The pond did its usual cautious toe in the water brimming with dangerous reptiles routine, before even thinking about plunging in ..
There was the bro, back in the superior top far right perch, and down below, there was the shameless Dame Slap, still up to her shameless neck in the Lehrmann matter.
An automatic red card for her, and the blather about eating green ideology could also be sent to the waste bin, and the pond will save the bro until the end because there's a lot to cover this day ...
The pond could barely raise a grimace at ancient Troy attempting to stroke leadership speculation - is it that reptile time of year o'clock already? - and before getting on to the usual Tuesday groaning, the lizard Oz ed gave the pond a chance to deal with the Gaza genocide one more time ...
There was some genuinely shocking footage of terrible slaughter and then this note ...
...The killings made it onto Australian TV news as well, on Ten, SBS and the ABC.
And online into the Daily Mail, Yahoo! News, Mamamia, and The Guardian’s First Dog on the Moon.
But remarkably, the Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and Courier-Mail could find no room for it in their print editions. Nor could The Age or Sydney Morning Herald.
And there was nothing about Hind’s death in our national broadsheet The Australian.
Although the websites of the News Corp papers did host videos and agency copy.
So was this just an oversight? We doubt it.
A week earlier The Australian had asked on its front page:
And online into the Daily Mail, Yahoo! News, Mamamia, and The Guardian’s First Dog on the Moon.
But remarkably, the Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and Courier-Mail could find no room for it in their print editions. Nor could The Age or Sydney Morning Herald.
And there was nothing about Hind’s death in our national broadsheet The Australian.
Although the websites of the News Corp papers did host videos and agency copy.
So was this just an oversight? We doubt it.
A week earlier The Australian had asked on its front page:
‘How is the world still silent?’ - The Australian, 2 February, 2024
Naturally there were illustrations, because the show still has a graphics department ...
And then ...
...But it wasn’t weeping for Hind Rajab, it was mourning two missing Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas.
And while their fate is awful too, this focus on Israeli victims is part of a pattern.
Looking back at The Australian’s coverage of the conflict since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October killed nearly 1,200 people, there are numerous heart-wrenching stories of the victims, showing their photos, giving us their names and ages, telling us who they were and how they were killed or captured, and allowing us to feel the horror and dreadful pain of the families left behind.
But guess what? Almost all these victims are Israeli, almost none are Palestinian, with The Australian running around 40 stories in the paper humanising Israeli victims and only three doing the same for Palestinian victims, even though 20 times as many Palestinians have been killed in the conflict. And even though almost two million are homeless and hungry.
The Daily Telegraph has been nowhere near as bad as The Australian, but has still run around five times as many stories focussing on the plight of Israeli victims as on Palestinians.
And while their fate is awful too, this focus on Israeli victims is part of a pattern.
Looking back at The Australian’s coverage of the conflict since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October killed nearly 1,200 people, there are numerous heart-wrenching stories of the victims, showing their photos, giving us their names and ages, telling us who they were and how they were killed or captured, and allowing us to feel the horror and dreadful pain of the families left behind.
But guess what? Almost all these victims are Israeli, almost none are Palestinian, with The Australian running around 40 stories in the paper humanising Israeli victims and only three doing the same for Palestinian victims, even though 20 times as many Palestinians have been killed in the conflict. And even though almost two million are homeless and hungry.
The Daily Telegraph has been nowhere near as bad as The Australian, but has still run around five times as many stories focussing on the plight of Israeli victims as on Palestinians.
Like this ...
...here in Australia, a preliminary analysis for the Islamophobia Register by Dr Susan Carland found Instagram posts from The Australian and 9News all humanised Israeli victims but not Palestinians, with the ABC the only one to give equal coverage to both sides.
We should caution that the last two studies covered the first month of the war, when the horror of the Hamas terror attacks was still dominating the headlines.
So, what do we conclude from all this? Well, simple, really.
The big Australian newspapers we looked at have failed to cover the Gaza conflict fairly, in terms of giving equal weight to the victims on each side, with the Nine papers not too bad, but The Australian failing in spectacular fashion.
We should caution that the last two studies covered the first month of the war, when the horror of the Hamas terror attacks was still dominating the headlines.
So, what do we conclude from all this? Well, simple, really.
The big Australian newspapers we looked at have failed to cover the Gaza conflict fairly, in terms of giving equal weight to the victims on each side, with the Nine papers not too bad, but The Australian failing in spectacular fashion.
