Sunday Serendipity

By Jace, a Trail Mix Contributor

A perfect song for April no matter where you are. A classic by any measure. Enjoy the music and as always enjoy your day!

More Posts by Jace

Share

45 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. jace, thank you. it’s still april?  seems like july.    also seems like the hundred days disaster in the wh may mean another hundred years war for Europe unless paris and surroundings come to their senses.

    ladyefaire, welcome aboard or back as the case may be.

     

    btw, this a.m.  from SEOUL, April 23 (Reuters) – North Korea said on Sunday it was ready to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military might, as two Japanese navy ships joined a U.S. carrier group for exercises in the western Pacific.

  2. Ahhhh, thanks for reminding me how nice Paris is in April-the only time I’ve ever been there. I wish I was back in Paris in April, strolling up the Champs Elysees from the Seine at the Place de la Concorde toward the Arc de Triomphe looking for that perfect little cafe for coffee and breakfast with Mrs. P.

  3. here’s a very long excerpt from a very long piece in today’s the guardian   … just a taste of  a tasty intrigue abroil which hopefully does not get lost amidst tweet tantrums and other distractions: When Nigel Farage met Julian Assange

    Why did Ukip’s ex-leader want to slip in unnoticed to meet the WikiLeaks chief at the Ecuadorian embassy?
    [….]

    “Nigel Farage Just Visited the Ecuadorian Embassy in London,” the headline said. “Asked by BuzzFeed News if he’d been visiting Julian Assange, the former Ukip leader said he could not remember what he had been doing in the building.”

    And that was how the world found out, by accident, that the founder of WikiLeaks, the organisation which published Hillary Clinton’s leaked emails – a decisive advantage for Donald Trump’s campaign – and Farage, a friend of Donald Trump, were mutually acquainted.

    In Britain, we routinely treat Farage as if he were Widow Twankey in the national pantomime that is Ukip politics. And Widow Twankey dropping by on the man who lives in the Ecuadorian embassy’s broom cupboard seemed just one more weird moment in the weird times in which we now live; six weeks on, it had faded into yet another episode in the surreality show that now passes for normality.

    But in a week that saw two major developments on both sides of the Atlantic regarding the respective roles that Assange and Farage played in the US election and the EU referendum – the same week in which a UK general election was announced – it is an attitude that needs urgent re-examination.

    For if you were to pick three individuals who had the most decisive impact on that most decisive of years, 2016, it would be hard to see beyond Trump, Assange and Farage. What was not known until Ian Stubbings decided to go for an early lunch is that there is a channel of communication between them.

    Last week brought this more clearly into focus. Because in a shock development last Thursday, the US justice department announced it had prepared charges with a view to arresting Assange. A day later, the Electoral Commission announced it was investigating Leave.EU – the Brexit campaign Farage headed.

    Significantly, the commission said its investigation was “focused on whether one or more donations – including of services – accepted by Leave.EU was impermissible”.

    One of the grounds on which a donation can be deemed “impermissible” is that it comes from abroad. A fundamental principle of British democracy and our electoral laws is that foreign citizens and foreign companies cannot buy influence in British elections via campaign donations.

    Robert Mercer, the billionaire hedge fund owner, bankrolled the Trump campaign and his company, Cambridge Analytica, the Observer has revealed, donated services to Leave.EU. If this issue forms part of the Electoral Commission investigation, this isn’t just a case of possibly breaking rules by overspending a few pounds. It goes to the heart of the integrity of our democratic system. Did Leave.EU seek to obtain foreign support for a British election? And, if so, does this constitute “foreign subversion”?
    [….]
    As Britain hurtles towards a general election to choose a government that will take us out of the European Union, this may be the moment to realise that Nigel Farage is not Widow Twankey, and that this is not a pantomime. Farage’s politics and his relationships are more complicated than we, the British press, have previously realised. His relationship to Mercer and Cambridge Analytica, the same firm that helped Trump to power, is now under official investigation. Every day, more and more questions are being asked about that administration.
    Yet, here in Britain, we plunge blindly on. Real, hard questions need to asked about what exactly these relationships are and what they mean. Don’t they?

  6. Ah, Paris. The closest I may ever get is a good Maigret and a croissant . . . but that’s not bad.

    Someday someone will tell the story of 2016. I wish Georges Simenon were around to do it. It might be palatable.

    And thank you, Jace.

  7. Nice tune for following the French elections today.

    Here are sobering numbers to think about. No slippage among Trump voters:

    Washington Post poll: “There are no signs of major slippage in support among those who voted for Trump. His approval rating among those who cast ballots for him stands at 94 percent. Among Republicans, it is 84 percent. Asked of those who voted for him whether they regret doing so, 2 percent say they do, while 96 percent say supporting Trump was the right thing to do. When asked if they would vote for him again, 96 percent say they would, which is higher than the 85 percent of Hillary Clinton voters who say they would support her again.”

