Died Suddenly [Jan. 2021)

1/1/21

•Christine Dacera 23 ruptured aortic aneurysm [flight attendant] 🇵🇭

•Sun Qiaolu 25 heart attack [actress] 🇨🇳

1/2/21

•Rob Flockhart 64 heart attack [hockey player] 🇨🇦

•Guadalupe Grande 55 [poet] 🇪🇸

•Mike Reece 42 ruptured brain aneurysm [politician] 🇺🇸

•Yuri Saukh 69 [soccer player] 🇷🇺

1/3/21

•Cornelis Feoh 57 [politician] 🇮🇩

•Shyamji Kanojia 65 [cricket player] 🇮🇳

•Anil Panachooran 51 cardiac arrest [lyricist] 🇮🇳

1/4/21

•Ronnie Burgess 57 cardiac arrest [NFL player] 🇺🇸

•Jonas Neubauer 39 cardiac arrhythmia [Tetris player] 🇺🇸

1/5/21

•Emilia De Biasi 62 [politician] 🇮🇹

•Tyberii Korponai 62 [soccer player] 🇺🇦

•Telly Tjanggulung 47 [politician] 🇮🇩

•Vennelakanti 63 cardiac arrest [lyricist] 🇮🇳

•Pungky Purnomo Wibobo 52 heart attack [economist] 🇮🇩

1/6/21

•Mircea Bolba 59 [soccer player] 🇷🇴

•Thanasis Papazoglou 67 [soccer player] 🇬🇷

•Kate Payne 63 [nurse] 🇺🇸

•Iulian Șerban 35 [canoeist] 🇷🇴

1/7/21

•Alex Apolinário 24 cardiac arrest [soccer player] 🇧🇷 ⭐️

•Elanga Buala 56 [runner] 🇵🇬

•Deezer D 55 heart attack [rapper] 🇺🇸

•Ronnie Ellenblum 68 heart failure [geographer] 🇮🇱

•Grant Gondrezick 57 [NBA player] 🇺🇸

•Thomas Gumpert 68 [actor] 🇩🇪

•Vladimir Kiselyov 64 [Olympic champion shot putter] 🇺🇦

•Tom LaBonge 67 cardiac arrest [politician] 🇺🇸

•Lonnie Perrin 68 [NFL player] 🇺🇸

•Adebayo Salami 69 [politician] 🇳🇬

•Brian Sicknick 42 [U.S. Cap. Pol.] 🇺🇸

•Solange 69 [psychic] 🇮🇹

1/8/21

•Steve Hendrickson 54 [NFL player] 🇺🇸

•Peter W. Huber 68 [lawyer] 🇺🇸

•Barbara Köhler 61 [poet] 🇩🇪

•Deborah Rhode 68 [legal scholar] 🇺🇸

1/9/21

•Anton Cancélas 65 [voice actor] 🇪🇸

•Mohamud Mohammed Hassan 24 [security guard] 🇬🇧

•Howard Liebengood suicide [U.S. Cap. Pol.] 🇺🇸

•Todd Stadtman 59 [musician] 🇺🇸

•Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 🇮🇩 [62 deaths] (Boeing 737-500)

