History Today
2020-04-08 04:57:08 UTC
Today April 7th in history
==========================
Far-Right Extremists Helped Create The World's Most Powerful Facial
Recognition Technology
April 7, 2020, Luke O'Brien, Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/clearview-ai-facial-recognition-alt-right_n_5e7d028bc5b6cb08a92a5c48?ri18n=true
Little is known about Ton-That, a 31-year-old Australian hacker who
moved to San Francisco in 2007. He made a name for himself two years
later by unleashing a computer worm that phished the login credentials
of Gmail users. Ton-That showed no remorse after journalists traced the
worm to him- he simply set up another phishing site.
By 2015, he had joined forces with far-right subversives working to
install Trump as president. They included Mike Cernovich, a
Trump-affiliated propagandist who spearheaded the near-deadly Pizzagate
disinformation campaign; Andrew "weev" Auernheimer, a neo-Nazi hacker
and the webmaster for The Daily Stormer; and Pax Dickinson, the racist
former chief technology officer of Business Insider who went on to
march with neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In this far-right clique, two of Ton-That's associates loomed larger
than most thanks to their close connection to billionaire Peter Thiel,
a Facebook board member and Trump adviser: Jeff Giesea, a Thiel prot?g?
and secret funder of alt-right causes, and Charles "Chuck" Johnson, a
former Breitbart writer and far-right extremist who reportedly
coordinated lawfare against media organizations with Thiel. And
according to new documents obtained by HuffPost, Johnson appears to
have received funding from Thiel for a startup that the Southern
Poverty Law Center would label a "white nationalist hate group."
(Johnson has filed suit against HuffPost in Texas over a January 2019
article about his visits to members of Congress to discuss "DNA
sequencing.")
Tags: 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 4chan, Africa,
Alan Dershowitz, Alt-Right, American Renaissance, Andrew Auernheimer, Anduril
Industries, Ann Coulter, Anti-Semitism, Atlanta, Australia, Barack Obama,
Bill Clinton, Bitcoin, Blackwater, Breitbart, Business Insider, BuzzFeed,
California, Catholic, Charles Johnson, Charlottesville, Chelsea Clinton,
Chicago Police Department, Chile, China, Christopher Cantwell, Chuck Johnson,
Clearview AI, Cleveland, Company, Congress, Corey Lewandowski, Coronavirus,
Croatia, Curtis Yarvin, Daily Caller, Daily Stormer, Dark Right, David Cole,
David Duke, DC, Delaware, Department of Homeland Security, Donald Trump,
Douglass Mackey, Drudge Report, Erik Prince, Facebook, FBI, Florida, Forbes,
Fourth Amendment, Garrison, Gawker, Geert Wilders, George Zimmerman, Germany,
Google, Hal Lambert, Hoan Ton-That, Holocaust, Holocaust denial, Hulk Hogan,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Indiana, IRS, Islamophobia, Jack
Posobiec, James O'Keefe, Jeff Giesea, Jewish, Katie McHugh, Kenya, Koch
Industries, Kremlin, LinkedIn, LSD, Machine Intelligence Research Institute,
Marko Jukic, Mike Cernovich, Moldova, Moscow, Muslim, National Policy
Institute, NBC News, Neo-Nazi, New Jersey, New York, New York City, New York
State Police, New York Times, Nick Denton, Palantir, Pamela Geller, Paul
Clement, Paul Nehlen, Paul Ryan, Pax Dickinson, PayPal, Peter Brimelow, Peter
Thiel, Pizzagate, Planned Parenthood, Police, Politico, Proud Boys, Red
Cross, Reddit, Republican, Republican National Convention, Review, Richard
Schwartz, Richard Spencer, Ricky Vaughn, Rudy Giuliani, Russia, San
Francisco, Santa Clara University, Sexual assault, Silicon Valley,
Smartcheckr, Southern Poverty Law Center, Stefan Molyneux, Stephen Miller,
Ted Cruz, Texas, The Sun, Twitter, Unite the Right, US Attorney's Office, US
State Department, VDARE, Virginia, Vladimir Putin, Wall Street Journal,
Washington, White supremacist, Wisconsin, YouTube
==========================
How a chance Twitter thread launched Trump's favorite coronavirus drug
April 7, 2020, Tina Nguyen, Politico
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/07/twitter-thread-launched-trump-coronavirus-drug-170557
In mid-March, a cryptocurrency investor, a law school graduate and a
self-described philosopher found each other on Twitter. They discussed
their hopes that a little-known drug called hydroxychloroquine could
help contain the accelerating coronavirus outbreak.
Two days later, two of them published a paper about the drug's
potential on Google Docs, falsely claiming the imprimatur of two major
universities and the National Academy of Sciences.
Three weeks later, the president of the United States said he himself
may take the drug and encouraged others to do the same.
"What do you have to lose?" Trump asked on Saturday. "I'll say it
again: What do you have to lose? Take it."
The events appear to be part of a remarkable domino effect that could
happen only in this moment, with this administration.
Tags: Adrian Bye, Anthony Fauci, Charlie Kirk, Chinese, Coronavirus, Dark
Right, Elon Musk, FDA, Fox News, Google, Greg Rigano, Hawaii, Jack Posobiec,
James Todaro, Jewish, Laura Ingraham, Medical, Michael Coudrey, New York, One
America News Network, Rudy Giuliani, Tucker Carlson, Twitter
==========================
Kenney's billions for Keystone XL is ballast for a sinking ship?
