Diabetes risk rises after COVID, massive study finds
Diabetes linked to flu
Time to shut down society forever because of the flu
COVID-19 protocols can't coexist with regular air travel, Canadian Airport Council says - "International arrivals at Canadian airports are so backed up that people are being kept on planes for over an hour after they land because there isn’t physically enough space to hold the lineups of travellers, says the Canadian Airports Council. The council blames COVID-19 protocols and has called on the federal government to do away with random tests and public health questions at customs to ease the serious delays passengers face when they arrive in Canada. The extra steps mean it takes four times longer to process people as they arrive than it did before the pandemic, said the council’s interim president Monette Pasher. That was fine when people weren’t travelling, but now it’s become a serious problem... The situation is particularly bad at Canada’s largest airport, Toronto Pearson International, where passengers on 120 flights were held in their planes Sunday waiting for their turn to get in line for customs. Sometimes the wait is 20 minutes, other times it’s over an hour... Airports are simply not designed for customs to be such a lengthy process, she said, and the space is not available to accommodate people. The airport is also not the right place for COVID-19 tests, she said, especially since tests are rarely required in the community. “Getting back to regular travel with these health protocols and testing in place, the two can’t coexist without a significant pressure and strain on our system”... “Current health measures in place are based on the advice of public health experts to protect Canadians. We will continue to base our measures and adjustments on their expert advice”... The requirements are out of step with peer countries, said Conservative transport critic Melissa Lantsman. She said she wants to know why the Canadian government is acting on advice that is different to that of other countries. “We’re effectively taking the government at their word that they are receiving advice and that they are acting on it, but they haven’t shared any of that with the Canadian public”... The lengthy delays at the airports send a negative message to travellers and she worries about the impact it will have on Canadian tourism as the industry struggles to get on its feet this season after the pandemic lull. “It tells you to go elsewhere, that we’re not open for business,” she said. On Monday, several industry groups, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, pleaded their case for fewer COVID-19 restrictions at the House of Commons transport committee. “These are costing our economy deeply and are hurting our international reputation as a top destination for tourism, international conferences and sporting events,” Robin Guy, the chamber’s senior director for transportation policy, told the committee."
Covid hystericists and those who politicise covid don't want things to go back to normal
Vaccine mandate for travel under scrutiny as much of the world reopens - "Public health officials have said repeatedly since the Omicron variant hit in late 2021 that the virus was more adept at transmitting between vaccinated people than its predecessors. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam has said that cabinet should re-evaluate the measure given that vaccines now provide less protection against transmission, and the government says those re-evaluations happen on an ongoing basis. Vaccine mandates made sense when it came to curbing the spread of earlier COVID-19 variants, but as the virus has evolved, these policies have outworn their purpose, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. “(It) doesn’t necessarily keep any benefits to these rules, only causing harm,” said Chagla, an associate professor at McMaster University... emerging evidence suggests that two doses and a booster are less than 15 per cent effective at preventing Omicron infection. Unvaccinated people have also increasingly acquired some degree of immunity to the virus through infection, Chagla noted, suggesting that they don’t pose a substantially higher risk of spreading the virus than the general population. A growing number of jurisdictions within Canada and abroad have dropped vaccine requirements for public venues and travel, but the vaccine mandate for federally regulated transportation continues to restrict unvaccinated people’s ability to see their loved ones or pursue professional opportunities... members of Canada’s travel industry say continued restrictions could hamper the sector’s comeback... Canada is among the most cautious countries in the world when it comes to COVID-19 travel rules, and he doesn’t see that changing any time soon... hypervigilance without a clear public health justification could set Canada behind as much of the world welcomes back tourists. Last month, Austria, Belgium and Vietnam joined the growing list of countries that have relaxed border restrictions. “All of us in the travel business want our customers to be satisfied, and we want as many people on planes as possible,” said Vanderlubbe. “If there’s any risk health-wise, why is Canada is the only country in the world doing this? That’s that’s my question.”"
From June. Follow the politics, not the science - given that vaccine mandates lower vaccine takeup by eroding social solidarity their nakedly political nature is ever more apparent
First COVID booster for kids 5 to 11 authorized by the FDA
Is it child abuse to force kids to get endless ineffective booster shots of vaccine for a disease against which they are hardly vulnerable?
