tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66965939720108529452024-03-04T21:53:10.393-08:00James Alexander Michie | BloggerA Personal Blogger by James Alexander Michie, recently shared articles related to Finance, Sports, Hockey, NHL, Travel, Photography, Random MusingsJames Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.comBlogger1699125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-56468186512022708382024-01-15T19:01:00.000-08:002024-01-15T19:01:26.928-08:00Is a Hard Currency Standard the Fix for Canada's Wobbly Economy? Conrad Black Says Yes, But is He Right?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1Ad1xBuXKeeHHzbxV5TBEVxjBM33pasqqBRmanIh6F6lSzxAEhijDH1xvCGO444s9YB_Zu8PbxykANPO3lH8prKcyxH5EAOVQqe3Q1I2xC_0ksaMjnzz4xoMzhhgqPL96mN6ntS7euCO7JizvpNrhhGXk-Y0qeAPYh23P1O45l1g3fiHuBzjbYPDbHtYI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img data-original-height="531" data-original-width="705" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1Ad1xBuXKeeHHzbxV5TBEVxjBM33pasqqBRmanIh6F6lSzxAEhijDH1xvCGO444s9YB_Zu8PbxykANPO3lH8prKcyxH5EAOVQqe3Q1I2xC_0ksaMjnzz4xoMzhhgqPL96mN6ntS7euCO7JizvpNrhhGXk-Y0qeAPYh23P1O45l1g3fiHuBzjbYPDbHtYI=w400-h301" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Canadians,
brace yourselves for economic bumps in the first half of 2024! That's the
sobering prediction from renowned author and columnist Conrad Black in his
recent National Post article, "Hard currency standard the best way to fix
Canada's teetering economy." But Black doesn't just paint a gloomy
picture; he offers a bold and unconventional solution: ditch the current "ski
slope" economic system fueled by inflation and embrace a hard currency
standard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Intrigued?
Let's dive into Black's proposal:<span></span></span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Stable
Economies of Yore:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
Black takes us back to a bygone era when economic stability reigned. He
references thinkers and historical figures who championed sound monetary
policies, arguing that pre-inflationary times saw remarkable economic security.
Black contrasts this with the modern predicament, where inflation masks
underlying weaknesses and artificially inflates incomes, creating a sense of
false prosperity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A Basket
of Stability:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Not
Just Gold This Time: Instead of hitching Canada's economic wagon to just one
shiny star like gold, Black proposes a more diversified approach. He suggests
pegging the Canadian dollar to a basket of real assets, including precious
metals, oil, vital resources like housing, and even essential food items. This,
he believes, would create a more stable and reliable yardstick for the economy,
protecting Canadians, especially those on fixed incomes, from the sting of
inflation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Beyond
the Money Matters:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
A Holistic Vision: Black's vision extends beyond just tinkering with currency.
He calls for a fundamental shift in government policy, advocating for:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Taxing
the Fancy, Not the Frazzled:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Move away from income taxes and tax "elective spending" on
luxury goods instead. This, Black argues, would make taxes more voluntary and
less of a burden on ordinary citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Work,
Don't Just Wait:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
Replace unemployment benefits with workfare programs or job training in sectors
facing labor shortages. This would not only boost the economy but also empower
individuals with valuable skills.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Empowering
Businesses, Not Just Bureaucrats:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Offer tax incentives for businesses that hire new workers and invest in
productive sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, and research. This would
stimulate economic growth and create much-needed jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Doctors,
Not Desk Jockeys:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
Prioritize efficiency and quality in healthcare and education. Black suggests
exploring innovative solutions to improve outcomes while maintaining
affordability.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, is
Black's plan a pipe dream or a path to prosperity? That's for you to decide!
This bold proposal raises several questions:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Can
a basket of diverse assets truly provide a stable anchor for the economy?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Would
taxing luxury spending be effective and fair?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Are
workfare programs and tax incentives the right solutions for unemployment and
economic growth?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Can
healthcare and education be improved without sacrificing affordability and
quality?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Let's keep
the conversation going! Share your thoughts, concerns, and alternative
solutions in the comments below. Together, we can explore the possibilities and
pave the way for a brighter economic future for Canada.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Source:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> This article is inspired by and
draws heavily from Conrad Black's National Post article "Hard currency
standard the best way to fix Canada's teetering economy," published
January 13, 2024. You can find the original article here:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad-black-hard-currency-standard-the-best-way-to-fix-canadas-teetering-economy</span></span></p><p></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-18782072884904412302023-03-06T10:38:00.000-08:002023-03-06T10:38:51.680-08:00NP View: Chinese interference shows Trudeau can't run a functioning government<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqs54VpEicvOem7laURN3slqMvF0OKJ2aYT54QT_0brAjoaSgkuHHDOKDieyCL10Q7VgJjwUv8O4hEtPOZLxwgOQtGMuXU3bonFhcmj8qq-4u5tan3VRjBD31wpay44dissXGncrGfMzk6I5omQqta-UlM63GWUo0W__1v8SM_jaXZxgyD2FWBKG8uQ/s564/Parliament-james-alexander-michie-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="564" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqs54VpEicvOem7laURN3slqMvF0OKJ2aYT54QT_0brAjoaSgkuHHDOKDieyCL10Q7VgJjwUv8O4hEtPOZLxwgOQtGMuXU3bonFhcmj8qq-4u5tan3VRjBD31wpay44dissXGncrGfMzk6I5omQqta-UlM63GWUo0W__1v8SM_jaXZxgyD2FWBKG8uQ/w400-h299/Parliament-james-alexander-michie-web.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill is seen on Oct. 5, 2021. PHOTO BY ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-856-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">This</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-857-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> article</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-858-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> takes</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-859-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> a</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-860-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> hard</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-861-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> look</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-862-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> at</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-863-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-864-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Liberal</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-865-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> government</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-866-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">'s</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-867-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> handling</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-868-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> of</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-869-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-870-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Chinese</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-871-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> interference</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-872-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> in</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-873-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Canada</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-874-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">'s</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-875-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> elections</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-876-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-877-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> It</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-878-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> argues</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-879-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-880-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-881-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Liberal</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-882-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">'s</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-883-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> dismissive</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-884-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> response</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-885-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> shows</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-886-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-887-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> they</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-888-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> cannot</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-889-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> effectively</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-890-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> run</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-891-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-892-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> country</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-893-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-894-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> are</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-895-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> more</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-896-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> concerned</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-897-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> with</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-898-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> protecting</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-899-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> their</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-900-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> own</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-901-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> interests</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-902-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> than</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-903-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> national</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-904-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> security</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-905-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-906-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> The</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-907-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> author</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-908-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> points</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-909-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> out</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-910-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-911-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-912-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Liberals</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-913-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> have</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-914-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> failed</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-915-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> to</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-916-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> take</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-917-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> allegations</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-918-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> of</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-919-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> foreign</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-920-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> interference</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-921-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> seriously</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-922-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-923-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> instead</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-924-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> have</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-925-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> tried</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-926-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> to</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-927-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> place</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-928-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-929-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> blame</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-930-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> on</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-931-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-932-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Conservatives</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-933-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-934-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> The</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-935-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> article</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-936-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> also</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-937-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> questions</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-938-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-939-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> government</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-940-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">'s</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-941-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> incompetence</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-942-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> when</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-943-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> dealing</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-944-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> with</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-945-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-946-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Freedom</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-947-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Conv</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-948-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">oy</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-949-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> protests</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-950-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-951-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> their</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-952-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> inability</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-953-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> to</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-954-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> take</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-955-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> control</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-956-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> of</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-957-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-958-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> border</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-959-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-960-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> This</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-961-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> is</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-962-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> a</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-963-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> thought</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-964-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">-</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-965-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">prov</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-966-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">oking</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-967-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> article</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-968-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-969-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> shows</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-970-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-971-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Trudeau</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-972-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">'s</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-973-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> government</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-974-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> needs</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-975-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> to</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-976-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> step</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-977-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> up</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-978-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-979-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> take</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-980-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> responsibility</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-981-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> for</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-982-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-983-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> situation</span><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-984-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-offset-key="2ld6t-984-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"></span></span></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source:</strong> NP</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-55275322987013769762023-03-06T08:38:00.000-08:002023-03-06T08:38:54.384-08:00Half the World Faces Starvation Under Net Zero Policies, Say Two Top Climate Scientists<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXObUFwDtpYoyTwTc0teSv3hMMspzPxjGZpIypvNKU1ryDo9riWq-qaWCCmzdSn0vSHFIFPIswmui8x-s7TA8mZYa_0t5xZMlb57yvaA9klnQCp-FUTCt253CnGMhwpdjr58QwwHoZGw4sfTVoyHW2b6NF9PKyn6YRYsMwhCDidXsx2zIe85dN6jl0g/s750/lindzen-james-alexander-michie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXObUFwDtpYoyTwTc0teSv3hMMspzPxjGZpIypvNKU1ryDo9riWq-qaWCCmzdSn0vSHFIFPIswmui8x-s7TA8mZYa_0t5xZMlb57yvaA9klnQCp-FUTCt253CnGMhwpdjr58QwwHoZGw4sfTVoyHW2b6NF9PKyn6YRYsMwhCDidXsx2zIe85dN6jl0g/w400-h200/lindzen-james-alexander-michie.