THEY ARE'NT CHRISTIANS THEY ARE WHITE NATIONALISTS

Toxic Christian ideology is infecting the Covid debate. And that's bad for everyone.

Despite the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., where over 340,000 people have already died, recent news about the effectiveness of vaccines has provided some hope this holiday season. Videos of the first Americans receiving the vaccine were cause for celebration.

© Provided by NBC News

A consistent narrative among many political leaders who delayed an aggressive response to the virus, including President Donald Trump, is the expectation that Covid-19 vaccines will speed the return to life as we used to know it. Yet, epidemiologists and public health experts say vital herd immunity will be harder to achieve if a sizable number of Americans resist vaccination.

Americans have found all sorts of reasons to be suspicious of vaccines. One community that appears disproportionately opposed is Christian nationalists. In fact, we find in a new study that Americans who strongly embrace Christian nationalism — close to a quarter of the population — are much more likely to question the safety of vaccines and to be misinformed about them (e.g., believing that vaccines cause autism or don't work or that those who administer them are dishonest). If enough of these Americans resist a Covid-19 vaccine based on suspicions rooted in misinformation, the results would be disastrous for achieving herd immunity and reducing the spread of the virus.

VIDEO Covid vaccine's biggest obstacle turns out to be leadership, not science

We examined nationally representative data including 1,219 participants collected by researchers at Chapman University as part of the 2019 wave of the Chapman University Survey of American Fears.

Regarding vaccination attitudes, the survey instrument asked respondents to agree or disagree with various statements that we then combined into a single scale:
"Vaccines cause autism."
"Doctors and drug companies are not honest about the risks of vaccines."
"People have the right to decide whether or not to vaccinate their kids."
"Kids are given too many vaccines."
"Vaccines do not help protect children from dangerous diseases."

To measure Christian nationalism, we combined responses to these five questions into a single scale:
"The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation."
"The federal government should advocate Christian values."
"The federal government should enforce strict separation of church and state."
"The federal government should allow prayer in public schools."
"The federal government should allow religious symbols in public spaces."

Christian nationalism is an ideology that seeks to have a particular expression of Christianity be privileged in the public sphere — in the national identity, public policies and sacred symbols of the U.S. It focuses on defining the boundaries of American citizenship, who is (and isn't) a "true" American.

Most often, a "Christian America" is one where white, native-born, politically and religiously conservative Christian Americans are at the center of the culture. In our recent book, we show that in order to understand various issues animating the culture wars, we must pay close attention to Christian nationalism.

Americans who agreed with the various measures of Christian nationalism were much more likely to espouse anti-vaccine attitudes, even after controlling for other influences, such as political party, political ideology, religiosity, race or even education.

While concerning, this information shouldn't be too surprising. First, Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are more skeptical of science. They are more likely to believe scientists are hostile to faith, that creationism should be taught in public schools and that our country relies too much on science over religion. Christian nationalists believe that authority in the public sphere should come from sources they trust are friendly to religion, not secular scientists.

In two other recent studies, we find that Christian nationalism is a leading predictor of ignoring precautionary behaviors regarding Covid-19. We show that these Americans prize individual liberty or economic prosperity rather than protection of the vulnerable. And while not measuring Christian nationalism directly, other researchers find that religious states disobeyed stay-at-home orders at a higher rate and that conservative Protestants are much more skeptical that scientists understand Covid-19.

Finally, Christian nationalism is strongly associated with support for politicians who promise to advance its values and oppose targets of suspicion. Trump and other conservative politicians have embraced anti-vaccination arguments in the past. Medical professionals have even raised the alarm about the effect of Trump's public skepticism, although as president he has acknowledged the importance of vaccinations.

So, just as with other common culture war issues, like gun control, same-sex marriage or policing, Christian nationalism appears closely intertwined with Americans' attitudes toward vaccines and the Covid-19 pandemic. One limit of these data is that the researchers at Chapman were unable to ask about a Covid-19 vaccine directly, given that they fielded the survey in the fall of 2019.

But we feel confident connecting Christian nationalism and Americans' likely responses to the Covid-19 vaccine.

