News roundup, 7 Oct 2026

 - Manitoba premier Wab Kinew has been answering all opposition questions in French for the last couple of days. Konrad Narth, the Tory interim leader, considered this to be a "basic lack of respect". It's worth noting that Narth represents the constituency of La Verendrye, which has the second largest Francophone population in the province after St. Boniface. I suspect Kinew is trying to smoke out the bigots in the Conservative Party, perhaps in the hope of winning that constituency next year (it was held by the NDP's Ron Lemieux from 1999 until 2011 when redistribution put Lemieux in a different constituency). This does not sit well with Raymond Hébert, an emeritus professor of political science at the Université de Saint-Boniface; he fears that this may be counterproductive to the expansion of bilingual services in the province.

- Former Conservative MP Chris Alexander has withdrawn from the Toronto mayoral race. This leaves Brad Bradford as the main rightwing candidate running against incumbent mayor Olivia Chow. One thing that might help save Chow, however, is the fact that it's too late to remove Alexander from the ballots, meaning he will still draw votes himself.

- A Bellingham, Washington resident has been charged with conspiring with the shooter responsible for the massacre at a school in Tumbler Ridge, BC in February. James Cody Bryant had allegedly been in contact with shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar for months prior to the attack, and provided funding as well as advice on how to pull it off, even down to stickers to decorate the weapons with in order to make the livestream of the attack more visually appealing.

- France has suspended the use of stun grenades after a 15 year old student had his hand blown off by one during the wave of student protests that has swept across the country. The protests, which began in mid-September in response to poor conditions and maintenance at school buildings, have disrupted almost a quarter of all high schools in the country; the centrist government as well as the far right blame the leftwing France Unbowed party and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

- The RCMP has seized 13 firearms, two of which were sawed off, and some 20,000 rounds of ammunition during searches of two homes in the RM of West St. Paul just north of Winnipeg. 

News roundup, 7 Aug 2026

- The heat wave striking Europe continues to rage. Temperatures as high as 42°C have been recorded in Slovakia; in Poland two coal-fired power plants were forced to shut down due to low water levels in the Vistula River, removing 1.3 gigawatts of power from the country's grid.

- Danielle Smith is criticizing the Edmonton Police Service for a video that encourages people to report hate speech. Smith posted on X (the former Twitter) that the police should focus on crime, not "free speech".

- A judge in New Mexico has slapped Meta with a $567 million fine for failing to warn the public about the possible harm that its social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, can do to children. This is on top of another $375 million in fines related to the same case. The judge compared the psychological harm done to young people to pollution, calling it a "public nuisance".

- Several legislators in the US are concerned that "prediction markets" such as Polymarket and Kalshi allow people to place bets regarding wildfires, possibly providing an incentive for people to deliberately start said fires. They are calling on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates the industry, to prohibit the practice. Similar concerns are being raised about such bets on the outcome of clinical trials, with fears that researchers could have an incentive to tamper with trials in some way.

- Toronto police have charged two people, aged 19 and 15, in connection with the recent gunfire incident at the US consulate in that city. The two are believed to have been hired for the job; police are still trying to determine who hired them.

- A 14 year old Thai boy killed his grandparents, then went on a rampage at the prestigious school he attended outside Bangkok. Five teachers were fatally shot and more than 30 teachers and students were wounded before he turned the gun on himself. The murder weapon was a 9 mm handgun owned by his grandfather.

News roundup, 12 Feb 2026

- More information is being released about the Tumbler Ridge shooting. The RCMP has identified the suspect as an 18 year old transwoman who killed her mother and stepbrother before going to the school to kill others; no motive has yet been revealed but it's a safe bet that the far right is going to use this as an excuse to opportunity up the transphobia (while being very quiet about the question of whether this might have been less likely to happen in a more accepting society, of course).

- The FAA closed the airspace over El Paso, Texas to all civil aircraft on Wednesday morning, initially saying flights were grounded for a ten day period but later reversing that position, all the while saying that there was no threat to commercial aircraft. Some reports say that this was for the testing of top secret anti-drone technology, which might be the truth, or not. As regards initially saying ten days and then reversing that (perhaps after the test was completed) maybe they thought they'd give the public the sense that they're not as bad as they seemed. And given where we're talking about, it might well work.

- The crisis now developing in the Colorado River system stands to be worsened - or at least happen sooner - thanks to the poor design of the Glen Canyon Dam, which holds back the waters of Lake Powell. The dam was designed for a narrow range of water levels - which would be problematic even in the absence of human-induced climate change. In fact, it very nearly led to disaster in 1983 when the waters of the reservoir came dangerously close to washing over the top of the dam. Now it has the opposite problem - the lowest outlets of the dam are some 240 ft above the lake bed, and water levels are getting dangerously close to that point, meaning that the lake could face "dead pool" in the near future. At that point, no more water could even reach downstream locations, and a lot of people would be leaving the American southwest and not returning. And the lake itself would become a deep, stagnant, stinking mess. Even before that point, the levels will fall too low to use the dam for hydroelectric power.

- The Winnipeg couple convicted of torturing and killing numerous animals and selling the videos online have both been sentenced to 12 years in prison following a joint recommendation of the prosecution and the defense. 

- A Ukrainian Olympian has been disqualified for wearing a helmet with pictures of Ukrainian athletes who have died in the war with Russia. Had he honoured friends who died in a car crash in the same way he'd have been fine, but the IOC considers honouring war dead to constitute political messaging, which is prohibited at the Olympics.

- Switzerland will be holding a referendum this summer on imposing a hard cap on the country's population. If passed, this would oblige the government to close the country to all immigration (including refugees and relatives of foreign residents) in the event that the population comes to exceed 9.5 million (it is currently 9.1 million). The initiative comes from the rightwing Swiss People's Party; opponents fear that if passed this move could violate agreements with the EU and harm the economy.

News roundup, 11 Feb 2026

- A mass shooting in the town of Tumbler Ridge in BC's interior has killed at least 10 people, including the attacker. Seven of the victims as well as the attacker died at a school, while two other bodies were found at a residence believed to be connected to the shooter; at least 25 others were injured in the attack.

- A database of ICE agents is being set up on a European website, putting it out of reach of American authorities. Dominick Skinner, an Irish citizen currently living in the Netherlands, was inspired to set up the list after hearing that there were plans to criminalize releasing this information in the US.

- WestJet is suspending its Winnipeg-Nashville and Winnipeg-Atlanta routes due to collapsing demand. The airline is also pausing flights to Orlando in June.

- Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flown through Canadian airspace twice since Mark Carney's vow to honour the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against him. Global Affairs Canada has so far not answered questions as to whether they received the 72 hours notice that's supposed to be given by foreign state aircraft to enter our airspace.

- Cuba has been in an escalating crisis since the US move against Venezuela, which supplied most of Cuba's oil. The Americans have also threatened sanctions against any country that tries to fill the gap.

News roundup, 28 Aug 2025

- Someone opened fire on parishioners at a Catholic church attached to a school in Minneapolis Wednesday morning; the attacker died of a self-inflicted gunshot. The incident is being investigated by the FBI as an anti-Catholic hate crime; the shooter appears to have been a transwoman. Given the church's hardline stance on LGBT* issues, being angry is quite understandable, though I have to say that shooting kids is not a good way of expressing one's grievance with the institution. This, by the way, is apparently unrelated to another incident in the same city the previous day when a man opened fire on a group people on a sidewalk in front of a school, killing one.

- The legality of Donald Trump's sacking of Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook is almost certain to be decided by the Supreme Court sooner or later. I don't think I'd bet money on Cook winning her case. So far markets seem surprisingly unperturbed by the matter; presumably no investor wants to sell off too soon, for fear of sparking a downturn that causes securities to devalue faster than they can sell them off.

