Russia teaches Europe the lesson by watching, despite all their efforts via NATO, Ukraine being decisively defeated.
Open Thread – Weekend 12 Aug 2023
- Australia ain’t what it was
- A Military Realist’s View of the Ukraine War Thread
- Open Thread – Weekend 11 May 2024
- Bumtree #10
- Bumtree #9
The only thing I could point to is retribution, thereby teaching the Europeans a lesson. But as I said, I…
You have to ask: what does Russia gains by engaging in acts of sabotage in Europe that could possibly allow…
I’m not sure. As you know, I have no time for Putin. However, he must be mightily pissed off that…
Yes, it’s impossible to imagine.
Doesn’t that say that it doesn’t matter who is Republican candidate as he will not be permitted to win?
makes sense to me
I do detect from C.L. and others a trace of the ‘he’s not the kind of person I’d invite to a dinner party’ snobbery that the RINOs (not to mention the Dimmocrats) have always raised.
Love it! And it is perhaps true for a lot of people.
Yes – perhaps he is not of the “cut” that one would want of a leader of the “Free World” – but, let’s face it, who is amongst contenders these days? And it’s true – the man is a classic narcissist in the clinical sense – having just about every textbook characteristic.
But, at the end of the day, the western world is plagued by leaders who are beholden to Big Money. This guy has a reasonable amount of his own and has the ego to despise his opponents who are indebted to Big Money.
If he can – this time – surround himself by better people, he may be the best chance we have to rescue the West. BTW I don’t agree with the dissing of De Santis – but I doubt that he has any chance now.
Cackling Kamala sources “AP News”. LOL. Yeah, AP News, a bastion of Trump objectivity, no wonder the troll approves of it.
Could be worse.
And the Dems were handed the senate as icing on the cake.
Well done!
I’m not saying Trump should’ve kept quiet permanently, just strategically.
P – I’ve never managed to make friends with a plover. There’re a few around the Cafe, but they seem immune to my wiles. Not once has any of them shown the slightest interest in any food that all the others scoff in great quantity. They’re like aliens from Mars.
They can be quite aggressive when they’re nesting, attacking perceived threats. Like magpies who don’t know humans do. Be careful.
By contrast I encountered a grey butcherbird male when out walking a couple weeks ago, he spotted me hand feeding some friendly magpies. Tossed him a bit of mince. That made an impression! Best thing in the universe! Four or five walks later I got him to accept food from my hand: yesterday. Grey butcherbirds are quite amazingly brave and adaptive.
AP News article is based on FEC reported income & spending by candidates. You can google and find many other sources saying the same thing based on same data.
Ignore the data if you don’t like the message, but its still there.
I wouldn’t waste my time jumping thru hoops for you- after the way he’s been treated and the trashing of his achievements, of course he wants to have another shot.
Can anyone answer this in each instance?
Internet searches have become worse in recent years.
There are two-three other annoying things.
1. Specific search terms are dumbed down to unrelated generic terms.
2. Examining a proven fact results in being gaslighted by search results; quite a lot with shills disagreeing with the proven proposition because it threatens their livelihood.
3. Paring down search terms with -[name] and so on works awfully now.
Why is this so? What can be done to correct for it?
I remember being in the fielding side in a game of cricket when a pair of plovers were aggressively protecting their nest in a grove of trees just outside the boundary.
Naturally, the batting side kept tonking the ball in that direction.
What!?
We have the best of the best these days
“Ignore the data if you don’t like the message, but its still there.”
Well troll, you do everyday.
Pol – when they go generalist, you go more specific.
Utilise a specific certain term (or terms). I’ve just done it with the term “the Eastern Front”. Then narrowed again.
E.G. This is what Germans normally look like. If they turn up unannounced at your front door, all bets are off. 😕
Nice to see some tributes her to the BBC series of Tinker, Tailor. It’s available on Youtube.
Alec Guiness combines with Le Carre at the top of both of their games.
No wonder Hollywood is imploding. Cartoon characters (without the charm) and woke bullshit, and lots of bang-bangs, apparently aimed at ten year olds.
Magnificent acting from all, but I especially love Bernard Hepton as the dodgy Hungarian opportunist, Joss Ackland as the boozy journalist, and of course Ian Richardson as Bill Haydon.
Apart from the Brideshead Revisited series (also BBC) this is the only one that gets 10/10 from me.
Are you talking to me?
Can DeSantis win WI, MI, PA, GA, NV, AZ, OH and the like?
My new computer came pre-loaded with Bing.
It’s terrible, despite – or more likely because – it is, as it boasts, “AI driven.”
Google cops flack for its biased algorithms, but for basic searches it is infinitely better.
On Trump’s public personality. It’s largely manufactured, like Teddy Roosevelt’s. Rough and tumble, straight shooting, appealing to a similar type, or those who see themselves as such.
I don’t see a problem with this, provided he remains true to those who vote for him. Trouble is everyone’s looking for someone to “save” America. They really need to look in the mirror.
Thanks BoN,
It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever been scared by a bird. I put my hands over my head and ran. I have an exceptionally large yard and now only the one large gum left. Some shrubs of course.
Dot – There’re an increasing number of righty search engines. I tend to use Brave Search, which actually found a Paul Homewood blogpost for me yesterday – I couldn’t remember where I’d seen a story and did a generic search of a roughly accurate phrase. Bingo, his story came up as first hit. On Goolag or Bing that would not’ve happened.
Another Cat suggested a couple of search engines this morning, I can’t recall their names. I also have DDG and Freespoke bookmarked, although I haven’t really tried the latter out much. It advertises itself as a righty search engine.
Used to be that internet core companies like Cloudflare would restrict all web crawlers except from Microtheft and Goolag, which was why all alternate search engines had to be built as overlays of the the big two. More recently the AIs seem to’ve broken that duopoly, since they scrape the whole internet for stuff to learn from. Which lets the independents do the same. Brave Search has recently ditched Bing and is going out on their ownsome, and it has made a noticeable difference. Still early days though, and the search results aren’t great sometimes censorshipwise.
If the Dems slide in a populist candidate at the last second, can Trump?
They are persecuting him to get him nominated.
Makes you wonder.
“Trouble is everyone’s looking for someone to “save” America. They really need to look in the mirror.”
I think you’ve said it best.
They are persecuting him to get him nominated.
I thought they were persecuting him to dissuade him from nominating
When my wretched knee (soon to be given some R&M) allowed me to walk around the golf course, the plover would home in me. They were nesting, and aggressive.
Eye to eye, we’d face each other off on the path around the 6th. Incoming! At a certain point, just as it dipped for the kill, I’d spread my wings and go “Arrrrrk” at the bugger.
I won. They’re all hat and no cowboy.
and to dissuade similarly minded prospective candidates. A warning.
Just as I posted my last comment there was a rattling from my front flyscreen door. I took camera, and captured a not especially high quality photo of a pair of possum balls.
He’s fun!
A big noisy slab of good ol’ style Rock ‘n’ Roll, Cats … 🙂
“When my wretched knee (soon to be given some R&M) ”
The first step to getting knees better is to find somewhere you are safe, and not too embarrassed, to walk backwards. I get really good results walking backwards. But its subject to social pressure. For example I lost my sun hat, which made me self-conscious about walking backwards. So just because of that I had to suffer with bad knees. The next step is to strengthen your hip flexors and tib muscle at the front of the shin.
They must know that every whack they give him makes him more popular with the base.
Possibly but ‘they’ might as well live on another planet.
Yes indeed.
Recently arrived, skimmed but not yet read:
We The People Are The Problem
Self-published by a child of Sicilian immigrants made good who as a teenager ran against the NY State Senate Majority leader on an anti-corruption platform.
A bit of Nashville
Either he or Trump could win if RNC decided to do something about it. They could challenge the recent election practices in all of the above states or build their own machines replicating the Democrats’ methods. They will do nothing because they don’t want to win an election yet and especially not with Trump. Republican establishment actively hates their voters.
Re the great song ‘Over the Sea to Skye’ earlier, my first exposure was this pop song from local Peter Nelson (of Peter Nelson and the Castaways) as a schoolgirl.
It’s a great, rollicking tune which will probably be revived again and again.
P, love it and have had it in my collection for decades.
That will send most of ’em to the online cosmetics or a surgeon. It’s going to require a lot more than self-reflection to fix the issues confronting USA culture.
That’s just trying to be insulting. I don’t do ‘aboriginal bashing’, nor does Vicki, and we have both spoken out concerning the good things as well as the less good things that were in the aboriginal cultures we both studied in anthropology in the days when the discipline had some credibility. There are also many others here, the majority I suspect, who have a lot of goodwill towards aboriginal people, especially to those who have yet to integrate into the wider society. What is not appreciated here are claimants to aboriginality who have no reason personally to feel hard done by because of their background and race. That is specific and not ‘aboriginal bashing’ as you put it as a general term, it is calling out hypocrisy in the main part.
Thoroughly enjoying original Tinker Tailor.
Sorry, I miss your meaning.
They really need to look in the mirror.
Agree to some extent but I would have to say in defense of most American electors that they did vote in a certain way and this was nullified.
‘they’- the Washington Beltway establishment
Anyway, back to your Aboriginal bashing everyone.
Insulting and dishonest
While speaking of both America and cricket…
In the revolutionary war, Washington’s army used to play cricket in their downtime.
Not many people know that.
Who unfortunately don’t live on another planet.
Some skank called libby mettam who is the leader of the WA libs supports live birth abortion:
https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/wa-liberal-leader-libby-mettam-confirms-she-will-support-governments-abortion-reforms-c-11538819
The problem with Australia is not the left but conservative grubs.
Trump is one of the smartest, wittiest guys I’ve met.
I wouldn’t invite Donald Trump to a dinner party. Not because I disapprove of his personality, I don’t. Dinner parties are when you have to put up with opinionated ignorami.
I’d like to spend a couple of hours talking to him one on one; he knows a lot of things that I don’t, and I’d be interested in the views of an intelligent and informed person.
I don’t think he’s a narcissist at all. He has a good opinion of himself, and that threatens the insecure, but he has a good sense of humour.
I haven’t met him, but I’ve stayed in one of his hotels.
Extra large toiletries. 😀
Sort of snap, cohenite.
The only populist candidate the Dems have is RFK Jnr. Still, is DeSantis doing better in these states compared to Trump?
Raw Power. Awesome.
In the 1970s, when albums had to be physically imported, and obscure albums like Raw Power were almost impossible to obtain, I found myself in a group house with a guy who has been to the US and bought a copy. I offered him increasing amounts of money for it, but he wouldn’t budge.
Apart from us, there would have been maybe double figures in Canberra who knew about it.
I am the world’s forgotten boy
The one who searches to destroy
Good times. 🙂
“Some skank called libby mettam who is the leader of the WA libs supports live birth abortion:”
Ah yes, Mettam and the other sole Liberal voted FOR the heritage laws, and she’s supported the Voice although late last week, she was backtracking on the Voice.
I think the lights are out in the Liberal Party.
If it’s not Biden then what?
Asking because I don’t know.
Does the eventual candidate have to already be nominating?
conservative grubs
maybe closet leftists purporting to be conservatives
I don’t think he’s a narcissist at all. He has a good opinion of himself, and that threatens the insecure, but he has a good sense of humour.
You should like yourself
They will probably stick with Biden. Very unlikely they will risk switching unless there is a crisis.
Pete M
The $34 billion, as far as I understand it is spent on the Aboriginal industry over and above what the rest of us access or can access. It’s directed toward that group.
I’m not bashing aboriginals, and I don’t believe they deserve extra spending because of who they are.
Oddly, Trump doesn’t boast much about his brilliant ‘vaccine’ roll-out these days.
Oh, yeah, I forgot. Fauci. Trump was duped by the Swamp.
Pence? Duped by the Swamp. Bolton? Duped by the Swamp. Bill Barr? Duped by the Swamp. The Kushners? Duped by the Swamp.
I’m not aware of Ron DeSantis being duped by anyone as Governor of Florida.
“and I don’t believe they deserve extra spending because of who they are.”
Indeed.
Tallahassee isn’t Washington dc
So all the proof coming out of extortion, taking bribes and outright treason don’t count as a crisis?
Were I an American, I’d like to vote for de Santis, but I’d feel obliged to vote for Trump.
What they have done to him and the legal system, the local DA to the Attorney-General, well the entire foul machine needs to be rebuked, then Rabz’d and re-set in accord with the Founders’ default principles and taboos
I do. I reckon I’m a decent bloke, fairly generous, tolerant, and kind to animals.
Trump’s achievements- tax cuts, secure borders, revitalized manufacturing, no more wars. That’s enough for me.
no more new wars I mean
Right, miltonf.
