News roundup, 25 June 2026

- Oil prices have dropped back to the prewar baseline following the memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Iran that has led to a resumption in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Wholesale prices of fertilizer are coming down as well, though many farmers say they have yet to see any real relief at the retail level.

- At least 164 people were killed and 971 injured after two earthquakes struck within a minute of each other in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

- The Red River Co-op has plans for a badly needed downtown grocery store at Portage Place. The 22,500 ft² facility is expected to open in 2029.

- Winnipeg city councillor Janice Lukes, who represents the suburban Waverley West ward, has announced that she is not running again in this fall's election. Folks on the r/Winnipeg subreddit are mostly rejoicing, though some warn that you should be careful what you wish for. As one person says, "I wasn't a fan, but progressives/urbanists may need to face up to the fact that she was possibly the best we were going to get out of Waverley West." River Heights-Fort Garry councillor John Orlikow isn't running again either; to date Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt has not ruled out running again despite facing sexual assault charges.

- Calgary's chamber of commerce has released a report concluding that secession could cost Alberta's economy $62 billion a year. They also surveyed their members; as this was a self-selecting survey it isn't definitive, but among those who responded more than 75% thought that the very discussion around separation was negatively affecting the province's economy.

- The heatwave in Europe continues, with temperatures hitting the low forties in parts of France yesterday. Even in the normally moderate UK, the town of Gosport recorded a temperature of 36.1°C, and it could get even hotter today.

- A mosque in Regina that got approval from the city to play their call to prayer from a speaker atop the building over the noon hour is getting threats from members of the public. I'd bet you donuts to dinars that the people doing this do not make similar threats to churches that ring bells.

News roundup, 9 Jan 2026

- Fiona Hill, a former advisor to Donald Trump, alleges that Russian officials indicated to Trump in 2019 that they would be willing to throw Venezuela under the bus so long as Trump would let them have their way with Ukraine. I guess from a realpolitik point of view, it makes perfect sense. Meanwhile Columbia's president, Gustavo Petro, fears that his country may be next to be attacked by the US. 

- Two people were shot and wounded by a Customs and Border Patrol officer in Portland on Thursday. The regime once again claims that this was self-defense after the victims allegedly tried to use a vehicle as a weapon and that they were involved in a Venezuelan gang.

- State investigators in Minnesota say that Kash Patel's FBI is denying them access to evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good by one of Trump's ICE stormtroopers. For his part, JD Vance says that the suspect (recently identified as Jonathan Ross, though the agency refuses to confirm this) has absolute immunity from prosecution for her death. Meanwhile some witnesses say that a doctor was denied access to the scene and ambulances were delayed because ICE had blocked the street.

- A hotel in Lakeville, Minnesota that refused to rent rooms to ICE agents has had its franchising agreement with the Hilton chain cancelled despite issuing a grovelling apology.

- Iran has shut down all internet access as protests rock the country. Trump is threatening to intervene if protesters are hurt; kind of ironic in view of his attitude towards protests against his own regime.

- A NASA mission to the International Space Station is being cut short due to a medical emergency experienced by one of the crew.

- A philosophy professor at Texas A&M University has been ordered to remove Plato's Symposium from an introductory course reading list due to it being too woke on gender and sexuality matters. 

News roundup, 6 Jan 2026

- UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo has condemned the raid on Venezuela in which the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted. DiCarlo warns that it could lead to more instability, both in Latin America and elsewhere, setting a precedent that could make violent conflicts more likely. The generally accepted reason for the invasion and kidnapping is control over Venezuela's huge oil reserves; that said, American oil companies say they aren't in a hurry to set up there due to fears of more violence and instability. Undeterred, Trump is now musing about paying US oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure. Notably, Vladimir Putin, who has treated Maduro as an ally in the past, has been awfully quiet on the matter; I suspect that he has quietly indicated to Trump "let us have Ukraine and you can have Venezuela".

- Trump continues to muse about taking over Greenland, by force if necessary. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen warns that such a move would mean the end of NATO.

