In which the reptiles fail the pond, which perforce has to revert to a good Slapping, bibs, bobs, Nero and Mein Gott ...

 

Obviously after featuring Dame Slap yesterday, the pond had to start with a note about news of planet Janet, that peculiar land above the Faraway tree. 

Per the Graudian's Lehrmann inquiry head Walter Sofronoff engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’, review finds, Investigation by ACT integrity commission finds Sofronoff’s disclosure of confidential material to journalists amounted to corrupt conduct.

...On Wednesday, the commission released its findings, stating that Sofronoff’s conduct fell within “several elements of the definition of ‘corrupt conduct’”, through his disclosures to two journalists: Janet Albrechtsen at the Australian and Elizabeth Byrne at the ABC.
Sofronoff had handed his final report to Andrew Barr, the ACT chief minister, on 31 July 2023 at about 1.15pm, the report found. He then sent the report in a text message to Albrechtsen less than an hour later. Sofronoff had already given the columnist at the Australian draft copies of the report in the days before, which the commission described as “highly sensitive, confidential documents”.
Albrechtsen called Sofronoff on 2 August informing him she had received the final report from another source and intended to publish a story in the Australian the following day.
The commission said Sofronoff did not attempt to prevent her from publishing the story, other than to not publish a name that should have been redacted in the copy of the report she had.
The report found that Sofronoff’s decision to share confidential documents with journalists ahead of the report’s public release was “contrary to the obligations of confidentiality prescribed by the Inquiries Act” and “could have amounted to offences against the Inquiries Act”...

And again ...

...The commission, however, concluded Sofronoff had not acted in good faith and that his actions “undermined the integrity of the board’s processes and the fairness and probity of its proceedings to such an extent as to have been likely to have threatened public confidence in the integrity of that aspect of public administration. It therefore constituted serious corrupt conduct.”
It also found Albrechtsen had adopted a “strongly negative view” of Drumgold’s conduct prior to the report’s release. The commission suggested Sofronoff provided certain documents to Albrechtsen “not so much to inform [her] of the issues, but to support her strongly held opinions”.
The report said Sofronoff’s “covert” communications with Albrechtsen showed “he lost sight of the important public function he was discharging”...

And again ...

...A trove of emails and text messages revealed Albrechtsen and Sofronoff had 273 interactions over the inquiry’s seven months, including 51 phone calls, text messages, emails and a private lunch meeting in Brisbane. The former judge also spent seven-and-a-half hours on the phone to the Australian during the probe, many of which were with Albrechtsen.
The documents, released by the ACT supreme court in September 2024, show that in April 2023, Sofronoff texted a pdf to Albrechtsen. The next day, she published an article saying the inquiry’s terms of reference had been broadened to examine Drumgold and his conduct.
Other texts show Sofronoff sending Albrechtsen “strictly confidential” documents. On 6 May, he sent two pdfs which were described as the statements of two prosecutors involved in Lehrmann’s trial.
“Strictly confidential,” he wrote to Albrechtsen. “What a thing to do to two young professionals under your mentorship.”
Albrechtsen replied: “Thank you. Agreed on all counts.”

What to make of a reptile engaging in that sort of conduct with a man found to be corrupt? 

Might she be thought of as a facilitator of corruption, or merely stewing in the same bed of corruption?

One thing's sure, none of that will be on view in the lizard Oz, this day selling its soul to big mining, with a wraparound that was either risible or insulting, depending on your POV ...

The pond left in that note at the bottom about it being Oswald wot done it.

That seemed all the news was worth, what with the file release designed to distract from King Donald and President Musk's descent into wild lawlessness: Files reveal that Oswald still did it: At first glance there is not much in the 80,000 documents about the Kennedy assassination that is new – but that won’t stop wild speculation.

Bad news for Oliver Stone, but the pond knows he'll do his best.

Meanwhile, over on the extreme far right, not a single reptile member of the hive mind appealed to the pond.

Petulant Peta doing a standard round of renewables bashing, aka climate science denialism? Fergeddit. 

