World, Writing, Wealth discussion
World & Current Events
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If you're not in the U.S., what's up in your part of the world?
There has also been scathing comment about the government's lack of action on climate change during the Commission.
It is not the only government that lacks action there. A lot of people seem to think this virus offers the opportunity to restructure their economies, but they don't seem to appreciate the cost, and the fact most countries are already deep in debt.
Scout, you were interested in our referenda. The results are in, except special votes have yet to be counted. (These are from people voting outside their electorate, although why they count them this way for the referenda I do not know since the whole country is one electorate.) Anyway:(a) On assisted dying under certain circumstances for terminally ill under extreme pain: passed 2:1
(b) Recreational cannabis: rejected 53.1 to 46.1 (The rest are informal, which means the vote was not clear. Since both referenda were on one sheet of paper at the ballot, it may be some did not vote for one of the questions. In principle, special votes could overturn this, but it would have to be a startling majority of them so I think overall this will remain rejected.
UK News...COBID numbers, COVID tiers, COVID...
COVID National lockdown now predicted potentially from Monday although Schools and Universities would try to remain open
Nuclear plant set for go ahead
Heavy rain and storms
Death of football world cup winner Nobby Stiles
Cafe breaching COVID had 150 inside
Much hail on the east side of Australia, some of it over 10cm in diameter.QLD will open its border to regional NSW, but not Sydney or Victoria. (Announced day before election, and opens 2 days afterwards - we were taking bets at work about day before/after.)
WA will open its border to all states but residents of NSW and Victoria will have to quarantine for 14 days.
Current COVID cases per day are down to single digits in Victoria, and NSW, and one today in SA. All other cases currently are in hotel quarantine.
Qatar has apologised to Australia for subjecting female passengers to undergo invasive physical assessments when a newborn baby was found abandoned in the airport terminal.
A probable rugby union drubbing by the All Blacks is currently underway. Wallabies supporters are probably trying to decide if it's worth watching the match, or whether they should begin drowning their sorrows immediately.
Sorry, Leonie, but drubbed. Funnily enough, I suspect much alcohol consumed this side of the ditch too. Interesting that opposite results lead to the same outcome, although with different emotions :-)
Hot off press from UK COVID lock down from Thursday 4th until 2nd Dec as advertised Schools, Universities open takeaway or delivery food only essential shops. Travel no non essential travel out all incoming quarantine - dire predictions
I'm glad you guys have sports to take your minds off the state of the world. Although not a sports fan, I can see its benefits.Sorry about the lockdown, Philip. How do you feel about it?
And, Ian, interesting about the approval of euthanasia in some circumstances. What do you think?
I support the Euthanasia bill, and it should be noted that there are a lot of difficulties to get it done. Most of the people who objected to it were objecting to things that should not happen under it. I suppose no law is perfect, but I think this one is reasonable.I might be biased. Claire's sister knew a woman lawyer who in her early forties tried to get assisted death. She had some sort of incurable disease and it resisted all efforts of painkillers. She went to court and could hardly walk, her mouth was all twisted so speaking was difficult, and as she said, there was no enjoyment left in life - merely misery and I agree with Claire's sister - nobody should have to live (or more correctly continue to breathe and feel pain because it was not living) like that. In the end, she died before the somewhat delayed final court case was to be heard, and this was what initiated this bill.
I agree that euthanasia should be an option. Sad story about the lawyer. That shouldn't happen, and I'm assuming it won't after this referendum, or is there more work to be done? I'm wondering about Alzheimer's. If a person has been diagnosed and still has their wits about them, can they request euthanasia to be done at a later stage?
The euthanasia referendum was binding, so it will be in place. I am not sure about Alzheimer patients. At present, as I understand it you have to be able to confirm you wish to go through with it at the final stage. I haven't studied the fine detail, though.
Well, this is a step in the right direction. I'd like to see it approved here.
