Okay, it's Thursday, which means the lizard Oz is always ruined by the odious presence of petulant Peta.
Please allow the pond to continue to expand is reputation as a home for Murdochian lore by referencing The New Yorker ...
How the Murdoch Family Built an Empire—and Remade the News
Today, the name represents a story of profit and power unlike any other. But tracing the genealogy of Murdoch sleaze requires a long memory. (*archive link)
By Andrew O'Hagan
Today, the name represents a story of profit and power unlike any other. But tracing the genealogy of Murdoch sleaze requires a long memory. (*archive link)
By Andrew O'Hagan
It's an oft-told story of depravity, and sad to say, the tabloid junk down under and the lizard Oz and that pale domestic imitation of Faux Noise aren't even mentioned, so only a few teaser trailers are required to titillate interest ...
...James was the “liberal” one, “the moral conscience of the family,” according to Sherman, or, as Wolff writes, the son who planned “to grow the Fox News brand beyond the U.S. cable market and to move it away from partisan political news.” Lachlan, the older brother and the current heir apparent, embodies a different type entirely. Like his former friend Tucker Carlson, he can be all steak and doughnuts one minute and all fiery Hell the next. After Roger Ailes was removed from Fox News, in 2016, over sexual-harassment allegations, Lachlan cut the brake lines of what was already a speeding train of misinformation, pushing American journalism further into alternative reality than even his father and his lieutenants had dared. However trashy they may have been, the British tabloids were occasionally funny, but Lachlan’s operation became something darker—a purveyor of apocalyptic doom-mongering, the sort that courses through Donald Trump’s mind, where America is a place of perpetual rape, murder, conspiracy, and terror. Lachlan, coming from a blushless world of billionaire-speak, never pretended interest in the rolled-up-sleeves world of journalism. Having outfought his siblings and aligned his father with his own vision, Lachlan now takes for granted his father’s core business insight: that great fortunes can be made from audiences who prefer their reality falsified.
And again (spoiler alert, it's the closer), after noting just how much Succession got right:
...In life as in art, it was a battle for control in which nobody truly won, because nobody ended up owning what Rupert Murdoch had spent seven decades building. The family imploded, and there’s something almost novelistic in the trajectory—from cramped newspaper offices in Adelaide and Fleet Street to Lachlan Murdoch as the custodian of a journalistic enterprise’s fetid remains. Several generations have brought it to a state of sordid dereliction.
Let’s not forget, though, that Lachlan’s Princeton dissertation was “A Study of Freedom and Morality in Kant’s Practical Philosophy.” Granted, the categorical imperative—the great Prussian philosopher’s blueprint for moral action—isn’t likely to illuminate Fox News’s festering relationship with Donald Trump, or the enterprise of turning civic life into an ongoing platform for outrage. But maybe it’s fitting that the language of freedom and morality should buckle before the family’s talent for making reality pliable. To read about the Murdochs is to gain a lesson about punitive ambition, about men who expect the world to yield to their hand-me-down egos. Lachlan has been a good son, in a way, returning to his father’s side before the old man departs, but a look at his journalism proves that he has respected only the worst parts of the family legacy. In the arc from the Gallipoli Letter to Fox News’s prime-time carnival of grievance, the Murdochs’ bleak achievement is having shown how easily morality, like truth, becomes something to be invoked when useful, ignored when inconvenient, bent when resisted, and discarded the moment it no longer pays.
Let’s not forget, though, that Lachlan’s Princeton dissertation was “A Study of Freedom and Morality in Kant’s Practical Philosophy.” Granted, the categorical imperative—the great Prussian philosopher’s blueprint for moral action—isn’t likely to illuminate Fox News’s festering relationship with Donald Trump, or the enterprise of turning civic life into an ongoing platform for outrage. But maybe it’s fitting that the language of freedom and morality should buckle before the family’s talent for making reality pliable. To read about the Murdochs is to gain a lesson about punitive ambition, about men who expect the world to yield to their hand-me-down egos. Lachlan has been a good son, in a way, returning to his father’s side before the old man departs, but a look at his journalism proves that he has respected only the worst parts of the family legacy. In the arc from the Gallipoli Letter to Fox News’s prime-time carnival of grievance, the Murdochs’ bleak achievement is having shown how easily morality, like truth, becomes something to be invoked when useful, ignored when inconvenient, bent when resisted, and discarded the moment it no longer pays.
And speaking of having reality falsified, please permit the pond to give petulant Peta the former prince Andy's Royal order of the boot ...
Commentary by Peta Credlin
The Liberal Party’s crisis is deeper than leadership: without a clear purpose or contrast with Labor, it risks being hollowed out as voters drift not to the centre, but to One Nation.
