Regardless, the tweet is one of the highest rated tweets made by the FDA recently with over 110,000 likes and 70,000 retweets, 50% higher than their news that Pfizer was approved in the US. Is the wit appropriate? well that's personal. Did it get the message circulating? a resounding yes in FDA terms, therefore was it successful use of FDA resources, most definitely. Will a few people feel stupid and alienated, yes they will. Will a lot stay away from taking horse drugs to treat covid, most certainly yes. So did tax payers get bang for their buck, most certainly yes as the message was spread quickly and effectively.

Well, that's your opinion. If you really want to see inappropriate behaviour, check out - as mentioned by 43Inches - The Herman Cain Award for a neverending stream of people mocking and insulting doctors, public health efforts and insulting people who get vaccinated as cowards, weak, sheep and so on, then dying of an illness that could have been largely prevented with vaccination. A lot of them have been vehement defenders of freedom of speech, loudly insisting that anyone who gets offended by what they say are snowflakes and possibly communists, so it's only fair that their own words are remembered as being proven wrong in the most permanent of ways, surely they wouldn't be offended by others exercising that same freedom of speech by remembering their own words?

And why is it called the Herman Cain Award? Because after downplaying the seriousness of covid, insisting it was a media beatup and then proceding to die of covid, his pre-scheduled twitter post went out post-mortem, claiming that covid wasn't as lethal as the media claimed.

Then what is an appropriate way to stop people thinking horse dewormer is better for Covid than a vaccine?

All the medical advice, studies, recommendations, awareness campaigns etc haven’t changed the minds of these people. The FDA trying to tell people in a joking manner that horse dewormer is bad is too offensive apparently. Trying to stop misinformation being pushed on Fox or Sky News is “denying freedom of speech” apparently.

So the message doesn’t get through, and it costs society through increased infections, healthcare costs and deaths.

True - the same types who’ve been crying about “snowflakes” and “don’t get so offended” over the last few years are now crying that their feelings are upset when they’re told to stop taking HORSE DEWORMER.

Murdoch has somehow registered sky news under entertainment. So he can say anything and no one can stop him as it’s just entertainment . No journalistic standards apply , no fact checking , nothing .

It's her hypocrisy that enables many to justify "border hopping". I was up on an unmanned border crossing yesterday and many people crossing over. Some for their work, others to see family. A lot of them Queenslanders who have livelihoods in NSW. It will only get worse. The State borders are porous.

I don’t know if you necessarily have to convince everyone though? The best you can do is be open, honest, and provide the facts, repeatedly. Get to as many as you can. I mean, some people are going to ingest things they shouldn’t no matter what.

Theres always going to be people you can’t get through to. Especially in the US where people seem to have much more freedom to do what they like.

I’ve discussed ad nauseam with some friends who were anti vax or vax hesitant (surprisingly a couple of them I’d definitely classify as of the left of politics, one even pretty far left) about the efficacy of vaccines, vaccine safety, vaccines as a pathway to normality and an organisations’ rights for mandates… in spite of the evidence some people will believe what they will, I don’t know how you change that.

As long as you can get 80% plus of a total population and even higher for the most vulnerable, and the people who refuse to get it can’t attend high risk environments, how much more is suppose to be done? In the end they’ve taken the risk of not being vaxxed or relying on a substance that won’t work and they’re free to do it.

No need to worry, our old mate Darwin will hopefully take care of all of this over the next few months.

On a different note, I don't understand this need for compassionate travel for funerals. To see loved one's before they die, of course but for the funeral?
Yeah, It's a nice to be with with family and grieve under normal circumstances but, it's hardly necessary. It's not going to bring them back is it? Especially If they died of Covid.
No better way to honour the dead of a pandemic then to bring a bunch Of people together in a church or building to hug, cry and touch each other whilst paying a small fortunate for the pleasure. :rolleyes:
If only there was another way of sharing that power point presentation full of old photos and sad music. Humans are weird. So emotionally needy.

So true, if only they would die all at once, then we could cremate them all at the same time, no need for funerals at all then, there is precedent for that you know.

