All Covid restrictions dropped in Denmark

Denmark becomes only European country with no COVID curbs | Al Jazeera:

September 10, 2021 - "Denmark has become the only European country with no coronavirus-related restrictions in place, as vaccine rates have reached more than 70 percent of the population. The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass – proof of having been vaccinated – is no longer required when entering nightclubs, making it the last COVID-19 safeguard to fall.... In June, Iceland had also lifted all its COVID-19 measures – only to reimpose them after cases spiked again.

"Denmark introduced COVID-19 passports in March 2021 as part of a gradual easing of rules. On August 1, it lifted the COVID pass requirement at museums and indoor events with fewer than 500 people, before ditching it for major events, while masks have not been required on public transport since mid-August. On Saturday, a sold-out concert in the capital, Copenhagen, will welcome 50,000 people, a first in Europe.

"Danish authorities insist the virus is under control, with about 500 daily cases and a reproduction rate of 0.7. Vaccines have been swiftly rolled out, with 73 percent of the 5.8 million population fully vaccinated, and 96 percent of those 65 and older.

"However, optimism was tempered on Friday as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director for Europe warned that vaccines were not likely to end the pandemic for good. Instead, jabs will help prevent serious disease and death, though the virus is likely to be around for years to come as it mutates, Hans Kluge told reporters in Copenhagen....

"Denmark made third doses available to vulnerable groups as of Thursday, and Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said vaccines played an important role in helping the country return to normal. But he struck a cautious note. 'Daily life is basically back to normal, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any danger down the road,' Heunicke said on Friday. 'The virus has mutated several times, so I can’t make any guarantees. But with this many people vaccinated, we are well set,' he told Danish television TV2."

Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/denmark-becomes-only-european-country-with-no-covid-curbs

Covid mandate protests across Canada

‘Mindless mobs’: London, Ont. mayor condemns hospital protests during COVID-19 briefing | Global News - Matthew Trevithick, 980 CFPL:
September 13, 2021 - "London Mayor Ed Holder slammed those gathering outside of Canadian hospitals to protest COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, describing them on Monday as 'mindless mobs' who are harassing health-care workers.... Holder made the comments as dozens of people began to descend on the northeast corner of Commissioners and Wellington roads, just outside of London Health Sciences Centre, to protest vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions implemented during the pandemic. Roughly 200 people were estimated to be in attendance, waving placards and soliciting honks of support from passing motorists. A similar protest was held outside of the hospital a week ago.

"Other demonstrations were scheduled to take place across the country, including outside McGill University Health Centre [Montreal], Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, and the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg. Dozens gathered outside Toronto General Hospital, many to condemn Ontario’s proof-of-vaccination system that is scheduled to take effect next week.

"The demonstrations were organized by a group calling itself Canadian Frontline Nurses, who promoted them as 'silent vigils'.... Among its lead organizers is Kristen Nagle, who up until January had been employed as a registered nurse in LHSC’s neonatal intensive care unit. Nagle was among those present at Monday’s London demonstration, as was Henry Hildebrant, the pastor of Aylmer’s Church of God, who has become a prominent critic of pandemic restrictions.

“'Definitely by no means are we here to interfere with hospital access or impede any health or any kind of treatments going on,' Nagle told 980 CFPL. 'But It seems like by going in front of the hospitals is a place where … we are finally being noticed. Unfortunately, it is being spun very negatively against us, and what we’re standing for is absolutely being missed'.... In January, LHSC confirmed it had placed Nagle on unpaid leave after the organization learned of actions involving her 'that were not aligned with LHSC’s values'.... Following an internal investigation, LHSC announced on Jan. 18 that it had terminated Nagle with cause. No further information was released....

