A typical Malta Today reader: how very proud Saviour and Roger must be
This comment from one of their online readers is just typical of the way Malta Today’s fresh influx of ‘business’, straight from the gutter, regards freedom of expression. It is supremely ironic that Malta Today, which prides itself on being an independent champion of no-holds-barred journalism (ahem) has become a mecca for the sort of people who really thought that yes, The Times should have been burned down because how dare they…..
Ghandek b’xiex tiftaher, Roger. You must be so proud.
Il-liberta ta l-stampa hi tajba hu sagrosanta f demokrazija kif tkun l-ewwel wahda li tigieled ghalija Julia Farrugia IMMA libertinag bli-stampa hi mod iehor,Issa is-sinjura Daphne Caruana Galizia qabzet kull limitu u l-qorti trid tara xse taghmel. Ghal kull haga hemm il-limitu.L-Institute of Maltese Journalists u L-Malta Indipendent iridu jiehdu azzjoni drastika u mhux biss bil paroli ,wasal iz-zmien li jitnehhew l-ingwanti tal bellus.Sakemm certi awtoritajiet ,edituri,ministri ecc lil din ma jikkondanawiex u jnehulha certi prottezjoni gurnalistika ghandhom jinzammu responsabli daqsa u komplici maghha fil attakki moqzieza personali fuq diversi personalitajiet u l-familji taghhom. – lee
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I love the self-referential bit about the Institute of Maltese Journalists. Isn’t that the name Julia Farrugia uses at times?
…wasal iz-zmien li jitnehhew l-ingwanti tal bellus…
Eh, l-aqwa li m’ghadux bl-ingwanti tal-kids.
‘Il-liberta ta l-istampa hija tajba w sagrosanta’
Jekk tidhol l’IMMA, din is-sentenza ta’ fuq ma tiswa xejn.
“Attakk personali” is one of those dramatic Maltese phrases which mean nothing at all. It’s people who do things. If you criticise (not “attack”) the thing, then of course you’re criticising the person. Nothing wrong with that.
And don’t even get me started on that “leave Mintoff alone because he’s old and senile” nonsense. Maurice Papon was 73 when he was hauled to court. Pétain was 89.
And Pinochet was 83.
I also love “attakk sfrenat”. I picture this sort of image when I hear it: http://alcombtoday.webs.com/RabidDog2.png
On a different note.
In the latest divorce saga, it seems that the prime minister and leader of the opposition do not agree on the referendum question. Pullicino Orlando will probably back the PL motion.
The prime minister is giving a free vote on the parliamentary motion presented by Labour, but his stand is pretty clear. If Pullicino Orlando defies the prime minister, would this be grounds for an early election?
[Daphne – As if. It will be grounds for everyone who voted for Jeffrey to do a big Mea Culpa and swear not to vote for him again, ever. I don’t know who he thinks his constituents are, exactly. At this rate he’s going to end up knifed (metaphorically, of course) by Anglu Farrugia, on whose turf he appears to be competing.]I hope that we do not have an early election just because of a disagreement on a question regarding divorce! That would really be sad.
So why is the opposition making so much fuss about this issue?
They must think they can get something out of it. I cannot understand the urgency to discuss and vote on the motion. They must think they will get something out of it.
If Muscat manages to get a referendum held on the Saturday after the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, he surely would be securing a no vote. It would be the worst time ever for holding a referendum on divorce.
Because if we didn’t make a fuss about things, we wouldn’t be Maltese.
The opposition is throwing tantrums because that is what earns attention.
Their only agenda is to get into power. Any tactic will do.
By throwing such tantrums he reconfirms that his party is neither progressive nor moderate.
An early election because of divorce is what our loony leaders deserve. What a tragic bore this all is.
The rest of us don’t deserve it.
And let’s hope Pullicino Orlando’s involvement with the Nationalist Party (I was going to write “political career”, but you never know) ends in 2013, too.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious he did this to rock the boat some more. If he really wants divorce legislation introduced in Malta, why on earth does he want a referendum?
I voted 1 for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, mostly because I was more concerned with getting my party elected and he was in the limelight. Next time round, whenever, wherever, I will be more discerning as there is ALWAYS a choice between candidates on the same party ticket.
Pullicino Orlando can take a flying jump, but the party will still be getting my no 1 as there is NO choice. Our future is bigger than one man.
Daphne get stuffed with a broom stick maybe that will shut you up.
[Daphne – This is one of the milder comments that I receive from Labour supporters and readers of Malta Today. So, because it’s relatively mild, I’ll upload it so you can take a look. The worse ones – death threats, etc – are being collected for a police report. The more vulgar ones just get deleted, and then they come right back and call it ‘censorship’. And we’re not even living under Labour yet.]
Don’t you worry, Daphne, you’ve got a lot of supporters. They mess with you, they mess with us.
Er, and what exactly is the grand plan? Most of Daphne’s supporters are in the ‘outcasts’ basket: penniless, hyperliterate and ambitious.
[Daphne – Speak for yourself, H.P. ]
Hear, hear, Troy.
