Tuesday Open Thread

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228 comments to Tuesday Open Thread

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Intersting stats

    Australia : approx 68% double tapped, popn 25 million, 2,200 covid “cases”
    UK : approx 70% double tapped, popn 60 million, 50,000 covid “cases”

    UK population density is much higher of course, but at 25x more cases are coping despite only having a bit over double our population.

    You could conclude that Australia could comfortably cruise at 25,000 “cases”, assuming a lot of our medical people are still in the profession….

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    • #
      The not very bright Marcus

      They haven’t got Dan’s models ….

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    • #
      Raving

      It probably means you will have a big wave when you try to open up and move beyond covid. Happened here

      Vaccinaton doesn’t seem to tell the whole story

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      • #
        Curious George

        I don’t know what “cases” mean. I don’t even know what covid “deaths” mean. An uncomfortably realistic joke: A coroner dictates a death certificate: Cause of death: Write “Coronavirus”. But, doctor, he has seven deep stab wounds. Add “with complications”.

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    • #
      yarpos

      They did start from a much higher base, so comparisons probably arent that meaningful

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      UK Covid Cases possibly enhanced by size of BAME

      According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) based on population survey figures from 2019, people from ethnic minority backgrounds make up 14.4% of the United Kingdom (16.1% for England, 5.9% for Wales, 5.4% for Scotland and 2.2% for Northern Ireland).

      “It is encouraging that a government report is considering what might be called the structural causes of inequalities as well as the [possibility of] biological ones. In other words, a person from a black or south Asian background may be more likely to develop covid-19, and more likely to become seriously ill and die from it, not just for biological reasons—eg, more likely to have comorbidities such as diabetes—but also, and perhaps primarily, for reasons linked to poverty and social injustice.”

      Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities

      300.Early in the pandemic it became clear that people from some Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds were being disproportionately impacted by covid-19, with severe illness and death being more likely than among the population as a whole. In May 2020, analysis by The Health Foundation found that after adjusting for age, people of Black ethnicity were four times more at risk of covid-19 related death than those of white ethnicity.443 The most recently updated figures show that, in England, the rate of covid-19 related deaths among men of Black African ethnic backgrounds was 3.7 times higher than among men of white ethnicity while the rate in women was 2.6 times greater. Among people of Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean or Pakistani ethnic background the rate of covid-19 related death was 3.0, 2.7, and 2.2 times greater, respectively, for men and 1.9, 1.9 and 2.0 times greater, respectively, for women.444

      301.There has been much discussion around the causes of these high rates of mortality. In particular, this has centred around whether it is attributable to a direct, higher susceptibility to severe covid-19 among Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, or whether it is attributable to the differences in the social and economic conditions experienced by these communities compared to the population as a whole.

      6 At risk communities – see page 98

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Yeah so it seems to mostly come down to deprivation and poor living standards, which if you look at how disease spread through the slums of London back 100 years ago, nothing seems to have changed.

        I guess we can be grateful for our good standard of living. Now that said, the globalists are working hard to crash our standard of living by damaging the supply chains we have, so we are more vulnerable to disease.

        What I find interesting though is that if the UK can sustain a 50K case load, why couldnt australia sustain a 25K case load assuming we probably do have an equivalent standard of care in both countries? Or are the UK medical profession just much better than the Australians?

        Thoughts welcome.

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        • #
          RobB

          Hi Steve, as for the poverty theory, here’s something to think about.

          From worldometers, deaths per million:
          Bangladesh: 167
          Pakistan: 125
          India: 324

          UK: 2028 (all ethnicity, which would be about > 4000 for Bangladeshis of Pakistanis according to the above)

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Having travelled through india, I often wonder how good thier record keeping is……

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            • #
              Fran

              I grew up in India. Each village “panchayat” reports to the district Commissionioners office. District commissioners report to the state government and so on. The system was set up by the British and is reasonably efficient, delays being the most serious problem.

              It was widely known that “snake bite” deaths were reported when anything embarrassing occurred – fights, wife beating, etc.

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      • #
        William Astley

        This is not rocket science. The reason why twice as many dark skin people in the US and UK, are dying of covid than white skin people is, dark skin people are more severely Vit D deficient, than white skin people. The statistics confirm that logically Vit D deficiency correlates directly with how dark a person’s skin is.

        82% of the US ‘black’ population, 68% of the US Hispanic population, and 42% of the US general population and (roughly 30% of the US white population) is deficient in ‘Vitamin’ D which in this study is defined as a Blood serum level of active ‘Vitamin D’ of less than 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/l).

        Optimum Vit. D blood serum level is above 150 nmol/l (60 ng/ml) based on the prevention of cancer studies. 65% reduction in most common cancers and a more than 50% reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes.

        Vitamin D is required by every cell in our body to access, our cell’s copy of our DNA.
        The cells access, its copy of our DNA, to get the ‘blueprints’ to build biochemical producing apparatus to defend the cell and the organ the cell is part of. There are 2500 genes that are known to be activated by Vit D. The Vit D is used once by the cell to do one function and then is destroyed.
        See this paper for the statistics for the US.

        https://tahomaclinic.com/Private/Articles4/WellMan/Forrest%202011%20-%20Prevalence%20and%20correlates%20of%20vitamin%20D%20deficiency%20in%20US%20adults.pdf

        “Prevalence and correlates of vitamin D deficiency in US adults” Nutrition Research
        Kimberly Y.Z. Forrest⁎, Wendy L. Stuhldreher

        By different cutoff points, vitamin D deficiency was found to be common in certain subpopulations, including elder adults (41% using 25-hydroxyvitamin D level ≤20 ng/mL) [20],

        African Americans (61% using 25-hydroxyvitamin D level ≤15 ng/mL) [26], and women with osteoporosis (64% using 25-hydroxyvitamin D level ≤30 ng/mL [27].

        Given that low vitamin D levels are linked to all major health problems in populations, such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, and diabetes, it is of importance to identify how prevalent this condition is and what factors are associated with this condition in the US population.

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    • #
      PeterS

      India is 20% double vaccinated yet their case numbers and death rates are much lower than ours taking into account the population sizes. In fact our case numbers are sky-rocketing while theirs has already plummeted to near record lows. Looks like border closures, lockdowns and vaccinations are not as good as most people think they are.

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    • #
      RickWill

      You could conclude that Australia could comfortably cruise at 25,000 “cases”,

      Not something I would conclude – the UK has a large proportion of their population carrying natural immunity. Natural immunity is likely more effective than the level of immunity achieved through vaccination. The UK probably has something well above 90% with some level of antibodies. And a good number of the most vulnerable have already gone to God with 138k deaths and counting at over 100 per day.

      The vast majority of unvaccinated Australians are as vulnerable today as they were last year. 10% of the population is 2.5M people and virtually none has acquired immunity. Until the virus has gone, maybe by March 2022, the unvaccinated are still good candidates for hospitalisation. It is quite a different picture in the UK where most of the unvaccinated have now got natural immunity. There are certain communities in Australia where the level of vaccination is far too low to prevent rapid spread. Taiwan is the only place that has beaten the Delta strain with fewer than 80% having some level of immunity. Even the ACT could not beat the Delta strain without very high level of vaccination and they are a reasonably disciplined mob.

      Singapore provides a better example of what happens with case load where there is very little natural immunity. They are running around 3000 cases per day and now have 300 in ICU with no sign of stabilising – similar population size to Victoria with currently 100 in ICU and 4% of those fully vaccinated. Their disadvantage is their incredibly high population density. Natural immunity will build but they are losing 10 people a day to acquire it.

      And UK is not in a particularly happy position with hospitalisation either and they are about to enter an energy deprived winter! The old people who have survived Covid will die of the the cold.

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      • #
        Klem

        Just keep in mind folks, it’s not the vaccine that governments want you to have, it’s that harmless looking QR code on the passport. If you dont have a QR code yet, eventually you will. That QR code will remain in use long after Covid is a distant memory, and will be linked to your Social Security number and in turn linked to your life history. The vaccine passport is a Marxist dream come true.

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        • #

          what a strange thing to write. Is it indelible in some way and you can’t remove it?

          By the way, what is a social security number?

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          • #
            Strop

            A social security / tax file / medicare number is a number that basically sits dormant. A QR code is something you use every time you stop.

            Actually a credit card might be a reasonable comparison to a QR code.

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            • #

              So we have no social security number and we have no QR code that we are required to have with us. What funny people you are.

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              • #
                Strop

                I’m thinking of the present QR code check in system in place and In Victoria Australia we’re required to sign in to places we visit using the QR code system. Establishments can be fined for not making us sign in. At present the state govt is trialling a covid passport for individuals with a QR code that carries your vaccination status. (it was announced it would be trialed in some areas during October) This is for the purpose of requiring people to carry their “covid passport” and check in at places for full participation in the community.

                We don’t have a social security number but we have a tax file number and a medicare number and Centrelink etc all linked in a MyGov govt account.

                We’re not imagining this stuff. We’re not that funny.

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          • #
            R.B.

            You don’t need to agree but please show some thought.

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          • #
            Klem

            Hey gee aye, in many jurisdictions now you flash your QR code when you enter a restaurant as proof of vaccination, the code reader on the waiters phone will access your medical records to verify the QR code and you receive a little checkmark, then you can have your dinner. If your QR code is damaged or removed, you have no proof of vaxx and no checkmark. It’s simple and easy, and the first stage of government tracking and control. Neat huh?

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        • #
          TedM

          Klem I think if you read Rick’s comment, reading the word acquired as an adjective you will not see a problem with his comment.

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          • #
            Strop

            I don’t think Klem was debating Rick’s comment and acquired as an adjective or verb or noun doesn’t affect Klem’s reply. Which was simply to illustrate his concern with govt and QR codes in the long term.

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        • #
          OldOzzie

          Son accompanied me to Cancer Clinic at hospital yesterday (as family thinks I don’t listen enough to Specialists, and they are correct) – I don’t have QR code and they write down my details as I walk through front door of Hospital – My son who had checked in by QR at hospital entrance was asked (standing next to me – only 1 visitor allowed) if he was vaccinated – showed his QR vaccination Certificate.

          Down at Cancer Clinic where I check-in for appointment, my son was asked again for QR Vaccination and he had checked in again.

          Patients obviously not asked re vaccination

          Good news pathology had showed no more cancer in samples taken from head from previous Scalp SCC removal that had become infected , but after 2 lots of previous 6 weeks x 5 days a week Radiotherapy 4-5 years ago, Radiotherapy was gradually destroying bone where skin cancer had been taken from scalp and being in middle bone layer would get through next hard layer and expose brain which in itself was not a problem but major vein beneath and possibility of rupture and stroke

          So Plastics need to speak to Neurosurgeons next as they will need to be involved in Op to cut and replace bone with metal disc – Plastics said late November for Op, but I asked if can defer to early 2022 to enjoy Xmas with family – as 5-7 days in Hospital for Op and they agreed

          In meantime back to hospital next week for bloods monday and round 28 of Immunotherapy tuesday which is working well on head and neck cancer and feeling healthy.

