ITV Host Richard Madeley and student activist Miranda Whelehan on “Good Morning Britain” on Monday, 11 April 2022. Whelehan was there on behalf of “Just Stop Oil”, an activist group that has been engaging in direct action by blockading oil terminals and demanding that the UK government ends all new oil licenses, exploration, and consent in the North Sea. Madeley, the host, criticized the group by saying, “But you’d accept, wouldn’t you, that it’s a very complicated discussion to be had, it’s a very complicated thing. And this ‘Just Stop Oil’ slogan is very playground-ish isn’t it? It’s very Vicky Pollard, quite childish.” Observers were quick to point out the parallels with the film “Don’t Look Up”. Photo: ITV

Miranda Whelehan: I went on TV to explain “Just Stop Oil” – and it became a parody of “Don’t Look Up”

By Miranda Whelehan 13 April 2022 (The Guardian) – I hadn’t seen the 2021 satirical film Don’t Look Up when I went on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday. I was there on behalf of Just Stop Oil – a group that has been engaging in direct action by blockading oil terminals. We’re demanding that the UK government ends all new oil […]

Screenshot from “Honest Government Ad: Carbon Credits and Offsets”, showing that 70 to 80 percent of Australia Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) are devoid of integrity, according to Prof. Andrew Macintosh, former chair of Australia’s Emission Reduction Assurance Committee. Photo: The Juice Media

Honest Government Ad: Carbon credits and offsets – “Imagine that your money was actually being spent on strippers and coke!”

10 April 2022 (The Juice Media) – Hello, I’m from the Australien Government. You know how when you book a flight you can pay a little extra money to offset your emissions? Well, now imagine that your money was actually being spent on strippers and coke! Except the strippers are our mates, and the coke […]

Map showing no-contest elections, coups, and power grabs globally in 2021. Numbers indicate score declines for events in 2021, on a 100-point scale, in the 2022 edition of the “Freedom in the World” report. Coups were more common in 2021 than in any of the previous 10 years. Graphic: Freedom House

The global expansion of authoritarian rule – “The present threat to democracy is the product of 16 consecutive years of decline in global freedom”

By Sarah Repucci and Amy Slipowitz 24 February 2022 (Freedom House) – Global freedom faces a dire threat. Around the world, the enemies of liberal democracy—a form of self-government in which human rights are recognized and every individual is entitled to equal treatment under law—are accelerating their attacks. Authoritarian regimes have become more effective at […]

COVID-19 fully vaccinated levels out of total population by U.S. county, 1 February 2021 - 21 February 2022. In February and March 2021, there was virtually no partisan gap, when only seniors, healthcare workers, and some and other select groups were eligible to get COVID-19 vaccines. Starting in early April 2021, when all U.S. adults became eligible for the vaccine, the partisan divide started to ramp up quickly. The red/blue divide increased month after month regardless of other factors. Data: CDC / COVID Act Now / state health departments. Graph: Charles Gaba / ACA Signups

Graph of the Day: U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations by partisan lean, February 2021 – February 2022

By Charles Gaba 22 February 2022 (ACA Signups) – Last summer, I pulled together the occasional vaccination rate scatter plot graphs I’d been compiling for months into a single animated GIF image to show how both the correlation (R^2) and steepness (slope) of the partisan COVID vaccination divide grew from almost nothing at all to a gaping […]

A trailer indicating support for anti-vax Freedom Convoy blocks the highway close to the Customs Inspection cubicles throughout a protest towards COVID-19 vaccine mandates on the Ambassador Bridge border crossing, in Windsor, Ontario, on 8 February 2022. The protestors, helping the Truckers Convoy in Ottawa, blocked visitors within the Canada certain lanes since the night of 8 February 2022. Roughly $323 million price of products cross the Windsor-Detroit border every day on the Ambassador Bridge, making it North America’s busiest worldwide border crossing. Photo: AFP

How a spy from the Ram Ranch Resistance infiltrated and seized anti-vax trucker chat rooms – “What they did in Windsor, blocking an international border, that to me is domestic terrorism”

By Claire Goforth 14 February 2022 (Daily Dot) – A member of a group that trolled trucker convoy protests by spamming them with a gay porn song infiltrated and took over a private chat protesters used to communicate and strategize. In recent weeks, truckers and people sympathetic to them have protested Canada’s requirements for truckers […]

Protesters carry swastikas and other flags at the truckers' anti-vaccine occupation in Ottawa, 29 January 2022. Photo: Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs / Twitter

Fearful Ottawa residents flee downtown as anti-vaccine mandate occupation drags on – Residents fed up with noise, racist harassment, and threats of violence – Police hate crimes hotline receives more than 200 calls – PM denounces “people waving swastikas”

By Kimberley Molina 8 February 2022 (CBC News) – As the disruptive protest in Ottawa drags into its second week, some residents of the downtown core say they’ve been living a nightmare, under siege and terrified to leave their homes — except to seek refuge away from the epicentre. For 10 days, downtown residents have been subjected to relentless honking, random fireworks and choking diesel fumes […]

Followers of Tennessee pastor and pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Greg Locke burn books on 2 February 2022. The books included Millennial staples like Harry Potter and Twilight. Photo: Tyler Salinas / Nashville Scene

COVID-19 mortality in U.S. exceeds 900,000 as Covid deaths surge in low-vaccination states – Tennessee has lowest vaccination rate and highest book-burning rate

By Nigel Chiwaya 4 February 2022 (NBC News) – More than 900,000 people have died in the United States from Covid-19 as of Friday, according to NBC News’ tally, and data shows that states with low vaccination rates have had the biggest share of deaths over the past six weeks. The country has recorded 100,000 […]

Far-right conspiracy theorist Ben Bergquam tweets from the National Butterfly Center on 30 January 2022, espousing the unfounded claim that the center participates in child sex trafficking. On 1 February 2022, the National Butterfly Center was forced to close indefinitely due to ongoing threats from QAnon and MAGA conspiracy theorists. Photo: Twitter

Ongoing threats from conspiracy theorists force National Butterfly Center to close – “Our staff should not suffer a loss of wages due to this unexpected business disruption caused by false and defamatory attacks directed by political operatives”

2 February 2022 (National Butterfly Center) – We regret to announce that the National Butterfly Center will be closed to the public—both members and visitors—for the immediate future. This difficult decision was made Tuesday evening, 1 February 2022, by the board of directors of the North American Butterfly Association, in the wake of recent events targeting the center. […]

Fake photo of rafts at the National Butterfly Center dock in Mission, Texas, composed and disseminated by Brian Kolfage as part of a QAnon/MAGA disinformation campaign. Kolfage was indicted in 2021 for fraud for his “We Build The Wall” fundraising scheme and had his Twitter account suspended for repeated violent threats. The National Butterfly Center was forced to close for the weekend of 28 January 2022 because of credible threats from QAnon/MAGA conspiracy theorists. Photo: National Butterfly Center

QAnon conspiracy theorists force National Butterfly Center to shut down for the weekend – “We simply cannot risk the safety and lives of our staff and visitors during this dangerous time”

By Shoshana Wodinsky 28 January 2022 (Gizmodo) – After spending years coming after furniture and pizza, QAnon followers are finally ruining life for butterflies and those who enjoy them. Far-right conspiracy theories have latched onto baseless claims that major Texas butterfly sanctuary is a hub for sex trafficking, leading to real-world threats against the sanctuary’s staff. On Thursday, […]

New COVID-19 death rates per 100,000 people in the United States since 30 June 2021 by Trump 2020 county-level vote percentage. Deciles are broken out by 2020 partisan lean as of 23 January 2022. Death rates are 4.1x higher in the reddest decile than the bluest. Data: Johns Hopkins University / New York Times / White House Covid Response Team, 23 January 2022. Even with similar case rates across all 10 deciles of the U.S. population, the death rate since June 2021 is still four times higher in the least-vaccinated tenth than the most-vaccinated tenth. Graphic: Charles Gaba / ACA Signups

Graph of the Day: New COVID-19 death rates in the U.S. by Trump county-level vote – Death rates are 4.1x higher in reddest decile vs. bluest – “Get vaccinated, for the love of God”

By Charles Gaba 23 January 2022 (ACA Signups) – So, I plugged in the latest COVID case and death rates at the county level, as I do every week. I recently decided to switch from using the beginning of the Delta wave as my starting point (30 June 2021) to using the “start” of the […]

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