In which the pond keeps sinking into the mire of depravity. Can it get any lower than this? Not likely, it's like a bolt from the blue ...

 

There's no guessing the depths of depravity to which the pond might sink in the next few days, given the self-imposed requirement of having some featured precious bodily fluid content, snatched from beneath a Murdochian paywall ... but for the moment the pond can still impose a few limits.

The pond had contemplated sinking into the primordial squalor of a Miranda the Devine piece, but her harping on Hunter brought the pond up short ...

The pond could have gone there, but it simply couldn't go there ... an addled loon scribbling about an unfortunate addled loon?

There was still fun to be had in the darkest parts of the empire, as with this outing by Tuckyo Rose ... (no link, the pond never links to chairman Rupert's outlets, no more than it would never have linked to Der Stürmer ...

REPORTER: The biggest seller at the Elmsford Smoke shop these days are the vaping products, but a close second is menthol-flavored cigarettes.  
SMOKE SHOP OWNER: I think it’s a basic human right to buy flavored cigarettes if they want. 
REPORTER: Owner Anna Yao says menthol products have always been popular. It’s why she keeps them displayed behind the cash register next to the regular cigarettes, but soon Anna may not be able to sell any of those flavored butts.  
SMOKE SHOP OWNER: Very difficult. Very hard for us.  
REPORTER: The FDA today proposed a plan that would in fact ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, saying the actions have the potential to significantly reduce disease and death. As for Anna, she hopes the FDA will reconsider so her business can survive. 
SMOKE SHOP OWNER: It's really hurt my business.
TUCKYO: What's so interesting is the lady you just saw was clearly not from this country, she doesn't speak regular English. She's obviously an immigrant. Her first response is, "Well, buying the kind of cigarettes you like is a human right," and she's absolutely right. She probably moved here for that reason, but boy, do they hate tobacco, and it's not because it causes cancer. They don't care about your health. They closed the gyms during COVID. Anyone who closed a gym during a pandemic that kills people who were fat clearly doesn't care about your health at all. They hate nicotine, they love THC. They're promoting weed to your children, but they're not letting you use tobacco or even non-tobacco nicotine delivery devices, which don't cause cancer.  
Why do they hate nicotine? Because nicotine frees your mind and THC makes you compliant and passive. That's why they hate it. It's a real threat to them. New legislation in New York would raise the cigar tax. "Some people die from cigars." It's 75% now. In New York, the tax on cigars will be 95%. Guess what  tax on weed is in New York? 13%. "Oh, have some more weed. No more nicotine for you." You should also know that New York has also banned the use of plastic straws. Now, why did it ban plastic straws? You know, there's a reason for this, but we can't remember what it is. To be fair, neither can Kamala Harris.  
ERIN BURNETT, CNN: Do you ban plastic straws?  
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I think we should, yes. I mean, look, I'm going to be honest, it's really difficult to drink out of a paper straw when you have — if you're just — like, if you don't gulp it down immediately it starts to bend and then, you know, the little thing catches it and you know, but, so we've got to kind of perfect that one a little bit more. Let's encourage innovation and I think we could do a little bit better than some of those flimsy plastic straws, but we do need to ban the plastic. 

Yes, Tuckyo was still doing it for big tobacco, and no matter that the Chairman had form on the matter, or at least so the Graudian suggested  way back when..

The Australian Medical Association has accused Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper of promoting smoking and “big tobacco” by publishing a series of articles undermining the nation’s plain packaging legislation.

The Australian, owned by News Corp, has previously argued that plain packaging deprives tobacco firms of their intellectual property rights, and earlier this month went further and claimed that plain packaging had led to an increase in tobacco sales.

“The AMA urges the government to restate its support for the plain packaging laws and tobacco control generally, and we urge the Australian and other media to stop giving Big Tobacco a free ride in promoting its killer products,” the AMA president, Associate Professor Brian Owler, said.

Ah the lizard Oz, but as with climate science denial, the Chairman himself had form, having his minions say and do one thing, pandering to the money, while he was keeping his ambition to knock up a hundred in perspective, or so the Daily Snail thought with this headline in the usual Snail style ...

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch disapproved of his fourth wife Jerry Hall smoking News of couple's split came after Hall failed to attend husband's party in London Hall has been open about smoking and said she looked 'pretty good' for her age

While the minions might love the right to smoke, apparently the Chairman isn't so keen on it ...

A theory has emerged that Rupert Murdoch ended his six-year marriage to model Jerry Hall because he disapproved of his fourth wife's smoking habit.

The media tycoon was not a fan of his model wife's fondness for tobacco and would often be spotted standing at a distance as Ms Hall took a drag on a cigarette.

The couple's split was revealed publicly when Ms Hall and her side of the family failed to attend her husband's annual summer party in London this week. 

