The Siesta, Camille Pissarro, 1899
What recourse do I have against a mob of the local grifters who have moved into a vacant house, on…
Open Thread – Tue 10 Jan 2023
- Bumtree #11
- Open Thread – Mon 13 May 2024
- Australia ain’t what it was
- A Military Realist’s View of the Ukraine War Thread
- Open Thread – Weekend 11 May 2024
He got promoted. He’s replacing Patrushev as secretary of the Russian Security Council. If you know, you know.
New Bumtree out.
Renewable energy, burning down the country one step at a time (the Tele): Hundreds of children at a swimming carnival…
Richard Fidler on TheirABC asking “why does Australia always encounter economic problems just after Labor wins?” You’d think he’d join…
Err, what sort of baiting is this?
Are you like most lefties, who will accuse people who defend Pell as also defending the likes of Ridsdale?
Interesting assessment
Sergey Poletaev: Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US have something in common – their illusions were shattered in 2022
All the key players in the current conflict spent years kidding themselves, and peace will only come when they accept reality
The Russian military offensive in Ukraine has set in motion a chain of events that has led to a global upheaval – in political and economic terms – comparable to world wars. We are probably in the initial phase of this conflict, and more players will become involved over time, but some conclusions can already be drawn.
The past year has been one in which postmodernism collided with the real world. Almost all of the direct and indirect actors in the Ukrainian crisis built their domestic and foreign policies on theoretical, highly ideological constructions. And the more the wishful thinking, the tougher the consequences now.
Let’s take a look at the main players.
. Russia
. USA
. Western Europe
. Ukraine
Ukraine is now a zombie, a dead man walking, and it will continue moving as long as the West supports it. Nevertheless, even as it is, the Ukrainian military is capable of fighting for years, especially given the current sluggish course of the conflict.
The West can withdraw support for Ukraine only in one scenario: if Kiev’s army is defeated and physically incapable of fighting, or if Ukraine physically shrinks enough to lose its strategic significance. Any ceasefire would only postpone the conflict for the future, and there should be no illusions about that.
Summary
The conflict has so far only escalated. For both Russia and the West it is existential, and neither side is inclined to compromise. All the more surprising is that the hostilities have so far been relatively localized, limited to one Ukrainian theater, and even there in a measured and positional manner. The parties seem to be focused on how to learn to live under the new conditions, which means that figuring out the new world order could happen relatively peacefully, without turning into major battle with the risk of a nuclear disaster.
The initiative in this process will be taken by whoever accepts reality first, understands their place in it, and acts accordingly. This applies not only to the above-mentioned participants in the Ukrainian crisis, but also to neutral countries that have yet to give up their own illusions.
Can’t make drinking water.…
Too busy doing this
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Despite a drop in killings last year, the capital city’s homicide rate still managed to surpass every other major city in the U.S. for the second straight year
Kind of crazy that Mulkearns isn’t a household name in Australia along the same lines as Milat.
A funeral Mass for Cardinal George Pell will be offered in Rome, (one can only hope it will be a proper Requiem Mass and not the watered-down novus ordo stuff) and he will be buried in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, his personal secretary has confirmed.
Crenshaw sits out the vote on the FBI sub-committee.
Fun fact, committee chair Jim Jordan is the biggest GOP recipient of big tech donations.
Gilas,
try Vienna Blood. Totally absorbing. A very few fleeting lines of dialogue re Freudian phallic fantasies, I think more in jest than justification. 1908 Vienna.
Also, another favourite of mine last year, Shadow Play. Highly recommend.
Not baiting. Just expressing my disgust. How does Ridsdale still live.
At least there is a chance of the ferals being kept at bay in Sydney.
H.E. is now with He.
RIP.
That is the most frustrating thing.
The Witch-Hunt RC pursued a junior priest who was on the periphery of that shit-show at the time (Pell) but basically gave Mulkearns a pass after two hours of “can’t recall” evidence.
Mulkearns had directly received scores of complaints from far and wide about Ridsdale, Coffey, Best, Dowlan and others, and just kept shuffling them around.
“There are not over a hundred people … who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing.” – Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Better he suffer in this world for his sins for as long as possible, rather than suffering in the next, which is far more harsh.
It might help having a press corps that didn’t comprise 3 year J School j’ismists who thought a job offer from Buzzfeed was attractive. Perhaps a government funded alternative freed from commercial pressures?
Revealing comment. Firstly, he is probably being given time to repent and return. Secondly, if that fails, I doubt this side of the veil is less burdensome than the other, for at the very least, before the Just Judge, he will see himself absolutely clearly for the first time.
I don’t care if he repents. I care even less if he returns.
I don’t care what he sees.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 9:46 am
I pity the poor sap behind Pell in the line for the Pearly Gates. St Peter has a lot to get through.
As graceless as ever, m0nty=fa.
PS, I suspect that St Peter will be aware of the High Court’s 7-nil finding of innocence. And also of the vigorous actions that Cardinal Pell took to stamp out the evil of child sexual abuse in the priesthood.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 9:58 am
Whaaat, I was merely saying that Peter would have to spend a long time listing all of Pell’s good works!! Geez, tough crowd.
Don’t be a lying prick all of your life, else St Peter won’t take long to reject your application.
We know you don’t really care about anything, monty.
They did not go after Pell because he was guilty or for the sake of the abused children.
The whole RC was set up to embarrass Abbott because Gillard was making a fool of herself, and Pell was the way of dragging it on all the longer and louder.
Remember that before the RC no one was saying anything about him. It was not that there were rumours and suspicions swirling about that finally won deserved attention. There was nothing. Every bit of the accusations against him were conjured up then and there. They even had to resort to drug addicts (people never considered reliable witnesses) to try to create a sham case.
All of this just because Gillard was a moron.
Even the frightbats had not accused him of being a pedo before. They hated him, and yet for all that loathing they had not thought to accuse him of that. Not until Labor gave them the idea.
This is an extremely stupid comment db, because it implies (passively) there is some heavenly design behind his life, which is a particularly poor take by you given what he did. No, God’s hand is not guiding him. He committed those sins himself.
Also, the Church does not control his life now, the state does, so he isn’t “being given time to repent and return”.
Munty never fails to be a vile idiot.
This is a wonderful illustration of the difference between such a person as the Cardinal – constant, courageous, steadfast, and pious – and the sort of worthless person who mocked him and those virtues.
He won’t even own his own filthy abuse.
He is to be pitied. But then he has little or no knowledge of these things and God forgives the ignorant as well as the repentant.
Dr F
A tragedy that he was forced to spend the last years of a productive life defending himself against corruption and spite. As a precaution I’m going to avoid the Love Media today.
Too late. The ever contemptible m0nty=fa has already polluted the thread with his petty snark.
The Voice content is heavy on LinkedIn today.
This will win in a canter.
Why single him out in a rich field of contenders ?
Why not the junior coach at St Kilda, or the Aussie swimming coach or the junior gymnastics coach or the many Labor party pollies who distinguished themselves ?
Your bias is showing.
His Eminence’s personal secretary of many years, whom I know, said that the Cardinal would never allow any criticisms of his accusers and villifers or really anyone else. Sure, point out their wrongdoings , their actions, but that was it. He understood very well that none of us but God can judge another’s heart.
Daily Telegraph reporting not much activity in a Dymocks shop regarding Harry book. However they do expect to sell their 2,000 copies. Seems 400,000 sold in first day in UK.
Apparently biggest book since Harry Potter.
Harry must be proud as achieved by dishing the dirt on every aspect of his families lives.
RIP Pell. Whilst not religious I will remember him more in the context of the biggest miscarriage of justice in my lifetime. Combined with the disgraceful investigation by VICPOL.
7-0 but only at the 3rd round.
some treasonous demoscats
Republicans Defeat Democratic Opposition To Establish China Competition Committee
And that defence was productive in its own way. He used the time. It was a great inspiration to many, myself included.
I must admit if I was a betting man I would be looking for a roughie in the 8th about now. Still can’t see how it can get up as a full blown Constitutional amendment.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 10:34 am
Nice link, calli.
You’ll need much more groveling than that to make up for your nastiness.
Just in.
The St Peter’s Pearly Gates admissions team has voted on a show of hands to let George in.
Unanimous.
Seven-Nil.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 10:58 am
Err, what sort of baiting is this?
Not baiting. Just expressing my disgust. How does Ridsdale still live.
If you are that upset, then sic your Ante-fa mates onto him. That would be more productive than you gloating over public attacks on Tony Abbott and Andrew Bolt.
Sancho wins the interwebs for the week.
Yep. How many would have had the resources or the will to pursue it? Not the justice system’s finest hour regardless of the final result.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 11:15 am
Firstly, he is probably being given time to repent and return.
I don’t care if he repents. I care even less if he returns.
Secondly, if that fails, I doubt this side of the veil is less burdensome than the other, for at the very least, before the Just Judge, he will see himself absolutely clearly for the first time.
I don’t care what he sees.
m0nty=fa the pseudo-Catholic shows his contempt for the doctrines of the Church.
It is funny, but I was just thinking of how his conduct throughout the entire ordeal, rather than railing against every bit of injustice heaped upon him he instead approached them as a new situations wherein to live his faith. I liked the anecdote about the other prisoners on his block cheering when they found out he had been acquitted. From some pretty hardcore types he had awoken a sense of good will to another.
I suspect there were plenty of people – prisoners and guards – who are glad they were able to talk to him even in his darkest days. Who knows how much good he did even there?
“Why single him out in a rich field of contenders ?
Why not the junior coach at St Kilda, or the Aussie swimming coach or the junior gymnastics coach or the many Labor party pollies who distinguished themselves ?
Your bias is showing.”
Indeed. And it’s very, very deliberate. I suppose he can’t help himself.
Oh and whilst we’re on the topic of “Labor party pollies who distinguished themselves”, here are three Labor names, Keith Wright (who died in Vietnam), Milton Orkopoulos and Bob Collins. Each one distinguished themselves, and then there are the following ABC progressive luminaries, Bob Ellis and Richard Neville, who “distinguished themselves”.
