Battle stations

A lift in the tempo of federal preselection activity finds one Liberal MP out the door and another likely to follow.

First up, note the new post below on the Western Australian state election campaign. To the matter at hand: as talk proliferates of a federal election later this year, there has been a noticeable uptick on the volume of preselection news to report.

• A Liberal preselection for the eastern Melbourne seat of Menzies last weekend produced a boilover with the defeat of Kevin Andrews, who has held the seat since 1991. Andrews lost the local party ballot by a 181-111 margin to Keith Wolahan, a barrister and former army officer. Wolahan was reckoned to have enough support locally to have knocked over Andrews ahead of the 2019 election, but was thwarted when the state party organisation took charge of the entire federal election preselection process, much to the chagrin of the membership. Wolahan had support from factional moderates but took to Andrew Bolt’s program on Sky News to push back against the notion that he personally could be so described, and put it to Virginia Trioli of the ABC that he “never joined the Liberal Party to be called a moderate and very few people do in Victoria”.

• It appears increasingly likely that controversial Liberal MP Craig Kelly will be bumped aside for preselection in his Sydney seat of Hughes by Kent Johns, who had the numbers locally in both 2016 and 2019 but was saved on both occasions by prime ministerial intervention. The Australian reported on Friday that Nationals MPs, apparently including Queensland Senator Matt Canavan, wished to recruit Kelly to the party, apparently with a view to him seeking re-election in his entirely suburban electorate. However, a Nationals source was quoted saying this “wouldn’t happen while Michael McCormack is leader”.

• Nine News reports New South Wales Deputy Premier and state Nationals leader John Barilaro is considering a move to the Senate. The Coalition arrangement in New South Wales gives the Nationals second and third positions on the Senate ticket at alternating elections, with the next election being the party’s turn for the unloseable second spot. The party’s position is vacant because one of its two Senators elected at the 2016 double dissolution, Fiona Nash, lost her position amid the Section 44 fiasco in December 2017 and it was won on a countback by a Liberal, Jim Molan. Molan lost his seat after being reduced to fourth position at the 2019 election but returned to the Senate upon filling Arthur Sinodinos’s vacancy in November 2019. Since he is now 69, he is presumably set to retire. The Liberals’ first and third positions on the ticket will presumably remain with the incumbents, Marise Payne and Connie Fierravanti-Wells.

• With the retirement of Labor veteran Warren Snowdon, Sky News reports his regional Northern Territory electorate of Lingiari is set to be contested for Labor by the former Deputy Chief Minister, Marion Scrymgour.

• The Northern Territory News reports the Country Liberal Party’s Senator for the Northern Territory, Sam McMahon, may face preselection challenges from Damien Ryan, the mayor of Alice Springs, and Linda Fazldeen, a Darwin businesswoman. The report says the preselection is likely to be held in June or July.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

3,041 comments on “Battle stations”

Comments Page 18 of 61
1 … 17 18 19 … 61

  2. Tom the first and best says:
    Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 12:56 am

    There are two curves- a Demand curve and a Supply curve.

    Supply of cheap new build houses overcomes that problem.

  3. Buce:

    Most councils on the rural urban fringe where the new low-cost housing estates are needed are ALP/Green dominated.

    You’re from Perth, yeah? So tell me how many Greens there are on Cockburn, Rockingham, Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Swan or Wanneroo councils. Or Labor, for that matter. Anyone apart from the vaguely nimby, laura norder, “why hasn’t this been built yet?!” types.

  4. As for the argument “Supply of cheap new build houses”… that’s been happening, and hasn’t worked. There’s been a few hundred thousand built in the last 20 years, and housing isn’t any more affordable. It’s harder now (even adjusting for inflation) to buy a house in Piara Waters now than it was in Canning Vale in 2000, and the prize you win is living another 10 km away from the city. Sure, there was a “first home owner’s grant” of $14k, which had the immediate and obvious effect of pushing prices up by $14k. Apart from real estate agents, nobody won.

  6. I can only speak for NSW but the farther away housing developments and estates seem to me to be filled with Liberal voters. Aspirationals with big mortgages over their heads, so they tend to cleave towards the ‘best economic managers’ who won’t tax them too much, so they won’t lose their house or their job. It’s really as simple as that. It’s also why Labor have to convince them they won’t lose either as a result of their coming to government.

  7. I hope you bought Bitcoin when it dipped recently:

    Tesla says it has invested around $US1.5 billion ($1.95 billion) in Bitcoin and expects to begin accepting payment for its cars and other products with it in the near future, prompting a more than 10 per cent jump in the electronic currency on Monday.

    Analysts said the move by one of the world’s best-known companies was liable to prove a game changer for Bitcoin.

    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/tesla-electrifies-bitcoin-with-us1-5-billion-bet-car-payments-pledge-20210209-p570pt.html

  8. My sister lost her home to fire about a year ago.

    She’s saying it’s the best thing that ever happened to them.

    They were treated excellently by their insurer (AAMI) – had money land in their bank account WHILST they were on the phone reporting that their property had burnt down, had approval to rent (at prices which would have let them have the most expensive rental property in their town, if that had been what they wanted). They received a payment something like 20% above the agreed valuation, due to various adjustments made by their insurer.

    They’re purchased – for cash – a home much better than the one they lost, have wiped out all their debts, and are gradually getting back on track.

    I’m not saying, of course, that their experience is typical, or that having your home burnt down is something to be desired, but simply that, in their case, things have worked out well.

  9. So the fight is on in the Coalition wrt Climate Change policy. Morrison is signalling he wants to announce Net Zero by 2050, Canavan wants none of it, Barnaby Joyce worries about its electoral effect on the Nats in the bush if they agree, McCormack wants Agriculture carved out and the NFF are saying, let’s talk and see what we can work out:

    https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-michael-mccormack-buffeted-by-nationals-climate-battle-154841

    Oh, and NSW Environment Minister, Matt Kean is saying Morrison is being a pussy by not coming out and committing right now. 😀

  10. Also on this subject, it seems as though the Morrison government are preparing to reannounce Tony Abbott’s ‘Carbon Farming’ aka pork barreling farmers, initiative in the Budget:

    ANZ has refused to continue funding the world’s largest coal export port at Newcastle, under its new climate change policy to cut back on loans to the fossil fuel sector. National Australia Bank has stepped in to help underwrite the port on the promise of a transition program to diversified and sustainable operations, reports The Australian. NAB claims the refinancing will support the port’s long-term shift into non-coal operations, including an automated, multipurpose deepwater container terminal. NSW Nationals senator Perin Davey hit out at the move, claiming banks were putting climate change ahead of the national interest. It comes as fellow National, federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, says farmers are well placed to profit from a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, thanks to carbon farming initiatives that will be unveiled in the May budget. Plans to exclude agriculture from any net zero target face a roadblock in the European Union moving to introduce a cross border carbon tax, which would mean Australian products entering the EU will be hit by a tariff to make up for Australia’s lack of a price on carbon.

    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/thebriefing/max-opray/2021/02/09/anz-dumps-worlds-largest-coal-port

  11. M.Redgrave
    @GravRed
    “This is what sovereignty looks like” says Morrison standing in front of a an unreliable, expensive piece of a weapons system that is entirely dependent on another country’s famously corrupt defence contractor, who will extort vast sums for decades, even if it fails. #abc730

    From a retired diplomat.

