Gorth

I thought it was just for dangerous individuals in general, like best never seen and never heard from again (especially without access to basic rights and pesky lawyers) Edit: Like the Soviet Gulags of old

Who needs a desert? Isn't Guantanamo fit for purpose anymore?

It has. Covid is easy to stop. Prevent people from moving around. Wear masks. Use hand sanitizer after touching anything, keep social distance. The problem is peoples selfishness. I don't want to. Why should *I* wear a mask. Joe got sick and he wore a mask all the time! (never mind Joe went to a basket ball game where 4500 people in the crowd had covid and werent wearing masks) etc. I.e. lockdown is great, as long as it doesn't inconvenience *me* The Me is the problem. Rather than thinking how can I and We solve this, it's always how can You solve this for me? It's all about attitude (and I would say enlightenment, as the Britannica puts it, the celebration of reason)

Actually, kudos for that to the state governments, regardless of political affiliation. The moron in Canberra did what he does best in a crisis situation, nothing. They formed a national council kind of thing between state PM's and sorted it out, coordinating stuff. The federal governments only contribution was to follow the instructions provided and actually complaining and trying to wreck the efforts, attempting at times to overrule the local PM's measures when his rich and powerful friends whinged about the measures being bad for their share holders, but in the end, he realized he would be in such deep **** if he did that, he sort of forgot about his/their demands along the way. So, no thanks to the federal government and thanks to the state governments. I'm sure@Guard Dogwould appreciate the morale of that story edit: When Scott Morrison tried to order the states to open their state borders, the state PM's pretty much just said **** you, and deployed state police to the borders to enforce the border closures, ignoring the barking of Clive Palmer and the whimpering yipping of his pet dog (the federal PM). Queensland probably build enough walls on the border to New South Wales to make Trump green with envy

Hey, the worlds first concentration camps in the (modern sense) were introduced in SA. Although they were built and operated by the British to eradicate the Boer population. Here in Australia we send illegal immigrants to "overseas holding facilities", providing work for those poor people in Papua New-Guinea and elsewhere. As for people returning to Australia these days, they get sent to hotels for two weeks of quarantine. With guards preventing them from leaving their hotel rooms. True to form, the government made a fubar and allowed Australian Open to go ahead. Now we have almost a hundred pissed off tennis stars and their entourage because they are forced to stick to same quarantine rules as everyone else, regardless of how famous you are and how much rules for normal, mortal people isn't supposed to apply to you. (edit: At this point in time, it would otherwise only be Australian citizen, residents and Kiwi's that are allowed into Australia at all) (edit 2: Even if vaccines turns out to be effective, Australia's borders are likely to be closed to the outside world for the rest of 2021 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-55699581)

More from my nostalgia box of memories. Second part of Oxygene

He just proved that Trump was the mastermind behind Antifa all along

Just a bit more Rammstein

I don't know about Poland, but I know our own prime minister, Scott Morrison, who is an even more notorious liar than Trump, is shivering at the thought of someone suddenly starting putting a question mark on his online lies, so he's very busy to try to put a stop to someone who could question the truth of his messages. I would imagine that countries with dictators, autocrats, wannabe autocrats etc. are having sleepless nights and trying preemptively to forbid anyone from questioning the truth of their messages.

