'The Terror' Netflix story of the Franklin expedition: Hubris, mutiny, cannibalism and a revolting sociopath. You'll love it!

 "The Terror," season 1, is an AMC drama series that can now be viewed on Netflix. The 10-episode story is loosely based on Sir John Frankin's nineteenth-century Arctic expedition and Dan Simmons's novel of the same name.

Sir Franklin hoped to crown his naval career by discovering a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In 1845, his party of 129 men left England in two ships, the Terror and Erebus. Not a single member of that ill-fated crew survived. This gripping tale is the foundation of "The Terror," season 1.

"The Terror" AMC series contains all the essential elements of a British naval disaster story: murder, mutiny, insanity, suicide, starvation, euthanasia, and cannibalism. What's not to like?

In addition, the series includes a monstrous animal that stalks the expedition and devours several crew members. The animal is an enormous polar bear on steroids, but the crew refers to it simply as "the creature."

Mike Hale, who reviewed "The Terror" in the New York Times, liked the series but had some reservations. "The heart-of-darkness framework," he wrote, depicting "hubristic Europeans" who become lost in the new world and descend into savagery, was "constructed with intelligence and finesse." Nevertheless, in Hale's view, the series's story is "obvious and generally tedious."

 I disagree with Hale's gentle criticisms. I found the "The Terror's" narrative both fascinating and gripping. The series's supersized polar bear was genuinely frightening, adding a layer of suspense and thrill. Polar bears, after all, are the only animals in North America that stalk humans, and they can run as fast as a horse. Those bears don't need to be supersized to be terrifying.

I agree with Hale that the "The Terror" narrative is obvious, but only if viewed superficially. At a deeper level, the Terror crew's disaster is a complex story that can be interpreted in many ways. For example, it can be seen as a case study of poor leadership and faulty decision-making. It's also a cautionary tale about the massive destruction of a once well-disciplined organization by a single sociopath. The stark landscape of ice and treeless tundra is a story in itself that evokes a bleak assessment of the modern human condition.

Screenwriter David Kajganich affirms the oft-repeated observation that people's true character is only revealed under extreme stress. As the series progressed through its ten episodes, some of Sir Franklin's crew descended into cannibalism, while others rose to almost Christ-like status through sacrifice and suffering.

As someone who once spent time in Alaska's Yupik and Inupiak communities, I can attest that the series's depiction of the Inuits is accurate. They are gentle but resolute people with almost no record of violence before their introduction into the so-called civilized world.

In short, "The Terror" is an entertaining adventure story. I found it totally satisfying, except for the last episode, which was a bit confusing. This is only a minor criticism, however. Overall, "The Terror" is a triumph.

What's not to like? Hubris, a sociopath, cannibalism, and terror

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Antisemitism stalks college campuses. It must be ruthlessly stamped out

 Last spring, American college campuses were roiled by anti-Israel protesters who disrupted commencement ceremonies, vandalized university buildings, and shut several universities down.

Apologists for these hoodlums argue that the protesters are outraged by Israel’s actions in Gaza, where thousands of civilians have been killed in the fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas. Protesters have charged Israel with genocide, and they’ve called for universities to divest from all companies doing business with the Jewish state.

These protests died down at the end of last year’s spring semester, but the anti-Israel movement reared its ugly head again on college campuses this fall. Students at the University of Michigan elected a slate of student officers who vow to stop all funding for university student groups until the university divests itself from Israel. At Columbia, vandals threw red paint on a campus statue--symbolizing Palestinian blood.

It’s impossible to discern the motives of individual protesters, but some have expressed antisemitic and racist sentiments, openly praising Hamas and even calling for the destruction of Israel.

Make no mistake. Antisemitism runs rampant at many American universities, and our most elite schools now harbor students and professors who are racists and bigots. We can expect antisemitism to become more virulent and violent during the upcoming academic year.

Antisemitism is not a fringe movement on college campuses. Anti-Jewish bigotry has become embedded in American higher education and threatens to infect our entire society.

During the 1920s and 1930s, antisemitism flourished in the universities of Eastern Europe even before Hitler gained power in Germany. As scholar Ezra Mendelsohn observed, “universities all over East Central Europe were centers of anti-Semitism.” Some Romanian universities were shut down in 1922 due to anti-Jewish violence.

Mendelsohn offered two explanations for antisemitism at European universities prior to the Second World War. In some Eastern European countries, he wrote, “young and impressionable students were attracted to the new militant, anti-pluralist nationalist movements, which combined xenophobia, anti-communism, and antisemitism with an idealistic campaign directed against the compromise-prone, venal political and economic establishment.” 

In addition, he observed that universities were turning out graduates who could not find decent jobs. Thus, the "new intellectuals” of pre-war Eastern Europe were driven to antisemitism by economic insecurity.

