WINNING! – Page 28

Smackdown: DEALT

Posted on August 15, 2023August 15, 2023 by Mike

The effete True Conservatives™ currently dragging Bill Buckley’s once-indispensable magazine through the shitlib sewer-pipe had the unmitigated gall to sniff, in the manner of Thurston Howell III, at Oliver Anthony’s smash song, and John Nolte is all over ‘em like white on rice.

This establishment elite is so above it all he dissects “Rich Men North of Richmond” lyric by lyric. Honestly, the best way to read these excerpts is in the voice of Thurston Howell III:

“Yes — it is a damn shame what the world’s gotten to. But we can fix it. We don’t have to just dream about it. Indeed, if we want to, we can fix it on our own even if Washington is standing in our way or looking down its nose at us,” lovey.

He also suggests Anthony remind everybody in a song of “what makes America a great land — a land of opportunity, not of guaranteed success,” lovey.

It gets worse:

My brother in Christ, you live in the United States of America in 2023 — if you’re a fit, able-bodied man, and you’re working “overtime hours for bullshit pay,” you need to find a new job.

There’s plenty of them out there — jobs that don’t require a college degree, that offer good pay (especially in this tight labor market) and great benefits, especially if you’re willing to get your hands dirty by doing things like joining the Navy, turning wrenches, fixing pumps, laying pipe, or a hundred other jobs through which American men can still make a great living. If you’re the type of guy who’s willing to show up on time, every time, work hard while you’re on the clock, and learn hard skills — there’s a good-paying job out there for you. Go find it.

What did the pedantic do before the Internet?

How out of touch do you have to be to rip apart a song that speaks to a disaffected group of people and says I get you, I hear you, I’m with you, you’re not alone, we’re in this together…? That’s what art does. The best art grabs hold of something inside of us and helps us to make sense of it. Art is firing on all cylinders when it examines and explains the human condition. All Oliver Anthony is doing is commiserating and reaching out to a group of people who feel they are under assault by America’s dominant culture because they are under assault by America’s dominant culture. He’s commiserating with us in the same way Sinatra commiserates with the lonely, Patsy Cline embraces the brokenhearted, Woody Guthrie speaks for the scorned, and the blues offer everyone a shoulder to cry on.

Hey, National Review. Why are you whining about a song? This is America, you crybabies, a land where you can write your own songs. You don’t need to sit around and wait for Oliver Anthony to write a song about how great America is–not in America. Why aren’t you pulling those bootstraps, showing some initiative, and writing the song yourself, my brother in Christ?

Finally, what’s interesting is how National Review failed to comment on this specific lyric in Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond”:

I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere

But that might be because National Review was publishing gushing articles about Jeffrey Epstein years and years after his conviction for procuring underage prostitutes.

What whores won’t do for a dollar.

But DAYUMMM, that one stung from all the way over here. Let ‘im up, John, I think he’s stopped breathing.

4

Rock ’em sock ’em (senile) robot

Posted on August 12, 2023August 12, 2023 by Mike

OhpleasepleasepleasepleasepleasePLEEAAAASE.

US Diplomat Threatened To “Kick The Sh*t” Out Of Biden For Groping Wife
Former diplomat and US Senator Scott Brown said he threatened to beat then-VP Joe Biden’s ass for getting handsy with his wife.

Scott Brown, a former Massachusetts Senator who went on to serve as Trump’s Ambassador to New Zealand, said in a new podcast interview that Biden started touching his wife inappropriately when the newly-elected Republican was being sworn in, as first reported by the NH Journal.

“Yeah, I told him I would kick the sh…uh…I told him to stop,” Brown told Tom Shattuck on the Massachusetts-based Burn Barrel podcast.

The only pressing question is: How much would YOU be willing to shell out to watch it on PPV? Might need to get a pool up among your circle of friends or something. I’d bet it would be the most-watched sporting event in television history.

3

Flailing, floundering, desperate beer company self-beclowns AGAIN

Posted on August 12, 2023August 12, 2023 by Mike

My grandma, bless her soul, had a wonderful phrase to describe this: They shit and fell back in it.

Budweiser Humiliated at Sturgis After Woke Company’s Stunt to Win Back Fans Epically Backfires
The punishing conservative boycott of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light brand continues unabated, as the beer giant was unceremoniously blackballed at a major motorcycle event it sponsored in South Dakota.

The grim situation was captured in a TikTok video by user CycleDrag, who posted shocking footage Tuesday showing tent after tent with row after row of empty Budweiser booths that had been set up to promote the beer.