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      • #
        Serp

        You write “the UK has a large proportion of their population carrying natural immunity” and follow it up with “unvaccinated Australians comprising 2.5M people and virtually none has acquired immunity”.

        From whence arises this immunity distinction “natural” and “acquired”?

        Australians are just too stupid eh.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        Not something I would conclude – the UK has a large proportion of their population carrying natural immunity. Natural immunity is likely more effective than the level of immunity achieved through vaccination.

        Hang on. Haven’t you been pushing that the vax as the only responsible thing for a world citizen to do? NOW you say Australia is up the proverbial creek BECAUSE we don’t have high levels of natural immunity.

        It is late at night so I hope I haven’t misread you.

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    • #
      StephenP

      Australia shut its borders quickly, whereas the UK let a flood of people in from all over the world before lockdown.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    The situation is reversing worldwide as people rebel against the fear and wake up.

    A school in Miami, Florida, is requiring students who get vaccinated to quarantine at home for 30 days after each dose.

    “Because of the potential impact on other students and our school community, vaccinated students will need to stay at home for 30 days post-vaccination for each dose and booster they receive and may return to school after 30 days as long as the student is healthy and symptom-free,” a letter sent out to parents of students at the Centner Academy says, according to local news outlet WSVN.

    The letter also urges parents to “hold off” on getting their children vaccinated until the summer “when there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease.”

    School officials told WSVN that the 30-day quarantine mandate exists because they believe there is a risk that vaccinated students would infect unvaccinated students.

    Yahoo news.

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    • #
      Serp

      This policy is driven by the spike protein shedding shtick and is a worthy pushback against the insanity of vaccinating children against covid.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Really? I’m shocked!
    At least the conclusion is of the real world.

    The sole reliance on vaccination as a primary strategy to mitigate COVID-19 and its adverse consequences needs to be re-examined, especially considering the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant and the likelihood of future variants. Other pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions may need to be put in place alongside increasing vaccination rates. Such course correction, especially with regards to the policy narrative, becomes paramount with emerging scientific evidence on real world effectiveness of the vaccines.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8481107/

    Like the REAL experts have been saying all along…

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    • #
      RobB

      Yeah, when is it ever right to put all your eggs in the one basket?

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Findings

      At the country-level, there appears to be no discernable relationship between percentage of population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases in the last 7 days (Fig. 1). In fact, the trend line suggests a marginally positive association such that countries with higher percentage of population fully vaccinated have higher COVID-19 cases per 1 million people. Notably, Israel with over 60% of their population fully vaccinated had the highest COVID-19 cases per 1 million people in the last 7 days. The lack of a meaningful association between percentage population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases is further exemplified, for instance, by comparison of Iceland and Portugal. Both countries have over 75% of their population fully vaccinated and have more COVID-19 cases per 1 million people than countries such as Vietnam and South Africa that have around 10% of their population fully vaccinated.

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      • #
        Lucky

        My impression after reading the paper is that it is inconclusive.
        This itself may mean something-
        ~ that the variable studied does not control the measured outcome.

        As a criticism I find the paper too preachy, trying to say ‘the right thing’, by making popular recommendations not confirmed by the study scope nor reported on in the paper.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      This is Gr Chris Martenson’s take on that paper.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeSJWGSnN8A

      BTW what is he a Dr of?

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      • #
        Lucky

        Just looked at this after my reply above.
        Yes, if you wanted to prove the usefulness of vaccinations, the graph goes the wrong way!
        But such a widespread study and data would not be expected to give an answer.
        By the way, the English sub-titles on that Utube are hilariously misleading, I reckon by intention.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Everybody ready for this one?

    China is continuing to experiment with the next virus that poses “an existential threat to life as we know it on this planet.” While COVID-19 has just a 1% lethality rate, the one the Chinese have been working on furiously since December 2019 is 80% lethal.

    https://www.wnd.com/2021/10/biden-wont-even-investigate-new-china-virus-80-death-rate/

    What could possibly go wrong.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Ah, so this must be the 2nd bio wepon thay are going to release……

      Now that the first group of vaccines have trained your immune system to ignore everything except a specific strain of covid, the thought of a crippled freighter with no functional engine and a stalking u-boat wolf pack comes to mind….

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    • #
      Fran

      Even if the story is true, how can anyone stop the Chinese experimenting with gain of function research?

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  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    97% settled science: update!

    Atlantic hurricane season has gone to sleep. Will it awaken?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/10/18/atlantic-hurricane-season-2021-sleeping/

    Carbon (sic).

    Is there nothing it can’t do?

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  • #
    John Connor II

    As I’ve said before, Aussie police need to wake up and see the big picture and be on the right side of future history.
    Well it looks like they’re starting to in Qld anyway.

    https://t.me/s/greatreject/20140

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  • #
    Strop

    From Friends of Science.

    .


    The Green New Deal: The Great Regret, by Marc Morano

    Marc Morano in the publisher of CFACT’s Climate Depot and the Author of new book Green Fraud: Why the Green New Deal is Even Worse Than You Think. Marc also served senior staff on the US Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee and authored the 2019 book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change and the films Climate Hustle and Climate Hustle 2.

    Morano will lay out the threats faced by The Green New Deal. He will show the COVID-Climate connection and how the progressives are using COVID-19 lockdowns as the precedent for coming climate lockdowns. Marc Morano will explain how this may be the left’s ticket to a Great Reset in America. Are you ready for daily “climate change” death tolls? Marc will show how free markets, economic prosperity, technological revolution, and wealth result in the cleanest environments.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8fS2DTs2Y4&t=101s
    1 hr 25 mins

    Slides from the presentation https://friendsofscience.org/assets/files/Morano%20Friends%20of%20Science%20Oct%202021.pdf

    .

    Climate Science: Let the Data Speak, by Dr. Guus Berkhout

    Dr. Guus Berkhout started his career with the geo-energy industry in 1964, where he held several international positions in R&D and technology transfer. In 1976, he accepted a Chair at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the field of geophysical and acoustical imaging. During 1998 – 2001 he has been a member of the University Board, being responsible for scientific research and intellectual property. During his board membership he introduced the ‘University of the 21st Century’. In 2001 he also accepted a chair in the field of innovation management. In 2000 his first book was publlished about the Cyclic Innovation Model (CIM). Professor Guus Berkhout is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and The Netherlands Academy of Engineering (AcTI). In 2015 he founded the ‘Centre for Socio-Economic Change’. In 2019 he and science journalist Marcel Crok founded CLINTEL, the climate intelligence organization of more than 900 scientists and scholars from around the world, who report that there is no climate emergency.

    Dr. Guus Berkhout will discuss the work of CLINTEL and its World Climate Declaration. He says let the data speak, meaning climate policy should be based on climate data, not slogans from climate activists, dubious assumptions from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or clmate models that fail to match data. He starts his presentation with a big picture of the Earth’s climate system and makes us aware that we have heated debates on tiny details, while we do not yet agree on the big picture.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msy3sFneOdA
    1 hr 37 mins

    Slides from the presentation https://friendsofscience.org/assets/files/Berkhout%20Friends%20of%20Science%20Oct%202021.pdf

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    • #

      My article on Berkhout’s presentation, proposing a new approach to climate data analysis:

      Clintel launches a new organization for climate imaging
      By David Wojick
      https://www.cfact.org/2021/10/16/clintel-launches-a-new-organization-for-climate-imaging/

      The beginning:
      In his lengthy video presentation, CLINTEL President Guus Berkhout proposes creation of a new analytical facility — the Laboratory of Climate Imaging, Int. — to look at climate data in a new way. He calls it “Climate Imaging”, but it is not about pictures. It is a combination of data re-ordering, transformation and visualization. He also uses the additive Int to make clear that LCI is not an Intergovernmental, but an International organization. And, last but not least, he proposes to use imaging as an extra tool in model validation and policy making.
      See the video here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Msy3sFneOdA

      Here is how Professor Berkhout explains it: “Imaging is making the invisible visible. It is about collecting measurements with the aim to extract information for the detection and visualization of the dynamic properties of complex systems. This is done without understanding yet the internal mechanisms. Knowing these properties is often enough to make important decisions on how to cope with system changes. This is particularly important when decisions are urgent and cannot be delayed until reliable models have been developed. In addition, he proposes to use imaging for the improvement of model verification and, ultimately, for the evaluation of the costs and benefits of climate policies. His slogan is: “Let us think differently, let us think the imaging way.”

      The core idea is that the climate debate is primarily focused on global averages – already for forty years – but global averaging minimizes the amount of information in the analysis. Huge amounts of detailed climate data disappear, being compressed into a single number, such as average global temperature over one, or even a few years.

      Professor Berkhout proposes to reverse this process, which he calls unfolding the averages. It is only in this detailed data that the actual causes of climate change can be determined.

      Much more in the article. Please share it.

      Let the data speak!

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      • #
        OMG

        Isn’t Guus just compiling his own ‘alternative’ facts ?. His previous efforts have been outed as biased and cherry picking.

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        • #
          Strop

          Don’t know if they’ve been outed as biased and cherry picking but there have been claims of that. Which could be dismissed as the pot calling the kettle black given the bias and cherry picking by those who try to discredit.

          Best thing would be for you to address each point made by Guus and demonstrate the inaccuracies rather than offer a broad smear.

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          • #
            OMG

            Funny when a sceptic of your scepticism is simplistically labelled as as a ‘smearer’, the kettle syndrome again ?.
            The reviews are out there, your homework needs improving.

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            • #
              Strop

              You’re the one who threw up the challenge to what Guus presents but didn’t actually offer anything to counter it. That is just a smear. A worthy link would be a good, if not your own critique and evidence.

              I’m happy happy to hear where Guus is wrong.

              I don’t like the claims of a bias to discredit someone. Often simply because they work or worked in the fossil fuel industry. Just like I don’t like claims that some researchers who support the notion of AGW being catastrophic aren’t independent because they rely on grants and have to be on a certain side to get grants, or they’ve invested in green energy. I believe the best thing to do is show where someone is wrong rather than just paint them as being wrong.

              As for pot black. What I did was what you did, to illustrate how easy and lazy it is. I didn’t do it as an accidental pot caller. Your follow-up response was just as lazy as your first. Telling me I need to do homework to justify your claim.

              I actually did a google before my #7.1.1.1 initial reply to you and the first attempt to discredit Guus was simply a smear without any facts to debunk what he says. So I thought why should I wade through stuff that may or may not support your comment when it’s not my role to justify your claim. I suggested how you can do better than a simplistic one line and you offered nothing except an attempt to reverse the onus on proving your comment.

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      • #
        Curious George

        “only in this detailed data [that] the actual causes of climate change can be determined.”

        All backwards. The actual causes of climate change have been predetermined when the IPCC was created. It only exists to hammer them in our heads. Actually, deep under the veneer of “science”, there is only one cause: capitalism.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    There’s an infographic put out by the Workplace Mental Health Institute on how to tell if you’re in an abusive relationship.

