News roundup, 25 June 2024

- The Conservatives have captured the former Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St. Paul's in yesterday's byelection. This is likely to increase internal pressure on Justin Trudeau, but one recent poll has suggested that even getting rid of him may not help their electoral chances very much.

- American journalist Rachel Maddow fears that Donald Trump is not bluffing when he talks about building camps capable of holding millions of people and about "rooting out" the "enemy from within". Someone in this Reddit thread points out that Trump has already talked about putting the homeless and mentally ill into camps, and that fascists usually start with people who have very few allies before going after others.

- Julian Assange has made a plea deal, in which he has agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of violating the American espionage law and be sentenced to time served. He is expected to return to his native Australia afterwards.

- A 42 year old woman in Euless, Texas has been arrested after allegedly attempting to drown a 3 year old Palestinian child in an apartment complex pool following a racially charged confrontation with the girl's mother. She has been charged with attempted capital murder, injury to a child, and public intoxication.

- A fraudster who pleaded guilty to forging Norval Morrisseau paintings has said that a painting held by the Winnipeg Art Gallery is among the forgeries. The gallery has placed the painting into storage while they decide what do to next.

- An OPP officer who fatally ran over a man in Midland while speeding on a run to get coffee for another officer at a crime scene in 2020 has been found to have committed "discreditable conduct", however the OPP has declared that the misconduct was "not serious" and can be handled internally by the force. Somehow I doubt a courier, Amazon driver, or the like would get the same consideration.

- More than 1,100 people have died from the heat in the course of the haj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

News roundup, 23 May 2024

- Norway, Ireland, and Spain have announced that they will be recognizing a Palestinian state. Not surprisingly the Israelis are up in arms; they're withdrawing their ambassadors from those countries as well as summoning those countries' ambassadors and making them watch video of female Israeli captives seized in the October attack. They're thus implying, not so subtly, that support for a Palestinian state necessarily means support for such atrocities. Some would say that tarring the entire Palestinian people with one brush that way is, well, racist, but I guess we're not allowed to say that.

- The University of Manitoba is getting pushback for their decision to remove the video of Dr. Gem Newman's valedictory address; many are understandably a bit uncomfortable that a single hissy fit from a billionaire donor is enough to get something like this done. Meanwhile both Newman and others have weighed in on the donor's comments.

- Julian Assange will get the opportunity to appeal his deportation to the US. Apparently the court was asking for written assurances from the American authorities that Assange would be accorded the same rights as a US citizen under the First Amendment, and the Americans were unwilling to provide that.

- A family medical practice in Ottawa is discharging all of its out-of-province patients, citing administrative difficulties with referrals and the like. The thing is, Ottawa lies on the provincial boundary, and forms a single metro area with its neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec. Many people live in one city and access services in the other, so some flexibility on this matter would have been nice.

- The team at OpenAI who were focused on long-term AI risks has been disbanded. The team had been plagued with resignations for months, however due to a "non-disparagement agreement" in the documents that you have to sign when leaving there have been few details of why. There are suspicions, though, mostly associated with CEO Sam Altman.

- Some residents in Newmarket, Ontario are going bananas over a proposed condo building - because they're worried about its impact on the local Tim Hortons. You can't make this stuff up, can you.

- An 18 year old student at the University of Victoria has died of a fentanyl overdose. Her parents believe that the 911 operator and campus security did not act fast enough; the province has ordered a coroner's inquest.

- A bear that climbed a tree in Winnipeg's Wildwood neighbourhood was successfully tranquilized and transported out of the city.

- The apartment complex in west Winnipeg that was evacuated last week due to structural concerns is fenced in and is supposed to have 24 hour security. One evacuee found out the hard way how reliable that security is - someone cut through the fence and stole her motorcycle, damaging another bike in the process. Meanwhile, people who live in houses behind the building have been warned to be ready to evacuate as well in case the worst happens.

- A woman in Dauphin, Manitoba has been arrested after stealing a septic truck from nearby Ebb and Flow First Nation and leading police on a chase, at times veering into the oncoming lane. Happily nobody was hurt in this little impromptu bit of real-life GTA.

News roundup, 17 April 2024

- A whistleblower is calling for the grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, alleging that production issues could make the aircraft susceptible to in-flight breakup.

