Monthly Archives: January 2024

Australia, Culture, Feminism, Law, Media, The Left

ABC must not lose against precious Antoinette Lattouf

It is a relief to hear that the ABC management has engaged law firm Seyfarth Shaw to defend itself against a self-absorbed Gen Zed prima donna who just had to flap out her unasked-for views on the Gaza issue while at work with the ABC. She could not manage to keep her mouth shut despite being warned.

The ABC reported that Seyfarth Shaw was among “the most egregious union-busting law firms”, and had a reputation for representing management “very aggressively when it comes to issues of employees who are alleging discrimination due to race or gender”.

Three cheers.

A good part of the Australian population is sick to death of people reaching for the race card, or the gender card, when things don’t work out for them.

The ABC management told Lattouf not to ‘post on social media about matters of controversy during the short period she was presenting.’ Thinking her opinions were of the utmost importance, she ignored the directions. She was justifiably taken off air. Thus the Gen Zed tantrum that will tie up loads of ABC money, earn her lawyers a packet, and promote Antoinette’s social media presence.

The decision to engage an attack-dog law firm pleased me for a second reason. David Anderson, the ABC’s Managing Director, faced down a crowd of ABC union members who had passed a no-confidence vote in him.

It’s about time the ABC management took back the management of the ABC from the various woke political cliques that use the billion-dollar government-funded ABC to air their green-left views, destroy the ideologically unapproved, and pursue their particular green-left campaigns.

*****

ABC hires ‘notoriously anti-worker’ US law firm, Seyfarth Shaw, in Antoinette Lattouf unlawful dismissal case

ABC Investigations / Exclusive by Josh Robertson, 30 Jan 2024

Lattouf ABC Radio Sydney
Antoinette Lattouf lodged a claim for unlawful dismissal against the ABC.(Supplied: Instagram)

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  • In short: The ABC has hired Seyfarth Shaw, a US law firm with a reputation for anti-union practices, to defend it in a high-profile unlawful dismissal case.
  • Seyfarth Shaw has represented major corporations in worker lawsuits against Amazon, Starbucks, and Apple.
  • What’s next? The next hearing for the case is set for March 8.

The ABC has been accused of playing “hardball” by hiring a “notoriously anti-worker” law firm from the US to defend a high-profile unlawful dismissal case involving journalist Antoinette Lattouf.

ABC Investigations can reveal the national broadcaster is being represented by Seyfarth Shaw, which has a decades-long reputation for anti-union practices in the US, to act in the Fair Work Commission matter against Ms Lattouf.

The move has prompted criticism from the journalists’ union which says the broadcaster is sending the “wrong message” in a case that has generated international attention.

Ms Lattouf alleges the ABC unlawfully sacked her in the middle of a five-day radio presenting contract in Sydney in December after pressure from pro-Israel lawyers.

Antoinette Lattouf speaks after hearing into unlawful termination from ABC
Antoinette Lattouf has vowed to fight the national broadcaster for “as long as it takes”.

The Lebanese-Australian journalist was taken off air after she shared a social media post from Human Rights Watch accusing Israel of starving civilians in Gaza “as a weapon of war”.

Media reports have revealed a private campaign involving pro-Israel lawyers who allegedly wrote to ABC chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson, demanding Ms Lattouf’s sacking and threatening legal action.

Ms Lattouf alleges her unlawful dismissal also involved discrimination on the basis of race and political opinion.

The ABC has rejected her claim and is seeking to have the case thrown out.

John Logan, a labour studies expert at San Francisco State University, said the ABC’s engagement of Seyfarth Shaw was “a sign that you’re in for a very tough, aggressive fight from management”.

Read the rest here . . .

Anti-white racism, Books, Culture, Political correctness

Robinsons Bookshop – Bravo for saying what many unwoke people are thinking!

Sussane Horman, owner of Independent bookshop group Robinsons Bookshop, is reported as saying:

“What’s missing from our bookshelves in store? Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional nuclear white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous [sic] art, non indig [sic] aus history.”

“So I am advocating for a substantial shift in the focus of Australian publishers to be in line with public opinion and request for books and for what is GOOD! We aren’t going to stock books that intend to cause harm and make Australians hate each other.”

I have to smile at her innocence. Did she not know what would happen? Did she not know that the usual hysterical crowd of sanctimonious, virtue-signaling, wokist guardians would be onto her in a flash, led by the usual suspects: The Age, The Guardian, and SBS. SBS, anti-white and Anglophobic central, will feed on this for months. No doubt The Sydney Morning Herald and others of the same stamp will follow.

According to the SBS report, Emily Rainsford of something called ‘coffeebooksandmagic’ got the ball rolling. Frank Chung of news.com.au reported that Rainsford, puffed up with an overload of sanctimony, wrote that she was “not one for willy nilly ‘cancelling’ but the comments … are so wildly out of pocket that I have no problem suggesting a widespread boycott would be appropriate”.

That’s the wokist way, Emily: destroy those who don’t meet your ideological requirements. Frank Chung, right on the case, appealed to his readers: Do you know more? Email the authorat frank.chung@news.com.au. Frank will stay on the case as long as necessary.

The only regrettable aspect of this melodrama is that Susanne Hormann apologised for saying what thousands are thinking. Ordinary people are sick to death of the unending wokist sermons that are preached to them everywhere in the media – especially in bookshops. Walk into a bookshop, including the Robinsons group, and you have it staring at you in the face.

I know. I’m a book buyer. I have an account with one of the Robinsons stores. I won’t be changing anything. Indeed, I will make it my business next time I’m in their store to tell them they have my unwavering support if they carry through Susanne’s plans for 2024 stock.

Of course, you can understand why Susanne Horman apologised. She has a business to keep afloat, she has staff to keep, and customers to serve. She runs a real business – not some rinky dink indulgence to demonstrate the ideological purity of its owner.

I appeal to Robinsons customers not to desert Susanne and her dedicated staff – certainly not when she has the bravery to say what thousands are thinking.

*****

The SBS report:

More ‘white kids on the cover’: Bookshop apologises after owner’s comments spark outcry

Victorian independent bookstore Robinsons Bookshop has publicly apologised after its owner made comments online calling for an end to diverse books promoting “the woke agenda that divides people”.

Female customer at a bookstore

A Victorian independent bookstore has apologised after comments made by its owner online. Source: Getty / Luis Alvarez

KEY POINTS
  • Robinsons Bookshop has apologised over comments made online by its owner in December.
  • In posts on X, Susanne Horman called for more books with “white kids on the cover”.
  • The bookshop said the comments have been taken out of context, and that it supports stories from diverse voices.

An independent bookshop in Victoria has apologised after its owner made comments online calling for more picture books “with just white kids on the cover”.

In recent comments posted to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the owner of Robinsons Bookshop Susanne Horman also claimed the store would not be stocking books that “intend to cause harm and make Australians hate each other”.

“Basically the woke agenda that divides people,” she said.

The comments from early December were shared in an Instagram post on Saturday by an account named coffeebooksandmagic. The bookshop has since apologised, saying the comments are being “taken out of context”.

A screenshot of an Instagram post.

An Instagram post from an account named coffeebooksandmagic has shared information about comments made by Robinsons Bookshop owner Susanne Horman. Source: Instagram / coffeebooksandmagic

“What’s missing from our bookshelves in store? Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional nuclear white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous [sic] art, non indig [sic] aus history,” read one post shared on Instagram from an X account ostensibly owned by Horman.

“So I am advocating for a substantial shift in the focus of Australian publishers to be in line with public opinion and request for books and for what is GOOD! We aren’t going to stock books that intend to cause harm and make Australians hate each other.”

Another post read: “Books we don’t need: hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left wing govt propaganda. Basically the woke agenda that divides people.

“Not stocking any of these in 2024.”

A screenshot of the owner of an X account that has since been deleted.

A screenshot from an Instagram post shared by coffeebooksandmagic showing the now-deleted X account of Robinsons Bookshop owner Susanne Horman. Source: Instagram / coffeebooksandmagic

The X account has since been deleted.

Read the rest here . . .

Australia, Culture, Feminism, Islam, Media, Radicalism, Religion

Crucial connections – Lattouf, Muslim demonstrators, the far left, and Clementine Ford?

Hundreds rally in support of Palestine and sacked ABC journalist Antoinette Lattouf

Former ABC presenter Antoinette Lattouf has claimed she was the target of an “orchestrated attack” as hundreds rally in support.

Eli Green, news.com.au, 21 January 2024

Melburnians have gathered in their hundreds for a pro-Palestine rally also in support of a former ABC journalist who was let go over social media posts on the conflict.

Melburnians have gathered in their hundreds for a pro-Palestine rally also in support of a former ABC journalist who was let go over social media posts on the conflict.

A former ABC presenter sacked over a social media post about the war in Gaza has claimed she was “thrown under the bus” by the public broadcaster.

Antoinette Lattouf claims she was targeted by an “orchestrated attack” after she was dismissed in December just three days into a week-long hosting gig on Radio Sydney’s morning show.

She was let go after sharing a social media post about the conflict in Gaza, with ABC management telling her she was not allowed to post about controversial issues while in the presenter position.

The rally was also in support of ABC fill-in presenter Antoinette Lattouf who was let go from the broadcaster over social media posts. Picture: Instagram

The rally was also in support of ABC fill-in presenter Antoinette Lattouf who was let go from the broadcaster over social media posts. Picture: Instagram

Ms Lattouf said she was surprised that her sacking had triggered protests.

“I was floored, not only [by] how I was fired but how quickly things escalated because one minute I was taking talkback callers … the next, I’m thrown under the bus in a very public way,” she said in a BBC interview.

Reports this week have revealed that a group called Lawyers for Israel campaigned for Ms Lattouf to be ousted from the position, urging members to flood the ABC’s complaints from taking issue with the presenter.

Ms Lattouf said she had “no beef” with those wanting to lobby but took issue with the access the group appears to have gained.

“What I have real concerns with is when a lobby group seems to have a direct channel, [and] access to, very senior people, in this case, the chair of the board at the ABC, and can influence an outcome so rapidly,” she said.

Read the rest here . . .

Catholic Church, Catholicism, Culture, Feminism, Radicalism

Is there a connection between the Vatican’s doctrinal chief and occultist influences on feminism?

Pope Francis’ Top Doctrine Cop Echoes Occultists Aleister Crowley and Margaret Sanger on the ‘Mystical’ Power of Sex

By JOHN ZMIRAK, The Stream, January 14, 2024

This is grim stuff, so let’s start off nice and easy. With a challenging little puzzle, like those silly “test your knowledge” posts you see on social media. Can you match the quotation below with the author? Each is speaking about the connection between human sexuality and access to God:

  1. “True sex-power is God-power and as such, the power of orgasm can be used by a man and woman for various gains, both worldly and spiritual.”
  2. “[God] can make himself present when two human beings love each other and reach orgasm; and that orgasm, lived in the presence of God, can also be a sublime act of the presence of God.”
  3. “Through sex, mankind may attain the great spiritual illumination which will transform the world, which will light up the only path to an earthly paradise.”
  4. “Mankind must learn that the sexual instinct is … ennobling. The shocking evils which we all deplore are principally due to the perversions produced by suppressions.”

Here are the authors from which you’ll need to choose:

A. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood.

B. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, chief doctrinal authority appointed by Pope Francis, who recently approved same-sex blessings in Catholic churches — which will include St. Peter’s Basilica.

C. Aleister Crowley, 20th-century British black magician and pansexual Satanist.

D. Paschal Beverly Randolph, 19th-century American occultist.

Sex Magick Posing as Christian Mysticism

Not easy, is it? The quotations all kind of smoosh together, saying much the same thing. No mention of marriage, pregnancy, or fidelity, much less chastity. Sex is presented by each of these authors as having some magical power in itself to connect us to the fundamental powers of the universe — the same kind of “spirituality” practiced in ancient fertility cults, which the Hebrew prophets condemned as the worship of demons. (See Jonathan Cahn’s Return of the Gods for exhaustive documentation.)

Read the rest here . . .

Australia, Culture, Feminism, Law, Radicalism

The adoration of Kali – Labor’s feminist warrior

If you’re a man in Australia at this time in history, you have a choice. Learn to fight back or suffer a place on Kali’s garland of severed heads.

*****

Feminism’s workplace gulags

– How the former Sex Discrimination Commissioner tightened the screws on men at work.