Scout wrote: "I'm glad you guys have sports to take your minds off the state of the world. Although not a sports fan, I can see its benefits.Sorry about the lockdown, Philip. How do you feel about it?
And, Ia..."
On one hand very depressed about the future and the usual selfish impact on my life e.g. not seeing my daughter and we had a UK break booked for November which will now be cancelled. On the other hand compared to the deprivations faced by previous generations its inconvenient compared to going off to war for 5 years whilst family waited for a telegram i.e. WWi or WWII experience for millions
I have communications, my health and my family and a job. We will get through this - just need a bit more determination and willing to endure from the general population rather than complaints about sacrifices.
Ian wrote: "I gather that in the US it tends to mean "socialist lite"..."Not really. it has been turned into a pejorative meaning just that definition. Trying to give you an idea,
It is simplistic, but gets the idea across non-the-less. However, things are so torn up that definitions are almost the height of stupidity. Most of us are a combination of both sides of the centrist line.
Trying to find some UK news in UK apparently we have a close election race going on but I don't recognise the UK place names :-/
Philip wrote: "Trying to find some UK news in UK apparently we have a close election race going on but I don't recognise the UK place names :-/"We have a similar issue...
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I am in Arizona. I expect it will be Biden at the end of the count, but NBC has NOT declared Arizona, yet. Arizona has been a purple state in reality and I have lived here under both Republican and Democrat Governors. The Senate races are interesting too. It looks like astronaut Mark Kelly replaces McSally (for which I am happy). NBC hasn't declared the final ones yet. They have declared the House as being controlled by the Democrats.
I did a bing search for UK News out of curiosity. (Of course, I can just go to the BBC website and look.)UK raises its terror threat level to severe after attacks in Austria and France
The U.K. government's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the country's terror level to severe following …
USA Today · 4h
UK terrorism threat level raised to 'severe'
BBC · 13h
UK in talks with Palantir over COVID-19 test-and-trace program: FT
Reuters · 8h
UK to roll out rapid COVID-19 testing in English city
ABC · 19h
Lizzie wrote: "I did a bing search for UK News out of curiosity. (Of course, I can just go to the BBC website and look.)UK raises its terror threat level to severe after attacks in Austria and France
The U.K. ..."
I was being ironic and failing - again
Yes there is UK news as there is news in plenty of other countries, it's just lost below the endless chat about the election of one individual in one (Foreign) country. Yes it's important but not the only thing happening and in terms of direct impact on people's lives in UK that remains COVID, Brexit and other issues including the terror threat. The machinations of corrupt politicians remain a source of entertainment throughout the world, mostly these are not in UK - we are thankful for small mercies we have our own idiots to deal with.
Philip, I don't think you failed, and I know how you feel, apart from the idiots part. Our news is flooded with the US election, and I guess largely because US policy is so important for the rest of the world. Like it or not, from first or second order effects, no other country has anywhere near the power to change others' lives than the US.The good news here is that while one may not always agree with our politicians' policies, right now at least they are not behaving stupidly.
Do you guys have a far-left faction that wants to defund police, close prisons, do away with ICE (border enforcement)?
Scout wrote: "Do you guys have a far-left faction that wants to defund police, close prisons, do away with ICE (border enforcement)?"We certainly have far left and far right factions, but they'd have to be extreme to want to get rid of the police.
I suspect that we have an entirely different relationship with our police than some US citizens do. We certainly have people who wish to change our prison system, but no-one wants to do away with it.
On the other hand, we have (in my opinion) an incredibly harsh attitude to refugees and asylum seekers, that is a black spot on our nation's history. I would never advocate for doing away with border control, but I would like to see more humanity involved. And a particular, bald headed, politician gone from it.
I was being ironic and failing - againIt's OK. I got it.
I don't think Democrats want to defund police, close all prisons, or do away with ICE. I think we want to change them because the amount of power they have has been abused and in turn used to abuse others. I think for too long too many have refused to listen to the voice of those who have suffered from that abuse and feel they need to go to extremes to be heard. That so many have gone that route says to me that government is failing in its responsibility to its citizens. Individuals are allowed to fail; our government can't.