If the pond wants that sort of reading, it would head off to the Graudian for some disaster porn, More than 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters struck world in 2024, says UN, Floods, heatwaves and supercharged hurricanes occurred in hottest climate human society has ever experienced

Sheesh, it turns out that petulant Peta isn't the only natural disaster doing the rounds:

The devastating impacts of the climate crisis reached new heights in 2024, with scores of unprecedented heatwaves, floods and storms across the globe, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.
The WMO’s report on 2024, the hottest year on record, sets out a trail of destruction from extreme weather that took lives, demolished buildings and ravaged vital crops. More than 800,000 people were displaced and made homeless, the highest yearly number since records began in 2008.
The report lists 151 unprecedented extreme weather events in 2024, meaning they were worse than any ever recorded in the region. Heatwaves in Japan left hundreds of thousands of people struck down by heatstroke. Soaring temperatures during heatwaves peaked at 49.9C at Carnarvon in Western Australia, 49.7C in the city of Tabas in Iran, and 48.5C in a nationwide heatwave in Mali.
Record rains in Italy led to floods, landslides and electricity blackouts; torrents destroyed thousands of homes in Senegal; and flash floods in Pakistan and Brazil caused major crop losses.
Storms were also supercharged by global heating in 2024, with an unprecedented six typhoons in under a month hitting the Philippines. Hurricane Helene was the strongest ever recorded to strike the Big Bend region of Florida in the US, while Vietnam was hit by Super Typhoon Yagi, affecting 3.6 million people. Many more unprecedented events will have passed unrecorded.

And so on, and so it goes.

Up against that list, what have the reptiles got to offer? 

Jack the Insider attempting a piece of black hole whimsy, culminating in an Adelaide joke? Double fergeddit ...or a feeble attempt at a new bit of law school "woke" bashing, featuring Dame Slap in one outing? Triple fergeddit ...shamelessness always goes with corruption.

It goes without saying that there was entertainment elsewhere. 

The pond always starts the day with a serve of cracking Crace, as in A defeated KemiKaze offers less opposition than Starmer’s own MPs.

Nothing like muesli with a serve of jokes about sullen teenagers.

And Nero fiddling while Rome burns is always good for a laugh, Leak Reveals Trump’s Full Bonkers Plan for the Kennedy Center (archive link): 

The Kennedy Center Honors, an annual awards ceremony at the site, will be re-designed in his image to push back against the influence on the event from “radical left lunatics.”
Traditionally, only those in the performing arts sphere are recognized with gongs, but Trump thinks figures in sports, politics and business could also be honored.
He even reportedly name-checked casino mogul Steve Wynn as a potential recipient. He is a major Republican donor and husband of Trump-appointed board member Andrea Hissom Wynn.
Luciano Pavarotti, Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth are some names Trump also threw around. Agreeable board members also mentioned Celine Dion, Sylvester Stallone, Johnny Mathis and Andrea Bocelli.
But who to present this new-look honors bash? Well, the self-described “king of ratings,” of course.
“Believe me, I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to do it,” Trump demurred in the recording, even though he was the one who put himself forward as host. “I have enough publicity. They’ll say, ‘Trump wants to be the host.’ I don’t want to. But I want this thing to be successful.” 
He said the previous hosts were “always terrible.” Queen Latifah hosted last year.
He then described himself as “the king of ratings,” adding: “Whether we like it or not, the king of ratings.” Indeed, he looked like a king as he addressed the press from above as he stood in the presidential box earlier on Monday.
One might also expect Broadway shows of a certain vintage to become the new norm. Trump mused about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera.”
After a board member asked if there were any new productions that were not “totally woke,” a Trump center lackey said there would be a partial split from the union representing actors, Actors’ Equity.
This “opens us up for a whole bunch of more options as well as a lot more money” the unidentified board member added...

And so on and so it goes ...

And it isn't just King Donald who has done a screeching 180 when it comes to EV's.

With Uncle Leon's company in deep dooh-dah, Hannity is the latest to enjoy his doughnuts, celebrated in Sean Hannity Mocked for ‘Cringe’ Tesla ‘Ad’ During Elon Musk Interview (archive link):