- Jury selection in Donald Trump's trial for the hush money allegedly paid to Stormy Daniels is progressing better than might be expected, with seven jurors already selected.

- Back in Canada, federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has delivered this year's budget to Parliament. Notably, this includes $8.5 billion for housing (better late than never certainly), as well as a national disability benefit (albeit less than what advocates were hoping for). There will be a deficit of $40 billion; predictably, the deficit hawks are getting antsy, and some worry that this could worsen inflation. Some others point out that this is a simplistic view of things and that austerity could do a lot more harm than a deficit (citing the basket case that the UK has become as an example). Then again, it may not matter what the fundamentals are if big economic interests lose confidence. It may be a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

- The Manitoba PCs are going to stick with interim leader Wayne Ewasko until next year. Interestingly Ewasko is being touted as a potential candidate for the full job; many parties prohibit an interim leader from running for the main prize, due to them enjoying an unfair advantage due to their higher profile. Other potential candidates include MLA Obby Khan, former MLA Kevin Klein, and East St. Paul Mayor Carla Devlin.

- Emergency departments in rural Manitoba experienced some 80,000 hours of closures due to being shortstaffed. Three ERs (in Shoal Lake, Teulon, and Winnipegosis) have been closed indefinitely for several years. The Tories did a lot of complaining about this kind of thing the last time they were in opposition, and no doubt the NDP will happily point out that the Tories were in power as the current situation developed. What neither party will likely want to say, though, is that the problem may be as much a cultural problem as a fiscal one. To put it bluntly, most people who spend years at university to become doctors and nurses don't want to move out to a small town, and the growing hostility in many of those communities towards those edumacated big city folks with their electric cars and rainbow flags isn't going to make the situation any easier.

- The US House of Representatives is holding separate votes on aid packages for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Originally this was planned as a single vote, but given the willingness (or even desire) of many Republicans to throw Ukraine under the bus, I guess AIPAC and their ilk decided that the possibility of the whole package being defeated meant that the votes had to be separated, or else. On a related note, some of the Republicans are trying to oust Speaker Mike Johnson for not being sufficiently extreme for their liking (even though he's pretty darned extreme).

- A fire has devastated the historic building that once housed Copenhagen's stock exchange. Happily there were no fatalities, and a lot of the artworks stored there were rescued, but the building itself is likely to be a total loss.

- The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, who had been held liable by a lower court for injuries that a police officer sustained when a protester at a rally organized by Mckesson. A previous Supreme Court decision in 1982 had ruled that protest leaders cannot be held liable for the violent actions of a protest participant, unless there was evidence that the leaders had actually directed or incited the violence, but I guess the present court didn't want to do the legal gymnastics needed to say that the Mckesson case is somehow different.

- The University of Southern California has cancelled their valedictorian speech, citing "safety concerns". No doubt they're particularly concerned about their donor base, since the valedictorian has been highly critical of Israel on social media.

- A former US Marine has been sentenced to 9 years in prison for the firebombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa, California in 2022. He had also admitted to planning other attacks.

- Julian Assange's prospects of avoiding extradition to the US are diminishing after the Americans assured the High Court of England and Wales that he will not face the death penalty if convicted.

- A debate over a controversial bill requiring NGOs that accept money from abroad to register as "foreign agents" turned into a punch-up in the Georgian parliament.

News roundup, 19 Feb 2024

- Sio Silica is exploring their legal options following the Manitoba government's decision to disallow the sand mine in Springfield. The government, however, may well come out ahead because of their handling of the issue.

- A resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza will be voted on by the UN Security Council tomorrow; the US is expected to veto it, however. Meanwhile Israel has been accused of opening fire on civilians rushing towards aid trucks, while Egypt seems to be building containment facilities for potential refugees. And the International Court of Justice is now looking at the broader question of the consequences of the half-century long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is facing what could be his last shot at avoiding extradition to the US; the UK's High Court will hear arguments tomorrow on whether he can ask an appeals court to block his extradition; his wife claims that he would not survive incarceration. Not sure what his chances are given the fabled "special relationship" between the US and UK.

