The Sunday Rumble: 29.09.19

I woke up feeling cheerful, then I read the papers:   Don't worry, I'm not going to summarise them for you, instead, I will let you read them for yourselves but please have an exceedingly stiff whisky to hand!  In no particular 0rder of precedence:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7516523/ANDREW-ROBERTS-Boris-beat-Parliament-going-strike.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7516237/DAN-HODGES-moment-killed-British-democracy.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7516449/Liberals-soon-regret-power-wielded-Supreme-Court-judges-writes-PETER-HITCHENS.html

And I haven't even started on The Daily Telegraph!  Oh God, I may have to start reading stories about Meghan Markle and Harry and, of course, Archie - 'oh, the horror, the horror'!

 

And now I have another problem!   Who the hell am I going to vote for at the next election?  Alas, it will probably not be the Conservative party which is a shame because I think our local MP, David Warburton, is excellent but, alas and alack, the behaviour of the Tory party - or large parts of it! - make it unelectable.  I remain (if you will excuse that vile word!) reluctant to vote for 'our Nige', not because of him but the people who surround him.  This morning, following an article at The Coffee Shop, I am tempted to vote for the Social Democratic party.  (Sorry, did you just blow coffee all over your keyboard?)  Their very title fills me with dread but there are two big points in their favour, first, it is led by Rod Liddle, a political philosopher of , er, great distinction (sorry, did you say something?) and second, there are its stated aims:

We will be the focus on campuses for anti-woke students, the party of freedom of speech and we will continue to be the only party which wishes to reduce immigration, disavows all this gender fluidity nonsense and fights against identity politics and in support of faith, flag and family.

Who could ask for anything more?

 

Now, about this FDR fella . . .   He is rapidly becoming one of those 'enigma/riddle thingies'!  I have long been puzzled by him, especially by the way that, finally, in the late '30s and early '40s, he galvanised the US armed services but - and it's an enormous BUT - he left the US Pacific fleet moored in nice straight rows in Pearl Harbour when he knew, absolutely knew, that the Japs were poised for war not least because he was, with great deliberation, strangling them economically and war was their only choice - and Roosevelt's only hope!  I am reminded of my suspicions by a piece quoted at Zero Hedge which is worth a read.

 

(Sir) Lewis wins- again!   I gather that all was not quite straightforward at the Russian Grand Prix but waddya expect in Russia?  Must read up on the details later.

 

'MDJ' sums it up thusly:   Of course, y'all know that 'MDJ' is 'My Darling Jane' Daley and today in The Telegraph she says this:

So no, I do not think there will be violence in the streets even when the people realise the full consequences of the contempt in which they are held by what they see, quite rightly, as a privileged, arrogant political class. They will not riot or attack the police who they will assume, again rightly, to be blameless. The outcome will be far worse than that because it will not blow itself out in civil disruption which is generally counterproductive (just as the noxious Remain protesters who drown out broadcast interviews are counterproductive). There will instead be despair, disillusionment and alienation between the social classes which will prevail for at least a generation.

If, as seems likely, Brexit is finally defeated by 'you know who', then the consequences will be profound and deeply damaging.  Not the least of them will be a slow but steady growth in detestation, amounting to hatred, in the EU and all its works.  Needless to say, the blind, cloth-eared apparatchiks in Brussels will press on with their mad schemes with ever more fervour.

 

 

No more Rumbles

 

 

Comments

[AussieD]

Is it ironic or symbolic that the Chief Cocklecarrot is wearing a spider on her dress?

The court has certainly bitten the Brit Constitution and it only remains to see if the bite is fatal.

[David Duff]

Good morning, or good evening, AussieD, whatever it is 'down under there', and let me assure you it will be fatal unless changed quickly be a new government.

[Whitewall]

Social Democratic party sounds ominous by itself. But that pull quote makes them sound quite conservative and normal if it is to be believed.

[Timbo]

If it is to be believed... That right there.

[Timbo]

And what about all those ragbag politicians campaigning on Brexit until they got their fat backsides on the green leather?

[Whitewall]

'Parliament v The People'

The Deep State v the People

Power and Control v Freedom

[Whitewall]

"Britain's slow-motion Left-wing revolution just carried on, rolling over old and trusted rules and institutions, and crushing them into dust."

The nature of Leftism as it advances. Destruction of institutions that work. Wait until this aroused 'supreme court' gets around to using the mystical "penumbras and emanations". All kinds of courtly powers lurking there.

[Loz]

Hitchens Sch-Witchens, what a load of hypocritical crap!

