QAnon proves internet companies aren't up to the task of defending democracy

As the electoral drama unfolded on the evening of November 3, the nation held its breath. Civil society groups prepared for turmoil, journalists for rapid response and tech companies to stem the spread of disinformation.

© Getty Images QAnon proves internet companies aren't up to the task of defending democracy

Brian Friedberg, opinion contributor 

In the early hours of the morning, the networked factions that back President Donald Trump - disparate groups united by their support of the president - applauded his premature declaration of victory. Some turned to conspiracy theorists, operating in hives online, to make sense of the unfolding turmoil. Then they amplified the misinformation created in these spaces.

One group associated with such conspiracy theories is QAnon, which has contributed to the spread of misinformation in the 2020 election. The QAnon movement is centered around an individual (or group), referred to as Q, who claims to be part of a secret U.S. intelligence operation, disseminating esoteric propaganda to encourage support for Trump's imaginary crusade against forces of the so-called "deep state." It originated from the 4chan, migrated to 8chan, then found a home on 8kun, which are message boards designed to share memes and anime - not foster extremism. But their characteristics made them attractive homes for groups ranging from the hacktivist Anonymous collective, the reactionary Gamergate movement to white supremacist terror. They also have been a home for anti-democratic speech and celebrating political violence.

The growth of the QAnon conspiracy is the work of media manipulation by a small group of motivated actors, who move the storyline along across networked platforms. Like networked social movements that have used the internet as an advocacy platform, QAnon followers have managed to create a resilient cross-platform ecosystem of content and influencers that has shuttled misinformation across its various hubs for the last three years. Eventually Trump, who QAnon followers largely support, acknowledged and tacitly defended the conspiracy. As 2020 has shown us, political representation is on the horizon - several Q candidates were on ballots across the country, including Marjorie Greene, who won a seat in the House, and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who is facing a runoff election to retain her seat in the U.S. Senate.

In 2020, the limited data we have from polling and critical reporting suggests millions are now aware of and may be on board with this movement. QAnon has become a fully networked conspiracy complex with numerous entry points for new followers, such as breaking news events, celebrity gossip and political intrigue. The movement uses pseudonymity to avoid attribution on social media, distributed amplification to quickly spread disinformation and fostered by fringe "alt tech" platforms like 8kun and Gab. Sheltered by these platforms known to harbor extremist groups, QAnon punches well above its weight, affecting our media, democratic institutions and public health.

While QAnon is not the alt-right, both movements grew in the same places. QAnon first came to popular attention when its supporters became visible at Trump rallies, and it spread globally during COVID-19 lockdowns. Steeped in ancient antisemitic tropes, QAnon members engage in misguided research, networked harassment of politicians and blind support for Trump. They are not the originators of these conspiracy theories, but the amplifiers often look to Trump himself for tacit recognition, and they rely on social media to grow their ranks.

Social institutions around the world are struggling with anti-democratic movements weaponizing social media. A few people can rapidly deploy disinformation across networks to deadly results QAnon was initially spread by three conspiracy influencers before it was taken up on large platforms. This network of influence is much like fandoms, and mimics the form of activist groups. We see how these methods were used to deadly effect by white nationalists.

After Charlottesville in 2017, platforms finally removed many of the extremists who used their systems to organize the deadly Unite the Right Rally. QAnon, unlike the alt-right before it, is not focused on ethnonationalism, but rather the acceleration of civic decay in the form of political and medical disinformation, including vaccine hesitancy. While the vast majority of QAnon influencers and believers do not advocate violence, some have taken matters into their own hands.

Just as QAnon co-opted the fight against human trafficking with the #savethechildren hashtag, the movement isn't bound to the 2020 elections. On their dock now is Agenda 21, the belief global leaders are plotting a depopulation genocide to favor elites.

How are platforms responsible

The manipulation of social media by unknown actors fundamentally disrupts democratic communication. This lack of identity leads to lack of attribution, leaving our political communication in the so-called "new public square" of social media vulnerable to both domestic and foreign interference. As power and wealth is consolidated around these platforms, they show us time and time again they are unable to successfully mitigate these campaigns. Now, as we see the impact on electoral politics, we must consider the true cost of disinformation and brace for its continual impact on our democractic institutions long past the elections. Internal leaks from facebook suggest the movement was allowed to grow, unfettered, for far too long despite internal concern.

What can be done

In the chaos that exists between breaking news and verified information, disinformation thrives. Most recently, two individuals associated with the QAnon movement were arrested in Philadelphia for an alleged plot to attack the site of ballot counting. As liberals call for regulation, and conservatives rally around the abolition of Section 230, which governs liability on platforms, we cannot lose sight of what is at stake. Coalitions, like Change the Terms, have long worked to hold platforms accountable by creating model policies on hate speech. While debates about content moderation are about QAnon and Trump right now, it will not always be. The enduring influence of QAnon on political communication is a symptom of how social media platforms remain unable to adapt to evolving use cases, and the only way to counter it is to recalibrate how platforms moderate content, especially conspiracy and medical misinformation.

