It's been a great week for entertainment. There was Marina Hyde celebrating a massive arse in For all his hardman mantras, Raab forgot rule one: don’t be a massive arse.
The venerable Meade did over the Lachy Crikey saga in The mouse that roared: how a little Australian website stared down Murdoch’s mighty News Corp.
No need to go into details. It's enough to know they're there for reading pleasure ...
Then Melinda Henneberger came up with this in the Kansas City Star ...
We know now that Andrew D. Lester, the 84-year-old Northlander who shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, did not act alone. Oh, he’s the only one responsible for pulling the trigger. Unless of course rap made him do it.
But according to his grandson, Lester had in recent years been “radicalized” by the highly profitable and paranoid fantasies spread by Fox News and its equally imbalanced imitators. That, Lester’s 28-year-old grandson Klint Ludwig told The Star, is how the retired airplane mechanic fell “further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line’’ while immersed in “a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia.”
A 24-7 diet of spicy race-baiting and white nationalist talking points is corrosive, not only to your brain on Fox but to our democracy.
If we believe Ludwig, then watching Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham monetize hate night after night contributed to Lester’s sense that a Black kid ringing his doorbell could only mean that an act of violence was about to occur. And so it did.
But according to his grandson, Lester had in recent years been “radicalized” by the highly profitable and paranoid fantasies spread by Fox News and its equally imbalanced imitators. That, Lester’s 28-year-old grandson Klint Ludwig told The Star, is how the retired airplane mechanic fell “further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line’’ while immersed in “a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia.”
A 24-7 diet of spicy race-baiting and white nationalist talking points is corrosive, not only to your brain on Fox but to our democracy.
If we believe Ludwig, then watching Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham monetize hate night after night contributed to Lester’s sense that a Black kid ringing his doorbell could only mean that an act of violence was about to occur. And so it did.
You have to go to the original for the links, but that "rap made him do it" jibe is worth noting, because it was a link to a Faux Noise story, Rap and drill music is part of America's racial problem.
Ah for the good old days when it was comics and Mad magazine. No need to go any further, just to know it was there.
Then there was Brian Klaas in The Atlantic, with The Red States Experimenting With Authoritarianism They’ve become laboratories of autocracy.
...Even where elections are competitive, Republican legislators are trying to make voting more difficult. Disparities in ballot access are long-standing and present in both red and blue states. Researchers who analyzed anonymous cellphone-location data have found that, on average, residents of Black neighborhoods wait “29% longer to vote and were 74% more likely to spend more than 30 minutes at their polling place.” These “time taxes” have a knock-on effect, because voters who face long lines become less likely to vote in subsequent elections. But overall wait times are worse in states controlled by Republicans; the worst performers in the 2020 election were South Carolina and Georgia.
Now Republicans are parroting Trump’s lies about voter fraud as a pretext to make voting even harder, in ways that disproportionately disenfranchise poor and nonwhite voters. Study after study has found voter fraud to be an infinitesimal problem. Republicans have nonetheless introduced 51 state-level bills that would put up obstacles to ballot access.
Beyond attacking elections, or trying to interfere with their results, Republicans are testing out different ways to wield power against democracy. In Florida, DeSantis is using his power to punish a private company that dared to criticize him. In Idaho, Republican lawmakers have made it illegal to help minors cross state lines to obtain an abortion, using government power to restrict freedom of movement. In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has said he “looks forward” to pardoning a man convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester; the murderer had previously texted a friend to complain about the protests and said that he “might have to kill a few people on my way to work.” The composition of Republican rising stars is worrying, too. In Oregon, members of the violent, far-right Proud Boys have secured leadership positions in local GOP bodies, making national-level extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene look moderate by comparison...
Now Republicans are parroting Trump’s lies about voter fraud as a pretext to make voting even harder, in ways that disproportionately disenfranchise poor and nonwhite voters. Study after study has found voter fraud to be an infinitesimal problem. Republicans have nonetheless introduced 51 state-level bills that would put up obstacles to ballot access.
Beyond attacking elections, or trying to interfere with their results, Republicans are testing out different ways to wield power against democracy. In Florida, DeSantis is using his power to punish a private company that dared to criticize him. In Idaho, Republican lawmakers have made it illegal to help minors cross state lines to obtain an abortion, using government power to restrict freedom of movement. In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has said he “looks forward” to pardoning a man convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester; the murderer had previously texted a friend to complain about the protests and said that he “might have to kill a few people on my way to work.” The composition of Republican rising stars is worrying, too. In Oregon, members of the violent, far-right Proud Boys have secured leadership positions in local GOP bodies, making national-level extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene look moderate by comparison...
And so on. The pond notes this is a just scratching the surface, though the abundance of writing to be found outside the Surry Hills bunker makes it even more inexplicable why the pond should end up with prattling Polonius for its Sunday meditation.
Want an excuse? The pond likes to think of Polonius as the sort of mouldy old coat you keep thinking of throwing away, but can never get around to doing it.
Where would the pond be without a weekly berating of the ABC? Especially as the funny old fogey finds himself on side with Uncle Elon, the pair of them having come down from the attic for a good chat ...
Now there's an old joke, with many spin-offs. But the real joke comes with that last Polonial line "Via Australia's taxpayers, who - unlike the Brits - have no choice but to support the ABC."
What on earth does the joke mean? The Brits have a choice to support the ABC? And perhaps only a Polonius could see the fine difference between a government tax applied to fund a broadcaster, and a government tax (née licence) mandated by government but paid directly without going through a middle bureaucrat:
A standard TV licence is currently £159. A TV licence is required if you:
watch or record live TV programmes on any channel
download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer - live, catch up or on demand
This applies to any provider you use and any device, including a TV, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, games console, digital box or DVD/VHS recorder. (here)
Oh it's a tidy operation as approved by the 2003 Communications Act, which for the avoidance of doubt, is a government act ...
The good news is that you don't need a licence to listen to BBC Sounds ...
Of course it's all a furphy. A direct tax or an indirect tax counts as nothing, up against the appointments of boards, chairpersons and CEOs. This might be Dame Slap on the ABC board, or a barking mad climate science denying Moorice as director, then chair, or a shifty Boris mate helping out his mate before scoring the gig, per the Graudian's BBC chairman Richard Sharp 'breached standards expected' for job application ...
Sorry, the pond got distracted, back to Polonius splitting more hairs when he might more profitably split hares, and the opening line is truly weird, as the barking mad monomaniacal compulsive obsessive harks back to 2014 ... 2014!?
So the BBC is, to split hairs, funded by taxpayers by way of a tax if they want to watch the telly, and the ABC is funded by taxpayers, and ...
Surely the pond is entitled to a five million dollar prize for recording the zillionth trillionth time that Polonius pressed the short cut key on his keyboard to punch out that line The ABC is a conservative-free zone, while the pond had to listen to the partner moaning about having caught a moment of Mandy Vacuousstone on RN, followed by a dose of the swishing Switzer...
The pond had to explain patiently that they were LINOs, but the partner had a very limited understanding of the role that linoleum played in politics ... and seemed to think there had been a close encounter with raging loons ... what with Mandy dropping a mandy to rant about angry people ...
But now the appeal of this bedraggled coat of many patches is clear.
What a tired, boring old hack he is, how comforting this sort of drivel is on a Sunday when a sleep in or a nap are in order ... and don't go away, there's a little more comedy ...
Ah the Thorpe matter yet again, and for some reason Polonius loves to hate listen to Patricia. Does he sometimes fantasise that she might one day interview him, and he can give her what for? But sadly she never calls ... in fact the damned ABC never seems to call ... and there's the tragedy. Why he could go on Q&A and be the life of the party, but they never call ...
Meanwhile, the silly old dotard missed a chance to note the little heresies that are starting to creep in, including the infallible Pope ...
And a cruel Kudelka ....
As noted yesterday, all the worst of the reptiles - those routinely favoured by the pond - were blathering on endlessly about the voice, and the pond is well and truly over it and handed out red cards like confetti at a funeral ...
And that's why the pond turned to guaranteed international entertainment for its Sunday bonus ... it's not much but at least it will allow for a cartoon revival, and not just house of mouse style cartoons ...
The pond apologises, because all this is hardly new. It's the reptiles recycling aged fodder from another part of the empire ... and there's a curious thing.
If you head off to The Times to check the date of the original outing, you get directed to an archive link, and if you head off there, the damned thing's outside the paywall...
Weird, so much for the paywall, but that date is closer to the original Ron DeSanctus prison routine ...
The price to pay is another Baker gobbet, with the good news it's not a baker's dozen ...
Uh huh, all this is beginning to sound like the shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic, or is that hydrogen in the balloon?
Even Faux Noise has gone a little cold and are looking for fresh roadkill ...
But sadly here's the last of the cartoon interstitials ...
Ah, it's not that elusive ... in fact Trumpism without the mango Mussolini is pretty easy to find ...
And dammit after all that the pond had some cartoons left over.
Still, rather than let them go to waste, why not some memories of the pond's Mad magazine reading days and fond memories of the recently departed Al Jaffee...
Just following up on the Clarence part of that triptych of characters. That's not to judge which panel in the triptych is the most appalling, it's just that these are the leftovers ...
And why not a couple of wild cards for a closer?
Polonius appears horrified that Patricia Karvelas interrupted Barnaby. Surely she should be admired for such an achievement- managing to actually break into the Beetrooter’s stream of unconsciousness dribbling and burbling once he’s got up a head of steam is a rare achievement.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I’m sure we all groaned when we sure Hendo recycling his one hit wonder “The ABC has not one conservative…” line yet again, and wonder how many thousands of times we had seen it.
There is that observation, Anony, that a falsehood repeated and repeated will come to be believed as truth. It generally seems to work (consider politics and religion). But then I guess there is some kind of limit: repeat it once or twice "too often" and the believers revolt.
DeleteI guess, for Polonius, that point came about the second time he said it. Must be something along the lines of 'the acceptance of the message always depends on the quality of the messager', or summat like that.
'You have to go to the original for the links, but that "rap made him do it" jibe is worth noting, because it was a link to a Faux Noise story, Rap and drill music is part of America's racial problem.'
ReplyDeleteHave I offended the Chairman? Clicking on your link I get "406 Not Acceptable." Should I consider this another badge of honour, DP?
Sorry left off my moniker
DeleteYou can get to it through Firefox with the Bypass extension, but really, it's not worth it.
DeletePolonius: "...the fact the ABC serves a useful purpose at times of droughts, fires and floods." Actually, Polonius mate, it isn't "a useful service", it's 'an essential service'. And it has been, time and time again.
ReplyDeleteAnd ten: "In any event, it is most unlikely a Coalition government could get legislation to defund or privatise the ABC through the Senate." No, but as you are well aware, Polly old mate, the government just has to grind it down bit by bit - as indeed it was very successfully doing - until it effectively ceases to function as a genuine public assett. Which you very clearly grasp when you say "the ABC needs all the support it can get to sustain its current annual level of funding (about $1bn) in real terms."
But for some reason Polonius really has "a thing" about Lidia Thorpe and her "appalling behaviour" and all because she's an "indigenous independent senator" who is "formerly of the Greens". And what does either of those "facts" have to do with anything much. Does Polonius actually know all about the strip club incident as being somehow astoundingly newsworthy ? Did she actually assault them physically, or just verbally for a moment or two ?
What is it that Polonius, and indeed a whole gang of reptiles, think is so important about that incident that somehow the ABC has to be castigated for not making a public effort to publicise it ?
Maybe it was the vulgar language, GB. It's known to set him off.
DeleteYair, maybe if she'd just biffed 'em instead then maybe the ABC would have had something worth being reported on.
DeleteOne must assume from Henderson’s method of arguing that should everyone on the Q&A panel been in favour of the No case on the Voice, then that would also prove that the ABC was biased.
ReplyDeleteBut one must wonder how the ABC ever had substantial traditional conservative audiences (as Henderson tells us there were many) if the ABC has been a conservative-free zone for as long as Henderson has been claiming it is. We can only assume that those audiences enjoyed watching or listening to all those biased, conservative-free programmes.
As Henderson has his ear glued to ABC radio, it has not occurred to him that the ABC’s traditional audience is growing old and gradually dying off and that younger audiences have moved on to more modern technology to find information and communication services. It’s possible to tell the old people in the neighbourhood by whether they still get the paper delivered, although even then one can be wrong in assuming those who don’t get it delivered are young. Even the dentist no longer provides the old tabloid with the crossword to do in the foyer and one is forced to watch some inane TV series like "Married at first sight", but, looking on the bright side, you'll never get to see what happens next to Chloe and Ben and it certainly helps to numb the brain before facing the inevitable. The other patients are all looking at their phones, so I wonder how poor Gerard copes when he goes to the dentist.
Still, I’m looking forward to Twitter labelling Nick Cater’s next tweets as government-funded research.
I dunno, Anony; after all the Murdoch media - especially The Australian - doesn't exactly have resident leftist wokies online but the reptiles never claim them to be biased.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, well spotted, the reptiles will have to be honest about Cater's efforts, won't they ?
Have been off the internet for most of the day, as our - something below 'Third world' NBN has yet another full day of 'maintenance' - with all of next weekend daylight hours booked up for even MORE maintenance.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, quick scan across 'Sky' brought up the Chuckleheads (Rowan, RIta, and the character with the truly irritating 'You know' quotient) with Terry McCrann (and very poor quality link - surely the budget can extend to some better quality remote units, surely) on the RBA review. Standard Rupert lying style - that the review is the product of Treasurer Chalmers, not of an independent review group - and claims that the Reserve Bank now having to focus on achieving full employment is a new recommendation, to pander to those dreadful unions - not one that dates back to the original Act of over 60 years ago, and which was displayed in front of the buildig in Martin Place in large bronze letters.. McCrann went along with all of this - with disclaimer that he had not taken in all the detail of the report. I mean - why bother with detail when in standard Rupert fashion, the exercise is to tell the viewers what they want to hear?
