.

And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again? Archilochus

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Once Upon a December....

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова [Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova]; June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 – July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria, and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family in an extrajudicial killing by members of the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police, at Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918.

Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated after her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of Communist rule. The mass grave near Yekaterinburg which held the remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three of their daughters was revealed in 1991, and the bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007. Her possible survival has been conclusively disproved. Forensic analysis and DNA testing confirmed that the remains are those of the imperial family, showing that all four grand duchesses were killed in 1918. Several women falsely claimed to have been Anastasia; the best known impostor is Anna Anderson. Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984, but DNA testing in 1994 on available pieces of Anderson's tissue and hair showed no relation to the DNA of the Romanov family.

38 comments:

FreeThinke said...

Another reason I despise leftists so thoroughly. One fellow who used to frequent Western Hero had the gall to tell me the brutal murder of Czar Nicholas and his family was thoroughly justified, because of the Great, DISPROPORTIONATE Store of Wealth the Czars had STOLEN from the Russian people!

And THAT in HIS twisted, cold-hearted little psyche justified the rapid descent into barbarism, ruthless tyranny and mass murder of millions perpetrted by Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks –– a movement that transformed an entire country into a gigantic Concentration camp.

FreeThinke said...

One of the many thing for which I am eternally gfatefulis never havig had to live in the Soviet Union, Maoist China, Cuba, or any of the myriad tinpot dictatorships in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, or Central and South America.

Sadly we will never realize how GOOD we've had it, until AFGER we've thrown it away with both hands while embracing Cultural Marxism.

You have said you'd like to "UNDERSTAND" the Left.

I don't, I only want to DESTROY it.

jez said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jez said...

I think I remember the conversation FreeThinke refers to. Is it here?

http://freethinkesblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/lance-armstrong-american-hero-brought.html#c2910949925424421349

If this is the right one, I think you misinterpreted my position.

FreeThinke said...

____________________ POSTMORTEM ____________________

Yesterday was THANKSGIVING DAY. It started well, thank God. Lots of pleasant correspondence with friends old and new, and my few remaining family members as well.  

No Big Dinner for me yesterday. I was at home by myself, but I am grateful to have many wonderful memories from years past, enough money to live comfortably, a very nice house that is a lifelong dream come true, and two charming pussycats –– Winner and Mr.Pussy –– to share it with.

I am thankful to be alive at age 76, and to be able to walk, talk, think, write and play the piano tolerably well. My eyesight is pretty well shot, but I still see well enough to get around, and to apprecate the beauty in my surroundings, thank God. 

The state of our blessed country bothers the hell out of me, but I'm still very grateful to have been born at a time when there was still so much to celebrate, love, enjoy and take pride in about being an American.

I hope every one of you had a wonderful day yesterday, and continue to remain well, free from harm, free from sadness, bitterness, resentment, discontent and full of optimism, affection, determination, and bright hopes for the future.


FreeThinke said...

How was your Turkey, Farmer?

I'm dying to know. Hope you didn't have to resort to eating those burritos? ];^)>

Hope you and your Mrs. enjoyed it thoroughly, and that she is making a good recovery and will soon be back to normal.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

@Jez,

Given that the children of the Tsar might have challenged the Soviets legitimacy, the Machiavellian thing to do is eliminate the future challenge and secure their position, which is what they did. I completely understand it, and why an "extrajudicial" action was perceived as "necessary". It's simply one crime in a long list of crimes performed by the Soviet regime over the course of their multi-generational crime spree that surpassed even the former tsar's.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

@FT,

The turkey was "passable", the mashed potatoes "cold", but the rest "descent". Mrs. Farmer appreciated the effort. The crazy button telling you when the turkey's supposed to be "done" popped after I had turned the oven off, and after an additional 20 minutes of cooking... so at least it wasn't under-done. But I know I screwed up the "skin"... as it tasted pretty horrible. It needed more than olive oil and poultry seasoning in the initial preparation process... but with future good fortune this will also have been my "last" turkey. I'm am sure that the leftovers will all get eaten.

I'm glad that you had a pleasant evening with your pasta. Seems everyone I know is coming down with Type II diabetes, and like yourself, are limiting their carb intakes. What a pain! I'm sure I'll end up in the same camp, but until then... ;)

FreeThinke said...