Brian Friedberg is a senior researcher of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Merging academic methods and Open Source Intelligence techniques, he is an investigative ethnographer, focusing on the impacts alternative media, anonymous communities and unpopular cultures have on political communication and organization.

Arkansas police chief called for violence against Democrats

By Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken

An Arkansas police chief who posted calls for violence against Democrats on social media resigned from his job on Saturday

.

© Parler 02 parler free speech app foreman pkg 07022020

Lang Holland, who was police chief of the roughly 1,300-person city of Marshall, Arkansas, drew outrage from both local residents and people around the country after making ominous comments online in recent days. In addition to repeatedly saying Democrats should be killed, he shared memes from conspiracy theory QAnon and claimed that the election was being stolen.

"Death to all Marxist Democrats," Holland posted on Parler, a new social media site popular with conservatives and used as an alternative to Twitter. "Take no prisoners leave no survivors!!"

One image he shared depicted a group of Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, wearing prison jumpsuits. Under the image he wrote: "I pray all those in that picture hang on the gallows and are drawn and quartered!!!! Anything less is not acceptable."

CNN could not reach Holland for comment. His Parler account was made private on Saturday.

Marshall Mayor Kevin Elliott issued a statement Saturday stating Holland had resigned from his position, effective immediately.

"The City of Marshall strongly condemns the actions of Mr. Holland in his posts to social media," Elliot wrote in the statement. "The Marshall community does not in any way support or condone bullying or threats of violence to anyone of any political persuasion...the Marshall Police force is here to serve and protect EVERYONE."

Elliott said he called a meeting with Holland on Saturday after his phone continued to ring off the hook with calls from people who had seen the chief's posts on Parler -- posts that were also spread across Twitter and Reddit.

The mayor said he was surprised and disturbed to find out about the posts. He described Holland as a "hero" who had served multiple tours overseas and said he "is very, very United States." But he said Holland's social media posts were out of line.

"It's not acceptable for the City of Marshall," he said. "We don't care if you're Republican or Democrat. You're a voice and you have a right."

Holland made national news earlier this year when he publicly refused to enforce the state's Covid-19 mask mandate.

B.C. must look to Oregon on recreational drug decriminalization, legalization of mushrooms: UBC expert

Srushti Gangdev

A UBC expert on drug policy says B.C. should carefully observe what happens in states south of the border that have just decriminalized some or all hard drugs — and see how those policies could hypothetically be applied here.

© (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File) FILE - 

In this May 24, 2019, file photo a vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a pop-up cannabis market in Los Angeles. Oregonians voted Tuesday to legalize the psilocybin for therapeutic use, at regulated treatment centres.

People caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs will have the option of paying US$100 fines or attending a free addiction recovery centre instead of facing arrest and the possibility of time in prison after Oregonians voted to pass Measure 110 on Tuesday.

“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” reads a statement previously issued by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.

B.C. premier calls on federal government for decriminalization of drug possession

Mark Haden, adjunct professor at the UBC School of Population and Public Health, agrees wholeheartedly.

"The drug war needs to come to an end. We need to have a health approach to drugs, not a criminal justice approach," he told Global News.

"And so the more examples that we can see around the United States and Canada of how drugs could be regulated in a way that's helpful to us, the better it is."

Haden said criminalizing people who use drugs has the effect of disproportionately incarcerating people of colour. It also, he said, means governments have to foot the bill for that, and can't collect taxes on the revenue of drug sales as they would be able to if they were regulated.

"Slowly the drug war rhetoric is crumbling under the sheer weight of its own ineffectiveness and harm that it does to all of our society," he said.

Read more: Oregon to become first state to decriminalize hard drugs, other states adopt recreational pot

Oregon also voted Tuesday on Measure 109, which legalizes the psychotherapeutic use of psilocybin — otherwise known as psychedelic mushrooms.

Haden called that decision for state health authorities to therapeutically provide the drug to patients at regulated treatment facilities very exciting and said it's something we should watch very carefully here at home.

"How would it be — if our health authorities started to take psychedelic healing seriously — how would they actually integrate that into their services?"

Haden said the legalization in Oregon will make it much easier for observational research on what patients taking psilocybin would actually experience.

"Normally with research, you have to give somebody a medicine, and then you have to go through a huge number of regulatory hurdles in order to do that, and it can actually cost millions," Haden said.

Read more: B.C.’s top doctor urges province to decriminalize possession of hard drugs to address overdose crisis

"But to be able to just observe, without giving anybody anything — it's given by the health clinic that's currently being legalized — so it makes research a whole lot easier and quite frankly less expensive."

Studies out of New York University and Johns Hopkins University have found psilocybin can significantly improve symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Public health officials in B.C. have strongly voiced support for decriminalizing possession of small doses of drugs for personal use, as has the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

In 2019, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry released a special report on the matter, which said stigma often leads drug users to hide their usage and creates barriers to accessing harm reduction and treatment services — often with tragic consequences.

