The Game (1997)

Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful banker in San Francisco.  However, he lives alone in a huge mansion and has no family.  His ex-wife called him for his birthday, which he was spending home alone while watching TV.  His younger brother, Conrad (Sean Penn), has been a druggie and general failure.  During a lunch together, Conrad offered Nick a gift; it was a certificate for Consumer Recreation Services (CRS).  Soon after, Nick happens to be in the same building as CRS and decided to check it out.  Enrollment proved to be far more involved than expected, taking several hours.  After a meeting at work, he went home to find a body in the driveway!  No, it was just a clown-faced mannequin.  The game has begun. Though initially intrigued, it soon appears to be a scam, a fight for his life with people out to get his money.

Nick is having a mid-life crisis.  During the opening credits, family movies played that showed Nick as a kid with his clearly distant father.  It is also shown that his father committed suicide.  Of note, his dad was 48 at the time and Nick is celebrating his 48th birthday.  That may explain some of his choices during the game.  Overall, Nick is not likable.  By the end of the film, he still isn't likable.  He was pushed to the very brink and beyond but survived.  Is he a better person for it?  Not that one could tell.

The idea of the movie is great, but the execution is not.  Too often, the events that happen would be extremely hard to stage in a phony way.  Granted, Christine (Deborah Kara Unger) is generally on hand to lead him where the special effects are set, but what about the taxi into the bay?  Oh, we had divers ready.  Really?  And what are the odds that he just happened to jump in the exact spot to land on the airbladder?  A man as rich as Nicholas should have had access to more resources than his company lawyer and his ex-wife.  How does such a man end up hitchhiking if he has access to a phone?

Mediocre.

Post Presidency Statistics

A previous blog discussed the number of former presidents upon whom the current president could call.  With the passing of President Carter, the number of former presidents has gone down from 5 to 4.  Strangely, it will remain 4 after the inauguration as Donald Trump will leave the ex-presidents and Joe Biden will join them.  How long does a post-presidency generally last?  That depends on how you look at it.

The median post-presidency lasts for 8.26 years.  That is, there are as many presidents above that number as below.  22 Presidents had shorter post-presidencies and 22 had longer.

The average post-presidency is 11.32 years.  Having lived as a former president for nearly 44 years, Jimmy Carter pulled that average up.

The mode - which is the most frequent result - for a post-presidency is 0 years.  Yes, 8 presidents died in office and thus never became former presidents.

The post-presidency is getting longer.  Every former president since Nixon has live at least 15 years after leaving office.

President Carter

Only 2 months after his 100th birthday, President Carter has died.  Of all presidents, he had the longest post-presidency by far.  He was an ex-president for 43.9 years.  His nearest competitor, Herbert Hoover, lived to the age of 90, having been ex-president for 31.6 years.  His record cannot be beaten for at least another 20 years.  If Bill Clinton makes it to 98, he could outdo Carter.  George W Bush would have to make it to 106, which seems unlikely.  Next, Barack could surpass Carter in 36 years, at age 99.  Trump and Biden aren't in the running unless something really amazing happens in longevity research.

In many ways, Carter was an unusual president.  As mentioned in a recent blog, he never chose a justice for the Supreme Court.  His predecessors did not burden him with an ongoing military conflict, and he didn't start any during his term.  Yes, Iran and Afghanistan became major issues, but the US didn't go to war.  Carter tried to resolve foreign conflicts with peace talks and boycotts rather than tanks and soldiers.  Commendable, but of questionable effect.  He is one of four presidents to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jimmy Carter was the first president I recall.  When I was in the 4th grade, a TV was rolled into the classroom and we watched the inauguration.  One is not usually politically aware at that age, but it was from that point that I could always answer the question: Who is the president of the United States?

RIP

Constantine (2005)

Somewhere in Mexico, a scavenger discovers the Spear of Destiny.  Immediately, he sets out north for Los Angeles.  He is unkillable, emerging unscathed when a car crashes into him.  Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) arrives as a low-rent apartment building to perform an excorcism.  To his surprise, the demon was attempting to crossover; that should not happen.  Though happenstance, he encounters police detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz).  Her twin sister, Isabel, recently committed suicide by jumping from a building.  Reviewing the footage, Angela hears her sister say, "Constantine." Together, Constantine and Angela use magic and rituals to discover why Isabel committed suicide and why demons appear on the brink of invading the Earth from Hell.

Constantine has a variety of sources and contacts: his driver/apprentice, Chas Kramer (Shia LeBouf), the witch doctor Papa Midnite (Djimon Hounsou), occult expert Beeman, and recovering alcoholic Father Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vince).  He also has a variety of weapons that are best suited to fighting demons and devils: dragon's breath, light incantations, flammable shroud, and the crucifix gun.  Despite the plentiful characters, the story managed to stay focused.  Constantine is a man destined to go to hell but lives his life by making enemies of its denizens.  Word is that Satan himself (Peter Stormare) will collect Constantine's soul.

Here is a post-Neo, pre-John Wick role for Keanu Reeves and it proves to be a perfect transition.  He still has knowledge and abilities beyond all others but is no longer a nigh invulnerable superhero in the Matrix.  Here he is world-weary, but still full of fight.  By the time we get to John Wick, he has tried to retire.

Reeves and Weisz have great chemistry but never get romantically involved.  Weisz didn't quite fit as an LA detective, but being more of a sidekick to Constantine, that didn't matter much.  LeBouf was better than expected.  His anxious manner and constant banter fit his character perfectly, for a change.  Tilda Swinton had another go at playing a male character, this time Gabriel.  Well, Gabriel is an angel.  In any case, she plays up the androgyny angle, reminding me of Orlando (1992).  Though her role is fairly small, she makes the most of it.  Peter Stormare would not have been my first choice for Satan, but proves to be ideal.  There is something off about him, his accent and manner, that gives him a creepy vibe.

Generally, lots of fun.  Too bad there wasn't a sequel.  Recommended.

Leviathan (1989)

Somewhere in the Atlantic, a deep-sea mining operation is digging for silver.  Stephen Beck (Peter Weller) is a geologist and supervisor of the operation.  He has 6 miners and Dr. Thompson (Richard Crenna) in the facility, called "the Shack."  The rotation is 90 days, and the crew is on day 87.  They are eager to get back to the surface, especially Buzz "Sixpack" Parrish (Daniel Stern) who is clearly going stir crazy.  The following day, while looking for another vein to mine, Sixpack fell of a ledge and lost contact.  Elizabeth "Willie" Williams (Amanda Pays) went looking for him.  She only had 20 minutes of air remaining when she stumbled upon a sunken Russian ship, the Leviathan.  There she found Sixpack, who claims to be rich.  The pair return to the shack, where they open the safe that Sixpack recovered.  It is mostly junk and all in Russian.  Dr. Thompson knows Russian and doesn't like the look of this.  It's a lot of death certificates for the crew.  Checking records for the Leviathan, they can find nothing about such a ship sinking.  Mysterious.  Soon, Sixpack becomes sick.  Then Briget Bowman (Lisa Eilbacher) starts feeling ill.  Dr. Thompson can find no explanation for the symptoms.  Asking the computer to guess, it suggests genetic mutation.  What were the Russians doing on the Leviathan?

This is Alien (1979) based underwater.  The creature quickly evolves and proves bright enough to tinker with the shack's systems, trying to lure more victims out of safe areas.  It is not long before the shack is at threat of implosion as the delicate systems start to fail.  Can the miners be rescued before the genetic mutant absorbs them into its expanding mass?

Like in many horror films, the characters are far too eager to wander off alone, often wearing headphones.  As in most zombie films, a bite or scratch transmits infection.  There are clear indications that Beck and Willie might be headed for a relationship, but that is really on a backburner through the movie.  The monster, which is proposed to have the knowledge of those it absorbs, proves rather stupid.  Given that it could just swim around the sea and get bigger or spawn, it instead fixates on the crew of the shack.  Based on how it was able to respawn from a hacked off limb, the movie clearly could have a had a sequel.

One of half a dozen deep sea epics of the time - The Abyss (1989) being the most successful, this is mediocre.  Run of the mill action, cliched scares, bland characters, and weak plot, the movie is mediocre at best.  Skip.

Aeon Flux (2005)

A disease swept the earth and killed 99% of the population.  Trevor Goodchild cured the disease, and the survivors now live within the walled city of Bregna.  It has been 410 years and the Goodchilds that entire time.  Among the populace are those who oppose Goodchild rule; they are the Monicans.  Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) is a Monican agent who never fails.  She has been given the assignment to kill Trevor Goodchild (Martin Csokas).  When she stands before him with her gun aimed at his head, he calls her "Catherine."  Flashes of memory cause her to hesitate.  Then she is captured.  That Trevor refuses to have the assassin executed caused a political shakeup among the elites, especially his younger brother, Oren Goodchild (Jonny Lee Miller).  Aeon's hesitation marks her as unreliable and sets Monicans against her, notably her protege, Sithandra (Sophi Okonedo).

