Crickets and Conspiracies

 

About the Conspiracy  

 I just uncovered a note to myself from back in the summer. In it, I had noticed a CBC article about a conspiracy involving the crickets now being raised in a factory here in good old London, Ontario. Apparently these little livestock are part of a "sinister totalitarian plot" promoted by a "cabal of shadowy elites" who "are trying to force us to eat insects. Seriously. 

   It is likely that you may have missed the article, so I will resurrect it here and present it as proof that conspiratorial thinking also occurs north of the border. As well, I will provide additional cricket information. The rationale for doing so is not obvious, so I will make it so. I have already written about our new cricket factory and about the consumption of them and other insects (see, Entomophagy.) If you combine the information already offered with what is about to be presented, you will have amassed a considerable amount of information about crickets. That will likely surprise you, but not nearly as much as I was surprised to learn that I am again writing about crickets. 

   What follows will not be so convoluted and will be presented like PowerPoint points, rather than in long, quirky sentences. Sources are provided, as usual, so you can go directly to more reliable and better written material. The short points follow this long introduction about the CBC piece.

The CBC Exposure

   The CBC title is a good one and should serve as a piquer (that is not a French word, but an invented one of mine. It should pique your interest.) "HOW A LONDON, ONT., CRICKET PLANT FOUND ITSELF AT THE HEART OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY THEORY, 7 DAYS AFTER THE FACTORY WAS BUILT, IT WAS FALSELY IMPLICATED IN A GLOBAL CONSPIRACY." by Colin Butler, CBC, Aug. 29, 2022. 

   It is quite long and well done. A timeline relating to the spread of the theory is offered as well as some comments by a professor here in London who teaches about conspiracies. A link is provided above, but here are some bits that may pique your interest. It's a conspiracy theory, so needless to say, the WEF, Jews and deniers of all sorts are involved. If they have their way, you will no longer be eating beef tenderloin.

   "The conspiracy theory has been circulating for months, amplified and published by hawkers of online misinformation in Canada and elsewhere in English and Chinese, often with the falsehood growing more sweeping or outrageous with each iteration. 

Those spreading the myth aren't just online bloggers and anonymous social media accounts. The falsehoods are also spread and tweaked by a number of political operators to suit their agenda, including the Alberta separatist movement and politicians like a sitting MP and a Conservative Party of Canada leadership hopeful. 

CBC News charted the history of how this conspiracy theory grew, from a single tweet by an Ontario construction company to being used as rhetoric in the Conservative Party of Canada leadership campaign. 

The timeline of the theory's growth

The entire thread begins simply enough with a tweet on June 10 from the Toronto-based construction company Ellis Don, announcing it had just completed work on the world's largest cricket production facility. 

The information was picked up a week later by Awakening Canada, a Facebook group that posts misinformation about the pandemic and conspiracy theories about the World Economic Forum.

The June 17 post was published shortly after midnight, asking: "Are you guys ready to eat some crickets welcome to communist Canada." It got 10 shares among the page's 4,600 followers. 

Eight hours later, the false information was repeated by Mike McMullen, a London, Ont., political candidate who ran for the People's Party of Canada in the last federal election, and a candidate for city councillor in this October's municipal elections...."

False info persists

Back on June 17, information about cricket consumption for humans continued to be shared on Facebook in Chinese on this page. According to Facebook's translation algorithm, followers are told the cricket factory is part of the "'Great Reset' agenda to stop the people from owning everything and implement the major food chain." 

On June 18, a similar post appears on Black Sheep Truth Media, a Facebook group that features numerous conspiracy theories with the caption: "The planned food shortages now offers a solution. Not to worry now, there will be plenty to eat folks."

The information has been reaching more people, with at least 292 shares and 164 comments among the page's 30,000 followers. It is also flagged as false information by Facebook after being singled out by independent fact checkers. 

Next, on June 22, the conspiracy is repeated by Tanner Hnidey, the vice-president of economics with the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), a provincial separatist group. 

Hnidey posts a video to his personal Facebook titled "We're going to keep eating Alberta Beef!" 

"I do not intend to eat crickets or bugs for breakfast," Hnidey says in the video, falsely claiming the federal government is trying to replace beef with insect protein...."

On July 9, federal Conservative leadership hopeful Leslyn Lewis wrote a blog post with the heading, "Is animal meat being phased out?" that hints the cricket plant is part of a larger plan by the federal government to phase out meat.....

