DUFF & NONSENSE!

In which I worry about Phil Carpenter

'Phil - who?' you ask.  Let me explain.  Mr. Carpenter runs an American political blog and he is a rock solid - in all senses of that term! - Democrat.  To his credit, he is not a member of the mouth-dribbling Left being more centrist but, alas, like the entire Democrat party, 'The Donald' has fried his brains so that on matters Presidential he has become an eye-ball swivelling loony.  If I tell you that 'PeterG', who recently departed this site with my boot up his arse, is one of his principal contributors then it will give you a flavour of the site.  To be fair, I should add two other items of background interest.  Phil Carpenter put his boot up my arse and kicked me off his site when my snide sniping proved too much for him, and his readers, to take.  Also, Mr. Carpenter is a seriously sick man and we all know how that increases bad temper and shortens patience, so I don't blame him.

Anyway, I continue to follow his site because it provides an excellent insight into what passes for thinking in the rank and file of the Democrat party.  As such, it is deeply depressing!  What is clear is that they are all suffering with galloping 'Trump-mania'.  All of them remain in a state of psychological trauma following the - to them - totally shocking defeat of 'HillBilly' in 2016.  As a sort of defence mechanism in order to avoid the harsh reality, they have invested all their aspirations in the fabled Mueller report which, they hoped and prayed and utterly believed, would fell the 'Ginger Ninja' once and for all!

Ohdearwhatapitynevermind!  

It has done nothing of the kind, in fact, just the opposite.  It has confirmed to detached observers that the Trump gang were a tad careless and sloppy here and there - hoodathunkit? - but that there was no conspiracy of collusion with the Russians.  Now, the Democrats, including the increasingly desperate Phil Carpenter and his readers, are reduced to the equivalent of counting the number of semi-colons in the Mueller report to see if there is a hidden conspiracy yet to be revealed!

Given that what I might call 'the Carpenterians' represent the allegedly sensible side of the Democrat party, as opposed to the raving 'honkers 'n' hooters' on the extreme Left, I would suggest that 'The Donald' may well romp home with an even bigger vote in 2020.

 

 

 

Anymore for the Democrat nomination bus?

Actually, there appears to be enough declared/sort of declared/might declare 'candidates' to fill a train let alone a mere bus!  Ms. Anna L. Stark at The American Thinker analyses the passengers on what she calls "the crowded clown car". There appear to be 18 declared candidates, 7 about to declare candidates and 5 what she calls 'outlier' candidates.  She saves her nuclear option until last!

With my abysmal ignorance of such matters, alas, I can offer you no detailed or expert guidance on this particular 'train of fools'.  The ones about whom I have some slight knowledge, such as Sen. 'Fauxcahontas' Warren, are of such unbelievable stupidity as to almost make your average Westminster MP appear to have more than three brain cells!  What is rather more worrying is that most of them appear to be eye-ball swivelling Marxists who make 'Jezza' Corbyn look normal!  I stress the words "appear to be" because I doubt any of them have even read page 1 of Das Kapital!  All they do is 'Trot out' (Oh very witty, Wilde!) the current shibboleths of what purports to be Left-wing, er, thinking - yeeeeees, quite!

It is an indication of where the Democrat party has ended up that one undeclared (so far!) outlier (or should that be 'outliar'?) would almost be greeted with relief were she to enter the race.  I refer, of course, to the dreaded 'HillBilly' Clinton who, despite her dishonesty, laziness and total irresponsibility, might be an improvement on the others.  At the moment, so I gather, it is 'good ol' Barnie Sanders, America's answer to 'Jezza' Corbyn, God help them, who appears to have most of the 'moolah' and, this being America, most of the support.  However, as I indicated above, Ms. Stark, at the close of her article reveals the nuclear alternative - Michelle Obama!  She's famous, she's well-liked but above and beyond all that - she's black and she's a woman!

EMERGENCY!  EMERGENCY!  EMERGENCY!

I have just read the following dire warning at the excellent, global climate site WUWT:

Scientists have issued a dire warning: the current number of Democratic presidential candidates is simply unsustainable.

No one ever thought this many people would run for president,” said climate scientist Dr. Raymond Hall, “and the planet just can’t take it. We’re talking each of them eating up resources vying for airtime, printing stickers with trite slogans, and flying from Iowa to New Hampshire. If they were actually all to be in one place for a debate, it would be an ecological disaster.”

Scientists recommend the current Democratic field be reduced to less than half the current number or we could see an increase in hurricanes, droughts, kaiju, and “other climate change things.” As for what to do with the excess candidates, researcher Jeannie Perry said, “As always, I’d recommend firing them into space. Barring that, someone should just sit down with them and explain to them that no one is ever going to vote for them and hope that keeps them from running around consuming resources in a futile effort for presidential power.”

You have been warned!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 14.4.19

A cheerful way to awake:   Yes, indeed, there's nothing like waking up with a smile and that is exactly what I did this morning as I heard on my bedside radio the sound of (Sir) Lewis Hamilton roaring to victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.  What an incredible race driver he is!  Even so, if Ferrari can sort out their internal politics with team leader Vettel under enormous pressure from 'the new kid on the block', Charles Leclerc, then (Sir) Lewis might well face testing times ahead!

 

What to do about that damned Aussie-Scandie?   As if our, er, distinguished(?), Home Secretary did not have enough on his plate, he must now decide whether to send Julian Assange to America where 'The Donald' is already licking his lips in anticipation, or, to Sweden where sundry ladies are already sharpening their scalpels prior to de-balling him!  Personally, and at the risk of upsetting my American friends, I think the ladies should have first go.  I have mentioned before that I have considerable reservations concerning the American justice system, especially when politics are involved.  I was amused at a headline at The National Review which asked "Why isn't Assange being charged with collusion with Russia?"

 

I stayed up last night!   Having deployed zero energy for the past few days, I decided to stay up late and whilst idly flicking round the talentless desert that covers most of the TV channels, I came across a film called "Red".  It was complete and utter tosh from start to finish and featured a host of 'way past it' actors who should have known better.  Needless to say, I watched it to the end and enjoyed every minute of it!  I gather that the film grossed $199 million thus proving that all those old actors, or their agents, know a hell of a lot more about movies than me!  This is a sample of the cast list:

Bruce Willis as Francis "Frank" Moses
Morgan Freeman as Joe Matheson
John Malkovich as Marvin Boggs
Helen Mirren as Victoria Winslow
Karl Urban as William Cooper
Brian Cox as Ivan Simanov
Richard Dreyfuss as Alexander Dunning

and finally, of all people, Ernest Borgnine - dammit! where did they dig him up from?  Anyway, I chuckled my way through it all, not least because, I suspect, the actors were all enjoying themselves enormously - well, on their money, wouldn't you?

 

Thanks, mate!   I refer, in my impeccable 'Aussie' accent, to my e-pal, 'AussieD', who has sent me a link to Quadrant On-line and an article by Anthony Daniels which says everything which has festered within me for the last few years.  Here is Mr. Daniels' opening sentence which gives you the flavour of his essay:

The precise date of the discovery by theatre directors that they are greater than Shakespeare cannot be specified: the discovery was more a process than an event. But by the time I saw a production of Richard II at the Almeida Theatre a few weeks ago, the superior genius of any director over that of Shakespeare was an established principle and indisputable fact.

I will be returning to this subject - you have been warned!

 

The odious Bercow clings on:

According to The Mail, despite indicating that later this month he would announce his retirement, the despicable, little tit intends to cling on for longer.

Sorry to ruin your Sunday with a picture of the ghastly little monkey but I thought you should know.  Oh God, what have we done to deserve a House of Fools like this?

 

My bad, my life already!

Sorry, sorry, but as a sympathetic friend of Israel I really have not followed closely their recent election in which, to a lot of people's surprise, 'Benjy Boy' was re-elected as Prime Minister.  The great question for me is, is that "A Good Thing" or "A Bad Thing"?  I really must try and keep up with these matters.

 

Is it time to pelt David Attenborough with rotten veg?  I ask because I am utterly fed up with seeing him appear, mostly on the BBC (British Bilge Corporation) telling us yet again - and again - and even more again, that the end of the world is nigh because of global warming.  Sorry, Sir David, you're a lovely old sweetie but, alas, you are also a prat!  And an exceedingly boring prat, at that!

 

 

No more rumbles 

 

The ten most evil people of all time

I take my title from an article at The American Spectator by Larry Alex Taunton.  His choice, in reverse order, is as follows:

10. (tie) The Kims: Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong-un

9. The Sanhedrin of Jesus’ Day

8. Ivan Grozny (ie: the Terrible)

7. Vladimir Lenin

6. Muhammad

5. Adolf Hitler

4. Josef Stalin

3. Mao Zedong

2. Margaret Sanger

1. Karl Marx

I can't say that I go along with all of his list although he certainly nets a few culprits.  For example, Karl Marx never killed anyone, all he did was write an exceedingly stupid book which sundry mass murderers then took up and used an excuse for their inhuman behaviour.  Also, I'm not too sure about the Sanhedrin of Jesus' day, not least because I have never heard of them!  Alas, bible studies were not high on my list.

Mind you, I am pleased that he put Mao higher on his list than Joe Stalin.  When it came to the killing game, Mao outscored Joe all the way!  Equally, I congratulate him on his decision to place the late - and I hope she is rotting in hell - Margaret Sanger, the founder of another murderous organisation, Planned Parenthood. 

Of course, having crossed two off his list, I suppose I am duty bound to add a new pair and that is not easy.  I suppose Lord Edward Lytton, the Viceroy of India in 1876 'deserves' his place having governed over a famine that killed millions but then again, there's always Lord George Curzon, British Viceroy of India in 1899, who did much the same.  Equally, Winston Churchill deserves a mention for refusing point-blank in 1943 to divert at least some ships to India to help alleviate a famine that killed 3 million - despite the fact that Indian soldiers were fighting and dying for Britain!  And talking of Churchill, he also deserves castigation for encouraging Air Marshal Arthur 'Bomber' Harris to even greater efforts in his massive, and mostly useless, bombing campaign against German cities.

And those 'candidates' are just from Britian, so God only knows how many more 'candidates' exist in other countries!

 

 

Wisconsinites are bereft but Arkansaureans are celebrating!