In our public discourse and ethics surveys this year, we asked Americans, "Would you get vaccinated if/when a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available?" One of the possible answers was "I don't plan to get vaccinated at all." Even after controlling for important sociodemographic, religious and political characteristics, the more strongly respondents identified with Christian nationalism, the more likely they were to say they don't plan on taking the vaccine.

This is a significant concern. Christian nationalist ideology will almost certainly serve as a barrier for a sizable minority of Americans who need the vaccine. Policymakers and health care professionals will need to attend to this hurdle as they plan and then execute any broad-scale vaccination strategy.

CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM IS THE FINAL DEVOLUTION OF AMERICAN PROTESTANTISM

FAUX OUTRAGE FROM CONSERVATIVE HYPOCRITES
Dem Supporters Blast 'Misogynistic' Criticism of Janet Yellen Speaking Fees: 'How Much Should Women Make?'

Congressional members, political writers and cable TV news hosts jumped to defend President-elect Joe Biden's treasury secretary pick, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, from a "misogynistic" Friday report that found she collected $7 million in Wall Street speech fees.

© ALEX WONG / Staff/Getty Images U.S. Secretary of the Treasury nominee Janet Yellen speaks during an event to name President-elect Joe Biden’s economic team at the Queen Theater on December 1, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden is nominating and appointing key positions to the Treasury Department, Office of Management and Budget, and the Council of Economic Advisers.

Several Democrats and supporters of the incoming Biden administration responded to a Politico report that Yellen collected $7 million in speaking fees in 2019 and 2020. Numerous critics asked "so, how much exactly should women make?," in response to the article and highlighted several male financial leaders who also received exorbitant sums of money for Wall Street and corporate speaking fees.

The report highlighted that Yellen "brought in nearly $1 million" in payment for nine speeches to Citi alone since leaving the Federal Reserve.

If confirmed as Biden's treasury secretary, the former Federal Reserve chair who served from 2014 to 2018 would oversee tech and financial giants like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, the same firms she reportedly collected millions from in speaking fees.

Some progressives and numerous Biden critics said debate of Yellen's reported speaking fees is justified, and accusations of misogyny over the Politico article are just a primer for mainstream media outlets to soon "go easy" on the incoming Biden administration.

"The people who belittle Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for being a former waitress are the same faulting Janet Yellen for earning $7.2 million. So, how much exactly should women make?" wrote Andrea Junker, in response to the Politico article. That prompted the New York congresswoman's response Friday afternoon.

"Probably an unpopular take but I think it's important the public knows what their public servants' financial & income streams are, regardless of gender or party. We can note how scrutiny gets disproportionately wielded on women, but Wall St ties are a very reasonable to examine," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted concerning gender-based criticism of the article.

Probably an unpopular take but I think it's important the public knows what their public servants' financial & income streams are, regardless of gender or party.

We can note how scrutiny gets disproportionately wielded on women, but Wall St ties are a very reasonable to examine https://t.co/rOHmKazZGn— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 1, 2021

Video: Pelosi: Republicans 'in denial' about needs of Americans by blocking stimulus check increase (MSNBC)

Some Washington Democrats, including Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, vouched for Yellen's record and said she is not someone "who pulls punches when it comes to bad actors or bad behavior.

"In the last few years, she has shared her views in a range of forums — congressional testimony, media interviews, speaking engagements, and opinion pieces. She's been fully transparent ... she's spoken at economic conferences, universities and to business groups and financial institutions about her experiences and her views on what we can do as a country to build a stronger economy and increase our competitiveness," said Wyden, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, in a Friday statement to the Associated Press about moving hearings on her approval through "quickly."

MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle on Twitter Friday demanded Politico "do better," and defended Yellen for simply being "paid market value" for the speaking events.

But Intercept co-founder and journalist Glenn Greenwald defended the report and sought to call out news media reporters he believes are biased in Biden's favor.

"Democrats — including numerous Dem Party-aligned journalists — have spent all day smearing 2 Politico reporters as misogynistic because they had the sexist audacity to report on the very lucrative relationship between Janet Yellen & Wall St., the industry she's about to regulate," Greenwald wrote Friday.

The Friday Politico headline that said Yellen "made millions in Wall Street, corporate speeches" is a line that could just as easily replace her name with numerous former former Fed chairs and current Trump administration members (Biden's old boss, former President Barack Obama, was chastised in 2017 for charging $400,000 to give a single Wall Street conference speech regarding health care).

