DUFF & NONSENSE!

God, the news these days is totally boring-snoring!

In a way, I'm not too upset at lacking the will and energy to knock out my usual stream of news commentary because the news these days is eye-stabbingly tedious!  I mean, who can say anything sensible or interesting concerning the current news cycle?  'Over here', it's non-stop Brexit which, thanks to the dim-witted woman in No. 10, is rapidly sinking to the depths of one of the old-time 'Goon Shows' but without the laughs!  'Over there' nothing much is happening as everyone waits with bated breath for 'Procurator-General' Mueller to drop his sack of indictments and handcuffs on the White House steps.

'Just over there', in the European empire, the Grand Pashas are all busy congratulating themselves for achieving what Louis XIV, Bonaparte, the Kaiser and Adolf Hitler failed to do which is to defeat those irritating Brits.  My message to them is, "Stick around, kids, you ain't seen nuttin' yet!"  None of them seem to have detected the non-British rumblings beneath their feet emanating from their "dear colleagues"!

Meanwhile, as the Russian serfs begin to realise what a crap country they inhabit compared to others, 'Vlad the Impaler' and all his gangster government will be wondering what flash trick they can pull from their Xmas stockings to make the people love them again.  Whatever it is, Russia's neighbours had better watch out!  In the meantime, Xi 'Smiley' Jinping will continue to keep smiling until . . .

Ah well, we shall see what we shall see!

 

 

My favourite American magazine

No, no, not Playboy - behave!  I am referring to The American Spectator (TAS) to which I first became attached in the late '80s or early '90s.  In fact, back then in the pre-internet age, I was a subscriber and my copies duly arrived not by e-mail but by air mail - how quaint!  Undoubtedly, the main attraction for me in the early '90s was their dogged investigations into the Clinton family, mainly him but plenty on her, too!  I am reminded of all this by an article in today's edition by Paul Kengor who reminds us that it is 20 years ago this month that Bill Clinton was impeached - almost certainly because of the superb and unrelenting investigation by TAS, led by its founder and editor, R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

As a suburban, lower middle-class Englishman with only the skimpiest knowledge of American politics, the story of this investigation was quite incredible, particularly as it led, eventually, to the downfall of the main 'perp' who was also the most powerful man in the world!  Let me be clear that the fact that the Clintons were Democrats had nothing to do with my delight in their disgrace.  The fact is that back then I could barely distinguish the difference between Democrats and Republicans.  What impressed me was this example of a small magazine persevering against the most powerful and helping, eventually, to bring them down.

Please read Mr. Kengor's reminiscence and relish the story as I did 'back in the day'.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 9.12.18

Sky News is degenerating!   I know, I know, I grumbled about this a few days ago but it is important to me that it maintains its former standards because the BBC News is vile!  Just one example, Sky are mounting an extra-ordinary campaign for them to be given the right to stage a debate between the leaders of the two main parties prior to any election.  Who, in their right mind, would waste even 0.1 seconds of their life listening to Corbyn and May lie to each other and to us?  Sky should spend more time getting a grip of their studio technicalities which are forever going wrong with either the wrong picture appearing or no pictures at all!  And finally, they should put a stop to the increasingly anti-Brexit tone oozing through their editorial department.

 

Trump should study FDR's history:   Further to my post yesterday on FDR's partial culpability for Pearl Harbour, President Trump should take note that it was FDR's somewhat careless application of trade sanctions against Japan that absolutely clinched the Japanese decision to attack.  As 'The Donald' tightens the screws on China he needs to do it slowly and with care!

 

What made Trudeau Jnr. man-up?   At the behest, one assumes, of the 'Ginger Ninjah' south of the border, the Canadian government arrested Ms. Meng Wanzhou, the lady president of the truly 'yuuuuuuuuge' Chinese conglomerate, Huawei.  She is the daughter of the founder of the company which is in fact simply a commercial department of the Chinese government.  The Chinese are now threating 'Boy' Trudeau with the equivalent of an attack by a thousand dragons unless he sets the lady free.  The USA want her to face trial for breaking sanctions against Iran.  So, the question is, which way will 'Boy' Trudeau bend?

 

Well done, Mr. President!   He certainly did one thing right, he fired that creepy James Comey as (so-called) head of the FBI.  This man who was praised to the heavens as a really 'smart guy' with a firm grip of his organisation has just faced some fierce questioning in Congress on his time as the boss.  One of the Representatives analysed his replies which consisted of:

‘I don’t know’ - 166 times
'I don’t remember' - 71 times
‘I don’t recall’ - 8 times

Would you give this man a job as a parking attendant?

Hat-tip to Mr. Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker

 

William Wilberforce, a truly great man:   Of course, I knew his name from long past as a leader of the movement to abolish slavery but reading my latest history book reminded me what a remarkable man he was, plus of course, the handful of supporters who urged him on.  Given the preceding 5,000-odd years of human history when slavery was 'a given', Wilberforce and his followers were truly remarkable and I am very proud that an British parliament passed it into law and enforced it round the world.

 

Traffic jams, such fun - NOT!   According to Zero Hedge, some outfit called "INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard" - no, me neither! - has measured traffic flows, or to be precise, traffic jams, and placed London as second worst in Europe after Moscow.  Why am I not surprised!

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

Pheeeeeew, don't mess with 'MDA', Mr. President

'MDA', or 'My Darling Ann' (Coulter), as I think of her, has executed a perfect pirouette and from being the pretty, blonde girl with long legs who led the cheer- leaders for Donald Trump she has now turned nasty, and I do mean really nasty, so better watch out Mr. President!  She has taken severe umbrage at 'The Wall', or to be precise, The wall with not only no name but absolutely no existence because Mr. President appears to have lost the bricks or something!  Remember, and if you can't Ms. Coulter will remind you, Trump's absolutely definite promise to build a wall between the USA and Mexico? 

“On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall. We will use the best technology, including above- and below-ground sensors, that’s the tunnels. Remember that: above and below. Towers, aerial surveillance and manpower to supplement the wall, find and dislocate tunnels and keep out criminal cartels …”

— Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump

As 'MDA' brutally reminds us - and him! - the first thing he did was to sign a spending bill which expressly forbad him from spending a cent on a wall and in a few months he will sign another on the same terms.

If we were talking about a golf course in Scotland, I think Trump could figure out how to get it done.  But instead of winning, we’re getting whining. We’re told it’s Congress’ fault for not giving Trump money to build the wall! The ACLU will sue! A judge will stop him! Blame Paul Ryan! (Possible Trump epitaph: Chuck wouldn’t let me!)

I had my doubts concerning 'The Donald' from the beginning but I kept neutral mainly because I was so happy that 'HillBilly' had been defeated.  Also, I was never convinced that the wall would be effective even if it was built which, unlike 'MDA', I doubted would ever occur.  However, now we know - 'it ain't gonna happen, not no how!'

My American friends might ask, not unreasonably, why should it bother me, a Brit?  Well, I would reply, it's all those 'unknown unknowns' lurking in the future.  As 'MDA' puts it:

Every day that Trump does not keep his promises on immigration, thousands of immigrants turn 18 and start block voting for the Democrats, while thousands of traditional Americans die off.

Florida and Texas are about five years away from turning solid blue. Trump was our last chance. After this, the country is never going to elect a Republican president again. [My emphasis]

Need I say more?

 

 

How much blame does FDR deserve for Pearl Harbour?

Yesterday, of course, was yet another anniversary of the most stupid attack in the history of stupid attacks when Japan secretly snuck south down the Pacific and caught the US Navy with its pants down in Pearl Harbour.  As always after such an unmitigated disaster, there are oodles and oodles of blame to be shared around but, remarkably, one man seems to have dodged virtually all of it - Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  He, of course, was the President at the time and in my opinion any leader who is in receipt of the adulation of his population plus all the enormous perks and privileges of the office must take a fair share of the blame.

If memory serves - and these days it frequently fails to do so - it was my old e-pal, 'JK', who some years ago on this topic brought to my attention the history of the late Adm. James O. Richardson who in 1940 was C-in-C of the US Fleet.  He it was who, in a face-to-face meeting, warned Roosevelt that his order to move the US Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbour was a dangerous mistake because the site was too vulnerable and the Japanese were certain to use a surprise attack when they began the war.  His reward was to be dismissed!  Roosevelt's reward was to be remembered forever as a great, iconic leader!  To be fair, in many ways he was but Pearl Harbour is a stain that will - and should - remain with him forever.

 

 

American meanderings - well, anything rather than Brexit!

I can't wait for the curtain to go up on The Mueller Farce, so much jollier than a tragedy!  Whatever, that Washington equivalent of 'Insp. Clousseau' has managed to rake up you can be certain of one thing, there will be tons and tons of it.  In fact, it will probably take as long for the 'meeja muck-rakers' to sift through it as the actual 'investigation' took.  However, I  do think 'Insp.' Mueller deserves some praise prior to publication because it seems to me that he has been unbelievably successful in keeping the contents secret.  Everything else in Washington leaks like a sieve but, whilst there has been endless speculation, nobody seems to have the real guts of it.

Actually, the only certainty is that 'The Ginger Ninja' is going to have several tons of brown stuff poured over him.  However, exactly how much of it actually sticks remains unknown for the moment.  Prof. Alan Dershowitz, a legal swot of considerable renown puts it this way:

"It was always an uphill struggle for Mueller, since collusion itself is not a crime. In other words, even if he could show that individuals in the Trump campaign had colluded with Russian agents to help elect Trump, that would be a serious political sin, but not a federal crime. Even if Mueller could prove that members of the Trump team had colluded with Julian Assange to use material that Assange had unlawfully obtained, that, too, would not be a crime. What would be a crime is something that no one claims happened: namely, that members of the Trump campaign told Assange to hack the Democratic National Committee before Assange did so. Merely using the product of an already committed theft of information is not a crime. If you don't believe me, ask the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and other newspapers that used material illegally obtained by Assange with full knowledge that it was illegally obtained. Not only did they use information from Assange, but also from Chelsea Manning and from the stolen Pentagon Papers. The First Amendment protects publication by the media of stolen information. It also protects use of such information by a political campaign, since political campaigns are also covered by the First Amendment."

Of course, "as any fule do no", no legal entanglements are ever simple and straightforward - well, those bloody lawyers will keep on arguing which is understandable really given that that is how they earn their 'yuuuuuge' amounts of 'moolah'.  Anyway, if it takes my mind off Brexit, it can't be all bad!

In the meantime 'over there', they have yet more 'interesting times' to look forward to in 2020.  Just about everyone and his dog, er, well, everyone who is a dedicated Dem with a Dem dog, thinks that Trump will be crushed.  I can understand that belief given that he is by far and away the most eccentric POTUS in the history of the Republic.  Even so, when you glance at what the Dems have on offer it is not unreasonable to think he might still be in with chances.  Ms. Camille Paglia, a seasoned Leftie, puts it this way:

"If the economy continues strong, Trump will be re-elected. The Democrats (my party) have been in chaos since the 2016 election and have no coherent message except Trump hatred. Despite the vast pack of potential candidates, no one yet seems to have the edge. I had high hopes for Kamala Harris, but she missed a huge opportunity to play a moderating, statesmanlike role and has already imprinted an image of herself as a ruthless inquisitor that will make it hard for her to pull voters across party lines."

"Screechy Elizabeth Warren has never had a snowball’s chance in hell to appeal beyond upper-middle-class professionals of her glossy stripe. Kirsten Gillibrand is a wobbly mediocrity. Cory Booker has all the gravitas of a cork. Andrew Cuomo is a yapping puppy with a long, muddy bullyboy tail. Both Bernie Sanders (for whom I voted in the 2016 primaries) and Joe Biden (who would have won the election had Obama not cut him off at the knees) are way too old and creaky."

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/12/camille-paglia-hillary-wants-trump-to-win-again/

I, too, sense yet another example of Dem hubris of the sort that did for 'HillBilly' back in 2016.  To them it seems impossible that ordinary American voters, or 'the deplorables' as they call them, could support such a man as Donald Trump.  Mind you, insulting voters is dumber than anything 'The Donald' has done!

 

 

One picture worth a thousand words

No, no, no, Darlings, that is not the auditorium in which I made my final farewell stage performance!  This is, in fact, an auditorium in which that epitome of honesty and honour and courage, Mrs. Hillary Fuckem Clinton, ooops, sorry, I mean, Rodham Clinton was due to make an appearance as a start to her coming Presidential election campaign.  My slip-up with her name, of course, was entirely due to her infamous throw-away line when questioned about the slaughter of several of her State Department officials in Libya - "What difference – at this point, what difference does it make?"