Philip wrote: "Lizzie wrote: "I did a bing search for UK News out of curiosity. (Of course, I can just go to the BBC website and look.)."
You didn't fail in the irony. I was curious as to what would come up on our side of the pond. When I went to the BBC news home page, it was all US election coverage.
Scout wrote: "Do you guys have a far-left faction that wants to defund police, close prisons, do away with ICE (border enforcement)?"Actually, in NZ elections usually involve promises (not always kept) to increase police funding. The police here are respected, and law and order is an issue.
Our border issues are different. With the nearest land mass about 2/3 the width of the Atlantic and it being Australia, and the seas being about as rough as thy come at times, we don't have much in the way of illegals. Our current biggest border issues are controlling a certain virus, and keeping out pests.
Lizzie, far-left wing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her support behind Biden and as a quid pro quo will be part of his administration. Here are some of her causes:"Ocasio-Cortez has expressed support for defunding and abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency on multiple occasions."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexand....
And on defunding police: "Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among the proponents of the call to defund the police."
https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/...
Biden said he alone was running against Trump, but he failed to mention that he owes the left wing of his party - Bernie and Ocasio-Cortez, among others, because they told their supporters to vote for him. They were on the ballot too, although not above board.
Since A O-C did not turn out lots of voters where it counted, Biden could claim specific performance was missing so any deal can be washed away.Of course, Trump is taking legal action to stop vote counting, so if that can happen, maybe even specific performance isn't good enough in a legal fight.
Where did you find that info about AOC not turning out voters? She won a second term in Congress with 69% of the vote.
Scout wrote: "Where did you find that info about AOC not turning out voters? She won a second term in Congress with 69% of the vote."Therefore democratically elected to represent her district to the best of her ability and with 69% pretty popular. She gets her one vote in Congress same as the others.
We have lots of odd politicians with extreme views from both sides. We had a well known radical Corbyn leading the main opposition party for several years (The one who has just been suspended from that party for critiquing a report into anti-Semitism)
UK News and there is some after fighting past pages of US Election coverage. SOme congressional district getting more news than the Prime Minister's constituency does in a General Election here)
England lock down in force until 2 Dec - huge Parliamentary majority for the restrictions
Job losses from large retailers and 2 banks
£150Bn Quantative Easing from Bank of England (Fed equivalent)
As a point on election delays we had one in 2010 when it took a while for a coalition to form between Lib Dems and Conservatives that finally made Cameron Prime Minister. Some European countries can go months before a Government is agreed (Belgium most recently). Strong civil service helps but that has its own problems.
Scout wrote: "Where did you find that info about AOC not turning out voters? She won a second term in Congress with 69% of the vote."I mean she did not turn out the voters for Biden where it counted. Winning her own Congress seat is irrelevant for Biden
Ian wrote: "Scout wrote: "Where did you find that info about AOC not turning out voters? She won a second term in Congress with 69% of the vote."I mean she did not turn out the voters for Biden where it coun..."
Perhaps her voters liked her and did not like Biden or were playing tactical voting i.e. to keep receptive elements of Congress/Senate/Presidency in different hands. Clearly painting her as a socialist radical did not prevent the 69% voting for her but perhaps they liked her clothes.
No one knows in the end why a voter votes the way they do even in opinion polls were lying to pollsters is not uncommon. It is supposed to be a secret ballot yet a lot of people spend an awful lot of time telling people who they voted for and why others should vote as they did. Perhaps a bit more silence would help.
I don't remember which thread it was, but being a ballot counter is a job I would NOT want in today's clime.
