News roundup, 17 June 2026

- Israel launched a series of new strikes on Lebanon, in defiance of Donald Trump's request. I think the real issue here is that the two leaders have different priorities - Trump wants the war to end in the hope that gas prices will come down in time for the midterms in November, while Netanyahu wants the war to continue until October to maximize his chances of winning the election and thus avoiding a corruption trial that could send him to prison.

- Savneet Talwar, a tenured professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), has been suspended and placed under investigation after giving students an assignment that made a passing reference to Palestine. The student who complained had a history of making similar complaints, and the school warned Talwar that the assignment could be seen as constituting "discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation".

- The yearbooks at two different Canadian high schools, one in Toronto and one in Bedford, NS, published quotes from students that appeared to question the Holocaust. Apparently it was worded in such a way as to question the number who died without making direct reference to the event; the exact wording isn't included in the article so it's hard to say how subtle it was. The Bedford school has asked students to return the yearbook for a reprint with the offending quote removed, while the Toronto school has offered to do the same. Interestingly, a school in the Pittsburgh area had a similar thing happen, but has not recalled the yearbook, saying it wasn't feasible to republish.

- A proposed mixed-use development called the Waters Urban Village would add nearly 3,000 housing units in a largely industrial area of east Winnipeg. The development would be a mix of multi-family and commercial. Seems pretty reasonable, but Transcona councillor (and sex assault suspect) Russ Wyatt is up in arms about the matter. Mayor Scott Gillingham called Wyatt a "desperate man", suggesting that he might be looking for a distraction from his legal issues.

- The town of Sundre in central Alberta has an annual rodeo, and normally there is an accompanying parade. This year, however, the parade was cancelled after organizers were subjected to severe harassment from Alberta separatists who were angered after being denied a float in the parade.

News roundup, 16 June 2026

- The Trump regime claims that the memorandum of understanding signed with Iran will see the Strait of Hormuz "open to all" by this coming Friday. The actual details of the MOU have yet to be released, however, so this claim should be taken with several kilograms of salt.

- The Carney government is suspending several certificates of citizenship that were sent out to people who applied after becoming eligible under the "lost Canadians" law. The suspensions are claimed to be justified based on the supporting documents not being original source material; those receiving the notice are being told that their applications may be reinstated if they provide satisfactory supporting evidence. Some 4,000 people around the world, around half of them American, had been sent certificates under the new legislation; it's not clear how many of these people are affected by this.

- Last week new regulations from Canada's telecommunications regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), took effect, prohibiting telecoms from charging extra fees to activate, change, or cancel cellphone plans. Shortly before the regulations came into force, Bell Canada and Telus rebranded these fees as a "handling fee" in the case of Bell, and a "SIM card fee" in Telus' case. The CRTC sent stern letters to the companies suggesting that these new fees may still be illegal; whether they take more concrete action than this remains to be seen.

- A man suspected of murder in the death of a 61 year old woman in the township of Greater Madawaska, Ontario was arrested in Winnipeg after police investigating the killing discovered threats that the suspect had made to a local business here. When captured he was found in possession of a shotgun as well as three jerry cans full of gasoline.

- In 2022, it was claimed by Russia that several public health facilities in Ukraine, which had received funding from the US, were actually biological warfare research facilities. The official story is that facilities were working to secure Soviet-era bioweapons and then turned into general purpose public health labs once this had been done. Russia's claims were denied by the US at the time. Of course, one could reasonably ask whether the Americans can be trusted to tell the truth about this, but notably these claims have also been dismissed by the UN as well as by some actual Russian scientists (who had best keep a safe distance from windows for the foreseeable future). However, a Canadian blogger, Patrick Armstrong, now claims to have new evidence supporting Russia's assertions. The source for this information is Donald Trump's Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has released what she calls declassified information that allegedly supports the claim. Those convinced of Russia's righteousness in the conflict are naturally pleased with this report; whether information put out by the Trump regime can be trusted to be truthful on this matter (or any other) is left as an exercise for the reader.

News roundup, 15 June 2026

- The US and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war. The full text of the agreement has not yet been made public, but Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who oversaw the negotiations, says that they have declared "immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon". Whether the Israelis will cooperate on that last point is another matter; indications are that they won't. Regarding Iran's nuclear program, the agreement allegedly 60-day timeline for "technical discussions" on the matter. That sounds like a comedown from the Americans' previous demands; I have to assume that the regime desperately wants to get gas prices down in time for the midterms this fall.

- Russian drone strikes on Kyiv have killed at least 10 people and severely damaged an 11th century cathedral that is part of a larger group of buildings called the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO world heritage site. The Russians are also accused of a "double tap" strike in which another wave of attacks comes after first responders have arrived; four emergency workers are among the dead.

- Last week's storm could set a record for insurance claims in Manitoba. MPI reports that they have received some 20,000 claims for vehicle damage so far, and home insurers are also seeing potentially unprecedented damage for such things as basement flooding.

- The rise of e-bikes has led the Netherlands to consider a 20 km/h speed limit for bike lanes and are conducting a two week trial in the municipality of Houten. Many naturally question whether such a rule needs to apply to regular, non-assisted bikes; after all, the real problem is the fact that an e-bike allows an inexperienced cyclist to reach speeds normally only reachable by an experienced cyclist.

- A study in the US has found that more than 50% of parents of young adults (18-25 years old) are using cellphone tracking apps to keep an eye on their kids. 

News roundup, 12 June 2026

- The US military attacked another Palau-flagged tanker, the Settebello, in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, two days after a similar attack, in the name of enforcing its blockade of Iranian ports. This time, three crew members, all Indian nationals, were killed. Trump says, though, that he's cancelled further strikes in anticipation of a ceasefire; we'll have to see how seriously that can be taken.

