Today’s title, all done in the best possible taste, is taken from a line in a radio show performed by Kenny Everett - a very funny guy, no longer with us, who would undoubtedly be cancelled today. Here’s Kenny in the guise of one of his memorable characters; Cupid Stunt.
His Cupid Stunt character was ahead of its time in portraying normal school attire for Canadian woodwork teachers of today. Legend has it that he played a crucial role in getting Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody released as a single - so he can’t have been all bad.
But even Kenny’s characters seem pale in comparison to the real-world comedy skits that seem to have overtaken our legal professions.
Being British and UK based, I’m not going to pretend that I properly understand what’s going on in the US. Some things don’t translate very well, in either direction, when crossing the Atlantic - and I still haven’t fathomed why y’all can’t pronounce Aluminium correctly.
But some things do translate very well. Oliver Anthony’s song Rich Men North of Richmond has gone viral - quite unlike anything covid ever managed to achieve. Like the resonator guitar he’s playing, this song and its performance resonate real well.
I stand in a kind of disbelieving awe at the latest round of Trump indictments. Amongst them seem to be the heinous crimes of having an opinion and calling for meetings. The wording of some them is extraordinary. My oh my - the things that are deemed prosecution-worthy in the US.
But we have no high horse to ride in on here in the UK, either. A teenager in 2019, reposting on social media the rap lyrics to a song as a tribute to a boy who had recently passed in a car accident was brought before the bench and successfully prosecuted for having committed a “hate crime”. The rap lyrics, of course, contained the n-word. Apparently it’s OK for the black artist who wrote the song to sell millions of albums containing these words - but if you re-post the lyrics, then it’s “spreading” an offensive message. Make legal sense to you? Not to me, either.
This is just one example of the farcical pantomime that is our judicial system, at times, in the UK.
The conviction was later overturned - but why the hell was it thought necessary to proceed with the prosecution of this “crime” in the first place? Maybe Oliver Anthony has pointed us in a possible direction of understanding.
Trump, of course, is a “threat to democracy” and it’s the right thing to do to attempt to remove political opposition to protect democracy. After all, you wouldn’t want the wrong sort of party or person getting voted in would you? That would be just sooooooo undemocratic.
I remember the US 2020 election night very well. I stayed up hours past my bedtime to watch it all unfold. Sleep finally got the better of me and so I had a short nap, only to find when I awoke that the trends in some very key places had utterly reversed in a few hours in favour of Biden. In a few cases, somewhat miraculously, just the right number of votes had been instantaneously added in to kick Biden up above Trump.
The air, as I tried to wake up on that morning, was palpably thick with the heavy atmosphere of WhatTheFuckium.
It was an election like no other.
I can’t say that the election was “stolen” - but ding me on the derriere with a dominion machine, something very strange went on.
And then, of course, we had the worst “insurrection” in the history of mankind on January 6th of 2021. Thousands of people were in danger of being feathered to death by the dangerous Native American headdresses worn by some of these domestic terrorists. These clueless terrorists, intent on overthrowing the entire US, completely forgot to bring even one from their huge collection of “assault” rifles1 with them.
The reporting, like anything else to do with Trump, was beyond farcical. Even now I’m seeing otherwise sensible people describe this rather mild protest (in comparison to other mostly peaceful protests one could mention) as a terrible event of such dire consequence for the US. The utter derangement and inability to be even slightly balanced when it came to Trump was, and still is, quite extraordinary.
I liked Trump for his entertainment value - his no nonsense and often hilarious approach, despite the crassness at times, seemed like something of a breath of fresh air in the dark and duplicitous den of devilment that is traditional politics.
But it was very clear that the “establishment” was put on the back foot by his election in 2016 and took steps to ensure that it didn’t happen again. The wrong sort of person got voted in. We can’t have that, can we?
I know we had quite a concerted press campaign here in the UK to get Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition, labelled as an “anti-semite” - but the anti-Trump messaging in nearly all media was in another league entirely. That Trump even managed to get close to Biden in 2020 with the utterly insane level of propaganda against him was quite an achievement.
But, you know, voting for Trump is a threat to democracy - and as The Sniffer-in-Chief himself said, if you’re MAGA, you’re an extremist. Meanwhile, the Chief Sniffer’s son, himself a reasonably accomplished sniffer, was raking in the cash all over the world in places like Ukraine.
It’s a freakshow.
We’re the “old souls” that Oliver Anthony sings about - right and left, for and against Trump, straight or gay - we just want an end to the freakshow.
I’m not much of a fan of either Trump or Biden, but Biden is the one that seriously “creeps me out” and makes me feel like I need a shower after hearing him speak. Not that it’s much of a choice, but of the two I would say that Trump is more ‘trustworthy’.
Just my impression from across the pond - which isn’t worth much - and will doubtless piss some people off for sticking my snobby British nose in where it don’t belong.
Although Anthony’s song is being described as “right wing” (what else would we expect?) it has certainly, erm, struck a chord with many. There’s a growing sense of disconnect and disenchantment with our political “elite” and those who seek to control our lives. Covid has, in some respects, laid the beast bare - and we can see it for what it is much more clearly now.
These elites are Country Members
Remember that.
I’m not really up with gun terminology, but I wonder does any firearm have a purpose other than “assault”? Are there bakery rifles that come with whisk attachments?
An opportunity to shed some light! Hooray!
As background, I'm an ex infantry soldier, long time target shooter and one time world shooting champion in one of my disciplines. I know what I'm on about.
"Assault rifle" is a term of art among firearm designers and soldiers, and has a specific meaning. It is a direct translation of the German term "Sturm Gewehr". Towards the end of WW2, the Germans realised thst their infantry arms were overpowered and slow firing, given the requirements of the day. They developed a compact rifle firing a less powerful cartridge with selectable rates of fire that was much more effective than their older weapons.
This weapon was the StG (SturmGewehr) 44.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StG_44. Definitely one of the most beautiful military firearms ever put into service.
The assault rifle was distinguished from other weapons of the era, which are known as Battle Rifles (eg the British Lee-Enfield .303 and American Garand).
All nations eventually followed suit, and assault rifles such as the British SA80, Russian AK47 and US M4 are now universal across infantry forces worldwide.
More info here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle
Michael Shermer's "Believing Brain" had this bit that I often think of when surveying the American political scene -- though not to say it doesn't apply elsewhere:
"As we saw in the previous chapter, politics is filled with self-justifying rationalizations. Democrats see the world through liberal-tinted glasses, while Republicans filter it through conservative shaded glasses. When you listen to both 'conservative talk radio' and 'progressive talk radio' you will hear current events interpreted in ways that are 180 degrees out of phase. So incongruent are the interpretations of even the simplest goings-on in the daily news that you wonder if they can possibly be talking about the same event. ..." [pg. 263]
Somewhat bipolar if not flagrantly schizophrenic. But particularly relevant to Trump's "peccadillos" – for which he seems to be in the hot seat – and the responses thereto. You may well have at least a bit of a point in suggesting that the charges are a "nothing burger", but this summary of the latest charges out of Georgia look pretty damning:
https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/the-mongo-supremo-indictment-and