- At least 12 people have died in Kiev in the latest barrage launched by Russia against Ukraine. Despite this, Ukraine is understandably not willing to reward the Russians with land in order to end the war; unfortunately by the time this is all over there probably won't be much left of the country.

- Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 856, which represents letter carriers in Winnipeg, is calling for Canada Post to provide self-defense training for its employees after a drastic spike in attacks on carriers. In the last 12 months there have been an average of one attack per month on carriers; most recently an unprovoked one in Waverley Heights. This is compared to one or two per year before now. 

-  East St. Paul mayor Carla Devlin had a "hot mic" incident in a council meeting in which people were raising objections to a proposal to allow multi-family housing in a neighbourhood just outside the Perimeter. She suggested that people "don't want to hear the truth"; my first reaction to this was "she's not wrong, even if it was a bad idea to say that where the public can hear you". After all, more dense housing is exactly what is needed. Reading the associated Reddit thread forces me to reconsider; folks there pointed out that sewer infrastructure in the municipality might not be up to snuff. Conceivably, such a development might need to be served by Winnipeg's sewer system, adding to infrastructure costs while not paying city taxes; in any case it's not served by transit, so pretty near everyone commuting into the city from this development would be driving. Throw in the fact that Devlin is the founder and president of a company that builds exactly that kind of housing, and things do start to look a bit dubious. 

- The Lunenburg Marine Museum Society, owners of the famous Bluenose II schooner, have withdrawn the vessel from the upcoming Gloucester Schooner Festival in Massachusetts, saying that "plans involving cross-border travel come with more uncertainties this year". Yeah, you don't want your volunteers getting hauled off to El Salvador over something they posted about Trump on social media. Heck, I wouldn't put it past Trump to find some pretext to seize the ship itself, to be redecorated in his distinctive style much like he's doing with the White House.

News roundup, 18 Dec 2024

- Many Liberal MPs are now calling on Justin Trudeau to step down. This includes people like Francis Drouin, who had previously defended the prime minister. Notably, another MP who had previously been silent, Chad Collins, said that Chrystia Freeland received a standing ovation at the caucus meeting following her resignation from cabinet. Whether this will be enough to overcome Trudeau's ego remains to be seen. Meanwhile the Globe and Mail is reporting that Freeland's resignation came after Trudeau told her in a Zoom call that he intended to replace her with former central banker Mark Carney; curiously, Carney himself has so far said nothing about such a plan. Jumping the gun like this on a highly competent and loyal member of cabinet is not a good look for the PM.

- The school shooting in Wisconsin yesterday appears to have been the work of a 15 year old female student at the school, who appears to have shot herself. A manifesto entitled "War Against Humanity", claimed to have been written by the shooter, has been circulating on social media, though its authenticity has yet to be confirmed. The school in question is a private institution called the Abundant Life Christian School; it's almost as if posting the Ten Commandments in schools isn't enough to prevent violence. Who'd have thought?

- Joe Biden is now calling for a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. That would be an excellent idea, but it's rather unfortunate that he waited till now, when the proposal has nearly no chance of going forward in the foreseeable future, to speak up about the matter.

- Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland in July on an Interpol notice from Japan, has been freed after Danish authorities refused to extradite him. The Danish justice minister says that this is because of a lack of assurances from Japanese authorities that time served would be deducted from whatever sentence he received; given that he was facing up to 15 years in prison, it seems odd that Japan was unwilling to waver on a few months.

- A dietary supplement, Bovaer, has the potential to significantly reduce methane emissions from cattle and other ruminants when added to their feed. Of course, it would be much better to eliminate the farming of such livestock entirely, but it's probably unrealistic due to the romanticization of agriculture in so many different societies. Unfortunately, even this modest measure is receiving a lot of pushback from the masses, some of whom apparently think this is yet another sinister plot to control their minds or some such nonsense.

