Weekend Unthreaded

8.5 out of 10 based on 13 ratings

180 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #

    I can not anymore

    In an open letter, an ARD employee is critical of one and a half years of Corona reporting: Ole Skambraks has been working as an editorial staff and editor at public broadcasting for 12 years.

    ARD is the German main public TV organisation, to compare with BBC.

    210

    • #
      Brenda Spence

      Great questions! Especially interesting is this one….

      Why have payments of 4 million euros been received into a family account of EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, who was responsible for signing the first EU vaccine contracts with the pharmaceutical companies? (3)

      230

    • #
      Annie

      Excellent.

      100

  • #
    Deano

    Definitely un-threaded here….
    I’m probably just old but – in the current world of ‘popular music’ is the phenomenon of the super group/band gone?
    If you asked me who is the biggest rock band in the world right now I’d have no idea and I don’t recall hearing such a thing even discussed for years. Have shows like The X Factor, The Voice, Australia’s Got Talent etc replaced the old system of bands rising up through the pub circuit, getting talent spotted, recording contract, TV pop show appearance then possibly gaining super stardom?
    If so, I feel sorry for kids and serious bands today.

    110

  • #
    mwhite

    “Polish MPs Protest at Australian Embassy”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBNdMGI82-g

    140

  • #
    • #
      Serp

      It would have been a doddle for Greenpeace had it applied within the jurisdiction of the NSW Land and Environment Court.

      40

  • #
    Kalm Keith

    Many thanks Krishna for that linked overview of the imposed narrative of the CV19 crisis.

    https://joannenova.com.au/2021/10/weekend-unthreaded-381/#comment-2477681

    It covers so much, and the fact that it is circulating gives me hope that we may be able to fight our way out of this.
    Not much, but a little hope.

    There was mention of a woman who was “incentivised” to encourage VaXXination and where there’s one greedy grub there are thousands more in waiting.

    Very early on I noticed that getting total deaths from official government data sites was difficult and appeared to have been made that way so as to prevent a proper assessment of the effects of CV19 on total deaths.

    From the article it’s also apparent that the use of government money, like jobbyseeker stuff, is practiced around the world and is used to keep the population relatively calm before the final day of reckoning arrives.

    Society has been shut down for two years and that is almost beyond belief.

    We need out of this soon or there’ll be nothing left to save.

    https://joannenova.com.au/2021/10/weekend-unthreaded-381/#comment-2477681

    210

    • #
      farmerbraun

      “The lockdowns and vaccinations will continue until compliance improves”.

      180

    • #
      Yonniestone.

      I’ve got until next Friday to get a first jab (God I hate that word) or I’ll be not allowed on site, so I’ve taken over 4 weeks of annual leave to organize myself and others regarding a legal and health defense of what we regard an assault on our lives and bodies.

      Anyone who isn’t in Victoria under the rule of this despotic maniac has no idea whats coming for them if his regime is successful, any laws constitutional, state, commonwealth, human rights, international, or natural will have no meaning if great leader decides so.

      One of the most disturbing aspects of all this is the mass compliance of the population despite even the slightest misgivings of the extreme government overreach they appear to happily lose their personal freedoms, wealth and health to appease the covid Gods walking into vax centers not knowing whats in them and the effects that can occur now or later.

      They will probably walk into the showers just as willingly.

      530

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Yonniestone apply for the $750 a week payment (depending on hours worked per fortnight ) on offer from the Victoriastan government and Human Services for those that have been furlowed or lost their jobs because they didn’t get jabbed . Don’t use your holiday pay . It’s thought the payment will cease when the Covid passport is scrapped .

        200

      • #
        Graeme+P.

        I’m with ya all the way Yonnie.

        151

      • #
        Annie

        Best wishes Yonnie, don’t resign and get that legal and health defence going. ColA had a form of letter to send at #6.4 on Jo’s Oct the 1st thread about ‘Oct 1 Strike!…’. Much food for thought there.

        80

      • #
        BS Buster

        Yonniestone,

        I am no lawyer but, from the reading of this decision, maybe the following could help your case. To me it would seem that the Deputy President of FWC is trying to help the average worker by laying out the case that they should put forward in disputing the Mandatory Covid-19 “Vaccination” and at the same time warn employers what they would be up against if they tried it.

        Firstly, MP Tanya Davies explains it a bit in this video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTCp5ITdFO4

        Then,

        https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/decisionssigned/html/2021fwcfb6015.htm?fbclid=IwAR3Rbn6ZuHKhmpj1iLL3vfU8vLQPkxFmz20WDrUwjpKI2Yj3HIV7wgl1Xxs

        This very recent decision is regarding an issue of termination for refusing a mandatory flu vaccine shot, but in the latter part of this decision Deputy President Dean does lay out the legal arguments against mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations as it seems they would view it from the perspective of the FWC.
        Although these comments are by the dissenting commissioner (Deputy President Dean) the other two (majority) commissioners did not pass any comment wrt the issue of mandatory Covid-19 “vaccination”.

        To save you some laborious reading, I refer you directly to the following section of the decision.

        DECISION OF DEPUTY PRESIDENT DEAN

        PART 2 –VACCINE REQUIREMENTS IN RELATION TO COVID

        [101] The Majority Decision raises the issue of COVID vaccinations and their requirement in workplaces. It forms part of the reasoning for refusing to grant permission to appeal and accordingly provides the opportunity in this decision to deal with this important issue.

        The remaining items [102] …. [184] then lay out the reasoning/argument.

        Hope this helps and Best of Luck!

        130

      • #
        Serp

        The Victorian government’s resolution towards achieving this totalitarian goal is fading somewhat; now it has postponed by a week to the twenty-second of October.

        I suspect it will be entirely abandoned before that day arrives or that there will be further postponements leading up to an eventual quiet dismemberment of the process.

        70

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Interesting Development – Victoria Australia, Officials Withdraw Vaccination Mandate for Government and Judicial Employees

        October 8, 2021 | Sundance

        Citing “jurisdictional issues“, the severe COVID compliance office of Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has reversed a significant portion of the vaccine mandate. Details are oddly sketchy to find; however, it appears Victoria State government workers and workers within the judiciary will no longer be mandated to accept the COVID-19 vaccination.

        (Sky News) […] All Commonwealth employees as well as people who work in connection with court proceedings will be exempt with a government spokesperson saying the relaxation is an attempt to avoid “jurisdictional limitations”. The change will apply to judges, lawyers, security guards and police officers. (read more).

        It would appear this reversal is due to an issue in a similar vein to ‘separation of powers’. This sets up an unusual dynamic. The vaccine mandate still exists for everyone in the private sector; because of course it does. However, a judge hearing a case that challenges the vaccine mandate would themselves not be subject to the same state-wide mandate argued in their court.

        **I’ll keep looking, but if you find anything I’d be interested to see what the official reasoning is.

        UPDATE: The mandate guideline is HERE in pdf Form. But the reason for the distinction between Government and Judicial employees (page 5) is not outlined.

        50

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        All the best.
        I think someone linked to or sent you the documents available through the Stand in the Park.
        They’re a good start, but it’s still a horrible position to be in.

        60

      • #
        Deano

        I believe the health system in WA is starting to lose valuable staff because of mandatory vaccine requirements. Self. Foot. Shoot.

        80

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE RESOURCES – http://www.mcjreport.com/join
        Dear (name of employer)

        This letter is in relation to the recent notice I was served directing me to take the COVID jab. Whilst I respectfully understand that you are following the advice of the government, I am particularly concerned about this request, here’s why.

        In the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities ACT 2006, Section 10, it states that “A person must not be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation or treatment without his or her full, free and informed consent”. (1)

        It can be said, with certainty, that COVID vaccines are experimental by definition. This means that data is still being collected in ongoing clinical trials (2) as well as monitoring reactions in the general population to establish safety and effectiveness.

        To further this point, all four COVID vaccines available in Australia have only provisional approval status with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (3).

        It is a fact that no long-term safety data exists for these vaccines, therefore, as required by the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities ACT 2006, I am unable to give informed consent (4). Informed consent prior to taking a medical intervention is characterized by the Victorian Department of Health by having been given access to information that outlines disadvantages, alternative treatments and making a decision free from undue pressure or coercion, none of which has been provided to me. (5)

        Being put in a position to choose between taking a medical intervention whereby the safety data is inclusive, or losing my job, most definitely fits the description of coercion.
        It is also my understanding that in accordance with occupational health and safety, an employer must conduct a risk assessment prior to implementing a proposed safety measure. I would like to see this assessment. (6)

        I also have serious concerns regarding compensation should I sustain a vaccine related injury. (7)

        I hope to discuss this matter with you further, please contact me at your convenience.

        Kind regards,
        (name)

        90

      • #
        Plain Jane

        Yonnie I wish you great strength in your fight against this. The more people that dont comply the more chance we all have. The more people that comply the more we will loose. It seems that if we dont get jabbed they cant do what they want to us, and what they seem to want seems to be very scarey indeed. I am not under threat of being vaxxed – yet. But I can see the day I cant buy food or use my bank account if I dont. If they win we have nothing worth complying for, or living for for that matter.

