R is for Rhetoric, Rumination and Rant - The Rancid Rodent in the White House!

Sometimes, other people's words are much better than one's own, and no amount of creative writing classes will cure that uneven, uncomfortable fact! For getting a message across, or explaining something, especially if the subjects are outside one's own field - I'm not strong on economics, for instance - sometimes one's own witten imagination can be found lacking, or the self's vocabulary won't stretch to the task!

I'm OK at toys, seem to have a lot of success logically arguing Zionists into silence, and can have a good debate on the Environment, however, while I have had the odd stab at Politics in the past, and will do again, I'm sure; I started collecting these (below quotes) a while ago (soon after the inauguration), initially, in order to quote from them, but then decided that between them, they seem to say it all, better than I could!

All four pieces have 'gone viral', as the phrase is, these days, the first one twice, six years apart, and I think I reposted it on Faceplant, both times, as it succinctly sums-up the average Brit's incredulity, that Trump gets away with it, time and time again!

Not that he doesn't have his fans over here, but they are our 'rednecks', the fat, balding, tattooed, middle-aged, uneducated, benefit recipient lurches and dollops, the Morlocks and Yahoo's not only left behind by Capitalism, but too stupid to see it's the fault of people like Trump!

I love the second piece, because it's written by an American, and a religious, probably Republican American, and the very type you might have expected to vote for Trump, that he is so scathing, leads us all to hope America can still save itself - the brouhaha this week over the Federal lockdown has been amusing, as the Rep's did it every time a Democrat was in the Oval Office (which now looks like a Tart's Boudoir), and now they're having a hissy-fit!

I don't know who wrote the third piece, so I've credited the site's Admin', but they seem to 'get it', most Americans think we pay the tariffs on our stuff, no, they pay, it's a tax on them! The reason most countries haven't reciprocated, or have only reciprocated to a lesser percentage, or on targeted goods, is because we don't want to do the same damage to our economy, Trump's doing to his, but we do need to show we are willing to stand up to the turd of a man.

The fourth text, is a transcription of a recent speech, by someone who's better qualified, in more fields, than the entire Trump family, and points at a few possible futures, so is well worth a read. I don't think a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump is anywhere in that future, but war-crime trials for all sorts of people are being muted, just for the genocide in Gaza, before you get on to the Piracy on the High Seas, we're seeing again tonight - comes to something when the leaders of Columbia and Italy call out the Israelis!

And, to me, that's the real problem, Palestine and Ukraine are queering the pitch, for any group or individual nation trying to deal with Trumps fantastical nonsense, Russia and China hover in the background re-muddying any water before it can clear, and the planet is literally dying, while all these fuckers try to start World War three, in such a way as to blame each other! . . . Exactly what happened in 1914.

If I were to express one opinion, before the masters' speak, it's this - You know how Musk became de facto Prime Minister, without being elected, destroyed the Civil Service of the USA and left before Congress, or the House of Representatives, got their joint-acts' together? You know how he and Trump then fell out, big time, slagging each other off like two idiot schoolboys in the playground? You know how Trump then answered his base's calls for Musk to be deported to South Africa, with a hint at just that? And you know how it then all went very quiet, until they met and shook hands at that fascist's funeral the other day?

I think Musk has counter-threatened Trump - 'You send me back to SA, and I'll destroy the American economy'. And he can, not just because of his personal wealth, but because if he shut down Tesla, X, and SpaceX on the same day, sacked everybody and took the money, the Wall Street stock-markets would implode, like the World Trade Centre.

So, they're 'friends' again - TACO!

And, to those readers this side of The Pond who were surprised by B.Liar's involvement in the dodgy, genocidal 'peace treaty', which the Palestinians haven't even been consulted on, understand that Kier Starmer's wife is a pro-Israel Jew, and Richi Sunack's wife has shares in the same development companies, the dreadful (but brightest of that bunch) Gerard Kutchner has . . . thay ALL want a slice of the Palestinian offshore gas, they ALL want the Palestinian Land.

No doubt, the reason the BBC has given more coverage to one fascist march, than the scores of larger pro-Palestinian ones is because they are deep in it! Their section-chief in the Middle East is an ex-CIA friend of Mossad! Lyse Doucet -who should be in the thick of it - was sent off to write a whimsical history of an Afghan hotel, so she couldn't be asked about Genocide or Piracy! And then it was serialised on the BBC, to help sales!

Orla Guerin, Jeremy Bowen and Lyse, have failed in their first duty as Journalists - to tell the truth. With what little we do get from them, so painfully 'neutral' as to be biased in favour of Tel Aviv! While IDF soldiers happily post their war-crimes on TikTok, despite their having being told twice, by their OWN generals, not to!

