News roundup, 2 Dec 2025

- The Kinew government's plans for a 72 hour detox facility in Winnipeg are a a source of concern for Ontario senator Kim Pate. While she believes the government has good intentions, she believes it to be an "ill-considered" response that will further traumatize already troubled people, and moreover believes that it might be open to a Charter challenge. On the other hand, some parents in BC want this sort of thing to enable their own addicted children to be treated.

- The Ontario coroner's office is calling for the legal definition of an e-bike to be tightened in the wake of several fatalities. Under current law, to be considered an e-bike a vehicle has to be speed limited to 32 km/h but can weigh up to 120 kg; the coroner is proposing that the weight limit be reduced to 55 kg. This would mean that many e-bikes, such as the ones that look like a Vespa with a couple of useless pedals added, would be considered motorcycles or mopeds and would require licensing. This would doubtless come as a shock to people who bought such e-bikes after losing their drivers' licenses.

- Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man suspected of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, had worked with CIA-backed units in Afghanistan before being brought to the US. Unfortunately upon arrival his mental health began to unravel and even Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem admitted that he appears to have been radicalized after his arrival.

- US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan vessel that was suspected of smuggling narcotics. Hegseth allegedly wanted to ensure that there were no survivors.

- Sales of electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles exceeded those of conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles in Europe in October. The devil in the details is the non-plug-in hybrids, whose emissions really aren't that much lower than non-hybrid gas cars.

- Australian children's entertainers The Wiggles were alarmed to find a song making reference to ecstasy (MDMA) played over one of their clips on TikTok. The group has made it clear that they do not condone drug use.

News roundup, 8 Jan 2024

- Joe Biden has tried to throw a monkey wrench into any plans Donald Trump might have to drill for oil in offshore waters, by using his powers under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to withdraw areas without existing leases from availability. It's unclear from the article why Trump can't just reverse the decision by a similar executive order, though, and Trump has vowed to do just that.

- Trump has refused to rule out military action in order to secure control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is calling his bluff, saying that she doesn't believe the US will use military or economic power to seize the territory. Probably true, but she'd have to say that even if she thought otherwise...

- The City of Winnipeg is looking at introducing speed limits for e-bikes and e-scooters on multi-use paths, perhaps going with the 25-30 km/h limits used in Quebec. While an experienced cyclist on a good road bike can go faster than that, many e-bikes enable someone who isn't experienced to go that fast, which is problematic. Enforcement will likely be an issue in any case, though.

- Some legal experts fear that the use of anti-terrorism laws in the prosecution of Luigi Mangione could backfire on the prosecution by motivating one or more jurors to refuse to convict him and force a mistrial. Meanwhile, moderators on the various social media platforms are having a hard time figuring out how to deal with some Mangione-related content.

- Meta's plan to pad their engagement statistics by flooding everyone's Facebook and Instagram feeds with bots has encountered a setback - the first batch of bots they released is so lame and/or creepy that nobody wants to interact with them. In other Meta-related news, they're doing away with fact checking for their American users - but leaving fact checking in place in the EU, where it's required by law. No doubt this is being done to stay in the good books of the incoming president.

- Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre is concerned about Elon Musk's willingness to openly meddle in other countries' domestic politics (notably his endorsement of the far-right AfD in Germany and his call for King Charles III to use his reserve powers to dismiss Kier Starmer's government).

- Those Waymo robotaxis running around San Francisco have a rather significant problem - they aren't very good at yielding to pedestrians. I guess that's what happens when AIs are trained by techbros who don't like following rules at the best of times.

- Kentucky State Police showed up at the wrong address to execute a search warrant over the theft of a Weed Eater, seemingly unaware that the actual thief was already in custody. The guy who got raided responded the way any red-blooded American would when a bunch of armed strangers showed up on his property without warning - and got killed for it. Since the victim in this case was white it's possible that the cops responsible will face justice, but probably not; they're still cops after all.