        60

    • #

      I would have signed the letter

      50

      • #
        Kalm Keith

        The whole thing is very long, but it’s written in a calm, simple manner that makes it easier to take in.

        Looking at what’s happened in the USA and Victoria you get a strong sense of the threat and harshness of the animals driving this assault on society and it’s scary.

        The endorsed violence of the BLM crowds and the new Victorian Pseudo Police cracking heads and bodies on the concrete would have been unthinkable even five years ago. Now you can’t even blink without being crash tackled and peppered.

        Soros might be behind BLM but what legal right puts the Victorian Pseudos where they are: were they trained, registered, given criminal checks before being dressed like something out of a StarWars nightmare and then armed to the teeth? I strongly suspect that they have little or no legal status in Australia.

        Recently, the Premiere of Premiers was caught without a mask and received two fines totalling four hundred dollars.

        I think it was a publicity stunt to take some of the heat off.

        How can we trust our governments.

        90

  • #
    Zigmaster

    In 2014 What’s up reported about a study from Google engineers that concluded that renewables simply won’t work to provide enough energy on their own or even with batteries.
    I assume Google would now classify this Google research as misinformation. If you want to read the article just Google it. I did.

    160

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Thanks, always good to get that sort of information

      16

    • #
      Forrest Gardener

      Winston Smith will be right onto it.

      30

    • #
      Lance

      Link to article you referenced for the benefit of those who might wish to read it.

      https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/google-engineers-explain-why-they-stopped-rd-in-renewable-energy

      (a ‘green’ link given so that no one may accuse me of bias, and yes, it pained me greatly)

      50

    • #

      …..that concluded that renewables simply won’t work to provide enough energy on their own

      It’s odd about the technology for wind generation.

      I was, umm, questioned about using the 30% Capacity Factor (CF) some years back now, as an original modeling paper I found back in 2008 of more than 600 pages, (link saved at the time, but now long long ago vanished) quoted that 38% is theoretically what wind can deliver, and that was expected to improve to around 42 to 45%, and that was for Onshore wind.

      I was flamed told that the 30% figure was inaccurate, and I should stop using it, and that as newer wind plants with commensurately better technology came into use, than the CF would increase.

      So, being the @n@l type that I am, I wanted not only to check for myself, but to actually detail it.

      So I began checking, detailing, doing the Maths and writing it all up, on a daily basis. That’s every wind plant in Australia.

      I now have three years of data, all collated and written up on a daily basis for ALL the wind generation in Australia.

      Over those three years, there have been many additions to the total Nameplate, as new wind plants come on stream.

      That Nameplate has change from 5301MW to 8587MW, so there has been an increase in that Nameplate of 62%.

      All the new added wind plant towers have been newer technology. Original wind turbines were of around 1.5M to 2W generators inside the nacelles. Now, the newer tech ones are around 4.5MW turbines.

      As each new wind plant came on line, I altered the maths calculations to reflect that change.

      So now, I have that three years of daily data collection. With that daily data collection, I can calculate the long term CF average, and here, I use two averages, the first being for the long term (the full 3 years) and the second being for the most recent 52 weeks. (the last full year)

      Back when I started, the CF was calculated to be that 30% I used. At one time, it ticked over to 31%, stayed there for a few weeks and rolled back down to 30%. The low point was 28%, and it almost ticked back to 27%. Then it stayed around 29% for more than two years, and has only recently, in the last two Months ticked back up to 30%.

      Currently, the full three year CF is sitting at 30.14%, and the most recent year CF is 30.46%.

      So, what has happened here is that even with the addition of newer tech and larger generators inside those nacelles on top of what is now almost double the original height towers is that the CF has NOT increased with the addition of new tech.

      It has stayed stable, and here, that is around 30% for all that time.

      So, while newer tech improves things in virtually most other forms of power generation, that cannot be said for wind generation.

      That figure I used of 30% has been totally borne out.

      The point here, referring back to the original quote at the top of the Comment about renewables not working, if ANYTHING else worked at such a pitiful rate, it would be vilified out of existence, and so quickly you would wonder where it went.

      But no, they still keep constructing them, and then telling us that they are so much better, when in fact, they aren’t at all any better.

      That’s not my just saying that.

      That’s the data bearing it out.

      Wind generation does not really work.

      You now have a huge Nameplate of 8587MW, and at that 30% CF, it is delivering the equivalent of only 2576MW, and the daily variation from maximum to minimum is around an average of 70%. No one knows when it will be high, and no one knows when it will be low. It certainly does not follow the daily Load Curve for actual power consumption.

      It just doesn’t work.

      Tony.

      370

      • #
        Pulltheotherone

        ” If ANYTHING else worked at such a pitiful rate, it would be vilified out of existence and so quickly you would wonder where it went”.

        And yet the Pfizer vaccine is still being used!

        BTW Tony always find your contributions very informative, thank you.

        172

      • #
        Lance

        Wind power “works” in a politically contrived environment.

        In the “Real World” it doesn’t provide reliable, dispatchable, grid scale, power. Ie: “Doesn’t Work”.

        It “Does Work” if you can tolerate the intermittency, cost, environmental/ecological impacts, and are willing to trade Reality for Fantasy.

        In a Balanced, Fair and Honest evaluation, every Wind project would be investigated for graft and corruption and all associated with them would be charged with Fraud by Deception.

        Thank you, Tony, for your diligence and honour. Your efforts are most appreciated and valued.

        130

      • #

        thats an awesome tale Tony, l really enjoyed reading it 😉
        you have a special way of getting your point across
        thankyou

        60

      • #
        Robber

        Problem is Tony, that it works for those investors, who are not only getting the wholesale price but double that with the sale of renewable energy certificates they are given for every MWhr they deliver.
        And now we have the Business Concil of Australia saying: “Australia should almost double its 2030 emissions reduction target to between 46 and 50 per cent to achieve net zero by 2050, with new modelling revealing the shift to a clean economy would boost GDP by $890bn and add 195,000 jobs over the next five decades.”
        “Setting a more ambitious ­interim target now will drive new investment and bring forward ­action in sectors such as electricity where we can deploy commercially viable technology at scale,” Ms Westacott said.
        Why do we need a government target if the outcome is more jobs, cheaper energy, cheaper cars, new manufacturing industries? Surely corporate Australian investors are already committing to this wonderful new world.
        Oh wait, they want “investment certainty”. In other words, eliminate competition.

        50

        • #
          Sceptical+Sam

          Business Concil of Australia

          The march through the institutions is a long and ongoing march.

          Rudi Dutschke, operationalised Antonio Gramsci’s theory that control of the people could be attained by gaining control of the cultural institutions in democratic societies such as schools, print media, electronic media, literature, music, the visual arts, business organisations (Business Council of Australia being the latest example), the church (the current Pope of the RCC is fully socialist/green), professional organisations and so on.

          Hopefully ACCI stays the course. However, with Andrew McKellar’s departure, don’t be surprised if a rabid green/left acolyte doesn’t slide in from stage left.

          10

      • #

        Atlas Shrugged!So relevant in these strange times.

        30

      • #
        Raving

        Crazy project

        A 10.5 gigawatt (GW) solar and wind farm will be built in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oued Noun region, and it will supply the UK with clean energy via subsea cables. The twin 1.8 GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cables will be the world’s longest. …

        Xlinks says that the Morocco-UK Power Project will be capable of powering a whopping 7 million UK homes by 2030. Once complete, the project will be capable of supplying 8% of Britain’s electricity needs

        https://electrek.co/2021/09/27/the-worlds-longest-subsea-cable-will-send-clean-energy-from-morocco-to-the-uk/

        10

        • #
          Lucky

          Jobs. “2,000 of those positions will be permanent.”
          So it is not free. Two thousand employees to be paid.

          00

  • #
    clarence.t

    Amid UK gas shortage, gas development disallowed.

    All you can say is…. D’OH !!

    The only assumption is that the gas shortages are there on purpose.

    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2021/10/08/shells-jackdaw-gas-field-refused-permission/

    120

    • #
      farmerbraun

      One of the first things that Jacinda’s mob did was to ban gas and oil exploration.

      150

      • #
        Greg in NZ

        She must have high-ranking ‘friends’ in the Indonesian military [industrial complex] as we’re chewing through that imported, second-rate, ‘dirty’ coal from the Bahasa island archipelago simply to keep the wheels turning… until they fall off.

        100

        • #
          Hanrahan

          OTOH the coal from the Adaro mine in Kalimantan is marketed as Enviro Coal because of its low level impurities, I think Zn was mentioned.

          But it will never be cheap, it is taken in B doubles to a river, loaded on barges and transferred to ships at sea. Even with Indonesian wages that can’t be cheap.

          80

  • #
    Strop

    The High Court of Australia will announce its decision on the Ridd v James Cook University case 10am Wednesday 13 Oct. (Aus EDST)

    The hearing was back in June and the audio visual of that hearing session can by viewed here
    https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/cases-av/av-2021-06-23

    First couple of mins in video is announcing decisions on other cases.