    Link:
    https://64.media.tumblr.com/710f272fbf3924b5d82008e8875f1efc/b5c6579b72c5bca3-e8/s1280x1920/ba3bb22d48ad2ea4074e5865b0af6fb238722353.jpg

    Interesting – change “relationship” to “government”…

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  • #
    yarpos

    Great non propaganda , even handed covid reporting on SBS the other night.

    Doing the nightly hysteria update they reported the VIC covid numbers which included 5 deaths…”one of which was unvaccinated!” They probably dont even realise how stupid they sound, dutifully doing Dans work.

    Surely if you want pump vax use then they could pick numbers that support the story.

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    • #
      Annie

      Whatever were you doing, watching SBS?!
      They sure sound silly.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Like to see what they are saying and how they say it as per the above. Also like to see if they are still predictable with their checkbox style presentation Covid/tick, alphabet people/tick (something on drag queen inoculations in St Kilda), and indigenous complaint of some kind/tick and a muslim perspective or at the very least visibility in conjunction with any story/tick. Thats what makes their broadcasting service so “special”

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      • #
        Annie

        In the Australian today, (in the article about our dictator and his latest guff, talking about the latest figures), it was of note that “of the 100 in ICU, 4 were ‘fully vaccinated’, and 96 were ‘not fully vaccinated'”. What does that really say? If they were not ‘fully vaccinated’, does that mean partially with one dose, within two weeks of a second dose, or actually unvaccinated? Talk about weasel words.

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        • #
          Annie

          If ‘unvaccinated’ is the case, there is usually some triumphant gloating. It wasn’t mentioned!

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          • #

            Look it up. It might take less time than writing what you just wrote.

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            • #
              yarpos

              who cares? we are just here having a chat and dont need your handy hints on how to conduct ourselves.

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              • #

                So, in other words, there was no triumphal gloating because that is actually a false accusation in order to make it look like something nefarious is going on.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Highly possible the first dose has initaited a bad reaction and as its within the first 2 weeks, they are classified as part of the “vax deplorables” or as “unvaccinated”. Its purely a bureacratic fudge.

            I predicted as soon as the vaccination levels got close to the maximum euthanising…er…vacciantion levels, the cases would magically come rapidly down, or they would all of a sudden go “lets play nice with everyone”.

            So the lie of covid appears to be fully exposed for anyone with a functionng brain to see.

            QED

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            • #

              So high vaccination equal low cases. Genius!

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              • #
                OriginalSteve

                Not because of vaccines, no, rather it points toward the covid lie being just that.

                Now I suspect many in the room dont want to contemplate such a thing that pollies might lie to us, but as hard a thing is to contemplate, contemplate it we must.

                And :

                https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8481107/

                “Across the US counties too, the median new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the last 7 days is largely similar across the categories of percent population fully vaccinated (Fig. 2). Notably there is also substantial county variation in new COVID-19 cases within categories of percentage population fully vaccinated. There also appears to be no significant signaling of COVID-19 cases decreasing with higher percentages of population fully vaccinated (Fig. 3).

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              • #

                Oh! I’m with you now. If vaccination rates were low and cases were low it would prove that vaccines work. More genius.

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              • #
                OriginalSteve

                I think youre just ignoring reality….

                its in black and white..

                Waiter…cheque please

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              • #
                Hanrahan

                Don’t tell us, show us.

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  • #

    The UK’s Global Warming Policy Foundation has changed its name to Net Zero Watch. A useful site to keep an eye on.

    https://www.netzerowatch.com/

    As with everywhere, the UK is winging it… just kind of hope something will turn up and it will be alright. To use a Kiwism, “she’ll be alright”…

    https://www.netzerowatch.com/winging-it-for-net-zero-is-a-catastrophe-waiting-to-happen/

    “Governments of one shade or another, Whitehall bureaucrats, and their advisers in the Climate Change Committee have been working on such plans for well over a decade now, and it’s fair to say that they still have little or no idea how Net Zero can be achieved, beyond a vague idea that we should electrify everything and have lots of energy from windfarms.”

    Every country that goes net-zero is going to be facing similar problems. Lots to learn from each other on how to push back against this madness, I think.

    100

  • #
    Lance

    3 Environmental Doomsday Myths Debunked:

    https://fee.org/articles/3-environmental-doomsday-myths-debunked/

    and

    “Wrong Again: 50 Years of Failed EcoPocalyptic Predictions”

    https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/

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  • #
    John Connor II

    The First Australian State To Ban Unvaxxed MPs From Parliament… This Member of Parliament Had A Few Words To Say About It

    https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-first-australian-state-to-ban-unvaxxed-mps-from-parliament-this-member-of-parliament-had-a-few-words-to-say-about-it/

    Now they know how the little people feel…

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  • #
    Graeme+P.

    Well, it’s official. Last week the boss came and took his car telling me I’ve been “stood down” for not having the covid vax. Mind you, I haven’t been terminated, I’m still officially employed but am not allowed to work and I won’t be getting paid. I guess this is his way of avoiding an unfair dismissal case.

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    • #
      Annie

      Are you owed any paid leave atm?

      70

    • #
      Strop

      Sorry for your predicament.

      Pathetic that a govt can make such rules and wipe their hands of how it plays out.

      .

      According to Fair Work https://coronavirus.fairwork.gov.au/coronavirus-and-australian-workplace-laws/pay-leave-and-stand-downs/stand-downs

      Enforceable government directions

      An employer doesn’t have to pay an employee when either the federal or a state or territory government or officer makes an enforceable government direction that prevents an employee from working.

      This could happen, for example, where an enforceable government direction:

      * requires an employer to close down a work site or reduce staffing levels, and employees can’t work remotely, or
      * prevents a particular employee from working because they’re required to self-isolate or haven’t met a requirement to get vaccinated or tested for COVID-19.

      In these instances, the employer doesn’t have to pay the employee, unless the employee takes paid leave. Whether or not the enforceable government direction prevents an employee from working will depend on the facts in each case.

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      • #
        Graeme+P.

        Agreed, this is possible the most cowardly Government I can remember. For myself and most of my family, will will be voting minor conservative parties for a very long time. The major parties treat freedom and liberty as far right extremist notions. Stuff em.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      Viva & Barnes are discussing this in a US context.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnku5ExVz1Q

      10

    • #
      Tides of Mudgee

      Graeme P, so so sorry that you have been stood down because of one of the most corrupt and flawed policies we’ve known. I wish you luck that you find employment soon. But above all I admire your stance. I don’t believe it will be too long before you realise what a winner you are. ToM

      260

    • #
      robert rosicka

      Graeme in Victoriastan if you were working more than I think 40 hours a fortnight you are eligible for $750 a week while stood down , think it’s run through centre link.

      70

      • #
        Graeme+P.

        Cheers Robert. I need to give Centrelink a call and see what they have to offer. I would prefer to avoid government handouts but seeing as they put me in this situation…

        70

        • #
          KevJ

          Graeme, just do it. It is not charity, but in these times, a necessity.
          All the best.

          50

        • #
          Fran

          My son pointed out that taking the Covid handouts just meant that he was getting back some of the extra taxes he would be paying all his life to pay for the scheme. Sure government money is dirty money, but since it comes from us (even the newly printed stuff), take as much as you can get.

          41

  • #
    Geoff Sherrington

    Jo,
    The international pressures being put on Australian politicians to go net zero at Cop26, according to your last article, are really very serious.
    Some moves have the whiff of illegality, as in blackmail.
    If I was being put in a fix like our Prime Minister is, I would at least clear the legality of what is going on by a mechanism like a formal, public judicial review.
    There will likely be legal challenges to Cop26 concessions. They are important enough. Why not clear the main legal aspects before committing a word?
    My personal view is that we Australians should use all the influence we have to resist the PM making any commitment. So, I admit to a personal bias.
    In the olden days when at the peak of my employment, I would have been urging my employer company to commence and finance legal challenges to this national handout to Cop26. We challenged a United Nations/Fed plan to list World Heritage status over our mining leases and licences around Jabiru in 1987, ending up with a win in the Federal Court and a loss in the High Court on appeal by the Feds.
    Where have the people gone today, who should be fighting tooth and nail? Where are the many scientists who are unconvinced by global warming hypotheses, but are staying silent? Is too much of our population of addled mind from sucking on Ice or cocaine or grog? (I never even smoked pot, went on the grog wagon in 1982).
    There are people like Jo and David and Bill Johnston and a few others who, IMHO, are doing just the right thing, but need more support.
    As for the silent non-achievers, talk about meek lambs to the slaughter! Geoff S

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    • #
      RickWill

      Geoff,
      You are fighting a lost cause. It is a waste of effort and anguish.

      Have you followed the development in the Minerals Council. The new chair Helen Coonan:
      https://www.minerals.org.au/news/new-chair-appointed-lead-mca-exciting-era-australian-mining

      Helen Coonan is an outstanding leader in Australian political and corporate life and brings extremely strong experience in governance, commercial and public policy skills to MCA and the world-leading Australian minerals industry.

      What could be better for the Australian mining industry than Net-Zero. It is an unachievable task for the foreseeable future that will require an enormous amount of Australian resources.

      Extracting energy from fairy farts is impossible without an ENORMOUS amount of hardware. Wind generators are 100X more materials intensive than gas fuelled generators. And then the batteries to store energy for later use add another 100X materials intensity.

      It is not possible to use fairy farets to build fairy fart extractors. That requires real energy from coal and enormous quantity of raw materials.

      Even if the world recognises that building fairy fart extractors are unsustainable and decide on nuclear then it is still wonderful for Australia. And they need to stay warm in the mean time.

      USA faces the biggest risk because the value of their dollars will be eroded as they spread more of them about trying to acquire real stuff. Fortunately Australia has got a lot of the real stuff the world needs. Australia just needs to hope that China does not decide to come and take it rather than trading their made stuff for Australian dirt.

      This is a situation of going with the flow. I can guarantee reality must prevail but I do not know when and If I will live long enough to see it.

      One of my daughters-in-law is accumulating her fortune in non-fungible tokens. Roughly the next generation Bitcoin that is growing fast as is her fortune. It is a fad with material gains. When you were running around looking for the next minerals target, who was forecasting Google and Facebook would be the most influential organisations on earth, controlling huge resources.

