Welcome back to camp. No idea what’s for dinner, it depends on how the weather is. Supposed to snow like hell tonight and tomorrow, if it does, probably stew… One thing is sure, there will be food, so pull up a chair. As always, please notice the cup at the tip jar Where we restock the bar. Of course, I thank the current contributors to the ‘keep the author lubricated’ fund! I’m pleased to say that that fund, just for the Substack version, broke a grand a year last week. Thank you all!
It's been a busy week. The daughter and her husband came down from Indiana, with two of the grandkids for the weekend, we’re in the beginning stages of putting money down on 53 acres here in Tennessee and looking for what we want to put on it in the way of a house, as well. In spite of all of this, we took the family out to the movies on Sunday afternoon, which serves as part of the subject of this week’s take. Let’s begin, shall we?
It seems like it’s almost mandatory to scream “Garbage” and “Woke CRAP” any time that Disney, Marvel, or both turn out a movie these days, especially if you’re anything but a leftist.
Folks, that’s really stupid. You do no one a service to slam a movie sight unseen. You do no one a service to not recognize when someone is changing their position.
Look, England in 1780 was our enemy… That continued through the 1820s. Yet, by 1900 they were our ally, and have been ever since. Japan was once our most bitter enemy, with many Americans calling for full out genocide against the Japanese people. They are now one of our most reliable allies.
Why?
Because we gave them both chances to change and recognized them when they did. Does this mean that they couldn’t become enemies again? Of course not. Nations especially, do not have “Friends” they have “interests.”
In the same way, corporate entities can change and conceivably change again. They can be the enemy of all we hold dear, then, when they realize that it’s KILLING their bottom line, change to support us. They could also change their mask without changing the face within. It’s possible that is what Marvel did. We can’t know, unless we’re inside the company. (if you work for Marvel anywhere near the C suites, and want to give me an exclusive, that would be amazing!) Well, short of that completely ridiculous possibility, we can only go by what they actually do.
Is Captain America Brave New World earth changing entertainment? Well, no. Is it the best Super-Hero movie ever? Well, again, NO. (I give Iron Man or Chris Reeve’s Superman that nod. With the original Captain America being close behind.) That said, it’s not a bad movie. It’s not the woke fest that many of my associates would have it be, it’s entertaining, and a worthwhile way to spend an afternoon.
Yeah, the Hero of the piece is a black dude, SO FUCKING WHAT?
Yeah, there’s a bit in there about another black man that got fucked over by the government in the second world war. Uh, have you READ any history? News flash, the black soldiers DID get fucked over in the second world war. So did a lot of others. Our government sent ships full of German Jews back to Nazi Germany for fuck’s sake! We did some really appalling things in the 1930s and 40s. Oh, and let’s not forget “Operation Paperclip” (if you aren’t familiar with it, you need to educate yourself. Consider it as homework.)
Some of Marvel’s stuff has been woke crap, I would have demanded they remove my name if I had anything to do with either of the Black Panther movies, or that never to be sufficiently despised “Captain Marvel.” That said, this wasn’t that.
It was an entertaining flick that points out the way that a well-meaning man can find himself selling his morals off a little bit at a time, until suddenly he realizes he’s in bed with the devil. It’s a movie about unintended consequences, and the results of trading your morals for power, as well as the many ways that power can corrupt. How even what you might believe to be a good deed or a necessary evil can bite you in the ass.
I give it four rounds from a six-gun.
Let’s talk about some more serious stuff as well, though.
V.P. Vance gave an absolutely beautiful speech to the European leaders this week. A speech that is LONG overdue. If you haven’t read it, here’s a link to a full transcript:
Take a moment and read it. I’ll wait.
Done? Great.