Thanks to the good advice offered by my readers who pointed out that much of life in Wisconsin is like camping out in your deep freezer I am delighted to inform y'all that I have changed what passes for my mind.  Thus, my next visit to the good ol' 'US of A' - don't hold your breath! -  will revert to my original choice of Arkansas.  Quite apart from the unbelievable beauty of the countryside, I will have the chance to meet 'JK' and find out if listening to him is any easier than reading him!

Also, I understand that news has trickled down from 'them thar hills' that Barney Magroo (Purveyor of Fine Wines and Spirits to the Gentry) has conducted a tasting of his '19 Chateaux Hoggsville claret and the results are outstanding, although it is also reported that not many of the tasters are still standing!  To achieve full maturation, this claret has been laid down for at least 48 hours - well, the plastic bottles can't stand much longer! - and I can report that the bouquet is indescribable!

In addition, I am informed that good ol' Barney has also moved into the Calvados market and produced a brandy which has, in reviews, been given a rating of three "Yee Haws"!  The main ingredient for this very fine Calvados was based on the leftover apples that his hogs didn't eat!

I can't wait!

ADDITIONAL:  The other attraction about Arkansas are 'the peeps'!  Like many a Brit, I am always fond of genuine eccentricity and these two chaps epitomise that characteristic.  I give you, on the left, Mr. Charles Ferris and, on the right, Mr. Christopher Hicks:

 

According to reports, these two gentlemen were enjoying a convivial evening on Mr. Hicks' veranda whilst conducting an in-depth tasting of Barney Magroo's claret - yeeeeeeeeees, quite!  Mr. Ferris was wearing a bullet-proof vest of the very finest quality, as you do in Arkansas, so he invited Mr. Hicks to shoot him in order to test it.  Mr. Hicks, being a gentleman of the old school, obliged and left Mr. Ferris with a very painful bruise and a bad temper.  He insisted that Mr. Hicks don the garment and then emptied his magazine into the back of it.  Happily, there was no penetration but the two of them were hurting badly and went off to the hospital for a check-up, at which point - natch! - the cops turned up.  They tried to bluff their way out of it but failed and are now awaiting court appearances for 'aggravated assault'.  That's the problem with cops - no sense of humour!

Thanks to https://www.ihatethemedia.com/

 

 

 

Sorry, 'JK', I may have to move to Wisconsin

As regular readers already know, were I to grace the shores of America for a second time - they should be so lucky! - I would instantly make for Arkansas, not just because my good ol' buddy, 'JK', hangs out there, to say nothing of his good ol' buddy Barney Magroo (Purveyor of Fine Wines and Spirits to the Gentry), but because from every photo I have ever seen of the place it is absolutely gorgeous!  Even so, I must now confess to an equally insatiable desire to know more of Wisconsin.  I must immediately confess to not knowing exactly where it is, I thought sort of 'north-ish' and 'west-ish' but now I realise it is more 'east-ish'.  Anyway, I was taken with the place when, about ten years ago, a free market conservative by the name of Scott Walker surprised everyone by winning the State Governorship.  He immediately set about dismantling the Democrat/Public Employees Union 'stitch -up' that the tax-payers of Wisconsin were forced to finance.  Amazingly, he succeeded and managed to remain Governor for two terms.

I had high hopes that perhaps the Republicans would have the good sense to give him a run for the Presidency but, alas, they failed to follow my good advice!  Without knowing all the 'nitty-gritty' of his stewardship - I think I can rely on my frequent commenter, Bob, to insert a few drops of acid! - he seemed fairly successful and he certainly stood in the right places on many contentious issues, not the least being his opposition to abortion.  He is only 51 years old so he has a long-ish future before him and I wish him well.

 

 

WARNING: This is an exceedingly tough read, not for the faint of heart!

This is an extract from a report published by Fox News based on the career of Ms. Abby Johnson, formerly an executive with the Planned Parenthood organisation in America which dominates the US abortion industry and which also receives $500 million annually from the Federal government courtesy of American taxpayers.  Ms. Johnson worked for them for some eight years without, apparently, understanding the true nature of the slaughterhouse until she was invited to assist at an actual abortion:

After eight years at her clinic, Abby saw something that changed her forever. She was asked to assist in an abortion procedure by firmly holding the mother’s abdomen during the probe on the ultrasound machine. She watched the screen in horror as she saw the image of a fully-formed baby fighting for her life while being systematically decapitated. [My emphasis]

A film, titled "Unplanned", has just been released which is based on this lady's experience and which exposes the gross behaviour of Planned Parenthood when faced with any sort of opposition or criticism.  I doubt whether I will have the guts to go and see it but I hope it breaks box-office records 'over there'.  Our American friends often say that 'they do things bigger and better over there' and in this case they are right because Planned Parenthood easily out-does Auschwitz and at least the Nazis didn't sell off the body parts for profit!

 

What an incredible lady!

I refer to the late and exceedingly brave, Virginia Hall, of whom, hitherto, I knew nothing.  She features in a book review in this week's Spectator.  American by birth, in 1933 she accidentally shot herself in the leg with a shotgun which resulted in a partial amputation of her left leg.  She named her prosthetic 'Cuthbert'! Alas, she found herself in Paris when the Germans invaded.  She made her way London and promptly volunteered for service with the SOE who sent her back into France as an agent.  She recruited enormous numbers of people to form intelligence networks and also helped in the escape of several incarcerated agents.  By September 1942 she was being hunted by the Germans and was forced to make her escape into Spain which involved an enormous hike over the Pyrenees:

One evening, having tended to her bloodied stump, she finally mentioned her discomfort to London by wireless. ‘If Cuthbert is tiresome,’ the uncomprehending reply came back, ‘have him eliminated.’

Back in London she transferred to the OSS and was then returned to France where she commanded some 400 French resistance fighters in the run-up to D-Day.  After the war, she married a fellow OSS agent and worked for the CIA.  She was awarded an MBE by Britain, a Croix de Guerre by France and the Distinguished Service Cross by America - the only civilian woman to be so awarded during WWII.

What a lady!

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WW2’s Most Dangerous Spy by Sonia Purnell

 

 

The majority of the American media is 'stoopid'!

How to  describe the embarrassment for the disreputable American media who, since 2016 have run a non-stop hysterical lynching party against Donald Trump?  You expect amateurish, unprofessional activities from Prime Ministers and Presidents, after all, they're just 'slick Willies' who slithered into positions of power with very little idea of actually how to run a country sensibly.  Thus, they are nearly always an easy target for journalists who are, in effect, merely the equivalent of theatre critics, that is, scribblers with opinions of their own but not necessarily much in the way of knowledge or intelligence.

Even so, the mass hysteria on the part of most of the American media when faced with the gob-smacking surprise of the defeat of that wretched woman to whom they had virtually granted sainthood by a ghastly-looking property dealer and TV personality sent most of them mad.  In their state of psychosis, forgetting all standards of professionalism which still, just, exist in remote corners of American journalism, they swallowed hook, line and sinker the yarn that the dreadful man in the White House only stole their election with the assistance of 'Vlad the Impaler'.

With what joy and exultation they did receive the news that 'Iron Man' Mueller would be given, dare I say, 'yuuuuuuuge' powers to pursue the truth of this obviously villainous fact.  Never bothering to wait for actual evidence and for a clinching summary of Trump's obvious villainy, they went on, and on, and on, and then on some more whilst dribbling ecstatically at the dire punishment which would be inflicted on this cheating reprobate.  Night after night, day after day, month after month, year after year their salivating excitement grew - until Mueller stuck his pin in their great gaseous balloon and it emitted - a long fart!  In the traditional words of a British bobby, "Nothing to see 'ere, move along!" 

Below, I give you the perfect picture of Ms. Rachel Maddow, one of the TV leaders of the media lynching party who may now be forced to swing from her own rope.  Her expression of totally 'stoopid' incomprehension sums up the whole madness.

 

 

Will they learn from this fiasco?  Almost certainly not but maybe, just maybe, their bosses will as viewing and circulation figures slump!

 

 

 

"God bless America" - sort of!

First, apologies to those of you desperate for a laugh - well, you must be desperate to come here! - on a Monday morning but, alas, you must wait until later because the 'yuuuuuuuuuugest' joke ever was cracked in America yesterday and I must write about it.  'The Great Democrat Plot' just blew up in their own silly faces.  All those screechy, hysterical, wild-eyed, Dem 'pols' and their 'aiders and abetters' in the media and in Hollywood who have been attempting to march on the White House armed with media muskets and pitchforks prior to throwing the 'Ginger Ninja' on a bonfire have ended up looking like a parade of clowns.  Too, too delicious!

Mind you, if life has been a tad uncomfortable for Mr. President in the last two years he should admit to some culpability for making himself such a 'yuuuuuge' target.  As Mr. David French puts it in The National Review:

Trump hired and surrounded himself with some of the worst people in politics — felons and liars who sometimes committed crimes in the ham-handed attempt to cover up their own contacts or attempted contacts with Russian assets or operatives. The president’s personal lawyer, his campaign chair, his longtime friend and adviser, and his first national-security adviser (among others) each engaged in patterns of deception that were not only criminal, they created real and genuine alarm in fair-minded Americans that at least some people in the president’s inner circle were more than willing to work with our enemies abroad to gain financial or political advantage here at home.

I have forgotten, if I ever knew, that old physics law about every force having an equal and opposite re-active force but the Democrat party are about to learn it the hard way.  It is now clear that they used their toadies and lickspittles, established in the FBI and the (non)Justice Department by the Obama regime, to whip up this monstrous accusation against Trump, by spying on the Republican party during the election.  If anyone is guilty of using the power of the State to intefere with a Presidential election, 'it woz the Dems wot dunnit!'  I can't believe that the mighty - and now even mightier! - 'Ginger Ninja' will hesitate before instituting an investigation into that festering stew-pot whose head chef was, of course, Hillary Clinton!

Why not choose Robert Mueller to investigate, Mr. President, he knows the details and now he's out of work?!

 

 

"The Case for Trump", well, maybe, baby!

