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He did it!  He actually pulled it off!

Unforgiven (1992)

In Big Whiskey, Wyoming, a cowboy had badly scarred a prostitute.  Where the prostitutes wanted the sheriff, Little Bill Dagget (Gene Hackman), to hang the two cowboys, he opted to have them pay restitution.  To the brothel owner, not the mutilated woman.  Infuriated, the women pooled their money to hire gunmen to kill the cowboys.

William Munny (Clint Eastwood) is a poor Kansas farmer with two kids.  His wife died nearly three years ago.  It is a hard life.  While trying to separate diseased pigs from healthy ones, a rider appears.  The Schofield Kid is off to collect a bounty in Wyoming.  He doesn't want to go alone.  Will was a terror in his younger days, a violent drunkard who killed without compunction.  "I'm not that man anymore," he explains, declining the offer.  However, he soon reconsiders and rides off to enlist his old buddy, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman).  The pair find the Schofield Kid on the way to Wyoming.

English Bob (Richard Harris) is known as the Duke of Death, at least that is the title of the dime novel on his adventures in the West.  He arrives in Big Whiskey to collect the bounty but soon discovers an old acquaintance: Little Bill.  It is far from a happy reunion.

There are no heroes.  The Old West is a brutal place where self-interest outweighs all.  The tales told by Little Bill, Ned Logan, and William Munny paint a picture of violence and murder.  These are not good men, though they may be men of their time and place.

Recommended.

The Tick (season 2)

After his televised heroics, Arthur found his old accounting job didn't want a superhero as an employee.  For the time being, he would need to rely on savings.  While depositing his severance check, bank robbers struck!  One of the bank robbers proved to be Lobstercules.  While Tick engaged the giant crustacean in battle, Arthur managed to pull a shoe from one of the goons.  Sadly, all of them escaped.  Could they locate Lobstercules lair in the sewers by a forensic examination of the shoe?  Thanks to the fall of the Terror and his gang, AEGIS, a SHIELD-like agency, has reopened its office in the city.  In fact, AEGIS has proposed establishing a new Flag Five.  Tick and Arthur eagerly apply.  However, Overkill is a fugitive from AEGIS.  He had been a former agent until a mission went badly and he received the blame.  Can he find the real party responsible for the catastrophe and clear his name?  Dot, Arthur's sister, has been having visions.  In fact, she has precognition!  She can predict the near-future, which allows her to dodge bullets!  The bizarre incident at the Terror's capture when Arthur's garrulous stepfather managed to defeat half a dozen goons while blindfolded is explained.  Not all of the Terror's organization has been defeated.  The lightning-tossing villain, Miss Lint, has decided to switch sides.  Now Joan of Arc, she has taken to blasting all the criminals who are moving in on her turf.

It is an entertaining show but lacks focus.  There are too many stories to tell and no binding villain like the Terror to hold it together.  There are big hints at what a third season would hold but the series was not renewed.

Good popcorn fun!

The Tariff Negotiator

And the tariffs are on pause.  Why?  Because both Mexico and Canada have agreed to Trump's demands on border security.  Access to the US economy is like one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets and Trump leveraged that golden ticket to get our neighbors on board with his new border policies.  Though there was a blip of resistance with claims of counter tariffs, that was nothing more than face-saving bluster.  As pointed out in an earlier blog, the US accounts for a huge portion of Canada and Mexico's economies whereas they are just a sliver of ours.  They were kittens meowing at a lion.

To guarantee follow through on these promises, Trump has only paused the tariffs.  Let's not have those agreements where we live up to our end while the other side doesn't.

It is funny that so much was made of Trump's tariff threat after he had used it so successfully against Colombia.  Will there be as much shock and dismay when next he rolls out his tariff tactic?  Probably.

The Tick (season 1)

When he was a boy, Arthur Everest (Griffin Newman) was out with his father when suddenly the Flag Five's ship plummeted from the sky.  His father was killed.  The blinded members of the Flag Five stumbled from the wreckage only to be killed by the goons of The Terror (Jackie Earle Haley).  In one fell swoop, Arthur had lost his father, the superhero team of his hometown, and stared into the face of the Terror.  Unsurprisingly, he is not a well-adjusted adult.  Though the Terror was reportedly killed by Superion (Brendan Hines) - a Superman-like hero, Arthur doesn't believe it.  He has spent the 10 years since the Terror's supposed death looking for signs that he is still alive.  One night, he sneaked onto the grounds of a warehouse and witnessed something going down.  Moreover, he met the Tick (Peter Serafinowicz).  Though the Tick has immense strength and is nigh invulnerable, he's not very bright.  The Tick eagerly attached himself to Arthur.  Together, they will ferret out the Terror and foil his dastardly plan, whatever that might be.

