D Day 2024

Last year, we covered some of the details of the landing … who was there, which commanders etc., followed by the way the day was not being treated the right way. 

Yesterday, Grandpa put up a post on it:

https://orphansofliberty.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-shores-of-normandy.html

I’d like to add something our army man across the way, Steve felt in remembering it:

Watched the drop over Normandy by the RAF this lunchtime. Near perfect conditions as they descended from the new A400M's (Atlas) - SAS still spitting nails over the loss of their rather special version of the C-130 (Hercules). Less oscillation with the new static line chutes but the PLF's (parachute landing falls) left a lot to be desired. One bloke actually lifted his legs to the horizontal and landed on his ass. That's not how you do it: feet and knees together, knees slightly bent, arms up and elbows in. Saw a DZ flash on one and it was 7 Para (RHA).

Overall it was disappointing. One aircraft, the first run-in dropped about a dozen and the second run just four. Is that the best we can do these days? In the 80's we did battalion drops over Fox Covert on Salisbury Plain. One of the longest DZ's in England, Sim 22's (simultaneous, port and starboard doors) times 10 aircraft, one after the other. That's 440 men, with equipment, in under 4 mins. High speed dispatch, alternate doors punching into 120 knots of air. Happy days :)

Plus:

I should clarify the 440 men would be 4 rifle companies, plus attachments - that's folk like me who are on the forward edge of the battle area (FEBA). You have to rally up quick and clear the DZ before the heavy drop comes in. You wouldn't want a Landover on your head or a pallet of mortar rounds. These drops include an entire gun battery plus all the men that serve them plus all the ammunition they fire and all the vehicles that tow each piece. Things get busy very quickly.

If you'd like to see a further commemoration, here tis:

https://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com/2024/06/d-day-thursday-june-6th-1.html

Holiday Season Headlines...

Every year, as holiday season gets underway, the headlines about drowning inevitably have to make way for headlines like these:

And I wonder just how many of these stories are from folk who treat foreign cops the way they would behave with UK cops, forgetting that they are in a foreign country where they do things rather differently...

The holiday nightmare, which took place on May 11 a day after the pair arrived in the country, began after they decided to head back to their hotel after spending an evening drinking cocktails.The man said one local had tried to pull his girlfriend's bag away from her and, after he had told him to stop and started walking back to the hotel, he had heard a police car pull up near them.

Ah, and had they had one too many? And gave the Turkish cops the sort of lip they'd give a British bobby? 

A spokesperson for West Midlands Police added: 'Officers spoke to two people at Birmingham Airport on May 13 who made several allegations they were assaulted whilst abroad. They were supported by officers and provided with advice.'

A spokesperson for the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: 'We are supporting a British couple following an incident in Turkey and are in contact with the local authorities.'

It won't stop people going to foreign counties on holiday secure in the belief that they are just like the UK, only warmer. 

The Shores of Normandy

 

Does the youth of today, the Tik-Tok generation, understand why the whole of the South Coast of England was stuffed full of tanks, of batteries of artillery, of trucks parked along every country road for miles and miles?

Do they really understand why men such as my father and hundreds of thousands like him, signed up for Service?

I really doubt it very, very much!

Of far-right rallies and the weasel-words of the MSM

Coordinated by globopsycho.

Nige via Clacton - all eyes on the pier today

Just posted this on X:

Vote Reform Uk@BrexitStand

@Nigel_Farage

We Enter Topsy-Turvey Land....

A Guardian article where they celebrate the fact that punters are getting ripped off by rapacious big business? Surely, you jest? 

There is, I can’t deny, something funny about the notion of clandestine agents roving the country’s drinking houses and measuring their pours down to the millilitre. But let’s take these findings seriously. Let us imagine that this is, in fact, one of the most pressing issues facing consumers. And let us focus specifically on beers, as this seems to be where the problems are greatest. What exactly a perfectly poured beer should look like is a tricky question. Some people like a bit more head on their pint of lager than others. Go to any pub in east London right now and you will find three graphic designers willing to talk to you for up to an hour about exactly how much foam there should be on top of a Guinness.

Ah, I see. It's a rant about 'Yuppies'. Did she sent this column in from the Eighties?  

Some people will happily just look at their pint, see it’s a little short, and ask the bartender to top it up. I’m not one of those people. I just can’t bring myself to do it, except perhaps in really egregious cases of underpouring. This is because there is a human being standing there who just gave me the pint. We have a culture of OK service in the UK. We don’t generally go in for the thrilling rudeness of, say, Parisian waiters, or the obsequious attention you get from US servers. I like it this way.

You like being shortchanged and treated like an inconvenience when you're handing over money? Strange... 

And when I worked behind a bar, if someone asked me to top up their beer, especially if the pub was busy, and especially if they did so with a look in their eye that implied I had intentionally shortchanged them, I hated it. I hated them. Oh, do excuse me, did sir want a thimbleful more beer? Will that be all, my liege? Does master’s pint meet with his approval now?

