I try to give an insight in my own life and dealings with rosacea. I also try to gather information that might be useful for everyone with rosacea, especially subtype 1 with burning, flushing and skin redness. I happen to be a bit unfortunate in that I have this condition for a long time already, and unlike many others, I haven't been able to get it into remission. I know it is more uplifting to read about someone who has beaten rosacea, but I like to write about the struggles that come for those who haven't achieved this. I also blabber here about everyday life topics.
January 6th 2022
And in said Australia, tennis number one ranking Novak Djokovic was invited to come defend his title in the Australian Open, only to be stopped at the border controls at Melbourne airport and to be detained all night and then thrown into a quarantine hotel, reportedly about to be 'deported from Australia'. Not because he has covid, but because he isn't vaccinated. He had covid in the past, he is healthy now, he lives in a tennis bubble, he was granted an exemption by the Australian Open organizers reportedly, but well... 'computer says no'. The Victorian government gave him an exemption, which he was entitled to trust. He wouldn't have flown to Australia otherwise. (Update: a later leaked letter proves indeed that Tennis Australia caused Novak Djokovic's visa debacle, by telling unvaccinated players they could enter the country and that a prior Covid infection would get them across the border. And in court documents published on Saturday January 8th, Djokovic's lawyers claim he received written clearance from Australia's immigration department (Department of Home Affairs) also, with a medical exemption from its vaccination rules) - I know that people in Aus have been put through hell with the countries' covid rules. But that is not Novak's fault. Nevertheless, the entire country seems in arms, because an 'elite' would have been granted special exemption. Always interesting to see how some people try to steer the discussion towards 'privilege' only when it suits their narrative. Never mind that this has happened throughout the pandemic with rugby league players and other sportsmen and celebrities. My friend B. is from there and tells me that there was no outrage when Cricket teams toured around while the rest of the country was locked in their respective states, or when the NRL and AFL seasons had special concessions to play. Olympians were also allowed to travel abroad and back home and were given special concessions. Australia also let India tour there with cricket last year, giving them special concessions. So why after 2 years of giving sports people concessions, is Novak considered an **** for wanting to play tennis there, áfter the government originally allowed him to? Politicians simply noticed the massive backlash and then in a panic revoked his visa. What a shambles. "But.... Rules are rules!!", some people shout. Why are Australian politicians, their staff, senior police and other flunkies exempt from the jab then? And no one asked for extensive details of Rebel Wilson's exemption from quarantine when she flew in from US and was allowed to roam free instantly; she was supposed to spend 72 hours in home isolation, as per the rules at that time, but instead waltzed straight into a celebrity event. But she's vaccinated. Sporters and celebs in Australia have received exemptions even before vaccination started and when the borders were shut for everyone else. So what has "after what Victorians have been through" got to do with it? Novak wasn't the one who locked you up at home and sent your business broke. Now I hope he will play after all and wins, and rubs it in all the hater's faces, especially those in the stadium.
I joked with another of my Aussie friends about Djokovic deserving to be shot at dawn for entering Australia unvaccinated. I was cynical, but he really wants the geezer to suffer over this. Gulag camp will also do, as long as he gets humiliated there long and publicly enough, I learnt. I find it amazing how people defend the totalitarianism they are now happy to live under. Instead of attacking the governments with their over-the-top rules, they attack the sportsman trying to play a game of tennis. Stockholm Syndrome in action? Queensland senator Matt Canavan on the other hand said that letting Djokovic play in the first grand slam of the year posed 'little risk', because the tennis star had contracted Covid-19 before. 'Natural immunity by multiple studies is much, much stronger than the immunity you get from having a vaccination,' Mr Canavan said on the Today show on Wednesday. 'So there's little risk here in letting Novak Djokovic in.' The senator said on a 'practical ground' the player was unlikely to cripple Victoria's health system after the state recorded 14,000 cases and 516 people in hospital. 'Yes, some of us would love to see rules apply literally and constantly. But I think some of these rules are temporary,' Mr Canavan said. 'We've got to get back to a sensible world here and move on with life and thankfully, with the seemingly less lethal Omicron variant, I think we're very close to that, and here perhaps is just another small step to ending the pandemic and returning, as I say, to the land of commonsense.' But Canavan's pacifistic words were all in vain, as the public opinion and media outrage probably sealed Djokovic' fate. A single ticket back to Serbia is on the cards now. They should perhaps consider renaming the Australian Open, because this is no open welcome. The Australian Closed or Close-minded? And although I would love Medvedev to win the tournament, I also hope that Australian officials will quickly come to their senses. The humiliation. Not for him, but for Australia. Victimised for a medical decision, but the world is so full of hate now; this is the new normal. We tell our kids 'you be you' 'you go your own way', and then turn around and mock people who don't conform, based on their personal medical situation (as if it makes them all instant superspreaders and fellow citizen killers automatically). The West that we once knew, a haven of freedom and responsibility, has for the moment disappeared. We are back in the days of millennial fears and scapegoats. 'First time in history that the ineffectiveness of a medicine is being blamed on those who haven't taken it', says Robert Malone, MD and pioneer of mRNA gene therapy. I can't wait to see how Wimbledon will deal with this in the summer. (Go Nole, hope you can defend your title and will get booed by the Aussie crowd so bad that it will make you even more determined and win your 21st grand slam). The only good part about this saga are the inevitable memes. Edit; Nole dóes seem to have worked himself into real trouble with his applications and traveling around before landing in Australia..
Meanwhile Omicron shows more and more how very disappointing the vaccinations and their boosters are. Cases are higher than they ever were. Nearly 300,000 positive covid tests per day in France, where 90% of the population is fully vaccinated. Over 12.000 infections per day in Israel, one of the most vaccinated and boostered countries in the world. The Netherlands has record numbers of 25.000 confirmed covid cases per day. 90% vaccinated in Australia, yet case numbers are going through the roof - let's face it, the vaccinated can be just as contagious as the unvaccinated. Hospitalization numbers are only going down because Omicron is such a mild version of covid. It is shown in South Africa too, with a very low vaccination rate among the population. You would think that there would be some optimism now that Omicron seems to indeed have the characterisation of the much hoped for variant that spreads faster but makes you less sick. Everything is pointing in that direction right now. Good news, and with some luck society has built up natural immunity in months now and the end of the pandemic could be in sight. But governments nevertheless install more restrictive legislation in record time. 2G rule in the Netherlands is on the table, Macron in France pushes through a 2G vaccination pass which further 'pisses off' the 4 or so million unvaccinated French into isolation. Mind you, they were already housebound for the most part in the past year, as entrance testing is necessary for mostly everything and very expensive. The French government is locked in dogmatic choices which they do not know how to get out of. The "modern" method is a long way off. Or is it? It is also a shame that only the infection statistics are made public by now, but they leave out the stats on how many of those people are (un)vaccinated. It could bring some clarity in this myth (?) that the unvaccinated are to blame for everything. Although going by mathematics, with these skyhigh infection rates we must have far exceeded the total unvaccinated numbers over time. Véran claimed last summer that when 90% of the population would be vaccinated, there would be only a few hundred covid cases per day.. Véran must be careful, by dint of announcing record numbers of "cases" every day, he will soon end up having declared more cases in aggregate than the size of the population. At this rate, of 1 million cases in a week, the 5 million unvaccinated will have acquired provisional immunity in 1.5 months and, with the 60 million vaccinated, France will be close to collective immunity. But you won't hear about that. Just like we are never shown the statistics of how many unvaccinated people have simply gotten through a covid infection without any problem. General stats tell us that over 99% of them did just that. Only a small percentage of these people will have a serious illness requiring hospitalization, yet a smaller percentage will go to intensive care. Don't get me wrong; that is horrible. For these people themselves, as well as their families. But the media mostly highlights one or two poor souls who died unvaccinated. Rarely covid casualties who were fully vaccinated. (Just like you need to go to non-mainstream channels to read about the odd young person(s) dying right after their vaccinations). It's of course a smokescreen, since the vaccine does not prevent transmission. We all know it, science knows it, but we're still going to pretend that we don't.
Vaccine efficacy is collapsing. The real vaccine efficacy is close to 20 or 30% and new data made it clear that within 10 weeks the vaccine-induced antibodies are down again. But you wouldn't know about it if you go by media headlines only. We say that vaccines protect against deadly forms, but even this protection quickly disappears over time. So will we have to keep boostering people all over the world (sorry, in the First world countries) at an increasing rate? If it is up to leading Oxford vaccine expert professor Sir Andrew Pollard, we will not. While Israel has already announced a fourth booster, Sir Andrew Pollard, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) — which advises No10, said administering booster vaccines to everyone every six months was 'not sustainable'. 'We know people have strong antibodies for a few months after their third vaccine —but more data are needed to assess whether, when and how often those who are vulnerable will need additional doses.' Professor Pollard says that Britain shouldn't start rolling out fourth Covid vaccines until there is more evidence they are even needed. He said future immunisation drives should target the most vulnerable, rather than all adults. 'We can't vaccinate the planet every four-six months. The future must be focusing on the vulnerable and making boosters or treatments available to them to protect them'. - Statistics show the same pattern: covid deaths predominantly take place in people that are (well) older than 60 years or with comorbidity. Update: The CDC director just confirmed that over 75% of “covid deaths” occurred in people with at least four comorbidities. This even happened among the vaccinated. Protect people with comorbidities and the elderly. The rest of society probably needs to function normally again sooner rather than later, in order to prevent the economic and societal adverse impacts and irreparable harm being done to children also. Of course different countries in the world has used different tactics during these past years. Some with better results than others.
The vaccines mainly stop susceptible people getting very ill from the virus and reduce symptoms. They don't stop people getting it in the first place or transmitting it. Rafael Nadal just said for instance that he just recovered from covid. Then said he was fully vaccinated. And that has become an acceptable thing to say now: that you just suffered from the illness you've been vaccinated for. They just won't utter the conclusion that the vaccines are not doing what we were promised they would do, and moved the goalpost towards them protecting now against death (which was not just primarily what the companies initially promised and were given emergency treatment use for - aside from covid not being deadly for over 99% of the unvaccinated population either). Then again, everyone can decide for themselves if they want boosters or not. Statistics are one thing of course, but everything changes when it is your own family or loved ones that perished due to this virus... But some criticism is probably warranted in retrospect, when looking at the choices made by different governments.
Alexandre Jardin wrote on one of the last days of 2021, in a non-exhaustive summary of the mistakes of the French government: "Two years in 'Absurdistan'!" "Real madness starts when you normalize it. [..] As a teenager, I would never have imagined that in two dazzling years we would see the tricolor state without laughing inventing self-authorizations, signed by oneself to circulate in time of confinement. That the mask would first be deemed useless by a minister who, without warning, would then decide to verbalize any recalcitrant at the port. That local elected officials would be for real prevented by the State from providing masks to their fellow citizens. That pharmacies would first be fined if they were sneaky enough to sell masks to the French, before they were asked to become vaccination centers! That our mastodon large-scale distribution - with very efficient purchasing systems in Asia - would first of all be banned from importing masks by the genius egg skulls of Bercy on the grounds that "the affair was regal given its seriousness”! That more than 5,700 full hospital beds would be closed in 2020 by our talented mini-Colbert [= Macron, also dubbed Jupiter for cynical reasons], just to scorn the pandemic by following a majestic plan to reduce hospital capacity. That smart bureaucrats would imagine ski slopes without ski lifts. That in the midst of a shortage of medical personnel, our techno prodigies would have the rich idea of outright prohibiting unvaccinated medical personnel from treating people, even after producing negative tests, preferring to reserve these jobs for vaccinated persons who are partly carriers of the virus. That the French state, once controlled by book lovers, would take the dazzling initiative to close bookstores when the people were locked up, by having (for real) covers over the books in Monoprix. That a very strange hatred of small traders would incite - without compensation - the State to frankly favor Amazon! And that a general confinement affecting our finances - unintended by serious and thoughtful public plans anticipating disasters - would be decided on a corner of the table in a quarter of an hour, without strategic reflection. That no indisputable meta-analysis would then come to confirm that this gregarious dementia would have had a certain effectiveness in protecting the population, since the confinements have probably destroyed more years of life than they have spared, because all impoverishment shortens the life expectancy of the most fragile. That the government of France, once stupid enough to care for its children, would make the top modern choice to favor the oldest who vote, rather than the fate of its young people who do not vote. That our glorious ARS would prove capable of refusing help from competent veterinary labs, of refusing antiseptic gels produced by viscerally civic non-pharmaceutical industries."
I never imagined that the head of our government would appear on TV one evening to inform us that the popcorn in the movies and the Snickers in the TGV are over.
New realityIn 2020, France for all its freedom limiting management of the pandemic, globally only ranked 78th out of 110 countries in terms of effectivity. Nevertheless the vaccine passport is still considered the holy grail of sorts in some countries. But vaccination passes deny access to normal life and they also in effect train us to be discriminatory. And to scapegoat. They create a "papers please" society. They criminalise otherwise normal activity. They reflect a propaganda-fed and cowed society. Do any of us want to live like this? Clearly a lot of people do. I guess it also depends on how many virus victims are allowed at all. Some people say that we cannot lock down entire societies to prevent any death; that death is part of living and that we also never locked down entire economies and personal lives during ferocious flu winters in the past (with at times at least as many deaths among the oldest and weakest in society..). But this pandemic was new for mostly everyone and countries over the world chose different tactics and set different expectations. I personally do not understand why 4 vaccine injections in the space of one year is considered acceptable to the point of forcing other people to join in that. I wonder if with time, public opinion will turn or not. Perhaps by the (potential) 10th booster round? Maybe after the majority out there will have accepted being injected with a vaccine passport microchip, like 6000 Swedes have already done? Don't get me wrong: everyone can vaccinate and booster themselves as long and often as they like. But these vaccines are under clinical trials until 2023. Thats why they could only be licensed for emergency use, to be given to the vulnerable who are exhibiting serious medical symptoms of an infection. And if you question their use, or that one needs four doses of them in the space of 12 months, while not statistically stopping transmission of the virus (that now has the same IFR as the flu), then the media and the rule by mob declare you an 'anti vaxxer' and enemy. That doesn't seem right to me. But who am I? I just wished more people would speak out against that. Instead of cheering the same thing: Just comply to the rules (or else no access, no job, no health care, no housing, no benefits, no identity card; where could it all end with this reasoning?). Anyway, let's hope it will never get that bad.