    120

  • #
  • #
    another ian

    “Soy is not Enough”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/10/08/estrogen-is-on-the-menu/#comments

    And read the link in

    “For a frame of reference here’s what’s not considered safe.”

    30

  • #

    Clintel proposes a new way to analyze climate data (my latest)

    https://clintel.org/clintel-proposes-a-new-way-to-analyze-climate-data/

    Much to think about!

    51

    • #
      Forrest Gardener

      Nice to see somebody thinking differently.

      I’d reverse the data analysis further. Start with each locality, say what they climate was x years ago (30 is popular). Say what it is now and identify what has changed. Then aggregate the data and slice and dice at your pleasure.

      20

  • #
    TedM

    Dr John Campbell on Ivermectin vs Merck’s Molnupiravar. You decide.

    40

    • #
      TedM

      And more. Ivermectin is a horse dewormer. Well looky here at “Mulnupiruvar

      https://twitter.com/CovidMemo/status/1446215394671398912

      60

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Ted I’ve been looking for proof of this new pill coming from a treatment for equine encephalitis but no luck so far , although I do see some info on suspicions it may cause birth defects and cause cancer . It also appears the trial was suspended when the results were favourable so full testing has not been done .

        70

    • #
      RossP

      Ted have you got the link for Dr Campbell?

      Also it may pay to keep an eye on this new Merck product.

      https://twitter.com/PierreKory/status/1446461356664819753

      10

    • #
      OldOzzie

      “Proceed With Caution At Your Own Peril” – Merck’s COVID ‘Super Drug’ Poses Serious Health Risks, Scientists Warn

      As it turns out, all the scientists and doctors who insisted that Merck’s “revolutionary” COVID drug molnupiravir is extremely safe weren’t faithfully adhering to “the science” after all. Because according to a report published Thursday by Barron’s, some scientists are worried that the drug – which purportedly cut hospitalizations in half during a study that was cut short – could cause cancer or birth defects.

      So much for having a “strong safety profile,” as Dr. Scott Gottlieb claimed in an interview on the day Merck first publicized the research.

      It’s perfectly understandable why Merck might choose to play down this safety risk: assuming it’s approved, the drug is widely expected to be one of “the most lucrative drugs ever” – which is one reason why Merck’s shares soared into double-digit territory after the announcement.

      As we reported earlier this week, Merck and its “partner” Ridgeback Biotherapeutics will profit immensely by charging customers up to 40x what it costs to make the drug, which Ridgeback originally licensed from Emory University for an “undisclosed sum”. The drug was developed with funding from the federal government.

      According to Barron’s, some scientists who have studied the drug believe that its method of suppressing the virus could potentially run amok within the body.

      Some scientists who have studied the drug warn, however, that the method it uses to kill the virus that causes Covid-19 carries potential dangers that could limit the drug’s usefulness.

      Molnupiravir works by incorporating itself into the genetic material of the virus, and then causing a huge number of mutations as the virus replicates, effectively killing it. In some lab tests, the drug has also shown the ability to integrate into the genetic material of mammalian cells, causing mutations as those cells replicate.

      If that were to happen in the cells of a patient being treated with molnupiravir, it could theoretically lead to cancer or birth defects.

      In particular, Raymond Schinazi, a professor of pediatrics and the director of biochemical pharmacology at Emory who studied the drug while it was being developed, and published a number of papers on NHC, the compound that’s the active ingredient in the drug. He published a paper that showed the drug can produce a reaction like the one described above, and insisted it shouldn’t be given to young people – especially pregnant women – without more data.

      40

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Docs ‘use rubber stamp for drugs’

    Natasha Robinson
    HEALTH EDITOR

    Pharmacists have raised the alarm over the influence of a US pharmaceutical corporation on Australian doctors who are signing trademark-stamped letters requesting their patients be given the company’s branded drugs rather than biosimilar medications that cost taxpayers less.

    Pharmacists around the country are reporting receiving pro­forma letters from specialist rheumatologists, gastroenterologists and public hospital clinics that have been supplied by the ­Illinois-based pharmaceutical company AbbVie to doctors instructing chemists to only dispense the branded version of the widely prescribed auto-immune medication adalimumab.

    The medication, Australia’s highest-grossing drug, is prescribed to 27,000 Australians for conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, Chrohn’s disease and psoriasis. It has the brand name Humira but is off-patent and there are several biosimilar versions of the drug available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

    The influence campaign has been criticised by pharmacists as highly inappropriate. But doctors say there are good reasons they may want a patient to take only the branded medication and they do not want patients swapping between Humira and biosimilars.

    AbbVie has admitted supplying “information and resources” to specialists to be given to pharmacists requesting only the branded medication be dispensed, saying the provision of such letters by drug representatives to doctors to assist prescribing is common practice. It has also supplied stamps to doctors to be stamped onto scripts stating the doctor only authorises the prescription of the Humira brand.

    “Based on my clinical judgment and in consultation with my patient, I have prescribed Humira (adalimumab),” a letter supplied by AbbVie to doctors which has been signed in identical form by many specialists and given to pharmacists reads.

    “I have determined that brand substitution is not clinically appropriate for my patient and they should be treated with the Humira brand of medication. No other brand of adalimumab may be dispensed in place of Humira.”

    “These letters are definitely inappropriate, big time,” said Fady Fahmy, a pharmacist in Newcastle in NSW. “Reading the wording of the stamp and the letters, it’s ­really pushing the line. We understand that each company has the right to protect its product, but if you have been cashing in all these millions it’s too much to keep pushing it when the patent is gone and then anyone can manufacture it.”

    AbbVie has been the subject of a house oversight committee inquiry in the US which fingered the company for engaging in anticompetitive practices to block competition and inflate prices.

    The company said the materials were supplied to doctors to avoid confusion on medications.

    “AbbVie supports the ability for doctors to determine, in consultation with patients, which brand of medicine is prescribed and subsequently dispensed, and as part of our commitment to Quality Use of Medicines, we provide relevant information and resources to healthcare professionals to be used solely at their discretion,” the company said.

    The federal government has enacted legislation that ensure medicines are prescribed by their active ingredient rather than their brand, to support the uptake of generic and biosimilar medicines which cost the PBS less.

    Adam Rodger, a Queensland pharmacist, said he was surprised that doctors were signing off on the proforma letters.

    “These letters are not information and resources,” Mr Rodger said. “They are essentially creating forms and templates for people to act in the drug company’s best interests. How can that be the doctor’s exact professional opinion when it’s been written by somebody else?”

    Medical and patient groups say there are valid reasons why a prescribing physician may want their patient on the branded Humira rather than a biosimilar.

    Britt Christensen, the chair of the IBD faculty of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia, said doctors were not comfortable with patients switching back and forth between Humira and biosimilars. “Patients can go to different pharmacies and they could end up on four different types of medication,” she said.

    “We don’t know the safety of that, we don’t know whether they then lose response. If the patient loses response, that’s a disaster.”

    Susanna Proudman, the medical director of Arthritis Australia, said patients needed consistency.

    “I’ve never seen one of these letters before and I wouldn’t be happy signing it myself, but I guess rheumatologists and consumers may argue the clinical decision about what drug is pre­scribed should be the drug that is dispensed – and if that is not happening, some form of correspondence is entered into that may be justified,” Dr Proudman said.

    80

  • #
    farmerbraun

    What is Tony Abbott up to? Surely China is aware that he is not an Australian official?

    “Australia’s former prime minister Tony Abbott visited Taipei on Friday where he gave a speech urging the international community to show “solidarity” with the self-ruled island, resulting in a quick reaction out of China demanding that Canberra officails stay out of its internal affairs.

    Abbott provocatively told the conference that “any attempt at coercion would have incalculable consequences” for China and strongly suggested that both the United States and Australia would come to Taiwan’s aid militarily. “I don’t believe America could stand by and watch [Taiwan] swallowed up,” he said, added of his own country: “I don’t believe Australia would be indifferent to the fate of a fellow democracy of almost 25 million people.”

    100

    • #
      Dennis

      Former Australian PM Abbott has been visiting a number of Commonwealth nations discussing new trade arrangements, the UK Government appointed him as their special representative for trade. He has obviously got the support of the Australian Government and it must be noted that trade and defence are now very important matters as China becomes more belligerent towards many nations.

      Tony Abbott’s background and contacts make him a very useful “undercover” agent.

      81

  • #
    robert rosicka

    1965 Covid cases for Victoriastan! Always punching above our weight .

    110

    • #
      Dennis

      Dan has a plan for Dan fans.

      Lock Down Harder.

      70

    • #
      Forrest Gardener

      Two caveats must apply to these figures.

      The first is what the tests are actually detecting. For example if you tested 1000 virus free people how many would test positive? And the consequence is that the rise in positive test results may simply reflect the rise in testing.

      The second which follows from the first is whether the testing and reporting systems have changed. Have the powers that be turned the propaganda knob up to 11?

      Nullius in verba.