I can't imagine why Jez would want to pop up out of the woodwork with a presumptuous claim to be the person to whom I referred earlier. The leftist position I outlined regarding the hideous destruction of the Czar and his family is very frankly a COMPOSITE of numerous vile sentiments presented my long reading experience.by leftists in a vain attempt to JUSTIFY the Communist Revolution of 1917 in Russia, and the depredations the embrace of Marxism and Cultural Marxism have wrought on Western Civilization.

I couldn't get Google to locate the quotation he referened, so I still have no idea what he is talking about.

In your last statement, FJ, did you quote Jez from MY blog, or were you merely making a statement of your own?

I suppose i ought to feel flattered that anyone would bother to spend time surveying the blogosphere in pursuit of sentiments I, as FreeThinke, choose to express, but frankly in Jez's case it seems more like hubris that he considers himself signifcant enough to warrant my long term attention.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Follow his link, FT. The conversation did take place. The last statement about crimes was my own, however.

More Anastasia
...

jez said...

@FJ: I "understand" that too, but if FT thinks my old comment indicates my approval of the Tsar et al.'s execution, he is mistaken. That meaning is certainly not what I intended, nor do I think it is supported by what I actually wrote; he has imposed it on me. I don't know to what degree his evaluation of my psyche rests upon this error, but possibly some revision might be in order in light of it. :)

Turkey is indeed a tricky bird. I've come to rely on my meat thermometer, and I've recently learned how useful it is to rest meat before carving.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

@jez,

No doubt the tsar, like King Louie, could have been legitimately tried and executed... but the children? Never. Hence I believe that the extra-judicial nature of the crime reveals its' true purpose. Guarantee a secure line of Soviet succession.

FreeThinke said...

Farmer, I am glad you survived a Thanksgiving dinner that, apparently, was less-than a perfect culinary triumph.

Your report seems a fine example of how love between two genuinely devoted to each other diminishes the importance of imperfection in any gesture well meant.

I probably should have advised you to rub both the inner cavity and the outer skin with a generous amount of salt before doing anything else. My mother used anywhere from a halt to three-quarters of a pound of butterdepending on the weight of the bird rubbed into the cavity and under the skin as well.

Sage we usually reserved for the stuffing. I, personally have always favored stuffing prepared with homemade cornbread, apples, onions, sage, and Italian sausage. It's always a good idea to cook the sauage and drain the fat away before mising it in with the other ingredients.

In the Spirit of True Confessions I regret that I have to tell you my pasta was less than stellar. I added the bowties RAW to the casserole, with a good deal of extra sauce in hope it would cook the pasta to perfection during the baking process.

WRONG! The result was GLUEY and the the acid in the tomato sauce overpowered the whole thing. So, if I had to grade myself, I couldn't do better than to give myself a C-. To make matters worrst I'm stuck with too much left over that MUSt be eaten, because I was trained from early childhood to be a "Waste Not, Want Not" person –– a hangover from my father's Puritan New England roots no doubt. Father's people came over shortly after the Mayflower c.1630.

Here endeth this exercise in Self-Abnegation for November 24, 2017. };-)>

jez said...

@FT: I merely shared a link and asked "is this what you mean?" That's not presumption. Don't be flattered, it takes next to no time if you know how to use a search engine.

But this composite leftist of yours (originally referred to as "one fellow"), I wonder how faithfully you interpreted his other constituent elements? Might you have misread them, too?

FreeThinke said...

Jez, I can only repeat that something in you made you jump to the conclusion that I was referring specifically to YOU. I still can't locate the post you referred to. Goodle refuses to honor the request, and I don't have time to search through my entire blog in an attempt to find our conversation.

You and I have never gotten along. We travel almost exclusively on parallel lines. I've never found any of our exchanges to be pleasant, fruitful or anything I would want to remember. In fact I wish I could forget them altogether.

That said I do not wish you ill, but hope our paths do not cross again any time soon.

I hope you and your family have a Happy Christmas.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

@ FT

A shame that the pasta didn't delight as anticipated. Some pasta brands are better than others when being incorporated "raw"... I know that Mrs Farmer uses a particular brand when making lasagna (the name escapes me at present), as she doesn't need to pre-cook the noodles that way.

And take my advice. Throw it out. Life's too short to have to endure failed cooking experiences.