Keith Wright
Brazil Election Fraud
From Armstrong Economics –
“The riots in Brazil over the rigging of the election are on point. You cannot allow a razor-thin pretend majority to completely go against the opposite and inflict a leftist agenda. This is the abuse of our election process of a worldwide basis. Governments no long represent ALL the people, but one group violently against another. This same process is undermining both the United States, Canada as well as Europe. This leftist agenda is destroying our civilization and this is right on schedule – 34 years from the collapse of communism. It is now our turn for this abuse of government to divide the people and the nation and ONLY will lead to civil war.
Bolsonaro was targeted by the WEF and their consortium. The Brazilian elections were rigged. They had to remove Bolsonaro at all costs and now we will witness the price for those corrupt elections. The violence is likely to escalate into March.”
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/south_america/brazil-election-fraud/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS
“Just in.
The St Peter’s Pearly Gates admissions team has voted on a show of hands to let George in.
Unanimous.
Seven-Nil.”
Bloody perfect!
Jorge
or the many Labor party pollies who distinguished themselves ?
At least Collins killed himself. I wonder did he repent as the car hit the concrete?
What an incredibly stupid interpretation of what was said. The sins are his own. He may have even repented and returned already for all I know since none of us is privy to his interior life. I simply suggested, given your comment, that if his life appears overly long it may be simply a result of Christ’s mercy in providing him the time to seek forgiveness and provide contrition.
Even stupider comment. There is no implication that the Church controls his life now or is ‘giving him time’, nor is the State doing so contrary to your statement above for that matter, certainly in the sense in which my comment was made.
RIP George Pell.
A great Australian and a great example to the faithful.
Pell famously refused to give communion to the rainbow congregation at Sunday mass at St Patrick’s.
Plus the Vatican financial scandal and the animosity of TaliDan.
I these are the two important factors in his prosecution.
Remember, life is like cricket.
You can be playing well and be out next ball.
Just fed 6 kookaburras in my back yard, 4 adults and 2 fledglings. I was amazed how the dreadful noise the fledglings make to get attention reminded me on Monty.
Of not on.
Biden’s Stolen Classified Documents Relate to U.S. Government Activity in Ukraine
January 10, 2023 – Sundance
In the final days of the Obama and Biden administration, in mid-January of 2017, Joe Biden visited Ukraine and the people in/around the government were perplexed about the actual intent of the visit.
Why was it important for Joe Biden to visit Ukraine in the last week of the Obama administration? [Source]
Meanwhile
Is war on China in the offing?
Originally published on my Substack, 10 Jan. 2022] I don’t know whether we’ll have a war on China this year, but it does appear that the western empire, led by the United States, is preparing for it in earnest.
On Sunday, 10 January, Lieutenant General James Bierman, the commanding general of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force and of Marine Forces Japan gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he said that his command is working hard to replicate the empire’s military success in Ukraine.
We’re setting a new theatre…
Bierman said that the US and its allies in Asia were recreating the groundwork that had enabled western countries to support Ukraine’s resistance to Russia in preparing for scenarios such as Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
“Why have we achieved the level of success we’ve achieved in Ukraine? … because after Russian aggression in 2014 and 2015, we earnestly got after preparing for future conflict: training for the Ukrainians, pre-positioning of supplies, identification of sites from which we could operate support, sustain operations. We call that setting the theatre.
And we are setting the theatre in Japan, in the Philippines, in other locations.” Of course, this is all more than fully justified because freedom and democracy everywhere depend vitally on Taiwan not being invaded by China.
Not to mention, it’s the question of principle and we just don’t compromise our principles, even at risk of nuclear armageddon.
On a serious note, what is it that makes western powers so reliably keen on waging war?
Being good at winning wars wouldn’t be the answer; these are the same forces that were unable to defeat the Taliban after fully 20 years’ trying. Even their “success” in Ukraine exists only in the mainstream media narrative.
The answer is that the empire does not measure success in terms of winning; wars are not meant to be won; they’re meant to continue forever because they are excellent business for the narrow vested interests who profit from them.
In this sense, the Ukraine conflict has been a smashing success: US Congress, ever committed to freedom and democracy, approved by now over $112 billion to defend our values in Ukraine.
The bulk of that money – as much as 85% of it – will never reach Ukraine but will be shared among the good and the great who are defending our principles and our values.
A must read from Rafe’s post.
https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/47745
Read the PDF
A secular prison guard in Darwin told a friend of mine (a Catholic who visits the imprisoned) without prompt that all of the prison guards in Barwon Prison thought Pell was the most decent men they had ever met. “100% innocent.”
And without naming names, even the Heads of the prison agreed.
(I often wondered if there was a prison “message stick” as these stories seem to circulate around Australia and beyond the walls)
Why are we always at war?
Wars are always duly planned, prepared and justified. Over the coming months we can expect to hear all about how bad the Chinese are, about their communistic Communism, their frightful social credit system, about them attacking us with Covid, and whatever else might foment fear and loathing against our new war target. For the unsuspecting consumers of the media narrative, it’ll all be clear cut and they’ll be happy yet again to support the current thing. But we should question the fact that we are always at war. If the common denominator in all wars is the western empire (read US, UK and NATO), could it be that we’re the baddies?
According to the US Congressional Research Service data, since 1991, the US launched 251 foreign military interventions. According to another study, it has initiated more than 80% of all military conflicts in the world since 1946.
If one nation has started most of the global military conflicts, this inclination must have systemic causes.
Gabsays:
January 11, 2023 at 10:24 am
George Card. Pell 8 June 1941 – 10 January 2023.
REQUIEM aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
They can no longer hurt him with their false accusations and villifications.
May he rest in peace.
He was sent to the Vatican to do an Audit but the Vatican Mafia got to him. He got far too close to the Vatican Bank and it’s corrupt banking procedures.
streaky bacon $7 for 200g. was $5 for 250g. 500g pack in shortage, hate to see how much thats going to be
Where was Christ’s mercy when Ridsdale was with those kids?
I might also add that Pell could be considered in the future for canonisation. As I like to describe….
If you think the State takes a long time to make a decision (based on its laws, regulations and precedence) then the Church takes even longer as it is the oldest living bureaucracy in the world (and has a lot more to consider!).
It could be several hundreds of years from now but you never know… once the anti Pell vitriol has been spent and people gradually take the time to realise he was never found guilty of anything and that the RC was a farce which only “believed” it found wrong (no evidence), who knows…
I don’t know many people who prayed for Milligan. He did, and that says a lot.
Cardinal Pell. Recipient of grave injustice and global attacks from the ill-informed and agenda-driven.
Dignified silence.
Harry Sparkles. Recipient of justified criticism for being a whiny brat who didn’t anticipate his confidence-breaching and tale-telling would backfire.
Concert-pitch-volume victimhood.
I know who I’d rather have a beer and a feed with.
Doubt it. The aforementioned Fulton J. Sheen is having his beatification held up indefinitely while one case of his being involved in handling sexual misconduct by a priest is resolved. Pell is way too radioactive in comparison.
ABC: Pell was controversial. Pell was conservative. He was a polarising figure. He had critics. He was accused of this. He was accused of that. His life was dogged by allegations.
Montys comments today reinforce my long held belief that
eventually most people will live down to my expectations of them.
Munt
your “insights” are about as “informative” and “interesting” as reading the phone book.
I don’t think you ever been correct on anything. Not even accidentally.
“Where was Christ’s mercy when Ridsdale was with those kids?”
What about when Labor stalwarts Orkopoulos, Wright and Collins were with “those kids”? Or is it that your censure, your consternation, your anger, and your outrage is only selectively reserved when the culprit is a Catholic priest. Oh wait, I already know the answer to that.
Oh and another thing, any thoughts on a certain far-left journalist? He too lived with Ridsdale.
He was indeed. With the stupid ABC leading the jackal pack. But he continued to live out his faith with grace and devotion.
Vale, Cardinal Pell. You were the epitome of God’s faithful servant.
The local zoo had acquired a female of a very rare species of gorilla. Within a few weeks, the gorilla became very cantankerous and difficult to handle. Upon examination, the zoo veterinarian determined the problem – the gorilla was on heat! To make matters worse, there were no male gorillas of the species available.
While reflecting on their problem, the zoo management noticed Rick, a big Kiwi lad, who was responsible for fixing the zoo’s machinery. Rick had little sense, but seemed to be possessed with ample ability to satisfy a female of ANY species. So, the zoo administrators thought they might have a solution.
Rick was approached with a proposition: would he be willing to have sex with the gorilla for $500?
Rick showed some interest, but said he would have to think the matter over carefully. The following day, Rick announced that he would accept their offer, but on three conditions:
“First” he said “I don’t want to have to kuss er”.
“I assure you, Rick – you will not have to kiss her” said the zoo manager.
“Sicondly, you must never till anyone about this” said Rick.
“I promise you, Rick” said the zoo manager. “Not one of us will ever breathe a word of this. Okay?” Rick merely nodded.
When the silence lengthened and Rick seemed intent on avoiding his gaze, the zoo manager prompted “And… your third condition?”
“Well” said Rick “You gotta give me another wik to come up with the $500”.
Weird how Risdale’s former roomie, Paul Bungjourno, was too busy splitting his time between the nightly weather and fighting Joh, to mention Keith Wright’s little hobby.
Good point Cassie. Where was Christ’s mercy when those rock spiders were with those kids?
Invoking Christ’s mercy selectively makes you look foolish.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
– Emo Philips
Being scourged at the pillar and then taking 3 hours to die on the Cross. That’s where He was.
Sadly for monthy, he has no concept of what Christ’s mercy is.
Shorter monty
“Good point Cassie. Where was Christ’s mercy when those rock spiders were with those kids?
Invoking Christ’s mercy selectively makes you look foolish.”
I note the Pox’s favourite two words “rock spiders”, I suspect he’s been dying to use them today. And just remember everyone, the resident slug never retracted that despicable description against Cardinal Pell. Perhaps he could today?
Sheen was a giant.
Fair question.
Where was everyone when they put Him on the cross ?
He knows what it’s like to be deserted and let down by others. Draw close and He offers comfort, not vengeful payback.
As usual, Gab brings the heat.
What’s Going on with Gold?
