GD's Political Animal: December 2022

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Trudeau flags symbolize growing polarization

Canada's former Opposition Leader Erin O'Toole decries the flying of "F*ck Trudeau" flags, and current Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre weighs in on video.

(Dis)Ordered Liberty | Blue Skies - Erin O'Toole, Substack

Maksim Sokolov Freedom Convoy protesters, Ottawa, Feb. 12, 2022. CC BY-SA, Wikimedia Commons.

December 29, 2022 - "One of the hopes I have for 2023 is to see fewer profanity laden Trudeau flags across Canada. I say this as the person who ran against Justin Trudeau in the last general election and someone who remains very critical of his record in government. But as I told my kids during that national campaign, Mr. Trudeau was my political opponent not my enemy. These flags and the hyper-aggressive rhetoric that often accompanies them are slowly normalizing rage and damaging our democracy. Since so many people that display the flags claim to be conservative, this might also be an appropriate time to tell them that these flags are the very antithesis of what it means to be conservative.

"The proliferation of these types of political displays in recent years [is] a sign that we are slowly becoming desensitized to political stunts and aggressive rhetoric whether it comes from the left or right. In fact, the extremes appear to be playing off one another as they frame the debate around the motivations of political leaders. The extreme left claimed Stephen Harper was destroying Canada and the extreme right claims Justin Trudeau is a traitor....

"‘Stop Harper’ signs from a decade ago have become ‘F… Trudeau’ flags today. ‘Shut Down Canada’ blockades of rail and pipelines three years ago inspired the ‘Freedom Convoy’ blockades of borders and cities this year. The ‘cancel culture’ of the woke left is increasingly being met with the free speech puritanism of the populist right. One side will bemoan the actions of the other, yet they will replicate it and often up the ante in the process. The individuals involved ... believe their actions are noble because they get validation from the political tribe they are a part of. Increasingly, they don’t even hear an opposing viewpoint and polarization is leading their tribes to abandon attempts to persuade and change minds. It is far easier to just reinforce views and lock in the minds you already have.

"There are many reasons for the rise in polarization in the last decade. One element is the influence from the American political scene.... Social media and their secretive algorithms are also a major culprit as they promote louder voices, harden positions and make political compromise nearly impossible. The pandemic has also caused deep strains on our society. It began with the fear, uncertainty and isolation of the first year of the pandemic and was followed by the frustration and division stemming from lockdown fatigue and vaccine mandates in the second. Globalization has also been unraveling all around us further widening the gulf between the rich and poor and inflaming urban-rural tensions....

"The causes of polarization are many and most are likely not going to change.... Canadians seem to be getting used to this high level of polarization in our country. Too many people just shrug and ignore the rise in aggressive language, the social media pile-ons and the elimination of informed debate. This tone of division and mistrust is slowly becoming the new normal in politics. "This is why I believe it is the duty of elected officials to try and bridge these divides as much as possible. On the left and right, it is our duty to resist the pull towards the extremes and to try and focus the political debate on real issues and solutions....

"The philosophical origins of modern conservatism can be traced to the speeches, writing and political career of Edmund Burke.... Burkean conservatism is built upon the concept of ‘ordered liberty’. Burke expressed it well in one of his best known speeches to his constituents: 'The distinguishing part of our Constitution is its liberty.... But the liberty, the only liberty, I mean is a liberty connected with order: that not only exists along with order and virtue, but which cannot exist at all 'without them. It inheres in good and steady government, as in its substance and vital principle.'

"Ordered liberty imposes a positive obligation upon the individual to respect the liberties of others through their own good conduct. Individual liberty requires a cohesive society built upon cardinal virtues, the rule of law and a prudent approach to change to meet the needs of society. Ordered liberty does not lend itself to rash action, nor does it tolerate disorderly conduct. As Burke once said, '[r]age and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour, then prudence, deliberation and foresight can build up in a hundred years'.

"This is why the rage underlying the flags bothers me so much.... Rather than being the cri de coeur for freedom that people displaying the flags believe them to be, they are actually a slow erosion of it. I also hope that we see the moderate majority shake off its complacency and demand more serious debate to ensure we find solutions to address the real feelings of dislocation that are embodied in the flags and other symbols. The Harper signs and the Trudeau flags are the broken windows of political discourse and if we don’t start to fix them, the neighbourhood will continue to deteriorate."

Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre's thoughts on That Flag, Canada Wide News, December 30, 2022:

Friday, December 30, 2022

The story of the Crimson Contagion

One of the mysteries of the Covid-19 pandemic is why so many governments quickly discarded their existing pandemic plans and opted to lock down instead. The story of the Crimson Contation may shed some light on how that

What Is Crimson Contagion? | Brownstone Institute - Jeffrey A. Tucker:

December 22, 2022 - "The lockdowns of March 2020 shocked the American people and most public health agencies, not to mention infectious disease doctors. The idea of school shutdowns, business closures, plus mandatory remote work and other restrictions have previously seemed inconceivable. It was especially remarkable to have such an 'all-of-government' response to a virus that we already knew posed a threat mainly to the elderly and infirm. Issues like public-health precedent, American legal tradition, and medical knowledge about dealing with respiratory viruses, not to mention natural immunity and collateral damage of lockdowns, were all thrown out the window.

"Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s book The Real Anthony Fauci mentions a tabletop exercise called Crimson Contagion that ran from January through August, 2019. I had not previously heard of it and I found the mention remarkable, simply because it proves that not everyone was shocked by lockdowns. They were not part of official planning documents of either the CDC or WHO but they were clearly in the plans of someone.

"I’ve only followed up on this report in light of growing focus on the person who coordinated Crimson Contagion: Robert Kadlec, who served in the Trump administration as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, Preparedness and Response. It was he who also ran the Covid response between HHS and the Department of Homeland Security. Kadec’s lifetime government service (and, yes, he is said to be CIA) extends all the way back to the G.W. Bush administration when in 2007 he took the position of Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Biodefense Policy on the Homeland Security Council from 2007 to 2009. The very notion of lockdowns originated in that administration.

"The 2019 tabletop exercise involved a huge number of public-sector agencies across all states plus many private-sector associations. It postulated a disease scenario in which a respiratory virus begins in China and spreads around the world by air travelers. It is first detected in Chicago. The World Health Organization declares a pandemic 47 days later. But then it was too late: 110 million Americans became sick, with 7.7 million hospitalized and 586,000 dead.

"The conclusion of the exercise was that government was not well prepared for a pandemic and urged more planning and fast acting to implement what we now call lockdowns as we await a vaccine. Presumably, the vaccine then fixes everything.

"The public knew nothing of this exercise until March 19, 2020, when the New York Times reported on it for the first time. This was one day following the detailed release of stay-at-home orders by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The next day, National Public Radio also ran a report on Crimson Contagion. The Times reported:

> The Crimson Contagion planning exercise run last year by the Department of Health and Human Services involved officials from 12 states and at least a dozen federal agencies. They included the Pentagon, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Security Council. Groups like the American Red Cross and American Nurses Association were invited to join, as were health insurance companies and major hospitals like the Mayo Clinic.

The war game-like exercise was overseen by Robert P. Kadlec, a former Air Force physician who has spent decades focused on biodefense issues. After stints on the Bush administration’s Homeland Security Council and the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was appointed assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for Preparedness and Response.

"Also participating were former Trump administration officials Rex Tillerson (Secretary of State, 2017-2018) and John F. Kelly, who was White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2019. The NYT even ran a picture of the two of them at the event.

"Here are some direct quotes from the October 2019 report of Crimson Contagion:

The exercise revealed several workforce protection challenges under conditions where medical countermeasures, such as the pandemic vaccine, antiviral medications, and personal protective equipment, are limited. To protect the public prior to vaccine distribution, public health officials issued guidance on the implementation of nonpharmaceutical interventions intended to slow the spread of the virus.

In keeping with non-pharmaceutical intervention recommendations, employers – including government entities – sought to practice social distancing by having a significant portion of their employees work remotely. Employers encountered cascading impacts associated with making, communicating, and implementing such work-distancing decisions.