Read more: B.C. premier formally asks federal government to decriminalize illegal drugs

In July of this year, B.C. Premier John Horgan formally wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking the federal government to act on decriminalization.

“Criminal prohibitions are ineffective in deterring drug use, and criminalization of drug possession directly leads to both individuals and systemic stigma and discrimination that prevent people from seeking services,” Horgan wrote.

According to the B.C. Coroners Service, 1,202 people died of illicit drug overdoses from January to September 2020 — the highest number in at least 10 years.

B.C. declared a public health emergency in April 2016 in response to the opioid crisis.

— With files from Phil Heidenreich and Richard Zussman

Oregon to become first state to decriminalize hard drugs, other states adopt recreational pot

By Phil Heidenreich Global News
Updated November 4, 2020 

A Board of Election's employee works among stacks of mail-in ballots in Linden, N.J., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

The possession of small amounts of hard drugs will be decriminalized in Oregon after people in that state voted in favour of the initiative on Tuesday.

With the vote, Oregon will become the first state in the U.S. to adopt such a policy.

When the state implements the provisions included in Measure 110, people caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs will have the option of paying US$100 fines or attending a free addiction recovery centre instead of facing arrest and the possibility of time in prison.

Measure 110 proposed funding the recovery centres through tax revenue generated by the state’s legal cannabis industry.

The proposal to decriminalize the possession of such drugs was endorsed by several organizations that represent health professionals in the state.

“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” reads a statement previously issued by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.

While some district attorneys also backed the initiative, at least two dozen of their counterparts voiced opposition to it.

Oregonians also voted to move ahead with legalizing the therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms.

Oregonians voted in 2014 to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis.

Before Election Day, 11 U.S. states had fully legalized marijuana’s use for adults and on Tuesday, people in New Jersey and Arizona voted in favour of seeing those states become the latest in the U.S. states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis.

In both New Jersey and Arizona, recreational cannabis use will become legal for people 21 and older. New Jersey will need to pass legislation to set up the cannabis marketplace in that state.

Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said the result in New Jersey “will undoubtedly have a rippling effect in the Northeast and add to the increasing pressure in neighbouring states to take action on marijuana legalization.”

The measure passed in Arizona also allows for people convicted of certain crimes related to cannabis to seek to have their records expunged.

Montana and South Dakota also voted on legalizing recreational cannabis. South Dakota, along with Mississippi, also saw people cast ballots on measures regarding the medical use of cannabis.

The legalization of cannabis use has gained momentum since 2012, when citizens of Colorado and Washington state voted in favour of the idea.

–With files from The Associated Press’ David A. Lieb and Andrew Selsky

STACEY ABRAMS FOR DNC CHAIR
Stacey Abrams helps raise $3.6m in two days for crucial Georgia Senate runoffs

Richard Luscombe in Miami

Stacey Abrams, the Democratic former candidate for Georgia governor who is credited with motivating voters against Donald Trump in the traditionally red state, has helped raise more than $3.6m in only two days for two crucial US Senate runoffs to be contested in January.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Brandon Bell/Reuters

A spokesperson for Fair Fight Action, part of Abrams’ voter education and advocacy efforts, announced the achievement on Sunday.

While the closely-watched presidential election in Georgia has yet to be decided, with President-elect Joe Biden holding a slim lead over Donald Trump and the race heading to a recount, the 5 January Senate runoffs involving Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are drawing further attention – and massive political resources.

If Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are beaten, the Senate would be balanced 50-50, making Kamala Harris, as vice-president, the tie-breaking vote and thereby ending Republican control of the chamber.

Democrats were disappointed not to take the Senate outright this year but Ossoff and Warnock performed well enough to force run-offs in Georgia.

This is going to be the determining factor of whether we have access to healthcare and access to justice

Stacey Abrams

“This is going to be the determining factor of whether we have access to healthcare and access to justice in the United States,” Abrams, a former Georgia House minority leader, said on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“Those are two issues that will make certain people turn out. We know this is going to be a hard fight, it’s going to be a competitive fight [and Ossoff and Warnock] are two men who are going to make certain that Joe Biden has the leadership, the support and the congressional mandate that he needs to move this country forward.”

Abrams believes it is an “anachronistic notion” that her party cannot win in a state that has two Republican senators, a Republican governor in Brian Kemp, and a Republican-controlled legislature. The most recent Democratic senator for Georgia was former governor Zell Miller, who retired in 2005.

“We’re so proud of the work the Biden campaign did in Georgia but we’re incredibly excited about the work that’s been done on the ground for the last decade to bring us to this point, and we’re so excited to be going blue,” Abrams said.

The support of Georgia’s black voters has been key to Biden’s strength there, but Abrams said it would take a diverse coalition to seat two Democrats in the Senate.

“We began early on saying that this is not about black and white, this is about pulling together a coalition of people of colour, of the poor, of the disadvantaged, of the marginalised, and being consistent with our engagement, not waiting for an election to meet them, and certainly not waiting till the end of an election to acknowledge their value,” Abrams said.