From Martin Armstrong Economics –
“The Goldbugs are cheering that there has been a central bank buying of gold. They think somehow that this is because they are bullish on gold. What seems to be going over their heads is what I warned before – when China starts to sell US debt, war is coming. I have made it very clear that the precursor to war is always capital flows. That will be on steroids this year.
My clients taught me how capital and war move. At conferences, I stated that we were advising the Universal Bank of Lebanon. They found a ledger in the basement where someone wrote down the price of the Lebanese pound every day into the 19th century. They asked if we could build a model. I said sure! Here is a chart from back then. Our model warned that their currency would drop dramatically in 8 days. I thought there was something wrong with the data. Needless to say, I formed the client what the computer said and I commented that something had to be wrong. Very calmly, they asked what currency would be best. I said the Swiss franc. * days later the civil war began. The computer was correct. Then the same thing happened with the Iraq-Iran war.
By 1998, I understood the model’s ability to forecast war. I have never created a model to do that. It figured it out all on its lonesome. I stood up in June 1998 in our London WEC and warned that Russia would collapse in about 30 days. The London Financial Times reported that forecast and that became the collapse of the Russian debt market and Long-Term Capital Management debacle.
I have warned that if China was preparing to invade Taiwan, then they would start to sell off all US government debt. They would not risk owning US government bonds and watch Biden freeze it all and then claim it will be used to rebuild Taiwan as they are doing to Russia. So China began selling off US debt at the end of 2021. They have been buying gold because they cannot hold US or EU debt in time of war. It is as simple as that. The gold is simply neutrality, for it also does not pay interest.”
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/markets-by-sector/precious-metals/gold/whats-going-on-with-gold/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS
Cranky, I have explained this to you many times, it appears another is needed.
At a certain point in time, Pell was a convicted rock spider. Now, he is not. That is all.
Is that so hard to understand?
“At a certain point in time, Pell was a convicted rock spider. Now, he is not. That is all.
Is that so hard to understand?”
Nope, the conviction was erased with the HC 7-0 verdict. There is NO conviction. He was never a “convicted rock spider”. So retract your smear.
Is that so hard to understand?
Jorgesays:
January 11, 2023 at 12:38 pm
Where was Christ’s mercy when Ridsdale was with those kids?
Fair question.
Where was everyone when they put Him on the cross ?
He knows what it’s like to be deserted and let down by others. Draw close and He offers comfort, not vengeful payback.
How strange that SBS World Movies played The Life of Brian last night on World Movies…………
Good point Cassie.
In the words of the Left’s bestie Lionel Murphy (and other HC Justices who’ve said similar):
“When a conviction is quashed by the (High) Court, to consider that the person is or was ever guilty would be a serious perversion of the democratic society in which we live.”
Is that hard to understand, Munt.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 12:42 pm
Cranky, I have explained this to you many times, it appears another is needed.
At a certain point in time, Pell was a convicted rock spider. Now, he is not. That is all.
Is that so hard to understand?
No Monty Pox Virus he was not convicted of anything at all. You are deluded and do not know SFU. They were allegations. Case closed. SSTFU . Twat.
m0nty=fa
Pell is way too radioactive in comparison.
Would it be too hard for you to post some actual evidence to support this slanderous statement?
It appears you don’t understand the arrow of time, let alone the law.
There was a conviction, then it was quashed. It did exist, then it was set aside. Quashing doesn’t mean a conviction is erased from existence.
I mean, Pell spent over a year in gaol. If he was never convicted, why did he go to gaol? You are not using logic any more, just feelings. Your feelings are hurt by the thought that he was ever convicted in the first place. He was, then the conviction was set aside. These are not difficult concepts to grasp, people. Act like adults.
‘Quashing doesn’t mean a conviction is erased from existence.’
That’s exactly what it means.
It does NOT mean a conviction exists from the time of the finding until the acquittal. The acquittal is retrospective.
How your alleged missus both supports you and carries you through life, I do not know.
In the words of the Left’s bestie Lionel Murphy (and other HC Justices who’ve said similar):
“When a conviction is quashed by the (High) Court, to consider that the person is or was ever guilty would be a serious perversion of the democratic society in which we live.”
Is that hard to understand, Munt.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 12:42 pm
Cranky, I have explained this to you many times, it appears another is needed.
At a certain point in time, Pell was a convicted rock spider. Now, he is not. That is all.
But you continued to use that expression after the High Court found 7-nil that he was innocent. Why? And why do you not retract the statement now?
John Safran may well have been speaking directly to Monty of malmo here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ghIU_tlX0k
Monty, you are aware Pell set up the first institutional reckoning/compensation scheme for victims of pedo priests in the world?
That VicPol basically was able to “roll up the rockspiders” based on the evidence and testimony Pells organization collected.
https://cam.org.au/safeguarding-children-young-people-and-vulnerable-persons/melbourne-response/
Meanwhile, it appears Russia has indeed taken Soledar today, clambering over the corpses of countless Wagner conscripts to get there. Putin will have a new salt supplier for his chips. Next comes the exploration of the mines to see if they can be used for counter strikes behind enemy lines, in preparation for attacking Bakhmut. Hopefully they don’t wake up the Balrog.
Furthermore, Pell had a case – should he have wished to pursue it – against the government of the day for malicious prosecution and the deprivation of his liberty, given the nature and physical impossibility of the accusations levelled at him.
Ben Batterham got seven figures. Pell could have got much, much more.
“It appears you don’t understand the arrow of time, let alone the law.”
Oh I understand the law, it is you who doesn’t.
I don’t know how many times I have to repeat that Pell is not, now, a convicted rock spider for you lot to understand it. Are you thick?
Aaaaaand…… subject change!
“Meanwhile, it appears Russia has indeed taken Soledar today”
Oh look, the buffoon is now deflecting.
What a sad sack Monty Pox is. I almost pity him
Precisely, which makes monty’s sophomoric comment that followed all the more idiotic.
“It appears you don’t understand the arrow of time, let alone the law.”
Go easy on m0nty=fa. He failed Economics 1, and had to settle for a degree in J’ism, you can hardly expect him to even be able to spell “law”, much less understand its basic concepts.
What we do now monty is that you relish using ”Pell” and ”rock spider”in the same sentence over and over again, regardless of the context.
“I have to repeat that Pell is not, now, a convicted rock spider for you lot to understand it. Are you thick?”
I don’t know how often we have to repeat that Cardinal George Pell was NEVER a convicted “rock spider”. The conviction was squashed, terminated, erased. Are you thick? Why, yes you are, but what’s worse, a lot worse, is that you’re a grub, a nasty fat little grub.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 1:13 pm
I don’t know how many times I have to repeat that Pell is not, now, a convicted rock spider for you lot to understand it. Are you thick?
Links please, to the other times. Or is this the first?
The projection never ends.
tsk. Know not now.
Just received my stickers from Joanna, + some freebies from the BritishAustralianCommunity.com.au who are getting ready for “Invasion Day”
Very good quality, sticky as shit. Take care positioning them on glass before you actually touch them to the surface.
And from the BritishAustralianCommunity site, “The Strange Death of Europe”
LOL, I read the whole book when I was at uni, as well as a bunch of Paul Davies books. I could have expounded at length on that question of his back then, it’s a long time ago now though.
Safran didn’t even finish his arts degree (possibly he was in the year before me at RMIT?). Obviously he’s got a chip on his shoulder about people who did.
So why did he spend over a year in solitary confinement in gaol?
It appears you don’t understand the law in this matter.
Aeris Resources.
Holy f&$@balls.
Copper miners moved a bit today.
Quashing doesn’t mean a conviction is erased from existence.
https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/about-the-court/virtual-info-hub/explainer-court-of-appeal
from the transcript…
Hello, I’m Anne Ferguson, the Chief Justice of the Victorian Supreme Court.
…
If the decision that the accused was guilty is overturned, the Court of Appeal may quash the conviction and order a new trial, acquit the person or substitute a conviction on an alternative offence that was opened to the jury.
…
https://www.btlawyers.com.au/news/high-court-acquits-cardinal-george-pell/
On 7 April 2020, the High Court of Australia, in a unanimous decision, quashed an appeal decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal. Cardinal Pell was acquitted by the High Court of criminal charges relating to alleged sexual offences against two boys dating back to 1996 and 1997.
Over to you monty of malmo – Attorney at law.
Pro Tip
If you are retired , make sure your wife has a hobby
Otherwise YOU become the hobby .
And if you have a dog , sometimes the commands become interchangeable.
( sit, wait, outside, off the couch )
Don’t be obtuse, son.
Because he was sentenced in error.
Been to two chemists and Coles this week trying to buy aspirin. Finally found some (only a few left on the shelf) at the third attempt. I was especially surprised about Coles, because they have a two packs per customer limit, introduced during Covidmania and still operative.
I noticed that ibuprofen was also sold out or in short supply.
It seems that the stories about these products being bought up for resale in China might be true.
You are the ones being obtuse. You are claiming that reality was changed retrospectively, and the conviction never happened in the first place. Which is kind of weird, if you think about it.
The law in its majesty can state what it likes, but it doesn’t change the facts that Pell spent over a year in gaol and was (at the time) a convicted rock spider.
I am not sure why you lot are defending this ridiculousness with such ferocity. No, reality was not amended like it was a Star Trek episode featuring temporal portals and time loops. Doctor Strange was not involved. A legal decision was made by normal humans, then another one was made.
..
As I warned everyone weeks ago on here was likely to happen.
And got sneered at with the usual sh*t.
Which is why I hardly bother giving any views anymore.
Work it out for yourselves.
If you’ve ever wondered how “justice” plays out in LA for the “hood” gangs this novel goes a long way to explaining it .. from woe to more woe .. excellent replication of US “gangsta”, plod & court interaction ..
THE SYSTEM by Ryan Gattis .. bloody good read .. 10/10
https://ryangattis.com/book/the-system/
A daigo raid on aussie pharmaceuticals? That’s sooo “2020”.
Monty in the legal circles.
Hmm whether to agree with Munt or the entirety of Australia’s history of High Court Justices’ rulings…
**tough call**
/sarc
“The law in its majesty can state what it likes, but it doesn’t change the facts that Pell spent over a year in gaol and was (at the time) a convicted rock spider.”
As Gab said above, he just loves using the smear in a sentence. You see everyone, he still believes Pell to be guilty because he wants Pell guilty, never mind the facts and never mind the law.
