I was supposed to go visit a friend this afternoon, unfortunately, we had to postpone, but it gave me the opportunity to wallow in and relish every killer video and ruthless article savouring the abject humiliation of Donald Trump at his come back rally in Tulsa last night.
For the first time ever, I watched a Trump rally and it was a fail, the like of which the world has never seen before, a failure so great it will take it's place in history. And the cherry on the top, is the fact, that Trump, his Campaign, and possibly the finest brains of Cambridge Analytica, were outsmarted by a mass movement of kpop teens and tictoc! So what is kpop and tictoc? I honestly don't know lol, other than the music/dancing videos of beautiful Asian girls and boys dancing that keep appearing on my twitter feed. Regardless, I am now a fan and delighted to know the future will be safe in the hands of the next generation.
So how did the kpop kids as I am calling them, break the President? They applied, in hundreds of thousands, for tickets to Trump's rally with no intention of going. The tickets were free, and entry was on a 'first come first served' basis, ergo, they did not stop any genuine MAGAs from getting entry to the arena, there was plenty of space, as we saw. How the kids kept it quiet, I don't know, but in the days leading up to the Rally, Trump and his Campaign manager, Brad Parscale, were bragging about the numbers, claiming over a million people wanted tickets for the event and the data they had harvested. BP even tweeted a picture of an outside stage being built for Trump to speak to the overflow of 40k+. The reality, the venue could only hold 19k and less than 7,000 turned up.
The kpop kids can be blamed or credited, whatever your perspective, but had 19,000 genuine MAGAs turned up, they could have got in. Trump's fans simply didn't turn up. Finally, all those on edge at the thought of 4 more years of Trump, can breathe a sigh of relief, even his base have gone off him. The mood in the arena looked strained - with a whiff of lost white power and desperation. The first two speakers, Lara and Eric Trump, were painfully aware that Trump Snr, was backstage seething at the pathetic turnout. They brought out old favourites, the right to say Happy Christmas and the promise that 'in God we trust' would remain on US currency. I don't think either of these have ever been under threat, but they've reached back to their 2016 campaign, they have nothing new. Attempts to start up chants of 'lock her up' and 'build that wall' were also lost in the general apathy. The audience finally perked up when Eric referred to the protesters (BLM) as 'animals', probably a high spot for him, but his wife's face said otherwise. As in, behind gritted smile 'you stupid fuckwit, that will haunt you til you die'.
Next came Mike Pence, who, fair dues, has the ability to make it sound as if everything is OK. His voice is authoritative yet subservient at the same time, like 'Hudson' the butler in 'Upstairs Downstairs'. And he's better at lying than Trump. Trump lies from the position of 'I'm richer, ergo superior, to you, you will believe what I say. Pence lies from 'I'm smarter than you, I will pretend to like you and there are no depths too low for me'. Pence is an oddity who will one day, be examined his own right but meanwhile his undying love for Trump is curious, on many levels. Just saying.
Finally, Trump came on stage, repeating, almost verbatim, every soundbite and victory he has claimed for himself. He is at that point of dementia where if he gets hold of the microphone, he will simply repeat the same stories, over and over. He spent a good 15 minutes on the 'ramp story' in the hope of turning his audience against the press, it didn't seem to be working. He's out of material. His new stuff, pointing at the sole of his shoe and drinking water one handed was the highlight - for which he got a round of applause! The coronavirus, he barely mentioned, except to say it had at least 20 different names but could only name one, 'Kungflu'. He then went on to disparage Covid testing, and gave a little anecdote about telling his people, to stop testing because it made him look bad. It didn't get the roars of laughter he was expecting.
Oops, forgot, the most uncultured man on the planet, did spend a little while, discussing the importance of preserving culture, forgetting that we all aware he was a greedy real estate developer who left a path of destruction in his trail. Also, not forgetting his crimes against the environment and the natural earth. He doesn't care about art, culture or nature, but he his shameless enough to pretend he does.
I'm a big fan of the Resistance, the #LincolnProject, George Conway, Rick Wilson, Molly Jong et al, and their adverts are breaking this monster on a daily basis. The bullets are aimed at his psychological soft spots, everything he is frightened and insecure about, a bit mean some might say, but with a monster you have to go for the achilles heels. God forgive me, but I hate the man so much, I don't care about his agonies, I want to increase them! That little outburst probably incurs three decades of the rosary and a couple of our fathers, but I don't care!
Well done you Lincoln folks, but all the money and resources in the world could not have wounded Trump as mortally as the kpop kids did with one large cannon. They blasted his lead ship - Trump rallies - out of the water. They hijacked and destroyed his master plan. He truly believed that getting his show on the road would bring back all his followers from 2016. The Bay City Rollers and ShowWhadaWhaddy know how he feels. You just can't recapture those golden moments, they never work as well the next time around. Successful performers reinvent themselves, so too some politicians, but not Trump. He is too arrogant to think he needs reinventing, he still believes he won in 2016 through his personality and charisma, and he can do it again. He will fire anyone who says anything different.
His belief in himself is staggering. I am wondering if anyone, his family, his servants, anyone, ever got through to him as a human being? And how does he cope when he fails? And yep, history shows, he fails a lot. Does he blame people around him? Yep, absolutely, he fires people on a regular basis. It is always someone else's fault. That's how it is with a narcissistic sociopath. His kids, and God forgive me, I despise them too, are the greedy, soulless spawn of greedy, soulless, parents.
Who will Trump blame for the rally? His campaign manager obviously, Parscale is already on borrowed time, but for sure anyone in his vicinity who irks him. He is probably imagining and being fed, all sorts of convoluted conspiracy theories, Black Lives Matter protesters, Antifa, Kpop kids, desperately searching for an acceptable explanation for his conservative supporters, as to why his rally was so empty.