Because of those damned "events, dear boy, events" I missed the reviews for an exceedingly rare book written by the major American intellectual, Victor Davis Hanson (VDH).  The rarity of this book does not arise from the prolific author but from the fact that it is sympathetic towards a President who is regularly trashed in the vilest terms not least, perhaps, because his counter-fire, usually loosed off via Twitter (yeeeees, quite!) is equally ghastly.  Personally, I have given up even attempting to come to a considered opinion about the man, not least perhaps because I still remember writing some kindly words about 'Obama-rama' before he slid his elegant, and lying, arse behind the desk in the Oval Office.  Equally, in 2016, I was prepared to narrow my eyes when contemplating 'The Donald' because the vision of 'HillBilly' as President was so ghastly as to be beyond contemplation.

Mr. Michael Doran in his review of the book in The National Revue provides some useful background information on VDH himself.  For an acknowledged historian of war, a retired professor of classics, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a high-order intellectual, VDH lives an unusual life.

[H]e is also a farmer in California’s Central Valley. He routinely peppers his articles and even his academic work with telling details about farming life and social realities in Selma, a town outside Fresno where he lives in the same house in which he was born and raised. In this book, as in his others, the glimpses of Selma come only in support of Hanson’s wider thesis, never as part of an effort to tell his personal story. Nevertheless, beneath the surface of dispassionate analysis, the book burns with emotion. 

In other words, VDH inhabits a real world with real people far removed from the 'loopy-loo', oxygen-deficient stratosphere of Washington.  He is all too well aware of the dangerous fact that there are now two Americas and each of them is drifting, or even perhaps, driving apart.  California, he reminds us, is already virtually a one-party State!  Trump, in his disorganised way, is attempting to speak for those whom 'HillBilly' called "the deplorables", that is, white, working-class and mostly ignored.

Meanwhile, 'over here', Justin Webb in The Times (subscription only - which is why I rarely read it!) sums up VDH's view of Trump this way

"Donald J Trump, the narcissistic klutz of a million news stories, the racist ninny, the foul-mouthed sexist, is, in fact: A Hero!"

Mr. Webb, whilst he acknowledges Trump's support, unsurprisingly, fails to understand it.  Even so, he acknowledges that there is a very reasonable chance that 'The Donald' will win again in 2020!  Heavens to Betsy, 'hoodathunkit'?  Personally, given my appalling record, I have given up trying to forecast American politics given that they are even more useless than my Brit political forecasting!

 

 

God bless Robert Mueller!

I have absolutely no idea what his long awaited - too long awaited! - report will contain but, bless his little cotton socks, at least he will drive Brexit off the headlines for the weekend and give us all a break 'over here'!  I have never understood, perhaps because I failed to try and understand, what all the fuss was about.  Washington, Republican or Democrat, is a festering swamp in which the default mode is crookery, cheating, bribing, fixing and corrupting which, of course, makes it so fascinating.  I doubt if there's anything much on Trump but you can be absolutely sure the Dems and their chorus in the media will make us much noise as possible.  Good!  Bring it on because that may, just may, drive Brexit onto page 2 and relieve my headache!

By the way, I do think Mueller deserves a pat on the back for achieving the impossible and, in a city totally dominated by the media and peopled with the very finest selection of 'dirty rats' anywhere in the world, keeping his tedious, plod-like investigation secret.  Of course, it may be that there was nothing to tell - who knows?!

 

 

A gift for my 'Yankee-doodle' pals, even if it is stolen property!

I am, as y'all do know, a regular visitor to the American Thinker site, not just because many of the pieces contained there-in are interesting but also because their daily cartoon nearly always provides a chuckle and sometimes sends me crashing to the floor helpless with laughter.  Those are the ones, of course, which trigger my inherent kleptomania and result in me 'nicking' them and publishing them here.  Still 'n' all, your Honour, I always ensure that the name of the cartoonist is well to the fore:

Andrew Thomas blogs at Dark Angel Politics

 

 

 

The two great democracies skid closer and closer to the edge

Most of my readers are British and therefor require no further warnings from me concerning the enormous dangers to our hard fought and even harder won democracy.  However depressing that is, our sorrows are multiplied by the growing dangers to American democracy.  'Over here', we think - we hope? -  that Corbyn and his ultra-Marxist cabal will never gain control of Parliament.  'Over there', the extreme Leftists have already seized control of one of the two legislative chambers, the House of Representatives, and already they are busy nailing new rules onto the political agenda.  Happily, (I hope!) a combination of the Republican Senate and the Supreme Court will hold the worst of these plots in abeyance until 2020 when the voters will have a chance - a last chance? - to reset the situation.

Mr. David Catron at The American Spectator sets the scene:

It goes without saying that H.R.1 is a classic Democrat power grab that attempts to usurp the authority of the states to regulate the voter registration process. It would vitiate the accuracy of registration rolls by automatically registering anyone who acquires a driver’s license, prevent election officials from verifying voter eligibility, and render state voter ID laws null and void. H.R.1 also takes the power to draw congressional districts away from the states, and requires inclusion of illegal aliens in all redistricting plans. Moreover, it violates the 1st Amendment so brazenly that even the American Civil Liberties Union bestirred itself:

Happily, he is suffused with typical American optimism and remains confident that in 2020 the American 'peeps' will have seen exactly what the new intake of Dem politicians are up to and will put them to the sword, er, metaphorically speaking! 

In 2020 the GOP will target 50 to 60 seats held by Democrats in purple districts they narrowly won during the last two cycles. Most of those seats will flip after AOC and her fellow travelers drag the party to the far left. The voters will associate the Democrats with anti-Semitism, socialism, and illegal immigration, and they will lose the House majority again.

I do hope that he is right because if he is wrong, then we will be forced to wait for John Wayne to strap on his six-shooter and step out into the dusty street!

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 10.3.19

'Jeremy Sanders' or 'Bernie Corbyn' - you choose!   An interesting article by Matthew Continetti at The National Review which is summarised by its title: "The Collapse of the Center-Left" (sorry, American spelling!).  In it he summarises the lurch to the extreme Left that has shifted the ground under the feet of moderate Democratic party leaders.  For once we, or to be precise, the British Labour party, beat them to it by, in a fit of utter madness, electing 'Jezza' as leader.  Happily, there is an irrefutable test by which these zealots and their poisonous beliefs may be exposed - anti-Semitism.  Not only do they not bother even to attempt to hide it, they positively ram it down your throat!  The Germans of the 1930s had some slight excuses for voting for Hitler but today's Brits and Americans have none.

 

A vintage snort-snigger moment:   The militant feminists appear to have their tits caught in their jockstraps!  The 'Trannies', that is, the ones with balls, have snuck up on them and inveigled their way into athletics.  Thus, the real ladies are doomed forever to finishing second.  I would pay good money to see Ms. Serena Williams walk on to the centre court at Wimbledon to face a 'lady' who makes her look skinny!

 

The problem for the Jews is that they are too damned intelligent!   And, 'as any fule do no', nobody likes a smart arse!  From their earliest history following the diaspora, they were smart enough to move into the money-lending trade, there being no banks around at the time.  Alas, nobody loves their bank manager from any era and thus the Jews drew down on themselves the ire of the suckers who are always and forever in the majority.  I hasten to add that, of course, not all Jews are particularly bright, it's just that on average they are brighter than most of us 'schmucks'!

 

You can never escape boring economics!   As puffed-up China and its power-mad leader, 'Xi-ping-a-ling', are beginning to find out the hard way.  All that boring-snoring stuff about debt and borrowing and money supply which, if you think yourself above it all, soon snares you.  God help the Chinese leadership if the Chinese people suddenly feel the loss of their new-found prosperity!

 

 

 

No more rumbles

 

 

 

A thriller that made me think

Y'all know that despite me spicing up my posts with references to some seriously heavy book that I am reading, the fact is that I cannot resist a good thriller!  The other day, I bought one on Kindle and it has thrilled but also it has made me think, too!  The book is "November Road" by Lou Berney and it does indeed thrill with both menace and some serious killing!  However, it is set back in 1963 and the plot line snakes around the Kennedy assassination.  My goodness, I can still remember vividly exactly where I was when I heard the news - in a pub, of course!

Anyway, it has made me ask myself if the real 'perp' was ever discovered.  I know that America instigated several detailed investigations including an enquiry that seemed to go on for ever and ever but in this cynical age do we ever fully accept what is handed down to us?  I ought to buy a proper history of the event but, dammit, could I ever trust that any more than the Warren Commission?

 

 

My precious Saturday mornings

On Saturday morning I buy the Daily Telegraph, instead of reading it on the computer, as well as The Mail.  In addition, a neighbouring friend gives me the previous week's 'Saturday Review' from The Times and in return I give him my old copy of The Spectator.  If there are any Saturday morning duties to be done I make sure they are finished before eleven o'clock so that I can settle down with a mug of coffee - strong black and heavy on the sugar! - and all my newspapers.  Bliss!

Today I was particularly pleased with the Saturday Review which was cram-jammed with interesting articles.  For a start, they had a feature in which some comedian was asked for his likes and dislikes and his favourite painting was 'Portrait of Madame X' by John Singer Sargent. 

An excellent choice by a superb artist although personally I prefer several of his other paintings.

Next up was an article by Jonathan Bate, a Shakespearean 'brainiac' on the subject of Emilia Bassano, the mysterious 'dark lady of the sonnets', or is she?  Well, like just about everything else concerning that slippery country boy from Stratford, you just can't be sure of anything. 

I turned the page to the book reviews to find another mysterious dark lady, this time Wallis Simpson who nearly brought about the decline and fall of the British monarchy!  I confess to abysmal ignorance on this somewhat tawdry tale although over the years my ill-informed opinion that her eventual husband, Edward, the Duke of Windsor, was a total waste of space!  However, from the review of the book concerned, my opinion of Mrs. Simpson rose somewhat.

Turning the page and up popped a history of poor old - or actually 'poor young' - Henry VI, the almost forgotten boy/man of our regal history.  Eventually, of course, Edward IV did what was almost inevitable, and bumped him off before seizing the throne.  Next along came Richard III and we all know the end of that tale because that sly, Stratford fella' wrote a superb play telling us, more or less, what happened!

Next up was a review of a book on the subject of Ben Hecht, the famous Hollywood writer who was, I gather, "a very naughty boy" but if you live in Hollywood and you're a famous writer, what else would you be?!  Mind you, he wrote the script for "Gone with the Wind", so I forgive him - everything!

Anyway, all in all, a most satisfactory Saturday morning!

