(0523) Morning all. The air is truly fetid out there, so many people coughing ..I just opened the window after a good sleep and the coughing started … had to close it. There might be a post later on health, not sure. (0639)

 

4. IYE and Andy also had something on the topic

… in bold below in Sun 3:

Andy at 1049:

“The crime family body count. This is what made me wake up, way back when the internet was dial up and user groups proliferated I saw a list of mysterious deaths in and around Arkansas. This was just a typed list of names, relationship to the family and circumstances. It made me think that things aren’t always what they seem. When blogs like this one appeared on the scene I took to them like a duck to water. Not long after that I stopped reading newspapers and watching TV news. It’s good to think that one day there will be an investigation into the family’s activities and their efforts to cover them up.”

3. Steve at 1049

• Greg Gutfeld on the Joe Biden Mental Decline Scandal
• Trump Goes Off on Growing Biden Autopen Scandal
• US to Begin European Troop Withdrawal Talks
• Trump Brings in Massive Manufacturer That Serves 30 Countries
• Trump Posts Video Compilation of Mysterious Deaths and ‘Suicides’ Linked to Hillary Clinton
• Military Situation In [The] Ukraine On May 17, 2025
• Much, much more.

2. DAD at 1049

a) Who said this? Was it Marine Le Pen, Marion Mariechal, or DAD?  “I love France… but I don’t like Emmanuel Macron’s dictatorial tendencies.”

c) Bad blood means bad business, and Algeria is no exception for France. French companies are beginning to feel the impact of the ongoing political tensions between France and Algeria.

d) The Théâtre de la Gaîté Lyrique in central Paris is on the brink of bankruptcy after a nearly 100-day illegal occupation by migrants left the historic venue with over €3 million in financial losses…..

1. “Bloated egos”

The title came to me from this article below from Quora. Quora is one of those escapist, soft left, often Boomer/Gen X fora where they usually discuss slebs, bands and so on … fairly harmless relief from the polit-horrors … occasionally it’s worth posting:

This is about bands who made a few crucial errors and largely lost their followings, written by one Joe Hannigan:

“It was a one-two punch for Emerson, Lake & Palmer ( ELP), spanning the years at the end of the 70s: After a long hiatus (after several hugely successful albums and tours) the English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released a double album on 25 March 1977 called Works, Volume I. This did well in the charts in both the UK and the USA, and a tour was put together to support the release. The album was originally released just as the punk era was getting underway, when bands like ELP were perceived as bloated “dinosaurs”. As a result, Works Volume 1 received mixed-to-poor reviews and is often viewed as marking the start of an artistic downturn in the group’s career, despite the great success of “Fanfare for the Common Man” as a single.

Even so, never shying away from a chance to “Go Big or Go Home”, ELP decided to tour with a 64 piece orchestra. Long story short (You can read more about it in Wikipedia), the cost nearly bankrupted them, not just less-than-stellar ticket sales, but the cost of taking that many people on the road with food, lodging, union wages, enforced days off (Union rules) and a huge crew to put it all together. Before very long (and before they lost their shirts!) they ended up scrapping the orchestra and going to back to just being a 3-piece band again.

After the 120-date tour ended in 1978 with little or no profit for the band in general, they took another break and a vacation in the Bahamas, using the time to record the disastrous and poorly received “Love Beach” which was as much of a contractual obligation to the record company than anything else. (Again, check Wiki for more info on either release).

After Love Beach, they were pretty much done and dusted, and aside from two separate semi-reunions (Emerson, Lake & Powell in 1986) and “Three” (Emerson, Palmer and Berry) after that, they were broken up until the early/mid 90s. Their reunion CD (Black Moon) was arguably as good as they’d ever been, and they reunited and toured for several years after that, but the world had moved on, and Prog bands never quite recovered their place in the R’n’R firmament.

Footnote: Many bands today are able to perform and tour with orchestras, but they hire LOCAL musicians for everything but the first-chair players. (The WHO did this on their last/most recent tour) You simply distribute the parts early to each local orchestra ahead of time (along with MP3 tracks to hear what it should sound like), have a few “reading” rehearsals leading up to a final dress, and then conductor/music director (who is also on tour for every show) easily gets the ensemble together working with the touring group as the backbone.

