MURDER MOST FOUL

CP Rail failed to identify hazards linked to deadly derailment, Transport Canada finds

Transport Canada has concluded CP Rail failed to properly identify safety hazards in the B.C. mountains following a workplace fatality investigation into a train derailment which killed three workers, CBC News has learned.

Author: Dave Seglins, Joseph Loiero
Published: 2020-10-23 04:00 am
 

CRASH VIDEO

https://www.cbc.ca/news/fifth/cp-rail-crash-derailment-transport-canada-1.5773464 

Transport Canada has concluded CP Rail failed to properly identify safety hazards in the B.C. mountains following a workplace fatality investigation into a train derailment which killed three workers, CBC News has learned.

Andy Dockrell, Dylan Paradis and Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer were killed on Feb. 4, 2019 when their 2-kilometre long freight train, with failing brakes, ran away down a steep mountain and derailed into a creek near Field, B.C.

The regulator has given CP Rail until the end of this week to fix the problems, according to a notice dated Sept. 23 from the Ministry of Labour, stamped confidential and posted inside CP's Calgary headquarters, which was obtained by CBC News.

If they don't, Transport Canada could recommend federal labour charges against the railway that carry penalties of up to $1 million and two years in jail for senior executives.

CP Rail rejects Transport Canada's findings and told CBC News in an email the company takes "the position there has been no contravention of the Canada Labour Code."

The families of the dead men say labour penalties against CP don't go far enough.

Conductor Dylan Paradis, left, engineer Andrew Dockrell, centre, and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, right, were killed in the derailment last year. (Facebook/Niki Atherton/Instagram)

"A million, up to a million ... really is a drop in the bucket for them," said Pam Fraser, the mother of conductor Dylan Paradis.

"We really would like some accountability. All of us ... want criminal accountability," she said, arguing police should be called in.

Fraser and other relatives of the dead crew are demanding police examine potential criminal negligence after The Fifth Estate earlier this year exposed a string of failures in the crash. These included known problems with train brakes operating in subzero temperatures along one of Canada's most challenging rail mountain passes that has seen 25 derailments and runaways in the last 25 years.

Deadline looms

Transport Canada issued a formal directive last month concluding CP Rail "failed to identify and assess the hazards associated with the job task of operating loaded trains" down the steep mountain pass through the historic Spiral Tunnels.

CP Rail was given until Oct. 23, 2020 to address its safety shortcomings.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/fifth/cp-rail-crash-derailment-transport-canada-1.5773464

Pam Fraser delivers CP CEO Keith Creel a package of material urging for an RCMP investigation into potential criminal negligence over the deadly derailment. (Submitted by Pam Fraser)

However, CP insists it is cooperating with federal officials and it already does risk assessments and has specific policies and training for safe train operations in those mountains in winter conditions.

"CP is reviewing this direction and will seek clarification given employees operating on CP's Laggan Subdivision have been fully trained on how to operate and handle the specific conditions that the Laggan Subdivision presents," company spokesperson Jeremy Berry told CBC News in an emailed statement.

The directive by Transport Canada marks the first formal sanction against CP Rail following the derailment.

This notice from the Government of Canada demanding CP Rail fix safety problems by the end of this week was marked as confidential and posted inside the company's Calgary office. (Submitted to CBC News)

However, it falls far short of a criminal negligence charge, say the families, who are seeking an investigation under Canada's "Westray Law" named after a 1992 deadly mine disaster in Nova Scotia. The law creates a duty for all employers to protect workers against foreseeable harms and safety deficiencies.

'I want justice for my son'

Fraser last week handed CP's CEO Keith Creel a series of letters and a report by an outside workplace fatalities specialist asking the company to call in the RCMP.

"I've been so traumatized," Fraser wrote to CP's CEO. "I am haunted by unanswered questions into the HOW, WHY & WHO IS RESPONSIBLE, of my son being killed on his train. An independent investigation by the RCMP could shed light on these. You told us we could expect answers. Your dead crew are due transparency and those they've left behind deserve it."

A monument for the three dead crew members was unveiled at a memorial at CP Headquarters on Oct. 14, 2020. (Submitted by Waldenberger-Bulmer family)

CP HQ IS IN CALGARY

Another letter was written by Dylan's father, Les Paradis, himself a retired CP conductor with 39 years of experience.

