Sunday, August 19, 2018


Fake Rape Crisis Campus Tour

An email from Bettina Arndt [bettina@bettinaarndt.com.au] below

Before I tell you about this week’s video, I just wanted to bring you up to date with the fracas over my La Trobe talk. You may have heard that the university eventually caved in and the event is now happening on September 6. I will post full details on my Facebook page soon – perhaps some  Melbourne people would like to come along. I’m hoping I’ll see La Trobe staff as well. It is shocking that academics have been silenced on this issue.

La Trobe has agreed to cover the costs of security but we will have to see whether things get out of control. There was a demonstration against me this week. A rather pathetic little group but when the details of the event are published they might be able to pull together a bigger crowd of protestors. I’m also speaking at Sydney University on September 11 – that one promises to be even more lively, given the feral activists on that campus.

I have students from other cities keen to have me speak so I have now started a crowd-funder to help the student groups with costs of venue hire plus my travel costs and extra security if necessary. Here’s the link: https://www.gofundme.com/h9qp7.

Please do what you can to support this. I feel it is one small step towards forcing universities to confront the free speech issues on our campuses

Dr Quentin Van Meter

Now to this week’s video. I recently watched an excellent YouTube video showing a talk by Quentin Van Meter, an American paediatric endocrinologist. Dr Van Meter is a clinical associate professor at both Emory and Morehouse Schools of Medicine and he trained at Johns Hopkins, which did much of the early work on transgender. Dr Van Meter’s talk was very brave and extremely worrying, exposing how academic medicine has caved in to the trans lobby and is allowing ideology to take priority over proper care of children. Trans medicine is now replete with lies, fraud and unethical, dangerous medical practices, as Van Meter explained. 

I’ve long been concerned about all this and immediately tried to find out more about Van Meter, only to discover he was visiting here this week, as the guest of the National Civic Council. You may have read today that the University of Western Australia has just caved in to protests and cancelled his Perth talk. Here we go again!

We managed to arrange to video his Sydney talk earlier this week and I was privileged to chair his Q&A. I know this is a long video but try to listen to it all. And help me circulate it. I think you will find it really shocking.



(Voice in introduction is Bettina)






Assaults on teachers are on the rise – but an expert claims it's the students' parents who are to blame

Violence in schools is becoming more frequent and intense, yet some believe that the students' parents are to blame.

A record number of teachers in New South Wales schools have lodged compensation claims regarding violence inflicted by students. NSW is believed to be the worst state in the country when it comes to violence in schools, and the numbers only seem to be getting worse.

Last year saw figures more than double from 17 violence-related claims lodged in 2016, to 41 in 2017, The Saturday Telegraph reported.

There has already been 15 assaults lodged so far this year, with expectations for more to come.

Australian Catholic University Associate Professor Philip Riley said that the children may be repeating behaviour they are enduring at home from violent parents.

'Kids are seeing parents modelling this sort of behaviour. We have a much more ingrained problem with violence in this country than we're caring to admit,' he said.

Professor Riley said that the violence is becoming more and more intense, and unfortunately more frequent. 'It is everything; biting, scratching, kicking, throwing things,' he said.

While many believe NSW is the worst state when it comes to violence, just last month it was revealed that staff at Queensland schools submitted 359 claims of physical violence between June 2017 and June 2018.

This number is higher than the previous year by 55 claims, and includes incidents of students punching teachers, throwing chairs or tackling them to the ground.

A spokesman from the NSW Department of Education said that they are trying to combat the issue by modifying violent student's behaviour.

The spokesman also said that they're implementing strategies to support teachers and education employees that are affected by workplace injuries. 'The programs implemented under the strategy have focused on injury prevention … support and recovery at work for staff,' they said.

SOURCE 






Turnbull rolls over on climate nonsense

We are doing OK without a free trade agreement with the EU so lacking one is unlikely to be noticed. And it's very unlikely that the EU will tie trade to emissions reduction since they themselves are not meeting emission goals

Malcolm Turnbull's backflip on plans to legislate the Paris emissions reduction target could cost Australia billions.

Faced with the prospect of ten rebel MPs crossing the floor to vote against his National Energy Guarantee and a possible leadership challenge from Peter Dutton, Mr Turnbull capitulated in an attempt to secure his own political future.

But the move could spell the end of a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia and the European Union.

Wine and designer goods from Europe would no longer fall in price, and the current five per cent vehicle tariff and luxury car tax would remain.

