(0913) Cunning plan is some more politics, find some baroque to play, can’t think past that at this point. Brek metamorphosed into early brunch. (0932)

 

15. Pink awareness day

14. Hardly trustworthy, Grisly

13. Some more shorts

12. Thought this might be worth running for readers

Obvious missing piece in that is “family”. I have none living that I know of, so up there with the Lord, others could be anywhere.

11. Over at OoL

https://orphansofliberty.blogspot.com/2025/08/getting-around-inheritance-tax.html

 

(0527)(0613)

 

10. Khan’s London

9. Why is Donny doing this?

This looks very bad for Donald Trump. He’d be better off shutting up about it. The idea of one central file … maybe Dem hoax. The abuse happened and all know it. Bad move, Donald and Pammy. Wendy P is a dissident alt-journo just as we are, largely pro-MAGA, no way a Demrat.

8. You might recall that young lad being entrepeneurial

Well, this happened (see Sun 2, fifth item) …

There were Lamborghinis, Porsche, Aston Martin, Maserati, Corvette etc. (see Sun 8) … lad said all his birthdays had come. Well that sort of thing gets me right here (points to heart) … so many others too. Those firms would have been insane not to join in for what it cost them. The publicity would be the diametric opposite of Cracker Barrel’s and Bud Lite’s.

7. IYE concerning Sat 22

22. Robert Malone claimed he was the inventor. Hmmm. Not so.
3 mins watch 👇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vfFMleqhC8

Side note – RM claimed mRNA shots were dangerous. What has always puzzled me is why as he claims did he have two of them anyway?

6. DAD at 1138

a) In the UK, I understand, that there are plenty of barbers and nail bars; in France it is fast-food dives.

b) Notre Dame is still burning. Though the French retain a fair bit of cultural conservatism, the acknowledgement of its roots in Christian anthropology and transcendent moral objectivity is largely absent.

c) German welfare state ‘can no longer be financed’ — Merz. The German chancellor has called for a welfare reform, putting him on course for a possible clash with the SPD.

d) Kaura Taylor, 21, left the United States last May and has not heard from her family since. Their family recently discovered she was living in the “Kingdom of Kubala” and is worried about her.

(0443) Morning all this Sunday. (0522)

 

5. Cracker Barrel again

4. Former page three gal quotes the ed stats

… that’s not disparaging by the way, it shows another avenue if one wishes to improve.

3. Hence Trump’s targetting strategy

2. Snippets

• Malia arrested again for shoplifting … $40k bond
• Rayner buys 3rd £800k home on MP’s salary
• Meanwhile, repotting going on across the country by home gardeners
• Reeves heading for IMF bailout
• There were Lamborghinis, Porsche, Aston Martin, Maserati, Corvette etc. (see Sun 8)
• Tulsi officially labels Brennan, Schiff, murder invesgn of Fauci
• Oprah took $40m grant, though fire did not touch her in Maui
• Bolton’s deep ties to City of London financiers, role in the 2019 coup attempt revealed.

1. Steve at 1138

• 1700 National Guardsmen from 19 States Mobilizing
• Germany’s Economy Contracts Further Amid Trade Tensions and Polish Repatriation
• 4chan Refuses to Pay Fines to UK’s Media Regulator Ofcom
• DNI Tulsi Gabbard Bars Intel Community from Sharing Classified Intelligence Regarding Ukraine Negotiations with Five Eyes Partners
• Neil Gorsuch Delivers a Stinging Message to the Black-Robed Tyrants Who Are Sabotaging Trump and Defying Rulings
• “Chicago Will be Our Next” – Trump Says Chicago, New York, San Francisco Crime Crackdown Incoming
• Diplomatic Deadlock Unleashes New Cycle Of Violence And Desperation In [The] Ukraine
• Trump Threatens Sanctions Pulls Back Diplomacy; Kiev Faces Military Crisis
• The vaccine circus rolls on: Why medical groups are still pushing unnecessary shots that cause heart damage
• Trump administration expands offshore drilling
• Much more.

(1730) Evening all.

 

22. Wheels within wheels

21. In one

Stop what you're doing and watch this pic.twitter.com/8MJEwgobQq

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) August 23, 2025

20. Neutrality

19. What are the odds?

18. Contrived and arranged theatre, all of it

17. Save the Pallets

16. Steve at 1138

“Worth listening to the whole episode. Begins with Professor Betz and the Telegraph’s Tim Stanley and ends with two Greeks talking about the end of democracy in the birthplace of democracy.

War Room Battleground EP 835: UK academic says US and “all the major countries of Europe” face civil war over mass migration.”

 

The cunning plan … run a Thunderbirds, then the evening politics starts.

 

Spoilt for choice today with films plus TV episodes and what do I do? Go back to a re-run of what we’ve already seen … but why not, when they’re this good, these two?

Just a reminder:

“You know that jockey, Gomez,” says Lieutenant Abrams (Sam Levene) to Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) as the two arrive at the racetrack for a little betting, “the one who was caught throwing the fourth race yesterday? He was shot.”

“My,” says Nora, “they’re strict at this track.”