  12. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    Nick Bonyhady and Katina Curtis explain how Labor will go to the next election with a plan to crack down on rolling contracts that leave workers uncertain whether they will keep their jobs, in a policy leader Anthony Albanese will unveil in Queensland this week. Kristina Keneally, newly appointed as the opposition’s watchdog on government accountability, will set the stage for a one-two punch with Albanese in a speech to the National Press Club today.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-to-unveil-plan-for-contractors-after-keneally-goes-on-attack-20210208-p570jp.html
    And the AFR tells us that labour law experts warn that the Morrison government’s industrial relations reforms threaten to tear a hole in the safety net, increase casualisation and worsen wage growth.
    https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/academics-unite-against-ir-bill-20210208-p570g0
    Peter Hartcher reckons Morrison needs to step up in the Pacific.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/morrison-needs-to-step-up-in-the-pacific-20210208-p570lz.html
    Today the NSW government will release the findings of its long-running probe into Crown Resorts under parliamentary privilege so it can defend itself against potential defamation claims.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/sydney-s-casino-report-released-under-privilege-20210208-p570ni.html
    And in front of the report’s release Elizabeth Knight says that James Packer’s status as an Australian gaming baron is hanging by a thread.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/james-packer-s-status-as-an-australian-gaming-baron-is-hanging-by-a-thread-20210208-p570l8.html
    Highly infectious variants of coronavirus could be behind more frequent leaks from hotel quarantine across Australia, scientists warn, after three new cases in a week connected with Victoria’s isolation program.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/infectious-covid-19-variants-could-be-fuelling-hotel-quarantine-leaks-20210208-p570mm.html
    Tony Blakely expounds on how the coronavirus is undergoing a “Darwinian dance” and putting pressure on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine’s efficacy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/covid-19-mutations-perform-a-dazzling-darwinian-dance-20210208-p570lh.html
    The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine offers as little as 10% protection against the Covid variant first seen in South Africa, researchers have suggested.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/08/oxford-covid-vaccine-10-effective-south-african-variant-study
    Harley Dennett reports, though, that Australia not changing its vaccine course after the South Africa study.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7117778/sobering-reality-not-stopping-vaccine-rollout/?cs=17318
    Samantha Dick explores the problem with Victoria’s hotel quarantine system that won’t go away.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2021/02/09/hotel-quarantine-victoria-air/
    Christopher Knaus reports that the Wagner Corporation proposal to build a for-profit quarantine facility next to its international airport in Toowoomba has prompted some anxiety among health experts and local clinicians, who fear the region is not equipped to deal with a major Covid-19 outbreak.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/09/proposed-for-profit-quarantine-facility-next-to-toowoomba-airport-concerns-health-experts
    Lucy Cormack writes about Barilaro explaining the unexplainable with respect to the bushfire fund rorts.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/bushfire-fund-projects-required-minimum-spend-of-1m-barilaro-says-20210208-p570n6.html
    Greg Jericho explains how Australia’s spending habits reveal the weakness of our economy.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/feb/09/australias-spending-habits-reveal-the-weakness-of-our-economy
    Retirees could face a 15 per cent tax on superannuation earnings to help fund aged care services under a new federal budget proposal from the social services council.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tax-retirees-super-to-pay-for-aged-care-acoss-20210208-p570ja.html
    Mike Foley explains how farmers are ahead of the divided Nationals on climate policy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/more-pros-than-cons-farmers-ahead-of-divided-nationals-on-climate-policy-20210208-p570kl.html
    Ruling out a carbon price denies the Coalition the most effective way of getting the technology solution that it wants, says Tony Wood.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/morrison-scores-a-climate-own-goal-20210207-p5707z
    Phil Coorey tells us that David Littleproud is saying that farmers are well placed to profit from a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, thanks to the carbon farming and soil carbon initiatives that will be unveiled in the May budget.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/farmers-poised-to-cash-in-on-net-zero-littleproud-20210208-p570fq
    Michelle Grattan thinks that Michael McCormack will have to navigate a slippery path when the Nationals begin discussing Scott Morrison’s evident desire to embrace a 2050 net-zero emissions target.
