#stoush

[batshit-auspol]

Today's daily dose of Batshit Australian Politics comes courtesy of Australian Senator Bob "Gay Crocodiles" Katter (yes that one) who today picked a fight with the Australian parliament cafe, which he refused to leave until they accepted a $50 bill as payment instead of a card/tap.

Although staff at the cafe offered to just give Bob his meal for free, he refused to leave until they took the cash. The stoush was eventually settled when a manager was called in and agreed they legally have to take Bob's money.

“Your plastic magic won’t work without electricity" Bob told the press afterwards, "and without cash you’ll starve."

The national newswire AAP sent out the story today with this incredible line and photo attached:

Staff offered to give Mr Katter his fish for free, but he remained hungry for justice.

[lizardsaredinosaurs]

Being a fish with hands is certainly useful when getting into a stoush with those nasty invasive starfish.

Spotted Handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus)

Derwent River estuary, Tasmania, Australia

Status: Critically Endangered

tip me @ ko-fi

[zahri-melitor]

If you want some of the more colourful idioms used in Australian politics and the definitions of them, in case you're trying to read any coverage of our upcoming election, The Guardian has your back.

Which can be important, because we get creative.

For instance, Albo while doing a podcast with The Rest is Politics last week got asked to slow down because he was chatting about dixers and got asked to define what a Dorothy Dixer was to an international audience.

(A Dorothy Dixer, or dixer for short, is a question asked during Question Time by a backbencher from the government, directed to the government. It's done to allow the relevant minister to spruik how great a policy or issue is. Don't know what spruiking is? See the above article!)

[tf2emporium]

New Sniper Collection, Stoush Merchant! Vote now on Steam Workshop This collection was created by: Square (https://steamcommunity.com/id/GRND_CTRL) GetGrenade (https://steamcommunity.com/id/getg)

[engineer-gunzelpunk]

170 Years of Flinders Street Station (and railways in Victoria)

On 12th of September, 1854, Flinders Street Station, the oldest railway station in Australia was opened.

On that same day, the first ever trip on a steam engine was made departing Flinders Street to Sandridge (Port Melbourne) by the Melbourne And Hobsons Bay Railway Company.

The engine itself was a local built 2-2-2 Well Tank engine that took 10 weeks to build as locomotives ordered from Robert Stephenson and Co of England were not going to arrive in time.

She broke down a lot and services did not resume until Christmas of when the English locos Unfortunately she was not preserved and it is unknown when she was withdrawn and scrapped.

The Victorian Railways were created by an act of Parliament shortly after in 1856 and started operations in 1859; absorbing the Melbourne and Hobson Bay Railway Company and other private companies that had sprung up

Flinders Street Station both preceded and outlived the VR when it was split into the State Transport Authority and the Metro Transport Authority in 1983 and privatised in the 90’s.

Flinders Street Station itself beyond its function as a train station terminus holds a vital place in Melbourne’s culture. You ask anyone in Melbourne to meet ‘under the clocks’ and they will know what you mean.

There was, and still is, a popular ‘70s style black and white photobooth there that was operated for 50 years by a gentleman called Alan Adler, who sadly passed away yesterday, RIP.

Jess Norman and Chris Sutherland (above) now run the booth.

Flinders Street Station was a popular hangout for youths, but not so much these days.

Two Sharpies at Flinders Street Station sometime in the 1970s.

Did youze all know that Flinders Street Stations has a full sized ballroom?

Yeah.

It was originally a lecture hall for the Victorian Railways Institute, a school the VR had for educating enginemen. But it blossomed into a multiuse space that included a billiards room, a gym and a boxing ring, even a running track on the roof.

The VR in the ‘60s would hold public dances here as well. What’s less known is that few of these dances were Rock ‘n’ Roll dances where Oz’s Rockers/Greasers would gather, and the first generation of Sharpies would gather outside and taunt them and it would turn into a stoush.

*tucks this tidbit away for some VR humanisation AU stories featuring Rocker diesels and Sharpie steam engines*

It’s in a bit of shithouse state at the moment, but hopefully it will be restored in the future.