- The US State Department has announced that it will be denying visas to five European citizens who it accuses of "censoring" American viewpoints. These include former French finance minister and EU commissioner Thierry Bréton, who was heavily involved in the development of the EU's Digital Service Act; the legislation requires illegal content (such as hate speech) to be flagged, which obviously is a non-starter with the Republicans. Others targeted with these sanctions have been involved in activism to counter digital hate and disinformation.

- The bar at the ski resort in Crans-Montana, Switzerland where 40 people died and 116 were injured in a New Year's fire hadn't been inspected in five years. The town's mayor had no explanation why they had gone so long without inspecting the facility, but vows that sparklers - which are thought to have been the cause of the disaster - will be banned in indoor venues. The town will also be hiring an outside contractor to inspect all venues in their jurisdiction.

- Thunder Bay had the highest homicide rate in Canada in 2025, with 6.08 homicides per 100,000 residents, followed by Chilliwack, BC at 4.75. Winnipeg came third this year, at 4.66.

News roundup, 5 Jan 2025

- The US has abducted Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife after a series of intense strikes on the country early Saturday morning. He was quickly spirited out of the country and incarcerated in New York; Donald Trump says that the US will "run" Venezuela for the foreseeable future. Whatever you can say about Maduro (and most of it is not good), this is a pretty big demonstration (as if one were needed) that the Trump regime doesn't care about international law - or stability. Mark Carney seems nervous about rocking the boat, though, reminding anyone who will listen that his government does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate ruler of the country, while calling on "all parties" to respect conventions. The NDP and Greens were more direct, condemning the attack. Regardless, the consequences of the invasion may well impact Canada, as if the US is able to get a firm grip on Venezuela (a big if, mind you) it will dump a lot of oil on the market that competes directly with Alberta. The implications for the rest of Latin America, of course, are far more ominous, and in fact Trump is already making thinly veiled threats towards Columbia, Mexico, and Cuba. Oh, and he also wants to remind us that he still wants Greenland.

- Abacus Research has concluded that prospective referenda in Quebec and Alberta are unlikely to succeed due to what they call a "precarity mindset".

- One of the Alberta MLAs facing a recall has preempted the process by resigning. UCP MLA Rebecca Schulz will stay on until the spring, after which a byelection must be called within 6 months. Another 25 MLAs, 23 from the UCP and two from the NDP, are also facing possible recall in the near future.

- Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have very little in common - but one thing they agree on is that maybe, just maybe, the boom in AI data centres shouldn't be allowed to proceed unchecked, due if nothing else to the impact on electricity prices.

- Following last year's highly destructive fire season, the insurance industry is warning that Manitoba is facing increases in premiums on residential and cottage insurance. 

News roundup, 19 Dec 2025

 - A resolution in the US House of Representatives ordering the Trump regime not to wage war with Venezuela without the consent of Congress (like, you know, the constitution already says) narrowly failed despite having two Republicans, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, as co-sponsors. 

- The suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University has been found dead after apparently shooting himself. Claudio Neves Valente is also suspected of killing MIT professor Nuno F Gomes Loureiro, with whom he had attended university in Portugal many years ago.

- Quebec Liberal Party leader Pablo Rodriguez has resigned, only six months after taking the position. This follows months of dysfunction in the party, and comes only 10 months before Quebec goes to the polls in an election that is thought to favour the separatist Parti Quebecois.

- Toronto has found a potential workaround for the Ford government's restrictions on bike lanes. Instead of removing traffic lanes entirely, which would be prohibited by provincial legislation, the city is narrowing the traffic lanes to make room for nearly 20 kilometres of bike lanes. As an added bonus, the narrower car lanes will tend to have a psychological effect on drivers, slowing them down.

- Conestoga College in Kitchener is laying off 181 full-time instructors. This follows 190 layoffs earlier this year. The college has also suspended 82 programs and has not renewed leases for two of its satellite campuses, one in downtown Kitchener and one in Brantford. The institution has depended heavily on international students; they had more of them than any other postsecondary institution in Canada, and with the heavy cuts to student visas the school is taking a big hit.

