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The nexus

By Uncategorized4 Comments

Some days ago, I saw a meme someone had posted which was obviously from a rabid racist, but it does demonstrate the nexus between the far right and the religious, something…

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May 9, 2024

I'm the father of a 21 year old daughter. There are lots of things I worry about. I worry about her being sexually assaulted, because that happens a lot. I worry about her being the victim of a drunk driver, because that happens a lot. I worry about her being the victim of gun violence, because lots of people die from gun-related injuries. Here's what I do not worry about: I don't worry about her being attacked in a restroom by a trans woman because (a) it has never happened; and (b) trans women are the most victimized group of people I've ever met, and the least likely to commit a crime of indecency in a restroom, because they are afraid of getting beat up when all they want to do is pee. And here is something else I don't worry about: I don't worry about my daughter being cruel and inhumane to trans men, women or kids, because my wife and I have raised her to have values and because she is a kind person. There are things to worry about, and then there are things people want you to worry about to conceal their agenda of discrimination and hate. Wake up.

Steve Rudner
May 3, 2023

The emotional appeal of a conspiracy theory is in its simplicity. It explains away complex phenomena, accounts for chance and accidents, offers the believer the satisfying sense of having special, privileged access to the truth. For those who become the one-party state’s gatekeepers, the repetition of these conspiracy theories also brings another reward: power.

Anne Applebaum
December 28, 2022

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it.

Frédéric Bastiat
July 24, 2022

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

Desmond Tutu
December 26, 2021

We're talking about it [net zero emissions by 2050] because Morrison is about to go to Glasgow with nothing more than Tony Abbott's warmed-up homework from 2015 … We're going to be an absolute embarrassment when we get there. Glasgow is about the Paris Agreement, and the Paris Agreement is about keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees [Celsius], preferably 1.5, and if we don't manage to do that we may as well say goodbye to the reef. The unprecedented fire events that we've had recently will become every other year and large parts of Australia will become mostly uninsurable and unliveable.

Simon Holmes à Court
October 22, 2021

Over the years, I have met, reported on and/or interviewed every Prime Minister, from Menzies to Turnbull. Some I knew well. Others barely at all. Menzies was a silver-tongued liar who took us into the disaster of Vietnam. McMahon, often labelled our worst Prime Minister, was a treacherous backstabber despised by most of his cabinet. Howard also lied us into a futile war and aroused our worst instincts of greed and racism. Abbott was a nutter. Turnbull talked the talk but never walked the walk. Of Labor PMs, Hawke’s cabinets were loaded with dazzling talent. Keating was brilliant but eventually lost touch with the people. Rudd blew it on climate change; Gillard on same sex marriage. But however flawed, all these Prime Ministers had a vision for the nation, of what we might become. They had policy ambitions, a sense of direction, a concept of the demands of leadership. Morrison exhibits nothing of this. Scratch the surface and there is nothing there. He is a glib charlatan, a mountebank, a sideshow juggling act, an empty and frivolous collection of slogans and clichés. He is, beyond any doubt, our worst Prime Minister.

Mike Carlton
August 29, 2021