"This should have been treated as a crime scene from the start and I want the RCMP to investigate. My family has been shattered, I want the truth and I want justice for my son."

Read all the letters from family members to CP Rail

To date there has been no outside police investigation.

The former lead investigator at the Transportation Safety Board, an arm's length watchdog that is also looking into the crash, told CBC he believes the RCMP should launch a criminal probe, but his bosses quickly removed him from his role after speaking out.

CP's own police service shut down its probe one month after the crash, according to the lead constable assigned to the case. He has since quit and told CBC News he suspects a cover-up. He has since been hired by the RCMP.

But the RCMP has declined to investigate and said it has received no request to do so by CP's police service.

WATCH | Secrecy, no answers re-traumatizing, says dead railroader's mom:

CP memorial for dead rail workers “beautiful’ but provided no answers, says Pam Fraser, mother of conductor Dylan Paradis. 4:05
https://www.cbc.ca/news/fifth/cp-rail-crash-derailment-transport-canada-1.5773464

Calls for government action

The union for the three dead rail workers wrote to Canada's Attorney-General, Ministers of Labour and Transport, and all members of parliament on Oct. 6 demanding the federal government intervene.

"This tragedy was preventable," wrote Lyndon Isaak, president of the Teamsters Canada Railway Conference, calling any review by CP's own police force "hopelessly tainted."

"We are calling upon the Government of Canada to take all steps necessary to initiate or cause to be initiated a criminal investigation by the RCMP. This is the only manner in which justice will be served and more fatalities averted."

Transport Minister Marc Garneau's office responded.

"In this case, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a police service that would have the authority, if they feel it is warranted, to investigate such criminal conduct or alleged behaviour and recommend that criminal prosecution be commenced. Please contact the RCMP for more information," a spokesperson said in an email.

WATCH | CP derailment crash site:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/fifth/cp-rail-crash-derailment-transport-canada-1.5773464

Exclusive wreck video of CP train derailment in BC Feb 2019 1:00

The RCMP said late Thursday they are still reviewing the case but declined to discuss what conclusions they've reached.

"We have consulted with the Transportation Safety Board and Transport Canada who have undertaken investigations into this incident in order to guide decisions moving forward."

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CANADA

Airlines failed to prepare adequately for new passenger rights charter: report

OTTAWA — Canada's transportation regulator says poor preparation by airlines for the new air passenger rights charter led to communication problems that frustrated travellers and denied some their proper compensation following flight delays or cancellations.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

However, the report from an inquiry officer at the Canadian Transportation Agency says it found no evidence to suggest the six airlines investigated deliberately mischaracterized flight disruptions or miscommunicated to passengers with the aim of worming out of their obligations.

Some 3,000 complaints filed by customers between Dec. 15 and Feb. 13 triggered the inquiry, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted roughly 10,000 more complaints and created a massive backlog at the transportation agency.

The initial complaints had alleged that Air Canada, Sunwing, Air Transat, United Airlines, WestJet and its Swoop subsidiary did not accurately communicate the reasons for delays or nixed flights in a bid to avoid paying for problems within the carriers' control.

The federal government rolled out its Air Passenger Protection Regulations last year, which lay out compensation requirements for incidents ranging from tarmac delays to flight bumping.

The agency says it is now inviting passengers to file statements on the issues highlighted in the report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2020.

Suspended 100 Mile House oriented strandboard mill to close permanently

TORONTO — Norbord Inc. says it is permanently closing its oriented strandboard mill in the central B.C. community of 100 Mile House after suspending operations there in August 2019.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The company says the mill, which produces cladding material often used in new housing, is its highest cost operation and suffers from a shortage of local wood fibre due to the destruction from the mountain pine beetle and significant wildfires in recent years.

Norbord is declaring $10 million in costs related to mill closure. About 160 employees were affected by the mill's suspension last year as only a small crew was retained for maintenance.

The closure comes despite Norbord CEO Peter Wijnbergen declaring the three months ended Sept. 30 its "strongest quarter ever" thanks to higher prices for building materials driven by strong new home and renovation spending in North America and Europe.

The company says it had net earnings of $203 million, compared with $18 million in the second quarter of 2020 and a loss of $17 million in the third quarter of 2019.

Sales rose to $725 million in the third quarter from $435 million in the year-earlier period and $421 in the second quarter.

