Coronavirus/COVID-19

[Dogs_r_barking]

1. the "fire chiefs" he allegedly ignored were EX fire chiefs and members of Tim "flimflam" Flannery's climate activist group.
5. Ruby Princess was totally down to Brad "Health" Hazzard NSW Minister for Sickness, and Border Force.

2 & 4 are hindsight - wonderful isn't it? The RP stuffed that up.

3. looking for anything to hang on a PM you don't like

What a load of rubbish, that’s the problem with Australia today. So much fake news floating around and people too lazy or uninterested to actually look for credible sources. Your number 1 is a good example of this.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Hasn't it been reported it was from eating bats?

I think that was a bit of earlier reporting. I watched 4 Corners and the experts they had on, stated they didn’t know what the source animal was, but suspected it was the mixing of the blood from two animals that were infected on the slaughter board that started the virus. This was at the Wuhan illegal wildlife market.

 

[TempletonTheRat]

and then there is this

Posted at 21:0921:09
Turkmenistan 'bans the word coronavirus'
Turkmenistan may not be somewhere you hear about particularly often - it's largely known for its autocratic government and huge gas reserves.
But the Central Asian nation has taken an extreme approach to the coronavirus.
In fact, it's reportedly banned the use of the word altogether.
State media has been stopped from using it and it has also been removed from health information brochures, according to the group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
People wearing face masks or talking about the virus are even liable to be arrested by undercover police, RSF says.
It's worth noting that Turkmenistan is one of the world's most closed-off countries. The government has an absolute monopoly of the media and foreign news websites (like this one) are blocked.
The country has so far reported no cases of the virus. Neighbouring Iran, meanwhile, has reported more than 47,000.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

What a load of rubbish, that’s the problem with Australia today. So much fake news floating around and people too lazy or uninterested to actually look for credible sources. Your number 1 is a good example of this.

Is The Australian wrong then? (full article behind paywall)

Fire chiefs' climate group a pet 'project' of activist Tim Flannery
www.theaustralian.com.au › nation › politics


Dec 17, 2019 - Climate activist Tim Flannery is the force behind a band of former state fire and emergency chiefs accusing Scott Morrison of abandoning bushfires across the nation and demanding an immediate end to the burning of fossil fuels.

 

[bresker]

and then there is this

Posted at 21:0921:09
Turkmenistan 'bans the word coronavirus'
Turkmenistan may not be somewhere you hear about particularly often - it's largely known for its autocratic government and huge gas reserves.
But the Central Asian nation has taken an extreme approach to the coronavirus.
In fact, it's reportedly banned the use of the word altogether.
State media has been stopped from using it and it has also been removed from health information brochures, according to the group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
People wearing face masks or talking about the virus are even liable to be arrested by undercover police, RSF says.
It's worth noting that Turkmenistan is one of the world's most closed-off countries. The government has an absolute monopoly of the media and foreign news websites (like this one) are blocked.
The country has so far reported no cases of the virus. Neighbouring Iran, meanwhile, has reported more than 47,000.

Long read, but worth reading - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov

"

• Niyazov banned the use of lip syncing at public concerts in 2005 as well as sound recordings at "musical performances on state holidays, in broadcasts by Turkmen television channels, at all cultural events organized by the state... in places of mass assembly and at weddings and celebrations organised by the public," citing a negative effect on the development of musical arts incurred by the use of recorded music.[32][33]
• Niyazov banished dogs from the capital Ashgabat because of their "unappealing odour."[33]
• According to the Ashgabat correspondent of Turkmenistan.ru, right-hand-drive imported cars converted to left-hand-drive were banned due to a perceived increased risk in accidents.[34]
• Niyazov requested that a "palace of ice", or indoor ice skating rink, be built near the capital, so that those living in the desert country could learn to skate. The rink was built in 2008 and is located near the new Turkmen State Medical University.[35]
• After having to quit smoking in 1997 due to his resultant heart surgery, he banned smoking in all public places and ordered all government employees to follow suit.[36] Chewing tobacco on Turkmen soil was later banned as well.[37]
• He outlawed opera, ballet and circuses in 2001 for being "decidedly unturkmen-like".[38]
• In February 2004, he decreed that men should no longer wear long hair or beards.[39]
• He banned news reporters and presenters from wearing make-up on television. According to some reports he felt presenters should "appear natural" on-screen,[40] although others alleged the reason was more eccentric, claiming he said he found it difficult to distinguish male anchors from female anchors.[36]
• Gold teethwere discouraged in Turkmenistan after Niyazov suggested that the populace chew on bones to strengthen their teeth and lessen the rate at which they fall out. He said:
  