But . . . I must stop; in my anger, I'm changing the subject - they teach you not to do that on a creative writing course, I bet! Read and enjoy . . . or weep; Thoughtful comments welcome, anti-rants will be deleated, if you don't dissagree with what's going on globally at the moment, there's something wrong with your moral compass.

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G7 Meeting - 1st Term

Seven statesmen and a petulant child. 

Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?

"A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?’ If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

- Nate White

(February 12, 2019, on Quora)

Advertising Creative 2006–present

BA 1st Class Hons in English (language), King's College London

 

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Threatening Europe on Tech' Regulation, a week ago.

 

Who's the worst US President in history?

"There was this one guy who started a trade war that killed 300,000 American jobs in his first two years. Then he signed a tax bill that flatlined the stock market and forced the Fed to start lowering interest rates to try to prevent a recession. Then he said a global pandemic was a liberal hoax to kill the economy he spent three years destroying and he set records for the six worst point drops in the history of the Dow, most new unemployment claims in history, and the largest deficit in history.

He was investigated and found to have welcomed and encouraged election interference by a foreign government and to have obstructed justice to cover his crimes. He got impeached once for abusing his office to try to coerce a foreign leader into helping him smear a political rival. Then he got impeached again for inciting an insurrection to try to stay in power after easily and predictably losing his re-election bid. Then he got indicted for almost 100 felonies after leaving office.

I forget his name. Draft dodger. Admitted sex offender. Painted himself orange and wore a dead rodent on his head. Wore elevator shoes. Misspelled three letter words on a smartphone. Kept filing bankruptcy. Called himself a winner. Dump? Rump? Plump? Chump? Something like that.

[Edit: I’ve never done this before, but this post was like catnip for morons and the most brainwashed fascists I’ve seen all flocked to the comment section to bleat their alt-right propaganda. So I’m disabling comments on this. I’ve also deleted some of the worst garbage that was posted. Wow. These people really need therapy.]"

 

- Will

(August 2024, Quora) 

"A life-long southerner, devout Christian, and a true conservative, I have worked in publishing, talk radio, and served as a staff pastor in a local church. I am currently writing my first book."

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Loosing it, 2018.

 

On Trump's Tarrifs

"It’s becoming harder by the day to pretend this isn’t a controlled demolition of the U.S. economy, except the person holding the plunger is also shouting “Help! The building’s falling!” That’s the tragicomic heart of the moment. Trump, the self-proclaimed dealmaker and economic genius, is now openly afraid of a 1929-style collapse, even as he isolates the United States from every major trading partner, fires or bullies institutional stewards, and surrounds himself with sycophants who think “Ron Vara” is a legitimate source of macroeconomic insight.

 

Meanwhile, outside our increasingly paranoid borders, the grown-ups are still at the table. Canada, led by a calm and resolute Mark Carney, is executing what can only be described as precision economic diplomacy. Their retaliatory tariffs aren’t broad-stroke chaos, they’re surgical. Instead of going after random U.S. goods, they’ve targeted symbolic, regionally sensitive exports: peanut butter from Georgia, coffee from Florida, orange juice from Florida, motorcycles from Wisconsin, and bourbon from Kentucky, each selected not only for economic impact, but for political resonance in Republican strongholds.

 

At the same time, they’ve spared critical sectors like auto manufacturing, shielding Canadian jobs while preserving the long-integrated North American supply chain. Provinces have joined in with layered actions of their own. Ontario canceled a $100 million Starlink contract, Quebec ordered American liquor off state shelves, and Nova Scotia doubled tolls on U.S. commercial vehicles.

 

Retailers across the country are now labeling American goods with a “T” for “tariff,” inviting consumers to make patriotic purchasing decisions. The result? A population that understands the stakes and a government actually coordinating its moves with strategy in mind, not cosplay, not chaos, but competence.

 

Japan, for its part, has begun quietly rebalancing its trade and defense postures, no longer convinced that the U.S. under Trump is a reliable ally or market. As Shinji Aguma recently said in a speech that's now ricocheting across global capitals, Trump behaves less like a statesman and more like an extortionist. Japan is responding accordingly, hedging its economic bets while bolstering ties with the EU and ASEAN nations.

 

China, for its part, is playing a masterclass in strategic patience. While Trump rattles sabers and brags about tariff victories that don’t exist, Beijing is quietly tightening its grip on global supply chains, shifting rare earth exports to preferred partners, and expanding its 'Belt and Road' economic influence without firing a shot.

 

Instead of engaging in tit-for-tat chaos, they’ve taken a colder approach: reducing purchases of long-term U.S. Treasuries, redirecting trade to Latin America and Africa, and quietly expanding yuan-denominated trade agreements—including a notable spike in oil deals settled outside the dollar. Internally, they're cushioning the impact of U.S. tariffs through state subsidies and domestic stimulus, while externally, they’re simply allowing U.S. dysfunction to speak for itself.

 

When asked if they plan to retaliate with a major U.S. bond selloff, they don’t say yes—they just don’t have to. The global market now expects instability from Washington, and China knows that expectation is power. Trump wants a fight; Xi Jinping is playing a waiting game. And every day Trump wages war against courts, investors, and allies, he’s doing Beijing’s work for them.

 

The European Union, too, is playing the long game. Rather than matching chaos with chaos, they've responded to Trump’s tariff barrage with targeted countermeasures, hitting Harley-Davidsons, bourbon, and cranberries in 2020, and now reviving pressure on key industrial imports like American-made electrical components and processed foods. But more importantly, they’re channeling their energy into building out multilateral alternatives: accelerating trade agreements with Mercosur and Australia, strengthening ties with Japan under the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, and actively pursuing deeper integration with African and ASEAN markets.

 

They’re also welcoming disillusioned U.S. investors. European equity funds have seen net inflows of over $11 billion this month alone, even as U.S. stock funds bled nearly $11 billion. Germany, France, and the Netherlands have seen especially strong investment surges, with capital moving into euro-denominated bonds and infrastructure projects offering both stability and return. And they’re doing all of this while watching the United States melt into a self-inflicted credibility crisis over its own debt, its currency, and its basic ability to govern. In short, while Washington yells into its own echo chamber, Brussels is quietly rerouting the future.

 

At home, the contrast is staggering. Trump continues to wage war against his own institutions. He has vilified the Federal Reserve, cast doubt on the integrity of courts, and inflated the powers of unqualified loyalists like Peter Navarro, a man who literally invented a fake economist to back his theories. Cooler heads, seasoned experts, and non-fabricated humans have been pushed aside in favor of true believers whose economic strategies might as well be based on Reddit threads and revenge fantasies.

 

The result is a spiral: as international partners recalibrate and global capital exits, Trump grows more erratic. He screams about depression, lashes out at Jerome Powell, threatens allies, and blames everyone but the mirror. But this isn’t just the tantrum of a man losing control. It’s the very real danger of a once-stable empire hollowed out by ego, paranoia, and a dangerous belief that reality itself can be managed like a brand.

 

There is still time to pull back from the brink, but it would require Trump to abandon the fantasy that he alone can fix what he alone is breaking. And that, as history has shown again and again, may be the most dangerous illusion of all."

 

- Oregon's Bay Area

(About six months ago, Facebook group, admin-post)

 

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On hearing about the invitaion for a state visit to the UK, January 2017

Sparked by the treatment of Zelenskyy in late February 2025, and the transformation of Ukraine from a sovereign country to an object for barter.

 

"Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened. Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.

 

This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs and duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.

 

The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.

 

Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.

 

This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution. I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency.

 

We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor. Eight days ago, at the very moment that Trump was rubbing Macron’s back in the White House, the United States voted at the UN with Russia and North Korea against the Europeans demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.

 

Two days later, in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign. Tonight, he took another step into infamy by stopping the delivery of weapons that had been promised.

 

What to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: face it. And first of all, let’s not be mistaken. The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia, Moldova are already on the list. Putin’s goal is to return to Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin.

 

The countries of the South are waiting for the outcome of the conflict to decide whether they should continue to respect Europe or whether they are now free to trample on it. What Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States and its allies 80 years ago, with its first principle being the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.

 

This idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to spheres of influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries.

 

Mine is Greenland, Panama and Canada, you are Ukraine, the Baltics and Eastern Europe, he is Taiwan and the China Sea. At the parties of the oligarchs of the Gulf of Mar-a-Lago, this is called “diplomatic realism.” So we are alone. But the talk that Putin cannot be resisted is false. Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In three years, the so-called second largest army in the world has managed to grab only crumbs from a country three times less populated.

 

Interest rates at 25%, the collapse of foreign exchange and gold reserves, the demographic collapse show that it is on the brink of the abyss. The American helping hand to Putin is the biggest strategic mistake ever made in a war.

 

The shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of denial. They understood in one day in Munich that the survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are in their hands and that they have three imperatives.

 

Accelerate military aid to Ukraine to compensate for the American abandonment, so that it holds, and of course to impose its presence and that of Europe in any negotiation. This will be expensive. It will be necessary to end the taboo of the use of frozen Russian assets. It will be necessary to circumvent Moscow’s accomplices within Europe itself by a coalition of only the willing countries, with of course the United Kingdom.

 

Second, demand that any agreement be accompanied by the return of kidnapped children, and prisoners, and absolute security guarantees. After Budapest, Georgia and Minsk, we know what agreements with Putin are worth. These guarantees require sufficient military force to prevent a new invasion.

 

Finally, and this is the most urgent, because it is what will take the most time, we must build the neglected European defense, to the benefit of the American umbrella since 1945 and scuttled since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is a Herculean task, but it is on its success or failure that the leaders of today’s democratic Europe will be judged in the history books.

 

Friedrich Merz has just declared that Europe needs its own military alliance. This is to recognize that France has been right for decades in arguing for strategic autonomy. It remains to be built. It will be necessary to invest massively, to strengthen the European Defense Fund outside the Maastricht debt criteria, to harmonize weapons and munitions systems, to accelerate the entry into the Union of Ukraine, which is today the leading European army, to rethink the place and conditions of nuclear deterrence based on French and British capabilities, to relaunch the anti-missile shield and satellite programs.

 

The plan announced yesterday by Ursula von der Leyen is a very good starting point. And much more will be needed. Europe will only become a military power again by becoming an industrial power again. In a word, the Draghi report will have to be implemented. For good.

 

But the real rearmament of Europe is its moral rearmament. We must convince public opinion in the face of war weariness and fear, and especially in the face of Putin’s cronies, the extreme right and the extreme left. They argued again yesterday in the National Assembly, Mr. Prime Minister, before you, against European unity, against European defense. They say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump say is that their peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain at the beck and call of Putin. Peace for the collaborators who have refused any aid to the Ukrainians for three years.

 

Is this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in the last few days, the public humiliation of Zelensky and all the crazy decisions taken in the last month have finally made the Americans react. Polls are falling. Republican lawmakers are being greeted by hostile crowds in their constituencies. Even Fox News is becoming critical.

 

The Trumpists are no longer in their majesty. They control the executive, the Congress, the Supreme Court and social networks. But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads.

 

The fate of Ukraine is being played out in the trenches, but it also depends on those in the United States who want to defend democracy, and here on our ability to unite Europeans, to find the means for their common defense, and to make Europe the power that it once was in history and that it hesitates to become again.

 

Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost. The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century. Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.

 

 Video for the above text.

- Claude Malhuret

(Tuesday 4th March 2025)

French physician, lawyer and politician, former head of MSF, who has served as a member of the French Senate since 2014, representing the department of Allier. A member of Horizons, a center-right party that was created to attract support for Emmanuel Marcron in the 2022 French presidential election, he has presided over the The Independents – Republic and Territories (LIRT) parliamentary group in the Senate since 2017.

 

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Complaining that someone else got the Nobel peace Prize in January 2020.

 

Finally, this was written by the Coucil on Foureign Relations, on 11th January 2021, full text here;

 

https://www.cfr.org/article/donald-trumps-costly-legacy 

 

"Trump inherited a set of relationships, alliances, and institutions that, however imperfect, had for 75 years created a context in which great-power conflict had been avoided, democracy expanded, and wealth and living standards increased. Embracing a blend of “America first” nationalism, unilateralism, and isolationism, Trump did what he could to disrupt many of these relationships and arrangements without putting anything better in their place.

It will be difficult – if not impossible – to repair this damage anytime soon. Trump will no longer be president, but he will remain influential in the Republican party and the country. While the world was already in growing disarray, and while US influence was already declining, Trump dramatically accelerated both trends. The bottom line is that he is handing off a country and a world in far worse condition than he inherited. That is his distressing legacy."

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He is a self-obsessed narcissist, a misogynist, fascist, sex-pest, self-publicist, braggart, show-off, serial-bankrupt and cunt. A traitor to Democracy, the International 'Rule of Law', the post-war 'Order' and probably in the pocket's of Tel Aviv and Moscow. He has no serious economic acumen, little ability to read the room, or read individuals and surrounds himself with sycophantic "yes" people, he's robbing America blind, losing America all it's accumulated gravitas on the world stage, all its trust with friends and allies, and all its bargaining power with the rest of the world.

 

And calling every senior military General back, to some a-hole barracks in CONUS, from all over the world, at vast expense, to use words like 'that shit' in front of them, is no way to run a Superpower. No beards? Seriously? They've got nothing better to worry about than the hirsuteness of their servicemen? Israel is totally out of control, and they're worrying about fucking beards! Is Vance going to get rid of his? Girlyman!

 

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And now, he's President again! God help us. 

M is for Mighty Morphin's!

A new Toy Shop opened in Basingrad, while I wasn't paying attention, Toytown, in the big precinct, I think I have mentioned it before, but I bought these there, and kept going back to see if head office had sent some more down, although it was clear they were a discounted end-of-line thing.

 

As I clearly needed the Blue Ranger! Even thought they were clearly old stock, I thought maybe if the parent was supporting the new store with discounted stuff, to get the punter's in, maybe they'd have a couple more strips of these, but after over a year, they hadn't tuned up, and I'd blogged whatever else it was that caused me to mention them before, while the above shot languished in Picasa!

 

However, while visiting Peter Evans back in May, attending the Toy Project charity shop, and filling a few bags with bits, I managed to find these two, and thought "Hum, oversized Power Rangers, which ones do I need?", but, not remembering, I bought both as I was pretty sure I needed one, and indeed it was the Blue Ranger, while Yellow confirms they are the same set, without me needing to remove the others from their cards, or dig them out of the storage pile!

 

A bit big, at around 70-mil, but solids, and quite reasonable sculpts compared to some of the fatties we saw last time;

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2020/09/mmpr-is-for-mighty-morphin-power-rangers.html

 

And, might go quite well with the based ones, we saw a couple of (red & black) in Rack Toy Month from Brian B. Interestingly, despite an ocean between them, the artwork on these baseless-figures' cards, is similar to the black-based ones sent to the Blog in August, so maybe the same prigin/factory?

T is for Toys in the Media, Part the . . . God Knows!

A trio of Hestair Kiddybrick related adverts from the archive tonight, call it a Lazy Post with a bit of a tangential rant, and realise things will get better here again, shortly!

Advert for Intel, now rapidly being eclipsed by nvidia, they were the market leader for a couple of decades! And an actual Lego tie-in, so presumably the Evil Empire paid some of the marketing campaign fees?

 

One of the few Building Societies to survive the Capitalists' demutualisation frenzy which ruined not just British, but global banking back in the 1990's (made a small number, of mostly white men, very rich!), the YBS are still going, their blocks are artistic renders, I think?

 

A&L demutualised in '97 and finally packed their bags in 2011 (about the same time mine, Halifax, began is slow decline to now, a mere brand of Lloyds!), this might be a GCI image, the bloke and ball probably are artworks, of some kind, but while the blocks are based on Duplo, or Megabloks 'biggies', if it is a photograph (this trio is from the 2000's), they are probably cheap own-brand generics from Toy R Us or Mothercare? Both of whom have also disappeared!

 

It's funny, since around 1979/80, it's been one, long, fire-sale, an absolute bonanza for a few public-school educated money-men and asset strippers, which has left a Chinese car dealership on the old A30 into Hook, which I noticed tonight, a couple of miles from the huge billboard for Ranil Jayawardena (local Tory candidate, who has decided the corporate colours for the Tories round here will be green and purple!), why do we even let this state-subsidised shit into the country?

 

I mean, I like to think I'm a liberal, but I also have a sense of justice and fair play, which some might claim is overdeveloped, I blame the Asperger's, but it leaves me quite intolerant of our Government's tolerance, which boarders on incompetent complacency. And how can fair play or justice be 'overdeveloped', it either is, or it isn't?

Yet these despots; China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, &etc; they just don't play fair, even when they can't stand each-other, they will side together, get a few African kleptocrats and a couple of Central American nutters on-board and cause no end of trouble for the whole world, with a power-bloc that blocks any attempt to make the world a better place.

But the cars will be perfectly reliable, reasonably outfitted, with all the mod-cons and gizmos, and cheap, why would you pay three-times as much for a Volvo in a 'cost-of-living' crisis, created by those same landlord/landowning/speculative hedge-fund bwankers, who will now be importing these cars, using the money they don't seem to pay much tax on!

A is for And This is Why Putin Can Go Fuck Himself . . .

. . . up his perverted little hole, preferably after shoving some Bwreakshiteers and Neocons up there first.

We're better than we think we are, we're better than we know we are, but we need to make more effort, every day, especially in England.

L is for Late Layabouts Languishing in Limbo!

