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Mar 30 2023

Kremlin’s Twitter. Smith meddles. Bogus bomb threats.

Mar 30, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada

Humanitarian groups are giving Tuesday's federal budget a thumbs down, saying it will create a backslide in progress and fighting disease and hunger abroad. [Nanaimo News]

The study tracked Russian information-warfare campaigns it said were tailored to Canadian audiences on Twitter. [Globe and Mail]

Leela Aheer is eyeing a move to federal politics, months after she announced she wouldn't seek re-election with the UCP. [Calgary Herald]
Hurricane Fiona, which battered Atlantic Canada last year, and the increasing instances of catastrophic weather demonstrate the need for a national flood insurance program.
From the provinces
Alberta Spotlight: Smith and UCP lead as the NDP fights in Calgary to convert warmth for Notley into votes
Majority of Albertans 35 and over say they intend to vote UCP; NDP leads among 18- to 34-year-olds. But the big picture from pollster Angus Reid Institute is for all decided + leaning voters: UCP 49% | NDP 42%. [Angus Reid Institute]
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke to a pastor just weeks before his criminal trial on pandemic-related charges, promising she would again discuss his case with justice officials, beyond the pleas she had already made on COVID-related prosecutions.  If you thought Justin Trudeau went over the line in the SNC-Lavalin matter, well, ....  [CBC]
Don Braid: Premier Danielle Smith's video call with pastor Artur Pawlowski steps over so many boundaries that the initial uproar seems almost quaint. [Calgary Herald]
Debate sees parties agree on the need to preserve farmland, lower Confederation Bridge tolls

Chinese officials expressed concerns about a visit by Tibetan independence figures. Then another event involving Tibetan monks was refused. [Vancouver Sun]
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Elsewhere
Russia's top security agency said Evan Gershkovich was detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information. [Global]

"... something has changed in Beijing that policymakers and business leaders worldwide cannot afford to ignore. If Xi says he is readying for war, it would be foolish not to take him at his word." [Foreign Affairs]

The journalist and two activists targeted by the harassment campaign believe it is backed by Beijing. [Axios]

Greece’s center-right prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called a May 21 general election Tuesday as his party’s long-standing lead in opinion polls has declined in the aftermath of the country’s worst train disaster . [AP]

Clearview AI has been used by the police nearly a million times in the US, it tells the BBC. [BBC]
Media

A Q&A with Poynter’s Kelly McBride on her Transforming Crime Coverage course and why newsrooms need to change. [Poynter]
Tech

A group of technology industry executives and academics have signed an open letter calling for at least a six-month pause on large, open experiments with artificial intelligence. [NBC]

For R users, a workshop to be held on April 27.
The Klarus HC3 gets bright enough for all my illumination needs, but this one special feature puts it at the top for me. Except it ain't $17 here in Canada. Just looked it up on Amazon.ca and I can get one of these for CDN$50.  [ZDNet]
Issued this day ...
... in 2004: Sc 2031a: Urban Transit/Light Rail. Design: Dennis L'Allier.
Canada Post news release on day of issue : "The four stamps are being issued on the 50th anniversary of Canada's first subway, which opened in Toronto in 1954. They portray in correct detail the trains, station names and logos of rapid transit systems in four Canadian cities: Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver." You have to look closely but there are really four stamps there, stacked one on top of the other.
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