The Sunday Rumble: 14.6.20

Peter Hitchens goes to the dark heart of it all:   I will not attempt to summarise his superb essay in today's Mail but, instead, urge you all to go and read it - please!

 

'Gotta just lurve this pic':

 

From this morning's Mail and it shows a BLM supporter carrying an injured, er, 'Black Lives Don't Matter'  (or something like that!) supporter following a violent clash in London.  What can one say, except possibly:

What a piece of work is man, How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel, In apprehension how like a god.

Well, 'maybe, baby'!

 

"Gone with the Wind"   But never gone from my memory!  It must be 60-odd years ago since I first read the book and then later on saw the film.  I have never forgotten them; story-telling of the highest order.  Now, of course, the puritan, peck-sniff censors have attacked it and driven it from the TV listings.  Whatever those preachy, hectoring idiots might say or do my response is the same, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"

 

Not just 'Good News' but deliciously, lip-smacking news:   I can hardly wait and it is all due to the splendid United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  No, me neither but they are the judges who have just decided that 'HillBilly' Clinton must personally enter the Court and answer questions from lawyers representing Judicial Watch who are eager, nay, slavering, at the chance to find out exactly what she did or did not do during the run-up to the slaughter of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya in 2012.

 

 

More Rumbles later . . .

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Loz]

While I disagree with Hitchens' analysis of lockdown his assessment of everything else is sound.

A bit late mind ...

This time, as ignorant armies seek the final abolition of Britain, it is very frightening. I would not like to say where it will end. I cannot claim to have known this would happen but I will say that I had an instinctive fear of very bad things to come when the country began its mad, wild shutdown in March.

Should've been reading D&N over the last 4 years. If he had, he would have heard how weak and rotten the institutions of the state in Britain were, and how their incompetence and negligence would be exposed when left alone outside of the better quality external governance and oversight that flattered to deceive. A better quality external governance and oversight that made us freer and more prosperous for the last 50 years than ever before in our history.

Hitchens didn't spot this one coming. He is silent about Europe in that article. Maybe the beginnings of some "revisionism" coming down the line. That's gonna be a tricky one after all he's said and done.

So Europe becomes the last bastion of the West. The final fastness of 2500 years of civilisation and enlightenment values. Will the "Stronger Together" unity of the great and ancient states of Europe withstand the barbarian tide approaching it after the US and Blighty are subsumed and joined to the raucous calls for destruction of "All points West"?

Unlikely, IMHO. Going clockwise: with Russia, China, a BLM socialist Dem US, and a BLM socialist Labour Blighty all bearing down on her, I think Europa will fall too. It's going to take a Charlemagne or Belisarius of magnificent proportions to save the last bastion of the West now.

Bollocks. Couldn't they have just waited a little bit longer until SoD was firmly under the sod?

SoD

[Whitewall]

The "woke Taliban" are in the streets. They feels the successes of their Long March.

"long march through the culture" to slowly discredit and undermine its institutions, values, and foundations. This was a brilliantly destructive idea. Eventually, the society would fall apart, opening the way to totalitarian socialism to rescue the mess".

For the moment, civilized people are too civilized to stop them. If our institutions no longer serve us, we owe them nothing.

[JK]

I'm returned y'all.

Turn down the cheers y'all my neighbors to the east (Atlanta I suspect) are bitchin' bout y'all throwing shade on their, er, 'ruckus' ...

https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/recordings/recordings2019.nsf/52121F3109D95B458525857B00560CF9/$file/20-5056.mp3

That there's the audio from Hillary's attempts to quash Judicial Watch like a bug - as we say over here, that's entertainment! Well it is better'n what Georgia has on offer.

[David Duff]

Welcome back, JK, you were missed and not just by the rifle of the husband of whichever lucky lady you were visiting!

[JK]

Thanks David and for that welcome back this:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?472974-7/senator-cotton-reacts-controversy-editorial

He's Arkansas authentic (unlike the carpetbagger foisted on us all by Bill).

