Orac, in Respectful Insolence, on the baked in failure of the Great Barrington Declaration.
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on how climate change may be underwriting this and future pandemics.
Related StoriesSaturda…
By Soupvector – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112983798
Sirin Kale, in The Guardian, with the life and death story of 42 year old triathlete, body builder, and anti-vaxxer John Eyers
Katherine J. Wu, in The Atl…
Evan Scrimshaw sent out a newsletter tonight talking about Skippy and the Conservative so-called “debate” last week and its worth quoting from: … It’s a busted ideology and a party infected by more than just bad opinions but stupidity at i…
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on how the #UrgencyofNormal/done with COVID talk condemns the immunocompromisedRamnath Subbaraman, Michelle Holmes, and Lakshmi Ganapathi, in Common Dream, on the privilege required to state that you’re done with …
The Alberta Premier’s truck nuts will lie in state in the foyer of the province’s legislative building for four days
— Walking Eagle News (@TheEagleist) May 19, 2022
I thought I heard Alberta exhaling a few minutes ago. Sounded like relief. Overnight rest and then make sure you all take back your province. Yelling support as a neighbor over here. Signed, Sask.
— Debbie ᑳᑫᓯᒧᑐᑕᐁ (@ironbow) May 19, 2022
@escrimshaw you see this? Wow, if Ford *and* Kenney end up gone within the span of two weeks that’s 🤯 https://t.co/4eHjYv5Tlr
— Jackie Blue 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 🌻 (@MsFuddleDuddle) May 19, 2022
If only someone would teach him how to fill up his truck so he could leave the province
— lynninthehouse (@daydreamalot) May 19, 2022
Charles Adler tried for years to tell Alberta the truth about Kenny and maybe now they have finally learned:
He was flailing . So I gave several chances to self correct. In the end I even gave him the easiest test for redemption. Asked him to apologize for his evil behavior in San Francisco, working to deny dying Gay men in hospice care, the chance to receive visits with their partners.
— Charles Adler (@charlesadler) May 19, 2022
This social conservative, who always portrayed himself as a moral man, was, in the end, a hollow man. That night, many took a second look & saw nothing. Tonight the King of Nothing, after getting another Fail, resigned. Goodnight Jason Kenney and Good bye.
— Charles Adler (@charlesadler) May 19, 2022
And this may be right, also:
Did Kenney really receive 51.4% approval or did they give him a ‘saving face’ number with the agreement he step down and not drop the write? What’s the real number I wonder?
— Councillor Erin Stevenson (@ErinStevensonSG) May 19, 2022
And there may be some truth to this:
So, Conservatives across the country are careening off into a far right wilderness with @erinotoole being dumped in favour of a crypto-crackpot fanatic in Little Peter Popinjay, and now @jkenney being tossed for someone even nuttier.
Sensible 🍁Cdns have Liberals standing 4 them.— David Hamer🇨🇦🇺🇦🇨🇦 (@DavidHamer_1951) May 19, 2022
In other news, and speaking of the American primaries, here’s the tweet of the day:
Oh My 😂 https://t.co/IO1k5KfUNB
— M-A.Stay’Legit ™️🇨🇦🇩🇪 (@BagdMilkSoWhat) May 18, 2022
Today also, Bush the Younger accidentally told the truth:
What comes after is even wilder. He catches himself and then says half under his breath, “eh, Iraq too” with an expression that looked something like recognition.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 19, 2022
George W Bush’s invasion of Iraq set the gold standard for disinformation, propaganda, and unjust warfare in the 21st century. Moscow is just cribbing from his White House’s 2002-ish playbook.
Grotesque. https://t.co/29JmLGjFbQ
— Justin Ling (@Justin_Ling) May 19, 2022
Today’s Ukraine news:
Ukraine Update: Russia inches along the Donbas front, but loses any broader strategic focus https://t.co/kfGYElqHkl
— Daily Kos (@dailykos) May 19, 2022
ISW’s @Mason_R_Clark: #Mariupol’s lengthy resistance helped draw foreign aid to #Ukraine while tying down #Russian forces, something the “Ukrainian military has been preparing for […] for the last eight years.”
