Love and Bullets (1979)

Detective Charlie Congers (Charles Bronson) of the Phoenix Police Dept. stops at the coroner's office to view the latest overdose death.  No sooner does he leave the building than he sees Officer Durant driving recklessly away, running over a sign and sideswiping another car.  He gives chase and confronts the officer.  Over coffee, Charlie asks what's the deal?  It turns out that the overdose victim was his fiancée.  Durant is furious since everyone knows that Joe Bomposa (Rod Steiger) runs the drug trade.  Durant declares his intent to do something about Bomposa himself since law enforcement has clearly failed.  He storms off, gets into his patrol car, and then the car explodes!  Wow, word traveled fast if Bomposa was able to get a car bomb deployed while Durant was having coffee.

Soon after, the FBI meet with Charlie and talk about Bomposa's girlfriend, Jackie Pruit (Jill Ireland).  Pruit had been called before Congress to testify and sounded like a ditzy blonde who knew nothing.  However, immediately after her testimony, she was spirited out of the country and is now in Switzerland.  The FBI suspects she does know something and would like to get her back into the US.  "Then go get her," Charlie suggests.  Well, the FBI has no overseas jurisdiction and she'll need to be convinced to come back.  Charlie agrees to go.  He manages to snatch her from a mountain chateau in the shadow of the Matterhorn and then the chase is on.  Her departure convinces Bomposa to order her assassination.  Can Charlie keep her safe against wave after wave of mafia hitmen?

While most of the movie takes place in Switzerland, Rod Steiger never leaves Arizona.  He plays Bomposa as a stuttering, lovestruck goof who doesn't appear particularly intimidating.  Henry Silva should have had a bigger part as the assassin pursuing Charlie and Jackie.  Jill Ireland's phony accent is not well done but does add to her bumpkin persona.  She pulls off the clueless ditz quite well, which makes it unbelievable that Charlie is eventually drawn to her.  Most of their interactions see them running from hitmen.  The chase, which often consists of getting onto a train then transferring to another train, is mostly boring.  One of the most irritating things is that Charlie is mostly unarmed.  He'll take out the guy with the shotgun and then leave the shotgun behind.  Take out the guy with a pistol and leave the pistol behind.  Wipe out a band of assassins with makeshift blowgun and, yes, leave all those guns behind.

At the end of the movie, Charlie realizes that Officer Durant had the right idea.  Standard law enforcement is worthless against Bomposa, his crooked lawyer (Strother Martin), and his coterie of mobsters.  Back in Arizona, Bronson switches characters and resurrects The Mechanic (1972).

Weak characters, run-of-the-mill action, and a nonsensical plot.  Disappointing.  Skip it.

Murder by Decree (1979)

Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Plummer) and Dr. Watson (James Mason) attend the theater, only to find the show delayed as it will not start until the Prince of Wales arrives.  When the tardy prince enters, the commoners boo!  Dr. Watson saves the day with a 'God save the monarchy!' or some such, earning great praise from Holmes.  It is 1888 and there are radicals who would see the monarchy toppled.  After the performance, Holmes and Watson exit to find hawkers selling news of the latest murder by Jack the Ripper.  To Watson's astonishment, Scotland Yard has not consulted Holmes regarding the murders.  However, a band of merchants is waiting for them at Baker Street and request that Holmes investigate Jack the Ripper.  Holmes is given a lead: speak to Robert Lees (Donald Sutherland).  Lees proves to be a psychic who has had visions of the Ripper and even spotted him once.  The police have dismissed Lees as a crank.  While Holmes follows the psychic, Watson interviews the various friends of the murdered women to see if there is some commonality.

I saw the movie in theaters when it was released and could only remember two things about it prior to rewatching it.  First, the royal family was somehow involved in the Jack the Ripper murders.  Second, Holmes squashed Watson's pea with a fork.

The plot is ludicrous.  The Duke of Clarence - younger brother to the Prince of Wales - had an affair with Annie Crook (Genevieve Bujold), a catholic, whom he also married.  Then he left her.  However, she gave birth to a daughter and that's trouble.  Word of this scandal filtered through the Freemasons, many of whom are at the highest echelons of government.  Two Freemasons decide to fix the problem.  One, a doctor, sends Annie to an insane asylum.  But where is the child?  They discover that Annie told some friends of her affair and entrusted the child to one of them.  The two Freemasons murder their way through the various friends, leaving the mutilated corpses for... reasons.  The police know that the murderers are Freemasons, thus their intentional incompetence in solving the case.  Sigh.

Much as I like Christopher Plummer, he made for a disappointing Holmes.  He is far too emotional for Holmes.  He is surprisingly jovial, often smiling and laughing.  He is reduced to tears after interviewing a woman in an asylum.  Plummer admitted at the time that his was a "passionate and caring Holmes."  Nope, Holmes should be aloof, analytical, and only occasionally amused by the foibles of others.

James Mason was too old for Watson.  However, he otherwise fits the role quite well.  Interestingly, he took the part only if his Watson wasn't a Nigel Bruce-like buffoon.  Indeed, his Watson is a steady and sober figure who is an active participant in the investigation, a partner to Holmes rather than a mere sidekick.

David Hemmings is wasted as Inspector Foxborough.  Perhaps he was meant as a red herring that I didn't see on this viewing.  Though he is generally helpful toward Holmes, he had other motives and eventually proves to be aligned with the radicals who booed the Prince of Wales.  Uh, okay.  Such political machinations proved to be more a distraction than an integral part of the story.  The muddy alliances of the Freemasons being pro-government and protecting the Ripper vs. the radicals being anti-government and seeking to stop the Ripper wasn't effectively done.

The inclusion of Donald Sutherland as a haunted psychic was bizarre.  Since when does Holmes use hocus pocus to solve crime?  However, when Sutherland pointed at the house of the Ripper, all I saw was his famous final scene from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  Ha!  I wonder if that was intended.

The big fight scene between Holmes and one of the Freemasons was poorly done.  Why did Holmes leave his gun behind just before he went chasing after one of the murderers?  Not to worry, he has a scarf with a weight at the end.  How does one manage to get strangled to death in a net?  They're not going to kill him off like this, are they?  Yes, they are.  Pathetic.

Overall, disappointing.  This was not Sherlock Holmes, but some imposter taking his name.  This was not a mystery that required brilliant analytical skills, but merely a crime in need of very basic investigative work.  If not for the insanity of Annie or the overwhelming fear of Mary Kelly (Susan Clark), either of them could have just exposed the whole story.  Nope, they only give broken accounts that Holmes reassembled.  Meh.  Skip this one.

Punishment without Conviction

The Supreme Court of Colorado decided that Donald Trump was guilty of insurrection and, per the 14th Amendment, declared that his name should not appear on the Colorado ballot.  Of course, Trump was never charged with insurrection and has therefore not been convicted.  Nonetheless, Colorado opted to apply the punishment.  The Colorado GOP has appealed the decision and, for the moment, Trump is back on the ballot.

In Maine, the Secretary of State likewise decided that Trump was indeed guilty of insurrection and has removed Trump from the ballot.  Again, Trump has not been tried or convicted of the crime and yet Democrat politicians are administering the punishment.

I have often opined about how the rule of law has eroded in the United States in recent years.  There are the two-tiers of justice, one for Republicans and one for Democrats.  Here is perhaps the most egregious example.  This sort of disregard for the rule of law will lead to Civil War.  The United States is a high trust society.  When the trust is finally broken - and we are on the way - it will be very difficult to restore.

Swatted

Over the last several years, a new phenomenon has arisen.  Someone calls 911 to report an emergency requiring an armed response.  The SWAT team busts into the house prepared for action only to find baffled people who have been targeted by the caller.  Obviously, this is quite dangerous.  Tim Pool has been swatted multiple times.  Recently, Marjorie Taylor Greene (Republican representative of Georgia) was swatted.  Yesterday, both of her adult daughters were swatted.  Though viewed as a prank by some, it resulted in the accidental shooting of Andrew Finch in 2017.  Clearly, not a prank.

If identified, the perpetrators should be arrested by a SWAT team.

Major Dundee (1965)

It is 1864 in New Mexico.  Major Amos Dundee (Charleton Heston) and his column have come upon the site of a massacre.  Sierra Charriba, an Apache chief, has been terrorizing the countryside.  Dundee decides that he must track down the Apache and recover the children that were abducted.  With the Civil War in full swing, troops to counter Charriba are limited.  However, there are Confederate prisoners-of-war available; Captain Ben Tyreen (Richard Harris), a one-time friend of Dundee, is among them.  Dundee sets out with a mix of the fort garrison soldiers, Confederate prisoners, volunteer criminals, and civilian volunteers to chase the Apache through Mexico.  On this odyssey, they are ambushed, fight among themselves, battle the French forces in Mexico, find love, get drunk, fiesta, experience loss, and battle the Apache.

In addition to Heston and Harris, James Coburn plays Sam Potts, a one-armed scout, Brock Peters is Sgt. Aesop, the leader of the colored troops, and Jim Hutton is Lt. Graham of the artillery.  Lt. Ryan (Michael Anderson Jr.) provides narration throughout the movie as he records the events in his diary.  The events start in October 1864 and the final scene takes place in April 1865, after the Civil War had ended though they don't know it.

The movie is a hodgepodge with too many characters and too much going on.  Where this complexity would be great in a book or a miniseries, it is distracting in a movie.  According to IMDb, the script was still a work in progress during shooting and Sam Peckinpah was mostly drunk to where Heston was required to do a fair amount of the directing.

There is a gem to be had in this story and with these characters, but Peckinpah and Heston failed to find it.  Mediocre.

Nothing from Government is "Free"

Found on X (formerly Twitter):

Javier Milei just passed the most sensible law in world history - known as Articulo 209.

From now on, governmental institutions can no longer use the word "free" to promote any state service or function in municipal provinces or on a national level.

Milei considers the use of the word “free” a lie and feels citizens shouldn’t be lied to since the services always paid by someone, typically tax dollars.

This is spectacular!  Such a simple change.  Really, it's truth in advertising.  Let's bring that rule to the US!

Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Joe DiMaggio is on a hitting streak and Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) is hiding from the police at a cheap motel.  With his options limited, he calls Detective Nulty (John Ireland) and asks to talk.  "Come alone," he says.  When Nulty arrives, Marlowe lays out the story.  On a missing person job, he happened to meet Moose Malloy (Jack O'Halloran), a giant of a man who was just released from prison.  Moose is looking for his old flame, Velma, and hires Marlowe for the job.  Strangely, while Marlowe searches for Velma, everyone he meets seems to be searching for Moose.  Worse still, everyone who gives Marlowe a lead for finding Velma is murdered soon after.  Using a middleman, Marlowe finally arranged for Moose to talk to Velma on the phone.  No sooner did he and Moose arrive than gunmen tried to kill Moose.  Like in previous Marlowe movies, the body count is alarmingly high.  Some secrets must be kept with murder.

Robert Mitchum makes for a great Marlowe except for being too old by 20 years.  Mrs. Grayle (Charlotte Rampling) tries to seduce him shortly after the pair are introduced.  She is not troubled in the least when her husband witnesses their first kiss.  Granted, she is a stunner, but why is Marlowe so ready to have an affair with this married woman?  The biggest surprise of the movie was Sylvester Stallone as a hood in the employ of a Hollywood madam.

The plot is too convoluted.  That much of the film is a flashback where Marlowe is talking to Nulty, and apparently repeating their multiple interactions, just didn't work.  Some characters might have been better left out.  Though I like Harry Dean Stanton, his openly dirty cop never does anything dirty in the movie.  What was the point of that?  Better to cut the character and expand one of the others.  Georgie is almost Marlowe's sidekick, but he doesn't quite get enough development.

Strangely enough, Mitchum returned to the role of Marlowe only 3 years later, in The Big Sleep.  However, that movie takes place in the 1970s and has Marlowe living in London, not Los Angeles.  I wonder why they didn't just recast, since it clearly can't be a sequel.  Unless Marlowe time travels.

Just so-so.

Checkmate, Lincolnites!

Atun-Shei Films delves into a variety of historical subjects, including the Civil War, King Philip's War, Vikings in North America, and sundry other topics.  The one that attracts the most attention is the Checkmate, Lincolnites! where Andrew Rakich debates the Civil War, especially the Lost Cause Myth that arose after the South's defeat.  The format has Andrew portraying both Billy Yank and Johnny Reb as they debate the issue of the day.  He hams it up with Johnny Reb, making the character something of a goofball.  However, many of Johnny Reb's lines are provided from the comment section from earlier videos.  The videos are quite good with a professional look and excellent research.  Though I was on Billy Yank's side from the first episode, I found that I was drawn even further to his side.  Yes, the war was about slavery.  Not taxes.  Not states' rights.

Entertaining, educational, and recommended.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

It has been a thousand years since the Seven Days of Fire that destroyed the world.  A toxic jungle now spans the earth and encroaches on the remaining lands where humans still live.  Princess Nausicaa (Alison Lohman) lives in a peaceful valley and explores the lands on her glider.  She regularly searches the toxic jungle for anything that might be of use.  Returning from her most recent exploration, she spots a man fleeing from an Ohm!  An Ohm is an immense insect, like a battleship that crawls at superspeed.  Using a variety of devices and her flying talents, Nausicaa calmed the infuriated Ohm and sent it back to the toxic jungle.  The fleeing man proves to be Lord Yupa, a famed swordsman who travels among the kingdoms.  Yupa (Patrick Stewart) tells how more towns have been consumed by the toxic jungle.  Happily, the idyllic Valley of the Wind is protected from the toxic jungle thanks to the winds that keep away the spores that spread the jungle plants.  However, an airship appears in the sky and soon crashes in the valley.  In its hold was one of the giant warriors from the Seven Days of Fire as well as samples of the toxic jungle!  Not only must the valley residents hunt for spores that may have spread from the crash, the Tolmekian Army arrives to take charge of the giant warrior.  Kushana (Uma Thurman) leads the Tolmekians and she will crush any who interfere.

The setting is amazingly well-realized and the characters have more depth than should be expected.  The art is outstanding.  Though this predates the founding of Studio Ghibli, it is the first original work by Hayao Miyazaki.  The story is substantial, the action is plentiful, and the voice acting is excellent.

Great popcorn fun and highly recommended!

The Last Dinosaur (1977)

Masten Thrust Jr. (Richard Boone) is an oil tycoon and big game hunter.  He is more proud of the big game hunting, of course.  His company has recently been using a laser on the tip of a manned submersible that bores into the earth beneath the Arctic in search of oil.  A recent exploration found a hidden valley that was heated by a volcano.  Of the 5 crew, only one returned: Chuck Wade (Steven Keats).  He claimed the other 4 men were devoured by a Tyrannosaurus Rex!  Thrust himself will lead an expedition to both confirm the claim and study the animal.  The team is Thrust, Wade, Frankie Banks (Joan Van Ark) the photojournalist, Dr. Kawamoto, and Bunta the Masai tracker.

The hidden valley proves to be inhabited by various dinosaurs - most of which make a quick appearance before vanishing for the remainder of the film - and long extinct plant life.  After setting up camp, Thrust's next order of business is to find the T Rex.  He brings a rifle.  For their protection!  Sure enough, they come upon the dinosaur, who sounds uncannily like Godzilla, and the rifle is required.  Thrust blows the shot then tosses the jammed rifle aside like it is worthless.  Gah!  Are you mad?  The little band flee.  When they return to the camp, Dr. Kawamoto has been devoured and their submersible is gone!  Worse still, in addition to dinosaurs, the valley is inhabited by primitive humans who decide to compete with them.  Worst of all, Thrust gave orders that no rescue should be launched for them.  If they were not back in five days, they were to be presumed dead.

The special effects are extremely dated.  The dinosaurs are clearly just actors in rubber suits.  The characters are okay.  Thrust is single-minded in his desire to kill the T Rex.  I was horrified when Thrust, who should have known better, tossed aside the only rifle in the valley.  It's just a jam!  Take it back to camp and clean the gun!  It really damaged his character, making him look like a blithering idiot.  Bunta has no lines but his size and daring making for an interesting character; he's kind of like Chewbacca.  Wade is the voice of reason but also a complainer.  He and Frankie both take on the complainer mantle.  Thrust had been adamant against taking a woman on safari but was 'convinced' after the two spent some time together.  Huh.  There is something of a love triangle as Wade and Frankie are drawn together while in the valley.

Just so-so.

Dueling Eagles: Reinterpreting the US-Mexican War

This book is a collection of essays that were presented at the 150-year anniversary of the Mexican-American War.  The essays are authored by both American and Mexican academics on a variety of topics.

1. Richard Francaviglia offers a view of the war from a geographic and cartographic perspective.  The war took place in mountain highlands, lush valleys, parched deserts, marshy coastlands, and vast prairies.  The battlefields were determined by the geography.  This is one of the less interesting essays, since every war has geography that impacts how it is fought.

2. Sam Haynes expanded on England's role in the war.  Though English diplomats had sought to keep Texas as an independent country to hem in the growing American power, it did not plan to enter the war on Mexico's side.  Of course, neither Mexico nor America believed that England would stand on the sidelines.  Mexico hoped for British support in money and equipment to aid them against the Americans and the Americans - still full of indignation about the War of 1812 - expected England might do exactly that.  The antics of Captain Charles Elliot, veteran of the First Opium War (1839-1842), only added to the American concerns and the Mexican hopes.  False views on what England would do certainly influenced the war.

3. Josefina Zoraida Vazquez notes that the US benefited from the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars that followed upon its independence.  Thanks to Europe's preoccupation with European affairs, the United States was able to grow and prosper without much interference.  By contrast, Mexico became independent in 1821, well after Europe had settled into a new normal.  England, France, and Spain all had interests in Mexico and the Mexican government was in constant turmoil.  Polk's complaints about unpaid debts were overblown and did not provide sufficient basis for his actions.  The base cause of the war was America's Manifest Destiny motto, a desire for expansion.  Dysfunctional but land rich Mexico was an easy target.

