November 16, 2023 - "In Uruguay, ... a libertarian party inspired by [Argentine president Javier] Milei officially registered with authorities on Sep. 29, saying it seeks to 'go beyond' right vs. left discourse and aims to respect 'everyone’s individual rights.'"
December 28 2023 - "The Electoral Tribunal of Uruguay has authorized the creation of the Libertarian Party of Uruguay, founded by supporters of the president of Argentina, Javier Mile ,,, newspaper Montevideo Portal reports.... The Electoral Court communicated the creation of the Libertarian Party through its official communication channels.
"'From today the only electoral option committed to the ideas of freedom emerges. For our future, being truly free', wrote the management of the espresso party [sic] in a message published on their X profile."
Alberta premier Danielle Smith wants her province to have the same ability to opt out of the federal pharmacare plan, with full compensation, enjoyed by Quebec.
February 27, 2024 - "Alberta Premier Danielle Smith blasted NDP leader Jagmeet Singh for saying Quebec can opt out of pharmacare and receive a larger health transfer payment, but Alberta could not. 'I’m tired of the NDP-Liberal coalition treating Albertans like second class citizens,' tweeted Smith on Tuesday. 'The same rules should apply equally across Canada'....
"Smith said Singh did not secure universal pharmacare. Rather, he secured a deal covering diabetes drugs and birth control. Alberta’s pharmacare plan sponsors more than 5,000 prescription drugs and provides coverage for many low-income people, seniors and people with disabilities....
"Alberta will take the additional healthcare dollars same as Quebec and invest it into improving our own provincial prescription drug program,' she said.
"Smith said on Monday there might be a case for helping Albertans with the cost of prescription drugs.
"An Alberta Health Services spokesperson said if any changes came from the Canadian government proposal, Alberta would opt out. The Alberta left wing said this decision was a tragedy."
Feruary 26, 2024 - "It’s been a long time in coming and now the government has finally tabled a new version of its Online Harms Act (Bill C-63).... The full title of Bill C-63 is: 'An Act to enact the Online Harms Act, to amend the Criminal Code, the Canadian Human Rights Act and An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts.' It’s quite a mouthful and it reflects a bill that’s trying to take on many issues at once....
"There is a lot to unpack in the bill and there are some good regulations within it.... Child pornography is a scourge that must be pursued and prosecuted with the utmost vigour. The internet has offered a platform that has allowed the production and distribution of child pornography to flourish. We need to give law enforcement, government agencies, and internet providers tools to try and protect children and hold those exploiting children to account.... That said, the world has changed.... On websites that have hundreds of thousands if not millions of interactions per day, it can be tough to keep up with what’s being posted. The legislation must give providers reasonable timelines and means to keep inappropriate content under control....
"As always, the devil will be in the details. The bill calls for the establishment of a 'Digital Safety Office of Canada' to administer the whole thing. Forming a new bureaucracy rarely leads to a more efficient administration of laws or regulations no matter how well-intentioned the action was. It also raises the scary prospect that a few bureaucrats can decide what content is harmful.
"The bill also calls for revisions to the Criminal Code to increase the maximum sentences for hate propaganda. It specifies increasing the sentence for promoting genocide from a maximum of five years to a life sentence. This is where this bill is going to get into trouble. For one, the nation can’t even settle on what the definition of genocide is anymore. It can range from calling for the extermination of a race to opposing the changing of gender pronouns in schools. Secondly, while the promotion of real genocide is odious and could indeed earn criminal sanction, offering a penalty of a life sentence is beyond reasonable. Even murderers in Canada often don’t get life sentences. This is just inviting legal challenges.
"The bill delves into hate speech and further empowerment of the Human Rights Commission. It is returning restrictions on expression and speech that went too far in the past which is why the Harper government rescinded Section 13 of the Human Rights Act. Speech was being unduly infringed upon and the commission was overstepping its bounds. The new definitions of criminal hate speech will surely land in our courts, too.
"Bill C-63 has some merit but the bill may be lost due to the government’s zeal in trying to pack hate speech provisions into it. If the child protection section could be broken free into a bill of its own, it could be a fine piece of legislation."
February 20, 2024 - "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been imprisoned in London for nearly five years, pending extradition to the United States so he can be prosecuted for violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified information. Since that amount of time behind bars is about the same as the four-to-six-year prison term that Justice Department lawyers have said Assange would be likely to serve if convicted, you might think the Biden administration would be ready to reconsider this case, especially since it poses an alarming threat to freedom of the press. Instead, the U.S. government's lawyers are back in London for yet another hearing, which Assange's attorneys describe as a last-ditch attempt to block his extradition.
"Recognizing the First Amendment implications, the Obama administration declined to prosecute Assange for obtaining and disclosing confidential State Department cables and military files leaked by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010. After all, leading news organizations in the United States and around the world had published stories based on the same documents, and those acts of journalism likewise could be construed as felonies once this precedent was established. So could the routine practices of reporters who cover national security.... Despite those concerns, the Trump administration decided that Assange should be locked up for doing things that The New York Times et al. do on a regular basis.
"All but one of the 17 counts in Assange's latest federal indictment relate to obtaining or disclosing 'national defense information,' which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Theoretically, Assange could face 160 years in prison for those counts alone, although the government's lawyers say it probably would be more like the amount of time he already has served in the United Kingdom. Manning ... — who, unlike Assange, violated the terms of her government employment — received a 35-year sentence but was released after seven years thanks to Barack Obama's commutation.
"'Some say that Assange is a journalist and that he should be immune from prosecution for these actions,' John Demers, then the head of the Justice Department's National Security Division, told reporters after the Assange indictment was announced in May 2019.... There is no need to worry, Demers suggested, because Assange is 'no journalist.' This line of argument misconstrues the 'freedom…of the press' guaranteed by the First Amendment, which applies to mass communication generally, not just the speech of people whom the government deigns to recognize as journalists.
"Demers' assurance is similar to the reasoning that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit recently applied in counterintuitively concluding that treating journalism as a crime is not 'obviously unconstitutional.' That case involved Priscilla Villarreal, a Laredo, Texas, gadfly and citizen journalist who was arrested in 2017 for violating Section 39.06(c) of the Texas Penal Code. Under that previously obscure law, a person who 'solicits or receives' information that 'has not been made public' from a government official "with intent to obtain a benefit" commits a third-degree felony, punishable by two to 10 years in prison.... According to the arrest affidavits, the 'benefit' that Villarreal sought was a boost in Facebook traffic....
"The seven dissenting judges saw the situation differently. 'If the First Amendment means anything," Judge James C. Ho wrote in a dissent joined by five of his colleagues, 'surely it means that citizens have the right to question or criticize public officials without fear of imprisonment.' Judge James E. Graves Jr. likewise complained that 'the majority opinion will permit government officials to retaliate against speech while hiding behind cherry-picked state statutes'.... Judge Stephen A. Higginson noted that Thomas Paine ... was, like Villarreal, a 'citizen-journalist.' Upholding 'the text of the Constitution, as well as the values and history that it reflects,' he said, 'the Supreme Court guarantees the First Amendment right of engaged citizen-journalists, like Paine, to interrogate the government'....
"Assange's critics, including some professional journalists, have proposed a similar distinction, arguing that he does not deserve the First Amendment's protection because he is not a 'real' journalist. But whatever you might think of Assange's opinions, his tactics, or the care he exercised in publishing classified material, that distinction is not grounded in the Constitution and will not hold in practice.
