The Sunday Rumble: 28.5.17

Clever fella', that 'SoD':   Yes, I know he comes on here from time to time talking absolute blx about Brexit but when it comes to these dev'lish, tricksy computer-thingies, he's a wizard.  Can't think where he gets it from but anyway, 'the boy dun good' yesterday.

 

William Manchester, a brilliant bull-shitter:   Oddly enough, for someone like me who devours history books, I have never read any of William Manchester's highly regarded histories although, of course, over the years I had picked up on his stellar reputation which was buffed up by the fact that he had served with the Marines at Okinawa.  If he had left it at that all would have been well but, alas, mere truth was not sufficient and, according to The American Spectator, Manchester was guilty of gross exaggeration (putting it politely) on his war record.  Sometimes the foibles of human nature just leave you shaking your head in disbelief.

 

The greatest dereliction of duty - ever!   'SoD' gave me a book for my birthday on the subject of FDR's wartime leadership.  Obviously, the disaster at Pearl Harbour looms large, well, disasters always do!  I have never quite got to grips with who was most at fault.  Obviously, on the principle that 'the buck stops here', FDR carries a huge share of the blame but there is more than enough to go round the entire general staffs of the US army and navy, they, after all, were the highly trained experts in warfare!  The fact that 'Washington' was actually reading the top secret Japanese communications simply leaves one feeling totally gob-smacked!  Mass stupidity on such a scale is almost unbelievable.  As an orthodox, not to say, extreme agnostic, I can say that one of the tiny facts that might - just might - convince me that there is a God, is the incredible coincidence that the American carriers for some obscure reason were not present in Pearl Harbour at the time of the attack.  Pheeeew!  Wellington's words after Waterloo spring to mind: "It has been a damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life".  By the way, I trust that none of my America friends will think I am picking on the USA because this 'septic Isle' has more than its fair share of 'snafus' which we all try desperately not to think about.

 

A new candidate to be the mother of my babies:   Honestly, it's unbelievable how all those ladies to whom I have extended an invitation to become the mother of my babies never respond!  So, more in hope than expectation, I am extending yet another to a lady who has impressed me - 'yuuuuuuugely'!  I refer to Mrs. Melania Trump:   

She is beautiful, she is elegantly stylish and, as far as I can tell, she never says a word!  What's not to like?  True, her taste in husbands is a bit dodgy but I am prepared to forgive her that weakness.

 

Concealed carry, well, sort of:   I was trying desperately to use Mae West's old line about 'is that gun you're carrying or are you just pleased to see me?'  But in this reversed context it doesn't really work:

 As so often, I am grateful to the rascals at I Hate The Media who sourced their story from a site called Bearing Arms which, rather wittily, describes Barack Obama as "being history's greatest gun salesman"!  They base that on the fact that during his reign, 'concealed carry' was passed by 48 States and the numbers using it grew exponentially.  Needless to say, the murder dropped by 14% - whodaguessedit?

 

Glamorous but boring:   I just watched the Monaco Grand Prix, well, sort of watched it because, to be honest, I kept dozing off.  It's a wonderful atmosphere when you are there, as 'SoD' and I were once upon a time, but as an actual race it is totally 'boring-snoring'.  It is impossible to overtake and that is the very essence of Grand Prix racing.  Even worse, that damned Hun won it and the 'Rt. Honourable Sir' Lewis Hamilton (alright, not yet but it can't be far off!) only managed sixth.  Roll on Canada and some proper racing.

 

Give us a kiss and I'll tell you who he is:   The White House sexist?  I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!

 This photo was issued by The White House and shows the good, the bad and the ugly the beloved other halves of various national leaders.  They are all named except for that rather happy-looking chappie in the back row.  The others are all 'First Wives' but he is, I suppose, what you would call a 'First Husband' because he is married to the prime minister of Luxembourg who is, er, a man.  Apparently The White House couldn't bring itself to name him.  Here, courtesy of The Telegraph, are the happy couple:

Luxembourg's prime minister, Xavier Bettel, and his husband, Gauthier Destenay, were married in December 2013.  Credit: EPA

Ah, warms the cockles of your heart, doesn't it.  Mind you, I think I'd rather be married to him that that grim-looking, old bat in the blue trouser suit.  She's married to that nasty thug who runs Turkey so you can't blame her for looking a bit pissed off!  Anyway, The White House has been accused of homophobia which is a ridiculous suggestion when you consider who is the current POTUS - who snorted?

