Labour Thus Far....

[Lightspeed]

So nothing new other than the resignation. Which is an admission of fucking up, but not a crime. No one has filed a report or turned themselves into the police right?

The explosive thing would be if this person made a clear allegation of sexual assault and then the party insisted they handle the complaint internally.

The flip side is this is a lesson all employers should heed: even the most tenuous allegation can snowball into a shit storm if you're not following robust, clearly defined processes.

This does stink like one of National's political attacks. There's probably some substance that National is milking for all its worth. Paula can go fuck herself with her talk of retraumatisation. She's a fucking cunt whose party thrust the people of New Zealand into traumatic situations for the sake of ideology.

And we're playing along, cause we're not getting raped, living in cars. So this is a fun competition for us. Any potential victims are of an endless supply, not worth consideration. Political smearing like this, oooh, that's the good shit.

[Ab]

Wtf are you going on about? Bennett isn’t involved in this. Have you read anything about this at all?

The explosive thing would be if this person made a clear allegation of sexual assault and then the party insisted they handle the complaint internally

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAS HAPPENED

[pxpx]

Love it when LS jumps the shark

[Ab]

From Lew at rabid neoliberal far-right blog Kiwipolitico:

At this point the most benign explanation is that nobody in Labour whose job it was to investigate sexual assault complaints even bothered to read the complaints they received. Such monstrous lack of care should be a firing offence in itself.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAS HAPPENED

How about you go ahead and cite. Give me a dose of that robust NZH reading Ab epistemology.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

How about you go ahead and cite. Give me a dose of that robust NZH reading Ab epistemology.

Knock yourself out:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/11...nduct-inquiry/

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by pxpx

Love it when LS jumps the shark

Yeah, we get your role in this community is to snipe from the sidelines, bailing any time you're called out for your bullshit. What a fucking hero.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

Knock yourself out:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/11...nduct-inquiry/

What are you specifically referring to that assures you:

this person made a clear allegation of sexual assault and then the party insisted they handle the complaint internally

What information have you found, how robust is that information and how should that information be appropriately assessed? What are alternative perspectives?

[pxpx]

I (and I suspect most) gave up on serious engagement in this subforum with you a long time ago LS. It's just purely for entertainment now.

[Lightspeed]

That's your excuse? Are you sure you haven't just given up?

[Lightspeed]

No doubt the irony will be lost on everyone that Labour is bearing the brunt of responsibility for the reality that victims of sexual assault have few avenues of support.

Of course, my long complaints about few avenues of support for victims of sexual assault and the worsening of that situation are merely entertaining.

Eh pxpx? You fucking cunt. If that's what entertains you.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

What information have you found, how robust is that information and how should that information be appropriately assessed? What are alternative perspectives?

#believewomen

actually I think one of the seven complainants is male, says he got assaulted while trying to protect one of the six women

Man, whoever the alleged sexual-assaulter is, he must be fucking untouchably vital to get this level of cover.

[pxpx]

Lightspeed, champion of the downtrodden, passionate supporter of rape crises centres, being cynical about sexual assault accusations, because it's making his team look bad. Once again attempting obfuscating the issue at hand by trying to attribute it to The Big Blue Meanies.

What's not entertaining about that?

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

an admission of fucking up, but not a crime

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

if this person made a clear allegation of sexual assault

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

the most tenuous allegation

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

This does stink like one of National's political attacks

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

probably some substance

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

it's the general gearing down of support for people in need that we're seeing the consequences of

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

No doubt the irony will be lost on everyone

[Lightspeed]

You want a timeline? Give us a timeline of facts appropriate for public consumption. Compare that to a timeline of the assertions as they were revealed and your consumption of them? Explain your big boy epistemology to us. Use big words, it's okay.

The public has no role to play in sexual assault complaints. Except to support the appropriate institutions and to ensure those institutions are subject to appropriate oversight (not the public, not you cunts.)

Except of course everyone has been too busy lapping up stories of no housing crisis while their property rates boom to hear anything about the collapse of services that would ensure an appropriate response to sexual assault allegations.

And so here we are.

Originally Posted by pxpx

Lightspeed, champion of the downtrodden, passionate supporter of rape crises centres, being cynical about sexual assault accusations, because it's making his team look bad. Once again attempting obfuscating the issue at hand by trying to attribute it to The Big Blue Meanies.

