In which the pond looks at a multitude of reptiles thanks to an amazing discovery ...

 

The reptiles' jihad on EVs is cranking into gear this day, with celebrations at the top of the digital edition ...

EXCLUSIVE
End of free ride for EV drivers as road-user charge looms
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is fast-tracking plans for electric vehicle drivers to pay road-user charges as fuel excise revenue plummets and infrastructure costs soar.
By Geoff Chambers

Look, thar the crusade blows, a charge short of a battery ...

The pond has every confidence in the ability of the Albanese government to pander to the reptiles' jihad and do their best to kill off EVs, but what to make of the pathetic illustration that accompanied the piece at the top of the world ma?

Truly beyond the valley of the deeply pathetic.

Over on the extreme far right Geoff helped to chamber another bullet in the EV crusade ...

The charge is on: why all road users must pay their dues
Jim Chalmers is finally laying the groundwork to do what his predecessors conveniently kicked down the road from fear of backlash from inner-city Tesla drivers in teal electorates.
By Geoff Chambers
Political editor

There he was ma, top of the world ...

How to break it to Geoff? 

The days of Tesler are long gone, with Uncle Leon and his museum piece truck now a matter of amusement and curiosity.

Still, Geoff's company works in Sydney's Surry Hills, a suburb so far from the inner city leet teals that he routinely gets nose bleed as he drops into the Panthers club for an early morning coffee (that's a joke for Sydney siders, who actually know where Surry Hills is and where News Corp regulars hang out).

Putting all that aside, the pond can reveal some astonishing news.

It happened when the pond went searching for a missing bit of Caterist information.

More on the Caterist lately, but here's what the pond discovered. 

Dig up your favourite URL featuring your favourite reptile, head off to the archive and lo and behold ... the mysteries of the reptiles could be revealed like a dance of the seven veils

Here. for example, is the bromancer this day ...

That's straight from the archive here ...

Now it's only a two minute read, but there's no need for the pond to carry on more. 

Just like his orange-coloured master, minion little Marco Rubio lies in the most pathetic ways imaginable ... but all pond correspondents have to do is click on the link, and the pond's work is done.

They can see that the bromancer managed only a two minute huffing and puffing, a very short frothing and foaming, all bubble, and plenty of squeak, but way too short to be filling.

The bromancer might have turned his attention to the latest selling of Ukraine down the river, as featured in Trump Envoy’s Embarrassing Gaffe Could Blow Back on President (*archive link)

President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East botched a sitdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week.
During the Wednesday meeting, Special Envoy Witkoff mistook Putin’s demand for a “peaceful withdrawal” of Ukrainian forces from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as a proposed concession from Putin to pull back Russian troops in the regions, according to German tabloid the Bild.
“Witkoff doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” an anonymous Ukrainian official told the paper.
After the meeting, Trump said Russia could withdraw from the two regions in exchange for Donetsk, the Wall Street Journal reported.
But in a Thursday phone call between Witkoff, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and European leaders—during which Witkoff appeared “overwhelmed” and “incompetent,” the Bild reported—the special envoy said Russia would withdraw from those regions and “freeze the front line.”
Further complicating the call was the fact that Witkoff and Vance only wanted to inform European officials about the Trump administration’s progress in the negotiations, whereas Rubio thought the Europeans should be further involved in the ongoing talks, according to the Bild.
The confusion led European leaders to request another call Friday to clarify the proposal.
“This is deeply damaging incompetence,” Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, posted on X. “Witkoff should finally start taking a note taker from the U.S. embassy for future meetings. That’s how professional diplomacy works.”
Witkoff’s meeting with Putin has muddied the waters ahead of Trump’s own, historic face-to-face with his Russian counterpart in Alaska scheduled for Friday, during which the president is expected to make controversial proposals for “territory swapping” between Kiev and Moscow.
Matthew Whitaker, Trump’s Ambassador to NATO, qualified the conditions of those proposals during a Sunday interview with CNN, saying that “no big chunks or sections are going to be just given that haven’t been fought for or earned on the battlefield.”
Europe and Ukraine have pushed back against those terms, insisting that any peace deal should respect Ukrainian sovereignty and guarantee its security without compromising on the Eastern European country’s aspirations for NATO membership.
Russia, meanwhile, continues to maintain a maximalist stance, seeking recognition of annexed Ukrainian territories and opposing Kiev’s accession into the defense alliance.

