Dream West (Part 1)

It is 1839.  John Charles Fremont (Richard Chamberlain) is exploring the land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.  He is second in command of the expedition.  While exploring, he comes upon a dead family who got lost in the wilderness; a faulty map is among their belongings.  Fremont commits himself to publishing accurate maps to Oregon.

Back in Washington, Fremont is introduced to Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a strong proponent for westward exploration and expansion.  However, Fremont is more interested in the senator's daughter, Jessie (Alice Krige).  Romance soon follows but Senator Benton does not approve.  Fremont and Jessie marry behind his back, creating a split between father and daughter.

In 1842, Fremont sets out on his first expedition.  Unable to hire Jim Bridger or another well-known guide, he hires Christopher 'Kit' Carson (Rip Torn).  Carson proves to be an outstanding guide and a lifelong friend.  While mapping the Oregon Trail, they happen upon Jim Bridger (Ben Johnson).  Bridger says to go back or take a different route; the local tribe is up in arms.  Fremont will not be dissuaded and rides directly into the Indian camp.

The first episode of a miniseries from 1986, it is headed by Mr. Miniseries himself.  It does an excellent job of painting the era and showing the life of Fremont.  Many historical figures appear, some with little more than a brief cameo (Senator John Crittenden, Jim Bridger, Provost) and others get bigger roles (Maria Crittenden, Stephen Watts Kearney, Edward 'Ned' Kern, Karl Preuss, Joseph 'Papa Joe' Nicollet).  Where many such adaptations use fictional characters around the core of historic ones, this production followed the history.  David Nevin, who wrote the novel, has good attention to detail in his historical stories.

The series combines the first (1842) and second (1843) expeditions into one.  Likewise, the break between Jessie and her father was mended in short order (before Fremont left for his first expedition) while it lasts until the final episode of the miniseries.

This open episode leaves one eager to see the next chapter.  Recommended.

Hasan Piker, Communist Apologist

Triggernometry hosted Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who does political commentary.  Piker began his career by working for his uncle, Cenk Uigur of the Young Turks, before establishing himself as a political commentator on a gaming platform.  Piker is a self-described leftist.  During his discussion with Konstantin and Francis, he touched on several topics, but his affinity for communism was the standout.  Though Konstantin is from the first communist state, Russia, Piker offered the old refrain: that's not true communism.  Wow.  When asked where socialism/communism has been done right, he pointed to China.  Sure, it isn't perfect but look at the growth rate.  By contrast, the parties that aren't slipping toward socialism and/or communism are defined as nascent fascist parties.  He repeatedly described the Reform Party in the UK as a proto-fascist party, which provoked responses to the contrary from both hosts.

What is fascist?  Piker offered the definition of "palingenetic ultranationalism."  That's a mouthful.  Looking this up, it has five components:

• Palingenesis: Myth upon which national rebirth will rest
• Ultranationalism: Extreme nationalism with xenophobic tendencies
• Rejection of Liberal Modernity: The status quo sucks and has to go
• Totalitarian/Authoritarian: Led by single leader or party that suppresses pluralism
• Goal of the "New Man": Transformation of citizens by purging weakness or decadence

Unsurprisingly, he described the current Republican Party in the same way.  Both hosts confronted him on the use of fascism as a label for opponents.  The rise of another Hitler would demand that citizens take up arms and kill fascists before things get out of hand.  Calling someone Hitler is a permission slip for some crackpot to shoot him.

During the discussion, Piker often dodged questions by switching topics.  He dodged the issues with Islam in the UK; he is a Muslim.  In response to calling Nigel Farage a nascent fascist, he was asked if Keir Starmer could then be described as a nascent communist.  That got only a laugh.  So, right-leaning parties are likely to become fascists (in the long term) but left-leaning parties are just fine and no problem at all.  Of course, Piker has already declared his desire for a move toward Chinese-flavored communism.  Hmm.  The hosts pointed out that political critics in China, Russia, and even the UK are often locked up, which such is not the case in the US.  He argued the point by bringing up Eugene Debbs.  Really?  Debbs was locked up over 100 years ago!  That's the most recent example you have?  And it was Wilson - a Democrat - who jailed him.

It felt like Francis and Konstantin went easy on him.  It is somewhat alarming that this guy has a huge following and is an influencer.

Blue Origin joins the Race

The long anticipated New Glenn rocket has launched, sending the ESCAPADE on its way to Mars.  The New Glenn has a capacity of nearly 50 tons to orbit, which is double what the SpaceX Falcon 9 can deliver.  Not only did New Glenn deliver its payload to orbit, it successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic, just like Falcon 9.  Yes, a new competitor has joined the space race.

Congratulations!

Nickel for your Thoughts

The penny has come to an end.  The US will no longer produce the cent because it costs much more than it is worth.  To mint a penny costs nearly 4 cents.  Clearly, this is just throwing money away.  However, this will make some expressions inexplicable to future generations.

• Penny for your thoughts
• My two cents
• Bad penny
• Pretty penny
• Penny pincher
• A red cent
• A penny saved is a penny earned

Rounding to the nearest nickel for change will be an interesting change.  Will that become a penalty for paying cash; always round UP to the nearest nickel?

The Rise of Nick Fuentes

Not so many years ago, a person who espoused white nationalism and antisemitism would have been exiled from society.  However, Nick Fuentes is on the rise.  I first encountered him a few years ago and found him to be annoying and misguided.  There is something about his manner that is fingernails on chalkboard.  Even if he was quoting Thomas Sowell, chapter and verse, I would not like him.  Sadly, he isn't a fan of Sowell.  No, instead he is the antithesis of the woke agenda.  LGBT?  Bad.  Blacks?  Dangerous.  Jews?  Disloyal to the US.  His show is called America First.  How did such a dislikable blowhard gain 5 million followers and get to the point where Tucker Carlson interviewed him?  How?

Fuentes has incubated in the multiculturalist nightmare that was launched before he was born.  Whites are bad.  If whites move out of a neighborhood, it's white flight.  Bad!  If they move in, it's gentrification.  Bad!  If whites move to the third world, it's colonization.  However, now that the third world is overrunning white countries, that just payback and just desserts.  Whites engaged in the slave trade, as if no other people had ever considered the idea.  It is the original sin of which they can never be absolved.  The antiwhite drumbeat has gone on so long that many whites have embraced their 'guilt' and are actively participating in the destruction of their countries and cultures.  During the Black Lives Matter era, it was viewed as racist to say "It's okay to be white."

I have read the occasional article or watched the rare YouTube video that said the constant hammering against whites while promoting other races would inevitably lead to white nationalism.  You can't say that Black Pride or Hispanic Pride is good and commendable on the one hand but that also say that White Pride is racist.  That double standard can only hold for so long.

That brings us to Nick Fuentes.  Young white men, who have never lived in the fictional white supremacist America, are fed up with being vilified.  Unfortunately, they have chosen to follow the likes of Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes.

This was a preventable tragedy.

250 Years Old

The Marine Corps was founded on this day in 1775, less than a month after the Continental Navy.  Yes, the Marine Corps predates the United States.  It was the Continental Marines in those early days.  Two months after their founding, the Marines made their first amphibious landing in the Bahamas.  Since then, the Marines have often been the first in the fight for America's war and military actions.

Happy Birthday and Semper Fi, Marines!

The Rise and Fall of the Whigs

Upon the re-election of President Andrew Jackson in 1832, Henry Clay set about coalescing the many parties that opposed King Andrew.  Thus, the Whig Party was born in 1833.  By 1836, the Whigs nominated several candidates to oppose Jackson's VP and selected successor, Martin Van Buren.  They went down to defeat.  However, the Whigs held a third of the Senate and 40% of the House.  The party was growing.  In the midterms of 1838, the party increased its representation in both houses of Congress.  The Panic of 1837 earned the president an unwanted nickname: Martin Van Ruin.  1840 would be the year for the Whigs.

William Henry Harrison had been one of the four Whig candidates in 1836, winning the most votes and most states among them.  Despite his age (67), he was nominated as the sole candidate for 1840.  "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" was the slogan that won the presidency.  Better yet, the Whigs took control of the Senate (29 out of 52 seats) and the House (142 out of 242 seats).  Senator Henry Clay prepared a slate of legislation that would reverse Jacksonian policies and finally put his ambitious American System in the driver's seat.  However, President Harrison wasn't as pliant as Clay hoped.  Nonetheless, Harrison was a Whig who would push Whig policies.  There was nothing to stop the abrupt change in direction of the country.

President Harrison died.

After only one month in office, Harrison hadn't done anything yet.  Vice President Tyler, who had retreated to his plantation in Virginia after the inauguration (who needs a useless VP milling in Washington), was called to the capitol.  While Henry Clay was considering who could replace Harrison as president, Tyler took the oath of office.  The Constitution didn't say what happened if a president died in office and wouldn't until 1967.  Worse, Tyler insisted that he was now president and there would be no majority vote in the cabinet to determine what action he could take.  Worse still, Tyler suddenly resumed his Democrat views; he had broken with the party in the wake of the Nullification Crisis but now decided he was more Democrat than Whig.  He vetoed bill after bill from Congress, preventing the implementation of the Whig agenda.  The great victory of 1840 dissolved.

Though the Whigs would win the presidency again in 1848, they never again held the majority in both houses.  The death of President Harrison was also the death of the Whigs as a majority party.  The Whigs remained an opposition party until the mid 1850s, when it was absorbed by the newly-formed Republican Party.

No Welfare for Foreigners

Inexplicably, illegal immigrants are receiving SNAP benefits.  Of course, they are also receiving other benefits, but this is the topic of the day on account of the shutdown.  Why are they receiving ANY benefits?  Not only did you cross the border illegally, but now you are a drain on our economy rather than a contributor to it.  We are poorer as a country because such people are here.  Deport!  At the very least, no benefits.  I am not a fan of government-provided welfare in the first place, but if we are going to have it, only US citizens should qualify to receive them.  All others, go back to your home country and be non-productive there.

Jackson: A Novel

It is 1828.  After 9-years of living in France, Harvard graduate David Chase returned to the United States upon his father's death.  He was left nothing.  Near penniless, he sought employment; he was a writer.  As luck would have it, William Short was looking for someone to write the definitive biography of Andrew Jackson.  Chase accepted the commission.

While the presidential campaign of 1828 is played like a chess game between Andrew Jackson and President John Quincy Adams, Chase interacts with a wide variety of historical figures from the era.  In the background, the biography of Andrew Jackson is told as chapters of Chase's book.  The New Orleans campaign dominates the biography and is the source of Jackson's fame.

The book uses point-of-view characters - some real, some fictional - to tell its story.

- Andrew Jackson is central character but has a limited role as a POV character.  Painted as a man of iron will, volcanic anger, bristling gray hair, and a stick thin bean pole, Jackson is not the illiterate backwoodsman that many thought.

- John Coffee has been Jackson's friend and ally for forty years.  A bear of a man who serves as Jackson's right hand, he plays a large role in protecting Jackson from scandal and managing the campaign with Alexander Hamilton's son, James.

- John Quincy Adams is a disciplined man of great intellect and talent, but a complete lack of charisma.  His son, Charles Francis Adams, serves as his secretary and his wife, Louisa, is unhappy.  Adams comes across as hapless, though entirely laudable.

Fictional POV characters:

- David Chase is a fictional character who crisscrosses the country to research his Jackson biography.  Though American by birth, he feels like an outsider thanks to his many years in France.  Washington City is a backwater compared to Paris and Nashville even more so.  Nonetheless, he finds himself admiring Jackson with each new chapter he writes.

- Mr. Hogwood, an Englishman, proved to be the first writer that William Short had employed.  Though dismissed in favor of Chase, Hogwood provided his research so far to Chase and made introductions to his contacts in Washington City.  Many of the early chapters of Jackson's life are written by Hogwood.

- Emma Colden is Hogwood's beautiful daughter and the object of Chase's desire.  An aspiring writer herself, she frequently complains that women are not allowed such freedoms.  When she is the POV, it is usually when there is an interview with noteworthy women such as Louisa Adams or Fanny Wright.

The book paints an excellent picture of America in 1828, from Boston, to Washington City, to Nashville, to New Orleans.  Historical figures such as John Randolph, Sam Houston, John Eaton, Nicholas Trist, George Ticknor, Sarah Hale, Frances Milton Trollope, and many more have something to say about the campaign, America, women's rights, slavery, Jackson, Jefferson, and other subjects.  Here is a dynamic country where technology is racing and possibilities are limitless.

Outstanding book and highly recommended.

UK on the Brink

David Betz, a professor of war studies at King's College, was a guest on Triggernometry.  He was clearly uncomfortable to be there and not a polished speaker.  His message is one that he is reluctant to deliver: the United Kingdom is on the brink of civil war.  What?  As one who has studied such things throughout his academic career, he sees all the signs of civil war.  The cratering of faith in the institutions of government.  The people no longer believe that the government can solve problems through the normal processes.  The troubles have grown worse despite multiple votes to address them.  He notably brought up Brexit, which was supposed to address the uncontrolled migration.  It arguably got worse in the wake of Brexit.  Then there is the admitted failure of multiculturalism.  This itself has created a crack in the country.  Where those who have grown up in the UK have a natural affinity and loyalty to the existing norms, the immigrants do not.  That several members of parliament - of foreign descent - voted to build an airport in Pakistan was a demonstration of factionalism.  These members were interested not in doing that which would benefit the UK as a whole, but their faction. Where the hosts were optimistic that Nigel Farage might reverse course, Betz was much less so.  He views Farage as a pressure release valve that may lower the heat for a time but not actually fix anything, essentially a Brexit 2.0.  The kindling for a fire has stacked up over 20 to 30 years and, sooner or later, there will be a spark that ignites it.  Rather than Royalist Cavaliers vs. Parliamentarian Roundheads, this conflict is between the 'We Want Out Country Back' faction and the 'Shut the F--- Up!' faction. Betz proposes that the civil war will begin - if it hasn't already - when an anonymous native group targets a judge, influencer, or such.

Betz noted that the cities were in one camp while rural areas in the other.  Cities are notably weak, as they depend on the produce of the rural areas to survive.  Disruption of power, gas, and food will cause the cities to explode in civil strife and the police will be powerless to quell it.

Dark days ahead.