Blog Archives

Good Guys and Bad Guys in the War in Ukraine

2/27/2022

The thing about wars is that we are conditioned to see them in terms of good guys and bad guys. Russia has invaded Ukraine. Ergo, the Russians must be the villains.

But why did Russia invade Ukraine? Is it because Putin is a megalomaniacal despot?   0r are his reasons based on grievances that reached a breaking point?

Here are two sites that give a different portrayal of Russia’s rationale from what you are hearing in the mainstream media.

The first site, from the Off-Guardian, gives an historical perspective of Ukraine’s relationship with Russia. It also details the Kremlin's concerns about the growing militarization of Ukraine.   off-guardian.org/2022/02/25/whats-really-going-on-in-ukraine/

The second site is a translation of the speech given last Thursday by Vladimar Putin to the Russian people, justifying what is going on in Ukraine at the moment.  Be prepared for a style that is very different from what you might hear from Joe Biden or Justin Trudeau. This is a long, step by step, historical explanation of why Putin considers, not Ukraine, but America and NATO to be the real threat to Russia. sputniknews.com/20220224/putin-authorizes-special-operation-in-donbass-1093318890.html

Does the promotion of these two postings mean that Democracy Alert supports Russia in this conflict? Absolutely not.

But we can see why Russia might be uneasy with the presence of the NATO military "exercises" they insist are taking place on Ukrainian territory. We're pretty sure the US would not allow similar incursions by the Russians or Chinese in Cuba or Venezuela.

So let’s go back to our allusion to the good guys and bad  guys in this conflict. The good guys, in our opinion, are the vast majority of Ukrainian citizens who are helpless pawns in this power play among superplayers on the international scene.

Yes, one of the bad guys is Russia, but is it really the only one?

Might not the impression, given by mainstream media, that the behind the scenes dealings of the Americans and NATO in Ukraine over the past few years have been entirely benevolent and in the interests of ordinary Ukrainians, be either short-sighted or slanted? And if so, why is that?

The reasons for the Ukraine war could be a lot more complicated and devious than we are led to believe.

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Rex Murphy's Take on the Freedom Convoy and Democracy

2/21/2022

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Below is a must watch video for those of you who have become increasingly uncomfortable with government's and the media's portrayal of the truckers' Freedom Convoy protest and the Emergencies Act that it has provoked. It's of Rex Murphy being interviewed by Jordan Peterson, a professor emeritus of University of Toronto with a large YouTube following.

In the three days since the dialogue was published, the video has already been watched by over 1,100,000 people and garnered 71,000 likes. You may not agree with all that you hear as both speakers come from the right of the political spectrum on some issues that may be important to you.

But this is an interview that asks and discusses the hard questions. Well done, Rex!

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Are Canadian hospitals really filled with unvaccinated COVID patients?

2/20/2022

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Those who defend the Vaccine Passport system generally make two arguments. One is that the unvaccinated are more contagious than the vaccinated. Past blog1 postings have identified the considerable amount of research that now debunks this assertion.

The second argument is that our hospitals are overwhelmed by unvaccinated COVID patients. But is that true?

Apparently not.

The Canadian COVID Care Alliance, a not-for-profit, movement of independent Canadian scientists and doctors, has published statistics comparing the in-hospital rates for Ontario COVID patients by vaccination status. Their recent report showed the following:

Unvaccinated rate: 17.35 cases per 100,00 unvaccinated patients (282 cases in hospital)

Partially vaccinated rate: 14.67 cases per 100,000 "pv" population (83 cases in hospital)
Fully vaccinated rate: 15.22 cases per 100,000 "fv" population (1237 cases in hospital)

The CCCA concludes that: "There does not appear to be any significant evidence to support the claim that the SARS-COV-2 pandemic is due to any one group. Vaccinated, partially vaccinated and unvaccinated are all getting infected and hospitalized at about the same rate."

Ontario's statistics do not represent an aberration or one-off experience. Instead, their statistics are very much in-line with what is happening elsewhere.

Published in The Expose, Feb. 15th, Feb 14th and Feb 11th

The Trudeau government has to be aware of these numbers, yet it has refused to meet with the truckers in the Freedom Convoy, preferring to portray them as far-right, racist extremists. Why is that?

What's really going on here?

Marilyn Reid

1 Studies that show the vaccinated can spread the virus as easily as the unvaccinated.
1. The Lancet Infectious Diseases October 202112 — Fully “vaccinated” individuals who develop breakthrough infections have a peak viral load similar to that of unvaccinated people, and efficiently transmit the infection to unvaccinated and “vaccinated” alike in household settings.
2. The Lancet Preprint13 — Fully “vaccinated” Vietnamese health care workers who contracted breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 Delta infections had viral loads that were 251 times higher than those found in cases infected with earlier strains. So, the shots do not appear to protect against infection with the Delta strain.
3. A July 31, 2021, medRxiv preprint by Riemersma et. al.14 found no difference in viral loads between unvaccinated people and those “fully vaccinated” who developed breakthrough infections. They also found the Delta variant was capable of “partial escape from polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies.”
4. Eurosurveillance rapid communication, July 202115 — An outbreak of the Delta variant in a hospital in Finland suggested the shots did little to prevent the spread of infection, even among the “vaccinated,” and despite routine use of face masks and other protective equipment.
5. Eurosurveillance rapid communication, September 202116 — An upsurge of Delta variant infections in Israel, at a time when more than 55% of the population were “fully vaccinated,” also showed the COVID shots were ineffective against this variant. The infection spread even to those who were fully jabbed AND wore surgical masks.

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Two Videos that might change your Perspective about the Truckers' Freedom Convoy

2/9/2022

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See Video links in Paragraphs 5 & 6.

Truckers from Newfoundland and Labrador are participating in the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa - a movement that started out initially protesting against the federal government's imposition of a vaccine passport on truckers reentering the country from the United States. It has since evolved into a protest against the mandates that require people be vaccinated in order to work.

The truckers argue that workers should have the freedom to decide for themselves whether they want to be vaccinated or not. They maintain that discrimination against the unvaccinated makes no sense given that, according to the science (1), the vaccinated can spread the COVID virus just as easily as the unvaccinated.

That truckers from across the country would take on a journey of that length and that expense implies that they feel strongly about their cause. Yet we rarely get an unbiased viewpoint of what has driven them to take this extraordinary step, or what they are actually doing on the streets of Ottawa.

Below are links to two videos that, perhaps, will help widen or clarify whatever perspective you might have.

The first, by Jean-Francois Girard, is a short, three minute depiction of what's going on in Ottawa, as shown from the perspective of both the PM and on the ground participants. Scroll halfway down the page of the following link to find it.

www.globalresearch.ca/video-ottawa-freedom-convoy-protesters-honest-respectful-citizens- not-justin-trudeau-says/5769697

The second is a thirty minute press conference given by the leaders of the truckers’ movement. In it they explain why they are in Ottawa and how they foresee things evolving.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fBFdLGUZw

Ask yourself as you view these videos if you really think these people are selfish, misguided individuals led astray by misogynists, racists and far right extremists. That’s what the Trudeau government would have you believe.

Or, is it possible that they just might be principled people who, at great inconvenience to themselves, want to persuade parliamentarians and municipal leaders that the vaccine passport system is not just unjust, but, in their opinion, unsupported by the science.

The Freedom Truckers are asking the government to sit down and talk to their representatives, along with the scientists and doctors that have joined them. So far, the Trudeau government has refused.

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1 Studies that show the vaccinated can spread the virus as easily as the unvaccinated.
1. The Lancet Infectious Diseases October 202112 — Fully “vaccinated” individuals who develop breakthrough infections have a peak viral load similar to that of unvaccinated people, and efficiently transmit the infection to unvaccinated and “vaccinated” alike in household settings.
2. The Lancet Preprint13 — Fully “vaccinated” Vietnamese health care workers who contracted breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 Delta infections had viral loads that were 251 times higher than those found in cases infected with earlier strains. So, the shots do not appear to protect against infection with the Delta strain.
3.  A July 31, 2021, medRxiv preprint by Riemersma et. al.14 found no difference in viral loads between unvaccinated people and those “fully vaccinated” who developed breakthrough infections. They also found the Delta variant was capable of “partial escape from polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies.”
4. Eurosurveillance rapid communication, July 202115 — An outbreak of the Delta variant in a hospital in Finland suggested the shots did little to prevent the spread of infection, even among the “vaccinated,” and despite routine use of face masks and other protective equipment.
5.  Eurosurveillance rapid communication, September 202116 — An upsurge of Delta variant infections in Israel, at a time when more than 55% of the population were “fully vaccinated,” also showed the COVID shots were ineffective against this variant. The infection spread even to those who were fully jabbed AND wore surgical masks.

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I’m a Canadian of Color, a Professor, and I Support the Truckers

2/1/2022

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For those of us who believe that public engagement and discussion are essential in a healthy democracy, the last two years of our COVID ordeal have been deeply discouraging. Why? Simply put, there seems to be little desire amongst Canadians who willingly took the vaccines to listen to the concerns others may have about parts of the COVID narrative. Nowhere has this seemed more evident than amongst our intellectual class. It has been quite the surprise.