The movie is almost, but not entirely, unlike the TV show.  Both Aeon and Trevor have been watered down to puddles of mush.  Aeon is soft and emotional, uncertain what she is doing or where she is going.  Trevor is all good and entirely right on his positions.  This is not some tyrant who is doing it for the good of his people, whether they like it or not.  No, he is a truly good man, no ambiguities.  The dark sides of Trevor's personality from the TV show have been stripped from him and give to his newly-created brother, Oren.  Oren is the bad guy.  He's all bad, no redeeming qualities.

The big surprise is that the disease was never cured, they just came up with a workaround.  Humanity was sterile, unable to reproduce.  The Goodchilds reused DNA from those who died to reintroduce them into the population.  Of course, there was no way this could have been kept a secret for 400 years, but it was.  Also, Trevor and Oren were making clones of themselves and training them to be the same.  Gee, Trevor Goodchild has been ruler for 400 years and - looking at the statues, posters, and banners - looks exactly the same all that time.  The cloning bit should not come as a surprise to anyone, but it does.

The same year, The Island (2005), was released.  It also had clones.  A new clone was a blithering idiot but as time went on, they gained the knowledge and memories of the original.  That is what happened here as well.  Meh.

As a standalone film, it is mediocre.  As an adaptation of Aeon Flux, it is a disaster.  This is not Aeon Flux in look, in tone, in characters, or even in setting.  Creator Peter Chung was not involved in the making of the movie and viewed the result as a travesty.

Skip.

Aeon Flux

In a futuristic state, a woman slaughters soldiers with her automatic weapons.  Among the dead are those clearly suffering from some disease.  While the woman pauses to peruse a map and glance at a picture of her target, a scientist collects a strange bug that is presumed to be the source of the disease.  The soldiers having found her, the woman - now clearly an assassin on a mission - sprints through the building, leaving a stream of bodies in her wake.  She is unstoppable.  She arrives on a narrow ledge just outside the target's apartment.  However, when she glances within, she sees that the target is already dead though the scientist is present and undisturbed by the corpse.  What exactly the assassin planned next is unknown as she falls to her death.  While the scientist discovers a cure to the disease and receives great acclaim, the assassin appears in the afterlife to have her feet licked by some bizarre being; in her off time, she was a model for foot fetish magazines.

Thus ended the 12-minute pilot for Aeon Flux.  The entire story was told without dialogue, and the news reports were just gibberish that was self-explanatory based on the visuals.  The popularity of the show on MTV's Liquid Television led to a series.  Though creator Peter Chung had viewed the assassin's story as complete, the audience wanted more of her.  Though the name of the series was not meant to be her name, it became so.  Thus, Aeon Flux returned in 5 more adventures (5 minutes each), again without dialogue, where she died in every story.  Both the assassin - Aeon - and the scientist - Trevor - appear.  Sometimes they appear to be allies, but mostly they are rivals.  Still hugely popular, more and bigger episodes are ordered.

The third - and final - season had 10 episodes that were half an hour each.  Rather than a brief snippet of action concluding with Aeon's death, there are full stories where she mostly survives.  Aeon (voiced by Denise Poirier) and Trevor Goodchild (John Rafter Lee) switch between lovers and rivals.  He leads the totalitarian state of Bregna while she is a spy from the vaguely-defined state of Monica.  In one episode, we find that Trevor has mastered cloning and has a harem of Aeons; perhaps this explains her multiple deaths.  He is always tinkering with some new crazy technology or obsessed with some otherworldly being.  Regarding otherworldly, the setting does not appear to be Earth, even in some distant future.

Throughout the series, the setting is dystopian.  Mostly, Trevor seeks to build that which generally proves to be bad while Aeon strives to destroy it.  Overall, a terrific series.

Wicked (2024)

The Wicked Witch is dead and the folks of Munchkin Country rejoice.  Glinda (Ariana Grande) arrives in her magical bubble to join the celebration.  There is song, dance, and a burning effigy.  Then, as she is about to leave, someone says, "Weren't you friends with her?"  Glinda grants that their paths crossed, long ago, when they were in school.  She then begins to tell the tale of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo).

Her mother had an affair prior to Elphaba's birth, making parentage questionable.  Of course, her 'father' didn't know that.  However, she was born green, which was maybe a hint.  She grew up as an outcast and also possessed magical powers that awoke when she was highly emotional.  When her younger sister was sent to Shiz University, Elphaba went along as an escort.  Though she was only there to help her sister settle in, Elphaba had a magical episode that got her an instant acceptance by the Professor of Sorcery, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).  Thus, Elphaba became Glinda's roommate!  The musical numbers are quite fun and detail the initial dislike between the roommates that eventually grew into friendship.  As this is only part one, the movie concludes at a cliffhanger where they are drawn apart though not opposed to one another.

Erivo is excellent as Elphaba.  Her voice is great and her acting convincing.  She plays the hard-shelled introvert who has a mushy inside quite well.  It is generally hard not to empathize with her.  Ariana Grande was a surprise.  Her effervescent personality as Glinda was infectious.  Though it often seemed way over the top, it proved to be perfect for the character.  Here is a girl with every privilege and a huge ego that is nonetheless entirely likeable.  Her antics were often uproariously funny.  Jeff Goldblum played Jeff Goldblum, which works quite well for a con man who is the Wizard of Oz.  Michelle Yeoh was a support character and gave a good though unremarkable performance.

This was a far better movie than I expected.  Recommended.

The Guardians (2017)

In the wake of WWII, Russian scientists set to creating super soldiers with magnificent powers.  One of the scientists - Kuratov - proved to be unstable.  When his pet project was canceled, he killed his rival scientist and wrecked the overall project.  The super soldiers - called Guardians - scattered and were lost.  In the modern day, Kuratov is back.  He has finally succeeded with his pet project.  He can control machines, taking over trucks, tanks, or even satellites.  Conventional forces are useless against him.  Major Elena Larina is placed in charge of Patriot (the Russian version of SHIELD) and ordered to find as many Guardians as she can to defeat Kuratov.  In a few minutes, her crack team of handsome and/or beautiful computer operators review news accounts of bizarre events that might indicate a Guardian in the area.  Now to make contact.

Ler has the ability to control rocks.  In Avatar, he would fit quite nicely among the earth benders.  Khan has superspeed and a pair of curved swords, a variation on the Flash or Quicksilver.  Arsus can turn into a bear with immense strength and animal rage.  Yes, this is the Hulk or the group.  Lastly, we have Kseniya.  She can turn invisible and has tremendous resistance to either heat or cold.  This is the Fantastic Four of Russia, the Guardians!  None of them have superhero names.  Now assembled, they are sent against Kuratov and his clone army.  Yes, Kuratov cloned himself, but all his clones are just black-clad mercenaries, not superpowered like him.  It looks like he cloned himself before he made all the upgrades.

The story is weak, the characters are bland, and the acting is flat.  Perhaps it was more exciting in the original Russian (I watched the dubbed version), but everyone speaks in a deadpan.  The movie has a bonus scene in the middle of the credits were Major Larina escapes from kidnappers and discovers that "Ferrum" is responsible.  The makers were optimistic that there would be a sequel.  The movie proved to be a box office bomb.

Skip.

USS Spitfire on the Panuco River

In November 1846, the US Navy moved to capture the Mexican port city of Tampico.  This proved easier than might be expected, as Santa Ana had ordered the troops withdrawn.  He was assembling his grand army at San Luis Potosi; he wanted to concentrate every soldier and cannon he could gather to use them against General Taylor's weakened force in the north.  That battle - Buena Vista - was still three months in the future.  Having captured Tampico, Commodore Perry soon discovered that many cannon and other military supplies had been evacuated upriver.

Most US Navy vessels were not suited to riverine use.  However, the USS Spitfire had been commissioned by the Mexican government before the war.  Only days after the war began, the US seized it and sent it to the theater.  As a sidewheel steamer with light draft, it was perfect for use along the gulf coast and traveling upriver.  As such, the Spitfire was dispatched to find the missing cannon.

Commander Josiah Tattnall steamed up the Panuco River on November 18, 1846.  He was joined by the Schooner Petrel, another Mexican ship that had been captured and now served the US Navy.  His crew was reinforced with twenty marines and a dozen sailors.  It was approximately 80 miles to Panuco and they had not reached the port by nightfall.  The next morning, the Spitfire and Petrel arrived.  It was clear they were expected though the city did not put up a fight.  The cannons discovered, Tattnall had nine 18-pound cannons destroyed and the ammunition tossed into the river.  They sailed off with a 24-pound gun and lots of grape and cannister shot.  Tattnall's mission may have diminished the number of cannon that Santa Ana had available.

