News roundup, 14 Nov 2025

- A full vote in the House of Representatives on the full release of the Epstein files appears imminent after Donald Trump failed to convince Republican representatives Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert to remove their names from the discharge petition. Of course, a yes vote in the House won't force the release; it would still have to be voted on in the Senate, where it is expected to be blocked, but some in the Trump camp fear that this could open divisions in the Republican Party that might get out of control. In other Epstein-related news, Steve Bannon reportedly sought advice on political messaging from him during a pro-Trump media campaign in 2018.

- Lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey are arguing for the dismissal of charges against their clients on the grounds that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan's appointment was illegitimate. Halligan was installed on an interim basis without Senate approval after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, resigned after refusing to proceed with the prosecutions.

- Saab CEO Micael Johansson has confirmed that his company is in talks with the Canadian government as well as with Bombardier for a licensing deal to build the Gripen fighter in Canada. There are suggestions that this could not only provide fighters for Canada, but also for Ukraine, who have announced the intention to buy at least 100 of the aircraft.

- Winnipeg's 2026 budget is expected to include a 3.5% increase in property taxes. The city has a lot of catching up to do, given that taxes were frozen for many years while expenses kept creeping up, and time is running out for upgrades to the North End Water Pollution Control Centre, among other things.

- Toronto's city council has voted to relax zoning restrictions that prevented new retail stores and cafes from opening on residential streets, despite the best efforts of NIMBYs like these people. There will still be restrictions; for instance, they can only open on corner lots, or lots next to parks or locations that are already zoned commercial. Food services will be limited; while cafes and the like are OK, large commercial kitchens will not be allowed. And councillors will have a veto on new facilities in their wards.

- The Silicon Valley crowd is apparently looking for ways to get around legislation prohibiting genetic engineering of human embryos. I guess we can add Gattaca to the list of science fiction dystopias that the techbros see as utopias.

- Sonder, a chain of boutique hotels, suddenly went bankrupt on Monday after defaulting on payments and losing their licensing deal with Marriott, stranding thousands of guests in over 40 cities around the world.

- After an intoxicated woman fell while disembarking from a carnival ride in Port Hardy, BC, sustaining significant injuries, investigators learned that the ride attendant had left his nine year old child in charge of operations while he went to "wash up". The company involved is no stranger to such investigations; earlier this year one of their employees was killed when he was hit by the same ride involved in the most recent incident.

News roundup, 13 Nov 2025

- The US House of Representatives has passed the budget bill, bringing an end to the government shutdown after a record 43 days. Unfortunately the Democrats have precious little to show for the shutdown; the eight Democratic senators who broke ranks got nothing but a promise of a vote in the Senate on Obamacare subsidies at some unspecified point in the future. The party's more left-leaning members are furious; even a relative moderate like Gavin Newsom called the deal "pathetic" and a "surrender". One of the less obvious consequences of the shutdown is that economic data was not gathered, complicating policy decisions.

- In other House news, Democratic representative Adelita Grijalva has finally been sworn in, nearly two months after her byelection win, becoming the critical 218th signature on a petition that will eventually force a vote by the House on the release of the Epstein files. 

- Despite concerns about a mismatch between available vaccines and the flu strains in the wild, public health experts are still advising people to get the shot, saying that it still has some protective value even if it's not as effective as hoped.

- Keir Starmer has announced that Rolls-Royce will be building small modular reactors in Wales. The US ambassador, Warren Stephens, says that his country is "disappointed" by the decision, apparently because it won't be an American company doing the work. The labour union Unite is also disappointed, but for different reasons - they would prefer one large reactor to be built, which would be more labour intenstive than several small ones.

- Some attacks on Palestinian villages by West Bank settlers have been so egregious that even Israel's figurehead president thinks that it's going too far.

- A Hamilton man boarded an articulated bus while the driver left for a short break and took it on a joyride with passengers still on board. Nobody was injured, nor was the bus or anything else damaged; in fact the police as well as the passengers were quite impressed with his driving skills. Passengers didn't even realize that he wasn't supposed to be driving until he made a wrong turn somewhere. He was eventually arrested without incident.