That bastion of the Left, Michael Moore, who predicted Trump would win in 2016, came out last week to warn of the 'white men' who would put Trump back in. He scared us all, having been so spookily accurate in the past. So where were they on Saturday night? All the truckers, the coalminers, the bikers, the very fine people carrying tiki torches? Perhaps they saw in England what happens when angry white men gather in defence of the nation's culture with a couple of hundred cans of lager. The iconic photos of the day, one statue defender pissing on the memorial to a dead police officer, and another statue defender unconscious and being carried to safety by a large, black, good Samaritan. Sad for Trump, he has a thing for tough guys, their no show has got to hurt.
Today I heard Preet Bharara, former Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and a prominent anti Trump spokesman, say that for the first time in 3 years, he can feel confident that Trump is finished. The rally in Tulsa was 'everything' for Trump. Being the imbecile he is, he can and does, put all his eggs in one basket. The Tulsa rally was his comeback, his middle finger to all the 'fake news', he would prove to the enemy of the people (the media) that the silent majority loved him. He went along with all the big numbers that were coming in, in the lead up to the rally because they aligned with is own delusions and false sense of reality. Brad (one mansion, two condos, yacht and Ferrari) Parscale and all the ninnies who surround him, live in terror of his rage, so they tell him anything he wants to hear. No-one in his vicinity, can act normal because he is an unhinged psychopath. Parscale may (will) well be the next head on a spike, but he will go out with an 'all the money in the world and I still couldn't make the c.u.n.t. likeable'.
But I am with Preet. I don't think anything has hurt Trump as much as this ill thought out, ill planned and ill timed, rally as this. Even as dense as Trump is, he cannot fail to see the tide has turned and is building up into a tsumani. Trump's so called endearing qualities are now seen as what they are, the repetitive ramblings of a mean old man with memory problems. I must admit I was nodding off as Trump spoke (it was the middle of the night here), but I'm sure at one point, while comparing himself to the 'elites', he was droning on about being more handsome, having better hair and better property than them. I think he also mentions fine silk ties and leather on the soles of his shoes and if he had added, 'so there, ya peasants' I wouldn't have been surprised. My thoughts? wtf happened to him? Was it nature, was it nurture, is the devil still around?
But, right now, I am in awe of the kids of kpop, whoever you are bless ya! I was in awe of the last lot of youthful tech wizards, but you lot are phenomenal!
To all my regular readers and to newcomers, please stay safe during these tumultuous times - and make notes for your grandchildren!
"it gave me the opportunity to wallow in and relish every killer video and ruthless article savouring the abject humiliation of Donald Trump at his come back rally in Tulsa last night."
ReplyDeleteI think you have a serious mental problem Ros and you should seek medical advice again.
unsigned
Why thank you unsigned, why unsigned btw? Your concern is my mental health, and that's a good thing, yes?
ReplyDeleteI will call my GP immediately, but fear there may be thousands suffering from my condition - hating Trump so much it hurts - so I probably won't recover any time soon. Anyway, thank you for your concern, take care and try not to worry about the mental health of strangers too much, you clearly have enough worries of your own.
“you clearly have enough worries of your own.”
DeleteHow so?
Not a scholar
@ Rosalinda Hutton23 June 2020 at 13:01
DeleteRos you asked posters to add a form of identification when posting - I respected that request (unlike many others) and supplied an ID "unsigned".
My advice to you was genuine after reading your blogs and comments for a long time. I know that you think you have an "over the pond" following on this blog, but I have never seen any evidence of that whatsoever. Your obsession with Trump is getting more extreme and your comments over the last few months have become weird to say the least.
So I have years of experience in giving the advice that I did to you.
You had 16 words that I posted to form the opinion "you clearly have enough worries of your own."
unsigned
If you are a long time reader and poster 17:57, perhaps you could relax a little and give an ID of some sort, we should be friends by now, or at least be acknowledging each other's opinions.
DeleteRegardless, if you know me as well as you say you do, you wouldn't find my obsession with Trump weird. It slots in alongside every obsession I have had over the course of a lifetime. When a subject interests me, it takes over everything, be it Princess Diana, I Claudius, Madeleine McCann, making pastry or shooting pool. That is just a handful of the OCDs I have gone through, some last months, some years, all are beyond my control. But I'm not complaining, my mind is always (almost) occupied and I have accomplished things I had thought impossible.
My OCD right now is Donald Trump, because I think we are watching one of the strangest times in history. I think of scholars in the future who look back on these times, the Covid-19 pandemic, the protest marches, the economic depression that is on it's way. They will wonder, I am sure, what ordinary people thought, how all these disasters impacted our lives.
I always wondered what life was like for people in pre WWII Germany, what they truly thought of Hitler before it became illegal to say it out loud. And even if the scholars aren't interested, my thoughts are there forever for my descendants and anyone who cares to look. History is normally recorded by, not only the winners, but by the prominent citizens, royalty, aristocracy and, yes, the elite. That is one of the beauties of the internet, we can all leave an account of our time on this earth, and maybe a few recipes!
Don't take my 'worries' comment too much to heart, I was being a bitch, though I do think it rather odd that my mental health should trouble you.
Rosalinda Hutton24 June 2020 at 18:56
DeleteRos I have never been your friend and I never will be. I have posted my real name on here at least twice over the years - what happened - well because I never agree with you - you were able to identify me from my ID and you stopped posting any comments that I made.
I have since then used numerous IDs - why numerous - because once again you can ID me and not post my comments.