4. Richard Bruce Winders details the mutiny at Buena Vista.  A North Carolina volunteer regiment was camped near the site of the recent Battle of Buena Vista.  Colonel Paine, the commander of the regiment, was not impressed with his troops' conduct and proposed some punishments to bring them up to the standards & discipline of a regular army regiment.  This did not go over well.  Mutiny followed.  Was it that these volunteers didn't think they should be treated the same as regulars?  Or was it that the Colonel was a Whig while most of the soldiers were Democrats?  Indeed, though the standard procedure for volunteer regiments was to have the men vote for the Colonel, Lt. Colonel, and Major, in the case of the North Carolina Volunteer Regiment, the governor of North Carolina - a Whig - selected the officers.  The kindling for mutiny had been placed before the regiment left the state.  To make matters worse, President Polk - a Democrat - sided with the mutineers!

This is only a sample of the essays, all of them interesting and worthwhile.  Very good book and recommended for those interested in the Mexican-American War.

The Incredible Shrinking Government

Javier Milei has been sworn in as the new president of Argentina.  His first act?  Reduce the 20 government ministries to 8!  No, he hasn't done away with Education, but rather transferred its functions to the new Ministry of Human Capital.  Human Capital also took on the portfolios of Labor, Culture, Social Development, and Women, Gender, & Diversity.  Look at that!  5 ministries consolidated into 1.  Imagine the streamlining!  Can he come to the United States next?  If we got rid of many of these pointless departments, we could balance the budget in a snap.

Though I like Milei's ideas, it remains to be seen if they will work.  I cannot recall a government that rapidly reduced its size and cost.  How will that work?  A president who attacks the government might find himself targeted by the government in return.  Sounds like Donald Trump.  Unlike Trump, Milei has the benefit of attacking an entirely discredited government that had a 100% inflation rate.  That is why he was elected and he has a mandate for dramatic change.  I'm eager to see the results.

Ghost Town (2008)

Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) is a misanthropic dentist.  He leads an unremarkable life in New York City.  All goes awry when he has a colonoscopy.  No sooner is he leaving the hospital than he discovers he can see ghosts.  Once the ghosts know he can see them, they start following him and asking him to do this or that.  Returning to the hospital, he learns that he died for a few minutes during his procedure!  What to do about the ghosts?  Frank (Greg Kinnear) is a tuxedo clad ghost who offers to keep the other ghosts away if Pincus will do him a favor.  Frank doesn't want his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni), to marry Richard (Billy Campbell).  It turns out that Gwen lives in the same building as Pincus and they have had multiple negative encounters that he does not recall but she remembers vividly.  How is he going to woo her away from Richard, who appears to be an ideal man?

Where in The Sixth Sense the dead did not know they were dead, here they are entirely aware.  All of them are seeking out Pincus to finish their unfinished tasks so they can move on.  Some are innocuous - make sure my daughter sees the letter I left for her - while others are not - a hitman asks that Pincus kill the last guy on his list.  The story arc is to have Pincus go from a misanthrope to a decent human being.  He's a lot funnier as a misanthrope, but it is satisfying to watch him become a better person.

Light and fun.  Good entertainment.  Recommended.

Vice Presidential Success Rate

When the vice president becomes president, by whatever means, how does that tend to work?  Let's take a look.

First, let's consider those elected to the presidency on their merits:

1. John Adams served as the first vice president.  When George Washington declined to run for a 3rd term, Adams was elected.  His was a tumultuous presidency and not popular.  He served only one term.

2. Thomas Jefferson served as the second vice president.  Though Adams and Jefferson were on opposite sides of the political aisle of the day, the way the system worked gave the presidency to the man who received the most electoral votes and the vice presidency to the man who received the 2nd most electoral votes.  This was changed for the 1800 election so that Jefferson and Burr ran as the Democratic-Republicans against Adams & Pinkney for the Federalists.  Jefferson proved to be far more popular and successful than the president for whom he was VP.  He served for two terms and is considered one of the great presidents.

3. Martin Van Buren was Andrew Jackson's second VP.  He was elected in 1836 and was then beset by a financial panic the following year.  He only served one term.

4. Richard Nixon served as Eisenhower's VP and ran for the presidency in 1960.  He lost.  However, he ran again in 1968 and won.  Though he was reelected, his second term proved to be a national disaster thanks to Watergate.

5. George Bush was Ronald Reagan's VP for two terms.  In 1988, he ran as the 3rd Reagan term and won in a landslide.  In the wake of the Gulf War, he was so popular that most of the 'formidable' Democrats declined to run.  However, an economic downturn led him to have only the one term.

6. Joseph Biden was Barack Obama's VP for 2 terms.  Unlike most vice presidents, he did not seek election immediately after his stint as VP.  He was elected in 2020 and it is yet to be determined if he will complete a second term like Jefferson or be relegated to one-term status like most of the rest.

Next, there are those who took over in the wake of the president's death through illness.

1. John Tyler spent only a month as the VP before William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia.  Most of the papers referred to Tyler as Acting-President.  This was the first time the VP assumed the office of president and the exact workings were not settled.  Tyler established the ascension of the VP to President, not Acting-President.  He was not a popular president and did not win nomination for re-election.

2. Millard Filmore became president when Taylor died of cholera in 1850.  Having no mandate other than filling out Taylor's term, Filmore was bypassed in favor of Winfield Scott for the Whig Party.  In 1856, he ran as the Know Nothing nominee; he won 8 electoral votes.

3. Calvin Coolidge stepped in when Warren Harding died.  It was the Roaring Twenties and the country was humming.  Coolidge benefitted from the prosperity.  He was elected to a term of his own, serving from 1925 to 1929.  Coolidge declined to run for another term, thinking it would be too much for a man to serve 10 years as president.

4. Harry Truman had only been VP for a few months when FDR died.  He took the helm in the waning days of World War II and dropped the bomb.  He was nominated to continue as president in 1948 and - despite headlines to the contrary - defeated Dewey.  He had a successful presidency and is viewed quite favorably by historians.

Finally, there are the VPs who took office in the wake of a presidential assassination.

1. Andrew Johnson was Abraham Lincoln's second VP and had only served a month when Lincoln was assassinated.  He had a contentious relationship with the Radical Republicans and eventually found himself being impeached, something not to be repeated until Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.  Unsurprisingly, he did not have a term of his own.

2. Chester Arthur took office when James Garfield died.  He had lingered for a couple of months after his shooting.  Arthur was a machine politician who benefitted from the Spoils System and yet became the champion for reform when he was in office.  Though he might have secured a term of his own, Arthur was in poor health and didn't have strong support from the party.  He left office in 1885 and died the following year.

3. Theodore Roosevelt was McKinley's second VP, the first having died in office.  Like Garfield, McKinley lingered and even appeared to be recovering from the assassin's bullet.  Roosevelt took office and proved to be an active executive.  He easily secured a term of his own and even had enough popularity at the end of that term to select his successor.

4. Lyndon Baines Johnson became president when JFK was assassinated in Dallas.  In one of the most lopsided elections, he trounced Barry Goldwater in 1964 and won a term of his own.  However, the Vietnam War crushed his popularity.  He declined to run for a second term and his party lost the 1968 election.

Of the VPs elected on their merits, only Thomas Jefferson can be called a success.  President Biden will have to wait until next year to see if he joins Jefferson.  Of those to take over after a death, both Coolidge and Truman made the office their own and won re-election for themselves.  Of those who took over after an assassination, only Theodore Roosevelt fully succeeded.  LBJ was burdened with an unpopular war and a tumultuous era.

Generally, VPs do not provide strong presidential material.  Of course, that is true of most presidents as well.

General William S Harney: Prince of Dragoons

William Selby Harney was born in Kentucky in 1800 and joined the military in 1817.  His family was acquainted with Andrew Jackson and Harney found himself accompanying the great general to the transfer of East Florida from the Spanish to the United States.  Harney didn't see action until the Black Hawk War (1832) where he met Abraham Lincoln and served with Zachary Taylor.  Through his political connections, Harney rose rapidly in rank.  However, he had made an enemy of Winfield Scott, the top general for the majority of Harney's career.  Though he fought in the Mexican War, his career was mostly defined by his reputation as an Indian fighter.  During the 2nd Seminole War, he saw the failures of the European mode of combat against the guerilla style of the Seminoles.  He used disguises, new colt revolving rifles, and riverine warfare to counter them.  Despite orders to the contrary, he led a campaign with such tactics into the Everglades and won plaudits from the newspapers for his daring.  When the 3rd Seminole War erupted (1858), it was no surprise that the military sent Harney back to Florida.  In 1855, he had given a band of Souix such a drubbing at the Battle of Ash Hollow that he was ever after viewed with awe among the Plains Tribes.

Known as a hothead with a short fuse, Harney was quick to attack.  This belligerence nearly led to disaster more than once.  Most notably, the Pig War (1859) in the state of Washington.  Though the border between the US and Canada was mostly settled in 1846, some islands between Victoria Island and the mainland were left in contention.  Harney escalated a case about the value of a pig into an international incident.  His old foe, Winfield Scott, was forced to quell the situation in person and give Harney a lecture.  No sooner did Scott leave than Harney started his shenanigans again.  In another instance, he became so furious with a black servant that he beat her to death.  He fled St. Louis to avoid arrest.  He was eventually indicted for murder and tried.  Unsurprisingly, he was acquitted.

