Sorry for my continued absence. Duty calls. Here's a fresh link.
Recently there was (yet another) post somewhere out in the world about how they will soon divorce. And my first thought was: Haven't I heard this before? which moved quickly to: how many times have I heard this (through the years)? There were a number of questions raised which ... I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. One of the points which has been raised is that KC would somehow be shelling out beaucoup money to get her to go "away". That he has all this money stashed away and can pull it out at a moment's notice. But does he? He inherited a lot of "stuff" from his mother but ... isn't it a lot of tangible stuff like properties? and with that staff to maintain it and insurance. Inside said properties is art, antique furniture and other "old stuff" which may be valuable" but ... that kind of thing is subject to the whims and bank accounts of the rarified people who may be interested in it (which is not most of us in terms of bei
Comments
AnT's thinking about possible backers, and their motives, is several steps ahead of me but it does ring true.
I was on the point of recommending that Nutties have a look at this book by Oliver Bullough: Money Land: Why Thieves and Crooks Now Rule the World & How to Take it Back (first pub. 2018)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moneyland-Thieves-Crooks-Rule-World-ebook/dp/B01NBWDPW8
I don't much like Amazon but it was the first site to come up when I googled it and it there's a good description of the theme.
Browsing through it yesterday, and bearing in mind what Swamp Woman had said, I started with Chapter 13 `Nuclear Death is Knocking Your Door' (sic), where the author speculates that this episode was a matter of private, not state, enterprise, all tied up with dodgy money dealings on a spectacular scale.
I now feel that Miss Vegan-Fur-Coat-and-No-Knickers had, and still has, this kind of astronomical wealth as her ultimate objective. Her aims would tie in very nicely with those of the suggested backers. Perhaps one day we shall see her appalling behaviour as a blessing in very heavy disguise?
Harry Markle floated the backer scenario very early on and pointed out that if this so, they'd backed the wrong horse. Having mated with a donkey, she's kicked her way out of the stable and they've both bolted to where the pastures, to them, looked greener.
If they did buy Mudslide Manor, and can't afford the real cost, they are in deep do-do. perhaps they are just going for hiring by the hour - shades of a hotel room? - which could be safer.
We're still little wiser about Markus Anderson; does he deserve a closer look? So I searched `Markus Anderson 2020' The latest mentions of him were in August, just quoting what FF said about his part in introducing M & H. I did found something interesting by sampling the more obscure pages:
From Google books:
"As the world suffers the repercussions of nuclear war, a unique and secret government organization leads a team of soldiers, scientists and engineers. Their goal is to change the world."
https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Between_the_Pacific.html?id=CnC4zQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
I've no idea if this is the same MA or not but it strikes me as distinctly creepy. What is it the police say? `There's no such thing as coincidence'?
Anyone prepared to follow it up?
I reckon AnT makes a cogent argument - Had you read Bullough's book, AnT?
`Benedict the Shadow Pope'? That's uncomfortable reading. I immediately thought of Blair; other former PMs continued to serve in Parliament, either by being put in the Lords or, more recently, as ordinary MPs. They didn't clear off to make oodles more dosh.
I hope he has an enjoyable day, despite everything.
What will the Harkles do?
I am very interested in reading Moneyland. We have too many robber barons floating on this earth. They learned from their predecessors to hide behind curtains and pull all the strings.
Happy Birthday Prince Charles
Cut em off!!
@Magatha, since grandson isn't expected this morning before dawn, I decided to take a nice long rest. I still woke before dawn. I was so happy to read your hilarious limericks to brighten the morning! Just think: Your limericks and copious amounts of coffee may keep SwampMan alive today. I have a sick sheep that needs antibiotics (my diagnosis is pasteurella pneumonia from the weather stress of hot, cold snap, incredibly hot, windy/rainy for a week, then REALLY rainy and hot and windy and now colder plus breeding stress). But I can't catch her. I will tell you why.
SwampMan took down the cross fences which I don't need per him (which I had fenced off for rotational grazing.) He also removed the fenced alleyway to the lambing barn where I gather the sheep for shearing, worming, hoof trimming, ear tagging, medications if needed, etc. He didn't ASK, of course. He just did it unilaterally when I was shopping. So, here I am, in the wet, the sheep hooves need trimming to keep from getting hoof rot. Can I catch them? Nooooooo. I don't have a herding dog, just guard dogs. The sheep are not stupid enough to go into THAT barn without lots of feed bribery which, since they have LOTS of pasture, they do not want THAT badly. Sick sheep isn't eating so she'll stay clear. If I try to chase her down, I'm liable to kill her through increased stress. She may be dead this morning.
When I gently queried SwampMan in a voice that neighbors half a mile away could hear as to what altered mental status he was laboring under to remove my expletive expletive expletive fences, he said "But YOU SAID you wanted to replace the fences!" (My molars are pretty much ground into dust at this point.) "I want to replace them ONE. AT. A. TIME!" He said (in an injured and misunderstood because women are crazy voice) "I didn't want you out here working so hard because you ARE getting older, so I took them down all at once to HELP you!" (I also said that I wanted to update the bathroom and kitchen, but has he made any moves on that? Noooooo. Now that I think about it, that is probably a good thing. I want to be here when that is happening.)
*sigh* I asked "So, when is my new fence wire going to be delivered?" "What?" "My new fence wire to replace what you tore down?" "I'm not buying that, that would be $1,000 right before Christmas!" "EXACTLY!" "Well, it's your damn sheep so YOU should buy the wire." "I DID. You tore it all down." "Well, it was rusty and coming apart!" "But it would have still worked for the next three or four months!"
Looks like I may be weaving willow fences in the near future.
https://twitter.com/meggiefoster/status/1327243704256565248/video/1
I am quickly catching up:
That my backer theory seems convoluted or far fetched to some is understandable. As I said, it is my pebble not my world. (Thanks for getting that, Hikari! I know you know what I mean.) But I am a fairly logical person as well as a mild person who has seen a barking lot and been unexpectedly privy to more in my otherwise mundane travels, so, I can’t tip it out of my shoe (not valued at 700) just yet.
Occam’s Razor was mentioned. I used to subscribe to that theory, but have followed DECIDE framework for awhile now. I switched for two reasons. Life in the days of Aristotle, the real originator of Occam’s was pretty simple. Finite enemies, finite business, finite opportunities.
Nothing like today, with its layers of worldwide business and government powers, multilayer tech-abetted scams, massive banking and investment groups, organizations devoted to hiding your dirt, cults and drug runners, space programs here co-existing with exploitable third world people there, disinformation teams paid fortunes, dark webs, and the mystery of Hollywood too!
I think Occam’s Razor expires about the time you leave university, or leave your childhood hometown. It can work for many things (why does a starlet keep dating weird married men? —> PR! Why does Kim K live in a surgeon’s office —-> branding!) but then it fizzles out. The idea that life is simple today.....I wish it were.
In Germany, just by visiting friends, I knew scientists. They had government links. The gov links had questions. I met some at a party. They thought it would be great if I joined them for a trip to visit a place in question, dressed as a cheery demi-glam party bird assistant secretary Auslander mistress type, and sniff around with the science guys, since the gov guys had found nothing yet. In question were millions and millions of euros. To this day I don’t fully understand the story, but I did sniff out some oddities that unmasked the fraud, because I assumed the simple explanation was wrong, I did (in my giggly party bird guise) get students to drink, laugh and talk with me, confirm oddities and offer evidence,mand a complex multi-country, veiled ownership scam hiding as a green business to take in millions from various governments went down. Each step of the way, for two years, the gov guys and science guys had used Occam’s Razor and failed. I looked at it creatively as trained by a mentor years before, with a lot of framework thinking and zigzagged my way to the correct steps,and then correct layered answer. It seemed too stupid and James Bond to consider, so they didn’t. And this happened to me, a nobody advertising and branding person. So...
I doubt the backers of M&H are anything as sophisticated as the lot above, but I do think they can be backed by a few bad guys, deviant money, and ludicrous power-tripping guys criss-crossing their goals and wants from the Harkling. Men or women who live in a creepy money fantasyland you don’t want to know. She was a spectacularly bad pick, Harry was just a ladder, and I think the wealthy spoiled cokeheads behind it all are flailing and flummoxed. Time will tell. But I don’t think it is as simple as a lucky unintelligent yacht piece working the royals and their bankers over so easily. There is more.
I have not heard of Bullough’s book, but you have definitely intrigued me and i will order it read it and post back to you. Thank you so much for the recommendation. Like you, I am not an Amazon fan, so I will see what my independent agent can do.
Shadow pope.......well, you know, the wisest and most worldly professor I ever had, who advised both companies and governments, taught us his key premise on the first day of lectures: If you can think of it, it can happen. A dear friend lives in Rome and works in the film and arts, with a home near the Vatican. She is a rosary Catholic. For a few years now, though, she has been telling me the word on the street is the Romans young and old don’t like or trust this pope and have theories. She says the crowds are (were) tourists, And now even old devout women cross themselves hurrying past, and angrily talk in her local cafe of the pope’s dark bad energy — unheard of topics to verbalize.