That ultra-Left wing harridan, Ms. Maureen Dowd at the NYT, shows her little mercy and nor should she!  The Clintons are the disgusting epitome of the very worst of American politics.  I wonder if, as I suspect, her grand tour produces a long list of half-empty auditoriums on which the media will enjoy a feeding frenzy, whether her insatiable lust for power will outlast her gigantic ego as the truth gradually sinks in that she is finished!  Who needs an elderly, ugly, dumpy, greedy and ultra stupid woman like her when you can have, for example, an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who might be just as stupid but at least she's a 'looker'?

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 2.12.18

I can't take much more!   I have grimly soldiered on through the shot and shell of Brexit which seems to be nearing some sort of decision but which 'as any fule do no' will only lead to Round 2 and then to Round 3 and so on ad infinitum!  However, at least we are about to see the premiere of yet another but very different 'story-without-end' - the Trump vs. Mueller contest.  I can hardly wait, er, to catch the boat to St. Helena, that is!

 

As usual, Dershowitz is spot on:   I have long been an admirer of Alan Dershowitz, a truly Liberal lawyer in the best sense of 'Liberal' as opposed to the fakers who label themselves 'liberal' despite their tyrannical leanings.  He summarises his thoughts on the Mueller 'investigation' and it is worth a read to help clear your mind before the mass hysteria erupts.  Courtesy of Zero Hedge:

His mandate was to uncover crimes committed by the Trump campaign with regard to Russia's attempts to influence the election. It was always an uphill struggle for Mueller, since collusion itself is not a crime. In other words, even if he could show that individuals in the Trump campaign had colluded with Russian agents to help elect Trump, that would be a serious political sin, but not a federal crime. Even if Mueller could prove that members of the Trump team had colluded with Julian Assange to use material that Assange had unlawfully obtained, that, too, would not be a crime. What would be a crime is something that no one claims happened: namely, that members of the Trump campaign told Assange to hack the Democratic National Committee before Assange did so. Merely using the product of an already committed theft of information is not a crime. If you don't believe me, ask the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and other newspapers that used material illegally obtained by Assange with full knowledge that it was illegally obtained.[My emphasis]  Not only did they use information from Assange, but also from Chelsea Manning and from the stolen Pentagon Papers. The First Amendment protects publication by the media of stolen information. It also protects use of such information by a political campaign, since political campaigns are also covered by the First Amendment.

 

Vive La France!   No, really, I mean it.  Yes, of course, they are a constant irritant but, dammit, I do like their country and - on the whole - their people, too.  Thus, it is distressing to see what is beginning to look like a breakdown in their civic structure and reports that their army might have to be brought in to control the streets is worrying.  Also, of course, there is a warning for us because exactly the same sort of evil sub-strata exists in our society and is merely waiting its opportunity.  So go for it, France! 

 

So that Bill Shakespeare was really a 'left-footer'! 'HOONOO?'  So says Clare Asquith, the Countess of Oxford and Asquith and who am I to argue with her?  Actually, I have no wish to do so not least because, according to The Telegraph, she bases her opinion on a deep reading of his poem The Rape Of Lucretia which I have never read!  Also, to be honest, I would not be surprised if it was so because Shakespeare was born into a Catholic society until Henry VIII put his boot in and stopped it!  The poor old 'Peeps' were then in a dilemma particularly as the rules were chopped and changed as his various children took over until 'good ol' Lizzie' put her beautifully styled and be-jewelled shoe down and said that from now we are 'Proddies' - get used to it!  One thing is as certain as you can ever be about that mysterious man from Stratford, he was definitely a small 'c' conservative, so the possibility that he retained strong Catholic sympathies does not surprise me.

 

I'm still in love with 'The Little Dancer':   It was decades ago that I first saw her, 'in the flesh', so to speak in Paris  although it was probably bronze, but anyway, it was love at first sight, er, even though she was only '14 years old'!

That's the thing about art, we may try to justify our likes and dislikes intellectually after the event but mostly the reaction is visceral.  Thus it was for me and Miss Marie von Goethem who was the model for Edgar Degas.  Don't ask me to analyse why, it was just a sort of 'je ne sais pas' moment.  I even have a small tourist copy of her.  Anyway, all that soppiness is by way of telling you all that there is a very good article on her in The Telegraph.

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Better watch out, my 'Yankee-doodle' friends, there's a Mueller about!

I don't pretend to understand the intricacies of the American legal system.  Mind you, I don't understand that much about ours, either!  Even so, the distant sight and sound of the so-called 'Mueller investigation' which seems to grind on and on for ever fills me with foreboding.  Not the least of my worries is the fact that no-one seems able to provide a detailed and explicit charge, instead it is all left vague so that the 'investigation' can meander on and on plucking up a few 'by-standers' here and there as the 'Commissars' think fit which will at least serve as a justification for the '$zillions' they have cost the tax-payers.

To me, it signals the dangers of the mega-State, where the power-players are far removed from the ordinary people and thereby free to manoeuvre in support of their own political and financial purposes.  Sooner or later the ambition and temptation will arise within the hearts and minds of this or that cabal to go for 'the throne' and if their machinations succeed, why would they ever give it back?

 

 

The Dems are showing signs of galloping AO-C

For the benefit of my British and Commonwealth readers, I should explain that 'AO-C' stands for Ms. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has just been elected as a Congressional Representative for the Democratic party in a 'Noo Yawk' district.  She is somewhere to the Left of Karl Marx and makes 'Jezza' Corbyn look like a steady, moderate, middle-of-the-roader'!  But, hey (as they say 'over there') who cares, she's young she's female, she's 'hot' and she's 'right on', ooops, sorry, that should be 'Left-on'!  Within days she had the temerity to take on that waxed effigy, aka, Nancy Pelosi (118), and tell her, in effect, that the 'old guard' - really old in Nancy's terms - was finished and a new dawn had risen - in fact, she, 'AO-C', is the leader of 'The Sunrise Movement' which is not, as I first thought, a polite description of the first visit to the toilet every morning!

Emboldened by her brave charge into the 'Dragon's den', some of her supporters backed her up with a fierce letter to 'Great Grandma' Pelosi saying, in effect, that 'for her the war was over'!  However, in the meantime, our little firebrand, 'AO-C', had obviously had her wrist slapped because she did a smart about-turn and criticised her comrades' letter for being too vicious and thus playing into the hands of those (small 'c') 'conservatives' (boo, hiss) in the Democratic leadership.

In addition she had begun her campaign with furious attacks on 'Big Business' including the mega-giants in the so-called 'tech sector'.  Obviously, someone in the Dem hierarchy is, even now, pointing out to her 'the bleedin' obvious' that it is precisely those tech giants who contribute '$zillions' into the Dem party coffers.

If this is the best that the Dems can offer up by way of opposition then I think 'The Donald' can put his feet up and relax!

Hat-tip to: https://spectator.org/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-from-renegade-star-to-establishment-tool/

 

 

American fissures

During the course of my life I have seen the British empire dissolve and to be truthful I never shed a tear. Of course, it was helped on its way to oblivion by America under the leadership of Franklin Roosevelt and I bear him no grudge - although at the time he might have spent his energy better by concentrating on the growth of the Soviet empire rather than the already tottering British one!  Even so, he did not destroy the British empire, it was already a crumbling folie de grandeur and given that it was costing us a fortune - which we did not have! - then I am duly grateful for the extra push he provided.  Also, it must be said loudly and clearly, that having woken up to the Soviet menace, America did not retreat behind its oceanic defences but stood to the ramparts in Europe and elsewhere.

Even so, it's time for another poem:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Now, with the happy demise of the Soviet empire, America faces its most dangerous national threat since the civil war, not (yet!) from an outside force but even more insidiously dangerous from internal forces.  I have mentioned before how deeply shocked I have been by the internal dissensions in American civic life.  Partly, of course, this is because of the internet which allows me, 'over here', to observe far more closely the growing civil war 'over there'.  I am open to arguments that it was ever thus in American life and that I should stop re-acting like an elderly, Victorian spinster catching a glimpse of an ankle, to which I would respond by saying 'maybe, baby', but sometimes the outside observer sees more than the internal combatant!

As I said earlier, this feeling of unease has been with me for sometime but it continues to grow and yesterday I read an article which confirmed my worst fears.  I hasten to add, that I do not necessarily accept everything in the article but enough of it confirms my instincts over recent years.  As a Brit, I have an instinctive liking for America and (most) Americans and thus my uneasiness is compounded.  The article concerned is by Mr. Selwyn Duke (no, me neither!) writing at The American Thinker.  I will quote from it but I would urge you all to read the original.  Here are his opening two paragraphs:

Truly great disasters come like a thief in the night. How many foresaw Rome’s sacking in 410 A.D., her collapse 66 years later, WWI or WWII? As for today, how many see that the United States is at what some call a tipping point, what others may call a Fourth Turning? Whatever you call it, the American republic is in its last days. This is too scary for many to contemplate, but there’s something far scarier: playing ostrich and not being prepared for things to come.

The so-called Left, ever violent since its French Revolution birth and as power hungry as ever, wholly controls the culture: the media, mainstream and social; academia; and entertainment. This means it controls long-term politics, since the latter is downstream of culture. So is big business, mind you, which is why the Left controls most of it as well; this, of course, translates into funding.

Like me, Mr. Duke is still amazed at Donald Trump's win in 2016, a win which I would put down mostly to the inherent stupidity and egotism of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party - 'it was her turn, after all'!  However, Mr. Duke doubts that the Republicans can count on that in 2020.

Digging into the electoral numbers also tells a tale. Ninety percent of blacks, 79 percent of Jews, 77 percent of Asians, 69 percent of Hispanics and 59 percent of women voted Democrat — same as usual. Can we stop now with talk about “Blexit,” the “Walkaway” movement, how “Hispanics are natural conservatives,” how Jews are waking up to the Left’s anti-Semitism and all the other connedservative self-delusion? People vote in accordance with their emotional and philosophical foundations, and “You cannot reason a man out of a position he has not reasoned himself into,” as Jonathan Swift put it. Fooling oneself doesn’t help.

To alter a much-loved but out of date political 'truth', "It's the economy, stoopid", it is more accurate to say, 'It's the demographics, stoopid'.

This [The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965] has caused a historic demographic shift (and attendant electoral one) that has seen our nation go from 85-plus percent white in 1965 to only 61 percent non-Hispanic white today. Let’s define further the political impact, using conservative figures.

We absorb approximately 1.3 million legal immigrants annually. If one million ultimately remain and are naturalized and 50 percent vote, and 80 percent of that group breaks Democrat, it means a net plus for Democrats of 300,000 voters every year and three million every decade.

I have no wish to upset my elderly American readers but there is also this demographic to remember: 

So let’s crunch some more numbers. Between Trump’s 2016 victory and Election Day 2020, more than 10 million Americans will have died; mostly older, they’re a relatively conservative voting demographic. They will more or less be replaced, however, by approximately 16 million young people who’ll turn 18 during those years. Unlike their elders, though, they’ll disproportionately cast ballots for hardcore statists.

Given this ongoing immigration and indoctrination-enabled electoral-degradation process, is it now clearer why Republicans have lost the popular vote in six of the last seven presidential contests?

There is no need to quote Mr. Duke at length on the nature of the modern Democratic party, it is there, in all its brutal, stupid, childish reality for all to see should they dare to open their eyes.  Perhaps their most grotesque feature is that beneath their cries for 'universal love' there beats a deep and abiding hatred for anyone who fails to bend the knee to their world-view.  It is only a matter of time before these savages - I use the term carefully -  control the Congress and the Presidency at which point it will no longer be "God bless America" but more like "God help America"!

 

 

 

 

This is by way of introduction - or warning!

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

 

I have a post rumbling away in the back of what passes for my mind and as you can guess from the introductory poem above, it is not exactly a barrel of laughs!  I have been provoked to it by an article I read, which may or may not be accurate, but which encapsulates my own growing feeling of despair.  Things to do, and thoughts to sort, but I hope to get it written later today.  If you are feeling in a good mood, then give it a miss!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 18.11.18

"The Secret in their Eyes":  Some of you old-time regulars will recognise that film title because, crashing old bore that I am, it comes up for discussion as regularly as clockwork.  Last night, the 'Memsahib' went to bed early and in an idle moment I flicked through the recordings I have made over time on my TV 'do-flicker-recording-thingie'.  And there it was, so I watched it again for the 'umpteenth' time.  It truly is a great love and horror story and film which once seen can never be forgotten - quite literally, it haunts.  It covers a 25-year period and the action switches forward and back.  It is set in Argentina when their quasi-legal, police and justice system was subject to corrupt political influence.  However, that is merely the background but what strikes you to the heart is the story line.  Once seen, you can never forget these all too human - and inhuman - characters and their multiple tragedies.  If you try it, do not attempt to make sense of everything immediately, simply watch it, leave it and return to it again later.  Gradually, layer after layer of deeper meaning will be revealed.  I have never been so moved by a film.