If standing for knighthoods and complete incompetence is a guide, best not have a guide.
Talk about a headline nightmare on Oz street ...
Why do the reptiles keep on leading with a man who managed, somewhat carelessly, not only to lose government, but his seat?
Why is he seen as the magic go to man? For those silly enough to care ...
EXCLUSIVE
John Howard has made an 11th-hour intervention to prevent an all-but-inevitable Coalition split, telling Sussan Ley she must prioritise reunification and offer concessions if necessary.
By Sarah Ison and Dennis Shanahan
The lettuce had left the game, but there was sudden hope for the daughter of lettuce who had accepted the baton, and was desperately upholding the proud tradition of battling lettuces...
Former Liberal prime minister John Howard has told Sussan Ley she must prioritise the reunification of the Coalition and make “concessions” to Nationals leader David Littleproud if necessary, in an 11th-hour intervention on an all-but-inevitable split between the two conservative parties.
It's always the woman who has to accept the domestic violence?
Jack the Insider tried marriage counselling...
When you’re losing votes to a woman who grills a steak on a sandwich maker, it’s clear the Coalition rupture is beyond trust exercises. Jack the Insider stands ready for the intervention.
By Jack the Insider
Columnist
The only notable feature in his attempt at whimsy - down at the usual insider level - was the opening snap...a desperate and pathetic uncredited collage featuring the odd couple ...
If the pond wanted a whimsical comment on what ails politics, it would turn to Wilcox ...
The point is, it's all become so unseemly and pathetic that the reptiles are at a complete loss, and the pond has become terminally bored, and so dangerously low on content.
As a result, the pond had to pretend to take an interest in the bouffant one over on the extreme right making a break from Sarah and musing on their EXCLUSIVE ...
Here again the pond could have stopped at the opening snap and the pastie Hastie ...
The header: Like a Tzu in here: MPs try Art of War before sun sets on farce; Parliamentary question time has descended into political theatre as opposition MPs brandish copies of The Art of War and Othello amid the Coalition’s dramatic split.
The caption for the weird creationist spawn warrior who lacked the ticker: Liberal MP Andrew Hastie with a copy of the Art of War in question time on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
The poor old bouffant one could only manage a three minute read, with absolutely no distracting illustrations:
Anthony Albanese sensibly pulled back from the full frontal humorous humiliation of the dysfunctional Liberals and Nationals in the second parliamentary sitting question time this week but couldn’t resist a stinging finale directed at the political games being played before his eyes.
With the awkward backbench seating for Nationals leader David Littleproud and his colleagues putting the reality of a Coalition split on full display – and amid continuing rumblings about the Liberal leadership of Sussan Ley – the Prime Minister grabbed the chance to take another swipe at the opposition.
The Prime Minister – aware that Tuesday’s comic antics and guffaws from government ministers and MPs skewering the fractured Coalition on the day an interest rate rise was announced projected the image of an uncaring and frivolous team not focused on cost-of-living plan – played down the satirical basting on Wednesday.
After seeing a report on The Australian’s PoliticsNow blog that withdrawn Liberal leadership contender Andrew Hastie had conspicuously put a copy of Sun Tzu’s ancient military strategy text The Art of War on his desk Albanese couldn’t resist. He got Labor’s leader of the House, Tony Burke, to deliver a coup de grace.
What’s more, Hastie’s parliamentary neighbour, LNP MP Garth Hamilton, had a worn copy of Shakespeare’s Othello, which contains a portrayal of the bard’s most manipulative and duplicitous character, Iago.
Sheesh, they really are a childish bunch ...
Burke detailed the defections from the Nationals and the departures from the Coalition, as well as shadow ministry insurrections, and played to Hastie’s helpful hint. That prompted his opposition counterpart, Alex Hawke, to move a gag motion that forced a division, which radically demonstrated the thinned ranks of the Liberals and Nationals.
Leaving his desk during the division, Hastie took with him The Art of War, which offers timeless advice on power, patience and the value of choosing the right time to act, or not act at all.
Barnaby Joyce milked the division as some MPs joked about the One Nation MP being “united” with his erstwhile Nationals’ colleagues during the vote.
Across the aisle Nationals MP Llew O’Brien, who has threatened to quit the party if the contentious guns and antisemitic laws are not repealed, had his own piece of performative theatre when he went and sat next to Joyce, his old Nationals leader and now its most famous defector, for a cosy chat. O’Brien went further afield to gladhand another Nationals defector, independent Andrew Gee in front of the cameras and parliamentary audience.