      41

      • #
        Geoff Sherrington

        Hi Rick,
        In my day we had control of what we mined and why, in the sense that we in the mining industry researched, quite intensively, the supply/demand, price structure, projected shortages, need for strategic minerals, how it is better for us to find big uranium deposits than those from hostile countries and so on. All that type of input governed our decisions on what to seek. There was no input that I can recall from any government agency telling us, or even suggesting to us, that we concentrate on one commodity or drop our interest in another. It was good, honest, free market competition and we found enough new wealth to make a major improvement in the Australian standard of living. For this, we get insulted?
        Today, we have not only governments, but financial houses like Black Rock using blackmail tactics to try to steer mining away from coal, for example. That is blatant (and probably ignorant) damaging interference in the free market and it is that which causes my objection.
        You seem to be suggesting that mining companies of today act like ladies of the night who care little who is about to knock them off, as long as there is a quid in it. This is an attitude that, if real, I did not ever encounter in the mining industry I knew and loved.
        I shared the description you gave of Helen Coonan … “brings extremely strong experience in governance, commercial and public policy skills”… I had more valuable, additional skills like the science behind geochemistry and a fair dollop of geophysics, but I was not a qualified lawyer. We saw competitor companies disintegrate when the balance at the top tipped from mining engineers and geoscientists through to financial investors and finally to the bottom of the pile, lawyers who knew little else. To the extent that modern miners do not practice this type of selection of top management, they should never have made it.
        Once governments start to dictate the terms of your corporate existence, like taking away mineral leases with no compensation as happened to us, you know you have seen an act of anti-corporate vandalism.
        We worked quite hard to smash emerging groups like ACF, Greenpeace, FOE and the like, because we did not identify any evidence of their intentions other than hate. We succeeded for some time, until the funds from the ultra-wealthy started flowing to such bodies, even though their wealth was often derived from mineral activities, or investing in them. That is not sincere, adult behavior. That is juvenile petulance, an attribute which has since become a badge of honour among greens.
        One should give little respect to mining chiefs who lose their marbles. Geoff S

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  • #
    beowulf

    It’s hilarious. The “experts” in Japan are bewildered by success.

    Japan’s COVID caseload has “plummeted from a mid-August peak of nearly 6,000 in Tokyo, with caseloads in the densely populated capital now routinely below 100”.

    https://www.msn.com/en-au/health/medical/vaccines-masks-japan-puzzling-over-sudden-virus-success/ar-AAPE6ID?ocid=msedgntp

    Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story.

    Case numbers are way down, but experts worry that without knowing how exactly it cut cases so drastically, the nation may be in store for another devastating wave like during the summer.

    In Japan, lockdowns were effectively non-existent during the entire epidemic. They never had anything resembling a lockdown, just a series of toothless states of emergency.

    Japan’s state of emergency measures were not lockdowns, but requests that focused mainly on bars and eateries, which were asked to close early and not serve alcohol. Many people continued to commute on crowded trains, and attended sports and cultural events at stadiums with some social distancing controls.

    The mysterious success has been attributed variously to:
    • a belated but remarkably rapid vaccination campaign,
    • an emptying out of many nightlife areas as fears spread during the recent surge in cases [despite workers still being packed onto Bullet trains]
    • the widespread practice, well before the pandemic, of wearing masks [which apparently, suddenly only had their magical effect from August onwards!!]
    • and bad weather in late August that kept people home [where multi-generational family groups could cross-infect each other in tiny apartments.]

    Japan’s vaccinations started in mid-February, with health workers and the elderly first in line. Shortages of imported vaccines kept progress slow until late May when the supply stabilized and daily inoculation targets were raised to above 1 million doses to maximize protection before the July 23-Aug. 8 Olympics.

    Daily new cases surged just weeks ahead of the Olympics, [despite the vaccines] forcing Japan to hold the Games with daily caseloads of more than 5,000 in Tokyo and around 20,000 nationwide in early August. Tokyo reported 40 cases Sunday, below 100 for the ninth straight day and lowest this year. Nationwide, Japan reported 429 cases Sunday for an accumulated total of about 1.71 million and 18,000 deaths since the pandemic began early last year.

    Tokyo metropolitan government data showed the positivity rate fell from 25% in late August to 1% in mid-October.

    Every spurious reason under the sun is given in the article for the sudden drop in the COVID caseload . . . but not a whisper about the 10,000lb elephant-wormer in the room: the drug that must not be named. In August a number of prominent doctors in Japan were recommending IVM for COVID.

    [You’ll have to bear with the auto-translated text that follows. I have left it untouched.]

    And on 12/8/21 Dr. Kazuhiro Nagao (63) Chairman of medical company Yuwakai, director (Head) of Nagao Amagasaki Clinic, Hyogo prefecture, and visiting professor at Kansai University of International Studies highly recommend Ivermectin as drug which can cure the initial patient affected by the corona infection.

    https://www.world-today-news.com/ivermectin-becomes-the-recommendation-of-japanese-doctors-to-cure-corona-disease/

    “Our current medical condition is in an almost critical condition and many patients cannot be accommodated in the hospital. For patients who are exposed to the corona virus, it is highly recommended to drink drug Ivermectin. I have tried many of my patients and have recovered,” said Dr. Nagao this afternoon (12/8/2021) on NTV.
    “In the early stages it was good to drink drug the. I always give my patients drug, it is of course artificial Japan and the next day healed. I asked them to report to me daily the impact of drug and it turned out to be good, they recovered immediately,” he continued.

    “Now is the time to use Ivermectin”, said Haruo Ozaki, Chairman of the Tokyo Metropolitan Medical Association, on 19/8/21.

    https://www-yomiuri-co-jp.translate.goog/choken/kijironko/cknews/20210818-OYT8T50030/amp/?__twitter_impression=true&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=ajax,nv,elem

    We have no way yet of knowing how widespread the use of Ivermectin became in September/early October, but it is an arresting coincidence that the rest of the developed world did not experience an equivalent precipitous drop in cases as vaccination progressed, yet cases plummeted in Japan just when at least some doctors were starting to use IVM there.

    And the Japanese mainstream health swamp — the ones who are mystified — still haven’t heard of Ivermectin but are obviously not convinced that vaccination was their saviour because they are half expecting another outbreak in their coming winter. If they had faith in vaccines then why would they doubt the vaccines’ efficacy?

    Truly a mystery.

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    • #
      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      Ah, the mysteries. And like all good mysteries they will remain unexplained to our glorious leaders here in Oz, and not even registered by our bureaucratic health experts and ministers. Can’t have good ideas coming from Japan, can we.

      Thanks beowulf. A timely update on their success.

      Cheers
      Dave B

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    • #
      RickWill

      Truly a mystery.

      Japans situation is identical to NSW – only a few days apart.

      Japan’s cases peaked on 25 August when 55% percent were fully vaccinated and mobility 30% down on normal. Japan now has 76% of population fully vaccinated and mobility still down by 27%.

      NSW’s cases peaked on 4 September when 55% in the State were fully vaccinated and Australia-wide mobility was down by 26% – NSW would be a bit lower on average than this.

      Japan probably a bit more disciplined and NSW a bit lower population density but vaccination rate and mobility very close.

      One thing I know for certain is that Ivermectin played no role in Japan’s current situation because it was in short supply:

      Chairman Ozaki stated that despite evidence suggesting the efficacy of ivermectin, it is difficult to obtain the medication. He added that while ivermectin’s established effectiveness is increasingly clear, the U.S. company that manufactures the drug, Merck & Co., Inc., have currently limited distribution because they claim that the drug is ineffective at treating COVID.

      https://rclutz.com/2021/09/05/japanese-medical-chairmen-doubles-down-on-ivm/

      Also his recommendation came in February 2021. If Ivermectin worked they would have avoided the rapid rise in cases following the Olympics in July through to September

      217

      • #
        Raving

        So why are the UK rates still so high?

        Don’t understand what saved Japan

        50

        • #
        • #
          Phil

          Perhaps it’s the “vaccine”

          70

          • #
            mobihci

            perhaps it is. overall the countries with the lowest vaccination rates show lower case numbers. but –

            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8481107/

            fig 1 there you can see that the average is a bit skewed by Israel, there really is a big no show of the vaccine in the worlds cases. I would say that saying being vaccinated reduces your risk of getting covid and spreading it is just nonsense, sure it may help with recovery, but not the spread.

            70

            • #
              OriginalSteve

              What would be interesting is to see at what point the rate of infection per 100,000 increases or becomes sustained.

              My theory was at roughly 50% fully vaccinated ( based on observations ) , you create a self-sustaining level of infection within the community, no different to if you gave the population deliberately leaky vaccines for say measles.

              There seems to be a need for a critical mass of a certain percentage of a population to be fully vaxxed to keep the infections sustained within the commnuity. The other “benefit” to the agenda of the vaccine pushers is that if you can remove any control group ( unvaccinated ) you have no comparison. And if you have recurring outbreaks, you have an excuse to exercise to impose lockdowns to show ’em who’s boss….

              Its evil.

              30

        • #
          RickWill

          Japan has not yet been saved. Their mobility is still 30% down on normal. UK has been up near normal mobility since freedom day.

          211

      • #
        Strop

        Japan and NSW are coming in to/out of the opposite seasons. Yet your stats indicate a similarity.
        Must be a time zone thing. 😉

        60

      • #
        David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

        RW,
        February?
        “And on 12/8/21 Dr. Kazuhiro Nagao (63) …”
        ??
        Please explain?
        Cheers
        Dave B

        30

        • #
          Joe Civis

          day/month/year ie 12 August 2021….. not all countries use the same format.

          Cheers!!
          Joe

          20

          • #
            Strop

            David isn’t querying the date format. He is querying why Rick is suggesting the Ivermectin recommendation came in Feb 21 but the quote recommending the use of Ivermectin is dated 12 Aug 21.

            Rick posted a link which states, “In February 2021, Dr. Ozaki Chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association declared that Japan’s physicians should get a greenlight to prescribe IVM (Ivermectin) at the first sign of SARS CV infections.”

            Rick is suggesting Ivermectin doesn’t work very well because it’s use was recommended back in February but the cases increased until August.

            Also his recommendation came in February 2021. If Ivermectin worked they would have avoided the rapid rise in cases following the Olympics in July through to September

            In trying to discredit Ivermectin Rick seems to contradict himself in saying, “If Ivermectin worked they would have avoided the rapid rise in cases following the Olympics” and “One thing I know for certain is that Ivermectin played no role in Japan’s current situation because it was in short supply”. If he is claiming it was in short supply then he can’t also claim it didn’t work if it wasn’t used.

            However, all these things are not mutually exclusive. The initial recommendation to use Ivermectin was in February. The Dr then restates it in August and says the February recommendation wasn’t heeded and there were issues with Ivermectin supply.

            So what changed after mid August that reduced covid in Japan?

            Rick suggests it was the vaccine reaching 55% of population and uses NSW as the comparison because NSW had similar results at 55%. But we know vaccinated people get covid so why would the vaccine reduce cases so dramatically? There’s suggestions vaxed people don’t transmit it as easily but the UK has had a spike despite a high vax rate. The similarity between NSW and Japan is a reasonable observation.

            Or, could it be that the second push in August from multiple medics in Japan for use of Ivermectin actually did start its use and it helped? Hard to find info on the use of Ivermectin in Japan, but Japan Today was reporting Japan had approved the “informed consent” use of ivermectin. As opposed to some reports that Ivermectin wasn’t approved. Was supply suddenly available?

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      • #
        beowulf

        “One thing I know for certain is that Ivermectin played no role in Japan’s current situation because it was in short supply:”

        You make a bold assertion based on a reference 2 ½ months out of date which referred to the situation pre-Olympics.

