News roundup, 10 Dec 2024

- A suspect is in custody in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Luigi Mangione was picked up at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania; more information about the suspect may be found here. He seems to be an avid reader; he left reviews on Goodreads of a number of interesting books, including Ted Kaczynski's manifesto Industrial Society and its Future. This comes despite the general public not having much enthusiasm for the manhunt, with the shooter approaching folk hero status. Even many prominent "internet sleuths" wanted nothing to do with the search, and the McDonald's location in question has been flooded with one-star reviews due to the staff ratting Mangione out. This probably has something to do with the nature of the private health insurance business; such companies are notorious for denying coverage under questionable circumstances. Thompson's own company has been accused of using unreliable AI systems to screen claims, for instance. For his part, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare's parent company, UnitedHealth, thinks it's "offensive" for the media to be talking about this right now. Insurers are responding to this by taking down biographical info about their executives from their websites (hey, it's a lot cheaper than actually paying out claims).

- The fall of the Syrian regime seems to have resulted from the actions of many disparate forces. The largest of these is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Levant Liberation Union); others include a Kurdish group (the Syrian Democratic Forces) as well as others, which disconcertingly include ISIS/Daesh. Given that several of these groups (especially Daesh) are likely to be unwilling to work with the others, we can expect a fair bit of instability for the foreseeable future.

- The European Commission, the EU's executive, has delayed the implementation of their deforestation law by a year, but fortunately has refused to water down the legislation despite the efforts of some EU parliamentarians.

- The proposed property tax increase in Winnipeg has led to a lot of whining from some homeowners; the CBC quoted one resident of the Crescentwood neighbourhood as saying "it hurts". I dunno, I figure if you own a house in Crescentwood you aren't really too hard done by.

- Vancouver mayor Ken Sim wants to create a bitcoin reserve for the city; experts who haven't drunk the crypto Kool-Aid think this is a bad idea due to the volatility of the product.

News roundup, 9 Dec 2024

- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown and forced to flee the country. This apparently came as a surprise to the Americans; Biden spoke of both "historical opportunity" and of "risk and uncertainty", which when combined essentially means "we're not sure what to think of this yet". That didn't stop them from launching a few airstrikes at ISIS/Daesh sites in the country, because that's what they do when they're not sure how to proceed.

- The attempt to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has failed after his party's parliamentary caucus boycotted the vote, with the result that the parliament did not have quorum. His own justice ministry, however, has imposed an overseas travel ban on him, which indicates that his troubles have not ended.

- A former Calgary police officer is the subject of a Canada-wide warrant for breach of trust and misuse of a computer system, after allegedly using police information systems to stalk women who he initially met as a result of service calls. He is believed, however, to have left the country.

- New Manitoba legislation will prohibit the sale of long bladed weapons including machetes to persons under the age of 18 as of the new year and require purchasers to show photo ID; information pertaining to the sales must be retained by retailers for two years. Stores where a majority of products sold are kitchenware products are, however, exempt from the legislation, which sounds like a pretty big loophole to me.

- Alberta is planning to recruit foreign workers from the United Arab Emirates, which has raised alarms among labour leaders that it will drive down wages.

- The storm that hit the UK over the weekend has killed at least two people when trees fell on their vehicles in separate incidents; power was cut to thousands and rail services have been disrupted.

- Apparently black Republicans are having a hard time understanding why Trump hasn't appointed any of their number to his cabinet. Gee I dunno, I think this might be an example of what the young folks call "FAFO".

News roundup, 6 Dec 2024

- Police continue to search for the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Many people definitely understand the anger towards such companies, even if they wouldn't advocate such a drastic solution to the problem.

- A storm bearing down on the UK may subject parts of Wales and southwestern England to hurricane-force winds, and may be potentially damaging as far away as Scotland and Northern Ireland.

- Joe Biden is considering preemptive pardons for some critics of Donald Trump, in the hope of shielding them from the revenge that Trump has vowed to take against them. Potential recipients including former Chief Medical Advisor Dr Anthony Fauci as well as Democrats involved in the impeachment proceedings against Trump. California representative turned Senator-elect Adam Schiff, who has been cited as a possible recipient, questions the need for this, saying that he is confident that the courts are robust enough to deal with Trump and throw out spurious cases, but I'm not sure I share his confidence given Trump's stacking of federal courts during his first term. Maybe Schiff is afraid to admit just how broken his country's democracy is.