At the same time, in the Senate, the Liberals were moving to boot Nationals senators off parliamentary committees.
The Nationals’ leader in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie, vowed they would seek to hold on to all their committee spots regardless of the Coalition split.
“Our communities need and deserve on parliamentary committees. We pull our weight. Often, we pull more than our weight on those committees and do the heavy lifting, and we look forward to continuing to participate on the behalf of the people we represent,” McKenzie said.
During all these antics and pettifogging, the fate of the Coalition hinged on a letter Littleproud had sent to Ley setting out conditions for a reunification.
You mean?
After all of this Liberal Party elder, former prime minister and successful Coalition leader John Howard had some stern words for both parties and clear advice to Ley.
“My view is that both sides have to stop the pit picking over minutiae and concentrate on reforming the Coalition which is the political imperative that transcends all else,” Howard said.
“There’s no point in debating what has happened in the last two weeks and the priority must be the reforming of the Coalition.
“The Nationals are entitled to some concessions and a proper process involving decisions by the shadow cabinet and joint party room must be followed.”
Enough of the antics, minutiae and performative theatre.
Why was this deeply pathetic?
Trained parrot as he was, that he is, all the bouffant one could do was provide an echo of little Johnny:
...the nation’s second longest-serving prime minister and Coalition leader said it was clear both sides needed to “stop the nit-picking over minutiae” and put aside the differences that arose over the past two weeks.
“Both sides have to … concentrate on reforming the Coalition which is the political imperative that transcends all else,” Mr Howard told The Australian.
“There’s no point in debating what has happened in the last two weeks and the priority must be the reforming of the Coalition.
“Conservative politics work best when there is a functioning Coalition which overall has the same views on economic policy.”
Do the reptiles think this incessant fluff gathering and navel gazing might be helping, not to mention this oft repeated, inane visual reminder of the state of things ...
Why not some real comedy gold?
Meanwhile, the reptiles had another EXCLUSIVE ...
EXCLUSIVE
Top barrister for antisemitism inquiry has daughter who led pro-Palestine campus protests
The daughter of the senior counsel appointed to the Antisemitism Royal Commission led pro-Palestine protests and condemned Israel’s ‘ethnic cleansing’ at the University of Sydney.
By James Dowling
Deeply pathetic and offensive, even by Australian Daily Zionist News standards, and as it's clear that the reptiles are in favour of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the pond will walk on by ... with yet another reminder of the ethnic cleansing going down, via this note from Haaretz ...
What else? In the absence of the bromancer, it was left to Jennings of the fifth form and sundry other reptiles to get their knickers in a reef knot and blather on about defence ...
Defence Minister Richard Marles wants to sell 68 military properties for $3bn, but it is no substitute for lifting the budget and weakens Australia’s defence capabilities.
By Peter Jennings
Contributor
The opening snap seemed to undercut his thesis, though perhaps those guns might come in handy if a few drones appeared over Melbourne ...
Oh yes, those guns will make short work of any hovering drones, though for some reason the pond was reminded of visiting Queenscliff over the Xmas break ...
Taught those bloody Ruskis a lesson - perhaps we could offer the guns to Ukraine, currently in dire straits at 25° below, no thanks to sociopathic terrorist Vlad - but sadly that was all the pond could take of Jennings of the fifth form. Off to the intermittent archive with him.
The pond couldn't take any of Jenny's contribution ...
The Defence Estate Audit promises reform, but by cutting bases before resolving mobilisation, reserves and service roles, it risks locking strategic weakness into Australia’s defence posture.
By Jennifer Parker
She just had a vintage chopper for her opening snap ...and it was left to Ian to remind the pond of another colonial artefact that would surely have Xi shaking in his boots ...
The proposed sale of Sydney’s Victoria Barracks is not reform but retreat, risking the erasure of a living military landmark that anchors the army’s history, culture and public presence.
By Ian Langford
The image at the top of his piece no doubt terrified Chairman Xi, because it showed Australia at the top of its colonial game ...
We're supposed to be devising an armed force acting with mobility and guerrilla tactics designed to make the country secure, taking our lessons from mighty Ukraine, and making any attempt to invade too costly to contemplate?
And instead we hunger for colonial museum pieces and ancient weapons, and imagine somehow spending big on AUKUS subs delivered on a never never plan will do it for us? Good luck with all that ...
And so to the final item up for discussion, though the pond will have to pass over the rumbles fromRumbelow of The Times...
Reading the files is like taking the back off the world clock. We see behind the grand facade usually presented by men who run the planet, in government, academia, royalty and business, from presidents to Andrew the former prince.
By Helen Rumbelow
As usual, King Donald manages to escape with just one major reference, and then without mention of Epstein being his best buddy for a decade or more ...