Too bad ELP didn’t have this business model available to them way back then!!”

……

JH: Aside from the occasional very good articles, that publication is soooo Wokeleft that I struggle to find it bearable. For a start, if you click out, it disappears if you click back in, whereas almost all other sites at least stay open … that’s annoying but worse are articles, e.g. about “stages of a relationship” with a graphic of an upset white girl and a de rigeur “caring” black thug … typical Woke playbook and plenty more too. Yuk.

As for the topic of bloated egos … yes, Fanfare was a good song, as was their version of Jerusalem … they had a few good ones but that whole orchestra bit revealed something to make one sigh … this desperation to be taken as a “serious” artist, able to charge enormous fees … this was Prog rock and as any classical music buff could tell you … crossover ultimately does not work. Rick Wakeman was an example. Sting.

Pink Floyd are an example, even The Stranglers tried to go soft, Steve Harley went the orchestral route near the end … and he really was creative … perhaps the worst in my book was Roy Orbison’s comeback U2 number She’s a Mystery to Me … great rock ballad, atmospheric, probably as good as it gets … except that they set the tone with the ethereal sound, then ruined it with a bang-crash drummer to thump thump thump thump right over the top, utterly destroying the whole mood of the piece.

Drummers are not known for their subtlety, they often look like wrestlers, thinking the same way … perfect for a driving rock song such as the Dire Straits’ Alchemy concert rendition of Sultans … most reviews I’ve seen said it was a perfect mix of all instruments … but firmly within its genre. The moment, when you’re essentially a rocker from the street or garage, making quite commendable songs … the moment you start getting ideas about yourself out of all proportion … it becomes more an Andre Roux “classical” concert.

What of the other way? Classically trained, trying to “crossover”? Sometimes works but largely lacks that certain oomph. Look, there are times that a driving, raw sound does fit the bill, nothing less, e.g. CCR’s I Put a Spell on You …delicate in that instance would have been limp wristed namby pambiness. I’d argue that, within its genre, it was a classic, just as Fats Waller or Domino in turn were right up there in their genres.

Knopfler’s fingerpickin’ power was really something, he allowed himself wry smiles, coz he knew how well it all mixed … but that’s it … he walked away from the mega-spectaculars, admittedly with a healthy bank balance … back to what he knew best. Why not?

Egos kill. Last night, forget who the girl was, some pretty actress in a youtube, but everything had changed … she now strutted, deeply conscious of her “loveliness” in all their opinions … she’d lost all charm in my book. Bloated ego is a killer in almost everything, it alters everything and afa I’m concerned, an egotist can go take a hike.

(1720) Evening all.

19. Andy and dandelion syrup

18. That topic again … sorr…ee

17. What can one say?

16. Need to address book writing

AKH has a piece on books … hmmmm, been thinking for a long time … have actually mentioned a couple of times … there’s something which stops people reading books by authors in another field, e.g. blogs. It doesn’t necessarily follow that if he can write good non-fiction, that he can write fiction without it being twee.

There are his perceptions and interests, his manner too … good for the blog … but in a book, all those secret things he’s wanted to write come out. A synopsis certainly helps up front, rather than expecting a reader just to plunge in. There’s his writing style, if he plays fair, all sorts we’d like to know first.

I went off Wimsey once I knew Dorothy L. Sayers’ bkgd … Wimsey was emasculated for a reason … he was a feminist’s idea of a man. My women in my tales had to pass a test and a very unforgiving test I was sure was going to be Toodles, who very kindly read the various pieces. I’m currently re-proofing Island … zero expectation of anyone to read, as you don’t know how good I am or not.

To my mind, now up to chapter twelve, it’s a rollicking yarn, I’d done my homework back then it seems, not sure I could write like that now, I’m thinking it’s my best yarn of em all, not that that’s here nor there … but I don’t like the latter stages … it gets bleak as society goes down … it parallels real life at that point, dystopically. It needs a nice denouement at the end … they find a way to survive.