1/10/21

•Christopher Maboulou 30 heart attack [soccer player] 🇫🇷 ⭐️

•Wayne Radford 64 [NBA player] 🇺🇸

•Benita Raphan 58 [filmmaker] 🇺🇸

•Julie Strain 58 dementia [actress] 🇺🇸

1/11/21

•Sheldon Adelson 87 [casino owner] 🇺🇸

•Éric Babin 61 [politician] 🇳🇨

•Lloyd Cowan 58 [hurdler] 🇬🇧

•David Khakhaleishvili 49 [judoka] 🇬🇪

•Bogdan Macovei 67 [handball manager] 🇷🇴

•Mario Masuku 69 [politician] 🇸🇿

•Lindiwe Ndlovu 44 [actress] 🇿🇦

•Kurt Oddekalv 63 drowning [environmentalist] 🇳🇴

1/12/21

•Carlos Joseph 40 ruptured brain aneurysm [NFL player] 🇺🇸 ⭐️

•Tim Lester 52 COVID-19 [NFL player] 🇺🇸

•Keith Valigura 63 [politician] 🇺🇸

1/13/21

•Duke Bootee 69 heart failure [rapper] 🇺🇸

•Nicky Booth 40 [boxer] 🇬🇧

•Bryan Monroe 55 heart attack [CNN journalist] 🇺🇸

•Sinikka Nopola 67 [writer] 🇫🇮

•Øyvind Sandberg 67 [film director] 🇳🇴

1/14/21

•José Luis Caballero 65 [Olympic soccer player] 🇲🇽

•Storm Constantine 64 [author] 🇬🇧

•Sheikh Ali Jaber 44 [cleric] 🇮🇩

•Aleksandr Nikitin 59 [soccer player] 🇷🇺

•Leonidas Pelekanikis 58 COVID-19 [Olympic sailor] 🇬🇷

•David Roth 68 [magician] 🇺🇸

•Jane Sinclair 64 [priest] 🇬🇧

1/15/21

•Tyrone Crawley 62 [boxer] 🇺🇸

•Mark Langham 60 [priest] 🇬🇧

•Benjamin de Rothschild 57 heart attack [banker] 🇫🇷

•Jeffrey L. Smith 35 suicide [U.S. Cap. Pol.] 🇺🇸

1/16/21

•Sharon Begley 64 [science journalist] 🇺🇸

•Choi Jeongrye 65 [poet] 🇰🇷

•György Handel 61 COVID-19 [soccer player] 🇭🇺

•Sergi Mingote 49 [mountain climber] 🇪🇸

•Carlo Nayaradou 63 [author] 🇫🇷

•Meghrig Parikian 53 [bishop] 🇨🇦

•Sergei Rodin 39 [soccer player] 🇷🇺

•Arturo Tizón 36 [motorcycle racer] 🇪🇸

•Paul Varelans 51 COVID-19 [UFC fighter] 🇺🇸

1/17/21

•Joevana Charles 66 [politician] 🇸🇨

•Joan Eloi Vila 61 [guitarist] 🇪🇸

1/18/21

•Carlos Burga 68 COVID-19 [Olympic boxer] 🇵🇪

•Tony Ingle 68 COVID-19 [basketball coach] 🇺🇸

•Ákos Kriza 55 [health economist & politician] 🇭🇺

•Henryk Ostrowski 60 [politician] 🇵🇱

•David Richardson 65 heart failure [TV writer] 🇺🇸

•John Russell 66 [guitarist] 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

•K.V. Vijayadas 61 cerebral hemorrhage [politician] 🇮🇳

1/19/21

•Danial Jahić 41 COVID-19 [Olympic long-jumper] 🇷🇸

•Toleafoa Ken Vaafusuaga Poutoa 53 [politician] 🇼🇸

1/20/21

•David Brewster 56 heart attack [politician] 🇬🇧

•Mira Furlan 65 West Nile virus [actress] 🇺🇸

•John Jeffers 52 [soccer player] 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

•Rabi Mishra 64 cardiac arrest [actor] 🇮🇳

•Lonnie Nielsen 67 [golfer] 🇺🇸

•Ted Thompson 68 dysautonomia [NFL player] 🇺🇸

•Martha Jachi Umbulla 65 [politician] 🇹🇿

1/21/21

•Howard Carson 63 [NFL player] 🇺🇸

•Mauricio Herdocia Sacasa 63 [jurist] 🇳🇮

•Jerry Kiernan 67 [Olympic long-distance runner] 🇮🇪

•Johnny Rogan 67 [journalist] 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

•Hank Aaron 86 [vaccinated baseball player] 🇺🇸

•Hughroy Currie 61 [boxer] 🇬🇧

•Marius van Heerden 46 COVID-19 [Olympic middle-distance runner] 🇿🇦

•Tony Jones 54 [NFL player] 🇺🇸

•Meherzia Labidi Maïza 57 [politician] 🇹🇳

1/23/21

•Andrew Brooks 51 heart attack [medical researcher] 🇺🇸

•Robert Rowland 54 drowned [politician] 🇬🇧

•Song Yoo-jung 26 [actress] 🇰🇷

•Tom Stevens 64 [musician] 🇺🇸

1/24/21

•Nikolay Chebotko 38 [Olympic cross-country skier] 🇰🇿

•Bootsie Neal 68 [politician] 🇺🇸

•2021 Palmas FR plane crash [6 deaths]

