In which the pond climbs Ned's "Everest" and is left exhausted ...

 

After the fuss in Enmore recorded in a late Friday arvo post in the pond, there was a feeble attempt at a follow-up ...

An "offended" party hired a lawyer and then made sure that Paul Karp at the AFR got it, so he could scribble Legal threat after ‘antisemitism investigation’ goes wrong. (paywall)

It turned out this was a minor example of the Streisand effect, with rampant stupidity and a stunt gone wrong compounded by the alternative "explanation".

If the pond understands the gist correctly,  it seems that the Terror team were out and about in Enmore just gathering daffodils to feature in a Wordsworth poem, or perhaps nuts in May ... (never mind it being February)...

Lawyers acting for a Jewish man who attended an Egyptian restaurant in Sydney with The Daily Telegraph have claimed he was engaged in a bona fide investigation of antisemitism and threatened to sue the owner for defamation.
In a legal letter sent to Cairo Takeaway, in inner-western Newtown, solicitor Rebekah Giles demanded the deletion of “false claims” on the restaurant’s social media pages, including that her client had taunted staff and said: “I hope your restaurant gets blown up.”
Ms. Giles' client attended the restaurant on Enmore Road, Newtown, on Tuesday wearing a Star of David cap and with a news Corp journalist and videographer.
The letter said he was taking part in a Telegraph investigation because "the antisemitism experienced by the Jewish community is escalating to catastrophic levels and occurs in all aspects of daily life including run-of-the-mill interactions between Jews and members of the public in a suburban restaurant".

And there you have it, the naked absurdity ... but in the manner of lovers of stunts, any attention is good attention, and so Karp of the AFR obliged ...

The letter claimed an altercation in the street afterwards and "false and inflammatory claims" made by the restaurant "underscores the need for investigations like this to occur".
"We do not accept that our client was behaving provocatively," the letter read.
The claims made by the restaurant on social media but rejected in Ms Giles' letter include that her client made serious threats against staff; asked "Do you have a problem with me because I am Jewish?"; is a "Zionist provocateur" associated with a"a far-right hate group"; repeatedly taunted the server by saying "shalom" to provoke an antisemitic outburst; and said "you Arabs make good tea".
The legal set out what Ms Giles called "incontrovertible facts" that, after purchasing tea in the restaurant, an incident occurred in the street during which her client claims he was called an idiot by a female staff member.
After attempting to walk away her client was pursued by a female staff member who said his actions were "f---shameful", Ms Giles letter claimed.
"You picked the wrong restaurant to try this shit in," the woman allegedly said.
In addition to telling Ms Giles' client to "f---off" and get out of our community', the woman is alleged to have said she had a problem with the "divisive journalism" and "we don't need what you just did", and that here should be "peace from both sides".
Ms Giles claimed that "in light of what actually occurred, your false and public allegations about what you assert occurred ... are a serious act of antisemitism".

Oh FFS, not an "a serious act of antisemitism" routine, not now, not in relation to this stunt. (As an aside, as someone on Reddit noted, try wearing a Palestinian cap into a deli in Bondi).

You have to hand it to the lawyering. That's first class cheek ...

Then came the posturing, the hectoring and a little more lecturing ...

She gave the restaurant owner until 4.30pm on Friday to delete social media posts, publicly retract claims and issue an "unequivocal apology" or be issued with a defamation concerns notice.
Ms Giles has also written to The Sydney Morning Herald noting the retraction requested of the restaurant has "not been provided" and demanding the paper write a follow-up article setting out her client's version of events.

The pond tried to find a follow-up in the SMH, but failed. 

No doubt legal action will follow and the pond will report the proceedings.

We keed, we keed, and then the story ended on a dud note ...

Max Kaiser, executive director of the Jewish Council of Australia, said the Telegraph investigation "obviously was not a benefit to social cohesion".
"There is enough real antisemitism out there in the world today. Confecting incidents like this... is horrible," he said.
Darcy Byrne, the mayor of Inner West Council, where the incident occurred, said it was "incumbent on every Australian to maintain unity and harmony in a civil society like ours, and not bring a conflict from the other side of the world to the neighbourhoods of Sydney."