- A student at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo who was suspended for two years for pro-Palestinian activism (including hanging a banner on a building as well as a noisy protest that disrupted exams) has lost in court after attempting to challenge the suspension. 

- A Hanukkah ceremony at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre was disrupted by a man who called the participants "genocidal terrorists" and "fucking baby killers". In response, extra precautions were taken at a similar ceremony at the Asper Jewish Community Campus yesterday, with an enhanced police presence.

News roundup, 9 Dec 2025

- The US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia are refusing to agree on an official summary of the findings of the UN's latest Global Environment Outlook, due to the report coming down too strongly for their liking on fossil fuels and plastics.

- Canada's Department of National Defense is trying to distance itself from the US attacks on boats in the Caribbean. However, this is not as simple as it might seem because of Canada's involvement in Operation Caribbe, a longstanding joint mission with the US Coast Guard. While it is the US Air Force and not the Coast Guard that has been conducting the attacks, both are under the command of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, which limits the amount of political cover that can be provided by this. France has already condemned the attacks, and the UK and Columbia are suspending intelligence-sharing with the US in the region; so far Canada has not followed suit.

- Former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault doubts that it will be possible to meet Canada's emissions targets due to recent moves by the government.

- A Canadian court has ordered French cloud provider OVHcloud to turn over customer data that is stored in Europe. Problem is, under French law it is illegal for the company to hand over the data. Penalties can be up to €90,000 and six months imprisonment.

- Despite fears of gridlock, the reopening of Winnipeg's Portage and Main intersection to pedestrians has had minimal impact on traffic. 

- In recent years the majority of fraud cases in Ontario have been dropped or stayed due to a lack of resources for prosecutors. The problem has gotten considerably worse since 2020 due to backlogs in the courts related to the pandemic.

News roundup, 4 Dec 2025

- The BC Conservative Party has announced that leader John Rustad has been removed due to "professional incapacitation", to be replaced by Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford. However, not everyone accepts this, including Rustad himself; he claims this is a violation of the party's constitution. One thing is clear, though - if the party tears itself apart the way it seems to be doing, the fledgling OneBC is the likely beneficiary, as several MLAs who have left the Conservative caucus have joined the new party already. Speaking of OneBC, they just tried to hold an unsanctioned event on the University of Victoria campus on what they call the "reconciliation industry", without bothering to actually get permission from the university to do so; following a confrontation with protesters one person, reportedly the intended speaker at the event, was arrested on trespassing charges. Probably the party is fine with this so that they can play being victims of the "woke mob". Meanwhile another of their MLAs is calling for a statutory holiday in honour of the clownvoy. Now it's easy for those of us on the left to think it's good news when the right goes crazy, but the troubling truth of the matter is that no matter how good a government (and the BC NDP certainly haven't been flawless), sooner or later people will want to vote them out, rightly or wrongly. If there's no non-crazy opposition, people might hold off a bit longer, but sooner or later they're likely to vote in the crazies. Maybe that's why the NDP is open to revisiting the proportional representation question - under PR, there'd be enough room in the centre-right part of the political spectrum to form a coalition that doesn't include OneBC. You'd hope, at least.

- In Alberta, the United Conservative Party held their annual general meeting on the weekend, and elected a new board. Five of the nine members of the new board are separatists. Awkwardly for them, the Forever Canadian petition campaign, initiated by MLA Thomas Lukaszuk (who served as deputy premier under Alison Redford) has just gotten enough signatures to force a vote on the question "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?" This means that the government will be required to either hold a full vote in the legislature on that question, or hold a plebiscite on the matter. It is widely assumed that the public would vote overwhelmingly yes on the question; then again, it was widely assumed that Brexit wouldn't happen either.

- Donald Trump has told reporters that a land-based attack on Venezuela will be occurring "very soon". A group of senators, including Republican Rand Paul, have filed a resolution that would block such action unless approved by a full vote of Congress. Whether that will matter is another question; assuming Trump isn't able to win the vote, he might well go ahead anyway, asking "what are you going to do about it?"

