ozimoron

I quoted from CDC. Are they stupid? warning: I will report all future ad hominems from you.

Some countries are now indicating that they will consider hospitalisations and deaths in forming policy and not cases. If the deaths remain the same, so will policy. The rate doesn't matter anymore. Until hospitaliations and deaths are reduced in absolute numbers we can expect continued restrictions. Governments are not guided by statistics so much as their ability to cope from a medical standpoint.

what do you think good order means?

Call it poetic licence lol. Yeah, I'm insanely jealous that he's a prince and I'm not. What is there about ex prince Andrew that I could have a chip on my shoulder about? He is was rich so there is that.

I wasn't concerned by his actual title, more his mindset. Silver spoon boy if you will.

Unless he's afflicted by some intellectual disability attributed to royal inbreeding he would have been acutely aware of the damage to the royal reputation caused by any impropriety on his part. He also had to be aware that there was a strong possibility that the girl was under 18. Especially given Epstein's reputation. He was friends with Epstein and they no doubt shared many a secret. I just find it implausible that he would not have taken steps to find out her true age if he had half a brain but for intent. He also told the BBC in 2019 that he had no recollection of having met Giuffre. Yeah, right.

Yes, mentioned by his counsel but no doubt the immigration minister will deny it played a part in his decision. The court may well give him a bridging visa at this point because it would be too disruptive for the tournament and the damage to Djokovich would be great if he was tossed out. That's my prediction anyway. The minister took too long to return a decision which causes a problem for Djokovich.

Brazil reels as Omicron spreads Brazil is suffering a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant spreads through the country, putting pressure on health services and weighing on an already sputtering economy. Epidemiologists hope a successful vaccination campaign, which has seen 67% of the population fully inoculated, will dent the impact of the current wave of infections. But as demand rises for health services, hospitals are also being hit by staff shortages as doctors and nurses self-isolate after testing positive. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-reels-omicron-spreads-weighing-hospitals-economy-2022-01-14/

I don't see where it's stated that the cancellation had anything to do with Djokovich's anti vax sentiment. "However, migration experts believe Djokovic’s diplomatic passport shouldn’t lead to special treatment in his visa fight. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website states: “Diplomatic and Official Passports do not confer on the holder any special rights or privileges”. https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/live-updates-on-novak-djokovics-visa-cancellation-deportation-news/news-story/5cbaa65990a2bd6984072760bf2b9014

The travel declaration does not confer any right to remain in Australia. The visa application does that. It is quite common for people to be deported after entry to Australia if their visa application is subsequently found not to be truthful.

The visa application very clearly states that a visa may be refused if the information given is found to be inaccurate.

She was very obviously rewarded for her favours. As I said, he had access to the secret service who could have easily told him her real age. Had be been inclined to ask them. Anybody is his position could reasonably be assumed to be doing due diligence unless they had a motive not to. It is unreasonable to give him the benefit of the doubt on this.

Rubbish. He's a specialist. There may be more narrow specialisations but to suggest that a pulmonologist has insufficient knowledge to opine about viruses affecting the lungs is ludicrous. Even a GP would likely have a decent amount of knowledge, especially when it's about the single most pressing heath crisis of this century.

Is provocation your obsession?

I think the degree of swamped is the nuanced issue here. The hospitals may be "swamped" during flue season but I don't see articles every single day saying they are in crisis, stories about the national guard being called in to help, paramedics unable to respond and elective surgery being cancelled indefinitely. You can't just suggest that the ordinary run of the mill problems we see every year are comparable to what we have now. I see stories from medical staff which describe extreme stress and heartbreak at what they are experiencing. Again, I wholeheartedly endorse opening up and dumping the masks but at the right time. Vaccination rates and medical experts will determine that time. Meantime, we still see that a disproportionate number of people in ICU and dying are unvaccinated. That has to change.

The message from all of these articles is that there is speculation that there will come a time, hopefully soon, when we can return to a more normal life. I agree entirely. None of them are claiming that time is now. The first article (I read them all) contains push back from a scientist against politicians claiming the time is now.

I'm not opposed to opening up or even ditching the masks. The issue for me is timing. Like, when the hospitals are not overwhelmed and cancelling elective surgery and when most of the kids are vaccinated. And when cases are falling along with those other points. Any suggestion that it should be done now is irresponsible and premature in my opinion. I'm guided by expert opinion and all I see is medical staff complaining loudly at present. It isn't a matter of those who care self isolating, it's all about protecting others who can't protect themselves. In my country we tried moving on with life and it seems to have back fired for being too premature. We don't have test kits, the hospitals are in crisis and nobody is going out spending money so the economy is in crisis. Clearly we were ill prepared for opening up. Furthermore there is no shortage of medical staff claiming that their warnings went unheeded. Suggestions by the conspiracy theorists that I or like minded individuals want to see pharmaceutical companies get rich or support some kind of imaginary world order are from a parallel universe. I apologise if I came across as a bit sarcastic but it seems that the anti vaxers anti lock down pundits never seem to think things through rationally and rarely to never provide links to scientific opinion to support their arguments. This annoys me. They all know their information comes from extremist and non credible sites but they blame a culture of censorship for not being able to post junk science or outright misinformation. It's not like they are unaware that it is either. They just claim their freedom of speech gives them equal time with facts and science. </rant>

Imagine how much worse it would have been without the vaccines. Oh wait, we don't need to imagine. We should remember the scenes from Italy and Spain in the early days.

There is a great deal of documentation about why minors fail to file complaints against rich and powerful men who abuse them. She was a minor. The legal position is that she was a minor. What Prince Andrew thought was irrelevant. He also had the wherewithal to establish her true age in a heart beat. He did not reasonably believe she was 18. Irrelevant to this case. That's the mess the self entitled invariably seem to get themselves into.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/does-not-match-djokovic-facing-fresh-questions-over-positive-test-results-20220112-p59nnf.html

You need to ask yourself these questions. 1. Does the vaccine reduce serious illness and death? 2. Does the vaccine reduce infections? If tour answer to either if these questions is yes then you have your answer. If your answer is no to either then you are wrong.

Of course they will pass and that's when restrictions should be lifted, not before.

I actually originally learned much of my Thai in Petchabun. I met a bar girl in soi cowboy and stayed with her family there in 1982. I then brought her to Australia for 6 months on a free visa which was issued on the spot and took 15 minutes to get. Soon after she went back to Thailand she met a Swedish guy who married her and took her to Stockholm where she got a job managing a used car dealership. I ran into her by chance a year later on Sukhumvit. To answer your question, there are still many Isaan girls in BKK bars though not as many as Pattaya for sure.

Until it's "relatively" (relative to what) harmless to all people we have no business ignoring it. You are still spreading the debunked "vaccines are ineffective" LIE.

The "positive" data is the rapid and huge rise in hospitalisations because omicron is much more transmissable than delta. Deaths are less but still some will occur because they are overwhelmed with omicron. Unrelated cases are being turned away because of omicron overload. Some of those might also die.