Australian Politics General...

UMike said:

Watched a lot of this live.

Never seen so much communist propaganda masquerading as a voice for the common person in Australia.

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Yes, but if you have a senior company exec not knowing a key business metric then you have to wonder about the quality of management.

Many people including a number of posters on ASF have acknowledged how well Justice Lee summed up the Lehrmann defamation case and the care that went into his judgement.

Today I read Annabel Crabbs take on this story and IMV it was one of the most insightful, brilliantly written and uplifting stories I seen for a long time.

Well worth ones time and probably even worth saving it somewhere on your computer for future reference. I have only quoted the final few paragraphs. The rest is equally compelling.

In Bruce Lehrmann's 'omnishambles' of a trial, Justice Michael Lee delivered a powerful lesson in shades of grey​

.... Judges are often called upon – obliged, in fact — to apply complicated legal tests and precedents in arriving at a decision. But the test Justice Lee applied here was — in the end — a less exalted one. One we usually call "the pub test".

When a young man who finds a young woman attractive and has spent the night drinking with her and rather than going home to his girlfriend takes that young woman back to their deserted office and ignores multiple calls from his girlfriend, then leaves in the office the young woman who is found hours later with the lower part of her body naked and exposed, and who later still says that she woke from a drunken stupor to find him raping her, then where does the truth likely lie?

Justice Lee's central technique here wasn't to weigh up a legal principle. It was to look at everything each party said, and how they behaved, and decide who was fair dinkum and who wasn't.

A dreadful week that also holds much to admire​

The past week has been a dreadful one, with terrible things happening around the world and in our own country. But in all this darkness, the reminder that it is possible for the human brain to entertain complicated and difficult and even conflicting concepts all at once, and do so with courage and humanity, is a struck match of sudden and redemptive warmth.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/subscribe
A male judge who not only makes a decision, but explains it with care and solicitude for all the messy and fallible humans involved. A female police officer who runs toward a man in a shopping centre to stop him from stabbing woman after woman, and shoots him (an outcome from which every human opposed to the violent taking of life would necessarily shrink) but then works furiously to save his life.

Complexity. Mess. Horror. Kindness. Courage. Judgment.

There is much in humanity to be feared, and there is much to admire. But let us never make the error of assuming that the more furiously and sharply we attempt to draw the line in between, the closer we are to truth

SirRumpole said:

Yes, but if you have a senior company exec not knowing a key business metric then you have to wonder about the quality of management.

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Pretty sure he knew it but didn't want to feed the moron on the high horse.

Funny about the fascination with cherry picking metrics is double standards are the only one Greens have.

Thanks Bas that was an extraordinary read from Annabel

UMike said:

Pretty sure he knew it but didn't want to feed the moron on the high horse.

Funny about the fascination with cherry picking metrics is double standards are the only one Greens have.

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It felt like a pathetic pre-planned exchange (with the media) to generate a story where there was no story. Both men sounded like flogs to me, but watch The Australia Institute testimony and you end up shaking your head. Leading questions asked by a greens senator to a think tank which has long been accused/associated with being very greens/left biased is of no help. Greens senator asks questions like 'does the duopoly help profits' think tank says yes. Greens senator asks if price gouging is occurring, think tank says yes. It's like calling MSNBC to testify on Trump... What do you expect will happen.

Unless they can prove genuine collusion between the two businesses (which I completely believe there is - but likely unprovable) this is yet another distraction for our rudderless country and government. If you don't like the prices at Coles, go to Aldi or IGA. But if you want to see price gouging - go to some of the weekend markets - especially around Perth. Disgusting what 'farmers' charge. $5, $6 sometimes $7 for a head of garlic.

basilio said:

Many people including a number of posters on ASF have acknowledged how well Justice Lee summed up the Lehrmann defamation case and the care that went into his judgement.

Today I read Annabel Crabbs take on this story and IMV it was one of the most insightful, brilliantly written and uplifting stories I seen for a long time.

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Along the same journalistic theme, the Guardian posted a good synopsis of the current problem with journalism and the way it influences the narrative.

What a joke.
Journalists from one media organisation bagging journalists from another rival media organisation.
Mick

Police State incoming:

mullokintyre said:

What a joke.
Journalists from one media organisation bagging journalists from another rival media organisation.
Mick

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I think that's very hard on the Murdoch empire who do it every day to the ABC... eh.

mullokintyre said:

Journalists from one media organisation bagging journalists from another rival media organisation.

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Basic problem is all media is trying to be the government rather than simply reporting on it.

They're all akin to the worker who wants to call the shots but who didn't even apply for the manager's job when it was open.

