He was spooked by the ring camera and was trying to cover his face and open the door at the same time. Mum was delayed in looking at her phone by about 5 minutes as she was asleep so he was long gone. Hopefully sometime soon he gets into the wrong house.
I must confess, MBB, that I find myself really angered by what your mum had to endure. And other older folks in our community confronted by similar. When a society cannot care for its aged and infirmed (and children) properly, there is a major problem.
If the state govt doesn't come good with an increased police presence, and knowing how ex military folks think, we may well see vigilante groups pop up.
Council advised us we have to erect and maintain signage at our property saying we have a Dog and the signage has to visible from the entrance to the property. We also asked our lawyers a while back when attending to another matter and they said while not breaking any laws or being enforceable its advisable to have clear signage and the Dog restricted to the back yard. Problem we have that being a very large male German Shepherd our dog while not classified officially as a dangerous dog is stereotyped as an aggressive breed and has less leeway if an incident was to occur and we have to be very careful with him. In Victoria the law states: The law expects you to act proportionately to the threat and stop using force once it’s no longer necessary. However, once the threat is over—say, the intruders run away—it’s not lawful to chase after them and attack like a dog would do. The law expects you to act proportionately to the threat and stop using force once it’s no longer necessary. Which in the case of Dogs becomes a grey area, if there is no one home, your little Maltese terrier or plump lab is probably going to have a nip at the intruder then call it a day but a GS, Rottie, Doberman, Akita etc are going to keep going until the intruder escapes or either subdues the dog or the reverse... Any severe or fatal injuries is probably going to end up badly for the dog especially if the intruder was unarmed or under adult age plus you could be facing a civil suit with claims against you for owning and training a dangerous animal.
Makes sense and fair enough.
There is an element of responsibility for those of us who own a large dog with strong protective instincts. Recipe for disaster when a big dog is owned by irresponsible folks.
Our gal has been socialized, trained and came from a reputable breeder. I believe her bark and/or presence at any window is plenty of a deterrent. And a deterrent is far better than anything that is a step further. Our critter even qualified sufficiently to have our home and contents insurance costs reduced to the same as if we had an alarm system!
Still can't believe you can't protect your own family on your own property. Seriously, if people come onto someone's property with an intent to commit a crime common sense says you should be able to defend yours with zero legal repercussions.
100%. Personally, I don't give a rusty fck what the law says... Anyone entering our home or property with ill intent has forfeited their rights. Only ever happened once to us many years ago -- think I've mentioned it here previously -- our Doberman sent him packing - the dopey pr1ck moved quicker (to get over the back fence) than Gout Gout.
Shawny, I suspect you may have bought into the HUN puerile and simplistic assumption that it was 'lefties' who threw the rocks. That's called shoehorning events to suit your own political agenda. FA to do with left, right, middle, up down... whateverthefck
I didnt buy into anything simply quoted what the police minister said in his press conference which was so refreshing to see someone stand up to these lowlifes and call them out.
As others have said enough is enough. The politicians are weak and compulsive liars and the current lot are simply incapable of fixing the mess they caused. The machete bins fiasco says enough of the incompetence of those we elected to run the state (well i didn't but enough did unfortunately) - they focus on topics to win votes and fail to address the important issues. Our state is being overrun with criminals, majority out on bond, no repercussions for violent protesters against the law as well as the effect of letting tens of thousands of immigrants in weekly with too many that don't want to assimilate to our customs and worst part is when they commit a serious crime they is stuff all to deter the next lot from offending. Lack of mental health facilities to monitor and house those who should not be on the street. That poor chef that was stabbed in the city last week for no reason was just sickening.
Like your work, Shawny. You call it as you see it - gotta respect that. And you identify many legitimate concerns and problems.
**warning, corporate cliche coming** Let's 'drill down' into the important issues you raise.
1. Politicians. Former Liberal Party minister Don Chipp once commented that the Australian Democrats were there to 'keep the bastards honest.' He was the AD's inaugural leader after leaving the Libs. Today you'd call him a 'moderate' or 'progressive' conservative. Eventually the AD folded. Seems 'keeping the bastards honest' is a lost cause. Looking to politicians for courageous leadership is bound to result in disappointment. The Libs. Nationally and in our state of Victoria, they're a rabble with the inevitable happening - the Far Right and Moderates are at war with each other betraying their founders' vision, especially Bob Menzies. But they are doing more than betraying Bob (a one-eyed Bluebagger by the way), they are letting down the nation and state, respectively, by failing to provide a viable alternative to the incumbents effectively handing them the keys. Absolute power corrupts... bla bla bla.
2. Machete bins. Oh dear. A pale attempt to emulate Howard's moratorium on firearms and their voluntary surrender. Abject failure to address the root causes of too many angry youths taking to the streets with violent intent, though locking up more of them now will help... a little bit, for a little while. I'll throw in a left field item that I believe contributes to youth crime (and serious mental health issues)... divorce. Back in the 80s and 90s many folks in the mental health field identified that young males in particular would be future problems owing to being, simply put, under fathered and over mothered. Sheesh, it's tough enough for an 'in tact' family to raise one child, let alone two or more on your own! Then you have the issues that Principal LODS identified in the lower socio-economic, welfare and crime families/groups - a hapless revolving door. What are we doing, on a meaningful level, to address this?