“I think you know, it was pretty public that I bought one of your Teslas,” Hannity told Musk. “It’s like the greatest car ever invented. It really is, and I’m not just saying that. It’s self-driving, it’s got 1,000 horsepower, it goes from 0 to 60 in 0.2 (sic) seconds.”
Musk clarified it actually takes two seconds, not a fifth of one, to reach that speed. He was still pleased with Hannity’s assessment, however, emphasizing some Teslas can rival the fastest vehicles on earth. 
“Still, it’s pretty fast,” Musk said. “That’s for sure. It’s faster than any Ferrari, for example.”
A still-fawning Hannity agreed and claimed his new S Plaid—the fastest model produced by Tesla, with a price tag of $85,000 after taxes and fees—is quicker than his Corvette Z06.
“I’m like, I thought that was the greatest muscle car,” he said of his Corvette. “No, it’s not. I watched the [Tesla] S Plaid beat it.”
Hannity purchased his Tesla just last week—shortly after Trump did the same in a stunt that turned the White House’s front lawn into a Tesla showroom. Hannity says he plans to give a Tesla away as part of a sweepstakes featured on his website.
Tuesday’s comments mark a massive change of heart for Hannity. He previously used his platform to rage against electric vehicles and the government subsidies its manufacturers received. Now, critics say, he may as well be a paid Tesla promoter.
“At this point, Tesla should probably be paying Fox ad money,” wrote Aaron Blake, one of the Post’s senior political reporters, in a post to X.
Others said Hannity’s praise for Tesla was the “cringiest” thing they have seen him do, with one X user suggesting he made the purchase just to get in Musk’s good graces.
“Imagine spending $50K+ on a car just to impress Elon Musk for one-second of acknowledgment,” that comment read.
Some of the harshest criticism came from the unaffiliated journalist Aaron Rupar, who wrote on X: “Hannity is turning his show tonight into a 60-minute verbal fellatio of Elon Musk.”

Verbal fellatio? Nah, that's nothing new, each day the reptiles deliver expert sucking, with plenty of noise, but do go on ... tell us about the 180 and the skid marks ...

Hannity was slamming Democrats just last year for supposedly having “convinced” Americans they need to switch to an electric vehicle, regularly misrepresenting an emissions study to claim they were somehow bigger polluters than gas cars.
That was before Musk became a MAGA darling, however, shifting rhetoric that electric cars were an unnecessary Democrat-led initiative to now being a sound purchase. Such a shift may have boosted Tesla in the eyes of Trumpers, but its association to Musk has been blamed as the reason its dealerships are being seriously vandalized across the U.S.
Tesla’s stock has also tanked. The day after Trump was sworn in, it was trading at $488.54 but is now down to $232.34. Musk’s net worth has plunged too—so much so that SpaceX is now Musk’s most valuable asset. Forbes estimated Tuesday that his 42 percent stake in SpaceX is worth $147 billion—almost $20 billion more than his Tesla shares, in which he holds a 12% stake worth $97.8 billion.
Trump admitted himself he hoped his Tesla stunt would help its stock price rebound. He was photographed holding a notecard with Tesla facts that appeared like a car salesman’s cheatsheet and urged Americans to purchase more Teslas. 

And so on and so it goes, and who knows, maybe the sheeple will do a 180 and get on board with EVs, even if it makes them cucks and weenies as they sacrifice their F-150s for the good of the planet ...

But again the pond lets out a piteous cry, sends forth a plaintive plea. 

Where's the bromancer? What happened to him? After suffering life surrounded by dastardly Europeans, did he need recovery time back home?

Things are happening in the world, and the pond is entirely without guidance. 

There's King Donald announcing a ceasefire, and there's Vlad the impudent sociopath resuming bombing immediately.

Must the pond rely on reports of National Review writers, as noted in Mediaite's National Review Writer Roasts Trump Over ‘Endless Capacity to Absorb Humiliation’ by Putin:

National Review senior writer Noah Rothman roasted President Donald Trump on Tuesday, marveling at his “endless capacity to absorb humiliation” at the hands of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Rothman’s indictment of Trump came in a reaction piece to Trump and Putin’s call earlier in the day and was headlined: “Vladimir Putin Rejects Trump’s Cease-Fire.”
While Trump described his conversation with Putin as “very good and productive,” Rothman saw things differently:

