#cranks

[oldshowbiz]

The Gateway to Satanism

[crvngefrvll]

I wondered how many gladers promised their friends, partners, and loved ones to take them to safe haven yet ended up becoming cranks, losing their loved ones, or even themselves trying to fight through..

Great. I am now in tears.

[axvoter]

Second update on my Review VII (WA 2025): Stop Pedophiles! Protect kiddies!

Tomorrow is the WA state election. If you are curious about the minor parties contesting the election, I hope the index to my reviews is helpful in demystifying them.

And yes, you’re seeing the title correctly, this is a second update on my original entry about the party whose name has drawn more comments than any other party name this election: Stop Pedophiles! Protect kiddies! (SPPK) My initial review was based on as much information as I could find at the time, and upon picking up a few more scraps I wrote an update earlier this week.

Well, guess what. I have found their website. I thought I couldn’t find it. Nobody I spoke to could find it. Then I realised it had been staring me in the face the whole time: the WA Electoral Commission lists all candidates including contact details, which can be either an email address or a phone number. Some candidates have generic email addresses for their party, and this is true of SPPK: six candidates have their contact as info@stoppedos.org. So, I followed that, and whaddaya know, stoppedos.org is indeed their website.

It's not a terribly informative website, mind you: the website exists primarily to direct potential candidates to a contact form, with the party seeking submissions by 6 February. It doesn’t appear to have been updated since the party submitted their slate of candidates to the WAEC. To the extent that the website tells us anything about the party, it sheds little more light than the farcical how-to-vote cards I mocked in my first update—although it does show that they are aware of how to spell “paedophiles” the Australian way, as they shift between spellings.

SPPK seems to be convinced there are networks of paedophiles throughout society, and they would create a policing body to ferret out these paedophiles within “our government agencies, within churches, within schools and in daycares”. Nobody expects the SPPKanish Inquisition! I can’t help suspecting this is the sort of paranoia you develop if you spend all day consuming far-right conspiracist social media nonsense from the US and believe Pizzagate is real.

Beyond this the website just states they are “a conservative movement”, which rather understates things: A. Wilson, the candidate listed second, appears to be a man called Andrew Wilson with a lengthy history of being associated with white supremacists. The rest of this entry is largely based on some tips received from @dividebygaming, which I very much appreciate. This ABC article covers Wilson’s history from the late 2000s to the late 2010s, beginning in NSW with a neo-Nazi group attempting to hijack control of the NSW Humanist Society. Wilson then moved to Perth and ran a controversial and fortunately unsuccessful campaign for the Mosman Park council in 2017. The report also discloses that he worked with Radomar Kobryn-Coletti (11th candidate for SPPK, whom I mentioned in my first update) making far-right memes for Clive Palmer and Fraser Anning, including antisemitic content, and that both men belonged to a fascist group that attempted to take over the NSW Young Nationals.

Most of the SPPK slate are listed only by their first initial and last name, without their full first name. This is highly unusual: nobody else for any other party has done so. It seems to be to provide some degree of anonymity or deniability for candidates, and I think it’s fair to say that until proven otherwise one should be very wary of any SPPK candidate who has not given so much as their first name for the ballot.

In my previous entries, to save space I omitted two details about other SPPK candidates that on reflection are worth noting. Hugh Dolan (SPPK lead candidate and party secretary), before he stood for the DLP at Victoria’s 2022 state election, stood as the lead candidate for the Jacqui Lambie Network in Victoria at the 2016 federal election. Andrew Middleton (3rd candidate for SPPK) ran for the No Mandatory Vaccination Party as their lead candidate in the Mining and Pastoral Region at the 2021 WA state election. I reviewed No Mandatory Vax for the 2022 election and b_auspol covered their WA 2021 tilt.

It's also worth checking the WAEC’s live donation tracker. SPPK have received $64,561 in donations, which an ABC infographic indicates is the seventh most any party or individual has received this financial year behind Labor, Liberal, Greens, Nats, Kate Hulett (Fremantle teal independent), and Australian Christians. Of that total, $54,560 alone has come from Hugh Dolan across five donations between 26 October 2024 and 18 February 2025. The remaining $10,001 comes from two donations (one of $1!) on 4 November 2024 from the Frank McManus Foundation.

Why is this interesting? Well, recall from my original review that SPPK were originally registered in 2024 as the Democratic Labour Party, and that the DLP over east has disowned the SPPK as having “absolutely no association with us”. The Frank McManus Foundation is… uh, an official fundraising body of the DLP (also a separate home page calling it the “DLP Frank McManus Foundation”). It is named for the party’s founder. It seems the Victorian branch was telling porkies when they claimed to have “absolutely no association” with the WA DLP-cum-SPPK.