All Boris has to do is send the letter extending A50 to the EU as is required by parliament and parliament will vote him out and we can have a new election. That's the way out of the blancmange of informal rules and customs that makes up a large portion of Blighty's constitution taking over and showing what a mess it makes of due process and smooth operations. Boris smashed the blancmange by proroguing controversially and brought this upon himself and us.

Running a state in total or part on a bunch of customaries and informalities is unicorn territory, come on people! The executive and parliament will run a coach and horses of bad things through the void of that blancmange.

We can see from Hitchens own examples how deficient the blancmange of "informal rules and customs" is as a constitutional construct ...

The now-sainted Clement Attlee, Labour's post-war reforming Premier, suspended Parliament to make radical reforms of the constitution. John Major is accused of suspending it to avoid embarrassment over a possible scandal.

Is it any surprise when in a vacuum the air of power from elsewhere is sucked in? If it had to be another power then thank goodness it was at least be the judiciary. Maybe Dame Hale mutters to herself, "I didn't steal the crown. I found it lying in the gutter. And there were no people to put it on my head so I did it instead." (italics my perversion of Boney's immortal words).

On the other hand, if the executive and judicial bodies had actually done some work at all over the last 45 years while the EU was doing all the difficult stuff, it would have had a look at the blancmange in those more objective and less passionate times and cleared up stupidities like proroguing with some intelligent legislation. Instead Westminster demonstrated its irrepressible laziness and stupidity with only one attempt at clearing up the blancmange: the utterly incompetent Fixed Term Parliament Act!

Already Hitchens and others are fishing around for ways of getting at the judges and their new found blancmange dispersing power.

So now, you are right, on account of BoJo, Blighty will have to find a consitutional construct to prevent the executive, parliament, big business, big unions, and any other sons-of-bitches getting at the judges.

And speaking of bitches, to illustrate the point consider Bob and my images ...

SoD: https://www.davidphenry.com/Paris/ThreeDogsLickingJardinDesTuileries4103.jpg

Bob: https://www.apnews.com/cb0a4dff04164c9db81dbe228127852e

Linear ain't good enough. As soon as someone discovers the little doggie on the left in my picture isn't having his bum sniffed they'll be in like Flynn. In Bob's non-linear pic all dogs are having their bums sniffed already coz they're in a circle, job done already. (Goddamn it, why didn't the google-God drop Bob's pic in my lap, eh, eh?! Out-Godel-ed by a lefty, will I ever live this down?! But I s'pose it shows he's learning).

So now here's the rub, and I love this one, truly I do! ...

When I said no-one was sniffing the UK judiciary-doggy's bum, I lied, sorry. That sphincteral task was being very well performed for the last 45 years by the ECJ until YOU VOTED BREXIT!!! YOU broke the circular doggy-bum sniff chain and landed us in the dog's do-do!

Hahahahaha!

SoD

[Loz]

Wrong link for Bob's pic: Here it is in all its Godeline, scenty, glory ...

https://www.memey.com/dogs-sniffing-butts-in-a-circle

SoD

[Loz]

"faith, flag and family"

What has Rod Liddle and his ilk done for "faith, flag and family"?

Sent vulnerable children into the hands of institutionalised kiddy-fiddlers, sent young Brits to early deaths in pointless wars, and broken families with Brexit.

As he would likely say himself, "You couldn't make it up".

SoD

[Bob]

Gods, the old "FDR exposed the fleet in Pearl Harbor on purpose" right wing chestnut, made even worse by comparing it to Trump's vain and chaotic foreign policy. On the same day the Japanese also attacked US bases in The Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and British bases in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The attacks were not predicted by anyone.

I understand the faith of right wingers better than to offer a point-by-point counter, though, David. What actions by FDR do you think would have been correct?

SoD, watching your cobbled-together democracy bump along from afar is fascinating. The first player out of the game is probably the Queen, and there was never a god to be seen. Glad the recursive bum sniff was useful.

[JK]

"Gods, the old "FDR exposed the fleet in Pearl Harbor on purpose" right wing chestnut."

https://formerspook.blogspot.com/2011/12/preventing-pearl-harbor.html

Unfortunately for an tiring archivist finding the post of David's revealing thoughts on Admiral J.O. Richardson in the D&N archives was made the more tiring since a (fairly) recent change SoD (I'm betting) made making those sorts of forays into the more dusty recesses too tiring to make the effort.

Methinks the post's title being along the lines of 'Courage of a Different Order' was what David ultimately hit upon but I can't be arsed to find the specific post Bob.

[David Duff]

JK, thanks - again! - for reminding me of Adm. Richardson, a key figure in assessing the stupidity/criminality of FDR.

