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Statistics are a part of our lives.  Sadly, most people do not have a clue how they work and how they are to be interpreted.  Our conservative government here in Alberta continues to find unique and exciting new ways to  drop the ball when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.  The government has set up mass vaccination clinics in Calgary and Edmonton and both are ghost-towns.

Why?

 

(**edit – It has been brought to my attention that this comparison is more like orange to apples than oranges to oranges – The type of clot and severity are on quite different scales.  However, a better comparison would be the possible chance and complications from the AstraZenca vaccine versus the chance and effects of being infected with Covid 19 or one of its variants and the complications involved.  The vaccine is the better choice.)

Because people don’t want to die of AstraZeneca vaccine related blood clots.  How likely is that to happen?  Roughly the risk is 1 in 250,000.

Scary, right?

The risk of getting blot clots from another injection – Between 3 and 9 people out 10,000 will develop blood clots on the birth control pill.

Yet Birth Control pills are still widely prescribed and used in society with not a great deal of hoopla.  That being said, this what the vaccination centre looked like here :

 

“The mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Edmonton Expo Centre can administer 7,000 shots per day, if operating at full capacity.

On Wednesday, it did 280.

The rapid-flow clinic is solely offering the AstraZeneca vaccine and only to Albertans aged 55 to 64. An Alberta Health Services spokesperson said the Expo clinic did not run at full capacity this week because a slow uptake was expected for the shots.

On its opening day on Monday, the clinic administered 1,632 doses. That dropped sharply the next day to 520. As of Thursday mid-morning, AHS said around 400 people were booked for the day.

Another mass clinic at the Calgary Telus Convention Centre is also facing low appointment numbers after it opened last week.

“The first day we were doing about 5,000. Right now, we have bookings for between 500 and 1,000 people,” Dr. Cheri Nijssen-Jordan, AHS’s vaccine task force co-lead, said in an interview with the Calgary Eyeopener on Thursday.”

The targeted people in the demographic are small in society and are afraid of the AZ vaccine – because blood clots(?).

“Nijssen-Jordan said part of the issue is hesitancy brought on by reports of extremely rare blood clots occurring in people who have received AstraZeneca, also known as Covishield.

On Wednesday, Health Canada announced it had completed a safety review and found that AstraZeneca is safe, and that Canadians over 18 shouldn’t hesitate to take it if offered.

Eligibility is still limited to those over 55 for the time being as the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is still reviewing research and hasn’t updated its recommendation. An Alberta Health spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the province is following NACI’s recommendation and will continue to only offer AstraZeneca to Albertans aged 55 to 64.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said Thursday that the province’s Alberta Advisory Committee on Immunization would discuss expanding the age eligibility this week.”

So because of statistical illiteracy we have viable vaccinations sitting on the shelf while not all essential and front line people have been vaccinated.

The UCP government has added fruitless dithering to its already terrible record of dealing with the pandemic in this province.

 

[Source: cbc.ca]

 

 

 

 

Abendlied (Evening song), Op. 69/3, is a sacred motet by Josef Rheinberger for a six-part mixed choir (SSATTB). It has been regarded as his best-known sacred composition.[1] He wrote the first version in 1855 at the age of 15.

The text is a verse from the biblical narration of the Road to Emmaus appearance according to Luke 24:29 in Martin Luther’s German version of the bible:

Bleib bei uns,
denn es will Abend werden,
und der Tag hat sich geneiget.

Rheinberger wrote a first version on 9 March 1855, one month before Easter and two weeks before his 16th birthday. At age 24, he revised the motet, for example eliminating repetition of notes and changing the marking. He published it in 1873 by N. Simrock in Berlin as No. 3 of his Opus 69, Drei geistliche Gesänge für gemischten Chor (Three sacred songs for mixed choir, the others being Morgenlied (morning song), on a poem by Hoffmann von Fallersleben, and Dein sind die Himmel (Yours are the Heavens) after Psalms 89:11,14a.[2]

A Latin version (“Mane nobiscum quoniam advesperascit, inclinata est iam dies”) was written in 1878 for a performance on Easter Monday of 1878 at the Allerheiligen-Hofkirche in Munich, which only permitted Latin for liturgical singing. It was published by Carus-Verlag. Carus published a recording titled Abendlied, a collection of sacred vocal music by Rheinberger, performed by the Vancouver Cantata Singers conducted by James Fankhauser.[3]

The music in F major is marked Andante molto. The text is mostly sung syllabically.[4] The three upper voices begin with a F major chord, held for three beats on “Bleib” (Bide) and repeated for “bei” (with), changing to an A minor chord on “uns” (us), when the lower three voices begin a similar pattern.[5]

The political interests of women are often overlooked by both the right and the left.