Nationalize the banks and write the debt down to zero. Problem solved

I found something that had actual Arabic numbers in it, discussing the impact: https://www.toptal.com/finance/market-research-analysts/brexit-and-its-effect-on-the-uk-european-and-global-financial-sector (as mentioned in previous post, passporting wasn't part of the deal, it was no deal, i.e. WTO rules) Question 1: Is Brexit a big deal? Unfortunately, the answer seems quite likely to be yes. An analysis of the issues and concerns related to the financial sector bring up a raft of worrying conclusions. In particular, these center around three important issues: passporting, regulatory uncertainty, and talent-drain. Passporting: What is it, and why does it matter? By far and away the most important issue at stake relates to passporting. Passporting is the process whereby any British-based financial institution, be it banks, insurance providers, or asset management firms, can sell their products and services into the rest of the EU without the need to obtain a license, get regulatory approval, or set up local subsidiaries to do so. Passporting, in conjunction with a few other key factors described below, has been a major reason why a large amount of financial institutions have decided to set up headquarters in London. A recent report estimated that nearly 5,500 firms in the UK rely on passporting to conduct business with the rest of the EU. And the flows go both ways. More than 8,000 firms in the rest of the EU trade into the UK using passporting rules. As Brexit looms, will passporting continue? The answer almost certainly seems to be no. The only way for Britain to continue benefiting from passporting would be if it pursued a “Norwegian deal” with the EU (membership of the European Economic Area and adherence to all its associated rules). But a Norwegian-style solution is extremely unlikely for the simple fact it would force Britain to compromise on the very same issues (specifically, immigration) that led to the Brexit vote in the first place. So without passporting, are there other ways that UK firms could sell into the EU? One possible solution would be to go for a “Swiss deal” with the EU (essentially one focused on bilateral trade agreements). But a Swiss-style solution also seems unlikely. As Capital Economics points out, “It is unlikely that the UK would get a deal with the EU as good as Switzerland’s. The Swiss negotiated their deal when they were planning to join the EU; there would be less goodwill for a country leaving it”. And even if it were achieved, there are strong doubts about the efficacy of such a model. More specifically, the “Swiss model” takes advantage of the so-called “third country equivalence” rules, which allow for non-member state firms to perform some of the same functions that passporting allows for. edit: of course I left out the part with actual figures in it, silly me Reason No. 1 is that the financial industry is by all accounts a hugely influential sector in the British economy, contributing 12 percent to the UK’s total GDP. Output numbers aside, it generates more than two million jobs and is the country’s biggest export industry, accounting for nearly 50% of the UK’s $31bn trade surplus in services. The UK financial sector’s relevance to the rest of the EU is also pronounced. British banks lend nearly $1.4 trillion to EU companies and governments. Much of the financial activities carried out in Europe are either directly or indirectly performed out of London (87% of US investment banks’ EU staff are employed in London (Chart 1).

You're the expert, you translate it into plain English From instituteforgovernment.org.uk (this is "old", from when Brexit was new) in case a no deal outcome happened and WTO rules ends up applying (which it did for the financial services sector). The value of this trade far outstripped the goods trade. The way I understand it, it's everything from tenders for financing projects to insurance. How does trade on WTO terms compare? Trading on WTO terms entails significant limitations on cross-border trade compared to passporting, and stricter regulatory requirements and supervisory oversight of the EU branches of UK banks. Both sides are also able to impose measures for ‘prudential reasons’ such as ensuring the stability of the financial system, which can lead to further restrictions. The UK financial services sector is likely to trade with the EU on these terms in the event that no deal is agreed on the future UK–EU economic relationship. What impact will Brexit have on the UK’s financial services trade with the rest of the world? It is not only the relationship between the UK and the EU that will change after Brexit. By leaving the EU, the UK will no longer be party to trade arrangements between the EU and third countries around the world. EU agreements with third countries, such as its insurance agreements with the US[12] and Switzerland[13], will need to be re-established, and the recognition of other third country regimes in EU regulation will require replication in UK law. Given the UK’s strengths in financial services, the government is likely to make these a focus of its new trade deals. The UK can also attempt to go beyond the market access rights provided under these EU arrangements. This is the case with the UK–Japan deal for example, which makes it easier for UK financial firms to apply for licences to operate in Japan.

Not sure if capital markets are part of it, but the BREXIT deal does not include financial services, only goods. IIRC, that's less than 20% of all trade between UK and EU. 80% (me rounding numbers) is financial services, which UK banks are now isolated from the rest of Europe. They don't talk a lot about it, but it was really only the "small stuff" that got included in the deal. I don't know what was in the separate deal struck between UK and Spain regarding Gibraltar, but I'm guessing it was only allowing free movement of people, not transfer of funds to and from the money laundering facilities in Gibraltar.