While I share your point of view regarding death many don't. The need for funerals is a complex ideal based on your culture, religion, beliefs, morals, and many other things. It's very hard to understand an individuals feeling for this so it really has to be accommodated for. You could apply the same to all religions because if I don't believe in it, why should other people, so does half the population have to stop being religious.

How we grieve is very much up to the individual, some can write it off and move on, others need finality and closure, which is what a funeral represents. Some cultures the grieving goes on for years beyond the funeral with multiple dates you gather and remember. You just have to be tolerant of others sensitivities and if they are not hurting anyone, why not try to make them feel better about a bad situation.

I do think it was written in the same context as my response, A WARNING!

A Nation in Crisis is a Nation vulnerable

Step one. create a mandate everyone will agree with.
Step two, enforce the mandate
Step three remove anyone and anything that does not support the mandate
Step four delegate responsibility for any further mandates to a single entity
Step five create any mandate that entity wants.

The biggest worry is McGowan, any real push for the commonwealth to 'punish' WA for not opening borders can only strengthen his position. With his approval ratings and some good spin he could easily push a move to secede from the commonwealth and align with more lucrative foreign trade. If you want a conspiracy look there. WA is more likely to hold the commonwealth to financial ransom than the opposite. What would the feds do without the massive boost they get from WAs mining trade.

Not have to give WA their "fair share" of the GST revenue, worry about Fleet Base West, or the other defence assets deployed to WA, Ronny could be relocated from Pearce to Sale and they could offload the maintenance for the Trans-Australian Railway from the border back to WestRail.

All at a time the iron ore price looks like heading south in the next few years. Perfect time to do it!

The more important question would be for McGowan: How you gonna run a surplus with iron ore prices back around $60/tonne?

Look I'm not saying to hell with humanity As you can probably tell I am not a religious person ,:E nor am I particularly emotional kind of person. A Millennial that still embraces the "stiff upper lip" approach to most things in life. ( I don't know if that unusual or not).
But I 100% believe in live and let live. If you are not hurting anyone, you do what you want to do through life. I acknowledge we all deal with grief and death very differently. I couldn't care less if my family throw my body in a dumpster. I'm dead. I don't need it. But I'm aware I'm not normal in that regard.
All I'm asking is that right now, at this moment in time, is this nicety really necessary?

WA doesn't need to do that, all it needs to do is build desal plants all the way up the coast and feed an unlimited water supply into about 200km's inland, then open that up to agriculture, Cities would emerge all along the coast which would make it the biggest population in the biggest state that will dwarf Eastern Australia. To secede would be plain dumb.

The plan is to be the biggest state, with the biggest population, in one country on one continent.

Yes it is! and it can still be conducted safely in the same way football teams come into the state, no differently.

Bring it on!

Anyone who thinks that WA always has been an always will be a net contributor to the Commonwealth is a poor student of history. And raising and running a defence force is kinda spendy.

McClown will be exposed for the inept leader he is, his success was on the back of literally doing nothing. Anyone can close a border keep other Australians out and ride that wave. Now that Victoria appears to be changing their rhetoric as of today they see zero covid a fantasy. no mention of it today but I would think international will be on the cards for Victorians come yrs end. Gladys reiterated 80% and international travel is on and reading an article today, FiJi wants to open with NSW in December. So we will see a few interesting political motions come December. How long will McGoose and Anna stay away try to keep convincing their ppl zero is the only way. Remember just a few hrs ago Queen P back flipped after only 24hrs on the no entry to QLD after the backlash about the NRL family’s. I bet a few QLDnrs would like to visit FiJi also!

I don't understand why WA takes so much heat over this issue, SA a liberal Gov state is firm with WA, as is TAS and the NT. Why is it all about WA and QLD

They have also pushed for Secession on numerous occasions since federation, one time actually having a referendum which overwhelmingly favored such. Recently public opinion has waned on the topic, but who knows, at all other times Perth was no more than a country town. Now it's a self sufficient city with a wheatbelt and thriving economy and very good ties to a certain large Asian country that would ensure no one played with the goods.