Against the might of the deep state, Trump made huge strides.
FFS, what is it about alleged conservatives that the demand their version of perfection, else they will sulk.
You’ve got cause and effect mixed up.
The only reason Trump has legal bills is because he is running,
That’s because his enemies the Democrats and the Swamp are grossly abusing the DoJ and other legal avenues to knock him out of contention for the presidency.
what the government says about direct Federal Government spending
So did I, in the Washington DC one as it was close to everything I wanted to see. Our room looked onto Pennsylvania Avenue. I thought the price was worth it as I will never be in that town again. We even got courtesy Trump umbrellas to take on walks when it rained. It was a fabulous stay and I still have some of the toiletries.
23/24 is 5.36 billion
One more thing, Pete m. Accessing mainstream services doesn’t mean what you think it means. It means Aboriginals access services focused on them through “mainstream” entities such as Medicare and Centrelink etc. These are benefits and services that neither you nor I can access.
Steve trickler
Aug 13, 2023 3:57 PM
Steve, with due respect and all, that guy is talking so much rubbish I can’t believe you actually linked to it.
Stick to promoting that great dane dog, makes more sense, no it doesn’t but still better.
Approximately 50 per cent of Indigenous adults are reliant on some form of welfare payment and for young people (aged 15 to 24 years) the proportion is only slightly lower.
How can it be a crisis in a town where almost every politician did/does what Biden did? It’s just business. The only one who wasn’t involved in their trade was Trump and that’s why he had/has to go.
It certainly hasn’t so far, and how much “worse” can it get?
When you control the DoJ, the Courts, and the press the only thing you have to fear is the Congress. When the Congress is packed with a bunch of toe cheese RINOs that’s not much of a thread either.
Its got to be a bit of a scandal that the actor playing Biden isn’t even Biden? Thats a bit naughty isn’t it? I thought the stand-in must have gotten plastic surgery. But some people look closely at him and think they see the kind of mask that Tom Cruise would wear in Mission Impossible. Different facial structure. Different coloured eyes. Different signature. One thing the actor has that Biden doesn’t have is a rabbi. Real Biden was a Catholic. We have been gaslit for so long we can’t permit ourselves to see the obvious stuff.
None of us knew how totally controlled and suborned the medical apparatus was in early 2020. We found out very quickly though. 99.95% of political donations from CDC employees were to the Democrats, once someone looked at the numbers.
Filings show all but five political donations from CDC employees since 2015 have gone to Democrats (July, 2020)
Note the date of the story. Quite amazing. A more complete takeover would be effectively impossible. And all of them wanted Trump gone. But whose else’s advice could he get? So he went with theirs on the “vaccines” until data started to emerge on alternatives like HCQ. And when he recommended those the deep state gloves came fully off.
IIRC it is your birthday today. Johanna. Best Wishes to you. Have a great year!
This is quite a neat video.
The hidden world of Looney Tunes
I’d do most things to go to a (small) dinner party with The Donald. Those who dismiss him as a crude vulgarian are opponents or ignorant.
By all accounts, Clinton is a crude dyke spewing obscenities that would make a sailor blush. Treats her staff like dirt. But that’s ok- she’s left and establishment. She has ‘nuance’.
Bill Ward on those drums!
F*ck!
Black Sabbath performing “War Pigs” live at the Olympia Theater in Paris, France on December 20, 1970
BLACK SABBATH – “War Pigs” (Live Video)
Agreed
My reason for preferring one on one is that if Trump had an audience, he’d play to the gallery. He does it in interviews these days, but he didn’t always.
I don’t see the Dems sticking with Biden.
The defence they have spun around him to date is the focus of all the Republican attack.
Let him die in an unexpected accident with his dick caught in a toaster with a child’s face drawn on it while un the shower and that is it.
Bring in someone new (perhaps Neeson, perhaps some one else) and everything starts over. The Republican machine starts from scratch with someone on whom they have little and the MSM toasts as the new great hope that will defeat Trump.
The reason I remember Johanna’s birthday is because my niece was born on 13 Aug, though not a Friday.
Today my family remembered the 51st birthday of my sister’s first child who who died on 21st December last year of cancer at 50.
Terrible P. I’m sorry.
KevinM
Aug 13, 2023 8:31 PM
Steve trickler
Aug 13, 2023 3:57 PM
A previous civilization existed? It’s looking that way. As always, make up your own mind.
Kissinger had a map of Tartaria on the front of his book – World Order. Horse and cart days and they were building these structures? F-off!
If you disagree, enjoy the architecture.
Ancient Budapest?
Steve, with due respect and all, that guy is talking so much rubbish I can’t believe you actually linked to it.
Stick to promoting that great dane dog, makes more sense, no it doesn’t but still better.
Wank!
You haven’t given it much thought have you? It reminds of me people referring to rusted on Uni professors and historians. Go to Egypt and it’s theme park for tourists!
Thanks, it is indeed my birthday. Born on Friday 13th, been contrarian ever since! 🙂 I’ve been very lucky in life.
People confuse what is happening with Trump and maybe a fresh start with some one else with tinkering to get the system back on track. This is impossible. What Trump has shown, although a sizeable minority of sheeple are just too dumb and another sizeable minority too infested with left arrogance to see, is that the system is blown, torched, a facade full of pus, shit and ooze with nothing left.
Some one like De Santis would keep the illusion spluttering along for a few months/years. But eventually the swamp would get impatient and the trigger point would be switched. The trigger point will be reached if Trump were bac also; I just think he would have a better chance.
There is some good news however. A sequel to Justified is out. Unfortunately its on Disney but a relo is paying for it so I’m watching it.
Oh, and Steve, Tony Iommi is one of the most under-rated guitarists ever.
We had an in-law family do yesterday for lunch. Wifey comes from a family of 30,000 kids (just kidding, it’s 9) and they came in from over the place. Rural areas, outer burbs, western burbs and inner city, so it was a decent cross section. Some of them are National voters while others are Liars or freaking greens. Between the siblings and kids, there were about 35 of them. I mention this because it was a good cross section.
Only the conservatives appeared to have heard about the massive Hiden scandal. Those lefties I spoke to appeared to have not even heard , nor were they curious as they thought I was an exaggeration or just a beat up.
The mainstream media is simply avoiding making this news. It’s possibly the biggest government scandal since Nixon and the msn is lying by omission. This appears to be the case in the US because Demon supporters don’t read Rightwing sites.
All the best for a Happy Birthday!
JonLevi:
The lost realm reset ruins
johanna
Aug 13, 2023 9:36 PM
Hello chook.
A nice change of pace.
—
State Azure:
Ambient Improvisation (Lounge Lizard, Omnisphere)”
Steve trickler
Aug 13, 2023 9:33 PM
Be realistic please.
Steve, the 1800s and even before, the roman era are no ancient history, old perhaps, but we have documented detail and proof how the buildings were constructed and how long it took.
Some cathedrals took a couple of hundred years for example, no extraterrestrial magic.
Watching the Lost Boys on Focks.
Kiefer Sutherland was, at one point, a shit actor. He was much better in A Few Good Men.
And on the subject of anniversaries – today is two years since I watched the old man get put in the ground, via a video link, and from the other end of the continent because of the snapperheads that thought covid lockdowns would be just great.
People who wanted covid amnesties. Cowards. Cowards all.
KevinM:
Welcome to Stevie T world:
TruSted BloggErs are far more, well, on the pace.
Wait till you hear about Bible trees and earthquakes predicted by accountants who in absolutely no way are grifters siphoning cash from the gullible.
Happy birthday Johanna.
Be contrary and get untidy 🙂
KevinM
Aug 13, 2023 9:53 PM
Steve trickler
Aug 13, 2023 9:33 PM
Be realistic please.
Steve, the 1800s and even before, the roman era are no ancient history, old perhaps, but we have documented detail and proof how the buildings were constructed and how long it took.
Some cathedrals took a couple of hundred years for example, no extraterrestrial magic.
Keep shooting your mouth off.
I skimmed an article at the Sunday version of the Canberra Crimes at the coffee shop this morning – can’t remember which of the usual suspects (female) wrote it.
According to her, the Sofranoff report was ‘terminally compromised’ by it being released. No explanation was advanced for this assertion.
Every possible question of Brittie’s assertions (some of which turned out not to be true) was quickly elided over.
Then the rest of the article was about how there is some sort of systemic whatever white male something. Also, if there are not many false rape allegations, or if there are, Believe All Women.
Serious crimes demand serious proof.
If true, things may be escalating in Syria.
Thomas Mayo, like all Communists, should be given a fair trial, and then shot at dawn.
Can you explain this. Who’s side are the Russians and the Americans on? I thought both were against ISIS.
From what I hear, US are on the same side as ISIS/al Qaeda, anti-Assad.
Russians are pro-Assad, as are Iran.
But there are many anti-Assad factions and not just ISIS. I don’t believe for a minute the US is supporting ISIS in Syria.
Friendly fire?
They were going to pay for it, but you missed them.
Alas they left an hour ago, singing “All aboard…”
Whaddya mean it’s not that kind of “Justified”??
Sure, but why wouldn’t you believe it for a minute? If their principal aim is overthrowing Assad, why wouldn’t they align themselves when needed with a jihadi group like ISIS? It’s not merely that they have form in other situations, they also have form in this one since 2012.
Dover:
The US is NOT supporting ISIS in Syria. Your sources appear to be a Russian propaganda sites. I wouldn’t believe it for a minute because the US never has and never will support ISIS. They are supporting those groups I mentioned above, which is not ISIS.
New OT opens at 1 am.
JC, that guy is based in Sydney. But, still, its just incredibly funny how you are so sure that the US wouldn’t support ISIS in a fight against Assad and Iranian influence in Syria when there is the following report uncovered by Judicial Watch in 2012:
“That guy” could be based in Antarctica for all its worth. The US tried to clean out ISIS from Syria.
Reports don’t mean a single thing unless there’s at least a shred of evidence to support such an extraordinary claim. Your link goes to The Guardian to support your argument? The Guardian has always been an honest truthful newspaper.
What do you find incredibly funny? That I stated who the US is actually supporting in Iraq, whereas you claims are supposedly back by the Guardian and some anonymous Twitter account from Sydney?
Moreover, your inference is that the Trump administration was also supporting ISIS in Syria. This is an absurdity.
It fits fine JC. While its true that Trump was never going to support ISIS look what the people around Trump did to him? They all colluded in the coup not excluding Milley. Being anti-ISIS left Trump out of sorts with the terrorists running the US.
Think about your position JC. If the Americans didn’t create and support ISIS who did? Are you suggesting they took more ground then the Prophet spontaneously and without support opposed by every government in the world? That would be like saying that each of these Arabs is superhuman. They weren’t getting their funding from a chook raffle and a cake stall. From local support in any already burned over territory. Their vehicles were all Japanese for example. So they are a creature of the American defence alliance. They were helped all the time by Israel whose excuse was their humanity. Humanitarian help.
By the time Obama and Hillary were running things America had become a fully fledged terrorist nation. Hence all the terrible things that happened to Trump and the rest of us since then.
Dumbgeld has rejected the claims, he has not offered any evidence to refute them.
The ABC continue to report the Maui fires without ever mentioning the fuel source that made the fires so intense.
Climate change is ritually chanted like a call to prayer from the minaret.
The next story “Bangkok sinking”
No prizes for guessing the first line of the report.
Being present as a mum and dad organise two primary schooler girls and a nearly three year old boy ready to go to school and the little boy to the other grandparents’ on the way really took us back. Time was when we did that morning rush, two older boys to primary school, two younger ones to a very good child-carer and Hairy and me off to grapple with the wider world. All in the name of mortgage, lifestyle and achievement. It wasn’t always like this but for the majority of families that’s the way it is today, since women entered the workforce in large numbers in the 1950’s. I have got up in the morning and gone to work ever since I was fourteen, until I was sixty. The enjoyment of morning peace is one of the true delights of retirement. Except, of course, when I was on the grandparental child-care side of things, which I have been on for two of my grandsons in Sydney, where life goes on as it does grandparentally.
So sad to hug these three little ones goodbye. I guess we should be grateful that they are not, like many grandchildren today, scattered across the world, for at least we can drive easily to Queensland (post Covid papers of course).
We are off this morning to Bribie Island to call in on very distant kin to start the process of developing a family website and discuss further the issues concerning the little church in the UK where are buried the ancestors I share in common with these people.
Congratulations to Johanna on her birthday, and to those for whom the day brings sad memories, well, loss is the penalty we pay for love always. My mother died thirteen years ago on September 23rd, the exact date on which my first son, now aged fifty, was born, and my first grandchild was born on June 9th, which was her birthday. Coincidences of course. Dates are always full of them giving horoscopers a field day.