Tag: America

Crackpot Cassandra meets AWOL Assange

Julian Assange achieves a new low by hanging out with a whack job Trump supporter who previously supported Black Lives Matters and Bernie Sanders

Julian Assange’s pathetically small ragbag of supporters are once again bleating and this time that bleating comes from the mouth of a most confused young lady.

In an article for The Gateway Pundit – a little known hotchpotch rant sheet that cites itself as being “Where Hope Finally Made a Comeback” and a publication that claims: “We report the truth – and leave the Russia-Collusion fairy tale to the Conspiracy media” – a Donald Trump supporting “political activist” named Cassandra Fairbanks claimed Assange’s living conditions are “more akin to [a] Stasi-era dissident than an award-winning publisher with asylum.”

“Social media star” Fairbanks – whose favourite quote is said to be “Build the Wall” in spite of her previously being a backer of Bernie Sanders – is, in fact, just like Assange in several regards: This queen of contradictions is a bit of self-promoting, self-obsessed sort and she plainly craves constant attention.

On Twitter, this Silver Springs, Maryland based former liberal tells her 156,000 followers that the “Federal court says ‘I trolled the web through Twitter’” and that she is “an information terrorist according to Wired.” She previously was said to be “distinguished for her liberal campaigns” but has now wholeheartedly U-turned and become a fully-fledged Trumpette.

In spite of helping to organise the ‘DeploraBall’ to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017, Fairbanks has also been involved with the “hacktivist” group Anonymous and once came out in support of immigrants by saying: “Why should an invisible line created by some [politicians] dictate where we can and cannot go? If I want to go to the beach at 11pm I should be able to. If I feel like rowing a boat to Australia, why can’t I just go?”

Cassandra Fairbanks at the White House

Previously a reporter for the Russian state funded news agency Sputnik News and also at one-time a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, Fairbanks lost a defamation suit in June 2018 against a former Fusion journalist, Emma Roller. Fairbanks had claimed Roller “maliciously” retweeted an image of her allegedly giving a white power hand gesture.

In her article for The Gateway Pundit, published Thursday after Fairbanks having visited Assange at the Embassy of Ecuador in Knightsbridge the previous Monday, the self-proclaimed “grassroots journalist” claimed his hosts were imposing “draconian” conditions on the bail dodger and keeping him in something “like a scene from the Stasi spy drama The Lives of Others.”

Refusing to acknowledge that Julian Assange chose his very own path is one thing, but that Fairbanks moaned about his hosts being “spies… even noting his general mood” is another. She refers to the Ecuadorians as “menacing” and “shadowy state actor[s]” and their embassy as like a “federal penitentiary.” In doing so, this plainly delusional woman ignores the most important fact: Nobody is forcing Julian Assange to remain holed up with people she views to be baddies. He could end this farce and he could finally do the decent thing: It is time for Julian Assange to surrender himself to the British police.

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January 12, 2019
Arise The Gavinator

Gavin Newsom brings hope to America and we expect him to great things as 40^th Governor of California; we also urge him to do what he can to free the victims of parental abuse, the Menendez brothers

Gavin Newsom, as the 42^nd Mayor of San Francisco, achieved much. This spirited businessman brought in same-sex marriage in violation of the then state law, implemented a programme that provided permanent housing with support for 7,000 homeless people and did much to support workers’ rights.

Awarded the title of “America’s Most Social Mayor” based on his prominence on social media in 2010, here is a politician who has thrived because he does things differently. Charismatic and forward thinking, Newsom’s first book, Citizenville, explored how technology can transform democracy and in 2014, by then the 49^th Lieutenant Governor of California, he became the only statewide politician to endorse the legalisation of cannabis.

More importantly, illustrating his thoroughly decent personality, in 2012, Newsom supported a sadly failed measure that sought to end the death penalty in California. He cited that California had spent $5 billion since 1978 to execute just 13 people and also stated that the death penalty was “immoral” and “did not deter crime.”

