conspiracy

Saturday May 8, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 8, 2021

What’s really behind Ontario’s anti-lockdown groups that stand up for small businesses

The websites and social media accounts of prominent COVID-19 anti-lockdown groups in Ontario will offer visitors a similar experience: powerful messages, heartfelt testimonials and a sense of solidarity.

April 8, 2021

Many of these groups position themselves as allies to small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat amid the lockdowns imposed by the Ontario government.

But in addition to protesting government-imposed lockdowns, these groups tend to have a general “flavour to anti-government and anti-public health messages,” which can be dangerous, University of Toronto professor Roy Gillis said. Gillis leads a research team studying misinformation related to COVID-19.

Gillis said, often, anti-lockdown groups will have hidden political agendas they are trying to accomplish and will use information that may contain “a kernel of truth” to play into people’s fears and beliefs and convince them that government groups and public health officials are trying to limit their rights and control them. 

“Particularly in pandemic situations when there’s a lot of fear, when there’s a lot of mistrust, when people are looking for someone to blame, to hold somebody accountable, these groups, these beliefs become easy targets,” Gillis added.

The Line Canada, is one example of many Canada-wide groups that protest the lockdown in Ontario. Despite The Line’s insistence that it is not affiliated with the anti-vaccine or antimask movements, the group’s social media accounts regularly share these types of messages. 

August 7, 2020

In one recent post to Twitter, the group implies that vaccines — not the virus — is what is causing increases in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

The post refers to a BBC article about Chile’s COVID-19 case numbers rising, despite the country’s successful vaccine rollout plan. The story’s sources state a number of likely causes, including SARS-CoV-2 variants and health authorities’ decision to loosen restrictions too early. 

There is no mention in the article that the vaccine is responsible for cases or deaths. As stated by Health Canada, “the vaccines cannot give you COVID-19 because they don’t contain the virus that causes it.”

Anatoliy Gruzd, the director of research at Ryerson Social Media Lab, who is also leading a COVID-19 Misinformation Rapid Response Project, said another factor that contributes to people’s likeliness to believe misinformation is uncertainty created by government officials on certain topics. 

He cited the example of medical experts and government officials being initially skeptical about mask wearing, prior to deeming it effective and eventually mandating it.

As a result, “any new messages on that topic will be looked at with some suspicion by certain groups who generally do not trust government guidelines anyway.”

July 18, 2020

This suspicion is demonstrated in antimask content posted by Action4Canada, another group that protests COVID-19 measures in Ontario and across Canada.

In an email statement, Action4Canada’s founder Tanya Gaw said, “we provide evidence and fact-based material from experts around the world.”

On the group’s page about masks, the group posts a quote and link from the CDC that connects to a study that used data from 1946 to July 27, 2018 to conclude that researchers “found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks.”

This study was not related to COVID-19.

More recent reports from CDC, which are not included on Action4Canada’s website, back the use of face masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Gruzd said though it may appear that groups protesting government measures and lockdowns are backed by many people, they are rather supported by a small but vocal minority of like-minded people. (Brampton Guardian) 

 

Saturday January 16, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 16, 2021

Why Doug Ford probably won’t regret expelling this rogue MPP

December 1, 2020

The forces looking to make martyrs out of every single person who faces consequences for foolishness are probably already at work trying to make Roman Baber, the now-independent, formerly Tory MPP for York Centre, into the next saint of free speech. Baber was defenestrated from the Progressive Conservative caucus Friday morning after having released a letter, addressed to the premier, calling for an end to lockdowns — so he’ll undoubtedly be lauded by the conspiracist set. This would be a mistake on their part, but, then, if these people had any ability to navigate the world without making obvious errors, Baber would still be in the PC caucus.

Baber, a lawyer who won the York Centre seat from the Liberals in the 2018 election, had not particularly distinguished himself as an MPP and had a habit of getting attention for the wrong reasons. There was his heckling of former premier Kathleen Wynne, which was so egregious that even the Tory leadership tried to disavow it. Earlier in the pandemic, he advised a constituent that that he could “see [his] parents,” despite the risks to the elderly from COVID-19.

June 15, 2018

The first time Baber appeared on my radar was probably during the ill-fated select committee the Tories convened at Queen’s Park to try to throw a show trial for former Liberal ministers — but especially Wynne. The day Wynne testified at the committee was only ever going to be antagonistic, but Baber’s performance was something else — as I noted at the time, he was so over the top that the chair of the committee (PC MPP Prabmeet Sarkaria) repeatedly told him to knock it off.