Now the story looked at other international newspapers indulging in epic fails - naturally the NY Times was there, but the pond is content to note the spectacular and shameful failure of the lizard Oz and its shameful refusal to even offer a comment ...
...We also approached News Corp for comment, along with several questions for the editor of The Australian, but we received no response.
We think their coverage has been shameful.
We think their coverage has been shameful.
Well yes, but their coverage for an allegedly national paper is shocking and shameful in so many areas ...
Which story do you think got ignored while coal got its usual guernsey?
And that's a natural segue to Dame Groan doing her RAM worship ...
Truly hideous vehicles, but Dame Groan is in love ...
If the pond had its way, it would price Toorak tractors out of the city, as sensible cities have done ... but just to rub the pond's nose in it, the reptiles ran a snap of one of the beasts, with a smirking Satanic figure alongside ...
Hint: as usual it's about just barely disguised climate science denialism.
The pond scurried through Dame Groan and her love of trucks - the bigger, in the American way, the better - because Mein Gott was out and about yesterday and the pond has developed a sugar tooth for his essays ...
Rome? Who could resist? Was he matching the hole in the bucket man at historical analysis?
The pond doesn't have time to go into the epic disaster written up in the SMH under different management back in January 2013, Meriton's war of World Tower.
You just throw up future slums and then you set up a nice little earner: Sinking Meriton apartment complex in Ashfield re-levelled and stabilished...
The pond will just note this recommendation in Hacker News ...
I've lived in a Meriton apartment complex in Sydney. It was one of the complexes built right in the biggest part of the boom, when they were rolling out "largest development in Sydney/Australia" one after the other, trying to outdo themselves and each other.
We moved in (renting) when it was brand new, peeling the plastic off the appliances etc. Within 1 year they were doing MAJOR fixes to building-scale defects in the construction, and within 2-3 years we had cracks in the walls, paint flaking off, doors that didn't line up, windows that didn't seal when closed. This is on a ~8th level apartment, and these aren't cheap apartments. They're not luxury, but they're comfortable in the "mid-to-high" end of the Sydney scale, just on the edge of the CBD.
We since moved out of Sydney, but we'll never live in a new-build Apartment again. The hell we went through, just as a renter in those few years, was mind boggling. Giving engineers and tradies access to our apartment seemingly every week, sometimes every day for days on end, so they could inspect and fix issues. I can't even imagine how bad it is for people who got suckered/conned into buying those POS apartments.
Instead of the fall of Rome, how soon can the fall of Meriton be arranged?
Meanwhile, Mein Gott was in inspired form ...
Another Hacker comment perhaps?
Meriton is extremely well connected politically. NSW (the state Sydney is in) has always had a problem with corruption stretching back to the Rum Rebellion. If you are thinking of buying a new apartment in Sydney then just walk away, if the developer is Meriton then run.
The pond doesn't mean to diminish the Melbourne experience ...
...we moved from Sydney highrise hell directly into Melbourne highrise hell (we thought Melbourne might be better... Oops) and received a flooded 10th floor apartment in a 1 year old highrise because they "forgot" to seal where the wall concrete meets the floor concrete, and an exterior ledge pooled water until it seeped through the cracks and flooded our apartment.
Multiple weeks with 2 adults and 2 kids and all our belongings in the single dry room while they stripped the inside and outside of our apartment to bare concrete, sealed it all, and rebuilt all the interior, drywall, carpets, etc.
Because we rented, we received no compensation or assistance. Yay Victorian tenants rights (or lack thereof).
We're now in a 30yr old double brick house (with all new high quality interior) in a rural city and never been happier. We'll never live in an apartment or major Australian city again.
The pond has already noted how the reptiles dropped the Navalny story stone cold immediately after it happened, even though other rags were tracking his wife and the hunt for the body and the shameless cover up by sociopathic Vlad the impaler's stooges offering nonsensical medical explanations ...
But perhaps silence was more sensible than getting the bro on the case ... you know, using Navalny's death to score cheap domestic political points, as if that's what his death was all about ...
It was a mad sort of bravery and derring do ... and given the way that the sociopath runs things these days, the result inevitable...
What's really irritating is the way that the bromancer dragoons him into the bromancer's causes, but first there's the usual elaborate walk through the bro's own obsessions, because it turns out that Navalny's death is just an excuse for a bro performance ...
Well yes ...
Sorry, the pond is getting a little ahead, we must pause for the usual 1984 rant and never mind that the Chairman Emeritus bequeathed Tuckyo Carlson to the world ...