Ah, I see. You were resentful at having to work at all. Sorry, princess, but the bills have to be paid!  

...I sort of see the point of those who ask for the top-up. You buy a pint, you should get a pint. A simple and fair exchange of money for a specified good.

But … while it might be correct to the letter of the law to get a full imperial pint every time you order one, it does not feel true to the spirit of pints to quibble about it. Of those 86% of beers that were underpoured, the average deficit was only 4%. We are talking about less liquid than a single espresso.

It doesn't really matter what the amount is, it's the principle, surely?   

But for marginal cases, suck it up. A pint is, to a point, an idea. It is a lovely yellowy brown glass of “having a nice time”. The exact measurement should, rightly, be neither here nor there. Put the tape measure away, and enjoy your beer. Cheers.

Well, the customer is always right, didn't they teach you that one in your bar training? They want a full pint and they are entitled to one.  

My first thought after hearing about the attack was "I hope people react rationally and don't get aggravated"

A rather baffling response to yet another Islamist attack on free speech. Thankfully others are beginning to react more rationally:

A 74-year-old pensioner, who travelled to Mannheim from the neighbouring Rheinland-Pfalz state to pay her sympathies to the victims, said she had 'goosebumps' ever since she heard about the attack. 'This is not normal that something like this happens. I immediately thought yesterday that it could happen to my child, to anyone. I can't understand this,' she told MailOnline. 'One should live in peace without attacking another person with a knife. Someone like that is not human to me. No one has the right to hurt others.'

She gets it. 

One member of the public, who prefers to stay anonymous, came to the market square in Mannheim today with a home-made sign saying 'Democracy - no Islamism'.The 35-year-old told MailOnline: 'It was another attack on someone who was using his democratic right to free speech. It is bad that something like this happens and it's happening more often, especially at the hands of Islamists. 'I have experienced today how it affects a lot of people here. They want to talk about, but many are afraid. Islamistic terror is coming closer and closer and now it has arrived in Mannheim.'He said he had thought about whether it was a good idea to come up to Mannheim from his nearby hometown to voice his concerns about Islamism, but ultimately decided to put his trust in the police to keep him safe. 'But I'm really scared of the future, of what is yet to come,' he added. While some people, including Muslims, came up to him and said they were sorry to hear about what happened, he said he also encountered people who looked 'as if they want to strangle' him.

I expect the others did too, they just hid it better.  

Roland said he was 'a bit scared' to share his opinion openly after Islam-critic Michael Stuerzenberger was attacked, but he continued: 'We reap what we sow. Who doesn't fight for their rights and freedoms will be a victim and will be under Sharia law.'

Amen, Roland. 

'It really hit close to home. There was only hate and violence behind it, nothing rational, nothing human, just rage,' Leo, who moved to the city for university, said.

And meanwhile, in the UK, it seems the police are waking up a little bit: 

A bit too little, too late, but still welcome. 

As "best" practice, even "good" practice, falls away ...

"Netiquette" or unofficial "bloggers union rules" were quite the thing way back when all sorts of "good practice" was voluntarily followed as blogging took off around 2004-6 and the key rule was attribution of sources, linking to others to give them reader visits as well as yourself.

By around 2010, the start of Pigboy Dave's tenure, all sorts of "best" practice, even "good" practice, had largely fallen away, replaced by top down governmental interference as campaigns such as No2ID became popular, as new types of bloggers appeared, vlogging, netflix, tiktok, all sorts, as blogging as citizen journalism was replaced by any newbie following any practice he/she wanted in personal behaviour ...

... while the quality of the new Millennials and Zoomers themselves, reflecting the new parenting and poor school teaching, abided by no rules except what gained them advantage ... cutting corners became the thing, finding themselves and self-fulfilment, victimhood, shortchanging by mean little amounts becoming the thing, public behaviour becoming poorer, all sorts of aberration becoming the norm ... plus the global invasion picked up speed and pretty much replaced the at least lip service ethics which had been vaguely subscribed to over the preceding centuries.

At the same time, govt corporatism was becoming more and more draconian on things like copyright, with a view to extorting money for cronies and killing pleasure for the masses, pricing them out of any pursuits they'd once enjoyed. 

Some of you saw the clip of the two twin kid sisters walking from the ice-cream van after the extortionate prices demanded, plus it had to be card.

That's not what this post is about but it does background what follows ... it's about shoddy, cut-price, corner cutting practice ... this time in "modern" house building:

Around 25% of Britain’s housing stock was built before 1919, the highest proportion in Europe. These houses were built according to time-tested techniques to manage the ambient moisture of Britain’s Atlantic climate through air flow – that is, the very draughts we now spend money attempting to eradicate. Air-permeable lime mortar between brick and masonry and lime plaster on the walls allowed moisture from within the home to evaporate outside, much like a high-tech wicking fabric. Draughty single-pane glazing allowed air to circulate, preventing the build-up of mould: the problem of heating draughty houses was efficiently solved by the simple, if now unfashionable expedient of burning vast amounts of wood, and later coal in open fires.