      90

      • #
        OldOzzie

        More Americans have died of COVID under Biden than Trump: Johns Hopkins

        More Americans have died from COVID-19 during President Biden‘s first nine months in office than during the first nine months of the pandemic under Donald Trump’s presidency, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

        Despite widely available vaccines and Mr. Biden‘s pledge to handle the coronavirus better than his predecessor after taking office Jan. 20, Johns Hopkins’ Coronavirus Research Center reported that, as of Wednesday afternoon, 353,000 Americans had died this year. That surpassed the 352,000 who died from March 2020, when the pandemic started, to December, when the Food and Drug Administration first gave emergency authorization for vaccines.

        In a congressional briefing Wednesday, officials with the Coronavirus Research Center said that although delta variant cases and hospitalizations have declined for several weeks, vaccine hesitancy continues and testing has lagged.

        20

  • #
    Hatrack

    Uttar Pradesh, India. Population 230 million+

    7 day average to 7 Oct 2021. 1,385,864 tests taken
    20, 788 positives

    As at 7 Oct 2021 48.6% first vaccination
    18.6% fully vaccinated

    Total deaths 1 Oct to 7 Oct 2021…….4 (four)

    Compare these stats with ours. Why haven’t we got a team of sensible, open minded, experienced doctors over there asking questions?
    It just feels like common sense has abandoned Australia.

    210

    • #
      C.+Paul+Barreira

      The problem appears to be one of ideology and the particular characteristics which apply to medicine and public health remain a mystery. Venality provides some explanation but far from enough. That the TGA justified its prohibition of the use of Ivermectin in the context of the CCP virus by saying that it was not employed by “developed countries” only deepened the problem.

      I have long used the definition of ideology presented by Michael Walzer who concluded that its power

      lies in its capacity to activate its adherents and to change the world [1].

      I realise that this doesn’t help much but it does, I suggest, point to the depth of the problem to which you allude, that is, the intellectual failure that we’ve seen evolve over the many months of the virus.

      [1] The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965), p. 27.

      20

    • #
      RickWill

      It is called natural immunity. The consequence of 1% of the population dying of Covid.

      No one needs to go to India to find out what happened. It was all over the news reports 4 months back when they ran out of hospital beds, oxygen for ventilators and then firewood to burn bodies. It was horrible carnage.
      https://www.newsweek.com/india-reports-shortage-wood-needed-funeral-pyres-covid-deaths-surpass-234k-1589571

      “As long as I’ve worked here, I’ve never seen so many dead bodies coming in. The last month has shocked me,” a man working at a crematorium site in Varanasi told CNN. “The three main suppliers have run out of wood. The local administration had to intervene,” he added.

      Natural immunity is likely more effective than the vaccines but it is a very costly means of acquiring herd immunity.

      Indians are putting more jabs in arms than the rest of the world combined now. They prefer a developed world solution to just letting people develop natural immunity.
      https://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/?chart=countries&highlight=India&show=highlight-only&y=both&scale=linear&data=vaccineAdmin&data-source=owid&xaxis=right#countries
      929M jabs and still going strong. If they had a better alternative to vaccination they would have used it rather than letting the millions die.

      211

      • #
        Tel

        The Indian covid death statistic is 332 per million … which is 30 times smaller than the figure you cited.

        https://epidemic-stats.com/coronavirus/india

        Just stop making this stuff up, if you can’t be bothered even checking anything. You know everyone makes mistakes, but outright dishonesty is not acceptable.

        90

      • #
        br0adie

        told CNN

        Say no more!!

        Early this year they started vaccinating and using remdesivir

        4 months back when they ran out of hospital beds, oxygen for ventilators and then firewood to burn bodies. It was horrible carnage.

        Conservatives know the history and are uncertain of the future. The Totalitarians are uncertain of their history yet so certain of their prognostications.

        20

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Those lefty propaganda spin merchants at renew economy just keep the spin coming , the more solar farms you have the cooler it gets .

    https://reneweconomy.com.au/why-solar-farms-wont-stew-your-fruit-or-boil-your-berries/?fbclid=IwAR1Vek0ksGVTWXYQaL_eSyGjX8LoNUrbYv7w_czHf-ZX3HK_zD8bW1aIxCE

    61

  • #
    Mark Allinson

    To Henry Kendall (1839-82)
    On Reading “Bell Birds”

    Oh Henry, since you wrote those lines
    Two centuries have turned;
    We’ve closed and opened many mines
    And many fires have burned.

    Nineteen years beyond your span
    Australia was born;
    And now we count since we began
    A hundred and twenty gawn.

    Our men have marched, our women too,
    To wars in far off lands;
    They marched beneath a flag of blue,
    True blue that standard stands.

    We found great wealth in blood red soil,
    And wealth in bales of fleece;
    On sea-borne wells we dredged for oil,
    And stock brought wealth’s increase.

    Our artists rose to fame abroad,
    Our writers made their mark;
    Lit by new eyes the world was awed
    By our down-under spark.

    But Henry, how the times have changed,
    Now many turn away;
    And some in hate, almost deranged,
    Attack Australia Day.

    They hate our past, they hate our now,
    They hate all we have done;
    In shrill unholy shouts they vow
    To bring the land undone.

    Oh Henry, now few children hear
    Your golden lines of verse;
    In place of your Bell Birds ringing clear
    They intone the cultural curse.

    Oh Henry, I am almost glad
    You never lived to see,
    Australians hate Australia – sad
    As a bushfired tree.

    ======================

    Read Henry Kendall’s “Bell Birds” here:

    https://allpoetry.com/Bell-Birds

    70

  • #
    Forrest Gardener

    There has been much discussion of the evils of google, facebook and their subsidiaries.

    I’d be happy to see any legislative push to impose FOI type requirements on those who collect your data. In the simplest form my proposal has two elements. First is that any organization which holds data about you must disclose that data to you automatically and immediately on your request. Second is that organizations need your explicit permission at the time of sharing to share your data with any third party.

    80

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    Some comedy some one might get a lol from …

    Hollywood stands for Chappelle and against the woke gestapo

    https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/10/08/nolte-hollywood-stands-for-chappelle-and-against-the-woke-gestapo/

    Dave Chappelle is a standup comic, but you might be surprised who is standing up for him … for a change.

    Check the short live video.

    40

  • #
    Greg in NZ

    Looking at your ‘their BoM’s isobaric map projection for the next 7 days, Australia’s in for a dose of global warming / climate change weather, from rain in the desert, snow on Bluff Knoll (WA) and the Vic/NSW tops, heavy rain on the east coast, and surf galore: no doubt some educated fool(s) will blame this on you-know-what.

    Please stop exporting your cold, wet, freezing, snowy weather across the ditch to us… “Snow to 500 metres” down south, brrrrrrr!

    70

  • #
    Lance

    Well, now, look here:

    Table 2e. Characteristics of Antiviral Agents That Are Approved or Under Evaluation for the Treatment of COVID-19

    https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/tables/table-2e/

    USA National Institute of Health (NIH) has IVM as an approved or investigative treatment for Covid.

    Maybe the rectal-cranial-inversion will take a turn for the better.

    70

  • #
    OldOzzie

    The 18 conditions that increase risk of death from Covid despite vaccination – BMJ study

    However, the vaccines are not a silver-bullet. It is still possible to catch COVID-19 post-vaccination.

    That is the key finding of a new British Medical Journal (BMJ) study that sought to map out the characteristics of those most at-risk of COVID-19 mortality post-vaccination.

    Adults aged 19-100 years with one or two doses of COVID-19 vaccination between 8 December 2020 and 15 June 2021 were monitored.

    The risk prediction algorithm crunched data on COVID-19 vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 (the disease that causes COVID-19) results, hospital admissions, systemic anticancer treatment, radiotherapy, and the national death and cancer registries.
    What did the researchers find out?

    Of 2031 COVID-19 deaths and 1929 covid-19 hospital admissions logged, 81 deaths and 71 admissions occurred 14 days or more after the second vaccine dose.

    The following health conditions were associated with an increased risk of mortality post-vaccination:

    Down’s syndrome
    Sickle cell disease
    HIV/AIDS
    Liver cirrhosis
    Neurological conditions
    Dementia
    Parkinson’s disease
    Chronic kidney disease
    Blood cancer
    Epilepsy
    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
    Coronary heart disease
    Stroke
    Atrial fibrillation
    Heart failure
    Thromboembolism
    Peripheral vascular disease
    Type 2 diabetes.

    70

    • #
      Forrest Gardener

      Yum yum. Information. But sometimes I need things to be spelled out.

      Is the correct interpretation that those with one of the conditions on the list should AVOID the injections?

      80

  • #
    John Connor II

    I just finished reading an exceptionally good article by Mikovits & Seneff on long term vaccine effects (yes, I do actually read articles rather than just copy/paste..).

    It’s reasonably long but very interesting & informative. The best kind!
    Enjoy. Or not.

    https://undercurrents723949620.wordpress.com/2021/05/30/long-term-damage-from-covid-vaccination/

    60

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Latent Viruses May Flare if You Receive the COVID Vaccine

      As noted by Seneff, her and Mikovits’ findings mesh well to explain many of the problems we’re now seeing from these gene-therapies. For example, vaccinated patients are reporting herpes and shingles infection following COVID-19 vaccination, which you’d expect if your Type I interferon pathway is disabled.