As well as lots of old Charity shop stuff, there's also a lot of toy show/toy fair stuff, which will probably be broken-down into box-tickers, or thematic posts now, and a few Shelfies which seem to have missed previous round-ups, including these, most of which are from the Autumn/Christmas just-gone, despite the fact we did have several 'shelfie' posts from both my Camera and Brian Berke's? But there you are, they hide from me!

This is actually from 2021, so a real hider! It was, then, the latest iteration of the rather generic and poorly-detailed/sculpted 30mm'ish figures Mark, the Man of Tin, has such success, and apparent delight with, in turning them into spacemen, monsters, Napoleonics and colonial thin-red-lines, among other things!

 

We've had various shelfies of these, over the years, since they started appearing, not long after this Blog was born, and Poundland, Poundstreatcher, the defuct Poundworld Plus and 99P Stores (along with others), have all carried them, often in more than one packaging, while Amazon has carried dozens of generics and phantom-branded stuff, tubbed, carded, bagged, blistered and clam-shelled!

 

Which is why I only shelfie them, I have samples of various sizes, in dozens of colours, and they will be findable, mint, on evilBay for decades to come, as ex-stock, if you really need them in packaging! 

I hate this shite, I phuqing hate it with a vengeance, and to be fair to my sensibilities, I hated the big-head/bobble-head/nodding crap of our childhoods, and I hated the Corinthian cricketers and footballers of the 1990/2000's, it's awful stuff. I think it's an extension of clown-phobia?

 

I even hate the 'Nutty Mads' from Marx . . . "Let's apply teenage, 50's surf-culture to World War Two murderers, shall we? Make them look silly! The Butchers of Nanking will look harmless after we've given them some racially-profiled extremities!", said no sane person, ever. Garbage!

"Yeah, but the kids like them", go the supine, brain-dead, left-of-bell-curve parents! Because unethical, immoral, capitalist Toymen, who have a greater love of money than the future mental well-being of the human race, have sold them the concept, while you were getting drunk and watching porn, to blot-out current-affairs and drown the misery of your existence, you dullards!

Deep breath Hugh, take a moment, and then see if you can find some nice dinosaurs . . .

Self-branded/in-house from B&M, I think these are the latest from HGL (Grossman) or HTI (Halsall), repacked for B&M, and at less than the price of a single larger Schleich or Papo, a bloody bargain! Who wouldn't like this under the Tree on Christmas morning?

 

These - Wenno - might be a phantom brand (also for B&M) or an actual brand mark for a China toy maker (I haven't seen them at the trade-fairs?), but they seem to be newish sculpts (albeit, maybe copies of other makers) and relatively well done for the price-point, which, again, beats the big-names hands down, and I thought the giraffe was particularly well done, compared to the rack-toy giraffes of our youth!

 

 

 

We're on safer ground with Teamsters, having seen them several times before, an imported sub-branding of HTI, covering a variety of die-cast or 'toy car' lines, and I wouldn't buy any of these, new, but they will help ID loose dinosaurs at some point in the future! Also shot in B&M.

And finally a similar set, in B&M packaging, really a generic, but helping to pinpoint an origin for some of the many teeny dinosaurs, if no better candidate comes forward in the future.

W is for Will Nobody Rid Me of This Turdulent Prick!

Oh, bless his little cotton-socks, Paul ‘The Jabbering Fuck’ Stadinger has found time in his busy schedule of dying noisily to have another pop at me! Let’s read what pearls of wisdom he managed to pull from that cesspit of a creative mind of his, and then I deal with it in my usual inimitable fashion . . .

“The sad egotist fool is on a rage rampage. He is upset that people are supposedly copying his material. Naturally, Erwin and I are at the top of his hate list. Erwin and I just laugh at his vitriol attacks. I look at his website for laughs. Occasionally, he makes such an egregious error I have to make a comment. One such error was when he listed a Remco Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as a 20,000 Leagues figure. It took him several weeks to respond. He admitted he was wrong and blamed it on a brain freeze.

He then talked about the Remco Lost in Space Board Game. He had another brain freeze not noting the game pieces were pantographed down copies of the figure on the left. Another brain freeze when he listed a lead Johillco Roman as a Greek warrior. I wish his “loyal followers ” would send him corrections so I would not have to waste time posting them on my site. Oh, he has a third brain freeze which I will let him find. If he does not find it I will give him a hint at the Plastic Warrior Show.”

I would like to thank Kent Sprecher for the use of the above photo.”