Well, since some readers are convinced I am you, I wanted to dispel the rumours. I AM NOT DEFFNI. I AM NOT IN HER KLIKKA. I AM NOT ONE OF HER FAMILIARS (geddit?). I don’t even belong to the same social class. We have never met. etc etc. Not that it’ll convince people who can’t even read their protractor. Still, majtezwel try.
Are you doing the investigative work for the police as well….like collecting the I.P. numbers etc?
[Daphne – Yes.]
You said you will give a list of addresses to the police after a certain period of time. I’m not an expert, but take care in that users’ IP addresses do change over time and ISPs do not keep logs forever.
K Farrugia you ought to be aware of two things:
1. Most IP addresses here in Malta are static not dynamic. If I am not misinformed you actually have to pay for a dynamic address.
2. Under the Telecommunications Act the ISPs have to retain information about their users for ten years from the date of last use.
People like Charles with comments like the above remind me precisely of the Xkupi tal-Lanzit.
Inti min itik daqqa ta harta fuq il-warda ta wiccek xellugija nahseb tiqaf u tithaqlu, id-dawwar wiccek biex itik ohra fuq il- leminija. Id- dahhaqx oqod nigges in-nies u tahseb li ha jibqu kwiti iktar u iktar meta jkun hmieg u giddeb.Int tghamel larja ghax ghandek l ghassa tal pulizija wara biebek.
I didn’t know you wrote for the “Malta Indipendent”. Is it a new newspaper?
When the divorce issue is over, someone will remember a hasbeen called Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.
Baxxter, I really like reading your comments in this blog, and so far I’ve profiled you quite well. I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to argue with someone I like. I know you’re into weapons and all that GI Joe stuff and you’re a bit of a loner, but that’s OK with me.
Troy is a completey different person from you, and yes he might not be as literate as you, but let me assure you that he’s no outcast and no coward.
So yes, they mess with Daphne and they mess with me.
My dear fellow, I wasn’t trying to start an argument. I merely wondered how Daphne’s supporters can do their bit when the shit hits the fan.
As for the “outcast” adjective, let me explain: how many rational, literate, liberal people possessing wit and self-deprecating humour, and who are not full of themselves, can you find in Malta? Now tell me we’re not a minority.
Yes, and I never considered myself to be penniless either.
on a totally different note…
BirdlifeMalta will have some extra donation
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/Birdwatchers-Queue-And-Pay-To-See-Rare-Oriental-Turtle-Dove-In-Twitchers-Back-Garden/Article/201102315932885?lpos=Strange_News_Third_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region__0&lid=ARTICLE_15932885_Birdwatchers_Queue_And_Pay_To_See_Rare_Oriental_Turtle_Dove_In_Twitchers_Back_Garden
“Sakemm certi awtoritajiet ,edituri,ministri ecc lil din ma jikkondanawiex u jnehulha certi prottezjoni gurnalistika ghandhom jinzammu responsabli daqsa u komplici maghha fil attakki moqzieza personali fuq diversi personalitajiet u l-familji taghhom.” – lee
Sakemm l-edituri tal-Malta Today, l-Istitut tal-Gurnalisti Maltin, Membri tal-Oppozizzjoni u il-Partit Laburista ma johorgux jikkundannaw dawn l-attakki fuq il-liberta tal-esperessjoni, ghandhom jinzammu responsabbli indaqs u komplici ma dawk li jaghmlu attakki fuq il-Liberta taghna lkoll.
That is what I have been thinking all along. It has become imperative for Joseph Muscat to say clearly that he is in favour of free speech and that we will continue to enjoy our freedom if his party is in government.
You are only dreaming if you think so. Do not be misled, the (M)LP and its leaders will never change.
They might say nice words that honest people would like to hear, but will never mean them because the (M)LP is a party with no principles and it only believes in pragmatism and that ends justify the means.
It wouldn’t make any sort of difference. As we’ve already seen, he favours words over action, so why should anyone care if he says he favours freedom of speech?
Given his political background and convictions, he probably doesn’t even know what it means, anyway.
I just love the photo…he looks perfect for a Holy Picture, hands clasped, the right beam of light. Do you think it was planned?
[Daphne – No, it’s a one of a series of grabs I made from his jihad video.]
You’ve taken the words right out of mouth. Or rather, I was about to say: oh no, not another Maltese visionary!
For a moment, I thought he had repented and was following on the same footsteps of the person he called “the greatest liar of all times” in his video blog of 11 February.
They’re hilarious, Daphne!
Allow me to share this with you. This week it dawned on me what a lot of ignorant, uneducated people there are in Malta.
Last week I was speaking to a woman in her late twenties who is planning a trip to Amsterdam with her partner. I told her I had been there and to advised her to visit the Anne Frank Museum.
Eh she told me: Anne Frank? – dik tas-sex museum ux?
I explained to her v v briefly (seeing that it was no use wasting my time) that Anne Frank was a victim of the holocaust.
This week I met her again and she proudly informed me that her boyfriend knew who Anne Frank was and had explained to her that Hitler had wanted her to be his woman – riedha ghas-sess – were her exact words, and because Frank refused, she was murdered.
Is it possible that although education is compulsory there are still people like her around?
[Daphne – And her boyfriend. And yes, go to Facebook walls of your average Maltese chav, and you will be SHOCKED.]
Basically I’m not understanding this whole storm out of a teacup which arose out of the divorce issue. Why doesn’t the government just make it legal and move on? How can a government pass a state law which compromises people of a religion other than the catholic one? No one complained when the party’s electoral manifesto included the legalisation of co-habitation.
__________
I equate this to the 3rd world arab countries. Dare to travel to one of those jungles, go to a restaurant and order a spare-ribs platter and a bottle of wine. They’ll refuse because they’re muslim. They won’t care a fig that you’re not a muslim and that your own religion allows you to eat pork and drink alcohol. That’s what we’re doing in Malta, behaving like third world arab countries – if we can’t eat pork and drink wine than no one else can *and we stamp our little feet furiously*
So immature, I can’t even believe this is coming from Parliament of all places. Shame.
On the whole though a cheery bunch. They don’t do me much harm. Except when they vote for ginger.
D S,
I am honestly surprised her boyfriend knew who Hitler was.
Ask most university students if they knew where or what happened at Hiroshima.
Wasn’t there a well-known entrepreneur who thought that the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam was concocted to cash in on a film, simply as a tourist attraction?
Guze Ellul Mercer wrote ‘Malta Genna Tal-Art” . For those of you whose children are doing/ have done the Maltese Matsec, may know about this piece of prose. It was written quite a few years ago, but still very relevant to the Maltese people of the new millennium.
Did she know what the holocaust is?
It wouldn’t matter to someone of that mindset. It’s *so* over, as one woman columnist famously said of the 1980s.
What are you surprised about? I used to teach history and when I questioned a 14-year-old about Hitler, I got the reply that Hitler is the capital of East Germany.
Don’t have or go on Facebook. Maybe I need an education in the uneducated.
[Daphne – I would stay in blissful ignorance if I were you. The consequences on the psyche of finding out just how stupid people are are quite debilitating.]
She is right. Talk about lowest common denominator! The Maltese have got serious problems if our future leaders are amongst that lot.
I know what you mean. I can’t look at people the same way after “seeing” them on Facebook.
Overheard from a discussion among some colleagues regarding the accession of Malta to the EU in the run up to the referendum:
If this EU thingy is so great, why doesn’t Bush enrol the USA too?
You can’t make this up ….
And meanwhile, John Dalli is going to be the guest on John Bundy’s programme this Friday. I’m going to watch it to see if John B. will ask John D. whether he feels comfortable being on the same TV station that, for a long long time, used to refer to him as ‘hu Bastjan’ with all its connotations and innuendos.
FYI, I am a floating voter. As it stands, I am concerned that neither party has leaders worthy of election. It could be damage limitation time again. However I fear a red win and I see blues getting ready for opposition. If only there was a credible third party to be considered.
There is a children’s movie on at the moment: Gnomeo and Juliet. It portrays two neighbouring societies, the reds and the blues. They are in perpetual conflict. I could not help not making comparisons with the Maltese scenario. It seems like the movie was made with Malta in mind.
Do the reds ransack the houses of the blues and shoot them with submachine guns? Because if not, it’s not modelled on Malta.
Minn mindu li tghid il-verita fuq in-nies publici saret tissejah ‘attak moqziez jew vendikattiv’ fuq il-persuna, Sur Saviour Balzan?
Saviour Balzan jippretendi li certi kazi nhux solvuti, fosthom ta’ qtil, jibqghu mistura? Jiena nemmen li jkun hafna ahjar li kaz jissolva milli xi hadd jibqa juza il-kriminalita’ biex qatt ma jinqabad.
http://communistpartymalta.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html
Anke dawn l-erba qlafat hadu pozizzjoni fuq id-divorzju. Tal-PL baqghu biss.
Troy & H.P. Baxxter.
We cross the bridge when we come to it, my friends. We will never leave Daphne alone rest assured.
I never cross a bridge when I can be airlifted. It’ll be rigged with IEDs. Besides, a bridge is a natural choke point, and an obvious spot for an ambush.
What was that about parkas and Innuit fashion garments?
[Daphne – I teased him about being an ‘anorak’. That means somebody with a very detailed knowledge of something particular, like weapons or military regiments or computers, or….whatever. It’s also what the Inuit wore and what we wore as children.]
Hey, at least you learn something new every day with H.P.
Factoid of the day: Malta has no diplomatic representation in Greenland. But we share a common bond: Greenland and Malta have the highest rates of overweight children in the 13-15 range.
A Frenchman once said to me, ‘Ah yes, Maltese – the Arabs who think they are European’.
You obviously told him exactly what to do with that comment…. I trust?
Ghidilha, ‘l Arlette-I’m-not-African-Baldacchino.
It doesn’t have to be a Frenchman. You can see it for yourself, every time you look in the mirror. And no amount of EU “opportunities” will ever change it.
Well let’s face it… for many “north” Europeans, Africa starts south of the Alps / Pyrenees.
I’d say it’s the equivalent of our “white socks & sandals” jokes…