One wonders what would happen with flu or influenza if it was treated as hysterically.

80,000 + tests, 500+ positive and three dead.

Riding along a beach, particularly bareback, has little to recommend it, no matter how gorgeous your companion. I can tell you why but there are people on here who would sooner not know.

I’d be most worried about what the sand, horse hair, sea spray and horse sweat are doing to my gorgeous companion.

Day night Test in Hobart.

Pretty good idea since Bellerive is a batsman’s paradise most Tests. Day/night would bring in swing and moisture to counter the flat track problem.

So.
Get your booster, they say.
For Delta, they say.
We can have one ready soon for omricon, they say.

Houston, we have a problem. Well, California, actually.

Not sure if you all subscribe to Eugyppius on substack but here is an interesting report.

Enormous thanks to all the commenters in my open thread, who provided reports on containment conditions in their own countries. I haven’t been able to include every last report, but I’ve tried to select representative and interesting examples from across the world, organised by region:

Japan
My friend Eye Patch Jack, who writes Pacific Narrations, reports on Tokyo:

– voluntary masking is as popular as ever

– Karen-ism is low

– some restaurants have acrylic panels up, some sheets. Customers move them out of the way. Staff don’t care and sometimes assist

– there are discounts and some lame offers for the vaccinated at some businesses

– there are murmurs of vaxport implementation, but very quiet and the idea isn’t popular

– overall the hype is down

– gov has acknowledged heart disease as. aside effect

– top voted comments on legacy media articles are generally done with this shit

– my current impression is that there is a conscious effort behind the scenes to suppress hysteria and quietly move away from all of it

– otherwise normal: no lockdowns, no legal Vax mandates (some defacto at some work places but they can be fought)

– praying it lasts

Jack also points us to his extensive report on conditions in Tokyo from 19 October. I recommend you have a look.

Laurence Flynn, who writes Renegade Mind, expands on life in Miyazaki, on the Japanese island of Kyushu well to the south:

Also in Japan, down in Miyazaki. I have to wear a mask in class at elementary school. I don’t wear a mask in any shops. I’m generally the only bare-face in there. 99% of people also sanitise hands when entering shops. At least I’ve never been confronted in any shop. I’m concerned that vax mandates will be brought in at the end of the school year (March 2022). Vax uptake in the elderly is really high but not so much in the younger generations. My wife got one shot back in March as she’s a nurse. She hasn’t been hassled to get a second and I’ve had a word since then and she understands the dangers now. None of my kids, all over 18, are getting it, including spouses. I can’t see how they can bring in the vax passports but the government just needs to do it and everyone will comply and get their shot.

New Zealand and Australia
Rich Seager, who writes Plebeian resistance, sheds more light on the crazy prison state of New Zealand:

Report from Dunedin NZ. Mask wearing is higher than 30% in the CBD and University area. There are no cafes without signs out front for vaxx pass and although you can get a takeaway coffee at one place in town mostly you can’t. Many are scared of the virus. Many are not. My tennis club mandated vaccine pass although they did not need to do so. They are all right wing and the government is supposedly left wing. How does that work? They also knew my opposition to it so kept it quiet from me for weeks before but looking back, suddenly some things made more sense. They took no notice of a letter of liability that I sent them. Found out today that NZ is doing a trial for Klaus and this has been since 2019. Supermarkets are approaching people with photos from months ago accusing them of not having mask exemptions. People are edgy, willing to have a go at anything. This is a significant

deterioration in societal mental health in just a week. Retailers are shocked at large drop in trade since vaxx passes were introduced. Nobody wants them. Jacinda is scared to go outside.

For more New Zealand reports, see the comments highlighted at the bottom of my Open Thread post.

Meanwhile, anonona tells us what it’s like in Western Australia:

– mood: like “On the Beach” with a 99.9% survival rate

– masks: none

– location tracking: check-ins in place but few bother and no-one enforces them

– vaccine mandates: in place for 75% of jobs, approx 80% (16+) vaccination rate, expected 90% on reopening

– effectively isolated from the rest of Australia and the rest of the world which means previously infected people are a negligible percentage of the population (<1%)

– not a popular tourist destination, and reopening is well after University semesters start which would be the other big influx of travellers after mine workers

– first world with effective bureaucracy

Which is all to say pretty much an excellent sample population. WA will hopefully provide useful case study in 3-6 months time when we are scheduled to open our borders to the rest of Australia and World, and once covid escapes the quarantine protocols. By then Omicron or whatever the latest variant is should be dominant in the rest of Australia. As long as the politicians don't interfere too much you may get some nice clean data without the many confounders that affect other data sets. I'm not sure it'll tell us anything we don't already know but keep it on your radar for the future.

South Africa
Ann Glover reports from the country at the current epicentre of variant hysteria:

As to be expected, there are increasing talks of mandates. Universities have all but fallen. But the new year starts in February. They have avoided demonstrations by slipping in the mandate while all campuses are pretty much locked down and/or sparsely populated.

In the meantime, businesses are ramping up the mandates and the rhetoric. First it was medical aids (Discovery being the largest), then pharmacies (Dischem is a large franchise), and now Nedlac are talking, too (National Economic and Development Council). This last is quite worrying. People are getting edgy. We still have a balance tipped in the favour of unvaxxed. I think at last it was 3 to 2.

The vax-pressure campaign has been ramped up in the media and the president is flirting with mandates after promising they won't happen. The antigen-test fuelled omicron "surge" is being played up, too. Infections are the order of the day. Hospital stats, not so much (although see link below). Petty bureaucrats abound and I can sense the anticipatory relish of all the little tyrants at doorways and entrances, and the fervour of health and safety officials is ramping up.

An interesting article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-03/omicron-up-close-south-africa-s-experts-tell-their-stories

Madhi actually has the balls to acknowledge past transmission. Mendelson is on the UCT staff – still wants to cling to the option of pushing the panic buttons. No doubt has been part of the force driving the UCT mandate.

Southern Europe
David S. on growing virus anxiety in heavily-vaccinated Portugal:

From Portugal here… this is one of the most vaccinated places on earth, we have 87% of the population fully vaxxed and the covid delusion continues. Everybody keeps wearing masks outdoors. The "covid certificate" is required to eat at restaurants, go to gyms and stay in hotels, among other things. The media is hopeless, totally bought and controlled by the fascist govt. This week they began recommending the vaxx for kids aged 5-11, and the technical document that supposedly served as the basis for that decision is not being published… like it's some kind of state secret…

Everybody keeps buying the mainstream narrative, everybody keeps staring at the TV and happily complying. Nobody questions what is going on, there is no resistance whatsoever. It is true this country has a certain history of big government intervention and compliance, that probably stems from the time of the dictatorship between 1933-1974… But it is still appalling that only a tiny minority has seen what is truly going on. As you can imagine we are constantly blasted as crackpot "conspiracy idiots" and covid deniers…

Madeira, author of Madeira’s Newsletter, reports on conditions in the Portuguese autonomous region in the Atlantic from which he takes his name:

I live on the island of Madeira and am coming to feel a bit like Napoleon on St. Helena. It's nearly 2 years since I have left the island, and given that I can't/won't wear a mask it's likely that I will leave Madeira the same way Napoleon left St. Helena. I am rather envious of people in other places (US, UK) where there is "pushback" against all the restrictive policies. Here, there is virtually none, people do as they are told and that's that.

Although I am vaccinated, my refusal to wear a mark means that I haven't been able to even go to a grocery store for over 6 months. There is no such thing as an "exemption" for wearing a mask here, and when my wife brought up my inability/refusal to wear a mask she was told that I should take tranquilizers, or have a psychological exam. Now that she is off visiting her family in the Americas for 2 months, my eating possibilities are essentially reduced to spaghetti and canned food. And the occasional takeaway, in restaurants that don't enforce the requirement that both a vaccination and test certificate need to be produced.

Reading this blog, and the comments, helps to keep me sane in a world that seems to be to have gone totally insane.

Lorenzo Casaccia, an Italian currently living in Barcelona, talks about how much worse things are in Italy:

Barcelona had been relatively saner until one week ago when the "pass" thing has started to show up.

Italy is fully on the other side instead. The whole country is about "passes". You need passes to go to public transport, too (this was done to indirectly force teenagers to get vaccinated as many of them take public transport to go to high school). You also need passes to do indoor sports, even for kids. And you need passes to work. It is probably the strictest legislation in the world. I hope people are watching Italy as it can be the source of several bad ideas for other countries – I could elaborate more if people are interested, just getting kinda late here.

BTW, I hope it is not lost on people that Italy has great/terrible track record of innovating in political science , and not from yesterday. You can go all the way from Machiavelli, to Mussolini (who inspired Hitler, Franco, Pinochet, etc), to the Mafia (which has been exported as a method of governance to NYC and wherever else), to Berlusconi… and I am now thinking lockdownism will have to join this list.

Friends in Spain have also advised me that it might be a good place to escape the worst of containment, if things continue to deteriorate here in central Europe. Let’s hope their green pass plans don’t go anywhere.

Central Europe and the United Kingdom
Fellow Bavarian Quakeress provides a parent’s perspective on what it’s like where I live:

I live in Bavaria, like you do, eugyppius, and I suspect we're in somewhat similar circumstances. I happen to have a child in the Bavarian school system, 1st form of primary school, mask mandate at the beginning of the school year, mask mandates now, mask mandates in physical education class as the newest development. About two weeks ago, they began to send out emails, telling the parents in jubilant tone that soon, soon, children would be able to receive "protection" against coronavirus, too, and we were to be patient and please not call them impatiently for details, as they were already in process of planning the vaccine rollout for children 5 to 11. We got an email from the community, telling us the same, same jubilant tone, and as we know Söder and the Bavarian Health Minister were busy pushing the STIKO to give a recommendation for jabbing all kids 5-11 with the Biontech vaccine. Apparently, there is a group of parents who are scared out of their wits and are waiting impatiently for their kids to be vaccinated. I do not know any of them. I know a lot of parents, about 90% vaccinated (bc if the parent isn't vaccinated, the child will miss out on theatre, museums, swimming pools etc.). Nobody, really nobody wants their child 5-11 to be vaccinated. Yesterday's refusal of the STIKO to recommend the vacc. for kids 5-11 in general has been greeted with satisfaction and enthusiasm by parents I know (while they are worrying that the vaccine, of course, will be recommended at some point and then the government will start to push pressure on kids, comparable to the infamous "Freizeitlockdown" for kids older than 12). Pushing for vaccination of 5 to 11 year-olds might be the straw the breaks the donkey's neck, I think. But then so many breaking-the-donkey's-neck moments have come and gone, maybe I'm wrong again.