 

 

Well, he's bold and brave!

Certainly bolder and braver than me but that's not too difficult.  I refer to Mr. David Catron at The American Spectator who, without hesitation, claims that 'The Donald' will absolutely and definitely win the next presidential election!  I suspect that he may but being an A1 'wuss' I would not stake the deeds of the house on it!  Mr. Catron's belief is based on his opinion that the 'GAP' - the Great American Public - are, on the whole, better off financially after 'Trump-rule'  and he quotes a Gallup poll in support:

Americans’ optimism about their personal finances has climbed to levels not seen in more than 16 years, with 69% now saying they expect to be financially better off “at this time next year”… only two percentage points below the all-time high of 71%, recorded in March 1998 at a time when the nation’s economic boom was producing strong economic growth combined with the lowest inflation and unemployment rates in decades.

Well, I try never to put too much faith in polls, particularly polls attempting to forecast an economic future.  However, I agree that 'The Donald' has some major factors in his favour, particularly his opponents, the Democratic party.  They are a laughable shambles with a 'yuuuuuuuuuge', and growing daily, collection of kooks and nuts and lying liars vying vigorously to obtain the nomination.  They might only be "vying" now but as we get closer to the crunch day, the 'vying' will become vitriolic!  By and large, I reckon, voters do not like political parties that allow healthy competition between candidates to degenerate into vile and slanderous abuse of each other!

Of course, one must allow for the liklehood - the dead certainty? - that 'The Donald' will drop more than a few clangers on his way to the election but somehow, I can't help thinking that people have become used to him and in fact, rather enjoy his eccentricity.  Equally, I also suspect that they will recoil from many of the shouty-sweary Democratic nuts who will spend most of their time tearing shreds off each other!

'We shall see what we shall see'!

 

 

Heavens to Betsy, the Dems are as dim as the Corbynistas

The dim Dems 'over there' just cannot resist taking using a six-shooter to take pot shots at their own feet!  Thus, they have just announced that at the next Presidential election they will not allow Fox News to host one of the Presidential debates.  Mr. Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker is quick to point out the six wounds they will inflict on themselves.

One, they will stand accused and guilty of lacking the courage to let their candidate face tough questions.

Two, the voters, excluding committed Dems, of course, will instantly recognise that virtually all other media apart from Fox is soft, if not soppy, on Leftwing politics.

Three, they will also recognise that these 'debates' are simply a 'safe space' for the Dem candidate to relax in.

Four, Tom Perez, chairman of the Dem National Committee, has thus confirmed what many Americans have long suspected that the majority of the media are the perpetrators of 'fake news'.

Five, most Americans do not trust the media so aligning them with the Dems hardly adds 'lustre to their cluster'!

Six, such a stand plays into Trump's hands because he can insist that Fox News be admitted or he will boycott the entire farrago. However, if the Dems cave then the GAP, the Great American Public, will only pay attention to the Fox news debate because that is the only one which will be worth watching.

Is there anyone dimmer than a Dem?

 

 

My 'vote' goes for good, ol' Hickenlooper!

American politics are hilarious!  We already have a truly great, if not 'yuuuuuuuge', eccentric as President but now, courtesy of the Democratic party we have a veritable gallery of nuts, nerds, loopy-loos and dingbats as well as the usual 'heap-big' lying liars - yes, you know who I mean! - vying for the top job.  However, the queue is lengthening!  Today we have the ex-Governor of Colorado, 'Hizzonner' Mr. John Hickenlooper!  With a name like that he must be a favourite!  Can you imagine the giggles that will arise in the assemblies of the world when they announce the arrival of 'President Hickenlooper'?  Even 'Her Maj' might have difficulty keeping a straight face on introduction - and dear old Phil wouldn't even try!  The late, great W. C. Fields would have loved it.

 

The Sunday Rumble: 3.3.19

How long, oh Lord, how long?   I defy anyone to claim that they guessed, back in the day, that the Brexit imbroglio would descend into the utter and complete shambles that it has.  There are many contributing factors but the main one stands clear - Mrs. May.  As an example of a total lack of leadership qualities, she stands supreme and will deserve that place in our history books.

 

Have a care, Mr. MacCulloch!  You are beginning, nay, you have begun, to irritate me!  I bought your 'yuuuuuuuuuge' biography of Thomas Cromwell who was, from my very slight knowledge, a fascinating 'ducker and diver of the first order' but in the first few chapters of your book all I read is an endless list of the scores, nay, hundreds, of individuals and organisations  with whom he was connected in one way or another.  Please, just get back to the man himself before I really lose my temper - given the price I paid for the book!

 

Oh no, Mr. Dershowitz, say it ain't so!   As regular readers will know, I am a great admirer of Mr. Alan Dershowitz, the American lawyer and political commentator.  Now there are 'tales' (I use the word deliberately) linking him to some multi-zillionaire, American businessman who is accused of organising sex parties - where was my invite? - and that one of the girls was offered to Mr. Dershowitz.  Actually, Dershowitz defended the businessman in court and it was the opposition lawyers who made the accusation.  Dershowitz was able to produce travel document evidence that proved the accusation wrong.  I would never have believed it anyway because Dershowitz is just too damned intelligent!

 

The Trump-Kim waltz:   Various commentators, pro and con, have had their say on Trump's North Korean diplomacy.  Needless to say, most of it is concerned with Trump because, of course, they haven't a clue what is going on in Pyongyang - is it Kim who rules or all those ridiculous Generals with their 'yuuuuuge' hats and acres of decorations?  There was a time when the North Korean antics were becoming exceedingly dangerous and so Trump was right to seek meetings and try and 'sus out' what was going on.  Whether he knows any more now than he did before, no-one can know, as so often, we must wait for the history books to be written!

 

The next India/Pakistan Test March should be fun!    So was that the beginning of war a few days ago or just an Indo-Paki hissy fit?  I very much hope it was the latter because 'the real thing' could be exceedingly messy given that both nations have nuclear capabilities!   Again, rather like North Korea, there are military chiefs in the background whose influence is probably far in excess of their strategic abilities!

 

In which I receive excellent good news:   Yes, indeed, the 'Memsahib' has just informed me that she is about to make a blackberry and apple crumble for supper - and, NO, you can't have any!

 

Better watch out, Donald, 'the Bern' is coming!   I keep reading reports that the American version of 'Jezza', that is Bernie Sanders, is pulling in zillions and zillions of dollars well ahead of his fight for the Democrat nomination.  Remarkably, somewhat like 'Jezza', despite being an old coot the juveniles 'jes' lurve him!'  I suppose he reminds them of their favourite, old 'Gramps'.  Maybe I should run for Parliament - oh alright then, not exactly "run" but shuffle!

 

'Fauxcahontas' scalps herself:   Well, Sen. Warren has gone from lying about her Cherokee ancestry which helped her grab a job at Harvard, to defending her claim for years, to taking a gene test which she failed, to, finally, owning up and, at last, apologising for her trickery.  Good job none of us held our breath waiting!

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

The Trump-et concerto is nearly over

He might not have produced much in the way of great advances for America but at least 'The Donald' provided considerable humour for the proles!  Unfortunately, I fear the curtain is coming down on his act in 2020, to be replaced by a regime which will be grimly unhumorous.  It's not that everything he did was wrong, he managed to get Gorsuch and Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court which might, just might, be the saving of America when the (un)Democrats take over, it's just that most of it was wrong, or wrongly handled.  Actually, he was never the stuff of proper Presidential material, although to be fair, very few of them are, but his main 'virtue' in the last election was being 'not-Hillary'!  

So it is necessary to keep a weather eye open on the (un)Democratic party who are likely to dominate American politics for some time.  One only needs a quick glance at the parade of clowns vying for the Democrat nomination to groan inwardly and fear for the future.  As Michael Filozof points out at The American Thinker, they are the party of:

[…] late-term abortion if not infanticide; the party of using the national security state apparatus to spy on political opponents and attempt to overturn elections; the party of violating attorney-client privilege to get an opponent; the party of radical gays and transgenderism; the party of radical gun control and Australian-style forcible gun confiscation; the party of anti-white racial demagoguery and "reparations" for slavery; the party of hate crime hoaxes; the party of open borders, unlimited immigration, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the party of seventy- to ninety-percent income taxes on the rich; the party of socialized medicine and making private insurance illegal; the party of outlawing all fossil fuels (and eliminating airline travel) within ten years, and the party of telling people not to have children to "save the planet." [See the original for references and links]

Such fun - not!

 

A tribute to Charles Krauthammer - and Australia

I mentioned the other day that I had purchased a book entitled "The Point of it All" which is a tribute to the late, great Charles Krauthammer made up of many of his mostly 'WaPo' columns and compiled by his son.  I have started to read it and already I am captivated (again!) by his wit and intelligence and clarity of thought.  The last essay I read is entitled "Why I love Australia" which took me somewhat by surprise.  I have decided to copy part of it out here as my tribute both to him and to Australia.

In the Australian House of Representatives last month, opposition member Julia Gillard interrupted a speech by the minister of health thusly: "I move that that snivelling grub over there be not further heard."

For that, the good woman was ordered removed from the House, if only for a day.  She might have escaped that little time-out if she had responded to the speaker's demand for an apology with something other than "If I have offended grubs, I withdraw unconditionally."

God, I love Australia.  Where else do you have a shadow health minister with such, er, starch?  Of course I'm prejudiced, having married an Australian, but how not to like a country, in this age of snivelling grubs worldwide, whose treasurer suggests to any person who "wants to live under sharia law" to try Saudi Arabia and Iran, "but not Australia."  He was elaborating on an earlier suggestion that "people who … don't want to live by Australian values and understand them, well they can basically clear off."  Contrast this with Canada, historically and culturally Australia's commonwealth twin, where last year Ontario actually gave serious consideration to allowing its Muslims to live under sharia.

Such things do not happen in Australia.  This is a place where, when the remains of a fallen soldier are accidentally switched with those of a Bosnian, the enraged widow picks up the phone late at night, calls the prime minister at home in bed and delivers a furious , unedited rant - which he publicly and graciously accepts as fully deserved.  Where Americans today sue, Australians slash and skewer.

And so on . . . and I urge you to buy the book.  Dammit, I miss that man!

 

 

 

Whatever you do, America, hang on to that filibuster!

