Inevitably the lizards of Oz had a glazed look in their eyes and a complete lack of awareness of the fun being had elsewhere ...and there was much fun to be had, with even the unlovable Jake Tapper turning into a lovable meme (per the Daily Beast, possible paywall).
While Dominion’s legal team noted that “lies have consequences” and the company’s CEO added that Fox “admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage,” the network attempted to place a positive spin on the record-setting settlement.
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” the network stated. “This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward.”
That statement was just a bit too much for Tapper, who struggled to compose himself while reading it on air.
“Fox putting a positive face on what can only be interpreted as one of the ugliest and most embarrassing moments in the history of journalism,” he said on Tuesday afternoon. Once he began reading the network’s remarks, he immediately chuckled over Fox’s description of the defamation lawsuit over election lies as a “dispute.” Attempting to continue, he apologized to CNN viewers for his inability to stop laughing.
“I’m sorry. This is going to be difficult to say with a straight face,” the veteran anchor declared before reading aloud the portion of the statement in which Fox lauds its “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”
While Tapper was able to get through the entire statement, it took a few more pauses and guffaws before he saw it to its completion.
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” the network stated. “This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward.”
That statement was just a bit too much for Tapper, who struggled to compose himself while reading it on air.
“Fox putting a positive face on what can only be interpreted as one of the ugliest and most embarrassing moments in the history of journalism,” he said on Tuesday afternoon. Once he began reading the network’s remarks, he immediately chuckled over Fox’s description of the defamation lawsuit over election lies as a “dispute.” Attempting to continue, he apologized to CNN viewers for his inability to stop laughing.
“I’m sorry. This is going to be difficult to say with a straight face,” the veteran anchor declared before reading aloud the portion of the statement in which Fox lauds its “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”
While Tapper was able to get through the entire statement, it took a few more pauses and guffaws before he saw it to its completion.
Well yes, it is deeply funny to see liars go about the business of lying after dropping three quarters of a billion on their lying ...
Et tu New Yorker? And Colbert had fun with that ad the reptiles dropped in The NY Times noting what an alleged 41% of trust really meant ...
The pond knew it would have to create its own fun this day.
While some were disappointed that Dominion ruined the chance of six weeks of fun, it is a corporation and corporations gotta do what corporations gotta do ... and the reptiles did suffer in their own way ...
Wajahat Ali really let fly in Dominion's Big Fox News Settlement is America's Loss ...
What a tragic loss to show business, up there with the agony Terry Gilliam endured trying to make a version of Don Quixote ...
But speaking of tilting at windmills, enough with the fun and back down to earth with the glazed eyeless in Gaza local reptiles ...
What's this? A visitation by Lloydie of the Amazon? Why the pond immediately skipped over the rest of the AUKUS-cawing rabble ...
The pond knew Lloydie was a fine comedian, and could always be relied upon to deliver a stunning set, but little did the pond know he could come out with "Ideally, a single price on greenhouse gas emissions would remove the need for ad hoc policies."
But what's this? Lloydie wasn't the only EV in town ... look, right there, next to petulant Peta ...
Oh dear. For those who came in late, Ottley talks of being the motoring writer for Fairfax when it was Fairfax ... (LinkedIn).
The pond has no idea of the tragic circumstances that led to this, but here we are ...
The pond just had to leave in that invitation to "read next" King Chuck's consternation... too much fun with that snap of the Diana killers - and Harry and Meghan haters - together ... but had to finish up with Lloydie ...
Ah yes, good old dinkum innocent sweet virginal coal, how we need it ...
Meanwhile back with Ottley the alarums were ringing, together with product shots of EVs and the joys of EV charging ...
Truth to tell, even the Hume - the road commute between Australia's two biggest cities - is a charging wasteland, but as the pond has embarked on the journey, may as well finish it ...