"We are optimistic, but we also recognize that our business is cyclical and that it is not yet clear whether the worst of the pandemic is behind us," said Wijnbergen in a news release.

"Today we announce the permanent closure of the 100 Mile House mill in British Columbia , which will reduce Norbord's North American stated capacity, as the ongoing wood supply shortage in that region makes the reopening of that mill uneconomic."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:OSB)

Lyle Ashton Harris's Ektachrome archive chronicled artists, friends and lovers in the 1980s and '90s

Jacqui Palumbo, CNN 

When Lyle Ashton Harris' grandfather passed away, he and his brother inherited a vast trove of over 10,000 Ektachrome slides documenting his day-to-day life. Developed in the early 1940s, the film is a brand name from Kodak, and was a new type of color technology when their grandfather adopted it. (Instead of adding color to black-and-white images during processing, as is done with Kodachrome, this film allowed people to take images directly in color.)

© Lyle Ashton Harris/Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York Photographer Iké Ude, L.A. Eyeworks, 1995.

Four decades later, multimedia artist Harris began his own Ektachrome archive, in the 1980s and '90s as art and culture underwent seismic shifts, galvanized in part by a new wave of Black artists and critical thinkers, as well as LGBTQ artists grappling with the AIDS epidemic. Harris documented friends, lovers, idols and himself, as they moved through the linked creative and political circles that helped define this era.

"The late '80s, early '90s, was critical for collective community, whether that's the Black radical community, queer community, AIDS activism, etc.," Harris said via a video call. "The archive ... speaks to the collective."

Selections from Harris' "Ektachrome Archive" have been shown at major institutional shows, debuting at the São Paulo Biennial in 2016, followed by the Whitney Biennial the next year. Photos have been also been published in the 2017 book by Aperture, "Today I Shall Judge Nothing That Occurs."

Close friends and tender moments

© Lyle Ashton Harris/Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York 3300KFDPRW=0.15 GW=0.15 BW=0.15 RB=9.99 GB=9.99 BB=9.99S3400

Until recently, Harris didn't consider his archive as a singular body of work, but a simple -- though prolific -- act that accompanied his more formal series, such as his "Shadow Works," mixed-media assemblages that also excavate memories. "I was just documenting in the manner that my grandfather did -- or (photographer) Nan Goldin did -- just documenting friends and family events, places that I traveled," Harris said of his work.

© Lyle Ashton Harris/Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York Faith Ringgold, Douglas Crimp, Crystal Britton, Faith Childs at the Black Culture Conference in 1991.

Harris' archive includes a portrait of Nigerian photographer and friend Iké Udé in front of a vanity mirror in 1995, gazing to the side. It also includes tender moments of late filmmaker Marlon Riggs, who died in 1994 from AIDS complications, and who Harris met as a graduate student at the California Institute of the Arts. In one photograph from New York in the early '90s, author and activist bell hooks, real name Gloria Watkins, wraps her arm around Riggs as they share a laugh, their faces close. In another, Riggs sits in the backseat of a car with his mother and grandmother, on the night that he was honored for becoming the youngest tenured professor ever at the University of California, Berkeley, in the last months of his life.

When it comes to the deaths of gay men or those with HIV, "There is a narrative that still lingers today ... in the African American community," Harris said, "that is shrouded in shame."

The photograph is a testimony "that there was a mother as well as a grandmother that ... was able to bear witness to their son who is in advanced stages of his life, in his mid 30s," Harris said, "and to also simultaneously witness his celebration."


A cultural shift

In 2000 Harris left the United States and moved to Rome, then eventually Ghana in 2005 to teach for New York University. He didn't return stateside until 2012. All the while, his bags of Ektachrome slides remained in his mother's home in the Bronx; he didn't revisit them until he moved back to New York, looking for renewal following life changes including the ending of a relationship

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© Lyle Ashton Harris/Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York Lyle Ashton Harris in the mid-1990s. Harris shot his "Ektachrome Archive" over a period of two decades.

His friend, the artist Isaac Julien, was preparing a catalog to accompany his "Ten Thousand Waves" film installation at the Museum of Modern Art, and in 2013 asked Harris to sift through his photographs for images of '90s London.

"I had not actually seen (the slides) in over a decade," Harris said, who noted he was just documenting for "close to 20 years before I began to think of it as a body of work or an archive.

