THE TAOS TATLER.

. . . and they only need to win once.

The pollsters are reporting Kamala Harris’ lead in the presidential race is slowly but steadily declining, after an initial jump following the Democratic National Convention. This has many Donald Trump supporters hopeful he may pull off a victory. Meanwhile, Kamala supporters, especially major media, are beginning to show signs of concern, as witness their finally acknowledging her most obvious weaknesses. Perhaps, they admit, their adored Kamala wasn’t the best choice the DNC could have made, which the voters of course had no say in.

The candidate and her running mate, “Tampon Tim” Walz on the other hand, are showing little concern over their declining poll numbers and neither is the cadre of advisors who will assume the powers of the presidency when their two puppets “win.” Thereafter they will finish the job, so ably begun in hopeless Joe Biden’s administration, of transforming the United States of America into a socialist republic.

Your Tatler deliberately uses the conjunction “when,” instead of the modal verb “should,” for he is increasingly pessimistic the Democrats, when saying they will win the upcoming  election, are not merely expressing a desire, but in a rare moment of truth are informing us of a fact; the election is already sewn up. Via ballot box stuffing, fabricating the count by election officials and a host of other corrupt procedures, particularly imported voters, they likely have or will have enough votes to widely outnumber those of Donald Trump, however large the number. They learned their lesson in 2020 when insufficient numbers of votes for the inept Joe Biden were created, thus permitting the possibility of doubt, and the spawning of protests. They will not allow that to happen again.

Donald Trump seems aware of the Democrat manipulations when he tells supporters the number of votes he receives must be “too big to rig.” Unfortunately, the Dems are onto his admonition and are acting accordingly, not merely by relying on receiving more genuine votes than Trump, which is increasingly unlikely, but by manufacturing and stockpiling as many votes necessary to ensure their margin of “victory” is such a number, any protests may be safely dismissed by a government they own as only the complaints of cranks and malcontents. They also have enough Trump-hating friends in the judiciary who will ignore civil procedure and thwart possible legal actions.

It looks more and more as if the Democrats are emulating tactics of the former Soviet Union. No doubt more is to come.

Image from imaflip.com.

From Times News World, India (the only major news organization to report on this so far):

Social media claims suggest that members of the Hells Angels are heading to Aurora, Colorado, to confront Venezuelan gangs amid concerns about gang activity. This follows the release of a surveillance video showing armed men allegedly “taking over” an apartment building, identified as the Edge at the Lowry, linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

If the story is true, and the Angels’ intention is to dispatch the illegal alien gang members from the apartment building they took over (it seems the Aurora police are too timid to do it themselves), then the Tren de Aragua doesn’t stand a chance against the bikers. Bickerstaff’s only concern is Aurora’s police will suddenly find its misplaced courage and arrest the Angels’, no doubt at the behest of the local district attorney, for violating the Venezuelan gang members’ “civil rights” or other dangerous crimes, whatever is expedient.

From the BBC comes the most heartbreaking and sickening story this blogger has beheld.

A British woman has pleaded guilty to being part of a global monkey torture network.

Holly LeGresley, 37, from Kidderminster, was a participant in a private onCould that be a look of remorse on these horrible peoples’ faces? Perhaps, but only because they were caught.line group that was paying people in Indonesia to kill and torture baby monkeys on video.

The convictions follow a year-long investigation by the BBC Eye team.

They went undercover in the groups to expose the existence of the sadistic global network.

The BBC goes into some detail but cautions: “Warning – this story contains distressing content.” That isn’t the half of it and if you manage to get through it you will be thoroughly shaken and wonder, as your Tatler did, how human beings can be so heartless and sadistic to inflict such indescribable cruelty on innocent creatures like monkeys.

Not surprisingly, drugs played a big part. The monsters would load up on every illicit drug imaginable, then “enjoy” videos of the torture. The BBC doesn’t say, but it seems obvious they would pleasure themselves while taking in the horrors.

It should come as no surprise though, in an age where there are no behavioral taboos remaining, the sickos simply took perversion a step or two lower. In time the lowlifes of our world will find even lower ways to stimulate their addled and twisted minds.

When those depraved killers take their place in hell, may our God let them suffer for eternity the same cruelties they subjected those poor creatures to on earth. 

