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.

McCarthy Out

I did not like the choice of McCarthy as speaker.  He has been in DC too long.  He is part of the swamp.  Republican voters are not in favor of more money for Ukraine.  As part of a continuing resolution, McCarthy agreed to send more money to Ukraine.  And why are we doing a continuing resolution?  What happened to the idea of drafting a budget and passing it?  We've had months to write a budget.  No, we're just going to spend willy nilly?  Sigh.  When looking at how thin was McCarthy's election to the job, he should have been more wary.  McCarthy bargained with the Democrats to get them what they wanted and they repaid him by joining a tiny cadre of Republicans to kick him out of the speakership.

Much as McCarthy may have deserved this fate, does it advance the goals of the Freedom Caucus?  Many say no.  All those Republicans who voted to keep McCarthy are unlikely to rubber stamp whoever the Freedom Caucus want in the job.  With aisles crossed to kick McCarthy out, it is possible that aisles will be crossed to get his replacement.  If so, the speakership will move left toward the Democrats rather than right toward the Freedom Caucus.  If the establishment Republicans disliked Matt Gaetz before, he is downright hated now.

However, it is important to know that the US is in a downward spiral.  The borders are so out of control that the mayor of New York City has railed against immigrants.  The debt has grown by $7 trillion in the last 3 years.  The Congress shows more interest in Ukraine than the United States.  The president is clearly suffering age-related dementia.  So are some of the leaders in the Congress.  Criminals are coddled and victims are charged when they defend themselves.  Insanity reins.  Throwing a wrench into this system might be helpful.  Worst case, it brings the inevitable crash forward, but we are on the path to destruction.

Let the government shutdown for a few months and have the states fend for themselves.  Really, the federal government does more harm than good these days.

Doniphan's Epic March

With the start of the Mexican-American War, President Polk launched an ambitious plan of attack.  He would have three armies press into Mexico, seizing the territory he wanted to annex.  There would be the Army of Occupation (General Zachary Taylor's forces on the Rio Grande), the Army of the Center (General John E. Wool in San Antonio who would march for Chihuahua), and the Army of the West (Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny who would secure New Mexico and California).  Of course, the US Army was tiny, fewer than 10,000 regular troops.  As such, volunteers were needed.  In Missouri, the 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteers were raised and joined Colonel Kearny at Fort Leavenworth.  As a volunteer regiment, the men elected their officers.  Alexander Doniphan, a noted lawyer from Liberty, MO, was chosen as Colonel.  Doniphan's Regiment (856 men) constituted the largest part of Kearny's army and this made him the second in command of the Army of the West!

The march across Kansas began in late June.  By mid-August, the army had captured New Mexico without firing a shot.  Kearny claimed the territory for the US and put Doniphan in charge of establishing a government for the region.  When Kearny left for California in September, Doniphan was left as military governor.  Now responsible for the populace, Doniphan set out to treat with the native tribes, most notably the Navajo.  He secured peace, in theory, before he set off to meet General Wool.  He started toward El Paso in early December.  On Christmas Day, the 1st Missouri had its first battle.  They defeated a larger Mexican force at El Brazito and marched into El Paso soon after.  There was no sign of General Wool.

General Wool had left San Antonio in September and marched to Monclova.  Rather than go to Chihuahua, he was ordered to reinforce General Taylor at Saltillo.  Of course, Doniphan didn't know this.  Doniphan waited in El Paso just long enough for the artillery to arrive then marched toward Chihuahua.  On the last day of February, the 1st Missouri once again met a larger Mexican force.  Moreover, they were entrenched.  By flanking the Mexican positions and using their wagons as mobile armor, the Americans trounced the Mexican forces.  Soon after, they occupied Chihuahua City.

The 1st Missouri were not suited to garrison duty.  Also, the one-year enlistment was drawing to a close.  Doniphan sent an express to General Wool to find out what he should do.  The orders came in late April: march to Saltillo.  On the way, a detachment of Doniphan's forces assisted Mexicans in recovering kidnapped women and children along with cattle from a band of Comanche.  When the 1st Missouri arrived in Saltillo, General Wool saw a ragged bunch of unshaved men, no two of whom wore the same uniform.  He congratulated them on their victories, thanked them for their service, and sent them on their way back to Missouri.  When they met General Taylor outside Monterrey, he offered similar sentiments.  The men liked his informal attire.

Joseph C. Dawson III has written an outstanding book, offering a detailed account of all facets of Doniphan's March, from the raising of the companies from specific counties along the Missouri River to the fate of the more noteworthy survivors (especially as regards the Civil War).  The audacity of Doniphan to march such a small army deep into enemy territory and succeed is something to behold.  It is no wonder he was compared with Xenophon, a Greek general who successfully fought his way out of enemy territory.  Here is a straight history book that is a real page turner!

Highly recommended.

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)

Dr. Heywood Floyd authored a report on the Discovery mission to Jupiter in the wake of its failure.  Years later, the US is preparing a new ship to find out what happened.  However, the Russians also have a ship that will go to Jupiter; they will arrive a year earlier.  Despite rising tensions between the US and the USSR in Central America, Dimitri Moisevitch (Dana Elcar) suggests a joint operation.  Three Americans - Floyd, Curnow (John Lithgow), and Chandra (Bob Balaban) - travel to Jupiter with the Russian crew.  By the time they arrive, tensions between the US and the USSR are on the brink of war.  This makes cooperation between the Americans and the Russians difficult.  While flying near Europa, they send a probe and are on the brink of seeing something when the probe is destroyed.  Hmm.  Later, they airbrake in the Jovian atmosphere before rendevousing in orbit around Io with the Discovery.  Doctor Chandra reactivates HAL and investigates what went wrong.  Meanwhile, strange events are happening.  Visions of Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) abound and the massive monolith destroys another Russian probe.

The movie's big failure is that it takes place in a future that never came.  The USSR was gone less than 10 years after the film was made.  The inclusion of Cold War politics was a mistake and adds very little.  Also, despite being made 15 years after the original, the special effects are less impressive.  Though there are lots of Russian cosmonauts on the Leonov, only two get much development.  There is Tanya Kirbuk (Helen Mirren) as the commander and Max (Elya Baskin).  Baskin and Lithgow have good chemistry during the spacewalk transit between the Leonov and the Discovery.  Baskin proves to be a very likable character, which was doubtless intentional considering his fate.

A sequel that is very different from the original.  Just okay.