Interesting stuff

If anyone was wondering why the Greens need to be disbanded :

COVID-19 is a gendered crisis.

Nurses, nurse aides, teachers, child carers and early-childhood educators, aged-care workers and cleaners are mostly women.

They are on the frontline of this public health crisis and carry a disproportionate risk of being exposed to the virus. pic.twitter.com/uY56bDmlJ7

— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) March 25, 2020

From Macrobusiness
“Only six weeks ago, we witnessed the entire higher education lobby vigorously attack the federal government’s ban on Chinese arrivals to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Once their demands were rejected, we then witnessed Australia’s universities effectively transform into people smugglers, offering grants of up to $7,500 to Chinese students to help fund travel packages to third-country transit destinations.

Sydney University Associate Professor, Salvatore Babones, rightly labelled these university grants “morally indefensible” since they risked transmitting the coronavirus through poor vulnerable nations, in addition to Australia.

As it turned out, an estimated 32,000 Chinese students managed to circumvent Australia’s travel ban, at a rate of around 1,000 arrivals a day, via travelling through countries like Thailand and Dubai.

However, with the coronavirus now spreading like wildfire throughout Australia, universities are now closing their doors and turning to online teaching:

The Australian National University closed its campus on Thursday for at least three months with virtually all students and staff studying and working remotely.

All buildings will be locked and only a few people will remain present…

“ANU medical experts are clear: to control the spread of COVID-19 we must take tough action to reduce the number of interactions on our campus, and take it now,” he said…

La Trobe University has told its staff that almost all of them must work from home from Friday onwards.

An advisory committee has also recommended that universities close all student accommodation, thus potentially casting many international students onto the streets:

The Australian Health Protection Principals Committee, made up of the chief medical officers from all Australian governments, wrote in advice to tonight’s meeting of the national cabinet that “consideration should be given to closing student residential accommodation”.

Thus, after lobbying hard to open Australia’s border, and then bending the rules to bring Chinese students into the country to collect their fees, campuses are being shut and these students are effectively being abandoned.

For supposedly the smartest people in the nation, our universities have sure acted dumb. How many of these Chinese students brought over the coronavirus, we will never know.”

Uni census day after which all student fees are non refundable was 29 March.

Coincidence ?

.VJ’s post was hectic. Sometimes I get lulled into thinking that this thing isn’t so bad by a blue sky and a sunny day.

It’s that bad that John Cleese has put out a statement :

“The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent virus threat and have therefore raised their threat level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, the level may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.”

The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out.

The virus has been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let's Get the Bastard.” They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbour” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its alert level from “No worries” to “She'll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is cancelled.” So far, no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.“

Forgot books.

The future has been shown.....in High Definition.

( Substitute toilet paper for gasoline obviously. )

ALP is the voice of China. Scummo may be worse than useless but ALP would have been a step down again.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/unswerving-leadership-nsw-labor-mp-p...

From Macrobusiness :

“Yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg officially announced that a $1,500 a fortnight “job keeper” wage subsidy will be paid to businesses to ensure they retain staff. The particulars of the agreement are as follows:

The wage subsidy package will cost $130 billion over six months.
Six million Australians are expected to utilise the scheme.
Every Australian worker that qualifies is treated the same, regardless of whether they are full-time, part-time, sole trader, or casual.
Business turnover will need to have fallen by 30% or more to be eligible for the scheme.
It is available to workers stood down from 1 March 2020.
The scheme will be delivered and enforced via the ATO to ensure that businesses pass on the payments to employees. This will relieve pressure on Centrelink.
Employees will be required to liaise with employers to receive the payments.
Those unemployed and whom do not qualify for this scheme will have to apply to Centrelink for the separate “Jobseeker” (formerly Newstart) payment, which was temporarily doubled to $1100 as part of the second stimulus package.
While the Morrison Government’s wage subsidy scheme is certainly welcome, and is a big step forward, it is still far too complicated.

Instead, the Government should have suspended all other forms of welfare payments (e.g. aged pension and Newstart) and simply paid every Australian adult with a tax file number a universal basic income of $1500 per fortnight.

