It’s been a pretty hard march of unrelenting restrictions since March 2020. We’re never the absolute worst in Europe, but we do everything more thoroughly and for far longer than most other countries. The result has been an utter degradation of the texture of life, the loss of temporal perspective (it always seems like last week was a year ago, and last year just a few days), and the constant numbing hysteria of press reports.
It’s my own pet theory, but I think it’s true: A lot of the major, overt pressure for lockdowns came from within the bureaucracy. Here I have some perspective, as I am formally a Bavarian bureaucrat. A lot of home office rules were finalised over the summer, and the lockdown hardliner CDU party is out of government. This doesn’t mean lockdowns won’t come back, just that there’s no longer as much force pushing for them.
Within my institute, and elsewhere in the bureaucracy, Corona hysteria is dialled high all the time. A lot of state employees have faded semi-permanently into telecommuting where (as far as I can tell) they don’t do anything. If you’re unvaccinated, you have to submit a negative PCR test twice a week to maintain your employment. My feeling is that outside the bureaucracy, people are much more pragmatic. Working class service personnel don’t care about masking rules, for example. In professional settings (when you meet with your lawyers, etc.) everyone unmasks. But the secretary who brings in the tea, she still has to mask. A hierarchical class element creeps into this meaningless ritual.
We’re in a de facto ‘lockdown of the unvaccianted.’ The unvaccinated have to present negative tests to ride public transit, though my own experience (and I have informants who confirm this) is that there’s not much checking. They can only go into shops selling necessities, which means that all the big retailers ahead of Christmas are reduced to checking a million vaccination passes at every doorway.
FFP2 (basically, N95) masks are required in all public spaces. They are of such terrible made-in-China quality, that they have no hope of doing anything, but they’re required. Gastro has to close at 22:00 every night, the vaccinated need a negative test (or proof of booster) to work out at the gym.
It’s clear the new coalition government (a horror show: SPD + FDP + Greens) doesn’t want to touch Corona containment policies that much at all, because they’re so politically toxic. I think this means they’ll prove reluctant to innovate overmuch, but they’re very likely to hold the present course indefinitely, to avoid getting blamed for anything that goes wrong.
As many have reported before me, it’s worse in the cities. In the countryside, people are much more relaxed about Corona. Munich, once my favourite city in the world, has become an unliveable pit of hypochondria and obsessive compulsive hygiene etiquette, so I’m moving south to the Oberland.
Let me add my Bavarian perspective here. I agree that the more "laptop class", the higher the hysteria, or just the feeling that one needs to comply with the regulations in order to be a good citizen. I know people within big companies, they are desparate to stick to all the rules and regulations perfectly. One of my informants tries to push people to reveal their true views - not much luck there, they're all toeing the official line and staying quiet if they don't agree. Jobs are now 3g - you have to show your covid pass to the security people, and it is shown and checked. People I know in Austria tell me there's not much interest in the covid passes there - there's the rules, and then there's reality. In Germany, unfortunately, there is almost 100% overlap between the rules and reality.
Last week I had to go to Munich city - which I really avoid by now as shops are 2G and I don't care much for the feeling of living in a police state. Apparently, business owners complain that people avoid the shops, big suprise there. Munich was as depressing as I anticipated, lots of staff standing about and checking covid passes, sure raised my blood pressure from sheer outrage. I made sure I politely complained at every check.
We few, we unhappy few, can't see a way forward - we have the feeling that privately, many people are unhappy about Impfpflicht and booster shots and not getting the freedom they were promised. It seems that some people aren't doing well after the booster shots (myocarditis in one case), and this seems to create a bit of disquiet among the people who've been favourable or neutral about the measures. Kindergarten kids will have to be tested 3 times a week starting from January, and it seems as if people don't care for this new rule, thinking it's one more nuisance that doesn't make sense. So on the one hand, people in this well-to-do town outside of Munich seem to get a bit critical of the government; and it seems lots of people went to a demonstration on Wednesday. On the other hand, the propaganda that whoever opposes the measures is a mini Hitler at the very least still impresses people. It seems we are a bit more in a state of flux than we used to be, hard to say what's going to happen next.
What's nice: I found a fellow dissident at my job. What's less nice: while he was telling me about his true feelings about the vaccine (could have been such a romantic moment, pity), he kept looking over his shoulder again and again to make sure none of the colleagues were listening. I felt like in one of the Stasi movies, extremely creepy.
On the whole, everything feels grey and claustrophobic, everybody seems to be waiting for the next chaotic set of government measures, being quietly resigned or a bit morose about them, but nobody seems to have any idea how we're ever going to get out of this mess.
Oh, and in one of the German states the courts toppled regulations that the unvaccinated couldn't use shops except supermarkets bc this went against the principle of equality. Big win for us few, us unhappy few, and how depressing it is to think that we're at a point where we cheer about something as minor as this.
Pester unremittingly your elected politician. With polite requests for information, submission of discovered facts, expressions of your own desires.
All submitted in the full knowledge that generally your submission is not going to get past the office girls.
So write it for them.
Have bold chapter and para headings of extreme simplicity that gets a message straight into them.
Have links they can click on that go straight to the best dramatic, plain and simpl, hard hitting sources you can find.
Lard with as much content about Children and Pregnancy and Women's health as you can.
And when talking to people sow seeds of doubt in them and introduce concepts they'd perhaps never thought of. Without ever appearing to do so. With absolutely no appearance of confrontation.
Do this perhaps by stretching the truth a bit, if necessary, useful. I mean in this sort of way: "I'm all for the vax but I want my Immune System strengthened to the max before taking it to give it the best chance !"
or: " I'm all for the vax but I think I'll wait for the strain-specific one they're preparing now. "
Never oppose.
Always humbly ask.
There's heaps to do.
We have to restore democracy, don't we?
Reason.
Free speech.
Logic.
Truth.
We've got a mountain of facts needs uncovering - like what damage has been done, is being done, in economic terms, gdp, physical health, psychological health, education, etc..... everything. Nothing has really been counted. And that's domestically. Then there's the world to look at.
We'll never get there. But we have to try. There's plenty to do. Everything.
Sorry, I wasn't very clear about that - the way forward referred to the way political measures would be developed.
Your suggestions are a great reminder that we CAN do something. I love your suggestion of writing for the office girls - brilliant, will do that instead of frustratedly addressing people who aren't going to read my letter anyway.
What I do is: I play the round-eyed innocent, slightly confused, asking questions: "...but surely...?", "...but haven't you heard...?", "...but then why...?"
And I don't lie to strangers, which is often surprisingly successful bc it gives people an opportunity to vent. They don't know me, I don't know them, no risk involved for them, so they tend to be honest, too.
Demonstrations seem to be growing, more news in the mainstream press (although of course according to the media it's all evil lawless right-wing extremists running amok in the streets). Some friends are sending a postcard a day to the new Chancellor every day, only text "NO vax mandates".
Great advice. We're doing too little of what you suggest. Last week there was a kerfuffle here about the potential use of violence against tyrants (primarily in an American context). We're far, FAR away from that scenario. Chances are high that if enough people do as you suggest, we'll remain far from it indefinitely.
The vaccine mandate will likely fail but take some time to do so. It has to first be voted for, which is almost certain as long as the vote happens soonish. There is a sufficient deluded majority in parliament to reach a constitutional super-majority. If anyone thinks of that (I don't mind speculating openly about it on the internet as I am sure some evil people in government have already considered it), then that is game over in terms of some of the following steps.
Once the bureaucracy has actually decided who gets mandated, on the shifting sands of approvals, recommendations, and advice from more or less government-controlled authorities, there is the question of how to check up on everyone.
Who is checking and where? It could turn in to a de facto ban on unvaccinated entering and leaving the country (which is why I and others are making plans to be able to leave at short notice if needed) but that would be drastic and, while possible, unlikely. However it is done it will run into immediate legal challenges.
The next step is what if you get picked up on the street without your vax passport? The speculation is this will be an "administrative" offence, but all that means is you are "invited" to pay a fine and avoid court action with additional costs and effort. If they catch enough people, and enough refuse, then there is court time tied up in prosecuting the "crime" of being out and about without being vaccinated. For a minor increase in expense you get to buy time and snarl up the system. German bureaucracy may be effective but it takes its time. This is civil disobedience writ large. While your case is pending, it will be hard for the authorities to make a second case against you. And some judges (a minority, but enough to make trouble) will be less than happy at you having to prove you have the vax pass than the prosecutors proving you don't.
If all these things come to pass some people will end up paying fines. The clever ones will resist payment until the last minute, and eventually get them back with interest once the narrative collapses. Or have done their bit to usher in a better Germany.
I think they are going to push for it, but will sort of let it die a quiet death if public pushback is too strong. In my view, that's why they are trying to milk omicron (if you can milk a virus) for all it's worth in their doom-y and gloom-y way, hoping for huge public support for vax. mandates in order to fight against omicron.
I don't know if you follow Friedrich Pürner on twitter (https://twitter.com/drpuerner?lang=en), do, if you speak German - he's a public health official (was demoted by Söder) and says vax. mandate not likely to succeed. They don't know who is vaccinated anyway, so huge adminstrative chaos is bound to follow.
The goverment has a big Problem because a lot of people are against vaccine passports and are Not vaccinated. They Know also That there are a lot of legal Challenges and they have no clue who is vaccinated. The vaxx quote seems also Not plausible. I wrote about it in German: https://florianb.substack.com/p/das-rki-und-die-impfquote
A few of my observations in Bavaria - am an immigrant resident for about 10 years now.
I actively seek out conversations with colleagues, neighbours, family, etc. to gauge what "real" people are thinking to balance the media/state consensus-think. Most consider this a bit unusual, but I explain my curiousity is simply due to being foreign and am just trying to understand my adopted homeland better (this sorta works).
The overwhelming response amongst the vaxxed is one of helplessness - "what can we do?". This impotence has led to TINA VAX compliance (There Is No Alternative to Vaccination - we must comply). They have made their decision to vaccinate, are now fed up of the topic, and don't really want to discuss it anymore. Hardly any understand my reluctance to vax. Hardly any can empathise with unvaxxed fellow citizens and the restrictions they face.
A common response to my factual/logical criticisms of policy is a desperate, "But you can just get vaxxed" or "Okay, but then what do YOU suggest we do to save the hospital/healthcare system?". I reply that this a confused role reversal: the onus is surely on government authorities to provide evidence the current restrictions and policies are working/justified and not on me to provide alternative solutions.
One concrete example in Bavaria, that few vaxxed are aware of, is the scandal of the distorted and misleading infection rates of vaxxed/unvaxxed that were used to argue for the widescale introduction of 2G restrictions on unvaxxed. Yet, many continue to parrot and believe that it is a pandemic of the unvaxxed.
Unvaxxed are often surprised to meet a fellow traveller and mostly happy to share information (although, as others have pointed out, many are cautious about who is listening - funnily enough, at work, we all meet each other briefly in the morning in the designated room for the compulsory testing). Quite a few remain very passive and will apparently put up with any amount of restricions so long as they, or their children, are not forced to get vaccinated. At first I could not understand this passivity (remember 1 in 4 working-age adults are still not vaccinated in Bavaria - we are many!), but I repeatedly sense the biggest obstacle is that most are very concerced about being labelled radical right/consipiracy theorist/contrarian. I have personally experienced this form of labelling by association.
As you can see, the propaganda messaging is doing an excellent message on all fronts:
* most unvaxxed are afraid to, or think it pointless, protest
* most vaxxed are too exhausted to think or question - many even have no idea of the updated restrictions on gatherings for the upcoming Christmas holiday season (like I said, people are exhausted by the topic)
This leaves two slim minorities:
* vaxxed "true believers" - these admonish me for my lack of "solidarity" and make poorly informed claims about the science. Furthermore, they are proud of their compliance and adoption of technological solutions, i.e. mRNA vaccines, vaccine/tracing smartphone apps, masking, remote working/teaching/learning, cashless payments, etc.
* (un)vaxxed "resistance" - these are the people unafraid to voice their objections. This past week has been encouraging with the public demonstrations in many parts of Germany (although the media continues its job of smearing these groups with the above labels and also accusations of violence/lawlessness). I am attending protests this weekend and will report again on those first hand.
BTW: I highly recommend this talk between Dr. Chris Martenson and Professor Mattias Desmet and would be interested to hear any comments Eugyppius' might have:
Professor Mattias Desmet talks about his work that connects past historical episodes of what is called “Mass Formation” (aka Mass Psychosis) and current events. The risks are as grave as they come. Unless a few brave and courageous people are willing to stand up and say “I don’t agree!” history suggests that we will end up with a fully totalitarian outcome.
Any of Desmet's interviews are absolutely essential viewing, I say as someone who watches a small fraction of the "essential" stuff unwaxed comrades send me.
We are in 1934 now and we need to get to 1945, alive, and with minimal destruction. It won't take 11 years. My money is on another 2, and that Germany will substantially be able to save itself this time rather than need outside intervention. The subsequent blowback for the entire woke/climate/vegan/faux diversity movement will be immense, and great fun to watch.
