The Political Thread

[Funt Solo]

There's a strong feminist theme running through Mad Max: Fury Road. Plus shooty kaboom crash action! Oh, what a lovely day!

[Jim_Campbell]

There's a strong feminist theme running through Mad Max: Fury Road. Plus shooty kaboom crash action! Oh, what a lovely day!

Non-political comment... Saw this twice in the cinema. That opening fifteen-or-so minutes are astonishing. You get to end of the storm and that flare sputtering out... both times, I didn't realise I was gripping the arms of my seat until I let go at that moment. Astonishing film making.

[Hawkmumbler]

Probably in my top 10 block busters of the last decade. Maybe top 100 movies of the decade too. Astonishing at times.

[Barrington Boots]

I need to re-read Outlaw. And also buy some trifle.

Definitely do both of these Funt!

Adding to the not-on-topic love for Fury Road. Incredible film.

[Hawkmumbler]

Now trans rights isn't a political issue, of course it isn't, its a humanitarian one. Trans rights are human rights.

What IS  a political issue is a fascistic, antagonistic hate group like LGB Alliance being platformed by a "major" media outlet like GB News. A grotesque, vile state of affairs.

[Funt Solo]

Here in Washington State, schools are starting back up this week and, what with a rise in Covid cases due to the Delta* variant, the state governor (Jay Inslee) has issued a mask mandate for being inside public buildings - which includes, y'know, shops and schools and suchlike. So, all children and staff, regardless of vaccination status (which, for the kiddos, is, for the vast majority - unvaccinated) need to mask up. Oh, and staff in schools have until mid-October to get vaccinated.

Anyway - so far so meh, right? I mean - Delta's a bastard and vaccinated staff and masked up kiddos should mitigate the risks, right? Obviously. Like, duh? You'd have to be an ignoramus to actually want to spread a deadly new virus - and there must be a limit to the number of complete balloons out there, surely.

Cue the fascist Unmask Our Kids organisation, staging nationwide protests at school board meetings in which they shout obscenities (some of a racist nature) & threats, block staff from leaving and demand that their personal wishes (to have everyone spread the virus to everyone else - for ... freedom?!) take precedence over that of the democratically-elected majority (who just so happen to be following the best scientific advice).

I *thought* this was just happening in weird places like Florida and Texas, but it's right in my neighboring school district - where a family member works: Here and elsewhere, angry unmasked parents disrupt meetings .

*A scientist wag on the news recently hoped that this wouldn't be how humanity learned the entire Greek alphabet. I'm sure we're all looking forward to the Upsilon variant. And Covid Pi.

[IndigoPrime]

English schools start going back this week. No masks. No bubbles. Parents will not be informed if someone in their child's class had a positive COVID test. No isolation for classmates. It's insane.

[Funt Solo]

Oh - I had no idea. That's awful. Sorry to hear.

[Tjm86]

Spent 5 minutes on BoredPanda this afternoon.  A supposedly satirical site.  Until you find a thread that shows some of the anti-vaxxer 'arguments'.

In the early days of the internet the focus was on the 'democratisation' of information.  Somewhere along the line we've reached the point where disinformation has been 'weaponised'.

There are plenty of arguments for how Russia has turned the internet into a weapon of disinformation that is currently undermining western democracy.  How accurate those arguments are is debatable.  What needs to be questioned though is how 'gullible' we are in the west.

BTW IP.  The rules for schools have been adjusted to try and minimise disruption.  Isolation / sending home entire 'bubbles' is being changed to isolation for direct contact.  It isn't that parents will not be informed.  Rather that isolation is going to be limited to close contacts (those seated closest).  The objective being to avoid sending home entire classes / year groups.

Not often I find myself in support of this government's policy.  Having said that, this is one of those rare occasions where they are coming up with a sensible option.  Parents will be informed if isolation affects their child.  Insane?  Not really, rather pragmatic.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Now trans rights isn't a political issue, of course it isn't, its a humanitarian one. Trans rights are human rights.

What IS  a political issue is a fascistic, antagonistic hate group like LGB Alliance being platformed by a "major" media outlet like GB News. A grotesque, vile state of affairs.

Are these the people who have been digging up Sir Pterry's corpse and, despite a clear unfamiliarity or misunderstanding of his work, parading it around as a grotesque anti-trans mascot?

[Funt Solo]

Now trans rights isn't a political issue, of course it isn't, its a humanitarian one. Trans rights are human rights.

What IS  a political issue is a fascistic, antagonistic hate group like LGB Alliance being platformed by a "major" media outlet like GB News. A grotesque, vile state of affairs.

Are these the people who have been digging up Sir Pterry's corpse and, despite a clear unfamiliarity or misunderstanding of his work, parading it around as a grotesque anti-trans mascot?

Got curious, so found this summary of events: Here's why Terry Pratchett's daughter and Neil Gaiman are fighting with transphobes on Twitter.

I'm with Gaiman and Pratchett blocks.

[The Legendary Shark]

University of Oxford QCovid Risk Calculator.

For me this calculator returns an absolute risk of a COVID-19 associated death as 1 in 7299 (without my heart condition it returns 1 in 9901).

[Tjm86]

See here's my thing for all those banging on about Covid; life is 100% fatal.   

[IndigoPrime]

BTW IP.  The rules for schools have been adjusted to try and minimise disruption.  Isolation / sending home entire 'bubbles' is being changed to isolation for direct contact.  It isn't that parents will not be informed.  Rather that isolation is going to be limited to close contacts (those seated closest).  The objective being to avoid sending home entire classes / year groups.

Not often I find myself in support of this government's policy.  Having said that, this is one of those rare occasions where they are coming up with a sensible option.  Parents will be informed if isolation affects their child.  Insane?  Not really, rather pragmatic.

Seating changes daily. And we already know Alpha (let alone Delta) spreads throughout a classroom sized room within a few hours. With the eradication of masks abs bubbles (no reason to drop the latter in primaries, but many have already switched to whole-school assemblies), it now feels inevitable that everyone with a primary aged kid will have a much higher likelihood of catching COVID within months at best. Notably, Williamson has already shifted the blame for this to parents for not testing enough.

[The Legendary Shark]

See here's my thing for all those banging on about Covid; life is a 100% fatal sexually transmitted condition.   

FTFY :