Category: Current Events

Pools and Fools

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Just to let me know what she thinks of my July as the end of New England summer theory, Mother Nature has been laying on the torrid heat and drenching humidity.  ¡Ay, Chihuahua!

Fine.  I glory in the heat.  Although it did make a moving job, I was stuck with a wonderful excuse to sweat like a pig.  Well, that’s what showers are for anyway.  Today I got the swimming pool back in line.  We’ve spent the last two months trying to find a leak that has been draining about 700 gallons of water a day.  I was getting ready to switch pool companies when they sent their heavy hitter back with a mandate “to make the crazy old guy happy.”  Well, whine bitterly enough and you get some action.  So, after convincing myself that the leak is at least 80% fixed I refilled the pool from my poor abused well and adjusted pH, chlorine and added the algaecide and voila, Princess Sack of Potatoes has a cool place to splash around in for the week.

Camera Girl will be in full charge next week because I will be incommunicado.  Tonight, I will load up the photos and quotes needed to get me through the next week and a half.  Then tomorrow I’ll try to get a couple of posts done ahead of time to minimize the dead air on the site.  If I’m lucky World War III will break out and spare me the annoyance (bad joke).  But maybe they’ll be some really big news that will make it easy for me to generate copy.

I read that Trump is talking about debating Kamala on Fox News.  Now wouldn’t that be a hoot!  If there weren’t any ringers in the moderators to protect her, I imagine Kamala would come off sounding like a mental patient.  I mean she is a mental patient and without a teleprompter or someone to keep Trump from attacking all her weak spots she just might run off the stage screaming by the ten-minute mark.

As I posted on earlier, Zelensky is now preparing his countrymen for the reality that they will have to come to terms with Moscow.  Putin is laying claim to all the areas with majority Russophone populations which I think is about 30% of the Ukrainian land area.  And he is demanding the neutering of the Ukrainian army, along with a constitutional amendment forbidding NATO membership.

Along with Zelensky’s fear that Donald Trump will cut off his weapons supply, the recent Russian success along the combat line in Donetsk and the difficulty his army is having locating and keeping recruits is bringing home to Zelensky that pretty soon the current terms that Putin wants may look like a bargain a year from now if his military collapses and the Russians can walk into Kiev.

Well, you never know how a war will turn out but it is starting to look like Joe Biden’s war is coming to a disastrous end.  But naturally, for Biden that would be par for the course.

What a shame that the Democrats have made home ownership an impossibility for millions of young couples who want to start a family.  You’d think for that reason alone, the Zoomers would all vote for Trump.  Well, time will tell.  For their sake I hope Trump wins and actually has the smarts to fix the economy.  I don’t assume it’s guaranteed that he can fix it.  Our economy and the government’s finances have been tricked up by the geniuses in Washington for a couple of decades now.  Things may be so fouled up that fixing will take a decade to accomplish.  Well, Donald, good luck.

Zelensky Admits Land May Be Traded for Peace

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For the first time Zelensky admits that he may run a referendum to see if Ukrainians are willing to trade land for peace.

“Volodymyr Zelensky has said that territorial concessions to end the war started by Vladimir Putin would require the backing of a referendum in Ukraine.

However, the Ukrainian president told French media that such a move “is not the best option because we are dealing with Putin and it will be a victory for him if he takes part of our territory.””

So Zelensky is preparing the people for the reality of surrender.  It’s not like he has much choice.  The question I have is whether they will hand over any of the land they currently still hold.  I think they might have to.

Don’t Let Them See You Sweat

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There are all kinds of men in this world.  They vary in temperament, intelligence, philosophy, habits, health and any number of other traits.  And likewise with women.  They come in infinite variety.  Most notably of late is their level of allegiance to the feminist project.  So, they run the gamut from strident man-hating lesbians and cat ladies all the way to the maternal heroine of the Victorian novel who lives to help her children and dotes on her husband.

But one thing I’ve noticed about all women.  When the bottom drops out of the world and the Huns are at the gate even the most misandric harpy that ever railed against the patriarchy runs around in circles screaming for the cavalry to arrive.  And just to be specific they expect the cavalry to be steeped in testosterone and bearing Y-chromosomes.

The best example of this that I can remember was directly after September 11th 2001.  Maureen Dowd was and is a journalist for the New York Times and she has spent decades banging the drum for feminist complaints about men.  Her contempt for men in general and conservatives in particular was limitless.  But then the Towers were knocked down in September and suddenly policemen, firemen and soldiers were the heroes she wanted to write about.  Suddenly she realized that the only thing standing between her and the primitive world that is held in check by modernity is a man with a gun.  Of course, eventually she calmed down and realized that men with guns tend not to be feminists.  And she returned to her default contempt.  But for as long as she was scared, she wanted to be comforted by the knowledge that the patriarchy was keeping her safe.