 

Auf Wiedersehen, 'Mutti':   So it's goodbye and even good riddance, according to 'Mutti' Merkel.  According to The Telegraph, she has told German voters that they should no longer put any trust in either the US or the UK. 

She said: "The times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days.

"And so, all I can say is that we Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands."

Referencing Brexit, she said: "Of course we need to have friendly relations with the US, and with the UK, and with other neighbours, including Russia."

But she added: "We have to fight for our own future ourselves, for our destiny as Europeans."

Why do I always shiver when German politicians start talking about their 'destiny'?  And did she, I wonder, tell her people how much it will cost them to beef their armed forces up to American levels?  (What's the German for 'not bloody likely'?)

 

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Comments

[backofanenvelope]

Perhaps they have all heard about SoD!

[The Jannie]

Re Pearl Harbour etc - Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.(George Carlin)

[Whitewall]

SoD seems to come through often. Must be good genes from somewhere...all that Royal lineage through the mists of time.

[Whitewall]

That gun lady is what you might call "stacked and packed". A pair of 38s and a backup.

[David Duff]

"stacked and packed" - that made me chortle, Whiters!

[Bob]

How would a lady reach the bra holster? If the thing requires plunging necklines and unbuttoned blouses I'm for it. It could be dangerous to stare lecherously, but that would heighten the allure in an odd way.

[mike fowle]

Caught by chance a programme on Channel 4 very early this morning called Weekend of a Champion, a film by Roman Polanski on Jackie Stewart's win at Monaco in 1971, and the pair of them talking about developments since. I followed motor racing avidly during the time they were discussing - 1968 to 1973, but the death toll was so dreadful I eventually lost my taste for the sport, especially after the death of Francois Cevert. It was remarkable that elementary precautions were lacking such as fuel tanks unable to withstand any impact or the chief medical officer at the track being a gynacologist!

[TheBigHenry]

WW,

Stacked, packed and racked!

[JK]

Well Bob,

"How would a lady reach the bra holster?"

Fairly easily if the police reports out of Fort Baptist (Fort Smith Arkansas) are reliable. Apparently during "an accosting" on the gun-toting lady's friend and acquaintance, the gun equipped lady managed quite adroitly it would appear, seeing as she squeezed of four rounds hitting the chief accoster once in the groin then followed with one round in his kneecap (presumably to ensure he'd remain where the cops could find him and render aid).

The accomplice took one round in an ankle and one round in the arse.

She did however it must be admitted, "miss" once, because one round didn't hit either of the perps and was later recovered from the radiator of the would-be assailants' perp-mobile.

Link to follow if I can get permission to scan the police report.

She did possess a permit to carry "any legal handgun" - a S&W Model 40 (.38) in this case.

[JK]

http://duffandnonsense.typepad.com/duff_nonsense/2011/12/courage-of-a-different-order.html

[Whitewall]

Henry, noticed that did you!?

[TheBigHenry]

Robert,

Noticed in passing only, while admiring her necklace.

[TheBigHenry]

David,

The Pearl Harbour snafu has been beaten mercilessly for longer than the proverbial dead horse. But not as long as the issue of whether or not Big Bill the Bard wrote his plays.

[JK]

Well David, I supposed there'd come a time when memory fails the D&N Chief Archivist (but in my defense I'd mention whatever post-title you'd come up with when you'd acknowledged, "I hadn't appreciated that!" - was obviously well disguised in order to put me off).

But I well recall your appreciation for just how new carrier strategy was at the time. So, the link which proved helpful in your time of need:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2011-12/pearl-harbors-overlooked-answer

[David Duff]

Henry, there is absolutely no "issue" over who wrote the overwhelming majority of Bill's texts, except in the tiny minds of a tiny group of infantiles and snobs with nothing better to do. Only Bill could have written the sort of dead unfunny rubbish that I had to spew forth when I played Launcelot Gobbo!

[David Duff]

JK, I will read your link tomorrow and never have I failed to appreciate anything you send here to D&N!