 

'Who will rid me of this wretched woman?'  With all due acknowledgment to Henry II whose words I have not only 'nicked' but altered as well!  I am not suggesting that Mrs. May is a wicked woman but it is now clear that she is one of those unfortunate possessors of power whose very own 'virtues' - courage, tenacity, stubbornness - are bringing down the entire country.  She must go - and go quickly!

 

'Jonestown' - a name that haunts:   Every so often the name 'Jonestown' crops up, or to be precise, 'the Jonestown massacre' and every time it does, I wonder what it was all about.  As a slight excuse for my ignorant laziness, the sad fact is that there are so many 'massacres' in America that they tend to blend into each other.  Anyway, coming across the name today made me decide to look it up.  Now I wish I hadn't!  Nearly a thousand people, men, women and children, slaughtered, willingly or unwillingly, under the mesmeric leadership of a total 'nut job' called Jim Jones.  There are no words . . .

 

Dan Hodges lets me down:   As regular readers know, I have been something of a fan of Dan Hodges since I first discovered him writing in The Sunday Mail.  He is, I suspect, either 'a jolly decent chap' or 'an alright bloke', depending on your background, which probably explains his soppy commentary on Mrs. May and her predicament today.  According to Mr. Hodges, she is the epitome of decent, British virtue as she sticks bravely to her (non)Brexit policy.  Meanwhile, all those rats who grimly oppose her are cruel, malevolent rotters of the worst kind.  Possibly, Mr. Hodges, but with respect you do not know for sure.  It could be that she is a frightful, vainglorious and ruthless defender, not of this country, but of her own deeply-held and very personal ambitions.  And it may be that the 'rotters' are actually decent men and women desperately trying to stop a disaster hitting this country.  What is the truth of the matter?  I do not know and I will only find out, bit by bit, when those bloody "events, dear boy, events" play out and the history books begin to be written.  All I do know for sure, is that her solution to our Brexit problem is a stinker but that does not necessarily make her an evil woman - although she may be!

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 11.11.18

11.11.18:   Just writing that date - 11.11.18 - in my heading, gave me pause!  I have been watching the television coverage of events in Whitehall as thousands of representatives of different military associations, some of them harking back to the reign of Charles II, marched past the Cenotaph to mark, this year, the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI.  The phrase 'living history' is somewhat hackneyed but in a sense that parade and what it represents is exactly that - living history.  All those men and women marching past represent the warp and woof of British history over the past century or so.   Not, I hasten to add, the entirety of British history, just a part of it but even so as you follow the threads as they weave their way to almost all parts of the globe it gives you a notion as to what an extra-ordinary and epic nation this small, North Atlantic island really was in world historical terms.  Needless to say, our history, like everyone else's,  is the usual mix of 'the good, the bad and the ugly' because that is human nature.  Even so, I think there is much in it that is worthy of judicious pride.

ADDITIONAL:  Lest my soppy words above smooch you into a mellow mood of self-satisfaction, I urge you to read the 'Heffalump's' stern corrective in today's Telegraph!

 

Our American friends live between a rock and a hard place:  I am beginning to run out of the sheer number of natural disasters that keep crashing and smashing and bashing America.  Yes, I know it is a 'yuuuuuge' country but even so they do seem to have been suffering unduly recently and the nature of their sufferings is almost apocalyptic.  I wish them well - and soon! 

 

Sorry, Mr. President, but you just 'blooped' - big time!   For the headlines to read, in effect, that President Trump failed to attend a WWI memorial event in France because he might get his hair wet is 'stoopid' beyond belief.  We all realise that you have 'a hair problem', Mr. President, but as POTUS, sometimes you have to make a tiny sacrifice to acknowledge the truly 'yuuuuuuuuuuuge' sacrifice that your own soldiers made a hundred years ago.

 

Sorry, sorry, sorry - not many rumbles today all due to - yes, you guessed - those bloody "events, dear boy, events"!

 

More rumbles later  . . .

 

 

The best of bad news!

I have just read that Justice Ginsburg (105) (85) has taken yet another tumble on some stairs in the Supreme Court.  Rumours that Justice Kavanaugh tied some thread across the top step are not to be believed - honestly!

To be serious, she is an exceedingly gutsy, old lady and I hope she makes a full recovery, but, if it helps persuade her to spending more time with her flowers or cats or biographies of Karl Marx or whatever, then I wish her a very speedy retirement!

After that, it's time for the rest of us to open that prime vintage bottle of Scotch we have all been saving up for a celebration!

Whither America?

Well, as you can see, I don't just ask myself easy questions and quite how I am going to answer that one in less than three volumes beats me!  So I tell you what, instead of attempting brain-aching analyses - who sniggered? - I will just ramble on.

First of all, and I may well have said this before, I am yet again amazed and totally admiring of the men who composed the US Constitution.  It was, and it remains, a creation of genius and I am proud to say that most of the men concerned were of Anglo-Saxon stock, raised in the tradition of British law developed piecemeal over centuries.  Not the least of its qualities are the subtleties of the checks and balances which serve to restrain 'mere majorities'.  We are about to see these tested to extremes in the immediate future following the mid-term elections.

To paraphrase the old saying, 'the demographics, they're a-changin''!  More and more Americans are congregating in 'Big Cities' where a proletarian-socialist philosophy finds a natural audience.  Trump did well to galvanise his more rural supporters but one senses that they are a diminishing force.  My first re-action to the mid-terms was that Trump should have a relatively easy ride to a second presidency but thinking about it, I am not so sure.  He, himself, is about to undergo a severe test of his political stamina.  With both houses in GOP control it was a feathered nest for this egotistical man 'to strut his stuff'.  The next two years will be exceedingly different during which his armour-proper will be constantly affronted and attacked and he, the ruler, will be subject to merciless lèse-majesté.  Never mind the politics, will his psyche stand up to the strain?

Even so, it is worth remembering that Trump is not the GOP!  I suspect that ideology does not rank high in Republican circles.  Their leadership, being mainly stacked with practical men eager for a deal (and an earn!) do not on the whole spend too much time on political philosophy!  Even so, now might be the time for them to concentrate on deeper things and to attempt to discover what it is that concerns more of their fellow citizens.  To give but one simple and obvious example - women!  Their vote is crucial and the mostly men who run the GOP need to work out what it is that turns so many women 0ff their party?  The all too obvious nature of their less than attractive leader might be one factor and so perhaps the GOP leadership needs to ask itself whether they really do need this 'good ol' boy' President to run again?  The smoother, more emollient Mitt Romney might be a better bet!

It is all exceedingly complicated and, alas, I have barely scratched the surface - so no change there then!

 

 

 

Now the Dem infighting will get vicious

Now, following the, er, success of their vaunted 'Blue Wave Trickle', the Dems have a major internal problem in deciding who to choose to take on the 'Ginger Ninja' in 2020.  The field is crowded with 'wannabe' candidates but, as viewed from 'over here', there appears to be a paucity of talent.  Today's Telegraph offers a list of 'runners and riders' most of whom  come under the general heading of crooks, crocks, crumpet and crap - although I would hesitate to append particular titles to particular individuals!

The internecine warfare which will soon break out should provide us all with some amusement during the forthcoming year.  My guess is that given the juvenile state of mind of the contemporary Democratic party, the 'old crocks' are simply wasting their time which is a pity in Bernie Saunders' case because if we, 'over here', have to put up with 'Jezza' Corbyn then why shouldn't our Yankee-doodle friends have a dose of 'good ol' Bernie'?  If I had to put money on it at this very early stage, I think I would bet a dollar on Mr. Corey Booker, about whom I know next to nothing but who possesses the 'yuuuuuge' advantage of being the same colour as 'Obamarama' which will melt the hearts and wallets of Democrats everywhere!

Mind you, he will have keen competition from Ms. Kamala Harris who has the considerable advantages of being not only black but also brown and, even more, she's a woman - in this day and age, need I say more?  A very brief skim of her record indicates that she has considerable intelligence - not surprising given her Indian genes! - so my guess is that she will be a favourite.

Needless to say, after that piece of deeply analytical reasoning, the fact is it could be any of them and I still have a soft spot for 'Fauxcahontas' who reduces me to giggles!

 

 

The worst possible outcome for the Dems

Dammit, my Yankee-doodle friends, I do wish you would adjust your clocks to Her Majesty's royal timetable because I was awake all night listening to the mid-term results drip in and this morning I am totally 'knacked'!  I may have to take to my bed later on but- hey! - that's not unheard of!

Let me explain my heading.  The very best outcome for the Dems would have been a total defeat across the board.  Of course, the Dems would have taken that as a disaster but they're not very bright, are they?  If they had been given a smart slap across the bottom and sent to bed without any supper, they might have snivelled but they would have got the message that their current juvenile politics are not very impressive to 'yuuuuuuge' segments of the American public and that might have forced some of their leadership to grow up! 

As it has turned out, the Dems have achieved the worst outcome.  They have 'achieved' their minimal victory in capturing the House which will simply encourage the political juveniles, er, like the 78-year old Nancy Pelosi, to double down on every possible legal obstruction they can hurl at the President which will gradually bring the government of the USA to a halt.  The American people will just 'luuuuurve' that and will, no doubt, show their, er, appreciation in two years time!  In fact, my guess is that over the next two years the Dems will provide Mr. Trump with a certain victory at the 2020 Presidential election.  I am not totally convinced of the solidity of the economic surge that Trump has produced but if he is constantly attacked and distracted  over the next two years and prosperity begins to crumble then he will be able to point his little fingers at the Democrats and blame them.

Meanwhile, of course, sensible people, especially sensible Democrats, trying to understand this election will ask the obvious question - what happened to that 'Blue Wave'?  Yes, a tiny ripple washed up on the beach but barely enough to even wet the shoes of the President.  If I was a Dem, "which thank the Lord I'm not, Sir", I would be exceedingly uneasy!

 

 

Right, pay attention, America!

I could not resist typing these words because I know how much you rely on me, an elderly and exceedingly grumpy old Brit, for sound and serious advice on how to run your country - at this point, could I ask the gentleman at the back to please re-holster his 'yuuuuuge' six-shooter?

To be serious, this is a critical day for the world's leading nation.  If two years ago, Trump and the GOP had lost it would have meant a gradual descent into the mire of a corrupt and irresponsible Clintonian swamp.  However, today we have experienced the incredible - because no-one forecast it - presidency of a true eccentric who, despite doing and saying things which were anathema to the 'politically correct' preachers and praters on the Left, has actually achieved some very real success.

Of course, this has sent the leadership of the Democrat party into a mouth-foaming insanity of the most dangerous type.  They have ceased to think, to judge fairly, to speak with quiet reason, instead they have degenerated into a rancid mob.  If you, my American friends, allow these people the chance to, er, 'grab Trump by the pussy' so to speak, you will have started a political and legal landslide of tectonic proportions.  Around the world your real enemies can hardly wait!

Get out and vote Republican, you may have to hold your nose to do it, but just consider a 'Pelosi-an' future!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 4/11/18

In which I come down off the fence:   As you may have noticed, I have been exceedingly reticent in forecasting the outcome of the American mid-terms.  Part of my reason/cowardice is because I have a long and, er, less than distinguished record of forecasting electoral results.  The other day I hinted - indicated - suggested - that possibly the Dems would not achieve the magnificent victory on which they have set their hearts.  Today, I am prepared to "boldly go where no man has gone before" and forecast that they will fail to take either the House or the Senate!  Now, I confess that I am partly driven in this by my desire that the Dems receive the kick in the crutch that they fully deserve.  You would think that having already received one kick a mere two years ago when they seriously - no, I mean it - seriously believed that 'HillBilly' was a worthy candidate for the Presidency that they would 'box clever'.  No chance!  Their stupidity, as exemplified by the Kavanaugh campaign, has obviously metastasized.  They deserve everything which - I guess! - is coming their way on Tuesday.