- The US has proposed a peace plan for Ukraine that would allow Russia to retain captured territory but Ukraine would retain its sovereignty, including the ability to make its own decisions about its military and its alliances. This isn't enough for Putin, who insists that Ukraine's military must be capped in size and that it must be prohibited from joining NATO. He also insists that the entirety of the Donbass, even parts not held by Russian forces, to be turned over to Russia, and that Volodymyr Zelenskyy step down to allow new elections.

- French far-right leader Jordan Bardella was egged while trying to promote his latest book. A 74 year old man was arrested following the incident. This comes just a few days after Bardella had flour thrown at him at another event.

- A City of Winnipeg planning manager believes that the city is not bound by a recent ruling of the Municipal Board that suggests that the Granite Curling Club could have a veto over a proposed affordable housing development. The club's board, of course, is less than impressed with the ruling; Mayor Scott Gillingham says that the city will continue to work with the club on the issue in any case. 

- Animal services officers in Hanover County, Virginia were called to a liquor store in the town of Ashland where a raccoon had gained access, destroyed and/or consumed $250 worth of booze, and passed out in the bathroom. The suspect was apprehended with no difficulty, taken down to the county's shelter to sober up, and then released.

News roundup, 21 Nov 2025

- While polls point to a favourable outcome for the Democrats in the midterms, this is contingent on the actual elections being held freely and fairly. With Donald Trump in the White House, though, that is far from guaranteed. One Trump ally, lawyer Cleta Mitchell, is promoting the idea that declaring a national emergency could enable the regime to take over the electoral functions that constitutionally are supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the states. While most legal experts are skeptical, that might not matter if Trump's hand-picked judges come through for him.

- The US has moved a large number of military assets to within striking distance of Venezuela. These include the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest warship. This suggests that they may have plans for more than just a few random strikes at the fishing boats that they claim are full of drugs.

- The US and Russia have drafted a new peace plan for Ukraine that calls for the country to cede territory, including the entire Donbass region, to its invader, as well as reduce the size of its military. Ukraine is naturally not keen on this, but they're also concerned about Trump's growing impatience.

- A man charged in a string of arsons in Winnipeg had worked at two of the businesses he is accused of targeting. He had also posted on social media about his objections to a supervised consumption site that the provincial government had been planning to open, which might point to a motive for attacking the constituency offices of two cabinet ministers.

- The Canadian Museum of Human Rights is hosting an exhibit on the Nakba, the mass expulsion of Palestinians from present-day Israel in 1948. In response, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada is cancelling all future collaboration with the museum, perhaps fearing that their version of the story won't be the dominant one for once.

- This past summer has been a record-breaking one for tourism in Canada, both because Canadians chose to spend their money at home, and because overseas visitors have chosen Canada instead of the US, even as fewer Americans visited.

- For decades, veterans in Canada were overcharged for long-term care due to an error in the use of a formula that determines how much they're supposed to be charged. The new federal budget contains a provision that "fixes" the issue by retroactively changing the formula. Veterans' organizations are not impressed.

- A United Airlines Boeing 767 on a flight from London to Washington turned around over the Atlantic and diverted to Dublin after a passenger dropped a laptop down the side of a seat. Since the laptop was not accessible, the crew were forced to assume the worst in case the battery was damaged when it was dropped, which could lead to a fire that would be difficult to extinguish.

News roundup, 16 May 2025

- Premier Wab Kinew is urging Manitobans to avoid bonfires or fireworks this weekend following the deaths of two people in one of the many wildfires burning around the province. He has to say it, of course, and people really should listen, but given that this weekend happens to be the Victoria Day long weekend, I don't have high hopes.

- Two top US intelligence officials were fired by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard after contradicting Donald Trump's assertion that the Tren de Aragua gang is controlled by the Venezuelan government and thus theoretically undermining Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act to circumvent due process in deporting people alleged to have connections to the gang. 

- An amendment to the Budget Reconciliation Bill in the US House of Representatives would prohibit all regulation of artificial intelligence, at the state as well as the federal level, for a ten year period. The amendment also calls for an investment of $500 million to install "commercial" AI tech and other automation in government systems. Presumably the "commercial" part is to exclude open source, which might allow for too much scrutiny.

