The preeminent legal conference of 2018 – rise2018 relevant/resilient/respected is a prestigious two-day conference to be held at the International Convention Centre Sydney. The conference boasts an impressive speaker line-up that will highlight and profile the excellence of the Australian legal profession with a focus on national and international legal issues.

rise2018 relevant/resilient/respected, three concepts chosen as key to the legal profession dealing with disruption and change within contemporary society.

RELEVANT – the role of the profession in a changing legal, political, social environment and its commitment to law reform and professionalism.
RESILIENT – the ability of the profession to adapt to change and disruption.
RESPECTED – to maintain relevance and foster resilience while ensuring the continued respect for the profession and the judiciary that is essential for the rule of law, which maintains a tolerant, cohesive and inclusive society.

ENDS

Could they have chosen a more irrelevant or less respected star for their show?

As for the theme - "Rise2018" - please God don't let it be so!!!!!

I'll be offline (but checking comments from time to time) for most of today preparing a submission I've been asked to make to the DPP.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/nov/11/money-to-clintons-nonprofit-tapering-20/#.W-jGXsYz8vY.twitter

Donations to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation dropped sharply in 2017, the third-straight year of declining revenue.

Contributions, which peaked during the foundation's major endowment drive, totaled $26.6 million last year, down from $172.6 million in 2014, $108.9 million in 2015 and $62.9 million in 2016.

From 2016 to 2017, donations dipped 57.8 percent.

The financial figures are included in the organization's 990 forms, which are filed each year with the Internal Revenue Service.

The Little Rock-based foundation, which has offices in New York City and around the globe, prepared the document earlier this month and provided a copy to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The endowment, which contained $267,491 at the beginning of 2013, topped $207 million last year, up from $187.2 million in 2016. Most of the increase, $20.4 million, came from investment gains. The endowment received $3 million in contributions in 2017 while classifying $3.7 million in pledges as uncollectable.In a letter, foundation CEO Kevin Thurm said the organization's focus remains on "overcoming complex challenges and improving the lives of people across the United States and around the world."

Thurm thanked the donors "who make this life-changing work possible."

 

Foundation officials had previously attributed the 2016 revenue drops, in large part, to the "closing out" of the three-year endowment campaign, which wrapped up in 2015.

(Contributions in 2012, the year before the endowment drive began, had totaled $49.9 million.)

Fundraising restrictions, voluntarily adopted at the start of Hillary Clinton's second presidential campaign, were another factor, they had cited.

The latest declines were foreseeable, Thurm said in his letter.

With the cancellation of the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, "we anticipated a decline in both revenue and expenses for 2017, largely attributable to the absence of sponsorship and membership contributions for CGI," he wrote.

The event had attracted business executives, billionaires, celebrities, heads of state and philanthropists each year between 2005 and 2016, generating millions of dollars in revenue.

With giving down, staffing also has decreased, from 578 employees in 2016 to 398 in 2017.

 The organization also pared its number of international offices from 10 to four. Spending on overseas activities totaled $15.5 million in 2017, down from $21.5 million in 2016.

Expenses for the Clinton Presidential Center totaled $12.4 million; revenue totaled $1.7 million.

Overall salaries dropped from $37.4 million to $24.9 million.

The foundation listed overall revenue of $38.4 million and expenses of $54.6 million, a gap of $16.1 million.

Net assets on Dec. 31, 2017, equaled $323.5 million, down from $326.7 million.

Thurm was the highest-paid, receiving total compensation of $445,342. Bruce R. Lindsey, a director and former foundation CEO, received total compensation of $407,361.

The former president continues to serve as board chairman. His daughter, Chelsea Clinton, is vice chairman. Both are volunteers and not compensated for their work.

Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, left the board in April of 2015 and has no formal position with the foundation, but continues to attend foundation events and to assist with fundraising.

All three Clintons were on hand for a foundation event in Chicago in October.

According to the IRS filing, Bill Clinton devotes 20 hours per week to Clinton Foundation activities.

"President Clinton, as board chair and a regular presence in Clinton Foundation offices in New York and Little Rock, has been tireless in working to advance the foundation's programs and impact," said foundation spokesman Brian Cookstra.

"President Clinton is a driving force of the foundation's work -- bringing together leaders from across sectors to help people recover from hurricanes in the Caribbean; launching new solar energy projects; spearheading our efforts to fight the opioid epidemic; hosting emerging leaders at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock through the Presidential Leadership Scholars program; and bringing together over 1,000 students at CGI University in Chicago last month," Cookstra said.