In 2005 Access Hollywood recorded a conversation with Donald Trump saying, “When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.” It was met with public condemnation, not only in Trump’s reduction of women to a seizeable part, but in his impunity. That condemnation did not reach the private messages of the network of men the files show were centred on Epstein.
Andres Serrano emailed Epstein three days after the Access Hollywood tape was released in October 2016, saying, “I was prepared to vote against Trump for all the right reasons.” Serrano is a New York artist whose photographs include those of women bound by the wrists and splattered in blood. “But so disgusted by the outrage over ‘grab them by the pussy’,” Serrano continued, “that I may give him my sympathy vote.” Epstein responds minutes later: “No good choice, how are u.”
Um, that condemnation didn't reach King Donald, nor did it reach American voters - twice! - while Chairman Rupert fondled his balls in a John Oliver way.
The pond will stick to Michael Wolff, who keeps insisting there's a lot of King Donald below the Epstein water ...
The lizard Oz editorialist managed the same feat in a lengthy rant that did as much to obscure as to reveal ...
See that?
King Donald mentioned just twice, with just a polite suggestion that he needs to do better.
Really? Shouldn't he be best, and reveal the dirt on service-evading Melania?
Never mind, it's been an itty bitty day, and the pond apologises for its itty bitty coverage, but that's what often happens when petulant Peta hovers into view...
Perhaps there should be a time out on proceedings.
The pond recently watched both parts of Wicked, and while conceding that the second part is weaker than the first, still enjoyed the romp enormously. Get lost dullard movie ponces.
It perhaps would have been better with some trims as a single four hour or so presentation, but the second part did have a nice musical outing, sung by Zeus, with impeccable, almost prescient lyrics ...
[Wizard of Oz, aka Zeus, in a throaty style worthy of King Donald, with backing by Chairman Rupert]
Take it from a wise old carny
Once folks buy into your blarney
It becomes the thing they'll most hold onto
Once they've swallowed sham and hokum
Facts and logic won't unchoke 'em
They'll go on believing what they want to
Show them exactly what's the score
They'll just believe it even more
"Wonderful"
They called me "Wonderful"
So I said, "Wonderful"
If you insist
"Wonderful"
I will be wonderful
[Galinda aka Glinda, with the Wizard]
Believe me, it's hard to rеsist
'Cause it feels wonderful
[Glinda]
They think hе's wonderful
[Wizard]
Hey, look who's wonderful
This foreclose on black renters-fed hick
Who said, "It might be keen
To build a Trumpy arts centre fully mean
And a wonderful arch 250 foot tall of gold brick"
[WIzard, spoken]
You know, we could be like a—, like a family, all on the make
You know, I never really had a family, not one totally on the take
[Elphaba, spoken]
Lucky you
[Wizard, spoken]
That's why I've wanted to give the citizens of Trumpyland everything
[Eliphaba, spoken]
So you lied to them?
[Wizard]
The truth is not a thing of fact or reason
The truth is just what everyone agrees on
You know, alternative facts supplied in season ...
[Wizard, spoken]
You see, back where I come from, we got a whole lot of people who believe all sorts of things that aren't true
You know what we call it?
[singing]
A man's called a traitor or liberator
A rich man's a thief or philanthropist
Is one an invader or noble crusader?
It's all in which label is able to persist
There are precious few at ease with moral ambiguities
So we act as though they don't exist .
Imagine the pond's shock then that Luckovich should keep on defaming witches when everyone knows that it's wizards and knavish kings that are the problem ... and more than a bucket of water is needed ...
No, no, Mr Luckovich, give Eliphaba a break ... and keep those comments and ditties flowing...
O'Hagan: "...great fortunes can be made from audiences who prefer their reality falsified."
ReplyDeleteIt's never been otherwise, has it. Think about all those religions that have survived millennia and ask how much real 'reality' any of them have. Unless all of them can be full of reality down to the smallest detail all at the same time.
And now the 'falsified reality' meme is taking over science - well, at least the popular web versions of it. And it didn't start with Lysenko.
"...a man who managed, somewhat carelessly, not only to lose government in a landslide, but his own 'safe Liberal' seat?"
ReplyDeleteFixed.
When the Lying Rodent eventually departs this vale of tears, who will the Reptiles anoint as the Elder Statesman and Great Sage Equal of Heaven of the Liberal Party, to be dutifully quoted on every issue? Abbott and Morrison seem the most likely options and both are doubtless keen for the role, sickening though either prospect may be.
DeletePerhaps Petey Boy could take up the mantle, of Elder Stater of Trifles.