"The slides in a way reconnect me with the punk energy of New York... seeing a younger side of myself depicted in the slides," he reflected, "recapture that."

That younger self, when he was starting out, used his camera to develop a sense of confidence as he navigated important cultural events attended by the likes of activist Angela Davis and social critic Cornel West.

With camera in hand, the young Harris captured key figures of the zeitgeist at the "Black Popular Culture" conference in 1991 and, just out of graduate school, documented 1995's "Black Nations/Queer Nations?" a conference about gay and lesbian identities in the African diaspora. "The camera became a way in which I could negotiate space or ... could actually hold my own, and it's interesting now to have become the elder, and 20 years later, the younger generation is looking for meaning from these images."

At the "Black Popular Culture" conference, which took place at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York's SoHo neighborhood, Harris snapped a portrait of artist Ringgold, art critic Douglas Crimp, author Crystal Britton and literary agent Faith Childs sitting in the audience. Harris said he couldn't overstate the importance of these forums in positioning "Black popular culture as a sphere of influence."

Moreover, it was "the first time in culture history, where you had two trajectories overlap and come together" -- black popular culture and "its theoretical and artistic legacy," he said. This shift, according to Harris, had a profound influence not only on Black culture, but also the wider contemporary culture and political theory.


Collective community

Harris emphasizes the collective community that formed around these pivotal moments -- and sees a connection to the anti-racist movements happening today. When graffiti artist Michael Stewart was killed by the New York City Transit Police in 1983 for tagging a station wall, he pointed out, artists from various backgrounds and disciplines responded, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Lou Reed and Madonna.

"If you think about Black Lives Matter today," he said, "it was birthed by three Afro-American women (two of whom identify as queer) who had had enough, but now it has become the pulse of a young generation -- a wider generation -- that is multiethnic, fluid in terms of sexualities (and) identities."

The archive, according to Harris, serves as a bridge to the dynamic movements of past decades.

Harris credits members of the "young generation" for what he sees as real efforts in trying to reimagine how they can do collective building. "People are looking at more activism," he said. "The archive offers them a momentary resting point where they could actually reflect that they're not alone -- the fact (there) were people and movements before. I think that's a very reassuring thing."

Photographs from the artist's "Ektachrome Archive" will be exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami through May 31, 2021. A concurrent exhibition "In these Shadows" of Harris' newer works are being shown at the David Castillo Gallery in Miami through November 21, 2020

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© Lyle Ashton Harris/Courtesy the artist and Salon 94, New York bell hooks and Marlon Riggs in New York in the early 1990s.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Malaysia's 1MDB state fund still $7.8 billion in debt: government report

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state fund at the centre of a massive corruption scandal, still had an estimated 32.3 billion ringgit ($7.80 billion) in outstanding debt as of September, the government said on Friday.

© Reuters/Olivia Harris A man walks past a 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the funds flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur

Set up in 2009 by former prime minister Najib Razak, authorities are investigating how billions of dollars went missing from 1MDB - a disappearance the government says led to the finance ministry having to bail out the fund.

Malaysia said in 2018 the government would have to pay about $13 billion of 1MDB's dues.

Since April 2017, the government has provided 9.4 billion ringgit in loans and advances to help 1MDB meet its financial commitments and debt obligations, according to the 2021 fiscal outlook report, released ahead of the government's budget announcement on Friday.

Malaysia has also recovered a total of 13.4 billion ringgit ($3.24 billion) in assets linked to 1MDB's financial trail as of the end of September, the report said.

The amount includes about 2.6 billion ringgit ($628 million) in cash and assets recovered and returned to Malaysia by the U.S. authorities, as well as $2.5 billion paid by Goldman Sachs to settle a Malaysian probe into the investment bank's role in the 1MDB scandal.

© Reuters/LIM HUEY TENG Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak arrives at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur

Goldman Sachs, which had helped 1MDB raise a total of $6.5 billion in bonds, has also guaranteed to help Malaysia recover $1.4 billion more in 1MDB-linked assets.

The United States has said about $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB in an elaborate scheme that spanned the globe and implicated high-level officials of the fund, former prime minister Najib, Goldman executives, and others.

Malaysian authorities say billions of dollars remain unaccounted for.

