The Sunday Rumble: 25.2.18

 

So, farewell then, Billy Graham, er, who were you?   His name is very familiar, of course, but 'over here' he never made that much of an impact.  The whole notion of free-lance preachers 'hoopin' 'n' hollerin' fur Jesus' was simply too, too American!  As far as I know, which isn't far, he was never involved in anything horrendous and if he became a tad too 'palsy-walsy' with sundry politicos and presidents, well, that's the American way.  Also, I do admire his intelligence in deciding decades ago never to allow himself to be alone with a woman not of his family - shrewd fella'!

 

Naughty 'Winnie'!   So apparently Winston Churchill was "a very naughty boy" after all!  In so far as I have ever thought about it - not much! - it has always struck me as slightly odd that 'Winnie' never seemed to put himself about a bit with the ladies.  Mind you, given that 99% of his life was immersed in politics, most of it of the highest seriousness, I suppose it's not that surprising.  However, today I learn that he did have a little fling with the rather elegant Lady Castlerosse.

It didn't last that long and it's slightly interesting that he indulged in his naughtiness in the early '30s when his political career was somewhat in the doldrums.  [But see additional below]

 

Pheeeeew, another "fine run thing":   I hardly slept last night because yesterday evening my Kindle started playing up.  Don't you just hate it when 'techie-thingies' go wrong, you know, like the lead breaking at the end of your pencil, that sort of thing?  But when they are really, really 'techie-thingies' I am distraught and helpless and, yes, you're right, hopeless, as well!  I know that if I don't get lucky after I have pressed every button on the 'techie-thingie' I will have no choice but to ring 'SoD' - yes, I know, I know, 'the horror, the horror'!  He, of course, will get all grumpy and shout down the 'phone that he told me how to do all that last time!  However, in proof that old Billy Graham was right after all when he assured us all that there is a God, Amazon sent me yet another advert for something or other but I noticed in the small print that there was a "Contact Us" button, so I clicked it more in desperation than hope.  Well, heavens to Betsy and all that sort of thing, I followed their suggestions and - lo, my Kindle is working again!  So, now I can look forward to pressing on with Richard Lamb's book "Churchill as War Leader".

 

Dumb or dumber?   I refer to the students of Oberlin High School in Oberlin, La, who, according to The Miami Herald, saw that one of their fellow pupils had written the symbol for a square root in his exercise book and they took it for a diagram of a

gun and called the police who then searched the student's home.  What can one say, except "Duh!"

 

'Me no go no where'!   Perhaps the least surprising news so far this year is that Mr. Xi Ping Pong, or whatever his name is, is determined to be 'Luler of the Universe' forever and ever, so help me Mao Tse Tung!

 

And no, he is definitely not waving goodbye, not for at least another 25 years.  To know him is to love him and you better believe him when he says he has ways of making you love him!  And to think that I once had slight hopes for his leadership of China, ah well, no fool like an old fool!

 

Happy anniversary, Matt:   The very best cartoonist of them all, 'Matt' from The Daily Telegraph, is celebrating 30 years of 'chuckle production' at the newspaper.  The main thing about his cartoons is that they are deadly accurate but above all, funny!  Here is a prime example from the days when, God help us, 'Cleggy' was deputy prime minister.

 

 

Gillard's gone and Australia regains its common-sense:   Julia Gillard, of course, was the incomprehensible PM of Australia, a defect  which, in a way, was a relief because it meant that grumpy old Brits like me couldn't understand most of the balderdash she used to spout.  Amongst it, I now learn, was a decision to cut all contacts between Australia and the Israeli intelligence services.  Apparently, they had been "very naughty boys and girls" and used fake Australian passports in a plan to bump off a Hamas thug.  Happily, sanity has returned to the Aussie government who have publicly thanked and praised the Israelis for an intelligence tip-off last year that saved hundreds of lives in a foiled plot to bring down an Airbus A380 due to take off from Sydney.  Aussie/Israeli relationships are back in the groove.  Hat tip to The American Thinker.

 

No, no, 'Winnie' was a proper gent!   The story up above which I lifted from the 'Sunday prints' has been roundly slapped down by Andrew Roberts who has been engaged for the last four years in writing a biography - another one?! - of the great man.  You can read it at The Coffee House.

 

I must be a masochist:   Why do I do it?  It was only a few weeks ago that I finished a book detailing the utterly disastrous and unbelievably stupid campaigns, in Gallipoli and then later in Norway, rammed through by the late, not-quite-so-great, Winston Churchill.  Now I am reading something of the shambles he organised in France on the outbreak of war, and in the Med whilst trying to deal with the French fleet.  Yes, I kind of knew about it but not in so much detail.  When I become PM I may have to dig him up and have him shot for gross incompetence! 