So, I have two speculative interpretations based on the above content. First, although SPPK seems obscure and hard to locate online, their website contact form soliciting candidates has probably circulated in private or low-visibility far-right settings, which would explain how 3edgy5u far-right meme machines have ended up on their ballot. Second, the DLP has not been honest in disowning the SPPK as unrelated and never related; this suggests that rumours I've heard of strong internal bickering and fractiousness have substance. Did Dolan move to WA, start a branch, and then fall out with members over east? It seems the DLP originally at least tolerated this branch and supported it financially, but events early this year (the name change? the candidates?) have made them keen to present themselves as having nothing to do with the party on the ballot.

To conclude, if you are voting tomorrow and distributing preferences all the way, I strongly encourage you to place SPPK last or very nearly so. I am personally intermingling their candidates with similarly unpleasant indies Peter McLernon and Aussie Trump.

[nelyo-finwe]

call me a crank because I constantly wish to scream “Kill me” at the top of my lungs whenever someone approaches me :)

[bellzsad]

hey so i just finished my first play through of the quarry and tell me why it’s giving major maze runner vibes

[reptilemodernism]

Tumblr ads actually get me to click on them - something no other website has been able to do - by advertising top grade crankery. These theories always entertain me. It's like physics fanfiction.

[thegoodwitchjames]

Z O M B I E S .

I feel so offended

[untitledmp3file]

Social media has ruined cranks. It used to be, you could find a unique and fascinatingly deranged website run by someone who was unhinged in their own unique way. They were mostly harmless and kept to their own little slice of online real estate posting their nonsense in a hideous font. Now, you don't get anything like Timecube anymore. It's just the same right-wing spew of culture war bullshit. The same conspiracy theories and grifts over and over. Where have the uniquely crazy people gone?

[nectarine-vibes]

Grant | Contemporate Reality

[oldshowbiz]

1970.

Hollywood's perverts appeared on the stage and the repulsive, degenerate, and obscene Midnight Cowboy won Best Picture.

[crvngefrvll]

Y'ALL CAN CALL ME NEWT FROM THE MAZE RUNNER 'CAUSE-

He was new to the glade (school/community idk what to call it in English)

We shared talks, sat next to eachother, I offered him a weird colourful drink

Man he asked SO MANY questions

I sat next to him near the fireplace (table) and looked at him as if he hung the moon, stars, and the entire solar system

HE WAS RECKLESS AS FUCK AND GOT HIMSELF IN TROUBLE

A strange person joined us (again, school/community, whatever)

Wait..it's a girl now?

"It's a girl.."

And..

Okay

Suddenly he TALKS TO HER A LOT FOR SOME REASON

AND HE SPENDS SO MUCH TIME WITH HER

AND SEEMINGLY CARES A LOT ABOUT STRANGERS

OH THEY WEREN'T STRANGERS AFTER ALL?

THEY WORKED IN THE SAME PLACE

Just no.

Uh oh.

Am I in love with him?

The boy I'm in love with is in love with another girl

I was just home from school after screaming "DON'T LIE TO ME!" at my guy bsf (The boy I'm in love with)

He claims to just "care" about her but WE ALL KNOW HE STILL LIKES HIM FOR EVERYTHING SHE DID TO HIM FOR SOME REASON

I had excema that made my skin MAD GOOEY and I looked like a walking zombie

I'm in love with someone so stupid and reckless for some reason

I do, also have a mental condition (but they told me I'm too young to be on meds so- 😁🙏)

I have no right to be mad that he cares about that girl because I'm not his partner

I HATE HIM I HATE THIS PLACE (I grew a twinge of hope when I realized I was in love with him)

I, too, was not immune and never made it out alive (academically), meanwhile HE was immune and EVEN THE CURE. EVERYONE NEEDS HIM EVERYONE WANTS HIM I HATE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH (Crank Newt, probably)

My guy would probably be the first person to murder me atp

I wrote him a letter (like, seriously) about how I'm happy that he was my friend and I genuinely wished him to be happier.

I'm in love with a boy that's in love with another girl.

OH Newt I love you so much 🫡 you deserve to live, even if you didn't make it to safe haven

[axvoter]

Update on my Review VII (WA 2025): Stop Pedophiles! Save kiddies!

Perhaps the most entertaining review to write during this WA state electoral cycle was that of Stop Pedophiles! Save kiddies! [sic] and there is yet more to say about them. As with my first review, I will refer to them as SPPK for convenience.