Yesterday, Newsom – a possible future President we’d go as far to say – was sworn in as the 40^th Governor of California. Walking in the shoes of Arnold Schwarzenegger will undoubtedly be a new challenge for him and presiding over the most populous and prosperous state in the United States will certainly bring with it great challenges. With 39.6 million residents and a $2.9 trillion economy that is larger than that of the United Kingdom, he plans to work to reform healthcare, has already stood up to Donald Trump over his ridiculous wall and described it as a “monument of stupidity” and boldy taken on the NRA and stated: “We need comprehensive gun reform. NOW.”

All at The Steeple Times today salute ‘The Gavinator’ – as he once joked he would be known – but today, on his second day in office, we make a more heartfelt plea to him. Given the increasing amount of support and increasing amount of information about their case finally now being in the public domain, we urge the 40^th Governor to take up the mantle of the permanently incarcerated victims of the most abhorrent of parental abuse, Erik and Lyle Menenendez. These boys received the most harsh of sentences simply because of who they were and have been locked up in Californian jails for 27 years without any chance of release ever. It is, we’d argue, now damn well time they were let out and it would be a fine thing if Gavin Newsom could do what he can to ensure the day when these brothers again walk free comes sooner rather than later.

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January 8, 2019
Mrs Simpson Farmed in Mayfair

Mayfair “farmhouse” where Mrs Simpson began her affair with the then Prince of Wales for sale for 147% more than it was marketed for in 2012

Last marketed at a price of £4.75 million ($6.04 million, €5.30 million or درهم22.19 million) in 2012 and offered for sale in 2005 at an undisclosed sum also, a house where the then Mrs Simpson began her affair with the then Prince of Wales is again for sale.

Rebuilt in the early 1900s by a Mrs M. Strakosch in “the Gothic style,” Farm House – or 22 Farm Street as it is more simply known – stands on the site of a farmhouse that predated the development of Mayfair.

Entered through a large oak front door that feature the heads of the twelve apostles, the half-timbered house Mrs Strakosch commissioned featured Flemish linenfold paneling and 17^th century doors. Though much of this has now gone, a number of Jacobean and medieval features remain and what is now offered is described as “the perfect space for modern entertaining.”

Farm House, 22 Farm Street, Mayfair, London, W1J 5RQ – For sale for £11.75 million

Gloria Swanson, Gloria Vanderbilt and Thelma Furness

Farm House includes three reception rooms, two kitchens, six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two terraces and a garage. It extends to 4,564 square foot over four floors and was home to the Swiss born Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness (1904 – 1970), the twice married mistress of the then Prince of Wales and later King Edward VIII between 1930 and 1934, during their relationship.

Furness, whose twin sister Gloria (1904 – 1965) became a Vanderbilt and was also the maternal grandmother of the American news anchor Anderson Cooper, at this time, was friends with Wallis Simpson. She introduced her American friend to the prince at her country house, Burrough Court, near Melton Mowbray, first in 1931 but then became supplanted in his affections in 1934.

With their relationship approaching its end, Furness embarked on a short affair with Prince Aly Khan whilst in America and whilst there allowed Simpson to live in her Farm Street home according to the actress Gloria Swanson (1899 – 1983). Later, in her autobiography Silent Boulevard, Swanson wrote:

“Lady Thelma Furness had a charming house on Farm Street, where her friend Wallis Simpson has kept the Prince of Wales company while Thelma was away in the States.”

Swanson, whilst pregnant, and her then husband Michael Farmer subsequently rented Farm House from Furness and of their time there wrote: “The house was empty for the moment, so we settled in to wait for the baby and see old friends.”

Knight Frank now seek £11.75 million ($14.95 million, €13.12 million or درهم54.90 million) for Farm House. Reportedly, according to a 2012 Mayfair Times article, the property comes with deeds that specifically mention that it still has a “right of way for sheep.”