BETTINA ARNDT 18 JAN 2024

Kate Jenkins may have retired from her job as Sex Discrimination Commissioner, but she’s done a brilliant job in ensuring her future employment. Late last year she was boasting on Instagram about her masterstroke:

“Having recommended the new positive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment, sex discrimination and other unlawful conduct, I’m now focused on helping employers to meet this duty,” she announced cheerfully.

She’s quite shameless in spruiking masterclasses for teaching corporate boards and executive teams to toe the line, asking, “Who best to fast track your compliance than the people who wrote Respect@Work?”

Respect@Work was the report responsible for pushing all this into workplaces. Jenkins and her team create a fiction of workplaces as cesspits of groping men intent on keeping women in their lowly place. The Jenkins team shifted the goal posts to include discrimination rather than just harassment and then redefined sexual harassment as “gender-based violence,” skilfully bringing the huge domestic violence industry on board. They then came up with 55 recommendations they claim would put things right.

That was back in 2020 and the Morrison government, under siege from the Higgins et al claims of their “women’s problem”, dutifully gave the nod to most of them, only baulking at the really crazy stuff.  

But along came Labor’s white knight, Attorney-General Dreyfus, who has shown great enthusiasm for tilting the scales of justice against men – the Family Law Bill being a case in point.  Making life impossible for the  corporate sector is an extra bonus – hence he embraced all the recommendations including the “positive duty” requirement that the former government had rejected and pushed them into law with great alacrity.

What is this positive duty all about? Well, it places an onus on employers to “take reasonable and proportionate measures” to wipe out sex discrimination and harassment in their workplaces. No tall order, eh?

Read the rest here . . .

Catholicism, Culture, Radicalism, Religion

St Gallen ‘Mafia’

The St Gallen ‘Mafia’ Is the ‘Skeleton Key’ Helping to Unlock Many Riddles of Francis’ Pontificate, Says Author

By Edward Pentin, 31 December 2023

Although the “St Gallen Mafia” is well known to most who follow the papacy and the Vatican, the vast majority of Catholics are unlikely to have ever heard of it.

And yet this group’s influence on the direction of the Church and all of the current and recent upheavals of this pontificate cannot be overestimated.

Founded in the mid-1990s, the clandestine group of high-ranking churchmen gathered in the Swiss city of St Gallen to oppose a Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger papacy.

Hosted by St Gallen’s then-bishop, Ivo Fürer, its members included Cardinals José da Cruz Policarpo, then Patriarch of Lisbon, Carlo Maria Martini, Godfried Danneels, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Achille Silvestrini, Lubomyr Husar, Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann.

Their efforts at the 2005 conclave to install a heterodox, progressive candidate failed, thanks in large part to strong resistance led by Cardinal Joachim Meisner.

The group, which Cardinal Danneels jokingly referred to as a “mafia,” then appeared to cease meeting from 2006 but its influence lived on in the form of a looser network that paved the way for Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s ascendance to the Chair of St Peter less than seven years later.

Now Julia Meloni has produced a compelling, well-researched and vital book describing exactly how this “mafia” came to influence the leadership of the Church, precipitating much of the prevailing structural, spiritual, and moral destruction of the past nine years of Francis’ pontificate.

Well-written in a captivating style, The St. Gallen Mafia: Exposing the Secret Reformist Group Within the Church (TAN 2021) is required reading for anyone with an interest in today’s Church, for those concerned about the direction her leaders are taking her, and to future historians wishing to examine this tumultuous period in the Church’s history.

Read the rest . . .

Culture, Law, Media, Radicalism, The Left

GEORGE FLOYD AND BLM – ALL BASED ON LIES

From here in Melbourne, watching the reports of the George Floyd incident, I thought, as I have often done, here we go again.

What I saw on the bare images were policemen doing their job against a man who was resisting arrest. Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s lower neck, as it appeared from the angle of the video. It looked like a routine police manoeuvre. I clearly heard Floyd say, ‘I can’t breathe.’ If he couldn’t breathe, how could he say so distinctly, ‘I can’t breathe?’

As expected, people in high office paraded through the media, deploring the racist action of the police. As expected, people in low office – indeed, the lowest offices – took the cue and Minneapolis descended into chaos. Anarchy reigned for more than a week. George Floyd turned into a cause that flashed across the world.

But it was all based on lies.

The outstanding film below offers the proof. It also offers proof that the highest offices in western society – not just America – are filled by corrupt people, many of whom are determined to destroy everything the west has built up over the centuries. The film is on the video platform Rumble.

Culture, Islam, Law, Media, The Left

Antoinette Lattouf – another self-absorbed Gen Zed prima donna

Antoinette Lattouf, described as an ‘author and broadcaster’, was sacked by the ABC for unacceptable social media posts. The Guardian tells the story thus far HERE.

Now, Antoinette wasn’t happy with the decision. A blast of accusations followed which not unexpectedly accused the ABC of racism, in particular, anti-Arab racism.

Antoinette was ready with her rhetoric of white-anti-people-of-colour narrative because she had already favoured the public with her views in her book How to Lose Friends and Influence White People ‘which examines systematic racism in the media.’

Antoinette then issued an unlawful termination claim against the ABC. But she wasn’t finished yet. There was the option of legal action. News.com.au reported yesterday that Broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf expands ABC complaint to include claim the national broadcaster is ‘racist’. The report by Samantha Maiden retells the story and adds the legal action she has taken.

Lo and behold!

Antoinette has got Josh Bornstein of law firm Maurice Blackburn taking up the cudgel for her. The ABC should take notice because Josh has form in this sort of thing.

I’m thinking of one particular case in which Josh was triumphant for a person who was – and probably still is – as anti-Australian and anti-white as someone just … I won’t finish that because Josh might come after me. I can’t afford a shakedown. Let me leave it at this: his triumph represents a legal farce that should dismay all Australians.

The following is what Josh said about Antoinette’s case as reported by Maiden:

“The claim has now been amended to reflect that Antoinette Lattouf alleges that she was sacked by the ABC because she expressed a political opinion and also because of her race. Since October 7 and the ensuing conflict in the Middle East, it has become notorious in the media industry that Arab and Muslim journalists are being intimidated, censored and sacked,” Mr Bornstein said.

“In this case we will show that the ABC has not sacked white journalists for expressing political opinion, even where those journalists worked in news and current affairs. Antoinette’s role at the ABC was not a news or current affairs role. She shared four posts during her employment and was told that sharing the Human Rights Watch post was somehow a breach of the ABC’s social media policy.

“Then she was suddenly and humiliatingly sacked.

“We are seeking a detailed, public apology and compensation for harm to reputation and for distress and humiliation. In addition, Antoinette will seek an order that the ABC offer her a commensurate role back on air, as she is passionate about the importance of a representative public broadcaster. Finally, we are also seeking the imposition of penalties on the ABC to deter it from repeating this conduct.”

If Josh prevails in this case – the case of a self-absorbed Gen Zed prima donna – then the ordinary person should wonder how much protection he has against Australia’s legal system.

A triumph might be self-satisfying for Josh, but it might also be a Pyrrhic victory for Antoinette. Have you considered that, Josh? How employable would Antoinette be?

Australia, Australian history, Culture, Political correctness, Radicalism

Our critical immigration problem

Australians with ancestry going back to the 1800s to mid-1900s will ignore this video at their peril. Ethnic voting blocks are already happening. There are suburbs in Sydney established in the 1800s and early 1900s by Australian and British settlers that are now 90% Asian. The Chinese community voted against the Morrison government because of its vigorous resistance to the bullying of communist China. The loss of the Morrison government has been attributed to the critical shifting of the Chinese vote to the Labor Party. Australia must review its immigration policy before its too late.

Culture, Feminism, Radicalism

‘Feminism was never sane’

Quoted on Tom Golden’s substack post: Women Say Feminist Hatred of Men Has Gone Far Enough

Ottawa professor Janice Fiamengo: 

“Feminism was never sane. It was never without deep rancor and bitterness against men, never free from the claim that women were absolute victims of male predation, never uninterested in destroying the family, never accurate in its claims about women’s social situation, never unwilling to slander men in the most vicious and unpitying ways, and it never expressed any appreciation for men nor recognition that men had made any contribution to society or that men had ever acted out of love and concern and compassion for women in the laws that had been made or social instruments that had been developed over time. It was always a deeply misandrist, man-hating, man-blaming kind of movement.”