    https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-michael-mccormack-buffeted-by-nationals-climate-battle-154841
    Rachelle Meyer writes that the Nationals’ push to carve farming from a net-zero target is misguided and dangerous.
    https://theconversation.com/nationals-push-to-carve-farming-from-a-net-zero-target-is-misguided-and-dangerous-154822
    And Cristina Talacko, who is chair of the Coalition for Conservation and the director of the Export Council of Australia, writes on how setting a net-zero target will put Australia ahead.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-setting-a-net-zero-target-will-put-us-ahead-20210208-p570ft.html
    Meanwhile Simon Benson reports that ANZ has abandoned the world’s largest coal export port at Newcastle after refusing to keep funding the mega-facility under its new climate change policy that all but bans loans to the coal sector.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/anz-gives-key-port-the-coal-shoulder/news-story/2888b82592bb1feb793434ff16d183ac
    Paul Bongiorno says that exhaust smoke and mirrors can’t hide the Morrison government’s energy failings.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2021/02/08/paul-bongiorno-morrison-energy/
    Australia’s electric vehicle policy steers us to a future based on fossil fuels. It needs to be dumped, says Simon Holmes à Court.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/08/australias-electric-vehicle-policy-steers-us-to-a-future-based-on-fossil-fuels-it-needs-to-be-dumped
    Woodside dumped its oil rig into a $2 company to dodge a big clean-up but Exxon canned the $3bn sale of its Bass Strait oil and gas assets after a warning from Resources Minister Keith Pitt to ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods. Peter Milne from independent resources media company Boiling Cold has the story.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/exxonmobil-dumps-bass-strait-sale-after-woodside-debacle-and-warning-from-canberra/
    Dominic Powell tells us that furniture retailer Nick Scali has bowed to political pressure and agreed to pay back the $3.6 million the company received in JobKeeper for the first half of the new financial year, with the retailer saying it benefited from a boost in consumer confidence brought on by the scheme.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/nick-scali-repays-jobkeeper-following-political-pressure-20210208-p570o0.html
    David Estcourt writes that community leaders and senior Indigenous figures are calling on Collingwood president Eddie McGuire to step down in the wake of a report into racism at the club.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/unacceptable-and-insulting-open-letter-calls-on-mcguire-to-quit-20210208-p570on.html
    Collingwood’s past has finally caught up with its present – and its president, declares Paul Daley.
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/08/collingwoods-past-has-finally-caught-up-with-its-present-and-its-president
    ABC Country Hour is marketed as the “voice of the bush”; but whose voice and whose bush? Brian Burkett, Dr Lisa Waller and Emma Mesikämmen investigate how Country Hour does the bidding of the Liberal and National Parties and their powerful friends while glossing over the likes of climate change, indigenous issues and the #watergate scandal.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/abc-country-hour-mouthpiece-of-liberal-national-party-and-rural-elites/
    Demand for rental properties across Adelaide is the highest in more than a decade, with hundreds of inquiries per home, big crowds at open inspections and scores of people lodging written applications.
    https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/big-crowds-hit-open-inspections-as-rental-demand-rises-to-highest-level-in-decades/news-story/368523481ea02044f5b656bb28a250bc
    According to James Messe, Australian media companies may have healthier balance sheets in the near future thanks to the News Media Bargaining Code. The relevant bill, which is likely to be enacted soon, forces Facebook and Google to pay news outlets for the use of their content.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/crackdown-on-platform-tax-avoidance-to-fund-public-interest-reporting-20210208-p570jt.html
    Facebook, Twitter, Fox News – by blurring the truth, all pose a risk to democracy itself. But the US and EU can counter them together, suggests Timothy Garton Ash.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/08/fake-news-facts-facebook-twitter-fox-news-democracy
    Anne Twomey outlines new evidence showing how the Queen wields influence on legislation.
    https://theconversation.com/the-queens-gambit-new-evidence-shows-how-her-majesty-wields-influence-on-legislation-154818
    The religious right is wrong about conversion therapy, explains Stuart Edser.
    https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/the-religious-right-is-wrong-about-conversion-therapy,14778
    The US is in a tricky financial position. There are fears Joe Biden’s proposed $US1.9 trillion COVID relief plan could tip it over the edge, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/could-biden-s-rescue-package-lead-the-us-down-a-dangerous-road-20210208-p570ic.html
    Today’s “Arsehole of the Week” nomination goes to this charming bike.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7117381/shhh-alleged-bikie-boss-killer-made-throat-slitting-gesture-before-stabbing/?cs=14225

