Friday, November 27, 2015

Most Eyebrow-Raising Headline of the Week



"Chinese woman given up for dead has been in a cyber cafe playing computer games for the last ten years" - El Vocero

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

TSB: Looks like Hillary didn't start the "At This Point, What Difference Does It Make" trick of disappearing all the records of your wrongdoing. Chicago police were doing it in the 1920's and the Popes have been doing it since 1929 with Il Duce, Hitler, Stalin. Then They exported it to Argentina after WWII and united the US and Italian mafia's in the 60's. gwb

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-27/mysterious-fire-hits-argentine-ministry-finance-destroys-years-prior-regimes-files

and Ben McIntyre's latest book on Kim Philby is another great one you won't see mentioned on tv because he ran MI6 for years while working for Stalin: http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Among-Friends-Philby-Betrayal-ebook/dp/B00I7696IG/ref=pd_sim_351_12?ie=UTF8&dpID=51tgkG%2B6VVL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=105Y1P1JWSWPAWBGZ8CQ

TSB said...

I read that book by McIntyre, and thought it was excellent. He's done some great quirky stuff, like Forgotten Fatherland, a story about a failed German utopian community in Paraguay that was founded on Nietzsche's philosophy. I'll read anything he writes.

James said...

Haven't Mcintyre's book, but I know something of the subject of the Cambridge spies (Philby, MacClean, Blunt, Burgess, and I believe Cairncross) and the guy who blew them Golytsin.

TSB said...

There is a fictional treatment of Philby by LeCarre (Bill Hayden, in Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy), and his own very poor autobiography that was written while he was in Russia. Blunt wrote his memoirs, which were mildly interesting. The others left nothing behind but private letters. Cairncross emigrated to the U.S. and later to Italy and France, but published nothing about his life except a ghostwritten and inaccurate book (The Enigma Spy). Kind of a dull lot, really.

The smug Blunt is the only one I wish had been shot.

James said...

Yes, they mostly had obscure and rather sad ends, quite a let down from their self images. Did you know who Philby's father was?

Anonymous said...

TSB: Hillary announced today that the Patriots are her favorite football team which resulted in their 1st loss of the season in Denver. gwb Just kidding but her 270 billion $ infrastructure program financed by fairy dust seemed like a sure thing for Massachusetts.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/hillary_chabot/2015/11/chabot_walsh_backing_may_not_help_hilllary_get_union_vote

TSB said...

James: St. John Philby? Kind of a second-rank Lawrence of Arabia, he stabbed the British in the back by persuading King Saud to tear up his trade deal with the the British and sign up the American company that became Saudi Aramco. A bizarre figure, like Lawrence but, unlike Lawrence, he lived a full life. Reportedly his last words on his deathbed were "God, I'm bored."

Anonymous said...

TSB: This just in! John Kerry to visit Kosovo Wed to congratulate it's leaders on their new democratic government.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-30/meanwhile-kosovos-parliament

gwb

James said...

Well I'm preaching to the choir. A lovely bunch weren't they? I've always liked the slightly off center types, but I always knew that they had great capacity for mischief if given the right circumstance.

James said...

TSB,
Speaking of colorful characters, one of mine is Victor McLaglen, if you've watched many Wayne movies you've seen him, but I'm betting you don't know that much about him. What a life! If you read up about him, you might wonder, as I do, if he ever met St. John Philby.

Anonymous said...

James: I watched a couple of those McCleglan shows on your recommendation. That guy is a fantastic talent. That is a great possibility of his knowing St.John Philby. gwb John Kerry will probably say in his memoirs that he left the Senate because: "I was so bored."

James said...

GWB,
Unfortunately Kerry doesn't possess the brains to be bored. I'm glad you liked McClaglen. He's one of those rarities who had an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor years after he had wan for Best Actor.

James said...

TSB,
I almost forgot LeCarre is one of my favorites. Alec Guinness is Smiley.

Anonymous said...

TSB,James: I love it that Philby's student, as head of the CIA tore the whole place apart for years trying to find the mole that never was and ended up a paranoid nutcase. It's kind of like the search for the perfect anti-ISIS strategery or immigration reform plan. gwb

James said...

GWB: If your talking about J J Angleton, let's just say the jury is still out on that one. Way out. I think that Angleton was right, but didn't consider the consequences of how he went about it. If I remember right, he was head of counter intel.