  I watched young dogs when I was young. They were given bones to gnaw to strengthen their teeth. Those of you whose teeth have fallen out did not chew on bones. This is my advice...[41]

• He abolished the Turkmen word for bread, for it to be replaced with Gurbansoltan, his mother's name. Likewise he gave the month of April his mother's name.[42][43]"

 

[dogwatch]

Is The Australian wrong then? (full article behind paywall)

Fire chiefs' climate group a pet 'project' of activist Tim Flannery
www.theaustralian.com.au › nation › politics


Dec 17, 2019 - Climate activist Tim Flannery is the force behind a band of former state fire and emergency chiefs accusing Scott Morrison of abandoning bushfires across the nation and demanding an immediate end to the burning of fossil fuels.

I gave up reading the Australian years ago. So much of its stuff was indeed "wrong".

So I haven't read the article but if the retired fire chiefs all have convergent views with Flannery what's wrong with that? We should welcome anyone who is mobilising all the latent support among respected public figures for meaningful climate action.

(BTW, I'm loving how Dogs_r_barking is going in with all guns blazing tonight.)

 

[Bont2Bruce]

Is The Australian wrong then? (full article behind paywall)

Fire chiefs' climate group a pet 'project' of activist Tim Flannery
www.theaustralian.com.au › nation › politics


Dec 17, 2019 - Climate activist Tim Flannery is the force behind a band of former state fire and emergency chiefs accusing Scott Morrison of abandoning bushfires across the nation and demanding an immediate end to the burning of fossil fuels.

I wouldn't call The Australian an objective unbiased source of information.

The "article" does not refute that fact that the view of the experts were indeed ignored by the Prime Minister. It is merely an extension of the climate-change denying right-wing media's campaign against Tim Flannery.

 

[dogwatch]

All this chatter about Left and Right of politics is amusing. As some have remarked here it depends where you stand on the political spectrum yourself. Many of today's commentators and politicians are so far right that they'd consider Menzies a commo if he were around today. We haven't seen any really radical lefties in the ALP for ages although Doug Cameron was one who came close. For some their hearts might have been socialist but their heads had to be pragmatists.

The extremes at either end of the spectrum are a worry because they become absolutists ... and because of that both extremes can exhibit curiously similar patterns of behaviour when in power.

It's good to have a wide range of perspectives in parliament but a solid rump from both parties sitting near the centre is generally a healthy thing. When you have too many shifting further and further right or left it creates lots of friction and shouty politics, and not much constructive progress. A schism like that can become self-perpetuating too. Some countries have swung violently between socialism and the authoritarian right over the last century (Greece, Chile, Spain, etc). It can take a long time to return to a more balanced and civilised democracy.

In practice though it all depends so much on the economic climate. When times are prosperous we tend to veer toward conservatism and free market economics. When times are tough we need to look after the weak and poor (even if it's for ulterior motives) so we shift toward the welfare state. As a result we have seen Labor governments sometimes behaving like right wingers and we sometimes see conservatives behaving like lefties.

We woke up one morning last week to discover that the arch conservatives of the LNP had overnight become one of the biggest welfare governments in recent memory (even if a lot of that welfare was directed toward business rather than individuals). So much of what they have had to do is contrary to their political DNA. There must have been much gnashing of teeth behind closed doors.

It's been fascinating to watch. Politics hasn't been so interesting in decades.

 

[Bont2Bruce]

2. Only testing after symptoms not when exposed to virus (to find carriers to limit community spread).
4. Not doing 2 weeks quarantine earlier on all arrivals.

2 & 4 are hindsight - wonderful isn't it? The RP stuffed that up.

Hindsight? Pfft.

It isn't like this is the first disease that has ever become a pandemic. There are plenty of historical examples that have been documented and their lessons recorded but many national governments, including ours, did not learn from history and simply repeated mistakes that have been made in the past.