        As I stated, I have no way of knowing what level of IVM was prescribed in Sept/Oct . . . and neither do you, unless you have some other reference.

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  • #
    Geoff Sherrington

    In the USA, there is a lot of discussion about the status of carbon dioxide as a “pollutant” claimed by the EPA there. endorsed by the legal system and so the EPA is able to regulate it in special ways.
    In Australia, does CO2 have any special status? Domestically, is there a means of special regulation by our Environment Protection Agencies?
    I do not know the answer. It is a blank spot in my reading. Can readers please educate me? Geoff S

    90

    • #
      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      G’day Geoff,
      It’s my understanding that CO2 was described as a pollutant by regulation in USA and requires congressional approval for any reversal. Australia copied that, and I think we are similarly restricted in getting a reversal, in spite of the stupidity.

      Sorry, I don’t have pointers for you.

      Cheers
      Dave B

      80

      • #
        MP

        David, I have looked through our EPA and WPH&S, CO2 is not even mentioned. In the US through a sue and settle it was legitimised only. It was gamed into being.

        30

    • #
      Scissor

      It’s now a virus.

      70

    • #
      RickWill

      In Australia, does CO2 have any special status?

      There is the Kyoto accounting protocol for CO2 by international treaty but since the death of the “carbon tax” it is not directly regulated other than reporting production. You can produce as much CO2 as you wish and there is no cost involved in releasing the CO2 into the atmosphere and no regulation on the volume you release like there is for say carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants. CO2 remains an emission rather than a pollutant. But the climate Gods will condemn any company to eternal damnation if they just release carbon without care.

      On the other hand, the Clean Energy Regulator will buy your carbon credits if you have any to sell. And there is voluntary trading of ACCUs since the carbon tax was canned. ACCUs currently trade at $20/t. This is a transfer payment from government (taxpayers) to mostly farmers to plant trees on land to sequester carbon rather than using the land for other farming activities. (at least my cynical view)

      Also most people in Australia effectively pay a carbon tax because all intermittent electricity sources are subsidised and anyone buying electricity has the subsidy imposed on fossil fuelled sources that subsidise the 26% from intermittent sources.

      There is currently a lot of pressure on the Federal government to increase the 26% so a higher proportion of the supply can get the subsidy. The value of the subsidy is declining fast as the 26% is being achieved so there is now an excess of intermittent supply. Without a revised target, and the subsidies that go with it, it is uneconomic to build more intermittent generation unless you are an end user of course – for example Aldi, Coles or Woolworths who can supply intermittent power into the grid at lunch time as if it has value and take from the grid as required to keep the lights on and the perishables cold.

      The carbon tax in Australia is reasonably well hidden from sight. At least from Joe Public who has no idea what they are paying to release or sequester carbon.

      The silly part is that sequestered carbon is the stuff of intense bushfires but that is natural release of CO2 and not subject to carbon accounting. And you can only sequester it once I think!

      51

      • #
        Geoff Sherrington

        Thanks to Rick and others who chipped in here. There are so many social termites eating away at previously solid and successful foundations that it is hard to keep track of which termite is up to how much no-good. Geoff S

        30

      • #
        Bill+Burrows

        Rick – Over the last month or so I have made an attempt to better inform federal politicians (of all sides of the political divide) on why I consider we have already met the PA criteria for achieving ‘net zero CO2 emissions’ today. So while I very much doubt it will influence their political agendas I prepared a 4 page explainer [See: https://www.keepandshare.com/doc22/112735/australia-has-already-reached-net-zero-co2-emissions-7-pdf-1-0-meg?da=y ] for their information. This overview goes back to before Kyoto, which interested readers may also find informative. A shorter 1 page summary version is likewise available [See: https://www.keepandshare.com/doc22/112736/sampling-the-australian-landscape-for-net-emissions-under-the-pa-pdf-757k?da=y ]. [[There may be daily viewing limits for these 2 links].

        40

        • #
          RickWill

          I have previously seen your assessment and agree.

          Right now it is about being virtuous and seen to be doing something. If there is no problem then why do we need governments to fix it. The Covid pandemic gave governments a new cause and reason to grow but it is on the decline and it is now back to Global Warming.

          Australia has spent more than AUD50bn over two decades to get 0.6% of its energy production from intermittent sources – that is a sad waste of resources. Unless new energy technology evolves, the wind and solar path is simply unsustainable. It appears that the countries in the northern latitudes will begin to understand that they are wasting resources using intermittent generation as early as this year. A few thousands deaths from the cold will put governments on notice as occurred in Texas with just a few deaths.

          31

  • #
    David Maddison

    Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

    George Orwell, “Animal Farm”

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  • #
    Destroyer D69

    Just posted on Michael Smith site .. The proposed “Digital Identity Bill” Be VERY afraid!!!! https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2021/10/morrison-governments-proposed-digital-id-system-law.html The frog is very nearly fully cooked as is our “goose”when this becomes “Law”???

    80

    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      My goodness gracious me!!!

      The 4th aim in this Bill is
      (d) to provide a digital identity system that will enable
      innovative digital sectors of the Australian economy to flourish.

      Since when do we take notice of politicians who feel they are qualified to promote one part of our economy over another, before they even know what those parts of the economy will be doing? They want to enshrine this vague concept in law???

      This has the intellectual quality of a kid in a lolly shop. “I prefer humbugs so you had better keep them in stock, Mr Shop Owner.”
      Geoff S

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Larry Elder explains why the California recall election failed.

    https://youtu.be/ypCAzz8ravA

    30

  • #
    David Maddison

    Interesting video of casting steel components in Pakistan.

    It’s fascinating to watch The primitive but effective methods used and the complete lack of Western style safety standards. E.g. they walk around among molten metal with open sandals and no eye protection or protective clothing.

    https://youtu.be/Wbb7VRc_hwA

    50

    • #
      Dennis

      I was given a tour of three manufacturing industry business factories in South Africa and I was appalled at the lack of machinery guards, workplace health and safety generally.

      Outside in cold weather people standing on the side of the road huddled around tin can fires for warmth and when I made a comment one senior manager laughed and said they were the reserve workforce. In other words when a worker was injured in a factory a replacement is recruited from the roadside.

      Australians ask why manufacturing industry has been closed here, the simple answer is that Australia is no longer competitive. We signed the UN Lima Protocol in 1975 agreeing to the transfer of manufacturing industry to “developing nations”, businesses and related tax revenue, jobs for Australians, etc. Add various other UN invasion of sovereignty resulting in economic losses for our nation. Try to imagine how wealthy Australia could now be without the UN interference.

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  • #
    PeterS

    Former Google Ethical AI Team Co-Lead Timnit Gebru EXPOSES Google & Big Tech

    The large language models use data from the internet to learn, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they incorporate all the opinions available online, Gebru, an Ethiopian American, said. The paper highlighted the “dangers” of such an approach, which could potentially have seen AI being trained to incorporate bias and hateful content.

    40

  • #
    OMG

    Seen Gunner’s response to Ted Cruz’s ‘helpful’ covid mandate views ?.
    ” Texas has had 70,000 deaths while the NT has had zero”

    70

    • #
      yarpos

      Texas also has 30 million people inside a country of 330 million people who are free to move around and next to a border open to Mexico and all points beyond.

      NT has 250,000 people isolated in the middle of BF nowhere.

      Does Gunner really think that is a telling point or he has achieved anything that most towns in regional Australia havent? The guy is a controlling looney right up there with Andrews.

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  • #
    MP

    Across Australia Indigenous communities are being coerced and bribed into taking experimental covid injections.

    The corporate Australian governance has sent police and military into these communities to administer these injections.

    This is a warning message from four Indigenous Australian leaders to all Original peoples around the world.

    Music: Creation Song feat. Jarmbi by FIRE MANE

    https://rumble.com/vnx6mu-aboriginal-elders-speak-out-against-government-covid-criminals.html?mref=qnz9d&mc=6f8oi

    Yarrabah, the aboriginal community outside Cairns, the QLD government is going door to door injecting the locals, with a Mr Whippy van in tow. For there health?

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    • #
      Will Gray

      The covid steering committee task by the government for all aspects of COVID-19 are from ceo mining companies

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        Geoff Sherrington

        Will Gray,
        I searched this committee and did not find anyone from a mining company. Almost all were from medical associations like the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. My search was quick, so I might have made an error. Can you name one mining person?
        Geoff S

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    Hanrahan

    William J. Walker is sergeant-at-arms of the U.S. House of Representatives. A staffer [not him, I make no more connection than that] has been arrested and faces ten felony charges connected to alleged possession of child pornography.

    Is the sergeant-at-arms a bi-partisan appointee or a party hack elected along party lines?

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    Kalm Keith

    Yesterday I was made aware of a declaration made on behalf of a large number of doctors and medical professionals regarding what’s happening with CV19 treatment.

    It seems like a significant push-back by people with a lot of credibility.

    A meeting in Rome has been the focus for this development and Dr Robert Malone reads the outline statement.

    Seems important.

    https://globalcovidsummit.org/

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    David Maddison

    Movie: Animal Farm by George Orwell, 1954 animation.

    https://youtu.be/XXkicQRl6vg

    Note, the video goes longer but the movie is contained in the first 1h 11min, the rest off a repeat.

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    Dennis

    Net Zero Emissions is an extension of the Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets.

    But the arguments and debating of climate, naturally occurring climate and weather variations, is pointless once the real motives are revealed.

    06:43 PM ET 02/10/2015
    Economic Systems: The alarmists keep telling us their concern about global warming is all about man’s stewardship of the environment. But we know that’s not true. A United Nations official has now confirmed this.

    At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.

    “This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution,” she said.

    Referring to a new international treaty environmentalists hope will be adopted at the Paris climate change conference later this year, she added: “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.”

    The only economic model in the last 150 years that has ever worked at all is capitalism. The evidence is prima facie: From a feudal order that lasted a thousand years, produced zero growth and kept workdays long and lifespans short, the countries that have embraced free-market capitalism have enjoyed a system in which output has increased 70-fold, work days have been halved and lifespans doubled.

    Figueres is perhaps the perfect person for the job of transforming “the economic development model” because she’s really never seen it work. “If you look at Ms. Figueres’ Wikipedia page,” notes Cato economist Dan Mitchell: Making the world look at their right hand while they choke developed economies with their left.

    Investors Business Daily

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    Annie

    I wish I could trust these inoculations. I can’t atm.
    Anyone with information on Valneva? This one is French and was to have been manufatured in Scotland but Boris has withdrawn from it.
    It seems it is more of a genuine vaccine, using whole ‘disabled’ viruses, thereby producing better immunity to a range of variants.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Also look into Engeneic from Australia, now in clinical trial.

      It is NOT mRNA. Also, supposedly another non mRNA vaccine, Novavax will be released in Australia before the end of the year.

      As you know non vaccine non Big Pharma treatments such as HCQ and IVM are illegal in Australia.

