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#201 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 96,145
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Yet again showing how ignorant many of the comfortable class are about how the world functions outside of their wants.
Another example was something I posted about from a week or so ago. On a popvox someone asked about whether they are they worried about shops being shut because so many people are ill or can't work and getting hold of groceries, they weren't because they would order it from Amazon to be delivered.... Even intelligent people are not used to thinking about how something happens in the modern world. I'm only aware and think about it as my professional life has often had me in operations roles so someone who has to work out what needs to happen to get X to happen. |
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#202 |
NWO Kitty Wrangler
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 28,925
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Can someone tell this idiot that Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, both actual islands, with relatively small populations that are overwhelmingly white, both have confirmed cases? Hearing that news is what really brought home this pandemic to me. Thinking of the chain of infections you'd need to get this into places like that makes you realize how bad off more populous and more connected places must be. |
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Obviously, that means cats are indeed evil and that ownership or display of a feline is an overt declaration of one's affiliation with dark forces. - Cl1mh4224rd |
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#203 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,302
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#204 |
No longer the 1
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 23,494
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As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves. |
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#205 |
No longer the 1
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 23,494
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BTW, if anyone is interested in helping out in the ventilator area (realisticlaly rather than BoJo's rants) I recommend checking the Open Source Ventilator initiative
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As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves. |
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#206 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Land of the Frozen Chosen
Posts: 1,000
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One thing that brought a smile on my face about today's press briefing with our federal ministers: Someone asked the question about why doesn't the federal government limit travel between the provinces to essential travel only (shipping, deliveries). And one of the ministers got a little pissed and answered (I paraphrase): "Because we're Canadians. We're not Quebecers, we're not Albertans, we're not Ontarians. We are Canadians first and we're all in this thing together. The virus is the enemy, not each other." I couldn't agree more and I'm glad he slapped that idea down quicker than it had a chance to fester. Shutting provincial borders is not going to stop the virus from spreading. The only thing it will succeed at doing is sowing division amongst ourselves, pitting provinces against one another. We're stronger together as a whole. We need to be handling this situation in the same way our grandparents handled their situation during the two world wars.... united as a country and helping each other out. One country, not 13 little countries. Yeah.... I'm talking to you "Albertans". |
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"Some mornings it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." ~ Emo Phillips |
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#207 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Sacramento
Posts: 49,994
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Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein. |
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#208 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 96,145
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#209 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,479
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One other bit of good news for the UK:
Coronavirus: Thousands of extra hospital beds and staff Basically it seems the NHS has 'rented out' a big chunk of the private medical sector providing:
Quote:
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So I've started a blog about my writing. Check it out at: http://fourth-planet-problem.blogspot.com/ And my first book is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077W322FX |
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#210 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Port Townsend, Washington
Posts: 30,675
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Kentucky elected a Democratic governor. Tennessee did not. Guess what happened.
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Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant. |
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#211 |
The Grammar Tyrant
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 27,955
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This looks like fun: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...-powers-140023
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The point of equilibrium has passed; satire and current events are now indistinguishable. |
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#212 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Sir Fynwy
Posts: 31,073
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#213 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,479
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So I've started a blog about my writing. Check it out at: http://fourth-planet-problem.blogspot.com/ And my first book is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077W322FX |
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#214 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 31,407
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#215 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 31,407
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#216 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 31,407
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John Bolton Tweeted
John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton China silenced coronavirus whistleblowers, expelled journalists, destroyed samples, refused CDC help, and concealed counts of deaths and infections. It's fact there was a massive coverup. China is responsible. The world must act to hold them accountable. |
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#217 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 31,407
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Seems he lost interest in Iran.