So, we’ll do it again, line be line;

“The sad egotist fool is on a rage rampage. The word he is struggling to find is - of course - 'egotistic' or ‘egotistical’ (illiteracy, always was his strong-point!), and he’d be better with a mirror to spot one of those, he oozes self-importance like an overripe mango! He is upset that people are supposedly copying his material. I wouldn’t say I’m upset, I’m annoyed, wouldn’t you be if a retail magazine was using you for its main editorial ideas, if a blog you’d been friendly with for 15-years began parking it’s tanks on your lawn, because they’ve run out of ideas, and they have, seen what they’ve posted recently? Naturally, Erwin and I are at the top of his hate list. Errr, no they aint! I barely mention them these days, except in passing, or - like the other day - as part of a list of miscreants in the hobby of whom he and his self-abusing monkey are a small part now, almost an irrelevance! Erwin and I just laugh at his vitriol attacks. 'vitriolic’ Christ! Don’t use words you don’t understand! I look at his website for laughs. I’m glad to be providing them with some light-relief; they seem to have so little of it in their lives. Occasionally, he makes such an egregious error I have to make a comment. “Egregious”, ladies and gentlemen (Outstandingly bad; shocking), my crime is so severe he’s got the thesaurus out! One such error was when he listed a Remco Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as a 20,000 Leagues figure. It took him several weeks to respond. He admitted he was wrong and blamed it on a brain freeze.

Now, this one’s interesting, I posted my ‘criminal error’ on the 28^th May 2021, I believe the turd-like entity responded within the hour “The skin diver is from the Remco Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Photo is from Kent Sprecher's site.” And I replied within a few minutes “Whatever!” and it’s still there, on the Faceplant group, so no admittance of anything, and it didn’t take several weeks! That’s a Trump trick, to pronounce a complete lie (or two) as complete fact/s! The little liar!

He then talked about the Remco Lost in Space Board Game. He had another brain freeze not noting the game pieces were pantographed down copies of the figure on the left.

Well, where does egregiousness come into it? Here’s the post, last image down the article;

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2023/12/f-is-for-follow-ups-various-recent.html

Are you struggling to notice that the fifth figure from the left (second from the right, yellow) is considerably smaller, and less detailed than the metallic blue one to its right? No, neither was I, and I didn’t think, I couldn't imagine, that you might/would need to be spoon-fed such an obvious detail?

What I said was "...a slightly damaged Lost in Space original, also Remco, in yellow" a wholly accurate description of the figure? He's calling me 'egregious' because I didn't say something? But, as I’ve pointed out before, these critics of mine hold me to a higher standard, than they hold themselves or each-other, And if you can’t get me for something I’ve genuinely got wrong, get me for something I omitted!

What an egregious sinner I am, what a fucking criminal mastermind I must be, to so deliberately withhold data from you, in the hope you will all remain wallowing in your pitiful ignorance, a pitiful ignorance, entirely of my own nefarious design, because I didn't tell you something! Bwahahaha!

And here's the thing, this is his only 'victory' in seven years, I got the name of a movie wrong? On another contry's production, of what I call 'diecast accessories'. I.E., not part of a recognised range or line of toy soldiers or model figures, but a couple of play set enhancers, from an importer/jobber, I just can't get that excited about periferal figures of a rip-off movie! AND, having corrected me he 'failed' to mention the board game so I had to 'discover' that, for us! It's all very childish, isn't it?

Another brain freeze when he listed a lead Johillco Roman as a Greek warrior.

Again, here’s the post;

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2024/01/v-is-for-vikings.html

Now, it won’t escape you notice it’s a post about fucking Vikings, not John Hill’s output! Further, I didn’t tell you about the scarecrows, or the anvil, does that make me more egregious, or does it, according to the rules he’s establishing as he goes, vomiting words uncontrollably, actually make TJF egregious, for not explaining them all to us?!!! The man’s the fucking cock-sucking, arse-bubbles of a tick-turds wet underpants!

I have explained, in several show reports, that I’m buying this cheap (50p/£1 rummage tray) lead stuff, against future posting, there’s all sorts in there, Crescent, Charbens, Britains cheap lines, Reka . . . whoever (one of the scarecrows is Wend-Al), and I’m sure that when, or, if . . . IF I ever post the Johillco Romans I will point out the anomalous figure who, wearing a smooth cuirass and greaves , while carrying - an admittedly small - round ‘Hoplon’ shield, looks more Greek to me, and I didn’t ‘list’ it, I mentioned it conversationally, on my way to introducing the fucking Vikings! And again, holding me to a higher account because I couldn’t be arsed to peruse Joplin’s tome, for an hour or two, to correctly ID everything!??