I think a lot about what you wrote some time ago – that it's harder and harder for the governments to whip up enough frenzy for people to go along with the policies. That's true, doubtlessly; but in the meantime, the governments can and will do a lot of damage.

When will it all end? I think that with the new German government it won't end for months and months, and I don't think I can go on living like that. I think of the +30,000 people in GB that they estimate might die of heart problems brought on by pandemic response stress disorder and think I might develop similar problems. Reading the news, I realize that I get a headache, that my heart is racing, that I won't be able to sleep. Of course, nobody will care if I topple over on accout of that, as long as I don't happen to have COVID as a side diagnoses. In that case, they will go to any length to save me, including destroying other lives, including yours.

Viv tells us about Frankfurt:

From Frankfurt, once Germany's global village. Shops empty, those that are bothering to open are all 2G except for the few basic exceptions like supermarkets and pharmacies, which the unclean still have access to (for now). Masks enforced everywhere, except in the local ethnic Späti (kiosk). Doctors have signs reassuring terrified patients that all their staff have had the wax but remember to keep your distance and wear a mask.

After a year of almost weekly, chaotic rule changes, no one has a damn clue what they are any more. The reaction from Germany's most small-c conservative corner is predictable – withdrawal into shell. This is aided by Frankfurt having a relatively high proportion of houses as opposed to apartments, by comparison to other German cities. Cometh a vaccine mandate I could, depending on how it is enforced, quite easily hole up for a couple of years with deliveries, and occasional trips to the local Turkish-run grocers, that are unlikely to ever turn paying customers away whatever pressure the government puts on the behemoths that run the supermarkets.

It is difficult to imagine how the German bureaucracy could manage to implement a mandate. Rumours of its ruthless efficiency are greatly exaggerated. Waiting times to do simple things like get documents can run into months. Unless they come up with some particularly evil plan to turn employers into vaccine police or such, the narrative will have fallen by the time it catches up with everyone. Some of us will have paid our fine at the last option having rejected and appealed and refused and with the cops at the door offering a choice of card reader or handcuffs. Anything to snarl the system up will help.

Protests are small but growing, hampered by the banning of the unclean from the (reliable but limited) public transport, and rather bizarre choices of locations, access to which can be easily hampered by the police. They are always accompanied by Merkel's black-clad street thugs (Antifa) looking on with their expensive cameras, even more expensive telephoto lenses, and balaclavas.

Test stations seem quiet but that may be because tests are in short supply. No idea how the daily 3G (waxed, recovered <6 months, or daily test) is being enforced, some employers probably turning a blind eye, others not.

The remains of the "Christmas market" in one of our run down and almost deserted malls is a solitary stand with "Amazing Offers in Winter Maskland". The neighbouring apple wine stall has 30 empty tables. At one sits a sozzled old gran, mask around her chin, halfway through her morning cup of booze.

A once great place to live is fallen, but most of them are. If we thought Merkel was bad, the new psycho looks like he will be even worse. The ancient Chinese curse, that we may live in interesting times, is only just beginning.

Aladel reports on the Czech Republic:

– mask mandates in closed areas

– non-vaccinated people cannot attend any cultural event or go to restaurants, not even with PCR test

– non-vaccinated employees need to test every week, any test suffices (paradoxically)

– the government limited pubs and clubs also for vaccinated by mandating closures after 22:00

– vaccinated still can test for covid, because it is paid by the health insurance but they do not have to quarantine if they test positive

– the government shut down Christmas markets (while not limiting any shopping centres, only you cannot eat in the food court)

– the outgoing government also planned vaccine mandate for some employee groups and the elderly…

It is a bizarre situation and the logic of the regulations eludes me. I am convinced that there is a group of the population that does not agree with the restrictions or does not comply but it is draining and somewhat sad when people are still defending these policies and don't see the danger of the divisiveness, distrust of authorities and overall hatefulness.

Desalite on the UK:

UK – govt just announced tightening of restrictions, vax pass for large events. Refused to categorically rule out mandatory vax, which means it's probably coming.

There is to be a vote on the measures next week, there are a number of rebels in the ruling party who don't agree, but the main opposition party has decided it wants to score points by insisting the govt "hasn't gone far enough with restrictions", so it'll pass the vote.

Same as every other country, overwhelming majority stupid frightened sheep. There is some decent resistance amongst young males, they're usually the only ones ignoring the mask mandates.

Overall, situation worsening, mentally digging in for a long winter of madness.

Canada
KS, who writes KS’s Newsletter, on western Canada:

It feels like we are frogs in water that is about to boil. In many cases, we are the most, or one of the most, restricted countries in the world.

-Current case counts, per capita, and relative to history can be described as "low". What is missed by the population is that Canada had relatively low cases per capita all along. The media, continually compare them to previous highs and new records were achieved by some provinces in the fall which kicked of AGGRESSIVE campaigns the coerce folks to get vaccinated and to despise the unvaccinated.