... it seemed some thought it was just a pathetic, divisive stunt ... (and so Karp of the AFR had to revert to the Bankstown nurses to maintain the required level of hysteria).

And with that update done and dusted, time to turn to the reptiles and waddya kno... the reptiles at the lizard Oz were sublimely unaware of the shit-stirring antics of their gutter press Terrorist kissing cousins in Enmore...

Go tell that to Ben English ... 

You know, tell him about the bits about ignorant hate speech in restaurants, or the bits about attempts to stoke violence in restaurants, or the bits about blackening with hate restaurants in Enmore ...

As for the full front page, the reptiles were back in EXCLUSIVE campaign mode ...

With a sigh and a curse, the pond noted that the "Ned" Everest was there at the bottom. 

There could be no escaping the "Ned" Everest climb, especially as the pond drew a blank when it turned to the extreme far right part of the digital edition ...

What a tawdry, pathetic offering ... Dame Slap off in court again, for the zillionth time? What happened to the grand days of climate science denialism? 

The Ughmann giving the cardigan wearers a hard time, imagining he's some kind of mini-me Uncle Leon?

Where's that slackarse bromancer? What happened to the dog botherer?

Sheesh, and the reptiles alleged "Ned" was an 11 minute read. Why that's way longer than an exciting sex act with an Australian male...

Nothing for it but to get it done...

Beware Donald Trump, the peacemaker in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump’s administration has sent a decisive message that will shake the world. Signs of a peace deal in Ukraine are emerging along with evidence that the President will scale back the US global alliance system and leave Europe to deter Putin.

Oh dear, "Ned's" in the find out phase, after all his kissing cousins at Faux Noise fucked around, and still keep fucking around.

The point here is to avoid any mention of News Corp and Faux Noise efforts to get King Donald I to the throne, and then fawn over him and pander to him, just to keep the viewers entertained and the Chairman Emeritus rolling in the loot in Uncle Scrooge style.

It takes considerable skill to tamp down heresies likethis, and "Ned's" solution is to drone on endlessly, hoping no one will notice, as he raises alarums and does his patented Chicken Little routines.

First some dreadful artwork to establish the topic of conversation, Donald Trump will look to build a transactional relationship with Vladimir Putin and Russia. Artwork: Emilia Tortorella

Oh Emilia, Emilia, pleazse don't try to compete with Frank ...

Then "Ned" led off with a line that almost stopped the pond in its tracks ...

Donald Trump is transforming the world as a peacemaker. 

Blessed are the cheesemakers? The pond was immediately reminded of the Hydeing handed out in Ah, here's Trump's plan for Ukraine - or rather, a plan to leave it in pieces...

On with "Ned's" bits and pieces, as he tried to recover from that opening flourish and absurdity ...

Signs of a long-predicted deal between Trump and Vladimir Putin are emerging along with evidence that Trump will scale back the US global alliance system – the crisis over Australian trade being a small but revealing clog in the bigger picture.

Trump’s determination to end the Ukraine war, upholding his election pledge, is the path-breaking event. His administration has sent the decisive message that will shake the world – the Ukraine peace will come with Trump reshaping ties with Europe and NATO, putting the military and deterrence burden on European nations while Trump seeks a new basis for transactional relations with Russia and Putin.

The direction is not set, but the omens cannot be missed. Ukraine and its President, Volodymyr Zelensky, are the likely losers. There will be huffing and puffing along the way but Trump and Putin will be the winners. The Europeans will be left carrying the major responsibility of deterring Putin in the long run. And Trump seems to be ordaining a revised power structure – the US won’t use its military to guarantee Ukraine’s future and is now qualifying the extent of its commitment to NATO.

This scenario, if realised, might make Trump even more popular in the US: the president who ended two wars, Ukraine and Gaza (if all goes to plan). His core view was captured last week, saying of Ukraine: “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian some day, or they not be Russian some day.”

At this point the reptiles interrupted with an extended AV distraction.

The pond understood. Anything to get away from "Ned":

US President Donald Trump has confirmed he will begin negotiations with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine. However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the US against making a deal- without the involvement of Kyiv and other European allies. "Today it's important that everything does not go according to Putin's plan, in which he wants to do everything to make his negotiations bilateral [with the US]," Volodymyr Zelensky said. “We cannot accept it, as an independent country, any agreements [made] without us. I articulate this very clearly to our partners — any bilateral negotiations about Ukraine, not on other topics, but any bilateral talks about Ukraine without us — we will not accept.”

"If all goes to plan" ...

Sorry, the pond just had to have a 'toon, there was no way the pond could go on without a 'toon ...

What a relief to get ethnic cleansing out of the way ...

It's not easy to stop "Ned", and so the verbiage kept pouring out, and the pond still barely out of base camp:

Putin won’t retreat from his mission: to end Ukraine as a nation. Without meaningful security guarantees for Ukraine, Putin will take the territory he now has and seize the rest at the opportune time. The dream of figures such as Tony Abbott that Ukraine’s future be guaranteed by joining NATO has been dismissed. Putin won’t accept it and the Trump administration has rejected it.

Trump, in response to pressure, offered the assurance that Ukraine would be involved in the negotiations. Of course, he would say that. But Trump has said he and Putin will work together to end the war – exactly the negotiation Putin has always wanted. Trump called his 90-minute phone call with Putin “highly productive” and said negotiations would begin immediately.

The extraordinary aspect is that Trump has already conceded the core elements in any negotiation with Russia – no NATO assurance and no Ukraine return to the pre-2014 borders.

The risk is that Zelensky and the Europeans will be sidelined as Trump and Putin cut deals.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO defence ministers Trump “intends to end this war” and expected Europe to assume more financial and military responsibility for Ukraine with the goal of 5 per cent of GDP spending on defence. He made it clear – no US troops would be deployed to Ukraine. Europe needs to do more. Trump’s right, but 5 per cent is a fantasy.

Critically, Hegseth said Ukraine’s security would mainly become the responsibility of European and non-European forces in a “non-NATO” mission not covered by the collective defence provisions of the North Atlantic Treaty. Decoded, it is unlikely to have teeth. Unless another meaningful arrangement is struck – and it is obviously needed – then Trump is declining to provide a serious US commitment to Ukraine’s independence. It further means that Trump may no longer see America as the prime guarantor of NATO.

Yes, yes, all that, and a snap too, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks with President Trump this week. Picture: AFP

Is it too early for another 'toon?

Dear sweet long absent lord, please allow the pond another 'toon ...

Ah that's better ... but it's only a temporary relief ...

If true, this is a strategic recasting of NATO with consequences beyond Ukraine. Zelensky has previously said security guarantees “without America are not real”. But the Trump administration seems to be saying, even before any negotiations proper, the US will not offer such guarantees.

Hegseth also made clear Trump’s stance has global significance – he said the US was shifting global strategic priorities to defending the American homeland and deterring China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australian conservatives, no doubt, will welcome such assurances as they have in the past. Consider the astonishing proposition – that Trump, by selling out Ukraine, will intensify strategic deterrence against China. Who would believe this? That many Australian conservatives seem willing to accept it at face value is extraordinary. Their deluded forgiveness of Trump seems almost limitless.

The Wall Street Journal has probed the consequences and put the pivotal question: Is this peace through weakness? It said of Trump: “He’s making concessions to Vladimir Putin without anything in return, and he’s informing Ukraine after the fact. Does Mr Trump want to negotiate peace with honour that will last, or peace through weakness that will reward the Kremlin?”

The Journal went to the critical implications for Australia, saying: “The risk here is that deterrence isn’t divisible. If he abandons Ukraine, he’ll soon find that China is even more emboldened to take Taiwan.” Obviously. Given Trump is set on a deal with Putin, why wouldn’t he chase a deal with Xi Jinping? His global concept seems apparent: he wants to reduce America’s foreign military commitments and adventurism because he think that hurts the American homeland.