For four years the President’s daughter profited enormously off her taxpayer-funded position in the White House. Spare me the faux outrage about powerful women being paid equitable speaking fees.— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) January 1, 2021

"For four years the President's daughter [Ivanka Trump] profited enormously off her taxpayer-funded position in the White House. Spare me the faux outrage about powerful women being paid equitable speaking fees," tweeted pollster Matt McDermott, kickstarting a social media debate of whether the reporting was "sexist" as many had claimed.

Newsweek reached out to representative for Yellen and the Biden transition team Friday afternoon for additional remarks.

Edmonton artist brings medieval flare to this look back at 2020's pandemic, politics and pop culture

CBC/Radio-Canada 1

1/1/2021

© Illustration by Paul Twa An illustrated year-in-review of 2020's politics, pop culture and pandemic.

While people are more than ready to put 2020 behind them, there's no denying that the year will be a tough one to forget.

For an Edmonton artist, looking back at 12 months of politics, pop culture and a pandemic became the perfect opportunity to try his hand at an illustrated year-in-review, inspired by a grandmother he never knew.

"She would illustrate the year in this sort of pathway, and every anniversary she would give it to my granddad with all the events from their life, but also historical events and important things that happened that year," said Paul Twa, a graphic designer and illustrator at the Sticks & Stones marketing agency.

Twa loved the tradition, started by his gran Adele Hamilton and carried on by his own mom, but was looking for a way to put his own spin on it, making it less personal while still being relevant to people looking at it.

© Submitted by Paul Twa 

Paul Twa is a graphic artist and illustrator who works for an Edmonton marketing agency.

From Trump to Tiger King, toilet paper to Taylor Swift, 2020 served up inspiration in spades.

"This year in particular, I think we heard people saying, 'Oh, it feels like I'm living through history," Twa said.

"We were aware that there were a lot of things happening at once: economically, politically — just socially and how we live our lives."

Unlike his gran's curving paths, Twa's year-in-review is a rectangular grid with the individual months plotted around the perimeter. Each month contains several images, each representing different happenings.

© Illustration by Paul Twa Paul Twa's illustration of March includes the stock market crash, WHO declaring the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, working from home, Tiger King's release on Netflix, reminders to wash our hands, and empty store shelves as people stockpile supplies of things like toilet paper.

"I think March is my favourite section," he said, highlighting the declaration of the pandemic, the stock market crash, working from home, Tiger King and emptied store shelves. "So many people, in North America at least, remember March as a period of quite a lot of change."

The medieval flare to the artwork was deliberately chosen, based on Twa's research of Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a famous illuminated collection of prayers created in the early 1400s. That book, like Twa's year-in-review, was illuminated with visuals for each calendar month.

"This medieval style of illustration, I chose because it inherently kind of links 2020 to the history books in a way," he said.

Twa spent a week at the beginning of December brainstorming the content and design.

The artwork, depicting 50 events including 30 people and seven animals, took 28 hours to complete using a digital illustration app. He also wrote out a key to explain the events he had illustrated.

© Illustration by Paul Twa In May, hand sanitizers become a staple in public and private spaces, George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Lady Gaga released Chromatica and graduates celebrated in distant ways.

© Illustration by Paul Twa In December, monoliths began mysteriously appearing in locations around the world, nations including Canada and the U.K. began administering a COVID-19 vaccination, and families celebrated an unusual Christmas in the face of gathering restrictions.

"It was one of my more ambitious projects," he said, noting that the finished product warrants more than a cursory glance.

"It's rare ... to have something that is meant to spend time with. I think most people can look at an illustration and kind of take it in. This one, because I was zooming in so much, requires a closer viewing."

Twa, who rarely prints out his own work and had never sent Christmas cards before, turned this into a newsletter that he plans to turn into an annual tradition — just like the drawings done by his gran.

"This is a way of connecting with someone who I never got the chance to meet, but who obviously had some really cool, creative ideas," he said.

"I'm excited to maybe have established something that I can do each year, sending Christmas cards as sort of a point of reflection for my friends and family."

© Submitted by Paul Twa Each year, Adele Hamilton drew an illustrated path representing personal and world events, which she gave to her husband, Alistair. This image combines her illustrations from 1971 to 1975.