April 7, 2020, Tzeporah Berman, Opinion, National Observer
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/04/07/opinion/kenneys-billions-keystone-xl-ballast-sinking-ship
Climate advocates and energy analysts alike were stunned on March 31,
when Premier Jason Kenney announced that the Alberta government was
investing billions more public dollars in the Keystone XL pipeline, a
risky and unnecessary oil pipeline owned by Calgary-based TC Energy
Corp. Without providing any evidence or analysis, Kenney said the
government's US$1.1 billion equity investment and $6 billion loan
guarantee, which leaves Albertans on the hook for roughly 85 per cent
of the cost of the pipeline, are "steps we must make now to build our
future focused on jobs, the economy and pipelines."
Kenney's announcement came just a day after Finance press secretary,
Jerrica Goodwin, justified the layoff of 26,000 public sector education
workers because there were limits to the amount of money Alberta could
borrow during the economic downturn. While it's certainly deplorable
and disingenuous to prioritize corporate welfare over the day-to-day
needs of Albertans, it shouldn't distract us from a bigger problem: How
recklessly Kenney is betting on Alberta's increasingly unstable oil
industry for its long-term economic salvation.
The first question Albertans should be asking themselves is why TC
Energy Corp. needed the Alberta government's help in the first place.
It's because big banks and other major investors are swearing off oil
and gas projects because of the inherent risk involved in high-carbon
fuels in the age of climate change.
Tags: Alberta, C.D. Howe Institute, Calgary, Canada, Climate change,
Coronavirus, DougWiki, Jason Kenney, Jerrica Goodwin, Justin Trudeau,
Keystone XL, Paris Agreement, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Teck Resources
==========================
Scheer is a zombie Opposition leader for the zombie apocalypse
April 7, 2020, Kory Teneycke, Opinion, CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-andrew-scheer-opposition-conservative-leadership-1.5520010
We can add the undead wandering the halls of Parliament to the litany
of COVID-19 horrors.
I am referring, of course, to Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer, whose
political body went cold on Dec. 12 when he resigned in an effort to
stave off an avalanche of negative stories about his personal expenses
and poor election performance.
In normal times, when a leader steps down you say some kind words and
bury them with dignity a short time later. But as we all know, there is
nothing normal about these times.
Tags: 2021, Andrew Scheer, Brad Wall, CBC, Christmas, Conservative Party of
Canada, Coronavirus, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Erin O'Toole, John Baird, Patty
Hajdu, Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Regina, Rona Ambrose, Rubicon
Strategy, Saskatchewan, Scott Moe, Stephen Harper
==========================
The uncertain consequences of coronavirus deaths being undercounted for lack
of testing
April 7, 2020, Scott Pilutik, Underground Bunker
https://tonyortega.org/2020/04/07/the-uncertain-consequences-of-coronavirus-deaths-being-undercounted-for-lack-of-testing/
[Regarding this story: Staggering Surge Of NYers Dying In Their Homes
Suggests City Is Undercounting Coronavirus Fatalities]
I've seen numerous TV interviews with hospital personnel saying that
they're not even bothering to administer tests if the symptoms are
obvious enough, and just treating patients on the assumption that they
have coronavirus. People are also being told to not show up to the
hospital unless and until the symptoms are severe enough to warrant
hospitalization. This approach, necessitated by exigency, is almost
certainly leading to an undercount of diagnosed coronavirus cases and
therefore deaths.
Being properly diagnosed will probably matter greatly, though it's not
immediately clear how just yet. But it's easy enough to imagine
insurance companies or the government denying coverage for
coronavirus-related treatment that wasn't diagnosed as such on the
basis that it wasn't diagnosed as such, or denying death benefits for
that same failure to diagnose.
Tags: Coronavirus, Dark Right, New York, New York City
==========================
Trump Has Stake In Hydroxychloroquine Drugmaker: Report
April 7, 2020, Ron Dicker, Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/donald-trump-stake-company-hydroxychloroquine_n_5e8c41d7c5b6e1d10a696280?ri18n=true
President Donald Trump reportedly owns a stake in a company that
produces hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly
touted as a coronavirus treatment even though his experts say there's
no strong evidence it works.
Trump "has a small personal financial interest" in Sanofi, the French
drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of
hydroxychloroquine, The New York Times reported Monday.
In addition, Sanofi's largest shareholders include a mutual fund
company run by major Republican donor Ken Fisher, the paper said.
Trump's three family trusts, as of last year, each had investments in a
mutual fund whose largest holding was Sanofi, according to the Times.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also had ties to the drugmaker, the
Times reported.
Tags: American Medical Association, Anthony Fauci, Coronavirus, Dark Right,
Donald Trump, FDA, Fox News, New York Times, Republican, Rudy Giuliani, Sean
Hannity, White House (Trump), Wilbur Ross
==========================
Why Alberta's devotion to oil is making tech companies want to leave the
province
April 7, 2020, Kyle Bakx, CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tech-alberta-kxl-keystone-1.5523929
The Alberta government's decision to commit billions of dollars to
support the Keystone XL oil pipeline came as a surprise when it was
announced last week, despite the government working with TC Energy for
about six months, according to officials.
