Just got a robocall from an “ATO officer” reciting a phone number that I was supposed to call or suffer dire legal consequence. I guffawed.
law & order
The law locks up the man who steals the goose from the common, but leaves the greater criminal loose who steals the common from the goose – Australian convict saying
Abortion will remain in the NSW Crimes Act
Yesterday a bill to decriminalise abortion was voted down in New South Wales Parliament.
Follow @ShaunKing to see how President-Elect Trump has emboldened haters
Mashable shares a depressingly long list of hateful attacks shared online since Trump’s election: just a sampling of reports tweeted by Shaun King. Read it and weep, because it’s only going to get worse.
Media Circus: USA Convention Season Edition
What might Hillary really be thinking? How about Michelle?
Here in Oz, buckle up for more Brandis Equivocation-Watch.
Quickhit: Another Woman Appointed To High Court
New High Court judge Michelle Gordon lauded as a ‘fabulous’ lawyer and jurist: her appointment will keep both the state balance and the gender balance stable within the High Court.
Quick links: nothing to hide
Data retention is coming to Australia very soon. “[Data retained] includes your name, address and other identifying information, your contract details, billing and payment information…”
Friday Hoyden: Gillian Triggs
Gillian Triggs has proved herself so far above the pitiful scrabblings of the shrivelled souls who want her to stop saying that we shouldn’t subject children to institutional abuse that she has forced them to reveal themselves for what they are.
Today in Wikiwalks: Rational Wiki’s Pseudolaws section.
I started reading about the “freeman on the land” concept because of that grandiose Manbook misogynist. From the looks of what else is documented in Rational Wiki’s pseudolaw section, I might not emerge for several days. I knew people are strange, but wow.
Media Circus: Sydney Siege Edition
It’s been a bad week here in Sydney, a bad week in Peshawar, and news from the rest of the world has mostly not been great, either.
What news story/commentary/analysis has grabbed your attention lately?
Guest Post: Why I’m shutting down the bail laws petition: lone-wolf activism reconsidered.
Single issue petitions on websites like Change.org, and others of their ilk, tend to be focused on the simplest messages one can extract from an issue. The hardest line and most sensational language is encouraged to guarantee two things: the most possible signatures, and bountiful media coverage. On first glance that seems like a good thing, but what is missed with this push?
My understandable, human and heartfelt response to the tragedy of the Sydney siege was all of those things, but only those things. It was informed by my own past trauma, which are legitimate parts of the conversation but not the whole of it. It was not nuanced or critiqued, and it did not engage in community consultation. I simply said aloud and formally what many were feeling, before the facts had come into play. Swept into a maelstrom of commentary and an unanticipated furious public response, I was left reeling and scrambling to begin the consultation that should have been the foundation of any campaign.