The bullshit that goes on because we cannot advance the idea that females are a distinct class of individuals in society who exist solely for themselves.  Not in relationship to the family, not in relationship to their reproductive capacity, and most certainly not as an object of desirability for the men-folk.  Yet, the old perspectives continue to linger and fester making it difficult for women to fully establish their humanity in society.

The latest assault on female rights and personhood in society has come from “progressive” Left.  The notion that because some gender confused males don’t have a uterus, we should erase the terms ‘women’ and ‘females’ in the language of society in a quixotic effort to be more “inclusive”.  To explain how erasing women in society is a good thing let’s look at what “Kenny Ethan Jones” has to say –

 

“Why should we respect and embrace phrases like “people who menstruate”?

When we solely use women to describe people who experience periods, we exclude everyone who doesn’t identify as a woman from the conversation. I’m very familiar with how that exclusion feels and the consequences it can have.

I am a man in [for clarity, ‘Kenny’ is female], I am trans and I sometimes experience periods.

Growing up, periods were my biggest personal struggle. I mean the pain, the bleeding — that sucked. But the most painful part was the internal shame I felt knowing what was happening to my body was something the world only associates with women and girls.

Every scientific study explaining the biology of menstrual cycles, every bit of advertising for period-related products, every piece of language I had ever seen or heard reinforced one thing: boys don’t have periods. I’d known I didn’t feel like a girl long before I ever experienced periods, but I didn’t have any other way of seeing what was happening to my body outside of that one, gendered angle. I felt alienated, isolated. A bodily function that I had no control over caused me to be in conflict with my identity as a man, all because of society’s language and viewpoint on periods.

Although this tweet was very disheartening for me as a trans man, there are plenty of other people who benefit from gender-inclusive language being used when it comes to the period conversation. In fact, linking womanhood so closely with menstruation becomes problematic when you realize how many cisgender women don’t experience periods, and who are no less woman because of it.”

You see?  It is the gender religious magic in action.  My self declaration should have more importance in society than the medical and biological facts of the matter.  It gives me pause when I see an individual so wholly dedicated to a delusional point of view – but on that individual level her views on her gender and her bodily functions are fine.  Just like when I see the nice people in white tops and black pants roll up to talk to me about Jebus and Magic Hats, I can politely disagree with what they say and their take on reality, and then they go away (off to find a more receptive victim to lovebomb into their cause).

But tell this gender acolyte to move on with their gender-magic… Well, one should not do that as it qualifies *somehow* as bigotry and hatred on a near cosmic scale.  Let’s define bigotry quickly here, just to help frame what is going on.

  I choose not to share in the belief that human beings can change their sex.  A man who calls himself a women is still a man.  A woman who calls herself a man is still a woman.  This two statements though completely true are somehow controversial.  Sticking with the version of reality that is closest to the material truth doesn’t seem like bad worldview to hold.  I will not participate in gender-magic and really, any ideology that is not moored in the societal reality we all share.  And therein lies the rub – gender acolytes won’t accept no for an answer, it is incumbent on *you* to accept *their* version of how sex and gender work.

Allow me to say unequivocally, they can fuck right off with their attempted imposition of their beliefs on me.  Engage with as much gender-delusion as you please, but keep me out it.  At least the formally religious have the good sense to go away once asked they respect the boundaries of others.  The gender religious, not so much.

Any ideology or religion that doesn’t respect other’s thoughts and boundaries is dangerous.  Gender ideology (GI) is a clear and present danger to women because (GI) seeks to define the term woman (adult human female) out of existence.

 

is right twice a day. Or so they say. In this case Jason Kenney actually gets something right.

This is of course to people protesting the fencing off of a church (from what I understand). These people decided to trespass on Enoch Cree Nation land, threaten and assault their members, and vandalize their property. And it’s here where I get a certain sense of schadenfreude. Jason Kenney has been stoking the far right and using them to his own political means here in Alberta since he joined provincial politics. These people are his base, the people who will show up en-masse to rallies and canvas for him. They’re the ones that just won’t shut up about politics in the work space. They are the ones who have Nutley and TruDOPE bumper stickers on their vehicles, as well as some more unsavory stickers. So I wonder how his base is going to react to what is essentially a post asking people to calm down and come back to reality. Well lets find out.