Yet again I am in debt to that exceedingly shrewd commentator, David French, at The National Review who, well ahead of the game, warns of the increasing political pressure, from either side, to banish the filibuster.  The notion of a filibuster, in which one side gears up to engage in non-stop speechifying in order to talk out a proposal with which they passionately disagree, is more of an American practice than a British one.  It requires a wide and deep and passionate belief to organise and to carry it out, consequently it only arises rarely.

However, Mr. French reminds us that these are passionate and divided times and should the Democrats succeed in winning both the Presidency and the Senate then given their vaunting ambition they might well be tempted to do away with the irritating filibuster procedure in order to ram through gun-control laws, ultra-green lunacy and all sorts of other game-changers against which they have railed for years.  Similarly, of course, should the Trump Republicans sweep the board as Americans recoil from Democrat loony-socialism, then they might find a filibuster-free environment exceedingly tempting.

Mr. French summarises it thus:

The filibuster helps lower the true stakes of American elections. It’s one of the last measures left in American politics that limits the centralization of power. And it helps ensure that significant reform carries with it significant public support. It’s a check on the very forces that could tear our nation apart. It must be preserved.

I couldn't have put it better myself which, of course, y'all knew already!

 

 

47 Democrat Senators qualify for jobs at Auschwitz

The proposal was simple and clear, any baby who survived an abortion procedure and was born alive should be entitled to immediate remedial treatment in a normal hospital by normal doctors.  In a Senate vote, 47 Democrat Senators voted against it.

Need one say more, except possibly, pass the sick bag!

https://spectator.org/infanticide-makes-a-comeback/

 

 

 

Oh no, not another book!

"Good grief, Charlie Brown", only the other day I was bemoaning the fact that I was "booked out" with nothing to read and no idea what to buy.  Then, as an 'apperitif', I treated myself to a thriller by that master, Linwood Barclay, who sets his tales in the most 'boring-snoring' of American suburbs - and then frightens the pants off you!  On top of that, I treated myself to a mammoth history book on the life of Thomas Cromwell, so problem solved, I thought to myself.

But then, dammit, The National Review tipped me off on a post mortem book by the late, and very great, Charles Krauthammer.  

It is a compilation of his writings put together by his son.  I cannot tell you how much I miss that man, nearly as much as the superb Bernard Levin.  Happily, I suspect that it will not be a book that needs to be read from cover to cover but one to be dipped into as the mood takes.  In this mad, mad, mad, mad world, what a relief!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Point-All-Lifetime-Great-Endeavors-ebook/dp/B07GD5XDM4

 

 

The perfect symbol for the European (dis)Union

The Airbus A380, that great example of the heights to be reached by the EU, just crashed!  I am grateful to the Spectator - no, no, not the London one, I mean the American Spectator, for highlighting the dismal details.  

Airbus SE announced the demise of its 380 aircraft, after 13 years in service. Launched with about $4 billion [My emphasis] in government developmental aid in 2000, the program was from the start a vanity project, intended to show Americans that Europe could build a commercial aircraft that would be bigger, faster, and better than the Boeing 747, which has been in service for 50 years. [...]

And so, a committee was struck and it was decided that the Airbus A380 project would be managed by a Franco-German team: DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, based in Hamburg, and the Lagardère Group in Toulouse. Only the team wasn’t to be integrated. Rather, there would be parallel structures of corporate officers (two CEOs, CFOs, and so on), thus ensuring strict parity as well as failure.

What could possibly go wrong?  Well, just about everything, of course, and it did - BIG TIME!  For example:

Not even the software used to construct this very complex aircraft was to be integrated, for neither Daimler nor Lagardère wanted to use the other’s software even though the two systems were incompatible. [...]

As the troubles multiplied over the following year, the Germans sent more and more mechanics to Toulouse, until they outnumbered their French counterparts by almost 2 to 1 - 1,300 to around 700.

Sacré bleu!  But never mind all that:

Airbus threw a coming-out party for the A380 that rivaled anything Hollywood might stage, replete with “strobe lights, smoke machines and chorus girls,” according to the New York Times. France’s President Chirac was there, and proclaimed that “When it takes to the skies it will carry the colors of our Continent, and our technological ambitions, to even greater heights.”

Still 'n' all, as those Yankee-doodles tend to say:

[…] the 380 was the largest airplane in the world, a double decker with 550 seats. So large in fact that airports could not accommodate it without modifying their runways and gates. So large that it became harder and harder to fill as passengers decided they’d rather take direct flights to smaller regional airports rather than having to transfer to a connecting flight at one of the major hubs.

As always in these colossal cock-ups, the only question is 'who suffers?'

In the A380 fiasco, there are two big losers. First, there is the European taxpayer when the Airbus A380 loans are forgiven, as were the Airbus’s A340’s loans after that program was canceled. In the absence of this forgiveness Airbus SE would not survive.

The other loser is Boeing. Last year the World Trade Organization ruled that Boeing had been harmed by the governmental loans granted to Airbus which violated standard commercial terms. But under the rules of the WTO, Boeing will not be recompensed, for the cancellation of programs has the practical effect of a bankruptcy, with all claims against these programs being wiped out.

Now, what's the French or German for "Jolly good show"?

 

The Sunday Rumble: 24.2.19

In which Peter Hitchens makes up my mind for me:   Dammit, there are so many things going on about which I should be able to analyse and then take a reasoned position but, dammit, I never quite get round to it!  Take this problem of Ms. Shamima Begum, for example.  Should we strip her of her British identity and leave her and her baby to rot in the 'fester-pit' which she chose, or not?  Immediately you enter a multi-handed dilemma - on the one hand this, on the other hand that until you end up turning in circles.  Thus, yet again, I am grateful to Mr. Peter Hitchens in The Mail for making up what passes for my mind for me.

If we allow politicians to strip Shamima Begum’s citizenship from her, they will get a taste for it. And so will our own, home-grown mob. And those who think they are leading mobs always end up discovering that they are, in fact, being chased by them. That never ends well.

Sorted!  Thanks, Mr. Hitchens … again.

 

You never stop learning:   And that is why I am signing on at my local Technical College for a course in 'Tapology'.  This is an unbelievably complex science but I must master it given the decrepit - 'decrapit?' - state of my waste disposal system since those 'Brainiacs' at Taunton Hospital zapped me with their 'death rays'.  I now visit sundry toilets a day - and night - and consequently wash my hands on an almost non-stop basis.  Or at least, I would if only I could get the hang of these bloody, new-fangled taps some 'smart-arse' has designed and which defy logic as to how you may extract water from them!  This morning I made use of my friend's bathroom and was faced with a beautifully sculpted tap which appeared to be totally solid.  I tried to twist it and turn it and in the end thumped it but all to no avail.  In the end, I found out that the sculpted top which made it appear solid was in fact hinged and if lifted that produced water! Grrrrrrrrrh!

 

Stand by, Master Thomas Cromwell, I am about to visit you:   I mentioned a few days ago that I was about to launch into Diarmaid MacCulloch's 'yuuuuuuuuge' history, "Thomas Cromwell: A Life".  Of course, the rest of the world has already done that and enjoyed it by reading Hilary Mantel's novels and the very successful TV series.  I avoided them, not because I doubt Ms. Mantel's skill but I am always chary of fictionalised history as opposed to real scholastic history.  You only have to check out  the historical nonsense perpetrated by that country bumpkin from Stratford to know what I mean!  Anyway, I will let you know in due course what I make of it but, given the size of it, I may be some time!

 

Joke of the day - week? - month? - year?   According to the very naughty boy who runs Zero Hedge, some satirical magazine/site 'over there' has suggested that the lying, little 'scrote' who, with the help of two hired black guys, invented an incident in which he was racially assaulted, has been offered a job by CNN "after witnessing his skills at fabricating a story entirely out of thin air."

 

Hmmmn, got that one wrong!   I vaguely remember that when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first appeared as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia and indicated that he would ease the harsh rules and regulations governing the ladies of his land, I expressed some hopeful remarks that perhaps - maybe - possibly - things might change for the civilised better in that ghastly land.  Then he slaughtered that dodgy Saudi correspondent, and yesterday, on a visit to China, he offered some mitigating excuses for the fact that the Chinese government had imprisoned millions of Uighur Muslims and slaughtered thousands of them.  With a friend and co-religionist like that, who needs enemies?!

 

No more rumbles 

 

The final sacrifice of ten real American heroes remembered

Tony Foulds was only 8 years old in 1944 and, like most days he was playing football with his pals on a stretch of parkland when a badly damaged USAAF bomber, seeking somewhere to land with safety, swerved away from the field occupied by the boys and instead crashed into some trees killing all ten members of the crew - but saving the lives of the boys.  Ever since, Tony Foulds has carefully tended a memorial he set up in memory of the men who perished.

Yesterday was the 75th anniversary in recognition of which, thousands of people turned out to watch a memorial flypast by British and American aircraft.

From The Daily Mail report:

"The pensioner who broke down in tears after thousands joined him for a flypast in memory of ten Second World War heroes whose plane crashed to avoid him has gone back to his day job attending the memorial in their honour."

In many ways, it's a shitty old world but there are some golden moments.

 

 

My Darling Ann whips Donald's arse!

The image implied in my heading is not one that I would wish to linger upon but even so there can be no other to better illustrate her latest article.  I must confess (and quickly plead for mercy lest she turns on me!) that I have rather forgotten MDA's scorching output - my bad!  She was, of course, a major cheer leader for the Trump campaign at the last election and no doubt her vigorous support added considerably to his success.  Even so, unlike most lazy commentators, she never lets her eagle eye waver from what a Presidential 'wannabe' says, and what an actual President does!  Thus:

For decades, voters have been lied to by politicians promising to crack down on immigration. We vote and we vote and we vote, and nothing ever changes. Wage-lowering, culture-destroying policies manage to appear in every bill Congress passes.

We finally got sick of it and voted for Trump. He promised to build a wall, deport illegal aliens and end the anchor baby scam. No matter how much the establishment screamed at him, he never backed down.

To call Trump's promise to build a wall his "central campaign promise" routinizes it. That promise was indispensable to his election in a way that no other president's campaign promises ever were.

Well, yes, that was the impression I gained, even 'over here'.  So what actually happened?

