News roundup, 8 June 2026

 - Some members of Toronto's Jewish community have got their knickers in a knot over a promotional jersey put out by the TTC. Apparently the jersey has an upside down red triangle somewhere on it, and certain people say it makes them "uncomfortable" due to its resemblance to a symbol used by Hamas. The National Post, never a paper to turn down such an opportunity, interviewed Talia Klein Leighton, president of an organization calling itself "Canadian Women Against Antisemitism", who thinks they should have run the symbol by an AI before using it, and specifically listed Elon Musk's Grok as an example of something they could have used. As someone in this Reddit thread says, "I mean if there is an AI that knows racism..." Meanwhile Toronto city councillor James Pasternak, who represents York Centre, actually suggests, as a serious possibility, that "a member of the anti-Israel mob inside the TTC or one of its suppliers played a sick trick". Beyond the ridiculous level of paranoia displayed here, there's another peculiarity. There's a school of thought among some anti-racism activists that the intent of an action is irrelevant to whether it's a racist act or not; if someone from an oppressed ethnic group feels threatened or uncomfortable as a result of the act, it's racist, end of story. That seems to underlie a lot of the positions taken by the pro-Israel crowd about whether something is antisemitic, but I'd wager you donuts to dinars that they would not want to apply this principle more broadly, and moreover that those who do want to apply it more broadly would tie themselves in knots to carve out an exception for this example.

- A CBC investigation has found that 14 Facebook accounts actively promoting Alberta separatism are not actually operated by Canadians but rather come out of the US, Indonesia, and the south Asian countries. Some of these influencers are among the top posters to Alberta-focused discussion groups. An earlier investigation also found that some YouTube channels promoting separatism operate out of the Netherlands. As far as anyone can tell, this doesn't seem to be an orchestrated conspiracy as such; rather, the influencers have found that activity of this sort leads to more engagement, and social media platforms pay them based on engagement.

- Nick Clegg, the former leader of the UK's Liberal Democratic Party, who later served as Meta's head of global affairs, says that by the time he left the company in March of last year there were clear signs that Meta as well as other Silicon Valley companies had embraced MAGA. Their motives are not discussed, but I suspect that they believe that the Trump regime is their best chance of avoiding heavy regulation of AI, and against that such piddly matters such as social justice, much less decorum, are insignificant.

- Five researchers were ejected from the annual general meeting of the American Diabetes Association after handing out reprints of an editorial from the journal Diabetes Care that was highly critical of the Trump regime's attacks on scientific research. The reprints were distributed outside a room where National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya was scheduled to speak (he cancelled at the last minute, though it's not clear if the cancellation was connected to this). ADA officials claimed that this was a violation of the organization's code of conduct for conferences, which among other things prohibits "disorderly or disruptive conduct such as protesting". Most likely, though, they're just terrified of doing anything that might antagonize the Mango Mussolini.

- Conservation authorities in several US states are removing catch limits for anglers on certain reservoirs - because drought conditions are so bad that the reservoirs are expected to dry up anyway.

News roundup, 5 June 2026

- Mark Carney is backing away from plans to roll back a wide range of environmental regulations. The government had planned to create "federal economic zones" where various developments were pre-approved, and to give the cabinet the power to exempt projects from endangered species legislation. Following condemnation from First Nations as well as environmental activists, though, the government seems to be backing down.

- Wab Kinew is putting the kibosh on a proposal by a company called Consensus Core to build a gigantic data centre in the Rural Municipality of Ritchot, south of Winnipeg. The facility would have used so much electricity that they planned to power it with natural gas turbines because they couldn't divert enough from the power grid, not to mention the amount of water these things often use for cooling. It's not like it would have created a lot of permanent jobs anyway - in fact part of the point of AI is to not have to hire so many people. Meanwhile a recent study suggests that by 2030 AI could consume as much electricity as Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan combined - with carbon emissions equivalent to that of the UK. And for cooling it could consume as much fresh water as 1.3 billion people. 

- Following Doug Ford's ban on municipalities' use of photo enforcement cameras, a study at eight former camera locations in Ottawa has found that less than half of drivers passing the locations were obeying the posted speed limit. At one of the locations compliance was down to 20%, down from 86% in the last month that the cameras were allowed to operate.

- Two Chinese automakers, Chery and Geely, have begun shipping electric and plug-in hybrid cars to Canada. Some are being sold under the Lotus marque; Geely bought a majority stake in the British automaker in 2023. Buyers of these vehicles might be prohibited from driving them across the border, though, if a bill introduced by two Michigan legislators makes it through the US Congress. Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Senator Elissa Slotkin claim that this is a matter of "national security", claiming that the vehicles will record critical information about their drivers and surroundings. I wouldn't be surprised if they do, but this isn't something limited to Chinese cars - GM has already gotten a talking to for spying on their users via their OnStar system. The people who might have a legitimate reason to fear surveillance by China would mostly be Chinese expats living overseas - but nobody's forcing them to buy the cars. And if the Chinese state wants to spy on them, they can probably just buy the info from their cellphone providers and social media companies anyway. Of course, the fact that the sponsors of the bill come from Michigan probably has something to do with the matter...