First, I noted how utterly anonymous the SPPK’s candidates are, with most listed only by initial and last name. Some scouting around has enabled me to identify at least a couple of them. One appears to be Radomar Kobryn-Coletti, who in 2019 claimed to have no commitment to any political party even though he worked in a role churning out far-right memes for the Facebook page of Fraser Anning, one of our most bilious senators of recent years (in a crowded field!). Kobryn-Coletti is down in 11th, while up in 3rd is an A. Middleton: this is Andrew Middleton, who is active in far-right “freedom” circles.

Middleton appears to have not gone ahead with a projected independent candidature and joined the SPPK instead. He has an Andrew for WA Facebook page, which, among some extreme stuff including “vaccine injury” covid conspiracism, includes a link to an already-defunct Independents for WA page. You can still view it via the Wayback Machine: here’s one version promoting him in January; and an updated version promoting a bunch of people that appears to have gone offline mid-February after the deadline to nominate for the election passed. It seems he was going to co-ordinate far-right independents, including some now associated with Group M, and others who haven’t stood at all.

Neither Middleton nor Kobryn-Coletti suggest anything good will come from the SPPK—and the party’s how-to-vote cards (HTVs) confirm this. They have registered a bunch of HTVs with the WA Electoral Commission, most of them after I drafted my original review and queued it to post. The page with all HTVs is here; use the filter options to select “Legislative Council cards by party” and scroll down.

They’re very rough HTVs, some of the most basic and crude I have seen, and they coalesce around messages for tougher punishment of paedophiles and greater police funding. WA last year passed new legislation to toughen and extend police monitoring of known sex offenders in the community, but this evidently isn’t far enough for SPPK, who appear to oppose any sort of community release for people convicted of sex crimes against minors. They would mandate life sentences for murdering police officers, despite the fact that removing discretion from judges can lead to negative outcomes and undermines the independence of the judiciary. Some of the HTVs specify that the SPPK would fund a police task force to the tune of $5 million annually, plus another $1 million for victim support groups; they do not explain how they came to this total and what gaps or shortfalls they seek to address with it beyond “moar cops!”

Not all their HTVs are emotive “protect kiddies” calls to action. It seems they’re using HTVs as their one way of disseminating policy. You won’t be surprised to learn they’re transphobes who insist on a gender binary, for instance. Although they’re passionate about protecting “kiddies”, they don’t seem to be a fan of young adults and think of them as ungrateful layabouts: they want to compel all Western Australians aged 18–22 to either serve in the Army Reserve or the Department of Fire and Emergency Services so that they can “become Heroes not victims”. This is SPPK’s idea of a bushfire policy! Another HTV states a housing policy: scrapping stamp duty for anyone over 60, ostensibly so they can downsize and free up family homes in WA. I can’t see this having any unintended consequences or being exploited in the slightest! (hoo boy I can)

Predictably they hate “the Greenies” and “their mad energy policies”, they want to ban all wind farms, and they support continued mining and gas exploration. The best of their HTVs on this theme claims “Greenies and the Left hate the family 4WD”, which, look, guilty as charged: I loathe motonormativity (car brain), desire much greater modal choice, and endorse policies that deprioritise cars in favour of public and active transport for a whole host of reasons. Giant road beasts in urban areas are dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists, they cause much greater wear of road surfaces, and they barely even fit into parking spaces, so, yes, tax them into oblivion. Instead, the SPPK want to slash the state diesel tax and they seem to be afraid that not just catering to the whims of 4WD drivers will send us back to using goat carts.

Some HTVs, such as this one, have an odd emphasis on getting things done in the first 100 days after the election. This “first 100 days” malarkey (which from my understanding has been borrowed from US political discourse) seems to be growing in popularity in Australia and NZ as a way for parties to suggest they are serious and for new governments to show they have entered office purposefully and are Doin Thangs. What it often means in practice is rushed policy with inadequate expert oversight or community input.

My favourite, though? The fat cats HTV, which depicts a fat politician with two cat heads. It uses the Democrats’ old “keep the bastards honest” slogan and suggests SPPK will be “an angry dog in the game”. Personally, I’d rather cool heads in parliament, not angry dogs—or people who cynically drum up fear about crimes against children to advance a far-right agenda.

Edit, 7 March: see a second update here

[quinnfebrey]

annie lennox calling for a ceasefire during the grammys but being completely overshadowed by taylor swift announcing the release of some new songs is like an onion headline except it actually happened

[psychotroniccity]

RIP to The Pillows. Seeing them live was a top ten concert experience.

[imyourcomputergame]