In the uber woke 4th wave feminist world, if a women says she has been assaulted by a man YOU MUST BELIEVE HER!
And if you don’t, YOU’RE WORSE THAN THE RAPIST!
Personally I think a person making an allegation needs to be taken seriously, not believed -because believing means there is no due process, but I’m old fashioned like that.
The Spinoff published a damning one sided expose hit job alleging serious sexual assault, this led to feminist journalists and right wing Pundits to declare that not only must Jacinda have known about this sexual assault, but that she actively covered it up as well.
It was a vicious character assassination against Jacinda based on nothing more than woke mantra and rumour.
A real good old fashioned witch trial.
When this erupted in the media, huge pressure went on Labour to cauterise this wound and Nigel Haworth lost his job and a review immediately called. To confuse matters, Simon Mitchell, Lawyer and Labour Party uber insider swore that the claimant had never sent the documents she claimed she did.
Well, the review is in and it is DAMNING of the claimant who made the accusation of sexual assault…
Sexual assault allegations against ex-Labour staffer ‘not established’
The inquiry into the allegations of sexual assault made by one Labour member against another has cast major doubts over the accuracy of the chief complainant’s story.
Labour released the report – conducted by independent lawyer Maria Dew QC – this afternoon.
It found “insufficient evidence” to back up the most serious allegations and ruled critical elements of the complainant’s version of events were incorrect.
It also said the complainant had since admitted providing “misleading information” to the investigation.
The complainant had given media a screenshot of an email and an attached document which she said she had sent to the Labour Party outlining her complaints of sexual assault.
Ms Dew concluded, on the balance of probabilities, that document was not attached.
The report also rejected the complainant’s claim that she had outlined her complaint in person to Labour’s investigation panel, saying that was “improbable” when assessed against the weight of other witness evidence.
…well, well, well. She gave the inquiry ‘misleading information’ and she was in fact in an 8 month relationship with this person she claimed sexually assaulted her, details that were NEVER part of the Spinoff hit job.
So this Spinoff hit job destroyed the young staffer, destroyed the President, defamed Simon Mitchell and allowed the insinuation that Jacinda covered it all up, all in the name of middle class woke feminism and hashtag activism?
That’s the journalism everyone is racing to support with donation is it? Puritanical character assassinations from virtue signalling evangelicals?
How charming.
If you want to donate to a media that challenges the mainstream narrative without imploding the progressive movement with unsubstantiated hit jobs, you can support The Daily Blog here.
Maybe there needs to be some very serious soul searching required by everyone involved in this witch trial because one of the things that hasn’t come out is the names of the Wellington Twitteratti who rushed around the claimant and helped create this narrative for The Spinoff.
Simon Mitchell should be suing The Spinoff for every cent Duncan Grieve has managed to get out of NZ on Air.
What an appalling turn of events.
Excuse me if I’ve got my wires crossed, but didn’t a judge find the accused guilty of assaulting two young men? Why are these victims not being acknowledged?
You’ll have to do better than that
Um that was a couple of wedgies. Hardly life changing.
Two entirely different matters.
That was a different assault, involving a different person, I believe. Which shows you do have your wires crossed, and maybe also how bad the reporting around this has been.
This actually looks like a rather elaborate way of breaking up with someone.
Fuck the soul searching. Nail them to the cross and sue.
Even though Metoo had some good victories like Harvey Weintstien it goes to show that even if you are innocent of a Metoo you still need a lawyer representing you. And when I credit you I credit every male.
I get that it was the ‘Me Too’ dogwhistle that allowed the crap to go on, but the person under attack was a woman, – a young woman and a mother, who had dared to challenge the established order by taking on the role of PM. And, she was attacked repeatedly, often by pompous arrogant males (do I need to name some of them?). This was a political hit job, no more, no less; carefully planned and plotted. Again, imho.
Kheala – This isn’t the first time that the Parliamentary precinct has been troubled by a love affair gone wrong.
When it happened to National, Labour behaved in a compassionate, exemplary and non-partisan way.
When it allegedly happened to Labour, the Nats dived in boots and all, determined to dirty and drag down the least likely PM to cover up sexual misbehaviour, without one iota of evidence apart from what seeped from their dirty little minds.
