Confronting the Presidents

Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard proposed to examine the 45 men who have served as president and give a no spin assessment on each.  They failed utterly.  The book is 400 pages.  Do the math.  That is less than 10 pages per president and a lot of what is discussed is the daily routine of each.  What hours did they work?  What did they like for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?  What kind of exercise routine did they have, if any?  How'd they meet their wife?  These are so many thumbnail sketches that only scratch the surface of each man.  There is hardly any foundation to make an honest assessment.  The greatest failing is that the authors will condemn the actions of one president that they gloss over when done by another president.  Harding is pummeled for his adulterous affair while FDR and JFK are merely chastised.  The more recent the presidency, the more the authors' politics bleed into the assessment, more Dugard's than O'Reilly's.

The biography of each president is shallow, having to cover entirely too much in a short span.  Generally, the history is correct - maybe a wrong year listed here or the wrong name there - but the assessment follows the standard ratings that you would find among a typical poll of historians.

Though he clearly starts showing some personal opinions, I give O'Reilly credit for not going overboard.  That doesn't hold for his co-author.  The book was completed in 2024 and Dugard still held that Biden was up to a second term.  Seriously?  You call that no spin?  He even called 2020 the most contention election in US history while writing a book which included the 1860 election that led to Civil War!

This is a book for a novice.  It would have been better if the assessments had been left out and just let the reader judge.

Not recommended.

Naked in the Sun (1957)

Slave Hunter Wilson (Barton MacLane) attacked a Seminole village, collecting any blacks he could.  By default, all blacks were escaped slaves.  During this attack, he tried to take Chechotah (Lita Milan).  She managed to flee into the swamps.  By the time Wilson and his men returned to Fort King, all the slaves he had caught had been freed by Osceola (James Craig).  Wilson was furious and complained to the Indian Agent Gillis.  In a later attack, Wilson whipped Osceola and carried away Chechotah.  Now Osceola confronted Agent Gillis.  Gillis tossed Osceola in confinement until such time as the chiefs would convene and sign a treaty to leave Florida.  At the signing, only one chief signed; Osceola stabbed a knife into the document!  Osceola saw war as the only choice.

Though a low-budget B-movie, this does a surprisingly good job.  It is much better than Seminole, which had such stars at Rock Hudson, Anthony Quinn, and Lee Marvin.  The movie touches on many actual events and issues:

- Osceola had a black wife named Chechotah.  The movie casts Lita Milan, a woman of Polish & Hungarian ancestry, for the role.  Even though she is clearly not black, Wilson identifies her as an escaped slave.  Here is a casting decision based on the mores of 1950s America.

- Florida had been a haven for escaped slaves for decades.  The Seminoles integrated them into the tribe, often as equals and also as slaves of a different master.  The Seminoles that were willing to go to Oklahoma fully expected to take their black members (slave or otherwise) with them.  That view was not popular among slave owners.  This view is well-demonstrated by the character of Wilson.

- The Treaty of Payne's Landing was signed in 1832, prior to the start of the movie.  However, Osceola reportedly stabbed the document with his knife, which is shown.

- Osceola shot Charley Emathla for agreeing to move his tribe west of the Mississippi.  He also discarded the money the United States had paid to Emathla.

- Osceola and several others shot and killed Wiley Thompson, the Indian agent who imprisoned him, while he was walking outside Fort King.  For some reason, he is renamed as Arthur Gillis in the movie.

- Fort King was burned by the Seminoles.  The movie combines the burning of the fort with the killing of the Indian agent.  In fact, it was several month later and the fort had been abandoned.

- Major Francis Dade (Robert Wark) and all but 3 of his men were killed while traveling from Fort Brooke (Tampa Bay) to Fort King (Ocala).  The massacre happened on the same day - December 28, 1835 - that Osceola killed the Indian agent.  Dade was killed in the first volley and did not take part in the desperate battle that followed.

- Osceola was captured under flag of truce.  In the movie, the fictional General Finch (Peter Dearing) gave the order.  In fact, it was General Thomas Jessup who gave the order and General Joseph Hernandez who was on hand to carry it out.

- Osceola died in prison several months after his capture.  The movie implies he was still held in Florida, but he had been moved to Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina.

The story deviated from history on several points:

- The war started because the Seminoles were clearly being cheated.  They had several years left on another treaty that assured them residence in Florida.  Men who were not chiefs had been forced to sign a treaty in order to return from surveying the new lands in Oklahoma.  The movie leans into Osceola avenging the loss of his wife to slave hunters.

- It is repeatedly implied that Osceola translates to Rising Sun in English.  He is repeatedly referred to that way by other Seminoles.  In fact, it means Black Drink Singer, or something along those lines.

- Francis Dade did not grow up in Florida.  He was from Virginia, but found his way to Florida during the First Seminole War (1818) with General Andrew Jackson.  He remained in Florida thereafter with postings in Pensacola, Tampa Bay, and Key West.  Though he may have met Osceola at some point, it is unlikely they were good friends as the movie proposes.