- Passengers on a ferry between Dieppe, France and Newhaven, England were treated to an unusual show when the TV in the lounge, which was tuned to a Formula 1 race, went on to show a porno movie after the race ended. The crew quickly changed the channel when they realized what had happened; the ferry company has apologized and says that the channel has been removed from the list of available stations.

News roundup, 12 Nov 2025

- There are signs that the record-setting government shutdown in the US may be moving towards resolution. Eight centrist Democrats in the Senate voted with the Republicans in return for a vote on enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies at some unspecified time in the future, with no guarantees of Republican support for the subsidies. The House of Representatives is expected to approve this today. This does not sit well with the more left-leaning Democrats, though, who see it as a capitulation. Probably the fact that over 10,000 flights have been cancelled in the country due to the shortage of air traffic controllers is a factor; the US Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner, and presumably nobody wants to be the one blamed for ruining that.

- The European Union has proposed legislation that would, among other things, require satellite operators to address the space junk problem. The Americans are foaming at the mouth about this, saying that it would place "unacceptable regulatory burdens" on US companies and could threaten threaten technological advancement in space. Even if that last point is true, though, the threat to technological advancement from this is trivial compared to that posed by "Kessler syndrome"; hopefully the Europeans will stand their ground.

- Canada's top public servant, the Clerk of the Privy Council, met with the CEO of Saab recently. Now, a delegation including Sweden's king and numerous members of the country's business community are scheduled to visit next week, including a tour of aerospace plants. This is leading to speculation that the government may be considering a purchase of Gripen fighters. That would be a very interesting development; stay tuned.

- Canada has lost its status as a country free of measles transmission following over 5,000 recent cases. Of course the decline in vaccination is the reason. Meanwhile there are fears of a mismatch between the current flu vaccine and the strains spreading across the country, which could make for a very bad flu season this year.

- An event held at UC Berkeley by Turning Point USA, the organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, was met with over 100 protesters, and there was at least one violent altercation between protesters and supporters. The US Department of Justice is investigating the university's preparations for the event.

- The US Travel Association is forecasting a 3.2% decline in tourism for this year, driven mostly by a decline in visits by Canadians. This is expected to cost the travel sector some $5.7 billion.

- Arizona representative-elect Adelita Grijalva is finally expected to be sworn in, potentially tipping the balance towards forcing a vote on the release of the Epstein files. 

News roundup, 10 Nov 2025

- A Montreal high school student was suspended after she posted "Fuck Israel" on her Instagram account in response to Israel's latest round of bombings in Gaza. The suspension was based on the English Montreal School Board's policy on "bullying"; the board's definition refers to the targeting of an individual or group of people, not a country, but board chair Mike Cohen says that the policy is applied based on the complainant's subjective feelings, saying that it applies "any time a student feels threatened by something another student does", and moreover can be considered "violence". Interestingly, there's a school of thought among some anti-racism activists that endorses this; ironically many of them would probably be opposed to these definitions being applied here.

- Some progress has been made towards ending the government shutdown in the US, now the longest in the country's history, after a deal was made in the Senate. The House of Representatives has yet to vote in favour of the deal, however. Democrats are divided; some (notably Elizabeth Warren) see it as a capitulation while others say this is a necessary evil in order to restore SNAP benefits. Meanwhile, states that have fully covered SNAP with the intention of reclaiming the money from the feds once the shutdown ends are being threatened by the regime. Presumably the Republicans don't want to have to explain to their supporters why these mostly blue states are able to keep the food stamps coming while red states can't.

- A conference held in Vancouver this past summer by an organization called Exiles of the Golden Age called for the formation of "Männerbunds", described as "disciplined groups of men" who could rebuild the world following a crisis. The conference drew the usual kinds of far right extremists; it also drew quite a few mixed martial arts coaches and gym owners, adding to fears that MMA could serve as a recruiting tool for the far right.