The bill President Trump signed last Friday is worse than anything Hillary could ever have gotten through Congress.

To mention the two most shocking examples, the bill prohibits Trump from using any Homeland Security funds to build a wall anywhere along the border. Only bollard fencing is permitted -- and even that is allowed in only one small section of the border with the approval of local authorities.

Inasmuch as the "local authorities" in that particular sector are liberal Democrats and/or beholden to Mexican cartels, the bill Trump just signed effectively prohibits any barrier whatsoever from being built on the border.

The bill also expressly prohibits the deportation of any illegal aliens who are part of a household, or thinking of becoming part of a household, that contains an "unaccompanied minor" -- i.e. any illegal alien who claims to be under 18 years old with no parent in the country. This is why the bill is being referred to as the Pedophiles-Go-Free Act.

Ouch!

Of course, 'The Donald' is exceedingly fortunate that the Democratic party opposition forming to oppose him in 2020 is the biggest collection of freaks, juveniles, dimwits and Old Age Pensioners ever seen but, even so, have a care, Mr. President!  You are facing nearly two years of a non-stop barrage of virulent criticism from one of the best and sharpest political commentators in the media.  Better to have her on side than in opposition!

 

 

I offer some good cheer to my 'Yankee-doodle' friends

Sometimes, just sometimes, the normally gloomy Zero Hedge site offers some cheerful news and today they out-do themselves and offer two 'smiley' news reports which I am delighted to pass on to my American friends.

The first refers to the Covington High School incident in which some pupils of this private, Catholic college were alleged to have confronted a Native American agitator taking part in a demo whilst provocatively wearing 'Make America Great Again' hats made famous by 'The Donald'.  This was seized upon by the left wing media and their usual chorus of muppets as an example of almost 'Hitler Youth' activity by the sons of the rich and a torrent of abuse was aimed at the young students concerned.  To no-one's surprise, except the dimwits in the (il)liberal media, an investigation has shown the charge to be entirely false.  Today, we learn that the 'WaPo', one of the main 'shit-stirrers', has been slapped with a $250 million defamation suit on behalf of Nicholas Sandman, the pupil who was mostly vilified.

Apparently, letters warning of imminent legal action have also been sent to, amongst many others, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Cable News Network, Inc. (CNN), The Guardian, National Public Radio, Bill Maher, Elizabeth Warren and so on, ad infinitum and ad nauseum!

My second piece of good cheer concerns that monstrous example of inflated ego, the proposed Obama Library in Chicago.  Apart from being hideously ugly and almost totally useless there are severe doubts concerning the legality with which Chicago city land was 'acquired'.

The land, previously owned by the Chicago Park District, was, er, 'gifted' to the Obama Foundation for - wait for it! - $1, or '10 cents a year for 99 years'!  

Happily, this being America, "A federal judge in Chicago ruled on Tuesday that a lawsuit aimed at scuttling President Obama's $500 million library may proceed, according to the Associated Press."

 

 

Kissing is good for you!

Here is the most famous kiss in the history of the world and how appropriate that it is an American sailor who stars in the event which took place on 14 August 1945 - a.k.a. VJ Day!  Alas, the cheeky 'Jack Tar' concerned, George Medonsa, has just died at the exceedingly good age of 95 years, 2 days short of 96, and he deserved every one of them.

 

The unsuspecting(!) lady concerned, Greta Zimmer Friedman, was equally blessed with that kiss because she lived to 92.  Both of them enjoyed good but seperate family lives after that kiss.

 

I can't help wondering if Medonsa was related in any way to our favourite nautical commenter, 'JK'!?

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 17.2.19

An amendment to the D&N constitution:    Henceforth and forever, the name and writings of Herr Kurt Friedrich Gödel are banned.  The reason is simple - he makes my head hurt!  Also, of course, he's a damned Hun, need I say more?  Finally, he is the sort of irritating, troublesome sort of fella' that would make the proposition '2+2=4' doubtful.  I have read, sort of, the arguments below on Gödel vs. the constitution of the USA and I have decided to go back to bed.  I shall return!

 

Sorry, sorry, sorry!   Alas, I went on 'the missing list' today but it was entirely due to those young 'Brainiacs' at Taunton Hospital who zapped me with those 'Death Rays'!  They warned me that my, er, 'waste disposal system' might play up and today it did, enough to drive me back to bed this morning, and confine me to my armchair for the remainder of the day in a state of total lethargy - so no change there then!

 

No more Rumbles today

 

For a moment, a terrifying moment, I was 'booked out'!

Well, as all you poor 'regulars' here at D&N do know, because I could not stop myself from endlessly raving/boring about Ben Macintyre's biography of the Russian spy, Oleg Gordievsky, that book truly moved me.  At the end of it, frankly, I was at a total loss as to what to read next.  Alas, I just knew that the endless 'thrillers' offered up by my Kindle were never going to get within a mile of the real life of Gordievsky.  I thought, perhaps, I should dive into some history but again, I could raise no enthusiasm for any of it.  Dammit, I despaired, without a book I may have to talk to the 'Memsahib'!  So then - duh! - I thought that perhaps there were some unread books in my Kindle, so I trawled my way through what Kindle, laughingly, call my 'library'. 

Bingo!

I had completely forgotten that months ago, in a sudden fit of I know not what, I had bought the entire "L.A. Quartet" by James Ellroy!  Already I have begun with the first of them, "The Black Dahlia".  I am barely into it but already I am unsure quite what to make of it and its author.  Obviously I need to reach at least the halfway point before I come to any tentative conclusions but in the meantime, I wonder if any of my American friends have read this amazing writer, and what, if any, conclusions did they come to.  It is particularly difficult for an old - and I do mean old! - Brit 'geezer' like me to take in the truly extraordinary tale this man tells.  I mean, it is all so damned American!

 

 

See, I was right and I told y'all!

Whilst it is always a pleasure for me to go back over my many wise words recorded on this blog - don't say it! - but, alas, I haven't the time right now.  Suffice to point out that many a time and oft', I have urged my Yankee-doodle friends to obliterate their totally corrupt and useless Dep. of (non)Justice.  It has been obvious since the wretched days of 'Obama-rama' that the entire stinking, rotten collection of festering, fanatical Leftists who inhabit the building were a "clear and present danger" to the Constitution of the United States.  Now we have the proof in the words of one of the main culprits, the former deputy chief of the FBI, Andrew McCabe who admits that steps were taken to do whatever it took to overthrow the President.

I have wondered why 'The Donald' has not acted sooner to clear this festering rats' nest but perhaps he was wise to give them time to convict themselves out of their own 'stoopid' mouths.  But now is the time to act, Mr. President, so go to it!  And when you have finished, turn to your State Department, you know, that bureaucratic monolith whose pen-pushing 'pecksniffs' spilled out onto the concourse to cheer and clap 'HillBilly' when she was appointed by 'Obama-rama'.

Time for some stable-cleaning, Mr. President!

 

So who wrote this?

"I will vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. And, to be clear, it will not be just because of what the other side offers, but also because of what the Trump-Pence team has done. They've earned my vote."

Oh, some hillbilly from Arkansas, you probably think but you would be wrong, in fact, completely and utterly wrong!  It was actually written by the man who invented the phrase "NEVER TRUMP!"  According to The American Thinker site, it was Mr. Erick Erickson, who initiated that quite clever piece of agitprop but who has now suffered, or perhaps enjoyed, a change of heart and mind.

If I was a Democrat, which 'thank the Lord I'm not, Sir', I would be exceedingly worried at the prospects for 2020, given that the Senate Intelligence Committee has failed to find a scintilla of evidence proving that Trump colluded with the Russians, Mueller remains schtum despite years of investigation and that opinion polls are beginning to shift towards 'The Donald'.  In the meantime, the flow of, dare I say, 'irredemable' (where have I heard that word before?) kooks and nincompoops aiming to compete as Democratic party candidates for the White House should add zillions of votes to the republicans.

 

D&N is back to what passes for normal!

First of all, now that I am a 'free man' again, let me thank you all for your patience over the last five weeks as this blog stop-started-stopped like one of my old second-hand cars.  From now on it will resume its natural mode of non-stop, boring-snoring tedium!

Even so, let us restart with a giggle.  I give you Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a fierce warrior on behalf of global warmers everywhere who arranged a rally to announce her candidacy for the forthcoming Presidential election - in a snow storm!

 

I can't help feeling that the collection of female air-heads, dim-wits, nut-jobs and 'heap big' liars (you know who I mean!) putting up for the Democratic nomination, will do more damage to female political ambitions than anything 'The Donald' can throw at them.  Come on, Ladies, get a grip, where are your Margaret Thatchers?

 

 

More Trumpety-Trump!

As I indicated above, I was amazed to be so impressed by Trump's SOTU speech to Congress.  However, please note that I inadvertently listened to it at 2.00am in the morning when what passes for my brain is not at its very best.  Even so, the speech lasted 1.5 hours which was long enough to have initial re-actions either confirmed or dismissed.  The tone of the delivery was excellent, about as far from 'Trump normal' (or perhaps that should be 'Trump abnormal'!) as I have ever heard.  The speech-writer used his intelligence to keep re-emphasising the President's wish for compromise and unity.  Yes, it might be Grade I BS but that is what most presidential speeches are!  And in any case, this was clever BS because with 'yuuuuuge' numbers of American listening and watching, it puts the pressure on the Dems to "straighten up and fly right". 

More important, was Trump's insistence, based on actions already taken, that in his world view American interests come first in everything.  Chinese, Russians, Iranians have already felt the hard shoulder of an America no longer wishing to be 'Mr. Nice Guy', as his totally wet and useless predecessor tried to be.  Yes, 'The Donald' will have to compromise on this or that because that is how politics work in the real world but at least now we can all see the essence of the new American stand.  In my view, after eight years of soppy, feeble leadership from Obama which no-one in the world took seriously, it is excellent that now we have an American president who can cut through the (so-called) subtleties of international politics and drive for real American strength and leadership.

 

 

I am now a 'Trumpeter'

Sorry for absence yesterday but I was just totally 'pooped'!  As of now I have a few minutes before I set off - again! - for (not) sunny Taunton to be zapped by 'death rays' so I thought I would tell you that I am now a fan of 'The Donald' although I wish he would cut the length of his speeches!  As y'all do know, I often 'sleep' with a radio ear-piece stuck in my ear and at 2.00am this morning I picked up his 'yuuuuuge' speech which did not end until 3.30am, so I am 'knacked' already before the 'Zappers' get at me.

