Here is a fact check on the ABC website regarding its apology for airing a false allegation that a five year old boy was raped while in immigration detention in Nauru:
First exhibit: the homepage – no evidence of any ABC lies on rape of refugees.
Second exhibit – a search on the ABC for the word “rape”. Nothing apparent. Although the first result makes me VERY angry at the Government (thank you ABC for unbiased reporting).
Third exhibit – I had heard false rumours of an ABC apology – again an interesting result. Very angry about the Stolen Generation. grrrrr.
Well, this went on for sometime. Basically, it’s a “whitewash” on the ABC.
Fourth exhibit – Google is almost able to whitewash the convenient lies, though not at the expense of the ABC. Look down the bottom at the headline from the Daily Telegraph.
Fifth exhibit – Finally, after entering just the right words, I found the ABC reporting about the ABC, except…
It’s a begrudging acknowledgement of error from the ABC, no mention of “false” nor “rape” nor “lies” in the headline from the ABC.
One day, they will be judged by the same standards they apply to their ideological opponents and it will not be pretty. I have heard of kangaroo courts, this is a kangaroo court national broadcaster. It is a disgrace.
I love America, and I love the American national anthem.
As a musician, I appreciate the generous use of applied dominants in making an already stirring melody even more grandiose. As a human, I can’t but help get shivers down my spine as the anthem builds to its climax, “O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”
Yet I am an Aussie, who can’t but help wish just a little bit that he was an American. Another such interloper, Sergei Rachmaninoff, who became a US citizen in 1943, having fled Soviet Russia years earlier for the freedom of the new world, orchestrated his own tribute to The Star Spangled Banner.
The latest tribute comes courtesy of Lady Gaga, who absolutely nailed it before the NFL Superbowl last night, and has well and truly earned herself The XYZ Quote of the Day. Along with her heartfelt rendition, I loved the reaction of the crowd when the cameras crossed to the American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, standing to attention. Like the reaction of the Space X staff when they successfully landed the Falcon 9 rocket, you can’t fake that kind of patriotism.
The Green’s have acted decisively today in a move of solidarity to support its advocacy partner, and propaganda mouthpiece, the people’s ABC. When the inconvenient truth was brought to the attention of the Australian public (and the people’s ABC forced to make a belated apology for lying), the Green’s were not to be defeated:
“We have spoken with our advocacy partners in the people smuggling and migrant sector, and we are determined to set the facts straight. Do not forget that the migrant trail is full of sexual abuse and rape, let alone pointless drownings. Tomorrow we will make sure one of our migrant partners rapes a child in detention. Its a small price to pay to reopen the people smuggling trail and bring our future voters to infidel soil.”
Over the last few days, North Korea has launched a missile into space, claiming that it was a satellite launch and was purely for peaceful purposes.
International leaders led by the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon have spoken out in response to North Korea’s missile tests, asking the renegade nation to stop testing nuclear weapons, adding: “pretty please, with sugar on top.”
A spokesman for China said that they would send a stern message to North Korea after the recent tests, but concluded his statement with, “isn’t he an adorable scallywag?”
Statements made by a spokesman for Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were not quite as measured:
“We take these recent provocations by North Korea as an act of war against the people of Islam.”
“Allah willing, we will bring swiftly the sword jihad to your land!”
What a wonderful age we live in. Turn on Channel 10’s The Project and you get a wonderful example of what I am going to lay down for you, though it’s writ large across the media, the institutions and online.
The progressives and regressives are in bed together: The lefties and the Islamists. Those who seek to enshrine the rights of LGBTI, sexual self identity, equality (along with reverse discrimination), secularism and champion all sorts of progressive causes. These people are in bed with those who adore The Prophet (a man who if he were contemporary would be slain by the social justice warriors for so many reason). Those who subjugate women. Those who believe in Sharia, which is so anti-progressive it’s obviously regressive.
These groups are in bed together. Its like a odd couple comedy. It doesn’t make sense. Walk on the streets of Germany during NYE or Carnival and it must be hard to cognitively comprehend.
But the point is this: This entente cordial between the two groups is a matter of convenience. They know not to attack each other, hell, this is why we have media self censorship. Why Waleed Aly, that articulate former spokesman for the Islamic Council of Victoria is so out-of-character silent when gay marriage, women’s rights and other causes he opposes are discussed, and vice versa.
They know the deal. Their fight is not with each other – yet. Their fight is with their common enemy.
The common enemy is the West, Christian traditions, traditional western values primarily.
The Kafir that appalls the regressive is the same target as the progressives self loathing. It’s fair to say, the progressives escape the loathing (so far) of the regressives because they are hastening the migration of the regressives to the West and are eroding Kafir values from within. The regressives are the favourite cause of the progressives because they are the antithesis of everything that they resent. Anti-western value, “multicultural”, “oppressed”, disempowered victims, adherents of totalitarian power structures, not afraid to sew their lips or drown their children nor do anything else to appeal to western sympathies.