Why is this rich? Well for years the reptiles have poured scorn on climate science and EVs and all the rest, and now they're coming up with product shots, and the best they can do in the next gobbet by way of EV porn is an F150? Why do the reptiles suffer from the big tits/big EVs syndrome?
Talk about a Webber word salad ... why isn't he working for Toyota, they really know how to miss the boat?
Meanwhile, the pond wouldn't want punters to think it had given up on traditional reptile fare, because there was another bout of Ming hagiography on hand this day, a casting of the runes, an inspection of the entrails up there with an originalist Supreme Court take on what the founding fathers might think about Clarence ...
What a charming futtock, still living in the 1950s, and to back it up, the reptiles produced an array of snaps, starting with Ming himself, quickly followed by a cheery snap of a unindicted war criminal and lying rodent ...
Ah yes, good European stock, but the pond is forced to guess that this Ryan isn't referring to wogs of the spaghetti-loving and perfidious French kind.
Surely he meant only convicts of British stock, because the country was ruined in the 1950s by the importation of dubious Europeans. Why there were even Spanish-speakers and other sorts of rum types, when everyone knew a couple of veggies and a lamb chop were all that was needed for dinkum eating ...
How long before there'd be a snap of comrade Dan in a mask, what with the reptiles still outraged on a daily basis by the man? The lizard Oz editorialist and Fergo had already been on comrade Dan's case ...
Not only is this Ryan chappie a bigot, he's a profoundly ignorant bigot. Australia was a great place for Jews in the twentieth century?
Might the pond suggest some remedial reading, starting with that notorious set of events surrounding the Dunera Boys?
And then the bigot and the reptiles had their Kipling moment ...
And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke....
...Light me another Cuba—I hold to my first-sworn vows.
If Maggie will have no rival, I'll have no Maggie for Spouse!
Yes, there were huge snaps of a woman in a mask and Ming the Merciless puffing on a ceegarr ...
Naturally the pond downsized them, not because of a prejudice about women in masks, but because for some reason the reptiles still seem to think a man with a ceegarr is the height of manliness, as opposed to a cancer factory ...
If the pond had wanted a visual distraction or an illustration, likely it would have gone with an immortal Rowe ...
Oh it's hard to let it go, and the infallible Pope was at it too ...
Meanwhile, the pond supposes it should finish up the Ming the merciless worship just for the sake of completeness and because it's no weirder than other forms of ancestor worship ...
Oh okay, it's deeply fucked, but isn't that the reptile way? Some things money can't buy, and for everything else there's bigots yammering about freedumb ...
With the greatest respect, what a complete and comprehensive fuckwit. The reptiles have an unerring knack for finding the most wretched on the earth and giving them some space in which they might blather to their heart's content ...
But does this kind of ersatz attempt at a private psychiatric institution excuse Rupert's minions, and wash away their many crimes?
Not really, and there'll be much more mockery and a number of court cases to follow, and things are pretty grim when even a right wing cartoonist of the Ramirez kind joins in the fun ...
It’s always an easy trick to say that long-dead figures would have a particular view on current issues - after all, they’re not around to dispute the claim. The trick is particularly useful when talking about someone like Menzies, who for all his florid waffle across a long political career didn’t really give a lot of specific details about his core beliefs, other than that he was British to the bootstraps and that a good Irish Stew needed a pound of onions for every pound of chops. One such line that stood out to me in Ryan’s drivel was that Pig Iron Bob would have opposed recent pandemic measures on the grounds of Freedum. Given that Ming lived through the Spanish Flu epidemic, and then a couple of decades later was a wartime PM (albeit not a very effective one), that seems to be a rather fanciful assumption on Ryan’s part. But that’s the great thing about drawing on a legend, I suppose - you can say pretty much any shit you like.
ReplyDeleteI’m intrigued by his references to Menzies-related podcasts, though; are they released solely on 78 rpm discs?
My thoughts on Ming. Apologies to Thomas Ford.
DeleteBob L Liz
A colonial PM named Menzies
With Lilibet yearned to be friendsies
When he showed her his love
She gave him the shove
Yet that couldn't dampen his frenzy
...
He touched her not, poor Bob, not he
And yet he loved her desperately
And as he watched her passing by
He could not help but versify
He babbled like a lovesick boy
And soon his words began to cloy
She gazed afar, he knew not why
To self she thought "Who is this guy?"
His lyrics waxed, her care did wane
This bloke was driving her insane
Then to this would-be bard's dismay
The Queen just waved...and walked away
Lovely, Kez! While I’m a devout Republican, it certain said something for Betty Britain that she managed to listen to Ming’s grovelling drivel without vomiting on the spot.
DeleteCheers Anony. I remember from the footage she seemed quite embarrassed.
DeleteYeah well she never was much of a sentimentalist, was she. And what a great job of motherhood she did with her offsprung, especially Chuck and Andy.
DeleteBut then 'Pig Iron' was very much a Jeparit country lad with that peculiar combination of merciless sentimentality, so I guess they deserved each other in some kind of way.
Well described, Kez.
Cheers Anony and GB.
DeleteThe shareholder cases that follow Smartmatic are going to be something. They really are.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ErikWemple/status/1648747390336204800
Couple of interesting comments from Wemple's site, Anony:
DeleteKathy Byrne
@kab_fair
the payment was nothing, they’ll recoup it in subscriber fees, having to admit their lying on air would have been a dagger
Fernando Pizarro
@fpizarro
$787 million is not a material effect on the finances of Fox News. It’s simply the cost of doing business, which Murdoch is more than happy to pay. This was a win for no one other than Murdoch.
And that's about the sum total of it, isn't it. Neither side - Fox nor Dominion - had anything other than their own interests to look after. Just remember that Trump, for instance, has supposedly told thousands of lies, and what has been the effect on his base: even more passionate support and devotion.
Petulant Peta claims that Dutton is “up for a fight”. She’s doubtless correct, but effective politics is a fight between roughly-matched, well-resourced armies, each headed by a smart general with tactical skills and flexibility. Unfortunately for the Liberals, Spud’s only idea of a fight is a bunch of beefy boofheads, with him as head bully, whaling into a couple of kids and beating them into submission. Sadly - for him - that’s not how things generally work in a Parliamentary democracy.
ReplyDelete'Spud' is just a Queensland ex-plod, Anony; you can't expect any sensible understanding of the workings of a democracy from him. Look up Shaun Carney's comment about him in today's The Age if you have access and can be bothered:
Delete"After almost a year in the post, Dutton comes off as a seasoned, instantly familiar character actor trying to fill a leading man role - a one-speed player who struggles to find a new way to ply his trade."
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-liberals-condition-is-a-shared-failure-but-dutton-is-the-obvious-problem-20230418-p5d1go.html
And that's the thing, isn't it: the Libs simply aren't trying to find any new ways to "ply their trade". After all, they've just come off 9 years of government after three successive election victories. What on Earth could possibly be wrong with a trade as successful as that ? They reckon they'll be back in numbers next time - after we benighted voters wake up to big-spending, big-taxing Labor - without them having to change a thing.
This is not to sneak anything about the Woman from Wycheproof into an otherwise interesting exchange. She must be mentioned, because, t’other night, she revealed to her viewers, EXCLUSIVELY, the video prepared by ‘Fair Australia’ to start their campaign for us all to vote NO in the referendum on the voice.
DeleteWhat is this powerful, incisive, video clip? It is 10 minutes of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, in a classic piece of identity politics; well, virtually her personal campaign clip for the next federal senate election.
Many sots of J N P looking towards the sunset, while her own voice details her life. Cunning wording includes how she ‘spent a lot of time in the town camps (around Alice Springs) where my family lived.’ Yes - on casual hearing you might think she grew up in such circumstances - which sits a little oddly with both her parents being teachers in the NT education department, with entitlement to departmental housing. Nothin about her several ‘careers’ as an entertainer - jump to her brief time as deputy mayor of Alice Sprigs - sworn in by her own mother, who just happened to be Minister for Local Government at the time.
Nothing on things she, or the council, got around to doing for people in town camps - well, she was only there for a year or so before she had to get involved in tipping out the sitting CLP senator so she, J N P, could be assured of a seat in Canberra, given that the voters had not given her the nod in the previous election.
Who paid for this? ‘Fair Australia’, which is, in turn, an offshoot of sorts of ‘Advance Australia’, set up by such luminaries as Maurice Newman, Kennard of the well-known storage franchise, Nick Minchin’s wife, Kerry Wakefield, and, according to their ‘Wiki’ ‘Queensland businessman James Power is also said to have been involved.’
Yes, they have a ‘Wiki’, trumpeting the triumphs of their campaign, where success is rated as having put ‘pressure’ on this or that Labor government, and campaigning vigorously against both federal Labor, and independent David Pocock, in the last federal election. Phew. - they must be getting so tired of winning.
and, as soon as it went up, I saw 'many sots of J N P looking towards the sunset.' Not a freudian slip - just a lazy index finger, not finding the 'h'.
DeleteThe effectiveness of the JNP clip may be somewhat undercut by today’s statement from the NT Central Land Council, which says that she neither speaks for them or to them, and that she needs to stop claiming that she speaks on their people’s behalf. Of course - what would they know?
Delete'sots' = shots or shorts or sorts ? Is there more than one kind ?
DeleteAnyway, Chad, thank you for that coverage of the minutiae of Jacinta's life in the 'town camps' - I wouldn't have encountered any of that otherwise because of the unutterable slackness of our truth-telling media.
What a time that must have been for her. And now she's got all the 'Voice' she could ever want, which is why she doesn't want anybody else to have any at all.
Given the Reptiles’ general lack of effectiveness lately in drumming up support for the Coalition, and their constant invoking of the spirit of Menzies, perhaps they could adopt the novel strategy of their sister-publication, “The Sun”, in the 1987 UK election. The UK Reptiles claimed to have commissioned a medium to contact the ghosts of various notable deceased political leaders to ascertain whether they backed Maggie Thatcher’s Conservatives of Neil Kinnock’s Labour Party - https://phmmcr.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/what-would-genghis-khan-do/
ReplyDeleteGiven the number of living dead columnists appearing regularly in the Oz, they probably wouldn’t even need to hire an outside spiritualist.
Now, now Anony, think about that "general lack of effectiveness": if the reptiles hadn't done their thing then maybe the Lib-Nats defeat would have been even greater - why it might have taken two elections for them to get back into power instead of just the one that the reptiles are going to limit it to.
DeleteOh dear:
ReplyDeleteElon Musk’s SpaceX Starship rocket blows up minutes after launch
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/apr/20/elon-musks-spacex-launches-test-flight-for-rocket-that-could-bring-people-to-mars
All that time and effort spent obsessing over Twitter and everything else goes to pot.
And even more oh dear: the unparalleled success of the world's biggest CCS facility.
ReplyDelete"The company [Chevron] was to pump that CO2 [about 4m tonnes annually] into a natural reservoir 2km beneath Barrow Island. But the CCS development was delayed for more than three years and has failed to reach its promised storage level since it began operating in August 2019."
Emissions from WA gas project with world’s largest industrial carbon capture system rise by more than 50%
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/21/emissions-wa-gas-project-chevron-carbon-capture-system-pilbara-coast
Just success after success after success for that wonderful Bjornagain style technology, isn't it.
That'll be worth a mention the next time the pond gets into climate science GB ... oh wait, that's today ...
DeleteFox host Howard Kurtz couldn't bring himself to comment on the settlement with Dominium ...
ReplyDeleteShades of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness cry from Kurtz at the finale,
" Oh, the Horror, the Horror!"
Seemed right for the occasion.