News roundup, 29 Feb 2024

- The US Supreme Court has agreed to decide on whether Donald Trump can claim presidential immunity on the election interference case, which means that the actual trial will be, at best, delayed until April. This virtually guarantees that the trial, if allowed to continue at all, will not be decided until after the election in November - and if he wins, he'll likely be able to stop the trial himself. Naturally this means Trump will have a very strong incentive to win (though it's not like he'd roll over if this didn't happen). Oh, and then there's the Clarence Thomas factor.

- On the positive side, it appears that Trump doesn't have enough liquid assets to cover the bond in the New York civil fraud trial. He is, of course, now asking the court to allow him to appeal the decision without putting up the bond, and the Attorney General of the state now suspects that he's moving his assets to Florida to limit what gets seized. It seems he may not be as rich as he says he is (surprise surprise); what effect that has on his sheeple remains to be seen.

- Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, one of the most influential (and disliked) leaders this country has seen in living memory, has died at the age of 84.

- Premier Wab Kinew is looking to meet another of his campaign commitments, namely bail reform. New policies are being drafted to give prosecutors more leeway in considering the potential impact on victims and the community when a suspect is released.

- A report from CSIS states that Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, the scientist fired from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg along with her husband, may have shared sensitive scientific data with China. Besides the theft of intellectual property, there are fears that some of this data might be militarily useful.

- Joe Biden has called Chinese electric cars a "security threat" on the grounds that the tracking software on those cars might be sending information to different places than that on all other modern cars, and is looking at ways to stop the importation of such vehicles. Of course, the bigger threat they pose is probably to the economic security of Michigan.

- The crime spree in which Lauren Boebert's son and several others are alleged to have participated in included the robbery of a woman with a brain tumour. Apparently he was seen on surveillance video wearing a sweatshirt featuring the logo of his mum's former business, which made identification a lot easier. He's also alleged to have made a sex tape with an underage female co-conspirator.

- When the school board in Kingsville, Ontario wanted a name for a new school which will replace three existing facilities, they settled on "Erie Migration Academy", as a nod to the town's proximity to Point Pelee, an important migration route for birds and butterflies. Some locals are absolutely apoplectic at the fact that it does not include the name of the town; the school board says that the school will serve a large area, not just Kingsville, and thus they don't want to be seen as excluding anyone. Students in the current schools have staged walkouts in protest; more alarmingly, one trustee says that she has received threats serious enough that she's reported them to the police.

- A Canadian tourist in Hawaii took a wrong turn and drove off a 20 metre high cliff, then upon escaping from the vehicle he fell into the water and was swept out to sea. Amazingly he was rescued after 90 minutes in the water and survived with no more than minor injuries and mild hypothermia.

Chinese consulate predics result of Toronto mayoral election

Amusing:

The Chinese consulate seems to be stepping into Toronto’s mayoral race by sending one candidate — George Smitherman —to speak at an “international mayors’ forum on tourism” in central China.

The four-day, expenses-paid trip starting Thursday, which includes a side trip to World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, is raising eyebrows because Smitherman has never held city office.

“The Chinese consulate is showing favouritism toward one mayoral candidate and that’s not very diplomatic,” said rival Giorgio Mammoliti, adding: “If Smitherman wants to go to China and pretend to be an expert on tourism, so be it.”

From the Star. Of course, the consulate is simply making an educated guess about who they'll be dealing with come fall, but it comes across as kind of presumptuous. Still, worse things have happened.

My dad told me once that before the 1988 federal election, a US official was asked by media about the progress of the Canada-US free trade agreement, and in explaining that the issue would be more settled after the election, casually mentioned the date of the election, before it was called. If true, this would mean that the Mulroney government told a foreign power about when they would call the election, before telling the Canadian people. That's far worse than a consulate speculating about who would win...