Climate needs to fall back to environmentalism, vegan to a personal choice, faux diversity can go jump, woke is toxic.
A lot of damage to climate change here, but there still seems to be a problem. Whether that's caused by CO2 or not is a debate that should be had, I think on past evidence maybe not. In which case I think it must be pollution that's causing the issue, CO2 only a part of that. Also something interesting happening in the upper atmosphere, it's cooling.
Tonight I went walking with a few hundred others through my provincial town centre (sorry, don't want to reveal any identifiers). I had been tipped off about the protest by an unvaccinated colleague, which was good because searching online I could not find any info about upcoming protests in my area, only previously held events.
Normally in Germany you have to register a protest with the police and inform them about your planned event and motivations, indicate the estimated number of attendees, planned location or route of march, etc. In theory, this communication in advance is supposed to help the police ensure public health and safety at all times. However, recently some applications for protests against government corona measures have been declined. Sometimes the basis for rejection relates to the very Corona restrictions being protested and sometimes it is on even more spurious grounds, for example, an application for a large family-friendly protest in Berlin was declined at the weekend because of fears that violent protesters not affiliated with the demonstrators might also be attracted. This tortuous logic could theoretically allow authourities to prohibit any protest.
Therefore, many German cities this past week have been experiencing a type of spontaneous pop-up group walk. There is no official organiser, no official route, so everyone can somewhat plausibly deny they are unlawfully assembling in public and are simply going for a walk (en masse ;)
I think it import to mention this backgound information because word-of-mouth and a private facebook/telegram channel seem to be how this event was communicated and this obviously hampers a larger turnout. Case in point, an ex-colleague and her daughter joined on the spot upon seeing us walk by.
By my estimation there were about 300 which is quite reasonable for an unregistered protest on a cold and dark Monday evening in this town, and by all accounts it was bigger than the previous event. The demographics were mixed: male, female, students, middle-aged couples, older hippie types, lots of eco/bio/alternatives, I also recognised some business owners, social workers, etc. This really was a non-radical, apolitical, peaceful gathering of regular (bordering on suburban) citizens to protest vaccine passports, vaccine mandates and various other measures.
Being a decentralised type event, it did lack coordination, and the police were constantly trying to predict our route which mostly meandered for an hour through the central pedestrian shopping area and along some streets which the police temporarily blocked off before petering out back at the starting point. The police presence was very visible but also restrained. The only unpeaceful element of the evening was the "counter" protest which featured a handful of younger masked people shouting and blaring music over loudspeakers at us while holding a large banner against fascists/radical right/contrarians. The masked police rather comically positioned themselves strategically around them, ostensibly to protect them from us!
It will be interesting to see if, and how the local media will report the event and how they will choose to label us. Whether it will make any difference I don't know, but it sure felt good to meet in these dark times and chat and walk the streets with others who are like-minded. Remember, with 25% of adults in Germany unvaccinated that is a lager portion of society than any individual political party in the Bundestag house of government.
Here is a summary of the walking protests which took place all over German tonight:
Many years ago I watched an English-language amateur production of Dreigroschenoper, put on by a local school. It was excellent, studied imperfection. I cannot imagine any bunch of teenagers outside of Germany ever being able to match in their own language, let alone a foreign language. The translation was also a collective effort of the staff and pupils and contained the following line spoken by Polly Peachum on being denied a visit to her imprisoned husband; unforgettable for anyone like me, an immigrant to Germany, and probably to many natives, "Do you have no heart? What are you, a German bureaucrat?"
Our German bureaucrats indeed have no heart. No soul. No humanity. That's why they don't want us to have one. They were the first to tear it out and will be the last to let us have it back.
Of course, our German bureaucrats are now actually denying the unvaccinated the right to visit their relatives, whether actually imprisoned, or merely in care facilities, hospitals, etc. Life is imitating art, and it is a tragedy, not a comedy.
Thank you for continuing this excellent series of reports!
I am currently very excited about the protests occurring in Germany, in virtually every large city and many, many smaller ones. It has finally reached the magical level where the police can't be everywhere at once to suppress it. And the majority of protests are just ignoring the laws about getting permission first.
On the weekend, there was a massive police presence in Greiz to prevent protests, to make an example on instructions of the governor. The protesters just moved to nearby Plauen and had the (very large) protest there instead.
As we learned from the ex-DDR, Mondays 18:00 are excellent for demonstrating. And Telegram is very difficult to censor.
" ... , to avoid getting blamed for anything that goes wrong."
That's onlty to avoid anything going "wrong" regarding meaningless COVID stats. Anything going truly wrong with society, the economy, and non-COVID health is of little consequence to them.
Yes, because it can't be measured so easily. Infections go up - easy to measure, easy to panic. Triage at child psychiatric wards in hospital - harder to link to handling of the covid crisis.
Are FFP2 masks really the right class of mask? I thought they were not for viruses, but for particles released when sanding and such. FFP3 masks (such as 3M's Aura model, NPF 50) are for hospitals, labs and such.
Anyone can check on site with 3M or other companies manufacturing different kinds of protective gear re: breathing, what the right kind of masks are, and they are to be used.
The above of course disregards the silly notion that wearing any kind of mask in a public setting will achieve anything other than making sure you rebreahte any virus or bacteria you akready have in your system.
And what about beards? If you like me have a beard, any mask short of a "gasmask" does sweet eff all. I really can't imagine - not even german bureaucrats - any western european provincial governement in the EUSSR trying to shave moslems to make the masks fit. And how do you check that moslem women are wearing masks? Rip off their normal facial covering? Otherwise they'll have to wear the masks on top of the face veil.
The FFP2 mandates are absurd - in my view they're just there to add another symbolic level of escalation to the game - it's bad = "normal" mask; it's gone worse = OMG FFP2. Simply, to have a visual symbol of the grave, grave danger caused by COVID.
We have a small shop in Melbourne despite currently living in Dunedin. It is not viable to employ someone to check for passes. Our best day this Xmas season was last Saturday, the day of the big protest. It was nearly a normal Xmas period day as compared to before before Covid (probably about 65% of BC). But this Saturday is back to 'new normal' (i.e. about 30% BC) and that won't keep the landlord happy, who still thinks things are going to recover.
The saying „Stadtluft macht frei...“ wasn't intended to be sarcastic, but the pandemicists have made it so. Thanks for the update in your surprisingly excellent English.
What scares me is that I literally find all this crap laughable - and I truly mean laugh-out-loud laughable, yet a sizeable portion of humanity seems convinced we're dealing with Ebola. How does ANYONE in their right mind take any of this imbecility seriously? I live in Florida, where 90% of life feels like 2019 and no one talks about Covid anymore (except me since I can't take this craziness on board)
Oh, how I ENVY you. You've been lucky and had people in positions of authority that dared to say out loud that the emperor was naked. Here, they're still pretending he isn't.
I read these and it never ceases to amaze me how it's similar everywhere. Either it's one mass psychotic hysterical episode or it's all planned. Or maybe a case of copy catting each other? Excuse the possible false dilemma but this is just too weird. But this has nothing to do with science or public health at this point. Something very evil is happening.
I believe it's utterly average, mediocre people copying whatever they can from each other or some authority one level above them. It's what we do at my job, too. :-) And nobody wants to stick out their head and take a risk in case some poor soul might cop it from omicron, and then they'd get blamed and Spoken To by a higher-up, and that would be terrible.
Yes, especially the passports. Sweden: "OK we've done it all without passports, hospitalisations are super low, death rate is super low, let's introduce passports now." - Scary.
Yep.scary. Here in Italy they introduced them in July/August 2021....full summer, super low numbers, and, now we know, window of super vax effectiveness...people only wanted to go on holiday, which are somehow sacred, over here, and the rest didn't give a f*ck anyway..if only we knew...😔😔
That's where the 'conspiracy' thoughts enter. Exactly. The leader of Sweden is a member of the WEF. Scratch a politician, find a WEF influence and the measures make sense because it's the WEF and Bill Gates who have talked about resets and passports and mandatory vaccines. A couple of months ago Bill Gates visited Johnson in the UK. Next thing, they have passports. It's all suspicious. And Gates' name keeps popping up.
Draco in Italy is a member of the Trilateral Commission an God knows what else, and the former European Central Bank head..and, don't forget, the man who plastered Greece and its economy...we really are in good hands; ah, unelected, of course..
I really, really try to steer clear of conspiracy theories - to quote Terry Pratchett: “It's amazing how good governments are, given their track records in almost every other field, at hushing up things like alien encounters." Or at secretly coordinating a global conspiracy,for that matter. It doesn't sound credible, does it, having a global action plan implemented on such a scale, to such an extent. It just doesn't. But, on the other hand, Sweden and the UK really make me think. Sweden did well without the social credit shenanigans, 92% of UK citizens have antibodies and measures are deeply unpopular in Britain, AFAIK. So why would they now...?
Exactly. Let us know if you come up with anything. Lol. Even Canada is strange. They announce in October the virus will be a common cold but also say there will be passports and vaccines in 2022? Why? If it's a common cold and the world pretty much is vaccinated and has natural immunity for the another group, why? Nothing is making sense. And that's when the conspiracies begin.
Obviously governments couldn't competently run a grand conspiracy. But a transnational mafia-like organisation with moles in the intelligence services? Right up their alley.
This makes sense and wouldn't surprise me at all. Group think has set in at the bureaucratic level and Stockholm Syndrome at the social level. Now to break this.
Alex, this is the question that we really pondered at our "dissidents' meeting" today. How can we get out of this.
We tentatively believe that the gov. will stop pushing measures on people as soon as they think it might be politically damaging to them. As long as they believe they are gaining political brownie points by ganging up on the unvax., they will continue to do so. The media play a crucial role, convincing people that the gov. is right and convincing the gov. that people are supporting their course.
We don't think vax. mandates are as popular as they are making them out to be; but this is Germany, and people are known for going along with gov. policy for a long time. Maybe vax. mandate is just a tactic to scare the unvax. to get vax. and the courts will topple any attempt to establish it. So maybe the vax mandates will turn public opinion as soon as everybody realizes not just the murderous unvaxed that will be forced to get a shot, but they themselves?
The governments will keep pushing for this until the nwo is in place. Let's look at Romania where the level of support for these measures is at most 20%, 40% vaxxed but half of those did it under duress and most of them won't booster unless they are forced - job loss. The previous government pushed for all these measures. The government was forced out and the previous main opposition party, which gets their main shares of votes from the electorate that is not getting the vaccine, got into the new government. They have the health minister position. Mandatory green pass as law is proposed now by this new health minister. They are losing votes and popularity every day but they don't care. Stop deluding yourselves this is not a conspiracy. Event 201 and WEF great reset are not coincidences and the people behind those organizations are always meaning business, they are the richest people in the world, aren't they? We are in a battle for our lives and the future of humanity and not recognizing this and hoping this is just society going crazy - not that this doesn't play a huge part - is not going to help in this battle. Do you really think the whole mainstream media is supporting the governments fully just because of mass formation? Do you think big tech censorship happens only because of the psychosis? The mechanism for that to happen - AI doing the vast majority of censorship and the infrastructure for human interventions - had to be put in place and it's not a trivial task. It costs those companies money and it's not producing a direct financial benefit.
Yes, I've seen this, been there, done that. It's the norm. We don't need conspiracy theories or anything so elaborate. Just our current structure is prone to this.
It is so depressing to see that everywhere the same totally damaging BS applies. How weak have our societies become to give up our hard earned freedom for such a flat lie. And uniformly around the world so!!!
My heart is breaking for the kids - what is being done to them is nothing short of a war crime. From psychological trauma down to outright damaging their bodies with leaky and dangerous vaccines that have no benefit for them whatsoever. On such a massive scale. The truth would create a cognitive dissonance in many so that they would do anything to not be awaken - otherwise the pain would be too much to bear.
How to brake this dynamics? Go on the streets? Just give up, stop working, go on social benefits? Start an 'amish' like closed community?
For the first time I was challenged on the train, sort of. On our rail network you can buy tickets from a conductor and as he was striding past I asked for one. His English wasn’t too good but was able to make out, “mask” “mask” “mask” and he gesticulated alternately between his face and mine. He sped on down the aisle and I thought he was being a Ken. On his return through the carriage I tried again but got same gesticulations and exclamations. I was then able to catch his eye and what I saw there was fear. He wasn’t being a Ken but was terrified of me without a mask. He rushed off and never appeared again throughout the journey.
On the return home as I turned out of my seat a fellow passenger spotted I was wasn’t wearing a mask. Instinctively she went into a body swerve but caught herself realising how ridiculous it would look had she completed the manoeuvre. Either that or she was being polite and wanted to avoid hurting my feelings.
What a wicked and evil thing has been done to us to make people behave like that.