($1 = 4.1390 ringgit)

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Ed Davies)

Who won the Christian vote in the 2020 U.S. election? It's complicated

Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump profess to be men of faith, but the Christian vote and how it aligned in the 2020 U.S. presidential election is a complicated matter, to say the least.

© Provided by National Post Christian believers pray during a

Tyler Dawson National Post  NOV 5, 2020

While much of the discussion of American religion happens in the context of right-wing evangelicals, Christians in America are considerably diverse. But according to figures in pre-election and exit polling, they make up significant chunks of the voting public, and possibly enough to change outcomes: Forty-four per cent of all registered voters in the U.S. are white Christians; seven per cent are Black Protestants, and five per cent are Hispanic Catholics.

Biden is a Catholic, and attended Mass early on election day. Trump, despite affiliating with far-right evangelical pastors, grew up in a Presbyterian church, he says, and now considers himself a non-denominational Christian, according to an interview he gave to Religion News Service in late October.

In the lead-up to voting day, various religious and faith-based groups lobbied voters. Evangelical pastors, for example, were openly praying for Donald Trump’s re-election. The group CatholicVote.org warned Catholics that a Biden victory would mean fighting “taxpayer funding of abortions,” according to a report in the National Catholic Register, a conservative Catholic newspaper.

Exit polling done for NBC News (among voters who have completed voting or reached by telephone), showed that among Catholics, 51 per cent voted for Biden, compared to 47 per cent for Trump. Among those who identify as Protestant — this would combine various denominations — 37 per cent voted Biden, compared to 62 per cent for Trump.

The NBC data also breaks down race-based religious data: Among white Protestants, 73 per cent voted for Trump, and 26 per cent voted for Biden.

White Catholics voted similarly, if not as strongly, with 56 per cent voting for Trump, and 42 per cent voting for Biden.

In Pew Research Center polling of voter intentions from October, 78 per cent of white evangelical Protestants intended to vote for Trump.

Fifty-three per cent of white Protestants who were not evangelical intended to vote for Trump and 52 per cent of white Catholics also intended to vote for him. A full 90 per cent of Black Protestant voters supported Biden, according to the Pew polling, while 67 per cent of Hispanic Catholics also supported Biden.

Compare this to the 2016 data, when 64 per cent of white Catholics voted for Trump. That’s an eight-point drop in Trump support.

In 2016, Trump received significant support from Christian voters: 56 per cent of Protestant voters — comprising multiple denominations — voted for Trump, compared to 39 per cent for Hillary Clinton, according to Pew Research Center data. Catholics voted similarly: 52 per cent voted for Donald Trump versus 44 per cent for Hillary Clinton.

These numbers provide a hint of some of the religious drama that’s now being seen.

“I think the white Catholics are really the story today,” said Ryan Burge, a professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University. “I think that really matters in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the three states that look like they’re going to flip from red to blue this time.”

U.S. to sanction leader of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement: WSJ

(Reuters) - The United States is planning to sanction prominent Lebanese Christian politician Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, which was founded by the president and is allied with Hezbollah, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday.

© Reuters/MOHAMED AZAKIR FILE PHOTO:

 Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic movement, speaks at the presidential palace in Baabda

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is expected on Friday to impose the sanctions on Bassil for assisting the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, the newspaper reported https://on.wsj.com/34ZGJYm, citing sources.

The U.S. Department of Treasury did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular working hours.

Bassil and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States deems Iranian-backed Hezbollah to be a terrorist group. It has sanctioned several Hezbollah members.

Bassil, the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun and head of FPM, Lebanon's largest Christian political bloc, is also a former foreign minister.

In September, the United States blacklisted two former Lebanese government ministers it accused of enabling Hezbollah.

It accused a former transport minister, Yusuf Finyanus, and a former finance minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, of engaging in corruption and leveraging their political power for financial gain.

Well-armed Hezbollah has risen to become the overarching power in Lebanon, which is now grappling with a financial meltdown.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut; Editing by Robert Birsel)

AMERICAN TALIBAN

Steve Bannon banned by Twitter for calling for Fauci beheading

Peter Beaumont THE GUARDIAN 

Twitter has banned the account of the former Trump adviser and surrogate Steve Bannon after he called for the beheading of Dr Anthony Fauci and the FBI director, Chris Wray, and the posting of their heads outside the White House as a “warning”.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

 Steve Bannon appeared to endorse violence against Anthony Fauci, the US’s most senior infectious diseases expert, and the FBI director, Chris Wray.