  8. Thank You Jace. Wondering how the French Candidate who was also a holographic optical illusion will do. If anyone at CNN has a sense of humor they’ll resurrect their holographic optical illusion reporters to give the results. Weeeeee …….! Or Oui …….!

  9. patd, what is the opposite of the illuminati? Because I was thinking that as I read your Guardian article about the Shemp, Joe Besser & Curly Joe of international political intrigue.

     

  10. sjwny. altho she was talking about wh crew, it could also apply in this case:

    Ana Navarro: “That to me look a little bit like House of Cards slash the Keystone Cops slash The Three Stooges because sometimes they’re just running into each other.”

  11. Mr Crawford, re: Secretary Clinton & Poll numbers: the way forward for any Party is to move forward. Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, George McGovern were part of the Democratic Party Pantheon too but this didn’t stop other Democrats from eventually being elected. They ( & others ) were used as boogeymen by the opposition & within their own Party. Same situations apply to the Republicans & their losing Candidates. Bottoming out is an American political tradition – maybe in reaction to our anti-Royalist roots, voter fatigue, maybe more so because of the wrong good people running at the wrong bad time. I can’t imagine anyone regretting voting for Secretary Clinton; this was the Campaign of good vs bad, right vs wrong. Backing someone perceived as a loser might taint the results. After the next Democrat is elected the same polling question asked about Would you support again? would yield similar results for the Republicans. To the victors go the spoils.

  13. patd, love you used the word bunch. My Gram used that word to describe a boil or painfully infected pimple, etc. So, yeah, the word fits as you wrote. ?

  14. SJ: “Bottoming out is an American political tradition”

    yep, as the saying goes, When you hit bottom at least you can push up

  15. anyone got an opinion on the political future of seth moulton?  tho’t he did well on maher Friday.  here’s raw story quoting him: “Mass. Rep. Seth Moulton nails Republicans in Congress: They’re not stupid they’re cowards”

    Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) revealed on Friday’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” that he frequently gets asked why Republicans are so stupid.

    “I get asked, ‘why are so many of your colleagues just stupid?’” Moulton confessed. “Look, to be honest, I don’t think they’re stupid. I think it’s kind of hard to get elected to Congress. I think what’s lacking in Congress is not intelligence, its courage.” 

    He went on to explain that Republicans in Congress know the truth about Donald Trump and the collusion with Russia.

    “They know what’s going on,” he continued. They refuse to speak up, however.

     

    former marine, photogenic, appears able to walk and chew gum at same time….

  17. Saw Moulton on Maher, did think he seemed like an up and comer, made SE Cupp look foolish (worst I’ve ever seen her do)

  18. That Trump’s base is still solid is really not all that surprising. Take that poll again after they have lost their health care coverage, our seen Medicare turned into block grants,. Disease,sickness and financial calamity are not partisan they effect republicans, democratic, and independents alike.

  20. Well Jace, it goes to show all the trashing of Trump has no effect on his voters. And it’s more than his base sticking with him. I had assumed there would be some falling off at the margins, among the less committed Trump voters who were holding their noses on Election Day. But 96% would vote for him again? That’s higher than I expected. I expected that kind of number only among his core believers.

  21. Sjwny,

    Good people running at a bad time or the wrong time pretty much sums it up.

    I would add Hubert Humphrey to that list. He simply could not break through his association with Johnson’s Vietnam policy and Nixon’s fear mongering and back channel meddling in the peace negotiations. I consider his loss to be one of the great political what ifs in American presidential history.

  22. Craig,

    You are most likely correct. Apparently there is a large segment of the population that is game for missel strikes on Syria and war games with North Korea. Wondering if they will be equally supportive when it is time for their loved ones to put boots on the ground in either or both of those countries?

    As for the hold your nose crowd, me thinks that they have given up on the idea of government ever working again and are willing to accept dysfunction as an alternative.

  23. a large segment of America are racists and Tump is their voice –they see their chance to return to 50’s America   they only care about making Amerca white again  they don’t care if we go down in a white christian versus everyone else war

  24. jace: “willing to accept dysfunction as an alternative.”

    good point. Also, I’m thinking the more official Washington trashes him(especially media) the stronger he gets. That’s how much they’re hated. And it sets up a scenario for him where anything that goes wrong be can blame on Washington and get away with it. So long as he is seen fighting the status quo, with or without results.

  25. Craig,

    Trashing Trump won’t have any effect because he has convinced his base that the system is rigged against him and by extension them. It will be results or the lack there of that will erode his support. If and when his policies start to hit home they will be felt most acutely among that portion of the population who support him. he can survive criticism from The NY Times or the Washington Post, he won’t easily survive another foreign war, five dollar a gallon gas, or a down turn that puts millions out of work.

  28. Ms NY, equal and opposite of the Illuminati are thought by many to be the Discordians.  This is the ancient dualism of Ahura Mazda v Ahriman, Order v Chaos, communists v Social Revolutionaries, Autocracy v Anarchy, and Edgar Bergan v The Marx Brothers.

    I lean in the direction of the Marx Brothers and Duck Soup.