You are currently doing it with any comments that you disagree with or more importantly that you can't answer - e.g. W
So my current ID is "unsigned" - it is an ID - do you get it?
I have no interest in the rest of your comment because it is rambling rubbish as usual.
UNSIGNED IS MY NAME
Teens, TikTok Users and K-Pop Fans Might Have Tricked Trump Into Expecting a Huge Turnout for His Widely-Hyped Tulsa Rally
ReplyDeletehttps://time.com/5856720/rumps-tulsa-rally-teens-tiktok-kpop/
Study: TikTok app used to aim anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial at youngstershttps://www.timesofisrael.com/study-tiktok-app-used-to-aim-anti-semitism-holocaust-denial-at-youngsters/
Obviously the kpop fans are wiser than the establishment gives them credit for. I am sure they have had all sorts of right wing propaganda thrown at them, they are a formidable demographic, but they have come out as anti-Trump which is the same as anti far right, or antifa (antifascist) if you like.
ReplyDeleteI'm chuckling here, because I am trying to imagine my generation's pop fans as a political demographic. Sure, there were armies of Bay City Rollers fans, Donnie Osmond, Marc Bolan, Jackson Five, not forgetting the non stop music from Tamla Motown. My supergroup was The Monkeys, my life plan to marry Davy Jones. Politics never came into the equation. My generation, my circle of friends lived in ignorant bliss.
This generation however, have never been more informed. The answer to every question they have is instantly available, at their fingertips. They can and are, questioning the hegemony and creatively doing something about it.
I suspect 20:40, you are the poster who is constantly trying to push the narrative that the far Left are anti-Semitic. You confuse being pro-Palestine and anti Israeli brutality, as being anti-Semitic and you scour the internet to find links to back you up, without any comment yourself. What stops you from saying what you actually think?
Rosalinda Hutton24 June 2020 at 14:52
Delete"....Politics never came into the equation. My generation, my circle of friends lived in ignorant bliss."
&
"This generation however, have never been more informed. The answer to every question they have is instantly available, at their fingertips. They can and are, questioning the hegemony and creatively doing something about it."
What are you trying to say here Ros? Is it that you and your circle of friends were ignoring politics and current affairs because the information was not available?
Are you trying to say that because of social media and the internet "this generation" are much better informed than any previous generation?
Because information is more readily available now does not mean that all previous generations lived in ignorant bliss! They got their information from other (and in a lot of cases more accurate) sources.
Unsigned
Ros @14:52
Delete“What stops you from saying what you actually think?”
Your objectionable censorship. Your almost total lack of comprehension and insight I could deal with, but not the censorship.
@ Anonymous24 June 2020 at 18:27
Deleteyes - simple isn't it Ros asks for people to provide an ID cos it makes it easier for her to to post their comments.
I didn't come from a sophisticated background 'unsigned', my parents worked long hours, politics wasn't a thing. Added to which I spent my formative years in a convent where enlightenment was frowned upon and where the ideology could accurately be described as far right. We, were the undeserving poor, there to be taught 'our place'.
DeleteIt wasn't until my late 20's that I started to look at politics more seriously. My best friend, Big Lynn (a union rep for BT) and I joined up for the campaign to get Neil Kinnock elected. I remember door knocking with an older lady when one man asked me what we [Labour] were going to do about capital punishment. I was literally speechless until my companion whispered in my ear 'we are against it'. Thereafter, I started reading the Guardian every morning on the train, but I eventually gave up, it was like trying to fold bedsheets in a broom cupboard.
Of course, my biggest 'catch up' came when I went into higher education aged 40. Within 6 weeks I discovered so much. Everything I had believed in became upended. The nightly 'God Bless' prayers were abandoned. It was as if my eyes had been opened and I began to enjoy life far more than I ever had before. I found that elusive happiness and contentment I had been seeking. I knew then there was no going back.
But the truth is 17:37, during my teens and early twenties I had no interest in politics. As my social worker wrote in her book when I hit 14 'Linda has discovered boys'. She had had very high hopes for me up until that point. Actually, it wasn't just boys, it was friends, and make-up and having fun, having been 'imprisoned', I had much catching up to do.
So as you see unsigned, I and my circle of friends were indeed blissfully ignorant of politics. Obviously all the information was there if we had wanted to become involved but it wasn't as much fun as getting off your face and dancing all night.
You may not remember the working class world of the 60's and 70's unsigned, we went straight into work aged 15 and 16 and if we were lucky we would get a golden clock 50 years later. That's the difference between Secondary Schools and Public (fee paying) schools. Secondary schools are educated enough to work in factors, the public services and NHS, fee paying pupils are educated to be leaders of government, banks and industry. The system would break down if every pupil were educated to the same high standard as the fee paying schools.
To be honest I don't know very much about the Education system these days, but certainly when I was at my catholic girls school, politics was a taboo subject and of course, there was no such thing as a debate society or school newspaper. Our teachers were not allowed to influence us and if they were, it would have been towards the Godly right.
Well I have truly waffled above, and it will irritate you no end I'm sure unsigned, but I have been bluntly, brazenly some might say, honest. There is no noble excuse for what I like to call 'the fun years' when I was clueless, it was pure hedonism.
But kindest wishes Unsigned, not the catchiest of names, but I'm sure I will get used to it.
Good evening 18:27, thank you for your post.
DeleteMy 'objectionable censorship', as you call it, is quite easy to overcome. All you have do is be polite and courteous. Imagine if you will, that you, I, and numerous unseen guests, are sat around a very grand dinner table, enjoying each other's company and diverse opinions. When you raise your glass to the host (hostess, moi), you should do so with respect. You should use your wit (if you have any) to disguise your anger and hostility, there are far more sophisticated, and may I say, more effective ways, to critique those you do not like. And if you used them, I myself, would be raising my glass to you.