Speaking on his podcast, the War Room, which was distributed in video form on a number of social media outlets, the far-right provocateur appeared to endorse violence against Wray and the US’s most senior infectious diseases expert.

“Second term kicks off with firing Wray, firing Fauci, no I actually want to go a step farther but the president is a kind-hearted man and a good man,” Bannon said.

“I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England. I’d put their heads on pikes, right, I’d put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats, you either get with the programme or you’re gone.”

Twitter banned Bannon’s War Room account permanently, saying it had suspended the podcast account for violating its policy on the glorification of violence.

The same video was on Facebook for about 10 hours before it was also removed.

Bannon’s intervention came amid mounting concern over the risk of violence following this week’s nailbiting US elections, amid highly inflammatory rhetoric from Trump and his allies, who have falsely said Democrats were trying to “steal the election”.

Philadelphia police arrested two men who were allegedly involved in a plot to attack the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Thursday night. Police were tipped off, possibly from a concerned family member of one of the men, who had driven 300 miles from Virginia.

The moves against Bannon came hours after Facebook also banned “Stop the Steal”, a group involved in organising protests this weekend throughout the US against the presidential vote count.

One post, shared by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, declared: “Neither side is going to concede. Time to clean the guns, time to hit the streets.”

The increasingly heated language around the election has also included interventions from more mainstream figures, including the former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich, who appeared to call for election workers in Pennsylvania to be arrested.

Speaking to Sean Hannity on Fox News, Gingrich amplified Trump’s false complaints of election rigging and mused about what he believed was the solution.

“My hope is that President Trump will lead the millions of Americans who understand exactly what’s going on,” Gingrich said. “The Philadelphia machine is corrupt. The Atlanta machine is corrupt. The machine in Detroit is corrupt. And they are trying to steal the presidency. And we should not allow them to do that.

“First of all, under federal law, we should lock up the people who are breaking the law,” he continued. “You stop somebody from being an observer, you just broke federal law. Do you hide and put up papers so nobody can see what you’re doing? You just broke federal law. You bring in ballots that aren’t real? You just broke federal law.”

Steve Bannon's podcast barred from Twitter after he made beheading comment about Fauci, FBI Director Wray

Dan Mangan  CNBC 

Former top Trump aide Steve Bannon's podcast was permanently suspended by Twitter and had an episode yanked from YouTube.

He implied that FBI Director Christopher Wray and government infectious-diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci should be beheaded and have their heads put on pikes outside the White House.

Those comments came while Bannon is free on bond in a federal criminal case in which he is accused of defrauding donors to a nonprofit group purportedly dedicated to building a wall on the southern border of the United States

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© Provided by CNBC Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon exits the Manhattan Federal Court, following his arraignment hearing for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in New York, August 20, 2020.

Former top Trump aide Steve Bannon's podcast was permanently suspended by Twitter and had an episode yanked from YouTube after he implied that FBI Director Christopher Wray and leading government infectious-diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci should be beheaded and have their heads put on pikes outside the White House.

Those comments by Bannon on Thursday came while he is free on a $5 million release bond in a federal criminal case in which he is accused of defrauding donors to a nonprofit group purportedly dedicated to building a wall on the southern border of the United States.

A spokeswoman for Bannon said that he was not suggesting that Fauci and Wray actually be beheaded, but was speaking metaphorically by referencing the bloody politics of Tudor-era England. She also said he has "never called for violence of any kind."

A spokesman for prosecutors in the Southern District of New York declined to comment Thursday night when asked whether they will ask a Manhattan federal court judge to either revoke Bannon's bond, or to issue a gag order on him.

Bannon made the remarks about Wray and Fauci on his "War Room: Pandemic" podcast, when he was discussing a hypothetical second term for President Donald Trump.

Bannon ran Trump's 2016 campaign and served as a senior White House advisor until Trump fired him in August 2017.

Bannon during the podcast said, "Second term kicks off with firing Wray, firing Fauci."

"Now I actually want to go a step farther, but I realize the president is a kind-hearted man and a good man," Bannon continued.

"I'd actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England, I'd put the heads on pikes, right, I'd put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats. You either get with the program or you're gone – time to stop playing games."