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-offset-key="dks66-3254-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">In</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3255-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> a</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3256-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> paper</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3257-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> titled</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3258-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> ‘</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3259-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">Chall</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3260-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">eng</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3261-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">ing</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3262-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> ‘</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3263-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">Net</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3264-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Zero</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3265-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">’</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3266-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> with</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3267-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Science</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3268-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">’</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3269-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">,</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3270-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Emer</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3271-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">itus</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3272-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Prof</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3273-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">essors</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3274-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> William</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3275-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> H</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3276-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">apper</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3277-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3278-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Richard</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3279-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Lind</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3280-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">zen</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3281-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> warn</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3282-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3283-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Net</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3284-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Zero</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3285-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> policies</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3286-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> –</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3287-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3288-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> global</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3289-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> movement</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3290-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> to</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3291-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> eliminate</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3292-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> fossil</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3293-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> fuels</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3294-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3295-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> its</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3296-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> emissions</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3297-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> of</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3298-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> carbon</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3299-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> dioxide</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3300-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3301-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> other</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3302-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> greenhouse</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3303-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> gases</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3304-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> –</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3305-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> could</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3306-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> result</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3307-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> in</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3308-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> “</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3309-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">world</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3310-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">wide</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3311-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> starvation</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3312-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">”</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3313-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> for</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3314-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> half</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3315-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> of</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3316-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3317-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> world</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3318-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">’</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3319-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">s</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3320-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> population</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3321-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3322-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> They</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3323-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> criticize</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3324-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3325-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> US</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3326-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Government</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3327-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">’</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3328-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">s</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3329-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Fourth</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3330-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Climate</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3331-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Science</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3332-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Special</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3333-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> Report</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3334-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> for</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3335-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> fabric</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3336-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">ating</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3337-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> data</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3338-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3339-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> o</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3340-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">mitting</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3341-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> figures</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3342-0" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"><span data-offset-key="dks66-3342-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> that</span></span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3343-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> contradict</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3344-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> their</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3345-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> conclusions</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3346-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">,</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3347-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> such</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3348-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> as</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3349-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> on</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3350-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> extreme</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3351-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> weather</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3352-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3353-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> They</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3354-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> argue</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3355-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3356-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3357-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> UN</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3358-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">’</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3359-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">s</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3360-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> IPCC</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3361-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> process</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3362-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> of</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3363-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> compiling</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3364-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> reports</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3365-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> is</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3366-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> not</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3367-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> based</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3368-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> on</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3369-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> scientific</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3370-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> method</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3371-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">,</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3372-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> but</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3373-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> instead</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3374-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> is</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3375-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> governed</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3376-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> by</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3377-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> two</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3378-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> rules</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3379-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">,</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3380-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> and</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3381-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> that</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3382-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> the</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3383-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> false</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3384-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> notion</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3385-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> of</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3386-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> more</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3387-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> frequent</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3388-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> U</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3389-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3390-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">S</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3391-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3392-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> high</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3393-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> temperatures</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3394-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> is</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3395-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> likely</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3396-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> to</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3397-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> poll</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3398-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">ute</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3399-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> subsequent</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3400-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"> reports</span><span data-offset-key="dks66-3401-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;">.</span></span></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><a href="https://dailysceptic.org/2023/03/03/half-the-world-faces-starvation-under-net-zero-policies-say-two-top-climate-scientists/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read the original article.</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-offset-key="dks66-3401-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #353740; font-size: 16px; white-space: break-spaces;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source:</strong> Chris Morrison | The Dialy Sceptic</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-10044918281621433872022-09-02T15:28:00.002-07:002022-09-02T15:28:00.164-07:00Conrad Black: Is this a return to global MADness?<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJIiQF88fBlJhhlvh9etbam6POZJT1sHX_1EgDLjg67V3mwQFs0cMXzlz_VZaA7lnm1reTunPXaXikJdih52CNcH9vYknzluhmX3SVTCdIgUY2-2G1o5Xp6EbGZe4GOL7el0w8WxeLnJ3Mtj6TYEHFVjtZR-aKCc4RnXsPC-lPld9GtnvSFFgNqv2Fw/s564/Nuclear-test.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJIiQF88fBlJhhlvh9etbam6POZJT1sHX_1EgDLjg67V3mwQFs0cMXzlz_VZaA7lnm1reTunPXaXikJdih52CNcH9vYknzluhmX3SVTCdIgUY2-2G1o5Xp6EbGZe4GOL7el0w8WxeLnJ3Mtj6TYEHFVjtZR-aKCc4RnXsPC-lPld9GtnvSFFgNqv2Fw/w400-h300/Nuclear-test.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A nuclear weapons test is seen in Nevada in a June 18, 1957 photo. It's believed Iran and North Korea are about to become nuclear powers, joining the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India and Pakistan. PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In all of these circumstances, the rest of the world has little choice but to assume that Iran and North Korea are about to become nuclear powers, joining the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India and Pakistan. The thought of the aggressive dictatorships of Iran and North Korea, which in all other aspects except nuclear weapons development and the techniques of totalitarianism, are poor and primitive countries, achieving such a military capability is distressing to any civilized person. And the fact that China and Russia, which are much closer to those countries than the major Western powers, have been so flagrantly cavalier in effectively encouraging them to become nuclear powers, is a cautionary tale about how far we are from the quasi-nirvana that much of the world thought had been achieved at the end of the Cold War when there would be no more threats of nuclear devastation. In fairness to Iran and North Korea, , they are correct to object that the existing nuclear arms control regime is rank hypocrisy.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The original nuclear powers, the U. Although Pakistan has not been a very successful self-governing country, as a nuclear power it has been sensible, and the other nuclear powers have all been discreet and cautious, since the piping days of the 1950s when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev routinely threatened nuclear incineration of much of the West, and U. There is no question that nuclear weapons add an immense cubit to the geopolitical stature of the countries who possess them and Iran and North Korea are correct in asserting that the existing nuclear club is in many respects a pious fraud, in that it happily retains and updates its nuclear arsenals while admonishing the other 190 countries in the world not to destabilize the international political climate by trying to join the club themselves. Iran and North Korea are of course notoriously unacceptable as nuclear powers because of their support of international terrorism and frequent belligerent threats against other countries. But if such politically disreputable countries as they are going to arm themselves to the teeth with nuclear weapons, it would be prudent for responsible nuclear-capable countries, such as Canada, Japan, Germany, Turkey, Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, Egypt and Poland, to do the same. If the nastiest regimes in the world are going to become nuclear powers it is asking a great deal of the rest of us to continue to outsource our national security entirely to the early members of the nuclear club and particularly to the United States.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">...one of the principal arguments in favour of the French and British nuclear deterrents was that the United States might not enter into an exchange of nuclear weapons with the U. to defend any country except itself, and that Western Europe needed its own nuclear deterrent. These problems can be managed but not without much more creative statesmanship than the world’s principal countries, including Canada, with Justin Trudeau’s waffling about «a post-national world,» are now showing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source</strong>: Conrad Black | NP</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-24670481687355016502022-09-02T14:21:00.001-07:002022-09-02T14:21:00.162-07:00Rupa Subramanya: How Ottawa exploited our fear to limit our liberties<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5TVrbe_zy28O09qrVhNxbNjjQlsCqhkGPairguedeF8fb8tTC02Db_kVF2suIOQVn-BnEOAP3b29xnrV5iCh9z21a8Vbs3u2NIDK2VJiRjLekJaR_6oHGujdYipdYk4Mq6Po9rgKobrtOsPpiglnO2MK9or_AGFERNwF1MmrK_GFYSpAaBc9cLsoCuA/s564/0C7A7222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5TVrbe_zy28O09qrVhNxbNjjQlsCqhkGPairguedeF8fb8tTC02Db_kVF2suIOQVn-BnEOAP3b29xnrV5iCh9z21a8Vbs3u2NIDK2VJiRjLekJaR_6oHGujdYipdYk4Mq6Po9rgKobrtOsPpiglnO2MK9or_AGFERNwF1MmrK_GFYSpAaBc9cLsoCuA/w400-h300/0C7A7222.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A Charter of Rights Freedoms poster at the Freedom Convoy demonstration downtown Ottawa on February 08, 2022. Photo by Jean Levac/Postmedia</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">On June 14, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suspended its controversial vaccine mandates as they applied to federal workplaces and for travel, the two sectors where the federal government had the authority to issue regulations. However, ministers made it clear that the mandates weren’t dead but merely suspended and could be revived if circumstances warranted. On August 2, my story for Bari Weiss’s Common Sense Substack blog based on a legal challenge to the vaccine mandate for travel before the Federal Court of Canada, made abundantly clear that at least this particular mandate had a lot to do with politics and much less to do with science and evidence. While we’ve not had a comparable court case for the federal workplace mandate, the documents made public in the travel mandate case cast serious doubt on Trudeau’s claim that his government followed science and the evidence.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Rather, as I argued in the Telegraph recently, the much more likely explanation is that vaccine mandates proved a useful wedge issue in the lead up to last fall’s election. I am often asked about why I supported mandates last year and I’m strongly opposed to them now. The simple explanation is that, as the facts changed, my thinking changed last fall. I was already wary given that Trudeau had politicized the pandemic for electoral advantage.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Then, the advent of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, I believe was a game changer. Now, vaccinated people, depending on whether they’ve had two or three shots and how long ago, are often just as likely to transmit the virus as the unvaccinated, and this makes complete nonsense of the mandates whose explicit purpose is to reduce transmission. Similarly, it made nonsense of provincial mandates which prevented unvaccinated individuals from getting access to restaurants and other public places. If one person not getting vaccinated significantly increases the possibility of others getting the virus, one could make a public health argument for vaccination on that basis, weighing that against the deprivation of individual liberty.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In retrospect, I’m sceptical that this made much sense even before Omicron, since we now know that a significant number of «breakthrough» infections were occurring. With Omicron, this argument is much less valid. Diminishing public health benefits do not justify overriding an individual’s choice on whether to get vaccinated or not. That’s the rational explanation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But if I think back to last spring and summer as the Delta wave ravaged the country where I was born, India, like many others I had succumbed to a narrative of fear. In my case, my unvaccinated parents in India got Delta, and this was a time when it was almost impossible to get a cylinder of oxygen or a hospital bed in the event you fell ill even if you could afford to pay for it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source</strong>: Rupa Subramanya | NP</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-9170504843353477572022-09-02T13:14:00.000-07:002022-09-02T13:14:00.153-07:00Raymond J. de Souza: Criminal justice has a credibility problem — in Canada as well as the U.S.