News roundup, 27 March 2026

- France's foreign minister, Roland Lescure, says that at least 30% of the Gulf's refining capacity has been taken out of commission by Iranian retaliatory strikes. This means that fuel prices aren't likely to come down any time soon; while this may accelerate electrification of such things as transportation, I fear that given the average person's attention span, many will forget the reason for the high prices and blame their own leaders, voting reflexively for opposition politicians who, in many cases, are hostile to the very measures that could limit the impact.

- On the positive side, there are indications that Donald Trump's excesses may be hurting the electoral chances of the far right, at least in Europe. The recent municipal elections in France were a disappointment for Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement Nationale, and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni just lost a referendum on stacking the judiciary. Perhaps most encouraging is the fact that Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán may be headed for defeat.

- Polish prime minister Donald Tusk says that Lithuania warned as far back as 2019 that Hungary posed a security risk to the EU and NATO. There are allegations that Hungary's foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, was briefing his Russian counterpart during breaks at EU meetings; Szijjarto initially denied this, calling it "fake news", but later admitted that he "consulted" with Russian as well as American, Turkish, and Israeli officials before and after these meetings.

- The UK government has vetoed a plan by Scotland to build a wind turbine manufacturing plant in cooperation with a Chinese manufacturer. The central government cited vague concerns about national security, but Scotland's deputy premier says the government has failed to explain their reasoning to her satisfaction.

- Former Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who is often cited by media outlets as an expert on gas prices, has been making strange claims such as saying that building more pipelines would "insulate Canada from price shocks", in spite of the fact that the country is already a net exporter. McTeague is currently the president of a fossil fuel advocacy group whose website has called Chinese EVs, a potential shelter from such price shocks, a "Trojan horse". It's worth noting that while he served as a Liberal during his parliamentary career, he voted against a same-sex marriage bill and opposed the induction of Dr. Henry Morgantaler into the Order of Canada; it looks like McTeague was the real Trojan horse. 

News roundup, 11 Dec 2025

 - A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to 3½ years for possession of child pornography and related materials. What makes this case different is that the charges included possession of several anatomically correct child sex dolls, as well as a large amount of AI-generated materials. The judge declared that this constitutes abuse "whether involving real or computer-generated images". At first blush this might seem like overreach until you consider the fact that the AI-generated porn likely required actual child sex abuse materials in order to train the AI in the first place - and even if it didn't, it would need actual images of children, so there's a risk that it would generate material that looks like the abuse of identifiable children. The existence of such material is, to say the least, not in the children's interest. The dolls are more of a grey area since no actual abuse would need to occur in order to make them. On the one hand, one could argue that they could prevent actual abuse by sublimating pedophiles' desires; on the other hand they could also cause future abuse by serving as a "gateway drug". Since determining which happens more often with any certainty would likely require unethical research methods, though, I'm OK with erring on the side of banning them. In any case the guy had plenty of real materials made by abusing real children so locking him up seems more than fair.

- Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the US, has announced that she is leaving her post in the new year. She didn't provide a specific reason for her resignation, but I think we all can guess the reason.

- A US District Court has struck down Trump's executive order that was intended to stop offshore wind development and limit that on land, calling the order "arbitrary and capricious". Unfortunately it will not immediately reactivate suspended projects, as the agencies involved are expected to put as many barriers in the way of development as possible while the regime appeals the decision, and at best the entities working on the projects will have to bring more lawsuits in order to get things moving again.

- Democrats in Minnesota are holding a primary to choose their candidate for the Senate next year as incumbent Tina Smith is retiring. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Peggy Flanagan, the state's lieutenant governor, while Pete Buttigieg has endorsed the more centrist Angie Craig. 

- Downsview Airport in Toronto, which served as a test facility for Bombardier until it was closed last year, is being redeveloped into a mixed use urban district with housing for more than 50,000 people as well as commercial buildings (which will be conversions of existing hangars on the site).