There's the orange orangutang's minions at work, with little Marco in the thick of the follies, but don't expect the bromancer to pay attention until it's way too late.

Major Mitchell seems still to be out to pasture, or off on the golf course, but the pond can hear punters ask, "what of Lord Downer, he of the high heels and fetching stockings"?

Well he's out and about this day with a wander down memory lane ...but the pond didn't really have to go there.

The pond just has to provide a taster ... showing that the 1950s is strong in this one ...

Want to know more?

If punters decide they like the cut of Lord Downer's jib, no need for the pond to get involved.

Punters can just can head off here for the rest of the read ...

What about a bita Natasha?

Sure the headline involved a contractual penalty that the pond was obliged to service...

EXCLUSIVE
Woke teaching revolt drives classical learning push, From scary fairytales to the abacus, classical schools are reverting to old-fashioned teaching as parents rebel against cancel culture.
By Natasha Bita

Sorry, Natasha moronic deployment of the word "woke" is a bit like a head high shot in thugby league, it attracts an immediate penalty ...

Never mind, here's the start of that Bita of Natasha, straight from the archive ...

Want to know more?

Well, we might be terrified of failure, but we certainly aren't terrified of government cash in the paw.

For those who want more, all they have to do is go here. 

Suffice to say, the pond was really only amused by the closing bit detailing the cash in the paw:

...Classical start-up schools in Australia include the Catholic Hartford College in Sydney, where 25 boys study a liberal arts curriculum, and the Catholic St Benedict School, which teaches “low-tech, high content’’ lessons to 31 primary students in the Adelaide Hills.
Aesop’s fables, Brothers Grimm fairytales, the ancient abacus and singsong repetition feature in fun lessons at the St John of Kronstadt Academy in Brisbane, established last year with 22 students from prep to year 4.
Its founder, lawyer and Orthodox priest Father Stephen David, set up the school because he wanted his own two children to “learn how to think, not what to think’’.
Parents pay $5000 a year in tuition fees, the federal government contributes $22,000 per student and the Queensland government chips in more than $2000 per student to cover the salaries of two teachers, a teacher aide and rent in a disused teaching college at the back of a shopping centre in Mount Gravatt.
Students are taught cursive handwriting – which is no longer mandatory in Queensland schools – and technology is shunned in the primary years.
“Instead of surrounding them with screens, we surround them with books and artwork,” Father David said.
“Repetition is the mother of all memory, and the students enjoy singing, chanting and reciting poetry – once you put something to music, they will learn five times faster.
“I want children to grow in wisdom, virtue and eloquence – that’s the objective of a classical education.’”

Meanwhile, long suffering taxpayers fork over oodles of cash in the paw for the handsome pleasure of indulging in Xian indoctrination inflicted on hapless minors...

But what, the pond can hear anxious correspondents cry, of the bots? How will they cope if news of child abuse is relegated to a screen cap?

It's true that the pond is a haven for bots seeking to understand the weird ways of the ratbag right, and presenting the reptiles as capped samples, with links, isn't the best way for the pond to keep up its bot hits.

After all, if you want a proper bot imitation of a bout of dog bothering climate science denialism, the bots have to be fed the latest drivel.

The pond also isn't sure how long this archive riff will last. 

When did the lizard Oz open up to the archives, when did the paywall drop and give glimpses into the inner workings of the hive mind?

Never mind, for the moment it's there, and so the pond can look at more treats, while still giving old favourites special treatment.

Come on down quarry whisperer Caterist for a dose of Caterism. 

Sure, it ran yesterday, but the pond will always allow space ...

The header: Migrants’ rejection of Australian culture and values tests our goodwill, Relaxing the English-language requirements for visa applicants won’t help migrants, who will find it harder to get a job and are more likely to suffer social isolation, depression, stress and anxiety.

