News roundup, 7 Oct 2023

- Morden mayor Brandon Burley has abruptly resigned and is joining Wab Kinew's transition team. No doubt the unpleasantness he was subjected to owing to the eminently reasonable stance he took on COVID-19 (including having his home address provided to the "freedom" loogans, not to mention losing at least a dozen friends) was a factor.

- Canada is the third worst country in the developed world (after the US and Japan) in terms of the amount of paid vacation we have (only 10 days guaranteed in most provinces, plus statutory holidays). In contrast, most of the EU has 25-30 days.

- As expected, the Hunka affair is paying rich propaganda dividends to Russia.

- Donald Trump's civil fraud trial continues despite a bid to halt the proceedings.

- Ukraine is claiming significant gains in the war with Russia; the Black Sea fleet has been forced to relocate from Sevastopol to Novorossiisk and other places in Russia proper. Less reassuring is the fact that they are now at the mercy of whoever gets elected Speaker of the House of Representatives as far as American aid goes. The effects of the conflict are now visible from space. And meanwhile Russia seems to be considering pulling out of the Comprehensive Test Band Treaty.

- Dutch PM Mark Rutte is questioning Hungary's place in the EU over their socially conservative policies. One wonders, though, if the rest of the bloc would be willing to drive them out (and thus further into the arms of Russia).

- There's been a significant breakthrough in the UAW negotiations, with battery plant workers being brought under the union's wing. This is important, since until now many of the batteries, unlike parts in gas and diesel cars, have been made in non-union shops.

- Two environmental groups, Friends of the Earth and Mothers for Peace, have been unsuccessful in getting California's last nuclear plant shut down. This may not be such a bad thing, though. If they were opposing the construction of a new one, I might be more inclined to agree with them (not least because you could construct a lot of solar and wind capacity in the time it takes to build a nuclear plant) but removing an existing plant would almost inevitably mean a delay in decarbonization.

- A study commissioned by an organization called Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation has concluded that large solar projects do not harm property values. Meanwhile, researchers at MIT have developed a promising new solar powered desalination system; it would be especially good if this could somehow be combined with new methods of extracting lithium from the salts left behind.

- Shell is buying ad space in the highly popular Fortnite video game, in the hope of infecting younger minds with pro-oil sentiment.

- The Biden administration is waiving several environmental laws to enable the construction of Trump's border wall. This sounds absurd, but Biden has been under pressure from several blue states to limit migration. There's going to be a lot more of this sort of thing in the future, both in the US and elsewhere; governments with domestic policies that are liberal or even social democratic will likely bow to pressure to chop the extra hands from the gunwales in order to avoid losing ground to the far right.

News roundup, 6 Oct 2023

- The last few results have trickled in for the Manitoba provincial election. Among the highlights, Stefanson has retained her Tuxedo seat by a scant 263 votes, Ron Kostyshyn has won Dauphin for the NDP, and maybe now Jon Reyes will have time to help his wife shovel. The delays have been attributed to power outages at some locations as well as some procedural issues, though not surprisingly this hasn't stopped far-right scumbag Patrick Allard from implying that it was fixed. Kinew has met with the outgoing Premier to discuss the transfer of power; Stefanson will be staying on as Tory leader until her replacement has been selected. The historic nature of this election has gained the attention of the Guardian and Al Jazeera.

- The federal government is committing some pocket change towards a possible search of the Prairie Green Landfill.

- Supporters of QAnon nutter Romana Didulo are calling for the public execution of officials in the Saskatchewan village of Richmound for their supposed "immoral activities"; presumably this refers to their failure to be sufficiently welcoming and deferential to the self-styled "Queen of Canada".

- BC Hydro has introduced a program where ratepayers can receive a $50 annual rebate in return for giving the utility the power to turn down their thermostats and delay the charging of EVs during peak hours.

- Drought conditions continue in various parts of the world, including the US and Australia. On the technological front there is some good news; there are some efforts to use sails to move freight, and there has been a breakthrough in extracting lithium from seawater which will be critical in the decarbonization of power grids and transportation. Also good news is that some cities are moving away from monoculture in their "urban forests".

- The UAW is gradually escalating their strike in the US; some expect the strike to last for quite a while.

- The political crisis in the States continues. Republicans are now blaming the Democrats for their failure to save Kevin McCarthy, and the Supreme Court faces a crisis of legitimacy. And a guy was arrested after bringing a handgun to the Wisconsin statehouse and asking to speak to the governor; he posted bail, then was rearrested after returning with an assault rifle. Hopefully he won't get bail this time.