Started in 1997 and originally called the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, the nonprofit focused initially on raising funds to build Clinton's presidential center.

Since the center's completion in November 2004, the foundation has broadened its focus.

Today, the foundation "works with strategic partners to develop and implement programs that create economic opportunity, improve public health, and inspire civic engagement and service," its website states.

In addition to the Clinton Presidential Center, which includes the library and museum, other efforts include:

• The Clinton Climate Initiative, which "develops scalable projects that can be tailored to local conditions while also serving as innovative models for tackling global climate change."

• The Clinton Development Initiative, which helps farmers in Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania to "increase their economic potential," by promoting "best agriculture practices" that increase crop yields and promote sustainability and profitability.

• The Clinton Global Initiative. While eliminating the annual meeting in New York City, the foundation continues to oversee Clinton Global Initiative University, a program for college students.

• The Clinton Health Matters Initiative, which seeks to reduce opioid overdoses and decrease the prevalence of preventable diseases.

• The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which focuses on promoting exercise and nutrition programs for children. The alliance, which was founded by the foundation and the American Heart Association, is independent but received $1.98 million in funding from the foundation in 2017.

• Too Small to Fail, which educates parents and others about early childhood brain development.

Leslie Lenkowsky, an emeritus professor at Indiana University and an expert on philanthropy, said he is "not in the least surprised" by the Clinton Foundation's falling revenue.

Before the 2016 election, "Mrs. Clinton had a chance at becoming president. Since then, she lost. She's likely out of public life. [Bill Clinton's] reputation has been damaged by the fallout of the #MeToo movement, so the organization's not as attractive as it once was," Lenkowsky said.

Despite the downturn, the foundation's fundraising totals remain substantial, he said.

He said "$27 million is a large amount of money so we shouldn't underestimate that. They're still a large organization."

The 72-year-old former president was wise to create the endowment, Lenkowsky said.

"Success isn't going to be with you all the time, and the endowment will at least give you a bit of a cushion," he said. "If your fundraising plan is 'President Clinton's going to visit someplace and the money's going to come in,' it's not going to last forever," he said.

It's important for the foundation to begin thinking about the long term, he added.

"Nonprofits over the years are usually started by people who feel passionate about what they're doing, who are deeply committed to doing it. But such people really need to find a way of institutionalizing their passion and enthusiasm so that when they leave the scene, for whatever reason, there are other people that can pick up and run the foundation efficiently," he said.

Sunday on 11/11/2018

NSW PHON Sydney’s Future by Michael Smith on Scribd

Here's the video of Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan saying he is declaring his gender "to be a woman" so the left-wing people can no longer "attack" him over his anti-abortion views. pic.twitter.com/YzbOCWp0YC

— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) November 14, 2018

Thanks to reader KM for this tip on the very up to date Wikipedia.

Barry's family must be very proud.

Another triumph for ACT Policing.

They've issued an urgent appeal for help to identify the offenders who vandalised a Jewish building … but their identity is suppressed to protect their identity.

Do you know these four people?

You can find the media release here 

https://policenews.act.gov.au/news/media-releases/police-release-images-suspected-giralang-jewish-centre-vandals

And the four suspects are on ACT Policing's Twitter feed in all their pixellated glory.

The writer wants to remain anonymous, the way the SAS likes things.  

He served 14 years in the ADF, 9 years as a Royal Australian Regiment infantryman and 5 years with the Special Air Service Regiment. 

When I served in Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment one of our main roles was Counter Terrorism or CT.  Although we held domestic CT responsibility our focus was on overseas terror threats.  The reason was simple - that’s where the terrorists were. We were prepared for attacks on Australian soil - but there weren’t any.

That’s no longer the case.  Australian governments have imported the types of people we used to deal with offshore.  Jihadis are embedded throughout our community. Our Border Protection Minister says 400 people living in Australia pose a terror threat to us.  ASIO reports it has 400 “high priority” counter terrorism investigations underway.  The threat is real, it’s here - but our first responders aren’t ready for it.

The Bourke Street tragedy last Friday offers us some important lessons.  Dozens of bystanders took out their phones and video-recorded the attack and the police response.  Those videos are frightening - but they should also be a catalyst for significant change.