The caption: Assistant Minister for Immigration Matt Thistlethwaite. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The idle, whimsical proposal: This article contains features which are only available in the web version, Take me there

The pond wanted to give the Caterist the proper treatment, because the pond for once wholeheartedly agrees with the Caterist.

There have been serious failures in the way migrants are allowed into the country.

How else to explain the way the country allowed in a compleat waste of space given to thuggee verbal larrikinism and the defamation of quarry owners?

Was it on the basis that he has special skills as a flood waters in quarries whisperer?

Does the Caterist perform a single useful task in society?

Can he compare in usefulness to the man of Indian descent who turned up recently to install a hot water service?

The pond thinks not, the pond thinks his yearning for the good old days of the White Australia days is just another example of him being a compleat waste of space ...

It is difficult to know what Matt Thistlethwaite was thinking when he relaxed the English-language requirements for visa applicants. He’s not doing any favours for migrants who will find it harder to get a job and are more likely to suffer social isolation, depression, stress and anxiety.
Neither is he helping Anthony Albanese, who has built a solid reputation for incompetence in his handling of immigration.
Thoughtlessness may be the kindest explanation for the rule change that was slipped through on Friday, lowering the pass mark for a working visa from 30 out of 90 to 24 on the commonly used Pearson Test of English.
Thistlethwaite told the ABC the bar wasn’t being lowered, it was merely being “standardised”. Yet the fact is that a person with a PTE of 24 has only a rudimentary command of English, struggles to understand everyday conversations at normal speed, and would not be qualified to enter Canada on a similar employment visa.
Nor would they be allowed to enter Britain, for that matter, unless they crossed the Channel by boat.
In the post-war years, Canada and Australia distinguished themselves by selecting migrants based on skills and education. As a result, their immigrant cohorts are among the best educated in the OECD. Some 60 per cent of overseas-born Australians are in the highest education category compared to just 26 per cent in Germany and 35 per cent in France.

Say what?

In the post-war years, Canada and Australia distinguished themselves by selecting migrants based on skills and education. 

That's clearly, patently not true. On the evidence of the Caterist, they allowed in an unskilled oaf, who apart from his singular inability as a flood water whisperer, has mainly contributed to the ongoing prosperity of courts and lawyers.

The pond would rather have ten Vietnamese cooks whipping up a phở bò or phở gà than one Caterist opening a can of baked beans, served with fried egg, chups and bacon.

Here the pond should reveal what set it off on the archive trail. 

You see, the reptiles inserted a graphic which produced a whirling circle of doom, with "loading embed" the only word of advice.

The pond forlornly trotted off to the archive, and was amazed to discover the Caterist in the archive ...

Now the archive also missed out on the reptile insert, but what matter, there was the almost compleat Caterist in his full bigoted glory ...

Now back to feeding the bots ...

The rewards of mastering English for both migrants and the countries that welcomed them were once so obvious they barely needed articulating.
In the academic community, however, where common sense is increasingly a rejected currency, the view has taken hold that the English language is just another form of oppression, a tool to enforce white Anglospheric hegemony.
That philosophy is embedded in a review of multiculturalism by the Department of Home Affairs, which is every bit as dismal as its title suggests – “Towards Fairness: A Multicultural Australia For All”. Its most dangerous recommendation is that the Australian citizenship test be conducted in languages other than English.
The authors took on board a submission from a group called Multilingual Australia that criticised the tendency to view contemporary Australia “through the narrow prism of an English-speaking society”. It claimed a “monolingual focus … muddies the waters of cultural, ethnic and religious inclusion”.
Yet the mumbo-jumbo fails to disguise the review’s subversive intent. Australian values are disreputable and must be redeemed by bending them towards the culture of others.
Previous generations of migrants strove hard to assimilate, not because they were forced to do so but because they liked the place and wanted to fit in.
Today, they’re told a different story: that Australians must adapt to their values, however antithetical to Western civilisation.
In Europe, the backlash against this globalist agenda is well under way.
In January, the Hungarian government introduced a cultural knowledge test for would-be permanent residents to ensure they meet the “conditions of social coexistence”. The rules are uncompromising. The test is conducted in Hungarian, a non-Indo-European language with few cognates, infuriating verbal prefixes and conjugations.
Finland, which is burdened with an equally exasperating Uralic tongue, is also introducing strict rules to ensure permanent residents understand Finnish society and study the language. Applicants for permanent residence must demonstrate proficiency in Finnish or Swedish and produce a work history that shows they have not claimed welfare.