He really is a grub, a very dumb grub.
Why did Pell spend a year in custody?
Rob Hulls and Dan Andrews.
Next question.
OK…be obtuse. It’s your choice.
Been to two chemists and Coles this week trying to buy aspirin.
I thought “akubra houso” was banning all the asprin over-the-counter sales cos folk might OD/stock-up even think for themselves about headache’pain treatments if left free to purchase without a prescription and the “nanny ” state prefers total control over medication ..
From the tard who believes men can get pregnant and unicorn farts will save the world.
You “lot” are happy to accept and even reply to the individuals on here who sneer and smear.
So do without the warning next time.
Enjoy your “Bing Bongs” and “Chinese sprocket sets” stupidity.
You truly earned it.
George Pell? But is Roger Moore still okay?
HBBear:
I have my doubts – strong doubts – it will pass the Constitutional test of majority in every State.
But I have suspicions – very strong suspicions – that the process will be corrupted in some manner that will end up the vote being adjudicated by some quango and then being passed.
I doubt the entire voting and counting process in the Western Democracies at the moment.
Don’t ask me how it will happen – I just reckon it will happen when the voting has finished and we then find out what we’ve voted for.
Oh dear
Yes. Just like the Master.
A good and faithful servant.
Every person who is wrongly convicted of anything is, at one time, a convicted ‘x’.
It doesn’t actually make them one. The conviction was not due to anything the cardinal had done, but instead evinces the corruption and venality of the powers that be in Victoria.
There is a certainly lazy thinking I noticed in the press along the lines that the conviction was absolute and conclusive. The evidence submitted was just part of a bigger picture. The HC only rebutted that evidence that was presented at the trials in Vicco, so even removing those parts from the whole there is still some guilt remaining.
The error is to think that the conviction speaks to anything beyond the evidence. It is a bit like putting a left shoe beside a right shoe and declaring it to be a pair of shoes, and then removing first the one and then the other and insisting that the pair-ness remains since it was never removed.
There is no guilt left over when all the evidence is discovered to be fabricated nonsense.
Makes me wonder what would he think about people looking stoush over his death instead of quiet reflection.
FMD monty has a hard on today. Furiously stroking his dick at the news of Pell’s death, grinning from ear to ear taunting contributors here. Letting many litres of spoont fly.
As I keep saying monty, be careful what you wish for.
Reality was amended. “You lot” thought Pell had supersonic powers of travel in being able to traverse great distances to conduct child abuse whilst altering the fabric of time, using his invisibility cloak so as to not be seen while using all four hands to hold his clothes aside and simultaneously rape two boys.
Dickhead.
It seems most here are finding Malmo Monty’s comments as offensive as I find them.
Enough of that arsehole.
Happier times for Todd Murphy, whom Knuckle Dragger predicted would tour India.
Uncapped spinner Todd Murphy has bolted into Australia’s Test squad for the tour of India, as selectors confirmed an 18-player squad for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.
Bing Bong!
Flounce alert #231.
Bing Bong!
From the Oz.
“‘Pell should never have been charged’: Howard mourns
Rosie Lewis
John Howard says Australia and the Catholic Church have lost a “person of enormous influence” following the death of Cardinal George Pell.
The former prime minister, who said he “liked and respected” Cardinal Pell a lot, also declared he should never have faced child sexual assault charges.
Mr Howard was one of 10 people to provide a character reference for the cardinal following his conviction.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr Howard said he often spent time with the “great sports lover” Cardinal Pell at the new year cricket test, discussing “all manner of issues”.
“His deep and compassionate faith sustained him during more than 400 days in prison for alleged crimes which many, me included, believed should never have been the subject of charges,” Mr Howard said.
“Cardinal Pell’s trust in Australia’s justice system was vindicated when the High Court of Australia unanimously quashed his conviction.
“The death of George Cardinal Pell in Rome has taken from us a person of enormous influence, not only in the Catholic Church, but in the nation more generally.
“He was a strong and determined religious leader. His episcopal motto was ‘be not afraid’. In the senior roles he held in the Church, he displayed consistent courage in expressing Christian views in the public space. Believers and non-believers alike were left in no doubt where George Pell stood on issues.
“His passing is a great loss to the intellectual and spiritual life of our country.””
Thank you Mr Howard.
Augusto Zimmerman on Brazil’s 2022 election reprisaed at QoL.
I’m waiting for it.
“The conviction was overturned on a technicality.”
Come on, m0nster.
You know you want to.
Monty effortlessly moves on from his earlier error, when it became plain to him that he was wrong as to the legal meaning of ‘quashed’, and still continues repeating his calumny against Pell. From the moment Pell’s conviction was quashed the only decent way to refer to the injustice that was righted by the HC unanimously is wrongly convicted. Deliberately omitting that word indicates malice and constitutes bearing false witness.
I don’t have any problem with Australia being “invaded” – no “Native title ” or land rights, to the victor the spoils, the conquered Aboriginal Nations don’t get to dictate any of the terms of any treaty, and said conquered nations can pay “reparations.”
Lol Sancho!! There’s lots of that crap on twitter today… all quoting from Law Professor Barrie Cassidy…
**rolls eyes**
No state funeral for George I’m guessing.
Andrews is far too small a man for that.
Small men always celebrate the death of great men.
..
You’re not funny.
In hindsight you never were.
A few silly old women still find you so. Which is why they should never be given a vote.
But never mind, give yourself some more ticks.
You are a boring pox on the blog.
And Monty dominates and perverts yet another Open Thread.
This is exactly what I have been saying. Yeesh.
I will note also that Monty is still going for the most offensive characterisation he can, even though the term was never used in the show trials and we have since seen that the Cardinal was actually never any such thing.
He is trying to provoke you all.
He doesn’t care how many people he uses up, or how much stirring up outrage might cost other people, he has a hunger for a victory – always elusive – than cannot be satiated.
Imagine a fat, greasy, malodorous Tantalus with his enveloped by a sickly sheen of reeking sweat where his body has tried tried to expel excess chemicals (sugars, oils, preservatives, binding agents, colourings, flavour enhancers etc) – imagine this grotesque cumbersome being suspended by his thinning hair from a branch in the Greek underworld, spending eternity reaching for the donut-laden boughs only for capricious breezes to lift them just out of reach, while around his ankles is a pool of Diet Coke which magically retreats just far enough each time he reaches down with his cupped hand.
Heh. Why imagine?
Like bespoke, I don’t know why everyone is arguing with the organ grinder’s monkey. The tune is as predictable as it is tedious.
Far preferable to reflect on the good Cardinal’s life and more importantly, his faith – the great and deep well of grace and refreshment on which he drew to sustain him. It fills me with wonder, humbles me and makes me want to do better.
A life well lived, right to the end.
I see Tony Abbott has called Pell a “saint for our times” who suffered “a modern form of crucifixion”. Of course.
I once knew a young woman who worked at Kew Cottages.
She told me after work one day it has been a tough shift. One of the inmates had defecated on the floor, urinated on it, then topped it off with ejaculate. Then sat back on his bunk and sneered and grinned while the staff had to clean it up.
Sancho of the Upticks contributions to this venue have a similar vibe.
There was a time when homosexuals in NSW were convicted & jailed.
More recently those historical convictions were overturned.
Regardless of the actions of courts & their incarceration, they were never convicted as far as the law is concerned.
Their ABCcess had a totally not biased and deliberately deceptive bit on the In-Voice this morning.
See all doubts about what is the detail of the proposed constitutional amendment/ in-voice put forward by the EVVVVIL Mr Dutton have been answered.
See the Labour party has committed to the PRINCIPLES put forward in the Langton 200 page report, which was very detailed.
Therefore all questions are answered in the Langton in-voice document – on principle.
Totally not a blank cheque to be cashed in any way they see fit if they can get it through.
Anyone implying the details are sketchy are obviously racists/nazis/anti-vaxxers and far right meanies.
Wait, but I was just told that Pell could have sued. How can that be if he was never convicted in the first place?
And that’s a lovely header for the blog – a mosaic frieze from Sant’ Appolinaire in Ravenna.
The saints receiving their crowns.
If ever you are visiting Italy, Ravenna and its glorious basilicas are well worth a look and within walking distance of reasonably priced accommodation. The mosaics are so fresh they could have been done yesterday.
Zulu, I’m under the impression Australia was settled.
Mother Lode says: January 11, 2023 at 2:08 pm
And in the subsequent epic prose was born m0ntalus.
News reports say the father’s case against the Archdiocese will proceed in Victoria regardless.
There was a conviction, then it was quashed. It did exist, then it was set aside. Quashing doesn’t mean a conviction is erased from existence.
There was never a conviction. The only one was in your tiny winy mind. 7 nil says it all you farking Twat……………..
Rest in Peace Cardinal Pell.
Hounded to his death.
Able to articulate the Catholic Chrurchs views on all matters in in a well explained manner.
Highlighted what good social behaviour was which has not changed in the time we have evolved.
According to Channel Stokes news ad, there was a ‘mixed reaction’ to Pell’s death. Well yes, amplified during his court trial by yourselves you arse clowns
Seem a bit out of sorts today Arky.
Theres an interesting little graphic on the in-voice report page which bells the cat on just how irt sees itself as a equal body to all 3 levels of government in Australia.
The “advice and shared decision making” connecting to all levels of government.
So non binding- but all decisions must be shared?
Bullshit on stilts.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 1:25 pm
I don’t know how often we have to repeat that Cardinal George Pell was NEVER a convicted “rock spider”. The conviction was squashed, terminated, erased.
So why did he spend over a year in solitary confinement in gaol?
Wrongful imprisonment.
m0nty=fa
I am not sure why you lot are defending this ridiculousness with such ferocity.
Because that is the law. You are rejecting the legal wisdom of, inter alia, Labor “icon” Justice Lionel Murphy. Are you claiming to be more knowledgeable about the law than he was?
The High Court agrees with you, but I always find the mindset that we’ll have all the legal benefits of being settled, along with the moral high ground of being invaded, rather perplexing. Eight hundred half staved and verminous convicts, guarded by two hundred Royal Marines, an invasion? Seriously?
