Coronavirus / Covid-19 Global Pandemic

[redwhiteblue]

I'm sick of all the clickbait nonsense on the Bigpond startup page every time I go and check my email as it's covered in channel 9 news - the left hand side of the page is what I call the wall of negativity and scare mongering articles so I've enabled Apple Mail now.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

The Guardian...haha good one.

Set up in Oz by a very bitter and twisted ex PM who openly describes himself now as an 'activist'. A sad but very rich activist however. The Turnbull Times is its affectionate title now to give you a hint. The Editor openly stated the online broadsheet rarely endorses conservative government policies. So if its apolitical unbiased commentary you seek, this may not be for you.

Speaking of "the Ghost" aka Turnbull...what a tragedy this man and another ex PM Krudd are these days. Offering nothing to discourse other than personal bitterness . Rich basteds. Will leave this mortal coil as twitter and bisted grumpy old men.

Compare to other two ex PMs in recent times Gillard and Abbott who conduct themselves as you would hope an ex leader would...with humility, grace and dignity. Regardless of what you may think of their political performances.

[redwhiteblue]

Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull will not leave as grumpy old men as they have grounded solid families. They both married their soulmates and raised intelligent children and now are both doting grandfathers. Neither man has been threatened by their wives' career success. Take money and politics out of the equation and their true wealth lies in the love of their supportive families.

I was only saying to a very close friend of mine the other day that I would always have a chat with Mr Turnbull down at the Rose Bay ferry wharf about the Roosters, not politics.

[Paddo Colt 61]

Misleading Jax like a typical News Ltd report. Turnbull did suggest to an interested local billionaire that he (the local) might consider bankrolling the start up cost of 20 mil (peanuts in media terms) because he had concerns about the plummeting standards of journalism in Oz - the sort of "standards that have been discussed in previous posts on this thread. Malcolm himself had/has no financial interest in the publication. His other concern was that Gina (the $2 a day wage girl) threatened to buy the Fairfax group. The Guardian has no individual proprietor with a political axe to grind, it is administered by an English Trust and it is also a self described progressive voice so it is not at all surprising that it does not endorse Right Wing politics though it is fair in that regard.
Turnbull was/is the last hope of Conservative cause in Oz. They're not Conservatives anyway, they are simply anti Labor and anti labour. Huge handouts of taxpayer money to supporters, proposals to bankroll a fossil fuel power station, continuing State owned Medicare including huge taxpayer dollars to prop up a bullshit private alternative is pragmatic, not at all Conservative. It's "whatever it takes" in the service of Corporations and the 1% and, up till now, it has taken a, pretty much, media monopoly to preserve it and to sell its policies to a dumbed down populace.
RWB is one ordinary, compassionate, concerned person who has clearly had enough just like the old readership of the SMH and others who have flocked to the Guardian and put it in the top readership banners in the country. Your ranting is unlikely to halt the trend so we'll leave you to fear and resentment click bait if you don't mind.

[redwhiteblue]

Can't argue with you on that PC as I've had enough of them all. Funnily enough I was just thinking back to a previous company I worked at from 2012 to 2016 and we had a great legal team I looked after as their assistant and they were from all different religions and nationalities. They all had one thing in common - reading The Guardian..

Oh I am not an ordinary woman by the way - I'm actually an empath so that means I see, feel and hear things differently to the average human...

[Jacks Fur Coat]

I'm caught between a barf and a larf at some commentary.
But I do believe in the universal power of satire and trust we are witnessing some of the best on here. Humour is a brilliant language.

And I do hope that the Turnbull Times readership is indeed on the uptake as we may be spared from the constant begging for donations. I reckon the Ghost should cough up some more ill-gottens as he surely has more dollars than sense these days.

[redwhiteblue]

Happy well adjusted people don't get their kicks by bagging out others. I don't need the media to tell me what is going on in the world...I have good friends like Horrie and Andy who keep me informed anyway and I trust their judgement.

There are certainly some bitter and twisted grumpy old men around these parts but they are not former prime ministers..

[redwhiteblue]

January 2020 Astrologist Lilith Rocha made this prediction: "A major upheavals of civilisations...2020 looks set to give us all front row seats at a radical reset of global resources and economies"

[The Skeez]

The Guardian...haha good one.