- Winnipeg police officer Elston Bostock has pleaded guilty to numerous charges, ranging from such mundane matters as voiding tickets in return for bribes to sharing a photo of a dead woman with other officers. Some defense lawyers are now poring over cases in which Bostock was involved, hoping to call his testimony into question.

- Winnipeg bus manufacturer New Flyer has reported a $140.9 million loss for the third quarter of this year. This is attributable to the company being charged tariffs on buses being shipped to the US as well as tariffs on raw materials being imported by its American facilities.

- The Qantas business class lounge at Melbourne airport was evacuated after a portable power bank spontaneously caught fire in the pocket of a passenger. The passenger was taken to hospital for burns; the lounge has since reopened.

- Police in Davenport, Iowa arrested a woman who was found hiding between walls of a business. The business owner had reported hearing noises coming from the ceiling or attic, and police eventually located her and took her into custody.

News roundup, 7 Nov 2025

- Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York City has spooked Steve Bannon, who is warning the Republican Party against complacency in the face of this. Bannon was impressed with Mamdani's success in bringing out "low propensity voters", including immigrants. As for his prescribed solutions, he said that "this guy’s citizenship should be checked immediately"; no doubt there are already folks doing their darnedest to find something that could be used against someone who became a citizen at 7. It might be hard to find a legitimate basis for revoking his citizenship, but fortunately for them the MAGA crowd don't care about legitimacy. They'll doubtless be pulling out all the stops to win the midterms as well.

- The federal Conservatives are losing another caucus member. Matt Jeneroux, the MP for Edmonton Riverbend, has announced that he intends to resign his seat. There had been rumours that he was planning to defect to the Liberals; he denies this, and also denies that he was coerced into quitting. He won his suburban riding by a relatively narrow margin last spring; we'll have to see what happens in the byelection.

- Hundreds of flights have been cancelled across the US due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, who haven't been paid since the start of the government shutdown, which is now the longest in US history. There are currently over 400 vacancies for controllers, and that's not counting the higher propensity of the remaining ones to call in sick.

- The City of Winnipeg is looking at installing a temporary bike lane on the section of Wellington Crescent where a cyclist was killed in 2024. The speed limit would also be reduced to 40 km/h; given the short length of this stretch and the fact that rush hour is kind of slow there anyway, it is only expected to add another 5 seconds to the average commute. More info here; the city seeks feedback through a survey here.

- Peel Regional Police attended the scene of a fatal crash in Brampton last weekend in which an Audi T-boned a Honda. The Honda's driver was declared dead at the scene; the Audi's driver was arrested and both vehicles were towed to an impound yard. Then a woman was reported missing, with her last known location being identified by a rideshare app; since the dead driver was a rideshare driver, police searched the wreckage and found the remains of the second victim, which had somehow been missed in the initial inspection of the vehicle.

- A woman who was experiencing suicidal thoughts asked ChatGPT for advice. The chatbot provided suggestions about which methods would be most reliable, and offered help drafting a suicide note, but didn't offer any of those "help is available" referrals that you're supposed to get when you type these things into a search engine or the like (heck, I got one not long ago when I searched for Ozzy Osbourne's song "Suicide Solution" on YouTube). Interestingly, at one point it also started to correct itself, saying that it "mustn't and will not describe methods of a suicide", but it seems that particular restraining bolt wasn't as reliable as the developers had hoped. Fortunately she was sufficiently shaken by this that she showed the messages to her mother, and got actual help.

News roundup, 6 Nov 2025

- The death toll in the UPS plane crash in Louisville has risen to 12, and may rise further as the search for victims continues. One of the dead was a child who had accompanied a parent to the auto parts business where the parent worked. In other aviation-related news, the FAA is reducing air traffic by 10% at numerous high traffic airports, as they struggle to deal with the number of sick calls by air traffic controllers (who still aren't getting paid thanks to the government shutdown).