At multiple levels of government, officials wrestled with identifying employees who are essential and those who are nonessential in the context of an incident forecasted to span many months. In addition, officials faced challenges in determining which employees could perform their duties remotely and hierarchical organizations, such as state and federal departments and agencies, were uncertain as to the process for determining and implementing remote-workforce decisions.

Also:

During the exercise, CDC recommended that states delay school openings for six weeks, a follow-up to the initial (pre-exercise) recommendation that states delay the opening of schools for two weeks if the disease is present in the area. Many local jurisdictions and school districts have the authority to decide to close schools (or keep schools open). This distributed approach to school closure decisions caused confusion centered on discrepancies between schools that remained open and those that closed. In addition, while school delays and dismissals may be necessary over the course of the pandemic response, state participants identified any continued school delays and dismissals as having serious cascading impacts that require a concerted public messaging campaign and government coordination. Multiple states realized that dismissing schools is much more complex than they previously appreciated....

"This exercise took place entirely out of the public eye but had strangely prescient foretelling of events only 5 months later. Kadlec, who had organized the entire tabletop exercise, was also later the author of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions report: An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which came out earlier this year. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., reports: 'second only to his longtime crony and comrade in arms Anthony Fauci, Robert Kadlec played a historic leadership role in fomenting the contagious logic that infectious disease posed a national security threat requiring a militarized response.' He is the signer of the report to HHS, in a letter dated December 9, 2019....:

"By the time of this letter, US intelligence already knew of the Wuhan virus. Four months later, US lockdowns began, starting with the March 8th cancellation of South-by-Southwest by the Austin, Texas mayor, and extending to the March 12th imposition of travel restrictions, the March 13 takeover by FEMA, and the March 16th press conference by Trump, Fauci, and Deborah Birx, which announced nationwide lockdowns....

"The lockdowns – to which Trump agreed only reluctantly and were extended far past the point in which he believed they would control the virus – were the most ruinous of the administration. Trump’s pollsters for 2020 all agreed that these lockdowns created the conditions that drove him from office.

"What does it all mean? Perhaps it is all just a series of coincidental data points, that what is called the worst pandemic in 100 years came only a few months after an elaborate multi-agency trial run of the same in which former high officials of the Trump administration participated. And perhaps the best person to run the Covid response also happened to be the very person who organized and managed the trial run in the previous season.

"Many people will surely say there is nothing to see here. There is so much not to see these days."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Major tax hikes forecast for Canada in 2023

Canadians to see five major tax hikes in 2023: taxpayers group | Cosmin Dzsurdzsa:

December 28, 2022 - "The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has sounded the alarm about five incoming tax hikes in 2023. Tax hikes will include a carbon tax increase, an alcohol escalator tax, hikes to Employment Insurance and more, according to the report New Year’s Tax Changes.

"'Tax hikes will give Canadians a hangover in the new year,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano. 'Canadians can’t afford gas or groceries and the government is making things worse by hiking taxes.'

"The Canada Pension Plan will see increases of up to $225 for employers, meanwhile Employment Insurance contributions will go up about $50 for workers and $70 for employers. On average Canadians can expect to pay payroll taxes of up to $4,756 a year beginning next year.

"'The federal government is raising the basic personal amount for income taxes. However, because of the payroll tax hikes, anyone making $40,000 or more in 2023 will pay higher federal income-based taxes than in 2022,' the CTF explained in a press release.

"Two carbon tax hikes will also be in effect. The federal carbon tax will go up by 14 cents per litre of gas beginning on April 1, 2023 costing households up to $847 with rebates taken into account. Beginning on July 1, 2023 the Liberal fuel regulation carbon tax will go into effect charing up to 13 cents per litre by 2030....

"Additionally, taxes on alcohol will go up by 6.3% in April of next year. While touring eastern Canada, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre blasted the Liberal government over the alcohol tax.... 'So, if the carbon tax is enough to drive you to drink, well you’ll pay more tax when you do that too,' said Poilievre while at a local brewery."

Ottawa spends while Canadians pay (ft. Franco Terrazzano), True North, November 11, 2022

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

China to reopen borders to international travel

China to scrap quarantine for inbound travellers as COVID-19 rules ease further | CBC News _ Thomson Reuters:

December 27, 2022 - "People in China who have been cut off from the rest of the world for three years by COVID-19 restrictions flocked to travel sites on Tuesday ahead of borders reopening, even as rising infections strained the health system and roiled the economy. Zero-tolerance measures — from shuttered borders to frequent lockdowns — have battered China's economy since early 2020, fuelling last month the mainland's biggest show of public discontent since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012. His policy U-turn this month means the virus is now spreading largely unchecked across the country of 1.4 billion people.

"Official statistics, however, showed only one COVID-19 death in the seven days up to Monday, fuelling doubts among health experts and residents about the government's data. The numbers are inconsistent with the experience of much less populous countries after they reopened....

"Doctors say hospitals are overwhelmed with five to six times more patients than usual, most of them elderly. International health experts estimate millions of daily infections and predict at least one million COVID-19 deaths in China next year. Nevertheless, authorities are determined to dismantle the last vestiges of their zero-COVID-19 policies.

"In a major step toward easing border curbs cheered by global stock markets on Tuesday, China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission (NHC) said late on Monday.... There are no official restrictions on Chinese people going abroad but the new rule will make it much easier for them to return home.

"Data from travel platform Ctrip showed that within half an hour of the news, searches for popular cross-border destinations on had increased tenfold. Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, South Korea were the most sought-after, Ctrip said. Data from Trip.com showed outbound flight bookings were up 254 per cent early on Tuesday from the day before.

"China's classification of COVID-19 will also be downgraded to the less strict Category B from the current top-level Category A from Jan. 8, the health authority said, meaning authorities will no longer be compelled to quarantine patients and close contacts and impose lockdowns....

"But for all the excitement of a gradual return to a pre-pandemic way of life, there was mounting pressure on the health-care system, with doctors saying many hospitals are overwhelmed while funeral parlors report a surge in demand for their services.... Nurses and doctors have been asked to work while sick and retired medical workers in rural communities were being rehired to help, state media reported. Some cities have been struggling to secure supplies of anti-fever drugs....

"While the world's second-largest economy is expected to see a sharp rebound later next year, it is in for a rough ride in the coming weeks and months as workers increasingly fall ill. Many shops in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere have closed in recent days with staff unable to come to work, while some factories have already sent many of their workers on leave for the late January Lunar New Year holidays....

"Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country would require a negative COVID-19 test for travellers from mainland China. The government would also limit airlines increasing flights to China, he said.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Unity Convoy meeting in Winnipeg in February

'Unity' Freedom Convoy to gather in Winnipeg in 2023 | Western STandard - Matthew Horwood:

December 25, 2022 - "The second iteration of the Freedom Convoy, dubbed the 'World Unity Convoy' will gather in Winnipeg, MB from February 17 to 21 to celebrate the Freedom movement's achievements of the previous year.

"'We will be inviting groups from all over the nation to join us in unity for a better future for children across the world and within Canada,' announced convoy organizer 'BigBear' during a Facebook livestream on Christmas day. 'We're going to be inviting whoever wants to join us — multicultural and multi-spiritual — on this journey, and we'll be updating you as we go.'

"The organizers said the World Unity Convoy is being held in Winnipeg because it's the "middle point in Canada," allowing people from coast to coast to join in.... BigBear acknowledged that the World Unity Convoy was initially supposed to be held in Ottawa, ON again. But last week, Ottawa's new police chief Eric Stubbs said there will not be a repeat of the 2022 protest that took over the city's downtown for three weeks....

"That led World Unity Convoy organizer and independent journalist Andy Lee to notify the Ontario Provincial Police that they likely wouldn't be gathering in the nation's capital again. 'The likelihood of the Freedom Convoy returning to Ottawa in February is very low at this point,' she said. However, James Bauder, the founder of Canada Unity, claimed a World Unity Convoy will drive past Ottawa on the Highway 417, allowing Ottawans to join in....

"Lee said next year's convoy will not take the form of a protest, but will be a 'commemoration and celebration of achievements.' 'I’m sure there will be elements that protest, but that is not [the organizers'] core objective,' she told the Western Standard.

"The original Freedom Convoy, which was formed to protest COVID-19 vaccine border mandates, played a crucial role in pushing federal and provincial government to lift pandemic restrictions."