Every few minutes in Central Station a tannoy announces that masks are compulsory but then qualifies it by informing that some people are exempt due to disabilities etc. Masks have been mandated here from the beginning with no summer pause as happened in England but you can self exempt. From October we have had vaccine passports for nightclubs and large events, but yet not for shops, bars and restaurants. Churches mandate masks for congregants but not for choristers, say what????
As far as I can ascertain, where passport entry is required it is often done on trust and not rigorously enforced. Regarding police checking passports on the street, it is unthinkable that this could happen in Scotland. There is simmering social tension here (not necessarily covid related) and things are occasionally at the point of boiling over. Politicians are aware, and in the case of covid are constrained to walk a fine line between appeasing Karens and placating libertarians, hence the public facing stringency but behind the scenes exemptions and lax enforcement.
The MSM ramped up Omicron scare has this week led to 80% wearing masks on the street as opposed to 20% last week. Streets are busy enough and pub is busier too, perhaps due to Christmas. Pub staff are all wearing masks this week but customers are still mask free. Good atmosphere in the pub, friendly, spacious and warm. I can be found there every Wednesday from 12.30pm. Wetherspoons Crystal Palace, Jamaica St, Glasgow. I wear my symbolic resistance yellow spot (badge).
Last week EU leader Leyden and UKPM Johnson called for a “conversation” on compulsory vaccination. MSM dutifully complied and The Herald published a scurrilous piece that almost strayed into Der Stürmer territory https://melnick.substack.com/p/covid-crazies while BBC Scotland featured people from street interviews who blamed unvaccinated for the pandemic. However, I sense this “conversation” won’t get much traction as it has gone quiet in the last day or two.
Yesterday, UK parliament had over 100 government rebels voting against England’s passport mandates and also in a by-election Tories lost a seat they had held for 200 years. So Johnson now knows he has gone as far as he can with restrictions. We find ourselves now at the apex of the scare which will gradually ease off and be gone by Spring 2022. Scare is already effectively over in USA (give or take a few hold-outs). By next summer hardly anyone will remember covid such is the short attention span of the general public.
"The Yellow Spot" was a book anonymously written in 1936 and published by Victor Gollancz. It details the persecution of a Jewish minority in Nazi Germany. It is a harrowing read not for the faint hearted. I explain in my substack that I coincidently wore a yellow badge to identify myself for an internet arranged park meeting. Afterwards I then thought to promote the idea of a yellow badge which we could all wear as as symbol of anti-covid resistance. By anti-covid I don't mean to deny the existence of the virus only the authorities reaction to it.
Some are complaining that wearing a yellow badge is equivalent to forcing Jews to wear a yellow star. That's definitely subterfuge by those who want to suppress resistance. Those who make that specious comparison are improving the justification for using it. I'm going shopping.
I have thought about that, David. If I remember correctly (I read a lot, not all of which I recall in detail) there were a few places where non-Jews wore a yellow star in solidarity, well at least for a while. In my view a coincidental wearing of a Yellow Spot (badge) pays homage to the disappeared Jews of Europe.
I should also have said that in my case it is a yellow badge about one inch in diameter obtained from ebay for a few pennies. But of course each individual may have their own opinions on what it should be.
Thanks for noticing, David. I was hoping that my yellow spot resistance could be developed. It is explained in my substack. I don't want or require any recognition for it, some people have helped me throughout my life and from an early age I have felt the urge to give something back. Let the yellow spot resistance grow organically! Just ask me, please.
Make it a game of never, ever giving them what they want - easy compliance.
These people are cowards. Stand your ground with a smile on your face and love in your heart for people who have been 'broken' by this process (by either submitting to it or partaking), and never submit, comply or attach meaning to anything they say or do - be ungovernable and noncompliant, and certain of victory.
You are the candle that lights the way for many around you!
Ema, Our Lord Jesus Christ, was born an Outcast in a dirty cave. He then had to flee for his life as his government was afraid of a BABY. That government killed BABIES because they were chickenshit asshats. You, can handle it. Spend the time contemplating the evil asshats conspiring to kill him. Watch out, yourself, for the wolves lurking over you trying to lead you into doing evil and pray you will not follow.
This, too, shall pass. But in the meantime, beg grace and growth in virtues. When everyone wakes up, we - those of us who haven't slept - will be needed.
I'm in the English midlands and am with you on that. Since omicron came about there's a growing feeling of we've had enough if this now, and I think the government themselves have had enough too. They've resisted bringing in more restrictions for doing show and I think all the leaks about lockdown parties in government departments last year have been carefully orchestrated to generate the hostile reaction they have done. I think their thinking is bring in the passes to make the youngsters get vaccinated, get everyone boosted, it'll give enough short term protection to get through the winter, then when it dies off in the spring we can claim success. Then start talking about something else and next winter call it flu. Same thing would probably happen if they did nothing though
The passes are the goal at this point, not the vaccs. The passes will never die off they will morph into total CONSUMER CONTROL MECHINISM.
The world governments are going utterly bankrupt. They are beholden to Central Banking and the Federal Reserve (not an american gov. institution, totally private). The "passes" will become the only way we will be able to engage/dialogue with the "world". The banks will be able to approve/decline any and all purchases remotely regardless of how much money you think you have in your bank account.
If you thought Santa's "Naught and Nice" list was tough your in for a real surprise when Global Governance refuses your attempt to buy a 2nd car or 3rd guitar or extra bottle of booze.
But apparently it doesn't give even short term protection. Boosted patients are filling hospitals everywhere. We're being misled. Fraudulent claims in the face of this much contrary evidence is surely driven by desperation. The medical industry is going to collapse due to this fraud.
Just to be clear, I mean that is what I think the governments thinking is:) Or maybe we've just got a load coming up to their expiry date
Some numbers circulated yesterday at the hospital I work at but I only picked up the email today .
Confirmed covid - Adults 109, 2 children. Of the adults, 60% vaccinated
Critical care 18 covid of which 6 vaccinated, 38 non covid
This is the first time they've broken the numbers out by vaccination status. There are 1,300 beds so this leaves around 1,100 there for other reasons. So covid is around 10% of general admissions and 30% of ICU.
But they're not breaking out meaningful numbers. How ma y critical are obese or have other conditions that degrade immune health? How many "confirmed" are actually sick? How are they being treated. Do they just give them ivermectin and send them home?
There are a few national chain stores in the bigger cities where employees half-heartedly wear masks. That's it. Life is normal here... no mask mandates, no vaccination passports, no school closings. There is a state law that prohibits employers from even asking employees about vaccine status.
The general attitude of people here is one of common sense - protect the elderly, and the rest of us get on with life. The reality is that hypothermia or grizzly bears can also kill you, and everyone is smart enough to wear a coat and carry bear spray when hiking. The Covid vaccines are readily available here for anyone who needs it, and beyond that, it is up to the individual.
My goodness, I have had to pause after reading the report from your Japanese respondent. As a parent this pain is magnified. I have a child who has transitioned from (UK) high school to college during the pandemic. Exams cancelled of course. Worse than that, it seems to me, is the insidious cancelling of all these little rites of passage for children. What good can it possibly do? None, only bad. Also may I say, is there a more poignant image for this wilful killing of joy, than the sacrificial beheading of tulips?
The global coordination (Gleichschaltung) is striking.
As of now, every non-African country seems to do the same. The differences seem to be only how much people adhere to it. But there is no resistance, only a difference in rigidity.
In Sweden the rules are baffling, and the governement is waffling.
The prime minister says that we must have strict rules. The agencies actually writing the rules uses words like "vendors may ask guests for vaccin id". The rules for numbers of people in a venue (such as a concert) are incomprehensible and nonsensical.
I could go on, but picture the orchestra of Atlantis in "Eric the Viking" and there you have it.
TRAVEL NOTES EUROPE – SWEDEN-POLAND-UKRAINE-CZECH (Part II)
Before leaving Sweden for Ukraine, I had to get another antigen test as required by the Ukrainian authorities. Finding a place to get a test was a piece of cake as Stockholm seemed to have a few “Vaccin” offices that provided a full range of services. Apparently devoid of crowds clamoring to get vaccinated, a walk-in was an easy solution. Everything went swimmingly well except having to suffer a few seconds of the terrible tickle in my nose – the antigen test in Sweden resembled the depth of a PCR intrusion. The price was half of that I paid in Canada. Once, done, my negative test certificate arrived in my email inbox within 30 minutes. I was free to continue my journey. This meant buying a ticket for the following day. Indeed, travelling in the Covid times is a risky affair. Going along the good old normal by booking my flights way in advance sounded dodgy unless shelling out the coin for fully flexible tickets.
Flying through Warsaw necessitated a production of the negative test not only at the ticket counter in Stockholm, but also at the quick check point at Warsaw airport. It was easier with masks. As soon as the meal was served, the plane passengers were given a carte blanche to breathe through the nose. Nobody seemed to care too much. The same picture was on the ground, as masks are required in the public transit. I took mine off and nobody cared. Arriving in the middle of Warsaw, the testing scene suddenly became very lively. Right by the iconic Stalin’s skyscraper, there were at least three separate testing tents. These were very well attended judging by rather long line ups consisting exclusively of young folk. I figured that the Polish state had deployed an extensive testing regime for those at risk – science you know. I think it might be similar to the situation in the UK where hordes of students are regularly tested for the virtually riskless virus. Long-standing historic political ties between Warsaw and London came alive once again, reminding me, the old Soviet, of the murky circumstances of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. But I digress.
Arriving in Ukraine finally afforded a good look into the new two-tier Covid society that is accessible to many unlike the rarified world of the west where only billionaire-philanthropists and their cheerleaders are allowed in. In Kyiv, for a tidy sum of $280 USD paid by my dear friend Vlad, I was afforded a full VIP treatment. Met at the gate by a designated attendant, I was whisked away by a top-line BMW to a separate VIP entrance where all Covid requirements were dispensed with exceeding courtesy. In Ukraine, one is required to have a tracking app on your phone and an antigen test within 72 hours after the arrival. I was escorted into a very comfortable dining room that served top-notch mix of sushi and borscht where I bid my time waiting for a connection to my hometown. Within an hour, my app began sending very menacing messages, demanding all manner of compliance with Covid protocols. At first alarmed, I inquired about the phenomenon from my VIP handler. He simply told me to ignore all of it. The only bit I needed to do was to get that 72-hour antigen test. The rest was rubbish. My dear friend Vlad gleefully confirmed and issued excuses for the inconveniences for the idiocies of the Ukrainian biosecurity state. He was right. Aside from threatening texts, everything went well. My negative antigen results were ready in 3 minutes and the cost was a fifth of that charged in Canada.
Arriving in my hometown was a welcome break into the past where a 50-meter track between the plane and the terminal had to be covered by a bus ride although walking seemed much simpler given that the only other plane on the tarmac was a private oligarch rig. Slavic ceremonies oblige. The pile up at the baggage pickup only confirmed the elation of the homecoming. Ukraine, as the rest of the post-Soviet space except for the “obedient” Baltics, is a country scarred by more than a century marked by revolutions, putsches, wars, barbarity, totalitarianism, and oligarchy. Such scars are deep and very present, creating a healthy distrust of authorities among large population strata. If one reads the official press and let’s oneself unlimited exposure to the television, the picture in Ukraine is hardly any different from any other Covid regime. There are presumably obligatory masks for inside wearing, safe and effective vaccines, green, yellow and red zones. The need to show your vaccine certificate in some places is also coming in vogue. In reality, unlike in the West, many see through the narrative. However, unlike the West, where the people in general believe in human rights, pieces of paper called a “constitution”, here is there is no organized protests or even a hint of an organized protest movement. There is simply no belief that there is any basis to organize protests on. It could change of course if a group of oligarchs decide that the current powers require displacement either by force or a backroom coup. But for now, like in the good old Soviet times, Ukrainians concoct countless Covid anecdotes, buy ivermectin in any quantities wished, acquire negative test certificates without bothering to test. The most coveted pieces of paper on the market today are vaccine certificates for the unvaccinated. You want to travel, but you don’t want to be bothered at work or in public transport (recently introduced a vax certificate requirement), just find a nurse or a doctor who is willing to miss your arm. Sometimes this is done through fake appointments taken in other regions to limit unnecessary questions. You don’t even need to go there. Just sit out at home for a couple of days to keep a low profile, and get the certificate mailed to you. However, you must be careful as the quality of the certificates varies. Recently, a prominent political figure was found to possess a fake vaccine certificate when returning from abroad. But not to worry, for any surveillance improvements, there will be sufficient black market counter measures that would be at least as effective. Such is the nature of the post-Soviet ingenuity.
Among those who decided to get vaccinated, the stories of side effects and flu-like illnesses are abound. But this is hardly exceptional. A number of my family members acquired heavy “flu” shortly after their vaccinations. One of them had actually had Covid-19 and thought that the original experience was on the lighter side compared to the post-vaccinal “flu”.