I wish I’d read the early Harry Markle about backers. I know he/she took down some early posts for work on the book. I hope he reposts. Back then I might have rolled my eyes. Now I am ordering tin hats in new designs for myself!
While there have always been Markus Anderson types sliding around the edges and backgrounds of any social or trending fashion and arts scene,a few have made their way into the corporate world too via personal connections or skills for certain tasks. They are like sleek rats that come out from nowhere to forage, then slip away again. Their quiet watching, seeing, knowing is their value.
I agree with both @NotMeghanMarkle and @AnT -- that is, I think that the Harkles are obviously backed by Prince Charles, but also that there are other players in this global game who may be finding other ways to support them. And I don't know if Charles fully understands this in his indulgent love for his younger son.
For someone who could be a visionary in the field of organic farming, he is so short-sighted when it comes to family and politics that it takes my breath away. Meghan might have thought she had hit the jackpot when she got her claws into Prince Harry, but she didn't know it was absolutely in the bag until she met his father. That was when she really learned what she could get away with. And it was after meeting Prince William that she learned what she couldn't get away with.
The Cambridges are very strong right now and seem to represent the absolute best in Britain. Her Majesty's decision to give everyone in the direct line of succession special prominence also helps Prince George's chances of making it to the throne. (As for his own children? I don't know. As things stand, there's a fairly good chance. BUT it depends on how successfully Prince William can sell tradition and Britishness as the opposite of globalism. To give credit to Charles, a stripped-back monarchy just may be the golden mean that gets both royalists and patriotic republicans on the same page.
I love Meggie Foster! Oh, thanks for posting this newest one. It may be her best yet. She deserves her own ITV program for getting us through lockdown. Her Priti Patel work is brilliant.
(Off topic) Oh. My. God. I am so sorry. Can I propose a possible quick solution? Something happened to the animal fencing at my friends’ land in Colorado after weather crushed it, and they got a local high school group, a sort of trades skills classroom of boys, to come right in and help them rebuild. The teacher was happy to get the boys more hands-on, problem solving skillS. Harder in this time of Covid but perhaps if you have any leeway in Florida. since it outdoors work, and students would be spaced? I believe they get credit for designing and building solutions per that friend, so might be worth a phone call? Even for braced plastic sheeting crowd control temporary fencing?
In an older thread, I mentioned a woman I used to know, who was convinced that Prince Philip had given the order to have Diana killed because the monarchy simply couldn't tolerate the future King having an Al-Fayed half-brother. How I wish we were still in contact, so I could point out that Meghan's still being alive after all that Moonbump-cupping and plastic baby flaunting and "your grandmother"-ing is ultimate proof that the BRF isn't led by a sociopath.
This blog is awesome because I bet we are the only ones on the Internet who could introduce the Oxfordian-Stratfordian debate in the context of Rachel friggin Markle. I was a literature major at University, and my Shakespeare seminar was my favorite class. My professor was a traditionalist, as was I at the time. This was the late 1980s and I was entirely unaware there was debate over Shakespeare’s authorship. Some years later, I read Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography, in which he describes a day trip to Stratford. Viewing Shakespeare’s humble birthplace… A replica, I believe, on the site of the original, Charlie announces flatly that There’s no way that the poor kid who grew up like this could have written all that is attributed to him. Impossible, end of. Chaplin himself of course grew up uneducated in grinding poverty, And he certainly made something out of himself. I thought Chaplin’s attitude very harsh toward a fellow poor boy made good, And smacked of jealousy and self loathing, frankly. But more recently, in light of “Anonymous”, the film, I have been led to investigate the “Oxfordian” claims and find them not without merit. Very plausible in fact. But I depart from wholly partisan thinking and envision instead a collaborative effort between these two wildly disparate figures as being the most likely. A brilliant, world travelled reclusive aristocrat with a wide library and the leisure to scribble all day providing the transcendent iambic pentameter; His secret partner, the veteran showman and impresario..Versed in the world of the theater and what sells as the frontman, the face of this enterprise, and artistic consultant, Inserting into the scripts, those crowd pleasing low characters so beloved by the groundlings. An artistic partnership that worked a treat and pleased both parties very well, Playing to their strengths. Even if the scion of an illiterate glove maker who attained an 8th grade education at a village school and never travelled outside of England in his lifetime and died without a single book in his possession Had possessed some Mozart like savantic ability with language, he was in charge of running a very busy theater. When did he find the time for so much literary output, And yet in later years exhibited zero interest in letters? No letters, diaries or papers of any kind in Shakespeare own hand survive. He retired exceedingly abruptly while still the toast of the London stage and disappeared into the country never to be heard from again, except in vexatious litigation in front of his local magistrate. The Earl of Oxford, an older man, passed away very shortly before Shakespeare’s precipitous retirement back to Stratford. Things that make you go hmm.
Meg and Harry could have worked as this kind of collaborators, too—She the hustling mover and shaker, full of ideas and energy—the actress—Harry was supposed to provide the aristocratic dignity and knowledge of history and pomp. Well, that has failed spectacularly because they are both spoiled idiots who are products of PR. Neither of them have substance or brains so their ship is sinking fast. Let’s see if the newly hired communications team can turn this disaster around! Ha ha Ha! More money down the drain is what that is.
"Occam’s Razor was mentioned. I used to subscribe to that theory, but have followed DECIDE framework for awhile now. I switched for two reasons. Life in the days of Aristotle, the real originator of Occam’s was pretty simple. Finite enemies, finite business, finite opportunities.
Nothing like today, with its layers of worldwide business and government powers, multilayer tech-abetted scams, massive banking and investment groups, organizations devoted to hiding your dirt, cults and drug runners, space programs here co-existing with exploitable third world people there, disinformation teams paid fortunes, dark webs, and the mystery of Hollywood too!"
Maybe.
To me though, the conspiracy theories I've read are just too unlikely and convoluted. Why choose M of all people? I can see H choosing her, but a global shadow group invested in overthrowing the Monarchy. Nope.
I'm also not sure life was as simple as is being deacribed in earlier times. Of course, every generation thinks its time is so different from that of all previous generations. But people are people. Some complex aspects. Some simple. And M and Doria being on the make most of their lives, H being dim, jealous and discontented most of his, Charles feeling guilty as a father, explains it all to me. It's a story of how self-interest can run amok and have far-reaching ramifications. Hardly a new story.
Bullough says something with regard to the Po210 diagnosis. He doesn't mention Occam by name but makes it clear that doctors apply it all the time. One just has to remember that if the easy diagnosis is accurate 99% of the time, there's still a 1% chance of it being wrong. I guess, in this case, they eventually thought of thallium because there was a notorious poisoning case in Hertfordshire about 50 years ago, involving thallium and other poisons. Perhaps it was in the medical textbooks. Only at the last minute, did they sent a sample to Aldermaston for analysis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Young
Clearly, the Razor does have its limitations - I first met it in geology with ref. to earth movements. Of course, pre-Darwin, it failed when applied to fossils. The most obvious explanation was deemed the most likely and clung to, as in `Clearly, these are the remains of creatures that went extinct in the Great Flood, within the time that humans have existed'.
Btw, William of Occam (c.1287 – 1347) was born in Surrey, just south of London, at the village of Ockham, in today's spelling, near Guildford. They're justifiable proud of him there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Ockham
The DECIDE framework is new to me - I'll start reading it up.
My first thought had been about money laundering and trying to bleed the RF dry. I moved onto the destabilisation motive to a position that, whether it was the case or not, she facilitates others who are destabilisers. Now I'm backtracking somewhat.
Thank you for that thought, AnT. Sadly, I believe it's true.
Yes, it is quite astonishing that some people believe a bunch of assassins had planned:
- Diana's abrupt decision to stay in Paris instead of coming back to UK,
- Dodi's equally abrupt decision to leave the Ritz,
- somehow made Dodi use his usual car and driver as a distraction for paparazzi,
- placed Fayed's chief of Security at the wheel of a replacement car after making him drunk,
- made Fayed's bodyguard disregard seatbelts,
- forced the driver to break the safe speed limit
- forced the driver to use the route with dangerous bend and drop right before the pillar
- and specifically made sure absence of seatbelt on Diana caused a severe internal bleeding from the heart artery rapture no medical team could notice in time.
2. Fairy Crocodile and Enbrethiliel, the Diana death conspiracy is one i think is ridiculous. I think that was more of an Occam’s Razor: a simple meeting of poor planning, a rejection of proper security staff by Diana, a high-strung playboy, a drunk driver, a stupid decision to play cat and mouse in the streets of Paris, a difficult and hidden injury.....all rolled into one needless tragedy, like many a car crash for decades.
And to whomever made the statement to the contrary (sorry, I've forgotten who it was), there are PLENTY of coincidences in life. The end results are no coincidence in my opinion (I am a fatalist), but lots of things happen concurrently and yet completely independent of each other.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1359841/meghan-markle-news-prince-harry-press-team-us-plans-archewell
Full list of staff and roles:
1) Christine Schirmer will become the newly created role of head of communications. Ms Schirmer will manage both Ms Holness and James Holt, who is leading communications in the UK.
2) James Holt to head up communications in the UK, as they no longer have a team based at Buckingham Palace.
3) Toya Holness will become the couple's press secretary.
4) PR agency Sunshine Sachs have handled Meghan and Harry’s publicity since they moved overseas.
5) Catherine St-Laurent works as Chief of Staff to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, having landed the roll from the beginning of April. She also services as Executive Director of Archewell.
Yes, such a trivial matter as a seatbelt could mean life or death. So sad Diana literally died of a broken heart! And it all could have been avoided with just one click of a seatbelt...
Thank you so much for that fascinating post about Shakespeare. Now I want to learn more. I agree with your “hmmm” because it certainly seems a plausible theory, as you explain it. That story about Chaplin, what an envious gasbag! Being so palpably jealous of a long-dead world famous playwright and poet!. Even if he wondered about authorship of such huge output, there are other considerations.
And your extended thought that M&H could be similar collaborators is extremely interesting. If was the case and they really though they would be sought-after movie stars suiting up for the Marvel Universe and embraced by every top American mover and shaker, they must be shocked and depressed and furious per their apparent temperaments. It would explain their sloppy flailing now.
The problem I keep circling back to is where is the money coming from....I doubt Charles has this much to give. And the Tupperware-minded Queen probably isn’t sending bags of gold to lazy scamps,
Exactly that. I’ve read and heard numerous times that she would have most likely survived had she been wearing one.
yes indeed; the bodyguard who realized the danger partially locked his seatbelt before the crash and survived, albeit with severe injuries.
What makes the whole thing absolutely beyond sad it was totally avoidable.
I wondered if the press secretary announcement was to compete with PC's birthday today. It also appears to be angling for some type of political role. I have no doubt they'll try to get involved. But what happened to Travalyst? What is happening with Archewell?
If that's the best they could do to upstage Prince Charles, then they're either more pathetic than I realized or he is indeed their backer and they want to play nice even as they steal the spotlight.
There's definitely some political angling here -- though I also agree with the previous poster who said that they may be setting up some scapegoats to blame if their new attempt at "Harry the Hero" PR keeps getting really bad reactions from people.
It's probably wise of them never to give anything a memorable name again. As beleaguered as "Travalyst" and "Archewell" have been, they were at least hooks on which we could hang our memories. Which is precisely why we can ask what happened to them! If the Harkles don't give a name to Operation Elect Meghan, it won't be so easy for people to make fun of them when they fall flat on their faces again. (Not that we'd retreat from the challenge!)
https://twitter.com/PutOutMoreFlags/status/1327664228547825665/photo/1
He has his mother's smile!
Yes....the seatbelts. I completely forgot about that detail. Unbuckled, the path to disaster in that scenario.
Had she survived we would have most likely had a different Harry and more than likely no Megsy.
“The Tupperware minded Queen”! You are a caution!
Yes, despite being dripping with jewels and tiaras most of the time, And having commanded household staff to do everything down to making the tea since she was born, the queen still possesses that Greatest generation frugality in her core. In so far as Royals can live modestly, she does. Which is why it’s so frankly Gob smacking That she allowed the $45 million wedding spectacle for a match that everyone was suspicious of from the beginning. Charles gets dumped on for allowing the profligacy of the dumpster fire pair, but we don’t really know what is going on behind the scenes. Even though he’s got control of the Duchy of Cornwall monies, He still has to defer to mummy and hew to the official Palace position, which currently is “no comment“. The toxic duo may well have been cut off already, but no official announcements have been made, and may never be made if the queen views The traitorous pair as strictly private individuals. We don’t know the extent of Charles’ feelings on the matter, But his ingrate son and grasping bunt have managed to ruin another of his birthdays. Tossers.
The movie Anonymous throws in a few conspiracies too many, But the central one tickles the brain. I recommend it for the soulful and heartbreaking performance of Rhys Ifans as Edward de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford. Rafe Spall Is a drunken skirt chasing illiterate spotlight hog who gets in over his head, seeing as he can’t even write his own name. I don’t think the real Shakespeare was an ignorant buffoon—He had a decent education for his class and time, and could read and write, and certainly like to doing sums Based on the number of times he took his neighbors to court. If this collaboration actually occurred, and aristocrat would never have condescended to work with an imbecile. Shakespeare was a canny businessman, And a good actor. He knew stage craft, and would have been the one to engineer all of the nifty tricks inherent in the plays, with all the ghosts and fairies and battles and so forth. The language itself though, and so many of the plots from classical antiquity exude a gentleman’s Education and a cosmopolitan outlook. I love a good Horatio Alger story as well as anyone, but I don’t think the village school in Stratford would have been up to the demands of knowledge later evidenced in the plays. Will was the only one in his entire family who could read. Savants do walk among us, But even Mozart was a product of his nature and nurture. From an educated, musical, and traveled family. His father a musician, who introduced his children to instruments before they could walk. Wolfies sister Nannerl Was, it is said, equally talented, but alas only a girl. So Mozart with steeped in his milieu in the womb And his gift was nurtured and cultivated for his entire childhood. Had he been born the son Of an illiterate pig farmer who could not read a note of music, would the world still have Mozart? Most likely not.
Talking of that DECIDE framework, I did some quick hunting and found this for you, which explains it:
https://nesslabs.com/occams-razor
I think the Cambridges would have still turned out exactly the same. Prince William would have been just as cautious about making sure Catherine was the right one for him and for the country. But Diana might not have liked Catherine very much. (I can see her pushing William toward Jecca, so there still would have been that breakup before getting back together again.) And Diana would probably have hated Carole!
But Harry wouldn't have been mentally and emotionally arrested at thirteen. He'd still have character issues to work through, but they wouldn't have been so bad. He might not have almost flunked out of school and have to be rescued, which was the first big way he learned that he could goof off without consequences. The army might still have made something out of him. And Meghan would never have been more than a one-night stand, if she could have ever been so lucky.
I am fascinated by patterns. Can you see the pattern: poor educational performance - ill advised quick marriage - mental fragility - bitterness - press manipulation - ill advised book - blaming others - lies - separation - bitterness - suspicions - upstaging - Panorama - divorce - erratic behaviour - poor decisions - tunnel? Diana's pattern leads us to Harry's pattern:
poor educational performance - mental fragility - bitterness - erratic behaviour - ill advised quick marriage - press manipulation - ill advised book -bitterness - suspicions - upstaging - poor decisions - blaming others - lies?
He is repeating most of the elements of Diana's destructive pattern and I do not see it ending well. There are some elements still missing but the repeat is so eerie it is breathtaking.
"Had Diana survived . .
I think the Cambridges would have still turned out exactly the same. Prince William would have been just as cautious about making sure Catherine was the right one for him and for the country...And Diana would probably have hated Carole!"
Hard to say.
I doubt Will would have been quite so drawn to the Middleton family life had Diana lived. He still would have been a child of divorce, of course. But had Diana lived she and Charles might have worked out how to co-parent as they seemed headed that way. And I don't think Will would have been looking for a mother figure as I suspect Carole initially was for him. Doesn't mean he wouldn't have ended up with Kate but I suspect the trajectory would have been different.
Harry? Who knows. I don't think Diana's insistence "Good King Harry" be treated the same as Will by family members did Harry any favors in the long run.
And you are right @Fairy Crocodile,
there are parallels between Diana as the third daughter in a family desperate for a son and Harry as the "spare" second son.
The “grasping bunt” made me double over laughing, nearly Markle-like god help me, waving a ladle. I had to explain the weird posture to Mr AnT. You, Madame, are the caution!
I will watch Anonymous. You’ve have me very intrigued, and I like the actors well enough. It does seem unlikely that a gentleman looking for a working partner, or a front, would select an ill-educated buffoon, and I will definitely keep that in mind as I view.
Was there ever any evidence or speculation that Shakespeare himself was a gentleman’s son from the wrong side of the sheets, speaking of nature/nurture? Just curious. Mozart, yes, fortunate nature and nurture circumstances. Chopin too, the son of a teacher lucky enough to teach French on the grounds of the Saxon Palace of Warsaw, and of a mother with some musical skills.
Nature/nurture as applied to Meghan and Harry....now there’s a twisty tale. Instability, and secrecy, just to start.