Like most people, Harney mellowed with age.  In the case of the Civil War, perhaps he had mellowed too much.  Having command of the Western Department - most importantly the state of Missouri - Harney was too slow to counter rebellious activities.  Erring on the side of caution, he allowed the Confederate-leaning governor to maneuver toward rebellion.  Of note, he saw that he was probably the wrong man to be posted in Missouri at the time and asked for a transfer.  Instead, he was sent into retirement and sat on the sidelines during the Civil War.

Having encountered Harney in my many readings over the years, he always appeared as a difficult, bellicose, and generally mean villain.  He is often painted as vindictive and cruel, which was frequently true.  However, George Rollie Adams gives a more complete view of the man.  Though his bad qualities stand out in works where he is mentioned, his good qualities are overlooked.  Here was a soldier who was intensely loyal to the United States, had courage to burn, had a keen understanding of the various Indian tribes, and proved to be a better planner and tactician than many of his contemporaries, especially as regards the Indians.

Outstanding book and highly recommended.

Longest Serving Vice President

In 1805, George Clinton was inaugurated as Thomas Jefferson's 2nd Vice President; Aaron Burr had discredited himself.  Oddly enough, when Jefferson left office in 1809, George Clinton remained Vice President but now for James Madison.  In 1812, Clinton died in office and he was not replaced for the remainder of Madison's 1st term.  For 11 months, there was no VP.

In 1813, Elbridge Gerry - the man who gave his name to gerrymandering - became VP for Madison's 2nd term.  Gerry died in 1814 and was not replaced until the next election.  The vacant sign hung on the VP's door for 2 years and 4 months!

In 1825, John Calhoun became the 7th VP of the country to John Quincy Adams.  Like George Clinton, he stayed on as VP when Adams left office.  However, during the Nullification Crisis of 1832, Calhoun resigned his office.  The vacant sign was again hung on the VP's door, this time for only 3 months.

In 1841, William Henry Harrison offered an overlong inaugural address on a cold March day.  A month later, he became the first president to die in office.  Vice President John Tyler assumed the office.  This time, the vice presidency remained vacant for 3 years and 11 months.

In 1850, Zachary Taylor died of cholera.  Vice President Millard Filmore took his place and the vacancy sign was deployed yet again.  Two years and 8 months later, William King became VP.  He promptly died one month later.  The vacant sign took over for another 3 years and 11 months.

Just over a month after his 2nd inauguration, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president.  The vacant sign was nailed back on the VP door.

In 1875, Henry Wilson, who was Grant's 2nd VP, died in office.  The vacant sign was called back to service for another year and 4 months.

In 1881, President James Garfield was shot.  He lingered for a couple of months before dying in September.  VP Chester Arthur moved to the White House, leaving the vacant sign posted until the next election: 3 years and 6 months.  Thomas Hendricks took the vacant sign off the door in March 1881.  He died that November, and the vacant sign took charge again.

In 1899, Garret Hobart died of heart disease.  For the rest of the McKinley's 1st term, the vacant sign was posted.  Theodore Roosevelt took office in March of 1901, trusting the vacant sign would get a rest.  Such was not to be.  President McKinley was assassinated in September of that year and Roosevelt posted the vacant sign on his way to the White House.  Charles Fairbanks became VP in March 1905.

Just prior to the election of 1912, VP James Sherman died.  Sherman was the 7th, and so far last, VP to die in office.  The vacant sign had just over 4 months before Thomas Marshall was sworn in as Woodrow Wilson's Vice President.

In 1923, Warren Harding died in office.  Calvin Coolidge ascended to the presidency and the vacant sign once again adorned the VP's door.

In 1945, FDR died at the beginning of his unprecedented 4th term.  Harry Truman, who was FDR's 3rd VP, had only been a VP since January.  The vacant sign was once again called upon to serve as VP.  In 1949, when "Dewey beats Truman!", Alben Barkley was inaugurated as the new VP.

In 1963, JFK was assassinated and LBJ became President.  The vacant sign was once more called to service.

At this point, the vacant sign had served almost 38 years in the Office of the Vice Presidency.  The country decided something needed to be done.  The 25th Amendment was added to the Constitution, providing a means of filling vacancies.  Even so, the vacant sign was not quite retired.

In 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned and the vacant sign was dusted off.  However, only 2 months later, Gerald Ford was sworn in as Vice President.  Less than a year after that, Nixon resigned and the vacant sign was once again needed.  It was just over four months before Nelson Rockefeller took the vacant sign down and sent it in the National Archives.  Amazingly, it has not been needed in the last 50 years.

Knock on wood!

Bullet Train (2022)

Ladybug (Brad Pitt) walks through Tokyo while talking to his handler on his cell phone.  He is only recently back on the job and rambles about his therapist, Barry, while he makes his way to the train station.  Today's job is to be a simple snatch & grab.  He is to get a briefcase and get off the train.  Easy peasy.  Of course, it doesn't go quite so smoothly.  Though he gets his hand on the case, he is intercepted by a vengeful Mexican assassin as he tried to exit the train.  Also on the train are The Prince (Joey King), Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) & Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Kimura (Andrew Koji), and the Hornet (Zazie Beetz).  Most of them are also after the briefcase and will kill to get it.  Though Ladybug is the main character, the plot follows each of the others and often provides a flashback of what brought them to the bullet train.  The macgoffin of the movie - the briefcase - belongs to the White Death (Michael Shannon), a murderous Russian who killed his way into being a Yakuza boss.

Here is an action-packed romp, a film full of interesting characters, entertaining fights, and some witty repartee.  Oddly, there is a lot of time spent on luck, fate, destiny, and such.  Ladybug views himself as having the worst luck - which certainly seems to be the case here.  The White Death sees what fate has dealt him and set about killing the various troubles in his path.  The Elder (Hiroyuki Sanada) sees fate turning in his favor after many years of waiting.  Prince operates as if she were playing a game in which she needs to anticipate moves and get the various players to the right spot at the right time.  Where Brad Pitt had an extended cameo in The Lost City, both Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum appear here.  Even Ryan Reynolds had a cameo!  Though mostly an action flick, there is plenty of humor.

Great popcorn fun and recommended!

Death Valley Days: Gold Rush in Reverse

Lt. Edward Beale (Stanley Lachman) of the US Navy is in California when gold is discovered.  Lt. Losier (Doug McClure) of the Army declares his intention to take a sample to Washington, DC, to let the country know of the find.  Beale is determined that the navy will have that honor.  As such, he buys a sample by selling a bottle of quinine from his medical kit.  However, Losier has already left and the ship on which he served doesn't have enough sailors to leave port; they deserted to join the gold hunters!  As such, he catches another ship and sails to the Mexican coast.  He rides from San Blas to Mexico City to Vera Cruz, fighting ladrones (bandits) for the entire 800-mile trip.  From Vera Cruz he sails aboard the USS Germantown.  Still concerned that Lt. Losier is on his tail, he only pauses for the night in Mobile, Alabama, before racing on toward Washington.  As luck would have it, Losier's ship had hit bad weather and he was delayed by months.  So it was that the US Navy delivered the news to Washington that gold had been discovered in the newly annexed California.

The story is more exciting than the history.  Indeed, Beale did cross Mexico, but the plentiful gunfights are fanciful addition.  Beale spoke Spanish and posed as a Mexican rancher during his incognito crossing.  However, this is a true story.  Entertaining and worth watching.

The Love Bug (1969)

Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) is a washed-up racecar driver who is viewed unworthy to even drive in demolition derbies.  His housemate, Tennessee (Buddy Hackett), thinks it's time Jim face facts and get a job as a mechanic.  Tennessee then waxes about his time in Tibet and the enlightenment he gained.  While wandering the streets of San Francisco, Jim spots a pretty woman at an upscale car dealership.  Carole (Michelle Lee) is a saleswoman for Peter Thorndyke (David Tomlinson).  Thorndyke also happens to be a racecar driver.  While at the dealership, Jim comes across a VW Bug.  It has been acquired as part of a two-car deal where the other car was a Rolls Royce; the bug was to be for the maid.  It had been returned as 'defective.'  While Thorndyke was derisive toward the bug, Jim defended it.  Little did he realize that the car appreciated that.

It is almost immediately evident that the VW is conscious and has attached itself to Douglas like a duckling to its mother.  Of course, Jim is blind to this.  Only Tennessee realizes that the car - which he names "Herbie" - is alive!  Not only is Herbie alive, but he has abilities like no other car.  Jim is soon racing Herbie throughout California and winning!  Obviously, he thinks that his skill as a driver is responsible; Tennessee and Herbie know better.  Soon, a rivalry between Jim and Thorndyke occurs on the racing circuit.  Thorndyke is not against using underhanded means to win.

Lighthearted, family friendly, G Rated entertainment!  It is no surprise that this movie spawned a franchise and an automotive icon.  Great popcorn fun!

Flynn's World

It is late at night when Flynn is summoned by Jenny, his 13-year-old daughter, to a nearby cemetery.  There, they find Billy, Jenny's boyfriend, with his ear nailed to a tree.  Billy refused to say who nailed him to the tree, even if it costs him his ear.  The following day, Flynn is sent to meet with the president of Harvard, who would like Flynn to investigate potential threats to an elderly professor.  Flynn finds that the man, once a beloved academic, has somehow become a pariah.  Moreover, threatening letters, phone calls, and even websites abound.  What could be the cause of this?  Lastly, a particular detective has an outstanding conviction record and yet the demographics of his arrests is 100% minorities.  Peculiar.

Where previous Flynn novels have tackled monetary shenanigans (The Buck Passes Flynn) and the undeserved power of the rich and powerful (Flynn's In), this one explores the decline of academia, racism, and the first inklings of co-ed sports.  The story of the Harvard professor involves both anger at his failure to retire (he's 76) and his clinging to old-fashioned thinking that Western Civilization is objectively better than those being promoted.  Of note, the faculty is shown to break into little cliques based on their race, ethnicity, or age.  This Balkanization of academia is viewed negatively.  Clearly, McDonald preferred an earlier version of Harvard's faculty; it should be noted that Gregory McDonald attended Harvard.  In another of the storylines, Flynn shows displeasure at co-ed sports, notably wrestling in this particular instance.  Were McDonald still alive, one supposes he would be against transgenderism, at least as regards sports.  Lastly, the corrupt cop proves to be a Nazi.  Wow, subtle on the racism storyline!

Though better than the previous two entries, it has some serious problems.  First, it takes place when it is written: the late 1990s.  With Flynn's first appearance being in 1976.  In the late 1990s, his daughter is still only 13.  Hmm.  Also, it is again mentioned how his parents were murdered by Nazis at the end of the war when he was 14.  So, born in 1931, he would be in his late 60s by now.  Yeah, I am reminded of comic book characters who never age.  Bart Simpson has been in the 4th grade for more than 30 years.  Second, the mysteries are not really mysteries.  While investigating the nailed ear case, Flynn spoke to a person who knew the reasons but failed to offer them.  The resolution for the Harvard professor was just as disappointing, the main culprit being unbelievable.  As for the corrupt cop, good grief.  Let's just stick a secret Nazi on the police force and have Flynn figure it out.  Ugh.

The much-maligned Grover, Flynn's dull-witted assistant, has an opportunity to shine by attaching himself to the good professor.  Yes, by the end, Flynn finds that there may be hope for Grover.  This was a nice change of pace as I had grown tired of Grover the clown.

Having now read all the Flynn novels, I'd say that McDonald should have stuck with Fletch instead.  Flynn was a terrific support character in Confess, Fletch, and would have been fun to see return as many other characters had.  As the central character, he was not a particularly good detective, never lived up to his super spy hype, and all too often offered asides meant purely for the reader.  He had to be surrounded by dullards to seem smart, which is exactly what happened.

The Island at the Top of the World (1974)

It is 1907 and Professor Ivarsson (David Hartman) has made a hasty trip from Norway to England to answer the summons of Sir Anthony Ross (Donald Sinden).  Sir Anthony plans an expedition to Northern Canada and/or Greenland, an area where Ivarsson has explored repeatedly.  His reason?  His son was last seen in Fort Conger, a final outpost for those seeking the North Pole.  Moreover, he has a scrap of paper from the 1850s that talks about a mysterious island under a cloud on the polar ice.  Still not interested, Ross offers a carved whale bone that provides a primitive map to the island.  Ivarsson is sold and agrees to come along.  The pair travel by coach, by train, and by boat to France.  Through torrents of rain, they again take a coach to see Captain Brieux (Jacques Marin), the designer and pilot of the Hyperion, a sleek airship.  Off they go, crossing the channel and thence to Greenland, and finally Fort Conger on the northern reaches of Ellesmere Island.  Indeed, Donald Ross had been there and set out with Oomiak (Mako) to look for the mysterious island; only Oomiak returned.

When I saw this as a kid, it was one of the greatest movies of all time.  It had a cool airship, fights with killer whales, a whale graveyard, a volcano, and Vikings!  Of course, one does not look for strong characters or engaging character arcs as a kid.  To the more mature viewer, Ivarsson is just a walking explainer.  He understands Old Norse and the language of the Inuit.  He can identify the Norse gods, give some background to the culture, propose an explanation for this lost colony, and so on.  He is there to explain the story to the audience, which does not speak well to the director's ability to tell the story.  It got a little silly when he was the one guiding the party through an empty waterway.  Can't we give that mundane task to someone else?  Sir Anthony is impatience incarnate.  He wants speed at all costs, even when it proves counterproductive.  Beyond that, he is defined by his single-minded desire to find his son, which is great but makes for a bland character.  The romance between Donald (David Gwillim) and Freyja (Agneta Eckemyr) felt tacked on, as it didn't have an opportunity to develop.  It started in the middle, which was necessary with the story format.  As such, she was more the token female in this adventure.

The Vikings were surprisingly well-done.  Most importantly, they weren't running around in horned helmets.  Rather than Old Norse, the actors used a variety of Nordic languages (really, how many audience members would know the difference?), which was close enough.

Of note, John Whedon was one of the writers; he was the grandfather of Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers (2012).

Some old-fashioned Rated G family entertainment.  It was Disney, so what else would you expect?  A lot of bland characters on an epic adventure!  Good popcorn fun!

Genesis II (1973)

It is 1979 and Dylan Hunt (Alex Cord) is a NASA scientist who is working on suspended animation to allow for long-duration spaceflights.  All animal tests have been successful and Dylan volunteered to be the first human subject.  His lab is deep in the Carlsbad Caverns, which house many such labs.  No sooner has he been put into hibernation that an earthquake buries the lab.

It is 2133 and a team of PAX scientists find the ruins of Dylan Hunt's lab.  Moreover, they discover Dylan is still alive.  As the drugs necessary to rouse him are no longer available, he spends nearly two weeks in a gray haze as he slowly recovers.  Kept mostly isolated, he is nursed to health by Lyra-A (Mariette Hartley).  She tells him how there was a Great Conflict that wiped out most of civilization and also created mutants, like her.  She is a Tyranian, human in appearance but possessed of two hearts and much greater strength.  Their one identifying characteristic is having two navels.  Lyra-A is a spy and warns Dylan that he is among the descendants of those who caused the Great Conflict; he should escape to Tyrania with her.  Without investigating her story, he agrees.  Tyrania proves to be a city like Rome, where the Tyranians are the masters and the ordinary humans are held as slaves.  Can Dylan free himself and the slaves?

Though much technology has survived, the know-how to operate and repair it has been lost.  A nuclear powerplant is providing less power, the workings of electronic devices is not understood, medical knowledge has been lost, and so on.  As such, Dylan is a godsend to whichever faction can get hold of him.

The world is connected with an underground subway called the subshuttle.  Interestingly, it is like the hyperloop.  The map for it shows that it connected the whole world and the people of PAX control it.  As this was a pilot for a TV show, the plan would have been for Dylan and associates to arrive at various places around the world and solve whatever civilizational problems arose from the Great Conflict.

The name of Dylan Hunt is noteworthy.  John Saxon played Dylan Hunt in the second pilot for this show, this time titled Planet Earth.  Finally, it was the name of Kevin Sorbo's character in Andromeda, a show where the galatic civilization crumbled after a war and the hero is revived in the distant future.  Looks like the third time was the charm.

Just okay.

Flynn's In

Inspector Flynn receives a call from the Police Commissioner who asks him to pack a bag and head to the Rod & Gun Club, which is located in a neighboring state.  Also, tell no one where he is going.  Flynn wakes his wife and tells her where he is going.  Next, he calls retired Detective Walter "Cocky" Concannon to see if he is up for a drive to the country.  Indeed, he is.  The pair arrive at the retreat for the ultrawealthy and politically powerful to learn that a member has died.  Of course, in order to avoid any legal entanglements at the club, the body was moved to a nearby motel.  Flynn quickly determines that the 'accidental death while cleaning a shotgun' story doesn't fly.  The man was clearly murdered, but by whom?  There are plenty of suspects.  No sooner have Flynn and Cocky begun the investigation than there is another body.  Once again, the corpse is spirited away to prevent a scandal.  With the Police Commissioner onsite and seemingly approving of such antics, Flynn is overruled in his desire to call in the state police.

As with the previous Flynn novel, McDonald explains the workings of the world through Flynn and his observations.  The rich and powerful are mostly amoral fools who nonetheless rule the world.  Laws and ethics don't apply to them.  That wouldn't be so annoying if there was actually a mystery that Flynn solves.  Instead, he finds a basketful of motivation for each person just before that person is murdered.  The members cover up the murder but remain at the lodge, knowing full well that the murderer is still on the loose.  Like I said, fools.  When the murderer is discovered, it came out of the blue.  Though the author repeatedly tells us that Flynn is brilliant, he doesn't show us that he is.  He's no Sherlock Holmes.

While Flynn is stuck at the rich man's lodge, he is often on the phone with the increasingly dull-witted Grover.  Grover is on the case of a hit-and-run, which seems to interest Flynn quite a bit.  Does this somehow tie into the various murders at the Rod & Gun Club?  No, not at all.  No idea why it is even included.  When Flynn was first introduced in Confess, Fletch, the murder tied in with the painting investigation in a surprise twist.  No such thing here.  Just a pointless tangent.

One interesting part of the novel was the ongoing game of chess between Flynn and Cocky.  The moves are all listed as the two discuss the case.  When Flynn makes the final move, Cocky looks at the board bewildered and concedes defeat.  A serious chess fan could setup a board and see how the game went.  Neat idea.