-The anger/hatred directed towards the unvaccinated/anti-vaxers is palpable. The media has hammered on how the ICU's were filled with the unvaccinated etc. and it is now okay actively shame and discriminate against that group.

-And although the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects individuals on medial and religious grounds from putting things into their body, this is being walked around routinely by the government (mandates) and companies.

-Living in British Columbia (BC), the West-most, and left-most province. It's our version of California. So the narrative is very strong #understatement, and there is NO coverage outside of "vaccines are great" in any form of mainstream media.

-Canada, which simply receives FDA recommendations, has approved vaccines to 5-year olds. Was one of the first countries to vaccinated down to 12 years old.

-As of Nov 30, in this province, 88% of 12+ population is double vax'd, 91% with at least one shot. 91%! So there aren't many people left who have yet to "do the right thing".

-In this province, we have a passport system in place. Outside of shopping, you need to scan a QR code to enter fitness facilities, cinemas, restaurants, etc. (Sidenote, the Federal government set aside $1 billion for passport systems across Canada to be developed…incentives!)

-Here, there is no way to test out. Getting a medical or religious exemption is essentially impossible. Vaccine or bust. In some provinces you can test out.

-We now have volunteers scanning passports (i.e. guarding the entrances) to see our kids play hockey and other sports.

-Here, participants, up to 20 years old, can play without a passport – thankful for that (in some provinces everyone 12 and over entering a facility need a passport or negative test). While I haven't been able to coach/watch my kids, at least they can play? That's good, right?!

-As a result, the unvaccinated here are basically treated like the newly "locked down" unvaccinated in Austria. The difference is that I can still buy shoes on top of groceries. Although, New Brunswick, an Eastern province just made it possible for grocery stores (who can't maintain physical distance) to bar those without a passport from shopping – for food.

-You can no longer fly or ride a train without proof of vaccination. This is a federal mandate. There is no way to test out. There are many stories of Canadians abroad who have been denied travel via flight back from countries even with negative tests. They are, in essence, homeless.

-The standard play book here is for federal and provincial authorities to release policy (vaccine mandate) which then has to be implemented by small business, associations, etc. So the dirty work is done by people to other people. More division and all in the name of safety.

-The play book also has a number of examples where mandates have been threatened and then on the day they go into effect to be delayed or cancelled altogether. Remarkably effective in getting hold-outs, who need to work, to submit.

-But officially there is no mandate for those not working for the government.

-Masking is mandatory indoors except when at a table at a restaurant on on a treadmill or if you are eating popcorn at a movie.

-In many places there are still restrictions on gatherings even for fully vaccinated. No more than two families.

-Ski hills, in a number of areas, have gone vaccine only. SKI HILLS! You can't go to the ski hill without a passport (in some cases you can test out). Some are still open to the unvaccinated but you can't access the lodge and in some cases the rental shop.

-Our federal government, aside from spending the most number of delegates to COP, is basically non-functional and has been for 1.5 years. And our Prime Minister is actively shaming the unvaccinated. Sowing the seeds of division within his own country.

And somewhat unfortunately, as indicated above, we have yet to see a true winter increase in cases. Our low density could be a factor however starting to see increased cases in vaccinated population.

Perhaps the only way for parts of the country to wake up is if they see, first hand and similar to other countries, how the vaccinated are anything but immune. Provincial summary http://www.bccdc.ca/Health-Info-Site/Documents/COVID_sitrep/2021-12-02-Data_Summary.pdf

Have had the opportunity to travel extensively and always had Canada as my favorite. Unfortunately this is no longer the case but where would I go right now?

There's more to say here but will leave it at that.

Be well everyone.

Bob reports from Nova Scotia:

Here in the kingdom of Nova Scotia, masks are mandatory for malls, retail stores and public transit. Compliance is very high, if not 100%. The practice of social distancing has fallen off, since that is no longer mandated. Most restrictions are gone, replaced with a vax pass. Since I only use essential services, I can't speak to their use, or level of usage.

There have been few deaths attributed to Covid, and we've largely been spared from the 'disasters' that have befallen the larger provinces. For this reason, there is no reason to question the official narrative. In a sense we are a narrative wonderland, where masking and vaccines work.

I can't explain our good fortune either, other than we are located on a peninsula, and are a relatively rural region.

My perception (as an observer rather than a participant), is that Nova Scotians are not being driven by fear. They trust their officials, believe the narrative, and are willing to do their bit by obeying the new rules. The relative calm within the province relative to the chaos portrayed outside of it, has helped. Few people here feel that their civic goodwill has been abused.

Chaucer on Alberta:

The provincial government has implemented their own QR codes with asymmetric encryption and they are the only way to get in to most places besides the grocery store. These QR codes are issued two weeks after your second dose. At smaller establishments I've been able to present (fake) rapid tests to get in despite government mandates stating the QR code is the only acceptable proof. For example, I've been able to get into some bars and the local gym depending on who is working.

In regards to masks, I've stopped wearing them indoors except for when entering the gym due to the manager enforcing this rule. It doesn't stay on once I pass the front desk, and the manager does not enforce it beyond that. (???) My guess is he may be worried about AHS enforcers watching the door, or perhaps he enjoys wearing the mask. I presume he kisses his husband while wearing it. Fines for individuals breaking public health orders are up to $2000 Canadian pesos. Businesses even more so.

