Patriot Realm

The Israel Folau saga just grows and grows. Like many of the most defining cases of modern history, what would otherwise have been a storm in a teacup – a Tennessee teacher teaching Darwin in biology, an Alabama secretary refusing to give up a seat on a bus – the Folau case just keeps snowballing, not least due to the dunderheaded bigotry of his opponents.

Rugby Australia could have just said that the social media posts of a private citizen are none of their business, even though their sentiment does not affect their organisation’s policy. Instead, spooked by corporate bullies and social media mobs, they applied the thumbscrews. In the face of spectacular blow-back, RA just keeps digging itself in deeper.

Here is another own goal by Rugby Australia. On Friday, RA chairman Cameron Clyne said it had to sack Israel Folau because sponsors made it clear they would have deserted the sporting body if it did not. The statements reek of the same incompetence that speaks to RA’s handling of this sorry saga.

 A friend of mine is currently looking after his grandson for three weeks while the parents are away for work. He retrieved the slow cooker from the back of the pantry and started cooking hearty one pot wonders for his growing 10 year old grandson. Every couple of days, the family gets an email with a photo of the young chap sitting at the kitchen table with a rather ample plate of food in front of him. So far, we have seen plates with slow cooked lamb shanks in gravy with mashed spuds and veges; slow cooked corned silverside with all the trimmings, beef stews, soups – you name it.

The little guy was smiling broadly and ready to tuck in to the offerings before him.

However, over the weeks, I noticed that the smile and cheeky grin had become more forced and less enthusiastic. I wondered why.

He almost looked as though he was in dread.

I have been scanning the news from across the Western world and it is just more of the same. Everything seems to be about someone trying to shut down someone or something.

Whether it is femininazis trying to shut down men; homosexuals trying to shut down heterosexuals; socialists trying to shut down freedom of opinion; kids being brainwashed about gender; you name it, the airways are full of hatred of everything conservative and traditional.

Never in the history of our Nations have we seen such brazen bias and manipulation of our history and our cultures.

What a shock I got when I read that Philip Arps was sentenced to 21 months inside the Big House for posting a video online after that day in NZ history that we will never forget or be allowed to forget.

Is he a bastard or an “ alt right “ crazy? Who is he? Do I care? No, not really. What I do care about is that that he was sent to prison for posting objectionable material on line.

What on earth is objectionable material?

To me, it is something like an episode of " My Little Pony"  with two lesbian ponies. I find that objectionable. Others do not. That is the way of a FREE Society.  We all have different tolerance levels, different measure sticks and different taste buds. Is a curry too hot? It depends on your taste buds.

I read an article on Australian media this morning about an older Australian in Broome in a “ home “. This person had maggots in the mouth. Yes, maggots. Crawling, inside the mouth. Creeping out through the lips and this elderly person lay, unable to do a thing, and no one gave a damn.

Please read that sentence again. Over and over again.  Because that is you or your Mother or Father, somewhere, anywhere, in Australia or New Zealand under this set of caring Governments that we now “ enjoy. “

Well, I have had it. I have an older relative, and she – and  I  have determined  that there is no way on this earth that we will ever end up in a so called “ care “ facility. Because there is no care and it is just a facility that keeps bodies alive with no regard for the folk that reside within the failing bodies that they call “ themselves.”

I feel very strongly about this. Abuse of older people in care homes is rampant. They are not care homes. They are “ I don’t give a shit “ homes. I spoke with someone today who visited an older relative in “ care “ and the lady had not had a fresh nightie or a bath in a week. A week. A WEEK.

There is a thunderstorm rolling in. The rumble is in the distance, but it is nonetheless on its way. There is a threat of rain and I keep looking out the window to see what will happen. Do I shut my windows and doors before it hits? Or do I let the breeze come in and enjoy the air that is blowing in from the storm that is brewing? Yet the thunder rolls and becomes louder and I wonder how long I should wait before “ shutting up shop. “

The lightening is just a flash of light on the horizon and the rain merely a scatter. But the storm is coming. And I am unprepared.

I can feel the tension in the air and it makes me wonder if I am about to get a downpour. Am I seeing the start of a storm that no window or door, no fence or lock can resist? I feel that a storm is upon us and it is gathering strength.