"Ontario Premier Doug Ford condemned the protests in a tweet Sunday, describing those taking part as 'selfish, cowardly and reckless'.... Both the federal New Democrats and Liberals made mirror pledges Monday to criminalize protesters who block hospitals or harass health-care workers.... Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole called the demonstrations 'totally unacceptable.'"
Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/8186222/london-mayor-ed-holder-slams-hospital-protests-covid-19/

Two Protests Against Covid Measures Held In Kawartha Lakes This Weekend | Kawartha 411 - Pamela Vanmeer:
September 13, 2021 - "Two protests against various COVID-19 measures were held in Kawartha Lakes over the weekend. One in Lindsay on Sunday drew approximately 250 people over a few hours with 120 at one time. They held signs that read 'we believe in no lockdowns, no vax passports, nor forced vaccines', 'My kids, my choice'. A smaller crowd of about two dozen took to the streets in Fenelon Falls on Saturday."
Read more: https://www.kawartha411.ca/2021/09/12/two-protests-against-covid-measures-held-in-kawartha-lakes-this-weekend/

Small crowd protests COVID-19 vaccine mandates at The Ottawa Hospital |Global News - Craig Lord:
September 13, 2021 - "A small crowd gathered outside The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus Monday afternoon as part of a national day of protest at health-care institutions across the country. The demonstrations, put on by a group calling itself Canadian Frontline Nurses, were said to be 'silent vigils' in protest of restrictive COVID-19 measures and in favour of 'health freedom.' Roughly two dozen people gathered peacefully across the street from the Civic campus on Carling Avenue shortly after 2 p.m. A few passing cars honked at the demonstrators, who waved signs with messages such as 'my body, my choice' in protest of vaccination mandates."
Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/8185961/ottawa-hospital-covid-vaccine-mandate-protests/

About 40 people protest COVID-19 measures behind Saskatoon hospital, are met by counter-demonstration | CBC News - Guy Quenneville:
September 13, 2021 - "A largely unmasked group of about 40 people gathered behind a Saskatoon hospital on Monday to protest measures meant to curb the spread of COVID-19. The silent vigil, alongside other Monday protests across the country, was organized by a group called 'Canadian Frontline Nurses.' According to its website, the group is against 'tyrannical measures and government overreach.' In one video posted to the site, a woman identified as a nurse speaks against mandating children to be masked. The Saskatoon group met in a circle in Kinsmen Park behind City Hospital and stood mostly quiet except for some heated exchanges with a masked man questioning the group about its beliefs.... Kevin Boychuk, the People's Party of Canada candidate for Saskatoon-West, was one of the protesters. 'I think it's important to have the ability of choice, the freedom of choice,' Boychuk said. 'We're seeing an inability for people to exercise their freedom of choice when it comes to vaccines.'"
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/40-people-saskatoon-covid-measures-hospital-protest-1.6174549

Vaccine card opponents stage another protest outside Vancouver city hall | CTV News - Kendra Mangione:
September 13, 2021 - "Opponents of B.C.'s vaccine card system staged another protest outside Vancouver city hall on Monday, hours after the proof-of-vaccination requirement came into effect. Hundreds of people gathered outside the building in the early afternoon, some carrying signs reading 'No Medical Apartheid' and 'My Body, My Choice' to protest the provincial health officer order barring unvaccinated individuals from non-essential activities such as dining in at restaurants and going to the movies. They also took part in chants of "Freedom!"

"The protest was a fraction of the size of an initial demonstration against the vaccine card system that saw thousands crowd around Vancouver General Hospital earlier this month, but had a similar number of attendees to another held last Wednesday. Organizers of the so-called 'National Health Freedom Movement,' which is behind several simultaneous protests planned across the country on Monday, described the event as a silent vigil to honour those affected by measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Participants were encouraged to bring flowers, pictures, cards and letters, and to share stories of loss.... Monday's protest was supposed to take place outside of Vancouver General again, but the group made a last-minute decision to move in the face of public criticism."
Read more: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/another-protest-against-b-c-s-vaccine-card-system-planned-in-vancouver-1.5583259

The case against vaccine passes

Opinion: Why vaccine passports won't slow COVID spread, will hurt the poor and threaten medical ethics | National Post -  Alanna Golden, Gil Nimni, Sandra Rao & Neil Rau:

September 09, 2021 - "COVID-19 ... Vaccine certificates have been rolled out across [Canada] with participation from Quebec, British Columbia, and now Ontario. The federal government has earmarked $1 billion for their implementation. Individuals will be required to demonstrate proof of vaccination status in order to access 'non-essential' services. While it is an important societal goal to maximize vaccination coverage in adults, it is also important to consider whether the end justifies the means....

