DUFF & NONSENSE!

Will Trump lose in 2020?

Oh come on, you didn't really think I would answer that one without a dozen 'ifs, buts and maybes', did you?  Mind you, Mr. Jonah Goldberg, a distinguished and experienced Washington-watcher, is fairly definite.  Trump will probably lose for one simple reason, er, Trump himself!  The inescapable fact, constantly proven by the man himself, is that he is a total arse!  Of course, it must be admitted that the GAP (the Great American Public), just like the GBP (Great British Public), is absolutely jampacked with arses so his 'arse-like' propensities will be ignored by many.  Even so, after four years of honkin' 'n' hootin' 'n' tweetin', I fear that even the GAP will tyre of this former TV game show host - or at least, enough of them will to tip the game in the Dem direction.

That conclusion, of course, makes the current Dem parade of 'wannabe' Presidential candidates, roughly 387 at the last count, exceedingly important.  Most of them strike me as even more arse-like than Trump!  Even worse, most of their declared policies would constitute 'a clear and present danger' to the USA - which also means the rest of us!  So, please, Mr. President, just grow up, be statesman-like, keep your mouth shut and have your twitter finger surgically amputated!

 

 

 

Who would be a baker 'over there'?

I ask because it seems that the, er, 'LGBT' ( I am not absolutely sure what the correct initials are and, frankly, I can't be arsed to look then up) community are determined to put bakers out of business.  Not, apparently, because American cake-makers are crap but because several of then refuse to write loving sentences in favour of homosexual activities on their cakes.  If I were a baker, of course, I would take the money and give the, er, groom a kiss but that's because I 'luuuurve' money more than I dislike homosexual practices.  However, some bakers, particularly those in the rural hinterland of America, have strong religious objections and, whilst they would bake the cake, they refuse to adorn it with messages in praise of homosexual practices.  At that point, of course, the real 'dirty rats' enter the scene by which I mean the lawyers!  It appears that the lower courts, infused with political correctness, tend to act in favour of the complainants and dish out 'yuuuuuge' fines and damages which, thankfully, the Supreme Court tends to overturn.

I don't wish to be bogged down in the pros and cons of homosexuality which, by and large, is a subject of zero interest to me, but I am intrigued by the notion, which appears to be rampant these days, that we must, absolutely must, all 'luuuuurve' one another.  This appears to be something of a Left-wing 'schtick' but, of course, the Left-wingers always feel free to express not just their dislike of Right-wingers but their deep and abiding hatred of them.  Personally, I believe that people should be free to hate who they like (if you get my meaning!) but it is what they actually do about it that matters.

Now, about that Jeremy Corbyn . . .

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 16.6.19

Thank you - again - Mr. Hitchens:   There is not a better way to start a Sunday than with a dose of Hitchens!  Er, that's Peter, of course, not his late brother about whom I know very little.  Anyway, Peter's column in The Mail on Sunday is almost the equivalent of my regular glass of cold orange juice every morning, it clears the tubes, so to speak.  Today he discusses the merits and demerits of 'Boris' as a future Prime Minister and sums it up, thusly:

He is disappointingly different from the stage comedian so many think they love. As it happens, I have always quite liked him, but I wouldn’t ask him to look after my cat for a weekend, let alone put him in charge of a medium-sized nuclear power.

 

And you, too, Mr. Dan Hodges:   The other 'absolutely must read' columnist for The Mail on Sunday.  Today he confirms my own utterly uninformed opinion - call it a guess - that the Remainers and the 'Bolsheviks' (that's Labour!) will shoot down any 'no deal' plan to Brexit and, of course, as I have said many a time and oft', Brussels will not give a centimetre to aid our departure.  Boris will face exactly the same road block that the 'Maybot' faced.  There is only one way round it and that is a general election in the Autumn.

 

Let's hear it for the plucky little 'Hongers 'n' Kongers':   I refer, of course, to the people of Hong Kong who have demonstrated their courage in refusing to accept a dangerous directive from 'Xi Ping-a-ling' and his ghastly gangsters in Peking.  The 'Hongers 'n' Kongers' only represent a tiny fraction of the total Chinese population but I can't help wondering how many of the wider population are secretly - very secretly if they are wise - cheering them on?

 

Feeling cheerful?  Then don't read Jeremy Warner!   He reminds us in his Telegraph column that this Autumn two major economic posts will need to be filled.  First, a new Chancellor will be required when Philip Hammond is booted out by Boris.  This may be Boris's first and most critical decision.  Second, a new Governor of the Bank of England will have to be appointed when that mostly useless 'Canuck', Mark Carney, is sent back to Canada to change Justin Trudeau's nappies!  Good riddance to both of them but choosing their successors is going to require sound judgment - yeeeeeeeees, quite!

 

The end of the world must wait upon Rep. Elijah Cummings:   According to all those terrified 'Warmers', the end of the world is nigh and to prove it no less an authority than Rep. Elijah Cummings (Dem - natch!) summoned Ms. Judith Curry, an eminent climatologist and fierce critic of the current alarmist agitprop, to his Congressional committee.  But guess what!  Suddenly, the end of the world was put on hold because Rep. Cummings was more concerned with attempting to charge two Trump officials with contempt, or some such.  Ms. Curry sums it up this way:

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that I was scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Jun 12. The subject of the Hearing is Contending with Natural Disasters in the Wake of Climate Change.

Late on Jun 10, I received an email telling me that the Hearing is postponed (as yet unscheduled). Apparently the Committee finds it more urgent to have a Hearing related to holding the Attorney General and Secretary of Commerce in contempt of Congress. Interesting to ponder that Congressional procedural issues are deemed to be more important than Climate Change.

To those of you unfamiliar with Rep. Cummings it is sufficient to say that he represents nearly half of the wreckage that is the once proud, bustling city of Baltimore - or 'southern Chicago' as I think of it!

 

And now the end has come:  No, no, not me, so you can put that champagne back in the cellar!  I mean my new hero, the late, great Thomas Cromwell.  I have finally reached the end of John Schofield's excellent but tragic biography of one of the shrewdest, wisest men ever to run the government of England.  What a pity he had to do his duty under one of the stupidest, most malignant kings ever to stain our throne.  Never mind, at least he managed to set a foundation for a new, Protestant England that would eventually rid us of Popery.  Mind you, reading that book left me with a profound shame for my total ignorance on the subject.  Moral: must read more books, er, but how I will find the time I do not know.  Next up is "Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges" by Antony Beevor and I already know how depressing that is going to be!

 

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

The law vs. politics

I have mentioned before one of my peculiar habits in bed - no, not that one, behave!  I am referring to my practice of sticking a radio earpiece in my ear and listening to the 'wireless' (what a lovely old-fashioned word that is!) during the night.  I switch between the World Service, Radio4 and 'Talk Sport' depending on which of them is the least boring.  However, I must admit that from time to time one or other of them come up with some fascinating programmes, for example, the current Reith Lectures given by Lord Jonathan Sumption, a former practicing lawyer, a Supreme Court judge and an historian of some repute.  This is a man who can rightly be described as a 'brainiac'!

I have only heard two of his lectures so far and, needless to say, given that I listen to them whilst in bed, I am prone to drifting off to 'nod-land' or waking in the morning and, as an officially 'old geezer' having passed my 80th, with only a hazy memory of what he had to say.  Even so, I was left with the distinct impression that this is a man of 'yuuuuuuge' intelligence and learning.  If you know how to work the latest 'whizzy-do-thingies' which will allow you to listen to his lectures then I urge you to do so.  If not, then you can read the text of his lectures at this site: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00057m8

If I urge you to do so you should not assume that I agree with everything he says.  However, given his learning and my ignorance, I would hesitate before arguing with him.  Whatever, you will learn much from an exceedingly intelligent man.  And I should add that given the breadth of his views, my American friends will be equally fascinated.

 

 

 

Krugman is a crock!