What was unsurprising about the announcement was the continued
unabashed support by the government for the province's oilpatch, which
some tech sector companies say is driving them to consider leaving
Alberta.
Premier Jason Kenney's campaign promises during last year's election
included setting up a $30-million "war room" to attack those who
criticize the industry on social media or elsewhere, urging oil
companies to sue environmental groups like Greenpeace for defamation
and, like U.S. President Donald Trump, pulling back regulations on oil
and gas companies.
Tags: Alberta, Alberta Innovates, Calgary, Canadian Press, Donald Trump,
DougWiki, Edmonton, Environmental, Europe, Globe and Mail, Google,
Greenpeace, Jason Kenney, Keystone XL, London, New Democratic Party, New
York, Steve Pfauth, Tax, YouTube
==========================
Why Jared Kushner could be the most dangerous man in the US
April 7, 2020, Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/07/why-jared-kushner-could-be-the-most-dangerous-man-in-the-us-covid-19
Natalie Portman once described Jared Kushner ? a former classmate of
hers at Harvard ? as "a supervillain". This seems unwarranted: while
the president's son-in-law is certainly a joker, he lacks the charisma
needed for supervillain status. Indeed, the man lacks any charisma
whatsoever; he has the presence of a piece of plywood.
In many ways, Kushner's wooden demeanour has been his greatest
strength: it has helped him fly under the radar. Politics has become a
reality TV show and quiet Kushner is often too boring to bother with;
it is far more interesting to focus on his glamorous wife, Ivanka
Trump, or his garrulous father-in-law. Yet over the past few years
Kushner has managed to insert himself into the highest levels of
decision-making while largely remaining behind the scenes.
That changed last week. On Thursday, Kushner, who has taken on vast
responsibilities in the Trump administration's response to Covid-19,
made his first public appearance at the White House daily coronavirus
briefing. His moment in the spotlight seemed to serve as a wakeup call
for the US. All of a sudden, it was glaringly obvious how dangerous
Kushner's hubris is. "I for one became even more fearful of [Covid-19]
when I saw how inept" Kushner is, said the Republican pundit Meghan
McCain on Monday.
Tags: Coronavirus, Dark Right, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, New York Times,
Politics, Republican, White House (Trump)
==========================
Quebec City police investigate online threat against LGBTQ community
April 7, 2019, CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/lgbt-community-threats-1.5088100
The owner of Le Drague Cabaret Club in Quebec City filed a complaint
with police after a hate message was discovered on social media - a
message targeting the local LGBTQ community.
The message warned the club's customers that extremist groups were
organizing a "hunt" on Friday night in the neighbourhood where the
popular, long-time gay bar is located.
The warning message claimed the hunt would target members of the LGBTQ
community and "all those who identify publicly with the left." It also
mentions antifascists, non-binary people and people of diverse
backgrounds.
Tags: Alt-Right, LGBTQ, Quebec City
==========================
7 Times Doug Ford Voted To Cut Key Services in Toronto
April 7, 2018, North99
https://north99.org/2018/04/07/7-times-doug-ford-voted-cut-key-services-toronto/
Doug Ford refuses to use the word "cuts" to describe his agenda for
Ontario, preferring the more innocuous-sounding "efficiencies".
But it's always sensible to look at a politician's actions rather than
taking their words at face-value.
And when Doug Ford was last an elected official, his actions spoke loud
and clear: Ford never met a key service he didn't want to cut.
Tags: 2011, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Libraries, Ontario, Toronto, Toronto Public
Library
==========================
Trump's man on campus
April 7, 2018, Politico
https://www.politico.eu/article/charlie-kirk-donald-trump-man-on-campus-turning-point-usa/
At the center of the puzzle of Turning Point USA stands one person:
24-year-old Charlie Kirk, the founder, public face and chief fundraiser
for Turning Point USA. He started the group just one day after he
graduated from Wheeling High School in suburban Chicago, saying back
then that Turning Point USA's mission was to cheerlead for the free
market. The donors I spoke to for this story still see that as central
to this mission. ("One thing I like about Turning Point," Willis says,
"is that it is educating these kids, right in front of their socialist
professors' faces, that what they are being told about capitalism is
wrong.") But Kirk, not unlike the GOP overall, has become split between
Trump - an ardent trade protectionist whose policies could push the
federal deficit over $1 trillion - and the free-market,
limited-government principles espoused in the group's charter.
Kirk spent the last several months of the 2016 presidential election
cycle working on social media outreach for the Trump campaign, building
close ties with the Trump family. Donald Jr., as the headline speaker
at Turning Point USA's annual summit in December, exchanged bro hugs
with Kirk before taking the stage. The president himself called Kirk "a
great warrior" at a White House conference on Millennials this past
March.
Others have praised Kirk, too. Kirk has been called "a rock star among
millennial conservatives," a "conservative boy wonder" and "the future
of conservative politics." But as Kirk and his cash-rich organization
have increasingly embraced Trump-style grievance politics, they've
recently been called some other things. Specifically: "Hateful,"
"unethical" and "racist." Still, the Trump wave appears to be pushing
them higher; Kirk, a relentless salesman for his organization, says
that fundraising has never been better and more than 100 new campus
chapters applied to launch in just the first few months of this year.
