The radical far-right mob called themselves the "Freedom Convoy" to disguise their true colors. The anti-vax trucker movement was made up of dangerous conspiracy theorists that posed a clear threat to Canadians' safety during an already-dangerous pandemic. The response of government and police was completely justified during a time of an unprecedented uprising.
Trudeau was warned by his own intelligence agency that invoking the Emergencies Act would only escalate anti-government sentiment and potentially even prompt violence. While protesters were exercising their right to oppose extraordinary public health mandates, the government decided to enact an assault on civil liberties. Labeling all protesters far-right conspiracy theorists is a deliberate distortion of the truth aimed at justifying this authoritarian crackdown.
There's a 60% chance that the Liberal Party will win the most seats in the next Canadian federal election, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Despite the US and its allies blaming Pyongyang for increasing tensions, Washington cannot obscure the fact that it bears the main responsibility for declining diplomatic relations, especially as the Biden administration has switched back to a confrontational course following Donald Trump's efforts at de-escalation. Washington is fueling conflict to force closer ties with Japan and South Korea in order to expand its regional influence.
While the North regularly slams South Korea-US drills as alleged invasion rehearsals, it is the desperate regime in Pyongyang that is escalating tensions to consolidate its power. In doing so, the nation keeps violating UN Security Council resolutions by expanding its nuclear and ballistic missile activities, all the while starving its own population. Washington and its allies are obliged to show strength against the ruthless North Korean regime.
There's a 50% chance that Kim Jong Un will no longer be the leader of North Korea by January 2040, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Biden's visit to Ukraine — which comes as the war reaches a critical juncture — is a sign of unwavering support for Ukraine and demonstrates that the US is prepared to back Kyiv for as long as it takes.
While the Biden administration is publicly announcing it will support Ukraine for as long as it takes, behind closed doors it's a different story. Private discourse suggests that US backing for Kyiv's expensive and, possibly, unachievable military goals may have an expiration date.
There is a 2% chance that Ukraine will officially recognize a former Ukrainian territory (Luhansk, Donetsk or Crimea) as independent before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
This is a political stunt aimed at threatening healthcare providers who administer life-saving vaccinations, all to appease the anti-vaxxer faction of the right. Though the CDC, WHO, and various medical journals have all presented facts to the contrary, Idaho's GOP has chosen to ignore the science and punish doctors. If they were truly concerned with health rather than politics, the lawmakers would go after the pharma companies that developed the vaccine.
VAERS reports are made by both individual vaccine recipients and healthcare providers, so these data are not to be taken lightly. States have a right to study, question, and legislate based on vaccine research. This issue has become politicized, but not because of so-called anti-vaxxer right-wingers. Left-wing media outlets and Big Tech have censored reports of vaccine injuries, and it's about time officeholders held the rich and powerful to account.
Though for years Facebook claimed all its services were "free and always will be," the value of users' personal data meant the site was never truly free. Unfortunately, the launch of Meta Verified is a tone-deaf move reinforcing tech greed. By forcing users to pay for services that were expected to be a default offering — such as protection from impersonation — the paid service looks more like a marketing pitch than of actual value to creators.
Meta's new offering is fundamentally about increasing authenticity and security by cutting down on trolls, impersonations, and fraud. Though it will undoubtedly also help the social media platform diversify its revenue stream and reduce its reliance on advertising, Meta Verified further benefits users by adding premium value to their account; at $11.99 or $14.99 a month, it's a bargain for the content.
It is very common during print runs of new books to review the language of the text as well as other publication features like cover and page layout. These edits do nothing to diminish the original wit or spirit of the text and, while the original storylines and characters have been left untouched, the considered alterations make the texts far more inclusive and appealing to modern audiences in an age of rising cultural sensitivity.
This decision has rightly prompted widespread condemnation from the literary community. Arguments that Dahl's children's books are in some way bigoted are ludicrous and censoring his satire is nothing short of modern McCarthyism. The review is also an insult to the intelligence of audiences, who should be allowed to interpret and respond to literature on an individual basis, rather than have publishers curate and sterilize their experience of storytelling.
IS is using the earthquake in southern Turkey and northern Syria as a cover to commit atrocities. With the world's attention on other matters, the group was able to undertake a terrible massacre of Syrian civilians. The fight against IS is definitely not over, and all parties involved must continue their effort in liquidating the group.
Though one may assume that an attack like this was obviously committed by IS, there is a possibility that the Fatemiyoun Brigade, an Iran-backed Afghan Shiite militia, actually is the real perpetrator. Iran's sectarian militias are known for their brutality and also have tactically tried to blend in with the local population in the past. Iran continues to meddle in the local politics of the Syrian desert, and one must keep in mind that it is Iran that benefits from chaos in Syria.
While science has not allowed us to quantify the role of climate change in Brazil's flooding events, we can with certainty say that human-caused climate change is responsible. These catastrophic events are in alignment with climate prediction models and future projections. Based on forecasts, these devastating events will not only continue, but as greenhouse emissions and warming increase, these events will increase as well.
World politicians have been quick to blame climate change for damage to infrastructure and the all-around disruption to daily lives. What they've failed to mention is that climate change wouldn't be that big of a deal if it weren't for their failed policies and poor planning. Without proper building and zoning policies and significant investments in infrastructure, governments have left people vulnerable to flooding and other infrastructure-related disasters. Blaming climate change doesn't fix the problems but makes way for absolving policymakers of their responsibility for the unnecessary loss of lives and property.
There's a 50% chance that the total damage incurred by climate change during the 21st century will be 8.84% of the world GDP, according to the Metaculus Prediction Community.
Turkey couldn't afford the first earthquake, let alone a second wave, and this is largely due to Pres. Erdoğan’s neglect. He failed to implement earthquake-safe infrastructure and, in the quakes' aftermath, has abandoned vast regions — specifically those in the southeast that are home to marginalized Kurds — while censoring and arresting journalists who report on his negligence, which has left countless people under the rubble and their surviving family members with little hope for government help.
In the aftermath of this devastating disaster, Erdoğan is doing what he can. 1.68M people have already been provided temporary shelter by the government as they await further assistance, and a 200k apartment rebuilding project — which will see 40k houses built in each of the Hatay, Kahramanmaras, and Malatya provinces — is set to begin in March, showing solidarity between Turkey's institutions despite those seeking to extort the disaster for political gain.
The mounting deaths in American prisons during the COVID pandemic underscores just how overpopulated US prisons are and why America must decarcerate. System failure turned prison sentences into death sentences, and it's time that the US release non-violent offenders from jail and seek alternative methods of rehabilitation.
While it's tragic to see the effects of COVID as it spread through American prisons, prisoners cannot simply be released en masse because of a pandemic, which uprooted the lives of nearly every person in the world. Mass decarceration — which will only lead to social deterioration — isn't the answer.