I refer to the gentleman in the photo below, Mr. Paul Krugman, an eminent economist, the recipient of a Nobel Prize for Economics and a regular contributor to the New York Times.  He is worshipped by the Left as a sage possessed of the highest possible intellect.  I think he's a plonker!  I confess that it is difficult for an economic ignoramus like me to prove my assertion but I am immensely grateful to the internet, which silly old 'Krugs' treated with total disdain 'back in the day'.  His own words say more about him than anything I could say! 

 

To give you the full quote, this is what he wrote:

"A winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Paul Krugman wrote in 1998, “The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in ‘Metcalfe’s law’—which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants—becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.”"

Try telling that to Bill Gates and/or Larry Page!  And here are another list of Krugman's, er, 'forecasts' courtesy of 'Investmenty'.com:

Told Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan "to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble."

Praised the European economic model just weeks before the eurozone crisis began.

Argued before Argentina's recent default that the country's economy was a "remarkable success story."

Called the U.S. "just a bystander" in global energy only months before America surpassed Russia to become the world's biggest oil and gas producer.

Wrote in Rolling Stone magazine last week that Barack Obama is "one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history."

Would you buy a used-car from this man?

 

 

American justice ain't always bad!

As you know, because I often mention it and not withstanding "To Kill a Mocking Bird", I view the American justice system with extreme wariness.  However, regular as clockwork it defies my expectations.  Thus it is with the recent case of Gibson Bakery vs. Oberlin College.  In essence, an old established bakery situated close to a rather smart but provincial college was subject to constant pilfering by the students and one day a staff member attempted a citizens' arrest on one of the students.  There then ensued a campaign with menacing overtones against the bakery by the students, encouraged by the Dean of Students, who claimed racial harassment.  This campaign was aided and abetted by the college authorities.  Happily, this old, family-owned business decided to fight back and sued for damages.  The case has just ended its main phase and a jury having heard all the evidence has awarded the bakers $11 million in damages!  The jury will now sit to decide on the "punitive damages" which some experts reckon could reach another $22 million!

Simply too, too delicious and you can read all about it at the impeccably politically correct WaPo which must have given their editors severe heartburn!  I wonder if Hollywood will make a film of it starring who-ever is today's equivalent of Gregory Peck?  Don't hold your breath waiting!

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 9.6.19

Poor Thomas, his end is approaching:   I refer, of course, to Thomas Cromwell; a man, I am finally learning, who was a truly great Englishman.  My sincere thanks are due to John Schofield, the historian, who wrote the book I am reading: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant.  He lived in dangerously tricky times as Lutherism gathered strength from the dissatisfaction with 'Popery' but his 'murderous' boss, Henry VIII, never quite committed himself one way or another.  Given the nature of the religious dispute, I can understand that opinions on Cromwell have divided historians, however, Mr. Schofield is an admirer of whom I approve because, by and large, I am not an admirer of 'Popery'!

 

Politicians are lying, hypocritical ratbags!   So nothing new there, then!  I can't say I was too surprised to see Michael Gove 'outed' as a coke-sniffing lying-liar given his despicable 'stabbing' of Boris at the last Tory party leadership election.  As so often on drug-related matters, I take my lead from the estimable Peter Hitchens: 

Mr Gove was Secretary of State for Justice from 2015 to 2016. If proposals for proper enforcement of drug laws had come before the Cabinet he would have known as he studied them that he had, as an adult, committed the offence of possession of a Class A drug. For this crime he would have been open to a sentence of up to seven years in one of the prisons for which he was responsible. Knowing that, how could he have enthusiastically supported any initiative that would have genuinely made it more likely that drug abusers would go to prison?

In addition, 'Guido' chucks in another handgrenade with my emphasis:

The hypocrisy charge is already hitting Gove over his writing of an article for The Times arguing against the hypocrisy of journalists using cocaine and arguing for drug liberalisation. An article written during the period he was using cocaine. The hypocrisy charge will be turbo-charged when it hits the headlines tomorrow that when he was Secretary of State for Education he brought in legislation that bans teachers for life from teaching if they are convicted of cocaine possession. 

 

We're in trouble but so are the 'Cousins':   I have watched with increasing dismay the deepening and widening gulf opening up inside America.  Yes, of course, there have always been political and social divisions in their society but during most of my lifetime they have been contained within, so to speak, a 'large tent' providing room for manoeuvre in which relatively moderate people can agree to disagree and await their turn on the tiller.  From way 'over here' that seems to be disappearing and subsumed by vitriolic hatred and detestation which will bode no compromise.  I confess that one of my thermometers on American politics is the blog of Mr. 'Phil' Carpenter which I still follow even when, in a typical spat, he threw me out!  He claims to abhor what he considers to be the extremism of the ultra-Lefties in the Democratic party but in doing so he comes across as froth-foamed as the 'ranters and ravers' he abhors.  Needless to say, when it comes to Donald Trump, he and his commenters go into full on frenzy!  And he and they consider themselves to be, er, 'moderates!

 

Why don't 'skools' just teach maths, English and history?   Instead, I gather from the current 'kerfuffle' outside a 'skool' in Birmingham, they are finding the time to teach our 'likkle kiddie-winkies' the finer points of homosexuality, lesbianism and, er, well, anything else you might fancy in the sexual stable!  Needless to say, the local Muslims have kicked off in protest and now they are seeing the hard face of all those 'Leftie-poseurs' who assured them that their religious and social rights would be protected.  Well, they would be just so long as the 'Lefties' approve!  Frankly, I went through 'skool' without a single sex lesson of any kind and finding out the, er, hard way was quite good fun!

 

I knew it would be depressing but . . .    My Kindle needed recharging and so I have given Master Cromwell a rest and instead I started to get into Antony Beevor's history of "Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges 1944".  It was a very British 'cock-up' and Montgomery stands accused of blind, obstinate stupidity of the sort he detested from his Generals during WWI.  I haven't even reached the airborne landings but already you can forsee the disaster approaching.  Deeply depressing!

 

If Boris wins, he should 'nick' some of Goves' ideas:   Everyone, by which I mean the journalistic 'know-alls', seems to think that Michael Gove is a very intelligent fellow, apart from his earlier drug taking, and he seems to have some good ideas on changing our antique tax system.  Perhaps, if Boris wins, he should forget old slights and get Gove on board.  The Tory party desperately needs some intelligent and original thinking to catch the imagination of the dreaded 'Peeps'!

 

Another book recommendation:  God I'm good to y'all!  I refer to:

The Europe Illusion: Britain, France, Germany and the Long History of European Integration by Stuart Sweeney

I have a copy, courtesy of 'SoD' because the author, Stuart Sweeney, is the brother of one of SoD's old university friends from way back.  I haven't read it yet because I am otherwise engaged with Master Cromwell and Gen. Montgomery but I have just received an 'e-advert' for it from the publisher and it jogged me into giving it a punt.

 

(Sir) Lewis wins, er, on a technicality:  Sorry, Herr Vettel, but rules are rules and you would be demanding their application if the roles were reversed. Anyway, (Sir) Lewis was only 2 secs behind you when you finished 'first' but, alas, you were carrying a 5 second penalty from an earlier error.  What's the German for 'ohdearwhatapitynevermind'?

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

Oh Lord, 'The Speccie' does my thinking for me - again!

I do try, honestly I do, to clarify my own thoughts as I ruminate my way through the day but, of course, with all this 'meeja' stuff coming in from all directions and on all sorts of topics it is not easy to clarify one's thoughts when it is time to hit the keyboard.  Happily, on those occasions I can always rely on 'The Speccie' to do my thinking for me and this week's editorial is spot on!

Their first paragraph puts a complicated subject into a nutshell:

Why is it that free trade, which almost everyone agrees is good when conducted with other European countries, suddenly becomes something to be feared when it is proposed with the United States? What is it about American chicken which means that Britons who eat it happily enough when they are on holiday are supposed to fear it when it is imported? And if Americans can offer world-class, well-priced medical services to Britain through the National Health Service, how is that a threat to our social fabric?