Enbrethiliel,
Harry being still destined to be the troubled thirteen year old boy is probably all too true. Or worse, had Diana continued to stoke the “equal brothers” and “good King Harry” embers. I do agree that Meghan would have never been more than a one night stand, even blocked from entering through Heathrow. Your Carole remains topped out at Party Pieces? Maybe. But somehow I also think William may have firm chin about such personal matters of choice, and women like Jecca truly didn’t want the spotlight. Plus, although she was his mother, Diana was probably not the person William would have turned to for stable, sensible love advice? And maybe he would have had even more reason to be drawn to the more normal Middleton clan after more years of Diana tumult, and a father unpaired with Camilla? Just a thought.
Which famous female celebrity would Meghan have imprinted on? I'm guessing that she only developed an unhealthy obsession with Diana after watching the funeral and seeing Diana mythologized. So had Diana lived, Meghan would have needed another famous female celebrity to pattern herself after.
I wonder if it would have been Angelina Jolie. In the early 2000s, she was one of the most beautiful women in the world, with a reputation for being both a complete sexual freak and a compassionate humanitarian. And of course she had no problem "stealing" a married man -- something amoral Meghan might be all on board with. I can totally see Meg trying to seduce big Hollywood players while dragging a hapless adopted child or two around. And if she were still writing Caucasian on her resume, they probably wouldn't be black children. Maybe one Chinese, one Korean? (I feel terrible writing about adoptees this way, but I'm trying to see them from a narcissist's perspective.) Which reminds me . . .
Another big event in the news in 1997 was Woody Allen marrying his ex-girlfriend's adopted daughter. (I wonder if Meghan secretly admired Soon-Yi for bagging a millionaire 34 years her senior.) We were reminded of the sordid skeletons of the Farrow-Allen family when #MeToo exploded a few years ago. Meghan has never seen a bandwagon she hasn't felt entitled to take over; she would have released something which begins: "As the mother of an adopted Korean daughter, I am horrified . . ." (Basically, whatever she said about Prince Andrew.)
I don't think Will would have been looking for a mother figure as I suspect Carole initially was for him.
I think the stability and normalcy of all the Middletons together was what made the big impact on Prince William. His paternal grandparents may have been strong and reliable his entire life since then, but they were also larger than life -- and presiding over a highly dysfunctional extended family. Had Diana lived and continued carrying on in her irresponsible fashion, the contrast between the Windsors (plus the Spencers!) and the Middletons would have been even more pronounced. And getting close to the latter would have been a shock.
When I was writing my alternate universe scenario for William, I was basing it on my own experience of growing up in a dysfunctional home led by grandiose grandparents. In uni, I got to meet people very different from those in the only circles I had known previously. When a girl from my student hostel invited me to her parents' home, I was truly amazed to realize that there could be people that kind and down-to-earth in the world. In fact, if I may repeat the word I used for William: I was shocked. That was over a decade ago, and I still joke that her family are "my New Zealand cousins." I just fell in love with them, really. And so it's highly credible to my humanist self that a blood royal from a completely different culture could have a similar experience.
This blog wouldn't exist!!! Maybe Nutty would have found another really notorious celebrity to blog about . . . but what other celebrity can bring together Hollywood scandal and European royalty the way Meghan has? (I myself came for the interracial aspect and stayed for the narcissism.) And for all her ills, she really does give us a lot to think about. There's a reason we've been able to cover that long list of seemingly off-topic, but related subjects in the few years Nutty has hosted us. And today we can add William Shakespeare and Charlie Chaplin to the list!
Mmmmm Diana part 2 theory!
Yes to Angelina Jolie. What about the lonely skirt-chasing prince, son of another American actress: Albert? A worthy target, just steps off any yacht?
So a coworker went to school at Smith, a private women’s college in Massachusetts. At the same time, Prince Albert was at Amherst. The way classes were structured at the time, some Amherst students shared classes with the Smith girls. He was in one of hers. She said in spite of his title and pedigree, he was considered repugnant by every woman there due to his personal habits (grubby) and odd personality. She said he seemed socially awkward, out if his depth with classes and classmates, and slow.. Her stories were funny, I will admit, poor man.
As an awkward man boy given to secret flings, and weird dates with playmates, who married the only miserable woman who stalked him (look it up) before possibly changing her mind too late ....even unattractive, balding, prissy and twenty years older than MM, he would have been his perfect target. And the “milk the death of the famous beloved mother princess, charm the old dad, and alienate the savvy family”:gambit (a wiser Caroline and wilder Stéphanie) while shimmying secretly with various sons and spouses to cause havoc and blackmail...oh, I can see it now.
But Caroline would have had her quickly disappeared by yacht to fishing boat, I think.
"When a girl from my student hostel invited me to her parents' home, I was truly amazed to realize that there could be people that kind and down-to-earth in the world. In fact, if I may repeat the word I used for William: I was shocked."
Sounds brutal. Sorry you went through all that.
You could be right but it sounds like Will did have some "normal people" experiences. Nannies/governesses who were caring (sometimes too caring for Diana's taste so they got the sack) as well as his acceptance into Jecca's family. After all, he skipped his own cousin Peter's wedding to go to Jecca's older brother's wedding. I've always gotten the impression though Carole acted as a real mother figure to him. That she was a big part of the family draw. And if she was, Diana being alive would have changed that dynamic. But maybe I'm wrong.
Well, that seems to confirm that the attention's being switched from her to him. Bet she's livid.
I like your alternate history much better! Let's assume Meghan was competing with Charlene (a stupid game for a stupid prize) and kept the 2011 wedding from happening. That was also the year she was cast in Suits, so she still could have had her "flying back and forth" and fitting things around "filming schedules" Hollywood-meets-Royalty (Part 2) narrative.
I'm almost disappointed that Princess Caroline outwits her in the end, because then we don't get to imagine a wedding! I predict another hissy fit for a tiara (even though neither of her sisters-in-law or even her late mother-in-law wore tiaras for their weddings), a twenty foot veil embroidered with symbols representing all Grace Kelly's 11 movies, and a gown suspiciously like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's wedding dress.
It looks like a new(er) shirt than usual, long sleeves.
Seated on sofa in front of bird's nest triptych. Looking healthier and brighter.
JJ dancing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, in new uniform (the real deal apparently from the RMs, one-stripe corporal - was he really wearing brown shoes? (cue Lady Bracknell!) In the Army, they're for commissioned officers only IIRC.
JJ may have been thrilled but I reckoned he was being used.
H referred to him as `friend' having met him before.
JJ credited H with `creating' Invictus and having the `vision'
It might have been sweet had it been before the Narkle saga but, as it is, I see it as rank opportunism and hypocrisy, especially on his father's birthday.
You could be right but it sounds like Will did have some "normal people" experiences. Nannies/governesses who were caring (sometimes too caring for Diana's taste so they got the sack) as well as his acceptance into Jecca's family. After all, he skipped his own cousin Peter's wedding to go to Jecca's older brother's wedding. I've always gotten the impression though Carole acted as a real mother figure to him. That she was a big part of the family draw. And if she was, Diana being alive would have changed that dynamic. But maybe I'm wrong.
I admit that I didn't know much about Jecca. What I heard is that they broke up because Jecca decided a life in the public eye just wasn't for her. Had she felt otherwise, our own timeline might also be very different. But would the impetuous William, who had proposed to Jecca in Kenya when both of them were young, have returned to the UK and realized he also wanted to take his time with their relationship? And if so, would Jecca have been willing to wait as long as Catherine did?
In any case, Jecca seems like a poised, classy, intelligent lady who is also making a significant mark on the world. William has excellent taste in women. How I wish we could say the same for his brother.
Thanks for your kind words about my experience.
Well, that seems to confirm that the attention's being switched from her to him. Bet she's livid.
Whenever I think of how the national cemetery stunt could have been less offensive, I start by removing Meghan. Whoever is advising them is just being logical.
So I guess they really do have a new "communications" team. Letting "H" have solo time in the limelight isn't at all Meghan's style.
The “grasping bunt” made me double over laughing, nearly Markle-like god help me, waving a ladle. I had to explain the weird posture to Mr AnT. You, Madame, are the caution!
It was supposed to be 'bint', but my phone switched the vowel on me. It's still funny. Even funnier, in fact. 'Bun(d)t' anyone . . My Big Fat Greek Wedding flashback . .with Nia Vardalos' mother completely mystified by the very un-Greek dessert brought by her future son-in-law's WASP relatives. "It's a Bundt!" The Bundt cake is later presented with a flowerput stuck in the center hole as Ma thought it was some sort of centerpiece.
Or 'baby BUNTing'. Meg wouldn't like any superfluous allusions to babies.
We don't say 'bint' in the States but I have recently adopted it as my go-to word for Mugsy, compliments of British cop dramas. It sounds a bit more refined than what I'd actually like to call her, whilst providing some of that flavor. I think I could integrate quite seamlessly into British culture. Unlike Meghan, I have made a study of their ways. Also, as a product of NE Ohio, I can honestly say that I'm already used to the British weather.
******
Re. Shakespeare's parentage, I had not heard any rumors of an illicit aristocratic lineage. But he was bright and ambitious enough to become a social climber par excellence. The movie makes the bold suggestion that E. de Vere was the illegitimate product of one of the many love affairs the Virgin Queen engaged in, and not the only one. The Queen tended to go on progress with some regularity when she started to get a bit puffy and would come back some months later svelte again. As the movie imagines, Edward was placed with a noble family for his upbringing, with neither he nor his natural mother aware of who he was, but his adoptive family's fortunes being increased for harboring the Queen's progeny, hence the title. The Earldom of Oxford was at one time the most extensive and wealthiest land holding in the kingdom. What did Edward do to warrant being made its first occupant? It does not appear that he was much of a businessman. Too much time spent scribbling mayhap.
It would have been very easy to burn any incriminating correspondence or folios after the earl's death and let the passage of some 600 years do the rest. It is NOT so easy to erase evidence of a conspiracy to present a fake baby to the world in the age of social media. The puzzlement behind 'Archie' continues. Surely showing him in one of the Zoom chats from Chateau Mudslide would generate a bit of goodwill after the recent PR disasters? He's an active young man now and it would be entertaining to watch him pedal a little Fisher Price car around the yard in his 'forever home', wouldn't it? He wouldn't be traumatized by any evil paparazzi flashbulbs . .just Daddy taking a few minutes on his smart phone. It'd be charming. But of course it won't happen. 'Privacy' covers over many inconsistencies a treat.
My husband is always buckled up whilst at home, or driving a few hours. It is an automatic thought to most Americans now, plus the newer cars beep, scream, or refuses to move until the front passengers are buckled in. My husband dutifully seatbelts our dogs, too. However, wherever we were out of town, even in third world countries, he refused to use seatbelts. I was beside myself, as a 180 pound man can become a deadly object if not belted in.
The last time he was unbelted, was the day we were in a taxi, with a wild taxi driver, in New York City.. I asked the driver to slow down, then the driver scraped cars more wildly. He was suicidal, it seemed. I begged my husband to belt up; he yelled at me to leave him alone, and I said you are like Princess Diana. One second later our taxi hit another auto. My husband was thrown all around the back seat, injuring himself and me especially - I had to have operations on my spine from being smashed by my husband. Many people think nothing will happen to them if they are not near home, or on vacation. My husband never belted himself up whilst in Paris, too.
Another topic: Would William and Henry have married Catherine or Meghan if Diana was alive? Nobody can answer what would Diana do? From my viewpoint, she would have been the mother-in-law from hell. She was very needed to be the center of attention. She looked older than 36 when she died, due to sun damage. Diana was extremely needy, suffered from separation anxiety, and as her actions showed, thought of herself first. Yes, she did much good, following Elizabeth Taylor’s lead with AIDS, and following other true humanitarians, although she needed a camera to make sure people knew how wonderful she was.
As the granddaughter of a man buried at Arlington Cemetery/Lee-Custis home, and the daughter of a near100 year old WW 2 hero who will be buried at Arlington, I found the HAMS stunt to be the ultimate in chutzpah, a Yiddish word that the following describes: Chutzpah’s best explanation is the son, who murdered his parents, pleading for mercy upon the court because now he was a orphan. The absolutely deadly(pun) and horribly awful visit from the two crones was crossing the Rubicon forever. It is very difficult to visit my grandfather’s grave in Virginia - lots of questions, etc. How in the world did the two jerks get into an American cemetery? Who showed the two jerks and their stupid photographers, videographers, body guards, PR people, personal assistants, etc. the graves days before the non-American Remembrance Day. We have Memorial Day and Armistice/Veterans Day on November 11. Government stops at the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Where were they then? Plus, as I have written several times before, Just H, while training with American military in California, would have been arrested for conduct unbecoming to an officer. His weekends, including the notorious Las Vegas orgy, would have had him jailed (blackmail target) and given a dishonorable discharge. American soldiers knew they had to say nice things about Harry, or else. However, he was a target of derision and incredible dismay that he was a Captain. He was a joke, with his “bodyguards” in California; the bodyguards were kicked out of camp. He left sooner than later back to GB, where again he treated his superior officers with contempt. H had to leave, ASAP.
Would William and Henry have married Catherine or Meghan if Diana was alive? Nobody can answer what would Diana do? From my viewpoint, she would have been the mother-in-law from hell. She was very needed to be the center of attention. She looked older than 36 when she died, due to sun damage. Diana was extremely needy, suffered from separation anxiety, and as her actions showed, thought of herself first. Yes, she did much good, following Elizabeth Taylor’s lead with AIDS, and following other true humanitarians, although she needed a camera to make sure people knew how wonderful she was.
Just before I came upon your comment here, I was thinking what I might say in answer to this question and "Mother-in-Law from Hell" flashed into my mind as well.
The reputation of Saint Diana has taken a beating in the years since her death, but that's because the PR gloss has faded and the truth is coming out. Kind of like we have seen with Harry, only his unmasking has been accelerated. Diana was a severely messed up puppy, and Royal life was the worst thing she could have done in terms of her very fragile mental health. Reading recently that she shoved Raine Spencer down the stairs as a *28 year old mother of two* . . not an accident or the impulse of a child . . made my blood run cold. Had she not been a Royal from aristocratic circles, she'd have likely gone to Broadmoor on an intent to murder charge. We already knew that she'd flung herself down the stairs while pregnant with William in the midst of pitching a fit/bid for attention.
Imagine being William, grown up, reading that your Mum really didn't care if she killed you before you were born because she was having a strop. Diana's boys have the psychic damage from growing up with such an erratic mother--whom everyone was celebrating as a saint and the better more involved parent at the time.
I think Diana, like Harry, was only capable of being involved in her own problems and inner dramas, unless there were cameras around to capture how wonderful she was being. She really was so much like Meghan in so many ways . . manipulative, deceitful, paranoid, jealous, fond of drama for its own sake, cavalier about 'rules'.
She would not have been able to tolerate being replaced in her sons' affections by women they hoped to marry. She'd have likely sabotaged their romantic relationships if she could've. She may have even actively encouraged both of them to pursue shallow disposable affairs with easy girls because women like that wouldn't have posed a threat to her as their #1. Carole Middleton would have absolutely been cut dead as 'replacement mother' . . that could not have been stood for. A lot would have depended on whether Diana was around in London at this juncture or if she'd been swept off to some foreign country as the wife of perhaps a Saudi billionaire . .most likely not Dodi, but maybe.
Had she lived, whether she settled down or continued to behave recklessly, Charles would have been absolved of a lot of guilt which he is forced to carry because she died. People may have even come round to the realization in time that Camilla is much better suited to be Queen consort. Though, had Diana lived, perhaps it would have been too awkward for Charles to remarry.
If they were sincere about leaving the family in a respectful way, they wouldn't behave like this. The comment about Invictus seems like a way to make a desperate appeal to remind the public.
These game show appearances really only cheapen the brand. Just like Splash/Backgrid, these two come when called. Or, in their case, they're not called, just "reaching out" for exposure.
@AnT,
The “grasping bunt” made me double over laughing, nearly Markle-like god help me, waving a ladle. I had to explain the weird posture to Mr AnT. You, Madame, are the caution!
It was supposed to be 'bint', but my phone switched the vowel on me.
_____________
I thought it was a play on the Monty Python bit about the guy who couldn't pronounce his C's. (Oh, what a silly bunt.) *LOL*
Remember Prince William being asked what Diana would be like as a grandmother? He replied that she'd visit at the most inconvenient times and leave the place in a shambles before leaving! Take the same combination of love for his mother and awareness of how her flaws can hurt others, and his wife -- whom I happily still imagine is Catherine -- can at least count on a spouse who will have her back in their home.
Harry is like his mother, and more and more I think has King George’s disease, pryophyria.
I'd only use it behind closed doors now.
I agree, Yankee Doodle, such Chutzpah! Oi Vay! As a shiksa, I picked up some Yiddish vocabulary teaching in school with many Jewish pupils and it occurs to me that it gives us so many wonderful words for M & H.
Just for starters, here are few for Harry: a schmuck, shlemiel, a no-goodnik who shleps around after such a yenta...
May I add schlimazel to your wonderful collection of jewish definitions of Harry. My favourite
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5123801/Shots-Meghan-Harrys-engagement-interview.html
- where she's leaning on him with her hand out in a begging pose and a grotesque expression on her face. H appears shocked.
It could easily be captioned `Gimme, gimme, gimme!'
I am thinking that no-goodnik was from Rocky And Bullwinkle who took it from Nudnik (Yiddish for a bore according to google but in my family it was more a dumb or stupid thing you just did).
Of course, everyone's welcome to contribute - the more the merrier!
"
. Back then I might have rolled my eyes. Now I am ordering tin hats in new designs for myself!"
Might I suggest this year's Tin Fascinator?
Or, in WBBM's honor, a Tin Coronet?
I dunno, AnT. I just can't see Harry in any way, shape, or form being up in the early a.m. as required for farm life. I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't be amenable to prosaic tasks such as shoveling manure or digging an emergency drainage ditch on an unpleasant day
Harry could work nights at Highgrove picking the slugs off all the organic veg!
Apparently PC has a guy lying on his stomach on a low flat trailer pulled by a tractor going up and down the rows of vegetables pulling slugs off. (Personally when I had a garden I used a wide flat bowl with some stale beer in it, which they would crawl up the sides, fall in and drown.)
New CDAN blind -
Blind Item #7
Apparently there has not been an actual check written by the streaming service to the expatriate couple. They are burning through cash at an alarming rate and expecting that money from the streaming service will be forthcoming.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1359009/prince-harry-news-meghan-markle-comedy-stand-up-for-heroes-bruce-springsteen-spt
Harry will be appearing to raise money for veterans Nov 18th.
Cheers Swampie
KCM
For Megs the Rim Tin Tin
SwampMan may disagree. He was not happy to find me outside in a tropical storm at dawn yesterday making sure that ditches weren't clogged and were draining properly.
"What the HELL...are you RAKING LEAVES in a tropical storm?" "Yes. They were impeding drainage." He cast his eyes heavenward and said something like "Help me, Jesus!" and stomped back inside.
Well, honestly, isn't a tropical storm when you DO want the ditches draining properly? So you don't get flooded and stuck with a standing water situation.
oooh....A. Tin. Tiara!!
I share OKay’s assumption that you were referencing something Python-esque with your decisive “grasping bunt” label. I love the old Monty Python shows, and have two of my dad’s MP vinyl albums of skits, one being Matching Tie and Handkerchief. I love your term “grasping bunt” and plan to use it in real life at every opportunity until I am ashes and dust. I vote we make it the code name here for she who must not be unwigged.
The history of Shakespeare the man, his tossed folios — I knew none of this, and am greatly enjoying your are telling of the story. Thank goodness for those canny, sharp-eyed stagehands doing the dumpster diving that brought us his works. Can you imagine a world without Shakespeare’s work and influence? (I am suddenly reminded of the movie Yesterday, about a fellow waking from an injury in a world that never knew of the Beatles.)
Charlene of Monaco, the story goes they met somewhere, she followed him back to Monaco, he put her up in a flat and tried for two years to have her learn French (no luck), befriend his family (no luck), and develop interests outside of swimming and herself (no luck). Lots of cosmetic surgery and shopping, though. Rumor is (per a French curator I know) she was placed there by some group wanting an entry into the Monaco gambling empire, but loathed Albert and wanted her paycheck and to go home. Albert angrily insisted she stay and marry him t preempt news of his other families and loves. The people who placed her moved on and she is stuck in misery, missing some swimmer lover she had and grimacing her way through life. I think Albert’s snare and security must be tougher in a gambling world way, and would have loved to see M trapped there in pantsuits with no way to run.
@Yankee Doodle, I am so very sorry for your grandfather’s loss, and I salute his service. Your nearly 100-year-old father deserves our thanks and a place of peace someday. Try not to think of a putz like Harry anywhere near Arlington. After this, perhaps the soldier guards there will toss him out the back gate..
Jdubya said…
don't have time to read thru all the remarks at the moment so will post this in case it hasn't been yet.
New CDAN blind -
Blind Item #7
Apparently there has not been an actual check written by the streaming service to the expatriate couple. They are burning through cash at an alarming rate and expecting that money from the streaming service will be forthcoming.
November 15, 2020 at 1:47 AM
@Jdubya: I wonder if Netflix wants them to actually PRODUCE some airable content before they write the Harkles a big check of any kind. They wanted to be more like regular people, so there you go. Most regular people have to complete the job they have been hired to do before they are paid. At least that’s the way it works in my world.
Narcissists are often allergic to doing truly hard work, instead preferring to talk about how hard their work is (word salad) without producing much of anything. As has been said on this blog, “All hat and no cattle.”
Like many people with narcissistic personality disorder, Meghan prefers to swan around talking to a bunch of impressionable teenagers or trotting through a cemetery with a faux sad look on her face for the cameras. She hires people to do the heavy lifting and just shows up to take credit at the photo op after the heavy lifting has finished.
I can easily see them burning through every penny they have and then digging themselves into deep debt and expecting the RF to provide the funds to put them back on stable financial ground. I can see Meghan and Harry telling the RF, “The RF would look sooooo bad if we were forced to file for bankruptcy because you refused to bail us out.” But I think such whining and playing victim would be met with cold stares and a firm “No.”
The RF are all having to make cutbacks due to the pandemic that will likely reverberate through their finances for many years to come. They won’t jump to throw money against a pair who have been actively hurling bricks at them before they got married two and a half years ago.
The Grasping Bunt is now Meg’s official label! I would shorten it to GB, but I don’t want that to be confused with “Great Britain”.
It’s far better than other titles which could be applied to her. In baseball lingo, a bunt is a fake out Strategy used by a weak or injured hitter to confuse the opposition and try to score a run
With minimal effort. Your opponents are expecting you to swing for the bleachers like any truly committed athlete and do your best. A bunt Is a sneaky tactic to score some ground while your opponents scramble to recover. It is allowed by the rules, but I’ve always considered it a sneaky tactic of the weak. Those who can’t swing for the ball and make a true solid hit only pretend to swing for the ball and make a rather cowardly Dash for the base. This is what Meg pulled on the royal family. She marketed herself as a powerhouse hitter that would really add value to the team and score them home runs. Instead, she only pretended to hit the ball and then ran away because she was completely out of her league. But rather than blaming herself for unsportsmanlike behavior, she blames the rules for being so unfair.
A bunt Can be a good strategic play, but only if it’s not overused. If a player bunts at every single at bat, The element of surprise is lost, and the player might earn a reputation for being a slacker who is unable or unwilling to to play at top level. In megs case it’s both. She can’t, so she won’t, and she will blame all the other players who are pulling together as a team and doing their best. She is a foul odious, meaningless repugnant empty useless waste of space on the planet.
https://www.google.com/search?q=laverne+and+shirley+song&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
Part of the reason for the dysfunction of the RF is that each family is very siloed. The Queen and Philip live(ed) in BP or WC. Charles and Camilla live in CH or HH. The Cambridges were in KP or AH. And the others were spread out on various estates. Communication is arranged through private secretaries. And then Charles had his own court separate from the BP court. And then William and Harry established a court separate from Charles’. And then Harry had his own court separate from William. I think the separate courts were a disastrous idea. It furthered the idea of each RF member as a single entity, working on their own for their own advancement, rather than working as part of a whole representing the crown. Imagine if each family had their own press secretary, but they were all coordinated and managed out of BP. We wouldn’t get these conflicting stories in the media where the RF try to one up each other. Or at least we’d have fewer of them. In the years I’ve followed the RF, they have never come across as a unified group.
I look at the Cambridge kids and wonder who will be the next Margaret/Andrew/Harry?
And the way the article portrays Kate- it is underhanded and scornful, under a layer of warmth. It could not be more passive aggressive.
Just when I think the harkles cannot sink any lower.
William must be seething. Off with her head!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8949523/Prince-Williams-final-bachelor-party-Duke-seen-taking-dance-floor.html
I learned my Yiddish from my beloved late mother-in-law, a woman of valor, beauty and pure kindness. I never drank milk with meat after meeting this golden-haired, blue-eyed wundebar.
I look at the Cambridge kids and wonder who will be the next Margaret/Andrew/Harry?
Maybe none. I hope that after HRM, long may she reign, that King Charles has a long-enough reign to allow the Cambridge children to have a relatively normal childhood and school experience while William is Prince of Wales and running the estate and being assistant King. They'll have the Middleton's example in business, and Charles' (and then Daddy William's) example of running a large estate (HUGE business). They will have ample opportunity to explore their individual talents and whether they have a head for business management, hopefully bolstered by plenty of grunt work when young so they have real-life experience to draw upon as they get older.
Blogger MustySyphone said...
Also, I don't watch these shows. If there is any kind of audience voting then The Harkles butting in is apt to favor one contestant over another with the public--not respectable for the show.
I agree with Musty about the unfairness of any celebrity calling in and supporting one contestant over another when (to my understanding) this is supposed to be about individual talent. Am I wrong? In the Harkle's case, it may actually prejudice the public against a perfectly innocent contestant. (But I've never watched one of these shows, either.)
And the way the article portrays Kate- it is underhanded and scornful, under a layer of warmth. It could not be more passive aggressive.
Just when I think the harkles cannot sink any lower.