- A German family attempted to claim refugee status in the US because the "oppressive" German state won't let them shelter their kids from the real world by homeschooling them. Their application has (quite reasonably) been denied and they face deportation. Funnily enough, the American far right thinks they should be treated differently from other illegal migrants.

- The US Space Force has plans for a fission powered spacecraft.

News roundup, 5 Oct 2023

- The Manitoba PCs have been forced to do some soul searching as they try to come to grips with their defeat. One defeated MLA admits that she was appalled at the ads opposing a landfill search. Others are wondering if Stefanson's hard-right tone during the campaign was helpful, especially as it may not have come across as authentic. The thing is, a substantial portion of their base probably approves; the federal party is grappling with the same kind of thing. In any case, we won't have Stefanson to kick around any more.

- The new premier is sympathetic to striking MPI workers, though he is being cautious to avoid inappropriate interference in labour negotiations.

- The City of Winnipeg is asking for the province to give it new powers to collect fines from property owners, by putting the fines on property tax bills and by preventing renewal of driver's licenses and vehicle registrations. The hope is that this would allow action against derelict properties that isn't possible now, though this could apply to other fines as well, such as parking tickets.

- A proposal has been made to close Assiniboine Avenue between Fort and Main Streets. This would be beneficial for the neighbourhood, though probably annoying to some commuters. The proposal also includes putting a pedestrian scramble at River and Osborne (anywhere except Portage and Main I guess).

- It appears that back in 1987 a member of the same Waffen-SS division as Yaroslav Hunka was appointed to the Order of Canada. Now, belatedly, this is being reexamined. Also rather awkward is the fact that there is a memorial to this division in a cemetery in Oakville, and that this is a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis and similar deplorables.

- The US House of Representatives is effectively paralyzed due to the lack of an elected speaker; the interim speaker has limited powers and new legislation can't be introduced until a new speaker can be elected; this could make a government shutdown more likely and put a stop to aid to Ukraine. McCarthy is not running again and it's not clear who his successor will be.

- Teachers around the world face harassment from parents; in South Korea it's so bad that teachers are seeking new legal protections from said harassment.

- The walkway at Fort Gibraltar that collapsed last spring, causing severe injury, will be removed.

- The Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to the developers of "quantum dots", a technology key to many of the monitors being used to read this post.

- A UN report has called for an end to new fossil fuel exploration by 2030. Pity the UN doesn't run everything like the conspiracy nutters think it does.

News roundup, 4 Oct 2023

- The Manitoba election is over. Not too surprisingly, the NDP won, making Wab Kinew the first First Nations premier in Manitoba history, and the first indigenous premier of any sort since John Norquay in the 1880s. Also not surprising (though unfortunate) is the starkness of the urban-rural divide; I should have more to say on this in a subsequent post. A constituency by constituency breakdown may be found here; as of this post a handful of seats remain to be decided (which is odd given the use of electronic ballot reading technology in this election).

- At the federal level, Parliament has chosen a new speaker following the resignation of Anthony Rota. Whether the Trudeau government will be able to put this behind them is another question.

- South of the border, Kevin McCarthy has been removed as speaker of the House of Representatives, the first time this has happened. How they're going to choose a new one remains to be seen, as well as how well the new speaker will fare. Perhaps it's due to the Republicans' antics that Joe Biden's approval rating is back in the black.

- The International Energy Agency is optimistic about the prospects for transition to clean energy. Also somewhat promising is the prospect for transition to cultured meat (at least from a technological point of view; public acceptance will be another matter). The price of producing it is falling dramatically, and lab-grown pork is expected to be available to the public in Singapore by next year. Not so promising is the fact that the EU seems to be backing down on plans to impose animal welfare restrictions on agriculture; the livestock lobby is powerful.

- The Himalayas have been called the "water tower of Asia"; unfortunately the water isn't coming the way it used to, apparently due to climate change. Stuff like this is going to lead to a lot of migration, misery, and death. Interestingly, a French oil company is facing criminal charges, including manslaughter, for their failure to fight climate change.

- Laphonza Butler has been appointed by California governor Gavin Newsom to fill the vacancy in the Senate resulting from the death of Dianne Feinstein.

- A mass escape of farmed salmon in Iceland is causing concern, not only because of sea lice, but also because it is feared they may lead to what some call "genetic pollution" of wild stocks that may reduce their fitness.

- Tesla claims their new electric semi truck has sufficient range for long-range trucking.