The Spitfire saw further action in Veracruz, Tuxpan, Alvarado, and Tabasco.  However, at the end of the war in 1848, it was sold.

Seeing as Panuco was easily accessible by the US Navy, it is no surprise that Colonel DeRussy chose to reroute there rather than risk his intended path back to Tampico.

Escape After Dark: The Skirmish of Tantoyuca

As General Santa Ana marched north toward General Taylor's forces in February 1847, his army captured a number of scouting parties.  These captives were marched back to Mexico City, where they would wait for exchange or sit out the war.  In April 1847, Santa Ana clashed with General Winfield Scott at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.  It was a tremendous defeat for the Mexicans, resulting in a large portion of the army being captured by the Americans.  Not having the ability to house so many captives, the Americans gladly offered them in exchange for American captives.

In June 1847, a column of American POWs were marched toward Tampico as the soldiers to be exchanged.  Upon reaching Huejutla, the march was halted.  General Garay declared that the paperwork was wrong.  In fact, Santa Ana didn't want any Americans returned.  However, six of the prisoners escaped and successfully arrived at Tampico in July.  Learning the story of these men, Colonel Gates - commander of the troops at Tampico - outfitted an expedition to retrieve the rest of the prisoners.  He chose Colonel Lewis DeRussy to lead it.

DeRussy departed Tampico on the 8th of July, 1847, and marched without incident down the coast and then into the interior.  He explained his mission to the various authorities he met along the way and was not harassed.  The expedition arrived in Tantoyuca on the 11th.  DeRussy had about 120 men in his command.  There were 35 Maryland Dragoons under Captain James Boyd, 34 artillerymen of the 3rd Artillery under Captain Francis Wyse, 44 soldiers of the Louisiana Volunteers under Captains Russell Mace and Bornt Seguine, and a dozen citizens who styled themselves as the Tampico Rangers.  The column had only one artillery piece, a six-pound cannon.

The Battle of Rio Calabozo

On the morning of the 12th, the column set out for Huejutla.  DeRussy had Boyd's Dragoons in the van, about 200 yards ahead of the main party.  During the march, an Indian revealed that there was an ambush awaiting them at the Calabozo River.  DeRussy dispatched Lt. Lindenberger to warn Boyd but it was too late.  Musket fire erupted from the other side of the Calabozo, killing Capt. Boyd and several others.  Even on their side of the river, gunfire came from the trees on either side.  The Americans counterattacked, the Louisiana Volunteers splitting to the right and left to the treeline while Captain Wyse's artillery pounded away at the Mexican troops on the otherside of the river.  While the Americans were engaged, Mexican lancers fell upon the baggage train and rode off with most of the provisions.  A bugle sounded and the Mexicans withdrew.

The Skirmish of Tantoyuca

Though DeRussy inflicted more casualties than he suffered, there was no question of continuing.  Captain Wyse only had 3 rounds left for the cannon and most of the baggage was gone.  The retreat proved to be a running skirmish.  Upon returning to Tantoyuca - which had been quite friendly when they left that morning, they found Mexican lancers and soldiers standing ready for battle.  DeRussy marched toward the waiting force then let Captain Wyse blast a hole in the Mexican line.  The cannon proved decisive, and the Americans soon captured Tantoyuca.  The men scoured the town for powder and ammunition, managing to assemble some makeshift cannister rounds for the cannon.

Sometime after dark, an officer from General Garay approached.  He demanded the surrender of the American force, explaining how hopeless their situation was.  DeRussy refused and had his men settle in for the night.  It had not escaped his notice that many Mexican soldiers had headed north along the road the Americans had traveled from Tampico; clearly, there was another ambush being readied.

At 2 AM and during a heavy rainstorm, the Americans departed.  Opting to avoid the presumed ambush, they took the road toward Panuco.  As after his shipwreck, DeRussy had once again escaped an encircling force after dark.  Though the column suffered further attacks along the way, the Mexican forces came to respect the devastating effects of the cannon and avoided open engagements.  Once in Panuco, DeRussy sent for a relief column which Colonel Gates sent.

The expedition lost 11 killed and 6 missing and presumed dead.  Lt. Tannehill, one of Boyd's Dragoons, had been mortally wounded and could not be transported.  They left him in Tantoyuca; he died 2-weeks later in Huejutla.

Escape After Dark: The Wreck of the Ondiaka

At the end of January 1847, a regiment of Louisiana Volunteers set out for the Mexican War aboard the Ondiaka.  The ship stopped along the Texas coast, where many of General Taylor's veteran troops were being assembled for transport to Veracruz.  The ship then went to Tampico, a Mexican port city that had been captured a couple of months prior.  The next stop would be Isla de Lobos, where the fleet had an interim concentration point.  Unfortunately, the Ondiaka didn't make it.

Shipwrecked near the Mexican coast, four companies of Louisiana volunteer regiment and the crew of the Ondiaka struggled to shore without losing anyone.  However, only 100 or so functional muskets and a week's worth of provisions made it ashore.  Colonel Lewis De Russy had the men setup a perimeter.  Soon, Mexican peasants and fishermen were scouting the camp and offering assistance.  Or were they?  Not much later, Mexican soldiers under command of General Cos encircled the American position.

General Cos was a veteran of the Texas campaign of 1835 and 1836.  He had been marching to relieve Santa Ana at San Jacinto but arrived too late.  Since then, he had been relegated to a command in Tuxpam.  Here was an opportunity.  He demanded the American surrender.

Colonel De Russy requested until the following morning to provide his answer, which Cos allowed.  The men lit campfires for the night.  Then, around midnight, De Russy marched his command north, avoiding any of General Cos' pickets.  They had left most of their baggage on the beach, only taking what would aid in their escape.

Meanwhile, news of the wreck of the Ondiaka had reached Tampico and a rescue mission was launched.  A navy ship found and burned the Ondiaka so as to deny it to the Mexicans.  The rescue mission intercepted the Louisiana Volunteers and escorted them the rest of the way to Tampico.  Only 6 men were lost.

The wreck of the Ondiaka left De Russy and his men in Tampico.  They did not join the landings at Veracruz that happened the following month.  Instead, they were garrisoned in Tampico.  Had De Russy missed the war on account of the shipwreck?  Maybe not.

The Package (1989)

In Berlin, US and Russian diplomats meet to discuss a disarmament treaty.  Prospects look excellent but military leaders on both sides are secretly opposed to such a treaty.  In fact, they have plans to derail the treaty.  However, one of their number, a brigadier general, is having second thoughts.  Meanwhile, Sgt. John Gallagher (Gene Hackman) is patrolling the grounds as part of security.  He and his detachment encounter a pair of hikers who attack a vehicle leaving the meeting.  They engage the hikers but both of them escape in another vehicle.  The brigadier general lies dead on the side of the road.  In the aftermath of the incident, Gallagher finds himself at odds with Colonel Glen Whitacre (John Heard).

Though he expects to stay in Germany, Gallagher is assigned to take a package back to the US; it is a soldier who struck an officer (Tommy Lee Jones).  They have hardly arrived when Gallagher is beaten in the airport restroom and his prisoner escapes.  When he starts looking for the prisoner, he quickly realized that the man he transported is not the man listed on his paperwork.  Something nefarious is happening.  And now he's wanted for murder!  Using only trusted contacts and avoiding arrest by either MPs or the police, can Gallagher recover his package before he completes whatever mission he's on?

Among Gallagher's allies are his ex-wife, Lt. Col. Eileen Gallagher (Joanna Cassidy) and a former army buddy & now Chicago cop, Lt. Milam Delich (Dennis Franz).  However, the opposition is vast.  This is truly a trust no one situation where any encounter - no matter how benign - might suddenly become a life-or-death struggle.

Here is a very good thriller that plays out the military industrial complex as the puppet masters of the world order.  Gene Hackman came across as a mellower version of his Popeye Doyle character from The French Connection.  Yes, there are car chases, gunfights, and fisticuffs.  For Dennis Franz, this falls between his stint on Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue.  Yeah, Chicago cop was a real challenge for him.  In any case, he is quite good here; this is his bread & butter role.  Joanna Cassidy is all worry in this role and doesn't get to do much.  Tommy Lee Jones is terrific but his role is relatively small.  The bad guys have so many pawns that he doesn't get much action.  He is the most likable of the villains, a gun for hire with no scruples as long as the pay is good.

Good popcorn fun.