@voxdotcom: https://t.co/h3aIW5OmSD— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 18, 2022
In other news about Ukraine, I thought these were good evaluations:
War is test of wills and logistics. I assess Russian forces will collapse by end of summer and UAF will go over to the offense, exploiting that collapse and drive back RF forces to 23 Feb line or more by September. https://t.co/nLRkUuWJ3b
— Ben Hodges (@general_ben) May 18, 2022
3 months. pic.twitter.com/apfollbVtJ
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 18, 2022
Some very bizarre tweet threads these days:
What happened at your school that sounded like an urban legend but was real? My friend’s little sister was in drama class and slid across the stage on her stomach and a piece of wood was sticking up and impaled her. She had to be air lifted to Duke hospital.
— Kristi YamaGuccimane (@wapplehouse) May 18, 2022
It’s so hard, it’s a joke:
Why did God create economists?
To make weather forecasters look good. https://t.co/FXRKCqBJhF— Timothy Huyer (@tim4hire) May 14, 2022
“No one told me NFTs were bad!!”
Dude all of Twitter was screaming about how bad they were from the start. We said it was a pyramid scheme. You smugly replied “nah you just don’t get it. It’s the future. To the moon!” You decided to play in a decentralized market and got played.
— Lauren Walsh • Woubble’s Dad (@LaurenWalshArt) May 13, 2022
I tweet this every time men decide it’s time to make decisions about women’s bodies, but my ex boyfriend thought all women got their period on the 15th of the month. He was 26 at the time.
— Sabrina (@Sabrinafon) May 4, 2022
Finally, this:
The final dance in Dirty Dancing, but they’re dancing to The Muppet Show theme tune. pic.twitter.com/ldfjmm5JoQ
— Amanda (@Pandamoanimum) May 17, 2022
Just a few miscellaneous but somewhat funny tweets today: Mr. Squirrel approves of the new Ukrainian postage stamp. pic.twitter.com/Vm6cXomrnc— Lorenzo The Cat (@LorenzoTheCat) May 1, 2022 ‘landlord’ and ‘landlady’ are needlessly gendered words. pls …
Steven Novella, in Science Based Medicine, on why we cannot and should not withhold medical care from the unvaccinated.
Sarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, on why Omicron’s explosive growth is so concerning.
Andrew Pekosz, in The New York Times,…
First, this:
Traditional societal conflicts – class, sectarian, racial & ethnic conflicts – are giving way to something much more insidious & irreconcilable: a cognitive conflict b/w those open to living in reality (reality-based citizens) & those who are not (delusional citizens). #cdnpoli
— Harry P (@HarrysNotes) May 10, 2022
The difference between the “reality-based community” and the “make your own adventure” community was identified in an October 17, 2004 New York Times article by Ron Suskind titled “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush”.
The aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” … “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.
. @reggcohn: “Del Duca was still standing after a marathon 70-minute news conference Monday that may have set a recent record.” Ontarians deserve a leader who will answer tough questions. Ford’s been hiding from them for 4 yrs. #onpoli https://t.co/0Gm954q00t via @torontostar
— Cheryl Fullerton 🇨🇦🏳️🌈⚾️🇺🇦 (@CherylFull) May 9, 2022
Ontario Provincial Polling:
PCPO: 37% (-4)
OLP: 29% (+9)
ONDP: 24% (-10)
GPO: 5% (-)
Others: 6%Mainstreet Research / May 9, 2022 / n=1639 / MOE 2.5% / IVR
(% Change with 2018 Election)
Check out more ON details on @338Canada at: https://t.co/bQ5FUAHDA8 pic.twitter.com/jXke4fYYiZ
— Polling Canada (@CanadianPolling) May 10, 2022
Ontario had a leaders debate today in North Bay and Ford exited without answering any questions from reporters:
I think the dog ate Doug Ford’s homework before he was able to prepare for this important debate.
— Danika Dragomir (@NikaDragomira) May 10, 2022
I’m looking at the transcripts of the post-debate scrums. Doug Ford not showing up to face questions is the main focus of what reporters are asking the three leaders who did. #onpoli pic.twitter.com/LfEva1BAtF
— Mike Crawley (@CBCQueensPark) May 10, 2022
This is pure unadulterated Ukrainian military success👇 https://t.co/ekfxJWx08Q
— Trent Telenko (@TrentTelenko) May 10, 2022
This is what worries me about Ukraine winning:
Putin could use nuclear weapon if he felt war being lost – US intelligence chief https://t.co/yU3up1obJl
— Nick 🇺🇦 #FBR #FBPE #BLM 🇺🇦 (@hazydav) May 11, 2022
This is outstanding:
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra makes it to Eurovision-2022 finals with their song “Stefania.”