- Doctors Manitoba has been placing recruitment ads in several Republican-dominated American states, notably the Dakotas and Florida, suggesting that the political environment here might be better for them than where they are currently. A worthwhile move, though probably more useful for getting ob-gyns than regular family doctors.

- The Thompson Citizen, the last remaining local newspaper in the northern Manitoba city, is expected to shut down in the near future. The province has lost 31 news outlets since 2008.

- In much of Canada the number of "winter days" (defined as days in a year with temperatures below 0°C) has decreased significantly in just the last decade. Vancouver has lost 19 such days since 2014 and Toronto has lost 13; Winnipeg has only lost one so far, though.

News roundup, 17 Dec 2024

- In a surprise move, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from Justin Trudeau's cabinet, mere hours before she was scheduled to deliver the government's fall economic statement. Freeland says her resignation was prompted by Trudeau approaching her about moving her to another cabinet role. She also cited concerns about what she calls "costly political gimmicks" (assumed to refer to the GST "holiday" that began this past weekend) at a time when Freeland believes it is necessary to "keep our fiscal powder dry" owing to the uncertainties arising from the impending Trump presidency in the US. Freeland says she will remain as an MP and plans to run for the Liberals in the next election; whether Trudeau will allow her to run under the party banner (or whether he'll even be leader by then) remains to be seen. In the meantime, the fiscal update was tabled by Liberal house leader Karina Gould; subsequently public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc was appointed finance minister. And housing minister Sean Fraser has also announced that he will be leaving cabinet and will not run again next year. And the Liberals were defeated yesterday in yet another byelection, this one in BC.

- In Ontario, there is speculation that an early election may be in the offing; presumably the Ford government sees hard times coming due to the looming tariff threat from the US. The threats may not be limited to tariffs; some fear that the incoming Trump administration could push the US economy into stagflation, and something like that is likely to make it very difficult for all governments. So it's not surprising that they want to get the election out of the way before that happens. It's worth noting that when David Peterson called an early election in anticipation of a recession, he got thumped... not sure if we can hope for the same thing here though.

- The minority government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been defeated in a confidence vote in the Bundestag (the lower house of the country's parliament). The government's minority status and resulting defeat follows the withdrawal of the neoliberal Free Democrats from the "traffic light" coalition with the Greens and Scholz' Social Democrats. An election has been called for the 23rd of February; opinion polls so far seem to favour the centre-right Christian Democrats to win the most seats. Disturbingly, the party coming second in these polls is the far-right AfD; this could well tempt the Christian Democrats to abandon the longstanding unwritten rule in postwar Europe that you don't take extremist parties into your coalition.

- Some 77% of aquifers in coastal areas could be vulnerable to saltwater intrusion as sea levels rise, making the water unsuitable for drinking or agriculture.

- A Russian general, who has been accused of ordering the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, was killed in an explosion in Moscow; Ukraine's SBU security service has claimed responsibility for the explosion.

- Two Winnipeg high schools, Elmwood High School and Oak Park High School in Charleswood, were closed yesterday after receiving emailed threats. Police have not said whether the two cases are linked. Meanwhile in Madison, Wisconsin, there was a fatal shooting at a Christian school... but only three fatalities so it's pretty mild by American standards.

- A Florida woman, in a heated phone discussion with her health insurance provider, blurted out "Delay, deny, depose, you people are next"; she has been charged with "threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism".

News roundup, 5 Sept 2024

- Following the incident on Monday night when a woman was run over and killed by a police car driving through a park, numerous protesters blocked the intersection of Portage and Main yesterday. One vehicle attempted to plow into the protesters, hitting one of them (though not seriously injuring her); other protesters then attacked the vehicle and driver in retaliation. Video of the incident can be seen here.

- The decision by federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to scrap the supply and confidence accord with the Liberals may lead to an earlier election than planned - but not necessarily. Singh is keeping mum about whether he intends to bring down the government; he likely wants to delay an election long enough to benefit from being less closely tied to the Liberals, and even more important he probably wants to ensure that enough people see the benefits of the dental care plan to make scrapping it unpalatable to the Conservatives (who are virtually certain to win the election when it comes). Interestingly, recent polling suggests that the accord was supported by a slight majority of Canadians.