- The movie ends with Chechotah's voice over about how Osceola had fought for the peace of his people and some such as if the war was at an end.  The Seminole War had another 4 years to go.

- The US Army uniforms are not right.  The enlisted soldiers' jacket and trousers should match, sky blue in color.  Instead, the soldiers are wearing dark blue jackets and light pants.

Though the film quality is grainy and the acting is unremarkable, this was a fun watch.  It is vastly superior to the star-studded Seminole.  Good popcorn fun!

Naked in the Sun

Invasion U.S.A. (1985)

Somewhere in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida, a boat bobbed helplessly in the water while the Spanish-speaking occupants bemoan their fate.  But wait!  A Coast Guard ship arrived and the commander welcomed them to the United States.  There was much cheering.  Then the crew of the Coast Guard ship opened fire, killing everyone aboard, men, women, and children.  Searching the ship, the killers discovered a huge stash of cocaine.  The commander, Mikhail Rostov (Richard Lynch), is pleased.  With this, he will fund a terrorist campaign throughout the United States.  Rostov used the drugs to purchase guns from Mickey (Billy Drago), whom he promptly murdered immediately.  Soon after, landing craft bring in hundreds of terrorists on a Florida beach at night.  Rostov dispatched them in small bands throughout the United States to wreak havoc.  Often disguised as the police or national guardsmen, these terrorists cause the citizens to distrust the very authorities trying to protect them.  Madness ensued.  Rostov had but one concern: Matt Hunter (Chuck Norris).  In fact, he had nightmares about Hunter and insisted on assembling a team specifically to kill Hunter.

Matt Hunter was a former counter-terrorism specialist who left the service on bad terms.  In fact, he had once had the opportunity to kill Rostov but had been called off.  Now he lived a peaceful life in the Florida everglades with his pet armadillo.  Even though Agent Adams (Marin Shakar) tried to recruit him against Rostov, Hunter declined.  Then Rostov and a team of assassins blew up his house!  Hunter was on the case.

Dahlia McGuire (Melissa Prophet) was a freelance reporter who had an uncanny ability to be present when the terrorists struck.  Though she has several encounters with Hunter, there is never any hint at romance.  She's just a reporter who might need saving.

There is no particular plot to the movie.  The terrorists strike and Hunter arrives to defeat them.  It's somewhat episodic.  Now we're in the suburbs, now we're in a mall, and now we're at a church.  The structure of the movie is more that Rostov is the main character and Hunter is his nemesis.  To Rostov, this is a horror film.  He is truly scared of Hunter, who keeps showing up like a horror movie monster and killing more and more of his unfortunate terrorists.  Hunter's tactics are consistent: he captures a terrorist, beats some information out of him, and foils an attack.  He does have one of his all-time great lines:

"If you come back in, I'll hit you with so many rights you'll be begging for a left."

There are few actors who could say that line and have the same impact.  Just that line made the movie worth the watch.  Like Diehard, it is set during Christmas and may thus be considered Chuck Norris's Christmas movie.

This is an action movie for action sake.  There are gunfights, explosions, car chases, and even a massive military battle at an office building for the climax.  Hunter and Rostov finally face off.  The final duel has them armed with bazookas!

Great popcorn fun and recommended.

Back to the Moon

Artemis II launched on April 1st.  No joke!  As of now, it is halfway to the moon.  It will flyby the moon and come back to earth.  This is a watered-down repeat of Apollo 8, which saw Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders circle the moon in Christmas 1968.  While the Artemis will just slingshot around the moon and come straight back, Apollo 8 went into orbit around the moon.  However, Artemis will go farther from earth than any craft has ever gone.

This mission is long overdue.  Had NASA pulled it off on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, all of the named astronauts were still around.  All have since died in their 90s.  Perhaps Jared Isaacman, the new NASA Administrator, will turn the moribund agency around.  He has been to space twice, both times with SpaceX.  Let's hope he brings some of that energy and innovation into NASA.

Red Sun (1971)

In 1870, Link Stuart (Charles Bronson) and Gauche (Alain Delon) executed a train robbery.  As it happened, the train was also transporting the Japanese ambassador and his retainers.  Gauche robbed the Japanese as well, including a katana that was to be a gift for President US Grant.  At this point, Gauche betrayed Link, leaving him for dead at the train.  The ambassador dispatched a samurai, Kuroda Jubei (Toshiro Mifune), to recover the sword in 7 days.  Link was forced to be his guide.  Of course, Link was quite eager to find Gauche and the fortune in gold they had stolen.  Along the way, East and West butt heads frequently, but also back one another up in their shared quest.

There are many challenges along the way.  There are bands of Gauche's gang members terrorizing the random farmer, Comanche raiding throughout the region, and Link's constant efforts to either ditch Kuroda or convince the samurai not to immediately kill Gauche when they find him.  Yes, those last two represent a lot of the interaction between Link and Kuroda.

Filmed in Spain with a cast that feels like a typical Spaghetti Western, it is a notch above that usual fare.  Alain Delon is excellent as the villain.  He isn't the usual rough and tumble gunman or the mustachioed colonel with a legion of goons.  He's a New Orleans dandy, a rarity among Westerns and unheard of in Spaghetti Westerns.  At one point, he killed several of his men, which is so typical as to be a bad cliche.  However, when a later incident looked like it would lead to killing another of his men, he desisted.  Why the change?  The ones he killed knew where the treasure was buried.  Ah, he's a canny one who doesn't kill his own men to prove to the audience that he is truly villainous.

Christina (Ursula Andress) is a prostitute and also Gauche's favorite girl.  Link made use of that knowledge, getting to her before Gauche did.  She is not some wilting flower.  She is a fighter and that doesn't always benefit her.  She is eager to leave the life she has but she does not want to betray Gauche.  Will her loyalty pay off?

Toshiro Mifune's samurai is easy to understand.  He must recover the sword and avenge the retainer that Gauche murdered.  His task is just and his opponent is an unrepentant criminal and killer.  He is a classic hero though also a fish out of water story, as he is in world that operates unlike Japan.  By contrast, Charles Bronson's outlaw is hard to explain.  He is introduced as just another criminal, but has the misfortune of getting caught by the Japanese.  One would think that he could have ditched the samurai.  The growing mutual respect between the two was great, but diverged from Link's introductory narrative.  He's a changed man by the end of the movie though it is unclear why.

The setting is a bit off.  There was no railroad route through Santa Fe in 1870.  If the ambassador was traveling by rail, he would have gone from San Francisco to Salt Lake City to Omaha to Chicago to Washington.  However, that path would have had very few Spanish-speakers and no Comanches.  Many of the guns are incorrect but I only realized that after reading the trivia on IMDb.

Good popcorn fun.  Recommended.

Post-Christian United Kingdom

King Charles, Defender of the Faith, will not be giving an Easter message this year.  However, King Charles issued a Ramadan greeting this year.  Though Muslims remain a minority and Christians a majority, the government of the UK certainly appears to cater toward the former rather than the latter.  The capitol city has had a Muslim mayor - Sadiq Khan - for ten years.  John Cleese of Monty Python fame long ago stated that London was no longer an English city.  At this point, demographics will overwhelm the UK.  Migrants have far more kids than natives, paid for at taxpayer expense.  The decline is clear as day and the government encourages it despite the voters.

The Letters of Barna Upton

Barna Upton was born in 1820.  He grew up on a farm in Massachusetts.  In 1845, he joined the US Army.  Though not a diarist, he wrote regularly to his family.  The collected letters were reviewed by William Goetzmann in 1966 and he published selected ones in American Heritage.

Barna's correspondence began in February 1845 while he was enrolled in basic training on Governor's Island, NY.  He was there at the same time as George Ballantine.  Where George was sent to Rhode Island, Upton found himself in Louisianna at Fort Jessup.  The annexation of Texas was underway and Fort Jessup had served to maintain the Texas (Mexico) & Louisianna (United States) border since 1822.  The new president, James K Polk, had ordered a buildup of troops in case of trouble and Private Upton of the Third Infantry was among them.  General Zachary Taylor was in command.

In July, the army was ordered into Texas.  The annexation was complete and work on statehood had begun.  As such, the US Army moved to Corpus Christi.  In March 1846, Barna marched south to the Rio Grande.  There, he took part in both the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.  In the first, he mostly watched the artillery pound the Mexican lines and the calvary maneuver to no effect.  At Resaca, he charged into the fray and shot a man.  He related these details while in Matamoros and hoped it was the last fight he would have.  No such luck.  He took part in the toughest fighting at Monterrey, avoiding serious injury thanks to his leather cartridge bag absorbing a bullet.

General Winfield Scott confiscated most of the regular troops from General Taylor and landed them south of Vera Cruz.  Barna's part in the Siege of Vera Cruz was mostly as an observer.  The tone of his letters has changed.  Where his early letters indicated that he was content with his life as a soldier, his later ones show that he is eager to go back to the farm.  He had seen enough death, but he had more to go.  He charged up the hill at Cerro Gordo, and fought extensively during the taking of Mexico City.  At the very last battle where the US Army breached the city gates, Barna Upton suffered a mortal wound.  He died on October 15, 1847.

His last letter - or the last one that Goetzmann provides - was from Puebla in August 1847.  In it, he announced that the army was marching to Mexico City and states "...if my life is spared, I will write to you..."

One odd thing that Barna added to many of his letters was that the climate was healthful wherever he was.  This is an unusual claim, since disease was the top killer of US troops throughout the war.  One supposes that he was trying to assure his family that he was well despite what news reports might say.  Then again, disease was far more rampant among the volunteer regiments than the regulars; regulars maintained better hygiene and thus suffered less from diseases.

Like Ballantine, this is an account of an enlisted man.  It is a brief read and recommended.