News roundup, 25 Sept 2025

- A man opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas, killing one person and wounding two others before turning the gun on himself. Authorities say that anti-ICE slogans were engraved on bullet casings found at the scene; ironically the deceased and at least one of the wounded were not ICE agents but detainees.

- Copenhagen's main airport was shut down on Monday after a mass incursion of drones; two other airports in the country were shut down on Wednesday for the same reason. The Danish government says that "professional actors" were behind the attacks; they say they have found no evidence of Russian involvement but the fact that they bothered to mention that suggests that they still have their suspicions.

- The Trump regime has retroactively cancelled grants made to municipalities as far back as a year ago for street safety and bike and pedestrian infrastructure, on the grounds that the projects are "hostile to cars".

- Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says that the "safe haven" status of the US dollar is coming into question due to fears about the policies of the current regime, including fears about the continued independence of the Federal Reserve. Nonetheless, Macklem says that the greenback will likely continue to be the world's reserve currency due to a lack of alternatives. No explanation is given in the article about why the euro or the yuan couldn't replace the dollar in that role; perhaps it's as much a matter of nobody wanting to make the first move as anything.

- Wasagamack First Nation in northern Manitoba has ordered all of its employees to be tested for illegal drugs, including cocaine and meth. They say that this is intended to connect residents with addictions resources rather than to punish.

- A body was found just outside a schoolyard in St. Boniface. Police say that the death is not criminal in nature.

News roundup, 6 June 2025

- It will come as a surprise to few that there are limits to how long two enormous egos can continue to work together. It seems those limits have been reached for Donald Trump and Elon Musk; following Musk's criticism of Trump's "one big beautiful bill", Trump hinted that he might cancel government contracts with Musk's companies, and then Musk replied favourably to someone's tweet calling for Trump's impeachment.

- Russia has responded to Ukraine's daring drone attack on their military aircraft by launching drone and missile attacks against cities; at least 4 people were killed in the attacks. 

- Mark Carney's new Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs, Rebecca Chartrand, is coming under fire over allegations that she subjected an employee to bullying and harassment while serving as Red River College's Executive Director of Indigenous Strategy.

- A newborn infant in southwestern Ontario has died after being infected with measles in utero (the mother was unvaccinated, of course). This was in the Southwestern Public Health region, which includes Elgin and Oxford Counties. There are now over 1,700 known cases of measles in Ontario, the vast majority of them in Mennonite and Amish communities in the southwest.

- Manitoba has launched a campaign to recruit healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and other professionals, from the US. The campaign focuses on the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Michigan; I'm not sure why Minnesota was included except for its proximity, because I always thought it was a relatively progressive state.

- Four First Nations in the Island Lake region of Manitoba are evacuating vulnerable residents; the communities are not directly threatened but the smoke is causing serious problems for some. In related news, there are concerns that organized crime is targeting evacuees, trying to sell them drugs or worse.

- A school trustee in the Hanover School Division in southern Manitoba has been suspended without pay for six weeks. This appears to be for violation of policies requiring trustees to "support the legitimacy and authority of Board decisions" and to "treat Board colleagues, divisional and school staff, students and community members in a respectful and courteous manner". The exact nature of her violations has not been made public, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's similar to the case of Francine Champagne.

- Ispace, the Japanese company that tried to land a probe on the Moon two years ago, has tried again but appears to have failed for a second time. The company has ambitious plans to have a permanent human settlement on the Moon by 2040, but it seems they have a ways to go before they're ready for that.

- A Winnipeg man has been hit with a $1,680 fine for using a drone to harass wildlife in Riding Mountain National Park. Probably a wannabe influencer...

News roundup, 20 May 2025

- Canada Post's negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have broken down; a strike could occur as soon as Friday. Meanwhile a commission tasked with looking at the corporation's finances claims that it is "effectively insolvent" and is calling for an end to door-to-door delivery to residences.

- Canada, the UK, and France are threatening action, including targeted sanctions, if Israel doesn't allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

- Three NDP MPs (Jenny Kwan, Lori Idlout, and Leah Gazan) are criticizing what they say was inadequate consultation with caucus before the party's national council appointed Don Davies as interim leader.

- A car bomb detonated outside a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California on Saturday morning. The One person inside the vehicle died; nobody else was injured and the clinic is expected to reopen shortly. The FBI has not stated whether the person who died is a suspect in the case, however they did say they "had a person of interest" and were "not actively searching for a suspect".

- A sail training ship with the Mexican navy, the Cuauhtémoc, collided with the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night, apparently after losing power. The bridge suffered little or no damage, but the ship's masts broke and fell onto the deck, killing at least 2 crew members and injuring around 20.

- The first officer of a Lufthansa Airbus A321 was incapacitated by a medical condition while the captain was using the washroom. The captain was eventually able to get back into the cockpit and the flight landed safely. The airline had, for a time, required that another crew member be in the cockpit before anyone leaves, following the dramatic mass murder/suicide by a first officer on the airline's subsidiary Germanwings, but the airline eventually abandoned the practice after concluding that it didn't improve safety (and apparently because crews found it inconvenient).

- Kingston police are using drones to spot people using their phones while driving. This has drawn the ire of an organization called the "Canadian Constitutional Foundation"; the same organization is vocal in its opposition to the BC government's bill to give them the power to respond quickly to American tariffs and has previously freaked over COVID-19 travel restrictions and vaccine mandates, which should give you an idea of the kind of people they are.

- The University of Manitoba's medical school will not be holding a valedictory speech at their convocation. This is likely an attempt to avoid controversy such as what happened when last year's valedictorian, Dr. Gem Newman, had the audacity to suggest that Israel shouldn't be bombing hospitals in Gaza and one of the school's big donors went into conniptions in response.

- Bruce Springsteen delivered a scathing rebuke of the Trump regime at a show in Manchester, England last week, calling the president "corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous". In response, Trump is calling for Springsteen, along with several other celebrities, to be investigated for their support of Kamala Harris' campaign.