Smurf1976 said:

Basic problem is all media is trying to be the government rather than simply reporting on it.

They're all akin to the worker who wants to call the shots but who didn't even apply for the manager's job when it was open.

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Would be interesting to see the qualifications of journalists who report on say engineering or science subjects, I bet very few of them have engineering or science degrees otherwise they would be doing something useful. Most have Arts or Politics degrees which are basically useless.

Moves to make pepper spray legal for "self defence".


Will be interesting to see how this goes.

It would be discrimination to refuse to sell it to men, so we could have all sorts wandering around potentially using it indiscriminately.

And if women get it, who is to say they will always use it for "self defence".

If they see a guy they don't like and spray him without being threatened, is that assault? Who will have to prove that she was about to be attacked?

Very messy imo.

SirRumpole said:

Moves to make pepper spray legal for "self defence".

WA is the only Australian jurisdiction where it's legal to have pepper spray. Self-defence advocates want that to change

Western Australia is the only Australian state or territory which allows people to have pepper spray for self-protection, and there have been calls to legalise the substance country-wide in the wake of Bondi's stabbing attack.

www.abc.net.au

Will be interesting to see how this goes.

It would be discrimination to refuse to sell it to men, so we could have all sorts wandering around potentially using it indiscriminately.

And if women get it, who is to say they will always use it for "self defence".

If they see a guy they don't like and spray him without being threatened, is that assault? Who will have to prove that she was about to be attacked?

Very messy imo.

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Doesn't seem to be a problem here in WA AGAIK.

SirRumpole said:

Moves to make pepper spray legal for "self defence".

WA is the only Australian jurisdiction where it's legal to have pepper spray. Self-defence advocates want that to change

Western Australia is the only Australian state or territory which allows people to have pepper spray for self-protection, and there have been calls to legalise the substance country-wide in the wake of Bondi's stabbing attack.

www.abc.net.au

Will be interesting to see how this goes.

It would be discrimination to refuse to sell it to men, so we could have all sorts wandering around potentially using it indiscriminately.

And if women get it, who is to say they will always use it for "self defence".

If they see a guy they don't like and spray him without being threatened, is that assault? Who will have to prove that she was about to be attacked?

Very messy imo.

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It's the world we live in - everyone's in fear. I'm not even fond of asking for directions in public; it can be scary for people, unless the asker is female or a geriatric, or better a female geriatric lol. I would usually try to use my phone for directions over that - but it depends on the "vibe" of the area. That's setting aside the fact everyone arrived in the country like five minutes ago and wouldn't know where what is anyway

StockyGuy said:

It's the world we live in - everyone's in fear. I'm not even fond of asking for directions in public; it can be scary for people, unless the asker is female or a geriatric, or better a female geriatric lol. I would usually try to use my phone for directions over that - but it depends on the "vibe" of the area. That's setting aside the fact everyone arrived in the country like five minutes ago and wouldn't know where what is anyway

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And pull out the mobile phone and the risk of being assaulted for it is also there.

Another great story from Annabel Crabb on the hot topic of the tit for tat (sic) media exchanges around women breast feeding in public.

basilio said:

Another great story from Annabel Crabb on the hot topic of the tit for tat (sic) media exchanges around women breast feeding in public.

Australia's culture wars are back on the topic of breasts. It's no great surprise, but perhaps this time there's a lesson

It really should come as no surprise to Arj Barker that the eviction of a breastfeeding mother from his Melbourne show has whipped up another round of culture wars, but these situations are complicated by differing experiences and emotional triggers — and culture wars aren't good with detail.

www.abc.net.au

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@basilio She who is Never Wrong ranted about this woman the other night.
The baby wasn't that old and according to her the mother should have got a babysitter or not gone to the show at all.
Anyway she got her 5 minutes of glory on the idiot box.

Who brings a baby to a comedy show. You have to be bloody brainless. This article is even more delusional. Wtf would Arj shout this idiot to a day out. It was clearly stated "this act was not for minors" on the tickets t&c.

This was a failure of the staff.

farmerge said:

@basilio She who is Never Wrong ranted about this woman the other night.
The baby wasn't that old and according to her the mother should have got a babysitter or not gone to the show at all.
Anyway she got her 5 minutes of glory on the idiot box.

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Every little minor event is a national outrage these days.

Really, hasn't the media got anything better to do?

SirRumpole said:

Every little minor event is a national outrage these days.

Really, hasn't the media got anything better to do?

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@SirRumpole Apparently not, and perhaps just a little bit of cheque book journalism.