At lest the bro is catching up on that one, long after Tuckyo polluted Faux Noise and the Murdochians for years ...
Hmm, that's starting to sound dangerously woke, especially in Mardi Gras season. What next?
Naturally the bromancer wasn't really woke or doing any of that identity politics, that's all nutty, but then there's also the spectacle of real nuttiness, and before you know it, that nuttiness is whisked off stage and Albo is dragged on to perform for the bro...
The real problem is that the bro can't go on too long about the real problem, the isolationism sweeping the United States, insisted on by the tangerine tyrant, with the GOP and Faux Noise falling into line ...
It's a lot easier to rail at the locals ...
Tell that to the house, tell that to the Vance advancing to the rear.
These seemed a little closer to the mark, even if it means the pond repeats itself ...
Any comments I make are being blocked why.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that this actually appeared suggests otherwise. The pond did a belated check of the spam trap and found nothing caught there. If you got through once, who knows, you might get through again, provided you're not providing links to bitcoin or MAGA donation opportunities.
DeleteHi A,
DeleteI don’t know if this will be any help. A while ago I couldn’t get any comments to be published, they just disappeared. Eventually I switched off “Prevent Cross-Site Tracking” (Apple Safari) and all proceeded normally. Just remember to switch it back on afterwards.
Comments are blocked periodically - it happens to me occasionally. Hitting 'refresh' [Ctrl-R] usually clears the blockage, but I have very occasionally had to close the browser then reopen and go to the Pond again, and that's always fixed it. But I do always get a "Your comment could not be posted. Try again later". type message when I am blocked.
DeleteThank you for the information I am not all that computer literate so my comment was more about getting an understanding of how to combat the problem I have been following the pond for many years now and like to put in my pennies worth now and then.
DeleteJust do what I do and always write your comment in Notepad and then copy it into the Pond comment space when complete so that you still have it to try again with and don't have to compose it more than once.
DeleteGood, and now fire away, preferably at a reptile, whatever the specious pleading in their eyes ...
Delete"The pond scurried through Dame Groan and her love of trucks - the bigger, in the American way, the better"
ReplyDeleteDame G doesn't tell RAMz will pay at the bowser soonish... “We’re headed towards higher oil prices. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”
–Conrad Gibbins, Jefferies"
"Geoff Miell says
"Meanwhile, US petroleum geologist Art Berman tweeted on Feb 17:
“There is no way the US rig count grows after the recent wave of consolidation.
“We’re headed towards higher oil prices. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”
–Conrad Gibbins, Jefferies
Also Art Berman tweeted:
“In the coming era of more consolidated, steady and disciplined production, don’t count on US drillers to douse higher prices.”
https://johnquiggin.com/2024/02/10/labors-fuel-efficiency-standards-may-settle-the-ute-dispute-but-there-are-still-hazards-on-the-road/comment-page-1/#comment-264659
The Groaner: "Bowen might also be well-advised to admit that Australians love their cars." Yeah well, I'm Australian (since 26 Jan 1949 anyway) and I don't "love" my car. I use it daily, and I do get value from it, but "love" it ? Pull the other one.
ReplyDeleteBut picking up on Groany's 'denialism' she gives us this: "Recent data point to it now being more expensive to use paid-for fast chargers between Melbourne and Sydney than driving a petrol-fuelled car." Oh yes ? What "recent data" gathered and supplied by whom ?
But especially this: "The fact that Chinese vehicles are constructed using cheap coal-fired electricity is again something that policymakers such as Bowen chose to ignore." Ok, so: (1) as renewables continue to replace fossil-fuel electricity generation, this terminates, but the emissions from fossil-fuel cars continues unabated. (2) there is nothing "cheap" about coal-fired electricity, though it is indeed markedly cheaper than nuclear fission generated electricity.
So great work again Groany, as always.
I'd almost be suspicious of, say, Chinese small modular EVs offering to household- and grid-of-(micro-)grids more-than-a-cottage industry in the (e)merging (base)load continuity(ies) space, too.
Deletehttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-21/rooftop-solar-cells-in-australia-to-outperform-demand/103489806
Deletehttps://www.greenmarkets.com.au/articles/four-reasons-why-rooftop-solar-will-grow-to-dominate-the-electricity-market
Mein Gott: "The events that caused the collapse of Rome and its empire in the 5th century AD were many and varied, but one trigger was a change in social values...". Actually, a much bigger cause was plagues and epidemics from both before and after the Plague of Justinian which "...began in the 540s and may have killed more than 100 million Europeans before spreading to other parts of the world and which lasted until the end of Late Antiquity." Makes Covid look trivial, doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteIt might also be worth pointing out that this was the western 'Roman empire', the eastern Roman empire, also known as the Byzantine empire (famously once ruled by the man that gave the world state Christianity, Constantine) carried on for about another 800 years or so and included such great constructions as the Hagia Sofia (a museum from 1935 until 2020, now a mosque again).