The TikTok video was shared on Twitter by a user who noted that there were “ZERO attendees at the Budweiser tent in Sturgis. This may be the BIGGEST marketing blunder of all time!”

The no-show was especially jarring because Budweiser was an official sponsor of this year’s City of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. So even when it lavishes money to woo customers to a free event, beer drinkers stayed away in droves.

Aww, what a shame.

Budweiser has actually been a Sturgis sponsor for about fifty years or so, if I remember right, and one of the most popular ones too. I’ve never attended the Black Hills Classic myself, although I always wanted to. I HAVE seen tons of pics, however, thanks to Easyriders magazine’s annual coverage of what is easily the biggest rally in all of bikerdom (estimated attendance: half a mill or thereabouts) back when it was still a biker rag, and in nearly every wide-angle event photo there’ll be a Bud tent, sign, or pennant flying in the breeze—literally hundreds of them, maybe even thousands.

Those days appear to be done now, and one of the Busch heirs is definitely not amused.

Earlier this week, Billy Busch, an heir to the Anheuser-Busch beer empire, said that his ancestors would have “rolled in their graves” over Bud Light’s recent decision.

“I think my family—my ancestors would have rolled over in their graves,” Busch told TMZ. “They believed that transgender, gays, that sort of thing was all a very personal issue. They loved this country because it is a free country and people are allowed to do what they want, but it was never meant to be on a beer can and never meant to be pushed in people’s faces.”

Busch said that the type of customers who would drink a Bud Light are “common folk” who work hard every day and do not want political messaging shoved in their faces.

“You know, I think people who drink beer, I think they’re your common folk. I think they are the blue-collar worker who goes and works hard every single day,” Busch said.

“The last thing they want pushed down their throat or to be drinking is a beer can with that kind of message on it. I just don’t think that’s what they’re looking for. They want their beer to be truly American, truly patriotic, as it always has been. Truly, America’s beer, which Bud Light was and probably isn’t any longer,” he added.

When you can’t sell beer to bikers at Sturgis, you have well and truly screwed the pooch. At this point, though, I have to doubt whether Buttweisel would have even been able to give their tranny-pimping pisswater away.

5

Chaya Raichik claims another scalp

Posted on August 8, 2023August 8, 2023 by Mike

Hubris, I have someone I’d like you to meet.

Yesterday I came across some disturbing posts on social media. A woman who claimed to be a teacher in Texas went on an insane anti-white racist tirade after finding out her sister was sleeping with a white man. To add to that, she had the words “black supremacist” in her X (Twitter) bio. The content was horrific but the fact that she was a teacher made it 1,000x worse. In her messages, she had called upon her boyfriend to come kill this white man for herI posted a video compiling her tweets and videos to X. It immediately went viral because the content was just so shocking. Users immediately went to work identifying where this woman teaches.

The teacher, “Claire Kyle” was not worried in the slightest of losing her job and spent her first day back at school taunting users on social media.

It was eventually discovered that she worked as a first grade teacher in Thompson Elementary School in Mesquite, Texas. Then, a 6-year-old Google review came to light where a former student claimed she was bullied for being white. This was not looking good for Thompson Elementary School!

“Claire Kyle” eventually deleted her account but not before reminding us that she will for sure not be fired because she’s a good teacher and the school board has her back.

So how’d that work out for Mizriz Claire, do ya think?

“Black supremacist” teacher with history of shocking anti-white racist tweets is fired after bragging that she wouldn’t get fired

Full story here!https://t.co/rxE9AxHHIi

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok)

August 8, 2023

Heh. Good show, Chaya. “Y’all will never be able to call me unemployed,” is it? Okay, howzabout we just call you “jobless nigger bitch,” then? That suit your worthless, hateful ass any better? Because I must say it suits the hell out of me.

I know, I know, it amounts to no more than the merest drop in the bucket when it comes to cleaning out the government schools. Which doesn’t at all mean that it ain’t a damned good start anyhow.

3

1

“A Retirement Home for American Politicians Who Won’t Retire”

Posted on August 7, 2023August 7, 2023 by Mike

AMPO: an idea whose time has clearly come.

Only flaw I see here is this: “At AMPO, we actually let you live the retirement life without actually having to retire…in the rare event your relative does need to leave the premises to vote on America’s future we have chaffeurs ready to go, as no sane person would let someone of that age drive themselves.”

Funny, yes, but I’d much prefer that these decrepit, corrupt scum-lickers be forced into full and complete retirement—no more influence; no more power; no more graft or influence-pedding; no more preening for Praetorian Media cameras. Nothing but the continued long, slow slide into the obscurity, senile dementia, and physical helplessness they so richly deserve.

(Via Ace)

2

Yertle McTurtle shouted down during speech

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Mike

And I gotta say, I have questions. One in particular.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was interrupted and heckled for five straight minutes during his speech in his home state at the St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic on Saturday, a premier political event in Kentucky.

Instead of a respectful silence, the audience delivered a relentless, clear, and loud message for a full five minutes, drowning out his speech.

Foot-stomping and chants echoed around the venue, making it abundantly clear that the senator’s reception was far from warm in his home state. He is done.

The dissenting voices underscore the sentiment that McConnell, at 81 years old and with nearly four decades of senatorial service, is more of a representative of Washington’s political ‘Swamp’ than the average American he’s supposed to represent.

Chants of “RETIRE” and “DITCH MITCH” overwhelmed his address, causing a scene of utter humiliation for the long-serving senator.

All fine and well, I suppose. But a significant portion of the rest of the country has been wondering for quite some time now why the hell Kentucky voters didn’t ditch his sorry, Swampy ass a long damned time ago.

4

Happy Pearl Harbor Payback Day!

Posted on August 6, 2023August 6, 2023 by Mike

Surber just comes right out and says it.

We should have dropped three bombs
Sunday marks the 78th anniversary of the Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Three days later, we dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Japanese warlords still voted 3-3 on surrendering. Intervention by the emperor ended the war and the Japanese told the allies it planned to surrender, which it did on September 2.

With the new movie Oppenheimer‘s debut last month and the end of the teaching of American history in a positive light, lefties have resurrected the argument against using the A-bomb to end World War II.

The Atlantic published the first and perhaps only rebuttal you need to read to this daft argument in December 1946. Written by Karl T. Compton, an atomic physicist and president of MIT, one of the many people involved in the development of these two bombs, the article addressed the argument against the bombings.

Compton wrote, “About a week after V-J Day I was one of a small group of scientists and engineers interrogating an intelligent, well-informed Japanese Army officer in Yokohama. We asked him what, in his opinion, would have been the next major move if the war had continued. He replied: ‘You would probably have tried to invade our homeland with a landing operation on Kyushu about November 1. I think the attack would have been made on such and such beaches.’

“‘Could you have repelled this landing?’ we asked, and he answered: ‘It would have been a very desperate fight, but I do not think we could have stopped you.’

“‘What would have happened then?’ we asked.

“He replied: ‘We would have kept on fighting until all Japanese were killed, but we would not have been defeated,’ by which he meant that they would not have been disgraced by surrender.

“It is easy now, after the event, to look back and say that Japan was already a beaten nation, and to ask what therefore was the justification for the use of the atomic bomb to kill so many thousands of helpless Japanese in this inhuman way; furthermore, should we not better have kept it to ourselves as a secret weapon for future use, if necessary? This argument has been advanced often, but it seems to me utterly fallacious.”

The Japanese would rather die than surrender. They proved this in battle after battle.

That’s about the size of it, yeah; as Don goes into later in the piece, if you don’t think so, ask any survivor of the Bataan Death March or the Rape of Nanking about it, if you can find one. Truman knew it too:

Bombing Japan into surrender was the only option. Harry S. Truman considered the bombing to be his biggest achievement as president and rightly so. He had survived as a field artillery officer that meatgrinder we now call World War I.

Truman wrote a letter to Compton in response to that Atlantic article.

The president said, “Your statement in the Atlantic Monthly is a fair analysis of the situation except that the final decision had to be made by the President, and was made after a complete survey of the whole situation had been made. The conclusions reached were substantially those set out in your article.

“The Japanese were given fair warning, and were offered the terms which they finally accepted, well in advance of the dropping of the bomb. I imagine the bomb caused them to accept the terms.”

The only reason we did not drop three bombs is that we did not have a third one.

We do now.

Heh. Yep. Roger Kimball says it wasn’t only American lives that were saved.

The atomic bomb saved Japanese lives, too
The choices we face are often not between good and bad but between bad and worse

Something else that has contributed to the fraught atmosphere is the war in Ukraine. After all, one side in that conflict, Russia, controls the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, more than 6,000 warheads. My friend Roger L. Simon is right: atomic weapons are “as close or closer to being used today than ever since World War Two because of the endless war in Ukraine.”