 

"Regrets, I have a few . . ."   But not that many, I am happy to report and anyway most of those I do have are pretty piffling in the great scheme of things.   However, one that continues to niggle away at me is that I missed my chance to direct "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  I was lined up for the job but just as I started to work on my ideas the 'Memsahib' decided that it was time for us to move house so the world was denied the chance to view my butchery and dear old Will slept easier in his tomb!  Part of my disappointment was that I had decided to use the Mama Cass version of that lovely song "Dream a Little Dream of Me" as a musical motif.  I love her version of it and I think it would have worked well but, alas, now we will never know!

 

Bring back hanging?  Yes or No?   As the murder rates in the UK drive relentlessly higher I was still somewhat shocked to see that the latest stabbing took place 'down 'ere in Bridgewater, Zummerzet, oo-ar, oo-ar'!  Dammit, that sort of thing is not permitted in our rural county, it's the sort of thing they go in for in London and 'ooooop north'!  According to a quick run through of the breaking stories, our local version of Dogberry and his Watch (aka: the 'Zummerzet' Constabulary) appear to be arresting anyone and everyone who lives in Bridgewater but no doubt they will eventually sort out who the 'perp' is.  In the meantime, I wonder if it is time for me to bring back my 'campaign' for the re-establishment of hanging for those found guilty of murder?

 

Obama is just another old publicity tart:   I thought, in my usual mixture of ignorance and old-age, that it wasn't quite the 'done thing' for retired Presidents to come out on the hustings and get involved in national elections.  Perhaps I am wrong but even so I do find it a bit distasteful for the old 'queen' to totter out and attempt to strut his stuff.  Happily, I understand that he is playing to half-empty houses but, I wonder, will he notice?  "There's none so blind as them wot can't see!"

 

And so we bid farewell to Lord Jeremy Heywood:   First, I must make clear that for anyone to die at the age of 56 of cancer that was only discovered a year ago is a tragedy for him and his family.  As for his record, mostly as the senior civil servant within the government, he quickly became 'the Sir Humphrey of all Sir Humphreys'!  Whether he was any good is impossible to say not least because how could anyone define what "good" was in such a role.  I fear the worst but, alas, I will have to await the history books before I decide and, yes, "I should live so long my life already!"

 

Sorry, I forgot to tell you:   Yes, I'm in 'lurve' again - Big Time!  The lucky lady is a Hollywood star called Cameron Diaz.  Yes, yes, of course I have heard of her but until yesterday I had never seen her.  However, clicking around the TV channels I came across a film called "Knight and Day" and, no, me neither until I saw it yesterday.  It also 'stars' the vertically-challenged Mr. Tom Cruise - and he was excellent, too!  Don't ask me what the film was about, just think James Bond on 'speed'!  It was totally bonkers but so bonkers that I never stopped laughing.  Most of all, though, I was very taken with Ms. Diaz who has a bewitching, cheeky smile which totally entranced me. 

 

Sorry, I must go into my darkened room:   Well, in just over an hour the second episode of "The Little Drummer Girl" will commence and I know from hard experience that I will need to concentrate really hard, not something I'm very good at, so a wee nap might be essential!  

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

 

My forecast, so no need to worry about it happening!

I don't quite know why but these forthcoming mid-term elections 'over there' have me fascinated.  Normally, I have the good sense never to attempt a forecast because I cannot even see the bottom of my cavernous ignorance.  However, today I am breaking with my practice and offering y'all my, er, cloudy vision.

There was much 'yadda-yadda' a few months ago concerning the 'blue wave' that would dash 'El Trumpo' on the rocks of a 'yuuuuuuge' defeat.  Given his, shall we say 'eccentric' behaviour, I shrugged and thought so be it.  But . . . but . . . as we enter the last straight I am not so sure.  I do not believe, or at least, I do not want to believe, that most Americans are sympathetic to the mass hysteria up-chucked by the Dems and their troglodyte supporters.  Their version of the wickedness and cruelty of their "fascist" President is so far from the truth as to be laughable.  Yes, he is a bit of a prat but, so far, on the big things he has done rather well.  The economy is sparkling, jobs are up, he took the grenade out of Fat Boy Kim's hand, he put the boot into all that Chinese cheating - so what's not to like?

Then there was the unbelievable stupidity of the Democrat leadership mounting that 'kamikaze' operation against Justice Kavanaugh.  It was as though 'Mr. Maggoo' was steering the kamikaze bomber towards the enemy's ship but somehow managed to steer it into their own battleship!  After that farrago, it seems to me that the mood changed.  This was not the action of a sensible, intelligent opposition operating in a democracy but more like that of shouty, foul-mouthed, street agitators.  The question arose, could you actually trust such people to organise a piss-up in a brewery?

None of that, of course, is imply that the GOP is home and dry.  To quote (yet again - yawn!) that old nostrum, "you'll never go broke under-estimating the Great American People" (or the British for that matter!)  Thus, it is necessary to define what is meant by win or lose in this election.  In my opinion, given the screeching fervour of the Dem supporters, a failure to win either House would, of course, be a complete disaster.  The 'experts' seem to indicate that they will just fail to take the Senate which, of course, gives the 'Ginger Ninja' the chance to appoint another Justice to the Supreme Court.  The House vote outcome is similarly fraught and a failure here would lead to massive reverberations inside the Dem machine.

Mr. J. T. Young at The American Spectator poses a fascinating question that I have yet to see raised anywhere else: "What if Democrats fail?"  he suggests:

And liberals will have two full years to sit and stew about it. If after two years of President Trump, imagine what frustration will build behind another “defeat” and two more years.

Like the self-deluded Powerball players, just winning “a few thou’” will not do. They cannot bring themselves to wear the same old duds, catch the bus again, or go home to their “fixer-upper.” And most especially, they cannot face showing up to work the next morning and having to say “yes sir, no sir” to the boss they have mentally fired a million times.

No! They will spend their now paltry seeming winnings on more lottery tickets. They will double-down. They will play even longer long-shots.

I can't wait!

 

 

 

Thank God for The National Review

As you will have noticed I am not much of an original thinker.  I simply cruise the world-wide media sites and either pinch their sensible ideas or hold them up for public ridicule.  Well, original thinking is hard work and I am, by nature, a lazy 'git'!  Thus, today I point you in the direction of the NR, in general, and Mr. David French, in particular.  Sound fella', that David French, and today he contemplates the tricky situation as the caravan of refugees/chancers (you choose) approach the US border and, in effect, he repeats Cpl. Jones' sound advice to Capt. Mainwaring in Dad's Army: "Don't panic!"

He suggests that 'the Ginger Ninja' should shift his twitter finger into neutral and keep his tone steadfast and calm.  Mr. French reminds him that sending 5,000+ troops to the border will availeth him naught because the law specifically forbids American troops being used in a law enforcement role.  Of course, they can act as a logistics department to help the proper law enforcement authorities do their job but that is all.  

Needless to say, both sides of the political divide are using this for their own ends.  'El Trumpo' is strutting his stuff to impress his supporters and is well aware that the more he does it the more it will enrage his Left-wing opposition and encourage them into even greater levels of hysteria which should help swell his own support in the midterm elections.  It's an exceedingly dangerous game to play because heavily armed national forces against ill-disciplined  mobs is the equivalent of lighting up in an ammunition dump!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 28.10.18

Needless to say, on this morning in which some looney turned the clocks back an hour, I am all over the place.  Even so, I will endeavour to keep all my faithful readers supplied with the wit and wisdom of Cpl. Duff - don't say it!

 

Brexit - the 'clincher'!   For all those who still cling to their soppy-soft love for the EU - and yes, that includes you, 'SoD'! - the tin-pot dictators of Brussels have shown the mailed fists that hide beneath their soft kid gloves.  The European Court of Human Rights (no sniggering because that's probably an offence as well!) have now proclaimed that critical comments aimed at Islam and/or Islamists are verboten!  An Austrian lady who gave two seminars on Islam including the information, as written in the Koran, that Mohammed married a 6-year old girl and consummated it when she was 9-years old, was fined.  The ECHR has now extended that decision and it has forbidden any critical Islamic commentary whether it is true or false. You can read all about it at The National Review.

 

We'd be better off with Dogberry and his pals:   Or, to put it another way, the Police Force should be locked up!  As always, Peter Hitchens says it all so much better than I ever could:

Many of us who have had dealings of one kind or another with the modern police suspect that, if we go to them, they will probably manage to mess up the case, ably assisted by the CPS, while also giving our full personal details to the suspect.
Even if they get it right, the criminal will be ‘spared jail’ by a feeble judge. Simpler to let it go.

And by coincidence, The Mail reports today that three police officers involved in the Stephen Lawrence case of 25-years ago are to be interviewed under caution for possible misconduct in public office.  It carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment but I strongly advise you not to hold your breath!

 

More Mohammed:   Dammit, I have only just stumbled on Douglas Murray's article on the 'Cocklecarrots' who sit on the ECHR who have forbidden us all from being rude about Mohammed and his 'religion'.  His final paragraph says it all and I, for one, endorse it:

For my own part I don’t care a jot for the ruling of the ECHR and will continue to say what I like when I like. I trust that across Europe many other people will respectfully reserve the right to do the same.

 

Ok, I surrender!   Well, I have just read the latest review of Max Hastings' monumental history of the Vietnam wars - and yes, there was more than just one of them.  I have resisted buying it, despite the 'rave reviews', because I am still plodding my way through The Story of England by Sir Roy Strong and I have only just reached the Georgian period, er, not that it isn't a terrific read but there's a lot of it!  Anyway, I have just read the review of Hastings' book in The American Spectator by Roger Kaplan and I have decided to give it a go.  I will have to buy a hard-back edition because I suspect there is will be several maps and whilst I worship my Kindle it's just not very good with maps.  Of course, if my ever-lovin' son reads this perhaps he will save his dear, old Dad a few quid by buying me a copy for Christmas!  

 

Alas and alack:   I lunched not wisely but too well!  A short break will be required to allow me to rise up to the seventh level of inner awareness.  When I descend, I will re-join you.

 

We're doomed, I tell you, doomed!   According to WUWT, 'The Graun' is cutting back on its global warming blog spots mainly run by Dana Nuccitelli, a West Coast nutjob prophet of 'The End is Nigh' because of AGW.  'Little Georgie Moonbat' was unavailable for comment - so not all bad then!

 

Sorry, had to pop over to Mexico:   Thank God for my private jet that whisked me across the Atlantic to Mexico so that I could cheer (Sir) Lewis Hamilton on to his World Championship victory!  (Well, dammit, a man may dream, may he not?)  Jolly good show, (Sir) Lewis!

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Your really 'yuuuuuuuge' test is plodding closer, Mr. President

The 'refugee' (inverted commas intended) column is approaching closer to the southern US border.  How President Trump deals with it could be the making or the breaking of his presidency.  I wish I could offer some sensible advice but, alas, I have none.  Any extreme action, from welcoming them in with open arms, or opening fire on them, would be disastrous.  I do not have great faith in the President's intellectual abilities so I hope that he is surrounded by shrewd advisors who will have thought through the pros and cons of the various actions that are possible.  He will need to demonstrate firmness but not unthinking brutality.  Needless to say, whatever he decides to do will be met with hysterical shrieks from his media and from his (dis)loyal opposition.  Even so, as the Kavenaugh imbroglio demonstrated, he can at least depend on the Dems to demonstrate their inherent 'stoopidity' which may, over time, do him some good.

 

 

Give that splendid 'Yankee-Doodle' a Knighthood!

It might be a busy morning for me today but before I put on my chauffeur's uniform and drive the 'Memsahib' to the shops (such fun!) I just had to record my immense gratitude to Mr. Matt Delacambre from Louisiana.  He it was  who spotted some nutter trying to smash the glass that protects one of the only four copies of the Magna Carta on display in Salisbury Cathedral.  He grabbed the man and held him down until help arrived.

I must confess that I was truly shocked at this example of vandalism because, whilst I am not usually given to emotion over the historic detritus that litters our old Kingdom, I do believe that the Magna Carta is an unbelievably important document.  It is important not to over sentimentalise it, after all, it was just the recording of deal struck between some 'robber' barons and an even bigger 'robber' king but it is the greatest example of one of those 'damned unexpected consequences' that constantly riff through history.

Pushed and pulled, this way and that, over the following centuries the fundamental essence of the document was never quite lost and then, gradually, they were built upon and it evolved into the foundation of our system of law upon which our liberties depend.  Perhaps of even greater importance was that its principles were taken across the Atlantic and lodged in America so that as we have gradually declined, America has grown and perpetuated its essence.  It is, perhaps, singularly appropriate that this precious document was safeguarded by an American citizen.

