Bill Comeau 🇨🇦

State of the world: There are a lot of people lying to you, your family, and your neighbours. Be careful in what you choose to believe.

The anti-science and populist Alberta government being in charge of ending a teachers’ strike is sort of like an arsonist being in charge of ending a firemen’s strike.

I’m not a fascist but if I was I would send the military into cities to squash protests against my authority. In my more revealing moments I might even call them anti-fascists. But all this is just hypothetical …

This struck a chord.

After 9 months I can say with a degree of confidence that MAHA is the opposite of what it says is. It can now join Big Brother’s “War is Peace” and “2+2=5” in the pantheon of Big Lies and DoubleThink.

RFK Jr. fires NIH vaccine whistleblower Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo RFK Jr. fired infectious disease specialist Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, who told CBS News she was put on leave after questioning actions taken by Trump appointees.

RFK Jr. just fired Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo — a dedicated ID physician & researcher who has served this country with integrity & compassion — for defending evidence-based vaccine research. She was silenced, placed on leave, filed a whistleblower complaint, and terminated.
www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-...

YouTube video by WION French President Macron Speaks at German Unity Day Ceremony | WION LIVE

President Macron:
“We were very naive to leave our public space to social media networks controlled by US or Chinese companies that don’t share our interests and not interested in survival of our democracies.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggN...

No reason for this to be happening in 2025. In my view, those who have helped promote vaccine hesitancy shoulder part of the blame. Measles is not safe for mothers or their babies. The vaccine is safe and it works. Fact.

I am reminded of JD Vance when pressed about evidence that his claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets was pure garbage, he stated that it was reported locally, so he had the right to amplify it and to continue amplifying it. This is the modus operandi of populists who lean into falsehoods.

Office of Alberta Premier Smith responds to her comment about chemtrails | CBC News Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office says her recent comments about chemtrails don't mean she believes the United States government is spraying them in the province.

Let me remind you what a weird populist conservative politician sounds like. They will not reject a debunked conspiracy theory if their constituents believe it. This is part of the problem with the far-right, they nurture "popular" disinformation instead of stamp it out.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

As is the case with many of the amateurish cover-up actions of this weird government, there was a scurrying of activity to have lower officials deflect blame away from higher government officials. The article describes that laughably pathetic activity when caught in the spotlight.

The link I provided is actually open to read, it's an archived version of the Globe and Mail article.

The hospital in question was in an area with a serious measles outbreak, an area with a large Mennonite population who were resistant to protective measures. The hospital first set a masking policy but the next day retracted it after "questions" from the Alberta government leadership.

What has become routine reporting on the anti-science dogma of the Alberta UCP government. (This is behind a paywall.)
There's a reason why Alberta leads in measles: persistent political resistance to masking and vaccination efforts, even in epicentre hospitals.
archive.ph/j5JXu/again?...

Canada must learn from this rapid decline, our free press is a cornerstone of our democracy and key to our fight to fend off disinformation and propaganda.

The LA Times' 40+ Pulitzer Prizes, WAPO's Woodward and Bernstein, CBS News' 60 Minutes. They were all part of what made America "Great" and more importantly, respected. Now they are the walking dead, trophies for Trump's gilded bookcase.

I remember a time when the LA Times, The Washington Post, and CBS News stood for journalistic integrity and were independent from government pressure. Now they are just sad proof of how easily America's "Freedom of the Press" bends to the corrupt power of Trump and his billionaire bros.

Science covers an almost limitless number of areas not fully understood. Jane Goodall studied her one area of interest meticulously and with grace, and made the world a little bit better for it.

Antigenic and virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.3.2, XFG, and NB.1.8.1 The SARS-CoV-2 saltation variant BA.3.2, harbouring over 50 mutations relative to its ancestral BA.3 lineage, has recently drawn global attention (figure A). Notably, BA.3.2 exhibits 44 mutations dist...

One of several remaining on the radar but not overly concerning at this point.
"our findings indicate that BA.3.2 exhibits robust antibody evasion but has low ACE2-binding capability and infectivity, which substantially limits its likelihood of prevailing."
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

Just gonna keep tapping the sign*

*𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦

At our recent @lshtm.bsky.social event on misinformation, Chris Whitty gave some useful reflections on common causes and some important considerations for handling it.

Full event: www.youtube.com/live/H_nClQ2...

I taught myself R and Tableau during the pandemic. ChatGPT would have most likely sped up my learning several fold and expanded the scope of what I could do. But you need to know what you’re trying to solve in clear instructions. Can easily be garbage in garbage out.

My experience today with ChatGPT. I gave it a moderately challenging logical problem that needed to be solved by a script in a coding language I don’t know. It handed me a script, gave me options. I tested the script, its solution was missing one thing. I told it and it fixed it within seconds. Hmm

The question Canadians should be asking is this: "If Trump can falsely describe a peaceful city in his own country as "war ravaged" and order troops in with the authority to use lethal force, then how much of a leap is it for him to eventually do the same against Canada, using another fake pretext."

Wise advice. The contact circle around the most vulnerable are often their greatest risk.

New development: Trump is sending the military to Portland, Oregon. He intends to "provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland." and is "authorizing Full Force, if necessary" to handle "domestic terrorists".
More in this CBC article:
www.cbc.ca/news/world/t...

"Like Ontario’s flu program, everyone aged 6 months and older who lives, works or goes to school in Ontario will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination each fall."

PSA: Ontario #Covid vaccines available for high risk/priority individuals starting w/o Sept 22 (now) (Flu shots Oct 14). Free flu and covid shots will be available to the general public Oct 27. More in link, including pharmacy locations.
*Website may change over time*
www.ontario.ca/vaccine-loca...

10/ XFG is the dominant variant in Ontario in terms of share of total variants. That does not mean it is dominant as far as being a "game changer". It's impact has been relatively benign compared to other major variants of the past. I do not see anything replacing XFG right now.
(chart PHO)

9/ Ontario covid hospital burden, each year is a different colour and is plotted against surveillance week. The last 12 months have been below previous years.
(chart PHO)
www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Data-and-...