Anyway, to reiterate, as it’s not changed, that tale … no point reading it yet … but I do come back to that point again that we don’t wish to waste our time on unknown amateurs … we need the author to be a known-known, to know his/her style, tricks, manner … think I’d always read a Josephine Tey … Scottish authoresses seem less … something … can’t pin it down but it’s nice.

Anyway, nuff of all that, Andy just dropped a comment, I need dinner, want to get back to the proofing.

15. Steve and war room at 1049

• Jack Posobiec: “What We Care About Is Liberating The Central Animating Force Of Every Country.”
• Josh Hammer: “Trump Is Facing A Judicial Insurrection Of The Likes Of No President In American History.” *
• Mike Davis: The Supreme Court Issued An Illegal Injunction Against The President Of The United States
• “Hopefully The Dead People Will Not Rise” George Simion On Romanian Deep State Working Against Prospective Landslide Victory For Populists
• “Imagine If He Was Met With Meaningful Congressional Oversight Over Criminal Charges” Natalie Winters On James Comey Assassination Threat
• “They’re There So The Chinese Can Remotely Kill These Solar Farms” Sam Faddis On CCP Communication Tech Found In US Solar Inverters

……

JH: Only thing I’d add is that Trump’s gatekeeper Wiles worries me … he’s bad at choosing gatekeepers, trusts a certain manner they adopt, a sort of tough efficiency. Plus he’s naturally cavalier. Think he trusts Hegseth. Elon, natch, has his own agenda … trouble at Tesla. RFK Jnr? Own agenda too … nothing bad, just how it is. I don’t trust Wiles.

 

(1409) Just walked in, task done, a bit cream-crackered but not too bad. Right … no film yet, shall look. Meanwhile, another shortish politpost. (1434)

 

14. Steve has a discerning eye for the ladies

… and Giorgia likes the boys … win-win I’d say:

George Simion s-a întâlnit cu Giorgia Meloni: 'Avem prieteni, avem aliați, dar cel mai important e că îl avem pe Dumnezeu!"https://t.co/52zQy0ZttK pic.twitter.com/c4b09dCuBc

— stiripesurse.ro (@stiripesurse_ro) May 14, 2025

13. IYE has put this in comments

The url is still there Sat 6-8, suggest you bookmark. When expanded in full, this is the text:

There may have been more in the article but the above was what was accessible. You get the general idea.

12. At Churchmouse again

… hope you can access the url. Dearieme:

“My wife and I were discussing the lunatic Chagos deal. We agreed TTK will probably give Gibraltar to Spain, the Channel Islands to France, Shetland to Norway, and Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man to the Republic of Ireland.

This leaves him with a few probs. He’ll probably also give Rockall and St Kilda to the Paddies, but what should he do with Orkney, Anglesey, and the Isle of Wight?

My preferred policy is that none of those happen. We obliterate the Republic for being the IRA’s chief backer and hand it over to the UN for the use of “refugees”. We seize Norway as reparations for the depravations of the Vikings, and hiss defiance at France and Spain. Meantime Norway’s hydro power will be charged double to Denmark and Germany as reparations for the Danelaw and World Wars I & II.

I don’t see any flaws there. Reparations are all the rage on the Left, aren’t they?

Some of the vast profits from Norwegian oil and gas will be handed to Portugal and the Netherlands for being jolly decent types. Thus would Western Europe be rearranged on a more rational basis.”

 

An American female computer-generated voice with subtitles … still, might be worth a look. Myself … I have to head out and do a chore for someone who did not turn up … almost invariably these days, people let you down. Back around 1330.

(1126)(1155)

 

11. There it is

10. South Africa

There’s much to be said for the informal designated first, second, third worlds. The first is the west, the second eastern Europe/Russia (at least operating as normally as constitutes civilised today, then varying degrees of the third world, from Mexico down to Africa.

I’d say any globo left controlled “first” world nation is currently hovering between second and third, while Hungary and Russia are knocking on the door of first world. The US, virtually third world under the globo left, is now scrambling back up, through second … it being a good question whether they’ll get back to first.