Also remember how monty defended Yoel Roth to the hilt over his thesis over under age hook ups on dating sites.
Just a contemptible farkwit.
One wonders whether the father’s recherche sexual interests will be explored during this idiotic trial……
Wow, Pell would have had a very strong case for wrongful imprisonment, seeing as the cops just rounded him up and stuck him in pokey for over a year with no conviction.
Can anyone get past this paywall?
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/george-pell-a-life-lived-for-the-church-and-its-founder/news-story/6bfe0fdd0805ef411fd878f7239178e3
The only ‘conviction’ arising from Pell’s trials was of those who pursued him, both inside and outside the legal world.
They are convicted of hounding a great Australian on the flimsiest, or no, evidence and throwing him in jail for something that never happened.
They should hang their heads in shame.
As for TheirABC, they are still sticking to the narrative – Pell was ‘controversial’ (code for ‘not one of us’) and dredging up every criticism his enemies ever made of him throughout his long and distinguished life.
Even after his death, they can’t stop propagating the lies and innuendos. As the saying goes, if you are attracting flak, you are well over the target.
I’m not a Catholic, BTW.
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 2:07 pm
Every person who is wrongly convicted of anything is, at one time, a convicted ‘x’.
It doesn’t actually make them one.
This is exactly what I have been saying. Yeesh.
Not only is m0nty=fa ignorant of the law, he cannot even write a clear statement of his position.
Arky:
A couple of months ago, I put a link up to one of the online Pharmacies that was selling Boxes of paracetamol, and ibuprofen.
Doesn’t appear to be any limits on buying – yet.
Some very good prices and free postage on orders over $100.
Good to stock up on bandages/dressings/etc.
I can Gab..and here it is..
A life lived for the Church and its founder
George Pell’s life reflected his episcopal motto ‘Be Not Afraid’. Thousands around the world, who appreciated his brave faith will be praying for his soul.
By TESS LIVINGSTONE
George Pell
June 8 1941 – Jan 11 2023
Archbishop of Melbourne, 1996-2001; Archbishop of Sydney 2001-2014; Vatican prefect for the Secretariat for Economy, 2014
Poetry lover that he was, it would not surprise George Pell that his friends recognised parallels between his extraordinary life of highs and lows and the essence of Rudyard Kipling’s “If’’.
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
… Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating.
… Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch”.
At least six decades of George Pell’s life, from early 1960 when he entered Corpus Christ Seminary, Werribee, in Melbourne’s southwest to study for the priesthood, were shaped by the doctrine of the Christian feast on which he was born. That was Trinity Sunday, June 8, 1941. His father, George Arthur Pell, a gold mine manager in Ballarat and a former surf lifesaver and heavyweight boxer, was Anglican. His mother, Margaret Lillian (known as Lill) was a devoted Catholic of Irish descent. The couple’s first born children, a twin boy and girl, had died as babies the year before. Pell’s sister Margaret and his brother David followed a few years after George.
The young George Pell was a clever student, a prodigious reader and a leading sportsman, initially at the Loreto Convent, Ballarat, and from Year 5, at St Patrick’s Christian Brothers College, where he revelled in the tough, competitive atmosphere competing in sprinting, the long jump, shot putting, cricket, tennis and swimmer. But the only game that really counted for him and many of his peers, was Australian Rules. In Year 10, he made the first XVIII as ruckman. By then, the Pells were running a pub, where he learned the common touch behind the bar.
After graduating in Year 12, Pell signed to play for the Richmond Tigers, the VFL/AFL team he supported for the rest of his life, eventually as club patron. The Tigers’ premiership in 2017, after a 37 year drought, was one of the bright spots in one of the hardest years of Pell’s life. He stuck with them and they stuck with them during his rise through church ranks and amid the unsavoury allegations that saw him tried in the Victorian County Court in 2018, at the age of 77, for alleged child sexual abuse offences from decades earlier. The first trial, on two unlikely counts of abuse in St Patrick’s Cathedral after Sunday Mass in 1996, ended in September 2018 when the judge dismissed the jury that was unable to reach a verdict.
Had Pell fulfilled his early ambitions to study law or medicine at Melbourne University he would have played for Richmond; in the event, he played at the seminary, which he joined in March 1960. From there, in his fourth year, he was sent to the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, a sign he had been earmarked for church leadership.
After his ordination in St Peter’s Basilica on Friday, December 16 1966 Pell completed another year of study in Rome to earn his Licentiate, coming 5th in a class of 50 students from across the world. After spending the summer of 1967 working in a parish in Baltimore in the US where he made friends with George Weigel, who decades later became the definitive biographer of Saint John Paul II, Pell moved to the Jesuit-run Campion Hall, Oxford. There he wrote his doctorate in church history on early church fathers including Clement, Cyprian, Irenaeus, Origen and Tertullian. From rugby and rowing to listening to and occasionally debating visiting speakers, Pell relished Oxford life. The college masters were struck by his dedication to parish work, above and beyond the call of duty.
George Pell, who was born in Ballarat in 1941, enters the priesthood “convinced that God wanted me to do His work”. In the ’80s and ’90s, he is appointed Chairman of Caritas Australia and serves as Australian Catholic University’s Foundation Pro Chancellor.
Back in Australia in 1971 Pell was posted to serve as a curate in the parish of Swan Hill on the Murray River, at the centre of the wheat and fruit growing Mallee district. After fuming, initially, that such an appointment “could only happen in Communist China’’, he later regarded the pastoral experience he gained as “one of the best things that ever happened to me’’. The people of the lively, hospitable parish welcomed him warmly. He made lifelong friends. It was there that Pell published the first of numerous books – an account of 50 years work by the Sisters of St Joseph in Swan Hill.
His next appointment, in 1973, took him home to Ballarat, to the large parish of St Alipius in Ballarat East, which had five schools. It was served by four priests. It was an appointment that was to dog Pell for decades. It was his misfortune, for 12 months, to share the presbytery with the later-notorious child abuser, Father Gerald Ridsdale, who was eventually jailed in 1994. The two had limited contact.
Pell was appointed the Ballarat diocese’s Vicar for Education and principal of the Catholic Teachers college, Aquinas College, in November 1973, a job that took him to Melbourne one or two days a week.
That job was the beginning of his decades-long immersion in education, a subject in which he completed a part time Masters Degree at Monash University in 1982. Building on his experience leading Aquinas College, he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the multi-campus Australian Catholic University in the late 1980s. By that time Pell was an auxiliary bishop to Archbishop Frank Little in Melbourne. When ACU opened in 1991, the then-Bishop Pell was its inaugural pro-Chancellor. Two decades later, as Archbishop of Sydney, Pell helped establish the Sydney campus of the University of Notre Dame in the inner suburb of Broadway, which included Australia’s first Catholic medical school.
After 11 years at the helm of the Aquinas college in Ballarat and five years editing Light, the Ballarat diocesan newspaper, Pell left his home city in 1984 to take up the post of rector of Corpus Christi seminary in Melbourne – the training ground for the future priests of not only Melbourne but of regional Victoria and Tasmania. It was there, for the first time, that he ran into ecclesial controversy. His efforts to instil greater discipline, including attendance at morning Mass and better study habits, drew hostility from students and staff who preferred a less structured, less formal regime. A couple of the senior students, however, later became some of his closest lifelong friends.
The ever-increasing chasm between the traditional and liberal factions in the Catholic Church was becoming evident. Pell had the toughness and determination to prevail in what he called “a few small changes’’. It was clear to him, however, that more extensive seminary reform could only come from the bishops who had ultimate responsibility for priests’ training. That opportunity was later to come his way.
After three years running the seminary, Pell was consecrated a bishop, at the young age of 45, in St Patrick’s Cathedral on May 21 1987, a promotion that took his career, literally, out into the world, in unforeseen directions. Shortly after his consecration, Pell was elected by his fellow bishops to chair Australian Catholic Relief – the church’s overseas aid agency. For nine years, that position took up at least a day a week. It also involved frequent trips to the world’s trouble spots and poorest areas. His diaries from those trips made compelling reading, covering three visits to India, including one after the 1993 earthquake 400km southeast of Mumbai in which as many as 60,000 people perished. He wrote in his diary: “Wondered how God allowed earthquakes (perhaps God not all powerful, even cosmologically) … May God help victims and my weak faith’’.
He spent three visits working extensively in Cambodia as it rebuilt from the rubble of Pol Pot’s Killing Fields, and took active roles in Zambia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Distribution of aid from Australian Catholics needed extensive reform in the Philippines after the infiltration of local agencies by political operatives with Communist agendas.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Pell and another priest made three visits, incognito, to China, encountering the persecuted underground church loyal to John Paul II, and the state —sanctioned Patriotic Association. His main mission was to assist the underground church, although he also mixed freely with many in the Patriotic Association who wanted to co-operate with Rome.
The biggest appointment of Pell’s years as an auxiliary bishop came from the Vatican. In 1990, he received “the biggest surprise of my life’’ – a message from John Paul II telling him he wished him to join the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the Church’s main body defending faith and morals, led by the scholarly German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Pell, 49, was the first Australian to join it. The Congregation’s 23 members, selected for their intellectual and theological stature rather than geographically, met several times a year in the former Palace of the Holy Inquisition, beside St Peter’s. In preparation, they studied case notes, and provided their advice to Cardinal Ratzinger. Since its foundation in 1542, the body’s duty has been to defend the Church from heresy. Pell served on the Congregation until 2000. He later served on numerous other Vatican bodies, including the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
After his installation as Archbishop of Melbourne on a chilly August night in 1996 at Melbourne’s Exhibition Building (St Patrick’s Cathedral was closed for restoration), Pell’s five years leading Australia’s largest archdiocese were ones of building, innovating and controversy. Most of his legacy remains intact. Pell moved Corpus Christi Seminary into the old parish buildings at inner-suburban Carlton and transferred the Australian Catholic University into the same area. He created the sculpture garden and Pilgrim Path with cascading water in the cathedral grounds, commissioned the statue of his predecessor and hero Archbishop Daniel Mannix and bought and restored the site of the birthplace of Mary MacKillop in Brunswick Street Fitzroy as a centre for families of drug addicts. Education remained his passion, which led to production of “To Know, Worship and Love”, a series of illustrated religious education textbooks from kindergarten to senior secondary school. They are in use throughout much of the nation.
In view of the allegations of sexual abuse against him that surfaced two decades later when Pell was in his mid-70s, it is ironic that within weeks of his promotion as archbishop, he established one of the first formal church processes in the world for dealing with child sexual abuse. The Melbourne Response, headed by an independent Queen’s Counsel, was described by victim support group Broken Rites as “the best of a bad lot’’.
As archbishop, Pell emerged as an outspoken, controversial figure in the national conversation. A “political agnostic’’ – in his time he voted Liberal, National and Labor – he waded into debate on issues relevant to the church. He was an outspoken critic of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, which he condemned in 1998 for “racist policies’’ that “are a recipe for strife and misery’’ and for setting “groups of Australians against one another’’. He was a forceful critic of the Kennett government’s encouragement of gambling in Victoria. Recognising the sharp delineation between church and state, however, he infuriated the Left in 1998 arguing that John Howard’s proposed Goods and Services Tax was not an issue on which the Church could or should present a single viewpoint. Pell’s support for an Australian republic was a personal rather than a Catholic view.
He was most assertive on issues pertaining to the Christian faith, such as the National Gallery of Victoria’s exhibition of US artist Andres Serrano’s outrageous photograph, “Piss Christ”, showing a crucifix immersed in a jar of urine. The gallery, Pell argued “should be a temple of beauty; not a home for sleaze’’. He organised widespread protests against the work, winning 93 per cent public support for his stance in a newspaper phone-in poll.
Pell was also the main target of the contentious “Rainbow Sash’’ protests, refusing to distribute holy communion in his Cathedral to homosexual activists and their families and supporters wearing rainbow sashes. The issue attracted widespread adverse publicity, and defined Pell, in many minds, as an ultraconservative. But the issue was less divisive in Catholic ranks. Other church leaders of the time attested they would and did take the same stand.
Pell’s preparedness to be “the salt of the earth, not the sugar or artificial sweetener’’ as he put it prompted John Paul II, in 2001, to promote the seventh archbishop of Melbourne to be the eighth Archbishop of Sydney – a transition not made previously.
After his installation in St Mary’s Cathedral, Pell, led the Sydney Archdiocese with a conviction captured by GK Chesterton in his 1908 book, “Orthodoxy”. Catholic orthodoxy, Chesterton wrote, never took the tame course or accepted conventions. It was easier but not always right, Pell concurred, to let the age have its head; the difficult thing was to keep one’s own.
As in Melbourne, faith education, establishing university chaplaincies, seminary reform and building up vocations to the priesthood were his priorities. For 13 years, his weekly column in Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper drew a vast readership. From August to October 2002 Pell stood aside after a complaint he had abused a young boy 40 years earlier at a church camp on Phillip Island in 1961, when Pell was a 19 year-old seminarian. The matter was investigated by a retired Victorian Supreme Court judge. Pell was cleared, although the judge said he believed both Pell and the complainant. Pell returned to work immediately, offering Mass in St Mary’s for the victims of the first Bali bombing.
In October 2003, Pell was promoted to cardinal by John Paul II. He celebrated the honour with 50 friends and family who travelled to Rome from Australia, the US, Canada, England and Ireland. It was, he recalled afterwards in his weekly Sunday Telegraph column, an exceptionally happy week of partying, perhaps “a slight taste of Heaven’’. Pell was a prodigious writer, of journal articles, columns and sermons; his works were collated into several books including “Be Not Afraid”, “Test Everything” and “God and Caesar”.
He chalked up another highlight during another extraordinary week, five years later, in 2008, when as part of World Youth Day, 500,000 young people aged 16 to 30, from 200 countries, converged on Sydney, with hundreds of thousands more from around Australia, for a Saturday night vigil and Sunday Mass with Pope Benedict XVI at Randwick Racecourse. The young pilgrims were accompanied by 600 bishops and cardinals and the event was covered by 6000 journalists.
Amid the hype, Pell delivered what he regarded as one of the sermons of his life, among thousands. At the opening Mass on Tuesday July 15 at the Barangaroo site, beside Sydney Harbour, he singled out the struggling sheep, anyone normally left behind, “who regards himself or herself as lost, in deep distress, with hope diminished or even exhausted … Young or old, woman or man, Christ is still calling those who are suffering to come to him for healing, as he has done for 2000 years. The causes of the wounds are secondary, whether they be drugs or alcohol, family breakups, the lusts of the flesh, loneliness or a death.’’
Wearing the pectoral cross and ring of the first Archbishop of Sydney, English-born Bede Polding, and carrying the crozier of Cardinal Moran, the first Irish-born Archbishop of Sydney, Pell urged those present not to spend their life “sitting on the fence, keeping your options open, because only commitments bring fulfilment’’. He addressed pilgrims in the European languages he spoke well — Italian, French, German and Spanish. In the same year Pell won the “Grand Prix Mysterium Vitae” established by the Archdiocese of Seoul in South Korea and presented annually to “an international personality who stands out for their support for the cause of life.”
Two of Pell’s most enduring international achievements date from his years as Archbishop of Sydney. In 2013, after nine years chairing the Vox Clara (clear voice) committee to oversee a new English translation of the Mass, to which he was appointed by John Paul II, Pell brought the project to fruition. Forty years after the Second Vatican Council, which had ushered in liturgies in the vernacular rather than the traditional Latin, the aim of the project was to reassert Catholic doctrines and beliefs through a more formal Mass text. “In praying to the omnipotent God at Mass’’, Pell told The Australian, “it is not appropriate to `talk in the same way we do at a barbecue’.’’
The final texts produced by Vox Clara were scrutinised and approved twice by bishops’ conferences from the US, Canada, Australia, Britain, Ireland, India, Africa and the Caribbean. For Pell personally, the endeavour involved chairing all 20 meetings in the Eternal City, studying thousands of pages and clocking up more than 650,000km in flights to and from the Eternal City. On one trip, in 2010, Pell collapsed shortly after arriving in Rome and was rushed to hospital, where a pacemaker was fitted. Within a week, he was back at work, chairing Vox Clara meetings at the North American College near the Vatican.
In October 2013 another of Pell’s long term projects came to fruition when Benedict XVI opened Domus Australia on central Rome’s Via Cernaia, a “home away from home’’ for Australians of all faiths and none. The centre operates as a four-star hotel with 35 single, double and triple airconditioned bedrooms, a chapel for 200, conference facilities, a restaurant and roof garden was built on the site of a 19th-century Marist monastery. During the excavation process, Roman flooring and pipes from the first century were uncovered underneath the construction.
The chapel, restored by Pell’s friend, Melbourne priest Charles Portelli, features paintings by Sydney artist Paul Newton of pioneers of the Church in Australia such as Caroline Chisholm, John Therry, St Mary MacKillop and founder of the archdiocese of Sydney, Bede Polding. Cardinal Pell’s coat of arms is embedded on the wall of the Sanctuary. The project, built after the global financial crisis for about $30 million, was funded by Australian Catholics, primarily those of the archdioceses of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and the diocese of Lismore in northern NSW. It quickly made its mark as a self-supporting business, and is often booked out due to its popularity among Europeans as well as Australians.
Despite the cardinal’s long history of heart disease, for which he received a pacemaker in Rome more than a decade ago, his death, from a cardiac arrest after a hip replacement operation in the Salvator Mundi hospital, was a shock. He had recently been working in Rome, meeting groups of students from Australia and seminarians from the US, and only days before had attended the funeral of his treasured friend Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. In the lead up to the late Pope’s funeral he was also in demand for interviews from US, British and Australian media and was busy networking with brother cardinals who travelled to Rome for Benedict’s funeral. He was the author of the obituary for Benedict published in this newspaper.
Close friends said he was in the best form they had seen him for years, after he emerged from 13 months imprisonment, mainly in solitary confinement, in Victorian jails, on historic sex abuse charges dating back to his first few months as Archbishop of Melbourne, in 1996.
The Cardinal was released from jail in the lead-up to Easter in 2020 after the High Court, by a 7-nil margin, quashed the five convictions, which were made, originally, on the testimony of a single complainant. The full story of what was behind the charges, and others that were subsequently dropped by the Victorian legal system, is yet to emerge. His three, candid prison diaries, written during his ordeal, are a testament to his sense of justice, his strength and his faith. Throughout the ordeal, he never lost heart but worked with his legal teams to clear his name
At the time of his arrest on those charges, he was serving as prefect for the Economy in Rome, essentially the Vatican treasurer, after being appointed by Pope Francis in 2014 to clean up the Vatican’s arcane and corrupt financial affairs. The mess he uncovered was unbelievable, including 80 valuable properties in and around Rome, owned by the Canons of St Peter’s, a select group of priests who sing Masses and other services at the Vatican, that had “fallen off the list’’ and were unaccounted for, not earning rent. Millions of euros, rightly belonging to charities, the poor and hospitals, had been hived off and disappeared. Hundreds of people held Vatican Bank accounts which they were not entitled to open. On his watch, 4000 Vatican Bank accounts of individuals and organisations not entitled to them were closed; 200 were referred to authorities on suspicion of money laundering. Prosecutions were launched, and scandals uncovered, such that involving the former Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who reportedly transferred €15 million from the Vatican Bank to a private film company and used $US300,000 from a fund for sick children to rebuild his lavish apartment.
The process was often two steps forward and one back with senior figures such as Vatican Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the deputy to Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin, suspending an external audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The firm had been engaged by Pell to improve the transparency of Vatican finances to international anti-money-laundering standards. When Becciu was transferred to run the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pell provided a glimpse of the wry humour he rarely showed in public but which his friends loved: “That’s a great move, Saints has no clout.’’
The job was a rocky road, during which he was saddened by the entrenched resistance he met from brother bishops, cardinals and others, to imposing modern accounting practices and audits. At the time of his death, he was eagerly following the so-called ‘’trial of the century’’ involving cases of alleged financial wrongdoing in the Vatican.
After his exoneration, the Cardinal successfully rebuilt his life, both in Australia and Rome, suffering the loss of his beloved sister, Margaret, in December 2021. A devoted family man, he is survived by his brother, David, his nieces and nephews and their children. Despite its foibles, Pell lived for the Church and its founder. His life reflected his episcopal motto “Be Not Afraid’’. Thousands of people around the world, who appreciated his brave faith, will be praying for his soul.