That’s an impressive outburst of honest on the part of Terry; “even though I’m an economics correspondent I haven’t bothered to finish reading the RBA report - hey, it’s the weekend - but that won’t stop me passing judgement on it”.
DeleteAh yes, the wonders of modern technology as bestowed upon us by 'Malcolm and the Coalition'. Fortunately, living in a Melbourne suburb that's now in a 'swing electorate' my service never disappears. Probably because I'm in the range of the Telstra broadcast wifi - at least that's what the little light on my Telstra modem seems to say.
DeleteBut you will live out in the Aussie boondocks, won't you.
BTW, any thoughts on this:
DeleteMichael Pascoe: The fallacy at the heart of the Reserve Bank of Australia review
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/04/22/michael-pascoe-rba-review/
And this one too if you've got the time:
DeleteHow party politicking let mining companies wreck our economy
http://www.rossgittins.com/2023/04/how-party-politicking-let-mining.html
GB - I know, from back in the time when I had contacts in the Reserve Bank - and that is 20 years - Michael Pascoe was well-regarded for getting alongside some of the otherwise anonymous researchers on the bank staff. He could do that because he was generally trusted to honour confidentiality from his chats with those people. To the bank staff of that time, that put him well above the McCranns, and I don't recall anyone there ever citing our Dame Groan as any kind of practicing economist.
DeleteI agree with his major point here - that it has all been too much about monetary policy. He does not quite say 'this is a recent fashion', although he does note how influential Coombs was in setting up the Reserve Bank and pointing it in the right direction. Bear in mind that Coombs came to prominence as Director of Post-War Reconstruction, with several reports explaining his thinking on approaching full employment - particularly with a post-war labour force.
Pascoe does point out that we really do not have a body advising our federal government on the entire economy. Oddly, the 'Industries Assistance Commission' did a better job than the 'Productivity Commission' ever has; under Rattigan they were more inclined to set out the pros and cons of suggested support to industry - identify the winners and losers - so better advise governments of the day.
Ross Gittins makes a good case for our getting something out of our export booms. I am sure I have said before on this site that Bob Gregory, when he was on the Reserve Bank Board, was saying similar things, but being largely ignored as either irrelevant, or not sufficiently 'collegial', by the rest of the board, when he set out that, as a nation, we should be creaming a goodly share of the profits of the then export boom, and investing slabs of it into works at the 'nation building' scale. Gregory's writings were influential in Norway, as governments of both colours there, set about securing something for the owners of the resources - Norwegian citizens - out of their hydrocarbon endowment. I think I have even offered a weak pun on Gregory in that comparison, that he was a profit without honour in his own land.
DeleteGittins offers a simple analysis - in our supposed federation, a share of blame for virtually paying overseas investors to take our resources also falls on state governments, who blatantly bid for companies to come in and 'develop' in our patch, not the one t'other side of a border drawn up, as often as not, in the London clubs as the whitefella colonies spread out.
The really sad observation is that most of the state administrations, of both colours, weren't even able to be corrupt on a scale matching the value of the resources they were handing out. Oh - a certain political dynasty in WA always received preferential share placements - but they should have been stoking up accounts in Switzerland to rival short-term African dictators. In Queensland, Joh could be won over by having someone do a bit of land-clearing and 'dozer work on his farm. Yet there was some embarrassment in Queensland when Utah, promoted as big stuff in the USA, and just the kind of 'developers' Queensland needed, was up for takeover, and it was found that its mines in Queensland were pretty much its only assets worth bidding for. In NSW, Askin did not have long-term vision, so focused on play money from minor crims, rather than work out a continuing deal with foreign miners, none of whom had any qualms about 'fixing' local politicians. Their only concern was doing it in a way that could not be traced by congressional ethics hearings.
But the voters kept voting for 'jobs'n'growth'
Thank you very much for those analytic comments, Chad. I very much agreed with both Pascoe and Gittins, so it's good to have some 'authoritative' analysis such that I can feel that what I think might just have some rational basis - and might even reflect reality in some small way.
DeleteThe big problem though, is what you say: "the voters kept voting for 'jobs'n'growth'"; that, and the fact that politicians are virtually all economic ignoramuses. But then, nearly all of the population, and not only in Oz, are economic ignoramuses who do not understand just how different a national economy is from a domestic budget.
And ignoramuses are never aware of just how ignorant they are (did somebody just whisper Dunning-Kruger" ?) because they never know just how much there is that they should know.
I hope that all our Loonpond 'mates' get some value from it, because we'll never get any value from the likes of Dame Groan.
The latest Newspoll is out; generally ok for the Government and bad for the Opposition. So expect plenty of Reptile spin and turd-polishing on the morn.
ReplyDelete