At grocery stores etc. it is rare to see someone without a mask. Nobody has ever asked me to put on a mask, even pharmacists who I have spoken directly to when I've had to get legitimate rapid tests. When I speak to people about how they feel about wearing the mask, many try to justify their compliance with words like "safety". I have come to loathe this word.

At the institution I work at, they have implemented their own homebrew QR verification app, in addition to the provincial one. This QR code is only provided when you give proof of a rapid test or your other provincial QR code. All doors are locked to the campus buildings besides the designated main entrance. (God forbid you had to retrieve an AED for someone.) These main entries are guarded by a contract security force always consisting of ethnic minorities. They sometimes do not speak English very well, if at all. They ask for ID and the app's QR code. The QR code is rarely scanned and often the guards will just look at the QR code and your ID. I wasn't aware that they trained minimum wage workers to read QR codes, but it is a brave new world. Masks are mandatory inside and security will ask you to pull it up if it is even slightly below your nose. It it is also rare to see anyone not wearing their mask outside on campus.

Of the few protests I've attended when I have the time, the numbers are dwindling. If I were to become a tyrant in this life or the next, I think I would choose a northern climate to rule over.

Forgive me if the tone of my report sounds somewhat hopeless. It is solitary in the city and difficult to find likeminded people. I do not blame them. The mandates and fines threaten people's livelihoods, and we are ruled by sclerotic bureaucrats as you have accurately put it eugyppius.

But I will not give up hope. Thanks again.

P.S. If you would like a laugh, please look up images of the present and past Chief Medical Officer of Health for Alberta. They are true paragons of health.

Here are some good pictures:

https://tinyurl.com/yc6pj33a

https://tinyurl.com/4za5t9jk

United States
Marpop reports on spiking Corona infections following child vaccinations in the midwestern US:

The elementary school two of my kids attend has had a spike of covid cases after the shot roll out to ages 5-11years. For background, about 500 kids, ages 5y-14y, attend their school. According to publicly available data, our zip code has about 70%+ adults injected. I held out hope that more parents would hesitate and refuse to inject their children. Unfortunately it has not been the case.

My kids went back to school late August. The covid cases in my kids school for this year are as follows:

-August = 0 cases

-September = 3 cases

-October = 5 cases

-November 1- November 9- 0 cases

***November 4 -local injection roll out to 5y-11y***

-November 9 – November 30 = 11 cases

-December 1 – December 8 = 13 cases

For additional context, community new cases mid September were about 50/100,000 and as of December 7 are about 43/100,000.

It is so disappointing for me to see this when these kids were fine for the past 18 months-2 years. Shots roll out, then BAM, like clockwork, cases shoot up. Just a damn shame and so predictable to those of us who have been following the data. Nonetheless, I thought it was compelling and wanted to share.

John reports on a blue city (Cleveland) in a red state (Ohio):

I live in the US state of Ohio. Which is “red”, but the largest urban area (Cleveland) is as yankee blue as can be. So around here we see the highest levels of compliance with fauci-ism.

But still I know I don’t have it so bad. Masks are required in most indoor jobs. Customers aren’t required except in medical and govt offices. But smaller independent docs aren’t requiring them. I’m not confronted by anyone when I don’t wear one in public spaces. Most people don’t wear them outside. Indoors it’s 50/50

Vaccine use is high, but people seem to tolerate others choice. Very few mandates and the hospitals just backed off mandate implementation, so I think some if not all other private actors will also. Here’s hoping.

The governor of the state is useless and will be replaced next election, but anger isn’t too high even though most people agree that masks and vaccines aren’t working as promised.

No talk about passports yet.

This reinforces my impression that masks have become the primary means of signalling allegiance to Corona orthodoxy in the United States, as many other aspects of containment threaten to fade away.

Lorn, from the Washington DC suburbs, also sees waning political enthusiasm for containment policies in blue America:

From The greater Washington DC region (Virginia side). I think the narrative is starting to fall apart in the US. Could be overly optimistic but the energy feels different (very scientific I know).

I think people are done here. Nobody looks at NY, LA, SF, or DC and says “god they did it well”. Biden is well below 50% on COVID in polling here. I saw an article where Whitmer complained about the mandates. The masking rate is dropping quickly and boosters aren’t taking off.

I quit my job at a contractor due to my vax status and they gave me an exemption and begged me to stay. I took a job at a major tech company and told them I’m not getting the vax. They said no problem. I’m in a pretty fortunate career field as a software engineer and my experience isn’t the same as other people in different fields.

Trying to cause as much pain as I can for mandates.

Hold strong everyone!

James, author of Grounded, reports on what it’s like to live in a red area of a red state:

From Red State and rural Missouri. I live in a very rural county, our biggest “city” of 11,000 hosts a conservative Christian university with about 3,000 students. Trump voters/Republicans are about 85% of the population. Population Never had a mask mandate, just heavy propaganda from the county level health agency, which also tracked our Covid cases and deaths. There have been about 60 Covid deaths in the county population of 32,000.

Socially, masking is not a source of open conflict. About 20 of older folks wear them in stores. Some of the college age too, probably virtue signaling. Almost no one middle aged wears a mask anymore. I was surprised when I checked recently and saw that the map shows we have “high” Covid. But our twice weekly print newspaper has zero (0) ink on the deadly pandemic. The fact that this post seems so boring, is because it reflects the general atmosphere around here around all things Covid. I know a few hospital workers and military reservists who face vax mandates. It’s very quiet on the Covid front.

I know many of you are in terrible situations, and I pray that you will find relief soon.

HLG on Miami, Florida – one of the only places on earth to opt out of containment entirely:

I live in Miami, Florida and here's what I've observed since this nightmare started. In the beginning, our Governor went along with the others in the "two weeks to flatten the curve" nonsense. Within the first week of restrictions, I became very uncomfortable as I could, perhaps because of my economics background, see the collateral damage lockdowns would do. In addition to all of the despair and dislocation the restrictions would cause in the US, the slowing of the global economy would be disastrous for developing countries where many people live just this side of starvation.

For a short period I was very frustrated with our governor for having been "rolled" by the hysterical media and medical bureaucrats. But within a couple of months the governor got the memo and began the long process of bringing Florida back from the clutches of COVID insanity. His moves have been well publicized so I won't repeat most of them here but it's important to point out that he made the vaccines available to everyone and encouraged vaccination without ever mandating it. More importantly, he focused on treatment, making access to monoclonal antibodies easy and free of charge. I benefitted from this when I caught COVID in early October from my pfully pfizered wife.

Florida has led the way with legislation that makes it illegal for employers to mandate vaccines without allowing for a variety of exceptions. I'm in a unique situation because my employer (a large multinational) has implemented a no-exceptions policy that requires vaccination to enter the office but doesn't require physical presence as a condition of employment. Prior to this mandate I would go the office a couple of times a week because I prefer to keep my work and personal life separate and because my wife occupies the den at home, leaving me to work in the bedroom. The irony is that the vast majority of my colleagues don't want to return to the office. Even if they are vaccinated, they have no incentive to show proof of vaccination since they don't care about returning physically as long as they remain employed. And here I am, wanting to return to the office and not being permitted to, despite the fact that I already had the dreaded COVID illness.

In any case, Florida in late 2021 is largely like Florida in 2019 but with some people opting to wear masks in certain situations. Other than that, and the media coverage that nobody seems to care about anymore, the pandemic is over in Florida.

That said, I don't think we've seen the last of COVID in Florida, despite our current low case and death rates. As has been noted everywhere, COVID is seasonal and spread indoors. In Florida, the heat and humidity of summer drive people indoors during a time when people in more northern latitudes are outside enjoying pleasurable weather. That's why we had a large summer wave, despite high vaccination rates, especially among the elderly. But we will also have a winter wave. Even though the winter weather in Florida is much more pleasant and people are outdoors, we also receive many tourists and part-time residents known as snowbirds. These people will, no doubt, bring COVID with them and seed our winter wave of infection. Luckily, the governor has stated that Florida will not succumb to Faucism, no matter what.

I was born in Pennsylvania and was moved to Florida when I was seven years old. Over time I became very fond of Florida, graduated from the University of Florida and now consider myself to be Floridian. I thank God that my parents moved when I was young and thank God that we narrowly elected Ron DeSantis in 2018.

America continues to be a source of great optimism for me, as it is the centre of empire, and the rest of our nations tend to follow American social, cultural and political trends. Maybe in a few years, the rest of us can be like Florida, with some lingering voluntary masking and not much else.

MatrixTransform says:
December 11, 2021 at 10:49 am
Equally amazing how Assange/Dick Smith in google yields nothing.

both Google and DDG are totally curated
It’s become noticeably worse this year
Disturbing

Try making the same search in MS Edge using Bing

be amazed

Well, once my computer let me get into Microsoft Edge, first up –

745,000 Results
Dick Smith lobbied US to drop Julian Assange extradition …
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dick-smith-lobbied-us-to-drop…

14/10/2019 · Entrepreneur Dick Smith personally lobbied the United States ambassador for Washington to drop its extradition request for Julian Assange for the sake of “good …

Estimated Reading Time: 4 mins

What’s everyone’s recent experience with Bunnings? Are they over having the Stasi check for vax?

Well, I gave them the second chance this morning (after seeing the Stasi at work last week) and my local Hawthorn Bunnings has seen the last of my business. The Richmond Mitre 10 is very limited, but at least they aren’t checking this, that and the other.

Interestingly, the Stasi were enforcing entrance to Bunnings, but the sausage sizzle was doing a roaring trade, sans Stasi. I suppose the dreaded Thing only impacts on shoppers whilst actually in the shop, or something. This epidemiology and virology thing is a LOT more complex than I’d thought…

I had a last, melancholy, sausage.

Farewell Bunnings, you were once a fun place to go.

Children’s book on Jacinda Arden

https://t.me/ldpmemes/435

Now for some reportage from Claire Lehmann.

https://t.me/ldpmemes/436

jobs n growth

I miss that guy.

Paywall stops me from reading it, but Latham has posted this about Twiggy Forrest pulling 3 billion in subsidies from Australian governments.

As P.J.O’Rpurke so eloquently put it, what the fucking fuck fuck?!

Farewell Bunnings, you were once a fun place to go.