[Loz]

Of all the history twisting liars in the MSM, Charles Moore is one of the worst ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/28/margaret-thatcher-said-britain-would-better-outside-eu-newauthorised/

He says Mrs T wanted out of the EU and for a Singapore of the North Atlantic posture for Blighty, but fails to emphasise her political realism: Even Blighty's leavers wouldn't go for that. She knew that Blighty was at heart an authoritarian beast and her home grown small state Libertarianism wouldn't survive even amongst her own supporters after her demise, let alone amongst the Lib-Dems and Labour mobs. So she threw her torch to Brussels in her Single Market and Four Freedoms.

God bless her for that practical, realistic solution that gave me 45 years of uninterrupted prosperity and freedom.

And damn the lot of you who would take it away from me and the next generation for a unicorn - that most of you don't even believe in.

SoD

[David Duff]

Considering that Charles Moore has spent the last 20-odd years researching and writing his authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher, calling him "history twisting liar" says more about you, SoD, than him!

[Bob]

JK,

That one admiral didn't like FDR is none too convincing. I'll offer the challenge to you: What would a right wing FDR have done better?

[The GWC]

Loz, Thatcher like most Brits wanted fair trade like we Brits want today. That is achievable however the wine supping idle EU beaurocracy want to rule our country. I hope the Tory Boris does the business.

[David Duff]

Bob, being a right or left wing President is not important in this instance. Any *sensible* President would have moved the fleet out of Pearl Harbour and over to the West coast of the USA.

[JK]

What David said.

[Loz]

"Thatcher like most Brits wanted fair trade"

No, no, no!

She wanted free trade, not fair trade. Fair trade is a politician's charter to rubber-duck the market, and she was pro-market. The very concept of a "deal" being required to be negotiated by pols was completely counter to her free market philosophy, period.

If people want to stuff their faces with chlorinated chicken that was their look-out. If Ping-a-Ling wanted to give away subsidised steel to Blighty at knock-down prices and the Frogs likewise with wine, then that was the UK steel and wine industries' problem. The rest of Blighty would be better off if UK steel and vineyard workers went and did something else and we pocketed the knockdown steel and wine for next to nothing. Jobs wouldn't be lost, they would simply transfer. And Blighty would prosper because Ping-a-Ling and the Frogs were fleecing their own tax payers to subsidise Blighty.

What you've just said is exactly the sort of thing I'm on about: Thatcher's followers weren't remotely into what she stood for and was all about, and she knew it. Better quit while you're ahead and bank the takings with the EU than give it to Dad's Army to squander away, was her analysis.

She knew YOU and Charles Moore too well.

SoD

[Whitewall]

"There will instead be despair, disillusionment and alienation between the social classes which will prevail for at least a generation."

That won't matter to the bastards in Brussels or Berlin or the British 'powers that be'. Not one bit. The People have proved to be a nuisance and will be from hence forth ignored since they will have given up and conformed. Elections will come and go to maintain the illusion that the public has much say in anything.

[Whyaxye]

Voting choice? Easy.

There's not going to be an election before the end of October, so no need to make your mind up before then. If Boris has got us out with a clean exit, vote Conservative out if gratitude, and because the man is a genius. If he applies for an extension, or settles for a warmed up version of May's WA, vote Brexit Party.

[Glesga]

Loz, we have been eating chicken for decades and you do not have a clue where it was processed or distributed but you have survived to bump your gums. Brexit is nye.

[Pat]

We learnt by the civil war that respecting votes and taking note of peaceful protest is way less costly than civil war for all concerned. Hence political violence has been relatively minor- well if you think the miners strike was minor.
Make it clear that votes don't matter and protest will be ignored and somebody will seek alternative ways.
The IRA raised an effective force from a population of 3/4 million. I'm sure an effective force can be raised from 17.4 million. All that is needed is sufficient justification in their opinion. The IRA cared only about the opinion of their base. Any body following their lead will similarly ignore the views of their opposition, as they themselves feel ignored.
Sneers don't deflect bullets.

[Bob]

David and JK,

Hindsight is 20/20. Even if FDR did blunder it doesn't mean he was calculating how to enter the war.

[Loz]

So if an election puts a pro-Remain coalition government in power, and they have a referendum that goes for Remain, you still think what's left of the 17.4 Brexiteers will justify and instigate the use of violence like the IRA?

If that's the case why would anyone want to be associated with such a movement?

SoD

[Bob]

David and JK,

After making the above comment I realized how dumb it is. The president does not unilaterally decide where to place the fleet:

"Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is located near the center of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland and about 4,000 miles from Japan.