Nobel Peace Prize Presidents

The Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901.  It was to be given "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."  Since then, 4 American Presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Theodore Roosevelt (1906): The president who called for speaking softly and carrying a big stick held a peace conference to end the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).  Despite his jingoist reputation - or more likely because of it, Roosevelt had no wars during his presidency and managed to quell one in which the US was not a participant.  He is the only Republican president to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Woodrow Wilson (1919): The president who "kept us out of the war" until he was safely re-elected won the peace prize for his role in founding the League of Nations.  Though he had been its leading proponent, he was unable to convince the US Senate to ratify membership.  Thus, the US didn't join.  The US did join the League's successor, the United Nations.  Secretary of State Cordell Hull won the 1945 Peace Prize for that.

Jimmy Carter (2002): Though he won it long after his presidency ended, his peace prize recognized his years of work as a peacemaker.  Of particular note, the Camp David Accords, which led to a peace deal between Israel and Egypt, were hosted by President Carter during his presidency, very like the peace conference Roosevelt had hosted in 1905.  The 1978 Peace Prize was awarded to Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt.  The oversight of Carter's role was rectified in 2002.

Barack Obama (2009): President Obama was awarded the peace prize only 9 months into his administration "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."  Whereas the other three presidents had clear accomplishments in pursuit of peace, Obama had only aspirational speeches. At the time, this looked to be an award for things to come. Even Obama himself was astonished and suggested that it was not "a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."

In recent decades, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded arbitrarily.  The parameters for the award are clear: 

to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

This is an award for diplomats, disarmament proponents, and peaceniks.  Former VP Al Gore won in 2007 for his film about climate change.  The 2011 peace prize was awarded to those struggling for women's rights in Liberia and Yemen.  The 2014 peace prize recognized efforts to educate young people in India and Pakistan.  Yes, these are laudable goals, but do they best represent the stated intent of the award.  I don't think so.

Noble House (1988)

Alastair Struan (Denholm Elliott) has called a midnight meeting at the HQ of the Struan & Company, the leading trading company in Hong Kong.  There are only 4 attendees: his nephew, Ian Dunross (Pierce Brosnan), Philip Chen (Burt Kwouk), and Chen's son, John.  The company is in crisis and Alastair has opted to transfer leadership to Ian.  The name for the CEO is Tai Pan.  Dunross's first act is to fire Alastair from the traditional position of a former Tai Pan.  Minutes later, the folly of his predecessor's leadership is exposed and Ian must make the company public to keep it afloat.

Three years later, Struan & Co are once again treading water.  Dunross has looked overseas for a foreign investor and found Par Con Industries, which is run by Lincoln "Linc" Bartlett (Ben Masters).  Bartlett is a corporate raider who intends to take over Struan & Co, then sell it for a huge profit.  He has secretly hired John Chen as an inside source which gives him an unusually strong bargaining position.  Moreover, after a meet & greet with Dunross, Linc confers with Struan's chief rival, Rothwell-Gornt.  Rothwell-Gornt is run by Quillan Gornt (John Rhys-Davies), who proves to have a Hatfield vs. McCoy relationship with Ian Dunross and his ancestors.  Of note, this is a sequel to Tai Pan, which took place 150 years earlier and is frequently referenced in dialogue regarding the family history.  Maybe I should have watched that movie first.

Though the ostensible plot follows the wheeling and dealing of these titans of industry, the story is really about the love lives of Ian Dunross and Linc Bartlett.  Dunross and Par Con VP Casey Tcholok (Deborah Raffin) are instantly attracted to each other and it quickly escalates, but not without the usual soap operatic bumps of being business rivals.  Then there is Linc and Quillan Gornt's former mistress, Orlanda Ramos (Julia Nickson).  Though Linc knows that Quillan has arranged the tryst, he nonetheless falls for Orlanda.  Of course, she falls for him too.

The story takes place over a week or so, but it is an eventful week.  There is a building fire that nearly kills our heroes, a kidnapping, building collapse, an attempted rape, an international incident, drug dealing blackmailers, and more.  Who knew that Hong Kong was so exciting?

This four-part miniseries has a great setting but is mediocre in execution.  Brosnan is a grim character.  Fresh from his affable and charming role as Remington Steele, here he is a humorless tactician, a man who has allowed his problems to grind him down but never defeat him.  He has no friends, only potential allies for his latest gambit to keep Struan & Co. in business.  Like in the Fourth Protocol, his charm and personality has been stripped away to leave a mostly unappealing character.  By contrast, John Rhys-Davies is having a blast as the villain.  He's nasty but fun, often laughing and smiling as he twists the knife.  Ben Masters is on the one-hand a conniving businessman who fits in the corporate raider mold of Gordon Gecko, but then has this sappy romance with Orlanda.  It is a difficult fit.

Overall, it is mediocre.  Pierce Brosnan and Julia Nickson would star together the following year in another miniseries: Around the World in 80 Days.  That's a better miniseries.  Watch that one instead.

The Mormon Battalion

In 1846, the United States went to war with Mexico.  President Polk brushed off his plans for how the war should go.  One of his plans was to dispatch General Stephen Watts Kearney to secure New Mexico and California.  While he was arranging this, he met Mr. Jesse Little.  Little was a Mormon who looked for governmental assistance for the Mormon migration to the Great Salt Lake.  This was timely.  Polk needed more Americans headed west just then and proposed that the Mormons raise a battalion to join the Army of the West under Kearney.  Little eagerly agreed and set out for Iowa, where the Mormons were currently encamped.  Soon thereafter, James Allen of the First Dragoons met with Brigham Young to discuss the details.  Five companies - approximately 500 men - were recruited and set out for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

As with most volunteer units, the Mormons elected their officers from among them.  Of course, Colonel Allen remained as the overall commander.  He had several other US Army officers as part of his staff, notably Lt. AJ Smith and Lt. Stoneman.  Allen's death at Fort Leavenworth left command of the battalion in confusion.  Captain Jefferson Hunt of Company A was now the highest-ranking officer.  Lt. Smith noted that he was still only a volunteer with no real rank in the US military, which meant Smith was in command.  The various officers didn't much like that reasoning, but Smith got his way on account of being able to control government funds.  He was not a popular commander.

The battalion commenced its march on August 12, 1846.  They arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico between October 9th and October 12.  The city had already been captured by Kearney and was currently governed by Colonel Doniphan of the First Missouri Mounted Volunteers.  News returned from General Kearney that Colonel Philip St. George Cooke would take command of the battalion as it blazed a wagon road to California.  Cooke found many of the recruits to be in poor condition and mustered them out of service.  The remaining troops began the grueling trek across the southwestern desert.

As the men had sent their clothing allowance back to Iowa to aid in the support of their families, the men only had the clothes in which they arrived.  After so long a march, their clothes - especially footwear - were in poor condition.  Soldiers fashioned makeshift shoes out of hides and otherwise unwearable clothing.  Thirst and hunger were constant companions and the labor was intense.  At times, the men had to help the mules drag wagons through deep sands and at other times they had to hew a path through a rocky canyon.

On the 27th of January, the Mormon Battalion spotted the Pacific Ocean near what is now Oceanside.  The battle for California was already won.  The Battalion found itself on garrison duty until the end of their enlistment.  The men had enlisted for 1 year.  When that year was up, the governor and General Kearney urged them to re-enlist.  The Mormons had been exemplary soldiers.  However, fewer than 100 chose to enlist for another year.  Most of the rest set out for Salt Lake City.  Many found themselves in what would soon be the gold fields of California.

BH Roberts was a prolific writer on Mormon topics.  He addressed the Mormon Battalion in this 1919 book.  It is a quick read that hits the highlights without going into much depth.  An excellent summary that provides a good overview of the Mormon Battalion and its service in the Mexican-American War.  Recommended.

Pardon Me

The power to pardon has been in the Constitution from the beginning.  George Washington issued 16 pardons during his 2 terms in office.  Only William Henry Harrison and James Garfield issued fewer pardons.  In fact, they each issued none on account of dying early in their presidencies.  John Adams, the sole Federalist president, only issued 20.  The power of the pardon has grown since then.  Let's see how that breaks down by party.

Independent

Washington didn't like the party system though he most aligned with the Federalist Party.  However, he spoke against parties so he's generally classified as Independent.  He offered 16 pardons.  John Tyler, the 10th President, was originally a Democrat but switched to Whig.  When he took over for William Henry Harrison, the Whigs disowned him and the Democrats didn't want him.  Thus, he falls into the Independent Party.  He offered 209 pardons.  Tyler lifted the average per president quite a bit.

Federalist

There was only 1 Federalist, President John Adams.  Following Washington, he was stingy with the pardons, only granting 20 in his 4 years as president.

Democratic-Republican

The Party of Thomas Jefferson, it primarily competed with the Federalist until they disintegrated after the War of 1812.  Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams were Democratic-Republicans.  The party was much more generous with pardons, offering 917.

Democratic

Having lost the 1824 election, Andrew Jackson split from the Democratic-Republicans to create a new party.  This is the Democratic Party that continues to this day.  It is the most generous with pardons, averaging 1,489 per president.  This number does not include Andrew Johnson's blanket pardon for many Confederates after the Civil War or Jimmy Carter's blanket pardon to over 200,000 draft dodgers after Vietnam.  Franklin Pierce was the stingiest with pardons (142), while Joe Biden has more than doubled 2nd place FDR (3,687) with 8,027 pardons so far.

Of particular note, Joe Biden has dramatically lifted the average.  Removing Joe Biden's 8,027 pardons, drops the Democratic average to 1,053 per Democratic president.  How high will it go by January 20th?

This reminds me of Al Gore's hockey stick graph.

Whig

There were only 3 Whig Presidents and two of them died early in their presidencies.  The Whigs only issued 208 pardons.

Republican

The Party of Lincoln has had more presidents than its nearest rival, the Democrats.  A Republican president averages 701 pardons.  Calvin Coolidge offered the most pardons (1,545) of any Republican while George HW Bush offered the fewest (77), if we excluded James Garfield, who issued none before his assassination.

From Eisenhower to Trump (1953 to 2021), there were 8,126 pardons.  President Biden is going for the Guinness Book of World Records.

Three Time Nominee

Generally speaking, politicians only win the nomination for president one or two times.  Parties normally only nominate the politician for a 2nd time if he is the incumbent.  To take examples from recent years, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump were each nominated for 2nd terms while Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bob Dole, Al Gore, John Kerry, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Hillary Clinton were not renominated.  The winners get a second shot while the losers are usually tossed aside.  Of course, there are exceptions.  Sometimes the loser is given a second chance.  For instance, Adlai Stevenson lost to Eisenhower in 1952, but was nominated again in 1956; he lost again.  In a couple of cases, there have been three-time losers: both Henry Clay & William Jennings Bryan were nominees in 3 separate elections.

Looking only at men who served as president, how many of them were nominated on three separate occasions?

Thomas Jefferson was the Democratic-Republican nominee for president in 1796, 1800, and 1804.  He came in second place in 1796, which secured him the vice presidency.  He won the presidency in 1800 and was nominated for re-election in 1804.

Andrew Jackson was one of four Democratic-Republican nominees in 1824.  Though he won the plurality of electoral votes and popular vote, he lost to John Quincy Adams in the contingent election.  He was the Democratic nominee (the Democratic-Republican party had split into factions after the 1824 debacle) in both 1828 and 1832.

Martin Van Buren was Andrew Jackson's chosen successor.  He won in 1836 and was renominated in 1840.  Though he lost in 1840, he became the Free-Soil Party candidate in 1848, marking his 3rd time running in the general election.

Grover Cleveland ran for office in 1884 and won.  However, when he ran for re-election in 1888, he lost to Benjamin Harrison.  He secured the Democratic nomination again in 1892 and won.  He was the first president to serve non-consecutive terms.

Richard Nixon ran for president in 1960.  He lost to JFK.  However, he managed to win the nomination again in 1968 and went on to win the presidency.  He won re-election in 1972, though he didn't finish his term.

Donald Trump duplicated Grover Cleveland's feat.  He won in 2016, lost his 2020 re-election bid, but then came back to win in 2024.

Of this group, Jefferson, Jackson, Cleveland, and Trump were nominees in three consecutive elections.

Truncated Presidential Terms

A full term for a US President is 4 years, which is 1,461 days.  Most presidents who did not reach the 1,461 days died in office, resigned, or had been elevated from the vice presidency to fill a vacancy.  However, there are four exceptions, presidents who served a full term and yet it was less than 1,461 days.  How does that work?

George Washington wasn't inaugurated until April 30, 1789.  As the new government was just getting started, Washington wasn't elected until April 6th.  He didn't leave Mt. Vernon until April 16 and was inaugurated upon arriving in New York City.  His first full term was 1,404 days.

John Adams served from March 4, 1797 to March 4, 1801.  Thanks to the absence of a leap day in 1800, his time in office was only 1,460 days.  Leap days don't occur in years divisible by 100 unless it is divisible by 400.  Thus, 2000 had a leap day for Bill Clinton's second term, but 1800 didn't for John Adams.

William McKinley's first term started on March 4, 1897 and ended on March 4, 1901.  Just like Adams, his term was missing a leap day in 1900.  Unlike Adams, he was reelected.  He was assassinated 6 months into his second term.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt served for 3 full terms and began a 4th when he died.  The 20th Amendment had been ratified shortly before his inauguration in 1933.  The amendment changed inauguration day from March 4 to January 20.  FDR's first term began on March 4, 1933, but ended on January 20, 1937.  This proved to be only 1,418 days.

Of note, both John Tyler (1841-1845) and Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) had longer partial terms than either Washington or Roosevelt's full terms.  Tyler took over after William Henry Harrison died only 1 month into office.  That left 1,430 days for Tyler's partial term.  Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination and served 1,419 days.

Presidents and the Supreme Court

Which president selected the most Supreme Court justices?  It should come as no surprise that President Washington, being the first President, had the opportunity to select every justice on the original court.  However, he only just surpassed another president.  Let's see which presidents had the most judicial picks and those with the fewest.

There have been 116 justices, 17 of whom were Chief Justices.  It is worth noting that the Court began with only 6 justices, before expanding to 7, 9, 10, and then shrinking to the current 9.

Four presidents did not select any justices.  William Henry Harrison (9) died only 1 month into office.  Zachary Taylor (12) died 16 months into office.  The Congress changed the law in order to prevent Andrew Johnson (17) from having an opportunity to select a justice.  Of note, the Court had 10 justices at the time and was slated to shrink to 7.  With Johnson's departure, the Court was restored to 9 justices.  Lastly, Jimmy Carter (39) didn't get to select a justice.

James Monroe (5), John Quincy Adams (6), John Tyler (10), Millard Fillmore (13), Franklin Pierce (14), James Buchanan (15), James Garfield (20), William McKinley (25), Calvin Coolidge (30), Gerald Ford (38), and Joe Biden (46) each selected one justice for the Court.

James Madison (4), Martin Van Buren (8), James K Polk (11), Rutherford B Hayes (19), Chester Arthur (21), JFK (35), LBJ (36), George HW Bush (41), Bill Clinton (42), George W Bush (43), and Barack Obama (44) each selected 2 new justices to the Court.  However, George W Bush had the opportunity to select the 17th Chief Justice, John Roberts.

John Adams (2), Thomas Jefferson (3), Theodore Roosevelt (26), Woodrow Wilson (28), Herbert Hoover (31), and Donald Trump (45) selected three each.  John Adams chose the longest-serving Chief Justice, John Marshall.  Of note, Marshall was the 4th Chief Justice despite being chosen by only the 2nd president.  Hoover selected Charles Evans Hughes for Chief Justice; Hughes had been an associate justice and was Chief Justice William Howard Taft's chosen successor.

Ulysses Grant (18), Grover Cleveland (22 & 24), Benjamin Harrison (23), Warren Harding (29), Harry Truman (33), Richard Nixon (37), and Ronald Regan (40) selected 4 justices for the Court.  Most of these presidents also selected a new Chief Justice among the four picks.  Grant chose Marrison Waite, Cleveland selected Melville Fuller, Harding installed former President William Howard Taft, Truman picked Fred Vinson, Nixon chose Warren Burger, and Reagan elevated William Rehnquist (Rehnquist had been one of Nixon's Associate Justice picks).

Abraham Lincoln (16) and Dwight Eisenhower (34) each had 5 Court picks.  Lincoln chose Salmon Chase as the Chief Justice.  Eisenhower selected Earl Warren to be Chief Justice.

Andrew Jackson (7) and William Howard Taft (27) selected 6 justices for the Court.  Jackson replaced John Marshall with Roger Taney, the Chief Justice who is forever stained with the Dredd Scott decision.  Taft, who would later be appointed Chief Justice, elevated Edward D White to be Chief Justice.  He would replace White only a decade later.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (32) chose 9 justices during his three terms as president.  He elevated Harlan F Stone, an associate justice, to be the Chief Justice.

George Washington (1) selected 10 justices for the Court.  Though there were only 6 justices at the time, the turnover was higher.  In these early days, the Court didn't possess the prestige or power that it would gain in later years.  For the first Chief Justice, he chose John Jay.  Jay stayed in the position for 5 years before resigning to run for governor of New York (he won).  Washington next chose John Rutledge.  Rutledge had been rejected for associate justice by the Senate in 1789 and, when the Senate was again in session, he was rejected for Chief Justice as well.  He served about 5 months as Chief Justice.  Thus, Washington chose the 3rd Chief Justice, Oliver Ellsworth.

Send in the Rookies!

Much has been said about Trump selecting people with insufficient experience, especially from those who have buckets of experience (I'm looking at you, John Bolton).  However, look at what we are getting for our hyper-experienced government employees: disaster.  I am reminded of a quote from William F Buckley: 

I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory, than by the Harvard University faculty.

Experience in government is bad.  The longer people are in government, the more corrupt they will be.  It is not by accident that people with 6-figure salary soon have an 8-figure net worth.  When trillions of dollars are sloshing around, it is very hard to resist appropriating some.  Shrinking government would be a great first step, but only noobs can do that.  After a few years, only the most ethical of people can avoid being corrupted.  Ron Paul managed to stay true to his limited government principles even after 20 years in the House.

During his first term, President Trump tinkered with the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which gave us bureaucrats outside the purview of the president.  The spoils system - which saw the president sweep all the offices and give them to supporters - was in poor regard.  Yeah, that's hardly a surprise.  The Pendleton Act took most offices out of the president's hands, effectively making them unresponsive to executive control.  Spoils was bad, but this has proven worse.

Maybe Javier Milei's chainsaw is available.  We have vastly more deadwood to trim than Argentina.

The Anderson Tapes (1971)

Robert "Duke" Anderson (Sean Connery) is released from prison after a 10-year sentence.  His first order of business is to hookup with his old flame, Ingrid (Dyan Cannon).  She happens to be living in an upscale building, thanks to her sugar daddy, Werner (Richard Shull).  The wealth on display get Duke's larcenous desires sparking and he starts planning a heist.  He will need help, including funding and manpower.  He checks in with local mob boss, Pat Angelo (Alan King).  Of course, Angelo is under surveillance and everything that he and Duke discuss is recorded.  Then Duke checks in with the Kid (Christopher Walken), a youth who was released from prison the same day as him.  The Kid was in for drugs and is under surveillance, so everything Duke says to him is recorded.  This repeats with each new recruit, though a different law enforcement agency is recording.  In one case, a private eye is doing the recording.  All the pieces of the planned heist have been revealed but no one sees the whole picture.  The caper launches with the police in the dark.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion.  The various residents of the apartment complex are being interviewed on site as the police carry away bodies on stretchers or attend wounds to the tenants.  Clearly, something went seriously wrong with the heist, but what?  Were the police in the know?  Had they been lying in wait?  How many of Duke's men escaped?

The movie is a commentary on the surveillance state that the US had become but also the uselessness of that surveillance.  Indeed, even today it always turns out that the various law enforcement agencies - most notably the FBI - have a file on the latest mass shooter or bomber.  Is Lumet arguing that surveillance does not help prevent crimes?  Maybe.

This was Christopher Walken's first big screen role.  The halting cadence that is frequently used to mimic him is absent here.  Where this was Walken's first movie, it proved to be Margaret Hamilton's last.  She plays one of the tenants here though she is most remembered as the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz (1939).  Also of note, Garrett Morris plays a cop.  This predates his debut as one of the original SNL cast members in 1975.  When I first saw this movie, I expected him to be comic relief rather than a police commando.

This is one of 5 collaborations between Sean Connery and Sidney Lumet.  The first was The Hill (1965), which is the best of the bunch.  Next was The Offence (1973), which is a bleak, dark film.  Then Murder on the Orient Express (1974), where Connery has a small role, and lastly Family Business (1989), which was mediocre.

Just okay.

Borderline (1980)

Jeb Maynard (Charles Bronson) is the head honcho of the La Mesa office of the US Border Patrol.  Illegal crossings have gone way up recently so Jeb sent to Washington for more help - maybe a dozen men; instead, only Jimmy Fante (Bruno Kirby) has been sent.  That night, Jeb takes Jimmy - affectionately nicknamed "the kid" - with him on a border sweep.  Meanwhile, veteran Scooter Jackson (Wilford Brimley) will patrol the highway for suspicious vehicles.  The uptick in crossings can be linked to a new coyote, El Marino (Ed Harris), a Vietnam veteran who has useful skills for smuggling people into the United States.  He is also willing to up the stakes, since he carries firearms.

The story follows Jeb's efforts to find the murderer of one of his border agents and break up a major smuggling ring.  Though the murder officially falls under FBI jurisdiction, they think it is drug-related.  Yeah, even in 1980, the FBI was incompetent.  Jeb has to use boot prints, tomatoes, tire tracks, and an illegal alien to track the murderers.

This was Ed Harris' first big movie role.  He brings his standard intensity to the role, making El Marino an intimidating adversary.

Despite being a 44-year-old movie, it demonstrates how the southern border is a longstanding problem that remains unresolved.  In the movie, it is suggested that illegals are actively imported by big business as cheap labor.  Amazingly, the big businessman behind the scheme (Michael Lerner) is found not guilty in court; he gets away with it though his underlings go to jail.  Of note, there was a lot of cooperation with and input from the US Border Patrol during the making of the film.

Just okay.

The Naked Face (1984)

Dr. Judd Stevens (Roger Moore) is a psychoanalyst in Chicago who has recently been widowed.  As such, his life is consumed by his work and meals at home alone.  Then, one of his patients is murdered.  Curiously, the patient was wearing Dr. Stevens' raincoat when he was stabbed to death.  Lt. McGreavy (Rod Steiger) and Detective Angeli (Elliott Gould) arrive to investigate.  McGreavy almost instantly suspects Stevens as the murderer.  Throughout the investigation, he is hostile to Stevens.  When more people in Dr. Stevens orbit die, Judd starts investigating on his own with the help of Private Investigator Morgens (Art Carney).  Judd believes he is the true target.

Filmed before Moore's final outing as James Bond in A View to a Kill (1985), this is an unusual role for him.  He is neither a lady's man nor a man of action.  When danger approaches, he runs away and hides in the backroom.  When fisticuffs are required, he gets beaten to a pulp.  When his brother-in-law, Dr. Peter Hadley (David Hedison), urges him to date, he begs off.  He's practically a shut-in.

Rod Stieger and Elliott Gould run the good cop - bad cop routine, Stieger being bad cop.  McGreavy's previous partner was killed by a psychopath some years earlier and Dr. Stevens' testimony was decisive for a successful insanity defense.  That explains McGreavy's hostility.  The usually wisecracking Gould has no personality here.  He is a bland character who serves as a whipping post for McGreavy's frustration or a sympathetic ear to Stevens' complaints about McGreavy.  The script does Gould no favors; it could have been a much better role.

Though it proved to be a small role, Art Carney is great as the private eye.  Of course, the haggard and world-weary private eye was his go-to role for some time (e.g. Sunburn, The Late Show).  Where Gould is bland and forgettable, Carney shines in his scenes.

Overall, it is just okay.  The cast is far better than the script.  There are not enough patients to make it a mystery as to which one is the source of Dr. Stevens troubles.  Ann Blake (Anne Archer) is a headliner among a bunch of unknown character actors.  Gee, what could this mean?  However, the ending did come as a surprise.

The Blanket Pardon

Despite promises to the contrary, President Biden has pardoned his son for all crimes - whether convicted, charged, or even suspected - from 2014 through today, December 1, 2024.  Wow, we didn't see that coming at all.  What a huge surprise.  Sure, every political pundit predicted exactly this would happen, but otherwise this comes out of the blue.  Yes, with all the Trump cases dropping away, there is no longer any need to appear 'unbiased' and 'evenhanded' regarding justice.  Nope, now there is no political cost to President Biden for pardoning his son.  Yeah, it may look bad in the history books, but family is family.

Now the real fun begins.  Soon, there will be stories in the media why this was the right thing to do, a noble thing to do, and mostly Trump's and/or Republicans' fault.  Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, is going to have a stressful day tomorrow.  Good luck.

Elisha Kane, Arctic Explorer

During the Mexican-American War, Albert Brackett was a lieutenant in an Indiana Volunteer regiment under the command of General Joseph Lane.  In December of 1847, while garrisoned in Puebla, Bracket met Dr. Elisha Kane of the US Navy.  Kane had been escorted by the Spy Battalion (Mexicans who fought for the US and were used to counter the guerrillas that lurked along the national highway) and even found himself in a confrontation with guerrillas.  While Colonel Dominguez, leader of the Spy Battalion, wanted to shoot the captured guerrillas, Kane convinced him to turn them over to the regular army in Puebla.  In addition to saving them from being shot, Dr. Kane saved the life of one of the injured captives.  Interesting, but why does Brackett make a point of mentioning a random courier who passed through Puebla?  By the time Brackett wrote his memoir, Kane was famous.

Elisha Kane graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1842 and joined the US Navy the following year as an assistant surgeon.  He sailed the world aboard the USS Brandywine, having a variety of adventures but nothing to earn him fame.  Not long after his return to the US, he requested that Secretary of State James Buchanan send him as an envoy to Mexico City during the war.  Thus, in the Fall of 1847, he was dispatched with a message to General Winfield Scott.

After the war, he was back to regular naval service.  Of course, the issue of the time was what happened to Sir John Franklin's expedition in the Arctic?  Lady Jane Franklin had appealed to President Zachary Taylor to help find her missing husband.  However, the US Congress was clearly not keen on buying ships for such a task.  In stepped Henry Grinnell, a successful American merchant.  He purchased two brigs - the Rescue and the Advance - and loaned them to the US government.  Elisha Kane was the chief medical officer of the expedition.  On this first expedition, the graves of three of Sir John's crewmen were discovered, but no more.

Upon his return, Kane spoke about his arctic travels to many groups and eventually wrote a book about the Grinnell Expedition.  In 1853, Grinnell funded a second expedition and Kane was given command of the USS Advance.  This time, he pressed further north, providing a path for future explorers to reach the north pole.  He returned in October of 1855, still having failed to find Sir John Franklin.  Even so, he was hailed as a hero.  He traveled to England to report his failure to find Sir John to Lady Jane Franklin.

Kane had never had the best constitution.  He had originally set out to be a civil engineer, but his health argued against it.  Thus, he switched to medical school.  Despite his physical ailments, he again pursued an active career.  He had contracted coast fever (probably malaria) in Africa during his time on the Brandywine, forcing him to return to the US to recover.  After the 2nd Grinnell Expedition, his health was once again failing.  He went to Havana to recover.  He died there in February 1857.  He was only 37.

The Terror (2018)

In 1850, Captain Sir James Ross treks into the frozen Artic to locate a missing expedition.  The Eskimo says that he did encounter a dying Englishman.  Ross provides pictures of the various officers and the Eskimo points to Captain Francis Crozier (Jared Harris).

In 1845, Captain Sir John Franklin (Ciaran Hinds) was given command of the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus to map the Northwest Passage.  He was aided in this by Captain Crozier and Commander James Fitzjames (Tobias Menzies).  The ships had particularly thick hulls to protect against ice and also possessed steam-powered engines to both drive the propellor and provide warmth to the ship.  In September of 1846, the ships get stuck in the ice and have to wait for the summer thaw to sail further.  The thaw never comes.  Instead, they are beset by an Inuit spirit beast that takes the form of a deformed polar bear.  In addition to the bear, the crew suffer from lead poisoned food, scurvy, and a growing threat of mutiny.

This 10-episode series follows the fate of the lost expedition as well as the efforts of Sir John's wife, Jane Franklin (Greta Scacchi) to send a rescue mission.  The series ends where it began, in the tent with Sir James Ross discussing the fate of the crew.

The setting is excellent and the characters well-realized.  The British stiff upper lip and never say die mentality shines through.  If the number of problems had been reduced by one, Crozier would likely have brought most of the men back to civilization.  It hardly matters which one, but there is definitely the straw that broke the camel's back here.

Recommended.

Bruno Leoni

On a recent EconTalk, Michael Munger discussed the underrated economist, Bruno Leoni.  Leoni held that law should emerge in a manner similar to a market.  The current system of topdown legislation is just as backwards as central planning for an economy.  As an example, Munger suggested that rather than paving paths between buildings on a college campus, builders should wait a year and see where the muddy paths emerge.  That is where you pave.  Of course, we have all seen cases where the builders paved first only to find trails blazed through the grass thereafter.  By this system, law would emerge through judicial rulings: case law.  I have long disliked case law as creating bad precedents (e.g. Plessy v. Ferguson, Rowe v. Wade, etc.), but those eventually fell away by the same process that brought them into being.  Could this be a reasonable means of enacting law?

Bruno Leoni was an Italian economist who was unfortunately murdered at the age of 54.  However, such economists as James Buchanan and Friedrich Hayek - both Nobel Prize winners - credit Leoni for influencing their work.  Had Leoni lived longer, his works might be as well-known as theirs.

The idea of law emerging like a market seems backwards, but it does harken back to how it was done in earlier days.  There was a time when people would bring their disputes to the ruler and ask him to decide.  His decision became law.  As societies grew larger, this method became impractical.  Or did it?  Let the law emerge through judicial rulings.  Other judges may adopt the reasoning of a deciding judge or overrule it.  Over time, those muddy paths that persist will be paved while those that don't will see the grass return.

Seeing where legislatures have brought us, it looks like Leoni has a point.  A legislator is there to legislate.  That we already have far too many laws is beside the point.  If you are a hammer, all you see is nails.  If you are a legislator, you need to make laws.  It might be that the US had hit the perfect number and balance of laws in 1972 and everything since has just been busywork for bored lawmakers.  On the other hand, a judge exists to rule on the law.  The judge could give the same ruling scores of times, further paving that well-tread path.  The judge only needs to rule on those issues that are presented in court by plaintiffs, not write law suggested by lobbyists.  Leoni is onto something here.

Outstanding episode and highly recommended.

Rogue Elements (2024)

In Estonia, a CIA team attempts to extract an informant.  The operation is compromised, and the team is either killed or captured.  Volkov, who is in charge of the Russian forces, suddenly finds himself targeted by an unseen sniper.  He escapes though not all of his men survive.  A video showing the interrogation and execution of the captured CIA agents was sent to Langley.  Volkov was most interested in discovering who rescued Maras from a Siberian prison; Ryan Drake's name was offered.  The CIA director is not happy.  Ryan Drake is sent to recover the informant, which will probably end up being a trap.  His teammates are less than eager.  Drake and Frost - who is the computer whiz of the group - infiltrate the warehouse while Deitrich - who is fluent in Russian - provides a distraction at the front gate.  Things go mostly smoothly until Frost realized there are Rogue Elements involved.  The mysterious sniper from the opening returns to finish the job.

The story takes place sometime after the events in Redemption.  Anya, AKA Maras, was tortured by Volkov and she intends to settle that score.  She owes Drake a debt for her extraction but she's not going to let him get in the way of her vengeance.

Drake and his team come across as only moderately competent.  The same is true of the Russians.  The original CIA team was clearly incompetent to have been so easily surprised and taken down.  Even Anya, who has the most experience, makes some boneheaded blunders.  Most surprising was how the female characters repeatedly stood toe to toe with larger men while brawling.  Sorry, not going to happen.  The idea of Frost holding the knife away from her neck while a man twice her size is shoving down with his weight is just unbelievable.  Clearly, the makers knew that which is why the villain says, "I'm not even trying."  Yeah, okay.

In his Critical Drinker persona, I doubt Will Jordon would speak favorably of this.  It's a run-of-the-mill espionage story with a predictable plot and uninspiring characters.  Given the time constraints - it is only 40 minutes, there isn't much room to develop the characters or have an intricate plot.  Of course, this is basically a pilot, an effort to get something more going for his Drake series (9 books so far).  I would watch episode 2, which makes this a success.

When the States Joined

One accomplishment that is usually listed under the record of a president is the states that were added during his term.  The last state added, Hawaii, was during the Eisenhower Administration.  Which president oversaw the most states added to the Union?  Surely, Washington would be the obvious guess.  But that would be incorrect!  Let's have a look from the least to the most.

ZERO STATES

John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, FDR, and Harry Truman added no states during their tenure.  Of course, anyone after Eisenhower is clearly in the zero states camp as well.  That would be JFK, LBJ, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.  

ONE STATE

- Thomas Jefferson added Ohio, the 17th State, in 1803.

- John Tyler added Florida, the 27th State, on March 3, 1845.  He left the Presidency the following day.

- Millard Fillmore added California, the 31st State, in 1850.

- Andrew Johnson added Nebraska, the 37th State, in 1867.

- Ulysses Grant added Colorado, the 38th State, 1876.

- Grover Cleveland added Utah, the 45th State, in 1896.  This happened in his second term, which is noteworthy because it was not consecutive with his first.

- Theodore Roosevelt added Oklahoma, the 46th State in 1907.

TWO STATES

- James Madison added Louisiana (18th) in 1812 and Indiana (19th) in 1816.

- Andrew Jackson added Arkansas (25th) in 1836 and Michigan (26th) in 1837.

- Abraham Lincoln added West Virginia (35th) in 1863 and Nevada (36th) in 1864.  It is noteworthy that West Virginia had been part of Virginia and chose to breakaway as a new state to join the Union.  Of course, Lincoln also lost a number of states but that's a topic for another blog.

- William Howard Taft added New Mexico (47th) and Arizona (48th), both in 1912.

- Dwight Eisenhower added Alaska (49th) and Hawaii (50th) in 1959.

THREE STATES

- James K Polk added Texas (28th) in 1845, Iowa (29th) in 1846, and Wisconsin (30th) in 1848.

- James Buchanan added Minnesota (32nd) in 1858, Oregon (33rd) in 1859, and Kansas (34th) in 1861.  Interestingly, he added Kansas after South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana had already seceded.

FIVE STATES

- George Washington added North Carlonia (12th) in 1789, Rhode Island (13th) in 1790, Vermont (14th) in 1791, Kentucky (15th) in 1792, and Tennessee (16th) in 1796.  The first eleven states - Delaware (1), Pennsylvania (2), New Jersey (3), Georgia (4), Connecticut (5), Massachusetts (6), Maryland (7), South Carolina (8), New Hampshire (9), Virginia (10), and New York (11) - had already been recognized as part of the country by ratifying the Constitution.  This happened before Washington was president.

- James Monroe added Mississippi (20th) in 1817, Illinois (21st) in 1818, Alabama (22nd) in 1819, Maine (23rd) in 1820, and Missouri (24th) in 1821.

SIX STATES

- Benjamin Harrison added North Dakota (39th), South Dakota (40th), Montana (41st), and Washington (42nd), all in the first two weeks of November in 1889.  Idaho (43rd) and Wyoming (44th) were added in July of 1890.  In a little more than 8 months, Harrison added 6 states.  It is also noteworthy that the US Census of 1890, which took place during Harrison's only term, declared an end to the American Frontier; the West was settled.

Maybe the Parties Did Flip?

Recently, someone noted that Trump, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Elon Musk all used to be Democrats.  In fact, Ronald Reagan had been a Democrat in his younger days.  Reagan often said that the party left him rather than he left the party. Tulsi had run for president as a Democrat during the 2020 primaries, but she soon broke with her party on topics such as LGBTQ, the border, and foreign policy.  Her views on all of these would have been mainstream Democrat in 2008 when Obama won the presidency, but were now viewed as 'far right' positions.  RFK Jr. has been an environmentalist for all of his professional life and a vaccine skeptic for nearly 20 years.  He was a Democrat through all that time until last year, when he became an independent.  Then he supported the Republican to Make America Healthy Again.  Why didn't his message resonate with his old party?  Elon voted for Biden in 2020.  However, the censorship that followed led him to buy Twitter.  Like RFK Jr., he is clearly on the environmentalist side of the aisle - traditionally aligning with Democrats - but he too switched to the Republican candidate.  Elon has tweeted this image to show how he didn't leave the party, it left him:

Remember, Obama opposed same sex marriage in 2008, the trans issue was on the far fringe, and Democrats were the anti-war party.  Today, Trump is anti-war, has no issue with same sex marriage, and opposes transgenderism with regard to minors.

When the party flip story is told, it is always about racism.  Democrats grew into anti-racists and Republicans - the party created to oppose slavery - adopted racism to win votes.  No.  That is false.  However, it does seem that the parties have traded some policies over the years.

Escape to Athena (1979)

It is 1944 in the Greek isles.  The Nazis are pursuing several escapees from the local prisoner of war camp.  Among them are Professor Blake (David Niven), Bruno Rotelli (Sonny Bono), and Nat Judson (Richard Roundtree).  The trio are brought back to the camp and the commandant, Major Otto Hecht (Roger Moore), talks to them like a disappointed father.  The SS Officer, Major Volkmann, would rather they were shot, but Hecht asserts his authority over camp prisoners.  Hecht is an Austrian art dealer who has found himself in the German Army.  In addition to the camp, he oversees the archeological site that provides valuable artefacts for the Third Reich.  Of course, he skims the best pieces for himself.

Charlie Dane (Elliot Gould) and Dottie Del Mar (Stephanie Powers) are American entertainers who were recently captured and routed to the camp.  Otto is quite pleased to welcome Dottie and arranges for her to have a private room where he visits.  Dane, who is obviously Jewish, he allows to arrange a show to entertain the guards.  In the nearby town, Zeno (Telly Savalas) leads the Greek resistance.  He plans to first capture the POW camp, then the town, and finally assault the communication station that has been setup at the monastery on Mount Athena.  Sounds like an exciting action movie in theory, less so in practice.

The movie suffers from too many characters and not a clear villain.  Early on, Major Volkmann is generally the villain.  Then the villain becomes a Nazi at Mount Athena.  Nor is there a central hero.  Though Zeno is the man behind all the action, he is tight-lipped and doesn't tell anyone what is happening.  As such, some events come as a surprise to his allies - Charlie, Bruno, & Nat - though not to Zeno.

Roger Moore is miscast as a German/Austrian officer.  He himself said as much.  However, the movie offered an opportunity to 'vacation' in the Greek isles with his friend David Niven and have nights on the town with Telly Savalas.  I imagine this movie was a lot of fun to make.

Charlie is a fast-talking goofball who somehow transforms into a wisecracking commando.  The transition from one to the other was quite sudden and entirely unbelievable.  Of all the men Zeno could take on his assault on Athena, he chose Charlie?  Of course, Charlie didn't want to be a commando, but there was the promise of vast piles of gold.  Crazy as it was, Charlie proved to be a highlight of the movie.

There are a couple of love stories in the mix.  Major Hecht pursues Dottie, which is awkward considering he is her jailor.  Then there is Zeno and Elena (Claudia Cardinale), the madam of the local brothel.  In addition to his love interest, she plays his conscience.  Yes, she is less than keen on his risking lives of Greeks on his grand designs.

The finale turned into a Bond film, as the Nazis deploy a rocket from a secret base to sink the allied fleet.  What?  As if this film wasn't bonkers already.

Light, mindless, popcorn fun.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Recently, I clicked on video about the movie Barry Lyndon, something along the lines of why it is a great movie.  Of course, I have long viewed it as the worst movie Kubrick ever made, at least of the ones I've seen.  Yes, the cinematography is glorious, the lighting magnificent, the costumes outstanding, and the setting astonishingly well realized.  However, Barry Lyndon is a terrible human being.  If he had been shot dead by the highway robbers at the beginning of his story, the world would have been a better place.  The only time I even mildly respected Lyndon was when he fired his shot at the ground rather than blowing the head off his insufferable stepson.

In many ways, the movie reminds me of Martin Scorsese films.  The hero is actually a villain but is glorified on film.  There is no empathizing with these sociopaths.  I want a hero's journey, not a villain's journey.  It's not even a morality tale, warning the viewer away from such behavior.

Because I clicked on that video, I have been fed more and more Barry Lyndon-related videos, all of them painting it as a wonderful film, maybe Kubrick's best.  Ugh.  He had wanted to do a period piece and had been working on a Napoleon film.  However, Waterloo (1970) was released as a box office loser, nixing funding for more Napoleon films in the near future.  He shelved Napoleon and switched to Barry Lyndon.  Oh, the tragedy!

Only the devoted Kubrick fan - who wants to see all his films - should waste time on this travesty.  Thumbs way down.

The Fictional Party Flip

Democrats are always eager to explain away the past dark periods of their party by explaining how the parties flipped.  Post Civil War, blacks supported the Party of Lincoln, the Republican Party.  Democrats may have been forced to surrender slavery, but they imposed Jim Crow as soon as Reconstruction ended.  This continued for decades, especially since the Republicans held dominance in the government from 1861 until 1913.  In 1913, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated president and reintroduced segregation in federal workplaces.  He was an apologist for the South and screened Birth of a Nation at the White House.  However, when FDR was elected in 1932, he retained segregation.  In 1948, Harry Truman desegrated the military.  In 1954, during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Court overturned the policy of 'separate but equal.'  Eisenhower set about enforcing this with the National Guard and pushing both the 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts.

By the time JFK arrived in office, the writing was on the wall for segregation.  It was doomed and any Democrat with sense was going to abandon it.  Where Republicans had argued to just treat blacks like everyone else, Democrats embraced a strategy of one-upmanship.  Not only would they pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act (with strong bipartisan support), but they would also implement affirmative action.  Though a noble goal, it assumed employers were guilty of discrimination if the pool of employees did not match local demographics.  So, the Democrats went from discriminating against blacks to now discriminating in their favor.  Low grade reparations?  Though Republicans continued with the same old policy of just treat everyone the same, that now meant repealing quotas.  That's anti-black!  Sigh.

The Democrats have spent decades claiming that Republicans are holding blacks back and yet, most blacks live in cities that have been governed by Democrats for all those decades.  For instance, Detroit hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1962.  Whose fault is the decline of that city?  What about St. Louis?  Last Republican mayor left in 1949.  Philadelphia?  Last Republican mayor left in 1952.  The modern Democrats are the same as the old Democrats, they have just changed their tactics.  The Democrats have trapped blacks in a new kind of plantation - harvesting their votes during election season by blaming the Republicans for their misery.