IN THE HOOD
Hate crime committed at Catholic church in Edmonton: police

© Credit: Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton Police charged a man with a hate crime after an incident at Santa Maria Goretti.

Edmonton police have laid two charges against a 25-year-old man in connection to a hate crime at Edmonton's Santa Maria Goretti church.

Police say on Dec. 13, a man allegedly interrupted the service with offensive comments and gestures. He also filmed the incident, before posting it on social media.

Edmonton Police say the video has since been removed, and the man was charged with mischief and mischief to religious property, a hate crime under the Criminal Code of Canada.

READ MORE: Saskatchewan RCMP issue ‘Crime Pattern Alert’ as thieves target more churches

According to Grandin Media, a website that shares information from the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton, three men used false names to register for the 11 a.m. mass.

Father George Puramadathil, Santa Maria Goretti's pastor, said he was cleaning the sacred Holy Communion items when a man came up to the altar.

"I thought maybe a youth group member, announcing something for Christmas."

The man started speaking in Italian, before switching to English.

"He started to use very vulgar language, then I was not sure - what was his intention? Nobody moved," Puramadathil explained.

The pastor said the man then pulled a bottle of wine out of his pocket and opened it. That's when Puramadathil decided to intervene.

"I approached him and I said, 'Please leave the church, we are celebrating mass, you cannot do that,’” the pastor said.

Instead of doing so, the intruder allegedly walked over to the wide, in front of a family who had just baptized their baby - dropped his pants and exposed himself.

"It was unexpected, unacceptable. Without our permission also - nobody can do such a thing in the church. It was shocking for everyone," Puramadathil said.

As volunteers approached - the man ran out a side door and scaled a fence in his escape.

READ MORE: Police investigate vandalism on Jesus Christ statue in southwest Calgary

In a statement, the Catholic Archdiocese said the accused has been banned from Santa Maria Goretti and all other Archdiocese properties.

"The Archdiocese of Edmonton is grateful for the ongoing support of the Edmonton Police Service. The fact that one of the charges — mischief to religious property — is considered a hate crime, shows the seriousness of the incident," the statement reads.

"This kind of action cannot, and will not, be tolerated."

In its own statement, EPS wrote: "Police have made the decision not to release the suspect’s name in order to avoid contributing to social media notoriety and encouraging copycat events."

Tik Tok dances and bread making: Online pandemic trends could be linked to industrial revolution theories, says Edmonton sociologist

Whether it’s been stockpiling toilet paper, baking mountains of bread or learning the latest TikTok dance, COVID-19 has brought about a swath of viral trends in 2020 that may or may not make sense to onlookers.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Portrait of Anton Atienza in downtown Edmonton on December 4, 2020.

Anton Atienza, an Edmonton Instagram lifestyle and fashion influencer and content creator, said he avoided most of the repeating trends but did get into the home workouts and establishing fitness trend. He wasn’t alone, as stores across the city reported a shortage of fitness gear this spring.

Atienza said trends appeared to be exploding this year as people were stuck at home watching Netflix and scrolling through their social media feeds. A perfect recipe to allow a single Tik Tok to explode into thousands of people becoming amateur bakers.

“It was just, like, one of those Tik Tok influencers out in the U.S. that was just, like, ‘We’re at home,’ and then it became a thing turning into, like, food bloggers making (making bread) and then lifestyle bloggers doing it,” said Atienza about the summer trend of baking sourdough and banana bread.

Personally, he said the engagements on his posts rose sharply throughout the pandemic, showing that people were scrolling more and allowing social media to influence people on how to spend their newfound free time.

‘Old rules don’t apply anymore’

Dr. Tami Bereska, a sociologist at MacEwan University, said whether people were engaging with Tik Tok dances or making sweets, they were most likely being influenced by two major factors: a rapid social change and media sources enhancing stories.

“People were floundering. They weren’t sure what they should be doing, how they should be acting and so they would strike out in a peculiar way, like hoarding toilet paper and flour,” said Bereska.

She said the idea goes all the way back to the industrial revolution as social life changed drastically. A sociologist named Emile Durkheim created the idea of “anomie,” a feeling that occurs when traditional norms or behavioural expectations decline.

