HellsBelle

Earlier this month, after years of litigation, a federal judge in Alabama ordered a new state senate map. In a surprising decision, the map she chose wasn’t one drafted by a court-appointed special master and his expert cartographer, but rather one that had been submitted by an anonymous member of the public, known only by their initials, “DD”.

The decision stunned “DD” – an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Alabama named Daniel DiDonato – who learned his map had been selected as he was preparing to leave for his 9.30am introduction to political science class.

“I was absolutely surprised,” he said in an interview. “N​​ow, nearly 300,000 Alabamians will be voting under new district lines that I drew up at two in the morning in a dorm, a cramped dorm study room.”

Susie had come to Saskatchewan from North Carolina three months earlier, chasing the promise of healing offered by Dayan Goodenowe and his Dr. Goodenowe Restorative Health Center in Moose Jaw. It’s a private, unregulated facility that claims “a 100 per cent success rate in stopping the progression and in restoring function of people with ALS.”

Goodenowe maintains that every person who enrolls in the program offered at the centre leaves in better condition than when they entered.

In her desperation, Susie put her home up for sale to pay the $84,000 US fee.

But former Goodenowe employees say that as her condition worsened, Goodenowe centre management left Susie to fight for her life on her own — she had to hunt for an American hospital that would install the feeding tube and find a way to get there.

One of those workers, who ended up quitting her job at the Goodenowe centre as a result of how Susie was treated, concluded, “these people had been taking advantage of vulnerable clients like Susie.”

The leading vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a far stricter course for federal vaccine approvals, following claims from his team that Covid vaccines were linked to the deaths of at least 10 children.

Experts suggest the announcement will make the vaccine approval process significantly more difficult.

Dr Vinay Prasad, whose vaccine policy direction has been supported by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, told FDA staff that the agency would rethink its approach to vaccination programs, according to an internal agency email circulated on Friday and later obtained by several media outlets.

The internal memo reportedly stated that a recent review determined at least 10 children had died “after and because of” receiving a Covid vaccine. Prasad noted that these deaths appeared tied to myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

A PBS NewsHour correspondent first reported on the memo’s contents in a post on X. The New York Times noted that the document did not include identifying details such as the children’s ages, any existing health conditions, or how the causal relationship between vaccination and death was determined. The vaccine manufacturers involved were also not named.

In a scene reminiscent of the film “Groundhog Day,” the U.S. Navy has canceled the Constellation-class frigate program, with only the first two ships, which are already under construction, scheduled for completion.

The program was terminated due to production delays, escalating costs, and design challenges stemming from adapting a foreign design to meet U.S. requirements. The funds from the canceled frigates will be reallocated to other ships that can be produced more quickly.

The Constellation-class frigate program was intended to be a “low-risk” approach, basically a slam-dunk to building a new frigate, but it underwent significant changes to its Italian FREMM-based design, making it heavier, more expensive, and less aligned with its original blueprints.

The end of November used to mean something.

It wasn't just that the festive season was mere weeks away, or that Black Friday shopping madness was imminent, but that something fun and exciting was about to drop at any moment: Spotify Wrapped.

But this year, the internet is uncharacteristically quiet during the period when Spotify Wrapped typically appears. The lack of anticipation comes during a challenging time for the streaming platform, as it faces backlash on such issues as artist compensation, AI-generated music and ICE recruitment ads.

First, there's artist compensation. Spotify has long been criticized for its dismal payouts to artists. Earlier this year, some Grammy-nominated songwriters even boycotted a Spotify awards event in response to the company’s decision to reduce royalty rates for songwriters and publishers by merging its premium music service with audiobooks last year.

Then there was the outcry around Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek’s investment in Helsing, a German defence company. When the news broke that the CEO had been funding the AI military tech company through his investment firm Prima Materia, indie artists like Massive Attack, Deerhoof and Godspeed You! Black Emperor pulled their music from the platform in protest during the summer.

Witnessing the ongoing public debate about fighter jets and submarines this fall has felt a lot like watching people argue over baseball, hockey or some other team sport.

Naturally, it has been particularly uncompromising online where the characteristics and quirks of each aircraft and boat have been analyzed to the nth degree with the kind of fan worship usually reserved for pro franchises.

Wrapping our heads around what’s needed to properly secure and defend the Arctic, Wark said, will be an excellent starting point for institutions that have been inwardly focused for the last several years.

“It's going to be a major defence commitment for Canada, and is going to impose all kinds of new ways of thinking about the equipment that the Canadian Armed Forces needs, the training it needs, infrastructure it needs, the planning it needs, the intelligence it needs,” said Wark, who believes the crisis in Eastern Europe over Ukraine will also force more strategic consideration.

