In which the pond almost clags up the works, but settles for a nauseating bromancer ...

 

The pond had made elaborate preparations for dealing with petulant Peta day ... beginning wth a visit to Crikey yesterday. 

Those who can't get past Crikey's paywall might have missed this splendid note in John Buckley's piece headed Tudge’s office used News Corp to ‘shut down’ robodebt media crisis, royal commission hears, including but not limited to ...

...Under questioning, Miller said she devised a media strategy to counter the negative coverage in “left-wing” media that involved placing stories with more sympathetic outlets across the News Corp stable about how the Coalition was “catching people who were cheating the welfare system”. 

“The media strategy we developed was to run a counter-narrative in the more friendly media such as The Australian and the tabloids, which we knew were interested in running stories about welfare system integrity and the supposed ‘dole-bludgers’,” she wrote in her statement. 

That figures, where else for lies and distortions than the reptiles of the lizard Oz, and naturally the ABC, the Graudian and Nine's SMH were construed as lefty, but this was the note that caught the pond's eye ...

...The bolstered media strategy included “correcting the record” in instances where victims had gone to media with their stories and made claims the department and the minister’s office deemed incorrect.

She was asked about the process that led to the release of victims’ personal details. The commission heard that Miller discussed the partial release of information against the recipient with Bevan Hannan, her media counterpart at the department, and chief counsel Annette Musolino, who cleared the release, which only drew more criticism. 

One example of the office using right-wing media to combat criticism was a story written on January 26 2017 by Simon Benson in The Australian, headlined: “Centrelink debt scare backfires on Labor”. 

The story said the department “confirmed” that a number of victims who said they were wrongly targeted had “in fact” accepted that the debt averaged by the scheme was owed. 

“That was an article we liked,” Miller said. 

Simpleton Simon shoots and scores ...

Another story that caught the pond's eye was Cathy Young's Covidiocy Marches On, a handy read because at some point in the lizard Oz, Covidiot Killer Creighton will turn up, and no matter what he's scribbling about, his covidiocy should be celebrated ...

The pond also indulged in a stiff drink of Martin Kettle's celebration of strikebound little England, Truss and Brexit have sunk Britain’s economy – and the right is in deep denial about both, , wherein he berated other forms of useless reptiles:

...to read some of Britain’s rightwing newspapers this week, it is as if the events of last autumn never happened at all. Papers such as the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail are not merely in denial about the economic harm caused by Brexit, they also continued to claim this week that the answer to everything is tax cuts. If the economy is failing, there should be tax cuts. If it is booming, it’s time for tax cuts too. This is as daft and meaningless as Douglas Adams’s claim that the answer to everything is 42.

In this, though, these papers speak to and for a significant strand in the Conservative party that is extremely difficult for Sunak to manage, including at Westminster. It’s the strand that sees government as a problem and taxes as bad, that thinks both should be slashed to let growth loose, that backed Truss last summer and that would back Boris Johnson – and maybe even Suella Braverman – if either makes a bid to topple Sunak this year.

Throw in Marina Hyde's Is there a comeback more unwelcome and doomed than Prince Andrew’s? and the pond felt well prepared for anything the reptiles might throw at the pond ... the land of the lizard Oz where the answer to everything remains stuck at 42...

Oh dear, no matter how the pond prepares, it always manages to seem worse by the day. Note the valiant editorialist stepping into the breach to fill the void? Has the chairman cut the commentary section to the bone, and made the hacks devise assorted forms of filler?

There was petulant Peta as expected, droning on about Jimbo, but the pond had already had the best of that, if you can call the likes of nattering "Ned" and Dame Groan the best, and had no time to waste on a third rate dominant top for a submissive onion muncher ...

As for that Clegg, clogging up the works with blather about the voice, one of an endless stream of ratbags dragged in by the reptiles, her attempt at reeling, writhing and distraction could be settled by cutting to the chase at the end ...

A cunning move by the reptiles, but what's this? No mention of attachments and affiliations? 

Business wasn’t enough for the quietly ambitious Taylor. According to a 2014 profile in the Australian Financial Review, Taylor was already friends with MPs Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Heffernan, and they introduced him to former prime minister John Howard, who was impressed by Taylor’s business credentials. Howard helped smooth the way for Taylor’s preselection in Hume.

Taylor moved his family to a farm near Goulburn in 2011, and his wife, barrister Louise Clegg, stepped back from her career to run his campaign – with military precision and solid financial support. Electoral records show Taylor was a major donor to the Liberals in 2012-13, forking out $150,000 to support the party that was supporting him.

The Coalition swept into power in 2013 and Tony Abbott was installed as prime minister. Taylor was among a raft of new MPs to come to Canberra as a result. (Graudian)

Is this the very same Clegg that is the power behind the beefy boofhead's throne? Is this the same Clegg now clogging up the reptile works, sounding a bit like the Clag glue the pond reluctantly used for its schoolwork?

It made the pond wonder if that other attempt at distraction had fallen into a hole ... you know this one, as reported in the Graudian, Voice to parliament: migrant and refugee groups reject ‘divisive’ no campaign proposal for constitutional recognition, with this sub-header noting the brand of Clag gumming up the works ... Chair of body representing culturally diverse communities says Warren Mundine’s push for ‘symbolic’ recognition is a ‘red herring’.

That red herring also turned up at SBS in The Voice to Parliament 'no' camp is targeting migrant votes, but community groups say it’s a ‘distraction’.

If you can't get migrants to indulge in black bashing with the reptiles, there's always a Constitutional Convention ...

While admiring the Clegg's attempt to clag up the works with ambition, distraction, uglification and derision, the pond decided to move on, only to see Dame Slap was up to her old game ...

By golly they do know the right sort of person to leak to for an EXCLUSIVE but all that did was remind the pond of an encounter with Dame Slap in a Crikey story, Charlie Lewis's Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter and other people News Corp may have misquoted ... (sorry, paywall)

The pond presumes people have already caught up with Ndileka Mandela berating of the reptiles at The Independent ... and that misquotation led Charlie to produce a few other examples of the devious reptiles at work, including Dame Slap ...

The Dame Slap link led to another Charlie piece in November 2022, (sorry, paywall), in part ...

Eek, more panto dames, and the link to an indignant Tim Flannery was a doozy ...

...My action against the Australian resulted in the withdrawal of the article and the publication on the following Saturday of a page-three apology, as well as payment of all legal expenses, amounting to $5000.
The experience has taught me several things about the hate media in Australia. First, as they seek to slur those they hate, they do not hesitate to manufacture a story if one does not exist. Second, as the story is picked up by other opinionists, they are prone to weave ever more scandalous fictional tidbits from the blogosphere into the story. Third, in their efforts to obtain an interview some journalists will lie and ignore the truth when it’s inconvenient to them. 
Perhaps most dismayingly, the Australian has chosen, to its eternal discredit, to publish such detritus. If even our national newspaper can’t keep its nose clean, strict rules around media misconduct can’t come soon enough.

Dear sweet long absent lord, he expects the snot-laden reptiles at the lizard Oz to keep their noses clean? What an optimist ...

At this point, the pond can hear some murmurings in the ranks. 

All this way, and not a single gobbet featuring a great reptile mind, with Clegg imitating Clag, and not really a reptile work, and anyway Clag never tasted as good as good old Perkins' paste ...

Mmm, Perkins' ... right up there with Peck's pastes to ruin your health...

Okay, okay, the pond will turn to the bromancer yet again - there was some admiration expressed for his work and even though this came out yesterday, it was still hanging in today, and it featured the bromancer's love of aspirational authoritarian autocrats eager to play their 'get out of jail free' card ...

Actually this sort of cock-sucking, bum sniffing style of hagiography is nauseating, not that the pond would usually be dismissive of the pleasures of cock-sucking or bum sniffing, but still, even for a fundamentalist tyke accustomed to authoritarian role models, it's pretty weird and fully sick, and it went on and on ...

At this point, the pond simply had to take a break. 

The pond despises the theocratic Iranian despots (and notes The Bulwark petition for Global Solidarity, which won't change much), but the pond also despises the attempts to re-shape Israel into a dictatorial theocracy, and whenever the reptiles serve up this sort of guff, the pond always heads off to Haaretz for an alternative ... for example, this one, which began with a splendid illustration ...

The text, by Mika Almog, (paywall), was a healthy corrective to the bromancer's simpering hero worship ...

Last November, after a motorcyclist stabbed a pedestrian to death after the latter chided him for almost hitting himself and his spouse as they crossed on a green light, and another struck a driver with his helmet for allegedly hitting his scooter, a discussion arose at our Friday morning café gathering. Topic: “Have you given your kids ‘the talk’ yet?” Several of the parents in the group already had. The said ‘talk’ boils down to this: “Don’t say anything to anyone.”

Meaning, if a driver behind you honks like crazy because you’re not going 30KPH over the speed limit, don’t say a word; if someone steals your parking spot while you’re waiting with the blinker on, bite your tongue. Keep your head down. Say nothing. Not “say nothing rude.” Just ”Say nothing.”

Why? Because someone might stab you, and your life is precious to me.

And I asked myself whether I too should have this talk with my two daughters and my son. Whether, for their personal safety, it’s my duty as a parent to instruct them to “be careful” – when the meaning of “be careful” is “surrender.”

After all, I don’t want my child getting a screwdriver to the gut because they told someone that running a red light isn’t cool. Our children’s physical existence is the foundation for everything else, that’s obvious. But let’s say I teach them to say nothing to drivers who endanger their lives. And then there’ll be a news story about a pedestrian who was cut off by a motorist and said nothing, just gave him an angry look, and he returned to the intersection and stabbed her. What will I say at the next ‘talk’? Say nothing, and avoid eye contact?

No law prohibiting the chastising of delinquent drivers has been passed in Israel. But social norms change faster than laws.

A week ago, an acquaintance told me that the rep of the building’s homeowners’ committee knocked on her door and asked her spouse to remove the pride flag that has been hanging from their window for years, “because it bothers some of the neighbors.” It bothered some of the neighbors before, too, but there was no social legitimacy to say so out loud. Now there is. The law hasn’t changed (yet), the norms (already) have.

