David's Pensioner Education Supplement on gov chopping block

After the horrendous discrimination event that David endured some time back, it's been a long road of recovery for his mental health. He hasn't been able to work since, however he decided to take a HECS thingo and further qualify himself in nursing so as to be in a position of authority when and if he does return to work.

He was to start the middle of this year, but the books were about $1,000 for the course and so he had to put the start off until beginning of 2017. Didn't get around to getting the Pensioner Education Supplement for that reason. But when he does get paid it it's a small amount of money on top of his Carers Payment pension to help with expenses going to uni, like books for example.

Now I read that the Pensioner Education Supplement is one of the things in the Turnbull $6billion welfare chopping block. Whether these cuts get through the senate or not remains to be seen, but I don't understand why chopping to the bare bones of pensioners is an option at all. Particularly given the recent push for a near $200million plebiscite to fund the christian haters to tell us how fucked up David and I are.

The government, supported by One Nation, Day and Leyonhjelm, want to cut a further $6 billion from welfare payments including: 

$2.9 billion in Family Tax Benefit end-of -year supplements the government still was to abolish; $1.3 billion carbon tax compensation for future welfare recipients; $1.2 billion by stopping the “double dipping” of paid parental leave; and $600 million in assorted measures including freezing eligibility thresholds, ending a pensioners education supplement and making dole recipients wait a period before receiving payments. 

We must be in dire straits if you would choose this most vulnerable group of people to find savings. 

Perhaps to deflect attention from this, the government reannounced $100 million in funding for a domestic violence package. We are apparently expected to ignore the fact that they have announced this same money before, and that it falls way short of the funding they have already stripped from this area. 

As Rosie Batty mentioned on the Drum last night, it is amazing how the government could find a lazy $200 million for an unnecessary marriage equality plebiscite, but can only scrape together $100 million to address domestic violence which kills so many people and destroys the lives of so many more. 

They seem to have plenty of money to waste when it suits them. The AIM

 

Pussy Riot's view of a nightmare Trump win (video)

I honestly can't believe that Trump has anyone left voting for him. Watch as Pussy Riot takes a look at an America under Trump, using real footage of Trump in his horrifying campaign to date. 

When it's all put together like this it's even worse than you have imagined.

 

DSP reviews - MP Julian Hill's scathing attack on the gov (video)

These DSP reviews targeting those of us on the Disability Support pension are just way out of control. It's entirely outrageous that the weak and ill are being put through the gov wringer, for the umpteenth time, in investigations by Centrelink to see if in fact they are still weak and ill.

When I was put on the DSP the interviewer informed me almost aghast "You have three permanent conditions!", which I myself hadn't actually realised. I guess it must have been very significant for their points table to qualify though.

Now people like me who have been granted DSP poverty as demonstrably unfit for work, are being viciously targeted by Centrelink investigations to again prove their permanent disablement. 

  

Finally got David a new computer

We decided to wait until I got the next lot of Super money so he could put a bit more in than just the replacement cost of the Dell one that carked it. He really needs one for uni and my sanity. He also uses the PC a lot and has been using mine in the interim. Pretty much he had mine for half the day before I could get near the thing.

We got an HP one, same brand as mine but of course much more advanced. Has a quad core whereas mine has only a duel core. I've never had much problems at all with this one. Is about 3 years old now and I've used it so much some of the letters on the keyboard have worn off. Must be when I go into angry rave mode about the maniac christians in Canberra :)

So David's new one was $500, and of course the salesman tried to sell him more stuff with it. It was ridiculous the way he did it. Was just so obvious I was almost checking it off a list in my head.

First he said David needed Microsoft Office because Word, I replied I have Word at home and can install it if needed. Then it was the anti-virus needed, which I said I have Norton and just need to enable it on that device. Then he wanted to sell him a $30 computer cover, which David said he's already got a computer bag thing. Then it was the extended warranty for a "special price" of $75, which we both agreed was a complete fuck around this time, and anyway this wasn't a Dell on the verge of death from the day bought. Then it was a mouse, yes David has a mouse. In total five extra things all not needed.