@ jez,

I think we all sort of argue against a "composite" opponent. An eerie similarity in position seems to run through every argument... which probably proves the "ideologicial" nature of our differences in understanding one another.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

from the Jowett summary of Plato's "Gorgias"

What is cookery?' An experience or routine of making a sort of delight or gratification. Then they are the same, or rather fall under the same class, and rhetoric has still to be distinguished from cookery. 'What is rhetoric?' asks Polus once more. A part of a not very creditable whole, which may be termed flattery, is the reply. 'But what part?' A shadow of a part of politics. This, as might be expected, is wholly unintelligible, both to Gorgias and Polus; and, in order to explain his meaning to them, Socrates draws a distinction between shadows or appearances and realities; e.g. there is real health of body or soul, and the appearance of them; real arts and sciences, and the simulations of them.

jez said...

FT: Rather than repeat that, you could stop conflating the asking of a question with a jump to a conclusion. (By the way, if you're still [or ever was] interested, no need to involve google, just follow the first link in FJ's comment from 08:10.)

I wonder how disagreeable to you were the (other?) constituents of your composite leftist? Are they actively forgotten too? Could it be that all reality has evaporated from your composite, and only your misunderstandings and preconceptions have been retained? A definite possibility, I fear.

@Farmer: 'I think we all sort of argue against a "composite" opponent'
That's true, but FT (the individual, not a composite) is a slippery devil! If I felt moved to throw around his kind of invective, not only would my target(s) necessarily be actual non-fictional persons (otherwise, what am I really angry against?), but I would name them (otherwise, aren't I a coward?).

FreeThinke said...

NO, Jez, you are, –– as I immediately ascertained since you first appeared on the scene –– an insolent, flint-hearted, leftist creep who tries to hide his true nature behind a thin veneer of equivocal, disingenuous, pseudo-respectable rhetoric.

Just because you don't use four-letter words, or loudly state your in opinions in the tired, nakedly abusive leftist clichés used by thugs and street mobs doesn't mean that you are either a gentleman OR a scholar.

FreeThinke said...

AHA! I found the "conversation" in question, and post here the relevant parts edited for emphasis:

jez January 28, 2013 at 9:14 AM

I wondered what was so brutal about the disposal of the Czar. Then I read this sentence from wikipedia:

"Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga, and Maria survived the first hail of bullets; the sisters were wearing over 1.3 kilograms of diamonds and precious gems sewn into their clothing, which provided some initial protection from the bullets and bayonets.”

which sums up both sides for me: the Czar's corruption and the terrible response.

Make no mistake though, if you support capital punishment in any way, the Czar most certainly deserved it. A fair and open trial would've been most welcome though, even in a foregone case like this.





FJ January 28, 2013 at 1:14 PM

if you support capital punishment in any way the Czar most certainly deserved it.


Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga, and Maria were not the Czar.



WaylonJanuary 28, 2013 at 1:46 PM (OMITTED for IRRLEVANCE)…


 

FreeThinkeJanuary 28, 2013 at 2:39 PM


Your last post was much more revealing than you could possibly know, Jez.


Things are even worse than I had imagined.





jez January 28, 2013 at 5:25 PM


It's my fault for writing such a terse comment, but if you take another look at it perhaps you can tease out my description of the murder of the Tsar's children as being terribly brutal.


Or maybe you are disturbed by my objection to the girls' kilograms of diamonds etc.? Bear in mind these jewels were all taxed from a population of grindingly poor peasants. What would have been merely a tasteless display had it been earned, in this case is in fact a significant crime.


Waylon January 28, 2013 at 10:13 PM (OMITTED for IRRELEVANCE)



jez January 29, 2013 at 4:36 AM …


I still think that Nicholas II could have been legitimately tried and executed for his involvement in the Pogroms alone.





Katharine Heartburn January 29, 2013 at 8:41 AM


Good God, FT! It's even worse than you thought. It's not what they're THINKING, of course. It's what they've been TAUGHT. Whoever would have thought that Civilization would be killed off not on the BATTLEFED but in the CLASSROOM?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I'll let others decide what to think after reading the above exchange, but I will stand by my words identifying and condoning ANYONE who could:

A) express such profound IGNORANCE of history as NOT to be AWARE of the way in which Czar Nicholas and his family were dispatched.

and

B) actually appear to BELIEVE that the wealth and privilege traditionally enjoyed by royalty for hundreds of years constitutes a "CRIME" deserving of CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.