But as to Meriton, well, Melbourne has its Metricon.
Indeed, GB. I also always like to point out to conservatives that Gibbon clearly believed (though, writing in the 18th century, he had to be careful in his phrasing) that one of other causes of the Western Empire’s fall was the development of Christianity as the Establishment. As a consequence of this, vast resources came under the control of the Church, many of the best and brightest made their careers in the Church, rather than the military, politics or administration, and civil politics was increasingly preoccupied and interconnected with that of religion. None of those developments were beneficial to the strength and maintenance of the Empire, in which religion (and a large degree of religious tolerance) had been part of the fabric that supported the State, rather than undermining it. It’s always entertaining to watch those who claim Christianity to be one of the foundations of “Western Civilisation” turn purple when this argument is put to them.
DeleteThe pond just knew that Mein Gott was on a Roman winner. The hole in the bucket man better watch out.
DeleteGB do you mean Metricon short cuts and employment con to use their employment of contractors instead of employing their own so they don't have to pay super or work cover or holiday pay and long service leave or sick leave. With the master builders coming out saying they are against the new employment legislation introduced by labor.
DeleteWell I know not of any such misdemeanors, Anony, just that they don't appear to be very professional all things said and done.
DeleteSloan’s fear of anything renewable is no less than Creighton’s fear of masks and all that talk of choice for consumers when her whole purpose in writing the article is to dissuade her readers from buying electric vehicles.
ReplyDeleteDespite attempts by the reptiles to appear to be on the common person’s side over the cost of living, naturally it is ignored when convenient, as Sloan ignores it as one possible reason for the slower uptake of EVs.
Laughed at Gottliebsen’s opening paragraph that the fall of Rome was partly due to “a change in social values with greater emphasis on individualism and wealth accumulation which contributed to a population fall.” Wealth accumulation is what Harry Triguboff is all about. Wealth accumulation is what motivates and under-rides all the Murdochs say and do. Individualism and wealth accumulation are the hallmarks of the Coalition. So if there’s a fall in population perhaps we can blame them.
After yesterday’s helping of the bland Buchanan it was a relief to be fed a refreshing dose of the Bromancer’s rantings, with perhaps a little more mouth-froth than usual to make up for his absence.many folk would incorrectly assume that defence and foreign affairs are complex, but not the. Romances - it’s all Albo’s fault. Why did Putin feel free to order the death of yet another political opponent? The current government has been too cowardly to call out Vlad. Why is Ukraine doing it tough in the ongoing war against Russia? It’s due to the current parsimonious pock of pinkos in Canberra. All this is to be expected of the Bro - what’s surprising is that he actually expresses disappointment at the refusal of US Republicans to approve Ukraine military aid. He gets over that pretty quickly - one brief paragraph and he’s back to bashing the Local Feds. Nevertheless, it was a bit of a jolt to see the Bro recognising reality, however briefly. I’m not sure if this is the first time that he’s actually criticised the obstructionist tactics of the Trumpists, but I’m sure it won’t be enough to actually support the reelection of Biden. Sorry, I mean “hapless, senile, drooling incompetent” Biden.
ReplyDelete:)³ The bro's delusions of grandeur are always good for a laugh, except when they end up aiding and abetting the devastation of a country, like Vietnam or Iraq ...
DeleteNow the main chance to help Ukraine is blowing in the GOP Faux Noise Emeritus Chairman mango Mussolini approved wind, and the best the bro can do is take it out on the locals ...
Albo = populist Dill of the Lowest Order. Heads up for tomorrow DP to see who plays up the Commonwealth Government Supermarkets!
ReplyDeleteAs PM he is supposed to be setting the agenda,not playing infantile gotcha games, then saying it was a joke. Meat for reptiles. Whilst Marles is announcing $54Bn navy further entrenching the Bro's war narritive. Nero fiddling while media burns us down!!! A NO vote, Labor.
"PM says government-run supermarket with set prices for grocery staples a good idea
"The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has just spoken to Mix 94.5 Radio in Perth. Most of the interview was the usual wedding logistics, after he proposed to partner Jodie Haydonon Valentine’s Day.