June 21, 2019

The select-committee episode wasn’t the PC party’s finest hour in government, but Sarkaria handled the dubious job of chairing that committee well, and now he’s a cabinet minister. Several other MPPs who at least took their jobs seriously that day are either in cabinet or have other substantial positions in the government. Wynne comported herself well, and, years later, even Doug Ford has respectful and kind words to say about the former premier — they are, after all, both members of what’s still a small political club.

Baber chose a different path: he played stupid games and won stupid prizes. And so his career in high-level politics is almost certainly over, at least for a while. Don’t feel too bad for him, though: he’ll get to collect a six-figure paycheque as an MPP until the next election, and, after that, there are always city councils and school boards (where, alas, the profoundly unserious can continue to have long careers further away from the media spotlight). And, if none of that pans out, he’s still a lawyer, though having seen the quality of his arguments, I would suggest that anyone looking for counsel shop around a bit more.

While he probably has friends in caucus who’ll regret his absence at the next meeting, at the higher levels of the Tory leadership, it’s hard to believe he’ll be missed: his primary skill seemed to be grabbing headlines the government came to regret, and his expulsion gives the Tories the opportunity to find someone better able to defend a seat the Liberals could mount a very serious challenge for in 2022. (Continued: John Michael McGrath , TVO) 

 

Wednesday September 2, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 2, 2020

Trump Keeps Fanning the Flames

November 16, 2019

For the second time in a tumultuous week, demonstrations in an American city escalated into gunfire—and death. Clashes between Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters intensified on Saturday in Portland, Oregon, where a man was shot and killed. According to the New York Times, a caravan of several hundred trucks full of Trump supporters headed to downtown Portland, where demonstrators have gathered to protest police violence for more than 90 consecutive nights in response to the May killing of George Floyd. Confrontations between those participating in the pro-Trump rally and those countering it quickly ensued, with the president’s supporters firing paintball guns and pepper spray at people from the beds of their pickup trucks and protesters in the street tossing items back at them.

While police have not released details about the victim or a suspected shooter, the Times’ Mike Baker—who documented the event as it unfolded in a Twitter thread—reported the victim was wearing “a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a far-right group based in the Portland area that has clashed with protesters in the past.” 

April 13, 2018

In a Sunday morning tweetstorm, the president only ratcheted up tensions by encouraging supporters to travel into cities to engage with Black Lives Matter protests and threatening to again send troops into Portland. He called Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler a “fool” who “has no idea what he is doing” and continued his “LAW & ORDER!!!” pronouncements. “Bring in the National Guard!”, he wrote, reiterating his Friday Twitter threat to remobilize federal agents into the city if Wheeler is unable to quell the chaos. The same day, the mayor firmly rejected the idea of Trump sending federal law enforcement into Portland as he did in July. “You made the situation far worse,” Wheeler wrote in an open letter to the president. “Your offer to repeat that disaster is a cynical attempt to stoke fear and distract us from the real work of our city.”

On Sunday, Trump reposted a video of his supporters unloading paintballs and pepper spray at protesters from their vehicles, calling the behavior “a big backlash” that “cannot be unexpected” under Wheeler’s leadership. The president appeared to approve of his supporters taking matters into their own hands, tweeting, “The people of Portland won’t put up with no safety any longer.” 

Trump also encouraged supporters to go into Portland, praising the participants of the MAGA caravan as “GREAT PATRIOTS” less than a week after one of his supporters, Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse, traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and allegedly shot and killed two protesters. The Kenosha protests broke out after a white police officer fired seven bullets last weekend at Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man who is now paralyzed from the waist down. (Continued: Vanity Fair) 

 

Tuesday July 21, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 21, 2020

US scientists rebuke Trump over coronavirus response and other affronts

More than 1,200 members of the US National Academy of Sciences have rebuked Donald Trump’s “denigration of scientific expertise”, an unusual move for a community which has historically avoided the political sphere.

May 12, 2020

The co-organizers of an open letter seeking to “restore science-based policy in government” say they have rapidly gained signatures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Scientists have watched the Trump administration downplay the crisis and ignore expert advice, including the need to wear masks and the dangers of using unproven drugs.

In the latest affront to the scientific world, the White House is reportedly seeking to block funding for testing and tracing, which scientists widely agree is critical to slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

On Sunday, Trump called the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, a “little bit of an alarmist”.

April 23, 2020

The open letter began as a response to Trump’s refusal to accept and act on warnings from climate scientists. In September 2016, 378 academy members wrote that withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement would “have negative consequences for the world’s climate system and for US leadership and credibility”.

In April 2018, more than 1,000 scientists signed a version of the letter which warned that Trump’s “dismissal of scientific evidence in policy formulation has affected wide areas of the social, biological, environmental and physical sciences”.

The three organizers have since invited members who joined NAS in 2019 and 2020 to sign on to the letter. More than 62% did, bringing the total to 1,220 out of a membership of about 2,900. Some of the signatories work in government or have federal grants but felt compelled to add their names despite professional risks.

