ICYMI this week ...
A weekly round-up of news featured at the Daily News podcast
You should buy The Walrus this month. I have a feature in it (my first for the Walrus in print! I’ve been writing for them for a decade and it’s my first time in print! Wild!)
The piece looks at how deaths are counted in a warzone, and how casualty counters have never seen anything as devastating and swiftly murderous as what’s happening in Gaza. Gaza has broken the mold — the deaths have come too fast to be able to use the techniques honed during the war against ISIS to track death tolls as they compare to the official line.
One thing is certain, we are likely to not know the true death toll for many, many years.
One note — there is a line that refers to the “Hamas-led massacre” of October 7. I don’t think that the evidence of what is known about what happened on October 7, or anything that has happened since, points to Hamas’ desire to do a massacre. Kidnapping hostages, yes, but not specifically to go out and do a massacre. This word was originally “attack” — as in, after the Hamas-led attack. It was changed after I had signed off on the copy and the magazine disagreed with my argument for it to be changed back on-line.
It’s rough out there to write about Gaza and there a very minor example of how.
Here are the headlines featured on this week’s Daily News podcast.
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw chiefs oppose new fracking law, considering legal action
Québec
Centres de la petite enfance : la grève prolongée jusqu’à mardi
Quebec awards new contract to install Elon Musk’s Starlink despite tariff conflict
La Cour d’appel entendra la contestation de l’action collective contre Robert Miller
Week-end meurtrier pour le SPVM
Manitoba
Landfill search to include another First Nations woman last seen in 2011 | APTN News
Alberta
Ontaro
Charges dropped against three more accused in Indigo 11 case, while two more plead guilty
Watch: Disturbing video shows jail guards carrying out violent, hours-long retribution at Maplehurst
National
$1.2M lost across Canada in complex, fake Amazon job investment scam
Tamara Lich, Chris Barber found guilty of mischief at ‘Freedom Convoy’ mischief trial
Legal group draws ire for cancelling humanitarian advocate's speech over his stance on Gaza
Conservatives drop second election candidate in one day
United Nations report recommends Canada repeal MAID for people without terminal illnesses
Canadian company bypasses UN agency and seeks U.S. approval to start deep-sea mining
International
Volkswagen, Stellantis and other carmakers hit with $495 million EU cartel fine
At least 16 killed as two refugee boats sink off Turkiye and Greece
Haiti taking more steps against gangs after thousands of protesters demand security
US approves sale of 20 F-16 fighter jets worth $5.58bn to Philippines
Gabon junta leader Nguema seeks democratic legitimacy in post-coup vote
Devastating Myanmar earthquake seen as omen of military regime’s demise
China, Japan and South Korea to strengthen free trade
Spanish mine explosion kills five workers, injures four
‘Eid of sadness': Palestinians in Gaza mark Muslim holiday with dwindling food and no end to war
As usual several stories here that should have been on CBC’s “Your Pretend World Tonight” (which is all the cbc news I take in).
As for the “attack” to “massacre” switcheroo, it seems to have made it easier for Mastracci to say on X that the article “accepts the long-since debunked Israeli narrative as is” though he may have said that regardless. I responded that your piece did “good work on a hostile platform” and pointed out the 20 to 1 thing. Got a couple likes.