Sal did a great commentary on it here, /so-about-vp-vances-speech you should go read that too, Sal has some insight as a former NATO Planning Staff officer that is pretty “inside baseball” on the subject. Bottom line, the Germans especially, bepunked themselves, and peed all over themselves. It’s about time! Look, I believe that defeating an aggressive invader in Europe is very important. That said, no one wants to take care of a free loading bum that eats your food, uses your house, then talks shit about how you’re a fucked up individual, while spending all their money on hookers and blow. That’s Europe. It’s time they pulled their own weight. Further, it’s time that they put their house in order. Talking about how they’re champions of “free speech” while there are laws that will put you in jail for insulting someone???
It’s hard to want to defend someone that’s slowly (or not so slowly) drifting from “western values” to something strait out of Stalin’s play book. Europe, you’re a bunch of parlor pinks. Fix your shit or watch us walk away and leave you to Russia’s tender mercies. Oh, and quit giving aid and comfort to the enemy, especially the PRC, but let’s also mention Hamas, and the rest of the Arabic terrorist community.
As far as Europe’s response, Chris covers that quite well: a-shameless-aggressive-and-dangerous it’s a short read, and worth your time.
Moving on, we have the State department removing the wording forced in by the left that “we do not support Taiwan independence.” Of course the PRC immediately blew an ass gasket, and screamed that this was a “serious regression” and “sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence forces” while demanding that we “immediately correct this mistake.”
The U.S. should “stop using Taiwan to control China” and “stop condoning and supporting Taiwan independence,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Monday. “This will help avoid further serious damage to China-U.S. relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” All of this from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-taiwan-independence-us-state-department-website-rcna192435
Well, Jiakun, short of bullets flying, I don’t see any possible “further serious damage” that could happen. You fucks have been sabotaging undersea cables, sponsoring piracy and terrorism, funding revolutions in your own allies nations, and terrorists in the nations of those that are not your allies. If it were up to me, I would grant recognition to Taiwan and reverse one of Nixon’s biggest mistakes.
In Navy news, of course, we have the Truman, who had a bump-ex (minor collision for the uninformed) with the M/V Besiktas-M (a ship with a history of running into things.) https://news.usni.org/2025/02/13/breaking-uss-harry-s-truman-collides-with-merchant-vessel-in-mediterranean-sea Look, the Port of Said is one of the busiest, most chaotic operating areas in the world, and as I mentioned, this vessel, which is of dubious ownership and questionable crewing, has a history of bumping into things. This one is probably on them. The Truman, of course, was not hurt. We’re talking about the naval equivalent of a smart car colliding with a tractor trailer rig.
This time.
But it should be a wake-up call that we don’t have enough fucking carriers!
DOGE of course is continuing to do Washington’s own work, the latest being that there seems to be over 20,000,000 people over the age of 100 on Social Security rolls… Social Security Fraud
Which, considering that the Census says there are 80,000 citizens over that age, well, let’s just say there might be part of an explanation here for why SS is broke. The real fun is that just before the Musk-a-teers found this, the acting director suddenly quit over allowing DOGE to look at the files… I want to see some prosecutions!
Tom covers more of the Musk-a-teers antics at breaking-out-my-shocked-face? You should go take a look.
Then there’s Rep Swalwell, (D, CA) who (in something I predicted) is trying to blame Trump for the latest plane crash… In Toronto! He’s also claiming that Trump has had more plane crashes than any president in history… Except for the minor little fact that gets in the way: swalwell-faces-social-media-backlash It seems that “analyzing data from the National Transportation Safety Board's CAROL database. According to the catalog, there have been five fatal aviation incidents since Trump took office. The database shows 10 fatal incidents over the same period for President Biden's term, however.” Don’t you just hate it when you look like a complete idiot?
And finally, here it is, the stupidest thing you’ll read all day, https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/02/wicked-star-cynthia-erivo-cast-as-jesus-in-hollywood-bowls-jesus-christ-superstar/ yes, you read that right, they’re casting a black lesbian as Christ at the Hollywood bowl production of Jesus Christ, Superstar.
QOTD "It is hilarious to hear leftists now referring to members of the Trump administration as unelected bureaucrats. It was their unelected bureaucrats who were running this country while a mentally incapacitated drooling idiot sat in the Oval Office." —Allen West
Yours in Service,
William Lehman