And here we are again, Regina. It’s -2 at the moment on the first day since Sunday, Feb. 12 when it’s not going to get warmer than zero. We all acknowledge that’s not normal for February, right? Anyway, it’s supposed to get up to -1. The sun came up at 7:51 and it sets tonight at 6:30 for total daylight of 10 hours and 36 minutes, which is 3:42 longer than yesterday. Hey, let’s get on with the news.
1. ANOTHER REASON TO NOT SCREW WITH SASKTEL We know it’s likely that any privatization of SaskTel would lead to higher phone bills, lost jobs and permanent loss of government revenue. Add pension problems to that list.
2. THERE’S A NATIONAL FASD CONFERENCE IN TOWN Here’s your chance to learn about the stigma and racism around fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, which doesn’t help anything incidentally. Good read by the Leader-Post’s Ashley Martin.
3. EX-SOLDIERS OF ODIN CO-LEADER BUSTED FOR GUNS Astounding news that no one could’ve seen coming.
4. STANDING ROCK’S GRIM TALLY “At least 1,000 Standing Rock protesters, according to camp medics, have been treated for chemical poisoning, hypothermia, rubber-bullet and “nonlethal” beanbag wounds, and many more serious injuries, all as a direct result of violence from militarized police, who sometimes arrive by the hundreds.” Story here.
5. MARCH OF THE EXOPLANETS NASA found seven more of them, all earth-sized, with three of them in the Goldilocks zone (not too hot, not too cold) for life. Cool.
6. CAN WE NOT MAKE IT LEGAL FOR U.S. CUSTOMS TO DETAIN CANADIANS IN CANADA, MR. TRUDEAU? Seems like a big leap past reasonable “pre-clearance” to me.
7. TRUMP SIGNALS THAT DISCRIMINATING AGAINST TRANS PEOPLE IS OKAY U.S. President Bigotface removes protections for trans students, which will make it easier for repugnant bigots to be shitty to them.
8. CONSERVATIVES OPPRESSING CLIMATE SCIENTISTS Gross. When your friends and relatives trash-talk scientists, make sure you stand up for these heroes of civilization.
9. MASS EXTINCTION: NOT AS UNBELIEVABLY TERRIBLE AS BELIEVED? Life on earth might recover faster than thought after mass extinction events, which by the way we’re currently in and it’s all human-caused (hooray?).
LEGO BATMAN Jorge liked it and the trailers are hilarious so we should all go see it if we haven’t yet.