An astonishing story in the New York Post reports a whistleblower with the Secret Service has revealed agents assigned to Donald Trump for the July 24th rally at which he was shot, were “specifically told by headquarters in Washington not to request any additional security for the outdoor rally.” Moreover, the service repeatedly turned down offers by local police to provide drone service, which would have exposed Trump’s attempted assassin in a trice.

The Secret Service’s actions can only be described as willful neglect. Did the order orignate from someone high up in the Biden administration? We can only speculate, but while it may be over the top believing there are people in the Biden administration who would like to see Trump assassinated, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to believe they would not be overly saddended if he were.

Nor does it seem out of bounds believing, were Vice President Harris presiding at the ribbon cutting ceremony of a transgender counseling center for adolescents, there would be Secret Service agents at the event as far as the eye can see. And it also doesn’t seem out of bounds believing someone in this hate-filled administration would object to increasing the likelihood of someone bumping off Donald Trump.

Your Tatler tries to avoid providing links to social media TikTok, as it is a Chinese enterprise. Regular readers of this blog are well aware of our antipathy toward them and the corrupt, oppressive government they collude with.

That apologia being cheerfully ignored for the nonce, do watch what is comedy gold: Vice President Kamala Harris explaining collective bargaining to her adoring fans.

It is remarkable this life-long public servant [sic] has no knowledge of such a basic concept of modern labor negotiating. Your Tatler looks forward next to our possible future president tackling the subjects of mediation, binding arbitration and contracts.

Hey Murrays, you put up the wrong bunting!

The lovely Island of Nantucket, the “Gray Lady,” was a whaling port in the 19th-Century, slowly evolving after the whaling had ended into a quiet, low-keyed resort, attracting the sort of people Cleveland Amory ably and urbanely described in his classic volume, The Proper Bostonians,  referring to an elite known as Boston Brahmins. There were also a few habitués from old New York families, permitted on the island if they promised to behave and not talk too much about money. This demographic continued into the late eighties-early nineties, when the island underwent another transformation, becoming more like Martha’s Vineyard, where many consider a billion dollars chump change and put up the kind of huge, tasteless houses one might expect of them.

Decades ago Bickerstaff ferried across Nantucket Sound to escape the hurly-burly of New York. During his stay he did what many visitors do and stopped by the well-known and charming Murray’s Toggery Shop. There he bought a signature item, a pair of  “Nantucket Reds,” which not only looked good but, to be honest, were only worn by certain people in the know, lending them a certain cachet.

That all changed with the publication of a ghastly book by a ghastlier person: The Preppy Handbook by Lisa “Bunny” Bernbach, who greatly popularized Reds, sending sales soaring and undoubtedly providing the Murray family with a much tidier income.

Regardless of their huge popularization, Bickerstaff continued wearing his Reds at  dressy and not so dressy events, until they finally wore out. He never considered replacing them, especially after jumping ship to Taos. That is, until last week, when he shrugged his shoulders, muttered “what the hell,” and ordered a new pair of Reds from Murray’s.

They arrived soon and the Tatler was delighted with them, as they looked identical to his old ones from long ago. One thing he was curious to know was, were these lovely Reds still made on-island, as his original pair were. Alas, they were not only not made on-island, these essential New England artifacts are now made in China.

Bickerstaff can understand if, owing to their popularity, and no doubt having difficulty in these times finding skilled needle workers, and the like, especially among young people wanting to learn a trade, the Murrays had to go off-island. But in China, where the factories use forced labor, prisoners of war, and even children to man their sweatshops? In addition, there’s the god-awful Chinese government to consider, which supports some of the worst people on earth, and some of America’s worst enemies.

Hey Murrays, (they still own the company), why, in your search for cheap labor did you not consider other countries in the Far East, such as Bangladesh, India, Timor Leste, Kazakhstan, Nepal and others, where democracy and human rights are respected, and labor is affordable? Why patronize such a cruel and easily bought dictatorship as China?

Your Tatler doubts he will ever wear his beautiful Nantucket Reds, there is too much of a corrupt stench emanating from them. He will also do his best to spread the word on the sad, selling-out by the Murray family. You think they would know better. For shame.

