Cartoon of the Week

 

John Shakespeare

YouTube begins to face the Internet's darker realities in 2018

The Hill, 6 August 2018:

YouTube on Monday said it had banned Alex Jones’s Infowars channel, following similar actions taken against the controversial right-wing conspiracy theorist by other major U.S. technology companies.

After the channel violated YouTube's policies against child endangerment and hate speech, Jones was banned for trying to circumvent the site's enforcement measures, according to a source familiar with the company’s decision. The source said Jones received a 90-day moratorium on livestreaming for violating its policies and that he then tried to promote his flagship radio show on other YouTube pages, prompting a permanent ban.

Oh dear........

ABC News, 12 April 2016:

Basic design artwork for the signature side of the new Australian $5 banknote.

UNSW Phillip Baxter College residents are sooo sorry they were caught in the act *WARNING: Offensive Language*

Established in 1966 Philip Baxter College is named after UNSW's first Vice-Chancellor who laid the ground work for the university to become the world class institution it is today. It is the largest of the Kensington Colleges and housed 211 student residents and 7 resident academic staff according to The Kensington Colleges website.

On 12 April 2016 ABC News reported this behaviour by a group of Baxter College students:

Students at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have held a protest after a video emerged of a group of young men from the university's Baxter College singing an offensive song while on an regular "Boys Night Out".

In the video, the young men are heard singing a call and answer song referring to women as "little red foxes" and how they would "shoot them in their boxes".

I wish that all the ladies

Were little red foxes

And if I was a hunter

I'd shoot them in their boxes

I wish that all the ladies

Were buns in the oven

And if I were a baker

I'd cream them by the dozen

I wish that all the ladies

Were holes in the road

And if I was a dump truck

I'd fill them with my load.

UNSW said they were "appalled by the sexist and demeaning attitudes and behaviours" directed towards females in the chant.

The university said it had taken steps to investigate the incident and meetings involving college residents, student representatives and the UNSW SRS Women's Collective were convened on Monday night.

James Dunn is house treasurer of Baxter College and was part of the Boys Night Out.

He admitted he probably took part in the chanting, but now realised it was inappropriate.

"The video is pretty appalling," he told 7.30.

"As a leader of this college and me being a part of the group that was likely in the video, for me it is really personal and I have no idea why I did it.

"I'm sort of condemning my own actions at this time and the actions of everyone in the video."

Mr Dunn said he just accepted the behaviour as part of the Baxter culture when he first moved from his country town for university two years ago.

"I walked into the culture that is Baxter and was taught these chants as part of the culture that we have here and something we do as a night out, as a whole college both males and females," he said.

"It has been ingrained in many college societies for too long that those things can be gotten away with."

When reading the new item two points come to mind.

One is that the University of New South Wales has the lowest female to male student percentages of all Australian universities at 46.1 per cent.

Two is that it is highly likely that the apology printed below is merely code for We’re sorry we got caught bellowing out our misogyny at the top of our lungs on a bus during “Boys Night Out”.

Liberal Party candidate for Charlton Kevin Baker, who withdrew from Abbott's Army this afternoon, has been on the nose for years

ABC News 20 August 2013:

Kevin Baker, who is contesting former minister Greg Combet's NSW seat of Charlton, was forced to shut down the personal website after it was revealed he had "posted hundreds of lewd jokes about women and had links to pornography", the Daily Telegraph has reported.

"Some of that banter, it has now been discovered, included jokes about the Pope being a paedophile, women having sex on pool tables and what Mr Baker himself calls 'Tit-banter',"…..

The Daily Telegraph quoted Mr Baker as saying in a statement last night:

"I set up an online forum for Mini Cooper enthusiasts several years ago.

"On the site I made comments that were inappropriate, which I deeply regret and for which I apologise unreservedly.

"In the last few years I have also failed to moderate the site properly.

"A number of statements have been made by participants that are also completely inappropriate.

"I have now shut the offending site down."

Kevin Baker states that in the last few years he has failed to properly moderate the website he created and registered.

In fact one can see that Mr. Baker has been failing to stop offensive comment since at least 2006 if one has a peek at forums.mini-mods.com using the Wayback Machine:

With the writing on the wall Kevin Baker issued this statement:

Former Failed Liberal Party Pre-Selection Candidate Alan Jones Still Sydney University Young Libs' Idol

 

The guest of honour is broadcasting legend Alan Jones AO, and the master of ceremonies is Simon Berger, former adviser in the Howard Government. 