Tess Livingstone is the author of the biography: George Pell: Defender of the Faith Downunder.”
m0ntysays:
January 11, 2023 at 2:15 pm
Regardless of the actions of courts & their incarceration, they were never convicted as far as the law is concerned.
Wait, but I was just told that Pell could have sued. How can that be if he was never convicted in the first place?
Malicious and wrongful conviction, you dolt.
Just listened to latest Club Grubbery from last night and probably one of the most interesting but disturbing (if you type in Club Grubbery Rumble you will find the podcasts – under name RoyalAustralian as set up for them by a veteran).
Qld Nurse Jaana 30 years experience. Did not mention which hospital worked in.
She made a reference to somebody interesting in Qld Government making money out of PCR’s. Hosts seemed to know who being referred to. “PCR tests linked to we shall not name them”.
Hospital staff told not to look outside Qld health web site for information. She mentions knowing Lancet and BMJ mentioning hydroxychloroqine early on.
Hospitals at one stage were quieter than normal yet people were calling them heroes. (I remember an ICU Nurse telling me mid 2020 Brisbane Womens Hospital reduced occupancy from 90% to 40% expecting a wave that never came. The media was going on about how hard working hospitals were when reality was they were telling staff to take leave as no patients. She says what public being told did not match what they were seeing in hospital (I remember a Courier Mail 2 page article about an ICU nurse who mentioned most her ICU ward had at any one time was 2 patients. This was well before Omicron).
Point of no return when forced to wear masks. Told could wear up to 4 hours when staff knew should only be 20 minutes. Daily bombardment regarding masks. Wearing masking wore them down and wore the fight out of them. They knew they were ineffective. If go along with the lie of the mask then will go along with anything. People became despondent and gave up questioning.
Saw a number of her colleagues injured by vax. Thought no way going to give to the public and then started with the elderly.
Never seen anything like it before where health system injuring people.
Elderly having a whole range of symptoms after vax despite being Ok pre vax. Hospital became full due to vax injured. Dr’s not keen on the truth. Nobody giving risk benefit analysis and no informed consent. Cardiology was full and patients spread around other wards.
Knew AHPRA warning but kept escalating her concerns. Did try to get media interested. They and Dr’s did not care.
Cant sell Australia for 30 pieces of silver. May be it is just the money.
At one point was going to complete 50 adverse event reports but did not have the full details. Takes about 20-30 minutes.
At one point, July 2021, saw 30 Pfizer chest pain events on a computer. Soon after that such incidents across the state no longer mentioned. At that point every hospital would have had to hire 10 people just to complete the forms (AFI).
John Larter (ex paramedic) says must be corruption as where has all that information gone. He quotes Dr Phillip Altman as saying what we are seeing today is far greater than thalidomide.
Qld Hospital Qtly performance reporting well behind.
Nurse mentions Qld births, based on 3rd Qtr 2022, 11,744 compared to 2020 = 14, 609 and 2021 = 15,072 tracking well below previous two years and that should have normally been declared an emergency and cause investigated. Cardiology patients Cat 1 now waiting 72 days when previous was 19 days. Nobody saying anything not even Opposition leader. Neurology data not even being published.
Host John Larter related story of a nurse from a hospital saying 3 mothers who had just given birth all had stroke and being cared for in neurological ward.
There is no sign of the health authorities slowing down despite the obvious vax warning signs.
In her circle she says knows 7 who have died of vax. Cant work with any Dr still in the system as cant trust them. She cancelled her own registration. She read out part of her 2 page resignation letter to AHPRA mentioning how APRHA had made them break their own code.
She mentioned other nurses who saw things. So many red flags at the start. Once mandates came in they were told they dont care about the patients.
She tells people please dont have 3rd or 4th shot.
Larter says criminal activity as people are dying.
She said none of usual safety processes used during vaccination programme. For example staff being given 5 syringes in a tray. Vax details were not attached to patients records. Where are the consent forms as should be scanned to include in record ?
Nobody holding anybody to account. Malicious as still pushing it when know issues.
There have been 9 reported vax deaths of children to TGA (note these are not officially recognised and Grubbery has mentioned this a few times now but cant find a source for the info other than may be FOI on reports to TGA) . Parents should be told.
She said she went home every night and cried. 4 bed bay with 4 x 40 + year olds all with intracranial hemorrage unheard of. Gets upset mentioning multiple adverse cases. Mentions one truckie not even told his serious problem was due to a blood clot and told something to do with constant sitting in truck.
Now seeing defribulators in strange places.
People at work were telling her she was crazy.
Wednesday / tonights interviewees will be Nick Takos an Adelaide Crows Director and former Brisbane Lions player Shawn Hart who will discuss mandates and vax and AFL. Hoody knows there are others in AFL who want to talk.
The above is obviously a summary. Watch it to see her talking and make up your own mind.
Anybody know any nurses who might watch and comment if fits with what they saw.
Much appreciated, Cassie. You’re a mensch.
Would you mind also on this one, please?
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/george-pell-was-no-bully-he-was-a-christian-gentleman/news-story/7cb97ca8eb6131fe347a1d8ac54f20aa
Some fella in Perth who is a business man and is easily searchable, upon Pell’s death, has said “Melbourne will get a public urinal”
Some people….
Here you go…
“George Pell was no bully. He was a Christian gentleman
BISHOP PETER ELLIOTT
I met Father George Pell when both of us went up to Oxford in late 1967. He had recently been ordained in Rome but his mentor, Bishop O’Collins of Ballarat, sent him on to Oxford for doctoral studies. I was “reading theology” in preparation for Anglican ministry. George loved all things English and was fascinated by Anglicanism, but when I told him I wanted to become a Catholic, he stood by me. He acted as my sponsor in June 1968, when I was reconciled to the church.
He continued research and I returned to Melbourne to enter Corpus Christi seminary. He became assistant priest at Swan Hill and went on to direct teacher training in Ballarat. He was rector of the seminary in Melbourne which he rejuvenated. He became an Auxiliary Bishop just before I went to work in the Vatican so I saw him regularly as he came through Rome. After visiting Cambodia he was deeply distressed by the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. We rejected Marxism and were friends of Bob Santamaria.
One criticism needs to be cleared away. He passed on to me his enthusiasm for the Second Vatican Council, which he witnessed unfolding in Rome. To say he was “pre-Vatican II” is absurd. He valued traditions but was under no illusions about the church needing to “open her windows”, as Pope St John XXIII put it.
Unlike me, he was no stickler for intricate details of liturgics – “I never know where to put my hands”. Yet he carried himself with dignity in public. Among friends he shared a broad Australian sense of humour. But he disliked gossip, intrigue and careerism. He rejected flattery. When I told him that Pope Francis (in my only conversation with him) had repeatedly affirmed that Cardinal Pell is ”molto onesto” (very honest), he just shrugged and changed the topic of conversation.
However, he was loyal to all the popes he served, whether or not he agreed with everything they did or said. Even when he was framed by his enemies and their allies in Victoria, he never complained, as I noted when I visited him in prison not long before he was acquitted by the High Court. As his diaries reveal, he deepened his spirituality in prison.
Was he compassionate and tolerant? Yes. While holding firmly to Catholic moral teachings, as Archbishop of Sydney, he consoled victims of AIDS in hospital. But was he a “bully”? No, more like a tough football coach who expected much. Yet he was no micro manager. He trusted his colleagues when we worked in projects which showed his amazing vision and imagination. He never feared spending money. In the early stage of directing his religious education textbook project, he ticked me off for “only spending one and six”, so I spent big and the books soon appeared with good effects.
Note his old-fashioned reference to money. While closely following current events, he was not technically minded. When I lived with him at the archbishop’s house in Melbourne, he could not type and I tried, in vain, to teach him how to use the tele-commander. But his library showed that he had a deep knowledge of British constitutional law. We disagreed over “the republic” but I respected his position in favour of an elected president.
Others may pay tribute to his mark on the Australian church, undoubtedly a great leader. I prefer to recall George Pell as the gifted man I knew. Human, urbane, holy but not pious, a Christian gentleman who followed Christ as a faithful disciple.
Peter Elliott was Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne from 2007 to 2018.
How can you sue for wrongful conviction if you were never convicted?
“PCR tests linked to we shall not name them”.
Palace”chook”s old man sits on a board of a genetic testing company that apparently had links to the Q Health PCR’s. As with everything media including Jannette Young’s conflict of interest it was glossed over, not investigated and dropped at the time.
Could be referring to that per chance?
Im going to throw out a few bits from the in-voice report.
In summary, its a shadow Australian government, Federal/state & local.
Page 11 makes the explicit claim everything in it is a STARTING POINT, not the destination.
Recommendation 1
In order to achieve a design for The Voice that best suits the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the Committee recommends that the Australian Government initiate a process of co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The co-design process should:
….
• consider the principles, models, and design questions identified by this Committee as a starting point for consultation documents
…
• The Indigenous Voice at the local, regional, and national level should:
? be used by state, territory and local governments as well as the federal government
…
It explicitly allows for “big men” to take over.
• Each region decides how best to draw its voice members (i.e. election, nomination/expressions of interest/selection, drawing on structures based in traditional law and custom, or a combination) and how many voice members there will be
….
Consultation standards
The proposed standards set out when and how the National Voice should be consulted by Parliament and Government including:
• An obligation to consult on proposed laws that overwhelmingly relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or which are ‘special measures’.
• An expectation to consult on proposed laws and policies that significantly impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Ability to consult the National Voice on any relevant matter
Consultation should occur as early as possible in the development of relevant laws and policies, and throughout the development process.
…
This Might not be as sinister as it sounds…
Transparency mechanisms
• A statement would be included with bills that would explain consultation with the National Voice.
• The National Voice would be able to table formal advice in Parliament.
• A parliamentary committee would consider tabled advice and engagement with the National Voice, and enable parliamentarians to hear directly from the National Voice.
All elements would be non-justiciable, meaning that there could not be a court challenge and no law could be invalidated based on whether there was alignment with the consultation standards or transparency mechanisms.
