News roundup, 10 July 2024

- Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado has said publicly what many people have been thinking for some time - that Joe Biden cannot beat Donald Trump. And even Nancy Pelosi, who is no spring chicken herself, is hinting that Biden should reconsider his decision to stay in the race. Even longtime supporter George Clooney is calling for him to withdraw.

- Some jurisdictions in the US are looking at introducing mask bans, blaming masks for "emboldening" protesters to commit acts of vandalism or violence. Notably, this includes some relatively progressive cities such as New York and Los Angeles, which seems strange until you consider that it's largely a measure against pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The fact that COVID-19 infections seem to be on the rise ought to make them reconsider, but since no politician seems to want to admit that...

- The Israelis bombed a crowd of people watching a soccer game at a school playground, killing at least 31 people. No doubt they'll claim to have prevented a terrorist attack or something.

- The Manitoba government is extending funding for the remainder of the summer for the crackdown on retail crime. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe acknowledges, however, that simple crackdowns aren't enough; you also need to address the root causes.

- The City of Winnipeg is looking to tighten boarding standards for vacant buildings to prevent break-ins and resulting fires, as well increasing the related fees. They are also looking at speeding up the process to seize such buildings so that they (or at least the land they're on) can be put to good use actually housing people.

- A pastor whose wife had her seat upgraded when he didn't reportedly lost his temper and hit her in the head. He has been charged with assault.

- Chinese authorities have arrested a man who allegedly tried to smuggle 100 live snakes in his pants.

News roundup, 9 July 2024

- Democrats in the House and Senate seem reluctant to talk to the media about what was discussed in a meeting this morning about Joe Biden's future. One representative, on being asked if there was a consensus in the meeting, replied that "the consensus was not to talk to you guys". Another, who spoke anonymously to NPR, said the meeting was "like a funeral"; a third, when asked if they were on the same page, replied "We’re not even in the same book". If something isn't done soon, Joe Biden could be remembered as the American version of Paul von Hindenburg.

- Hot on the heels of National Rally's defeat in France's parliamentary elections, party leader Marine Le Pen is being investigated for campaign finance irregularities from her last presidential campaign.

- Michelle Ferreri, Conservative MP for Peterborough-Kawartha, tweeted her thanks to the Peterborough police for their arrest of a suspect in a homophobic hate crime. Pretty reasonable; much as I'd like to condemn everything a Tory says or does, I can't fault her for this. Evidently some of her constituents think otherwise, though; following the tweet she was bombarded with hate messages calling her a "fake Conservative" as well as far worse things.

- Scientists say that Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, was worsened by high ocean temperatures. Of course you can't tell Texans that, even as they're picking up the pieces from the hurricane hitting the Houston area. The remnants of the hurricane are expected to have an impact as far north as Toronto.

- The world's largest wetland, the Pantanal in Brazil, has not been so wet of late, and as a result has been devastated by wildfires.

- The IDF bombed an encampment of displaced people in Gaza, killing dozens. I guess they figure those people must be mad at being displaced, which obviously makes them a security threat. Can't be too careful, right?

- Several Silk and Great Value dairy substitutes have been recalled due to potential Listeria contamination. None of the products in question are soy-based; perhaps those products are made in a different facility.

- Migrants who arrived on the island of Diego Garcia, in the British Indian Ocean Territory, are being denied legal representation because the US, who operate a military base there, refuses to allow lawyers representing the migrants to set foot on the island. Supposedly this relates to security concerns regarding a site visit of some sort that would coincide with the migrants' hearing.

News roundup, 8 July 2024

 - French voters in the second round of parliamentary elections have largely rejected the far right; Marine Le Pen's National Rally came third after the left alliance and Macron's centrists. The party's parliamentary leader Jordan Bardella, who hoped to become prime minister, declared that "alliances of dishonor" were responsible for the outcome; perhaps he's learned something from the late Jacques Parizeau. Building a viable coalition may take some time; they don't have a lot of experience with hung parliaments there.

- Joe Biden says he's still not quitting. Unless something happens soon, the Democrats are going to be stuck with him for the fall. This is ungood.

