Sunday, May 17, 2020

Sunday Globe Special: Virus Has Been Vanquished Down Under

I have a lot to get to and very little time, so forgive me if I superficially breeze through these. In all honesty, I sick of the daily bull$hit that spews from the jew$paper and am finding it more difficult to read by the day.

"Vanquish the virus? Australia and New Zealand aim to show the way" by Damien Cave New York Times, April 25, 2020

One once again notices the framing of the issue in war terminology.

SYDNEY — Thousands of miles from President Trump’s combative news briefings, a conservative leader in Australia and a progressive prime minister in New Zealand are steadily guiding their countries toward a rapid suppression of the coronavirus outbreak.

Both nations are now reporting just a handful of new infections each day, down from hundreds in March, and they are converging toward an extraordinary goal: completely eliminating the virus from their island nations.

Whether they get to zero or not, what Australia and New Zealand have already accomplished is a remarkable cause for hope. Scott Morrison of Australia, a conservative Christian, and Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s darling of the left, are both succeeding with throwback democracyin which partisanship recedes, experts lead, and quiet coordination matters more than firing up the base.

They are in "lock-step" with the evil globali$t agenda, and now they have come up with  National Covid-19 Testing Action Plan.

“This is certainly distinct from the United States,” said Dr. Peter Collignon, a physician and professor of microbiology at the Australian National University who has worked for the World Health Organization. “Here it’s not a time for politics. This is a time for looking at the data and saying let’s do what makes the most sense.”

Especially when you are presented a false choice that leads to the same ends.

The dreamy prospect of near normalcy, with the virus defeated, crowds gathering in pubs, and every child back in school, is hard to imagine for much of the United States, where testing shortages and a delayed response by Trump have led to surges of contagion and death, and it may end up being a mirage or temporary triumph in Australia and New Zealand.

Then chug, chug, chug!

Elimination means reducing infections to zero in a geographic area with continued measures to control any new outbreak, and that may require extended travel bans. Other places that seemed to be keeping the virus at bay, such as China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, have seen it rebound, usually with infections imported from overseas, and yet, if there are any two countries that could pull off a clear if hermetically sealed victory — offering a model of recovery that elevates competence over ego and restores some confidence in democratic government — it may be these two Pacific neighbors with their sparsely populated islands, history of pragmatism, and underdogs’ craving for recognition.

Far from any global hot spot, they’ve had the advantage of time: Australia reported its first case on Jan. 25, New Zealand on Feb. 28, but compared to Trump and leaders in Europe, Morrison and Ardern responded with more alacrity and with starker warnings.

Morrison banned travelers from China on Feb. 1 (a day before the United States’ ban went into effect) and labeled the outbreak a pandemic on Feb. 27 (two weeks ahead of the WHO), while forming a national Cabinet of federal and state leaders to build hospital capacity and guide the response.

In New Zealand, where the government is more centralized, Ardern introduced an alert system that led to a total lockdown less than a month after the country’s first case emerged. “We must fight by going hard and going early,” Ardern said.

In both countries, the public initially resisted and then complied, in part because the information flowing from officials at every level was largely consistent.

So what? 

It's STILL a LIE!

Playing their own versions of explainer in chief, Morrison has veered toward conservative radio, while Ardern prefers Facebook Live, but they’ve both received praise from scientists for listening and adapting to evidence.

“It’s a case of politicians just not being in the way,” said Ian Mackay, an immunologist at the University of Queensland who has been involved in response planning for the pandemic. “It’s a mix of things, but I think it comes down to taking advice based on expertise.”

The results are undeniable: Australia and New Zealand have squashed the curve. Australia, a nation of 25 million people that had been on track for 153,000 cases by Easter, has recorded a total of 6,670 infections and 78 deaths. It has a daily growth rate of less than 1 percent, with per capita testing among the highest in the world.

That does not seem to be good enough in the United States and some states within. We were told that the lockdown was to flatten the curve and that it would be lifted when that happened, but as we now see, it has gone beyond that to keeping the lockdown as "authority" -- they have none, they have forfeited it -- goes about redesigning the entire society in preparation for the coming cull and chipped vaccine. Sooner rather than later.

New Zealand’s own daily growth rate, after soaring in March, is also below 1 percent, with 1,456 confirmed cases and 17 deaths. It has just 361 active cases in a country of 5 million.