[The comment by the professor about all of this:]

"CBC News shared the timeline of the conspiracy theory's growth with Alison Meek, an associate professor of history at King's College at Western University in London, Ont., who studies conspiracy theories. 

She said the false information taps into a growing anti-government sentiment, playing on the fear and isolation many felt during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic when authorities were imposing sweeping lockdowns and health restrictions that upended many people's daily routines. 

Meek said it's clear from the timeline that the false information was twisted and manipulated by each person who spread it, adding or taking away details in order to create propaganda to suit their own agenda."

--------------

   The timeline related to the cricket conspiracy has continued into this new year.  Here is the first paragraph from an article in the publication, American Thinker:

"Give up cheeseburgers, and eat bugs instead.  That's what the Davos elite want you to do, while they dine on $50 burritos and slabs of steak.  They would even have you feel good about being a meat- and diary-free insectivore.  To this end, they have carefully manufactured the cult of environmental alarmism, whose virtue-signaling adherents have been duped into thinking an ecological disaster is at hand." From, "Let Them Eat Bugs," Janet Levy, American Thinker, Jan. 23, 2023.

More Cricket Material

The Construction of the Cricket Factory

   EllisDon did construct the factory and the announcement is found here:

Aspire Food Group - New Production Facility. 

About Aspire - The Cricket Company

   The company website is useful and it announces that, A growing population and increasing demand for food and raw materials requires sustainable, scalable solutions that keep our world healthy.

Canadian Government Support For Aspire

   It is the case that the company received government funding in the summer of 2022. "Investment in State-of-the-art Facility For Aspire to Support Sustainable Food Production," Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, June 27, 2022.

"The Canadian agriculture sector continues to develop innovative ways to meet the demand for more sustainably grown food. Today, Francis Drouin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced on behalf of the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, an investment of up to $8.5 million for Aspire to support the building of a commercial facility to produce cricket protein.

Alternative sources of protein such as insects provide an opportunity for Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector to more sustainably meet global demand for food. Aspire's goal to tackle global food scarcity led to its focus on edible insect production, which can provide high volumes of nutritious food with a low environmental footprint.

With funding under the AgriInnovate Program, Aspire will use the latest smart technology to create the ideal growing conditions for crickets at its facility in London, Ontario. This investment will allow the company to monitor and grow billions of crickets at a time, producing a nutrient-rich protein for premium health food and pet markets. The technology will also significantly cut Aspire's cost of production, making its products more attractive for sale in domestic and international markets."

WEF Support For Insect Eating

   Early in 2022 the WEF did publish this report: "5 Reasons Why Eating Insects Could Reduce Climate Change," Feb. 9, 2022. The link is provided. It is noted that the report has been under attack: 

Help us prevent the spread of disinformation

This article has been intentionally misrepresented on sites that spread false information. Please read the piece for yourself before sharing or commenting.

The World Economic Forum is committed to publishing a wide array of opinions. Misrepresenting content diminishes open conversations.

Our consumption of animal protein is the source of greenhouses gas and climate change.

Insects are an overlooked source of protein and a way to battle climate change.

The consumption of insects can offset climate change in many ways.

Thinking About Entomophagy?

   See this video offered by the New York Times: "The Joy of Cooking (Insects)," Tala Schlossberg, et al, (no date) 
Mealworm soup. Chile-lime cricket tacos. Charred avocado tartare with ant larvae.

"In the West, edible insects have long been the domain of food adventurers, with few other takers — even as billions of people elsewhere on the planet count insects as a part of their traditional diets.

But as we explore in the Opinion Video above, a growing tribe of environmentalists, academics and entrepreneurs are arguing that edible insects must enjoy a wider acceptance to help create a more sustainable global food system and save the planet."

"Salted Ants. Ground Crickets. Why You Should Try Edible Insects," Carolyn Beans, Washington Post, Nov. 27, 2022. 

"Sanchez encourages people to eat insects, in part, to lighten environmental footprints. Farmed insects produce far less greenhouse gas and require much less land and water than conventional livestock. Insects also generate more biomass with less input. Crickets, for example, are 12 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into edible weight.

Already, 2 billion people eat insects, according to one estimate — primarily in parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia. The practice dates back millennia. “I always thought, even back in the ’90s, someday, maybe, [Americans] will do this,” Sanchez says."

