So it was then. He didn't understand it any more than they did. Perhaps less.
"They're all more intelligent than you."
"Good."
So it was the tempers darkened and deepened, so that the world they entered became a remote outpost of where they had once been. As a kaleidoscope of images kept demanding attention, and he kept trying to blot them out. A new empath in this dizzying round showed him what he could see, very different to the repeated images which had haunted and astounded him for months. Before he fell off the rails.
"We want you to be free. We want you to be free."
But all was walking on breaking ice covering a poisonous flooring, and he imperilled himself more than he imperilled the future.
And then again.
He ran into an old acquaintance from the beer garden down at the Lakeview; who as they quickly established was not down there because he wasn't double vaxxed; and quickly told a story of a friend's wife who had died after having "the jab", blood clot, and they blamed a broken leg from six months before.
It wasn't exactly hard to find horror stories. You didn't even have to go on the web.
Meanwhile the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was gifting himself dictatorial powers, provoking demonstrations and widespread outrage. Health Minister Brad Hazzard attempted to do the same in NSW before being out-plotted.
The town of Katharine in the Northern Territory was now in lockdown.
On the streets of Shellharbour, from what he could gauge from his odd interactions, people were by now extremely fed up with the ongoing restrictions, masks, social distancing, travel restrictions and all the rest of the debacle.
All those people who expected their institutions to if not serve them than not attack them had been betrayed. Politicians, of course, bureaucracies, of course, media, most particularly the media, academe, medical authorities; all of their democratic protestations amounted to a pile of beans.
"If we could have wound back time."
Protests grew louder. Suspicion spread. And an interminably cold wet spring finally looked like it might be breaking, just in time for summer.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/coronavirus/daniel-andrews-focused-on-safety-of-every-single-victorian-family-as-he-labels-weeks-of-protests-in-melbourne-as-awful/news-story/6cb567282222031d0fe72fed72bde502
A frustrated and emotional Daniel Andrews has called out the “disgusting” and “potentially criminal” behaviour from a “small ugly mob” who threatened the safety of his family.
Thousands of protesters have been demonstrating the past several weeks against the vaccine mandate and proposed pandemic bill set out by the Andrews government.
Members of the rally were seen on social media footage and TV coverage hurling abuse at a number of ministers and health officials, including Mr Andrews.
Despite the verbal attacks and now threats against his wife Catherine and their three children, the Premier said he was focused on “keeping every single Victorian family safe” and will not be deterred by the “appalling” actions of the minority.
“There are some people who are threatening me, threatening my family. They are essentially attacking the safety of my family,” Mr Andrews said during a press conference on Wednesday.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-02/charting-australias-covid-vaccine-rollout/13197518
The Northern Territory now leads the nation for the highest per capita vaccination rate, shooting to the top spot from a ranking of second last a fortnight ago.
Vaccinations in the Territory have skyrocketed as health authorities scramble to contain a growing cluster of COVID-19 cases in the Katherine and Robinson River area. The town of Katherine is in lockdown as contact tracers try to determine whether the cluster is connected to the NT’s first-ever case of community transmission, detected on November 4.
Since that case, daily vaccinations have doubled from 1,520 to 3,190 on November 12, before sinking to roughly 2,500 after the weekend, based on the 7-day moving average.
Adjusting for population size, this is equivalent to 1.3 daily doses per 100 residents, the highest per capita rate of any state or territory. Just over 70 per cent of NT residents are fully vaccinated.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/16/victoria-pandemic-bill-daniel-andrews-new-laws-legislation-covid-far-right
How Daniel Andrews’ beleaguered pandemic bill became fuel for Victoria’s anti-government protests
Protesters have co-opted mainstream criticisms of proposed new laws to play to an increasingly polarised political environment
Calla Wahlquist and Michael McGowan
Tue 16 Nov 2021 15.28 AEDT
Mainstream criticisms of the Andrews government’s proposed pandemic laws have been co-opted by protesters, including some from the far right, to give weight to a long-running campaign against public health laws, experts say.
The Public Health and Wellbeing (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021 was being debated in the upper house on Tuesday. The legislation as introduced by the Andrews government would allow the premier to make an indefinite declaration of a pandemic and state of emergency, give the health minister power to make broad public health orders, and grant authorised officers the power to detain people under quarantine.
It will pass with the support of crossbench MPs, who late Monday announced they had negotiated amendments to the legislation which will address some of the concerns raised by civil liberties groups.
It follows weeks of protests against the proposed bill, which escalated on Saturday, with thousands of people marching through central Melbourne in a demonstration that included a gallows prop, protesters posing with nooses, and chants of “hang Dan Andrews”.
On Monday night, a Daniel Andrews blow-up doll was put on the gallows prop in the CBD.
Last Thursday night a group of protesters also gathered outside the house of Animal Justice party MP Andy Meddick, one of the three key crossbenchers, according to a message posted by him on social media.
Meddick, who said he and his family have received death threats over the legislation, said he is concerned that hostilities towards politicians could escalate to the point seen in the United Kingdom earlier this year, with the alleged murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess.
He said the amended bill “will ensure Victoria has the most transparent and accountable pandemic management framework in the country”.