Here’s how this $1500 a fortnight UBI could have worked:

UBI payments would commence within a fortnight during the usual Thursday welfare payments cycle.
Every taxpayer and welfare recipient would receive the payments.
There are no eligibility requirements to be met or bureaucratic approval needed. The money would flow automatically. Therefore, there is no need to apply to Centrelink or MyGov.
These UBI payments would supersede all existing welfare payments.
Employers that stand down workers would be exempted from paying staff entitlements or superannuation while the UBI is in effect.
The ATO would make the payments because it has almost every taxpayer’s bank account details. Everyone else can provide these via MyGov.
The UBI receipts would be counted as taxable income for the purpose of next year’s tax return lodgements. This would claw back some of the costs, especially from high income earners.
As you can see, this is a far simpler policy that treats everybody the same. It ensures everyone can meet their basic living expenses. And it requires zero bureaucratic input or approval, thereby relieving the strain on both CentreLink and myGov.

The two disadvantages of a temporary UBI against the Coalition’s wage subsidy are both political. UBI would not hide the unemployed on the books of Australian employers, thus artificially inflating the employment numbers. And it would also entail scrapping all of its misfired sitmulus efforts to date, acknowledging mistakes.

Perhaps this is why the Morrison Government has gone down the complicated wage subsidy route.

Or maybe it’s just inept.“

“They had 3 goals:
Avoid any possible comparison with labor and the $900 cheques;
Hide the unemployed on company payroll;
Facilitate ways and means of rorting for their chosen mates and industries etc.“

Where’s Peter Dutton ?

He said he was fine 17 days ago.

Dutton is looking to crack down on hoarders.

Chances are he’ll overlook the fact that he owns 6 houses.

Australian media gaslighting the public claiming that temporary visa holders are unable to return home and so we must pay for them to stay...

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/businesses-forced-to-choose-betw...

The example is given of a guest worker from Philippines. Claimed she cannot return home....

The SMH is lying to Australians to maintain house prices by maintaining demand irrespective of the inability of Australia’s health and welfare systems to cope with the needs of Australian citizens alone.

If temporary visa holders had any respect for Australians they would return to their home nations as is appropriate.

Australian unions lobbying for foreign guest workers who push wages down and compete for jobs with Australian citizens. Unions need to be disbanded and reformed as they now proactively work to undermine Australian workers......scum.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/tucker-carlson-who-helped-china-c...

Tucker Carlson nailing the WHO for the shameful bunch they are.

Or....you could watch it and then report back just how biased and incorrect it is. Please don’t be one of those fools who dismisses something out of hand due to not liking the source. That’s the realm of the blinkered and close minded.

It goes for about 4 minutes. Watch it and tell me what you think.

I still read the Guardian even though I know that 95 percent of the time it’s knob gobbling , Fake Left shite . Got to get all viewpoints and assess them yourself. I read the SMH everyday despite expecting to find Neoliberalism shilled relentlessly.

Anyway , Stu.

Salient and undeniable point is that the leader of the World’s number one health agency- the WHO- is praising Chinese handling of the virus without exception and holding them up as the gold standard for response.

It then refers to the Head of emergency at Wuhan central hospital who blew the whistle on CCP cover up of the situation from go to whoa. She has since disappeared. Yes....this is another health official on the front line in Wuhan besides Li Wenliang.

Point is that the WHO is not to be trusted.

Do me a favour and watch the clip . Free your mind from the artificial constraints of “socially acceptable “ news sources .

Stu....I may undermine the opinions of certain sources and journalists but I still listen to what they have to say and then argue the point.

Self censorship is still censorship. It’s the road taken by the feckless .

I didn’t realise that Tucker Carlson was responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews ?

Anyway, where else are you going to get the information that the corrupted MSM doesn’t want you to see ?

Michael West has his little beat and serves it well . What about global issues?

If you’d dared expose your sensitivities to 3:30 minutes of Tucker Carlson you might have gained some insight. I’m not familiar with any Sandy Hook story you are referring to . I just know that this story is worth hearing on its merits.

Just cause a break is shit when you visit it once , doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking once in a while. Particularly if someone else said they’ve had good waves there recently.

Free your mind.

Not sure what your beef with Tucker Carlson is.

I’ve watched a bit of his stuff lately and to call it 99 percent lies is , ironically enough, a lie.

Victoria has banned fishing and hunting ?

Fuck that. They are inalienable human rights.

What is more responsible.....catching a fish alone on a rock or buying a fish at a supermarket which requires dozens of human interactions to be possible ?

It’s like the UK being in lockdown. Only essential travel . And then watching dozens of planes land every hour at Heathrow and crew disembarking then catching taxis wherever the fuck they like.