On the way back to Canada, I had an overnight connection in Prague, which gave me a great deal of heart palpitations as my negative PCR test in the absence of the vaccine certificate didn’t seem enough to the airline clerk. It took ten minutes of convincing and excessive cortisone production before I was allowed to board the plane. An alarming number of my fellow passengers exhibited a propensity for utterly ridiculous, duck beak like N95 masks. Before confirming a metaphysical hypothesis for such extraordinary behavior, I learned that Czech Republic, being precariously close to the German speaking space, chose to follow N95 respirator “science” as its neighbors to the west. Arriving in Prague, confirmed the impression although it didn’t seem that a real anti-mask witch hunt was in full swing as number of travelers seemed rather successful at avoiding this particularly cruel method of depriving one of oxygen. When it came to the airport and hotel workforce, the duck beaks were almost uniform. I guess the terms of employment were stiff. Judging by the number of people sticking to this peculiar fashion on the street, I didn’t appear clear if the Czech retained anything from their libertarian inclinations made famous in 1968. I guess the soft dictates from the EU are persuasive than columns of Soviet tanks.
Next morning, while passing security, I was firmly told to buy N95 from a nearby wending machine. Somehow, my card didn’t work, saving me an entire Euro as the guard pulled one from his extra supplies. My compliance barely worked 5 minutes, it was utterly suffocating, and I let my nose hang out as soon as I got to the gate. Nobody seemed to mind, as long as I pretended to keep most of my face mostly covered with N95 and N95 only. Once the plane landed in Frankfurt, suddenly, any mask was good. Once back on Lurthansa to Vancouver, a minimum of a medical mask with a good deal of admonitions and threats on the PA system became a requirement. The return to the Fourth Reich of Canada went reasonably well. I was promptly advised to get into the 14-day quarantine. Apparently, I was to take an arrival test as well. However, the authorities didn’t make it all that clear. Missing the quarantine day 8 test was another matter, as I repeatedly received rather foreboding emails from the dear government. Some of them advising me of potential jail sentences and fines. Fortunately, my day 8 test came back negative. With two days left on the quarantine, I am now really looking to “freedom”.
"International best practice" is the excuse for following the stampede, for mindless obedience, for terror of being different. Mob activity on global scale. Madness of the crowd. Morecand more people are finding out how badly we've been misled, and abused. Retribution will be severe. Soon, I hope.
We'll see. Choices are prosecution by a competent legal system (plenty of evidence already, probably much more), or extra-legal justice by an inflamed public, or simple whining by a few oppressed members of a hypnotized public.
Netherlands here. I could tell what a rollercoaster our policies have been in the past year and half+, but the most recent update is that it looks like we'll be oppressed into a full lockdown again, starting tomorrow (everything closed except for essential shops. Liquor stores are essential). Our experts are seriously afraid of the dreaded Omikron. It looks like they're looking at their crystal-ball-models again instead of real life data. The crazy thing is that it is our government that let 200 people (mostly pricked) from the 'Omikron SA flight' go home before test results were in, because... they'd been kept for so long already. C19 is considered an A-list disease in our banana republic mind you, close cousin to Ebola. MSM reports mention an end date of 14th of January for this new paragraph in our horror story, but we've seen that trick before. Funny thing is, last year we started a full lockdown a week before our Xmas break as well, same as now, so at least there is some predictability... or did they somehow accidentally swap the playbooks. I guess we can ask when Nuremberg 2.0 starts... if ever. I'll update when I know more.
Here's the UPDATE per 19/12. So MSM were right: yesterday evening a new hard lockdown was announced, starting 0500 19/12. As usual a bunch of incoherent and illogical reasoning behind it (which I guess we would all think sounds familiar) and the main mantra: the pricks don't work against Omikron, it might be very dangerous, get your third prick asap and if you're not pricked, get pricked. I didn't watch the press conference, it's bad for my health, but from what I understood from some friends is that it was moronic (you see what I did there?); it was almost as if they're testing the amount of stupidity they can throw at us.
If anyone needs any specifics about current measures, please ask and I'll update.
What a pity... in October, I enjoyed a short holiday trip to the Netherlands. Imagine shopping groceries without a mask!
Will there be riots? I got the impression that, even with milder measures in place than in Germany, there were quite heated confrontations in the past months.
Yeah, so the mask mandates were reintroduced the end of November. Not that I care too much and a lot of shops (and shoppers) don't seem to bother either, but that might be due to where I live.
I'm not sure about the riots. To be honest, I think we're a docile bunch, too scared to loose even the tiniest bit of comfort imparted by our caring politicians. But I'm a cynic. There have been some incidents, but foreign MSM might have exaggerated. Last November there was one case where the police shot and killed (we're not talking rubber bullets here) a 'rioter' and wounded a few others. Highly, highly unusual for NL. Besides that police tend to be too heavy on peaceful demonstrators on occasion and there is even good evidence that undercover agents are involved in 'escalating' peaceful demonstrations by starting violence. I guess nothing too different from other countries?
In Austria, there is a lot of outrage about "right wing extremists" who "broke through police barricades" and "walked through the inner city of Vienna illegally", "disturbing shoppers". I haven't had the time to follow the coverage, but the pictures you see is mostly of middle-aged ladies being helped to pass a police barrier by their husbands, three young women pushing aside a police barrier, that kind of thing. Hard to say what's really going on, but I would not be surprised if the media tried very, very hard to find something outrageous to report.
2 months ago, I made a trip from Canada to Europe. Here are some impressions.
TRAVEL NOTES EUROPE – SWEDEN-POLAND-UKRAINE-CZECH (Part I)
To depart the 4th Reich of Canada, currently, one needs a test and possibly a vaccine, depending on the country. To go to Sweden, one needs just an antigen test. The testing site is located right in the airport. An advanced appointment is required. The antigen was amusing, as the attendant barely swabbed my nostrils for $125. She was a Russian speaking compatriot. I struck a conversation in the mother tongue, according to her, not many positives ever showed up. My negative results were ready in 10 minutes. My temporary Gesundpass was only asked for once – by the ticket agent. Fortunately, she had beautiful and expressive eyes that assured me that my passage to Sweden was almost assured. This was in contrast to the lower part of her face that bitterly reminded me of Dr. Bonnie Henry – our local Dr. Fauci clone.
Once my ticket in hand, I had to wait for the international check-in to open at 2:30, as new normal travel from our great Metropolis has less than a dozen international flights departing daily. Lufthansa appeared to be very strict on the mask business. No less than a blue medical mask had to be worn, so bye-bye my breathable “barely” mask my wife wasted at least $10 on. While parading in the airport, I just dropped my blue mask below the nose with nobody harassing me. However, as soon as I approached the gate, a series of stern warning on the quality and etiquette of mask wearing were issued. A fresh medical mask was issued at no cost. Keeping it above my nose was the key to stay off flight attendants’ criticisms. Only when they dimmed the lights after the meal service, I dared to stick my face in the crack between the seat and the window, allowed myself to get some free floating O2. Yes, make sure to have a window seat to hide from the mask police more effectively.
Arriving in Germany was a bit of a relief, as the airport folk didn’t seem to police noses too much. Crossing border into the EU was the only time when I was reminded of my civic duties by a border officer behind the plastic window – “I have been wearing this since 4 in the morning, so can you”, said he. Amusingly, his next-door border guard buddy was not wearing his mask at all. He looked pretty young and healthy, nowhere near an exemption worthy state of health.
Scandinavian Airlines were a bit less strict on the face diaper rules, to my relief. Once the doors of the plane were opened in Stockholm, half of the passengers took their masks off completely. By the time I got into the train going to the city, there was not mask in sight, including train personnel. The airport was the only place in Stockholm were the personnel seemed to be required to wear something. Smartly, most of them wore useless plastic face shields instead of masks.
The county that bucked the lockdown rules imposed in most of the world, achieving amazing results, most notably demonstrating by very low to non-existent excess mortality, appeared almost completely “old normal”. I figured mask wearing was somewhere near 1-2%. I suspected that some of those who did wear masks were recent arrivals from stricter jurisdictions. Covid-19 PTSD is a real thing for many. Here and there I saw floor stickers that varied from 1 to 2 meters – I guess Swedes never firmly settled on the scientism of “social distancing”. Nobody seemed to pay attention to these signs at all. Some storefronts displayed some Covid-19 related notices, but I was not sure if anybody bothered to read them. The city was hustling and bustling. It exuded such a degree of normalcy that I didn’t know what to do with myself out of sheer exhilaration. Endorphins were just bursting into flights of thoughtless happiness.
With the remainder restrictions recently removed, theaters and museum were running full steam, giving extra gleam to this amazing waterfront city that is truly monumental to rival the best-known gems of Europe such as Budapest or Vienna. Architecture was truly stunning. I was gob smacked. Where did the Viking descendants got all this money? Augmented by the abundance of water views, elegant bridges and generous green spaces, Stockholm, awash in changing fall colors and unexpectedly warm sunshine, was a perfect anti-depressant to make the likes of Prozac blush. The views afforded by the cliffs of Sodermalm were sublime, especially during the sunset. A chance to attend a season opening hockey game afforded another infusion of bliss. The absence of vaccine passport tyranny allowed me to simply walk up to the box office and get a ticket – like the good old days. Inside the arena, the only thing that guards cared about was personal security as everyone had to walk through a metal detector gate. Past the security beer, cheers and flag-waving in the best European sporting traditions reigned. The super fans were behind the visitors’ goal, screaming and singing to their hearts’ content. Watching fans at European sporting events can frequently rival the actual show. Seeing normal people behaving normally was simply sublime (please see attached video and images).
Buoyed by life as it should be, I figured that venturing to get some ivermectin was in order. Heavily suppressed in Canada, I figured Sweden would be an exception in this realm as well. The local pharmacy was a good start where they did inform me that such medication was indeed available. Aside from a modest sum of money, I still needed a prescription. Directed to the local medical emergency office, I entered to find a couple of masked patients. They were coughing and sneezing. The attending personnel didn’t wear masks. I asked to see a doctor to write out a prescription. He asked to see the name of the drug before I was to pay – the nice chap didn’t want me to spend money on the appointment without assurance of a satisfactory outcome. This was very honest of him. The rest went sideways. He literally had no idea why I would want to fill a prescription for an anti-parasitic drug. I mentioned some studies to the effect, he smiled, probably thinking of me one of those tinfoil hatters.
“We don’t do such things here”.
“What do you do for someone with Covid-19 symptoms?” I asked.
“If the symptoms are mild, nothing. If it gets worse, we give steroids and oxygen”, he replied. This was no different from directions given by the Canadian or British authorities.
His words made me doubt some aspects of the Swedish approach to Covid-19. They echoed the words of my local friend who stated that whatever happened in Sweden versus virtually every other country in Europe was simply unexplainable. The outside myths of freedom loving and well-informed Swedes, according him, were just that – the myths. Why the Swedish authorities decided to go their own way remains a mystery. Could this be attributable to high personal integrity of the main actors such as Anders Tegnell or something entirely different? I guess some aspects of the Covid-19 response history might just remain a mystery akin to the Grassy Knoll and World Trade Center 7.
I've heard some explain it as Sweden's willingness to trial the central bank digital currency that explains some, but maybe not all, of the insanity of the last 23 months.
My own report from Bavaria, Germany:
It’s been a pretty hard march of unrelenting restrictions since March 2020. We’re never the absolute worst in Europe, but we do everything more thoroughly and for far longer than most other countries. The result has been an utter degradation of the texture of life, the loss of temporal perspective (it always seems like last week was a year ago, and last year just a few days), and the constant numbing hysteria of press reports.
It’s my own pet theory, but I think it’s true: A lot of the major, overt pressure for lockdowns came from within the bureaucracy. Here I have some perspective, as I am formally a Bavarian bureaucrat. A lot of home office rules were finalised over the summer, and the lockdown hardliner CDU party is out of government. This doesn’t mean lockdowns won’t come back, just that there’s no longer as much force pushing for them.
Within my institute, and elsewhere in the bureaucracy, Corona hysteria is dialled high all the time. A lot of state employees have faded semi-permanently into telecommuting where (as far as I can tell) they don’t do anything. If you’re unvaccinated, you have to submit a negative PCR test twice a week to maintain your employment. My feeling is that outside the bureaucracy, people are much more pragmatic. Working class service personnel don’t care about masking rules, for example. In professional settings (when you meet with your lawyers, etc.) everyone unmasks. But the secretary who brings in the tea, she still has to mask. A hierarchical class element creeps into this meaningless ritual.
We’re in a de facto ‘lockdown of the unvaccianted.’ The unvaccinated have to present negative tests to ride public transit, though my own experience (and I have informants who confirm this) is that there’s not much checking. They can only go into shops selling necessities, which means that all the big retailers ahead of Christmas are reduced to checking a million vaccination passes at every doorway.
FFP2 (basically, N95) masks are required in all public spaces. They are of such terrible made-in-China quality, that they have no hope of doing anything, but they’re required. Gastro has to close at 22:00 every night, the vaccinated need a negative test (or proof of booster) to work out at the gym.
