Paco mentioned in a comment earlier that he’d seen reports of a Streptococcus A outbreak in Perth. This was the front page of yesterday’s West; I gave it a passing glance at the shopping centre and thought no more about it.

The latest fear porn was my instinctive reaction, and that’s probably not too far off the mark. Although the bug has been causing problems right across Australia, with numbers tripling across last year.

The story was covered in a few stories last month but the coverage was low key. It seems to be a prime candidate for Class 1 Fear Porn status but PerthNow, our home for DRAMATIC HEADLINES

has nothing about it that I could find.

Very strange.

The ABC gets as close as it dares to saying the unsayable.

There are at least three hypotheses as to why strep A cases are surging, according to the University of Queensland’s Mark Walker:

• COVID-19-induced lockdowns throughout 2020 and 2021 insulated the population against all infectious bugs, including strep A.
  The lack of low-grade infection could mean peoples’ immunity to the bug is now lower, so when they do contract it, they are more likely to get sick.
• The resurgence of viral infections following lockdowns has meant that when some people have caught strep A, they have caught it off the back of a viral infection.
  Catching strep A on top of a background viral infection can make a person more susceptible to the disease.
• It is thought there could be new, more aggressive variants of strep A coming into Australia from other countries, such as the UK or China.

Professor Walker believes this is part of the problem, but the extent of it will only be known in a couple of years after immunity to the new bugs has built up in the child population.

A rather obvious fourth hypothesis: children’s immune systems have been buggered by the Fauci junk juice.

The numbers are very confusing but I believe that parents were less eager to vaxx up their young children than themselves. If the vaccine is connected to the outbreak, chances are that Strep A is one of many hostile bugs that will move in on the vulnerable young.

So Paco, in answer to your question, it seems the health commissars are keeping their heads down on the Strep A story. The problem is real but no Chief Health Officers are bleating about masks or lockdowns in this, the week that marks the beginning of the school year in Australia.

Rather like the story about rising ‘suicides’ among our police; the fear porners are keeping quiet.

More of it, please.

The radioactive capsule has been found.

For those who came in late – this radioactive capsule.

I believe they found it. But I’m skeptical as to where.
The loss required too many coincidences. My theory, based on the horror stories I heard during my induction at Mount Isa back in 1981, is that some idiot opened the device to take the pellet out. Stupid thing to do? Sure is. But mineworkers sometimes took explosives home, and kept the stuff in a cupboard. Because… well, because they were dickheads who thought they were rebelling against the boss.
I heard a similar story when I worked for Bowater Scott. Some fellow had a few years worth of paper product hoarded in his house – this was the mid 1980s; perhaps God sent him a vision of 2020. At any rate, he had a row with the wife and she called the cops about a large amount of stolen property.
I don’t know if there was an angry spouse connected to the finding of the pellet, but I’m sure there was a much more intense search undertaken at the mine site than along the highways.

I assume it’s unintentional, anyhow. From the side panel of the ABC news site.

Someone else may have picked up on the joke because these two headlines have been separated. And now you know why they call it a screen grab!

Paul Collits serves it up on the Australian Open.

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. And so it came to pass at Melbourne Park tennis centre.

Putting the cherry on top of the cake:

Priceless: Bill Gates watching the unvaccinated Novak Djokovic win the Australian Open 🤣 pic.twitter.com/t1MwmUi5yV

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 29, 2023

When doctors are ‘baffled’ it means ‘We know what’s going on but we’re not going to talk about it.’
When farmers are baffled it means ‘What the unholy fuck is THAT?’

Here’s a story that sets my inner skeptic rolling.

WA Police Union research finds death by suicide surpasses those killed on duty

By combining data from the National Coronial Information System, news reports and other sources, the union said it had created one of the largest collections of information about Australian police officer suicide…

Rates of suicide across the country had more than doubled from 5.9 deaths per 100,000 serving officers at the turn of the millennium to 14 per 100,000 in 2022.

Part of the increase was down to the size of the police force growing, but the higher suicide rate does not account for all of the growth.

I’m sure it doesn’t.

Police suicide is the story de jour. The article linked above has been carried nationwide. It discusses cumulative stress, and the lack of mental health training for recruits in training.

And I can’t help wondering if ‘suicide’ is a mask for ‘vaccine related death’.

Here in Western Australia, the police were among the first to be hit with no-jab-no-job rules. The police union and higher ranks cracked down hard on dissent. An unofficial survey of cops, which found a high level of resistance, was stifled.

On February 27, Mr McDonald sent a link to his survey to every serving WA Police member via their regimental number-associated email address. He says he was told supervisors instructed staff not to complete the survey, and that by 11pm that night the URL had been blocked from being opened on police computers.

Not long after, he says the email was completely deleted from police inboxes.

I can understand why governments might be especially nervous about admitting vax-related deaths among cops. Policing is, after all, one of the few professions whose members carry firearms in their line of work. A bunch of pissed-off cops is no government’s idea of a party.

I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist. But at this point in the proceedings, accepting nothing at face value isn’t paranoia – it’s a survival strategy.

Jacinta Nampajinpa Price on the A-Day haters:

As you and I were celebrating our wonderful country with family and friends, the inner-city elites were marching in the streets, setting Australian flags on fire, demanding we cancel Australia Day. In stark contrast, Alice Springs – my home town – was on fire with crime and violence. Forget “Invasion Day” – my neighbours are more worried about home invasions…

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has rolled up to complain that if only we had a Voice to Parliament we could have stopped this earlier. What a crock. Let me tell you, Linda, I am Indigenous. I’m from the Northern Territory. I have a voice. I am literally in the Parliament. And you didn’t listen.

Short read, strong message.

A tiny radioactive capsule has been lost between a mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and Perth, sparking an urgent hazmat health warning.

Tiny is no exaggeration.

It’s probably in some poor dog’s guts by now, unless a crow got it first.