"The editors and publishers of The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País recognized as much in 2022, when they urged the Justice Department to drop the case against Assange. In ignoring that advice, the Biden administration seems bent on establishing a dangerous precedent that replaces the First Amendment's guarantee with the whims of prosecutors."
This February, four years after the first Covid cases were reported in North America, the resulting pandemic appears to be well and truly over. Those four years divide neatly into two halves. The first half was notably goverened by a climate of fear, in which governments imposed numerous totalitarian mandates and restrictions, some blatantly illegal and all without due process of law, but all with overwhelming support from a panicked citizenry. Then, at the beginning of 2023 (as I'd predicted), enough people had finally had enough; public support for Covid mandates and restrictions melted away, and many (not all) of those mandates and restrictions have since been ended. Covid may be killing more people in 2024 than it did in 2020, but by and large people have lost their fear of it; as the cliche has it, they have "moved on"
The blog has also moved on to a degree; after being virtually all-Covid most of those four years, I have made it more about other, more current issues. But I intend to keep reporting on the virus and the pandemic. The pandemic has passed from current events to history, but in my opinion history is even more important than current events; because it is history that we learn from. If we do not learn from the Covid pandemic, and all the mistakes that were made in it, we are destined (as Santayana put it) to repeat those mistakes. Which is why I intend to keep thinking and writing about the Covid pandemic, no matter how many "moved on" people, including many whose judgement I respect, would prefer that I stop.
That goes double for the "lab leak" story: the ongoing debate over whether the SARS2 virus originated "zoonotically" or from another animal species, or whether it was delibertately designed by scientists and then escaped from a laboratory. It is not only the "moved on" who object to discussing that; many people still active in debating other aspects of the pandemic have their own objections, including many whom I call "Covid libertarians" (those, like me, who opposed lockdowns and other mandates.
One prominent example is Michael Senger, a writer whose Covid writings I have excerpted here since 2021. His worry is that saying Covid came from a labe reinforces the idea of SARS2 as a "bioweapon," which makes both the 2020-2022 climate of fear, and the resulting restrictions and mandates seem justified. I agree that; we should make it clear that SARS2 was in no way a "bioweapon". A disease that kills just the very old and the very sick is simply not an effective weapon of war.
Another Covid libertarian is John Tamny, editor of Real Clear Politics, whose objections I featured here last spring under the headline "Covid origins debate distracts from main issue." His worry is is that the lab leak debate takes the focus off debating Covid mandates and restrictions, which is where it belongs. Fair enough. We should not make the "lab leak" our main concern. But I disagree that we should stop discussing it. For whether SARS2 had a zoonotic or laboratory origin is an important question that needs an answer. One crucial lesson we must learn for the future depends precisely on how we answer that question; we will learn the correct lesson only by reaching the correct answer.
First, consider what it would mean if the zoonotic hypothesis is correct. Advocates of that hypothesis often weaken their case by insisting that the virus jumped species when and where it was first detected, at a Wuhan wet market in December 2019, which we know now cannot be correct: there is copious evidence that SARS2 was circulating as early as October 2019. Nor have scientists ever found the animal virus that jumped over to humans. But that is not enough to rule out the zoonotic claim completely.
For most of this century epidemiologists have warned of a killer virus jumping species. Most of those warnings have come to nothing. But now, suddenly, all those warnings have proved prescient; a killer virus has arrived. And if one virus can do it, why not others? Why not a super-killer virus -- the "Disease X" the World Health Organization has been warning of -- next time? Or the next? Whatever the case, we seem to be at the mercy of any number of Disease X's, any of which could jump species and decimate the human race at any time; and it i
But virologists offer us a way to escape that fate. They will go out into the wild, collect the worst viruses they can find, and genetically modify them to infect humans. The next steps would be to select the best candidates for Disease X, develop vaccines for them, and proceed to mass vaccinate the world's population. That way we can immunize everyone against tomorrow's killer virus today. When and if Disease X does hit, it is hoped, it will encounter a population already fully immunized against it.
The name for this program is "gain of function research". Many noted epidemiologists support gain of function research -- notably Dr. Anthony Fauci, who for years funded it through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Fauci is passionate in defending gain-of-function, and appears sincere in his belief that it could literally save mankind.
Now, consider what it would mean if the lab leak hypothesis is correct. There were two labs in Wuhan engaged in bat research: the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) across the river, and the Wuhan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just down the street from the wet market. Neither one (to repeat) is known to have conducted bioweapon research. Howeever, it is documented fact that the WIV was engaged in gain-of-function research on bat coroniviruses, funded by Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Institute and ultimately (despite earlier contradictory statements) by Anthony Fauci's NIAID. Once again, we do not have samples of the virus; but it is reasonable to think those could have been destroyed or confiscated when the Army took over Wuhan at the end of 2019.
We also know that Wuhan was experiencing a surge of influenza in the fall of 2019. As noted, SARS2 kills and hospitalizes mainly the very old and very sick; laboratory workers being neither, it is possible that it could have circulated among them undetected for the next few weeks. It is also plausible that it could have spread to their colleagues at the Wuhan CDC, and from there to the wet market down the street (which was the first superspreader event).
Such are the implications of the rival hypotheses. Either millions suffered and died during the Covid pandemic because scientists failed to undertake gain of function research, or they suffered and died during the pandemic because scientists did undertake it. Either gain-of-function research is our best defense against a killer virus, and should be encouraged; or it poses a bigger threat of a killer virus, one, and should be severely limited if not banned outright.
We have to choose one path or the other; what we must do is carefully check and debate all the evidence, and come to the best possible answer. What we cannot do is simply "move on" and leave the question unanswered.
January 25, 2024 - "New documents ... obtained by U.S. Right to Know, a health advocacy group, provide a recipe for assembling SARS-type viruses from six synthetic pieces of DNA.... The probative weight of the recipe is that prior independent evidence already pointed to SARS2 having just such a six-section structure. The documents ... include drafts and planning materials for the already-known DEFUSE proposal, an application to DARPA, a Pentagon research agency, for a $14 million grant to enhance SARS-like bat viruses. The new recipe is in striking accord with a theoretical paper published in 2022 that predicted the SARS2 virus had been generated in exactly this way. Three researchers — Valentin Bruttel, Alex Washburne, and Antonius VanDongen — noted that the virus could be cut into six sections if treated with a pair of agents known as restriction enzymes and so had probably been synthesized and assembled in this way.
"Restriction enzymes, made naturally by bacteria as a defense against viruses, are an invaluable tool for biologists because they cut DNA at specific points known as recognition sites. These sites occur randomly across the genome, so a natural virus treated with a restriction enzyme will be cut into pieces of different sizes. However, researchers who want to synthesize a virus from scratch in order to manipulate its parts more effectively will often rearrange the recognition sites so that they are evenly spaced. This allows short chunks of DNA, all of roughly equal length, to be synthesized chemically and then strung together in a complete viral genome. Bottom line: if your virus has evenly spaced recognition sites, it’s a pretty good bet that it was made in a laboratory.