3. Protests. A reminder that it was the 'left' that created the term 'non-violent protesting' ...in the 60s. The Spotted One (LP) was probably closest to the pin with his comment about the professional, angry, malcontents who infiltrate peaceful demonstrations and in this case, hurl rocks. FA to do with the Left, everything to do with d*ckheads. This is not a recent occurrence, been going on for decades but now with sensational news reporting it does seem the state is being overrun by crims. It's a problem for sure, but over and agenda driven reporting, clouds and exaggerates the very real problem. As an aside, a mate who served with me in the Navy on leaving the service went into commercial TV in Sydney and was telling me only recently how in news rooms (TV and print) the footage would come in from a protest and they would edit the coverage in such a way that the focus was on scuffles, and worse, greatly exaggerating the extent of any violence.
4. Immigration. Holy mackeral I recall the same racism/xenophobia in the 50s against the poms ('The $10 immigrants'), 60s, 70s and even 80s against Greeks, Italians and Middle Eastern immigrants... then to Indian and Asian folks, and so on it goes. This is nothing new, Shawny. Seems to be spliced into the DNA of some folks (Xenophobia).
5. Mental health. Yes, closing facilities and farming out folks with serious (and sometimes dangerous) mental health issues back to families and the community is a tragic, urgent issue. Mr Kennett has a fair bit of blood on his hands in this regard. And this very real problem is still a long way from being dealt with properly and well.
Police minister interview was very stern in condemning the Far left wing throwing glass shad missiles at police while the far right protesters were congratulated on following the rules. Hmmm arent the right wing aligned with being the violent ones?
The police minister sounded fed up and at breaking point putting up with these twits.
Goverments that refuse to accept any accountability and dont have the brains to do something productive to arrest the slide have turned our once great state into a debt ridden lawless violent crap hole.
Shawny, I suspect you may have bought into the HUN puerile and simplistic assumption that it was 'lefties' who threw the rocks. That's called shoehorning events to suit your own political agenda. FA to do with left, right, middle, up down... whateverthefck.
For a far more accurate and relevant assessment of who may do these things, read Principal LODs' insightful contribution above... with an open mind.
I, too, have worked in the system but not for 40 years as Principal LODS did, I only lasted just over a month at Winlaton young female offenders detention centre. These girls were disaffected, disenfranchised (for many of the reasons Principal LODS mentioned) and mostly, also, sexually abused. And generally speaking they fell into three categories, they were either angry, and as a result very violently antisocial ...or totally withdrawn, self-destructive and suicidal... or had a serious mental health issue, or three (schizophrenia/bi-polar/panic disorders/PTSD etc.).
When your solution to youth street violence is to build more prisons, and keep building more prisons, doesn't that tell you that prisons are not the solution for young offenders?
Why did I only last just over a month? Well after listening to the horrors stories of sexual abuse from the girls, in considerable detail -- took a couple of weeks to earn their trust, they knew I really did care -- it was just too much. Broke me/triggered my own PTSD. So I knew I wasn't suited to the job.
Hey brother and sister Baggers, my charity has Patty Kinnersley as our key note speaker in the next couple of weeks at our MENtal Brekky held at St Pats Ballarat. Any pertinent questions my fellow Baggers?
Bravo on this initiative, Hanwell.
I know I have a question (or 15) but am curious as to what Patty will be speaking on. Our Watch (Patty is CEO) seems focussed on violence against women and children and MENtal seems focussed on fathers with a mental illness. I would be really interested on Patty's perspective as to why the number one cause of death in men under 40 years is suicide? Is there a very concerning relationship between men with a mental illness and domestic violence? What initiatives are available in the Greater Ballarat Region for men with a mental illness?
As you probably know I work and have worked for a few decades in mental health, particularly male mental health with a focus on addiction, leadership, PTSD and anxiety disorders. I'd be happy to have a chat with you on the dogger... feel free to PM me.
Keep up the great and important work. Cheers... Baggers.
I think that taking sides is the problem.... Why does there have to be a side. Both 'teams' are right into the blame game here, and both lay the reponsibility for the assassination at the other. On one hand there is a fair bit of "He got what he deserved", "Live by the sword etc" from one side, and in reponse to that the other group is taking these comments and "naming and shaming" and as a result putting a target on their backs.
I suspect there's also a fair bit of doubt about some of the things being posted online, as tampering with video and photograph has reached a new levels of deception, especially with some of the AI stuff we're seeing. It's hard to know what is real and what is not. It's hard to know whether quotes attributed to people are accurate, or half truths....or just made up to make them look bad.
A lot of this still seems a bit odd and the full story of motivation, or whether there were others involved is still to be determined.
We tend to think of this 'left' and 'right' debate as a straight line spectrum To me it's more like a "ring" On one side of the ring are sensible people with open minds and a fair bit of tolerance to opposing points of view. You can go 'left' or you can go 'right' but eventually you'll reach the other side of the ring...and that's where the 'haters' and 'nutjobs' live.
