Martin World News

ITEM:  Bobby G reminded me that this is the anniversary- the 73rd, in fact- of the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis in WWII- an uprising her "brave" allies, Britain and the US, decided to aid the James 2:16 method (16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?).  This allowed the Soviets to hang back and let the Polish "Home Army" get slaughtered (despite being a stone's throw from the battle) so they could have an easier time mopping up the rest.  I found it ironic in light of a story I found last night:


The Russian government has warned Poland that it will face sanctions if it removes monuments glorifying the Soviet victory in World War Two.
Last month Poland updated its "de-communisation" legislation, banning "totalitarian" symbols, which would include Soviet propaganda monuments.
Now Russian foreign ministry officials have warned of "asymmetric measures" if Poland removes Soviet war monuments.
Russia could refuse visas for Polish officials or downgrade trade relations.
The officials, quoted by the Russian daily Izvestia, were not named.


This is pretty much equivalent to the tornado threatening to come back if you call your insurance agent, because you should be happy for your lowered property tax.  Hey, Poland, let me answer the "unnamed Russian official" for you:

(Note:  Since one of the comments on yesterday's spam post was a spam comment, wouldn't it be funny if an unnamed Russian official replied to THIS one?)


ITEM:  Apparently the only real qualification for being "far-right" or "far-left" is being "far-stupid".  Take for example this story.


A fake news blog created by German university researchers found an eager audience among far-right sympathisers who shared racially charged stories.
The experiment by Hohenheim University researchers set up four fake profiles on Facebook.
One false story claimed that asylum seekers were having free sex with prostitutes funded by a local council.
That story reached 11,000 people within four days and was shared more than 150 times, German SWR radio reported.
Many readers reacted indignantly to the "news" about free prostitutes for asylum seekers. Few Facebook users spotted that the place where it was allegedly happening - Bad Eulen - does not exist.


So my question is, were they upset because the local governments were "paying" for it, or that THEY weren't getting any freebies?

"Don't mind them, boys.  I'm reasonable... and I take Euros!"

ITEM:  You know you're washed up when this looks like a good publicity move...

The internet has gone udderly wild for a Texas calf's uncanny resemblance to Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.
The baby cow, named Genie, was born on Friday at a ranch in Kerrville, Texas, and even likes to stick out its tongue like the rocker.
Hill Country Visitor, a tourism agency that promotes the region of Texas Hill, shared the image on Facebook, joking that Simmons could be the father.
Simmons himself was delighted, tweeting: "This is real, folks!!!"

I wonder if the ranch has a cat that looks like Peter Criss....


ITEM:  I suppose I really should say something about the hiring and firing of ephemeral Press Sec Anthony Scaramucci, in all fairness, but only two things come to mind.  First, swiftness of his self-inflicted foot wound prolly sets him up to be the fastest gun in the Beltway.  Second, if we learned one thing about the Management style of President Trump, it is that he delegates vetting to Baron.  BBC had a fun look on the subject- a list of empowered people who had similarly short reigns at the top.  In descending order, their list included:

Pope John Paul I- 33 days.  Either from a heart attack or foul play.  Back in the day I read the book In God's Name, which made a fascinating albeit circumstantial case for his murder.

President William Henry Harrison- 32 days.  I am quite overdue for a new round of WHH-bashing.  His last words are rumoured (by me) to be, "I never wanted this damn job anyway.  Good luck, Johnny..."


Alan Fishman, CEO of Washington Mutual for 17 days.  Just in time for the whole thing to go down the tubes.  It reminds me of a joke going around when International Harvester/Navistar was preparing to go belly-up, and a story about possible Japanese buyers made the rounds.  "Did you hear about our new company symbol?" the story went.  "A rising sun over a sinking ship."


Jack Koehler, the previous holder of Scaramucci's dubious record- 11 days.  It came out he was in the "Nazi Boy Scouts" as a kid.  Apparently the Gipper let Bonzo vette that one.


Lady Jane Grey- 9 days as Queen of England before the well-to-dos decided they'd rather her Catholic cousin Mary instead.  My Mom always used to ask, "Who do you think you are? Lady Jane?"  I never realized she meant, "You're putting your neck in the guillotine doing that!"

David  van Rooyen, South African Finance minister, 4 days.  The old FM got sacked in 2015, then President Zuma thought better of it, brought the old guy back- and he's still there.


Emperor Duc Duc (I kid you not) of Vietnam- 3 days.  This was 134 years ago two weeks back.  I guess he "duc"ed the first two days and got "goosed" the third.


Joseph Goebbels, Chancellor of Germany for 1 day.  In between Hitler blowing what passed for his brains out, and Goebbels following suit.  His rumoured (by me) last words were, "I didn't want this damn job anyway.  Good luck, Karl..."


King Louis XIX of France- 20 minutes.  The time it took after his daddy Charles X was encouraged to find alternate employment in 1830 and his decision to follow in Daddy's carriage-prints.

And finally, the winnah and still champeen-

Leroy Rosenior, soccer coach for ten minutes.  The time elapsed between him being named manager of Torquay United in 2007, and a consortium buying the team and sacking everybody.  They were coming off a 7 win- 25- loss season and were getting relegated clear to the fifth level that year, so it was prolly a good career move.  At least he went undefeated.