I'll stand by the inotial statement that precipitated this tedious exchange by repeating it for emphasis:

"[Here's] another reason I despise leftists so thoroughly. One fellow who used to frequent Western Hero had the gall to tell me the brutal murder of Czar Nicholas and his family was thoroughly justified, because of the Great, DISPROPORTIONATE Store of Wealth the Czars had STOLEN from the Russian people!

"And THAT in HIS twisted, cold-hearted little psyche justified the rapid descent into barbarism, ruthless tyranny and mass murder of millions perpetrted by Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks –– a movement that transformed an entire country into a gigantic Concentration camp."


I rest my case.

jez said...

@FT
"...as I immediately ascertained..." Good job YOU don't jump to any conclusions!

Your case doesn't stand up, because your reading comprehension has failed you.

I don't expect you to understand this, but here is why your reasons for identifying and condoning (sic -- condemn?) me do not apply:

A) I didn't express ignorance, I only mentioned that I'd looked it up. Perhaps you assume that the only reason for looking something up would be ignorance, but I sometimes look things up that I already know. When I refresh my memory in this way, I often find that my knowledge was incomplete or partly inaccurate. It's a good habit -- try it!
But please, don't condemn the ignorant FT -- it's not the same as stupidity or obstinacy, so much more easily cured!

B) I described excessive taxation as a crime, yes (I stand by that, especially when it causes or prolongs famine), but I never said it deserved captial punishment. I'll paraphrase what I actually said: if I supported capital punishment (I don't), the Czar would be a good candidate, not because of his taxes, but for his implication in mass murder (pogroms).

FreeThinke said...

And ON and ON and ON and ON and ON and ON and ON it goes.

Where it stops nobody knows, but as far as I'M concenred it stops right HERE and N-O-W.

jez said...

Ideally it would stop with you improving the fidelity of your reading.

FreeThinke said...

Toot, toot, Tootsie, goodbye
Toot, toot, tootsie, don't cry
Trump’s locomotive that takes me
Away from you, no words can
Tell how glad it makes me

Kick me, Tootsie, no more
Now I’ll show you the door

Watch for the mail, I'll never fail
If you don't get my letter
Then I'll know you’ve jumped bail
Toot, toot, Tootsie, don't cry
Toot, toot, Tootsie, goodbye!
Kiss me, tootsie, and then
Do it over again

Watch for the mail, I'll never fail
If you don't get a letter
Then you'll know I'm in jail
Toot, toot, tootsie, don't cry
Goodbye, tootsie, goodbye!

FreeThinke said...

I'm an unbashed partisan in the war we are fighting for the very Soul of Civilization. I have no time for, and will give no quarter to anyone who appears to weaken resolve to defeat the Leftist-Globalist-Islamist coalition, beat those bastards into the ground, trample on their remains with hobnailed boots, then piss and shit on the gore and offal left behind.

Compromise in the fight against Evil equals a victory for the Forces of Darkness.

This is why I roundly despise windy "intellectuals" who work to reduce major conflicts io a sterile Game of Wits devoid of passion, lacking commitment, and thus incapable of decisiveness, affection, humor, devotion or swearing allegiance to ANYTHING beyond perpetual JOUSTING in the VOID.

jez said...

What's more sterile, my earnest effort to ensure my meaning safely arrives at my reader's mind tolerably free from distortion and error, or your desire to noisily denounce a nameless "composite" leftist, stubbornly rejecting all replies?
You say the former, I say the latter, let's call the whole thing off.
I am talking to you freethinke, a real, individual person. You are talking about a composite, built from elements I don't believe you properly understood, based on my experience of you misinterpreting me. That's the void. Your enemies are not even real people. Your perception of me, for example, is not accurate. You don't have to hate me, or the modern world in general; it's your choice. Put a shitty filter on everything, guess what it'll all look like? If you were to spend two months working on being more receptive to what's good about people, I guarantee your outlook will improve. And if it doesn't, I'll join your side and we can plan some atrocities together, because if it's as bad as you claim clearly western civilization needs to be destroyed.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

The "void" about sums it up, widened by the extent of our own ideologies...

