Oh.

This afternoon.

Jacinda Ardern declares 2021 ‘the year of the vaccine; (Stuff.co.nz)

Meanwhile…

…in Ireland…

…Since last August, the Solidarity-People Before Profit and Rise group have been enthusiastically pursuing this approach [Zero Covid Strategy].

Hot on the heels of the committee presentation in August, Richard Boyd Barrett was the first to raise it in the Dáil, saying the strategy was needed to replace the “rollercoaster strategy going up and down with nobody quite knowing where it ends”.

The Social Democrats have, for some time, been advocating for much stronger restrictions on travel into the country, and have called for a Zero Covid or elimination strategy, which it says is supported by the public.

The Labour Party has avoided the term Zero Covid, and is instead advocating what its party leader Alan Kelly calls a “national aggressive suppression strategy” (he has even come up with the acronym NASS), which essentially amounts to the same thing: mandatory hotel quarantining for all those arriving into the country, rapid antigen testing in the community and serial PCR testing at health care facilities.

Sinn Féin now says it agrees with most of the premise of the Zero Covid approach, but does not believe it is possible without the political will to pursue the same strategy in Northern Ireland.

There is some support among Government TDs and senators for this approach. Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan said he was “disappointed” that the Cabinet stopped short of the kind of mandatory quarantine measures in place in New Zealand and Australia…

Um.

Hints of Government inching towards Zero Covid approach (RTÉ)

Getty

Meanwhile…

Last night.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that anyone entering the State from overseas – with some exceptions – are now required to quarantine for the first time.

However, the requirement may take several weeks to become operational.

Via RTÉ News:

Mr Varadkar said some of this quarantining will be done in hotels, some in people’s homes.

Legislation will be needed to underpin the move to hold Irish and EU citizens without a negative Covid test in hotels.

It has also been confirmed that those returning from overseas to the State via Northern Ireland will be subject to the same legal requirements.

Fines for those outside the 5km travel limit who are intending to travel abroad will be increased from the current €100….

Anyone?

Arrivals from overseas face mandatory quarantine (RTÉ)

RollingNews


From left: Social Democrat TD Holly Cairns; Tuam Mother and Baby Home burial site

Yesterday.

Dáil Éireann.

Social Democrat TD Holly Cairns asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin if he would observe the ‘legal obligation’ to hold inquests into deaths at Mother and baby Homes.

Deputy Cairns said:

“Under the Coroners Act, it is the duty of a coroner to hold an inquest when a body is found in his or her district and when a person dies in State custody or detention.

Given that the mother and baby homes commission has reported on mass disappeared infants’ and children’s remains in unmarked graves, there is a legal obligation for inquests to be carried out for each deceased individual.

We know this relates to a large number of coroners in every relevant district and would be unprecedented in the use of resources. There is a legal obligation, however. Will the Taoiseach ensure that coroners carry out their duty to ensure that survivors get justice?“

Taoiseach Micheál Martin replied:

“I will make further inquiries on this. There are clearly legal obligations but that in itself is an enormous challenge going back to the early decades of the State from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. The 1940s in particular saw an appallingly high infant mortality rate in mother and baby homes. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is developing a broad base response to the commission’s report. How to deal with this will form part of it.”

Anyone?

Yesterday: ‘Gaslighting Survivors’

RollingNews

 

The densely populated undersea tableaux of LA-based artist Robert Stephen Connett. Of these paeans to biodiversity he sez:

In the shadow of a withering planet, I create worlds that are lush and thriving. I hope my work can encourage and uplift those who are disheartened by the climate crisis. However, creating a memory of a time when our world was stable is not enough. We all must do everything we can to lessen the causes of the crisis.

In fairness.

colossal

This morning.

Reddit has restored its WallStreetBets subreddit page after removing the community for “racism” and “hate speech”.

Rookie stock market investors on the platform joined together to purchase stock in targeted companies causing a major disruption in the stock market and resulting in several hedge funds to go bust.

GameStop stock rose 1,600 percent in January alone.

Memes have broken the brokerages (The Verge)

Last night: Tomorrow Tonight: Heber Rowan on Gamestop @14.01

Meanwhile….

A little background.

GameStop’s three largest shareholders earn over $2bn amid stock surge (The Guardian)

US Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, above speaking at the Presidential inauguration, has signed with a model agency

Model agencies think it’s high time
To do deals with people who rhyme
We’ll see verses that scan
On catwalks in Milan
And at long last I might earn a dime

John Moynes

Getty

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