That’s his core position.

The reptiles interrupted with another snap, featuring the two narcissist sociopaths, in traditional pose, Trump and Putin in 2018. Picture: AFP

By golly the reptiles keep giving that snap a pounding, the pond hopes it's paid overtime ...

Then came something that genuinely puzzles the pond. The ongoing attempts by the reptiles to redeem and reconstruct the disgraced Mike Pezzullo and turn to him for expert advice.

Warning, it's handy to read yarns like Mike Pezzullo sacked years too late ...

From the time he was appointed Secretary of the new Department of Immigration and Border Protection with Scott Morrison as Minister, Pezzullo made it very clear his priority was border protection and that the days of using immigration for nation-building were over. Dark uniforms, guns and security threat alerts became the order of the day. Pezzullo imposed his dark worldview on the Department in a way that firstly Morrison and subsequently Peter Dutton loved.

The most extraordinary thing is that the dark uniforms did not make a jot of difference to border protection. Pezzullo presided over the biggest labour trafficking scam, as well as the largest reduction in immigration compliance activity, in Australia’s history. As former Victorian police commissioner Christine Nixon said, that enabled the unscrupulous to run riot with Australia’s visa system. The uniforms and guns were just for show.

Pezzullo’s dark worldview led to a massive exodus of senior immigration staff whom he allegedly called “care bears”. Because Pezzullo considered himself a military genius, losing these senior staff and the corporate knowledge they took with them did not concern him. They were just baggage in his agenda to reform immigration policy.

Pezzullo’s dark worldview enabled him to convince the Coalition Government to create the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) with its over-arching national security agenda. From an immigration policy and administration perspective, that was a total disaster.

Under Pezzullo, there was scandal after scandal including:

• a lengthy delay in re-settling boat arrivals (for purely political reasons) that unnecessarily cost the taxpayer billions of dollars and his extraordinary advice to the Morrison Government to re-open the Christmas Island Detention Centre after the Medevac legislation because he said this legislation would lead to a flood of boat arrivals. There were none and all that was achieved was a highly expensive prime ministerial photo opportunity for Scott Morrison;
• illegal limits on partner visas that were applied when Dutton was Home Affairs Minister. Even if the limits were Dutton’s idea, Pezzullo had an obligation to advise Dutton that such limits were illegal. I advised the Howard Government of the same in 1996 when it wanted to limit partner visas;
• the biggest labour trafficking scam abusing the asylum system in our history. This air arrivals scam was at its height in 2017-18, exactly when Pezzullo was telling Briggs that if Dutton wasn’t re-appointed Home Affairs Minister, the people smugglers would be watching and the boats would re-start. Pezzullo’s obsession with boat arrivals contributed to his negligence on labour trafficking by air;
• the most significant scaling down of immigration compliance activity ever that left the visa system extraordinarily vulnerable to unscrupulous operators. This is clearly highlighted by Christine Nixon in her report on integrity in the visa system; and
• a visa system that has been described by current Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil as thoroughly “broken” with massive backlogs and a complete abandoning of the concept of client service. How could the visa system have reached such a state? I wrote on the appalling state of the visa system in 2021, before Labor won government and commissioned its various reviews.

In order to try and explain the appalling state of affairs described in the Parkinson and Nixon reports, Pezzullo tried to tell Senate Estimates that visa integrity had actually improved under his watch because refusal rates had increased. Even the most junior immigration officer could have told him that refusal rates do not indicate anything about visa integrity because they do not explain if the right or wrong people were refused.

That explanation was the response of a man who knew that on immigration policy and administration, he had been out of his depth for years.

Well yes, and more, but at least the pond has explained why readers should approach the next gobbet with extreme caution.

There's a bright yellow light glowing in the "Ned" dark ...it's called "Mike Pezzullo tells Inquirer". 