Here’s to you in your 170th year, Flinders Street Station… several months late but still kind of fitting since we are celebrating 200 years of railways this year.

[qnewsau]

Boy George and J.K. Rowling clash on trans rights

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/boy-george-and-j-k-rowling-clash-on-trans-rights/

Boy George and J.K. Rowling clash on trans rights

Gay pop icon Boy George has clashed with J.K. Rowling, in the latest online stoush involving the anti-trans Harry Potter author.

In a spat on social media platform X, George challenged a claim that actor and trans ally Pedro Pascal, who recently criticised the author’s views, was a misogynist for defending trans women against Rowling’s attacks.

“Stop this nonsense that if you don’t agree with @jk_rowling, you hate women,” the Culture Club frontman wrote.

“She hates men. This is where this truth lies. She cannot differentiate between a ‘trans’ woman and a biological male,” George said.

Stop this nonsense that if you don't agree with @jk_rowling you hate women. She hates men. This is where this truth lies. She cannot differentiate between a 'trans' woman and a biological male. Which is weird with her imagination? https://t.co/t4pCDzm2TM

— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) April 26, 2025

Pascal’s trans support

George’s defence of Pascal follows several public shows of support for trans people by the American-Chilean actor.

Most recently, Pascal, who has a trans sister, called Rowling a “heinous LOSER” on Instagram, after she celebrated the UK Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not women.

In February, Pascal posted a photo on Instagram depicting a sign that read: ‘A WORLD WITHOUT TRANS PEOPLE HAS NEVER EXISTED AND NEVER WILL.’

He has also proudly worn a t-shirt proclaiming: ‘PROTECT THE DOLLS’.

The slogan in support of trans women went mainstream after it featured on a white t-shirt by American fashion designer Connor Ives at London Fashion Week early this year.

Proceeds from the t-shirt, which is now produced at scale, support North American community group and crisis hotline, Trans Lifeline.

Pedro Pascal wearing a ‘PROTECT THE DOLLS’ t-shirt. Photo: @InStyle/Facebook.

Rowling hits back

Hitting back at Boy George, J.K. Rowling responded with an eyeroll emoji on X.

“I’m married to a man, George. I do not hate men,” she wrote.

She went on to conflate statistics around male perpetrators of sexual assault with trans women.

“I simply live in reality where men – however they identify – commit 98% of sexual assaults, and 88% of victims are female,” she wrote.

“Trans-identified men are no less likely than other kinds of men to pose a risk to women or girls.”

Rowling provided no source for her figures – but British LGBTQIA+ news website Pink News said they appeared to relate to statistics released by the Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, which report that 98 per cent of sexual assault arrests in the UK involved men.

Rowling did not elaborate on how the figures bore any relation to trans women.

For the latest LGBTIQA+, Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Find us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.

[itsjulesharper]

Love In The Air - Three Act Structure

A while back, I wrote a tweet thread on the story structure of MeMindY’s popular BL series, Love in the Air, specifically how romance-as-plot is used.  Here is that thread:

I half-witnessed a Twitter stoush a few days ago, which prompted me to post a thread, and now, this post.  

A bit of background - someone was tweeting about how much they loved BL drama Love In The Air (13ep series on iQiYi and Viki), and Twitter being Twitter, someone yucked their yum and bitched about how it basically had no plot. *sigh* so here we go, my 2c on story structure and how it applies to Love In The Air (it’s a breakdown of Payu and Rain’s story, which is the first 7 eps. Prapai and Sky feature in eps 8-13).

Fact: BL are stories about love. It's literally there in the descriptive, "boy love". No love? No plot.  By definition,'plot' is a series of events that happen from beginning to end. And here's the thing - romance-as-plot has been around for centuries. It's the backbone of the billion-dollar romance novel industry. Just because there's no dead body, or people running from bad guys, or world disaster, or vampires taking over the city, doesn't mean there's no plot. The romance IS the plot.

