In which the pond comes to understand why Akker Dakker has lost favour in the herpetarium ...

The pond has a regular bone to pick with the reptiles and it's to do with the dissing of the venerable Akker Dakker.

This ancient, antique peddler of spite and bile has long lost his position on the front digital page, and has to be content at start of day with a listing inside the digital opinion page, alongside the terrible two - essence of Devine and petulant Peta ...

The pond has already looked at the terrible two this day, but dislikes playing favourites in the herpetarium.

A reptile ignored or demeaned is likely to be even more vicious when tickled ...and there's no one better than Akker Dakker at proving he's barking mad and as spiteful as a spitting toad, or perhaps a llahma. He'll howl at moon and nip at ankle as he pleases ...

It's worth watching this disingenuous Akker Dakker dissembling unfold, because Akker Dakker really isn't interested in the truth of the matter. He just wants to take down Waleed Aly ... and of course Waly is the eternally favourite punching bag for extreme right wing reptiles of the Bolter, Akker Dakker kind ...

Cue the Bolter ...

And so on - it's easily googled but the pond doesn't like linking to the Bolter. It only gives him clicks ... but the pond wanted to feature that Bolter attack because it's so piquant to see it in the context of Akker Dakker's queasy evasiveness this day ...

You see? It was the drink that did it ...

Now whenever anyone led with the notion that Monis and his type were deeply psychologically disturbed and barking mad, and incidentally pathetic and criminal - Monis had a particularly sordid career in criminal activities - Akker Dakker would have none of it ...

The juxtaposition of the Manchester murders with the release of the report into the Martin Place siege reveals the weakness of the Western response to the bloody perpetrators of terrorism. In both cases, the Islamist attackers were well known to the security authorities but for a variety of reasons were not believed to prevent serious threats to the public. Members of the military, police and other security agencies say they are forced to fight with one hand tied behind their backs because of the political weakness of their governments.

But when it comes to a crazy driving a van into a crowd of Muslims, that's a completely different story ...

Ah, so he was driven to do it, it was just a kind of wild justice, a revenge killing. Well, that's alright then ...

Funnily enough Waleed Aly didn't see the point in providing excuses ...

Actually, as the pond has said often enough, it wouldn't mind a lot of this activity was simply called criminal.

Daesh is at heart a bunch of slave-trading, women-abusing, gay-hating looting bandits, corrupt and corrupting, and no better than the old-fashioned pirates of the Caribbean, though cunning enough to pretend that their activities are somehow connected to religion ... (yes, the pond has been dipping into Daniel Defoe's very dry general history of pyrates, in tree killing book form, but available at Project Gutenberg here).

In much the same way George W. Bush pretended to be born again fundie Christian while embarking on schemes to bomb people into democracy and civilisation, only to discover that, for some obscure reason, they slipped back towards the stone age ... as if a bombing wasn't as good as a conversion...

That said, if terrorism is driving a van into a crowd of people with intent to maim and kill, then yes, there's a bunch of right wing crazy terrorists out there, as barking mad as any Islamic or left wing Red Brigade terrorist ...

But strangely, not in the world of Akker Dakker ...

Ah it's back to the booze.

But the booze didn't excuse or explain that cowardly assault on innocents in Portlandia ...

Christian had been a prominent and vocal participant in recent “alt-right” rallies in Portland. At a “free speech rally” in Montavilla City Park on 29 April he was captured on video wrapped in an American flag, giving Nazi salutes. Earlier that day, police reportedly confiscated a baseball bat from him. Local reporters captured him yelling racial slurs and threatening to shoot “anyone who tries to disarm me”. 

Cat Davila, who was among counterprotesters at the rally, said Christian “showed up part way through the event and came striding straight toward the counter-demonstrator crowd very purposefully waving a baseball bat by his side and staring us down”. As he drew closer, Davila said, police “blocked him and took his bat and from then on he just yelled a lot”. 

Christian’s Facebook page revealed obsessive concern with far-right themes. In recent weeks he posted memes and other material attacking “antifascist” protesters who have clashed with various “alt-right” rallies around the country. In the lead-up to the April rally, he posted: “Looking for a couple guys or gals down to unmask anyone wear[ing] a mask at the upcoming Free Speech March”, referring to the anti-fascist practice of disguising protesters’ identities. 

Christian also posted openly antisemitic and neo-Nazi material. On 9 May, he claimed to have challenged Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz to a future debate, in which “I will defend the Nazis”. The same day, he posted “Hail Vinland!!! Hail Victory!!!”, combining a familiar catchphrase that was used at a post-election rally by the activist Richard Spencer.

And so on - more at the Graudian here. 

Around this point, the truly barking mad will contend that this was left wing terrorism, because you know National ... Socialist ...

That's about the level of logic, empathy, care and understanding Akker Dakker delivers this day ...

So a man drives a van into a crowd of people intending to maim and kill, while shouting political slogans such as "kill all Muslims", and that's different to a man driving a van into a crowd of people intending to maim and kill, while shouting political slogans such as "kill all infidels".

Only in Akker Dakker's world. What a loathsome, repugnant old reptile he is. Some might even mistake him for a cane toad, which is possibly why even the Terrorists have felt the need to hide him in a back corner of the herpetarium ...

You have to be truly weird and deeply fucked to seem more deeply weird and alien than Miranda the Devine and petulant Peta ...

As for Ali, he can look after himself. The pond can never forgive him for associating with Scott Stephens, but his full piece is at Fairfax here, and this is how he ended it ...

Indeed, indeed.

Conclusion? It's as if Akker Dakker is determined to make Aly appear intelligent and reasonable, in contrast to the blathering of a loathsome old toad who should head back to the tuckshop as quickly as he can ...and munch away on stale doughnut of bigotry and hate ...

Well terrorism not being an easy subject for laughs, the pond thought a few old cartoons might soften the sour taste of stale Akker Dakker scones  ...

Oh and this mood lightens the mood too ...

Harumph. And we've been far too lenient on that invasive tribe of southern walri which is quite ruining sweet Antarctica ...