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January 6, 2019
From Ceaușescu to The Queen

1967 Rolls-Royce state landaulet originally built for the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu – but considered too extravagant even by him – and later used by Her Majesty The Queen to be auctioned

Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu was a dictator whose extravagance was a bit like that of Barbara Amiel: It knew no bounds. In 1966, ignoring the wishes of his Russian handlers, Ceaușescu decided to order what became the most costly Rolls-Royce Phantom V state landaulet by Mulliner Park Ward ever produced and spent £20,000 in 1966 (the equivalent of £652,000, $824,000, €726,000 or درهم3 million today) creating a truly luxurious vehicle.

Featuring nearly every available option possible, including a rear seat that could be raised or lowered to suit the height of passengers, this luxurious limousine also came with a combination cocktail bar and entertainment cabinet with a television. It had dual air conditioners for both the front and rear compartments, fluorescent lighting for parades at night and a refrigerated wine cooler. So over-the-top was it that, though Ceaușescu allegedly “probably could not have cared less” himself, Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party, complained about the lavishness of the vehicle, had it stored for one year and then shipped back to England.

Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena

Replaced with a “more suitable Silver Shadow,” Ceaușescu’s Phantom V state landaulet was sold on to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based Dr. Erle M. Heath and his wife Bonnie. They used it on a daily basis for three decades and racked up 117,000 miles in it but also loaned it to dignitaries and personalities on occasions. Used to chauffeur Her Majesty The Queen on her state visit to Bermuda in 1975, the car was also her transportation during her visit to the Grand Cayman Islands in 1983.

Subsequently, in 1978, the vehicle also was used by Princess Grace of Monaco in Pittsburgh in 1978 and then after the death of Dr. Heath in 1992, it eventually became part of the Calumet Collection. Exhibited at various concours d’elegance, the Phantom V state landaulet also transported the American astronaut Buzz Aldrin and now has 161,795 miles on its clock.

RM Sotheby’s will sell this “rich in history” car at their Arizona 2019 auction on Friday 18^th January 2019. They offer it with no reserve and an estimate of £791,000 to £1.2 million ($1 million to $1.5 million, €880,000 to €1.3 million or درهم3.7 million to درهم5.5 million).

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December 26, 2018
Picture of the Week – The Horror That is Halloween

Halloween is a ridiculous American nightmare suggests Matthew Steeples

Halloween is something that children might enjoy but in reality it’s just another excuse for greedy retailers like Waitrose to sell the great British public a load of old tat.

Our Picture of the Week was spotted by a reader named David Hart and is taken from a Facebook group entitled ‘Now This Is What I Call British Banter.’

It reads:

“This is England!!! Not America. Fuck off with your Halloween bullshit you little cunts.”

Spot on.

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November 1, 2018
Hit the Road Marilyn

Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned

A 1956 Ford Thunderbird gifted as a Christmas present to Marilyn Monroe in 1955 by her business partner, the photographer Milton Greene, is to be auctioned in November.

The raven black roadster bodied automatic – dubbed a “personal luxury car” by Ford – comes with numerous documents and of it, the current owner comments:

“I found the vehicle in lovely show condition. Nevertheless, the car has received a frame-off restoration to its exact original appearance by Prestige Thunderbird, Inc., of Santa Fe Springs, CA. Prestige is the premier west coast firm specializing only in classic 1955, 1956, and 1957 Ford Thunderbirds. In recognition of the car’s important provenance, special heed was given to the retention of original parts, with most driver and passenger touch surfaces left undisturbed.”

“Finding this car, a classic two-seater model, after 56 plus years of its unknown whereabouts, was a singular event. No other car has been located and documented as owned by the incomparable Marilyn Monroe.”

Speaking of the 225 horsepower, V8 engined vehicle, Amy Greene, wife of Milton Greene, remarked:

“Marilyn liked to drive. We’d take the convertible and with the top down, we’d go sailing along the highway. We both liked to feel the wind in our faces and the warmth of the heater on our legs.”