It’s clear the new coalition government (a horror show: SPD + FDP + Greens) doesn’t want to touch Corona containment policies that much at all, because they’re so politically toxic. I think this means they’ll prove reluctant to innovate overmuch, but they’re very likely to hold the present course indefinitely, to avoid getting blamed for anything that goes wrong.
As many have reported before me, it’s worse in the cities. In the countryside, people are much more relaxed about Corona. Munich, once my favourite city in the world, has become an unliveable pit of hypochondria and obsessive compulsive hygiene etiquette, so I’m moving south to the Oberland.
Let me add my Bavarian perspective here. I agree that the more "laptop class", the higher the hysteria, or just the feeling that one needs to comply with the regulations in order to be a good citizen. I know people within big companies, they are desparate to stick to all the rules and regulations perfectly. One of my informants tries to push people to reveal their true views - not much luck there, they're all toeing the official line and staying quiet if they don't agree. Jobs are now 3g - you have to show your covid pass to the security people, and it is shown and checked. People I know in Austria tell me there's not much interest in the covid passes there - there's the rules, and then there's reality. In Germany, unfortunately, there is almost 100% overlap between the rules and reality.
Last week I had to go to Munich city - which I really avoid by now as shops are 2G and I don't care much for the feeling of living in a police state. Apparently, business owners complain that people avoid the shops, big suprise there. Munich was as depressing as I anticipated, lots of staff standing about and checking covid passes, sure raised my blood pressure from sheer outrage. I made sure I politely complained at every check.
We few, we unhappy few, can't see a way forward - we have the feeling that privately, many people are unhappy about Impfpflicht and booster shots and not getting the freedom they were promised. It seems that some people aren't doing well after the booster shots (myocarditis in one case), and this seems to create a bit of disquiet among the people who've been favourable or neutral about the measures. Kindergarten kids will have to be tested 3 times a week starting from January, and it seems as if people don't care for this new rule, thinking it's one more nuisance that doesn't make sense. So on the one hand, people in this well-to-do town outside of Munich seem to get a bit critical of the government; and it seems lots of people went to a demonstration on Wednesday. On the other hand, the propaganda that whoever opposes the measures is a mini Hitler at the very least still impresses people. It seems we are a bit more in a state of flux than we used to be, hard to say what's going to happen next.
What's nice: I found a fellow dissident at my job. What's less nice: while he was telling me about his true feelings about the vaccine (could have been such a romantic moment, pity), he kept looking over his shoulder again and again to make sure none of the colleagues were listening. I felt like in one of the Stasi movies, extremely creepy.
On the whole, everything feels grey and claustrophobic, everybody seems to be waiting for the next chaotic set of government measures, being quietly resigned or a bit morose about them, but nobody seems to have any idea how we're ever going to get out of this mess.
Oh, and in one of the German states the courts toppled regulations that the unvaccinated couldn't use shops except supermarkets bc this went against the principle of equality. Big win for us few, us unhappy few, and how depressing it is to think that we're at a point where we cheer about something as minor as this.
Good luck to you all out there, stay safe.
The way forward is surely fairly clear?
Pester unremittingly your elected politician. With polite requests for information, submission of discovered facts, expressions of your own desires.
All submitted in the full knowledge that generally your submission is not going to get past the office girls.
So write it for them.
Have bold chapter and para headings of extreme simplicity that gets a message straight into them.
Have links they can click on that go straight to the best dramatic, plain and simpl, hard hitting sources you can find.
Lard with as much content about Children and Pregnancy and Women's health as you can.
And when talking to people sow seeds of doubt in them and introduce concepts they'd perhaps never thought of. Without ever appearing to do so. With absolutely no appearance of confrontation.
Do this perhaps by stretching the truth a bit, if necessary, useful. I mean in this sort of way: "I'm all for the vax but I want my Immune System strengthened to the max before taking it to give it the best chance !"
or: " I'm all for the vax but I think I'll wait for the strain-specific one they're preparing now. "
Never oppose.
Always humbly ask.
There's heaps to do.
We have to restore democracy, don't we?
Reason.
Free speech.
Logic.
Truth.
We've got a mountain of facts needs uncovering - like what damage has been done, is being done, in economic terms, gdp, physical health, psychological health, education, etc..... everything. Nothing has really been counted. And that's domestically. Then there's the world to look at.
We'll never get there. But we have to try. There's plenty to do. Everything.
That's how I see it.
Sorry, I wasn't very clear about that - the way forward referred to the way political measures would be developed.
Your suggestions are a great reminder that we CAN do something. I love your suggestion of writing for the office girls - brilliant, will do that instead of frustratedly addressing people who aren't going to read my letter anyway.
What I do is: I play the round-eyed innocent, slightly confused, asking questions: "...but surely...?", "...but haven't you heard...?", "...but then why...?"
And I don't lie to strangers, which is often surprisingly successful bc it gives people an opportunity to vent. They don't know me, I don't know them, no risk involved for them, so they tend to be honest, too.
Demonstrations seem to be growing, more news in the mainstream press (although of course according to the media it's all evil lawless right-wing extremists running amok in the streets). Some friends are sending a postcard a day to the new Chancellor every day, only text "NO vax mandates".
I often write letters to the Editor that I know won't see the light of day. They're pointedly aimed at the readers that I know that I'll have.
Great advice. We're doing too little of what you suggest. Last week there was a kerfuffle here about the potential use of violence against tyrants (primarily in an American context). We're far, FAR away from that scenario. Chances are high that if enough people do as you suggest, we'll remain far from it indefinitely.
"On the whole, everything feels grey and claustrophobic"
Shades of Phillip K. Dick's "Black Iron Prison".
Do you think the mandatory vaccination is coming as expected or are they not in position to actually do it?
The vaccine mandate will likely fail but take some time to do so. It has to first be voted for, which is almost certain as long as the vote happens soonish. There is a sufficient deluded majority in parliament to reach a constitutional super-majority. If anyone thinks of that (I don't mind speculating openly about it on the internet as I am sure some evil people in government have already considered it), then that is game over in terms of some of the following steps.
Once the bureaucracy has actually decided who gets mandated, on the shifting sands of approvals, recommendations, and advice from more or less government-controlled authorities, there is the question of how to check up on everyone.
Who is checking and where? It could turn in to a de facto ban on unvaccinated entering and leaving the country (which is why I and others are making plans to be able to leave at short notice if needed) but that would be drastic and, while possible, unlikely. However it is done it will run into immediate legal challenges.
The next step is what if you get picked up on the street without your vax passport? The speculation is this will be an "administrative" offence, but all that means is you are "invited" to pay a fine and avoid court action with additional costs and effort. If they catch enough people, and enough refuse, then there is court time tied up in prosecuting the "crime" of being out and about without being vaccinated. For a minor increase in expense you get to buy time and snarl up the system. German bureaucracy may be effective but it takes its time. This is civil disobedience writ large. While your case is pending, it will be hard for the authorities to make a second case against you. And some judges (a minority, but enough to make trouble) will be less than happy at you having to prove you have the vax pass than the prosecutors proving you don't.
If all these things come to pass some people will end up paying fines. The clever ones will resist payment until the last minute, and eventually get them back with interest once the narrative collapses. Or have done their bit to usher in a better Germany.
I think they are going to push for it, but will sort of let it die a quiet death if public pushback is too strong. In my view, that's why they are trying to milk omicron (if you can milk a virus) for all it's worth in their doom-y and gloom-y way, hoping for huge public support for vax. mandates in order to fight against omicron.
I don't know if you follow Friedrich Pürner on twitter (https://twitter.com/drpuerner?lang=en), do, if you speak German - he's a public health official (was demoted by Söder) and says vax. mandate not likely to succeed. They don't know who is vaccinated anyway, so huge adminstrative chaos is bound to follow.
I am also from Bavaria.
The goverment has a big Problem because a lot of people are against vaccine passports and are Not vaccinated. They Know also That there are a lot of legal Challenges and they have no clue who is vaccinated. The vaxx quote seems also Not plausible. I wrote about it in German: https://florianb.substack.com/p/das-rki-und-die-impfquote
A few of my observations in Bavaria - am an immigrant resident for about 10 years now.
I actively seek out conversations with colleagues, neighbours, family, etc. to gauge what "real" people are thinking to balance the media/state consensus-think. Most consider this a bit unusual, but I explain my curiousity is simply due to being foreign and am just trying to understand my adopted homeland better (this sorta works).
The overwhelming response amongst the vaxxed is one of helplessness - "what can we do?". This impotence has led to TINA VAX compliance (There Is No Alternative to Vaccination - we must comply). They have made their decision to vaccinate, are now fed up of the topic, and don't really want to discuss it anymore. Hardly any understand my reluctance to vax. Hardly any can empathise with unvaxxed fellow citizens and the restrictions they face.
A common response to my factual/logical criticisms of policy is a desperate, "But you can just get vaxxed" or "Okay, but then what do YOU suggest we do to save the hospital/healthcare system?". I reply that this a confused role reversal: the onus is surely on government authorities to provide evidence the current restrictions and policies are working/justified and not on me to provide alternative solutions.
One concrete example in Bavaria, that few vaxxed are aware of, is the scandal of the distorted and misleading infection rates of vaxxed/unvaxxed that were used to argue for the widescale introduction of 2G restrictions on unvaxxed. Yet, many continue to parrot and believe that it is a pandemic of the unvaxxed.
Unvaxxed are often surprised to meet a fellow traveller and mostly happy to share information (although, as others have pointed out, many are cautious about who is listening - funnily enough, at work, we all meet each other briefly in the morning in the designated room for the compulsory testing). Quite a few remain very passive and will apparently put up with any amount of restricions so long as they, or their children, are not forced to get vaccinated. At first I could not understand this passivity (remember 1 in 4 working-age adults are still not vaccinated in Bavaria - we are many!), but I repeatedly sense the biggest obstacle is that most are very concerced about being labelled radical right/consipiracy theorist/contrarian. I have personally experienced this form of labelling by association.
As you can see, the propaganda messaging is doing an excellent message on all fronts:
* most unvaxxed are afraid to, or think it pointless, protest
* most vaxxed are too exhausted to think or question - many even have no idea of the updated restrictions on gatherings for the upcoming Christmas holiday season (like I said, people are exhausted by the topic)
This leaves two slim minorities:
* vaxxed "true believers" - these admonish me for my lack of "solidarity" and make poorly informed claims about the science. Furthermore, they are proud of their compliance and adoption of technological solutions, i.e. mRNA vaccines, vaccine/tracing smartphone apps, masking, remote working/teaching/learning, cashless payments, etc.
* (un)vaxxed "resistance" - these are the people unafraid to voice their objections. This past week has been encouraging with the public demonstrations in many parts of Germany (although the media continues its job of smearing these groups with the above labels and also accusations of violence/lawlessness). I am attending protests this weekend and will report again on those first hand.
BTW: I highly recommend this talk between Dr. Chris Martenson and Professor Mattias Desmet and would be interested to hear any comments Eugyppius' might have:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRo-ieBEw-8
Professor Mattias Desmet talks about his work that connects past historical episodes of what is called “Mass Formation” (aka Mass Psychosis) and current events. The risks are as grave as they come. Unless a few brave and courageous people are willing to stand up and say “I don’t agree!” history suggests that we will end up with a fully totalitarian outcome.
Any of Desmet's interviews are absolutely essential viewing, I say as someone who watches a small fraction of the "essential" stuff unwaxed comrades send me.
We are in 1934 now and we need to get to 1945, alive, and with minimal destruction. It won't take 11 years. My money is on another 2, and that Germany will substantially be able to save itself this time rather than need outside intervention. The subsequent blowback for the entire woke/climate/vegan/faux diversity movement will be immense, and great fun to watch.
Climate needs to fall back to environmentalism, vegan to a personal choice, faux diversity can go jump, woke is toxic.
A lot of damage to climate change here, but there still seems to be a problem. Whether that's caused by CO2 or not is a debate that should be had, I think on past evidence maybe not. In which case I think it must be pollution that's causing the issue, CO2 only a part of that. Also something interesting happening in the upper atmosphere, it's cooling.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-satellites-see-upper-atmosphere-cooling-contracting-climate-change
Very interesting to read your perspective, Witzbold, great insights, keep us posted, and good luck at the protests!
My report from a walking protest:
Tonight I went walking with a few hundred others through my provincial town centre (sorry, don't want to reveal any identifiers). I had been tipped off about the protest by an unvaccinated colleague, which was good because searching online I could not find any info about upcoming protests in my area, only previously held events.
Normally in Germany you have to register a protest with the police and inform them about your planned event and motivations, indicate the estimated number of attendees, planned location or route of march, etc. In theory, this communication in advance is supposed to help the police ensure public health and safety at all times. However, recently some applications for protests against government corona measures have been declined. Sometimes the basis for rejection relates to the very Corona restrictions being protested and sometimes it is on even more spurious grounds, for example, an application for a large family-friendly protest in Berlin was declined at the weekend because of fears that violent protesters not affiliated with the demonstrators might also be attracted. This tortuous logic could theoretically allow authourities to prohibit any protest.