These two groups are not afraid to speak their mind, however they are cognisant to target their dialogue at their mutual enemy and not at their erstwhile allies. Imagine what would happen if they actually told each other what they think of the values they represent, and heated debates on the Project about the sickness of Aly subjugating his wife and he retorts about how in the future same sex marriage will be a non-issue, resolved by a communal brick throwing event.
The battle lines will be redrawn. That they are presently not is a perverse crime which enables the upcoming horrors of the West.
This week a number of churches have made public announcements stating their intention to offer sanctuary within church walls for asylum seekers. While this offer is largely motivated by compassion (and just enough self-righteousness to make them inclined to publicise plans that would have been more effective if done quietly), it is practically unfeasible, comes worryingly close to using people in need as emotive pawns to help protesters critique the government, ignores the many thousands who could be assisted through regular channels & saddest of all, if implemented, would almost certainly result in those asylum seekers participating never being able to resettle in Australia.
Church moves to offer sanctuary could lead to a new flood of boat arrivals, risking further deaths at sea and the horrors of human trafficking.
Making a public show about offering ‘sanctuary’ might feel good but it pushes the government into a spot where they must restate their commitment to be strong on migration – otherwise we risk increasing deaths at sea again as occurred after labor dismantled the pacific solution in 2008.
Moreover, concerned churches would most likely have had more chance of success if they had instead quietly approached the government and proposed something like a special application of the family migration program (i.e. Allowing community groups to sponsor asylum seekers in a similar way to how relatives can sponsor family members for migration) – churches could then offer to take on the financial & social obligations of resettling these asylum seekers while the government maintains their much-needed strong border policies.
Such an approach (following the Christian injunctions to treat others as ourselves and to welcome all to our Christian family) could potentially function in a similar way to policies under the Howard government which resulted in the vast majority of those detained off-shore eventually quietly making it to Australia, while maintaining a tough public line on refugee arrivals, which minimized human casualties (not just deaths at sea, but also cutting the value out of people smuggling operations that also perpetrate human trafficking for slavery & the illegal sex trade).
And, as noted above, asylum seekers who actually decided to refuse to follow their requirements & tried to get to a participating church would basically kill off any chance they had off ever coming here legally.
Another nail in the ‘sanctuary’ coffin, is that sanctuary didn’t apply outside the church’s walls – and pragmatically speaking, there’s no chance they could keep these people effectively prisoner for a potentially indefinite amount of time. Children especially would need to leave to attend school – Again what these churches should really talking about is migration sponsorship.
You may have seen some of the drawings and pictures that these children have (been told to?) make. One person on my Facebook feed yesterday put up pictures of thirty Nauru-based asylum seekers. These kids’ faces & futures are being used to advertise Australians’ views on off-shore detention, when we really should just be working for those kids’ best outcomes. It’s a nice little emotive move but what about the thousands of faceless children who are born into the terrible conditions of refugee camps around the world? Who’s standing up for them?
One may agree that we have a role to play in welcoming refugees, while rejecting the idea that the immigration should be indiscriminate, and while deeply disagreeing with some churches’ moves to offer ‘sanctuary’ to Nauru-based asylum seekers.
This is where this issue gets real ethically speaking – How much money are you going to throw at these particular asylum seekers when you would be able to help many more refugees if funds were instead utilised to pull people currently waiting in refugee camps?
Because for all the funds we throw at the few asylum seekers on Nauru (not that there aren’t some genuine issues here) there are thousands who have been waiting their whole lives to come here legally, and we could help many more of them with the same amount of money and resources. One specific measure would be to sponsor the training of and funding for a team (or two?) of UN migration officers to speed the processing of refugees in UN camps around the world who spend years waiting for their applications to be processed. Churches could then petition the federal government to further raise immigration levels, which would be resourced and supported by community & church funding of the resettlement (a pragmatic, long-term, and far more cost-effective solution).
Current funding would stretch even further if those teams could prioritise refugee communities who are known to resettle well into Australian culture. By choosing communities that settle comfortably into Australian communities and promptly become financially self-supporting, we will maximize the benefits and mitigate the dangers of immigration, and refugee funding can then be redistributed to helping more refugees immigrate here sooner.
In conclusion, church announcements to offer Sanctuary uses children as pawns in our public debate on off-shore detention, would be practically damaging to the asylum seekers participating, and funnels much-needed attention & funds away from standard refugee programs – impeding our ability to more effectively assist the many thousands of people who are waiting decades for UN refugee resettlement.
This weekend marks the 105th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s birth. We at the XYZ have previously celebrated President Reagan’s steadfastness in defending classical liberal values, his vision for human flourishing and achievement, and for his unrivaled role in bringing down the Berlin Wall and an end to the oppression of Soviet Communism.