My first conclusion was that he should appoint a Twitter writer to handle that side of his communications because obviously he had a speech writer to compose his effort yesterday and it was excellent, especially compared to Twitter nonsense.  Also, it was very well delivered - steady and even and thoughtful.  I listened to all of it which is more than I can say of 'Bore-ama-Obama's' long, tedious, pause-ridden 'drone-a-thons'!

More importantly, Mr. President convinced me that despite the somewhat chaotic nature of his, er, 'management' abilities, he does have a plan, or if you like, he knows where he is going and why.  No more time now, but when I get back I will expand further on his speech.

 

 

For God's sake, America, get a grip!

I know that it ill-behoves a Brit to cast aspersions at American politicians given the monkey-house antics of our own 'dear leaders' but even so they are at least 'screeching the good screech' over something important. 'Over there', it is disclosed that back when he was a 24-year old medical student, some State Governor went to a fancy dress party as either a black man or as a KKK member. Cue: mass hysteria from the Democrat party, or the 'Mob Rule party' as I prefer to think of it, and - 'natch! - the media who insist that he must resign instantly and then, preferably, soak himself in gasoline and light a match! The only good news in this ridiculous shenanigan is that the Governor concerned is a Democrat!

This growing habit of mass hysteria in America is surging past the laughable and into the dangerous! If people in their young days did silly and/or distasteful things which fall well short of criminal, then is that really a reason to unleash the 'shriekers', most of whom, I would bet, have done, and are still doing, far worst things?  There is more than just a hint of totalitarianism in this madness and of one thing you can be sure, the people behind it are not the least bit hysterical, they know precisely what they are doing!

 

 

There is a God, although he's a Cherokee God!

And I, for one, will chant his praises because, at long last, he has turned his totem pole - look, I do the jokes round here! - towards Sen. 'Fauxcahontas' Warren and forced her to admit that she's the daftest daft thing since daft things were invented!  Finally, the silly squaw has apologised to the Cherokee nation for her ridiculous DNA test which, if it proved anything, proves that Donald Trump probably has as much Indian blood in him as she does! Mr. Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge is a very naughty boy and describes her words as "a 1/1024th apology"!  For the benefit of my non-Yankee-doodle readers, that was the percentage of Indian blood in her veins

I know that 'over here' we produce our fair share of political nuts and loonies but, as in so many other things, they always do it so much better 'over there'.  It is, of course, no surprise that the people most enraged by her silly claim were the elders of the Cherokee nation so at least now, as Mr. Durden puts it, 'the tomahawk is buried', hopefully in her ludicrous attempt to run for the Presidency!

 

HOORAY! Another day off 'skool'!

Er, well, not 'skool' exactly but hospital.  As I told you earlier, Wednesday was a horror story when I awoke to see a whole half inch of snow covering everything which - natch! - resulted in the entire country grinding to a halt.  Thus, despite my valiant efforts to reach Taunton I only made it as far as Yeovil, normally only 20 minutes away, where I became stuck for an hour before returning home.  So, not really a day off but today I opened the curtains to see a whole inch and a half of that filthy white stuff, whilst the BBC warned me on my radio that the end of the world is nigh.  Good, I thought, and instantly returned to bed!  Fortunately, my 'death ray' treatment appears not to be too time critical and although I am supposed to be 'zapped' every day, Monday to Friday, it doesn't seem to matter if I miss the odd day.  So, on my 'day off', I was able to have a leisurely breakfast and read the Daily Mail which for once was quite interesting, especially the book reviews.

The first one to take my attention was a review of what The Mail calls its "Book of the Week", a history of The (Royal) National Theatre  - I always add in the word "Royal" to their title because that is its proper title even if all those left-wing 'luvvies' hate it and try to hide it.  Mind you, that never stops them racing to the Palace if they're up for a 'gong'!  Even so, if you are a RNT fan, as I am on a selective basis, then this is full of good gossip.  I was rather taken with the semi-comical/semi-tragical story of Daniel Day-Lewis playing Hamlet and walking off stage in Act I because he thought the 'ghost of Hamlet's father' was the actual ghost of his father, the poet Cecil Day-Lewis!  He never returned and his understudy, Ian Charleson, had to take over on the spot!  Alas, the tragedy continued because Charleson died of AIDS eight weeks after the run ended. Heh! Theatre, you couldn't make it up!

More uplifting, in all senses of the word, is a book on the subject of the Apollo moon missions.  I still remain convinced that those missions to the moon are the very greatest pinnacle of human enterprise.  To a lad brought up in the world of piston engine aircraft and growing into another world of jet engines and then into the space age, it was all quite incredible!  According to this review, however, the author does not forget to include the human, and humorous, element of this great adventure:

Gus Grissom […] was initially rejected by Nasa because he suffered from hayfever. He calmly pointed out that, as far as he was aware, there wasn’t any pollen in space. So they let him in.

Oh dear, another two books I must buy.  Does anyone know just how many books you can squeeze into a Kindle?

 

 

American law enforcement is mad, bad and dangerous to know!

In fact, at the risk of upsetting my American friends, it looks to me that their law enforcement agencies are copying Gestapo/KGB tactics.  Yesterday, in the early dawn hours, 29 armed - and, boy, I do mean seriously armed! - FBI/Police agents in 19 vehicles with flashing lights, stormed the house of a 66-year old man with absolutely no history of violence or even gun ownership.

What's the matter with these so-called agents, are they suffering with TWS (Titchy Willy Syndrome)?  Have they been watching too many Rambo films?  Or are they just desperate to justify their 'yuuuuuuuge' salaries and perks and pensions even if it means endangering elderly folk who will be shocked and terrified by such pandemonium outside their homes in the early hours.  Fair enough, I suppose, if they were searching for an ISIS terrorist cell - but a 66-year old man with absolutely no criminal record?

Yes, according to Wiki and others, Roger Stone is a piece of political detritus you would do well to step over if, as might be likely, you found him plopped on a pavement but surely that does not take 29 - repeat, 29! - armed officers.  And how odd that the only - repeat, only! - media outlet tipped off to film the operation was CNN, a virulently anti-Trump outlet.  As Ms. Patricia McCarthy puts it at The American Thinker:

That such an aggressive show of force could be visited upon a non-violent person accused of alleged verbal crimes is truly frightening. That so many in the media are celebrating the use of such a Gestapo tactic is horrifying. Suddenly, it is catastrophically clear that America is no longer a constitutional republic, a nation of laws and justice. An unelected, tangential officer of the DOJ has for two years abused his position of power to destroy many lives in the cruellest of ways with impunity. No one is stopping him and his band of legal bullies.

She is referring, of course, to Mr. Robert Mueller, a malignant apparatchik who has swum quietly up the Washington sewers before setting his attack sharks onto any man or woman with connections to Trump or the Republican party in the knowledge that virtually everyone in Washington political circles has some dirty secrets.  Trump, himself, seems unable to do anything about it and Ms. McCarthy asks, very pertinently:

Is Mueller more powerful than the president? It seems that he is. He has morphed into an American version of Lavrentiy Beria.

For God's sake, America, get a grip!  We might be going mad but that's no excuse for you to do the same thing!

 

 

 

OUCH! Don't mess with Melania, Mr. Evans!

Regular readers - yes, both of you! - will know that my newspaper of choice is The Telegraph.  It is sensibly Right of centre, covers a wide range of topics, is often very funny and, by and large, is accurate.  Alas, when it gets it wrong the resulting damage is, and I choose this word with care, 'yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge'!

In a pitiful mea culpa in todays edition, the editor, Mr. Chris Evans, has been forced to issue a grovelling apology and withdraw a previous article published in the magazine edition on the subject of the delightful, delicious, gorgeous (stop dribbling, Duff, and get on with it!) Mrs. Melania Trump.  The fact that they did this inside a week shows, first, how clear the dishonesty was and, second, what shrewd lawyers they have who must have, quite rightly, urged them to consider the costs if they took on 'The Donald' and his beautiful wife and strung the case out.  The mysterious Barclay brothers, the owners of the Telegraph, who will know all about high finance legal manoeuvres, no doubt let their opinions be known, hence, quick 'collapse of stout party'!

Ah well, we all make mistakes!

 

There's always an upside when you're on the downside!

Sorry for the lack of posts which is entirely due to my lack of energy!  Again - and sorry to be boring -  I am all too well aware of the real suffering many people go through as they combat various nasty illnesses and in fact all that I am suffering with is fatigue - and pissing!  Yes, it's now official, I am absolutely qualified to piss for Britain at the Olympics not least because I do so every hour on the hour throughout the night!  It's all the fault of the Quacks and their handmaidens, the nurses, who insist that I drink gallons of water everyday until it is almost pouring out of my ears!

But now to the upside - hoorah, I have missed virtually all national and international news!  From the odd snippet I have seen concerning that monkey-house in Parliament I consider myself a lucky man not to have to study it.  Mind you, I did pick up one little item that gave me a laugh.  Apparently, the Irish PM is gradually, very gradually, beginning to realise that that whilst it is reasonable for the EU to use a battering-ram against us Brits, it's not much fun if you and your country are on the business end of it!  It has finally dawned on him that the apparatchiks in Brussels are using Eire and their border with Ulster for their own ends, and if it results in poor old Paddy being ruined they will simply shrug and mutter, "Quelle dommage!"

Meanwhile, 'over there' the 'Ginger Ninja' continues to run - well, sort of - his three-ring circus aided and abetted by his so-called opposition, the silliest, funniest bunch of clowns that ever constituted the Democratic party!  Who invented Nancy Pelosi, the nearest thing to a female Donald Trump as you could wish for?  Even so, we must be grateful to the Dems for readying us all for 'The Show of Shows', or perhaps 'The Greatest Show On Earth', as they gather together a collection of old-age pensioners, eye-ball swivelling loonies, teen-agers and a collection of 'wimmin' guaranteed to put back the advance of female rights for 20 years, in order to fight for the Presidential nomination. 

Just sit back and enjoy the laughs!

 

 

What can one say?