And that impulse to look to the man with a gun is programmed into her DNA.  She won’t admit it because it makes her seem like someone who can’t push aside sex-linked traits as if they were just “social constructs.”  And it’s more than just protection from the Hun.  Whatever the catastrophe, when the bottom drops out a woman looks to her man to make things whole again.  And that’s all women.  The good ones are grateful.  The dishonest ones pretend they could have done it on their own.  They may even pretend they did.

But when Armageddon arrives, and you’re busy trying to figure out how to save the day, it’s good to remember that the women folk often need some kind of sign from you that you can save the day.  And here the female psyche should be taken into consideration.  Because even if there’s nothing that you can think of to do the best strategy is to appear to be doing something constructive.  I am convinced that a fretful woman who sees her man engaged in physical activity with tools of whatever kind; mechanical, diagnostic or even just a wheelbarrow will take solace from the idea that he is taking the lead and solving the problem.  And it doesn’t hurt if he assigns her some role to play in the “brilliant plan” that he is already putting into motion.

Camera Girl, even Camera Girl is not immune from this behavior.  She that has shared my life for almost half a century; knows me right down to my toes.  And she knows just how lazy and lethargic I am by nature.  But when I can see that something serious has scared her, then I know it’s time for me to do my best Superman impression and let her know that I have a way to make everything whole again.  Of course, most times I don’t and maybe I’m kind of scared myself.  But admitting that is a big mistake.  Morale is a very important part of life and if you let the family morale crack, things get even tougher.

So that’s my insight.  I recently saw an example of this that reminded me of this dynamic.  I thought it might be useful information for others.

31JUL2024 – The Curse Has Come upon Me.  Well Pretty Soon Anyway.

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The First Selectman Taking a Stroll

A terrible fate is creeping up on me.  Periodically, First Selectman Cthulhu has to have his external parasites burned off by soaking in a lake-sized vat of boiling sulfuric acid.  It’s uneventful but a very long process that requires someone to supervise.  From next Monday until the Wednesday of the following week I will be in a form of purgatory.  Isolated from the site and forced to endure almost unimaginable tedium I shall not be able to write my posts under my normal conditions.  Whatever output I produce will be stilted, uninspired and generated in a state of exhaustion and mental duress.  Come to think of it, you may not notice the difference at all.  But undoubtedly, the word count will go way down.  I should be able to load up the Pictures of the Day and the Quotes of the Day this weekend.  But beyond that everything will be hit and miss.

Like some kind of latter-day Prometheus bound with cruel spikes driven through my immortal flesh into the adamantine stone beneath and with a cruel eagle constantly devouring my ever-regenerating liver, I will endure all this uncomplainingly knowing that I do it for the good of all mankind, or at least for the good of the MAGA Republicans.  Maybe Trump can visit me on my mountain crag and speak words of encouragement and snide insults at the eagle.  If he has the time.

If any of you have any content that you want posted feel free to e-mail it to me and I’ll make sure to publish it as a way to keep the readers happy.  When the time of my internment is through, I shall return renewed and rededicated to the proposition that all internet links are created unequal.  That they are endowed by their content creators with varying quality based on the qualities of these creators themselves and on how hard they are willing to work to make the content entertaining.

As the hours slowly pass during my captivity I’ll try to imagine what it will be like when President Kamala Harris is the commander in chief of this formerly great nation.  I imagine how she will take the rostrum in the House of Representatives and give the State of the Union address and we’ll all applaud as she describes the glories of her electric yellow school bus bill.  This bill will require the confiscation of all private, gasoline powered automobiles and mandate the use of buses for all travel.  With a $40 trillion dollar price tag it will be the boldest and most expensive bill ever passed and it will certainly convert us into a banana republic in the image of Venezuela.

I was just listening to Trump at one of his rallies riffing on what a loser Kamala Harris is.  It was funny.  I guess I’ve missed his rally patter.  It really is quite hilarious the way he describes her failure as “border czar” and her statements on defunding the police during the Summer of Floyd.  And his equally harsh mockery of Biden is quite amusing.  I think Trump is wise to highlight the fact that Kamala kept Joe Biden’s condition as a secret from the country.  That is indeed a damning accusation against someone trying to gain the trust of the country while running for the office of president.

Today is the last day of July and I consider it the end of New England Summer.  I’ve read that measurable snowfall has been recorded in every month of the year except for July in southern New England.  If that is so then August is early winter.  I have already begun preparing for it.  I’ll begin prepping the snowblower and break out the snow shovels.  I may wait a few weeks before wearing thermal underwear but it’s almost time.  Turkey deep fried on the barbecue for Labor Day?  We’ll see.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 31JUL2024 – Lessons of War

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

I would have thought that the main lesson of the Viet Nam and succeeding regional wars was or should have been: Don’t initiate or enter wars unless you intend to win and pay whatever price necessary to do so. WWII would be a prime example.

But, apparently, that lesson is too esoteric or functionally difficult to be put into practice by our masters. Just what has been accomplished by the US providing Ukraine with just enough weaponry and resources to prolong the war and kill millions on both sides? Not to mention waste God knows how many $100’s of billions of dollars. What was the point? Anyone? Send a message, perhaps?

 

Update:

Comments

photog in reply to TomD

If I had to guess what lesson they think they learned from Vietnam, it was to emulate what the Soviets did in that war. Find a proxy to fight your enemy for you. So Russia had the North Vietnamese. The neo-cons in the State Department have the Ukrainian Azov faction who are willing to burn Ukraine down to punish the Russo-Ukrainians who make up 25% of the population. The fact that millions will die and Russia will become our implacable foe forever is neither here nor there.

 

Chemist in reply to TomD.

Tom D asked: “What was the point?”
10% for the big guy.
Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but this has always been about graft.
At least is has from the US side.
I think the Poles genuinely wanted to get their licks into the Russians but the US congress, State dept and POTUS were all in for their cut.

 

photog in reply to Chemist.

I wonder where they’ll play the game next after Ukraine dries up? Iran?

 

War Pig commented

We leared the lesson of Vietnam when a Vietnam officer, General Schwarzkopf, refused to play Vietnam rules and insisted on using maximum effort to win-the-frigging-war.
It was LBJ who insisted that he knew better than generals how to fight a war. Ditto Biden.

The US won all the battles in both Vietnam and Afghanistan, but lost due to crooked and cowardly politicians. The lesson is that you do not face the US military head on, you nibble at the edges. Be prepared to take a horrible kill to death ratio because you will lose virtually every battle, and outlast American politicians.

 

 

Kiev and NATO Begin Preparing the West for Eventual Capitulation

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All of the various media outlets in the West are beginning to admit that not only are the Russians making significant gains along the length of the war front but that the size of the Russian army is beginning to overwhelm the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to hold it back.

 

As War Gets Bleaker, More Ukrainians Appear Open to a Peace Deal

“The Gloomy Ukraine Reality That NATO Insiders Only Want to Talk About Anonymously”

“In Brussels, almost no one expects Ukraine to regain its lost areas. Only nobody wants to talk about it – at least officially. WELT has spoken to a number of insiders who justify their bleak outlook with a fact that Europe itself is indebted to.”

Russia has been ramping up the number of soldiers it fields while the Ukrainians have hit a wall.  Recruitment is being resisted by flight, concealment and lately by attacks on the recruiters.  One tactic being used is to burn the vehicles that the recruiters use as they travel around the country, dragging “recruits” out of their homes.

Russia opened up a new front in the north (Kharkiv) that many believe is a feint to draw away resources from the main areas of advance in the east.

All along the Donetsk front slow but steady advance has been the experience ever since the breakthrough at Avdiivka in the spring.  Of late the exhaustion of the Ukrainian soldiers is beginning to show.  It will probably accelerate as the retreat moves into areas that do not have the extensive tunnels and reinforced bunkers that were provided in places like Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar.

Of course nothing is assured in war but it seems increasingly likely that Kiev will be looking for a peace settlement after November.

2024 Summer Movie Talk – Part 13

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My Favorites from 1940 – 1949

I won’t make any claims other than these are the movies from the 1940’s that I like best.  And without trying I could add a whole bunch more (see the runners up list below).

It’s funny.  I have a much different feel about the movies in the ‘30s versus the ‘40s.  When I look at the movies from the ‘40s I feel like I’m more jaded or something.  I haven’t included a single monster movie.  Maybe I shifted to the fairy tales with Sabu like “The Thief of Bagdad” and the “Jungle Book.”

Well, as usual, have at it in the comments.