Thank you, Mr. Delacambre, I am truly grateful and should we ever meet, the drinks are on me!

 

 

Let's hope it's NOT the start of something big!

The famous words of Cpl. Jones from 'Dad's Army', "Don't panic Capt. Mainwaring!" spring to mind as I contemplate the bombing campaign mounted in the USA against various Democrat party leaders and supporters.  Surprised, I am not!  Even from this far away the viciousness of inter-party feuding 'over there' is clearly discernible. In the opinion of this ex-Corporal, we should all 'hang fire' before offering opinions one way or t'other.

First of all, though the targets were on the Left it does not prove that the bombers were from the Right.  As America approaches the absolutely critical mid-term elections it does not require a modern Machiavelli to remind us that the perps could be Lefties hoping to produce a surge of support in favour of the Democrats.  Equally, it could be a collection of knuckle-draggers from the Right determined to 'off' some of the worst characters on the Left.  So, best thing is to remain 'schtum' and wait for evidence.

Even so, that such a diabolical scheme was even attempted is, to an outside observer, a damning indictment of the state of American politics which has sunk into maelstrom of vindictiveness not seen for some time.  As a Brit, I keep reminding myself that what kicks off 'over there' often repeats itself 'over here', so we need to watch ourselves!

 

 

I blame Barney Magroo, or maybe 'JK'!

For the benefit of any new visitors to these distinguished columns who are puzzled by my heading, let me explain that Barney Magroo is a 'Purveyor of Fine Wines and Spirits' to the gentry of Arkansas, especially 'JK', one of his most faithful customers!  His, er, 'vineyard', whilst famous the length and breadth of the Ozark hills, is not easy to find because of its constantly shifting location, due, I am told, to the frequency of unannounced visits by the Revenue authorities - yeeeeeees, quite!

What I had not realised is that 'good ol' Barney', fed up with keeping one step ahead of the authorities, had moved into the money-lending business.  I now have it on very good authority - er, Zero Hedge, actually -  that 'there be trouble up in them thar money-lending hills'!  They explain it this way:

That brings me to what may be this cycle’s Countrywide Financial, Bank OZK (OZK – USA), formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks.

It was a bit of a head scratcher when I first heard of these guys a few years back; why were a bunch of guys in Little Rock, Arkansas so focused on funding risky Miami condo developments? Aren’t there plenty of local banks who are perfectly willing to lose globs of money at this game?

I reached out to a friend in hard money lending for a perspective, “I wouldn’t touch the crap they’re lending on at twice the interest rate.” 

 

In the interests of friendship, I can only urge 'JK' to ignore Barney's sales spiel and just stick to drinking his product - do not, under any circs, lend him any money!

 

 

Now, about that nice, kindly, tolerant and democratic Mr. Khashoggi

As usual, it takes PJMedia to set matters in context and ask a few tricky questions.  Perhaps the trickiest comes down to this: "Why Would the Washington Post Hire Someone Like Jamal Khashoggi?"  It's a fair question given that the Left-wing, up-market 'WaPo' which caters mainly to the 'metro-political' elites in Washington and constantly demands, in 'Lady Bracknell' style, decency and fairness and yet they hired a man well known for being a keen supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood which, as an organisation, would urge the slaughter of the entire non-Muslim world and a great many Muslims as well if they belonged to the wrong sect.

Khashoggi actually wrote this in the 'WaPo' just this year:

The United States’s aversion to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is more apparent in the current Trump administration, is the root of a predicament across the entire Arab world. The eradication of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less than an abolition of democracy and a guarantee that Arabs will continue living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes. 

Meanwhile, in 2012 Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in Egypt wrote this:

The Qur’an is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path [my emphasis] and death in the name of Allah is our goal …

Today we can establish Sharia law because our nation will acquire well-being only with Islam and Sharia. The Muslim Brothers and the Freedom and Justice Party will be the conductors of these goals.

That doesn't sound too kind and cuddly, does it?  And nor does this:

Sharia law, once established, allows for the beating of disobedient women (Qur’an 4:34), the devaluation of women’s testimony (Qur’an 2:282), the devaluation of women’s inheritance rights (Qur’an 4:3), the taking of sex slaves (Qur’an 4:3, 4:24, 23:1-6, 33:50, and 70:30), the death penalty for leaving Islam (Qur’an 4:89), and much more that hardly provides for a “free society tolerant of all viewpoints.”

But the late and not very great Mr. Khashoggi thought it was 'right on' and presumably so did the gormless editorial board of the Washington Post.  Did any of that justify Mr. Khashoggi's brutal murder?  No, but it does mean that I will not waste any Kleenex tissues weeping for him!

 

 

How to cod people with the help of CoD

Fake news doesn't come much 'faker' than when the US company 'Crowds on Demand" is involved.  This outfit, based in Beverly Hills (why am I not surprised?) will supply any number of people to help swell the ranks of whatever protest or demo you are organising.  As Zero Hedge puts it "Crowds on Demand provides pop-up "protests, rallies, flash mobs, paparazzi events and other inventive PR stunts," according to its website."  It is a wise adage that you should not trust people at first sight but it is absolutely imperative when you see crowds of people!

And talking of "crowds of people" why am I deeply suspicious of all those fairly well-dressed and healthy people marching through various central American states on their way to the USA?  I know the message on the Statue of Liberty reads "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".  Why is it that I sense the hidden hand of that crafty Hungarian-American, George Soros, providing all those Venezuelan non-tired and non-poor "huddled masses" with 'a little help along the way' as they make for the US border where they will inflict a 'yuuuuuuuuge' embarrassment to the President as he attempts to do his duty and safeguard the borders of his country?

 

In 'real-politik', you can't pick your friends

So, gradually, very gradually, the 'truth' is oozing out concerning the execution of the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.  He was no angel but even so it was a despicable act but, even worse than that, it was 'stoopid'!  After early hopes for some fresh air in the charnel house that is Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) has disappointed - Big Time!  It may take some time but eventually he will have to go.  Whether or not he goes quietly is difficult to judge.  A 'civil war' within the Saudi royal family would have tremendous repercussions around the Middle East.  Not the least of the effects might be the encouragement of Iran to start throwing its weight around in all sorts of directions.

In deciding where and when we, in the West, should exert our power between Saudi and Iran brings us to the dilemma once expressed impeccably by Dr. Johnson, "Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea."  They are both mad, fanatical 'hairies' of the very worst kind but, apropos my title above, we will need to pick our 'friend', distasteful as it might be, and then stick with it.  The 'friend', of course, is the one who is less likely to do you harm but well able to harm your 'non-friend'.

Finally, I want to place on record that, on the whole, by and large - and so far! - I think President Trump has handled it fairly well, which is to say, very much better than I expected.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 21.10.18

There goes Sunday!   I was in quite a good mood when I got up this morning - but then I read a column by Col. Tim Collins in The Mail.  In it, he describes the British Army, in fact, all the British services, as "chubby, drug-addled and right on".  One picture is worth a thousand words!

As usual, the fault lies with that collection of ambitious, smarmy, creeping bunch of wankers who constitute our High Command, none of whom has the guts to tell our effete politicians that Political Correctness might be OK for the Civil Service but has no part in a fighting army.

 

Is it time to reset our opinions of  'The Donald'?   I am not going to indulge in a forensic examination of his two years in the White House but where-as I began by flinching at some of his behaviour and trembling at some of his decisions, gradually, as I have peeped out from behind my fingers, I sense that perhaps, just perhaps, he is getting things more right than wrong.  His re-action to the hysteria over the Saudi murder has been a fine example of real-politik and up in heaven, or perhaps down in hell, the likes of Bismarck and Talleyrand are raising a glass in support.  Still early days, of course . . .

 

The 'Hefferlump' goes all out DD:   No, no, not David Duff but David Davis!  In a brief but pointed article in The Telegraph today, he urges Tory MPs who are hesitating over sending in letters urging Mrs. 'Muppet' to resign, to just get on with it and rid us all of that dim-witted woman.  Somewhat to my surprise, he throws his support behind David Davis as a new Prime Minister.  Well, Boris cannot be trusted and the 'Moggman' would not go down well in the country.  Davis, however, comes across as a fairly normal 'one of us' and his service in the SAS can only help. 

 

This made me giggle:    The American Thinker site is always worth a visit, not least for the witty cartoons they publish:

 Spot on, methinks!

 

Not sure I could cope with this one:   I refer to the latest history book produced by Max Hastings which, normally, I would snap up in seconds.  Alas, the title of this one is "Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy 1945-1975" and the prospect of wading through that unmitigated bloodbath is more than I can contemplate.  To be honest, the fact is that it will remind me in the most painful way of how wrong I was to support it 'back in the day'!  It also reminds me that whilst I am fascinated by the war at sea during WWI, I cannot read very much about the 'slugfest' that took place on land.  It shares with Vietnam an enormous casualty list and a cornucopia of stupidity from both the commanders and the politicians and, er, me!

 

"How high the moon?"   'I dunno' but apparently it's getting higher!  Or to be more precise, it's moving away from us, according to Prof. S. Fred Singer at The American Thinker.  He, being a proper swot, offers some scientific explanations but, with all due respect, I put it down to JK's habit, on full moon nights, of hurling empty bottles of 'Barney Magroo's Finest' in its direction as he bewails the loss of all those 'gals' in every port he ever visited!  Well, you can't blame the moon, I mean who wants to live next door to noisy neighbours!

 

Right, pay attention, all you 'Yankee-doodles'!   Your Commanding Officer, er, well, your ex-Corporal, actually, is about to give you your orders.  This afternoon you will stop watching all that 'stop 'n' start' version of rugby you play 'over there' and instead you will retune your TVs in order to watch (Sir) Lewis Hamilton waltz off with the F1 World Championship at the American Grand Prix.  (Actually, that was damned difficult to type given that I had all my fingers crossed as I did it!)  If any of you live nearby and you are handy with a Winchester rifle, please feel free to shoot out the tires of that damned Hun! 

 

(Sir) Lewis, Her Maj will not be amused!   My goodness, what an excellent race!  And what an excellent circuit!  So, decision time moves to the Mexican Grand Prix to be held at a circuit named after the late Rodriguez brothers, both of whom were killed at different times in motor races.  I once knew, very slightly, Pedro Rodriguez, a quiet man but a terrific racer.  Meanwhile, (Sir) Lewis remains poised to take the championship but we will just have to wait!

 

 

No more rumbles today!

 

 

God bless (Sir) Mark Zuckerberg!

Let me start by owning up to the fact that I know next to nothing about (Sir) Mark Zuckerberg and even less about his 'whizzy-do' company Facebook.  I have never used its, er, 'services' and have absolutely no desire to do so.  Everything I read about it convinces me to remain aloof, up here in the tranquil heights of D&N.  Mind you, I am happy to offer my congratulations to (Sir) Mark for, in effect, making 'gazillions' of dollars out of bugger all!  That's true American 'get up and go'!

Not, of course, that he is universally admired, just the opposite, he is subject to an almost non-stop barrage of criticism, although I can't be bothered to dig into the detail.  Mind you, if the 'incoming' is really heavy, he can always take cover behind his stacks of 'dosh'!  However, today I am prepared to put my head above the parapet and say loud and clear, but not on 'Facebook', "Jolly well done, (Sir) Mark!", you have done me and all the peasants in this 'our septic Isle', an enormous favour for which we are all deeply grateful. 

What has he done, you ask?  Well, he has given Nick 'Cleggeron' Clegg a job and the ineffable 'piss-drip', plus his snooty wife with the fancy Spanish name, are departing these shores for 'Kal-i-forn-i-a' which is about as far away as he can go without us having to send him to Australia - and be fair, the 'Aussies' don't deserve him!  'The Cleggeron' will be very happy on the West coast where they are all drippingly wet, liberal petals, except, of course, the multitude of hard-working immigrants eager to do the bidding of the 'Sahib' and 'Memsahib', you know, just like in the smart boroughs of London that the Cleggs are so used to!  

Finally, there is the reputation that in the high ranks of all those Silicon Valley outfits, lying is thought of as a virtue, so the fact that he has a considerable number of public quotes from his past slagging off his new employers should earn him a bonus!  Also, and this will definitely earn him some prestige in the corporate hierarchy, he is a promise-breaker, as in for example, the time when he promised students, absolutely promised them, not to increase tuition fees.  They probably believed him - suckers!

