The Sharps Shooter

The Sharps Shooter rants

by Padadoz Mahone

Radio Silence

Opinion piece

These Assholes Are Shameless

Opinion

Prohibition Was A Really Shit Idea

Opinion

Most of us can admit that we’re not perfect. That we’ll sometimes come up with some bad ideas that go horribly wrong; that time I tried to drunkenly wee off the side of a cliff, for example. Luckily, it wasn’t a very big cliff, and the ambulance arrived quickly.

Occasionally, some genius dreams up a solution to a problem that goes so spectacularly badly, that it ends up making things much worse.

Like when the Australian government introduced Cane Toads to stop beetles eating the Queensland sugar cane crop, only to unleash a biblical-level plague of unstoppable, poisonous bastards that have eaten several native species to extinction. Even when cane toads become food themselves, these arseholes so toxic, anything that eats them will certainly die.

Which brings me to Prohibition. The American one, when between 1920 and 1933, the government banned the production, sale, and drinking of alcohol. The road to prohibition started many years before, in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Back then, The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League fought to improve the lives of women and children by addressing the poverty, squalid conditions, and violence they believed was caused by the "demon alcohol".

They prayed and they marched, and they marched and prayed, and when that didn’t work, they fought dirty. One of their leaders, Carrie Nation, “Hatchet Granny” as she was known, became a household name after she smashed the shite out of several saloon bars with a tomahawk. As they got more powerful, the WCTU campaigned for the complete prohibition of alcohol.

And they won.

On the 17th of January, 1920, prohibition became law, and the shenanigans started. US President Herbert Hoover wrote that “Our country has deliberately undertaken a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose."

In reality, the great and noble experiment was a total shit-show.

The problem with the plan was simple; it was complete bollox! Prohibition was meant to address the havoc that booze was wrecking across America, but instead it was a licence for moral crusaders to wage war on anyone they saw as a threat to the fabric of white, protestant America.

Immigrants were particular targets for these anti-booze Zealots. The Irish, Germans, and Italians ranked way up at the top of their hitlist, although Catholics, African Americans, Mexicans, the poor, and people that lived in big cities were also seen as weak and corrupt sinners, and fair game!

Immigrant communities, who mostly lived in cities, and whose use of whiskey, beer, and wine were at the very heart their cultures, were considered little better than drunken savages.

Prohibition was supported by the “Drys” in many rural communities, but it was hated and widely ignored by the “Wets” in the cities. At the height of prohibition there were over 30,000 illegal bars, known as “Hooch Joints”, “Gin Joints”, or “Speakeasies”, in New York City.

So many people went to Speakeasies, they were considered the “worst kept secret in America.” There were big clubs, small clubs, back room bars.

Clubs called "black and tan" clubs where blacks and whites drank together, although these clubs were the exception rather than the rule.

Even the most famous club at the time, The Cotton Club, kept black performers and the white audience apart. Owney Madden, (whose nickname was "The Killer), the Irish American boss at the Cotton Club, made a fortune from illegal alcohol, and unusually for a gangster of the era, lived to spend it in his retirement.

But he wasn’t the only one to get rich selling “hooch”. Prohibition was a great time to be a gangster. Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel, and Frank Costello were just some of the gangsters that built empires from bootleg alcohol.

It was a service that people wanted. Capone once said, "All I do is supply a public demand... somebody had to throw some liquor on that thirst." To some, Capone was a hero, he was free with money, set up soup kitchens for the unemployed, and swaggered about in a big white hat, like a fucking 1920s Kardashian.

Of course, when he wasn't engaged in these acts of civic duty, he was murdering anyone who crossed him, with extreme brutality. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was down to Capone.

To be fair, there were some unintentional upsides to Prohibition. So many illegal bars and clubs sprung up, that prohibition helped create the Roaring '20s.

Women got more freedom, leading to what has been called, “the first sexual revolution”, jazz transformed America and how black Americans were seen, at least in the underground club scene.

To hide the shitty taste of poorly made bootleg booze, cocktails, and cocktail parties became a thing. Drinks like the "Bees Knees", an absolute classic made from gin, honey, and lemon. Or the "Last Word": gin with Chartreuse and maraschino cherry liqueur, which was born at the Detroit Athletic Club in 1922.

Literature, and the arts boomed. F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, sells 500.000 copies every year to this day, nearly 100 years later.

But as a means to curb alcohol use, Prohibition was a complete failure, which caused more problems than it hoped to fix. It made criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens. Poorly made bootleg booze poisoned, blinded, and killed countless people.

Job losses in the alcohol industry caused mass hardship and meant less tax revenue to tackle it. The government's inability to collect taxes on alcohol made the problems of the Great Depression even worse than they would have been otherwise.

Prohibition bred widespread corruption among law enforcement officials and politicians who were bribed or stood over by bootleggers. Organised crime and the violence that came with it flourished, and the death count was staggering.

This absolute shambles of a policy was repealed in 1933, although some states continued to ban alcohol for many years afterwards.

There’s an American saying, “There is no learning in the second kick from a mule.” We make the same mistakes, and we get the same outcomes, play the same stupid games, and win the same stupid prizes.

Today, drug prohibition and the War on Drugs, make all the same mistakes. In this new war, the battle lines are still drawn on race, income, and perceived morality. It’s a war on people, and there are many casualties.

Some solutions are just worse than the problems they mean to fix.

My first attempt at micro-learning cards

Will We Be Good Ancestors?

 The vote is counted and lost. 

The Voice referendum gave us a chance to show that our nation is willing to face the dark parts of our history, and begin to address the inequalities of modern Australia. That we see through and reject the lies of small people intent on holding us back. That we can hold our heads high as a people our descendants will be proud of.

When it failed, we failed. Instead, we have broadcast to our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, and to the world, that we are a country of craven fellows. A small people that our children's children will look back on and shake their heads in disbelief and shame.

Instead of reaching for a bright future, we’ve cruelly clung in fear to the dark shadows of the past. We've voted for racial bias, for dire health outcomes for Aboriginal people.

It is a statement that their struggles, rooted in a history of injustices, are best addressed by others, better able to understand them than they themselves can. That white Australia believes Aboriginal people do not deserve a say in their own lives. 

 And where to now? Now that the mean-spirited, spiteful trolls like Pauline Hanson and Peter Dutton are encouraged by their victory? 

They know now that their lies work. Lies like when they said a yes vote would mean having to give up your home, that Aboriginal people will have the right to overrule parliament, that you'll be made pay reparations, and most absurdly, that the UN would take over Australia.

 They know now that the people will shit on their Neighbours to keep hold things that they were never at risk of losing. 

 We must be better than this. The best that we can be. We must do all we can to become good ancestors.  

Constitutional implications of Indigenous Voice proposal; could pill testing save lives? Audio

The Great Leap Forward

Change can be scary. Especially when the change hasn’t been explained very well.

So far, throughout The Voice Yes campaign, the government has been rubbish at explaining what is, and more importantly what it is not.

The Voice is an opportunity for recognising the perspectives of Aboriginal people on issues that affect them. That’s it! Just the ability for Aboriginal people to say, “that’s sounds like a good idea, but have you thought of…..”

The lack of a strong, clear message from the government has left a vacuum, and as that Greek guy said, “nature hates a vacuum.”

When there’s a vacuum in political messaging, when one side is silent, the other side will fill it. Unfortunately, the other side in this case is very much personally invested in the referendum failing.

The other side I’m talking about are those old, white conservatives that long for the good old 19th century days when people knew their place, and anyone getting uppity would be slapped down faster than a street urchin could scurry up a chimney.

Those conservative elites who believe that improving the lives of others will diminish their own. Especially as they see those lives as undeserving or getting above themselves.

The same conservatives, reading from the same handbook they have for generations. 

Look at some other progressive changes which happened despite them. Progress which would have happened earlier and easier, if it hadn’t been for these jerks making things harder than they needed to be.

Women's suffrage, civil rights for black Americans, marriage equality. In each of these instances, the no-to-change side spouted the same untruths, fabricated the same moral panics, and made the same dishonest calls for unity. All to try and retain the status quo. That being them having all the power.

In the early 20th century, the campaign against women's right to vote and stand for parliament was rife with misinformation and fearmongering. Posters appeared stating that women didn’t want the vote, there were warnings that empowered women would destroy societal harmony.

That men would be emasculated and reduced to second class citizens. And they thought that these lies would silence the calls for change.

It was, of course, all bollox!

At the 1909 Epsom Derby, the English suffragette Emily Davison gave her life for women’s voting rights when she ran onto the racetrack and was trampled by a horse owned by king George V.

Emily died not long after., and as a political gesture, the horse, named Anmer, was banished to Canada.

Emily, like her fellow suffragettes, had been imprisoned, force fed with tubes, bullied, humiliated, and hounded in society. Her enemies said she was an outlier, the exception that made the rule.

They were very, very wrong.

Emily’s funeral parade stopped central London. Thousands marched, and there were ten brass bands. Her coffin was draped with purple silk banners which proudly showed Joan of Arc’s last words: ‘Fight On and God Will Give the Victory’.

And they did get the victory, eventually.

Women were not allowed to vote in general elections until 1918, and then only those over the age of 30. They won the same voting rights as men, only in 1928.

No one today would seriously advocate preventing women from voting, even if they do think it.

Just like back then, the opposition to The Voice uses rhetoric that implies upheaval and division within the nation, trying their hardest to stoke fear among the voters.

Andrew Bolt, a second-rate journalist, first-rate shit-stirrer, and convicted racist, bemoans division, trying to make us believe that he wants us all to be one, together.

Bolt’s record of anti-Aboriginal commentary couldn’t be clearer that unity is the farthest thing from his mind. Yet he knows that he can't just come out and say it.

Bolt’s message is parroted by radio thing, Alan Jones, a poisonous goblin creature who should have been jailed for stoking anti-Muslim violence in Cronulla in 2005. And, sadly, that is the only message that many are hearing.