Of course it's been my job today to get the thing up and running. Just simple things like installing a browser that's simple and easy to use, unlike that monstrosity internet explorer thingo that comes with Windows 10. The antivirus, and of course BitTorrent! 

Priest caught uploading child porn - US

The predator priest

The angel face

More moral guardianship from the christians.

BTW studies have shown that 99% of paedophiles are straight. I don't even know where it came from that gays were.

So in this case the priest got busted uploading/sharing child porn from his computer at his holiday home. He has therefore been charged with 20 counts of possessing and 20 counts of sharing child porn. 

How in the hell can the catholic church possess any kind of moral authority in our society when the church itself is so demonstrably rotten? Here in Australia they oppose marriage equality, at the same time the royal commission into child sex abuse is unearthing all manner of horrors done by the church to children.

A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey has been arrested on child pornography charges. 

Kevin Gugliotta, 54, of Mahwah allegedly uploaded illicit images from a computer in his vacation home in Lehigh Township, Pa. on July 9, the Wayne County District Attorney said in a news release on Wednesday. 

Gugliotta worked at Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in Union, but has been removed from the parish, according to a spokesman for the Newark Archdiocese. 

He faces 40 counts of sexual abuse of children — 20 counts of possession of child pornography and 20 counts of dissemination of child pornography. 

 Officials in Wayne County learned about the uploaded images in August and began an investigation. They eventually learned the IP address was registered to Gugliotta's vacation home. NJ.com

 

Alan Jones says Greenpeace are "global warming alarmists" (video)

Right wing radio shock jock Alan Jones has again shown his penchant for ideological stupidity rather than basic scientific facts, in his latest foray into attacking the greenie pinko Marxist climate people.

On his radio show he declared that Greenpeace are"Global warming alarmists who will stop at nothing".

Greenpeace has responded with the below video.

 

"They rip them out at 9 months on the last day" - Trump on abortion in debate

Samantha Bee expresses her revulsion at Trump declaring that abortions happen at 9 months.

 

Women "threw themselves" at Trump, lying about rape - christians

And Trump is sooooo good looking, etc.... Yes folks, the US christian fundies are going even more batshit crazy over Trump. You see Hillary is evil and dirty and so Trump has been sent by god to get down in the dirt and fight her at her level so to speak.

That's up there with the crazy talk by Republicans over terrorists; that we were supposed to fight them on their level, hence torture was OK for them. 

How very christian.

Where are their heads at to come out with this vile, victim blaming, Trump apologising and excuse making bullshit for sexual assault?

“Donald Trump is a middle finger to Washington, D.C.,” Root crowed, before warning Christians that they cannot sit on the sideline in this election because Hillary Clinton and the Democrats “are coming to take our Bibles away.”

“If you’re a Christian, you just can’t spend your life worrying about the words of Donald Trump from 11 years ago,” Root said, “or what women he groped 30 years ago. I don’t believe any of it anyway. I believe Donald Trump is one of the handsomest billionaires that’s ever lived; I don’t think he ever had to grope a single woman ever. I think they threw themselves at him, so it’s all a lie.”

“The man isn’t a perfect Christian,” Root admitted, but he is “the perfect guy sent from God and from central casting to be the vicious guy we needed to save America, save capitalism, fight the Clinton crime cartel and save Christianity from these vicious, vicious people. They’re terrible, dirty people and a nice guy could have never won this war. Only a dirty player could win the war, so I think Donald’s the perfect guy, sent by God to fill the perfect role and save us all.” Right Wing Watch  

The letter Barnyard Barnaby didn't want you to see released to public

Barnyard Barnaby, deputy PM

Public servant Paul Grimes

Barnaby Joyce, deputy PM and dog threatener, is now having his own dog day afternoons. Yesterday, a letter that he'd fought long and hard over one and a half years and spending $80,000 to have hidden from the public, even deleted from gov files, was in fact released to the public.

