(0533) Morning all. (0658)

 

3. Film and song can teach us much

For example, Kenny Rogers sang, “Know when to hold em, know when to fold em.” WC Fields said something along the lines of, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again … then quit … no point being a damned fool about it.” Dunkirk was gallant, so was Tobruk (it even showed the Aussie command as clever on that occasion) … Paul Revere had a certain something to him.

There are situations when making a last stand, the heroism in it, which can turn the tide, turn the war … is the thing to do … and then there are other situations where it’s folly, such as Custer, such as the Light Brigade, such as Gallipoli. Rorke’s Drift was gallant sacrifice but a stupid thing to get trapped into in the first place … what was the Alamo?

Whom and what is one sacrificing? Human lives? Troop levels so one cannot fight on later? Organs of info? Samizdat? French Resistance dispositions? Sometimes there are keywords which seem not to knock us out of contention, sometimes, as DM ustd, just using the word “rumour” is sufficient to get the message through, people start searching, using the right questions.

Sometimes it’s better to euphemise, to speak in code, though it be so brave and gallant to come out and say it plainly. Even Jesus spoke in parables, had to endure snakes and worms with their wormtonguing, their entrapment. Sometimes, to protect the nest, it’s better not to … sometimes it’s better to switch and all out attack. Even this morning we’ve seen key words do for a patron … tactics had to change for now.

2. Steve at 1027

• ‘The Guardian’ Gives Step-by Step Guide to Boycott The US Under ‘Current Regime’
• Starmer Reportedly Supporting Merz Plans To Send Taurus [missiles]
• Climate Nutjobs Target Pet Dogs for Being ‘Environmental Villains’
• Greenland vs. Ukraine: Understanding Trump’s National Security Priorities
• Call for ‘Comprehensive National Civic Uprising’ Against President Trump
• Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Who Refused to Display Photos of DJT
• Military Situation In [The] Ukraine On April 21, 2025
• Kristi Noem Robbed by Masked Man in DC Restaurant
• Thousands of adults joining Catholic Church in UK this Easter, esp. young men

1. John at 1027

a) Olivier Bianchi, Mayor of Clermont-Ferrand, reacts to the death of the young Albanian man, shot dead on Sunday. “The drug trafficking situation in the city is increasingly serious; it’s a reality.”

b) The French National Bar Council (CNB) has just finalized, with IFOP, a survey on the French people’s confidence in the justice system. It is historically low.

c) Jobs for the Boys – correction, Girls. The capital’s mayor is a candidate for the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She has received the support of Emmanuel Macron.

d) In the twenty-first century, to be Western means [… well …] … here is one person who understands the full contours of that.