News roundup, 2 Nov 2026

- A major selloff rocked North America's stock markets on Friday, driven mostly by declines in tech stocks. This follows significant declines in similar stocks in China; it seems investors are beginning to second-guess whether the massive amounts of money spent on AI technology is going to pay off. 

- Haley Stevens, a Democratic member of Congress from Michigan, tried to make the leap to the Senate this year, but lost the primary to Abdul El-Sayed in August. She has responded by endorsing El-Sayed's Republican opponent, much to the chagrin of party officials.

- Some users of Google's AI mode found that they couldn't get a straight answer when asking who won the 2020 US presidential election. Google attributes this to a "technical gap" which they are working on fixing.

- Steinbach has elected its first person of colour to its city council. Greg Carlos emigrated to Canada with his family as a teenager and says the small southern Manitoba city has welcomed him, notwithstanding a racist banner that was hung on a nearby highway overpass during the campaign.

- A Manitoba Housing highrise in Winnipeg's North End was evacuated over the weekend following a fire, the third at the building in eight months. Most residents have been allowed back, though one floor remains evacuated. Disconcertingly, some residents are blaming the province's Your Way Home program, which provides housing for homeless people. There may be something to this; earlier this year the Winnipeg Regional health Authority suspended home care services in that building for a time due to fears for the safety of their staff. Although there have been security upgrades made at the building since, one resident suggested that people with a "drug related" past shouldn't be housed there; the problem with that attitude is that they still have to be housed somewhere, unless one thinks they should just be left to die.

- After a 30 year old woman died of cancer while owing $38,000 in student debt, TD tried to get the money out of her grieving mother. The mother was a cosigner, but life insurance had been purchased at the time. TD claims that the policy was automatically cancelled when she graduated from university and the student line of credit converted into a personal loan, but it's not clear if she or her mother were actually notified of the cancellation. In any case, the bank backed down after the CBC started asking questions.

News roundup, 23 May 2025

- A new study suggests that even if the increase in global temperatures is limited to 1.5°C (which seems increasingly unlikely), it's not going to be enough to prevent sea levels from rising by a centimetre per year by the end of the century. If the present course is maintained, it will be far worse - an eventual rise of up to 12 metres. For perspective, about 230 million people live no more than a metre above the current sea level, and a billion are within 10 metres. This would lead to a lot of migration, and the brutal truth of the matter is that if this migration can't be prevented by cutting emissions, it will be stopped with guns. That said, every fraction of a degree still matters, not least because it will mean fewer people getting shot at borders than there otherwise would be.

- On a somewhat more positive note, the deforestation rate in Brazil dropped by over 30% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Note, however, this only factors in intentional deforestation; losses due to wildfires reached record levels last year.

- The Trump regime is prohibiting international students from enrolling at Harvard University because the institution refuses to hand over information about some current students to the Department of Homeland Security.

- The US Senate's parliamentarian, a nonpartisan staffer tasked with the interpretation of Senate rules, has been overruled after advising that the revocation of California's waiver that gives it the power to regulate vehicle emissions was probably illegal. The last time the parliamentarian has been overruled was in 1975. Now I must admit to be a bit torn here, because the specific decision had to do with the body's filibuster rules, which I've generally thought should be scrapped as they often stop progressive initiatives. And seeing that these rules don't seem to be stopping reactionary initiatives, they should probably still be scrapped (or rather not re-adopted if and when the US becomes a functioning democracy again).

- TD's chief economist, Beata Caranci, is predicting that Canada will go into recession this year, and that some 100,000 jobs could be lost as a result.

- The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has opted for a work-to-rule campaign rather than a strike, for the time being. Significant service disruptions are expected to result simply as a result of workers refusing overtime.

- The Rural Municipality of Prairie Lakes in southern Manitoba has introduced a "one lake, one boat" policy, which will require visitors bringing boats to Pelican Lake to have the boats inspected for zebra mussels for a $40 fee. Naturally businesses are complaining, but such measures are sometimes necessary.

- Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, has started injecting its answers with propaganda about "white genocide" in South Africa - even when the question had nothing to do with South Africa or race. This certainly underscores the need for regulation of AI; unfortunately in the US the prospects for that have dimmed as legislation to prevent the regulation of AI for at least 10 years has cleared the House and moved on to the Senate.

- Recycling collection in Winnipeg was disrupted yesterday due to an unexpected closure of the material recovery facility where recyclables are taken. The plant was closed for a police investigation after plant staff found a dead guy on the premises.