Okay, it seems pretty clear that a huge percentage of leaders in Greece have been struck by some kind of cosmic stupid ray. Most people need no better evidence than the government’s fast collapsing Greece Summer 2.0 venture. Interestingly, this numbing ray seems to strike intermittently, because some really smart people show acute effects. Grigoris Tasios, who’s the President of the Halkidiki Hotel Association, seems to have been hit just the other day. Despite the harbinger of more stupidity to come, at least Tasios offers us hope of escaping more stupefying calamities.
To being. Grigoris Tasios’ cluelessness moment on account of outer space rays came with his recent assertions about Greece’s quarantine hotels. The veteran hotelier was quoted as griping because quarantine hotels have reached their limit and because he does not like the fact these hotels are handling travelers staying in short-term Airbnb-style rentals. Check this from the otherwise sentient Tasios:
“The number of quarantine rooms was calculated based on the total number of beds of legally licensed tourist accommodation facilities. However, the largest percentage of quarantine rooms is actually being used by tourists staying in apartments, villas, etc. which operate without a license, rented in the form of a short-term lease.”
He goes on sticking his foot deep into his own mouth as he seems to suggest infected Airbnb guests should be evicted, or sent to find other quarantine accommodations. The exact wording from a GTP report suggests Tasios wants “tourists staying in unlicensed short-term rentals inform the National Public Health Organization (EODY) and the general secretariat for civil protection which should find alternative quarantine space.”
Okay, the Halkidiki Hotel Association probably can’t afford to hire Ronn Torossian (in Athens now) as a PR consultant, but this looney narrative comes in the same article where Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis is forced to eat crow too. As island infections jump and overload these quarantine hotels, the tourism minister cannot seem to get out from under the goofball ray beaming the top of his skull 24-7. The genius minister once again has everything under control. And he cannot stop bragging about the stellar job he’s doing.
“The investigation into the possible effects of cosmic rays on living organisms will also offer great interest.” – Victor Francis Hess, Nobel physicist
Theoharis’ answer to more people at death’s door is to increase the number of hotels that can hold COVID infected. He also wants to have ferries deliver them to the mainland, so the islanders TUI and other tour companies depend on won’t be stressed too much. So much for the Einstein “Blue Freedom” inoculations that sent the Greek Army, Air Force, Navy, and Spec Ops people to tiny islands with antivirus ampules earlier this year. Don’t get me started there.
So far, Greek officials have painted themselves as the second coming, Achilles versus the virus, Hercules fending off the multiheaded pandemic, Hippocrates for their immunological prowess, and Pyrthagrius for their ability to save economic numbers. Meanwhile, as the virus continues to beat up on Greek businesses and the people’s psyche, Mitsotakis and Co. just keep doling out the bandaid fixes. Just how the European Union entrusted billions to these nincompoops in the so-called Greece 2.0 blubbery, is a cosmic mystery Socrates could not figure.
As for Grigoris Tasios, whose the owner of the Philoxenia Hotel in Halkidiki, he seems like a genuinely nice guy who just needs to hire somebody to speak for him. Or, perhaps he needs a tinfoil hat to protect him from those dumbing outer space rays. Get this, just to prove I’m not wrong about the Halkidiki Hotel Association boss, in another statement from the hotelier shows uncommon lucidity when he condemns the government’s iffy strategy for Mykonos, which ended in a real mini-disaster. Tasios also blew the whistle on New Democracy saying:
“The myth of Covid Free islands collapsed when on the most touristic island in the country, Mykonos, restrictive measures were imposed resulting in hotel cancellations, pushing the government to restore the island back to normal as of Monday.”
Tasios went on to say the Covid free islands strategy was not achieved because the vaccination was for the island’s permanent residents, and did not take into account travelers who might be infected. He said, as I did, that Greece never should have been subdivided where vaccines were concerned. Stange, given the man’s grasp of reality and apparent intelligence, I am ever more sure stupid rays are beaming on us from somewhere up there. How can such lucidness and total obtuseness coexist?
“Our posturing, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” – Carl Sagan –
Finally, news that Norwegian Cruise Lines is sailing to the Greek isles again after 500 plus days anchored, is not really good news for hoteliers or local businesses. There’s another reason to believe Greek leaders are being bombarded from Planet Zoltar by cosmic rays. Pimping Aegean cruises in the face of Santorini hoteliers about to lose everything they have is just dumb. Norwegian Jade will sail to the Greek Isles on voyages from Athens to Crete, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Santorini. And if the UK puts Greece & Spain on the Amber Plus List, Houston-based Hines and other investment giants will be seen snapping up half of the Greek shoreline this fall.
Let’s hope the extraterrestrial stupid ray does not hit politicians who are ready to dole out those Greece 2.0 billions to their buddies.