As for the 'almost total lack of comprehension and insight'. Again, easily dealt with. Just explain your grievance to me as if you were talking to a 4 year. What am I not understanding? Where do I lack insight and in what way. I can see it is difficult for you to structure a complete sentence, perhaps I can create a line where you just fill in the blanks, or tick A, B or C? Miow, that was mean't to hurt.
Your reluctance to use this fabulous tool we have at our disposal, suggest communication problems. Most of us are able to put our thoughts into words. If it is fear of revealing your ID, rest assured, I have no idea what continent my readers and posters come from. With the 'old' google blogger, I could see where my audience came from globally, and some might remember the great traffic app I had, withdrawn by the providers long ago. I probably can look into audience stats etc from this new blogger, but I haven't looked into it. For all my progressiveness, I don't really deal very well with change (Big Lynn would have roared at that!).
You will have to find creative new ways in which to bitch about me 18:27. Hopefully you will rip into the content of my blog opinion, tear me apart for lacking insight, citing examples from my text to support your argument. Bickering is for miserable people and playgrounds, I have no time or patience for whining, if it were a social situation, it would be the point where I make my excuses and leave.
I hope this explains it all for you 18:27, a number not a name lol, getting past the censorship is not a Herculean feat, all I ask of you is that you be civil and not use anonymity to act like a rude and ungracious guest. I am hoping you are better than that.
Take care.
@ Rosalinda Hutton24 June 2020 at 20:54
Delete"You may not remember the working class world of the 60's and 70's unsigned"
I have told you before Ros - I am older than you - I was part of the working class during the 60's and 70's.
unsigned
Ahhh, charming unsigned. Maybe you danced with my teenage mum to Bill Haley?
DeleteI jest of course. It must have been a fascinating time unsigned. As a child of the 60's, I remember my mum wearing hoopla skirts, and my Dad's 'DA' soaked in Brylcreme! I lived in a community (hospital workers) that was largely immigrant, and my retrospective view, is that they were grateful as f, to be there! It gave me a wonderful, cosmopolitan view of the world, my playmates were all nationalities, colours and religions. I learned the best of all of them in their warm welcomes and their hospitality. Even before I started school, I was proud to put my arm around the shoulders of my equally little German friend. In a small English village in the early 1960's, the word 'German' was whispered, but I was proud to say it out loud and declare my beloved Heina as my best friend. As if to say, if you want to attack him, you have to get past me! As all my relatives used to say, I was a 'bold bitch'.
To be honest, I am not sure now, if I was a good or bad friend to Heina. I loved him dearly and we were attached at the hip, but I wonder now if I might have been a bit of a bully. His English wasn't great, so I took over all the talking on his behalf. He was usually laughing his head off, so I never felt I was being cruel and he stuck by my side always so I'm pretty sure I never made him feel him bad. Yes, I used his nationality to get the shock, horror, outrage, reaction I sought, but I loved Heina dearly, and whatever secret language we had, it was non stop giggling.
You are older than me unsigned, as you say, something you have pointed out several times before. What are your memories of the working classes during the 60's and 70's?
I would love to say I was a Marxist, a feminist and a class warrior, but I wasn't. I didn't have a Che Guevera sticker in the my car until the late 90's. At that time I was working in the 'Greed is Good' City of London, enjoying a highly paid job in a glamorous 'Dallas' environment. My job and my ideals were at odds!
I did offer miners from the North, a couch in London, in order for them to attend a march. I stood alongside them as we rattled tins outside supermarkets to raise food supplies for those on strike. But every day, I went to work in Lawyers office who fought against them at every turn. Happily, my personal life at that time was an even bigger fuck up than my professional life and my moral ideals. I mean, what do you prioritise? the greedy bastard who pays your wages and wants to use you until there is nothing left but a shell? That inner voice that says 'hey fuck you' I can do all of this on my own, or maybe that need to be part of cause that can actually bring about change?
Hands up, I'm not a team leader or even a team player. I can't make my own mind, so how can I influence anyone else? How can I follow the word of someone else? My favourite William Blake quote is I must create own system or be follower of someone else - or words thereabouts, it's almost midnight, lol and I'm on my third glass of pink gin.
I feel you have lots to say Unsigned, don't be coy.
You are welcome, Ros @21:49
DeleteYou: “What stops you from saying what you actually think?”
Me: “Your objectionable censorship. Your almost total lack of comprehension and insight I could deal with, but not the censorship.”
You: “You will have to find creative new ways in which to bitch about me 18:27.”
That’s your polite and courteous way of saying ‘thank you for answering my question’, eh? Sophisticated choice of words, I dare say.
You: “You should use your wit (if you have any) to disguise your anger and hostility, there are far more sophisticated, and may I say, more effective ways, to critique those you do not like.” [The great wit making thing up as she goes]
Where is the anger, hostility and critique of those I do not like? Who are those you fantasize I do not like? You substitute your fantasies for reality and censor those opposed to your fantasising. I bet that’s what you did with Ziggy, W, Z , T and God knows how many others..
You: “Hopefully you will rip into the content of my blog opinion, tear me apart for lacking insight, citing examples from my text to support your argument.”
This has been done many a time with your blogs and comments, and every time all you managed to do was to bitch, bicker, insult and censor. How many examples would you like me to cite?
You: “I can see it is difficult for you to structure a complete sentence, perhaps I can create a line where you just fill in the blanks, or tick A, B or C? Miow, that was mean't to hurt.”