So what are they joining, exactly?
Tags: 1940, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, African-American,
Arizona, Arizona State University, Ben Shapiro, Bruce Rauner, California,
Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk, Chicago, Chronicle of Higher Education, Colorado
State University, Crystal Clanton, Dallas, David Horowitz Freedom Center,
David Koch, Donald Trump Jr, Environmental, Eric Trump, Facebook, Florida,
Foster Friess, Fox News, Gary Rabine, Gentry Beach, Heartland Institute,
Heritage Foundation, Illinois, Indiana, Jane Mayer, Jon Willis, Leadership
Institute, Marco Rubio, Maryland, Milo Yiannopoulos, Muslim, National Rifle
Association, Nevada, New Yorker, North Carolina, Ohio, Professor Watchlist,
Quicky, Reason Foundation, Republican, Republican National Convention, Rick
Santorum, San Diego, Sebastian Gorka, Silicon Valley, Success rate, Tampa,
Ted Cruz, Tomi Lahren, Turning Point USA, Twitter, University of California,
University of Wisconsin, Washington, West Virginia, White House, Young
Americas Foundation
==========================
Trump's Troll Army Isn't Ready for War in Syria
April 7, 2017, Ben Schreckinger, Politico
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/trump-alt-right-syria-war-214998
The fractured elements of what was once called the alt-right were
unified once more on Thursday night in condemning Donald Trump's
airstrike in Syria as a mistake. Or as Milo Yiannopoulos put it, "FAKE
and GAY."
This loose confederation of Web-savvy, anti-establishment right-wingers
formed an important vanguard of Trump's online support in last year's
election, and its unified opposition to the airstrike forewarns a
political downside to intervention in Syria. While foreign wars tend to
boost presidents' popularity in the short term, Trump risks losing the
segments of his base that flocked to his isolationist, "America First"
message.
In addition to its nationalist, anti-interventionist and
anti-"globalist" views, the alt-right and its fellow travelers have
also displayed a marked affinity for Syria's ally Russia, whose
government has returned the love by tweeting images of the alt-right's
mascot, Pepe the Frog, from official accounts. In reacting to the
airstrikes, leaders of the movement placed those ideological reflexes
over their personal loyalty to Trump.
Tags: 2000, Alt-Right, America First, Barack Obama, Charles Johnson, Donald
Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Easter, Gavin McInnes, Hollywood, Iraq, Mike
Cernovich, Milo Yiannopoulos, NBC News, Proud Boys, Pulitzer Prize, Richard
Spencer, Ricky Vaughn, Russia, Skype, Stefan Molyneux, Syria, Twitter, White
nationalism
==========================
VIDEO: Why are senators allowed to raise money for the Conservatives?
April 7, 2015, PressProgress
https://pressprogress.ca/video_why_are_senators_allowed_to_raise_money_for_the_conservatives/
Can the chamber of sober second thought really be sober or offer second
thought if senators are shilling for Stephen Harper at cocktail parties
and tangling themselves up in conflicts of interest? Should senators be
"banned from fundraising for political parties," as the late Jack
Layton argued in 2011?
Perhaps the answer to this ethical dilemma (and the answer to all
ethical dilemmas) is to ask ourselves: What would Mike Duffy do? - and
then, of course, do the exact opposite:
And here's a few other Conservative senators who've been known to raise
money for Conservatives:
Tags: 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, Albany, Conservative Fund of Canada,
DougWiki, Irving Gerstein, Jack Layton, John Baird, Larry Smith, Linda Frum,
Lobbyist, Macleans, Marjory LeBreton, Mike Duffy, Mike Wallace, Montreal,
Nepean, Nunavut, Ontario, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, Progressive
Conservative, Quebec, RCMP, Sexual assault, Stephen Harper, Toronto
==========================
Standing Up for Science in Harperland
April 7, 2013, Michael Harris, The Narwhal
https://thenarwhal.ca/standing-science-harperland
Standing up for science has been a losing battle under this prime
minister. Scientific facilities have been closed, grants reduced and,
in many cases, funding completely removed.
Federal scientists who still have a job have been muzzled by their
political masters. Stephen Harper's favourite finger-puppet, John
Baird, famously declared that the National Roundtable on the
Environment and the Economy, for example, was vaporized not because it
got things wrong, but because the Party didn't like the advice it was
giving. It preferred mutable facts.
In Harperland, there is no weed as noxious as independent facts. If
possible, they are pulled up by the roots. Science is just another
corporate enabler as far as the PM is concerned; if it's not that, then
it's a potentially dangerous source of independent public information.
But David Schindler is not as easy to silence or ignore.