The song, gaining in popularity since the start of Russia’s full-scale war, has already been performed by musicians globally. pic.twitter.com/1zhF3fu7X2
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 10, 2022
And I believe the anti-abortion movement in the United States will rue the day they “won” in their battle against Roe v Wade – now they are going to have to spend a great deal of time and money trying and failing to get juries to convict:
I’m thinking there are lots of state governors & attorneys-general who gleefully passed draconian anti-abortion laws over the years because they thought they would never have to actually enforce them. Now they will trying to get juries to lock up doctors & nurses & teen girls.
— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️🌈 (@CathieCanada) May 10, 2022
Just as Canadian juries refused to convict Morgentaler, so US juries will also refuse to convict.
Reminder to everyone: abortion was, in part, legalized in Canada due to jury nullification. Juries refused, time and again, to convict Dr. Morgentaler of providing abortions. Jury nullification is when juries refuse to convict a guilty person because the result would be unjust.
— Tactical Bra (@tactical_bra) May 7, 2022
Just because I’m pro-choice doesn’t mean I’m pro-abortion.
It means that your choice is none of my god damn business.
Why can’t Republicans understand this?
— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) May 9, 2022
And by the D.C. establishment, which loves clutching its pearls so much, you’d think they were all into autoerotic asphyxiation https://t.co/2DUpaHDeK1
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 11, 2022
Melody Schreiber, in The New Republic, on why the #UrgencyOfNormal cabal so badly want kids to be unmasked. The #UrgencyOfEquity, which I support, discusses how to best protect our most vulnerable and marginalized students during this pandemic.&n…
I have been struck by the number of outstanding photos I am seeing of the brave soldiers fighting for Ukraine. I have been collecting these now for more than a month, and tonight I thought I would post some of the best:
This is Fedir Shandor. He’s fighting for #Ukraine.
In a peaceful life, he’s my colleague — uni lecturer & the Head of the Department of Sociology at Uzhhorod National University.
In the photo, he’s giving online lectures to his students, from the trench on the front line. pic.twitter.com/NPIPAGKWFm— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) May 16, 2022
This picture from #Azovstal! #SaveAzovstal #SaveMariupol pic.twitter.com/C7ADl6STyx
— Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE) May 16, 2022
The first female navigator of @UA_NAVY
Eugenia Bakay: “Now you just need to decide – are you ready to defend your country or not”.
(1/4) pic.twitter.com/aocqkMd7K7— ArmyInform (@armyinformcomua) May 13, 2022
Damn, what a scary but beautifully written report from @mschwirtz accompanied by incredible photos from @lynseyaddario. I’m so glad you guys are safe!https://t.co/Yo0u6SIT2X
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 11, 2022
Each region in 🇺🇦has its costumes, cuisine&traditions. But, 🇺🇦is united & ONE in face of🇷🇺
💪So say soldiers of 128 Brigade-Zakarpattia Legion as they proudly display traditional bartka-chiseled shepherd’s axe, lethal weapons & trembita +embroidered Hutsul vest for their spirit! pic.twitter.com/Jc8EMBottZ
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) May 4, 2022
A Ukrainian and A French sniper fighting together against Russian invaders. I feel so much gratitude to the volunteers from different countries who came here to help us fight. pic.twitter.com/Z41XM5QM1A
— Nika Melkozerova (@NikaMelkozerova) May 1, 2022
🔥The darkest time is always before dawn‼️‼️‼️#StandWithUkraine #ArmUkraineNow https://t.co/KbSvKqbu0a pic.twitter.com/PyunGdg33D
— Cargo-200🇺🇦 (@RF200_NOW) April 25, 2022
A fighter in one of the #Ukrainian Special Forces in front of a destroyed #Russian T-72B3.
Glory to #Ukraine 🇺🇦✊🏻 pic.twitter.com/0otwiF5z5A
— Canadian Ukrainian Volunteer 🇺🇦🇨🇦✊🏻 (@CanadianUkrain1) April 22, 2022
An amazing photo: Fighters from the Ukrainian army’s 30th Brigade take their positions in a trench in eastern Ukraine -photo by Ukraine photojournalist Maxim Dondyuk
https://t.co/5D37YpRVfA— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️🌈 (@CathieCanada) April 20, 2022
Olena is an officer in Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Assault Brigade – the Transcarpathian Legion. pic.twitter.com/Gku8eMDYDh
— Michael MacKay (@mhmck) April 18, 2022
As of now #Ukraine is winning #Russia‘s war against #NATO. pic.twitter.com/oPRCnedKCT
— Linas Linkevicius (@LinkeviciusL) April 10, 2022
A #Ukrainian lioness with an important message.
