It’s Not Hyperbole

When I first referred to Jeremy Clarkson as “The Greatest Living Englishman”, it started off as a nod to his unflinching honesty when it came to everything he looked at, such as his (non-)review of some Vauxhall car model back in the 1990s:  “If they’re not going to bother to make an interesting car, I’m not going to bother to review it.”

That caused Big Business (in this case, Vauxhall’s then-parent company General Motors) to go apeshit, because that’s not the way car reviewers are supposed to behave.

It’s that same unflinching honesty that he displayed in his first bumbling efforts at farming which turned his Clarkson’s Farm TV show into a runaway smash hit, and along the way almost single-handedly changed the way the British regard both food and the farmers who produce it.

So when he turned that same agricultural ignorance towards brewing beer — simply because he had a barn full of unsold barley which he needed to sell — one might think that it was just another celebrity using their name to sell a product.

In this case, one would be not only wrong, but spectacularly wrong.  And if you want to see a case study in marketing that, in hindsight, never had a chance of failing, then I implore you to watch this video.

Time and time again, “the experts” believed that Clarkson was making a mistake, and every single time he proved them not only wrong, but spectacularly wrong.

He turned a few thousand pounds’ worth of unsold barley into a £75 million company, and in the process, changed the way British people think about farming, about beer and about the people who farm and the people who brew beer.

And he did it all with his usual unflinching honesty and openness, which gave the lie to the usual corporate veneer of respectability and care for both their employees and their customers.

Which is why he truly is the Greatest Living Englishman.

I can’t wait to try it the next time I go over to Britishland.

News Roundup

It’s been a busy week for criminal assholes and law enforcement this past week, to be sure.

 
And:

Now for some Terrorist Bastard News:


...fair trial, then a hanging.


...see above.

In International Terrorist Bastard News:


...of course, they’ll be released by teatime because the Kraut fuzz don’t want to be accused of “religious favoritism” or similar.


...all those Oz gun control laws worked so well, didn’t they?  So of course their answer is MOAR GUN CONTROL.

Then we have a Hero:


...but if he’d shot the bastard with his own gun, of course Our Hero would be the one charged with murder while the scumbag would be charged with causing a public disturbance.
#OzLaws

But:


...nothing’s going to come of this, because Australians have become a pussified nation since Covid-19 and the lockdowns.  At the first accusations of “racism”, they’ll just cringe and lick the chains that imprison them.  However:


...next:  OzGovt to ban sales of pigs’ heads.  You heard it here first.

On to Ordinary Crime News:


...Africa wins again.


...hundreds of CCTV cameras and strict gun control laws, all working together… not.
And the usual response (from a socialist politician in California — some redundancy):


...we do indeed.  Let’s start by taking a thousand-odd off the books, for starters, such as the interstate bans on concealed carry.

Some International MAGA (MASGA?) News:


...in my personal favorite Latin-American country.

And now…

And in our journey down :


...I know, I know, we’ve seen Kate Tracey before.  But:

Uh… What About Us Folks?

FFS, I’m getting sick of this kind of bullshit.

The Trump administration is ramping up its America First Global Health Strategy in its latest efforts to ditch the traditional USAID model by delivering billions in aid directly to several countries in Africa.

Under the new model so far, which bypasses the propping up of the “NGO industrial complex,” the United States has signed six memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with six African countries totaling over $4 billion in direct U.S. investment matched by over $1.6 billion from signatory countries.

I have a better idea.  Instead of “investing” $4 billion in Africa, how about sending that kind of support to, oh, I dunno, our failing healthcare system right here in the U.S. of A.?

And by “system”, I don’t mean pharmaceutical companies or hospitals, either.  I’m talking about pumping up Medicare or Medicaid — you know, people who may actually have voted for the current Administration in last year’s elections?

If you want me to be really blunt, here’s what I really mean.

Most American voters do not give a flying fuck about Africa, and Africa’s health problems.  We Americans pay taxes, and we expect to see some kind of return from our government on those taxes in the form of civic improvements right here in the United States, not in shithole African countries that hate us, support our enemies like China, Iran and Russia, and live in a squalor of their own making.

Did I already mention that aid to Africa is the equivalent of pouring (taxpayer) dollars into a bottomless pit where it ends up filling the bank accounts of corrupt government officials?  I did?  Oh yeah, and note the date on which I said it.

I don’t care that $4 billion dollars is going to be spent “more efficiently” or whatever:  I want that $4 billion to be spent in the United States, and not in fucking Africa.  To repeat:  it’s our money, taken from us at gunpoint, and if it’s going to be spent, we should be the beneficiaries and not some fly-bitten cesspit-dwellers in a hellhole of their own making.

Or — and here’s another thought — you (that is, the Trump Administration) can take less of our hard-earned money away from us, thus taking away our need for government “assistance” in the first place.

If I recall correctly, reducing our tax burden was one of the signature promises of the Republicans last year prior to the elections.  Well, so far I’ve seen precious little of that activity taking place;  and sending our tax money to Africa does not improve my mood any.

I know, it’s a lot more complicated than that, there are all sorts of policy implications and socio-political goals etc. etc. etc.

Here’s what I’ve learned.  It’s always less complicated than it’s made out to be, and there is always a simpler solution than the one proposed.

I’m always hearing from DOGE (remember them?) how much money they’re supposedly “saving” us.  Well, it doesn’t seem like all these spending cutbacks are doing us — the taxpayers — much good, because the average American is still living in a shit-show of financial uncertainty and hardship.

So instead of some high-falutin’ pronouncement of “America First Global Health Strategy”, allow me to suggest that you just drop the “Global” part.  “America First Health Strategy” has a far better ring to it.

Keep our tax money at home, and reduce the amounts we have to pay.  It really is that simple, you fucking thieves and morons.

A Proper Review

I’ve always been a fan of Top Gear / Grand Tour guy James May because like me, he’s old-fashioned and has very specific likes and dislikes about things one encounters in daily life.

So he opens this video with a review of his own 2010 Porsche Carrera, going over his setup and option choices in his usual pedantic way.

Then he tries the new 2025 version of his 911 Carrera T, and gentle mayhem follows.

Take 15 minutes out of your life to enjoy his journey, and its ending.


Here’s the spec sheet for said 2025 911 Carrera T.  All I’d get would be the no-cost passenger seats (which would allow for grocery bags and gun cases) and of course, a proper manual transmission because that’s how James and I prefer our cars.  Price:  just under $140,000 — way too much, needless to say, but for a 911, a “bargain” (excuse me, I appear to be having a small nosebleed).

Anyway, I’m by no means a Porsche 911 fan, but even I might be tempted… after watching that video.