Prominent Australian conservative stands by Cardinal Pell

The testimony on which his Eminence was convicted was most implausible and was clearly unsafe.  Many Australian conservatives are therefore disturbed that a prominent conservative churchman was sent down on such evidence. They do not believe in his guilt at all and think he will be exonerated on appeal.  Miscarriages of justice often come to light

A common claim is that the jury must have seen Pell as guilty of SOMETHING in order to convict but an alternative hypothesis is that Pell was penalized not for anything he did personally but rather as a scapegoat for the foul deeds of many others in the church


Former prime minister Tony Abbott has defended his decision to stand by George Pell after the Cardinal's conviction for child sex offences, but says he does not recall whether he was asked to provide a character reference.

Mr Abbott, who phoned Pell last Tuesday when the guilty verdict became public, told Sydney shock jock Ray Hadley on Monday morning that the Cardinal "has been a friend of mine for a long time, and at a time like this you've got to feel for people".

"You've got to feel for the victims, who have been dreadfully betrayed by an institution they should have been able to trust, you've got to feel for the people who are dismayed at this verdict against someone they put up on a pedestal," he said.

Hadley last week excoriated former prime minister John Howard for the glowing character reference he gave Pell following the conviction, saying it showed a "a complete lack of understanding" of the victims of paedophiles, and on Monday demanded to know whether Mr Abbott had also provided a reference.

"Look, Ray, I honestly don't know if I was asked to provide a reference or not," Mr Abbott said. "I have no recall of providing a reference but, just, when it comes to the phone call, look, I'm not a fair-weather friend. This was someone who was obviously going through a very, very bad experience.

"I'm not saying he's the only one who is going through bad experiences, but he has been a friend of mine for a long time, and at a time like this you've got to feel for people ... These are tough times for a lot of people."

The interview comes after Hadley issued a fiery diatribe on air last week, in a rare moment of criticism against Mr Abbott, who is a regular guest on his show.

Hadley said that he found himself "at odds" with Mr Howard's decision to give a reference in which no mention was made of the victims of Pell's crimes, saying it was highly unusual for a convicted paedophile to receive such unwavering support.

"I consider it to be a gushing reference, considering it's for a convicted paedophile," he said, noting that the jury must have found the evidence from the unidentified victim "compelling".

"Everyone has a right to seek an appeal, but usually that doesn't dominate a discussion after a conviction."

Hadley said Mr Howard had made "a very poor error of judgment".  'You don't get references provided by a former prime minister portraying someone as a saint given he's just had a conviction for paedophilia."

Mr Abbott declined to comment on Mr Howard's decision, saying he could not speak for the man who had been "my colleague and mentor for many years".

He suggested the reason the conviction had been so thoroughly dissected was that it was "very unusual for someone of Cardinal Pell's seniority and substance to be on trial like this and, as we all know there's a sense that the church as been on trial in all this".

Hadley said the church, along with other institutions where paedophiles had access to children, had "rightly" been exposed after the problem was "for too long ... swept under the carpet and ignored".

The shock jock, who has long used his radio program to draw attention to the crimes of paedophiles, last week implied Mr Abbott's actions could cost him his seat in Federal Parliament at the election.

He asked this morning if Mr Abbott felt "compromised" by having someone close to him convicted of being a paedophile, after having supported the Gillard government's royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse as opposition leader.

"Well I don't believe so, Ray, I supported the royal commission because I thought it was the right thing to do," he replied.  "There's a verdict that's been delivered, a damning verdict against a friend of mine. It is subject to appeal, but I absolutely accept that the courts and their judgment are the best means we have of coming to the truth."

Mr Abbott said he took Hadley's point about victims having been "disbelieved for far too long", prompting the 2GB morning host to interject: "And it appears one is being disbelieved by some here as well, Mr Abbott!"

"I mean without knowing what the victim's said, there are people who have not given one sense of thought to this person," he said.