 

Transcript of part of a recording of Radio 2GB shock jock Alan Jones’ keynote speech recorded at the Annual Sydney University Liberal Club President's Dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant in The Rocks, Sydney, on 22 September 2012.

One hundred and twenty-one people were invited to this dinner. Including the MPs for Mackellar, Bradfield, Strathfield, Drummoyne, Wollondilly and Bennelong. In light of the resulting negative publicity one wonders how many will admit to attending.

 

Twitter about face by the SULC:

 

 

The Telegraph 30 September 2012:

 

The event was staged by Sydney University Liberal Club president and aspiring MP Alex Dore. Mr Jones has endorsed his political endeavours.

Yesterday, Mr Dore said Mr Jones had not made the comments about Ms Gillard's father. Later, informed there was a recording of the speech, his position changed.

"It was a very long speech and I did not hear it. I have always found Alan to be respectful," Mr Dore said.

He said there was "no need" to "pick apart Alan's speech. All you are doing is reducing it to a very small thing which distracts from the issues facing Australia".

 

Photograph of SULC alumni Tony Abbott at http://www.sulc.com.au/

 

Alan in his own words and very much in context:

 

http://youtu.be/JpIa0GG0ChM

 

One reason not to act the goat at Australian international airports

Being accidentally mistaken for a drug mule may have unintended consequences, as Australian Customs & Excise staff will mildly irradiate you and probably get to know the length of your next stool.

·         “AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION NOTICE NO. 2011/24…. The amendments will allow, with the consent of the detainee, an initial non-medical internal scan of a person to be carried out by a Customs and Border Protection officer using body scan technology that is to be prescribed in the regulations. This technology produces a computer image of a person’s internal cavities within a skeletal structure, as opposed to images of external body parts. Such images may serve to allay an officer’s suspicion that a passenger is internally concealing a suspicious substance, in which case the detainee would be released immediately from detention for internal search.”

·         “Customs and Border Protection requires the supply, installation and maintenance of an internal body scanner X-ray (Body Scanner) including provision of training and training material…. Operation of the Body Scanner Early 2012”

·         “….the scanner is only intended for searching body cavities….After the trial is completed in 2013, Customs will spend three months evaluating the body scanner's overall performance and come to a decision on whether to decommission it or procure additional scanners.”

Harold gets hot and cross over supermarket greed

From The Daily Examiner letters to the editor column on 18 January 2011:

Hot-cross greed

NOT only do Coles and Woolworths want to dictate from whom we buy our everyday needs - milk, petrol, meat, bakery, pharmacy, fruit and vegetables, etc., they now also want to take over the special calendar events of the year such as Easter by offering hot cross buns in January.

A treat that was always reserved for the celebration of Easter.

The only way to get the message across to these greedy corporations is through people power and by refusing to buy these items until the appropriate event is here.

HAROLD WARWICK

Grafton

* Bunny drawing found here http://bit.ly/wmPrsP

Godwin Alert!

Sinclair Davidson over at Catallaxy Files headed his short post on government as threat to free speech and media self-regulation with this little pictorial gem. Thereby demonstrating Godwin's Law lives on.

Bank finances in pictures to compare with the Commonwealth Bank's overblown rhetoric

With Commonwealth Bank CEO Norris (of the $16M salary package) currently defending that bank's blatant cash grab when it raised its loan rate 45 points on the back of the latest official interest rate rise of 25 points, perhaps it's time to look at what The Reserve Bank of Australia had to say on domestic financial markets in November 2010:

The average cost of the major banks’ long-term
funding continues to rise as maturities are rolled over
at higher spreads. However, in recent months, this has
been largely offset by the narrowing in the spread
between bank bills and OIS rates. Overall, this suggests
that, in aggregate, the major banks’ funding costs are
likely to have been little changed over recent months,
though trends differ for individual banks depending
on their mix of funding.

In terms of net interest margins, banks have recently
reported mixed results; most have experienced a small
decrease in margins, though some have experienced
a small increase. In aggregate, the net interest margin
of the major banks has fluctuated in a relatively narrow
range since 2004, between 2¼ and 2½ percentage
points......

Financials’ profits rose by 10 per cent, largely as a result

of lower bad and doubtful debt charges and an increase in net
interest income.

UPDATE:

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Sir Ralph Norris has conceded his bank's 0.45 per cent interest rate hike will cost some of his customers their homes, a reality he says troubles him.
But in defence of his bank's Melbourne Cup Day hike, Sir Ralph said it was better to see "a few" foreclosures than have an economy hamstrung by a low-profit banking system.

Read more in The Courier Mail here.

Australia's Great Divide

Source: The Readers Panel, SMH, 23/10/10