The Spanish Flu from 100 years ago has plenty of lessons for governments, but only a few countries heeded them. We only need to look across the ditch for a better example of how our government could have acted on this issue.

 

[dogwatch]

A shout out to the mods for staying hands-off, BTW.

With no footy and with everybody confined to barracks it's been great to have somewhere we can hang out and chew the fat, even if this thread has bugger all to do with footy. For the most part it's been pretty civilised too.

It's also a good way of checking in with each other. Obviously some of us are doing it tougher than others. A chat here can be a way of retaining a sense normality.

OK, carry on ...

 

[NBates]

As usual there is a few grams of truth in this. At the moment we have a boat from China docked at Port Melbourne loaded with masks, chemicals and other things which can fight the virus. There has also been a lot of footage of Chinese medics going to Spain with medical supplies including ventilators.

However, the virus originated in China, probably from the cruel unhygienic wildlife markets, they still don’t know which animal it originated from. These markets and the trading in Wildlife, many endangered has has to be closed down and severe penalties issued.

The Chinese told us that they'd closed these markets down after SARS or Birdflu (one of those) but they sprang back up again. If they have closed them down again they'd better make the hell sure they keep it that way. But I suspect the horror will continue underground in some form or another.

Sent from my SM-A505YN using Tapatalk

 

[NBates]

key word does not = proven.

although likely originated from bats but potentially spread to humans though other animals

and people all over the world hunt and eat wild animals

there's also swine flu and bird flu that originated from farmed animals

SARS came from civets these 'wet' wildlife markets sold. If you think these viruses just turn up out of the blue you're an idiot. "Not proven" - where'd you get that from? The Chinese version of Pravda? "Nothing to see here, move along"

People may have been eating wildlife forever but they were killed in the wild and not plucked from the wild alive and shoved in cramped cages and kept in unsanitary conditions until some fkwt came along to select one of the poor creatures to enhance his lack of lower gearbox. Geez. Even caveman had more ethics and nouse than any current human that thinks these markets are are ok.

How China's 'Bat Woman' Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus

Wuhan-based virologist Shi Zhengli has identified dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves, and she warns there are more out there

www.scientificamerican.com

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[Floridog]

The good news is that my local gun store is still open and doing tremendous business. The US Department of Homeland Security has designated gun stores as 'essential infrastructure' so state and local governments cannot order them to close. Apparently the country can't function properly without millions of panicked and paranoid people buying tons of guns and ammunition.

 

[King Harold]

I totally disagree.

Look there's many reasons why I think it was a witch hunt, but what I found incredibly strange was Mueller not investigating the origins of the Russia conspiracy theory. That's like investigative work 101.

Anyway clearly you see it differently so we'll agree to disagree.

best we let it go Cause I don’t know what you are saying.
Not sure you have followed the case that well —- the old Trump witch hunt ok then.
have a nice day

 

[Bont2Bruce]

The good news is that my local gun store is still open and doing tremendous business. The US Department of Homeland Security has designated gun stores as 'essential infrastructure' so state and local governments cannot order them to close. Apparently the country can't function properly without millions of panicked and paranoid people buying tons of guns and ammunition.

Last week we took the opposite approach here and limited the sale of guns in the current pandemic situation, in response to an increased in demand for sales.

I believe firearm sales are currently banned in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.

https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/heal...nned-after-demand-doubles-nationally-c-900563

 

[Norm De Guerre]

I can't agree that Fox/Republicans are far/extreme right. Believe me, I've seen far cmore extreme views floating around on the internet. Like Klu Klux Klan kind up stuff... That's messed up.

And yes I understand international differs from American political views, but I do enjoy American politics because I think Australia and in particular European nations are moving too far left.

Im sure that you can rationalise your view about Fox not being extreme right if you are looking at some of the darker corners of the internet where you'll find "Ku Klux Klan kind up stuff.."

In an age of enormous government stimulus and either underpinning or outright bailing out off otherwise private businesses, I find the notion that countries moving "too far to the left" to be somewhat perplexing. Its funny that the likes of Fox seem to have gone quite on the boogyman of socialism since they stopped the incredibly damaging mantra that the whole COVID-19 thing was a democrat and main stream media plot to unseat their useful idiot in the Whitehouse and realised the enormity of the situation that the world currently faces. Coincidentally this occurred at the same time that the useful idiot had his domascene moment. However, by then it was too little too late. The damage was done.

