Archive for 2023
June 7, 2023
CHRISTIAN TOTO: When Film Critics Actually Defended Free Speech.
The removal of one four-letter word from an Oscar-winning film created a panic in 2011.
Today?
The classic film “The French Connection” loses a brief but powerful sequence to appease the woke mob, and most film critics look the other way.
That wasn’t the case with “The King’s Speech,” starring Colin Firth as the man who would be known as King George VI. The R-rated film won four Oscars, including Best Picture, and scored $138 million at the U.S. box office.
The King’s Speech (2010) Official Trailer #1 – Geoffrey Rush Movie HD
The Weinstein Company, hoping to lure even more movie goers to watch it, released a PG:13 version of “Speech” which clipped several “F-bombs.” The studio sought out families who might cherish the movie’s hopeful messaging.The response was swift and furious.
To be fair, movie critics used to be in the business of letting people know if a movie was good entertainment, and sometimes even teaching people about the art of filmmaking.
Now “criticism” is mostly about pushing a leftist narrative.
REVIEW OF JOSH HAWLEY’S MANHOOD: The Masculine Virtues America Needs: I am reading a number of books about men for a possible new book –kind of a post Men on Strike book that looks at men’s situation 10 years later. I was relieved to pick up Hawley’s book after reading others by liberal authors who just made me sad –that their view of men is so tempered by fear and apologies that it makes it painful to read.
Hawley’s book, in contrast, is not fearful in the least and it was a joy to read. It celebrates manhood in all its glory and looks at what gives men’s life purpose and meaning. Though he draws on ancient wisdom from the Greeks and Romans and from the Bible, much of it is pertinent to what is happening today. Masculinity is now viewed as toxic and something to be destroyed. Manhood takes the position that the virtues of men such as courage, purpose, character and helping the world become what it was meant to be matter. That men’s work and life matter. That is a big lesson in a society that tells us that men’s lives are trash, that they are responsible for the ills of the world.
For the positive attributes of masculinity, I applaud him. However, much of what Hawley proposes, such as duty, honor, and bravery require some degree of cooperation from others. He says to choose a giant issue in your life, like marriage and run towards it, not away. “Be willing to sacrifice.” Take the risk and injury and pain.” But my thoughts are that if a man wants to make his marriage work and he has an unwilling partner, he cannot beat a dead horse and keep trying with a woman who does not want the same. If a man wants the country to be less dependent and free, but many citizens reject freedom and chase dependency, at what point do you keep trying with people who are this entitled and weak?
Anyway, the book gets you to think about what it means to be a man in our society and has a positive message about men which is a reason enough to read it. Highly recommended.
PEOPLE ARE STILL WAITING FOR THE TRANS SHOOTER’S MANIFESTO TO BE RELEASED: Tennessee Governor Continues Push for Due Process-Free Red Flag Laws After School Shooting.
DO TELL: You May Not Need an Electric Vehicle After All.
Toyota just released a study showing that we don’t need EVs to dramatically lower carbon emissions. According to the study, all that is really needed is a fuel economy (eco) mode component in cars.
By covering 400,000 miles in eco mode, Toyota was able to demonstrate a savings of 5,091 gallons of gasoline and $18,304 in fuel costs when matched against the national average. Tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide reduced by 26%. Studies have shown that if continuously in eco mode a vehicle can save at least 2-3 mpg, which amounts to five or ten percent.
This could be a game changer.
Of course, there are drawbacks or modest inconveniences of employing the eco mode function. In order to use less fuel, eco mode requires the car adjust its throttle response, shift earlier than usual, and keep the engine running at lower RPMs. The car is less responsive with this reduction in power output.
But this is much less invasive than forcing the auto industry to manufacture electric vehicles by demonizing the fossil fuel industry and compelling the EV market to be heavily dependent on subsidies and tax credits. Such a combination is hardly a recipe for success. We are not ready to go fully electric, and may never be.
I leave my car in Eco most of the time, except when I’m off-road or want to put it in Sport to have a little fun on twisties — not that a Jeep is ever all that sporty. Milage is noticeably better and driving with Eco’s limits probably sets a good example for my 17-year-old with his still-fresh license.
VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: PETA Pres. Says Come for the Vegetarianism but Stay for the Cannibalism. “PETA President Ingrid Newkirk plans to be served up as the main course at her own wake. That’s the big crazy on today’s Insanity Wrap — an entire week’s worth of nuttiness wrapped up in one easy-to-swallow medicated news capsule.”
Plus:
- LGBQT+ has brought together the most unlikely bed partners in Glendale, California.
- The best rescue dog video of all time.
- ‘Bipartisan’ is Washingtonian for ‘Bad Idea’
So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.
READER FAVORITE: Carhartt Men’s Force Relaxed Fit Midweight Short-Sleeve Pocket T-Shirt. #CommissionEarned
HERE WE GO AGAIN: Researchers sound alarm over ‘unprecedented ice-free’ threat to Arctic. “The peer-reviewed findings on the effects of human-caused climate change in the region, published in Nature Communications, suggest the first ice-free summer could be in the 2030s. That’s a decade sooner than previously projected.”
