Sssh, don't mention Faux Noise, just enjoy nodding off with nattering "Ned" and wallowing in Mein Gott's insights ...

 

Lesson from Smith street: you can fool many of the hipsters most of the time ...

That such things should still be ...

Lesson from the lizard Oz: you can keep on trying to fool the hive mind day in and day out ...

Sheesh, the world going to hell in a handbasket, and all the reptiles have done - and keep doing - is give it an obliging push ...

Look, over there, on the extreme far right, Dame Slap rabbiting on in her usual way ...Postgrad students became a captive audience when forced to endure a lengthy slide show hectoring them on how poorly women were doing in the law and how the rich were doing very nicely.

It was as if the tinkling Trinca, tinkling on yesterday about equal pay for women, had passed through one Dame Slap ear and out the other without encountering any grey matter at all ... as she tried to sell the hive mind on the suffering of the rich.

A MAGA cap wearer, and all she can do is blather on about gender issues and the suffering rich while the world goes to hell in a handbasket thanks to her cult?

The pond couldn't bear it, and yet the alternative, "Ned" at the top of the sigital world ma, was too exhausting to think about.

The pond needed some good news so it could crank into gear. Luckily there was this ...Tesla electric car sales plunge again in Australia – Model 3 down more than 81 per cent.

Giles Parkinson put a spring in the pond's step.

The plunge in Tesla electric vehicle sales has continued into February, according to the latest official data, with combined sales of the Model Y and Model 3 EVs plunging 71.9 per cent in the month of February, compared to the same month a year earlier.
The data from the Electric Vehicle Council shows that Tesla recorded just 1,592 EV sales in February, down from  5,665 for  February last year. For the first two months of the year, sales have slumped 66 per cent to 2,331 from 6,772 in 2024.
Tesla supporters insist the sales plunge – which is also intense in European countries – is only the result of inventory levels and customers waiting for refreshed Model Y, and some increased competition.
But most analysts and observers also point to the influence that CEO Elon Musk is having on the market because of his partnership with US president Donald Trump and his open support for far right political causes.
In Australia, sales of the Model Y fell to 924 in February from 2,072 in February last year. If that were to be the result only of inventory issues and customers waiting for the refreshed Model Y, it does not explain the 81.4 per cent fall in Model 3 sales to just 668 units in February, from 3,593 in the same month of 2024, and 2,671 in February, 2023.

And so on ... more at the link. 

And then John Handscombe turned up in the pond's email with The Echnida and put a smile on the pond's face ...Knob: the one little word which sums up what we're thinking.

Knob! The pond rarely uses the word, and yet it's distilled essence of Tamworth. 

Handscombe honoured his source and then put the word to most excellent use ...

Roger Cook went up in my estimation yesterday for doing what most politicians assiduously avoid. At an event staged by The West Australian newspaper, the WA premier was asked to finish a sentence, "JD Vance is a ..."
"Knob," he replied.
In that one word, he summed up what most of the world beyond Russia is thinking. If only our federal pollies, Jacqui Lambie the possible outspoken exception, were as candid. Honesty is a rare commodity in politics.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, a knob is the slang term for "An annoying, unpleasant, or idiotic person (esp. a man or boy)". Cook apologised for employing it, said he was allowed one unprofessional moment on stage, but he needn't have.
Social media was awash yesterday with videos of Vance's past assessments of Donald Trump. Wouldn't vote for him. Thought he was leading America's white working class to a very dark place. America's Hitler.
Only a knob would say all those things in 2016 and then hitch his wagon to Trump in 2024. Only a knob would tell Europe it was the problem, not Russia and China. Only a knob would carry on the way Vance did in the Oval Office when he laid into Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week.
Of course, as the premier of the most isolated state in the world, Cook can let fly with the odd angry epithet. Let's face it, on the world stage he has the profile of a spilled drink. And if Donald Trump didn't know what an AUKUS was - as he revealed during UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's visit - he wouldn't have the foggiest about Roger Cook. Nor would JD Vance.
In fact, Cook's assessment of Vance would have gone largely unnoticed "over east" were it not for a brief mention on The Guardian's rolling news blog. But it is worth celebrating because there's been a fair deal of knobishness in the way our federal pollies have handled the whole Trump disaster.
The Coalition and its cheerleaders have found themselves in a particularly awkward position. The triumphalism they displayed after Trump's inauguration now smells like last week's unwashed socks.
Sussan Ley's likening of the First Fleet to Elon Musk's Mars aspirations looks especially foolish now his name is poison across much of America and the rest of the world.
Tesla stocks have tanked after the billionaire's stiff arm salute on inauguration day. And his pimply DOGE squad has ineptly cancelled vital federal work like overseeing the nuclear arsenal and controlling air traffic.
Republican representatives in MAGA counties are being howled down by the angry mob that elected them as veterans are laid off, grocery prices spike and everything seems more miserable than it did before the election.
Yet Dutton is clinging to a similar cost-cutting program to the federal public service here, without letting on where those cuts would fall. But to be fair, at least the Opposition Leader has toned down his Temu Trump posturing in recent days. He even said Trump was wrong to call the Ukrainian President a dictator who started the war with Russia...