- The US Department of Justice has been firing immigration judges before their probationary period ends, including an entire incoming class of newly trained judges. NPR reports that a disproportionate number of the judges who were fired had previously represented immigrants in their past legal careers.

- Manitoba's legislature has passed Bill 48, the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act, which extends the time that such persons can be detained to 72 hours. The entire legislature, except independent MLA Mark Wasyliw, voted in favour of the bill. This is intended to address the long-lasting nature of the psychosis resulting from meth. A facility, to be run by the Main Street Project, will be set up on the fringes of the city centre. The medical community is divided on the issue; while several doctors signed a letter in support of the change, others question the merits of doing so. One of the points made by the critics is more relevant for opioids than for meth - the fear is that their tolerance could decline enough during the detention period to put them at increased risk of overdose when released.

- Waterloo Regional Council has voted to extend the Ion LRT line to Cambridge. The only council member to vote against the extension was Cambridge's mayor, Jann Liggett. Liggett claims her opposition is because the extension doesn't cover enough of the city, but that doesn't make a lot of sense; you have to start somewhere, and people who don't live right by the line will still benefit from being able to catch a short bus ride to a station. Of course, Cambridge's biggest employer is an auto plant, so...

- A trustee with the River East Transcona School Division has been censured for the third time since 2023 for breaching the board's code of conduct. Rod Giesbrecht has a history of discussing confidential internal board matters with outsiders.

- A Winnipeg veterinarian with a lengthy disciplinary history has been ordered to wind down his practice by June of next year following his most recent transgression, a botched surgery that resulted in a cat's leg being amputated. For his part, the vet claims to have been singled out due to his ethnicity, though he offered no evidence.

- A former nurse at a German hospital has received a life sentence after being convicted of murdering 10 patients and attempting to kill 27 others. He had apparently singled out elderly patients who required more intense care, and desired to reduce his workload.

News roundup, 5 Nov 2025

- Zohran Mamdani has won the New York City mayoral election, despite Trump's threats to cut funding to the city (evidently New Yorkers are less easily cowed than Argentinians). He will be the city's first south Asian and Muslim mayor as well as its youngest in over a century. The turnout was the highest in decades as well. He's got a big job ahead of him, in any case. This may also set up a confrontation between Trump and state governor Kathy Hochul, who has so far managed to deal more effectively with the orange monster than most blue state governors.

- California voters have voted "yes" in a referendum on gerrymandering House seats in order to fight similar gerrymandering by Republicans in other states. The referendum was necessary because the state has an independent electoral commission; the commission will resume its redistricting duties in 2030.

- The Carney government has presented its budget. It appears to be a pretty small-c conservative budget, with cuts to the size of the public service expected in the next few years and more spending shifted towards defense, as well as significant cuts to immigration. Most ominously, there are hints of doing away with the emissions cap for oil and gas (though it is being spun as something that "would create the circumstances whereby the oil and gas emissions cap would no longer be required"). And stupidly, it also includes the elimination of a tax on underused housing and luxury taxes on private aircraft and yachts. Evidently some moderate conservatives like it; a longtime Conservative MP, Chris d'Entremont, who represents the Nova Scotia riding of Acadie—Annapolis, has resigned from his party's caucus and is considering crossing the floor to join the Liberals.

- A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter, operated by UPS, crashed into an industrial area moments after takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky. At least 7 deaths have been reported so far; this number is expected to rise, however, as the aircraft was carrying enough fuel to get it to Honolulu.

- The Ford government is taking away Toronto's power to require green roofs on new construction. The move was made by order in council; they seem to be justifying it in terms of the costs of building new housing.

- Some pro-Israel organizations are calling for the head of Toronto mayor Olivia Chow after she dared to use the G-word to describe what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians. The B’nai Brith’s director of research and advocacy says Chow has "chosen to instigate those who engage against the Jewish community". 