To complicate matters, Arthur has a well-meaning older sister, Dot (Valorie Curry), who urges him to both abandon his quest for the long-dead Terror and avoid the obviously disturbed Tick.  There is also Overkill (Scott Speiser), a Punisher-like vigilante who is out for revenge.  He does not reveal his reasons for wanting to kill the Terror.  Overkill has a self-aware boat, Dangerboat (Alan Tudyk) that serves as his lair and sidekick.  One of the Terror's former lieutenants, Ms. Lint (Yara Martinez), can fire bolts of lightning.  However, she is rather staticky as a result and attracts a lot of lint, thus her name.

The Tick has been different in each incarnation, from comicbook (1980s) to the cartoon (1994 to 1997) to first live-action series (2001-2002) to this.  Where the 2001-2002 series was a straight episodic sitcom, this one is a miniseries with an overarching story.  There is plenty of comedy, but far less silliness.  Also, Arthur is the main character and Tick is the sidekick.  Despite the change in tone and humor from each iteration, Ben Edlund - creator of the Tick - has been involved in all of them.

Lots of fun and highly recommended.

On Threat of Tariff

President Trump warned that he would levy tariffs, and he has done just that.  Colombia refused to accept repatriated Colombians.  Have a tariff.  Canada and Mexico aren't securing their borders with the US.  Tariff.  China is still enabling the Fentanyl trade.  Tariff.

Though Trump has claimed that these countries would be paying into the US treasury with these tariffs, that is looking at the tariff backwards.  If Canada was selling widgets in the US for $10, but now they are $12.50 thanks to the tariff, who is paying the extra $2.50?  Well, the customer.  That would be the American who chose to buy the Canadian widget despite the price increase.  So, does this just make the tariff self-defeating?  No.  Widget buyers in American will now be more likely to buy American widgets or maybe Italian or German widgets, which are now cheaper than the Canadian widget.  Overall, the number of widgets - and other products - that Canada sells in the US will drop.  The higher the tariff goes, the greater the fall in sales of Canadian goods.

Let's look at the big picture.  Canada exports approximately $500 billion in goods to the USA, while the US sends about $450 billion to Canada.  Now, that $500 billion accounts for almost one quarter of the Canadian economy.  By contrast, the $450 billion is only 2% of the US economy.  Who has leverage here?  A trade war between the US and Canada will be devastating for one and barely an inconvenience to the other.

How about Mexico?  Mexico exports $493 billion to the US while importing only $362 billion from the US.  That means 35% of the Mexican economy counts on US trade while less than 2% of the US economy depends on exports to Mexico.  Which party should be more eager to prevent an interruption in the status quo?

Many countries have based their economies on selling to the US, because the US is the biggest economy.  Being on the receiving end of a trade war with the US will be a heavy blow to their economies.  The tariff is not meant to be implemented long term.  It is a negotiation tool that encourages our trade partners to implement our preferred policies.

Secret Level

Amazon has a new original series called Secret Level.  It is an anthology of 15 stories - each about 10 to 15 minutes long - that are based on various video games.  The tone varies widely from one to another.  Some are quite dark while others are light and funny.  Arnold Schwarzeneggar has a role as a conquering king who repeatedly resurrects each time he dies.  His repeated efforts and failures are quite funny.  "And yet Aelstrom lives," he proudly states each time he finds himself alive again, always posing to display his muscular physique.  Such a great role for Arnie.  In another, Keanu Reeves is a mercenary pilot of a battlemech on a mission against a mysterious band who are almost as skilled as him, maybe even more skilled.  There is a Dungeons and Dragons story, a martial arts adventure, a modern day shoot 'em up between competing mercenary teams, a chase through space at lightspeed where the pursed and the pursuer age at different rates, a game of Go in a fantastical AI city, Warhammer 40,000, and even a bizarre take on Pac-Man.  Much of the animation was done with screen capture.  It gives the characters more vitality than typical CGI animation.  I hope some of these stories get another chapter next season.

Great popcorn fun and highly recommended.

The Paper Chase (1973)

James Hart (Timothy Bottoms) is a first-year law student on his first day at Harvard University.  He arrives in Professor Kingsfield's (John Houseman) class to learn about contract law and, to his utter surprise, is called upon to relate the details of a case.  He had expected a first-day introduction, not a leap into the material.  Utterly humiliated, he soon joins a study club with 5 other students to get up to speed.  Though he quickly discovers that law school is more work than a fulltime job, he also finds a girlfriend, Susan (Lindsay Wagner).  Where Hart is trying to organize, categorize, and otherwise dissect the world and its interactions into legalese, Susan is a free spirit who dislikes Hart's efforts to classify their relationship and apply contract law to it.  Of course, his studies suffer thanks to his involvement with Susan.  Choices must be made.  Grades are key to his future.

