VIDEOS: V-P J.D. Vance speaks frankly about security and free speech

Still catching up after much time spent amongst the winter's snows. In Munich, Germany, on February 14th, Vice-President Vance delivered one of the best speeches of his life. This was within hours of yet another Islamic terrorist attack, and J.D. pulls no punches in speaking truth to the European liberal elites about "the enemies within" our Western civilization. Only 20 minutes, a must watch.

This video is closing on 1.5 million views on YouTube, and deservedly so. You'll find a transcript on the YT page, useful in following along. 

Were the Euro-wienies paying attention? We're coming down to crunch time on Russia's war of aggression against the Ukraine, and on the vital question of European security. Thanks to President Trump's new approach to foreign policy, we're on the verge of a new Cold War. Time for the fence-sitters to jump one way or another.

Further viewing (added 18/2/25 at 1830 FMT) "Listen to Your People, Don’t Go Hard Left: - Victor Davis Hanson summarizes and adds a hearty "Amen" to Vice-President Vance's Munich speech.

Movie Review: "OPPENHEIMER", a cautionary tale

The screenwriteres strike offers some respite from the steady stream of crapulous drivel coming out of Hollywood in the Age of Woke. So bad has it been that Walt hasn't been to the cinema/theater in something like five years. But Mrs Walt talked me into going to see Oppenheimer because (she said) it says something about the persecution of people who offend the powers that be (read: Deep State, liberal elites, etc) in today's America (and Canada, aka Little America). 

Here's the first trailer, the official one.

   

And here's the second one.

   

You would think, from the trailers, that the movie is all aqbout the making of the atomic bomb. It is not. We'll come to the real story, and its relevance to the politics of 2023, in a moment, but first a capsule review: 

Oppenheimer - Directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Christopher Nolan, based on the 2005 biolgraphy American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. 

Starring Cillian Murphy (as J. Robert Oppenheimer), Emily Blunt (Kitty Oppenheimer), Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss), and (IMHO) Florence Pugh (as Jean Tatlock, Oppenheimer's sometime paramour).

Oppenheimer is the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, his role in the development of the atomic bomb, and his subsequent persecution by the Atomic Energy Commission and other instruments of Deep State in the anti-Communist mania of the McCarthy era.

Running time: 180 minutes, comprising approximately 170 minutes of dialogue, and (to wake you up) about 10 minutes of Very Loud Noises. All the same, Walt gives it 4 1/2 stars out of 5. Academy Award nominations expected for Cillian Murphy as the protagonist Robert Oppenheimer, and Robert Downey Jr as his antagonist, Lewis Strauss (factoid: He prounced it "Straws", so it wouldn't sound so Jewish). 

I thought Mr Downey was the better of the two, but he'll have to settle for Best Supporting Actor since Mr Murphy plays the hero, a good guy hounded almost to death for his naïveté in daring to hold and voice opinions contrary to those of the stablishment. Florence Pugh gets my Wally for Outstanding Nubility and Cuteness. Her face reminds me vaguely of that of Shaye Cohn, leader of Tuba Skinny, the best New Orleans jazz band going. But I digress...

The story predominantly focuses on Dr Oppenheimer's studies, his direction of the Manhattan Project during World War II, and his eventual fall from grace due to his 1954 security hearing. The Atomic Energy Commission hearing, directed from behind the scenes by Lewis Strauss, was a classic kangaroo court. The movie shifts back and forth between it and the Mr Strauss's later confirmation hearing in the Senate (he was up for Secretary of Commerce) in which his vindictiveness toward Oppenheimer was exposed, resulting in his homination being rejected.

The scenes of the AEC hearing provide the lesson to which I alluded. Dr Oppenheimer's counsel were not allowed enough time to prepare properly, or to see or hear much of the evidence against him. The prosecutor was malicious and unfair in the extreme. If he couldn't prove the scientist was a card-carrying Communist -- he wasn't! -- he was determined to show that he was a "comsymp" and "fellow traveller". The result was what you would expect. Dr Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked and he went into exile in disgrace.