Andrew Lawton on the Legacy of Canada’s 2022 ‘Freedom Convoy’, Quillette podcast, December 9, 2022:

Monday, December 26, 2022

U.S. deep state closely tied to Twitter

Recent Twitter Files revelations show strong links between the U.S. deep state and social media.

Twitter’s top ranks riddled with ex-FBI employees | New York Post - Jon Levine:

December 17, 2022 - "Twitter’s top ranks were riddled with ex-FBI agents and executives, stitching the company even closer to the federal agency now under fire for leaning on Twitter to meddle in the 2020 elections. More than a dozen former feds flocked to the company in the months and years prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of the social network in October. The Post found FBI influence was considerably more significant than just James Baker, the FBI’s former general counsel who later worked in the same role for Twitter.... In some cases, the former G-men and -women held positions that would have put them close to company leadership directly involved in censoring The Post’s Hunter Biden coverage in October 2020.

"Matthew Williams spent more than 15 years with the FBI, working mostly out of Seattle, where he served most recently as an intelligence program manager and senior supervisory intelligence analyst. Williams joined Twitter in June 2020 — the same month as Baker — as a 'senior director of product trust,' according to his LinkedIn. In June 2022 he moved into a more expansive position as 'senior director of product trust, revenue policy, counsel systems & analytics at Twitter'.... Williams gave small but consistent amounts to Democrats running for federal office during his years at the company, Federal Election Commission records show.
"Dawn Burton, a former federal prosecutor who served as deputy chief of staff to FBI boss James Comey, joined Twitter in September 2019 as director of strategy and operations and counsel organization, according to her LinkedIn and Bloomberg.... As a Comey insider, Burton would have been close to the agency’s Hillary Clinton email investigation as well as its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. She continued to serve in her role after Comey’s ouster in May 2017 and the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. She also donated to Democrats. Burton left Twitter in July, before Musk’s takeover, and now works at Google.
"Jeff Carlton worked for the FBI, CIA and as an intelligence officer for the US Marines before joining Twitter in May 2021. His now deleted LinkedIn account says he led 'Twitter’s Strategic Response Team of 50+ employees/agents in resolving the highest-profile Trust & Safety escalation,' which served to promote 'healthy public conversations'.... Twitter’s Trust and Safety team was lead by Yoel Roth, the now disgraced former company censor and an architect of the platform’s expansive shadow-banning efforts. During the run-up the the 2020 presidential, Roth had regular meetings with the FBI, which he joked about, according to troves of internal communications recently released by Musk....
"Kevin Michelena did more than 12 years as an FBI intelligence analyst before coming to Twitter to work as a 'Senior Corporate Security Analyst' in July 2021. Among his responsibilities were to 'Partner with Software Engineering to create and optimize security products' and 'Collaborate with public policy and site integrity leads to ensure policies are properly implemented, which has mitigated risk to users from identified threat actors,' according to his LinkedIN, which has since been heavily redacted.
"Michael Bertrand spent 23 years with the FBI working in counterterrorism, internal investigations and as chief of staff to the agency’s top leaders. He joined Twitter in January. Bertrand, an attorney, was responsible for 'proactively and reactively lead[ing] teams to assess and manage global incidents and crises affecting Twitter’s employees, offices and reputation,' according to his LinkedIN.
"Karen Walsh spent more than 20 years at the FBI as a special agent focused on 'Public-Private Sector Outreach.' She joined Twitter as director of corporate resilience in March 2020.
"Doug Hunt joined Twitter as a “senior director” after spending 20 years with the FBI as a supervisory special agent. Vincent Lucero also did more than two decades in the same role before joining Twitter in July 2019 as a “Senior Security Manager.”
"Mark Jaroszewski became a director of corporate security in August 2018 after doing his own two decades as a supervisory special agent with the FBI. In a 2018 FBI press release the agency noted his job was 'focused on helping the FBI create strategic, mutually beneficial relationships with the private sector.' He also began donating to Democrats after joining Twitter."

"‘Twitter Files’ part 9 drops bombshell against the FBI," Fox News, December 25, 2022:

Latest Twitter Files shows CIA, FBI have spent years meddling in content moderation | New York Post - Mary Kay Linge & Jon Levine:

December 24, 2022 - "The CIA has been meddling in Twitter’s internal content moderation for years, according to the latest dispatches from Elon Musk’s 'Twitter Files' — which also revealed “mountains of insistent moderation demands” from the Democratic National Committee.... Two separate threads in the ongoing Elon Musk-sponsored deep dive into the social media’s internal documents were released Saturday by independent journalist Matt Taibbi, documenting how the platform has frequently bowed to government and political pressure.

"On June 29. 2020, Taibbi shows, the FBI’s Elvis Chan — who has played a starring role in past Twitter Files releases — asked company executives to 'invite an OGA' to an upcoming conference. OGA, or ‘Other Government Organization,’ can be a euphemism for CIA, according to multiple former intelligence officials and contractors,” Taibbi explains. One week later, Stacia Cardille, a senior Twitter legal executive, made the link explicit. 'I invited the FBI and the CIA virtually will attend too,' Cardille wrote to her colleague — and former FBI chief counsel — James Baker on July 8, 2020. 'No need for you to attend.' Baker, one of dozens of ex-FBI agents and executives in Twitter’s ranks at the time, was fired this month for interfering in Musk’s effort to reveal the company’s past transgressions.

"From that point, Taibbi writes that 'regular meeting[s] of the multi-agency Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF)' — attended by Twitter and 'virtually every major tech firm [including] Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Reddit, even Pinterest, and many others' — had “FBI personnel, and – nearly always – one or two attendees marked "OGA".' 'Meeting agendas virtually always included, at or near the beginning, an ‘OGA briefing,’ usually about foreign matters,' Taibbi writes.

"Through the FITF, US intelligence tasked Twitter analysts with laborious investigations into domestic Twitter accounts alleged to have nefarious foreign connections, the documents reveal — ramping up as the 2020 presidential election approached, but continuing through 2022. Twitter content monitors analyzed users’ IP data, phone numbers and even weighed whether user names were 'Russian-sounding' to confirm the government’s accusations – but often failed to do so."

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas from Theresa Tam & Mrs Claus

Dr. Tam’s holiday health check with the North Pole | Government of Canada:

The following video is a video-conference conversation between Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, who is in a boardroom, and Mrs Claus, who is at the North Pole.

Transcript

Theresa Tam: Well kids, I’m just doing my yearly call to the North Pole for Santa’s holiday health check…

Santa (off screen audio): Ho ho ommm ….

Mrs Claus: Why hello Dr. Tam!

Dr. Theresa Tam: Mrs. Claus, so good to see you again, where did Santa go?!

Mrs Claus: Santa was late for snow yoga with the elves and reindeer! He says it’s great cross-training for sleigh driving –

Dr. Theresa Tam: Sounds fun! Are you all set for the holiday season?

Mrs Claus: Of course. I must say Dr. Tam, it just warms my heart to see everyone in Canada, especially kids, working so hard to keep the holidays safe and cheerful for all.

Dr. Theresa Tam: So am I, Mrs. Claus! Every child in Canada has definitely earned their place on the nice

Dr. Theresa Tam: list! Their parents and caregivers too! It’s been a tough season with lots of viruses making people sick.

Mrs Claus: Thankfully, Santa and I are feeling as healthy as ever. We are both up to date with our vaccinations, including COVID boosters and flu shots

That’s so good to hear!

Mrs Claus: I always tell Santa to make a list! And check it twice!

Stay up to date on your vaccinations.

Wear a mask in crowded indoor places – and make sure it fits nice and snug.

Wash your hands to the tune of Jingle Bells.

Dr. Theresa Tam: Great advice! You can also be sure to:

Stay home if you’re feeling sick.

And - If you are gathering indoors with other people or elves - open a door or a window for a few minutes at a time to let in some fresh air.

The more items you check off the list, the more protected you are!

Mrs Claus: Yes – you can think of it like decorating a Christmas tree. You need tinsel, lights, ornaments and the star on top. The Christmas tree is at its best when all the decorations are up and nicely layered.

Dr. Theresa Tam: You’re right! Before I let you go Mrs. Claus, we all want to know… Do you ever drive Santa’s sleigh?