Um… not really: Scientists predict seasonal ice-free Arctic by 2015.
BREAKING NEWS: The Clown Show Shall Continue. JustTheNews has an exclusive just in that Donald Trump’s legal team have been informed that an indictment is forthcoming in the next few days:
“Federal prosecutors have notified Donald Trump that he is a criminal target and likely to be indicted imminently in a probe into alleged classified documents – even as the Justice Department declined to delay charges to give time to investigate allegations of witness tampering submitted by the former president’s legal team, according to multiple people on Wednesday familiar with the case.
The sources directly familiar with the case told Just the News that DOJ declined to delay the planned indictment of Trump to investigate allegations that a senior prosecutor working on the case tried to influence a key witness by discussing a federal judgeship with the witness’ lawyer.”
More to come…
COLORADO: Proposed initiative bans meat processing in Denver; offers those out of work ‘assistance programs.’
A proposed citizen-initiated Denver ordinance to ban any facility where livestock animals are killed to produce food could cost hundreds of workers their jobs as well as create a larger ripple effect into the state’s economy if it successfully makes it onto the ballot and passes.
It would further offer those who lose their jobs as a result priority status in city-run “employment assistance” programs.
The proposal, titled “Prohibition of Slaughterhouses” is currently in the signature gathering phase and would prohibit “the construction, maintenance, or use of” any meat processing facilities in Denver beginning January 1, 2026, as well as “require the city to prioritize residents who employment is affected by the ordinance in workforce training or employment assistance programs.”
Leftism in a nutshell: Take away things you enjoy for your own good while destroying productive jobs and putting the formerly employed on some kind of assistance.
THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Why RFK Jr. flunked the Roger Waters test.
Let’s start by noting the irony of Kennedy’s support for someone who is as dedicated to the destruction of Israel and to defaming the Jewish people as Waters. His father was, after all, murdered by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian Arab who claimed that his crime was revenge for Bobby Kennedy’s support for the State of Israel. Though, ignoring all the evidence, RFK Jr. doesn’t believe Sirhan killed his father and wants him freed, a bizarre stand that may, at least in part, help to explain his willingness to embrace Waters.
The timing of the tweet was also appalling.
It came just as Waters was being assailed by critics for a performance in Germany, of all places, where he added images of Anne Frank and dressed in a black costume with red armbands that while reminiscent of his “The Wall” days looked very much like an SS uniform. The Pink Floyd star has long been known for peddling conspiracies involving fictional Israeli crimes against humanity and his hostility to Jews, even as he denies being an antisemite. Not to mention employing antisemitic imagery in his past shows, such as flying a pig balloon with a Star of David.
But his new tour, launched in Berlin, in which he compares Frank to Palestinians allegedly killed by Israel and fires a fake gun, made headlines around the world and caused a new round of denunciations for his offensive conduct. It also generated an investigation from German authorities since in that country any use of Nazi imagery is against the law.
So for Kennedy to tweet what he did was shocking. He wrote: “Roger You are the global hero Orwell had in mind when he said, ‘In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act’ The high priests of the totalitarian orthodoxies are trying to silence you with censorship, gaslighting and defamation. Please keep speaking truth to power!”
Read the whole thing.
I THOUGHT THEY JUST ADVERTISED THIS ON TALK RADIO: Clinical trial: Daily beetroot juice reduces rate of repeat procedures, heart attacks in angina patients with stents.
A SENSIBLE RESPONSE TO A CRAZY CITY GOVERNMENT: Metro Atlanta rideshare company will let you hire an armed driver. “Our drivers are military, law enforcement, those who have been in the private security world for over five years. That’s the minimum we require.”
SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB: Maryland Democrat Says Muslim Families Sided with ‘White Supremacists’ for Flagging Sexual Material in Class.
STANDING UP AGAINST RACISM AND BIGOTRY (CONT’D): Court Preliminarily Enjoins Minority Business Development Agency Race- and Ethnicity-Based Funding. “The Constitution demands equal treatment under the law. Any racial classification subjecting a person to unequal treatment is subject to strict scrutiny.”
BEFORE HE ILLEGALLY BOUGHT HIS HANDGUN: Inside the Whirlwind 48 Hours Before Hunter Biden Bought His Handgun. “In the 48 hours before Hunter Biden’s handgun purchase that is now under investigation by federal prosecutors, President Joe Biden’s troubled son was being hounded about hundreds of thousands of dollars he owed in debts, juggling texts from his brother’s widow and her sister, who were also his lovers, and coordinating what appears to be a drug deal at a local 7-Eleven with a man saved in his phone only as ‘Q.'”
DEAL OF THE DAY: New Balance Men’s 510 V5 Trail Running Shoe. #CommissionEarned
TO RUB DECENT PEOPLE’S FACES IN THE INFLUENCE TERRORISTS WIELD: Terrorist-Supporting Iran Made UN Assembly VP.
STANDING UP AGAINST RACISM AND BIGOTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: U.S. Representatives Call For Investigation of U. Minnesota DEI Discrimination After Equal Protection Project Complaint.