    Cartoon Corner

    David Rowe

    David Pope

    John Shakespeare

    Cathy Wilcox

    Matt Golding



    Dionne Gain

    Glen Le Lievre

    Mark Knight

    John Spooner

    Alan Moir

    From the US







  16. Never stop learning – just adjusting mine now:

    “For those unfamiliar, the necktie is derived from the codpiece, a fabric flap or pouch designed 500 years ago to emphasise a European nobleman’s importance through his large phallic size. Today, the necktie retains its connection with the codpiece through its arrow shaped design and length that directs the eye of an onlooker down towards a man’s groin.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/feb/08/the-phallic-necktie-is-an-outdated-symbol-of-white-male-rule-in-new-zealands-parliament

  17. An interesting disclosure statement in the article by Twomey, posted by BK:

    [‘Anne Twomey

    Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney

    Disclosure statement

    Anne Twomey has received funding from the Australian Research Council and occasionally undertakes consultancy work for governments. Unlike The Conversation, she supports the use of capital letters, including for ‘Queen’, and is not making a political statement by submitting to The Conversation’s anti-capital letter style guide.’]

  22. Shellbell @ #822 Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 – 8:06 am

    Never stop learning – just adjusting mine now:

    “For those unfamiliar, the necktie is derived from the codpiece, a fabric flap or pouch designed 500 years ago to emphasise a European nobleman’s importance through his large phallic size. Today, the necktie retains its connection with the codpiece through its arrow shaped design and length that directs the eye of an onlooker down towards a man’s groin.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/feb/08/the-phallic-necktie-is-an-outdated-symbol-of-white-male-rule-in-new-zealands-parliament

    https://www.psychmechanics.com/body-language-crotch-displays-of-men/

    Body language: Men’s crotch display
    May 22, 2015 by Hanan Parvez
    When it comes to attraction, males and females use different signals to display their attractive qualities.

    Female courtship signals primarily involve displaying beauty and submissiveness. On the other hand, male courtship signals involve a display of wealth, status, and dominance.

    One way in which men display dominance is by displaying their crotch. I know it sounds weird but, as I’ll explain later, this behavior is something that we’ve inherited from our ancestors. The most common way in which men display their crotch is by taking up the thumbs-in-belt gesture.

  23. “This is one time your sardonic wit has fallen as flat as a pancake. You know what the schtick of the creepazoid LvT/ESJ is and you tolerate it. I’m not saying it’s gaslighting, I’m just saying it makes my skin crawl, when it’s not attempting to belittle me by alluding to my being a lush and a ‘Backdoor Betty’. In addition to whatever else he/she/it has been saying to others here. he/she/it is not here for polite debate, put it that way. And, yes, pots and kettles, but at least my pot isn’t a boiling stew of slime.”

    ***

    Ahahaha! You’re really good at making ridiculously stupid posts, but I think this one may just take the cake.

    Pots and kettles indeed! Someone has a guilty conscience… And for once you actually seem to be aware of how absurdly hypocritical you’re being. That’s some progress, I guess…

    What’s the matter? Can dish it out but can’t take it? Maybe there’s a lesson you could learn from that.

    Your pot is, as usual, a boiling stew of bullshit, you creepy, frustrated, pathetic old dreg. Take a look at yourself and how you treat other people instead of coming on here and sooking about getting a taste of your own medicine.

    ***

    “I tolerate a lot of things, C@t, not least yourself.”

    ***

    You said it. Seems Cat isn’t the only one with a guilty conscience. Gee, I wonder what these two are referring to in this little exchange? Hmm….

  26. Mavis,

    Thank you for pointing out Professor Twomey’s disclosure statement. I do so enjoy it when authors use it in an unusual manner.

  27. Goliath:

    Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 8:15 am

    It’s not even dark yet and up comes this:

    [‘Your pot is, as usual, a boiling stew of bullshit, you creepy, frustrated, pathetic old dreg.’]

    Not at all nice and it’s ageist and sexist.

  28. Griff:

    Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 8:20 am

    [‘Thank you for pointing out Professor Twomey’s disclosure statement. I do so enjoy it when authors use it in an unusual manner.’]

    It seems to me that “The Conversation” is having a not so subtle dig at Twomey.