      You CAN get an infusion of monoclonal antibodies sotrovimab in Australia if you are infected and you qualify such as being over 60 years.

      In Australia, if it’s from Big Pharma, it’s automatically good and if it’s off patent it’s bad. Are politicians and medical establishment really are that stupid and that corrupt.

      Here is a news article, not scientific analysis about Engeneic. It looks promising.

      https://youtu.be/5bUPQ6OvJ5w

      Here is some info. from the company website.

      https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/09/08/2293003/0/en/Australian-biotech-EnGeneIC-develops-world-first-nanocellular-anti-COVID-19-vaccine-that-defeats-mutant-viruses-and-stimulates-a-broad-anti-viral-response.html

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Engeneic appears to use microRNA (miRNA) to produce a spike protein in an injected “nanocell” envelope, not messenger RNA, mRNA for production of the spike protein in the host cells.

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    • #
      Catherine

      https://valneva.com/research-development/covid-19-vla2001/

      What is VLA2001 and how is it different from other approaches?
      VLA2001 is a Vero-cell based, highly-purified inactivated whole virus vaccine candidate.
      VLA2001 is currently the only whole virus, inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine candidate in clinical trials against COVID-19 in Europe.
      The inactivated vaccine is a traditional and proven approach that has been used for decades. [1]
      An inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is expected to be suitable for wide deployment.
      Valneva’s vaccine candidate is based on the same manufacturing platform the Company already uses to produce its FDA/EMA/MHRA approved JE vaccine.
      VLA2001 combined with alum and Dynavax’s adjuvant CpG 1018 has induced a strong immune response and generated high titers of neutralizing antibodies in a Phase 1/2 trial (Press release).
      Valneva’s inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is expected to have a two-dose regimen.
      VLA2001 is expected to conform with standard cold chain requirements (2 degrees to 8 degrees centigrade).

      – Valneva Announces ‘Positive’ Results for Its Vaccine Candidate
      By Le Figaro with AFP
      Published yesterday at 08:37, Updated yesterday at 12:37

      Valneva vaccine is an inactivated whole virus vaccine. STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS
      The company saw its share price jump by more than 30% on the Paris Stock Exchange, after the announcement of these results.

      The Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva reported on Monday”initial positive”results in its phase 3 trials for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. “The trial met its two main evaluation criteria,”the laboratory said in a statement. At 09:27, the stock soared 31.75% to 15.81 euros in a market down 0.88%.

      In a comparison with AstraZeneca’s vaccine, it”demonstrated superiority over AZD1222 vaccine in terms of average neutralizing antibody titres (…) as well as non-inferiority in terms of seroconversion rate (SCR greater than 95% in both vaccinated groups) two weeks after the second injection (i.e. at day 43) in adults aged 30 years and older”.
      The announcement comes just over a month after the UK government terminated its contract for 100 million doses. The information had caused Valneva’s stock to fall sharply on the stock market. The French government then assured that the European Union was still interested in Valneva’s vaccine and was continuing its negotiations.

      SEE ALSO – Covid-19: South Africa works on the continent’s first messenger RNA vaccine

      An “alternative” solution for people not yet vaccinated
      A total of 4,012 participants aged 18 years and older were recruited at 26 sites in the UK as part of the pivotal Phase 3 trial. The vaccine candidate was”generally well tolerated,”Valneva says:”The safety profile of VLA2001 was statistically significantly more favorable compared to the other vaccine used in the trial.”

      «This is a much more traditional approach to vaccine manufacturing than the vaccines that have been deployed so far in the UK, Europe and the US, and these results suggest that this vaccine candidate is well on its way to playing an important role in the fight against the pandemic,”said Adam Finn, principal investigator of the trial and professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol. quoted in the press release.

      Thomas Lingelbach, CEO of Valneva, said:”These excellent results confirm the benefits often associated with inactivated whole virus vaccines.” He adds that the laboratory wants to register its vaccine candidate”as soon as possible”in order to”offer an alternative vaccine solution to people who have not yet been vaccinated”. The laboratory says it has”started the gradual submission of the initial authorisation application dossier to the UK Health Agency (MHRA)”,which requires”a final validation of one of the tests used in the trial”,currently”ongoing”. It is also preparing”a progressive submission to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as part of a conditional application for authorisation”.

      ————–

      https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-licensed-covid-19-coronavirus-vaccines-novavax-valneva-trial-participants/

      —————

      Coronavirus in Canada: Pfizer seeks approval of its vaccine for 5-11 year olds
      Health Canada assured Monday, October 18 that it will only authorize the use of the vaccine “if the benefits outweigh the risks” with this group.

      “This is the first request that Health Canada has received for the use of a Covid-19 vaccine in this age group,” the Health Ministry said in a statement. The application for authorization is based on trial data conducted on 2,268 children in this age group for whom the dosage was lowered to 10 micrograms per injection (three times less than the standard dose), which represents, according to the company, “the preferable dose” for 5 to 11 year olds.

      This same Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is approved in Canada for use as of 12 years of age and older. Health Canada assures that it will only authorize the use of the vaccine “if the independent and thorough scientific review of all the data submitted confirms that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks”with this group. The Canadian ministry also said that “other manufacturers are also testing their vaccines on children of different age groups.”

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      another ian

      Annie

      Seeing as they are looking more like neither “ar** nor elbow” should they be “innocucines”?

      20

    • #
      Fran

      I think you will find all the advertised “real vaccines” contain spike proteins produced from similar genetic codes to those used for mRNA vaccines. Do you want to be injected with spike proteins? A more salient question is whether you want a vaccine that clearly does not work.

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    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    Forget SARS-Cov-19. The death toll from ingesting Oxidane into the airways and lungs is proving to be far greater than anything SARS-Cov-19 or any of its forthcoming variants can cause. Although drug company scientists are working frantically to come up with a new money-making cure for the Oxidane shut-down of respiratory function, there is, as yet, no cure. Surgical masks are useless against Oxidane because its molecules pass through mask fibres effortlessly. We’re definitely all in this together with this new scourge because Oxidane is no respecter of anyone, even politicians.

    50

    • #
      Annie

      I’d better re-label my bottles of Dihydrogen Monoxide that I keep in the old ‘fridge in the workshop.

      20

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    David Maddison

    As Australia “boasts” of its high “vaccination” rate, consider this article from August about other high vax countries.

    https://www.newsafrica.net/world/seychelles-what-is-causing-the-post-vax-rise-in-cases

    Seychelles: What is causing the post-vax rise in cases?

    By Sonia Elijah  August 11, 2021

    It may be one of the most-vaccinated countries on earth, but the Seychelles has seen an explosion in cases – and the imposition of crippling new lockdown restrictions – since rolling out the Covid-19 jab. As the rest of the continent races to follow its lead, with Burundi and Tanzania receiving their first shipments in recent days, investigative reporter Sonia Elijah asks what lessons, if any, can be learned from the Seychelles’ apparent vaccine failure.

    Anyone closely following the Covid-19 data might have noticed an alarming pattern unfolding in many countries, which have reported a significant rise in cases and even deaths amongst the vaccinated.

    This has occurred across the globe, from Malta, Gibraltar, Iceland and the UK, to Israel, southeast Asia and South America. 

    Many African nations that had been relatively unaffected prior to the vaccine rollout have also experienced a surge in Covid cases since vaccination began, including Namibia, Zimbabwe, Congo, Angola, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia.

    But nowhere has this anomaly been more pronounced than in the Seychelles. 

    Once one of Africa’s top tourist destinations, the archipelago of 115 islands earned the title of being ‘the most vaccinated nation on earth’ earlier this year, after a higher proportion of its population received both doses than anywhere else in the world.

    Following an aggressive vaccination programme, the island nation of just under 100,000 people has ‘fully vaccinated’ 69 per cent of its adult population and partially vaccinated more than 80 per cent.

    It surpassed richer nations like the UK and Israel in its vaccine coverage rates.

    However, scientists have been left baffled as to why, despite its early and near-universal vaccine rollout, it is has seen such a surge in cases. 

    SEE LINK FOR REST

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      RickWill

      This has occurred across the globe, from Malta, Gibraltar, Iceland and the UK, to Israel, southeast Asia and South America.

      Malta – last death 2 Oct
      Gibraltar – last death 15 Oct second last death back in August
      Iceland – last death 27 August
      UK – a slow decline 57 deaths on Sunday
      Israel – rapid decline over the last month now down to 16 deaths on Sunday
      SE Asia – now down to 500 deaths per day from 3,000 in August
      Latin America – down to 1500 deaths per day from peak of 4500/day in April

      But it is really alarming in Seychelles – last death 15 Oct and the second last on 8 Oct. Now one a week in a population of 100k is bad by Australian standards but three times ahead of the standard set by the USA.

      You should do your own fact check before regurgitating tripe.

      The only thing that is occurring across the Globe with Covid is its predictable demise with effective vaccines – now down to 400k cases per day from peak of 687K per day 50 days ago aided by gradual acquired immunity in the unvaccinated:
      https://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/?chart=countries&highlight=Global&show=who-searo&y=both&scale=linear&data=cases-daily-7&data-source=owid&xaxis=right#countries

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        David Maddison

        Here’s a testable prediction. Australian cases will continue to rise as in other high vaxx countries regardless of vaccination rate until naturally decreasing as people acquire real natural immunity from symptomatic or asymptomatic infection.

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          Graeme No.3

          What happens when we “open up”. People returning from overseas (or even other States) will bring various strains of Covid.
          Unlikely they will be dangerous esp. as Australia goes into summer with llots of fresh air and sunlight (hence Vitamin D).
          Come March/April next year as we drift into election mode and Covid cases “spike” regardless of political waffle.

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      • #

        They write about cases, didn’t you read ?

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      • #
        Lucky

        Seychelles, high vax rate, high number of cases.
        Scientists are baffled as is Rick Will.

        Suggestion for Rick Will and others-
        the explanation could be in the continued misuse of the pcr test.
        Is so, even what we think we know, is wrong.

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        • #
          Vicki

          Yes, I think you are right. I noticed even Rick mentioned natural immunity as a causative factor.
          If we are very lucky, this virus is fizzling out, as all pandemics do. My only concern is that we have stymied the evolutionary process by this massine vax global project & will reap the whirlwind with ADEs.

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  • #
    Raving

    It is 6 deg C outside now and my wife likes to keep the heat off.

    Be sleepling in a sweater. Good night 🙂

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      It’s 30 with nary a cloud in the sky and I’m trying to mow and catch the leaf litter a randy scrub turkey is scratching around. A qtr hour at a time sees me out.

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  • #
    peter

    I’ve seen 2 graphs of HadCRUT and UAH satellite data showing no trend in temperature for seven years just recently. But now I can’t find them. Does anyone know where on this site they are?

    20

    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      Peter,
      Try a search for author Monckton on What’s Up With That in the last 6 months, topic is the length of the present pause in T increase. Geoff S

      10

      • #
        peter

        Thanks Geoff,
        Nothing comes up with those searches. But I’m sure the two graphs showing no temp trend over the last 7 years was displayed in a JoNova blog but I haven’t been able to find it.

