Covid is Over, if Only the Feds and their Sycophants in Legacy Media Would Realise
Last update on Central Europe for some time, for I'm sick and tired of these morons who know nothing, learned less, and fail to recognise the albatross around their neck as it poops on their heads
I’m getting so sick of the Covid ‘news’ coming out of Austria these days—according to legacy media reports, Health (sic) Minister Johannes Rauch ‘won’t rule out’ the re-institution of mask mandates. Evidence or even lessons learned are no longer needed, or desired by ‘the system’, hence these people seem to get away with literally anything.
Here’s another, rather long-ish piece by tabloid Heute (24 Sept. 2023), which sums this up nicely. Translation and bottom lines by me, as are the emphases.
‘I won’t stand by!’ Health Minister Issues Strongly-Worded Ultimatum
Heute, 24 Sept. 2023 [source]
In the currently ongoing fiscal equalisation [see below] negotiations, Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) has appealed to the federal states to assume their ‘responsibility for the greater good’ [bumpy translation of ‘staatspolitische Verantwortung’ in the original]. The current offer of two additional billion euros for health care and nursing care is ‘an enormous amount of money’, Rauch said on Sunday in ORF’s ‘Pressestunde’ [Austrian state broadcaster’s premier late Sunday morning talk show]. Fiscal equalisation was the only window of opportunity for healthcare reforms, he warned. Otherwise a ‘huge dilemma’ loomed in five years. [Mind you, this piece isn’t about ‘Covid’ but agit-prop to get the unruly states in line.]
‘Trust doctor, not FPÖ’, Reads A New Vaccination Ad by Rauch
‘If we don't manage to push through a reform for once, then this republic will eventually suffocate from its inability to reform’, the health minister said. Nevertheless, Rauch expressed confidence that there would be an agreement by mid-October. Negotiations were far advanced, the Finance Minister [from the conservative-in-name-only ÖVP] was on his side, and the states need fiscal equalisation because otherwise they would not be able to cope with the revenue shortfall. [I’ll explain this in the bottom lines, too.]
‘We are simply too small’
Rauch once again rejected an ambulance fee to relieve the hospital outpatient departments [like, say, the US or Switzerland impose]. In order to combat staff shortages of healthcare workers, it was necessary to improve the framework conditions for health personnel, to invest in training, and to recruit qualified staff from abroad, said the Minister. Rauch said he did not think much of individual states going it alone and pleaded for a joint approach with other countries, such as Germany. ‘This is the chance we have as Austria, we are simply too small and one federal state even more so.’ [Hello, farming out employment policy to the EU, much like almost everything else: did anyone vote for that kind of crap back in 2019? Or ever? As an aside, there is a specific clause in the State Treaty of 1955 that forbids renewed Anschluss with Germany, and that clause is a general one that shall not be overridden, or bypassed, by doing any number of individual deals with Germany, such as forging a ‘new alliance’ for energy inputs…]
Once again, Rauch called for more doctors to be brought into the [federal] social insurance system by making the framework conditions for government contracts for doctors more attractive by requiring of all physicians the same conditions that apply for those who are already in the social insurance system. [hello, federal gov’t complete take-over of healthcare; I’m sure I will get to ‘keep my doctor’, it’s just that the doctor will become, for all intents and purposes, dependent on gov’t approval (credentials)—the same shit-show has already ruined academia via the consignation, to Faculties of Education (sic), the determination of whether any one academic has undergone ‘pedagogical training’ = indoctrination with neo-Marxian clap-trap]. With regard to the shortage of drugs, Rauch deems the ‘Austrian homework’ done; now it is a matter of establishing a legal framework at the European level [but, my first-grader would argue, if I’m done my home-work, why would it matter that the nanny EU Commission would give me more work to do?]. He criticised warnings by the pharmaceutical industry about new drug shortages as ‘theatrical thunder’, which was also based on self-interest. [but this isn’t the case with, say, the Covid jabs, right?]
