Ron's News

[Welcome to the monkey house. A daily pastiche of Trumpisms and responses thereto. *RON*]


US-China honeymoon over: Washington sanctions Chinese bank and sells arms to Taiwan, Guardian
Republicans round on Trump over 'bleeding facelift' tweet, BBC
Trump has left a door to the next global economic crisis wide open, Business Insider [on protectionism]
Trump’s road to ‘energy dominance’ excludes clean energy, Think Progress
Trump's Muslim ban comes into effect, Al Jazeera
Trump’s voter-fraud commission wants to know voting history, party ID and address of every voter in the U.S., Washington Post

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[Ontario finance minister warns of looming pot supply crunch. Trudeau team favors low tax rate to undercut black market. *RON*]
Josh Wingrove & Jen Skerritt, Bloomberg, 23 June 2017
The biggest challenge for Justin Trudeau’s forthcoming legal recreational marijuana market is a shortage of pot, the finance minister of Canada’s most-populous province says.

Ontario’s Charles Sousa said a supply crunch was discussed during a meeting with provincial and federal counterparts this week. Canada is aiming to legalize recreational pot in the next 12 months, the first major economy to do so. One analyst said he’s concerned the government could use a supply shortage as an excuse to delay rolling out the program.

“Ultimately the biggest problem that appears after today’s discussion is one of supply,” Sousa said in an interview this week. Finance ministers were told demand is “quite high” for marijuana already in Canada, he said. “So we want to make certai…

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[The sweet humanity of American politics. Probable second degree murder couched as 'out of the box thinking.' This seems to me to be a far more effective way of destroying the US government than a few fake election stories out of Russia. *RON*]

Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post, 28 June 2017


Under a plan by a city council member in Ohio, people who dial 911 seeking help for someone who's overdosing on opioids may start hearing something new from dispatchers: “No.”

In response to the opioid epidemic that swept the nation — including the small city of Middletown,population 50,000 — council member Dan Picard has floated an idea that has been called more of “a cry of frustration” than a legitimate solution.

At a council meeting last week, Picard proposed a three-strikes-style policy for people who repeatedly overdose: Too many overdoses and authorities wouldn't send an ambulance to resuscitate them.

Picard told The Washington Pos…

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[Just a short bit from National Public Radio. No one really knows what this is about yet. But some government critics suspect that President Maduro faked the attack to give him an excuse for a military security crackdown: Venezuela hunts rogue helicopter attackers, Maduro foes suspicious. *RON*]

Rachael Martin, National Public Radio, 28 June 2017
In Venezuela, a helicopter dropped grenades on the Supreme Court building in the latest wave of turmoil to hit the country.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The chaos in Venezuela now extends to the skies over the capital. Yesterday a helicopter appeared over Caracas. Someone inside allegedly opened fire on a government building, and people took cell phone video as the pilot dropped what appeared to be hand grenades.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

All of this happened on an afternoon when pro-government protesters surrounded the National Assembly. Tanks were spotted driving around the presidential p…

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[Banksters. All of them claim it was just a big mistake and no senior managers had any idea it was happening; yet every single one of them was routinely overcharging. Do you believe that? See also: Is your bank ripping you off? Would you even know? *RON*]
Sophia Harris, CBC News, 28 June 2017
On Tuesday, Royal Bank was the last of Canada's five big banks to get slapped with a multi-million dollar penalty for charging customers excess fees for investment products like mutual funds. In some cases, clients were unknowingly overcharged for more than a decade.

The bank will reimburse affected customers $21.8 million worth of investment fees and pay $975,000 to the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to cover the investigation and other charges.

'Every [big] bank was doing it.'— Robb Engen, financial adviser

"We sincerely regret these errors. When we became aware of them, we quickly notified the OSC and took immediate steps to ensu…

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["The new premier and his cabinet will likely be sworn in by the end of July." Thank goodness for that! Another election this soon would have been a widely disliked waste of time and money. See also: Only 15% of B.C. residents want a new election. 55% want NDP and Green Party to form government. It is even true that only a minority of Liberals wanted another election: Just over one-quarter of British Columbians want a snap election: poll. *RON*]
James Keller, Justine Hunter & Mike Hager, Canadian Press / The Globe & Mail, 29 June 2017
The NDP and Greens joined forces to vote down British Columbia’s Liberal government, placing the fate of the legislature in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor

British Columbia’s Lieutenant-Governor has asked the New Democrats to form government, ending 16 years of Liberal rule after a confidence vote in the legislature.

Premier Christy Clark’s resignation ends the political uncertainty that has h…