...thanks, at least, for the attempt at understanding, jez. It gives me some hope for the future.

FreeThinke said...

BALLS!

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Plato, "Apology"

And now, Meletus, I will ask you another question—by Zeus I will: Which is better, to live among bad citizens, or among good ones? Answer, friend, I say; the question is one which may be easily answered. Do not the good do their neighbours good, and the bad do them evil?

Certainly.

And is there anyone who would rather be injured than benefited by those who live with him? Answer, my good friend, the law requires you to answer—does any one like to be injured?

Certainly not.

And when you accuse me of corrupting and deteriorating the youth, do you allege that I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally?

Intentionally, I say.

But you have just admitted that the good do their neighbours good, and the evil do them evil. Now, is that a truth which your superior wisdom has recognized thus early in life, and am I, at my age, in such darkness and ignorance as not to know that if a man with whom I have to live is corrupted by me, I am very likely to be harmed by him; and yet I corrupt him, and intentionally, too—so you say, although neither I nor any other human being is ever likely to be convinced by you. But either I do not corrupt them, or I corrupt them unintentionally; and on either view of the case you lie. If my offence is unintentional, the law has no cognizance of unintentional offences: you ought to have taken me privately, and warned and admonished me; for if I had been better advised, I should have left off doing what I only did unintentionally—no doubt I should; but you would have nothing to say to me and refused to teach me. And now you bring me up in this court, which is a place not of instruction, but of punishment.

jez said...

@farmer Yes. The value of this exchange for me has been in characterising the nature of the void. To quote myself, "You are talking about a composite, built from elements I don't believe you properly understood... That's the void." I shall heed my own warning.
Thanks for indulging my rather rude outbursts. If it's not too early to say it, Merry Christmas!

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

It's not too early for "late capitalism"... but for Christianity, Advent begins in early December. ;)

jez said...

I should wait for the 3rd but my children, still relatively innocent of either creed, have successfully lobbied to start the festivities already. I defy anyone to resist their elf costumed cuteness. (They're 28 years old!)

FreeThinke said...

FUCK YOU, Jez, you snotty, supercilous, little prick!

You may quote this remark ANYTIME.

Your thin, ever-loosening veneer of decorous, genteel rhetoric doesn't begin to mask your conceited, captious, innately rude, chilly, infuriatingly condescending nature.

To borrow a bit from the fabled exhanges between Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Astor:

The difference between you and me is that I shall recover from my admittedly intemperate, inexcusably rude, self-indulgent outburst very quickly, but YOU are likely to remain imprisoned in your essentially vile, humorless, intolerant, hyper-judgmental, findamentally antagonistic nature for the rest of your mortal days.

If I didn't dislike you so throuroughly, I would pity you.

FreeThinke said...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Farmer to you and your Mrs.!

I'm sorry my mere presence precipitated this unfortunate pollution of your blog.

As surely you know from my dealings with the odious "Gert," I don't take kindly to being attacked, and will not take it lying down.

At my blog I neatly avoid these unpleasant confrontations by DELETING insolent remarks and pointed queries deliberately designed to foster acrimony.

Cowardly? Perhaps, but at my advnced age "I haven't got time for the pain."

CHEERS!

FreeThinke said...

_______ MERRY CHRISTMAS _______

So, once again the Savior’s Birth draws near,
And once again we feel an Obligation
Much to spend before another year
Takes us to the Brink of Desperation.
Salvation offered freely as a Gift?
It surely has a catch in it somewhere;
Rarely do The Powers give a Lift ~~
Happy as they seem to strip us bare.
Christmas comes to change all that, however,
Yet so few can clearly see the Road
Reaching far beyond what’s merely clever
Revealing heaven’s Peace to each Abode.
Each rude Challenge met with hopeful Attitude
Makes a cheer-filled Life defined by Gratitude.


~ FreeThinke


And YES, I hasten to add before my detractor(s) can get it in: I am WELL aware of the crying need for me to take my OWN excellent advice.

];^}>

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

It would appear that you've captured FT's goat, jez. Don't have too much fun with it. ;)

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Merry Shoppingsmass to you, too, FT. May the Sales be with you!

jez said...

This may be the happiest I've seen him. Glad to be of service ;)