Thinking About Getting Into the Cricket Business?

   Here is an abstract of a market research report indicating billions can be made. 

"Edible Insects Market by Product (Whole Insect, Insect Powder, Insect Meal, Insect Oil), Insect Type (Crickets, Black Soldier Fly, Mealworms), Application (Animal Feed, Protein Bars, Bakery, Confectionery, Beverages), and Geography—Forecast to 2030’, provides an in-depth analysis of the edible insects market in five major geographies and emphasizes on the current market trends, market sizes, market shares, recent developments, and forecasts for 2030. In terms of value, the Edible Insects Market is expected to reach $9.60 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 28.3% during the forecast period 2022–2030. In terms of volume, the Edible Insects Market is expected to reach 3,139,035.10 tonnes by 2030, at a CAGR of 31.1% during the forecast period 2022–2030.

The 237 page report will cost you $4,175 (US).

The Bonus (finally)

  For another example of conspiratorial thinking in London, see my post about 9/11.

  You probably failed to notice that the name of a food writer above is "Carolyn Beans", an example of an aptronym.

CRICKET

  For those of you who thought all of this might be about the sport, see my "Sports News From Elsewhere." You will learn that real money can be made in cricket. 

  If, on the other hand, you don't know a "googly" from a "lolly" see: "15 Corker Cricket Terms, Deciphered", Angela Tung, mentalfloss.com, May 5, 2016.

9/11

    As September 11, 2021 approached, there were many articles and programs about September 11, 2001. I watched none of the programs since I remember too well what I saw on that earlier date.  You likely have had enough of the 9/11 commemorations, so I will turn to a 9/11-related event that happened ten years ago in 2011 in London, Ontario.

   Perhaps I was prompted by the title of an article (cited below) which indicates that "False, Toxic Sept. 1l Conspiracy Theories Are Still Widespread Today", which caused me to wonder if that was true. If you are innocent of such matters, you should know that what you saw on 9/11 was not necessarily what was seen by many others. Or, that what was seen, has been explained in ways of which you may be unaware. There are those who believe, for example, that a plane did not hit the Pentagon and that the planes did not cause the destruction of the buildings in New York. Some of them are likely to live in London, Ontario. 

Conspiratorial Thinking Close By

   In early March of 2011 the Western News announced that "9/11 Truther Brings Message to Campus." Here is the description of the event:
“Niels Harrit, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, will offer a critique of the official account of the destruction of the World Trade Centres on Sept. 11, 2001, focusing on Building 7. Harrit published an article in 2009 about the discovery of nano-thermite, an incendiary and explosive, in the WTC dust. The free lecture takes place 7 p.m. today, March 3 in Social Science Centre, Room 2050. The lecture will be moderated by Dr. Paul McArthur, Western adjunct professor of family medicine.”

   I was not in London at the time and was sorry to have missed the talk, and I was surprised when I returned not to find any mention of it.  I was surprised because, even in 2011, universities were not generally welcoming places, and many speakers with, shall we say "eccentric" views, were being deplatformed. Apparently the talk was well-attended and no one objected. I, by the way, think it is a fine thing when notorious thinkers and obnoxious speakers are allowed on campus. 

   As the summary above implies, the collapse of the buildings was not caused by the airplanes. This is the view of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth and apparently that view is still held in 2021. I am not sure what the attendees of the London talk believe now. It would be interesting to know. 

  A careful reader will have noticed that I said the talk was "well-attended", even though I was not there and found no accounts of the lecture. I have now found one, however, and it is provided by the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Back in 2011, the lecture at Western was one of several given on Canadian campuses and a full report is found in this post: "Nanothermite Co-Discoverer Adds Canada to Lecture Tour," Mike Bondi, PEng.  Here is the complete account about the event at Western.

At the University of Western Ontario in London, a city with a population of approximately 350,000 located about two hours west of Toronto, attendance for Professor Harrit’s talk was somewhere between 60 and 75 people, according to Dr. Sharon Baker, a palliative care physician and long-time London-area peace activist. Dr. Baker, who brought along her two teenage sons and one of their friends, and “hadn’t really heard of [WTC] Building 7,” was very affected by the presentation and felt compelled to do something.