“We’ve been doing this work from the very beginning, but I also want to acknowledge the very strong work of progressive whites, who’ve been working to help build these opportunities as well.

“We are not a majority minority country yet. And that means that this is a coalition that has to be built and sustained across racial lines, across demography, across geography, because our mission should be the protection of our democracy, and the action of progress for all.”

Abrams’ own run at the Georgia governor’s mansion was unsuccessful, her defeat by fewer than 55,000 votes in the 2018 election to Kemp following an acrimonious contest marred by controversy.

Kemp, then Georgia’s secretary of state, retained his position through the race, effectively overseeing his own election and declaring himself the winner. Additionally, an investigation found Kemp had improperly purged 340,000 voters from the rolls.


Abrams, who never officially conceded, and who was considered by Biden as a potential running mate, embarked on a huge voter engagement effort, determined 2020 would bring a turnaround in Democratic fortunes in Georgia.

“There have been dozens of organisations and hundreds of people who’ve made this their primary mission,” Abrams said.

“I’ve been privileged to be able to bring to bear resources both before the election of 2018 and the $40m we were able to spend in 2018 to build a Democratic infrastructure that may not have yielded a victory for me but certainly yielded a victory this week.

“The people who did that work will be hard at work to ensure that we continue our streak and that we deliver two US Senate seats to join Joe Biden in January.”

Financial hurdle gone: Alberta first province to eliminate fees for addiction recovery programs
Janet French 

© CBC 

Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan says eliminating user fees for residential addiction recovery programs is good value for money. 

After 28 years sober, he lost his house, all his savings and sold all the equipment he owned to pay for alcohol.

Then, Lloydminster senior Bryan Robinson was staring down a $1,800 bill for a 45-day addiction recovery program.

His son came to his aid, paying the tab for his time at the Thorpe Recovery Centre.

"I knew I had to get well," he said in an interview on Friday. "I knew I had to get better."

Now in a long-term program at Our House Addiction Recovery Centre in west Edmonton, he's been paying $1,200 a month from his old age security and Canadian Pension Plan benefits.

But this month and beyond, his bill will be $0.

That's due to a major shift in the way the Alberta government is funding addictions recovery. For the first time, the province has eliminated fees for people to attend the 72 licensed, publicly funded treatment centres in the province.

The $40 daily cost for room and board will be covered for everyone who does not have health insurance plans that would cover the cost.

Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Jason Luan, said it's been a goal of his team since the United Conservative Party took office.

"I think we are contributing to a transformational change in the sector," he said. "I wouldn't mind to say our major step forward, this milestone, will signal another best practice that we hope will lead the country with our numbers, with our evidence."

Luan said families shouldn't have to sell a vehicle or refinance a mortgage to pay for addictions treatment programs. The cost was a huge hurdle, and one he wanted to eliminate.

He said it's also good economics. A 2018 report estimated substance use cost Alberta $5.5 billion in 2014 to pay for health services, police, court and corrections costs and in lost productivity. Every dollar invested in prevention can save another $12 down the road, he said.

His staff calculate the cost at about $8.2 million a year. About $5 million of that will be diverted from the department of Community and Social Services. People who qualified for income support or Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) already had their recovery treatment costs covered by the government.

Although about 2,700 people in those programs entered recovery each year, many people whose lives were in crisis didn't qualify for the help. Seniors, post-secondary students and the working poor were left out.

The point of the policy change is to divert people to recovery programs before they lose everything.
Expanding service key part of plan

The loss isn't limited to the person snared by addiction. Lerena Greig helps their families. Executive director of Parents Empowering Parents Society, Greig has seen families spend their life savings to pay for addiction treatment programs.

Sometimes, if a person relapses, they may go through detox and treatment two, three or four times.

She's watched parents' mental and physical health deteriorate while they carry the stress. Some have remortgaged their homes to pay. She's seen the financial and emotional pressure lead to divorces.

She said she's ecstatic the financial barrier has been removed. That's because the largest barrier to recovery is often the willingness of the person to enter treatment at all.

"With addiction, it's kind of like there's a moment of clarity," she said. "And if you don't jump on that moment of clarity when that person decides they want help, that moment is gone."

With financial barriers gone, will there be enough treatment beds to take patients in their moments of clarity?

The government has been working on that. Luan has pledged to add 4,000 treatment "spaces" over four years, bringing the total to more than 12,000 across Alberta. A "space" is a bed and staffing to treat patients for one year, but most programs are far shorter.

It's also unclear how successful recovery programs are in the long-term — the government hopes to begin tracking that.

The funding changes could also bring more stability to recovery centres, which are either non-profit or run by Alberta Health Services.

Steven Archambault, director of community engagement and fund development for Simon House Recovery Centre in Calgary, said the 84-bed facility is heavily dependent on community donations.

Rather than receiving funding per patient, centres will now bid on three-year contracts determined by their services and capacity. That could make funding more predictable and allow them to expand their offerings, Archambault said.

