Once upon a time ...

but can French still be considered the (a?) language of intellectual discourse? With the present court jester having usurped the royal throne, events have replaced reflection. Or perhaps, we've arrived at: "l'enfer, c'est moi."

(I fear this will promote me to immediate expulsion - but I plead mitigating circumstances: I had been told that it is - somewhat - possible to edit submitted contributions via the BACK button and resubmitting. It would appear that it might only be valid in the groups, but not in the comments)