At this point the reptiles introduced hapless Sussssan ... Opposition Leader Sussan Ley should focus on developing sound immigration policies. Picture: Martin Ollman

How the Caterist wanted to go the full King Donald, preferably with unidentified ICE thugs wearing masks and blathering on about fully white Western Civilisation in the white nationalist way...

The Liberal Party should spend its time in opposition applying similar policies here. It must challenge the trite advice from Treasury that migration is essential to economic growth.
It is an assumption only as strong as the quality of the intake of primary and secondary applicants combined.
Thankfully, both parties agree on the harsh border policies that spare us the social upheaval in Britain, where there have been more than 25,000 unauthorised boat arrivals so far this year. Anti-migrant demonstrations have become so common that most are barely reported.
The lesson for Australia is that the consent of citizens to large-scale migration cannot be taken for granted. Widespread unrest remains hidden for a while, suppressed by a general sense of politeness and decorum.
When the frustration erupts, however, emotions quickly rise to the surface and trust in the political class evaporates.
The Albanese government needs to be careful. It’s not just the scale of immigration that is eroding public confidence, but the character of the people arriving and the expectations placed upon them.
Those perceptions have been strengthened by the radical support for the Palestinian cause and protests conducted in the foreign language of jihad. Few national or religious cohorts in the history of Australian migration have experienced the discrimination, hatred and physical attacks that the Jewish community is enduring. It is a profound assault on the live-and-let-live principle that is the glue of Australian multiculturalism.
The burning of the Australian flag in Melbourne last week was an obscenity, a violation of the unspoken obligation of unconditional allegiance to the country that accepted you as a citizen-in-waiting.

Remarking on a genocide unfolding before the world's eyes is radical? The Caterist would rather watch the ethnic cleansing unfold without a murmur?

Actually the pond has never seen the Union Jack as the flag of Australia, but that's another colonialist story ... as the reptiles introduced another snap certain to disturb the equilibrium of the fragile reptile hive mind ... Protesters in support of Palestinians in Gaza march towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3. Picture: Getty Images

Then it was on with a final flourish of bigotry ...

Applying for Australian residency was not just a means to an end, but a permanent, life-changing decision. The sharp rise in temporary visas under this government is changing that assumption.
The number of temporary visas on issue has risen from 1.7 million to 2.4 million since Anthony Albanese came to power.
The most visible group is that of international students, whose ranks have swelled from a post-Covid low of 501,000 in 2022 to a record 794,000 today. The rise in student visas has contributed to an increase in onshore asylum claims. More than 5500 people on student visas have applied for asylum under this government’s watch, according to statistics compiled by the Refugee Council of Australia.
It’s another sign that an increasing number of migrants have a purely transactional relationship with Australia. They will probably never vote, be asked to serve on a jury or sense the broad obligation of being a good neighbour. In the case of student visas in particular, they may operate in an untaxed grey economy in service jobs that make a marginal contribution to national prosperity at best.
Like the British, Australians are reluctant to complain, but the resentment is growing nonetheless. They sense Australia’s unique cultural qualities have been subsumed by a bland internationalisation championed by a distant elite with disdain for the vernacular.
An immigration policy that does not discriminate on the grounds of race is the mark of a civilised country. A policy that fails to discriminate in favour of its own culture is the surest sign of a country losing its way.
Nick Cater is a senior fellow at Menzies Research Centre

Throw the bum out, deport him back to ye olde England to munch on marmite and baked beans, and we'll all be better off ...

Meanwhile, the pond went a little archive mad.

Want a read of Peter Conradi burbling away in The Times, then transplanted to the lizard Oz?

Welcome to the new Reykjavik: why Alaska is the perfect place for pariah Vladimir Putin, The US state where Russia and America almost meet has never hosted a superpower summit, but both leaders have reasons to cheer the choice of venue now.

Sure thing ...

For Trump it matters that Putin is coming to America rather than the other way around. The Kremlin described the choice of Alaska as “quite logical” given its location and said Trump had been invited for a return meeting in Russia.
The meeting was predictably hailed by official Russian media as a triumph for Putin – and one that marked impending defeat for Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been excluded from what the Ukrainian leader had hoped would be a three-way meeting.
Komsomolskaya Pravda, one of the Kremlin’s more loyal tabloid mouthpieces said it was impossible to imagine Putin and Trump heading to western Europe. “Zelensky’s dear European allies would be swarming around. In Alaska, outsiders will be excluded. There will only be Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. No Zelensky, no Europe.”
Nor would there be any hard feelings about Tsar Alexander’s sale of Alaska all those years ago.
“In general, Russia and America settled the matter of Alaska amicably,” it concluded, “and its choice for negotiations between Putin and Trump seems to be a hint for Ukraine: territorial issues can be resolved in order to avoid the worst.”
(Who Lost Russia: From the Collapse of the USSR to Putin’s War on Ukraine, by Peter Conradi, is published by Oneworld.)
The Sunday Times

Want to catch up on Mein Gott's Sunday outing?

Trump’s policy triumphs expose critical gaps in Australia’s economic strategy, Trump's triple policy triumph has exposed critical gaps in Australia's economic strategy, putting pressure on the Albanese government.

Sure thing ...

But what about feeding the bots? How can they learn to sound as maniacal as Mein Gott in full euphroia mode?

No worries, here's the text version, with Mein Gott going full MAGA ...

US President Donald Trump’s camp is celebrating on at least three fronts. First, the estimated eight per cent rise in the cash flow of large US corporations as a result of the tax incentives is fuelling Wall Street, which Trump regards as an important measure of his success.
Second, Russian President Putin is coming to the US for peace talks. It would appear that the big increase in Indian tariffs was important in changing Putin’s mind. And thirdly, while the income from tariffs is high, the flow-on to US prices is less than Trump’s opponents expected.
But in each of those situations Australia finds itself at odds with the US.
In the case of using US-style tax incentives to foster investment and aspiration, our Treasurer Jim Chalmers is heading in a totally different direction and is actually following the policies of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the Indian tariff thrust to curb Russian oil exports, Australia is indirectly involved because we import about $1bn in refined petroleum products from India, much of which is sourced from Russian crude.
And almost certainly Australia will absorb a part of the costs of the Trump tariffs.
A key part of the Trump corporate tax incentives enables US corporations to invest in capital works and deduct that investment against their taxable income. Most of the large US corporations were already planning substantial investment but those that are earning strong profits will now get a cash windfall which is being reflected in US share price calculations.
Here in Australia, Chalmers has embraced Kamala Harris’s plan to tax unrealised gains. Harris set a trigger point at $US1bn ($1.53bn) and the horror mobilised support for Trump. Chalmers has set his cut-off point in his Harris-style tax on unrealised gains at just $3m in superannuation. This will cause a substantial fall in money invested in self-managed superannuation funds which are huge contributors to the capital needs of smaller and medium-sized corporations.

Naturally there was a snap of the orange orangutang in his full glory, US President Donald Trump’s camp is celebrating on at least three fronts. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Mein Gott alternately was ecstatic, while also downcast ...

Those companies, the engine room of much of Australia’s productivity and growth, will have to lower their aspirations – the reverse of what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spruiks in his public statements. If Chalmers proceeds with his tax on unrealised gains, it is likely that President Trump will express cynical surprise that Australia is following Harris rather than Trump in capital management and aspiration. Accordingly Albanese should avoid a joint public interview.
When Trump announced that he planned to put much greater clamps on the export of Russian crude, Putin was adamant that he did not want Ukraine peace talks. But then Trump pressed what appears to be the ‘Putin panic button’ when he announced 50 per cent tariff on all Indian exports to the US which would decimate significant parts of the Indian business community including gems, textiles and seafood.
Indian President Narendra Modi has generated large cash flows for India by buying Russian crude at low prices and using Indian refining capacity to export petroleum products in a manoeuvre where no one could be sure if their products came from Russian or non-Russian crude. Australia was a beneficiary but we were not alone. In the various messages Trump has delivered to Australia, the Trump people have never mentioned our petroleum product imports from India/Russia.

The reptiles introduced their bog standard snap of chief villain Jimbo, face contorted into frown, despite his brave attempt to conform to reptile EV diktats (sorry Jimbo, you can never win) ...Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is following some of the policies of former US vice president Kamala Harris. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The pond found it hard to pay attention, what with that talk of VPs reminding the pond of the holiday maker producing another splash, Vance Unwittingly Gives MAGA New Ammo for Epstein Files Obsession (*archive link)

Vice President JD Vance has found the Trump administration’s new scapegoat to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein story: Democrats.
Vance claimed to Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures that Democrats had not investigated the Epstein case during Joe Biden’s presidency and painted Epstein as more closely aligned with Democrats.
“The Democrats have tried to make this whole Epstein thing about anything but the fact that Democrat billionaires and Democrat political leaders went to Epstein island all the time,“ Vance said.
While Epstein—a registered sex offender who died by suicide in federal custody in 2019—was friends with a variety of Democrats, the case has been heavily scrutinized due to his friendship with Donald Trump.
The vice president then hinted that Democrats may have more cause for concern in light of the House Oversight Committee’s subpoenas of several former government officials—including former President Bill Clinton, an old Epstein friend, and former First Lady Hillary Clinton—regarding the case.
”Who knows what they did, but it’s totally reasonable to ask these questions," he said.
Trump was a Democrat between 2001 and 2009, during which time Epstein was a member at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
A Vance spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether the vice president believes the unreleased files implicate high-profile Democrats
Vance also tried to implicate the former president, repeating Trump’s oft-said claim that Clinton went to Epstein’s private island “26 times, 28 times.” A Clinton spokesperson said in 2019 that Clinton had never visited the island and had only taken four trips aboard Epstein’s plane.
The vice president also evaded reports that claimed he would meet with top government officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, about the Epstein case in light of a month of MAGA backlash over the administration’s decision not to release more files.
Vance confirmed he met with Patel and Bondi at the White House, but he denied it had anything to do with Epstein.

So it cranks on, and so to the last of Mein Gott ...

But that highlights the fact that we have foolishly allowed our refining capacity to be reduced so we are dependent on others for a significant portion of our petroleum product needs. The Indian share market has not collapsed as a result of the tariff imposition by Trump. The Indians clearly believe that Putin is ready to make a Ukraine settlement, and the oil tariffs will never be imposed.[There is still a dairy issue.]
Of course, as we have seen in previous negotiations between Trump and Putin, the Russian president has always been prepared to walk away if he is unhappy at the settlement proposed by Trump. But this time, not only is Europe mustering substantial military power, but the US has resumed arms shipments. Although China takes substantial amounts of Russian crude, India has been a very important outlet.
When it comes to tariffs, US income has been greater than many had expected but the flow-on to prices has also been lower than expected. Clearly the burden of the tariff is being shared between US consumers; US wholesalers/retailers and those who are exporting to the US.
The exporters to the US, led by China, are much more active in seeking other markets for goods that were previously earmarked for the US. But they are also looking for ways to lift their prices in those markets so that the US tariff burden is spread to other customers. Once the tariff wars settle down, Australia will almost certainly find that the cost of some of its imports will creep up in price as we take some of the US tariff burden.
If these US tariff price trends continue, then the Trump camp will declare a significant victory.
And if there is a Ukraine peace settlement what will be of vital importance to the US is access to Ukraine’s rare earths. We don’t know to what extent Ukraine’s rare earth deposits include heavier rare earths like terbium but almost certainly the US has done some testing which is why they are so anxious to have rights to these deposits which in turn will provide Ukraine with greater security against a second Russian attack.

Settle Mein Gott, settle, have a Luckovich to help settle your inclination to a nervous hysteria ...