The spouse said that not only would he not remove the flag, but that any future request of the sort would lead him to fly a much larger one.

But the norms will continue to change, and soon there will be legitimacy to tear the flag down. Then it’ll be socially legitimate to refuse to rent to a gay couple. Outright, not beating around the bush. Because it offends some of the neighbors. No legislation required. What will the gay couple do, appeal to the High Court of Justice? Hasn’t it been shut down yet?

The nurse in Eilat who refused to treat a transgender person falls under the same category. Norms change faster than laws, but the norms are guided by the winds blowing from the government.

Now let’s assume that soon a bill will surface requiring women to dress according to certain modesty laws. Hang on a second, it’s not such an absurd leap. Because at first they’ll speak only about areas with an overwhelming religious majority – you know, like they close streets on Shabbat. And it’ll be clear that the chances of the bill passing are close to nil, it’ll be “just” talk. An idea. And then the news will run a story about a young woman who got stuck in a traffic jam in Bnei Brak and Haredi thugs assaulted her with vile language because she was wearing a tank top.

And then your daughter will have to take her car to a mechanic in Bnei Brak. By the logic of “the talk,” at this point you’ll tell her, “Listen, when you take the car to get fixed, wear long sleeves and a skirt. What’s the big deal, is it worth it getting cursed and spat on? Didn’t you see on the news, what happened to the woman in the tank top? You know what? Maybe your brother can take your car in for you?”

Social norms change faster than laws.

What we may be missing is that we didn’t invent “the talk.” Motivated purely by the desire to protect our children׳s lives, we pour into their ears the very messages that have been systematically pumped into us. In preparation for what’s now happening in Israel, we’ve been given “the talk” for 15 years. The nascent tyrannical regime, with the generous aid of its mouthpieces, the so-called “newsrooms” of channels 12 and 13, echoes one message: “Say nothing”. Say nothing, disturb no one. Not delinquent drivers, nor delinquent elected officials.

It was an effective process, and the messages were well internalized. There is no more effective tool to a despotic regime than internal tyranny. It isn’t hard to suppress protests if we stay at home. There’s no need for censorship if we dare not voice criticism....

(For those who can get past the Haaretz paywall, there were headlines interspersed that offered further reading, with the tone clear enough:

60,000 rally against ‘government of tyranny’ for fourth week

Why religious Israelis are finally joining the anti-Netanyahu protests

Terror and violence are testing Israel’s protesters. It’s not the time to be silent)

But back to the text, hinting at a world way beyond the bromancer, clueless as to the change in norms ...)

...But internal tyranny serves external tyranny. So while we say nothing, here’s what has happened here: All of us – LGBTQ, secular, conservatives, leftists, liberals, all women (including supporters of the current regime) – all of us are the new Israeli Arabs. Protected and equal by law, fair game to all by social norms.

“What do the Arabs have to do with anything? Next you’ll say ‘occupation’ and lose us entirely. It’s almost the end of the column, isn’t it a shame?” It’s not a shame, and they have a lot to do with is. Legislation is the codification of social norms. It is the last stage in a long process. A society whose norms allow for discrimination and violence against one minority will eventually allow discrimination and violence against anyone who isn’t part of the “majority.” And the laws of the majority will be set, by definition, by the most extreme and ruthless, because when social norms are based on brute force, the most violent and most brutal reach the top.

So what do Arabs and the occupation have to do with you, sister? You live in a society where Jews are stronger than Arabs, Israelis are stronger than Palestinians, and men are stronger than women. That’s what it has to do with you.

“I know that there is rabid incitement – verbal violence, violence on the Israeli street,” Yitzhak Rabin said. “If there is violence in the Knesset, there is violence on the road. Violence, like military discipline, is indivisible.”

The minister of “National Security” in the current regime is the man who held up the stolen hood ornament from Yitzhak Rabin’s car and said explicitly: “Just as we reached this, we can reach Rabin.” A promise made and kept.

The criminal government he is part of is the motorcyclist cutting us off at the pedestrian crossing, counting on us not to dare say anything.

Well it’s time to say something - with our ranks tight and our heads held high, in a clear and loud voice, knowing that the battle is over laws but the war is over norms. It’s time to tell them: “You’re not allowed to run a red light, and we won’t let you run us over.”

After all, they can’t stab us all .

Take to the streets.

Mika Almog is a writer, activist and the Granddaughter of the late President Shimon Peres.

And with that under its belt, the pond could return to a last gobbet of nausea-inducing bromancer ... beginning with a pathetic attempt at tokenism and purported balance...

Judicial activism has become extreme? Says Benji, the man desperate to avoid the clink?

That's surely the key priority in office, that and fucking over minorities and trying to match Iran in the theocracy stakes, but you won't hear any of that from an implausible bromancer celebrating an implausible authoritarian autocrat willing to walk the path of extremism and theocracy to save his own hide...

And that's about it for the pond, and with both the infallible Pope and the immortal Rowe still in hiding, here's another Wilcox ... which sums up many situations, not least the reptiles thinking that they're safe in their Surry Hills bunker ...