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, 17 May 2024

- Climate activists in Russia are taking the government to court for failing to adequately protect its citizens from climate change. I'm guessing most of those activists will, at the very least, end up on a "foreign agents" list. They'd better start carrying Geiger counters and avoiding windows as well.

- Four neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray that were destroyed in the 2016 fire have been evacuated again, though it is hoped that the measures brought in after that fire will protect the community better than last time.

- Charlie Angus has written an opinion piece for the Tyee about Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party's courting of rightwing extremists. In it he mentions that when he called out Poilievre in Parliament for the latter's refusal to disavow an endorsement from Alex Jones, Conservative supporters responded by posting photos of Angus' daughters, along with the locations of their workplaces, on social media, accompanied by thinly veiled threats. With stuff like that going on, it's no wonder Angus has decided not to run again.

- Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico is now in stable condition following yesterday's shooting. His own political career has evolved in an interesting way, to say the least - he started out as a Communist during the cold war, then continued with that party's democratic successor, the Party of the Democratic Left, after the end of the one-party state. Then in 1999 he and others left that party and founded a party called Direction - Social Democracy, which he considered a "third way" party, but as leader he has continued to take that party to the right, to the point where they're straight-up rightwing populists now. One can't help wonder if the general mood he's helped to cultivate might have helped motivate the shooter; perhaps the likes of Poilievre should take note.

- Until recently, support for Israel (at least at the official level) has been very widespread in the West. Maybe not quite so much anymore; they've alienated a lot of allies, though I suspect that when it comes down to the crunch the US and Germany, at least, will still grudgingly support them after a bit of public finger-wagging. Canada has sanctioned four individuals for their involvement in some of the more egregious acts of violence by West Bank settlers against Palestinians, though I wouldn't hold my breath for sanctions against the Israeli state.

- Despite suicide being one of the biggest causes of death among young adults, over 70% universities in Canada do not keep statistics on this rather important issue.

- Joe Biden has declared that the federal government will issue no new leases for coal mining on federal land in the country's biggest coal producing region. In contrast, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill that removes virtually all references to climate change from state legislation. The same bill also bans offshore wind turbines, among other things.

- Ten states in the US have not yet signed onto the Medicaid expansion that's part of Obamacare. Polls indicate that expansion would have broad public support, but the Republicans are apparently counting on that support not to be strong enough to get very many people to vote for the Democrats. Sadly, their confidence is probably justified; too many people think they'll be cast into a lake of fire if they do that.

- A flight instructor with the US Air Force was killed after apparently activating the ejection seat of his aircraft while it was sitting on the tarmac.