- Winnipeg appears poised to announce the largest property tax hike since 1990, according to unnamed sources who say a preliminary draft of the budget includes a 5.95% increase. This is probably necessary but will come as a shock to some.

- A bill before the Manitoba legislature will amend the Highway Traffic Act to allow for lifetime suspensions to be given to drivers convicted of impaired driving causing death or bodily harm for a second time within a 10 year period (currently the maximum suspension is 10 years). The bill would also require that anyone whose license is reinstated after their first conviction for such offenses have a zero BAC for driving for a seven year period.

- A plea deal in which Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a single count of criminal fraud related to what it failed to tell regulators about the MCAS system used on the Boeing 737 Max which killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 has been rejected by a judge, who said that the deal gave the court too little power to monitor Boeing's compliance with its side of the deal.

- The Grand Chief of the Southern Chiefs Association was beaten up in front of a bar in Ottawa ahead of an Assembly of First Nations conference. Someone in this Reddit thread alleges that the assailants were councillors from Lake Manitoba First Nation but this is unconfirmed.

- Hongchi Xiao, an "alternative healer" who practiced "slap therapy" has been convicted of manslaughter in the UK after a 71 year old client with Type 1 diabetes to stop taking her insulin in favour of his treatments, with fatal results. This is actually his second conviction for this; he was convicted by an Australian court in the death of a six year old boy whose parents stopped giving him insulin on Xiao's advice.

News roundup, 5 Dec 2024

- The number of homicides in rural and small-town Manitoba has surged in the last year. A total of 55 have been reported so far this year in jurisdictions policed by the RCMP; by comparison there were only 30 confirmed homicides and 3 suspicious deaths in the entirety of last year.

- A location has been tentatively selected for Manitoba's first supervised consumption site (not counting bars of course). The location is on Disraeli near Henry Street; concerns are being raised by some about the proximity of Argyle Alternative High School, but the government has assured the Winnipeg School Division that they will not proceed unless the site is secure.

- Former Conservative party leadership candidate (and current Brampton mayor) Patrick Brown has been summoned to testify before a parliamentary committee regarding allegations of Indian interference in Canadian politics. This includes the accusation that volunteers on Brown's leadership campaign, including MP Michelle Rempel Garner, were pressured to withdraw their support; according to someone connected to the campaign, Rempel Garner was approached by representatives of the Indian consulate who warned that it "was not in her best interest" to continue working with Brown. Rempel Garner denies this, however.

- French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government has been defeated, as expected, in a non-confidence vote, though they are expected to remain in a caretaker position until a new government is appointed. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to address the nation today, but finding an actual solution to the problem may be difficult as France's parliament is split into three similar-sized blocs, none of which is keen to work with the others.

- Amnesty International has joined the ranks of those who condemn Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal, while acknowledging that the attacks on Israel that were the immediate trigger for the attacks were also atrocities.

- The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a division of the largest health insurer in the US, was shot dead outside the hotel where he was about to speak at a conference of investors in the company. The suspect currently remains at large.

- A nun is among those arrested in Italy in a crackdown on the country's most powerful mafia network. Prosecutors allege that she served as a conduit between the gang and its incarcerated associates while serving as a volunteer at prisons. Two former politicians from parties associated with the country's rightwing government were also caught in the net.

News roundup, 4 Dec 2024

- At Justin Trudeau's meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago this past Friday, the incoming president quipped that Canada should join the US if we can't handle the 25% tariffs being slapped on imports. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc insists that Trump was joking, but he has previously expressed interest in our water, and as anyone who's read Richard Rohmer's novel Ultimatum or seen the miniseries H₂O knows, these things should not be taken lightly.

- South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is facing possible impeachment following the short-lived imposition of martial law overnight. Yoon says his move was necessitated by "North Korea-sympathizing anti-state forces" and accuses the opposition of "attempting to overthrow the liberal democratic system through legislative dictatorship", but the fact that he's facing serious corruption allegations that were being investigated by the opposition is probably the real reason.

- French prime minister Michel Barnier, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron only 90 days ago, is facing a motion of non-confidence, after using executive powers to push a budget through without parliamentary support.

- The Auto Trader website forecasts that the number of gasoline-powered cars in the UK will fall by over 40% over the next decade.