 

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Comments

[JK]

Via NW David:

"Kim Il-sung admired the Reverend Graham. Special comment. One of the little-known oddities of North Korean leadership is that Kim Il-sung was an admirer of the late Reverend Graham. Graham made two trips to North Korea, in 1992 and in 1994. He had a personal visits with Kim Il-sung and the two were photographed together. Graham’s trips were at Kim’s request. In 1994, Kim reportedly asked Reverend Graham to pray for him. It was rumored that Kim Il-sung became a closet Christian convert before he died."

"Reverend Franklin Graham visited North Korea in 2009, but did not meet Kim Chong-il."

No comments yet from Dennis Rodman.

[David Duff]

Good grief, JK, who the hell is potty enough to invite Billy Graham, not once but twice?! Oh, Kim Il-sung - 'nuff said!

[JK]

Well my ol' pal David you ever wondered where the US/UK "Special Relationship" had its origins?

(This is you'd David admit "The Sunday Rumble"?)

Our United States Navy versus y'all Royal Navy (don't tell SoD)?

https://audioboom.com/posts/6691513-1812-the-navy-s-war-part-1-of-2-by-george-c-daughan

***

https://audioboom.com/posts/6691514-1812-the-navy-s-war-part-2-of-2-by-george-c-daughan

Oh and incidentally David if you know, where's Bob?

[Whitewall]

Rev. Graham was born and raised about an hour and a half from me. You would need to Google his bio for a summary of his long life and world evangelism. The America that produced him is gone sadly, replaced with a degenerate culture careening out of control and long crashed through the guard rails.

https://billygrahamlibrary.org

[David Duff]

Well, Whiters, where-of I know naught (or next to naught), I speak naught!

[Whitewall]

Mr. Xi, a practicing communist and now a practicing capitalist, is now a practicing dictator and all that goes with it. At some future date, the forever collision between communism and capitalism---Cain and Able---will happen. Could be what the Chinese dislike most, disharmony.

[mike fowle]

re Matt, when Max Hastings was Editor of the Evening Standard, David English wanted him to lure Matt to the Daily Mail. So he offered a "king's ransom". Three weeks later, Matt wrote back that even though the offer was £150,000 more than he was getting at the Telegraph, he had to say no because he was happy at the Telegrpah. An amazing man.

[Bob]

David,

Your Brit skepticism is on target. Rev. Billy was a rabid anti-communist who urged Nixon to commit war crimes during Vietnam. He wanted Tricky Dick to use nukes to destroy the flood control dikes in North Vietnam and drown tens of thousands of civilians. Even Henry Kissinger was appalled.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3522&context=theses

[JK]

Well all I can hope where any "Thank yous very much" betwixt the Australians and the Israelis is that, relations don't turn out as our's after the Russians warned us to issue a BOLO for one Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

[JK]

Would you be surprised Bob to find Henry Kissinger advised "a tactical nuke" be used on the Mosul Dam (Iraq)?

Where'd he get such an idea gee I wonder?

[Bob]

JK,

Kissinger had more sense in the past. He also stopped a drunk Nixon from nuking North Korea:

http://www.businessinsider.com/drunk-richard-nixon-nuke-north-korea-2017-1

[JK]

Oh that he'd desisted back then Bob.

But then, History's littered with lost opportunities.

[Bob]

Not so sure, JK. You know how when you wake up from a drunk and the fog clears enough to remember something you're really, really sorry about? Imagine trying to sober up while Chinese ICBMs are headed your way.

[AussieD]

Julia Gillard, of course, was the incomprehensible PM of Australia,
a.k.a. "Ranga".
She is in a hotly contested competition to be the worst PM in our 118 year history of Federation.
Not to hear her awful voice droning on and on in some news item is just bliss.

[Andra]

Unfortunately, Ms Gillard has left us with "going forward", a stupid phrase she uttered something like 40 times in her first speech as PM. Politicians (and lots of otherwise normal people) still say it constantly and it gives me the creeps. Reminds me of the Ranga every time I hear the rotten words. UggggHhhhh!

[Mike Cunningham]

Your small epistle about a crotchety piece of electronics reminded me of my dealings with my late brother, who was famous for his complete lack of knowledge of things mechanical and electrical.

His exploits in the world of D.I.Y. were legendary in our family; such as the proud boast that he had changed the batteries in his doorbell, and it only took him two hours!

His finest utterance was on the subject of wine; he had been persuaded to buy a different brand of booze at the supermarket, and he had tried to get the cork out of the bottle for twenty-seven minutes before learning that the bottle had a screw-top!

I still miss him, if only for the laughs I got while advising him, remotely, of course, as he lived in Slough and I in Durham. He once called about his shower. He said that the shower wasn't working, and 'the round thing' (the shower pump which I had installed) was just making noises, and no water was coming through the shower. I told him to switch everything off, then get a stiff scrub brush and clean the shower head, as London water is chronically 'hard'. He did this, switched back on; and lo-and-behold; the shower worked correctly. He then asked, and I think I quote from memory: "How did you know what to do?"

[David Duff]

Mike, I have just tried to imagine what life would have been like had your brother and I shared a flat! A living proof, methinks, of the 'Uncertainty Principle' in action!