In which the pond is saved by the erudite Henry, but has to worry about the sanity of the reptiles ...

 

 

Say what? No international conspiracy, even though everyone knows the Catholic church is deeply corrupt? Even a grovelling apology? 

Ah, but the grovelling apology from Shanners and the reptiles was truly awe-inspiring, astonishing and moving, and something to see. Please let the pond know if you ever find it ...

And so to the business of the day. Yesterday, the pond went quite mad, impatiently waiting for a Henry that never came ... doubting whether he existed, wondering if it could survive without his hole in the bucket repair skills and ancient Greek references, and confusing Thursday for Friday, perhaps because the savvy Savva seems to be taking an ABC style break ...

How could the pond have doubted, how could the pond have despaired? The erudite one is in his usual place, and all is right with the world ...

 

 

Indeed, indeed, it's going to be a bright, bright day ... and there's always the cartoons ...

 

 

But enough of fun, let us be serious with our hole in the bucket man, because he's intent on serious repairs and glorious redemptive optimism, sweeping away the black clouds overhead ...

Ah yes, all those stunning achievements... how wise of our Henry to notice ...

 

Never mind, on we go, with the pond hungering for a reference to the ancient Greeks, a sure sign of erudition ...

 

There you go, peak wisdom, with a slight majority of American voters self-identifying as "liberal" or "conservative".

Can you have two majorities at the same time? Of course you can. And how wise of our Henry to see the light at the end of the tunnel ...

 

More Rowe here, but frankly that talk of Switzerland left the pond rattled and a little bewildered. Please, a reference to the ancient Greeks, it's the only guaranteed remedy for these chaotic times ...

 

Oh the pond almost wept with the sublime optimism, the hope and the promise, and our Henry forgetting that in his day he was a modest Trumpian and spineless GOP supporter ...

Meanwhile the pond found it hard to get away from the topic of the Donald, and maybe note other disasters, such as the Donald's response to climate science and the virus, not to mention the assorted other fuck-ups like the wall that didn't get built that the Mexicans didn't pay for ...

Instead the reptiles pursued all sorts of odd angles ...

 

By golly, the pond hasn't thought of that meme in years ...

 

 

And yesterday there were these two stories ...

 

Who's gloating? Sure the pond sups on the tears of the reptiles, but didn't Aaronovitch notice the thousands of unnecessary deaths, not to mention the hastening death of the planet? Where was the WSJ when it mattered?

But the reptiles were in a tizz, no doubt about it and Stewie was at the top of the digital page again today ... 

 Chaos? Doom? Disgrace? Growing anger, which is only growing now, but not amongst most Republicans?

Sadly the pond can only deal with so much chaos and madness in a day, so Stewie's piece from yesterday got the nod ...

Might the pond humbly note that future generations will also discuss the madness of Fox and the craziness of the Murdochians, which led to this disaster?

The pond can think of at least one good essay topic: "In his greedy pursuit of power and money, Rupert Murdoch succeeded in driving the United States to an ongoing state of chaotic insanity." Discuss, with examples ...

Can the pond please help future generations with just one example ... culled from the Daily Beast here, in lieu of watching the show, or transcribing Colbert having fun with it ...

...Amid several other House Republicans publicly coming out in support of impeaching Trump for inciting an insurrectionist mob to storm the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s election, Kilmeade grumbled that impeachment was a bridge too far.
“If Mitch McConnell is such a great politician does he understand that, as Brit Hume has said and Jonathan Swan has reported, there’s no sign the president’s lost his base,” he huffed. “So if you actually want to build on the president’s base and bring the party in a subtle or dramatic new direction, why do it without them with only days left? It makes no sense!”
He went on to express support for a congressional censure, something House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is reportedly pushing, saying more Republicans can get on board with it because it will “send a message” to Trump about his role in igniting an insurrection and then they can “move on.”
Doocy, however, jumped in to explain why so many in Congress want the president to be held accountable for his actions and behavior before and during the Capitol riots.
“Brian, you're talking about people who work in the Congress, and we’re talking about—the Congress was under attack last week,” he said. “It was looted. There was a riot!”
“So was Portland every day, and nobody cared on the left!” Kilmeade shouted, immediately falling back on one of Fox News’ favorite talking points of late.
“I don’t think what they were doing in Portland was trying to overthrow the democracy,” Doocy snapped back.
Later in the show, with Kilmeade still fuming over the impending impeachment vote and potential GOP support for it, Doocy posed a question to the panel.
“Let’s put the shoe on the other foot,” he noted. “If a Democrat president did what happened last week, would the Republicans in the House and Senate vote to impeach him if they could? The answer is yes.”
Kilmeade, meanwhile, loudly complained that impeachment was unnecessary since Trump only had a week left in office, arguing that it made “no sense” since he was “leaving anyway.”
“Members of Congress ultimately want accountability,” Doocy retorted.

Stop it! Stop it now! Doocy and Kilmeade arguing?!  On Fox and Friends? Has the world gone stark, raving bonkers?

 It's like mum and dad having a tiff, and plates being hurled, and oh the insanity and the madness as the Murdochians argue among themselves, and some rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem ...

Please, Stewie, please ... remember the good old days when Fox and Friends, and the Murdochian reptiles were on a roll ...

 

Loopy and deranged? What's this, you're doing some sort of Doocy to undermine the business model? Does doing a Doocy mean some sort of futile attempt to grasp that there's a different, real world out there?

Sheesh, we've gone from the ancient Greeks to King Lear, and it all suddenly happened with just one speech and a moment of madness.

But the virus has been going away since last March. It will just magically disappear in a moment ...

As always in life and books and plays, there's more to it than the final chapter or the turning point into the third act, or the epilogue ... and along each step of the journey, the reptiles played their part, and judging by Stewie, were completely unaware of the many and varied follies they were encouraging ... and now the alternatives range from the sublimely stupid to the ridiculous ...

Why a viaduct, or a cartoon? Well it's the perfect introduction to the final word from the lizard Oz editorialist ...

Put it another way. The reptiles, chairman Rupert and the Murdochians at large still do not appear to grasp the ignominy that surrounds them after their unfailing support for the Donald, resulting in last weeks assault on the Capitol, the heart of US democracy ...

Will they ever acknowledge and apologise for what they did, hold themselves accountable, reform their ways, admit what they supported for four years, and what it became?

 

 

 

 

Not a chance, and the lizard Oz editorialist shows how to wear the blinkers in style ...

 

Oh yes, take the high road, move on, forget all that the Murdochians did - and enabled - and never mind the ongoing madness that now infests the GOP, and can never be excised. 

Are you mad, insane, or merely delusional, or so in the grip of senility and dementia, you imagine that the last four years can be wiped from the slate, like the cranky uncle come down from the attic to ask for a serve of breakfast cereal, before predictably returning to old routines, delivering endless rants and blaming everything on Joe?

Asking for a return to stability in that context is like asking for a re-floating of the Titanic ... please, remember you were cast in the role of the iceberg, and bunged on a tremendous performance ...