April 7, 2020

Benjamin Santer, a climate researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a co-organizer, said the administration has changedwhat it means to be a scientist in America.

“We no longer have the luxury, in my opinion, of retreating to our offices and closing the door and hoping bad stuff will go away,” he said. “That’s a singularly poor survival strategy when you’re facing a global pandemic or global climate change. Bad stuff isn’t going to go away.”

March 26, 2020

The academy – which was formed during the civil war – exists to provide independent, objective advice to the nation. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding research contributions. About 500 current and deceased members have won Nobel Prizes.

Charles Manski, the second co-organizer, an economist at Northwestern University, acknowledged that some might view the letter as political but said the scientists do not. They just want policy to be informed by the best possible information.

COVID-19 Cartoons

“It’s one thing for the political establishment not to respond very well to a crisis that happens around the world,” Manski said. “It’s quite another thing to be actively denigrating the science and making things up routinely.”

Trump has recently attacked guidelines for school reopening from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calling them expensive and impractical. (The Guardian) 



 

Friday October 7, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday October 7, 2016 Blue Jays beer-tossing incident: Who threw that brew?Ê Amateur sleuths have joined Toronto police in the investigation into who threw a can of beer that narrowly missed Baltimore Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday. But, while police have named their suspect, the Internet is not so sure. On Wednesday, police released a photo of an unnamed man who they said was the beer-thrower. That man turned out to be Ken Pagan, a journalist who works for Postmedia. Pagan acknowledged being the man in the photo. ÒI contacted Toronto police earlier this evening, around 7 p.m., and identified myself as the person in the photo,Ó Pagan wrote Wednesday night in an email to The Canadian Press, adding he Òcannot say much else.Ó ThatÕs when the Internet kicked in with videos shared on Reddit and YouTube. Starting from a wide-angle shot showing section 139 of the Rogers Centre, one video shows a silver streak crossing the frame. While itÕs impossible to identify any faces in the video, Pagan is clearly identifiable when the grainy images are cross-referenced with photos shot by Canadian Press photographer Frank Gunn. ÒFairly clear video of him throwing it backhanded like a Frisbee,Ó wrote Twitter user Melanie Harrington. Case closed? Not quite. Other photos of Pagan show him holding a plastic cup, not a can of beer. Then more video surfaced, in which some people claim to see a woman hurling the brew before disappearing from the scene. Both videos are so grainy, itÕs almost impossible to deduce what is taking place exactly. ther photos show a hole in the crowd just behind and to PaganÕs left, which some argued was the real throwerÕs location. They suggest the villain ducked out of sight as soon as the sudsy shot was fired. In the style of the infamous Zapruder film, both videos of the flying drink are grainy and difficult to make out. Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu sai

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 7, 2016

Blue Jays beer-tossing incident: Who threw that brew?

Amateur sleuths have joined Toronto police in the investigation into who threw a can of beer that narrowly missed Baltimore Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday.

But, while police have named their suspect, the Internet is not so sure.

On Wednesday, police released a photo of an unnamed man who they said was the beer-thrower. That man turned out to be Ken Pagan, a journalist who works for Postmedia.

Pagan acknowledged being the man in the photo.

“I contacted Toronto police earlier this evening, around 7 p.m., and identified myself as the person in the photo,” Pagan wrote Wednesday night in an email to The Canadian Press, adding he “cannot say much else.”

That’s when the Internet kicked in with videos shared on Reddit and YouTube.

Starting from a wide-angle shot showing section 139 of the Rogers Centre, one video shows a silver streak crossing the frame. While it’s impossible to identify any faces in the video, Pagan is clearly identifiable when the grainy images are cross-referenced with photos shot by Canadian Press photographer Frank Gunn.

“Fairly clear video of him throwing it backhanded like a Frisbee,” wrote Twitter user Melanie Harrington.

Case closed?

Not quite.

Other photos of Pagan show him holding a plastic cup, not a can of beer.

Then more video surfaced, in which some people claim to see a woman hurling the brew before disappearing from the scene.

Both videos are so grainy, it’s almost impossible to deduce what is taking place exactly.

ther photos show a hole in the crowd just behind and to Pagan’s left, which some argued was the real thrower’s location. They suggest the villain ducked out of sight as soon as the sudsy shot was fired.

In the style of the infamous Zapruder film, both videos of the flying drink are grainy and difficult to make out.

Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said Toronto police would not comment on the conflicting theories.

“However, we are confident we have made a positive ID and we will continue to work with the Rogers Centre to further the investigation‎,” Sidhu wrote in an email to the Star.

As of early Thursday afternoon, there was no word on charges against Pagan. (Source: Toronto Star)