Jeezuz, your vision is as good as your lines and your ability to hurt. Are you a bat? This isn’t meant to hurt. When one communicates with a wolf(ess), one must howl.
And so on….
Rosalinda Hutton24 June 2020 at 14:52
Delete“This generation however, have never been more informed.”
That sentence says nothing about how informed this generation is.
“The answer to every question they have is instantly available, at their fingertips.”
If this is true, then the answer to the question of whether Reagan brought the Wall down is instantly available to you as well. Why, then, haven’t you answered it for the sake of children of the future, surely you would want them to know the truth about such an important event? Please, did he or did he not?
@ 17;37
ReplyDeleteRos is not here to answer questions She just knows, full stop. She speaks for generations. Even T has been censored and can't get Ros to answer a simple question. Strange but true.
Ros is not here to answer questions...……
DeleteErr, no, I'm not. I devote an inordinate amount of my time writing and running this blog out of the goodness of my heart, I get paid nothing. OK, I do it because 1. I have to write, always, it's beyond my control and 2. I vowed to continue this blog even if I had only 1 reader left. Vows are a big thing for me, I always see them through to the end.
Comments like that, implying that I somehow should be here unpaid, to answer questions from people who do not even have the courtesy to leave a name, is absurd. It's as if I were a performing monkey who will dance to whatever tune my fiercest critics choose to play*. I think it takes lack of respect to a new low. How dare you 18:58, too cowardly to leave even an initial, to demand an answer of any sort. I am not in the dock, facing a jury, I am musing on a blog. I owe you nothing, not even the courtesy of this reply. I could, actually, as I have done for months/years, just left you to fester and become more and more enraged.
I don't claim to 'know' full stop. How absurd. My central story is my ongoing journey towards enlightenment, my hope is that I take my readers along with me. I'm a fun teacher. I don't claim to speak for generations, as if, ha ha, I have never been in 'sinc' with any generation I have belonged to. In my message to the kids of the future, I was, hopefully, passing on good advice and knowledge, I wasn't claiming to be their voice. Again, ridiculous.
T btw, is not censored. I just wish he would zone in on a topic that is of interest to all of us so we can get a good discussion going. I don't put a great deal of effort into my blog, tis true, because, quite frankly, the negative vibe has worn me down.
Kudos to T, for sticking with me all these years, introducing new subjects when the discussion fell flat, but of late, he appears to have sided with the trolls, who I feel, are intent on shutting discussion down.
Had I replied to 'W' and 'Z', same stuff, almost verbatim, hostile posts this week, I would have been bogged down in tedious, boring, bickering. I have never had any patience for bickering, and even less as I get older. Outrage or entertain me, but ffs, don't whine.
Anyway, as grateful as I am to all those wannabe editors who pick me up on my spelling, grammar, lack of a PhD in the subject I am commenting on, their tedious, miniscule, pedantic 'points' make me want to chop my own head off. Just kidding. My message is, VIVA all you wannabe writers out there, you damn well write exactly as you want to, don't be put off by the grammar and spelling police. Read the classics! You can write exactly how you talk and everyone will understand you. Dickens didn't stick strictly to the 'Queens English', he used the dialect of the working class poor. He got away with it, because it was proven, that he knew both sides. His classic English was impeccable, ergo, he was free also, to use the language of the streets.
As I say, on the whole, I am extremely grateful to my troll following, my English now is near as dammit perfect, for which I thank you, I make far fewer mistakes than I used to. Take that as a plus, all you wannabe bloggers, editors cost a fortune!
But now I am curious. What is your question that you dare not ask? It's getting pretty late now, and I'm on my second gin, so go you!
*Watching Ekatarina recently, so feeling very empowered at the mo :)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Delete18:06
ReplyDeleteTrue: Strange but true.
^ Read 18:58 not 18:06
Delete"I was supposed to go visit a friend this afternoon"
ReplyDeleteWere you able to plan to do that because some lockdown restrictions have been lifted?
B
"An American TikTok user going by the name of Michelle from North Carolina posted a video showing how to make what she describes as “hot tea”, which entails mixing milk with powdered lemonade, cinnamon, cloves, sugar and Tang, which turns out to be a soft drink.
ReplyDeleteSign up for Word of Mouth: the best of Guardian Food every week
Read more
As an afterthought she dunked a teabag, and then put the whole thing in the microwave. Her subsequent attempt at “British tea” involved cold water first."
I am delighted to know the future will be safe in the hands of the next generation.
To whom it may concern
ReplyDeleteI’m now challenging those here, who’re criticizing Rosalinda for saying that Reagan was the man, that made the Berlin Wall fall. She may not be right, but who has a better answer? It would, in fact, be an interesting topic to seriously discuss.
Reagan's speech in front of the despicable wall must have accelerated the inevitable process that Gorbachev had involuntarily begun, when he realized that the entire Soviet-Eastern-Europe project was about to fall apart.
It must be said, that no political decision from either the Soviet Union or the GDR was ever made, before the Wall had physically ceased to be a barrier between the East and the West. Gorbachev’s Perestroika and Glasnost, came about because he wished to strengthen the Soviet Union, instead it made the whole empire crumble and fall, making it the biggest geopolitical disaster in modern times, at least according to Putin.
Who has better knowledge than me?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteBjörn 25 June 2020 at 21:41
DeleteYou see, Björn my friend, that’s what happens to those who might know more that you (@01:39). The playing field is not level - censorship, no game (as in rain, no game). The criticism seems to have been directed at Rosalinda’s false statement/s and at her refusal, when challenged,, to substantiate same..
