News roundup, 7 May 2025

- India launched missiles into the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir, killing a child and injuring two other people in a major escalation of tensions following terrorist attacks in the Indian-controlled part of the territory last month. Pakistan claims to have shot down two Indian aircraft in retaliation.

- Mark Carney met with Donald Trump yesterday as planned. Carney was diplomatic in discussing how the talks went; he did say they were "wide ranging" and "constructive", and said that the two leaders had "agreed to disagree" on whether Canada should join the US.

- Trump is considering imposing a 100% tariff on all foreign-produced films; exactly what would count as "foreign" for these purposes is a work in progress - the status of co-productions is uncertain. This could, however, be extremely damaging to the Canadian film industry. Myself, I'd be all in favour of slapping hefty reciprocal tariffs on American films if this were to occur - though that might be a hard sell for the masses if it meant that they didn't get to see the latest Marvel superhero flick.

- The Conservatives have chosen Regina-Qu'Appelle MP (and former leader) Andrew Scheer as their interim leader in Parliament until Pierre Poilievre can get elected in the coming byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot. Whether this will spur a new burst in sales of Queen's third album in Canada remains to be seen.

- Friedrich Merz has been elected chancellor of Germany following a second vote in the Bundestag. It's not clear who changed their votes the second time around, as this election is conducted by secret ballot. The resolution of this crisis has not silenced AfD leader Alice Weidel, who is calling for a new election.

- The municipality of Oak Bay, a suburb of Victoria, has passed a bylaw limiting noise from heat pumps - and only heat pumps (not regular air conditioners, for instance). They are limited to 50 dB, and 45 dB at night; for comparison, an average conversation is 60 dB. This apparently follows a complaint from a NIMBY named Thorsten Hanisch; I haven't been able to locate any social media from the guy, but I'd wager donuts to dollars that if it were unlocked we'd see a lot of pictures of big trucks on his page - trucks that make a heck of a lot more noise than any heat pump.

- Punk band Propagandhi has announced that they are cancelling all US dates of their upcoming tour due to "circumstances beyond our control". I assume this means either they were denied visas, or else a not unreasonable fear that they could end up in El Salvador. 

- A woman in Rochester, Minnesota who was caught on video screaming racial slurs at an autistic five year old child claims to have been doxxed online and that she needs help to relocate somewhere in the hope of avoiding the consequences of her behaviour. She has gone to GiveSendGo (basically GoFundMe for deplorables) to finance her relocation; so far she's raised over $700,000.

News roundup, 8 May 2024

- A report prepared for the City of Winnipeg's Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development is recommends against the planned sale of two historic city-owned buildings, a fire hall and the building that served as the city hall for the former City of St. Boniface. Instead, it recommends retaining ownership but entering into long-term leases with community organizations. I'd have to agree; the city hall in particular is a gem, and the only surviving example in this city of that style.

- An inconvenient truth for people who hate speed cameras - they work. In Guelph, average speeds in school zones have decreased from 42 to 33 km/h since the introduction of cameras. Of course, some people immediately bleat "CASH GRAB!" whenever the topic of speed cameras comes up, but there's a very simple way to avoid getting your cash grabbed - don't drive so bloody fast.

- Tom Heehler argues that one of the failings of the mainstream centrist or "liberal" media is that it gives too little coverage of non-crazy conservatives. There's something to that; simply put, Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene are a far better source of lurid stories than, say, Liz Cheney or Mitt Romney. For that matter, on this side of the border, when was the last time you heard Michael Chong mentioned in the news? I think Heehler is going a bit too far in calling Cheney and Romney "good", but they're rational and have a basic sense of integrity, which is more than can be said for the people who get all the coverage.

- A pro-Palestinian encampment has been set up at the University of Manitoba. Unlike many such encampments, the university and the protesters both seem to be acting reasonably, so far at least.

- The biggest barrier to installing heat pumps? There aren't enough trained workers to meet the demand.

- While honey bees get all the coverage, many species of bumble bee are in much more dire straits. A recent study has found that the optimal temperature range for a bumble bee nest is 28–32°C. Temperatures above 35°C are lethal; before that point, it leads to developmental issues, with larvae developing into smaller workers.

- A Newfoundland trucker went missing in Ontario two weeks ago. A big search was organized; strangely, nobody seems to have thought to properly search his truck until it was returned to Newfoundland, whereupon his body was found in the trailer. Strangely, the OPP seem a bit reluctant to answer questions on the matter.

- A 3 year old boy found something at home that he thought would be interesting to bring to his Richmond, Virginia preschool - a loaded handgun. Fortunately it didn't get fired and thus nobody was hurt, though a family member has been arrested; even in America they draw the line at letting three year olds play with guns.