This is just fucked up. :( From Zakaria's newsletter:

The advantage of Corona:

Carnaval is cancelled!!!

The Wappies have won :(

"No emergency situation"... What the fuck, man.

Lamentable to see this pathological stupidity spread all over the world.

Boris Johnson has given a road map with dates for England will be out of lockdown. He's saying everything will be back to normal by 21st June. He's actually lost his head.

This thread and the Politics thread should be the same thread.

Science? Lol.

Dipshit might as well have said COVID-19 will "magically disappear", taking a page from Coup d'Fat's book. (Wait, that mook doesn't have any books... except Mein Kampf.)

From The Washington Post:

 

500,000 dead, a number almost too large to grasp

A little less than a year ago, covid-19 had killed just a handful of people in the United States. Now, the pandemic’s official death toll equals the size of a major city, more than the population of Kansas City and nearly as many as Atlanta or Sacramento. It can be hard to grasp the enormity — half a million people, gone. What if we imagined them traveling as one group? Or killed in action? Or all buried together?

I wonder if years from now, I can look back at this time with a calmer, more distanced and analytical mind. Right now everything's too close.

A constant circle of being disappointed in acquaintances, friends, or simply society as a whole because of misguided, antiscientific beliefs they display

or not taking the concept of social distancing all too seriously. I know, it takes a psychological toll on all of us. But there people dying right now.

And the personnel of any hospital is dealing with a hellish amount of workload each day.

Maybe what I mean to say is: I wonder if one day trust isn't such a rare thing anymore. Right now, it kind of is.

the fucking texas moron....

wait, does this belong in the politics thread?

the fucking moron... just declared a free for all in texass

Tbh, most topics these days fit into both threads perfectly.

And yeah, that was probably one of the most baffling things I've heard this week. Idiocy has obtained the golden ticket.



The other baffling Covid-related thing, local-edition: There's a group of aggressive covidiots which is currently planning flashmobs consisting of maskless shopping in over 70 Austrian supermarkets this Friday. They were stupid enough to create a virtual flyer for it. I hope the authorities crack down hard on those responsible. Stupid motherfuckers willingly endangering customers and store clerks to boost their moronic agenda. :fuckyou:

"Look, I hope everybody's realized by now these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we're able to get vaccines in people's arms. ... The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking, that, 'In the meantime, everything's fine. Take off your mask. Forget it.' It still matters." —Joe Biden

"Make no mistake. Texas and Mississippi opening back up to 100% will disproportionately impact and kill minorities, who comprise much of the essential work force bearing the brunt of this pandemic. This is criminal, a racist death sentence for so many who could have been spared." —George Takei

"Because one catastrophe on your hands this year is just not enough for you?" —Patricia Arquette

"Only another white man could figure out a way to become a worse person than Ted Cruz." —Chelsea Handler

"The @GOP is a death cult." —Bradley Whitford

My heart goes out to Texans who take this pandemic seriously/suffer from different types of social anxiety/feel overwhelmed by crowds etc.

A lot of people out and about already behave pretty badly (even before the Corona crisis and not exclusive to Texas) and now they're incentivized by the government to do so.


Update on the covidiot situation in Austria: Authorities have been made aware of the planned actions by Covid-deniers and local police will monitor the respective supermarkets on Friday. Seeing how they did little to nothing to curtail the massive illegal protests by rightwing groups throughout the last two months, I remain skeptical. But at the very least there has been some reaction to this madness.

Maybe this will help you put situation into perspective: in Slovakia we have the highest amount of covid-related deaths per inhabitant in the whole world.


so I guess you guys have to be doing something right.


while our prime minister did a huge press conference behind a cargo plane with Russian Sputnik vaccines that he order despite his agreement with all other government parties. A total ultra-moron.

I hear you. I don't want this to be a contest. A tragedy is a tragedy. And I'm sorry to hear Slovakia is hit that hard.


I think it's mostly down to the comprehensive healthcare system and the general wealth of Austria that there aren't more deaths than there are right now. However, according to recent studies, 7% of last year's deaths in Austria were caused by Covid. That's a significant percentage still. The fact that other countries are doing worse is a massive tragedy, really.



Yeah, I think that a lot of governments are royally fucking up right now. The reason I concentrate on Austria is because I feel most qualified to talk about it. Also, there have been some major fuckups here. Like a ski-region in the Tyrol being a major motor in the increase of infections all across Europe in the beginning.



It's also driving a wedge between relationships. I see a lot of people drifting off towards theories and behavior that I consider to be quite dangerous. At first it seemed merely fringe. But now, if only on a micro-scale, it impacts friends, acquaintances, etc. Pair that with maskless alt-right/borderline Nazi-protests that are downright ignored by the authorities despite being illegal, and we have a situation that is really disheartening right now.


Probably no news to anyone, because such things happen on a global scale. Washington D.C. being one of the more extreme examples. I'm simply reporting what it feels like in Austria right now.


But yeah, it's a shitshow all around. And I'm aware there are places that are hit much harder. I just hope that there will be some relief in the near future.