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  • #
    Ronin

    Just read about Frances Marine Le Pen vowing to cut all funding for windmills and that she will demolish the remaining ones as well as up funding for more SMR’s, what a gal, wish there was someone like her in OZ.

    130

  • #
    Strop

    The ABC has decided to fund Louise Milligan’s defamation defence even though she faced the action due to a tweet she made as an individual and not in her capacity as an ABC journalist. A taxpayer funding to an individual of $150k to $200k apparently.

    The Aus PM said Christine Holgate (head of Australia Post) had to go for bonus watches she handed out to executives. Bonus Cartier watches were a bit wiffy but still within the perogative of Holgate and the chairman to do that.

    Given the Holgate precedence, for an arguably legit expense, I can only assume the PM will be demanding that heads will roll at the ABC for such a gross misuse of the ABC budget. Particularly given the ABC has been crying poor.

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    David Maddison

    In Vicdanistan they are calling this Friday “Freedom Friday” but it is very Orwellian because there is little freedom on offer except the ending of the curfew, a removal of the 15km travel limit to be replaced by travel in metro Melbourne only plus up to 10 vaxxed in your home but no untermenschen and limited numbers of vaxxed people at hospitality venues but no untermenschen.

    And the media are entirely cooperating with the Orwellian Newspeak.

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    • #
      yarpos

      I believe the 10 vaxxed in your home is a recommendation only, not a vax requirement. Out in the world vax apartheid applies.

      60

  • #
    David Maddison

    Tweet from real Rukshan, 19 Oct 2021.

    Premier Daniel Andrews today stated in no uncertain terms that unvaccinated Victorians will remain excluded from economic and social activities well into 2022. Premier also warned double dosed Victorians they may be locked up if they don’t take booster shots if required. https://t.co/YP0uQj2bFM

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    • #
      Serp

      Our premier is of the Treat ’em mean Keep ’em keen persuasion irrespective of the ongoing Operation Watts Public Hearings which continue to rake over last year’s Somyurek branch stacking infrastructure running from within ministerial offices; the election is over four hundred days away and he knows he’s a shoo in.

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      OriginalSteve

      Make sure everyone salutes Dear Leader….

      So clearly it makes more sense to be unvaxxed – if youre unvaxxed you cant have medically tyranny from forcing a booster whenever they feel like it.

      Victoria is officially a tin pot communist failed state.

      But if everyone stands up as a group and says no, what then?

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  • #
    Hypersonic

    The South Australian government has stepped up it’s campaign to get people vaxxed by offering a free Bunnings sausage, would have liked to be a fly on the wall when the intellectual giants gathered to brain storm this idea.

    130

    • #
      John+R+Smith

      OMG … had to search that one.
      Shouldn’t they be encouraging vegetarianism to fight AGW?
      They are luring methane producing meat eating Howdareyous to get the vac … oh … wait.

      60

    • #
      STJOHNOFGRAFTON

      Vaxx the Bunnings sausage instead. That way your health and integrity stay intact.

      10

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  • #
    • #
      Dennis

      Feel sorry for the ordinary people in China.

      71

    • #
      David Maddison

      Can’t they just build more windmills and solar farms?

      Or maybe stop exporting windmills and solar panels to the world so they can use them themselves?

      Surely they can stop using coal like people in the West are expected to do and just use the “free” wind and solar energy….?

      40

      • #
        Hanrahan

        It seems you can profitably manufacture PV cells @ 4c/kWh for power but China can no longer provide power to industry at that rate. You cannot make PV cells with power provided by PV cells, that becomes a rising cost spiral.

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      • #
        Lucky

        ” Ramp up the wind generators “

        20

  • #
    another ian

    “$5 trillion in 2021 global debt/equity raised (so far), “divest fossil fuels” in full swing, the world running short of natural gas/coal, and winter is coming”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/10/18/5-trillion-in-2021-global-debt-equity-raised-so-far-divest-fossil-fuels-in-full-swing-the-world-running-short-of-natural-gas-coal-and-winter-is-coming/

    20

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Side effects of IVM.

    I do not claim to be a scholar but I do remember some things that seem counter-intuitive but beautifully logical. The logic of why you mustn’t kill a large growth [eg cancer] instantly, even if you could, is simple: The decaying invasive organisms would poison the host. I think I posted about this recently.

    No lesser authority than Dr John Campbell raises this here:

    https://youtu.be/2F-Ml9gHnqA?t=207

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    • #

      The millions of doses given to African children since years by Merck healing Riverblindnes and Elephantiasis with nearly no side effects are unknown to this doctor ?
      I don’t trust not one meter.

      Concernig cancer and problems with liver and kidneys I read some years earlier and isn’t to compare.

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    • #
      Lucky

      The comment may be correct. It certainly explains why when HCQ and now IVM are recommended, there is a recommendation for a dose of an antibiotic to be given as well.

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    Hanrahan

    This is a video link but as I can’t paste a screen shot here please pause on this frame.

    https://youtu.be/2F-Ml9gHnqA?t=504

    This is appalling: All the nations here were on a roll with low or reducing cases for the first six months of the year when vaxx rates were still low.

    What has happened since and why?

    Campbell floats the idea that the US does not use the AZ vax while the UK does but those data are a dog’s breakfast.

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  • #
    Denny

    More pressure on energy prices. This is reminding me more and more of those halcyon days of stagflation in the US. Empty new car lots because of a chip shortage and labor shortages in a variety of industries are brand new factors that Carter didn’t face. My daughter was hounded by her car dealer to turn in her leased car early. Turns out they wanted the chip. Sounds Frankensteinish.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/19/energy-crisis-russia-opts-against-increasing-gas-supplies-to-europe.html

    10

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    beowulf

    Oh oh, looks like DRAX is no longer flavour of the month and is having its green credentials questioned and down-graded.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/19/drax-dropped-from-index-of-green-energy-firms-amid-biomass-doubts

    Drax has been booted from an investment index of clean energy companies as doubts over the sustainability of its wood-burning power plant begin to mount within the financial sector.

    The FTSE 100 energy giant, which has received billions in renewable energy subsidies for its biomass electricity, was axed from the index of the world’s greenest energy companies after S&P Global Dow Jones changed its methodology.

    Drax sources about two-thirds of its biomass from the south-eastern states of the US via ocean tankers, which are major emitters, and recently struck a £420m deal to triple its biomass capacity by acquiring the Canadian wood pellet manufacturer Pinnacle Renewable Energy.

    A Drax spokesperson said its biomass “meets the highest sustainability standards” and that the “science underpinning carbon accounting for bioenergy” was “crystal clear”.

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      Kalm Keith

      Amazing stuff.
      Reality is what you make it and can be re-defined in any way that’s needed, to make a dollar.

      40

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    Denny

    At our local large university they usually employ 4,000 students in the food service operations. This year only 1,200 students are employed, despite efforts to recruit more workers. As an emergency measure, staff and faculty are trying to make up for the lack of student employees.

    This speaks to a change in attitude of young people toward work. Someone else, parents or government, are providing for their needs. If this attitude spreads to the overall economy, America is toast.

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    • #
      another ian

      That brings to mind a cartoon that appeared in a student newspaper after an outbreak of food poisoning at a dorm
      there –

      It had a male student in a food line saying

      “Oh Hell, I’ve had all my shots. Gimme the meat loaf”

      10

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    Simon

    Scientific consensus on human caused climate change is now greater than 99% in the peer-reviewed scientific literature: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2966

    16

    • #
      Denny

      I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of studies. An awful lot of them never address attribution. They are busy doing science rather than playing politics.

      50

    • #
      clarence.t

      Amazing what utter trash gets through to publication nowadays, isn’t it.

      This is not science of any sort. its cherry picking from AGW propaganda publications.

      Now, where’s your scientific evidence for warming by atmospheric CO2?

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    • #
      clarence.t

      It is true that 100% of journal editors refuse to publish papers skeptical of the degree of human causes of climate change.

      Yet they will publish any and every paper that attributes every type of weather to human causes and any and every paper that claims that a particular creature is in danger because of climate change.

      Only climate propaganda gets published.

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    • #
      el+gordo

      I’m a little sceptical of the 99% figure, according to wiki its 100%.

      ‘Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors. A 2019 study found scientific consensus to be at 100%.’

      00

  • #

    I predict the Niño 3.4 index could reach -1.5 C in November. This is indicated by a large drop in subsurface temperature.
    http://www.bom.gov.au/archive/oceanography/ocean_anals/IDYOC007/IDYOC007.202110.gif
    https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/ocean/nino3.png

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    William Astley

    This is big news. CAGW has been disproved due to the discovery that the warming in the last 20 years was caused by a reduction in cloud cover, not a change in atmospheric CO2. AGW is on its last legs. P.S. It is likely that all of the recent warming will reverse quickly.

    Comment: The past cyclic Dansgaard-Oschger warming periods all included a short 20 year or 30 year ‘super’ warming period which we now know has caused by a reduction in cloud cover. Exactly what we have experienced in the last 25 years. Our super warming period started in 1997. Observationally, it is a fact, that sunspots are continuing to shrink in size and magnetic field strength as cycle 25 progresses. It appears solar cycle 25 will fail/stop producing magnetic field loops that are strong enough to avoid being torn apart by convection movement as they rise to to the solar surface sometime in the next few years.

    The IPCC general circulation models all fail… If the observed, Shortwave radiation increase, that was observed 2001 – 2020, is used in the models, rather than ignoring the observed change in planetary cloud cover.

    It appears based on satellite data, the warming in the last 20 years was caused by a change in cloud cover. The IPCC science is 100% incorrect.

    This study reran the GCM with the change in SW and found that the models no longer work. Global Circulation Models (GCMs) Simulate the Current Temperature Only If the Shortwave Radiation Anomaly of the 2000s Has Been Omitted

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353581425_Global_Circulation_Models_GCMs_Simulate_the_Current_Temperature_Only_If_the_Shortwave_Radiation_Anomaly_of_the_2000s_Has_Been_Omitted

    This is an excerpt from the abstract of the above paper which is being hidden and surpressed.

    “The research article of Gillett et al. was published in Nature Climate Change (NCC) in March 2021.

    The objective of the NCC study was to simulate human-induced forcings to warming by applying 13 CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6) climate models. NCC did not accept the author’s remarks as a “Matters arising” article.

    The purpose of this article is to detail the original three remarks and one additional remark: 1) the discrepancy between the graphs and reported numerical values, 2) the forcings of aerosols and clouds, 3) the positive water feedback, and 4) the calculation basis of the Paris agreement.

    The most important finding is that General Circulation Models (GCMs) used in simulations omit the significant shortwave anomaly from 2001 to 2019, which causes a temperature error of 0.3°C according to climate change physics of Gillett et al.

    For the year 2019, this error is 0.8°C showing the magnitude of shortwave anomaly impact. The main reason for this error turns out to be the positive water feedback generally applied in climate models. The scientific basis of the Paris climate agreement is faulty for the same reason.”