Though Hart is clearly taking many classes, the only one that is ever shown is that of Professor Kingsfield.  With the study club, Hart volunteered to produce a study outline for contract law - Kingsfield - while the others took property, criminal, etc.  By the end of the semester, half the study group had either abandoned the group or dropped out of Harvard entirely.  The stress is intense.

John Houseman is terrific as Kingsfield.  It is no wonder he won an academy award for this performance.  He is the best part of this movie, far outshining all the other actors.  Despite the fact that Hart was a standout student in his class, he appears to not know him at the end of the semester, asking his name.  In fact, this happened several times.  "What is your name?" was one of Kingsfield's most repeated lines.  Is this a tactic to keep students humble?  A way to maintain neutrality toward students?  An indication that he views the students as so many "skulls full of mush" that are not currently worth remembering?  Whatever the reason, it was great.

After the class is done and tests have been taken, Hart has a chance encounter with Kingsfield.  He gushes over how much he got out of the class.  Kingsfield replies by asking his name.  LOL!  "Thank you, Mr. Hart."

As for the rest of the cast, they are fine.  They get the job done but nothing special.  An entertaining movie and worth watching.  Recommended.

Birthright Citizenship

Nigel Piddlewhite arrives in the US as an exchange student from York, England, to attend the University of Nebraska.  To his great delight, he meets Fiona Feversham who happens to be from Leeds, England.  Both are freshman and quickly hit it off.  By their sophomore year, they have married and have a son, Algernon Piddlewhite.  Upon graduation, Nigel and Fiona return to England with young Algernon to begin careers and have another child.  Life is great and Algernon soon has a younger brother and sister.  On his 18th birthday, an official-looking letter arrives from America!  It is a request for him to enroll in Selective Services.  Is he legally obligated to do so?  Might an effort to extradite him be made if he failed to enroll?  Is Algernon an American citizen?  Certainly, neither of his parents are American citizens.  Nor are his siblings.

Maria Cortes is 6 months pregnant when she pays a coyote to get her across the US border into Arizona.  She has cousins in Tucson who support her until she has the baby.  Little Ximena is a healthy baby girl.  However, ICE has grabbed Maria and want to deport her.  Immigration lawyers declared the Ximena is an American citizen and the US must let her mother stay to raise her.  Is Ximena an American citizen or is she the same nationality as her mother who just happened to be born in another country?

The 14th Amendment states that:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside

Was it the intent of the authors of this amendment to provide such a path to citizenship?  It must be remembered that this amendment was passed in the wake of the Civil War and with the intent of countering the Dred Scott Decision.  The 13th abolished slavery and the 15th provided the vote regardless of race.  The 14th granted citizenship to former slaves.  What was meant to be a one-and-done granting of citizenship has somehow morphed into birthright citizenship for the children of whomever can get across the border and give birth.

President Trump has signed an executive order that will see this issue hashed out in the courts in the near future.

The Final Pardons

With his presidency coming to a close, President Biden slipped in a few more pardons.  There is retired General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, all the members of Congress who served on the J6 Committee, various DC and US Capitol police, and, of course, three of his siblings and their spouses.  No, nothing to see here, move along.  Unlike his son, who was convicted of crimes and indicted for crimes, these people are not.  What is being pardoned?  The claim will be to prevent Trump from taking revenge on his enemies.  You know, we wouldn't want the president to target political rivals with the power of government, like when President Biden's DOJ went after Trump, Giuliani, Steve Bannon, etc.  This tells us more about the thinking of Biden than the thinking of Trump, because Biden already did what he thinks Trump might do.

Generally, accepting a pardon is equated with admitting guilt.  What exactly would each of these folks be admitting?  For what crimes could Trump's DOJ pursue them?  Milley should have been fired for the Afghanistan debacle, but that isn't criminal.  His backdoor chats with the Chinese during the interregnum were a sore spot with Trump, who called it treason, but is that worthy of pursuing now that tempers have calmed?  Rand Paul has been particularly active against Dr. Fauci, indicating that he lied to Congress and participated in illegal gain-of-function research.  Is he someone Trump would pursue or is Fauci being protected from Senator Paul now that the control has shifted to Republicans?  Now the J6 Committee is an interesting one.  Once the tapes were released in 2023, a different picture of the 'insurrection' was painted.  The Q-Anon Shaman was escorted to the Senate chambers by the Capitol Police!  Was the committee impartial or did it cherry pick the evidence to reveal while hiding mitigating facts?  Did it do anything criminal?  Biden must think there could be something there or why the pardons?  As far as the pardons for his family, that is doubtless for the same shenanigans that surrounded Hunter.

These create a bad precedent.  Pardons should be for specific crimes, not a shield against any future prosecution.  When Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for all the draft dodgers, it was for evading the draft.  It did not pardon them for assault, murder, fraud, etc.  A specific crime was pardoned.  The Constitution states:

 

...he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Providing a pardon without the crime is a case of putting the cart before the horse.