And so on - sorry, no link, you need to subscribe if only for the accompanying immortal Pope 'toon - but eventually the pond has to look at the knobs in the lizard Oz, and so nattering "Ned" strutted on to the pond's stage to bore the pond senseless in his usual Everest climb way ...

A six, endlessly tedious, minute read, the reptiles said, as "Ned" did his Chicken Little routine about what the Faux Noise crowd had helped bring into being ...

Trump’s strongman tactics serve to diminish America, Donald Trump brings a reality-TV culture and real estate mentality to his rewriting of history and promotion of lies from the President’s office.

Naturally the reptiles began with a snap from that infamous meeting ... US president Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance have contempt for Volodymyr Zelensky as a democratic leader. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

Then "Ned" fired up, the real deal knobbing away about "realities" ...

Beneath the Trump-Vance-Zelensky debacle in the Oval Office lie two realities – Donald Trump’s adolescent-like sensitivity to the slightest criticism and, more important, his profound contempt for historical norms and the strategic rationale that have long guided US global policy.

Trump is ahistorical. While all his predecessors since Harry Truman have seen US alliances as force multipliers that accentuate American influence and power, Trump brings a “dollars and cents” accounting to US dealings with the world, fixated on a transactional balance sheet that means a shrinking American impact.

He believes the EU was “formed to screw the United States”. He blames Ukraine for the war triggered by Russian aggression. He has no conception of a post-war world aspiring to uphold sovereign rights and democratic freedoms. Trump brings a reality-TV culture and real estate mentality to his rewriting of history and promotion of lies from the President’s office.

Ukraine is a template for Trump-Vance thinking about the world. They have a contempt for Volodymyr Zelensky as a democratic leader. They have no attachment to Ukraine as a sovereign democracy.

“They may be Russian some day, or they may not be Russian some day,” Trump said. He seemed not to care. He assumed no great principle at stake. But his preference for Vladimir Putin over Zelensky was undisguised.

And yet, over at Faux Noise, here's a reality ...

These kissing cousins with "Ned" never bother to hide their ongoing preference for the Cantaloupe Caligula and his worship of Vlad the sociopathic Impaler.

It goes on undisguised, on a daily basis ...

There's a prime knob interviewing a prize knob, and note the line at the very bottom ..."their war against Russia."

It's not "their war" you compleat knobs, it's Vlad the sociopathic Impaler's war ...

As always, "Ned" remained completely clueless about what his kissing cousins were up to ...

Trump’s instincts are to flatter or bully. He flatters Putin and bullies Zelensky, his contemptible ultimatum to the Ukrainian leader being “make a deal or we are out”. A threat issued in public before the world. Trump’s subsequent decision to pause all military aid to Ukraine is predictable and defining – he acts as Putin’s agent.

