How could the pond resist the burley in the water offered by chunks of Caterism and our Henry?

 

Much in the manner of Jeffrey Barnard, the pond is unwell, but couldn't resist the Friday feast on offer ...

First up was the meretricious Merritt in the highly desired far right position of the digital edition, continuing the endless rape of Higgins in the lizard Oz ...

The pond only notes this so it could note Margaret Simons' aside while reviewing the Lehrmann matter ...

Not under examination by Justice Michael Lee was the conduct of The Australian, but in the wider Lehrmann imbroglio, we have seen its columnist Janet Albrechtsen become a player, rather than a mere reporter. She is accused of “infecting” the head of an inquiry with bias.
And now, while accepting Lee’s finding that on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins, she is seriously suggesting that this young woman, the victim of a traumatising crime, should be referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission over the money she received from the commonwealth by way of compensation.
The headline on Albrechtsen’s piece says that Lee had “put all parties in their place”. He didn’t put her in her place – but I suspect only because her conduct was not relevant to the matters he had to decide.

Well yes, and the rest of the rabid pack too, but none of the clown show - Seven, Ten or the reptiles of Oz, especially Dame Slap - have emerged from the affair with any dignity.

And that reminded the pond of the note it made about Jack Shafer discussing the Murdochian business model ... 

A new example came to light in The Graudian, involving Hugh Grant's need to settle rather than drag the UK reptiles through the court ...

Is this the first time the Sun has settled in this manner?
No. Hundreds of cases have been settled by the Sun’s parent company this way, relating to both the newspapers still being published and the defunct News of the World.
Many of the people who accepted settlements said they did not feel justice had been done as they were unable to air their evidence in open court and have a judge rule on the veracity of their allegations.
The actor Sienna Miller reluctantly accepted a large financial settlement over her claims of phone hacking at the Sun. She said in 2021: “I wanted to go to trial. I wanted to expose the criminality that runs through the heart of this corporation.” Despite being a successful film actor, Miller said she could not afford the “countless millions of pounds to spend on the pursuit of justice” required to take the case to trial.

It's the business model. Carry on like ratbags, then offer to settle as a way of avoiding the mud emerging into light ...

Never mind, who else was keeping the meretricious Merritt company this day ...

This day it's Ben droning on about the missiles, while that talk of hospital crisis is a new angle, better than the one offered up yesterday ...

Wasn't Mike sacked for sundry bits of outrageous behaviour? Still his offer to enlist and serve on the front line was a brave gesture. We need more sedentary males to lead the way ...

As always, the infallible Pope had the ideal solution to the defence crisis ...

And so to search for other treats ...

Not just our Henry, but the Caterist on a Friday ... blathering on in the usual way about green dreams, as opposed to current global warming nightmares ...

Sorry George, sorry Ben, sorry, for some bizarre reason jolly Joe telling the lizards of Oz readership about the trains to Scranton, while the reptiles continue to ignore the real entertainment in the US, whether it be the trials of the orange Jesus or the young earth creationist in hot water, or the GOP gone full Vlad the Sociopath lovers ...

And so to the pond's attempt to renew interest in the Caterist blathering on about renewables ...

A simple question to the Caterist? How much will this climate-change miracle cost us? You know, that talk of average world incomes to drop by nearly a fifth in 2050, not that the pond will much mind, not being around to see it ...

Sorry, of course, how silly of the pond, climate science is merely a cult or perhaps a religion or perhaps both, and so the Caterist continued ...

The pond isn't going to argue, it's enough to feature the Caterist in full flight, but the reptiles did perform one service, which was to help identify Josh.

Why, there might be some who wander around Malvern or Toorak and might bump into Josh without the first clue as to what he looks like.

Carry this handy guide with you at all times ...

Now you know what Josh looks like, head off to Camberwell market and say hello ... mention Petey boy is having one for the family, and he might knock down a used toy cheap ... while the pond carries on with the frothing and foaming Caterist ...

Chris Leithner? Well he's a newbie in Caterist circles, but any port in a storm, and there were plenty of graphs, and a comment that set the tone ...

Another excellent summation and analysis Chris.

If only the climate alarmist lemmings would pay attention!

Or perhaps this one ...

We shall continue to squander valuable time and taxpayer money on pushing this crazy agenda.

Roll on the bleaching and the crazy agenda of a year's downpour of rain in a day ... and the pond only provided the link because of course the link in that last gobbet wasn't to Leithner, it was to another piece in the lizard Oz, an epic groan by Dame Groan, because the reptiles simply can't stand anyone leaving the hive mind for a nanosecond ...

Sadly, the new chum didn't score a snap like Gary Banks...

...and then it was on to the final gobbet ...

What could go wrong? Well they could put a hack like the Caterist in a position where he might have some power, and even worse, attempt to do more than floodwaters in quarries whispering.

Now to be fair, at least the Caterist referenced former chairman Rudd. What reliably astonishes the pond is the way that chairman Gough still carries on serving as a reptile bête noire close to Satanism for the reptiles of Oz.

It's  interesting because of what it suggests about the reptile graphic. 

Does anyone under thirty know or care? Do they rush off and hide as the hole in the bucket man shouts "be good, or Chairman Gough will get you"? The Babadook maybe, but that boogeyman is going on a decade already, while Gough is wreathed in the mysteries of time ...

It was as good a reason as any to get out of bed and hunch over the computer ... though the thesis - never give a Palestinian an inch, they're all despicable Arabs, they're just terrifying animals - was just par for the bucket repairman's course ...

Incidentally the pond loved this headline in the NY Times ... it had a very black knight feel to it ...

It was just an oopsie daisy?

And meanwhile Haaretz was celebrating the next oopsie in the woiks ...

At this point the reptiles slipped in a snap of the demonic figure so that those under thirty had some idea what the hole in the bucket man was furiously scribbling about ...

Before getting on to more period rage with our Henry - where's Thucydides when he's needed? - there were a couple of other items the pond would like to mention.

Did everybody note that hugely comic story about the oscillating fan, per Crikey ... Peter van Onselen named new Daily Mail Australia political editor (paywall).

Not that the pond ever paid any attention, but the pond will miss missing him ...

Former Liberal staffer and Sky News Australia host Peter van Onselen is the new political editor of Daily Mail Australia, a surprise move that generated chortles across the media industry.

Van Onselen is an industry veteran, and has spent more than two decades in politics and journalism academia on top of his media obligations. But it’s safe to say Daily Mail Australia adopts a different tone to the outlets he’s worked at previously.

At the time of writing, Daily Mail Australia’s trending Australian politics section featured articles such as “The correct way to pronounce Anthony Albanese’s Italian last name” and “Annastacia Palaszczuk shares meal and wine with surgeon boyfriend”. The top story was an article from the last federal election about how the eastern European nation of Albania was “DELIGHTED” at Labor’s win, because Albanese “means Albanian in Italian”. 

Indeed, at a recent panel on the use of generative AI in journalism, Daily Mail Australia’s executive editor Barclay Crawford went in to bat for what was described by ABC news boss Justin Stevens as “junk journalism” that was “chasing views over trust”. In claiming that media companies “need eyeballs” and “a lot of stuff people read isn’t great investigative journalism”, Crawford went on to claim Google Search was skewed in favour of left-leaning outlets such as Guardian Australia. 

Van Onselen has not been immune to Daily Mail Australia’s particular style of reporting. At the last federal election, the outlet ran a story about van Onselen’s incorrect predictions, the headline for which asked whether he had “the kiss of death”. The publication also ran multiple stories on van Onselen’s on-air admission he had forgotten to vote. 

Crikey contacted van Onselen about why he took the job, whether he was looking to improve Daily Mail Australia’s coverage, and whether there had been any conversations with Daily Mail Australia as to whether he does indeed have “the kiss of death”. Crikey also asked whether he would continue his teaching positions — van Onselen is listed as the unit coordinator for a masters-level course at The University of Western Australia called “The Business of Politics”, and is also a professor of policy at Griffith University. 

Van Onselen did not respond in time for publication.

The pond rarely links to the Daily Snail, fascist rag of the 1930s, but thanks to Crikey, the pond did visit this one ...

Does Peter van Onselen have the kiss of death? How political guru predicted the 'future of Australian politics' in a single photo... and got it VERY wrong

• van Onselen posted a picture of Josh Frydenberg and Christian Porter in 2020 
• He hailed them as 'future of the Liberal Party' - but both now out of Parliament
• Critics resurfaced  tweet along with flawed 2019 and 2022 election predictions
• van Onselen says he made the leadership prediction as swipe at Scott Morrison 

That Josh, he's everywhere ... and there was this one ...

Peter van Onselen, the Political Editor of Network 10, left his colleagues shocked on election night by confessing he'd forgotten to vote.

The high-profile journalist and academic, 46, made the startling admission live on air on Saturday as the results of the federal election trickled in.

'Sandra, I just realised I forgot to vote,' he told his co-host Sandra Sully, as the entire panel gasped, 'What!?' 

So farewell oscillating fan, and the pond must now return to our Henry having his usual conniptions, because, dontchakno he's a terribly learned chappie ...

One other read the pond should note, Arwa Mahdawi's Will the ‘cancel culture’ crowd speak up about the silencing of Asna Tabassum? Don’t hold your breath. It featured a bit of cancelling and inter alia ...

...What exactly did Tabassum say on social media? The issue appears to be a link on her Instagram page – which the student says she posted five years ago – to a slideshow written by someone else urging people “to learn about what’s happening in Palestine”. Part of this document – which, again, is not written by Tabassum –describes Zionism as “a racist settler-colonial ideology that advocates for a Jewish ethnostate built on Palestinian land”. Another part of the presentation argues that the only way towards justice is the abolition of the state of Israel and the creation of one Palestinian state where “both Arabs and Jews can live together without an ideology that specifically advocates for the ethnic cleansing of one of them”.

It’s perfectly valid to debate, and take offence, at the substance of the content Tabassum linked to. But cancelling her speech under the vague pretext of “safety” is disingenuous. Let’s be very clear: if Tabassum were pro-Israel and her Instagram linked to any of the very many genocidal things that the Israeli government had said about Palestinians, there is little chance her speech would have been cancelled. Jared Kushner, let’s not forget, was just at Harvard advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. (Kushner said that he thought Israel should move civilians out of Gaza into the desert while it “cleans up” the strip. He added that the Palestinians should absolutely not have their own state and mused that waterfront property in Gaza could be very valuable.)

As Tabassum has noted, if this was about her safety, USC could have just hired security guards. Rather, she said in a statement, cancelling her speech seems to be about silencing her voice lest she – who, again, is a student minoring in the resistance to genocide program USC offers – say anything about the continuing genocide in Gaza.

“I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred,” Tabassum said in the statement. “I am surprised that my own university – my home for four years – has abandoned me.”

I am not surprised. While Palestine has always been a fraught issue, the suppression of pro-Palestinian voices has gone into overdrive after the Hamas attack on 7 October. Speak up about the genocide in Gaza, and you are likely to lose a job, an opportunity, or find yourself smeared as an extremist. In November, the artist Ai Weiwei, who had a show in London cancelled after tweeting about the war in Gaza, wryly noted that censorship in the west was “sometimes even worse” than what he faced growing up in Mao Zedong’s China. “Today I see so many people by giving their basic opinions, they get fired, they get censored,” he told Sky News. “This has become very common.”

People who support the attacks on Gaza seem free to say the most depraved and racist things possible about Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians without facing any consequences whatsoever. The comedian Sarah Silverman, for example, shared (and later deleted) an online post arguing that it was OK to cut off water to the entire population of Gaza, which is very much a war crime. Her career has faced no consequences. A long list of American politicians have openly called for Palestinians to be slaughtered without seeing any real pushback to their speech. The British TV presenter Rachel Riley recently falsely blamed Palestinians for the stabbing attack in Sydney and has faced no career consequences at all.

In the current climate, a US politician can call for Gaza to be “nuked” without being censured

The proliferation of dehumanizing language about Muslims and Palestinians has had violent consequences: there has been a rise in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate crimes across the US, including reported offenses on college campuses. There has also been a rise in antisemitism: a very real problem that shouldn’t be minimized or tolerated. What also shouldn’t be tolerated are the dangerous attempts by pro-Israel extremists to label any remotely pro-Palestinian speech, or any criticism of Israel’s actions, as automatically antisemitic.

All that might not seem to have much to do with the hole in bucket man and his topic for the day, but please note that line People who support the attacks on Gaza seem free to say the most depraved and racist things possible about Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians ... 

At the very end of the very last gobbet the pond will offer correspondents the chance to do a thought experiment ...

James Crawford? Well he's no Thucydides, but at least he got a snap ...

The pond is inclined to self-congratulations at not having mentioned the ongoing genocide, the war crime of using famine to wage war, the war crime of collective punishment, and the crime of the reptiles in not providing the pond with distracting entertainment ...