[Bob]

Campaign time, so time for the witch burning ritual. *Yawn*.

[JK]

Well Bob your Woke compatriots appear to've lit enough pyres for that.

Remember your insisting to us sometime ago you were unfamiliar with the term, went so far as to proclaim you'd never heard it before?

Your gang's got you acclimated by now surely.

[Bob]

JK,

If I mislead you into thinking I was unfamiliar with the term it was unintentional. It's just that as a somewhat privileged citizen it seems pretentious. Are you going to defend the real forces of darkness?:

"Fox News published digitally altered and misleading photos on stories about Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in what photojournalism experts called a clear violation of ethical standards for news organizations."

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/fox-news-runs-digitally-altered-images-in-coverage-of-seattles-protests-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone/

[JK]

Depends Bob,

If you're limiting your use of the term real forces of darkness to just Fox that's problematic for me.

However if you include all altered (and/or misleading) media reporting - you're aware perhaps Bob of the many instances of omissions of text and/or insertions of text to quotes that tend to change what was obviously intended to something more in line with that "darkness" then I'd agree it's mostly indefensible.

"Mostly" owing to the fact of such as the Babylon Bee and the Onion. And perhaps the opinion writers. Krugman for an instance of the latter. Wasn't it him after all who put it out first that 'under Trump France is gonna get nuked'?

I seem to recall some few people getting kinda worked up about that. Took it as being "real."

[JK]

"So I asked Bill a question some of you are thinking of if you're into that world, which I find to be pretty interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether its ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said, that hasn't been checked but you're gonna test it. And then I said, supposing it brought the light inside the body, which you can either do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you're gonna test that too, sounds interesting. And I then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute, and is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it'd be interesting to check that. So you're going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me, so we'll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it goes in one minute, that's pretty powerful."

[Bob]

JK,

I have a fair grasp on why media suck, but Fox is in a class of its own. Their infotainment programs are functionally the state TV of America, meaning they represent the present government. In fact several administration officials were hired from Fox News Channel by their Dear Leader.

[Bob]

JK,

Not a good defense of Donny:

"Calls To Poison Centers Spike After The President’s Comments About Using Disinfectants To Treat Coronavirus"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2020/04/25/calls-to-poison-centers-spike--after-the-presidents-comments-about-using-disinfectants-to-treat-coronavirus/

"Calls to poison control centers spike after Trump disinfectant comments"

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/494744-poison-control-centers-report-increase-in-calls-pertaining-to-exposure-to

The media overplayed it like they do everything, but didn't make it up.

[Glesga]

Bob, I think Trump will be elected again unlike JFK!

[Bob]

Glesga,

Trump has a clear advantage in not being dead, which made campaigning difficult for Jack.

[JK]

Any breakdown (along partisan/ideological lines) of just who those callers were Bob?

Don't reckon it's just possible a bunch of CNN staff made a bunch of 'em, mebbe a few dozen run of the mill idiots?

Following another line, reckon how many EMT/ambulances were dispatched, how many hospitalized? Yes of course there was that lady from I think Arizona or maybe New Mexico dosed her husband with the fish tank cleaner but further investigation - something the media isn't so whoopie at, following up - anyway further investigation revealed the lady did have some history.

[JK]

Well Bob I shoulda read your Forbes link afore I questioned the premise - I see Maryland, New York City, and Illinois poison control centers being "swamped" - don't reckon Jussie Smollet had a delayed reaction to those MAGA hat wearing white supremacists who gave him that Clorox enema do you? Maybe the Baltimore mayor's staff cooked up some ploy with De Blasio's staff and pulled a version of the Chris Christie staff's 'bridge to nowhere gambit'?

I gotta tell you Bob, whenever I see media hollering up such obvious lunacies as mainlining Clorox I sometimes think to myself, 'if true, society will probably be improved by those lunatics funerals' heck I might even go so far as to say I'd personally mail their names in to the Darwin's Choice awards committee.