Trump Returns

Trump is back.  He is now the 2nd president to have non-consecutive terms, repeating the feat of Grover Cleveland: 1885 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897.  Trump's inaugural address was a long list of Biden policies that he will reverse or his own former policies that he will restore.  He spent a good portion of his speech decrying the damage done over the last 4 years and his intent to repair it.  Not one to shy away from hyperbole, he declared that the Golden Age of America was beginning now, and that the best four year of American history would follow.  Some of the highlights:

1. We're taking back the Panama Canal
2. Stay in Mexico policy restored
3. Gulf of Mexico is now Gulf of America
4. There are only two genders
5. Military ejected for failure to take COVID vaccine will be reinstated with back pay
6. No more wars.  He will be a peacemaker
7. Weaponization of DOJ will end
8. Denali in Alaska will once again be called Mount McKinley
9. Speaking of McKinley, he liked tariffs.  Let's do that again
10. External Revenue Service - collect taxes from other countries
11. Drill, baby, drill.  Let's get that liquid gold
12. End the electric car mandate
13. DOGE: the Department of Government Efficiency
14. Let's go to Mars!

America is the greatest country and every other country envies us.  They will envy us more now.

It was a practical speech that set out goals and expectations.  Here is the initial blueprint for America's future.  It was a call to arms against the powers that be.  It was missing the line: "There's a new sheriff in town," but it communicated that message loud and clear.  It lacked the soaring rhetoric of Reagan or Obama.  It had the subtly of a cudgel.

Black Moon Rising (1986)

In the salt flats of Utah, Earl Windom (Richard Jaeckel) tests his revolutionary hydrogen-powered car.  Not only does it run on hydrogen, but the sleek car - the Black Moon - has a rocket engine (like the Batmobile!) that gives it an extra boost of speed.  With the test successful, he sets out for Los Angeles to get additional funding.

In Las Vegas, Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is a professional thief on a mission.  He has been contracted by the Department of Justice to recover incriminating tapes from a corporation.  No sooner has he acquired the tape than the alarm sounds, and he is on the run.  Worse, an old foe, Marvin Ringer (Lee Ving), is the chief of security who has no compuction about killing Quint to recover the tape.  Quint's vehicle is poked full of bullet holes during his flight.  As luck would have it, he encounters Earl and his crew at a gas station on the road to LA.  Seeing as they are both headed to the same spot, Quint hid the tape in the Black Moon.  Moments later, Ringer arrives and Quint is on the run again.

In Los Angeles, Nina (Linda Hamilton) sits at the bar of a high-end restaurant.  Of course, she shuts down a guy who hits on her.  However, she has a brief exchange with Quint, who is also at the bar.  Nina leaves and locks the restaurant door behind her.  A van full of men arrives in the parking lot and she instructs them which cars to steal.  She allocates the Black Moon to herself.  Despite Nina's impressive driving skills and the speed of the Black Moon, Quint follows her to Ryland Towers.  He quickly determines that it is a high-security facility.

Ed Ryland (Robert Vaughn) sells high-end stolen cars internationally.  To demonstrate just how dangerous he is, he orders the death of a foreign buyer for breach of payment while watching the killing on a closed-circuit TV.  He is unimpressed that Nina has stolen the Black Moon, which is unique and basically unsellable.  Clearly, the relationship between Ryland and Nina is on the rocks.

The pieces are now in place.  Can Quint recover the tape from the Black Moon and get it to the DOJ before it is needed in court?  Will he be able to convince Earl and his crew to help by promising to recover the Black Moon?  Can he dodge Marvin long enough to complete his plan?  Will Nina become a love interest?  Well, that one's a given.  But will she help him steal the Black Moon or remain loyal to Ryland?

For a movie that required a bunch of coincidences to tell its story, it takes that to the extreme.  At one point, Quint arrives at a location that no one could have predicted he would be and yet Marvin is waiting for him there.  Impossible!  Not only Marvin, but the DOJ is also there!  What?!  Oh, and Bubba Smith - 6'7" former NFL defensive lineman - plays the most-intimidating DOJ agent you ever saw.

There are lasers, building infiltrations, car chases, gun fights, fisticuffs, sex scenes, explosions, and even a crazy flying car stunt.  It covers all the bases.  Though evil and almost omniscient, the villain isn't all that bright.  The movie is a little uneven in pacing.  Even so, this is a fun, action-packed, heist film.

Good popcorn fun.