This was during the time Joyce had gotten himself into difficulty being caught out making changes to the parliamentary Hansard, and the public servant Paul Grimes stood up to him over it. Grimes was sacked and replaced.

The letter Grimes sent questions the deputy PM's integrity and is deeply embarrassing for Barnyard. It appears Joyce didn't at all follow processes in place in such an event of the breakdown of the relationship between him and the public servant, but instead bullied him and sacked him to save himself.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has fought for the release of the letter, which was emailed directly to Mr Joyce and Tony Abbott's former head of department Michael Thawley, since the independent Information Commissioner ruled it should be made available. 

Mr Joyce's department fought that ruling, spent $80,000 on engaging Ernst &Young to review its public information processes, and then fought the matter through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal before giving up the fight just after Parliament rose for two weeks on Friday. 

"This letter shows Paul Grimes was deeply concerned about Barnaby Joyce's behaviour. He was challenging Joyce's integrity," Mr Fitzgibbon said on Monday. 

"He clearly thought what Joyce did was not appropriate. This letter indicates he was being bullied. 

"What Barnaby Joyce did was to sack Paul Grimes to save himself." Sydney Morning Herald  

Telstra deactivated my mobile phone number of 10yrs - utter rage FFS!

OMFG! Completely, utterly outraged at Telstra! My mobile number of 10 years (where I've built up quite a wide variety of doctors, specialists, hospitals, family and friends over time) was deactivated by Telstra 9 days ago when it deactivated my SIM card without warning. 

Where there was no notice given by email, text, or even maybe a quick call FFS to let me know they were about to fuck up my phone royally like this. Now the number can't be reactivated again unless I go on a plan, which is impossible for me being bankrupt.

So, yesterday after talking to somebody at their call centre in fuck knows where, I had been told all I needed to do was get a SIM card and do a SIM swap for my number to the new card. However what the rocket scientist at the call centre didn't appear to realise was doing that was impossible if the number was deactivated. 

As Telstra had done with my number without bloody warning!

I go into the nearest Telstra shop today and was seen at the counter (the counter said "We're here to help") by a person who didn't have the faintest idea, and kept asking the other Telstra employees next to her what she was supposed to do whilst looking at the PC screen. Eventually the announcement came from all of them that I couldn't have the same number I've had for 10 years because the number had been deactivated.

I proceeded to say how outrageous this was, and that I'd had this number for so long, how could they do all of this without even giving me any warning? That if they'd told me they were about to do all this then I'd have put $10 on the thing just to keep it going.

Long story short I now have a new phone number which nobody knows.   

Clinton 49.2, Trump 42.1 - Bludgertrack (Australia)

Clinton is entering landslide territory now as Trumps campaign implodes. I'm sure Republicans will rue the day they endorsed him. Personally I don't understand how he's on 42%. I thought he'd be much lower than that. I mean what does he have to do before Republicans stop supporting him?

Telstra deactivated my phone SIM card without telling me - FFS!

It's been 6 months since I had any credit on my phone, and unknown to me after 6 months with no credit Telstra deactivates the SIM card. I guess that may be fair enough, but they didn't give me any warning at all, or even a text saying what was going on with the phone.

So it wasn't until David tried ringing me yesterday and it just said the phone wasn't connected. WTF? So I'm pulling out the battery and cleaning the SIM card and all to try and find the problem, to no avail. In the end I rang Telstra earlier today and it was then I finally found out the card was deactivated.

They could've given me a week or so's warning. Just out of the blue with no explanation, they make the phone useless.

So now I have to get some new SIM card as the other one in the phone is buggered. Then I have to ring them and do a SIM swap to keep my number. *sheesh*

 

Paralysed man told to prove he can't work By Centrelink

Whilst a committee has been set up to investigate these ongoing ridiculous reviews of people on the Disability Support Pension who are obviously well and truly unable to work, and whilst the Turnbull gov is denying there's even a problem, a man who is almost completely disabled in a wheelchair had his pension cut off because Centrelink didn't have up to date proof of his condition. It was reinstated only after getting paperwork from his doctor.

