in which the bromancer sorts out the defence of the country in time for World War III and the pond sorts out the bromancer with a cartoon assault ...

 

The pond regards itself as a blog of record when it comes to reptile thinking, and it has long seen itself as tending to the bromancer's every thought and whim ...

There was something of a reptile log jam this weekend, but still the pond couldn't let the bromancer go shuffling into the night without some attention being paid ... even if it was by way of a dismal late Sunday arvo slot ...

Part of the problem was that the bromancer did a full nattering "Ned", and while the pond is into reptile bloatware in a big way, this was just too much.

The happy compromise? Run the bromancer's open letter on its own, with just a few cartoons for relief ...

Here's the thing. The bromancer adopts such a smarmy tone, first names and all, and yet everything he's said, he's said before, sometimes at the same interminable length, and that's why the pond was sorely tempted to walk on by ...

Sure he's poured his heart and soul into his open letter, with the third world war due by Xmas, but all that repetition of old talking points. The urge was to shout give it a bloody rest ...

But what about some cartoons to help wash it all down? They don't have to bear any resemblance to the text ...they just have to be distracting ...

The pond still marvels the old loon was given a peace prize, but now refreshed, back to the bromancer arming the country for world war three ...

Fuck knows what that waterfall metaphor means, but there are still some gun cartoons to go ...

That cartoon is almost enough to send the pond off on a rant about a handgun and a vest up against an assault rifle firing armour piercing rounds, and the childish way that westerns and crime dramas have always proposed to Americans that the best way to sort things out is with a gun (though to be fair, with only the third act and a coda to go in a 45 minute drama, how could you fit in a trial and all that jazz, when just taking out the gun-toting villain with a gun provides a tidy resolution, and all those courtroom extras fees can go into the wrap party).

Sorry, sorry, back to putting the country on a war footing ...

Of course the pond readership has heard all this before, the talk of drones and the uselessness of tanks, but the bromancer loves to repeat himself, and in compensation, the pond always has its cartoons ...

The pond has no regrets - all these images of guns are inspirational ... and handy seafood extenders for the bromancer's repetitions ...

Could the pond scroll back a bit, to that "Not likely. But surely possible"? Talk about undercutting your own message. If the survival of the country is at stake, then we must prepare for world war III, no if's billy goat butts, or maybes ...

Stay hard, bromancer, stay firm, refuse distractions. Don't be like the pond, ready to wander off into the field with Toot,  when a stray reader wonders why the pond never mentioned that trial.

Wonder no more ...

Trial done and dusted, and just what the pond needed when doing its prac teaching.

Each time the pond slips in a cartoon or two, the bromancer yarn grows longer, but somehow more tolerable ...

Missiles, tanks, and yet surely what we need is a well-regulated militia, without any regulations ...

Meanwhile, the bromancer is still going into a state of deep despair and funk, further evidence of why the pond settled on a cartoon-led recovery ...

Yes, piss more money against the wall on subs, it's the only solution ... a bit like those pesky doors will provide the answer to defending schools...

At this point the reptiles decided to do their own pictorial, and dropped in a tasty bit of kit to make the bromancer get excited ... only for the bromancer to get agitated, because what we need is new old subs ... or old new subs, or whatever ... not some useless heap of frigging frigates ...

At this point, the pond had reached a final gobbet, but was still hooked on gun-driven solutions ...

It was with great sadness that the pond finally reached the last of the bromancer advice ... sure Dame Slap had been railing about middle class welfare, and our Gracie was insistent we shouldn't spend more than we have, but the bromancer was keen to go on a spending spree of some kind ... except on tanks! Don't mention the bloody useless tanks!

Mike Pezzullo? That doofus? That's when the bromancer fully lost the pond ... 

Despite the emphasis on cyber and emerging technologies, the Department of Home Affairs – a key national security agency with responsibility for domestic cybersecurity – appears to have not played any significant role in landing the Aukus pact.

Pezzullo has had a high public profile this year, in part because of his controversial comments in April warning that “free nations again hear the beating drums” and were “bracing again, yet again, for the curse of war” to protect “our precious liberty”.

There was also speculation earlier this year that he might follow his former boss, Peter Dutton, into the defence department, where Pezzullo served earlier in his career. (Graudian a lot more here)

The bromancer might think a mutton Dutton man is the answer, but the pond believes that its cartoons have have pointed to a well regulated citizens' army ready to defend the homeland ... and then we can end up just like the United States ...