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#218 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 96,145
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#219 |
Maledictorian
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 14,408
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Ceterum autem censeo fox et amicis esse delendam. |
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#220 |
NWO Kitty Wrangler
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 28,925
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Yep, we need to go full bore "A pox on both their houses". Yes, China is responsible for its cover-up. But so is Trump et al. Despite the best efforts of China, the US had everything it needed to know this would be a big problem back in January, but Trump and his gang of idiots decided to stick their fingers in their ears and lie about it all. They also need to be held responsible for their failures. |
__________________
Obviously, that means cats are indeed evil and that ownership or display of a feline is an overt declaration of one's affiliation with dark forces. - Cl1mh4224rd |
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#221 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 31,407
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Trump Tweets
Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST! @fema Go for it auto execs, lets see how good you are? @RepMarkMeadows @GOPLeader @senatemajldr Working very well with States and our Nation’s Governors. #TEAMWORK |
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#222 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Sir Fynwy
Posts: 31,073
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An anecdote from today IMO illustrates a fundamental weakness with the UK's handling of the situation. We were out leafleting the local area (Mrs Don is the local coordinator for the area Covid-19 action group) and bumped into our next door neighbours (never getting closer than 3m).
They reported that they were self-isolating because another pair of mutual friends "had coronavirus" and that they had had dinned together a week ago. We were shocked that people we knew had Coronavirus but as the conversation progressed it became clear that these friends had not been tested for Coronavirus, nor was there any plan to do so. Both are over 65 and are therefore in a higher risk group and the symptoms they described certainly sound like it could possibly be Coronavirus, then again it could have been 'flu or another infection. The UK government isn't collecting the information to allow it to gauge whether its approach to managing Coronavirus is effective - they are flying blind. |
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#223 |
Loggerheaded, earth-vexing fustilarian
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Usk, Wales
Posts: 26,257
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"Just announced on Greek news by PM Mitsotakis:
Full lockdown from 6 a.m, tomorrow Monday 23 March. Exceptions for - work, food shopping, doctors, - dog walking, personal excercise - only in your area of residence Carry Passport or ID card at all times. Fine of 150 euros for each violation. More details coming in an hour or so, seems we will need to download forms and fill them in before leaving the house. Phone version of permission code available." Meanwhile, Brits are desperate to keep pubs open, are heading for seaside resorts, jamming the roads to Snowdonia and whatever. FFS, the twats. When will Johnson get his ****** finger out and act rather than hoping people will 'play nice'? |
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"Even a broken clock is right twice a day. 9/11 truth is a clock with no hands." - Beachnut |
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#224 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 31,009
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I say this without hyperbole - we're going to be worse off than Italy. Our death curve is exactly the same (to the exact same number of deaths today), and the public are acting in exactly the same way that the Italian public was. But if we take the timeline, as measured by the death curves, then Italy started lockdowns in two days' time. There's been hints at the planning of locking down London, but I'll be very surprised if it happens on Tuesday.
And that's just to put us in the same position as Italy. We should be aiming to learn those lessons and do better. But we're not. And I think one of the biggest things that has to happen immediately is a massive public information campaign. Scare the **** out of people and get it through to them that this isn't being blown out of proportion and that they do need to take it seriously. It's not a ******* bank holiday. |
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I don't trust atoms. They make up everything. |
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#225 |
Loggerheaded, earth-vexing fustilarian
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Usk, Wales
Posts: 26,257
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__________________
"Even a broken clock is right twice a day. 9/11 truth is a clock with no hands." - Beachnut |
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#226 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: 49 North
Posts: 4,550
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The problem is in the UK we do not have ID cards. Unlike most of Europe e.g. Italy it has never been the law that you must carry an ID card when you are out and about. I do not want the government distracted into producing ID cards at present. Maybe it is naive to hope people will 'play the game', but I am sure that that those who dislike Johnson would have accused him of totalitarianism if he had gone straight for criminalising standing within 2m of another person, or being in groups of more than 5 etc. Perhaps he will need to do so but persuasion needs to have failed. I can just imagine the response from the left wing of the labour party if ID cards had been made compulsory, public gatherings criminalised etc.
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#227 |
Loggerheaded, earth-vexing fustilarian
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Usk, Wales
Posts: 26,257
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Some form of i.d. ffs. I have no i.d. card but I have a passport, a residence permit, a driving licence, a NHS booklet, and who knows what else.
So, no, that isn't 'the problem'. Do try to be less pedantic. Other countries/cities are obliging social establishments to shut down. Johnson is dragging his feet on strict measures while Brits swarm around spreading the ******* virus. Why? |
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"Even a broken clock is right twice a day. 9/11 truth is a clock with no hands." - Beachnut |
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#228 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Port Townsend, Washington
Posts: 30,675
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__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant. |
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#229 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 31,009
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I agree that part of the problem is that people don't trust Johnson, and in part that's because he's spent decades cultivating an image of being a buffoon.
But he needs to step up to the plate. There's an article floating around talking about when the attitude in the government shifted from Dominic Cummings saying "if some pensioners die, then so what?" to realising that we're in genuine trouble. The thing that allegedly swayed them was getting a report saying that if they carried on as they were then 250,000 people were going to die. So tell the people that. Have graphs and charts prepared. Show how closely we're hewing to Italy of 14 days ago and explain why doing what Italy did is not enough. This is too important not to. Thousands of people are going to die. |
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I don't trust atoms. They make up everything. |
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#230 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 96,145
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#231 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Sir Fynwy
Posts: 31,073
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#232 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 85,883
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McConnell and his cronies never miss an opportunity to pad the pockets of the rich:
NPR: No Deal Yet For Massive Coronavirus Aid Package
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#233 |
Loggerheaded, earth-vexing fustilarian
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Usk, Wales
Posts: 26,257
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When will the UK government - and people - start taking this seriously?
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"Even a broken clock is right twice a day. 9/11 truth is a clock with no hands." - Beachnut |
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#234 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Land of the Frozen Chosen
Posts: 1,000
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When the people around them start dropping like flies. Boris Johnson isn't taking it seriously yet and prefers to keep his head in the sand hoping it will go away, so why would the populace be any different? People don't want to change the way they live their daily lives (not even temporarily), so they'll look for any excuse to justify not changing their ways. Boris Johnson is giving them that excuse. |
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"Some mornings it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." ~ Emo Phillips |
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#235 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,479
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For all the talk about panic in the UK its denialism that seems to dominate. Before I got assigned to work from home I heard every excuse under the sun not to take this seriously. Starting with 'the press are exaggerating', working through 'its only people with underlying conditions who are dying' and 'its not killing as many as the flu' all the way to, 'there was some bug going round my family a couple of months ago, it was probably coronavirus but they just didn't have a name for it'. People in the UK just don't want to believe that there could be something that qualifies as genuine honest to goodness crisis. Disasters here mean train crashes and terrorist attacks, terrible sure but limited in scale and duration, that something that could truly be a disaster on a national scale is something they think only happens in movies or on TV.
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__________________
So I've started a blog about my writing. Check it out at: http://fourth-planet-problem.blogspot.com/ And my first book is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077W322FX |
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#236 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 31,407
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Trump Tweets
@JBPritzker, Governor of Illinois, and a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN & Concast (MSDNC), shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings. We are there to back you up should you fail, and always will be! |
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#237 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 85,883
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The news media is no longer covering Trump's rallies in their entirety (as of >year ago).
Look, he's discovered daily briefings with the same old phony promises are getting full coverage. A little sparring with the reporters, lots of name calling and passing out blame tickets keeps them interested. |
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#238 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Sacramento
Posts: 49,994
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__________________
Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein. |
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#239 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 85,883
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Aaaaannnnd the press conference begins.
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#240 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 85,883
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He's reading off a bunch of big numbers, the biggest numbers, the best numbers, perfect numbers....
Tells us he's acting, taking big actions, bold perfect actions.... Incompetrump prefers reading off long meaningless lists of his accomplishments. Droning on and on. |
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