Almost Heroes (1998)

It is 1804 and the Corps of Discovery has started its historic trip up the Missouri River and trek to the Pacific Ocean.  Meanwhile, Leslie Edwards (Matthew Perry) has grand plans of beating Lewis and Clark to the Pacific.  However, he needs a guide.  Bartholomew Hunt (Chris Farley) is just the man, if only Edwards can arrive in time to save him from execution.  The pair assemble their own corps of adventurers.  Of course, Edwards is a slave owner and brought Jonah (Bokeem Woodbine) along.  One cannot venture into the vast wilderness without a French guide: Guy Fontenot (Eugene Levy) fills that roll.  Inevitably, Frenchmen have Indian wives; Shaquinna (Lisa Barbuscia) is Guy's drop-dead gorgeous wife and Sacagawea knock off.  Though starting two weeks after Lewis and Clark, Edwards presses to overtake them.  There are many challenges to overcome: troops morale, a grizzly bear, Guy Fontenot's violent jealousy regarding his wife, river rapids, Indian tribes, acquiring eagle eggs, and most importantly, Hidalgo (Kevin Dunn) and his band of conquistadors.

The movie is mostly lowbrow slapstick silliness.  Edwards is an effete gentleman with delusions of competence while Hunt is Chris Farley, which is to say he lacks volume control and gesticulates wildly.  Guy spends most of his time verbally or physically attacking anyone who gazes upon his wife.  Bidwell (David Packer) is the designated slapstick victim, loosing body parts as the journey continues westward.  Then there is the story about the sheep shit pudding.  Sigh.  For a comedy, it is seldom funny.

As far as the historical setting, the most glaring anachronism was the presence of conquistadors.  Did these guys get lost in the 16th century and stumble into early 19th century America?  Obviously, as this is a silly comedy, it isn't meant to make sense and a goofball villain who styles himself as a conquistador is just the sort of silly nonsense one should expect.  That would be easier to accept if it had been funny.

Skip.

Jesse Stone

Jesse Stone is a former LAPD detective who moved across the country to Paradise, Massachusetts to be a small-town police chief.  Jesse is a divorcee and alcoholic.  These problems led him to leave California.

Stone Cold (2005): Police Chief Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) is called to the beach.  Officer Simpson had been patrolling and spotted a dog sitting among the rocks.  When he went to check on the dog, he saw a dead man, presumably the dog's owner.  The man had two bullet holes in his chest.  He was not a citizen of Paradise.  The investigation has hardly begun than another person is found dead with two bullet holes.  Is this one shooter or possibly two?  Jesse collects license plates and interviews the vehicle owners.  One couple, a husband and wife, strike Jesse as peculiar and worthy of further investigation.  Meanwhile, a rape case has also landed in his lap.  The victim is a high schooler.  Jesse arrests one of the boys and soon finds himself accosted by attorney Rita Fiore (Mimi Rogers) who threatens legal consequences.  After that, she throws herself at Jesse but he declines the offer.  He already has a bedmate, Abby Taylor (Polly Shannon).  Lastly, there is the question of the dog.  Initially, Jesse adopts the dog while he looks for a better home.  Inevitably, the serial murder, the rape case, and the dog adoption converge in the climax.

Night Passage (2006): Jesse Stone stared out at the ocean with his dog at his side.  A police officer stopped to check on him and observed that he smelled alcohol.  Jesse admitted to being drunk but said he'd sober up before he drives.  Moreover, he revealed that he's a former cop.  Despite being the second movie, this predates Stone Cold.  Here we see Jesse drive cross country with his dog to interview for the job of chief in Paradise.  He is a bit surprise when he gets the job.  "I wouldn't have hired me," he confides to one of the police officers.  He has hardly begun the job than his predecessor - Chief Carson - is found murdered.  While getting to know the town, he starts up an affair with Abby Taylor the city attorney.  He is also propositioned by Cissy Hathaway, wife of one of the city councilmen, Hasty Hathaway (Saul Rubinek).  Of course, Cissy has had many affairs.  Among the issues that he must tackle are a spousal abuse case, the murder of Chief Carson, and establishing a rapport with his 3 police officers.  Interestingly, because this is a prequel, a character who died in Stone Cold is brought back.  Unexpected.

For some reason, Jesse finds women throwing themselves at him.  Sure, he's played by Tom Selleck, but some random drunkard in his 50s shouldn't be getting this much action.  His ex-wife calls him regularly though we never see her.  One gets the impression that he still loves her but is exasperated and exhausted by her.  But he doesn't want her to stop calling.  In general, Jesse is a sad fellow who rarely smiles and might be suffering depression.  This is not Magnum P. I.

I watched these on Amazon.  Just okay.  Selleck fans might enjoy it.  However, Bosch is better.

Lt. Charles Hunter: Court Martial!

General Quitman had marched his brigade through unpleasant terrain to achieve a joint capture of Alvarado with the Navy under Commodore Perry.  However, upon arriving at the outskirts of Alvarado, he was startled to find the stars and stripes flying over the fortress.  In fact, the city was already captured and Quitman's march had been for naught.

With the fall of Vera Cruz, the troops at Alvarado had foreseen an inevitable loss to an American assault.  If Vera Cruz had fallen, Alvarado was doomed.  The garrison had marched away as soon as an American ship was spotted off the coast, evacuating with whatever war material it could.

For having captured 4 Mexican ships and captured two Mexican towns, Lt. Charles Hunter was court martialed.  He had arrived in the theater less than a week prior.  The charges pressed against him were 1) Treating with contempt his superior, and 2) disobedience of orders.  On the first, he had captured Alvarado without the authority to do so, he had captured Tlacotalpan without authority, and finally he had captured and burned a ship without authority.  On the second, he had been ordered to report to Captain Breese and assist in the blockade, not enter the harbor to capture the town.  Lastly, he failed to report in person to Commodore Perry at 10 AM.

Hunter's defense to the charges was that he had little choice.  When the enemy offers a white flag, what was he supposed to do?  Decline to accept the surrender?  When news of escaping ships came his way and he was not in immediate contact with his superior, what should he do?  Let them go?  Regarding the grounded ship, should he have left the cargo for the enemy to salvage?  When he arrived at Tlacolplan, should he have left the enemy ships at the port and declined the surrender of this town?  As for being late, he admitted to forgetting the appointment.

The findings were that he was guilty on both counts though not all the specifics.  He was therefore reprimanded and dismissed from the theater.  For an ambitious officer, this was a heavy blow.  Promotion and advancement, glory and distinction were won during conflicts.  He was sent back to the US to find out what would become of his career.

Though his immediate commanders did not appreciate his energy and flouting of command, the American public was more forgiving.  He was greeted as the hero of the hour in New York and presented a sword.  He gained the name of "Alvarado" Hunter.  In August 1847, he was given command of the schooner Taney and sent to the Mediterranean.

Lt. Charles Hunter: Scourge of Alvarado

As the Mexican-American War was underway, the US Navy needed more ships.  It purchased the USS Bangor and rechristened it as the USS Scourge, a gunboat.  Lt. Charles Hunter, then 37 years-old, was given command and sent to join the fleet in the Gulf of Mexico.  He arrived on station on the day that Veracruz had surrender.  He reported to Commadore Matthew Perry, who had recently taken over from Commadore Conner.

Commadore Perry had been serving as second in command for several months.  Now that Veracruz was secured, he had plans to capture less important ports, most notably Alvarado.  The US Navy had already made two efforts to capture the well-fortified port but had to retreat each time.  He had consulted with General Winfield Scott about a joint operation to capture Alvarado.  It was only a 30-mile march from Veracruz.  Scott agreed and allocated General Quitman's brigade to help capture Alvarado.  With this in mind, Perry ordered Lt. Hunter to Alvarado where he was to report to Captain Breese of the Albany.  There, he would maintain the blockade of that port.  Lt. Hunter eagerly set out.

The Scourge was a steamer with only 3 guns and 50 men.  Arriving at Alvarado, Hunter saw no sign of the Albany.  The Albany was a sloop-of-war, having only sails for propulsion.  The wind along the gulf coast had presented difficulties for staying on station.  Certain that the Albany would appear in a day or two, the Scourge took up a position off the coast and fired at the fort.  The following day, he resumed his bombardment only to have the fort surrender!  Both pleased and astonished, he navigated into the port and demanded that Alvarado surrender.  The city complied immediately.  One of Hunter's crew was fluent in Spanish and learned that the garrison had fled after the bombardment, departing with several ships as well as military equipment.  Hunter left a midshipman and several sailors to hold the fort at Alvarado and immediately steamed upriver.

Shortly, he caught one of the ships.  It had run aground.  Viewing it as not worthy of salvage but also not wanting it left to the enemy, he set it ablaze.  Continuing his cruise, he captured 3 ships and secured the surrender of Tlacotalpan, a town on the Papaloapan River.  He put prize crews on the captured ships and returned to Alvarado.

When Commadore Perry received word of Lt. Hunter's exploits, he decided how to proceed in a snap.  Here was a man who had accomplished with one small ship what the whole fleet had failed to do on two previous occasions.  Clearly, this called for a court-martial!

Mohawk (2017)

It is the War of 1812 in upstate New York.  Joshua Pinsmail, a British agent, tries to enlist the Mohawk to the British cause.  Most of them refuse.  However, Calvin Two Rivers thinks they should fight the Americans.  Viewing his mission as a failure, Joshua ponders his departure; he will miss Okwaho, his Mohawk lover.  Joshua, Okwaho - nicknamed "Oak" - and Calvin travel together.  One night, Calvin left their camp and killed 20 American soldiers in their sleep!  Unsurprisingly, a band of Americans are soon on their trail for vengeance.  The Americans catch up to the trio just as the trio are conversing with other Mohawk.  The tense situation inevitably results in conflict where arrows fly and muskets bark.  The trio make good their escape, but the remaining Americans continue the pursuit.