"Vaccine certificates impose a significant burden on the population. There will be ongoing costs to taxpayers to maintain this system, and businesses will bear costs for implementation and oversight, and may be subjected to fines. The additional uptake in vaccination rates in those who are either unvaccinated or without natural immunity from previous infection is unclear.... In a rush to implement this system, governments have been unclear about how they will measure efficacy, which implies there may not be a clear plan on when to scale back.... With the precedent for vaccine certificates established, there may be a desire to include other seasonal viruses, excluding increasingly larger segments of society from 'non-essential' services.

"Can we stop transmission with vaccine certificates? Probably not. The latest data suggest that vaccination reduces transmission by around 50 per cent at six months with evidence of further waning thereafter. Vaccines may help to slow spread of the virus, but they will not achieve the kind of herd immunity we see with such diseases as measles. Vaccine certificates may offer a false sense of reassurance to those who are vaccinated, if the belief is that they cannot contract or transmit the virus.... Vaccine certificates for 'non-essential' services will not touch industries hit hardest in previous waves, such as warehouses and factories. Implementation of targeted approaches in at-risk workplaces makes more sense, with the deployment of mobile vaccination units, regular point of care testing and protected pay for those with symptoms or high-risk exposures....

"Those who are fully vaccinated may be amongst those denied access if they do not have a printer or mobile device, or if they have forgotten their documentation at home. This will especially impact the poor, those who are homeless, those with developmental delays or those who suffer from cognitive impairment. Newcomers will be subject to another set of vaccines if those approved in their home country are not recognized here. Businesses will be asked to deny services, sometimes to long-standing, loyal customers, at the expense of lost income desperately needed after months of forced closures. In addition, we can expect the workloads of numerous providers (ie. doctors, religious leaders) to grow exponentially with the additional tasks of proving vaccination status or providing exemptions....

"What are the unintended consequences? Let’s take the example of fitness gyms, which have been deemed 'non-essential.' One of the most important risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness is obesity. Many people rely on gyms, especially during the winter months, to access physical activity and maintain their ideal body weight. Those who live in apartment dwellings may not have access to green spaces for exercise. Thus, by barring access to gyms, we are restricting physical activity, which in turn contributes to increasing rates of obesity and greater risk for severe disease.

"Ironically, by excluding the unvaccinated from common social institutions, we run the risk of congregation of unvaccinated individuals outside of these institutions. When this does occur, it is more likely to be without mitigation measures. COVID-19 is spread through social networks, meaning that this action could increase the number of infections circulating amongst unvaccinated people, increasing adverse outcomes.... The unvaccinated are disproportionately of lower socio-economic status, ethnic minorities and children. Many minority groups have legitimate reasons to distrust the medical establishment.... Some are unable to get vaccinated because they cannot afford time off work for vaccination and post-vaccine side effects. It is imperative that we understand the unintended potential health equity impacts of vaccine certificates on specific population groups....

"Perhaps the greatest oversight with vaccine certificates is the lack of recognition of natural immunity. Those who have been previously infected may not wish to receive vaccination. This conviction is supported by recent data that natural immunity is as good [as] or better than vaccine-induced immunity. If this is true, why are we excluding those with durable protection from society? Moreover, a lack of acknowledgement of protection by way of natural immunity may serve to reinforce the optics of pharmaceutical involvement in policy-making.