France detects new COVID-19 variant 'IHU', more infectious than Omicron: All we know about it
This was reported in early January but there has been no news since then. So much for that
As COVID-19 rages, more in Singapore go hungry - "After being let go from his part-time job as a waiter last year during the pandemic, Danny Goh hit rock bottom. For eight months, he struggled to find work to support his wife and four young children. The family survived on instant noodles, bread dipped in coffee, and biscuits, getting by on the goodwill of relatives and church friends. While Goh has found a new commission-based job getting people to sign up for government skills upgrading and training courses, his income fluctuates between 800 Singapore dollars ($594) and 2,800 Singapore dollars ($2,078), which is barely enough for their large family. He perpetually finds himself cash-strapped. To save money, the family has started eating only two meals a day – simple dishes like chicken soup with rice or potatoes. Goh often skips meals or eats once a day so that his children can have a bigger share... In a food paradise and wealthy city-state like Singapore, food insecurity is a phenomenon that exists primarily behind closed doors. But as elsewhere in the world, COVID-19 has hit the disadvantaged the hardest, typically the lowest earners in precarious jobs, who have few safety nets and insufficient wage and labour protections... a second study, which detailed the effect of the pandemic on people renting government-owned flats between July and December 2020, found food insecurity was increasingly prolonged... some families would eat only one meal a day or give their children coffee creamer in hot water because they could not afford formula milk. The report warned the issue could escalate into a serious public health matter, with links to increased mental stress and the development of chronic health conditions. In 2019, Singapore ranked as the world’s most food-secure nation in the Global Food Security Index. However, one in 10 Singaporeans experienced food insecurity at least once over 12 months, reported a study by the Singapore Management University’s Lien Centre for Social Innovation. Out of this, two in five experienced food insecurity at least once a month and many of these households did not seek food support, citing embarrassment, being unaware of what was available and the belief that others needed it more than themselves... Each time the government’s multi-ministry task force handling COVID-19 announces new restrictions, the charity is flooded by requests from people writing in to ask for food... Under its Feed the City initiative last year, The Food Bank Singapore distributed one million meals. Driven by a belief in giving beneficiaries the “autonomy of choice and dignity”, it also rolled out more neighbourhood vending machines stocked with anything from frozen bento meals to drinks, snacks and rice. The group says the machines, which the residents access with special cards, reduce the risk of the food going bad when left outside someone’s house in the tropical heat."
Covid vaccine injury claims scheme Australia: First claims paid for adverse reactions - "Ms Eves said the system the government had set up was “very complicated and very hard to navigate, particularly if you’re suffering an adverse health effect”. “I can understand people are not going to be able to navigate the scheme, it’s not very easy for a layperson to understand and the burden of proof is all on them to gather all the evidence,” she said. “When you look at the criteria involved in making a claim and the process somebody has got to follow, it’s not an easy one and it’s quite a niche situation that somebody has to be in to be able to make a claim. We’ve had a lot of people inquiring who maybe haven’t had a clinical diagnosis but have some of the symptoms or criteria, and have had a lot of ongoing health issues.” Rather than setting up an easy-to-access system as a “good faith gesture” to encourage widespread vaccination by saying “we’re going to look after you”, Ms Eves said the government had instead “made it a little bit like the burden of running a civil law medical negligence claim”. “But these people don’t have the benefit of legal experts, they’re relying on medical providers to fill out the forms,” she said. Ms Eves said she had heard from clients that there was often resistance from doctors to link their symptoms to the vaccine... Some have previously raised concerns that the eligibility requirements for the vaccine claims scheme are too strict, as many adverse reactions can cause disruption to everyday life without rising to the level of overnight hospitalisation."
The low number of claims can then be pointed to as evidence that there's no problems with forcing vaccines on people
What Vermont’s COVID-19 Surge Says About the Virus Now - The Atlantic - "Is Vermont the envy of America no more? The state long hailed for its pandemic response is experiencing one of the most intense COVID-19 surges in the country. Cases are twice as high as they’ve been at any other point. Hospitalizations are up sharply as well, confounding hopes that Vermont’s best-in-the-nation vaccination rate would protect its people from the Delta wave... Vermont is not alone in its struggle; other highly vaccinated states in the Northeast, such as New Hampshire and Maine, have seen similar spikes."