That is a sobering thought.To his succeeding questions “Was this worth doing? Was it moral to build such an extreme weapon?” I would answer “yes” and “yes.” I also, by the way, support our use of this most horrible weapon in Japan. Why? Because its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War Two. In so doing, it saved hundreds of thousands of American lives. Data point: the military is still using the huge supply of Purple Hearts it manufactured in anticipation of an invasion of the Japanese home islands.

But put the number of American lives saved to one side. The use of the bomb, by ending the war, also saved millions of Japanese lives.

This was widely understood at the time. In subsequent years, however, a new, mostly left-wing, narrative has grown up which faults President Truman for using the bomb. Today, as Oliver Kamm noted in the Guardian, “Hiroshima” and “Nagasaki” are often used as a shorthand terms for war crimes.

That is not how they were judged at the time. Our side did terrible things to avoid a more terrible outcome. The bomb was a deliverance for American troops, for prisoners and slave laborers, for those dying of hunger and maltreatment throughout the Japanese empire — and for Japan itself. One of Japan’s highest wartime officials, Kido Koichi, later testified that in his view the August surrender prevented 20 million Japanese casualties. The destruction of two cities, and the suffering it caused for decades afterwards, cannot but temper our view of the Pacific war. Yet we can conclude with a high degree of probability that abjuring the bomb would have caused greater suffering still.

What is the essence, the core, of conservative wisdom? One part is that when it comes to the real world, the choices we face are often not between good and bad but between bad and worse. This is particularly true in times of war. A difficult lesson. But crucial for those who wish to do good as well emit good-sounding slogans.

Of course, for the Left there is no sincere regard for numbers of lives lost or saved; by their facile, jejune calculus, they don’t really care about such mundanities at all. No, what chaps modern-day shitlib asses the hardest is that American won.

SIDE NOTE: my post title was hijacked from WRSA.

1

Resuscitating the hallowed V8

Posted on August 5, 2023August 6, 2023 by Mike

As my old H-D shop boss and close friend Goose always liked to say: ain’t no replacement for cubic-inch displacement.

Report: Mercedes-AMG Bringing Back V8 Engines
Word has it that Mercedes-AMG is mulling over how best to bring back V8 power to the C and E-Class. While the performance unit downsized its powertrains in a bid to be more emissions compliant, fans pointed out that AMG had long been synonymous with under-stressed and over-engineered V8s making enough power to burn through a set of tires in a single outing.

The shift ended up being a bit of a scandal and one that left a sour taste in the mouth of the people that would actually buy AMG-branded products — which may explain the claimed change of heart.

According to two unnamed sources speaking with Car and Driver, Mercedes-AMG is in the midst of deciding how to bring back the V8. Though the overarching plan remains ambiguous, the rationale behind it is anything but.

It would be stupid to pretend that a 2.0-liter Mercedes optimized for performance can’t still be a hoot to drive. The iconic Mercedes-Benz 190E (W201) is an absolute legend with the 2.0-liter. But there’s a reason models featuring the I6 tend to be more sought after. It isn’t because they’re more reliable, it’s definitely not because they’re cheaper to run, and it might not even have all that much to do with their being faster. People want the larger engines to have the mental satisfaction of knowing they’re driving something with a larger engine.

Not to mention the mental calm of knowing they have enough horsepower to safely get around any pokey-ass, underpowered little i4 road-obstacle they might ever find themselves impeded by.

While perky little four-bangers have a lot to offer, their implementation can sometimes be a little disappointing. Imagine you’ve been given a free Ford Mustang with the badging removed and are told to open the hood to see which motor is inside. Your level of excitement is going to be determined almost entirely by how many cylinders you find.

Compact cars can thrive on small and peppy turbocharged motors. But there’s something truly sad about seeing one tucked inside an engine bay of a vehicle that could have accommodated something larger — especially when it’s also a premium luxury product that costs as much as some starter homes.

“Sad” might be one word for it, yeah. I can think of several others: disgusting, appalling, infuriating spring immediately to mind. Especially considering that those squirrel-on-a-treadmill “powerplants,” tucked away under wafer-thin sheet-tin hoods mounted on a Kleenex box rolling on four go-kart wheels, were forcibly fobbed off on the world by overpowerful goobermints in the name of coping with a climate “crisis” that never existed. More on the origins of that sorry development can be found at this recent Eyrie post.

Good on Mercedes for having the gumption to at last toss a big, fat FUCK YOU at the slimy government enviro-queefs. Would that Ford might be able to find balls enough to join them, but I won’t be holding my breath waiting for it.

(Via Insty)

5

Greatest meme EVAR?

Posted on August 3, 2023August 3, 2023 by Mike

I know I’ve said that several times before, but this one just might top them all to permanently retire the crown.

FokkerVsFucker

Heh. Fuckers.

Update! I knew of Bader from all the Battle of Britain histories and historical fiction I’ve read over lo, these many years, but went poking around for more info on him. And BOY, did I ever find it. To wit (bold mine throughout):

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, DL, FRAeS (/ˈbɑːdər/; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.

Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds.

After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Douglas Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his “Big Wing” experiments.

In August 1941, Bader baled out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and was befriended by Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace. Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army.

Bader left the RAF permanently in February 1946 and resumed his career in the oil industry. During the 1950s, a book and a film, Reach for the Sky, chronicled his life and RAF career to the end of the Second World War. Bader campaigned for disabled people and in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 1976 was appointed a Knight Bachelor “for services to disabled people”. He continued to fly until ill health forced him to stop in 1979. Bader died, aged 72, on 5 September 1982, after a heart attack.

A truly remarkable man, no? His legs were amputated after that ill-advised aerobatics attempt, one BTK (ie, Below The Knee) and one ATK (Above etc), in amputee jargon (mine was ATK, just so’s ya know). Baden was flying a Bristol Bulldog, a single-seat, unequal-wingspan (ie, lower wing shorter in length than the upper) biplane of some renown and excellent reputation at the time. His logbook entry after the crash was a true masterpiece of dry, laconic, British stiff-upper-lip understatement:

Crashed slow-rolling near ground. Bad show.

— Douglas Bader

In 1932, after a long convalescence, throughout which he needed morphine for pain relief, Bader was transferred to the hospital at RAF Uxbridge and fought hard to regain his former abilities after he was given a new pair of artificial legs. In time, his agonising and determined efforts paid off, and he was able to drive a specially modified car, play golf, and even dance.

Daring, dauntless, utterly without fear and indomitable, Sir Douglas Bader was outstanding even amongst an entire generation of real, true men; clearly, the words “quit” or “give up” simply were no part of his vocabulary. We shan’t see his like again, to our incalculable cost. Lots more great, great stuff at the link, of which you should damned-skippy read the all.

Ironically enough update! As it happens, Leigh-Mallory and Bader’s “Big Wing” theory, along with the resultant political battles with Air Vice-Marshall Keith Park, was recounted in great depth in one of those historical-fiction novels I’ve always been so fond of, namely Vol 2 of John Rhodes’ gripping Breaking Point series (highly recommended, if you’re into that sort of thing at all). “Big Wing,” while still controversial, was nonetheless pretty much a disaster.

After the Battle of Britain Leigh-Mallory never really had a chance to use the Big Wing defensively again, and it quickly mutated from a defensive to an offensive formation—Bader would eventually lead one of these new wings on massive fighter sweeps over France. To this day there is debate over the effectiveness of the “Big Wing” as it was used during the Battle. Although Leigh-Mallory and Bader argued it was a great success, post-war analysis suggests the actual number of German aircraft shot down by the wing was probably a fraction of those claimed (the claims for the Big Wing were never credible even at the time. On 15 September 1940, the Big Wing was scrambled twice against incoming raids and claimed 52 kills, eight probables and others damaged. (German records showed that six aircraft were lost). Some senior officers like Leigh-Mallory and Sholto Douglas wanted to believe these claims so that they could use the Big Wing as a political tool against Dowding. This would seem to support the idea that, for a “Big Wing”, there were “not enough enemy to go around”; the Wing had too high a concentration of aircraft in the same air space looking for targets.

It could be argued that 12 Group had more time to get fighters into position but even then it failed to do so. When 11 Group was stretched to its limits and required support, due to the delay imposed by 12 Group, 11 Group airfields were left undefended. This was due not only to time wasted in forming up the Big Wing but also due to 12 Group commanders not following 11 Group’s instructions and thus arriving in the wrong place. Not only did 12 Group fail to support 11 Group, they left their own airfields undefended; a large portion of UK airspace was left undefended while Leigh-Mallory and Bader tested their Big Wing theory. The time taken to form a Big Wing also wasted fuel and combined with the limited range of the fighters, reduced time over the combat zone. When 10 Group was asked to provide cover for 11 Group in similar circumstances, it was provided and 11 Group airfields defended.

Casualties for the “Big Wing” were significantly lower than in the smaller formations—suggesting that they did indeed benefit from protection in numbers. The “Big Wing” invariably joined combat with the enemy over Northern London, where the German fighter escort was at the very limit of its range and effectiveness. Consequently, the Big Wing also made very few interceptions, and as a result lower casualties would be expected on both sides. Park’s tactics (which had included the occasional use of two- and three-squadron wings) were correct for the conditions he had to fight under. The most powerful argument against the Big Wing in the Battle of Britain is that without a clear idea of a target as a raid assembled over France, it was impossible for the Big Wing to get airborne and form up in time to meet it.