  1. The Bank Dick (1940)
  2. The Great McGinty (1940)
  3. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
  4. The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
  5. Our Town (1940)
  6. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  7. Sergeant York (1941)
  8. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
  9. Casablanca (1942)
  10. Jungle Book (1942)
  11. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
  12. Double Indemnity (1944)
  13. Gaslight (1944)
  14. Going My Way (1944)
  15. Henry V (1944)
  16. To Have and Have Not (1944)
  17. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
  18. Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
  19. The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
  20. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  21. The Big Sleep (1946)
  22. Notorious (1946)
  23. Life with Father (1947)
  24. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  25. Hamlet (1948)
  26. Key Largo (1948)
  27. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
  28. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
  29. A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
  30. The Third Man (1949)

 

Runners-Up List

 

1940

Dr. Cyclops

Edison, the Man

Foreign Correspondent

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Dictator

His Girl Friday

The Letter

The Philadelphia Story

Rebecca

Road to Singapore

Swiss Family Robinson

The Westerner

Young Tom Edison

 

1941

Buck Privates

Citizen Kane

The Corsican Brothers

The Devil and Daniel Webster

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dumbo

High Sierra

How Green Was My Valley

The Lady Eve

The Little Foxes

Meet John Doe

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Suspicion

They Died with Their Boots On

Tobacco Road

The Wolf Man

 

1942

George Washington Slept Here

The Glass Key

Kings Row

The Magnificent Ambersons

The Man Who Came to Dinner

Mrs. Miniver

Now, Voyager

The Pride of the Yankees

Saboteur

Tortilla Flat

Yankee Doodle Dandy

 

1943

For Whom the Bell Tolls

The Human Comedy

The Ox-Bow Incident

The Song of Bernadette

 

1944

Arsenic and Old Lace

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

The Canterville Ghost

Hail the Conquering Hero

The Keys of the Kingdom

Lifeboat

The Lodger

National Velvet

Thirty Seconds over Tokyo

 

1945

The Body Snatcher

Brief Encounter

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes

Spellbound

The Story of G.I. Joe

They Were Expendable

 

1946

The Beast with Five Fingers

The Blue Dahlia

Gilda

It’s a Wonderful Life

The Killers

My Darling Clementine

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Stranger

 

1947

The Bishop’s Wife

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

The Lady from Shanghai

Odd Man Out

Out of the Past

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Sinbad the Sailor

 

1948

3 Godfathers

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Fort Apache

I Remember Mama

Johnny Belinda

Macbeth

The Naked City

Oliver Twist

Red River

Rope

Sorry, Wrong Number

The Three Musketeers

 

 

1949

All the King’s Men

The Inspector General

Mighty Joe Young

Sands of Iwo Jima

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Twelve O’Clock High

White Heat

2024 Summer Movie Talk – Part 12

photog Current Events, Movie Reviews, OCF, OCF Classic Movie Reviews, Reviews , , , , ,

My Favorites from 1930 – 1939

I won’t make any claims other than these are the movies from the 1930’s that I like best.  And without trying I could add a whole bunch more (see the runners up list below).  People say that 1939 was Hollywood’s greatest year.  Based on my tastes I’d say 1934 was the high point.

I’m sure opinions will differ.  Have at it.

  1. Dracula (1931)
  2. Frankenstein (1931)
  3. Island of Lost Souls (1932)
  4. The Mummy (1932)
  5. King Kong (1933)
  6. Babes in Toyland (1934)
  7. It Happened One Night (1934)
  8. It’s a Gift (1934)
  9. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
  10. The Thin Man (1934)
  11. Treasure Island (1934)
  12. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  13. Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
  14. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
  15. A Night at the Opera (1935)
  16. Dead End (1937)
  17. The Good Earth (1937)
  18. Topper (1937)
  19. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
  20. A Christmas Carol (1938)
  21. Gunga Din (1939)
  22. Ninotchka (1939)
  23. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

 

Runners-Up List

1931

Little Caesar

City Lights

The Public Enemy

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1932

A Farewell to Arms,

Grand Hotel

Horse Feathers

Scarface

Tarzan the Ape Man

1933

42nd Street

Dinner at Eight

Duck Soup

The Invisible Man

The Private Life of Henry VIII

The Son of Kong

1935

The 39 Steps

Ah, Wilderness!

Captain Blood

The Glass Key

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Ruggles of Red Gap

Werewolf of London

1936

After the Thin Man

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

My Man Godfrey

Things to Come

1937

Captains Courageous

A Day at the Races

Heidi

Lost Horizon

The Prince and the Pauper

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The Prisoner of Zenda 1

1938

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Angels with Dirty Faces

The Lady Vanishes

You Can’t Take It with You

1939

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Destry Rides Again

The Four Feathers

Gone with the Wind

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Of Mice and Men

Stagecoach

 

 1  Master Diver