Therefore, many German cities this past week have been experiencing a type of spontaneous pop-up group walk. There is no official organiser, no official route, so everyone can somewhat plausibly deny they are unlawfully assembling in public and are simply going for a walk (en masse ;)
I think it import to mention this backgound information because word-of-mouth and a private facebook/telegram channel seem to be how this event was communicated and this obviously hampers a larger turnout. Case in point, an ex-colleague and her daughter joined on the spot upon seeing us walk by.
By my estimation there were about 300 which is quite reasonable for an unregistered protest on a cold and dark Monday evening in this town, and by all accounts it was bigger than the previous event. The demographics were mixed: male, female, students, middle-aged couples, older hippie types, lots of eco/bio/alternatives, I also recognised some business owners, social workers, etc. This really was a non-radical, apolitical, peaceful gathering of regular (bordering on suburban) citizens to protest vaccine passports, vaccine mandates and various other measures.
Being a decentralised type event, it did lack coordination, and the police were constantly trying to predict our route which mostly meandered for an hour through the central pedestrian shopping area and along some streets which the police temporarily blocked off before petering out back at the starting point. The police presence was very visible but also restrained. The only unpeaceful element of the evening was the "counter" protest which featured a handful of younger masked people shouting and blaring music over loudspeakers at us while holding a large banner against fascists/radical right/contrarians. The masked police rather comically positioned themselves strategically around them, ostensibly to protect them from us!
It will be interesting to see if, and how the local media will report the event and how they will choose to label us. Whether it will make any difference I don't know, but it sure felt good to meet in these dark times and chat and walk the streets with others who are like-minded. Remember, with 25% of adults in Germany unvaccinated that is a lager portion of society than any individual political party in the Bundestag house of government.
Here is a summary of the walking protests which took place all over German tonight:
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/corona-proteste-131.html
Many years ago I watched an English-language amateur production of Dreigroschenoper, put on by a local school. It was excellent, studied imperfection. I cannot imagine any bunch of teenagers outside of Germany ever being able to match in their own language, let alone a foreign language. The translation was also a collective effort of the staff and pupils and contained the following line spoken by Polly Peachum on being denied a visit to her imprisoned husband; unforgettable for anyone like me, an immigrant to Germany, and probably to many natives, "Do you have no heart? What are you, a German bureaucrat?"
Our German bureaucrats indeed have no heart. No soul. No humanity. That's why they don't want us to have one. They were the first to tear it out and will be the last to let us have it back.
Of course, our German bureaucrats are now actually denying the unvaccinated the right to visit their relatives, whether actually imprisoned, or merely in care facilities, hospitals, etc. Life is imitating art, and it is a tragedy, not a comedy.
Thank you for continuing this excellent series of reports!
I am currently very excited about the protests occurring in Germany, in virtually every large city and many, many smaller ones. It has finally reached the magical level where the police can't be everywhere at once to suppress it. And the majority of protests are just ignoring the laws about getting permission first.
On the weekend, there was a massive police presence in Greiz to prevent protests, to make an example on instructions of the governor. The protesters just moved to nearby Plauen and had the (very large) protest there instead.
As we learned from the ex-DDR, Mondays 18:00 are excellent for demonstrating. And Telegram is very difficult to censor.
"The Ominous Parallels"
" ... , to avoid getting blamed for anything that goes wrong."
That's onlty to avoid anything going "wrong" regarding meaningless COVID stats. Anything going truly wrong with society, the economy, and non-COVID health is of little consequence to them.
Yes, because it can't be measured so easily. Infections go up - easy to measure, easy to panic. Triage at child psychiatric wards in hospital - harder to link to handling of the covid crisis.
Are FFP2 masks really the right class of mask? I thought they were not for viruses, but for particles released when sanding and such. FFP3 masks (such as 3M's Aura model, NPF 50) are for hospitals, labs and such.
Anyone can check on site with 3M or other companies manufacturing different kinds of protective gear re: breathing, what the right kind of masks are, and they are to be used.
The above of course disregards the silly notion that wearing any kind of mask in a public setting will achieve anything other than making sure you rebreahte any virus or bacteria you akready have in your system.
And what about beards? If you like me have a beard, any mask short of a "gasmask" does sweet eff all. I really can't imagine - not even german bureaucrats - any western european provincial governement in the EUSSR trying to shave moslems to make the masks fit. And how do you check that moslem women are wearing masks? Rip off their normal facial covering? Otherwise they'll have to wear the masks on top of the face veil.
The FFP2 mandates are absurd - in my view they're just there to add another symbolic level of escalation to the game - it's bad = "normal" mask; it's gone worse = OMG FFP2. Simply, to have a visual symbol of the grave, grave danger caused by COVID.
And who knows who profits down the line...
We have a small shop in Melbourne despite currently living in Dunedin. It is not viable to employ someone to check for passes. Our best day this Xmas season was last Saturday, the day of the big protest. It was nearly a normal Xmas period day as compared to before before Covid (probably about 65% of BC). But this Saturday is back to 'new normal' (i.e. about 30% BC) and that won't keep the landlord happy, who still thinks things are going to recover.
How do you all manage to make a living under the circs? Does the government pay out subsidies to compensate for your losses?
Only under lockdown.
The saying „Stadtluft macht frei...“ wasn't intended to be sarcastic, but the pandemicists have made it so. Thanks for the update in your surprisingly excellent English.
What scares me is that I literally find all this crap laughable - and I truly mean laugh-out-loud laughable, yet a sizeable portion of humanity seems convinced we're dealing with Ebola. How does ANYONE in their right mind take any of this imbecility seriously? I live in Florida, where 90% of life feels like 2019 and no one talks about Covid anymore (except me since I can't take this craziness on board)
Do you guys accept covid refugees? I promise to always vote republican, work hard and cause no trouble.
The house next door to me just went on the market. I live in St. Lucie County.
My partner lives in Vero and we haven’t seen each other for 2 years now (I’m Australia)
2 years is a long time. Too long. I really like Vero. Have you been?
Yes twice I love it there. Hoping to move there at some point
Fly to Mexico, boat it up to Florida.
PS. If it is not too impertinent do you mind me asking what your partner does?
I hope so too. When you do I sure can put you in touch with a great glazier.
How much?
$274,900.00 It's a two bedroom, two bath.
Oh, how I ENVY you. You've been lucky and had people in positions of authority that dared to say out loud that the emperor was naked. Here, they're still pretending he isn't.
I read these and it never ceases to amaze me how it's similar everywhere. Either it's one mass psychotic hysterical episode or it's all planned. Or maybe a case of copy catting each other? Excuse the possible false dilemma but this is just too weird. But this has nothing to do with science or public health at this point. Something very evil is happening.
I believe it's utterly average, mediocre people copying whatever they can from each other or some authority one level above them. It's what we do at my job, too. :-) And nobody wants to stick out their head and take a risk in case some poor soul might cop it from omicron, and then they'd get blamed and Spoken To by a higher-up, and that would be terrible.
Perhaps that's how it started, but each wave of new restrictions feels more coordinated than the last.
The passports in particular. Also, they promised people their 'freedoms' if they got their experimental injections. None of that has happened.
Yes, especially the passports. Sweden: "OK we've done it all without passports, hospitalisations are super low, death rate is super low, let's introduce passports now." - Scary.
Yep.scary. Here in Italy they introduced them in July/August 2021....full summer, super low numbers, and, now we know, window of super vax effectiveness...people only wanted to go on holiday, which are somehow sacred, over here, and the rest didn't give a f*ck anyway..if only we knew...😔😔
Oh, you're in Italy. We're always told Italians are totally in favour of the passes and rules bc you were all traumatized by Bergamo, is that correct?
True, and it elrries me a great deal, esp. Sweden and the uk. ...adopting eu style neasures doesnt make any sense at all.
That's where the 'conspiracy' thoughts enter. Exactly. The leader of Sweden is a member of the WEF. Scratch a politician, find a WEF influence and the measures make sense because it's the WEF and Bill Gates who have talked about resets and passports and mandatory vaccines. A couple of months ago Bill Gates visited Johnson in the UK. Next thing, they have passports. It's all suspicious. And Gates' name keeps popping up.
Draco in Italy is a member of the Trilateral Commission an God knows what else, and the former European Central Bank head..and, don't forget, the man who plastered Greece and its economy...we really are in good hands; ah, unelected, of course..
I really, really try to steer clear of conspiracy theories - to quote Terry Pratchett: “It's amazing how good governments are, given their track records in almost every other field, at hushing up things like alien encounters." Or at secretly coordinating a global conspiracy,for that matter. It doesn't sound credible, does it, having a global action plan implemented on such a scale, to such an extent. It just doesn't. But, on the other hand, Sweden and the UK really make me think. Sweden did well without the social credit shenanigans, 92% of UK citizens have antibodies and measures are deeply unpopular in Britain, AFAIK. So why would they now...?
Exactly. Let us know if you come up with anything. Lol. Even Canada is strange. They announce in October the virus will be a common cold but also say there will be passports and vaccines in 2022? Why? If it's a common cold and the world pretty much is vaccinated and has natural immunity for the another group, why? Nothing is making sense. And that's when the conspiracies begin.
Obviously governments couldn't competently run a grand conspiracy. But a transnational mafia-like organisation with moles in the intelligence services? Right up their alley.
This makes sense and wouldn't surprise me at all. Group think has set in at the bureaucratic level and Stockholm Syndrome at the social level. Now to break this.
Alex, this is the question that we really pondered at our "dissidents' meeting" today. How can we get out of this.
We tentatively believe that the gov. will stop pushing measures on people as soon as they think it might be politically damaging to them. As long as they believe they are gaining political brownie points by ganging up on the unvax., they will continue to do so. The media play a crucial role, convincing people that the gov. is right and convincing the gov. that people are supporting their course.
We don't think vax. mandates are as popular as they are making them out to be; but this is Germany, and people are known for going along with gov. policy for a long time. Maybe vax. mandate is just a tactic to scare the unvax. to get vax. and the courts will topple any attempt to establish it. So maybe the vax mandates will turn public opinion as soon as everybody realizes not just the murderous unvaxed that will be forced to get a shot, but they themselves?
What to do, what to do?
The governments will keep pushing for this until the nwo is in place. Let's look at Romania where the level of support for these measures is at most 20%, 40% vaxxed but half of those did it under duress and most of them won't booster unless they are forced - job loss. The previous government pushed for all these measures. The government was forced out and the previous main opposition party, which gets their main shares of votes from the electorate that is not getting the vaccine, got into the new government. They have the health minister position. Mandatory green pass as law is proposed now by this new health minister. They are losing votes and popularity every day but they don't care. Stop deluding yourselves this is not a conspiracy. Event 201 and WEF great reset are not coincidences and the people behind those organizations are always meaning business, they are the richest people in the world, aren't they? We are in a battle for our lives and the future of humanity and not recognizing this and hoping this is just society going crazy - not that this doesn't play a huge part - is not going to help in this battle. Do you really think the whole mainstream media is supporting the governments fully just because of mass formation? Do you think big tech censorship happens only because of the psychosis? The mechanism for that to happen - AI doing the vast majority of censorship and the infrastructure for human interventions - had to be put in place and it's not a trivial task. It costs those companies money and it's not producing a direct financial benefit.
Yes, I've seen this, been there, done that. It's the norm. We don't need conspiracy theories or anything so elaborate. Just our current structure is prone to this.
It is so depressing to see that everywhere the same totally damaging BS applies. How weak have our societies become to give up our hard earned freedom for such a flat lie. And uniformly around the world so!!!
My heart is breaking for the kids - what is being done to them is nothing short of a war crime. From psychological trauma down to outright damaging their bodies with leaky and dangerous vaccines that have no benefit for them whatsoever. On such a massive scale. The truth would create a cognitive dissonance in many so that they would do anything to not be awaken - otherwise the pain would be too much to bear.
How to brake this dynamics? Go on the streets? Just give up, stop working, go on social benefits? Start an 'amish' like closed community?
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/Center-projects/completed-projects/spars-pandemic-scenario.html
I really appreciate you doing this. I feel more connected to my brothers and sisters around the world.
Weekly covid musings from Scotland.
For the first time I was challenged on the train, sort of. On our rail network you can buy tickets from a conductor and as he was striding past I asked for one. His English wasn’t too good but was able to make out, “mask” “mask” “mask” and he gesticulated alternately between his face and mine. He sped on down the aisle and I thought he was being a Ken. On his return through the carriage I tried again but got same gesticulations and exclamations. I was then able to catch his eye and what I saw there was fear. He wasn’t being a Ken but was terrified of me without a mask. He rushed off and never appeared again throughout the journey.