I could not have put it better myself, in fact, I could not have put it anywhere near as clearly and precisely as the editorial team at 'The Speccie'.  I still cannot quite believe the sight and sound of Tory politicians who are suppose to be in favour of free trade, fainting and swooning like a bunch of girlies seeing a mouse run across a room.  They are as pathetic as they are stupid!  And on the specific subject of chlorinated chicken with my emphasis added:

As for chlorinated chicken, the supposed health risks have long since been exposed as a scare story. UK consumers ingest far more chlorine drinking water than they ever would by eating American chicken: indeed, UK salads are routinely chlorine-washed, yet we do not hear Gove talking about them. In fact, once we are out of the EU, lifting the ban on chlorine-washed chicken is something we should consider doing even without a trade deal with the US. On this issue, and many others, it will soon be time to think for ourselves again.

Shortly, and it had better be very shortly, Britain will return to being an independent country again as we have been for nearly a 1,000 years until we surrendered to Germany and its acolytes.  That will require politicians of some calibre, politicians who can envision a world market in which Britain can thrive instead of waiting for orders in the ante-room at Brussels!  Do we have those sorts of politicians?  I doubt it and so does 'The Speccie':

In a few weeks’ time, Britain will have a new prime minister, charged with delivering the benefits that come from decoupling our economy from the EU. It’s often said that it would be bad for the Tories to fail to deliver Brexit. It would be worse for them to achieve Brexit only to discover that, due to a lack of imagination and courage, they do not know what to do with it.

Exactly!

 

 

 

This 'n' that!

I am on standby as chauffeur to the 'Memsahib' this morning so I do not have much time for creating one of my long, elegant and carefully-crafted analyses - and I heard that! - of the news of the day.  Plus, there are so many news items worthy of comment that I hardly know where to start.

Well, of course, I must start with the marking of the 75th anniversary of D-Day which was, I think, excellent in all respects.  Both here and in France, they were both serious and solemn but also, given the remarkable number of old veterans still alive, joyous.  Even 'The Donald' managed to recognise that on this occasion he was a supporting player and he behaved impeccably.  As to the memory of those who died, there simply are no words.

From the sublime to the 'cor blimey' of yesterday's by-election in Peterborough which has some ominous implications.  In effect, the Right-wing vote was split between Tories and the Brexit party which allowed Labour - just! - to sneak in.  This will require careful thought from all concerned.

Today, I gather, there is a women's football Cup Final.  Needless to say, I will not be watching given that the only ladies sport I might watch is Brazilian volleyball where the shorts are shortest!

At least I managed, er, with the help of my neighbour, to sort my TV out so that I could watch the CD version of the last series of "Line of Duty".  I deliberately avoided watching it on live TV because I knew it would drive me mad having to wait a week for every episode.  Well for the last four nights I have watched the first four episodes and they were total and utter crap!  Will I force myself to watch the last four.  Perhaps but only because I want to see if it sinks to even lower levels of total unbelievability!

Right, can't waste my time here, her Ladyship is calling!

 

 

 

I could be wrong, I frequently am, but . . .

I can't help suspecting that there is the mother and father of a legal and political storm brewing which is heading straight for the Democratic party in the USA.  Whilst the Dems continue to caper about like a bunch of unruly urchins, the Republicans are slowly but inexorably building a powerful legal case with which to indict leading Dems and their secret supporters in the senior ranks of the DoJ and the FBI.  The latest to feel the 'squeeze' is that 'dodgy British geezer', Christopher Steele, late of the 'MI6 parish' - yeeeeeeees, quite!  According to Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker, Steele has had his less than steel-like testicles put in the vice and finding no support from his own government who are eager to keep 'The Donald' happy, he has agreed to meet with American officials in London and answer questions.  Apparently, it was made clear to him that should the American authorities seek his extradition in order to pursue their enquiries into the pack of lies that constituted the Democrat claim that Trump colluded with the Russians, then HMG would make no effort to defend him!  Hitherto, Steele has refused point blank to speak to American officials but now it is 'squeaky bum' time for him and the chances are that he will sing like the infamous canary!

According to Joseph diGenova, a former US Attorney to the Dictrict of Columbia:

If Steele’s knowledge about the Democratic Party’s fraudulent and treasonous behavior becomes public, Democrats know that Trump will be virtually assured of winning re-election.

The bell is tolling for the corrupt Democratic Party. The upcoming Steele interview proves that Attorney General Barr’s investigators are closing in on the creators of the collusion hoax, and that should absolutely terrify every Democrat planning to run for office in 2020. as the stench of corruption is revealed and seeps into the political campaign season in earnest.

I do hope so because it seems to me that the Democratic party has lost its moral compass.  Yes, of course, politics was, is and always will be a dirty business but there are certain limits and inventing a totally false story of criminal conspiracy against the Trump campaign and using high-ranking members of the FBI and the Department of Justice to lie and fabricate 'evidence' is way beyond the limits.  If the leading 'perps' are investigated and then charged it may be enough for the Dems to drop the hysteria which seems to have gripped them and return them to being a normal and proper political party operating in a democracy.

 

 

 

The best D-day coverage from The Mail-Online

Well done to The Mail for providing a superb photographic report on all the many different activities that took place yesterday which were a superb tribute to all who took part:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7107305/300-D-Day-veterans-gather-Portsmouth-75-years-later.html

 

 

 

 

Let me imagine

I want to try, even if it is impossible to succeed, to imagine two things on this the 75th anniversary of the day before D-Day.  I want to attempt to put myself in the minds of two men.  I do have some experience in that sort of thing being an ex-(very amateur)-actor which involves reading a printed script and then injecting into it as much as you can of what you have worked out as the likely thoughts and feelings of the character you are portraying.  Alas, in these two cases, or roles, I have absolutely no idea what was going through their minds!

I will begin, appropriately, with the first man who stepped into the sea from a landing-craft on the Channel coast on the 6th June 1944 and, weighed down with weaponry and ammunition, had to struggle through rough seas and incoming fire to reach a hostile shore.  What was he thinking?  What was he feeling?  Alas, at that point my imagination slams shut because it is impossible to imagine, you need to have been there.  All one can do is struggle for words to express one's gratitude and admiration.

Moving from the bottom to the top, I would like to try and put myself, ex-Corporal Duff - yeeeeeees, quite! - in the place of General Eisenhower who had spent, what to him, must have seemed like a lifetime immersed in the incredibly complex details of the greatest military manoeuvre in the history of Man, and more-over, a manoeuvre which, if it failed, would shift the future of the world into a wholly new area and set back the allied forces at least a year.  Then, on the very cusp of the operation, a relatively lowly-ranked RAF officer from their meteorology department warns him that on the due day for the launch, the weather was likely to be too rough and that the best he could advise was that if the invasion was put off for 24-hours, the weather would still be unstable but not quite as bad.  What went through Eisenhower's mind - and heart - when he heard that and was forced to take an historic decision?

I have no idea and cannot even begin to imagine it.  All I can express is my profound gratitude to both men, and all those in between, for their courage, both mental and physical, in executing successfully the greatest military manoeuvre in the history of the world. 

 

Britain's decision time, Germany or America - you choose!

An excellent article by Victor Davis Hanson at The National Review which has a subtle heading: "Is Germany Becoming Germany - Again?"  As far as we Brits are concerned it is a crucial question which is given added importance as we host the POTUS 'over here'.  'VDH' stresses that there is a real and growing schism between America and Germany.  This chasm is increasing radically given the nature of the two countries involved.  It is hard for some people to recognise that beneath Merkel's 'Green and Liberal' cloak there is a determined German nationalist at work.  Germany has virtully succeeded in its ploy to take over the European Union and run it for its own German benefit.  Thus, its refusal to countenance monetary interchanges between EU nations keeps the Med countries in poverty which, in turn, keeps the common euro currency cheap on international markets - to the benefit of Mercedes, VW et al!  Similarly, its constant refusal to increase its contribution to NATO leaving the gross burden to be borne by the USA means that NATO is already crumbling. 

