Bigoted opponents of bigotry

A bigot is sure they are right and is intolerant of other views.  The critics of Margaret Court below certainly fit that description.  They want her to be tolerant of their views but are not prepared to be tolerant of her views

TENNIS trailblazer Billie Jean King used the occasion of being named Australian Open woman of the year to call for the renaming of Margaret Court Arena while British professional Liam Broady also took aim at the Australian tennis icon.

Court attracted headlines last year for her outspoken criticism of homosexuality and as the first major of 2018 approaches, debate has once again raged over whether her name should still be used for one of the major stadiums at Melbourne Park.

Payers have also faced questions about whether they’ll boycott matches played on her arena.

Court likened gay rights activists to Hitler in 2017 and Broad — the World No. 173 who recently lost in Australian Open qualifying to Matteo Berrettini — took to Twitter to make his feelings about her known.

Comparing the LGBT community in tennis to Hitler and communism is the most offensive and unfounded comment I have ever heard in my life and it just sounds like she’s parroting learnt opinions. She is much too intelligent to come to those conclusions on her own. Real shame

King is being feted at Melbourne Park this month — on the 50th anniversary of her first Australian title — for her contribution to the sport and her pioneering support for women’s rights and social justice.

The 74-year-old’s advocacy extended to naming the showcourt after her friend Margaret Court, but King said she could no longer support the honour. “I was a proponent of hers, trying to get her to the best possible court,” King said.

“She won 64 grand slams ... more than everybody else. “When Rocket, Rod Laver, got given the arena, I said, ‘What are you going to do for Margaret?’”

King said Court’s “derogatory” attacks on sexually diverse people were the last straw. “I think it’s its really important, if you’re going to have your name on anything, that you’re hospitable, inclusive, you’re opening arms to everyone that comes to a public facility,” she said.

“I was fine until lately she said so many derogatory things about my community, I’m a gay woman; about the LGBTIQ community.

“That really went deep in my heart and soul. “I don’t think she should have her name (on it) any more.”

King ended her career with 12 major singles titles.

In 2006, the US Open facility was rebadged as the “USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre” in her honour.

She said a change of the facility might have already occurred if Court had targeted other groups.

“If you were talking about indigenous people, Jews or any other people, I can’t imagine the public would want to have her name on something,” she said. “Maybe it’s our community, the LGBTIQ community (why) people might feel differently.”

Court, a fundamentalist Christian, has targeted same-sex parents — including Casey Dellacqua — and has argued for conversion therapy for gay people. King said she would refuse to play on the arena if she was appearing at this year’s tournament. She foreshadowed player boycotts of the court, but wouldn’t counsel anyone to do so.

Australian ace Sam Stosur suggested there was little locker room chatter about the divisive issue. “I’ll play on whatever court I’m scheduled on,” she said. “I wouldn’t say too many players have spent time thinking about it.”

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said Tennis Australia didn’t have a view on the renaming of the arena.  “They’re not the views of our organisation ... they’re not the views of our sport. We’re inclusive, diverse and equal,” he said.

The arena is managed by the Melbourne and Olympics Parks Trust under the purview of the Victorian Government.

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A puff of hot air from the Law Council below

They are just defending their patch of course but they exhibit no recognition of the cause of the problem:  violent African criminals being let off with a slap on the wrist.  Let the judges do a responsible job and there will be no problem


Ensuring the rule of law is respected and maintained is vital to the strength of Australia’s legal system, the Law Council of Australia has reiterated.

The national peak body, representing the legal profession, today backed colleagues at the Law Institute of Victoria in defending the rule of law, particularly the independence of the judiciary.

Law Council of Australia President, Morry Bailes, said recent attacks on Victorian judges were not useful and eroded public confidence in the judiciary.

“The Law Council shares the views of the Law Institute of Victoria. There is no place for political attacks on the judiciary undermining the independence of judges and magistrates,” Mr Bailes said.

“It is understood that in our free society informed comment on judicial decisions is part of normal discourse, but politicised criticism undermines the foundations of the democratic system which must be closely guarded by all, especially those in government.

“Judges and magistrates are experts in the law and to ensure the separation of powers must be allowed to perform their duty without interference and unwarranted criticism.”

The Law Council hopes all Australians understand the value of an independent judiciary and the importance of upholding the rule of law in legal decision making.

Media release





The hatred of selective government schools never stops

Instead of seeing such schools as a way to give bright kids from poor backgrounds the sort of education that private schools give, they are seen as offensive to the insane Leftist goal of "equality".  So reasons will always be found to downgrade them

Education Minister Rob Stokes says opening up selective schools to local students would create a more equitable education system, as the NSW Department of Education reviews the decades-old system for teaching the state's brightest students.

Mr Stokes said the selective system should not "create a rigid, separated public education system".

"While recognising that selective schools have a history and are popular, is it correct that local kids must walk past a local public selective school that is closed to them?" he said.

"We need to have public schools that are inclusive of everyone rather than deliberately separate children on the basis that some are gifted and talented and others are not.

"There may be merit in opening up selective schools to local enrolments and providing more local opportunities to selective classes in comprehensive schools."

It is understood the idea involves introducing comprehensive streams to selective schools.

It comes as the department continues a wide-ranging review of its gifted and talented policy for NSW public schools, including an overhaul of the entry test for selective schools amid concerns that wealthy families are able to game the system by engaging expensive tutoring services.

NSW currently has 19 fully selective and 29 partially selective schools, the most of any state, and the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) shows that the state's top-performing selective schools such as James Ruse, Baulkham Hills and North Sydney Boys are significantly more advantaged than exclusive private schools such as The King's School and Knox Grammar.

