A new middle-ranking TCC executive appointment has been filled by a former Nous Consulting executive, ‘after a comprehensive search’. Oh, really? Or was this just another fait accompli of staff stacking by the CEO? And by the mayor, who owes him bigtime?
‘Novax’ Djokovic is the toast of headline writers, punsters and on-line jokesters, with his attempt to foot-fault Australian sovereignty. His hubris has added to the hilarity. The ‘Pie features some of the best responses … including the nine-word tweet of the year. And Bentley.
More murky mucking around by Magnis which further removes it further from any likelihood of establishing anything here. in Townsville. But our tough investigative Bulletin is yet to ask our mayor where the council stands with the formerly much touted anchor tenant of her pet Lansdown precinct.
The Ghislaine Maxwell verdict … The ‘Pie has some hitherto unasked questions … but not of her … of the ‘victim’ Virginia Giuffre.
And in the US, its been the anniversary week of the January 6 treason … our regular gallery of penmen are in full cry. And also one of the most disturbing insights into the USA of today, which argues a civil war isn’t coming … it’s already being fought.
Your weekly commercial break: If you feel like supporting The Magpie’s Nest, donations are always a great help in meeting the blog costs. The appropriate button to get that ball rolling is at the bottom of the blog. Sincere thanks to those who have already helped out.
Now onward
For An Anti-Vaxxer, He Seemed Very Needled
Seems appropriate that all the talk this week has been about rats … in the case of Covid, that would be delightfully apt acronym RATs (Rapid Antigen Tests), and its gouging unavailability because of the country’s Rat In Chief in Canberra. But in terms of tennis, it’s all ratbags and rants.
Serbia is famous for three things: the Great Vowel Shortage of 1892, from which the country’s language has never recovered … war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, who self-medicated himself to death in a jail cell, and Novak ‘Novax’ Djokovic, medical genius, renowned freedom fighter, virus expert, filthy rich arsesole and occasional tennis player.
No point in raking over the coals of the past week, suffice to say, ‘Novax’ lobbed here in Oz by lying about a medical exemption, (he’s against mandatory vaccinations) and was refused entry, ordered to be deported and was then quarantined in a less than salubrious (he says, but stiff cheddar, buddy) Melbourne hotel awaiting his lawyers to anchor their yachts and come ashore to earn another spinnaker or two this week. Like just about everybody, Bentley quickly had a gutful of this posturing blowhard.
But social media loved it. And those clever buggers at The Shovel had a field day.
But the Tweet of the Week has to be this clever take That had The ‘Pie rolling about with mirth:
But The ‘Pie Stopped Laughing When Some Twerps Came To Novak’s Defence.
One twit railed about harassment of the tennis player. Now, you know your Magpie is a mild mannered fount of sweetness and light, but on this subject, he went right off in comments when some berk described the player’s treatment as ‘harrassment’.
The Magpie
January 6, 2022 at 11:17 am (Edit)
Since when is enforcing a country’s laws suddenly ‘harassment’? Wonder how you’d go fronting up the Serbian border (wherever that is this week) and demanding entry without proper documentation. And a Serbian politician vowing to fight for truth and justice is a hoot … history tells us it’s a deadly hoot, but laughable anyway.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Instagram: “I told our Novak that the whole of Serbia is with him and that our bodies are doing everything to see that the harassment of the world’s best tennis player is brought to an end immediately,”
“In line with all norms of international law, Serbia will fight for Novak, truth and justice. Novak is strong, as we all know.”
Not sure we want to know what those ‘bodies are doing’, but Mr Vucic seems to be a warning to the world of what happens when cousins marry.,
But here’s the sad part. Vucic gets top marks for leadership in an area when Scott Morrison gets none – wrong-headed or not, he comes out in defence and assistance for his countrymen in trouble overseas. Maybe Julian Assange should become a Serbian.
But still the rabbits kept on about tennis, sporting nation, hypocrisy blah blah fucking blah, and it made The ‘Pie really lose it.
The Magpie
January 7, 2022 at 10:47 pm (Edit)
What the fuck is wrong with you people? This is NOT about tennis, FFS, and this is NOT about whether we are right or wrong. This is about our sovereignty and, right or wrong, making the decisions WE believe are in the interests of our country. Not Serbia’s. And certainly not about the beliefs and disgraceful machinations of Tennis Australia, the executives of who are pygmies standing the shoulders of giants.
Ha -bloody – rumph!
RAT Race
The RAT saga … cost and availability and government credibility … is changing by the hour so, it’s hardly worth going on about … except to again defer to the Shovel for what might be a joke today, but tomorrow, maybe not.
And the best letter to the editor was thisn from the SMH:
But Omicron is also worth a serious mention. Please look at this, and regret that this sort of totally non-political, expert overview from a calm, sensible pommy doctor (John Campbell) hasn’t been the benchmark for giving us information from the start. You can just tell this bloke is the genuine article. It’s long, but informative in a way you won’t get in this neck of the woods.
That sensible, calm approach (Dr Campbell will never make it as a journalist) begged another question, which is the real dilemma for Palaszczuk, Smirko and all the other ‘decision makers’ at all levels. They tell us – quite correctly – to trust the science …but they never tell us what the science actually is upon which they base their decisions.
Wasn’t there talk of a new law about governments having to reveal and release the scientific information in real time which led to their decisions? Whether or not, bring it on, we’re entitled to know. Our health and safety isn’t about your election prospects.
Holy Cow, Batman!! It’s Norris From Nous!!
After years of Nous Consultants/Labor folks getting the clear running for lucrative TCC jobs … many from the NT and a couple from Adelaide via Melbourne … the TCC has gone all Queensland patriotic and hired a new Chief information Officer from Brisbane. This is the bloke heading north to our bosom.
Mr Norris will lead the troubled department with its chequered history, a department which has been accused in the past of ineptitude and always being a couple of phases behind best practice technology.
Now, no reflection on Mr Norris, he will sort himself out in due time, but recent history demands that the question be asked – was there a search at all, or is this yet another backroom deal that has been done? A move to consolidate the hold on the power, the perks and political influence of the self-styled Walker Street elite?
And to make it even more intriguing, the salary offered will be more than interesting … the last published TCC CIO take-home was a measly low $80Ks, and hardly likely to attract a high flying accomplished Info Bod.
But not sure the executive and particularly the mayor want anyone too competent in the position … sharing information with the ratepayers and stakeholders isn’t exactly a compelling priority in the Walker Street Hermit Kingdom
Magnis Update – The Never Ending Story
Some information we won’t be getting from Mr Norris nor anyone else down there will be the current state of council’s deal with Magnis Energy.
To update you all about a couple of things happening over the silly season holiday break, two more directors have quietly left, making sure the door won’t hit them on the way out.
From the Australian, January 4, 21:
And Magnis seems to be becoming some sort of record holder for manipulations of questionable market strategies. Interesting piece in the Australian just before Christmas. It is lengthy but it details the highly questionable ethics of Poullas and his board. The Australian two days before Christmas.
On Monday, Magnis Energy had exciting news: Traxys, a minerals brokerage, had signed a “binding” agreement for the delivery of significant volumes of graphite to be produced at the company’s Tanzanian mining project.
The agreement, however, had one unusual feature. There was no upfront payment from Traxys to secure the supply of natural graphite concentrate – in all, up to 600,000 tonnes from 2024.
Magnis, however, would have to pay up. Under the deal, Traxys received 700,000 shares in the next-generation battery operator as a “marketing fee” and some 1.3 million options at 60c each.
Fulfilling the deal will be a tall order for Magnis, which has been working on the Nachu project in southern Tanzania since 2013.
The offtake agreement requires the company to start the construction of a processing plant within nine months. Magnis will also have to secure finance and get all approvals from the Tanzanian government by that time.
Like its battery manufacturing projects – run through a subsidiary known as Imperium3 – Magnis has struggled to get the Nachu mine running for several years.
And Traxys is not the first memorandum or deal Magnis has for its graphite. It is its fifth.
Former Magnis figures, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing legal threats, say the deals had proven costly, with payments to consultants required.
The first “binding” Nachu offtake agreement – with Sinoma, or the China National Materials Import & Export Corporation – was signed in 2014.
Magnis would have to deliver 80,000 tonnes of graphite annually for five years.
The plan, according to company documents, was for the processing plant to be completed by the end of 2015. That would mean graphite production in 2016.
Shortly after the deal with Sinoma came an agreement for the delivery of 100,000 tonnes of graphite every year to Sinosteel.
By March 2015, Magnis signed a deal with Sinoma to organise project finance, engineering, and construction on the site.
But no graphite was sold – to either of the two Chinese firms.
Both offtake agreements were terminated in January 2017, and Magnis instead signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom. “Discussions are continuing on the project financing of the Nachu Graphite Project in tandem with offtake discussions,” the company said at the time.
Magnis delivered some graphite samples to Rosatom in July 2017. The potential offtake agreement was not mentioned again.
Another deal, with Europe’s World Plastik ve Petrokimya Sanayi ve Ticaret, was announced in December. The company only disclosed that the deal would run three years from first delivery, “with further details remaining commercial in confidence”.
In November, Magnis chairman Frank Poullas told the company’s annual meeting that the project was now “shovel ready”. The company only needed to relocate several families living on the mine site, Mr Poullas said.
Magnis director Peter Tsegas heads up operations in Tanzania.
He had earlier told The Australian that Magnis was not unique, noting “no graphite company, no listed company has broken ground in Tanzania”.
“None of the companies here are mining,” he said.
Which makes it bloody hard to deliver anything to anywhere … including Townsville. But of course, we muggings will not be allowed to see Mayor Mullet’s deal with Magnis on behalf of the Townsville ratepayers. And no bloody wonder she doesn’t want us to know. Commercial in Connivance.
The Ghislaine Maxwell Verdict
It is an interesting scenario, especially now that Epstein’s procuress Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty of underage sex trafficking.
The Magpie believes there are some questions that are being avoided in this whole sordid affair.
The ‘unsealing’ that the 2009 confidential agreement between Virginia Roberts – then known as Virginia Giuffre – and paedophile ringleader, the late Geoffrey Epstein raises a question or two. The supposedly legally binding agreement saw Ms Giuffre/Roberts receive $500,000 to remain silent about her numerous bouts of underage sex with the rich creeps Epstein catered for. The agreement did not specifically name the ol’ Drizabone, the unsweatable Prince Andrew, but it is certain the agreement covered him.
Now in. 2009, Ms Giuffre/Roberts was 26 or thereabouts, not some ditzy teenager slung a few bob to ‘keep our little secret’. She was mature enough, and had enough legal advice, to clearly know what she was signing, what the legal obligations were, and what she was receiving – which was far from a few bob. Let us put aside for the moment the legality of such agreement designed to hide a crime. Because all parties to it are surely equally guilty of criminal behaviour.
Despite this arrangement and just a few scant years later, not only did Ms Giuffre/Roberts spill the beans on the heinous child trafficking ring, helping Epstein finally get the ultimate ‘fucking’ he deserved, but she has also accused Prince Andrew of being one of her abusers. And filed a civil suit in the US against him, seeking massive amounts of compensation. Of course, there are no doubt loftier ideals behind the civil case, but money’s in there, top of the pile.
But before we go there, The ‘Pie makes clear that he does not doubt the accusers stories of illegal underage abuse, and that paedophilia is one of the most heinous crimes in human society. And he is certainly not making a case for the grubs involved here.
But those questions remain. Why, as a mature person able to understand and make binding legal deals, did Ms Giuffre/Roberts, at that stage just out the arsesoles of the international ring, and seek recompense in the courts ? Had she done so, perhaps many other underage victims would have been spared any subsequent trauma.
There is also the question that may have been answered but The ‘Pie hasn’t seen it – just who initiated the negotiation for a deal? Did she in fact threaten to tell all unless …???
But no matter, having been party to an illegal deal, and then deciding to go back on the obligations therein, did she return the money? There is no mention that she has. Would that have not been the honourable thing to do, to lift herself above the grubbiness of it all and set an example to other victims. And also remove her from possible prosecution for entering into it in the first place. She knew exactly what she’d signed up for at the time. Or has she rationalised this by figuring she was owed the half mill for what she went through?
So now, let’s just look at what she went through.
The media frenzy has promoted the idea of young, unblemished teenager, innocent of the ways of the world and the by-ways of sex, who lost her innocence to a slobbering group of fat, ugly old princes and potentates. That is of course, poppycock. For more than 60 years now, even pre-teen kids know what it’s all about, and many of them are happy to experiment among themselves. So there can be little doubt that Ms Giuffre fully knew the score when ushered into the world of fabulous wealth and the jet setting lifestyle which so dazzled her. Princes and potentates all ask a price, which in this sleazy case, was the purchase of youth. And in many quarters in this modern world, youth knows it, and its worth.
Ms Giuffre is the founder of Victims Refuse Silence … but in her case, it appears she is a victim who refuses silence but keeps the money.
There is another area that The Magpie doubts will ever be canvassed because it might be seen – falsely – as giving some excuse for the paedos behaviour.
At no stage, from The Magpie’s scanning of the issue, has the word ‘rape’ in the usual sense been used apart from the legal term for underage sex ‘statutory rape’ for the activities complained of. Nor has the word ‘virgin’, and there has been no hint of being held against her will, of imprisonment, threats or physically forced anything. It seems certain that the underage females were compliant in the activities, because it wasn’t just sex – with which in all likelihood in this day and age they were well conversant – but the parties, the mansions, the private jets and holiday islands were the ultimate form of bribery of strange, rich creeps, not remotely like a romp with the boy the next door after he’s shouted a KFC bucket and a couple bootleg bottles of Baby Cham. If Ghislaine Maxwell had openly advertised what she was looking for, the interview queue would’ve stretched around the block.
But she didn’t, for the simple reason IT IS AGAINST THE LAW, a law designed to protect young teenagers from exactly this sort of predatory behaviour only made possible by a power imbalance. And she knew it. So a tempted Ms Giuffre cannot be held fully accountable for her obvious compliance, it is the rich and powerful only at fault here. Being a dazzled young woman making a poor judgement is not a legally punishable offence, it is only reckoned eventually in the court of human regret.
But now it’s in the REAL court. And more regret may lie ahead.
And this seems a classic case of just that. There can be no argument that what happened in this matter was wrong. But let’s not be ingenuous about HOW it came about, as a salutary lesson to the vulnerable.
A US Civil War: It’s Being Fought Already
It is always difficult to know when you’re lookingv at history as it happens, unless it is instant and unforgettable as an instance. That is not the case the the USA. – it is a country caught in the cliche of a slow motion train wreck.
The question has baffled many in recent years … exactly what is it that ails America? The symptoms are there to see – rampant materialism, the divide between the haves and the have nots, government policies of social exclusion on health, education and housing, sheer naked greed, endemic racism and of course, guns, guns, guns. But those are just symptoms of an underlying social corrosion. Is there any answer? Here is the best intelligent non-partisan analysis and way forward The ‘Pie has ever come across. The conclusion is sound, but the likelihood of it happening is impossible to see.
The relevance of the analysis was heightened by the anniversary of the January 6 storming of the Capitol by a treasonous mob, and the Republicans refusal to acknowledge it as such (just tourists, they say … they are truly insane). The crisis has not been missed by the insights of America’s penmen.
Finally …
Couple things.
First, what’s a cheque, The ‘Pie has forgotten. but he does remember a problem, sort of.
… always hate to leave you on downer, so just for genuine laughs, have a look at this from the immensely likeable funnyman Peter Kay. Not sure if it’s been posted here on The Nest before, but what the hell, it’s still as funny as. Enjoy.
………………..
Join in the comments on any of the above subjects or anything else you want to talk about, they run 24/7. And if you have some spare change left over from the holiday excesses and would like to support The Magpie’s Nest, the donate button is below. We do actually need it. Thanks.
In your convoluted attempt to victim-blame Ms Guiffre, you have again exposed your old white guy misogynism.
Why should any young woman hand back a negotiated payment of compensation for her under age sexual abuse? Do you expect all the young victims of the paedos in the Catholic Church to hand back their financial compensation? Or should they have all known what they were doing, too?
Predictable. And stupid.
But to answer your panting ramble: The ‘Pie simply posed the valid question whether legally Ms Giuffre payment was in fact a sort ‘proceeds of crime’ payment, and did she indeed break the law herself by agreeing to an arrangement that hid criminal behaviour? Was she at the very least aiding and abetting a criminal conspiracy? And in that asking, it was necessary to view of the whole picture from all angles.
You can attempt to bully The ‘Pie as much as you feebly like, but he will not be deterred from asking legal questions just because you are too thick to be fair and too lazy to see if there is a broader view.
Advice: get some WD-40 for those jerky knees. You are one of the unthinking crew who don’t dare interrogate the circumstances of all parties involved in complex social issues, including racism and sexuality. Parroted phrases like ‘old white guy misogynism’ reveals your shallow cliched response to anything you don’t wish to examine closely or think too deeply about … you just trot out the learnt but unexamined banalities, occasionally changing ‘misogynism’ to ‘racism’ or ‘sexism’ or whatever other shadow you are flinching at.
Your fevered comment about the victims of priests ‘handing back their financial compensation’ is deeply and densely idiotic … the vast majority of priests’ victim were prepubescent children cowed into silence through the terror of voodoo mysticism (it’s called religion), and were not offered money to keep silent – any later payment they received was through them NOT remaining silent. And unlike Ms Giuffre, who was in advanced teenage years (at 17, just months away from the age of consent) and able to make rational decisions, they could not have absconded from their abusers at any time.
And please note, my little culture warrior, although everyone knows it anyway, I have removed my personal name from your post on the grounds that you are way too cowardly to come out from behind your anonymity, and offer yours when making unfounded slurs. Tell you what, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours … or is that too sexually triggering for you?
Standby for declaration of a mistrial for Ms Maxwell, after two jurors subsequently bragged to the media about using their own stories of sexual abuse to sway the other jurors into guilty verdicts.
Yeah, why wouldn’t you be a lawyer? But that simply means we go through the whole circus again.
But big question is whether telling fellow jurors why you’re voting the way you are against the rules? In oz, there are penalties in. place for revealing too much if anything about jury deliberations but in America, it’s a wonder jurors aren’t handed a free megaphone as they leave after a trial.
And another thought occurs about the blabbing jurors … should they not foot the multi-million dollar bill for the mistrial their blabbing has caused?
Hmm, must have struck a nerve to elicit such a peevish response. As the parent of daughters, I would not consider any 17 year old girl complicit in her own sexual abuse. Next you’ll be saying that she was asking for it. As I said, victim blaming. Waiting for your chorus of jaded old geezers to join in?
You are a regular reader, and you known that The Magpie heartily dislikes the use of English … in your case, the use of ‘misogynist’. And you clearly refuse to engage on the matters raised by The ‘Pie. So you love this.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10382455/SARAH-VINE-Prince-Andrews-oaf-accuser-questions-answer-too.html
Obviously, Contributor, you don’t want to discuss this matter beyond where you’ve come to an unbudging full stop.
But feel free if you’re willing to discuss the following questions posed by The Magpie and later, by the Daily Mail.
Did Ms Giuffre instigate discussions/threats for a monetary settlement?
By accepting the money on offer, subject to a confidentiality agreement, did Ms Giuffre enter into a conspiracy to cover up a crime?
By doing so instead of going to the authorities, did she enable Epstein and his rich troglodytes to continue offending and abusing others who may have been spared had she blown the whistle?
Did she send a text message to a fellow ‘victim’; boasting that she had ‘slept with the prince’? (as claimed by the fellow ‘victim’ in the Daily Mail article.).
‘Slept’ not ‘raped’? But no matter whatever, Epstein and his mates committed crimes against the laws of the various lands in which they took place, using their wealth and connections to get away with it. But that DOES NOT preclude a wider more thoughtful view.
Do you not realise that your silly knee-jerk reaction of scripted insults is undermining the seriously fine work by the feminist movement and the #MeToo initiative to ensure that REAL victims are not shamed or blamed when abused?
No More Dredging is back under yet about her pseudonym. Read the Magpies comments slowly and accurately you dumbfuck. If anything, he is very simply raising the talking point about ‘motive’, th young ladies motive when weighed up against her actions.
And The Magpie is not alone in his view … but he was first to express it. But now this.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10382455/SARAH-VINE-Prince-Andrews-oaf-accuser-questions-answer-too.html
Here’s a few unanswered question- did the parents, who were missing in action when their children took off in a private jet, secure them a passport? If they did facilitate child prostitution and receive a subsequent benefit from their children aren’t the parents just as guilty? Surely they can’t claim that they didn’t know what was going on? To the best of my knowledge no investigative journalist has ever ran these types of issues to ground.
Another great blog Pie and regarding another Nous appointment do they pick up the normal $15k + recruitment costs and was the job advertised or are Nous the contractor supplying the role ? . Based on the Ceo “conflict of interest ” was he excluded on approval process . One Councillor who hasnt been resting over the break is Fran O”callaghan in her second column for “Peoples News ” she questions Councils Corporate plan especially ” to be competitive Townsville must have sites ready to de-risk investments providing positive economic impact to local industries both directly and indirectly ” posted on her facebook page . Interesting to note when you go into the corporate plan it refers you to City deals performance which hasnt been updated since 2019 . The Feds claimed Council was holding up projects which seems totally against their own corporate plan . Yes Minister .
No one will care about any of that Mike, where he came from, how he got here, Jared Norris will be invited down to the Chamber of Commerce for a grovel and crawl session, lots of happy snaps and maybe a podcast.
Hey, like the new editor at the Daily Mulletin, let’s give the bloke a go.
Yes, give the bloke a go. Food joints will probably do well out of him too, obviously likes to sink the fangs into tucker!
And you don’t, Adonis?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/08/royals-await-anxiously-the-fallout-from-prince-andrews-disgrace?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Very good backgrounder, thanks. The word schadenfreude comes to mind.
Another inciteful editorial Mr Magpie. In a free democracy it is encouraging to get your thoughts on things sensible. Early today I prayed to God Almighty that this pandemic will end very soon and we again be set free.
Are we free? While we entered uncharted waters two years ago and when lockdowns and government control was affected surely then lockdowns would not have worked. Now we need to be set free to charter our own destiny within the shadow of a panemic. No more lock downs. We know what to do. We get vaccinated, if that is your wish, we become kinder to each other and we get on with life. Each year influenza will kill in excess 2,000 Australians. Did we get locked down? No. The whole saga is an excercise of control by authorities to tie us down. This communistic exercise is most prevalent in Labor states but other states stand guilty of social genecide. May God end it all soon because I cannot see how all this drama will end. We could be locked down and socially controlled for another two years! I am at distressed that it may go on ..forever. God help me.