- Hasan Piker is an American of Turkish descent who uses Twitch, a livestreaming platform more commonly associated with video games, to do political commentary. While he was born in the US, he currently lives abroad, and when he flew in to speak at University of Chicago Institute of Politics, he was pulled aside and questioned for nearly two hours, apparently about his political views, by US Customs and Border Protection.

- A high school in Kitchener, Ontario has closed until the vaccination status of its students can be determined following a case of measles at the school.

- Doctors and medical researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania have apparently succeeded in using fairly precise gene editing to treat a genetic disease. This is an excellent use of biotechnology; there are others as well. It's just unfortunate that this breakthrough is being made in the present-day US, since it's not hard to imagine what a bunch of Trump-loving Silicon Valley techbros would like to do with these technologies.

US optimistic about Venezuela's oil reserves

They've considerably upped their estimates of Venezuela's reserves:

A new US assessment of Venezuela's oil reserves could give the country double the supplies of Saudi Arabia.

Scientists working for the US Geological Survey say Venezuela's Orinoco belt region holds twice as much petroleum as previously thought.

From the Beeb (h/t c1ue at iTulip). Now this wouldn't be a big deal, except for this little tidbit:

However, Venezuelan oil geologist and former PDVSA board member Gustavo Coronel was sceptical.

"I doubt the recovery factor could go much higher than 25% and much of that oil would not be economic to produce", he told Associated Press news agency.

Funny thing that. So is the US overestimating the reserves, or is Venezuela under-reporting them? And why? Don't know, but here's a few possibilities:

1. One or both countries has simply made a mistake somewhere in their estimation process.
2. Venezuela fears, rightly or wrongly, that the US will eventually go after them for their oil, and is thus talking down the amount of oil they have to reduce US interest.
3. Venezuela and other countries want to talk down the amount of worldwide oil reserves so it will command a higher price.
4. The US is itching to invade, and is talking up Venezuela's reserves to strengthen the case for such an action.

I'll leave it to the reader to decide which of these, if any, is the most plausible.

What constitutes a rogue state?

Here are two country summaries from Amnesty International's annual international human rights report. The first country:

Attacks on journalists were widespread. Human rights defenders continued to suffer harassment. Prison conditions provoked hunger strikes in facilities across the country. Some significant steps were taken to implement the 2007 law on violence against women but there was a lack of commitment from many of the authorities responsible. Lack of arms control contributed to high levels of violence and public insecurity.

Hmm. Not so hot certainly, but compare it to this:

Thousands of people continued to be detained without trial as terrorism suspects and hundreds more were arrested. In October, the government announced that more than 900 would be brought to trial. Human rights activists and peaceful critics of the government were detained or remained in prison, including prisoners of conscience. Freedom of expression, religion, association and assembly remained tightly restricted. Women continued to face severe discrimination in law and practice. Migrant workers suffered exploitation and abuse with little possibility of redress. Refugees and asylum-seekers were not adequately protected. The administration of justice remained shrouded in secrecy and was summary in nature. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were widespread and systematic, and carried out with impunity. Flogging was used widely as a main and additional punishment. The death penalty continued to be used extensively and in a discriminatory manner against migrant workers from developing countries, women and poor people. At least 102 people were executed.

As Stimpson points out, there are additional differences between these countries:

Country A's head of state has won national elections. Country B doesn't hold elections for its leader.

A has no death penalty; B has capital punishment and uses it a lot.

AI's report lists prisoners of conscience in B but not A.

Torture is "widespread" in B but not in A.

So neither country has a stellar human rights record, but B seems far worse than A. And, notably, the way these countries are treated by the Western powers is dramatically different; one is seen as a valuable ally, while the other has been declared an international pariah. And what are these countries?

Country A is Venezuela. Country B is Saudi Arabia. Gee, wonder why such a difference?

Let the dominoes fall!