Enough with theory, Tuckyo has said nicotine is the thing, and cancer a good choice for old age, and if you get it, the pond always supposes there's weed to numb the senses, and paper straws in the palliative care unit ...

Meanwhile, there were other follies outside any meaningful paywall ...

Oh that's nothing ... but the pond did wonder. 

It knew stealing from a doggie was nothing - for that you get on committees - but given the GOP's deep fear of cross dressers and frock lovers - Rudi, Cardinal Pell and the Pope aside - how would they cope?

Really, all that's nothing ... how about a penny for the Pena and selection choices?

The rest is in the NY Times, but really the pond had to stop its idle roaming, had to buckle under and deal with some local reptile...

But the pond had already done Akker Dakker and Rita, meter maid panhandleer, so what to do, what to do?

There was nothing for it but to do a catch-up, a dive into the archival dumpster like a bin chicken, and emerge with a serve of vintage Bolter, as smelly as any aged cheese or mouldy pizza ...

The pond had never gone there, but these were desperate times ... and digging into the manure heap brought nostalgic tears to the pond's eye, memories of the lost world of the lizard Oz ...

Why that's almost as good as a serve of the dog botherer.

Of course there's nothing to say about the Bolter chewing on his cud in an aged piece of meat, doing his best to fear monger about everything except climate science and the future of the planet, though the pond should note that it loved that snap of the moo cows ... before continuing with the mooing Bolter ...

But what of Ross Douthat? The pond had promised itself a serve of Douthat!

Sorry, the pond had to earn that pleasure, perhaps another day, because this was catch-up Bolter day. 

A correspondent had made the fatal mistake of mentioning the Bolter and Rita meter-maid, and now the pond had to suffer ... just like all those planet savers hatin' on hoomans ...

As if hatin' on hoomans would stop the Bolter from hatin' on vulgar youff, stupid, stupid young people ...

And now, just to prove how brave the pond is, how willingly it descends into the sewer, the pond went where it never did with Dame Slap ... the Bolter doing over the voice ...

It goes without saying that the Bolter has exceptional form on this matter ...

“I take fundamental issue with your introduction to say this is a racist campaign,” the guest told his host.

Bolt persisted in his analysis, and said: “Dividing people on the grounds of race is racist.”

“Then you are a racist,” Emerson said, “because of the comments you made in relation to Indigenous people. By your own criterion, and that’s what you did. You identified a group of people and went for them.”

Emerson’s remark relates to the legal case in which Bolt was found to have breached racial discrimination laws in articles that implied light-skinned Indigenous people identified themselves as Aboriginal for personal gain.

A clearly furious Bolt said on Sunday Emerson’s observation was wrong, and completely offensive.

Emerson appeared undeterred by the shocked reaction of the host. “Well, I’m offended by you describing this [Recognise] as a racist campaign,” he persisted. “This is not a racist campaign.”

“I said let’s not divide people on the grounds of race,” Bolt said.

“You went after a bunch of Indigenous people. You know you did,” Emerson said.

“I said don’t divide by race. This is dividing by race,” Bolt said.

Emerson persisted in describing Bolt’s characterisation of constitutional recognition as offensive and incorrect.

“We should be mature enough to recognise there were people here before 1788,” Emerson said. “If we are going to talk about racism, let’s talk about the racism in the constitution.”

That was way back in 2014, that's how long this has been festering, and yet here we are, and worse still, here we are with the convicted racist ...

What a splendidly evocative snap ... and as always when visiting the reptiles the pond was reminded of other images ...

It turned out that the Bolter was inclined to rabbit on at length, and so the pond definitely had to put the Douthat on hold, even though he'd joined in the old "there are two kinds of people in this world" meme, which when you think about it, could also apply to the Bolter, as there's the Bolter and then there's humanity ...

It took considerable will power for the pond to keep going, but at last there was a final gobbet bolting into sight, and the pond quickly bolted it down ... though it was way worse than finishing off the brussels sprouts ...

There's only one disgrace in this room. 

Oh okay, there's two, there's the disgraceful Bolter and there's the disgrace and shame of the pond for running the Bolter ...

But after the shame and the disgrace and the humiliation come the treats, starting with an immortal Rowe on that campaign, which was only starting in the lizard Oz when the pond was forced to part ways ...

The detail, it's always in the detail ... and to hell with the wabbits suing the immortal Rowe and the pond for defamation ...

Oh that makes it worthwhile getting out of bed on a Monday ...

And so to another O'Brien moment, no doubt already seen by those who have him in their logarithms. 

The pond hastily adds that (a) the pond has absolutely no interest in the former royals, and their attention seeking, and (b) has never read a column the bovver boy Clarkson has written, and (c) never once watched the show that made him infamous, and delighted in taunting petrol heads with the news, but (d) there's something of an almost feral pleasure watching O'Brien degut him and spill his entrails on to the screen ...