America’s college leaders need to face the fact that growing antisemitism among college students and professors will infect all American society if it is not checked. In my view, professors who promote antisemitism should be fired. Students who openly support genocide against Jews and Israel should be expelled, and anyone who uses violence and vandalism to advance racism and bigotry should go to jail.

Columbia's alma mater statue was vandalized

Will the President of Joy Improve the Lives of Ordinary American Men?

 I edit most of my writing through Grammarly. Whenever I type ‘elderly,' my faithful editor reminds me that some people are offended by the word and suggests I substitute the word 'older.'

This is the world we live in. Our society is sensitive about what we call old people, but we're not concerned about the quality of their lives.  In particular, we aren’t interested in the health and welfare of older men.

Richard V. Reeves published an op-ed essay yesterday about a health crisis among American men. According to Reeves, "The life expectancy gap between men and women widened from less than five years in 2010 to nearly six years in 2002."

Why are men dying at an earlier age? Reeves reports that men's life expectancy is going down due to "deaths of despair," most notably suicide and drug poisoning, and to higher death rates from COVID-19.

Men take their own lives at four times the rate of women, and this disparity in suicide rates increases with age. Among people aged 75-84, men's suicide rate is 7 times higher than the rate for women.

Alcohol abuse also contributes to “deaths of despair” among American men. The Centers for Disease Control reported that male deaths attributed to alcohol abuse increased by 26.8 percent between 2016-2017 and 2020-2021.

The Biden-Harris administration has done virtually nothing to address the growing disparity between mortality rates for American men and women and the high suicide rate for men, and older men in particular. President Biden and VP Harris have shown more concern about the right of gender-confused boys to play girls' basketball than the rising mortality rate for the nation's male citizens.

If Harris is elected "the president of joy, " things may change. Perhaps she'll distribute some of her joy to ordinary American men. 

Somehow, I doubt it. If Harris becomes president, her joy zone will be restricted to her base: Hollywood, the intellectual and media elites, the financial class, and the DEI crowd.  Average American men will see their quality of life continue to deteriorate. And suicide rates for elderly men will remain high.

Cheer up! The President of Joy will solve all your problems.

Harris-Trump Bring Excitement and Ectasy to Presidential Campaign: The Russians Aren't Feeling the Joy

You got no right to take my joy, I want it back.

Joy by Lucinda Williams

Posing as vaudeville comedians, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz wrapped up the Democratic convention last week. Harris waved her arms like a seance conjurer, and Walz strutted and gesticulated around the DNC stage like a game show host.

What was the convention’s theme? Not the economy, not crime, not the nation’s border. No, the theme was joy. 

Kamala Harris is “the president of joy,” Bill Clinton told the convention delegates. He knows a lot about joy. He spilled some of it on a blue dress when he was president. 

New York Times columnist Patrick Healy observed that joy is not a strategy for winning an election, but Healy may be wrong. Harris is ahead of Donald Trump in the polls, even though she hasn’t granted an interview with a real journalist since becoming the Dems' presidential candidate.

Harris is dodging the press because she's afraid a reporter might ask an inconvenient question, which is this: What the fuck are we doing in Ukraine? Such a question might dampen the joy that currently infuses Harris’s frenzied supporters.

Americans whose minds have been turned to Jello by the New York Times, WaPo, and CNN are enthralled by Harris’s clownish behavior, but the Russians aren't feeling the joy. They've suffered over a half million casualties inflicted by NATO weapons, including American cluster bombs, Abrams tanks, uranium-depleted artillery shells, and Bradley fighting vehicles.

If Harris wins the November election, she will find that joy doesn't travel well. I doubt Harris’s cackle will charm Vladimir Putin into surrendering Crimea. 

The politics of joy in Ukraine

Are American mercenaries fighting in Russia? Say it ain't so, Kamala

 Zero Hedge reported today that the Russian foreign ministry summoned a senior American diplomat in Moscow to protest the presence of CNN reporters and American mercenaries on Russian soil. 

Russia did not identify the mercenary organization but flagged a posting by Forward Observations Group, a military contractor, showing a photo of three FOG military operatives supposedly inside Russia's Kursk region.

Without a doubt, CNN journalists were recently in Russia under the protection of the invading Ukrainian army. CNN reporter Nick Paton acknowledged that fact in his reporting.

It is not so clear whether American mercenaries are fighting in Russia, but CNN can confirm that story since their people were traveling with the Ukrainian military.

Suppose we want to get to the bottom of the matter. In that case, American reporters should simply ask Vice President Kamala Harris this question: Are American military personnel or American contractors on Russian soil assisting the Ukrainian invaders? 

That's a yes-or-no question, but I doubt any non-leftist journalist will be allowed to get close enough to VP Harris to ask it.

Maybe the truth about American involvement in the Ukrainian invasion of Russia will be revealed after the November election.  Or maybe not.

