News roundup, 8 Aug 2024

- Justin Trudeau was in Winnipeg earlier this week, attending several Folklorama pavilions and a Black History Manitoba event. He did not, however, make an appearance in the Elmwood-Transcona riding where a byelection is in progress. This is probably a good thing given that the NDP is the only party with a realistic chance of beating the Conservatives, but it's a sign of how toxic Trudeau's brand has become.

- A law passed last year in Minnesota that requires schools to provide menstrual products such as tampons to students in grades 4 and up is being used by the Republicans as "evidence" of Gov. Tim Walz's supposed radicalism; they've given him the nickname "Tampon Tim". The Democrats, though, don't consider this to be the insult the Republicans think it is. Analysts are still trying to figure out whether Walz was a good choice for a running mate; his lack of ties to the "coastal elites" is definitely a positive, though some wonder if his relatively progressive policies will spook voters. The latest polls, though, suggest a positive trend for the Harris/Walz ticket. Walz is also well liked by environmentalists, though this may not be as big a selling point as it ought to be.

- Carla Devlin, the mayor of East St. Paul (and a potential candidate for the leadership of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party) has been hired by Sio Silica as its vice-president for Manitoba. This doesn't help the Tories in their attempt to distance themselves from their attempts to ram through the approval of a sand mine during the dying days of their government.

- The BC government is using Singapore as a model for housing policy. The plan calls for the use of "government, community and non-profit owned" lands to increase the availability of rental housing. Critics argue that this will be hard to replicate. This seems counterintuitive on the face of it, since it ought to be easier to take action when there's more land actually available, but maybe the real problem is in convincing the masses that it's necessary. Singapore does have the advantage of being a unitary city-state and thus does not suffer from the jurisdictional and funding issues involved with a federal system like we have in Canada, though.

- Several books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, and other authors are now banned in all of Utah's public schools. The law even specifies that the books cannot be sold but must be "legally disposed of". But yeah, we're supposed to believe that the Republicans are all about "freedom".

- Fugitive Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont made an appearance in Barcelona to address a crowd of thousands. He slipped away before the police could get their hands on him; a police officer has been arrested for allegedly helping him escape. A massive manhunt is now on for him.

- Three Taylor Swift concerts scheduled in Vienna have been cancelled after organizers were warned of plans for a terrorist attack. One suspect has been arrested and found in possession of possible bomb-making substances; two others remain at large.

- A Russian chess player has been accused of attempting to poison one of her rivals with mercury at a tournament in Dagestan. Amina Abakarova has reportedly confessed to the crime after her actions were caught on video.

News roundup, 1 Feb 2024

- The Manitoba government is increasing annual operating funding for school divisions, roughly on par with inflation, as well as lifting the freeze on education property taxes imposed by the previous government.

- Since the reinstatement of security measures at Winnipeg's Millennium Library following a homicide in 2022, there has been a decrease in serious incidents, but also a decrease in overall library attendance. While some of this may be due to things like remote work, I don't doubt that in some cases it probably is a deterrent for people from communities with a history of overpolicing to go to the library. On the other hand, one could argue that attendance, per se, is not the best measure - I'd be interested to know if the actual borrowing of books from the branch (i.e. people using the library as a library) has decreased or increased. And one thing is clear - the staff at the branch feel safer with the security measures than without, and if it becomes hard to staff the branch because of safety concerns it will lead to reduced hours, which isn't going to be good for anyone. "Millennium for all" is a nice slogan but not if it actually leads to "Millennium for none".

- Republicans in the US Senate had long insisted that Joe Biden's funding for Ukraine's war effort be tied to changes to secure the US-Mexico border. But when a bipartisan plan to address both issues came up, many Republicans got cold feet - because Trump doesn't want anything that might make Biden look good (for certain values of "good", of course).

- Apparently some MAGA types are claiming that Alina Habba, a lawyer representing Donald Trump in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, is a deep state plant rather than simply, you know, incompetent. But really, if you were a good, competent lawyer, would you want to take on a Trump case?

- SpaceX and Trader Joe's are arguing in court that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional; meanwhile Meta is making the same argument about the Federal Trade Commission. Because protecting workers and consumers is un-American, dammit!

- The possibility of a "contingent election" for the US president and VP exists. According to the US constitution, this happens if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the electoral college. This is a rarity (it hasn't happened since 1837) but it could happen if either Trump or Biden were to die or be incapacitated between the general election and the Electoral College meeting, or if a third party candidate such as the "No Labels" group is trying to put forward were to win a state or two. In such a case, each state delegation in the House of Representatives gets one vote for president; this would tend to heavily favour the Republicans and create an even bigger crisis of legitimacy for the winner.

- Catalonia's regional government has declared a drought emergency and imposed strict water conservation measures.

- A pigeon captured in India was found with bands on its legs with Chinese writing; authorities feared that the pigeon might be connected to espionage but it was eventually determined to be an ordinary racing pigeon from Taiwan and was released.