Now I'm not saying that all those who will vote No, are racists, but all racists will vote No. And this fake call for unity gives them the cover they need to scupper The Voice and pretend it's out of good will.

During the civil rights movement in the United States, the No campaign used lies and exaggerations to spread fear about racial integration and equality.

Opponents argued that desegregation and equal rights would lead to violence and chaos, manipulating public sentiment to halt progress.

The No case for The Voice echoes these tactics, misrepresenting the proposed changes as a threat to stability and national unity.

More recently, the campaign against marriage equality here in Australia, peddled nonsense about traditional marriage and alleged that allowing same-sex couples the same rights as straight couples would end society as we know it.

 Barnaby Joyce, our one-time deputy Prime Minister, and the enemy of celebrity dogs, pleaded with the public not to jeopardise the sanctity of marriage, while carrying on an affair with one of his staffers. When he got her pregnant, he dumped his wife and children like a hot brick, but not before questioning whether the child was his, implying that it could have been anyone’s, as his girlfriend was a bit of a slag.

The government called a sham, non-binding vote on marriage equality, which they thought would keep the status quo. They badly misread the room.

The vote carried, and showed without a fragment of doubt that the people were all for change.

Even so, when it came to the actual vote in parliament, some conservative politicians ignored their constituents wishes and voted against it anyway.

And it really was a massive win. If it had been an election, the Yes campaign would have won all but a handful of seats across the country, as well as every state and territory.

The opposition to The Voice uses the same strategy, bullshitting concern for national unity and traditional fair dinkum (Christ, I hate that saying) Aussie values while reinforcing division, and dismissing the unique needs and perspectives of Aboriginal people.

They also push the line, “why should one group have this direct line to government when no one else does?” I call BS on that! The lobbyists all have it: the miners, the property developers, the newspaper tycoons. The difference is they pay for it, and usually get what they want.

Historical and contemporary campaigns against social reforms, whether women's suffrage, civil rights, marriage equality, or The Voice, share common threads. They weaponise the distortion of truth, they fabricate moral panic, and deceitfully call for unity which they do not really want. Or more accurately, they really do not want.

These tactics are aimed at upholding existing power structures and stalling progress towards a more just and equitable society.

When you realise that this is their game, you'll see that they don't really care about anything but clinging on to power. They’ll lose in the end. Their time is running out. Even if they win now, they will lose eventually. In the end, they cannot halt the great leap forward.

The War On Nangs

In another missed opportunity, the UK gov is choosing the wrong target. Nitrous oxide is waaaaay down the list of the drugs that pose real risks in the UK. What’s the real game here? Surely the gov can’t be so ill-informed that they are declaring war on whipped cream? Ian Dunt reckons the real target is young people.

Twenty seven years after he was Tupac Shakur was shot, someone has been charged with it.

MSIR in Scotland

Scotland has a shocking overdose rate: multiple times the rate in England. The Scottish government has approved a supervised injecting room, and about time. there are now well over 100 supervised injecting rooms in Europe. A necessary health measure for a health crisis. So why is it so hard to get more here in Australia. We have two, one in Sydney, and one in Melbourne (the Melbourne MSIR is one of the busiest in the world).

Both have been reviewed and reviewed, and found to be successful at saving lives. And contrary to what you read in the Murdoch media, and from Liberal party politicians, most of the locals support them. The primary school next to the Richmond MSIR is often used as a weapon against it by disingenuous commentators, but the school itself is a supporter. They remember what the area was like before the room opened. So good on Scotland.

The Guardian view on Scotland’s drug deaths: at last, a glimmer of sense

The Irish Army Ranger Wing raided a cargo ship off the Irish coast on Tuesday, after warning shots were fired by the Irish Naval Service. They then made the biggest cocaine seizure in Ireland ever, €157m (quarter of a $billion AU). It just goes to show that the Irish love a party. Below you can read a satirical piece on cocaine use in Ireland, from Waterford Whispers News.

Nation Finally Waking Up To How Awesome Cocaine Is

26.9.23. Medical groups push for the promised CBD injecting room. And have been calling for it for some time. I did hear some Liberal party politician yesterday, saying that there’s no evidence anywhere in the world that MSIRs save lives.

What is it that Da Vinci said? “There are three kinds of people in the world. Those that see, those that see when they are shown, and those that do not see.” Though he should have added a forth kind; those that refuse to see even when they are shown.

26.9.23. Former Senator and addiction medicine specialist, Cohealth's Dr Richard Di Natale calls for CBD injecting room. I met him once and he seemed like a nice guy. More importantly, he is, or was an addiction medicine specialist, so he knows what he’s talking about. Not like some politicians that beat their gums in mock-superiority. Why is it near a school, blah, blah, blah. You put health services where there is a health issue.

Oh, and by the way, the school next to the MSIR in Richmond is one of it’s biggest supporters. Unlike some of the newer residents who have moved in since the room was opened, many at the school remember the human carnage around there before it opened.

ABC audio. Melbourne Doctors call for a second supervised injecting room

Community overdose prevention and response in North Richmond