The story transforms into a horror movie as Oak - who has had visions of a skull-faced apparition from the start - dons such a costume and hunts down the Americans.  Somehow, despite having suffered grievous wounds, she is able to outrun them, setup traps, and fight in toe-to-toe combat, and displays superhuman strength.  Has she been possessed by some Mohawk spirit of vengeance?  No.  She's just that cool.

Oak is the main character.  She wears a mini skirt and short-sleeved tunic.  She looks entirely unlike a Mohawk squaw.  Everyone else has a reasonably accurate period costume or uniform, so this proves to be a significant anachronism.  Worse, it all fits rather loosely so she isn't the gratuitously sexy Mohawk.

The Americans are led by Colonel Holt.  He has two soldiers, a tracker, and an interpreter.  Despite being deep in the woods and far from any backup, he acts as though he is leading a full regiment of men.  Whenever one of his men dies, he views it as a reason to continue rather than a warning that he is beyond his depth.  Worse, he expands his mission from simply capturing Calvin to capturing all three.  Why?  Basically, the Americans are doomed to self-destruct thanks to Holt's recklessness.

One of the Americans, Private Lachlan Allsopp, is a giant.  Played by Jon Huber, a real life wrestler, he towers over everyone at 6'5" tall.  Interestingly, Allsopp claims to be a veteran of the Battle of Tippecanoe, which took place in Indiana in 1811.  How is he still a private?

Mediocre.  Skip.

Trudeau Resigns

After nearly 10 years as prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation.  For most of my life, Canada was a land to the north that rarely made news.  It was a great place for generating talent, kind of like the minor leagues for baseball.  So many famous entertainers come from Canada, like Bob and Doug McKenzie.  Take off, hoser.  With the arrival of Trudeau, Canada started being newsworthy, and not in a good way.  Here is a handsome and charming man whose policies are clearly terrible.  Things have gotten demonstrably worse in Canada during his tenure.

The timing of his resignation is interesting.  If Kamala Harris had won the presidency, would Trudeau be on his way out?  Rather than a clearly contentious relationship with Trump in his near future, is he bowing out to let some other member of the Liberal Party get browbeaten by the Orange Overlord?  With a coming election this year that he is unlikely to win, why stick around for the coming turmoil.  Apres moi le deluge.

Though it is almost certainly a joke, the idea of Canada as a 51st state isn't such a bad idea.  Clive Cussler had it happen in one of the Dirk Pitt novels and that was pretty cool; I forget which novel that was, but a treaty where the UK sold Canada to the US for WWII aid was discovered in some sunken hulk.  As far as population and GDP, it is about the same as California.  Huh, Gavin Newsome and Justin Trudeau have that same quality of handsome charmers who sell snake oil policies.

Canada has turned a corner and better days lay ahead.

Strange Duty of VP Presidential Candidates

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris certified the 2024 election in favor of her opponent, Donald Trump.  She is not the first vice president to have that uncomfortable duty.  Al Gore certified the 2000 election - in which he won the popular vote - for George W Bush.  Hubert Humphrey certified Richard Nixon's 1968 victory.  Nixon could sympathize with Humphrey, having been in the same position in 1960, when he certified his defeat against John F Kennedy.  One has to go back a century to find another sitting VP and failed presidential candidate announcing his opponent's victory.  John C Breckinridge was James Buchanan's VP.  He was one of 3 candidates opposing Lincoln and placed 2nd in the electoral college.  In February 1861, he announced that "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having received a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, is elected President."  He then joined the Confederacy to oppose Lincoln in a less civilized fashion.

By contrast, only two VPs have had the joyous opportunity to preside over a victory.  VP George Bush certified his victory in the 1988 election.  Prior to him, one has to go back to Martin Van Buren who won the 1836 election as Andrew Jackson's VP.

The remaining two men who jumped directly from VP to presidency did so prior to the 12th Amendment.  As Washington's VP, John Adams was elected in 1796, but his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, won the vice-presidency.  The awkwardness of having the president and VP from rival parties brought about the 12th Amendment so that - generally - each party put up their picks for each office.  Thus, in 1800, Adams and Jefferson had a rematch but selected VP candidates; Aaron Burr for Jefferson and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for Adams.  The Jefferson-Burr ticket won, but both had identical electoral vote totals.  Now Burr argued that he had just as much right to be president as Jefferson.  This triggered a contingent election where the House had to choose, thus denying Jefferson the opportunity to announce his victory.