It’s the only way that they know how to perform, and totally irresponsible when all sorts of collateral damage always occurs.
I was only aware of Bennett trying to dirty Ardern, but if the Nat men were doing it too, then they are unspeakable lowlifes. Which we already knew. How dare they.
“I was only aware of Bennett trying to dirty Ardern.”
I meant the shock jocks and other media thugs who seemed to be on it 24/7 for a while there.
Here’s the post where Martyn neatly tied up a posse of them, together:
Sanctimony and Thuggery – The Salem Witch Trial
(They seemed to go quiet after that. Heh :))
Kheala I’m not sure if I read this. I don’t watch television, except occasionally Parliament, and rarely listen to the radio ! I stopped watching television when Trump became POTUS, in case I saw him by accident.
Not watching television is a pleasure, but it also means that I’m not exposed to being subliminally – or otherwise – conditioned by MSM. That’s now a conscious decision.
I read masses of online news, including, coincidentally, http://www.salemnews.com which is really enjoyable; totally different from NY Times or Washington Post, semi-bucolic, personal life glimpses which take me back to some childhood messages.
The obituaries are wonderful, very different from ours – very human and warm – they show a real person, whereas here, they’re written to impress the reader. The Salem news relaxes me. I may be a witch – I have an accessory nipple under my right arm – and I have a lovely broomstick bedecked with flowers in my entrance way, which I have not yet managed to mistress.
Occasionally, when I’m feeling masochistic I read Matthew Hooton, but find him a bit tedious and generally no big deal, and see the others on online clips, but most irritate one way or the other, and think that they’re part of the story – which indeed they may be. I assume they’re the breathless horrors who were accusing PM Ardern, and they’re too much like school girl cliques to take seriously – they’re the mean hockey team bullies with no smarts.
I’d have to have a pre-frontal lobotomy to watch Mark Richardson and co, and have regarded my adjoining neighbour with fascinated horror ever since I discovered that she gets up in the morning and turns her television set on. I’d quite like to see all television sets smashed, but does anyone watch it any more ?
I stopped getting the daily Dom-Post when Rosemary McLeod wrote that she understood that John Key lived in quite a modest house in Auckland. I mean after that, what’s to believe ?
The main thing I’ve got from this latest disgraceful time and money consuming schemozzle, is that Nat MP’s still function at “What were Janet and John doing behind the bike sheds ?” level, and I think one needs to take care that people don’t come to regard her as a dirty old woman.
This is the NZ Political story of 2019. I sincerely hope that as much attention, priority and time is put on this situation that was devoted to the original witch hunt via the Spinoff and the disgusting individuals Bridges and Bennett who fed their extremely damaging but totally unsubstantiated snot to the media who were happy to plays National’s vile game of Dirty Politics where innocence is 100% irrelevant as is guilt. It’s the perception of guilt that is the only game in town. “Scoring Hits” against the Government is the only goal of that vile slime, Bridges and Bennett.
Blind Freddy could see the alleged victim was a bare faced liar. When a respected individual had the audacity to claim he had not received any attachment outlining sexual misconduct the alleged victim was outraged especially when the person she accused of covering up details stated he had his computer independently forensically examined and that investigation proved he was being truthful. At no point did the “alleged victim” behave like a victim of sexual abuse. More a person hell bent on personal revenge against anyone who was not just going to roll over and believe what was obviously bullshit.
Bridges and Bennett made multiple statements to the media that Ardern had been exposed for covering up serious sexual abuse and should resign as Prime Minister immediately. That took National Party Dirty Politics to a staggering new low.
Labour and Ardern suffered considerably in the next two big polls and people voting in those polls stated it was the alleged sexual abuse cover up that had caused them to vote against Ardern and Labour.
The Government should demand the immediate resignations of both Bridges and Bennett. Their reprehensible conduct in this witch hunt should be totally unacceptable in NZ Politics.
My fear is that Ardern will embrace kindness and forgiveness here and this story will only be big news for 15 minutes. Bridges and Bennett will be gifted a Christmas free pass.