The Australian federal goons are the only mugs playing that game. New Zealand just keeps a token force to stop piracy in their waters and that's about it. WA could just sign up to trade vs protection deals with China and wouldn't need more than a few patrol boats, they don't have the US hang ups the rest of Australia panders to. Again McGowan has shown he leans towards Asia as partners.

I'd like to visit Fiji, but even if it was open it's riddled with covid right now, you are almost 100% guaranteed to get it if you go there. You actually would be safer holidaying in Western Sydney with no mask.

What!!! No come back, are you seeing the light now. it’s purely how they go about the border issues. WA and QLD premiers are by far the worst they literally don’t care what they say or who they hurt. Marshmallow and the others know how to speak to ppl like adults. Imagine saying QLD hospitals are for QLDners come on that is just one. Other premiers don’t ban their residents whilst allowing any revenue making event or person to enter freely.

Because your muppet of a Premier says "You're from <X> You will not enter, I don't care if you've got a dying relative, or you're a West Australian who went to <X> to bury your mother, you aren't coming back". He also says "I don't care where your National FIFO crew live, if they're from <X> you'll have to get your employees from WA, I don't care how much of a specialist they are, or how critical they are to your business, get your employees from WA, because the other's aren't coming back."

SA, Tasmania and the NT all allow compassionate travel. They all allow residents to return to SA/NT/The Apple Isle and they all allow essential FIFO crew to enter, subject to relevant restrictions.

McGowan won't.

And now, with the brouhaha about the WA hospital crisis, the reason for McGowan's antics is becoming clear. It isn't about keeping Covid out because Covid is a mean and nasty virus. It's because your health system is at crisis point without Covid. And when not if Covid gets in to WA, he's going to want to hope your health system is in a much better place than it is now!

As for Anna Stay-Away, well, there's only so many babies you can kill by refusing their mother treatment before people crack the shits. There's only so many nurses who work for NSW Health but live in Qld that you can refuse entry to before people get the shits. There's only so many NRL families you can allow entry to the state to while rejecting genuine residents trying to return home before people get the shits, and all of the above, people see right through. OF course, it doesn't help when your CHO openly admits you can buy your way into the Sunshine State, while at the same time torpedoing the AZ vaccine rollout...

I haven't seen the SA/Tasmanian/NT Government carry on like either WA or Qld have...

That is the crux of it, WA and QLD have sprouted some clangers and are treating this like some sort of competition for sporting events, but at the same time, restricting movement of compassionate cases.

Tasmania seems to have a fairly balanced approach with measured closures to vulnerable areas but still accessable. SA has just followed the others and kept quiet, as well as sent Delta into Melbourne and Sydney, so we can't fully forgive them. That's probably why they have stayed quiet.

Oh I see, well it may come as a complete surprise but SA doesn't even allow residents to return from VIC or NSW at the moment,. I really liked the nickname Marshmellow at least he hasn't been left out.
I do agree about QLD CMO torpedoing the AZ vaccine, that was just plain dumb, we don't hear about heart muscle swelling anymore from Pfizer, probably for the same reason.
The labor premiers do take a bit of crap from their liberal counterparts and the PM, it's customary for labor to reply with a headbutt, rather than a handshake, afterall it was the PM that banned them :)

P.S are you saying if we do the compassionate thing you'll ease up on the labor premiers, or will it still be open season.

I remember decades ago there was a comedy sketch that use to run on the ABC titled "how green is my cactus" all puppets with similar names ripping off our politicians and leaders, I did enjoy that show, anyone remember it.

it still is on radio… I love the show.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Green_was_my_Cactus

This might be what you are looking for....


Rubbery Figures.

That was the TV puppet show, 'How Green was my Cactus' is the radio show and is still going.

Yep that's it both really funny shows. How badly has Craig Kelly screwed up, anyone taking bets on a single seat including his own.

Oh dear. Good try.

