Jesus was a virtue-signaller not a vaccination, and science isn't black magic

Jesus was a virtue-signaller not a vaccination, and science isn't black magic

By Ranting Panda, 26 September 2021

Covid has brought to light some of the utter ignorance and arrogance of science-denying Luddite conservatives, many of whom are Christians claiming that they place their faith in God, not vaccines, masks, lockdowns, doctors or other medical professionals. They treat science as if it's hocus-pocus mysticism, while indulging in group-think cultism that glorifies anti-intellectualism. 

They seriously believe that God, not vaccines, will protect them from the virus, even though there have been more than 4.5 million deaths from Covid worldwide. In the United States, more than 850,000 people have died so far, many of those were Christians who had fallen for the racist and anti-science lies of the disgraced former President, Donald Trump, who was more concerned with racial vilification of China, than in actually taking the virus seriously. He was directly responsible for the genocidal scale of victims in the United States. Yet right-wing Christians practically worshipped him and continue to consider him to be a man of God. God knows what God they worship, but it's clearly not the Christian God. This shows just how degenerate conservative Christianity is ... how spiritually irrelevant it has become; steeped in superstition and stupidity.

Today's conservative Christians are incensed that their individual rights are being 'violated' by mandated vaccines, masks and lockdowns. They claim they are being persecuted. Meanwhile, they were nowhere to be seen when real persecution occurred of other people. These conservatives defended Trump and other conservative governments when they persecuted refugees, the world's most vulnerable people, by demonising them, locking them up in mandatory detention without charge, even though the refugees had broken no laws and had not been charged with any crimes. Conservative Christians defended and condoned this persecution. But the moment these cowards are asked to stay home and wear masks, they carry on as if they've been locked up on Manus Island for years on end. Clearly, 'do unto others as you'd have them do unto you', is something they only pay lip service to. It shows that they have no concern for others and are only concerned with themselves. 

This has been magnified during Covid-19, when they have shown no concern for the community, for reducing the spread of the virus throughout their neighbourhoods, minimising the risk of infection by others. Instead, they are only interested in themselves. Jesus said to 'Love your neighbour'. In fact, Mark 12:33 says that loving your neighbour is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.

It isn't showing love to your neighbour if you don't care about your neighbour being infected by a deadly virus. The Bible tells Christians to not be selfish, but to be selfless. Philippians 2:3-4 says, 'Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others'. Throughout Covid, conservative Christians have shown that they are selfish, not selfless.

Recently, Pastor Keith Marshall published an article entitled 'What does your faith exempt you from'. Marshall boldly suggested that as a Christian he was exempt from putting his own needs above others, claiming freedom in Christ without responsibility for his actions, or refusing to protect the most vulnerable. This sounds positively socialist. Dare he suggest that Christians were called to put the needs of others ahead of their own need? 

Not surprisingly, this caused a lot of consternation among conservative Christians, who were obviously convicted of their selfishness by his words. To be frank, it was a little entertaining reading their comments, which showed just how deluded and degenerate conservative Christianity has become. So a few of their comments are republished here and are representative of much of the commentary about the article.

Many of the commentators claimed that they put their faith in God, not in vaccines or science. Apparently, because God gives us an immune system, there is no need for vaccines ... after all, history shows how well our immune systems have coped over the centuries. 

Of course, there was the claim repeated ad nauseum of one's body being a temple ... hmm ... one can be confident that the Bible was not banning life-saving medication being used in said 'Temple'. Instead, it was more talking about allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell within ... you know a spiritual kind of thing, so it's really this redacted commentator who is twisting the Lord's word.

Many, many commentators banged on about God creating them with an immune system sufficient for pandemics such as this ... sadly, there's millions of dead Covid victims whose testimony from the grave shows that the immune system needs a bit of a kick along.

Then there was this person who doesn't appear to be aware of the significantly higher infant mortality rate before vaccines, and the much shorter average life expectancy before modern medicine … it seems that God did need a helping hand after all. And yes, redacted commentator, the vaccine does help to prevent the spread of the virus as well as reduce the severity of it in those who do become infected. Unvaccinated people account for more than 98% of deaths from Covid (Johnson & Stobbe, 2021).  

There was this irate statement accusing Marshall of virtue-signalling ... but keep in mind that Jesus was a virtue-signaller ...

Conservatives love to throw insults around when people are actually trying to do the right thing by others. For instance, they'll call them do-gooders, virtue-signallers, or politically correct. Christians should actually be all these things. The Bible says that Christians are 'created in Christ to do good works' (Ephesians 2:10). It says to 'let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven' (Matthew 5:16). Political correctness is simply about treating others with respect. You know that thing mentioned earlier about 'do unto others as you'd have them do unto you', well, that's political correctness Bible style. 

Many conservative Christians treat the sharing of wealth as though it's socialism ... oh wait ... I guess it is. But then, the Bible does describe how the people redistributed their wealth 'to each as anyone had need' (Acts 4:32-35). One would think the scripture was written by Karl Marx, 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need'. Conservative Christians will often argue that the Parable of the Talents is evidence of capitalism being God's chosen economic system. This parable is described in Matthew 25:14-30 and likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a farmer who entrusts his servants with some of his property. He gives them differing amounts 'to each according to his ability' ... already it's sounding like something from Marx. The parable then talks of the servant who received five talents, making another five talents. The one who had two talents, made another two talents. The one who received one talent, buried it in the ground because he feared the farmer. Not surprisingly, the farmer wasn't happy. The talents were distributed according to each servant's ability, so the one who received one, had the ability to be more productive. Firstly, this is a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven, not an economic model. Interesting that the Kingdom of Heaven requires people to do good with what they have. Who'd have thought, huh? Do-gooders in Heaven, ala Ephesians 2:10 and Matthew 5:16!

 BUT ... if one wants to use the parable of the talents as an economic exemplar, then it merely shows that workers should be productive, which is necessary regardless of the economic model; socialism requires productivity, capitalism requires productivity, feudalism requires productivity ... you get the idea. In other words, 'from each according to their ability, to each according to their need', which does enable equitable redistribution of wealth and for people to do good works to help each other. 

Yet, many conservative Christians throw insults such as 'social justice warriors' (or SJW) at those who help the less privileged. By their standards, Jesus was the ultimate SJW. He was a do-gooder and a commo. Christ's teachings have a very strong socialist bias. He was about helping the poor and needy, about sharing wealth and showing love to the 'least of these', that is those who most need it, who have been shunned and ostracised by society. Christ did not preach a gospel of selfishness and accumulating wealth, or that one should be only concerned for themselves, or only care for other Christians. How often do we see Christians pray for other Christians, such as in Afghanistan or Iraq, but don't pray for Muslims persecuted in those same countries. Conservative Christians have lost the way.

Jesus was a virtue-signaller ... he hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, drunkards, and sinners. By today's conservative Christian standards, this would mean that he was virtue-signalling to those who lived these lives rather than rebuking them and hanging out with the religious conservatives who didn't take kindly to his politically correct, do-gooder ways. For that matter, his harsh criticism of the selfish, egotistical religious folks, not to mention his temper tanty in the temple, was virtue-signalling to sinners who avoided the temple or criticised the profiteering priests and pious 'parishioners' of the day.  

Not all commentators pulled lemon-sucking, lip-pursing face when they read Pastor Marshall's article. Some pointed out the darker history of Christianity over the centuries, replete with warring in the name of God, subjugation in the name of God, enslavement in the name of God, abuse in the name of God, and killing in the name of God.

As a point of interest, observant readers would notice that the post highlighting some of Christianity's less than savoury accomplishments, received all of two 'likes', whereas those that criticised Pastor Marshall, received hundreds and even thousands of positive reactions. Wow! Way for conservative Christianity to shine!

Some seemed to make the rather tenuous assumption that being anti-vax was an indication of their love for God. 'How do they arrive at that?', you may wonder. To be frank, I've got nothing. But apparently, putting God first, means it's ok to be anti-vax, anti-mask, anti-lockdown, thus risking harm to their neighbours. 

This tweet explains why it is not ok for anyone, Christian or not, to be so self-centred. 

There's been a disturbing trend towards anti-intellectualism by many conservatives, not just Christians. They treat education as a if it's part of a broader socialist agenda to usher in an era of leftist intellectualism. They treat science as if it's black magic. So here we are ... people believing that God is some sort of wizard waving a magic wand to protect them from Covid-19, while thousands who eschew the vaccine die painful deaths from the virus.

Of course, there may well be people who truly cannot take the vaccine because of allergy or some other health issue. However, those people who can take it, but consciously choose not to, are selfish and have no concern for the welfare of others. Across the globe, the vast majority of deaths from Covid are among the unvaccinated. Lockdowns will eventually end as the vaccinated population reaches a certain point, but this won't end the virus. Instead, it will leave the unvaccinated vulnerable to the more serious effects of the virus, and sadly many of the anti-vaxxers will succumb to Covid because of their own ignorance and arrogance.  

Anti-lockdown protesters - selfish, ignorant, deluded and dangerous

Anti-lockdown protesters - selfish, ignorant, deluded and dangerous

By Ranting Panda, 25 July 2021

As Covid cases surge to record levels, thousands of people marched in cities across Australia to protest lockdowns, vaccinations, social distancing, and mask wearing. Some of the protests became violent, allegedly attacking police and a police horse. The protesters claimed that they were defending human rights and freedom of choice. You know, the choice to become infected by a deadly disease ... the choice to infect others with a deadly disease that threatens the entire world. These protesters have never before believed in freedom of choice. For instance, most of them oppose women having the freedom to chose what to do with their own bodies. Most of the protesters have not cared at all about the human rights and freedom of refugees and asylum seekers who have been locked down for more than eight years when they haven't committed any crimes. None of the anti-lockdown protesters have called for the release of these innocent people. None of the anti-lockdown protesters have protested against deaths in custody of Australia's indigenous population. They clearly don't care for the lives, freedoms or human rights of indigenous people. 

The protesters claim that the lockdowns and forced mask wearing are violations of their human rights. However, they've never concerned themselves when other people's human rights have been infringed. Typical of the selfishness of many conservatives, it isn't a problem until it affects them. Freedom of movement is a fundamental human right in Australia, but it has been legally restricted by lockdowns. This is one of the human rights that the protesters are upset about. However, the right to life is also a fundamental human right. At the moment, Covid is a danger that poses a direct threat to the health and wellbeing of all Australians. Therefore, the freedom of movement can be legally curbed in order to protect human life. The Queensland Human Rights Commission has published a fact sheet about the limitation of rights during Covid. Among other things, it states, 'Human rights can only be restricted to achieve an important and legitimate purpose. Protecting the lives and health of people during the COVID-19 pandemic is such a purpose'.  

In years gone by, many of these protesters argued that human rights were just political correctness gone mad. Conservative shock jocks stoked the bigotry and fear behind these claims. They declared human rights to be part of a neo-Marxist agenda to introduce socialism by stealth. After years of abusing humanitarians, these anti-lockdown nutters are suddenly portraying themselves as humanitarians, as defenders of the greater good. They reek of hypocrisy. In years past, they've accused human rights defenders of being do-gooder woke snowflakes. Yet who's a little snowflake? The anti-lockdown protesters have folded after only a few weeks of lockdowns, while asylum seekers have had to put up with being locked down or imprisoned for more than eight years. The anti-lockdown protesters are weak. 

The anti-lockdown protesters are only interested in themselves, not in the rights, health or safety of others. They are exceptionally selfish. They are deluded. In fact, they are anti-intellectual, opposing the advice of scientists and other experts in the fields of medicine, law, and human rights. They believe they are saving society through their anti-intellectual delusions, when they are the ones who are the biggest threat to it. 

They claim they have a right to their opinions. This they are correct about. Human rights includes freedom of belief and freedom of expression. However, it's one thing to have an opinion, it's entirely something else to believe those opinions are the same as scientific facts. They will claim that they are being criticised for questioning the science. This isn't true. They are being criticised for their lack of critical thinking. If they followed up their questioning by finding reliable sources of information on which they could then make informed decisions, then it would be acceptable. That would be critical thinking. However, their anti-intellectualism means that they eschew academic research and knowledge in favour of the lies, distortions, hyperbole and conspiracy theories of other anti-intellectuals. 

These protesters sincerely believe that they know more than the epidemiologists, virologists and other scientists. One of their particularly ridiculous beliefs is that Covid vaccines kill more people than the Covid virus. That's if they even believe the virus exists. Many treat it like it's a glorified cold. There is no convincing these people that they are wrong. They have been presented with scientific, peer-reviewed evidence, yet they'll believe the rubbish that spews forth from the mouths of conservative shock jocks and YouTubers. They believe memes over science. Their idea of critical thinking is actually just confirmation bias. They will hunt down some obscure, fringe-dweller who believes the same absurd nonsense as them and then claim that said nonsense is proven fact which cannot be disputed by science. They are exceptionally gullible.

Sir Isaac Newton stated, 'I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people'. Newton may as well have been talking about the anti-lockdown, anti-vaxxer, anti-intellectual, 'freedom fighting' fools.

Predictably, some of the protesters are conservative Christians who believe that vaccinations are tantamount to taking the 'mark of the beast', as articulated in the Bible. It would be funny if it weren't so serious. While there are political and religious leaders who align themselves with these fringe beliefs, there will be the easily-led who follow them to death and destruction. It isn't just a matter of these protesters having their opinions. These opinions are dangerous and will cost lives. We saw what happened in the United States when a 'leader', namely former President Donald Trump, treated the virus as a joke. His ignorance cost more than 400,000 lives because his followers lacked the critical thinking skills to challenge his clearly deranged opinions, even though scientists across the world warned of the danger of taking his statements seriously. The same people who defended Trump and accepted or denied the deaths of 400,000 people, now claim they're concerned with human rights ... so they can perpetuate the same actions that led to those deaths. 

It isn't helped by Australia's own prime minister who has not taken the virus seriously either, resulting in hundreds of people dying in aged care homes that he is responsible for. His failure to create dedicated quarantine facilities has caused the virus to spread because he demanded the state governments use hotels to quarantine international travellers. Hotels are not built to contain a pandemic. This has all been exacerbated by Morrison's failure to adequately manage the roll-out of vaccinations, while declaring 'it's not a race'.

The irony of these anti-lockdown protests, is that they are going to cause the lockdowns to continue because they have amplified the risk of the virus spreading. Additionally, refusing to be vaccinated or to wear masks will continue to expose the community to elevated threats of Covid. 

Many of these protesters claim they are pro-life and value human rights, but they only care for themselves and have no concern for the lives of others.

Morrison's inept pandemic response has cost lives and livelihoods

 Morrison's inept pandemic response has cost lives and livelihoods

By Ranting Panda, 28 June 2021

Australia has been very fortunate in the limited impact that COVID-19 has had on it compared to many other countries. Since the first Australian case was reported in 2020, there have been 910 deaths to date (Department of Health, 2021c). While this is 910 deaths too many, it is relatively few deaths compared to many other countries, including Italy, India, Indonesia, and the United States.

Much of Australia's success in limiting the impact of COVID, has not been from its federal government, but because of the swift and decisive action taken by its state governments. In fact, the federal government was directly responsible for the spread of the virus in Australia, as well as for most of the deaths. There are five key areas that the incompetence and inaction of Australia's federal government worsened the situation:

• Ruby Princess cruise ship
• Aged Care
• Quarantine
• Contact tracing
• Vaccine roll-out.

Ruby Princess cruise ship

On 8 March 2020, the Ruby Princess cruise ship departed Circular Quay, Sydney, for an 11-day cruise to New Zealand and return. The passengers were not notified that there had been 158 cases of people from the previous voyage with coronavirus-like symptoms (Mao 2020).

The ship returned to Sydney on 19 March 2020. The federal government controls international borders and had deemed the voyage to be a 'low-risk' because its route had only taken it to New Zealand (Mao 2020). Following the federal government's guidelines for international passengers deemed low-risk, New South Wales Health officials allowed the passengers to disembark without testing. Even though these were returning international travellers, neither the federal government or the New South Wales government bothered to quarantine the passengers or keep track of where the passengers went. 

One day later, three of the passengers were diagnosed with COVID-19. Within five days, more than 133 of the passengers were found with COVID, many of whom had travelled interstate and mingled with the general community. 

The federal government could have prevented the ship from docking. Prior to the Ruby Princess, the Morrison government had banned international cruise ships from docking in Australia. However, it exempted four ships from this ban; the Ruby Princess was one of them (Mao 2020). 

The Commonwealth Department of Health required the passengers to self-isolate for 14 days after arrival in Sydney, and had published a fact-sheet explaining how to do this. However, Australian Border Force incorrectly advised passengers that the 14 days commenced from the date they departed Sydney, which was 11 days earlier than it should have started. This meant that passengers thought they only had to self-isolate for three days after arrival in Sydney (Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess, 2020, item 2.16). 

In all, more than 700 passengers from the Ruby Princess tested positive for COVID, infecting thousands across Australia because of the federal government allowing it to dock, failing to quarantine passengers, and allowing passengers to travel unmonitored throughout the country. This monumental failure by the Morrison government could be considered ground-zero for the unchecked spread of COVID-19 throughout the nation.

Aged Care

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety published its final report in March 2021. It noted that 'Access to aged care is controlled by the Commonwealth Government' (Vol 2, p 191). 'Funding for aged care is insufficient, insecure and subject to the fiscal priorities and wide-ranging responsibilities of the Australian Government. This affects access to, and the quality and safety of, care' (Vol 2, p 188). Since 2015-16, Australian government expenditure on aged care for people aged over 70, has decreased as a percentage of GDP per capita (Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, 2021, Vol 2, p 191). The Royal Commission found that since the mid-1980s, the decline in spending by the Commonwealth Government is even more noticeable for people aged over 80 (Vol 2, p 191).  

Morrison's failure to address shortfalls in Commonwealth-funded aged care facilities resulted in 685 deaths across Australia. Of these, 655 were in Victoria, 28 in New South Wales, one in Queensland, and one in Tasmania (Department of Health, 2021b). While some commentators tried to blame state premiers for the deaths in their state, specifically Premier Dan Andrews in Victoria, these facilities were the responsibility of the Commonwealth government, with the state governments having no control over them. 

On 1 October 2020, the Royal Commission published an interim report that made several recommendations regarding addressing COVID-19 in aged care facilities. The Commonwealth government implemented all recommendations. Recommendation 4 of this report recommended that the 'Australian Government should establish a national aged care plan for COVID-19 through the National Cabinet in consultation with the aged care sector' (Vol 5, p 172). It is almost inconceivable that the Australian government failed to do this when the pandemic commenced more than six months earlier, particularly considering it was already known that the elderly were most susceptible. As dozens and dozens of people died in aged care, the federal government still failed to establish a plan for addressing COVID-19 in aged care facilities until a Royal Commission recommended it.

The Australian government's failure to act on aged care cost the lives of 685 elderly people. 

Quarantine

Section 51 of the Australian Constitution gives the federal government its legislative powers. This is where the Commonwealth government gets its power to control international migration. This same section also gives the Commonwealth government responsibility for quarantine. It makes sense that if the Commonwealth government is bringing people into the country, then the Commonwealth government should be responsible for quarantining them. But not the Morrison government. While the federal government was happy to continue bringing people into the country from overseas, it abdicated its responsibility for quarantine. Mind you, it was more than happy to detain asylum seekers and refugees in remote detention facilities for years at a time, even though they had not committed any crimes. But I digress. Instead, the Commonwealth government placed the burden of quarantine on the state governments, who were not prepared for this. Morrison washed his hands of quarantine, even as the states requested he help to create dedicated quarantine facilities. The state governments had to act immediately to help process the numbers of international travellers that the federal government was bringing into the country. The state governments did this by quickly repurposing hotels into quarantine centres. 

Hotels are not suitable for quarantine for several reasons, not least of which is they have central air-conditioning which facilitates the spread of airborne viruses. In Victoria, this was brought to prominence when its hotel quarantine program failed spectacularly, resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives and a State of Disaster being declared, plunging Victoria into a prolonged lockdown. 

On 13 March 2020, the Commonwealth government established a National Cabinet to ensure a consistent approach to addressing COVID-19 throughout Australia. The National Cabinet acknowledged that much of the spread of COVID was due to international arrivals. On 27 March 2020, the National Cabinet implemented a 14-day mandatory quarantine period for international arrivals, without establishing quarantine facilities. It left this to the state governments, who then scrambled to establish hotel quarantine programs. Based on this, Victoria's Hotel Quarantine Program was established over one weekend in March 2020. The program was implemented within 36 hours of it being conceived, which placed considerable strain on Victoria's health resources, exacerbated by there being no warning of its implementation and no blueprint for its operation (Victorian Government, 2020, p 18). 

A decision was made to use private security to guard the hotels, although it wasn't clear who made the decision. It was not one made by any Victorian minister. Victoria Police admitted that their preference was for private security to provide the first tier of security arrangements, with Police to be used as a back-up (Victoria Government, 2020, pp 20-21). Whoever made the decision, didn't follow appropriate procurement guidelines and awarded the contract to a company who had not been awarded the State Purchase Contract for security. Additionally, that company then sub-contracted to other security service providers. There was no risk assessment in awarding the contract and the scope of the contract was ill-defined. An Inquiry into Victoria's tragic Hotel Quarantine Program, found that the security guards were not the appropriate mechanism for protecting the hotels and monitoring persons in quarantine, because private security firms tend to have a highly-casualised workforce. The Inquiry found that engaging an organisation with a more structured, fully salaried workforce would have been more effective, such as Victoria Police (Victorian Government, 2020, p 24).

The Inquiry further observed, 'Both the State and Commonwealth governments were aware, prior to 2020, of the possibility of a pandemic and its potentially devastating consequences. However, none of the existing Commonwealth or State pandemic plans, contained plans for mandatory, mass quarantine. Indeed, the concept of hotel quarantine was considered problematic and, thus, no plans for mandatory quarantine existed in the Commonwealth's overarching plans for dealing with pandemic influenza. Prior pandemic planning was directed at minimising transmission (for example, via voluntary isolation or quarantine at home) and not an elimination strategy' (Victorian Government, 2020, p 15). 

The Quarantine Hotel Programme in each state was necessary because of the volume of international arrivals the federal government allowed into Australia, and who then spread throughout the country. 

It's not like the Commonwealth government didn't have time to prepare for a pandemic. There was, after all, one in 2003, when the bird flu (H5N1) spread throughout much of Asia, and again in 2009, with swine flu (H1N1). In 2011, a review was conducted of the federal government's response to the swine flu pandemic. The 2011 Review of Australia’s Health Sector Response to the (H1N1) Pandemic 2009 included recommendations for national quarantine facilities. Specifically, one of the recommendations stated, 'The roles and responsibilities of all governments for the management of people in quarantine, both at home and in other accommodation, during a pandemic should be clarified. A set of nationally consistent principles could form the basis for jurisdictions to develop operating guidelines, including plans for accommodating potentially infected people in future pandemics and better systems to support people in quarantine' (Victorian Government, 2021, pp 87, 91). Ten years on and this recommendation has not been acted on by the federal government. 

The Victorian government did bungle the hotel quarantine in mid-2020 through engaging private security firms and not managing the containment of those quarantined. However, hotel quarantine was never going to be suitable. This had been identified ten years earlier in the 2011 H1N1 review in which a national response was recommended. Yet, the Commonwealth Pandemic Plan still fails to address mandatory or mass quarantine as happened during COVID (Victorian Government, 2020, pp 88-89). 

Several states have been crying out for dedicated quarantine centres to be established. Even after the hotel quarantine debacle last year that cost lives, Prime Minister Morrison has been arguing over the proposal by the Victorian government for a dedicated quarantine facility to be established near Avalon Airport. Morrison is adamant that the dedicated facility supplements hotel quarantine, rather than replaces it (Crowe, 2021). Morrison has also played politics with a similar suggestion by the Queensland government who had proposed a 1000-bed camp at Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba. More than 12-months after the hotel quarantine programs were established by state governments at the behest of the federal government, Morrison is still arguing about dedicated facilities, criticising solutions proposed by state governments (Chen, 2021).

Contact tracing

On 26 April 2020, the federal government's COVIDSafe application was released. This was a mobile phone app that would allegedly help identify people exposed to COVID-19. Prime Minister Morrison proudly touted the application as Australia's way out of lockdowns. 

A Senate Select Committee has been convened to look into all aspects of the government's pandemic response. Their final report is due for release by 30 June 2022. The Interim Report released in December 2020 has been scathing. The Committee found that the COVIDSafe app relied on using Bluetooth technology in a way that it was never designed to be used, namely to connect untrusted devices to each other (Parliament of Australia, 2020).

The app cost more than $5 million and was promoted by a $64 million marketing campaign. Yet six months after its release, it had detected a whopping 17 potential exposures to the virus. This despite there being around 30,000 cases in that time (Department of Health, 2021a).  

Vaccine roll-out

The federal government is responsible for Australia's vaccination program. However, it has bungled this with an incredibly slow roll-out, as well as issuing contradictory messages around the efficacy of AstraZenica and who is eligible for it. The federal government played politics with the vaccination program by by-passing the state governments and dealing directly with private medical clinics and GPs (Murphy, 2021). This so that the federal government could deal with 'friendly' clinics, rather than 'nit-picking' state governments. Of course, state governments are far better suited to rolling out a mass vaccination program, then the friendly GP down the road. 

The procurement of the vaccines was slow and put Australia at a disadvantage. Larger markets, such as the United Kingdom and the United States were ordering vast quantities of vaccines as early as May 2020 (Murphy, 2021). It wasn't until four months later, in September 2020, that the Australian government ordered 85 million doses of  vaccines, comprised of AstraZeneca and a vaccine developed by the University of Queensland (Harvey, Koloff & Wiggins, 2021). In December 2020, the UQ vaccine was scrapped after trials were giving false positives for HIV. Although Pfizer approached the government in June 2020, it wasn't until November 2020 that the government ordered 10 million doses. The federal government has since ordered another 40 million doses of Novavax, which will not be delivered until late 2021. It has also ordered 25 million doses of Moderna, which will commence delivery in late 2021 and be finalised in 2022.

Both AstraZeneca and Pfizer began arriving in Australia in February 2021. Following criticism of the slow roll-out, the government claimed that the European Union blocked 3.1 million doses of AstraZeneca to Australia, in order to meet EU demand. The EU however, claims it was only 250,000 doses that were redirected from Australia to EU nations (Hawke 2021). Either way, it is well less than 10% of Australia's orders that were impacted by the EU's decision to prioritise European nations over other nations. Additionally, AstraZeneca can also be manufactured in Australia. This excuse by Prime Minister Morrison is lame.

Australia's sluggish vaccine roll-out is affecting people and businesses as lockdowns loom whenever clusters of COVID appear. The vaccine roll-out is at least two months behind schedule (Ting, Scott & Palmer, 2021).

The contradictory messages from the government included warnings about the dangers of AstraZeneca and changing the age limits that could access it, as well as implying that there was no rush to be vaccinated (Tingle, 2021). AstraZeneca was approved by Australia's pharmaceutical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, for use in people aged over 18. Initially, AstraZeneca was available for all adults, then the government recommended it only for over-50s, then to over-60s. As a result, many people are refusing to take AstraZeneca, even though the likelihood of serious adverse reactions is exceptionally low. The likelihood of death from AstraZeneca is one in two million; the chance of being struck by lightning is four times this, while the chance of dying from Aspirin is 200 times greater than dying from AstraZeneca (Grills, 2021). This isn't some theoretical figure postulated by academics based on guestimates; it is based on reviewing the affects of more than two billion COVID-19 vaccinations administered globally. 

Australia has far more AstraZeneca than Pfizer at this stage, and the refusal by many to take it because of media fear-mongering and contradictory government advice, has exacerbated the low take-up of vaccinations. Following a National Cabinet meeting on 28 June 2021, Morrison announced that AstraZeneca would be available for any adult of any age who asks for it (Clun, 2021). This may help to improve the roll-out of vaccinations, however, the government will need to address the fear-mongering and its own mixed messages around this vaccine.

Despite the horrendous death toll in aged care facilities, only one third of aged care workers have so far been vaccinated (Lucas, 2021). The National Cabinet meeting of 28 June 2021, has decreed that vaccinations will be mandatory for aged care workers (Clun, 2021).

The Morrison government is under fire from every state and territory leader for its botched vaccination roll-out (Remeikis, 2021). New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, criticised the Commonwealth government's lack of pandemic planning as the greater Sydney area was forced into a lockdown in late June 2021. This, just days after Prime Minister Morrison praised Berejiklian for her 'gold standard' pandemic response in not locking the state down despite a growing number of infections. Berejiklian initially resisted lockdown so that she could demonstrate that the Victorian government's lockdowns were an over-reaction. This political ploy backfired spectacularly when the Delta-strain of the virus spread uncontrolled through Sydney infecting dozens of people, forcing Berejiklian to institute a lockdown (Raper, 2021). This essentially justified Victoria's rapid lockdown response in containing the spread of the virus. Now, instead of returning Morrison's praise, Berejiklian has joined other state and territory leaders in criticising Morrison's incompetent pandemic response, calling for him to ramp up the vaccine roll-out to reduce the likelihood of future lockdowns and lessen the impacts on health and the economy. Berejiklian went on to state, 'Our GPs want to do more. They want more doses and they also want more GPs to come online. That is necessary. That is not something that the New South Wales government can control' (Remeikis, 2021). This isn't something that any state can control; the supply of  vaccines is purely in the hands of the federal government.

Conclusion

 The Morrison government's response to COVID-19 is almost as inept as former president Trump's COVID-19 response. Trump's ineptitude cost more than 420,000 lives in the US before he was spectacularly booted from office. 

If it wasn't for the strict lockdowns and decisive actions taken by the various state governments, Australia would have faced far more deaths than it has. Senator Katy Gallagher, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19, stated 'It was the states who took the big brave decisions at the right time and forced the hand of the Federal Government, that was resisting pressure to take stronger action. Without the strong advocacy displayed by state premiers for bolder measures — particularly by NSW and Victoria — Australia's experience with the pandemic could have been very different. Thank goodness for the states' (Roy, 2020).

Morrison continues criticising the states every time there is a lockdown, however, those lockdowns are the result of the international travellers that he continues to allow into the country, the lack of dedicated quarantine facilities for those travellers, and his bungled vaccine program. Each of these things are directly attributable to Morrison and the federal government. It is only the federal government who can fix each of these issues. Morrison has had more than 12 months to create purpose-built quarantine facilities to REPLACE hotel quarantine, which will be necessary for international travel to continue. And of course, improving the vaccine roll-out will help protect the community and enable it to return to relative normality. Instead of a competent and strong leader who can address these factors, we have a Prime Minister who shirks responsibility and blames others.  

References

Chen, D, 2021, Scott Morrison proposes Brisbane COVID-19 quarantine hub, rejects Wellcamp Airport proposal, ABC News, 25 June 2021, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-24/pm-covid-19-quarantine-hub-hotel-army-barracks-brisbane-wellcamp/100242960.

Clun, R, 2021, AstraZeneca vaccine available to all adults, jabs mandated for aged care workers, Brisbane Times, 28 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/mandatory-vaccines-for-aged-care-workers-quarantine-to-be-separated-20210628-p5850h.html. 

Crowe, D, 2021, Deal in sight for $200m quarantine facility near Avalon Airport, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/deal-in-sight-for-200m-quarantine-facility-near-avalon-airport-20210603-p57xwb.html.

Department of Health, 2021a, Coronavirus (COVID-19) current situation and case numbers, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers.

Department of Health, 2021b, COVID-19 cases in aged care services – residential care, 26 June, viewed 26 June 2021, https://www.health.gov.au/resources/covid-19-cases-in-aged-care-services-residential-care.

Department of Health, 2021c, COVID-19 deaths by age group and sex, viewed 26 June 2021, https://www.health.gov.au/resources/covid-19-deaths-by-age-group-and-sex.

Grills, N, 2021, Getting a Covid jab is safer than taking Aspirin, Pursuit, 21 June, viewed 23 June 2021, University of Melbourne, https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/getting-a-covid-jab-is-safer-than-taking-aspirin.

Harvey, A, Koloff, S, & Wiggins, N, 2021, How Australia's COVID vaccine rollout has fallen short and left us 'in a precarious position', ABC News, 24 May, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-24/australia-covid-vaccine-rollout-what-went-wrong/100151396.

Hawke, J, 2021, European Union denies claim it blocked shipment of 3.1 million AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to Australia, ABC News, 7 April, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-07/eu-denies-blocked-shipment-over-3-million-vaccines-to-australia/100052134. 

Lucas, C, 2021, Two-thirds of staff in aged care homes not vaccinated, The Age, 26 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/two-thirds-of-staff-in-aged-care-homes-not-vaccinated-20210624-p583vv.html. 

Mao, F, 2020, Coronavirus: How did Australia's Ruby Princess cruise debacle happen?, BBC, 24 March, viewed 26 June 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51999845.

Murphy, K, 2021, Scott Morrison was so keen to own a successful vaccine rollout he forgot about the risk of overseeing a debacle, The Guardian, 17 April, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/17/scott-morrison-was-so-keen-to-own-a-successful-vaccine-rollout-he-forgot-about-the-risk-of-overseeing-a-debacle.

Raper, A, 2021, Gladys Berejiklian insists COVID-19 lockdown is based on health advice, not politics, ABC News, 27 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-27/analysis-gladys-berejiklian-delayed-nsw-covid19-lockdown/100247422.

Remeikis, A, 2021, Gladys Berejiklian voices vaccine frustration at federal government ahead of national cabinet meeting, The Guardian, 28 June, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/28/gladys-berejiklian-voices-frustration-at-federal-government-ahead-of-national-cabinet-meeting.

Roy, T, 2020, COVID-19 inquiry makes six recommendations including a permanent rise in JobSeeker, ABC News, 9 December, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-09/covid-committee-interim-report-released-six-recommendations/12968080.

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, 2020, Aged Care and COVID-19: a special report, 30 September, viewed 26 June 2021, https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/aged-care-and-covid-19-special-report.

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, 2021, Final report, 1 March, viewed 26 June 2021, https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/final-report.

Parliament of Australia, 2020, Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 - Interim report, December 2020, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/COVID-19/COVID19/Interim_Report/section.

Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess, Report, 14 August, viewed 26 June 2021, https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/report. 

Ting, I, Scott, N, & Palmer, A, 2021, Untangling Australia’s vaccine rollout timetable, ABC News, 30 May, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-28/untangling-australia-s-covid-vaccine-rollout-timetable/100156720. 

Tingle, L, 2021, If the public has vaccine hesitancy, the government has developed strategy hesitancy, ABC News, 22 May, viewed 28 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-22/if-public-has-vaccine-hesitancy-government-strategy-hesitancy/100154798.

Victorian Government, 2021, COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry - Final Report, 21 December, viewed 27 June 2021, https://www.quarantineinquiry.vic.gov.au/.

Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

By Ranting Panda, 21 June 2021. 

Australia has a long sordid history of brutalising, torturing, imprisoning, victimising, and demonising innocent people. It started with European settlement, when indigenous peoples were murdered, incarcerated, raped, forcibly removed from the own lands, stolen from their families, and forced into slave labour for little if any recompense. It continues to this day, with an over-representation of indigenous people in prison, and a significantly high number of indigenous deaths in custody. This is a horrendous blight on the Australian character. So it is no surprise, that for more than 20 years, Australia has brutalised, tortured, imprisoned and demonised asylum seekers and refugees. 

Ironically, the leaders of Australia who have implemented and boasted of these brutal, racist policies, claim to be Christian and enjoy the support of many churches. Which is interesting, because the Bible has numerous verses about welcoming migrants into the land and treating them well. 

These leaders also claim to be defending Australia's national interests, even though the National Anthem declares, 'For those who've come across the seas we've boundless plains to share'. These are rather empty words for a government that has shored up its power through demonising migrants. 

Religion and nationalism ... what could go wrong?

There have been numerous high-profile incidents over the last two decades regarding asylum seekers and refugees. What each of these incidents revealed was that the Australian government lied and pandered to racism and xenophobia for political point-scoring by demonising and brutalising traumatised people who had simply requested protection from war and persecution. 

There was the Children Overboard scandal, in which a Senate inquiry found that the Howard government lied about refugees throwing their children into the sea. It wasn't the refugees who lacked morals, it was the Howard government. 

Remember Baby Asha? The Australian Medical Association accused then Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, of state-sanctioned child abuse over his detention of a baby girl and his threats to send her to the desolate detention centre on Nauru. Dutton made false allegations about the girl's mother physically abusing her. 

Most recently, there has been the case of the Murugappan family. Nades Murugappan arrived by boat in Australia in 2012. Priya Nadesalingam arrived by boat in 2013. They were both Tamils from Sri Lanka. Both were seeking protection in Australia. The Tamil couple met in immigration detention and married in 2014. That year they were both released into the community on four-year protection visas. While in the community, they had two children; one born in May 2015 and one in June 2017. The family had settled in the rural Queensland town of Biloela. Nades worked in the local abattoir. The family was doing their best to settle into Australia and be productive members of society. No doubt, they hoped they were worthy of permanent visas. 

Murugappan family (Photo: Semmler, 2021)

In 2018, their temporary visas expired and the entire family was detained by Australian Border Force, even though their two children were Australian-born. The family were transferred to an immigration detention centre in Melbourne. The Biloela township campaigned for their release. The family was popular in the town and welcomed by the community. This is significant, given that rural Queensland tends to be politically conservative. 

On 29 August 2019, after several unsuccessful appeals by the Murugappans, the government placed the entire family on a plane bound for Sri Lanka. However, an injunction was granted before the plane left Australian air-space, prohibiting the family from being removed from Australia because the younger child had not been assessed for a protection visa. The plane landed at Darwin. The family was then transported to the Christmas Island detention centre. In May 2021, the youngest daughter, Tharnicaa, became severely ill with septicaemia. Tharnicaa and her mother were flown from Christmas Island to a hospital in Perth for treatment.

It is not illegal to arrive in Australia without a visa and then request protection because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group (Home Affairs, 2020).

Following Sri Lanka's independence in 1948, Tamils have faced discrimination and marginalisation. Tamil's are predominantly comprised of Muslims and Christians. In 1978, the Sri Lankan constitution established Buddhism as the foremost religion, vesting the Sinhalese majority with more rights than others in the country. In 1983, following years of ethnic oppression, Sri Lanka descended into civil war between the Sinhalese government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Around 100,000 people were killed and 800,000 displaced. 

Since the war ended, the Sri Lankan government has increased its military presence in northern Sri Lanka, where the majority of Tamils live. This has increased the fear of persecution for those living there, and for those who wish to return. Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of enforced disappearances in the world. 

Unfortunately for the Murugappan's, Australian courts have found that they do not have a well-founded fear of persecution. However, this defies the concerns held by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and human rights groups, for the safety and welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The United Nations Human Rights Council is investigating allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. There is increasing evidence of Tamils who have returned to Sri Lanka being subject to 'abductions, sexual and physical violence, and state-sanctioned torture'. (Walden 2021)

It appears that the Australian courts' determination is based on flawed country advice regarding the safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka. A British court has challenged the veracity of these country reports used by both Australia and Britain (Walden 2021). Although politically convenient for the anti-refugee policies of the Australian government, these decisions can cost lives. The government inaccurately demonises the Murugappan's as 'illegal', but it should be kept in mind that refoulement is illegal under international law. Article 33 of the UN Refugee Convention states: 'No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion' (United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010).

There have been dozens of documented cases of asylum seekers forcibly returned by Australia who have been killed, tortured, detained or disappeared on their arrival in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020). The Asian Human Rights Commission has identified more than 400 cases of Tamil and Sinhalese asylum seekers being tortured on their return to Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020).

The government tries to argue that showing compassion to the Murugappans would signal to people smugglers that Australia was 'open for business', and the boats would start up again. This argument is not rooted in fact, but in emotion and fear for political purposes ... again, pandering to xenophobia in the Australian community. 

Australia can show compassion without brutalising and torturing innocent people. The United Nations has determined that Australia's harsh detention of asylum seekers breaches the international Convention Against Torture (Human Rights Law Centre, 2015). Further, Australia's immigration detention policies breach the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations Human Rights, 2019). 

The Murugappans have committed no crimes, but were detained for years without charge. While they were on protection visas, they did everything that could be expected, including maintaining employment and integrating into the community. The Murugappans are an asset to Australia, they are not a liability, they are not criminals, they are not a burden on society. 

This week, after significant campaigning by human rights groups and the community, the government released the Murugappans into community detention in Perth. However, they are not allowed to return to Biloela despite the contribution they made to the town. 

The government has created an expensive problem through its brutal treatment of asylum seekers. Its refusal to allow genuine refugees to be granted permanent protection visas has resulted in a legacy case-load of more than 18,000 asylum seekers accumulated over the last 15 years or so, to whom the government refuses to issue permanent visas, even though each one of them renews their visas every few years by proving they still face a well-founded fear of persecution (Speers, 2021). The Australian government has spent more than $6 million on the three year detention of the Murugappan family (Mao, 2021). 

Hannah Arendt believed that everyone had the 'right to have rights' and to belong somewhere safe, where their rights will be respected (Hirsch & Bell, 2017). Australia is a country that is generally safe and is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, so it should be a safe haven for refugees. Australia should not be eroding people's rights or forcing innocent people into dangerous, and possibly deadly, situations. 

Instead of torturing innocent people, instead of detaining children and their hard-working parents, instead of forcibly removing loyal parents and their Australian-born children, Australia would benefit from the government granting permanent protection visas to Nandes and Priya; a couple who have demonstrated their desire and ability to integrate into the community. 

References

Department of Home Affairs, 2020, Refugee and Humanitarian program - Australia's protection obligations, viewed 20 June 2021, https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/about-the-program/seek-protection-in-australia/australia-protection-obligations. 

Doherty, B, & Geraets, N, 2020, Deported to danger and death: Australia returns people to violence and persecution, The Guardian, 14 December, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/14/deported-to-danger-and-death-australia-returns-people-to-violence-and-persecution.

Hirsch, A, & Bell, N, 2017, What can Hannah Arendt teach us about today's refugee crisis?, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, 10 October, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/10/what-can-hannah.

Human Rights Law Centre, 2015, UN finds Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers violates the Convention Against Torture, 9 March, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/un-finds-australias-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-violates-the-convention-against-torture. 

Mao, F, Biloela family: Locked up by Australia for three years, BBC News, 10 May, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56768529. 

Semmler, E and staff, 2021, Biloela family asylum-seeker girl evacuated from Christmas Island with suspected septicaemia, ABC News, 7 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-07/biloela-girl-in-medical-evacuation-from-christmas-island/100196456.

Speers, D, 2021, The government has 18,000 reasons not to grant the Murugappan family permanent visas, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/government-18000-reasons-not-grant-murugappan-biloela-visas/100220476. 

United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010, Convention and Protocol relating to the status of Refugees, viewed 20 June 2021, http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/3b66c2aa10. 

United Nations Human Rights, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2019,  Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Australia, 1 November, viewed 20 June 2021, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/AUS/CO/5-6&Lang=En.

Walden, M, 2021, Australia deems Sri Lanka safe for Tamils like the Murugappan family from Biloela. But is it?, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/sri-lanka-tamil-asylum-explainer-australia-deportations/100213684.

Related Ranting Panda articles 

Peter Dutton versus Baby Asha, AMA & the UN, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2016/02/peter-dutton-versus-baby-asha-ama-un.html

Howard's Legacy & the Haughty Hypocrisy, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2012/03/howards-legacy-haughty-hypocrisy.html

Refugees represent the vanguard of their peoples, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/06/refugees-represent-vanguard-of-their.html. 

Australia - aiding and abetting global brutality, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/12/australia-aiding-and-abetting-global.html.

Koup Klutz Klan

 Koup Klutz Klan

By Ranting Panda, 13 June 2021

6 January 2021. The date that traitors stormed the US Capitol in an effort to usurp democracy and keep Donald Trump as President. Trump was resoundingly defeated in a valid election, but neither he nor his supporters could accept the truth. Even today, Trump still believes that he won the election. 

Trump's followers, gullible and gutless, refused to take responsibility for the insurrection, and instead blamed Antifa for it. The FBI, however, confirmed that it was Trump loyalists who staged this coup attempt (Anderson 2021, Sadeghi, 2021). Antifa isn't a threat to democracy. The real threat is the MAGA cult, with its inability to grasp truth, its willingness to rewrite 'facts' to suit its ignorance, its hatred of anyone who is different, its twisted religious fervour, and violent nationalism. They wanted to kill the Vice President during the coup attempt. They'd bought wrist ties & built a noose. These people are not right in the head.

There's no point arguing with MAGA cultists. It doesn't matter what facts are presented, they are so brainwashed that they can't accept truth, fact or reality. Just like cult-members, the MAGAs need de-programming, otherwise they stick with their self-pitying, paranoid, victimhood talking points that Trump cultivated and nourished. 

Trump deliberately attacks truth in order to create doubt about facts. He once admitted to a journalist that he attacks the media to, 'discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you' (Applebaum, 2020). This is one thing that Trump has been very successful at. His supporters lack the critical thinking skills to challenge Trump's blatant lies; they believe everything he says. The real danger of this is that despots are renowned for their propaganda, manipulation of media and use of falsehoods and fear to manipulate the populace. 

When Twitter purged its platform of Trump and many of his adherents because of their flagrant lies, conspiracy theories and hate speech, the MAGAs claimed it was an attack on their freedom of speech. However, freedom of speech doesn't mean that others have to listen to it. Twitter was cleaning house ... as anyone can if some racist fool comes into their house and starts spewing vitriol. MAGAs can get their own soapbox and head down to the local corner to spew their vile hate-speech, ridiculous conspiracy theories, and victim-mentality rubbish.  

Freedom of speech only goes one way for the MAGAs; the moment anyone has a contrary viewpoint, the MAGAs screech socialism and 'Reds under the bed' conspiracy theories. They believe that if someone challenges them, they are victims of 'cancel culture' ... yet, the MAGAS tried to cancel an election because they didn't get their own way. They only believe in freedom of speech for themselves, not for anyone else.

Stripe Inc ceased processing payments for the Trump election campaign because of the 6 January insurrection (Andriotis, Rudegeair, & Glazer, 2021). Ever portraying themselves as victims, the Pity Party MAGAs claimed it was yet another attack on their freedoms. However, the action by Stripe was similar to the action that financial institutions took in dealing with terrorism. And the Trump cult is a terrorist organisation, evidenced by their violent attack on the very heart of US government.

Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection. It needs to be kept in mind, that he did nothing during this riot to quell it. He was hoping that the coup would succeed and install him for another term ... perhaps a perpetual term in which he never loses (Applebaum, 2020). Trump is anti-democratic and only interested in his own power. Despite significant evidence of Trump directly inciting the coup attempt, the Republican Party voted against convicting him at his second impeachment trial (Holpuch, 2021). This says a lot about how anti-democratic the Republican party is. They try to claim they are patriotic defenders of democracy, but they value power over free and fair elections. Republicans value authoritarianism over liberty.

During riots following Black Lives Matter protests, Trump big-noted himself by dog-whistling to his racist followers that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' (Burns, 2020). Trump incited violence with this tweet. A couple of months later, a gutless piece of shit named Kyle Rittenhouse, shot dead BLM protesters. Trump and his followers supported these killings (Wilson, 2021). Yet, when it came to the Capitol riots, Trump didn't threaten to shoot the protesters, instead, he supported them and even told them how much he loved them (Caldwell, 2021). Although he eventually told the rioters to go home, he did it under duress. Trump had an expletive-laced argument with House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, after McCarthy told Trump to call the rioters off because they were Trump supporters. Trump abused McCarthy, telling him that the rioters cared more about the election than McCarthy did (Gangel et al, 2021). Republican senator, Ben Passe, claimed that Trump was delighted that the Capitol was being stormed (Papenfuss, 2021). 

Prior to the riot, Trump gave a speech in which he told his supporters to 'fight like hell' or they would lose their country because, according to him (and in keeping with his admitted attacks on truth mentioned earlier), the election was corrupt. He then told his supporters to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to 'try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country' (Blake, 2021). Trump directed conspiracy-theorist, Alex Jones, to lead the march that stormed the White House (Linge, 2021). It took six hours for the situation to be brought under control. This period revealed Trump's leadership to be paralysed, to be no more than a passive viewer who stood back as five people, including a police officer, were killed by his supporters (Parker, Dawsey & Rucker, 2021). 

Only weeks before the riot, Trump the Grand Traitor, directed the neo-Nazi Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' (Pilkington, 2021). Now we know what he was asking them to stand by for. 

This isn't the first time he has supported violence. In 2017, he condoned white supremacist violence that culminated in the killing of an innocent woman. He even went so far as to describe the white supremacists as 'very fine people' (Coaston, 2019). Throughout his presidency, he directly incited violence by white supremacist groups (Pilkington 2021). 

The traitors who stormed the Capitol included Nazis wearing shirts such as 'Camp Aushwitz - Work brings freedom' and '6MWE', which stands for Six Million Were Not Enough ... in reference to the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. These are the extremist groups that Trump claims are 'very fine people' (Kessler, 2020).

Trump and his followers are white supremacists. They believe in fascism, not democracy. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a mass casualty event every single day of the final year of Trump's presidency, culminating in more than 420,000 deaths by the time he was finally removed from the White House. The deaths were directly caused by Trump's lies, inaction and incompetence. This puerile moron was more interested in shoring up his own power, while spreading lies, hatred and division, than in saving his fellow Americans. His incompetence was on a genocidal scale.

Republicans claim they are the 'law and order' party, yet they've let Trump get away with murder ... literally: around 420,000 deaths from his ineptitude in addressing Covid-19, five deaths during the insurrection he orchestrated, and several executions that he directed in the final days of his presidency (Honderich, 2021). They have let him get away with his threats and cheating over the election, such as when he rang the Secretary of State for Georgia and demanded more votes be found to overturn the election results (Morris, 2021). Does this seem like the leader of the free world, or the tyrannical dictatorship of a far-right murderous despot in a banana republic?

The Republican Party  condoned Trump's treason, by voting against holding an inquiry into the Capitol insurrection (Fandos, 2021). The Republicans are not defending democracy, they are defending the traitors within their own party. They are defending Nazism, white supremacy, and fascism. 

Nothing was done about the deadly 2017 white supremacist protests in Charlottesville ... and this culminated in the storming of the Capitol by Nazis. The Trump presidency wasn't the first time that white supremacists were incited to violence by a megalomaniac. Another leader also incited mobs to violence by using racist dog-whistling and bigoted fear-mongering ... and nothing was done to stop it! That leader was Hitler and we saw how that went. Many of the Capitol insurrectionists were Christians who believed they were doing God's will to keep Trump in power (Green, 2021). They claimed that God was telling them to 'let the church roar' (Posner, 2021). This has an eerie resemblance to Nazi Germany. Throughout his rambling manifesto, Mein Kampf, Hitler stated numerous times that he was doing the 'work of the Lord'. Not surprisingly, this galvanised Christians to support Hitler and incited them to violence and, ultimately, genocide. 

Today's United States faces the same threat of Nazism that Nazi Germany did (Brenner, 2021). The Republican Party has links to many far-right extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and QAnon (Broadwater & Rosenberg, 2021).

No leader has damaged the US as much as Trump has. All the efforts by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to bring down the US never undermined democracy as much as Trump. It's not surprising then, that Trump is alleged to have been cultivated by Russia to undermine US democracy. An ex-KGB spy claims that Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset for 40 years (Smith, 2021). A book by journalist, Craig Unger, entitled American Kompromat, states that the spy alleged there were celebrations in Moscow as Trump parroted anti-Western propaganda (Smith, 2021). 

Trump did significant damage to US democracy, however, what may have saved it was Trump's mental instability and his complete ineptitude as a leader. This ineptitude however, killed more Americans than World War 2. 

Meanwhile, Republicans continue supporting Trump. There's even talk that he will run for president in the 2024 elections. This is a clear indication of just how morally bankrupt the Republican Party is, and by extension, the Christians who continue supporting and defending Trump in the face of significant evidence of his genocide, treason and white supremacy. 

In 1993, musician Frank Zappa, made the prescient observation, 'There's been an incredible rise in racist and fascist attitude here, most of them being helped along by the Republican Party' (Ouellette, 1993). 

Nothing has yet been done to hold Trump to account for the Covid genocide in the US, that is directly attributable to him. Nothing has been done to stop Trump inciting Nazis and conservative Christians to violence, so we have not seen the end of extreme right-wing blood-shed, insurrection, and treason. Allowing Trump to continue empowering these extremists could signal the end of democracy and the rise of fascism in the United States. 

References

Anderson, M 2021, Antifa Didn't Storm The Capitol. Just Ask The Rioters, NPR, 2 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972564176/antifa-didnt-storm-the-capitol-just-ask-the-rioters.

Andriotis, A, Rudegeair, P, & Glazer, E, 2021, Stripe stops processing payments for Trump campaign website, The Wall Street Journal, 10 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-stops-processing-payments-for-trump-campaign-website-11610319116. 

Applebaum, A, 2020, Trump won't accept defeat. Ever., The Atlantic, 7 November, viewed 13 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/trumps-forever-campaign-is-just-getting-started/617021/.

Blake, A 2021, What Trump said before his supporters stormed the Capitol, annotated, The Washington Post, 11 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/annotated-trump-speech-jan-6-capitol/.

Brenner, M 2021, Pre-Nazi Germany tells us the fight to save American democracy is just beginning, The Washington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/01/09/pre-nazi-germany-tells-us-fight-save-american-democracy-is-just-beginning/. 

Broadwater, L, & Rosenburg, M 2021, Republican ties to extremist groups under scrutiny, Hartford Courant, 29 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-nw-nyt-gop-extremist-groups-20210129-fstili3spvea7fss3mdsobu5eu-story.html.

Burns, K 2020, The racist history of Trump’s “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” tweet, Vox, 29 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/29/21274754/racist-history-trump-when-the-looting-starts-the-shooting-starts. 

Caldwell, T 2021, Trump's 'We love you' to Capitol rioters is more of the same, CNN, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/trump-history-comments-trnd/index.html.

Coaston, J 2019, Trump’s new defense of his Charlottesville comments is incredibly false, Vox, 26 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/2019/4/26/18517980/trump-unite-the-right-racism-defense-charlottesville.

Fandos, N 2021, Democrats failed to get enough votes for an independent inquiry into the Jan. 6 riot, The New York Times, 28 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/us/politics/capitol-riot-commission.html.

Gangel, J, Liptak, K, Warren, M, & Cohen, M 2021, New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters, CNN, 13 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html. 

Green, E 2021, A Christian Insurrection, The Atlantic, 8 January, viewed 7 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/evangelicals-catholics-jericho-march-capitol/617591/. 

Holpuch, A 2021, 'White supremacy won today': critics condemn Trump acquittal as racist vote, The Guardian, 14 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/14/trump-acquittal-white-supremacy-racist-vote. 

Honderich, H 2021, In Trump’s final days, a rush of federal executions, BBC News, 16 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55236260.

Kessler, G 2020, The ‘very fine people’ at Charlottesville: Who were they?, The Washington Post, 8 May, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/.

Linge, M 2021, Alex Jones claims he funded rally that led to Capitol chaos, The New York Post, 9 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/01/09/alex-jones-claims-he-funded-rally-that-led-to-capitol-chaos/.

Morris, J 2021, Georgia secretary of state's office launches investigation into Trump's phone call, CNN, 16 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/georgia-secretary-of-state-trump-investigation/index.html.

Ouellette, D 1993, Frank Zappa, Pulse!, August 1993, sourced from https://www.afka.net/Articles/1993-08_Pulse.htm.

Papenfuss, M 2021, Trump Was 'Delighted' His Supporters Stormed The Capitol, Says GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, Huffington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/ben-sasse-delighted-trump-capitol-attack_n_5ff93b1bc5b6c77d85e6df60.

Parker, A, Dawsey, J, & Rucker, P 2021, Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol, The Washington Post, 12 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mob-failure/2021/01/11/36a46e2e-542e-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html.

Pilkington, E 2021, 'Stand back and stand by': how Trumpism led to the Capitol siege, The Guardian, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/06/donald-trump-armed-protest-capitol.

Posner, S 2021, How the Christian right helped foment insurrection, Reveal News, 30 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://revealnews.org/article/how-the-christian-right-helped-foment-insurrection/.

Sadeghi, M 2021, Fact check: What's true about the Capitol riot, from antifa to BLM to Chuck Norris, USA Today, 14 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/14/fact-check-truth-capitol-riot-antifa-chuck-norris/6653343002/.

Smith, D 2021, 'The perfect target': Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years - ex-KGB spy, The Guardian, 29 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book.

Wilson, J 2021, US police and public officials donated to Kyle Rittenhouse, data breach reveals, The Guardian, 16 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/16/us-police-officers-public-officials-crowdfunding-website-data-breach.