"Bruttel and his colleagues guessed that a commonly used pair of restriction enzymes, known as BsaI and BsmBI, might have been used to assemble the SARS2 virus’s genome. When they examined the structure of SARS2, they found that the recognition sites used by these enzymes were indeed evenly spaced across the genome, marking it into six sections. 'Our findings strongly suggest a synthetic origin of SARS-CoV2,' they wrote..... The small group of virologists who adamantly oppose the lab-leak hypothesis attacked the paper as 'confected nonsense' (Edward Holmes) and 'kindergarten molecular biology' (Kristian Andersen). The recipe in the new DEFUSE drafts, however, closely resembles the one posited in the Bruttel article in saying that new viruses would be constructed from six sections of DNA synthesized in a lab. The documents even include a form for ordering the BsmBI restriction enzyme....
"Discovery of the new recipe certainly strengthens the possibility that the regular spacing of BsaI and BsmBI recognition sites in SARS2 is the signature of synthetic origin...., Richard H. Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University who had called the 2022 paper 'noteworthy ... but not decisive,' now says that the evidence in the new documents 'elevates the evidence provided by the genome sequence from the level of noteworthy to the level of a smoking gun'.... 'Game over,' wrote Matt Ridley, co-author of Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19, noting that every suspicious feature of SARS2 is explained by the methods called for in the DEFUSE proposal documents....
"The DEFUSE proposal was authored by Peter Daszak, head of the EcoHealth Alliance in New York, with partners including Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina. The grant proposed to 'introduce appropriate human-specific cleavage sites' into SARS-related viruses, a procedure that could have led to the creation of SARS2, with its distinctive furin cleavage site.... [T]he authors planned to synthesize eight to 16 strains of SARS-type bat viruses, selected for their likely ability to infect human cells. The goal was to use them to make a vaccine to immunize bats in regions that military troops might have to enter. The researchers were well aware of the risk that their work would set off a pandemic. 'Also, we MUST make it clear in proposal that our approach won’t drive evolution the wrong way (e.g. drive evolution of more virulent strain that then becomes pandemic,' says a planning memo....
"[W]hen DARPA declined to fund the project, the Chinese members of the group may have decided to find their own financing and go ahead unilaterally.... Daszak, the project leader, had planned in any case to have much of the work undertaken by Shi’s team in Wuhan, even though it meant deceiving the Defense Department into thinking the bulk of the research would be done by Baric in the United States.... Daszak is a research manager, not a virologist, and perhaps did not fully understand the consequences of this decision. The DEFUSE project, if undertaken by Baric, would have gone forward in the second-highest level of safety conditions, known as BSL3.... Shi worked on SARS-related viruses mostly in BSL2 labs, which have minimal safety requirements, though she did test the viruses on humanized mice under BSL3 conditions.
"When SARS2 first appeared in the world, it had all the unique properties that would be expected of a virus made according to the DEFUSE recipe. Instead of slowly evolving the ability to attack human cells, as natural viruses must do when they jump from animals to humans, SARS2 was immediately infectious to people.... SARS2 possesses a furin cleavage site, found in none of the other 871 known members of its viral family, so it cannot have gained such a site through the ordinary evolutionary swaps of genetic material within a family. The DEFUSE proposal called for inserting one.... Despite intensive search, no precursors for SARS2 have been found in the natural world. Given the 2018 date of the DEFUSE proposal, the researchers in Wuhan could have synthesized the virus by 2019, accounting perfectly for the otherwise unexplained timing of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as its place of origin. It all fits.
"Both Beijing and Washington have covered up information about the origin of SARS2. Washington’s obfuscation has been aided by the puzzling inability of its 17 intelligence agencies to discover documents in the U.S. government’s own possession, and by a mainstream press too opinionated and ignorant of science to understand the story of the decade. U.S. responsibility lies in having allowed two senior health-research officials, Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins, to promote gain-of-function research (enhancing natural viruses) for years without adequate safety oversight or scientific consensus.... [But] the bulk of the blame for the pandemic surely rests with Beijing. No one but China is responsible for regulating the safety of virology research at Wuhan. Chinese researchers apparently chose to race ahead with a project that DARPA, perhaps because of the manifest risks, had refused to fund. When the virus escaped its lax containment, if that is indeed what happened, the Chinese government did everything possible to bury the truth. But that truth is enciphered in a place where, once decoded, no one can hide it: the genetic structure of the SARS2 virus itself."
The town of Westlock, Alberta, will lose its seven-months-old Pride-colored crosswalk, and its Pride flags this summer, following a plebiscite that passed with less than 51% in favor. The full story ...
"The crosswalk project had been proposed by the Thunder Alliance, a group that supports members of the LGBTQ community at R.F. Staples Secondary School in the town 90 kilometres north of Edmonton [Alberta's capital]. In May, councillors voted unanimously to support painting the crosswalk on 106th Street, between Westlock's town hall and the Royal Canadian Legion. But at a council meeting June 12, some people showed up to voice angry objections....
"'We did receive a lot more pushback than we anticipated,' Heidi Mills, a school social worker and a lead teacher with the Thunder Alliance, said at the crosswalk-painting event. 'Despite all of the hate that we've received, look at this crowd,' she said, gesturing to the group of more than 200 people. 'It's giving me goosebumps right now.'" Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-pride-backlash-towns-1.6895610
Alberta town proposes bylaw to restrict Pride flags, crosswalks | Western Standard | Jen Hodgson: November 29, 2023 - "The Westlock, AB city council has moved to restrict Pride flags and crosswalks in favour of displaying only municipal, provincial and federal insignia. The crosswalks and sidewalks would return to simple white paint on grey pavement. On Monday, Westlock town council decided to let the residents vote on the potential bylaw, which will take place in February.
"The decision came after a group of residents brought a petition to council in September decrying the Pride colours painted on town infrastructure, which was done in June by the 'gay-straight alliance' at local high school R.F. Staples Secondary. The painting initiative was endorsed by city officials at the time. Deputy Mayor Murtaza Jamaly told CTV News they 'thought it was a great opportunity to demonstrate we are an inclusive and welcoming community'....
Irwin demands Westlock support Pride flags, crosswalks | Western Standard | Jonathan Bradley: November 30, 2023 - "Alberta NDP MLA Janis Irwin (Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood) said Westlock, AB, needs to keep allowing Pride flags and rainbow crosswalks. 'Banning a Pride flag or rainbow crosswalk won’t make queer and trans people go away,' tweeted Irwin on Wednesday. 'But it will send a message that they’re less safe to be who they are in your community.' Irwin went on to say she remembers the day Westlock painted a rainbow crosswalk and how powerful it was to see people uniting....
"Stonewall Riots survivor Fred Sargeant said there 'are absurd tweets and then there's laughably absurd tweets.... No one is less safe because a distracting crosswalk is gone,' said Sargeant.... Queens’ Speech host Clive Simpson called Irwin 'f*cking ridiculous.' 'Some of us managed to survive the times when there were NO RAINBOW FLAGS ANYWHERE,' said Simpson." Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/alberta/irwin-demands-westlock-support-pride-flags-crosswalks/50646
BREAKING: Westlock votes to ban Pride crosswalks, other flags by 24 votes | Town and Country Today | Kristine Jean: February 22, 2024 - "Westlock residents have voted to ban Pride crosswalks and allow the town to only fly flags representative of the municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Hundreds of local citizens went to the polls Thurs. Feb. 22 and voted to support bylaw 2023-14 in a plebiscite.... A total of 663 residents voted yes to ban Pride crosswalks and flags, while a total of 639 residents voted no to the bylaw, a difference of just 24 votes....