- The European Parliament has made European-based Qwant, rather than Google, the default search engine on its in-house systems, as part of the EU's efforts to achieve "tech sovereignty". The company, founded in France in 2013, bills itself as a "privacy-first" alternative to Google. The article reporting this doesn't link to the search engine (perhaps Politico doesn't want their articles to be deindexed) but you can find it here.

News roundup, 4 June 2027

- Far-right extremists rioted in Southampton, England on Tuesday over the death of a young man last year. The family of the victim, Henry Nowak, had asked for his death not to be politicized, but given the circumstances (he'd been stabbed to death by a Sikh man, and police initially suspected that he had instigated the fight) Nigel Farage couldn't pass up the opportunity to do so. Farage claimed that there was "two tier policing" in the UK, and that the killing was a result of "mass immigration" (despite the fact that the killer was born and raised in the country). Foreign agitators, including Elon Musk, have been quick to add fuel to the fire, and Farage's brownshirts responded as you'd expect. Farage seems unapologetic about the matter, but then his kind don't believe in backing down.

- The continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the US/Israel attack on Iran has so far not led to quite as dramatic a spike in oil prices as some had feared, as countries around the world have relied on oil reserves. This is set to change, though, as these reserves are rapidly depleting with no sign of an end of the war. Prices of over $150 per barrel are expected in the coming weeks. Airlines are downplaying the situation; Air Canada and Lufthansa have both made statements to the effect that there is absolutely no risk of a shortage that could strand passengers. Of course they have to say that or people might be reluctant to buy flights to faraway destinations.

- The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution to end the Iran war.  Four Republicans voted with the Democrats on the resolution. The vote had been scheduled to be held two weeks ago but was delayed by Republican leaders, presumably in the hope of bullying their party's dissidents into opposing the resolution. Of course it would also have to pass the Senate, and would inevitably be vetoed by the Mango Mussolini if it got that far; the Democrats presumably hope that it will give them ammunition to call the war illegal in this fall's election campaign.

- The Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party has blocked Wally Daudrich from running in the constituency of Turtle Mountain after incumbent Doyle Piwniuk announced that he will not be running in the next election. The party has not given a reason, but presumably they consider his hardcore positions to be a liability in suburban Winnipeg, where the party has to do well in order to have a chance of winning an election.

- Pride Winnipeg has caused a stir by prohibiting military personnel from marching in uniform in the upcoming Pride parade. The organization says that this was based on "community feedback", saying that the community was "hurting" due to conflicts around the world. Many LGBT* veterans are understandably less than pleased with the decision, however.

News roundup, 3 June 2026

- Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen has finally managed to put together a functional coalition government after drawn-out negotiations since the election in March. Frederiksen's Social Democrats won the largest share of seats in the country's parliament, but this was still their poorest showing in over a century. Besides her party, the coalition will include the leftwing Socialist People’s Party, the centre-left Radikale Venstre (Social Liberals), and the centrist Moderates; this means that the coalition will still be a minority government with a total of 82 seats in the 179 seat parliament and will be dependent on the Green Left and other parties to maintain confidence of the house.

- The war (or, as it's officially known, "special military operation") in Ukraine is apparently starting to sow seeds of doubt among Russia's establishment. Putin, of course, is unwavering, but things are starting to slip out in the country's press such as an article in a pro-Kremlin newspaper which quoted a political commentator saying that "the worst-case scenario is not even defeat, it's an endless special operation" as well as quoting someone else saying that, from a historical perspective, "major geopolitical losses were sometimes more useful than brilliant victories". The article was subsequently removed from the paper's website, though, and I'd say those quoted in the article should keep a safe distance from windows for the foreseeable future.

- The family of a nine year old girl from O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, Manitoba who died after apparently being turned away twice from the hospital in Dauphin without adequate treatment for a broken arm is still looking for answers. According to the family they asked about getting a cast (which would seem to be the most basic thing imaginable) but nothing was done, and the child was sent home with nothng but a note saying she would need to be away from school for two weeks. The death is still under investigation from the province's chief medical examiner, but it sounds like staff at that hospital are going to have a lot of explaining to do.