Not all of the problems with “Big Wing” can be attributed to the concept itself; as always, the 7P Rule (Proper Previous Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance) axiom comes into play. That, in concert with the unavoidable influence of Murphy’s Law and the proverbial “fog of war,” all had their own part in things, also.

4

2

3

2

Meme-a-licious

Posted on July 31, 2023 by Mike

Another goodie from Matt’s Monday meme roundup.

AlteringSex

Stop confusing me with actual facts and logic, you goddamned H8RRRR™!

1

Remembering Rowdy Roddy

Posted on July 28, 2023July 29, 2023 by Mike

Yep, I’ve fallen waaay down into another of those darned Innarnuts rabbit-holes, this trip sparked by a conversation with my brother about John Carpenter’s unforgettable allegorical film They Live and its superstar protagonist, the late great Rowdy Roddy Piper. From the Piper website’s “official” bio:

As best as we can tell, Roderick George Toombs was born. Rumor has it that it happened in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada-allegedly in a war time house on Victoria Avenue. For those not acquainted with Saskatoon, it’s one of the coldest places on earth, reaching 100 below with windchill. That may explain why Roddy hit the ground running-he just wanted to keep warm! At 6 years old, he began studying the bagpipes, moving to different places but always playing with a pipe band. By the time he was 14, Roddy was considered an impresario of the bagpipes, and was invited to play at prestigious events such as the Rose Bowl, and at Lorne Greene’s house. Being a big fan of “Bonanza”, Roddy was crushed to find out that Greene had no cattle but had a poodle. By the time he was 15, Rod won the 167 lb Amateur wrestling championship, and was a star boxer at the Landsdown Boxing Club in Toronto; near the Landsdown subway station where at the time you would have found Roddy looking to stay warm at night.

At 15, Roddy had his first professional wrestling match. He had never seen a pro match, but his amateur coach was a pro referee when it came in to town. Another wrestler missed a plane and Roddy’s coach told him that “I can get you 25 dollars,” Roddy immediately took it. Roddy’s pipe band was so happy for him that they played Roddy into the arena. As Roddy was being piped into the arena, the announcer only knew his first name as “Roddy” and having to continue the announcement he announced “Ladies and Gentlemen, here comes Roddy the Piper!”

Roddy jumped in the ring and in front of him stood 320 pounds of Nordic Viking: Larry “The Axe” Hennig, who beat Roddy in 10 seconds by busting his nose and eye open, setting one of many records of Roddy’s: shortest match in the history of the arena. With this match, Roddy Piper was born and began a full-time wrestling career at the age of 15- A permanent record, as it is illegal now.

Roddy’s mentors– or fathers as he called them, were some great fighters, such as the toughest man in the world– Judo Gene Labell, Mad Dog Vachon, Muhammad Ali, and even the great Lou Thez, just to name a few. Roddy was smuggled in the back of a truck with a ring in it into the United States of America and never stopped fighting.

When Roddy Piper was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, by 16 time World Champion Ric Flair, Flair said “Roddy is the greatest entertainer in Wrestling History, bar none”. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is the last of the real deal gunslingers of Pro Wrestling. Recently, the WWE named Rowdy Roddy Piper the greatest Villain in the history of Professional Wrestling.

According to Vince McMahon, you never know what the Hot Rod has under his kilt, nor what he is going to do next! Maybe Vince had a point, as in the height and prime of his wrestling career, Roddy Piper quit the WWE and did a movie with John Carpenter called THEY LIVE! which 26 years later is hotter than when it first premiered as the #1 film at the box office.

Like Vince McMahon said, you never know what the Hot Rod’s going to do next. In addition to appearing on “it’s always sunny in Philadelphia”, Rod hosts a podcast, a youtube channel, appears in feature films, one man shows, commercials, and now appears in his very own graphic novel! It takes a loyal Pit Crew to keep the Hot Rod running! Try to keep up!

Piper, unfortunately, passed away a few years back, leaving us at way too young an age.

On July 24, 2015, Piper appeared as a guest on The Rich Eisen Show. He had trouble collecting his thoughts and staying focused, often rambling and not answering Eisen’s questions.

Six days later on July 30, 2015, Piper died in his sleep at the age of 61 at his summer residence in Hollywood, California. His death certificate cites a cardiopulmonary arrest caused by hypertension, listing a pulmonary embolism as a contributing factor; TMZ reported this as a heart attack caused by the embolism. Piper’s long-time friend Bruce Prichard revealed on his podcast that he received a voicemail from Piper the night of his death. In the message, Piper indicated that he had not been feeling well and that he would be going to sleep it off. Hulk Hogan later revealed that Piper had left him a voice mail that he discovered following his death in which Piper said that he was “walking with Jesus”.

News of his death broke minutes before the Hall of Heroes dinner to cap off the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends FanFest in Charlotte, North Carolina, where about 600 current and former wrestling personalities and fans had gathered. He received a ten-bell salute after the planned salute to fellow former professional wrestler Dusty Rhodes, who had died the previous month. Another ten-bell salute was given at the beginning of the August 3, 2015, episode of Raw.

WWE CEO Vince McMahon said, “Roddy Piper was one of the most entertaining, controversial and bombastic performers ever in WWE, beloved by millions of fans around the world. I extend my deepest condolences to his family.” Film director John Carpenter said, “Devastated to hear the news of my friend Roddy Piper’s passing today. He was a great wrestler, a masterful entertainer and a good friend.”

In an HBO Real Sports interview conducted by Piper in 2003, he had predicted that he was “not going to make 65” because of his poor health, and that he made his 2003 return to WWE because he could not access his pension fund until reaching the age of 65.

Piper was cremated and his ashes laid to rest at Crescent Grove Cemetery in Tigard, Oregon.

A little over a year ago, I did a CF post on They Live featuring movie trivia and Piper quotes both from and about the film. I have to admit, I never had much use for either Vince McMahon or his WWF/WWE/whatever the fuck it might be called now, but for many years was a HUGE fan of Eric Bischoff’s WCW, even attending one of their early Slamboree! events at the old CLT Coliseum after the BPs’ manager Mike Evans pulled strings with some of his old Coliseum contacts to get us in and even backstage after the show*. That being so, most of my exposure to Piper was via the WCW professional rasslin’ organization during his brief stint there.

Piper joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the fall of 1996. He made his surprise WCW debut as a fan favorite at the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view in October to insult the nWo leader and the World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan. On the November 18 episode of Nitro, Piper revealed that Eric Bischoff was a member of the nWo, which ended with the nWo members attacking him. on the December 9 episode of Nitro, Piper told Flair that he didn’t need the Four Horsemen’s help in beating Hogan and he was going to do it on his own. Piper defeated Hogan with his signature sleeper hold in the non-title main event of the company’s flagship pay-per-view Starrcade, which earned him a title shot against Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl VII, where Piper was defeated. On the March 10, 1997, episode of Nitro, Piper and his family joined forces with Ric Flair and The Four Horsemen in their battle with the nWo. At Uncensored, Piper competed in a triangle elimination match where he captained a team of Horsemen Chris Benoit, Steve McMichael and Jeff Jarrett against the nWo and WCW’s team of Lex Luger, Steiner Brothers and The Giant. His team lost the match. On the March 31 episode of Nitro, Piper and Flair agreed to team up and stand side by side to fight. Piper moved on to feud with other members of nWo. At Slamboree, Piper, Flair and Kevin Greene defeated nWo members Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Syxx in a six-man tag team match. The following month, at The Great American Bash pay-per-view, Piper and Flair unsuccessfully challenged The Outsiders for the World Tag Team Championship. On the June 23 episode of Nitro, Flair and the Four Horsemen turned on Piper and attacked him. This led to a match between Piper and Flair at Bash at the Beach, which Piper won.

Piper took a hiatus from television before making his return to WCW on the September 8 episode of Nitro, where he was appointed the new on-air Commissioner of WCW, which reduced his in-ring work. He briefly resumed his feud with Hulk Hogan, beating him in a steel cage match at Halloween Havoc. on the March 23, 1998, episode of Nitro, Piper and Randy Savage battled to a no contest. On the March 30 episode of Nitro, Piper defeated Hogan by disqualification. At the 1998 Spring Stampede pay-per-view, Piper teamed with The Giant in a loss to Hogan and Nash in a Baseball Bat on a Pole match. At Slamboree, Piper served as the special guest referee in a match between Randy Savage and Bret Hart, which Hart won but the following night on Nitro, Piper changed his decision and declared Savage as the winner by disqualification. At The Great American Bash, Piper and Savage lost to Hogan and Hart in a tag team match by submission. After the match, Piper wrestled Savage in the next match, which Piper defeated Savage by submission. On the September 7 episode of Nitro, Piper and Diamond Dallas Page defeated Sting and Lex Luger by disqualification. Piper teamed with Diamond Dallas Page and The Warrior as Team WCW in a WarGames match at Fall Brawl for an opportunity at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the following month’s Halloween Havoc. Page won the match for his team. On the September 14 episode of Nitro, Piper confronted Bret Hart.