Tags: 1984, 24 Sussex, Alaska, Alberta, Canada, CBC, Council of Canadians,
David Schindler, DougWiki, Experimental Lakes Area, George Orwell, Harper
government, iPolitics, John Baird, Justin Trudeau, Keith Ashfield, Mexico,
National Post, Peter Kent, Police, Stephen Harper, University of Alberta
==========================
DougWiki: https://umbraxenu.no-ip.biz/mediawiki/index.php/DougWiki_Page
RightCite archive: https://umbraxenu.no-ip.biz/rightcite.html
Portable DougWiki download: http://tiny.cc/xdb37y
==========================
Far-Right Extremists Helped Create The World's Most Powerful Facial
Recognition Technology
April 7, 2020, Luke O'Brien, Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/clearview-ai-facial-recognition-alt-right_n_5e7d028bc5b6cb08a92a5c48?ri18n=true
Little is known about Ton-That, a 31-year-old Australian hacker who
moved to San Francisco in 2007. He made a name for himself two years
later by unleashing a computer worm that phished the login credentials
of Gmail users. Ton-That showed no remorse after journalists traced the
worm to him- he simply set up another phishing site.
By 2015, he had joined forces with far-right subversives working to
install Trump as president. They included Mike Cernovich, a
Trump-affiliated propagandist who spearheaded the near-deadly Pizzagate
disinformation campaign; Andrew "weev" Auernheimer, a neo-Nazi hacker
and the webmaster for The Daily Stormer; and Pax Dickinson, the racist
former chief technology officer of Business Insider who went on to
march with neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In this far-right clique, two of Ton-That's associates loomed larger
than most thanks to their close connection to billionaire Peter Thiel,
a Facebook board member and Trump adviser: Jeff Giesea, a Thiel prot?g?
and secret funder of alt-right causes, and Charles "Chuck" Johnson, a
former Breitbart writer and far-right extremist who reportedly
coordinated lawfare against media organizations with Thiel. And
according to new documents obtained by HuffPost, Johnson appears to
have received funding from Thiel for a startup that the Southern
Poverty Law Center would label a "white nationalist hate group."
(Johnson has filed suit against HuffPost in Texas over a January 2019
article about his visits to members of Congress to discuss "DNA
sequencing.")
Tags: 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 4chan, Africa,
Alan Dershowitz, Alt-Right, American Renaissance, Andrew Auernheimer, Anduril
Industries, Ann Coulter, Anti-Semitism, Atlanta, Australia, Barack Obama,
Bill Clinton, Bitcoin, Blackwater, Breitbart, Business Insider, BuzzFeed,
California, Catholic, Charles Johnson, Charlottesville, Chelsea Clinton,
Chicago Police Department, Chile, China, Christopher Cantwell, Chuck Johnson,
Clearview AI, Cleveland, Company, Congress, Corey Lewandowski, Coronavirus,
Croatia, Curtis Yarvin, Daily Caller, Daily Stormer, Dark Right, David Cole,
David Duke, DC, Delaware, Department of Homeland Security, Donald Trump,
Douglass Mackey, Drudge Report, Erik Prince, Facebook, FBI, Florida, Forbes,
Fourth Amendment, Garrison, Gawker, Geert Wilders, George Zimmerman, Germany,
Google, Hal Lambert, Hoan Ton-That, Holocaust, Holocaust denial, Hulk Hogan,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Indiana, IRS, Islamophobia, Jack
Posobiec, James O'Keefe, Jeff Giesea, Jewish, Katie McHugh, Kenya, Koch
Industries, Kremlin, LinkedIn, LSD, Machine Intelligence Research Institute,
Marko Jukic, Mike Cernovich, Moldova, Moscow, Muslim, National Policy
Institute, NBC News, Neo-Nazi, New Jersey, New York, New York City, New York
State Police, New York Times, Nick Denton, Palantir, Pamela Geller, Paul
Clement, Paul Nehlen, Paul Ryan, Pax Dickinson, PayPal, Peter Brimelow, Peter
Thiel, Pizzagate, Planned Parenthood, Police, Politico, Proud Boys, Red
Cross, Reddit, Republican, Republican National Convention, Review, Richard
Schwartz, Richard Spencer, Ricky Vaughn, Rudy Giuliani, Russia, San
Francisco, Santa Clara University, Sexual assault, Silicon Valley,
Smartcheckr, Southern Poverty Law Center, Stefan Molyneux, Stephen Miller,
Ted Cruz, Texas, The Sun, Twitter, Unite the Right, US Attorney's Office, US
State Department, VDARE, Virginia, Vladimir Putin, Wall Street Journal,
Washington, White supremacist, Wisconsin, YouTube
==========================
How a chance Twitter thread launched Trump's favorite coronavirus drug
April 7, 2020, Tina Nguyen, Politico
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/07/twitter-thread-launched-trump-coronavirus-drug-170557
In mid-March, a cryptocurrency investor, a law school graduate and a
self-described philosopher found each other on Twitter. They discussed
their hopes that a little-known drug called hydroxychloroquine could
help contain the accelerating coronavirus outbreak.
Two days later, two of them published a paper about the drug's
potential on Google Docs, falsely claiming the imprimatur of two major
universities and the National Academy of Sciences.
Three weeks later, the president of the United States said he himself
may take the drug and encouraged others to do the same.
"What do you have to lose?" Trump asked on Saturday. "I'll say it
again: What do you have to lose? Take it."
The events appear to be part of a remarkable domino effect that could
happen only in this moment, with this administration.