"Those in the Trump administration who are invested in deals over and above what those deals are meant to achieve are unlikely to admit that Vladimir Putin rejected the terms for a 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine. Of course, Putin didn’t say “no” outright — at least, not according to either the Kremlin’s or the White House’s read-outs of the two-hour conversation between Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart. But what Moscow was willing to agree to is far from the terms into which the administration muscled Kyiv.
Under immense pressure from the administration, and amid battlefield setbacks occasioned by Trump’s withholding of the intelligence needed to use U.S.-provided weapons platforms properly, Kyiv agreed last week to a cessation of all combat operations across the entire Ukrainian theater — dropping its desire to see a halt only to air, drone, and maritime combat operations. By contrast, Putin agreed only to a mutual halt to naval operations and to air attacks on civilian infrastructure, such as energy installations."
“So, what would Ukraine get out of the deal?” asked Rothman rhetorically before answering, “Not a lot.”
“The White House never misses an opportunity to retail the Russian version of events, no matter how fantastical, despite the lack of anything resembling reciprocity from the Kremlin,” he continued. “Indeed, even after Putin made a theatrical show of regarding Trump with the contempt he would show a subordinate, there is as yet no indication that the limit to the president’s patience with Russia has been reached.”
“It’s reasonable to wonder at this point if such a limit exists. The president is conspicuously sensitive to slights from allies, but he seems to have an endless capacity to absorb humiliation as long as it’s being meted out by our adversaries,” concluded Rothman. “At the present rate, the damage Trump is doing to his reputation as a figure to be feared by America’s adversaries may be irreversible. Still, if the president can reclaim some of the dignity America has lost in this process, he should. There’s no reason the president must continue this farce.”

And so on and so it goes (sorry, the pond is currently re-reading some Vonnegut).

That's how desperate the pond has become, approvingly quoting the thoughts of a National Review writer, and it's all the fault of the bromancer.

Must the pond now rely on cartoonists for insight?

While noting Luckovich amid the rats, and apropos of the pond's recent dissing of Chuck ... if only the pond had seen this one ...

Vlad the sociopath, King Donald, Uncle Leon or the GOP, and the rope-a-dope trick entirely misunderstood. At some point, you have to take a stand. Is the pond the only one to remember the great Ali throwing his gold medal into the Ohio river?

And what about the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, resumed with full force? 

Surely the bromancer could have trotted out a few thousand words justifying the carnage? 

Next thing you know there'll be a cartoonist doing the hard yards for him ...

The pond was so gruntled by this day's hive mind offerings that it turned to yesterday's Mein Gott as filler and spacer for the remaining 'toons.

Mein Gott has been on a real tear of late, and this offering was well up to his relentless standards. Redemption, neigh salvation, was at hand ... With minerals in huge demand, Australia must exploit its terbium breakthrough,China has turned off its terbium tap, which will hurt the US as it tries to maintain its defence capability and position in tech. We must seize on this great opportunity.

The reptiles began with an exciting snap that reminded the pond of the bro going MIA, China has turned off the terbium export tap, leaving the US in urgent need of terbium and other rare heavy earths.

Then Mein Gott began his pitch, which began to sound a bit like Hannity pitching EVs...

China has turned off the terbium export tap, leaving the US in urgent need of the substance and other heavy rare earths to maintain its defence capability and take part in the computer enhancement revolution.
And just as technology developments are going to transform energy, the minerals industry, including rare earths, will follow.
Australia is a leader in the non-China world in pioneering new terbium and gold extraction methods.
The Morgan family is best known for opinion polls, but Gary Morgan, via Haoma Mining, has spent 15 years developing new treatment technology which, on a pilot scale, achieves very high terbium recoveries. Australia has the potential to relieve the chronic shortages.
The US is looking to Ukraine to relieve its long-term terbium and other heavy rare earths shortages. But Ukraine deposits require further testing and heavy investment.
If it can be scaled up, the Australian technology will slash costs and speed up the availability of terbium. In addition, the technology could create a major gold operation in the Pilbara.
It will be vital for Australia’s defence relationship with the US to keep the issue of tariffs and rare earths totally separate.

A snap showed a hushed, awed pair subdued into silence by Mein Gott's revelations... Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles at Gallipoli Barracks. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Mein Gott continued with his salvation spiel, a veritable Elmer Gantry ...

I don’t believe the Australian government is aware of the potential of the technology breakthrough known as the ‘‘Elazac’’ process.
At least in theory and assuming the pilot can be scaled, Australia could be providing terbium concentrate within a year. However, the concentrates produced by Elazac will need to be refined either by an existing refinery in the US or a new operation in Australia or the US.
But once the bureaucrats, Aboriginal groups and environmentalists discover what could happen, a multitude of applications will descend on the project, aiming to delay it by a globally disastrous three or four years.
Whoever wins the next election may need to use defence and other powers to insulate this development so it can be fully tested and, if the tests are successful, brought into production in the shortest possible time.
Writing about any process in the pilot stage is hazardous, but the process is already creating cashflow from gold, and it is a remarkable family story with potential to change Australia’s in­volve­ment in Western technology.

The pond didn't baulk for a second at that minor billy goat butt ... At least in theory and assuming the pilot can be scaled, Australia could be providing terbium concentrate within a year. 

And there will be pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye.

Unless dastardly forces intervene.

Why, the bloody cardigan wearers, the uppity, difficult, tricky blacks and the damned greenies could ruin everything.

They'd be entirely to blame if anything went wrong, and yet it was a Mein Gott certified game changer. 

Look at the snap, a full defensive posture, a poised pose ...Terbium production could prove a game-changer for defence. Picture: Supplied

You see, bromancer? Do you see at last? While you're still in the valley of the blind, Mein Gott is the one-eyed king ...

While you're asleep at the wheel, Mein Gott has sorted out everything ... and so to a final solid piece of spruiking ...

The Elazac process is based on separating tiny parts of material. It was developed to extract gold economically in WA’s Bamboo Creek Valley and in tailings from previous mining.
To become cashflow-positive in treating gold, the Morgan family has spent an incredible $150m over 15 years of trial and error to develop the process. There were many disappointments that would have caused most large public companies to abandon the project.
In the rare earths pilot, after first extracting the gold via Elazac, the terbium and other heavy rare earths were extracted via an adapted version of Elazac. Costs were slashed.
What makes the project so fascinating is the resource estimates are partly based on drilling undertaken some 30 years ago by BHP via its gold mining operations, which were in joint venture with Haoma. BHP later sold gold interests to Newmont, but Haoma kept the 1996 BHP cores.
Terbium was not discovered until 2019, when fresh samples from the Bamboo Creek Valley were examined at The University of Melbourne’s electron microscope scanning facility.
The Bamboo Creek Valley deposits have had a chequered history. They were once owned by Leopold Minerals, which hit the headlines in the 1970s when a manager was convicted for doctoring results in nickel areas held by the company.
Leopold became Kitchener Mining and was absorbed into Morgan’s Haoma. Along the way, CRA, the
Australian arm of Rio Tinto, established a conventional gold plant built by WMC. In addition, Anglo Gold and De Beers (looking for diamonds) were involved.

Sorry to interrupt but the pond did say that this was going to serve as spacer for cartoons ... so please allow the pond to slip in the infallible Pope of the day ...

Somehow that resonated with what Mein Gott was spruiking ...

Morgan is the son of the late Roy Morgan, who started what became Australia’s largest opinion poll organisation. Morgan and Michelle Levine still operate Morgan Research.
Morgan used the cashflow from the family opinion poll business to fund most of the $150m mining technology development.
He believed with a passion there was a better way to extract gold and other minerals from suitable fine ore material, including tailings dumps.
Morgan is not a geologist, but applied his statistical knowledge of likely outcomes to the business of separating minerals’ tiny parts. For Morgan, it became a passion that overrode the disappointments.
He lent large sums to Haoma, which was listed on the ASX but later left the bourse.
Haoma shares are listed via a private share trading hub (Ecosystem) operated through PrimaryMarkets.
Morgan’s loans have now become equity, and he owns 83 per cent of Haoma.
Malcolm Broomhead, a former CEO of Norths and Orica plus a non-executive director at BHP, bought a stake in the company partly because he believed Elazac could produce strong revenue from gold.
Broomhead has now also become invested in the global terbium/rare earths business.
Haoma has dug a 100m long, 2m deep, 5m wide costean trench to better determine the potential.
Using the Elazac process, 12.8 grams per tonne of gold were recovered in an aqua regia solution.
In addition to the recoverable gold, samples returned terbium grades from 3400 parts per million to 10,800ppm, along with other rare earth minerals.
Such results are way above industry standards, but more work is required. The mining world is agog a statistician rather than and a geologist could produce such excellent results, albeit via a pilot.

The pond is agog, no doubt about it, albeit via a pilot, but must apologise for this day's mixed fare. 

Perhaps the reptiles will redeem themselves tomorrow with a serve of the hole in the bucket man. Perhaps the bromancer will return.

Or so it goes ...

Meanwhile, time to wrap up proceedings with the immortal Rowe ... also succumbing to the "piece" routine beloved by cartoonists everywhere ...