From November 2021
Just like Germany. Imagine that. Of course the easy answer is to blame "complacency", like with Germany
Get used to pandemics: Study sees rising risks - "another COVID-19-like outbreak becomes likely within the next 59 years — a timeframe “much lower than previously expected”... Researchers stressed the data does not mean humanity will have 59 years to prepare for the next COVID-19. “When a 100-year flood occurs today, one may erroneously presume that one can afford to wait another 100 years before experiencing another such event,” said Gabriel Katul, co-author of the study and the Theodore S. Coile Distinguished Professor of Hydrology and Micrometeorology at Duke. “This impression is false. One can get another 100-year flood the next year.”"
Clearly the world is going to need to lockdown again, which will not reduce deaths, and rack up even more debt for future generations before covid debt has even been repaid
People who choose not to get vaccinated shouldn't have to pay for COVID care in hospital - "Australia’s Medicare system provides universal coverage for medical and public hospital care. It’s not a system just for the poor, or just for the well-behaved. It promotes social solidarity... If the unvaccinated were barred from Medicare, these government failures would magically become a problem for a small number of individuals, and no longer a political failure. If we exclude the unvaccinated from Medicare’s protection today, tomorrow we might exclude the smoker, the day after the drinker, or the person who did not go out jogging, or has not taken up private health insurance. Hospital emergency department staff regularly have to care for a drink driver and their victim on the same day. They have an ethical obligation to treat everybody equally. Similarly, as frustrating as it might seem, the health system must still be there for the unvaccinated."
The point of demonising the unvaccinated is to destroy social solidarity by pinpointing scapegoats, so it's a feature, not a bug
Canadian News Articles Depicting Hospital Overcapacity & Influenza Strain Preceding Covid-19 (Jan. 2010 - Jan. 2020)
Clearly Canada like the UK needs annual lockdowns
Pandemic Rules Are Only for the Little People - "The pandemic will eventually pass, but it will leave behind our memories of arrogant authorities who consider themselves above the concerns of the common people. Long after the virus is gone, those memories should stay with us as a vaccine against future trust in agents of the state"
Third Circuit court rules against teacher fired for blog posts bashing students - "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that high school English teacher Natalie Munroe’s blog posts, which contained profane rants calling students “lazy,” “frightfully dim” and “rat-like,” constituted matters of public concern according to the Pickering test, a legal balancing test of free speech rights for public employees based on Pickering v. Board of Education (1968). But the school district’s interests trumped those of Munroe, whose inflammatory comments created disruption... “The First Amendment does not require a school district to continue to employ a teacher who expresses the kind of hostility and disgust against her students that Munroe did on her blog and then publicly defends such comments to the media”"
Professor who called students ‘vectors of diseases’ sues to be reinstated - "A Michigan professor who mocked COVID-19 policies at Ferris State University is suing to get reinstated after the college suspended him for profanity-laced comments and calling students “vectors of diseases” in a viral YouTube video. Barry Mehler, a 74-year-old history professor at Ferris State, on Tuesday filed to be immediately reinstated... “I’m old enough to be your grandpa, and you people are vectors of diseases,” Mehler said in the video. “When I look out at a classroom filled with 50 students, I see 50 selfish kids who don’t give a shit whether grandpa lives or dies. And if you won’t expose your grandpa to a possible infection with COVID, then stay the f— away from me. If you don’t give a shit about whether grandpa lives or dies, then by all means come to class.”"