Mrs Walt, who comes from a country in which kangaroo courts and persecution for one's politics are the norm, said she was reminded of nothing so much as the current prosecutions of President Trump. "They're trying to destroy him," she said, "and will stop at nothing to do that." Indeed. 

Just yesterday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan orderered the federal trial over President Trump's alleged illegal efforts to overturn the 2020 election to start on 4 March 2024 -- one day before "Super Tuesday" in the GOP presidential primary.

In so doing, she rejected both an expedited timeline requested by special presecutor Jack Smith (which would have had the trial start even earlier) and a request from Mr Trump\s lawyers to delay the trial until 2026. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance called her ruling "straight up election interference." 

A GOP consultant said, "You're starting the trial the day before the biggest primary day? It's called Super Tuesday for a reason. It's the biggest day of primaries. That's when you start the trial?" Well, that's what the Democrats [sic] and Deep State want -- to keep President Trump off the 2024 ballot since they know in a head-to-head contest he would trounce Dementia Joe, the puppet President. 

They're out to get him, if not in New York, then in Washington, and if not Washington, then Georgia. That's how the rule of law and principles of fair play and justice work in Brandon's America. And not just in America. Watch this space for more persecution news from the Great No-longer-white North.

Further viewing: Walt recommends Atomic Cafe. This 1982 cult classic juxtaposes Cold War history, propaganda, music and culture, seamlessly crafted from government-produced educational and training films, newsreels and advertisements. It's an absurdist blast from the past that would be downright laughable if it weren’t so eerily relevant to our fake news present. Click here to watch it. Running time: 1:26:37.

Further reading (highly recommended): "Donald Trump’s Trial For Election Interference Set To Begin In Time To Interfere With Election", Babylon Bee (of course), 29/8/23.

VIDEO: Venerable Fulton J. Sheen interviewed by Wm. F. Buckley Jr.

We have a long (53:20) and serious video for you, suitable for a Sunday when one should spend at least some time reflecting on higher matters. This is Episode 186 of Firing Line with William F. Buckley, Jr., recorded on 6 January 1970. Mr. Buckley's guest is Archbishop Fulton J.Sheen, whose earthly remains have recently been returned to the Diocese of Peoria and whose cause for beatification is now proceeding. Although the interview is almost half a century old, it still provides many insights which are relevant to a world which has become much worse in the intervening years.

UPDATED: Understanding geopolitics with the help of "1984"

I'm having trouble figuring this out. President Trump went to Helsinki and had a meeting with President Putin. After the meeting POTUS said (when you add it all up) that, even though American "intelligence" said otherwise, he was taking Mr Putin's word for it that the Russians didn't meddle in the 2016 presidential election. "Why would it be the Russians?", he asked, then "Why wouldn't it be the Russians?" He didn't know at the time -- it was Obama who received the PDBs, eh -- and doesn't know now.

Now the usual gang of gliberals, Democratic socialists, antifa Nazis and media stars are calling the President a traitor -- literally -- and unpatriotic for suggesting that the CIA and "military intelligence" (an oxymoron, for sure) might have been wrong on this one. If you think American "intelligence" never makes a mistake, perhaps you'd be interested in some of this yellowcake I can get for you, cheap! In spite of the ongoing witchhunt in Washington, nobody can say for sure what the Russians did or didn't do in the runup to the election. The thing sure is that what the Russians did (if anything) didn't have much effect (if any) on the result. The Democrats and other "resisters" are still in denial that the American people chose The Donald over Crooked Hillary.

What, I wonder, do the anti-Trumpers think POTUS should have done at the historic meeting. Should he have pulled a Glock out of his pocket and shot the Russki-in-Chief in the face, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather? Of course not. He'd have been recognized!

Now the blaze in the anti-Trumpers hair has become an inferno because President Trump has invited President Putin to come and have a chat at the White House. With confusion still swirling around what the two men discussed behind closed doors in Helsinki, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said it’s important to "deal with the results" of their first summit before jumping too fast into a new one. But, he said, "Russia is always open to such proposals. We are ready for discussions on this subject."

Which is as it should be. Seems to me we're losing sight of the importance of the meeting itself. When the heads of two of the world's three super-powers sit down to talk, something good may come of it, or not, but, as Churchill supposedly said, "Jaw-jaw is better than war-war." [In fact it was one of Churchill's successors, Harold Macmillan, who put it exactly that way. According to his official biographer, Churchill's words were, "Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war." Ed.]

Those folks -- especially Republicans -- who criticize President Trump for making nice with President Putin should keep in mind that American foreign policy was badly in need of a reset after eight years of Obamian dithering and wimpishness, and POTUS is leading the much-needed change in direction.

This summer alone, he has stood up for America, to the discomfort of its "allies", at the G7 and NATO summits, sat eyeball-to-eyeball with Kim Jong-un (something no-one thought possible) and now in serious talks with the Russian president about Syria, the Ukraine and other matters of vital importance. All that and all POTUS gets is grief. Obama was only a few weeks into his presidensity, had done nothing (and never did) and what did they give him? The Nobel fucking prize!

The present geopolitical situation reminds me of that described by George Orwell in 1984. Writing at the beginning of the Cold War, Orwell predicted that, come the iconic year, the world would be divided into three super-states:
• Oceania -- including all of the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and the British Isles, the main location for the novel
• Eurasia -- Europe and most of the old Soviet Union, plus a little chunk of the Middle East
• Eastasia -- Japan, Korea, China and northern India.

The three states are in a perpetual state of warfare -- sometimes two against one, sometimes all three against each other. These wars are fought in the disputed territories, running from North Africa over the Middle East and southern India to Southeast Asia. Orwell's gift of prescience is spooky, isn't it?

There's not much "super" to Orwell's super-states except their size. All three are totalitarian dictatorships.

Oceania's ideology is Ingsoc -- English Socialism, of the kind now being espoused by "socialist democrats" like Bernie Sanders and the latest political rock star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Eurasia's state creed is Neo-Bolshevism, not unlike what Russia has today under the Putin régime.
Eastasia's politics and religion are blended into the Obliteration of the Self, something like the Buddhist-inspired fascism you might find (so they say) in today's Myanmar or Thailand.

These ideologies are very similar one to another, but the "proles" -- the common people -- are told the opposite.  "Of course the Russians hate our American values! If you're not against Russia, you must be against America!" Sound familiar?

Orwell suggests that the conflicts between the super-states may not be real at all. It's clear that the media of Oceania are completely one-sided and in the habit of fabricating "facts" -- fake news! A dissident book central to the plot of 1984 suggests the two other powers may actually be a fabrication of the government of Oceania, which would make it the government of the entire world. An alternative theory is that "Airstrip One" (the British Isles) is not an outpost of a greater empire, but the sole territory under the command of Ingsoc, which fabricates eternal global war to keep its people permanently mobilised (check), scrutinized (check) and on rations (and check).

The world as portrayed in 1984 is purely fictional of course. The book was written in 1949. What George Orwell predicted could never happen... could it?

Further reading (by the sheerest coincidence): "The idea of Eurasia is once again the subject of geopolitics", by "Banyan", in The Economist, 19/7/18. "A growing number of strategists argue that the emergence of a cohering Eurasia is the key feature of a new world order that is taking shape.... The emerging order is one that Marco Polo would recognise." George Orwell too.

UPDATE ADDED 22/7/18: Further reading: "Mainstream media deliver most outlandish and hyperbolic reactions to Trump since election night", opinion piece by Dan Gainor, Vice President for Business and Culture of the Media Research Center, on Fox News.

Why the Middle East hates the West - Part II

In Part I (above), Walt gave you the Reader's Digest version of how American (and British) support for the despotic regime of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi contributed to his overthrow in 1979 and the establishment in Iran of a true and fanatical theocracy led by Ayatollah Khomeini.

A theocracy  is a form of government in which clergy have official recognition as civil ruler and official policy is either governed by officials regarded as divinely guided, or is pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religion or religious group. That's bad, right? 