Meanwhile Putin is rumored to be in preparations for early retirement: https://nypost.com/2020/11/05/vladimi... If does it concomitantly with Bidie and Don, they can share a nice corona-free club for power rehab
Lizzie wrote: "I don't remember which thread it was, but being a ballot counter is a job I would NOT want in today's clime."I once counted senate votes - for a week. It was when I was a student. The pay was excellent, but the job was somewhat mind numbing at times. For the first few days, the scrutineers were very much in evidence, (party scrutineers), but after that, only the diehards hung in there.
After we counted the votes, we then began to reconcile the electoral role. Since this was in 1984 (I think) it was all done manually. We did the letter 'M'.
The finalised senate vote takes a lot longer than the lower house votes, due to the sheer number of candidates and the distribution of preferences.
Just watched the national anthems, welcome to country, and Haka before the Bledisloe Cup match up in Brisbane. I always find the Haka fascinating. Such passion. Such long tongues!
Wish we could welcome AUS, NZ, and SA rugby to UK - they normally tour this time of year. Instead we had delayed 6 nations and now a thrown together autumn cup with effectively same competitionIn other UK news:
Shortage of nurses - regular news story every winter
COVID of course
Scotland bans smacking in the home
Travel bans to various European destinations as COVID worsens
Brexit - brief mention on still on-going trade discussions (So much for mid-Oct deadlines)
Opportunity to fix roads during lockdown
Leonie wrote: "Just watched the national anthems, welcome to country, and Haka before the Bledisloe Cup match up in Brisbane. I always find the Haka fascinating. Such passion. Such long tongues!"
Long tongues seem to be genetic, although how I don't know. One of my grandaughters can touch her nose with her tongue, and I have no idea where that came from :-)
Yes, she seems rather pleased with herself and her tongue :-)
A natural predisposition to haka dancing?! :)
Not so far. Merely showing, "I can do something you can't". True, but I do not feel I am missing out on anything seriously good.
I am not touching this one... I am not touching this one...I am not touching this ...8^)
News from UK50,000 COVID deaths milestone passed
2 minute remembrance silence
Plans for students to go home for Christmas
More vaccine news
Mini-nuclear power stations
Sacking of cycling official for misconduct after resignation of football chief for alleged racism
Reading murder suspect pleading guilty
Abroad 0 US election Alaska declared, and Saudi bomb attack
Weather dull and dreary and mood worse....
News from NZReserve bank cuts interest rates further, despite house price crisis. Policy obviously, there's a fire, where's the gasoline!
Strange court case underway - Peter Ellis is trying to clear his name for kindergarten sexual abuse (original accusations very similar to Salem witch trials and excitable mothers who have now been shown to have got their children to lie. Now, when it looks as if he might succeed, a new accusation comes out of the woodwork. Why is this strange? Because Ellis is now dead. It says something about our slow justice that the case was lodged, and hence had to be heard, so now we have an accusation in court with no opportunity for the accused to rebut. Good luck, judges!
From Australia:Possible warcrimes by some of our special forces to be investigated.
NZ doesn't want us to visit yet.
12 days without local COVID in Victoria, and 5 in NSW.
Scomo has had a chat with Biden
Some postcodes have faired worse with COVID than others (economically).
A Bigfin Squid was seen in the bight.
More from NZRecord house prices. Reserve Bank pours more cash into banks. (Nothing like, when in a hole, dig faster!)
West Indies cricket team break quarantine rules - and special consideration had been given to them to practice, but that wasn't enough.
General excitement over Pfizer vaccine - hope for the tourist industry
A pod of orcas have been playing in Wellington Harbour
Ian wrote: "More from NZRecord house prices. ..."
What's the driver behind that? Scores of foreigners fleeing their countries for corona-free NZ (at the onset it was indeed reported that many sought refuge there) or something else?
World, Writing, Wealth
Books mentioned in this topic
1984 (other topics)Common Sense (other topics)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (other topics)
Lolita (other topics)
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Mel Brooks (other topics)Victor Davis Hanson (other topics)
Peter Zeihan (other topics)
Bobby Fischer (other topics)
Jordan B. Peterson (other topics)
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-3...