The London event was organized by Dr. Paul McArthur, an adjunct professor of family medicine at UWO, and a practicing physician in Walkerton, Ontario. Dr. McArthur led the introductions, and before introducing Dr. Harrit, I presented a trailer for a documentary that is currently in production called “9/11 in the Academic Community” which is being directed and produced by Adnan Zuberi. In early production, the documentary will be narrated by well-known actor and 9/11 activist Ed Asner, and will feature a number of distinguished academics in Canada and the United States. The film will explore the difficulties faced by professors and students in broaching the subject of 9/11 within their respective academic circles. This documentary was inspired by a class in 2008 at the University of Lethbridge by Professor Anthony Hall that involved many academics in Ontario and discussed important issues surrounding the academy’s response to 9/11. Consisting of three parts – the nature and the dimensions of the taboo of expressing critical perspectives of the events of 9/11 in academia, scholarly scrutiny and the official reports, and ways activists might overcome barriers in academic institutions to examining this subject – the film will explore these issues through the experiences of university students, professors and presidents.

Professor A.K. (Kee) Dewdney remarked “Harrit gives a very methodical lecture, building his case like a lawyer and closing off the exits for deniers one by one. I had never heard such a damning discussion of the anomalies at the WTC and was especially pleased to think of the explanation of the very long time that molten material resided at the bottom of the ‘bathtub’ for weeks.” A graduate student who was reporting on the event and interviewed Dr. Harrit mentioned that in the past, she had experienced that “teachers aware of students who were promoting dangerous alternative theories of 9/11 were obliged to ‘report’ them.”

A theme that ran throughout the tour is the notion that “9/11 is key.” Of Harrit and Grumme, Dr. McArthur remarked that “we are all humbled and inspired by the pair of you, a real team – bringing your own talents to the cause of truth and justice, even beyond the 9/11 issue (though it is KEY).” It was interesting to note that during Dr. Harrit’s tour of Canada, the nanothermite paper he authored with eight other researchers was not available on the Internet for a period of at least a few days. Whether this was mere coincidence or not, one can only speculate.

   Careful readers from the London area will have recognized the name of one prominent London family in the account above.  Professor A.K. (Kee) Dewdney was in attendance and he was (and perhaps still is) an active 9/11 denier. He used to live around the corner from us here in "Old South" and may still be close by. I would have been afraid to approach him in any case, since he was a professor and my knowledge of nanothermite is slim. 

   I first learned of Professor Dewdney in the book: Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History.  I learned more from Among the Truthers, where this is found on p. 89: 

   "Of all the 9/11 conspiracy theories I have encountered, perhaps the most elaborate is that of Alexander Keewatin Dewdney, a retired Canadian mathematician, who believes there were no Arab hijackers on September 11, 2001: The passengers of the four planes were killed using sarin gas, and the planes were flown into their targets by government-programmed computers.

   Among the many inconvenient facts casting doubts on Dewdney's thesis are the various telephone calls from passengers on the hijacked 9/11 aircraft to their loved ones. And so, Dewdney has made it his life's work to prove that the people who originated these calls actually were actors and actresses pretending to be hijacked victims. Dewdney has even gone up in rented aircraft with a bag full of cell phones so that he can prove to the world that the alleged phone calls never took place."

   Although the summary provided by the Architects & Engineers suggests that professors and students can face some difficulties when broaching the subject of 9/11 within their respective academic circles, they apparently didn't face any when they visited campuses across Canada. I find that odd, given how ''touchy" those on campus are, and were even then. If the buildings were destroyed from within, then who did it? Some of us think the buildings were destroyed by terrorists and airplanes. Others, twenty years after the event, are still arguing about whether the Jews or Bush and the neocons, brought down the buildings and whether those in the U.S. government knew about what was going to happen or made it happen. I fear that the answers are whatever you want them to be and depend upon which channel you watch or what you choose to read on social media.

Sources: 
   If you are not a "Truther" and do not think 9/11 a "False Flag" operation, these resources will be of interest.

