Elon Musk: America’s bogus tech visionary

It’s July 13th, 2021, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk wanders nonchalantly from Delaware’s Court of Chancery to his personal Model X. He’s just taken to the stand to defend the EV company’s $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity back in 2016, after some of Tesla’s shareholders filed a lawsuit against him.

They claimed the merger possessed major conflicts of interest with the Musk family and that it had failed to deliver the profits Musk had promised.

Share

Russian food firm VkusVill triggers row over lesbian family ad

Russian health food chain VkusVill has triggered a storm of criticism on social media for posting an online advertisement showing a lesbian family, then removing it and apologising.

There was anger from those for and against the ad, which ran on VkusVill’s website under the slogan “Recipes for family happiness”.

The firm said the ad was intended for people aged 18 and above.

Share

MALCOLM: The full facts are needed on the Kamloops discovery

Canadians almost universally agree that First Nations people were mistreated in the past and deserve reconciliation, and that much work is left to be done to achieve greater levels of freedom and opportunity for those in First Nations communities.

For that to happen though, we must make sure we pay attention to the full picture and full report of what has been found at Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, also known as the Kamloops Indian Band.

Share

Buckingham Palace banned ethnic minorities from office roles, papers reveal

The Queen’s courtiers banned “coloured immigrants or foreigners” from serving in clerical roles in the royal household until at least the late 1960s, according to newly discovered documents that will reignite the debate over the British royal family and race.

The documents also shed light on how Buckingham Palace negotiated controversial clauses – that remain in place to this day – exempting the Queen and her household from laws that prevent race and sex discrimination.

The papers were discovered at the National Archives as part of the Guardian’s ongoing investigation into the royal family’s use of an arcane parliamentary procedure, known as Queen’s consent, to secretly influence the content of British laws.

Share

Ontario to move patients from hospitals to long-term care without their consent due to COVID-19 third wave

With an amendment to the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, the province will be able to move hospital patients to long-term care homes or retirements homes, provided their doctor agrees their medical needs can be met in that setting, without the patient’s consent or the consent of their substitute decision maker.

Share

Ontario police can now ID children to enforce new restrictions

Police in Ontario say the province has given them the power to ID anyone gathering in public – even if they are children.

“If [police] see something like that going on,” Peel Regional Police spokeswoman Const. Danny Marttini said of gatherings, “they would ask to identify all parties that are participating.”

Share