Ahh, those were the days. As big a fan of Roddy’s as I always was—and I assure you, I was—reading further into the Piper Wiki page I stumbled across something I hadn’t known before (in bold):

In his autobiography, Toombs (Rowdy Roddy’s nom de real life was Roderick George Toombs—M) claimed to be a cousin of Bret Hart, which would make him a relative of the Hart wrestling family. This fact was once used as a trivia question on Raw. Hart also revealed that Toombs was the only wrestler to visit him in the hospital after his stroke. Bruce Hart has stated that they were second cousins.

Boy, talk about your Rasslin’ Royal Families, eh? Rest ye well, Rowdy Roddy Piper; you are sorely missed, and will never be forgotten.

*Yes, Roddy appeared that night, teaming up with Ric Flair and Kevin Greene to crush three NWO stalwarts: Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Syxx

2

1

National treasures

Posted on July 27, 2023July 27, 2023 by Mike

Not just one, but two of ‘em.

Tucker Carlson is a national treasure.

This moving 2 minute interaction with Ice Cube on resisting the Vaxx propaganda is enough to bring both sides of the country together.

More of this 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/5cjSA8IdRz

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson)

July 26, 2023

The above is three minutes’ worth from Tucker’s latest Twitter X ep, itself an extended interview that is absitively, posolutely worth your while. I didn’t expect I’d ever say such a thing, not being anybody’s idea of a rap/hip-hop fan, but Ice Cube shows himself to be an independent-minded, extremely thoughtful and politically-astute guy—articulate, even. Whodathunkit? Watching this interview gave me a whole new respect for the man.

Update! Waitwaitwait—is that Erik Satie I hear in the background as outro music? Right at the very end? I do declare, I believe it is! Wonder whose idea THAT might have been?

2

Race realism

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Mike

From a perhaps unexpected source.

Aldean’s live-in-concert response—amounting, basically, to a heartfelt “FUCK YOU, SHITLIBS”— begins at 4:40, so stick with it. I promise, you’ll be glad you did.

Vid to be disappeared by YewToob in 5…4…3…2…

(Via Aesop)

“They’ve left us…with a very difficult problem to solve”

Posted on July 24, 2023July 24, 2023 by Mike

Not so difficult as all that, really, seeing as how the problem of a Just Stop Oil protest-strategy meeting was just, y’know, solved. Quite handily, inexpensively, and hilariously, in fact.

Just Stop Oil gets a taste of their own medicine.
Counter activists tie rape alarms to balloons and let them go in a Just Stop Oil meeting. pic.twitter.com/GbyI8CPj09

— Paul Golding (@GoldingBF)

July 24, 2023

Via Ed Driscoll. Throwing a spanner in their works can be quite effective against these pencil-necked geeks, see.

4

Five German dances

Posted on July 23, 2023July 23, 2023 by Mike

One of my personal-fave Schubert compositions is his “Five German dances in C Major, D90”—a lilting confection showcasing all the lovely, melodic tunefulness for which the incomparable Franz Schubert is so justly renowned. But that isn’t the main reason I’m embedding this next vid of the piece; no, that would be for the delightful way the conductor, Matthias Foremny, umm, conducts himself in front of the orchestra.

Folks, that there is the living embodiment of what we mean by the phrase “a man who truly enjoys his work.” His illimitable passion; his zest; his pure heart-swelling glee comes through in every goofy facial expression, every broad smile. The way he stands nearly stock-still for extended periods, then suddenly starts leaping about, gesticulating frantically, as if someone had slipped a live scorpion down the front of his trousers, waving and grimacing, is just too damned funny. You gotta love it…which, I most certainly do. Maestro Foremni, I am definitely a fan, sir.

CF Search

Login, RSS, &c

CF Archives

Categories

2A/Mostly Guns

Alt-American

Big Dogs

Essayists

Mil

Nuttin’ But News

Odds Bodkins

Overseas/Non-US

Portals

Pure Bloggery

REAL Journalism

Substack Scalawags

The Funny Pages

Comments policy

CF Glossary

Subscribe to CF!

Shameless begging

Correspondence

Allied territory

Notable Quotes

RSS feed

.