<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwuRV3IEKw5rAH_vTvDvgig9hZaTTX9Q9qv-IIwprISCQzp0OXuLFshTCQXAjnOFCqYYv1R8_P_S3KfH2IP3RhqDDbX49Xa5-4SY0WzYW9NmkxkKerf3UFcXbRQmBiYykbMgmIAftVKqW-M39jiDVkI3bcWXgWEj5wKZoHqxGwmK2Csy7pqFA47SkfQ/s564/Secret-Service-agent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwuRV3IEKw5rAH_vTvDvgig9hZaTTX9Q9qv-IIwprISCQzp0OXuLFshTCQXAjnOFCqYYv1R8_P_S3KfH2IP3RhqDDbX49Xa5-4SY0WzYW9NmkxkKerf3UFcXbRQmBiYykbMgmIAftVKqW-M39jiDVkI3bcWXgWEj5wKZoHqxGwmK2Csy7pqFA47SkfQ/w400-h300/Secret-Service-agent.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A Secret Service agent is seen in front of former president Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago home in Palm Beach on Aug. 9, 2022, the day after it was raided by the FBI. PHOTO BY GIORGIO VIERA / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Decades of police and prosecutorial abuses have demonstrated that it is right for us to be suspicious</span></strong></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home has brought intense focus on America’s criminal justice system. Department of Justice is not in the custom of commenting upon ongoing criminal investigations, but an unusually chatty attorney general, Merrick Garland, held a press conference on the Trump raid, saying that he had asked the court to unseal the search warrant and the record of property seized due to «substantial public interest». Long concerned about abuse of police and prosecutorial power, I find myself reading, it seems every year, yet another «exposé» of how the criminal justice system gets it wrong.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Not even the naked emperor was as fully and thoroughly exposed</span></strong></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Consider the conclusion of a recent fine book by prominent American defence attorney David S. Rudolf, American Injustice. «In light of what we now know regarding wrongful prosecution and conviction rates in this country, we must face the harsh reality that our criminal justice system is not just fallible,» Rudolf writes, with a book’s worth of examples to back up his claim. Canadians are inclined to see the excesses of the American justice system and think we are better off. It may be because we just know less about how our system works.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I advise anyone to spend an afternoon in any public courtroom or regularly visit prisons and come to their own conclusions.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source: </strong>Raymond J. de Souza | NP</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-70843243612289943592022-09-01T13:49:00.003-07:002022-09-01T13:49:00.171-07:00Hackers steal $611,500 worth of user’s funds by hijacking the Curve Finance homepage<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO8E_vjOrxuGnDJdC_UdAyteeyAi-V3SQeswDZt6-OSlFvUoZqiDrLNzR1ZE9l7juqhcPHDtdl263U7jGOlYdD6OZfvxKoRwoF3AN1uF78jTwJkRdz-QhEuh1_n2u1YVYY2qYWYHDrzBsZeWOROVWu4oZjpFtugEDH-SPlTJhq9U0NLpAwxb20LKDNlA/s464/Hacker.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="464" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO8E_vjOrxuGnDJdC_UdAyteeyAi-V3SQeswDZt6-OSlFvUoZqiDrLNzR1ZE9l7juqhcPHDtdl263U7jGOlYdD6OZfvxKoRwoF3AN1uF78jTwJkRdz-QhEuh1_n2u1YVYY2qYWYHDrzBsZeWOROVWu4oZjpFtugEDH-SPlTJhq9U0NLpAwxb20LKDNlA/w400-h265/Hacker.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Hackers continue to search for weaknesses in popular decentralized finance protocols, and Curve Finance is the latest platform to fend off an attack. On Tuesday the popular decentralized stablecoin exchange fell victim to a domain name system hijack in which hackers briefly took control of the project's homepage. The exchange posted a tweet on Tuesday warning users to refrain from using the website due to the front page being compromised after several users reported a change in the nameserver. The attack appears to have been isolated to the front page of the platform, leaving its backend exchange which uses a completely different DNS unaffected.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Users who attempted to interact with the compromised front page were redirected to a page controlled by the hackers, where the funds held in their wallet were subsequently drained. It is estimated that a total of 605,000 USDC and 6,500 were stolen in the hack before Curve could fix the vulnerability, which the hackers immediately converted to 363 Ether in an attempt to avoid having the USDC frozen by authorities. FixedFloat managed to freeze 112 of the stolen ETH and provided 1 BTC address, 1 BSC address and 1 LTC address where the hackers withdrew the remaining stolen funds. An additional 20 ETH was deposited to a Binance hot wallet while an unknown exchange hot wallet received 23 ETH.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The blockchain analytics firm Elliptic is currently tracking all wallet addresses associated with the hack and will inform the crypto community of any important updates.</span></p><p><a class="navigation_external_link" data-cke-saved-href="http://https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-08-10/Hackers-steal-611-500-worth-of-user-s-funds-by-hijacking-the-Curve-Finance-homepage.html" href="http://https//www.kitco.com/news/2022-08-10/Hackers-steal-611-500-worth-of-user-s-funds-by-hijacking-the-Curve-Finance-homepage.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read the original article.</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source</b>: Jordan Finneseth | Kitco News </span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-7188820354314729932022-09-01T12:49:00.000-07:002022-09-01T12:49:00.148-07:00The ECB "Bought Lots Of Italian Gov't Bonds And Sold Lots Of German Bunds" To Reverse Spread Blowout<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> In the first data release since the ECB activated PEPP reinvestment flexibility, we find a heavy skew in country allocation, away from core countries like Germany and towards the periphery, especially Italy and Spain, over the month of July 2022.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The ECB bought lots of Italian gov't bonds in June & July and sold lots of German Bunds. This is the ECB steering proceeds from maturing government bonds in core countries like Germany and the Netherlands to benefit Italy. As the former Goldman FX trader correctly concludes, "Lo Spread" would be a lot wider without this going on.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The bi-monthly breakdown of PEPP holdings for the months of June and July 2022 represents the first data release since the ECB activated PEPP reinvestment flexibility as the first line of defense against fragmentation, as of July 1st. The country allocation of net purchases shows a heavy skew in allocation, away from core countries and towards the periphery, for aggregate stability in holdings. The allocation of PEPP holdings across asset classes is stable, however, with holdings of private assets unchanged. The weighted average maturity of PEPP holdings is largely unchanged since March 2022.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a class="navigation_external_link" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ecb-bought-lots-italian-govt-bonds-and-sold-lots-german-bunds-reverse-spread-blowouthttp://" href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ecb-bought-lots-italian-govt-bonds-and-sold-lots-german-bunds-reverse-spread-blowouthttp://" target="_blank">Read the original article.</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source</strong>: Tyler Durden | ZeroHedge</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-34769176303716756862022-09-01T11:45:00.000-07:002022-09-01T11:45:00.158-07:00The U.S. government underestimated the cost of the student loan program by billions<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQWT_Cv3ohisZT6JwzCNy2jtxrZG93pJs4r-gARGdJRzh8rfk_fqFnRMRdpY2Iw5UNLyepvmpdvX58ERElZwzzY7tdVih6TKIpQ9waTY818Lvh0CJb-PbZLmaehqtWhRouCs61aktmREVvDkvhaentsvPfp8XOF6-M1v3420mrVPJuBIqkqsYxfT_qQ/s800/gettyimages-1151696021_wide-968aa1a48de3a4e0cd84318682647c6da766befe-s800-c85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQWT_Cv3ohisZT6JwzCNy2jtxrZG93pJs4r-gARGdJRzh8rfk_fqFnRMRdpY2Iw5UNLyepvmpdvX58ERElZwzzY7tdVih6TKIpQ9waTY818Lvh0CJb-PbZLmaehqtWhRouCs61aktmREVvDkvhaentsvPfp8XOF6-M1v3420mrVPJuBIqkqsYxfT_qQ/w400-h225/gettyimages-1151696021_wide-968aa1a48de3a4e0cd84318682647c6da766befe-s800-c85.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Students at Pasadena City College, in Pasadena, Calif., participate in a graduation ceremony in 2019. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Government Accountability Office finds the U. Department of Education miscalculated the cost of the federal student loan program. From 1997 to 2021, the Education Department estimated that payments from federal direct student loans would generate $114 billion for the government. But the GAO found that, as of 2021, the program has actually cost the government an estimated $197 billion. A percentage of that shortfall, $102 billion, stems from the unprecedented federal student loan payment pause that began under the CARES Act in 2020.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">About half of all direct loans are now paid through these plans, which are designed to help people who can't afford to make large monthly payments and which promise loan cancellation after 20-25 years. The GAO explains, «the monthly payment amount for borrowers in Income-Driven Repayment plans can change based on their economic situation.» It's one of many reasons government costs around the program have been unpredictable.</span></p><p><a class="navigation_external_link" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/29/1114560119/student-loan-program-costhttp://" href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/29/1114560119/student-loan-program-costhttp://" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read the original article.</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source:</strong> Sequioia Carrillo | NPR</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-77457939856754249512022-04-19T03:21:00.000-07:002022-04-19T03:21:00.174-07:00Sabrina Maddeaux: Calling Pierre Poilievre a 'populist' is a lazy scare tactic used by the elites he threatens<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLu0VrowFpzb5QjT6Nkey230rrfYz5c19WXHkxDtOEAXgwxh4mg-Ie6SBNDnLsSsEMJYNtXYGHGnvzfHo9kQACOmaBL7IQEp2nHhbX492o8wgtrVx8Tg6zpE6voAJb7O7OekDUI-ueXKboni5gtgbiQbd7xtCbcKqRx409R7YsWQqwtBrUSSrud72CQQ/s472/pierre-poilievre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="472" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLu0VrowFpzb5QjT6Nkey230rrfYz5c19WXHkxDtOEAXgwxh4mg-Ie6SBNDnLsSsEMJYNtXYGHGnvzfHo9kQACOmaBL7IQEp2nHhbX492o8wgtrVx8Tg6zpE6voAJb7O7OekDUI-ueXKboni5gtgbiQbd7xtCbcKqRx409R7YsWQqwtBrUSSrud72CQQ/w400-h299/pierre-poilievre.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Pierre Poilievre, a candidate for Conservative party leadership, speaks with supporters at Spruce Meadows in Calgary on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Steven Wilhelm/Postmedia</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There were certainly populist elements to Donald Trump’s campaign</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but he is not a true populist</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> even if it is convenient for anti-populists to paint him as one</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Calling Trump a populist</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> however</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> allows fearmongerers to undermine populist movements and politicians without actually having to provide proof for all the «isms» they imply</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Take</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> for example</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Poilievre</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> When elites and opponents warn he’s a populist leader</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> they hope voters will also hear «nativist</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» «racist</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» and «fascist» when there’s no evidence to back any of this –– and certainly none more damning than photos of our current prime minister sporting blackface</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">They seek to equate Poilievre with Trump</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> if you take a minute to think about it</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> makes little sense beyond his ability to draw crowds and utilize populist messaging</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Painting all politicians who tap into populism with the same brush is like saying all startup owners are fraudster criminals because</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> like Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> they use tech jargon and aim to attract investors</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The irony is populist ideas</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> largely from the early 20th century</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> are responsible for many of the economic and political norms we take for granted today</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It was the populist «Free Silver» movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s that led the charge to move away from a gold standard that heavily indebted farmers and workers</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There’s an interesting echo of this in Poilievre’s controversial embrace of crypto currency</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a populist leader</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and his New Deal was especially populist</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> While it may seem counterintuitive</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Poilievre’s populist tendencies have more in common with FDR or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez than they do a politician like Trump</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there are populist leaders on both the right and left</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Canada’s left has largely abandoned populism since Jagmeet Singh became NDP leader</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> too</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> helps explain the willingness of non-Conservatives and even non-voters to support Poilievre –– there’s simply no populist alternative</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Of course</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> one can still debate Poilievre’s ideas and there will be many who don’t agree with him for legitimate reasons</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Just as being a populist doesn’t mean a politician is inherently bad</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> neither does it automatically mean they’re a good solution for society’s ills</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Using «populist» as a pejorative to dismiss Poilievre is nothing more than an elitist scare tactic meant to appeal to the very fear and hate gatekeepers accuse him of propagating</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source:</b> Sabrina Maddeaux | NP</span></span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-88556895714263149302022-04-19T02:21:00.000-07:002022-04-19T02:21:00.194-07:00Deflation: Bad for the Government, Good for Producers and Consumers. What's Not to Like?<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Prices fall in a scenario where the currency is not inflated and</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> therefore</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there are more sustainable investments and increased productivity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In an economy with little or no government intervention</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there are more long-term investments</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which increase the economy’s productivity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In a deflationary economy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the purchasing power of money tends to increase</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> as there is no monetary inflation by central banks and prices tend to fall</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Consumers can purchase more products and services and companies have higher profit margins</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But governments do not like deflation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> they are the most indebted entities</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">«Deflation Will Cost Entrepreneurs»</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In addition</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the prices of the inputs used in production will also fall in a deflationary economy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Because prices got lower</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> consumers began to buy more</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which increased the industry's profits</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which brought more investments and higher productivity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">«Consumers Will Postpone Consumption under Deflation»</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The reasoning behind this argument is that if prices are constantly falling</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> no one will buy the products and services because individuals will always expect prices to go down</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This also does not make sense</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> as there are always products and services that people have to purchase</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Only when the product or service is expensive do consumers postpone consumption</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which is what occurs with constant inflation created by central banks</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> A deflationary economy makes industries more profitable and more efficient</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">The Economy Becomes Less Indebted</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In a deflationary economy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> consumers would tend to buy products and services in cash rather than by going into debt</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The incentive to save would be higher</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which would lead to more investments</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which would lead to greater productivity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which would lead to cheaper and better products and services</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which would lead to higher profits</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which would lead to more incentives for investments</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It’s a beneficial cycle for the economy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Furthermore</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the current scenario of zombie companies would not occur in a deflationary economy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> as the incentive would be for savings and investments in productivity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> not indebtedness</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">Historical Examples of Deflation</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">An example of deflation occurred in the US in the nineteenth century</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «Despite» this deflation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the nineteenth century was marked by great economic growth in the US</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This is precisely what happens in a deflationary economy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> From 1815 to 1914</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the US was in a gold standard</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which is deflationary</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">There were only a few inflationary periods</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> such as the Civil War in the 1860s</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> As of 1981</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the MAS</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Singapore's central bank</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> began to interfere only in the exchange rate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> controlling the value of the Singapore dollar in relation to a basket composed by the currencies of the main economies of the world</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> increasing and reducing the monetary base through purchases and sales of assets</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> respectively</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The goal is to have a currency that continuously appreciates against the others</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The result was that between 1982 and 2005 the SGD was the currency that lost less purchasing power in the world</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> surpassing even the Swiss Franc</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Hence</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the inflation rate remained low</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> At some points</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there was even deflation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> When it became independent from Malaysia in 1965</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Singapore adopted high economic freedom</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which led to the surging of private companies that were very competitive in the global market</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and to a high standard of living</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The government adopted a policy of low public spending and low taxation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> almost nonexistent bureaucracy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and few regulations</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The less inflationary policy of the MAS is one of the main factors that contributed to Singapore's performance</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><a href="https://mises.org/wire/deflation-bad-government-good-producers-and-consumers-whats-not" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source:</b> Andre Marques | Mises Institute</span></span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-10873370035471761292022-04-18T16:21:00.000-07:002022-04-18T16:21:00.170-07:00John Robson: Liberals are infecting our military and police forces with wokeism. We will all pay the price<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNUsx6Pl0hP154KPidnXfac8V6c7lf0zgMxgKiWLpS0dMd_n18ujK7RIY7P3cKbc4SHSojws7KfAvA2qp8qvHlO0osiO6qbWPLYAnskth-lyuWfp2DSXJ-N0mDSOD5SByDs-MC4qjsatR7_eU_59w34W3PWYSOGNMol5N2zFj2-mck2oi94XWeNA1DHQ/s472/canada-military.