- A Toronto woman whose "pitbull-like dog" attacked a child in a playground, causing life-altering injuries, may be facing prison time following her conviction for criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Prosecutors are calling for a three year sentence due to the egregiousness of the situation; the dog had been previously deemed dangerous after it attacked another dog and its owner in the elevator of her building, but nonetheless she let it off leash in a playground where dogs of any sort, much less dangerous ones, are prohibited. Oh, and the dog's name was Capo, which leads one to believe that its viciousness was not a bug but a feature. The fact that she has 15 previous criminal convictions doesn't help her case either.

- Former US vice-president Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84.

News roundup, 4 Nov 2025

- The Carney government is initiating a dispute resolution process with Stellantis after the company, which had received subsidies for the retooling of its plants in Brampton and Windsor, announced that they will be moving production of the Jeep Compass to a plant in Belvidere, Illinois. Stellantis claims that no jobs are being lost as a result of the move, and that the plant is "paused" rather than closed.

- Zohran Mamdani remains the front runner in today's municipal election in New York City. Donald Trump has endorsed former governor (and suspected sexual harrasser) Andrew Cuomo in the race and is threatening to withhold federal funding to the city if Mamdani wins, calling him a "communist".

- Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, is also the seventh largest shareholder in Tesla. The fund plans to vote against a pay package for Elon Musk that could make him the world's first trillionaire. Several other large shareholders, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS) and the American Federation of Teachers, also plan to vote against the package. The company's chair claims that the package is necessary to retain Musk as CEO, and that the share price could drop significantly if he leaves.

- A Ukrainian citizen awaiting extradition to Germany on charges of sabotaging the Nord Stream pipeline is now on a hunger strike in Italy. Poland, meanwhile, has blocked the extradition of another suspect and ordered his release.

- The display of municipal politicians hanged in effigy in the RM of Tache has been removed; no charges are expected. 

- Doug Ford claims that Mark Carney asked him to pull the anti-tariff ad that ran in the US during the World Series. The Prime Minister's office has not commented directly on the matter.

- A police car hit a suspect and arresting officer in Toronto on the weekend after the driver apparently neglected to put it in park. Neither was seriously injured.

News roundup, 3 Nov 2025

- The noted American lawyer and rabid Israel supporter Alan Dershowitz is calling for Trump to impose additional tariffs on Canada as punishment for recognizing a Palestinian state, and potentially other sanctions as well. Dershowitz became particularly incensed when Mark Carney, in an interview with British podcaster Mishal Husain, said that Canada would honour the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and arrest him if he set foot in the country.

- Judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island have ordered the Trump regime to use emergency funds to get SNAP benefits flowing again. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that the program could be back up and running by Wednesday. Meanwhile, one dollar store in Columbus, Ohio had boarded up their front windows in anticipation of looting due to the interruption of the benefits.

- Police are investigating an apparent bombing at Harvard Medical School on Saturday morning. No injuries have been reported.

-  Adelita Grijalva has still not been sworn in by the US House of Representatives, more than a month after being elected. This is now the longest wait for a seat in the history of the House; speaker Mike Johnson continues to refuse to swear her in, presumably because she would provide the necessary vote to force a general House vote on the release of the Epstein files.

- A resident of the Rural Municipality of Tache set up a display with effigies of several municipal officials hanging from a gallows. The resident was apparently angry at receiving a bill from the municipality's volunteer fire department for extinguishing a fire on his property; police are investigating. In one encounter with police he described himself as a "peaceful sovereign", which suggests a possible connection with the so-called "sovereign citizen" movement. Given that movement's history of violence, one hopes that the police keep him on a watchlist even if the display doesn't meet the criteria for criminal harassment. One person in the related Reddit thread who is a volunteer firefighter says that it's uncommon for property owners to be billed under such circumstances, and that if this guy was presented with a bill there's probably "a reason worth knowing".

- The NDP is not ruling out abstentions by some or all of its caucus on the federal budget vote. Presumably this is because the party is in no shape to fight a new election campaign right now.

- Strike 3 Holdings, the owner of a number of pornography studios, is accusing Meta of pirating their intellectual property in order to train AI. Meta denies this, saying that the 2,400 movies were downloaded by their employees for personal use.