Mrs Claus: You may not know this but I have a degree in mechanical engineering. I do the maintenance on the sleigh, and this year I’ve upgraded the stardust antimatter propulsion system to make Santa’s delivery even more efficient!

Dr. Theresa Tam: So cool!

Mrs Claus: Science really is. Well it was great chatting with you Dr. Tam.

Dr. Theresa Tam: Thanks, Mrs. Claus. Happy holidays everyone!

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/video/holiday-health-check-north-pole.html

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Max Boot flip-flops on China's Covid success

After three years, Washington Post columnist Max Boot has changed his mind on the wisdom of Being Like China to fight the coronavirus.

Max Boot Can’t Memory-Hole His Covid Love Letter to the Chinese Communist Party | Mediaite - Isaac Schorr:

December 8, 2022 - "In 2020, Washington Post columnist Max Boot happily served as one of the most useful idiots in Xi Jinping’s arsenal, prematurely declaring that the genocidal regime Xi leads, the one that had unleashed the coronavirus on the rest of the world, had won the pandemic.

"'China’s success is mainly due to the application of science in a country where people are taught to respect science,' explained Boot, who found it within himself to heap praise upon the Chinese Communist Party for, of all things, separating Covid-positive children from their parents. 'If the virus were a human enemy, [Donald] Trump would have long ago run up the white flag, while China would be accepting its unconditional surrender,” he concluded, putting a bow on a staggering #Resistance artifact that boasted the jaw-dropping title: 'China is beating the coronavirus while Trump leads America to defeat.'

Max Boot in 2014.

"Fast-forward to this week, and Boot has been forced to admit that you do not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to the Chinese Communist Party. His epiphany, however, came without an admission of his own error in judgment.

"'China’s response to the covid-19 pandemic is widely acknowledged as a costly failure: Its draconian lockdowns have made it hard for ordinary people to get food or medicine and are depressing economic growth,' wrote Boot under the headline 'China’s covid policy failed. But don’t get cocky. So did America’s'....

"By the time Boot put pen to paper in 2020, reporting had confirmed that Uyghur prisoners in concentration camps were being subjected to what can only be described as torture. From the Associated Press:

One middle-aged Uighur woman told the AP that when she was detained at the height of China’s coronavirus outbreak, she was forced to drink a medicine that made her feel weak and nauseous. She and others in her cell had to strip naked once a week as guards hosed them and their cells down with disinfectant, she said. “It was scalding,” recounted the woman by phone from Xinjiang, declining to be named out of fear of retribution. “My hands were ruined, my skin was peeling.”

"Only now that the Chinese regime’s pandemic-related crimes have gone mainstream — even Han Chinese citizens are being welded into their homes and forcibly shipped off to quarantine camps — can Boot see the error of the CCP’s ways. And even now, he’s ... uncritically taking China’s word for its Covid-related death count, contrasting it with the death count in the United States, and blasting Republicans for 'flocking to the misguided banner of "medical freedom."' That’s a concept Boot might be particularly ill-suited to heap scorn upon.

"Of course, officials from both major American parties have erred over the course of the last two and half years. But ... the key difference between the U.S. and Chinese response to the pandemic is not, as Boot would sorely love for you to believe, that one was worse because of the involvement of Republicans. It’s that one featured an acknowledgement of the need for tradeoffs, as well as inevitable human error, while the other has been characterized by an unwillingness to compromise and chronic inhumanity. Donald Trump left the White House close two years ago, yet Boot still can’t wrap his mind around the distinction."

Friday, December 23, 2022

Iowa Libertarians earn major party status

The Libertarian Party of Iowa (LPIA) has qualified for major party status after its candidate for governor, Rick Stewart, received 2.4% of the vote in the 2022 election.

Libertarian Party of Iowa Files for Major Party Status | River Cities' Reader - Libertarian Party of Iowa:

December 9, 2022 — LPIA [Libertarian Party of Iowa] Chair, Jules Cutler, alongside Rick Stewart, candidates, volunteers, and party leaders gathered today to file with the Secretary of State’s Office. The Libertarian Party of Iowa qualified to file for full party status after [Stewart], the party’s gubernatorial candidate, and his running mate, Marco Battaglia, received 2.4% in the November 8 General Election....

"This is the second time that the Libertarian Party will have reached 'Major Party' status in Iowa. [That was] ... obtained after Governor Gary Johnson’s 2016 Presidential campaign, but the party was unable to maintain the 2% required by a top-of-ballot candidate.

"This is the first time a traditional 'Third Party' has surpassed the necessary threshold in a gubernatorial race. The other two times that mark had been reached were in Presidential campaigns, the aforementioned Johnson campaign for the Libertarians, and in 2000, Ralph Nader’s campaign ... for the Green Party....

"The Libertarian Party of Iowa is committed to America’s heritage of freedom: Individual liberty and personal responsibility, a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity, a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade. Find out more at lpia.org."

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Alleged RCMP spy gets bail after 3 years in jail

RCMP official accused of breaching Canada's secrecy law released on bail | CBC News:

December 21, 2022 - "After three years behind bars awaiting trial, Cameron Ortis, the RCMP official accused of breaching Canada's secrecy law, has been released on bail.Justice Robert Maranger presided over the bail review and delivered his decision in Ontario Superior Court on Wednesday. The reasons behind his decision and the evidence and testimony heard in court during the review hearing are all covered by a publication ban.

"Ortis, who served as director general of the RCMP's national intelligence co-ordination centre, is charged with violating the Security of Information Act. He is accused of trying to share sensitive information with a foreign entity or terrorist organization and also has been charged with sharing operational information in 2015. Ortis was briefly released on bail and ordered to live with his parents in Abbotsford, B.C., in October [2019; see Background - gd], before his bail was revoked. He's been in custody ever since.

"Ortis is scheduled to go to trial in October 2023."

Background

Alleged RCMP spy Cameron Ortis ordered back to jail pending trial | CBC News - Catherine Tonney:

November 8, 2019 - "Today, Ontario Superior Court Justice Marc Labrosse revoked the 47-year-old's bail, ordering the head of RCMP's national intelligence co-ordination centre back into custody. Labrosse's reasons and the details of the Crown's review application are covered by a publication ban, along with the evidence and submissions heard during the bail hearing.

"Ortis was released on bail to his parents' care in Abbotsford, B.C. on Oct. 22. He was forbidden from using any device that connects to the internet and told to report to an RCMP detachment every week. The court heard the Crown's application for a bail review last week. It was granted."

"The smartest guy in the room: Cameron Ortis and the RCMP secrets scandal" - The Fifth Estate, CBC, December 8, 2020:

How a high-stakes gambler set authorities on the trail of accused Canadian spy Cameron Ortis | CBC News - Scott Anderson, Andrew Culbert, Bob McKeown:

December 7, 2020 - "A high-stakes American gambler who is an FBI informant and goes by the nickname Robin Hood 702 played a key role in a series of events that eventually led the RCMP to charge their head of intelligence, Cameron Ortis, with leaking secrets. R.J. Cipriani, whose nickname incorporates the 702 Las Vegas area code, built his reputation by winning money in casinos and donating much of it to worthy causes.

"But in 2011, he was asked to gamble money in Australia by former U.S. college football player Owen Hanson.... [F]earing he was being drawn into criminal activity, he went to the FBI. That led to Hanson being charged and convicted of drug trafficking.... Police discovered six encrypted cellphones Hanson had purchased from Richmond, B.C.- based Phantom Secure, a company the RCMP had been investigating for allegedly supplying encrypted technology to organized crime. The FBI then joined with the RCMP and Australian police in an investigation of Phantom Secure. Ortis is alleged to have offered Phantom Secure secret information.

"In March 2018, the FBI arrested Phantom Secure CEO and founder Vincent Ramos in Washington state. Federal police in Australia also raided several locations and seized more than 1,000 Phantom Secure cellphones. In Canada, the RCMP executed search warrants on Ramos's home and business addresses in British Columbia, but it is still unclear what they seized. It appears the RCMP information to obtain the warrants has been sealed.

"At the time of the Ramos arrest and raids, the RCMP said little about the case and it received scant media attention in Canada. But that changed 18 months later when the RCMP arrested their own intelligence chief, Cameron Ortis, in part for allegedly leaking operational information to Ramos."

