Alas, the Peta bump proved to be an illusion - putting her in a late arvo slot took the wind from her and the pond's sails - and so the pond thought what the hell, Archie toujours gai, why not start with an existential shriek of pain from the lizard Oz editorialist, just to mix things up a little and avoid starting with that valiant warrior, the hole in the bucket man ...
Oh indeed, indeed, the shameful, shameless bludgers.
And yet the reptiles have a devoted, fearless leader, and here the pond must toss in an immortal Rowe right away, though really it's tossing a great image into a sea of tedious tosh ...
As usual there's more here but back to that reptile howl of pain ...
Oh indeed, indeed, it's truly shocking and the pond is appalled, and hasn't the foggiest idea why indecency has been redefined. Perhaps a Golding to help the lizard editorialist deal with the pain?
And with that comedy out of the way, back to the usual, which is to say the hole in the bucket man in full flight and handing out white feathers in style...
Better still, there's nothing like starting a history lesson, Henry style ...
Why, in his own humble way, our Henry is sounding very Douglas Macgregor, which is why the reptile decision to insert a cartoon as a distraction at this point should be noted ...
The pond hates the thought of this sort of cartoon leaking out from behind the paywall, but there it is, as our Henry carried on ...
Indeed, indeed, meanwhile, back to that popular show, Cucker Tarlson and the Colonel ...
And so on, but then the reptiles decided to insert a click bait video which will surely strike terror into the eyes, hearts and minds of everyone within a thousand mile radius ...
By golly, Henry was in top notch form this day, what with von Clausewitz, stygian gloom and Thucydides, but how lucky he could ignore the way the calls were coming from inside the house ...
Funny really when you think of Israel's convoluted position at the moment, almost as convoluted as that of the Hindu fundamentalists and crypto fascists currently in charge of India, which leads to a pond bonus ...
Hmm, but the bromancer was all in on the Quad and not so long ago ... back on 9th February scribbling Quad democratic bloc most powerful alliance in decades (for those who can bypass the paywall). The bromancer's celebratory piece began ...
Why all the blather about Lithuania? Well there's more to say about that than India's response to the current situation ...
The Spirit of the Quad? Just like the Ghost of Kyiv?
Is that like believing in the Holy Ghost, cuckolding Mary, or perhaps Father Xmas?
Truly the reptiles manage to dish up some astonishing metaphysics on a daily basis ...
And so to the infallible Pope of the day, with the Pope also looking a little unnerved ...
This morning's Mr Ed: "Some of the anti-Morrison narrative is an artifact of partisan politics in the lead-up to an election." Yep, Mr Ed's hed-writer is absolutely right: "Something has changed, and not for the good" because we've never, ever had such artifacts of partisan politics in the lead-up to an election ever before anywhere in Australia, have we. So all the bullshit spread about Shorten back in 2019 was just good old-fashioned honest non-partisan reporting, wasn't it.
ReplyDeleteBut the start of "Some of" leaves it quite certain that "some of" it was just honest criticism of an incompetent PM. The thing I'm a bit curious about is who wrote today's utter tosh - it would have to have been the Doggy Bov, yes ?
Can I help out here?
DeleteA man who looked more nervous and suspicious than he normally does, our Deputy PM was on 7.30 a couple of nights back attempting to explain how things were not that bad. "We didn't get it right, but you learn" he said referring to the flood response.
That's right, he didn't say it about the fires of 2019, because to do so would suggest, intimate, and even propose, that the last time they "got it wrong", that they did, in fact "learn" and were prepared for 2022. Let's see, the warnings (uncovered by Rex Patrick through FOI) that arrived on Morrison's desk in Nov 2021 suggested a very wet summer ahead. So, did they use their "learnings" from 2019's botched response, and put contingencies and strategies in place? Who knows, perhaps they did, and we just missed it.
But as a gambling man, I'm going to say they didn't. They didn't learn. They didn't make contingencies. They didn't plan.
Not to worry, you'll be able to support their efforts with a vote in 8 weeks or so eh?
Hmmm. They may have learned, vc: didn't we see SloMo going around trying to boss people who really didn't want to into shaking hands with him. But this time he left Jenny at home so nobody complained about them not having any "manners and respect".
DeleteSo they'll definitely vote for him, and Barners, in 8 weeks time.
Daniel Hurst in the Guardian:
ReplyDeleteKitching, a Victorian senator since 2016, was one of the driving forces
for Australia to adopt Magnitsky-style laws allowing the country to
introduce targeted sanctions against foreign officials.
Tell me I'm not the only one that suspects foul play DP
Have come a little late to this day’s revelations - have been travelling (remember travelling?), but could not leave the hole in the Henry unplugged.
ReplyDeleteWars, particularly of the ‘modern’ period, are studied by military ‘academics’, but in so may other disciplines there are remarkably few serious studies of wars. For example, a couple of studies of the lingering environmental effects of WWII (not including the atomic bombings) have been met with scorn by others who work in the area, because they do not expect environmental considerations to appear in the decision framework of generals. Indeed, just this week Corporal Canavan has been urging us to load more coal into the campaign against Russia.
There are a few publications on the economics of war. Perhaps the most interesting perspective came from Mancur Olson’s ‘Rise and Decline of Nations’. Generally, established economists have avoided writing about matters like how to finance a war in a democracy - especially the ones who advised governments on how to do that - because the success of initiatives like ‘war bonds’ tended to undermine the supposedly conventional wisdom of how to let ‘market’ economies provide all things to all people at the best possible prices - and reduce taxation.
But -to the Henry. I have tried to find a source for his sweeping ‘That has always been the problem with sanctions: once they are fully in place, their devastating impacts on living standards change neither the marginal costs and benefits of further aggression nor the situation on the ground.’
I cannot see an established economist believing that heavy sanctions would not have a substantial impact on the marginal cost of aggression. Emphasis very much on ‘marginal’. This can be a tricky area, but Joan Robinson set it out in simple terms. Perhaps the Henry rejects Joan R on ideological grounds - or perhaps she is proscribed by the Reptile internal computer.
Economic sanctions can have a substantial impact on the marginal returns to an aggressor - the prospect of gaining resources often luring large armies into further campaigns to bolster the sagging economy ‘back home’.
Perhaps I am the one who has drifted out of touch, but the Henry says it has ‘always been the problem with sanctions’. If so, it has always been a secret.
Two points, one the obvious that The Oz is the only(?) publication to not use hyperlinks in their articles, even when referring to articles in their own publication. We would all have our own theories on why this is so, but top of the list would have to be, that when you link to another source, people can easily check - eg Kenny and his fires in 1847. I am quite prepared to believe that there were fires in 1847, just not that they were the worst ever.
DeleteThe other is how your commenToryat is into instant gratification - if sanctions don't work immediately, they won't work at all (similarly with emissions reduction). What would Freud have to say, as they say in the classics.
Hi C,
DeleteI think this would count as both an environmental and economic effect;
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/world/europe/belgians-share-their-land-with-world-war-i-reminders.html
DW
Thanks DW. I had used-up my NYT 'freebies', but found a workaround. Usually a sign of good writing originally. Yes - setting about remediation of hundreds fo square miles of what was prime agricultural land is an undoubted economic effect. Wonder if Putin actually knows anything about farming grain in that prime Ukraine land?
DeleteJoe - thanks for your second point. Very interesting. I had not considered that possibility, but it is quite plausible. Again - part of the pleasure of coming to this site - some great lateral thinking.
ReplyDeleteSort of a variant of 'instant gratification syndrome' maybe ? Which apparently is related to 'impulse control' which I haven't seen much of in the behavioural repertoire of reptiles.
Delete