“Basically, people are stunned and confused. The old rules don’t apply anymore and so they’re left floundering trying to figure out what behaviours are acceptable or unacceptable,” said Bereska. 

© Shaughn Butts Toilet paper shelves are nearly barren at a Terwillegar grocery store on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

She said anomie, on top of an overabundance of traditional and non-traditional media, could explain why people began to hoard toilet paper as COVID-19 came to North America or why people began to shop more online than they would have in person before the pandemic.

She said it also explains why alcohol and substance abuse rose during the pandemic.

“So the pandemic hit, and people are experiencing this sense of normlessness and they see one news story about a store, somewhere in the middle of Manitoba, that ran out of toilet paper and pretty soon there’s this panic. Everybody needs to buy toilet paper,” said Bereska.

As the pandemic dragged on from days to weeks to months, Bereska said people most likely turned to popular culture for ideas that would be entertaining and calming in a stressful time.

She said the fact that there are baking and cooking shows, coupled with sweet food being comforting in stressful times, would explain people’s sharp turn towards baking.
Stay away from Twitter: Atienza

Now that we’re into winter months of the year, Atienza said the latest trends Edmontonians have latched onto are hot chocolate bombs. He said both businesses and people are trying to create them and sell them.

To stay in the know, he suggests people stay on Instagram and Tik Tok, but recommended people to stay away from Twitter.

“I’d probably say stay away from Twitter. I feel like it’s a dark hole right now with COVID and the politics,” said Atienza. “I’m sure you’ll find a lot of trends, look at different hashtags.” In Edmonton, he added, social media users can look up hashtags like #yegfood and #yegfashion.

dshort@postmedia.com

CRYPTOASTROPHYSICS BLACK HOLES ARE COSMIC CRYPTIDS

A giant black hole keeps evading detection and scientists can't explain it

An enormous black hole keeps slipping through astronomers' nets.

© Provided by Space This composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2261 contains optical data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Japan's Subaru Telescope showing galaxies in the cluster and in the background, and data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory showing hot gas (colored pink) pervading the cluster. The middle of the image shows the large elliptical galaxy in the center of the cluster.

Supermassive black holes are thought to lurk at the hearts of most, if not all, galaxies. Our own Milky Way has one as massive as 4 million suns, for example, and M87's — the only black hole ever imaged directly — tips the scales at a whopping 2.4 billion solar masses.

The big galaxy at the core of the cluster Abell 2261, which lies about 2.7 billion light-years from Earth, should have an even larger central black hole — a light-gobbling monster that weighs as much as 3 billion to 100 billion suns, astronomers estimate from the galaxy's mass. But the exotic object has evaded detection so far.

Related: Historic first images of a black hole show Einstein was right (again)

For instance, researchers previously looked for X-rays streaming from the galaxy's center, using data gathered by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in 1999 and 2004. X-rays are a potential black-hole signature: As material falls into a black hole's maw, it accelerates and heats up tremendously, emitting lots of high-energy X-ray light. But that hunt turned up nothing.

Now, a new study has conducted an even deeper search for X-rays in the same galaxy, using Chandra observations from 2018. And this new effort didn't just look in the galaxy's center; it also considered the possibility that the black hole was knocked toward the hinterlands after a monster galactic merger.

When black holes and other massive objects collide, they throw off ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. If the emitted waves aren't symmetrical in all directions, they could end up pushing the merged supermassive black hole away from the center of the newly enlarged galaxy, scientists say.

Such "recoiling" black holes are purely hypothetical creatures; nobody has definitively spotted one to date. Indeed, "it is not known whether supermassive black holes even get close enough to each other to produce gravitational waves and merge; so far, astronomers have only verified the mergers of much smaller black holes," NASA officials wrote in a statement about the new study.

"The detection of recoiling supermassive black holes would embolden scientists using and developing observatories to look for gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes," they added.

Abell 2261's central galaxy is a good place to hunt for such a unicorn, researchers said, for it bears several possible signs of a dramatic merger. For example, observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based Subaru Telescope show that its core, the region of highest star density, is much larger than expected for a galaxy of its size. And the densest stellar patch is about 2,000 light-years away from the galaxy's center — "strikingly distant," NASA officials wrote.

In the new study, a team led by Kayhan Gultekin from the University of Michigan found that the densest concentrations of hot gas were not in the galaxy's central regions. But the Chandra data didn't reveal any significant X-ray sources, either in the galactic core or in big clumps of stars farther afield. So the mystery of the missing supermassive black hole persists.

That mystery could be solved by Hubble's successor — NASA's big, powerful James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in October 2021.

If James Webb doesn't spot a black hole in the galaxy's heart or in one of its bigger stellar clumps, "then the best explanation is that the black hole has recoiled well out of the center of the galaxy," NASA officials wrote.

The new study has been accepted for publication in a journal of the American Astronomical Society. You can read it for free at the online preprint site arXiv.org.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

Australia wants to build an Antarctica airport for its scientists. The scientists don't want it


Like


Australia’s government is planning to build an airport and runway in Antarctica, as part of a multimillion dollar scheme it says will ensure year-round access for environmental scientists to study the continent’s wildlife and marine ecosystem.  

© Provided by National Post A helicopter pilot critically injured in Antarctica when he fell 20 metres down a crevasse may be flown to mainland Australia for treatment.

There’s just one problem, though — many of the environmental scientists in question say they do not want the infrastructure. Instead, some deem the scheme a waste of time, saying it could potentially be destructive to the biodiversity of the continent.

“Although it is being done in the name of science, very few scientists are enthusiastic,” Shaun Brooks, an environmental scientist at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies of the University at Tasmania, told the Guardian . “This is more about flag-waving. It is about firming up Australia’s presence and our claim.”

Australia currently maintains three year-round research stations — at Mawson, Casey, Davis — and also has one on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Flights to the continent often depend on under-developed gravel or ice runways during warmer periods of the year, such as the blue-ice runway at the Wilkins Aerodrome. These runways are, however, becoming inoperable as global warming melts local surfaces.

The new proposed airstrip would be 2.7 kilometres long and 40 metres wide, according to the government, and, unlike current runways, would be constructed out of cement and 11,500 concrete blocks, each weighing more than 10 tonnes.

The land would be flattened by blasting and crushing, before the runway was filled out with soil and rock. The plan, which could take decades to construct, would also require a new storage area for explosives; land reclamation from the sea for a new wharf where transport ships could dock; tanks for aviation fuel; and a four-kilometre access road.

Brooks said the infrastructure would increase the human footprint on the continent by an estimated 40 per cent, which could not only devastate wildlife habitat, but also disrupt breeding colonies of seals and penguins.

“I can’t help thinking this will become a white elephant. How can you justify a multi-billion-dollar runway for a base with only 19 people during the winter and which has been maintained without problems since 1957?” he told the Guardian.

Geoff Dimmock, a former organizer of mail drops and supply missions in the region, also criticized the plan, adding that there was no way to avoid noise disruption and contamination as part of the project. “I don’t want the hills flattened,” he told the Guardian. “Environmentally, I think this is a real bad precedent to set. And it’s poor value for money.”

Peter Whish-Wilson, an Australian Green Party senator, asked parliament how such a project could align with the country’s goal to promote “leadership and environmental stewardship” in the region.

The government, though, insists the environmental impact will be scrutinized carefully, and will be submitted to other Antarctic Treaty nations and released for public consultation.

“The construction of the aerodome will have some unavoidable impacts,” a spokesperson told the Guardian,” and we are committed to understanding the environmental impacts and implementing mitigation measures to the highest standards possible.”

Activists say there are other alternatives, such as using aircraft that use skis instead of wheels for take-off and landing.

Plans to built a permanent airport at the Davis research station had been proposed decades ago, but were balked at by past governments due to the cost involved. Interest in the idea was revived in recent years and has since been pushed by Environment Minister Sussan Levy, and head of the Australian Antarctic Division Kim Ellis, who is also the chief executive of Sydney Airport.

The government is conscious that China and Russia are upgrading their bases in the region and want to up their presence on the continent, the Guardian reported.

“The scale of this is so out of step with our requirements. I think putting up this big flag will encourage others to do something similar,” Brooks said. “It doesn’t align with Australia’s claim to be an environmental leader. Antarctica is special. Everywhere else in the world, you measure wilderness by what’s left. In Antarctica, it’s still the other way round.”

THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN, HELL AND PURGATORY 
Italy begins year-long celebration of Dante's 700th anniversary with virtual Uffizi exhibition

Eighty-eight rarely seen drawings of Dante’s The Divine Comedy have been put on virtual display as Italy begins a year-long calendar of events to mark the 700th anniversary of the poet’s death.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Roberto Palermo/AP

The drawings, by the 16th-century Renaissance artist Federico Zuccari, are being exhibited online, for free, by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

“Until now these beautiful drawings have only been seen by a few scholars and displayed to the public only twice, and only in part,” said Eike Schmidt, the Uffizi’s director. “Now they are published in full, alongside a didactic-scientific comment, where from [Friday] they will be freely available.”

© Provided by The Guardian 

Lucifer in a drawing by Zuccari. Photograph: Roberto Palermo/AP

Dante Alighieri, known as the father of the Italian language, was born in Florence in 1265 and died and was buried in Ravenna in 1321. His epic poem, The Divine Comedy, is split into three parts and traces a pilgrim’s journey through hell, purgatory and heaven.

The sketches were completed by Zuccari during his stay in Spain between 1586 and 1588. Of the 88 illustrations, 28 are depictions of hell, 49 of purgatory and 11 of heaven. After Zuccari’s death in 1609, the drawings were possessed by the noble Orsini family, for whom the artist had worked, and later by the Medici family before becoming part of the Uffizi collection in 1738.

© Photograph: Roberto Palermo/AP Ulisse and Diomede, 

the fraudulent advisers, in a drawing of The Divine Comedy by Federico Zuccari.

Owing to their fragility, only a selection of the pencil-and-ink drawings have been exhibited publicly in the past. The first time was in Florence in 1865 to mark the 600th anniversary of Dante’s birth as well as the Italian unification, and the second time was for an exhibition in Abruzzo in 1993.

© Provided by The Guardian The forest of suicides from The Divine Comedy in a sketch by Zuccari. Photograph: Roberto Palermo/AP

“The Uffizi Gallery is really proud to open the anniversary of the great poet’s death by making this extraordinary collection of graphic art available to all,” said Schmidt. He added that the works were “valuable material” not only for researchers but also for those passionate about Dante and interested in his pursuit of “knowledge and virtue”.

Events commemorating the anniversary of Dante’s death are expected to take place throughout the year in Florence, Ravenna and 70 other towns and villages connected to the poet.

Industry, local mayors say they weren't consulted on B.C. fish farm phase out plan

VANCOUVER — Several Vancouver Island mayors and members of British Columbia's salmon farming industry say a federal decision to phase out fish farming has left them feeling "disposable and discarded."

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In an open letter to Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan, they say they weren't consulted before she announced a plan to phase out open-net pen farming in the Discovery Islands over the next 18 months.

Jordan said earlier this month the decision came after hearing unanimous opposition to the farms from local First Nations.

"You made this decision without even speaking to the industry nor locally elected officials who deeply understand B.C.'s salmon farming communities and have a direct interest in your action," the letter says.

"Be advised that we will no longer sit on the sidelines and will be pursuing every possible option to remedy this untenable situation."

The Discovery Islands act as a bottleneck along wild salmon migration routes and eliminating the fish farms was a key recommendation made in 2012 by the Cohen Commission on the decline of Fraser River sockeye.

However, the recommendation was contingent on the Fisheries Department finding the farms posed "more than a minimal risk of serious harm" to the health of migrating sockeye by Sept. 20, 2020.

On Sept. 28, the department said scientific assessments had found nine pathogens from farmed salmon in the islands posed a minimal risk to wild stocks. The risk of the viruses transferring from farmed to wild Fraser River stocks was less than one per cent, it said.

John Paul Fraser, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, said instead of allowing the farms to continue, the government announced a new consultation process that excluded the industry. He learned about the phase out 15 minutes before the government announced it, he said.

"That's what we're looking at here, a decision that was not well conceived, certainly ill-informed and did not in any way contemplate the consequences not just of the Campbell River economy, but really the whole economy of Vancouver Island," Fraser said.

Workers in the industry were classified as essential under COVID-19 restrictions, only to learn before Christmas that their jobs would be lost without a say, he said.