According to his GP, Josh's life expectancy is less than five years. 

Yet, last month Centrelink suspended his disability support pension [DSP] after Josh's parents missed a deadline for a medical review proving he was still unable to work.

 ................................. 

This week, the joint parliamentary committee of public accounts and audit launched a public inquiry into the effective monitoring and reporting of the disability support pension as part of its probe into risk management, and whether public money was used in an efficient, effective, economical and ethical manner. 

Federal MP for Bruce, Julian Hill who raised the issue in Federal Parliament this week, is also the deputy chair of the committee. He said the government must change their approach to ensure Centrelink wasn't persecuting the severely disabled with "wasteful, badly targeted reviews". 

"So far the government has simply denied there is even a problem and refuses to act despite a growing number of horrific cases," Mr Hill said. The Age  

These reviews are supposed to be only for people who are borderline DSP eligible. How in the hell did Centrelink decide that this man was one of them?

 

A difficult few days...

I know David's talked to me about it before, but the sight of crime scene photos on the telly of his first boyfriend Wayne Tonks, after being murdered, was deeply disturbing.

I've been feeling very anxious since watching the Show (Deep Water) which I guess is understandable. So anxious however it's been almost like a mental paralysis. Haven't been able to concentrate on anything, and it feels like being surrounded by a big wall. Hard to be interested in anything.

Had trouble even with normal things. I didn't do the dishes for 2 days, and a couple of days didn't even eat anything. 

I can't imagine how David must be feeling. He said after the program that he nearly had to leave the room when the bit came on about Wayne. It's been decades since the murder but obviously it's affected David enormously. 

It really is hard to put into words how one feels in the wake of such a hate crime as the murder was. You feel vulnerable and aware that there are people who hate us simply because of who we are, and that some of those people are willing to act on that hatred.

BTW, the murderer only got seven and a half years jail for it. 

10th Trump sexual assault victim comes forward (video)

Karena Virginia was shocked by Trump's advances, after which Trump said to her "Don't you know who I am?" Obviously the whole experience has left her traumatised.

Pretty much lost for words with this now. How in the hell could this man end up being the US Republican presidential candidate? 

 

Most homophobic electorate in Australia - Maranoa, Queensland

Maranoa in Queensland is the most homophobic electorate in Australia, being the only electorate opposed to marriage equality.

Of course they "have nothing against gays" and are "very respectful" to them, whilst saying how terribly sinful and wrong we are to disobey the bible. There's even one young bloke who threatened violence if a gay person came on to him. 

Largely though it's complete ignorance and stupidity. If they got to really know the LGBT they'd see we're just people like everyone else. 

 

AME chair Alex Greenwich calls for urgent marriage equality vote

I agree. We've bloody well had enough of our lives being judged and debated, of who we are being the subject of a national discussion about our fundamental human rights. Tired of being the target of a 2,000 year old book which has little meaning in the modern world. Sick to death of the self righteous so called moral guardians of society thinking they know more about our lives than we do.

Now gay independent NSW MP Alex Greenwich, chair of Australian Marriage Equality, has called for an urgent parliamentary vote. The reason being that the debate will continue until the issue is decided, along with the mental health harm it's causing within the LGBT community.

It's hard to describe the feelings when who you are is debated on TV and the media by people who don't know you and have no idea about the issues you face. No idea about your love for your partner. Making moral judgements about you based on your love for your partner.

Last Monday a clip from the ABC's Q&A had one panel member ridiculing stopping the plebiscite because a few gays will get "hurt feelings". FFS. Just no idea. Yet there she was on national television spouting this diatribe in some kind of position of authority on the matter. Talking about us like that.

Like I said we've just had enough of it. Just vote in the parliament and stop exposing us to the hate. 

It looks like the proposal to have a plebiscite on marriage equality in Australia is not going to get off the ground. The plebiscite has always been a legally unnecessary political device. When it was first conjured up it was by people who wanted to block marriage equality not those who wanted to make it happen. That reality was never lost on LGBTI people. The demise of the plebiscite will not be mourned by LGBTI people. 

As expected, the Labor Party has opposed a same sex marriage plebiscite, but there's still hope this won't mean a lengthy delay for marriage equality. 

The political process that has brought us to this point has been a time of great anxiety for the gay community. All too often we have watched on as observers in a debate about our dignity. Now that it appears that the plebiscite is no more we ask our politicians to move swiftly to defeat the legislation. The swifter this is done, the sooner we can move forward towards a parliamentary path to marriage equality, and hopefully achieve this long overdue reform by the end of year. 

The gay and lesbian community never asked for this plebiscite, all we have ever sought for is to be treated the same as everyone else and have a parliamentary vote that allows us to marry the person we love in the country we love. 

Over the past 14 months we have sadly been debating process, rather than the substantive reform. Let's be clear, amending the marriage act to allow for same-sex and gender diverse couples to marry is a straightforward change of a few words, which will cost nothing and benefit so many. Alex Greenwich, Sydney Morning Herald  

Nearly 90 organisations agree with blocking plebiscite

Just in case there were any doubts about it being the right thing to do for the plebiscite to be blocked in the senate, a group of nearly 90 organisations have thrown their combined weight behind the move. They also are pushing now for a parliamentary vote on the issue, placing yet more pressure on the Turnbull gov to allow a free vote for it's party.

Despite unsubstantiated rumours to the contrary, an impressive network of close to 90 LGBTI organisations and leaders have today unified with Australians for Equality and Australian Marriage Equality, releasing a statement calling for parliament to block the plebiscite legislation. 

Australians for Equality (A4E) Co-Chair Anna Brown claimed the organisation wants to see an end to the plebiscite so that the community can finally move forward towards a parliamentary process to achieve marriage equality in this term of parliament. \

“This network of LGBTI leaders and organisations wishes to reinforce that the most efficient and effective way of achieving marriage equality is a vote in the parliament.” 

“This joint statement is about ensuring that a wide and diverse range of LGBTI groups across the nation have their voices heard by our parliamentarians,” Ms Brown said. 

“The continuing campaign for marriage equality has galvanised the LGBTI and the wider Australian community. As we move forward it is great to see so many organisations from across the nation engaged and coming together for equality,” Australian Marriage Equality, Co-Chair, Alex Greenwich added. 

“We want our elected representatives to come together to block the plebiscite and then find a way forward towards marriage equality.” Same Same  

Contrary to the views of some plebiscitists that the LGBT have been done a disservice by the plebiscite blocking, the truth of the matter is that we don't want it and are firmly opposed to it. We simply want the politicians to do their job as they've done with every other human rights issue in Australia over the decades. 

The DSP medical reviews - 90,000 people over three years

Severely disabled man told to prove he couldn't work by Centrelink

I didn't know much about it so I looked it up on the dept of human services site. Firstly, there are exemptions to having your Disability Support Pension reviewed by the gov. It appears that if you were granted the DSP under the new rules bought in by the Labor gov in 2012, and it was plainly obvious even under those rules that you qualified for the DSP, then you're exempt. 

Other than that, it seems that anyone on the DSP is up for grabs for a review.

So we're talking about Centrelink, that great monolithic structure that barely functions on the best of days, choosing people to be reviewed under the new 2012 rules. People who are supposed to have perhaps a capacity for working. Nope, can't see anything going wrong there....

From 1 July 2016, there will be additional medical reviews of Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers undertaken over 3 years.

Reviews will include certain DSP customers who are most at risk of not meeting eligibility criteria. The Department will use a risk profiling based approach to select people for review. Reviews will apply the current DSP qualification criteria using the January 2012 revised Impairment Tables.

Under this measure, DSP customers will have a comprehensive review of their medical qualification for DSP.