On the return home as I turned out of my seat a fellow passenger spotted I was wasn’t wearing a mask. Instinctively she went into a body swerve but caught herself realising how ridiculous it would look had she completed the manoeuvre. Either that or she was being polite and wanted to avoid hurting my feelings.
What a wicked and evil thing has been done to us to make people behave like that.
Every few minutes in Central Station a tannoy announces that masks are compulsory but then qualifies it by informing that some people are exempt due to disabilities etc. Masks have been mandated here from the beginning with no summer pause as happened in England but you can self exempt. From October we have had vaccine passports for nightclubs and large events, but yet not for shops, bars and restaurants. Churches mandate masks for congregants but not for choristers, say what????
As far as I can ascertain, where passport entry is required it is often done on trust and not rigorously enforced. Regarding police checking passports on the street, it is unthinkable that this could happen in Scotland. There is simmering social tension here (not necessarily covid related) and things are occasionally at the point of boiling over. Politicians are aware, and in the case of covid are constrained to walk a fine line between appeasing Karens and placating libertarians, hence the public facing stringency but behind the scenes exemptions and lax enforcement.
The MSM ramped up Omicron scare has this week led to 80% wearing masks on the street as opposed to 20% last week. Streets are busy enough and pub is busier too, perhaps due to Christmas. Pub staff are all wearing masks this week but customers are still mask free. Good atmosphere in the pub, friendly, spacious and warm. I can be found there every Wednesday from 12.30pm. Wetherspoons Crystal Palace, Jamaica St, Glasgow. I wear my symbolic resistance yellow spot (badge).
Last week EU leader Leyden and UKPM Johnson called for a “conversation” on compulsory vaccination. MSM dutifully complied and The Herald published a scurrilous piece that almost strayed into Der Stürmer territory https://melnick.substack.com/p/covid-crazies while BBC Scotland featured people from street interviews who blamed unvaccinated for the pandemic. However, I sense this “conversation” won’t get much traction as it has gone quiet in the last day or two.
Yesterday, UK parliament had over 100 government rebels voting against England’s passport mandates and also in a by-election Tories lost a seat they had held for 200 years. So Johnson now knows he has gone as far as he can with restrictions. We find ourselves now at the apex of the scare which will gradually ease off and be gone by Spring 2022. Scare is already effectively over in USA (give or take a few hold-outs). By next summer hardly anyone will remember covid such is the short attention span of the general public.
The "yellow spot" is interesting. What is it, a sticker? Pin? How big? That should spread everywhere. Like a virus.
"The Yellow Spot" was a book anonymously written in 1936 and published by Victor Gollancz. It details the persecution of a Jewish minority in Nazi Germany. It is a harrowing read not for the faint hearted. I explain in my substack that I coincidently wore a yellow badge to identify myself for an internet arranged park meeting. Afterwards I then thought to promote the idea of a yellow badge which we could all wear as as symbol of anti-covid resistance. By anti-covid I don't mean to deny the existence of the virus only the authorities reaction to it.
Some are complaining that wearing a yellow badge is equivalent to forcing Jews to wear a yellow star. That's definitely subterfuge by those who want to suppress resistance. Those who make that specious comparison are improving the justification for using it. I'm going shopping.
I have thought about that, David. If I remember correctly (I read a lot, not all of which I recall in detail) there were a few places where non-Jews wore a yellow star in solidarity, well at least for a while. In my view a coincidental wearing of a Yellow Spot (badge) pays homage to the disappeared Jews of Europe.
I should also have said that in my case it is a yellow badge about one inch in diameter obtained from ebay for a few pennies. But of course each individual may have their own opinions on what it should be.
A subtle symbol of solidarity can be effective if it catches on.
Thanks for noticing, David. I was hoping that my yellow spot resistance could be developed. It is explained in my substack. I don't want or require any recognition for it, some people have helped me throughout my life and from an early age I have felt the urge to give something back. Let the yellow spot resistance grow organically! Just ask me, please.
We can hope...this winter is so dark, I sometimes feel like cracking
Courage, Ema. In solidarity with you. Stay in there!
Make it a game of never, ever giving them what they want - easy compliance.
These people are cowards. Stand your ground with a smile on your face and love in your heart for people who have been 'broken' by this process (by either submitting to it or partaking), and never submit, comply or attach meaning to anything they say or do - be ungovernable and noncompliant, and certain of victory.
You are the candle that lights the way for many around you!
Ema, hang in there....it's almost Christmas, then another two months and spring is around the corner. :-)
Yes, but the evil asshats are at work..even on Christmas! 😡
Ema, Our Lord Jesus Christ, was born an Outcast in a dirty cave. He then had to flee for his life as his government was afraid of a BABY. That government killed BABIES because they were chickenshit asshats. You, can handle it. Spend the time contemplating the evil asshats conspiring to kill him. Watch out, yourself, for the wolves lurking over you trying to lead you into doing evil and pray you will not follow.
This, too, shall pass. But in the meantime, beg grace and growth in virtues. When everyone wakes up, we - those of us who haven't slept - will be needed.
Thank you so much, Amy...and Merry Christmas!
I'm in the English midlands and am with you on that. Since omicron came about there's a growing feeling of we've had enough if this now, and I think the government themselves have had enough too. They've resisted bringing in more restrictions for doing show and I think all the leaks about lockdown parties in government departments last year have been carefully orchestrated to generate the hostile reaction they have done. I think their thinking is bring in the passes to make the youngsters get vaccinated, get everyone boosted, it'll give enough short term protection to get through the winter, then when it dies off in the spring we can claim success. Then start talking about something else and next winter call it flu. Same thing would probably happen if they did nothing though
The passes are the goal at this point, not the vaccs. The passes will never die off they will morph into total CONSUMER CONTROL MECHINISM.
The world governments are going utterly bankrupt. They are beholden to Central Banking and the Federal Reserve (not an american gov. institution, totally private). The "passes" will become the only way we will be able to engage/dialogue with the "world". The banks will be able to approve/decline any and all purchases remotely regardless of how much money you think you have in your bank account.
If you thought Santa's "Naught and Nice" list was tough your in for a real surprise when Global Governance refuses your attempt to buy a 2nd car or 3rd guitar or extra bottle of booze.
But apparently it doesn't give even short term protection. Boosted patients are filling hospitals everywhere. We're being misled. Fraudulent claims in the face of this much contrary evidence is surely driven by desperation. The medical industry is going to collapse due to this fraud.
Just to be clear, I mean that is what I think the governments thinking is:) Or maybe we've just got a load coming up to their expiry date
Some numbers circulated yesterday at the hospital I work at but I only picked up the email today .
Confirmed covid - Adults 109, 2 children. Of the adults, 60% vaccinated
Critical care 18 covid of which 6 vaccinated, 38 non covid
This is the first time they've broken the numbers out by vaccination status. There are 1,300 beds so this leaves around 1,100 there for other reasons. So covid is around 10% of general admissions and 30% of ICU.
But they're not breaking out meaningful numbers. How ma y critical are obese or have other conditions that degrade immune health? How many "confirmed" are actually sick? How are they being treated. Do they just give them ivermectin and send them home?
Reader report from rural Montana:-)
There are a few national chain stores in the bigger cities where employees half-heartedly wear masks. That's it. Life is normal here... no mask mandates, no vaccination passports, no school closings. There is a state law that prohibits employers from even asking employees about vaccine status.
The general attitude of people here is one of common sense - protect the elderly, and the rest of us get on with life. The reality is that hypothermia or grizzly bears can also kill you, and everyone is smart enough to wear a coat and carry bear spray when hiking. The Covid vaccines are readily available here for anyone who needs it, and beyond that, it is up to the individual.
I want to move from Alberta to Montana. My province sucks. All the political parties take turns trying to outdo each other in draconian rules.
My goodness, I have had to pause after reading the report from your Japanese respondent. As a parent this pain is magnified. I have a child who has transitioned from (UK) high school to college during the pandemic. Exams cancelled of course. Worse than that, it seems to me, is the insidious cancelling of all these little rites of passage for children. What good can it possibly do? None, only bad. Also may I say, is there a more poignant image for this wilful killing of joy, than the sacrificial beheading of tulips?
The Japanese respondent got to me too. Punishing children with isolation, all for a virus that does not harm them. So sad...
The global coordination (Gleichschaltung) is striking.
As of now, every non-African country seems to do the same. The differences seem to be only how much people adhere to it. But there is no resistance, only a difference in rigidity.
Quite scary.
We really have entered a dark age.
Covid taliban rule the world
In Sweden the rules are baffling, and the governement is waffling.
The prime minister says that we must have strict rules. The agencies actually writing the rules uses words like "vendors may ask guests for vaccin id". The rules for numbers of people in a venue (such as a concert) are incomprehensible and nonsensical.
I could go on, but picture the orchestra of Atlantis in "Eric the Viking" and there you have it.
Sweden too? Europe's only hope during the past 20 months is falling too?
Young Global Leader as PM. And if you read Anders Tegnell closely you will find that he was not as great as many claimed him to be.
TRAVEL NOTES EUROPE – SWEDEN-POLAND-UKRAINE-CZECH (Part II)
Before leaving Sweden for Ukraine, I had to get another antigen test as required by the Ukrainian authorities. Finding a place to get a test was a piece of cake as Stockholm seemed to have a few “Vaccin” offices that provided a full range of services. Apparently devoid of crowds clamoring to get vaccinated, a walk-in was an easy solution. Everything went swimmingly well except having to suffer a few seconds of the terrible tickle in my nose – the antigen test in Sweden resembled the depth of a PCR intrusion. The price was half of that I paid in Canada. Once, done, my negative test certificate arrived in my email inbox within 30 minutes. I was free to continue my journey. This meant buying a ticket for the following day. Indeed, travelling in the Covid times is a risky affair. Going along the good old normal by booking my flights way in advance sounded dodgy unless shelling out the coin for fully flexible tickets.
Flying through Warsaw necessitated a production of the negative test not only at the ticket counter in Stockholm, but also at the quick check point at Warsaw airport. It was easier with masks. As soon as the meal was served, the plane passengers were given a carte blanche to breathe through the nose. Nobody seemed to care too much. The same picture was on the ground, as masks are required in the public transit. I took mine off and nobody cared. Arriving in the middle of Warsaw, the testing scene suddenly became very lively. Right by the iconic Stalin’s skyscraper, there were at least three separate testing tents. These were very well attended judging by rather long line ups consisting exclusively of young folk. I figured that the Polish state had deployed an extensive testing regime for those at risk – science you know. I think it might be similar to the situation in the UK where hordes of students are regularly tested for the virtually riskless virus. Long-standing historic political ties between Warsaw and London came alive once again, reminding me, the old Soviet, of the murky circumstances of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. But I digress.
Arriving in Ukraine finally afforded a good look into the new two-tier Covid society that is accessible to many unlike the rarified world of the west where only billionaire-philanthropists and their cheerleaders are allowed in. In Kyiv, for a tidy sum of $280 USD paid by my dear friend Vlad, I was afforded a full VIP treatment. Met at the gate by a designated attendant, I was whisked away by a top-line BMW to a separate VIP entrance where all Covid requirements were dispensed with exceeding courtesy. In Ukraine, one is required to have a tracking app on your phone and an antigen test within 72 hours after the arrival. I was escorted into a very comfortable dining room that served top-notch mix of sushi and borscht where I bid my time waiting for a connection to my hometown. Within an hour, my app began sending very menacing messages, demanding all manner of compliance with Covid protocols. At first alarmed, I inquired about the phenomenon from my VIP handler. He simply told me to ignore all of it. The only bit I needed to do was to get that 72-hour antigen test. The rest was rubbish. My dear friend Vlad gleefully confirmed and issued excuses for the inconveniences for the idiocies of the Ukrainian biosecurity state. He was right. Aside from threatening texts, everything went well. My negative antigen results were ready in 3 minutes and the cost was a fifth of that charged in Canada.
Arriving in my hometown was a welcome break into the past where a 50-meter track between the plane and the terminal had to be covered by a bus ride although walking seemed much simpler given that the only other plane on the tarmac was a private oligarch rig. Slavic ceremonies oblige. The pile up at the baggage pickup only confirmed the elation of the homecoming. Ukraine, as the rest of the post-Soviet space except for the “obedient” Baltics, is a country scarred by more than a century marked by revolutions, putsches, wars, barbarity, totalitarianism, and oligarchy. Such scars are deep and very present, creating a healthy distrust of authorities among large population strata. If one reads the official press and let’s oneself unlimited exposure to the television, the picture in Ukraine is hardly any different from any other Covid regime. There are presumably obligatory masks for inside wearing, safe and effective vaccines, green, yellow and red zones. The need to show your vaccine certificate in some places is also coming in vogue. In reality, unlike in the West, many see through the narrative. However, unlike the West, where the people in general believe in human rights, pieces of paper called a “constitution”, here is there is no organized protests or even a hint of an organized protest movement. There is simply no belief that there is any basis to organize protests on. It could change of course if a group of oligarchs decide that the current powers require displacement either by force or a backroom coup. But for now, like in the good old Soviet times, Ukrainians concoct countless Covid anecdotes, buy ivermectin in any quantities wished, acquire negative test certificates without bothering to test. The most coveted pieces of paper on the market today are vaccine certificates for the unvaccinated. You want to travel, but you don’t want to be bothered at work or in public transport (recently introduced a vax certificate requirement), just find a nurse or a doctor who is willing to miss your arm. Sometimes this is done through fake appointments taken in other regions to limit unnecessary questions. You don’t even need to go there. Just sit out at home for a couple of days to keep a low profile, and get the certificate mailed to you. However, you must be careful as the quality of the certificates varies. Recently, a prominent political figure was found to possess a fake vaccine certificate when returning from abroad. But not to worry, for any surveillance improvements, there will be sufficient black market counter measures that would be at least as effective. Such is the nature of the post-Soviet ingenuity.