You know that. I know that. I guess most people with half a brain know that. If you're up for a shocking experience, try lurking a bit on the Fox News website and read the commentary from the "permanent residents" there. Besides being convinced that masks are a plot of the deep state and something a bunch of pedophile anti-christs want's to force upon you to make everyone looks the same to make the introduction of communism easier.... the troglodytes have their mind set in stone that the masks were supposed to be for the wearers protection and therefor doesn't work (which is sort of correct without context) I suspect you might as well speak ancient Babylonian if trying to explain they should do something for *other* peoples benefit. A very self centered demographic. Maybe tell them you'll take their guns away if they don't wear a mask?

Jarre might be a European thing, I don't know. It was once very popular on the radio and as backing tracks for various stuff. And something "pacier"

More stuff from Gorth's box of ancient memories... aka nostalgia time.

Almost finished with Game of Thrones now. Two more episodes in season 8 to go. I know, I was told here not to watch season 8 But, it felt like the story started nosediving worse than a Boeing 737 MAX already during season 5. Weird plot lines that seems to lead nowhere, characters that started promising just fizzling out etc. Varys' character in particular taking a disappointing turn in later seasons. At least The Hound turned out a lot more interesting than initially expected and I find it hard not to like Tormund. I actually wished he had ended up with his "Big Warrior Woman"

This is based on memory, so take it with a grain of salt, but I know of a guy back in Denmark who got a life sentence for the murder of 4 police officers. The catch is, every few years, he was eligible for applying for parole/pardon. Not an automatic thing, a possibility. He eventually ended up serving 32-33 years. Too early to release him if you ask me, but I guess the guys on the parole board didn't have any of their family members killed by him. Edit: linky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palle_Sørensen Just the case I remember, because killing police officers is not a common thing in Denmark.

Unlike the US, in NZ all the perpetrator(s) got arrested and placed in a mental ward

I'm just guessing now... the BioNTech/Pfizer is because it's the most efficient and probably first on market. For those who need it first. People who get in contact with overseas travelers most likely. I.e. medical staff and quarantine staff. OxfordAstraZeneca because lets face it, the Northern Territories and -70C? Novavax because the Oxford/AstraZeneca seems to be way less efficient than hoped at the time of ordering those? Edit: Toilet paper is a status symbol. Something male Queenslanders hoard to impress prospective mating partners.

If they delay it a bit, the Democrats will also have a senate majority at some point. Iirc, a simple majority would be sufficient for the purpose (edit: not for removing him, but for blocking his re-runs).

I'm still keeping something Gromnir mentioned in the back of my head. The goal may not be to get him kicked out 12 hours early (no matter how much instant gratification it would give some, like Pelosi), but to prevent him running again in 2024? (or run for local governor, house, senate, whatever)

China is famous for stealing IP and make inferior copy versions. "Made in China" is a meme all of its own after all (and well deserved IMHO) Although to be fair, it may indeed be their own home brew vaccine. I still wonder who was doing all the hacking of Western vaccine research half a year ago. The kind of snooping I would normally expect either the Chinese, Israeli or Russian intelligence services to do. On another Covid related note, Queensland (the Australian state where I live) seems to think that hotels are too risky to use for quarantine purposes. Yup, send those sick bastards to the salt mines! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-14/coronavirus-covid-brisbane-hotel-grand-chancellor-quarantine/13054282 Queensland considers mining camps for quarantining travellers with four new cases recorded Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would raise the matter with the Federal Government when national cabinet meets next Friday. "We are going to look at all options and one of those options is to look at some of the mining camps that we have in Queensland," she said. Edit: the four new cases referred to (I assume they are part of the group of people currently in quarantine, as most cases reported in Australia these days are returning travelers from overseas): Two cases were returned travellers from South Africa and two from the United States

The Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine is based on chimp DNA. Time to vaccinate the zoo gorillas?

From the random category... Australian birds can be real bastards at times In case anyone feels sorry for the Kookaburra, this is often the sound that wakes me up in the morning, like between 3am and 4am