Customers granted on manifest grounds under current manifest rules and people working in Australian Disability Enterprises or under Supported Worker Systems will be excluded. Dept of Human Services

Unless of course you're one of the people who obviously can't work but still haven't gone through the 2012 tests, you may very well find yourself up for review. Evidently these aren't isolated cases. Like this one, who was obviously not "most at risk of not meeting eligibility criteria":

A report in The Age at the weekend that a severely disabled man who has been in state care since 1999 was ordered by Centrelink to prove his eligibility for a pension was distressing for all who read it, but of course so much more traumatic for this man and his family. 

Andrew Johnson, 30, cannot speak; has autism, Tourette syndrome, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and epilepsy; and needs a stomach tube to help him feed. Despite this, his case was included in a widespread crackdown on disability support recipients. Essentially, Mr Johnson was told he must prove why he was not out working, rather than receiving the disability pension. 

The review, delivered without warning via an officious letter from Centrelink, not surprisingly put Mr Johnson's family under a huge amount of stress as they scrabbled to find decades old medical documents and other evidence of his severe impairment. 

While the review was eventually dropped after intervention from Mr Johnson's gastroenterologist, letters to The Age confirm this cruel and farcical situation is not a one-off. The government is reviewing 90,000 disability support recipients for their ability to work, following welfare changes in the 2016 federal budget. Centrelink says the target group for the reviews is current disability support pension recipients who have not been assessed in the past two years. 

While we understand and support the need to ensure public money is wisely spent, the case of Andrew Johnson highlights the need for compassion, sensitivity and simple common sense, in reviewing support for the disabled. 

Even the most fleeting glance at Mr Johnson's records should have ruled him out of any need to repeat proof of his entitlement for a pension. Those at Centrelink responsible for the decision to review his situation certainly owe Mr Johnson's family an apology. 

Anecdotal evidence shows there are many other cases which ought be excluded from such a review. The Age  

Thing is when Centrelink comes calling you have no power. If they say jump you have to try even if you're disabled :s  If you don't comply and get through all the hoops they'll just stop your payments and you starve. Resistance is futile. Some moron deep within the Centrelink bowels orders a review that is blatantly bullshit, and there's just nothing you can do about it.

Under 2012 rules only about 25% of DSP applicants are successful (including me BTW) which begs the question; is the gov trying to cut 75% of people off the DSP?

Wouldn't it be nice if politicians had to go through all of this to get their pay?  

In any case, if you feel you may cop some nutty review, my advice would be to make sure all the reports and the like are accessible and centralised with your GP. It will make things much easier if the time comes. 

Q&A examines marriage equality chances this gov term (video)

The pleb is dead folks, but evidently that's not going to stop the "right wing dinosaurs" of the Lieberal party from banging on about it at every opportunity. 

However now there's a very clear answer as to why Labor and the Greens are blocking a plebiscite; because they asked us about it. Yes, they actually took the time to consult the LGBT to be a part of the decision making process in Canberra, something that the Lieberals never did. We never asked for and never wanted our human rights to be voted on in a public slanging match.

The Lieberals had that excruciating 6 hour hand wringing meeting last year dreaming up the plebiscite. Where were we in that process? In fact Abbott branch stacked the meeting with the National party of which 80% of them voted against teh gayz.

Again, the fact that Turnbull made a deal with the right wing dinosaurs of his party isn't the problem of the LGBT, and neither is the fact that civil war may erupt within the Lieberals if Turnbull allows a free parliamentary vote. 

They only have themselves to blame for the nightmare they've painted themselves in to. David and I shouldn't have to bear the cost of their ineptitude and prejudice.

Now there is no chance of marriage equality during this parliament, what do you say? Our #QandA panels responds https://t.co/Nw98spwJjD

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) October 17, 2016

 

My partner's 1st boyfriend murdered - SBS doco Sydney gay murders

School teacher Wayne Tonks (screen capture)

 *Update: ‘Deep Water’ Is The Crime Show That Every Australian Should Be Watching. Junkee
 
We finally got around to watching the Deep Water documentary from SBS last night after downloading it for the telly (torrent here, SBS on demand here). 

David has often spoken to me about Wayne Tonks, a school teacher in eastern Sydney who was brutally murdered by one of his students because he was gay. Part of the doco was about Wayne and it bought back many memories for David. 

I don't know how serious the relationship was as that's not for me to say, other than that David still talks about him and at times wonders if they'd still be together today had he not been killed.

Had nightmares all through last night. It's not every day you see crime scene photos of your partner's first ex after they were killed in one of Sydney's most publicised gay hate killings.

Needless to say there are some things about the killing that have never been released to the public (and no they won't be here either). David was interviewed by the detective on the doco who talked about the crime scene and how he'll never forget it. Wayne Tonks died a most horrible and painful death.

Crime scene photo (screen capture)

The other thing about the doco that was extra disturbing was the fact that police themselves were bashing gays. Cops in unmarked cars roaming the streets were known for gay bashing by the cops themselves.

Many might think how strange it is that a gay friendly place like Sydney has such a dark underbelly of hostility and hatred towards gays in the very recent decades. The Mardi Gras parade with all it's glitter and spectacle might indicate otherwise. 

However the LGBT didn't get to where they are today without having to fight tooth and nail every step of the way. The Mardi Gras, born out of a protest march, celebrates the tenacity and Pride that has overcome so many obstacles. 

"America's Hate Preachers" - a documentary from the BBC (video)

A wide open look at the extremist christian hate preachers in the US, much of it about pastor Steven Anderson who recently said about Orlando that "there are 50 less paedophiles in the world". Recently he was banned from South Africa where he was going to stir up anti-LGBT hysterical hatred against them. He's also banned from entering England as far as I know.

His preaching about gays is hate speech, pure and simple. Because of the so called freedom of speech over there he can get away with it. If he even managed to enter Australia and preach the same here he'd find himself in court under anti-discrimination laws.

Interesting too how these hate preachers utterly thrive on pissing people off. The more they piss the apparent "sinners" off and the more angry their reactions become, the more persecuted they feel for their religious beliefs. 

And we all know how much those christians just loooooooooove persecution. They use it as a tool to go and wail at the modern world for persecuting them, and to harden the congregation's resolve to continue with "the truth" even more so.

Hating these people is just pointless, or acting in a vile way as they do to us is just pointless. I'm not changing who I am and the way I behave to people just because I come across people suffering from some sort of extreme religious induced mental illness. Honestly, they should be on medication.

I feel very badly for the brainwashed kids being bought up in such a demented hateful environment as they are, believing in fairy tales and the invisible sky man will be the answer to every problem they ever face in the modern world. To me it's child abuse.

The doco is even more interesting as the researcher gives an outside view of the hate preachers, being English from the BBC.

  

Deep Water doco - "The Real Story" (Sydney gay murders)

We watched the other 4 part mini series about it, but this last one is the actual documentary I've been waiting to see. 

It tells the true story of gays who were murdered in the 1980's and 90's in Sydney but went unexplained because the police didn't seem to care. Just poofs you see and cops had better things to do I guess than investigating a poofta bashing gone awry.

To this day 88 deaths of gay people in that time remain unsolved. Recently the investigations have been reopened by the NSW police.

The video doesn't seem to want to embed here, but you can watch it on SBS on demand here, or alternatively here is the torrent. 

In this stunning feature-length documentary, individual stories are woven together to explore a spate of violence and crime, which bloodied Sydney's coastline in the 1980s and 1990s. Disturbing gang assaults were being carried out on coastal cliffs around Sydney, and mysterious deaths officially recorded as 'suicide', 'disappearance' and 'misadventure'. Survivors, witnesses, families of victims and many of those involved at the time including ex-police, investigative journalists, forensic pathologists and the ex-Deputy State Coroner are now candidly speaking out on the events of the past in the hope that new evidence might rise to the surface. SBS on demand  

Trump on Lindsay Lohan (audio)