But I honestly believe that leaders like Macron's biggest achievements are that by spreading fear, they managed to create an army of spiteful, hateful monsters among the general population. And in the process, some of the most eminent (but skeptical) scientists have been sidelined and ridiculed from the start of the epidemic. Science seems to have been replaced by scientism more often than not: an appearance only of science, with its subjective "models" and patients by "cases" of which we never quite see the exact criteria. (Average age of people in intensive care here: 79 years). Did politicians sacrifice youth? Different people will have different opinions about this. Of course, the parliamentarians are not subjected to the vaccination pass. So far the majority of Dutch politicians are not yet convinced that a 2G system will really curb the pandemic in our country, and consider it a very 'liberty destroying' measure. Especially with the more contagious Omicron variant, testing seems much more reliable than 2G. Only the two main Right wing parties VVD and D66 are dead-set on 2G still. And our own Hugo de Jonge from the CDA threatens the non-vaccinated that the government knows all their post codes and house addresses and will come round to personally get them jabbed ("district by district, door by door, arm by arm"). Nice. When UK politics announced such a threat, the general public responded in comment sections that the government official in question would need plastic surgery then. But overall, European countries are setting a more and more chilling example to each other. Austria and Germany at the forefront ('no other alternative'). For me it has to do with proportionality. Quebec wants to charge the unvaccinated a special tax, to help fund the hospital costs. To me, that sort of discrimination can still be seen as proportional. But what Austria does, fining the unvaccinated up to 15000 euro per year or throwing them in jail; that is unacceptable really. Of course leaders had it really tough these past years. Accused of having blood on their hands; having one portion of society screeching for tougher rules and the other part for less restrictions.. None of them had real experience probably with a global pandemic situation. But we can still look back and cast a verdict about their policies I think. My biggest beef is with politicians like macron and the Austrians right now, while so much data is available and we all know that the vaccines are underwhelming in many respects. Yet they still go full steam ahead with the mandates and the camps and all that sh*t. That's what gets me much more than the early lockdowns; everyone was afraid then and nobody knew what they were doing. And as my friend B. summarized it perfectly: "What annoys you and me are the lies by governments. You and I have known for quite some time that if you get the virus, you have natural antibodies. What annoys us is that Novak has natural immunity and more antibodies than the vaxxed. It is the lying and ignorance of these facts that outrage us. Most Australians don't know this because the media and governments lie or omit the truth. It's the combination of these lies that have infuriated us. We know the vaccine has hurt some people but they are lying. They lied about the efficacy of the vaccine for the past 7 months. And they have banned people for telling the truth". Meanwhile some people think you (as in: me) are a nutcase for talking to them about Israeli studies, first indicating that indeed, vaccines do not prevent infection or infectiousness. Or that the vaccines only really prevent for a few months at most. And once this information becomes mainstream (read: their favourite news channel or newspaper reports on it), they act as if they knew that all along and rarely ever come back to you (as in: me) to say something along the line of: 'you were right about that'. Like CNN now being late to the 'party'. CNN who were one of the worst with their covid bullshit the past years, have done a 180 and are now "outraged" What a joke. Probably they are now having the fingerspitzengefühl that the tide is changing and off they are, onto a next bandwagon. This could have been a Southpark topic:
Anyway... Let's hope my parents are right, and this is all temporary and self-limiting. Let's hope this doesn't all end with a social credit system (the environment!), digital money only (your safety!) and complete digital ID data of all citizens. Let's hope I just read too many science fiction books. Today not having a covid vaccination leaves you out of the normalcy loop (or ultimately in jail, in Austria); tomorrow - if we're not careful - smoking, being obese, flying too much or having dissident opinions gets you barred from normal life. Because there are radicals now who promote the notion that unvaccinated people should not receive medical care at all. Alcohol and tobacco kill 120,000 French people a year and cost the Nation 240 billion. Next thing smokers won't be treated by doctors. Is that the type of society people want to go move towards? I hope not. As doctor Alice Desbiolles says today in a newspaper: "As a doctor, I apply the Hippocratic Oath and the code of medical ethics. It is sad to note that for the 20 years of the Kouchner law of 2002, which has a famous article on the free and informed consent of individuals to receive a treatment or an examination, we come to stigmatize people who refuse prophylaxis. I regret that we end up pitting citizens against others, and even doctors against patients! The terms of the debate are not correct. It is not the unvaccinated who clog hospitals and who cause operations to be postponed, beds removed or patients not to come in case of positive tests. The real problem is structural: the hospital is undersized and unattractive for caregivers, in terms of salaries, working conditions, loss of meaning for its profession. Beds however available at the AP-HP are not open due to the departure of caregivers." “Whether they are unvaccinated, smokers, overweight, in traffic accidents, it is not the patients who are the source of the problem. We have an undersized and unattractive hospital ”.
Dans les poulaillers d'acajou,
Les belles basses-cours à bijoux,
On entend la conversation
De la volaille qui fait l'opinion.
song by Souchon
In the mahogany henhouses,
The beautiful jewelry backyards,
We hear the conversation
Of the poultry which makes the opinion.
Luckily I had a lovely holiday period with friends and their kids, walks in nature, fun and games and no TV news and internet. Until yesterday, that is haha, Now I am catching up and pissed again :) My rosacea has unfortunately also been flaring up lately.
Songs of the day
January 3rd 2022
Let's see which dance 2022 will resemble :)
Human behaviour; artwork or social experiment?I have always liked the performance art of Marina Abramovic, and luckily saw quite a few expositions of her work over the years. This is a very important performance she once did. her work always has to do with endurance, overcoming pain and your own boundaries. But in this piece, she allowed the public to do whatever it wanted basically. To me, it shows the danger of group function; once one person oversteps a certain boundary, you see others following. Further and further. She did more performances in which the audience plays a role, and the outcome is always similar to here. It reminded me of a 2000 performance piece at the Trapholt Art Museum Denmark. Artist Marco Evaristti allowed visitors to decide over the fate of 10 goldfish, swimming in 10 water-filled blenders. Police ordered a power cut in the museum, after two fish were killed at the opening night. Animal rights activists had filed a complaint. I doubt the other 8 fish would have made it till the end of the exhibit. Aren't humans wonderful :)
Happy Christmas thoughts
Armistice
Beautiful coloured-in footage taken right after the Battle of the Lys and the Escaut; the third and last phase of the Second Battle of Belgium (French: 2ème Bataille de Belgique) or the Ypres-Lys Offensive, which took place between 20 October and 11 November 1918. Armistice came into force at 11:00 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a defeat for Germany. On this last day of the war, a last number of 2,738 men died. This is footage of a German young soldier who survived. It was recently restored and colorized. I am not sure if this lad realized at the time how lucky he was to make it out of that war alive. It touches me I suppose. Also how mesmerized and giddy and uncomfortable some people were in the presence of a camera. Whereas nowadays everyone seems to grow up with them.
Happy and healthy 2022
And me and our Dutch leaders and their crisis management
doctors hope you also had a merry Christmas :)
Dec. 27th 2021. These times of groupthink and collective hysteria will soon be modern history and studied in bewildermentI'm not sure how many people think alike in this regard, but I can only imagine how - once sanity has returned - the mass hysteria and storm of (some) bad government decisions of today will be studied for decades to come. What drove masses of people to run around like headless chickens, casting aside common sense and hard statistics, in favour of demagogy from state leaders and the media? To let themselves be forced into using medical treatments which have barely been reliably studied and of which no long-term safety data exist; vaccines whose side-effect manual is literally empty when you fold it out. It is easy speaking for me, without the weight of responsibility on my shoulders which state leaders clearly do feel. I don't think they're all corporate shills or psychopaths. But there is a sense of being shellshocked now, compared to the way life was before the pandemic hit. Some decisions made in the wake of it appear extreme, also compared to all the freedom and joy a lot of people had in the 2010's-2019. Maybe this is partly at play when we see government who approved the vaccines in a great hurry (and panic) as "emergency treatment"; because they wanted things to go back to normal asap. And why most people surrendered to the call: because they also wanted to go back asap to visiting restaurants and cinemas, like they were used to normally. Today in the news: "Door-to-door Covid jab teams to be sent to homes of unvaccinated Britons in plans to reach five million yet to be inoculated." (So much for private and confidentiality regarding our medical records if this is true; then random volunteers will be given private data, basically announcing people's vaccine status to the whole street). It does sound a bit sinister. In a time in which covid modellers openly admit that governments expect them to model the worst-case scenarios. Worst case theories which subsequently have been used to smash tottering businesses, or bring further despair and isolation to the lonely and old, as well as the young and the students. Worst case predictions which more often than not proved to be incorrect so far. But at least the vaccinated can go to restaurants. The fact that perfectly healthy people without covid symptoms (and even with a negative test) are left out in the cold and are banned from normalcy.. that is the sort of stuff I would have expected all people to object to. Riot over. Stick together over. During WW2, the Danish king told the Nazi's that if Danish Jews had to wear a yellow badge, he would do so too. And his ministers would do as well. Everyone would do so. This is why the Nazi plans didn't work over there. Solidarity. But you can forget about that today. People just turn the tables and call the sceptics the traitors and the cause that their vaccines are failing to a degree.
Perfect preludeSo perhaps the past decade has been a perfect prelude for all this. Many people have grown increasingly materialistic and focused on their own pleasures in a life, without the promise of an afterlife. Social media has slowly but surely enforced censorship on those not going along with the main narrative, whether it is about woke topics, liberal opinions or things that otherwise go against the grain. Nobody blinks an eye anymore about cancelled celebrities and deactivated social media accounts for the new age online dissidents. As long as people themselves can continue to do what they like to do, who cares about people falling by the wayside? I am a liberal voter in the Netherlands, a socialist, but hate this whole ongoing censorship and wokeness, presented as some magical wonderful progressive thing. No, it is highly conservative and restrictive in the way it is used now, censoring anything that doesn't fit the mould. Even as a student at university I was surprised with this similar attitude. The time of mass protests was long gone. It was all about individualized needs and wants. And it has become so normal that naysayers are banned and silenced online, that governments and their media have a field day by now. Dragging up "The doctor, who wished to remain anonymous...." to state wrong or old statistics to induce fear (instead of the actual weekly reports of public health services). In a time of online information, of which my father raves, suppressing unwanted information seems to have never been easier. The biggest achievement of all may be, that those who are believing all official narratives have been successfully convinced that they in fact are always the sensible intelligent ones, and the doubters are at all times the misinformed lunatics. More chance of converting a cult member than to convince the 'righteous and informed' of this though.. People as a whole can be bombarded with propaganda more easily than ever nowadays, as we're (mostly) all more online than offline. Mainstream media is for the most part in the hands of about a dozen different owners. Some are dictated from the top down where the line is. It was a bit of a surprise therefore when on Thursday, a prominent BBC presenter wondered out loud whether a 'Covid hospitalisation' actually meant that the person involved was in hospital for Covid rather than something else (but also tested positive while in hospital). Who knows? This is not specified by the statesmen. Just like governments make sure to keep it ultra vague whether or not people died 'of covid' or 'with covid'. Autopsies are rare, and so vaccination deaths are also not often proven. What doesn't get investigated, stays in the dark. Perhaps it is a conspiracy hype, but how will we know if it isn't properly investigated? Articles that promote falsehoods are just as easily dumped on the internet by online papers, as they're taken off again. Poof, gone from history.
GroupthinkI've always been interested in topics like world wars and group thinking mechanisms. People say that we need 'distance' to analyse what is going on today; to oversee the "mass psychosis" which we have witnessed these past years, and counting. But plenty of people are already speaking out about what they think is going on. I saw a fantastic interview the other day with a Belgian clinical psychologist, Mattias Desmet, who explained very aptly how mass formation works. He basically explains that one needs a perfect storm for the ultimate mass formation; fear, a common threat, unhappiness and something to project it all on... In mass group functioning, you often have a core group of 30% he says, who actually gets high on the feeling of being in the majority group. And then there are 40% within this majority group who just follow them. And then a minority group remains, who say something along the lines of "Hey, hold on here, what the heck are you promoting there?" They are usually made into the common enemy. History is full of such examples. He said there were two countries standing up to the Nazi's at the time, and basically refusing to go along; Bulgaria and Denmark. They were not susceptible to the mass formation. In Denmark the king said that he himself would also wear a yellow star, just like the Jews had to if this rule was implemented. And that his ministers would too, and then his officers would too. So that in the end, nobody would stand out as Jew anymore. And so the whole yellow star business never came off the ground there. Same thing happened in Bulgaria. So sometimes someone does step up to put a halt to it all (with the risks that come with that). But now in this corona era you see basically a lot of news channels and journalists (who are often afraid themselves) and even scientists fall in the same traps, making the same thinking errors. What makes matters even more difficult is that nowadays, society is super connected. The media can literally reach mostly everyone who doesn't live under a rock. (Whereas it was a real challenge for people like Goebbels in the past to continuously reach everyone with his propaganda). The good Germans could be reached, but it became a lot more difficult with foreigners in other parts of the newly built Reich. But nowadays most people are glued to their phone or tablet half the time. In Europe, leaders of most countries look at each other and some mimic each other's (harsher and harsher) rules. Why do we always imitate other people's bad ideas? Perhaps it would be good if we stopped looking at each other in Europe. The media never tell us about Florida, Texas and other US Republican states that do not experience such restrictions and do not have a record worse than ours. Let us look at the side of the free countries and not of an adrift EU. I provided English subtitles to this short clip which answers some of my ongoing questions about human behaviour during this pandemic. If you like psychology, then this is a bit of a 'must see' I would say. Human solidarity and mass functioning in the face of crisis and fear. Listen and shiver:
Black and white thinkingIt feels sad and also a bit lonely to hear so few people speak out about what is going on all around us. It makes me upset that so many fall for certain media rhetoric and automatically cast 'the others' aside as conspiracy idiots, 'covid denialists' and brainwashed idiots. Or worse; accusing them of not caring about human lives. Doing exactly as most of the media tells them to do, propagating a false dichotomy between harsh authoritarian measures or mass death. Even religious leaders seem to have switched to peddling vaccinations instead of the afterlife. But I shouldn't be surprised, because that sort of black and white thinking and intolerance for nuance of opinion is something we have seen showcased in the past years as well (and I complained about it here for all those years already). But now I am sometimes feeling a bit bitter about just how many people I know who shrug their shoulders and pay no more attention to the 'others', because they are vaccinated and can carry on much more like normal. This is a good German interview with a respected doctor/scientist, who basically speaks out a similar bewilderment and disgust even with the mentality of the majority, when their fellow (unvaccinated) countrymen are banned from even going to church any longer, or from purchasing some roasted almonds from a street vendor in the open air. Exactly this disinterest in the injustice that befalls others, the minority, is what worries him, and he says it is not something he expected Germans to ever make such grave mistakes over again. See the video itself here. Also a video of hope:
My worriesYou would think that this new milder Omicron variant would relax matters. But no, the rules are only screwed up more and more. France for instance is now also facing mandatory vaccination for anyone who wants to do anything that makes life worth living. It is an unfair and frighteningly move. I wonder when the time will come that I, as someone who is not vaccinated and has medical doctor's letters advising against vaccination in my personal (autoimmune, hyper allergy) health case, will not only be seen as a badly informed nutcase, but will perhaps also no longer be allowed to go or travel anywhere at all. It feels lonely in a way, to be in that (minority) position. But how can I give 'informed consent' when there have not even been trials yet on autoimmune people, or people taking certain medication? It isn't just about people like me though, who have medical reasons; everyone has as a principle a right to object to this experimental medical treatment. But the general response can be very predictable by now: 'Well, I am vaccinated so whatever'. If it doesn't involve someone's personal rights, people can drop dead all around us, and we tend to no longer care. It is like standing in the middle of a war zone and having your friends shrug it off as no biggy, because their houses and PlayStations have been spared and Wi-Fi is still working. In quite a few minds, the freedom of vaccinated people to resume a normal life trumps the basic human rights of the minority group. It is disappointing and I don't care how many friends disagree with me. It is distressing to have the rules of society and the places you are still allowed to go cut off, and especially for the rules to change constantly, despite not being sick and being willing to prove so. If they want to keep people on their toes with anxiety, then it is working. I know that everyone had it tough these past years, every one of us alike. Some had to let go of loved ones without even the chance to attend their funeral, others were isolated for long times, or fell ill, or deal with long covid. Some people had vaccine side-effects and died or can no longer walk or function properly, that is also a terrible thing to have happened and not something to deny or ignore. In France some vaccinated people are now getting restless and suddenly want to protest, because the government now plans to request vaccination proof and also a negative PCR test for some social outings. Halt! That wasn't the deal!, they shout. To that I'd like to say: 'Aha, revolt at the end of the occupation?' Yes, the deals are changing all the time for the rest of us. But that sort of bullying didn't bother you, until it now also concerns yourself. It was at the beginning that you had to rebel. The more I see and the more I hear Macron and others, the more I understand what Sartre meant by "Hell is other people ..."