Tags: Adrian Bye, Anthony Fauci, Charlie Kirk, Chinese, Coronavirus, Dark
Right, Elon Musk, FDA, Fox News, Google, Greg Rigano, Hawaii, Jack Posobiec,
James Todaro, Jewish, Laura Ingraham, Medical, Michael Coudrey, New York, One
America News Network, Rudy Giuliani, Tucker Carlson, Twitter
==========================
Kenney's billions for Keystone XL is ballast for a sinking ship?
April 7, 2020, Tzeporah Berman, Opinion, National Observer
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/04/07/opinion/kenneys-billions-keystone-xl-ballast-sinking-ship
Climate advocates and energy analysts alike were stunned on March 31,
when Premier Jason Kenney announced that the Alberta government was
investing billions more public dollars in the Keystone XL pipeline, a
risky and unnecessary oil pipeline owned by Calgary-based TC Energy
Corp. Without providing any evidence or analysis, Kenney said the
government's US$1.1 billion equity investment and $6 billion loan
guarantee, which leaves Albertans on the hook for roughly 85 per cent
of the cost of the pipeline, are "steps we must make now to build our
future focused on jobs, the economy and pipelines."
Kenney's announcement came just a day after Finance press secretary,
Jerrica Goodwin, justified the layoff of 26,000 public sector education
workers because there were limits to the amount of money Alberta could
borrow during the economic downturn. While it's certainly deplorable
and disingenuous to prioritize corporate welfare over the day-to-day
needs of Albertans, it shouldn't distract us from a bigger problem: How
recklessly Kenney is betting on Alberta's increasingly unstable oil
industry for its long-term economic salvation.
The first question Albertans should be asking themselves is why TC
Energy Corp. needed the Alberta government's help in the first place.
It's because big banks and other major investors are swearing off oil
and gas projects because of the inherent risk involved in high-carbon
fuels in the age of climate change.
Tags: Alberta, C.D. Howe Institute, Calgary, Canada, Climate change,
Coronavirus, DougWiki, Jason Kenney, Jerrica Goodwin, Justin Trudeau,
Keystone XL, Paris Agreement, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Teck Resources
==========================
Scheer is a zombie Opposition leader for the zombie apocalypse
April 7, 2020, Kory Teneycke, Opinion, CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-andrew-scheer-opposition-conservative-leadership-1.5520010
We can add the undead wandering the halls of Parliament to the litany
of COVID-19 horrors.
I am referring, of course, to Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer, whose
political body went cold on Dec. 12 when he resigned in an effort to
stave off an avalanche of negative stories about his personal expenses
and poor election performance.
In normal times, when a leader steps down you say some kind words and
bury them with dignity a short time later. But as we all know, there is
nothing normal about these times.
Tags: 2021, Andrew Scheer, Brad Wall, CBC, Christmas, Conservative Party of
Canada, Coronavirus, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Erin O'Toole, John Baird, Patty
Hajdu, Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Regina, Rona Ambrose, Rubicon
Strategy, Saskatchewan, Scott Moe, Stephen Harper
==========================
The uncertain consequences of coronavirus deaths being undercounted for lack
of testing
April 7, 2020, Scott Pilutik, Underground Bunker
https://tonyortega.org/2020/04/07/the-uncertain-consequences-of-coronavirus-deaths-being-undercounted-for-lack-of-testing/
[Regarding this story: Staggering Surge Of NYers Dying In Their Homes
Suggests City Is Undercounting Coronavirus Fatalities]
I've seen numerous TV interviews with hospital personnel saying that
they're not even bothering to administer tests if the symptoms are
obvious enough, and just treating patients on the assumption that they
have coronavirus. People are also being told to not show up to the
hospital unless and until the symptoms are severe enough to warrant
hospitalization. This approach, necessitated by exigency, is almost
certainly leading to an undercount of diagnosed coronavirus cases and
therefore deaths.
Being properly diagnosed will probably matter greatly, though it's not
immediately clear how just yet. But it's easy enough to imagine
insurance companies or the government denying coverage for
coronavirus-related treatment that wasn't diagnosed as such on the
basis that it wasn't diagnosed as such, or denying death benefits for
that same failure to diagnose.
Tags: Coronavirus, Dark Right, New York, New York City
==========================
Trump Has Stake In Hydroxychloroquine Drugmaker: Report
April 7, 2020, Ron Dicker, Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/donald-trump-stake-company-hydroxychloroquine_n_5e8c41d7c5b6e1d10a696280?ri18n=true
President Donald Trump reportedly owns a stake in a company that
produces hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly
touted as a coronavirus treatment even though his experts say there's
no strong evidence it works.
Trump "has a small personal financial interest" in Sanofi, the French
drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of
hydroxychloroquine, The New York Times reported Monday.
In addition, Sanofi's largest shareholders include a mutual fund
company run by major Republican donor Ken Fisher, the paper said.
Trump's three family trusts, as of last year, each had investments in a
mutual fund whose largest holding was Sanofi, according to the Times.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also had ties to the drugmaker, the
Times reported.
Tags: American Medical Association, Anthony Fauci, Coronavirus, Dark Right,
Donald Trump, FDA, Fox News, New York Times, Republican, Rudy Giuliani, Sean
Hannity, White House (Trump), Wilbur Ross
==========================
Why Alberta's devotion to oil is making tech companies want to leave the
province
April 7, 2020, Kyle Bakx, CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tech-alberta-kxl-keystone-1.5523929
The Alberta government's decision to commit billions of dollars to
support the Keystone XL oil pipeline came as a surprise when it was
announced last week, despite the government working with TC Energy for
about six months, according to officials.
