Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

April 27, 1965: American journalist, Edward Roscoe Murrow, died at age 57. He’s best known for his radio broadcasts from London to USA during WWII and afterward his reporting on the "Red Scare" investigation of Communists led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. He always ended his programs with the words: "Goodnight and good luck."


Really good history, drama-bio film, written/directed/starring George Clooney as Fred W. Friendly with David Strathairn as Edward Murrow and Jeff Daniels as Siegfried Thor "Sig" Mickelson, the first president of CBS News from 1959 to 1961.

Friendly served as president of CBS News from 1964 to 1966.
Murrow and Friendly broadcast a revealing See It Now documentary analysis on Senator Joseph McCarthy (airing March 9, 1954) that has been credited with changing the public view of McCarthy and, being a key event leading to McCarthy's fall from power. In 1966, Friendly resigned from CBS when the television network ran a scheduled episode of I Love Lucy instead of broadcasting live coverage of the first United States Senate hearings questioning American involvement in Vietnam.

This short film by the US Navy, OPERATION SUNSHINE is narrated by Edward R. Murrow. It covers the successful secret mission of Operation Sunshine, code name for the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) voyage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean via the North Pole.


UK #1 on this day in 1967: Sandie Shaw - Puppet On A String (1967)




This week in 1977: Tom Laughlin's BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON had its world premiere in Omaha, Nebraska. "The biggest event of 1977."


The limited showing on April 16, 1977 in Los Angeles was a sneak preview, and another sneak was held the next night at the Admiral Theatre in Omaha, NE. The North Central edition of "Boxoffice Magazine", dated May 2, 1977, had an article about the Omaha showing. Originally intended for a December 1976 release.


British scifi children's short film THE GLITTERBALL, directed by Harley Cokeliss (co-director for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back) premiered in London on April 22, 1977. Two teenage boys (one a lonely RAF brat) try to help a tiny spherical alien get back to its mothership, while the Royal Air Force and a devious petty crook pursue the creature for its wonderful powers. Film plot reference to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).


The truck being used by the Royal Air Force to track the alien is one of the BBC's Dodge SpaceVan TV detector vans, that was used to detect television sets in homes, to locate & target people operating televisions without having paid their TV license fee. Oh, what a horrible crime! LOL.


THE HUNTERS (1979) by Burt Wetanson and Thomas Hoobler


Far from some proto-Predator hack and slash, this is another spin on The Most Dangerous Game, with a crew of almost-human ETs mounting a very civilized big game hunt to rural Montana. The only problem, of course, is that we're the game. The Hunters get as much characterization as the cast of stock 70s humans and while they're a nasty bunch, the authors draw the two groups closer and closer together as the line between prey and predators blurs.

The moral? We're them, they're us.


ALIEN (1977/1980) by George H. Leonard


I wonder if billionaire Robert Bigelow ever read it?


Ancient Aliens in Sin City with your favorite British grifter.




Ghosts of Iron Mountain by Phil Tinline, the Oxford docu guy over at BBC Radio.


NYT Review


UFO Sunday Greatest Hits!


Playlist


April 27, 1986: Tonight for those who were living on the USA east coast & were watching "The Falcon and the Snowman" on HBO might remember this "Signal"...





KABOOM!! Allahu Akbar!
Missile fuel blows up in Iranian port.


A massive explosion at an Iranian port possibly linked to missile fuel kills 25, injures some 800

Possibly Israeli sabotage, or British! Or just plain incompetence.

Helo aerial view video:
https://x.com/farnazfassihi/status/1916173398427795614

The Customs Administration of Iran blamed a “stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area” for the blast.

Stored among ordinary goods like baby milk powder.

The strategy of deliberately positioning military assets, combatants, or operations near civilian populations or infrastructure to deter attacks by exploiting the humanity of the enemy means that explosives and hazardous materials will be labeled as "baby milk powder".


A toast with Secretary of State for Defence John Healey aboard HMS Prince of Wales (April 25th) as they begin their long 8 month deployment to the Indo-Pacific as Operation HIGHMAST.

This is to showcase British and NATO maritime power and prestige. Led by the aircraft carrier HMS PRINCE OF WALES, and escorted by British, Canadian and Norwegian warships, this is the highest profile Royal Navy deployment in years – but is it actually worth the effort to show the RN as a truly global force, or is it a Potemkin operation by a failing navy desperate to recall its now long gone glory days?

The goal of the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) deployment is to send a task group, that is intentionally international by design and construct, to carry out a global deployment to work with partner nations and deepen defence relationships.

The last CSG was in 2021, led by HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and deployed out to the Pacific. This was, candidly, a bit of an odd deployment, in a world gripped by the madness of Covid lockdowns, most port visits were cancelled, and crews unable to go ashore. There were plenty of impressive exercises, but the whole thing was perhaps less impactful than planners had hoped, due to events entirely out of their control. The deployment was notable in that it too was international by design, incorporating US and Netherlands escort ships, and also embarkation of 10 USMC F35s as part of the combined airwing.

The presence of HMS ASTUTE will allow for joint SSN operations with Australia and potentially test the ability of Fremantle to support SSN operations as part of future plans to see an RN SSN near permanently based in the region as part of AUKUS. When added to the opportunities for wider exchanges, particularly with FPDA allies and other partners, there is huge scope here for a lot of good work that will be useful for years to come.

.....

The final big challenge is whether this is the right focus for the UK at a time when NATO is occupying the bulk of MOD interests. It is clear that deterring Russia is a vital mission for the armed forces – there is an argument that could be made that the CSG is a task group that is ideal for the world of 2010, not 2025. In a world where the UK’s security horizon has had to inevitably close in to focus on the near threat, is operating abroad necessary?

To the author, the answer is an unmitigated yes, yes it is. Russia under Putin will not be a threat forever – times change, as do regimes. The nations we aspire to work, trade and engage with globally are open to working with different partners for different reasons. As one player departs, another emerges to fill the vacuum – if the UK does not step up to fill the gaps in western leadership that seem to be rapidly emerging, then other nations more hostile to our interests will seek to fill them in areas critical to our national interests. It is vital that we take a long term perspective, and build relationships now that will last throughout the complex decades to come.

High Hopes for Op HIGHMAST? by Sir Humphrey,Former MOD, former Reservist Officer.

DAWN CHORUS

THIS morning, lying couched amid the grass
In the deep, deep dingle south of Llangwyth's Pass,
While it was yet neither quite bright nor dark,
I heard a new and wonderful High Mass.

The Chief Priest was the nightingale: the lark
And thrush assisted him: and some small bird
(I do not weet his name) acted as Clerk.

My spirit was lapped in ecstasy: each word,
Word after word, thrilled through me like the deep
Rich music of a dream: not wholly asleep
Nor all awake was I, but, as it were,

Tranced somewhere between one state and the other.
All heavy thoughts that through the long day smother
Man's heart and soul with weariness and care
Were gone, and in their place reigned pure delight.
The nightingale, sent from a far and bright
Land by my golden sister, prophesied

Of blessed days to come, in a sweet voice:
And the small bird, responding, sang 'Rejoice, rejoice!'
I heard his little bill tinkle and jingle
With a clear silver sound that filled the dingle.
Heaven is a state wherein bliss and devotion mingle,
And such was mine this morn: I could have died
Of rapture.

DAVID AP GWYLYM (fourteenth century) rendered by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN, Poems, 1903.