Here no inquiry, but a lot of tells:

There are two fundamental contradictions in Trump’s agenda: his trade policy and his strategic policy are in conflict and this won’t work in terms of outcomes; and, second, the message being sent is a strategic fallacy – that America will downgrade Europe to become more muscular in the Indo-Pacific.

Former Home Affairs chief Mike Pezzullo tells Inquirer: “The critical strategic decision Trump must take is whether or not he thinks that ‘American greatness’ is the same as America alone. This is the vital consideration for US allies such as Australia.

“Does Trump see the US operating an alliance system or does he think alliances are less important, less valuable and less reliable than did his predecessors? Only the President will be able to answer this because different elements of the US government are inclined to one path over another.

“The question in relation to Australia is whether our role as a close US ally, growing closer – including becoming an integrated part of the US defence industrial base – will be a relevant factor in Trump’s decision on our request for tariff exemptions.”

Precisely. There is only one way an effective regional balance can be struck against China – by Trump championing and nourishing an Indo-Pacific alliance system backed by regional co-operation. If Trump doesn’t believe this, then China wins. That’s the reality.

This has been the view of every recent prime minister – Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese – and is the view of Peter Dutton. But, as Pezzullo asks, where is Trump located? He is obsessed about competing with China in economic and hi-tech domains – but far less so in terms of military deterrence. You think Beijing doesn’t see this?

Trump’s coming decision on Albanese’s request for tariff exemptions is about trade but about far more than trade. If Trump denies Australia – when there is no logical basis for such denial – that will have political and strategic consequences in this country. It will harm the alliance partnership and it will offer a commentary on how Trump values alliances.

How do we know this? Well, the Opposition Leader said so when he extended bipartisan support for Albanese in securing the tariff concession. Dutton said he wanted to send a message to the Trump administration: if the tariff on Australia remained “I believe it will damage the relationship between the United States and Australia”.

Then came a preposterous attempt at reassurance, The AUKUS pact should ensure close ties between Australia and the US. Picture: Supplied

It's as if those threats of tariffs on steel and aluminium and whatever else takes King Donald's fancy never happened ... we'll all live happily in a rather greyish black submarine...

"Ned" rambled on in his inimitable, portentous, pompous way, full of defining moments ...

This is a defining statement. Dutton can say this, when Albanese, having to negotiate with Trump, cannot. Dutton’s point is that Australia and America are working on enhanced ties on multiple fronts and imposing tariffs will damage that. Dutton said any Trump retention of the tariffs on Australia would not be “warranted” – that is, the onus would lie with Trump.

Former head of the Defence Department and past ambassador to the US Dennis Richardson tells Inquirer the stakes involved in the tariff decision go to deeper strategic issues and that Trump’s conception of alliances is a historic departure point with consequences for all US allies.

Richardson says: “Trump has a different view on the US global alliance framework than any president since the second world war. If his concern stopped at the issue of allies paying more of their way that would be understandable. That has been a frustration of successive administrations for many years and Trump has simply articulated that in cruder and bolder terms.

“But I think Trump’s view of alliances goes beyond partners just doing more. He has a deep-seated view that the US global engagement has been at the cost of the US heartland. He believes it has cost American jobs and lives, and he believes this should come to an end. I think he has a view that no other country can threaten the United States per se, therefore if a few allies want to part ways with the US because of this approach, then so be it. The US can survive. I think he’s that transactional and different.

“If the President does impose tariffs on Australian aluminium and steel, I believe that will undermine broader support in Australia for the alliance. One can argue whether that should or shouldn’t be the case. In reality, however, it would undermine support. That’s because Australia is a very strong ally, we have stood with the US more than any of its allies in the last 100 years, we buy virtually all of our military hardware from the US, we have a substantial trade deficit with the US and we now have the AUKUS partnership.

At this point, the reptiles introduced the whiff of Uncle Leon, a scent of AV distracting musk ...

Mass firings at multiple U.S. government agencies have begun as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk accelerate their purge of America's federal bureaucracy, union sources and employees familiar with the lay-offs told Reuters on Thursday. This report produced by Freddie Joyner.