DeleteMark Antony gave the lead - with one of his orations -
‘If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember
The first time ever Caesar put it on;
’Twas on a summer’s evening, in his tent,
The day he overcame the Nervii:’
The “Quad Rant’ for this day has given readers Petey’s ‘Ray Evans Oration’ to the H.R. Nicholls Conference, back in November. The actual title was ‘Ray Evans and the Decline in Australia’s Productivity’. Much of it is actually about Evans, an engineer, reading ‘literature’, with other quotes from Shakespeare. For light relief, Petey endeared himself to other engineers by saying ‘Most of the engineers I knew hardly graduated from comic books!’ Right on, Petey - did it ever occur to you that some of those engineers might have had a bit to do with improving productivity?
Petey does season with odd anecdotes from Murdoch writers, then chooses our ‘workplace laws’ to hint at why ‘productivity is waning’. Given his history with J Winston Howard, he gives the disclaimer for ‘business’ underpaying workers - ‘No one is trying to cheat anyone here.’ Sure. As others observe - funny how we never, never, hear of a business so misunderstanding those workplace laws that they over paid anyone. Well, anyone NOT at executive level.
Oh, he gave passing mention to ‘real tax reform’ (that was the entire mention), lower energy costs for business, wasteful government spending - but it was really about ‘reforming workplace relations’. On which Petey has some experience from Cabinet times, so, as ever, did not offer detail.
For just a mad moment or two there, Chad, I thought you might be referring to 'Petey' Jennings. But no, it's just the same old, same old Petey Costello after all.
DeleteI won’t hold my breath waiting for any Reptile commentary on this -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/04/idf-bulldoze-gaza-war-cemetery-allied-graves-satellite-images
Hi A,
DeleteYou wouldn’t be suggesting that the IDF may not be “the most moral army of the world”?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purity_of_arms
Not us... "with dedicated areas that comply with halacha".
DeleteGoosed... walking for us, bulldozers for you?... "halacha" ... "According to some scholars, the words halakha and sharia both mean literally "the path to follow". The fiqh literature parallels rabbinical law developed in the Talmud, with fatwas being analogous to rabbinic responsa.[9][10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halakha
"Future of Jewish Burial in NSW
The opening of a dedicated Jewish burial area at Macarthur Memorial Park (MMP) is a significant milestone.
The area will ensure Jewish burial space is available for future generations, just as Rookwood along with Macquarie Park, Botany and Woronora have for the past 150 years.
For decades to come, this new area allows Jewish families to be buried together, preserving traditions and heritage for generations to come.
MMP has 113 hectares of landscaped open space, walking paths, a café (not kosher), and a sculpture park. Physically, it is a thoughtful design respecting Indigenous and colonial heritage.
...
• "Helping negotiate the first consecrated Jewish section within the first stage development of the park, with dedicated areas that comply with halacha. including provisions for Shomer Shabbat families. (Jewish sections are also planned for the subsequent development stages.)
...
https://nswjbd.org.au/jewishcemetery/
Rivera in Gaza will need a big new cemetery.
Delete"Dr. Feroze Sidhwa dives deep into what scientific studies, plus his own experiences in Gaza's hospitals, tell us about how many people Israel has actually killed in the Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.
Feroze Sidhwa
Feb 04, 2026
"Editor’s note: This is the second part of a three-part series unpacking the real death toll in Gaza. To read part one, which examines the historical context of Israel’s decades of assaults on Gaza, click here.
...
"This question should be settled: the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza issues reliable counts of the dead. Any list of over 71,800 names will contain a few errors, but these were not introduced deliberately or systematically. The MoH’s numbers are reliable, meaning those listed were real people who were, in fact, killed by US-Israeli military violence.
But another question remains: is the MoH’s data an accurate count of the dead in Gaza? The answer is clear to a scientific degree of certainty: no.
https://zeteo.com/p/real-gaza-death-toll-studies-undercount
ReplyDeleteAfter "a purveyor of apocalyptic doom-mongering, the sort that courses through Donald Trump’s mind, where America is a place of perpetual rape, murder, conspiracy, and terror", we all need some of John Muir's joy, after he had ascended a 7000 foot peak in an afternoon:
"When night was drawing near, I ran down the flowery slopes exhilarated, thanking God for the gift of this great day. The setting sun fired the clouds. All the world seemed new-born. Every thing, even the commonest, was seen in new light and was looked at with new interest as if never seen before. The plant people seemed glad, as if rejoicing with me, the little ones as well as the trees, while every feature of the peak and its traveled boulders seemed to know what I had been about and the depth of my joy, as if they could read faces." (from Travels in Alaska).