in which the pond stays true to prattling Polonius, no matter the odds or the many reptile distractions ...

There are many temptations this day in the reptile herpetarium - Dame Slap is out and about trolling with a pussy here and a pussy there, the dog botherer is doing climate science, the bromancer is madly infatuated with Boris (onion muncher? Meh!) - but the pond is loyal ...

Today is the day that Polonius goes on parade, and this week, given the way the Canavan caravan is top of the tree killer edition and a handsome splash in the digital bite of the bum, the pond felt sure that Polonius would be front and centre. 

After all, it was only a week ago that Polonius was explaining democracy to the greenies, with his usual pursed, admonishing lips ...

Oh yes, Polonius was firm ... he'd have a word or two to save about those dastardly scheming Nats this weekend ...

Why it was only last week Polonius was boxing the ears of all those around him who didn't get it ...

And so on ... it was all here in the pond last Sunday, and of course it was written before the Canavan caravan rocked into town ...

But what do you know, when the pond went searching for more Polonial insights this day, it was as if the dear sweet old thing had been banished, sent into exile like a Cicero, ostracised, or at least sent to Coventry ...

It required deep burrowing to discover the shy old reptile hiding at the top of the "all opinion" page ... as if the reptiles had grown tired of the mad uncle and stored him in the attic ...

Of course at the mention of securalists, the pond's ears pricked up, which as Joe Orton readers will know, is much better than a prick in the ears ...

But the reptiles were determined to confuse and deceive ... because the google header hinted at the real subject matter ...

Someone unleashed the Seccombe!

And naturally Polonius got mad as hell and prattled away ... or at least he used that old Catholic doctrinal line of suggested that the Seccombe had "erred" ...

Ah how the pond remembers its glory days of being errant ... who can forget the generous way that Pope John XXIII dealt with error in an encyclical back in April 1963?

Error and the Errant 
158. 
It is always perfectly justifiable to distinguish between error as such and the person who falls into error—even in the case of men who err regarding the truth or are led astray as a result of their inadequate knowledge, in matters either of religion or of the highest ethical standards. A man who has fallen into error does not cease to be a man. He never forfeits his personal dignity; and that is something that must always be taken into account. Besides, there exists in man's very nature an undying capacity to break through the barriers of error and seek the road to truth. God, in His great providence, is ever present with His aid. Today, maybe, a man lacks faith and turns aside into error; tomorrow, perhaps, illumined by God's light, he may indeed embrace the truth. (here).

To err is human, to be unforgiving is divinely Polonial ...

Now as a sneering secularist, the mention of these deviants caused the pond's heart to skip a beat. 

Poor Polonius always gets agitated at any attempt to slur the Church, and his profound insight that the split in the Labor party in the 1950s was all the fault of mad Doc Evatt will delight his few remaining faithful followers ...

But wait, there's even more solid history-making to come ...

Indeed, indeed ... the pond is vastly relieved to learn there's no interaction between the Catholic church and the Liberal party ...

... though if you follow that visual link you'll end up amongst the Jesuits of Eureka Street here ...

Alternatively, you can follow this image to end up at The Monthly here ...

... wherein Santamaria meets up with Mannix ...

Fifty years his senior and the former head of a seminary, Mannix had doubtless encountered many zealous young men. For almost two hours he meandered, leading the discussion over topics as diverse as the war in Abyssinia and the policies of Roosevelt, until Santamaria began to think he was getting the brush-off. As Mannix rose to end the interview, Santamaria restated his request. Did he have His Grace's permission to establish a Catholic paper? You don't need it, Mannix replied, extending his hand with "an unexpectedly firm grasp". 
On that handshake was sealed an alliance that did not falter until Mannix's death, 28 years later. Appointed soon after to run Catholic Action, Santamaria left the prelate's mansion, Raheen, "jumping for joy". Using the authority of the church and the methods of the communists to fight a secretive war in the unions, he engineered a split that kept Labor out of power for decades. When the Vatican condemned Santamaria's "Movement" as theologically unsound, Mannix declared him "the saviour of Australia".

Uh huh ...and now Polonial history lesson done and dusted, it's time for a little Oz editorialist light relief ...with a correspondent assuring the pond that it might well be the dog botherer in disguise ...

Oh be still dog botherer heart ... but it helps explain why the Oz editorialist is always a guaranteed laugh.

White House chaos must stop?

In these cases, the pond always found stamping its foot a sure cure, though some recommend holding your breath until you turn red or blue in the face as the best way to get your way ... (though some favour lying under the bed in the dust sulking for hours as a sure winner).

Alternatively as Donny kept saying on Morning Joe last night (or morning in America if you happen to be in mourning in America) the silly old codger is seventy years old and set in his barking mad howling at the moon twittering ways, and he's not going to change ... no way he'll change, no way it'll stop, and if the Oz editorialist thinks some foot-stamping and scribbling down under will do the trick, why la de dah, Missy Annie, it's even more deluded than the Donald hisself ...

But still the pond insisted on a laugh, so it took a look at the other editorial ...

Corbyn, Sanders?

It's the Donald that's in power you twits, and in no small part thanks to Chairman Rupert, Fox News, Fox and Friends, and all the other fools and fellow travellers. And yet still you're lost back in the 1980s with Chairman Bob?

Now please, don't double down and compound the folly by referencing one of your own columnists, say a Henry "hole in the bucket, desiccated coconut" Ergas, as if you're the ABC using its news service to promote an episode of Australian Story ...

Oh fucketty fuck ... the pond would love a little repentance, a little admitting of error, of erring and being errant, and in need of redemption, Chairman Rupert's empire having long ago surrendered to the most offensive form of populism imaginable, cultivated it and now the world reaps a rich harvest of sorrow, but instead it will settle for papal advice in the form of a Pope cartoon, with more papal encyclicals here ...