- California has imposed permanent restrictions on water utilities across the state, requiring the utilities to reduce their total consumption by around 40%. How the goal is to be met is up to the individual utilities. There are also efforts by the WWF to encourage other places to grow the crops that California has traditionally supplied. Meanwhile in Florida, where the citrus industry has been decimated by disease, efforts are being made to get farmers to grow pongamia trees, potentially a valuable source of biofuel. Getting farmers to switch away from crops they've been growing for years isn't easy, but it's going to be increasingly necessary in the coming years.

- Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to fraud in connection to the 737 Max disasters in 2018 and 2019, following revelations that the company violated a settlement related to the accidents.

- Solar power is growing so fast that it may be the biggest source of energy on the planet in a decade or so. Growth that experts had predicted could take 20 years happened in only 6. And various industries, notably data centres, are moving to "behind the meter" projects that produce electricity in their own microgrids without having to worry about such matters as feed-in tariffs.

- Canada's new anti-greenwashing law is already spooking energy companies into removing claims from their websites about how environmentally friendly they are, even as they try to claim that the sites they've taken down aren't greenwashing.

- 21 species are being removed from the US Endangered Species list; unfortunately the reason is that they are thought to be extinct.

- Ukraine's largest pediatric facility was severely damaged in a Russian missile strike. At least two people were killed there, in addition to 34 others killed in strikes in other locations.

News roundup, 5 July 2024

- Kier Starmer will be the UK's Prime Minister as his Labour Party has scored a decisive victory over the Conservatives in yesterday's election. They are projected to win 412 seats, though a number of seats still have not been decided. The Conservatives are forecast to win 122 seats, and the centrist Liberal Democrats 71. The SNP is down to 10 seats, while the Greens, Reform UK (the former UKIP) and Plaid Cymru win four each. This is Labour's second biggest win ever after Tony Blair's victory in 1997; a detailed breakdown is here.

- In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally are now expected to fall short of a majority in the second round of parliamentary elections this weekend, so France is safe from a fascist takeover for the time being. That's not to say there aren't problems, as evidenced by a disturbing number of threats and acts of violence against candidates and party activists in recent days. Nonetheless, Emmanuel Macron's roll of the dice may have paid off.

- In the US, Joe Biden is down two points following last week's disastrous debate. Interestingly, Trump didn't actually make any gains, suggesting that there may be a firm limit to his support. Unfortunately that's still more than enough for him to win unless something changes, and Biden is still vowing to stay in the race (so far at least). His campaign points to polling that suggests that none of the proposed replacements would fare significantly better than him - but they have far less name recognition, something that would change if one of them became the candidate. New reports that Trump is being accused of sexually assaulting a 13 year old ought to be decisive but probably won't convince his diehard supporters to change.

- TVO's Steve Paikin suggests that Justin Trudeau's best chance of holding onto power might be to revisit the electoral reform that he previously rejected. In principle this might well be true, although in practice it would be very difficult to actually implement this in time for the election. While there is no legal requirement for a referendum, making such a sweeping change without one might be a bridge too far, politically (and if one were somehow held, it would be seen as a referendum on Justin Trudeau by too many people). Plus, even if the change were somehow made in time for the next election, the Bloc would effectively become kingmaker, and they cannot be trusted not to back the Conservatives.

- Manitoba Hydro warns that millions of dollars of infrastructure investment are required to maintain the reliability of the power grid in the province. This includes upgrades to the power plants themselves (one of which dates back to 1911) as well as towers, lines, etc.

- Liquor Control Board of Ontario employees are striking as of today, something expected to greatly increase sightings of pink elephants in the province. Issues include too much dependence on part-time workers as well as plans to put alcohol in convenience stores.

- The City of Winnipeg has approved over 6,600 new housing units, a figure expected to rise to 8,000 by the end of November. Of those, at least 123 are considered "affordable", though the devil is in the details with something like that. Actual construction of these units will doubtless take a few years.

- A Toronto police detective with the force's drug squad was arrested in neighbouring Mississauga and charged with impaired driving, leaving the scene of an accident, fleeing police, and possession of cocaine and meth. Two Peel Regional Police officers were reportedly injured in the course of the arrest.