"Westlock Mayor Jon Kramer said in a press release that council did not support the proposed bylaw and felt it went against council's commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. 'This plebiscite is binding, and as such, the bylaw does restrict how we are able to show this commitment. However, we will continue to find ways to embrace those in our community who need a helping hand, including marginalized groups..... That won’t stop, it will just take on a different form. We know the Town of Westlock is a welcoming community and that will not change.'" Read more: https://www.townandcountrytoday.com/westlock-news/breaking-westlock-votes-to-ban-pride-crosswalks-other-flags-by-24-votes-8345490
February 21, 2024 - "Alberta Premier Danielle Smith can’t seem to get any face time with federal leaders — including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — even though he took time to disparage her government at length on an Edmonton radio talk show. On the Ryan Jespersen show Wednesday morning, Trudeau said Albertans 'are getting fooled by right wing politicians,' including Smith. He also accused ‘traditional’ oil sands and energy companies of 'ripping off' workers by refusing to embrace his climate change policies....
“'If the Alberta government gets out of its ideological opposition to doing things that are good for workers, good for the planet — maybe not good for classic oil sands companies,' he ranted. 'This is the dynamic that quite frankly Albertans are getting fooled by right wing politicians… right wing ideology is getting in the way of Alberta’s success right now. It’s not a plot by Eastern bastards.'
"Trudeau was in Edmonton Wednesday ostensibly to make a housing announcement alongside his former housing minister and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. But energy issues dominated his chat with the local talk show host, where he defended the carbon tax and insisted he 'bought' the Trans Mountain pipeline in a show of support for Alberta’s oil industry. He also took more than his allotted time to disavow comments from Environmental Minister Steven Guilbeault about building roads....
"Despite making time for Jesperson, he couldn’t make time to meet Smith who extended an invitation.... According to a statement from the Premier’s Office, she was rebuffed — again.... [I]t’s the second time in three weeks a Liberal official has refused an invitation to even have coffee after she was rejected from appearing at the House natural resources committee by chairman and Calgary MP George Chahal.
“'Alberta has many important items to discuss with the federal government, including their unconstitutional Clean Energy Regulations and oil and gas cap that threaten the livelihoods of Albertans, so it is unfortunate that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not extend an invitation to meet with Premier Danielle Smith,' said her press secretary Sam Blackett.
"Smith acknowledged Trudeau spoke with Alberta media, which saw him call Albertans fools, claimed the carbon tax was saving families thousands of dollars, and condemned anyone supportive of parental involvement in their children's education.
"'We know that Albertans do not take his absurd claims seriously; however it is sad to see this Prime Minister, like his father before him, try to use Alberta as a punching bag to win votes in other parts of the country,' she said. 'Instead of attacking our province, Mr. Trudeau could have informed our government about his visit to Alberta and extended an invitation to meet with me to discuss our amazing energy sector and workers, Alberta green technologies that are changing the world, removing red tape for struggling childcare operators, or the housing and affordability challenges.'"
The Libertarian Party Mises Caucus, said to control a majority of delegates to the Libertarian Party's May national convention, has issued a statement opposing the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
February 15, 2024 - "[I]n recent weeks, [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] has appeared on CNN to float interest in the [Libertarian] party, and appeared on the podcast of a popular libertarian comedian. He is planning on attending the California Libertarian Party convention at the end of February, where he’ll be on a panel with other possible nominees.... It’s sparked a backlash within the Libertarian Party, as both the electoral-focused 'prags' who have traditionally controlled the party [for example, former Libertarian National Committee chair Nicholas Sarwark - gd] and supported more mainstream presidential candidates ... and more subversive, ideologically rigid members of the Mises Caucus speak out against his name going at the top of the ticket.
"The Mises Caucus — a more radical libertarian faction organized around the work of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises — has been a power center within the party since its endorsed candidate, Angela McArdle, won the national committee chairmanship in a 2022 landslide victory with nearly 70 percent of the vote. It controls the majority of the delegates who will vote on the party’s presidential nominee at the national convention in May.
"While McArdle has suggested that the party may be open to a Kennedy bid, last weekend the Mises Caucus came out formally in opposition to his candidacy, making it unlikely that Kennedy has a real shot at the nomination....
"Michael Heise, the founder of the Mises Caucus, said that while he’s open to Kennedy running for the nomination — he says it would raise the stature of Libertarian Party discourse — nominating the Kennedy family scion would be short-sighted, even if he performed well in the general election."
February 11, 2024 - "Over the last couple of weeks, there has been considerable speculation about whether Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will be seeking our party’s nomination for president—and about the Mises Caucus’ position on the matter. RFK himself raised the possibility first during a Jan. 27 interview.... Then, when discussing the matter on the Feb. 5 Timcast, Josh Smith intimated that the Mises Caucus leadership favored a plan to back an RFK Libertarian bid as a means to gain higher vote totals and thus better ballot access for the LP going forward.
"This is simply false. The Mises Caucus has endorsed Michael Rectenwald for president and Clint Russell for vice president and we are working hard to see that they are nominated by our party at the Libertarian National Convention (May 23–26 in Washington, DC).
"We firmly oppose any strategy that would 'rent out' our party’s place on any state’s ballot to RFK, or indeed any candidate who has so many disqualifying deviations from the essential principles of libertarianism....
"[O]ur goal as Libertarians must be to convince as many of our fellow men as possible of the moral and practical superiority of liberty. We can’t do that if we muddy our message to chase votes. ory supports this analysis: Gary Johnson’s strong electoral showings harmed our brand and left our active membership stagnant, while Harry Browne’s anemic vote totals resulted in the greatest period of sustained growth in the LP’s history.
"Another reason that the RFK gambit is a foolish idea is that it might actually work. If he did occupy the Libertarian ballot line and win five or even ten percent of the popular vote, millions of Americans will forever associate the LP with RFK’s policies. This would empty the LP of a large number of its most committed activists while attracting an influx of those with little or no regard for the Non-Aggression Principle.
"For this election cycle and the foreseeable future, the only sound presidential election strategy for the LP must be to nominate candidates who will present an undiluted decentralist libertarian message in hopes of awakening the remnant who favor liberty over tyranny. Among those presently willing to take up that task, Michael Rectenwald and Clint Russell are clearly the most capable."
February 17, 2024 - "A rally on Parliament Hill to mark the two-year anniversary of what became known as the Freedom Convoy came and went without any major incidents.... Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Ottawa on Saturday, two years since the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act and police moved in to clear out the demonstrators....
"The rally's organizers said they expected people to drive in to Ottawa from southern Ontario and first gather at the Capital City Bikers' Church in Vanier. They then congregated at Parliament Hill around 11 a.m., before moving on to the ByWard Market.
"In a statement to CBC before Saturday's rally, the Ottawa Police Service said they had consulted with municipal, provincial and federal partners and had prepared accordingly.... No major incidents had been reported as of 2:45 p.m. Saturday, police told Radio-Canada by email. Dacey told CBC earlier this week that he'd been in contact with police to plan a 'safe, lawful and peaceful event' and that he was unaware of any planned actions involving vehicles.
"Many of the demonstrators Saturday brandished Canadian flags or signs bearing protest messages, although the atmosphere remained generally festive.
"'I'm here kind of in remembrance of the two-year anniversary ... of our convoy that I was part of,' said Jeremy Glass. 'Also in a little bit of a celebration for the results of the [ruling], saying that it was unjust,' he added. 'You know, we were here peaceful protesting.'