- Volodymyr Zelensky is in a rather tight spot, since Ukraine's summer offensive produced no significant gains and the Russians have a numerical advantage that favours them in a war of attrition. Gwynne Dyer suggests that the calculation Zelensky has to make is "how much more territory Ukraine would lose in a ceasefire in 2025 than it would lose by making some kind of peace right now." Not an easy judgment to make.

- The new Polish government is trying to undo years of far-right control of the country's public broadcaster, TVP. It won't be easy or clean. 

- A man in Cumberland, BC was killed in a hit and run while cycling last week; now a suspect has been charged, not only with failure to remain at the scene but with first degree murder. The details of why this charge was laid have not been stated so far, but a charge like that normally means that the death was intentional and preplanned. Even a typical road rage incident would likely only have led to a charge of manslaughter, or second degree murder at most.

- When Jake Moffatt's grandmother died, he asked the chatbot on Air Canada's website about bereavement rates for such travel, and was advised that he should pay the full fare for the ticket and claim reimbursement after the fact, contrary to Air Canada's actual policy. The airline tried to argue before a small claims tribunal that the chatbot was a separate entity and thus not their responsibility, but the tribunal wasn't having any of it and ordered them to pay Moffatt the difference.

Gillard hangs Assange out to dry

Usually, if you get in trouble in a foreign country there is an understanding that your country will do what it can to help you. In Canada we've seen this principle flouted (Maher Arar, or the even worse example of Omar Khadr) but it doesn't particularly shock or surprise me any more coming from Stephen Harper. I'd have expected more of Julia Gillard though:

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been accused of possibly prejudicing any future case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by claiming he is "guilty of illegality" for leaking US diplomatic cables.

Mr Assange is expected to meet with British police sometime in the next 24 hours after Swedish authorities issued a fresh warrant for his arrest over alleged sexual offences.

From the ABC. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, perhaps she's afraid for the stability of her minority government (especially given that she's of an age to remember the infamous dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government). I guess all governments make such calculations sometimes, but it always seems like a letdown coming from a progressive government.

Columnist calls for the assassination of Julian Assange

Naturally, American right wingers like Jonah Goldberg really dislike Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and would like something done about this. But what Goldberg says in this National Review article (h/t Ezra at Popehat) is quite disturbing:

So again, I ask: Why wasn’t Assange garroted in his hotel room years ago?

It’s a serious question.

Yeah. What the heck is the CIA for, if not for rubbing out people who embarrass the US?

Another twist in the Assange case

Sweden has reopened the rape investigation against him:

The case was dismissed last week by Eva Finne, chief prosecutor in Stockholm, who overruled a lower-ranked prosecutor and said there was no reason to suspect that Mr. Assange had raped a Swedish woman who had reported him to police.

The woman's lawyer appealed the decision and Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny on Wednesday decided to reopen the case.

From the Globe.

Assange vows to fight remaining charges

Although the rape charge against him was dropped, the WikiLeaks founder still faces charges of the lesser offense of molestation. Assange says he will fight those charges if Sweden decides to proceed (so far they seem not to have made a decision). Assange also makes an interesting allegation:

He said that he had been forewarned by Australian intelligence on August 11 to expect a campaign against him, though it was unclear who was behind it.

"It is clearly a smear campaign ... the only question is who was involved," Assange, who is an Australian national, said.

"We can have some suspicions about who would benefit, but without direct evidence I would not be willing to make a direct allegation."

From Al Jazeera. The prosecutor says that she'll be deciding what to do later this week; my money's on the remaining charges being dropped, but we'll have to see.

A curious twist in the WikiLeaks saga

As you've no doubt heard, the founder, Julian Assange, was charged with rape in Sweden, then the charge was withdrawn within hours:

The preliminary allegation, made on Friday night, and not further investigated at that stage, was apparently leaked by police to a tabloid in Stockholm, which published dramatic claims on Saturday morning that Assange was to be arrested.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority todaysaid an "on-call" prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Assange late on Friday, only to see it revoked the next day by a higher-ranked prosecutor who found no grounds to suspect him of rape.

"The prosecutor who took over the case had more information, and that is why she made a different assessment than the on-call prosecutor," said Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the authority.

From the Guardian. The timing of this is rather peculiar, no? After all, remember how Blake's 7 opens?