ADDENDUM: after criticising Murray’s Toggery Shop in an email, your Tatler received this reply from a representative:

As you probably realize, American made products have a higher price point and we here at Murray’s strive to provide options for all of our customers, some of whom may want to save some money.

Hope this helps!

Best Regards,

Kate
Murray’s Toggery Shop

So you can buy American if you’re willing to pay a substantial premium, separate and unequal, one could say. Fair enough we suppose, but there’s no explanation why preppies on a budget must buy Chinese.

It’s safe to say that other than the validity of the sacraments and church teachings, there is little or nothing that your Tatler is in agreement with Pope Francis. Until now. In an excellent piece by Christopher J. Scalia of the National Review, he writes on the sorry state of reading in this country, that the percentage of those who read literature and poetry regularly  has been sharply declining the last several years.

Scalia, when confessing his own decline in book reading, which Bickerstaff alas shares, attributes the decline, correctly, Bickerstaff thinks, to increased reading on the Internet; that there is more and more decent reading found on it and that takes away from our more traditional reading.

Scalia has a surprising ally, Pope Francis. In a Papal letter released on August 4th, His Holiness writes,

Often during periods of boredom on holiday, in the heat and quiet of some deserted neighbourhood, finding a good book to read can provide an oasis that keeps us from other choices that are less wholesome. Likewise, in moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity, a good book can help us weather the storm until we find peace of mind.

Quite so, and His Holiness presents many other good arguments for reading good literature, making it worthwhile to read the whole Papal letter.

So salve, your Holiness. Bickerstaff takes back all the mean things he has said about you–today, anyway.

The Most Rev. and the Rt Hon. the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury GCVO and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat.

Long ago a piano teacher of Bickerstaff’s went on a tirade during a lesson about institutions like the poor old C of E, “apologizing for being Christian.” Those four words sum up nicely what is happening with many of the protestant churches, both here and abroad. With each loosening or ignoring of their doctrines, whatever they may be, instead of drawing more worshippers through their doorways, precisely the opposite is happening: their present congregants are, as Samuel Goldwyn would say, staying away in droves. Some of them go in search of something more substantial in church, others are choosing to stay home on Sundays, it’s just too much bother.

To a lesser but still significant extent, a similar occurrence is taking place in the Holy Catholic Church. Because of the dumbed-down ritual, chatty extemporizing by priests, god-awful music, and other waterings down of the mass, many Catholics have left the Church; attendance is down precipitously from years ago. It doesn’t seem likely to Bickerstaff most of those deserters have joined protestant parishes, they probably still consider themselves Catholic even if they no longer go to mass. However, empty pews are empty pews, it makes no difference if those who once sat in them claim to be Catholic, they won’t be counted.

The solution to the emptying of churches, and this applies to the Worship Centers® of England as well, is not minimizing ritual and glossing over unpleasant topics like sin, it’s quite the opposite, but most Church leadership will never admit it.

The Holy Catholic Church will survive, even with vastly lower attendance figures. Still, this Catholic prays our churches will make efforts to rid themselves of the silliness that has infused itself in so many of them. Benedict XVI was making real progress toward that end, but it abruptly ended with his resignation. Pope Francis in many ways is Benedict’s antithesis and we do not know what his eventual successor will bring to the papacy. Many of the potential candidates however do not look promising. The Church of England? It doesn’t look good at all for the institution that once knew glory. Churches throughout England have closed their doors, especially in neighborhoods where Islam has supplanted Christianity. It could well be someday the only still-open churches in England will be found in well-endowed institutions of higher learning, and in Canterbury. In the United States the situation for the Episcopal Church is certainly less dire than that of the Church of England, but the trend is not good. Church attendance is steadily going downward and in time, the Episcopal Church, like the C of E, will experience an existential crisis. Shed a tear for Bickerstaff’s former church.

With thanks to William Tighe.

Some uppity Muslim “migrants” in Russia may not even be alive by the time you read this. Would that thugs like these in the US at least be subjected to the quickest possible due process and swiftly deported, instead of being warmly welcomed by Kamala, Tim, and the rest of their fellow commie haters of America, i.e., the Democratic [sic] party.

As-salamu alaykum it’s our first day in Moscow, we’ll f*ck your women and steal your money.