News roundup, 30 Nov 2023

- Vladimir Putin is asking Russian women to breed more to replace all the young men killed in the war in Ukraine.

- Henry Kissinger has died. Not too many people are sad about it; perhaps stuff like this is why.

- The truce in Gaza has been extended by another day and more hostages have been released. The conflict is highly divisive in the arts world, and cancel culture is in full swing for artists who criticize Israel. Here at home, the case of Arij Al Khafagi, the U of M nursing student suspended for her social media posts about the war, has been picked up by the media; in addition to the cartoon reported previously, as well as what is described in the article as "video of people searching rubble for a missing child in Gaza with a caption criticizing supporters of Israel for backing a government responsible for mass destruction and killing Palestinian civilians." Still doesn't sound like grounds for suspension to me.

- Scott Forbes has given us an optimistic but still somewhat plausible look at how things might look in Manitoba, politically and environmentally, in 2030. Hopefully the Kinew government will take it to heart and push forward.

- The Trump-stacked US Supreme Court is hearing a case brought forward by hedge fund manager (and former rightwing radio show host) George Jarkesy, who is trying to have the SEC's enforcement powers declared unconstitutional. Unfortunately the smart money seems to be on a ruling in his favour. 

- George Santos, the erratic Republican congressman from Staten Island, is expected to be expelled from the House of Representatives in a vote tomorrow.

- A Paraguayan official signed a memorandum of understanding with the "the United States of Kailasa", not realizing that the country has no internationally recognized status and is led by a fugitive guru wanted for numerous crimes, including sexual assault.

News roundup, 29 Nov 2023

- Hot on the heels of the revelation about the Saudis' efforts to push fossil fuels on the developing world, it has come out that Brazilian and Argentinian lobbyists managed to get references to reducing meat consumption scrubbed from the latest IPCC report, and big food companies plan to continue the pressure at COP28. And Italy has just outlawed cultivated meat products, while Romania is working on similar legislation. All this despite evidence that climate change is already having a negative impact on global GDP. On a more positive note, many US states are working on setting their own targets for emissions reduction, which is a step in the right direction (though how big a step depends a lot on the specifics).

- In South Korea, dog farmers are threatening to release 2 million dogs near landmarks and the homes of parliamentarians in response to a proposed ban on dog meat.

- In Australia, the Maugean Skate, a raylike fish endemic to Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania, is seriously threatened, primarily by salmon farming. The industry is claiming that up to half of all jobs on the west coast of Tasmania are linked to salmon, but others question the accuracy of the claim.

- An Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, has been indicted in the US for plans to assassinate a Sikh activist in New York, believed to be dual US-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Prosecutors allege that this is connected to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey as well as two other planned "jobs" in Canada.

- The Manitoba PCs, not satisfied with the temporary fuel tax relief given by the government, is demanding that it be permanently done away with. 

- Louis Riel School Division trustee Francine Champagne has resigned her seat, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall. I wonder if Karl Krebs is going to ask her for his money back?

- An Ontario judge has denied an application by the City of Kingston for an order to clear a homeless encampment, on the grounds that there is nowhere better for the residents to go.

News roundup, 28 Nov 2023

- A leaked memo from Bell Media (owner of CTV) orders journalists to avoid the use of the word "Palestine" in coverage of the situation in the Middle East. It appears that the CBC has a similar rule; Duncan McCue was forced to issue an apology after saying the P-word in an interview. They also edited the podcast version of the broadcast to remove the offending word. Funny thing is, I don't think those broadcasters prohibit their journalists from talking about Taiwan as if it were a country (nor should they) but I guess this is different for some reason.

- The pause in the fighting in Gaza seems to be mostly holding, and talks are on for another extension of the truce.

- A Saudi scheme to push African and Asian countries to consume more fossil fuels has been uncovered, just days before the start of COP28 in the UAE. Meanwhile some former world leaders, including Ban Ki-moon, Gordon Brown, Helen Clark, and Joyce Banda, are calling for oil producing states to be subjected to a $25 billion levy to help pay for the damage by the world's most vulnerable people from climate change. One can just imagine what Danielle Smith and her ilk are saying about these evil globalists coming after the money of hard-working Albertans.

- While boomers are often rightly ridiculed for blaming the difficulties of millennials on their supposed habit of blowing money on things like avocado toast rather than, say, the fact that wages aren't keeping up with inflation, there are actually good reasons for avoiding avocado toast, or indeed anything containing avocado - production at the current scale is leading to the destruction of Mexico's forests.

- Marianna Budanova, wife of Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, has been hospitalized for heavy metal poisoning. The specific heavy metal or metals don't seem to have been made public, but sources from the agency have stated that they're not the sort of thing found in "ordinary civilian or military life".