This posting is by an academic who has tried to speak out.

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I’m a Canadian of Color, a Professor, and I Support the Truckers

Cornelius Christian is an associate professor of economics at Brock University.
This January 31st article was published by the Brownstone Institute.

The trucker convoy is a racist movement composed of white high-school dropouts who deface statues and abuse war memorials. This is what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s liberal elite believe, and nearly precisely what he said in an address to the nation.

I am a counter-example to their claim: a first-generation Canadian of minority status and an economics professor, I have nothing but admiration for the truckers and their cause. Indeed many in my community support the truckers, at least twenty percent of whom are South Asian. There is also support from black and indigenous Canadians. This is nothing to do with race. This is everything to do with freedom of choice.

In August of 2021, my university implemented a vaccination mandate — get vaccinated, or lose your job. Requests for medical and religious exemptions were swiftly denied (with the very rare exemption granted to cover the university’s rear-end, legally speaking).

On principle, I decided against revealing my private medical data and respectfully told my union and employer, providing them with options for remote work or in-person instruction. As a result of my decision, and despite being tenured with excellent research and teaching evaluations, my university intends to fire me, and my union suggests that I am a danger to the community.

My story is not unique: several capable professors are in my position. However, our colleagues in academia, instead of defending us, retreated into their offices and kept their heads down. My department chair, whom I considered a friend, flatly refused to advocate on my behalf. Only two sessional instructors privately offered me their support. Nothing good happened.

However, when truckers — most of whom are vaccinated — faced a cross-border mandate, they stood with their brothers against government overreach and in favor of freedom of choice. They are asking for the immediate end to all COVID-related mandates and restrictions. Most Canadians agree with them. At this point, such measures are farcical.

In any movement with thousands of people, there will always be a few hooligans. The Black Lives Matter protests, which Justin Trudeau supported, had their fair share of looting and rioting from a minority of supporters. However, this does not in itself discredit BLM’s claims, which must be examined independently of a few violent episodes. The trucker demonstrations, for their part, have been free of violence so far.

Trudeau’s claim that protesters were waving swastikas and dancing on war memorials is irresponsible. The isolated individuals who did this have not been identified, and we do not even know whether they were with the truckers, or merely taking advantage of a large gathering in order to broadcast fringe views. At this stage, it is unwise to speculate, since appeals to race will only divide Canadians.

If we are going to play this game, then the true racists are Trudeau and his ilk, including the provincial premiers and university leaders who enforce vaccine passports, lockdowns, and mandates. Indigenous Canadians and minorities are more likely to refuse COVID-19 vaccines.

Those of us from former colonies, such as myself, find it disturbing that the Canadian government now restricts freedom of movement and access to jobs for vaccine-free citizens — just like the British Raj did to Indians in India. If you are a minority who dares to disagree with the new ‘scientific’ wisdom, then you are cast aside by the very people who claim to stand for social justice. This is not the Canada I grew up in.

The Canada I know is the Canada of the truckers: a country of hard-working men and women from diverse cultures, sacrificing themselves for the betterment of their families and communities. The truckers’ convoy represents a victory of common sense over nonsensical intellectual posturing. The choice to get a vaccine should always be a free one, and there should never be coercion such as the threat of job loss or travel restrictions. Canadians are patient and friendly people, but their long fuse has burned short, and when they get angry, their leaders had better listen.

At this point, three items must be pursued. First, politicians must urgently enter into negotiations with the truckers. The truckers should not leave until all of their demands are met: Prime Minister Trudeau has gone into hiding, suggesting that the truckers have the bargaining edge.

Second, public health officials, business leaders, and others who carried out vaccine mandates need to publicly apologize and resign.

Finally, we need airtight legislation to ensure that a pandemic is never again exploited for political power and control.

In his book Crisis and Leviathan, economic historian Robert Higgs shows that governments use national crises, whether real or imagined, to expand their control over citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic may go down in history as one of the worst examples of this. SARS-COV-2 undeniably killed people, particularly the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.

However, the public health response also killed and injured many, with drug overdoses, suicides, and missed surgeries being only the tip of the iceberg. The trucker convoy offers a rare yet narrow opportunity for us to defeat petty tyrants, and to return to common sense.

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According to a recent Angus Reid poll, a majority (54%) of Canadians now say they want all restrictions to end – an increase of 15-points since early January.

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