What was unsurprising about the announcement was the continued
unabashed support by the government for the province's oilpatch, which
some tech sector companies say is driving them to consider leaving
Alberta.
Premier Jason Kenney's campaign promises during last year's election
included setting up a $30-million "war room" to attack those who
criticize the industry on social media or elsewhere, urging oil
companies to sue environmental groups like Greenpeace for defamation
and, like U.S. President Donald Trump, pulling back regulations on oil
and gas companies.
Tags: Alberta, Alberta Innovates, Calgary, Canadian Press, Donald Trump,
DougWiki, Edmonton, Environmental, Europe, Globe and Mail, Google,
Greenpeace, Jason Kenney, Keystone XL, London, New Democratic Party, New
York, Steve Pfauth, Tax, YouTube
==========================
Why Jared Kushner could be the most dangerous man in the US
April 7, 2020, Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/07/why-jared-kushner-could-be-the-most-dangerous-man-in-the-us-covid-19
Natalie Portman once described Jared Kushner ? a former classmate of
hers at Harvard ? as "a supervillain". This seems unwarranted: while
the president's son-in-law is certainly a joker, he lacks the charisma
needed for supervillain status. Indeed, the man lacks any charisma
whatsoever; he has the presence of a piece of plywood.
In many ways, Kushner's wooden demeanour has been his greatest
strength: it has helped him fly under the radar. Politics has become a
reality TV show and quiet Kushner is often too boring to bother with;
it is far more interesting to focus on his glamorous wife, Ivanka
Trump, or his garrulous father-in-law. Yet over the past few years
Kushner has managed to insert himself into the highest levels of
decision-making while largely remaining behind the scenes.
That changed last week. On Thursday, Kushner, who has taken on vast
responsibilities in the Trump administration's response to Covid-19,
made his first public appearance at the White House daily coronavirus
briefing. His moment in the spotlight seemed to serve as a wakeup call
for the US. All of a sudden, it was glaringly obvious how dangerous
Kushner's hubris is. "I for one became even more fearful of [Covid-19]
when I saw how inept" Kushner is, said the Republican pundit Meghan
McCain on Monday.
Tags: Coronavirus, Dark Right, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, New York Times,
Politics, Republican, White House (Trump)
==========================
Quebec City police investigate online threat against LGBTQ community
April 7, 2019, CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/lgbt-community-threats-1.5088100
The owner of Le Drague Cabaret Club in Quebec City filed a complaint
with police after a hate message was discovered on social media - a
message targeting the local LGBTQ community.
The message warned the club's customers that extremist groups were
organizing a "hunt" on Friday night in the neighbourhood where the
popular, long-time gay bar is located.
The warning message claimed the hunt would target members of the LGBTQ
community and "all those who identify publicly with the left." It also
mentions antifascists, non-binary people and people of diverse
backgrounds.
Tags: Alt-Right, LGBTQ, Quebec City
==========================
7 Times Doug Ford Voted To Cut Key Services in Toronto
April 7, 2018, North99
https://north99.org/2018/04/07/7-times-doug-ford-voted-cut-key-services-toronto/
Doug Ford refuses to use the word "cuts" to describe his agenda for
Ontario, preferring the more innocuous-sounding "efficiencies".
But it's always sensible to look at a politician's actions rather than
taking their words at face-value.
And when Doug Ford was last an elected official, his actions spoke loud
and clear: Ford never met a key service he didn't want to cut.
Tags: 2011, Doug Ford, DougWiki, Libraries, Ontario, Toronto, Toronto Public
Library
==========================
Trump's man on campus
April 7, 2018, Politico
https://www.politico.eu/article/charlie-kirk-donald-trump-man-on-campus-turning-point-usa/
At the center of the puzzle of Turning Point USA stands one person:
24-year-old Charlie Kirk, the founder, public face and chief fundraiser
for Turning Point USA. He started the group just one day after he
graduated from Wheeling High School in suburban Chicago, saying back
then that Turning Point USA's mission was to cheerlead for the free
market. The donors I spoke to for this story still see that as central
to this mission. ("One thing I like about Turning Point," Willis says,
"is that it is educating these kids, right in front of their socialist
professors' faces, that what they are being told about capitalism is
wrong.") But Kirk, not unlike the GOP overall, has become split between
Trump - an ardent trade protectionist whose policies could push the
federal deficit over $1 trillion - and the free-market,
limited-government principles espoused in the group's charter.
Kirk spent the last several months of the 2016 presidential election
cycle working on social media outreach for the Trump campaign, building
close ties with the Trump family. Donald Jr., as the headline speaker
at Turning Point USA's annual summit in December, exchanged bro hugs
with Kirk before taking the stage. The president himself called Kirk "a
great warrior" at a White House conference on Millennials this past
March.