Stand up and fight here and you win the 2020 election in a landslide. Do it not and pay the price.
Yes, but what the Labour Party needs to make absolutely clear is that anyone who has a serious and credible allegation needs to go to the police. The party will not be sucked into holding internal inquiries. Although the party may be vindicated in terms of the allegations, their handling of the whole thing was a complete cock up.
Acknowledged, when the spinoff article hit the news the PM did state that if people had concerns they should go to the police. Media reports said at the time that the complainant didnt want to go to the police.
RosieLee: “Yes, but what the Labour Party needs to make absolutely clear is that anyone who has a serious and credible allegation needs to go to the police.”
But that’s the whole point: there WAS no allegation at all, serious or otherwise.
The previous incident at the summer camp (or wherever it was) was handled exactly as you suggest. The complaint went to the police, who preferred charges. The case went to court; the accused either pleaded guilty or was found guilty. I forget which. But that case is a signal example of Labour’s ability both to know what to do, and to do it.
“…. their handling of the whole thing was a complete cock up.”
Nope. There was no “thing” to handle. You do understand, right? The whole allegation was a piece of fiction, from beginning to end. And that was obvious from the first; we didn’t really need an enquiry to know that.
It was not the Party who stuffed up. It was the NZ media, who somehow lost the plot. Even someone whom I had previously thought was fairly objective, namely Bryce Edwards, wrote in a Guardian article at that Jacinda herself was “Embroiled in a sex scandal” ! What the???
[can search for the ref if needed.]
Surely we can expect the media to ask Bridges and Bennett do they stand by what they they said then?
Tova didn’t look happy tonight on 3 about the outcome.
Yeah and I wonder if Barry Soper will apologise or at the very least resign!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12266572&ref=art_readmore
bert – Prurient old pricks need hobbies. Growing sweet peas smells nicer – tapestry, if the old eyes hold out – cold showers in the morning – and at night.
Nice PiP!
100% Bert,
Barry Soper is well past his use by date. He and his partner Heather Du Plessis-Allan have been relentlessly abusing their roles in their quest to undermine Ardern. Soper’s stand comparing Ardern to Sergeant Schultz were cheap shots and light years away from being remotely funny or accurate. I hope the prize wanker stands up now and apologizes to Ardern for convicting her before even having a trial and admits he got it diabolically wrong. Far king disgraceful. Whatever credibility the piss ant ever had has surely been flushed down the same latrine that Bridges and Bennett reside in.
Hey – Jacindafan – A staggeringly new low ? Nah, they’ve only just begun. They keep digging low and in due course they’ll have tunneled right through to China the way my little bro tried to and they’ll be exactly where they long to be and that’s when we fill the hole up after them and live happily ever after.
Can China cope with Paula ? Who cares ? New noodle lady for the night market. Rat catcher girl. Semi-human
outside courtyard acrobatic broom.
Given the way Bennett dresses, maybe a safari in Africa could be her undoing!
Stop all talk of ‘undoing’ please Bert. You’re adding a confusing dimension to Paula’s asking Jacinda in Parliament to, “Zip it sweetie”. Often I have pondered whether Paula forgot who and where she was, or was talking in her sleep, or worse.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12256846
“Bennett demanded more from Ardern.\
“She talks about leadership and actually providing a safe environment, and I believe action needs to be taken immediately.
Okay Paula Bennett, step up and put your money where your mouth is. Apologise. Leadership you call it. Providing a safe environment for proper processes to take place you call it too.
We demand it.
Guilty until proven innocent. A sad indictment of NZ today.
You mean another sad indictment of NZ today. The nutcase in charge of America shows the way. (with apologies to my friends and myself who suffer with mental health issues.)
He wants a dog eat dog, divided society where he’s relying on the teeth of his wolves to enable him to rule. Bridges and the National mongrels have advisers working on the same tenets. The smash’em high, smash’em low, smash whomever you can, wherever you go, the us-agin-them mentality is what they’re offering.
This case and the reaction today is just another little example. Was it last week or the week before we had that worst case ever of corruption in the western world since World War 2 where the perpetrator did not commit the harikari suggested was necessary by his heinous deeds. Yes Kris Faafoi. What did he do? Make out to a (supposed) mate that he could help him out?