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Oshawa threatens fines for clothing the homeless

The city of Oshawa, Ontario, is threatening to fine a community group planning an event to distribute socks and underwear to the homeless.

City of Oshawa threatens fines over event giving food, clothing to the homeless | True North - Andrew Lawton:

December 16, 2022 - "You can’t feed and clothe the homeless without a permit, the City of Oshawa is telling a group of community volunteers. The Ontario city’s bylaw enforcement division is threatening to fine organizers if they proceed with their 'Christmas Stockings for the Homeless' event planned for Sunday afternoon at the city’s downtown Memorial Park.

"The event is hosted by Communities for Freedom, a loose association of friends who met during the Freedom Convoy and wanted to 'rebuild' their community. On Sunday, they planned to distribute socks, underwear, feminine hygiene products and toiletries to upwards of fifty homeless people and provide a free turkey lunch with juice and hot chocolate.

"A city bylaw enforcement officer emailed organizer Ashley Wickett Thursday afternoon to warn that the city 'may issue Administrative Monetary Penalties to any or all individuals involved in the organizing of the event or distribution.' The officer cited Oshawa’s parks and facilities bylaw, which prohibits holding a public gathering in a park without a permit and selling or distributing goods in a park. Nowhere in the email did the officer offer any guidance on how to bring the event into compliance with municipal bylaws.

Frunze103, Oshawa, Ontario. 2019. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

"Instead of gathering in the park as originally planned, Wickett said she would distribute the stockings from her car and advise other Communities for Freedom volunteers to stay out of the park. Wickett shared this with the City of Oshawa thinking it would assuage their concerns. Instead, she was told this plan violated Oshawa’s highway vending bylaw.

"'At this time you may not proceed with your proposed event,' the subsequent email from a bylaw enforcer said. 'If you wish to contribute to the less fortunate, particularly around this time of year, there are a number of established charities and shelters in the area who would no doubt benefit from your compassion and initiative.'

"Wickett said she promised the homeless she would be there and plans to make good on it. Despite the warning from the City of Oshawa, volunteers will walk around and distribute the stockings by hand. Wickett said she doesn’t think they’ll be able to set up a table to serve hot chocolate anymore, however....

"The City of Oshawa’s head of bylaw enforcement did not respond to a request for comment from True North by deadline."

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Coronavirus surges in China

Two weeks after the government of China abandoned Zero Covid, the coronavirus is surging there, with an estimated 800 million people – more than the population of North America – already infected.

COVID spreading faster than ever in China. 800 million could be infected this winter | PBS - Michaeleen Doucleff & A. Martínez, Goats and Soda:

December 15, 2022 - "China is now facing what is likely the world's largest COVID surge of the pandemic. China's public health officials say that possibly 800 million people could be infected with the coronavirus over the next few months. And several models predict that a half million people could die, possibly more.

""Recently, the deputy director of China CDC, Xiaofeng Liang, who' s a good friend of mine, was announcing through the public media that the first COVID wave may, in fact, infect around 60% of the population,' says Xi Chen, who's a global health researcher at Yale University and an expert on China's health-care system. That means about 10% of the planet's population may become infected over the course of the next 90 days.

"Epidemiologist Ben Cowling agrees with this prediction. 'This surge is going to come very fast, unfortunately. That's the worst thing,' says Cowling, who's at the University of Hong Kong. 'If it was slower, China would have time to prepare'.... Cowling says the virus is spreading faster in China than it's spread ever before anywhere during the pandemic. It also looks to be especially contagious in the Chinese population.

"To estimate a virus's transmissibility, scientists often use a parameter called the reproductive number, or R number. Basically, the R number tells you on average how many people one sick person infects. So for instance, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, in early 2020, the R number was about 2 or 3, Cowling says. At that time, each person spread the virus to 2 to 3 people on average. During the omicron surge here in the U.S. last winter, the R number had jumped up to about 10 or 11, studies have found. Scientists at the China National Health Commission estimate the R number is currently a whopping 16 in China durng this surge....

"Last winter, cases doubled in the U.S. every three days or so. 'Now in China, the doubling time is like hours,' Cowling says. 'Even if you manage to slow it down a bit, it's still going to be doubling very, very quickly. And so the hospitals are going to come under pressure possibly by the end of this month.'

"So why is the virus spreading so explosively there? The reason is that the population has very little immunity to the virus because the vast majority of people have never been infected. Until recently, China has focused on massive quarantines, testing and travel restrictions to keep the virus mostly out of the country. So China prevented most people from getting infected with variants that came before omicron. But that means now nearly all 1.4 billion people are susceptible to an infection....

"About 90% of the population over age 18 have been vaccinated with two shots of a Chinese vaccine. This course offers good protection against severe disease, Cowling says, but it doesn't protect against an infection. Furthermore, adults over age 60 need three shots of the vaccine to protect against severe disease, Cowling's research has found. Only about 50% of older people have received that third shot, NPR has reported. And that leaves about 11 million people still at high risk for hospitalization and death."

"Several models have predicted a large death toll for this initial surge, with at least a half million deaths, perhaps up to a million. But that number, Chen says, depends a lot on two factors.First off, people's behavior. If people at high risk continue to quarantine voluntarily, the death toll could be lower. Second, how well the health-care system holds up under this pressure. 'This is going to be a major test – and it's unprecedented,' he says. 'In my memory, I have never seen such a challenge to the Chinese health-care system.'"

Crematoriums in China struggle as COVID spreads | Al Jazeera, Dec. 20, 2022:

Monday, December 19, 2022

Bipartisan bill in U.S. Congress to ban TikTok

Bipartisan Bill To Ban TikTok Is Unworkable and Unnecessary | Reason - Elizabeth Nolan Brown:

December 14, 2022 - "There are several problems with a bipartisan proposal in Congress to ban TikTok, the popular video-sharing app that originated in China. For one thing, it's technologically infeasible. It's also pointless. Fears about TikTok are overblown, and any real threats can be mitigated by way less drastic measures than banning ByteDance (TikTok's parent company) from doing business here....

"Some suggest that since the app is based in China, it must be a tool of Chinese propaganda. This is probably the silliest fear, since if there were a widespread pro-China or anti-American video campaign circulating on TikTok, it would not fly under the radar. But even if this is going on: so what? There's nothing stopping Americans from offering their own propaganda on the app. Most people on TikTok aren't even engaging with political content in the first place.... Besides, Chinese propagandists can set up accounts on any social media platform and spread propaganda (probably much more covertly) that way. They don't need to rely on an app owned by a Chinese company.

"The more prevalent fear seems to be that TikTok will be a tool of Chinese surveillance. The company's U.S. operations have strenuously denied this, noting that they store U.S. user data in the U.S. and that China-based employees won't have access to U.S. data, among other measures meant to safeguard user privacy. This means that, theoretically, U.S. user data is not going to the Chinese government, nor is TikTok letting the Chinese government use it to spy on U.S. users.

"There may be reason to be skeptical that this never happens. Forbes recently reported that ByteDance's Internal Audit and Risk Control department "planned to collect TikTok data about the location of a U.S. citizen." However, Forbes would not report on the reason for the proposed surveillance, and does not know if it actually came to fruition. So it's hard to say whether this is a real reason for concern. Sure, this could be a super-creepy situation in which the Chinese communist government asked ByteDance to spy on someone for political reasons. But, for all we know, the user in question was a violent criminal and had a court order or a request from U.S. authorities to find their location.

"In any event, we needn't be naive about the Chinese government to realize that the risk for ordinary TikTok users is negligible. If you're a U.S.-based Chinese national critical of the Communist Party of China, you might think twice about using TikTok. And the same goes if you're a U.S. government official or a journalist reporting on highly sensitive subjects or something like that. Basically, anyone who has reason to think the Chinese government could want to spy on them might want to exercise caution. But the idea that the Chinese government would want to surveil the location of random American citizens is silly....

"Anyone who suggests otherwise just wants to drum up fear and anti-Chinese sentiment. Which is to say: Americans should be more fearful of the propaganda being put out by anti-TikTok crusaders like this bill's sponsors, and of their authoritarian impulses, than of ByteDance using TikTok to target them in nefarious ways.