ICSEA scores are used by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to assess the socio-educational background of a school's student cohort based on geographical location and parental education and occupation, with a higher score indicating a higher level of advantage.

The median ICSEA score in NSW is 1000.

James Ruse has an ICSEA score of 1240 and North Sydney Boys has a score of 1210, compared with King's score of 1160, and Knox's score of 1178.

Additionally, selective schools consistently outperform private and comprehensive schools in the Higher School Certificate, and comprised nine out of the top 10 schools by performance in last year's exams, including the privately selective Sydney Grammar.

Professor of education at the University of Sydney, Anthony Welch, said that a local intake to selective schools could ensure they better reflect the wider population.

"What we know about those schools is that they're increasingly selective not merely in academic terms but in social terms too," Professor Welch said. "Having a wider intake and more mixed classes would improve equity."

Professor Welch said selective schools also impact nearby comprehensive schools.  "They cream off all the high-achieving kids from the whole area, so the impact on neighbouring schools is quite the opposite," he said.

Mother-of-two Licia Heath, from Sydney's east, said having two selective schools, Sydney Boys and Sydney Girls, in the area has contributed to overcrowding at her local comprehensive school, Rose Bay Secondary College, which had 1132 students in 2017.

"We think the school's going to be in absolutely dire straits," said Ms Heath, who is a spokeswoman for the Community for Local Options for Secondary Education (CLOSE), which is calling for a new comprehensive co-educational high school for the area.

Ms Heath said she'd be happy to send her sons Jude and Leo Jungwirth, aged 9 and 6, respectively, to Sydney Boys if it was opened to local students. "I've had a look at the academic requirements and possibly one of our sons would get into it, but we want them to be at the same school," she said.

Labor's spokesman for education Jihad Dib said that he supports opening up selective schools but is also pushing for more selective streams in comprehensive schools. "Opening up selective schools to students who are otherwise excluded will ensure they've got the opportunity to go to a high-performing school," Mr Dib said.

"But what I'd really like to see are selective streams in every school so kids who want a selective school education can go to their local school."

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Any lie will do

Premier Andrews is a Leftist

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has blamed 'interstate thugs' for the 'African gang violence' sweeping Melbourne.

Mr Andrews implied young children from Sydney were the cause of violence hitting the western suburbs of Victoria, including Tarneit. 

In past weeks, the city has seen a spike in gang violence and criminal activity across Melbourne despite the issue first surfacing in 2012 after the Apex gang emerged.

'When we get dozens or more young kids playing up from Sydney who are here in Melbourne, if we've got a database we'd known about those kids and what they're history is, what their status is,' Mr Andrews said according to The Australian.

Regular patrols are taking place in Tarneit while a mobile police station was set up by Victoria Police in an attempt to curb the crime rates.

A group of African youths who call themselves Menace to Society (MTS) trashed the Ecoville Community Park by smashing windows, furniture and walls and spray painting their signature 'MTS' across the property shortly after Christmas.

An AirBnB house in Werribee, in Melbourne's west, was also trashed and tagged with 'MTS'.

Police were forced to retreat from the Werribee property after more than 100 South Sudanese children threw rocks at them and cars were smashed.

Another police officer was attacked and left with face injuries in a separate incident when a young African teenager kicked him in the face on Boxing Day at Highpoint Shopping Centre.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told media last week Mr Andrew's government was responsible for the gangs terrorising Melbourne residents.

But Premier Andrews the Prime Minister had not raised Victoria's youth gang problem with him privately, and had only criticised him publicly.

The publication reported Victoria Police would not comment on whether they were investigating NSW people in relation to the offences.

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Move over Manuka! Rare Jarrah honey halts ageing by stimulating collagen production and boasts skin repairing properties (and it even TASTES sweeter)

Manuka honey has been hailed as 'liquid gold' with the power to delay ageing and help with skin repair, coughs and colds -and even fight the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers.

But now it's got competition in the form of Jarrah honey, a rarer product harvested from a species of eucalyptus tree, which is found only in the most remote parts of Western Australia.

Research by the Australian government has found that its level of antibacterial activity is higher than that of Manuka honey, and that's it's effective against the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus - which causes bugs such as MRSA - as well as being a natural treatment for wounds, burns, sunburn and skin infections. 

It has two to three times higher levels of antioxidants compared to Manuka, which makes it an ideal natural anti-ageing treatment for boosting collagen and elastin production and supporting cell renewal.

Other studies have shown the honey to be more effective against Candida fungi, which causes wound infections as well as oral and vaginal thrush, than Manuka. 

Better still it tastes even sweeter as its naturally occuring hydrogen peroxide doesn't affect the taste.

By comparison, Manuka's active component methylglyoxal, gives it an earthy and more bitter flavour.

All honey has anti-bacterial properties because of the hydrogen peroxide it contains, and the fact its sugar molecules soak up water, which starves bacteria of the moisture they need to survive.

Unlike ordinary hydrogen peroxide, used as a disinfectant, the hydrogen peroxide in honey stays active over several days, killing bugs and preventing others growing.

Despite the sweeter taste, the raw honey is high in fructose and low in glucose, and its low GI index means it doesn't spike the blood sugar. 'It's quite a unique honey compared to all other eucalypts,' Dr. Rob Manning told Vogue.

The former researcher for Australia's Department of Agriculture and Food spent 30 years studying Jarrah honey and comparing its benefits with New Zealand Manuka honey.

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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