Australia's pursuit of a free trade agreement between the two 'like-minded' partners was made on June 18 in response to a successful 2017 when the EU was Australia's largest source of foreign investment.

The agreement is intended to open up the market for any Australian purveyor or business person.

Greater access to the EU market would enable Australian farmers to avoid EU tariff quotas on beef, sheep meat, sugar, cheese and rice.

On Friday Mr Turnbull put the deal at risk by dropping the government's plans to legislate the 26 per cent Paris emissions reduction target.

The prime minister instead proposed setting emissions targets by regulation, The Australian reported.

The plan will formally go to Cabinet on Monday night and will be discussed by the coalition party room on Tuesday.

Advice from the competition regulator that power prices would not increase as a result of the commitment will also be required.

The backflip comes after a group of right-wing MPs - led by Tony Abbott - told Mr Turnbull they would vote against his energy policy.

The heart of the policy was the controversial target to cut emissions by 26 per cent by 2030. The Liberal and Nationals MPs who are against NEG and appear willing to cross the floor include Mr Abbott, Andrew Gee, Andrew Hastie, Barnaby Joyce, Craig Kelly, Kevin Andrews, George Christensen as well as Keith Pitt.

Since then the group have urged Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to mount a leadership challenge following his 38th consecutive Newspoll loss to Bill Shorten's Labor Party.

While Mr Turnbull has the support of Simon Birmingham and Christopher Pyne, Mr Dutton is backed by Barnaby Joyce and Tony Abbott.

Mr Dutton confirmed on Friday he is considering all his options, including resigning his ministry and leading a mass exodus of Coalition MPs across the floor, Nine News reported.

Another Minister told Nine News: 'If the only way this thing gets up is with Labor's support then there is no way it will fly'.

'There are only two good outcomes here - either the energy policy is dead and we can go to the election fighting Labor on it, or Malcolm goes,' an unnamed MP told The Daily Telegraph.

SOURCE 






‘People want to feel safe’: Nigel Farage warns of ‘disconnect’ in Australian immigration debate

THE man dubbed “Mr Brexit” will meet with “senior Australian political figures” next month as he warns of a similar upheaval Down Under if mainstream politicians don’t address concerns over immigration.

Nigel Farage said while Australia may not have the same “cause célèbre for fundamental change in direction” as Brexit, the record low primary vote for the major parties and rise of minor parties showed the populist revolution sweeping the western world was “already affecting your country”.

The former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party and Member of the European Parliament played a major role in the 2016 vote to leave the European Union and is a close friend of US President Donald Trump.

Speaking hours after Sudanese migrant Salih Khater allegedly drove a Ford Fiesta into cyclists and pedestrians on Westminster Bridge outside London’s Houses of Parliament in a suspected terrorist attack, Mr Farage said people “want to feel safer”.

“What we do know is there are nearly 700 active investigations into potential terrorist groups (in the UK),” he said. “Europe has got a problem. The truth of it is you wouldn’t want to start from here.”

He said through European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy in 2015 of “saying anyone that wants to come can come”, Europe had “imported an awful lot of people who wish that civilisation harm”.

“We’re in a very tough place,” he said. “Where do we go from here? Well number one is a massively increased security bill, a change in many ways to how we live. Look at London, we’ve now built walls on our bridges to protect people walking over them.”

But he said it was important to engage with the broader Muslim community. “There are some people who want to sort of go to war with the entire religion of Islam, and I’ve always argued strongly against that,” he said.

“I’m all for us defending our way of life, the only warning I give is that if we appear to be embarking on a religious war, that would be a mistake.”

Former UK Foreign Secretary and leadership hopeful Boris Johnson sparked controversy last week by saying Muslim women wearing the full face veil looked like “bank robbers” and “letter boxes”.

Mr Farage, who defended the comments, said it was encouraging that “a lot of Muslim scholars and commentators have now put their heads up and said, this is not in Koranic law, it’s not doing us any good”.

He said Australia had been “slightly insulated by geography” from the global political shift reflected in the election of Mr Trump and the rise of populist governments like Italy’s Five Star-Northern League coalition.

“But you’re still very much part of the western world,” he said.

“Your political class are tempted by the new global order, just as the Americans, British and the Europeans have been. I think the message really is number one, understand what’s happened.

“Understand that Brexit, Trump and (Italian deputy leader Matteo) Salvini are not one-off flashes in the pan, they’re actually part of a big, fundamental societal change that is taking place, and understand that those changes could happen in Australia, too.