  31. Financial advisers have launched a campaign against Liberal MPs in eight marginal seats after declaring they have had enough with the government’s ratcheting up of compliance costs, which they will be forced to pass on to clients.
    The Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals said its members will urge clients over the next six months to vote against Liberals in the seats of Chisholm, Bass, Longman, Wentworth, Braddon, Swan, Boothby and Casey, which the Coalition holds by margins of between 0.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent.
    Politicians Dave Sharma in NSW and Gladys Liu in Victoria are among the higher-profile MPs targeted and the association is also considering whether to campaign in Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong, where the Treasurer had an 8 per cent swing against him.
    The advisers are targeting legislation before Parliament, recommended by the Hayne royal commission, that requires advisers to provide clients’ annual, forward-looking summaries of service costs, and get written authority to deduct fees every year.
    AIOFP executive director Peter Johnston said the new requirements duplicated existing rules and would amount to an extra $1400 a year that advisers would have “no choice” but to pass on to clients.

  32. Listened to various Nationals this morning baying that they won’t be part of any emissions targets without seeing ‘the plan’.

    Apparently they’re not in government, and couldn’t possibly have input to ‘the plan’ themselves….

  33. [‘Committee chair Greens MP David Shoebridge said he could not explain Mr Barilaro’s evidence.

    “The only document he relied on to explain how the money was allocated was a two-page briefing note of talking points, which was tendered,” Mr Shoebridge said. “Every time we look in this inquiry the evidence we get from witnesses is contradicted by the facts on the ground.”]

    Bucephalus, please take note. Barilaro is so arrogant that he
    justifies pork-barreling as business as usual. I wonder how those who missed out will feel when, for example, they find out that $194,000 went to a St Ives honey wine producer, and $43,000 to a cellar door in the Snowy Valleys?

  35. Senate leaders reach agreement on impeachment trial rules

    (CNN)The second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump begins this week as Senate leaders reached an agreement Monday, giving the impeachment managers and Trump’s lawyers up to 16 hours each to present their cases and creating the option for a debate and vote to call witnesses if the House impeachment managers seek it.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on the Senate floor Monday that the trial rules had been agreed to by Senate Republican and Democrats, as well as the House managers and Trump’s legal team. The Senate will vote on the rules on Tuesday, and the trial will kick off with a four-hour debate on the constitutionality of the proceeding followed by a vote.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/impeachment-latest-pretrial-briefs/index.html

  36. [‘Financial advisers have launched a campaign against Liberal MPs in eight marginal seats after declaring they have had enough with the government’s ratcheting up of compliance costs…’]

    I’m not sure they’ll receive much public support.

  37. Much thanks BK for today’s news. All the best to your foot getting better each day.

    Meanwhile I’ve figured out what causes our media to not go so hard on vic Labor and the COVID response. It’s anytime NSW has an issue occurring at the same time.

    Current Example. COVID case after person leaves hotel quarantine.

    As pointed out by the medicos, it is very likely that the person contracted the virus whilst in quarantine and once out,developed symptoms.

  38. GOP Rep. Ron Wright dies following Covid diagnosis

    Washington (CNN)Republican Rep. Ron Wright of Texas has died, his congressional office announced in a statement Monday, saying that he had been admitted to the hospital after contracting Covid-19.

    “Congressman Ron Wright passed away peacefully at the age of 67 on Feb. 7, 2021. His wife Susan was by his side and he is now in the presence of their Lord and Savior,” the statement read. “For the previous two weeks, Ron and Susan had been admitted to Baylor Hospital in Dallas after contracting COVID-19.”
    Wright is the first sitting member of Congress to die after contracting Covid. In December, Congressman-elect Luke Letlow died after being diagnosed with the disease.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/ron-wright-congressman-dies/index.html

  41. Dave

    And whilst the siege was happening in the capitol, and the dems and repugs were hiding out in a space together, many of the republican reps refused to wear masks.

    Will the death of one of their own, enlighten this mob. Who knows.