“I’m now challenging those here, who’re criticizing Rosalinda for saying that Reagan was the man, that made the Berlin Wall fall. She may not be right, but who has a better answer? ”
I suggested “a better answer” three day ago: “*Ronald Reagan did not “bring the Wall down.””
https://cristobell.blogspot.com/2020/06/what-shame-police-brutality-and-black.html?showComment=1592901924284#c444845244794099517
Chivalry is not a substitute for facts.
Kind regards.
T.
@ T 12:52
DeleteMaybe you could move the discussion forward by saying why Reagan did not bring the wall down. I agree with you by the way.
unsigned
Thank you Bjorn. I was thinking of Reagan's 'tear down the wall' speech and my initial statement was poorly worded. I should be more careful, as I know I have a number of people watching and waiting for any error they can pounce on. It is quite vexing which is why I wouldn't be drawn in.
DeleteI'm afraid I don't know very much about the Cold War Bjorn, other than from a Hollywood perspective, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', the Spy who came in from the Cold', hundreds if not thousands of movies were spawned by the 'red threat'. East Germany has always been a bit of a mystery to me Bjorn just as the USSR was and is now. I find it hard to imagine what life was like for those Germans who were forced, by geography and a huge wall, to live under communist rule.
I suppose, because we have a lot more information now, it is easier to see the stark differences between North and South Korea. It is obvious that those in the North, would much prefer the freedom of their neighbours in the South. But how do you tear that 'wall' down?
Anyway, are you sweltering in Sweden as we are here Bjorn? It is really, really hot, almost as if we are experiencing climate change as a result of not polluting the atmosphere for several weeks. The skies are certainly clearer than they ever have been. Stay safe.
Censorship isn't a problem for anyone who is polite and civil T. I don't think that is a lot to ask.
DeleteThe posts I am binning, are unpleasant, deliberately so, this person, I don't know if it is one or more, is creepily obsessed with me, he/she is writing nasty missives to me every day, and has done for years. My error has been in letting any get through, but it won't happen again. The creep(s) obviously get their jollies seeing their spite published on my blog. Why you questioning my logical response to trolls, is strange T. If someone was sending you poison pen letters, would you paste them on your window?
You have ample opportunity to show that you know more than myself and Bjorn T. In fact, given your knowledge of Russian, I expect, like Bjorn, you have a vast amount of knowledge about East Germany and the Cold War. My error gave you ample opportunity to explain exactly how the fall of the Wall came about.
Anyway, I do hope you are keeping well and safe, take care.
Anonymous 26 June 2020 at 15:19
DeleteThank you, ‘unsigned’. I’m not a scholar and I leave scholarly discussions to those who are. I am against censorship. A censor always has redeeming excuses for censoring. Noam Chomsky, among others, has said much about censorship and why it should be opposed. If you are interested, google ‘Chomsky on sensorship’.if you haven’t.
I remember your comments and have no problem with them. Please feel free to ask me questions or whatever if you feel like it..
Peace.
T
Rosalinda Hutton 26 June 2020 at 15:51
DeleteRosalinda dear
“Censorship isn't a problem for anyone who is polite and civil T. I don't think that is a lot to ask.”
Noam Chomsky whom you discovered about three years ago, is polite and civil, but he thinks censorship is a problem for him.
“The posts I am binning, are unpleasant”
Don’t you think you readers are capable of judging for themselves and are entitled do so instead of having to rely on your judgement?
“Why you questioning my logical response to trolls, is strange T.”
Because I disagree with your “response” and question your “logic” and your liberally calling people “trolls”. I would like to be able to appraise your contributor’s comments on merit as I see fit. I notice that you all too frequently exempt yourself from the rules you lay down for your contributors.
“If someone was sending you poison pen letters“
I have reasons to believe that many unpublished comments, particularly Ziggy’s, BFG’s, W’s, Z’s and mine, are not “poison pen letters”, and that you didn’t publish them because they were critical of and/or incompatible with your own views.
“You have ample opportunity to show that you know more than myself and Bjorn T.”
I have no interest in showing how much I know, which happens to be very little, I’m interested in learning and communicating with those who; like me, want to learn.
“given your knowledge of Russian”
If Björn or someone else is interested in talking to me about Russian, I’ll say a few words, otherwise I don’t want to go into it at this moment.
Enough fot now.
Anyway, I do hope you are keeping well and safe, take care.
Bless.
T
Anonymous 26 June 2020 at 15:19
DeleteRe my @ 14:33
Sorry, ‘unsigned’. It seems one of my fingers had a close encounter with the full stop key, you understand…
T
Björn my friend
DeleteCorrections of errors found in my 26 June 2020 at 12:52 post:
“who might know more than you (@01:39)”
“censorship, no game (as in ‘rain, no game’)” [Inverted commas needed]
“when challenged, to substantiate same.” [One comma and one full stop]
Kind regards.
T (Not Mr T :))
Anonymous28 June 2020 at 16:08
DeleteBless you T for calling a spade a spade. We can do with some clarity here. I remember Ros complaining how she had been mistreated and misunderstod on COMoMM and banned, and now she is doing the same to others. Shame, it used to be a decent blog. Thanks T.
Brenda
Unfortunately for you T, and Brenda and all my critics, I have just watched three series of Ekatarina II (Catherine the Great) so I am feeling extremely empowered. My blog is my 'Empire', not as vast as the Russian Federation for sure, but a small kingdom over which I have autonomous rule.
DeleteUnfortunately I don't usually have the ruthlessness and decisiveness of Ekatarina (though I'm trying), I had preferred to think of my blog as a more friendly place where visitors can join in the conversation and exchange pleasantries. A place where I am the hostess and the visitors are my guests.
Unfortunately, ever since my blog began I have been plagued by whiners and malcontents who's only motivation is to stop discussion and insult me. My laissez faire attitude to censorship allowed far too many of them to be published, which, now with hindsight, led them to carry on. I suspect also that their 'nastiness' has prevented decent people from posting here, why would they, knowing they could be attacked by all sorts of trolls?
You don't trust my judgement on what is unpleasant T - in Ekatarina mode I would send you off to Siberia for that! I rule alone. And judging what is unpleasant, is not difficult. If a post in moderation makes me sigh in despair and feel bad, it's unpleasant. For a long time I couldn't bear to open my postbox, and if those posts make me feel awful, what effect do they have on my readers? I have even toyed with the idea of closing off comments completely because reading them each day is soul destroying.
Think of it logically T. Would an entertainer plaster all the boards outside the theatre where he is performing with missives from people who hate him? And it really is time for me to behave logically. I have hit this same 'law of attraction' watershed before, in that I have spring cleaned my life of negativity and it has been successful every time. It's impossible to spread sweetness and light to a sea of miserable faces. I feel the crowd chanting 'wtf you so cheerful about', 'here's something to get you down, you're not as clever as you though you were - you used the wrong word in the wrong context and you're grammar's shit'.
These people are not even criticising me for the content of my blogs, they don't give two hoots about my views and opinions and the subjects I have brought up for discussion. They're objective is to stop interesting discussions from opening up, they want to tie me up with tedious, petty points that they think make them look clever. They are the bitching, whining bores, no-one wants to get caught next to at a party. I don't want them on my blog.
Strange, you list them as Z, Ziggy, BFG, W, you can add to that 'unsigned' - now do you honestly think they are all different people? None of them with the confidence to be consistent with a name or letter afraid to be associated one with the other. Odd, don't you think? And all of them incapable of keeping a civil tongue in their heads? Curiouser and curiouser huh?
I feel I should guard my blog more carefully T, I have allowed too many to take over topics with ridiculous pedantry and enough is enough. If that means the comments will drop off, so be it, I'd rather close them off completely than carry on as is. My kindest wishes.
It was a fun game dancing around the jobsworth moderators of the cesspit Brenda. Was I mistreated? Oh I'm sure I was, I seemed to have arrived there from a different planet to the rest of them, and let's be fair, there wasn't one I couldn't outwit ;)
DeleteMisunderstood? I'm not sure that is fair Brenda, I take pride in my ability to explain myself, they knew exactly what I was about, ergo, they all hated me. I don't know what it is about me that incites such intense feelings, but I'm weirdly proud of it, it means my writing is powerful and it's getting to them. The cesspit has good reason to hate me, I brought down their website [witchipoo ha, ha ha].
I then went on to a similar website where much the same thing happened again. I'm now picturing myself as a child with a regular mother, slapping me around the head, and saying 'why can't you behave yourself'. Happily, I had no such 'regular' mother, my own would say 'feck 'em, you're better than they are'. It is fortunate she instilled me with so much self belief, I've spent a lifetime treating bitches (male or female) as sport. The only rein I have is the voice of my dear old dad, 'don't destroy someone just because you can'.
Whilst I am waffling, the words of Scottish poet, Robbie Burns come to mind. Oh Lord the gift yee gee us, to see ourselves as others see us', or thereabouts without looking it up. In my own mind's eye, I am a charming, glamorous, old lady with a mischievous twinkle in my eye. I have a loud, posh voice like Margaret Rutherford, the school marm is always present, but happily, all I meet, find it endearing. As a lover of the English language, it pains me to see it diminished and degraded on a daily basis. I have long wanted to write a blog entitled 'Why Can't the English Teach their Children How to Speak'. Yes it is a direct steal from George Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion', but it's a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.
I learned to speak well because I had an Irish mother who did her utmost to her own Irish accent, and who gave me a clip round the ear if I didn't speak English properly. It was an era where Blacks, dogs and Irish were distinctly unwelcome. At my first primary school in the upmarket village of Virginia Water, my brother and I were an oddity with our Irish accents, so much so, that our headmaster (who's name I remember well), would call us up on stage during school assembly. Usually after he had given a lecture on how the Irish were lowering the tone of the area. He would get us to speak into his microphone so the entire school could laugh. What the eejit didn't know, was that my brother and I (aged 6 and 5) were seasoned performers - we had an Irish grandmother! The more the audience laughed, the more we performed, we loved it.
Well, I really did go off into stream of consciousness there, for which no apologies. Some day this blog will come to end and be lost in the quagmire of information the internet has gathered, maybe never to be seen again unless some geeky descendent decides to look up his or her ancestors. I am kind of glad that I have left a journal, of sorts, even if way too much of it is made up of the Madeleine McCann case. For that I apologise, it is yet another example of how powerfully I am gripped by OCD, my need to finish what I started.
But I am becoming melancholy, I thought today of John Blacksmith and the way in which he kept us intrigued and informed. I am proud that he was my friend and that my blog is sprinkled with so much of his wisdom and understanding. He had zero time for trolls and I should have paid more attention to him. His blogs are not littered with timewasters.