"Kristia Tanaka, associate director of traffic services for Ottawa, said in a statement that the city had not received any permit requests for a demonstration related to the 'Freedom Movement' on Feb. 16 or 17.... 'Organizers of demonstrations do not technically require a permit to protest,' Tanaka noted in a statement. 'The right to peacefully demonstrate falls under the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms.'"
Javier Milei's administration achieved a balanced budget in January, its first month of office, the first time the government of Argentina has had a positive balance in over a decade..
February 18, 2024 - "The Argentine government in January saw its first monthly budget surplus in nearly 12 years, as new President Javier Milei continues to push for strong spending cuts, the Economy Ministry announced. January was the first full month in office for Mr Milei, a far-right [sic] libertarian who took office in December, and it ended with a positive balance for public-sector finances of US$589 million (S$800 million) at the official exchange rate, the government said late on Feb 16. The figure includes payment of interest on the public debt....
"Milei has been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund over its US$44 billion loan and has vowed to achieve balance in public finances in 2024 [see video]. 'The zero deficit is not negotiable,' Economy Minister Luis Caputo said on Feb 16 on X, formerly Twitter....
"Following a 50 per cent devaluation of the peso, a lifting of price controls and strong rate increases, Argentina saw an inflation rate for January of 20.6 per cent, with a 12-month rate of 254.2 per cent. The year 2023, the final year of the centre-left government of Mr Alberto Fernandez, ended with a 211 per cent inflation rate. With poverty affecting 45 per cent of the population, Mr Milei has predicted an economic rebound within three months."
February 14, 2024 - "Shortly after coming to power, Milei dramatically narrowed the gap between the official and the market exchange rates by devaluing the peso 54%. He went on to shut down ministries and public offices and lay off swarms of useless bureaucrats. He also passed an emergency decree with 300 measures to deregulate the economy. Among them are the privatization of all public companies, the elimination of rent controls, an open-sky policy, cutting subsidies to different sectors of the economy, ending import restrictions, deregulating satellite services and many others....
"During the first month of Milei’s administration, public spending decreased by 30% in real terms compared with the previous year and the previous month. In other words, the government is already spending almost a third less than in the same period last year when adjusted for inflation. Needless to say, this is only the beginning of the 6.1 points of gross domestic product worth of deficit spending Milei has to adjust to restore a balanced budget. Most of this adjustment (3.2% of GDP) will affect the public sector by cutting spending, while a temporary taxation increase (2.9% of GDP) will do the rest.
"Despite the harsh measures adopted so far and the challenges some of them face in the courts and congress, Milei’s popularity has stayed at around 60%.... [T]he demonstrations the infamous Argentinian unions orchestrated have not been able to harm the government. If anything, they have contributed to increased public support for Milei’s efforts to fight what he calls the 'caste' of 'parasites' that have exploited Argentinians for so long.
"If he is successful in getting rid of the 'caste\” so he can turn Argentina around, the ideological and political impact throughout the region will be enormous — even more so because he and other free-market advocates have already achieved a lasting change in the mentality and values of millions of young people by replacing collectivist and statist ideas with notions of individual responsibility and freedom."
February 15, 2024 - "'Woke' refers to the sacralization of historically marginalized race, gender, and sexual identity groups. This belief system elevates equal outcomes and emotional harm protection for such groups as its highest value.... Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has distinguished himself on the world stage as the paragon of this belief system, and many outside Canada assume he reflects an equally woke Canadian public. But is this truly the case? To better understand Canadian views, The Macdonald-Laurier Institute asked Maru Public Opinion Polls to conduct a nationally representative survey of 1,500 adults, in which I fielded numerous questions previously put to American and British samples....
"Surprisingly, despite their reputation, Canadians largely reject the woke ideology. For instance, they oppose the idea of separating pupils in class by race—assigning whites as privileged and minorities as oppressed—by a whopping 92 to 8. By 85-15, they reject the idea of teaching children that 'There is no such thing as biological sex, only gender preference.' Excluding those with no opinion, 80 percent of respondents were against the idea of J.K. Rowling being dropped by her publisher. By a similar slant, Canadians say 'political correctness has gone too far.'
"In most cases, respondents came out strongly against established practices found in Canadian institutions. For example, when Toronto teacher Richard Bilkszto pushed back against diversity trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson’s characterization of Canada as more racist than the United States, none of his colleagues defended him and his travails eventually drove him to suicide. Yet, by a stunning 95-5 margin, Canadians overwhelmingly reject the idea that their country is more racist than other countries. Among those with an opinion, just 30 percent say that Canada is a racist country while 70 percent disagree. A similar share says they do not want schoolchildren taught that the country is racist.
"Or consider the fact that almost all statues of Sir John A. Macdonald have been removed from major Canadian cities. Yet, Canadians oppose removing statues of Canada’s Father of Confederation by a two-to-one ratio. Among those with an opinion, a mere 8 percent say activists should be allowed to remove statues without government approval, with 92 percent against. Almost 45 percent of Tory and PPC voters strongly disagree with removing Macdonald. In addition, only 5 percent of Liberal, NDP, and Green voters strongly agree that his statues should be removed. The majority of left-wing voters oppose rather than support Macdonald’s removal.
"Canada has been one of the most trans-affirming societies on earth. Only in the past year have conservative premiers in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Alberta begun to curb trans activism in education.... But when we look at public opinion on the trans question, an entirely different picture emerges. By a four-to-one ratio, Canadians oppose gender reassignment surgery for those under 16. By two-to-one, they want parents informed of pronoun changes at school and don’t want transgender women (i.e. biological males) to enter women’s sports competitions. Three in four Canadians say we talk too much about transgenderism. Even when it comes to people displaying their pronouns in work emails or social media profiles, more Canadians disapprove of this practice than support it....
"It is striking how similar Canadian public opinion is to that of supposedly more conservative America or Britain. Across 30 questions I asked in Britain in 2022 and Canada in 2023, the average difference in opinion between the two countries is just 0.3 of a percentage point. Furthermore, of the 13 questions asked in the U.S. in 2021, the average gap with this Canadian survey was just one point! There is essentially no appreciable difference.... French-English differences are also much smaller than the stereotype of woke English Canada versus plain-speaking traditional French Canada would lead us to expect. Francophones are somewhat less woke than Anglos on many transgender questions and more inclined to colourblindness rather than race and gender-conscious Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. However, Anglophones are more critical of Black Lives Matter than Francophones, more likely to say political correctness has gone too far, and more opposed to removing statues and renaming buildings....
"English Canada’s culturally-left political and media elite contrasts with that of red-state America, and, to a lesser degree, with Britain and Quebec. If English-Canadian public opinion is largely aligned with the others, why have its policies and politicians diverged from their British, American, and Quebecois equivalents? One possible answer is Canadians’ relatively high trust in elites and institutions. More than half of Canadians trust journalists while fewer than 20 percent of Britons and barely a third of Americans do. Even 30 percent of conservative Canadians trust journalists compared to 11-15 percent of conservative Americans and Britons. A somewhat similar pattern holds with respect to academics and teachers. Canadians’ elevated trust in their largely progressive-dominated institutions gives the Canadian elite more leeway to deviate from public opinion.
"The key takeaway is that culture war issues are far less settled than a lot of mainstream commentary would have Canadians believe. Polling irrefutably shows that Canadians are as inclined as Americans or Britons to disagree with a lot of the woke shibboleths that are present in the media, universities, and other major institutions. As for the political implications, these findings may represent a glaring opportunity for conservatives and a glaring risk for progressives."