1/25/21

•Ihwan Datu Adam 56 [politician] 🇮🇩

•Mike Bell 63 heart attack [motorcycle racer] 🇺🇸

•David Bright 64 COVID-19 [soccer coach] 🇧🇼

•Jaoid Chiguer 35 heart attack [Olympic boxer] 🇫🇷 ⭐️

•Iron 29 [rapper] 🇰🇷

•Masada Iosefa 32 [rugby player] 🇼🇸

•David Katzenstein 69 COVID-19 [virologist] 🇺🇸

1/26/21

•Berit Oskal Eira 69 [politician] 🇳🇴

•Ron Johnson 64 COVID-19 [baseball player] 🇺🇸

•Cara O’Sullivan 59 [singer] 🇮🇪

•Sekou Smith 48 COVID-19 [sportswriter] 🇺🇸

•Ansif Ashraf 37 COVID-19 [magazine editor] 🇮🇳

•José Cruz 68 COVID-19 [soccer player] 🇭🇳

•Guy Immanuel Alain Gauze 68 [politician] 🇨🇮

•Goddess Bunny 61 COVID-19 [drag queen] 🇺🇸

•Saini Lemamea 56 [rugby player] 🇼🇸

•Wendel Meldrum 66 [actress] 🇨🇦

•Mehrdad Minavand 45 COVID-19 [soccer player] 🇮🇷

•Tim Owhefere 57 [politician] 🇳🇬

1/28/21

•Adrián Campos 60 [Formula One driver] 🇪🇸

•Cédric Demangeot 46 [poet] 🇫🇷

•Shaibal Gupta 67 [social scientist] 🇮🇳

•Sibongile Khumalo 63 [singer] 🇿🇦

•Singing Sandra 64 [singer] 🇹🇹

•Heidi Weisel 59 [fashion designer] 🇺🇸

1/29/21

•Emilia Asim-Ita 33 [entrepreneur] 🇳🇬

•Christian Daigle 42 [ice hockey agent] 🇨🇦

•Didier Pasgrimaud 54 [Olympic cyclist] 🇫🇷

1/30/21

•Double K 43 [rapper] 🇺🇸

•Abbas Khan 66 COVID-19 [squash player] 🇵🇰

•Edward Stourton, 27th Baron Mowbray 67 [peer] 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

•Pantelei Sandulache 64 [politician] 🇲🇩

•Sophie 34 [singer] 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

•Marc Wilmore 57 COVID-19 [comedian] 🇺🇸

1/31/21

•Mihail Popescu 60 [Olympic ice hockey player] 🇷🇺

Airplane! [1980)

My congratulations to Hulu for finally making a move in the right direction as regards comedic movies.

This is a chestnut from my youth.

Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, this endless stream of one-liners hits some very special notes indeed.

[flying on instruments]

Ted Striker has a drinking problem…

His aim is off.

It dates back to when he was stationed on the island of Drambuie [sic].

He led the strike against Daiquiri.  We’ll be coming in low…beneath their radar.  Attacking from the north.

[when will you be back?  I can’t tell you that.  It’s top secret.]

Yes, his postwar record is even worse than his war record.

I know the feeling.

Leaves his cab with the meter running.

Striker is always coming in too hot.  Robert Hays.

World record for sweat.

But at least he has his Elaine for whom to hope.  Julie Hagerty.

Avoid the brown acid.  And the fish.

But if you do need a doctor, just look for someone perpetually wearing a stethoscope.

Leslie Nielsen.

Plays it straight as a javelin [donnnnnngggg!].

The cavalry trailing Kramer.

But back to Leslie…from Regina, Saskatchewan.

