Readers/viewers will know that if it’s excessively AI or the voice is grating or the noise in the bkgd unbearable … well, you know I shan’t run it. But if it’s acceptable and does relate to the main post later … well, here tis:

(0643) Woke up on time but just had a long letter to write. Sun’s out, let’s get going. (0730)

 

5. Just bringing us up to date

4. Steve at 1458

• Arson Suspect Identified and Arrested in Spokane Wildfires that Torched Hundreds of Homes – Man Previously Gunned Down His Own Father
• Rep. Andy Ogles Calls Out RINO Senate Leader John Thune for Failing to Pass SAVE America Act: “Do the Right Thing or Resign”
• Malsi Call to Prayer Now Blasts Five Times Per Day Across Minneapolis – Setting the Precedent for Other US Cities
• US Military Just Flexed The F-22 On Iran’s Mullahs
• Kiev’s Plan To Build New Air Defense System Will Not Save Ukraine – Media 
• Leafy greens emerge as single most potent food for dementia prevention in massive analysis (JH: Preaching to the converted here … I’ve been on them for decades.)
• UK government launches legal action to stop the release of data showing crimes committed by migrants
• Fusion of AI with the American war machine is the most dangerous turn in human history (JH: Appropriate then that we run 2001 today as our Wed Mat one and two.
• Much more.

3. Henley shirts

… otherwise known as grandpa shirts. While primarily winter undershirts, in summer that design can be used as standalone around the house and just outside. For shopping etc., a polo tee is the thing.

Now shorts. I see much online about too baggy shorts … I’m also not keen on those 3/4 or 2/3 shorts, hem over shin … they foreshorten even a tall guy, look ugly imho. I favour long, dark colour, just below the knee shorts, thick cotton and liner on pockets … well constructed I mean, not rags.

2. DAD at 1458

Weather note… Here July was a remarkable month – 31 days and 22 of them were 100% sunshine.]

a) France. A series of tragic incidents within the office of French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has led to the opening of a preliminary investigation by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office….

b) Germany prepares secret plan for electricity shortage for ‘several days to weeks’.

c) Spain. Despite repeated assurances from the Spanish government that the migration crisis in Ceuta is easing, residents of the Spanish exclave….

d) Firestarters light the flames, Bureaucracy feeds them. France’s forest fires reveal that bureaucratic paralysis and regulatory overload, not just arsonists, enable catastrophic spread despite clear solutions identified after 2022 blazes.

e) (USSD) has raised its travel advisory level for Belgium, urging American citizens to “exercise increased caution” when visiting the country over concerns related to crime, terrorism, and public unrest.

……

JH: First, apologies to DAD for being so late to approve … I was in the middle (yes, an hour and more) of a long email.

Second, I’ve noticed DAD putting links in within the text of each item … seemibgly far more than before. It causes mayhem at this end, as it will not copy … only the text. So I’ve had to work outvdteategies around DAD’s new system.

1. Don’t read anything into this concerning me

I am not making any oblique point … I went to the email inbox, there it was … Quora, some guy calling himself Parallax … I copied but there is a time limit on copy here, ipad I suppose, so I must now paste … here tis:

“I’m a divorce attorney. One who has been divorced twice and made every relationship mistake in the book. I’m also very happily married for the last 16 years. I’m not cynical about marriage. I very much believe in it but one needs to be wise about who one marries. To me, that’s the key.

I’ve told each of my children and every young person who respects me enough to value my opinion that, in my view, good character is the key to good marriage. Yours and hers. If you don’t have good character, hang it up. No point in getting into a relationship and then not valuing your partner. I’ve been there and done that. It leads nowhere good.

The other part is focusing on the character of your partner. Who is this person. Is she (or he) an honest person? Does she (or he) treat others well. Not just you but friends, family, strangers, etc. Don’t worry so much about outer attraction. Good looks and charisma might pull one in but it doesn’t last if the relationship isn’t strong. There needs to be enough to have something to build on but that’s all.

My wife and I have both gotten older and yet I find her more beautiful now than on the day we met. Because we treat each other well. Because we care about each other. Because we are honest. Because we are best friends. Because we trust each other. Because we respect and even admire each other. That’s the foundation on which to build a solid marriage.”

 

… which has the trappings of devout piety but actually stems from the other side. It’s been on my mind but I had nothing concrete to present here till now.

Just went back into YT to see if there was a copy of 2001 … I’d found something on Kubrik and the whole biz, the 2hr 20m movie was too long anyway … I found three reaction vids and shall choose the best for tomorrow.

However, suddenly, right there, slap bang in front of me, was the young Scot as I’ve called him for a decade and a half. He is not the usual secular fayre here but he’s biblical (safe), lacking the whole charismatic possession style of faith, lacking the chanting en masse with a charismatic pastor urging them all on. There are a few denominations like that. I don’t like it and one of the most offputting X clips some time back was Bonny Blue being dunked in a pond in a church.

After that, days later, she was back to her old tricks so it seemed. Might be wrong but the whole thing seemed contrived. Anyway, the young Scot had an interesting intro on this woman but before that, two screenshots from comments:

Think everyone here, from avowed atheist to devout bible studier understands that the moment you let a charismatic “leader” start this sort of thing … think also of the White House head of worship, think of Jim Jones, Christian S******, S*****ology … once a church allows that in, esp. in rainbow oufits like the CofE Archd***n, once the red shoes start … well, here tis:

It’s the part starting about 6:12 which I was most interested in. Because The YSc refers to human coercion, also big groups … and he rebels. And that’s exactly what soooo many are doing now, but in a different context … usually political … rebelling against Unipartythink, Unipartythreats. It’s been all afternoon on X and it’s been all about coercion, forcing people, getting violent if they won’t knuckle under. Pushing people into things.

So it meant a lot when he spoke of it.

(1509) Way too early for this but I got my timings wrong … difficult morning, just going to start this now and be done. (1649)

 

19. Monsters and monstrosities

18. Whole politburo needs to go

17. In one

16. This is the reason for X and blogs (one of the reasons)

Was Polio Really A Disease? Or Was It Mass Poisoning?

A common insecticide in the 1800s called Paris Green contained arsenic combined with copper/lead. It caused neurological damage and organ failure in bugs.

In 1951, Dr. Ralph Scobey and Dr. Morton Biskind testified before… pic.twitter.com/dpKcbl8Egc

— Ben Wehrman (@benwehrman) August 3, 2026

 

(1100) Elevenses. (1115)

 

15. Time for elevenses?

Here perhaps?

14. Curious, that, innit?

13. On “fire weather”

12. While the performative Reform show goes on

… Restore keeps putting out policy documents, some a hundred pages long. Reform are reading them and making them into their own, nominally. If asked. Rupert Lowe was asked point blank by Dan Wootton if he had any deal with the Tories. Not at all, he replied.

11. One from downunder

 

This is more a prelude to today’s film later and if you can put up with that new youtube way they insist uploaders follow, then it does put some existential and theological points.

(0924) Some cloud definition out there. (1008)

 

10. Moo corner

9. It’s bizarre over there right now

8. IYE

A still unsolved case.

“Jill Dando Knew Too Much”

|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akyr-u3MS20

JH: I’ve put it at NOWP as well.

7. Classic inversion by Them

6. There’s a Russian song of old “v poslednuyu ocyen”

… which means last autumn but I was never sure if it meant last autumn last year, remembering it … or if it meant the coming autumn being the last one. Revered band over there, it was.

Doesn’t help us here that the lyrics are superimposed in Russian … it’s the native version:

However, it can be rendered in English thus:

In the light of some gutwrenching things of late for me, I’m thinking of that song a bit.

 

Nevertheless, the story is interesting and tragic too, one of many such tales on youtube. The twist near the end is interesting, if such a horror can be called interesting. The uncovering of the perp showed what could be around us and Sophia’s quote is to the point:

Also, why can’t AI say the date “thirty-first” properly?