He said the changes are exciting.

"Ideally, in the long run, we hope that the recognition will bring a much better opportunity of lowering the stigma that is attached to addiction throughout the country."

Back in Edmonton, Robinson says saving up his pension earnings is a good first step to preparing for his eventual independence — whatever it looks like.

"Eventually, sooner or later, I've got to start, right? And it takes money to start. Or I'll be back to square one again.

ALBERTA USA, KENNEY A TRUMP MINI-ME

A spiral out of control': Doctors call for more action from Alberta government as COVID-19 rates spike

The Alberta government isn’t doing enough to curb the spread of COVID-19 as case rates surge across the province, according to some Alberta doctors

.

© Shaughn Butts 

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, associate professor in the University of Alberta department of medicine, division of infectious diseases, on July 17, 2019.

Alberta reported 919 new infections of the novel coronavirus Saturday , easily setting a new single-day case record for the province. Before Oct. 29, Alberta had never exceeded 600 cases in a single day.

The province announced some new measures Friday, including expanding a limit on social gatherings at 15 people to all regions under COVID-19 watch, as well as making a “strong request” to Calgarians and Edmontonians to stop inviting friends to their homes.

But some doctors say they’re frustrated by what they see as insufficient action in flattening the pandemic and preserving the capacity of Alberta’s health-care system.

“To me, it reads like a spiral out of control,” said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta.

“We have this high per cent positivity, we have this high rate of unknown transmission, so we don’t know for sure where it’s coming from. We now have the inability to contact-trace . So it feels like we’re flying blind in a really bad situation.”

On Friday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney rejected the idea of invoking a lockdown to beat down cases, similar to what the province had enacted during the first wave of the pandemic.

“We’ve seen other jurisdictions implement sweeping lockdowns, indiscriminately violating people’s rights and destroying livelihoods. Nobody wants that to happen here in Alberta,” Kenney said.

 (IRONICALLY HE IS REFERING TO ONTARIO RUN BY HIS OLD CONSERVATIVE PAL DOUG FORD)

But for medical experts including Saxinger and Dr. Shazma Mithani, an Edmonton emergency room doctor, a lockdown is precisely what is being called for — specifically, a short, severe lockdown that can act as a “circuit breaker” and allow transmission rates to drastically decrease.

The strategy has been deployed in some other jurisdictions worldwide, including in Melbourne, Australia, where no cases have been detected for eight consecutive days following a severe, state-ordered lockdown.

“(It’s) like throwing a blanket over the whole, spiralling mess,” Saxinger said.

Dr. Tehseen Ladha, an Edmonton pediatrician, said she wasn’t advocating for a full lockdown like the one imposed earlier this year, but said the longer the province waits to implement more measures, the more likely it will be that a lockdown becomes the only option.

She said Alberta’s doubling rate for new cases is about two weeks, meaning the province could see 2,000 daily cases by the end of November if trends don’t change. To date, four per cent of Albertans diagnosed with COVID-19 have ended up requiring hospital treatment, meaning the spike could result in 80 new hospitalizations each day.

“There’s no way our health system can deal with that many hospitalizations,” Ladha said. “What we’re seeing is an illness that we can prevent, but with the numbers going up at such a high rate, there are going to be an increased number of deaths, and not just in the elderly but in the young, as we’ve seen, and not just in people with comorbidities.”

To date, seven Albertans under the age of 50 have died of COVID-19, including a man in his 20s from Central Alberta .

Mithani said she’s seen first-hand the impacts of recent cases on Alberta’s health-care system.

She said the number of patients she is seeing admitted to hospital with COVID-19 has “drastically increased” in the three weeks, a shift she said could impact care across the board.

“It’s a palpable change that’s happened in the emergency department,” Mithani said. “If we’re already at capacity or over capacity because of COVID, that has an impact on all the other medical and surgical conditions that come in as well. It already feels stressed. We already feel stretched in terms of our capacity.”

In the Alberta Health Services Edmonton zone, 30 per cent of non-essential surgeries have been postponed as the region deals with elevated coronavirus infection rates.

Calgary physician Dr. Raj Bhardwaj said it wasn’t a matter of if Alberta’s health system would become overwhelmed, but when. He worried that patients with and without COVID-19 would suffer as a result.

Bhardwaj said he thinks Albertans are generally trying to “do the right thing” but said bending the curve will need some government intervention. He said messaging could be improved, including by clearly outlining criteria that could result in new measures if reached.

“That sort of thing would go a long way in helping people understand there are consequences for them for doing things like going out to bars or going to restaurants and sitting with people who are not part of the same cohort,” he said.

The current trajectory is causing stress for doctors across Calgary, Bhardwaj said.

“I see myself and I see my colleagues becoming demoralized and frustrated by the lack of leadership that this government showed,” he said.

STOP PARTYING IS NOT A CURE
OPINION | Kenney still hoping Albertans will take 'personal responsibility' as COVID case count soars
Graham Thomson 

1

© CBC Alberta Premier Jason Kenney speaks at a news conference Monday. Kenney said the single biggest thing Albertans can do to stop the spread of COVID-19 is stop having private parties and social gatherings.

Graham Thomson is an award-winning journalist who has covered Alberta politics for more than 30 years. This column is an opinion. For more information about our commentary section, please read our FAQ.

He is our own harbinger of doom.

When Premier Jason Kenney turns up at one of Dr. Deena Hinshaw's regular pandemic updates nowadays, we know we're in trouble.

On Friday, for the first time in many weeks, Kenney shared the podium with Alberta's chief medical officer of health to discuss the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the province.

When the pandemic first hit in the spring, Kenney was a regular at the briefings but his appearances dropped as the crisis dragged on. He popped up now and again during the summer when there was relatively good news to announce such as a program to distribute free masks or plans to reopen the economy or to start the new school year.

But he has studiously avoided taking part in the daily news conferences, unlike other premiers such as Ontario's Doug Ford who is literally front and centre at his province's regular briefings.

So, when Kenney's office announced he would be at Friday's briefing to discuss the province's alarming number of new COVID cases that hit 800 on Wednesday and topped 600 on Thursday, we expected him to announce the kind of lockdown we're seeing in other provinces.

That's not what happened.

After telling Albertans that "we must take this seriously," Kenney made a point of saying he will not follow the lead of other provinces that are enacting restrictions such as closing casinos and ending in-person dining in restaurants and bars.

"We've seen other jurisdictions implement sweeping lockdowns, indiscriminately violating people's rights and destroying livelihoods," said Kenney, in a statement that sounded more like a political speech than a health update. "Nobody wants that to happen here in Alberta."

It's certainly fair to say nobody wants their rights violated and their livelihoods destroyed but nobody wants the pandemic to run out of control and overwhelm our health care system.
Difficult balance

That's where Kenney is walking a peculiarly Albertan tightrope trying to balance his government's laissez-faire philosophy with the need to limit personal freedoms during a pandemic.

It's a wobbly journey, made all the more unstable by Alberta's predicament as arguably the hardest hit province in Canada with the triple whammy of pandemic, recession and an oil price that went negative at one point.

Kenney's mantra since last year's election has been jobs, the economy and pipelines.

However, the province's unemployment rate is the second highest in the country, the economy continues to struggle and the Keystone XL pipeline expansion to the U.S. is in jeopardy after the outcome of the American presidential election.

Kenney is afraid that following the crackdown in other provinces would further weaken Alberta's economy. He's hoping Albertans will do the right thing and take "personal responsibility" to stop the spread of COVID by, among other things, wearing a mask indoors in public settings, practising social distancing and, as of Friday, voluntarily stop holding extended family gatherings at home.

"If we don't take these kinds of simple measures and make these sorts of modest sacrifices to social life, the cases will continue to grow to a point where they may grow out of control and where the only options we have will be far more impactful on people's lives and livelihoods," he said. 

COVID confusion

Kenney did announce one new restriction on Friday. He has extended the 15-person limit on public gatherings — that up until now applied to just Calgary and Edmonton — to any community on the province's watchlist. Kenney said some Edmontonians and Calgarians had been circumventing the cities' 15-person rule by driving to the bedroom communities to hold large public gatherings. It would seem some people just can't be trusted to take personal responsibility. Or perhaps they're confused.

Kenney himself might be adding to the confusion by sending out mixed signals.

"Let's put this in perspective," he said on Friday. "While we have to take the COVID threat very seriously, it is currently projected to be the 11th most common cause of death in Alberta this year. To date, we've lost approximately 340 lives sadly to COVID-19. In a typical year 16- to 17,000 people pass away in Alberta. And so currently this represents a tiny proportion of the deaths in our province."

This is the kind of misleading argument you see online from people who dismiss the dangers of COVID-19. COVID has overwhelmed hospitals in other parts of the world and could do so here.

In the past, Kenney has also called the virus "an influenza of this nature." Again, this is the language of those who diminish the hazard of COVID. It is not the flu but a novel coronavirus more contagious and more deadly than the flu. There is no vaccine. And people who are sick enough to end up in hospital but don't die might suffer lifelong health problems.

Kenney is no doubt hoping his appearance at Friday's COVID update will provide something of a verbal slap in the face to Albertans who have become inured to the daily monotony of pandemic updates. Let's hope so.

But it would help if he used his harbinger-of-doom appearances at those updates to impart a clear message about the dangers of COVID without also diluting the warning with apples-to-oranges statistics that only serve to diminish the dangers and confuse people.

 

Figures of terror: The " zombie " and the Haitian Revolution

Raphael Hoermann

23 Pages

1 File ▾

Race and Racism,

Haitian Revolution,

Gothic Studies,

Haitian History,

Zombies

 ...more ▾

This article investigates the relation of the figure of the zombie to the Haitian Revolution, the only successful slave revolution in the Atlantic World. While existing research often stresses the strong link between the zombie and the slave, this is not borne out by the contemporary discourse on the Haitian Revolution. Whereas horror and terror are associated with the zombie from its inception, it is only with the US occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) that US-American writers and directors invented the zombie of popular North Atlantic culture: a soulless slave without consciousness directed by a zombie master. As I argue, this amounts to a neo-colonialist act of symbolic re-enslavement of the self-emancipated Haitians. This time they are deprived not merely of their freedom as under the slave regime, but even of their consciousness.

https://www.academia.edu/29472532/Figures_of_terror_The_zombie_and_the_Haitian_Revolution

It Is Easier To Imagine The Zombie Apocalypse Than To Imagine The End Of Capitalism

Zara Zimbardo

2,551 Views28 Pages

1 File ▾

Militarism,

Horror Film,

Consumerism,

Caribbean Slavery,

Monsters and Monster Theory

 ...more ▾

In recent years zombies and the zombie apocalypse have loomed large in the collective American imagination, in film and television, theme parties and marathons, shooting target companies and survivalist groups, videogames and counterterrorism training, and used in course curricula from elementary to college levels to teach topics from geography to public health to sociology. As a recurrent monster in the history of capitalism, with its origins in New World slavery in Haiti, zombies reflect what is monstrous in an economic system "that seems designed to eat people whole" (Newitz). As the "political unconscious" of late-era capitalism, what does this increasingly normalized pop culture obsession point to in the "non-human condition", of labor exploitation and unbridled consumerism? What apocalyptic futures are we repeatedly rehearsing, and how do they signal both despair of, and hope for, fundamental change? This piece examines representations in popular culture, draws out historical connections and diverse monster theories that help us see how we, in the United States in particular, are processing and making sense of systemic social and environmental horror.

https://www.academia.edu/8826773/It_Is_Easier_To_Imagine_The_Zombie_Apocalypse_Than_To_Imagine_The_End_Of_Capitalism

Mauritius oil spill: fears for island’s marine life after initial tests fail to resolve fuel mystery

Harry Cockburn,
The Independent•November 7, 2020

Wreck of the Japanese-owned bulk carrier MV Wakashio on 22 August. The ship spilled over 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil in one of Mauritius’s worst environmental disasters (Reuters)

In July this year, the Japanese cargo ship MV Wakashio, chartered by Mitsui OSK and owned by Nagashiki Shipping, struck a coral reef off the coast of the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius and spilled over 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil.

The ship had been sailing close to the reef and ran aground. Less than two weeks later, a major leak began emptying fuel oil into the lagoons and mangroves of southeast coast of Mauritius in one of the worst environmental disasters in the country’s history.

Fresh concerns have now been raised about the exact mix of fuel oil the ship was carrying, and how it will continue to impact the marine life where it was spilled.

It is normal for scientists to conduct detailed analysis of fuel spills in order to guide short- and long-term response plans, and to help protect the health of people working in the area and those handling the clean-up operation.

But as the oil slick began impacting beaches, local people as well as international organisations sprang into action to protect the habitats, without guidance on the type of fuel oil they were dealing with.

Since then, the cleanup has reportedly been conducted in a more secretive way than is usual for major oil spills, according to experts quoted by Forbes.

Last week, Nagashiki Shipping said in a statement that all the floating oil had been recovered, and work to remove oil along approximately 30km (18.6 miles) of coastline was “proceeding smoothly” and would likely be completed by January.

Meanwhile, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) said the first ultra-high-resolution analysis of an oil sample from the Mauritius spill revealed the substance to be “a complex and unusual mix of hydrocarbons”.

The scientists said that “even though some of the components in it may have already degraded or evaporated, what remains still gives it the ability to persist in the environment”.

Chris Reddy, a senior scientist at WHOI, said: “Fuel oils are arguably the most challenging petroleum products to analyse and investigate following marine-based spills.

“There is no single recipe or set of ingredients, and it gets even more complicated with these new low-sulfur fuel oils that require more steps in their manufacture. We don’t know if this was a low-sulfur material, but it’s unlike anything we’ve seen spilled before — that alone demands a closer look.”

The findings have fuelled speculation as to what the mysterious oil is, with the suggestion that a “Frankenstein fuel” made from waste plastics could have been used.

If that is the case, the impact on Mauritius could be considerably more far-reaching than the oil spill, as the creation of fuel oils with a plastic component is based on using an unknown mixture of various toxic chemicals to break down the plastics.

Since the spill, more than 50 whales and dolphins have been found dead on Mauritius’s coast, along with thousands of other sea creatures, all within a few miles of the wreck of the ship, although the cause of their death is not yet known.

The analysis of the collected fuel oil by WHOI researchers revealed that the sample contained relatively low levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are known carcinogens in humans and animals.

“Although low, the levels of PAHs might accumulate in certain parts of the marine environment,” the scientists said.

The findings will increase pressure on the Japan Ship Owners’ Mutual Protection & Indemnity Association — the insurers that are handling the cleanup operation, and which have been accused of a lack of transparency regarding the spill, with no independent organisations overseeing the cleanup.

The scientists at the WHOI have called for a “fresh” sample taken from the ship, in order to analyse the fuel oil’s makeup.

This would allow researchers to determine what has already been lost from the oil as a result of evaporation, dilution, photodegradation, and other processes.

“This [the WHOI analysis] was just a first step,” said Professor Kliti Grice, director of the Western Australian Organic Isotope Geochemistry Centre.

“Our limited view of what spilled only reinforces the need for long-term monitoring, access to samples from the ship, and a more in-depth analysis that officials can incorporate into detailed plans to help Mauritius and its environment recover from this.”

Read More

25 dolphins wash up dead in Mauritius weeks after oil spill

Mauritius conservationists race to save rare species from oil spill

Mauritius scrambles to save pristine beaches and coral reefs from cata

Mauritius oil spill: The ecocide that sparked a revolution

What's the science behind mink and coronavirus?

Helen Briggs - BBC Environment correspondent,
BBC•November 8, 2020

Mink outbreaks are a "spillover" from the human pandemic

Mutations in coronavirus have triggered culls of all 17 million farmed mink in Denmark.

Part of the country has been put under lockdown after Danish authorities found genetic changes they say might undermine the effectiveness of future Covid-19 vaccines.

More than 200 people have been infected with mink-related coronavirus.

And the UK has imposed an immediate ban on all visitors from Denmark amid concerns about the new strain.

Danish scientists are particularly concerned about one mink-related strain of the virus, found in 12 people, which they say is less sensitive to protective antibodies, raising concerns about vaccine development.

The World Health Organization has said the reports are concerning, but further studies are needed to understand the implications for treatments and vaccines.

"We need to wait and see what the implications are but I don't think we should come to any conclusions about whether this particular mutation is going to impact vaccine efficacy," said chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan.

Officials arrive at a mink farm to put down the animals

The coronavirus, like all viruses, mutates over time and there is no evidence that any of the mutations found in Denmark pose an increased danger to people.

Dr Marisa Peyre, an epidemiologist from the French research institute Cirad, said the development was "worrying", but we don't yet know the full picture.

"Every time the virus spreads between animals it changes, and if it changes too much from the one that is circulating within humans at the moment, that might mean that any vaccine or treatment that will be produced soon might not work as well as it should do," she explained.

Mink, like their relatives, ferrets, are susceptible to respiratory viruses

This is a very unusual chain of events: a virus that originally came from a wild animal, probably a bat, jumped into humans, possibly via an unknown animal host, sparking a pandemic.

Mink kept in large numbers on mink farms have caught the virus from infected workers. And, in a small number of cases, the virus has "spilled back" from mink to humans, picking up genetic changes on the way.

Mutations in some mink-related strains involve the spike protein of the virus, which is targeted by some vaccines being developed.

"If the mutation is on a specific protein that is being currently targeted by the vaccine developers to trigger an immune response in humans then it means that if this new virus strain comes out of the mink back into the humans, even with vaccination, the humans will start spreading it and the vaccine will not protect," Dr Peyre told BBC News.

More than 50 million mink a year are bred for their fur, mainly in China, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland. Outbreaks have been reported on fur farms in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US, and millions of animals have had to be culled.

Millions of mink are being culled in Denmark

Mink, like their close relatives, ferrets, are known to be susceptible to coronavirus, and like humans, they can show a range of symptoms, from no signs of illness at all to severe problems, such as pneumonia.

Scientists suspect the virus spreads in mink farms through infectious droplets, on feed or bedding, or in dust containing droppings.

Mink have caught the virus from humans, but genetic detective work has shown that in a small number of cases the virus seems to have passed the other way, with the virus spreading from mink back to humans.

Mink have become "reservoirs for the virus" and surveillance is required in other wild and domestic animals that may be susceptible, said Prof Joanne Santini of University College London.

"Mink is the extreme but it could be happening out there and we just don't know about it and that's something we need to be checking," she told BBC News.

"What we do know is that the mink are picking up the virus from people; they can be infected and they are spreading it between themselves and it's come back to humans."

Scientists in Denmark are carrying out genetic studies on mink-related strains, and the genetic data has been shared with other researchers, to allow further investigation.

"We need to find out where these mutations are and we need to see what effect that has on transmission of the virus and how infectious it is, because if it is changing and being more infectious or having a broader host range, then that's really quite scary but it might not be, because we don't know," said Prof Santini.

Some scientists have called for new restrictions on mink production, saying mink farming "impedes our response and recovery from the pandemic".

In a recent letter to the journal, Science, three scientists, from Denmark, China and Malaysia, wrote: "It is urgent to monitor, restrict, and - where possible - ban mink production."

The WHO has called on all countries to step up surveillance and tighten biosecurity measures around mink farms.

Coronavirus: This is not the last pandemic


Coronavirus: The race to find the source in wildlife


Coronavirus: Calls to shut down 'dirty fur trade'.