the_Skeptic_Zone

We’re back in the saddle for another 300!

Before we start today we reflect on the COP26 fiasco, celebrate the recent golden thin-foil hat award and the Russians’ latest adventures in space. Also don’t miss next week’s SiTP Online with Richards Saunders! (Pontus to moderate). This week marks the 162nd anniversary of Darwin’s On the Origins of Species and Joe Biden can still eat the holy crackers. Then we go into the news:

• AUSTRIA: Country goes on a nationwide lockdown and announces the coming of vaccine mandates
• GERMANY: Covid numbers soaring
• GERMANY: Jens Spahn says Germans will be ‘vaccinated, cured or dead’ by the end of winter
• GERMANY: Bayer president wrongly calls mRNA vaccines GeneTherapy, feeding new avalanche of misinformation
• SWEDEN: Cough syrup is hocus-pocus according to researcher
• AUSTRIA: Ivermectine is sold out in Austria
• ITALY: Homeopath dies after refusing vaccination
• FRANCE: French couple wins legal fight over wind ‘turbine syndrome’
• INTERNATIONAL: Warning against fake shops during Black Week
• INTERNATIONAL: Measles outbreaks to be expected with vaccination schedules lagging
• UKRAINE: Ukrainians like to spend their money on non-proven products

The Waldorf School in Freiburg gets today’s Really Wrong Award for faking mask exemptions which led to over 100 covid cases.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week In Skepticism; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;
 
0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:52 GREETINGS

• COP26 – Outcomes
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59277788
• The Golden Alu Hat Awards 2021
  • Der Goldene Alu Hut: https://dergoldenealuhut.de/der-goldene-aluhut-2021-die-verleihung/
• Russians endanger ISS and its astronauts with weapons test
  • Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/ap/2021/11/16/russia-rejects-accusations-of-endangering-iss-astronauts/
• Plug: Richard Saunders to give SiTP-talk Online with Swedish Skeptics
  • VoF: https://www.vof.se/kalendarium/skeptics-in-the-pub-online-the-adventures-of-richard-saunders/

0:11:59 THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICISM

• 24th November 1859 – The first publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
  • Royal Society: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsnr.2018.0015

0:17:36 PONTUS POKES THE POPE

• No Ban for Biden and a Rough Week for Frankie
  • Catholic News Agency: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249622/breaking-bishops-vote-to-accept-eucharistic-coherence-statement
  • Crux: https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2021/11/can-francis-make-lemonade-from-the-lemons-of-a-rough-week
  • Crux: https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2021/11/vaticans-trial-of-the-century-could-end-in-a-whimper-not-a-bang

0:23:37 NEWS

• AUSTRIA: Country goes on a nationwide lockdown and announces the coming of vaccine mandates
  • ORF.at: https://orf.at/stories/3237108/
  • AFP: https://afp.omni.se/netherlands-hit-by-third-night-of-covid-unrest/a/0Gg4oA
  • AP News: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-brussels-europe-8b2fb4eb4992b54cd544fc8fa5e19f26
  • DN: https://www.dn.se/sverige/flera-tusen-jo-anmalningar-om-vaccinbeviset/
• GERMANY: Covid numbers soaring
  • Tages Schau: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/coronavirus-karte-deutschland-101.html
• GERMANY: Jens Spahn says Germans will be ‘vaccinated, cured or dead’ by the end of winter
  • AFP: https://afp.omni.se/germans-will-be-vaccinated-cured-or-dead-minister/a/0GgGrg
  • Focus: https://www.focus.de/gesundheit/coronavirus/biontech-bestellungen-gedeckelt-pressekonferenz-im-live-ticker-spahn-aeussert-sich-zu-den-auffrischungsimpfungen-mit-moderna_id_24448828.html
  • AFP: https://afp.omni.se/austria-re-enters-covid-lockdown-as-europe-battles-virus-surge/a/dnrm3q
• GERMANY: Bayer president wrongly calls mRNA vaccines GeneTherapy, feeding new avalanche of misinformation
  • Cause Action: https://cqrcengage.com/causeaction/app/document/36532017
  • Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-vaccines-idUSL1N2PK1DC
  • Genomics Education Program: https://www.genomicseducation.hee.nhs.uk/blog/why-mrna-vaccines-arent-gene-therapies/
• SWEDEN: Cough syrup is hocus-pocus according to researcher
  • TT: https://tt.omni.se/hostmedicin-meningslost-ar-hokus-pokus/a/V9dMp6
• AUSTRIA: Ivermectin is sold out in Austria
  • SWR3: https://www.swr3.de/aktuell/coronavirus/anti-wurmmittel-oesterreich-corona-ivermectin-100.html
• ITALY: Homeopath dies after refusing vaccination
  • Open.online: https://www.open.online/2021/10/26/covid-19-palermo-medico-no-vax-omeopatia/
• FRANCE: French couple wins legal fight over wind ‘turbine syndrome’
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/french-couple-wins-legal-fight-wind-turbine-syndrome-windfarm-health
• INTERNATIONAL: Warning against fake shops during Black Week
  • Mimikama: https://www.mimikama.at/aktuelles/black-week-reinfall-fake-shops/
• INTERNATIONAL: Measles outbreaks to be expected with vaccination schedules lagging
  • Outbreak News: http://outbreaknewstoday.com/measles-evidence-suggests-we-are-likely-seeing-the-calm-before-the-storm-as-the-risk-of-outbreaks-continues-to-grow-around-the-world-82569/
• UKRAINE: Ukrainians like to spend their money on non-proven products
  • Outbreak News: http://outbreaknewstoday.com/ukraine-4-out-of-10-people-purchased-drugs-whose-effectiveness-and-safety-have-not-been-proven-48387/

0:53:57 REALLY WRONG

• REALLY WRONG: Dodgy certificates for exemption from wearing masks leads to mass infections at Waldorf School
  • SWR: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/suedbaden/waldorfschule-freiburg-gefaelschte-corona-atteste-100.html

0:57:26 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“There’s no room for facts when our minds are occupied by fear.”
/ Hans Rosling (27 July 1948 – 7 February 2017), Swedish physician, academic, and public speaker. /

0:59:24 OUTRO

1:00:39 OUT-TAKES