A few quick notes before doing a deep dive into Tuesday's delight, a delicious groaning ...
At the top of the digital edition, the reptiles led with "Wong urged to visit massacre sites."
The pond isn't going to pander to the Jewish lobby with a snap, though it did wonder.
Surely a visit to Gaza at this moment to witness the ongoing genocide would be a tad problematic and dangerous?
Oh wait, for the lizards of Oz, there's only one massacre, and the ongoing genocide is a never no mind ...
Meanwhile, the pond woke to Stephen Sackur on HARDtalk interviewing Gideon Levy: What happened to the Israeli mindset?
Sackur has a deliberately abrasive style, but Levy was up for the game ...
And then there was this in the Graudian ...
So there are a few Jewish heretics in the world, not that you'd know it from the reptiles...
And as for that talk of visiting the ongoing genocide, might as well get the infallible Pope out of the way early ...
Over in the top extreme right position of the digital edition, Killer was out and about with ...
For once, the pond took a rain check. It was roughly equivalent to Xmas eve before unwrapping the Iowa Xmas present. It was an idle piece of stocking filler, and the result will become clear soon enough.
One thing's certain. To borrow a phrase, the poisoning of American blut will continue, per Charlie Sykes, Slouching Towards Iowa ...
While in the United States, the pond just has to mention this story in Huff Post ...
Truth to tell, the pond hasn't thought of Bill Orally for years, but what a pleasure it was to take a dose of this stage in the book banning saga orally ...
“It’s absurd. Preposterous,” the disgraced conservative pundit told Newsweek on Friday, adding that he’ll “find out exactly who made the decisions … [and] put their pictures on television and on my website … and I’m going to ask them for a detailed explanation of why they did that.”
His “Killing Jesus: A History” and “Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency” were reportedly among 1,600 titles pulled to adhere to Florida’s HB 1069 bill. Enacted in July, it purportedly aims to restrict sexual content from being taught in schools.
The law has since been accused of massive overreach, however, after the Florida Freedom to Read Project released a list Thursday of affected titles that include “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” dictionaries, “Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl,” and other essential works.
A spokesperson for the district told The Pensacola News Journal that O’Reilly’s books aren’t permanently banned but are under review “to ensure compliance.” O’Reilly, who appeared indifferent to prior casualties of the broadly applied law, is now naturally aghast.
“When DeSantis signed the book law, I supported the theme because there was abuse going on in Florida,” he told Newsweek. “There were far-left progressive people trying to impose an agenda on children, there’s no doubt about it.”
The former “O’Reilly Factor” host, who was forced off the air in 2017 after a New York Times report revealed that he settled a sexual harassment claim for $32 million, told Newsweek that “the state has an obligation to protect children.”
“But the wording of the law was far too nebulous … So, that law needs to be tightened up,” he added, “DeSantis needs to come out publicly and say, ‘this is insane, we’re not going to cooperate with this and we’re going to investigate the people who did it.’”
Representatives for DeSantis did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
O’Reilly also took to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote: “This will not stand.” He presumably hasn’t noticed that most users are mocking his newfound indignation — as it only arrived after he was victimized by something he had supported.
Now the pond really only mentions this because the cartoonists and poets love it ...
But for the love of the long absent lord, be fair.
It was the lizards of Oz who beguiled the hapless Captain Spud into his campaign, it was the reptiles who set the whole thing running.
Couldn't the reptile readership be involved?
After all, the entire Murdochian empire has been at work setting the scene, encouraging Captain Spud to go full Trump and the lizard Oz readership in particular in recent days has sounded dangerously radicalised...
The pond's bet is that some reader of some part of the chairman emeritus's empire, or some viewer of Sky after dark, took to the streets, perhaps after reading the lizard Oz or hearing the reptiles report on Ray Hadley going on one of his rants, which the pond studiously avoids and knows only through hearsay ...
Meanwhile, relax, trinkets remain available ...
Good to see a reptile survivor having some fun ...
As for the republic, it seems there's been a temporary lull, which is a pity, because Golding was still having fun ...
The pond has been filibustering away after that tease about a splendid groaning, and still no Dame Groan in sight ...
Best check the day's offerings ...
The pond also notes that that dill Dillon had been wheeled in to rabbit on about invasion day, but enough already ... it's time for the unveiling, let the splendid groaning begin ...
Our place is in asia and we will need to recognise this.
ReplyDeleteNaah, there's no part of Asia south of the tropic of Capricorn and hardly any (mainly some bits of Indonesia) south of the equator. So we really aren't in Asia, are we.
DeleteCalloo callay! The kerfuffle over Chinese plastic flag day is going nowhere - well played Mr Murdoch and your lickspittles. In the most unlikely of events, The Caterist was trending on twitter this morning as I buttered my toast. There are dozens of brilliant takes on the unwanted pommie sheep on the Reptile board - i selected this one to get you started: https://twitter.com/MettaBhavana1/status/1746737063574356002
ReplyDeleteWhile all this waste of time and energy gets Murdoch and hate hose radio the clicks they desire, I discovered last night via 7.30 that 1,600 defence personnel have committed suicide since 1997..and that the commission of inquiry is being drawn out for political reasons. Call me a very simple person if you will, but is that not an issue of gargantuan concern compared to ranting about cheap Chinese tat being removed from the shelves of lamentable retailers?
Over to you Peter - bring that issue to the fore!
Of course it's gargantuan, vc, and that's why attention has to be diverted away from it by distraction, however petty. Can you imagine any of our current Fed politicians - Labor or Coalition - who could do any kind of even halfway honest and effective intervention in that ?
DeleteDefence suicide rate 20x civilians in Australia.
DeleteWar. What is it good for.
Now the real question is why is it so high ? Is it just because it's all the wrong people who apply for 'armed service' nowadays ? Or is it because we don't know how to train and maintain people whose living includes some degree of kill or be killed ?
DeleteBill O'Reilly - wasn't he the one who got all his news and views from a cab driver ? Or drivers ? And where would he have got $32million from ?
ReplyDeleteGroany groaning: "We were required to undertake a course in economic statistics that was not actually very demanding..." Oyez, that says it all, doesn't it ... well, that plus having Geoffrey Blainey as tutor in economic history.
ReplyDeleteThen we have Groaning wisdom about the cost of infrastructure projects: "It's simple economics to predict that the cost of these projects would blow out." Quite so, basically because the earlier simplified estimates of costs are replaced by later more realistic evaluations of costs. The earlier it is in a project life cycle, the more simple and optimistic the cost and timeframe estimates are because basically if the real costs and timeframe was understood, nothing would ever get done because we couldn't afford it.
So: "It's always important for economists to explain the core ideas in a way that is accessible to those without economics training." And clearly that's what was done for the Groany and it's why she still shows zero understanding of "core ideas".
The Groaning for this day is such a mish mash (‘word salad’ is in the running for cliché of the year) that I think our Dame’s commission was to provide some number of words, sufficient to fill the space left by the other ‘embarrassingly small scandals’ of the day.
DeleteSo we learn a little of her undergraduate time, and, yes, exposure to Blainey as tutor offers one explanation for her unreasoning focus on immigration (there are other possible explanations, which I will come to). The part of her life which she passes by was her time as an ‘acedemic’. For most people, these were significant years, particularly if they were directed to attaining a doctorate. It is also the time that firms up your authority to be ‘holder of various government positions, company director and economic commentator’. But our Dame tells us nothing of that time beyond ‘interest in other areas of economics’.
Those ‘other areas’, which created demand for PhD candidates, lay in the combined Adelaide and Flinders University research on the economics of work. The impetus came from Premier Dunstan, and people in both institutions still produce useful findings on incentives, aspects of what Dunstan called ‘industrial democracy’, productivity - everything that actually keeps this country functioning.
Not that Candidate Groan was particularly well-known within that large group. Her name appears on few publications - none as lead author. I cannot recall her attending any of the seminars organised by the Economic Society at either campus, even though speakers included Bob Gregory, Allan Fels, Geoff Harcourt and others of similar eminence, with opportunity to chat with the speakers, often continue on to a meal and drinks in convivial setting; it was as good a ‘learned society’ as this humble member could imagine. I have mentioned here the one occasion when Dr Sloan was mentioned at such a gathering, when an audience member referred to a graph she had shown in her writing in the ‘Advertiser’. The moderator - who had been one of her supervisors - suggested the member check the origin of the graph, because he could not recall that Judith had ever actually constructed a graph.
Will do this in two parts -
As they used to say in the "Goon Show' - Part the two.
DeleteSo even then, the emerging Groaner was settling into the role of ‘economic commentator’, of which there are two basic kinds. One kind attempts to show how economic research can guide decisions in the national interest. John Quiggin is a good example. The other kind often comes out of employment by one of the many groups that advocate for particular industries or professional groupings. Their work has been rightly disparaged since the time of Adam Smith - because such people existed then, when they promoted policies such as requirement that Christians be wrapped in a woollen shroud, of specified dimensions and quality, for burial. All in the national interest - because, to predate an American automobile executive - what was good for the wool industry, was, self-evidently, good for England. More recently, the public debates on the Corn Laws showed how prolific such minions were becoming. It was a solid career path then, and has only broadened with mass media.
Our Dame has long since equated her own best interests with those of the American media proprietor who tops up her best interests by, we understand, a quarter of a mill each year. And Rupe demands little of her in return - this many words each week, sticking to the established themes.
To maintain the appearance of involvement in the wider study, the newspaper commentator can pick out the odd publication, but only if it suits what the proprietor agrees with. This can be tricky, and may show up that the commentator’s undergrad training in statistics was ‘not actually very demanding’ when she is one of those who seized on the Rogoff Reinhart paper that purported to prove a solid inverse relationship between government debt and growth - except that R’n’R had also been a bit slack with their statistics, to the extent of effectively reversing the more appropriate conclusion. Ooops.
Quite how that helps ‘retain my passion for the discipline’ is beyond me, but as she was not greatly involved in much of the ‘discipline’ in her academic time, it may not be a particularly demanding rationalisation.
Perhaps, when she starts to explain the core ideas in a way that is accessible to those without economics training - we will see more evidence of passion.
All of the reptiles appear to have degrees of various kinds and levels - even Polonius claims a PhD with some connection to Law - but none actually appear to exhibit any particular ability in or interest about their degree subject areas, so Groany is just a very ordinary 'par for the course' reptile. One does wonder, just a little, how much they get 'remunerated' for their humourless and incompetent contributions. There was some indication a while back that Groany's remuneration was around about $350,000pa which caused some level of protest from those of equal inability and Groany's pay was supposedly reduced - maybe to around $200K to $250K.
DeleteWingnut welfare is a wondrous thing, isn't it.
TISATAAFL
Delete[ There IS such a thing as a free lunch]
JULY 11, 2015
JOHN QUIGGIN
....
"If TANSTAAFL
[There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch]
were literally true, however, humanity could never have risen above a subsistence level of existence. Every technological advance since people first learned how to make flint tools and control fire has provided a potential free lunch, literally and metaphorically, for humanity as a whole. The same is true of improvements in social and economic organization that have allowed larger and larger groups to co-operate in mutually beneficial ways.
"TANSTAAFL holds if and only if there are no free lunches left on the table, which in turn will only happen if all options for technological progress have been exhausted and, in addition, the economic system is functioning perfectly1. So, if outcomes can be improved for everyone, the correct statement is TISATAAFL, that is, There Is Such A Thing As A Free Lunch’.
"Economists have understood this point ever since Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, the first serious study of economic growth, in the 18th century. Even the poorest person in a modern developed economy enjoys a range of goods and services that were unavailable to our ancestors, with less effort and toil and, at least potentially, with less use of resources and damage to the environment.
"The improvements in living standards generated by a modern economy are, for us, a free lunch. In fact, economics tells us about two kinds of free lunch, technological innovations and improved allocation of resources."
https://johnquiggin.com/2015/07/11/tisataafl/
tisataaflbyaggo - there is such a thing as a free lunch, but you ain't gonna get one
DeleteIn ‘Crikey’ Worm for this day -
ReplyDeleteHaving set out the Cater’s denouement of yesterday, that ‘No amount of fairy bread buns can redeem Woolworths for its un-Australian decision or its thinly disguised disparagement of a country almost every migrant regards with undiluted affection’ - Crikey offered these thoughts (but no prayers) to comfort for the Cater -
‘Spare a thought for conservative opinion writers across the country who have to somehow shove nuanced and poignant conversations about race and identity every January into embarrassingly small scandals - this year, a simple supply and demand decision made by a grocer about some cheap merchandise.’
They certainly seem to have gone rather quiet since yesterday’s vandalism incident….
DeleteIn a litigious US world, the supermarket chain would have News Corp in the courts licketty split, because the chain of title for the nonsense and the incitement to violence is easy to track ...
DeleteOverall, a banner day for the Warriors of White Kulcha - a delightful dismantling of how to stoke a kulcha war here from the excellent Aaron Smith: https://twitter.com/Aaronsmith333/status/1747012264081920358
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous - and, of course, Aaron Smith
DeleteOn MMT, Bill Mitchell has an amusing manga at https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=61488
ReplyDeleteJoe
Thanks, Anony, very amusing indeed.
DeleteA long time ago when I sort of studied economics and politics too I quite liked the perspectives given by Joan Robinson, Geoff Harcourt and Hugh Stretton too.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note that the last issue of quad-rant edited by Robert Manne featured a long essay by Hugh Stretton and an essay which provided a comprehensive critique of the kind of right-wing religious orthodoxy now aggressively promoted by the quad-rant cabal - I forget the author.
Robert was sacked very soon after - it has been downhill ever since.
Nearly Normal - Hugh Stretton 'slipped my mind' when I was recalling those who had lead seminars of EcSoc in South Australia in those times. He greatly enjoyed teasing out his examples of how mixed the economy actually was, particularly if, in the process he could gently confound someone who had proclaimed 'free enterprise and the market' as the structure that would provide for all our needs.
Delete