Others have praised Kirk, too. Kirk has been called "a rock star among
millennial conservatives," a "conservative boy wonder" and "the future
of conservative politics." But as Kirk and his cash-rich organization
have increasingly embraced Trump-style grievance politics, they've
recently been called some other things. Specifically: "Hateful,"
"unethical" and "racist." Still, the Trump wave appears to be pushing
them higher; Kirk, a relentless salesman for his organization, says
that fundraising has never been better and more than 100 new campus
chapters applied to launch in just the first few months of this year.
So what are they joining, exactly?
Tags: 1940, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, African-American,
Arizona, Arizona State University, Ben Shapiro, Bruce Rauner, California,
Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk, Chicago, Chronicle of Higher Education, Colorado
State University, Crystal Clanton, Dallas, David Horowitz Freedom Center,
David Koch, Donald Trump Jr, Environmental, Eric Trump, Facebook, Florida,
Foster Friess, Fox News, Gary Rabine, Gentry Beach, Heartland Institute,
Heritage Foundation, Illinois, Indiana, Jane Mayer, Jon Willis, Leadership
Institute, Marco Rubio, Maryland, Milo Yiannopoulos, Muslim, National Rifle
Association, Nevada, New Yorker, North Carolina, Ohio, Professor Watchlist,
Quicky, Reason Foundation, Republican, Republican National Convention, Rick
Santorum, San Diego, Sebastian Gorka, Silicon Valley, Success rate, Tampa,
Ted Cruz, Tomi Lahren, Turning Point USA, Twitter, University of California,
University of Wisconsin, Washington, West Virginia, White House, Young
Americas Foundation
==========================
Trump's Troll Army Isn't Ready for War in Syria
April 7, 2017, Ben Schreckinger, Politico
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/trump-alt-right-syria-war-214998
The fractured elements of what was once called the alt-right were
unified once more on Thursday night in condemning Donald Trump's
airstrike in Syria as a mistake. Or as Milo Yiannopoulos put it, "FAKE
and GAY."
This loose confederation of Web-savvy, anti-establishment right-wingers
formed an important vanguard of Trump's online support in last year's
election, and its unified opposition to the airstrike forewarns a
political downside to intervention in Syria. While foreign wars tend to
boost presidents' popularity in the short term, Trump risks losing the
segments of his base that flocked to his isolationist, "America First"
message.
In addition to its nationalist, anti-interventionist and
anti-"globalist" views, the alt-right and its fellow travelers have
also displayed a marked affinity for Syria's ally Russia, whose
government has returned the love by tweeting images of the alt-right's
mascot, Pepe the Frog, from official accounts. In reacting to the
airstrikes, leaders of the movement placed those ideological reflexes
over their personal loyalty to Trump.
Tags: 2000, Alt-Right, America First, Barack Obama, Charles Johnson, Donald
Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Easter, Gavin McInnes, Hollywood, Iraq, Mike
Cernovich, Milo Yiannopoulos, NBC News, Proud Boys, Pulitzer Prize, Richard
Spencer, Ricky Vaughn, Russia, Skype, Stefan Molyneux, Syria, Twitter, White
nationalism
==========================
VIDEO: Why are senators allowed to raise money for the Conservatives?
April 7, 2015, PressProgress
https://pressprogress.ca/video_why_are_senators_allowed_to_raise_money_for_the_conservatives/
Can the chamber of sober second thought really be sober or offer second
thought if senators are shilling for Stephen Harper at cocktail parties
and tangling themselves up in conflicts of interest? Should senators be
"banned from fundraising for political parties," as the late Jack
Layton argued in 2011?
Perhaps the answer to this ethical dilemma (and the answer to all
ethical dilemmas) is to ask ourselves: What would Mike Duffy do? - and
then, of course, do the exact opposite:
And here's a few other Conservative senators who've been known to raise
money for Conservatives:
Tags: 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, Albany, Conservative Fund of Canada,
DougWiki, Irving Gerstein, Jack Layton, John Baird, Larry Smith, Linda Frum,
Lobbyist, Macleans, Marjory LeBreton, Mike Duffy, Mike Wallace, Montreal,
Nepean, Nunavut, Ontario, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, Progressive
Conservative, Quebec, RCMP, Sexual assault, Stephen Harper, Toronto
==========================
Standing Up for Science in Harperland
April 7, 2013, Michael Harris, The Narwhal
https://thenarwhal.ca/standing-science-harperland
Standing up for science has been a losing battle under this prime
minister. Scientific facilities have been closed, grants reduced and,
in many cases, funding completely removed.
Federal scientists who still have a job have been muzzled by their
political masters. Stephen Harper's favourite finger-puppet, John
Baird, famously declared that the National Roundtable on the
Environment and the Economy, for example, was vaporized not because it
got things wrong, but because the Party didn't like the advice it was
giving. It preferred mutable facts.
In Harperland, there is no weed as noxious as independent facts. If
possible, they are pulled up by the roots. Science is just another
corporate enabler as far as the PM is concerned; if it's not that, then
it's a potentially dangerous source of independent public information.
But David Schindler is not as easy to silence or ignore.
Tags: 1984, 24 Sussex, Alaska, Alberta, Canada, CBC, Council of Canadians,
David Schindler, DougWiki, Experimental Lakes Area, George Orwell, Harper
government, iPolitics, John Baird, Justin Trudeau, Keith Ashfield, Mexico,
National Post, Peter Kent, Police, Stephen Harper, University of Alberta
==========================
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