And we’re off on the fourth of the Nick and Nora Charles Thin Man series. The mystery isn’t bad. The Powell-Loy chemistry is just as fine as always, and the characters…well, Nick remains the suave, gentleman private detective, fond of martinis and double-breasted suits, clever at putting puzzles together, and a man who seems to know everyone from distinguished officials to Rainbow Benny, a racetrack tout.

Nora, his wealthy, socialite wife, remains most of the time a skeptical, affectionate, funny helpmate who can match her husband’s martini intake whenever she chooses. However, slowly the series is turning Nora into a more conventional wife and mother. In Shadow of the Thin Man, the writers have Nora sometimes just being a ditzy, adoring wife. Myrna Loy makes it work, but some of Nora’s smartness and wit have been dumbed down. 

Nick agrees to look into the death of the jockey, but then another shooting takes place, this time of Whitey Barrow, a corrupt reporter who is in cahoots with a ring of racketeers who are making a fortune on racetrack gambling. When the dignified Major Jason Scully, hired by the track commission to clean up the situation, and Paul Clark, a young, crusading reporter, visit Nick and try to enlist his services, he turns them down. He’s got too much on his hands already with Nora and their three-year-old son, Nick, Jr.

That second murder makes him change his mind. Before long he’s up to his waist in suspects. There’s Link Stephens, the tough smoothie who runs the syndicate and who is weak around the edges; Fred Main, his wise-guy enforcer; Claire Porter, Stephen’s upper-class girl friend; and Baku, her chauffeur. There is even a ticket seller to be suspicious of.

Plus, just maybe Paul Clark (Barry Nelson) isn’t as honest as he seems, especially since his girlfriend, Molly (Donna Reed), works for Stephens. It all comes together, of course, with a big meeting of all the suspects, with Nick taking apart the case clue by clue until the murderer is unmasked. This time, Nora does a bit of heroics that ends with a loving smooch by our favorite couple, with Asta the dog covering its eyes with a paw. 

The movie features three genuinely funny set pieces. First up is Nick and Nora at a crowded wrestling match. It’s reassuring to see that professional wrestling hasn’t advanced an inch in more than 65 years when it comes to the need for great acting ability. Next is the merry-go- round where Nick has to prove that he’s not a scaredy-cat to a group of sneering tykes. And finally is a classic that should be revived, where the waiter at Mario’s Grotto is determined Nick and Nora and their two guests will all order the sea bass. He will not take broiled lobster as an answer. 

And let’s spend a moment with Stella Adler, who plays Claire Porter. She was 40 when she made this movie. She was born into one of the leading Yiddish theater families in New York, and became a star in Yiddish theater in the Twenties. In the Thirties she joined the Group Theater, became a star on Broadway, went to the Soviet Union to study under Stanislavsky himself, and returned to become one of America’s great drama teachers, as well as an actor and director.

Adler never made much of an impression in Hollywood; she spent most of her life in New York.She taught and mentored Marlon Brando and was the single most important influence on his acting career. She died, honored and full of years, in 1992. Just watch her as Porter, a lush, well-bred blonde with a voice as cultured as clotted cream.

Except that Claire had been a professional woman, as in the oldest profession. When Claire loses her temper, she loses her culture, her class and her accent. Nick finds this out. Adler handles the role with aplomb, and her instant transformation from cultured to common is something to see.

……

My only question, concern, is if they dumbed Myrna down as the review said … made her more conventional. While that makes sense as a mother … more responsible etc. … not so sure it’s what viewers are looking for … they’re looking for male-female chemistry here at a difficult time in the world, as I’m forever boring you about.

(1141)(1158)

 

15. Saturday postbox toppers

14. Similar type of thing around the west

13. So many Reform hopefuls simply can’t see through him

12. Indeed

11. Petitions

It’s an extension, the idea of petitioning the puppets, of the same idea of voting for parachuted in puppets, as if this i somehow democratic choice … when the real decisonmakers are elsewhere.

 

Many decades ago, I sailed a catamaran called a Quest B2, a super functional sailboat, shaped like a long machete, designed to handle choppy seas and big waves … she was based on the winning Little America’s Cup boat Quest … in fact I bought it from that Denmark series winner.

How did she sail? Phenomenally, pedigree, as you’d expect. However, sheer classical beauty was not one of the design criteria. The old J Boats though … Thomas Lipton and so on … now they were sheer beauties. The old tall ships too, clippers, schooners … dreams to look at, like women at their best.

So the question is … can function have beautiful form? And my answer is … yes, in the hands of the old aesthetes … but never in the hands of the “modern” designers and practitioners. And this flows over into the subtheme of my blog, my X account, anything I’ve ever tried.

The girl in the YT below is speaking more of function versus form, another question … and yet a valid question. It can be argued that she scores on both counts … function plus form.

You might recall Friday 17 on the topic of Cracker Barrel. Plus today’s Saturday 10. Plus Lord of the Rings last book, last chapters, when Sharkey had tried to replace homes with barracks, had cut down the town’s big, beautiful tree. It’s also those using Helvetica typeface over, say, Bookman Old Style.

I too have succumbed to a point … this is Arial you are reading now. The simplicity is the idea here … calligraphy, though beautiful, is difficult reading after a while.

Some comments:

The ugliness of those three Cracker Barrel women, esp. inside … imagine you could photograph their souls … also comes through in this ugliness Julia calls out: