This week, California Governor Gavin Newsom rode sane pandemic messaging to victory against the Republican-led recall election by a huge margin. Unsurprisingly, voting patterns perfectly matched the state COVID heat map, with fans of the recall suffering the worst outbreaks. Meanwhile, a strict lockdown in Australia, which is experiencing a Delta outbreak, led to American libertarians and right-wing commentators screaming fascism! We talk to Decoding the Gurus co-host (and real-life Australian) Matthew Browne about the situation on the ground. Later in the episode, Julian interviews another Aussie, Dr. Izzy Smith, about her online anti-conspiracy theory activism and science advocacy.
In the Ticker, Derek looks at JP Sears’s new cryptocurrency grift, which appears to be inspired by fellow Austinite Mikki Willis—who also announced a supplement grift this week. Matthew talks briefly to Toronto video journalist Morgan Yew to begin making sense of the alarming convergence of racist alt-right groups with aggressive anti-mask, anti-vaccine protestors at medical facilities in Canada.
Show Notes
How the media helped fuel the anti-vaxx movement
The Non-Fungible Freedom Column
Atlantic article “Australia Traded Away Too Much Liberty”
Josh Szeps Twitter thread response to The Atlantic
Federalist article Pursuing Covid-Zero Has Turned Australia into an Authoritarian State
Opinion | Meet the police chief turned yoga instructor prodding wealthy suburbanites to civil war
Ex-La Habra police chief Alan Hostetter, 5 others charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
When QAnon Came to Canada
Glowing Mama Anti-Masker. Toronto Influencer Socially Toilets in… | by Matthew Remski | Medium
Morgan Yew (@weynagrom)
Morgan Yew interviewing Sarah Choujounian of Canadian Frontline Nurses
Morgan Yew: Plan to “Interview” Racist Anti-Lockdown Influencer Ends in Violence
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