South Africa, under the once western shunned govts, was second going on third … now like a Somalian hellhole. The pundit here I suppose is Elon or someone acting for him:

Regulars here know of my association with Chuckles and haiku and I learnt much about SA (or Za in their terms). The comparable country was Australia, though its aborigines were in nowhere near the numbers of blacks, plus they were not so aggressive en masse before Labor really took to them, weaponising and embittering … the left are the ultimate racists of course.

So it’s sad. I’ve also watched the destruction of Australia from afar, also metropolitan France … Germany seems gone. Russia is still just Russia as it always was.

9. Over at OoL

https://orphansofliberty.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-serco-situation.html

(0816)(0944)

 

8. Barrett

The n1 question for me with ACB was who recommended her to DJT? The n2 question is about the Roman Church and before they feel lonely and put upon, I for one extend that to every megaChurch in existence, which is bricks, mortar and money, where people turn up on Sundays to cleanse their souls for another week of what they do, then next Sunday’s cleansing … rinse and repeat.

Now that has not a lot to do with the culture of Christianity, which is a vital “westernising” influence, nor does it cover real faith via John 3:16. And Christian charity … in fact any real charity, unlike the charity scams in Britain, with honchos on big payouts … real charity is a fine thing indeed. Charitable hearts.

And inside every church of people who gather on Sundays or who help out at the vestry during the week … there are the devout, then the good people who essentially have faith … down to the hypocrites … down to the out and out terrors who almost always are the models when filmmakers cover churches.

I strongly suspect Barrett is one of those horror Catholics, as bad as Bergoglio in her own way. She seems to be under the thumb of Roberts.

7. Well well well

6. Steve at 1048

• FEMA’s Woke Disaster: $2 Billion Fraud, Reverse Discrimination, and Retaliation *
• Health Secretary RFK Jr. to End COVID Vaccine Recommendations
• Pope Leo XIV: A Family Is ‘A Stable Union Between a Man and a Woman’, the Unborn and Elderly ‘Enjoy Dignity as God’s Creatures’ **
• Rep. Burchett to Introduce Legislation to Codify President Trump’s America First Agenda into Law ***
• FBI Director Kash Patel Announces Shutting Down Agency’s Current Headquarters in DC
• White House Slams Episcopal Church for Racist Double Standard
• Moscow Appoints Tough General As Prepares Big Offensive
• To enable the “adoption” of the Pandemic Treaty next week, WHO is making up the rules as it goes along
• Much, much, much more of course.

……

*NO and UHC has been following FEMA virtually from the start, over two decades and from inception, they were a highly politicised body, out to stymie relief, put dissenters in camps etc. etc.

**Definitive statement … he also called abortion satanic.

***This codifying is perhaps THE major issue now in the US … both houses are holding out big time. I do see eventual civil war as the arrests do begin.

 

(0613) Morning all, sun is glowing somewhere out there. (0713)

 

4. Before getting to Steve [Saturday 5]

… I have to take issue with one particular item … it was in this Liberty Beacon … tried to find who they were … one Roger Landry perhaps, or a Sheldon … the navigation is atrocious, as one would expect. There’s a formalised, on site Contact page, offering this sort of thing:

“There is no Kris on TLB staff that can read this and contact you. There is also no email address we can pass on …”

The reticence to list who they are is cagey, poor … they look very much a fake site masquerading, opaquely. I’m deciding whether to block them from HQ on the grounds of them not being a serious site. I need to explore more.

Why did this stand out unlike any other of Steve’s? Because it was a bleedin’ eulogy, not a report, divorced from any known facts … it was gushing, from heading to the last word, about Bondi’s first 100 days:

“But President Trump’s Law and Order Agenda, spearheaded by Attorney General Pam Bondi, stands out as his greatest accomplishment so far.

Today marks AG Bondi’s 100th day in office. She has done more in this period to Make America Safe Again than any attorney general in modern history.“

Wot, like Bindergate? Calling MAGA “oh them”? All talk and prettiness on Fox? Only low-hanging fruit threatened, no one substantial? At a minimum, Pammy has been highly questionable and in fact, relentlessly questioned.

