The Catch-All: ICYMI June 29-July 5

Happy weekend, all. Hope you had a good week. I appeared on the Blueprints of Disruption podcast t0 discuss talking points surrounding Just Stop Oil's actions at Stonehenge. Check it out and have a listen.

Other than that, this new job isn't leaving much time (right now, at least) for my journalism. So if you'd like to help fund my work, please consider signing up for a paid subscription. But if you're not in a position to do so, that's fine! Please share this newsletter with anybody you think may enjoy it. It's hard to juggle a full-time job with journalism, so I'd like to be able to make it a more viable option as soon as possible. Thanks for reading.

News Round-up

Ontario

Doug Ford would upset nearly half of all Ontarians with an early $150-million election, poll suggests, Robert Benzie, Toronto Star (Jun. 29)

Doug Ford's 'red-tape' cuts save Ontario developers $400M a year, Mike Crawley, CBC News (Jul. 2)

Who helped Therme secure Ontario Place, Charlie Pinkerton, The Trillium (Jul. 3)

Union says ‘we can weather a strike as long as necessary’ as all LCBO locations shut down, Josh Rubin and Jacques Gallant, Toronto Star (Jul. 5)

Canada

Crypto operations suck water, but Canadian governments aren't monitoring how much, Brishti Basu, National Observer (Jul. 2)

Public Safety Saw No Evidence Linking Palestine Rallies To ‘Hamas Call’, Alex Cosh, The Maple (Jul. 4)

Calgary daycare closes due to E. coli case, Lauryn Heintz, CityNews (Jul. 4)

Head of Canada's spy agency announces he's stepping down from the job, Benjamin Lopez Stevwn, CBC News (Jul. 4)

US

Supreme Court rules ex-presidents have broad immunity, dimming chance of a pre-election Trump trial, Mark Sherman, Associated Press (Jul. 1)

Biden administration proposes new heat protections for workers, Justine Calma, The Verge (Jul. 2)

White supremacist groups must pay more than $2 million in damages to ‘Unite the Right’ victims, appeals court rules, Nic F. Anderson and Lauren Rapp, CNN (Jul. 3)

Some Democrats say Biden's debate performance wasn't an anomaly, Peter Nicholas, Scott Wong and Julie Tsirkin, NBC News (Jul. 4)

World

China’s tech firms vow crackdown on online hate speech after knife attack, Amy Hawkins, The Guardian (Jul. 1)

France’s Muslims fear for their futures as Le Pen’s far right party surges, Sania Mahyou, Al Jazeera (Jul. 2)

Pakistan will continue attacks in Afghanistan - minister, Farhat Javed, BBC News (Jul. 2)

Germany admits to genocide for the first time in 120 years, Shelleygan Petersen and Charmaine Ngatjiheue, The Namibian (Jul. 3)

Earth’s core has slowed so much it’s moving backward, scientists confirm. Here’s what it could mean, Mindy Weisberger, CNN (Jul. 5)

Labour wins big but the UK’s electoral system is creaking, Paula Surridge, The Guardian (Jul. 5)

Israel-Palestine

‘More horrific than Abu Ghraib’: Lawyer recounts visit to Israeli detention center, Baker Zoubi, 972 Magazine (Jun. 27)

How Israel destroyed Gaza's ability to feed itself, Mohammed Hussein and Mohammed Haddad, Al Jazeera (Jul. 2)

Israel turbocharges West Bank settlement expansion with largest land grab in decades, Julia Frankel, Associated Press (Jul. 3)

Hezbollah fires 200 rockets and drones into Israel, David Gritten, BBC News (Jul. 4)

COVID

Masks reintroduced at hospitals over rise in Covid, Shannen Headley, BBC News (Jul. 2)

(New Zealand) Covid-19 sick leave for health workers set to go, RNZ (Jul. 4)

B.C. COVID hospitalizations at highest level since January, Ian Holliday, CTV News (Jul. 4)

Infective SARS-CoV-2 in Skull Sawdust at Autopsy, Finland, Jonas N. Kantonen et al., CDC

Tech

Cloudflare is taking a stand against AI website scrapers, Anna Washenko, Engadget (Jul. 3)

Google’s Emissions Shot Up 48% Over Five Years Due to AI, Rachel Metz, Bloomberg (Jul. 2)

Google: AI Potentially Breaking Reality Is a Feature Not a Bug, Emanuel Maiberg, 404 Media (Jul. 3)

AV Corner

Podcast: Forget Stonehenge - the Planet is on Fire - Blueprints of Disruption
Video: AI Is Ruining the Internet - Drew Gooden
Music: The Moon Is In The Wrong Place - Shannon & The Clams