Message From PM Albanese And The Teals To Australian Voters: You’re Irrelevant. GFY.

But you’ll still pay $50million+ for the shafting. That’s the short version of Albanese’s incredible proposal that Labor will legislate The Voice even if there is a ‘NO’ vote. in the referendum This is shaping up as one of the greatest social disasters since Elon Musk bought Twitter.

Was it embarrassment that forced the Bulletin Iditor Craig Herbert to publicly lie last Thursday?

Palaszczuk loads the dice in another assault on basic democratic principles with a proposed change to rape laws.

First, Catholics and now, Aaron’ Harpic’ Harper finds another inappropriate target – Townsville business – and gets another deserved shellacking for his trouble.

And The Katter Party takes on the whingers of woke, using the most effective weapon against the overly sensitive – humour.

And American satirists have had an hilarious  field day with the (false) rumour that the government was about to ban gas-burning stoves and ovens because of climate change… all part of the regular Gallery USA.

Let’s get to it.

The Misjudgement Of Youth

Foresight isn’t to the front for the young, and mistakes are made – especially judging how youthful actions will be seen in the future.. Bentley reckons they don’t come much more wrong than this one.

And for those not tired of this tiresome twosome and the whole royal menagerie, here is something to save you reading Harry’s self-pitying tome ‘Spare’. The side-splitting review is by  is one of the funniest men writing to day, John Crace.

Speaking of Misjudgements ….

The member for Brisbane living in Mundingburra, Aaron Harpic Harper, is reportedly an adult, but he seems to be making weekly misjudgements of a juvenile nature. First, he got his arse kicked til his nose bled when he took on the Catholics in a bid to score points against David Crisafulli.  Now, he’s decided to take on a local business analyst for simply painting an accurate picture of local business confidence.  And hints at an ungrateful business community (sob, blub). And you’ll note that Harpic is not someone who learns from hisn mistakes …. He still is unable to correctly spell his political opponent’s name.

And that little bit of masturbatory wishful thinking attracted a swift, non-partisan retort from a respected Townsville business identity.

But the question now looms even larger: what has prompted these inept attacks of foaming lunacy? We’re miles out from state campaign mode. Is it because Harpic has heard the drums beating?

Nah. If he has, he’s probably mistaken them for a disco night out, and has yet again an excuse to embarrass us looking like a cut-price local Liberace – without the entertainment value.

Anna Again Loads The Dice Against Legal Principles

Sometime this year, Labor will introduce a bill to parliament recommending the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1978 be amended to remove pre-committal restrictions on identifying defendants.

This further tips the scales of justice way too far one way, in disadvantaging an accused person … well, c’mon let’s not kid ourselves, accused men.

The key word is of course ‘accused’, which in fact is a synonym for charged. It is not a synonym for COMMITTED TO STAND TRIAL, which happens after a magistrate agrees that there is sufficient evidence for a case to be answered.

So the Palaszczuk Government wants to further sideline an embattled judiciary, whose job it is to review the police evidence and decide if there is a case. If, in the admittedly rare and brave cases where there isn’t such evidence, the matter is dropped and everyone gets on with their life. No one has been named, and justice has been served.

If a matter does go forward, surely the fairest path, (despite the self-interested prurient howls of the media) should be held behind closed doors, and only the outcome reported, and the guilty named. If not guilty, no story. It has always been a moral dilemma running selective media commentary as a matter progresses, and really adds nothing of worth.

What is the justified rational for this potentially unfair ruination of a reputation? Mud sticks is an undeniable truism.

Weaponizing Bitterness

The elephant in room in this area of legal process is the myth that women never lie about a sexual assault. In fact, the Queensland Attorney General Shannon Fentiman based her sponsorship of the proposed bill on this ‘myth’ about a myth. As the Courier Mail reported Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman first announced the law changes in November, stating the publication bans on an accused’s name were based on “rape myths” that women would make up allegations.

That is an alarming conclusion from the person who is laughably the state’s top legal mind.  A series of changes to the law over recent years has been based on tes ‘women don’t make this stuff up ‘myth and maybe at the outset of the changes, that was true,. But changes to the process have made it easier for some aggrieved women to bring spurious, vexatious or just plain spiteful ‘woman scorned’ charges. A major change at the outset is that the police are obligated to believe any woman who recounts a more or less credible story and bring a charge. It has been widely reported there have been instances where this has led to incomplete and convenient investigations resulting in a charge. This is apparently because this is one area the cops loathe being involved in.

Then there is the matter of evidence. The accuser’s mobile phone and, where applicable, computer are often off limits – sometimes ‘lost’ – as evidence, because women’s rights groups have convinced vote-hungry politicians and subservient judges it would be an invasion of privacy.Is one churlish to think that the incarceration of an innocent person is a much greater invasion of privacy? And rights? And justice? So evidence which may exonerate an accused is not protected and/or allowed to be used in a trial.  The balance of values here flies in the face of the maxim that it is better than 10 guilty go free than one innocent person be convicted.

In a recent article, writer Bettina Arndt told of the collapse of a series of high profile British rape cases that fell apart because it was discovered that police and prosecutors had deliberately failed to hand over social media evidence that could’ve proved the innocence of the accused men. It was revealed that in one case, there were 40,000 texts (that ids Ms Arndt’s number, unverified by The Magpie – it seems unrealistically high, but there no doubt were many) which revealed one defendant’s accuser had pestered him for sex. That wouldn’t make a bit of difference if the man had still actually by definition raped the woman, he would certainly still be guilty. But he didn’t.

All these men were going to jail. And when the scandal broke, a Select Committee found that such instances of forced disclosure of phone data were responsible for 90% of not guilty or discontinued cases.

The Magpie is unable to find out if any of the false accusers suffered any penalty, but in the prevailing imbalance, it seems highly unlikely.

Here in Australia Arndt recounts the story of a young Sydney man who endured a 3-year trial when a woman claimed digital rape at a boozy party. The young person was found eventually guilty. The father of the boy decided to appeal and employed an expert on phone technology. The boy’s phone had been tampered with (believed to have been  done by the cops although not proven ), and critical conversations had been removed. Social media messages that remained showed the boy had been pursued by the accuser. The jury took less than two hours to toss the case out but guess what … the trollop who made up the story has never been named and never been held accountable. And a shattered family is out tens of thousands of dollars. So much for justice.

And then there’s this – Australian police are required to refer to a complainant as ‘the victim’, which to is a massive bias and is anyway unnecessary … what’s wrong with simply saying ‘the woman’ or ‘the complainant’, neither which carry the inherent bias of ‘victim’.

Certainly strong redress to the imbalance of the social/gender power structure was needed, a ‘correction’ as they term common sense in the stock market. But, as with stock markets, ‘corrections’ can go too far and cause all sorts of unintended damage.

The known fact that women can be as manipulative as men has been roundly howled down by interested parties and defenders of the eventually out-of-control MeToo movement.

And before anyone wants to jump in on this in comments, please note domestic violence is not the issue being addressed here, that is a different but just as disturbing matter with an added dimension for the law to handle.

Hey, Ya Gunna Vote Yes Or No ToThe Voice? Why Bother Voting At, It’s A Done Deal Says Albo.

In a spectacular return to Labor’s foot shooting days of yore, Albo has embarked on an unexpected road to political perdition.

Anthony Albanese caught the whole country off-guard when he announced Labor, with the backing of several Teals, would pass legislation creating the Voice … even if the referendum resulted in a resounding NO vote. It is hard to understand what prompted this interesting take on democracy, which … should there be a NO vote … will create untold turmoil for no discernible reason nor benefit.

The interesting thing about the announcement and all the obfuscation surrounding the issue, is that Albo appears to be using the justification that legislating a Voice is different to it being whacked into the constitution. He uses the highly debatable argument that a Voice to parliament in this fashion is the moral thing to do – might be some who disagree with the little homily – but if a subsequent government is given a mandate, presumably voted into office by disgruntled voters on this issue alone – then they can rescind the legislation.

What? That would be WT actual F.

That would be legislation that the majority voted against in the first place.This is cloud cuckoo land stuff. But that’s about par for the course, given the way this while issue has been presented. What a fucktangle, white man’s indigenous politics at its shimmering best.

And The Magpie’s call from the very outset for a clear simple statement of what we are expected to vote for – including the effect on the general electorate – is now increasingly echoed across all shades of media.

Here is a pertinent comment from  Peter van Onselen in his article in. the Weekend Australian.

There are hundreds of pages of details about the voice in the Calma-Langton report, but simply referring people to that document isn’t explaining how a voice will function. For a start, they propose multiple options. At the very least, people should know which one Labor is going for.

Are Camels  And Kangaroos excluded?

The animal rights group PETA are outraged at the blatant discrimination of the Katter Party’s  err …snap drive to expand membership.

KAP’s eligibility rules have been eased a bit, and the party’s on the march …. or the crawl and slither. But what if you gallop or hop, are you also welcome?

After being criticised for putting out a membership form that asked applicants to identify as only either male or female, the KAP hierarchy have seen the error of its ways, and apparently regret its callous, exclusionary discrimination. They have issued a new application form with an expanded choice.

A joke? Well, no more than Katter antics usually are, it is a genuine form – check it out for yourself at  https://kap.org.au/

So Now Bulletin Iditor Craig Herbert Is Just Flat Out Lying … But Probably Through Embarrassment.

Each morning, Mr Herbert graces subscribers with an email preview of the day’s paper, showing us … mercifully without commentary … the front and back pages of the edition. This is what he told was the front and back pages last Thursday,

Now, it’s obvious what he termed the back page, the traditional home of screaming juvenile headlines, was missing, this was just one of the inside pages. So what was the back page? It was this.

No doubt former head of sales and now the paper’s general manager Suzanne Wilson will regard this as a lucrative move forward. And that Mr Herbert is an obedient doggy. So much for news, Townsville.

The paper’s slogan ‘All For You’ only applies if you’re a good guy named Harvey.

Some People Are Quick On The Uptake to See A Business Opportunity

This was sent in today. Matching powder puffs available soon.

Fake News On The Front Burner

Just by way of variety, Americans’ focus was on watching a political pot boil over the on the nation’s stoves …. At issue was the rumour, false and based only on a distant ‘measure if necessary;’ that the government was about to ban gas stoves and ovens. To fight climate change so the story went. That was knocked on the head pretty swiftly, but not before there was satirical fun to be had, along with the latest from serial lying senator and all those classified documents floating about.

Jacinda Ardern Steps Down …

Even this admirable woman’s surprise resignation was, like her tenure, all class. Open and honest, basically saying she had run out of the steam needed to be an effective leader. Rare honesty from any political leader anywhere. And offering a stark contrast in leadership … especially across the ditch.

Global surprise and regret were universal, with many a world leader heaping deserved praise on this most able of women. Much has been said on social media, positive praise for the most part, but for The ‘Pie, the SMH’s Kathy Wilcox made the most eloquent comment of Adern as role model.

 Don’t Know If We’ve Already Used This One …

…. but what the hell, like it so much here vit is again.

………………..

The year is already flying by, and the comments are flying in, grab a name and join in, it’s no more than an email away. Still wrestling with new technology I’m trying to put in place, and any help with that will be appreciated. The donate button is below.