Two lawsuits were launched this week by victims of Justin Trudeau's invocation of the Emergencies Act, which a Federal Court recently found to be unconstitutional.
February 15, 2024 - "The main organizers of the Freedom Convoy have launched a new $2 million lawsuit against the federal government on the two-year anniversary of the Emergencies Act being invoked, claiming that Ottawa violated their Charter rights when invoking the act to end the demonstrations.... According to lawyer Keith Wilson, organizers [Tmara] Lich, Chris Barber, Tom Marazzo, Danny Bulford, and 'other protestors who were targeted by Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland' submitted lawsuits on Feb. 13. The lawsuits are being done in a mass tort form, meaning each claim is being brought forth individually and settlements will be given out on a case-by-case basis.
"The Freedom Convoy protest was started as a response to a mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccination for truck drivers crossing the Canada–U.S. border, and resulted in vehicles converging in the nation’s capital. The protest evolved into a larger movement against pandemic mandates and restrictions, with similar protests being held at several Canada–U.S. border crossings. To end the protests, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, which gave law enforcement expanded powers to arrest demonstrators, freeze the bank accounts of some protestors, and require towing companies to remove protesters’ vehicles from Ottawa’s downtown core.
"In a Statement of Claim for Mr. Marazzo filed in the Ontario Superior Court Justice, which was obtained by The Epoch Times, he says his bank accounts and credit cards were frozen on Feb. 15, 2022.... The Statement of Claim accuses the Canadian government of interfering with the plaintiff’s Section 8 Charter Rights, which deal with unreasonable search and seizure. It claims Ottawa did not have lawful authority to issue the EO and freeze Mr. Marazzo’s bank account. The document also accuses the federal government of Interference with an Economic Interest of the Plaintiff by compelling third-party financial services to deny banking and credit card services to Mr. Marazzo; committing Abuse of Process by barring him from financial services; committing the Tort of Intimidation by forcing him to comply with demands; and committing the tort of Misfeasance of Public Office by exceeding their powers as public officials.
"The lawsuits come weeks after a Jan. 23 ruling by Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley, who wrote that the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act did 'not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness—justification, transparency and intelligibility—and was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration. Justice Mosley ruled that invocation of the act infringed the Charter’s Section 2(b), which deals with “freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression,” and Section 8, which deals with the 'right to be secure against unreasonable search seizure.' He also ruled that the freezing of protestors’ bank accounts was 'not minimally impairing,' as the measure applied everywhere in Canada—including in areas where no protests were occurring—and because there were “less impairing alternatives available” to Ottawa."
February 15, 2024 - "Numerous Freedom Convoy protesters who had their bank accounts frozen after the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act have filed a tort lawsuit against federal ministers and financial institutions behind the decision.... 'It’s what we had to do. The people that are in it, are not in it for the money. It’s the principle. They have to be held to account, every last one of them,\ said Eddie Cornell, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
"Loberg Ector LLP commenced the proceedings in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of 20 plaintiffs on Feb. 14, which is exactly two years after Ottawa invoked the Emergencies Act to deal with the trucker protest.... A Feb. 14 press release claims the plaintiffs are seeking relief from the “unjustified and unconstitutional actions” of the federal government, financial institutions that followed the federal directive to freeze bank accounts, and police agencies that helped bring the protest to an end.
"Mr. Cornell, who co-founded the group Veterans 4 Freedom, told The Epoch Times that Canadians who had their accounts frozen were chosen as plaintiffs because their cases are easier to prove in court. 'With other people, for example, that were ... shot with tear gas and that sort of thing, it’s a much bigger litigation, it takes much longer, and much more evidence has to be gathered. So we had to go with something that is provable beyond a doubt, he said. Mr. Cornell was one of five plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the federal government that resulted in Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley’s ruling in their favour on Jan. 23....
"According to the Statement of Claim, all plaintiffs are individuals or businesses who had their financial accounts and private property frozen, including banking, credit cards, and cryptocurrency. It adds that not all plaintiffs participated in the Freedom Convoy, and some had joint accounts frozen despite never having been in Ottawa. The lawsuit also lists the Canadian Anti-Hate Network as a defendant, arguing that the organization provided 'false information to several other defendants and media organizations designed to harm the plaintiffs' and that its statements led to the Emergencies Act being invoked. The lawsuit seeks general and special damages of up to $1.16 million for each plaintiff for various charges such as injurious falsehoods, defamation, harassment, intimidation, Charter breaches, and 'high-handed misconduct.'”
Justin Trudeau's climate change minister, Steven Guilbeault, told a transit conference in Montreal on Tuesday that the Trudeau government "has made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure."
13 February 13, 2024 - "It’s not enough to ban internal combustion engines, keep oil and gas in the ground and force all Canadians to drive electric vehicles. Now federal [Environment and Climate Change] Minister Steven Guilbeault wants governments at all levels to stop building the roads to drive them on.
"Speaking at a transit conference in Montreal on Tuesday, Guilbeault said money that in the past would be spent on asphalt and concrete should be spent on projects to fight climate change instead. More roads and interchanges inevitably lead to more automobiles which inevitably leads to a self-fulfilling cycle of more road building and more cars — electric or otherwise, he said.
“'Our government has made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure. Of course we will continue to be there for cities, provinces and territories to maintain the existing network, but there will be no more envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network,' he said.... 'And thanks to a mix of investment in active and public transit and in territorial planning and densification, we can very well achieve our goals of economic, social and human development without more enlargement of the road network.'
"Guilbeault said overestimating the potential for electricity-powered transportation to solve climate change and other environmental issues would be 'an error, a false utopia that will let us down over the long term.' 'We must stop thinking that electric cars will solve all our problems,' he said via live video feed from Ottawa, to public transit advocacy group Trajectoire Québec.
"He said the Trudeau government has put up $30 billion to develop public transit since 2016, and has announced the country’s first annual financing program for public transit projects to allocate $3 billion per year for projects starting in 2026.
"The Liberal government also spent $400 million to encourage walking, cycling and the use of wheelchairs, scooters, e-bikes, roller blades, snowshoes and cross-country skis. Other projects include multi-use pathways, bike lanes, footbridges across roadways, new lighting, signage to encourage so-called ‘active transportation’."
"Guilbeault said municipal governments have to brace for EVs by doing more than simply installing charging stations. 'The solution to mobility will not consist only of electrification. Electrification is a component, but it’s not the only thing. There is the question of urban planning that is hyper important,' he said.... 'All of our planning practices have to be coherent with these mobility objectives, for the reduction of the ecological footprint of transportation and of greenhouse emissions.'”
Canada's Auditor-General estimates that the ArriveCAN travel app, originally expected to cost $80,000, actually cost almost $60 million, but addthat poor record keeping makes it impossible to determine the true figure.
February 12, 2024 - "The final cost of the controversial ArriveCan app is impossible to determine due to poor financial record-keeping, a new auditor general report has found. It is just one of the findings that Canada's Auditor General Karen Hogan highlighted in a damning report about the pandemic-era tool....
"Hogan found that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Public Services and Procurement Canada 'repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCan application.' 'This is probably the first example that I've seen such a glaring disregard for some of the most basic and fundamental policies and rules,' Hogan told the House public accounts committee on Monday.
"'I have to say I am deeply concerned by what this audit didn't find,' she told MPs on the committee. 'We didn't find records to accurately show how much was spent on what, who did the work, or how and why contracting decisions were made — and that paper trail should have existed."