(0559) Morning all. Some big decisions today for many people … for Reform/Restore, for Donny, for Caitlin Clark … for me. More later. (0734)

 

5. There’s a Christie quote which underpins much of what I write today

… it affects my entire mindset, along with other factors … first being (The Blues Bros) Mission from God, plus the song Que Sera Sera in third place. This theme runs second throughout today for me:

That’s an excellent piece of advice to anyone contemplating suicide (not the medical establishment variety). All my decisions are based on these listed factors, balanced with personal life.

Plus Sod’s Law:

Sod’s law is a popular British expression stating that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong, usually at the worst possible time. It is the British equivalent of the American phrase “Murphy’s law”.

I’d like to take that even further … have you ever considered, especially if you are godless (or at least have other gods … wealth, women, power, the bottle etc.) that Sod’s Law is inextricably tied in with the first law … Mission from God?

Because if you have sold your soul to the Triune God, then He is obviously going to protect His interest in you, His agenda, His mission. And if any other mission clashes … guess what? Now, at the moment, these last twenty years, finding ourselves dropping into this complex of sites online, the obvious question is … for how much longer? On July 26th, 2024, we had an inkling of the shape of things to come.

And I have something nasty coming up in early September which may well see me out of home, offline, no hyperbole here. I’ll keep regulars in the loop as it approaches.

4. Uh huh … for your perusal

3. Steve at 1457

• Trump Blasts “Unbelievably Duplicitous” Iranian Leaders After They Deny Negotiations
• Failing Socialist PM Sánchez Jets Out for Holiday as Authorities in Ceuta Are Still Chasing Migrants To Deport and Recovering Dead Bodies From the Sea
• Two Helicopters Collide Mid-Air in Greece While Fighting Wildfire, Leaving 2 Dead
• Restore Britain Political Party Scores Shock Result in Greater Manchester (JH: Yes, I’m Restore but victory? Nit yet, mateys)
• A Bridge Too Far Gone: Ukraine Loses Its Romanian Lifeline
• When wildfires appear to be increasing, we need to ask who’s causing them
• Record drought drains the Danube, exposing German warships and forcing first-ever nuclear shutdowns
• Australia’s eSafety Commissioner threatens to ban Telegram if her court case does not succeed
• Much more.

2. Was going to run this at one stage at OoL/Jstack

… think it belongs here more. It’s about the C of E, burning church buildings, wildfires and so on.

You conclude as you wish but my conclusions are:

• This woman is in thrall, not to the Triune God but to the other one, with horns and a tail
• The agenda is to tear down the west as we knew it but also Christendom in all its forms
• The whole reparations issue is a complete lie, plus highly irresponsible, given the state of C of E finances, maintenance of infrastructure, no longer supported by State etc. etc.

I’m mainly a secular blogger and Xer … nature, retro scenes, politics du jour … but esp. on X, there’s also a Christian component … Christendom in other words, meaning the West, as in its survival, a ragtag in the face of the hordes.

1. DAD at 1457

a) Spanish officials said at least 72 people had died during the unprecedented migrant influx into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, after an estimated 60,000 people entered the territory in a matter of days. Latest reports suggest most have since returned to Morocco, although hundreds—including unaccompanied minors—are believed to remain in the enclave.

b) Hungary’s power grid is entering a critical period as the country’s only nuclear plant, Paks I, shuts down for the first time in 44 years, removing around 2,000 MW of capacity during the hottest days of the summer.

c) The constitutional coup and the building of an authoritarian regime in Hungary. Péter Magyar and the Tisza Party are dismantling democratic Hungary as we have known it since 1990.

d) MAGA exiles including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson plot to launch NEW political party after waging war on Trump: ‘He betrayed us all’.

e) Artificial intelligence labs are in a new arms race to buy up millions of rare books, slicing them open, scanning the pages and pulping the remains — sparking concerns that the last remaining copies of out-of-print texts are being destroyed on an industrial scale.