Thank the long absent lord it's Friday, when, to use correct ABC phrasing, the old hole in the bucket man can be relied upon to deliver an extremely unique approach to reptile commentary.
The pond can even stomach celebrations of genocide if the ornate stylings, if the pomposity and portentous pretentiousness, are done in a way that adds a veneer of illustrious stupidity to proceedings. Want to organise and pardon a mass killing?Name drop Aristotle and it'll all be good ...
Before going there, the pond would like to address previous business matters before the meeting.
Back on Wednesday, the pond noted Mr Watson deduces it's gas, but in the way of later pond outings couldn't move beyond the basic absurdity to provide any analysis.
Luckily yesterday Graham Readfearn did so yesterday in the Graudian, in Without new gas, the Australian warns, an ‘energy crisis’ is nigh – but is the scary rhetoric justified?
Doubtless later in the day the Weekly Beast will provide fresh reptile points of order, but the pond now feels comfortable moving on, into the ancient rhetoric lurking in the bowels of the beast...
That gets the snap designed to get the aged reptile demographic agitated out of the way. It's much more upsetting than seeing this sort of image ...
Sorry, the pond realises readers are only here for the Thucydides references and will try to find a few...
Yes, never mind the genocidal slaughter, now extended to the West Bank, feel the pain of the hole in bucket one ... and see the snaps ...
The pond realises it promised arcane, pompous and portentous references, but devotees will have to stick through the next short gobbet ...
Indeed, indeed, there's nothing like watching ethnic cleansing, collective displacement and punishment, and genocidal behaviour to provoke adolescent rage.
If only these impulsive sorts had the grandiosity of a Henry, able to cull ancient history for arcane references. The pond is sorry it couldn't do Thucydides, but dammit, Aristotle and de Tocqueville and Ciceroh, oh Ciceroh, will do just as well ...
The pond has no doubt all that's extremely comforting, producing a state of ecstatic bliss and forgiveness ,...
And that brings the pond to the final gobbet of humbug as the collective cleansing unfolds elsewhere ...
Speaking personally, the pond is pleased it's in its current sorry state; there could be worse sorry states, like being a Palestinian civilian staring down the barrel of a gun, or a Ukrainian civilian scanning the skies for signs of the lates glide bomb delivered by Vlad the sociopath's minions...
But wait, there's more, much more ... especially for those who noted that the reptiles were this day peddling Gina's thoughts, a reminder of just how IPA the lizard Oz has become in recent years.
But why worry about Gina, when you have Jennie?
Splendid stuff, almost worthy of Gina and the IPA ... and speaking of which, the pond should at least mention Gina ...
But why worry about hearty bush gal Gina, when you have bush gal Jennie?
And when you make it past a couple of snaps and a click bait video there's more Jennie to come...
The pond supposes it will be reprimanded for not arguing, for leaving the hard yards to others, but so long as there's a Readfearn or a Quiggin to hand, why bother?
No doubt some are wondering why the pond didn't follow that link which opened up the gobbet, but lordy lordy, who wants to hear about the unjust and unfair treatment of cartel behaviour?
Meanwhile, Jennie is still tumbling all the way with BlueScope ...
And then just to prove that our Henry isn't the only one who can wander back to past times to produce a plan, Jennie does a beauty ...
If the pond might add a note, it would be to suggest that we above all need a planet that's liveable, and if things keep going the way they are, blather about national security and steel making will be like a snowball in a desert ...
The pond isn't worried by any of it, because it has Killer Creighton's letter from America to hand ...
Now let's be fair, it's a tough gig for Killer, who's very partial to a serve of RFK Jr., who is partial to a serve of bear, or perhaps head of whale and never mind the juices flowing into the van. Who can't remember and lament the forgotten days when his father and uncle scoured the wilds in search of a source of brain worms?
What's all this bloody MAGA style and substance carry on?
Why can't things be like they once were? Why can't we get back to old-fashioned truth and decency?
The pond slipped that mango Mussolini "truth" in as Killer yearned for the days of Bubba ...
Gee, that looks like a cult, it even smells like a cult, it certainly charges like a cult.
Relax, Killer shows a remarkable ability not to cringe, cops love the man ...
Indeed, indeed, but what can you expect from godless librarians, childless cat ladies and dangerous molesters of children in a basement below a pizza store without a basement? Luckily the pond doesn't eat cornflakes, and spitting muesli is inadvisable ...
Meanwhile, JD is still whipping up a storm ...
We're now a very long way from references to Cicero and Aristotle, with Killer still in the grip of that Clinton fever ...
Why is the pond surprised that Killer is in the Tuckyo Rose school of Putin pandering?
Why is the pond surprised by anything these days?
It's been something of an epic trek, from Aristotle to Killer, but at last the final gobbet is ready to land, and be ready for some complex analysis, and if you can't make any sense of it, then you're bloody fired, and can leave the building under armed guard ...
What joy that Killer should be appalled by any party dedicated to the filthy rich, why these days he's almost Marxist, if it wasn't for the unfortunate way he's also Murdochian ...so many sun kings to worship, so little time...
And now if all that hasn't been enough, here's to the current Australian government doing its bit to minorities, thanks to the infallible Pope ...
You have to hand it to Killer. Sure he’s hacking out a dull, unconvincing and evidence-lite yarn based on the tired cliche that the Left and the Right have somehow changed places. He still manages to casually throw in a couple of total lies and present them as facts. Today these include the claim that abortions were offered and performed in a van outside the Democratic Party convention (they weren’t) and the assertion that Republican book-burning efforts are confined to excluding sexually-explicit material from primary schools (whereas it’s actually seeking to ban a wide spectrum of material that reactionaries find ideologically distasteful at all levels of education). But that’s the Reptile way I suppose - don’t just push the Big Lie, push a few smaller ones at the same time, and eventually your readership will come to accept all of them as gospel.
ReplyDeleteI’m a bit concerned about Killer outing himself as a cornflakes eater, though - are Rupert and Young Lachie comfortable with one of their star Reptiles consuming and promoting products originally developed and promoted by weirdo liberal vegetarians? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Keith_Kellogg
It's not all that strange when you think about it Anony: all of the 'revolutionary' leftie things (marxism, communism, Leninism, Maoism ...) have proven to be anti-human failures, and even the more or less rightwing stuff (eg Thatcherism, neoliberalism etc) have done nothing but induce the wingnuts into taking up the likes of Hawke and Keating, so what's left ?
DeleteThe 'lefties' go back towards humanism, and the 'wingnuts' continue on their way of 'populist' authoritarianism.
So it goes.
Have the “isms” ever mattered much? Which one applies to Jennie George (Ratism)?
DeleteIt’s more to do with how the elites, people with power in society, act. Common people may be pushed this way or that but elites seem to act in the same way regardless of ideology (maybe theocracies are different). It’s just that when their entitlement becomes too extreme a bloodbath usually follows.
Well yes, Anony, it's always about who has power in society, but that, in turn depends on which 'ism' is eminent. So Mao, of Maoism, came to power because some form of marxsm/communism had empowered him and enabled him to defeat Chang Kai-Shek.
DeleteAnd even before that, there was a certain switchover in that place called France based on the 'Liberty-Equality-Fraternity' ism that saw off the old inherited 'Royalism' so popular in the times of the Louisess (especially the 14th).
Maybe so GB, but it’s worth considering that the social unrest usually exists before the ism is chosen or the individual comes to the fore. Both China and France had earlier iterations with different notional causes but the real drivers were extreme inequality and immiseration.
DeleteIt’s easy for scribblers to focus on big men or ideology but the real reasons are a lot more complex.
ReplyDeleteWaPo's twin, the New York Times published an op-ed “Trump can win on character”. Hilarity ensued. https://www.menzmag.com/news/trump-could-win-on-character/
The desire of the MSM to normalise Trump, after all these years and all the evidence to the contrary, never ceases to amaze. Pollyanna herself would be stunned.
DeleteBut Trump did win "on character" back in 2016, so why couldn't he do so again ? Besides, it isn't really a matter of 'normalising' Trump, it's just a matter of the 'normalised' US press being themselves yet again. Especially the NYT's 'press'.
DeleteWell, well; lookit who's "retired":
ReplyDeletehttps://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2024/08/farewell-mr-mccrann/
Fortunately, DP kept us safe from his rantings and ravings, though I suppose he'll still do a few more yet,
Hmmm - jumping, or pushed? After so long, he’d probably get a nice redundancy package.
DeleteThe polite rhetorical question would be “How can he ever be replaced?” . The impolite, non-rhetorical answer is “quite easily”. There’ll doubtless be some Murdoch hack who can easily slip into the role of economics correspondent for fading rags whose main focuses are minority-bashing and sports coverage. Perhaps this is Killer’s new gig?
Farewell, Terry - you’ll soon be completely forgotten.
Oh if only that were so, Anony, if only that were so.
DeleteBut I reckon he'll do a totally spiffing job of replacing himself by never actually completely disappearing, just frequently having his 2¢ worth until he finally shuffles.
You may well be correct, GB. Old journalists in Australia don’t die, nor do they fade away; instead, they tend to produce increasingly irrelevant, fact-free “opinion pieces”. In Reptile Land Ned is a shining example, but the practice isn’t limited to News Corp; Michelle Grattan has had more farewells than Melba but continues to churn out insight-free opinion pieces, for example. I could certainly imagine Tezza joining those august ranks.
DeleteAnd of course it would have only been his 1¢ worth if not for rampant inflation.
DeleteNo doubt DP will mention this, but it’s difficult not to chuckle at today’s “Weekly Beast” report that the Flagship’s website has dropped out of Australia’s top 20 news sites.
ReplyDeleteIt gives one some small confidence in the eventual sensibleness of people, doesn't it.
Delete