So much for a "safe environment". Demonising those who liberals hate is ok
The Metrics for Easing COVID Restrictions Don’t Exist - The Atlantic
From October 2021. When governments want power, they are loath to let go
Why didn’t doctors listen to women about the link between Covid vaccines and periods? - "a study in the BMJ revealed that almost 35,000 British women have reported that following their vaccination against Covid, they have experienced more painful and/or irregular periods. A month later, they were back to normal... When women first started reporting menstrual cycle irregularities following the vaccine, the lack of data on this issue led doctors to dismiss their concerns... This is not the first time a vaccine has been linked with menstrual cycle irregularities. Dr Male has also noted that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been associated with menstrual cycle changes. Gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter uncovered research looking into potential menstrual cycle effects from the rubella vaccine in the Seventies and Eighties. In fact as far back as 1913, a doctor was investigating the potential menstrual impact of typhoid vaccines. But despite these historical data points, many doctors and researchers continue to dispute that there is any biologically plausible mechanism by which the vaccines could affect the menstrual cycle. In fact, there are several biologically plausible mechanisms, but we lack the research to prove the point either way. Part of the rush to dismiss women on the basis of little to no evidence comes – no doubt – from a well-meaning, but ultimately misguided effort to reduce vaccine hesitancy in young women, although if anything will drive hesitancy it is surely exactly this kind of medical gaslighting. More broadly, being disbelieved and dismissed by the medical establishment is nothing new for women, who are used to being, for example, prescribed antidepressants when they present to doctors in pain (men who present with similar symptoms are more likely to be prescribed painkillers). Women are simply not considered to be reliable narrators of their own bodies."
Time to retract this paper for "misinformation"!
Older drinkers risk discrimination says charity, after pub refuses to serve man without smartphone - "Older drinkers are at risk of discrimination in pubs because they do not have smartphones to order food and drinks on an app... David Walters, 78, wrote to The Telegraph after he was refused service at The Angel at Corbridge on Monday. Staff told him customers were required to use an app to order and submit their contact details to NHS Test and Trace, despite government guidance that allows drinkers to fill in their details on a paper form if they are unable to use the official NHS app."
WATCH: Tucker Carlson SLAMS Justin Trudeau for saying vaccinations 'are not enough to keep us safe' - ""Vaccinations on their own are not enough to keep us safe, we need to engage in the right kind of behaviors. Do things that the conservatives aren’t always good at like wearing masks, keeping distances and obeying public health rules." The Fox News host pointed out that, "The leader of Canada just explained on television that according to the science, the vaccine doesn't stop COVID", adding, "the shot cannot be simultaneously effective, but not restore peoples' lives to normal; that doesn't make sense?"... Carlson stated that "there is a legitimate public health mystery here at the very heart of the most aggressive vaccination campaign in the history of the country." He decried journalists' lack of coverage on the issue; "Isn't that their job?""
If you never want life to get back to normal so you can get more power, it makes sense to undermine the vaccines
Vaxholes don't believe the vaccines work
Americans return to workforce faster in states that are ending pandemic unemployment benefits - "Missouri, which had placed fewer pandemic restrictions on activities across the state, saw a less-severe downturn during the pandemic compared to the rest of the country"
tyrgoossens on Twitter - "If someone had told me in the 90's that Right Said Fred would be standing up for freedom and Rage Against The Machine would be shilling for the status quo I would have thought they were insane. But here we are. 😆"
Pfizer warns of ‘constant waves’ of Covid as complacency grows - "Growing complacency about Covid-19 and politicisation of the pandemic response will cost lives as the world is hit by new waves of the virus in the coming months, Pfizer’s chief executive has warned. Albert Bourla said people were growing “tired” of the measures introduced to slow the spread of the virus, while “politicians want to claim victory”. Compliance with authorities’ requests for people to get booster shots would fall even among those who are already vaccinated, he predicted. This, combined with waning immunity from previous infections and vaccinations, was likely to lead to “constant waves” of Covid variants and deaths"
The pandemic will never end, because that threatens power and profits