God? He took the last train for the coast years ago. If we must go down this path, should we consider that perhaps it is his absence that has caused all this rapid change of circumstances?
And anyway no society is ever free, it just grants itself extra cell block privileges from time to time to make the sentence more palatable. And comparing COVID with the ‘flu is never gunna fly, Tree Rooter, it is a different kettle of bat poo altogether.
But yes, after the first harsh but necessary actions to contain the virus, it has now devolved into panicked politicians seeking to hid that they have overreacted in the latter stages of the control measures … which they most did, and are doing. In his video (posted in the blog) Dr John Campbell utters the words that no politician anywhere would be willing to endorse … ‘Omicron is a good thing.’ In other words, there is real hope that it spells the start of the end of the Covid era.
Magpie, didn’t our new glorious CMO declare that Omicron was a great thing, that it was very mild, that the sooner we all got it the better and that the health system would breeze through it. He seems to be talking out of the other side of his mouth now and he has cancelled my long awaited elective surgery the grumpy prick.
Treeclimber, where did you get your information that “Each year influenza will kill in excess 2,000 Australians”? GP News reported in August 2021 that:
“In a month when flu cases are normally rising to a peak, no deaths have been reported anywhere in the country for the year to date. And according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the last Australian death officially attributed to influenza was recorded in July 2020.”
When Ghislaine Maxwell was in court her siblings were there to support her.
Should Prince Andrew see the inside of a court room I wonder if his siblings will be there to support him.
Reference your insightful analysis of Virginia Giuffre’s case, I would suspect that as a teenager her friends called her virgin for short but not for long.
https://twitter.com/TheTweetOfGod/status/1478795838805590017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1478795838805590017%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-23226147321791812112.ampproject.net%2F2111242025001%2Fframe.html
I would be interested to see what the recruitment process for the CIO consisted of? And not only that;
Were there internal candidates?
Nobody in Townsville qualified for the position?
Was the Prince on the interview panel or part of the process?
Did the Nous candidate meet all of the position description?
Will the new CIO be relocating to Townsville? And if he is – is TCC paying for his moving expenses? And if he is FIFO, what exactly are those specific costs going to amount to?
The last thing TCC need is another Nous fuckwit coming in (after Nous previously gutting TCC numbers) and causing more upset and mayhem.
All good questions Mopsy, I can’t imagine there’s any ‘commercial in confidence’ issues here! Referring to the appointee as a ‘fuckwit’ is a stretch. Let’s give him a chance as The Pie has stated. Time will tell.
Now, perhaps Fran can get the answers to your questions into the Council minutes?
Interesting quote from ‘creepy Andrew’ in the press the other day on calling Virginia Giuffre “ a money grabbing sex kitten”
Probably agree with the first part, but how did he know she was a sex kitten?
Alhazbin, probably cos he rooted her a number of times.
Three was the claim.
Blokes always exaggerate !
Did someone say sex kitten?
What has age got to do with it?
CALLING JENNY HILL
When your dams start spilling over,
Who ya gunna call,
DAMBUSTERS…
Apply J Hill, TCC, Walker Street, Townsville.
Ohhh Pie thats so DAM unfair, you know a post like that will OPEN THE FLOODGATES of people wishing the SINK the slipper or flipper into Jenny. You know the DEPTHS some will go to in order to POUR WATER on her decision making ability. Even if the comments only STREAM in they will FLOOD the blog with nonsense and be warned no amount of SANDBAGGING from you will DAMPEN the commenters vigour to have a go. Why couldn’t you just say its WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE this time and not let your emotions SPILL OVER and throw the baby out with the bath water. Sometimes I just can’t FATHOM you out.
Slow Sunday with sloe refreshment, mate?
Luvvit!
just the tonic mate thanks
Queensland State government just scored a hat trick of fuck ups that breaks society down again.
90%+ vaccinated = NO FREEDOM
90%+ crime increases = NO FREEDOM
90%+ of kids not in school = NO FREEDOM
For the number challenge labor voters who read this 90%+ school kids are because 11s and 12s are going but apparently the more dangerous younger kids have to stay locked up. I can’t let the opposition go here either nothing has been said about these restrictions considering national cabinet agreed on schools last week only. I believe this is a free kick for LNP.
Once again you can’t trust Labor.
Make that politicians.
I wonder what Madam Mullet will do if T.C Tiffany sends a tonne of rain our way? Will the Mullet put on the very clean hi-vis vest and swan around in front of the tv cameras pretending to be important and acting like our saviour? If there is any sort of mass downfall there will be trouble down at Wulguru as there will be Richard the thirds flooding residents yards again!
Hmmm! Will we see our flood mitigation Champion in the Hi-vis, or Councillor Ann Marie Greaney who seems to have overtaken Molachino in the P.R. release stakes handicap? The Mayor has been missing in action for so long I wondered if she was away on holiday, but maybe there are just no Billionaires wanting to invest at Calcium lately? Very unusual to say the least.
Count your blessings. But you’ll note that, as is always the tradition, madam manages to miss the action when there’s likely to be blow-back. Molachino was shoved into the front line on the disgraceful CBD parking changeover, which is a wasteful, bare-faced rort. Interesting that the Astonisher is all over this – not sure that the new editor is in office yet, but could this be the year the paper redeems itself?
Aagh yes, the gutless parasite politicians. I always laugh at how a Mayor is always front and circle of any positive publicity that comes from an announcement, but when a shit decision is made, such as raising rates and fees and charges, the spineless Mayors always disappear and send out their deputy shit kicker to cop the flak. It’s an old trick, but it seems to work most times. But as for local items here in Townsville, the reason Madam Doona has gone to ground is probably because there are no good news stories. A decade of the Mullet has resulted in a stagnant city heavily in debt, that’s it.
Thank Dog the Mayor is back to save us from COVID. The rattle of coathangers was loud as she scrambled through her mayoral wardrobe (throwing purple doonas to the side) looking for her CHAIR vest to wair to the Disastrous Committee Table so they can coordinate the efforts of the State and Federal governments in responding to the spike in case.
Dearie, spare us the breathless histrerics and get on with keeping the water coming in, the poo flowing out, the rubbish getting picked up, and the roads even a little less potholed. I wont add mowing and cleaning public spaces because that is demonstrated to be beyond her and the Little Pric.
We’re ready and waiting Waterboy. Primed and ready to go!
Firstly, this is not an Antivax rant, post, etc.
I think UK Health Minister missed the point of the doctor’s comment, i.e. what are benefits of naturally acquired antibodies.
https://youtu.be/hOlEYcd1nyI
I am reasonably sure the human immune system has been one the key elements of human survival through out history whether naturally acquired or artificially stimulated by vaccines or serums.
It’s interesting the discussion of antibodies are absent from COVID conversations except in vaccine form.
Hello Nickster
The problem with naturally produced antibodies is that the only way to acquire them is to catch the disease (and survive). Which is a bit chancy. And only works for that variant.
Vaccines have an advantage in producing antibody based resistance- they are engineered so that you will almost certainly survive them.
Antibodies have a role in survival of the individual, but not on a population basis. The standard, non technological outcome of pandemics in the past is that most people die, with the survivors carrying a genetic mutation that makes them resistant to the disease. The survivors with the genetic mutation reproduce and the dead people don’t.
Examples are sickle cell anaemia mutation carried by many African people that confers resistance to malaria, and the inherited resistance by European populations to pandemic diseases such as measles and influenza. Indigenous populations without the historical die back events tend to expire like flies when first exposed to (new to them) pandemic diseases.
Thanks DG, getting to the other side of COVID means antibodies from vaccines or by surviving (COVID didn’t kill Barnaby, he’s a picture of a health compromised individual, amongst other issues)
I am confused why there is no conversation of antibodies. Vaccines are only part of the answer, particularly when you look at a place like Gibraltar that has a vaccination of rate of more than 120% and still has COVID. When do we start invoking Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity
The cynical view might be you can’t make money from natural immunity
A vaccination rate of 120%? Did the family dogs jabbed as well, perhaps?
“The standard, non technological outcome of pandemics in the past is that most people die . . . .” Are you sure about that, Dr Google? When I google the same doctor I find items like:
“As devastating as it was [10% mortality], the Spanish flu was a minor episode compared with the ravages of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the Black Death. In the Middle Ages, it reduced the European population by approximately one-third.”
There’s no evidence that “most people die” unless you just make it up.
Well, hang on, Addled, and only on a point of semantics …. that surely means ‘most infected people die’. In fact, it can only mean that; if 51% is ‘most’, far more than a third would’ve died during the black plague.
Two separate issues.
1. I have no idea what Dr Google MEANT but what he said doesn’t accord with easily checkable information (I won’t call it facts).
2. The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the US says, about the 1918 Spanish Flu, that “It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide”.
This suggests that about 10% of INFECTED people actually died.
Speaking of 51% Pie, read this article specifically para 13 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-10/queensland-records-9-581-new-cases-of-covid-19/100747488
Can we deduce from the statement “Six of the 11 people in intensive care on the Gold Coast are unvaccinated”, that 5 of 11 people in intensive care ARE vaccinated?
Yes, of course, simple maths … but your point is what? Seems your agenda is not clear, because of the whole reporting of this particular aspect puts the whole thing in context.
Six of the 11 people in intensive care on the Gold Coast are unvaccinated.
“It’s hard to believe in my mind how you can still be unvaccinated now in the middle of a pandemic,” he said.
The five other people were fully vaccinated but had other complex health issues, like strokes, brain injuries or head injuries.
Which means it is purely coincidental that they were fully vaccinated, irrelevant in fact, unless someone is going claim that vaccination causes brain and head injuries. It is experience that tells us these injuries are the on going suffering of the unvaccinated.
Ah ha! You missed the sloppy ABC reporting, ‘Pie, because these biased bastards made no mention whether these fully vaxxed had had their ‘flu, smallpox or polio shots … or if there could be a link to their injuries because of this.
The comments highlight the continually narrow debate and discussion around COVID with search for the silver bullet, maybe I should lower my expectations of the ABC.
I’m not sure why we don’t take a similar approach as we do with Tuberculosis where before you get vaccinated you take a test to assess the levels of antibodies which provides individualized care rather than one size fits all.
BTW I am fully vaccinated.
You want more tests?!?
Meanwhile in Germany … RAT vending machine.
How did they lose the war? Glad they did, but , well, you know …
The major evidence that most people died in previous pandemics is that current populations where a disease is endemic (eg Europeans and influenza) as a whole have the mutations that make people resistant to the disease. This shows that ancient individuals without the resistant mutation (who would have been the majority) must have died without offspring. Current populations without the mutation (eg indigenous populations) do not have the resistant genes and have been decimated en masse when they first come into contact with the disease.
I recommend Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs and Steel for more detail.
“Major evidence”? In the 1918 Spanish flu MOST PEOPLE did not die. In fact, as the CDC evidence showed, only about 10% of INFECTED people died. Do you have some contrary evidence?
Hey, Adds – did we not have this type of discussion a few months ago? Sophistry with numbers?
So Djokovic wins his court case, BUT the Commonwealth still retains Power of Discretionary authority.
It will be interesting to see which way Scomo/Dutton lean.
Dutton is the defence minister, keep up with the times, it’s Alex Hawke, no relation to Bob.
Apologies and thanks for the correction.
Hey Heel, what’s it got to do with Potato Head Dutton?
Apologies and thanks for the correction.
All the people and media getting all emotional about Novax Cockanitch not being double vaccinated. The worst thing is old Tomato Head Joyce carrying on like a complete fuckstick over the whole affair (oops, I said ‘affair’). You would think that a DPM would have better things to do, more important things, than fuck about with one pissy tennis player. Christ, get a life Barnaby, you, Scotty from Marketing and Fraudenberg really are complete morons.
Re No-Vaxx: Well played federal govt! Let him win the appeal, exercise the Immigration Minister discretion which means he can’t come into our country for 3 years, what’s the bet Novaxx leaves voluntarily now??!
What’s the bet he doesn’t leave unless he’s pushed. Why would he? Somehow, whatever happens, Scomo has to make it look like the next decision has nothing to do with him. The marketing team will be working overtime today.
Don’t forget he got sacked from the last marketing team he led.
So Djokovic wins his court case, and we are lumped with the legal tab, please explain that one.
How will those claiming refugee status who have been in “detention” often for some time, react? Watch this space.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2022/jan/10/lorna-miller-on-novak-djokovics-escape-from-detention-cartoon
Speaks volumes
Let’s be honest, Djokovic or no Djokovic, the Federal government and state governments have fucked up the COVID issue for 2 years now. Different rules in different states but yet the one COVID. These glorified public servants are wanking themselves endlessly as they use their powers to create rules so as to satisfy their egos. The China virus is now running rampant in once safe rural areas. We are worse off now than we were two years ago. Government assholes.
NEAR MISS!!!
Madura ‘Teabag’ McCormack, a Courier reporter who once toiled in the Townsville gardens of verbiage known as the Bulletin, breathlessly tells us of a near catastrophe this morning.
Labor and LNP in Queensland campaign blitz
Madura McCormack
“Duelling campaign blitzes of battleground Queensland has led to Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese nearly crossing paths, with both electioneering in the seat of Dawson on Tuesday.”
Mr Joyce (was) spending his time in Gladstone on Monday attacking Labor’s credibility on support for the resources sector, while Mr Albanese(was) outside a Townsville GP clinic on Monday, attack(ing) the federal government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic
Phew that was close … aircraft are said to have ‘almost crossed paths’ if they pass, according to The Magpie manual ‘within a distance close enough for one crew to observe the hostess of the other crew fellating her pilot’ – i.e. deemed a ‘near miss’ if the hostie is unmarried. But opposing politicians are required to keep a much greater distance – much, much greater, apparently – to avoid the catastrophic fall-out from the clash of two hot air balloons in full flight.
So Barnaby Beetroot and Anal Albo have narrowly avoided some sort of face-off … by a mere 832kms!! … yes, they missed each other by the barest margin of a 9 hour and 24 drive!!
Nice to know Ms McCormack has retained her geographical knowledge gained during her time amongst us here in Townsville.
Well, she does have that “Where the fuck am I?” look on her face. Clearly, Google maps is being of little assistance.
Pie, Back in 1972 when the pollies spruked from the back of semi trailers Gough & Gorton booked the same corner at Flinders & Stoke St’s
It was quite an entertaining evening.
Would that what you called ‘crossed paths’?
Close Encounters of the Turd Kind?
I would bet that before Alex Hawke MP uses any discretionary powers, that there is a quick ring-around to establish how many Australians of Serbian heritage live in his electorate.
Well, hello … and just where the hell have you been.
Latest Djokovic saga today is he made a false declaration claiming he had not travelled in the 14 days leading up to his arrival in Melbourne. Media posts show him in Spain!
Albos whirlwind Townsville tour reminded me of the looney tunes Tasmanian Devil . Finds a medical Clinic that doesnt have vaccine and does a rant on Scomo then tours a Queensland Health run centre that Townsville hospital Ceo says has plenty of vaccines for children and boosters for adults . After a short couple of hrs Albo announces he is going to Bowen . I suppose its better than Labors Kennedy candidate who decided going to work in the Isa was a better option than touring with the Labor leader .
Perhaps NOT appearing with Albo boosts the bloke’s chances.
Just had a call from The Hospital cancelling my out-patient appointment due to the increase in COVID and the expectation of hospitalisations.
I have had all 3 vaccinations, but I have to take a back seat to accommodate those selfish pricks who have not.
With 2 years lead up time, Qld Health are only now urgently re-engineering air flow systems in hospitals to create more isolation wards.
Achilles; I hope you show the same level of disdain towards those people that are clogging up the hospital with what are termed “lifestyle diseases “, complications of being overweight and obese, are we to ridicule those that have been let down by a failing health system that has failed to provide sensible interventions through dietary changes which would provide capacity to accommodate higher demand such as we are seeing now.
This Government is incompetent in the highest order and until accountability and an attitude of getting the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible is brought to The Public Service at all levels of Government nothing will change .
Don’t blame the unvaccinated for being the straw that broke the health system, place blame where it belongs, at the feet of those administering the direction and policies of the health system.
Really? Why is it so?
Try that argument on this nurse,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/13/my-bile-rises-as-im-asked-to-move-my-dying-cancer-patient-out-of-icu-to-make-room-for-an-unvaccinated-man-with-covid
Why is it so, indeed.
Achilles, the example you provide is tragic, my point is that don’t lay blame at the unvaccinated for taking up hospital beds when the hospital beds are full of people that have made a conscious decision to repeatedly make a poor choice. The unvaccinated deserve the same treatment as anyone else who makes a choice not to do all they can to preserve their own health. Don’t discriminate, nobody can decide which less than ideal choices lead to treatment or not
What a crock!
Perhaps the visiting politicians can hop on the same plane and head into the eye of that fucking cyclone. Take the mullet too. The same tawdry, boring and repetitive bullshit every election with Canberra fuckwits turning up in our region and wearing pristine hi vis vests and promising the world and then delivering sfa once elected. Piss off you pack of lying bastards and bastardettes.
PA, you’ll probably enjoy this snippet from Guy Rundle in today’s Crikey news”
“Morrison is a preacherman, certainly above being the prime minister of some dogshit continent suburb far from heaven. Surely this has now become clear to anyone paying attention. He wanted the gig, sure, but he didn’t want it in a way that would kill him if he didn’t get it. He wants worldly success, his church is the 30 suits in a motorised-rail-walk-in-wardrobe more than sackcloth-and-ashes type, but it is only an expression of God’s plan. So it’s like playing golf after you just got a hand job in the clubhouse bar. You’re relaxed, you want this shot, but who really gives a damn if you miss? So you get it every time. Christian Zen. Your opponents are so twisted with stress they go straight into the bunker.”
Guy tries a little too hard sometimes…
Hold on, what about the aircraft pilots? They haven’t done any wrong.
Nice to see Tony writing up the disastrous port expansion project with a 20% cost over run of an extra $39million of tax payers funds for just one part of the project.
Where’s the following up Tony, asking who is going to get sacked for this multi million dollar stuff up?
Like the song said, ‘Somethings goin’ on round here.’
‘The ‘Pie noted that story, too, and appreciated Raggatt’s no-nonsenses old style reporting of facts without opinionated conclusions … but in fine News Ltd style, the story more than a bit schizophrenic. First the headline:
Then the story itself, which started out in show-stopping fashion:
TOWNSVILLE port says its flagship channel widening project can be completed on time despite the slumping of the seabed inside its new rock wall and six-month delays to dredging.
A port spokeswoman was commenting after sources claimed the rock wall facing Ross River had slumped half a metre because of poor design.
This latest issue follows reports last year of disturbance to the wall’s fabric membrane and a need for additional rock to address higher than anticipated pressure from high tides.
https://www.townsvillemagpie.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Townsville-Port-reclaim-Screen-Shot-2022-01-11-at-5.24.33-pm.png
It is understood this problem was partly to blame for a $39m project cost blowout to $232m, although the government and port have also said Covid-19 impacted project delivery.
All this raises some serious questions, and The ‘Pie wonders if … and hopes … the old tradition that reporters DO NOT write the headlines for their stories holds true here.Because when a story uses phrases like ‘slumping of the seabed’ and ‘poor design’ had caused the rock wall to subside – and these facts are ignored as obvious news points begging for a headline, then sure as eggs something political is at work here.
But OK, if that’s not enough to be considered serious enough for a headline, then a cost blowout from $39M to $232M sure as hell is. That’s a staggering blow-out, bigger than Clive Palmer after a baked bean sandwich.
And does the Port and the state government seriously believe that we think their serious when they try to foist the blow-out onto the COVID excuse pile.
But of all the unanswered questions, the biggest one is – why isn’t this a bigger story?
I think the $39mill blowout is from a base of $193 mill, not measured as the blow out times 6.
Opps, you’re right, will amend … but still a sizeable blow-out, and still worthy of a headline.
Thanks for the heads up.
No point reporting anything less than a 200%+ cost blowout compounded by a 5+ year delay for any government project. Otherwise we would run out of trees to print the paper or burn millions of dinosaurs to power the online news networks. Let’s let sleeping dogs lie.
Yes New Subs it is indeed the message the Queensland Government wants you to remember “Keep Clam and Pay More Taxes”
It was fortunate for the federal government that everything in the taxpayer funded Port expansion is delayed by about a year, so far. If those pesky international politicians who came to Cairns last year to see if the GBR world heritage site was ‘in danger’ had actually seen a big dredging ship operating in Cleveland Bay they might have had second thoughts. As it is they have given Australia extra time (till the end of 2022?) to massage its flimsy, tokenistic case. The way things are going, if the Port doesn’t get its shit together pretty soon that UNESCO declaration may go ahead before they’ve got their dirty work done. That’s assuming we don’t get another mass coral bleaching in the next couple of months, making the port expansion project look like a government inflicted direct hit on GBR water quality.
Dredges? Have you had a haircut? Barely recognised you.
So while we are in election mode can anyone answer what is actually getting built now by Wagner’s your n Toowoomba? Is it still a quarantine facility? If so who for because even state labor has dropped the hotel quarantine down in numbers. If something is getting built then why isn’t it a designated Covid hospital? After all now all surgeries are being canceled because there’s apparently no beds and they are worried about numbers increasing why not bus them out there , it was going to be done with returning travelers???? Or was it just a couple of graders making a dam in some farmers paddock for the cameras. Lots of questions not many answers. Where’s our big 3 in Townsville?
Wagner’s were always going to win big time from the COVID facility. They will have agreements with our State Labor government to be paid ‘x’ amount of dollars for ‘x’ amount of years, whether the facility is used for COVID related purposes or not. They will be earning a good quid from the facility even if it sits empty. The only losers in the deal will be the Queensland taxpayer. The winners will be the Wagner’s and whichever past or future Labor politicians who end up in plum jobs within the Wagner corporation.
Another great Magnis story in The Oz today. A company that Magnis have said will be buying $56m of batteries over then next 3 years has only $7000 of assets with $777 held as cash.
Is it the same one as published in the Melb Herald Sun? It is old news being recycled, The Australian (and subsequently The Magpie) published the story about Sukh Energy more than three months ago. Perhaps it’s just that confirmation has been obtained?
From the H-S story:
An Indian company that Magnis Energy says will buy $56m of its hi-tech electric batteries in the next three years has reported no revenues and no expenses in the year ending March 2021, newly filed financial documents show.
Sukh Energy Private Limited – which describes itself as being in the business of “maintenance, repair and installation” of solar panels – had cash or cash equivalents of just $777, the documents lodged with the Indian corporate regulator and obtained through research platform Tofler show.
According to Magnis, however, the contract Sukh Energy signed with its batteries subsidiary – Imperium3 New York – has a value of $1.24bn over five years.
Sukh Energy, according to the filings, which cover the 12 months ending March 31, has borrowings of $72,000 and tangible assets of just $7000.
The financial filings were approved at a meeting on November 5, the disclosure notes.
My Year 8 English is a little rusty Mr. Pie, but, what exactly is a “convey?” The Bulletin seems to know…three “conveys” in three pars!
“A convey of stolen cars driven by juveniles have run riot across Townsville overnight, with numerous homes broken into and a vehcile left torched.
A spokesman for the Queensland Police Service said they were aware of a convey consisting of at least four vehicles driving throughout Townsville until about 5am.
The spokesman said the convey was “causing havoc” for hours and attempted to break into numerous homes in various locations.”
When you ask the Bulletin if their grammatical mistakes are because of ignorance, or because of apathy, they always reply ‘don’t know, don’t care.’
Butter-FLOG, thanks for letting me know you are in fact a child and in Year 8. This now gives context to some of you’re previous commentary and helps me understand why some of it is so juvenile. With thanks, again.
Does the word ‘rusty’ raise any clues for you, my well named friend?
It might be a new word used by Govt the describe stolen cars following each other, part of the Palaschuk crime plan, if the word doesn’t exist they can’t be charged with anything.
We gotta little convey rockin through the night…
Corrected in today’s Bully.
Must feel like pushing shit uphill for police – “This level of brazen crime was unacceptable” (TB 13/1)
Met with usual silence and no support from Mayor, three MP’s or federal candidate and Albo can’t leave town fast enough.
The Magpie doesn’t inhabit FB much, generally only replies to other people’s posts, and this blog ain’t no poor man’s FB for personal stuff BUT The ‘Pie is going to allow himself this one indulgence, albeit with slightly divided loyalties.
Pic from the opening game of the 2022 U18 state championships on the Gold Coast (today I think). Div 2 Gold Coast whipped Townsville 121-55 (oucha!) The blue bloke at the free throw line is Gold Coast Magpie grandson, all 6’6/7″ of him. He’s 15. Interest being shown in the right places for his future rep career, to the point where the Magpie expects to retire comfortably within the next few years due to his grandson’s generosity. But until then, will continue to seek your support to meet blog costs.
Perhaps he will graduate with honours and then take up a position at TCC, teaching the imbecile management and Councillors how to land winning goals???
Why would a multi-million dollar basketball player want to have anything to do with mob of pathetic losers?
Pie, They already have one on council.
Multi-million dollar? Don’t think so.
Alah, you are dead right (Multi million dollar basketballer). The Newcastle and Sydney property portfolio would take care of that. Now she’s doing a ‘Thurston’.
Retire? And what, Dear ‘Pie, do you think would happen then? With you gone there will be scores of Nesters in Townsville, and throughout the country, with out guidance or blog delivered supervision, wandering the streets and shopping centers, permanently perplexed. The possibilities are unthinkable. Humm………
Either unthinkable, or as old Willy said ‘a consummation devoutly to be desired’. In other words, all well and truly rooted.
This is the reason many people have a shit opinion of poli-bloody-ticians. In this case all parts of the Qld health system are crying out that the system is on it’s knees and about to break and the bloody Qld Health Minister is not listening claiming all is OK. FFS!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-12/queensland-paramedics-criticise-leadership-over-covid/100751232
Phillip Thompson, are you reading this. I hope you are above this despicable conduct. If something is fucked I hope you have the courage and honesty to come out and say, “It’s fucked!”
Class action anyone?
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/pfizer-boss-says-two-doses-provides-limited-protection-if-any-against-omicron/news-story/9d76126d080e2010f05eb0b4ae5e0c45
Pfizer’s chief executive has revealed that two doses of its current Covid-19 vaccine offer “very limited protection, if any” against the Omicron variant.
“Confirming this negative efficacy finding, data from Denmark and the Canadian province of Ontario indicate that vaccinated people have higher rates of Omicron infection than unvaccinated people.”
I am so happy I went against the “Health Advice” from CHO Jeanette Young to get Pfizer and trusted my GP who gave me Astra Zeneca.
Annastacia Palaszczuk lead us down the wrong path railing again ScoMo’s push for Astra Zeneca.
Can’t wait for the CCC to start investigating the former CHO and her husband who worked for Pfizer, it will make local government corruption look like a teddy bears picnic.
And now we learn that the single use surgical mask is of little use against omicron. A genuine N95 mask is the go. Apparently plenty of counterfeit ones out there.
This story keeps getting better and better.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-13/what-is-best-face-mask-for-covid-19/100751758
“Pets the latest victims of housing crisis”
Mr. Pie…today’s Bulletin Pages 1 & 5 leads, plus an Editorial.
Not one statistic about the city’s vacancy rate, the number of properties for rent, total number of properties rented etc. etc….nuffin!
We did learn, however, that “local volunteer animal welfare Angel Paws receiving up to 20 calls a day from desperate animals owners asking about giving up their four legged friends”
That’s more than 7000 dogs a year.
Paleese!!
Hey there Butter-FLOG, what exactly is you’re point(s)? How do you arrive at the number 7,000?
“20 calls a day”
Oh, F Wit. I feel so privileged that every time I post something on this wonderful blog, you take the time to respond.
And to cap that off, you have even given me a new, cute nickname…Butter-FLOG!
I know you mean well F Wit, but, FLOG…For Love Of God…could possibly be directed to someone else…maybe, our decisive Prime Minister?
I’m not really of that persuasion!
And, just to put you out of your confusing misery…20 phone calls a day, by 365 (that’s the number of days in the year Mr. F Wit), equals 7300.
I hope that clears things up!
FLOG – ‘Lacks credibility, tries to remain relevant, but comes across as a moron. Pretentious, conceited or foolish’. You asked Butter-FLOG!
Irony corner: FLOG is GOLF backwards, and of course, all golfers are the exact opposite of that description.
You just described the editorial staff at the Townsville Bulletin and our three local MPs, F Wit…well done!
Ummm, gee, let’s see …
Looks like Djokovic has taken a leaf out of Scomo’s guide book “I don’t make mistakes and when I do, it’s someone else’s fault
G’day Heel, I think we will hear shortly that Novaxx will ‘voluntarily’ withdraw from the AO Tennis and will head for home. Our case and building international questions and possible sanctions are growing by the hour………
IBP, I think He needs to pull that arrow out of his heel until it heals, it is really clouding his judgement lately, it was Plucka’s who keeps blaming Scomo and Campbell Newman.
Anal’s latest thought bubble is to have local government represented at National Cabinet. How would that work exactly? Does every mayor get to pop into the zoom meeting and put in their two cents worth?
The current National Cabinet appears to be something akin to herding cats, with each of the premiers having their own agenda.
Local government is rates, roads, rubbish, sewerage and water and they already have problems just doing those.
Local Government is up the ass and in the pocket of State Government local members in most regions anyway, so why not have the Local Mayor in the pocket of the Federal member also!. After all, whatever level of governments that they are, they are all pigs who feed from taxpayer troughs. The troughs vary, but they feed a multitude of inept politicians. Regardless of which government they work for, these scumbags always think about themselves and what they can rort or fill their pockets with.
PR,
OK, the situation is on the nose. What is your, or any other Nesters for that matter, solution to keep politicians and their sycophants honest, ethical, and accountable.
In my view an independant ICAC at federal, state and local government levels would be a start, but, I suspect, not the whole solution.
Herr Kelso, as usual you deflect and try to put the issue at hand onto the Nesters. From my perspective, I would quite simply like to see the following;
– Politicians sacked for not performing, or for doing something illegal, as happens in every other professions.
– Politicians banned from pork barrelling and made accountable for what they spend taxpayer money on. They should be charged when they misappropriate our taxpayer money.
– Politicians subject to upholding the same laws, rules and regulations that we have to comply with.
– Politicians to be subject to an ICAC in all three layers of government. And the ICAC is to be fully separated without ‘mates’ being part of the ICAC.
– Politicians not allowed to choose board members for government corporations. Board Director positions have long been gifted to retired/former politicians as rewards for being good mates.
This is just a couple of areas that I would like to see addressed. Kelso, you will no doubt disagree, deflect or twist my words. Whatever. But ironically, my above points are something that politicians should be doing or subject to anyway.
PR,
I think you misunderstand me. I agree with all your points. In my view the most important point is an INDEPENDENT ICAC. That is the body that will (should) put the spot light on the other unethical behavior and call offenders to public account. Stay safe.
I thought that Anal has recruited lots of Mayors to stand as candidates, he might be as cunning as a lavatory rat.
And corrupt as fuck
Tradie, you are correct. Lickspittle Albanese has indeed recruited a couple of the more ‘popular’ Mayors to stand as contenders for some Federal regional seats. Of note he hasn’t chosen to recruit the tainted has-been Mayor Mullet.
As cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
Pastor Scotts mates have been partying along at a Hillshlong ‘festival’. I wonder if Scummo, being a Pentecostal, uses safe COVID practises while performing his hands on faith healing? Does he wear a mask, stand back 1.5m and stretch from a distance to place his hands on the person that needs healing, and does he use hand wash afterwards? Maybe Phil Thompson could ask Scotty on our behalf? Oh boy, I can feel some happy clapping and dance moves coming on!!
https://au.yahoo.com/news/outrage-over-hillsong-video-showing-crowds-singing-dancing-nsw-085606215.html
Loaves and fishes, anybody.
The problem is many people are actually enjoying Covid, taking the opportunity to use up some unused sick leave and do shit around the house and play golf. Once you are told to isolate or actually have Covid you don’t need a doctors certificate, it gives you an automatic time off work, many people have weeks and weeks of sick leave that they would seldom use, so they are taking advantage of the situation.
A point of clarification, since The ‘Pie employment days are well behind him. If a person is ordered by the government to stay at home in these circumstances, does that then come off the sick leave entitlements? If that is the case, another bonanza for employers don’t the track, not having to pay those who subsequently get sick with other matters later on, but have run out of sick leave entitlements.
Stupid is as stupid does!!
KK, wondering if something got screwed up in the commenting …. appearing in this thread doesn’t actually make sense, was it meant to go somewhere else? Not commenting on the comment itself, but what does it apply to?
Magpie – It applies to the idiots who are fleecing the supermarkets to stock up for no good reason. The same thing happens when there’s a cyclone approaching. Stupid stupid stupid….or opportunistic.
Fair enough and agree. Just managed to confuse myself … and that hasn’t happened since the foreman pointed to shovels against the wall and told me to take my pick.
Great lead letter to the Editor in Bully today from David Thoumine, Cranbrook on failing Townsville leadership. You speak for all of us David.
So I take it that it is no longer considered appropriate to describe someone as “Aboriginal” or ‘Indigenous’ even, and the new PC term to be used is “First Nation man”? I wonder how long before we read of a Caucasian suspect being described as “Invading Nation man”?
I’m surprised They called him a man, the PC loonies would have expected (read demanded) person.
First Nations was initially used in relation to some Canadian tribes (very non-PC term) and has now infected PC language throughout the western world.
Just use it as a catch all phrase that includes both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – at least your not offending a person in one group by calling them the other.
Djokovic has had his visa cancelled again! Does that mean that the costs awarded to him by his first “success” are now to his account and not ours?
Are the costs for this one also now to his account?
It just depends how costs were awarded, if they were awarded … winners don’t always get their costs paid.
Daniel Snedden is watching with interest. 17 appeals?
His is an interesting case his real name is Dragan Vasiljkovic and he was subject to an extradition request by Croatia, so we locked him up for his own protection.
What a stuff up but bears no resemblance to the Djokovic sleaze. If they do decide to give him a visa I hope he gets bounced out the Oz open and departs pouting and tail between his legs.
Captain Obvious, we didn’t lock him up for his own good – he was a flight risk, which he later confirmed. He was a murdering piece of shit.
Well maybe the arsehole has been arseholed. He might be the best at tennis but he is shit at life! Just another jumped up never come down idiot with a god complex. Nice to see the government screwing with his (tiny) brain.
As it does with ours.
Pie, With all this crap going on about ‘Novax’. There is a chasm between the behaviour of the No 1 male and No 1 female tennis players
A veritable Grand Canyon of credibility, respect and affection.
We’re off to a great 2022 – “66 car thefts since the start of the year”. (TB 15/1)
Aaron Harper says without this government,m it would’ve been 660 car thefts. You ungrateful swine, you.
Agree. Note, Cairns faired better with (only) “44 vehicles stolen since January 1″. (Cairns Post 14/1)
The saddest and most enraging word there is ‘only’.
With this government it should be 666.
Hell hath no fury … like a cruciverbalist crucified.
If the new iditor of the Astonisher is in place, when he comes to work on Monday, he will be greeted with many inquiring emails, most probably not polite … why were the no crosswords, sudoku (and for the matter weather and comic strip) pages in today’s paper? Last time that happened a few months ago, then iditor Craig Warhurst was forced to give an eloquently grovelling apology because of the tsunami of protest. These pages build up loyal readership and always have .. and in the Bulletin’s case, are often the core reason to pay for the bloody thing.
Wonder if the new chum might try on the covid supply chain argument?
The ‘Pie is happy to b proved wrong, but five different types of searches came up with zip.
Seems that the Pie is very cross cruciverbalist, speaks volumes maybe.
Indeed, cross words will be exchanged.
On Monday 17th Jan the Courier Mail Rises in price from $ 2.20 to $2.50 . From past history will the Townsville Bulletin Rise the same ? No Notification as yet ….
The revolving doors/ bloodbath continues at Walker Street.
Following on the departure of Chief Strategist Brogan and Chief Information Officer (what’s his name?) more sackings/ redundancies and “retirements” this week as the workforce returned.
Chief Legal Officer Graham Finlayson shown the door this week along with the Principle Tourism Officer Gibson and retirement of Arts and Cultural Manager Judith Jensen. An insider reports as many as 12 gone on return from the break.
I’m sure that all the candidates at Nous are sharpening up their CV’s, not that they need those pesky things as the recruitment decision sits with one man with his nous in the trough.
Info gone into the blog. Thanks.
With you on Djokovic and his ‘kingdom’ of Serbia (why do they still have a crown on their flag/logos for godsake? It’s embarrassing). A tiny, crazy and cruel place that deserves no notice, despite producing one vaguely interesting person in the form of a tennis player. When they referred to him as like ‘Jesus’, and then had his family ‘thank the judge’ after his first process-only win in court (you don’t ‘thank’ judges unless you’ve paid them off in this country), they displayed their true selves. Serbia is a nation no-one cares about for good reason: they have a history of creating trivial clan-feuds that can envelop people far outside their tiny country. And their country is nothing to write home about: a sad, post Eastern bloc satellite full of very ugly architecture and decrepit industry – like Russia but without the Tchaikovsky/Dostoevsky intellectual pillars.
Re ‘nous’ – my experience of the firm was that it employed second-rate ‘consultants’ who were quite good at convincing public servants to buy their services (i.e. taxpayers). Usually through inane but current buzzwords and concepts, but without much thinking behind it. They struggle to get corporate (profit motivated) clients though and these are not a major part of their business, even though they’d like them on the books.
There certainly wasn’t any of the intellectual discipline of the firms like Bain and BCG (and I’m no fan of those shills either).