For me personally, the weight of the constant put downs and propaganda weighs heavily on me at times, as well as the sense of injustice and constant worries about where this all will end. If I will be unable to go anywhere in the future, despite being willing to test myself for everything, basically. Treated and seen as some unwashed, despite never having had covid and always testing negative and being careful. Assumed to be uninformed about anything or too dumb to understand the official narrative, which is what a lot of media is consistently baiting their readers and viewers with. Never mind that a lot of vaccinated people forgot all about barrier gestures and facemasks, because they deemed themselves untouchable, and infect one another in droves; because their leaders and their media consistently ensured them; "all vaccinated, all protected". Meanwhile, wearing a mask is becoming compulsory again in Italy, including for the vaccinated. More indications of the fallacies of the vaccine, in a country where almost everything is submitted to a covid passport, including the workplace. The mandates and vaccines do not work as was promised. But of course the face masks are completely logical measures if we take into account the fact that the vaccinated can transmit the virus. Clearly, a family reunion where everyone is vaccinated can end badly for grandpa or grandma anyway, therefore. But still I hear people claim that it is all somehow the fault of the unvaccinated. I wonder if this is the first time in history that the ineffectiveness of a medicine is blamed on those who’ve not taken it. I'm worried about how extreme all this will become in the near future, and if governments will eventually resort to cutting people off from all social services or threaten with fines or even jail sentences, like in Austria. I am worried about being seen or being treated as some sort of Untermensch, for lack of a better word. Sad about the disinterest of One group into the motivations and experiences of the Others (and this includes one of my own parents). Worried because barely anyone of the One group stands up for the Other side. Sad about feeling pitted against good friends and family in this vaccine respect, egged on by the media. Sad about how few people even bother to inform how things must be for the Others, myself included. The division in society is also tangible and makes me melancholic. It isn't nice to be in a minority group and to feel stigmatized and misunderstood. In my view, anything seems possible now as there is very little to no mass opposition to the ever-changing rules, and this frightens me a lot. It baffles me a bit that for some, the mere promise to be allowed to frequent the perfectly dispensable cafés, restaurants, cinemas and other places of this type, is enough to accept the bribe. Being accountable to a coffee maker, a restaurateur, a cinema cashier, etc., for your state of health has become completely normal today, despite the state of the world around us indicating clearly that the vaccines aren't functioning as promised. Just so that they can go have a pastis at the local bar. If Franz Kafka came back to Earth today, he would think that his vision of the absurdity of human society fell far short of reality. "Let us express the despair of the man in front of the absurdity of existence". In most countries here, covid infected but vaccinated caregivers will be able to come and work to make up for the shortage of staff, but unvaccinated caregivers who test negative are fired. We are swimming in the midst of absurdity and many seem to find it all perfectly normal. This really affects me and my state of mind at the moment. I can only hope that if history is anything to have respect for, it will not look back kindly on this collective hysteria and mass abandoning of personal freedoms and privacy, in exchange for an underperforming, untested vaccine and the ability to keep going to preferred restaurant. Ah, but perhaps I am just confused. Man eats snack in a plane, woman goes mental. Spot the hypocrisy in the clip. The new normal.
What to probably do instead
One of the few countries which to my knowledge has handled things cool, calm and collectively is Sweden, and the media here have since stopped reporting on Sweden (like they did in the beginning in true Schadenfreude fashion, hoping for a massive downfall) as they do significantly better than us, without mass lockdowns and mass hysteria. Most people already went through covid there and so the country overall has built up decent immunity. As I said before, to me the sensible way forward seems to protect the vulnerable; people over 60, maybe over 70 years or with significant risk factors. The rest of the population should ideally get on as normal and governments should refocus from sole emphasis on these emergency vaccines, which have a certain side-effect risk, and also focus on treating the sick early. Plenty of information and studies by now that a host of existing medication works fine as long as you start giving it EARLY. Offer plenty of testing opportunity and when people aren't restricted in their daily life 24/7, even when they are not sick and do everything by the book, there will also be a much higher percentage of people willing to stay home when they have actual symptoms. That's how it goes in countries like Sweden and Denmark, where the people trust their governments and stick to the guidelines. Because they aren't locked up unnecessary and unjustly for almost two years now. And by allowing the large majority of people who aren't in the heavy risk group to build up immunity (which is based on all the components of the coronavirus, and not just the ever evolving spike protein, thus cause much better, more elaborate and long term immune protection), there is a much better outlook on it all than by forcing the population to go through booster after booster after booster and locking everyone and the economy down all the time. Of course it was all new and uncertain back in 2020 and we have seen countries all over the world struggling with the choices of how to approach this threat. Totally understandible. But I hope that with reflection and time now, better choices can be made. July studies have shown that many people already have encountered other human coronaviruses in their lifetime and already built up some T-cell immunity to it. And Omicron seems much better suited for this approach, as it already causes a reduction of hospitalization in patients of 70%. Instead of mixing vaccines and continuing the booster people after 6 months, then 5 months, then 4 months, again and again, we maybe need to let this virus run around in a controlled fashion, stop all the lockdowns and vaccination mandates which are symbolism politics and just get on with it. Those at increased risk of developing severe covid can still be asked to get vaccinated, or protect themselves as well as possible while another wave is rolling over. Not fun, no, for those at high risk. But it is also not fun now for perfectly healthy people who do not want a 3rd or 4th booster for a virus they are at low risk for anyway, and who are locked up and fired at the moment (and have been for nearly two years actually), to protect the old and the frail. That is not fair either, and does not even makes scientific sense. Governments should provide early phase treatment, just like they do successfully already in countries like India, Japan and Mexico. As soon as someone tests positive for covid, you preventively treat for a week with existing, proven, tested and safe medication (HCQ, AZI, Ivermectin, fluvoxamine etc). There are scientists who speak out about this and try to steer things away from mass vaccination and ongoing boosters, and towards early symptom treatment with such drugs. For instance people like Dr. Paul Alexander, Dr. Byram Bridle, Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, Prof. Dolores Cahill, and Drs. Sucharit Bhakdi, Ryan Cole, Richard Fleming, Robert W. Malone, Peter McCullough, Mark Trozzi, Michael Yeadon, Wolfgang Wodarg, and Vladimir Zelenko. Even Johns Hopkins University (ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world) made the logical decision to incorporate fluvoxamine into their treatment recommendations. "Fluvoxamine shows a high likelihood of preventing hospitalization in ambulatory patients with COVID-19. (..) Fluvoxamine could be recommended as a treatment option."
One of the few countries which to my knowledge has handled things cool, calm and collectively is Sweden, and the media here have since stopped reporting on Sweden (like they did in the beginning in true Schadenfreude fashion, hoping for a massive downfall) as they do significantly better than us, without mass lockdowns and mass hysteria. Most people already went through covid there and so the country overall has built up decent immunity. As I said before, to me the sensible way forward seems to protect the vulnerable; people over 60, maybe over 70 years or with significant risk factors. The rest of the population should ideally get on as normal and governments should refocus from sole emphasis on these emergency vaccines, which have a certain side-effect risk, and also focus on treating the sick early. Plenty of information and studies by now that a host of existing medication works fine as long as you start giving it EARLY. Offer plenty of testing opportunity and when people aren't restricted in their daily life 24/7, even when they are not sick and do everything by the book, there will also be a much higher percentage of people willing to stay home when they have actual symptoms. That's how it goes in countries like Sweden and Denmark, where the people trust their governments and stick to the guidelines. Because they aren't locked up unnecessary and unjustly for almost two years now. And by allowing the large majority of people who aren't in the heavy risk group to build up immunity (which is based on all the components of the coronavirus, and not just the ever evolving spike protein, thus cause much better, more elaborate and long term immune protection), there is a much better outlook on it all than by forcing the population to go through booster after booster after booster and locking everyone and the economy down all the time. Of course it was all new and uncertain back in 2020 and we have seen countries all over the world struggling with the choices of how to approach this threat. Totally understandible. But I hope that with reflection and time now, better choices can be made. July studies have shown that many people already have encountered other human coronaviruses in their lifetime and already built up some T-cell immunity to it. And Omicron seems much better suited for this approach, as it already causes a reduction of hospitalization in patients of 70%. Instead of mixing vaccines and continuing the booster people after 6 months, then 5 months, then 4 months, again and again, we maybe need to let this virus run around in a controlled fashion, stop all the lockdowns and vaccination mandates which are symbolism politics and just get on with it. Those at increased risk of developing severe covid can still be asked to get vaccinated, or protect themselves as well as possible while another wave is rolling over. Not fun, no, for those at high risk. But it is also not fun now for perfectly healthy people who do not want a 3rd or 4th booster for a virus they are at low risk for anyway, and who are locked up and fired at the moment (and have been for nearly two years actually), to protect the old and the frail. That is not fair either, and does not even makes scientific sense. Governments should provide early phase treatment, just like they do successfully already in countries like India, Japan and Mexico. As soon as someone tests positive for covid, you preventively treat for a week with existing, proven, tested and safe medication (HCQ, AZI, Ivermectin, fluvoxamine etc). There are scientists who speak out about this and try to steer things away from mass vaccination and ongoing boosters, and towards early symptom treatment with such drugs. For instance people like Dr. Paul Alexander, Dr. Byram Bridle, Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, Prof. Dolores Cahill, and Drs. Sucharit Bhakdi, Ryan Cole, Richard Fleming, Robert W. Malone, Peter McCullough, Mark Trozzi, Michael Yeadon, Wolfgang Wodarg, and Vladimir Zelenko. Even Johns Hopkins University (ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world) made the logical decision to incorporate fluvoxamine into their treatment recommendations. "Fluvoxamine shows a high likelihood of preventing hospitalization in ambulatory patients with COVID-19. (..) Fluvoxamine could be recommended as a treatment option."
The problems with the vaccines and powerOmicron is officially 70% less likely to hospitalize people, and vaccines are a failure by now when it comes to curbing the spread of the virus (even the official stats show that in France for instance, 63% of hospitalized covid patients are fully vaccinated, with the real numbers probably being even higher). The UKHSA in its latest reports shows that over 83% of UK covid fatalities are among vaccinated patients. Even my sister, who's best friend is an IC nurse, has made a bit of a u-turn and told me that it is true that fully vaccinated people now also end up in hospital. The friend even advised against vaccinating children. But if you listen to world leaders, you may as well believe the total opposite. As our state leaders, in positions of great power, continue to carry on doing things which have not worked, in the hope that it will be different the next time. Despite having about 90% of French adults fully vaccinated, as well as over three-quarters of children aged 12 to 17 according to health ministry data, France is now facing mandatory vaccination for anyone who wants to do anything that makes life worth living. From going to a bar or a sports club to taking the TGV train; everything will be banned for those who are not vaccinated if Macron and his ministers get their way (the senate will soon be voting on the proposal and are expected to agree). A total two-tier society, which excludes not only all those people who don't want to be vaccinated at all, but also those who don't want a 3rd or soon 4th booster shot. And then a 5th. In France you lose all your privileges if you refuse your booster (despite having agreed on the first and the second shot in the past). This is the classic way of blackmailing: something is demanded by blackmail, then more is demanded, and more. since the victims are already at their mercy. In France the original narrative and promise was that the government would never install a health pass. Then the promise was altered in true Orwellian Animal Farm fashion into 'we will never install a health pass for everyday activities'. When this happened anyway, they said that it would not last beyond the month of November. The latest promise, only last month, was that vaccination will not become compulsory. Fast-forward to this week, and Véran is gloating that yes, the new proposition is a covered vaccination obligation. Barely anyone flinches anymore by now, when faced with the continuous lies or inconsistensies of states people. But when we start to give in to blackmail, that is always what happens: we no longer see the end, and the demands are more and more onerous. How can people go along with this? Knowing that any potentially significant side-effects they may encounter from this mandatory vaccine - if unlucky (because it is all down to luck, let's be clear about that) - will catapult them into No Man's Land in terms of responsibility. Side-effects like strokes, heart attacks (also among young fit sportspeople) and blood clots from the spike protein production do take place, although luckily only with a small group of people. But if it happens to you, you won't be able to sue anyone over it. When governments go as far as making emergency use vaccinations mandatory, it would be chic when our governments also accept legal and financial responsibility for the risks and unforeseen side-effects of this vaccination. NHS GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp about mandatory vaccination. short and slightly longer clip;
Countries like France follow the example of other radical countries. Austria already bans non-vaccinated people from entering the country altogether, and has a lockdown in place for the unvaccinated only. From February 2022 onward, they will be heavily fined (and who would be surprised if Austria with its glittering past will even imprison the traitors if they don't pay). In Germany the non-vaccinated already can't go into most stores unless they have been vaccinated. Contaminated but vaccinated caregivers will be able to come and work to make up for the shortage of staff, but not unvaccinated caregivers who test negative. They can't work. Mandatory vaccination, while the reality of the day is that we're already facing a 3rd dose within one year; while we have as many deaths today as in December 2020 when nobody was vaccinated yet. A time in which not even a 90% vaccination rate in countries like France and the Netherlands have made the difference (and in a time when a virus mutation is dominant which is already 70% less likely to get people hospitalized). If the vaccines truly did what they promised to do, we would have seen a pronounced effect even at a population vaccination of 50% But alas. Where is open and honest science here, which should have jumped in already by now? All this is abuse of power, at a time when the vaccinated also get covid, pass covid on and end up in hospital (they make up the absolute majority in most hospitalized covid cases in Europe by now). And it all seems so strange, considering that the health pass obtained through a very recent negative test is actually much more safe/reliable than the vaccination pass. And it is even stranger to enforce vaccination, when every virologist knows (Darwin) that mass vaccination in the midst of a viral pandemic can in fact enable more troublesome viral mutations (circumventing the antibodies created by the vaccine) and even viral resistance. Some virologists even believe that this mass vaccination of today, with booster after booster, in fact prolongs the pandemic unnecessary. - They said 70% would be enough for herd immunity. But the problem is that the vaccines never functioned as promised. Not even during the Delta wave. And so people need boosters every 6 or 5 months and not even 90% vaccination rate is enough. Covid numbers and hospitalizations are higher than ever now. And it isn't solely down the a small group of unvaccinated people, or the latest virus variant, but also because the vaccines do not do what they promised they'd do. - Funny detail from the Netherlands; every year we pick a 'word of the year', and this year over 80% of people voted the word 'prikspijt': 'vaccination regret'. Whatever the reason for this.
All these mandates are based on only one flawed trial result: they only tested both test groups of 20.000 people for about 12 weeks, and looked how many positive covid tests they got in the test group and how many in the vaccine group. In both groups, less than 1% of people got covid. The difference was 0,8 to 0,1%. This is statistically insignificant, especially since the researchers were not looking for people with severe symptoms; no, they were only looking at people with a positive PCR test. They should have looked for the vaccines ability to actually protect against severe covid illness and death. But they did not do that. Therefore, these experimental vaccines may have been authorized by governments, but they most certainly should not be made mandatory anywhere. Maybe that is why the FDA is smuggling the data away in a safe, like they did with the JFK files. Have they possibly been handpicking the data they chose to include in their trials, to ensure they passed approval? People are more or less pressurized into entrusting a brand new type of vaccination (or else... Just look at all the hoops I have to jump through to do the most basic of things out in life), but we're finding it normal that the FDA now actually wants to lock away Pfizer vaccine data from the public for over half a century. While the voices of those injured by the vaccines are silenced. There has also has been a coordinated effort according to some specialists, to demonize existing medication, which studies show to be effective in the early treatment of covid19. Had this been accepted by the FDA and European health authorities, then vaccine makers would have also been unable to claim that their barely tested products were valid emergency use treatments since there were no other treatments available. As has been successfully claimed now. It beats me why the gvt is not also interested in alternative treatments with established and proven drugs in light of all this. But even wondering about that makes one an 'anti-vaxxer' apparently. (I had all my childhood vaccinations and a later hepatitis one too). Everything that is happening is bewildering really, when you take a step back and overlook things. Decisions seem primarily being made now by medical technocrats. We can only hope for eventual disillusionment of the majority group, the vaccinated, upon their Xth booster obligation.
