The masters of spin

The latest hogwash doing the rounds is that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s own family had a hand in her assassination and that they are withholding the laptop or tablet she was using to work on for the last two or three years from the police.

Such a vile, reprehensible notion can only be conjured up by a despicable and depraved mind. The insinuations were propagated by Josef Caruana, a political appointee at the Office of the Prime Minister following in the footsteps of government’s loudest Rottweiler Glenn Bedingfield.

The post struck a chord with some Daphne Caruana Galizia haters, who were quick to create a poster supporting these vile insinuations and to disseminate it on social media and hang banners in the streets.

Before his Castille assignment, Josef Caruana had come under fire for penning two editorials in the GWU-owned daily newspaper L-Orizzont that called for the purging of journalists who dared criticise the Labour government and run stories on corruption.

He singled out journalists from the Times of Malta and the Malta Independent who in his view were writing false stories and obfuscating facts, and in doing so hindering Malta’s march towards progress and towards the promised land of l-Aqwa Żmien.

Some newspapers described the editorials as hate speech. “As Joseph Muscat said, we must all come together for the sake of national unity, so that Malta becomes the best country in the world,” he said, adding “we cannot achieve this noble aim if we are being weighed down by traitors and the diabolical establishment.

The time has come for reconciliation and unity, but before this can happen the cleansing process must begin. That way we can continue heading towards our country’s best days.”

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had condemned such use of language as did Caruana’s former employers, GWU.

Muscat’s condemnation can hardly be considered credible, as he subsequently rewarded Caruana with a political appointment, in flagrant breach of the Constitution.

To add insult to injury, when the appointment became public, Josef Caruana declared he had no idea what his job would be. Hardly believable as only a fool takes up a job not knowing what it entails. Did he really think that the general public would believe such an absurd statement?

And now Muscat is fielding him as a candidate in next year’s European Parliament elections. Hardly an indictment for someone whose writings he had condemned.

Caruana has also ruthlessly targeted the Archbishop on more than one occasion, recently promoting a petition calling for his resignation because he deemed the Archbishop’s retweeting of an article on Maltese society to be partisan. However, to date, he has never kicked off a petition calling for the resignation of outspoken clergymen such as Mark Montebello and Colin Apap for their overt partisan positions on public media and in their writings.

Caruana’s insinuations come at a time when much to Muscat’s dismay and to that of his acolytes, it is becoming increasingly and unmistakably evident that Daphne Caruana Galizia was right on a great many things that she wrote (though her execution should have been evidence enough). Such as Ali Sadr and Pilatus Bank to mention just one example.

It comes at a time when the Maltese Government has just received a second indictment on the breakdown of Rule of Law in Malta, the first one being by an overwhelming vote in the European Parliament, the second one in a court of law in another European country.

Caruana has since issued a statement on social media which he would have us believe is an apology of sorts. It’s not. It would be an apology only if he publicly retracted his insinuations and put an end to his online antics.

I wonder if this is Joseph Muscat’s concept of leaving no stone unturned; employing people in breach of the Constitution, and in a way that flies directly in the face of meritocracy, trading in influence and nepotism, giving them a salary from taxpayer’s money, (yours and mine, which makes him technically our employee), to spread such drivel, calumny and poppycock, probably at his behest.

Oh my Malta!