“I think that's going to impose a lot of discipline that otherwise wasn't there.”

Ticketmaster has given fans of Olivia Dean partial refunds after the British singer condemned ticketing companies for allowing touts to relist tickets for her North American tour at more than 14 times their face value.

After the tour sold out in minutes on 21 November and tickets appeared on resale sites at prices in excess of $1,000, Dean addressed the major ticketing companies on Instagram: “@Ticketmaster @Livenation @AEGPresents you are providing a disgusting service,” she wrote. “The prices at which you’re allowing tickets to be re-sold is vile and completely against our wishes. Live music should be affordable and accessible and we need to find a new way of making that possible. BE BETTER.”

In a statement, Michael Rapino, CEO of Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation Entertainment, said: “We share Olivia’s desire to keep live music accessible and ensure fans have the best access to affordable tickets. While we can’t require other marketplaces to honour artists’ resale preferences, we echo Olivia’s call to ‘do better’ and have taken steps to lead by example.”

Donald Trump has declared he intends to cancel most of the executive orders signed by Joe Biden, his predecessor as president of the United States.

In a post on social media, Trump claimed baselessly that Biden had not signed off on the orders himself, saying that “the radical left lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him” by signing his name using an autopen – a signature machine that has commonly been used by US presidents since the device’s invention.

“The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States,” Trump said, baselessly alleging that it was operated by other people without Biden’s approval and claiming that “approximately 92%” of all executive orders were therefore invalid.

Cathy Woodgate didn’t live to see the outcome of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal inquiry that bears her name.

She died in September 2021 from muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disorder that had plagued her since childhood. As a student Woodgate was the slowest in her class, and she later told her children about a gym teacher who hit her with basketballs and yardsticks when she lagged, resulting in low self-esteem and a lifelong aversion to physical activity.

The RCMP investigated the former teacher following allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by former students at two northern B.C. schools. While that investigation didn’t result in charges, it eventually led to the case now before the federal human rights tribunal. Woodgate et al. v. RCMP is an inquiry into the RCMP’s handling of the investigation, which First Nations complainants say was incomplete and racially biased.

Since the complaint was referred to the tribunal for inquiry in 2020, three of six complainants — all of whom are members of Lake Babine Nation — have died.

Newfoundland and Labrador's new PC government says it will not honour a previous commitment by the former Liberal-led government to allocate thousands of taxpayers' dollars to the Amelia Earhart statue project in Harbour Grace.

What's more, the new minister of Women and Gender Equality, Helen Conway Ottenheimer, is describing attempts by Liberal Pam Parsons — the MHA for Harbour Grace-Port de Grave — to pressure and embarrass the new government as “disingenuous.”

Conway Ottenheimer would not agree to a recorded interview, but in a written statement, said "since the statue was found and is now being restored, this funding is no longer required."

The incident prompted national media attention, and various sources — including the town, businesses and anonymous donors — raised a $25,000 reward for information leading to the return of the work of art by Luben Boykov, and the conviction of those responsible.

At the time, the Liberals were the governing party and Parsons was the Women and Gender Equality Minister.

In a recent article about the United States' strained relationships with other countries, Time Magazine included a made-up quote from Canadian satire site The Beaverton — seemingly as fact.

In the Oct. 1 article about the United States' eroding alliances, there’s a section that references U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra’s recent appearance at an event hosted by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

At the event, Hoekstra voiced his disappointment with the anti-American sentiment that's spread across Canada in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his quips about Canada becoming the 51st state.

Time quoted Hoekstra: "'A Canada that it would be very easy to target with 500% steel tariffs, or one patriot missile aimed at Parliament Hill,’ he added, rather incredulously.'"

Except Hoekstra didn’t say that — The Beaverton, a satirical news site in Canada akin to The Onion, made it up for this article titled, "US Ambassador threatens to tariff, annex, and bomb Canada if anti-American sentiment doesn’t improve."

When Canada Border Services Agency and Calgary police descended on the city’s new arena construction site last month in a search for undocumented workers, there were immediate concerns.

The action came as reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ raids on workplaces dominated the news.

The Oct. 15 action in Calgary saw workers lined up outside the construction site and required to show identification. Four workers without proper documentation were not permitted to return to work.

But Irene Bloemraad, a sociology professor at the University of British Columbia and a co-director of UBC’s Centre for Migration Studies, noted the involvement of the Calgary Police Service.

She said it raises questions about whether police should be doing immigration enforcement. In the United States, she said, it’s common that police departments don’t want to engage with immigration enforcement because it destroys trust with immigrant communities.