      How mRNA Can Alter Your DNA

      In her paper, Seneff also describes how mRNA can, in fact, alter your DNA, essentially integrating the instructions to make spike proteins into your genome. Typically, mRNA cannot be integrated directly into your genes because you need reverse transcriptase.

      “When you activate latent and defective viruses, you turn on reverse transcriptase; you turn on the virome. But you also need an integrase gene. So how are retroviruses silenced? [Through] DNA methylation. [When] you throw in a lot of GC-rich regions — you’ve got that synthetic viral particle [i.e., the vaccine-induced spike protein RNA] — now you’ve woken up your herpes viruses.

      Are Viral Vector Vaccines Better or Worse?

      Two of the four COVID-19 vaccines on the market in Europe and the U.S., AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, are using viral vectors and DNA rather than using nanolipid-coated mRNA. Unfortunately, while potentially slightly less dangerous than Moderna’s and Pfizer’s mRNA versions, they can still cause significant problems through mechanisms of their own. As explained by Mikovits:

      Can COVID Vaccines ‘Shed’ or Transmit Infection?

      Disturbingly, it appears the COVID-19 vaccines may also cause trouble for those who decide not to get the shots but spend time in close proximity to people who did. While it cannot be viral shedding, as none of the vaccines use live or even attenuated virus, there appears to be some sort of spike protein transmission going on.

      While the spike protein cannot replicate or multiply like a virus, it is toxic in and of itself. In her paper, Seneff details how the spike protein acts as a metabolic poison, capable of triggering pathological damage leading to lung damage and heart and brain diseases:6

      Which Vaccine Is Most Dangerous?

      As for which vaccine might be the most dangerous, Mikovits believes the vector-based DNA vaccines (AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson) are the most dangerous for those with chronic Lyme disease or any inflammatory disease associated with an abnormal host immune response, such as shingles, viral infections or cancer, women who have already received the Gardasil vaccine (as this may predispose them to problems with the lipid nanoparticle), and those with Parkinson’s or Huntington-like diseases.

      Seneff, meanwhile, worries that children may be susceptible to either type of COVID vaccine, simply because they’ve already received so many different vaccines. Mikovits agrees, but believes the mRNA vaccines may be more harmful in this age group:

      70

  • #
    Mark Allinson

    This will soon apply to Australia:

    Britain on the brink: Millions of shoppers are unable to buy essential FOOD as one in three stock up for Christmas already while soldiers are set to be drafted in to drive HGVs over the festive period

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10074625/Millions-shoppers-unable-buy-essential-foods-bosses-warn-factories-close-weeks.html

    120

  • #
    Robber

    Is a crisis looming in our electricity grid because of surplus wind and solar?
    Average wholesale prices from AEMO for Oct in $/MWhr:
    NSW $40; Qld $49; SA $10; Vic $15
    And for Sept:
    NSW $49; Qld $51; SA $19; Vic $28
    Of course those ruinables are getting additional payments in the form of RECs or feed in tariffs.

    50

    • #

      Robber,
      I dont get the logic there..
      SA has low prices because it has a surplus of wind power..SOMETIMES …
      But , frequently it need to import power to keep the lights on ?
      Can you explain why Vic has low elec prices when it does not have a surplus of generation.?
      Or why QLD has high prices when it does have a surplus ?
      I know this is a complex market structure, but is there a simplistic explanation ?

      40

      • #
        Tel

        Those wholesales prices do not include the LRET cross subsidy.

        I keep saying “Renewable Energy Target” … learn about it and talk about it.

        It’s not that difficult, what happens is that when energy retailers by from certain producers (e.g. coal power) they are forced to pay a subsidy to other producers (e.g. wind or solar) which in effect artificially increases the cost of coal power. The wholesale rates do NOT include this adjustment, and that’s how wind power can sometimes appear to be selling for less than zero … it isn’t really selling for less than zero, but the subsidy is large enough to make up the difference.

        Remove LRET and prices will immediately become sane and no new wind or solar will be installed.

        50

        • #

          Tel, thanks, but are you not contradicting yourself here ?..
          The SA WHOLESALE rates are low,…. but they are not yet adjusted for the LRET …?

          Tel
          October 9, 2021 at 12:46 pm · Reply
          Those wholesales prices do not include the LRET cross subsidy.

          It’s not that difficult, what happens is that when energy retailers by from certain producers (e.g. coal power) they are forced to pay a subsidy to other producers (e.g. wind or solar) which in effect artificially increases the cost of coal power.
          The wholesale rates do NOT include this adjustment,
          and that’s how wind power can sometimes appear to be selling for less than zero … it isn’t really selling for less than zero, but the subsidy is large enough to make up the difference

          00

          • #
            Tel

            The way I see it, adjusting for LRET would make the nett effective SA rates higher and NSW rates lower.

            In NSW it is mostly coal burning, plus a bit of gas and solar. Therefore LRET will impose a penalty on NSW and force some money to be handed over to “Green” energy providers.

            In SA it is has quite a bit of wind, and not much coal, which means that SA gets bonus money from LRET which was the money that NSW paid in.

            Now, SA’s visible wholesale rates looks low, but once you figure in the LRET money transfer their effective rate goes up because they get paid extra. Reverse of that for NSW.

            It’s hard to think in terms of what free markets would look like when what you see is a highly manipulated market … you end up needing to imagine the additional hidden money flows and then think of how you can reverse that out. I admit, I’m not great at it either.

            00

      • #
        Robber

        As Tony has explained, every generator needs to bid a price to supply every 5 or 30 minutes. Except for rooftop solar that simply feeds surplus into the grid and separately gets paid a feed in tariff set at $60/MWhr. But large solar and wind must bid, so they bid low so their generation will be accepted, because then they get to sell their LRECs for say $40/MWhr. Wind will occasionally curtail production if the price goes below minus $40. Everybody then gets paid whatever the highest price bid was for that time period.
        Gas and hydro can quickly ramp up and down, so in the middle of the day they generally shutdown. However big coal generators need to keep the fires burning so they can ramp up production to meet the evening peak demand.
        So for example in Victoria in the last couple of days we have seen midday prices of minus $40, rising to $80-100 at 6pm. Hardly a good way to run a critical industry.
        SA is similar, but with only solar, wind and gas, plus exports/imports to/from Victoria.
        In the middle of the day rooftop solar often provides 80% of demand, but they need to run 20% gas to stabilise the grid, and then wind gets to run with the surplus being sold to Vic.
        But come evening, with solar gone, gas fires up along with Vic imports that often supply over 40% of that evening peak demand.

        30

    • #
      RickWill

      Average wholesale prices from AEMO for Oct in $/MWhr:

      Wholesale price is only a small part of the picture. These days the other charges at the wholesale level to keep the grid functional are also significant. Gas plants in SA are under almost daily directions to stay connected. For example from the AEMO site:

      AEMO estimates that, in the absence of sufficient market response by 1730 hrs 08/10/2021, AEMO may need to intervene by issuing a direction requiring one or more SA synchronous generating unit(s) to operate or remain synchronised to maintain power system security in SA.

      The cost of directions work outside the settled wholesale price.

      Then there are a myriad of FCAS, NSCAS and SRAS charges that are not shown in the wholesale price. Again these can be significant.

      So declining wholesale price is not so much a reality as the fact that more is settled outside the energy market. The energy costs are coming down; after all energy from the weather is free. However the costs of keeping the lights on keeps going up as more zero fuel, random energy gets connected.

      There have been a few situations where the other charges exceeded the wholesale price for extended periods like when the SA-Vic link was out early last year. When you see a reduction in your own electricity unit cost you can believe the costs are coming down.

      21

  • #
    Forrest Gardener

    Just another data point …

    From my reading of their ABC’s propaganda blog this morning I note that of the 11 people counted as virus fatalities yesterday in NSW 7 were either partly or fully injected against 4 who were injection free.

    Captain Obvious says that the injections may not be everything the happy clappers say they are. What were the magic words? Safe and effective?

    150

    • #
      Hanrahan

      I want more data, not necessarily of the daily deaths which could impinge on an individual’s privacy, but I would like to know stats on the number of vegetarians, the number eating 5 red meat meals a week, the number with low Vit D levels, the number of obese with and without other comorbidities.

      In spite of my age, I don’t consider myself vulnerable. I would like more proof though.

      20

  • #
    Lance

    Victoria Australia, Officials Withdraw Vaccination Mandate for Government and Judicial Employees

    Daniel Andrews has reversed a significant portion of the vaccine mandate. It appears Victoria State government workers and workers within the judiciary will no longer be mandated to accept the COVID-19 vaccination.

    “(Sky News) […] All Commonwealth employees as well as people who work in connection with court proceedings will be exempt with a government spokesperson saying the relaxation is an attempt to avoid “jurisdictional limitations”. The change will apply to judges, lawyers, security guards and police officers. ”

    Ref: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/10/08/interesting-development-victoria-australia-officials-withdraw-vaccination-mandate-for-government-and-judicial-employees/

    90

  • #
    John Connor II

    Another good read for the weekend lie-in!