What's not entertaining about that?

pxpx, useless cunt, cares about nothing, gave up long ago. Future of his children? Fucked.

This is your MO, pxpx. Try to get into the political hackery, "aww but you're a dum-dum" as soon as your bullshit is called out.

Unless you're going to talk about how the victim refused to go to the police because of how harmful they anticipated that process to be?

Ooh but, ALL OF A SUDDEN A POLITICIAN CAN BE SMEARED SO NOW WE CARE ABOUT THE VICTIMS SEXUAL ASSAULT AMIRITE.

Uh-huh. Real compelling.

Cunts. You laugh, but you are.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

Man, whoever the alleged sexual-assaulter is, he must be fucking untouchably vital to get this level of cover.

There are any number of potential scenarios. But fuck reality, right? We're just in it for the lolz now, any assumption will do.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Give us a timeline of facts appropriate for public consumption.

Originally Posted by Ab

Knock yourself out:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/11...nduct-inquiry/

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Explain your big boy epistemology to us. Use big words, it's okay.

Oh, but that would be effort, right? Which contradicts the purpose here: lolz.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

There are any number of potential scenarios. But fuck reality, right? We're just in it for the lolz now, any assumption will do.

Originally Posted by Spinoff article

The alleged perpetrator is believed to remain at work at parliament, in the Labour leader’s office.

Originally Posted by Jacinda Ardern

The individual has not been on the parliamentary precinct for five weeks and will remain off-site until at least the completion of the QC report.

Originally Posted by also Jacinda Ardern

In the last 48 hours I have read incredibly distressing reports of an alleged sexual assault involving members of the Labour party

Man, I want one of those jobs where I can work in a boss's office and not turn up to work for five weeks and the boss doesn't notice

[Lightspeed]

How many babies do I need to have and how much whiskey do I need to drink before life becomes as simple for me as it is for you?

[Ab]

Lizzie Marvelly
‏@LizzieMarvelly

No, @paulabennettmp's whistleblowing on the Labour sexual assault complaints scandal cannot be divorced from its political context, but she also gave vulnerable people a voice and got results for the complainants. Credit where credit is due.


Paula Bennett
‏@paulabennettmp
Replying to @LizzieMarvelly

I absolutely wish we weren’t in this place and these victims haven’t had to go through what they have.


Lizzie Marvelly
@LizzieMarvelly
Replying to @paulabennettmp

I absolutely agree.

Ain't no such thing as simple when we live in a world where Lizzie Marvelly and Paula Bennett are fistbumping each other

[fixed_truth]

Paula Bennett (& the National Party) have shown through their time in Govt. that vulnerable people aren't their priority. Labour's internal systems have failed here (and should be redone from scratch by an independent body) and anyone that's shown to have sweeped allegations under the rug should be fired. But let's not pretend that all this isn't political point scoring from National, they had 3 terms in power to give a shit.

[Lightspeed]

I guess that's part of the show. Bennett and her lot get to do what they did while in power and then she gets to spout her absolute wishes once they've let go of the reins.

Good times, eh pxpx! Woo! Worth every taxpayer dollar, amirite?

[Ab]

Originally Posted by fixed_truth

let's not pretend that all this isn't political point scoring from National

um Alex Casey and The Spinoff aren't the National Party

[Lightspeed]

Yeah, I don't get your "Bennett isn’t involved in this" when she's one of the lead players in pxpx's theatre.

This is the substance of the problem right here:

Sarah didn’t want to go to the police. She knew people who had been through the process and had told her how difficult it was, she said. “I thought about the amount of people who come forward and then the number who actually get convictions, and it just felt like it was going to be really hard.” In the aftermath, she felt herself becoming more withdrawn and isolated, a shadow of the young, confident leader she used to be.

And so, in any sense that matters, we're left guessing. Of course, many are not exactly disciplined with there guesses and equate their guesses with robust knowledge. Which conveniently results in an outrage kick. Lucky, pxpx is entertained!

[Ab]

At last count seven Labour Party members have complained about whoever-it-is.

After getting treated like shit by the Labour machine one victim, anonymised as "Sarah", took her complaint to Spinoff staffer Alex Casey. Sarah's account is the one that has blown up this week because it's detailed and damning.

After getting treated like shit by the Labour machine (I think two?) of the other victims took their complaints separately to National MP Paula Bennett, who has since spoken about those complaints in Parliament.