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Nick Sandmann’s Lawyer Responds PERFECTLY After WAPO Issues “Correction"

It appears that the Washington Post is starting to get a bit nervous over the $250 million defamation lawsuit that has been filed against them by the high school student who they smeared as a racist and who fought back.

Nick Sandmann of Kentucky’s Covington Catholic HS was vilified by the media over a fake news story that the 16-year-old teen and his classmates harassed an elderly Native American Vietnam “combat veteran” during the March For Life in Washington D.C.

Given the WaPo’s influence as one of the preeminent newspapers in the country despite its fanatical anti-Trump bias, it was an essential component of the false narrative that resulted in the lives of Sandmann, his family and his fellow students being upended and the targets of celeb-led doxing campaigns as well as threats from unhinged individuals.

So Sandmann’s family retained the services of high-powered attorney L. Lin Wood to sue the bastards and the first on the list was the Washington Post which more than a month after running with the fake news, issued a lame “editor’s note” on Friday admitting that it’s reporting was flawed.

Nick Sandmann’s attorney fired back at the Washington Post Friday, saying that the outlet’s attempt at correction via an editor’s note was “barely worth comment.”

There is a good reason why Wood was not impressed. All of the correct information was available within two days of the initial false reportage and yet the WaPo neither retracted, apologized nor appended their wishy-washy editor’s note to the story until Friday.

Another of Sandmann’s lawyers Todd McMurtry was similarly unimpressed and in a comment provided to the libertarian website Reason he also blasted The Post.

“What The Washington Post put out is barely worth comment,” Todd McMurtry, an attorney for Sandmann, told Reason. “WaPo committed gross journalistic malpractice and cannot undo its deeds with an editor’s note that purports to correct the record over a month after it led a frenzied mob in trashing a minor’s reputation. The Sandmanns would never accept half of a half-measure from an organization that still refuses to own up to its error.”

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Britain's first transgender hate crime trial is halted after one day as judge says 'there is no case and never was a case'

Britain's first transgender hate crime prosecution has been halted by a judge who declared: ‘There is no case and never was a case.’

Miranda Yardley, 51, was put ‘through ten months of hell’ after being accused of harassing a transgender activist on Twitter. But District Judge John Woollard dismissed the case after a one-day hearing, saying there was simply no evidence.

Campaigners called the decision a victory for free speech, while the accused claimed police were being used to ‘enforce a political ideology’.

The hearing at Basildon Magistrates’ Court in Essex last Friday brought into sharp focus the complex and often rancorous divisions within the transgender community.

On one side was Yardley, an accountant, who describes himself as a transsexual and identifies as a man, even though he underwent gender reassignment to become a woman ten years ago.

Despite his own experience, his contention is that individuals cannot change sex – and this has drawn fierce criticism on social media.

Giving evidence via video link was his accuser, Helen Islan, who is married with children and works with the trans advocacy group Mermaids, which campaigns for children who want to change gender.

The court heard that one of her teenage children is transgender.

The spat began with a discussion – joined by other Twitter users – about self-identification, which allows people to be recognised as transgender simply by declaring themselves male or female.

Concerns were also expressed about how the powerful trans lobby was allegedly eroding women’s rights by allowing transgender women, born male, into female-only spaces. This, it was argued, was a threat to women.

But using a pseudonym, Ms Islan accused her opponents of ‘spreading hysteria’ and it was at this point the exchanges grew increasingly aggressive.

In response, she was unmasked by Yardley who tweeted a picture and a link to her real identity. The tweet also referenced her transgender child, which Ms Islan argued effectively ‘outed’ him.

She said it led to them both being harassed adding that the post made her feel ‘stressed and sick’.

Initially, Ms Islan’s complaint was dealt with by West Yorkshire Police before being passed to colleagues in Essex, who decided it was a hate crime.

But when the case reached court the defence referred to pages of social media posts in which Ms Islan herself was regularly tweeting about her trans child, about him taking blockers, that he had ‘come out’ at school.

The court heard that a simple search on Google brought up Ms Islan’s personal details, including a family photograph that she had herself posted.

At one point during the hearing, Judge Woollard said: ‘Where is the evidence [of harassment] taking into account the need for free speech? You have to show a course of conduct and at the moment we have one tweet. Where is the evidence for Miranda Yardley outing Ms Islan’s son?’

Later he threw out the case and awarded costs to the defendant.

Yardley told The Mail on Sunday afterwards that he was ‘horrified’ by the decision to charge him, saying: ‘I faced losing everything I worked for.’

Barrister Amanda Jones, who has represented clients accused of ‘anti trans’ comments, said: ‘The police and the CPS routinely ignore rape threats, death threats and abusive material targeted at women online.

The entire criminal justice system is falling apart from underfunding and this case appears to have been a complete waste of public funds.’

Comedian Graham Linehan, who has been publicly critical of trans activists for attempting to ‘close down’ freedom of speech, said: ‘This is about an ideology and everyone who has tried to speak up against it is shut down and the activists are using every means they can to do this, including the courts.’

Essex Police said yesterday: ‘We take all reports of hate crime incidents seriously.’

Ms Islan said: ‘The decision to prosecute was made by the CPS, not me personally and I accept the verdict of the court.’

SOURCE






Arrest Made in Case of Brutal Berkeley Attack on Conservative Activist

Police arrested a 28-year-old man in connection with the Feb. 19 attack on a conservative recruiter at the University of California at Berkeley.

Zachary Greenberg was arrested Friday by university police after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest, Fox News reported. The arrest came a week after officials had closed the investigation, which they reopened Friday.

UC-Berkeley spokeswoman Diana Harvey said Greenberg worked for the college from May 21 to July 9, 2010 as a Department of Psychology lab assistant, according to Campus Reform. He was also “briefly” a non-degree seeking student at the school, Harvey said.

Greenberg faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon and attempting to cause great bodily injury.

California law enforcement officials arrested 28-year-old Zachary Greenberg on a felony warrant Friday afternoon for allegedly assaulting a conservative activist with Turning Point USA on the...

The attack on 26-year-old Hayden Williams, which was recorded on cell phone videos, took place Feb. 19 while Williams, a field representative for The Leadership Institute, was recruiting for the conservative college group Turning Point USA.

Williams was standing next to a table with a sign that read, “Hate Crimes Hoaxes Hurt Real Victims,” in reference to the Jussie Smollett case, KPIX reported. Williams said he was approached by two men who were angered over the signs.

Williams, 26, was punched in the face repeatedly by one of the men, whom the police later identified as Greenberg, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“While every America should be afforded their due process, we believe that the video evidence in this case is incontrovertible,” Charlie Kirk, founder and President of Turning Point USA, said in a statement.

“We hope 28-year-old Zachary Greenberg is prosecuted to the full extent of the law for assault with a deadly weapon, which should be considered an act of hate. Hopefully, this dark chapter will act as a wake up call to those concerned about actual politically motivated hate crimes in America,” he said. “Berkeley and all college campuses across American should be safe havens for free thought and opinions – especially for a targeted conservative minority.”

The delayed response from Berkeley concerning the attack was blasted on social media as indicative of the attitude of colleges toward conservatives.

Conservatives call out Berkeley police for lack of arrest one week after campus assault on activist

The head of Turning Point USA says it is shocking that no arrest has been announced in connection to an alleged assault last week on a conservative activist at the University of California-Berkeley.

College officials have pushed back against claims that the investigation received lower priority because the victim was a conservative.

“Let there be no mistake, we strongly condemn violence and harassment of any sort, for any reason,” Chancellor Carol Christ and Vice Chancellor for student affairs Stephen C. Sutton wrote in a statement, The Washington Post reported. “That sort of behavior is intolerable and has no place here. Our commitment to freedom of expression and belief is unwavering.”

Greenberg is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. He is currently being held on $30,000 bail.

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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