News that puts the fear of the haka in you

THE comedy scene we laughed at the most this week came from BBC TV's Scot Squad, with Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson (Jack Docherty) insulting a whole series of communities and people in an attempt to apologise. 

A Kennedy behind Trump? Whooohaaaaa!

The Americans made a big fuss about Robert F Kennedy endorsing Trump's campaign, which is quite surprising since this Kennedy is basically a cruising disaster looking for a new place to happen every day.

A heroin addict when he was younger, he spouts dozens of conspiracy theories, including one that the CIA killed his uncle, John F Kennedy. He has crazy theories about transgenderism and vaccines, including the well-known falsity that vaccination and autism are connected. He was a big anti-vaxxer throughout Covid and in this election he endorsed all the Democrats, then himself, and now the Republicans. Yet it seems to be strongly symbolic that a Kennedy in America supports a Republican.

 Trump on his unique fundraising campaign

A selection of the best Trump cartoons this week

When Trump still had good hair you could almost believe him. If we listen to this, maybe we should blame Dave Letterman for the Trump era(s).

Last word about The Don – goodbye with a nod.

It’s Bokke vs All Blacks weekend! 

The Springboks play against the All Blacks this weekend in one of only two Tests between the teams this year. Even people who don't like rugby will sneakily find out who won. Let's hope coach Rassie Erasmus learns something from Kuils River Rugby Club's emphasis on violence and faith.

Coach Rassie stood up – somewhat – for his old guy at fullback, Willie Le Roux, at a press conference this week. Willie is one of those players  certain fans will never get to grips with, even though the statistics show  he is exceptional.

Indestructible giants

Good news – in a field where there is so much bad news – is that Africa's baobab populations are stable and that climate change seems to have little or no effect on these giants of the veld.

A baobab ecologist and director of the Baobab Foundation, Sarah Venter of Wits University, says she saw on an extensive study tour through Southern Africa's baobab forests how resilient and tough these trees are, even in areas where people rely on them for food and other uses.

Droughts have a marginal effect on baobabs. In fact, it is more dangerous for a baobab to get too much water, especially in winter when they have no leaves through which evaporation can take place. The greatest baobab mortalities are in areas with many elephants, because of the damage the pachyderms can inflict. Farm animals pose a danger to young baobabs but have almost no effect on the old giants. – The Conversation

The era of GM mosquitoes

It will take time – more or less a decade – before scientists can use gene technology to fight the three mosquito species that spread malaria on a large scale in Africa. Malaria remains by far the biggest killer on the continent: in 2022, it claimed more than 500,000 lives. There is hardly a family in the malarial areas that has not had a personal tragedy.

Abdoulaye Diabaté, of Target Malaria, says there is already a genetically modified male mosquito that produces almost exclusively male offspring, which means wiping out the female population and eventually the entire population. There is also a male mosquito which produces an egg that does not hatch. That kind of technology will eventually mean people don't have to change their behaviour, and that anti-malaria projects won't depend on health services. – The Conversation 

New world order! Ministerial positions available! Applications open!

It seems times are tough over there at Illuminati headquarters, wherever it is buried in a mountain. The organisation behind the New World Order is now even sending out invitations on X and Facebook for people interested in joining. It seems the world has suddenly developed a shortage of wrinkly white uncles with billions in Swiss bank accounts and a penchant for full moon night rituals with virgins.

Speaking of rituals, the Freemasons seem to send out such invitations on social media as well. What happened to secrecy and exclusivity? What's next? Invitations from the Ruiterwag? The Junior Rapportryers?

English decency is an impressive thing. The BBC can be endlessly moral in its reporting about itself. Sometimes it's just a shame that this trait doesn't extend throughout the government and its foreign military arms.

More proof that dirty songs weren't just invented by boarding-school boys or tipsy fishermen on the west coast.

And for those interested in cemeteries? Here's a whole string of lovelies, of all kinds.

If you run an international business, keep a few multilingual specialists on the payroll. Volkswagen in Italy probably doesn't even know its X handle is somewhat problematic.

Cool old ad 

Volkswagen and David Kramer found each other in 1983 and a series of successful kombi commercials followed. Today, one wonders which brand benefited most from the relationship – Volkswagen or  Kramer? 

Old but gold

This was a few years ago, at a post-fight press conference of the Dutch champion kickboxer, Rico Verhoeven. An opponent who had already lost to him twice, Hesdy Gerges, snarled at him from the floor. However, none of the four times he ended up losing to Verhoeven could have hurt as much as Verhoeven's response, with the booming insult of: “Vuile pannekoek!" (“Dirty pancake!") Watch until the end.

♦ VWB ♦

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