"Are vaccine certificates ethical? One of the most sacred principles in medical ethics is autonomy, meaning that an individual has the right to decide what happens to their body.... Even the most well-informed individual cannot provide informed consent if their 'choice' is coerced. Vaccine certificates render the individual in an impossible place of having to choose vaccination or loss of employment and exclusion from society. This impossible 'choice' forces the hand of those in this predicament and ultimately results in consent under duress.... Given that we have exceeded numerous vaccine targets and offered protection to those at greatest risk, we should make every effort at this time to maintain patient autonomy and guide with openness rather than exclusion."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-why-vaccine-passports-wont-slow-covid-spread-will-hurt-the-poor-and-threaten-medical-ethics

How the Covid pandemic is changing science

How the Pandemic Is Changing the Norms of Science | Tablet - John P.A. Ioannidis: 

September 8, 2021 - "The crisis caused by the lethal COVID-19 pandemic and by the responses to the crisis have made billions of people worldwide acutely interested and overexcited about science. Decisions pronounced in the name of science have become arbitrators of life, death, and fundamental freedoms. Everything that mattered was affected by science.... One problem with this new mass engagement with science is that most people, including most people in the West, had never been seriously exposed to the fundamental norms of the scientific method. The Mertonian norms of communalism, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism have unfortunately never been mainstream in education, media, or even in science museums and TV documentaries on scientific topics....

"Indeed, change did happen — but perhaps mostly for the worst.... Lack of communalism during the pandemic fueled scandals and conspiracy theories, which were then treated as fact in the name of science by much of the popular press and on social media. The retraction of a highly visible hydroxychloroquine paper from The Lancet was a startling example: A lack of sharing and openness allowed a top medical journal to publish an article in which 671 hospitals allegedly contributed data that did not exist, and no one noticed this outright fabrication before publication.... 

"The pandemic led seemingly overnight to a scary new form of scientific universalism. Everyone did COVID-19 science or commented on it. By August 2021, 330,000 scientific papers were published on COVID-19, involving roughly a million different authors. An analysis showed that scientists from every single one of the 174 disciplines that comprise what we know as science has published on COVID-19....  At first sight, this was an unprecedented mobilization of interdisciplinary talent. However, most of this work was of low quality, often wrong, and sometimes highly misleading. Many people without subject-matter technical expertise became experts overnight, emphatically saving the world.... Many amazing scientists have worked on COVID-19. I admire their work.... However, alongside thousands of solid scientists came freshly minted experts with questionable, irrelevant, or nonexistent credentials and questionable, irrelevant, or nonexistent data.

"Social and mainstream media have helped to manufacture this new breed of experts. Anyone who was not an epidemiologist or health policy specialist could suddenly be cited as an epidemiologist or health policy specialist by reporters who often knew little about those fields but knew immediately which opinions were true. Conversely, some of the best epidemiologists and health policy specialists in America were smeared as clueless and dangerous by people who believed themselves fit to summarily arbitrate differences of scientific opinion without understanding the methodology or data at issue.

"Disinterestedness suffered gravely.... During the pandemic, ... conflicted entities were raised to the status of heroes. For example, Big Pharma companies.... Other potentially conflicted entities became the new societal regulators.... Big Tech companies, which gained trillions of dollars in cumulative market value from the virtual transformation of human life during lockdown, developed powerful censorship machineries that skewed the information available to users on their platforms. Consultants who made millions of dollars from corporate and government consultation were given prestigious positions, power, and public praise, while unconflicted scientists who worked pro bono but dared to question dominant narratives were smeared as being conflicted. 

"Organized skepticism was seen as a threat to public health. There was a clash between two schools of thought, authoritarian public health versus science — and science lost.... Honest, continuous questioning and exploration of alternative paths are indispensable for good science. In the authoritarian ... version of public health, these activities were seen as treason and desertion. The dominant narrative became that 'we are at war.' When at war, everyone has to follow orders. If a platoon is ordered to go right and some soldiers explore maneuvering to the left, they are shot as deserters. Scientific skepticism had to be shot, no questions asked. The orders were clear....

"This is a dirty war, one without dignity. Opponents were threatened, abused, and bullied by cancel culture campaigns in social media, hit stories in mainstream media, and bestsellers written by zealots. Statements were distorted, turned into straw men, and ridiculed. Wikipedia pages were vandalized. Reputations were systematically devastated and destroyed. Many brilliant scientists were abused and received threats during the pandemic, intended to make them and their families miserable." 