Now, my advice to Mr. Zuckerberg, if he is desirous of being gently tapped on the shoulders with a sword by 'Her Maj' as she grants him a knighthood, is to quickly offer 'Dim Dave' Cameron a job, as well, and there-by get him off our shores, too.  That might get him a Lordship!  In the meantime, I would strongly advise any of my readers with shares in Facebook to SELL, SELL, SELL!

 

 

 

 

Two films I will definitely NOT be watching

Unfortunately, the first is, er, well, "First Man", actually, the film that tells the story of Neil Armstrong the first man to set foot on the moon, and Buzz Aldrin the second man.  I haven't been to a cinema for years now but I was all set to book my ticket until I learned that the film-makers had decided not to show the moment when Armstrong and Aldrin planted the Stars and Stripes.

Following a howl of irritation from the 'GAP', the Great American Public, well, most of them, anyway, and including an outraged squeak from me 'over here', the Hollywood 'tosspots' have put out a range of miserable excuses which simply prove that none of them are fit to brush the moon dust off Armstrong's or Aldrin's space boots.  A truly great story of human endeavor and courage ruined by 'Leftie tosspots' - and yes, I am irritated!

The second film I will not be seeing is one I mentioned a few days ago - "Gosnell", the story of Kermit Gosnell, a genuine monster far beyond anything Hollywood could imagine in one of their 'fright films'.  This is the sub-human who ran a butchering factory in which (at least) seven babies who had survived his abortionist knife and were on the operating table, probably wriggling, were dispatched by a quick severing of their spinal cords.  Needless to say, you will search in vain for any mention of this film in any of the American Left-wing media, let alone the Democratic party or any of those shrieky bitches in the #METOO movement.  Daniel Sobieski tells it best at The American Thinker.  I will avoid the film simply because I might throw up in the cinema.  Happily, I can report that Gosnell is serving life without parole.

 

 

The heap big squaw who keeps on squawking

Is it any wonder that I bore on so regularly about American politics?  Most politicians from where-ever are deeply suspect human beings but, as in so many other things, they always do it bigger and better 'over there'.  Where-else would you find 'Big Chiefette Running Bull' (and I do mean 'bull'!), a.k.a., Elizabeth Warren, or as I call her, 'Fauxcahontas'?

Like so many other politicians, a great deal of her life is one 'yuuuuuuuuuuge' lie and on the back of that lie she has advanced her college, legal and political life.  In doing so, of course, she has thereby set back the careers of other, more honest, competitors.  She has claimed to be of 'native American', or as I call it, 'Red Indian', heritage and in the ludicrous, race-obsessed world of American politics that has moved her up towards the top of the, er, totem pole!

Under pressure from the hoots of derision emanating from that rascal in The White House, she hand-picked a genetic scientist who carried out a test which showed - heavens to Betsy! - that she did indeed have traces of Indian blood flowing beneath her pale-face skin!  Unfortunately, they only amounted to 1 part in 1024 parts, or, as David French explains at the NR, just like most white Americans:

In 2014, the New York Times reported on the results of a massive DNA study and found that “European-Americans had genomes that were on average 98.6 percent European, .19 percent African, and .18 Native American.” 

In other words, she is about as Red Indian as my regular commenters here, 'Whitewall', 'Bob' and, dare I say it, 'JK'!  Or, to put it another way, she is about as Indian as 'wannabe-Senator', Richard Blumenthal, is a war hero!

 ADDITIONAL:   Crikey!  'Fauxcahontas' had better watch out because now I read that the Big Chief of the Cherokee Tribe is exceedingly cross at her spurious claims:

Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. called the test cited by Warren's report "useless" in determining tribal citizenship and alleged she was "undermining tribal interests" with her "continued claims of tribal heritage."

Oh my God, is that war drums I hear in the distance?  I do hope so!

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 14.10.18

Eeeeks! Who would want to be a POTUS?   Well, if the 'Big Don' was unsure what it entailed being 'Mr. President', he sure as hell is finding out the hard way today.  The whole silly world is 'shocked, I tell you, shocked' over the mysterious disappearance of some Arab journalist called Khashoggi who is, of course, being a journalist and also for working with the 'WaPo', nigh unto sainthood!  The fact that he is a former friend of bin Laden and a dedicated supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood has not yet reached the MSM, particularly the WaPo!  Still 'n' all, as they say 'over there', something must be done, Mr. President, to those horrid Saudi 'murderers' even if it means losing not only a much needed ally but also '$illions' in arms deals which will put tens of thousands of American workers on the dole.  Incidentally, that non-stop cackling you can hear is the Iranian mullahs laughing their socks off, er, they do wear socks, don't they? 

 

Enough, my life already!   I have today issued an edict from here in Chateau Duff that henceforth all Royal weddings are forbidden!  Or at least, the details are to be withheld from all media outlets.  If I see one more utterly tedious story about the latest Royal nuptials I will go mad, I tell you, mad  . . .  Oh, and that goes for 'Strictly Come Dancing', too!

 

Les temps perdu:   Sometimes, and on a selective basis, it is nice to revisit past times and I am exceedingly grateful to Mr. Silvio Canto, Jnr at The American Thinker  who reminds us that yesterday was an anniversary of the birth of 'that woman' who was born in 1925.  Sorry, but from my meagre memory of poetic quotations, all I can think of to write is "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive" when Maggie Thatcher's government began.  I am tempted to compare her to the present incumbent but it is too, too depressing!

 

Ah yes, Paul R. Ehrlich, remember him?   No, I thought not and I must confess that I had forgotten him which is a pity because there is nothing funnier than a genuine, er, 'scientific' swot who is always and forever completely and utterly wrong in all his predictions.  I can vaguely remember years ago in my early blogging days sneering at his ludicrous predictions, and cheering when I learned that the late (alas) Julian Simon had won his bet with Ehrlich who, being an apocalyptic, shroud-waving forecaster of the very gloomiest kind reckoned that the price of several different metals, which he chose, used in a variety of industries would rise through the roof due to scarcity and depletion.  Their prices actually fell!  Ehrlich also said that the greatest threat to the population was, er, well, population and that unless strict rules were imposed to control the growth then, well, it was the End of the World!  All total 'blx', of course!

 

Is Australia real?   Oooops, that was rather clumsily put, let me explain before the wrath of AussieD and Andra descends on my innocent head!  Last night I watched half of an Australian movie called "Goldstone".  The setting was in the middle of Australia, than which you could not find a more totally empty place outside of a vacuum!  The long shots showed a zillion acres of nothing, absolutely nothing, but sand and more sand, some rock and distant - very distant - mountains.  Every ten thousand acres or so, there was a single, weedy looking tree but how it got there and how it survived I do not know.  I was reminded of "Waiting for Godot" and any minute I expected Vladimir and Estragon to wander in!  Frankly, being something of a anti-Peeps grouch these days, I was tempted to emigrate.  However, in the film, from time to time in the, er, storyline, a police post would suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere.  Then a bar, equally empty but where its customers would came from was a mystery.  Then, and this made me giggle, in the middle of all this empty nothingness, a 'knocking shop' appeared manned, or perhaps 'womanned' is more accurate, by five oriental girls.  In my admittedly brief meetings with 'Aussies', I have found them to be very sociable, particularly when the beers starts to flow, but the Aussies in this film could barely put more than two words together.  So, my appeal to my Aussie friends, if I have any left, is simple - is that the way things are in deepest, emptiest Australia?

 

Beware La France!   So there was this very decent British chap, wearing bright clothing and cycling along a well-used mountain cycle path in rural France and minding his own business when - bang! - suddenly a local hunter shot him dead!  I don't wish to make light of it because it was a double tragedy for the man on the bike - and the man with the gun.  Even so The Telegraph reports:

It is the latest in a series of hunting accidents in which people have been killed or severely wounded.  Last year a 59-year-old hiker was shot dead by a hunter in the southern Drôme department, and a woman sitting in her garden was killed by a stray bullet fired by a hunter.  In 2016, 18 fatal hunting accidents were reported in France.

Mon Dieu!

 

"O, wad some Power the giftie gie us":   To hear oursels as others hear us!  Yes, I think I need some advice from my old e-pal, 'Jimmy Glesga', on this story of a bust-up on Medway Council when an exceedingly Scottish councillor was asked to speak slower by an English councillor because he couldn't follow the words.  Needless to say, the Jock, originally from Glasgow (need I say more?), went off on one and whilst he didn't threaten to "put ma heed in wi' ma bonnet on' he did become exceedingly cross.  My sympathy is entirely with the other man who is, like me, half Scottish.  I listen regularly to 'TOOOORKSPOOOORT' in the mornings which features the very Scottish Alan Brazil sometimes accompanied by the even more Scottish Ally McCoist.  I would understand more listening to Radio Bulgaria!

 

What's the Chinese for 'I told you'?   Fascinating piece at Zero Hedge reporting that there have been sporadic outbursts of violence by ordinary home-owning Chinese because of the falls in property values.  The government is now scrabbling to do what it takes to stabilise prices but we all know how good governments are at that sort of thing!  Here in the west we are familiar with the ups and downs of market forces but in China where they are enjoying wealth undreamed of hitherto, the anger could be exceedingly rough!

 

'Mutti' Merkel might not feel too well tonight!   According to early reports based on exit polls, the voters of Bavaria just gave her and her party an almighty kick up the backside.  What's the German for 'ohdearwhatapitynevermind'?

 

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

I really, really did not wish to know this!

I am somewhat prone to hero worship - waddya mean ya noo already!  I suspect it might have been encouraged by my post-war upbringing in which there were a multitude of real heroes to worship.  Then came adolescence, which in my case lasted until I was fifty, when men are even more prone to such silliness.  Of course, at the ripe old age of 79 I am well past all that nonsense, er, well, except possibly (Sir) Lewis Hamilton!  Even so, it is a blow to learn that one of my heroes, the late, great (well, sort of) John Steinbeck was in fact a ghastly, drunken megalomaniac who treated his second wife abominably.

Of course, the fact is that hitherto I knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about the man.  However, in my youth, naturally, I read "Of Mice and Men" and "The Grapes of Wrath" and like anyone else who has ever read them, 'I was moved withal'.  And again, in my naivety I just assumed that who-ever could write such superb novels must be 'a good guy'.  Big fail!

Today, in The Mail, Ms. Ysenda Maxtone Graham reviews a long lost memoir written by Steinbeck's second wife, Gwyn Conger, who after years of marital bullying by this brute of a man, finally divorced him.  She died alone at the relatively young age of 58.  None of that, of course, alters the fact that his books were superb.  But the question is, would I ever read another one?

 

 

Do NOT read this if you are of a nervous disposition!

No, I am not, as 'that woman' once put it, "frit" but I am becoming distinctly uneasy.  All around the globe the political tectonic plates are shifting and no-one has a clue where they will eventually end up and how much damage will be wrought as they crunch and crash against each other.

At home, here in 'dear old Blighty', our less than distinguished Prime Minister fumbles and stumbles her way through the morass of Brexit and her party appears to be in complete disarray.  I fear an election is imminent and, though I can hardly believe it, there is a very real chance that Corbyn and his 'praesidium' of ultra-Marxist maniacs might seize control.  If they do, I may well emigrate to St. Helena!  

Europe continues to be nothing more than "a mess of pottage"!  Quite apart from their arrogant stupidity in trying to humiliate us as we seek a reasonable Brexit, they are laying into the newly elected and highly passionate Italian government which is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. At the same time they are, unbelievably, trying to bully one of the biggest bullies in Europe, Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary.  The chances of him, a 'wannabe' dictator, bending the knee to Brussels is less than that of an ice cube in hell!  Other East Europeans are already looking East rather than West preferring 'Vlad the Impaler' to EU fanatics like 'Junck the Drunk'.

Meanwhile, 'over there', the tensions mount and when our 'Yankee-doodle' friends lose their tempers, so to speak, you had better take cover!  The 'deserving' Dems, by which I mean that the Dems always believe they deserve everything all of the time, have found it impossible to reconcile their loss of the Presidency in 2016.  Their fires are now being stoked by the woman who really and truly thought she deserved to win because, well, it was her turn.  As the old saying has it, always beware a woman scorned!  Of course, 'The Donald' is not exactly a man to accept his victory quietly and to extend the gentlemanly hand of friendship to the woman who lost.  On the contrary, he struts his stuff across the headlines and the internet of the world, never losing an opportunity to rub it in.  Where will it end?  I do not know but the imminent result of the mid-term election will be critical.  If the Dems lose 'big time', or even if they only achieve a 'no-score' draw, their fires will be stoked even higher and the more extreme elements will indulge in even greater and more dangerous stupidity.