"9//11 Conspiracy Theories" Wikipedia.
   The article is thorough and well-arranged. If you need more:

"How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Fueled the War on Reality: Twenty Years After Osama bin Laden Terrorized the United States, Evidentiary Thinking is Under Attack From the Inside."
Opinion by Kate Woodsome and David Byler, Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2021
Discusses a film by Evan Laine and Raju Parakkal. 
"When terrorists flew two jetliners into the World Trade Center on a clear blue morning 20 years ago — and a third plane into the Pentagon — Americans’ belief that they were invulnerable to attack was shattered. That belief, of course, was false. The War of 1812. Pearl Harbor. We’d been attacked before. But not while we had such a modern, well-funded military and intelligence networks. The system failed us — a reality too stressful for many Americans to bear. Evan Laine, a former trial lawyer-turned-academic whose home city — New York — was attacked, believes that people carrying the stress had two options. They could accept that the system failed us, or change the narrative. He eventually paired up with political economist Raju Parakkal to study what motivated people to change the narrative, i.e., believe in conspiracy theories blaming George W. Bush for 9/11 instead of the terrorists who planned and executed the attacks....In this short film, Laine and Parakkal reflect on why people are inclined to adopt a narrative unsupported by evidence. Their explanation draws a chilling line between 9/11 “trutherism” and the “Big Lie” of 2020."

"False, Toxic Sept. 11 Conspiracy Theories are Still Widespread Today," David Byler and Kate Woodsome, Washington Post, September 10, 2021. 
"The facts of Sept. 11, 2001, are uncontested: Terrorists hijacked four jetliners, flew two into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon, while passengers on the fourth plane helped crash it in Pennsylvania.
After the attacks, conspiracy theories spread quickly. By the middle of George W. Bush’s presidency, a third of the public either believed that the U.S. government assisted in the attacks or took no action to stop them.
Today, 9/11 conspiracy theories remain widespread: 1 in 6 Americans think Bush administration officials knew about the attacks and intentionally let them happen so they could wage war in the Middle East. Others go further, arguing that the government planned and executed the attacks.
These groundless theories — commonly known as “Trutherism” — raise important questions. How does a conspiracy theory take hold? And why, 20 years after the attack, does it endure?

"How the 9/11 Attacks Helped Shape the Modern Misinformation, Conspiracy Theory Industry," PolitFact. From the Poynter Institute.  Here is the synopsis they provide:
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
*The sudden terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, seemed to defy explanation and occurred just as the internet started to boom. That combination spawned various conspiracy theories and made them accessible in new ways.
*The attacks also fueled distrust in government and fears of real and perceived enemies. Experts said the feeling of lost trust and security likely made some Americans more susceptible to conspiracy theories about 9/11 and other topics.
*One key accelerator of the 9/11 truth movement was an amateur documentary released online in 2005, which created a template for future videos, such as “Plandemic.”

"Two Decades Later, the Enduring Legacy of 9/11," by Hannah Hartig and Carroll Doherty.
From the Pew Research Center. 
"The enduring power of the Sept. 11 attacks is clear: An overwhelming share of Americans who are old enough to recall the day remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Yet an ever-growing number of Americans have no personal memory of that day, either because they were too young or not yet born."

"Seven Resources Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories: With the twentieth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaching, we recommend sources for better understanding 9/11 and its aftermath. This week: seven resources that debunk 9/11 conspiracy theories." Blog Post by James M. Lindsay and Anna Shortridge, September 1, 2021. From the Council on Foreign Relations. 

"9/11 Conspiracy Theories Debunked: 20 Years Later, Engineering Experts Explain How the Twin Towers Collapsed,"  .September 8, 2021.From: The Conversation: (Academic rigour, journalistic flair.). 

"How a Viral Video Bent Reality: The Opening Moments of "Loose Change;" A Conspiracy Film Energized the "9/11 Truther" Movement. It Also Supplied the Template for the Current Age of Disinformation." New York Times, Sept. 12, 2021. 
But millions of Americans were seduced. After watching it, they disappeared down rabbit holes and emerged days or weeks later as, if not full-fledged 9/11 truthers, at least passionate skeptics. They had opinions about obscure topics like nano-thermites and controlled demolition, and they could recite the melting temperatures of various construction materials. Some believed the government was actively involved; others merely thought Bush administration officials knew about the attacks in advance and allowed them to happen.
Today, the Sept. 11 truther movement is often mocked or reduced to a sad historical footnote. It’s easy to forget how successful it was. More than 100 million people watched “Loose Change,” by its director’s estimate, making it one of the most popular independent documentaries of all time. And while conspiracy theory videos now routinely go viral, “Loose Change” was an early example of the internet’s ability to accelerate their spread.
What I found, in short, was that 16 years after its release, “Loose Change” is still bizarrely relevant. Its DNA is all over the internet — from TikTok videos about child sex trafficking to Facebook threads about Covid-19 miracle cures — and many of its false claims still get a surprising amount of airtime. (Just last month, the director Spike Lee drew criticism for indulging Sept. 11 conspiracy theories in a new HBO documentary series.) The film’s message that people could discover the truth about the attacks for themselves also became a core tactic for groups like QAnon and the anti-vaccine crowd, which urge their followers to ignore the experts and “do their own research” online.

If you now wish to read an entire book on the subject, see Jonathan Kay's, Among the Truthers: A Journey through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground.

Post Script:

   Those who witnessed the event will soon be gone and, as we have seen, the testimony of the witnesses varies. Currently, many distrust the government, even more the media and somewhere on social media one can find exactly what it is one wants to believe. Besides, we are now not only entitled to our own opinions, but as well to our own facts. One only hopes that things will have changed considerably before the historians arrive.

The Bonus:
   At the risk of leading some of you to the dark side, I will provide here a link to a video of the charismatic and convincing Professor Harrit from the website TRUTH COMES TO LIGHT: "World War III Started 20 Years Ago:" The Psychological War on Humanity - From 9/11 to Covid - 19."

Bill Gates: The Farmer

   I have not posted anything in about fifteen days and no one has noticed or complained. I am back at work, however, because doing this beats doing some of the other things I should be doing. It is also the case, I am sure, that hundreds have been waiting at the door of my blog for something new, if only to avoid having to read anything more about the Royal Couple.

   You probably noticed that Mr. Gates has published another book: How To Avoid A Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need.  It is a good thing that a person of his wealth and prominence has called attention to the fact that we may have a problem. We should have listened to him back in 2015 when he made this statement: "If anything kills over 10 million people over the next few decades, it is likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than war." 

Land Nerd

   You probably did not notice what I am about to present; that is why this blog is so valuable to you. When Bill Gates wasn't writing he was out shopping: 

"Bill Gates, the fourth richest person in the world and a self-described nerd who is known for his early programming skills rather than his love of the outdoors, has been quietly snatching up 242,000 acres of farmland across the U.S. — enough to make him the top private farmland owner in America....

While it may be surprising that a tech billionaire would also be the biggest farmland owner in the country, this is not Gates’ only foray into agriculture. In 2008, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced $306 million in grants to promote high-yield, sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The foundation has further invested in the development and proliferation of “super crops” resistant to climate change and higher-yield dairy cows. Last year, the organization announced Gates Ag One, a nonprofit to advance those efforts."

   That seems like a rather generous gesture and in his new book he points out that the world's poorest people are likely to be harmed most by the changing climate. Once again, you may not know that some people think that Bill Gates is more evil than George Soros. They argue that he is really trying to kill-off the African people and "One outlandish belief is that he is using the pandemic to push a vaccine with a microchip that would control people's minds or track their location." Given my general glibness you may assume that I am joking and making this up.  I am not. Nor do I think that Gates and Soros are evil. 

Sources:

 The quotation about the property purchases is from; "America's Biggest Owner of Farmland is Now Bill Gates," Ariel Shapiro, Forbes, Jan. 14, 2021.

About the conspiracy theories involving Gates, there is plenty: 
"Bill Gates' Daughter Jennifer Jokes About Conspiracy Theory After Getting COVID-19 Vaccine," Eric Levenson, CNN, Feb. 15, 2021. (the source for the "outlandish belief.")

"How Bill Gates Became the Voodoo Doll of Covid Conspiracies," Jane Wakefield, BBC, June 6, 2020. 

Bill also has a blog and you can learn more about the book there. 

The Bonus:

Given that small bits of land and, little dilapidated houses around here are going for very big bucks, it is amazing that anyone has wealth enough to make such big, bulk purchases of property. Many can't afford to even rent a place.

"According to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there isn't a single American state in which a person working full time for minimum wage can afford a one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rent." From: "Trailer-Park Trades," by Sheelah Kolhatkar, The New Yorker, March 15, 2021. 