I believe that there are depths of their perfidy that are as yet unplumbed!
Plus, hot young military officer partying...oh, the horror! Absolutely unprecedented! (grin) No matter how much vitriol MM's poisoned fangs squirt in Kate's direction, it will rebound on her IMO.
If Biden is elected President, he will have many Inaugural balls in many hotel ballrooms in Washington, D.C. Every President has the same balls.. I went to one, and it was one too many. I know DM and other news sources will make a big deal about the HAMS attending one.
The reality of Presidential Inaugural balls is the following:
Anybody or everybody can get a ticket to a ball. Call your state Senator, Congressional person, or local dog catcher. Request tickets for two.
First timers (there are no second timers, unless you are the new President) will dress in a ball gown, etc. The reality is you will wait hours in the worst traffic in the world to get to your designated hotel; you will be packed together in a hot, sweaty crowd, without air to breath; there is no food or drinks, unless you are a Chosen One. Even the COs get a cracker and watered down two sips of cheap beer or wine.
You should have made hotel reservations four years ago, no matter if you are a Democrat or Republican. You will be standing or walking towards the Metro at dawn, in below freezing temperatures. You will have pneumonia, hopefully walking, or unfortunately double.
There will be no balls due to Covid. Thus, no HAMS. Thus no story. Except for Zoom balls, if not laughed out loud.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8949743/EMILY-ANDREWS-Prince-Harry-millions-Netflix-tells-lies-family.html
Worth a read.
“ What’s more, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the Netflix documentary they have discussed making goes beyond the ‘inspirational family programming’ they initially promised.
Instead, it will centre on the couple’s first year after splitting from the Royal Family, their new life in California and the reasons why they fled Britain.”
Harry finishing up mommy’s work while getting paid for it?
Two, three?
And the ratings for all were dismal. Why does Netflix think this one will do better (and if MeGain directed or had creative control it will be worse. much much worse)?
BTW, does anybody else here think that MM is most likely love-bombing the Bidens and Kamala Harris nonstop with telephone calls, text messages, emails and who knows what else?
How irrelevant!!!
Good luck Netflix. lol.
The reality is no one really cares.
I agree with that. Reed Hastings said himself that Meghan had ‘shopped around’. What I don’t understand is why she bothered. She could have produced her own story and put it on her own website and run the show from there. Why does she need it on any platform? Cash? Worried about the viewer numbers? Limit the risk?
Regardless, I don’t think Netflix is dying for their pathetic story of leaving the Royal family, talking down to the queen, and expecting half-in half-out. If these losers had any integrity, they would rescind their titles and live in America as regular Joe’s. The fact is their story is so inauthentic, unrelatable, and frankly damaged that I think Netflix is just hoping on the car-crash to continue. Meghan being insufferable sells. Harry whining does not sell. My two cents.
In baseball, there are several reasons for, and several types of, bunts, and none of them have to do with an injured player. All of them are strategic infield moves.
The most common reason for a bunt is to bring in a run from your teammate who is on third base. That's called a "sacrifice bunt", as the batter may not get to first base, but the team scores a run from the man on third, possibly even a double score, if second and third can get to home while the opposing team scrambles for the ball.
A second form of a bunt is to score a base hit while the opposing team is scrambling infield for the ball. This is a proper move in baseball, not a cop out.
A third form of a bunt is a "drag bunt," which is usually used by left-handed batters, as their batting stance is closer to first base than a right handed batter. This is when they "choke up" on the bat, getting into a bunting stance, and they begin to run before they hit the ball.
Then, we can go into a "slug bunt," or a "swinging bunt," both strategic moves in infield play, and all legal moves in baseball.
None of these have to do with an injured player.
Source: former league softball player here.
I think it's down to legitimacy. I think she thinks if she can get something on Netflix (or any major platform) she sees it as "having made it" and it won't matter if it bombs - this huge platform chose them so it means that they have the talent and it's just the great unwashed who don't understand enough to have appreciated it etc etc. Even if whatever they manage to produce only has a single viewer (I'd go with none, but I bet they watch it themselves lol) I bet she'll be crowing about "being a hit on Netflix" for years.
She wouldn't be able to name drop and claim to be "in with the big guys" if she produces/publishes herself on her own platform.
Tomorrow I will explain how two musically illiterate secondary mod boys could not have written the songs of Lennon and McCartney and how they must then have been written by conservatoire trained George Martin Look at the facts: alive at the same time and they knew each other, Case closed I'd say.
@ LURKING
Went to a family lunch today. One of the cousins who was there is an accountant but has only ever worked in big corporates since she left uni. i.e. national airlines, apple etc. atm she is working for some company that crunches data for other companies about there frequent flier / loyalty card / subscribers. Two she mention were a big national supermarket and Netflix. According to her (for what its worth) Netflix number have tanked.
Well, okay, then.
Thee BBC's very modest prizes wouldn't interest them, nor would they get beyond the first stages of `Impossible' or `Pointless'.
It might be amusing to watch them on `Celebrity Pointless' (out in Round 1 with 200 point score, no doubt)- they'd probably nominate their own `charities' to receive their winnings but the maximum would be £500, assuming nobody won the small jackpot.
Seriously though, I reckon they wouldn't do it unless they get to be on something like the Chase or Eggheads as one of the "expert quizzers" and they'd probably also insist on having all the answers fed to them through an earpiece...
@Craving a Martini, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest, but with her awesome skills at forward planning and understanding how things work, she probably doesn't see that and still thinks getting something on Netflix is comparable to making it in Hollywood simply because it's still a "household name" despite the issues it's facing.
I think Meghan would still have attempted to marry one of the prince. Remember, she is very much an 80's and 90's person - JJ Keneddy and Carolyn Bassette were the American royals. Meghan wanted to be like them. She wanted the fame, the glamour and the riches that they had. She wanted to be the 2nd American royals after their sad demise. Alas, unfortunately for her, she could only manage to get a downgraded version of JJ - one without the goods looks, great personality and his impeccable behaviour. What about Diana? I think Meghan would have played upon Diana's narc personality and won her over - Diana loved to be praised, adored and Meghan only knows this game too well. Again, the only one standing in her way would have been William. I think with Diana around, there would be more drama in the royal family even ore so than now.
I am not sure who would be the bigger drama Queen - Diana or Meghan?
"I am not sure who would be the bigger drama Queen - Diana or Meghan?"
Now there's a thought!
Would it have come to conflict? Diana would be 59 now, how would she have felt about this usurper? Would it have been handbags at dawn? Who would have pushed whom down the stairs? How would the brothers have handled it?
brw, I do remember her as being quoted as saying that William was the sensible one but she worried about Harry.
- I reckon your budgies could beat them on their own!
Although, as you suggest, H$M might insist on the answers being fed to them.
What about M as a Mastermind contestant? She would need 2 special subjects - what might they be? Washing-up liquids ads? Hardly `How to win friends and influence people'? Might she have studied Dale Carnegie and/or Norman Vincent Peale?
Deal or No Deal but this time she doesn't have to open the briefcase
or Mastermind with their specialist subject of 'The Commonwealth' followed by 'The History of the Royal Marines'
https://people.com/royals/queen-elizabeth-shares-throwback-photo-prince-charles-celebrate-72nd-birthday/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm
@Natalier: Because she had spent her life in the aristocracy and then the RF, I think Diana would have had Meghan sussed immediately as nothing more than a grifter. People at her status, especially if they have lived in it for a long time, are usually very good at discerning who is genuine and who is not.
Diana was fiercely protective of her boys. Who they dated seriously as they considered prospective spouses would have been something she’d watch like a hawk. I think if Diana had ever met Meghan while she was dating Harry she would have recognized that Meghan did not love her younger son and was only interested in him because he is a prince in the most-well known RF on earth. She would have made certain the relationship was nipped in the bud.
Diana was experienced in a loveless marriage and would have had a lot of input into who Harry dated and her influence over Harry would overcome any influence Meghan had. Also, Harry loved his mother too much to ever move all the way to Southern California with Diana’s grandchild.
There’s a good chance Harry and Meghan would have never even crossed paths if Diana was alive. I think she would have helped him guide his life in a path that would have made it extremely difficult for Meghan to stalk her was into Harry’s social circle. The RF was asleep at the switch when Meghan came along. Diana would have been a woman to be reckoned with when it came to the lives of her sons and the women they dated.
See https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/harry-and-meghan-share-never-before-seen-picture-of-archie-for-prince-charles-birthday-1.4686223 for example.
JFK Jr & Carolyn were glamorous and true American royalty. We lost them way too soon. They did have the unfortunate pap photos in Central Park I think, but that seemed to be a one-off. They never would have done game shows or called the paps. I think this is what they are trying to emulate.
This feels harsh to say, but I agree that she doesn't sell magazines. I also don't think the press or paps are as interested in her as she wants them to be.
Hmm,
Thanks for the information on Netflix. I also have a cousin working for a studio (not Netflix) in LA, but on the legal side, and he and his wife say the buzz is shows are being cancelled, N projects binned, and N staff being are being quietly furloughed/made redundant/reassigned. So the words of your cousin definitely add more weight to those light rumors. Puzzle pieces coming together, here in Nuttyland? Love it.
SwampWoman, more good intel! Now, industry gossips like to say they hear N overspends wildly. So it is a simple refiguring due to Covid, plus things actually catching up with them as rumored, hammer blows stacking up over the Cuties and Harkles fiascos? Some odd theories about their sources of and uses for general funds exist, as well. Debate on how results can possibly cover showy hires. Etc.
With dominos falling in this manner, and the reality of a contract like theirs, the Harkles likely won’t see the check they are expecting unless they get Prince Philip’s butler and the ghost of Diana on tape admitting they an affair that led her death, and by the way, Camilla is her real mother. The grasping bunt (thx Hikari!) and her hostage won’t be paid anything until they produce a worthy project to reasonable completion from their own wallets...
But Graveyard strolls and two sour bores whinging yet again about daddy certainly don’t put bums in the seats.
Was the court case moved so they could prance around a cemetery for a worthless documentary? Pay attention, Judge!
I wonder if they will eventually try to sue N for cash, with the complaint that the small print was too hard to for a young mother and traumatized war hero to understand?
"The RF was asleep at the switch when Meghan came along. Diana would have been a woman to be reckoned with when it came to the lives of her sons and the women they dated."
I don't disagree that Diana would have been an influence. But Harry was in his 30s when he met Meghan. I'm not sure how protected from himself he could have been. If Diana had lived, he might have married earlier. Will might have also. But if Harry was still single in his 30s, and still at loose ends after leaving the military, I'm not sure how much of an influence even Diana could have been (other than through overly-dramatic episodes objecting to his choice.)
If Diana had lived, he might have married earlier.
@Lizzie: I am in strong agreement with you. I think if Diana had lived, there is a good chance for Harry to have married earlier than he did.
But then, I don’t think Meghan would let any man being married to get in her way.
I love this blog. It is fascinating due to the educated, thoughtful people who do not miss a trick with the HAMS. I have also learned more on this blog than in any history book.
I met my “soulmate” last night, while at dinner with a couple who my husband had met, whilst dog walking. The couple had bought a flat in the Northumberland castle/BIG house, before other buyers, as The Wall Street Journal in the Mansions section every Friday always gets the first inside scoop. My husband and I bought a vacation, I.e. safety home last week in Park City, Utah. Everybody I know who have disposable income are buying homes in Utah or Florida, to escape a certain political party that cheers on violence, Marxism, racism, arrests people who do not wear a mask, but thinks bloody and violent mask-less protesters are fine. The two Jerks have aligned themselves with these rich communists.
*I do not think that Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson, the late Diana, late Princess Margaret, and especially the two Jerks are what Americans call “comfortable in their own skin.” This group used to include prince Edward, Sophie, Catherine, William, Eugenie and Beatrice, but the latter people have grown up and become mature, serious, hard-working (but Kate and William need to triple or more their work engagements. Bleating like sheep on saving the world is incredibly obnoxious for both William and Charles to get on a soap box and are tone death to their “subjects.” Who gives a damn about electric cars (where is the electricity coming from, anyway)? Her Majesty the Queen, Princess Ann, Camilla, the Queens hard-working but low-keycousins, and did I miss anyone are amazing and down to earth.
Yet she doesn't stand a chance. And why is that?
By definition, glamor is something that causes excitement and admiration through a combination of charm and good looks. She's got neither, in spades.
While she can't help her looks, she just doesn't have good ones. She's too short, an odd shape, too gangly. Her face is pretty, but not gorgeous. Her hair...probably good if she'd stop with the wigs.
Her lesser looks could be far outweighed by her charm. Except that she doesn't have any.
When you say someone is charming, what do you think of?
Gracious, well-mannered, considerate, humble, likable, well rounded, comfortable in any situation, good at many things, an excellent communicator, someone who is ok even when external factors are challenging, someone filled with immense positive energy, someone who is all about making others happy, fascinating, enchanting, interesting, comfortable in their own skin.
See anything in there that makes you think of mm? Nope.
She seems to have no understanding that she is 100% lacking in charm, and her looks aren't anything spectacular.
Interestingly, I don't think Catherine is spectacular in looks, either. Yes, she's tall and thin, an attractive face, stunning hair. But that isn't what makes her glamorous, it's her charm. All those words listed above.
Maybe mm will get there some day. But I doubt it. If, at age 41, she doesn't show even a glimmer of charm, highly doubtful she's ever going to evolve to be charming.
Glamor for mm? She doesn't have a chance.
The queen has appointed a new equerry taken from the ranks of the Royal Marines. It looks as if this is to make up for Harry's complete disregard of the RM last year. As well as that, the new equerry, a Major Tom White, is black. Take that, Megsy, with your accusations of racism, and shove it where the sun don't shine.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8950559/amp/Queens-appointment-Royal-Marine-equerry-hailed-proud-moment-Prince-Harrys-departure.html
Singing is like athletics--you might be good in high school but. not on a larger stage. Also, if you haven't kept up with lessons and practice then time and idleness will diminish your voice. I doubt she sings well enough for anything beyond the church choir at this point,
Re the appointment of Major White.
The Queen is already ahead with currently having Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah as her equerry. ;o)
The photo in the DM is Major Tom’s predecessor (who was the Queen’s first black equerry) and not Tom. As noted under his predecessors photo it states:
Major White follows in the historical footsteps of Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah (pictured), the Queen's current equerry, who was the first black person to ever hold the position
We don’t know what Major Tom’s ethnicity is because the article doesn’t state.
I highly recommend reading this article in the DM which describes all the inaccuracies in the current season of "the Crown" and which questions whether such recent history (even if it wasn't distorted) should be portrayed given that it can be hurtful to the children of Diana and Charles.
There is also a discussion of how this reflects on the Harkles, since they are basically being financed by Netflix with earnings from the hurtful series The Crown.
Lastly, it discusses the belief that the Harkles are working on a series that depicts their departure from the RF, including footage that they took in their last months at Frogmore and Buckingham Palace.
Regarding the last topic, I recall that when Smirkle wore that hideous green dress, there was discussion about whether she was wearing a recording devic because of a bulge at the back of the dress. At the time, I thought that this was a tin foil hat discussion, but now I'm thinking that it is certainly possible. Even I didn't think anyone could stoop so low as to wear a recording device to record their own family, but after the cemetery fiasco and news of this new "docudrama", I see that anything is possible with her, no matter how vile.
It was seen as an important visit in that Nkrumah was poised between UUSR and the West and could have opted for association with the latter. This article may help:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5504485/Queens-dance-President-Ghana-proved-shes-honorary-man.html
It stresses how the `soft diplomacy' succeeded on keeping him on board with the West. Fear of Soviet intervention in Africa was strong at the time.
-another instance of how such visits can make or break international relationships and a reminder of how embarrassing, and possibly how downright dangerous, behaviour such as that of La Cucaracha could be.
I gather `The Crown' made a mess of this event.
Considering the tens upon tens of millions of dollars he has given his son, which the daughter-in-law has also benefited from, you would think they could muster two words for a life event. Apparently not. The alliterate one is taking her husband down into a spiral from which he will have a hard time emerging."
If true, that one is a good one!
You're right and I posted quickly when I was on my phone, that's my fault. I read the article this morning and should have posted then. Thanks for the correction. The photo was of Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah. Still, I don't think MM can accuse the BRF of racism (£30M+ wedding?) and well done to the Queen.
Silence.
They are only silent when it is true, otherwise they sue.
Oooh, it is a beautiful area! I would be green with envy (except I *REALLY* don't like cold weather to the chagrin of my BFF who has been trying to get me to go to Idaho, Wyoming, or Montana). A friend whose husband is (was?) a Delta pilot relocated there because he was retraining on another plane to finish out his (civilian) airline pilot career. He may have retired or been forcibly retired after the COVID (but no worries, he will have a *very* good retirement from the airline, has been maxing out his 401(k), and he's been investing his military retirement in the stock market. She just retired from teaching to accompany him to Utah for the skiing.)
Friends from a place up north in a prestigious city in the snow belt who were both professionals with good salaries bought their "retirement" home in a part of south Florida where people with lots of money go. They were having the house redone while still working when COVID hit and then, when the police were being defunded with serious crime rates rising, "noped" their way out of there because, as they said, they had enough in savings to last them two lifetimes so why take a chance of getting mugged by a thug in the subway?
I'm glad to hear that you have a secure bug-out location, and I sincerely hope that you will know when it is time to run. Don't let normalcy bias get you.
I am looking into the Oliver Bullough book too.