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Tuesday October 20, 2020

October 27, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 20, 2020

Declaration calling for end to lockdowns is about politics, not public health

It’s name — Great Barrington Declaration — seems an attempt to make it sound important, even authoritative. It is neither. Rather, “it’s callous, dangerous nonsense” in the words of American microbiologist and immunologist John Moore.

June 5, 2020

Moore was one of thousands of medical and public health experts reacting to last week’s carefully scripted release of the so-called declaration, which essentially calls for and end to lockdowns and allowing people to be infected by COVID-19, so eventually herd immunity would be realized. The idea is that people most at risk of dying and serious illness would be locked down, and the rest of society would return to “normal,” with people less likely to die being exposed to the virus. 

Herd immunity happens when a significant portion of the population is exposed to a virus, so that it stops spreading because a critical mass of people have become immune to it. 

There are two ways to achieve herd immunity. The first is to administer an effective vaccine. The second, proposed by the three academics behind the declaration, is to basically let the virus run free until enough people become infected.

The first option is what the world’s medical and scientific community is working feverishly at accomplishing. The second is discredited by virtually all credible experts, other than those driven by libertarian ideology, as appears to be the case here. 

August 7, 2020

Consider: Since anyone over 65 is automatically at higher risk of serious outcomes, all those people would need to be locked down. In Canada, that would be about 20 per cent of the population. Try to picture what it would look like if 20 per cent of the population was basically locked away while the virus raged unrestrained in the rest of the population.

Experts say that to achieve herd immunity, 70 per cent of the population would need to be infected. That’s 70 per cent of Canada’s approximately 37.6 million people. That means something like 26 million Canadians would need to be infected in order to achieve herd immunity. To Oct. 15, just under 176,000 Canadians had contracted COVID-19. Even given that many cases have gone unreported, that is an unthinkable rate of disease spread. 

Try to imagine the implications on our health-care system of that many people being infected. It’s true that younger, healthy people generally don’t get as sick as higher risk people, but if only a fraction of those millions became seriously ill, hospitals would be overwhelmed. And imagine how many people would suffer long-term health effects? And how many locked-down at risk people would become sick based on the sheer volume of infected people?

September 24, 2020

All of this is magnified many times in the United States, where the pandemic has been so badly managed and continues to spread disastrously. So perhaps it’s not surprising that this horribly inhumane, destructive approach is popular at the Trump White House. (Britain’s Boris Johnson is also a fan of herd immunity by massive death toll.)

In truth, this declaration has little to do with public health. It’s all about a political viewpoint. It’s a crank, dressed up as in credible clothes. While the authors may be credentialed experts, the work itself is funded by far right conservative interests. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), where the declaration was signed, is a libertarian think tank committed to “pure freedom” and wishes to see the “role of government … sharply confined.” So, if this is a crock, why waste time writing about it? Because, it’s a crock carefully disguised to look and feel credible. The world’s science and medical community quickly exposed this attempt, but it won’t be the last, which is why we need to remain on guard. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Posted in: International Tagged: 2020-35, Anthony Fauchi, Coronavirus, covid-19, Donald Trump, fringe, Great Barrington Declaration, herd immunity, Koch brothers, pandemic, planet, USA, wealth

Wednesday October 14, 2015

October 13, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday October 14, 2015 LetÕs be frank: the Green Party movement in Canada would be all but dead without Elizabeth May as its leader. Through her boundless energy and passion, May has achieved the near- impossible by keeping the Greens in the public eye during the current election dominated by the front-running Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats. Excluded from most leadersÕ debates, she uses Twitter and Facebook to reach voters, appears on TV and radio every chance she gets, talks with reporters at length, travels across Canada on behalf of Green candidates and meets constantly with university students and seniors groups. Indeed, she is possibly the hardest-working federal leader in the campaign, committed to protecting the environment, energetic, funny, personable and dedicated. Despite all her hard work and eternal optimism, though, the Green Party appears headed for an election nightmare, sliding backwards with fewer votes than in the previous two elections. At best, the Greens may elect just two MPs, including May in her B.C. riding of Sannich-Gulf Islands. May told the Toronto Star editorial board on Thursday she ideally would like to win 12 seats to become an official party in Parliament. At worst, the Greens could suffer their second straight decline in voter support nationally and lose the only other elected seat they hold in Parliament. If that occurs, the Greens would be on the verge of irrelevance on the political scene, doomed to be a fringe party with no clout, no money and few friends. It would be a sad outcome for May who has made the Greens a part, albeit tiny, of the political conversation in Canada since she became party leader in 2006. Polls consistently show the Greens with barely 3-4 per cent support nationally, including in Ontario and B.C. where the party likes to claim it has the most support. (Continued: Toronto Star) http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentar

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 14, 2015

Green Party on the verge of irrelevance

Let’s be frank: the Green Party movement in Canada would be all but dead without Elizabeth May as its leader.

Through her boundless energy and passion, May has achieved the near- impossible by keeping the Greens in the public eye during the current election dominated by the front-running Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats.

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist - Saturday September 26, 2015 During a testy phone call, Justin Trudeau dismissed David SuzukiÕs views on the Liberal climate change policy as Òsanctimonious crap,Ó according to Suzuki. Suzuki revealed the contents of the conversation during an interview on SiriusXMÕs Everything is Political with Evan Solomon. Suzuki says he fired back, calling Trudeau a Òtwerp.Ó The renowned scientist, broadcaster and activist says Trudeau called him personally June 28, 2015 to talk about the Liberal platform on climate change that was to be revealed the next day. ÒI didnÕt call Justin, he called me,Ó Suzuki said. ÒHe wanted an endorsement and he wanted to tell me exactly what his program was.Ó For the record: Justin TrudeauÕs speech on the environment: June 29, 2015 The program includes support for the Keystone XL pipeline, a rejection of the Northern Gateway pipeline and a commitment to work with the provinces to establish a cap-and-trade system. ÒI said, ÔJustin, stop it, youÕre just being political, you just want to make headway in Alberta,ÕÓ Suzuki says he told Trudeau. ÒYouÕre for the development of the tar sands, youÕre for the Keystone pipeline, but youÕre against the Northern Gateway, youÕre all over the damn map!Ó MacleanÕs explains: Where the leaders stand on the environment Suzuki went on to advise Trudeau that taking the target of a 2 degree rise in temperature seriously means 80 per cent of the oil sands has to stay in the ground. Suzuki believes stopping oil sands development will mean Òno debate about pipelines or expanding railways or shipping stuff offshoreÑnone of that comes into it.Ó Suzuki says this is when the exchange turned nasty. ÒHe said, ÔI donÕt have to listen to this sanctimonious crap. I proceeded to call him a twerp.Ó (Source: MacLean's) http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/why-david-suzuki-called-justin-trudeau-a-twerp/ Canada, Justin Trudeau, environment, climate change, Liberal, Mother Nature, Davi

Excluded from most leaders’ debates, she uses Twitter and Facebook to reach voters, appears on TV and radio every chance she gets, talks with reporters at length, travels across Canada on behalf of Green candidates and meets constantly with university students and seniors groups.

Indeed, she is possibly the hardest-working federal leader in the campaign, committed to protecting the environment, energetic, funny, personable and dedicated.

Despite all her hard work and eternal optimism, though, the Green Party appears headed for an election nightmare, sliding backwards with fewer votes than in the previous two elections.

At best, the Greens may elect just two MPs, including May in her B.C. riding of Sannich-Gulf Islands. May told the Toronto Star editorial board on Thursday she ideally would like to win 12 seats to become an official party in Parliament.

Tuesday May 12, 2015At worst, the Greens could suffer their second straight decline in voter support nationally and lose the only other elected seat they hold in Parliament.

If that occurs, the Greens would be on the verge of irrelevance on the political scene, doomed to be a fringe party with no clout, no money and few friends.

It would be a sad outcome for May who has made the Greens a part, albeit tiny, of the political conversation in Canada since she became party leader in 2006.

Polls consistently show the Greens with barely 3-4 per cent support nationally, including in Ontario and B.C. where the party likes to claim it has the most support. (Continued: Toronto Star)

Posted in: Canada Tagged: #elxn42, Canada, election, Elizabeth May, environment, fringe, Green Party, politics, polls, Saniich

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