I ask, with just the merest hint of desperation, because I had an early morning session at the hospital, came back in time for lunch, immediately retired for a decent 'kip', read skimmed a newspaper, watched about 2.7 nano-seconds of Sky News and then ascended to my eyrie to write yet another of my sharp, incisive posts which keep you all so well-informed on world affairs - er - well - dreadfully sorry and all that sort of thing but I can't think of a single useful thing to say!  Waddya mean, no change there!

Hardly world news but I was amused at that exceedingly grumpy builder who had not been paid for his work by a large hotel chain and who then drove a mechanical digger through the newly built doors and windows of their smart, new hotel which opens tomorrow.  Of course, he is a very naughty boy but it was impossible not to snigger as his 'tank' rumbled through the pristine foyer leaving a trail of wreckage in its wake.  Throughout my life I have heard these tales of working men failing to be paid by big corporations so it is slightly enjoyable to see a bit of revenge which hurt no-one except the greedy, useless twats that run the hotel chain.

Raising my sights somewhat from the microscopic to the 'YUUUUUUUGE', I also indulged in a smirk at a report at Zero Hedge informing us that 'Emperor Xi Pingaling', or whatever he is called, has issued a dire warning to all those lazy, blood-sucking parasites in the so-called 'Communist Party' who grow increasingly fatter and more powerful living, as they do, on the hard work of the Chinese population.  I hope he was looking in a mirror when he composed it!  The hard times I have been endlessly forecasting on this blog for years are finally coming to pass in China.  Perhaps that will deflate some of their ridiculous posturing on the world stage - but I doubt it!

Finally, here is another of my 'obits' from The Telegraph which reads like a spy novel because the brilliant man who has just died was, in fact, a spy - or to be precise, a master spy!  I refer to the late Tony Mendez of the CIA.  I will not attempt to paraphrase his incredible life story, just read the obit.  No doubt there are plenty of "dirty rats" inside the CIA but Mr. Mendez is definitely 'one of the good guys' and I salute his memory.

Tomorrow, I have a late afternoon appointment so provided the 'Memsahib' doesn't overload me with jobs I may be able to write some more tomorrow morning - who groaned?!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 13.1.19

Get fell in, you 'orrible lot!   I trust you all followed my orders and watched the first episode of the TV series that took you inside the, er, 'hallowed halls' of the Parachute Regiment.  Looking back some 60-odd years it struck me as a perfect example of 'everything changes, everything stays the same'.  Obviously the uniforms, the kit and the weaponry were different but the psychological approach to the recruits was the same.  I was worried that perhaps the 'softie, inclusive brigade' might have got to them but no, all the recruits were treated with equal amounts of total shit!  Excellent, so tune in to ITV next Thursday for episode 2.

 

And lo, I am happy today:  Sorry to harp on about my, er, condition which, actually, is perfectly OK especially when I hear about what other people are suffering but this morning I feel great!  Last night I slept like a baby for nearly seven hours instead of the usual getting up and going for a pee every two hours.  Dammit, those 'death rays' might have done the trick already!  I wonder if they will let me off the next four weeks?

 

The uber-PC mob strike again:  I hear that James Watson, one of the three men who discovered the DNA double helix which must have brought untold medical advances to Mankind, has been hounded by sundry self-appointed 'PC Commissars' for remarks he made a few years ago:

He had told a magazine in 2007 he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" as "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - where all the testing says not really".

I have no idea whether that proposition is true or false not least because I do not know what the criteria is by which you define 'intelligence' and how you test it.  Nor do I much care because in my view people are people!

 

Mueller the mule, or the donkey:   And so it goes on and on and on!  As Ms. Clarice Feldman puts it at The American Thinker:

Despite spending millions of dollars, hiring 13 of the most vicious anti-Trump prosecutors available, and having allies in the DoJ and FBI continuing to delay congressional efforts to reveal the machinations of their anti-Trump colleagues, it is increasingly obvious that they have turned up no evidence of any Trump-Russia collaboration. (Something common sense would have indicated at the outset.)

One can only cry to heaven, or Washington, "How long, oh (Lord) Mueller, how long?"

 

A totally useless but fascinating fact:   I have mentioned before my peculiar habit in bed at night - not that one, behave! -  of sticking a radio ear-piece in my ear and listening to whatever is on.  Last night there was a science programme in which some swot informed us about the mysterious lives of viruses.  As the beastly little things can have a devastating effect on our lives I did my best to stay awake and listen.  What struck me enormously was when he told us the size of viruses.  Apparently, if you placed 50,000 of them in a line they would only just cross the diameter of a full stop - like this one.  Crikey!

 

So farewell then, Andy Murray:   A great deal of fuss has arisen over the fate of Mr. Murray, first that he is taking early retirement on medical grounds and second that he had a little cry at his press conference.  Most of it passed me by because first, I think 'plink-plonk' is a totally boring sport - and ladies' 'plink  (long pause) plonk' sends me to sleep!  Also, alas, Mr. Murray comes across to me as a man with whom I would not be over-joyed to share a pint one evening!  That is not to assert that my impression is true, obviously it is not, it is a mere impression.  Even so, crying in public because you can no longer play 'plink-plonk' is pathetic.  Man up, Murray!

 

I say, skipper, steady on!   According to The Mail on Sunday, the captain of a US navy submarine whilst on a break ordered not one, not two but TEN prostitutes to his hotel.  Gosh, those 'Yankee-doodle' sailors are real men!  Apparently, he was later relieved of command and stationed on shore.  Well, poor chap, he probably needed the rest.  I must await the expert opinion of our in-house US Navy correspondent, 'JK', to find out if this is normal behaviour!

 

On Tuesday Britain's 'brown stuff' will hit the fan:   I have avoided the subject of Brexit over recent days n0t just because it brings 'SoD' in here ranting and raving but because frankly I'm bored stiff with it all.  However, beneath my boredom there is an increasing amount of seething fury aimed not just at our useless government but even more so at the majority of hucksters, clowns and crooks who inhabit Parliament.  We didn't ask them to give us a referendum in order to make up what passes for their minds concerning in or out of the EU.  Even so, by a huge majority they did so and received an answer with a clear majority which told them that we wanted OUT!  With the assistance of that vile little toad who sits, or rather, perches on the Chair, they have now shaken British democracy to the foundations of Westminster.  Where it will end, I do not know but I think dangerous times are approaching!

 

No more tonight but I will try my best to tap out something next week as I enter my second dose of 'death ray' treatment!

 

 

 

Heap big laugh from heap big squaw

For those of you who, sensibly perhaps, do not follow American politics as avidly as I do, this very funny cartoon from 'The American Thinker" succeeds in highlighting the ever increasing heights, or lows, perhaps, of Sen. 'Fauxcahontas' Warren who, after years of lying boasting and cheating about her Red Indian ancestry, finally took a blood test and found her Cherokee blood lines were so miniscule that Donald Trump is probably more Indian than she is!

Anyway, the other day she made the opening moves in her attempt to win the Presidential nomination for the Democratic party by having a 'chat to the folks' whilst standing in her kitchen - which I would guess is normally staffed by domestic servants!  Pausing for a moment during her boring monologue she reached inside her fridge and took out a bottle of beer from which she drank directly, like, 'ya know, she's jes' ordinary folks like y'all'!  I wonder how many times her PR people made her rehearse that shot?  Well, I mean it's not as though she was likely to know where her fridge was even situated!  Anyway, those very naughty boys and gals from The American Thinker published this cartoon and I hope they will forgive me for republishing it.

 

Priceless!

 

To Trump or not to Trump, that is the question

I'm not being lazy here, or at least no more lazy than I usually am, in urging you all to read a fascinating essay by Jonah Goldberg at The National Revue on the subject of President Trump's character.  It is doubly interesting because he admits to a fairly strong disagreement with his buddy of many years, Roger Kimball, another writer like Goldberg who is always worth reading.  The debate (argument?) is worth reading because they are both confirmed conservatives.  Alas, when it comes to the 'true' nature of Donald Trump they clash head on!

In essence, Goldberg accuses Kimball of half conceding Trump's character weaknesses but remaining stoically loyal because what Trump is mainly doing is actually true-blue conservative policy.  Goldberg, on the other hand, will have none of it.  In his view Trump is, in Hollywood language, "a dirty rat" and ignoring his 'yuuuuuuge' fault lines will eventually damage the conservative cause irrevocably.

Please read the article and let me know what y'all think.  In the meantime, I will be plodding manfully round the shops in Yeovil in the wake of the 'Memsahib' as, amongst other things, she exchanges the lovely fashion wear I bought her for Xmas because it was the wrong size, the wrong colour and the wrong fashion!  You would think, after 54 years of marriage I would have learned the futility of choosing outfits for her!

 

What would old Bill Shakespeare have made of 'King' Donald?

I suppose at this early stage of his 'reign' it would not be clear whether it was to be a 'Tragedy' or a 'Comedy', probably both, a 'Tragi-Comedy'.  Whilst it has all been tremendous fun so far, you can't help thinking that the worst is yet to come.  For example, I spotted a brief item in the 'meeja' that 'King' Donald might decide not to run in 2020.  Such an abject withdrawal would surely be a massive wound to his equally massive ego so I doubt it will happen unless, of course, 'Commissar' Mueller actually produces enough dirt to threaten 'King' Donald with a spell in the Tower, or whatever the American equivalent is. Because, and let's face it, 'King' Donald has the best, that is, the slimiest lawyers in his 'Kingdom' so Mueller will need an iron-cast charge sheet wrapped in nuclear resistant material to pin anything on him.  I suppose another possibility is that 'King' Donald simply gets bored with it all and decides that he would rather spend time in his Florida resort surrounded by admiring acolytes, especially if they have long blonde hair and 'yuuuuuge' breasts!

On the other hand, given his massive ego, it is more likely that he will pull up the drawbridge, man the ramparts and defend himself to the very last acolyte.  After all, his opponents are the saddest, sorriest bunch of twits any sitting President could hope for, ranging from a teen-age girly to an old-age pensioner via a fake Indian and some useless 'wannabe' kid with acne who goes by the nickname of 'Beto' - yeeeeeeeees, quite! - who raised $70 million dollars but then failed to even defeat the detested Senator Cruz.

Well, old Bill wrote some plays with three parts but the Tragi-Comedy of 'King' Donald might need double that!