The Liberty Beacon might be fine for FB or Tiktok or Instagram but not here, with this guff. I’ll go back today and check out what else they’ve been posting. Grrrrrrr.

……

(0720) Update

All right, I’ve run a quick check and this lot are prolific, in many fields, just as Unherdables is … they report anything they can lay their hands on but my original criticism stands … they are opaque.

So are we in a sense, in that our boys and gals use monikers … and each one’s own hobbyhorses are identifiable … that is, a reader can identify a range each person operates within … plus from time to time, so much else is a known-known … even to Redacted or Juan … we’re all easily “profile-able”. Not so anyone at Liberty Beacon. And that’s not liked here, as our own reputations are on the line.

On the other hand, most reports I skimmed back through were fine … they were reportage with an angle … it was just this Pammy eulogy which stank. Hmmmm.

Just one more thing … to my mind, open bias is fine, as long as we know who they are … Laura Loomer, for example, is a known-known … so is Levan or Southfront … so was Rush … so are MAGA regulars, TR supporters … Gates of Vienna is a known-known. Nuff for now.

3. DAD at 1048

a) Pfizergate: Von der Leyen should be “pushed out by the Parliament,” conservative MEPs commented…..

b) Meanwhile, in France… (at Gates of Vienna)…..

c) Tour of Italy cycle race. Pro-Palestan protesters distruption {Do these idiots not realise that stunts like this only cause negative support?} *

d) All that is dire in Britain now was seen in the tawdry way it celebrated VE Day.

……

*I saw that attack by the Hamas flagwavers … they tried to hold a rope or ribbon across in front of the peleton to crash the riders. All sorts of questions, yes?

How on earth did race organisers, plod, whatever, even members of the crowd … well you know. Now, to address DAD … because they are chosen for their consciencelessness, criminality and are well paid for the job. You might remember, in Casino Royale, Judy Dench telling Bond … he wasn’t even a true believer, he was a gun for hire … or simlar. Professional agitators.

2. Might be in some bother

… maybe not. Became irascible and curmudgeonly yesterday, snapped at a blinkered Reformist. Late evening, waking when I wanted not, I snapped at Emily Maitlis. Those outside the UK would know her not and you’d be lucky.

Dozens more in that vein too. It’s the sheer arrogance with the wrongness, the attempt to wind up. She (BBC) stopped MTG (Congress) for an interview, MTG used the F word (second word “off”) … Maitliss smirked … that was “victory” in her eyes.

There used to be a BBC anchor called Jeremy Paxman … he had a talent at winding up too but he was clever at it … Maitliss has no such cleverness and drags the name “woman” into the gutter. There’s one at C4, or was, think the name’s Newman, was taken down by that Canadian Prof I’ve forgotten.

Anyway, this Maitliss was at some evening do (in Palmer’s Green?), dressed in completely open front and this illustrates not just that women need to be careful, if being the vulgar slapper … but they at least need to have the body for it. Suddenly, last night, the expression “grotesque, flashed ud***s” … you know, what cows give milk with … and before I could stop … well, you know the score.

She was “interviewing” Rupert Lowe and he was “taking her to the cleaners” … it was a planned Beeb hitjob of course … getting dangerous is Rupert … guess who was getting cattiest?

Yep … Reformists, protecting Nige:

And so on. The fun vee haf, yes?

(0200) Opening with another Sophia quote:

Having been rudely awakened by a dripping tap in the very early hours, plus making the mistake of going to X and seeing the bizarre wrongness going on, I’d say that’s not the path to a good sleep. (0227)

 

The SCOTUS decision

In a nutshell, they did not rule against the enemy alien act per se, they said (7-2) that each illegal had to be given notice, each case then going through the lawyer fee system over time. The Executive says that that’s a principle for any US citizen with passport or card through the usual procedure but is certainly not for anyone there illegally. SCOTUS said (7-2) that it applies to any enemy alien as well, inc. invaders.

The aim is twofold … to drag the process out, plus make borders unworkable. A clear political divide. I saw this opinion below and cannot track down who authored it but a few pundits referred to it: