News roundup, 7 Jan 2026

- A widely circulated video that purports to show Venezuelans celebrating the ouster of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro appears to be an AI-generated hoax. In other related news, the BBC has ordered its journalists not to use the word "kidnapped" when talking about Maduro's abduction. They can say "seized" or, when quoting US sources, "captured", but I guess they're afraid of not sounding impartial enough or something.

- The Pentagon is moving to cut the military retirement pay of former US Navy captain (and current senator) Mark Kelly. Pete Hegseth justified the move on the grounds that Kelly's reminder to active servicepeople that they have the right to refuse illegal orders constitutes "reckless misconduct".

- Federal NDP leadership candidate Avi Lewis says that he wants to implement a "Green New Deal". The plan is ambitious, to say the least - a complete ban on new fossil fuel projects (not that his opponents won't still claim he wants to forcibly shut down all existing ones) and creating large numbers of new high quality manufacturing jobs making renewable energy infrastructure, electric buses, trucks, and farm equipment, and the like.  He probably won't become prime minister, of course, but I kind of doubt any of the other candidates in the race will be either. Certainly someone has to keep banging the climate gong to the masses, and Lewis is better qualified than most to do so.

- The push to force workers back into the office continues apace. Naturally, the employers justify this partly on the grounds of productivity (despite the fact that some studies suggest the opposite); CTV didn't cite those studies, though, they just quoted a couple of civil servants who "think" that you're more productive in the office, while quoting a human resources professor claiming otherwise. To be fair, the proponents of the return to office gave other reasons as well (vague platitudes about "collaboration" and "organizational culture" as well as some hand-wringing about downtown businesses), but there was no mention of the idea that the valuation of commercial real estate could be a factor. In the case of public sector employers, there's also straight up populism - a sizeable chunk of the electorate consists of people who can't work remotely due to the nature of their jobs - and they think it's "unfair" that others are able to, and vote for rightwing populists like Doug Ford. This resentment is shortsighed, of course - if more people worked from home, the people who can't would face much less traffic on their commutes.

- European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde is concerned about the lack of progress in the development of a "digital euro" to enable Europeans to continue to conduct e-commerce while distancing themselves from the American banking industry. The big barrier to this is a Spanish MEP, Fernando Navarrete Rojas of the centre-right European People's Party, who thinks that for a government to do this is an affront to the sanctity of the private sector and has been doing everything in his power to hold up the implementation bill for the currency. Not surprisingly, the big banks don't like it either, presumably because it would also enable Europeans to cut them out of the loop along with their American counterparts.

- A ban on the use of cellphones by students in New York City schools has been getting very good reviews, but it has revealed the rather awkward fact that many students don't know how to read an analogue clock. This isn't really a new phenomenon, of course; I heard anecdotes about that some 25 years ago, but I guess the fact that everyone had a digital clock in their pocket has masked that until now.

- Police in Heber City, Utah were caught in the awkward situation of having to explain why a report written with AI-driven report-writing software stated that an officer had been polymorphed into a frog. The cops believe that the situation arose when their bodycams, which apparently fed data directly into the software, picked up part of the film The Princess and the Frog playing in the background at a location they attended.

News roundup, 25 Nov 2025

- Democratic senator Mark Kelly, who represents Arizona, appeared in a video with other Democratic politicians in which they called upon military and intelligence personnel to refuse illegal orders. Trump fulminated about "sedition" on Truth Social, while the Pentagon is looking into what actions they can take against Kelly owing to his status as a retired US Navy captain, which would theoretically allow them to recall him to active duty for a court martial.

- A US judge has dismissed all charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey on the grounds that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed. The charges were, however, dismissed "without prejudice", meaning that the cases could be revived if the regime finds a suitable replacement for Halligan.

- Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, recently introduced a new "About this account" feature, which enables users to see where an account is based, when they joined the platform, and how often they have changed their username, among other things. This has led to the discovery that a large number of MAGA influencers are actually based overseas. Some are calling this "total Armageddon for the online right", though that is almost certainly giving the American public too much credit.

- The recently passed federal budget bill contains new legal powers to facilitate expropriation for projects such as the planned high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City. This could be a good thing if it leads to the construction of the line in a reasonable time, though it's worth considering the fact that such powers could also be used to push through a new highway or pipeline.

- Unlike the US, in Canada it is extremely unusual for the terms of bail to require an actual cash bond; the federal government restricted its use in 1971 owing to concerns that this discriminated unduly against the poor. This was amplified in a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that limits the use of cash bail to "exceptional" circumstances. Doug Ford wants to change this, having introduced legislation to make cash bail mandatory. Whether this is constitutional remains to be seen, give that bail is governed by the federal Criminal Code rather than provincial legislation.

- Sio Silica is still trying to convince Manitoba to accept a silica mine in Springfield following last year's rejection of their application for an environmental license. The company held an open house at the Club Regent casino to promote their plans; critics are still skeptical.

- Steinbach is facing pushback from some residents for permitting the use of the city-owned Southeast Event Centre as a warming space for homeless people. An email sent to city council expressed concerns about encounters that "unsettled some young athletes". It's telling that the sender doesn't specify any wrongful actions by the homeless people, just worries that the kids might have to look at these people.

- Thomas King, author of books such as The Inconvenient Indian, has discovered that he is not half Cherokee as he had believed for his entire life. He expects a backlash, though in his defense it was he himself who investigated the matter in the first place and he was forthcoming with the evidence, in contrast with the likes of Buffy St. Marie. Doubtless many will question why it took him so long to look into the matter, though.

- An Oakville woman who had booked hotel rooms for herself and some European relatives in Montreal for the Grand Prix at a cost of $4,300 was taken by surprise when the online booking platform Booking.com cancelled her reservations, claiming that the pricing was a mistake, then offered her the same rooms for the "correct" price, which was in excess of $17,000. The hotel is attributing this to a "synchronization error" between them and the booking platform that briefly allowed the regular prices instead of the event-inflated ones to appear on the site.