And so here we are on a Monday ...

 

 

There's been some excellent reading for students of the reptile world, the one that is close kissing cousin to the reptiles down under ...

And here we are on a Monday, though anyone interested in a reality mind-warp might find the Daily Beast's Fox News Assures Advertisers That Maria Bartiromo, a Rabid Trumpkin, Is 'Hard-Hiting Journalism' is outside the paywall for the moment.  Distilled essence of comedy ...

And Marina Hyde's As the US descends into chaos, what better time for Britain to go the same way? concerns the arrival of Chairman Rupert in a new guise and other Fox copycat channels in that little England ... and she was in her usual form ...

...You couldn’t move for commentators explaining after the phone-hacking scandal that Murdoch’s spell was broken. In fact, as numerous events have since proved, Rupert Murdoch’s spell is not remotely broken. He is spello intacto. Shortly after Trump was elected, Murdoch protege Michael Gove was flown to New York to perform an adoring colonoscopy on him – “interview”, as he had it. Gove seemingly described every detail of his visit to Trump’s office, right down to who rode in the lift with him – but never thought to mention that Murdoch sat in on the whole thing according to the Financial Times. The public doesn’t like to see how the trick is done, perhaps.
The Trump presidency was arguably the logical result of the type of hyper-partisan disinformation first fostered by Fox News, and the grotesque events of Wednesday were the logical result of a Trump presidency. I wouldn’t be so wishful as to call it the logical end, given that strong rumours persist of a Tucker Carlson presidential run sooner or later. There is always another chapter. As for our next chapter, there will be those wondering after the era-defining events in Washington this week if this is quite the moment for the UK to start chasing this particular Fox. Then again, what’s the worst that could happen?

And then there were the cartoons ...

All this took the pond at warp speed away from the war on China, which the Oreo diligently pursued this day ...

 

 

And yet the pond was now so far out beyond Pluto, that it thought it best to stay there ... and here we are today, and naturally a couple of stories leapt out at the pond from this motley assortment ...

 

 

We can safely ignore the lizard Oz editorialist echoing the war on China, and the WSJ editorial board suddenly attempting to climb on to the reality train, as it's a down under stale reprint of old news, but what of Monsieur Dupont, who was in a triumphant mood ...

 

Of course the notion that the mob violence is over is an optimistic one, what with all the talk of another gathering on 17th January, with QAnon explaining the significance of the timing by pointing out that Q is the 17th letter of the modern English alphabet (though why they should care for modern when medieval would better suit must remain a mystery) ...

Not to worry, Monsieur Dupont was on a roll ...

What a splendidly optimistic analysis, and surely worthy of a cartoon ...

And yet, just as Monsieur Dupont tries to stuff the Donald back in his bottle, his argument takes a curious turn ...

 

Oh fucketty fuck, out it pops, it can't help itself, this little toad, this blather about cancel culture intolerance. Always with the intolerance, because there's nothing like intolerance to get intolerance going.

Apparently the Donald is all the fault of pesky blacks and other tribalising minorities wasting their time, rather than healing the country ...

You know, healing after all the pain and suffering, joining with others in their common, shared humanity...

 

 

 

If the pond might be so bold, fuck Monsieur Dupont, and fuck his blather about cancel culture, and fuck his talk of healing, and fuck his trumphalist triumphalist talk ...

 

Indeed, indeed, what a tremendously vibrant and resilient result ... but haven't we been there before?

 

And so to the lizard Oz editorialist, seriously worried that there might be some impediment to the celebration of the role of Q in American life on the 17th ...

Indeed, indeed, what a shame the spectacle couldn't have continued, it's been such fun, and so edifying and uplifting ...

But here's thing, as explained by xkcd, in a cartoon which should be paid overtime for all the work it's been doing in the last week or so ...

 

Indeed, indeed, and some days the pond would love to show the door to the arseholes at the lizard Oz, but then how could the pond conduct its herpetological studies?

 

Yes, yes, it would have been so much better to have another riot on the 17th January ... and how silly of the pond to think that the Murdochians would join other rats, because shame and guilt just doesn't sit well in the reptile vocabulary ...

That's left to the cartoonists, with which to have a bit of fun ...