- A 14 year old in the Atlanta suburb of Winder has been charged with fatally shooting two students and two teachers at a local high school. The suspect had been interviewed by the FBI as recently as last year regarding alleged online threats to commit a mass shooting, but was not charged due to lack of evidence. Fun fact - guns are the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 18.

- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is threatening legal action against two counties if they proceed with mailing out registration forms to enable voters to vote by mail. Not surprisingly, the two counties in question are both urban and have a large Latino population; can't make it too easy for those people to vote, you know.

- The far-right AfD has won a plurality of seats in the German state of Thuringia with over 32% of the vote; they may find it difficult to cobble together a coalition though, especially with party leader Björn Höcke hurling insults at prospective coalition partners including the Christian Democrats. Some think his real plan is to tolerate a minority government by one of the other parties until he can vote to bring it down at a convenient time.

- James Gaddis, a cartographer in Florida's state parks authority, was fired after he blew the whistle on a secretive plan to convert several environmentally sensitive areas into golf courses and the like. The plan was withdrawn after an uproar when it became public, but Gaddis was nonetheless sacked for "conduct unbecoming a public employee".

- A zoo in Toledo, Ohio had been maintaining natural prairie grass on the median of a nearby street. Unfortunately the city decided to mow it all down, apparently because the wild look upset some loudmouthed citizens' suburban sensibilities.

Man on trial for son's massacre

A year and a half ago, a teenager in Germany took his father's handgun to school and killed 15 people before turning the gun on himself. So since he's dead, they're putting his father on trial for manslaughter:

Jörg K., a businessman, has been a gun fanatic and amateur marksman since his boyhood. He passed on his passion to his son, an adolescent he apparently didn't know well enough. As it turned out, Tim K. developed a hatred for the world and, using the weapon his father had hidden under his sweaters in a bedroom closet as protection against burglars, became a murderer. On March 11, 2009, the 17-year-old shot and killed 12 children and teachers at the Albertville secondary school in Winnenden, a small town located about 20 kilometers north of Stuttgart in southern Germany. He killed three more people and injured 13, some severely, while fleeing from the police. In the end the boy shot and killed himself.

From Der Spiegel. Now to be fair, he's also on trial for violation of Germany's gun control laws (the article doesn't make it entirely clear, but it sounds like careless storage of a firearm). Is that sufficient grounds to convict someone of manslaughter? Maybe, maybe not. But part of what bothers me is this:

The Kleischs could hardly imagine that K. didn't suffer in these moments. But the disturbing thing about it all is that he didn't seem to be suffering. Doris Kleisch says that she would have liked to shake him and "see if he felt anything at all."

A video that was shown in the courtroom shows how police in riot gear surrounded Jörg K.'s house on the day of the rampage. It looks like a scene from a war zone. Then K. appears in the video as he walks into the house with the officers, checks for the Beretta in a bedroom closet, just as he does every night before going to bed. "The weapon is gone," he says in a businesslike tone. Then he looks in the bedside table and says: "The ammunition is gone too."

"How did Mr. K. seem to you?" the chief judge asked the police officer who was at the scene. "Surprisingly calm," the policeman replied. "If it had been my house, I would have been more upset."

Now maybe he really doesn't care, but it seems more likely to me that he's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (after all, wouldn't you, if your kid did that?) And the families seem to be judging him as guilty based on what they see as failure to display sufficient emotion (if I recall correctly, that was believed by many to be a factor in the wrongful conviction of Lindy Chamberlain back in the 1980s).

But the biggest thing that bothers me about this is that the families, and the prosecution, seem to want to get their pound of flesh one way or another, and since the actual perpetrator is dead they have to pillory someone else. Is that their idea of justice?