News roundup, 2 Oct 2024

- Three young boys who disappeared Ontario last December have been recovered alive; their mother has been charged with abducting them. She has ties to Stand4Thee, a far-right organization dedicated to keeping sexual orientation and gender identity out of schools. The group was also involved with the infamous "Freedom Convoy". Putting two and two together, I have to assume that the motive was either to keep the kids out of public schools where they might be exposed to the real world, and/or to keep them from being vaccinated.

- A medical resident in Manitoba is calling for a restoration of the "return of service agreements" that were used in this province until the previous government got rid of them in 2017. These offer new medical graduates money (e.g. to pay off their student loans) on the condition that they agree to be deployed in underserved areas. Staff in the provincial health department are somewhat skeptical, saying that there is a "revolving door" effect where doctors stay only long enough to meet the terms of the agreement and leave; nonetheless, that would still seem to be preferable to not having doctors in those areas at all.

- A huge solar panel manufacturing facility has done wonders for the economy of Dalton, in northwestern Georgia. The company is a beneficiary of Joe Biden's climate legislation - but most of its employees plan to vote for Donald Trump, despite the latter's disdain for said legislation. When residents were asked about this, the only thing any of them could come up with as a reason to vote for Trump was "inflation"; I guess even in their less-evolved minds they know better than to talk to outsiders about the other reasons for voting for Trump.

- A man paralyzed in an accident was able to walk again thanks to the ReWalk Personal exoskeleton - until the device needed repairs. The manufacturer, Lifeward, refuses to do any repairs on any product of theirs over 5 years old - and is under no obligation to make it possible for anyone else to repair it either. Similar things have happened in the past with bionic eye implants.

- A Montana man conspired with others to obtain tissue from the Marco Polo Sheep from central Asia. This tissue was used to create a cloned sheep, which was then hybridized with other species to make huge hybrid sheep for "canned hunts". Unfortunately for him, his scheme fell afoul of the several laws, and he has received a 6 month jail sentence for his crimes.

- A man in Texas paid $4,000 at an auction for a Taylor Swift-inspired guitar, just so that he could destroy it and upload the video to TikTok.

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.