But after WWI, when many skilled tradesmen had been killed in the trenches, housebuilders adopted the newly-introduced solution of gypsum-brd plasters and cement mortar, as cheaper and quicker to work with. Because both are impermeable to moisture, houses began to be constructed with air cavities and external vents or air bricks for circulation. Over time, the old skills were lost, and houses built before 1919 – perhaps including yours – were renovated with impermeable gypsum plaster, and overlaid with non-breathable plastic-BRD paint.

Draughty windows were replaced with sealed double-glazing and chimneys were bricked up in favour of central heating, reducing air flow further. The result was an explosion of damp in British homes, and whole new industries of damp-proof courses and chemical injections – none of which work – aiming to resolve the newly-introduced problem. …

In my own place, there are two contrasting situations ... no mould at all for most of the place but rotted ceiling in another with direct water leakage from outside, not mould ... go out onto the inside sealed landing and there's mould everywhere, rising damp etc., also into the stairwell.

No mould at all for most of my own place ... why not?  It's because it's draughty in all sorts of places, making the triple glazing a joke, necessitating me keeping the heating on well into May and after Gates's cloud seeding ... into June.  Expensive, yes? Me no worry ... no mould, not ill.

But spare a thought for the poor sods reliant on woodburning to stay warm and even cook ... and there are quite a few ... then we come back to some fallacies about the "good old days" of homebuilding.

https://dailysceptic.org/2024/05/31/why-modern-british-homes-are-getting-mouldy/

A Different Sort Of Activist Infiltration...

We're used to trans cultists and Islamists, now that other scourge of modern life has decided to worm its way into the ranks of the decision makers:

A widower has today claimed a cycling lobby in Government tried to stop his seven-year battle for tougher penalties for killer riders. It comes after the House of Commons backed an amendment this week to create three new offences for dangerous cyclists — 'causing serious injury by dangerous cycling' and 'causing death by careless or inconsiderate cycling'. Campaigner Matt Briggs, 53, raised a glass to his late wife Kim upon news of the victory last Thursday, telling MailOnline it would hopefully give authorities a 'clear process to prosecution'.

They have such a process in other crimes and often drop the ball, so don't expect this to be any different... 

Kim sustained catastrophic head injuries after being hit by Charlie Alliston who was riding a fixed-gear bike with no front brakes at 18mph in Old Street, east London in 2016. She died a week later in hospital, aged just 44. Now, Mr Briggs has said one of the biggest setbacks to his campaign was 'forces' in Government that did not want cyclists to be held legally to account in the same way motorists are.

Can't be Boris, can it?  

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Briggs said he'd 'occasionally felt like giving up', after the former transport secretary Grant Shapps stated twice that new laws would be introduced but they never materialised. 'I was brought up to believe that when people in authority say something is going to happen, it does,' Mr Briggs told the newspaper.

*boggle* 

A reaction to the Trump verdict

 First to arrive, from multiple sources, was a bible verse posted or sent ... Matthew 16:26 ... but reading around it, I'd suggest the whole section 21-28 is most relevant to this night now (night in Britain). That specific verse 26, by the way, says (KJV):

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

All that I'll come back to in a subsequent post at some stage. This post now concerns the political response of mainly major players online, plus a few others. It also starts with X which, despite its shadow banning WEFer CEO, still managed to get posted and then a few from **b, which tends to be more hardline and remembers past snippets better ...

... not unlike Em***** *ob**son over whom I came a cropper last time with Chau***/Fl*** ... she's regarded a tad more fearfully than other pundits, she also predicted the showtrial in 2021, as did La*** Lo**** ...

LL was predictably feisty, talking of "coming after" targeted names ... and man does she have some of those, supplied by who knows who. (Incidentally, at 0338, first light has arrived and the birds are tweeting.)

Now some "official reactions" ...

All right ... now onto maor online pundits who are deeply embedded on the MAGA side and are known by all serious players and watchers ...

Em R is in this major pundit category but I ran her first as she has form. Now to lesser pundits ... widely read and seen outside of the US but not being American, the impact is lessened, plus some medium level American Xers ...

Quick word about this chap ...

All right, two at our level, my colleagues ...

Now to **b ...

More horrifying was this from young people:

Red Wave Riders are like Young Conservatives used to be over here ... but a bit more awake to reality ... not enough to vote maybe.

Lastly, this by Buzz Patterson:

Just a reminder that that is not the statue of "liberty" ... it's the joke on America since Mas**s in America gave it and it was put up at the entrance to NYC. It's actually Ish*** or a statue to enslavement, whether to the English or to sat** himself.