"In enforcing this plan, the U.S. would be engaging in the very sort of behavior we pan countries like China and Russia for doing. They're attempting to capriciously limit citizen access to tools of communication and entertainment and stop law-abiding businesses from operating here, all based on vague anti-foreign sentiment."
Read more: https://reason.com/2022/12/14/bipartisan-bill-to-ban-tiktok-is-unworkable-and-unnecessary/

Should we ban TikTok in Canada? | True North - Anthony Furey:

December 18, 2022 - "In the US, there is a bi-partisan effort to ban China’s popular social media app TikTok over fears that the app could be used to spy on users and that it could pose a serious threat to national security.... In Canada, the Trudeau government indicated that they are monitoring the Chinese app for security threats. What do you think? Is it time to ban TikTok in Canada?

"Anthony Furey discusses."

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Ontario medical officer rules out mask mandate

Viral surge linked to 'negative consequences' of extended mask mandates: Ontario's chief medical officer | National Post - Elizabeth Payne:

December 15, 2022 - "Ontario’s chief medical officer of health waded into the controversial issue of 'immunity debt' Thursday, saying the issue needs more study but it makes sense to him that pandemic public health measures such as masking are a factor in the record numbers of young children becoming seriously ill with respiratory viruses this year. Partly because of that, Dr. Kieran Moore ruled out any new mask mandates in the province unless COVID-19 changes significantly and vaccines and treatments are no longer effective.

“'Masking was one of our only tools when we didn’t have vaccines and we didn’t have oral outpatient treatments like Paxlovid. It was something we were dependent upon, but we are obviously seeing that there are some negative consequences to not being exposed to the normal respiratory pathogens over time,' he said during an interview with [the National Post]....

"The theory, which has been widely criticized by some experts, is that public health measures were so effective at stopping COVID-19 and many other seasonal viruses that it has left very young children especially highly susceptible this year now that mandates have been lifted and more viruses are circulating. It counters some evidence that exposure to COVID is affecting some peoples’ immune cells and weakening their immunity.

"Moore said it makes sense that people with Long COVID have some kind of immune dysregulation and the province is reviewing the hypothesis. But he said his personal belief is that 'we have more susceptible children that have not been exposed previously and that is causing this rise'. He added that masking will always be an important public health tool when unknown pathogens are spreading and there are no other tools available 'but once we have therapeutics and vaccines, continued masking can decrease our overall immunity to other viruses. That is a lesson I think we are learning.'

"In recent weeks, the Red Cross has been deployed to assist at CHEO, hundreds of pediatric surgeries have been cancelled across the province, children have had to be airlifted hundreds of kilometres from home for critical care and one pediatric surgery chief said he feared some children won’t make it because of dangerously long waits for needed surgery.... Moore confirmed that at least two children, between 10 and 13, have died of influenza this fall in the province and that several other pediatric deaths are being investigated as possibly related to influenza....

"Ontario has just expanded eligibility for the COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine to children between 5 and 11 ahead of what Moore said is likely to be a new pandemic surge, driven by the BQ.1 and BQ1.1 Omicron sub-variants. Ontario is watching the situation in Quebec, which is starting to see a pandemic surge, he said, and working to understand more about how evasive and transmissible the new COVID-19 subvariants are.

"Although he essentially ruled out new mask mandates under the current situation, Moore does advise people to wear masks, especially in crowded public places such as on transit or in malls, and to get all vaccines they are eligible for to protect themselves against flu and COVID-19."

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Another look at the Ivermectin evidence

Setting the Record Straight on Ivermectin | Brownstone Institute - David R. Henderson & Charles L. Hooper:

December 14, 2022 - "If you’ve followed the news closely over the last two years, you’ve probably heard a few things about ivermectin. First, that it’s a veterinary medicine intended for horses and cows. Second, that the FDA and other government regulatory agencies recommended against its use for COVID-19. Third, that even the inventor and manufacturer of ivermectin, Merck & Co., came out against it. Fourth, that one of the largest studies showing that ivermectin worked for COVID-19 was retracted for data fraud. And, finally, that the largest and best study of ivermectin, the TOGETHER trial, showed that ivermectin didn’t work.

"Let’s consider the evidence.

"Ivermectin has a distinguished history, and it may have benefits comparable to those of penicillin. The anti-parasitic’s discovery led to a Nobel Prize and subsequent billions of safe administrations around the world, even among children and pregnant women. 'Ivermectin is widely available worldwide, inexpensive, and one of the safest drugs in modern medicine'

"The FDA put out a special warning against using ivermectin for COVID-19. The FDA’s warning, which included language such as, 'serious harm,' 'hospitalized,' 'dangerous,' 'very dangerous,' 'seizures,' 'coma and even death,' and 'highly toxic,' might suggest that the FDA was warning against pills laced with poison, not a drug the FDA had already approved as safe. Why did it become dangerous when used for COVID-19? The FDA didn’t say. Because of the FDA’s rules, if it were to make any statement on ivermectin, it was obliged to attack it. The FDA prohibits the promotion of drugs for unapproved uses. Since fighting SARS-CoV-2 was an unapproved use of ivermectin, the FDA couldn’t have advocated use...

"Ivermectin’s discoverer, Merck & Co., had multiple reasons to disparage its own drug. Merck, too, couldn’t have legally 'promoted' ivermectin for COVID-19 without a full FDA approval.... Plus, Merck doesn’t make much money from cheap, generic ivermectin but was hoping to find success with its new, expensive drug, Lagevrio (molnupiravir).

"A large study of ivermectin for COVID-19 by Elgazzar et al. was withdrawn over charges of plagiarism and faked data. Many media reports seem fixated on this one dubious study, but it was one of many clinical studies. After the withdrawn studies have been removed from consideration, there are 15 trials that suggest that ivermectin doesn’t work for COVID-19 and 78 that do.

"The TOGETHER trial received significant positive press.... While the Elgazzar paper was quickly dismissed, the TOGETHER trial was acclaimed. It shouldn’t have been. Researchers who have analyzed it have found 31 critical problems (impossible data; extreme conflicts of interest; blinding failure), 22 serious problems (results were delayed six months; conflicting data), and 21 major problems (multiple, conflicting randomization protocols) with it.

"While the popular narrative is that the TOGETHER trial showed that ivermectin didn’t work for COVID-19, the actual results belie that conclusion: ivermectin was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of death, a 23 percent lower risk of mechanical ventilation, a 17 percent lower risk of hospitalization, and a 10 percent lower risk of extended ER observation or hospitalization. We have calculated that the probability that ivermectin helped the patients in the TOGETHER trial ranged from 26 percent for the median number of days to clinical recovery to 91 percent for preventing hospitalization. The TOGETHER trial’s results should be reported accurately.

"Based on the clinical evidence from the 93 trials that ivermectin reduced mortality by an average of 51 percent, and on the estimated infection fatality rate of COVID-19, about 400 infected Americans aged 60-69 would need to be treated with ivermectin to statistically prevent one death in that group. The total cost of the ivermectin to prevent that one death: $40,000. (Based on the GoodRx website, a generic prescription for ivermectin is priced at approximately $40. Roughly 2.5 prescriptions would be needed per person to receive the average dose of 150 mg per patient.)

"How much is your life worth? We’re betting it’s worth far more than $40,000.

"When the next pandemic strikes, by necessity we’ll rely on older drugs because newer ones require years of development. Ivermectin is a repurposed drug that helps, and could have helped so much more. It deserves recognition, not disparagement. What we really need, however, is a way to inoculate ourselves against the lies and misrepresentations of powerful public figures, organizations, and drug companies. Sadly, there are no such vaccines for that contagion."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Friday, December 16, 2022

Communist China abandons Zero Covid

In a major shift, China eases draconian "zero-COVID" policy restrictions | CBS News: - Shuai Zhang, Elizabeth Palmer, Tucker Reals:

December 7, 2022 - "In a monumental reversal of policy, China announced Wednesday a series of measures rolling back some of its most draconian "zero-COVID" anti-coronavirus restrictions. The move appeared to be in response to widespread protests in recent weeks, including some of the boldest demonstrations China has seen in decades. Representatives from the National Health Commission held a press conference to announce the massive changes....

