The pursuit by the Victoria Prosecutorial system and the Police with their Operation Tethering or Get Pell operation was straight from Stalin’s chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus, Lavrentiy Beria’s playbook: ‘

‘Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime’ 

Pell was just the very tallest of tall poppies and had to be brought down.

By attempting to get out ahead and endeavouring to set the story-line and frame the narrative in advance of the Pell trial in 2018 across programs like Insiders, 7:30 and The Drum, with their various panels of pundits, experts and talking heads and generally mobilising their witch hunt ahead of the trial, the ABC was involved in nothing  less than attempted jury contamination and jury tampering in advance by colouring the character of Cardinal Pell in the minds of the community and therefore poisoning the well as it were, and therefore the minds of prospective jurors.

David Maher and his appalling and odious, cohorts and cronies on the couch at Insiders along with ‘investigative’ journalist, Louise Milligan, have been totally humiliated.

Their professional integrity and credibility shredded and had the rug pulled out from underneath them by the highest court in the land.

For someone of supposed journalistic experience, Barry Cassidy got it totally wrong when he tweeted:

“It (The High Court) did not find him (Pell) innocent”

This demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the law. Courts do not, and never have found people innocent. That’s not their job. The burden is on the state to prosecute the case on the available evidence to find a person guilty beyond reasonable doubt..

I’m sure Cassidy’s anguish is universal and felt right across the ABC as they have their collective nervous breakdown as humiliated staff aimlessly wander the corridors sniffling inconsolably as they apply for psychological and grief counselling and therapy dogs.

What with Brexit, Trump, the Morrison win and now the Pell decision overturned by the entire bench of the High Court it’s been a rough twelve months and the mood at Ultimo must be sombre and downcast. Then there’s Trumps landslide win to come on November 3 which will really push them over the edge.

They must be going through a terrible, traumatic, difficult and confusing time coming to terms with it all.

After investing so much time and energy in their pursuit of Pell no amount of Dusty Springfield ‘Wishin’ and Hopin’ and nit-picky parsing of every word and phrase looking for some kind of glimmer of hope or something they can spin will do any good.

Seven zip is as unanimous as unanimous gets. Forget it. There’s nothing there. Move on. The High Court is the end of the road.

In light of the now all too obvious and appalling behaviour of the ABC in cheer-leading and colluding to secure a conviction of George Pell and it’s overall and quite apparent partisan activism and propensity to generally act as a political player across the board, it’s well past time the broadcasting behemoth was brought to book and made accountable.

Given the numerous overtures over the years to either break up or sell off the ABC and choosing to do neither, surely it is now time for the government to sack the entire board and appoint a communications Czar, to oversee and totally reform and restructure the operation and weed out any and all resistance embedded in the fetid, stinking waters of broadcasting swamp of Ultimo and Southbank.

One final thought.

After the bogus witch hunt by the ABC, Fairfax, the Guardian and others who, for their crazed, rabid, mad-dog and unhinged, Pell derangement syndrome reasons, so badly wanted this fantasy to be real and after the trashing of Pell’s name and draining of his finances, it’s worth reflecting on and paraphrasing the words of the former Ronald Reagan Secretary of Labour in 1987, after bogus and fabricated accusations of Mafia ties:

‘Where does Pell go to get his reputation back’?