- The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services is using artificial intelligence to predict who is at risk for homelessness and intervene before it happens. Good idea, though if it works as advertised it raises questions about what else it will enable the authorities to predict. Consider for example the fact that Netflix's algorithms seem to have figured out someone's sexual orientation before she herself did; it's not hard to think that could be problematic in the wrong hands.

- A man officiating a wedding in Texas (where else) planned to fire a gun into the air, and loaded it with a homemade blank. Unfortunately blanks aren't as "blank" as the name would suggest, and when he handled it sloppily he ended up wounding a child.

News roundup, 3 Oct 2023

- The Pallister/Stefanson government sold more public housing units than it created during its time in office. Good for real estate investors I guess...

- A third-party organization called the "Civic Progress Network" has apparently been actively contacting voters to encourage them to vote for the Manitoba Liberal Party, despite not being registered with Elections Manitoba. Notably, in some of the constituencies where their flyers have been distributed, the Conservatives would be the main beneficiary.

- Still no clarity on the killing of Sukhdool Singh Gill; while stories are still circulating about his supposed gang affiliations, all of these seem to come from Indian sources, and it's telling that the week of his death his name appeared on a wanted list circulated by a counterterrorism agency in that country. Meanwhile, the diplomatic spat continues as 41 Canadian diplomats have been asked to leave India, and the homes of several prominent Indian journalists have been raided by police.

- Opening statements have been made in Trump's civil fraud trial in New York State. Expect a long and bitter fight.

- A case in the US Supreme Court, brought forth by payday lenders, challenges the very existence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and possibly numerous other federal agencies.

- The Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to three researchers studying the dynamics of electrons in atoms and molecules.

- Far-right Republican Matt Gaetz has filed a "motion to vacate" the office of Speaker of the House. It will now be up to the Democrats to decide whether to oppose the motion and keep Kevin McCarthy in his position.

- Chinese officials have banned the distribution of a photo of two athletes embracing after a race, apparently because one of them has the number 6 and the other a 4, thus possibly providing a way of alluding to the Tiananmen Square massacre without mentioning it by name.

News roundup, 2 Oct 2023

- A short lived online ad for the Manitoba PCs suggested that supporters vote "like no one is watching", which seems to be an acknowledgement of sorts that some aspects of their platform appear shameful to many. The ad was removed within hours; meanwhile a Tory operative is reportedly spreading Trumplike conspiracy theories about supposed electoral fraud.

- In case you needed another reminder, the phrase "parental rights" has a long and sordid history, often from the same people associated with "state's rights". Most of the claimed violations of said parental rights are false or misleading anyway.

- This year's Nobel Prize in medicine goes to two scientists involved in the development of mRNA vaccines.

- While the Hollywood writers' strike has ended, the actors' strike continues; some expect it to continue for some time to come.

- The court case that could bring down Trump's business empire is proceeding. He is expected to attend the proceedings, at least until he shoots his mouth off and gets kicked out of the courtroom.

- California's governor has appointed political strategist Laphonza Butler to fill the vacancy in the Senate following the death of Dianne Feinstein.

- In today's Republican Party, compromise is unacceptable, and now the hardliners are calling for Kevin McCarthy's head.

- In the UK, a Sikh activist's sudden and unexpected death is raising eyebrows, especially given that it occurred around the same time as the shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. His family is calling for an investigation; could India have learned some techniques from Russia?

- Apparently the biggest source of microplastics is tire dust. Not an easy problem to solve, though legislation requiring different materials for tire manufacture is apparently in the works.

News roundup, 1 Oct 2023

- A last-minute deal has prevented a government shutdown in the US, for the time being at least. Unfortunately, this deal only kicks the can down the road for a matter of weeks.

- A small community in Liberty County, Texas is becoming almost uninhabitable due to environmental changes - but it's not always so easy to get people to leave.

- The Cons' dog whistle campaign promising to never search the landfill may have one positive effect - spurring the feds to do it.

- A new code of conduct for companies working with generative AI in Canada is voluntary, but that's not stopping some in the industry from worrying that it will "stifle innovation". Guess what folks - innovation is not a good in itself, and if some innovation is harmful to the public interest, then maybe it should be stifled.

- The Liquor, Gaming, and Cannabis Authority has ordered the Northern Hotel to install metal detectors and digital ID scanners after some violent incidents at the bar. The hotel's owner fears that this will cost him business.

- A police chief in Marion County, Texas, who ordered a raid on the local newspaper in August, has been suspended. The raid is believed by many to have been motivated by an investigation of the chief by the paper.

- Whatever else you can say about the war in Ukraine, it has generated some interesting iconography.