Rauch ‘Won’t Rule Out’ Mask Mandates
With regard to the Corona situation, Rauch was confident that one currently had a much better overview of the situation than a year ago. [good, because back then Mr. Rauch determined that the mandates were no longer necessary: what has changed?] The slightly rising numbers and about 200 patients currently in the hospitals were ‘not alarming’. Still, the Health Minister appealed again for booster vaccinations, especially for older people, and for wearing masks in larger crowds. He did not want to "rule out" a new mask requirement if the situation should worsen dramatically or in the case of another virus variant, ‘but at the moment we are making do with recommendations’. [I’m also quite convinced that any ‘mandate’ would be greeted with contempt and massive non-compliance at this time, and to avoid having to retract such mandates, they are not imposed (for now)].
Rauch said that he could partly share the criticism that the vaccination possibilities in the general practice sector in Austria were confusing [see my coverage here and here]. The medical profession had pushed for vaccination to take place at their practices, but if that did not work ‘in a week’, the Ministry of Health would organise it differently, adding the following ultimatum: ‘Because I don’t want to stand by when vaccines are there, that people who want to be vaccinated can’t arrange for an appointment.’ [translation: GPs, via the Medical Association, have fleeced the public by running the jabs via their regular practices, thereby pocketing fees and the like for providing that kind of ‘service’ while billing both patients (via co-pays) and the taxpayer (via honorariums); now, if you’re wondering why that doesn’t work out, it is because doctors are liable for adverse reactions, as Mr. Rauch told every doctor in July 2022]
With regard inflationary pressures, Rauch stressed that it had been possible to maintain purchasing power in Austria. [Rauch is also responsible for social services, and in this capacity he] admitted that the government had used too much of a watering can in the beginning [while in line with BlackRock’s ‘Going Direct’ plan from the 2019 Jackson Hole meeting, this massive bout of gov’t deficit spending is the proximate cause of these inflationary pressures] but it had acted quickly, stressing that and the fight against poverty had been very much on target.
Bottom Lines
Before I address these issues, two brief explanations about how the Austrian federalist system ‘works’ (ahem):
Fiscal equalisation, orig. Finanzausgleich (Germany, Switzerland) or Finanzlastenausgleich (Austria), refers to the institutionalised procedures of (re)distributing tax revenues of the federal gov’ts back to the various constituent federal states (Bundesländer in Austria and Germany, Kanton, or cantons, in Switzerland). In Austria and Germany, states don’t have the authority to tax their inhabitants; state agencies merely—if at-all—collect fiscal revenues (taxes) on behalf of the federal gov’t, which then allocates these revenues based on population, projected expenditures, and a whole lot of earmarking (e.g., permanently high outlays for, e.g., infrastructure or the like); in Switzerland, the fiscal structures resemble the US system to a larger degree, i.e., both cantons (federal states) and municipalities have the constitutional authority to tax their inhabitants. This also explains why local and state politics matter much more in Switzerland than in Austria or Germany, by the way.
As regards the structure of fiscal equalisation, if anything, state gov’ts merely collect fiscal revenues (taxes) on behalf of the federal gov’t. Hence, when fiscal equalisation is up for re-negotiation (as is the case in Austria right now), this boils down to loads of posturing, shit-talking in public, and haggling between those who pay in more than they receive vs. those who are net beneficiaries of this system. Thus, in Central Europe, federal states derive a significant (Switzerland) to virtually the entirety of their ‘income’ from the federal gov’ts. This, of course, creates a lot of—mainly perverse—incentives for state machine politicians who proudly parade around, like a peacock in heat, and tell everyone all the ‘good things’ they managed to do (with someone else’s money); inevitably, if anything doesn’t get funded, state machine politicians get to blame the feds for not forking over nearly enough money to get everything funded…
So, Mr. Rauch’s statements were part and parcel of these idiotic posturing manoeuvres.