- A proposed wind farm development in St. Leon, Manitoba is triggering some local residents who worry that it could somehow mess with their "rural way of life". The location would be developed by Swan Lake First Nation in cooperation with Quebec-based Innergex Renewable Energy. It's not clear exactly how it would affect their way of life, other than vague bleatings about "flickering" and sounds from the turbines. The thing is, there is an existing wind farm nearby and the sky hasn't fallen. I'm pretty sure that if you pressed these people about exactly what's wrong with the proposal they'd either come up with some "crabs in a bucket" complaint about the farmers who lease land to the wind farm getting an unfair advantage over their neighbours due to getting a steady income, that green energy is "woke", or, if you got them drunk enough, they'd start ranting about the involvement of the First Nation.

News roundup, 2 June 2026

- Manitoba Public Insurance is ordering its managers and directors back into the office full time. CEO Satvir Jatana justifies this with a bunch of platitudes about how being in the office "creates opportunities for quick conversations", ignoring the fact that a good chunk of the conversations that happen in the workplace have little or nothing to do with the actual work, as well as "faster alignment and more effective problem-solving" (with no actual proof of course). It's widely suspected that the corporation plans to do the same with its regular, unionized staff at some point in the near future. The heffalump in the room, though, is that forcing the corporation's roughly 2,000 employees back into the office five days a week is going to lead to more traffic, and hence likely more accidents, something that a public auto insurer ought to know. Whether Jatana has just been drinking too much of the corporate Kool-Aid, or whether this is an order that came straight from the government (either to placate voters whose jobs actually have to be onsite, or to prop up the commercial real estate industry) is unclear.

- The council of the United Counties of Prescott-Russell in eastern Ontario has passed a resolution to deny access to county land for the Crown corporation studying a possible high speed rail corridor, even to simply do an environmental assessment on the project. This follows an open letter in April from 12 municipalities (11 townships and the small city of Quinte West) opposing the project. They've made some vague bleatings about "rural character" and somewhat more concrete concerns about expropriation of land. They claim not to be opposed to high speed rail in principle. I suspect that they may be lying about that, though, and that their real fear is that their communities will become even more irrelevant than they already are if fewer people are driving through them. Or maybe it's just that trains are too woke for their liking.

- Robotaxis are starting to spread beyond Silicon Valley, and opposition to them is significant. There are real issues with them - they often can't cope when traffic signals aren't working, they sometimes get confused by construction and don't know how to reroute (even driving in circles), and they've been known to drive onto flooded streets and get swamped, stranding their passengers. Notably, their overall safety record is currently very good, but if they become dominant this could lead to more traffic overall (as instead of parking they will tend to drive around looking for passengers) which could lead to inefficiencies as well as undermining the gains in the safety department. Not to mention the number of people they could put out of work.

- Taxi drivers in Quebec are suing the provincial government for the abolition of the taxi permit system in order to allow "ride sharing" companies like Uber and Lyft to operate in the province. Previously, the permits often served as an investment that drivers could sell or rent out when they retired; while the province's move included a compensation package, the drivers say this is insufficient and that the abolition of the permits was a form of "disguised expropriation". The drivers won the first round, and lost on appeal; they now hope to have their case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

- Scientists are tracking subtle changes in the ecology of lakes in the far north in the face of climate change. As the surfaces of these lakes become warmer, the lakes become more stratified, which makes some species of diatoms (a group of algae) more viable and others less so. The ones that are favoured are smaller (larger ones are more likely to sink to the bottom of a more stratified lake, going too low to photosynthesize) and lower in nutrient value, with potential implications for the rest of the food chain.

News roundup, 1 June 2026

- A court in BC has ruled that forcing employees back into the office can constitute "constructive dismissal" under some circumstances. The case involved an employee of a real estate development company who had been working under a flexible arrangement since returning from maternity leave in 2013; she had gone fully remote along with the rest of the office staff in 2020 when the pandemic hit, and had continue to do so with the approval of successive supervisors until the arrangement was revoked in 2023. The court concluded that a longtime remote work arrangement can become an essential term of employment, though one lawyer suggests that the court might have ruled differently had she not already been working in such a manner before 2020. The company in question has a pretty big state in commercial real estate, which might be why they're so keen to stamp out WFH.

- US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is threatening to pull Customs and Border Patrol officers from "sanctuary cities" that limit cooperation with immigration officials, meaning that these airports couldn't take international flights. The idea, is that these flights would be redirect such flights to other cities, presumably in red states. The FAA and others (including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy) warn that this would lead to chaos, because the airports in more pliant cities are already near capacity and numerous flights would simply have to be cancelled. We'll have to see how much longer Mullin and Duffy can remain in the same cabinet, and who will prevail.

- Manitoba is holding a "virtual town hall", by telephone, for residents of the Southern Health Region, the epicentre of the measles outbreak in the province. The province will be cold calling residents in advance to let them know of the meeting, and then called again at the start of the event. Dr. Melissa MacKay, a professor of public health at the University of Guelph, suggests that the uptake might be higher if the event is well-advertised, so that people are less disinclined to answer a call from an unfamiliar number. I think, though, that there's a deeper problem here - the kind of people who refuse to get vaccinated are also the kind of people who aren't going to answer when "the gummint" calls.

- The CEO of WiseTech Global, a logistics software company, was speaking at an investment conference and remarked that it's "stupid to be paying $100 for labour when you can pay $2 for the AI". Once his comments leaked to the public, this landed very poorly given that his company had already announced that it would be eliminating 30% of its global workforce, representing some 2,000 jobs. Predictably, this lead to threats of violence against him and his family; while I don't endorse that (certainly not bringing his family into the matter) nobody should be surprised at this.

- The Great American State Fair, an event organized by Trump-backed nonprofit Freedom 250, has announced a musical lineup. Almost immediately afterwards, several of the musicians on the bill, including country singer Martina McBride, rapper Young MC, and glam metal band Poison cancelled saying that they didn't realize it was a partisan event. Now it's easy to be a bit cynical about the supposed naïveté of these people, but several of them allege that there was an element of bait-and-switch; the name sounds innocent enough (many of these artists have played at numerous actual state fairs) and some claim that they were never told it was a Trump-affiliated event. On the other hand, it would be fair to ask if there was any plausible way that an event in DC celebrating the 250th anniversary of US independance would not have the Mango Mussolini's fingerprints on it. In any case, those who were hoping to get a breath of nostalgia at the event needn't despair - Vanilla Ice as well as Milli Vanilli (or rather, Fab Morvan and some other dude, Rob Pilatus having died in 1998) have both said that they will be playing. In in the case of Milli Vanilli, though, the people who did the actual singing on the recordings have also made it clear that they will not be there. Yes, for those who thought nothing could be more fake than Milli Vanilli, there's now a fake Milli Vanilli. In any case, the whole thing might well be cancelled anyway.

News roundup, 29 May 2026

- Just in case you needed another reason to think twice about taking an international flight, numerous people have fallen victim to "baggage tag switching", in which airline insiders switch the tags on baggage filled with drugs or other contraband with those of innocent passengers in case they get searched. The airlines are refusing to cover the huge expenses people have incurred in order to be exonerated. Maybe just stay home and read a book or play a video game; it's safer as well as greener.

- A Russian drone involved in the attack on Ukraine strayed across the Romanian border and crashed into an apartment building, injuring two people.

- Manitoba's health minister, Uzoma Asagwara, just returned from the UK where they have been recruiting healthcare workers. Asagwara says that as many as 24 doctors and 29 paramedics may be on their way to the province soon. Reportedly several of them almost didn't show up to the recruitment sessions because they thought it sounded too good to be true.

- The Unifor locals representing about 5,000 employees at TransLink, which provides transit services in Metro Vancouver, have voted 99% in favour of strike action. Affected services include buses as well as the SeaBus ferry service, though not the SkyTrain which is a different bargaining unit.

- Manitoba removed Tesla from the electric vehicle rebate program last year as part of efforts to "Trump-proof" the economy. The company is now threatening legal action in response. An awkward fact is that the province had previously signed IT contracts with SpaceX, and the amount was increased last year, although the province says that this was an emergency procurement related to last year's wildfire season.

- Ferrari has launched its first fully electric vehicle on Tuesday. In response, stock in the company dropped 8.4%. Evidently investors think that the kind of person who would buy a Ferrari won't be satisfied to just go fast, they want everyone around to hear how fast they're going.

- A daycare in southwest Winnipeg had to shut down due to the heat on Wednesday because its air conditioning system had been disabled over the winter by someone stealing copper wire. Some are calling for provincial legislation on scrap dealers to apply the same requirements for accepting wire as for accepting catalytic converters, something that has significantly reduced converter theft.

- The moribund town of Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, whose population has declined from 1,500 in the 1970s to no more than 250 today as a result of a mine closure, is losing its only grocery store. The local co-op is heavily indebted to Federated Co-operatives and seems not to be viable anymore. Employment and Income Assistance is offering to help welfare recipients move out of there, but many don't see that as a satisfactory solution, especially those who have lived there all their lives. I don't know what can realistically be done, though; the town is 1,000 kilometres from Winnipeg and over 200 kilometres from Thompson, and it's hard to salvage such an isolated community that has lost its raison d'être.

- The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released its report on a 2023 accident in Smithers, BC in 2023 in which a helicopter undergoing ground tests suddenly rotated violently, causing the tail rotor to strike two workers, killing one and severely injuring the other. The TSB has concluded that the pilot skipped parts of a checklist because he was distracted by his cellphone, resulting in the antitorque pedals not being deactivated, and evidently he bumped one of the pedals, causing the rotation. I daresay this was not a good career move on the pilot's part.