    This paper found there was a decrease in cloud cover in the period 2001-2020. Less cloud cover resulted in more SW radiation which can explain almost all of the warming.

    This is a link to the paper that found planetary cloud decreased 2001 – 2020.

    Radiative Energy Flux Variation from 2001–2020

    https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/10/1297

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  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Here is a prediciton, and this is purely analysis based. ( this is an open thread, so…)

    The RCC globally is now starting to see 50 years of cases being brought forward for horrific abuse of children.

    The question was – why now?

    One thought is that the RCC is going to be deliberately bankrupted by payouts, and replaced with a “designer” pagan religion that will be compatible with the New w*rld order, that is compatble with the horrors of the current “Covid Macht Frie” mindset, that also seems to currently drive gumints to confiscate churches.

    Many RCC conservatives appear to regard Francis as an imposter & a jesuit communist.
    Benedict is still Pope, there was a coup.

    Will we see the Man of Perdition appear at the head of all this?

    Lets see how it plays out.

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    OldOzzie

    Unwieldy Queensland entry rules ‘will deter holiday-makers’

    NSW, Victoria and the ACT remain hotspots under the Queensland Health definition: “any place with lots of Covid-19 cases”. The federal government removed NSW and the ACT from its hotspots list on Monday and was to do the same for Victoria on Thursday because of high vaccination rates.

    As long as the states are hotspots in Queensland’s eyes, arrivals will need a negative Covid test in the 72 hours before travel, even after the 80 per cent vaccination rate is reached in Queensland.

    Mr Parashos said at about $150 a test, or more than the cost of many domestic airfares, the condition of entry would prove unpalatable to many holiday-makers and prospective business travellers. “The cost plus the inconvenience of having the test will dampen the appetite of tourists to come to Queensland, particularly when you’re talking about families and young children,” he said.

    “It’s great to have a plan but for a state that’s so heavily reliant on tourism and particularly interstate tourism, we don’t think it provides enough certainty for people to book and visit.”

    As confounding, he said, was a delay to quarantine-free international travel until Queensland’s vaccination rate reached 90 per cent of the eligible population, unlikely for several months.

    Mr Parashos said it didn’t make a lot of sense that fully vaccinated people from interstate hotspots could enter Queensland with a negative Covid test from December 17, but overseas arrivals who met the same criteria would have to home quarantine for 14 days. “The question is at 80 per cent (vaccination), why is it any different for someone to come up from Melbourne, as opposed to someone coming in from LA or Singapore?” he said.

    A Queensland Health spokeswoman said the different treatment for fully vaccinated interstate and international arrivals was warranted until the state’s vaccination rate reached 90 per cent. “While both interstate and overseas hotspots are a concern, the risk profile for overseas hotspots is greater due to several factors, including quality of vaccinations, different variants circulating overseas, and uncertainty in contact tracing processes used in other countries,” she said.

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      OriginalSteve

      So pluckachook is trying hard to kill the QLD economy.

      Maybe they need to boot El Prez out of the state, and welcome the toursists instead, give the Cptn Bligh treatment…..

      Lefties….appear to be uesless at governing but very effective at causing trouble, stuffing things up and dividing people against each other.

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    Vicki

    What a pathetic, ignorant state public discourse is in today in Australia. This morning on 9 Breakfast TV, in a discussion on the possibility of Novak Jokovic returning for the Tennis Open without declaring his vaccination status Matt Canavan rightly pointed out that, having had Covid, Jokovic has natural immunity which can be antibody tested if required.

    This was ridiculed by the other guest commentator, Stellar magazine editor, Sarah Le Marquand. When Canavan pointed out that natural immunity was backed up by a study of 100,000 patients in Israel, le Marquand responded that this was “Mumbo Jumbo”!!!!

    What chance do we have to discuss anything rationally in the public forum these days?

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    OldOzzie

    Former CDC Director Gives Alarming Statistic on Fully Vaccinated COVID Deaths

    Speaking during an interview with Fox News Monday afternoon, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said that more than 40 percent of people who have recently died from Wuhan coronavirus in Maryland were fully vaccinated.

    “A lot of times people may feel it’s a rare event that fully vaccinated people die. I happen to be the senior advisor to Governor Hogan in the state of Maryland. In the last 6-8 weeks, more than 40 percent of people who died in Maryland were fully vaccinated,” Redfield said, responding to the death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

    At the time of his death from virus complications, Powell was also fighting a blood cancer that lowers the ability to stave off infection.

    In the meantime

    The Standard for Discussing COVID Deaths Suddenly Changes

    Yesterday, news broke that Gen. Colin Powell had died after contracting COVID-19. The former Bush official and former Republican was 84-years-old. He was also undergoing treatment for cancer, though, the treatment itself was said to have been going well until he caught the coronavirus.

    Powell was also fully vaccinated, and that has represented an inconvenient reality for many people. As I’ll explain later, I’m not sure why.

    But what was so interesting to me is how quickly the standards shifted in regards to how you are supposed to discuss people who die of COVID. For the better part of two years, the predominant assertion has been that if someone dies with COVID, they died of COVID. People were called conspiracy theorists for daring to suggest that many deaths actually occurred because of pre-existing conditions.

    Yet, all of the sudden, it is now required to mention that Powell had cancer and was 84-years-old when talking about his death. Weird, right?

    Still, why was providing such context berated prior to Powell’s death? He still died of COVID, right? Yes, he had comorbidities that complicated any possible recovery, but so did most people who have died of COVID throughout the pandemic. If you were to go through the death rolls, you’d almost certainly find hundreds of thousands of cases where the deceased would likely not have died were it not for a pre-existing condition.

    Yet, because our society at large has this obsession with presenting the vaccines as absolutely perfect, you get these shifting standards that do nothing but perpetuate inconsistency. The vaccines are not foolproof. It should not be controversial to admit that, and doing so does not diminish the fact that they do generally provide great protection against serious illness and death.

    As I’ve said before, people value honesty. It only creates more hesitancy when the media and others rush to change the rules the moment something doesn’t fit their narrative.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      I encountered this issue when trying to get vaccination data that should be easily publically available.

      Vaccines are in real terms, a belief system, a cult. They are not open to discussion or dispute. Any attempt to be rational, results in shutting down discussion. And this was 10 years ago. Now you could get almost arrested for daring to suggest sacred cows make good hamburgers.

      I got data ( finally ) from an authority that showed 64% of kids 0-5 sick with whooping cough, were fully vaxxed.

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    John Connor II

    It looks like Victoria is permanent toast.
    Dopey Dan forcing endless “booster” shots onto the double vaxxed.
    It’s not rocket science. It’s in the wildlife. It’s never going away.

    You comply because you want it to end but it’s because you comply that it will never end.

    As Martin Armstrong said yesterday:

    If there was ever a politician who will be dragged from his chamber in a revolution, history would point to Daniel Andrews. Now he is throwing anyone who opposes his authoritarian measures out of Parliament. The Western powers invaded Iraq and wanted to invade Syria on the premise that they were abusing their people as dictators. None of the actions of Saddam Hussein come close to what Andrews has done to those who live in Victoria. He has now imposed an absolute mandate for vaccines, all for a disease that Scandinavia has downgraded to the equivalent of the flu.

    It’s just a matter of time…

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Time for Dan Andrews to go.

    Sign the petition here:

    https://www.change.org/p/daniel-andrews-resign

    Almost at tbeir 200,000 signature target.

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    Analitik

    NSW is making the employer liable for any claims for side effects from vaccination – forever!

    137 Liability to workers required to be vaccinated
    (1) This section applies if a relevant body requires a worker to be vaccinated against a disease prescribed by the regulations.

    (2) The relevant body is liable to pay compensation to the worker for any injury, loss or damage suffered by the worker as a result of the vaccine.

    (3) The relevant body continues to be liable to pay compensation to the worker until the worker’s death, even if the worker ceases to be employed or otherwise engaged by the relevant body.

    (4) In this section—
    relevant body, in relation to a worker, means the person or body that employs or otherwise engages the worker.
    worker of a relevant body includes a person engaged by, or on behalf of, the relevant body under a contract for services, but does not include a volunteer.

    So the employers are forced by government mandates to have employees vacciinated and are then liable for all side effects from then on for those employees.

    h/t ZeroHedge

    https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bill/files/3835/First%20Print.pdf

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    • #
      Analitik

      Correction – Fred Nile has put the proposition to Parliament.
      What do people think of the chance of it passing?

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      • #
        Strop

        I wonder what the rationale is. Is it to get employers to push back against forcing staff to vaccinate? Is it to force debate on the merits of the govt order?
        Or is he genuinely thinking it’s reasonable that a business following a govt order is responsible for the effect of that order?

        What about the self employed person? Do they pay compensation to themself?

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          What about the self employed person?

          Until I retired I was a vending machine operator, meaning that I was entering a variety of workplaces each week. It would not need many businesses [they are NOT my employers] to say “No vax, no entry” for the business I had built up over years to be gutted.

          I was once an office machine tech. My employer might be too scared to order me to get the vax, but how many contracts could he afford to lose? There are a lot of Karens running offices.

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          • #
            another ian

            H

            Some of those Karens running offices are realising that, if the likes of you don’t grace the premises, their offices don’t run.

            It is being pointed out in other places that a crucial 20% of staff do most of the productivity and that 20% has awoken to the fact

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      • #

        Analitik
        October 20, 2021 at 2:56 pm ·
        Correction – Fred Nile has put the proposition to Parliament.
        What do people think of the chance of it passing?

        I think…. Exactly the same as when it was posted here last week !

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    el+gordo

    New study finds buildup of CO2 has produced a net cooling.

    ‘The authors note these CERES satellite observations “conflict with the assumption further global warming originates mainly from the LW [longwave] radiation capture caused by greenhouse gases, i.e., a decline in outgoing LW.” In fact, the LW or greenhouse effect impact has been negative; it has contributed a net cooling influence (-1.1 W/m²) over the last two decades.’ (Notrickszone)

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    WendyB

    McGowan has mandated jabs for 75% of WA workers.
    One of the names being applied to him is McHitler. We don’t have a democracy here.

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    yarpos

    A quote I saw over at small dead animals re how govts are handling Covid vaccines and the “hesitancy” thing.

    “If you want me to get this vaccine you have to make the argument, you can’t merely coerce me into it. […] You could (and probably will) coerce or force me it it but you didn’t win the argument to do that. I didn’t, in that case, volunteer for it and I’m going to resent everyone who was involved: every industry who was involved, every individual, every politician who didn’t stand up for my right to make a choice in this. I’m going to resent every single one of them for the rest of my life.”

    I think the fall out will come in many and various forms

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    another ian

    “”The Shadow Superpower” – the $10 trillion global black market”

    https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-shadow-superpower-10-trillion.html

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    another ian

    Another side to the container problem

    “Empty containers are now a big part of the supply chain logjam”

    https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2021/10/empty-containers-are-now-big-part-of.html

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