**Notice how world leaders including Joe Biden told the world in July 2021 that: "You're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations," and "If you're vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be in the ICU unit, and you're not going to die." He lied. His health secretary Rochelle Walensky stated on 30th March, 2021 that: "Fully vaccinated people dont get sick and do not carry the virus. Our data from the CDC today suggest that vaccinated people do not carry the virus." She lied. Nine months ago, the CDC said fully vaccinated people do not carry the virus and dont get sick, they were wrong' ~ Shore News Network ~ 14th December, 2021. Instead of openly correcting their false promises, they silently changed the goalposts and adjusted their own defintions. You will surely all have noticed this in the news over the past year. Not getting covid or carrying the virus was changed into not dying from covid, and people like Fauci - who barely provides research data to back himself up - over time added other softening terms, such as 'not significantly'. See Biden, Fauci and Gates make these early vaccine promises on camera HERE.
How it all began and how hydroxychloroquine was blocked as a covid treatment early on
How ivermectin became the next target
A decent metaphor in the 1st video
And on a more positive note: I thoroughly enjoyed watching the series Alice in Borderland. Here is the trailer
I also love the videos of the Bros of Decay,
in which they explore abandoned castles and mansions
Songs of the day
The ultimate Formula One '21 intro:
December 16th 2021, Max Verstappen is world champion
Mercedes and its team boss Toto Wolff have finally dropped their appeals against FIA actions in last Sunday's Formula 1 race. The fact that they do not continue to litigate has mostly to do with money. A major Mercedes lender was "not amused" at how Toto reacted to the loss and threatened to pull out, not wanting to be associated with this. This party has washed Toto's ears. My feeling is that Toto Wolff would prefer to continue to litigate, while Mercedes is trying to avoid further reputation damage. Toto Wolff has stakes and shares everywhere in Formula 1, and is without a doubt more powerful than Bernie Ecclestone ever was. But Toto is still angry, according to the latest reports :D And he and his team clearly still haven't accepted things, as they will not show up tonight at the FIA gala, where Max Verstappen will be crowned world champion and where all teams and their cars traditionally will pose for a group photo. Here we have a global powerbrand, Mercedes-Benz, who won the last SEVEN years in a row. Who have been given more than the benefit of the doubt by FIA for years. Countless examples where Red Bull and Verstappen had serious disadvantage of FIA decisions, while Mercedes benefitted, sometimes completely willy-nilly. They have gotten away with almost everything this year as well. And now that FIA's Massi made one decision - which was completely within the allowed and common racing regulations - which did not benefit Hamilton and Mercedes, and they act like toddlers. After dominating F1 for 7 years, they lost the drivers title for 1 year and they instantly refuse to participate in the FIA gala. That is unbelievable. Toto said in the media that the reputation of F1 was hurt by this; but I think that the brand of Mercedes-Benz was in fact damaged by this unsportsmanlike tantrum of Toto, dragging Mercedes down in the process. This vocal exaggerated protest was probably also partly to try to cover up their own disastrous tactical choices, having Hamilton continue on at least 34 round old tyres, because they feared Max would overtake otherwise. (But Red Bull were in a similar position and France and did opt to make a pit stop under Virtual Security Car, handing back the lead to Hamilton; because they opted to take the risk and catch them to the end; it is an option). They were basically afraid to lose the world title in the pit lane. Instead they lost the title on the track, as it should be (and not while chugging behind a Safety Car, as Toto now demanded*). Mercedes had exactly the same chances as RD, only Mercedes opted for track position instead of a set of new tyres. Toto has become a hot-tempered man under the stress. There is really no good sportsmanship about deciding to bring your lawyer to the race. And a true champion would have shown up at that gala tonight and led the toast to the winner. *Mind you, after the Spa Grand Prix, Mercedes pushed for a meeting where they advocated that it should from then on be avoided at all times to finish a race under a yellow flag, and all teams agreed on this. This is not formally written in the rules and legislations, but is an agreement nonetheless. Now it worked in their disadvantage. Lewis - "It's unbelievable man" - Hamilton knew it as soon as the safety car came out and he heard that Verstappen had pitted and received new soft tyres, while he himself was still driving on his old tyres. So well. Very petty indeed.. When people behave like this after a season where they have always been lucky and after the aftermath of that crash at Silverstone for instance, they should be ashamed of themselves (and what happened in the last lap also happened in Bakou, in favour of Hamilton). Talk about Sportsmanship.. Mercedes recently protested a legal rear wing, which made their direct competitor (and smaller teams) have to invest in a new design, whilst all teams had agreed the costs in F1 should decrease. Mercedes misused the rules (aimed at cutting costs for smaller teams) to put in fresh engines in the car, so that they can nullify the penalty deficit of losing grid positions at the start. Mercedes have been trying to influence the race director during this finale not to bring out the safety car, because that would be to their own tactical disadvantage. Toto Wolff in fact has been whining to the race director over the intercom about every decision he didn't agree with, trying to lobby his way to preferential treatment. Mercedes had an E-mail at hand with an unofficial document - which was by then already a few years old - to 'prove' their driver was not to blame for taking out his direct competitor. Now Mercedes prevents the Formula-E team to travel to the FIA Gala out of protest, whilst it is a totally different championship and takes away their moment of glory. And of course they also refused to give the lead back to Max at the start of the final race. But the miracle took place anyway. A seemingly hopeless race in a slower car was turned into a World Championship. Not through theft, but by clever strategics and superior driving. Based on both this last race and the rest of the season, Max is the rightful winner and luckily many people (most I would say) outside of Ham-mad England agree with this.
This was the Formula One battle of the decade for me, personally. Chills:
The only positive that has come from this, is that FIA will evaluate things and analyze the rules. And hopefully will come up with transparent and clearly defined new rules for 2022. Mercedes may get more than they bargained for with this, as it will hopefully prevent the sort of favoritism and pandering to the big donors which we've seen this season and previous seasons, almost always in favor of Mercedes. When an independent commission weighs in on the rules now, care must be taken that Mercedes cannot and should not be able to manipulate, push and bribe them any longer. We can hear on live radio now how Toto mid-race tries to change decisions of the stewards and pushes his weight around. Racing cannot become a jury sport, where the likes of Toto can bargain and lobby their way to victory. As good as they can party at Mercedes after a win, as poorly can they handle their losses. But they say they respect Verstappen. Oh what respect they have, so much respect that both Wolff and Hamilton are not present at the FIA gala. I've never seen such a bunch of whiners. Mercedes is really not a nice place anymore. Speaking of Former Formula1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone; he has said in an interview this week that Max Verstappen is the deserved world champion. Quote: “At a very young age, he has already been able to compete with Lewis Hamilton, one of the best drivers ever. Not just on the track, but also off it.” Despite Mercedes having the best car and having done everything to pester and destabilize Max in the weeks leading up to the last race, he believes. Mercedes' attitude in the aftermath of it all has been unbelievable for Ecclestone. “They probably build the best cars in the world. But with this attitude, they put scratches on their own star. That is very unwise.” ,,Their team bosses try to influence decisions of the race management even during the race. The sport suffers as a result. Pure competition should come first. The drivers have provided great sport. It's a disgrace it's overshadowed in this way." 
Yes, Max drives aggressive at times, but he drives fair too and right within the boundaries of the F1 rules. This aggressive and skilled driving is what we love about him and racing. Max gives Senna Schumacher vibes, but without their evil attempt to take other drivers completely out of the race. When competing against another aggressive driver like Hamilton, you either act aggressive or get used to following him around every day. The big issue here is that both Hamilton and Verstappen drive entirely different type of cars. Red Bull's car is superior in corners (faster and more flexible in the bends), while Mercedes' car has a longer chassis and is faster on the long straight parts. That's why Max tries to overtake in the corners most of the time. And why Lewis Hamilton doesn't often dare to try to overtake Max in a low speed corner, but instead waits for the long straights or wide corners to do so. If that corner element would be removed from F1, then it would come down to a boring drag race. It really was a bit of a snoozefest a few years ago, with Hamilton just driving his rounds unchallenged. In F1 the teams build their own cars, and it is this difference of car design philosophy that makes the sport interesting and dynamic. As Ayrton Senna said: “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver” Maybe FIA will further refine the racing rules and then we will see a different F1 in years to come. The highlights!!
Censorship
This decision was sponsored by Gillette, CNN, Joe Biden's press manager and all bad movie trailer producers. Another democratic (free opinion) tool removed by pandering social media bosses. As usual the decision is wrapped in lies and gaslighting. This video is spot on. F*ck these times. And so much for youtube being a free speech platform of the people. (Move to rumble, bitchute and other platforms). Imagine buying a product on a site where the owner decided you could only see anonymous glowing 5 star reviews, and not the complaints? Removing the means to discuss or show dissatisfaction from the public is not good and those who have paid attention know that it is another small step towards authoritarianism and censorship. Wait for it, they will permanently disable the comment section for the plebs too in the near future, or censor every voice of dissent out of it. Nothing new, for those who followed their history classes. But liberal content makers who have been downvoted in droves will love it. Moving from YOUtube to WEtube. Below a direct video link on youtube and the uploaded version, in case ytbe removes it. "If you liked our video, give it a thumbs up. If you don't like it, well.......your opinion no longer matters."
This decision was sponsored by Gillette, CNN, Joe Biden's press manager and all bad movie trailer producers. Another democratic (free opinion) tool removed by pandering social media bosses. As usual the decision is wrapped in lies and gaslighting. This video is spot on. F*ck these times. And so much for youtube being a free speech platform of the people. (Move to rumble, bitchute and other platforms). Imagine buying a product on a site where the owner decided you could only see anonymous glowing 5 star reviews, and not the complaints? Removing the means to discuss or show dissatisfaction from the public is not good and those who have paid attention know that it is another small step towards authoritarianism and censorship. Wait for it, they will permanently disable the comment section for the plebs too in the near future, or censor every voice of dissent out of it. Nothing new, for those who followed their history classes. But liberal content makers who have been downvoted in droves will love it. Moving from YOUtube to WEtube. Below a direct video link on youtube and the uploaded version, in case ytbe removes it. "If you liked our video, give it a thumbs up. If you don't like it, well.......your opinion no longer matters."
Paxlovid versus IvermectinMeanwhile Pfizer has a new anti-covid drug on the market called "Paxlovid". It has just been approved for emergency use in Europe. (I do wonder: Are they liable for these ones? Or is it us that pay for potential risks again?) As I have stated before in older blog posts here, the central mechanisms of action are not much different to ivermectin's mode of action. Despite Pfizer having created a completely new molecule (which can be patented for 20 years to come therefore), both "Paxlovid" and (super cheap) ivermectin act as protease inhibitors (blocking the ability from the virus to duplicate and build new viruses from proteins). In fact, ivermectin works on multiple biochemical pathways to do so, while Pfizer's new drug only does it through a single pathway (making ivermectin again more interesting and Pfizer's drug more at risk of potential viral drug resistancy). Forget about all the anti-ivermectin propaganda (the pills, not the vet injections); here a doctor explains the similarities between Paxlovid and ivermectin in a comprehensive way. When you take ivermectin soon enough after catching covid - SARS-CoV-2 - you will prevent the virus from duplicating and thus from spreading through your body, and you basically prevent becoming very sick from covid, normally. In this video the doctor works through several reputable scientific papers, proving that ivermectin is in fact able to impressively block over 80% of the viral replication. As such it was tested to be the most effective safe covid treatment of all the drugs tested and ivermectin is also far more effective of inhibiting covid from progressing than even hydroxychloroquine for instance, which is effective mainly when given it early on to patients and works in several ways to slow down a covid infection. Or remdesivir, which is very expensive and has been used a lot the past 1,5 years by hospitals for critically ill covid patients, despite remdesivir now deemed to do very little at all by the time the average patient gets it (>14 weeks after contracting covid, while in hospital). It also has a higher toxicitity level. Certain antidepressants have also been found to be effective in covid treatment by the way. Including mirtazapine, which I have been using since 2006. But when it comes to the use of generic (existing) medication, there is little incentive overall to study them, unfortunately. The fact that Pfizers new drug has been approved over here is further proof that protease inhibitors like ivermectin are of importance in the battle against covid. I was very glad to read this tbh and I hope that covid drugs will combat the vaccine dominance and vaccine mandates in the near future. As you may know I take medication every day to help control my flushing, and I'm not "anti big pharma" an sich. "Big pharma", a term so many people seem deadly allergic to nowadays, to the point of wanting to censor you as soon as you even utter the slightest criticism towards pharmaceutical industries (of which some, let's face it, have acted like complete gangsters and corrupt cowboys in the past - just check the amount of penalties some have been given by courts). Add to this the fact that the FDA want to lock away for the next 50 or more years the science on which they based the vaccine approval... it warrants critical questions. Anyway, I'm glad to have ivermectin pills in the house, for when needed perhaps. Let's see how long youtube will allow this video to stay up.. By the way: Unfortunately Oxford's official ivermectin study has been paused. You won't believe why, see it explained here by the inventor of the mRNA technique himself.
How existing drugs (and some sincere scientists) were demonized during this pandemicThis is also a stunning interview with a top doctor. Media tried to smear him, but just listen to his words for yourself and forget about Joe Rogan who interviews him; this is a professional who is sincere in his criticism and backs it up with research references (something I mostly miss with people like Fauci or the youtube 'fact checking' doctors). This pandemic is really exposing how flawed our medical system is. My eyes have really been opened wide to the fact that there are so many gatekeepers within the medical community, who can dictate things without any academic debate or having to prove it with hard science. And I do not mean a very small scale and highly flawed quicky study, which then is referenced to for months, years to come, unchallenged. The way in which doctors have been dictated from higher up - and sometimes against their better judgement and conscience - to follow a 'party line' of sorts, is pretty shocking when it turns out their party line deviated from the scientific findings that are actually out there. But it is a hierarchic world and you just have to trust them and roll up your sleeve without being difficult. If things do go wrong afterwards, god forbid, and you are among the tiny minority injured from it, then you signed your waiver and doctors will tell you to go to a shrink, as it is all in your head and you probably are just suffering from anxiety. Not making this up. I selected some parts of it below, but you can watch the full 2+ hour interview here.
Honest analysis of covid vaccine side-effects and potential risks and how they work
How it all began and how hydroxychloroquine was blocked as a covid treatment early on
How ivermectin became the next target
This is so extreme that I can hardly believe it is true: young woman thrown into a Covid internment Camp in Australia for two weeks because she was a close contact of a positive covid patient. The police came to her house after seeing footage of her near someone infected, using her license plate to find her… like a criminal. No positive test for her, just covid prison. Ad when she did test negative for covid at the location... she had to stay incarcerated for fourteen days anyway. Unbelievable... I’m at a loss for words for how completely surreal and terrifying this is. Needless to say that unless things normalize in the future, I will not set foot there again, despite loving previous trips to Australia. They completely and utterly lost the plot, over a virus that barely touches people in the young adults age group. What's even more chilling, is that a majority of the people there seem to just accept this sort of completely unfounded abuse of power and madness, or even approve of it. Terrifying what the virus has done to the minds of some. Or maybe it only required a virus - or a war for that matter - to show people's true colours and to show the true face of those in power. How about locking up the people who actually make up over 90% of hospitalizations? The 70+ of age and those with underlying diabetes and obesity? That wouldn't be "fair", but this is? If people still not start to scratch their heads by now about the over-the-top rules and violations of privacy and more then.. well.. Staggering. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” - George Orwell, 1984. Isn't it crazy that all these 1984 references aren’t even hyperbolic anymore in these times. Or as Russell Brand said in a youtube video of his own: Is THIS the future?
Skin wise I was asked by someone how my rosacea has been doing before that 2005 IPL treatment that made things so bad, and after I started taking anti flushing medication. And how things are by now. thanks for your message. So sorry to read that you suffer from similar severe burning and flushing. I wonder what treatment caused this, and what your skin was like before that terrible incident? For me, I had pale delicate skin in my teens that would blotch up a bit perhaps in warm rooms and when drinking alcohol, but that would only give me the slightest of skin redness in the face, nothing bothersome really. And no flushing or burning either. I do remember holidaying with one of my best friends and she had some acne problems back then (we were 15/16) and I wore foundation during the day. And when cleaning our faces before bedtime, she exclaimed: "Oh but you have skin blemishes too!" I wasn't even aware of that myself. She had only now noticed it after I took off my make-up. - So things got bad back in 1999, after I used a cortisone cream on my face; only around my mouth and some inner cheeks and only for a few days! Perhaps stress also played a role there and I had also stopped taking the contraceptive pill around that time, fearing it had something to do with the mild eczema I had developed around my mouth. It is often very difficult to be sure what the exact cause of rosacea onset is, but it may have been a perfect mix for me. Although I myself believe that the cortisone cream in particular set it all off, as the eczema and stress had been there for some time already, but within days of starting the use of that cortisone cream my face exploded with redness, flushing and burning. Seemingly overnight.
Then the IPL treatment in 2005 made it all a hundred times worse. Back then, after that IPL, I was also at a point where I'd battle constant flushing and burning and a fire-engine red face for 16 hours a day. Sometimes 24/7. It was a very difficult, depressing and desperate year, because doctors I asked for help all didn't know what they were dealing with, and relied on the textbook rosacea treatments, which were at the time antibiotic pills and creams - both I had already tried extensively and both made my rosacea worse. The 3 month long, high dose doxycycline course also caused me chronic bowel issues. But nobody knew anything about the face flushing and burning, ir how to stop it. Suicide was on my mind in 2005, I kept it in the back of my mind as a final escape from it all, but I really didn't want to be dead, if that makes sense. It was just despair of being told every time by doctors that they couldn't do anything for me and didn't know what to do, while I was in so much pain and cooling my face all day every day with cold packs and ventilators. I am glad that I have been hanging on that year and am grateful for the doctor who helped me get anti flushing medication at the start of 2006, to cut down on the worst of it. For me it is clonidine which does most. I am religious with taking clonidine, but can often forget to take propranolol and it makes not that much difference with my skin. Taking propranolol helps a bit though, but the big game changer for my rosacea was clonidine and low dose mirtazapine. Since, I have kind of measured everything up in comparison to that year of hell in 2005. So although I still have a restricted life in some ways, and do miss out on some things my friends enjoy in their lives, I try to look at the stuff I have gained since and find comfort in every hour of the day where my rosacea is not bothering me with heat and pain.
Song of the day
December 13th 2021The Miracle of Abu Dhabi. Watched the Formula 1 finale today with my mum and family, as our national (Dutch) treasure Max Verstappen had a chance to beat (7 times) titleholder Lewis Hamilton. The entire 2021 season has been fantastic and full of highlights and drama, but this final race of the season in Abu Dhabi was going to decide whether Lewis or Max - starting with the exactly the same number of points - was going to win the World Title. My family is all sports mad, my mum, dad, sister, in laws, they're all mad for almost any Dutch sportsperson doing well. So they had been waiting for this Sunday afternoon and I cycled through the rain and wind to watch the race with them. It is fairly Dutch to go a little crazy when a sportsperson of our tiny country does very well internationally, and thousands of orange wearing fans had bought the expensive tickets to go to Abu Dhabi in person. A friend of mine living in Curaçao was up at 8 AM to watch the race with a lot of fellow Dutchies in the city center on big screens, for instance. Out of 17 million inhabitants, five million households watched the final on the TV. Well this is the race summary - make sure to set it to HD quality:
Max started in pole position after winning yesterday's qualifying race, but had a bad star. Lewis Hamilton took the lead instantly. From the first laps, his Mercedes car looked faster, just like it had done in the previous races. Hamilton has the superior motor, Max the superior drivership. As you could see in the above summary, early on the FIA made a curious decision not to investigate Hamilton's action on the first lap, when he cut off a significant corner. For a nearly identical but reversed situation this season in Brazil, FIA díd penalize Max Verstappen. Stewards had ordered all drivers also before this race to stay within the lines at all cost. We all expected the stewards to tell Hamilton to give Max his lead back, but nope.. Hamilton had significant advantage of the massive cut off and now took a decent lead. Two seconds grew into an eight seconds lead. Over half an hour into the race, Red Bull racer Sergio Pérez started to duel with Hamilton. He defended his place like a lion, creating a great driving battle, aimed at slowing Hamilton down and allowing teammate Max to catch up. That worked out beautifully. Because Pérez kept slowing the Silver Arrow in the corners, Verstappen was the smiling third and able to make up for some of the loss of time. After Hamilton was finally able to pass him, Pérez fell back to give Verstappen the opportunity to deploy his DRS. The Dutchman came back right behind Hamilton again and thanked the Mexican: "Checo is an absolute legend" Verstappen said on the on-board radio. Gianpiero Lambiase answered "absolute animal". Hamilton was less impressed and complained about 'dangerous driving' by Perez (wrong: it was smart driving). I think you could truly see the passion Pérez had for his teammate in order to go past his limit, to give Max the advantage. This chapter later turned out very important for Max' win. Helping Max to get close to Hamilton was (along with the VSC) what allowed Max to put on the second set of new tyres in lap 36. There was a lot of strategic thinking in pit stops yes or no, tyre changes yes or no. Mercedes gambled on no pit stop for leading Mamilton, which cost them dearly in the end. 
One hour into the race the Alfa Romeo car from Antonio Giovinazzi had problems. It was parked in an unfortunate spot next to the track. The race management set up a Virtual Safety Car. When this happens, cars can make a pit stop with relatively little loss of time. Hamilton had changed his tyres only once so far and at an early time. But now he ignored the pitlane however, while Verstappen did get a new set of hard tyres. This gave Verstappen an advantage in the rest of the race. The time difference between Verstappen and Hamilton was by now 17 seconds. The Dutchman gave full throttle in pursuit, as he didn't have to save his tyres as much anymore. As Max was closing in, Hamilton said on the radio that he couldn't keep his speed up until the end. Both racers needed to go past slower cars by then, which slowed them down a bit. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner sounded a bit resigned and stated that it would take 'a miracle' to bring Verstappen the victory. "The Mercedes is just too fast."At 15:54, nearly two hours into the race, the miracle took place. Williams driver Latifi crashed his car in a wall. When yellow flags were waved, Verstappen took the opportunity to make another pit stop and get red, fast tyres. It would enable him to make an ultimate attempt to overtake Hamilton on fresh tyres. By now it got very exciting. If the Safety Car wouldn't be gone before the finish, Hamilton would win. Because under the Safety Car (SC) no driver is allowed to overtake. A Safety Car freezes the position of the drivers on the track. It was in Verstappens interest that the SC would be removed at least one lap before the finish. In that case, he would actually benefit from the crash, as the SC brings the field back together and completely nullifies the 11-second lead that Hamilton had over Verstappen. Hamilton would only be allowed the starting advantage then, as verstappen could not start before Hamilton then. At this point they had 4 laps left. On the radio Hamilton sounded panicked when he asked if Verstappen had already switched to soft tyres (yes...). By now the question not only was when the SC would be removed, but also whether or not the five cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen (laggards, being a round behind) would be ordered to get out of the way or not.. If not, then Verstappen would have to overtake a lot of cars before he'd get to Hamilton, reducing his winning chances to near zero. Initially the race management decided that the laggards could keep their position until the race restarted, which was bad news for Max and also not strictly the norm, as normally the laggards are allowed to overtake the race leader before the race is started again. But a short time later they changed their mind. For the last, deciding round, Hamilton and Verstappen started all over again, with Hamilton getting the first start. This is something they have implemented for some years now: it doesn't matter if you've spent the whole race mid field, if you're near the front for the restart, you've got just as much chance of winning as anyone else if you get a good run and push. SO... one more lap to decide the world title. Max' father Jos Verstappen is also a veteran Formula 1 driver and later said about this moment: 'Max would either beyond Lewis, or over him. He kind of got that from his father.” That's when one of the most dramatic and spectacular decisive F1 final rounds was driven, with 'Mad Max' brilliantly and mercilessly taking over the lead. Here you can see it again, from the perspective of Lewis Hamilton. Didn't know what hit him, comes to mind.
In a phenomenal one-lap denouement, Max left Lewis in the dust. When this happened, we were all screaming, jumping and being hysterical :) I kept saying that Hamiltons tyres were worn out and what a big (failed) risk Mercedes' Toto had taken by not having Hamilton do a last pit stop earlier to change him to faster, new tyres. Here you can hear Hamilton discuss the situation with his team over the radio, before the safety Car was removed. Just hear how worried Lewis sounds when he realises Max had a pit stop and new tyres, while he hasn't. I think it is what cost them the race to be honest, as you could see how much faster and more grip Max' car had at this point. Max could pull away much quicker due to his high grip 'soft tyres', while Hamilton struggled to turn. It was glorious. Max won the race and his first world title, aged 24. It was in many ways a fitting end to one of the biggest and most controversial seasons in the history of Formula 1 I dare say (and I watched it already in the Michael Schumacher heydays). Let's hope that after seven years, Mercedes' dominance is finally coming to an end - and Michael Schumacher's record has still not been broken. I think Max deserved it after a brilliant season, in which he and Lewis Hamilton really pushed each other to greatness. Hamilton's disappointment was enormous, while Mercedes was furious and filed official complaints, which have since been rejected by FIA. Which is probably fair, or karma if you like, because all season it was Hamilton and Mercedes who were favored by FIA in clashes. I mean, if Mercedes are going to split hairs about the past, then Lewis needs his Silverstone result disqualified for ramming Max off the track, to name one such incident. Or even for that odd decision during this race not to punish Hamilton for going off track in the first lap, after he had messed up and left a gap for Verstappen to squeeze through. Even all the ex-world champion drivers on Sky TV agreed that Hamilton should have been punished there and made to hand his place back. If the steward's decision had been fair for that incident, Verstappen would have had a 12 sec lead and would still have been world champion now. Toto and Mercedes have got to have some front to suggest that with a straight face. Max won on driving class, against the faster car. And Toto made a strategic error. Lewis had the chance to pit during the safety car and the team chose not to. If he had pitted, even if it meant he was then behind Max, Lewis would have probably blasted past Max at the end of the safety car. Hamilton actually radioed base to ask why he had not been brought in for new tyres. Hamilton had all the same opportunities to pit for fresh tyres (Hamilton was driving on his old ones for about 40 laps by then and they do wear down and lose grip then) but Toto gambled that the race would finish under a yellow flag (slowly creeping over the finish behind a SC) and Lewis wouldn't need them - at risk of giving Red Bull and Max Verstappen too much space to catch up. I felt that Mercedes was simply not going to change their strategy under any circumstances... as shown before by them. Toto put his money on the wrong color (and tyres) and lost. Oh and the latest is that Mercedes launched a second appeal... Pffffff. Mercedes seems to think anytime they lose, there is something wrong with the result. What happened to Mercedes bragging that they wanted to win this championship on track? How about you just focus on next year and show better sportsmanship? Lewis was given the advantage at the start of the race when he took a massive shortcut, when he should have been penalized and forced to give the lead back to Max, I didn't hear Red Bull threatening with lawyers then. That's when Hamilton was allowed to speed away to try to gain time for a time penalty that everyone expected but that never came. Mercedes didn't order Hamilton to return to his position behind Verstappen then, so it's pure hypocrisy to complain about losing. And after driving Verstappen off Silverstone, a handy red flag made sure Lewis could get his car repaired and get 25pnts for the win, while is opponent was in hospital. Didn't hear Toto complain then either. A season of dirty tricks and dubious biased penalty decisions, always with the maximum penalty for Max, and the minimum for Lewis. In fact, Max was better over the whole season but got „robbed“ in Baku, Hungary and Silverstone, resulting in around 40-50 points he lost there, without being at fault. And at Imola earlier in the season, the penny dropped again in his favour when a safety car saved Hamilton's skin and enabled him to score points. But now Toto was trying to manipulate Masi not to bring in a safety car ("Mikey please do not give us a a safety car") - clearly was more important for him to win than to prevent any marshals from getting run over while clearing debris. Nice guy... In the final race it simply came down to tyres and tactics. But nobody likes sore losers. Anyway: both drivers did a fabulous job all year, but Red Bull played what they were dealt and it worked for them in the end. Congratulations Max, what a season. Thank you for making grown adults scream like children 😅 The young talent won from the old guard:
Songs of the day
November 21st 2021I've been doing so so. The weather has become a lot colder and unfortunately the first cold urticaria has appeared on my cheeks.. Every year I try to avoid exposing my face to very cold temperatures, but just being on the bicycle out and about in the cold wind for an hour or two, can be enough to make one or two show up. They also stay for many days in my case. I can't have it too warm inside either, as that worsens my skin flushing and burning. Basically, there are the spring and fall time for me, with stable temperatures that are not too warm or cold. Summer is dread and winter is possibly even worse for my rosacea, as it makes my entire face ruddy, red and raw looking (on top of the cold urticaria).
I am sorry for dragging the corona virus into this blog in every single day-to-day-life update, but it is a huge sword over my head. And things change every week or month at best, which makes me very restless and even anxious by now. Here in Europe, it only takes one European country to come with another dubious measure, for the rest (except Sweden) to contemplate to follow suit. Currently Austria has gone completely insane in my view, as they have not only installed a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated inhabitants only, but they also declared that from February 1st of 2022 onward, vaccination will be mandatory for everyone in the country. At pain of huge fines and imprisonment. And Germany just announced it is thinking of the same move; the German government has also deleted the sentence "There will be no compulsory vaccination" from its website on November 21st of 2021. This while chancellor Angela Merkel has declared in July that “there will be no compulsory vaccination”. But how many promises have been broken all-round? It is absolutely outrageous, both in a human rights and a scientific respect. Currently in the Netherlands, more than 60% of the hospitalized covid patients are doubly vaccinated. In hospitals in the south of the country, 8 out of 10 hospitalized covid patients are vaccinated. In other countries the same developments are taking place. What is particularly worrying to me, is that some specific and at times even selected scientists, who often are the official advisors of the government, manipulate the national leaders by appearing in talking shows, in the press, to promote their own beliefs and suggestions. At a time when the representatives of the people in parliament haven't even voted yet for such measurements. [At the moment you see such people appear on TV a lot to give their free advise in favour of mandatory vaccination for instance, grrrrr]. This is a crossing of the scientific line I feel and a way to manipulate the political arena, as it will be even more difficult for politicians to put these not always equally scientific 'recommendations' aside, afterwards. And critical scientists get no say in the matter and have to resort to dissident channels to get heard.
These are the figures at the moment in Wales and the UK, both have a relatively high vaccination rate; in Wales 72,1% of the population is vaccinated and in overall UK 68,8%. Stats for Wales show that among the hospitalized covid patients these past weeks, 12,8% of patients were unvaccinated overall and 83,6% of patients were double vaccinated (!). From the people who received a positive covid test, 16,5 % of patients were unvaccinated overall, and 59,6% of patients was doubly vaccinated, whereas 6,8% of patients had only received its first vaccine dose. In the UK it is the same story. Especially in patients over the age of 40, (many) more vaccinated than unvaccinated patients ended up in hospital with covid these latest weeks. Many more vaccinated than unvaccinated patients also died from covid in absolute numbers. Statistically the unvaccinated may run more risk, but my point is that the vaccines were promised to have a 95% effectivity in keeping people covid free and out of hospital (and away from death), once these vaccines were rolled out. But that reality shows a different picture however, no matter how many excuses are dug up. And yet, politicians play ostrich and keep acting and declaring new rules, as if the vaccines do what they promised they would do. Wales stats vs UK stats:
Vaccinated people are by now just as likely and according to some research even more likely to carry covid and pass it on than the unvaccinated. Over here we also have higher infection numbers and higher numbers of hospitalized covid patients overall right now than a year ago at this same time, when nobody was vaccinated yet. Newspapers are quick to highlight that the vaccines work very well, because with over 80% of people vaccinated now, we are bound to see more people in hospital be also vaccinated. 'If 100% of people are vaccinated, then every patient in hospital will automatically be vaccinated'. But that argument is only used to bypass the original promises made, based on scientific testing (flawed, as has been proven by now, especially in the case of Pfizer who did their testing not by the book), that the vaccines would be 95% effective in preventing people from developing covid, passing it on and being hospitalized with covid. All untrue, we now know. Protection goes down quickly in the vaccinated, according to Nature magazine it drops already after three months in fact, rendering people as (un)protected as unvaccinated people within 5 months. And as for hospitalization; the hospitals are full with vaccinated people here, as was the case a few months ago already in Israel (The Times of Israel mentioned yesterday that they are already looking there at a 4th vaccination round, a 4th 'booster'). We can grind the figures all we want, we can also see that in countries like France and the Netherlands alone, there are thousands of vaccinated people who end up in the hospital at the moment and hundreds in critical care. Gibraltar, 'the most vaccinated place in the world' where nearly everyone is vaccinated, now has a covid peak again and its government has urged people to be careful in the light of this 'exponential increase of the number of cases'. The same in Portugal, which according to Reuters "has one of the world's highest rates of vaccination against COVID-19, announced it would reimpose restrictions to stop a surge in cases". They are back under restriction rules too now, as the cases exploded again. But nobody seems to question the vaccine efficiency on mainstream media channels.. Odd. In another European country with covid passports, France, a symbolic milestone has been crossed as well: in France there are now also more vaccinated people admitted every day to both conventional hospitalization and to intensive care for a severe form of Covid than unvaccinated. These figures are not the invention of some conspiracy theorists. These are the official data from the “statistics” service of the Ministry of Health. In the Pays de la Loire region there are now 11 times more vaccinated than unvaccinated people in hospital. And in the UK in every age group above 30, there are now more vaccinated people infected with covid than unvaccinated.
I'm not against vaccination, not at all. But in light of things, you would think that these type of stats would keep politicians reasonable when it comes to the treatment of unvaccinated citizens. But the baffling thing we're seeing, is that they in fact go in an even higher gear towards them now. In overdrive I would say. The rational consequence of all this should be to remind everyone that vaccination is one strategy to approach this virus, but only one out of several tactics. And that vaccination does not protect people for 95% against getting covid, passing covid on or even ending up in hospital, as was initially said. In my opinion the vaccinated are not safe to mass congregate without testing. As they make the virus circulate worse and they also don't all stay out of hospitals. In fact, they make up the majority of hospital patients in quite a few European countries at the moment. So the vaccine passports are wonky, not to say fraud as this promised free all go all. Politicians would seem more trustworthy and fair if they openly acknowledged and discussed this. But politicians here keep making the same mistakes and keep zooming in on the small group of unvaccinated only. Cutting them even more from public life. The 2G rule is just around the corner and has already been announced in the Netherlands. I can no longer sit outside on a terrace in the open air anymore to drink a cup of tea, despite having no covid and being tested negatively. While vaccinated people who officially test positive for covid, can KEEP their green QR code and are only 'advised' to stay home for a week. In reality, a lot of people in the under 60 age group who only have mild symptoms from covid just keep going to their work, to bars and cafes. As they keep their green QR code, despite having covid; because they are vaccinated. I don't make this up by the way, this is really reality over here. A lot of vaccinated people don't even test at all (as there is no incentive) and are potential super spreaders. It is madness. The unpopular but logical thing to do would not be to ban all the healthy unvaccinated who tested negative from places, but to ask the demographical group who make up the majority of hospital patients, the 70+ of age, those with underlying illness, immune deficiencies and obesity, to protect themselves and the hospitals during this new wave and stay inside. Test every day (provide free cheap self-tests as government). Avoid large crowds, wear a mask, also when visiting family or perhaps abstain from doing so at all for a month or two, until the worst of the wave is over again. But these things aren't even mentioned in the political arena. While they would make most logical and statistical sense. Instead, the very small percental group of unvaccinated (of which many are only in their 20's, age wise) bear the brunt of it all, regardless of hospitalization numbers showing a different picture. Because it is politically safe to blame them, discriminate them and cut them out of public life, and with this to pander to a large group of disgruntled vaccinated citizens who are also sick of the ongoing crisis. Scapegoats are of all times. 
But if Delta and mutations - also of the spike protein - are the real reason why the vaccines underperform so badly, then why aren't large labs like Pfizer upgrading their vaccine? I'm sure they will do so soon, but meanwhile people are getting boosters of the exact same original vaccine, which used the characteristics of the virus' original spike protein, which isn't even circulating anymore. No booster = no QR health pass code. So if Delta is such a game changing mutation, why even bother with the boosters (= original vaccines of the first hour)? Why not get back to the drawing board and wait for updates of these vaccines?
There are by now so many covid variants circulating worldwide with so many mutations in these spike proteins (and counting, as a new 'Omicron covid strain' with yet another spike protein mutation has now been discovered), that the time for one effective generalized vaccine based on this spike protein may be long gone. I think that people should face reality; the vaccines by themselves are not going to make us stop the pandemic, and a couple of highly established and prominent scientists who have warned for this exact thing over the past year, were right. Vaccinated people can in fact become more susceptible to catch covid and pass it on as soon as the virus mutates even a little bit. As their immune system is only primed to fight the specific spike protein that was used for these vaccines when it was developed while the original covid strain was still virulent. The loosening of restrictions like mask wearing and social distancing recently here have also not helped. And there is a 5th wave now even in countries with 80+% of people over the age of 12 vaccinated, because contrary to what we have initially continuously been told, the vaccine does not prevent vaccinated people from contracting the virus and transmitting it. This was the original message of anyone, from Fauci to the virologists in the 1st world to the leaders. Later it was slowly but surely altered into being protective of hospitalization (and the vaccines aren't even doing that reliably). Nevertheless, many countries find themselves now tied down with a permanent, QR code-based coping system, which everyone feels will not disappear anytime soon. - And I start to worry that in time, politicians will also drag this tried system out to deal with a virulent winter flu from now on. 'Or do you want granny to DIE?!' But do not forget that the flu and death of the weakest has always been at the core of humanity and evolution, and that we modern humans have to be careful imposing an authoritarian state system on society, in order to gain as much control as possible on everyday illnesses.
I am personally worried that instead of accepting that everybody should just be tested before going to big events or even discotheques (hire private organizations to do this!), people like myself will slowly but surely be pushed even more out of everyday life. I already cannot go to a cafe or restaurant or any outside event without cycling all around town every day for a test that takes many hours all in all to have a result from. But with the upcoming 2G rule, I will be excluded 100% from all of these everyday life events, despite me being the safest person out there, with my negative test. The vaccinated people deem themselves safe and unfortunately more often than not superior, while not testing themselves and despite everyone now knowing that vaccinated people carry covid as often if not more often than unvaccinated people, and being at least as infectious. They also do not stay out of hospitals, so you'd think that this was all the evidence we need to let go of this unscientific, symbolic (shambolic?) health pass. Nope. Not at all, quite the opposite in fact. It makes me feel really anxious and upset to be honest. I can already hear people hissing and lisping: "Well, just get vaccinated then!"*Update: just to illustrate this madness; out of just two flights that arrived in Amsterdam from South Africa the other day, 61 people tested positive for covid. So roughly 30 people per flight. 90% of these 61 people said to have been doubly vaccinated. The authorities inspect now if these people carry a new strain or not, but for most flights there are no such test done afterwards. And now you may ask: How is that possible? Don't people test before embarking? No. This is my point. Only the unvaccinated test and are safe on board; everyone with a vaccination passport (so the large majority, roughly 90% of those on board) do not have to test at all. I checked it with TravelDoc. They can just show their vaccine proof and board - and infect people like myself, and one another. Don't be mistaken; 30 out of 300 passengers means that 10% of the passengers in these planes, or 1 in 10 on board (and in many planes probably) are covid positives. But the only people having to test beforehand are the 10% of unvaccinated clients. Madness. Just have international travelers all to a covid test and/or check their temperature easily and painlessly before boarding, and let go of this deceptive and ineffective vaccine passport.
I talked to my dad about it last night and things were so dire for me back in 2005 and even before then, so horrible with 24/7 flushing after that dreaded IPL treatment, that everything now is about keeping control of my skin. I have these extreme reactions to things, somehow. Going into someone's house who just used paint in there makes me red and flushed and swollen and suffering badly for up to a week. Dental fillings had me blown up burning red for weeks until I said; take the filling + molar out. I flare up from wearing jewelry, from using skin care products, from smelling perfume. I don't respond by the book to certain things and it is really difficult to live with. A hepatitis B vaccination (a completely normal one, no mNRA) triggered my rosacea from mild to moderate sixteen years ago and I saw doctors for a long time in the years after to try to calm things down again. I have been told so many times: "We don't know", "We have never seen such a form of rosacea before", "You have tried all the textbook treatments, now learn to live with it", that I have become extremely cautious about changing my controlled state of skin, so to speak. I have to live such a freak lifestyle still to keep the flushing and burning at bay. This new vaccine is not tested long enough and well enough in my view and I just don't want to take the risk because once it's in, it can't come out again. I don't want covid either obviously, although so far so good: I don't exactly hide in my house and I reckon that I either already had covid in March of 2020 when I was sick with fever, nausea and a sore throat for 3 weeks, or my immune system has fought the virus off successfully, so far.. But I can at least influence that risk by my own comings and goings and not kiss people, wash my hands more often and keep some distance. It is just a highly stressful situation, highly stressful. Not even the stress of potentially catching covid (I think/hope I'll be fine, I test and temperature when needed and have ivermectin pills, just in case). But the stress of these ever changing, ever worsening covid rules. Because in a way, they are slowly but surely forcing us all to get vaccinated. Despite saying there is no vaccine obligation (yet). Wished things were easier but when it all goes wrong, I will be back to square one and I know my immune system reacts extremely to certain triggers. My immunologist even advised against the use of simple multivitamins, as they trigger and boost my warped immune system. I don't know in advance what will be a trigger. Before covid it was allll about minority groups and their rights, but now that everyone is scrambling for themselves.
When there is a crisis and fear, and people are so drawn by a certain logic (!) that one can no longer relativize this logic in any way, then this is the perfect storm for a situation where people start to think: those who cannot follow MY logic are totally 'irrational' and thus one does not have to take these people into account anymore. This is the core of totalitarianism. And right now it can be seen all around us, whether it is in regards to vaccination obligation, vaccination privileges or taking the freedoms of the minority group.
Respectful discussions and learning from the other's point of view are no longer possible then. Right of self-determination and freedom of opinion are torn at. A majority who is OK with segregation of a minority group is a dangerous development and it makes me honestly sad, disappointed and worried to see so many people around me (as well as the dominant media!) being in agreement with this whole shift. Because they belong to the majority group and have their own principles. Even though right now, something like a vaccine passport QR system in public spaces makes no sense from a scientific point of view, especially now that the vaccine effectivity is dwindling so strongly. But nobody wants to be that person left standing outside, unable to get in with the rest. And at the same time politicians want to pander to this majority group. For the minority - who they often stereotype as if they are one and the same group, instead of people with all sorts of different reasons and motivations not to get vaccinated - politicians insist that vaccination is a free choice. Yes, free, but how is it a free choice if you risk losing your job or freedoms if you do not comply? Leaders are pushing with every evolving 'motivational measurements'. First 70% vaccination would be wonderful they said. Then we had 80% vaccinated and it was not enough suddenly (because, because.. 'Delta'). And now with 88% vaccinated here, the remaining 12% are still not tolerated and are forced out even more from society. It never seems to stop or just be enough. It is just incredible, given the statistics regarding vaccinated people and their infection and hospitalization rate.
Something new, my parents and some friends emailed me about it right away. Now there will be a possibility in the Netherlands for people to get a special exemption; for those who can't have the vaccine due to a medical condition, BUT, your own medical specialist can not determine this. There will be some medical tribunal which you have to attend, and these independent specialists, like the corporate doctors who will decide if you are fit to work again when you fall sick as an employee, they will decide if you are truly allergic to this vaccine or in danger of your life if you take it... or that you just happen to think you do. I have a medical letter saying I should stay clear of vaccines but I know already how such a meeting will go: "So which exact medical disease do you say you have? Is there medical literature available that proves that you would have a truly dangerous reaction to this vaccine? No? Well then you will probably be fine and should just take it. Next!" Even people who had heart issues or severe allergic reactions to the first jab have been told to get the second one anyway, under medical surveillance, as they may not react as bad the second time around. (May..). This is partly a legal thing the government installed, so that it can be said that exemptions are possible now that the restrictions are getting more severe for the non-vaccinated. But I know from France that there are only a handful of specific conditions and illnesses accepted here, attributed to less than 1% of the population. Depressing and it makes me also anxious. Ultimately, the lockdowns are primarily there because the hospitals struggle to care for these numbers of people. In many countries, it is down to a very limited amount of IC beds, due to years of managers remediating and cutting any extra costs for beds that were at the time left empty. Even before covid, many hospitals here functioned at 85% capacity in winters. It only had to take something relatively small to have the hospitals overwhelmed. Because the managers took over and hospitals have to be profitable now. And an IC bed requires a lot of material ánd staff. Having excess IC beds was therefore bad for the profit margins. It is a simplified analysis but certainly played a big part in this. We're now 1,5 years into this covid crisis, and there have still not been any governmental financial injections to double the amount of IC beds and specialized IC staff. Which would have been the logical thing to do. I believe that in light of all this it is wrong on every level to force someone to have a medical treatment against their will, with a substance that is still in its trial period (fact) and with unknown long-term implications. These mRNA injections were originally sold to us as protective against any severe form of COVID. However, they are in reality and over time of no or very little effectiveness. This is the essential information. Moreover, more and more voices are raised to report serious side effects, for which the vaccine makers can't be held responsible [Despite the fact that traditionally only 1-10% of all side effects are reported to authorities, in Australia alone around 10,000 Australians are now already demanding compensation from the government after suffering significant side effects from the anti-Covid vaccine. The bill could amount to several million Australian dollars, reports the “Sydney Morning Herald”. And this study concluded a few days ago, that “mRNA [vaccines] dramatically increase inflammation on the endothelium and T cell infiltration of cardiac muscle and may account for the observations of increased thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and other vascular events following vaccination.”]. But the only numbers and statistics we ever see in the everyday media, are those of covid infections and hospitalizations and deaths. Never the statistics of the negative effects of the lockdowns; of the side-effects of the vaccines; of the percentage of victims who had major underlying health issues. When an 85-year old with heart disease and cancer dies while being treated for covid, the patient counts as a covid death in most countries. The infamous 'died with covid'. But does this give a representative overall image, when you have a lot of such victims? None of these things are now discussed or even highlighted. All we ever hear are bare doom statistics, of which we also do not always know how these stats came about exactly. The Netherlands for instance are a truly magical country right now, with most countries around it - who publish these statistical details - dealing with well over 50% of covid patients in hospitals and IC's being doubly vaccinated. Only the Netherlands continue to broadcast that we on the other hand have 75% of unvaccinated in hospitals, despite having comparable overall vaccination levels. But nobody points to the situation around us or asks interesting questions about this discrepancy. All we ever get on the news are the bare doom statistics of positive tests, hospitalizations and deaths. And therefore people are much more prone to accepting even more rigorous freedom curtailing measurements when they are afraid. Luckily in this globalized, digital day and age, there will be many other countries doing the research, I trust. India has a different government push than the Netherlands, than Brazil, than the USA and science does not sit still. So I have trust that with time, even the staunchest pro-vaccine believers will have to come to terms with a more balanced overview of the pro's and con's and the side-effects in every aspect.
Back to the disappointing vaccine efficiency. Some statistics take refuge behind the theory of the law of large numbers to justify the lack of effectiveness of these "revolutionary" vaccines. The argument "the vaccine protects severe forms" is politico-media manipulation, because even Pfizer in its report to the FDA specified that its vaccine only prevents mild to moderate forms. The laboratory never mentioned serious forms in its communication. There are today, in intensive care, more vaccinated than unvaccinated patients. I believe that it is not only because of the lifting of common-sense restrictions (mask wearing, social distancing) that things are so dire again here, but also due to the health pass allowing large groups of untested people who feel carefree to mingle, unmasked, that the virus is now again spreading. We betted everything on a vaccine developed on the basis of the first strain which is no longer circulating anywhere. "Take your two doses in order to get back to a normal life", they said. In fact, the covid incidence rate was even lower without vaccines around. And within six months, you are no longer really protected from the jab, regardless of your age. So the health pass must be looked at more critically again. But most people do not care. They only want to keep doing what they like to do in their everyday life (cafe's, restaurants, cinema etc) and to point their finger at 'the other ones', the unvaccinated, without even checking the pandemic basics. Cast them carelessly and often baselessly aside as lunatics and tinfoil hatters. The unvaccinated (including the healthy who are assumed to be sick and who have to actively demonstrate the opposite) just have to pay the health costs. Even if it's unfair.
Again: I gladly cycle for 40 minutes to the only designated testing location in town, to test and to get a QR code in order to be allowed into a clothing shop, while wearing a face mask and keeping 1,5 meters distance from everyone else. But the vaccinated majority never test anymore and still catch covid and pass it on... yet, they can move freely. It starts to feel terribly claustrophobic, illogical, polarized and the end isn't in sight. Right now, here the specialists on TV are very slow to catch up with the disastrous vaccination-hospital statistics. They seem to try to bury it for as long as possible, but the cat is already out of the bag in that respect. I follow it all, sometimes the virologists are corrected on live TV by a guest who has the latest statistics ready. They grovel then to correct themselves and are quick to emphasize that the vaccines work, period. Logic is replaced by mantra's sometimes, which I find disappointing. To say that the vaccines protect 12x more against covid contamination has proven to be a lie, as well as saying that they protect up to 90%. The situation is now worse in terms of infections and hospitalizations than when nobody was vaccinated. The vaccine is a weapon against the pandemic, especially in the first few months after vaccination, but not as much as we were told. I remember at the start of 2021, people said that as soon as we would have the vaccines, we'd all be able to take our masks off, 'Dance with Johnson' (get a Johnson jab and safely go out dancing that same night!); light was supposedly visible at the end of the tunnel... But those who followed the situation in Israel, where they first started the vaccination campaign, they knew. It wasn't going to be the success which some scientists still today want to claim it is. Now, nearing 2022, it's only a matter of time before we have another mass lockdown. I'm sorry to say this, but mass (reimbursed!) testing, mandatory isolation when found positive and social distancing remain ultimately the most reliable tools. And focus on protecting the weakest and increasing general health, immune strength and so. Focus, in terms of vaccines, mostly on vaccinating and boostering people of 70 years and older, as they run the most risk of covid infections and the least risk of vaccine side-effects.
Thank you so much Z. for sending me this:
Animal lovers go berserk at airport when
Rabbit Alfredo is banned from KLM flight
Rabbit Alfredo is banned from KLM flight
November 4th, 2021
The other night there was a press conference in the NL from the political leaders with new covid measurements. Face masks back on, need for testing to even sit outside on a terrace and many more new restrictions. All fine. But what isn't fine is that they flat out lied about the scientific data, such as the percentage of vaccinated people in the hospitals right now. Leaders said that over 90% in there is non-vaccinated. But the next day already, both the national news and a popular primetime opinion program corrected the leaders; in fact, 44% of people in hospital right now are doubly vaccinated. Not that these type of selective number pickings/ fabrications have any further consequences, or can even expect some critical questions by journalists. Everyone else ignored the topic. The minister of public health also talked straight into the camera to the unvaccinated 13% at home, telling them more lies. That the vaccinated barely catch covid and aren't contagious when they do. To support my claim that they are lying, I added a recent Nature article below, with the latest scientific findings, and they paint a very different picture. Also, in Germany the rate of symptomatic Covid-19 among the fully vaccinated (“breakthrough infections”) has been reported weekly since July 21, 2021, and it was 16.9% at that time among patients of 60 years and older. But this proportion is increasing week by week and was 57.0% on October 20th of 2021, providing clear evidence of the increasing relevance of the fully vaccinated as a possible source of transmission. Similar findings on the number of Covid-19 cases among the fully vaccinated were reported from the UK. But apparently politicians can juggle with numbers all they want, and not even the journalists who are present and are allowed to ask questions will challenge it. But don't they say in English that the proof is in the numbers? Or something like that? It has also been disproven for months now, even by Fauci and the CDC who have admitted it (see some older blog posts of mine where I cover that). It seems that none of the journalists in the crowd knew their numbers or read the scientific info. It was a full-on attack on the non-vaccinated, who are by now blamed for everything in the NL. It is abundantly clear that the vaccinations do not work as well as they should do, in terms of preventing that you catch covid and pass it on. They do seem to reduce the risk of being admitted to hospital, but frankly, for healthy people under 70 years old, that risk was already very, very low. And with nearly half of the hospitalized patients being doubly vaccinated, I wouldn't call that a victory either. In some national hospitals they are open to the media that over 80% of their covid patients are by now doubly vaccinated. 
What really strikes me is how in the Netherlands, vaccinated people have a green QR mark and can go anywhere, without the need to ever test for covid. And here comes the most absurd part of it all: they KEEP their green mark, éven when they officially test positive for covid. There is no such thing as an automatic disabling of your green QR code then, until you are officially deemed healthy again. No, instead politicians appeal to people's own responsibility to not go out in case of an infection. But they can technically enter any bar, restaurant and concert hall with their green QR code and infect everybody else (yes, even the other vaccinated people around them can then catch covid and pass it on again). They are among the super spreaders who feel entirely superior and invincible, thanks to all this politically motivated talk about vaccinated people being as good as immune. While the scapegoats are the non-vaccinated. We don't talk so negatively about obese people who take up hospital beds for urgent care or weight loss surgery and neither do we stigmatize smokers who take up oncology places in hospital. On top of things, a lot of people make no distinctions either: people who have allergies or underlying illnesses that prevent them from getting vaccinated, are cast on the same pile as people who think you'll grow a third eye when you get a vaccine. The stigmatisation is very real. And now they debate the possibility of making the QR code mandatory in the work place they say. And that means for the non-vaccinated that they need to do a corona test in an official test spot every 24 hour. Which is impossible to keep up. It is the ultimate attempt to force people into vaccination. By threatening their livelihood. They also think about special restrictions only for the non vaccinated, and 2G rules where only the vaccinated or those who recovered from covid can get access somewhere. Full on authoritarianism that no longer follows the science or common sense. I sit next to people on a plane who have an obvious cold, or symptoms similar to covid, yet they don't even need to do a test to get on board. The safest in there is me, freshly negatively tested! But I can predict already that by winter, when the hospitalization of vaccinated covid patients will go through the roof here, they will consider the need again to have vaccinated people tested as well. But not until they forced and pushed every last 'non vaxxer' into the vaccination boot.Songs of the day
Update: Two prominent German virologists agree on this testing importance: "Two prominent virologists said on Saturday that Germany should reintroduce free testing for all rather than restrict access to venues to only vaccinated people. Allowing only vaccinated and recovered people to enter venues, a system known as 2G, would give people a “false sense of security,” Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at Hamburg University, told Deutschlandfunk radio on Saturday. He said that vaccinated people could become infected and transmit the virus, even if the probability was lower than with unvaccinated people. Schmidt-Chanasit said that the only secure option is a 1G system – that is to test everyone, whether vaccinated, unvaccinated or recovered. He warned the government against abandoning testing, saying that Germany instead needed a “test offensive.” He also criticized the fact that free rapid testing had been abolished in mid-October. “The vaccinated have the feeling they are no longer part of the pandemic and behave accordingly,” Streeck said. “The second problem is the unvaccinated, who will be excluded and are thus even less likely to get tested.” “If unvaccinated people are not allowed to participate in social life, they may organize parties at home. Then, chains of infection can no longer be controlled at all,” he warned. Streeck also called for the reintroduction of free Corona tests. Saxony became the first German state to announce on Friday that it would introduce 2G rules for venues such as restaurants and bars. Meanwhile, Austria decided on Friday to introduce a nationwide 2G rule. People without vaccination or proof of recovery will no longer be allowed to visit pubs, hairdressers and events from Monday. Several politicians and heads of medical organisations have called for nationwide 2G rules in Germany."
One of the silliest new rules is that amateur sportspeople cannot be forced to show their green QR code (vaccinated, recovered from covid or negatively tested in the past 24 hours) because parliament has blocked that government rule, BUT, sporters and audience alike wíll be checked for their QR code when they go to the toilet inside, go to the dressing room or go into the cantina for a minute. I am not making this up. Doesn't this border on bullying and pestering? What are football players supposed to do in half-time, hang around outside? Pee in the bushes? Dress outside on the pitch? Clown world. Just make them do a self test before leaving home on the day of the match and stop the madness and bullying, in order to obstruct the normal lives of a very small group of non-vaccinated people. I can't speak for every country, but over here politicians have dismantled the care sector for over a decade. The amount of IC beds has been cut in half by the managers of privatization and we're left with about 1200 IC beds in total, for a population of nearly 17,5 million, and counting. Because hospital staff is for the most part severely underpaid, many have left the profession. And the corona pandemic hasn't helped with that, as nurses and other hospital staff are overworked and overstressed now, as wéll as underpaid. And next thing around the corner - also here - will be that they are forced to be vaccinated, or else. This may not only result in a walkout of unvaccinated health professionals, but in some cases also of those who have had the vaccine but are anti mandate and who are quitting out of solidarity. Some people in the media dare to ask out loud to what extent societies, businesses, livelihoods need to be destroyed for an infection that 99.7% of people fully recover from? For the most part outside of hospitals. It still beats me why, with all the easily accessible and very cheap self-tests around, employers aren't allowed to simply ask every coworker to do a quick nose test in the morning, before starting work. It's painless, they are overall between 70-99% reliable and they give a very quick result. That way you create a safe working space for everyone, as the vaccinated cannot be trusted to be covid-free, just because they had the vaccine, as statistics show time and time again. And if the vaccine doesn't reliably stop you catching or spreading covid, how would it make the country immune? Its main function relates to its claim to reduce the risk of getting severely ill from covid. But as the Nature publication below proves, this effect is waning very quickly after vaccination (they say within three months). The large percentage of vaccinated covid patients in hospitals underlines this. Meanwhile people who decided that they cannot or don't want to risk having the vaccine, have been losing their jobs.
The world's leading multidisciplinary science journal, 'Nature', published in October of 2021 that: "The study shows that people who become infected with the Delta variant are less likely to pass the virus to their close contacts if they have already had a COVID-19 vaccine than if they haven’t. But that protective effect is relatively small, and dwindles alarmingly at three months after the receipt of the second shot. Previous studies have found that people infected with Delta have roughly the same levels of viral genetic materials in their noses regardless of whether they’d previously been vaccinated, suggesting that vaccinated and unvaccinated people might be equally infectious."Nevertheless, vaccinated people are said to be overall less likely to spread the virus if they subsequently catch Delta, as their levels of nasal virus drop faster than do those of unvaccinated infected people. The study also passes the blame for the underwhelming vaccine results to the new delta variant (same spike protein, right? So why are the vaccines so poor, overall, in preventing illness or infectiousness?). "A person who was fully vaccinated and then had a ‘breakthrough’ Delta infection was almost twice as likely to pass on the virus as someone who was infected with Alpha. And that was on top of the higher risk of having a breakthrough infection caused by Delta than one caused by Alpha."
And then the knock out end verdict: "Unfortunately, the vaccine’s beneficial effect on Delta transmission waned to almost negligible levels over time. In people infected 2 weeks after receiving the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, both in the UK, the chance that an unvaccinated close contact would test positive was 57%, but 3 months later, that chance rose to 67%. The latter figure is on par with the likelihood that an unvaccinated person will spread the virus. A reduction was also observed in people vaccinated with the jab made by US company Pfizer and German firm BioNTech." The results “possibly explain why we’ve seen so much onward transmission of Delta despite widespread vaccination”. Boosters are suggested as a possible solution (booster is a great marketing term, but it is in effect simply a third vaccination). We all knew we were heading for 6 monthly boosters anyway. I am curious if the rest of the world will follow Israels example, and decide that in time, the people who received two vaccines will be rendered 'unvaccinated' if they don't get their third jab ('booster'). It's clear by now that the efficiency of the covid vaccines last about 4 to 6 months, at most. Nature says three months. So people may be looking at once or twice yearly 'booster' shots for quite some time to come. We may even see the installment of a vaccine loyalty card :)
This pubmed article also concluded that "Fully vaccinated persons with a Covid-19 infection were still able to excrete infectious SARS-CoV-2 six to seven days after the onset of symptoms in half of the cases." The CDC also reported that the delta variant appears to produce the same high levels of virus in both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals. I am highlighting this stuff, because of the ongoing new legislation, instigated by well-meaning politicians, which ignores this science and gives a total free pass to the vaccinated (their rewards), while severely discriminating unvaccinated people, even when they are not sick and have a medical exemption. All basic human rights are flung out the window at the moment (where are all the human right advocates and why aren't they rallying?), and not based on the full and complete science. [N.B. Not that you can blindly trust the science anymore anyway]. Instead politicians are nitpicking, choosing favourable research papers over more accurate or reputable ones based on their political aims, and politicians also cause polarization in society by favouring those who are vaccinated and scapegoating the non-vaccinated. All the while entirely ignoring that the root cause of all the lockdowns are their own failed capitalist policies, which saw the hospitals be dismantled of carers and beds. The vast majority of the IC patients with covid are over 80 years old, with underlying health issues. Society cannot cope because there are not enough hospital beds and that's primarily why there are lockdowns. But instead they blame the unvaccinated, which in the Netherlands make up a small minority of not even 13%. 87% of the population is vaccinated and this would have been considered a victory at the start of this year. But now politicians want it all and aim for the 100%.
Meanwhile Pfizer has been going full steam ahead with its Pfizermectin drug (oh no they call it 'Paxlovid'), which as predicted earlier does about the same as ivermectin: "Pfizer's drug, part of a class known as protease inhibitors, is designed to block an enzyme the coronavirus needs in order to multiply." Ivermectin's mode of action: "Ivermectin binds to this enzyme and disrupts it. It inhibits and disrupts binding of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein at the ACE-2 receptors." After a five-day, small-scale test of 1219 patients, Pfizer called it a day and declared the study a success, claiming publicly that its Covid pill "cuts the risk of patients dying by up to 90 per cent". Let's see how much more their version of ivermectin, combined with an antiviral drug, is going to cost the tax payers. I predict it will be at least 100 times more expensive than patent-free ivermectin (no, not the horse paste; the pill), which has a good, reliable track record in scientific testing when it comes to treating mild to moderate covid but you can buy it for pennies in many countries. Still am happy that more effort is put into covid treatment options. 
I realize that millions of people have died from (or with...) covid or had lasting side-effects from it. However, there is also a minority group who died after vaccination or who developed long lasting or life-changing injuries from them. Some can be found reported on here. Every medicine has side-effects and some people are more prone to them than others. But what bugs me is that overall, you do not hear or read about these people in the media. There are daily media updates here about new covid patients; someone in hospital with covid who says; 'OH I so wished I had been vaccinated!' The same story every day, but different faces. That's fine, but why are the (often younger) people with bad side-effects from these vaccines not reported on? Google doesn't even allow you to find their stories. If you search for 'telegram covid vaccine injuries' on duckduckgo, it is the very first site suggestion in the list. But when I look for that same search term on google, I find it somewhere on page 5. Don't these poor unfortunate people deserve to be acknowledged as well? So that everyone can weigh the risks for themselves and come to informed decisions? VAERS has way, way more covid vaccine deaths and side-effects registered than all the other vaccines do combined. But people who have been unfortunate in that sense, feel ignored and marginalized. It just makes me sad about the media most of all. It's obvious that politicians nitpick when it comes to what they want to emphasize, according to their policy. It isn't helping with pushing the remaining minority to get vaccinated, when you talk about all the people who died right after vaccination or who developed serious side-effects, life changing ones. But the mainstream media should have told some of their stories. Don't forget that before this endemic, there was a lot of media attention aimed at minorities and victims of all sorts. People with rare diseases, people with unusual disabilities or who were otherwise unlucky. Now we have a minority victim group who feel completely ignored, despite doing what they were told to do, and suddenly they are no longer worthy of a news article or interview. I can't help but feel indignant about it, and about the people who instantly discredit their experience and think only in a polarized manner. Just like some people will call me a 'wappie' or a lunatic for even posting this. Oh well. None of us probably know what's all going on, why this pandemic started and what is the right way out of it. Some make this choice and others the other. We never know for certain what the consequences are and that's what makes these times so anxiety-inducing. I know what it is like to have some freak medical condition, which most people do not understand. Having to use a ventilator in winter, having a red burning face, walking around with a neck fan (even at times when wearing a mask...). Getting bright red because someone else is wearing strong perfume. It is all the stuff of a freak nightmare. I know what it's like to have some statistically impossible side-effect from IPL/laser treatment and how society isn't all that interested in people like me with an uncomfortable skin condition. So I can't help sympathizing with the black sheep within this endemic, who were healthy one day and sick the next, through no fault of their own. Society has become even harder than before I think. Even more polarized than before. I hate it. If you don't fully agree with someone, they more often than not have no interest in any debate or disagreement and move on. The Cancel Culture phenomenon I so deeply hate. Luckily I have some friends who are on the same page and also friends who do not agree with me but who are mature and nice enough to respect my decisions and point of view and to stay interested and understanding. Even if half of these reported cases are true, it is already deeply tragic.
October 25th, 2021
Good speech from some European Parliament members:
A friend sent me this (Dutch) doctor's schedule of how they nowadays treat rosacea in the GP's office practice. Thanks so much! It made me a bit sad that there is literally nothing they really suggest or can offer for the treatment of rosacea-induced flushing and burning, other than IPL and laser. Their ivermectin cream doesn't usually work for us and there is (still) no mention at all of anti-flushing medication. While we know that there are therapeutics out there. They just won't look into it. I suspect because drugs like clonidine are not registered officially for the treatment of rosacea or flushing. Mind you, ivermectin has been demonized and ridiculed for YEARS, if not decades by people in the rosacea and health fields. Even my own dermatologist in the past snarled at the notion that demodex mites could be involved in rosacea. Well, that turned out to be correct after all (mostly in subtype 2 rosacea) and here we are; ivermectin is an official line of treatment now. That is great news for many people with rosacea. You can see ivermectin cream (the generic version of Soolantra) being mentioned in the below schedule as a treatment for literally every subtype of rosacea now. It advises the use of ivermectin cream for erythema (redness of the skin due to blood vessel dilation) as well as for papulas and skin outbreaks. It also advises the use of brimonidine for flushing and skin redness... Oh no. With the sinking of the Mirvaso ship and the amounts of negative reviews of it, little brother brimonidine (Rhofade) is also a bit of a liability. It can give rebound flushing and as such worse redness and flushing than you started with. Not everyone with subtype 1 rosacea will have that problem luckily, but the more prone to reactive flushing you are, the higher the risk. There is much more reliable anti-flushing medication out there, but unfortunately over in the Netherlands, patients still need to be very proactive about it... Find a cooperative doctor. Bring the necessary paperwork to prove the scientific trial results that show that clonidine or beta blockers or certain antidepressants and even antihistamines have a good and safe track record when it comes to reducing the debilitating face flushing of some rosacea patients. It is so much harder to treat often, and doctors seem to have the breaks on when it comes to prescribing something that isn't spelled out in their diagnostics and treatment textbook. It can be very stressful for people like us to find something that works, and to find a doctor who is willing to let you try something like clonidine. Despite all the scientific evidence regarding its effectivity. As for laser and IPL, they can do wonders, but also come with a small risk factor. And they are invasive and their effect is sometimes irreversible. For telangiectasia (dilated or broken blood vessels located near the surface of the skin) the Dutch doctors suggest the use of IPL and laser as well. 
Some other news, Merck laboratories has been developing an oral covid drug, and seems to be heading to authorization of it soon. Molnupiravir is an antiviral drug that blocks the effective replication of the virus by introducing copying errors. Merck report about their Phase 3 trial, that they indicate 'a reduction of “Approximately 50%” of the risk of hospitalization in adult patients with a mild to moderate form of Covid-19, but with at least one risk factor for developing a severe form'. Merck is also the original producer of ivermectin by the way, a drug that has a small mountain of favourable scientific research behind it (I added some of them further down this blog post), and ivermectin also has been awarded with a Nobel prize, has a reliable safety profile plus decades of successful use worldwide. Plus a good track record for over a year now in the actual reduction of covid illness and mortality. But ivermectin's patent rights have long expired, and as such every pharmaceutic company and pharmacist can make it for pennies. So this new drug is slightly different and of course; patented. But anyway, am happy that there is more interest by now in therapeutics, because so far all developments seem to have been aimed at vaccines (which for a fact are still stuck in phase 3 testing, no idea yet about long term effects). Let's hope that Molnupiravir will be a serious candidate and approved soon. Although the main question in France is now: But what does Veran think?? (French joke). - There are also promising trials of the SaNOtize nasal spray apparently, developed by an Anglo-Canadian biotech. I believe that there are also developments in the pipeline with monoclonal antibodies. [the French joke: But the real question is what is the selling price? If the product is very expensive and is not French, it has every chance of being validated by Minister Véran. At 1000 € per dose, it will be immediately authorized]. These products can hopefully be thoroughly tested and then approved and put on the market: they can then be given at a very early stage to people with a positive covid test result, to prevent serious illness or hospitalization.
Am also still reading Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It really seems most of all a pamphlet, poured into a story. But the protagonist then reads a book, written by the elusive rebel Emmanuel Goldstein, which seems to reflect mostly Orwell's own insights of and predictions about human behaviour, power, class and such. Very interesting though and fascinating that he wrote this in the 1940's I believe, as it was published in 1949. Yet it effectively predicts the Cold War situation and even far more modern and dystopian situations. He could not yet foresee the internet and wrote about intricate TV systems which at the same time broadcasted and spied on the people in the houses, but nowadays mostly everyone has voluntarily bought and brought the spyware into their lives and houses in the shape of smartphones. Anyway, some passage I marked is the following is about DOUBLETHINK, which is a process of indoctrination whereby the subject is expected to simultaneously accept two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in contravention to one's own memories or sense of reality. Doublethink is related to, but differs from, hypocrisy:"It need hardly be said that the subtlest practitioners of DOUBLETHINK are those who invented DOUBLETHINK and know that it is a vast system of mental cheating. In our society, those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane. One clear illustration of this is the fact that war hysteria increases in intensity as one rises in the social scale. Those whose attitude towards the war is most nearly rational are the subject peoples of the disputed territories. To these people the war is simply a continuous calamity which sweeps to and fro over their bodies like a tidal wave. Which side is winning is a matter of complete indifference to them. They are aware that a change of overlordship means simply that they will be doing the same work as before for new masters who treat them in the same manner as the old ones. The slightly more favoured workers whom we call 'the proles' are only intermittently conscious of the war. When it is necessary, they can be prodded into frenzies of fear and hatred, but when left to themselves they are capable of forgetting for long periods that the war is happening. It is in the ranks of the Party, and above all of the Inner Party, that the true war enthusiasm is found. World-conquest is believed in most firmly by those who know it to be impossible. This peculiar linking-together of opposites -- knowledge with ignorance, cynicism with fanaticism -- is one of the chief distinguishing marks of Oceanic society. The official ideology abounds with contradictions even when there is no practical reason for them. Thus, the Party rejects and vilifies every principle for which the Socialist movement originally stood, and it chooses to do this in the name of Socialism. It preaches a contempt for the working class unexampled for centuries past, and it dresses its members in a uniform which was at one time peculiar to manual workers and was adopted for that reason. It systematically undermines the solidarity of the family, and it calls its leader by a name which is a direct appeal to the sentiment of family loyalty. Even the names of the four Ministries by which we are governed exhibit a sort of impudence in their deliberate reversal of the facts. The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy; they are deliberate exercises in DOUBLETHINK. For it is only by reconciling contradictions that power can be retained indefinitely. In no other way could the ancient cycle be broken. If human equality is to be forever averted--if the High, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently--then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity."
And about THE CLASS DIVIDED STATE Orwell wrote: "Ignorance is Strength. Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude towards one another, have varied from age to age: but the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other. The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable. The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim--for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives--is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal. Thus, throughout history a struggle which is the same in its main outlines recurs over and over again. For long periods the High seem to be securely in power, but sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose either their belief in themselves or their capacity to govern efficiently, or both. They are then overthrown by the Middle, who enlist the Low on their side by pretending to them that they are fighting for liberty and justice. As soon as they have reached their objective, the Middle thrust the Low back into their old position of servitude, and themselves become the High. Presently a new Middle group splits off from one of the other groups, or from both of them, and the struggle begins over again. Of the three groups, only the Low are never even temporarily successful in achieving their aims. It would be an exaggeration to say that throughout history there has been no progress of a material kind. Even today, in a period of decline, the average human being is physically better off than he was a few centuries ago. But no advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimeter nearer. From the point of view of the Low, no historic change has ever meant much more than a change in the name of their masters.The hierarchical form of society had been the doctrine specifically of the High. It had been preached by kings and aristocrats and by the priests, lawyers, and the like who were parasitical upon them, and it had generally been softened by promises of compensation in an imaginary world beyond the grave. The Middle, so long as it was struggling for power, had always made use of such terms as freedom, justice, and fraternity. Now, however, the concept of human brotherhood began to be assailed by people who were not yet in positions of command, but merely hoped to be so before long. In the past the Middle had made revolutions under the banner of equality, and then had established a fresh tyranny as soon as the old one was overthrown. The new Middle groups in effect proclaimed their tyranny beforehand. Socialism, a theory which appeared in the early nineteenth century and was the last link in a chain of thought stretching back to the slave rebellions of antiquity, was still deeply infected by the Utopianism of past ages. But in each variant of Socialism that appeared from about 1900 onwards the aim of establishing liberty and equality was more and more openly abandoned. [..] The principal, underlying cause was that, as early as the beginning of the twentieth century, human equality had become technically possible. It was still true that men were not equal in their native talents and that functions had to be specialized in ways that favoured some individuals against others; but there was no longer any real need for class distinctions or for large differences of wealth. In earlier ages, class distinctions had been not only inevitable but desirable. Inequality was the price of civilization. With the development of machine production, however, the case was altered. Even if it was still necessary for human beings to do different kinds of work, it was no longer necessary for them to live at different social or economic levels. Therefore, from the point of view of the new groups who were on the point of seizing power, human equality was no longer an ideal to be striven after, but a danger to be averted. [..] By the fourth decade of the twentieth century all the main currents of political thought were authoritarian. [..] Every new political theory, by whatever name it called itself, led back to hierarchy and regimentation. And in the general hardening of outlook that set in round about 1930, practices which had been long abandoned, in some cases for hundreds of years--imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages, and the deportation of whole populations--not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive. [..] The new High group, unlike all its forerunners, did not act upon instinct but knew what was needed to safeguard its position. It had long been realized that the only secure basis for oligarchy is collectivism. Wealth and privilege are most easily defended when they are possessed jointly. The so-called 'abolition of private property' which took place in the middle years of the century meant, in effect, the concentration of property in far fewer hands than before: but with this difference, that the new owners were a group instead of a mass of individuals. Individually, no member of the Party owns anything, except petty personal belongings. Collectively, the Party owns everything, because it controls everything, and disposes of the products as it thinks fit."
Covid wise the health pass is mandatory now in the Netherlands as well. Funny how all these leaders seem to follow the same talking points and how they all said by April of 2021 that there would not be a health pass for everyday life activities. The vaccine does not make people immune; it does not prevent you catching covid and vaccinated people are just as contagious as non-vaccinated people if they have covid. So it made sense, from a scientific point of view, to oppose this health pass concept. Rutte and De Jonge guaranteed it in the NL, Macron and his cronies promised it explicitly on TV in France, Biden guaranteed it in the USA. Then they all used the following argumentation list, compared with a salami: you don't eat a whole salami. It's not tasty, it's not what people stuff their mouths with. But when you offer them slices of salami, it goes down a lot easier and more contently. First: We talk about it, saying that there can be no question of it.
Then: We could consider it in case of extreme necessity.
Then: We could do it, but of course that would be limited to exceptional cases.
Then: It's a good solution, we'll put it in place making sure it's proportionate.
Then: The situation is more serious than before, we put it in place finally, but it is only temporary and after all it is essential.
Then: Now that it's installed, let's no longer talk about when the measures will end, but rather about where else we can implement it. Of course the "sacred" areas are exempt.
Then: Discuss the extension in time, the extension to other areas, the escalation of sanctions. Discuss extensively how any problems or ineffectivity faced are down to those who do not join in
And then: extend.
This is the principle of salami. It's not good, but in thin slices it goes down well. And the majority of people approve of it. It does not matter to the majority who are comfortable that the pass discriminates and stigmatizes people who, for instance, already had the disease. Or those who, due to particular and rare health vulnerabilities, still hesitate to be vaccinated. Refuseniks is the not so new word that's now being used to deride people and dismiss their legitimate concerns. Oh well. Curious what Orwell would have thought about all this.
Some feel good contribution for today. Here are some videos I really enjoyed. One is about Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, one of the busiest airports of Europe and one which I have been to very often. The guy of that aviation channel is great and I bet there will be other people who find it equally fascinating to see the air controllers at work in their tower, making sure that all incoming and outgoing planes land and depart safely. I personally love everything about aviation, from flying in airplanes to jumping out of airplanes, to spotting airplanes take off and land, to watching documentaries about airplanes and air crash investigations, to following flights now and then on Flightradar24. Another video is about the power of music, and how music triggers memories, emotions and even coordination in our brains, also in those of people suffering from Alzheimer's for instance. Very touching video that made me well up even at some point. The other two are wonderful videos of a small organization that saves abused and neglected lions from Eastern European countries, and transports them back to a refuge in South Africa. Big thumbs up also for Qatar Airways, who handled the complicated air transport of these lions free of charge. Touching footage!
Music of the day
And when the media overlooks and ignores a certain group
of unfortunate people, I do like to emphasize their health cases,
because this could have happened to any of us:
Oh and this may trigger some people, but it's all parody. Not making fun of sick or dead people, but just people throwing some black humour at the misery we're all facing today. Like people have done throughout history (although it may be an endangered thing by itself, going into the future). Big knock on wood here and request for karma to let me get away with a bit of innocent fun. When it comes to vaccinations and covid informal 'rules', there is just so much coercion and pressure applied by the people around us. Some like to say "Free choice? To infect others?" But it is known for a fact now and publicized as such, that the vaccinated can still carry and transmit the virus just as easily as those who are vaccinated. And they can and do still end up in hospital too, unlike what the popular belief is. In the UK there was a bit of a row about a dance show (Strictly dancing), where a handful of dancers refused to be vaccinated. It was played out in the media as if they were the ones risking the health and lives of everybody in the team. In the end several dancers did get sick with covid, but they turned out to be vaccinated. All that fuss about the unvaccinated yet it was the vaccinated that brought covid onto the show. So well, do what you want but let's stick to the science, as people always like to say but don't always practice. Like George Orwell said: "Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad".
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