Merkel all but announced that Germany, or for that matter Europe itself, is no longer really an ally of the United States: “There is no doubt that Europe needs to reposition itself in a changed world. . . . The old certainties of the post-war order no longer apply.”

Well, there is some truth in that, Madame Chancellor, but I would remind you of these wise words, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"!  Thus, as you lead your continent away from America on the grounds that Russia is now, more or less, a busted flush, I would remind you that a new and powerful and grossly ambitious China is arising in the East.  Merkel is impervious to the looming threat and in the sanguine spirit of the truly dim and dumb, she recently visited Harvard University where she delivered a thinly-veiled attack on the President.  How, one wonders, would she have re-acted to 'The Donald' conducting a similar operation in Germany and dropping a few bombs on her?  As 'VDH' puts it:

Perhaps imagine something akin to Donald Trump’s traveling to Munich to address a hard-right audience of Alternative für Deutschland members — and then winning their applause by systematically attacking Merkel’s disastrous solar and wind energy policies, disastrous open-borders immigration dictates, disastrous subversion of NATO by her deliberate reneging on past promises on defense investments — and then, without saying the word “Merkel,” calling her an abject liar for breaking her promises.

I would pay good money to hear that!  In the meantime, it is necessary for us Brits to face up to a Grand Strategic decision.  Do we abandon America and everything it stands for in its military power and its democratic foundations and instead tie ourselves to 'Mutti' Merkel's apron strings and rely on her?  You choose!

 

 

Welcome aboard, Mr. President

Presidents, and Prime Ministers, are a mixed bag!  Some good, some bad, most a mixture of the two, and therefor it is difficult to define them exactly which is why it is best, whilst they are in office, to keep one's opinion of them provisional and wait for the historians to decide the matter later - much later!  In my 80-year old experience I have come to the conclusion that the ones who seemed good at first tend to go bad later and vice verse.  

However, it is very much easier to work out the character of the shouty nincompoops who flounce out of their official duties as senior members of the opposition and lead demonstrations against the leader of the most powerful country in the world which is, they should bear in mind, our principal ally.  Of course, in their peculiar world view, the nations most of us think of as potential enemies are actually 'friends' to them!  Need one say more? 

None of that means that we must automatically kow-tow to the President of the USA but when we invite him to be a guest at the celebration of an historic battle in which America provided enormous numbers of men and materials to undertake an incredibly hazardous operation at a crucial time in our history, then good manners should take precedence over petty political disagreements.  Unfortunately, the current Labour party and their brain-dead adherents are incapable of thinking beyond the dumb slogans they display on their banners.  And the term 'good manners' is incomprehensible to all of them!

So, welcome aboard, Mr. President (and your elegant wife!) and let us celebrate together the actions of very brave men and women from another age.

 

 

 

"Freedom of Speech" by Norman Rockwell

It has been a while since I indulged myself in a bit of 'arty-farty' but, dammit, I came across the name of Norman Rockwell and that led me to his famous quartet of paintings called "The Four Freedoms".  They were inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech in 1941 which set forth an idealistic aim for the future of the world.  Roosvelt's aim was to ensure the existence of the basic Freedoms of Speech, Worship, Want and Fear.  Of course, in this modern, cynical world in which countless horrors are pumped into our living-rooms via TV on a 24-hour schedule it is hard, perhaps impossible, to cling to those ideals.  Indeed, Roosevelt himself was about to be launched into the conflagration of WWII where his idealism would be tested to extremes.  

Norman Rockwell decided to illustrate these noble ideals in four different paintings.  I give you "Freedom of Speech" as an example, not least because it is, in my poor opinion, the best from an artistic point of view.

It shows a working man in what looks like a small town meeting.  He is somewhat roughly dressed and is surrounded by other citizens who are, so to speak, 'suited and booted'!  The setting, I guess is a school-room and the blackboard behind the standing man makes an ideal background to concentrate on him.  Perhaps it was a tad excessive by Rockwell to make him quite so handsome!  Even so, note how he depicts the other members of the audience, all of whom are gazing with rapt attention to what he has to say.  In particular, the man in the light suit wh0 has twisted his body to better hear and see this 'speaker'.  Finally, note how Rockwell has the 'speaker' gazing slightly upwards, presumably to address citizens on a platform but which also suggests, perhaps, some inspiration from on high.

Yes, I know, I know, all the smart-alec sophisticates would, indeed have, and still do, sneered at its hopeless idealism, and indeed, I, too, have problems in that direction.  Even so, I don't care because there is nothing inherently wrong in high idealism as expressed by artists and particularly artists as skillful as Norman Rockwell.

 

 

Mueller is a sinister and dangerous agent of The Big State

So, there were allegations of unlawful conduct by the President.

Special Investigator Mueller was appointed to investigate and provided with an enormous team and powers to back them up.

Two and a half years later, they found nothing, zilch, nada, a big fat zero! 

Then, in the past 48 hours, Mueller issues this statement:

“if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said that”.

In other words, Mueller implies that Trump is guilty as hell but, dammit, he couldn't actually find any proof - not a grain, not an iota, not a smidgeon - but what the hell, we all know the guy's as guilty as hell so let's string him up!

The high-pitched hum you can hear in the background is the sound of 'Atticus Finch' spinning in his literary grave.

Finally, a friendly word to my American e-pals.  Whilst Trump and his Republican cohorts can, no doubt, indulge in sundry sins of omission and commission, the current Democratic Party, with their insane, hysterical fury and stupidity, are capable of monstrous acts of wickedness which will change for ever the nature of your country!

 

 

Martin Luther King NOT a saint after all - 'shlock-horror'!

Well, of course he was not a saint, he was a man!  And, as 'as any fule do no', saints are as rare as snow flakes in hell which, of course, is not to say that MLK was a bad man.  No, he was just a man with the usual mix of 'vice and virtue' but the courage and tenacity with which he fought his long and dangerous campaign entitles him to be described as both courageous and dedicated.  He brought about a revolution in America without firing a shot!  Even so, revolutions, with or without shots, rarely occur without cost.  In his case the cost included his life! 

Needless to say, any revolution instantly produces an 'army' of resistors who will stoop to any tactic to bring down the trouble-maker.  A raft of stories will be released denigrating the character of the culprit and some will be false and others true.  Also, if the revolutionary becomes famous around the world then the stories will not cease with his death.  Thus has it been for MLK and the latest, rather disgusting, details of his sex life have appeared in a biography by a hitherto distinguished historian called David Garrow.  

As Ms. Monica Showalter points out in The American Thinker, these alleged revelations pose something of a problem to the Left in America who are always exceedingly happy to tear down statues and disfigure monuments of historical figures who failed their 21st century 'woke' test!  Will they now mount a campaign against MLK for indulging in a sort of '#MeeToo' life style?  Possibly, they're certainly dumb enough!

This bit of Shakespeare occurred to me:

“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”

 

 

Memorial Day, USA

I had no idea so I am grateful to Mr. Jay Cost at The National Review for teaching me that the last Monday in May, in other words today, is set aside in America as Memorial Day to acknowledge the sacrifices of their servicemen who perished on duty in sundry wars and conflicts.  So far, so good, but as this painting indicates, the first sacrifices were made against us, their British cousins.  Shockin', shockin'!

The March to Valley Forge, 1883, by William Trego (Wikimedia)

Heavens to Betsy it was actually a revolution against good, ol' King George III who, I am assured, was a very decent, old chap although, to be honest, he was subject to the odd fit of insanity.  Also, he was awfully hard up and really needed the money he tried to raise off those 'fat cats' in Boston.  Honestly, there was no gratitude back in those days!  Anyway, after considerable sacrifices of the ultimate kind by the new American army - and navy (in case 'JK' is reading this) - we Brits grumped off back home and invaded India instead which was, on the whole, much easier to run!

All that was a light-hearted piece of nonsense which should not be taken seriously.  The serious fact is that countless American servicemen and women have given their lives since then, mostly in noble causes and it is entirely right that they should be memorialised by their own kith and kin.  We in this country have much to be grateful for in their sacrifices and so, metaphorically, I salute them on this solemn day.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 26.5.19

Hey-ho, it's off to the races!   The runners and riders for the Tory Party Classic are forming up and you will never see a bigger collection of monstrous and deluded egos, er, outside of the candidates' list for the Democratic Party, of course!  I have lost count of the number of hopeless dreamers who have rushed forward to offer their names.  I have never heard of most of them.  Why do they do it?  Well, as W. C. Fields never said, but should have, "You'll never go broke over-estimating the egos of politicians!" 

 

Peter Hitchens makes uncomfortable reading:   So no change there then!  His column in today's Mail begins thus:

If your car breaks down and won’t go, do you think you will solve the problem by giving it a new coat of paint? Not unless you are very stupid. So why does anyone think that ditching Theresa May and replacing her with Al ‘Boris’ Johnson will make any important difference?

If you are a Tory party supporter, have a large whiskey to hand when you read him!

 

'MDK' obviously needs me:  Of course, I am referring to My Darling Keeley Hawes who, er, 'smote' me when I first saw her in an early series of "Line of Duty" during which, alas, she was shot dead!

She isn't a classic beauty but there is just something about her that 'presses my buttons', so to speak!  Looking at that photo, it may be the way her upper lip very slightly protrudes over her lower lip which gives her an air of vulnerability.  Anyway, according to The Mail, she has confessed to suffering with frequent depression.  The solution, 'My Darling Keeley', is only a 'phone call away!  (Er, not a word to the 'Memsahib', chaps!)

 

There's trouble brewin' on them thar prairies:   Greenies vs. cowboys, according to The Telegraph which reports that some 'yuuuuuuge' conservation group wants to buy 'zillions' of acres of prairieland in Montana and re-introduce native animals to the area, such as bison, elk and prairie dogs.  The cowboys are not amused because they say it will put them out of business.  See y'all soon down at the 'OK corral'! 

 

Oh no, I'm in love again!   This time the lucky lady is Ms. Madeleine Kearns and I needs must tread carefully because she hails from Glasgow - or 'Glesga', as our friend Jimmy would have it! - although she is now based 'over there' and is learning journalism at The National Review Institute, an excellent choice.  She has written a review of two feminised Shakespeare productions in New York and they are shrewd and perceptive.  Go, girl, go!

 

Where's that damned crafty Frenchman hiding?   No, no, not 'mini-Macron', I mean Talleyrand.  I came across his name the other day when I was up here cruising the net, ooops, sorry, I mean tidying my attic, of course!  Anyway, his name popped up somewhere and as I have a weakness for wily statesmen, which is why I am enjoying Thomas Cromwell's life so much, it reminded me that I had an excellent biography of Talleyrand - somewhere!  Can I find it?  Can I hell!

 

(Sir) Lewis wins again!   What an incredible driver he is!  Surely now, the greatest of them all.  Mind you, Monaco has to be the most boring race of the season.  It is virtually impossible to overtake so that makes the practice sessions more interesting and exciting than the race!  Even so, how those guys thread their cars through the narrow, twisty streets is quite incredible.

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

The Dems really are dumber than a really dumb thing!

It is always exceedingly worrying when a normally fairly staid political party goes into hysterical meltdown but that, alas, appears to be the turn taken by the Democratic Party since their 'Holy' icon, 'HillBilly', was not just defeated but - 'shlock-horror!' - was defeated by a clown-like opponent with absolutely no class or political experience whatsoever!  Mind you, if their eye-balls are swivelling now, they had better brace up because a nuclear-level shock-wave is approaching over the horizon and should reach maximum force during the run-up to the next Presidential election.

With brilliant timing, 'The Donald' has authorised this statement:

Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election.

The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.  [My emphasis]

The delicious irony oozing from this action is almost impossible to describe.  The 'Dumb Dems' went into a frenzy when they realised that, against all the odds and expectations, 'HillBilly' lost the election and without thinking they launched a spectacular campaign to allege that, in Brit cockney language, "It woz the Russians wot dunnit!"  With, dare I say, a 'yuuuuuuge' fanfare they introduced us to their 'fav' 'Prosecuter-General', the mighty Robert Mueller who, living up (or down - you choose!) to his ruthless reputation for investigating every single nook and cranny found, after two and half years, er, well, nothing, actually!

Not satisfied with that utter fiasco, the 'Dumb Dems' also attempted to mount a ludicrous and despicable attack on a decent man whom Trump had nominated for the Supreme Court.  Within days it become clear to all but the politically purblind that the whole campaign was a vicious and dirty set-up.  By now they are dribbling at the mouth in their inchoate fury and appear determined to try and actually impeach the President of the United States!   Every one makes mistakes but the biggest and the dumbest is to carry on repeating them.

Over the next year, President Trump, via his 'hit-man' A-G, will out-do Mueller in digging deep into Dem behaviour before and during the last election and, with security restrictions lifted, he will shine a searchlight into their nefarious practices which should go down like a pile of 'brown stuff' with American voters.  Yes, like all men, Trump is flawed but compared to 'HillBilly' and the rest of the loons and crooks running the Democratic Party, he is a veritable 'angel'!

 

 

 

Time to Mann-up!

As I have mentioned before several times, I am exceedingly leery of the American justice system.  Of course, it is 'yuuuuuuuge' and therefor bound to throw up anomalies and contradictions and dodgy decisions but perhaps worst of all, it can be excessively long-winded and dilatory. Take The National Review (and Mark Steyn, too, come to that!) vs. Michael E. Mann, the 'inventor' of the 'Hockey Stick' chart which proves - absolutely and definitely proves, I tell you - that man-made global warming really and truly and cross my heart and wish to die, is occurring!  

Michael E. Mann took exception when the NR and Steyn stuck two fingers up in his direction and shouted, in effect, "Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!"   He opened court proceedings against both parties which were mounted in the DC circuit, so hardly out in the boondocks, and yet both cases, despite urgings from the NR, and Steyn, are still unheard and are about to enter their eighth year!  That is a national disgrace for a country that claims it has the greatest judicial system in the world!

 

 

He said, she said and so it goes on and on and on . . .

This is truly delicious!  If there were a dozen leading officials and politicians in 'Obamarama's' cabal then you would have two dozen different stories!  The latest involves that slimy, former Director of the FBI, James Comey and that sinister, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.  This time, for a change, it does not concern 'The Donald' but instead it hinges on the Hillary Clinton email investigation - remember that one?  'HillBilly' hopes you have forgotten about it but it is such an enormous, stinking heap of putrescence that the smell simply will not go away.

According to Comey, via Zero Hedge:

While testifying last year at a closed-door House Oversight Committee hearing last June, Comey said Lynch had pressured him to minimize the significance of the Clinton email probe [my emphasis] - an encounter which he says left him questioning her impartiality, and - along with Lynch's clandestine tarmac meeting on a hot summer's day in 2016 - contributed to his decision to hold a July 2016 press conference announcing the FBI's conclusions. 

Ms. Lynch, on the other hand, with her amour propre burnished to a gloss, denied it all and suggested that Comey was 'a lying, dirty rat', or something like that:

Lynch, meanwhile, told congressional the House Oversight and Judiciary committees on December 19: "I did not. I have never instructed a witness as to what to say specifically. Never have, never will."
"I didn't direct anyone to use specific phraseology. When the Director asked me how to best to handle that, I said: What I have been saying is we have received a referral and we are working on the matter, working on the issue, or we have all the resources we need to handle the matter, handle the issue. So that was the suggestion that I made to him," Lynch added - telling lawmakers that she was "quite surprised" to hear how Comey would later describe the conversation "because that was not how it was conveyed to him, certainly not how it was intended."