Romance in BL is a must-have. Imagine picking up a murder mystery novel and not getting a murder or a mystery. A crime story with no crime to be solved. A romance novel must have A ROMANCE: two (sometimes more) people meet, encounter obstacles to their love, overcome their issues/obstacles, fall in love, admit love, end up happy. That's it. It's as simple and as complex as this. So let's apply storytelling structure to Love In The Air and see why it fits perfectly into the romance genre.

Act 1 (Set Up) Ordinary World - Our main characters are doing their thing in their normal, everyday world. Hot seme Payu is racing bikes, doing architect stuff and working in his garage. Bratty-but-cute uke Rain is a 1st year architecture student, crushing on a disinterested girl. Payu is a senior at Rain's school and a bit of a legend. All the students are heart-eyes for him, and that pisses Rain off.

Big Picture Question - will Payu and Rain fall in love and end up together?

Call to Adventure - Payu makes it clear he fancies Rain.

Refusal of the Call - Rain does not want, plays hard to get.

Acceptance of the Call - Rain and bestie Sky break into a private street race event, Payu rescues him. This pisses Rain off and now he wants to show his classmates Payu isn't all that. Tells Payu he will make him fall in love with him.

ACT 2 (All the Stuff Happens) Crossing the Threshold - with Payu accepting this challenge, Rain is now part of Payu's world.

Learning the Rules - Payu lays down the ground rules if Rain wants to see him - no cursing, call or text before showing up.

Mentors/Allies/Enemies - Rain's bestie, Sky, plus his school mates. Payu's bestie Prapai, and his bro, Saifah, plus the garage workers. Bad guy, Stop. And Chai, the 2IC for the rich street racer owner.

Trials/Failures/Successes - Rain has to swallow his pride and follow Payu's rules. Rain steps from his comfort zone and publicly declares he's pursuing Payu. Rain stops focusing on school, fails to submit an assignment. Payu chastises him for neglecting his studies. Rain works hard and finally gets praise for an assignment, and Payu is the first person he wants to tell.

Point of No Return - Rain's reward for his hard work is intimacy, praise and lovemaking. Payu accepts Rain can 'stand by his side'. This is further emphasised when Rain (a submissive uke) takes a more dominant role in the bedroom (btw their love scenes are fire)

-----> Story midpoint <---------

Escalation of Intimacy - talking, sharing of thoughts, ideals, emotions. Rain makes the first move with intimacy/kissing. Is no longer bothered being known as 'Payu's boy.' Also known as ‘removing the armour’ which is where our lovers are relaxed and trusting of the other enough to reveal the inner emotional stuff -  secrets/dreams/hopes/trauma etc.

Oh Shit Moment - Rain is abducted by asshole Stop, which is revenge for having lost a bike race to Payu. Payu is forced to bow, is beaten up and it looks like our heroes won't get their happy ending???

Act 3 (New Improved World)

But Then, Victory - Chai to the rescue, Stop is stopped (ha!), Payu and Rain are saved.

Return to the New, Improved Ordinary World - Admission of love between Rain and Payu. Rain publicly declares Payu is his boyfriend in front of all his friends. Big Picture Question is answered and PayuRain get their happy ever after.

So there you have it - boys meet, overcome their emotional issues, fall in love, face challenges, admit love, finally get a HEA. This is a classic romance story in a nutshell.

FYI, I developed these 3 Act stages using a combination of Christopher Vogler's A Hero's Journey, and Michael Hague's 6-Act story structure. They are both experts and veterans in story telling structure.

[monriatitans]

ARTIST SHOUT-OUT #517

Monday, December 4, 2023

"Mecha Brawl" by Alexander Shott

SOCIAL MEDIA

ArtStation Portfolio

ArtStation Post

LinkedIn

**Don’t forget to give Alexander Shott a follow!** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like what you see? Click here to subscribe for updates! The Artist Shout-Outs are given to human artists to combat AI art theft. #createdontscrape For more details, and to view previous ones, click here! See the piece on ArtStation here! See where else the Artist Shout-Out has spread here! See the original Artist Shout-Out post to Instagram here! The shout-out choice was inspired by the Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Day: stoush; to see the definition, click here!