"CBSA said previously the development and operation of the app cost an estimated $54 million. Hogan estimates the project cost was $59.5 million — but, as the report notes, she was only able to arrive at that figure based on the information available to her.
"'We found that financial records were not well-maintained by the Canada Border Services Agency. We were unable to determine a precise cost for the ArriveCan application because of [the agency's] poor documentation and weak controls,' the report says.... 18 per cent of invoices submitted by outside contractors that worked on the app didn't have 'sufficient supporting documentation' to accurately determine the cost of the project.
"Hogan told the committee that the government 'paid too much' for the project and that poor record-keeping compromised accountability. The report also notes that the CBSA has estimated that $12.2 million of the $59.5 million estimate could have been unrelated to ArriveCan. Hogan said she was unable to determine what was included in spending on the app and what wasn't.
"CBSA depended heavily on third-party contractors to develop the app. The report cites that reliance as a major factor in its ballooning costs. Hogan's report suggests that a reduction in the use of outside contractors could have lowered costs.... As an example, the report estimates that the per diem costs for external ArriveCan contractors was $1,090, while the average daily cost of an equivalent internal position is $675.
"The CBSA said in a statement Monday that it's implementing the recommendations Hogan made in her report. The agency also argued that the app needed to be rolled out quickly at the start of the pandemic.... Hogan told MPs on Monday that seeking outside help for the app at the start of the pandemic was 'reasonable.' But she said she would have expected less reliance on outside contractors as the project continued. 'We didn't see that transition, whether it be that the public service take over some of the operations of the application or that there be a transfer of some knowledge or skill,' she said.
"Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blasted the government over the app's costs and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of 'wasting [taxpayers'] money.' He promised to cut back on third-party outsourcing if his party forms government after the next election. 'Public servants do the work more accountably and they do it more affordably,' Poilievre told reporters outside the House of Commons on Monday. 'We're going to save money by reversing Trudeau's doubling of outsourcing.'"
February 9, 2024 - "In California, where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lives, he needs 219,403 valid signatures to make the ballot — or 75,000 registrations with his new “We the People” party. In North Carolina, he’d need 82,542 valid signatures by May 5. And on Friday morning, the Democratic National Committee filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against Kennedy’s super PAC, accusing it of 'illegally coordinating' with the campaign to get him on state ballots.
"One weird trick could fix that problem. The Libertarian Party, with automatic ballot access across most of the country, will pick its nominee in 107 days. And Kennedy might go for it. 'We have a really good relationship with the Libertarian Party,' Kennedy told CNN’s Michael Smerconish last week. 'I feel very comfortable with most of the values of the Libertarian Party.'
"The ex-Democrat called for the release of Julian Assange at the New Hampshire libertarian PORCfest; he denounced 'turnkey totalitarianism' at last year’s FreedomFest. That speech earned him an invitation to this month’s California Libertarian Party convention in Orange County, where he’ll join the party’s presidential candidates in a forum, as a potential challenger. 'I’ve unironically been told that I’m platforming Bobby Kennedy,' California Libertarian Party chairman Adrian Malagon said, with a laugh. 'In what universe am I platforming a Kennedy? He’s platforming us.'
"Kennedy, who has benefitted from voter angst about President Biden’s age and Donald Trump’s rap sheet, has built a following among many Libertarians. He’s done so while holding views that contradict the party — especially after the 2022 victory of the Mises Caucus, a radical faction irritated by the nominations of ex-Republicans (former Rep. Bob Barr, former Gov. Gary Johnson) who didn’t share their more doctrinaire views. Johnson was booed at a 2016 Libertarian Party debate for supporting the 1964 Civil Rights Act and for being the only candidate against abolishing driver’s licenses.
"Kennedy’s differences run deeper. The current party platform opposes state intervention in the economy; Kennedy has proposed tax-free government bonds to help Americans buy homes. The party believes that 'people should be able to travel freely' across borders; Kennedy promises to 'close the border' with Mexico and finish the border fence with a day one executive order. The party is 'anti-war in every context,' a point its official account reiterated on X after Kennedy explained his stem-to-stern support for Israel. 'His vibes go well with the current Libertarian Party, but the policy specifics don’t,' said Brian Doherty, a senior editor at Reason magazine and historian of the movement....
"This week’s events showed exactly why Kennedy, the best-known third party candidate in America, is polling so much better than other outsiders in recent election cycles. In just one hour, last night, Joe Biden flubbed a reference to Egypt (he said 'Mexico') in a press conference called to dispel doubts about his mental fitness, and Donald Trump — celebrating a Nevada caucus win that was preordained by the state GOP — said 'Turkey' when he meant 'Hungary.' In that environment, third parties have an unusually strong chance to prove their relevance, and policy litmus tests and specifics simply don’t matter as much.
"Kennedy holds some views that are antithetical to the Libertarian Party. But he’s been with them on three defining issues of the Biden era: Opposing vaccine mandates, battling tech companies over free speech, and halting any further military funding for Ukraine. And Kennedy takes Libertarians seriously. While he hasn’t been campaigning at state Libertarian Party meetings — the California convention will be his first — he’s made himself available to movement influencers. Dave Smith, a comedian and leader in the Mises faction’s LP takeover, conducted an 80-minute interview with Kennedy last week about his support for Israel. They couldn’t find common ground, but they wanted to....
"The purists are not making way for Kennedy. Michael Rectenwald, whose platform calls for abolishing the income tax and shuttering most of the national security state,... said [Kennedy], 'thinks he can ride into Washington like a white knight and fix all of our problems'.... The Mises faction’s critics are skeptical, too. Nicholas Sarwark, who chaired the LP from 2014 to 2020, ... saw opportunity for Libertarians if they welcomed 'never Trumpers' who were abou to be politically homeless; he saw far less upside if the party embraced Kennedy. 'They’re casting around for somebody who gives a shit about their stupid right-wing anti-vax politics, and nobody does,' said Sarwark.... 'It’s probably the stupidest political strategy I’ve ever seen.'"
February 8, 2024 - "Belleville, ON, Mayor Neil Ellis has declared a state of emergency because of the city’s growing addictions, mental health and homelessness crises and the resulting impact on emergency services.
"'The past two days have exemplified just how critical the addiction, mental health and homelessness crisis has become in our community,' said Ellis in a Thursday press release. 'We, as a City, know that we are at the point where doing our best doesn’t cut it anymore.' Ellis admitted Belleville’s emergency services, healthcare system and municipal resources 'are being stretched to the very limits and we are close to a breaking point'....'
"[T]he City of Belleville said emergency services continue to respond to perceived and actual drug overdoses and are finding multiple patients at one time. On Tuesday afternoon, it acknowledged the largest was nine overdoses at one time during one call for service.
"An emergency declaration acts as a request for support from the Ontario and Canadian governments and falls under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA). The EMCPA defines an emergency as a situation or an impending one constituting a danger of major proportions that could result in serious harm to people or property.
"Ellis concluded by calling on the Ontario and Canadian governments for support. 'I urge our local municipal partners facing the same issues to do the same,' he said."
"The Belleville Police Service (BPS) issued a notice to residents on Tuesday to avoid the downtown area after first responders dealt with 14 drug overdoses."