A left-wing wave seems to be sweeping across parts of the Americas. It would be stretching things to say Obama is part of this except in a relative sense (I'd call him a centrist, or even centre right) but consider: Not only do we have Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Lula, but it looks like they may soon be joined by Mauricio Funes, the FMLN's candidate for the presidency of El Salvador. Indications are that he's ahead in the polls:

Former leftist rebels in El Salvador appear poised to accomplish at the ballot box what they were unable to accomplish on the battlefield: win power.

In the 1980s, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front drew the U.S. into a bloody Cold War conflict in Central America.

Now, as a political party known by its acronym FMLN, it has been leading in public opinion polls for presidential elections slated for March.

If the party's candidate wins, he would be the first leftist president in El Salvador's history.

At an FMLN rally in the capital, San Salvador, supporters call Mauricio Funes — despite his white skin — "El Salvador's Barack Obama."

A former journalist, Funes once hosted a television talk show for which he had a reputation for holding government officials' feet to the fire. He has electrified the left in El Salvador in a way that previous FMLN candidates haven't.

From NPR. Meanwhile, back in our own country, Gary Doer may soon have some company in Canada again:

Nova Scotia should get ready for an NDP minority government, pollster Don Mills told a business luncheon Tuesday.

"The strength of support for the NDP has been constant and consistent for almost two years, and there seems to be very little that will disturb that in an election," he told reporters after his speech to the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

"Any time in the last year, we would have predicted an NDP government. The reason we are predicting now is because we believe we are close to an election. We’re probably two months away from an election."

Mr. Mills, of Corporate Research Associates in Halifax, said the only thing that could derail an election call in the near future is if the Liberals decide they want to give leader Stephen McNeil, who was chosen in 2007, more time.

The pollster said the most recent survey showed the NDP was the top choice of decided voters with 36 per cent (down from 37 per cent in November), the Liberals were in second with 31 per cent (up from 27 per cent) and the Conservatives were third with 30 per cent (down from 33 per cent). Another three per cent chose the Green party (unchanged from last quarter). Of those surveyed, 37 per cent were undecided.

From the Chronicle Herald. This could get interesting.

Another plot against Chavez

Surprise surprise:

President Hugo Chavez denounced on Wednesday evening a coup and assassination plot against the Venezuelan leader in a TV program. He announced that some of the people involved in the conspiracy were already arrested.

The Venezuelan president said the new plot was another attempt by the United States against the countries of the region, mentioning Bolivia as another victim of Washington’s interfering policy.

A video broadcast by the TV program, La Hojilla, reveals the organization of a coup and assassination plan against President Chavez by retired and active military officials.

The video features a telephone conversation between Brigadier General Wilfredo Barroso, Vice Admiral Carlos Alberto Millan and Major General Eduardo Baez, reported Telesur’s website. They talk about seizing the Miraflores Presidential Palace and aim all their efforts against Chavez. “If he (Chavez) is in Miraflores will strike there,” said the source.

From here, via M. Spector at babble. No wonder Venezuela has expelled the US ambassador.

Inflation in Venezuela

You may or may not know that Venezuela has a very high inflation rate (31.4% according to this site). Predictably, many people (such as those charmers at Small Dead Animals) blame Hugo Chavez and socialism for this state of affairs; on the other hand when I first heard about this I immediately found myself wondering if the CIA was printing up counterfeit Venezuelan banknotes and dumping them into the local economy to destabilize things. However, the truth is actually much more mundane than either the right wing fucks or my own tinfoil-capped head had thought, as this New York Times story from 1989 illustrates:

Inflation in Venezuela will rise by 65 percent to 70 percent this year, almost double last year's increase in the cost of living, the Planning Minister, Miguel Rodriguez, said today. The rate for 1989 so far, 52.7 percent, may slow down in the second half of the year as the Government's austerity program takes effect, Mr. Rodriguez added. Venezuela, which had one of Latin America's lowest inflation rates for many years, saw its cost of living rise by 35.5 percent last year after increasing 40.3 percent in 1987.

Thanks to Robert at My Blahg for the link. So really, the Chavez administration is actually doing a better job of managing inflation than the old regime. Not that the right wingers are going to acknowledge this, of course.