If the reptiles won't do it, the pond will have to do it itself ...

It was by Ginny Hogan, and you can find Trump’s Hush Money Trial Is Peak Manhattan outside the Daily Beast paywall by following the link, which means the pond only needs to offer a teaser...

..So far, this case has been Peak Manhattan. The charges themselves are a mix between very serious election interference and a salacious episode of Sex and the City. Mostly election interference, okay! I know it’s a really big deal.

But still, it’s not inaccurate to call this the Sluttiest of the Trump Trials. If all you knew about Manhattan was from television, you might assume sleeping with adult film stars and then paying them to shut up about it was commonplace in this city. And honestly, it could be! I’m from Manhattan myself and I’ve never done it, but I can’t speak for all of us.

The jury selection, so far, has also felt like a Manhattan cliche. Specifically, how busy Manhattan-dwellers are.

I know, I know: people are busy everywhere. However, there’s data suggesting New Yorkers do work longer hours to pay their exorbitant living expenses, and Manhattan remains the most expensive place in the nation.

Those long, grueling hours of just existing as a New Yorker have already been on display for this jury selection.

There was the prospective juror who responded to a question about his hobbies with “I have no spare time.” There was the one multi-tasker who listened to NPR in the shower. There were several prospective jurors who praised Trump for another peak-New Yorker trait: bluntness.

And there’s Trump himself, who reportedly dozed off on both days of his trial: in the city that never sleeps, take your naps when you can get ‘em.

These people are busy, and Judge Merchan is respecting their time. Many were concerned jury selection could take weeks, but Merchan says he hopes to begin opening arguments Monday. This is a slutty trial full of busy people with other places to be. This is Peak Manhattan.

“If all you knew about Manhattan was from television, you might assume sleeping with adult film stars and then paying them to shut up about it was commonplace in this city.”

With one exception. At this point, despite the power nap, I would not say Trump is at his Peak Manhattan.

He’s maybe the most famous person in the world, so it’s no longer fair for Manhattan to claim him as our personal villain. But he once was.

Before he haunted the world, he haunted the borough. The tacky Fifth Avenue Trump Tower. The ads he took out calling for the death penalty against the wrongly accused Central Park Five. The millions of dollars he’s fleeced from taxpayers and stiffed contractors. The unreasonably-priced tiny ice skating rink (which severed ties with Trump after Jan. 6, but—to be fair—has continued to charge unreasonable prices).

Those aren’t Trump’s worst offenses by a mile, and they haven’t been for a long time. But it is the same man.

To an extent, this case feels like a throwback to an earlier version of Trump. And it is—the alleged crimes took place before he was elected. Unfortunately, I worry that works against it—that the Manhattan vibes of the case undermine it.

Of course, Trump is obviously guilty; Michael Cohen literally already went to jail for related crimes. But I understand why people think that of all the Trump cases, this one is the most trivial or the least likely to hurt his election chances. I worry his crimes simply fit the perceived norm for a rich Manhattan businessman.

Still, I think there’s a reason to be optimistic. I would argue we can position this case to hurt Trump in a unique way.

That ultra-Manhattan version of him is still there—maybe this case can remind everyone that he’s still a wealthy, entitled New York businessman who doesn’t care who he has to step on to succeed. And that means he’s not some kind of Rust Belt hero who cares about nothing but saving the auto industry in Ohio. That means he’s not a working-class icon who will start making his billionaire friends pay taxes.

This is a Peak Manhattan case about a Peak Manhattan asshole.

The pond really does prefer "arsehole", it's what the pond grew up on, but speaking of bigots and arseholes, on to that thought experiment arising in the hole in the bucket man's final gobbet ...

Now imagine transposing those lines, so that they talked about the gradual but alarming increase in the size of the Jewish population in Australia, whether or not they formed "ghettos", and the way it would alter domestic politics, transforming our Henry and the rest of the slavering, slobbering reptiles into hounds baying at the progressive forces set loose in Dover Heights and Elwood, and now, five decades later, after they were shipped over, when nobody really wanted them, because they looked like something out of a Nazi poster, we are paying the price for being surrounded by despicable Jews.

Just a thought experiment, or a way perhaps of spotting a bigot ...

And now to end with the immortal Rowe, sorting out defence matters. The pond must rush to book Sam Neill because you don't get Russian accents like that every day of the week ...