…
• The National Voice would determine which issues to advise on. There would be no restriction on this. Advice would focus on national level issues.
There is a shitload more of the document to go through. But basically most is all crap to hang the basic demand for a shadow government structure in place.
Plus…
‘Better appreciated overseas’: Cardinal George Pell’s brother speaks
George Pell’s brother David says his brother “didn’t deserve” the treatment he received in Australia following the child abuse royal commission in 2017 which eventually led to the Cardinal’s conviction.
Cardinal Pell’s brother said he was “terribly saddened” by the sudden death as he expressed his view on the treatment of Cardinal Pell by large parts of the Australian media and public.
“I don’t think he deserved what he got. He was better appreciated overseas than he was here, particularly in Melbourne,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
The commission had found that Pell was aware children were being sexually abused within the Archdiocese of Ballarat by the notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.
In 2018, Cardinal Pell was found guilty of five charges of child sexual abuse, which were later overturned by the High Court.
The Cardinal had battled intense public scrutiny in Australia at the time, especially when his testimony at a royal commission was delayed because he was too unwell to travel to Australia.
Anthony Albanese said Cardinal George Pell’s death “will come as a shock to many” as he offered his condolences to those in mourning, particularly people of the Catholic faith.
The Prime Minister said he conveyed his government’s condolences to Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher earlier on Wednesday.
“This will come as a shock to many. This was a hip operation and the consequences of it, unfortunately, have been that Cardinal Pell has lost his life,” Mr Albanese said.
“For many people, particularly of the Catholic faith, this will be a difficult day and I express my condolences to all those who are mourning today.
“Archbishop Fisher informed me that there will be a service held in the Vatican in coming days but then there will be a service at St Mary’s Cathedral (in Sydney) at some time in the future.”
Mr Albanese said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were providing assistance to ensure Cardinal Pell’s body was brought back to Australia, with further announcements to be made in due course.”
David Pell was a a lot younger than George and Margaret. There’s a lovely pic in the Oz of George sitting with baby David on his lap, Margaret is behind and the family dog is next to George.
You know, Cardinal Pell endured a lot of suffering with enormous dignity. Upon his release, he wasn’t vengeful or spiteful. Injustice can sometimes be harder on the family of the person wronged, and I have a strong feeling that Margaret and David were and in the case of David remain (Margaret passed away in 2011) very, very angry at the treatment of their brother and they were and are right to be angry. I would be.
Utter tosh. The commission “believed” this – but they did not “find” it.
The commission said Pell knew.
Supposition supplanting evidence.
Three authors, Windschuttle, Gerard Henderson, Frank Brennan. Mark Weinberg especially and the High Court. Their good work should be acknowledged today.
Is it ironic (in the truly tragic sense) that many who believe Pell to still be guilty have no facts and hate religion (Christianity) but are so firmly rooted* in their belief/dogma on Pell that they do not see how “faithful” they truly are.
*word used deliberately
Dopey – all eminently good reads – but I still prefer the Primary Sources (HC transcript and the RC Commission’s report send leftists apoplectic when you quote from it as there are no “findings” on Pell – just “believes”)
And of all of those good reads, not one will likely appear on ABC any time soon.
It explicitly allows for “big men” to take over.
Makes me sick. Exactly what drove ATSIC into the ground 6 feet deep.
A sense of entitlement, arrogance and nepotism. As well as theft on a grand scale.
As well as that, there was some bint on 3AW (I assume Nilligan, but I flicked it off) banging on about all the other “victims” whose cases didn’t make it to trial through “death, bad luck or a failure of legal process”.
Truth was, most of these made salacious copy for a slanted 730 program, but were tissue thin concocted stories which were never going to survive ten minutes in court.
Further in point: As Windschuttle pointed out, the only section where the commission “believed” Pell to be shopping priests around based on chat with AB Little was contradicted in another section where they said AB Little didn’t say anything to anyone about it…
Here you go Monty…
Quash
To overthrow; to annul; to make void or declare invalid; e.g., “quash a subpoena.”
Unreasonable, obviously irregular, or oppressive subpoenas, injunctions, indictments, and orders can be quashed by a court. For example, if jurors have been selected improperly, the court can quash the proceedings.
In criminal cases, if an indictment is defective to such a degree that no judgment could be made if the defendant were to be convicted, the court typically will quash the indictment. In criminal cases, a motion made by the prosecution to quash an indictment is much more likely to succeed than one made by the defense, whose motion would appear self-serving.
West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
quash
v. to annul or set aside. In law, a motion to quash asks the judge for an order setting aside or nullifying an action, such as “quashing” service of a summons when the wrong person was served.
Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.
quash to annul.
Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006
TO QUASH, practice. To overthrow or annul.
2. When proceedings are clearly irregular and void the courts will quash them, both in civil and criminal cases: for example, when the array is clearly irregular, as if the jurors have been selected by persons not authorized by law, it will be quashed. 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3342.
3. In criminal cases, when an indictment is so defective that no judgment can be given upon it, should the defendant be convicted, the court, upon application, will in general quash it; as if it have no jurisdiction of the offence charged, or when the matter charged is not indictable. 1 Burr. 516, 548; Andr. 226. When the application to quash is made on the part of the defendant, the court generally refuses to quash the indictment when it appears some enormous crime has been committed. Com. Dig. Indictment, H; Wils. 325; 1 Salk. 372; 3 T. R. 621; 6 Mod. 42; 3 Burr. 1841; 5 Mod. 13; Bac. Abr. Indictment, K. When the application is made on the part of the prosecution, the indictment will be quashed whenever it is defective so that the defendant cannot be convicted, and the prosecution appears to be bona fide. If the prosecution be instituted by the attorney general, he may, in some states, enter a nolle prosequi, which has the same effect. 1 Dougl. 239, 240. The application should be made before plea pleaded; Leach, 11; 4 St. Tr. 232; 1 Hale, 35; Fost. 231; and before the defendant’s recognizance has been forfeited. 1 Salk. 380. Vide Cassetur Breve.
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.
Blog commenters ignoring the Thought Leader’s traffic direction.
Conform, children, conform.
Ta Sancho
I’d still love to launch an FOI request (for a whole 15 bucks) from Vic Pol in relation to any emails with the word “Pell” sent to Milligan…
I had a protracted two year legal battle with her on her “leave” from ABC to write the book – many Cats from around 2016/17 will recall that jeremiad – their ABC finally gave in and gave me her emails but they were so redacted (“for commercial reasons”) that I couldn’t make anything out at all…
Pogria says:
January 11, 2023 at 10:55 am
try Vienna Blood. Totally absorbing. A very few fleeting lines of dialogue re Freudian phallic fantasies, I think more in jest than justification. 1908 Vienna.
Also, another favourite of mine last year, Shadow Play. Highly recommend.
Thank you Pogria, will check them out.
Yes, especially Mark Weinberg. Also Andrew Bolt.
Yeah, so what?
I am yet to hear any serious attempt to answer the question of how Pell could have sued for wrongful conviction when he was never convicted at all.
Mother Lode:
Of course – there is only the stench which remains. And that stink is attached to the fabricated nonsense, not the innocent.
Yes.
You feed one numpty into the system with a well rehearsed story.
Plod then feeds that story to Nilligan and, voilà! Up pops another 2-3 complainants with a corroborating story and we can all say, hand on heart, that Plod hadn’t briefed them, and nor did the complainants have contact with each other.
And Nilligan can claim journalistic confidentiality over sources if asked to reveal any contacts with Plod and/or complainants.
Neat.
Gobbo style neat.
Thank you again, Cassie.
Bp Elliott is a man of great faith and integrity.
Aren’t we just so lucky to have such towering legal minds on this blog? First Grogarly, now monty fa K.C.
Err, Weinberg, yes.
Blot, not so much. During Pell’s evidence to the RC from Rome, Blot went to air “appalled” at what Pell has said in evidence. The usual suspects seized on this and ran with it … “even Blot abandons Pell”.
The next night Blot says he misunderstood the context of the evidence and withdrew his criticism.
Crickets from the usual suspects.
Once again, Blot misguidedly bent over backwards to demonstrate how even-handed he can be, with disastrous consequences.
Arky:
There are some places that cannot be refurbished or rehabilitated. Just burn them down, scrape up the ashes and dump them in the Marianas Trench.
The planet will recycle them back to their original molecules and sterilise them for us.
Reconsecrate the ground and build a bloody great Cathedral there. Or a sewage works. I don’t give a damn.
No-one could have predicted this:-
“Nope, the conviction was erased with the HC 7-0 verdict. There is NO conviction. He was never a “convicted rock spider”. So retract your smear. “
Sorry, but I have to jump to M0nty’s defense on this one.
From the time the original conviction was pronounced, until the time it was quashed, Pell could have been said to be convicted of said crime.
Before the original verdict and after the appeal verdict, he can and should not have been so called.
I believe that was M0nty’s point – that during that interval, he could say what he did without besmirching anyone’s name.
I’m not aware that M0nty has made that claim since the appeal decision- if he (or anyone) has, that is bad and he should retract. But no-one has no need to retract anything said in the intervening period, when it could be said Pell was “convicted” – this was true at the time, and I see reason for anyone to apologise now for saying it at the time it was a fact.
This should in no way be considered my opinion on Pell’s case – IMO, it should never have been prosecuted in the first place given the lack of evidence etc. I don’t think he was guilty of any such crimes – ever. Given the way the prisoners reacted, I suspect he would have been claiming he was wrongly convicted from dot, but likely wasn’t bitter or resentful about it, nor trumpeting his innocence at every opportunity, but rather stoically accepting that life was not fair, and continuing his life’s mission of doing good for others – that good for others of more importance to him than the application of the justice of men. The only judgement I believe he was concerned with was God’s, and I believe he was confident that said conviction was never correct in His eyes. If that is all, or even mostly, true then he is most certainly a man worthy of respect and emulation in my opinion. He faced his accusers when he could so easily have simply avoided the entire affair by staying in the Vatican as lesser men have done before – and that says much about his character all by itself.
I remember emailing Blot that very morning from a hotel room in Geraldton and he responded with some interest… bit of back and forth and he conceded he’d gotten it wrong. I don’t agree with everything he says but was glad he redacted what he’d said earlier.