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="472" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNUsx6Pl0hP154KPidnXfac8V6c7lf0zgMxgKiWLpS0dMd_n18ujK7RIY7P3cKbc4SHSojws7KfAvA2qp8qvHlO0osiO6qbWPLYAnskth-lyuWfp2DSXJ-N0mDSOD5SByDs-MC4qjsatR7_eU_59w34W3PWYSOGNMol5N2zFj2-mck2oi94XWeNA1DHQ/w400-h301/canada-military.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">"I think policing, like soldiering, used to attract mostly serious, stoic applicants willing to endure hardship to protect order against chaos," writes John Robson. "But if so, those professions are unlikely to appeal to social justice warriors." PHOTO BY PATRICK GIBSON/COCHRANE TIMES</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">What the government is determined to fix is not the military's capabilities as a force<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> but its lack of social justice</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Years ago</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> American political philosopher Harvey Mansfield made a troubling observation that I cited in these pages five years ago</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> You might suppose that a mere $8 billion under current circumstances</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> for what Gurney rightly calls unspecified purposes</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> indicates that the Trudeau Liberals are not serious about fixing the military</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> What they are determined to fix is the lack of social justice</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> And they really seem convinced that</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> if identity politics crushes all opposition</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there will be such a flowering of true human fulfillment that lack of modern equipment</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> logistical support or actual soldiers will be of no importance in safeguarding our security</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The military isn’t just incapable of fighting</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Everything is exquisitely politically correct yet</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> despite lavish remuneration and ridiculous job security</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> polls repeatedly find the mood and ethics to be dismal</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The solution</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> naturally</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> is a further assault on patriarchal bigotry in the belief that perfect justice is just one seminar and three pronouns away</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The testimony was given by the head of the Mounties’ union</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> who has a vested interest in the size of the force and used social justice language</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I think policing</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> like soldiering</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> used to attract mostly serious</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> stoic applicants willing to endure hardship to protect order against chaos</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> But if so</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> those professions are unlikely to appeal to social justice warriors</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> And if only SJWs need apply</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> you’ll wind up with an inadequate pool of unsuitable applicants trickling into institutions that spectacularly fail to deliver either on their ostensible mandate or on social justice</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> becoming instead dungeons whose occupants are in no mood to live together let alone do their jobs</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> under leaders unfit to inspire them to do either</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Mansfield’s insight might be called conservative since it relies implicitly on human nature being both flawed and intractable</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Source:</b> </span>John Robson | NP</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-81794317502305596692022-04-18T16:14:00.000-07:002022-04-18T16:14:00.165-07:00JPMorgan Predicts That Global Commodities Prices May Rise by 40 Percent<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuD16lyKuhlKjmrHepB8Y9E77iPaVLWhcxGspH86No7tZ-is9EpxUiS20l8L-2ec2p1_k5NxbCII21bZRywdGgC5ij0V9_mwBbiWKXTvmiEpNQbCEIsCVtrZUTxJ46vMZzlEqJeHqgBs4NQddUqWiCK0aUxz5s3oV4Ol98fPk9O0SXdUNkytsVS8j0cQ/s700/1.tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXNPEI35098-FILEDIMAGE-700x420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="700" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuD16lyKuhlKjmrHepB8Y9E77iPaVLWhcxGspH86No7tZ-is9EpxUiS20l8L-2ec2p1_k5NxbCII21bZRywdGgC5ij0V9_mwBbiWKXTvmiEpNQbCEIsCVtrZUTxJ46vMZzlEqJeHqgBs4NQddUqWiCK0aUxz5s3oV4Ol98fPk9O0SXdUNkytsVS8j0cQ/w400-h240/1.tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXNPEI35098-FILEDIMAGE-700x420.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Marked ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold are placed in a cart at the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on March 10, 2022. (Alexander Manzyuk/Reuters)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Russia is a main supplier for up to 10 percent of global energy production and about 20 percent of global wheat production</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The commodities affected include oil</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which is already up 33 percent from the same month the previous year</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> while natural gas has gone up by 65 percent since the invasion roiled the markets</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Metals excluding gold</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> such as copper</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> are up by 7 percent from 2021</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> while wheat has surged upward by 33 percent</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «In the current juncture</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> where the need for inflation hedges is more elevated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it is conceivable to see longer-term commodity allocations eventually rising above 1 percent of total financial assets globally</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> surpassing the previous highs seen during 2008 or 2011</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» said the JPMorgan note</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Commodities in those categories could see another 30 to 40 percent upside from current levels</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> according to the bank’s experts</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> who said that while investors have increased their allocation to commodity assets over the past year above historical averages</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> they have plenty of room to overweigh them in their portfolios</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/jpmorgan-predicts-that-global-commodities-prices-may-rise-by-40-percent_4389697.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source: </b>Bryan Jung | The Epoch Times</span></span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-20953742341732805022022-04-18T15:07:00.000-07:002022-04-18T15:07:00.196-07:00LEVY: COVID hypochondriacs dread every case of the sniffles<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoTxCaru57YKimWDZRlRgvOXkvZgVDx2dXYZ1kRb_8wSfVD-Yk0xTgIaYfOzYlaW0VcLv7uVwUKJuNWwMPXp9iqJzbJ1c6l9zkX-Kwcargl_cDBeZHQvnzwwzUQx63qHtgrU6M40wlWBNY8XY6LWMmWsz4cwySk37aOXrk-1HDOnUwDKeMU3tc3t-rA/s696/website-af-aug24-696x365.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="696" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoTxCaru57YKimWDZRlRgvOXkvZgVDx2dXYZ1kRb_8wSfVD-Yk0xTgIaYfOzYlaW0VcLv7uVwUKJuNWwMPXp9iqJzbJ1c6l9zkX-Kwcargl_cDBeZHQvnzwwzUQx63qHtgrU6M40wlWBNY8XY6LWMmWsz4cwySk37aOXrk-1HDOnUwDKeMU3tc3t-rA/w400-h210/website-af-aug24-696x365.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It seems the common cold has made a comeback – or at least that it’s still around – but you wouldn’t know it from the continuing hysteria over COVID-19</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Just a week ago</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> I was sick for six days with symptoms similar to those of the contagious Omicron variant of COVID</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> After five days of downing cough medicine and cold pills</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> eating the chicken soup my wife made me, and wearing a mask the few times I ventured out</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> I decided I’d better take a COVID test just to be safe</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It wasn’t COVID</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">When she learned I had a cold AND that I had tested negative for COVID</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> she did not even want to meet up with my wife</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> She suggested that – one – I might test positive the next day</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> or – two – my wife might get sick or test positive next week</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Truth is</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> neither has happened</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and I’d already been sick for five days before I got tested</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> meaning I’d probably been dealing with symptoms for a week</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> I’m learning to live with it</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but I find it more troubling than the cold symptoms I experienced last week</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I call it COVID Derangement Syndrome</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Frankly</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> anyone I know who has picked up COVID since being vaccinated has experienced very mild symptoms – a mild fever</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> headache</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> runny nose – which go away in two or three days</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> If only we could cancel these paranoid hypochondriacs and the virtue signalling leftists like they cancel free speech.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://tnc.news/2022/04/01/levy-covid-hypochondriacs-dread-every-case-of-the-sniffles/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><b>Source:</b> </span>Sue-Ann Levy | TNC News</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-27661303860854429612022-03-29T16:35:00.001-07:002022-03-29T16:35:00.178-07:00Are You Ready for the End of the PetroDollar?<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> Fallout from the war in Ukraine—what I call the New Iron Curtain—seems to be accelerating the shift away from pricing all commodities in US dollars. China and Russia have been working on this for a long time, but that’s now shifting into a higher gear with Russia demanding that «unfriendly» countries pay for oil in rubles.</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><a name='more'></a></span></span><p></p><!-- wp:paragraph -->
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But even before the New Iron Curtain, the petrodollar system’s end was coming in view over the horizon.</span></p>
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<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Whether we like government intervention in the energy sector or not, burning fossil fuels to power vehicles and electric grids is being banned and penalized. Even the war has not changed this agenda. That aside, consumers want electric cars and non-carbon-emitting energy sources.</div></span><p></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The 2050 target for many green energy goals is a long way off. But the smaller the oil piece of the energy pie becomes over the years, the less need other countries have for US dollars to pay for oil.</span></p>
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<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Long before all the war or the COVID-19 lockdowns, the world was moving away from oil for energy.</div></span><p></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">It may still have «rule of law» and the «good faith and credit of the United States government» behind it, but I don’t think these things are as important to other countries. The main reason they hoard dollars is that Saudi Arabia only takes dollars for oil. </span></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But don’t kid yourself that it won’t be until 2050. It could come as soon as 2030, which is a nearer-term goal for many Green agenda items. The New Iron Curtain could bring it on even faster.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As I’ve written before, a world in which the gold-dollar exchange ratio is north of $10,000 would be a very scary place.</span></p>
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<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: justify;">But whether I like it or not, I see the scales tipping more and more away from the US dollar. At some point, there may be some big headline event that marks the end of the US dollar’s hegemony as reserve currency of the world. </div></span><p></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I can’t give you a precise prediction of when the US dollar loses its top-dog status, but I can say that I don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of history when it happens.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But if we’re talking about potential monetary regime change, I think internationalization may be the most important part of the formula.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As for the «speculate» part of the formula, that’s what we’re here for.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://independentspeculator.com/are-you-ready-for-the-end-of-the-petrodollar?fbclid=IwAR1ZyxlbIrcy5DRGwEu8kqYTjb8BIGConC_W2D582yIXsGIlYCudGOWLZTo"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more... </span></a></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Source:</strong> Independent Speculator | Lobo Tiggre</span></p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-42573454051314380712022-03-15T13:50:00.000-07:002022-03-15T13:50:00.198-07:00COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Jump Among Vaccinated: CDC Data<p> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrAgbU5eCagSlS1XhKA1nYrmVXEnHfW-Z_XYWQ2XvAfMj4jDni5sRwlbRSLF2DRI4-tTJQb9-kCJfUdZfZSDZV3fmRUMQXI2iH21fExjx0ahDwdV0QsIQYifZdJSts3OgJvr2V90YQ99suCrkEymp4Nxg7mv0UfPmclAXYZYc0PAR2xbT-7PN8pHCNoQ=s700" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="700" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrAgbU5eCagSlS1XhKA1nYrmVXEnHfW-Z_XYWQ2XvAfMj4jDni5sRwlbRSLF2DRI4-tTJQb9-kCJfUdZfZSDZV3fmRUMQXI2iH21fExjx0ahDwdV0QsIQYifZdJSts3OgJvr2V90YQ99suCrkEymp4Nxg7mv0UfPmclAXYZYc0PAR2xbT-7PN8pHCNoQ=w400-h240" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vials of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in Bridgeport, Conn., in a file image. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)</span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17px; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div></span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div data-draftjs-conductor-fragment="{"blocks":[{"key":"768qb","text":"Fully vaccinated refers to people who received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The case rate among those who also received a booster dose skyrocketed as well, rising some 2,400 percent between the same dates. While cases also rose among the unvaccinated, the jump in infections among the vaccinated closed the gap between the populations. As a result, people who haven’t received a vaccine were just 3.2 times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 in January.","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"f4ghl","text":"","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"25e3f","text":"COVID-19-associated hospitalizations also increased among the vaccinated, from 1.4 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated for the week ending Dec. People who got a booster were less likely to require hospital care, but the hospitalization rate among the boosted also rose from December 2021 to January. And deaths attributed to COVID-19 increased during the same time period among the vaccinated, including among the boosted. Other data sources also point to vaccines performing worse after Omicron, including studies published by the CDC in January, which has narrowed the gap between the unvaccinated and vaccinated in terms of cases and hospitalizations.","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"7t28l","text":"","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"duga7","text":"Some research, though, signals that boosters restore much of the lost protection, including a study performed by researchers with Kaiser Permanente and Moderna published in Nature Medicine on Feb. «Our results suggest that third doses may be needed sooner than 6 months after the second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to protect against omicron infection,» Hung Fu Tseng, a Kaiser researcher, said in a statement. «Reassuringly, 3 doses provide strong protection against COVID-19 hospitalization due to either the omicron or delta variant». Just days after the study, though, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told investors on a call that a second booster would be necessary because of waning protection from the vaccine, including the first booster.","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"eamhs","text":"","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"4c3p2","text":"«This year, we expect to see continued primary vaccination and boosting in the Southern Hemisphere in the first half, and a shift to boosters as a fourth dose booster in the Northern Hemisphere in the second half of the year, similar to flu vaccines,» Bancel said.\n","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"q9d3","text":"Read more...","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"5eadk","text":"","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"8k3rd","text":"Source: NP | Zachary Stieber ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[{"offset":0,"length":8,"style":"BOLD"}],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}}],"entityMap":{},"VERSION":"8.70.11"}"><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="8uvf3-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="8uvf3-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="8uvf3-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Fully vaccinated refers to people who received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The case rate among those who also received a booster dose skyrocketed as well, rising some 2,400 percent between the same dates. While cases also rose among the unvaccinated, the jump in infections among the vaccinated closed the gap between the populations. As a result, people who haven’t received a vaccine were just 3.2 times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 in January.</span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="89u3o-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="89u3o-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="89u3o-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="42nm6-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="42nm6-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="42nm6-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">COVID-19-associated hospitalizations also increased among the vaccinated, from 1.4 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated for the week ending Dec. People who got a booster were less likely to require hospital care, but the hospitalization rate among the boosted also rose from December 2021 to January. And deaths attributed to COVID-19 increased during the same time period among the vaccinated, including among the boosted. Other data sources also point to vaccines performing worse after Omicron, including studies published by the CDC in January, which has narrowed the gap between the unvaccinated and vaccina</span></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="42nm6-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="42nm6-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">ted in terms of cases and hospitalizations.</span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="ale1u-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="ale1u-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="ale1u-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="1sq98-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="1sq98-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="1sq98-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Some research, though, signals that boosters restore much of the lost protection, including a study performed by researchers with Kaiser Permanente and Moderna published in Nature Medicine on Feb. «Our results suggest that third doses may be needed sooner than 6 months after the second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to protect against omicron infection,» Hung Fu Tseng, a Kaiser researcher, said in a statement. «Reassuringly, 3 doses provide strong protection against COVID-19 hospitalization due to either the omicron or delta variant». Just days after the study, though, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told investors on a call that a second booster would be necessary because of waning protection from the vaccine, including the first booster.</span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="3gk54-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="3gk54-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="3gk54-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="56od6-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="56od6-0-0"><div style="text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">«This year, we expect to see continued primary vaccination and boosting in the Southern Hemisphere in the first half, and a shift to boosters as a fourth dose booster in the Northern Hemisphere in the second half of the year, similar to flu vaccines,» Bancel said.