Kept and driven by the icon for six years, Monroe and her playwright husband Arthur Miller drove the Thunderbird to their civil wedding ceremony on 28^th June 1956 and likely also to their private wedding on 30^th June 1956. The vehicle was subsequently ‘regifted’ t to John Strasberg, the son the director and acting coach Lee Strasberg, as an 18^th birthday present in 1962. It comes with a black canvas convertible top, a porthole windowed hardtop and has 30,399 miles on the odometer following an engine rebuild.

Darren Julien, president of Julien’s – the firm conducting the sale – added:

“Once in a while something comes along that has a powerful magic about it, a charisma, because of everything and everyone associated with it. This wonderful Ford Thunderbird is not only part of automotive history but comes with an aura of glamour, romance and tragedy of a true Hollywood legend. It will make the centrepiece of any classic car collection and be an object of fascination to millions.”

Julien’s Auctions will offer the car at their ‘Icons and Idols: Hollywood’ on 17^th November in Los Angeles, California. They have set an estimate of £230,000 to £384,000 ($300,000 to $500,000, €262,000 to €436,000 or درهم1.1 million to درهم1.8 million).

2018 photos: Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.

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October 19, 2018
Robin Leach (1941 – 2018)

“With champagne wishes and caviar dreams” was the famous signoff of London born Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous host Robin Leach. Harrow High School educated, this one-time Daily Mail reporter moved to the US in 1963 with $145 in his pocket and after briefly becoming a shoe salesman founded a music publication named Go Magazine.

After selling up “at considerable profit,” Leach worked for The National Star and CNN before coming up with Lifestyles in 1984. He attributed the show’s popularity to Jimmy Carter exiting the White House and boasted: “[It was] because the Reagans brought in an aura of wealth. Jimmy Carter was too ordinary. So, when Reagan came in, it was time for a show about wealth and success… Hear this: In the course of an hour, I deliver twice as much audio information and visual images as any other show on television. I’m fast and loud on purpose. I cram 10 pounds of caviar into an eight-pound pack.”

“Sensational, not scandalous” in his approach, twice married, father of three Leach’s subjects numbered everyone from Celine Dion to Madonna and Adnan Khashoggi and Donald Trump. As a result this celebrant of wealth and capitalism became a millionaire and pretty famous himself and in 2007, in the Fergie song Glamorous featuring Ludacris, the latter rapped: “Lifestyles so rich and famous, Robin Leach’ll get jealous.” With his passing, most certainly, this much parodied “life of the party” has most definitely moved to the skies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrZtqe_zrOw

August 26, 2018
Haaz Sleiman – What’s on your mantelpiece?

A 20-question interview with Lebanese-American actor Haaz Sleiman; he has starred in ‘24’, ‘ER’, ‘Killing Jesus’, ‘NCIS’, ‘Nurse Jackie’ and ‘Person of Interest’

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

Love.

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

“If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you going to love somebody else?”

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2018?

Who is she?

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

Definitely not him. I hate politics. I’d say: My future husband. Where is he?

What might you swap all your wealth for?

To be adopted by Madonna.

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

It is terrible. We have a vanishing middle class.

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

‘Retard’.

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

I support anything to do with homeless LGBTQ youth and animals.

The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

I’m sorry but I don’t understand the question.

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

My parents and all my siblings with their families.

Haaz Sleiman as Jesus in the 2015 television film ‘Killing Jesus’

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

In the most lush and exotic natural habitat with tonnes of trees and waterfalls or by the ocean. I’d have the best steak and fries with the most expensive bottle of red wine possible.

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

I don’t drink much really.

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

Tea.

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

I enjoy concerts because I love seeing how music makes the people come together. Thank you Madonna.

Who is the most positive person you know?

E-Jay Randolph, my mentor.

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

RuPual’s Drag Race.