First up we have the outright anger at Kenney.

Wes here will never forget how Kenney listened to these so called experts. My google searching is just as good as their medical post graduate degrees.

Then we have what I like to call the ironic posts.

Do you see the police arresting people for breaking the law? Do you see AHS enforcing the law? The shock! The horror!
So someone who wanted the railway blockaders removed is upset when his group is allowed to protest?
Whataboutism done wrong.

So that was fun. My favourite part is Tara showing her hatred and getting it wrong. Up next we have the MAGA crowd.

Lock him up! Lock him up! MAGA!!!!
No wait, I mean Lock her up! Lock her up! MAGA!!!

And finally what would a right wing protest be if we didn’t have the Kudatah crowd?

Cue music: RISE UP RISE UP!
Some say peace comes from within, other say it comes from super-spreader events.
No more nice play! Next time it’s dodgeball and I pick the teams!
Revolts typically happen slowly, right?
It’s treason then!

So that was a fun adventure. I wonder if all this outrage will last until the next election. Maybe if they are so upset with the UCP they could go and form their own party. They could name it after an iconic Albertan flower. The Wild Yarrow Party or The Giant Hyssop party or something like that. I’m sure their is some kind of name that would work out well for them. Anyway, I quite enjoyed reading Kenney getting clapped back by the people that used to cheer his incivility to all the other Albertans in this province. That’s all for now and I hope you enjoyed!

 

Organized religion makes people stupid.  This is a tale of a church and congregation in Alberta that kept going without following any public health guidance, as if we were not in a pandemic and that everything was right as rain.  Reminds me of the religious wisdom available circa 1347:

Not exactly the best strategy for dealing with an infection disease.  Yet, in the here and now of 2021 the religious persist.

“AHS [Alberta Health Services] said it has attempted to work collaboratively with the church for months to address ongoing public health concerns.

Steps taken before Wednesday’s physical closure include:

  • An order issued by AHS on Dec. 17 requiring the church to comply with restrictions ordered by Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.
  • A Court of Queen’s Bench order obtained Jan. 21 requiring the church to comply with the previous order.
  • A closure order issued Jan. 29 requiring closure until compliance with the restrictions was attained.
  • On March 27, AHS sent a letter to Coates providing him with information on the continued spread of COVID-19.
  • Last week AHS invited Coates to meet virtually to discuss the risks presented by COVID-19, but the church has not provided any dates to meet.

GraceLife Church “has decided not to follow these mandatory restrictions, nor have they attempted to work with AHS to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission,” AHS said in the media statement.”

Finally GraceLife church was shut down.

“Alberta Health Services has closed GraceLife Church in Parkland County west of Edmonton.

In an emailed statement to CBC News Wednesday morning, RCMP confirmed they were on scene, assisting AHS as they closed the church under Section 62.1 of the Alberta Public Health Act.

As of 8:30 a.m., police vehicles and unmarked SUVs were blocking entrances to the church parking lot. 

In a media statement, AHS said it “physically closed” the church and has prevented access until the church “can demonstrate the ability to comply with Alberta’s chief medical officer of health’s restrictions.”

It only took a year and a bit to nip this cluster of superspreaders in the bud.  Our current government has demonstrated repeatedly (until now) that it will not enforce public health regulations so we should not be surprised with the length of time involved with this particular case of religious inanity.

The United Conservative Party of Alberta has consistently chosen the ‘middle road’ when it has come to policy decisions between keeping the economy open and locking down the province to combat the COVID19 virus.  The result has been a roller coaster of half measures and half steps that instead of getting the transmissibility rate down to 0 we are following the historical pattern – experiencing first, second, and now third waves of infection (with a fourth coming as in the USA, because of the dithering of the government).

The Gracelife debacle illustrates how the government in pandering to its ‘base’ is only prolonging the epidemic in Alberta, and ultimately, allowing more people to unnecessarily die.  It is policy position that is illogical, science denying, and morally unconscionable.

Unfortunately for Albertans, this is par for the course for this government so fully expect the shit-show to continue.

 

[Source: cbc.ca]

 

 

 

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