Based on the video I’ve seen, my post-engagement report would go something like this:

Upon arrival two first responder police saw a tall and powerfully built military-age male of Somali appearance, dressed in traditional Islamic clothing.  He was adjacent to and had apparently alighted from a utility vehicle was was fully engulfed in an unusually fierce fire, suggesting the presence of accelerants and possibly explosives.

At least one lifeless male person lay on the street in a pool of blood.

The target male immediately adopted an aggressive posture toward police.  He was armed with a bloodied knife and he charged at and attempted to stab the two police officers several times.  One bystander intervened using a shopping trolly in an unsuccessful attempt to knock the offender off his feet or distract him - presumably in the belief that police would act to neutralise the threat.  The bystander at one critical stage was knocked off his feet and onto his back laying unprotected and vulnerable to knife attack on the pavement.

The confrontation between the Somali male and police continued for what appeared to be about one minute.  For most of that time police were backing away from the terrorist, often walking backwards on a road with tram tracks and other obstacles. Police did not engage in aggressive action towards the offender until the last few seconds of the encounter.

During the initial stages police adopted an open-armed, non-threatening posture towards the male.  Only the most direct attempts by the offender to stab police were deflected - otherwise police were seen to back away from the armed man.  In the initial stage of the encounter police did not draw weapons.  One officer took cover behind a shoulder-height garbage receptacle.

The offender responded by escalating his aggression towards police and members of the public nearby.

During those first 30 seconds or so the offender was unrestrained.  He was free to use both his hands.  He had attempted to stab police - but both police, although themselves armed with semi-automatic Smith and Wesson .40 pistols retreated from the offender.

In the final stage of the contact one officer continued to attempt the deflection of repeated knife thrusts using an extendable baton.  At the last moment of the encounter one constable fired a single shot from his pistol at point blank range, apparently aimed a the “Centre of the Seen Mass” - or the centre of the target male’s body.  That single shot hit the offender in the chest.  He remained on his feet, grimaced and clutched his chest while he was upstanding for a period of about 1 second after being shot.  He then turned his head to his rear, looked at the pavement, went down first on one knee/thigh and then lay flat on the pavement with his legs outstretched - all the while demonstrating cognition and muscular control.

Those observations describe a textbook example of how not to respond to a Jihadi terrorist who is obviously committing an act of terror.

The burning vehicle should have alerted police to the probability of a large and powerful improvised explosive device.   The Jihadi had chosen the CBD of one of our largest cities on a busy Friday afternoon.  A large Improvised Explosive Device in the vehicle would have caused devastating casualties.  

Police should have presumed the Jihadi was concealing a “suicide vest” packed with high explosives, nails and other shrapnel.  Police allowed this Jihadi about sixty seconds where he was free to use his hands on a triggering device.  That’s an unforgivable error for a counter-terrorist operative.  

Good luck, not good management saved Melbourne.

Those police were brave and dedicated.  But their operating procedures are designed to deal with traditional Western crime.  Terrorism is a different ball-game.

Special Air Service counter terrorist operatives are trained to fire a double-tap - or two consecutive rounds in quick succession - not into the centre of a terrorists body, but directly into his head.  My aiming point was always between the eyes.  It’s essential that once a terrorist is engaged, all brain function should cease.

I’m told that police are trained to “shoot to stop” with their target point the “centre of the seen mass”.  That’s appropriate for a policing response to traditional crime in a civilised society - but it’s a dangerous and deadly response to Jihadi terrorists.

I’m not criticising the individual policemen who were on the spot last Friday.  As far as I can see, they responded to Hassan Khalif Shire Ali’s Jihadi attack on Melbourne by doing precisely what they’d been trained to do.  But that could have had devastating consequences for them and the hundreds of people around them.

The young constable who shot Ali provided a copybook example of someone who’s remembered his training perfectly.  One shot to the man’s middle.  That’s why police training needs an urgent and aggressive overhaul.

Our SAS CT units are trained to shoot terrorists in the head for a reason - to eliminate the threat very quickly.  We understand Jihadi tactics, motivations and intent. Police in Victoria obviously do not - or they’re so restricted from acting realistically they hesitate to conduct themselves effectively.  In terror attacks that can cost innocent lives.

In a situation like that faced by police last Friday there can be only one safe response.  Aggressive engagement with the offender and at least two shots into his head.  Immediately.

That might be asking a bit much of civilian police who qualify on their firearms once a year.  But that shouldn’t stop police from adopting a much more aggressive stance towards Jihadis like Hassan Khalif Shire Ali 

Decent Australians deserve no less.