- A 12 year old boy in Lethbridge, Alberta has pleaded guilty to attempted murder after stabbing his 7 year old brother multiple times. The younger boy survived but was seriously injured.

- A 35 year old woman from Ochre River, Manitoba was turned away from a vendor in nearby Dauphin due to already being intoxicated. She proceeded to crash her truck into a parked car, a stop sign, and a telecommunications box, the latter knocking out internet service in the city for several hours. After blowing over the limit she was arrested, and then faced additional charges for threatening an officer and another prisoner as well as pulling a fire alarm while detained.

News roundup, 24 Jan 2025

- Solar power generated 11% of all electricity in the European Union in 2024, having overtaken coal's 10%. Wind power (17%), exceeded natural gas (16%) for the second year in a row, and gas experienced its fifth year of decline. The combined output of solar, wind, and hydroelectricity now accounts for 47% of the federation's power grid. Besides the obvious climate benefits, this saved the bloc €59 billion in fossil fuel imports last year (and no doubt is making the Russians very angry indeed).

- A judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump's executive order in which he tried to do away with birthright citizenship. Judge John C. Coughenour (who ironically received his first judicial appointment from Ronald Reagan) characterized the order as "blatantly unconstitutional", saying "I've been on the bench for four decades, I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is". Of course, Trump will no doubt direct the Justice Department to appeal until they get a judge that he appointed during his last presidential term...

- The National Institutes of Health cancelled numerous scientific meetings that had been scheduled, with little explanation. The meetings, called "study sections", are supposed to be held on a regular basis to help plan where to focus scientific research for the greatest benefit. Of course, stuff like that is seen as un-American by the MAGA crowd, so it's no great surprise that the Trump administration is doing away with them. Neither is the fact that Trump has withdrawn from the World Health Organization; MAGA also believe that "international" is a four letter word.

- The Conservative opposition in BC seems to be siding with Danielle Smith against Premier David Eby (and every other premier in the country, even Saskatchewan's Scott Moe) on the matter of how to handle the threat of massive tariffs being placed on Canadian exports to the US. Party leader John Rustad attacked Eby for his support of retaliatory tariffs, saying that he was being "too combative" and would "expand" the trade war just by talking about it. One thing that is worthy of note - because of the way pipelines are routed through the US, the Americans could potentially retaliate against any escalation by cutting off the supply of Alberta oil to eastern Canada. Stuff like this is probably why Doug Ford wants to get an election out of the way before major economic disruption occurs.

- Trump is vowing to "demand" that the Federal Reserve drop interest rates immediately. Of course, the independence of the central bank is ensured by actual legislation; that said, Trump's puppets have control of both houses of Congress as well as the Supreme Court, so he will be able to get it done eventually if his attention can focus on the matter long enough. Or maybe it's just another of his hollow threats to distract the public's attention from what he and his cronies actually doing.

- CNN has announced that they will be laying off around 200 people, representing about 6% of their staff. NBC are also expected to announce some layoffs soon, albeit a smaller number. This is not expected to affect too many recognizable figures, who are mostly under contract, but a lot of the most important work in a big news organization is by researchers and fact checkers, and I wouldn't be surprised if people like that account for a lot of the layoffs. Pity, because they're needed more than ever.

- A sociology professor from the University of New Brunswick was scheduled to speak at the Washington, DC launch of his new book The End of College Football, but learned that he was barred from the US as he attempted to board his flight. He believes the ban was motivated by his pro-Palestinian comments.

- Some Facebook and Instagram users, both in the US and abroad, are finding that their accounts are spontaneously following Trump's and Vance's accounts. Some are even finding themselves unable to unfollow the accounts. This is not universal; it hasn't happened to me, for instance (perhaps they're worried that I'm going to blog about it).

News roundup, 23 Jan 2025

- Many of Donald Trump's promised changes would require a major overhaul of how government works. In particular, the political independence of various government agencies is in the firing line, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission, and potentially the military as well. This could potentially enable the Trump regime to, for instance, follow through on hints that he might get the FCC to pull the licenses of broadcasters that are insufficiently loyal to the regime (which might explain why a CBS affiliate in Wisconsin just fired their meteorologist for calling Musk out on his Nazi salute), or to purge the military of generals that are too "woke". And, of course, Trump has ordered all federal staff devoted to anything that he lumps under "DEI" to be put on administrative leave (with permanent dismissal expected to follow).

- One of the prisoners pardoned by Trump is Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road website on the "dark web". Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on charges related to facilitating drug trafficking, hacking, and money laundering; he was also alleged to be involved in up to six homicides. But he's a hero to the crypto bros, so obviously he had to be released.

- The White House has removed the US Constitution from its website; they insist that it will be back soon. No word on whether the new page will say "no animal may kill another without cause", though.

- Despite the new administration's attack on clean energy, many in the industry say that progress is unstoppable. Whether this is true or just an attempt to put on a brave face, one thing is clear - China is moving full steam ahead on solar and wind power in any case; in addition to the climate costs of delays in the US, the Americans will risk permanently ceding the industry to the Chinese if they don't change course.

- Germany's parliament will be debating a bill to ban the far-right AfD. Under Germany's constitution, for such legislation to be legal it must be shown that the party is "aggressively opposed" to the constitution itself. The bill is supported by the Social Democrats, Greens, and Left Party. Some members of the centre-right Christian Democrats also favour the move, but not all - one senior CDU MP fears that this could "allow the AfD to represent itself as martyrs".

- The ceasefire in Gaza was followed shortly thereafter by a major military operation in the West Bank; in addition to the above-board operations there are reports of rampages by Israeli settlers in Palestinian villages in the territory.

- A planned ecological corridor along the Little Saskatchewan River in western Manitoba has been cancelled following an outburst of populist rage from the locals.

- Amazon is closing its warehousing facilities in Quebec and laying off around 1,500 people. The company is returning to the contracted-out delivery model that they used in the province before 2020. They insist that it's not because the facility recently unionized, but not too many people believe them.

- A US border patrol agent was fatally shot in Vermont close to the border with Quebec during a traffic stop; the killing is under investigation.

News roundup, 20 Aug 2024

- The 1972 report The Limits to Growth, commissioned by the Club of Rome, predicted that unfettered economic growth without sufficient regard for the environment would eventually lead to "the total stagnation of industrial growth and a significant decline in human welfare". Unfortunately, the report's predictions have been holding up pretty well so far.

- Justin Trudeau has appointed two new Senators to fill vacancies in the upper house, including journalist Charles Adler. The latter pick is not going over well with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, who are requesting that the appointment be rescinded owing to on-air comments he made about First Nations leaders in 1999 while a broadcaster for CJOB, for which the AMC filed a formal complaint with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Even Dan Vandal, a member of Trudeau's cabinet, expressed concerns about the appointment. Admittedly, Adler says that his political views have moderated in recent years and that he no longer considers himself a conservative, though I don't know if he has ever apologized for the specific comments he made in 1999.

- The controversy over Plan 20-50, the regional growth plan for the Winnipeg metro area, is not limited to the lunatic fringe. The City of Selkirk, the Town of Niverville and the RMs of St. Andrews, East St. Paul, and Headingley are expressing concerns about the plan, fearing a loss of control over local land-use decisions. Those concerns are certainly easier to sympathize with than the absurd idea that this is some sinister plot to lock people into their neighbourhoods, but it has to be noted that some land use decisions made by suburban and exurban municipalities have a significant effect on their neighbours. In particular, when they build huge suburban developments to house people who want to benefit from the jobs in Winnipeg and subject the city to the increased traffic and the resulting wear and tear on the streets, but don't want to pay taxes to support the city's people and infrastructure, their land use decisions should not be solely their decision.

- Ontario premier Doug Ford, who a few years ago cancelled over $230 million worth of wind power contracts in order to satisfy his rural base, has changed his tune somewhat; his government has presented plans to more than double the province's current wind power installations by 2034. Ford may be a scumbag, but he's no fool, and he knows he has to win some of the non-crazy vote in order to secure reelection.

- Efforts to control pollution from plastics have lead to negotiations for a global treaty on the issue. The negotiations began earlier this year; while some countries (among them Canada, the EU, South Korea, Rwanda, and Peru) want a global cap on production, other countries (such as Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and until recently the US) have opposed this, saying that the issue should be managed solely by recycling more. However, the Americans, perhaps not wanting to be in such company, seem to be changing their tune and have expressed willingness to impose a cap.

- When Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, went to a restaurant at Walt Disney World with her husband and her mother-in-law last year, they warned staff of her serious food allergies and asked repeatedly for them to be accommodated. Unfortunately, whatever accommodations were made weren't enough - she suffered a severe allergic reaction and died shortly afterwards. Her husband launched a lawsuit, and Disney attempted to have the suit dismissed on the grounds that when he clicked on the terms and conditions of his Disney+ account years previously, he had agreed to binding arbitration for "any dispute between you and us, except for small claims". Of course, once it hit the news clearer heads prevailed in Duckburg and they withdrew the request.

- San Francisco's city attorney's office has filed a motion in a state court to shut down 16 websites that "nudify" pictures of people. The sites use AI that is trained using porn, reportly including child porn. In a reasonable world that alone should be grounds for taking action, though I don't know the fine-grained legalities of that, especially in a country whose courts often label such activities as "speech" that is protected by free speech laws.

News roundup, 10 May 2024

- Solar and wind power are the fastest growing electricity sources in history. Renewables now represent 30% of global electricity production. Meanwhile Danielle Smith continues to make a fool of herself on this issue (and numerous others).

- Drought conditions have resulted in Lake Winnipeg's water level being the lowest it's been in 35 years, and the second lowest since Manitoba Hydro's Jenpeg control structure began regulating the lake level.

- Police moved in to forcibly clear a protest camp from the University of Calgary yesterday, using flashbangs (they claim that this was a response to aggressive behaviour by the protesters). The encampment at the University of Manitoba remains and has stayed peaceful, though the university has cited the existence of the encampment as a reason to cancel a public event on campus.

- Parks Canada has banned watercraft from Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park in the hope of containing a potential zebra mussel outbreak. Interestingly, there has been some speculation among cottagers that the appearance of zebra mussels may have been a deliberate attempt at sabotage; on this Reddit thread a poster attempts to draw a link to an activist who was accused of planning an armed blockade in the park in 2022, though no actual evidence is presented and it's hard to say if this is something real, or just an attempt to poison the proverbial well.

- Legislation introduced in Ontario in 2022 which changed the fees paid to municipalities by developers led to a backlash from several municipalities. In response, the provincial government launched audits to determine the impact - only to cancel them (presumably because they had the potential to make the government look bad).

- Tim Hortons is testing new fibre coffee cup lids at some locations. Conservative MP Lianne Rood is up in arms about the new lids, which she considers to be "woke" because they aren't made of plastic.

- The town of Oakville, Ontario has voted to turn down money from the federal government because they don't want to densify their neighbourhoods. Some important context - despite officially continuing to call itself a "town", Oakville is larger than many cities in the province, at over 213,000 people. Apparently the residents want to continue to delude themselves into thinking that they're simple, small-town folk who don't want none of that big city stuff, and certainly nothing like apartments or fourplexes that might bring those darned poors to town. They also famously banned clotheslines until a previous government prohibited municipalities from banning them.

- The former CAO of the Rural Municipality of North Cypress-Langford has pleaded guilty to diverting about $30,000 to the Carberry Curling Club to replace money she'd stolen from the club while serving as their treasurer. I'm guessing that a gambling problem was involved; that seems to be how this sort of thing usually happens.

- Rex Murphy (or "Nervous Rex", as the good folks at CODCO called him) has died, though not before spouting a lot of rightwing propaganda in recent years.