Set up in Oz by a very bitter and twisted ex PM who openly describes himself now as an 'activist'. A sad but very rich activist however. The Turnbull Times is its affectionate title now to give you a hint. The Editor openly stated the online broadsheet rarely endorses conservative government policies. So if its apolitical unbiased commentary you seek, this may not be for you.

Speaking of "the Ghost" aka Turnbull...what a tragedy this man and another ex PM Krudd are these days. Offering nothing to discourse other than personal bitterness . Rich basteds. Will leave this mortal coil as twitter and bisted grumpy old men.

Compare to other two ex PMs in recent times Gillard and Abbott who conduct themselves as you would hope an ex leader would...with humility, grace and dignity. Regardless of what you may think of their political performances.

lol Ruth

[Paddo Colt 61]

[QUOTE=redwhiteblue; I was just thinking back to a previous company I worked at from 2012 to 2016 and we had a great legal team I looked after as their assistant and they were from all different religions and nationalities. They all had one thing in common - reading The Guardian..
Oh I am not an ordinary woman by the way - I'm actually an empath so that means I see, feel and hear things differently to the average human...:rolleyes.

You've had a chequered career. Legal secretaries/assistants, almost always female, are the backbones of legal practice (as they are in families). Women in that job are amazingly efficient and capable and often know far more about processes than do the practitioners. Before our Neocon transformation you would have been a loyal and valued permanent employee, nowadays, like so many others, you are at the mercy of contact arrangements.
Your "roll eyes" is a nice self deprecating touch too. While not, myself, much of an Empath I do have a touch of the clairvoyant. For example I did foresee that the 62 - 6 drubbing at the hands of the cardinal and myrtle meant the end of the road in 2020 and I do predict that Dewsbury Sam will emerge unscathed from the current court proceedings though, of course, the reputational damage has already been done by that devious old plutocrat and his media mates.

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[QUOTE=Paddo Colt 61;n861345][QUOTE=redwhiteblue; I was just thinking back to a previous company I worked at from 2012 to 2016 and we had a great legal team I looked after as their assistant and they were from all different religions and nationalities. They all had one thing in common - reading The Guardian..
Oh I am not an ordinary woman by the way - I'm actually an empath so that means I see, feel and hear things differently to the average human...:rolleyes.

You've had a chequered career. Legal secretaries/assistants, almost always female, are the backbones of legal practice (as they are in families). Women in that job are amazingly efficient and capable and often know far more about processes than do the practitioners. Before our Neocon transformation you would have been a loyal and valued permanent employee, nowadays, like so many others, you are at the mercy of contact arrangements.
Your "roll eyes" is a nice self deprecating touch too. While not, myself, much of an Empath I do have a touch of the clairvoyant. For example I did foresee that the 62 - 6 drubbing at the hands of the cardinal and myrtle meant the end of the road in 2020 and I do predict that Dewsbury Sam will emerge unscathed from the current court proceedings though, of course, the reputational damage has already been done by that devious old plutocrat and his media mates.

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Hi PC. Hope you are well today. . Yes I have the same birthday as Martha Stewart, SBW, Tony Bennett and several other hardworking notables so we just have to keep on keeping on as they say and take on any job necessary and keep working until we are in our 90's like Mr Bennett..working is good for the soul and brain and I could never imagine retirement - for me that would be a death knell..I did correctly guess the winners of the grand final for 12 years running until 2017 when I became very ill and needed surgery and have also seen awful events with family and friends too upsetting to post about but have also seen wonderful events particularly when my young colleagues in their twenties met the 'tall dark and handsome' men I predicted they would. 2 out of the 3 girls are now settled with the men I saw in their future..the 3rd one has been delayed because I saw her meet him in a crowded bar in Paddington......maybe one day we will all be allowed to crowd back into bars...have a good day PC and I hope all your family are staying well over the break..

[mightyrooster]

My new year's resolution is to stop reading news sites. I am sick of reading about the C word and I think the fear mongering, mass hysteria and general panic is far more dangerous and contagious.

I think 'fact checker' as a career choice went the way of the abacus. Same with sporting 'journalists'. I just want to watch the Roosters for 80 mins with no 'opinion pieces' or 'panel experts' - there is a contradiction in terms.Anyone with a Twitter account is considered a media personality these days.

Completely agree RWB. I guess it’s so easy to just log onto these sites to get a ‘free’ update on the latest news. But since Covid it’s really brought home how appallingly OTT these sites are. And really just rubbish. I also remember the old days when watching A Current Affair or the like with Ray Martin or Jana Wendt actually contained some real attempts at journalism unlike the drivel with Tracy Grimshaw you get today.

[mightyrooster]

[QUOTE=Paddo Colt 61;n861303][QUOTE=mightyrooster;
Lol Paddo! Yes news.com.au and yahoo do my head in with their click bait headlines even a 14 year old year 9 student could write. Massive surge, unprecedented event, devastating outcome &Then there's the NRL star does this and & cricket legend says that.. What the hell has happened to journalism in this country?

Good to see you weigh in MR. I find you, too, one of the more interested/interesting contributors. Open minded is the word.
As far as "journalism" is concerned, poor quality has been the norm here forever. Tabloids and waste of space mags have always been the people's choice - easy to understand, minimal detail and clear and definitive on all issues (always from the proprietor's POV).

Certainly the education system is a failure but it does, or it used to, do its best to elevate the thinking of the masses in the humanities. The problem was /is that the masses are largely unreceptive. Until fairly recently finishing high school was an elitist thing. The vast majority saw education as being unnecessary and even irrelevant to their lives because, historically, there has been a deep vein of anti intellectualism cultivated, indeed, by the media which used the tall poppy thing and resentment of expert opinion to dumb down its already uncritical audience.

In recent times, huge changes in the distribution of advertising income has led to rethinks of media business models and "news" often manipulated and selective anyway has been replaced by opinion, celebrity, "well being" (navel gazing) and gossip of the type that we see everywhere. Nobody could be well informed simply by consuming MSM in Australia, there is never any backgrounding on any issue.

By definition, 50% of us are below average intelligence on conventional IQ scales and a sizeable number are just above. Most of that lot derive next to nothing from their "education" having abandoned intellectual curiosity sometime in infancy. Of course that is a generational phenomenon - chronic cultural deprivation and all of the other endemic societal ills. Result - dumb, biased, nefarious media ain't gonna disappear anytime soon. Those few of us who are concerned and who take the trouble to investigate issues (and I don't mean Q-anon) need to confront misinformation whenever it is spouted by some empty head that's about the best that can be done.


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Thanks Paddo. I try to keep an open mind on most things, I also like to think for myself rather than follow particular radio broadcasters or Fox News talking heads while taking every word they utter as gospel. Thoughts and ideas aren’t generally black and white. Nor are people. Most concepts are far more complex than that and need a more balanced analysis. You can’t just simplify complex issues such as climate change and racism. But like you say a lot of the mass media do just that to dumb the issues down to make it ‘easier’ for the viewer / reader to take a side without proper in depth analysis.

[redwhiteblue]

Completely agree RWB. I guess it’s so easy to just log onto these sites to get a ‘free’ update on the latest news. But since Covid it’s really brought home how appallingly OTT these sites are. And really just rubbish. I also remember the old days when watching A Current Affair or the like with Ray Martin or Jana Wendt actually contained some real attempts at journalism unlike the drivel with Tracy Grimshaw you get today.

I don't feed my body rubbish so why would I feed my mind rubbish either? Our brain is a muscle and needs daily exercise too. I made a conscious decision to cut negative people out of my life so why invite more in via the media? I remember Jana walking off set back in the day as she refused to present a trashy story.

[Paddo Colt 61]

2021 off to a great start with the news that Julian Assange, thanks to some dexterous British judicial gamesmanship, will not be cast into the talons of the Eagle. Possibly the most courageous Aussie ever was abandoned by our craven media which, by comparison, pulled out all stops for a bogan empty head from the Gold Coast caught red handed with a boogie board bursting with drugs. Bravo Julian you emerge from the darkness physically diminished but, hopefully, unbowed no thanks to Scotty nor the gutless ALP. Australian of the year? Deservedly but unlikely.