  45. C@tmommasays:
    Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 8:14 am
    BK @ #432 Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 – 8:13 am

    I will not be able to do the Dawn Patrol tomorrow morning as I have to be at the western side of Adelaide by 0800.

    I’ll give it my best shot if lizzie is too unwell to take it on.

    Calling Alpha Zero to do the US cartoons please!
    _____________________________________
    US cartoons and some UK ones if we are lucky!

    In fact let’s have some UK toons from today:







  46. Trump tells aides he thinks he’ll be acquitted as he remains fixated on ‘accountability’ for GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach

    Since leaving office, Trump has been fixated on punishing GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach him in the House, including Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Ten Republicans, including Cheney, voted to impeach Trump.

    One Trump adviser said the ex-President is seeking what he sees as “accountability” for Republican House members who turned “against the people.”

    The adviser acknowledged that was a twisted view of reality as Trump was the one who was actively attempting to overturn the will of the voters.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/trump-impeachment/index.html

  47. [‘The Manhattan district attorney’s attempt to prosecute former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman was dealt a final blow when New York’s highest court said quietly last week it would not review lower court rulings on the case.

    The court’s decision brings to an end the district attorney’s quest to ensure that the campaign chairman, Paul J. Manafort, will face state charges for mortgage fraud and other state felonies, crimes similar to those for which he was convicted in federal court and then pardoned by Mr. Trump.

    When the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, first brought charges against Mr. Manafort in March 2019, it was widely understood that he was doing so to make sure that Mr. Manafort would face prosecution even if Mr. Trump decided to pardon him.

    At the time, Mr. Manafort was serving a sentence of seven and a half years in a Pennsylvania federal prison after being convicted at a 2018 financial fraud trial by prosecutors working for the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

    In October, a New York appeals court found that Mr. Vance’s efforts to try Mr. Manafort violated the state’s double jeopardy law. Mr. Vance took the case to the Court of Appeals.’]

    This doesn’t auger well for Vance if he indicts Trump, members of his family, depending on whether he has pardons in his pocket, which has been rumoured.

  48. Mavis @ #439 Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 – 8:23 am

    Goliath:

    Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 8:15 am

    It’s not even dark yet and up comes this:

    [‘Your pot is, as usual, a boiling stew of bullshit, you creepy, frustrated, pathetic old dreg.’]

    Not at all nice and it’s ageist and sexist.

    And I wonder who it was that appears to be too afraid to comment with a nom I might instantly recognise? Could it have been nath Michael/Goliath, or that Andrew Gold character who also seems fixated on me? Or just some sexist, ageist lurker?

    I also note that the commenter appears to tacitly agree that LvT/ESJ has the absolute right to call me a ‘Backdoor Betty’ and a lush. Both of which things are patently untrue and slanderous if we could pin down who ESJ/LvT actually is.

    Nevertheless I will cast that post aside as meaningless and simply mean, as are so many others directed towards women with strong opinions on the internet.

    Thank you, Mavis, for coming to my defense. 🙂

  49. Zoomster – good to hear your sister has recovered well from the bushfires, for many it has been a hard road that is still ongoing. The Red Cross has been a great help to victims with the no-ties money deposited into bank accounts

    Cassandra Goldie’s proposal to tax super is not well presented.
    Cassandra Goldie strikes me as an innumerate mouthpiece for social services. The TasCOSS woman is a much clearer communicator.

    The report looks like ACOSS has discovered a pool of people who can’t fight back to tap into. Key details in the SMH article are absent, are they absent in the ACOSS proposal.

    As someone who has benefited from Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello’s very generous decision to make superannuation pensions tax free, I resent having income taxes reimposed. I think this proposal was written by Treasury and will be implemented

  50. Victoria @ #453 Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 – 9:09 am

    Dave

    And whilst the siege was happening in the capitol, and the dems and repugs were hiding out in a space together, many of the republican reps refused to wear masks.

    Will the death of one of their own, enlighten this mob. Who knows.

    No, of course not. They’re already skating over what he died from and simply expressing sympathy that he has died.

Comments Page 18 of 61
1 … 17 18 19 … 61

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *