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Court documents reveal Canada's travel ban had no scientific basis

JustinT
© Cole Burston/Getty ImagesCanadian PM Justin Trudeau
In the days leading up to the mandate, transportation officials were frantically looking for a rationale for it. They came up short.

On August 13, 2021, the Canadian government announced that anyone who hadn't been vaccinated against Covid would soon be barred from planes and trains. In many cases, The Backward could no longer travel between provinces or leave the country. If you lived in Winnipeg and wanted to visit your mother on her deathbed in London or Hong Kong or, perhaps, Quebec City, you'd better get jabbed — or resign yourself to never seeing your mother again.

Jennifer Little, the director-general of COVID Recovery, the secretive government panel that crafted the mandate, called it "one of the strongest vaccination mandates for travelers in the world."

It was draconian and sweeping, and it fit neatly with the public persona that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had cultivated — that of the sleek, progressive, forward-looking technocrat guided by fact and reason. The Canadian Medical Association Journal, in a June 2022 article, observed that "Canada had among the most sustained stringent policies regarding restrictions on internal movement."

But recently released court documents — which capture the decision-making behind the travel mandate — indicate that, far from following the science, the prime minister and his Cabinet were focused on politics. (Canadians are hardly alone. As Common Sense recently reported, American public-health agencies have also been politicized.)

Bizarro Earth

3 dead in kindergarten stabbing in China, suspect still at large

china kindergarten stabbing 2022
Screenshot
Three people were killed and six wounded on Wednesday in a stabbing at a kindergarten in the Chinese province of Jianxi, the AFP news agency reported, citing police.

A "gangster wearing a cap and mask" stormed the private kindergarten, the news agency said on Twitter, adding that the 48-year-old suspect was at large.

The news agency did not give any more details on the victims.

Comment: Footage from the incident has emerged on Twitter:



As noted in the article, attacks like these do appear to have been on the increase in recent years, but, what with Pelosi's whirlwind visit to Taiwan, the timing of this tragedy is also notable:


Eye 2

Hundreds of Ukrainian 'petal' mines litter streets of Donetsk

petal mines
© REUTERS/Alexander ErmochenkoMine work: deadly "Petals" are neutralized in Donetsk
UKRAINIAN forces were accused of shelling residential areas of the eastern city of Donetsk on Saturday night with hundreds of so-called petal mines littering the streets in the aftermath.

The tiny bombs, which are shaped like small flowers, were found in the centre of Donetsk, areas close to the city's university, recreational areas and others.

Journalist Eva Bartlett, based in Ukraine, heard the shelling start on Saturday night.

"This morning I saw these mines in a heavily populated western Donetsk district," she said. "They tear off limbs but don't necessarily kill. Nasty war crimes to add to the list of Ukraine's manifold war crimes."

Comment: Investigative reporter Eva K Bartlett reports on the story in the videos below.

Warning:Video features gruesome imagery of the injuries recently inflicted by the mines and so viewer discretion is advised.
The use of PFM-1 'butterfly' mines against civilians is prohibited by the Geneva conventions - but this evidently isn't stopping Ukraine Saturday night, just after 9 pm, thunderous explosions rocked central Donetsk. Shortly after, there were announcements that air defense had shot down Ukrainian-fired missiles containing "Butterfly" (or "Petal") mines. Given that over 300 of these mines are packed into each of the Ukrainian-fired rockets, central Donetsk would literally be a minefield. While Ukraine has been using these mines on the Donbass for many months, in recent days they have intensely bombarded Gorlovka and Donetsk neighbourhoods with them.

Initially targeted were the hard-hit districts of Kievskiy in the north, Kirovsky in the southwest, and Kuibyshevkiy in the west. But as of Saturday night, Ukraine hammered central Donetsk with them. And now, walking in the city centre is a nightmare, one I had to endure to document how widespread these mines are here: in central streets and walkways, near apartments, in parks...
On July 30, in a densely inhabited working-class district of western Donetsk, in a field with garden plots for nearby apartment residents, I saw the nefarious "petal" or "butterfly" mines which Ukraine the following day dropped on the central of Donetsk. In the large courtyard of an apartment complex, I watched from a safe distance as Emergency Services timer-detonated eight mines they had found around the grounds. The day prior, they destroyed 26. Another 150 were located and destroyed using a radio-controlled minesweeper. But there remains much work to restore the streets and courtyards to safety. Some types of these anti-personnel mines have a self-destruct timer. Others, including the ones Ukraine is firing, have a years-long shelf life. They do pretty much no damage to military vehicles, and as such their use in Donbass is insidious - deliberately targeting civilians, to leave them maimed. Out of the 6 million such mines Ukraine initially declared in its possession, only 2 million have been reportedly destroyed as of 2018.




Megaphone

4 dead in South Africa as protests erupt over surging price of electricity & rolling blackouts

south africa protests 2022
© Guillem Sartorio/AFPPeople gather outside the Tembisa Customer Care Centre after protesters set it on fire after a night of riots caused by angry community members demanding better service delivery in Tembisa on August 1, 2022
At least four people have died during protests over the cost of electricity in a South African township, police officials have said.

On Monday, residents angry at the high cost of basic services barricaded roads with burning tyres and set ablaze a municipal building in Thembisa township, northeast of the financial hub, Johannesburg.

Authorities said two people were killed in alleged police shootings after the protests broke out in the morning.

"It's alleged they have been shot," local municipal police spokeswoman Kelebogile Thepa told AFP.