    Vanden Bossche/Seneff

    Unless virology and immunology are being rewritten, I cannot imagine how mass vaccination of our youngsters and children will not lead to an even more disastrous outcome of all the scientifically irrational and unjustifiable vaccination efforts. Not only will this dramatically increase the children’s risk to succumb to (accelerated) Covid-19 disease but it will also take away the highly efficient capacity of healthy, unvaccinated people to diminish the dangerous, ever rising viral infectious pressure in the population. By vaccinating our youngsters, children and, even more generally, all people in excellent health, we deprive an important part of the population from its ‘anti-viral’ capacity and instead turn them into a breeding ground for more infectious and increasingly NAb-resistant variants. In other words, mass vaccination of children will inevitably obstruct the process of building herd immunity in the population.

    https://stephanieseneff.net/the-unforgivable-sin/

    110

    • #
      Serp

      That qualified technician who injects the spike protein generator concoction into children would be unaware of the likely parallel to its future of the trial in Germany this week of the one hundred year old SS death camp guard who also believes he’d done nothing wrong.

      So that’s a crime giving the shot; and mandating the shot is also a crime calculated to transform the criminal nurse into an automaton by removing any reservations about informed consent having been obtained.

      It is an absurdity to provide protection to an entity better equipped with its natural immunity than anything the putative augmentation being injected has on offer; next they’ll be mandating last semester in utero inoculation.

      70

      • #
        Custer Van Cleef

        How do we know the “qualified technician” isn’t a recently laid-off hairdresser called Shanteesha?

        And can she explain why “aspiration” isn’t Best Practice for a vaccine meant to be injected outside the bloodstream?

        70

  • #
    Kim

    China – basic facts of live – China is surrounding Australia on the Pacific side with port facilities. It wants to get a major facility on the southern part of PNG. Australia has minerals and agriculture. China doesn’t need the capital cities – it doesn’t need Perth. It just needs local slave labour to whit the wokies have been doing their work for them preparing for their invasion – divide, demean, reduce, pacify the local population.

    PS: a lot can be done with an angle grinder, strong quick setting glue, cans of paint etc.

    90

    • #
      Chris

      Kim, some more facts on China. They have a belts and road agreement with Panama and propose to build a bridge across the Panama canal.
      Who mostly uses the canal – American ships from the East Coast?

      They have a military base on the Horn of Africa at the entrance to the Suez Canal from the Indian Ocean. They are building the biggest shipping container port in the world directly opposite Suez in Greece. They have a ‘friends’ arrangement with Spain. Spain voices China’s interests in the EU. China has said if Spain has any difficulties with Britain regarding Gibraltar, then China will support Spain. They have control of ports in Germany and the Netherlands They have taken over the South China Sea.
      They are building a port in Pakistan near the Indian border on the Arabian Sea. I think they have tied up everything but the Straits of Malacca. They are also pushing Canada so they can build an Arctic base .

      They have manufacturing, means of distribution and are pushing for the Yen to be the global currency.

      50

      • #

        The multi-billion dollar port they have planned for Daru is right beside the Great North East shipping channel. They have some work to do there, Daru was not much more than a mangrove swamp last time I was there with shallow water all around, barely able to berth small coast vessels at low tide.

        10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    O brave post-Covid world that hath such people in it

    TONY ABBOTT

    Having recently obtained the special permission needed to leave Australia on government business, my fellow advisers to the UK Board of Trade were curious to know how life was going in the place they’d dubbed “Aus-catraz”. Not since the convict era, I suspect, would Britons have regarded their lives as freer and more easygoing than life in Australia but that, I fear, is how this pandemic has diminished us.

    On July 19, with a 68 per cent adult vaccination rate, England celebrated “freedom day” when all businesses were open, all social distancing was dropped and no masks were required, despite almost 40,000 daily new Covid infections. By contrast, on achieving a 70 per cent vaccination rate here in NSW, eating and drinking will be allowed while seated in pubs and restaurants, and up to five visitors will be allowed in the home – but only for people who are double jabbed – even though daily new infections will almost certainly be under 1000. To regain a more-or-less normal life, the un-jabbed will have to wait until vaccination rates hit 90 per cent (and that’s not been attained so far in any country). It seems almost un-Australian; the British have turned out to be better than us at taking this danger in their stride.

    As in most other countries, when the pandemic struck, Australian governments ordered people to stay at home (other than for essential work and services) and instructed most businesses to close or to drastically change their operations. Here, as elsewhere, the rationale was to “flatten the curve” of infections, so that hospitals wouldn’t be overrun by a massive influx of ­patients, as in northern Italy. But while other countries locked down harder and longer in 2020, to protect their health systems against an infectious disease that was by then rampant, here the objective shifted from virus suppression to virus eradication, meaning that whole cities would sometimes be locked down in response to a single case.

    Almost uniquely, of the world’s major countries, safety has been almost everything and freedom almost nothing.

    For half of this year, most Australians have been under virtual house arrest, only allowed to leave home for essential work, ­essential exercise, and essential shopping, and subject to intrusive and overzealous policing with very heavy fines.

    So far the federal government alone has spent more than $350bn (about 20 per cent of annual GDP) to support people who’ve been ordered not to work and businesses that have been ordered to close.

    All because without lockdowns, “people would die” – and that’s true; but it’s also true, here and elsewhere, that about 90 per cent of those who’ve died of or with Covid have had other serious health problems. Even if the Prime Minister is right – that but for lockdowns 30,000 lives would have been lost – the cost to the federal budget alone has been over $10m per life preserved, a gargantuan amount even if the only point of life is to avoid death, which plainly it’s not.

    Covid Zero has meant stopping people from living in order to prevent them from dying; everyone has been subject to unprecedented restrictions in a bid to eradicate a disease that is normally only fatal to the very old and the already very sick. To protect their lives especially, people in nursing homes and retirement villages have been denied the human contact which is normally what they most live for. And their grandchildren and great grandchildren, whose wellbeing is normally their greatest concern, have had two priceless and irreplaceable years of their schooling and university stolen. So we’ve protected lives and ruined them at the same time; a bit like the Vietnam-era American officer who declared the village had to be destroyed in order to be saved.

    To those running it, our pandemic response reflected a deeply ethical concern for the preciousness of every life; to me, it often seemed an over-reaction from people who’d forgotten the inevitability of death and the importance of living each day to the full.

    At some level, too many of us have blurred the distinction between dying of natural causes, which is sad but inevitable, and being killed by human agency, which government has a duty to try to prevent. Perhaps this is an inevitable consequence of the erosion of those faiths that see death as a transition rather than an extinction, and that value a life well lived over mere existence.

    Even now, despite the evidence that virus elimination requires the cessation of almost all human interaction, some are still cheering on attempts to “crush and kill” the virus, in preference to accepting that governments’ duty is to minimise disease and death – not to embark on some vain quest to abolish it.

    To me, the worst features of our pandemic response have included the oppressive rules for which there’s been no medical justification, such as curfews and mask mandates outdoors; the ­implacable cruelty with which the rules have been administered, routinely denying families the right to farewell loved ones in person, or to go interstate for medical treatment or for family reunion; the eagerness of elected leaders to hide behind “health advice” that’s never made available for public scrutiny; the near-­disintegration of our federation at the hands of premiers who make agreements in national cabinet and break them as soon as they’re back in their capitals; and the suspension of normal democratic accountability under indefinite states of emergency.

    I suspect that history will marvel at how extraordinary and unprecedented the response to the pandemic has been.

    The nearest parallel, in terms of the scale of government intervention into daily life, has been the world wars; the key difference being that, back then, citizens were mobilised for action rather than inaction.

    What does it say about our ­national character that we’ve ­accepted this – indeed, based on election results in Queensland and Western Australia and on multiple opinion polls, welcomed it? How different are we from our forebears who took big risks to settle a harsh country or who ­volunteered en masse to fight and die for freedom? Perhaps we really have become a more timid and fearful people; or perhaps it’s more that an anxious and adrift society can’t readily distinguish between big crises and little ones. Hence, we’ve let grandstanding premiers and chief health officers escalate a significant health challenge into an ongoing national emergency with them as our ­protectors-in-chief. Either way, it hardly augurs well for our ability to meet challenges that require us to be active rather than passive.

    Yet while Covid has been the issue to which we have most overreacted, it certainly hasn’t been the only one. A lack of perspective has been characteristic of the way many issues are now handled. Even if climate change really is the existential threat that many claim, why is the right response to diminish ourselves economically when the biggest emitter by far, China, is all talk and no action when it comes to making comparable sacrifice?

    Why do we bend over backwards to appease the identity activists, who no concession will ever be enough to satisfy, when each concession just deepens divisions? Why are we saddling our children with massive debts, just because we’ve discovered new ways to extend our collective credit limit; and why do we so readily take fright at some problems while being oblivious to others?

    We’re becoming more divided and polarised; less willing to see the other person’s point of view; less familiar with our national stories and the great traditions on which they’re based; and less convinced about the essential goodness of our national project and the need to make Australia stronger and more daring. Whether it’s on climate, gender, or race, so much conventional wisdom these days seems bound to make us weaker and more confused about ourselves. Yet even these national dry gullies, that we seem so set on traversing, are largely the product of a laudable desire to atone for wrongs; and it’s this essential decency coupled with a strong BS detector that should see us through what’s certainly a spirit-sapping time for us and the rest of the Western world.