"Now we just feel discarded, you go from thinking you're doing something important and we can build on it to now being treated like it doesn't matter."

The letter says the move will eliminate about 1,500 jobs and could put the entire $1.6-billion provincial industry at risk.

It is signed by mayors in Campbell River, Port Hardy, Port McNeill and Gold River, as well as 11 industry representatives.

Jordan said in a statement that she plans to meet with industry and community representatives in early 2021 to discuss the transition.

"The decision to phase out fish farms in the Discovery Islands was not an easy one. It was made after many consultations and weighing many factors," she said.

Aquaculture plays an important role in British Columbia's economy, but the farms in the Discovery Islands are a "specific case," she said.

The licences were renewed on an annual basis — unlike others that had been granted longer tenures — "always with the understanding that a decision regarding their permanent status would be made by December 2020," Jordan said.

Under the plan, 19 existing farms in the Discovery Islands had their licences renewed for 18 months. The farms are not allowed to add new fish during that period, and can only grow and harvest the existing stocks until they are empty.

Phasing out net-pen fish farming in B.C. waters by 2025 was a Liberal campaign promise in the federal election.

Dean Dobrinsky, director of human resources and communications for fish farm company Mowi, said the company has about 17 farms in the area, although some straddle boundaries and the department hasn't communicated which farms are at issue.

He said the impact of the decision goes much further than the local farms, as supply chains link them with a fish processing plant in Port Hardy and distribution networks in Surrey and beyond.

The Discovery Island farms comprise about 30 per cent of Mowi's B.C. salmon production and the company will have to assess whether that loss means cutbacks in other areas of the business.

"When you take out that production and you don't have an obvious option to replace it, you start looking at whether our business is viable," he said.

The Discovery Islands are in the traditional territory of the Homalco, Klahoose, K’omoks, Kwaikah, Tla’amin, We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations.

When the phase out was announced, Homalco Chief Darren Blaney said it was a relief to members of the First Nation.

Fish farms are one of several threats facing the salmon, alongside climate change, warming waters and habitat loss, he said.

“It feels like it’s been such a long time, you know, to watch our salmon dwindle and dwindle and our community get less and less food fish each year, it was hard to bear,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 31, 2020.

Rio's new mayor launches probes targeting predecessor

The new mayor of Rio de Janeiro took office Friday launching a raft of investigations into corruption allegations against his predecessor, an Evangelical pastor allied with Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro

.

© CARL DE SOUZA Rio de Janeiro's new mayor, Eduardo Paes, is seen waving after voting in municipal elections on November 29, 2020

Outgoing mayor Marcelo Crivella had already been arrested on December 22 and suspended from his job over the allegations. But the new mayor, Eduardo Paes, wasted no time piling more pressure on the man he defeated in municipal elections last November.

A veteran centrist who previously led Brazil's second city from 2009 to 2016, Paes used his first day back in office to order four probes into alleged corruption and strongarming in the Crivella administration.

"Never in the history of Rio de Janeiro has a mayor received such a perverse inheritance from his predecessor," Paes said at his swearing-in ceremony.

\\
The probes he ordered will investigate allegations that the Crivella administration forced companies to pay bribes to win public contracts, committed irregularities in the construction of a Covid-19 field hospital, embezzled funds for protective gear and health equipment against the pandemic, and ran an operation called the "Guardians of Crivella" whose mission was to stop journalists from covering the impact of the health crisis.

Crivella, a gospel singer and bishop in the powerful Universal Church of the Kingdom of God -- which was founded by his uncle -- has denied the accusations. He says he is the victim of political persecution.

Bolsonaro, who hails from Rio, supported Crivella's election campaigns. But he has distanced himself from the former mayor since the latter lost his re-election bid in a landslide.

The president said after the elections that he would work well with Paes.

Paes, 51, presided over what many consider a golden period for Rio, when it hosted the 2014 World Cup final and 2016 Olympics.

The city of seven million people has since been beset by political and financial crises.

Paes was one of 5,475 mayors to be sworn in on New Year's Day in Brazil following last year's municipal elections.

The polls largely marked the return of traditional politicians and parties -- especially from the center and center-right -- after an anti-establishment wave swept Bolsonaro to power in 2018.

jhb/dw