The Waiting Man

There has long been a rivalry between Australia's 2 largest cities - Sydney & Melbourne, with each laying claim to be the best one because... well, insert your parochial pride reference points here...

Since the Plague began, that rivalry has largely been put aside, as the whole country mostly pulled together to bring the damn thing under relative control. No thanks here to the state governments of Western Australia & Queensland, who have used the Plague as an excuse to lock up their borders & then complain that the rest of Australia either ignores them, or doesn't take them seriously... then threaten to take their mines & reefs, go home & start rumbling about secession

Anyway, this is all a rambling introduction to an article about how the Plague has affected Melbourne more harshly than Sydney, with our Southern cousins going into another week-long lockdown, while we in Sydney go about life as (new) normal

I do have a vested interest in this, as not only do I have many friends in Melbourne, but the luthiers making my custom 12-string acoustic guitar are down there as well. Its completion has already been pushed back from May to July, due to the huge backlog caused by last year's long lockdown down south & I'm wondering if my 'Christmas' present for 2020 will be ready for this year... or not

Readers overseas will, of course have a different perspective on the article & wonder why we're getting so worked up about this latest outbreak when it hasn't killed anyone... yet, let alone a few thousand per day. The simple answer being that, as a country of only 25 million or so, we can't really afford to be losing thousands of people at all, especially every day!!

Your President is at it again... publicising quacks & their miracle cures for Covid19

This one's a doctor from Nigeria, who not only claims to have cured Covid19 hundreds of times, but also that:

- gynaecological issues are the result of having sex with witches and demons
- DNA from space aliens is being used in medicine
- the American Government is run by "half-human" people with a "reptilian spirit"
- scientists are working on a vaccine to stop people from becoming religious

Just Trump's kind of lunatic... I bet he's helping a Nigerian Prince funnel money out of the country, by giving him access to the Federal Reserve's accounts too - because he has a lot of respect for the Nigerian people & their prince is a fine man, even though he's never met him...

In case you wanted to know what a proper idiot looks like

It would appear that believing Covid-19 is a hoax &/or a "war on humanity" (which is it??!! It can't be both...) is as contagious as the bloody virus itself - & Australians are getting infected

No rush hour...

I may have posted this before - can't remember & too tired to go back through the archive, so here it is again... maybe. Either way, it's been cleaned up, straightened & now I'm happy with it

Rush hour, without the rush - life in lockdown

As Victoria struggles to contain a 2nd wave of infections, that already looks to have hit Sydney in New South Wales, all the good work looks to be unravelling, due mostly to people getting complacent - having swallowed all the 'praise' officials have showered the public with in the wake of flattening the 1st wave, a little too eagerly & certainly waay too smugly. All of a sudden, the Great Unwashed have become exactly that again... with large parties being held in suburban back yards, large crowds inside & outside pubs & social distancing taking a back seat to hedonism. We seem to want to celebrate a 'victory' over the virus, in the typical Australian way... "We're just a small country, but we kicked Covid's arse. Now let's get pissed!!!!"

Well no... not quite yet. Settle down guys, it's not over yet

I said I wouldn't... I know it won't make a bit of difference... I can't let this one go by without drawing attention to it - even if it's just my own

"stop testing so much, you're finding too many cases!!"

The Great Pumpkin has told medical authorities to scale back their Covid19 testing rates, as they're finding too many cases... I mean, where do you even start with such a stupid thing to say, let alone the, for want of a better word, 'thought' process behind it. Sure, he wants the reported cases to go down, so he can spin that into a claim he's winning the war against the virus, so his ignorant redneck supporters can wave their flags & shoot their guns & so his fatcat Republican buddies can continue their business of raping the land & the economy for another 4 years...

Why?? Honestly... Why can't his opponents cut through & call out this puerile bullshit? Why can't even the most ignorant, dyed in the woolly brain, redneck fuck-knuckle see that they're being taken for fools, for a ride, to the cleaners??

Rhetorical... as always

One simple question, so many answers

Am I afraid of the Covid19 virus?

Physically, no. I'm not afraid of catching it, despite my mild co-morbidity factor of reduced lung capacity thanks to a double-whammy lung infection back in 2000. I have enough faith in my own immune system, the Australian attitude, so far, to social distancing, self-isolation & our, by & large, adherence to the measures the Federal & State governments have put in place. But most of all, I have faith in our medical system, our doctors & nurses & the available technology. The only thing that scares me about catching the virus, is that I'd give it to L-SP, who is more at risk than I am

Economically, no. We are both lucky, in that my job not only can't be done from home, but is connected sufficiently to the building industry (deemed 'essential' by the governments) to not be under threat. In fact, as previously noted, my workplace is probably busier than it was in February, before the shit hit the fan. L-SP is able to work quite effectively from home, in an industry that's probably even more essential than mine, in the long run, but sufficiently IT based to be done from anywhere. Maybe she should try the local park, for a change of scenery... So we're not in any immediate danger of starvation, eviction, or having to sell the cat to get by - though at 4am today, I'd have been open to offers

Politically, yes - it scares the living shit out of me. The amount of bullshit that's coming out of world leaders' mouths hasn't been reduced by this at all... it's increased tenfold & they're using fear & panic to justify & sell it to people who are in the state of mind that craves certainty & guidance, even if it's certain to lead them to disaster. About the only thing Trump hasn't blamed for all this is God, which would lose him the support & votes of America's bible belt in this election year. Boris Johnson is using the pandemic to disguise the facts that he has no vision & no clue how to lead the UK forward into a future untethered to Europe & barely any idea how to unite a country so bitterly divided along class & monetary lines. China is denying responsibility, threatening trade sanctions against Australia for daring to suggest an independent inquiry into the origins & handling of the Plague & blustering against the USA... all the while beefing up its military strategies for territorial & political gain. Russia & Brazil's leaders are both lying about the impacts of the Plague on their populations & letting people die for political expediency, just to keep their oligarchies alive

Sociologically then, I'm not sure. This will kill a lot of people before it's done & what consequences that will have for leaders who have been either incompetent, or untruthful, is an interesting question, best left to those who are capable of plotting revolutions. Because surely, a few will be attempted in the aftermath - either by ballot, or bullet

Well, it's been about a week since I touched on this subject - give or take a day...

Are you a 'smug liberal', or a 'reckless republican'?

Some highlights... or lowlights, more accurately...

I’ve heard of Muslim women in America being taunted for wearing hijabs, I’ve heard of Jewish men being mocked for wearing yarmulkes and now I’ve heard it all: A friend of mine was cursed by a passing stranger the other day for wearing a protective mask.

When the president visited Phoenix a week ago, some residents who’d turned out to see him harangued journalists in masks, “saying how we’re only wearing masks to instill fear,” BrieAnna Frank, a reporter with The Arizona Republic, told Tom Jones of Poynter. Frank posted a Twitter thread with videos in which journalists were loudly accused of being “on the wrong side of patriotism” and “like communists.”

Outside the State Capitol in Sacramento two days later, a woman held a sign that said: “Do you know who Dr. Judy Mikovits is? Then don’t tell me I need a silly mask.”

Mikovits is a discredited scientist whose wild assertions and scaremongering regarding vaccines have made her a hero to conspiracy theorists and a social media and YouTube star. Naturally, masks factor into her repertoire. She has claimed that “wearing the mask literally activates your own virus.”

How has this virus become so incredibly politicised in the USA, to the point where people would rather die, than practise common consensus?!?!

... well, okay, maybe only a little bit sorry, but...

Dear People of the USA... okay, not all of you, but you know who you are... What the fuck are you doing?!?!?!?

In that article, there are a couple of photos of protestors in quasi-military garb, holding semi-automatic rifles (or are they fully automatic? I don't know - I don't own one & I don't need one!) 'protesting' outside a State Capital building. What the fuck do you need the guns for?? Who are you going to shoot... & why???!!! How is this okay... how do you justify attitudes that bespeak actions like this??

Nobody's shooting at you... the 'enemy', if you must have one, is microscopic & invisible... What makes you think you can kill a virus with an AR-15... what makes you think threatening to shoot government officials, or health workers, is the right way to go about restoring your supposed 'rights' that you think are being removed... What makes you think dressing up as soldiers & waving guns around is the right way to go about anything??!!??

And then there's the photo of the protestors smearing their faces & hands all over the doors of a government building. That's a sure way to guarantee you'll catch something... & with any luck it will be nastier than Covid19. Please share it with your friends...

Frankly, you're an international embarrassment to your country. Land of the free & home of the brave? I'm pretty sure your founding fathers never had behaviour like this in mind when they wrote the Constitution you like to misrepresent... just like Jesus would never condone this shit, no matter what your 'preachers' tell you he said...

Behaviour like this, is making me think the Chinese Government weren't being over-reaching when they literally welded people into their homes at the height of the outbreak. I'm pretty sure they remembered to let them back out... didn't they??

Just for me then... if I see something in the news that I think may be important now, or later, to help make sense of what the hell happened & how, I may as well make note of it here. Who else cares, right?

Certainly not the Great Pumpkin, who is openly advocating civil unrest & lawbreaking in some USA states - specifically the ones who don't agree with him

You go, Don... Make America a lawless collection of armed settlements again

I need a drink...

... that will go unnoticed & ignored... because that's just who we are now, as a species

The next pandemic is coming...

Had 'the discussion' with my Boss on Friday afternoon - the one that starts with "So, when we have to shut down, what happens?"

In a nutshell, we're going to stay open & running for as long as either the government lets us, or it's economically feasible. Given that today was devoid of feet through the door other than our own, it will be a close-run race... But, if we are forced to close, there are compensation packages that are available to us, that may not be if we just threw up our hands & the shutters, including the hint of a new announcement regarding Federal subsidising of wages, similar to what the government in the U.K. are doing

I get to keep my job a little longer... & may still get a reasonable 'wage'even after I don't...Yay?!?!!

For now... I'll take it

This is primarily for 2 people who left comments on my Journal a couple of weeks ago, when I expressed concern, dismay, disbelief & exasperation at the kind of people who voted & will vote again, for Trump. One respondent told me to calm down, the other told me that it never happens & "never mind" - to whom I responded with a link showing the rise in racially motivated attacks against Hispanic & African American citizens since the Great Pumpkin came to power & started spewing racist bile all over the place

Well, now you can add Asians to that list

Trump doubled down on the name 'Chinese Virus' at a press conference on Wednesday, insisting that using the term is not racist. “It comes from China, that’s why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate,” Trump said.

Trump has received support from his allies who have defended the president for giving coronavirus a new name. “China is to blame because the culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that … that’s why China has been a source of a lot of these viruses,” John Cornyn, a Republican senator from Texas, told a reporter when asked if the name was inappropriate.

Trump’s new name for coronavirus comes after weeks of racist attacks against Asian American seen across the country. An Asian woman in New York City wearing a face mask was assaulted and called “diseased” in early February by a stranger in a subway station. In Los Angeles, a man directed a racist rant about coronavirus to a fellow passenger, who is Asian.

One family in Fresno, California, had their car tagged with the word “Fuck Asions … and coronavirus”. A middle school student in California was told by his teacher to go to the nurse’s office after he coughed, though he told his teacher that he choked on water and was not sick. When he asked his teacher why he didn’t ask non-Asian students to go to the nurse after coughing, he was told to “let it go and move on”.

Still, never mind... because according to Baron Waste... "it never happens" But, by all means, don't take my word for it... get out there & read some things that might make you uncomfortable, but might make you think twice... or at least once!!

... not after midday today, you won't be...!

The Government has announced that all clubs, pubs, restaurants, cafés, theatres, cinemas & what they vaguely refer to as "non-essential services" will be closed from midday - enforceable by the thin blue line. Food places will still provide take-away & home-delivery, shopping centres will still be open, so people can still panic-buy at the supermarkets, only now the bottle shops will be hit by the thirsty hordes as well. Fortunately, I don't think there'll be much of a run on my 2 favourite things - Guinness & single malt scotch whiskey - one because it's unpopular & an acquired taste, the other because it can be a bit pricey, even for the Zombie Apocalypse Preppers

I bought coffee & something for breakfast in the local shopping centre food court this morning & the barista told me the food court seating area will be closed today as well, so I imagine this will be the case everywhere - lots of people eating in their cars, or while walking - giving the pigeons & seagulls a boom time in scraps... Gymnasiums will also be closed, so watch out for an increase in jogging traffic!

Schools in New South Wales are officially still open, but the State Premier is "encouraging" people to leave their children at home, where online learning will be available. I know a couple of teachers, at least one of whom will be quite pleased about the reduction in class numbers, if only for her mental health...

So, I haven't actually set foot in a pub, club, or cinema for quite a while, but there's something vaguely comforting about knowing the option was there - which I didn't even realise until the news that I can't go there any more. In reality, of course, this won't affect my life that much, based on usual behaviours, but it does add to the developing siege mentality that's taking hold everywhere. On the plus side, the drive to work on a Monday morning was an absolute breeze, compared to what it's like on a 'normal' day. Because, of course, Debtors Prison is still open, providing the essential service of fleecing people for flooring. Though I wonder for how long... & whether the business will be able to access some of the Government support packages to stay afloat (& pay me!!), or if it will be me who has to access the newly improved 'Newstart Allowance' - which is marketing-speak for unemployment benefit payments... Apparently that will be set at $1,100 per fortnight, for the duration - which is significantly less than what I normally earn, so fingers, legs & eyes crossed it doesn't come to that...

The Prime Minister has just shut & bolted the doors, drawn the curtains & left a note outside for the milkman... Australia is no longer letting anyone in - unless you're a resident, or direct relative...

There are plenty of refugees languishing in detention camps offshore, who may well argue that nothing has, in fact, changed... Except that this time they're checking planes as well (which is how most illegal immigrants have always arrived here, but now is not, apparently, the time to talk about that... when is it??)

Even our own individual States are raising drawbridges. Tasmania has imposed a 14 day quarantine period on any 'non-essential' travellers to the Apple Isle... which puts paid to potential travel plans we were considering starting to wonder if we could think about maybe tentatively & hypothetically, provisionally formulating...

... Shit! Maybe it is the end of the world as we know it. And if it removes a couple of the key players, that may not be a bad thing. I think I still feel fine...

From today's Guardian

"COVID-19 is exposing the frailty in autocrats and democrats alike

Confronted by the coronavirus menace, politicians and governments around the world are thrashing about wildly, trying to decide what to do for the best. “Politics isn’t working” is a common refrain among disaffected citizens in the modern era. But at this uniquely stressful moment, it really does appear to be true. While they mean well, most leaders haven’t got a clue.

The dawning realisation that national politicians cannot be relied upon to do the right or sensible thing, whatever that may turn out to be, has serious long-term implications for democracy and the principle of democratic consent. If the crisis is protracted, a catastrophic loss of confidence in the way the pandemic is managed could lead to unpredictable social disruption across many countries.

As is the case with victims of the disease, underlying conditions and vulnerabilities in politics too are being painfully exposed.

It’s becoming clear, for example, that healthcare systems, even in wealthy countries such as the US, are chronically under-resourced and unprepared. Confusion reigns widely, fuelled by conflicting official advice in different countries about public gatherings, travel, and self-isolation.

Some leaders may emerge with their reputations enhanced. For others, the opposite holds true. The virus has already made fools of the world’s two most powerful men. Xi Jinping, China’s president, has faced unprecedented criticism over his handling of the first recorded outbreak in Wuhan. He initially steered well clear of the problem – an early example of social distancing.

But Xi has struggled since to contain the political and human fallout. The death from Covid-19 of Li Wenliang, a young doctor who sounded the alarm in Wuhan in December but was gagged by Communist party officials, sparked an online revolt. Xi finally ventured to the city last week, lavishing praise on its beleaguered residents in what almost sounded like an apology.

Predictably, Donald Trump’s reaction has been all about him. Among other inanities, he suggested the pandemic was a fake Democrat plot to harm his re-election chances. Ignoring the science and minimising the threat, he claimed his Mexican border wall had somehow immunised Americans, and likened the “foreign virus” to an alien invasion. It’s embarrassingly obvious Trump is not up to the job.

