2022 will be a rather unhappy 'New Year' for Covidistan's putschists: more protests are scheduled, the Constitutional Court will meet soon, and 'support' for Mückstein's medical dictatorship is waning
BTW, since you mentioned Djokovic, I should say that this has been top news in the Serbian media for a couple of days now. Also, they just cancelled a Czech female player's visa. To make matters even more absurd, she was originally allowed into the country, and she even played one match, but then the Australians changed their minds. So now Djokovic, Voracova (the Czech player), and apparently (according to the Czech media) several other players are all in this hotel for refugees.
Serbia's top representatives (including the President and Prime Minister) have loudly condemned the way that Djokovic has been treated, and now the Czech Foreign Ministry is protesting the treatment of a Czech citizen. If it's true that the same has happened with a number of other players, then Australia should soon find itself in a fine diplomatic dispute with a colorful variety of countries. Good! The worse the better. And with any luck, Australian Open will get an astronomical fine or even have its accreditation revoked. As I said, the worse the better.
Maybe there's a tennis court at the hotel. They should mock Australia by doing the Australien Unvaxxed Open there. If there's no court, switch to table tennis.
Well. Sounds like a fine mess. In this corner of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire (=CZ), politicians are playing wait and see. CZ got a new government (including a new Prime Minister and Health Minister) in mid-December. Just days before the end of its mandate, the previous government issued a gene therapy mandate for people over 60 and people in certain professions, starting in March. The new government hasn't struck this down, but it said it would reevaluate it in mid-February, as more data becomes available. (It also said that the age requirement will be struck down. 'Coz apparently, it's unreasonable to mandate gene therapy for a 75-year-old retiree, but it's reasonable to mandate it for a 25-year-old policeman. Right.) The fact that this is a brand new government does give them more options. They can just strike down the mandate, say it makes no sense in view of Omicron, and blame the previous government if there is any criticism. Or they can stupidly double down and squander political points, with little-to-no public health benefit. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
Austrian politicians are in a less favorable position, since they'd have to roll back their very own mandates...
thanks for te update from Czechia. You're correct, the putschists are in a bad place--of their own making. It does appear, though, that they have yet to recognise this. I'd expect that any movement on part of the new Czech gov't will be followed closely in Vienna--so here's hoping that the new Czech gov't will do something useful.
Hi thanks for the article. In case I’ve misread this could you explain why the numbers of comments about that draft legislation is Indicative of opposition ? Can there not be a great many of those commentators who are supportive of the governments plans?
there could be--and I cannot possibly know their share for sure.
My reading is based on legacy media coverage, which is unanimous in its condemnation of both the record number of statements as well as the fact that legacy media summarily dismisses the commenters as 'misinformation peddlers' and 'anti-vaxxers'.
Personally, I've clicked through a handful by, e.g., Prof. Martin Sprenger, MD who served on the government's Covid board until he came out against lockdowns and the like (the gov't replaced Sprenger with a veterinary virologist in late 2020), privacy and civil rights groups, and the like. There is a good deal of private citizens who express their dissent, something Austrians are traditionally loath to do, hence, all told, the following two aspects stand out: the comments section is a platform for both legitimate grievances as well as a vent for citizen's dissent.
While it's not impossible to rule out that a sizable chunk of these comments are pro-mandate, a cursory (selective) reading of esp. the comments sections in pro-régime legacy media shows similarly increasing dissatisfaction among 'jabbed-and-bossted' posters. It's nothing that can be ascertained scientifically, but I still think it's relevant to note this uptick in dissatisfaction.
Side-note: 'even' my totally uninformed and ignorant parents are becoming unhappy: the gov't told them if they took three jabs, they'd be left alone (I always told them not to trust the gov't, but there you go). It's bits and small pieces like that, which incidate a slowly growing dissatisfaction, 'even' among those who so far blindly trusted the gov't.
It occurs to me that something similar happened with Jordan Peterson, who (unlike your parents) has a pretty large following. He figured he'd get his gene therapy and then be left alone. And then he wasn't left alone. And now he's mad as hell. It appears there are quite a few people with similar sentiments.
Ha, I haven't thought about J. Peterson for quite a while, but it's hardly surprising he was conned, like so many other people. I suppose that now that he's mad, he'll probably also tells his followers (even though, many seem to be politically 'right-of-centre', hence rather more inclined, politically speaking, to be against edicts from 'left-of-centre').
Let's hope this will 'motivate' more people to resist.
BTW, since you mentioned Djokovic, I should say that this has been top news in the Serbian media for a couple of days now. Also, they just cancelled a Czech female player's visa. To make matters even more absurd, she was originally allowed into the country, and she even played one match, but then the Australians changed their minds. So now Djokovic, Voracova (the Czech player), and apparently (according to the Czech media) several other players are all in this hotel for refugees.
Serbia's top representatives (including the President and Prime Minister) have loudly condemned the way that Djokovic has been treated, and now the Czech Foreign Ministry is protesting the treatment of a Czech citizen. If it's true that the same has happened with a number of other players, then Australia should soon find itself in a fine diplomatic dispute with a colorful variety of countries. Good! The worse the better. And with any luck, Australian Open will get an astronomical fine or even have its accreditation revoked. As I said, the worse the better.
Maybe there's a tennis court at the hotel. They should mock Australia by doing the Australien Unvaxxed Open there. If there's no court, switch to table tennis.
Harr, let's make these politicians pariahs.
I'm pretty sure that, politics aside, this will certainly lead to legal troubles.
Thanks for the update, Irena!
It is possible to comment on the draft legislation if you are not an Austrian citizen. And I did just that.
btw, what is the difference between (164/ME), in your screenshot, and (2173/A)? Is this a new version? It has "only" 61055 comments.
Nice update.
By the way what is the Freedom Party's stance on vaccine mandates and the rest of covid theatre?
Well. Sounds like a fine mess. In this corner of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire (=CZ), politicians are playing wait and see. CZ got a new government (including a new Prime Minister and Health Minister) in mid-December. Just days before the end of its mandate, the previous government issued a gene therapy mandate for people over 60 and people in certain professions, starting in March. The new government hasn't struck this down, but it said it would reevaluate it in mid-February, as more data becomes available. (It also said that the age requirement will be struck down. 'Coz apparently, it's unreasonable to mandate gene therapy for a 75-year-old retiree, but it's reasonable to mandate it for a 25-year-old policeman. Right.) The fact that this is a brand new government does give them more options. They can just strike down the mandate, say it makes no sense in view of Omicron, and blame the previous government if there is any criticism. Or they can stupidly double down and squander political points, with little-to-no public health benefit. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
Austrian politicians are in a less favorable position, since they'd have to roll back their very own mandates...
Hi Irena,
thanks for te update from Czechia. You're correct, the putschists are in a bad place--of their own making. It does appear, though, that they have yet to recognise this. I'd expect that any movement on part of the new Czech gov't will be followed closely in Vienna--so here's hoping that the new Czech gov't will do something useful.
Hi thanks for the article. In case I’ve misread this could you explain why the numbers of comments about that draft legislation is Indicative of opposition ? Can there not be a great many of those commentators who are supportive of the governments plans?
Hi Ryk,
there could be--and I cannot possibly know their share for sure.
My reading is based on legacy media coverage, which is unanimous in its condemnation of both the record number of statements as well as the fact that legacy media summarily dismisses the commenters as 'misinformation peddlers' and 'anti-vaxxers'.
Personally, I've clicked through a handful by, e.g., Prof. Martin Sprenger, MD who served on the government's Covid board until he came out against lockdowns and the like (the gov't replaced Sprenger with a veterinary virologist in late 2020), privacy and civil rights groups, and the like. There is a good deal of private citizens who express their dissent, something Austrians are traditionally loath to do, hence, all told, the following two aspects stand out: the comments section is a platform for both legitimate grievances as well as a vent for citizen's dissent.
While it's not impossible to rule out that a sizable chunk of these comments are pro-mandate, a cursory (selective) reading of esp. the comments sections in pro-régime legacy media shows similarly increasing dissatisfaction among 'jabbed-and-bossted' posters. It's nothing that can be ascertained scientifically, but I still think it's relevant to note this uptick in dissatisfaction.
Side-note: 'even' my totally uninformed and ignorant parents are becoming unhappy: the gov't told them if they took three jabs, they'd be left alone (I always told them not to trust the gov't, but there you go). It's bits and small pieces like that, which incidate a slowly growing dissatisfaction, 'even' among those who so far blindly trusted the gov't.
Would that do in lieu of an explanation?
Re: your side note
It occurs to me that something similar happened with Jordan Peterson, who (unlike your parents) has a pretty large following. He figured he'd get his gene therapy and then be left alone. And then he wasn't left alone. And now he's mad as hell. It appears there are quite a few people with similar sentiments.
Ha, I haven't thought about J. Peterson for quite a while, but it's hardly surprising he was conned, like so many other people. I suppose that now that he's mad, he'll probably also tells his followers (even though, many seem to be politically 'right-of-centre', hence rather more inclined, politically speaking, to be against edicts from 'left-of-centre').
Let's hope this will 'motivate' more people to resist.
It would. Thank you taking the time to answer my question.
You're perfectly welcome, Ryk. Thank you for taking the time to reading and commenting on the piece (esp. since it's a pertinent question you raised)!