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Kane Cornes Is The Biggest AFL Media Leech

The AFL media feeds on the game like flies around a dumpster. Kane Cornes is the biggest AFL media leech in a blood sucking environment. These guys make their money from stirring up crap from rumour and hearsay. They try to make themselves relevant via offending actual players, coaches and stake holders in the game. Their opinions are no better than the bullshit you might hear down the pub. He is not alone, however. Scurrilous muckraking merchants, like those on Channel 9, are infantile in their attempts to portray themselves as investigative journalists. It is laughable, this is football guys not the fate of the nation.

AFL Media Personalities Feed On Crap & Feed Us The Same

Photo by Genaro Servín on Pexels.com Poseurs on their silly footy shows big noting themselves and their tawdry parading of scuttlebutt as fact. The AFL media is a reflection of the stupidity of Australia’s obsession with sport. Kane Cornes is the biggest AFL media leech among this collection of bottom feeders. These ex-players are, often, sponsored by sports betting corporate bookmakers. So, not only are they feeding us shit they are involved in taking the money off many folk as well. Promoting a losing strategy to the fans, which associates the game with betting. Endorsing the commercial exploitation of AFL via the popularity of their faces. “Footy is a billion dollar business in the 21C. It is about time for the northern and western states to get their fair share of representation in the AFL media. Pull up your socks Fox and the AFL. It is time to expand and extend the AFL culture, as portrayed in the media. More Indigenous es-players, more women, and more non-Victorians. We, the fans, are sick of listening to Melbourne-centric viewpoints. Melbourne centric Fox Footy sucks.” - (https://www.golfdom.com.au/melbourne-centric-fox-footy-sucks/) Kane & Abel AFL Ramifications The truth is that these ex-players voice their loud opinions about a game they no longer play. For many of them, the progression of AFL has gone past them. Very few of these overpaid talking heads actually had the courage to coach and be accountable for their footy smarts. No, their volumes of hot air, expressed in TV studios, remain untested by anything real. They pollute the purity of a great game with their unrelenting commentary. Murdering the basic excitement of the contest with endless chat. It never bloody stops; it is like diarrhoea from the mouth. You cannot watch an AFL game without the assault of these boofy blokes unless you turn the sound down. Expert commentary, my arse, it is a travesty of opinion over anything close to factual. Speculation is the main flavour of the telecast. All this talk creates a narrative and these AFL media personalities all repeat each other’s talking points. Thus, fictions and opinions become fact in the minds of those having to listen to it. “Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge and Channel 7 commentator Kane Cornes have been involved in a heated pre-game verbal stoush. Beveridge was walking towards a Fox Footy interview around the GMHBA Stadium boundary line ahead the Cats-Bulldogs match on Thursday night when cameras captured him and Cornes – a Port Adelaide 300-game player – exchanging words. “The Western Bulldogs’ relationship with Channel 7 has plunged to new lows,” Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph told Fox Footy.” - (https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/western-bulldogs/afl-news-2025-luke-beveridge-vs-kane-cornes-verbal-stoush-video-before-geelong-cats-vs-western-bulldogs-match/news-story/162a01dc3a0d54c1b7fd6acfbefb3757) Kane Cornes Paid To Court Controversy Kane Cornes is the shock jock of the AFL media – the fearless flinger of mud that invariably sticks. Beating up stories to fill the air waves with. The AFL echo chamber rings with his shrill opinions. His premature judgements rain down upon the game, the players, coaches and administrators like a case of Bali belly exploding from the bottom. There is a premeditated desire to inject faux melodrama into the off field exchanges between stake holders in the game. To make something out of nothing again and again. The morons among us eat it up like fried chicken in a brightly striped box. Fast food fat drips from this stuff to a heart’s demise. Kane Cornes is the biggest AFL media leech. Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer, & America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump. ©GolfDom Read the full article

[learnmaart]

Malcolm Turnbull ofrece un insulto mordaz de una palabra al ABC, ya que las consecuencias sobre Trump Stoush plantean temores de repercusiones de aranceles drásticos Malcolm Turnbull ha criticado al ABC, ac https://learnmaart.com/malcolm-turnbull-ofrece-un-insulto-mordaz-de-una-palabra-al-abc-ya-que-las-consecuencias-sobre-trump-stoush-plantean-temores-de-repercusiones-de-aranceles-drasticos/

[t-jfh]

Day one: Rioters are released from prison.