"Blow it all up, put Ric Grenell today as the interim head of the FBI, that'll light them up, right," Bannon said.

Grenell is a hard-core Trump loyalist who served as former acting director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany.

Bannon's co-host Jack Maxey then said, "You know what, Steve, just yesterday there was the anniversary of the hanging of two Tories in Philadelphia, these were Quaker businessmen who had cohabitated, if you will, with the British while they were occupying Philadelphia."

"These people were hung. This is what we used to do to traitors," Maxey said.

Bannon replied, "That's how you won the revolution. No one wants to talk about it."

"The [American] revolution wasn't some sort of garden party, right?" Bannon said. "It was a civil war. It was a civil war."

Twitter said it suspended Bannon's account because of the remarks on "War Room."

A Twitter spokeperson in a statement said, "The
@WarRoomPandemicaccount has been permanently suspended for violating the Twitter Rules, specifically our policy on the glorification of violence."

YouTube removed the episode, but other War Room episodes remain available.

Alex Joseph, a spokesperson for YouTube, which is owned by Google, said, "We've removed this video for violating our policy against inciting violence. We will continue to be vigilant as we enforce our policies in the post-election period."

YouTube has a three-strikes policy before an account is terminated. While the Bannon show's channel is still available, the strike from this incident temporarily disables uploading for at least a week, according to YouTube.

Bannon's spokeswoman, in an emailed statement, said, "Mr Bannon did not, would not and has never called for violence of any kind."

"Mr. Bannon's commentary was clearly meant metaphorically. He previously played a clip of St. Thomas More's trial and was making an allusion to this historical event in Tudor England for rhetorical purposes," the spokeswoman said.

"Mr. Bannon has been openly critical of FBI Director Chris Wray for weeks and has called for his firing for his failure to investigate and address Hunter Biden's hard drive, and that has been in Director Wray's possession since in Dec 2019," she said.

"In addition, Mr. Bannon has supported comments from the White House calling for the immediate firing of Dr. Fauci."

In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bannon compared himself to the famous chief minister to England's King Henry VIII, who had him beheaded.

"I am Thomas Cromwell in the court of the Tudors," Bannon said in that interview.

Bannon was arrested Aug. 20 off the coast of Connecticut aboard a 150-yacht owned by Chinese billionaire

Bannon and three associates, Timothy Shea, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, are accused of defrauding donors as they raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border for the We Build the Wall nonprofit group.

Bannon has pleaded not guilty in the case.

He is free on a $5 million bond secured by $1.75 million in cash or property while awaiting his trial, scheduled for next May.

Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, after the men were charged, said in a statement, "The defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction."

"While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle."

Prosecutors say Bannon received $1 million in funds from We Build the Wall, and that to divert that money used a separate nonprofit he had already created, whose ostensible purpose was "promoting economic nationalism and American sovereignty."

ALBERTA UNDER UCP
Braid: Shocking COVID-19 case count reveals a system under severe stress

Don Braid, Calgary Herald 

© Provided by Calgary Herald Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

Albertans generally have confidence in our system for dealing with COVID-19.

But on Thursday, for the very first time, you could almost see the whole mammoth structure start to bend under the strain.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, revealed the latest daily case count, and it’s a shocker.

Eight hundred new infections emerged on Wednesday alone.

There had been 515 the day before, and an average of 567 for the four days over the weekend.

That seemed to be a plateau — a high plateau, but at least a level one.

Then came 800. And it happened Thursday amid a technical breakdown that prevented Hinshaw from releasing any other numbers, including deaths.

Her video news conference started an hour and 15 minutes late, which added to the tension and uncertainty.

Hinshaw said the delay was due to the tech issues. Some might see calculation in this. Are they hiding something?

I have much more faith in Hinshaw’s integrity than that. But there’s no doubt about the deep concern that spread on Thursday from Alberta Health to AHS and the premier’s office.

Hinshaw said more stringent measures might be coming. It’s clear that the ones imposed last week — limiting gatherings to 15 people in Calgary and Edmonton — are not having much effect.

She also worries about the impact from Halloween, because any surge in cases from Saturday’s parties and trick or treating has not shown up yet.

This could add to escalation now occurring and raise the case count even more quickly.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi might prove to be right in his recent estimate that we could top 1,000 cases a day .