His aim is to weaken Ukraine, discredit Zelensky, blame Zelensky for anything that goes wrong and impose a peace without any US security guarantee, a peace that manifestly cannot endure.

Trump’s frustration with Zelensky is fanned by the Ukrainian leader’s insistence that Putin cannot be trusted and will break any agreement. Of course, it’s true. Zelensky knows only a US security guarantee can underwrite a war settlement, but Trump and JD Vance oppose any such US guarantee, the pivotal concession to Putin.

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

US President Donald Trump has launched another attack on his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. He criticised the Ukrainian leader for suggesting an end to the war with Russia is “very, very far away”. President Trump believes America’s aid has been integral for Ukraine, and it should be more thankful. “Well, I just think he should be more appreciative because this country has stuck with them through thick and thin. We’ve given them much more than Europe, and Europe should have given more than us,” he said.

That managed to regurgitate the Cantaloupe Caligula in fine style ... while "Ned" kept on scurrying about like a white rabbit, lost down a rabbit hole of the Chairman Emeritus's making ...

The President’s senior office holders fall into line. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, once a champion of Ukraine, now parrots Trump’s anti-Zelensky diatribes.

Trump’s fascination with Putin is a bizarre blend of strongman self-identification and strategic calculation. Although Putin’s war has killed thousands of Ukrainians, Trump told Zelensky that “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me” – a reference to the Russian election interference saga.

Yet his affinity with Putin is folly and guaranteed to rebound against Trump. Trump keeps saying Putin wants a deal. We shall see. Why would Putin agree to a ceasefire when a foreshadowed condition is a European military presence in Ukraine, which Putin believes is Russian territory? Trump may be shocked to find Putin won’t fall into the alignment he expects.

The ultimate issue here is Trump’s strategic transformation of US attitudes, policies and beliefs. Trump has reversed Joe Biden’s policy from support of Ukraine to de facto backing for Putin.

At this point the reptiles inserted a snap of the new Faux Noise hero, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Picture: Pool/AFP

The pond wondered why it bothered with herpetology studies. Jon Stewart was much more to the point when he turned to wrestling to explain what went down, (YouTube) and the way that the Trump/knob JD tag team had done a "heel turn" ...

The pond knew enough about the art to know what a heel turn meant, and that poor Zelensky was done over by a couple of expert knob heels ...

"Ned" wanted to turn this ridiculously cruel wrestling routine into a pompous pontification ...

He lacks any moral or strategic view of a democracy under threat from an autocratic power. He refuses to distinguish ally from foe in his unilateral imposition of tariffs. He signals a US retreat from European security and a diminished commitment to NATO that for 70-plus years has prevented a major power conflict in Europe.

How far Trump will push US disengagement remains unknown – maybe he will pull back – but he functions as a unilateral wrecker of an alliance that has every reason to endure albeit with a major reallocation of the burden to Europe. Above all, Trump has given the autocratic powers – Russia and China – what they most craved: a strategic fracture between America and Europe.

And Trump doesn’t seem to care. Putin and China’s Xi Jinping will be surprised but ecstatic. They couldn’t have pulled it off – but Trump has gifted them.

Trump could not be clearer, saying a fortnight ago: “This war is far more important to Europe than it is to us. We have a big beautiful ocean as separation.”

Here is the strategic heart of the matter. For Trump and Vance the cycle of history has turned full circle. They operate beyond the legacies of World War II, the Cold War and “end of history” liberalism because they are convinced such global commitments have eroded American life and treasure, damaged the US heartland, been exploited by ungrateful allies and must be urgently reversed.

They cast themselves as hyper-realists when they are engaged in hyper-delusions. Trump is functioning on trade, security and diplomacy as an agent of destruction. He offers no considered statement about his global view but prefers to keep everybody guessing.

The elemental signs are that he seeks a great power triangular, competition among strong men – himself, Xi and Putin, a recipe for political narcissism, rising nationalism, the law of the jungle and the rule of the strong.