    At least the decision of the Morrison government to put decades of strategic caution behind us with the acquisition of nuclear powered submarines shows that there’s still some courage and conviction left in our public life.

    The poet Yeats once lamented that “the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity” when he felt that civilisation was crumbling through the tumult of the Great War. However understandable, his despair was misplaced. As things have turned out, the long peace that we have lived through far surpassed even Yeats’ pre-war “belle epoque”. Our country and our civilisation have triumphed in far more daunting circumstances than these. Provided that we can continue to “keep the faith, stay the course, and fight the good fight”, our best years are still ahead.

    Tony Abbott is a former prime minister of Australia. This is an edited extract from Essays for Australia published by the Institute of Public Affairs. Out this month.

    110

    • #
      • #

        Beware. There’s still a huge difference between UK vax stats and ours. They have vast natural immunity achieved through the deaths of about 40 times as many people per capita. We don’t have that.

        So 80% here, is nowhere near as useful as 80% there.

        22

    • #
      OldOzzie

      From the Comments

      Bernadette
      1 hour ago

      “curfews and mask mandates – the impacable cruelty with which the rules have been administered”.

      This is so, so, so true. Aside from those examples cited by Tony, another cruel side-effect is the effect of mask-wearing on the deaf who rely on facial expressions and lipreading to communicate. Imagine walking down the street, passing all these people looking straight ahead, no smiles, no hellos, no kind of interaction at all. Imagine trying to communicate with doctors or salespeople who refuse to pull down their masks, even after you’ve told them again and again that you need to lipread. Imagine trying to lipread the news on TV when the subtitles aren’t working and the reporters are wearing masks. Imagine participating in Zoom meetings where you can’t understand a single word being said, and even if there are captions, the captions don’t even make sense. And now, yet another horror – imagine being a deaf kid in primary school and having all your schoolmates wearing masks so you have absolutely no way of communicating with them. It is all very well to mandate that people with disabilities don’t have to wear masks. But that’s not going to help prevent the sidelining of deaf people from life.

      110

    • #
      Forrest Gardener

      I’m pleased to see that Tony Abbott continues to play a role in public life.

      190

  • #
    another ian

    Too good to miss IMO

    “Rebranding Fail, Kamala Harris’ Handlers Create Extreme Cringe Video, Wait Til You See the Name of The Production Company She Used
    October 8, 2021 | Sundance | 263 Comments”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/10/08/rebranding-fail-kamala-harris-creates-extreme-cringe-video-wait-til-you-see-the-name-of-the-production-company-she-used/

    “Last point, and no I’m not kidding, this official White House video production; presented to improve the public image of Kamala Harris; was created by a production company called “Sinking Ship Entertainment“. [link] I’m serious, you cannot make this stuff up.”

    120

  • #
    OldOzzie

    New Delta strain linked to returned overseas traveller from September

    NSW Health officials are continuing to investigate a new strain of the Delta variant spreading throughout western Sydney.

    Chief health officer Kerry Chant said authorities had linked the strain to a person who returned from overseas in September.

    However, Dr Chant said exactly how the strain emerged and entered the community was still being examined.

    “We’ve detected a genome of the Delta strain which is different from that that was previously transmitting in our community,” she said.

    “What we’re investigating now is: was there someone else on the plane that was positive? How could it have got out What was the mechanism of that?

    “We’re still finding out how much transmission is being generated in the community from these cases. That will evolve over time. “
    chief health officer Kerry Chant said the investigation into the new strain was ongoing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

    Dr Chant urged Australians not to become too panicked about the new strain, saying it did not appear to be any more dangerous than the original Delta variant.

    “There‘s nothing about this Delta strain from looking at the genomics that suggested it’s any more transmissible, or going to cause illness or any other issues additional to the current Delta strain,” she said.

    “It’s a different Delta strain but it’s still a Delta strain so we know its characteristics are the same.

    “It’s likely to be more transmissible than previous strains, it’s associated with more hospitalisations for older age groups, but it’s not got anything that makes us more concerned about this strain versus the others.”

    Dr Chant said NSW would continue to investigate the new strain but it was unlikely to change the state’s public health response.

    40

  • #
  • #
    RossP

    Well, well look what Craig Kelly has found.

    https://t.me/craigkelly/1075

    For those not on Telegram Craig links to this tweet and then adds his comment

    https://t.me/craigkelly/1075

    His comment :

    ” The conduct of Australian Health Bureaucrats, interfering in the sanctity of the doctor/patient relationship by stopping Australian doctors from prescribing Ivermectin to sick Covid patients – when Ivermectin is being widely and successfully distributed around the world – this is Malfeasance of the highest order.

    This decision must be reversed immediately and those behind this outrage placed under investigation.

    What has happened to the freedoms in this country, when Doctors are no longer free to prescribe Ivermectin, but millions are being forced to be injected with an experimental genetic agent that has zero long term safety data ?

    This is not our Australia.”

    200

    • #
      OldOzzie

      From Lance above

      October 9, 2021 at 10:35 am · Reply
      Well, now, look here:

      Table 2e. Characteristics of Antiviral Agents That Are Approved or Under Evaluation for the Treatment of COVID-19

      https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/tables/table-2e/

      USA National Institute of Health (NIH) has IVM as an approved or investigative treatment for Covid.

      Maybe the rectal-cranial-inversion will take a turn for the better.

      Ivermectin Adults:

      The dose most commonly used in clinical trials is IVM 0.2–0.6 mg/kg PO given as a single dose or as a once-daily dose for up to 5 days.

      Generally well tolerated
      Dizziness
      Pruritis
      GI effects (e.g., nausea, diarrhea)

      Neurological AEs have been reported when IVM has been used to treat parasitic diseases, but it is not clear whether these AEs were caused by IVM or the underlying conditions.

      Monitor for potential AEs.

      Generally given on an empty stomach with water; however, administering IVM with food increases its bioavailability.

      2. A list of clinical trials is available here: Ivermectin

      80 Studies found for: ivermectin | COVID-19 – https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19&term=ivermectin&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=&Search=Search

      Yet banning Ivermectin, our Thugs Goons Administration approved Sotrovimab based on one trial of 583 Patients by the maker GlaxoSmithKline – Cost USD $2,100.00

      In August 2021, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) provisionally approved the use of sotrovimab for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults. This medication will become available in limited supply for use in Australia in late August 2021.

      40

      • #
        Hanrahan

        If you had a host of internal parasites and the IVM killed ’em, pronto, you could very well suffer side effects from the purifying parasites in your blood, gut.

        50

    • #
      OldOzzie

      India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh with nearly two hundred million people, declared COVID-free zone since government promoted ivermectin

      “In Bangladesh, Ivermectin costs $1.80 for an entire 5-day course. Remdesivir, which is toxic to the liver, costs $3,120 for a 5-day course of the drug. Billions of dollars of utterly useless Remdesivir were sold to our governments on the taxpayer’s dime, and it ended up being totally useless for treating hyperinflammatory COVID-19.”

      “India went against the instructions of the WHO and mandated the prophylactic usage of Ivermectin,” wrote the Institute for Coronavirus Emergence Nonprofit Intelligence (ICENI). “They have almost completely eradicated COVID-19. The Indian Bar Association of Mumbai has brought criminal charges against WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan for recommending against the use of Ivermectin.

      “Ivermectin is not ‘horse dewormer’. Yes, it is sold in veterinary paste form as a dewormer for animals. It has also been available in pill form for humans for decades, as an antiparasitic drug.

      “The media have disingenuously claimed that because Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug, it has no utility as an antivirus. This is incorrect. Ivermectin has utility as an antiviral. It blocks importin, preventing nuclear import, effectively inhibiting viral access to cell nuclei. Many drugs currently on the market have multiple modes of action. Ivermectin is one such drug. It is both antiparasitic and antiviral.

      “The opposition to the use of generic Ivermectin is not based in science. It is purely financially and politically-motivated. An effective non-vaccine intervention would jeopardize the rushed FDA approval of patented vaccines and medicines for which the pharmaceutical industry stands to rake in billions upon billions of dollars in sales on an ongoing basis.”

      60

  • #
    Flok

    Acting Senior Sergeant Krystle Mitchell is a sworn member of the Victoria Police in Australia. She has served Victorians for 16 years as a police officer including 6 years at Professional Standards Command – the division responsible for investigating police misconduct, corruption, discrimination and freedom of information, referring investigations to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) where appropriate.

    Acting Senior Sergeant Mitchell cites ethical conflicts as the reason for speaking publicly about conduct of Victoria Police officers, their Chief Commissioner – Shane Patton, their Minister – the Hon. Lisa Neville MP, and ultimately their Premier – the Hon. Daniel Andrews MP. She feels she can no longer remain silent with the division between police and community is growing, and totally ignored by the leadership of both the police and government.

    One hour and 32 minute interview

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kn6AFl5G1c

    130

  • #
    John Connor II

    The REAL reason for the “pandemic”?