Read more: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/pandemic-science

9/11: Remembering the truly forgotten

Remembering the Truly Forgotten, Twenty Years Later | American Institute for Economic Research - Peter C. Earle:

September 11, 2021 - "Today, a feeling that has simmered for years will rise to a fever pitch. The nation will honor New York City firefighters, police officers, Port Authority employees, medical personnel and first responders, and military servicemen killed in the Pentagon. There will be some mention of ... the passengers who died.... There will be no shortage of salutes to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines killed in the global war on terror which, launched in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, also came to involve action in Iraq, Syria, the Philippines, Mali, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and other nations....

"I write this to celebrate the truly forgotten. There are no elegies for them; no concerts, flags, or bumper stickers. The closest thing they have to monuments are the random sections of beams from the Twin Towers that were distributed to town and county parks nationwide after the attacks. Those beams, twisted and deformed, once supported floors. And 20 years ago today, at about the time that this article is published (8 a.m. Eastern), those floors were already alive with the footsteps of traders, brokers, portfolio managers, accountants, tech workers, customer service representatives, and administrative personnel engaged in the lifeblood of global commerce: finance. 

"It can be easy to forget the people who were actually targeted in the World Trade Center attacks. It’s increasingly customary to do so, in fact.... Individuals dealing in financial markets, negotiating transactions, and managing great amounts of capital are often assumed to be wealthy, corrupt, or engaged in elaborate and ultimately unproductive activity, or some combination of the three. None of those labels invite much sympathy –– even considering the horrors that so many people in these scrutinized fields faced on that day. Nationwide, on this 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001, more will be said about military service dogs than the thousands of hardworking, productive people killed in downtown Manhattan that day....

"What tens of thousands of men and women in the North and South towers of the World Trade Center did all day, every day, was not simply 'pushing pieces of paper around'. What they did was nothing less than lay the foundation upon which the modern world sits and functions. 

"For time immemorial, human beings have struggled to determine the best means of producing goods and services.... Among competing means of production, regardless of the proposed output, there is some combination of inputs and processes that is the most economically efficient. Only prices, generated in market exchange, fulfill that calculation function adequately. Those prices, by reflecting the current consensus valuation of producers and consumers, allow planning. They send signals to all other market participants regarding scarcity, abundance, and shifts in the overall appraisal of countless resources.... [T]here are no other means of adequately determining where and how resources are being combined into the most customer-satisfying goods or services.... 

"William N. Goetzmann, professor and director of the International Center for Finance at Yale University, puts the birth of financial concepts at the root of civilization itself.... Financial practices, building off of the social technology of money and private property rights, forged and continue to govern virtually our entire world. But those practices are not automated, which is why financial professionals ranging from asset managers and speculators to algorithmic developers, accountants, and clerical personnel are so critical.... 

"And so, 20 years after one of the most awful days of my and countless others’ lives, I honor and praise the memory of the people who worked in the World Trade Center. I honor those who were slaughtered that sunny, blue, and virtually cloudless Tuesday morning. When they perished, most of them were still at their desks, donning headsets or handling phones, squawking our arcane language of growth and prosperity.... To the 12 or 13 dealers, traders, brokers, and other individuals based in the towers with whom I transacted and developed a rapport for years, who were gone in a flash: I remain grateful for your service, skills, and friendship. To my friend B, killed 20 years ago today, enduring esteem.... None of you are forgotten, nor will I let you be."

Read more: https://www.aier.org/article/remembering-the-truly-forgotten-twenty-years-later/

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

Biden flip-flops on vaccine mandates

Biden vaccine mandate marks another White House flip-flop | Fox News - Jessica Chasmar: 

September 9, 2021 - "President Biden announced Thursday that all employers with more than 100 workers will be forced to either require employees to have coronavirus vaccinations or test unvaccinated employees weekly, despite White House statements in July that such mandates were 'not the role' of the federal government.

"Biden's directive, which is expected to affect as many as 100 million Americans, was announced during public remarks discussing his COVID-19 plan. The mandate will require all businesses with more than 100 workers to have those employees vaccinated or tested weekly for the virus, affecting about 80 million Americans. The roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will also have to be vaccinated under Biden's edict. 