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span data-offset-key="56od6-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: justify;"></div></span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="6mnk0-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6mnk0-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="6mnk0-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/vaccinated-people-more-likely-to-contract-covid-19-go-to-hospital-in-recent-weeks-cdc-data_4300048.html">Read more...</a></span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="2ks02-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="2ks02-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span data-offset-key="2ks02-0-0"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="_25Ehb _3qYRK YKqbE public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr fixed-tab-size rich_content_P" data-block="true" data-editor="editor" data-offset-key="4867e-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="4867e-0-0" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-offset-key="4867e-0-0" style="font-weight: bold;">Source: </span><span data-offset-key="4867e-0-1">NP | Zachary Stieber </span></span></div></div></div>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-67807496517553100632022-03-15T12:20:00.000-07:002022-03-15T12:20:00.188-07:00Rex Murphy: 'Greenism' has helped Putin fuel his war machine<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZpPmUEQUqgy_PTvnMxNLYuW55RGxab49xc1hjyYQBfmNGxVaxepX7l69z5wpp1SH0q9ki7bZ2dvZ82D6vWY1bvs6a4s4eeyLSreaDkV0B3wMNONrHVL1uoTEngZFybIZqNgNgP233BKIBVUSP8Bz2ecEVPMhEnUM7Lhh_Ts6ZGMQoBNc51-mODQOZeg=s288" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="288" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZpPmUEQUqgy_PTvnMxNLYuW55RGxab49xc1hjyYQBfmNGxVaxepX7l69z5wpp1SH0q9ki7bZ2dvZ82D6vWY1bvs6a4s4eeyLSreaDkV0B3wMNONrHVL1uoTEngZFybIZqNgNgP233BKIBVUSP8Bz2ecEVPMhEnUM7Lhh_Ts6ZGMQoBNc51-mODQOZeg=w400-h300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span class="caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #555555; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">A member of a pro-Russian militia mans a tank on a road in the Luhansk region of Ukraine on Feb. 27, 2022.</span><span style="color: #555555; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"> </span><span class="credit" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #555555; font-size: 13px; text-align: start; text-transform: uppercase;">PHOTO BY ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Will the horror of what is occurring in Ukraine wake up the environmentally 'woke' governments of the world to their folly?<span></span></span></strong></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Radical environmentalism can be a domineering ideology. You must dismantle the energy systems of the world, the 21st-century communications and commercial systems sustained by oil and gas. The negative consequences which will ineluctably flow from this are unimportant, as to not submit to environmentalist scripture is to bring on the end of the world and the life upon it. How relentlessly have you heard from every high bishop of the environmentalist creed that «the future of our planet is a stake?» From Elizabeth May, to the young Greta, to the vapid Al Gore, to the sublimely ridiculous John Kerry , their voices are as one.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The embrace of this ideology by governments, world leaders, the world’s press and the rich and famous has been the great folly of our time. Germany built windmills so that Putin’s treasury could grow fat, and the dictator could pursue his cruel war. The logic of «Greenism» led to the fallback to so-called renewables, and the predictable failure of the latter in the countries that closed energy plants, banned coal, closed pipelines and fought against any other form of energy, leading inescapably to the acceleration in the price of oil and gas, and the necessity of buying from Russia, and feeding Russia’s economy. All to the benefit of Vladimir Putin.</span></p><p>
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<!-- /wp:paragraph --></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Our government and its environmentalist allies want to landlock Alberta’s energy.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source:</b> NP | Rex Murphy </span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-294387005745488792022-03-15T11:40:00.000-07:002022-03-15T11:40:00.780-07:00Rex Murphy: Trudeau's wild misuse of state authority<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhveOIkVRAWjplQZs2R0zUMeofUGivKbcRj2zDM0O3uCGJjZbIjd287Bm6gm78sKV-TH_qGEdmxcR5_FcyuQ9U9zO6UcCtgNf1e0lwOuDt4II1OhB4FlE4eARKLnYoMQfCiTRksUWBGk4rq9URS5MavyY9sCUQv-KVe2PtFz8CNLNB6pv10YJrHp7bMCg=s288" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="288" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhveOIkVRAWjplQZs2R0zUMeofUGivKbcRj2zDM0O3uCGJjZbIjd287Bm6gm78sKV-TH_qGEdmxcR5_FcyuQ9U9zO6UcCtgNf1e0lwOuDt4II1OhB4FlE4eARKLnYoMQfCiTRksUWBGk4rq9URS5MavyY9sCUQv-KVe2PtFz8CNLNB6pv10YJrHp7bMCg=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span class="caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #555555; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the House of Commons to speak on his invocation of the Emergencies Act, on Feb. 17, 2022.</span><span style="color: #555555; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"> </span><span class="credit" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #555555; font-size: 13px; text-align: start; text-transform: uppercase;">PHOTO BY DAVE CHAN / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Are there no hero MPs willing to denounce this gross usurpation of citizens' rights?<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The police in Ottawa are already fully engaged in exercising their powers under the Emergencies Act<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> Parliament was supposed to meet to debate the imposition of the act<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> Not even in the pale<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> restricted<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> sporadic pretence of a Parliament we have been getting the past two years by Zoom<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> The imposition of the Emergencies Act has been challenged by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The House of Commons just postponed debating Trudeau’s emergency powers because he is using his emergency powers near the Parliament to clear protesters<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> "If you are a member of a pro-Trump movement who is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> and millions of dollars to this kind of thing<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> then you ought to be worried<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span>" That’s Canada’s Attorney General<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> David Lametti<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> Making an offer Canadians can’t refuse<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Lametti himself cannot believe what he has said<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> Lametti has dragged the entire financial system into this massive and deranged overkill<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> And his government has made the deeply democratic right to support opposition to a public measure by making a contribution to it<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> a justification for freezing a citizen’s bank account<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> For this we gather on the Hill during Canada Day<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We’ve had some really glorious moments of hypocrisy from the Trudeau regime<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> But the claim you bring in the Emergencies Act and simultaneously claim the Charter is still operative<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> especially after its gutting during the two-year COVID period<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> is the king and glory moment<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> This government has had its way<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> and more than its way<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> during the abnormal and disruptive COVID era<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span> It has gotten far too used to staying away from Parliament<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> holding back budgets<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> governing from the steps of the Rideau Cottage<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> imposing regulations and mandates with limited or no debate<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Condemn the extreme rhetoric being poured on Canadian workers<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> the talk of terrorists and "Trumpists<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span>" the vile talk of "Nazism<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span>" Condemn the stubborn<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> disdainful refusal to talk<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> to meet<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span> to listen and go for compromise<span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source: </b>Rex Murphy </span></div>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-47949700976042696062022-03-10T03:56:00.000-08:002022-03-10T03:56:00.171-08:00Visualizing the State of Global Debt, by Country<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Since COVID-19 started its spread around the world in 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the global economy has been put to the test with supply chain disruptions</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> price volatility for commodities</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> challenges in the job market</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and declining income from tourism</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> To analyze the extent of global debt</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> we’ve compiled debt-to-GDP data by country from the most recent World Economic Outlook report by the IMF</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">What is the main risk of a high debt-to-GDP ratio?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A rapid increase in government debt is a major cause for concern</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Generally</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the higher a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the higher chance that country could default on its debt</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> therefore creating a financial panic in the markets</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> The World Bank published a study showing that countries that maintained a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 77% for prolonged periods of time experienced economic slowdowns</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> COVID-19 has worsened a debt crisis that has been brewing since the 2008 global recession</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3BfcvHEZXbpAHff2cnJmcY3z-AyIkymK6KMgdfcAZfWASOYQhEyZ87ttAvaIZ7vzkRg0R-CvQXSxwlYCaRXFtmBTZmvCD1Htlt6Pl8cepOQLjxjs7uBZ9VSaKG8MC8KvHhiGNEgfZ2DLttYFBL53S0ptEreEEcY5LaPUral6EzXheaKnqXUu_SkEAbA=s835" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="835" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3BfcvHEZXbpAHff2cnJmcY3z-AyIkymK6KMgdfcAZfWASOYQhEyZ87ttAvaIZ7vzkRg0R-CvQXSxwlYCaRXFtmBTZmvCD1Htlt6Pl8cepOQLjxjs7uBZ9VSaKG8MC8KvHhiGNEgfZ2DLttYFBL53S0ptEreEEcY5LaPUral6EzXheaKnqXUu_SkEAbA=w400-h179" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Noto Serif", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Source: <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2021/10/12/world-economic-outlook-october-2021" style="border: 0px; box-shadow: none; color: #76b243; margin: 0px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.5s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">World Economic Outlook Report</a> (October 2021 Edition)</em></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">The IMF Warns of Interest Rates</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Global debt reached $226 trillion by the end of 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> seeing the biggest one-year increase since World War II</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Borrowing by governments accounted for slightly over half of the $28 trillion increase</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> bringing global public debt ratio to a record of 99% of GDP</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> As interest rates rise</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> IMF officials warn that higher interest rates will diminish the impact of fiscal spending</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and cause debt sustainability concerns to intensify</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-debt-to-gdp-ratio/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=global-debt-to-gdp-ratio" target="_blank">Read more.</a></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><b>Source:</b> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Raul Amoros, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Christina Kostandi | Visual Capitalist</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-66520006526566483542022-03-10T03:35:00.001-08:002022-03-10T03:35:00.176-08:00Jack M. Mintz: The measure of a model is how well it predicts<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjobVGf7AMYQXMWvZVbfd84TreZVDgWTxEnCrdgxmwQOzGaH0wl9Ec7YXaF4XM2aDJdu3mEN9lNOxidWR48wB3nbttxHrx4noFC5C7u7rrkCEeBam4NPthLp6ra2w87YiTNuqwccCFri5aRoLgjSNsBspRv2qFZjbAKWbWb0FSSCSwrHIb-UfQMh1h64w=s564" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="564" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjobVGf7AMYQXMWvZVbfd84TreZVDgWTxEnCrdgxmwQOzGaH0wl9Ec7YXaF4XM2aDJdu3mEN9lNOxidWR48wB3nbttxHrx4noFC5C7u7rrkCEeBam4NPthLp6ra2w87YiTNuqwccCFri5aRoLgjSNsBspRv2qFZjbAKWbWb0FSSCSwrHIb-UfQMh1h64w=w400-h299" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">COVID-19 mandate protesters block the roadway at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing with the U.S. in Windsor, Ont., on Feb. 9, 2022. PHOTO BY GEOFF ROBINS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">With the trucker protest against mandatory health policies still in play</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it is no surprise that the controversial Johns Hopkins economic study released last week made the front pages here</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This is a far cry from Imperial College London epidemiology studies from almost two years ago that estimated lockdowns were needed to cut deaths by 98 per cent</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The three authors</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> only one of whom</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Hanke</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> is actually at Johns Hopkins</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> conducted a «meta-analysis» of 34 COVID studies focused on March 16-April 20</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Comparing COVID deaths across jurisdictions</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> they concluded that mask mandates had the largest impact on mortality with rules such as shelter-in-place or school closings having only marginal effects</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Some estimates credit voluntary avoidance with 90 per cent of the total effect</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Mandates did not regulate everything</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> of course</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Not surprisingly</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> many epidemiologists took vigorous exception to these results</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which are so different from their theoretical models</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which were excluded from the analysis</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In their view</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the Johns Hopkins study cooked the books</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That requires analyzing past data to see whether their predictions were in the ballpark</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This is not an easy task since observations</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> such as the number of COVID deaths</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> depend on many other factors besides lockdowns and these also need to be included in the analysis</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> One approach to create more confidence in a theory is to «backdate» models to see if their predictions are close to what actually happened</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Set the model up with data that goes to 2010</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> say</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and then see if it «explains» what happened between 2010 and now</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The Johns Hopkins authors were right to include in their meta-analysis only papers that had been tested empirically</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> not those that had only made theoretical predictions</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Whether their conclusion about the effect of mandates is correct only time will tell</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Another area where complex models are used to make predictions about real-world events is concerning the possible effect of greenhouse gases on average temperatures</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> These climate models are also based on theory and then used to make predictions by filling them out with data</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The predictions are highly dependent on assumptions and data accuracy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In the case of climate models</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> you want to see if they can predict the temperatures we’ve already experienced</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The new models predict even higher temperatures in the future</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">One of the first such models</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> built by the University of Chicago’s Arnold Harberger in the 1960s</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> looked at the incidence of the corporate tax assuming a two-sector economy producing goods and services using labour and capital</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Many empirical papers have shown that at least half of corporate tax is borne by labour through lower real wages</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> more so in smaller economies like Canada</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Modellers should be humble about predictions coming from complex mathematical models that haven’t yet successfully confronted the data</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Despite what the headlines said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> that’s the most important lesson from the Johns Hopkins study</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><a href="https://financialpost.com/opinion/jack-m-mintz-the-measure-of-a-model-is-how-well-it-predicts" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source: </b>Jack M. Mintz | Financial Post</span></span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-12448674617475246582022-03-10T03:14:00.000-08:002022-03-10T03:14:00.172-08:00Child Safeguarding Harms & The Pandemic Response<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We must not aim simply to restore ‘normality’ for children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Many took to social media in the aftermath</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> trying to make sense of how the abuse of these defenceless children could have occurred</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Some were vehement that Arthur’s death</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> was the result of lockdown and school closures</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> whilst others argued that such claims only detract from the culpability of the perpetrators</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Thinking in such binary terms</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> however</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> does not advance our learning or help to better protect children in the future</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">‘Between April and September 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the period in which Arthur and Star were both killed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> there were 119 child deaths and 153 incidents of serious harm due to known/suspected abuse or neglect</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> as compared to 89 and 132 during the same period in 2019</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> During the first month of lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> calls to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline increased by around 50% </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Fleeing domestic abuse will also have resulted in homelessness for many children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> likely compounding their experience of trauma</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In England</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> 15</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">370 households with children were homeless or threatened with homelessness due to domestic abuse between April 2020 and March 2021</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> reflecting an increase of almost 14% from the previous year</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In May 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the number of Childline counselling sessions in which abuse was the main concern</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> rose from a pre-pandemic average of 1325 to 1730 </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Whilst a proportion of this increase may relate to historical incidents of abuse </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> some children reported that sexual or physical abuse started or worsened during this period</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Whilst online sexual offending is a global issue and one which was already growing</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the pandemic and conditions of lockdown appear to have had an accelerating effect</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In the UK alone</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> there were 8</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">8 