In which the pond whittled down the reptile offerings to talk of Tasmania, but did try to slip in as much King Donald as possible ...

Bored watching some slow uploads crawl up into the ether - thanks Malware's NBN - the pond yesterday made the fatal mistake of using idle time to check out the reptiles. 

Lordy, long absent lordy, do they know how to troll, they do it all day long, and the pond fell for it with several posts.

None of that today, and none of the reptiles' current jihad today. 

Pauline showed the pond the danger of reading lizard Oz polls and taking them and herself way too seriously ...

She might be ready, and luckily there will also be shrinks on head to deal with massive delusions of grandeur.

Of course there was plenty more trolling this day, an over-abundance of it ... EXCLUSIVES being sold by the yard ...

EXCLUSIVE
Labor’s hate group crackdown to pass
Antisemitism bill set to pass parliament despite Coalition concerns
Anthony Albanese’s antisemitism bill will pass parliament despite facing an 11th-hour Coalition hurdle over hate group powers.
By Sarah Ison

You'd swear from reading that EXCLUSIVE that the Libs were going all wishy washy and yellerbelly, and joining in to help out comrade Albo's mob, but it's just the Nats - according to the story. 

The Libs were in enabling mode ...

Anthony Albanese’s bill to combat antisemitism will pass parliament in coming days despite an 11th-hour hurdle thrown up by opposition MPs harbouring concerns over proposed new powers that would allow the government to proscribe and ban “hate groups”.
Despite the laws giving Labor the power to crack down on Hizb ut-Tahrir after years of Coalition pressure for the radical Islamic group to be listed as a terrorist organisation, fears were shared by opposition MPs on Monday afternoon that the reforms could have unintended consequences.
While the Liberal party room ticked off on the laws with amendments, the Nationals were understood to still be considering their final position.

They ticked off? So much for the lizard Oz jihad.

Meanwhile there was another EXCLUSIVE...

EXCLUSIVE
Top imams: antisemitism law is Islamophobic ‘in law and practice’
Muslim leaders have delivered a devastating blow to Anthony Albanese’s hate crime laws, claiming the legislation designed to combat antisemitism will actually discriminate against their own community.
By Noah Yim

Oh there's going to be all the fun of the fair for future reptile jihads ...

Meanwhile, the pond's hive mind favourite, the bromancer, joined the current jihad and so had to be sent to the intermittent archive cornfield ...

After Bondi, grim truth is Jew hate still flourishes
Federal parliament united to stand strong, yet the cultural left’s role in fuelling anti-Semitism remains unaddressed by the government.
By Greg Sheridan
Foreign Editor

The Federal parliament united to stand strong? 

Didn't the pond just EXCLUSIVELY read that the parliament was beset by saucy doubts and fears?

The bromancer was in exceptionally fine bigoted form ...

...Some 200 artists, some admittedly under monstrous pressure, withdrew from the writers week in solidarity with Abdel-Fattah. Did this herd of independent minds all reach this conclusion, that her statements were perfectly OK, individually? Truly, you’d find more moral courage in a fourth grade rugby league team in western Sydney than in the whole of the Australian arts community put together.
The bottom line is this celebration of anti-Semitic hostility, and simultaneous indictment of anonymous Jews and their malign and mysterious influence, is exactly how anti-Semitism proceeds in the real world.
The ABC is often, if unintentionally, complicit in anti-Semitism through: constant demonisation of Israel, failure to investigate seriously Australian anti-Semitism, and ready willingness to credit the “shadowy Jewish influence” line. Little said in parliament, beyond Leeser’s words, addresses the anti-Semitism of the cultural left.

Sssh, don't mention Gaza war crimes. And ... it's all the ABC's fault.

That's as much as the pond could take or stomach.

Never mind, there might be a chance down the track to get the lizard Oz listed as a hate group.

Speaking of that, ancient Troy also joined in the current round of hate speech, tediously going there yet again ...

Hypocrisy and hate: How Adelaide Writers’ Week ignored the limits to free speech
Adelaide Writers’ Week has been destroyed by the very people claiming to defend free speech who platformed hate speech at a publicly funded cultural festival
By Troy Bramston

A few whimsical notes:

Ancient Troy: Cultural institutions should be able to operate free from interference from government. This is an important principle.

Oh dear ...

Premier Peter Malinauskas warned festival board author’s removal was needed for ‘basic decency’
Premier Peter Malinauskas warned the Adelaide Festival ex-chair to not “ignore” the dignity of Australian-Jewish people still reeling from Bondi attacks. Read his full letter here. (that's an archive link)

Inter alia ...

The Premier warned Adelaide Festival’s ex-chair in a letter that the dignity of Australian-Jewish people still reeling from the Bondi terror attacks should not be “ignored at all costs” in the name of art.
The Sunday Mail has obtained a copy of the letter sent to Adelaide Festival chairwoman Tracey Whiting by Premier Peter Malinauskas days before a decision was made to remove Palestinian-Australian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah from the Writers’ Week 2026 program.
The letter, dated January 2, was sent after the Premier expressed his concerns about the inclusion of Dr Abdel-Fattah over the course of a few phone calls with Ms Whiting.
It is understood she then asked him to put those concerns in writing for the board’s benefit as they considered what to do. 

Quick, ancient Troy, diss that "important principle", save this cooked goose, make it right with a gigantic billy goat butt ...

...But governments have an obligation to ensure they are not used to put hateful rhetoric up in lights. And citizens have a right to demand that their taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and not used to advance radical and divisive political causes.

Quick, move on to rousing conclusion ...

Writers festivals should be places for robust debate and thought-provoking discussion. Attendees should have their views illuminated and challenged. They can be informed and entertained.
Writers festivals should be a place for civilised conversation and respectful dialogue. Adler and Abdel-Fattah ensured AWW was anything but this.

Um, perhaps that prime goose Malinauskas and a compliant board had something to do with it? Nah, ancient Troy and the hive mind ensured it was anything butthat.

Begorrah, it took Paddy to remind the pond that some reptiles were still diligently pursuing old jihads ...

PROFESSOR EXPLAINS
The NDIS has become a luxury liner. We need more, smaller boats
The National Disability Insurance Scheme offers only first-class travel and a permanent berth. The model must change, says Australia’s foremost expert in mental health reform.
By Patrick McGorry
Contributor

Hang on, hang on. A Prof explains? 

Isn't he automatically defined as one of those out of touch, dangerous, airy, bubble-headed boobies, a member of the wanky 'leet class that ruins everything for the hive mind? The sort that wouldn't prescribe Ivermectin when it was badly needed, or keep on rabbiting on about a climate change hoax?

Reassuringly, the reptiles took that metaphor and opened with a stupefyingly banal illustration ...

The pond confesses that it stopped reading at the opening gobsmacking literalism of that first illustration ...

Geddit? It's a luxury liner! What a metaphor.

Oh Prof, Prof, this is what happens when you consort with the lizard Oz hive mind.

The pond was rapidly winnowing down its list of candidates and topics for the day, and ended up stuck with Rowan rowing a boat, which really should have seen the bromancer behind the oars ...

The header: No, Mr Ambassador: Taiwan has nothing in common with Tassie, Since ambassador Xiao Qian highlights what he sees as parallels between Taiwan and Tasmania, it’s important to dig deeper, uncovering instead the deep disparities.

The caption: Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

It was only a three minute read, and contained the astonishing insight that Tassie wasn't Taiwan, and perhaps vice versa ... but nowhere in it did Rowan ask what had set him off.

Not once did he wonder why the lizard Oz had chosen to become a propaganda sheet for Chairman Xi and his minions?

Or why he decided to waste time and space on a self-induced troll of such epic futility?

The obvious answer is that the reptiles rolled that way because it was easy and cheap filler, and it could lead to easy and cheap follow ups, providing a chance for "eggsperts" of the Rowan kind to leap up and down, and be affronted and express wild-eyed indignation, not to mention some meaningless history of the Our Henry kind...

“Taiwan is a province of China, just as Tasmania is a state of Australia,” wrote China’s ambassador to Australia in these pages on Monday. Both Taiwan and Tasmania were inhabited by Indigenous people before Dutch forces in the first case, and British in the second, became involved in either. But that’s about as much as they share in common.
Since ambassador Xiao Qian highlights what he sees as parallels between Taiwan and Tasmania, it’s appropriate to dig deeper, uncovering instead the deep disparities.
Taiwan was first colonised by the Dutch (1624-1662). The Manchus who conquered China and ruled it as the Qing dynasty (1691-1911) took a sporadic but growing interest, eventually declaring it a province in 1887. But only eight years later the dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan after military defeat.
Mao Zedong told American journalist Edgar Snow in a 1937 interview: “We will extend them (the Koreans) our enthusiastic help in their struggle for independence. The same thing applies for Taiwan.”

That's digging deeper?

This ranting allowed an ancient snap of the lad for whom the lizard Oz had been working, Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks in 2017 in Beijing. Picture: Getty Images

That's when it dawned on the pond what was missing from this tepid fare. 

Better to blather on about Tasmania than deal with King Donald and any one of a hundred of his recent absurdities.

For that sort of talk, you had to head off to the keen Keane in Crikey ... (sorry paywall)

Or take in a Herbert ...

Or head off to Kagan in The Atlantic (archive link):

Instead of any of that with the bromancer, the pond was stuck with Rowan, as he resumed his rowing of this wretched Tassie boat:

The Republic of China seized control of Taiwan following Japan’s defeat in 1945, then took the remnants of its army there following its own loss to Mao’s Chinese Communist Party, and the establishment in 1949 of the People’s Republic of China, which has never ruled Taiwan.
British whalers and sealers established bases in Tasmania at the very start of the 19th century, and the British governor in New South Wales built military outposts to support them from 1803. It became a colony, then in 1856 a state.
In 1899, 94 per cent of the Tasmanians eligible to vote supported its federation with Australia, the largest majority of the states. The Australian Constitution provides a complex route for states to withdraw, but secession moves in the 1920s petered out, and more recent straw-polling in Tasmania has failed to indicate significant support for this.
The Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) that ruled the Republic of China that succeeded the Qing dynasty, re-established itself in Taiwan following its defeat by the communist forces, but 35 years ago formally withdrew any claims over mainland China. The CCP’s insistence on recognition as ruling “one China” is not these days contested significantly anywhere including within Taiwan, unlike its own claim also to rule the island.

The reptiles decided that an AV distraction would act as seafood extender...

China’s ambassador to Australia is calling on the federal government to support the reunification of China and Taiwan. Xiao Qian says Australia cannot keep reaping the benefits of trade with China while seeking to block reunification. He has cautioned the government against pursuing dialogue on Taiwan unless they were committed to reunification, signalling economic consequences. “Taiwan is a province of China, just as Tasmania is a state of Australia. This is the only correct understanding of ‘one China’,” Mr Qian said.

Rowan then decided to diss Tasmania as a pimple on the rump:

Tasmania has a population of 575,000 and annual economic output of $44bn. Taiwan’s population is 23 million, its output $1.17 trillion. Taiwan’s average wealth per adult is 11 times higher than China’s. In a recent poll in Taiwan, 86 per cent favoured maintaining the status quo – also supported by Australia’s major parties – with 72 per cent disagreeing that Taiwan is part of China, and 83 per cent insisting that Taiwan’s future should be determined by its own people.
In Pew Research polling two years ago, 67 per cent of respondents described themselves as Taiwanese, 28 per cent as both Taiwanese and Chinese, and 3 per cent as primarily Chinese. Of those aged 18-34, 83 per cent see themselves as Taiwanese.
Ambassador Xiao wrote that “blood runs thicker than water”. Yet 56 per cent polled by Pew say they are not emotionally attached to China, and 66 per cent believe China is a major threat.
Ten years ago independent senator Jacqui Lambie said her “dream for Tasmania” would see the island leaving the Australian Federation. But while re-elected, she received little support for such a move, which she no longer advances. Ambassador Xiao says: “It is clearly stated in the official legal opinions of the UN that ‘the United Nations considers Taiwan as a province of China’.”
On August 21, 2024, Australia’s Senate passed unanimously a motion – proposed jointly by Labor and Liberal senators – that UN Resolution 2758 of 1971 “does not establish the PRC’s sovereignty over Taiwan and does not determine the future status of Taiwan in the UN”. Australia itself, while holding its own “one China policy”, has not formally committed to a position on Taiwan’s identity.
Many Tasmanians might preference their identity as Tasmanian first and Australian second, but very few would go on to disavow their Australian-ness or Australian citizenship. Tasmania is structurally dependent on federal economic support.

Oh come on Rowan, there was a valiant rebel movement featured in The Mercury ... (archive link)

The reptiles slipped in another snap ... Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te delivers a New Year’s Day speech at the presidential hall in Taipei.

But the pond was still deep in the deepest south, singing a rebel song ...

And again:

Stay strong, Tassies, elbows up Canada, stay defiant Taiwan ...

Taiwan has a standing military force of about 160,000, with a further 1.6 million reservists, up to 500 combat aircraft and a substantial navy. It polices and defends its own borders. Tasmania has a police force of about 1400.
Taiwan elects its own leaders. At the last election, 72 per cent of eligible voters turned out, compared with 60 per cent in Britain and 63 per cent in the US. Its legislature passes laws that are imposed through an independent judicial system. Tasmanians, via their elected government, exercise a wide range of authority within their own jurisdiction, compared with the PRC’s provinces, which operate within a unitary, one-party state. China is unique among large states in maintaining a centralised, not federal, structure.
Ambassador Xiao should be applauded for stating, in conclusion, “we hope Australia will keep ahead of the historical trend on the Taiwan question”. It’s historically intricate, it’s complex, but it’s also very important for our role in our own region that we all “keep ahead”, watch carefully what’s happening, and staunchly back peace and stability.
Rowan Callick is an expert associate at the ANU’s National Security College and an industry fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute.

Sheesh, Taiwan's just doing what everybody has been wanting to do since way back when ...

And now to be fair, the reptiles did slip in a yarn about King Donald while the pond was seceding from the hive mind and the world ... but it didn't come from the bromancer, it came from the WSJ ...

Why are the reptiles and the bromancer always outsourcing this gig?

Simple, they're too busy navel-gazing, fluff-gathering and carrying on their latest set of narrow minded jihads, while the world goes to hell in a King Donald handbasket.

Just for the record then ...

Having embarked on this journey, the pond decided to go full hog ...

Oh yes ...

Ain't he a wonder, and how much more interesting than Tasmania seceding ...

Just one more gobbet showing a rogue nation at work, giving comfort and aid to Chairman Xi in the matter of Taiwan.

You see Rowan? Blather about Tassie entirely misses the real Xi point and inspiration ...

If you happened to get stuck in the lizard Oz, you might have thought it was all about Tasmania.

And so to end up with the immortal Rowe where the reptiles sort of began ...