Andrew Bolt's Blog, page 14

How civil libertarians are not. UPDATE: And Turnbull is no Liberal

“Human rights” activists are for free speech in principle, but not in practice.

Take the head of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Stephen Blanks.

For free speech - to a point - in theory:

Racial vilification laws in NSW need strengthening, but the NSW government is right to recognise it would be wrong to extend them to religious vilification. Extending them so that they apply to, for example, severe ridicule of people on purely religious grounds...

Does Hanson look that starved?

Far-Left Anglican reverend Rod Bower:

Father Rod Bower on Tuesday reached out to Senator Hanson ... via a sign out the front of Gosford Anglican Church, which read: ‘Pauline, how about lunch?’.

Labor Senator Sam Dastyari on the ABC’s Q&A:

Pauline, right now I will invite you to join me in Sydney, and I will take you out for halal snack pack out in Western Sydney, whenever you want.

Psychologist Mohammed Attai, also on Q&A:

Would you be willing to...

What does the moral Left act like the depraved?

Why is the Left so abusive? Why do activists claiming a superior morality in fact use hate-speech and profanities?

Todd Sampson on the ABC last night:

Refugee activists yesterday:

A protester, yelling obscenities, stormed the stage and forced the Prime Minister to stop speaking during his major economic address in Melbourne.

The woman — holding a sign that read “FFS close the bloody camps” — made it within metres of Malcolm Turnbull.

...

Who is in charge of Sydney police when 15 hostages face death?

John Lyons on the absolutely astonishing evidence from the Lindt siege inquest:

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione began his evidence with the same general position as his deputy, Catherine Burn: I don’t make operational decisions.

Before him, in three days of evidence, Ms Burn had revealed that she went home at 10pm even when 15 hostages were still kept captive, possibly with a bomb.

She also revealed that at no point in the 16-hour siege did she visit...

Column - How Four Corners conned a minister and panicked Turnbull

AN astonishing letter from the ABC proves it knowingly left out critical information when suggesting the Northern Territory Government tortured children in detention.

The letter, from Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna, shows the ABC misled a key interviewee about what it planned to report and praised prison reforms it then didn’t mention on air.

The letter also confirms Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was a fool to let the Four Corners report...

Why didn’t the Governor stick to the mineral water?

Would Dessau have ordered that glass of champagne if she were paying out of her own pocket? Then why order it all? Why pass on the cost to Australians, most of them less privileged?

GOVERNOR Linda Dessau, her husband and two staff feasted at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and quaffed $55-a-glass champagne at taxpayers’ expense during an official trip to London to meet the Queen…

Receipts seen by the Herald Sun reveal that Victoria’s governor and her spouse,...

Even Savva getting nervous about Turnbull, scared by Abbott

Even Niki Savva, Malcolm Turnbull’s biggest media touter, is now getting cold feet about a Prime Minister who has not achieved one significant thing for Australians in 11 months:

As he approaches his first anniversary as Prime Minister, the number of items on Malcolm Turnbull’s to-do list continues to multiply. His singular achievement so far has been to win the election, if only by a whisker, but it would help his standing inside and outside the government...

Ponting knocks NSW Government for six

The NSW Government is in strife when former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting is attacking its decision to ban the greyhound industry.

The greyhound racing enthusiast ... [said] he was shocked Mike Baird would impose the ban without first giving the industry a chance to fix the issues.

“I’d love to see it ­reversed,” he told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

“It’s sad, it’s devastating for the industry. I’m sure it’s going to be devastating for...

Don’t bank on Bill or Budget repair

The media let Bill Shorten get away with this reckless double-dealing when the target was Tony Abbott. Let’s see if the same applies now that Shorten’s target is Malcolm Turnbull:

Bill Shorten is holding out against $6 billion in budget cuts he “banked” in Labor’s election platform only weeks ago, shattering talk of a consensus on fiscal repair as he blasts Malcolm Turnbull for trying to legislate the savings.

Labor prepared the ground to reject or amend...

Vietnam cancels Long Tan celebration

Sounds like a slap in the face:

A commemoration ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan in Vietnam has been cancelled.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Vietnamese authorities had cancelled Thursday’s Veterans Day at the Long Tan cross site.

The department said it understood private access to the site was still permitted and the advice of exercising normal safety precautions in Vietnam was still current.

...