Bear in mind that these are the two top officials in 'Obamarama's', er, so-called Justice and Investigation departments.  One is tempted, at this point to quote 'HillBilly' at her worst when discussing the deaths of several American diplomats on her watch:

"What difference, at this point, does it make?"

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 19.5.19

Bright and relatively early this morning:   Despite having enjoyed an exceedingly pleasant dinner with 'SoD' and his lovely lady at a local Italian restaurant.  Amongst other things, 'SoD' gave me a Regimental tie - made of silk!  Ultra smart and that forced me to smarten up my appearance last night from my usual 'scruffy, old geezer' look, a mode which, to my surprise, seems not to have taken off in the fashion world!

 

Let's hear it - again - for the Aussies:    Excellent news from 'down under there' where the Lefty-loons have been treated more or less like any visiting English cricket team - bowled out with a pathetic score!  Will the (non)Democratic Party in America face the same outcome 'over there' next year?  I suspect they will, not least because there is a growing 'shit-storm' building up over their shennanigans prior to the last Presidential election.  Take cover!

 

Sort of good but also sort of sad:   Yesterday I gave myself a break from the machinations of 'our Tom' Cromwell and 'our King 'Arry' and I began to read a few pages from Antony Beevor's latest book, "Arnhem".  Already, I just know it is going to be excellent history but, alas, also 'yuuuuuugely' depressing!  In many ways, Montgomery was an excellent fighting General but why did the bombastic, little prat have to emulate the equally obtuse Gen. Patten and thereby produce even greater military cock-ups?

 

As usual, Peter Hitchens tells it the way it really is:   There has been much 'huffin' 'n' puffin'' from all quarters on the ludicrous state of affairs in which 70-year old veterans are being prosecuted 40+ years after the events whilst their murderous IRA opponents were given 'carte blanche' protection from the law.  Hitchens sums it up thus:

I shall keep saying this until it sinks in. The United Kingdom surrendered to the Provisional IRA, under heavy American pressure, in 1998, and the persecution of British soldiers was part of the terms of that surrender. The Tory Party supported the nauseatingly named ‘Good Friday Agreement’ at the time and still defends it.

 

Hurrah, Britain finished bottom!   Thank God for that, Britain finished last in the Eurovision song contest!  I don't think I have ever heard even a semi-decent song from that ghastly chorus of no-talent morons so perhaps the 'galumps' who keep entering us will realise that even if Cole Porter wrote our songs and Frank Sinatra sang them, the Euros will never vote for us because they detest us!  When the realisation occurs, please tell Mrs. May the same attitude prevails on our (non)Brexit talks!

 

Dominic Cavendish needs to 'man up'!   Cavendish is the theatre critic of The Telegraph and I have just read his mealy-mouthed, pathetic critique of the feminised Henry IV at The Globe Theatre, about which I 'grumped' a few days ago.  This photo sums it up:

Sarah Amankwah in a scene from Henry IV, Part II Credit: Tristram Kenton

Cavendish, with his 'oh so metropolitan sensibilities' describes Ms. Amankwah as "a woman of colour".  No she's not, Dominic, darling, she's black!  We're all 'coloured' in different pigments so just spell it out, you know, as in "Tell truth and shame the devil".

 

And another two books!   These delivered by 'SoD', so thanks be to him!  One is serious and the other is hilarious.  The serious one is The Europe Illusion: Britain, France, Germany and the Long History of European Integration by Stuart Sweeney.  It commences from 1648 so it looks like a long read - which is ecellent.  The other, gifted to me at my own request, is seriously serious history!  I continually quote one of its key phrases, "A Good Thing" and "A Bad Thing" and, of course, that comes from "1066 and All That" by the renowned historians - no, honestly! - W.G.Sellar and R.J.Yeatman.  It must be over 60 years since I last read it and at the time it left my crying with laughter.  So thanks, 'SoD', you're a diamond!  An example:

                                     Chapter XLIII

                                               India

It was in the 18th century that Indian history started.  Indian History is a great number of wars in which the English fought against the Waratah Confederacy and various kinds of potentates called Sahibs, Wallahs, Jahs, Rajahs, Hurrahjas, Mahhurrahjas, Jhams and Jhellies.  Most memorable amongst these were the terrible Napoo Sahib, the Maharrata of Pshaw, the Chandra Gaff and the Taj Mahal.

Talk about laugh, I expect you nearly did!  Anyway, that's me finished for today - I have some serious reading to do!

 

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

 

On this alone, I thank God that Trump beat 'HillBilly'

No doubt President Trump deserves criticism for a variety of sins of omission or commission but, in my opinion, he is spot on in his campaign of opposition against the over-weening and exceedingly dangerous ambitions of China.  I draw a distinction here between the people of China who over recent times have suffered cruelly at the hands of both their own leaders and foreign invaders.  The fact that (on the whole!) they are now enjoying the fruits of prosperity is, in the immortal words of Sellar & Yeatman, authors of the greatest history book ever written, "A Good Thing".  However, they should make the most of it while it lasts because they are now in the clutches of some power-mad thugs with delusions of grandeur and ambitions to rule the world.  This will only end badly, for us but even worse for them!

Having just finished Tim Bouverie's superb history of Chamberlain vs. Hitler, I am now all too well aware of how our politicians will duck and dive and try anything to appease foreign megolomaniacs - to be fair, so would many of their voters!  I suspect the same holds true today in the face of increasing arrogance and belligerance from the Chinese government in all quarters of the globe.  Trump is absolutely correct to start drawing lines and defending them.  Yes, it may well cause disruption but that will be nothing compared to the calamities that will ensue if China continues to swagger its way round the globe unapposed.  

Box clever, Donald, but keep boxing!

 

 

Those dumb Democrats better watch out!

Two and a half years ago we were all subject to an hysterical campaign by the Democratic party assuring us that Donald Trump was on the take from the Russians who had influenced the election result and cheated 'HillBilly' from what was rightfully her entitlement to be the next POTUS.  Two and a half years later, Trump has appointed an experienced and reputed bulldog of an investigator to look into corrupt malfeasance by - guess who? - yes, the Democratic party along with very senior allies in the Dept. of (non)Justice and the FBI who stand accused of mounting a scurrilous campaign against the Trump/Republican campaign for the Presidency.

The Dem efforts to build a story has collapsed in worse than ignominy because not only has their invention fallen flat, it has now opened all sorts of hitherto secret doors into their own murky operations.  It's early days yet but the timing could not be better for the Trump re-election campaign because over the next 18 months the lids over Democratic sewers will be lifted.  The stench will almost certainly cloud around 'HillBilly' but also, with a bit of luck and a following wind, may well engulf the ultra sanctimonious 'Obamarama'!  In any event, the Dems are going to find themselves on the defensive particularly when the 'perps' concerned rat them out!

The biters bit, such fun!

 

 

Farewell, Lt. Col. Cole, the last of 'the intrepids'

This blog is in danger of looking like The Times obituary column!  Sorry and all that but there are some peoples' deaths that touch me in one way or another.  To be honest, until today I had never heard of Lt. Col. Richard Cole USAAF but I certainly do recall reading and admiring his wartime exploit in the Doolittle raid that took place in December 1941.

Richard Cole, second right, with James Doolittle, second left, and other 'Doolittle Raiders' Credit: NYT/USAF

Just two weeks after America had been slammed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbour there was a determination on the part of the High Command that 'something must be done'!  Frequently in military history this can result in a tragic farrago that achieves nothing.  However, in the case of the Doolittle raid, whilst the military damage inflicted was minimal, the shock to the Japanese authorities was immense and a warning of things to come.  In addition, the morale of the American people was instantly galvanised.