The shitstorm this week, about the sexual assault experienced by Sarah and Labour trying to bury it, has nothing to do with Paula Bennett.

[Lightspeed]

So we could have a villainous rapist that is too powerful even for the police. Or we got a playful party elder whose annoying behaviour isn't usually worth the drama of correcting it. Or likely something inbetween.

But because the victims are unwilling to go to the police, we won't ever know in any meaningful sense.

Now we're obsessing over which politician knew what and when. With our big boy and girl ideas of epistemology.

[Ab]

I guess that’s why it’s good predator strategy to target idealistic young Party members. They won’t go to the police for fear of hurting the Party.

[BoyWonder]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

a playful party elder whose annoying behaviour isn't usually worth the drama of correcting it.

Dafuq? Sounds a bit more sordid than ponytail pulling if you ask me.

[Ab]

"playful":

Early in 2018 he invited her to a private meeting at his home to prepare for an upcoming regional conference. “He said it was really important that I came,” she said. “He made it feel like it was a part of my duties.”

“I remember I was looking at the screen and I felt him lean down over me onto my shoulder.” She initially ignored it and continued to ask questions about the documents they were looking at, keen to stay focussed on the work. Standing behind her, he placed one hand on her thigh, and the other under her shirt, she said. Feeling both his arms tightening around her body, she began to panic.

“I tried to knock him off but he put me in a hold across here,” she recounted, gesturing to her collarbone. He pulled her off the chair and onto the floor, keeping his arm and his body weight on top of her as she struggled, he said. “I remember him just saying, ‘shhh,’ and shushing me or telling me to be quiet without explicitly telling me, or he’d press his arm down on my windpipe.”

Desperate to attract the attention of the rest of the household, Sarah banged her feet against the hardwood floors, she said. She recounted him pulling down her jeans, and the coldness of the floorboards against her bare skin. He aggressively groped her breasts, she said, before pulling her underwear down and violently penetrating her with his fingers.

“I was just in total disbelief, struggling a lot and still trying to bang on the floor,” she said, taking long pauses in her recollection. She continued to hit her feet on the ground through the attack, hoping to make as much noise as possible. “I just wanted someone to come upstairs. Anyone.”

The assault lasted between 10 and 20 minutes, she said, before he rolled off her.

[Lightspeed]

A shocking account. Horrifying if true.

How do you deal with that in absence of a judicial process? Literal question, I have no idea how an organisation could handle such a complaint without the police, while protecting itself. In any situation the organisation is liable to be fucked.

Your account here is incorrect, isn't it?

It was the victim, not the party who ruled out police.

[pxpx]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

pxpx, useless cunt, cares about nothing, gave up long ago. Future of his children? Fucked.

That's bait

[Lightspeed]

You should check the post I was replying to. I get I'm guilty of taking a nibble.

[fixed_truth]

Originally Posted by Ab

The shitstorm this week, about the sexual assault experienced by Sarah and Labour trying to bury it, has nothing to do with Paula Bennett.

She's definitely picked it up & politicised the shit out of it purely for her own gain. Which would be fine if she wasn't such a hypocrite & actually gave a shit about vulnerable New Zealanders.

[crocos]

My attitude to this is all:
If this is realistic, then SWEET BABY JEBUS - Get the cops involved and fuck the party that didn't protect you.

Otherwise this is all just more political BS theatre.

[Ab]

Staffer at centre of the Labour Party abuse allegations resigns

[Lightspeed]

So, what we know so far is that a sexual assault has been alleged. The victim refuses to go to the police because it's bullshit. The Labour party doesn't have an adequate process for when a party member is accused of a crime and the victim refuses to go to the police. The alleged perpetrator has resigned, not because of due process, but public pressure. The rule of law doesn't apply to... ? I'm not sure of the principle here, but I've not heard any concerns for the law in this regard.

Is my summary wrong? At this point I assume Ab and pxpx are gaslighting me for entertainment, so please excuse my confusion. Foolish me, so easily triggered by our general lack of concern with sex crime, given its ubiquitous nature.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

The Labour party doesn't have an adequate process for when a party member is accused of a crime and the victim refuses to go to the police.

"has been manipulated into not going to the police"

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Ab

At last count seven Labour Party members have complained about whoever-it-is.

Update: twelve people

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by pxpx

cite