million attempts to access such material during the first month of lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> as well as an 18% increase in the number of offences relating to the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material during the first year of the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Increased demand has also led to a significant rise in the sexual exploitation of children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> with a reported three-fold increase in the number of children aged 7-10 targeted and groomed to provide self-generated material</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> The potential harms to these children are no less serious than to those who experience contact sexual abuse</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Data shows that only 69% of secondary-aged children with a social worker were in attendance on 11 January 2022</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Absence from school heightens the risk to children experiencing abuse at home</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In addition</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> for children at risk of exploitation by criminal gangs</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> early school exit appears to be a specific trigger point for increased risk of serious harm</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> During the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> those who exploit children in this manner have seemingly adapted</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> rather than reduced their criminal activity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> which has been associated with severe violence as well as a heightened risk of self-injury and attempted suicide amongst victims</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Many raised concerns about the potential for increased harm to children during the early stages of the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> There was evidence of increased risk of child maltreatment from previous infectious disease outbreaks</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> natural disasters and other emergencies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There were also reports of rising domestic abuse in countries that had locked down prior to the UK </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> It has been long-known that serious and fatal maltreatment incidents most commonly occur in the home and</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> as such</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> some children may face a greater risk from lockdown than from the virus itself</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> It was also well-established that high stress and poor coping were associated with an increased risk of child abuse and neglect</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Anxiety</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> low mood and feelings of frustration were predictably more prevalent during lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> whilst protective factors such as social or professional support were simultaneously reduced</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Children aged under five and those with disability were at a statistically greater risk of maltreatment</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Indeed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the Department for Education’s Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel had been so concerned about high rates of physical harm to infants that they had started a national review in January 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> «In an attempt to mitigate risk</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> schools in England remained open to vulnerable children during lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In addition</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the lockdown attendance policy was reliant on the child’s vulnerability having been known to the authorities</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> which is not always the case</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">For context</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> less than 1% of children experiencing domestic abuse have a social worker</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and of those ‘seriously harmed’ during 2020 </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> one third were not known to be vulnerable</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> It is also likely that the vulnerability status of some children changed as a direct result of lockdown policy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Those who abuse children often try to keep them out of view and the deliberate isolation of a child can sometimes reflect an extension of the abuse itself</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In this respect</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the pandemic added an extra layer of challenge for those in frontline health and safeguarding roles</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> some of whom described finding it difficult to differentiate ‘opportunistic evasion of scrutiny from genuine concern about risk of infection’</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In May 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the Government considered whether the low attendance rates of vulnerable children might be improved if primary schools were reopened</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> » ‘Health visiting services have struggled to recover to pre-pandemic levels to the extent that a recent report</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> highlighting the impact of COVID-19 and measures introduced to control it</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> was titled</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> «No one wants to see my baby</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> » Higher numbers of vulnerable children attended during this winter lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> though most were still absent most of the time</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> After schools reopened in the Spring</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> attendance remained a matter of concern</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> not helped by COVID-19 policies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> which had no exemption for vulnerable children and led to over a million children self-isolating at one point</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">It was later found that very few of those required to isolate as ‘close contacts’ went on to develop COVID-19</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> The long-term effects of child maltreatment can sometimes be mitigated by protective factors</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> such as school-related activities and positive social/professional support</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> The impact of reducing</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> or removing these from vulnerable children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> is not yet known</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> It is also important to note that ongoing COVID-19 policies mean that children experiencing abuse at home still face an ever-present prospect of isolation which</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> in itself</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> has the potential to compound trauma and make recovery more difficult</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Infants and pre-school children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> who are at a statistically increased risk of maltreatment</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> have also been less visible during the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> During the first lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> it was reported that only around one in ten children with a social worker or education</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> health</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and care plan were attending early years settings</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Universal services and parenting support were also significantly reduced</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and social distancing requirements made it difficult for safeguarding workers to see families and children face to face</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> It was reported that only 11% of children aged under two were seen by a health visitor in person during the first lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This situation is unlikely to have been helped by previous funding cuts</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> as well as the redeployment of 50-70% of health visitors at the start of the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> in order to increase COVID-19 care capacity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> ‘Although there are plans for a full inquiry into the COVID-19 response</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> there is arguably a need for a separate investigation regarding children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> in order that they are optimally protected in future emergencies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In early December 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the Coronavirus Act was amended to allow for support bubbles for families with children aged under one</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> as well as those under five with a disability and who required continuous care</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Health visiting services have struggled to recover to pre-pandemic levels to the extent that a recent report</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> highlighting the impact of COVID-19 and measures introduced to control it</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> was titled</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> ‘No one wants to see my baby’ </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Child safeguarding referrals</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> which fell significantly during lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> have also remained relatively low</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In addition to keeping schools open for vulnerable children during lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the UK Government provided funding for domestic abuse and children’s charities</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> The Department for Education collaborated with Barnardo’s to deliver the ‘See</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Hear</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Respond’ project</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> which aimed to support vulnerable children and their families and ran from June 2020 until March 2021</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In January 2021</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> the ‘Ask for ANI’ scheme was launched with UK pharmacies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> in an effort to support victims of domestic abuse who were unable to seek help from home during lockdown</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Whilst laudable</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> there are again questions about the timeliness of these interventions and it nonetheless remains the case that</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> at a time of heightened risk for children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> their overall safeguards were reduced rather than bolstered</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> There are other questions too that seemingly remain unanswered</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> such as whether emergency funding provided to local authorities at the start of the pandemic was directed towards adult social care</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> as well as why there has been variation and</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> in some cases</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> insufficient action taken by councils to find vulnerable children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> despite statutory expectations for them to do so </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Although there are plans for a full inquiry into the COVID-19 response</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> there is arguably a need for a separate investigation regarding children</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> in order that they are optimally protected in future emergencies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> In the shorter term</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> however</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> we must not aim simply to restore ‘normality’ for children and the services that aim to protect them</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><a href="https://collateralglobal.org/article/child-safeguarding-harms-the-pandemic-response/" target="_blank">Read more.</a></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><b>Source: </b>Dr Rosie Gray | Collateral Global</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-18117676481625096682022-03-10T02:49:00.001-08:002022-03-10T02:49:00.173-08:00The crowd booed him, but Tom Wilson’s fellow all-stars were very complimentary<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVsJw99Vun0bY0QeU5I8Tp2H8QiS9m1F0DPH7J2hRnKiI8_-jWmEr1yKZrA7hbMMj1MM1uEwbM2V5Y5hSp4d2SLqQIXUcXnQda39N3_xw_jYTS4159Yz8ZE6wgoPfWjB_uQkxf2TD3mLUkbK3T24k2CtcxQTIrt0jyIJ2ylmvPaGTE9yxAQUUUP_QUYw=s691" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="691" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVsJw99Vun0bY0QeU5I8Tp2H8QiS9m1F0DPH7J2hRnKiI8_-jWmEr1yKZrA7hbMMj1MM1uEwbM2V5Y5hSp4d2SLqQIXUcXnQda39N3_xw_jYTS4159Yz8ZE6wgoPfWjB_uQkxf2TD3mLUkbK3T24k2CtcxQTIrt0jyIJ2ylmvPaGTE9yxAQUUUP_QUYw=w400-h266" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Tom Wilson made his first all-star appearance Saturday in Las Vegas. (Rick Scuteri/AP)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The 27-year-old was just soaking in his first career all-star appearance</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> an experience he described as a «dream come true</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» The boos</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> he said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> just added to the memories</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «Guys had a lot of fun with me being booed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and it is just all part of the journey</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» Wilson said in a recent interview with The Washington Post</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «’Guys were hearing it and then making nice comments toward me</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> I had to say to a couple guys</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> ‘Thanks for having me this weekend</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">’ because they were all so good to me»</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The boos that greeted Wilson at the NHL’s showcase event were expected</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Wilson’s past is littered with questionable hits that have drawn ire from fan bases across the league</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The Capitals have long reiterated that every team in the league would want to have a player like Wilson on their roster</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> At the all-star festivities</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the Capitals’ opponents largely agreed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">«He is a tough player to play against</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> for sure</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> » Carolina’s Sebastian Aho called Wilson a «nice</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> tough» player</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel said he was «tremendous</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» Seattle’s Jordan Eberle said Wilson is a player you need to be aware of on the ice because «you are scared that he is going to hit you» but also has developed into an «elite goal scorer and an elite playmaker»</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «Those are the guys that you want on your team</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> that you are going to win with</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I think that style of play</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there is not much of it anymore</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but those are the guys you really want on your team when it comes down to the playoffs»</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Columbus’s Zach Werenski said it’s never fun being caught in the crosshairs of a Wilson hit but «he is more skilled than people think»</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «Every team wants a Tom Wilson</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» Werenski said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> « He’s a great player»</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">New Jersey’s Jack Hughes</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 20</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> said Wilson was the player he was most looking forward to playing with and getting to know during the event</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Wilson called Hughes a «happy-go-lucky</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> fun kid» and thinks he’s «going to be a star</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» Hughes went out of his way to say goodbye to Wilson on Saturday night after the All-Star Game</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> wishing him well until Washington plays New Jersey next month</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Growing up</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 22</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> he looked up to Wilson and Dallas captain Jamie Benn for their style of play</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «These are guys that you win Stanley Cups with»</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Coaches commended Wilson’s skills</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> too</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «He is the type of player that every coach wants to have on their team</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» Carolina Coach Rod Brind’Amour said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Wilson’s skill was on full display during Saturday’s All-Star Game</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «I honestly had no idea how hard my shot was going to be</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» Wilson said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">He left with a signed stick and had all players representing the Metropolitan Division sign his all-star jersey</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In addition to experiencing the weekend with fellow Capitals all-star Evgeny Kuznetsov</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Wilson had two brothers who made the trip and two close friends who drove up from California as well</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> «I think I was coming into this event</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> like</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> just get through it</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">» Wilson said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/06/tom-wilson-nhl-all-star-game/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source:</b> The Washington Post</span></span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-64122237868659054892022-03-09T19:56:00.000-08:002022-03-09T19:56:00.170-08:00Strictly regular use of ivermectin as prophylaxis for COVID-19 leads to a 90% reduction in COVID-19 mortality rate, in a dose-response manner: definitive results of a prospective observational study of a strictly controlled 223,128 population from a city-wide program in Southern Brazil<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Abstract</span></h2><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Background: Previously, we demonstrated that ivermectin use as prophylaxis for COVID-19 was associated with reductions in COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and mortality rates, and in the risk of dying from COVID-19, irrespective of regularity and accumulated use of ivermectin, in an observational, prospectively obtained data from a strictly controlled city-wide program in a city in Southern Brazil (Itajaí, SC, Brazil) of medically-based, optional use of ivermectin as prophylaxis for COVID-19. In this study, our objective was to explore the data obtained from the program to evaluate whether the level of regularity of ivermectin use impacted in the reductions in these outcomes, aiming to determine if ivermectin showed a progressive dose- and regularity-response in terms of protection from COVID-19 and COVID-19 related outcomes. Materials and methods: This is a prospective observational study of the program mention above, that used ivermectin at a dose of 0.2mg/kg/day for two consecutive days, every 15 days. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We obtained and analyzed the data regarding the accumulated dose of ivermectin use, in addition to age and comorbidities, to analyze the patterns of reduction of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and mortality rates, and risk of dying from COVID-19, according to the regularity and amount of ivermectin used in a 5-month period. Following definitions of regularity, we considered as strictly regular subjects that used at least 180mg of ivermectin (180mg = 30 tablets), and as sporadic users subjects that used 60mg (= 10 tablets) or less during the 5-month period. Comparisons between subjects that did not use ivermectin and these two levels of regularity of ivermectin use were performed. Analysis of the intermediate levels of ivermectin use are present in the supplement appendix of this study. To analyze hospitalization and mortality rates, we utilized the database of COVID-19 infections of all participants, from Itajaí and outside. To analyze COVID-19 infection rate and risk of dying from COVID-19 we utilized the Itajaí city database. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed, followed by multivariate adjusted analysis for residual differences (doubly adjusted analysis). Results: COVID-19 infection rate within the city of Itajaí was 49% lower among strict users [283/8,325 cases; 3.40% infection rate) than in non-users [3,034/45,716 cases; 6.64% infection rate) [risk ratio (RR), 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.45 – 0.58; p < 0.0001], and 25% lower compared to sporadic users (1,542/33,971 cases; 4.54% infection rate) (RR, 0.75; 95%CI 0.66 – 0.85; p < 0.0001), and sporadic users had 32% lower infection rate than non-users (RR, 0.68; 95%CI, 0.64 – 0.73; p < 0.0001). Of the 7,345 cases of COVID-19, 3,034 cases in non-users, 1,627 cases in sporadic users (1,542 cases from Itajaí 85 cases from outside Itajaí), and 289 in strict users (283 cases from Itajaí six cases from outside Itajaí), while the remaining cases occurred in the intermediate levels of ivermectin use. Strict users were older (p < 0.0001) and non-significant higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Hospitalization rate was reduced by 100% in strict users, compared to non-users and to sporadic users, both before and after PSM (RR, 0.00; 95%CI, not applicable; p < 0.0001). After PSM, hospitalization rate was 35% lower among sporadic users than non-users (RR, 0.65; 95%CI, 0.44 – 0.70; p = 0.03). In propensity score matched groups (n = 289 in each group between non-users and strict users, and between sporadic users and strict users, and n = 1,627 between non-users and sporadic users), multivariate-adjusted mortality rate was 90% lower in strict users compared to non-users (RR, 0.10, 95%CI, 0.02 – 0.45; p = 0.003) and 79% lower than in sporadic users (RR, 0.21; RR, 0.04 – 1.00; p = 0.05), while sporadic users had a 37% reduction in mortality rate compared to non-users (RR, 0.63; 95%CI, 0.41 – 0.99; p = 0.043). Risk of dying from COVID-19 was 86% lower among strict users than non-users (RR, 0.14; 95%CI, 0.03 – 0.57; p = 0.006) and marginally significant, 72% lower than sporadic users (RR, 0.28; 95%CI, 0.07 – 1.18; p = 0.083), while sporadic users had a 51% reduction compared to non-users (RR, 0.49; 95%CI, 0.32 – 0.76; p = 0.001). Conclusion: Non-use of ivermectin was associated with a 10-times increase in mortality risk and 7-times increased risk of dying from COVID-19, compared to strictly regular use of ivermectin in a prospectively collected, strictly controlled population. A progressive dose-response pattern was observed between level of ivermectin use and level of protection from COVID-19 related outcomes, and was consistent across different levels of ivermectin use.</span><p></p><p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358386329_Strictly_regular_use_of_ivermectin_as_prophylaxis_for_COVID-19_leads_to_a_90_reduction_in_COVID-19_mortality_rate_in_a_dose-response_manner_definitive_results_of_a_prospective_observational_study_of_a" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source: </b>ResearchGate</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-91677117200336941622022-03-09T19:35:00.000-08:002022-03-09T19:35:00.175-08:00Kulldorff Deleted: Famed Epidemiologist and Early Opponent of Lockdowns Banned by LinkedIn<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPxbJ2CFwb-X7zaGcFEZPRrLnkMbctdNuCpNIjLPCm9De-IeJ0YdcrKBRiNUrtEL1ukoGOV2DxsAF0zvSAJ6a7PDRFa6VUB5oAapK8lYKfWGs_bC-2HULVA2Kc5H4HZwVAOYJYHiAFdRxU9OoFA07E2NWVlG-dNTBVfWLCGvm1otCGJ0Dt3fPpNvLcsQ=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="800" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPxbJ2CFwb-X7zaGcFEZPRrLnkMbctdNuCpNIjLPCm9De-IeJ0YdcrKBRiNUrtEL1ukoGOV2DxsAF0zvSAJ6a7PDRFa6VUB5oAapK8lYKfWGs_bC-2HULVA2Kc5H4HZwVAOYJYHiAFdRxU9OoFA07E2NWVlG-dNTBVfWLCGvm1otCGJ0Dt3fPpNvLcsQ=w400-h235" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Just a few days ago</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> I linked to an epic article in the history of the pandemic response</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Finally</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> he decided to post it on his LinkedIn account</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The posting of this article was an important moment in the modern historiography of lockdowns and the response</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It became very easily the most important English-language dissent against the unprecedented and catastrophic response deployed by states all over the world</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">LinkedIn made this possible because it allowed its users the freedom to post their thoughts</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">The full banning is so new that Google still believes that the page is there</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Here is where Martin’s personal page resided until just a few hours ago</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Here is where his April 10</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> article appeared</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This article is posted on Brownstone where anyone can read it</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> If you look up the exact title of this article</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the first link is to the now-defunct LinkedIn version</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I scrolled through ten pages of search results and found nothing about the Brownstone version</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> DuckDuckGo gives better results</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> such that the reprinted article on Brownstone appears on page 3</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It could take months for the search results to reflect the change</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and perhaps the reprinted version will never appear</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It’s impossible to avoid the sense that the whole history of the pandemic and the response are being rewritten in real time by Big Tech to cover up what happened</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> who wrote what and when</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and how the thing fleshed itself out in real time</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That Kulldorff used the Great Barrington Declaration as his cover picture gives you a hint of where this is going</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> One might have supposed that LinkedIn would somehow be above the fray engaged by low-end platforms like Facebook and Twitter</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> that it would behave more professionally</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Martin</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> like so many millions of others</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> has invested vast time and focus on his LinkedIn profile</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Now the entire thing is deleted – not even in response to anything he lately posted but mostly likely in retaliation for his role in crafting the Great Barrington Declaration</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> a document which is now on the verge of global fame for being 100% correct on the best-possible response</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Now Martin himself has been deplatformed from the world’s most important professional social network – as if he does not matter as a professional or even as a human being</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This is personally very devastating to me because I’ve written so much in defense of LinkedIn as a worker empowerment tool that grants individuals rights to choose their institutional affiliations and carry with them from place to place their own personal networks and thus not to be depersoned by large corporations</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Sure</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> all that’s great until – until LinkedIn itself decides to make you and everything you have written and posted suddenly disappear</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> making it seem as if you do not exist and never have existed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It seems designed to whitewash the lockdowns</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> pretending as if there was never any credible opposition</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This is being done by human hands with intentionality</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It’s about dogma</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> about rewriting history</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> about deplatforming dissent in all its forms</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and about an attempt to impose an orthodoxy in which the lockdowners and mandaters are and always were correct</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://brownstone.org/articles/kulldorff-deleted-famed-epidemiologist-and-early-opponent-of-lockdowns-banned-by-linkedin/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Source:</b> </span>JEFFREY A. TUCKER | BROWNSTONE INSTITUTE</span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6696593972010852945.post-25372518012079962482022-03-09T19:14:00.001-08:002022-03-09T19:14:00.159-08:00Vaccines are a tool, not a silver bullet. If we’d allowed more scientific debate, we would have realized this earlier<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimLdEMP-x9u4K-EBBBiQks79xPVmU9FMzoSZHIx1jTOaLv5J8sVMQlr0XHr4FkZZHTCEgGM_j1u5Y9Qhi8GU-HkPNANS8MaHE00SG5ELi66RzfXE0fcVP5mcDD2OT-8qkqsvBcdiRaAnopwlHJ5znWhA5igFmXEoHU_lAXqeynUuvg4fwb2AMxgSVoyQ=s1200" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="1200" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimLdEMP-x9u4K-EBBBiQks79xPVmU9FMzoSZHIx1jTOaLv5J8sVMQlr0XHr4FkZZHTCEgGM_j1u5Y9Qhi8GU-HkPNANS8MaHE00SG5ELi66RzfXE0fcVP5mcDD2OT-8qkqsvBcdiRaAnopwlHJ5znWhA5igFmXEoHU_lAXqeynUuvg4fwb2AMxgSVoyQ=w400-h271" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">PHOTO LLUSTRATION BY THE GLOBE AND MAIL</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">More than two years since COVID-19 emerged</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> our kit of solutions – and the mindset needed to use them – is too small</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The December 20 announcement</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> coming at a time when Canadians were preoccupied with Omicron</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and the fear hospitals would soon be overwhelmed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> received hardly any news coverage</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Fluvoxamine is a "repurposed drug</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" and comes from what might seem like a most unlikely source – psychiatry</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The drug has had two randomized control trials</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> or RCTs and four observational studies showing it keeps people with COVID out of hospital</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> from requiring intubation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and helps prevent death</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The discovery of its anti-COVID properties came after impressive sleuthing in France and the United States</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This is a good news story</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> about our public-health officials doing something right</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and showing flexibility</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> at a time when we are learning the limits of our vaccines and accompanying strategies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Reappraisal is in the air</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> driven by everyone’s two-year-experience with the pandemic – scientists included</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.<span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">We put our faith in the vaccines</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> while other approaches – such as drugs for early treatment</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> or a role for our natural immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> or lowering our personal risk factors</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> for instance – got comparatively less attention</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Key individuals predicted – half promised</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> really – we’d be done with COVID</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> at least in the West</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> by the summer of 2021</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Ugur Sahin</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the CEO of BioNTech</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> told reporters</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "Europe will reach herd immunity in July</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> latest by August</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" It wasn’t a tough sell</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Politicians fostered the idea that our proper aim for handling COVID would be to "eliminate it everywhere</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Early treatment doesn’t promise that</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> though it might lower death rates</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Yet</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in dismal December</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2021</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> two years in</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> with cases soon to reach record highs</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and another lockdown looming and vaccines waning</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it wasn’t working out that way</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The staff started contracting COVID in high numbers</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but their patients</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> gravely mentally ill</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> did not</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Three staff got COVID for every patient</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> despite the patients having more risk factors</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> such as being overweight</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> or having cardiovascular disease</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In a May</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> publication</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> they proposed repurposing it for treating COVID-19</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> French psychiatrists and scientists next did a multicentre study</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> looking at 7</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">230 patients who had been hospitalized in Paris for severe COVID-19</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Coincidentally</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 300 of the patients were taking antidepressants</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Lab research showed that the SSRI fluvoxamine had an antiviral effect</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and a salutary effect on blood platelets that might protect patients from blood clots</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Angela Reirson</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> caught COVID in early 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Something akin to sepsis can happen in serious COVID</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In the 2019 study</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> mice with sepsis were given fluvoxamine</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which halted the condition</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Realizing fluvoxamine had a great safety record</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> he launched its first small randomized control trial of COVID patients</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Not one of the 80 volunteers who got fluvoxamine deteriorated or got COVID lung damage</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> whereas 8 per cent of the 72 who got a placebo did deteriorate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Next came the Together Trial</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the world’s largest placebo study of COVID drugs</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> co-led by McMaster researcher Edward Mills and Brazilian physician Gilmar Reis</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> To do large trials you need a lot of cases</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and Brazil had two million</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Half were given fluvoxamine</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> half a placebo</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In those who took the fluvoxamine as prescribed it reduced the odds of hospitalization or emergency care by 66 per cent and death by 90 per cent</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The Ontario Science Table noticed these findings and on Dec</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> That was significant</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> because early treatment of COVID – measures we can take to avoid symptomatic cases from worsening</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> requiring hospitalization – has been so minimal</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In Ontario</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> treatment includes monoclonal antibodies for specific people at risk</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and steroids</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Otherwise outpatients were told to rest</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> drink fluids</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and hope their immune response would handle the virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> True</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there was much talk of brand-new</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> non-repurposed drugs for early treatment</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Pfizer’s Paxlovid</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> just approved by Health Canada on Monday</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> is very new</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Fluvoxamine costs about $15 for a course of treatment</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Repurposed drugs are used by poorer countries that can’t afford vaccines or expensive early treatment drugs such as Paxlovid or Molnupiravir</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">So why hasn’t treatment focused more on repurposed drugs?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">First</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> because the master narrative</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> once it took hold</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> directed our attention away from this possibility</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Second</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in North America</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the first repurposed drug that came to public attention was hydroxychloroquine</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Of all the reasons that we didn’t focus on repurposed drugs</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> I would argue</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the master narrative was the most important</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> because of the way it organized so many people’s thoughts</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> attention and emotions</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> This master narrative was our battle plan and this was a "war" to eradicate the enemy virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Reappraisal of any prevailing narrative requires taking in new insights</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> which</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> by definition</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> arise from a minority viewpoint</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The circuit</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> called the behavioural immune response</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> causes us to fear</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> loathe and feel rage toward the "impure" germ bearer</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> It’s one reason debates about vaccines are emotionally radioactive</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Some vaccinated people feel all the unvaccinated bear germs</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> while some unvaccinated people feel vaccine may put germs or toxins in their bodies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In part they were surprised</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> because the censorship of scientists who held dissenting views – and had been warning this might happen – was much more widespread than many are aware of</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> According to an Amnesty International report published in October</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> censorship and harassment of health professionals</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and others</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> has been a problem "across the world</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" during the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In some jurisdictions in North America physicians are threatened by their regulating boards with suspension or revocation of their medical licenses for spreading "misinformation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" forcing some doctors to have to choose between what they – rightly or wrongly – see as their patient’s best interests</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and their own livelihood</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> There were "snake oil" claims on the internet</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> yes</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but generally when scientists and health care workers were party to these quarrels</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it was because there was a scientific debate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in medicine</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> is called the problem of "medical reversal</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" An approach thought to be helpful is proven to be harmful</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and vice versa</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The problem of medical reversals didn’t disappear the day the virus landed on our shores</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> We had not only a virus problem</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but a medical reversal problem</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The medical boards were in an unusual situation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> torn between once-cherished traditions of scientific debate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and the atmosphere of crisis and their wish to do their part in "the war</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" After all</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it is vital that public health</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and its officials</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in a crisis</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> be able to convey consistent messages as they ask citizens to change their behaviours</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and undergo various privations</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But if those messages are to be persuasive</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and the requests for such privations scientifically arguable and legitimate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the actions must be based on a full</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> open</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> unhampered scientific process solid enough to withstand scientific criticism and debate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Censorship</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> by giving the public the false impression there are no medical controversies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> undermines the censor’s own claim to speak in the name of science and public safety</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Ironically</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it guarantees the public will be left misinformed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The authors of the master narrative tend to say the main reason that things have not gone as they predicted is because variants arose</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It wasn’t just the variants’ role in declining vaccine efficacy that surprised people</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> There was something about the execution of the original clinical trials</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> conducted by the pharma companies themselves</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> on their own products that also led to this surprise</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In December</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the new mRNA vaccines were rolled out</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and were</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> according to the randomized clinical trials</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 95 per cent and 94</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">5 per cent efficacious in stopping infection</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> But by the time summer 2021 arrived</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> real world experience contradicted Mr</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Sahin’s claims of potency at six months</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> no transmission by the vaccinated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and imminent herd immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Pfizer’s Mr</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Bourla</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in his February interview</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> had called Israel "the world’s lab</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" because it was vaccinated with the Pfizer extensively and several months ahead of other countries</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> giving the world a glimpse of its future</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> But when Israeli public health released its six-month data</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> they showed that vaccine effectiveness had dropped to 39 per cent</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and Delta was surging</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> A Mayo clinic study showed that after six months</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> protection granted by the two Pfizer doses dropped from the original 95 per cent to 42 per cent</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Another Israeli study showed it had dropped to 16 per cent</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">That huge discrepancy couldn’t be attributed just to the new variant</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Delta</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> because protection was already fading at five months for the earlier variants too</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The original studies were clinical trials</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The Pfizer study followed about 38</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">000 people without COVID who were divided in two groups – half got the vaccine</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and half a placebo</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 17</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2020</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> confirmed "there were no deaths due to COVID-19 at the time of the interim analysis to enable an assessment of vaccine efficacy against death due to COVID-19</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" Moderna followed about 30</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">000 people</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">By publication date</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> only one person had died of COVID in the Moderna study</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Sahin’s claim that we were on the brink of vaccine-induced herd immunity and being rid of COVID altogether</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> experts such as Larry Brilliant and five other scientists wrote in Foreign Affairs in July</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2021</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "Among humans</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> global herd immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> once promoted as a singular solution</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> is unreachable</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" They explained in precise detail why COVID-19 was unlike smallpox</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and it could not be "eradicated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" such as the fact it is growing in a dozen animal species already</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "If we are forced to choose a vaccine that gives only one year of protection</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" said Dr</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Most of us had presumed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> when we got our first doses</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> that we couldn’t pass the virus on to others</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> " Public statements repeatedly praised people for "doing your part to stop the spread</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" But in August</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> CDC director Rochelle Walensky told CNN</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> when asked why the vaccinated must wear masks</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "Our vaccines are working exceptionally well</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Now our best hope was that the vaccinated might transmit less than the unvaccinated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> One study</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> conducted in a prison</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> concluded that the vaccinated prisoners had as much "transmission potential" as the unvaccinated prisoners</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> adding</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "clinicians and public health practitioners should consider vaccinated persons who become infected with SARS-CoV-2 to be no less infectious than unvaccinated persons</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" Dr</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The master narrative was silent about natural immunity and its relationship to vaccination status</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> " You could get a passport and travel if you have been vaccinated or if you have "recovered from COVID-19″ or if you have a recent test saying you are negative</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> For air and train travel</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Canada has also acknowledged recovery from COVID as an exemption</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> if one presents a recent negative test – but</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> inconsistently</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> natural immunity is not recognized in most other quasi-mandate situations here</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Such scientists think it irrational that government calls for mass mandates are escalating just as the core original justifications for them – that the vaccinated don’t transmit the virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and the vaccine will bring us to herd immunity – have collapsed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Those unvaccinated people who were exposed to the virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> make up a huge number</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 31</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 2021 10 months into the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 120 million Americans had natural immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Now</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 12 months later</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> with the much more infectious Delta and Omicron variants</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it is likely a highly significant majority of the unvaccinated now have natural immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">A recent pivotal study from South Africa – not yet peer reviewed – shows that in poor communities</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> where there was modest vaccination</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> more than 70 per cent of people had already been exposed to the virus in previous waves</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> going into Omicron</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The twice vaccinated had more protection than those who were unvaccinated and never had COVID</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> But the unvaccinated who had COVID and recovered had more protection from severe disease than the vaccinated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> One Israeli study showed that the unvaccinated who recovered from COVID have 27 times less risk of reinfection compared with the vaccinated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and nine times less risk of hospitalization</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Of the two main approaches to public health – the participatory</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and the coercive – the coercive usually makes enemies</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and tears society apart</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Israel’s third booster helped beat back the Delta wave</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Then Omicron hit</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> A Kaiser study showed that two doses</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> over time</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> fell to zero efficacy against Omicron</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Health Security Agency study showed the protection from the Pfizer booster had dropped to 45-per-cent coverage at only 10 weeks</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> We had been through a year of defining vaccine success as eliminating the virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> then as lowering infection and stopping the spread</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> to discovering there were breakthrough infections and transmission to other people</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but that they still lowered our risk of hospitalization and death – that’s worth a lot – though not always in the most vulnerable</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In the West</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> many have responded to waning vaccine protection with time by doubling down</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> proposing ever more boosters</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> That’s a matter of scientific debate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The original Pfizer study submitted to the FDA booster meeting was shockingly tiny – a mere 306 patients were given the section</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and they had been followed for only a month</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> again</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> most of the subjects were younger than those at risk</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Pfizer wanted it on that basis rolled out to millions</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The FDA refused Pfizer’s recommendation to approve the booster for the entire U</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> population</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> with the top two heads of its Vaccine Research and Review Committee</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Dr</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "When the head scientists of the FDA Vaccine Review committee and colleagues raise such questions</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it can’t be dismissed as fringe fear-mongering</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> " Krause quit the FDA because the Biden administration was putting pressure on them to approve boosters before the vaccine committee had even met</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Paul Offit</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> perhaps the most high profile provaccine physician-scientist in America</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> who was on the FDA panel told The Atlantic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> he wouldn’t advise a booster for his healthy son in his 20s</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> or a healthy male in his teens</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> because the risks of myocarditis outweigh the benefits</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> " "Three doses barely does anything</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and the effect will likely attenuate over time</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" He says</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "Booster mandates make no sense</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The EU</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in a reversal</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> has just come out against regular</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> continuing boosters</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> saying they are afraid it will weaken the immune response</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> From the very beginning</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> some scientists have wondered whether our goal – the conquest and eradication of the virus – was the right one</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">As Michael Cordingley reminds us in his book Viruses</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in each millilitre of seawater there are about 10 to 100 million viruses</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and this was a respiratory virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> free-floating</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> all around us</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> likely to shape shift and mutate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> As we have seen</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> as part of the reappraisal</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there’s an increasingly new goal being articulated by most public-health experts</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> that it’s not "eradication of the virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" but it is keeping hospitalizations and deaths down</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but also</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> working with the virus</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> " The chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> professor Hagai Levine</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> said</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> "Because Omicron is so contagious</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> our efforts to stop its spread are probably pretty futile</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Just as deaths have decoupled from cases with Omicron</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> our COVID mandates have decoupled from the science originally used to justify them</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But the goalposts are moving</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and now it is argued that only mandates will keep hospitals free of high-risk unvaccinated patients</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> 20</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there are 740 unvaccinated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and 2</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">091 fully vaccinated people in hospital for COVID</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> In the ICUs there are 208 unvaccinated and 263 fully vaccinated people</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> True</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> there are fewer unvaccinated than vaccinated people in Ontario</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but if surgeries are delayed</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> it is clearly because both groups are occupying beds</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Portraying the unvaccinated as the sole cause is inaccurate</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and deflects from the painful fact that Canada has fewer ICU and acute care beds per capita than almost any country in the developed world</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and that the current vaccines are not working as well as hoped</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> What is called for is not more scapegoating and coercion</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but healing</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and more early treatment for both groups</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> now that we have it</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Honouring the bedrock of medical ethics</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> no treatment without consent</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> is humane</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> preferable and possible</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> The immunity we have will be a mix of vaccine immunity and natural immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> depending on the person</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The new plan – to live with the virus and get back to living a normal life – is a departure from the pure Baconian "conquest of nature</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" and hearkens back to the ancient</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Hippocratic</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> notion that we must work with nature as an ally</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> in a kind of collaboration</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Since nature can indeed be both "the enemy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">" but also is our very foundation</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and potential ally and friend</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> no narrative that excludes either side of this friend and foe duality can ever do justice to medicine and healing</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> If the abandonment of Hippocrates was the first medical reversal</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> we are seeing in its return</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> a reversal of a reversal</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> That thin-skinned Baconian within seems almost offended to admit that protection has come not only from scientific advances</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> but from natural immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Others might see this as a reassuring reminder that natural processes are not always and only the enemy</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> We shall find out</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> as we observe the unvaccinated</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> to what extent natural immunity</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> accumulating in waves of infection over time</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> does or does not protect</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> for the current or future variants</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-vaccines-are-a-tool-not-a-silver-bullet-if-wed-allowed-more-scientific/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Read more.</span></a></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Source:</b> NORMAN DOIDGE | THE GLOBE AND MAIL</span></span></p>James Alexander Michiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603680277821371627noreply@blogger.com0