Here Trump openly discusses Lindsay Loyan with Howard Stern on the Howard Stern show. He says deeply troubled women are always the best in bed, but you wouldn't want them for a long time however, as he spoke of Lohan:

 

Marriage equality could cost Turnbull his job (video)

Labor preparing for the jugular

It never has been and never will be the responsibility of the LGBT community to save the PM's job. The fact that his plebiscite deal was made with the Lieberal lunar right in exchange for them to gain their support is not our problem. The simple reality is that Turnbull and his clutch on power is now the only thing standing in the way of David and I getting married. The feeling throughout the LGBT community is the same.  

Now Labor, seeing the political opportunity in all of this whilst supporting the LGBT position, is preparing to apply the blowtorch to the Turnbull gov over it and push Turnbull over the edge if need be, even if it means he loses the prime minister-ship.

Such is the absurd nature of the current Lieberals in Canberra. So scared of a few gays getting married they've gotten themselves into this dreadful pickle. That's their fault, not ours. It's the responsibility of a gov to serve the people and protect minorities, not selfishly use us as a political tool to retain power.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek says the opposition could push Malcolm Turnbull to breaking point over action on same-sex marriage, even if it costs him the prime ministership.

With the government's planned legislation for a plebiscite on the issue set to be killed off in the Senate, Ms Plibersek said gay and lesbian families and advocates had told Labor they were prepared to wait in order to avoid a divisive public debate on the issue.

Ms Plibersek said Labor accepted the full moral and political consequences of the delay and called on Coalition MPs to back Mr Turnbull's own previous position of support for a free vote in Parliament on gay marriage.

The comments come as conservative backbenchers say they will abandon Mr Turnbull if he moves to allow a free vote, an apparent breach of the secret Liberal-Nationals Coalition agreement.

"It's not our job to save his job," Ms Plibersek told Sky News. Sydney Morning Herald  

Deputy Labor leader @tanya_plibersek says PM @TurnbullMalcolm should be allowed to do 'what's in his heart.' #auspol https://t.co/W9Jff14joz

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 15, 2016

Meanwhile, Lieberal panic is starting to set in. Here Sinodinos pleads with Labor to support the plebiscite, laughably saying "Let us keep our promises". 


Since when have they ever worried about that before? Now they've suddenly gone all moral promise keepers? Have they had a road to Damascus experience? *pffft*  They simply see the internal war that they'll inflict upon themselves if Turnbull goes back on his deal with the Lunar right to become PM.

My heart bleeds....whaaaaa.....   Are we now supposed to feel sorry for the poor precious Lieberals now, trapped by their own politics, after they've politicised everything about marriage equality every step of the way? Ha ha ha ha..... a delicious turn of events.

 

Trump groped woman under skirt at nightclub - woman tells (video)

I read something earlier about Hillary and emails and it was bad or something, but absolutely nothing compares to the continued revelations virtually daily now from more and more woman telling what a revolting slug Trump is.

This one is from the Washington Post, telling how Trump reached up her skirt and groped her. 

 

.@RealBenCarson says 'It doesn't matter' if Trump accusers are ‘lying or not’, blames 'you people in the media' https://t.co/gPlXpenpr9

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) October 14, 2016

 

Help get this marriage equality poster on the streets - GetUp

I'd chuck some money in if I had it. Help get this marriage equality poster on the streets as depicted in the photos from GetUp here.

Like I've said, the marriage equality blowtorch will be directed now fair and square at the fact that Turnbull won't allow a free vote. That and only that is the only reason why David and I can't get married.

David and I are not to be held to ransom by the fractures of the Lieberal party. However the gov is responsible to David and I to ensure our human rights. 

But marriage equality opponents are now trying to sell the story that marriage equality can't go forward without a plebiscite. We need to remind people of the truth: any further delay for marriage equality is solely thanks to Mr Turnbull. 

We've got a plan to blast this message onto the streets of the Prime Ministers own electorate – can you chip in to help make this advertising blitz happen? donate