One of Trump’s first Oval Office orders was to release supporters who’d been jailed over the US Capitol riot of January 6, 2021. Trump told prison authorities to pardon almost 1,500 people, and commute the sentences of 14 others so they could be freed straight away.

Day three: Troops are deployed to the Mexican border.

Two days after Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border (having also done this in his first term), the US military began deploying thousands of troops there.

Day 16: Trump says the US should take over Gaza.

Donald Trump declared the US should seize control of Gaza, permanently displace the Palestinian population, and ultimately turn the devastated seaside enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.

Unsurprisingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the president’s “fresh ideas”, but elsewhere, they led to shock and condemnation, including from countries across the Middle East and the United Nations.

Trump’s comments came during a delicate ceasefire which his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had helped broker.

Both Jordan and Egypt — which Trump proposed would accept the approximately 2 million displaced Palestinians — rejected the idea, which is also illegal under international law.

Gazans voiced their opposition to the ABC. “This project will fail,” one said. “If the people wanted to leave Gaza they would have left before, currently they can’t, all the people would rather die in Gaza than leave.”

After six weeks, Israel started heavily bombing Gaza once again, shattering hopes for an extension of the ceasefire.

Day 40: Trump and Vance berate the Ukrainian president

During the first month of his presidency, Trump repeatedly criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy was invited to the White House to sign the deal, but the picture opportunity turned into a globally broadcast nightmare for the Ukrainian.

Trump falsely claimed Ukraine invaded Russia, and called Zelenskyy a “dictator.”

Zelenskyy was whisked out of the White House before lunch was served. The deal was not signed and, in the following days, the US temporarily suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with the war-torn nation.

Day 53: A journalist is added to a group chat about military plans.

When defence secretary Pete Hegseth shared attack plans in Yemen with colleagues via a chat app, he didn’t realise a reporter had also been added to the chat.

Many national security experts said the information — including bombing targets and timings — clearly should have been classified and more carefully handled in line with protocols.

Day 55: Hundreds of migrants are flown to a Salvadoran jail.

A day after invoking a rarely used wartime law, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

The deportations set off an ongoing legal stoush and ignited fears of a constitutional crisis.

YouTube video >> U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem records video at the CECOT prison, El Salvador, warning unauthorised migrants it was "one of the consequences you could face" [NPR March 28, 2025 / 53secs.]:

Undeterred, Trump has doubled down on his deportation blitz, even suggesting he’d like to send US citizens to prisons in El Salvador in the future.

Day 85: Trump freezes billions in Harvard University funds.

Trump accuses universities of pushing left-wing and “woke” ideals, and of mishandling pro-Palestinian campus protests.

His administration has made demands that many universities have agreed to under threat of funding cuts.

Stand-out moments from Trump’s first 100 days — and what could come next

April 29 2025 marks day 100 of Donald Trump’s extraordinarily eventful second term as US president. Here’s some of what you might have missed.

By Brad Ryan, Lauren Day, Kamin Gock, Carrington Clarke and Emilie Gramenz in Washington DC

ABC News - 29 April 2025

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[kivikunnas]

‘War of words’: Prince Harry’s stoush with African charity chair Sophie ...

[filmnewsweb]

ICYMI: Kelsey Grammer reveals reason behind 30-year stoush with Ted Danson http://dlvr.it/THkKJ2

[entertainmehub]

Film-News.co.uk Kelsey Grammer reveals reason behind 30-year stoush with Ted Danson http://dlvr.it/THjK0C