Yep, this plus rapid set debacle I think it’s FU time. I heard from the tradie next door that one of the nearby independent stores is good and no Stasi, going to give them a go.

It wasn’t mine, Baba.

I will see if I can find it.

Worried about post departure urine content of their plots?

the size of the spitoon

Tried the whiskey cure last night, Indolent. Didn’t do much for the pain but I stopped caring.

Tintarella di Lunasays:
December 11, 2021 at 11:23 am
Am at the moment sitting in tge car while hubby has some powers if attorney and wills signed for some friends Their adult children have requested I not be present because I am not vaccinated and the children won’t stay for lunch because I am invited – highly educated idiots are everywhere

Won’t be welcome at the usual Xmas Day feast with relos because they are all 2 x jabbed and I’m the only one not – they’re afraid I’ll give them the bug. Degrees aplenty but brains none.

Something interesting about looking back over the past week – the number of new accounts that have been established here. Only a couple of comments though.

Come on guys! Don’t be shy. They’ve tolerated me for years.

That’s terrible Gab. If you were nearby you could make number 15 at my Christmas table. You would be most welcome.

People are shockingly dumb and cruel. This thing has really revealed character.

I can flick you some virtual virus free ham and turkey, plus pudding and hard sauce.

Or just the hard sauce. That’ll put roses in your cheeks and a pep in your step. 😀

Unhealthy neurons must die.

Mmmmmmmm…hard sauce.

My late mother in law’s recipe. Butter, icing sugar and much…much OP rum or brandy.

Used by NASA as solid fuel. Too much in Apollo 13…they overdid Challenger too. The safety margin is very, very fine.

Howard & Kemp are both trying to redeem their reputations with conservatives before they shuffle off this mortal coil.

Worried about post departure urine content of their plots?

I have heard a significant number of viciously maligned gun owners suggest they are waiting for their next dump to be on Howard’s grave. My eyes would be watering by now, but good on them.

Melbourne councils using COVID as an excuse to strangle Christmas.

Brighton cancelled Carols completely for 2021.
Glen Eira and many other councils requiring tickets to be booked, with all sorts of personal information requested, will keep numbers well down, not helped by OhMyKron hysteria.

Any excuse to act contrary to ratepayers (their paymasters) desires. Local homeowner Christmas displays are booming his year, in contrast to the actions of Council grinches.

Britain’s military must embrace the country’s racial, gender and religious diversity after a string of controversies and scandals, the new head of the armed forces said as he rejected the idea this amounted to “wokefulness”.

In his first speech, Adm Tony Radakin pointedly declared that the armed forces had to “strive to do better” in every “aspect of our leadership” in a speech to the Rusi thinktank. “That includes reflecting the diverse nation we serve. Because if we don’t, then quite simply, we risk looking ridiculous.”

LDP are meeting at 5 Martin Place for tomorrow’s march.
I would be there but:
Youse can march in step and
I’m a raspberry ripple and would be lucky to make it to the next corner.
My eternal thanks to all those that do march wherever in this increasingly
noisome country.

From Zyconoclast’s link above – on reading it seems the new head of the UK armed forces is a LAWYER…

a LAWYER

How does a firing range target get so promoted ?

So the new Pommy Chief of Defence is a Milley.
If you were a newly appointed Chief of Defence you would think that your first speech might just be about err, Defence.
A Carrie approved appointment no doubt. All of their non-Milleys squeezed out.
Fuckn scary.

New York (CNN)New York City on Thursday became the largest municipality in the US to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections

In a vote of 33 to 14, the Democrat-controlled city council passed the measure known as “Our City, Our Vote.”

Local hardware store shut, so broke into Bunnings.

No Stasi on drive in entrance! 🙂

rickw:

What’s everyone’s recent experience with Bunnings? Are they over having the Stasi check for vax?

Seeing as the closest one is 697 k away, it’s fairly immaterial for me.

incoherent ramblersays:
December 11, 2021 at 2:03 pm
Richard Feynman

Good clarinet player.
Greatest scientist evah.

Except maybe for Einstein
and Schroedinger
and Heisenberg
and Planck
and Bohr
and Faraday
and Oppenheimer
and Bruce
and me
and

Was going to say Walter White but then saw him at No.4.

Words cannot express the disgust I feel for this criminal posing as PM.

Just returned the Covid bullshit from the government. With a short note describing my thoughts on the PM.

Megansays:
December 11, 2021 at 12:43 pm
Rickw,
Protest is at 12:00 tomorrow.

See you there!

I’m planning to make this one my fourth march for freedom but my femoral nerve has decided to temporarily cripple my right leg just for shit and giggles. Allegedly.

Any legal suggestions for making it STFU?

I know the lovely Delta has a spare and I’m sure if you asked nicely she would lend it too you.

Tinta:

Am at the moment sitting in tge car while hubby has some powers if attorney and wills signed for some friends Their adult children have requested I not be present because I am not vaccinated and the children won’t stay for lunch because I am invited – highly educated idiots are everywhere

Educated beyond their intellectual capacity.
Could I interest you in one of my Tshirts?
(I’m trying to work out a way of getting them out without getting peoples addresses. Perhaps a post office pickup?)