The Raiders' Mitchell planes on board the 'Hornet' carrier Credit: Aviation History Collection/Alamy

This was the first time that bombers had ever been deployed from aircraft carriers and none of the crews had attempted it before.  It was realised that a return to the carrier was impossible so the plan was for the aircraft to fly on to air strips in China controlled by the Nationalists.  Some made it, some did not.

Richard Cole at a Doolittle Raider reunion in 2013 Credit: Nick Tomecek/Northwest Florida Daily News

Happily, Lt. Col. Cole did make it and lived to the ripe old age of 103.  We salute your memory, Colonel!

 

 

Are we all going mad 'over here' and 'over there?

Well, it looks like it to me.  Our political class, or at least a large proportion of it, both 'over here' and 'over there', appear to be inhabiting a cuckoo universe.  Some 500 of our utterly useless members of Parliament voted to abide by the peoples' vote in the referendum and passed a motion promising to take our country out of the EU by the 29th March 2019.  Ever since then they have done everything they can to thwart it.  It's ominous enough when the 'Peeps' rebel against a Parliament but it is likely to be calamitous when we watch a parliament rebel against the 'Peeps'.  It is unlikely, I think - or hope! - that 'there will be blood' but it could be a close run thing!

Meanwhile, 'over there' one of the two mainstream political parties, the Democrats, appear to be suffering with mass hysteria.  You will see no better example of it than watching Rep. Brian Sims (D) berating an elderly lady who, alone with rosary in hand, was waiting outside a Planned Parenthood abortion factory to offer advice to women seeking their services.  This mentally deranged, bully-boy spends eight minutes following the lady as she walks up and down outside the premises, filming her and shouting abuse at her - to which she has the good grace not to reply and the courage to continue her mission.  Watch it and weep!  (And why didn't someone call the police and have this ignorant oaf arrested?)

Of course, all political parties have their fair number of 'nut-jobs' but, from 'over here', the Democratic party seems suffused with them.  I would urge my American friends to follow our example 'over here' when, in the next election we thrash the Tories for gross incompetence and dishonesty.  By damning the Democrats to the outer reaches of political hell you will, in the end, do them a favour and restore some minimal commonsense and good manners to the shouty 'stoopids' who seem to have taken over what was once a respectable and respected political party.

 

 

The script of a commercial for 'Barney Magroo'

I understand that Mr. Barney Magroo (Purveyor of Fine Wines and Spirits to the Gentry of Arkansas) has decided that in this prohibition-free era, he should venture forth from his still up in 'them thar hills' and, under the guidance of his Public Relations manager (known here as 'JK'), he should become 'legit'!  To that end, I offer him the script for a new TV commercial written by some new kid on the block called Master W. Shakespeare.  Despite my having once played this role, modesty forbids that I hint who should deliver these magisterial lines!

Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh; but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine.

There's never none of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness; and then when they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and cowards; which some of us should be too, but for inflammation.

A good sherris sack hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and curdy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and
delectable shapes, which, delivered o'er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, left the liver
white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the sherris warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme:

it illumineth the face, which as a beacon gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart, who, great and puffed up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this valour comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work; and learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till sack commences it and sets it in act and use.

Hereof comes it that Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile and bare land,
manured, husbanded and tilled with excellent endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant.

If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.

By Jove, that should work up a good thirst in Little Rock!

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 5.5.19

'Will no one rid me of this turbulent Prime Minister?'   And so she goes on and on and on, ever deeper into a suffocating bog of non-Brexit ordure.  She is fooling no-one, except herself, and her last effort in which she pleads for 'dear Jeremy' to give her a hand out of the latrine, is beyond stupid and into the a land of make-believe.  The only worry I have is that if she and Labour stitch up a deal in the next few days and then ram it through parliament it may give her a chance to dodge the European elections, the result of which will make yesterday's massacre of the Tory party look like a bun-fight!

 

Oooops, sorry for my absence!   Well, I did my gardening but when I came in for tea I took 'a short course in death'.  Dammit, all that fresh air is bad for you!

 

Don't mess with 'The Donald'!   According to a news report, 'The Donald' has decided that the USA/China trade talks are going nowhere so he has decided to up the 10% tariff on $200 billion of goods to 25%!  In addition, he has warned that a further $325 billion of Chinese goods could be added to the list if a trade deal is not agreed.  That should wipe the smirk off Xi Ping-a-ling's face!

 

Pompeii:   Entirely by accident I caught a programme on 'Channel 5' tonight on the subject of Pompeii.  It was fascinating and there is another episode tomorrow at 21.00hrs.  I once visited the neighbouring city of Herculaneum and it was, quite literally, a day I will never forget.  Herculaneum is smaller than Pompeii and it was generally populated by the wealthier citizens from the bigger city.  As I understand it, the stuff that landed on Herculaneum from Vesuvius carbonised - whatever that means! -  and thus preserved the town in much better detail.  I have been lucky to have visited various places and cities and sites around the world but Herculaneum, frozen in time from AD79, made far ans away the biggest impression.  Try and catch the programme on Pompeii if you can.

 

No more rumbles today - and, boy, will I sleep well tonight!

 

 

 

Baltimore bombs!

I am exceedingly upset that the city of Baltimore is a wreck because I know it so well!  This may be a surprise to the citizens of Baltimore, or at least, those that are left, because actually I have never set foot in the place!  However, 'back in the day', I was an avid fan of "Homicide: Life on the Street" and then the superlative series that followed, "The Wire".  From that you can see why my knowledge of the place is from the gutters up!

Even back then it had the look and feel of a city sinking into its own sewers and today, the news that the second Mayor in ten years is under investigation for corruption confirms my worst fears.  The cause of this decrepitude is simple - single party politics.  The Democrats have run the place for decades, indeed, every Mayor since 1967 has been a Democrat.  Ms. Marta Mossberg at The National Review spells out the details:

But crime is only one of Baltimore’s many problems. The vast majority of the city’s public-school children can’t read or write at grade level. When they graduate from high school, 70 percent of Baltimore City public school students who enter a two- or four-year college need remedial help in basic reading and math. And then there are the massive water-main breaks that regularly halt commerce, and the 17,000 vacant houses pockmarking the city like ghosts of the city’s past stature.

No wonder so many people are voting with their feet and leaving. Last year’s census figures showed that, of the 30 largest cities in the United States, only Baltimore and Detroit lost population. Baltimore had shrunk to a population not seen for 100 years. This year’s census figures show another population decline of 1.2 percent to just over 600,000 residents and no signs of stopping.

Needless to say, everything you hear about Baltimore more or less applies to Chicago and Detroit, two other single party cities that invite corruption and destitution.

 

ADDITIONAL:   I cannot allow mention of 'The Wire' to pass without mention of the superb acting from the entire cast.  In particular, that frightfully posh, Eton-educated Brit, Dominic West, who played a Baltimore cop to perfection.  Then there was the unforgettable Andre Royo who played 'Bubbles', a down and out drug addict and police informant.  Also, Idris Elba, a Brit like Dominic West but from the opposite end of the social scale having been born and raised in East London.  He played, superbly, the role of 'Stringer Bell', a very tough drug-gang leader - and his career has shot onwards and upwards ever since.  I could go on and on but honesty impels me to admit that I thought the 4th series was less interesting and, alas, I never managed to catch the fifth and final series.  I think it's time I treated myself to the complete box-set.

 

 

 

Why would anyone read The New York Times?

I meant to comment at the time, a few days ago, on this particular example of a rancid dog-pile dropped in the middle of a recent edition of The New York Times.  It shows a blind Donald Trump complete with yarmulke being pulled along by an Israeli dog with the face of Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

It is, of course, like most cartoons, an exaggerated lie but like the 'best' of cartoons it is immensely powerful.  In fact, Trump is no more being 'led' by Netanyahu than the Israeli Prime Minister is being 'led' by Trump.  They are both pursuing their political and strategic aims as they see them and as both of them face dangers from Arabic/Islamic enemies then there are bound to be areas of mutual self-interest.  As the old proverb has it, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"  Churchill said much the same thing when Russia was attacked by Germany.