“The internet has given people terrific empowerment to make change if they feel the established order is not representing them. So I would say to Australia, don’t think this can’t happen to you, because it can.”

Mr Farage said it was about whether people felt the political class in the capital cities were representing their “thoughts, hopes and aspirations”.

“What the change in the Australian voting pattern is suggesting is that there are people in Australia feeling the same thing too,” he said. “The mainstream can of course stop the rise of smaller parties, if they’re more in tune and more connected with ordinary folks.”

The Brexit vote “would not have happened without the immigration issue” and there was a “very similar disconnect” between the political class and the public in Australia on the topic, he said.

Successive polls have revealed a growing unease with Australia’s record high immigration intake. A survey last year by the Australian Population Research Institute found 74 per cent of voters said the country does not need more people.

A Newspoll earlier this year revealed 56 per cent of voters believe the existing immigration cap of 190,000 a year is too high, and an Essential Media poll found 64 per cent believe the level of immigration over the past 10 years has been too high.

In 2016-17, net overseas migration to the country came in at 262,500 people, 27.3 per cent higher than the previous year. Australia’s population surged past the 25 million milestone at 11:01pm on August 7, sparking fresh calls to ease the strain on Sydney and Melbourne.

“I find it fascinating that even in a country like yours, which many of us up here hold in high regard because its points-based system and all the rest of it, that even there it’s this disconnect,” he said.

“You’ve had your terrorist attacks, you’ve had your problems that have occurred down there. People want to feel safer, they want to feel that the people coming into the country are going to pretty much absorb themselves within the existing culture.”

He partly blamed the media for the growing discontent.

“People’s faith in the mainstream media is collapsing — take CNN, since their non-stop, 18-month battle to get rid of President Trump, their ratings have fallen off a cliff,” he said.

“People are voting with their feet when it comes to newspapers, radio and TV, and I think there is this perception that big business, big media, big politics, they’re all in it together.”

Asked whether he had an opinion on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Farage said he didn’t “want to get drawn into individuals within Australian politics”.

“All I would say is that I was very disappointed during the referendum that so many Australian political figures seemed to argue that the UK should stay part of the European Union when clearly the freeing of the UK from the EU should be a very good thing for Australian and UK relations,” he said.

In the lead-up to the June 23, 2016 referendum, both Mr Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten said they would prefer the UK to stay part of the EU. After the Brexit vote, Mr Turnbull “consoled” outgoing UK leader David Cameron.

Former PM Tony Abbott bucked the conservative trend and supported the Remain side, but after the poll appeared to backflip, telling a London audience he was “quietly thrilled that the British people have resolved to claim back their country”.

“I found it extraordinary how all the global politicians, Australia included, got behind this, ‘Let’s keep the EU, let’s keep the global order’,” Mr Farage said.

“But it’s happened, and whilst Mrs May is not doing the job very well, the prospects for our two nations with Brexit are much better than they’ve been for decades.”

It’s generally thought the chances of a free-trade deal between Australia and the UK after March 29, 2019 would be better under a so-called “hard Brexit” as opposed to a “soft Brexit”, in which the UK effectively remains a member of the EU in all but name.

“An independent UK is able to choose its own friends,” Mr Farage said.

“We’re able to strike our own trade deals, we’re able to form our own relationships. I think for many of us who are big Commonwealth supporters, which I very much am, the last few decades have been very frustrating.

“We’ve watched the UK getting ever closer to the European political project to the detriment of our global relationships. I’m optimistic, I think we can do trade deals together, there can be a new kind of renaissance, if you like, of the English-speaking peoples of the world.”

Mr Farage would not reveal which politicians he planned to meet on his tour of Australia next month, where he will speak at a series of events billed as an “entertaining evening with Nigel Farage”. He said we wanted to meet fisherman Rex Hunt and cricketer Dennis Lillee.

“They’re my great Australian heroes,” he said.

“All I can say at this stage is there are some quite senior Australian political figures that I will be meeting on my trip, but I can’t disclose those names right at the moment,” he said.

“But clearly there are figures in Australian politics I do look up to from previous times. I thought John Howard was a remarkable man who I’ve had the privilege to meet, but in terms of current day-to-day politics I want to be slightly careful.”

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here


1 comment:

Paul said...

Assaults on teachers on the rise. Schools full of Africans and Muslims of varying layers of uselessness, not to mention ever more Maori and Islanders

I'd expect nothing less.