Stranger in a Strange Land

To explore Mars, humanity gathered a diverse and accomplished group of people - half men and half women - and sent them off.  Earth lost contact with the explorers before anything was learned of Mars.  25 years later, another ship was sent.  This one discovered a survivor of the first mission.  It was a young man named Michael Valentine Smith, who was born the first crew and raised by Martians.  Yes, there are Martians.   Michael then returned to Earth with the second mission and finds he is bewildered by the actions of humanity.  He is soon adopted by Jubal Harshaw, an all-knowing sage who rambles about how the world is and how it should be.  However, it turns out that Martians are vastly more advanced than humans, such that Michael can perform real magic.  When attacked, a pair of men simply vanished.  Nothing can truly threaten Mike unless he allows it.  As he matures, he discovers women.  You see, there are no sexes on Mars.  He is quite delighted by women.  When he explored religion, he decided it was all wrong and established a religion of his own, the Church of All Worlds.  This did not go over well with existing religions and Mike was soon the target of law enforcement and mobs.  Where will it all lead?

The book is long and mostly plodding.  Jubal will talk your ear off.  He is a lawyer and medical doctor, but earns a living by writing stories.  By the end, it felt like Heinlein had inserted himself into the book in the person of Jubal Harshaw.  For a sci-fi book, there isn't much sci-fi.  Sure, Mike can do telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, astral projection, and various other things, but that's nothing new.  There are flying cars, bounce tubes (new-fangled elevators that seem dangerous), space travel (not that it plays any part in the story after getting Mike to Earth), and what sounds like a 3D television.  Ugh.  You think commercials are bad now, the commercials interrupt the action in the future.  "And now back to the mob violence, sponsored by Space Soap."

Though Mike is the main character, he is mostly off screen.  His actions are described by others to the latest recruit or - most often - Jubal.  His new religion is communal living in a 'nest' where orgies and naked swim parties occur.  Yeah, there is a lot of sex, discussion of sex, sexual mores, and so on.  Learning Martian is key to gaining Mike's powers and he works at breakneck speed to generate a Martian dictionary and train his followers in Martian.

Overall, it was mediocre.  Maybe I didn't grok it.  I have liked most Heinlein books I have read, but stopped reading him after Friday.  The heroine was named Friday and she was an artificial person who, unbeknownst to her, was pregnant.  I don't recall much beyond that.  It was no Starship Troopers, Space Cadet, or Have Spacesuit Will Travel.  But there was a similar vibe between that book and Stranger.

Skip.

Catchfire (1990)

Anne Benton (Jodie Foster) suffered a flat tire while driving and doesn't have a spare.  She has hardly left the car when she witnessed a murder.  Spotted as she runs away, multiple goons fire at her, but she narrowly escapes.  Of course, the goons can figure out who she is from her car.  FBI Agent Pauling (Fred Ward) is ecstatic when he identifies the murderer from her description; it's mob boss Leo Carelli (Joe Pesci).  Of course, Anne will need to go into witness protection and her art career will need to end.  Anne runs off.  Soon after, some incompetent hitmen come to her apartment, but she again escapes.  Better yet, she once again skips from the police and Pauling.  Now it is a question of who can find her first.

Lino Avoca (Vincent Price) is the bigger mob boss of the area.  Unimpressed with Carelli's handling of the situation, he sends Milo (Dennis Hopper) to eliminate Anne.  Milo immerses himself in Anne's art, her pictures, her life history.  By the time he locates her, he has fallen for her.  He can't kill her.  Instead, he gives her the choice: life as his possession or death.  She chooses life.  Now for the least convincing love story since Queen Amadala fell for Anakin Skywalker.

The movie is uneven.  There are instances where it seems like a comedy.  When Anne is running from Agent Pauling by dashing through a minigolf course and hiding in a random structure, who should be inside waiting?  Milo.  Seriously?  He was hiding in this minigolf structure?  And then she runs away, successfully avoiding a score of FBI agents as well as Milo.  What in the world was Oscar winner Jodie Foster thinking when she accepted this part?  Much of the dialogue is laughable.  Anne's Stockholm Syndrome (where a kidnap victim falls for the kidnapper) turns on like a light switch.  One moment his forcing her to put on sexy clothes and the next scene they are giggling in bed together.  Yeah, kind of sudden.

Charlie Sheen, who had already done Platoon (1986) and Wall Street (1987), has a tiny role as Bob, Anne's boyfriend.  He performs like this is his first acting gig.  Vincent Price's role is about the same size and he too comes across flat.  John Turturro was about to catch fire after this film.  Here, he is a goofball gunman who wears red shoes without socks.  It looked like he was wearing high heels at one point.  What?  In addition to being the lead actor, Dennis Hopper was also the director.  However, the studio hacked up the film to where he asked to have his name removed, thus Alan Smithee is listed as director.  Perhaps a better movie was left on the cutting room floor, but the parts that remain are bad in and of themselves.  The bad acting doesn't go away if there is more movie, even if the missing parts are better quality.  Hopper wasn't the only one who didn't want credit.  Joe Pesci is uncredited.

Fans of any of these actors should avoid this as it can only hurt your opinion of them.  Bad story, bad acting, just plain bad.  Hard pass.