Regular mandatory testing for most people will end immediately.
People will no longer have to show a recent negative COVID test result to enter most public venues, apart from places like nursing homes with added health risks.
The now-familiar armies of government health workers in hazmat suits will no longer be locking down entire apartment complexes if a positive COVID case is found inside.
People with confirmed COVID infections won't be forced into state quarantine, allowed instead to recover at home.

"That, along with a new commitment to vaccinate more elderly people, may all sound like common sense, but it represents a huge climbdown for President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party he leads.

"The zero-COVID policy has for years aimed to stamp out any spread of the coronavirus through tight lockdowns and mandatory isolation in government facilities, along with a host of other measures. It was enforced and repeatedly espoused from every level of officialdom despite the huge personal inconvenience it imposed on China's residents and the tremendous toll it took on China's economy. It has been a hallmark policy of Xi's regime.

"But after a series of deaths blamed on the draconian measures, including of children in government isolation centers, Xi and his advisors watched protests erupt two weekends ago in more than 20 cities. Any public demonstrations are extremely rare in China's tightly controlled society, and these protests saw calls not only for freedom from the rolling lockdowns, but even for an end of Xi's rule. A message was clearly delivered that the Chinese people were fed up.

"Since the pandemic began, however, as part of its absolutist approach to controlling the virus, the Chinese government had managed to broadly convince people across the country that COVID was an often-lethal threat to public health, so the change in the rules on Wednesday brought fresh anxiety.... The risk now, with so many un- or under-vaccinated elderly people across China, is that the country could see a surge in COVID-related deaths."

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Ontario pastor fined for 2021 lockdown protest

Aylmer pastor fined $5K after attending anti-lockdown London rally | London Free Press:

December 1, 2022 - "The leader of an Aylmer church that became an anti-lockdown flashpoint at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic has been fined $5,000 for participating in a downtown London rally last winter.

"Church of God pastor Henry Hildebrandt was convicted under the Reopening Ontario Act, the law to enforce public-health measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, for attending the so-called World Wide Rally for Freedom on Jan. 22 at Victoria Park, municipal officials said on Thursday. Hildebrandt was fined $5,000 and ordered to pay court costs....

"The London rally was part of a movement in opposition to public-health measures such as limits on public gatherings, mandatory masking and the closure of businesses and schools.... Hildebrandt became a leading figure in the movement opposed to the government’s handling of the pandemic. He continued to hold both drive-in and indoor services at his Aylmer church, drawing attention from police and criticism from counter-protesters who held demonstrations outside its grounds.

"The defiant pastor racked up court fines and tickets since the beginning of the pandemic. He was charged along with then-MPPs Randy Hillier and Derek Sloan for attending a Norfolk County rally in June 2021, but the charges against the trio were dropped in September, according the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), a legal advocacy group hired to represent the men.

"The JCCF, a charity dedicated to fighting for constitutional freedoms, has taken on many cases of individuals charges under the Reopening Ontario Act. The legal group scored a recent victory when charges against a Goderich family that was fined for holding a birthday party were dropped on Nov. 2. The family had gathered to celebrate a birthday on April 23, 2021, amid a stay-at-home order that prohibited residents from leaving their homes except for approved reasons.... A lawyer for the Justice Centre worked out a deal with the Crown to drop the charges in exchange for the family agreeing to make a 'modest' charitable donation, the centre said.

“'While we are pleased that the charges have been dropped, it is concerning that these charges were laid at all,' Justice Centre lawyer Chris Naimi said in a statement issued Wednesday. 'The right to peaceful assembly is an enshrined constitutional right, whether it is a public political demonstration or an intimate family gathering.'"

Who is Pastor Henry Hildebrand?, The Democracy Fund, Dec. 14, 2021:

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Canadian psychiatrists urge delay in offering the mentally ill medical assistance in dying

Citing a need to develop guidelines, standards, and training, psychiatrists are urging the Canadian government to delay the rollout of its Medical Assistance in Dying program to the "incurable" mentally ill, scheduled to begin in March.

Delay assisted dying for people with mental disorders: psychiatrist association | National Post - Camille Bains, Canadian Press:

December 1, 2022 - "Canada is not ready to expand medical assistance in dying for people with a mental disorder, leaving psychiatrists across the country 'incredibly concerned' about patients needing better access to care, including for addiction services, says a group representing the specialists across the country. The Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada, which includes heads of psychiatry departments at all 17 medical schools, issued a statement Thursday calling for a pause to the change set to be implemented in mid-March.

"Lack of public education on suicide prevention as well as an agreed-upon definition of irremediability, or at what point someone will not be able to recover, are also important, unresolved issues, the statement says.

“'As a collective organization, we recognize that a lot of work is being done in Canada on this issue,' Dr. Valerie Taylor, who heads the group, said in the statement. 'Further time is required to increase awareness of this change and establish guidelines and standards to which clinicians, patients and the public can turn to for more education and information,' said Taylor, who is also chair of the psychiatry department at the University of Calgary.

"A statement from the office of federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canada is committed to implementing MAID for those with a mental disorder by keeping their safety and security at the forefront.... The office did not say whether the implementation expected on March 17 would be delayed.

"Dr. Jitender Sareen, head of the psychiatry department at the University of Manitoba, said many controversial issues were discussed at the group’s annual meeting in October regarding which patients with a mental disorder could be eligible for MAID, seven years after the practice was legalized in Canada for those with a physical ailment. 'If a person wants MAID solely for mental health conditions, we don’t have the clear standards around definitions of who’s eligible. How many assessments and what kinds of assessment would they actually need?' he said. Sareen also called for training for health providers doing the assessments to begin sooner than its expected rollout next fall....

“'We’re in the middle of an opioid epidemic. And we’re in the middle of a mental health pandemic. Post-COVID, wait times for access to treatment are the highest ever,' he said. 'As a group of department heads in the country who are responsible for medical education both for psychiatrists and residents, we’re saying, "Look, let’s put things aside as far as whether we agree with this law change or not.’ We’re just concerned we’re not ready for March.”'....

"The federal parliamentary committee reviewing the law to expand MAID to those with a mental disorder issued an interim report in June and expected to publish a final report in October. However, it has been delayed until February. The final report of an expert panel was released in May with 19 recommendations, including training for doctors and nurse practitioners assessing MAID requests to address topics like the impact of race, socioeconomic status and cultural sensitivity."

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Indonesia gov't bans sex outside marriage

The parliament of Indonesia has unanimously passed a revised Criminal Code that makes sex outside marriage punishable by up to a year in prison (and insulting the president punishable by up to three years).

Indonesia passes new criminal code, outlaws sex outside marriage | Al Jazeera:

Dec 6, 2022 - "Indonesia has passed a controversial new Criminal Code that includes outlawing sex outside marriage and cohabitation, in changes that critics contend could undermine freedoms in the Southeast Asian nation. The new laws apply to Indonesians and foreigners and also restore a ban on insulting the president, state institutions or Indonesia’s national ideology known as Pancasila.

"The new criminal code, which was approved unanimously by parliament on Tuesday, replaces a framework that had been in use since independence in 1946 and was a mix of Dutch law, customary law known as hukum adat, and modern Indonesian law.... The planned code sparked nationwide student-led protests when a full draft was released in September 2019, amid fears it would curtail personal freedoms. At least 300 people were hurt in the unrest which was also fuelled by concerns that new laws would undermine the fight against corruption. Subsequent revisions have not been released in full.

"The new code must still be signed by the president, according to Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights Edward Hiariej. It will also not apply immediately, with the transition from the old code to the new one expected to take a maximum of three years.

"A copy of the new code seen by the Associated Press showed that the charge of insult to a sitting president carries a prison term of as long as three years. Hiariej said the government provided 'the strictest possible explanation that distinguishes between insults and criticism.'

"Sex before marriage was not illegal in Indonesia before the code was passed, although adultery was. Under the new law, parents or children will be able to report unmarried couples to the police if they suspect them of having sex — something that critics have said is a move towards moral policing and could also be used to target members of the LGBTQ community. Both sex before marriage and adultery will be punishable by up to a year in prison or a fine under the code. Cohabitation will be punishable by six months in prison or a fine, although only if reported to the police by parents, children, or a spouse....