Comment: Footage of the protests from Twitter:



See also: Farmer protests spread across the globe


Stock Down

16,000 small UK business go bust unable to pay back lockdown loans, 60,000 in default

Rishi Sunak
The extraordinary sum has led critics to turn on the former chancellor Rishi Sunak, 42, who has built his pitch to be prime minister on being fiscally responsible
Thousands of businesses that received Rishi Sunak's Covid loans have gone bust without paying the money back... leaving taxpayers with a £500million bill

More than 16,000 businesses that received bounce-back Covid loans have gone bust without paying the money back.

The mass insolvencies may have cost the taxpayer as much as £500million, a figure which will grow as more firms collapse.

The scheme was targeted by criminals because companies could self-certify to claim the cash. Dozens of individuals have been arrested, while more than 150 directors have been barred from running companies.

Last week the business department revealed that firms collectively owing £3.2billion had fallen into arrears, while 61,475 loans were in default, potentially costing the taxpayer £1.9billion. Official estimates showed that as much as £17billion of the £47billion loaned under the scheme will not be repaid.

Sheriff

Over 200 American law enforcement officers shot in 2022—14 percent increase from 2021

police cop mask american flag
For America's law enforcement, the threat of being injured or killed while on the job is all too real, with hundreds of officers being shot each year.

A new report from the National Fraternal Order of Police has revealed that as of July 31, 210 officers have been shot in the line of duty, with thirty-nine such attacks resulting in death.

According to the National Fraternal Order of Police, 2022 numbers are up 14 percent from last year, and 12 percent from 2020.

Post-It Note

Afghans cast doubt on Kabul killing of al-Qaida chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri

Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Many Afghans expressed shock or doubt Tuesday that Al-Qaeda's chief had been killed in Kabul by a US drone strike, saying they couldn't believe Ayman Al-Zawahiri had been hiding in their midst.

"It's just propaganda," Fahim Shah, 66, a resident of the Afghan capital, told AFP.

Late Monday, US President Joe Biden announced Zawahiri's assassination, saying "justice has been delivered" to the Egyptian with a $25 million bounty on his head.

Comment:
ayman al-Zawahiri



Snakes in Suits

US corporations own around 30% of Ukrainian arable land

arable ukraine
The destruction and plunder of Ukraine have been old news for quite some time now, unfortunately. However, the media and the public have only scratched the surface of the sheer scale of this process. With the territory of modern-day Ukraine being the breadbasket of Europe (and beyond) for millennia, the country has been the target of various agricultural corporations, particularly those originating in the political West. In recent years, especially after the Neo-Nazi coup in 2014, foreign corporations acquired Ukrainian fields, depriving the country of any control over its food exports and even domestic food supply.

Corporations such as "Cargill", "DuPont" and "Monsanto" (which is formally a German-Australian company, but essentially an American one) are among the most prominent owners of Ukrainian arable land. In addition, corporations like "Vanguard", "Blackrock" and "Blackstone" are among the largest shareholders in the aforementioned agricultural giants, owning trillions in assets. For instance, "Blackrock" is a fund that manages assets worth over $10 trillion, with "Vanguard" controlling at least six and "Blackstone" managing up to $1 trillion. Together, the three massive US multinational corporations ("Cargill", "DuPont" and "Monsanto") own over 17 million hectares of Ukraine's arable land.

In comparison, the whole of Italy has 16.7 million hectares of agricultural land. In short, the three American corporations own more usable agricultural land in Ukraine than what the whole country of Italy has. The entire area of Ukraine is approximately 600,000 square km. Out of that land area, 170,000 square km have been acquired by foreign corporations, the vast majority Western, particularly those based in or financed by the US. Since the new law on the sale of agricultural land passed by the Kiev regime entered into full force approximately one year ago, to this day, the three large multinational consortia financed with US capital have acquired well over a quarter of Ukrainian arable land. A report by the Australian National Review states that the three US corporations managed to acquire 17 out of the 62 million hectares of agricultural land in less than a year. This made it possible for them to control 28% of the total arable land in Ukraine.

Clipboard

No one cares much about Covid or Ukraine: Abortion moves up on "Most Important Problem" list

abortion protester
When Americans are asked to name the most important problem facing the U.S., 8% of the resulting mentions focus on abortion. While not high on an absolute basis, this is the highest such percentage since Gallup began tracking mentions of abortion in 1984. Additionally, another 6% of Americans name a related issue -- problems with the nation's judicial system and courts.

Abortion ranks behind three other issues on the "most important" list in Gallup's July 5-26 update. Inflation (17%) and dysfunctional government or bad leadership (17%) top the list, with another 12% of Americans making general complaints about the economy. In addition to specific mentions of inflation, 5% of respondents mention fuel and gas prices.

Comment: And no one is talking about Monkeypox, despite it being declared a state of emergency in 3 states. Abortion is just too damn difficult to unseat!

See also:


Health

California governor declares monkeypox state of emergency

gavin newsom
© APNewsom has taken the next step in fighting his state's monkeypox outbreak.
California's governor on Monday declared a state of emergency to speed efforts to combat the monkeypox outbreak, becoming the second state in three days to take the step.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the declaration will help California coordinate a government-wide response, seek more vaccines and lead outreach and education efforts on where people can get treatment and vaccination.

"We'll continue to work with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risk, and stand with the LGBTQ community fighting stigmatization," Newsom said in a statement announcing his declaration.

Comment: See also: