The Clear Case For The Queensland Government To Introduce IQ Testing – On Itself.

There was a sudden and unforgivable swerve from buffoonery to bastardy during the week, when Anna Palaszczuk and her chief bureaucrat injected racism deep into the corona virus lexicon. The Magpie is one of the 100% of Queenslanders deeply offended.

After all these years, Messagebank finally gets the message. The ‘Pie was on the money again: as predicted a month ago, Townsville gets a new deputy mayor. The Magpie explains why the number two role is likely to change dramatically in this council term.

Trump goes all Jonestown, but instead of Kool Aid, he wants American’s to inject bleach to defeat Covid-19 – because he thinks it’s a ‘good idea’. We look at the incredible news conference that has dumbfounded the world.

And back on the local scene, will it be a world record? A 400-space, six level car park is to be built in Townsville – to be finished in just 16 months, it will be built by just 12 tradesmen.

And the sobering counterpoint to the continuing manic and dishonest cheerleading from the Astonisher’s about the city’s recovery prospects.

The Tangerine Terrorist Sets A New Benchmark In Foaming Lunacy

Surely somewhere in Manchuria, the Chinese have got a brainwashed American GI good to go … only being held back by the international travel ban.

At one stage during a stunning news conference last Thursday, Donald Trump, pointing to his head, said, quote: ‘I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.’ The hand gesture was a necessary explanation that in the mummy-speak of this recklessly retarded, deeply damaged and mentally failing adult, the you-know-what referred to his rumoured brain. This disclaimer not withstanding, Trump recommended that doctors should consider injecting people with bleach to cure corona virus.

This was yet another stumblebum attempt to regain traction for the President;’s one strong point … the American economy. And he has clearly opted for purely political and self-preservation reasons to risk lives to get the economy ‘open’ again at any price, putting fresh meaning into the mugger’s traditional dictum ‘your money or your life’.  Bentley think Lady Justice has received the tradtional Trump treatment.

And this Guardian column by the razor sharp Marina Hyde contains this 2 minute  video of Trump’s statement, but hang in until the very end to get a real measure of the man – his last few words beggar belief. (It’s less than two minutes).

This extraordinary suggestion on live television to audience that contained a fair chunk of those fatally gullible and ignorant Americans who slavishly follow the Tangerine Terrorist, caused enough of a ruckus that Trump lamely came back soon afterwards claiming he was just being sarcastic. Trouble with that is, chum(p), even if it were true, the damage which may yet come to light, had already been done. While he wasn’t actually wrong , the cure would be permanent and terminal, and they’ll soon run out of stockpiled Darwin awards. His wackily wicked diagnosis caused a panicked avalanche of warnings from health professionals, pleading with the general population to ignore the President’s latest brain dump.

We will have our regular gallery of American reaction to the President’s week later in the blog, but for now, take a peak at The Lyin’ King Tweets Tonight, the lyrics are sharp enough to draw blood.

Like Corona Virus, Insulting Stupidity Knows No Borders …

… as Queenslanders found out to their dismay this week.

What sort of disconnect from reality does it take, during a health crisis AND on the single most nationally binding day of the year, for Anna Palaszczuk choose to blunder into blatant racism.

And make no mistake, although the words came from the gormless bureaucrat Jeanette Young, the state’s chief medical officer, this buck lands firmly on the premier’s desk.

Four pilots from the Warbirds group at Caboolture, who have traditionally piloted their WW11 planes in flyovers of four Anzac ceremonies in the south-east, were refused permission this year because of corona virus restrictions. This despite the fact that the single-seater planes are housed in for separate hangars and do not require the pilots to congregate before or after the flight. But brain-dead bureaucracy prevailed, despite multiple appeals from public figures, including Broadwater MP David Crisafulli and broadcaster Alan Jones.

But Health supremo Jeanette Young’s nonsensical reasoning for not allowing an exception severely undermined confidence in her overall decision-making. She went outside her medical discipline and into the political arena of group social psychology when she said: “There is no health risk for someone getting in a plane, of course there isn’t,” Dr Young said. “But the health risk is if one person does that, then someone else will say ‘well maybe there’s no health risk if I go on a drive through, if I do this’.“If you looked at each individual thing in isolation you would say ‘yep that’s fine and that’s fine and that’s fine’.

“But add them all up together and you’ve got a major problem.”

So looking at four planes on Anzac Day will give us an irresistible urge, a green light, to go for a drive? Madam, no other way to put it, you’re a fucking idiot. Putting aside the fact that the separation rules have been Pythonesque in conception and policing, Young and her boss Palaszczuk three weeks ago, gave permission for 80 people – 70 more than mandated – to attend an indigenous funeral in Mackay’ because the deceased’s standing in the community made it ‘a significant cultural occasion’. Sure, we had a bit of grumble, but most of us didn’t want to disrespect aboriginal culture and make a big deal out of a lily-livered political cave-in.

BUT HERE’S THE THING … surely to Gough, Dr Young/ Premier Palaszczuk, Anzac Day, when we honour out tens of thousands of war dead and our returned servicemen, is a significant ‘cultural occasion’? One respected by just about 100% of the population and not just 3% of our original Australians. And an exercise of respect, AT NO GOVERNMENT EXPENSE, high in the air and done with ABSOLUTELY ZERO RISK OF INFECTION should surely be allowed on the same grounds?

Message for Anna Palaszczuk … yesterday, we said Lest We Forget … come October, rest assured, we will remember.

Why The Direction Of The TCC Could Change With A New Deputy Mayor

 

Clr Mark Molachino was elected to the be deputy dog (no, The ‘Pie is not suggesting that makes Mayor Mullet anything other than, as usual, a dill) on Thursday. Interesting to note that he was elected unopposed by the other councillors, because it appears after all these years, Les Messagebank Walker got the message … he’d been called out by his colleagues as the lazy grifter he has always been, and with The Mullet doing a final lap of honour, succession is one everyone’s mind. Oh, she will deny it for reasons outlined below, but take it from the well informed ‘Pie, she will voluntarily put herself out to pasture on or by 2024.

Mayor Mullet is not, for the moment anyway, a lame duck, but that status may change if she plays Malice In Blunderland once too often this term.

So here’s a very plausible reading of how we will be entertained by Walker Street in the coming months and (shudder) years.

Molachino, an ambitious bloke without a doubt, is unencumbered by any binding political ties, and ironically, that includes to the Jenny Hill Party – which is what it legally is. So he will be riding that well known nag, Self Interest, the greatest trier in any field. And the time will arrive, possibly not too far down the track, when he will count numbers and start carrying or defeating motions that suit his interests when he has to go to the polls. Such motions may well arise when sponsored by a mayor who now tactically and typically doesn’t have to even pretend to give a fuck … in other words, same old, same old.

Now Jenny Hill is not a complete klutz when it comes to vicious politicking, but when everyone else reasons she won’t be around next time, there could be a move to suck up to the new leader, creating a shift in the balance of influence. Molachino is said to popular among his colleagues, evidenced by his unopposed appointment. He may well not be the impatient type, but he certainly will not want any of Hill’s many and impending political albatrosses hanging around his neck come poll time.

It will be interesting to see how the Astonisher’s iditor blunders into any Hill/Molachino dust-ups. The ‘Pie is stocked up on the popcorn and Pinot Noir for the fun.

One Thing Hasn’t Changed At The Astonisher

That is, it’s unremitting role as cheerleader for unrealistic real estate forecasting. The latest in no biggy, but is symptomatic.

Multi-million dollar tick of approval? A sale that neither creates nor guarantees not one single job, but is touted as a punt, a risk taken on Townsville by one of the big boys – in this case, Castlerock Finance Group.

Now, nothing wrong with this sale, people may do with their own money whatever they please – although some believe the Verde block was over-priced.

But a punt, a risk? Hardly.

Verdi Tower the “Tower of Power ” as local bizoids joke about it as its full of State Government departments – State Development , Premiers Office , Jobs Qld – so basically seat polishers. The sale price is based on rental income and Government leases are the best as they aren’t very good negotiators, so pay too much , good yearly reviews , office sit empty and you still get rent . When you negotiate on a property like that you pay based on the length of the leases , you calculate guarantees into the buy price if a tenant doesn’t re-new their lease .

So this is a tick of approval for the Queensland Treasury, not Townsville. As previously said, good luck to all involved in the sale, but up-selling it as a ‘tick of approval’ for Townsville is peddling the continuing line in real estate fantasy in the Bulletin.

And then there’s this, which isn’t journalism, it’s jingoism.

So The Magpie started looking for some balance, and found it in an unexpected guise.

Why The Internet Is Like Forest Gump’s Box Of Chocolates

Like Forest Gump and his chockies, surfing around the internet, one never knows what you’re going to get.

On Linkedin, The Pie came across the familiar name of Warwick Powell, he of the Sister City Partnership, and the very clever Beefledger export tracking system. And one of Peter Newey’s favourite bogeymen.

The ‘Pie always enjoyed Powell’s regular articles in DUO magazine, which ceased when the magazine extended its regional coverage. Powell’s articles were always well informed, well written if somewhat too long sometimes, and always had sensible suggestions for the region.

Mr Powell (actually that’s inter alia Adjunct Professor Powell at QUT nowadays) is also spokesman for the developers of the proposed equestrian center and resort at Bluewater. (And yes, yes, we know we know, it is also THAT Warwick Powell of youthful indiscretion, from the Shepherdson Inquiry, but he and we have all moved on from that chapter.)

Mr Powell told his Linkedin readers he found the Grattan Institute Report on the corona virus impact on Australian employment ‘sobering reading’. But, in stark contrast to the Bulletin, he did the maths (which is probably why the Bulletin didn’t even try) and painted a certainly ‘sobering’ projection of where we stand as a city.

He wrote:

I did the analysis of the Grattan numbers applied locally.

I have just finished reading the full GI analysis. It is sobering reading. While it applies its method to estimate impacts as a whole, across the entirety of the national economy, Grattan’s industry by industry estimates provide a basis for estimating what the localised impacts mean in different parts of the country. 

I have applied the estimated industry impacts of Grattan’s “preferred method” onto Townsville SA4’s February 2020 employment by industry numbers. Over 30,000 people projected to lose their jobs in Townsville, as a first round impact, according to Grattan Institute analysis. The results are in the table.

Crikey, Really?

12 jobs, eh? If this is true, at least there’ll be a hospital and plenty of medical care near-by for these blokes, they’ll be more buggered than Alan Jones butler.

And just a thought … how’re all those wonderful plans for the Townsville University Hospital multi-storey carpark, that we have been paying a minimum of five bucks a throw for for several years now? Surely they’ve got enough in the kitty to keep good their promises.

The Latest From The Land Of The Tangerine Terrorist

Proof that Trump is a menace during this epidemic, he continues to make people smack their foreheads regularly, evidence here, the bloke in the background should know better, it’s Dr Fauci.

And, from Trump’s ‘open back up  now’ supporters, this kinda says it all.

Now to help you unsee that top image, here’s the regular round-up.

… and with Kim ill, and if Trump loses in November, there might be an opening for him in North Korea … sort of made for the role.

Oh, and one for all those countries who think they’re going to ‘sue’ China over the corona virus.

Finally Back To Local Stuff , DOPPLEGANGER! A Moment For Those Who Know Him

The Magpie was watching the ABC YV news earlier in the week, and in the middle of all the droning on about the virus, he suddenly sat up with curiosity … what was old Magpie mate John ‘Mother’ Hubbard doing talking about it … and in Melbourne too.

Well, turned out that it was Hub at all, but this bloke.

Send the pics across to Hub, who replied somewhat sniffily that there was ‘some resemblance’ … one got the impression he felt he had weathered a bit better than Mr Mason, so just to stay friends, here’s a picture of the Hub ….

… taken on April 20th ….

… 1998.

………

That’s another week survived, lots to talk about throughout the week, have your say in comments, they can be great fun … sometimes. Hop into the fray and have your say. Hmmm, that rhymes … so does this …

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