows the city to seize derelict vacant buildings under some circumstances, but it hasn't been used since 2016 and only sporadically before that. When Winnipeg Free Press reporter Tom Brodbeck inquired about this, city officials responded with the bland and unsatisfactory statement that "the landscape of vacant building enforcement has changed over that time". If anything, though, there's a lot more need for enforcement now than there was eight years ago.

- Three food truck operators that had been booked for the Pembina Valley Pride event in Altona, Manitoba have pulled out, citing threats to vandalize their vehicles. Organizers cite the local MLA's refusal to support a bill recognizing Two-Spirit and Transgender Day of Visibility as encouraging others who might have kept quiet to become more aggressive.

- A post on the satirical Facebook group "The City of Winnipeg Complaints Department" claimed that AI-equipped cameras would be used to enforce seatbelt use and ensure people weren't using their phones while driving. The masses being what they are, though, a lot of them thought it was real.

News roundup, 24 May 2024

- Nikki Haley now says that she will be voting for Donald Trump, despite having previously called him "unstable and unhinged". Perhaps the fact that many of Trump's supporters are also unstable and unhinged, and moreover have a lot of guns, has compelled her to change her tune.

- Dan Lett argues in this article that the signs of improvement that are showing in the economy could be bad news for the Conservatives. I'd like to believe that this is true, but I seriously doubt it. The thing is, once the masses get it into their heads that it's "time for a change" (and there's no question that this government has had its fair share of disappointments, broken promises, and worse stuff like the Jody Wilson-Raybould affair) it's very hard to convince them to change course. There's a saying, "better the devil you know than the devil you don't know", but most people do not apply that to politics; far too many people figure they're all devils anyway, so might as well punish the current ones. In other words, they vote not out of idealism but out of vengeance.

- The public washrooms installed at Main and Higgins in Winnipeg have gotten national attention as a success story. Keeping them staffed adequately to make them tolerable to use does not come cheap, though.

- It appears that the far right has found themselves a preferred candidate for the byelection being held by the Louis Riel School Division following the resignation of Francine Champagne. They seem to like someone by the name of Sandra Saint-Cyr. So if you live in LRSD Ward 1, you now know who not to vote for.

- Many are worried that the US is falling behind China in the development of clean energy technology. Many others are worried that the American response, slapping punitive tariffs on the imports of such technologies from China, will make climate change worse than it has to be.

- Universities in Toronto and Waterloo are losing patience with the pro-Palestinian protest encampments on their campuses, and are issuing orders to move. The protesters seem to be defiant so far.

- The president of the University of Toronto Faculty Association, Terezia Zoric, is currently being investigated for antisemitism by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The accusation stems from a 2021 webinar in which she blamed "an entitled powerful Zionist minority" for blocking the hiring of a critic of Israel. It's an interesting grey area; if she'd singled out organizations (such as B'nai B'rith) for lobbying against the hiring I don't think any reasonable person would call that antisemitic, but the expression she used does sound like a potential dog whistle.

- New rules for bringing dogs into the US are causing alarm among some Canadians who cross the border frequently with their dogs. I'm certainly not opposed to giving snowbirds another hoop to jump through, though it gets a bit more problematic when you consider the fact that it applies to guide dogs and other service dogs.

- Two chaps at a Walmart parking lot in Nanaimo, BC got out the bear spray and tire irons in an attempt to settle the question of who was entitled to use a parking space.