Harry Shannon
A rally was held today in Houston, Texas by two new groups that have agreed to work together. Don’t Use Masks or Barriers (DUMB) is teaming up with Counter Laws On Drinking (CLOD) to oppose what they call “government interference in the marketplace of behavior.”
DUMB claims that wearing masks to prevent COVID-19 is a plot…
Category: Politics
Who is most at risk for COVID-19?
Harry Shannon
Data just released show that “Black people and other people of colour make up 83 per cent of reported COVID-19 cases while only making up half of Toronto's population.”
Quick now – how many times more likely are these racialized people to get COVID-19 than the rest of the Toronto population, i.e., white people? 1 ½ ti…
Policing
Harry Shannon
Another unpublished letter, this one sent to the Hamilton Spectator. Maybe too easy on the protesters, but the contrast is stark.
Re: Police launch criminal probe into ‘defund’ protest, July 25
In June, Peel police are called to a situation. A 62-year-old man may harm himself with a pocket knife. But he’s not the one t…
Time for a Wealth Tax
Harry Shannon
This was written as a letter to the Toronto Star. It wasn’t published, but you can read it here.
Re Covid-19 costs. Time’s up: help cities, Editorial, July 16
The COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with people’s finances, and governments have had to go into huge deficits to mitigate the impact on people who have lost t…
Are you a swinger?
Harry Shannon
I was listening to CBC radio this morning. A reporter was talking about the popularity of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and said that a year ago Ford’s approval rating was -49% [if I remember correctly]. Today, his rating is +39%. The reporter continued, saying that this represented an 88% swing.
This, of course, is wrong. To un…
Trump: ‘I predicted the coronavirus’
Harry Shannon
In a remarkable press briefing today, President Donald Trump told reporters that he had predicted the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Trump had been widely ridiculed for a tweet he made on 31 May, 2017 just after midnight. It read: ‘Despite the constant negative press covfefe” and there was much speculation on what the w…
“We’re Number One” – Trump
Harry Shannon
As the number of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. climbed above the total in Italy to become the highest in the world, Donald Trump claimed: ‘Thanks to me, we’re number one.’
In a rambling press conference, Trump said: ‘Several other countries have tried to beat us, but they haven’t succeeded. Countries like Ita…
My latest letter in the Toronto Star
Harry Shannon
Background: We are hearing a lot from political leaders urging us to follow social (physical) distancing guidelines. On Thursday morning (April 2) I heard Toronto mayor John Tory on CBC radio’s morning show doing just that. Unfortunately, his style of talking is to speak very fast, barely pausing for breath, so interviewers …
A post on, you guessed it, coronavirus and COVID-19
Harry Shannon
Some thoughts on the coronavirus and its impact.
I am not paying attention any more to the number of new confirmed cases. That’s because, as far as I can tell, whether someone is tested is rather arbitrary: has the person sought care; does the person have symptoms; how severe are the symptoms; are there enough testing kits; h…
How Breitbart creates fake news on coronavirus – though maybe unintentionally
Harry Shannon
You have no doubt heard of the far-right web site
Breitbart. It makes Fox News look timid
and centrist. As for accuracy … um,
consider this.
On March 17, 2020, they published a story about coronavirus. Well, they published a lot of stories on the topic, but one headline caught my eye.
It read: ‘Study: 86 pe…