Glory to #Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes, women and men ✊🏻🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/Wys3QMooIS
— Canadian Ukrainian Volunteer 🇺🇦🇨🇦✊🏻 (@CanadianUkrain1) April 7, 2022
I am so impressed by this young soldier, in a photo taken outside Kyiv as the Russians were leaving earlier in April:
Marcus Yam/ LA Times
How beautiful is this?
This mural was painted on the wall of the Military Academy of🇱🇹in Vilnius by an artist Linas Kaziulionis
It was inspired by a📷by Andriy Andriyenko, which captures a moment of farewell of🇺🇦border guard Vitaliy and his wife at Kramatorsk railway station https://t.co/juApw7Vpwr pic.twitter.com/5GWIt3XAuw— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 30, 2022
There are so many other First Responders worth highlighting too — here’s a firefighter taking a break:
Emilio Morenatti/AP
20yo Peter arrived in Ukraine from Tennessee to join the armed forces. The refusal didn’t discourage him & he started volunteering. Now every day Peter exhumes bodies in Irpin & Stoyanka for their decent burial on the cemetery. “Someone has to do it,” he says. Thank you, Peter! pic.twitter.com/m7KDLHENb6
— Olena Halushka (@OlenaHalushka) April 29, 2022
On the Russian side, today’s Darwin Award goes to…
— Professor Moriarty (@outpasta) April 26, 2022
Moving back to Canada for a moment, I couldn’t resist retweeting this classic:
Freedom? They are literally dancing and PARTYING in the streets in Ottawa right now. People using the word “dictator” and “tyranny” have zero idea. pic.twitter.com/uzaL7q6w67
— Dan MacDonald (@danmac800) May 1, 2022
Tonight I wanted to conclude my coverage of the visit to Saskatchewan by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Reverend Justin Welby, and his apology for the residential schools. The Anglican Church committed grievous sins against the Indigenous, Inuit and…
Ed Yong, the best science journalist of this pandemic, in the Atlantic, discusses Omicron and how we’re definitely not ready for it. It’s so good it’s the only story I’m posting this week.
Related StoriesSatur…
I guess expecting Canadian Conservative voters to listen to an actual DEBATE is just too much to ask of the Youngs today, not to mention really B-O-R-I-N-G, man! Brother Wells over on his Substack: “Well, that was a national disgrace.” #cpcldrdeb…
Katherine J. Wu, in The Atlantic, discusses the American shift to individualized COVID responses – a shift that is also being felt across much of Canada
Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, in Medium, covering the folly of “focused protection”.
&…
Busy day today so its not a long post tonight. First of all, here’s a great news story: On May 18, 2022Saskatoon Tribal Council had the pleasure of witnessing the unveiling of the Fred Sasakamoose statue at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.https://…
A draft SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe V Wade on a 5-4 vote leaked tonight, and of course we saw the usual pearl-clutching toonight about how unseemly it is to leak a draft Supreme Court decisions:What is that line from Shakespeare? Oh yes, “Fuck thei…
Katherine J. Wu, Ed Yong, and Sarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, on how our response to Omicron to date represents all of our past mistakes on fast forward.
Related StoriesSaturday Story: Ed Yong on OmicronSaturday Storie…
I can’t help it. I am comparing the sympathetic media reaction today toward Singh, after a few jerks screamed curses at him as he was moving toward his vehicle after a campaign event, with the cynical media reaction last September toward Trudeau, …
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on how we’ve become numb to the ongoing deaths.
Zeynep Tufecki, in The New York Times, on the lessons we still haven’t learned that could have saved millions of lives.
Related Stories…
Mark Kline, in The Advocate, on kids’ COVID myths.Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on Monkeypox.Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on healthcare’s devastation.
Related StoriesSaturday Stories: Correlations, Trolling,…
(Photo of Supreme Court protest today, by Jabin Botsford, WashPost)Today lots of comments and discussions about how the United States is criminalizing abortion again.I’m not sure which Justice the Washington Post Editorial Board is trying to speak to w…
Andrew Joseph and Helen Branswell, in STAT, on the lessons we’re learning from Omicron.
