In which the pond discovers that Dame Slap and Craven opinions on certain matters are objectively funny ...

The pond loves the smell of a Pope in the morning, and you can catch more of a whiff by heading off here.

Well that's the monstrous stupidity of big Mal and jolly Joe done and dusted for the day, and the pond didn't have to type a word, because a Pope image is worth a zillion.

And so to other matters, and why was the pond surprised?

Shades of Ming ...

Menzies intended to announce the commitment on Thursday, 29 April but he had first, for domestic consumption, and to enable SEATO 'obligations' to be vaguely invoked, to ask the nominal South Vietnam Prime Minister, Dr Phan Huy Quat, to invite the Australian battalion. Quat had still not made the invitation when a report that Menzies was to announce the commitment appeared on the morning of 29 April. The Australian Ambassador, David Anderson, finally extracted the invitation and cabled it to Australia at 5.30 pm, three and a half hours before Menzies was to speak. Menzies said: 'The takeover of South Vietnam would be a direct military threat to Australia and to all the countries of South and South-East Asia. It must be seen as part of a thrust by communist China between the Indian and Pacific Oceans...' (reptile it here).

Meanwhile, domestic wars continue apace, and the commentariat are still much besotted and vexed by the Heydon matter.

The pond had thought it would have been settled by now, but clearly Heydon has embarked on either a lengthy attempt to construct an impregnable legal defence, or is scribbling the longest farewell letter in recent RC history.

This has led to a pre-emptive strike:

And naturally the quisling Marty was rolled out for inspection:

Meanwhile, away from the Cain and Abel routines, punters might have been misled by the trolling Dame Slap:

Your average punter might mis-read the troll and think the Dame was saying there was simply no way to defend Heydon.

Uh huh. But surely the mention of Triggs was the clue, and on we roll:

Now there, in a nutshell, is a delusional possum. The pond has, in its time, kept the company of lawyers, and the notion that they should be above politicians is risible in the extreme.

For a start, look at this handy percentage of lawyers in the ministry, as outlined in this graph found here:

There's an infestation of lawyers, up there with Sydney cockroaches. And if you head off here, you'll find even more evidence of the plague.

There's something about lawyering that's equivalent to property developers in Sydney running for council ... presumably to get the money for a decent wedding that shuts down the street.

But back to the Dame, and how much have you got riding as a bet on the way lawfare would score a guernsey:

Well the pond never pretended the dame wasn't biassed and bigoted, and could be relied upon to act like a cheerleader of the juvenile kind.

Strange, seeing as how she trained as a lawyer, you'd think she'd be above mere idle politicised cheerleading of the humbug kind ...

And so to the coda ...

That kind of judge?

What, the one who can't seem to make up his pond, and as the pond scribbles, is still dillydallying and delaying? A delay which in and of itself alone is indefensible ...

And now anyone who has made it this far can feel entitled to a rest.

Only the tough need to keep going when the going gets even tougher than Dame Slap, but the pond is doubling down today because, as noted, the commentariat are much vexed, and so we must move on to a Craven opinion on the matter before us.

Does anyone have some spare cash on hand to back the short odds that the royal commission which has given the Catholic church such a hard time will come into question?

Don't flash the newsbreak to the pond you gherkin, flash that newsbreak to Dame Slap. You do realise you've just alleged that Heydon has a positive attitude to the government's position on unions and the ALP and that his role is therefore rampantly politicised?

You know, that's what " ... it will appoint someone at least broadly positive to the exploration of the topic at hand" implies ... as if to say the fix is in, and to think otherwise is "objectively funny"?

So how does an understanding of that lead to confected outrage?

Ah well, never mind, because it's about time for a Craven expression of confected outrage in relation to that other Royal Commission ...

With barely a whimper of protest? Why the Catholic church, its functionaries and lackeys, have been routinely bleating about the Royal Commission for months ... it's just that not many are listening.

But to purport a concern for the victims, while deploring a performance by a priest, verges on the contemptible, though some might also think it's as objectively as funny as Helen Lovejoy running around moaning 'won't someone think of the children.'

Some things speak for themselves, and the conflation of Heydon, McClelland and McClellan speaks volumes ...

It's about time for a cleansing cartoon, and as always Rowe obliges.

Who'd have imagined jolly Joe as a carny? The pond usually thinks of him as a used car salesman, but by golly, the carny image suits him to a T. (And more Rowe here).

And now because Anal probe has been banned - though we all know what the lizard people get up to - the pond has had to settle for a much milder meme:

And speaking of memes, the pond has only just caught up with this one:

Surely that's an elaborate fraud, you say. With all this talk of racism, could it be that there will be no mandatory skills assessments of electricians?

Well why not head off to read the clean copy at Government not to assess Chinese Electricians' Skills.