On Pauline Hanson: Raf Epstein on #Insiders nails it - "the media hold her to a different standard." Which is to say, no standard at all. We've never had a detailed policy interview with Hanson. And a rare policy question sees Pauline unravel.

Epic response by Cathy Wilcox to Murdoch grubs after their Israel lobby smear campaign

This is an interesting slant from The Australian, the news source owned by News Corp & therefore Murdoch. The same Murdochs who own Fox Corp which Rupert Murdoch was the Chairman of until 2023 -now Lachlan Murdoch is the current Executive Chairman & CEO. The same Fox Corp that Tony Abbott is a director. It appears that The Australian is attempting to attack Tony Abbott for his role in her imprisonment - while it also attempts to create a sympathetic narrative for Hanson as she plays the victim of not only Abbott and the then Premier of QLD, Peter Beattie. They both apparently were instrumental in lengthening her prison sentence - according to her account anyway. The Australian continues its ‘cry me a river’ narrative as Pauline paints herself as the victim of DV & a hard-done-by associate of the common people with trials & tribulations just like all of ‘yous guys’. The victim, the stalwart, the common woman, the saviour of us all who has “had a gutful” Such a relatable sympathetic emotive piece. 🙄 Guaranteed to get those Chinese-made plastic Australian flags waving furiously. Strikes me as rather ironic & hypocritical, as the Hansonites who fall for the true-blue done good single mother & friend to billionaires are also the same people who vilify Albanese for being brought up by a single parent in a council flat. It gives pause, however, when The Australian choose to paint Abbott as the villain here, given the close associations between Abbott & the Murdoch empire - and his ex-chief of staff, Peta Credlin, who is also employed by Murdoch. Much was made about Abbott’s recent elevation to president of the Lib party by the media in recent weeks. Do the Australian seek to distance themselves from the Abbott association with a flaccid “hit piece” while scoring emotive points for Hanson & her followers? Does The Australian see the writing on the wall with regard to the Liberals & its likely shift further to the right under his direction as a further nail in the coffin for the Liberals across the country? The Abbott association with the recent attacks on the Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan with regard to the “ditch the witch” campaign has been highlighted via some in the media as well - with many wondering whether his rise in the Lib party has given rise to other outdated predilections with regard to the disastrous direction the Lib Party is intent on taking. Or is The Australian hedging its bets? Given some of the commentary under this headline on its fave platform of misinformation, Facebook- there was much to do regarding anti-Hanson sentiment. There were splits between those sticking up for Liberal-Abbott camp & those intent on sticking it to the ginger whinger to toughen up. The reactions on these posts is vastly different to The Australian’s pro Pauline anti-Labor offerings. The anti-Labor bots and trolls have disappeared into their own nether regions to troll elsewhere and it’s a lower-form hard-right against extremist-right vibe. I think the Australian is testing the waters. Their imaginings are often replicated over many other news platforms. They gauge reactions, they test out the trolls and the bots. They watch the engagement. They jig and rejig their narratives to create the most emotive responses to fine tune an eventual outcome that is most conducive to what they most want. The defeat of the Labor Party. I don’t see that happening in 2028 though. The media in this country is completely compromised but it will continue to fall short to our democratic voting system. While the Lib Party continue to move into One Nation territory - & have even floated an idea of “teaming up” to defeat Labor - they forget that between the new harder-right Liberals & populist One Nation they are merely shuffling the same deck chairs around on the right. There is nothing to gain from the left, the middle, Independents & Teals. All they will do is continue to alienate more voters fearful of a populist right outcome.

My latest article in The Shot After spending obscene amounts of taxpayer's money on luxury travel, office refurbishments and airfares from their homes to their Canberra office, I examine the high price Australians have paid so far for an impotent #NACC . theshot.net.au/uncategorized…

How good is this.. How true💥✌️ #auspol