"The mandate appears to contradict comments made by White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a July 23 press briefing that a COVID-19 vaccine mandate is 'not the role of the federal government.' 'That is the role that institutions, private-sector entities and others may take,' Psaki said at the time. That certainly is appropriate. Also, local communities are going to take steps they need to take in order to protect people in their communities.'

Biden also vowed before he was sworn in as president that he wouldn’t make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory. 'I don't think it should be mandatory, I wouldn't demand it to be mandatory, but I would do everything in my power … It's like I don't think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide,' Biden said in December.

Read more: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-vaccine-mandate-federal-government

The Biden Admin is losing its unwinnable War On COVID, so they're scapegoating 'unvaccinated' Americans | The Dossier - Jordan Schachtel: 

September 9, 2021 - "Policymakers within the Biden Administration have clearly seen the COVID-19 data out of Israel, the first country that went all in on population-wide mRNA shots. It shows that mRNA injection efficacy is waning, which is why Israel went full steam ahead with the 3rd booster shot. It’s too early to tell exactly how that will pan out, but in the meantime, the Biden Administration needs to find a way to shimmy their way out of declaring victory over COVID just a couple months ago, given its clear resurgence throughout our nation among both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals....

"At first, they took a somewhat more diplomatic approach, blaming the 'Delta variant' for their failures to deliver. But now, they’ve shifted their wrath onto fellow Americans, specifically, the 25% of 'unvaccinated' individuals in America who refuse to submit.... None of it makes scientific sense, but it doesn’t have to, because it’s no longer about health or science, but in protecting the reputation of the White House.

"The Biden Administration is losing its unwinnable 'War on COVID,' and as its ratings go down in flames, it has backed itself into a corner. Instead of being honest about their failures with the American people, Biden officials are choosing to triple and quadruple down on these broken policy measures. They’re purposely pitting Americans against each other, and labeling the 'unvaccinated' as the ultimate scapegoat for their failures. Time will tell if they succeed, or if Americans decide to find the courage to reject the latest series of unconstitutional edicts."

Read more: https://dossier.substack.com/p/the-biden-admin-is-losing-its-unwinnable

Canada's Rebel News wins debate exclusion suit

We sued Trudeau's debates commission today — judge to announce verdict tomorrow! | Rebel News - Ezra Levant:

September 07, 2021 - "I just got out of a three-hour hearing at the Federal Court of Canada. We are suing Trudeau’s hand-picked debates commission, because they banned our Rebel News journalists from attending the leaders' debates this week....

"The judge presiding over the case — Justice Elizabeth Heneghan — ... repeatedly took issue with Trudeau’s case, challenging many of their arguments. As the hours went by, I was more and more hopeful. Would we actually beat Trudeau again, and strike a win for freedom of the press, like we did when he banned us back in 2019 and the Federal Court sided with us?...

"Our lawyer, Chad Williamson, did an excellent job. He was outnumbered seven to one — Trudeau sent an army of lawyers to block us....  Chad did a great job standing up for freedom — not just for our reporters, but for all Canadians."

Read more: https://www.rebelnews.com/leaders_debates_commission_court_ruling_justice_heneghan_ruling

Rebel News wins court battle to cover leaders’ debates, will accredit 11 journalists | National Post - Micke Blanchard, Canadian Press:

September 08, 2021 - "A judge in the Federal Court of Canada has ruled the Leaders’ Debates Commission incorrectly denied Rebel News Network accreditation to Wednesday’s French-language and Thursday’s English-language competition between the major party leaders. Justice Elizabeth Heneghan’s decision ... means Rebel News reporters will be accredited to attend the debate. While the debate broadcast can be watched by anyone, journalists require accreditation so they can take part afterward in the questioning of the leaders.... Rebel News had been granted an emergency hearing Tuesday in the court after the debates commission denied several of its journalists the credentials needed to fully cover the debates."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/election-2021/judge-to-rule-today-whether-rebel-news-may-be-accredited-to-cover-the-leaders-debates