dieter

Let's leave it at that. I didn't excuse what Hitler did, I merely pointed out that if it wasn't for the rank greed and stupidity and the concept that Colonial Powers have the right to redraw boundaries and create countries at their whim, the world would not have seen such slaughter. By the way, the Germans did not 'declare war on the rest of the world. They, along with the Soviet Union invaded Poland after a pre-existing arrangement where both sides stopped at the Vistula. Many countries then declared war on Germany. The Soviets were excused. Ask a Pole which rape they preferred. Just for the record.

Have you heard of Sashi Tharoor? He's an Indian doing lecture tours mainly in Britain and other English-speaking countries. It's about the outrages committed by the Brits in India. One of his books is called 'Inglorious Empire'. He, and a lot of other historians, claim the Brits killed more Indians than the death toll of Hitler and Stalin combined. You can watch many of his interviews and lectures on You Tube. If you are interested in the concept of total slaughter, it might pay you to look into him.Then there's the Belgians in the Congo, claims that the native 'Indian' population of Northern America was millions more than US historians accept. I've come to understand that it's best not to point the finger until you come to terms with the atrocities your own people have committed.

I agree entirely that the so-called Binary/Either/Or system is folly, nonsense and simply a convenient way for those who really rule the world - I'm not talking Occult, Deep State Bulldust, I'm talking about the system that allows the US to be at war with someone every year of its history except for sixteen, apparently, no matter which party is in power - to give people the illusion they have a choice. With regard to Hitler, there is a large part of the Historical Community which acknowledges that it is not as simple or crude as your assessment. It more or less accepts that there would have been no Hitler if the so-called victors hadn't made the Germans totally responsible for WW1. The treaty of Versailles was a total travesty. I recall one of the conga line of German Chancellors - Stresemann - begging the Brits and especially the French to alleviate the unachievable reparations they were forced to pay and we all know the result.

I am totally bemused by the simple fact that Australia seems to be obsessed with a US election. The way I understand this is that somehow or other the US has subliminally permeated the skulls of post 1960 generations who understand the US via pop culture and those corny television series like 'Father Knows Best'. Then there's Hollywood and its capacity to perniciously spread lies and propaganda. I understand the US as a totally failed state which has somehow conned the world that it stands for anything other than brutality, wars and uninvited intervention in the lives and politics of countries throughout the globe. Before WW2 it's main sphere of skulduggery and rape was close to home, though its rape of the Philippines was its first major participation in European colonisation of Asia. It then - with Britain - totally economically strangulated Japan and post WW2, it has dropped its dreaded arsenal on too many countries to enumerate. ( People may also forget its role in installing the Shah of Iran, ousting one of the first truly democratic middle eastern countries.) Australia, unfortunately, swapped its blind allegiance to every British Colonial war, and followed the US into Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and would have queued up to rape Iran had Joe Biden had his way in 2009. The other thing people have amnesia about regarding the US is that its so-called constitution was written by slave owners who never once grasped the tragic irony of their fictional nonsense, that 'all men are born equal'. In the meantime, we have a country which randomly shoots its Black population, in which its citizen have a 'constitutional right' to arm themselves to the teeth, whose economy is based on producing weapons of mass destruction - oh, and the movie industry and pop music - which has fallen prey to one the most mendacious, dumbf''k, mental midget, basically illiterate, bully boy liar and manipulator in world history. In fact, as you point out, 43% of the population voted for him. I remind people that the biggest vote Adolf Hitler ever got in an election was 33%.

False Post! he is not another lying US President!

Or a Flanker.

It could have been worse: Puccini.

Heard from a very good tomato sauce that a certain figure once connected with the club left a cool million bucks to Mister Ablett if he returned to Geelong. Quite possibly connected with how they 'manage' to skin their cats the Geelong way.

Good to see Bogans like you and Elegt sticking together.

Ladhams will get weeks; Lynch he ain't.

Saw four examples of the so-called 'holding the ball ' rule: all against Port in the last ten minutes. Three of them were blatantly in Port's favour yet called Play on.

( This between you and me: I don't like her as well - she does have shady track record but it evaporates into oblivion in comparison with The Trumpeters and Pences of the world.)

Look up the Catholic Judge's record: you want appalling....?

Not many howlers forthcoming, Andrew.

Are you really sure you're not Andrew Bolt?

I'm on your side, but Tasmania produced Eric Abetz; you maybe saw his latest piece of Nazi-like chauvinism in this morning's press?

Unless you accept that Obama was posing as the 'Saviour of the Free World', had received a Nobel Prize for being elected, that Lumumba, like many people in the so-called Free World, believed Obama had the capacity to actually make the world a better place for the dispossessed. Misguided, I grant you, but he shares that with the millions of mainly white people who believe the US stands for democracy and freedom.

I can see why you'd not like him, MR. Elegt. He sounds like a compassionate human being.

Sacre Blue, 'stacking the supreme court'!!!Pots calling black kettles...

He shopped at Dan Murphy in Alphington in the early 2000's when I was the Fine Wine Manager. He came across as a humble and dignified human being.

Unfortunately, the 'status quo' in the US means one thing: more war. Biden, like Hilary, is a warmonger. The world needs to quake in fear if Trump wine, equally so if Biden wins. The US is a basket case.

THis might give you some perspective: Where did Victoria go so wrong with contact tracing and have they fixed it? October 13, 2020 4.54pm AEDT Author Catherine Bennett Chair in Epidemiology, Deakin University Disclosure statement Catherine Bennett has received funding from the NHMRC. Partners Deakin University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. View current jobs from Deakin University View all partners We believe in the free flow of information Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence. Republish this article Email Twitter40 Facebook135 LinkedIn Print Victoria’s contact tracing system has faced criticism in the past for being inefficient, with officials flying to NSW in September to learn from that state. Comparisons are difficult in a pandemic because each outbreak has its own unique characteristics. That said, there are some key features that underpin the differing responses of NSW and Victoria when it comes to contact tracing. Fundamentally, NSW’s system of decentralised local area health districts meant when the second wave hit, that state was able to draw on teams embedded in their local communities to manage contact tracing. These teams worked independently but also in concert under the mothership of NSW Health. In Victoria, a legacy of cuts left the Department of Health and Human Services under-resourced and highly centralised, meaning there was a smaller base upon which to build the surge contact tracing capacity (with some contact tracers coming from interstate). Our mission is to share knowledge and inform decisions. About us This was further challenged with the rapid rise in daily new cases, from 65 to 288 in one week alone in July. Systems had to be developed quickly to manage large quantities of data and feed it back to a central hub. The state had to “build the aeroplane while flying”. Much has changed since then, and for the better. Some hard lessons have been learned along the way but the contact tracing system in Victoria is now very comprehensive and increasingly robust. Melbourne’s Chadstone outbreak is a reminder of how quickly clusters can grow. But Victorians can be optimistic the state’s contact tracing has improved significantly in the last few months. James Ross/AAP Read more: A 14-day rolling average of 5 new daily cases is the wrong trigger for easing Melbourne lockdown. Let's look at 'under investigation' cases instead Community engagement, local knowledge Community engagement and local knowledge might seem like buzzwords but in a pandemic, they’re vital to ring-fencing a cluster. NSW’s system of devolved public health units and teams meant when local outbreaks occurred, locally embedded health workers were at an advantage. They’re already linked with local area health providers for testing, they already have relationships with community members and community leaders, and they know the physical layout of the area. If you’re doing a contact tracing interview with someone and they’re talking about a key landmark at a certain time of day, you can visualise it and understand what it means in terms of risk. What’s crucial is a nuanced understanding of local, social, and cultural factors that may facilitate spread or affect how people understand self-isolation and what’s being asked of them. It can also make a critical difference in encouraging people to come forward for testing. It’s not just about making sure you have materials printed in the right language. It’s about understanding how people view the health system from their context. If you have people who come from a part of the world with a health system that operates differently to ours, they will bring that understanding with them. If local health workers and contact tracers are already part of a community, they can bring that expert knowledge into the mix; they can make sure public health messaging is meaningful for local communities. New South Wales’ decentralised public health teams know their local areas well, helping them conduct timely contact tracing. Dan HimBrechts/AAP When NSW’s second wave came with the cases at the Crossroads Hotel, they were on high alert, with a system ready to jump on it and chase down every lead. Victoria had to build its contact tracing capacity on the hop. That local knowledge had to be developed and integrated as they went, often when dealing with large and complex local clusters. Read more: Victoria's coronavirus contact tracing is about to get faster. Let's make it the first step in a larger digital boost Evolution is underway Since August, the Australian Department of Health has published the Common Operating Picture, which provides a weekly traffic light report of the coronavirus situation across Australia. In the earlier part of the second wave, you can see Victoria gets an amber or red light for some elements relating to case notifications and outstanding case interviews — in other words, its system was under stress. That’s understandable; when an outbreak gets to a certain size, strain is inevitable. It has been impressive to see Victoria’s more recent progression to green, meaning the system is coping well. Coronavirus common operating picture – 8 October 2020. Common Operating Picture/Australian Department of Health In fact, the contact tracing system in Victoria is now so comprehensive that in Kilmore the department trialled a system of tracing “close contacts of close contacts”. When a confirmed case is identified, the contact tracers track down that person’s close contacts (people with whom they’ve spent 15 minutes or more). They then also track down the close contacts of each of those close contacts. It’s incredibly resource- and labour-intensive, but it’s also a game-changer that will allow outbreaks to be contained quickly. Hopefully, this will be the standard approach state-wide where the circumstances permit and, combined with good cooperation from the public in getting tested early, it’s likely to be very effective. Victoria has also got better over time at naming exposure sites clearly (in earlier days it could be quite vague). You can see the evolution of the system happening. What’s admirable in Victoria is they did set about rebuilding their response, including creating regional hubs, while case numbers were high. Public co-operation matters I have faith in the design of Victoria’s contact tracing system now, and Kilmore is showing us how it can be rolled out to good effect. Half the latest batch of contact tests results came back on Tuesday, all negative. There will always be room for improvement and we will learn as we go. NSW’s Crossroads Hotel outbreak showed the state’s public health team was set up and ready to conduct efficient contact tracing. James Gourley/AAP Key to the system working is people cooperating with masks, hygiene and personal distancing, along with broader critical rules limiting home visits and not leaving home if unwell. Most important is getting tested early, whether you have symptoms or have been at a known exposure site, do it and do it fast. This is how we limit the risk of spread, and reduce the risk families and immediate close contacts will even need to be isolated, much less deal with being infected. People on the frontline are working incredibly hard within a system being rebuilt around them. They are engaging with people in the community who are frustrated and getting mixed messages. It pays for all of us to remember the effectiveness of our public health system and Victoria’s public health response is down to the sum of people’s contributions. We all have a role to play.

Amazing what blinkers can do to a person's receptors. I know, she's also a Communist because Trump said so. Enough said....

Melbourne has been a huge net for forwards with injuries coming across and flopping or getting more injured. Templeton, Carman, Vardy, M. Clark, S.Clark, Rod Owen - I could go on. That wonky knee spells trouble to me. And, if he was SO good, why would a wooden spooner want to extradite him????