[Municipal bonds…AA rating…best investment in Canada]

Extremely underrated is Peter Graves as the pilot:  Clarence Oveur.

On the ovarian trolley.

[Have you ever seen a grown man naked?]

and

[Do you like gladiator films?]

or

[Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?]

And of course, the man himself:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

{on this night when my Spurs fell a point shy to the Thunder}

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer (38,387) is Roger Murdoch.

I previously wrote about Kareem’s turn in the Bruce Lee “almost” Game of Death.

Airplane!, then, was his second appearance on the big screen (and first since his kung fu debut in 1972).

Lloyd Bridges picked the wrong week for everything.

All the vices.

From a fag to a swig to bennies to some genuinely Ramones shit.

{now I’m gonna have nightmares about Westbrook}

[How ’bout some coffee?]

[…never has a second cup of coffee at home.  …never vomits at home.]

Robert Stack checks in like Gregg Popovich after a meal at Taco Bell.

[That may have been the lousiest landing in the history of this airport…]

But the absolute secret weapon is the flamingly-gay Stephen Stucker as Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs.

[it looks like a big Tylenol]

[a hat, a brooch, a pterodactyl]

Stucker’s contribution is still alive (though he sadly passed away in 1986 at the age of 38).

And so the queen act was no act.

AIDS.

Shit…

[golly]

June Cleaver speaks jive.

Joey Hammen (Ross Harris) went on to have a very interesting music career which saw his path intersect with Beck, Stereolab, and The Dust Brothers.

[Odelay!]

David Leisure and Kawhi Leonard both went to San Diego State University.

That should definitely help us in Game 3.

But we’re going to need a lot more defense from Ethel Merman.

Really, the Spurs need to revisit this excellent tome by Joel Cohen:

dynomite

No library focusing on military strategy is complete without it.

From Jomini to Clausewitz to Winshield Wiper Man:

if he can just manage to get the hood back down on the Boeing 707 after checking the dipstick.

No need to commit hara-kiri, James Hong.  Just filed under “seppuku”.

It’s 1-1.  Go Spurs Go!

 

-PD

La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc [1928)

For this one I should really write a good piece.

Because this is a miracle of cinema.

Carl Th. Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc.

You might cue it up on Hulu (good luck with Netflix) as part of the Criterion Collection.

You might put your headphones on.

But the Criterion Collection presents this as a truly silent film.

We know that that wasn’t the case most of the time with “silent” films.

They had live piano accompaniment.  Perhaps an orchestra.

In some countries (Japan?) they had sound effects performed live.

But watching La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc today is truly a lonely experience. 

You might keep the headphones on out of habit (as if a sound might finally emerge…but it never does).

It takes a valiant effort to watch this film in its totality and not cry when the famous scene comes.

“The famous scene” I refer to is the one made famous by Godard’s best “movie”:  Vivre sa vie.

Anna Karina sits in a movie theater and watches this very film.  And we join her just in time to see the tears roll down her cheeks.

Joan of Arc.

She stood for something.

And somehow, a “religious” court found her guilty.  She is labeled for all time, by this panel of judges, an “apostate” and an “idolater”.

What a tragedy!

It very plainly shows us the error of religion.

Joan’s religion is pure.  Her dedication is personal.

And who ever gave “the Church” the power to kill?

There is no part of the New Testament which even suggests such a power should emanate from Jesus through the Apostles (his “descendants”) and on down the ages to “the Church”.

And so Christianity failed.  There are a lot of apologies to be handed out.  The Inquisition, etc.

[It should be pointed out that the Catholic Church rectified this mistake made by a regional element which was allied with the English against the French.]

But the important thing is that Joan stood.

She stood for something.  Even if she was a fiery mystic like Hildegard von Bingen.

And who do we have to look to today?

I would say Snowden.  Is Snowden the real article?

He is certainly filling the needed role.

The great evil now is the surveillance state.

It is plain and simple.

And Will Smith should win the Oscar for Best Actor in Concussion even if for one line:  “Tell the truth!”

But there are far more important things on which we need the truth.

9/11, the War “on” Terror, ISIS…

Who is standing for those nearly 3000 who died horrible deaths in New York City?