That made the pond feel totally at ease ...

Yes, we're totally fine ...

“Against that backdrop, if the President is prepared to put narrow sectional interests ahead of these factors, then it will have an inevitable negative impact on broader support for the alliance.

“It will be taken advantage of by those in Australia who have opposed the alliance for a long time. Others, who oppose AUKUS, will say ‘look this guy’s not a friend’. And people who don’t take much of an interest will scratch their heads and wonder where the US is at. It will lead to a question mark in a lot of people’s minds about the US reliability under President Trump.”

The central proposition here is that “Making America Great Again” conflicts with the US alliance-led global leadership role since World War II – the role so vital for Australia – and that Trump is inclined to a defence strategy more anchored around the US homeland. The consistency in his initiatives, whether Gaza or Ukraine, is “no US troops”. Pursuing an ongoing and ambitious maritime strategy and investment in ships is completely consistent with this view.

In his inauguration speech, Trump said: “We will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.” This is a declaration for a much more circumspect attitude towards foreign troop deployment and military engagement.

It suggests Trump wants to present himself to the American people as a strong man, an opponent of foreign military adventures and as a peacemaker – a trinity likely to send his ratings soaring as president.

Much of his method seems to revolve around audacious US visions from Gaza to Ukraine, fused with extreme wariness on direct US troop commitment. It is ambition without cost, a mix that rarely works in history. The upshot is that the contradictions between Trump’s trade and strategic outlooks cannot be missed.

What can't be missed is "Ned's" almost infinite capacity to pass banal cliché trippingly off tongue and keyboard, and call it insight ...

This is a classic case of "sanewashing", an attempt to take King Donald at his word, and make some sort of coherent sense out of the man child's thought bubbles.

Rampant nonsense can then be reduced to mild-mannered "contradictions:.

Cue the bog standard snap of a real estate opportunity, Trump has outlined a controversial plan to rebuild Gaza. Picture: AFP

By this time, "Ned" had resorted to peddling hope, Maybe it won’t be as bad as it looks

But it's already as bad as it looks, and it looks like it will keep on being as bad as it looks, though it looks like it might even be badder, until the baddest can be looked upon ...

His conviction that other nations – friends or enemies – have been ripping off the US and must be punished means he is driven to raise tariffs, threaten global trade wars and harm strategic allies. He began by punishing friends, Canada and Mexico, as well as China, while warning that Europe would be next.

What has Trump got against Canada? He threatens Canada with tariffs while suggesting it should become the 51st state. He makes unrealistic demands on European defence spending – witness the 5 per cent proposal – while signalling he will punish Europe with tariffs. There is no consistency of purpose.

Trump finished the week with a radical announcement to impose on nations a “reciprocal tariff” that would lead to higher duties on dozens of nations, finalise the destruction of World Trade Organisation principles and launch a series of bilateral deals and negotiations with many nations anxious to minimise the damage.

Entrenched US protectionist and professional critic of Australia Peter Navarro said: “America runs its more than $1 trillion trade deficit because the major exporting nations of the world attack our markets with punishing tariffs and even more punishing non-tariff barriers.”

Maybe it won’t be as bad as it looks. Certainly, the tariffs haven’t been imposed immediately. And this probably substitutes for his earlier pledge on across-the-board tariffs. As usual, Trump was ebullient, saying his decision is going “to make our country a fortune”.

Fundamental to Trump’s approach is that allies as well as enemies will be punished. Nations most likely to be affected include the EU, India and Japan.

Taking Trump at face value, Pezzullo says: “Trade and strategy need to be working together and not in tension with each other. Trump’s real challenger to Make America Great Again is China. It is China that is dominating global manufacturing through predatory practices and aggressive industry policies. Trump’s trade policies, therefore, should focus on the prime target and that is China.”

The caption for the next snap was more of the bleeding obvious, Trump’s trade and tariff policies won’t make America great again. Picture: AFP

Say that again ...

Trump’s trade and tariff policies won’t make America great again?!