'Wuhan pneumonia’: Ontario MPPs urge Chinese-Canadian doctor to remove ‘divisive’ sign - " Two Toronto-based politicians are pressing a Chinese-Canadian doctor to remove a sign on his office door – in Chinese – that refers to COVID-19 as the “Wuhan pneumonia,” complaining the wording could incite anti-Asian hatred. The English part of the sign, which explained Dr. Kester Kong’s office protocol during the pandemic, referred only to COVID... a critic of the Beijing regime suggested the sign affair may have more to do with standing up for China in its bid to evade blame for the pandemic than fighting racism. Anti-Asian bigotry is a real problem in Canada, but most people of Chinese descent don’t mind references to Wuhan and the virus, said Cheuk Kwan, spokesman for the Toronto Association for Democracy in China. “They don’t see this as a big deal.” Ke, the member for Don Valley North, seems “over-eager to defend China, rather than being too worried about anti-Asian hate,” he added. “This is the playbook of Chinese consulates in Canada,” said Kwan. “They are using this anti-Asian hate to rally the troops, (win) the hearts and minds of Chinese Canadians.”... Media, scientists and others referred to SARS-CoV-2 as the Wuhan virus at first"
Clearly an agent of white supremacy
Apparently there're tons of Mandarin speakers who will be incited by a Mandarin sign into committing anti-Asian hate crimes
Thread by @AJKayWriter on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "In March 2020, my just-turned-18-year-old was told not to return to her ultra-liberal, elite, east coast university that she had worked her ass off to get into. She finished the semester online. In the fall of 2020, she took personal leave after learning the C19 restrictions which included:
- being socially isolated
- living alone on campus
- masks in and outdoors
- no clubs or in-person events
- online classes
- mandated weekly testing
- take-out meals only, and
- harsh punishment and public shaming—including expulsion—for breaking C19 rules
That’s not what college is about. College is about learning and growing and exploring and becoming more independent and dating and joining clubs and eating shitty cafeteria food *with* friends and all-nighters and moving forward
So tried desperately to stay optimistic, hoping the hysteria would fade. She was so lonely. Come April, she’d decided on a fall return. Restrictions had eased w/ the vaccine rollout & the elderly faculty were now protected. And then her school mandated vaccines for students... The mandates weren’t bring back normal life, as promised...
Sometimes the most painful lessons are also the most salient. She wants to live her principles & surround herself w/ ppl doing the same. And because of that cognitive reframe, she’s *finally* getting back to learning, growing, exploring, becoming more independent, dating, joining clubs, pledging, eating shitty cafeteria food *with* friends, pulling all-nighters & moving forward"
From Jan 2022
AJ Kay on Twitter - "Given colleges with fully vaccinated populations are imposing new restrictions as we speak, why would anyone believe that vaccinating little kids would result in keeping schools open?"
From Sep 2021
pfizer says their covid vaccine works in kids 5 to 11. does it? - "this is clearly a cash cow for them and parents and school boards beset by carefully inculcated night terrors about the risk covid poses to their children and to schools are all desperate for “a solution” that feels like “doing something.”... medicine is everywhere and always a risk/benefit decision. there is a reason that you do not take fentanyl to cure a hangover (despite the fact that it would). that reason is not that you are “anti-medicine.”... the risk to children aged 5-11 from covid in absolutely minuscule. it’s very rare for them to get anything past a mild case that passes quickly and those that do are almost always children with serious comorbidities and risk factors... note that this is lower even than (the incredibly rare) flu deaths count in this demographic... and we’ve certainly lived with flu for a LONG time. kids have lived with it, schools have lived with it, and really, no one was terribly worried... covid is not more dangerous to kids than flu, it’s less so, and no, “long covid” is not some aggressive new thing. it’s no more common than lasting effects from other respiratory illnesses and in many studies, could not be statistically discerned from control group in kids that did not even have covid. 53% of control reported “symptoms.” hardly surprising given the generality of the symptoms and the stress kids are under... it is unlikely to stop cases. it has not in any other age groups. these vaccines appear to be completely non-sterilizing and may be making spread worse especially during the 2 week period of negative vaccine efficacy post administration... so how well will this vaccine reduce risk in kids? the answer seems to be “we have little idea nor any clinical outcomes data whatsoever.” the data pfizer is currently presenting is all biomarker data. there is nothing in it showing any sort of clinical outcomes. this is, to put it mildly, a very aggressive and possibly dishonest approach... one of the reasons so many of us (me included) trust vaccines like MMR so much is that they are incredibly safe and effective. they had decades of testing before going into widespread use, they treated truly dangerous diseases, and they did more than just mitigate severity. they stopped spread. the pfizer vaccine does not. (none of the approved/EUA vaccines seem to) and they pose very high risk for, especially in kids, near zero reward because baseline risk is so low. it’s a fraction of the flu risk no one panicked over for 100 years."
Why the COVID-19 pandemic isn't a bigger factor in the Ontario election campaign - "Del Duca criticized the government's 2020 decisions to allow big box retailers selling non-essential goods to remain open during lockdowns, while shutting small businesses. "Throughout this pandemic, when Doug Ford as premier had the chance to be on their side, all he dished out were empty words, empty rhetoric, while he continued to be on the side of big box retail and giant corporations," said Del Duca."