    The mainstream narrative should therefore be reversed: the stock market did not collapse (in March 2020) because lockdowns had to be imposed; rather, lockdowns had to be imposed because financial markets were collapsing. With lockdowns came the suspension of business transactions, which drained the demand for credit and stopped the contagion.

    A mid-length financial analysis by Prof. Fabio Vighi, Cardiff Uni UK.

    https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/a-self-fulfilling-prophecy-systemic-collapse-and-pandemic-simulation/

    41

  • #
    Tilba+Tilba

    Looks like Victoria is giving up some of the Delta fight. With 1,965 cases Friday, they are no longer undertaking secondary contact tracing. Keeping up with primary contacts alone must be consuming the staff in any case.

    02

  • #
    Chris

    Can anyone verify this?

    http://newtube.app/user/PhilStone/lEV1GKa

    Arizona elections proven to be fraudulent.

    00

  • #
    Tilba+Tilba

    Ivermectin is under the microscope – again.

    Is Ivermectin For Covid-19 Based On Fraudulent Research?

    08

    • #

      you wont see that dissected here

      00

      • #
        Lucky

        Dissection:
        I went to the link. There is nothing there except other links. I went to all those. A part 1 and a part 2.

        Yes there is mention of two studies-
        1. the Egyptian (Elgazzar), a large study (The paper has been withdrawn, the change in results in the meta-study that used it, none.)
        2. One other study. Very technical language which, in my opinion, goes nowhere.

        The first link from TT above implies that all studies on ivermection are analyzed, discussed and discredited as fraudulent. Not so.

        ‘All’ at the moment would be about one hundred.

        00

  • #
    TedM

    Are the increases in covid19 infection rates due the unvaccinated deplorables. In short, NO.
    “Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States”.

    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-021-00808-7

    50

  • #
    another ian

    And now this!!!!

    “Just in time for Christmas”

    Link at

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/10/08/just-in-time-for-christmas/

    Had Google censored it you might not have seen it!

    20

  • #
    el+gordo

    Antartica was very cold this past winter because of a polar vortex.

    https://www.livescience.com/south-pole-coldest-winter-record

    20

  • #
    Broadie

    Add another 2 to the list. Starting to show an uncanny parallel to the predictions of Bhakdi and Wodarg. Maybe I am like the climate scientists trapped in an echo chamber.

    40 something woman has bad headache after 1st shot – prescribed endone.

    Grandma undergoing cancer therapy, 15 Y/o ‘takes a bullet for Nan’ suffers chest pain, diagnosed as myocarditis – in pain without any solution.

    So far none of these, according to the messengers have been reported by the Doctors as their suffering is apparently unrelated to the gene treatment.

    60

  • #
    another ian

    didn’t like the g word

    Was it me?

    20

  • #
    CHRIS

    Two El Ninas in a row is most unusual. I wonder what the BOM (aka Liars) are going to make of this?

    20

    • #
      farmerbraun

      I think that perhaps you mean an absence of warming el Ninos for an extended period of time.
      I believe that the current phase of the PDO is characterised by this relative absence of el Nino, and weakness when they do occur.
      The ocean has little excess heat needing to be discharged, if I have it correct.

      10

    • #
      el+gordo

      Back to back La Nina is not unusual, but generally the second one is weaker. Not on this occasion it seems, so BoM will be forced to take a closer look and recognise that we have been here before.

      20

    • #
      el+gordo

      The 2010-12 la Nina combo was significant and if you look back to the 1950s its possible to glimpse our future through PDO behaviour.

      https://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/elnino/decadal/pdo.html

      00

  • #
    another ian

    “The Greta cult sure can come up with creative excuses to explain why green scams don’t work.”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/10/09/the-green-energy-scam/

    “Where has the wind gone? ‘Global stilling’ is blamed as wind speeds drop across Europe cutting green energy production – threatening to drive up energy prices even FURTHER”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10075301/Global-stilling-blamed-wind-speeds-drop-Europe-threaten-drive-energy-prices.html

    30

  • #
    farmerbraun

    What? This is preposterous .
    The Good Chancellor of Austria has been FORCED to resign ; accused of using public funds to obtain favourable coverage in TABLOID journals .
    Imagine that !
    TABLOIDS!!
    Really! Whoever heard of such a thing ?
    Quite preposterous!

    40

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Opinion – Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH

    Why Are Highly Vaxxed Colleges Implementing Strict COVID Policies?

    — These measures have clear downsides and little proven value

    Vaccinated college students at many elite schools are the subject of an ongoing experiment — a screening study, in fact. Every week, or twice a week, depending on the school, they are asked to take a test for SARS-CoV-2. If positive, they have to quarantine, and if enough kids test positive, the entire school or campus has an escalation of restrictions. This experiment is being run at several schools across the country, but notably not others. Sadly, this experiment is not technically research. It did not receive institutional review board approval, and the primary purpose is not to track whether it works. Instead it has simply been mandated by the colleges. Also regrettably, it does not have a clear control arm.

    Famously, and mostly in response to asymptomatic screening, Duke University instituted an outdoor mask mandate in late August (now “mostly” rolled back), despite a 98% student vaccination rate. In mid-September, Brown University temporarily closed the dining halls, and more than five students cannot gather together inside or outside. At Oberlin College, masks are required indoors and outdoors, and the only time students can remove the mask is when eating alone or with their roommate. Wow!

    Of course, as an expert on evidence-based medicine, the first argument I will make is there is no evidence that this policy — asymptomatic screening and strict mandates — slows the spread of the virus, or more importantly, keeps students, faculty, and staff from feeling sick. Showing that would require a cluster randomized trial. But apart from saying the evidence is lacking, the policy raises three other questions.

    First, if these policies are effective, why wouldn’t similar protocols be implemented for healthcare workers? College students might get other college students or the staff on campus sick, but healthcare workers can get patients sick — especially severely immunocompromised ones.

    10

    • #
      Forrest Gardener

      I’m not so critical of this idea as I am of the compulsory injections. After all the only important question is whether or not people are infected.

      Infected + available antiviral = no problem
      Infected – available antiviral = big problem

      11

  • #
  • #
    Lank

    Anyone know what became of the research project to cover/enclose mature trees and measure growth etc under controlled carbon dioxide levels?

    A decade ago western Sydney university commenced this program with considerable research funding and fanfare. Today there is no mention of the results of the work. Maybe a reader was involved and could update us on this research.

    10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Twitter Censors Thread From Entrepreneur Who Regrets Taking the Vaccine After Serious Side Effects

    Twitter has censored a thread in which Michael Robison explained that he regretted trading “my solid health, for a temporary freedom to travel and freedom from being criticized.”
    Robison — an investor, entrepreneur and the founder of SPARTN Monkey Rescue — had posted his personal story about his health declining after taking the COVID vaccine and warned people to “THINK, STUDY & BE AWARE” before getting it themselves.

    “I am not anti-vaccine… but I will caution…. Proceed with care!!! Police cars revolving light I am now fighting a T-Cell Lymphoma as a result of the degraded MRNA Protein Spike via dendritic reaction, called by Pfizer a waning immunity! It is not truly a safe precaution for #COVID19,” Robison wrote.

    Robison continued on to say “the CDC, Pfizer, Moderna and J&J know that the instability of IVT use of MRNA is accompanied by the bodies clearing of the Inert 19 Protein Spike by the immune system. When it leaves the cell structure compromised after insertion & clearing…. It results in autoimmune issues….”

    “One such issue is the risk and causation of severe results such as Leukemia and T-Cell Lymphoma. Another common long term effect is autoimmune disorders that impact the skin…. And require life long maintenance and treatment…” the thread continued. “All such issues and cases have been consistently reported to VAERS which is co-managed by the CDC & FDA…. But no attention or research has been prioritized or funded for this repository of information!”

    “My caution is this…. Be aware. As late as 2018 all of the groups involved were still convinced that MRNA was still far too unstable for use in vaccine distribution. This vaccine is the largest form of a clinical trial in the history of mankind,” Robison wrote.

    20

  • #
    Forrest Gardener

    I’ve been looking at the safety of approved injections in Australia. AstraZenica, Pfizer and Moderna all have sufficient evidence of severe adverse effects up to and including death to make them not just no but HELL NO.

    Apparently NovaVax is pending approval. As far as I can tell it is free from severe adverse effects and is a more traditional vaccine injecting harmless copies of the virus into the body. It doesn’t appear to be in use anywhere else in the world.

    Any insights?

    10

  • #
  • #

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/merck-price-gouging-taxpayer-funded-covid-drug/

    Merck’s 4,000% Markup of Taxpayer-Funded COVID Drug Is ‘Extortion,’ Critics Say
    Pharma giant Merck is facing accusations of price gouging after it charged the U.S. more than $700 per patient for a taxpayer-funded coronavirus treatment that, according to research, costs just $17.74 to produce.

    Follow the $cience or Follow the Money$

    00

  • #

    Paper published in Eurosurveillance showed COVID spread rapidly by fully vaccinated patient to fully vaccinated staff, patients + family members despite 96% vaccination rate + use of full personal protective equipment. 5 patients died + 9 had severe cases
    https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1445123191022792704

    00