Friday, September 27, 2024

News roundup, 27 Sept 2024

- A new Leger poll raises serious questions about the political judgment of BC voters, giving the extremist BC Conservatives a 45-42 lead over the NDP. Paradoxically, the premier, NDP leader David Eby, still has a higher personal approval rating than Conservative leader John Rustad, further adding to the impression that the people really don't understand what they're doing when they vote. Possibly the greater efficiency of the NDP vote will prevent the worst from happening, but that remains to be seen.

- A global declaration on antibiotic resistance was weakened at the insistence of the US. The reason? The initial draft called for a 30% reduction of the use of antibiotics in agriculture (one of the biggest offenders on this file) by 2030, and the American ag lobby was having none of it. Therefore, the offending section was replaced with the anodyne recommendation to "strive to meaningfully reduce" the use of antibiotics, without specifics.

- Some Silicon Valley techbros aren't prepared to wait for proper research into geoengineering to be done - they're starting to do it themselves. Naturally, the existence of such rogue operators adds urgency to the need for a sensible study of the matter.

- At least three people were killed when Hurricane Helene struck northern Florida, with winds of 225 km/h (120 kt). It has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

- The assets of Alex Jones' Infowars are being auctioned off following the ruling of a Houston judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Jones and his media empire. Proceeds will be paid to the relatives of Sandy Hook shooting victims who were defamed by Jones when he repeatedly claimed the massacre to be a hoax.

- The woman killed by a runaway pickup truck in Winnipeg's Westwood neighbourhood two weeks ago was a newcomer to Canada, who was going to be married in October. At the time of her death she was a few weeks away from the end of her probation period at her new job and qualifying for benefits, which ironically would have included life insurance.

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