Sean Hannity 27. 02. 20

Fair, balanced and typically out to scare the pants off unthinking rubes, so that they dont switch channels.

 

[BEaston]

It's funny that so often those that complain about media biases are the same people that have been completely suckered in by them.

 

[BRWB]

Well for those above: some aggressive, some ignorant, here are a few facts.

I was deployed internationally for work - not my choice. Fortunately very little Covid in the country I visited.

I lived in isolation for 18 days prior to my return to Australia to minimise any risk. This was quite torturous itself (I’m not great company). I was originally supposed to return to Australia mid March but flight cancellations upended any chance I had.

Some of you may enjoy locked in hotel rooms (that means you cannot come out without facing a police officer). I don’t.

Some of you may not have the discipline to stay at home and self isolate as per the rest of the population pre-March 30 - I do.

Most of you cannot see that this recent ‘policy’ is a ScoMo’s knee jerk reaction to one of the all time great f**k ups (Ruby Princess) - by imprisoning passengers unlucky not to have returned earlier.

You sound frustrated and have called many of us ignorant. I won't call you ignorant but here are some alternate facts that may not fit your narrative.

No it's not an over reaction, it's a reaction to 2/3s of virus cases in Oz being tracked to os travellers.

With all due respect the govt doesn't care that you isolated before getting on an aeroplane. If you haven't caught the news, hosties and baggage handlers have the bug. Many cases have been transmitted on flights.

And another fact, Spot checks of people voluntarily self isolating showed many weren't.

So it's not a knee jerk reaction. The facts of transmission and self isolation in Oz don't support it.

So while it may be tough in a hotel for a couple of weeks - I'd prefer that than bodies piling up in our streets like they are around the world or vulnerable friends and members of my family being exposed to risk.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[BrisDog]

Sorry about whinging yesterday boys. Everything is relative. There are those who are unwell and stuck in their room on this very forum every day. A couple of folks reached out to me on the forum yesterday/this morning to check my welfare. I was surprised but warmed by that effort.

I’m fine boys. Apologies for not being afraid to come at you a bit hard at times but that makes life interesting doesn’t it? Keep up the debate! I’m actually enjoying the Republican (Fox News) vs Dem debate at the moment on this forum as we have no footy.

 

[ivan rassmussen]

Sorry about whinging yesterday boys. Everything is relative. There are those who are unwell and stuck in their room on this very forum every day. A couple of folks reached out to me on the forum yesterday/this morning to check my welfare. I was surprised but warmed by that effort.

I’m fine boys. Apologies for not being afraid to come at you a bit hard at times but that makes life interesting doesn’t it? Keep up the debate! I’m actually enjoying the Republican (Fox News) vs Dem debate at the moment on this forum as we have no footy.

You do realise not all the regular posters (even in recent days) on here are male, right?

 

[BrisDog]

You do realise not all the regular posters (even in recent days) on here are male, right?

I apologise again. Is ‘Guys’ okay these days? I have heard through woke sources that has been banned as well.

 

[ivan rassmussen]

I apologise again. Is ‘Guys’ okay these days? I have heard through woke sources that has been banned as well.

No need to apologise to me, I'm male. Not sure about 'guys' either - might need to run that by some female posters for feedback.
(No reflection on you, but few buzz words sh1t me at the moment like 'woke'. Maybe McCormack's fault.)

 

[King Harold]

For anyone in any doubt ! Hypocrisy is staggering.
They obviously rely on all their having amnesia

 

[King Harold]

For anyone in any doubt ! Hypocrisy is staggering.
They obviously rely on all their audience having amnesia

Bugger ,Won't load up , but for anyone interested : Youtube : What if Fox News covered Trump the way it covered Obama? It would look like this.

I think most of you will get my drift ?

 

[Draft Pick]

Bugger ,Won't load up , but for anyone interested : Youtube : What if Fox News covered Trump the way it covered Obama? It would look like this.

I think most of you will get my drift ?

I can see it.