The dawning worry is that the system might be edging toward loss of control. The virus is now spreading, at least in part, beyond the knowledge of those charged with detecting infection.

Hinshaw conceded that AHS no longer has the capacity to call every contact of every case in a timely way.

“Effective today, as an interim measure until more contact tracers can be hired and trained, AHS will be focusing their contact tracing on high priority settings only.”

Those include continuing-care centres, a health-care setting or a school.

If you catch the disease and you’re not classified as high priority, you’ll be asked to do your own notification of contacts.

That’s reasonable in the circumstances. It’s also one sign of a system running short of resources.

Why are infections rising so sharply? Hinshaw gave an explanation.

The culprits are people who keep working and circulating while they’re experiencing symptoms.

In Calgary, 11 per cent of active cases worked while symptomatic. Nine per cent travelled and seven per cent attended a social gathering.

In Edmonton, nine per cent worked while experiencing symptoms. Eight per cent went to a store or service business and a further eight per cent attended a social gathering.

Hinshaw calculates that as many as 500 people circulated freely while symptomatic. This highly infectious disease could explode from those people to thousands upon thousands of others, who will, in turn, spread it to still more people.

That’s what has happened in the U.S. It’s what we have quite successfully prevented — until now.

Hinshaw almost begs people to stop all activities if they have symptoms. And do not, whether you’re symptomatic or not, go to house parties.

I’ve mentioned the Ontario comparison before. But it is important to give a sense of how much trouble we’re in.

Ontario’s daily cases now run about 1,000 — just 200 more than our new high. Quebec had just over 1,000 on Wednesday.

Both provinces have millions more people than Alberta.

If the latest level of 800 cases rises to match the Ontario and Quebec numbers, it will be demonstrably true that Alberta’s COVID-19 crisis is the worst in Canada.

Premier Jason Kenney recently said to the thoughtless people who ignore all this: “Knock it off.”

They aren’t listening. Very soon, if this goes on, he’ll have to act.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Calgary Herald.

dbraid@postmedia.com

Twitter: @DonBraid

Facebook: Don Braid Politics

SWINE FLU IN ALBERTA
Infectious disease expert says human case of rare swine flu likely a one-off

EDMONTON — An infectious disease expert at the University of Alberta says it's shocking to hear about Canada's first human case of a rare swine flu variant, but she expects it's likely a one-off.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an associate professor in the department of medicine, wrote on Twitter "what fresh hell is this" when she first heard about the case in central Alberta.

She added, however, that it's not likely to be a major issue.

"Most of the avian and swine influenza strains aren't all that good at spreading between people," Saxinger explained Thursday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"It's usually a one-off situation where a person has gotten it from a bird or a pig source and that's usually the end of it. But everyone is always worried about it because occasionally those strains can turn out to spread from person to person, so there's always a cautious approach when such a thing happens."

Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said Wednesday that the variant Influenza A H1N2 case was detected in mid-October after a patient showed up with mild flu-like symptoms in an emergency department.

Hinshaw said it appears to be an isolated case and the only one of influenza so far this flu season.

It's also the first reported case of H1N2v in Canada since 2005 when reporting became mandatory — and one of only 27 cases globally.

Video: 1 case of rare swine flu variant confirmed in central Alberta, first of its kind in Canada (Global News)


Another expert at the University of Calgary said the history of H1N2 virus in humans shows there's no reason to worry.

"We're never 100 per cent sure, of course," said Frank van der Meer, an associate professor in global health and infectious diseases.

He said he would be more concerned about the case if there were evidence of person-to-person spread.

"If you come into contact with pigs and there's influenza circulating in pig farms, you can expect that it will spill over to the human side every so often," said van der Meer.

Officials with the province said they are still investigating the source of the virus and are looking into potential links to pig farms in the area. No other human cases have been found in retrospective testing of COVID-19 samples, they said.

Saxinger said it's comforting to hear that the province's preliminary investigation has been going on for weeks and hasn't found any spread.

"It's likely to be just an oddity that doesn't mean anything," she said. "But the timing of it, coming during a coronavirus pandemic, is just unfortunate because I don't think people want to think about it even.

"I don't think they have to think about it, honestly."

Van der Meer agreed the variant case is not a major issue.

"COVID, yes," he said. "It's my biggest concern at the moment. This one is just a fluke."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2020.

Colette Derworiz, The Canadian Press