Even us nobodies can google "national implied power" or "nationhood power" or "vertical fiscal imbalance".

well said KR -)
McClown is on par with the lunatic Andrews, both out to destroy people's hopes and dreams one way or another!

Well now that you've caught on, do things he says and does make a bit more sense? He'd be an idiot to allow an excessive number of cases to develop if he knows the hospital system can't cope. Which is kind of how this whole pandemic thing kicked off.....

how was sky news tonight?

No, it does not. His CHO testified under oath that the WA health system is capable of handling 5,000 Covid cases, with, IIRC, 500 per day increase - and that was a year ago!

Fixing a health system in crisis is not a quick or easy task, and to use that as an excuse to deny people their constitutionally-guaranteed right to travel without being penalised simply because they live in a particular state is a very slippery slope - particularly when your own CHO testified under oath that your current state health system could manage with upto 500 new cases per day!

Because if that is going to be the excuse he uses to keep the border closed after the nation hits the 80% target, where does it end for him? What will the trigger be to reopen the WA border - given the WA health system is on a knifes edge without any Covid cases?

Where does it end for QLD. They’re a league of their own. The dribble coming out of that pelican CMO of theirs and Queen P. They are making up $hit to scare their ppl to keep it closed.

WA may have come to their senses today they are making it mandatory for health care workers to be vaccinated by end of month for the “inevitable” arrival for delta.

I do hope everyone realizes the irony in accusing Palaszczuk and McGowan of despotism while the Liberal Premier is the one who has imposed the harshest, longest restrictions on civil liberties on her citizens in living memory. I imagine many of those criticizing QLD and WA are sitting in lockdown hammering on their keyboards with kids screaming in the background counting down the minutes to their one hour of physical exercise permitted per day.

If you’re going to accuse politicians of ineptitude, perhaps look at the place where you aren’t allowed more than 5km from your house because of mismanagement. If you’re accusing politicians of acting against the will of the people, maybe avoid those who have won their respective state elections by record breaking landslides.

I believe 80% double dosed is sensible as I'm sure all the leaders do regardless of what they say publicly. We know the worst thing you can do is allow people to count down the days to freedom day. Not only is it crushing it's dangerous, it's most likely the reason VIC has lost control of it, someone's spreading it.

All I really want to see is that those in the food bowl and particularly the wheat belt right across across the country into western NSW, are vaccinated. Most are not, they are miles from anywhere and when they come to town you better be ready with that vaccine, or get it to them. Harvest from NOV, if it gets into those communities, it's all over, there will be more to worry about than open borders and freedoms.

you didn’t watch question time today? WA and QLD have those same issues, except they are not allowing the skilled labor in to harvest so those crops because they don’t have it. The whole country is in a mess at the moment and will be for a loooong time.


Tuck
I do hope everyone realizes the irony in accusing Palaszczuk and McGowan of despotism while the Liberal Premier is the one who has imposed the harshest, longest restrictions on civil liberties on her citizens in living memory. I imagine many of those criticizing QLD and WA are sitting in lockdown hammering on their keyboards with kids screaming in the background counting down the minutes to their one hour of physical exercise permitted per day.

Are you sure about that? Actually a labor premier that has the
“world “ record for locking up their citizens. By all accounts Sydney stay at home is not all that strict compared to what others have done.

Yeah that's the wheat belt. We don't use imported labour, it's Farmers working with Farmers. $8B over 6 weeks. What you're talking about are the fruit growers, they have always used imported workers, Australians (city people) won't do it, too busy going to the beach. Market Gardens are closer to the cities and operate all year round, that's your tomatoes, potatoes, anything that's pulled out of the ground.

Gladys sounds like she’s accepting an Oscar every time she holds a press conference. If she thanks enough people it just might seem like she’s doing a good job. Noticed she’s been saying “died with covid” lately too, seems like she’s prepping for deniability come the inevitable disaster that will be October and November.

Surely they have all realised by now that the current rate of vaccinations won’t continue to 80%?

We can organise a booze bus to out into the country areas but the concept of a large mobile vaccination clinic seems to be beyond common comprehension.