Richard Binder

In an article about the fountain pens he used to sign the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at the end of the war, Canadian Colonel Lawrence M/ Cosgrave signed in the wrong place, below his printed title instead of above it. There's been speculation as to why, mostly centered on maybe it was blind in one eye from a WWI wound. It turns ourt that maybe because of his partial blindness, he asked MacArthur where he should sign. MacArthur placed a finger on the spot. It was the wrong spot. 🤣

I've never thought much fo Douglas MacArthur, who was massively egocentric and something less than totally competent as a theater commander in WWII. Today I discovered another reason to bitch about him. Read the Alt text for an explanation.

Error in math. 10 ounces is 295cl.

resina pretiosa

Be careful if you plan to use it in a sentence. Latin is an inflected language. The word forms change depending on what they're doing a sentence.

March 4, 2025. British Member of Parliament Graham Stuart wrote on X: “We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset. If so, Trump’s acquisition is the crowning achievement of Putin’s FSB career — and Europe is on its own.”

—quoted in *The Spectator*

It's not just me.

Very orange person wearing Soviet military ushanka and standing in front of Russian flag

By tag-teaming Valenskyy two days ago with the express purpose of getting pissed off so he could "pause" aid, the Russian agent in the White Haus has now virtually guaranteed that Ukraine will fall to Russia.

(Yes, I said "agent." He's far worse than a mere asset.)

"USA: read the case report 3 years later"

In Pravda.

Partially filled glass ot tomato juice.

This is a 10-ounce (30cl) tumbler partially full of tomato juice. After filling it, I put it on the table and left the room, sure that it would be safe until the breakfast bread pudding was ready. The cats have proven me wrong. They'd have had more, but Barbara caught them red-tongued, as it were.

What mandate?

And the unelected 47th President of what's left ot the United States doesn't GAS. Welcome to fascism.

Considering Bezos' attitude toward good journalism versus his suck-up to the Fascist Cretin in the White Haus, hell will freeze over long before a single cent of mine goes to the Washington Shitpost.

Are we dumb enough yet?

Yin and Yang.

TBR's Traitor of the Week TBR Sunday Read

The Borowitz Report.

www.borowitzreport.com/p/introducin...

I encourage you to subscribe. Andy is doing a great service, with seriously barbed humor.

The Russian nothingburger is back on the menu If you ever had doubt Trump is in the pocket of Putin.

anntelnaes.substack.com/p/the-russia...

A friend asked me to creata a Latin phrase for a tattoo celebrating 10 years since her daughter became cancer free.

DEO GRATIAS AGAM PROPTER SALVTEM FILIAE

(I shall give thanks to God for the health of my daughter)

Which of these makes me happier: I can still compose good Latin, and she LOVES it.

In occupied France, the Germans did not allow Parker’s licensed manufacturing agent, Fernand Laureau, to produce pens bearing the Parker brand because Parker was an American company. The resourceful Laureau, however, invented a new brand, Plexor, and continued producing pens of Parker design. As illustrated by the button-filling pen shown here, imprints were changed, and the Split Arrow clip was redesigned to read PLEXOR instead of PARKER. As in Germany, gold was heavily restricted by the Nazis, so Plexor pens had steel nibs. Except for these changes, Laureau’s wartime pens were identical to his prewar production.

So, in my wanderings from the CBI to detached service in the ETO, I was lucky enough to hit Paris. Congratulate me; I didn't spend all my money. I did, however, snag a good pen to replace the one I forgot in Burma. If it looks like a Parker, it should. It's a Plexor. Read the Alt text for the story.

Amnuhotep, being orange, takes exception when he discovers that Trump is orange, too.

Amunhotep may be a little behind the times, but he ain’t stupid.

Why does that man in the White Haus sound the way he does, say the things he does? According to his late wife Ivana, the only book that man owned was a collection of Hitler’s speeches, which he kept handy on his nightstand. Can you say Not-see? I'm sure you can.

It seems that the Navajo Nation is pissed off now. And rightly, too. In a major act of buffoonery, ICE picked up some Navajo citizens. What is it going to take for the Dickhead in Chief, aka that man in the White Haus (aka the Reichskanzlei), to get a clue? What's a Reichskanzlei? Look it up.

I think it’s a matter of not being able to see the forest for the trees. One becomes too focused on what one is doing and cannot see beyond that discipline.

As a historian, I think that man in the White Haus is intent on beating his mustachioed idol’s 53-day record for the destruction of a democracy in 1934.

Bloody hell. I just get the driveway plowed and 20 minutes later, it’s snowing again. Gotta love New England. If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.

Ann Telnaes understands what I've been talking about since 2015. If you don't know what a Sturmabteilung is, look it up. And start polishing up your Not-see salute.

I am richardbinder.bsky.social, and I'm sorry, but I'm a member of Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) in New Hampshire, and I won't be singing it Doug Shapiro's church.

Mr Brecheen, I pray that you will get a clue as to what the word "Christian" means. The faith community, as you so blithely term it, is a community of people who follow Jesus, loving and caring for the poor, the marginalized, the stranger, the "other": the very people whom you hate and despise.