These figures put the two countries closer to Taiwan and South Korea, which have controlled the virus’ spread for now, than to the United States and Europe — even places seen as success stories, like Germany.

It all started with scientists. In Australia, as soon as China released the genetic code for the coronavirus in early January, pathologists in public health laboratories started sharing plans for tests. In every state and territory, they jumped ahead of politicians.

I sure as hell believe that! 

Mad $cienti$ts all!

“It meant we could have a test up and running quickly that was reasonably comparable everywhere,” Collignon said.

The government then opened the budgetary floodgates to support suffering workers and add health care capacity. When infections started climbing, many of the labs and hospitals hired second and third rounds of scientists to help.

That collaboration set the tone. Many of the state and local task forces spurred on by Morrison’s early action have stayed in constant contact, drawing in academics who independently started to model the virus’ spread. Their findings, hashed out by e-mails, texts, or group calls, have been funneled up to national decision makers.

You guys and your f**king models

The newly formed national Cabinet has delivered a surprising level of consensus for a country with a loose federal system subject to high levels of discord among state premiers, whose roles and powers resemble those of American governors.

There are your real tyrants, with the big enchilada Trump in the background.

They are not standing up to him and the coming famine and slaughter, they are collaborating with him as is the criminal "health care" $y$tem.

In late March, for example, Morrison announced an agreement to severely tighten restrictions, banning international travel and telling all Australians not working in essential services to stay home. Though there was some divergence, mostly over schools, state leaders expressed bipartisan support and have held the line even as case numbers plummeted.

They "held the line" even as cases plummeted?

You gotta get out in the bush, Aussie!

In New Zealand, public health experts pushed for an even bolder move.

Dr. Michael Baker, a physician and professor at the University of Otago in Wellington, became a prominent voice outside the government pushing for elimination of the virus, not just its suppression.

He argued that New Zealand, an island nation with a limited number of cases, should think of the virus as more like measles than influenza — something that should be made to disappear, with rare exceptions.

So a lockdown until eradication?

It's already mutating say the limited hangout folks; therefore, it will never be eradicated. He is saying stay inside forever.

Of course, with each passing day, as the tentacles of this Planned-emic reach further and further into rearranging everyday life in favor of a totalitarian global control grid, it becomes clear to me that this first wave is simply a drill. The deaths are real; however, COVID-19 does not exist. It seasonal with other respiratory factor involved. The second surge will be accompanied with, I believe, a real bioweapon to really spook you and make you shit your pants plus justify the need for the COVID extermination camps. The colleges and universities, the sports stadiums, the empty malls, will all be "repurposed" to fight COVID.

I pray to God I'm wrong, but he has to send somebody down here now, right now.

In Australia, officials are mostly discussing elimination in private, as a potential side effect of a strategy they still describe as suppression. Dr. Brendan Murphy, Australia’s chief medical officer, told a New Zealand parliamentary committee last week that elimination would be a “nirvana” scenario — an achievement that would be tough to maintain without indefinite bans on international travel or 14-day quarantines until a vaccine arrives.

Of cour$e.

Nonetheless, if it happens, Murphy and his counterpart in New Zealand, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, would be the ones receiving accolades. Like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the US government’s scientific response, they are known for extensive public health pedigrees, calm demeanors and no-nonsense adherence to facts.

(I just violently vomited)

Yeah, nonetheless.....

--more--"

In spite of that I will continue with these:

"Australians went out to eat for the first time in weeks Saturday, but the reopening of restaurants, pubs, and cafes came with a warning: Don’t overdo it. “The message is, yes, appreciate all the efforts, appreciate the opportunity to release some of those measures, but let’s not have a party, let’s not go to town,” said Tony Bartone, president of the Australian Medical Association. In New Zealand, even Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her fiance, Clarke Gayford, were initially turned away for brunch by a restaurant in the capital city, Wellington, because it was too full under coronavirus guidelines....."

It's the soft police state down under, and America should be more like New Zealand.... NOT.

Related:

Cambridge man’s search for justice for brother slain in Australia results in an arrest

The death of Scott Johnson, who was gay, was initially dismissed as a suicide, and three years ago, the case was reclassified as a hate crime.