- Finland has closed their entire border with Russia, accusing Russia of deliberately flooding the country with refugees in order to destabilize it.

- Americans for Prosperity, the super-PAC funded by the notorious Koch brothers, is endorsing Nikki Haley for the Republican nomination, saying she has the best chance of beating Biden in next year's presidential election.

- Canada's life expectancy has decreased for the third year in a row, with COVID-19 overtaking accidents and unintentional injuries for the first time since the the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to Statistics Canada.

- A nationwide poll has concluded that Alberta is Canada's angriest province. I can't say I'm surprised by that conclusion.

- Danielle Smith is invoking Alberta's new "sovereignty act" to fight against new federal rules designed to help decarbonize the power grid. Interestingly, Smith admits that she doesn't think she actually needs the new legislation to do this, but she's doing it anyway for symbolic reasons.

News roundup, 27 Nov 2023

- Four people who died as a result of a horrifying mass shooting in Winnipeg's West Broadway neighbourhood this past weekend have been identified. A fifth victim is clinging to life in hospital; no information about suspects or motive has been made public so far.

- Recent polling suggests that the federal Liberals are significantly behind the Tories in 34 key swing ridings that they took from the Tories in 2015. This does not bode well for those of us who want to see the Conservatives kept from power.

- The pause in the Israel-Gaza conflict has been extended by two days, but so far no sign that those displaced by the fighting will be able to return to what remains of their homes, and aid agencies are dreading what will happen when the fighting resumes. In the US, activists are staging a hunger strike in front of the White House, calling for Biden to press Israel towards a lasting truce. And in Saskatchewan, an NDP MLA has been forced to apologize for liking someone's Instagram post of a video in which people can be heard chanting the "from the river to the sea" slogan.

- Getting people to eat less meat is a huge challenge. Since it's not the sort of thing that can be realistically legislated, some are looking at what kind of "nudges" can be employed to get people to freely choose to reduce their meat consumption.

- It has emerged that the UAE had plans to use the COP28 summit to make deals on the sale of fossil fuels. I have to say that this is a bit of a conflict of interest.

- A BC man opposed to children learning of the existence of LGBT* people led police on a low speed chase in a tractor before being run off the road. Video here.

- A company that sold tickets for a three-year "Life at Sea" cruise has cancelled the cruise after two postponements and offered refunds, after admitting that they hadn't been able to scrounge up a boat for the cruise. Some of the prospective passengers are now in a bad way, having sold or rented out their homes in anticipation of being away for three years. Oops.

News roundup, 26 Nov 2023

 - The Globe and Mail has compiled a list of the 100 most livable municipalities in Canada. Winnipeg came third, just after Victoria and North Vancouver; the only other Manitoba entries are Brandon at #22 and East St. Paul at #69. Other highlights: Calgary is #8, Vancouver is #14, Ottawa #24, Hamilton #39, Waterloo #56, Gatineau #58, Toronto #64, and Surrey #66. I have to question their methodology, though, based on the fact that Montreal didn't make the top 100 at all, although Westmount came in at #16. And the only cities in Atlantic Canada that made the list are Fredericton at #43 and Dieppe at #60; at this rate I'll have to stop making fun of New Brunswick.

- It seems that Joe Biden's biggest asset in terms of his reelection chances is Donald Trump. Fortunately for sanity, Trump remains well in the lead for the GOP nomination, though it would be wise to keep an eye on former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, as she is campaigning hard.

- The Manitoba government is having a go at the low-hanging fruit on the healthcare front by addressing the slower than necessary discharge rate from hospitals. Hopefully this is a first of many steps on the long road from "totally awful" to "not too bad".

- Winnipeg Transit employees have rejected a proposed settlement offer. No strike yet, but they will be refusing voluntary overtime.

- The City of Winnipeg is taking a tentative step towards partially reversing the privatization of garbage collection services; under a proposal approved by council's water and waste committee, collection in the downtown as well as the North End and the greater West End would be taken in-house.

- Seventeen more hostages (14 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals) have been released by Hamas. Sadly, the US seems unwilling to keep a serious leash on their top strategic asset in the Middle East; Biden wants to make it easier for Israel to get American weapons without congressional oversight.

- In the US, three university students of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded en route to a family dinner; what is shocking is that this happened not in Texas or Oklahoma but in normally peaceful Vermont.

- Virgin Atlantic will be testing the ability to fly a Boeing 787 from London to New York powered entirely by fuel made from used cooking oil. While this is impressive, we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking it will be possible to switch over to this fuel and keep the world's current commercial fleet at its current size. This is one of the hard truths that a lot of otherwise progressive people turn their eyes away from - if we want to limit the scale of the coming climate change mess, we just can't keep flying as often as we do now. Progressives, naturally, don't like the idea that we have to narrow our horizons, but we have to.

News roundup, 25 Nov 2023

- Following a vicious stabbing attack on schoolchildren in Dublin, a mob of hooligans rioted in the city centre, looting and burning, following rightwing agitation via social media suggesting that the attacker was a foreign national. I don't think I'm the first to wonder how trashing your national capital is supposed to be an expression of love for your country, but then I don't understand the far-right mind in general I guess. An imam is warning his community to avoid the city this weekend.

- The prisoner exchange between Israel and Gaza is in progress. Hamas has handed over 13 Israeli captives and four Thai citizens who got caught up in the mess; Israel is now expected to release 39 Palestinian prisoners. Apparently the ceasefire doesn't apply to Lebanon, though; a UN peacekeeping force has apparently come under fire from the IDF.

- Details in the saga of the U of M nursing student who was suspended for her social media activity regarding the conflict are still a bit unclear. The only example I've been able to find of a specific post attributed to her is this cartoon, which while certainly touching on a soft spot (it's always risky to compare the IDF to the SS no matter their actual actions) does not seem to warrant suspension. Some people in this Reddit thread are alleging that there are other posts, possibly more inflammatory, but no concrete details so far. The actual post(s) appear to have been deleted. There also doesn't seem to be a word about the case in the actual media yet, which may be a sign that the matter is sufficiently grey that it can't be conveniently pigeonholed into either side's narrative.

- The Louis Riel School Division is going to court to find a way of expelling thrice-suspended trustee Francine Champagne.

- Some information is seeping out about the firing of Open AI CEO Sam Altman. Apparently the day before he was sacked, Altman had reported a new breakthrough with the technology, and some employees had raised concerns with the board that the technology was approaching a point where it could threaten humanity. Altman was reinstated after the majority of the company's workforce threatened to resign in protest.

- Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, has been stabbed and seriously injured in prison.

News roundup, 24 Nov 2023

- Winnipeg city council has approved the changes to zoning in order to unlock federal funding for housing. No surprise that Brian Mayes and Shawn Dobson voted against it, I'm a bit surprised by John Orlikow's vote though.

- The provincial government has introduced a bill to fulfill their campaign promise to temporarily lift the gas tax. While I understand the populist appeal of this, I disagree with the way it was done. I'd much prefer that they temporarily reduced the PST; that would have helped affordability for everyone, not just the people who drive, and would not incentivized people to buy big stupid trucks because they'll be a bit cheaper to fill up. Perhaps they decided that doing anything with the PST would have reminded people too much of the time the Selinger government increased it back in the day.

- On the other hand, the government is considering deferring their plan to freeze Hydro rates, citing a possible deficit at the Crown utility as a result of the dry summer.

- The RCMP officer who got slapped with his third violation of the force's code of conduct for speaking to a wanted criminal, not arresting him, and lying about it will keep his job. Kinda makes you wonder what it takes to get a Mountie actually fired.

- Real estate investors in BC who jumped on the Airbnb bandwagon are freaking out because the province is making them obey municipal by-laws. Because god forbid that they should have to actually follow the rules.

- BC is, however, deferring plans to require municipalities who want to remove homeless encampments to ensure that there is somewhere for the residents of said encampments to go before doing so. Perhaps they're hoping that the courts will do the work for them, as they did in Waterloo Region earlier this year.

- The people who died in that spectacular crash on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls have been identified. Sure enough, no sign of terrorism, despite what Poilievre said about it at the time. For his part, Poilievre is blaming the media for making him shoot his mouth off.

- Poilievre and his party have voted against a trade agreement with Ukraine, because it makes reference to carbon taxes. He's accusing the Liberals of "imposing" a carbon tax on the downtrodden Ukrainian people, conveniently ignoring the fact that Ukraine has had a carbon tax since 2011. I think his real fear is that it could normalize putting environmental provisions in trade agreements, something he wants to avoid at all costs.

- Peru has lost over half of their glaciers since 1962. This does not bode well for the country's water supply, and we can expect a lot more migrants to show up at the US-Mexican border in coming decades as a result.

- The temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war has taken effect, and the release of hostages has begun. How long it will last remains to be seen; Gwynne Dyer suggests that both the US and Hamas would like to see it become permanent, but that Israel (or at least its government) does not. He does think that the situation could conceivably make a two-state solution possible eventually, though it's hard not to think that this is just wishful thinking. On the other hand, there is the odd vaguely hopeful sign. When a former head of Israel's secret service says that continuing the occupation of the territories could lead to the end of Israel as we know it, maybe Israelis will actually listen. Who knows?

- Geert Wilders is having difficulty putting together a coalition government. Whether he will eventually succeed, or whether sanity will prevail, remains to be seen.