News roundup, 4 April 2025

- Stock markets continue to fall worldwide in response to Trump's tariffs. US stocks seem to be taking the worst of it, with the S&P 500 losing almost 5% of its value, and the NASDAQ doing even worse with a 6% decline.

- The Conservatives' latest attempt to win back public support is to trot out Preston Manning to have him declare that another Liberal term will drive the western provinces to secede. Now there's no denying that the country is very divided right now. But besides being alarmist, I think Manning is a couple of decades out of date. Yes, historically there has been a very stark resentment of Ontario and Quebec in the west, and some of that resentment is still there. But nowadays, I think the average citizen of Calgary has more in common with a Torontonian than with someone from Edson. It's the same urban-rural divide that you see around the world - and it's not the kind of divide that can be resolved by secession.

- Donald Trump has fired at least 3 National Security Council officials after meeting with far-right influencer Laura Loomer. Trump denies that Loomer made any specific recommendations; several people who were privy to the meeting say otherwise.

- The Trump regime is trying to pursue its attack on DEI even outside its own borders. They are requiring foreign companies with US government contracts to "self-certify" that they are in compliance with the anti-DEI policy. France as well as Germany are pushing back.

- The Jewish community is reeling over the prospect of having to celebrate Passover without Manischewitz wine, which was removed from liquor store shelves along with all other American products.

- Evidently Hooters is no better at covering its debts than at covering its servers' skin; the chain just filed for bankruptcy protection.

News roundup, 3 April 2025

- Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs are in place. There are no new ones for Canada, but a 25% levy on vehicles and vehicle parts from this country is still in place. There is a lot of confusion on exactly what is covered, since the tariffs won't apply to parts that comply with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement - until the regime comes up with a way of applying tariffs to the non-US content of the parts. In response, Chrysler's parent company Stellantis is closing their assembly plant in Windsor for two weeks as of this coming Monday; it's also expected to significantly increase the price of vehicles. Dealerships are reporting a surge in sales as people try to get their purchases under the wire before the tariffs take effect. A complete list of tariffs by country may be seen here; markets are not responding favourably.

- Along with the NDP and the Bloc, the Greens have the potential to suffer from the renewed popularity of the Liberals under Mark Carney. Elizabeth May's riding is now considered a toss-up between her and the Liberal candidate. And in the Winnipeg-area riding of Elmwood-Transcona, the Liberals could actually be the spoiler.

- The conviction of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on corruption charges and her being barred from political office as a result is causing a predictable stir. This is not limited to far-right leaders; one French political scientist, Ronald Hatto, thinks that the ban may be a mistake and could lead to unrest. While the Guardian's Georgios Samaras does not go that far, he warns that the French left needs to move quickly to keep Le Pen's protégé Jordan Bardella from exploiting the outrage and winning the presidency.

- Hot on the heels of Paul Chiang being forced to drop out of the race over injudicious comments about the suggestion that people collect a bounty from the Chinese state on his Conservative opponent, the Conservative candidate in another GTA riding is having to drop out for similar reasons. Don Patel, who was running in Etobicoke North, had indicated support for a Facebook post that called for certain folks to be sent back to India so that "PM Modi can take care of these non-sense people". Patel is actually the fourth Tory candidate to drop out in recent days.

- Hungary has announced that they're pulling out of the International Criminal Court. And no, they aren't going to hand over Netanyahu first; to the contrary, they're welcoming him to their country for an official visit.

News roundup, 2 April 2025

 - A wide range of tariffs are set to be announced today by the Trump regime, taking effect immediately. Trump is calling this "Liberation Day". Some background info here. A resolution before the US Senate from Virginia senator Tim Kaine is expected to make things awkward for Republicans representing states expected to take a hit from the tariffs, but won't have a real impact even if it passes, since it is nonbinding.

- Mark Carney plans to carve out an exemption for New Flyer in the countertariffs imposed on US manufacturing; meanwhile the company is working towards all buses for the Canadian market being assembled here.

- Former parliamentary reporter Rachel Gilmore had been asked by CTV to do an election-related fact-checking segment on their morning show, but the network cancelled the segment after a single episode following pressure from the Conservatives and their fellow travellers.

- The cancellation of the carbon tax took effect yesterday. This is expected to bring some savings to consumers, but preventing backsliding on emissions will require measures that may well cost more overall in terms of public funds. The question I've never been able to find a clear answer to, though, is this: If tax relief is politically necessary, why not provide said relief by reducing or eliminating the GST (or PST for provinces) rather than the carbon tax? That way everyone sees relief, not just those who drive. I guess they're afraid of worsening the urban-rural divide, but I think that divide is basically beyond healing at this point anyway.

- The Trump regime has admitted that they shipped an innocent man to their contracted prison in El Salvador due to what they call an "administrative error". They say it's now out of their hands, though, as he's no longer in US custody.

- Wisconsin held an election for a vacant seat on the state supreme court yesterday. A liberal judge squeaked a victory despite Elon Musk having spent millions of dollars on her opponent's campaign.

- Western Australia's police force has repurposed a Maserati seized from a repeat driving offender into a publicity device to warn people not to drive like idiots.

News roundup, 1 April 2025

- French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for political office for five years after being convicted of illegally siphoning millions of euros in public funds for her own party's use. She also received a four year suspended sentence. Predictably, Le Pen as well as her fellow deplorables around the world are having a conniption, saying that the decision saying the decision is politically motivated. Admittedly, it is very convenient for Emmanuel Macron, but it's a bit of a stretch to think the whole court system is in his pocket. A recent poll indicates that a majority of French citizens think the court ruled fairly, bit it's a slimmer majority than one might like (57%).

- The Liberal candidate in Markham-Unionville, Paul Chiang, has withdrawn from the race following his unfortunate remarks about how someone ought to claim a bounty on his Tory opponent. Probably a good move, especially since the RCMP is now looking into the matter.

- The University of Winnipeg is the latest post-secondary institution to face a financial crunch, partly as a result of cuts to international student visas. Last week the university's president brought up a clause in the faculty's collective agreement that could allow for layoffs. The fact that universities across the country are facing the same problem make this a bad time for academics.

- The Sioux Valley Dakota Nation has banned provincial courts from holding sessions on its jurisdiction until a suitable facility can be built. Community leaders say that what has been done up until now, which is for the court to use the community's mature student centre for its semi-monthly hearings, is not satisfactory because the student centre does not have the security measures needed to handle some of the violent criminals the court is dealing with (such as partitions separating the accused from witnesses). This is especially unfortunate because the circuit court arrangement was designed to make the courts more accessible to the community.

- The Green Party is calling for Canada's military reserves to be expanded by 20,000 people. Not an April Fool's joke; that's just the world we live in now. The party's co-leader Jonathan Pedneault made the announcement in Whitehorse yesterday, saying in addition that he wants to create a 120,000 person civil defence corps.

- A Canadian has been detained in the Dominican Republic because his name was similar to someone whose name was on a checked bag that was full of drugs. Maybe those who aren't deterred by the climate footprint of air travel or the Dominican Republic's problematic human rights record should look at this as another reason to stay home.

News roundup, 31 March 2025

- The new tariffs that the Trump regime is going to impose on automobiles and parts is going to impact all automakers, including American ones, but one automaker is expected to be impacted a lot less than the others. Guess which one.

- The regime is continuing with their efforts to curb activism by international students. Hundreds of students have already had their visas revoked, apparently for participating in protests against the war in Gaza. Last week Rumeysa Öztürk, a Turkish-born PhD student, was arrested by masked ICE officers and taken away in an unmarked vehicle; she had co-authored this op-ed for the university's newspaper last year, which I guess in their eyes constitutes "supporting Hamas".

- A fan was removed from the Toronto Blue Jays' home opener on Thursday for wearing a "Canada Is Not For Sale" hat, with security guards citing a ban on "political statements". Following the inevitable bad publicity, the organization has apologized to the man, and attributed the incident to an "error" on the part of staff. Some folks on the related Reddit thread have their doubts, though, saying that the Jays' chair Ed Rogers is a big Trump supporter and that security was going around in the stands stopping people from booing the American anthem.

- The Conservatives are doing their utmost to stop their supporters from saying the quiet part out loud. At Poilievre rallies across the country, they are seizing items such as MAGA hats and signs (as well as more mundane items such as knives and e-cigs) from people attending the events, presumably not wanting to give the media the opportunity to remind the non-crazy part of the Canadian population what the Cons are actually like. Stuff like this adds to fears among party insiders of division and dysfunction within the organization.

- The National Post is claiming to have found evidence of plagiarism in Mark Carney's 1995 PhD thesis. Funny thing is, most of the academics who actually went on record for the article dismiss the accusations. I guess the Post hopes that most people won't read beyond the headline.

- Paul Chiang, the Liberal candidate in the suburban GTA riding of Markham-Unionville, is facing criticism and calls for his withdrawal from the race after suggesting in a Chinese-language news conference that people should claim the bounty that China has placed on his Tory opponent, Joe Tay.

- The Vancouver Auto Show broke attendance records despite calls by the MAGAts for a boycott over their exclusion of Tesla from the event.

- A gospel singer is facing criticism for his fundraising pitch after delivering a speech to the 109th Pentecostal Assemblies for the World Convention in Baltimore last summer. Following the speech he asked church ushers to lock the doors until he got $40,000 in donations.

- China hopes to have a 100 megawatt hybrid fission-fusion reactor operating by 2030. The idea is to use the neutrons from deuterium-tritium fusion to induce fission in uranium; since no chain reaction is involved it is considerably safer than many fission reactors and no enrichment is necessary (natural or even depleted uranium would suffice). If this could be achieved, this could be an important stepping stone to a pure fusion reactor.

News roundup, 28 March 2025

- Protesters in the UK who broke into a factory owned by an Israeli weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems last year, causing over a million dollars worth of damage, have been locked up indefinitely under anti-terrorism legislation. Evidently the British are going along with the Americans and treating politically motivated vandalism as if it were violence against actual people (which is usually what is usually meant when one speaks of "terrorism"). Some of the protesters have even been denied access to lawyers. I have to assume that the reason for such draconian measures is that the protesters have been effective - nine British companies have cut ties with the firm, and the landlords of one Elbit site in Leicester have sold the property.

- Donald Trump initially nominated Elise Stefanik, a Republican member of Congress from New Jersey, to be the next ambassador to the UN. However, he has now withdrawn the nomination - apparently due to fears that the Republicans' majority in the House is a bit to slim for comfort.

- When Marjorie Taylor Greene was asked a question by journalist Martha Kelner of UK outlet Sky News about the scandal now being referred to in some circles as "Signalgate", Greene refused to answer and told her to "go back your country".

- Jason Stanley, a Yale University professor and author of a book entitled How Fascism Works, has given up his post to take one at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, saying that he has lost confidence in American academia's ability and/or willingness to resist the regime. He says that the last straw was when Columbia University agreed to take several disturbing measures, including a crackdown on campus protests as well as "internal reviews" of some academic programs, in order to retain millions of dollars in federal funding. If that's not a warning to take seriously, I don't know what is.

- A BBC reporter was arrested and deported from Turkey as a "threat to public order" following his coverage of widespread protests against the government. Expect the US to do the same thing to foreign journalists before long.

- A Manitoba judge has ordered CityNews journalist Morgan Modjeski to hand over the raw footage of an on-camera interview with a man at a rooming house in the aftermath of a shooting there. Modjeski had challenged an order to hand the footage over on the grounds of protecting journalistic sources, however the judge ruled that this was irrelevant because the man interviewed was not an anonymous source. His lawyer, though, is concerned about the precedent set by effectively turning journalists into tools of law enforcement.

- The Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), an industry group for polling agencies, is warning about an organization called  ERG National Research, which is not a member of the group. ERG has been texting people with election polls, and then asking for their names, something polling agencies generally don't do. The CEO of CRIC has done some digging, but found little about the organization other than the fact that it shares a mailing address with an organization called ElectRight, and that the two organizations list each other as "communication service providers".

- A man has been charged with dangerous driving following an investigation into a crash on St. Mary's Road last October in which a Dodge Charger left the road while doing 213 km/h in a 60 km/h zone and collided with a building. The (surprisingly uninjured) driver fled the scene on foot; I have to assume that he tried to claim that the vehicle was stolen and the delay in pressing charges resulted from an investigation into this claim.

News roundup, 27 March 2025

- Winnipeg police now believe that the woman hitherto known as Mashkode Bizihiki’ Ikwe ("Buffalo Woman") was Ashlee Shingoose of St. Theresa Point First Nation, who went missing in March 2022. Moreover, based on when she is believed to have been killed and the location of the bin where she was dumped, they now believe that her remains were taken to the Brady Landfill. This does offer at least some hope that something of her will be found. 

- Jagmeet Singh admits that the NDP faces "massive challenges" in the coming election, as the anti-Conservative vote is coalescing almost entirely around the Liberals. Former leader Tom Mulcair sums it up in terms of what is known as "the ballot question"; the threat from the US is the sole deciding factor for most voters, and it's increasingly turning into a two party race (Mulcair notes that the Bloc is struggling as well).

- Wildfires in South Korea have killed at least 24 people and destroyed a 1,300 year old temple in Uiseong City, though fortunately relics from the temple were removed in advance of the fire. Wildfires have historically not been common in the country, and this is the biggest death toll from such fires that the country has experienced.

- Eascan Automation Inc., a Winnipeg-based company that provides custom-built industrial robots to manufacturers, has laid off a third of its workforce owing to the fact that while most of their clients are Canadian, the products they manufacture are heavily dependent on the US market, meaning they're not in a hurry to upgrade their equipment right now.

- Immigration lawyers are advising Canadians living in the US to avoid international travel for the time being, given the increasingly unpredictable nature of ICE. One Toronto-based lawyer points out that even people who successfully got green cards after having previously gotten into trouble have had their old mistakes brought up at the border when they try to reenter; in addition, there is a danger that anything you might have ever posted online could be dug up and used against you. Myself, if I were giving advice, I wouldn't be advising against international travel. Quite the contrary - I'd advise any Canadian - or other foreign citizen - living in that benighted country to take a one-way international trip as soon as possible.

- It seems that the Atlantic journalist who was inadvertently sent sensitive military plans was not the biggest security risk in that chat group. Steve Witkoff, who serves as an envoy to the Middle East as well as Ukraine, was part of the chat group - and he was actually in Moscow at the time it was sent.

- The estranged wife of slain California fire captain Rebecca Marodi has been captured alive by Mexican authorities and sent back to the US to face trial for first degree murder. She has pleaded not guilty. Somehow I doubt she'll get it knocked down to manslaughter like she did last time she did something like that, though.