But Ce la ve (yeah, yeah I know) Brenda, I am glad that you have stayed with me, even if you are not a fan of my views :)
(Would there have been a fall of the Berlin Wall without November 9th and reunification as a result? This is pointed out by several SED and Stasi documents. The GDR was so bankrupt in the fall of 1989 that it considered opening the border in exchange for new billion-dollar loans from the West. The fact that the MfS and SED reacted paralyzed in the course of the Peaceful Revolution '89 had to do with how the GDR had become unable to act. But on November 9, 1989, their own citizens got ahead of the political dealers.)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bpb.de/geschichte/deutsche-geschichte/stasi/236265/volkswirtschaft-1989
"Wäre es auch ohne den 9. November zum Mauersturz und in der Folge zur Wiedervereinigung gekommen? Darauf weisen mehrere SED und Stasi-Unterlagen hin. Die DDR war im Herbst 1989 so pleite, dass sie erwog, im Tausch gegen neue Milliardenkredite aus dem Westen die Grenze zu öffnen. Auch dass MfS und SED im Verlauf der Friedlichen Revolution '89 wie gelähmt reagierten, hatte damit zu tun, wie handlungsunfähig die DDR geworden war. Doch am 9. November 1989 kamen die eigenen Bürgerinnen und Bürger den politischen Geschäftemachern zuvor."
Danke schön, @13:45.
DeleteBlinder Eifer ist Feuer ohne Licht.
[Thank you very much, @13:45.
Blind zeal is fire without light (English equivalent: “Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse”).] :)
Biden’s Mental Capacity: The Emerging Issue
ReplyDeletehttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/06/bidens-mental-capacity-the-emerging-issue.php
Ahh of course, Trump is stable genius, so let's look at Biden's mental capacity.
ReplyDeleteRosalinda Hutton27 June 2020 at 12:34
DeleteAhh, of course you are right: Trump is rubbish, but let’s not talk about what Bidden is, and let’s not include this in the notes for our grandchildren. In other words, ‘let’s keep History alive'!
You are free to talk about Biden as much as you like 14:04, and even though all you posted was a link, I am sure you have much to say. So please, be my guest. In fact, I will help, I will give my views on Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for the 2020 Presidential election.
DeleteI'll begin by saying my knowledge of US politics is scant, in the whole scheme of things. I remember being shocked when America voted a former Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan to be their President, I thought Bill Clinton was an amazing orator, George 'Dubya' Bush an idiot and Barack Obama charismatic and brilliant.
Joe Biden of course was Vice President to Barack Obama, ergo he is from an Administration that was run smoothly, efficiently and with compassion which is a stark contrast to the dumpster fire that is Trump's Whitehouse. A reminder for Americans of less turbulent times.
Regarding his gaffes. I have to say it is bizarre to see two such elderly men fighting for the Presidency, Trump 74 and Biden 77. Maybe being 70 is now the new 60. In the 21st century, being ancient in politics is now the norm, Bernie Sanders 78, Nancy Pelosi 80, Jeremy Corbyn 71.
Naturally there is a big difference between the way younger and older politicians perform. The Young have more passion and urgency, they are quicker to respond, more dexterous with their thoughts and words. The elderly, which sounds awful, may be slower to respond and sound less forthright, but they have a long lifetime of experience to draw on, which will shape their answer. They are more cautious about what they say because they know the implications of their words. Younger politicians speak about hopes and dreams, older politicians are more realistic about them.
Ahhh, this has turned into a blog :)
Hi Rosalinda.
ReplyDeleteI am currently in my cabin in northern Sweden and have never before experienced temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius. Unbearable, but I survive.
I just have to say a few more words about my thoughts of the Berlin Wall. Perhaps Mr T has something to add as well? What I'm trying to say is, that we really don't know what made the Soviet Union collapse. The more I think of it the more surreal it appears to me. The answer should perhaps be sought in literature, but not in political science.
What caused the Berlin Wall to collapse was of course a multitude of unforeseen and random circumstances, one of which was Günter Schabowski's misreading of an official government statement just a few hours before the Wall fell, making the GDR citizens believe that they were allowed to leave their country right away, when, in fact, it was about their right to apply for a passport, but there wasn’t any official intention neither from the GDR regime nor from the Soviet Union of demolishing the Wall and let the “prisoners” out.
Everything happened so hastily and what happened was beyond all political control (nobody can deny that) and it could actually have gone very wrong. Anyway, no specific individual, institution or government can take the honour of having democratized the previous dictatorships of Eastern Europe.
Thank God, the abolition of the Communist repression in eastern Europe came about without any armed conflicts, with the exception of Yugoslavia, which actually held an independent position in relation to the Soviet Union and should therefore be treated as a special case imo, different from all other Eastern Communist states.
Have a Nice Weekend
.
"the abolition of the Communist repression in eastern Europe came about without any armed conflicts"
Delete?????
Hello anon 28 June 2020 at 14:44
DeleteWhat I meant was, that the people's riots in the GDR and in the other European eastern states were not crushed by the Soviet armed forces as in Hungary in 1956 or as in Czechoslovakia in 1968. However, as you know, a very complex civil war arose between different ethnicities in former Yugoslavia, which was sad enough, but it had nothing directly to do with the Soviet Communism.
Björn 27 June 2020 at 22:37
DeleteMon ami, je m'appelle T.
T
Björn 27 June 2020 at 22:37
DeleteAnonymous 28 June 2020 at 14:44
Björn 28 June 2020 at 20:06
“UN Statistics Division lists Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Romania, and Poland as countries in Eastern Europe. Other sources include Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Croatia, and Bosnia in this list as well as the Baltic countries.”
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-countries-are-in-eastern-europe.html
T
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Soviet_conflicts
Delete"This article lists the post-Soviet conflicts, the violent political and ethnic conflicts in the countries of the former Soviet Union since shortly before its official breakup in December 1991.
Some of these conflicts such as the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis or the 2013 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine were due to political crises in the successor states. Others involved separatist movements attempting to break away from one of the successor states.
According to Gordon M. Hahn, between 1990 and 2013 the post-Soviet conflicts led to the death of at least 196,000 people, excluding pogroms and interethnic violence."
unsigned