[Whitewall]

I read that bold declaration by Mutti Merkel the Great. Damn. Don't the Germans ever quit? She allows Islam to eat away at Europe's vital organs while going on about a lot of climate change trash! The first half of the 20th century saw the English speaking people have to save the West from the madness of Germany. Must be in the genes or the water or something.

[TheBigHenry]

Well, David, I certainly didn't mean for you to think that I, for a minute even, doubted who wrote Spearshaker's plays. Er, it was Bacon, am I right?

[Pat]

Re Mutti.
So Europeans must become self reliant. They can no longer rely on others.
Might be harder than she imagines.
Hey her people might find that cooperation with other peoples is so effective it's worth considering other peoples' interests as well as their own.
She comes across as lumbered with a sense of entitlement as great as Hilary's.

[JK]

TheBigHenry?

I think I may've come across an explanation for "our Bob." Via one of David's favorite nicking sites; IHTM:

http://www.dailywire.com/news/16850/study-weak-men-more-likely-be-socialists-amanda-prestigiacomo?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=052517-news&utm_campaign=dwtwitter#

[TheBigHenry]

JK,

According to William of Ockham, the simplest explanation is usually best. Moreover, Big Al Einstein said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

I always take Big Al and give the points. So I am confident that "your Bob" is simply a master baiter.

[backofanenvelope]

I hope that we take the hint. The Germans are going to manage without our help. If only.......

[Loz]

"Why do I always shiver when German politicians start talking about their "destiny"?

As Michael Heseltine said recently, "We won the war, and lost the peace".

A generation of Brits, Yanks, et al gave their lives to stop German hegemony in Europe (and earlier, French hegemony in Europe). And their offspring, the "war babies", couldn't even be bothered to stay in the hot air war - the post-conflict and much less harmful, less costly "war by other means" as Clausewitz put it. Bottled a bit of jaw-jaw and ran from the EU, the EU: The hot air "field of glory" put in place with their blood that you need not shed yours.

The most shameful inter-generational act in recent history.

But shameful intergenerational acts are de rigueur these days ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-general-election-young-people-voters-generation-nows-your-chance-a7760001.html

The notion that democracy has no limits, no constitutional constraint. Expropriation, "mugging", perfectly ok "coz it's your democracy, init?". Next, what about putting a minority into a gas chamber? "It's democracy, init?".

Welcome to the new dark age, of your own making.

SoD

[Loz]

Hahaha, I missed this, look at Amber Rudd's plaintive bleating: "Please can we carry on defending you Germany, plllleeeaaassseee!" ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-40082599

"Not on your Schmeisser, you Dumkopf!" came the answer.

Or was it "No deal on security is a good deal for Germany".

Or was it simply ...

"For you Tommy, ze var iz over"?

SoD

[David Duff]

SoD, it's a Bank Holiday so why don't you go and take a nice rest!

[Loz]

And as we freefall into oblivion, as if to torment us, Roger Bootle gives a glimpse of the only option that might save Blighty - which cannot and will not be taken, due to the collectivist, authoritarian, "take back control" culture of Brit pols and hoi-poloi ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/05/28/would-mean-consumers-tariffs-do-not-strike-deal/

That is, unless May is a deep, deep double agent. Shouldn't rule that out entirely. After all, Dave Cam and Georgie Osbourne persuaded you lot they were wet, socialist Tories - and some of you still believe it - when in fact they were the only small state, shrink the percentage of GDP going through the state, austerity, balance the books, stay in the biggest single market in the world, deal on offer!

Is she a double agent? If so, I shall rejoice - and you can mock me forever and I shan't complain.

SoD

[Whitewall]

Poland's PM will not abide Angela's suicide scheme.
http://gatesofvienna.net/2017/05/prime-minister-beata-szydlo-poland-will-not-accept-blackmail-from-the-eu/

[Loz]

Mutti will take it in her stride - or should I say goosestep?

Who have the Poles got to turn to now the chicken-shit "war babies" have done a runner from the hot air war?

Mr Putin?

SoD

[backofanenvelope]

Just keep in mind that the Germans are the European cock-up artists. What a record - two world wars - and they lost them both! Now they have thrown their country open to a couple of million third-world migrants. People who can't write in their own language, let alone German. No wonder the Danes are building a HUGE wall!