Druthers

 Newspapers

    So many newspapers have closed in recent years there is a Wikipedia entry for "The Decline of Newspapers." It is odd then, that I received another new one last week. You may recall my post about The Epoch Times back in January. This week our subject is Druthers which is pictured above. That is the third issue and 100,000 copies of it are being distributed across the country. The title, as the masthead indicates, means what it implies, as in "If I had my druthers, we all would know the truth," and apparently that is all that Druthers publishes.  You can decide for yourself at druthers.net where you can access and assess all the issues currently available. 

   Not only does Druthers give you the truth, it also points you to other places where more of it is found. On p. 5 of the issue above you will find "Websites of Interest" and the first one listed is "Vaccine Choice Canada" and the second is "The World Doctors Alliance." The first one cannot be said to be vaccine friendly and the second appeared in the headline: "World Doctors Alliance" Shares False and Misleading Claims About the Covid-19 Pandemic." Still, one wants to trust the publisher Shawn Jason Laponte, who says on the last page: "Please world, be kind to one another. We really are just one big earth family. Thank you. I love you. Keep on passing it on." He is publishing Druthers "Because Mainstream Media Sucks!" One London reader was impressed enough to offer to hand out copies at his place of work. Before you make such a decision do have a look at Druthers where you can also buy this T-shirt. 

Vaccines

   I thought most Canadians were worried about not getting the vaccine which, at this point, is a legitimate thing to be worried about. I forgot about the fact that vaccines cause autism and that many movie stars and wealthy and influential people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are ardent anti-vaxxers. But, if you are a vaccine fence sitter, where can you go for the real truth?

      The few employees still remaining at Statistics Canada have been looking into it. That chart is from, "Misinformation During the Covid-19 Pandemic," by Karine Garneau and Clemence Zossu and here is some prose to go with it and the news is not good:

During the pandemic, nine in ten Canadians (90%) used online sources to find information about COVID-19. The three main sources were online newspapers or news sites (63%), social media posts from news organizations or magazines (35%), and social media posts from other users or influencers (30%).

The survey found that many Canadians were not in a regular habit of checking the accuracy of information they found online, with only 21% reporting they always check the accuracy and 37% saying they often check. However roughly 36% of Canadians reported that they only sometimes (24%) or rarely (12%) checked the accuracy of COVID-19 information they found online, which facilitates the sharing of potentially misleading, false or inaccurate information.

The most common reason identified by the 1.5 million (6%) Canadians who never verified the accuracy of the information was that they trusted the source (53%). Of the other reasons, 22% reported that they did not think about checking the accuracy of the information, 20% did not care about checking, 11% said they did not know how to check and 10% did not have time to check. Men and women both reported similar proportions for the reasons they didn’t fact check the information found online.

  While the pandemic is serious, the infodemic is as well and is likely to last longer:

An infodemic is an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information to undermine the public health response and advance alternative agendas of groups or individuals. Mis- and disinformation can be harmful to people’s physical and mental health; increase stigmatization; threaten precious health gains; and lead to poor observance of public health measures, thus reducing their effectiveness and endangering countries’ ability to stop the pandemic.

   

Sources:

  An early report about Druthers is found here: "New Covid Conspiracy Newspaper With Extremist Ties Eyes Canada-Wide Distribution," by Rayne, Dec. 18, 2020 at Antihate.ca.

  For a recent article: "How This Man's Newspaper is Pushing Anti-Covid-Restrictions Rhetoric Across Canada," Alex McKeen, The Toronto Star, Feb.7, 2021.

The Bonus: 

  You have probably read about the new Novavax, vaccine that is going to be produced here in Canada (in a Montreal facility still under construction.) See: "Novavax's Vaccine Will Be Produced in Canada. What Do We Know About It?" Patricia Treble, Maclean's, Feb. 4, 2021.

Novavax was developed in Maryland. This from Reuters:

Chief Executive Stanley Erck and three of his top lieutenants have sold roughly $46 million of company stock since the start of last year, according to a Reuters review of securities filings, capitalizing on a near 3,000% rally in Novavax shares fueled by investors betting on the success of the shot under development. The lucrative liquidations, which have not previously been reported, underscore the transformation in Novavax’s fortunes during the global pandemic and the opportunity for its executives to lock in big profits from market optimism.

The Gaithersburg, Maryland-based company was worth only $250 million until about a year ago, when news of its experimental vaccine and its participation in Operation Warp Speed drove its valuation up to as much as $11 billion.

At least there is some good news to report.