Buckle up, election 2020 is going to be an accumulation of the grubbiest, nastiest, dirtiest politics we’ve had in NZ since 1854 to the power of 100. Paula Bennett, Mark Mitchell and Judith Collins will be right in their element.
Mark might like to pop over to Vietnam and stop dogs from getting eaten. That was the highlight of his time in post-war wrecked Iraq. He saved a dog. One of the Fairfax fan club wrote it up.
“Buckle up, election 2020 is going to be an accumulation of the grubbiest, nastiest, dirtiest politics we’ve had in NZ since 1854 to the power of 100. ”
That may sound to some like an exaggeration, and I so much wish that it was. But I think you may be right. Sabotage, subterfuge, misreporting, bias, personal agendas, old vendettas, corporate monied interests, overseas owned media and banks, oil companies, multi-nationals and foreign powers – billions of $$$s powering some of this behind the scenes.
I always smelt a rat about this. I really did.
Now the complainants saying they don’t want the report or a summary released. But actually that’s what they signed up for……..citing risk factors. The trust health professionals are monitoring their risk and taking appropriate actions. I am afraid these claims seem a tad manipulative to me..
Exactly. They didn’t want the report released because it exposed “Sarah” as a lying skank.
She was afforded the respect of an actual sexual assault victim, that the trauma would explain deficiencies in her words and actions following the assault. Her story was polished by feminist writers like Alex Casey and Alison Mau and became the only narrative. It wasn’t vogue to offer a defence to the accused.
Now that the report is here, and does not favour the accusers, Alison Mau is there to act as spokeswoman to tell us of immediate suicide risks. In other words, go easy on them.
Diabolical coverage of this case on the TVNZ 6pm news tonight. It was a 25 second clip that wasn’t even a story promoted in their headlines. 20 of the 25 seconds were spent on how the Labour Party could improve the way they handle such incidents in the future. Almost no mention of the very damaging bare faced lies the alleged victim has been exposed as saying and absolutely no mention whatsoever of the obscene claims and demands made by Bridges and Bennett that Ardern covered up sexual abuse and should resign as Prime Minister immediately. This was a truly disgraceful piece from NZ’s national broadcaster. If that is what passes as redemption and balance then no wonder latrine rodents Bridges and Bennett are laughing.
I see a number of problems here. First there is the politics of the “Vampire Castle” (as the late Mark Fisher called it: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/exiting-vampire-castle/ ), which has social justice activists constantly monitoring, informing on, and collectively punishing each other for any perceived social justice sin. Second, there is our response to this “stifling air of rigid radicalism” (to quote Joyful Militancy: https://joyfulmilitancy.com/2018/06/03/the-stifling-air-of-rigid-radicalism/ ), which at its worst, can be every bit as aggressive and puritanical as the examples we’re criticizing. Thirdly, there is the weaponization of these toxics dynamics – and the mistrust they generate – for the purposes of political hit jobs like this one.
So what can we do? Be kinder to each other. Ask probing questions before leaping to judgement. Think before launching into public condemnation. Particularly think about an how your intervention could actually serve to improve the situation for other human beings, rather than being sucked into the short-term catharsis of today’s “Two Minutes of Hate” (yet another aspect of totalitarian politics Orwell warned us about). Verónica Bayetti Flores puts it well in this piece:
http://feministing.com/2013/12/20/on-cynicism-calling-out-and-creating-movements-that-dont-leave-our-people-behind/
Report dumped at the end of the year – the day of the press gallery party.
Everyone signed up for confidentiality, nice and neat.
Not so “Open & Transparent”
You can argue about the timing of the release of the report, but can you argue about the content and findings?
Looks to me like the accusers came out worse.
Bullshit!
Labour only received the report a day or two ago. They released the summary as soon as they could. It was the right thing to do otherwise it would have hung around into the new year which would have been unhelpful for all concerned.
I’ll tell you what should happen. A formal apology from Simon Bridges and Paula Bennett for insulting the prime minister with their false claims about her and deliberately inflaming the situation for political gain.
It won’t happen because neither has it in them to admit they were wrong.
Always seemed like a witch hunt led by nothing but a woke reaction, spiralling into a woke overreaction, (and starting to sound more like a lovers tiff) and used by dirty politics to try to lower Jacinda’s popularity and credibility… which kinda worked.
I am sure there is plenty of sexual harassment/affairs in parliament and plenty of bad eggs, but sounds like this wasn’t of a criminal nature.
The blogs should not join Spinoff which is pretty much paid content being bandied as news and MSM which is the same but better at hiding it, into going with the witch hunt stories until it is proven there is something real behind them, otherwise falling into dirty politics hands.
I see the vested interest of “The Spinoff” is attempting to defend and justify their witch hunt and milk any further currency they can from this farce. When the fuck is someone from the Government going to stand tall and hold them to account? It seems clear they intend to just lay low and hope this absurd situation just fades away. When are they going to get tired of being kicked by shitheels causing considerable damage by abusing their position?
Oh it’s the “worst nightmare” for the bare faced liars to be exposed. It’s so “distressing” for them. Oh fuck off!
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/worst-nightmare-labour-staffer-complainants-respond-to-dew-report/ar-BBY6HAA
Jacindafan – I share your message to “The Spinoff” of: ‘Oh fuck off!’
They are exceedingly precious little twerps besotted with themselves and each other.
Jacindafan “Oh it’s the “worst nightmare” for the bare faced liars to be exposed. It’s so “distressing” for them. Oh fuck off!” Yep – this is compete and utter crap from The Spinoff.
Barefaced liars function very well, thank you very much – much better than their victims, who can be destroyed. Parliament is littered with them.
Many are psychopaths and have a talent for believing their own lies, even when they know they’re lies. The end justifies the means, and they can have a brilliant animal cunning. Worse, they are often motivated by twisted jealousies and resentments.
I saw the kindest woman I have ever known smashed by one such person; what was done to her would have driven me out of my mind; her children say they think that’s what happened to her. She died aged 53 from natural causes. Her story haunts me.
I talked of her recently with my hairdresser who said, “That was evil.”
The Spinoff are simpletons if this is their world view.
“Personally I think a person making an allegation needs to be taken seriously, not believed -because believing means there is no due process, but I’m old fashioned like that.”
Excellent statement in my humble opinion.
Agreed, Countryboy, all allegations do need to be taken seriously, some may be true; sometimes the person making allegations does need help and support, regardless of the truth or perceptions of the allegation.
Many of us may have also seen individuals who are catalysts for disaster both in the workplace, or within whanau, and they may not do it just once, they can have patterns of behavior.
That is why going to the police is a good option. Police have established procedure and protocols for dealing with issues like this in a sensitive way, and they can enlist the help of other agencies if necessary. I doubt that they have other, or political, agendas, they’re victim-focused.
Paula Bennett has given me the impression of alleged sex victims seeking her help, and and she may or may not have informed the media of her role in sorting alleged sex stuff. This is the last thing that the police would do.
Police are cognisant of privacy issues, and importantly, would have the training and expertise to know that once the hungry media are fed titbits, their greed to make a feast out of it takes over. Truth becomes irrelevant, it gets in the way of the right story.
So if I were Paula, and distressed needy persons came to me for help, I would gently guide them in the direction of the agency with the expertise and the professionalism to give it.
And because I know that the boundaries of convention help prevent us descending into the barbarism and urban savageries which can harm others, I would expect my leader Simon Bridges to have explained all this to me, and to one-eyed Nat zealots, so that we can be civilised actors, instead of raucous comic book villains.
Ms Bennett’s silence (on the outcome of this issue) is quite deafening! Speak up Paula, we can’t hear you!
Much to do about nothing, at least in the public arena, but not in the Labour party itself, where it should have been sorted, not attempted to be by the National party, whose own inquest was something that Labour did not engage in. That was the more appropriate thing to do.
Thought I sent a post on this blog a couple of days ago where I said Nigel Haworth should get an apology from the righteous moral arbiters who spoke and acted as if the main complainant was unquestionably believable! Bomber you’re right, it’s a disaster if it’s assumed women are victims and it’s not treated as an investigation by the police.
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