  29. groper v woman candidate . . . . Hmmmmm. Y’know, I can’t believe the thoughts of the people polled would be the same if they had it to do over again.

    If the election were held today between the deadbeat and Sen Gillibrand or Sen Klobuchar, the Dem might win by a length, if only because Gillibrand and Klobuchar haven’t had 25 years worth of outlandish lies dumped on them.

    If the repub primaries were held today, kasich would beat the deadbeat by 7 lengths. The public now knows that trump is a russhin con man, and kasich is much smarter, too.

  30. If him young one wants to attack a US aircraft carrier, I have to presume that his generals will martyr him. To carry out an order to attack a US aircraft carrier would be to vaporize Pyongyang, all the no Korean military bases, and the general staff offices.  I can’t imagine any north Korean general choosing to destroy himself (and everything he knows and enjoys) just to help butterball poke Uncle Sam in the eye.

    And yet, the world is not a reasonable place.

  31. Jace, thanks for the very nice choice of Miss Ella and Mister Louis for our Sunday morning. I hope we’re not cursed with Ms Pen next week.

  33. and kasich is much smarter, too…..probably won’t allow himself to be filmed eating

  34. Michael Berkowitz It was a great march. A much bigger science march than any that Obama had. It may have been the biggest science march in the world’s history.

  35. I broke down and spent a few hours reviewing the disaster.  I have some hesitations about the poll.  We need a couple more to look at.

    There are some silly, very silly, plays coming from the WH which smell like he wants to play bluff the Congress into doing what he wants.  It might work in business, especially if your backed by the Mafia and the Russians.  But, those folks under the Rotunda tend to not bluff well.  Right now Congress is doing the only thing they are skilled at, making a CR.  They are accomplished at it and we might as well expect this to be the game for a long time.  Nutso in the WH is going to learn a nasty lesson if he fails to join the game and decides to shut down the government.

    I see Jenner is talking again.  I did not read much except that she is still a republican and not talking to the floater.  BFD

    Today is cool, the rain south of here, not getting a lot done though.  A week of PT is not enough to be able to use the wing for much of anything.  It is good enough to hold a cocktail glass and not drop it though.

    One of the big issues affecting the world, and has been since the invention of power not derived from an animal, is what to do with the people whose job had been to push the waterwheel to water the fields.  This issue has been discussed for a couple hundred years and no solution has been created for the current situation.

    You take a master of tapping on the one spot to make the muffler fit into the exhaust pipe and tell him (history is behind this) that will no longer be his job.  He was sent to train on screwing broom handles into push brooms. But that went away to China or India or Pakistan.  Now he is fifty-five, out of work and no one wants to hire an old screwer. No matter what he does no one will hire him.  White, old, high school or CC, out of work three years and no skills.  And, he lives where the county gave the manufacturer incentives to move away from any city.  He lost whatever retirement savings he and his wife had in the Bush Depression.  What is he going to do?

     

  37. BB, I’d take the gender out of it. Trump won white women by 10 pts. What’s he and she to do?

  38. aren’t we discounting the 3 million plus more that voted NOT Donald than voted for Donald? what are they…nonpeople?  even take away those who say they regret voting the NOT Donald ticket, there are still left more NOT donalds than those who don’t regret voting for him.  he has only a third of the country approving/supporting him….. there are 2/3 s out there who are not.

    on another subject, what happens when the various intel commitees find that there was criminal collusion between Donald and vlad?  that even pence was part of it?  will the whole ball of wax fall in the house court? will the speaker become the president?

  39. Jace, Europe is on the short list and if we go only to 3 cities they will be Rome, Florence and Paris. If there’s a fourth it will be Venice. Mrs P has never crossed the pond.

  40. sure Patd, but what he got was enough to win the Electoral College, and without major slippage in that vote or a boost in Dem turnout, he could again. In other words, that 2/3 disapproval doesn’t mean much if they don’t vote.

  41. In the elections so far Demcratic turn out is up
    Trump just attacked Jon Ossoff on Twitter because he knows that if this Democrat wins in a red Georgia congressional district, it’ll reflect on his failure as a president. And it will scare congressional Republicans away from his anti-worker, anti-immigrant agenda.
    Let’s make that happen.
    To win the June 20 run-off after getting 48% of the vote in a 18-way race this week and nearly winning outright, Ossoff needs to essentially restart his campaign from the ground up.
    Chip in $3 to Jon Ossoff’s campaign so he can FIGHT BACK against Trump’s attacks and the millions that will be spent by conservative interests in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

  42. Now down to  the Fascist Ms. Le Pen (Trump & Russian backed) and the globalist Macron (Obama backed).  It looks as if Macron will take it since the supposedly hidden Nazi vote didn’t show up for Le Pen who is visiting Putin in search of more funding.

    Let us hope the French are smarter than their US Counterparts were.

     

  44. Mrdoodle, a good Maigret (although for me it would be. Beaujolais Nouveau orVillages) and a croissant oh, and Dijon mustard, is as close to Paris as I’m likely to get for a couple or few years.  

Comments are closed.