Now ya talkin' Principal LODS.
When we're glued to, or rusted onto, a political ideology we'll shoehorn just about any event, instantly, to suit our heavy bias/prejudice. And in the 'fullness of time' likely come out looking like a goose.
While we continue to think in general terms of 'left' and 'right' there will always be this conflict. I find the language on both sides of American politics equally deplorable as individuals are vilified to the point where some crazy loon takes these actions.
Yep. Tribalism.
The sweeping generalization stating that the 'Left' is celebrating the assassination, is just plain silly. There are enough sad individuals about the globe who are so detached from humanitarianism that they'll delight in the violent demise of those who's political or religious ideology is different to theirs - but they really are in the minority, though in sufficient numbers to make a noise and embarrass us all.
But, as very well pointed out by PaulP, if you focus on the assassinations in human history you'll find that the political far Right extremists have perpetrated many more political murders, by some margin, of 'peacemakers.' In fact, as far back as one notable 'lefty,' J Christ, and other prominent religious figures who dared to preach peace - the cads! Not to mention the Kennedy's, Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin... and the list goes on.
Any murder of any human being is a tragedy, wrong and devoid of justification (self defence is not murder). We humans have still a very long way to go to embrace living in peace together.
Absolute classic, K. Jim put himself up there with George Carlin when he did this 'guns' routine.
Though I will disagree with you on one point, K (though I do get the point you're making), plenty of people with guns kill people without guns. And people so inclined to harm others and can't get ahold of a gun will use a knife or machete... or death cap mushrooms!
He has shingles and wasn’t sleeping. He heard a noise in their apartment just after midnight. He went to investigate, taking a weight training object with him and confronted three men, one with a crowbar and one with a screwdriver.
They retreated down the stairs and all four ended up in the basement. Mick managed to take the crowbar so it was one vs three but the one had two weapons to one. The intruders were trying to get out but couldn’t open the door. Mick got them away from the door, opened it, and allowed them to leave. As they ran past, the bloke with the screwdriver struck Mick in the chest, causing a small wound. Although Mick didn’t say so specifically, I got the impression that he was giving them Larry Dooley with the weight training object (he described it as a heavy rubber-covered metal bar that he was given when he was playing for St Kilda) and the crowbar. Not bad for a 72 year old!
Mick did say that the crooks would have been in real trouble if other residents had been home.
When I did self defence training, our instructor said never pick up a weapon because the crooks may get it and use it against you. However, I suspect Mick may have been in more trouble if he had been empty handed.
His wife is traumatised. I had a friend who had his home invaded, keys taken and car stolen. Whilst they were upstairs and werent confronted, and only woke up when they hear the car driving off, his wife hasnt been the same since (this was years ago). Its utterly abhorrent.
I really feel for your friend's wife, and Nanette. The feeling of such horrendous violation, resulting in trauma, aint easy to recover from. Every human being has the right to feel safe in their home and place of work, especially.
There is an alarming decay in many global cultures and states. With international wars (Ukraine/Gaza etc.) being almost normalised and Neo-Nazis rearing their sinister heads, again... hot on the heals of the severe isolation experienced by many folks during Covid at it's height, never has there been a greater need for real leadership. And when we look around at many leaders of countries and states... Oh dear.
Whatever personal motives and feelings people may have on this issue, all the studies and data that I can find make it pretty clear that more guns = more violence, more deaths and less safety.
I think the point was that these louts will one day target the wrong house with the wrong people in it (lets say people of equal or similar vocation) and yes there will be blood but it will be theirs that's spilt. I for one will piss myself laughing. The state of lawlessness in Victoria is a disgrace and something needs to be done. Bail laws need to be revised as matter of urgency for a start as many of these animals are young, repeat offenders in and out of the revolving door justice system we have. Nuffs enuff.
Personally, I've opted for a couple of European Dobermans. Pussycats with us, not so friendly to uninvited guests!!
The rise in violence in Victoria is alarming. But it's not restricted to our state. It's on the rise nationally and even globally.
The Browning 9mm was the first weapon I learnt on in the Navy. Then the SLR17. Then a Remington 700 for Marksman training. But once moving to communications/encryption stuff I had no further use for weaponry. My brother, however (who also served in the Navy) has an impressive safe with serious long guns - all legal of course. Ex military folks often have appropriate training and psych evals to qualify as 'responsible' owners.
But I agree wholeheartedly with Pauly who is 100% right re the availability of guns in the community - more guns, more fatal problems. With a shocking reduction in public safety.
Happens a lot now, we know several people who have had intruders...its getting like South Africa and the USA. Only a matter of time before intruders picks the wrong home. As for these protesters, they block roads, delay emergency services and prevent police from doing other more urgent work by having to babysit these idiots often getting injured performing their duties. Need heavier penalties, Jailtime or a one way ticket out of the country to where ever these problems began.
I have two security guards and my place, John Browning and Pietro Beretta.