Both Trump and Xi could pay a heavy price. The US leader may have survived impeachment, but come November many voters will not forget or forgive this failure of leadership in a crisis. Xi’s aura of paternal infallibility has shattered. Trust has gone. To restore his grip, it is suggested, he may resort to more intrusive social controls, surveillance and censorship. Yet increased repression could prompt a career-ending backlash.

Trump’s knee-jerk reaction in pulling up the drawbridge and blaming others is not unique. Fear not facts has led European leaders such as Austria’s Sebastian Kurz to act alone, hastily closing borders and barring people from specific countries. These divisions recall Europe’s chaotic response to the 2015 migrant crisis when governments failed to agree a collective approach.

For the European Union, the pandemic is turning into a political nightmare. The commission in Brussels is struggling to keep up, relaxing rules on deficit spending that have already been broken. Piecemeal, national-level policy-making is a gift to Eurosceptics, not least rightwing populists keen to exploit splits, and could have lasting consequences for European cohesion. Public confidence may take a big hit.

There’s no doubt politicians face genuine dilemmas. In Italy, Europe’s worst-affected state, the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, was initially attacked for doing too much, by ordering widespread testing in Lombardy, and subsequently for doing too little. What is certain is that Italy has received little help from the rest of Europe – the subject of a bitter complaint last week.

Now that Italy is in total lockdown, it is being studied like a laboratory guinea pig. Boris Johnson, aware, like other leaders, that his reputation is at stake, treads a fine line between similarly drastic measures and “keep calm and carry on” stoicism. If it all goes wrong, his defence will be that he followed medical advice. Suddenly, experts are back on top in Britain – if only as potential fall guys.

Many look for leadership to Angela Merkel, Germany’s unflappable chancellor and Europe’s most respected politician. Yet her assessment last week, that Covid-19 would infect two out of three Germans and there was not a lot governments could do about it, was less than reassuring.

Merkel called for “solidarity, common sense and open-heartedness”. But her emphasis on Europe-wide cooperation carried a whiff of hypocrisy. Germany and France have limited exports of protective masks and equipment to safeguard domestic supply – hardly an act of solidarity with the neighbours. Nor is Berlin rushing to bail out floundering eurozone partners.

The parallel absence of an effective, joined-up global strategy is also casting multilateral institutions in an unflattering light. The World Health Organization, the lead UN agency that might be expected to wield decisive influence, appears strangely diffident at times – fearful, perhaps, of provoking a political backlash from heavy-hitters such as China.

Global financial institutions are not doing any better. The IMF has thrown $50bn at the problem. Interest rates have been randomly cut and emergency budgets announced. But compared with the 2008 financial crisis, when governments and central banks collaborated to stave off a banking collapse, international coordination to calm markets and reduce risk is lacking. Virus-related economic damage may thus be worse, and longer lasting, than might have been the case.

Despite all the angst, the WHO’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, complained about “alarming levels of inaction” by politicians – and it seems many governments remain in denial. That may be due to vanity (in the case of North Korea’s defiantly face-mask-free Kim Jong-un) or incapacity (in the case of poorer countries). Iran repeatedly denied it had a problem, until its leaders started dying. Now it is reportedly digging mass graves.

Unscrupulous politicians stand accused of using the pandemic as cover for furtive power-grabs. The timing of last week’s high-level purge by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and a constitutional coup by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, may be coincidental. Or maybe not.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is manoeuvring to stay on as prime minister, despite his corruption trial and his lack of a parliamentary majority, in the face of what he now deems an exceptional national threat. It’s conceivable Trump could use new clashes with militia in Iraq to revive his Iran vendetta – and distract attention from his viral incompetence.

The crisis also raises the danger of governments taking so-called temporary emergency powers and imposing sweeping, illiberal constraints on citizens, journalists and social media that subsequently become permanent. That’s what happened after the 9/11 convulsion, when the US and allies decided to largely ignore international human rights protections in the name of fighting terrorism.

Looked at globally, the politicians’ performance to date has been mostly unimpressive. Yet the fundamental question raised by the pandemic is not one solely for them. It concerns each individual, community, and nation. Will the challenges posed by the virus be allowed to drive us further apart – or used to help bring us closer together? The answer hangs in the balance. It could go either way."