[Bob]

Well, sure, JK, it could all be a conspiracy in which CNN reporters made many calls over a period of days just to make Trump look bad. Nothing's impossible and reporters might literally be malicious knee-jerk leftism incarnate. Then again, Barney might have made up a batch of corn liquor with some kind of weird mold in the mash.

[JK]

Barney adheres to the strictest standards always Bob. I see no reason for you to go impugning the reputation of these practitioners of the art of likker making. No reason a'tall.

You should be ashamed of yersef.

[Loz]

Remember, disinfectant IS being investigated for use intravenously as an antiviral and antibacterial, and so are certain frequency ranges of light ...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17113717/

The use of povidone-iodine (PVP-I) is well known in clinical medical practice. In vitro studies of cell cultures infected by HIV and H5N1 virus have shown that PVP-I has an antiviral action, while the cell hosts were not affected and survived. It is therefore worth investigating whether PVP-I, diluted with Ringer's solution, may have a therapeutic effect by parenteral administration. Specifically, the question is whether small concentrations of intravenous PVP-I could be well tolerated by the human organism, and in addition, if it would be possible to detect a beneficial activity. Its intravenous use may have a potential value against infections (by microbes, viruses, fungi and parasites), as well as an anti-inflammatory activity, especially in cases where antibiotics are ineffective. It could be used as a blood disinfectant, for treating burns, for the prevention of cancer, for the therapy of H5N1 influenza after its mutation, and other potential applications.

What is it about some yank folks? Tell 'em that an A-bomb exists and they hide in a bunker and call themselves preppers. Tell 'em antiseptic is being investigated for use in body and they quoff a bottle of bleach. Some weird sort of Pavlovian response to political cues.

Darwinian natural selection could do with "the Don's Boost" offing peanut brained bleach quoffers - collect your award from the Darwin's Choice committee and donate it to the Don's re-election fund, JK. I think he's gonna need it.

Perhaps he might find the cue for folks with a penchant for statue demolition to off themselves next time.

SoD

[Bob]

SoD,

As soon as people start using povidone-iodine to scrub out their toilet bowls or whiten the laundry I'll concede the point. Not before.

JK,

I watched the lecture on the Ozarks. My main takeaway is nobody really knows where they are. The Ozarks, that is.

[JK]

Well Bob I certainly hope it stays that way. That is, where the Ozarks is.

Keeps the rabble away.

Oh and SoD, I read Bob's comment about 20 minutes before returning to leave this comment. Needed that time to locate the substance to scrub my toilet bowl and it worked pretty doggone fine. Thing's so shiny now I got to wear sunglasses when I take a leak.

[Bob]

JK,

I heard that stuff kills all the bugs in your septic tank.

[JK]

It would if I had a septic tank.

[Loz]

Here we go, is it all about to kick off?! ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/16/three-indian-soldiers-killed-clash-chinese-border/

An unnamed Indian officer has told Agence France Presse that no gunshots were fired and the fatalities were the result of “violent hand-to-hand scuffles”. Chinese and Indian troops do not typically carry weapons on the Line of Actual Control, in an attempt to avoid fatal clashes.

Must've been one helluva punch-up! If they can off each other with just fisticuffs imagine what they'll do when the shooting starts!

Let's hope the Don's reps are making sure the Indians are well stocked with all the right kit and kaboodle.

Bringing Ping-a-Ling down a peg or two by proxy would be a tonic for the West. 1.35 screaming Indians vs 1.4 billion Chinese, the ultimate ding-dong! Hold their coats and stand well back!

Plus knocking Covid and BLM off the MSM into the bargain. No Covid, BLM or Greta!

What's not to likeee?

SoD

[Bob]

And covid is back in Beijing, the North Koreans blew up a joint liaison office, the planet tied 2016 for the hottest May on record and hydroxychloroquine doesn't work. Along with social unrest and chaos in the streets it's Biblical. Or at least the 1960s.

[Bob]

JK, what do you do now that there's no Sears catalog?

[JK]

Well Bob our local library does provide sections of the New York Times.

And for the 'choleric' the A section.

[Loz]

Or at least the 1960s.

So a "hippie Libertarian" like me should be celebrating then, eh Bob!

And next up we've got the Sex Pixtols decade if I'm still around - my faves! My cup overfloweth!

You raise a valid point though - Ping-a-Ling and Rocketman would be doing us a massive favour if they think now's the time for some heavy duty argy-bargy. No-one will give a flying fig for Greta, Covid and BLM with those two on the rampage. Peace at last! Or War at last - or, well, you know what I mean.

So long as it's Chinese, Indians and South Koreans in the fray (and maybe the Ozzies and Kiwis since it's their neck of the woods, they've been way too smarty pants smug on the Covid thing). We can go "Ooooh!" and "Aaaah!" on the sidelines and play the white man - ooops, sorry, go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200 - referee I mean.

"Bait and bleed", big time.

And we know the one who's "Best in the West" for heading that kinda shindig up, don't we? The Donissimo!

Finest armchair general in the history of armchair generals. As a wargamer - "Games without frontiers, war without tears" - a man after my own heart. Peter Gabriel, blimey - oooh look, we're in the 80's now! Yaay!

SoD

[Bob]

You've bragged about your drug debauchery and mentioned sex and rock & roll more than once, SoD. Actually, I'm being ironic in a way you might not know about:

"In 1971, the controversial and influential author Ayn Rand denounced right-wing anarchists as “hippies of the right,” a charge still leveled against libertarians, who push for a minimal state and maximal individual freedom."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-libertarians/2013/08/02/94737b2c-f9f4-11e2-a369-d1954abcb7e3_story.html

Donny doesn't get along with generals and claims to know more than they do, so he might consider being called one an insult. Still, he's kept his promise not to start another war, and for the time being it's probably a good thing the US has largely withdrawn from geopolitics. It probably won't hurt to hold coats whilst others brawl for a change. As long as we don't get too silly and the dollar remains the international exchange currency, that is.

Peter Gabriel (with or without Genesis) was one of my favorite Brit bands, along with other prog rockers like Yes, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues and most others the Sex Pistols reacted against. We had some bands that called themselves punk during that time, but they weren't very political and only got big in NYC and a few other cities.

[JK]

SoD?

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/33962/watch-russian-troops-snuff-out-an-oil-well-blaze-with-an-anti-tank-gun

That one's got your address onit - Enjoy! (You may recall my mentioning being a part of a 'civilian team' went sandy following the First Gulf War? Ah the memories.)

[Loz]

Bull's eye JK! Right up my strasse!

I've often wondered about those traditional anti-tank gun units in modern Rooskie orbats when everyone else was going with ATGW's. Just thought it was a fond old conservative hark back to the WWII "Pakfront" kit and doctrine they nicked from the Jerries, like so many other things - the AK-47 and RPG both being Jerry inspired (StG 44 and PanzerFaust respectively).

But what a super practical all purpose bit of kit the good ol' AT gun actually is, particularly nowadays. It still lobs a supersonic kinetic energy slug at tanks, and with the same 125mm round that the tanks are using, so it's not outmatched there. HE round too, handy for putting out fires, but 125mm is a heck of a lot of blast to add as close support for infantry. It also fires the ATGW round out of the barrel, so it's one of them too when it wants to be.

But last, and definitely not least, the radar. What a stroke of genius! I'm definitely gonna try that when the Farnborough Wargames Society reconvenes after Covid. Here's the tactic, two variants: Offensive - Fire smoke rounds onto the enemy so they can't see or be seen, switch on the radar, then pick 'em off like sitting ducks while they're blithering around in the gloom. Or, defensive, let smoke canisters off around your own units so you can't see or be seen, switch on the radar, and pick off the enemy while he's charging towards you outside the cloud.

That'll cause a right hoo-har at FWGS! When they ask me how I thought of it they'd never believe me!

SoD