In a confused Breitbart interview, Rubio tried to impose coherence on the unfolding Trumpian chaos. “The big story of the 21st century is going to be US-China relations,” Rubio said. “If Russia becomes a permanent junior partner to China in the long term, now you’re talking about two nuclear powers aligned against the United States.”

It's not just Trumpian chaos, it's Faux Noise inspired chaos, as the network continues, against all odds, to operate as a state government mouthpiece down there with Russian state media ... cue another snap, US President Donald Trump speaks as Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on during a cabinet meeting at the White House. Picture: AFP

Not a single joke about stone-faced little Marco sinking into the couch? 

Sheesh, if only "Ned" would watch the occasional late night TV host, a Colbert, or even a Kimmel (stop beforer the Oscars)... or a Seth Meyer, who had great fun with stone-faced liddle Marco as he turned stone-cold heel ...

The pond began to feel an urgent need for a relieving cartoon, but pressed on ...

Rubio implied that Trump might attempt a reverse Nixon – to pull Russia away from China. “We have to have a relationship with both,” Rubio said, because “these are big, powerful countries with nuclear stockpiles” and “they can project power globally”. It would not be a “good outcome for us” if Russia became purely dependent on China.

Trump has big hopes for Russia. In February he held a long phone call with Putin, ending US isolation of the Russian leader followed by more US-Russian official dialogue. The message: Trump is elevating Putin’s status. He wants co-operation, closer economic ties and US-Russia deal-making starting with Ukraine.

Trump lauded “the Great History of our Nations” going back to World War II. This is what Putin craves, being installed as some kind of great power peer that disguises Russia’s real weakness.

Any idea all of this might be good for Australia is a fool’s conclusion. A Trump sellout of Ukraine and retreat from Europe will reverberate around the world. It will encourage America’s enemies, seed distrust among its friends and alarm its allies.

Oh heck, the pond just had to break ...

In the usual way, "Ned" quickly got over Ukraine, and made it all about us. What about me, standing there at the corner store, all out of luck, it isn't fair ...

In the Indo-Pacific it is likely Trump and Rubio will talk up the value of alliance partners, but who can be sure?

Leadership is about character and war accentuates the character of leaders. Trump’s character is on display before the world. This is not the character of Dwight Eisen­hower, of John Kennedy, of Ronald Reagan. Nations in the Indo-Pacific will recognise what is happening – that Trump has a transactional mentality, that he obsesses about correcting the alleged exploitation of America by all and sundry, that he doesn’t discriminate between friend and foe in imposing his punitive tariffs, that his preferred modus operandi is cutting deals with fellow strongmen, that he speaks with a loud voice but is devoid of the consistency, conviction and temperament to run a stance of credible strategic deterrence.

Trump projects as a leader who is unreliable and untrustworthy. This is the decisive conclusion from his early weeks in office. Are we seeing the authentic Trump or will he change and adapt? Who could know?

Neither Anthony Albanese nor Peter Dutton will retreat from our deep commitment to the US – neither should they. But privately they will be deeply worried. Trump has arrived determined to stamp the world with his America-first brand of economic protection and alliance scepticism. He pledged to Make America Great Again but what’s on display isn’t a tenable domestic political strategy. America is being diminished before our eyes.

Neither should they? But the mutton Dutton wants to make Australia great again, and wants to walk with King Donald, while Albo still smiles a delusional AUKUS smile ...

After that pleasing infallible Pope mix of climate change and AUKUS, the pond had the strength to turn to Mein Gott. 

Sure, it's now as stale as yesterday's fish left out in the noon day Tamworth sun, but as soon as Mein Gott let loose wise words to rabbits, to be "very, very careful", the pond knew it had to listen to the Master ...

Australia must be very careful following Trump, Vance and Zelenskyy Oval Office clash, The great danger for Australia is we will be so appalled at what happened in the Oval Office we will not understand the underlying forces and their long-term impact on us.

Ah, the mystical underlying forces, which only Mein Gott could unveil, but first a snap ... Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen. Picture: Jeremy Piper/NewsWire

Time to get on with the unveiling of the mystical underlying forces ...