Are American mercenaries in Kursk?

Ukraine invades Russia with Western armor. Should Americans be cheering?

 Ukraine invaded the Kursk region of Russia earlier this month. The U.S. government claims the Ukrainians didn't consult the Americans about this "incursion." Nevertheless, the Ukrainians crossed the Russian border with British tanks and American armor.

Should we be happy about this development? Senator Lindsey Graham believes we should be delighted. He called the Kursk offensive "bold, brilliant, and beautiful" and added, "Putin started this. Kick his ass."

Pardon me for not popping the champagne corks over the expansion of the Ukraine war, a war that has dragged on for two and a half years and produced more than a million casualties. I have no interest in kicking Vladimir Putin's ass, and I'm emphatically opposed to American involvement in stoking a senseless war with a nuclear power--a war that might eventually involve my grandchildren.

Ukraine's conflict with Russia was fomented by the United States when the CIA meddled in Ukrainian politics in 2014.  Although it's true that Russia initially tried to take over all of Ukraine when it invaded in February 2022, the fight now is essentially a border dispute over the Donbas, where most residents speak Russian as their first language.

We Americans have become a feckless and frivolous people governed by fools. At the moment, we are enthralled and enchanted by Vice President Kamala Harris, a chronic giggler, and Governor Tim Walz, a union hack from Minnesota, who allowed a large section of his state's largest city to burn down.

Most Americans seem unphased by the fact that the U.S. government is pouring billions of dollars into two wars that could have been prevented if America had behaved like a strong and confident world power. Our national debt is growing by a trillion dollars every 100 days. Yet, presidential candidate Kamala Harris thinks the U.S. Treasury has enough loose change lying about to give all first-time homebuyers $25,000.

Meanwhile, anti-Semitic lunatics are roaming our universities in support of racist terrorists, making a mockery of higher education's "diversity, equity, and inclusion" agenda.

The Ukraine war will end badly--not only for the Russians and the Ukrainians but for Americans as well. The era of Pax Americana is coming to an end, and the end is coming sooner than most people think.

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Kursk

Should the State of Texas reassert its status as an independent nation? Almost a quarter of likely Texas voters say yes

The natives are restless. Across America, independence movements have sprung up, calling for individual states to secede from the Union.

 According to a recent Newsweek article, secession campaigns are active in twelve states: Oregon, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Louisiana, California, Washington, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania. That list does not include two more states with active independence movements: Alaska and Florida. 

In Texas, the Texas Nationalist Movement is making significant strides in its campaign for independence. TNM is pushing for a statewide, nonbinding referendum allowing Texans to voice their opinion on a single question: "Should the state of Texas reassert its status as an independent nation?" The movement collected 140,000 signatures for this question to be placed on the Republican primary ballot this year.

Indeed, Texas independence has become a mainstream political issue in the Lone Star State. The Texas Republican Party's "official legislative platform" includes a plank calling for an independence vote. A recent poll of likely Texas voters found that 23 percent would vote for Texas independence if allowed to vote on the question.

Why do some Texans want to secede from the United States? I can think of three reasons. 

First, Texans are alarmed by the federal government's open border policy, which has allowed millions of immigrants to enter the country illegally and enabled drug traffickers to smuggle illegal drugs, including fentanyl, across the nation's southern border.  

Second, many Texans are concerned about the spiraling national debt, which is growing by one trillion dollars every 100 days.

Finally, many Texans are offended by attacks on traditional Texas culture by the federal government and the East Coast mainstream media. The Biden administration's push for transgender participation in girls' varsity sports is just one example of the federal government's disdain for the cultural values of the Heartland.

I am not a resident of Texas, but I support the Texas independence movement. I believe Texas will thrive as an independent nation. 

After all, Texas's economy is the eighth-largest in the world. The state has abundant energy resources and has been the top exporting state for 22 years in a row. 

Perhaps, most importantly, Texas is an agreeable place to live and do business. That's why Texas has attracted so many Californians and California corporations.

I'm beginning to wonder if a nation of 330 million people can maintain a healthy democracy under a government dominated by soulless bureaucrats, repressive government regulations, and an obsession with race and sexual orientation. I also wonder whether a healthy national discourse about major public policy issues can occur in a social media environment easily manipulated and censored by governmental agencies and their corporate lackeys.

On the other hand, Texas has demonstrated that a clearly defined geographic region with a well-educated population, abundant natural resources, access to sea lanes, and a traditional work ethic can prosper.

Maybe it is time for Americans in all 50 states to ponder whether they would be better off leaving the Deep State with its weaponized legal system, political corruption, and universities-inspired culture of victimhood to strike out on their own. 

The people living in the states that make up Flyover Country might prosper as smaller political units, and the coastal elites would be glad to see us go.