Even so, given the lividity of the cartoon, it is obvious that there is more behind it than just strategic politics.  It plays to the very heart of the old anti-Semitic belief that Jews secretly pull the strings of everything of importance in world affairs.  Of course, Israelis do try and do that but then so does everyone else!  The USA doesn't so much 'pull strings' as yank (no pun intended!) on ropes, just as Great Britain used to do 'back in the day', and now the Chinese do with increasing effect.  However, in this particular case, it is obvious that the main aim of the cartoonist was to ram home his own personal Jew-hatred based, no doubt, on all the old anti-Semitic tropes which never seem to die.  That The New York Times gave it space, tells you all you need to know about that particularly disgusting organisation.

None of that, of course, should inhibit anyone from criticising Israeli policy!

 

 

Let me introduce you to, er, Mr. Wlady Pleszczynski

And no, I can't pronounce his name, either, but even so he remains one of my political/journalistic heroes.  He was the back office businessman who stood behind R. Emmett Tyrell when he started The American Spectator, of which, back in the day, I was a subscriber to their print editions - yes, that far back!  These two men deserve, but will never receive, a 'yuuuuuuuuuge' medal for their dismemberment of Bill Clinton's Presidency when they dug into all those Clintonian scams in 'good ol' Arkansas'.

Anyway, 'Vlad', as I will call him because at least I can pronounce it, has written a rarity of an article praising - yes, actually praising! - 'The Donald'.

For his troubles he’s been savaged and dehumanized by a crazed, bigoted opposition that refuses to play by any rules once thought the norm in our politics and culture. Even before his election he was being sabotaged by his opponent, the ruling administration, U.S. intelligence, and the FBI. Same thing in the two and half months leading up to his inauguration. And ever since, by the permanent fruits of bigger government and the cockroaches scurrying along its corridors, including commissars under the control of a so-called special counsel who’s destroying America’s rule of law. And all this with kneejerk media encouragement and approval — unconstitutionality as we’ve never seen in the U.S. before, by forces that depict themselves as a “resistance” and who argue that Donald Trump’s constitutionally protected presidential actions are a sure sign of tyrannical intent. 

Yes, I think that about sums it up even if I, personally, do think 'The Donald' brings much of the spite upon himself with his personal eccentricities.  Even so, as 'Vlad', in effect, asks, does he really deserve this sort of thing - with my emphasis added:

As I write, Joe Scarborough has just said Trump has caused more harm to the U.S. than 9/11 did. In the New York Review, which I thought will be the last liberal organ to retain its senses, Garry Wills calls for stepped-up resistance to Trump, because “If we wait until the tyrant kills six million Jews before tyrannicide is contemplated, we are actually facilitating tyranny.”

Well said, 'Vlad', and I am delighted that your magazine holds truth above hysteria.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 28.4.19

Yesterday was a double good day:  First of all, the 'Memsahib' had the dressing on her right hand removed because the wound has healed nicely.  Second of all, we went shopping and bought a ready-cooked chicken - well, it was bound to be better than if I had cooked it! - and the 'Memsahib' suddenly remembered a recipe she hasn't done for ages - 'Chicken Mustard'!  In this, the chicken is chopped into small bits and heated in a sauce made up of cream, dry mustard, mushrooms, Worcester sauce and various other bits and pieces. (Exact recipe to follow later when she is up and about!)  Unencumbered by the dressing on her right hand she was able to throw that together and it was 'scrummy, Mummy'!  Well, there are only so many cheese on toasts you can eat when I am running the kitchen!

 

The second good thing yesterday:  A couple of weeks ago, for a reason I cannot recall, I was reminded of one of the very best thrillers I have ever read.  "I Am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes.  Er, the other thing I cannot recall is what the damned book was about!  I know it featured some smart-arse, American secret agent and that it ended up - natch! - somewhere in the Middle East - I think!  However, what I did recall was how much I enjoyed it and so, given the reminder, I decided to buy a copy for my Kindle.  Like all my good intentions, I never quite got around to it and anyway, as y'all do know because I never stop boring on about it, I am still deep into the 'brown stuff' that was the British political scene in the 1930s.  Anyway, yesterday, in a half-hearted attempt to tidy up the shambles in my attic, I sorted through a pile of old paperbacks and - HOORAH! - I found my original copy.  Last night I read the first five chapters and I was right - it's a corker!

 

Dan Hodges asks the critical question:   Once again, I am grateful to Mr. Dan Hodges in The Mail for asking the truly critical question of the day: 

Who runs Britain? Who is actually responsible for the governance of our nation this morning?

Chillingly, he answers his own question:

It isn’t the Prime Minister. Mrs May holds that title, but has relinquished any grip on the office. The only meaningful decision left for her now is the announcement of the date of her departure from Downing Street.
It’s not the Cabinet. As the Huawei debacle has revealed, their focus is no longer on running the Government but jostling for the premiership. The views of the voters of Britain are now secondary to the views of the 120,000 members of the Tory Party who will be eligible to vote in the upcoming leadership election.

Sorry to re-use a hoary, old cliche but 'power abhors a vacuum'.  Who or what fills this particular hole I do not know.  I hope that the local and then the European elections devastate the Tory party because, to paraphrase 'the good Doctor', 'nothing concentrates a mind like a hanging in the morning!'  Also, it will be truly delicious to send Farage's army of Brexiteers to Brussels! 

 

A 75th Anniversary to be remembered but not celebrated:   I am grateful to The Telegraph for reminding me of the ghastly tragedy that occurred 75 years ago at Slapton Sands in Devon.

On that beautiful stretch of seaside, 75 years ago today, at least 749 American soldiers and sailors lost their lives.  They were practicing for the D-Day landings which would take place a few weeks hence.  Unhappily, they were caught by a small flotilla of German E-boats who took them by surprise and inflicted dreadful casualties.  "We shall remember them."

 

Message from the 'Memsahib':  As promised, the recipe for Chicken Mustard:

Chicken Mustard- Serves four

½ pint double cream
2 tablespoons Mango chutney
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
1 Dessert spoon dry Colman mustard
1/4lb Mushrooms sliced

Method:

Mix all ingredients together, heat the mix for half an hour at 170⁰ and then pour over the chicken pieces. 
Pork chops are good as well.

ENJOY!!!!!

 

Dotty Dipstick of the Year!   Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you - no, go on, take her, she's all yours - the dumbest blonde Dame ever, Dame Emma Thompson:

With star-like stupidity she flew all the way from California, laying a carbon carpet as she went, in order to join all those pig-ignorant prats who brought central London to a standstill in order to, er, 'save the planet'!  Thank you, darling, now fly back where you came from and don't bother coming again!

 

That damned fickle Finn!   I refer, of course, to Valtteri Bottas who, dammit, is supposed to be the No.2 driver for Mercedes thus assisting (Sir) Lewis to yet another well deserved victory.  Instead, he nicked first place leaving (Sir) Lewis to finish second - the bounder!  Mind you, it was an impeccable drive.

 

No more rumbles today!

 

 

 

Please, Donald, pretty please, just don't visit!

Don't misunderstand, Mr. President, it's not that we - or at least a good number of us - don't 'lurve' you, and we certainly 'lurve' your country - er, well, most of it - but if you come over to visit 'Her Maj' in June, the toilets, the sewers, the dustbins, the waste-tips will all overflow and the pig ignorant, single brain cell, knuckle-draggers will pour forth onto our streets and there will be mayhem!  Poor old London town which stood up so bravely under the blitz will be inundated with teen-age nose-pickers who will wreck the place.  Needless to say, 'the Plod' will be delighted to take all the overtime they can get but will not lift a finger, let alone a baton, to clear the streets.  The damage will be 'yuuuuuuge'!

So, please, stay at home and watch the golf!

 

 

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?