November 14, 2022- "As the number of adolescents who identify as transgender grows, drugs known as puberty blockers have become the first line of intervention for the youngest ones seeking medical treatment. Their use is typically framed as a safe — and reversible — way to buy time to weigh a medical transition and avoid the anguish of growing into a body that feels wrong.... But as an increasing number of adolescents identify as transgender — in the United States, an estimated 300,000 ages 13 to 17 and an untold number who are younger — concerns are growing among some medical professionals about the consequences of the drugs, a New York Times examination found. The questions are fueling government reviews in Europe, prompting a push for more research and leading some prominent specialists to reconsider at what age to prescribe them and for how long. A small number of doctors won’t recommend them at all.
"Dutch doctors first offered puberty blockers to transgender adolescents three decades ago, typically following up with hormone treatment.... Since then, the practice has spread to other countries, with varying protocols, little documentation of outcomes and no government approval of the drugs for that use, including by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But there is emerging evidence of potential harm from using blockers, according to reviews of scientific papers and interviews with more than 50 doctors and academic experts around the world....
"The drugs suppress estrogen and testosterone, hormones that help develop the reproductive system but also affect the bones, the brain and other parts of the body. During puberty, bone mass typically surges, determining a lifetime of bone health. When adolescents are using blockers, bone density growth flatlines, on average, according to an analysis commissioned by The Times of observational studies examining the effects. Many doctors treating trans patients believe they will recover that loss when they go off blockers. But two studies from the analysis that tracked trans patients’ bone strength while using blockers and through the first years of sex hormone treatment found that many do not fully rebound and lag behind their peers. That could lead to heightened risk of debilitating fractures earlier than would be expected from normal aging — in their 50s instead of 60s — and more immediate harm for patients who start treatment with already weak bones, experts say.....
"Many physicians in the United States and elsewhere are prescribing blockers to patients at the first stage of puberty — as early as age 8 — and allowing them to progress to sex hormones as soon as 12 or 13. Starting treatment at young ages, they believe, helps patients become better aligned physically with their gender identity and helps protect their bones. But that could force life-altering choices, other doctors warn, before patients know who they really are. Puberty can help clarify gender, the doctors say — for some adolescents reinforcing their sex at birth, and for others confirming that they are transgender.
“'The most difficult question is whether puberty blockers do indeed provide valuable time for children and young people to consider their options, or whether they effectively "lock in" children and young people to a treatment pathway,' wrote Dr. Hilary Cass, a pediatrician leading an independent review in England of medical treatments of adolescents presenting as transgender. On her recommendation, England’s National Health Service last month proposed restricting use of the drugs for trans youths to research settings [see video]. Sweden and Finland have also placed limits on the treatment, concerned not just with the risk of blockers, but the steep rise in young patients, the psychiatric issues that many exhibit, and the extent to which their mental health should be assessed before treatment....
"[I]t’s increasingly clear that the drugs are associated with deficits in bone development. During the teen years, bone density typically surges by about 8 to 12 percent a year. The analysis commissioned by The Times examined seven studies from the Netherlands, Canada and England involving about 500 transgender teens from 1998 through 2021. Researchers observed that while on blockers, the teens did not gain any bone density, on average — and lost significant ground compared to their peers, according to the analysis by Farid Foroutan, an expert on health research methods at McMaster University in Canada....
"Many doctors caring for young trans patients are reassured by the rebounds seen in the children who take blockers for unusually early puberty. In most cases, their bone strength fully recovers after they stop the drugs at about age 11 and resume full puberty, which can last up to five years. But patients identifying as trans take the drugs later, interrupting their normally timed puberty and limiting that crucial period of development....
"So far, only two small studies, published by Dutch doctors, have tracked the bone development of trans patients from beginning blockers through early hormone treatment. In both studies, dozens of patients started blockers at 14 or 15, on average, and began estrogen or testosterone at 16. The participants, followed in one study through age 18, and in the other through age 22, saw their bones strengthen, on average, once on hormones. Still, most patients continued to lag behind their peers; trans men neared average levels, but trans women fell far below."
After reportedly voting to approve new recommendations on masking made by a hand-picked panel of experts, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has reversed itself and told the experts to change their advice.
February 6, 2024 - "Two years back, the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)] picked a bunch of science experts and asked them to update the agency’s scientific guidance to hospitals on how to control infections. Hospitals and government agencies use CDC guidance to set their own policies, but the guidance for controlling infections has not been updated since 2007. Last November, the experts sent the CDC a 20-page document, with 4 pages of scientific references, updating the government’s advice for controlling infections. But the process took an odd turn, last week, when the CDC sent a letter back to these experts — again, experts that the CDC picked themselves — that asked the experts to redo their expert advice....
CDE sign with discarded facemasks, Fresno, CA, 2020.
"Last summer one of the CDC’s own scientists gave a presentation at one of the meetings the experts held. She told the experts that she examined whether N95 respirators work better at stopping viruses than masks. Despite people waving around studies and essays saying that N95s respirators work better at stopping viruses than surgical masks, CDC’s scientist reported that the evidence 'suggests no difference' in their effectiveness.'
"The CDC then posted on the agency’s website a 'systematic review' that CDC researcher[s] did to examine whether N95s work better than masks. For those who don’t understand systematic reviews, they are highly structured analyses that rely on the best available evidence, to provide the best available answers.... The CDC’s researchers found there is no difference, meaning respirators don’t seem to work any better than masks..... Complaining about the experts’ guidance in a blog post last week, the CDC warned them they had gotten the science wrong....
"Prior to 2020, hardly anybody recommended masks to stop viruses, because there’s no evidence they do so.... Even the CDC’s own guidance on virus control advised mask[s] only be worn by sick people to prevent them from infecting others, which is known as 'source control.' The masks are important for someone who’s infected, to prevent them from infecting someone else…...But for some reason, a 'masks work' political movement began to grow....
"Four years after the pandemic’s beginning, the CDC now openly cheerleads for masks, despite research the agency has published showing that masks don’t really protect people from catching viruses. And this is why the experts advising the CDC are getting all this pushback: they didn’t tell the CDC what the CDC wanted to hear.... They want the experts to write guidelines that recommends healthy people wear masks, even though research shows masks won’t really stop healthy people from getting sick....
"The CDC’s request for expert to redo their work raises obvious questions: Why does the CDC gather outside experts to provide advice, if the CDC then demands advice they already want? Even more important, Why is the CDC pushing masks after the CDC published a May 2020 policy review in the CDC’s very own journal /Emerging Infectious Diseases/ that did not find a 'substantial effect' for masks stopping transmission of respiratory viruses?...
"Politico first reported that the CDC’s advisors released and voted to approve their draft guidance last November, updating the agency’s 16-year old recommendations on controlling infectious diseases in healthcare settings. 'But some health workers aren’t happy about this,' Politico noted. "During the meeting’s public comment period, patients and providers called for masks to be worn in health care settings.' Following federal rules, the experts’ guidance then went through a CDC review, followed by 60 days of public comment. Under pressure from the nurse lobby, the CDC pivoted last week and demanded the experts make changes and promote masks....
"I’m not really sure what happened or what we do next. But something weird took place in America where liberal elites began messaging among themselves 'masks work.' They then grew this into a crusade. Again, I don’t know why. The future everyone should fear is that the fanatics chanting 'masks work' are going to get someone killed. When a new pandemic happens — and one will — they’ve taught people that a super deadly virus ... worse than COVID, doesn’t really mater. Just put on a mask and go about your business, because 'masks work.' What a horror story that will be."
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