Understand this;

In December I posted a hundred articles, with fifty this month already, so, as these ‘egregious’ sins have been committed within that time, that’s a theoretical fail-rate of . . . 2-point-something%, not quite 3%? Right?

Mr. I’m-as-thick-as-pig-shit-if-not-thicker-Stadinger, has managed two posts in January (4% of my output), and got to the heady total of nine ‘articles’ in December (less than 10% of my output), a month which he bookended, by being corrected on;

•        December 2nd  - by Steve Zobel after he misidentifies Helmet spares as Historex!
•        December 26th - by Deadleaf Hairband on misidentification of Torgano as Manurba!

Are these not - in his eyes - 'Egregious' sins? They seem worse ‘brain freezes’ than mine? The man is a semi-literate, bullshitting, self-important, arsehole. Period. He is an increasing irrelevance to the hobby, and his contribution was always over-inflated, by him, as much as by anyone else. And a fail-rate of nearly 20% . . . to my less than 3%?

When this turd of a man stops making basic errors, every few posts (some howlers in October/November, I think he was corrected by his mates three times in one post) he can start telling me what I omitted to add!

And when I say ‘articles’, he re-posts new-production from the companies websites and gives us the odd loose figure., usually from a narrow band of 54-60mm. Those blue Arab things, he's shown us them twice in less than a month, they're on the company's own website, it's pointless drivel.

I wish his “loyal followers ” would send him corrections so I would not have to waste time posting them on my site. Hahahahahahahaha, that’s the sound of pomposity, ladies and gentlemen, there’s your ‘egotist’! Oh, he has a third brain freeze which I will let him find. If he does not find it I will give him a hint at the Plastic Warrior Show.”

Oh will he? Yawn! If it's as 'egregious' as the other (he's not sure on his counting either, is he?) three, it'll be a flea-bite on the arse of an elephant. At the last show, he sat in the corner, near me, looking rather tragic, like a melting turd, and I was far too busy with all the comings & goings, meetings & calling’s away, catching-up’s  and helping my mate, to be remotely bothered by that husk of a former man!

He had tried to have a pop when I walked past him a few years earlier, before Covid, but I ignored him. he emailed me later and accused me of 'running scared'!! It is the best show on earth, and I won’t let his tiny-little mind, spoil it for anyone else, including myself.

If he wants to start something, I’ll meet him in the car-park and he’ll probably die before I lay a finger on him, because he’s a walking heart-attack waiting to happen, and he’s walking in a circle because he’s already got one foot in the grave. Fuckwit, don’t talk the talk, if you can’t walk the walk!

I would like to thank Kent Sprecher for the use of the above photo.”

Yeah, because it’s the third time he’s used it, I’ve shown you seven of the ten possible figures, new images every time, and he can’t even show us one of his, it’s almost like he hasn’t got any and has to go cap-in-hand to get Kent to help him fight his war, which went remarkably well for Kent back in the Summer/Autumn of last year didn’t it . . . Hee! Hee! Hee! I notice the much vaunted, hopefully stunning article of great correction, hasn’t appeared yet?

A 'rage rampage' . . . yeah, they heard me in Edinburgh, the earthquake alarms went off in Rome, Commisioner Gordon turned on the Bat-signal, women gave-birth a week early in Caracas! The hyperbole of an over-excited fuckwit.

******************************

Here’s a classic piece of Stadinger, the lecturer, lecturing us, about lecturers, it’s priceless . . . while starting another war, and with someone else . . . it’s his only MO!

“He also earned a spot on my Ebay banned bidders. The reason is I do not like lecturers. I am not upset about legitimate criticisms. People who are lecturers are so full of themselves. They think they know what they are talking about.

He is a sad figure, he cuts a sad path, and his railing against me is pointless while he’s not actually delivering better himself? Which is not to say I don’t post some shite, but if you’re publishing as much as me, the odd duff one is of no consequence? When you’re posting fuck-all, and you still get figures wrong every few posts, people are entitled to ask why you bother at all?

It took me nearly a week to even see the garbage, as I just don’t go to Shitestuff anymore, you know? Two posts in the whole of January? Nothing of interest [to me], in either of them? I’ve done forty-odd whilst working nights and learning a new role!

All he has to do is sit on his arse, and take the weight off his heart, a bit of typing would be the only exercise he gets all day! Instead he’s sitting in a slough of hate, a miasma of envy, a cloud  of self-aggrandizement, unable to properly articulate his nastiness, but doing a good job of it anyway.

And again, I make no claims for my own sainthood, I’m an intolerant, intransigent git, especially when I’m dealing with cretins like that fuckwitted moron.