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

A cross with a naked Jesus hanging on it wearing a Star of David pendant around his neck. Jesus would have a tattoo in Arabic on his left pec of the most important line in the Quran, the line that you would need to say to become Muslim. I am interested in inclusion.

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

A Tesla.

Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

I’m a baby in a grown ass man’s body. It’s a good thing.

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

A framed picture of my beautiful mother.

Haaz Sleiman is a Lebanese-American television and film actor. He starred as Jesus in the TV series ‘Killing Jesus’ and has also appeared in series such as ‘24’, ‘CSI: Miami’, ‘ER’, ‘NCIS’, ‘Nurse Jackie’ and ‘Person of Interest’. He describes himself as: “A lost soul finding its way back home.”

Follow Haaz Sleiman on Twitter at @haazsleiman, on Facebook at @haazsleiman and on Instagram at @haazsleiman

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August 24, 2018
Analysing Borwick

The Cambridge Analytica connection you’ve most likely never heard of; meet The Hon. Thomas Borwick, son of ex-Tory MP Lady ‘Call Me Victoria’ Borwick

The Hon. Thomas Borwick is a figure in the Cambridge Analytica scandal you’ve probably never heard of.

Bizarrely largely overlooked by the mainstream media, the son of the ousted ex-MP for Kensington Lady ‘Call Me Victoria’ Borwick is an extremely well connected man who keeps himself under the radar on social media. The 31-year old has just 500 followers on Twitter – a surprisingly low number given he has been described as a “computer specialist” – and was put in a position of huge power as Vote Leave’s chief technology officer from August 2015 to July 2016.

Educated at the University of Richmond, Virginia from 2006 to 2010, with a period studying law courses at Cambridge briefly during 2008, Borwick subsequently worked in IT for the financial services company Killik & Co in 2012 and simultaneously “developed music technology for interactive lessons.”

More interestingly, this youngster’s move into political data profiling came also in 2012 when he founded a company named Kanto Systems with an aim of “bring[ing] UK Campaigning into the 21st century.” Here, Borwick developed a “mobile canvassing app” and came into contact with Cambridge Analytica in order to provide them with “digital services,” according to The Huffington Post. In turn, he sold an app to Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL, and now, in March this year, his firm was brought in by Ireland’s Save The 8^th anti-abortion campaign group as part of their efforts “to persuade Irish voters to keep the country’s strict anti-abortion laws.”

“Hiring Thomas Borwick to create and manage a website is like employing the SAS to run security at a school hop or bringing in Einstein to tot up your shopping bill,” comments journalist Fintan O’Toole in The Irish Times, and in further revelations in the Evening Standard late March, Borwick himself admitted to also having worked with the equally controversial Canadian data firm Aggregate IQ – an operation that earned £3.5 million working for Vote Leave during the 2016 referendum campaign.

The public and press need to wake up and smell the coffee. The manipulation of politics in America, Britain, Ireland and elsewhere runs far deeper than even the most avid viewer of the Daily Politics could imagine. Figures like Thomas Borwick may well operate in the backrooms but it is increasingly becoming apparent that with doorstep canvassing all but irrelevant, such people are worryingly our new political powerhouses.

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April 17, 2018
Alexander van der Zwaan

“Playboy” turned lawyer Alexander van der Zwaan had it all but destroyed his reputation after being jailed for 30 days for lying to the FBI in April 2018 over Russia’s links to President Trump’s election campaign. Aside from receiving positive publicity in Tatler after marrying Eva Khan, daughter of a Ukrainian-Russian billionaire named German Khan, in a “lavish society ceremony” at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire in June 2017, this “ostentatious” Belgian-born, Notting Hill based attorney might now realise that telling the truth is generally for the best.

Alexander van der Zwaan with his art critic wife Eva Khan at their 2017 wedding; ‘Tatler’ lauded it as one of the “seven big weddings” of that year

April 14, 2018