When you wave a false flag, your soldiers don’t mete out justice.

When you wave a false flag, you get the wrong people.

No wonder Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had to be waterboarded 183 times.

And Guantanamo is full of goat farmers.

Therefore (q.e.d.), the 19 hijackers story (being impossible without the assistance of highly-placed “moles” in both the FBI and CIA) is the deadliest “Once upon a time…” ever written.

As much sympathy as I have for all those who died on 9/11 (and it is substantial), we must recognize the web of death which emanated from that lie…that “Once upon a time…”.  Try reading the 9/11 Commission Report without vomiting.  Why, because it is graphic?  No.  Because it reads like “My Pet Goat” (which George W. Bush was busy reading in Florida while he should have been rushing for cover = fake terror [w/ real death]).

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria…

It is disgusting.  There is not a “dictator” or “warlord” in the world who has wrought the needless destruction which the United States of America (by way of lies) has visited upon the Muslim world in the past 15 years.

But let’s be fair.  Our soldiers have been tricked.  Their lives have been ruined in the course of fighting this imperial war.  I am an American.  I pity our military.  They did not join up to fight shadow wars.  They did not join up to be the tools of imperialists.  They wanted to protect the United States.  Their generals have only succeeded in making the world a more dangerous place.

And that brings us to ISIS.  ISIS typifies everything fake about the War “on” Terror.  From the bastards who brought you the self-inflicted wound known as 9/11 comes a new comedy starring those wild and crazy terrorists who sprang up from nowhere.

Just like al-Qaeda.  Sprang up from nowhere.  Of course, there was the Operation Cyclone-era groundwork laid (that would be, CIA funding), but in general the “roll-out” of al-Qaeda was fairly quick.  But ISIS took the cake.  The confectioners of fake terror (that would be, the U.S., U.K., NATO countries, Israel, Five Eyes, take your pick, etc.) really outdid themselves with their speed to market in introducing ISIS.  In doing so, the New World Order (let’s call them) cannibalized their own product (al-Qaeda) just as Apple does each time it rolls out a new iPhone.

And so it has been transparent all along.  The catchy name has incriminated ISIS (no fundamentalist terrorist group from the Middle East would ever name themselves after an Egyptian pagan god) from the beginning.

ISIS is like a water cooler joke at Langley.  The spooks can’t believe how dumb we are.

And so it has been the U.S. airdrops which have sustained ISIS.  Yes, Turkey has provided a good bit of sustenance (under the aegis of NATO).

And the aerial campaign against ISIS’ formidable Toyota (!) trucks?  Nonexistent.

WE have been ISIS’ air force.  We haven’t been bombing ISIS.  At all.  Ever.

Russia has made this clear.

Make no mistake, Russia entered the Syrian theater because of the insanity of NATO along her borders.

Since Russia has entered:

-Russian passenger jumbo jet blown up over the Sinai Peninsula

-sabotage operation of explosions which have knocked out a considerable amount of power in Crimea (in the winter)

– Turkish (NATO) shootdown of Russian fighter/bomber

These are not pleasant things.

It is hard to tell exactly what role the Paris attacks played.

I think they were an American operation which backfired when France leaned towards Russia.  It is, however, possible that it was a French-engineered false-flag to allow France a pretext for joining Russia.  Perhaps the DGSE saw no other solution than sacrificing a hundred or so Parisians to stop the American war of insanity in Syria.

What is most obvious is the general arc of this farce:  9/11 (absolutely false narrative regarding the guilty party), the War “on” Terror (more lies lies lies…never ending war…profits for Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, United Technologies, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum ad nauseam), and ISIS (as fake as the Kuwaiti babies being ripped out of incubators which was foisted upon the U.S. Congress thanks to Hill & Knowlton PR firm).

And so we stand.  Each in our own little ways.

The panopticon is already constructed.

The camps are empty.

The data vacuumed up thus far will be mined from now till eternity.

Thus, Snowden needs to be eclipsed.

Who will be the next great human to take the world stage?

 

-PD

Death Wish [1974)

The great American movie.  Paramount.  Gulf + Western.

It grips at your heart.

A Boeing 757 in reverse.  At last.

This inverted haiku serves to give epigrammatic notice.

“Above all, I didn’t want to take any more shit…not from anybody.”  –Iggy Pop

I credit Nick Tosches with turning me on to the album from whence the above lyrics come:  Avenue B.

It kinda sums it up.  Paul Kersey.  Not to be confused with Jerome Kersey (R.I.P.).

They say “vigilante”…  I don’t know.  Doesn’t seem quite right.  I mean, we all know about Bernhard Goetz.  Taxi Driver.

Michael Winner really nailed it as a director here.

But we must face those drones buzzing overhead.  “There’s something dishonorable about killing from a distance,” to paraphrase a line from Godard’s Le Petit Soldat.  Depends on the distance.  Depends on who drew first.

This is, after all, an urban Western.

“In 2010, FOX and the New York Daily News reported that months after the 9/11 attacks, a Pentagon employee invited al-Awlaki to a luncheon in the Secretary’s Office of General Counsel. The US Secretary of the Army had asked for a presentation from a moderate Muslim as part of an outreach effort to ease tensions with Muslim-Americans.”  –Wikipedia

This is, of course, in reference to U.S. agent Anwar al-Awlaki who was subsequently reported to have been wasted by a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator drone in Yemen.  Another American assassinated in the same attack (both killed without due process, if at all) by the JSOC and CIA was Samir Khan.  That is vigilante justice, or (more likely) fake vigilante justice.  Sometimes “reality erupts within the spectacle” (to paraphrase Guy Debord from his masterpiece tome Society of the Spectacle).  Just like those Hellfire missiles erupted (exploded).

I call al-Awlaki an agent (or asset) because that is my analysis of the facts (what is known).  I may be wrong.  I am, however, far more certain about the affiliation of Osama bin Laden.   The story of his “death” (Operation Neptune Spear) is the stuff of straight-to-DVD schlock which makes Death Wish look like Citizen Kane.

Which brings me to my initial inverted haiku:  7-5-7.  Thanks to the wonderful efforts of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, I was easily able to find just what I was looking for in a jiffy.  To wit, the original Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were built to withstand (without collapsing) the impact of a Boeing 707 aircraft (each tower) traveling at 600 mph.

Taking into account the different variants of the 707 (especially the popular 707-320C), we are probably talking about (conservatively) a 315,000-pound aircraft (maximum takeoff weight) carrying 21,000 gallons of fuel (fully-loaded).

Compare that to the 767s which crashed into the WTC on 9/11/01.  Yes, 767s are bigger…perhaps 25% heavier, but with a similar fuel capacity (24,000 gallons).

Yet at the Pentagon, we encountered a phantom 757.  The damage was not consistent with a plane crash, but rather with a missile.  Thierry Meyssan makes this exceedingly clear in his book Pentagate (2002).  And then there was United 93…an actual 757…most likely shot down, but mysteriously being trailed by a jet from Warren Buffet’s company NetJets (owned by Berkshire Hathaway).  Meanwhile, Ann Tatlock (CEO of Fiduciary Trust Co. International) was at Buffett’s charity golf and tennis tournament at Offutt AFB:  the command center of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.  Ms. Tatlock would normally have been in her office at the World Trade Center (!) right where flight 175 crashed into the south tower.  Even President Bush decided to drop by Offutt AFB later in the day rather than returning to D.C.  Buffett’s guest list might be quite a piece of evidence for reinvestigating 9/11.

And so…Paul Kersey…an architect (like Minoru Yamasaki, whose masterpiece was brought down by controlled demolition…that is to say, bombs, on 9/11)…living in New York City.  He’s robbed of his family by some punks (including a young Jeff Goldblum) who must have seen A Clockwork Orange (1971) a few too many times.

I’m not gonna give away the plot (if you don’t already know it).  There are some ingenious details and great acting (particularly Bronson and Vincent Gardenia).

We are left with the most frightening wink and smile ever committed to celluloid.  Bronson’s “Gotcha!” is the smirk of justice gaining ground.

-PD