"But things got interesting at the end when he was asked to play a game of whether he thinks certain measures are a great idea.
"At first, Albanese seemed to be taking it completely seriously. Asked about a “freeze on international and interstate investors purchasing investment homes”, Albanese said it was “a bit rough” to ban interstate investors. No, he didn’t support it.
"Asked if the government should run a supermarket with “fair, fixed prices on grocery staples”, Albanese replied “yes” that’s a good idea. The hosts joked it would be called Albo’s instead of Aldi.
"Asked about a “giant shade sail between Australia and the sun”, Albanese said this was a “great idea” and suggested putting solar on it.
"We’ll check whether Albanese actually supports these policies. The giant shade may be the stuff of techno futurism but a government-run supermarket is actually feasible.
"(We have since confirmed that the answer was a joke, and Albanese does not support government run supermarkets)."
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2024/feb/20/australia-news-live-navy-frigate-richard-marles-asylum-seekers-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-taylor-swift?page=with:block-65d3eb928f087eed1e995808#block-65d3eb928f087eed1e995808
Albo's target audience. Adding to gdp.
DeleteStroke of genius? How one developer earned over £250k from games made in 30 minutes
More than 120,000 PlayStation users have paid £3.29 to pet virtual hamsters, dogs and beavers. What’s behind this madness?
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/feb/15/stroke-of-genius-how-one-developer-created-a-hit-game-in-just-30-minutes
I looked for some recognition from our Cult Leader - the Dame Groan - that fuel emission standards also had something to do with human health. The issues over lead in petrol were pretty much settled before she inserted herself into economic research, and only a total ratbag would try to deny the benefits from phasing out tetraethyl lead. But combustion engines put other toxins into the air, particularly of larger cities. Public health officials have been concerned about the particulates from diesel engines, as various manufacturers promoted them for smaller passenger cars for ‘economy’, even to the extent of the Volkswagen Group programming its vehicles to activate full emission controls only during emissions testing. How’s that for Teutonic efficiency?
ReplyDeleteFor the last few years the market for new vehicles in Australia has been distorted by special tax treatment of ‘utes’. Essentially, if you can show that the vehicle you intend to buy is necessary to your work - you can take your full tax write off in the first year. It is well understood that the tax person may ask questions about your listing a Mercedes convertible as a work vehicle, even though that might be fully justified. A lot of SUVs might spark queries from the tax office, but it is absolutely understood that almost anyone with some link to a business - life partners, whose involvement seldom extends beyond answering the ‘phone, for example - will get the nod for a double-cab ute.
That is pretty much the main reason those vehicles are the top selling 2-3 brands each year. They are of little practical use; sparkies and plumbers tow their gear around in trailers, as do mowing and yard people. The trays of most will not accommodate full-size trail bikes, so they go on a trailer also ‘for the weekend’. Through the week, the kids go to school cramped in a double-cab, when they would be more comfortable, and safer, in a large SUV, with fewer school bags likely to fly around the cabin if that vehicle is in an accident - but that tax write-off is a big determinant, as any thoughtful economist would note.
So, if we must favour the things - can we at least reduce the amount of breathable toxin they fart into the air? Might we even pickup (pun intended) from what the USA has been doing for 60 years with air quality from motor vehicles?
Whisper it quietly, but it may even be possible to make significant money savings in this era of soaring 'cost of living':
Delete"Australians could save, on average, almost half of their yearly petrol costs if proposed rules forcing carmakers to make more fuel efficient vehicles are adopted, new analysis shows."
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/21/more-efficient-cars-could-almost-halve-australians-yearly-petrol-costs-new-analysis-shows
But! Chad... maaaate. It's got...
ReplyDelete[shit] Fuel Efficiency - 19.6L / 100km [$40+ per 100k!]
Power/Torque - 523kW / 882Nm
Warranty - 3 Years / 100000 km
Safety — [yes, blank!]
Build Country - US of A maaaate
https://www.drive.com.au/showrooms/ram/1500/cf4a51d073092b40/
It can tow 3 tonne!
Yeah, only occasionally.
But...
Movie: 2 Guns:
Rouge DEA agent to Mexican cartel boss:
... "Your cock is massive, and I am in awe of your cock"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YeN79DtSytE
Are you hinting, with your 'Drive' link, that our Dame secretly hankers for a monster 'pickup'? Would certainly help put the peasants in their place, when she ventures out. But, overall, the image is just a tad disturbing.
ReplyDelete