Peculiar criticism, given that the Liberals wanted to lock everyone down forver
Meme - "The same people that were screaming "RESIST! the last five years now want us to comply without question"
Meme - "When your phase of the end of the world is over *Fauci*"
Covid-19 Pushes India’s Middle Class Toward Poverty - The New York Times
Clearly they didn't lockdown enough
Jason Clemens: Beware experts bearing consensus - "One of the potential long-term consequences of the COVID pandemic and recession is that experts will be elevated to positions of authority, influence and decision-making not commensurate with their actual knowledge and contrary to the principles of democracy. This is not to say that experts should not play a key role in policy-making. They should. But as advisers to elected officials... when state action is required, the principle of “subsidiarity” should apply: use the level of government able to intervene effectively that is closest to the people, which means favouring local governments over provincial and provincial over federal. Today we’re moving towards the exact opposite, empowering Ottawa to impose one-size-fits-all policies for the entire country. For instance, the federal government may soon introduce national daycare, national pharmacare and massive spending and regulation for green initiatives to fundamentally redesign Canada’s economy. This greater reliance on experts is born from several misunderstandings. The first is the limit of expert knowledge, particularly during crises. People naturally yearn for certainty and when uncertainty reigns, as it did in much of 2020, they look to experts for answers. Many experts have deep knowledge of their specific areas but no one has complete knowledge. It’s therefore impossible for experts to fully understand all the implications of their recommendations. Indeed, a mainstay of economics is the study of unintended consequences. Moreover, although experts clearly have more knowledge and information about specific issues, like the rest of us they make mistakes. When they are granted more power and decision-making authority, their mistakes can impose costs on the entirety of society. And, as Queen’s University law professor Bruce Pardy recently explained on this page, actual policy decisions by governments involve weighing trade-offs that are far beyond the scope of expertise of any particular expert. This falsehood, that experts have complete knowledge, is amplified by the worrying role of consensus — that when a consensus (or even just a majority) forms among experts, it must be correct. This misunderstands the nature of scientific discovery and economic progress. Many scientific breakthroughs have run contrary to the consensus of their time, in some cases costing the people pursuing them dearly. Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865), a Hungarian physician and scientist, discovered the benefits of hand-washing for doctors in preventing infections and reducing patient mortality. Instead of being celebrated for his discovery, however, Semmelweis was ostracized by his colleagues, who thought his breakthrough blamed them for the death of patients. Semmelweis eventually lost his job and was later institutionalized. Today double-blind testing of scientific propositions makes tragic mistakes like this less likely, but where propositions are complex or for other reasons difficult to test scientifically, as are climate or macroeconomic theories, consensus remains influential. The great 20th century economist Joseph Schumpeter explained the need for open markets and the removal of barriers to entry for entrepreneurs to discover new products and services that challenge existing firms. The same holds true for ideas... An additional emerging issue linked with experts is the lack of differentiation between facts and modelling (i.e., predicting the future). Despite economic, climate and more recently health models being wildly inaccurate and unreliable, they are increasingly relied upon for policy-making as if they were facts... Like everyone else, experts have personal preferences and limited knowledge and make mistakes. In democracies, when collective action is required via the state, it’s imperative that those making the decisions can be held accountable through the democratic process. Giving experts undue authority, even going so far as to cede decision-making to them, not only ignores the decidedly mixed history of expert-made decisions, but also runs contrary to the principles of democracy."
Workplace interventions to reduce the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection outside of healthcare settings - "We are uncertain whether a test‐based attendance policy affects rates of PCR‐postive SARS‐CoV‐2 infection (any infection; symptomatic infection) compared to standard 10‐day self‐isolation amongst school and college staff. Test‐based attendance policy may result in little to no difference in absence rates compared to standard 10‐day self‐isolation."
"2.5 years of pandemic and yet. The utter failure of public health authorities to produce good evidence for NPIs they keep recommending is pretty pathetic."
With moral panics, there is no need to do research. You should just "trust the science" and do what everyone "knows" works. If you question the "consensus", you're a selfish bastard who just wants grandma to die