- Following Tuesday night's storm in southern Manitoba, some people are raising concerns that the emergency alerts sent to cellphones about severe weather such as tornadoes could have a "cry wolf" effect if too many people outside the danger zone get alerts. The alerts are sent based on connection to a cellphone tower in the affected area, but sometimes that means further away than expected (according to someone in this Reddit thread, cellphones can sometimes connect to a tower much further away than normal). Some people report getting as many as 20 alerts that night; meanwhile only a single tornado is confirmed, and that was over 30 km from Winnipeg where many people got these alerts. Environment Canada say that they are working on a more targeted system.

- This week's storms are also expected to have a devastating effect on agriculture in parts of Manitoba. The storms follow a late planting season, meaning that the plants haven't grown long enough to be as resilient against flooding as in a normal season.

- Authorities in Nova Scotia are using civil forfeiture laws, more often used against drug traffickers, to seize equipment from the site of an illegal landfill on the outskirts of Halifax. The owner of one of the pieces of equipment seized claims that he had nothing to do with the operation and was just leasing the land, however documents filed in the provincial supreme court include drone footage showing the equipment being loaded with topsoil adjacent to one of the dumping locations.

- A group of independent musicians, songwriters, and producers are suing Google for copyright infringement, alleging that the company's AI music generator Lyria 3 was trained on their works without permission. Google has filed a motion to dismiss, saying that the artists agreed to this under the terms of service when they uploaded their material to YouTube.

- The SpaceX IPO being launched today is expected to make Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. 

News roundup, 11 June 2026

- Manitoba was hit by severe storms on Tuesday evening and overnight. This included at least one tornado, which touched down near the town of Ste Anne but fortunately didn't injure anyone; there are unconfirmed reports of several more. Winnipeg got 122 millimetres of rain, while the town of Stonewall got 229. Power was out for some 32,000 Manitoba Hydro customers across the province, including almost 20,000 in Winnipeg (including me, hence the lack of a post yesterday). It was still out for some 15,000 as of last night. Many report sewage in basements, and given the gigantic hailstones that fell in several places it's a safe bet that MPI will take a significant hit for vehicle damage.

- Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time, in a test conducted by Ukraine's military against the Russians. While I can certainly sympathize with the Ukrainians' willingness to do anything to get rid of the invaders, I have to agree with UN Secretary-General António Guterres' view that this sort of thing needs to be banned.

- A new poll in BC has the Conservatives tied with the NDP in popular support. This comes despite the fact that Premier David Eby's approval rating, while below 50%, is still considerably higher (48%) than that of new Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay (32%). In case there was any doubt about what kind of conservative Findlay is, she was a supporter of the clownvoy, and was photographed with a white nationalist influencer (she denies knowing who he is, but then she would say that, wouldn't she).

- A Toronto man named Zack Giacomelli was having ongoing problems with a BMW that he'd purchased used from a dealership in 2023. He submitted an online inquiry, and got a message from someone from the dealership calling themselves Quinn. After some discussion, Quinn made what was supposed to be a firm buyback offer, sufficient to cover what he still owed on the car - but then a sales consultant called to revoke the offer, saying that "Quinn" was in fact an AI chatbot and had made the offer in error. The dealership quickly reversed this after they were contacted by the CBC, however, and there's already a legal precedent in this country that makes the owner of a chatbot potentially liable for its promises. Giacomelli certainly doesn't disagree with this; as he says, "If they're going to be replacing their employees' jobs with AI, then they need to be honouring what that AI says".

- Musician Elvis Costello has altered the lyrics of his 1979 song "Oliver's Army". The song, which is about the UK's rather troubled history with Ireland, originally contained the phrase "white n***er", which Costello says was a historically accurate description of what the Irish were often called by the Brits, but he stopped playing the song live in 2022 and asked radio stations not to play it, saying that outrage over the use of the N-word was detracting from the actual meaning with the song. Naturally, his rewrite has led some people to complain about "wokeness", to which Costello responds "Go fuck yourself".

News roundup, 9 June 2026

- Around 150 people in the Swan Valley area of western Manitoba were evacuated due to flash flooding after the area got 72 millimetres of rain in only a few hours on Sunday night. 

- A BC man could be facing up to 20 years in a Georgian prison after a border search turned up a bottle of Adderall. Simon Rovensky had been prescribed the amphetamine cocktail to treat ADHD, and had brought along a receipt from when he had purchased the drug, but that wasn't enough for the authorities, and his family apparently weren't given enough time to send supporting documentation before a court hearing. He is set to be sentenced later this month.

- A Palau-flagged oil tanker, the MT Marivex, was attacked by an American fighter off the coast of Oman. Fortunately the crew, all Indian nationals, were successfully rescued by Omani forces, and there was no oil in the ship's tanks at the time of the attack. The US says the ship was attacked for attempting to sail to an Iranian port.

- China has built an undersea data centre off the coast of Shanghai. Besides using wind power to generate the 24 megawatts of power it consumes, it is cooled by seawater. If you're going to have AI data centres that's probably the least bad way of doing it, but I suspect the heat it generates will be considerable and could have a significant effect on the local ecology.

- A former Air Canada pilot is facing fraud charges after it was discovered that he did not have the proper license to serve as a captain, which he did for several months before getting caught.

- Over 300 migrants attempting to make their way to the UK were kidnapped in Libya last summer and threatened with having kidneys harvested if their families didn't pay up. Apparently some of them did end up having a kidney removed, and at least one has died.

- A Somali soccer referee who was set to officiate at the World Cup has been dropped after the US denied him entry. Omar Artan had been honoured as Referee of the Year by the Confederation of African Football last year, but we all know what Donald Trump thinks of Somalis.

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.