- Several businesses in Winnipeg are no longer accepting cash, apparently to deter robberies. This has become somewhat common elsewhere as well, and has raised concerns. Some are calling for legislation to limit this, since it discriminates against people who don't have a bank account or credit card, and from a certain point of view this could be seen as discrimination on the grounds of "social condition", which is prohibited in some jurisdictions. Some cities and states in the US have adopted or are considering such legislation.

- More than six weeks after a BC man, Jim Barnes, went missing on a hunting trip, a dog believed to be his has been found alive. The dog is not tattooed or microchipped, but appeared to recognize Barnes' partner and other people that it would have been familiar with.

News roundup, 3 Dec 2024

- The US has promised another $725 million in aid to the Ukrainian military before the end of Biden's administration in January. Unfortunately at this point it's not so much about saving Ukraine as about making Russia's probable victory more costly to them.

- It now appears that Donald Trump didn't quite win a majority of the popular vote nationally, not that it matters to the outcome. With 96% of the votes now counted, Trump has 49.97% and Harris 48.36%. This remains, however, the highest percentage of the vote that Trump has received. Turnout was about 63.8%, slightly lower than in 2020 but still the second highest in a century.

- In most provinces it is prosecutors, not police, who make the decision to lay criminal charges. In Ontario this is not the case; as a result, the backlog in their courts is considerable. The justice ministry is looking to change this, but not surprisingly the police don't want to give up that power.

- The Manitoba government is considering a ban on disinformation about election workers and the electoral system. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe cites the rise in "deepfakes" and similar AI-driven techniques that have been quite effective in weakening democracy elsewhere. Of course this is double edged (there are grey areas about what constitutes disinformation, not to mention when someone should be assumed to be "knowingly" circulating it), but it should be noted that the provincial Elections Act already has similar prohibitions regarding disinformation about candidates, so maybe a similar prohibition regarding election officials isn't a big step.

- A long-term care home in Windsor, Ontario has barred a man from visiting his mother at the facility; he says that this occurred after he expressed concerns about how his mother was being cared for. The management of the facility claim that this is justified because he had "demonstrated anger" and behaved in a "threatening and abusive manner". Without knowing the specific nature of his conduct it's hard to say if he was actually threatening or abusive. I don't doubt that he demonstrated anger, but that by itself doesn't seem like enough reason. This isn't the first time something like this has happened, either.

- Manitoba has recorded 323 overdose deaths in the first 7 months of 2024, including 105 in June and July alone.

- A woman in Fannin County, Georgia was arrested on a reckless endangerment charge after her 10 year old son walked to a nearby dollar store unaccompanied.

News roundup, 2 Dec 2024

- The International Court of Justice is opening two weeks of hearings into the obligations of the international community towards countries vulnerable to climate change. The plaintiffs, including several island nations that face annihilation due to rising sea levels, are calling on the court to rule that they are being unlawfully subjected to harm and to specify what actions are required. Any ruling will be non-binding, however.

- The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a section of BC's Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act (ORA), which allows the province to sue manufacturers and distributors of opioids, is legal. The companies had argued that the section was unconstitutional due to interprovincial jurisdiction issues.

- Vancouver's city council has voted to retain a rule that prohibits natural gas heating in new construction in the city, after three councillors from the dominant ABC party broke ranks and voted with the opposition.

- Siloam Mission, a Winnipeg homeless shelter, reports an increasing number of seniors accessing their services. Other organizations, such as the seniors' advocacy group CanAge, also say that there has been a sharp rise in homelessness in that demographic.

- The Public Works Committee of Winnipeg City Council has voted to move ahead with a reduction of the speed limit on Wellington Crescent between River Avenue and Academy Road following the fatality earlier this year. If passed by council as a whole, the speed limit will be reduced from 50 to 30 km/h until protected bike lanes can be installed.

- The town of Gravenhurst in Ontario's Muskoka Region has declared a state of emergency after receiving around 140 centimetres of snow over the weekend.

- Searchers at the Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg have narrowed down the part of the landfill most likely to contain the remains of two of Jeremy Skibicki's victims, and this week the debris will be sifted for the remains.

- A mall in Montreal is playing the rather grating children's song "Baby Shark" in its emergency exit stairwells in order to discourage homeless people from loitering there.