There is one particular line that stands out in President Reagan’s fine farewell address, delivered in January 1989, and it is this: “There is a clear cause an effect here that is as neat and as predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.” Mr Reagan’s words are on the one hand so obviously true, but in our present climate, feel radical and taboo; even scarcely utterable.
So many of President Reagan’s speeches are proving to be prophetic, as we see governments around the world encroaching further into the freedoms and rights that we are granted, not by governments as some would have it, but by our Maker, as the Founding Fathers of America understood it to be.
President Reagan, I salute you. And without any further ado, as XYZ’s Quote of the Day for 7 February 2016 I will let the great man speak for himself:
It is believed that Peta Credlin has been proposed, by Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull, for the position of Australia’s new sex discrimination commissioner. Now, I know what you’re all thinking, and yes, this is a little ironic considering the content of this suggestion – “Given that the position has been vacant for the last 5 months, Why should the government double up on a role which the private sector is already fulfilling so well?”
I have been a regular advocate of the free market on The XYZ. Logically, the free market should be able to label all men as potential rapists oops my finger slipped I mean identify instances of sexual discrimination far more efficiently than a government appointee. Particularly as there is so much competition – the AFL, the Melbourne Renegades, The ANZ (seriously, have you seen their latest ads?) are all finding new, proactive and creative ways to make men hate themselves oops sorry my finger slipped I mean stamp out instances of sexual discrimination that could never have occurred if it had been left to a slow moving, bureaucratic government appointee.
Australians should be proud that even without a sex discrimination commissioner, we were able to treat Chris Gayle so badly for a couple of corny lines to a female reporter that it will be years before black cricketers dare show their faces in our country again. Wait, that didn’t come out right, I mean, can we edit that bit out?
Furthermore the government should consider whether the positions of sex discrimination commissioner and Australian of the Year are double-handling the responsibility to convince young men that they are merely defective women oops my finger slipped I mean eliminate instances of sexual discrimination.. At the very least, the two positions could be amalgamated.
Finally, although Miss Credlin (see what I did there) is undoubtedly competent, and undoubtedly the victim of sexual discrimination, at the hands of the witch-hunt (see what I did there) conducted by a hypocritical left wing media and political insiders, she has quite wisely stated that she would prefer to work in the private sector. So in the future, those wishing to obscure the reality of domestic violence against men to the point of criminal negligence, should look to the private sector, not the government.
Over the last couple of days, a United Nations report has found that Julian Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” in the United Kingdom since 2010 including the last three and a half years he has been bunking it at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Even though Assange will most likely be arrested the moment he steps out the door (not an unusual scenario for someone wanted by police), he freely entered the embassy in 2011, and is free to leave at anytime. The person who decides whether he leaves or stays in the embassy is Assange himself.
As such, the British Government has understandably rejected any claim that Julian Assange is a victim of arbitrary detention.
A spokesman for the government stated that
Assange is voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Assange’s legal team assert that he should be able to leave the embassy without the prospect of arrest – a deal that many others wanted by authorities could only dream of striking.
There is an allegation of rape in Sweden that Assange is still to face, and there continues to be a warrant in place for his arrest.
I frankly do not buy the conspiracy theory that the Swedish allegation of rape is a front to have Assange extradited to America where we are told he will face torture or the death penalty.
Julian Assange has in my view, chosen to be his own jailer by avoiding to face the allegations made against him. Had he been holed up anywhere without immunity, he would have been arrested by the British police long ago. What’s more, had he actually faced the allegations made against him back in 2010, he might not have wasted the last few years of his life in a self-imposed prison.
Socialism is essentially gravity, and everyone loves gravity. Humans have always reached for the stars, but we will never get to the stars, because: yes, gravity.
Lets take a group of people, who we know are all equal despite race, creed, colour, age, sexual orientation, sexual self-identity, diseases and disorders they may suffer, real or imagined handicaps and all the other qualities of being human that do not differentiate us from one another as they cannot in any way make us less equal than one another as.. and I tip my hat to Einstein here for his famous equation from 1845: People=People.
So, people all being equal, and gravity being gravity, we should all either reach for the stars or not. But as not all may be willing nor able, collectively we will never reach for the stars nor should we – to do so would actually be racist, as it would lead to inequality should some people paradoxically make themselves less equal to other people – which is crazy talk and scientifically impossible.
Even if that were the case, it would be the role of nature to drag those people back to the level of their fellow man, and that is called socialism, and the hand is government acting as gravity.
So, to summarise, Dr Depp loves you all and don’t forget to tune in to my upcoming podcasts with Dr Karl Marx. And remember kids, the moon landing never happened, because that would be a socialist scientific impossibility. Stay equal Australia.