Among those who decided to get vaccinated, the stories of side effects and flu-like illnesses are abound. But this is hardly exceptional. A number of my family members acquired heavy “flu” shortly after their vaccinations. One of them had actually had Covid-19 and thought that the original experience was on the lighter side compared to the post-vaccinal “flu”.
On the way back to Canada, I had an overnight connection in Prague, which gave me a great deal of heart palpitations as my negative PCR test in the absence of the vaccine certificate didn’t seem enough to the airline clerk. It took ten minutes of convincing and excessive cortisone production before I was allowed to board the plane. An alarming number of my fellow passengers exhibited a propensity for utterly ridiculous, duck beak like N95 masks. Before confirming a metaphysical hypothesis for such extraordinary behavior, I learned that Czech Republic, being precariously close to the German speaking space, chose to follow N95 respirator “science” as its neighbors to the west. Arriving in Prague, confirmed the impression although it didn’t seem that a real anti-mask witch hunt was in full swing as number of travelers seemed rather successful at avoiding this particularly cruel method of depriving one of oxygen. When it came to the airport and hotel workforce, the duck beaks were almost uniform. I guess the terms of employment were stiff. Judging by the number of people sticking to this peculiar fashion on the street, I didn’t appear clear if the Czech retained anything from their libertarian inclinations made famous in 1968. I guess the soft dictates from the EU are persuasive than columns of Soviet tanks.
Next morning, while passing security, I was firmly told to buy N95 from a nearby wending machine. Somehow, my card didn’t work, saving me an entire Euro as the guard pulled one from his extra supplies. My compliance barely worked 5 minutes, it was utterly suffocating, and I let my nose hang out as soon as I got to the gate. Nobody seemed to mind, as long as I pretended to keep most of my face mostly covered with N95 and N95 only. Once the plane landed in Frankfurt, suddenly, any mask was good. Once back on Lurthansa to Vancouver, a minimum of a medical mask with a good deal of admonitions and threats on the PA system became a requirement. The return to the Fourth Reich of Canada went reasonably well. I was promptly advised to get into the 14-day quarantine. Apparently, I was to take an arrival test as well. However, the authorities didn’t make it all that clear. Missing the quarantine day 8 test was another matter, as I repeatedly received rather foreboding emails from the dear government. Some of them advising me of potential jail sentences and fines. Fortunately, my day 8 test came back negative. With two days left on the quarantine, I am now really looking to “freedom”.
"International best practice" is the excuse for following the stampede, for mindless obedience, for terror of being different. Mob activity on global scale. Madness of the crowd. Morecand more people are finding out how badly we've been misled, and abused. Retribution will be severe. Soon, I hope.
We'll see. Choices are prosecution by a competent legal system (plenty of evidence already, probably much more), or extra-legal justice by an inflamed public, or simple whining by a few oppressed members of a hypnotized public.
Netherlands here. I could tell what a rollercoaster our policies have been in the past year and half+, but the most recent update is that it looks like we'll be oppressed into a full lockdown again, starting tomorrow (everything closed except for essential shops. Liquor stores are essential). Our experts are seriously afraid of the dreaded Omikron. It looks like they're looking at their crystal-ball-models again instead of real life data. The crazy thing is that it is our government that let 200 people (mostly pricked) from the 'Omikron SA flight' go home before test results were in, because... they'd been kept for so long already. C19 is considered an A-list disease in our banana republic mind you, close cousin to Ebola. MSM reports mention an end date of 14th of January for this new paragraph in our horror story, but we've seen that trick before. Funny thing is, last year we started a full lockdown a week before our Xmas break as well, same as now, so at least there is some predictability... or did they somehow accidentally swap the playbooks. I guess we can ask when Nuremberg 2.0 starts... if ever. I'll update when I know more.
Here's the UPDATE per 19/12. So MSM were right: yesterday evening a new hard lockdown was announced, starting 0500 19/12. As usual a bunch of incoherent and illogical reasoning behind it (which I guess we would all think sounds familiar) and the main mantra: the pricks don't work against Omikron, it might be very dangerous, get your third prick asap and if you're not pricked, get pricked. I didn't watch the press conference, it's bad for my health, but from what I understood from some friends is that it was moronic (you see what I did there?); it was almost as if they're testing the amount of stupidity they can throw at us.
If anyone needs any specifics about current measures, please ask and I'll update.
What a pity... in October, I enjoyed a short holiday trip to the Netherlands. Imagine shopping groceries without a mask!
Will there be riots? I got the impression that, even with milder measures in place than in Germany, there were quite heated confrontations in the past months.
Yeah, so the mask mandates were reintroduced the end of November. Not that I care too much and a lot of shops (and shoppers) don't seem to bother either, but that might be due to where I live.
I'm not sure about the riots. To be honest, I think we're a docile bunch, too scared to loose even the tiniest bit of comfort imparted by our caring politicians. But I'm a cynic. There have been some incidents, but foreign MSM might have exaggerated. Last November there was one case where the police shot and killed (we're not talking rubber bullets here) a 'rioter' and wounded a few others. Highly, highly unusual for NL. Besides that police tend to be too heavy on peaceful demonstrators on occasion and there is even good evidence that undercover agents are involved in 'escalating' peaceful demonstrations by starting violence. I guess nothing too different from other countries?
In Austria, there is a lot of outrage about "right wing extremists" who "broke through police barricades" and "walked through the inner city of Vienna illegally", "disturbing shoppers". I haven't had the time to follow the coverage, but the pictures you see is mostly of middle-aged ladies being helped to pass a police barrier by their husbands, three young women pushing aside a police barrier, that kind of thing. Hard to say what's really going on, but I would not be surprised if the media tried very, very hard to find something outrageous to report.
Similar rumours in Germany. Latest tricks on both sides:
- Most protests will be declared illegal. People therefore organize "walks", and MSM start talking about "illegal walks".
- Police are equipped with 1.50m sticks which they use to check if people keep distance rules when protesting.
2 months ago, I made a trip from Canada to Europe. Here are some impressions.
TRAVEL NOTES EUROPE – SWEDEN-POLAND-UKRAINE-CZECH (Part I)
To depart the 4th Reich of Canada, currently, one needs a test and possibly a vaccine, depending on the country. To go to Sweden, one needs just an antigen test. The testing site is located right in the airport. An advanced appointment is required. The antigen was amusing, as the attendant barely swabbed my nostrils for $125. She was a Russian speaking compatriot. I struck a conversation in the mother tongue, according to her, not many positives ever showed up. My negative results were ready in 10 minutes. My temporary Gesundpass was only asked for once – by the ticket agent. Fortunately, she had beautiful and expressive eyes that assured me that my passage to Sweden was almost assured. This was in contrast to the lower part of her face that bitterly reminded me of Dr. Bonnie Henry – our local Dr. Fauci clone.
Once my ticket in hand, I had to wait for the international check-in to open at 2:30, as new normal travel from our great Metropolis has less than a dozen international flights departing daily. Lufthansa appeared to be very strict on the mask business. No less than a blue medical mask had to be worn, so bye-bye my breathable “barely” mask my wife wasted at least $10 on. While parading in the airport, I just dropped my blue mask below the nose with nobody harassing me. However, as soon as I approached the gate, a series of stern warning on the quality and etiquette of mask wearing were issued. A fresh medical mask was issued at no cost. Keeping it above my nose was the key to stay off flight attendants’ criticisms. Only when they dimmed the lights after the meal service, I dared to stick my face in the crack between the seat and the window, allowed myself to get some free floating O2. Yes, make sure to have a window seat to hide from the mask police more effectively.
Arriving in Germany was a bit of a relief, as the airport folk didn’t seem to police noses too much. Crossing border into the EU was the only time when I was reminded of my civic duties by a border officer behind the plastic window – “I have been wearing this since 4 in the morning, so can you”, said he. Amusingly, his next-door border guard buddy was not wearing his mask at all. He looked pretty young and healthy, nowhere near an exemption worthy state of health.
Scandinavian Airlines were a bit less strict on the face diaper rules, to my relief. Once the doors of the plane were opened in Stockholm, half of the passengers took their masks off completely. By the time I got into the train going to the city, there was not mask in sight, including train personnel. The airport was the only place in Stockholm were the personnel seemed to be required to wear something. Smartly, most of them wore useless plastic face shields instead of masks.
The county that bucked the lockdown rules imposed in most of the world, achieving amazing results, most notably demonstrating by very low to non-existent excess mortality, appeared almost completely “old normal”. I figured mask wearing was somewhere near 1-2%. I suspected that some of those who did wear masks were recent arrivals from stricter jurisdictions. Covid-19 PTSD is a real thing for many. Here and there I saw floor stickers that varied from 1 to 2 meters – I guess Swedes never firmly settled on the scientism of “social distancing”. Nobody seemed to pay attention to these signs at all. Some storefronts displayed some Covid-19 related notices, but I was not sure if anybody bothered to read them. The city was hustling and bustling. It exuded such a degree of normalcy that I didn’t know what to do with myself out of sheer exhilaration. Endorphins were just bursting into flights of thoughtless happiness.
With the remainder restrictions recently removed, theaters and museum were running full steam, giving extra gleam to this amazing waterfront city that is truly monumental to rival the best-known gems of Europe such as Budapest or Vienna. Architecture was truly stunning. I was gob smacked. Where did the Viking descendants got all this money? Augmented by the abundance of water views, elegant bridges and generous green spaces, Stockholm, awash in changing fall colors and unexpectedly warm sunshine, was a perfect anti-depressant to make the likes of Prozac blush. The views afforded by the cliffs of Sodermalm were sublime, especially during the sunset. A chance to attend a season opening hockey game afforded another infusion of bliss. The absence of vaccine passport tyranny allowed me to simply walk up to the box office and get a ticket – like the good old days. Inside the arena, the only thing that guards cared about was personal security as everyone had to walk through a metal detector gate. Past the security beer, cheers and flag-waving in the best European sporting traditions reigned. The super fans were behind the visitors’ goal, screaming and singing to their hearts’ content. Watching fans at European sporting events can frequently rival the actual show. Seeing normal people behaving normally was simply sublime (please see attached video and images).
Buoyed by life as it should be, I figured that venturing to get some ivermectin was in order. Heavily suppressed in Canada, I figured Sweden would be an exception in this realm as well. The local pharmacy was a good start where they did inform me that such medication was indeed available. Aside from a modest sum of money, I still needed a prescription. Directed to the local medical emergency office, I entered to find a couple of masked patients. They were coughing and sneezing. The attending personnel didn’t wear masks. I asked to see a doctor to write out a prescription. He asked to see the name of the drug before I was to pay – the nice chap didn’t want me to spend money on the appointment without assurance of a satisfactory outcome. This was very honest of him. The rest went sideways. He literally had no idea why I would want to fill a prescription for an anti-parasitic drug. I mentioned some studies to the effect, he smiled, probably thinking of me one of those tinfoil hatters.
“We don’t do such things here”.
“What do you do for someone with Covid-19 symptoms?” I asked.
“If the symptoms are mild, nothing. If it gets worse, we give steroids and oxygen”, he replied. This was no different from directions given by the Canadian or British authorities.
His words made me doubt some aspects of the Swedish approach to Covid-19. They echoed the words of my local friend who stated that whatever happened in Sweden versus virtually every other country in Europe was simply unexplainable. The outside myths of freedom loving and well-informed Swedes, according him, were just that – the myths. Why the Swedish authorities decided to go their own way remains a mystery. Could this be attributable to high personal integrity of the main actors such as Anders Tegnell or something entirely different? I guess some aspects of the Covid-19 response history might just remain a mystery akin to the Grassy Knoll and World Trade Center 7.
I've heard some explain it as Sweden's willingness to trial the central bank digital currency that explains some, but maybe not all, of the insanity of the last 23 months.
Interesting. Definitely lots of insanity around
The world has simply gone mad. I wonder if madness is a yet to be discovered/admitted effect of spike protein on the frontal lobe.
This is nothing else than a globalist grab of totalitarian powers over all countries, all peoples, the virus being a "palatable" pretext: https://live2fightanotherday.substack.com/p/going-for-jugular