"The criminal code can be challenged in the Constitutional Court if it is considered that the correct procedure was not followed before it was passed, including seeking relevant and transparent public participation. Labour unions have used that approach to challenge the Jobs Creation Law, which was passed in October 2020 and deemed 'unconstitutional' a year later. The government has been given two years to fix that legislation or risk it becoming permanently invalid."

Monday, December 12, 2022

Trudeau gov't plastics ban will mean more waste

The last straw -- Canada's single use plastics ban means more garbage | Toronto Sun - Lorrie Goldstein:

Dec 10, 2022 - "The Trudeau government’s plan to eliminate plastic waste in Canada by 2030 [ZPW2030] is underway in earnest with the gradual elimination of single use plastics. As of Dec. 20, the manufacture and import for sale in Canada of plastic checkout bags, cutlery, takeout containers, stir sticks and most plastic straws (with some exemptions for flexible ones) will be prohibited. The sale of these items in Canada will end a year later. For six-pack ring carriers, the respective deadlines are six months later. By December 2025, all designated single use plastics will be prohibited, including manufacturing, importing and sales for export.

"The most visible change at first will be grocery stores ending the use of plastic bags — already underway in some chains and poised to happen in 2023 for others. Many fast-food outlets have already eliminated or are phasing out plastic straws, cutlery and stir sticks.... (Single use plastic water bottles are not included in the current prohibitions.)

"Meanwhile, the government’s own impact analysis says that while banning single use plastics will remove 1.5 million tonnes of plastics from the waste stream from 2023 to 2032, it will add almost double that amount of waste — 2.9 million tonnes — from the use of substitutes for plastic such as paper, wood, moulded fibre, aluminum and alternative plastics.

"Because the production costs of these alternatives are typically more expensive than plastic, the government estimates the increased costs to consumers at $2 billion from 2023 to 2032, or $50 per capita. Even with estimated savings of $616 million from eliminating single use plastics, the net cost is estimated at $1.4 billion. While the impact analysis says here will be a net environmental benefit from eliminating single use plastics, including the reduction of 1.8 million megatonnes of greenhouse gases annually, it also says some substitutes will have a higher climate change impact, as well as negative effects on air and water quality....

The six categories of single use plastics subject to the ban account for an estimated 160,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, just 5% of the overall amount of 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste. Of that, 86% ends up in landfills, 4% is burned, a dismal 9% is recycled — so much for all those years of faithful blue box recycling — and about 1%, or 29,000 tonnes, is discharged into the environment as litter, with 2,500 tonnes ending up in oceans, lakes and rivers....

"Canada is not a major contributor to the global problem of plastics pollution in the world’s oceans, rivers and other waterways. Canada’s contribution to global aquatic plastic pollution, when assessed in 2016, was between 0.02% and 0.03% of the global total. If observed market trends were to continue in the absence of ZPW2030 (zero plastic waste by 2030) the government’s regulatory impact assessment estimates plastic waste and plastic pollution could increase (from 2016 levels) by roughly one third by 2030. Thus, if ZPW2030 eliminated all the predicted increase, it would prevent an increase from 0.02%-0.03% to 0.023%-0.033% of the global total, an undetectable reduction of three-thousandths of one percent....

"Canada’s plastic manufacturers are challenging the Trudeau government’s ban on single use plastics in court, as well as its legal definition of plastics as “toxic,” plus warning the policy will lead to job losses. The government says more jobs will be created. As for replacing single use plastics in practical terms, the government has helpfully suggested, among other things, that the food industry provide customers with more options people can eat with their hands."

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Twitter Files show evidence of secret blacklisting

Bari Weiss Twitter Files Reveal Systematic 'Blacklisting' of Disfavored Content | Reason - Robby Soave:

December 9, 2022 - "The second installment of the Twitter Files — disclosures about politically motivated content suppression on the platform — has been released, this time from independent journalist Bari Weiss. 'A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users,' writes Weiss.

"The previous installment, released by independent journalist Matt Taibbi, focused on the confused and chaotic decision on the part of Twitter executives to offer a "hacked materials" rationale for suppressing the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story; as such, the files mostly provided more evidence of what was already fairly well-known. The Weiss installment, on the other hand, offers significant evidence of something that many people merely suspected was taking place: wholesale blacklisting of Twitter accounts....

"Weiss provides several examples of ways in which the platform limited the reach of various high-profile users: Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor of medicine who opposed various COVID-19 mandates and lockdowns, was on a "trends blacklist," which meant that his tweets would not appear in the trending topics section; right-wing radio host Dan Bongino landed on a "search blacklist," which meant that he did not show up in searches; and conservative activist and media personality Charlie Kirk was slapped with a "do not amplify" label. At no point did anyone at Twitter communicate to these individuals that their content was being limited in such a manner.

"These actions, of course, sound a lot like 'shadow banning," which is the theory that Twitter surreptitiously restricts users' content, even in cases where the platform has not formally issued a ban or suspension. For years, various figures on the right and contrarian left have complained that the reach of their tweets had substantially and artificially diminished for nonobvious reasons, contrary to the stated claims of top-level Twitter staffers who steadfastly asserted: 'We do not shadow ban.' Twitter has publicly admitted that it suppresses tweets that 'detract from the conversation,' though the platform's plan was to eventually move toward a policy of informing users about suppression efforts—a move that never took place.

"If shadow banning is defined as secretly making a user's content utterly undiscoverable, even by visiting his own page, then it's technically true that there is no shadow banning. (Twitter seems to have defined the term that way.) But when most people complain about shadow banning, they are objecting to a secretive process of restricting, hiding, and limiting content in general, without informing users.... Under this definition, it's crystal clear that Twitter engages in shadow banning....

"The lack of transparency is startling, and the rationale behind the policy is wholly contrary to a culture of free speech. According to Weiss, previous Twitter Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth admitted in internal Slack conversations that 'the hypothesis underlying much of what we've implemented is that if exposure to, e.g., misinformation directly causes harm, we should use remediations that reduce exposure, and limiting the spread/virality of content is a good way to do that.'

"That's a very fraught proposition that would appear to justify an extreme amount of censorship. As always, it's important to keep in mind that social media moderators, misinformation beat reporters, federal health advisers, and national intelligence officials have all failed to correctly distinguish actual misinformation from true information — the New York Post laptop story being just one prominent example."

Saturday, December 10, 2022

First Nations oppose Canadian gov't gun ban

On Thursday, the Assembly of First Nations unanimously paased an emergency resolution opposing the Trudeau government's gun-ban Bill C-27.

AFN passes emergency resolution to oppose federal gun control legislation | CBC News - Ka’nhehsí:io Deer:

December 8, 2022 - "Chiefs and proxies in attendance at the Assembly of First Nations' (AFN) special chiefs assembly in Ottawa Thursday passed an emergency resolution to oppose Bill C-21, a bill initially proposed to ban handguns that the federal government is attempting to amend with a new list of long guns to be banned. First Nations leaders say the amendments to potentially criminalize long guns infringes on First Nations and treaty rights to hunt and harvest.

"'Our people always lived off the land,' said Frank McKay, proxy for Koocheching First Nation, Ont., to the assembly on Thursday. 'We don't do sports hunting, we use it for sustenance.' Kitigan Zibi Chief Dylan Whiteduck said the Quebec caucus also opposed the legislation when it met Wednesday. 'It's a tool. It's not a weapon,' he said.

"The resolution directs the AFN to call upon the federal government to conduct proper consultation with First Nations. It also calls for amendments to the bill to remove the list of long guns commonly used by First Nations hunters.

"'Our young hunters that are growing up, they just don't send them up to the bush with a gun. There's a whole process that has to do with our customs, our values, our traditions," said Chief Tammy Cook of Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Saskatchewan. 'No government has a right to take that away from us and regulate that. That is our job as mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and hunters'....

"Several ministers were invited to address the assembly on Thursday including Public Safety Minister Marc Medicino, Justice Minister David Lametti, Indigenous Services Minister Patti Hajdu, and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller. None of them addressed the chiefs and proxies' concerns over the legislation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who spoke at the assembly, said Monday that a review of the legislation will not target legitimate gun use."

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