- A 72 year old man in Florida has been arrested for shooting a Walmart delivery drone as it passed over his house; he apparently believed that he was under surveillance. Say what you will, but anyone who can hit a moving target 75 feet up with a 9 mm pistol is a pretty good shot.

News roundup, 4 July 2024

- Justin Trudeau refuses to commit to a national caucus meeting following the crushing byelection defeat in Toronto-St. Paul's, despite pressure from several of his party's MPs, though the astute reader will note that this is not the same as refusing to consider one. One MP who spoke anonymously said that several MPs are planning not to run in the next election, presumably seeing the situation as hopeless.

-  South of the border, there are hints that Joe Biden just might recognize that he's in over his head. According to unnamed sources close to him, he understands that his viability as a candidate may be on the line, although his public statements indicate otherwise. Of course a lot of people already know what the stakes are; whether he can be made to understand this remains to be seen. Nate Silver thinks it's worth a try, at least.

- Donald Trump is promoting a social media post that advocates holding a televised military trial for Liz Cheney on the grounds that she is guilty of "treason". The post was created by another user, but Trump's retweeting of it is all too much in character.

- The news is somewhat better in the UK, where the opposition Labour Party is expected to win today's election handily. Just how big the win will be remains to be seen.

- The City of Winnipeg is making moves to speed up the process by which vacant buildings can be seized by the city, to be sold to nonprofits for the construction of affordable housing. Clearly something like this is needed for numerous reasons; hopefully it can be made to work.

- One of the people injured in an act of arson in Winnipeg's Tyndall Park neighbourhood has died; the suspect has now been charged with manslaughter. Another resident of the same unit has survived but with what are expected to be life-altering injuries.

- Recent heavy rains have overwhelmed the drainage systems of the small but fast-growing cities of Morden and Winkler in southern Manitoba. Both cities have issued notices to their residents advising them to limit water use, though Morden's advisory has now been lifted. One business owner in Winkler whose restaurant was flooded says he hopes it's "not the future"; unfortunately stuff like this is likely to become more common.

- Hurricane Beryl is bearing down on Mexico after causing substantial damage in Jamaica as well as devastating two islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Ten people are known to have died, though this is expected to be higher once the situation in those islands becomes more apparent. Meteorologists say it's unprecedented for the hurricane season to take off this big, this early.

- A utility robot that worked at the city hall of Gumi, South Korea threw itself down a two metre drop after circling erratically, in an event being described as the "first robot suicide" in the country. You know the future looks bad when even the robots don't want to be part of it.

News roundup, 3 July 2024

- Hurricane Beryl is moving towards Jamaica as a category 4 hurricane, with winds of up to 270 km/h (145 kt). The storm has already killed at least six people and caused widespread devastation on smaller islands.

- Joe Biden's fitness to serve as the Democratic presidential candidate continues to be the subject of intense discussion. A longtime member of the DNC, James Zogby, is calling on the party to establish a process to replace him as candidate in the event that he drops out; Gavin Newsom has hinted that he is "ready to step up". All this, of course, presupposes that Biden is willing to go quietly; unfortunately all evidence suggests otherwise.

- Given the increasing chances of a second Trump presidency, the recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity is all the more alarming. Consider this:

The text of the ruling states: "Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority."

So much for checks and balances and all that good stuff.

The ruling goes on to specify that, while a former president is "entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts", there is "no immunity for unofficial acts'. But in distinguishing between "official" and "unofficial" acts, where the hell does one draw the line?

As it turns out, the Supreme Court doesn’t really know either. Several pages down in the ruling, we find the ostensible lead-up to an explanation: "When the President acts pursuant to ‘constitutional and statutory authority,’ he takes official action to perform the functions of his office. … Determining whether an action is covered by immunity thus begins with assessing the President’s authority to take that action."

So far so good. But then some confusion arises because "the breadth of the president’s 'discretionary responsibilities' under the Constitution and laws of the United States frequently makes it 'difficult to determine which of [his] innumerable "functions" encompassed a particular action'".

In other words, because the president is the president, any of his actions can at least to some extent be construed as official. The ruling concludes: "The immunity the Court has recognised therefore extends to the 'outer perimeter' of the President’s official responsibilities, covering actions so long as they are ‘not manifestly or palpably beyond [his] authority'".

Never mind that if you abolish the rule of law, the "outer perimeter" of authority is not exactly, um, palpable.

That has the potential to undermine many of the criminal cases against Trump as well, though that is probably academic if he wins the election anyway. Andrew Coyne goes so far as to say that the decision has "removed the last bar to Trump's dictatorship".

- The news is somewhat more promising in France, as leftist and centrist parties have withdrawn hundreds of candidates from the second round of parliamentary elections, to avoid vote-splitting that could give Marine Le Pen's National Rally a majority. Of course the French have a rather deeper cultural understanding than the Americans do of what it means to live in a fascist state.

- German industry is strongly embracing solar power, as companies generate their own power to minimize costs. In fact, the country plans on meeting 80% of its electricity needs by renewables by 2030. Ambitious, but some much-needed good news.

- The dysfunctional state of American politics is undermining plans for a global minimum corporate tax agreement. Biden is in favour of it but Congress isn't; of course if Trump wins in the fall it's dead for the foreseeable future.

- Oklahoma's Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, is ordering teachers in the state's public schools to teach the Bible in grades 5-12, and says that teachers who refuse could be stripped of their licenses. The state Attorney General's office says that there is no legal authority for the Superintendent to specifically mandate the content of classes, but Walters is confident that Trump's Supreme Court appointments will solve that problem for him.

- BC's building code has been updated to allow apartment buildings with a single staircase, something common in much of the world but prohibited in new construction in most of North America. At one time there was a good reason for the rule, since it was a fire safety rule, but new building materials mean that this is less relevant today, and it contributes to the shortage of "missing middle" housing. More info on this in this video.

- In what can only be a positive move, another school board has banned cellphones.

News roundup, 2 June 2024

- Two former Liberal cabinet ministers who served under Jean Chrétien are calling for Justin Trudeau to step down as leader following the loss of a longtime safe seat in the Toronto-St. Pauls byelection. Perhaps more relevant to Trudeau's plight, current backbencher Wayne Long, who represents Saint John-Rothesay in New Brunswick, sent out a mass email to the entire caucus calling for his resignation, and at least one caucus member responded with "Well said!"; Kingston MP Mark Gerritsen advised his colleagues to stop hitting "reply all" to the email.

- An Ipsos poll conducted between June 12 and 14 found that Poilievre's "Canada is broken" slogan is resonating with an awful lot of people. This is unfortunate, because while there is indeed a lot wrong with this country, if given the chance Poilievre is just going to break the country far more thoroughly than it currently is.

- South of the border, the fears being felt among Democrats (and indeed among democrats generally) are hard to ignore. Ezra Klein and Maureen Dowd are quite concerned for sure. Unfortunately Biden's family are urging him to fight on.

- Republicans are attacking an executive order issued by Biden three years ago which calls for federal agencies to promote voter registration and participation in ways that are "consistent with applicable law". Because you don't want the wrong kind of people to find it too easy to vote, right?

- In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally party won a plurality of votes in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday. France uses a two round system, so all constituencies where no candidate got more than 50% of the vote will hold a second round next Sunday, and candidates who received more than 12.5% of the vote in the first round will be on the ballot for the second. This means that vote splitting can still occur in the second round; a record number of constituencies will be facing three-way runoffs next week. Left and centre activists are calling for tactical voting to prevent National Rally from getting a majority.

- A Labor senator from Western Australia, Fatima Payman, has been indefinitely suspended from caucus for voting for a Green motion in support of a Palestinian state.

- Manitoba's Progressive Conservative party has launched their leadership campaign. Interim leader Wayne Ewasko does not plan to run; the deadline for candidates to register is Oct 15 and the convention will be held next April.

- Despite the federal government's imposition of binding arbitration, WestJet mechanics walked off the job anyway over the weekend, forcing the cancellation of the majority of the airline's flights on the busy long weekend. The strike has now ended.

- McDonald's say they will not be introducing a plant-based burger after a pilot study in San Francisco and Dallas failed. My guess is that the sort of people who want plant-based burgers don't want to go to McDonald's anyway. I know I don't.