John of Mel … you still with us

I’m here. Just not as much as before. Enjoying my time in isolation too much.
Watching movies with my wife, playing Fortnite with my son and second daughter, working a little bit when I feel like it.

I’ll post on how my life with corona is going a bit later if anyone’s interested.

Sales of the canned cooked meat Spam have hit a record high for the seventh year in a row, despite pandemic-related challenges.

Now is a suitable time for this.

Monty Python – Spam Song (Official Lyric Video)

John of Melsays:
December 11, 2021 at 4:09 pm
Someone recommended Utopia tv series to me.

Not sure how it got ABC funding, but I couldn’t watch it; as a former Federal public servant it was too true to everyday office life to be interesting.

GreyRangasays:
December 11, 2021 at 3:35 pm

Did the same but reckon it will go to the dead letter office. Stated I don’t accept junk mail.

NSW hardware is exempt from Vaccine check but not the contact tracing check in (which is the mistake I made shooting my mouth off at that clip DB put up the other night). Bunnings in NSW shouldn’t be asking for proof of vaccine and you have every right to tell them to mind their own business, as the manager has of barring entry but won’t.

Good to see Colesworths finally pushing back in QLD but I’d say they probably have been inundated with emails in the last few days especially from the regions. So probably a business decision. Surprised Chrisifulli isn’t making a bigger deal about this. Great issue to bash the so called compassionate left about the head with on the grounds of compassion.

Woolfe:

Not sure if you all subscribe to Eugyppius on substack but here is an interesting report.

You don’t need to imagine what a One World Dictatorship of the Bureaucracy would look like – it’s here.

Despite the above, I still believe that the tide has turned and in many Western countries the instigators of this dystopian lunacy are looking for a way out.
Boris looks like getting the boot, Morrison and the Seven Micro-cephalic Dwarves are all looking at the latest polls and saying “Oh Shit!”
Europe is heading for the crackdown by their leaders that will be the last straw, O’Biden has had his lunch and is being steered back to his room for a post prandial nap by Harris and Pelosi – both of whom are nervously looking over their shoulders at each other.

… following brief love affair with an echidna

And giving himself a savage uppercut after reading a Letter to the Editor.

Despite the above, I still believe that the tide has turned and in many Western countries the instigators of this dystopian lunacy are looking for a way out.

It had to end sooner or later…

It had to end sooner or later…

How it ends it probably just as significant.

It had to end sooner or later…

I’m looking forward to coming after all the bastards that made this happen. They’re not going to like it. Even if I can only get a few it will be worthwhile.

Funny Rabz about the music track on the preview. Hot August Night was released three years later.

Given the Cielo Drive stuff, the Beatles’ Helter Skelter would have been more appropriate. Don Maclean referenced it in American Pie.

I haven’t seen the movie, but I remember the screaming headlines. Just a couple of weeks after the Apollo 11 landing too.

A briliant post on a US website of a conversation between Hilary & the Devil

Hilary – You said I would win the 2016 election.
The Devil – you told me you had a soul.

Loved it.

IINO news.

Battle for seat of Kooyong begins (11 Dec)

The Independent candidate hoping to unseat federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the blue-ribbon Victorian seat of Kooyong has been unveiled.

Dr Monique Ryan has just addressed a room of hundreds of supporters as her campaign kicks off today.

Dr Ryan is campaigning for greater climate action, equality for women in the workplace, and establishing a federal ICAC.

Looks green. Smells green. Is Independent™!

Roger I have had conversations with various members of the last few years who pretend to listen and empathise that numbers are crazily high but the numbers just keep coming and far from the cream of the crop. We don’t matter, obviously.

Democracy in Australia is totally broken. It’s taken a while for it to become blindingly obvious.

Ray Leonard of the Armidale passed away in June. Nice bloke.

“Steve trickler says:
December 11, 2021 at 6:48 pm
Del Bigtree:

‘Thanks to the legal action of Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, the FDA has been forced to release Pfizer’s Covid vaccine trial data. Despite just 12k of some 451,000 pages have been released, already these documents reveal previously undisclosed reported injuries and deaths.

NEW PFIZER DOCS REVEAL UNSEEN HARMS’”
https://rumble.com/vqk0my-new-pfizer-docs-reveal-unseen-harms.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=5

“mh says:
December 11, 2021 at 4:37 pm

George Christensen:

The other attack point was that I even went on Infowars and spoke to Alex Jones at all. To that charge, let me quote conservative activist Candace Owens (from a post to her Facebook page this week): “Everybody knows that you’re not allowed to talk to Alex Jones… which is exactly why I decided to speak with Alex Jones… I don’t follow rules established by authoritarian cowards.” Amen to that.”

Rabz I seem to recall some here had hopes for a change for the better with the elevation of the parrot. Same with the return of Joyce.

The Independent candidate hoping to unseat federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the blue-ribbon Victorian seat of Kooyong has been unveiled.

Unveiled by whom?

I didn’t realise that “Independent” candidates had some sort of organisation or hierarchy which “unveiled” them. Maybe Macquarie Dictionary will have to redefine the word “independent”.

The whole Trump presidency was pretty exciting- someone with accomplishments in the real world, tax cuts for people of modest means, rising wages. I think we all knew the establishment was going to try something and now we know- a race war and a scamdemic. We also have a much better idea of who the establishment is and what they aim to do.