Therefore, no one believed that the Japanese would start a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii.

Additionally, American intelligence officials were confident that any Japanese attack would take place in one of the (relatively) nearby European colonies in the South Pacific: the Dutch East Indies, Singapore or Indochina."

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor

[Loz]

Good call on shunning the BP though, Gaffer.

The dear old Currant Bun popped up on my radar with this one ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/10031930/brexit-party-boots-out-mep/amp/

Bum duly sniffed and found to be dodgy. And so soon, barely a year old. Seems the blush of youth spares no party from being a magnet for the dregs of corruption and incompetence.

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.

SoD

[Loz]

Jesus Christ, what is Charles Moore playing at? ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/29/margaret-thatcher-biography-visionary-scientist-saw-climate/

He describes Mrs T's initial fascination with global warming and climate change and leaves it at that.

Wtf? No mention of this ...

https://theecologist.org/2018/oct/17/who-drove-thatchers-climate-change-u-turn

What a disgrace to the right and to truth itself.

SoD

[David Duff]

Bob, you say:

"Even if FDR did blunder it doesn't mean he was calculating how to enter the war."

You need to check the history, FDR was exceedingly keen to join the war against Germany but the American people, understandably, did not! That is why he sent so many US cargo ships into the Atlantic to deliver stuff to the UK and hoped that the German u-boats would torpedo some of them and thus change America's mind. They, cleverly, did not rise to the bait!

You also say, "Therefore, no one believed that the Japanese would start a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii"

Adm. Richardson did, and he told FDR long and loud - and was sacked for his impudence!

Also in the few days prior to the attack, the US 'sigint' boys tracked the Jap fleet as it made its way south.

[Bob]

So then, contrary to the opinion of one Admmiral and some signal intelligence that had not yet convinced the Intel community at large, FDR put the fleet in harm's way on his own, and sacrificed the ships and American sailors. Sorry, still not convinced. That's a conspiracy theory that's been around on the right since the war. Non-ideological history doesn't support it. It's bonkers.

[JK]

Too Bob, though I'd have to check with AussieD as to whether he's got a link for it (so you'll just have to trust me in the meantime) I read somewhere "pre-internet" some number of Australia's Coastal Watchers were relaying alarms intended to get to Washington.

The nation's capital not the state.

[Bob]

JK,

No doubt there were warnings, but that they mean FDR was a traitor who purposefully destroyed American war ships and killed sailors is straight out of the right wing conspiracy theory fever swamps.

Do you guys have a theory about who killed Kennedy? I think it was Mick Jagger. This is from the third verse of Sympathy for the Devil:

I watched with glee while your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades for the gods they made
I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all, it was you and me

I mean, it's obvious. Wake up sheeple!

[David Duff]

Bob, calm down, dear, no-one is accusing FDR of being a traitor and the fact that he was hell bent on getting the USA into the war speaks FOR him, not against him. Also no-one is accusing him of putting the Pac Fleet into Pearl Harbour, the naval command did that way before.

What we are saying is that Adm. Richardson warned him, loudly and clearly, that the fleet should not remain there because it was a perfect target. No doubt other Admirals said the opposite but FDR sacked Richardson and the US fleet was whacked! By mere chance, thank God, the all-important carriers were not in base and so they escaped the strike. FDR was a chump then, and later for other reasons.

[Bob]

David,

An Americanism you might not be familiar with is "arm chair quarterback". It denotes second guessing the skill and judgement of the main offensive player in American so-called football from the comfort of one's living room.

[David Duff]

I see, Bob, you have confirmed my suspicion that you are an unblinking supporter and follower of 'experts'. Heaven forfend that any non-expert should have the impudence to hold an opinion different from that of an expert.

In the case we are discussing, we have one expert crapped upon from a great height by his non-expert boss who in the end was proven to be disastrously wrong. I suspect but cannot prove it that FDR was gagging for the Japs to attack not least because his unremitting tightening of the embargo screws on Japan simply added to their determination to strike. Of course, he thought the attack(s) would be aimed at the territories of the Dutch and the Brits and never thought they would aim at Pearl Harbour like that 'silly' Admiral warned him about! Sucker!

[Bob]

I would point out, David, that you are relying on the expertise of Adm. Richardson to the exclusion of others, and are therefore an unblinking supporter and follower of an expert. I would also point out that I find your opinions interesting.

[David Duff]

No, Bob, I am relying on the expertise of the man who was proved, in the most tragic circumstances, to have been right!

[Malcolm Pollack]

"crapped upon from a great height"

Nice! Filing that one away.

[David Duff]

My pleasure, Malcom!