Needless to say, this is the worst of times for America to be obsessed with internal warfare as, what I call 'the Chinese creep' slowly but inexorably extends around the globe backed up by an increasingly powerful military.  There was a time when I had some hopes for Chairman Xi Jinping, the 'Mr. Smiley', or should that be the 'Mr. Smirky', of China.  Alas, no more!  It is obvious that he is just another wannabe ruler of the universe with the sort of insane ambitions that nearly always end in tragedy.  Whatever one might think about 'The Donald' I am totally glad that he is leading the push back against Chinese ambitions and not that utter drip 'Obamarama'!

In the meantime, the South American 'hacienda' is crumbling to dust, including, I am sorry to say, the once mighty Brazil which, you may remember, was the leading initials in the collective noun 'BRICS'.  According to a report I read today, the Brazilian people are having to choose between two utterly useless and extremist politicians of the worst type to be their next 'el Presidente'.  The rest of South America seems to be collapsing into financial disaster.  Across the oceans, Africa is now an A1, prize basket-case from top to bottom and from east to west.  Anything useful in that continent has already been bought up by the Chinese so the impoverished Africans will not even get a smell of it!  Finally, there is India, a country of truly enormous possibilities which, God help it, is now seeking friendship with Russia - yeeeees, well, good luck with that one!  In the meantime, their big - no ENORMOUS - cities are stinking cesspits in which, quite literally, the air you breathe will kill you!

So there you have it, my friends, 'Doomster Duff' strikes again!  My only advice is that if you have been saving up a rare bottle of Scotland's finest tipple for Christmas, fageddaboutit, knock the top off and drink it now!  Er, have a nice day!

 

 

Better watch out - the 'HillBillies' are out!

This is a friendly warning to all my Yankee-doodle pals although I suspect that they have already made for their bunkers at high speed!  Yes, that ghastly woman, along with her less (much less) example of a good, ol', southern 'gena'man', are setting off on a tour of America.  Apparently, tickets for their, er, performance are set at around $750 - no, no, please don't rush!

Yesterday, the dumpy demon was interviewed on TV and after she had laid into Trump and Kavanaugh she was asked how their alleged behaviour was different from Bill's proven behaviour?  

"Well, there’s a very significant difference and that is the intense, long-lasting, partisan investigation that was conducted in the 90s," Clinton said. "If the Republicans, starting with President Trump on down want a comparison, they should welcome such an investigation themselves."

Poor, old lady, apparently she has forgotten that Kavanaugh was investigated seven times by the FBI and, it must be said, during a long election campaign, the dreaded 'Peeps' investigated Trump and yet he still won!  And, as Zero Hedge reports:

While Clinton's sexual misconduct involving Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones was investigated back in the 1990s, Juanita Broaddrick's claim that Clinton raped her back when he was serving as attorney general of Arkansas has never been closely examined.

I can't help thinking - perhaps 'hoping'  is a better word - that the disgusting and utterly stupid behaviour of the Dems against Kavanaugh will galvanise the Republican vote next month and if the 'HillBillies' maintain their highly publicised national tour that might be enough to keep many decent Dems at home on voting day.

 

 

 

'Where have all the black 'Peeps' gone?'

A really perceptive view of current America can be found over at The Coffee House written by Daniel McCarthy.  He spotted the 'Truth That Dared Not Show Its Face' which he sums up in this extract:

The protests liberals whipped up against Kavanaugh this weekend, on the other hand, revealed too much about their own weakness. Washington, D.C. is a majority Democratic city with a black majority. But the Democratic votes out there yelling about Kavanaugh were as white as any country club gathering of Republicans. They looked like a line of Starbucks patrons — Caucasian, professional, largely millennial, with earth tones and earnest expressions aplenty. Men and women wore the same fashionable glasses and more or less the same clothes. It was a Pumpkin Spice Riot.

Where were the black Democrats? [My emphasis] Where were the non-yuppies? Hillary Clinton could have asked the same questions on November 9, 2016, after she failed to get them to show up for her the way they’d showed up for Barack Obama. That election, like the Kavanaugh protest, showed that white liberalism has a problem: it’s too liberal for a majority of whites, yet too distant from the concerns of most non-whites. But its proponents enjoy so much cultural prestige as liberals and so much self-confidence as part of a historic white majority — however much they may disdain such a thing — that they failed to recognise how alienated they are from everyone else. They see themselves as the natural moral arbiters of society. But nobody else sees them that way. [My emphasis]

He reminds us that 'HillBilly' failed to get the black vote out in sufficient numbers to fend off Trump and wonders if the same lethargy will rain on the Democratic parade in November?

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/10/brett-kavanaugh-and-the-death-of-white-liberalism/

Read it and weep - with laughter or sadness!

 

 

After the laughs below, here come the tears!

Let me begin by admitting that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is not an organisation I know very much about but on the occasions when it has been mentioned as part of some ongoing story, I have admired its efforts.

But that was yesterday!

Today I read, via Zero Hedge, the words of Mr. Alan Dershowitz who is about as near to icon-status in my world-view as any mere man will ever get!  He is the 'bringer of truly depressing news' because according to him the ACLU has prostituted itself to 'Mega Money'.  Even worse, it is 'Mega Money' from the worst sort of ultra Left-wing, 'zillionaire zealots' to be found mainly in Hollywood, and Silicon Valley.  From being, hitherto, an impoverished organisation fighting lonely causes on behalf of fairness and justice, it has now become a 'yuuuuuuuuugely' rich pad for fat cat lawyers who do the bidding of their wealthy sponsors.  For example, in pursuing the Kavanaugh case with absolutely no pretence of following fundamental principles of justice.

Read his words - and weep!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 7.10.18

I start the day with three hearty cheers!   And here is why.  First, the sun is shining which, I must admit, it has done pretty steadily for weeks and is yet another example of the truth that the sun shines on the righteous!  Second, (Sir) Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix by a mile - so what's new?  And third, and far and away the most important, those dim-dumb-Dems 'over there' found that their stupid, contrived plot which they undoubtedly thought was the 'cleverest clever thing' ever, collapsed on their silly heads.  Truly, it is good to be alive this Sunday.

 

Sorry, more Kavanaugh:   The last few days have been - and I choose my word deliberately - momentous for the USA.  Now there is a solid (small 'c') conservative majority on the Supreme Court which will not, I suspect, lead to any retro-active, revolutionary changes to existing law which is a pity because the despicable Roe v. Wade ruling needs to be changed in order to stop the wholesale massacre for profit of unborn children. However, what it will do is to provide, for considerable years to come, a safety barrier against the unconstitutional, socialist diktats likely to emanate from any Dem-controlled Congress in the future.  Now, if only old Granny Ginsberg, 102 (actually 85), could be induced to retire to her knitting then the 'Trumpeter' could seal his success in concrete with yet another constitutionalist on the Supreme Court!

 

My last word on the subject, er, until the next time!   I am grateful to Ms. Clarice Feldman at The American Thinker for publishing this summary of the trustworthiness, or otherwise, of Ms. Christine Blasey Ford:

She refused to hand over the results of her polygraph

She refused to hand over her 2012 therapist's notes

She said she was afraid to fly, but has flown dozens of times.

Since she did in fact fly, she offered no other reason for the delay

She said she wanted anonymity but contacted [the Washington Post] multiple times

Said she got advice from "beach friends" but didn't mention that the primary one was a former FBI lawyer, Monica McLean, who worked for Preet Bharara, a man Trump fired. She also failed to mention, when talking of her Beach friends at the hearing, that Monica was sitting right behind her.

She had a perfect memory of 1982 but couldn't remember basic things from the previous 10 weeks

She'd been drinking.

She changed the year of the alleged attack

She named 4 people, but had no backers

She couldn't remember how she got home even though her story had her escaping the house far from home, pre-cell phone.

She gave no location or any details that could be researched for verification.

She never told anyone and never claimed PTSD prior to Kavanaugh's name circulating 30 years later.

She said that she put the 2nd door on her house because of PTSD, but evidence shows it was to get around zoning laws to create a rentable apartment.

She said she didn't know that Grassley offered to come to her, even though it was broadcast nationally.

She feigned no knowledge of polygraphs even though her ex's sworn statement said she'd coached Monica McLean how to beat it in the 1990s, and in any case her profession should have at least well acquainted her with it.

She co-authored a paper on repressed memory creation years before she claimed to have one

Nothing is known of her pharmacology, but given her past alcoholism, her visits to a therapist and her general presentation, odds are high that it's extensive.

She scrubbed her social media. We know from a pussy hat photo that she was rabidly anti-Trump.

She had zero family or friends with her, not from the 80s nor from today. She was surrounded only by Democrat Party handlers.

Constant cries of bravery & "nothing to gain" vs a $700,000 GoFundMe and a career boosted a la Anita Hill

Literally all there is her word vs all of the above. Not a shred of evidence.

The defence rests, m' Lud!

 

Not all 'luvvies' are loonies:   Take Michael Caine, for instance.  The Telegraph did an in depth interview with him and this passage sums him up:

He’s self-made in the purest sense, surviving slums and trenches, pushbacks and heartbreaks, failure, discrimination, alcoholism and grief. He has strived, thrived, succeeded – professionally and personally.

I have mentioned before that he did a tour in Korea during that vicious war and he was as far 'up the sharp end' as you could get.  He has suffered more than his fair share of vicissitudes, including a brush with alcoholism, but has managed to achieve great success and wealth which he has used to benefit his family.  In other words, 'a proper geezer' as our Cockney friends might put it.

 

Now, about these bloody mince-pies:   It's wicked, I tell you, wicked!  On the very first day of October, practically three months before Christmas, my local Sainsburys put on display stacks of boxes of mince-pies.  And do you know, no matter how fast I eat them - which, of course, I only do to remove temptation from others - they keep replacing them.  What's the fancy Latin name for 'death by mince-pies'?

 

I'm not sure I have the courage to read it!   The formidable Peter Hitchens has written a book entitled "The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion" which, as I understand it, amounts to a major demolition of the myth that Winston Churchill was a great war leader.  Well, I lost that idea years ago, I think it started when I read the memoirs of the late Lord Alanbrook who served as his Chief of Staff for most of the war.  Churchill had some superb qualities but as a 'hands on' war leader he was almost criminally inept.  The only saving grace he had was that most of the people around him (but not Alanbrook) were even more useless! 

 

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

Have the dim, dumb Dems demolished their lead?

The forthcoming midterm elections 'over there' are not usually - ever? - a matter of 'yuuuuuuuuuuge' importance to me but in the current maelstrom of American politics they are absolutely fascinating and I can hardly wait to see the results.  Hitherto, the vast majority of the American 'meeja',  who are, of course, 'Dem' supporters to the end, have agreed that a 'blue wave' is approaching Republican outposts which will wash away the last traces of Trump support.

But then the dim, dumb Dems launched their foul and phoney attack on a man who, compared to the average Dem politician (think any Kennedy, either Clinton and many, many more), is a veritable 'saint'.  Their imbecilic and utterly fatuous attack plan has slowly and steadily disintegrated around them.  Of course, that will not effect their devoted followers but the sheer nastiness and incompetence of their manoeuvres might well galvanise Republicans who perhaps were not great fans of Trump but who have been appalled by this witch hunt.

I am not forecasting this but perhaps, just perhaps, the 'blue wave' will turn into off colour ripple!

 

 

Now this is more like it!

The Kavanaugh story never stops giving and today it is our old 'friend', A E-P from the Telegraph, who provides the first, and so far the best attack on the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.  If only the Dems had used this as an attack weapon instead of that silly woman they might have succeeded in stopping Kavanaugh's advance.  Mind you, as well as showing Kavanaugh in a bad light, it also serves  to remind us of the sordid, if not criminal, activities of the Clinton apparat during the investigations of the Starr enquiry into the murder/suicide of Vincent Foster, an intimate (shall we say?) friend of the Clintons.

Alas, I have no time at the moment to go into the details but I urge you to read A E-P's story.  If it holds up then there are indeed good grounds to reject Kavanaugh, certainly better ones than the incoherent memories of a 'psycho-babbling' woman whose 35 year old memory tale is slowly collapsing.

Read A E-P's story

 

 

Steady on, you American chaps, it's only 'hockey at the halt'!

According to the Great Sage of Blogdom - er, that's me, of course, do wake up! - America is rift from top to toe, and I should add quickly that I am definitely not rejoicing.  In fact just the opposite, I am both saddened and fearful because whilst I have no wish to see America as a solid 'bloc', nor do I want to see it sink into a manic, never-ending, internal, bar-room punch-up.  Needless to say, my British self-interest is involved because whilst the politicians spend all their time and energy fighting each other, their real enemies will prosper.  Fortunately, America is blessed - again - by having a President who may have his faults but who loves to "bestride the earth like a colossus" - and to be seen and heard doing so at full volume!

The problem is, it seems to me, that this mutually vicious political in-fighting is spreading to other areas.  Thus, we have reports of the unpalatable squabbling among members of the US golf team who were given such a spanking at the Ryder Cup contest.  Of course, I do realise that generally golf is an individualist game and thus there are inherent difficulties when you attempt to turn it into a team game.  Even so, chaps, it's time to put your egos in the locker and "play up, play up and play the game" as Sir Henry Newbolt put it in his excellent poem:

 

There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night—
Ten to make and the match to win—
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"

The sand of the desert is sodden red,—
Red with the wreck of a square that broke;—
The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed his banks,
And England's far, and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"

This is the word that year by year,
While in her place the school is set,
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all with a joyful mind
Bear through life like a torch in flame,
And falling fling to the host behind—
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"

My word, they don't write 'em like that any more!

 

The Sunday Rumble: 30.9.18

Never mind the Mocking Bird, let's all kill Kavanaugh:   I am grateful to Ms. Ellen Anthony at the American Thinker who reminds me of the famous story of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and thus prompting me to this thought.  She reminds me that the, er, 'heroine' of the story is 'Miss Mayella Ewell' who is a lying-liar of the first order when she makes up the story of an innocent man sexually molesting her.  Am I right in thinking that she is now the spiritual head of the #METOO movement?  Jes' askin'!

 

'Fauxcahontas' announces her run for the Presidency:  Er, well, sort of, you know, like, maybe but then again, maybe not!  Personally, I hope she does because American politics is desperately in need of some laughs and they don't come much more comical than 'Big Chiefette Fauxcahontas' who is, of course, 'a heap big squaw'!

 

Germany in the Scheisse:   See, it's not all bad news!  Apparently Germany has failed to meet EU climate targets which makes them sehr ungezogene Jungs (very naughty boys - do brush up on your languages!)  Apparently that will cost them 2 billion euros to which one can only reply, oh je, wie schade, vergiss es which translates, of course, as 'oh dear, what a pity, never mind!'

 

I'll pass on the cake, Mrs. West, if that's OK:   According to The Mail, Mrs. Rose West, currently serving life in F-wing at HMP Low Newton is proving to be something of a cake-making wizard and has won the prison 'bake off' competition.  She and her late husband, Fred, raped and murdered their own daughter and then went on to kill another nine girls.  At least Fred had the good manners to kill himself and thus save us tax-payers some money but she lives on.

 

"Pack of Lies" by Hugh Whitemore:  As I mentioned before, during my London excursion I went to see "Pack of Lies" by the late Hugh Whitemore.  A little diamond of a play which was once lucky enough to have me playing one of the roles - and I heard that!  It re-tells the real story of the 1960s operation in suburban London which led to the arrest of Helen and Peter Kroger who were deep-cover agents for the Soviet Union.  The title of the play sums it up because virtually everyone in it is practicing deceit of one kind or another.  It is running until November so if you have an idle evening in town it is worth seeing.  Interestingly, the lady playing the lead, Ms. Finty Williams, is the daughter of Dame Judi Dench who played the role when the play first opened in the early '80s!  Ms. Williams is excellent, and so is Ms. Macy Nyman who plays the teen-age daughter of the central characters - a talent to watch out for!

 

Car/train/plane crash ahead!   The Conservative party conference is opening and "there will be blood"!  Mind you, that will be nothing in comparison to the oceans of blood likely to be spilled as the move to Brexit reaches the terminal - or should that be 'terminator'?

 

Sorry, America, but we won - BIGTIME!   As I have mentioned before, my one and only attempt to play what I call 'Hockey at the Halt' ended at the 7th hole, well, actually, well short of the hole!  Even so, I have considerable admiration for those who have (sort of) mastered it because it is damned tricky.  So it is with some pleasure that I learn we have won, and by a stonking margin, the Ryder Cup.  Jolly good show, chaps!

 

The young 'thruster', er, thrusts!   Mr. Gavin Williamson MP, 181/2, who is our new, dashing Minister of Defence is sending 800 British troops into the arctic, er, well, northern Norway, actually!  It is designed, apparently, to send a warning to 'Vlad the Impaler' - bet he's shaking in his boots!  Actually, the first field exercise I ever did in the army was in the Norwegian arctic circle and I thought I was going to freeze to death - until, in the morning, I saw dozens of Norwegian 'kiddie-winkies' skipping along to school in shorts!

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

 

One by one by one . . .

. . . the lights are going out on that "shining city on the hill"!  Of course, 'back in the day' our American friends were quite capable of stringing a man up for supposed wrong-doing, particularly if he was black, but gradually the forces of law and order exerted their strength and influence and more or less put a stop to it.  Even so, as the old saying has it, 'there's more than one way to skin a cat' and in this modern age you can flay a man alive simply by applying ferocious multi-publicity to the target, irrespective of whether he is guilty or innocent, and equally irrespective of even a scintilla of proof to confirm the action where-of he stands accused.  The modus operandi is devilishly easy, if it was possible for him to have done something evil, then he did something evil!  Just keep repeating and repeating and repeating that accusation whilst applying more and more and yet more channels of mass communication because in the end the 'People' will confirm their inherent stupidity and join in the chanting.

Thus it is with Judge Kavanaugh who has had his reputation eviscerated by the means described above.  Nobody has actually hung him - yet! - but they might as well have done despite the fact that no-one has provided even a speck of evidence.  It is, quite simply, mob rule and what makes me very nervous is that, whilst you might expect that sort of thing in religious dictatorships like, say, Iran, you definitely do not expect it at the very heart of the central defender of democracy and the rule of law which is America.  If, as now looks very likely, America is descending to the depths of illegal depravity - and all in the name of the law! - then the rest of us need to consider a world in which the USA is no longer providing the example and strength of a civilised nation but is now no better than the worst manic and dangerous countries who persistently threaten our future.

If you think I exaggerate, let me leave you with a single question: after this, would you ever trust an American Democratic party politician to stand up and defend the fundamental laws of justice?

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 23.9.18

We have friends/ex-neighbours arriving for coffee in half an hour and then we are out to lunch so there may be a pause, or three, but fear not - "I shall return".

 

Poor old 'Rupe':  He put in a 'yuuuuuuuuuuge' bid for the Sky TV network but some other rascal bid higher.  What can one say, except 'ohdearwhatapitynevermind'!  Mind you, I am a bit worried because I default to following Sky News because of my deep loathing of the BBC.  Not that Sky News doesn't have its faults but A.B.T.T.B.B.C. - anything's better than the BBC!

 

We shall see what we shall see!   'St. Theresa', as befits a vicar's daughter, has promised to continue total protection for EU ex-pats living in Britain.  Now we must wait and see how the EU 'apparatchiks' treat British ex-pats living 'just over there'.  I wouldn't bet the deeds of my house on the outcome!

 

They do things differently 'over there':   As this cartoon from The American Thinker makes clear:

The stench is becoming unbearable:   I refer, of course, to this disgusting, malignant and dangerous stunt unleashed by the (non)Democratic party against Judge Kavanaugh.  I'm not a 'kiddie-winkie' so I know that politics can be a dirty business but this farrago has plumbed new depths.  Yes, the Republicans delayed Obama's choice for the SCOTUS so that he ran out of time but they did so using nit-picking procedural ploys all of which were in the rule book.  What they did not do is take a filthy accusation against a man without a shred of evidence, sit on it for weeks and then suddenly release it just before his confirmation hearing.  Yes, they might well stop him in his tracks but they will also utterly destroy an honourable man's reputation forever.  If any American is prepared to vote for the Dems in November they need to wear rubber gloves!

 

No more rumbles today

 

Oh God, yet more books!

I'm getting to the age where I am wondering if I'll live long enough to read them all!  I am still progressing gradually through 'The Story of Britain' by Sir Roy Strong, superb book but there's awful lot of it!  Waiting for me in my super-duper Kindle, the greatest invention since sliced bread, is the 'LA Quartet' by James Ellroy who is, I suspect 'a very naughty boy'!  But this week the bloody Spectator - which I urge you to subscribe to - has a couple of book reviews which I am quite unable to resist.  All I wonder is whether or not my titchy, skinny, little Kindle will be able to squeeze them in?

The first is a 'must have' - and if SoD is reading this he should buy a copy quick!  It is called "Our Boys: The Story of a Paratrooper" by a lady, Ms. Helen Parr, who is the niece of the late Dave Parr, a 19-year old private in 2 Para who was killed in the Falklands in 1982 by incoming artillery fire.  I gather that the book is part biography of Pte. Parr but also part history of the Parachute Regiment and it's development, including the 'naughty bits'! There is one particularly galling fact that Pte. Parr's eventual funeral in England, attended by many of his comrades who knew the secret that he had been killed by 'friendly fire' but the family did not!

Then, I'm afraid, it's 'more war' in the form of the latest book by one of the very best modern historians, Max Hastings.  It is on the subject of arguably the most devastating war since the end of WWII - "Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy".  Well, any war is a tragedy but it is amazing how the Vietnam war, which absolutely dominated the world when it was raging, has sort of sunk into oblivion.  Possibly, or probably, because no-one came out of it with much credit!  Anyway, I don't know that much about it so I will have to buy it.  You can read Saul David's review at The Spectator.

 

 

Which will go bust first, Italy or China?

Well, of course, I pose the question but as per usual I haven't a clue as to the answer.  I have been forecasting (oh alright then, guessing!) both events for some time now but today I can offer you a very much more professional summary of the China problem courtesy of Mr. Jeremy Warner in The Telegraph.  What I can say with some conviction is that if Italy goes bust because of its debt it might produce an exceedingly loud bang in Europe but if China goes 'tits up' the entire world will feel some massive reverberations!

This is a relatively recent phenomenon; up until the global financial crisis, China’s debt problem was nothing to get too concerned about. But then came Lehman’s and the consequent collapse in Western demand. To compensate, and keep its own growth on track, China launched a fiscal and monetary stimulus of unprecedented size and scope. Since then, growth in debt has far outstripped economic output, rising from around 170pc of GDP at the time of the crisis to more than 300pc today.[My emphasis]

By and large, I am exceedingly doubtful about Trump's tariff war with China but given the current strength of the American economy my guess is that 'Uncle Sam' can take the collateral damage more steadily than China.  All those 'zillions' of Chinese people, former peasants or the sons of peasants, have been given, for the first time ever, a taste of 'the good life' and they will be exceedingly pissed off if it collapses all around them.

……………………………………………………………………………..

A corrective, or perhaps I should say, another opinion, this time from A E-P in The Telegraph who suspects that China, under its strict, or shall we say, dictatorial system, will march steadily on through any trade crisis that results from the current tariff 'war'.  What do I think?  I'll tell you when it's over - I should live so long, my life already!

 

American politics are vile!

Sorry, America, because you know I love you really but your politicians, by and large and with some rare exceptions, are vile and stupid beyond comprehension.  Take for example this putrid pile of Democratic poo dropped into the confirmation hearing for Judge Kavanaugh.  Golly-gosh, would you believe it, 36 years after the alleged incident, a raving, feminist Left-winger accuses the Judge of having sexually groped her at a College party when he would have been 17 years of age and she was 15.  Heavens to Betsy, when I think of the number of girls I groped 'back in the day' I fear I might end up in the 'slammer' for life!

However, this, er, 'lady' has managed to keep it all bottled up until just the moment when he might land on the Supreme Court bench where, heaven forfend, he might do down some of the beloved shibboleths of the Democratic party!  It is absolutely no surprise that she is an ardent, one might even suggest, fanatical supporter of the Democrats who leans decidedly Left and who loathes and detests President Trump - perhaps he groped her too!

Even worse is the sly, devious way in which that old bag, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, sat on the story until the very last moment, probably knowing that it was all 'good ol' BS' but hoping that perhaps it would be enough to delay a decision until after the mid-terms when possibly - just possibly - the Dems might win enough to put an end to Kavanaugh's nomination for ever.  Then there is some 'RINO' Senator, appropriately called Flake, whose detestation of Donald Trump is such that he's indicating he might join this disgusting Dem farrago.

In the meantime, of course, an honourable man, investigated and cleared five times by the FBI as he worked his way up the judicial ladder, has had his reputation trashed.  David French has an immaculately balanced view of the whole thing over at the NR.