Do'oh, rell that to Faux Noise ... and now please "Ned", for the love of the long absent lord and the pond's sanity, wrap this sanewashing up ...

Richardson says: “Trump is bringing trade and strategic issues together in a way no previous administration has done. I think there is a contradiction in his policies. Over the decades it has not been unusual for the US to have strong trade and economic tensions with allies, for instance with Japan in the 1980s and also with European partners.

“But these issues – trade and security – were largely managed separately. Trump appears ready to merge them in a way in which we have not experienced in the past 80 years.

“In terms of the Indo-Pacific, Trump will see the value of partnerships vis-a-vis China. However, those partnerships are going to come under pressure if he also seeks a totally transactional and ‘dog-eat-dog’ approach to trade and commerce.”

The Trump tragedy is that his trade and tariff policies cannot make America great again. They will assist some industries and jobs – protection always does. But they will be more important in lifting US domestic prices, fanning inflation, undermining US competitiveness, damaging global trade, alienating a wide range of nations, weakening the US alliance system but offering China a vast array of soft power and hard power opportunities around the world.

In Australia, the Albanese government and the Coalition opposition face immense challenges to sort through the complexity of dealing with Trump’s world. So far we see a dumbed-down politics and infantile political scoring about why Albanese hasn’t visited the US to see Trump and why Kevin Rudd is still ambassador. Labor, at least, has a strategy that may or may not work. The Opposition, Dutton’s remarks this week aside, is a shambles, unable to decide whether its task is to support the national interest or work to undermine the government.

Trump is changing the world and the role of US power. He is abandoning the American model of global leadership since World War II. His reindustrialisation of America is to be achieved by high tariffs that will undermine the world trading system. It is fatuous to think his economic protectionism will exist without a degree of strategic withdrawal. His hostility towards global institutions shows he thinks US influence in such institutions doesn’t matter. He is attached to old-fashioned sphere-of-influence territorial politics – a feature he shares with Putin and Xi, with whom he aspires to cut major deals.

Interestingly, long before Trump won the election, Paul Keating, a student of leaders and power, concluded that Trump was essentially a peace candidate who wouldn’t fight for Ukraine or Taiwan and would reconcile America to its reduced leadership role in the world by striking long-run bargains with Russia and China.

Interestingly?

And using the French clock lover as an excuse for that final piece of pandering?

On the other hand, a huge sigh of relief.

That was that, the pond had done its duty and survived, but as a result, the pond simply didn't have the strength to tackle the Ughmann, proposing Perhaps we could use our own version of Elon Musk?

Sure the opening illustration was down there with all the worst the reptiles can offer,  Search the globe and it turns out Australia has the highest paid senior bureaucrats in the world. Artwork: Sean Callinan

Reptiles not paying you enough Sean? The pond understands and sympathises ... but there's no need to compete with Emilia and Frank ...

The pond hesitated on the brink, but the next illustration brought the pond to a crashing halt ...a snap that entirely missed the comedy ...

No, dammit, think of the comedy ...

That snap of Uncle Leon heralded the Ughmann's ambition to be the grim reaper down under ...

There is much ado in Washington DC as Donald Trump’s CyberReaper drops his scythe on the bureau­cracy.

Elon Musk may well do great harm as he cuts his way through fat, sinew and bone, but there is something to be said for shaking the Forbidden City of the eternal administrative state to its foundations.

Even if an incoming Australian government had the will, the same shock and awe could not be replicated here, but maybe it’s time hard questions were asked about the value taxpayers get from the public service, particularly the mandarin class.

Any review of that class should begin with the untouchable brass.

Sorry, the pond was between a rock and a hard place. 

Uncle Leon wreaking havoc was one thing, but then using him as aa way to assault our domestic cardigan wearers?

Suddenly the pond felt a deep welling of sympathy for the local cardigan wearers, and simply couldn't stomach it.

Won't someone think of the children...

And with that, time to end on a cautionary note, though the chance of "Ned" or the Ughmann heeding it are somewhere west of zero ...