Hope you and your family are doing okay right now.

MAGAssholes adopting the term "Neanderthal" like they did with "Deplorables" in 3... 2... 1...

And now, the ultimate Coronavirus/Politics crossover post. :) Zakaria's latest Washington Post column:



(continues...)

(cont'd)

Yo _tunic_, the Dutch are getting hardcore!



Can't tell whether the pup is digging the stomping or finding it too hardcore.

https://www.mail.com/int/scitech/hea...ve-electi.html

In a perfect world (ie one where Trump is seen as the monumentally incompetent con-man that he is/was), the Republicunts would pay a price for not one single vote for the stimulus package.

But, we live in a world where Trump is still loved by at least one third of Americans.

Oh, the thing that people kind of should be doing right now?

I actually meant those that are in the risk categories.
The Dutch government has only allowed to vote by mail for the people of 70 and older. But the process is so difficult that most will probably fail. ;)

Chile becomes Latin America’s COVID-19 vaccination champion

One of the nations hardest-hit by COVID-19, Chile now outpaces most of the world in vaccinations

Yeah, OK, but do NOT give Piranha the credit; give it to the thousands of health workers doing 72+ hour shifts while earning next to nothing.

ETA: Also, Piranha didn't care for Marcelo Bielsa, so FUCK HIM.

What? You mean people of 70 or older only get to vote by mail or only people of 70 or older get to vote by mail? If the latter, this would be one of the most baffling things I heard all week.

A contender (but not much of a strong one, since we've seen this before):

https://news.google.com/stories/CAAq...S&ceid=US%3Aen

It is the latter, well to be more exact: only they get the opportunity to vote by mail. See an article about it here

True dat, though I've only read it just now. The sad thing is my total lack of surprise at this point.

Interesting. In Austria, most high-profile elections come with letters that contain a form for a vote by mail in every
mailbox these days. So the general population can choose whether to leg it or vote by mail - if the latter, you need to fill in the form and send it in to qualify in advance - but it's been a thing for a while. That's the first time I heard mail-in votes being restricted to one specific group.

This will (maybe) also be a first for you: in my country, there's simply NO mail-in vote. There just fucking isn't. The super-duper country of this side of the planet, the Covid-19 vaccination star, the land with the tallest buildings in Latin America, does not have a system for its citizens to vote by mail. Bitch-ass hall of mirrors, this joint.

Chimpanzees at Czech zoo get screen time amid virus lockdown

PRAGUE (AP) — A zoo in the Czech Republic is trying out a new way for its bored chimpanzees to monkey around during the coronavirus lockdown: face time with other primates. The Safari Park in the northern town of Dvur Kralove installed a big screen in their enclosure to show them a livestream of what their fellow chimpanzees are doing on the other side of the country at a zoo in the southern city of Brno.

I like the fact that they're being showed other chimps instead of ugly humans. :D

I was aware that there are countries without mail-in vote, but it's not something I'd specifically looked up prior, so I didn't know Chile was among them. Truth be told, I feel terribly privileged to be able to (if I wanted to) make use of this comprehensive voting system. In a way, it is a luxury. The Netherlands being so restrictive with it just caught me off-guard.

Yeah, it's really stupid, I also don't understand. The 70+ people are allowed to vote by mail, but many of them have been vaccinated by now. However those in other risk categories, e.g. handicapped or with bad health due to lung disease do have to go to the polling station (the other option is to authorize someone to vote for you).



Also, we still vote with pencil and paper, electronic voting in any way is considered to be too fraudulent. One would think that in this time it should be possible to vote online from home with your PC or mobile or tablet.
Or even go to the polling station and vote on some machine, instead we still do it the medieval way by checking a box with a red pencil on a paper leaflet which has 1579 names on it:




Anyway, we're still making a total mess of the postal voting :D




Apologies for becoming too offtopic, but hey it's still an election during Covid times ...


But in other news, we've simlar to many other European countries postponed vaccinations with AstraZeneca. Only Belgium is still continuing afaik.

OK, now I'm officially worried. If paracetamol and some decent sleep (which I haven't had in a coupla days) don't take away the symptoms I'm having, do NOT come near me.

dont take a fever pill unless your fever is high

fever kills disease

Kill Rock Stars
Rock Stars Kill
Stars Kill Rock

;)

Oh, and there's a new one: Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars). Mike Watt, Nels Cline and the rest of the Gang doing Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl"!

Is there an available option to get tested (with symptoms) in your area? Anyway: All the best and get well soon.

Thanks, man. Yes, I live in a busy area of a metropolis that Wikipedia calls "one of the largest cities in the Americas" (apparently that's from the Northern tip of Greenland to a few islands which some say are actually Antarctica :)), so getting tested is a can-do. Right now it's 20:11, I'm not at home and I gotta beat the curfew; I feel awful, but we'll see in the morning.

Now go and listen to that Rainy Day album I mentioned at the what in the heck are ya listening to thread. :D

Before you take the vaccine, read this! Don't say you weren't warned ;)


Iran cleric: People who are vaccinated for COVID have ‘become homosexuals’