Look, a NEW POWER is RISING from DOWN UNDER:

"China is defensive. The United States is absent. Can the rest of the world fill the void?" by Damien Cave and Isabella Kwai New York Times, May 11, 2020

SYDNEY — When Australia started pushing for a global inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, no other countries were on board, and officials had no idea how it would work or how harshly China might react.

Europe soon joined the effort anyway, moving to take up the idea with the World Health Organization later this month, and Australia, in its newfound role as global catalyst, has become both a major target of Chinese anger and the sudden leader of a push to bolster international institutions that the United States has abandoned under President Trump.

“We just want to know what happened so it doesn’t happen again,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, describing his conversations with other nations.

Confronting a once-in-a-generation crisis, the world’s middle powers are urgently trying to revive the old norms of can-do multilateralism.

Also know as GLOBALI$M, and it is the GLOBALI$T$ DRIVING THIS VERY AGENDA with their political minions doing their dirty work.

If the politicians were truly serving the people and not themselves and their masters, they would be jailing the genocidal eugenicists not collaborating with them.

Countries in Europe and Asia are forging new bonds on issues like public health and trade, planning for a future built on what they see as the pandemic’s biggest lessons: that the risks of China’s authoritarian government can no longer be denied, and that the United States cannot be relied on to lead when it’s struggling to keep people alive and working, and its foreign policy is increasingly “America first.”

Oh, they are leading, just in the wrong direction, and China is no better. They have signed on to all this and are the model Gates and Rockefeller are citing going forward. No help there, and anyone who says otherwise is a shill for China. I don't want a war with them over this, but they are not a savior nation. There is none.

The middle-power dynamic may last only as long as the virus, but if it continues, it could offer an alternative to the decrees and demands of the world’s two superpowers. Beyond the bluster of Washington and Beijing, a fluid working group has emerged, with a rotating cast of leaders that has the potential to challenge the bullying of China, fill the vacuums left by America, and do what no lesser power could do on its own.

They New York Times, on the other hand, is promoting war with the "bully China" and not against the "bully Israel," and I love the "but if could!"

“Australia is resetting the terms of engagement so we have more strategic freedom of action, and in order to do that, you need to build a coalition of like-minded nations,” said Andrew Hastie, a backbencher in the Australian Parliament who leads its Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

“To act on the global stage as a middle power, you need to do it from a position of strength — that includes strength in numbers,” Hastie said.

Who you going to bomb or invade?

Who are you bombing anyway?

Morrison has insisted that his call for a global inquiry is not directed at any one country, but all available evidence points to China as the birthplace of the pandemic, which means Australia could hardly have chosen a more sensitive subject for its leap onto the world stage.

If the New York Times says it, you can be sure the OPPOSITE is the TRUTH; therefore, the thing -- if it even exists, which I doubt -- came from a US bioweapons lab. 

That's why the administration and its ma$$ media mouthpiece get so defensive!

China’s leaders have made clear that they see criticism of their initial response to the coronavirus — which included a coverup that allowed the contagion to spread — as a threat to Communist Party rule.

Even a fact-finding mission appears to be too much for China’s leadership. The country’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, called the inquiry proposal — which China is expected to block at the WHO — a “dangerous” move that could lead to an economic boycott.

More like a frame-up mission.

“If the mood is going from bad to worse,” he said, “people would think ‘Why should we go to such a country that is not so friendly to China?’ The tourists may have second thoughts.” He added that Chinese consumers might refuse to buy Australian wine and beef or to send their children to Australian universities.

The economic pain, if actually meted out, could be severe. China is Australia’s No. 1 export market, its largest source of international students, and its most valuable market for tourism and agricultural products. On Sunday, the country’s grain industry warned that China is threatening to place a hefty tariff on Australia’s barley exports in what some members of parliament are describing as “payback.”

Australian officials, however, are betting that China will remain a major customer, including for the coal and iron ore it needs to spring back to life post pandemic, and they are convinced that the Australian public will tolerate some Chinese punishment if it means relying less on a country that, according to polls, it had already distrusted — a negative view that is widely shared in Western Europe.

Maybe China should do a Manchuria and invade for the resources.

The frustrations have been building for years. Under President Xi Jinping, China’s hacking and intellectual property theft have increased.

