Absurdity-Observer-January-2025

Absurdity Observer – January 2025

Published On: January 1, 2025Tags: Corruption, DEI, Food, government, Healthcare, Totalitarian, Vaccines

Study suggests DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives may escalate workplace hostility and racial bias, rather than decrease it. The study primarily focused on diversity training interventions—training that 52% of American workers undergo, according to a 2023 PEW Research study. “Across all groupings, instead of reducing bias, [DEI training] engendered a hostile attribution bias… Amplifying perceptions of prejudicial hostility where none was present,” the study (Jagdeep et al.) by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University concluded. Results of the study have not been widely published by mainstream news outlets. An NCRI researcher told National Review, “Unfortunately, both publications [New York Times and Bloomberg News] jumped on the story enthusiastically only for it to be inexplicably pulled at the highest editorial levels. This has never happened to the NCRI in its 5-year history.”
In highway robbery fashion, Highway 407 ETR more than quadruples their rates. The new rate schedule that came into effect on January 1st, increases toll costs for light vehicles “from 3 to 14 cents per kilometre, depending on the time of day and zone travelled,” according to a press release. In 2023, the road generated $1.5 billion in revenue (with a net income of $567 million). When it first opened in 1997, the 407 was intended to pay for itself and become a free public highway in ~30 years. However, in 1999, the Ontario Tory government passed legislation allowing its privatization, selling it for $3.1 billion—the biggest privatization deal ever made in North America at the time. The terms of the sale granted the new owners the right to set whatever toll rates it wanted to until 2098.
In a satisfying example of biting the hand that feeds you, the Ontario government has won its case against an Ontario doctor, who improperly (or fraudulently) billed OHIP over $600,000 for administering the COVID-19 vaccine to patients. According to evidence the Ministry of Health presented during the proceedings, the doctor used volunteer labour to administer the shots in public parking lots but then billed taxpayers under her own name instead of using a “delegated services” billing code that would have paid her less.

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A study from the University of South Florida, published in the journal Gut, found that seed oils may promote inflammation, suppress the immune system, and promote cancer. In an analysis of colorectal cancer patients, researchers discovered that those with higher levels of bioactive lipids—lipids produced when seed oils break down in the body—had more aggressive cancer. The average American consumes almost 100 pounds of seed oils per year, according to some estimates, which is up about 1,000-fold compared to the 1950s! This may help explain why the global incidence of colon cancer in young people is rising, with a 266% increase in incidence rates among adolescents and young adults over the past three decades.
The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) accidentally admits that the COVID vaccine has no benefits for children. A recent “bombshell” CDC-backed study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (Feldstein et al.), found that COVID-naive children under four who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine found a 257% higher likelihood of symptomatic infection among vaccinated children compared to their unvaccinated, COVID-naive peers.
More than a third of Canadians (36%) agree with the notion that the government response to COVID went too far, and one in six regrets getting vaccinated, according to a poll by Leger conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies.
Canada Post reported a $315 million loss in the third quarter of 2024, adding to more than $3 billion in losses since 2018 as declining letter volumes and growing competition in the parcel market take their toll. While announcing a “time-out” for striking Canada Post workers last month, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon declared that, despite the growing losses, and despite the government’s own reliance on the service, parliament has determined that Canada Post should be “self-sustaining,” suggesting no government funding will be forthcoming. This was a surprising conclusion, given that a Fraser Institute study found that $52 billion of taxpayer money was given to other Canadian corporations in 2022 alone. The postal worker strike last month illustrated just how essential a service Canada Post is for remote communities, where Canada Post is the sole provider. Additionally, Canada Post’s monopoly on lettermail, enforced by the Canada Post Corporation Act, means no other postal services can deliver “lettermail,” a service that publishers, such as Druthers, and other small businesses that mail envelopes, rely on.
Scurvy—a disease often thought to only affect 18th-century sailors—is reemerging in Canada. Last month, doctors identified 27 cases of scurvy, caused by prolonged and severe vitamin C deficiency, in northern Saskatchewan. Experts say the confirmed diagnoses highlight a broader issue with poverty and food insecurity in rural and remote communities across the country. Food insecurity across Canada rose to 23% in 2023, an increase from 18.4% the year before, according to data from Statistics Canada. Indigenous populations were identified as one of the most affected groups.
The outgoing Biden Administration has quietly extended a pandemic-era measure that protects COVID vaccine makers from being sued for injuries or deaths until 2029. Officials at Health and Human Services say it’s necessary because there is still “a credible risk” that the pandemic will spiral out of control in the next four years, even though COVID deaths and hospital admissions are at historic lows. The measure, covered by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, was initially authorized in 2020, in part to encourage vaccine manufacturers to speed up their research of COVID vaccines without fear of being held legally responsible for things like side effects and to protect healthcare workers and hospitals who provide the shots from being sued.
A Vermont Court has ruled that schools can vaccinate children against their parents’ wishes without consequences. The court ruled that, in the case of a 6-year-old boy who was vaccinated with the Covid-19 shot against the family’s wishes, the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, that grants immunity to vaccine manufacturers, healthcare workers, schools, and government personnel when a vaccination is mandated—prohibits the family from taking legal action against the school.
The Liberal government of Canada has announced a ban on 324 types of firearms and has proposed donating them to Ukraine. Canada’s crackdown on weapons builds on a sweeping May 2020 prohibition of 1,500 firearm makes and models, a number that has since ballooned to over 2,000 as additional variants have been identified.
Good riddance! Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has officially resigned. The letter she wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signaled a sharp break, with Freeland showing a clear loss of confidence in Trudeau’s leadership amid a heated fight over incoming US tariffs. Given her anti-freedom stance during the trucker convoy protests and COVID-era restrictions, many are celebrating her departure.
The Canadian Taxpayer Federation (CTF) testified to Parliament that it is in citizens’ best interests to defund the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). CTF Alberta director Kris Sims revealed that CBC is receiving $1.4 billion from taxpayers annually and argued that propping up the media outlet is not only a waste of money but also creates a conflict of interest for journalists since, “You cannot hold the government to account when you’re counting on the government for your paycheck.”
A Northern Ontario mayor’s bank account has been garnished by a pride group over an unpaid fine. Borderland Pride, an LGBT group serving the Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, has garnished the bank account of a Northwestern Ontario mayor following his refusal to pay a $5,000 fine imposed for voting against a motion to recognize Pride month in his community. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario had deemed his 2020 decision as “discriminatory,” and fined the town $10,000 and Mayor Harold McQuaker $5,000. The town was also cited for failing to raise a Pride flag, even though the town doesn’t have an official flag pole.