By the end, it was just too ludicrous.  Flynn is all talk and no action.  His deductions lead nowhere and really just tell us how bad these rich and politically-connected fools are.  Skip.

Dracula, Christian Hero!

In this article, Raymond Ibrahim argues that Count Dracula, Vlad the Impaler (1428-1477), was a Christian hero whose image has been tarnished by fake news.  Interesting.  In the 15th Century, the Ottoman Turks were ascendant.  The Turks had finally conquered the Byzantine Empire's capitol of Constantinople in 1453 and would surge to the gates of Vienna by 1688.  Vlad's Romania was not spared the Islamic Jihad that battered the waning Christian kingdoms.  It is noteworthy that Vlad fought fire with fire.  Muslims practiced impalement, but none of them have come down through history as such & such the Impaler.  Why is that?  Fake news.  Why is Dracula associated with Christianity gone bad rather than a warrior against Islam?  Fake news.

This is a fascinating reconsideration of Count Dracula, but it fits with other twisted history.  All too often whenever one talks of the clash of Christianity and Islam, apologists will declare that the West had the Crusades.  Yes, but why?  In the 7th Century, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, North Africa, Turkey, and Syria were dominated by Christianity.  Islam conquered all of this territory and, by 732, fought the Battle of Tours in France!  The Crusades was a pathetic response against the ongoing attacks.  Even today, the conflicts between Muslims and Jews is almost always laid at the feet of the Jews.

Yes, I'm sold.  Dracula got bad press.

News of the World (2020)

It is 1870 and Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) is a news reader in reconstruction era Texas.  He travels from town to town and reads newspapers at a public gathering, charging a dime for entry.  On his way from Wichita Falls, he comes across an overturned wagon and a black man hanged from a tree.  He also encounters a girl in Indian attire.  Documents at the wagon show that Johanna Leonberger had recently been 'rescued' from Kiowa - her parents and sister had been killed 6 years before and she was kidnapped - and was being returned to family in Castroville, Texas.  Kidd is still trying to reassure the girl that he means her no harm when a patrol of Union soldiers arrive on scene.  After demanding to see his loyalty oath and making sure he wasn't armed (his shotgun was only loaded with birdshot), they left the scene unchanged.  Ah, those friendly blue bellies.  Yes, they leave it to a former Confederate officer to cut down the lynched black man from the tree and give him a proper burial.  Of course, he does, because he's a good man.  Riding into the next town, Kidd tries to hand Johanna to the locals.  No luck.  Finally, he decides to take her himself.  There then follows a series of unlikely adventures as the pair travel south.  First, central Texas has become a desert that looks very like New Mexico.  Well, that's not as bad as Texas Rising, but is still distracting.  They must contend with a trio of pedophiles, an unrepentant Confederate who is slaughtering buffalo, a faulty wagon drawn by a frantic horse down a cliffside road, a haboob, and an inability to communicate with one another.  Johanna speaks only Kiowa and a few words of German while Kidd speaks English and a few words of German that do not overlap with Johanna's words.

Kidd views the troubles of his life as a punishment for the things he had done.  One is led to believe that he is speaking about his service in the Civil War.  Kidd served in the 3rd Texas Infantry, which fought exactly one battle.  Mostly, it had garrison duty in Texas.  Hardly a record to deserve divine punishment.  Prior to the war, he was a printer, which explains his current profession of newsreader.  Again, hardly something deserving of divine punishment.

A slow-paced Western that missed the point of the story.  Clearly, this is meant to be a story about the growing attachment of the two main characters, but instead it is a series of unfortunate events on the road to Castroville.  Mediocre.

General William Jenkins Worth - The American Murat

In his PhD dissertation, Edward Seccomb Wallace researched the life of General William Jenkins Worth, hero of the Battle of Monterrey.  That battle was the high watermark of Worth's career.

The book details the Worth family and how the son of a whaler became a soldier rather than a sailor.  Joining the army during the War of 1812, Worth found himself serving with Winfield Scott.  The two would become fast friends for the next 30 years.  Worth was seriously wounded in the leg and had a limp for the remainder of his life.  He became the first Commandant of Cadets at West Point, a position he held while Robert E. Lee was a cadet.  The man who succeeded him, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, became a lifelong antagonist.  From West Point, Worth became the commanding officer of the newly formed 8th Infantry.  The 8th was posted along the Great Lakes to prevent a Canadian independence movement from using the US as a hideout and also to prevent Americans from supporting the rebels; a very peculiar situation.  He was later sent to Florida, where he became the leader who finally 'won' the Second Seminole War (1835-1842).  The annexation of Texas in 1845 saw Worth and the 8th Infantry posted in Corpus Christi and later marching to the Rio Grande.  Thinking that there would be no fighting and having been disrespected by the military (as he saw it), Worth resigned.  A month later, the war had commenced and his men had fought both Palo Alto and Resaca de La Palma without him.  Chagrined, Worth withdrew his resignation and hastened to the Rio Grande again.  Now he had to somehow restore his tarnished reputation.  He intended to achieve promotion or death.  His standout performance at Monterrey in September 1846 earned him the promotion he desired.  He served with Windfield Scott again during the march to Mexico City, but they were no longer friends.  After the war, he was posted in San Antonio, TX, where he died from cholera in 1849.

The most interesting part of the book is the political rivalry among the generals.  Though often mentioned in books on the Mexican-American War, it is generally told from Hitchcock's perspective.  As such, Worth is often seen as one part of a spiteful triumvirate of officers.  Here, that story is flipped on its head and Ethan Allen Hitchcock comes across as a devious manipulator.  Hitchcock had been Worth's subordinate at West Point.  Later, he was given the rank of major in Worth's 8th Infantry but did not report for duty.  No, he was on long term detached assignment, something fairly common at the time.  However, that left Worth without a major.  Later, when the 8th was in Florida, Hitchcock somehow wrangled repeated extended leaves from duty.  Worth developed a very low opinion of Hitchcock.  However, Hitchcock was a master of regulation and the lawyerly side of the military.  Both Worth and Hitchcock were on the Rio Grande in April 1846.  Worth, who had a brevet rank of brigadier general but a lineal rank of colonel, viewed himself as the obvious second in command to General Taylor.  However, Colonel David Twiggs had only the lineal rank of colonel but this pre-dated Worth's lineal rank.  Hitchcock argued on Twiggs side (behind the scenes, of course) despite the fact that he well knew that Worth was the far more competent commander.  Taylor dodged a decision on the matter by sending it to Washington.  Washington, lobbied by Hitchcock, favored Twiggs.  When word returned to the Rio Grande that Twiggs outranked him, an indignant Worth resigned.  A few days later, Hitchcock requested leave and also departed.  This was not the last clash between Worth and Hitchcock.  As Worth died in 1849 and Hitchcock lived until 1870, history mostly remembers Hitchcock's point of view.  Hitchcock was a prolific writer and diarist.  By contrast, there is only correspondence to tell Worth's side of things.

Unsurprisingly, my opinion of Worth was greatly improved by this book.  Though certainly possessed of an inflated ego - he wasn't called "Haughty Bill" for nothing - he was a competent and diligent leader who could be relied upon to get the job done.  Here is an outstanding biography of a now little known general.  Fort Worth, Texas was named in his honor.

Quigley Down Under (1990)

Matthew Quigley (Tom Selleck) arrives in Freemantle, Australia in the 1870s.  He has hardly gotten off the ship than he gets into a brawl with a trio of men trying to load Crazy Cora (Laura San Giacomo) onto a wagon.  The fight is somewhat comical, and it turns out the three men were also there to escort Quigley to the Marston Ranch.  Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman) greets Quigley and demands a demonstration of his marksmanship.  Quigley impresses everyone with his accuracy.  Marston fancies himself as a quickdraw and demonstrates his skills on a pair of British deserters.  The two men retire to the main house for dinner where Marston explains his need of a marksman.  The aborigines are a real pain and vanish before his men can get in range.  Quigley reacts poorly and soon finds himself dragged into the desert to die, Crazy Cora at his side.  Instead, Quigley turns the tables on Marston's goons but is still left stranded in the desert.  Can Quigley survive the desert and exact revenge on Marston?

Though entertaining, there are some plot holes that grate.  When told that he was being hired to shoot Aborigines, he assaulted Marston.  How did he expect this to end?  How about his insistence on using his rifle?  The big reveal at the end when it turns out he is quite skilled with a revolver makes you wonder why he didn't make use of revolvers throughout once he was roped into this game of death?  Why is he a great marksman?  We are never told what he was shooting in the United States.  Was he a Civil War veteran?  Why doesn't the wanted poster feature a picture of Quigley?  Regarding Cora, what ship would sail from Galveston, Texas to Fremantle, Australia?  That is an interesting trade route.

Oddly enough, this reminded me of another moving from 1990: Dances with Wolves.  Kevin Costner is sent to the frontier during the Civil War and joins the Indians.  In this movie, Selleck finds himself allied with the Aborigines, though he doesn't go so far as to adopt their ways.

Definitely an entertaining movie.  Good popcorn fun.

The Buck Passes Flynn

The book opens with Flynn assassinating the President of the United States.  It's a mock assassination, only meant to prove that Flynn's agency - N. N. - is quite capable and worthy of contract work for the government.  Shortly afterward, Flynn is assigned to find out why envelopes filled with $100,000 are flooding random locations and causing havoc.  He starts in the abandoned town of Ada, where every resident received an envelope and left.  Population 1800 to 3 in less than a week.  He found many of the former residents in Las Vegas, most worse off than before.  In a resort island town in Massachusetts, the reverse happened.  The residents stayed but kicked out the tourists.  Not a single business is still open but there are frequent delivery boats to cater to the hermit-like residents.  Who is dumping all this money and why?

Flynn has become a less interesting character here.  Rather than an odd police inspector, he is now an international spy.  Sure, there were hints of that in the last book, but here we see his spycraft.  Meh.  His infiltration of Russia is played for laughs.  He has adopted more of Fletch's non-sequitur comments that play more to the reader than to whomever he is addressing.  His super agency that seems to know all on short notice totally fails to make any effort to identify a tag along character claiming to be sent by the president.  Really?  And now we discover that N.N. is opposed by the nasty and villainous K agency, which has a campus in Russia.  Good grief, this is sounding like KAOS vs. CONTROL from Get Smart!

The plot has holes the size of Texas.  Suddenly a bunch of non-counterfeit bills are appearing and, it is finally revealed, that they were bills that should have been incinerated over the last many years.  Um, you know bills have serial numbers.  That first batch with real money should have revealed that someone wasn't incinerating money.

Though it begins well enough and certainly piques one's interest, it devolves into a screed on inflation, the petrodollar, and the monetary system.  The constant harping on inflation grew more and more tedious.  Of course, when the book was written (1980), inflation was double digits.  The impact of the $100K envelopes is one long tale of woe and disaster, to which Flynn responds with smart ass commentary.  The mix of 'comedy' with his clear concern regarding the eroding value of money didn't work.

Though warned that Flynn was just hiding out as a Boston Inspector and his real job was being a 'spy' for some No Name (N. N.) agency, it would have been better to just leave him as the quirky detective.  Beyond the opening assassination, he never uses a gun, he never gets in a brawl, doesn't break-in or infiltrate anywhere.  Heck, all the doors and gates are literally open or unlocked.  Even the Russian police officer proves to be nothing but helpful to an obvious foreigner without any documents.  Sigh.

Skip!

Flynn

Inspector Francis Xavier Flynn (Confess, Fletch) arrives home at 2:30 AM to find his 12-year-old daughter awake and mooning over a fancy pin she received from I. M. Fletcher.  It is far too valuable for a girl her age and he intends to hang onto it until she is 18.  While he explains this, his twin 15-year-old sons enter yawning to declare that their violin was stolen from a locker at school.  Flynn is quizzing them about it when the sky explodes and the kitchen window shatters.  A plane departing Logan Airport plummets in three flaming chunks into the harbor.  He has had no sleep when he is summoned to see the commissioner about the plane crash.  Among the passengers were a boxer who just one the championship, a Federal judge, a famous actor, and a finance minister from a Middle-Eastern country.  No, Flynn is not expected to solve the crime, but he is to serve as liaison for the FBI.  After meeting with the taskforce, Flynn generally ignores them thereafter and proceeds to investigate on his own.

Not dissimilar from a standard Fletch novel, Flynn has plenty of wisecracks for the authority figures and often unusual questions or requests for the various folks he interviews.  It is repeatedly noted that he has little knowledge of the law and isn't really a cop.  Indeed, it is made clear that his position in the Boston Police Department is unique; he is the only inspector and housed at the hall of records rather than a precinct.  He has high-powered contacts that provide international intelligence.  Of course, where Fletch is just as likely to come to the wrong conclusion, Flynn makes some connections that lead to the solution.

Though his backstory from Confess, Fletch is not rehashed, it should be noted that his parents were killed in Munich by the Nazis toward the end of the war.  He had been something of a teenaged spy and continued in that line of work thereafter.  The book takes place in the 1970s, so Flynn is probably in his late 40s.  He has a contentious relationship with the police sergeant assigned to him, in fact, often insubordinate.  Of course, Flynn calls him Grover, which isn't his name, so there is cause for discord.

Interestingly, when the story is all told, there are still several items that are unresolved.  That actually made the mystery all the more real.  There are often conflicting reports in such events, many that don't pan out.  Not just suspects who prove to be innocent, but witness testimony that doesn't mesh with the final conclusion.  So common in real life but rarely found in detective fiction; all those loose ends are nicely resolved by Holmes or Poirot.

Good read and recommended.

History of Texas

This Captivating History telling of Texas history is little more than a collection of thumbnail articles that scratch the surface of Texas through the centuries.  Not exactly a dispassionate telling, the book takes the side of Mexico in the Texas Revolution, the side of Mexico again in the Mexican-American War, and regrets the fact that Texas joined the US as it could have dodged the Civil War if it had stayed independent.  After the Civil War, Texas had an oil boom, became home to NASA, and was also the site of JFK's assassination.  Oh, and there are Texas Rangers.

To say I am disappointed would be an understatement.  This was in no ways captivating and only marginally history.  The Texas entry on Wikipedia is a far better source.  Avoid!

A Night in the Lonesome October

Snuff is a dog.  His master is Jack the Ripper.  In the house where he lives, he must guard against the Thing in the Attic, the Thing in the Trunk, the Things in the Mirror and the Thing in the Basement.  The neighbors include a crazy witch, the Count (Dracula), the Good Doctor (Frankenstein), a werewolf, and a few other colorful characters.  In the wake of a murder early in the month of October, the Great Detective (Sherlock Holmes) arrives in the area and begins to investigate.  It just so happens that there will be a full moon on Halloween, which signals an opportunity to unleash the Elder Gods (a la H P Lovecraft) upon the world.  There are those who want to open a gateway and those who want to keep it shut.  All of them are preparing their spells, potions, and magical devices for the full moon.

The story is told entirely from the point of view of Snuff, each chapter detailing one day in October.  In his wanderings, he contacts the animal companions of the other players.  Graymalk the cat is teamed with the witch, Needle the bat with the Count, Bubo the rat with the Good Doctor, Quicklime the snake with the mad monk, and several others.  That they all chat with one another, bartering for gossip and information, is quite entertaining.  Another funny bit was that all of the Great Detective's clever disguises were useless against Snuff, who could always recognize him by scent.

Being Roger Zelazny - most remembered for his Chronicles of Amber - means there must be some sort of magical pattern.  Sure enough, the midpoint of where all the players reside will be the sight of the final confrontation.  That seems simple enough, but the Count has multiple coffins hidden for safety, some players are unrevealed, and some odd residents may not be players.  Snuff has an interesting time trying to pin down the site where the gateway can be opened.

It was unexpected to find Jack the Ripper as a hero, an apparently immortal figure who - with the help of his faithful dog - has repeatedly kept the Elder Gods at bay.  Hugely entertaining and highly recommended.

Navy Seals (1990)

A ship has been attacked at sea by terrorists and is on fire.  An American Navy helicopter is dispatched from a nearby warship to rescue the crew.  Instead, it comes under fire from the terrorists and is downed.  On a beach in Virginia, Navy Seals are waking up from a bachelor party.  One of them is getting married today.  While at the church with the bride walking down the aisle, pagers start blaring (pagers!  Ha!  Well, it was 1990).  The Seals have a mission.  Somewhere in the Middle East, the surviving crewmen of the downed helicopter are about to be executed when Navy Seals come through the windows and kill all the terrorists.  The extraction proves difficult.  Moreover, Lt. Hawkins (Charlie Sheen) comes across a stockpile of Stinger Missiles!  He wants to expand the mission to include destroying the Stingers but Lt. Curran (Michael Biehn) overrules him.  The team extracts and then faces a debriefing where Curran's decision is second-guessed.  When an airliner is shotdown by a Stinger in Spain, Curran takes matters in his own hands.

A by the numbers action film, it provides several opportunities for the Seals to deploy, each time in a different method.  Here they parachute in, there they are inserted via SCUBA from a sub, by helicopter, by boat, and so on.  Joanne Whalley plays the love interest.  The casting of the Seals is good.  Biehn and Bill Paxton had both been Colonial Marines in Aliens (1986).  Heck, Biehn had played a Seal previously in The Abyss (1989) and afterwards in The Rock (1996).  Rick Rossovich, a Top Gun (1986) pilot, plays the Seal medic.  Charlie Sheen and Paul Sanchez had both starred in Platoon (1986).  Overall, it is entertaining but run-of-the-mill.  The tragedies are telegraphed, the characters see little development, and the plot is predictable.

Good popcorn fun.

Support for the Spoils System

In his latest Substack essay, Glenn Harlan Reynolds explains why the Pendelton Act of 1883 has failed and how a return to the spoils system that preceded it would restore government accountability to the voters.  Check it out!

The Conquest of New Mexico and California

In 1878, Brigadier General Philip St. George Cooke penned The Conquest of New Mexico and California: An Historical and Personal Narrative.  It opens in July of 1846, when Cooke was a lieutenant in the 1st Dragoons.  Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny had been given command of the Army of the West and set out to conquer New Mexico and California.  Shortly after arriving in New Mexico, Kearny ordered Cooke to ride ahead and demand the surrender of Santa Fe.  After a refusal, he departed with the witty comment, "I'll call again in a week."  Indeed, when he came back with the rest of the army, Santa Fe fell without a shot fired.  The army spent the next month securing the territory before Kearny set out for California.  He had not gone far when word of the Mormon Battalion arrived.  Its original commander, Colonel James Allen, had died.  Kearny placed Cooke in charge of the battalion and ordered him to make a road to California.  And here follows a rather dreary accounting of a trek across the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona via the Gila River.  There are the occasional bits of excitement (battle with wild bulls, Charboneaux's encounter with bears, the capture of Tucson), but it is mostly a bland narrative of thirst and starvation.  Upon his arrival in California, Cooke abandons his personal chronicle and relates the reports of others.  Thus, he details Kearny's disastrous battle as San Pasqual, squabbles with Fremont and Stockton, and the successful campaign to recapture Los Angeles.  He also outlines some battles in the bay area.  The allocation of his battalion is only vaguely discussed.

Mostly disappointing.  Being a first-person account, I had expected a lot more.  Not surprisingly, his desert crossing sounds like a balance sheet; 6 mules died today, acquired 11 mules from local Indians, no water in 2 days, etc.  That was surely important information, but it makes for very dry reading.  Of note, he did detail Fremont's march south, which saw multiple encounters with Californios who managed to delay the California Battalions' arrival in Los Angeles.  I do not recall reading that before.  Of course, Kearny captured Los Angeles without Fremont but his coming from the north while Kearny was approaching from the south would surely have made defending the city more difficult.  Here was a rare success for the Californios.

Cooke resigned his position as the Lt. Colonel of the Mormon Battalion in May 1847 and, once again just a lieutenant, joined Kearny on the march back to Fort Leavenworth.

This is a book only for the diehard historian.  Skip.

The Last Camel Charge

The title is misleading.  This book is so much more than the last, and only, camel charge in the United States.  Here we have the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, the California Gold Rush, the clash of cultures between whites and Indians, between Mormons and non-Mormons, and even between North and South when the Civil War intrudes.  Fact is stranger than fiction when Edward Beale, a Navy Lieutenant, was chosen to lead an expedition across the American southwest on camels.  Coincident with his 1857 camel expedition from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California, there was the threat of war between the United States and the Mormons.  This combination created a shift from the California Trail - which passed through Mormon territory - to Beale's newly established (barely) trail.  It turned out the trail was not yet safe as the Mojave Tribe did not appreciate trespassers.  In 1858, a wagon train of migrants were attacked on the banks of the Colorado River, survivors fleeing back toward Santa Fe while leaving most of their belongings to the Mojave.  In 1859, the Army planned to subdue the Mojave by marching north from the mouth of the Colorado.  By happenstance, Edward Beale was working on improving the trail and had sent news to his colleague in California, Sam Bishop, to bring supplies to the Colorado River.  Bishop arrived well ahead of either Beale or the Army.  He had around 50 men, several mule-drawn wagons, and 20 camels.  The Mojave refused passage across the river and skirmishes ensued.  All efforts to cross the river were repulsed and the number of Mojave grew to 1500.  Unwilling to turn back, Bishop called for volunteers.  At dawn on April 7, 1859, Sam Bishop led a camel charge into 700 waiting Mojave braves!  Pistols blazed and the Mojave sought to dodge out of the way of this most unusual attack.  Amazingly, none of Bishop's men were lost and they successfully swam the camels across the river to meet Beale in the Arizona desert.

There is so much more to this book.  It covers everything found in the US Camel Corps, details the mythology of the Mojave, the persecution, migration, and settlements of the Mormons, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the various explorers who crossed the Southwest before Beale, The Rose-Baley Wagon Train, and much more.  One of the most surprising things about the tale is how close we were to having a camel corps in the deserts of the Southwest.  If not for the Civil War, it was quite possible that troops in that region would have been mounted on camels.  However, some of the biggest camel supporters had sided with the South.  Jefferson Davis had purchased the first bunch of camels while he was Secretary of War.  His successor, John Floyd, sought to purchase a thousand camels.  Both of these men joined the South, one as president and the other as a major general.  Is it any wonder their pet project was not revived after the war?

Forrest Bryant Johnson has written a truly terrific book that reads like an action-adventure novel.  Highly recommended.

Don't Trust the Media

The new story from Israel is the discovery of 40 dead babies, some of them beheaded.  If true, that is Nazi level of evil.  However, I remember when Iraqis supposedly tossed babies out of incubators during the invasion of Kuwait.  It was a big story.  The young woman who testified was quite convincing.  It wasn't true but it sure helped sway the American public for the Gulf War (1990-1991).  Though I have seen pictures of dead Israelis and even tourists in this conflict, I have not seen the beheaded babies.  Of course, I don't want to see beheaded babies, but the media has proved so unreliable that I don't believe it.  What Palestinian could be so stupid as to not realize how devastating such an action would be?

If this is not true, then Israel is perpetrating one of the darkest public relations operations ever.  As if what has been done was not bad enough, we'll stack on 40 dead babies.  That will get the public on our side.  That is a vile way to win support.  Not as terrible as what Hamas has done, but still vile.

Again, I don't want to see pictures but, until I do, this is a bogus story.

Gambit (1966)

Harry Dean (Michael Caine) follows a woman through the streets of Hong Kong.  She goes into a club.  There, Dean and another man watch as she performs with other dancers in a floor show.  Both agree that the woman is perfect for their plan.  Dean offers Nicole Chang (Shirley MacLaine) $5000 and a British passport if she will pose as his wife.  When Sir Harold and Lady Nicole arrive in a middle eastern country, she is now a brunette who bares an uncanny resemblance to the dead wife of Ahmad Shahbandar (Herbert Lom).  Shahbandar, reportedly the richest man in the world, invites them to dinner and marvels at Nicole.  In Shahbandar's apartment, there is a priceless sculpture of an ancient Chinese empress; the resemblance to Nicole is startling.  This is what Harry intends to steal.

Here is a heist/comedy/romance.  Like many movies of this type, there is the idealized heist as planned which looks foolproof and then the actual heist that sees a variety of comical setbacks.  This comes off quite well and is entertaining.  The romance is not only secondary, but something of a surprise.  The scenes between Harry and Nicole are mostly him being annoyed at her chattiness.  When he professes his love for her, it comes as a surprise.  Really, I thought it was just as likely that he would abandon her to be caught.

Fun and light.  A must for fans of either Michael Caine or Shirley MacLaine.  Good popcorn fun.

Failure of Intelligence

A week ago, if asked to pick the country least likely to suffer a large-scale surprise attack, I would have chosen Israel.  I would have been wrong.  Considering the extent of the attack, it is almost inconceivable that Israel didn't see it coming.  Much as many believe that FDR knew Pearl Harbor was coming and that George W. Bush knew 9/11 was coming, I expect that many will believe that Netanyahu knew this was coming.  This provides an excellent pretext for reoccupying Gaza and a huge distraction from his domestic troubles.

If Netanyahu didn't know, this was a catastrophic failure Israeli Intelligence.  Such a large-scale operation cannot be easily arranged without leaks.  Many Palestinian fighters were armed with American weapons, the very ones left in Afghanistan after the withdrawal.  Thousands of rockets were smuggled into Gaza.  The attacks were launched by land, air, and sea.  How did this get missed?

Of course, the Israelis will push the Hamas fighters back and retake all the territory that has been seized.  Moreover, seeing the danger, the IDF is likely to flatten large parts of Gaza.  Hamas must be crushed, removed from any leadership role.  Much as Germany had de-Nazification after WWII and Iraq had de-Baathification after the Iraq War, Gaza needs a de-Hamasification.  Will that help? Probably not.  But whatever replaces Hamas will require years to become as organized.

Another surprising thing about this attack was that Israelis were not armed.  For years, the news has reported how Israelis wander the streets with automatic weapons.  For years, whenever I saw a report on the news (usually ABC back in the day), there were also pictures of random citizens with an Uzi or some other weapon casually slung from a shoulder.  However, many videos show Hamas fighters stalking down residential streets unopposed.  Did Israel impose gun control?  If not, gun sales are going to go through the roof after this.

Fair & Balanced Kilmeade

I came across this clip of Brian Kilmeade 'interviewing' one of the 8 Republicans who voted to oust Speaker McCarthy.  Kilmeade spends the entire time attacking Representative Burchett.  The tone of Kilmeade's questions is extremely combative while Burchett is calm and collected.  This is clearly neither fair nor balanced.  Kilmeade comes across very poorly when compared to Burchett, who tries to answer the loaded questions equanimously.  Burchett makes great points while Kilmeade offers nothing but excuses for McCarthy's failures.  At no point does Kilmeade concede any of Burchett's complaints about the speaker.  The big one - "we're bringing in $5 trillion and spending $7 trillion" - was brushed aside.  "That's not McCarthy's fault."  Okay, Brian, whose fault is it?  No one?  Who do we hold accountable?  Maybe the leadership?

Again, the contrast between the two was stark.  Kilmeade was belligerent and irritated, while Burchett was composed and concise.  It felt like Kilmeade was demanding that Burchett admit wrongdoing and beg forgiveness.  Great objectivity, Brian.  Now I understand why Gutfeld is always down on Kilmeade.