In such situations, Australia would usually turn to America. For the seven decades after the end of World War II, the United States was seen as a defender of transparency and cooperation, but relying on Washington for that kind of leadership seems impossible now. Much of the world views with disappointment and sadness an America laid low by the virus and Trump’s erratic response.

So much so that Trump has fomented protests even during the lockdown.

The president has shown little interest in working with any other country. He has said his administration is conducting its own investigation of China, but that move is widely seen as an effort to shift blame away from his own botched handling of the pandemic.

He has left it to Kushner to run things.

“Normally, however imperfectly, America would also have mobilized the world,” Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister, wrote in a recent essay. “This time, in America’s absence, nobody did.”

That's actually a good thing. I mean, an invasion or war usually follows AmeriKa mobilizing the world.

--more--"

You Aussie's ready to gamble on a vacation?

"The head of Macau’s gaming regulator is stepping down from his position at a time when the world’s biggest gambling hub is facing its worst crisis in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Paulo Chan, director of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), will relinquish his position, according to a spokeswoman from the Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance. Gross gaming revenue plummeted by a record 97 percent in April from a year earlier, marking the seventh straight monthly decline. While casinos have reopened after a two-week virus-related shutdown in February — the longest in its history — empty baccarat and roulette tables point to the challenges of luring gamblers back."

They need your help, and the Indonesians have been turned back.

Next stop Singapore:

"Singapore’s coronavirus cases exceeded 10,000 on Wednesday as infections among migrant workers living in dormitories continued to surge. As of noon, the city-state preliminarily recorded 1,016 new cases, according to a statement by the health ministry, bringing the total number of COVID-19 infections to 10,141. Of the new infections, the vast majority are work permit holders living in dormitories across the island, while 15 cases are Singaporeans or permanent residents, the statement said. Crossing the 10,000 mark represents a sharp reversal for the city-state, which was seen as a global standard bearer for containing the illness in the early days of the pandemic. The total number of confirmed cases has risen tenfold since the start of the month, and this is the third day this week that new cases have gone past 1,000 as authorities ramp up testing among foreign workers."

"An American cargo pilot who admitted to “poor judgment” in breaking a quarantine order to buy medical supplies became the first foreigner imprisoned in Singapore for breaching its restrictions meant to curb the coronavirus, his lawyer said Friday. FedEx pilot Brian Dugan Yeargan, 44, of Alaska, was sentenced to four weeks Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to leaving his hotel room for three hours to buy masks and a thermometer, defense lawyer Ronnie Tan said. Singapore has one of the largest outbreaks in Asia, with 26,000 cases. More than 90 percent of those infected are foreign workers living in crowded dormitories, while the government recently began easing restrictions for the local population. The tiny city-state has strict penalties for those who breach quarantine rules, don’t wear masks in public, or fail to adhere to social distancing measures. Quarantine violators face up to six months in jail, a fine of up to 10,000 Singapore dollars ($7,000), or both."

They whip you with a rattan cane, so you better fly out of there as fast as you can:

"South Korea will strap electronic wristbands on people who ignore home quarantine orders in its latest use of tracking technology to control its outbreak. Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said those who refuse will be quarantined in shelters where they will be asked to pay for accommodation. Around 46,300 people are under self-quarantine. South Korea also said its mask supply has stabilized and it will send 1 million masks to foreign veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War. It banned mask exports in early March and has rationed the national supply. South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported six more cases but no new deaths, bringing the total to 10,703 with 240 fatalities."

Someone burned one down, God bless the victims.

Time to hop a train:

"A train likely belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been parked at his compound on the country’s east coast since last week, satellite imagery showed, amid speculation about his health that has been caused, in part, by a long period out of the public eye. The satellite photos released by 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies, don’t say anything about Kim’s potential health problems, and they echo South Korean government intelligence that Kim is staying outside of the capital, Pyongyang. Seoul has also indicated that there have been no unusual signs that could indicate health problems for Kim. That hasn’t stopped growing unconfirmed rumors and media reports about Kim’s health that have emerged since he missed the April 15 commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Un hadn’t missed the April 15 event since assuming power after his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011. Kim’s health is of crucial importance because of worries that the serious illness or death of a leader venerated with near godlike passion by millions of North Koreans could cause instability in the country."

The regime change operations never end!!

They are saying he died of COVID:

"North Korea has told the World Health Organization it tested 740 people for the new coronavirus as of April 17 but that all came out negative. The North also said it so far released 25,139 people from quarantine since Dec. 31, according to Edwin Salvador, WHO’s representative to North Korea, in an e-mail to the Associated Press on Thursday. Salvador said North Korea’s health ministry has been sharing weekly updates with the WHO on its antivirus efforts. He says the WHO is engaging with North Korea’s government to bring in the antivirus supplies, including protective gear and laboratory reagents, from the Chinese border town of Dandong. The North has said there hasn’t been a single virus case on its territory, but the claim is questioned by many outside experts."

Not even the North Koreans are immune to the reach of the Global Public Health Mafia, and from there it is a quick hop over to where we began, an island sanctuary:

"About 800,000 colorful tulips in bloom were cut from their stems at the Sakura Furusato Square in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, to help deter visitors as a measure to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Following the central government’s declaration of a state of emergency on April 7, the Sakura city government canceled its annual Sakura Tulip Festa for a week and closed the parking lot; however, as people could freely enter the square, visitors flocked to the site anyway during the first weekend after the emergency declaration. This forced the city to make the tough decision to cut off the flowers on April 14 and 15 to discourage crowds and prevent close-contact settings."

How can you smell the flowers with a mask on?

"Masks from Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. have proved so popular there is going to be a lottery. Sharp said Friday that online orders spiked so much that not a single sale was completed. As a fix, Sharp announced a lottery for 30,000 boxes, each with 50 masks. A person is entitled to one 2,980 yen ($28) box. Applications will be accepted on Monday, with lottery winners announced Tuesday. Some Japanese hospitals have complained about a mask shortage."

You can take that off now:

"Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Thursday the lifting of a coronavirus state of emergency ahead of schedule in most of the country except for eight high-risk areas. With signs of infections slowing, Abe is seeking to balance disease prevention and the economy. His government approved a $240 billion extra budget last month to partially fund a stimulus package worth $1.1 trillion....."

Maybe even take a drive:

"Toyota Motor Corp. chief executive Akio Toyoda says he is starting to question long-ingrained practices at the Japanese carmaker after cutting travel by 80 percent and spending less time in meetings as part of measures to guard against the spread of COVID-19. The grandson of Toyota’s founder, who has spent recent weeks at a Toyota training facility, said on Tuesday he is now questioning “Genchi-Genbutsu,” a Japanese phrase that translates roughly into “go and see for yourself.” The principle was built on the idea that problems can be solved more quickly and efficiently by going to where they exist and analyzing root causes."

Is that why Japan has instituted new rules for foreign investment?

NEXT DAY UPDATE:

"In New Zealand, nobody is exempt from the strict measures the country has taken to reduce the risk of contracting the coronavirus. Not even the country’s revered prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. Ardern and her fiancĂ© were initially turned away from a cafe in Wellington on Saturday, even though New Zealanders are allowed once again to eat in restaurants, but there were no seats available at the cafe, Olive. A Twitter user named Joey posted the news about the couple’s attempted visit on social media, writing: “Omg Jacinda Ardern just tried to come into Olive and was rejected cause it’s full.” Other social media users rejoiced at how the situation played out. “Egalitarian New Zealand is real and it’s wonderful,” Jaq Tweedi said. Ardern’s fiancĂ©, Clarke Gayford, with whom she shares a daughter, replied in a tweet on Saturday to the post saying: “I have to take responsibility for this, I didn’t get organized and book anywhere.” He added that they were chased down by the cafe “when a spot freed up.” The New Zealand Herald reported that Olive’s owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that the staff had not felt pressured when Ardern showed up and that they had been following “every one of the rules,” which include keeping a distance of 1 meter — just over 3 feet — between diners in restaurants. New Zealand’s leader has been lauded for her deft handling of the pandemic, locking down the country early in the outbreak and banning international travel. There have been 21 coronavirus-related deaths in New Zealand, and the country moved to a Level 2 alert on Wednesday — meaning schools are allowed to reopen and residents can once again visit stores and restaurants, and travel within regions."

That's New York Times $lop, and maybe Bo$ton should take note.