If you need any more proof of the advanced decay—putrefaction—of the body politic, look no further. Minister of Health and Social Services Johannes Rauch and the people ‘doing journalism’ on state broadcaster ORF’s Sunday morning talk show wasted their time—dancing around really important issues (and, as shown above, legacy media ‘reporting’ is no better).
That performance act masquerading as an ‘interview’ showed…
the utter ignorance (as in: willing or unwilling) of the ‘competent’ gov’t minister in charge of addressing inflation—all the while vast segments of the population are rapidly impoverishing;
what Mr. Rauch failed to address is the impending collapse of the healthcare and nursing systems, something that is very well within his portfolio
similarly unmentioned remained the psychological and emotional problems of our children and the young, which were caused by the very mandates ostensibly implemented to ‘fight Covid’
the fraudulent contracts with Big Pharma, which resulted in some 50+m (!) doses of injection-able products to be ordered, of which some 30m doses (to the tune of 500m euros) had to be ‘donated’ or ‘discarded’ as of today
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things that were not discussed (adapt as needed for your country):
Mr. Rauch complained that GPs are moving too slowly to jab more people; uttering ultimatums, he apparently forgot that, absent any of the Covid Emergency Legislation (repealed in June/July 2023), no liability protection for vaccinating doctors is provided, hence physicians are on the hook for any adverse reactions; as the latter tend to increase with lower injection uptake numbers, doctors—who know about this—will likely refrain from offering these jabs as liberally as in the past…
stupidly, parts of the ‘anti-mandate-crowds are now complaining about the low share of the population—I’ve heard numbers as low as 7-8% of the people who wish to get yet another jab—and are becoming increasingly hostile and intolerant against them; we didn’t speak out against massive abuses by the gov’t vs. ‘the anti-vaxxers’ to simply turn the tables now; while I personally think no-one should get any (more) of these products, if there are people who wish to do so, let them go for it;
equally stupid, the most forceful pro-vaxx advocates are now complaining that everyone else should indulge their absurd demands to get free jabs everywhere, which, in Covidistan, included churches and, yes, brothels (incl. a free blowjob); their complaint basically boils down to the nanny state now requiring them to call their GP to set-up an appointment themselves—talk about the mental and cognitive decay by excessive control by the nanny state after a mere 3+ (!) years…
I’ll stop here, but I shall add one more thing: all of the BS Mr. Rauch told the press is—a stinkin’ pile of manure, if only for one ‘technical’ reason:
Without the Covid Emergency Laws, the Minister of Health and Human Services does not have the ex officio authority to mandate anything. All he can do is—recommendations.
Without MPs getting together—less than 12 months before the next general election—and passing another one of these abusive abominations, nothing will happen.
Sure, some morons will don face diapers, and some will even hector and bully fellow citizens out of sheer spite and idiocy. This situation, though, can likely be avoided by the international sign of blockwarden mentality, the wearing of N95/FFP2 or other face diapers in public. Sure, changing the side of the road is not exactly the best way forward, but one might also simply ignore these crybullies and, if needs be, call the police on them (as the above notion about the legal basis is also known to police).
The above piece of ‘reporting’, much like yesterday’s talk show, is little more than the showing off of Mr. Rauch’s moral and cognitive bankruptcy, as well as lunatic clickbait for ‘legacy media’.
Do not comply.
If Covid was at least as dangerous as smallpox or ebola, they might have a point, but it's no more dangerous than normal flu.
If the vaccines either immunised you or made it impossible for the virus to replicate, they might have had a point regardless of how dangerous Covid is.
If regular masks worked, they might have had a point.
As none of the above is correct, they have no other point than these two:
->The mask and the jab are loyalty-tests, checks to see you if too follow liturgy and ritual, or if you're a heretic, an apostate or a heathen.
->Corporate state has the right to decide for you, and you are to rejoice and glory in that.
On the other hand, "No. Make me!" makes for a very good slogan to rally 'round.