Well, that's official US policy. A state or people should not be ruled by people with religious principles! In America, church and state are separate. America's rulers are decidedly irreligious. The principles that govern "the land of the free" are the "principles" of secular humanism, which has become the de facto state religion. 

But let's return to the Middle East. The Shah of Iran was not the only despot supported by the USA. During the Cold War, any dictator who professed to be against the Commies was, ipso facto [That's enough Latin. Ed.], America's friend. By means of foreign aid, military support and the occasional coup (as in Iran), America propped up Chiang Kai-shek, Syngman Rhee, Fulgencio Batista, Ferdinand Marcos, [That's enough dictators. Ed.]

However, the USA had never actually resorted to war to maintain in power a corrupt and incompetent -- but pro-Western -- dictatorship until... wait for it... Vietnam.  Yes, Vietnam -- the longest war in American history, the only undeclared war, and the first war America lost since the War of 1812-14. 

Most people think of Vietnam as being LBJ's war or Nixon's war. In fact, it started on President Eisenhower's watch, in 1954. And it rested on Ike's theory that if the USA "lost" Vietnam, it would next lose Laos and Cambodia, then Thailand, and so on. But hold on (nobody cried). How can you lose something you never had in the first place?

Vietnam was (with Laos and Cambodia) part of French Indochina and the larger French empire. The battle of Dien Bien Phu showed France incapable of hanging onto her colonies. What to do? Let them have their independence? No, that would never do. They might decide to be neutral in the Cold War, or, worse, support the Other Side. So the USA began its first colonial war, fully justifying, in the minds of the rest of the Third World, the use of the phrase "American imperialism".

American imperialism is not just a slogan invented by the Communist propaganda machine. It has been a fact of geopolitics for six decades, and remains so today. Today, though, the "empire" which the USA is fighting to maintain is in the Middle East. It is the "empire of oil".

Can the imperial storm-troopers quell the rebellious Islamists of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran? Don't bet on it. (Lifetime pct .983) We'll look at what happened to an earlier empire in Part III, below.

Americans still nibbling on the cheese in the mousetrap

"You only find free cheese in a mousetrap" is one translation of what is said to be an old Russian proverb (although Walt has seen it described as Portuguese too). It means if someone offers you some cheese or other bait, free, you're likely in for a painful snap if you bite. The American version is "There ain't no free lunch."

The point is made in "Free cheese can only be found in a mousetrap", which appeared in the Collision of Church and State blog on November 2nd. It was picked up on the same day by The People's Cube, a decidedly right-wing and decidedly funny blog -- decided worth a look.

The blog post purports to be "a letter to the local paper from a woman in my town. Even though she made this a public letter that was published by our newspaper, I am not posting her name. We live in a very small town and to respect her privacy I will just post her warning to the American people."

The woman whose name the writer declines to reveal -- even though her letter was supposedly published, presumably with name attached -- says she grew up in the old Soviet Union, where she ate the "free cheese" -- free food, free housing, free education, free health care. And, she says, there was "no need to sweat for it".

"You did not lack food," the letter continues. "You had bed and roof, you had books and entertainments. You actually could do many things on your own. Except that you didn't have choices or freedoms. Also, if you said something bad about...the administration, you would be punished. You had to live according the...rules to be safe.... Actually, we were even happy. We didn't know different.

"We did not know that we were not free, because we didn't know what freedom really was; we were raised brainwashed by school and mass media. We presumed that we were free because we were told so."

The "letter" was published, the bloggers say, as a warning to the American people not to take the bait -- the free cheese -- offered by Hussein Obama, lest they feel the snap of enslavement to an all-powerful state. Seems as if 50% [not just 47%. Ed.] like mousetrap cheese. Will it still taste good after another four years?

Footnote from Ed.: I've searched all over the Internet for the original letter as described by the Blogger, but came up with nothing. On the other hand, Snopes doesn't have anything to suggest it's a hoax. I suspect it's an updated version of an anti-Communist diatribe from the Cold War era. The point is valid though.  Thanks to Agent 6 for passing this along.