It is vital for Australians to understand that behind the events in Oval Office was a global change of historic proportions. Nothing like this has happened since World War Two. Had former President Joe Biden stood for re-election and won, he would have faced the same new forces now impacting the current administration. Of course, Biden would have handled those forces differently.

Back to the Oval Office. US Vice President JD Vance, either deliberately (as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suspects) or accidentally, set a trap for Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Sadly, the war ravaged Ukraine president, was not skilled enough to avoid the televised public brawl with US President Donald Trump that followed.

Isn't it just a couple of prize knobs turning heel? US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listen to Vice President JD Vance as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

Or maybe it's that other pro wrestling trick designed to fire up the crowd ...

Never mind, back to blather about underlying forces ...

The great danger for Australia is that we will understandably be so appalled of what happened in the Oval Office that we will not understand the underlying forces behind the event and their long term impact on Australia and Australian enterprises.

Accordingly, we must isolate the new forces and combine them with the new pillars of US foreign policy that have been set out by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

For the last 70 years, the US has been clearly the supreme global military power.

In recent times, America’s defence capacity has declined when compared to China. The US made strategic equipment mistakes and put too much effort into wars like Vietnam and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, China invested heavily in new technology and the benefits are starting to emerge.

The message China was conveying to Australia when it circumnavigated our continent was that in naval (and air power) China is vastly superior to Australia and that it is at least equal to US and in some areas superior.

Elon Musk in his public statements clearly shows he understands what has happened, so we can assume that both Trump and Vance also understand the new reality, although they will never publicly admit it.

Accordingly, the US is now in no position to fight two wars – Ukraine and the Middle East – as well as facing an ever-increasing danger in the Pacific.

Trump and Vance decided that the Middle East and the Pacific were more important to the US than Ukraine, which was essentially a European matter. Leaving aside the danger of a nuclear war, if Ukraine war “victories” push Russia into becoming a satellite of China, then America clearly becomes the second ranking military power to China-Russia.

What do we have to worry about?

Sorry the pond was getting a little restless at the way that Mein Gott seemed to be celebrating the way that we all needed to get on board with a criminal, war-mongering dictator ...

And the US needs Russian help to achieve its aims in the Middle East, and that help was unlikely to be delivered if the two countries were fighting in Ukraine.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sets out clearly that all his US State Department activities must meet an overriding test for current and future actions. Are they are in what the Trump administration believes are in the interest of the US? If they fail that test, they will usually be dropped.

That overriding doctrine could be heard in the Oval Office exchange and is clearly illustrated in the Ukraine peace settlement proposal, which is linked to rare earths production where the US is currently dependent on China.

Cue another snap ... US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Picture: Charly Triballeau, Elvis Barukcic/AFP

That inspired Mein Gott to take stone-faced couch-sinking little Marco seriously ...

And in the Middle East, Rubio sets out two base US aims:

• The Hamas treatment of hostages means that Hamas must not be allowed to have any role in governments anywhere in the Middle East.
•  Iran must not have nuclear weapons because the regime has used any spare money it generated to fund organisations like the Yemen rebels, Hezbollah and Hamas, plus Syria. An Iran with nuclear weapons would have a devastating impact on the region. The US hopes that Russia will come to a similar view. There is little doubt that US support of Russia in Ukraine is linked to Russian support for the US Iran policy. The US-Russia conference in Saudi may have also embraced the issue of oil prices. Russia desperately needs high oil prices to regain solvency.

Oh come on, we know the real aims ...

No doubt Vlad the sociopathic impaler will be pleased to make it a joint venture.

And after all that, is it possible to take Mein Gott seriously as he turns to the corner store, and sings "what about we?"

When it comes to Australia in all our dealings with the US, we need to pitch our proposals in a way that shows benefit to America. And we also need to understand that the US views defence arrangements to be in a different basket to tariff/trade issues. In our remarks on tariffs, Australia often mixes defence and tariffs, which simply shows the Americans that we don’t understand the intricacies of current US policy as set out by Rubio.

In steel tariffs, we can show the US how America benefits by importing some 300,000 tonnes of Port Kembla steel which is integrated into the BlueScope US steel making and processing operation which is larger than the Australian one. If we have argued steel on the basis of US benefit, we have a very good chance.

I fear we mixed it with aluminium which is totally different and, in any event, the energy policies of Energy Minister Chris Bowen means that, according to Rio Tinto, some Australian aluminium plants will be put out of business because of the looming dramatic rises in electricity costs. The tariffs are almost an irrelevancy.

He fears? That's all he's got to fear about it as Faux Noise guides us to hell in a handbasket?

The reptiles followed that with a couple of local figures who routinely inspire reptile fear, hate and loathing, Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen. Picture: Jeremy Piper/NewsWire

Then it was just a sprint to the wrap-up ...

And, of course, vast areas of Australian industry also face higher power prices.

The aim of the US Ukraine discussions was to implement an agreement whereby the US would invest substantial sums in Ukraine rare earth processing. That deal my eventually come to pass, but Australia needs to put up its hand and show our rare earths can also be used to limit Chinese dominance. But we can’t offer ourselves as a place to refine or smelt rare earths without competitive energy policies. Ukraine may have the benefit of low cost Russian gas as part of a peace deal, which brings us back to the forces that triggered the exchange in the Oval Office and the Europe countries conference that followed.

A bringing together of the parties in Europe is similar to what happened in the Middle East after Trump’s Gaza plan. Maybe Merz is right and the Oval Office Vance trap was planned.

Put it another way ...

The pond realised at this point that it hadn't really got into the tariff wars, but the reptiles assured the pond that this was less than a 2 min read, and it did feature the wondrous sight of the WSJ doing a FAFO routine ...

Trump takes the dumbest tariff plunge, We’ve courted Donald Trump’s ire by calling the Mexico and Canada levies the ‘dumbest’ in history, and we may have understated the point. He’s whacking friends, not adversaries. The WSJ Editorial Board

There was just one visual interruption, President Trump previously delayed the tariffs for a month to negotiate on curbing fentanyl and migration, but his team has indicated he is not satisfied.

Then the WSJ reptiles got down with their FAFO routine ...

President Trump likes to cite the stock market when it’s rising as a sign of his policy success, so what does he think about Monday’s plunge? The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a 650-point header after he announced that he’ll hit Mexico and Canada on Tuesday with 25 per cent tariffs.

Mr Trump said at the White House there was “no room left” to negotiate with the two American trade treaty partners. Some of his smarter advisers have been hoping he’d start renegotiating the USMCA and delay the tariffs. But Mr Trump wants tariffs for their own sake, which he says will usher in a new golden age.

We’ve courted Mr Trump’s ire by calling the Mexico and Canada levies the “dumbest” in history, and we may have understated the point. Mr Trump is whacking friends, not adversaries. His taxes will hit every cross-border transaction, and the North American vehicle market is so interconnected that some cars cross a border as many as eight times as they’re assembled.

Mr Trump also objected when we reported an analysis by the Anderson Economic Group that the 25 per cent tariff will raise the cost of a full-sized SUV assembled in North America by $9,000 and a pick-up truck by $8,000. Is this how the new Republican Party plans on helping working-class voters?

Mr Trump is volatile, and who knows how long he’ll keep the tariffs in place. Retaliation that hits certain states and businesses may also cause him to reconsider sooner than he imagines. Investors are trying to read this uncertainty as they also watch growing evidence of a slowing US economy. Unbridled Tariff Man was always going to be a big economic risk in a second term, and here we are.

The Wall St Journal

Here they are, the WSJ and the lizard Oz reptiles, apparently entirely unaware of what their kissing cousins at Faux Noise continue to do ...

The pond was inclined to celebrate that conspicuous folly by closing with an immortal Rowe ...

It's always in the Faux Noise details, abiding in the gutter below that portrait of a prize knob ...