More Helen Branswell, in STAT, on 10 lessons she’s learned covering the pandemic.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in his Substack, helps LeBron James understand the differenc…
Here’s the cover photo of 2010 book about the SlutWalk Movement — just thought I should help out that Ottawa school trying to “measure” the shorts and skirts of its female students today.Maybe if they used this photo as their guide, then their female …
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on the disaster being wrought by governments giving up on COVID control.
The late and great Paul Farmer, in Noēma, on social medicine for a better future.
Related StoriesSaturday Stor…
Rex Chapman titles many of his dog videos “Dogs, bruh” so I thought I would use it for this post: Good boy loves fireworks 💥 pic.twitter.com/XB0UJzIkBq— CCTV_IDIOTS (@cctv_idiots) May 15, 2022 short dog problems pic.twitter.com/Bk0DFSD3Mi— ᴘᴀᴠʟᴏᴠ ᴛʜ…
A 1972 Merle “Ting” Tingley cartoonToday turned out to be the perfect day for this old cartoonThe original remark, from 1971: pic.twitter.com/aLLy1r13Q1— Sarah Sears (@iamSas) May 4, 2022 Trudeau dropped the f-bomb when he apparently got fed up w…
Katherine J. Wu, in the Atlantic, on the dumpster fire that is America’s COVID rules (and for Canadian readers, much overlap with ours).
Gregg Gonsalves, in The Nation, on the impact of COVID fatigue on our morality.
Ed Yong, in The Atlanti…
Nans Florens, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, Jérôme Barriere, Eric Billy, Fabrice Frank, Véronique Saada, Alexander Samuel, Barbara Seitz-Polski, Kyle Sheldrick, and Lonni Besançon, in OCF Preprints ask should we publish every correlation during the COV…
The editorial board of Nature on the folly of stopping the tracking of COVID.
Abigail Cartus and Justin Feldman, in Protean, on the privileged attack on public education in the name of “normal”.
Katherine J. Wu, in the Atlantic, on how the looming wav…
Here’s a collection of recent items from Ukraine. Now that Ukraine is winning this war, we are seeing some odd reactions – almost as though pundits can’t wrap their heads around the prospect of Russia losing its Evil Empire status quo. Is the…
Lots of comments tonight about the first Conservative debate — apparently not an “official” debate though I’m not sure why that mattered. The big loser was, I think, Patrick Brown — this would have been his first opportunity to introduce himself…
Chuck Wendig, in TerribleMinds, on our great surrender and how we let COVID win.Bruce Arthur, in The Toronto Star, on the myth of mild Omicron.Katherine J. Wu, in The Atlantic, on how we’re long past the point of hoping ‘mild’ Omicron will spare us.Ed…
this website is great because a super famous movie star like bette midler can get ratioed by [checks notes] uhh, jorts the cat pic.twitter.com/vwAAWaYCvA— the hype (@TheHyyyype) May 14, 2022 This is priceless shade, too: The only thing Melania wanted …
Jonathan Howard, in Science Based Medicine, more politely asks how did normal expand to include kids dying from vaccine preventable diseases?
Bill Hanage, in The Guardian, explains what “learning to live with COVID” should mean.
BC Human Rights …
I still find it hard to believe that a lot of people in Ontario are still intending to vote for Ford and the Conservative party, in spite of his awful performance as premier. Then again, I also find it hard to believe that so many people in Saskat…
Mother’s Day is coming up so here are some photos I have been collecting showing some of the children in Ukraine: 7-year-old Angelina, just arrived from Russian-occupied territory pic.twitter.com/3jxeI8FcXd— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) May 2, 2022 H…
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on why it’s a terrible idea not to treat the unvaccinated.
Katherine J. Wu, also in The Atlantic, on whether Omicron infections will translate into widespread immunity.
The Agenda, with a great segment on how COVID is airborn…
Just a short posting tonight, but it appears that the tide in Ukraine is turning: Long story short. Russia seems to be pulling out of the area to the north of Kharkiv entirely, and still cant make significant advances in the Donbas. https://t.co/DE1Fc…
Andrew Nikiforuk, in The Tyee, on Sweden’s deadly COVID failures (which are playing out now here all over North America) Nathaniel Basen, in TVO, interviews Janine McCready on what more we could be doing to protect children during and after this …
H. Holden Thorp, in Science, on how it ain’t over until it’s over and the failures of governments that pretend otherwise.
Ed Yong, speaking at Yale, discusses 2 years of covering the pandemic (and winnning pretty much all the science awards ther…