Stalemate Here and Over There

Nigel Farage has been the voice of British nationalism for a couple of decades.  Fourteen years ago, he drove the movement that successfully forced the United Kingdom to exit the European Union; “Brexit.”  And he helped the Conservative Party (the Tories) regain their majority and sweep back into power on the basis of his Brexit campaign.

And then these Tories ruled for a decade as the Leftists they truly were.  And this allowed the Left (Labor, The Green Party and the Liberal Democrats) to regain control of Parliament and wreak further havoc on the English in their own country.  Basically, the Tories and the Left have gone all in on turning Britain into a land of third world immigrants.

In the last few years Farage has spearheaded a new party called the Reform.

Well, the chickens have come home to roost.  Current polls show voters have the following preferences:

  • Reform – 28%
  • Labour – 19%
  • Tories – 18%
  • Greens – 15%
  • Liberal Democrats – 13%

Interestingly, this new party now leads both traditional parties; Labour and the Tories by about ten percentage points.  This just shows how hated both parties have become.  But note that neither the Left nor the Right have a solid majority on which to base a coalition.  Reform and the Tories together have 46% of the electorate.  The three leftist parties; Labour, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats control 47%.  So, the remaining seven percent must be made up of people so apathetic they still can’t figure out which side to vote for.  Basically, the electoral situation is on the razor’s edge.  Now doesn’t that sound familiar?

So just as in the United States control of the government oscillates back and forth between the Left and the Right.  And each oscillation enrages the partisans out of power and eggs them on to greater and greater revenge when they do return.

Just as in Britain, so too here eventually something has got to give.  My guess is that it will eventually cause some large-scale violence and after that there will be a political solution involving a permanent division, either complete or else some constitutional change to give greater autonomy to both sides within the states where majorities for the Left or the Right have firm control.  And probably the “purple” states will have to choose which side they want to get in bed with.

Now, this idea isn’t something I enjoy.  The United States is the only home I have ever known.  And so many things about it are wonderful.  But there is no longer one people living here.  There are two.  And they believe in diametrically opposed visions of how this country should work.  And since the Left is the group trying to change “the deal,” they are going to have to be the ones excluded from the areas where the Right wants to live.  They’re using unlimited third world immigration to drown out their opponents at the polls.  So citizenship in the blue states will not be automatically transferrable to the red states.  And you can imagine how this will end up becoming very ugly after the initial breakup of the country.  Families may end up stuck on both sides of a divided America.  But that’s what seems to be coming.

Britain Wants a Citizen Army?

Neil Oliver reacts to a call by the British military for conscription to be revived in anticipation of war with Russia or Iran or whoever else they think needs killing.

Well, well.  I guess this is our wake up call to what we’ll be seeing soon.  I think Mr. Oliver has it about right.  Why would anyone agree to a government that wants to drag our kids off to die in a war that has no more sense to it than did World War I?  Seeing the abomination going on in Ukraine should be proof enough that unless someone invades this country (like they currently are!) we have no reason to send to our sons off to die.  I volunteer Hunter Biden and whatever spawn the rest of the Democrats and Neo-cons have hatched out.

We may be sub-humans to the denizens of Washington but our lives are way too precious to lose them mucking about in frozen trenches on the steppes or anywhere else that those idiots want to start a new war.  Luckily there’s an election coming up just in time to make all the eighteen year-olds think twice before pulling the lever for Psycho Joe.

Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows (2011) – A Movie Review

This sequel to the previously reviewed 2009 movie “Sherlock Holmes” has actors Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law returning as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.  And Rachel McAdams, Kelly Reilly, Geraldine James and Eddie Marsan also reprise their roles as, respectively, Irene Adler, Mary Watson, Mrs. Hudson and Inspector Lestrade.

The plot of this movie is once again an original story but it does add in elements from one particular Arthur Conan Doyle story namely, the “The Adventure of the Final Problem.”  This is the story in which Arthur Conan Doyle arranges the final showdown between Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty.  And this story covers what was in the written story but adds much more in the way of motivation for the duel to the death between Holmes and Moriarty.  And the writers manage to link the story to the greater reality of this time period.  They tie Moriarty’s evil plot to the actual fact that in 1900 Europe is on the precipice of World War.  The movie even has Moriarty explicitly chide Holmes with the bitter reality that even if he eliminates Moriarty, it still will not stop the coming war.

I’m happy to say that the dash and humor from the first movie are on clear display in this second film.  The camaraderie between Holmes and Watson are undiminished even after Dr. Watson finally marries Mary.  In fact, the occasion of the honeymoon provides one of the most comical scenes in the movie with Holmes dressed as a woman attempting to save the newlyweds from imminent death on a train packed with assassins.

I won’t attempt to synopsize the plot.  It would sound like nonsense and I refuse to spoil the details of the plot.  Suffice it to say that Holmes and Watson traipse across Europe attempting to catch up to the plot that Moriarty has set in motion.  And Jared Harris who portrays Professor James Moriarty is a great villain.

As with the preceding movie I have the highest praise for this film.  All the principal parts are brilliantly acted.  I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a well-made entertainment film.  And just to add an interesting note, ten years after this movie the producers have finally had the opportunity to film another sequel.  I look forward to that movie with great anticipation.

Gunga Din – An OCF Classic Movie Review

“…

So I’ll meet ’im later on

At the place where ’e is gone—

Where it’s always double drill and no canteen.

’E’ll be squattin’ on the coals

Givin’ drink to poor damned souls,

An’ I’ll get a swig in hell from Gunga Din!

Yes, Din! Din! Din!

You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!

Though I’ve belted you and flayed you,

By the livin’ Gawd that made you,

You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!”

(Gunga Din by Rudyard Kipling)

 

Kipling’s poem celebrates the courage and loyalty of Indian water bearer Gunga Din.  The 1939 film builds on the bare sketch of the poem and adds in the British soldiers from Kipling’s Soldiers Three stories.  Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. portray Sergeants Cutter, MacChesney and Ballantine.  The three sergeants are comedic partners in crime constantly in trouble for their off-duty brawling and ridiculous escapades.  But they are also ferociously courageous and loyal to the British Army to their core.  And attached to the regiment that the sergeants serve in is the regimental bhisti (or water carrier), Gunga Din.  Gunga Din is also a minor partner in the sergeants’ syndicate.  He convinces Cutter that they can cart off a temple made of solid gold that’s just there for the taking.  Superimpose the sub-plot of Ballantine’s upcoming nuptials as a threat to the triumvirate and then top the whole thing off with a Thuggee Mutiny planning to drive the British out of India.

Sam Jaffe plays Gunga Din and along with the three co-stars they chew up the scenery and move the plot along smartly.  By the climax we find out why Gunga Din is a better man they are.  And we get to see the British Army (or the Hollywood version of it) unleashed on the Thugs.

The movie features a goodly amount of action adventure scenes but for me the stand out is the comedy.  The exchanges between Cary Grant (featuring his most over the top cockney accent) and Victor McLaglen are very funny and make me wish they had co-starred in other action comedies.

It goes without saying that the movie could never be made today.  It features language and plot elements that would be labelled, racist, sexist, colonialist and white supremacist.  And if they got around to it, I’m sure the critics could come up with an angle that made it homophobic and transphobic too.  But it is solid entertainment that creates a comedy adventure out of the reality of the British Raj.  Of course, this is a Hollywood fantasy version of the Raj.  In this version, the British Army is powerful and the generals are competent and all the good Indians are loyal subjects of the Queen-Empress and all the bad Indians are disloyal, murderous followers of Kali, the goddess of death.  In this version the non-commissioned officers are anxious to re-enlist every 11 years without fail.  But it’s got fight scenes, battle scenes, comedy, pathos, dynamite tossing and even an elephant-based jail break.  What else could anybody ask for.

25MAR2018 – Quote of the Day

Robert Heinlein used this poem as the inspiration of a science fiction story and included the poem in the text.

Requiem

Under the wide and starry sky

Dig the grave and let me lie:

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will.

 

This be the verse you ‘grave for me:

Here he lies where he long’d to be;

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

(written 1880)

Robert Louis Stevenson. 1850–1894