Tag Archives: Donald Sutherland

Murder by Decree [1979)

To what extent are the recent attacks on Israel a false-flag?

Where upon the LIHOP-MIHOP continuum do they fall?

Let It Happen On Purpose.

Make It Happen On Purpose.

Israel was in disarray.

This year.

Divided.

Like America was after the disastrous “hanging chad” election of 2000.

But the country was “brought together” by the false-flag/stand-down of 9/11/01.

And so the 21st century began.

Study Pearl Harbor.

FDR.

The Wohlstetters.

The neocons.

And their Israeli connections.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007.

How did they get weapons?

Where did they come from?

If not by sea, then by what route?

Or was the blockade so magnificently ineffective???

Since 9/11, a thinking person would do well to believe that which is diametrically-opposed to whatever is the prevailing mainstream news position on most current events.

Narrative: 9/11 was the work of 19 beardy Muslims (mostly Saudis) wielding nothing more than box cutters

More likely: 9/11 was the work of the American government

Narrative: the Twin Towers fell down

More likely: the Twin Towers were blown up

There are some limits to this George Costanza method.

For instance…

Narrative: four planes were hijacked

An opposite: there were no planes

I, for one, believe there were planes.

But whether there were or not, we begin to lose sight of the big picture if we haggle over esoteric points.

Let’s be frank, how could Israel have not been ready for this?

It makes no sense whatsoever.

Gaza has been blockaded by sea for 16 years.

In contrast, Israel has some of the most advanced weaponry in the world.

Israel is a country built upon VIGILANCE.

This was not a surprise.

Not by any stretch of the imagination.

The attack did not come from an unexpected point.

Ok, so they used some paragliders.

So what?

WHAT ELSE WAS NOVEL ABOUT THIS ATTACK?

As far as I can tell, almost nothing.

The attack was bold.

Ok, I will concede that.

But what of these areas bordering the Gaza Strip?

Wouldn’t these be the most well-protected areas in Israel?

Either Israel is being run by very stupid leaders, or the events that transpired were EXACTLY WHAT these leaders WANTED to transpire.

Why?

A. to unite a divided country

B. to look like the victim and thus be able to launch a disproportionate riposte under the aegis of “defense”

Something is very seriously amiss in all of this.

Let’s return to that mostly-useful exercise of more accurately “reading” the news.

Mainstream media: Israel is good–Palestine is bad

It would then necessarily follow that: Israel is bad–Palestine is good

The truth may be more subtle.

Perhaps Israel is not so bad.

Perhaps Palestine is not so good.

And backing up.

Perhaps Israel is not so good.

Perhaps Palestine is not so bad.

But you will see nothing but biased reporting in the USA (among other places) concerning these events.

You will be bombarded will PSAs about anti-Semitism.

You will see videos of Israelis being kidnapped.

But you will not experience any coordinated media blitz which highlights the plight of Palestine.

They will receive no sympathetic ink.

You will be provided with no counterbalance–no psychologically-manipulating context on why exactly the Palestinians and the larger Islamic world are pissed off at Israel.

History must be erased.

Ignored.

We depend upon your stupidity and ignorance to view these events STRICTLY IN THE CONTEXT WHICH WE HAVE PROVIDED YOU.

No shades of meaning may exist.

There is good: Israel

There is bad: Palestine

If you color outside these lines, you are anti-Semitic.

The ADL will soon be knocking at your proverbial (?) door.

Your social media accounts will be permanently suspended.

Because to disagree with the caveman-like logic of “Israel good–Palestine bad” is HATE SPEECH.

Dontcha know?

I love Jews.

I love Muslims.

I respect Israelis.

I respect Palestinians.

Most of all, I respect Russians.

And their allies: the communist Chinese.

I also respect he Middle Eastern allies of Russia: Syria and Iran.

I do not approve of an American carrier strike group GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR this shitstorm.

Remember the USS Liberty!!!

Remember how Netanyahu and Boris Johnson were the first two major world leaders to congratulate Biden on his “win” in 2020.

I was very open-minded about Israel under the mostly-excellent Presidency of Donald Trump.

That goodwill vanished when Netanyahu effectively validated the 2020 U.S. elections as “free and fair”.

And this pissed Trump off.

YET TRUMP IS STILL SHILLING FOR ISRAEL.

[when he’s not busy shilling for Pfizer]

Trump abdicated his final year in office to Fauci and Pence.

And Pence ruined the USA.

Trump will never admit that he rushed unsafe, ineffective vaccines to market.

What are we to do?

I stand with RFK Jr.

Can he win?

Probably not.

But how can I stand with moronic Trump?

Jan. 7, 2023: start of Israeli anti-Judicial reform protests (Habima square)

Jan. 14, 2023: over 80,000 Israelis protest in Tel Aviv against judicial reform

Mar. 26, 2023: Netanyahu dismisses defense minister Yoav Gallant after Gallant called for discussions to be paused on controversial judicial reform bill

Mar. 27, 2023: Netanyahu announces a pause on his government’s judicial reform bill

Jul. 5, 2023: Tel Aviv police chief Amichai Esched announces his resignation sparking demonstrations by large crowds in solidarity with him

Oct. 7, 2023: country magically comes together to fight a common enemy

Has Israel ever supported Hamas?

Has Israel ever enabled Hamas?

To what extent has Mossad infiltrated Hamas?

And I ask these questions again, where the fuck are all these weapons in Gaza coming from?

No, let met ask in another way.

BY WHAT ROUTE(S) are these weapons entering Gaza?

Gaza fires 5,000 rockets on Oct. 7.

These rockets only kill 5 people.

What are these?

Fucking roman candles?

Bottle rockets???

So you’re telling me approximately 695 Israelis have been killed IN ISRAEL due to Gaza checkpoints being overwhelmed?!?

Gimme a fucking break.

The implausibility of that…

At the very least, Israel wanted this attack to happen…in order to have a casus belli to wipe Gaza off the map with as little international pushback as possible.

I simply don’t believe that Israel’s leaders are so stupid as to have flimsy fortifications and weak troop numbers on the border with Gaza.

Israel has nuclear weapons.

Israel has 50-75 U.S. F-35 stealth fighters (the most advanced fighter jets that the USA has).

Gaza has pickup trucks.

And some bulldozers.

Gimme a fucking break.

This does not add up.

-PD

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National Lampoon’s Animal House [1978)

As far as I can tell, I have finished my MBA in management.

Two years of extreme work ended yesterday.

And now I am left to ponder just what the hell I did.

Unlike Mr. Blutarsky (0.0 grade point average), I maintained a 4.00 GPA for my entire graduate studies program.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a film like this.

This is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

If you’re not in the right mood, it might turn you off.

But there are plenty of laughs to be had in this classic.

Tom Hulce has a decent shot to join a top-flight fraternity.

His roomie, Stephen Furst is a bit portly and socially daft.

But as in the best college movies, we discover a place for outcasts.

That particular place in this film is the Delta Tau Chi fraternity house.

The 1970s were different.

It was still a joke that the ethnic minorities were segregated into a room at rush parties…along with the blind…and honky dweebs like Hulce (and especially Furst).

It was not a politically correct atmosphere.

It was irreverent.

But the real star in the early going (and throughout much of the film) is Karen Allen.

What a beauty!

James Daughton was briefly in another film we reviewed recently:  Spies Like Us.

Yes, dear friends…this is another John Landis success.

And so Landis seemed to have a sort of pool (including Daughton) from which he was pulling.

Mark Metcalf is appropriately hatable as the Army ROTC officer who makes life miserable for Furst.

But the real inspiration…the spark of genius…is John Belushi as Bluto.

“…when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor”

Exactly.

Also integral is an actor born right here in my hometown:  Bruce McGill (as D-Day).

Plenty of togas.

Lots of beer.  “It don’t cost nuthin’.”

These guys know how to have fun.

And Sarah Holcomb is great.

[Oops…she’s 13?!?]

The film enters “on the road” territory when some of the Deltas visit Emily Dickinson College.

It really is a pretty hilarious bit!

Tim Matheson is the master of strategy for this scraggly band of losers.

I don’t want to give too much away if you haven’t seen this, but Donald Sutherland is really excellent as the professor attempting to interest nonplussed undergrads in Milton’s Paradise Lost.

And so, with that…I’m back!

I hope to get back to reading all of your excellent blogs.

And thank you so much for supporting me even when I was swamped with schoolwork.

🙂

-PD

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JFK [1991)

There is very little doubt in my mind that this is the most important film ever made.

For once in American history, someone stood up.

That man was Jim Garrison.

When I used to spend time in New Orleans I shuddered at the courage this man had.

He had the courage to take on everything.

But this epic would not have received its rightful place in history without the auteur Oliver Stone.

Making this film was an immense act of courage.

Search your heart.

Sit alone at 2:00 a.m. on the outskirts of Nola.

3:00 a.m.

Later.

The deepest, darkest part of the night.

Oliver Stone captures the beauty of humanity in the story of Jim Garrison.

Few dramatic performances have ever affected me so much as Kevin Costner’s here.

But you must look deeper.

Look to Jim Marrs.

Long ago I heard Alex Jones proclaim on air that JFK was his favorite film.

Long ago I saw JFK as a first-run film in the theater.

But I didn’t see this 3-hour-8-minute version.

I’m pretty sure of that.

Because I was just a child.

I heard the drums.

I heard the moving music of John Williams.

But, alas, it was 3’08” which was before me.

It takes a lifetime to appreciate what Mr. X is getting at.

It is packed tight as a can of sardines (even at 3’08”).

Eisenhower’s farewell address.

Really listen to it.

The nervous glances aside.

What is he announcing?

Does he not have immense testicles to yell such from the tower?

But let’s take a trip…

Acting.  Real fucking acting.

Joe Pesci.

God damn!

If Costner didn’t have the Garrison role, Pesci might have taken it.

Stole the show.

Kevin Bacon at Angola.

In Angola.

Leadbelly, not Neto.

IS THIS THE MPLA?

I THOUGHT IT WAS THE UK!

Donald Sutherland.

You can see the parallel now in Dr. Steve Pieczenik.

You gotta watch it.

Vietnam.

Donald Sutherland gets even closer than Pesci.

It’s that moment he says, “bubba”.

Yeah, that’s the right track.

That’s a lifetime of work.

That’s putting your ass on the line.

Have you ever put your ass on the line?

Really laying it all out there and staring into the void.

That’s the encouragement.

The words you need to hear from someone who’s paying attention.

Someone who’s saying, “Don’t be afraid of the bastards.  Hit ’em back.”

Contrasted with Pesci as a walking pot of coffee.

Yeah.

Feel that fear for a moment.

You don’t live in a bubble

You have family.

You have people you love.

You risk it all because you know it is the right thing to do.

To ask questions.

To object.

To use your mind where none dare tread.

Who’s the Jim Garrison of today?

Yes, it is Alex Jones.

He has earned that.

But it is also very much James Tracy.

Sissy Spacek cannot compete with Costner.

And she shouldn’t.

But she’s indispensable.

The back and forth in the hallway.

She ain’t walking down that hallway anymore.

Watch JFK and you’ll understand why Anderson Cooper is a coward.

Watch the hit piece directed at Garrison.

Sad, sad men (the SAD/SOG).

Yeah.

Come to know Lyman L. Lemnitzer.  Very few LLLs in history.

Don’t stop at Operation Mongoose.

Know the much more important Operation Northwoods (otherwise known as 9/11).

For all of the bigots out there, come to understand just how many things Israel COULD NOT have done (which were essential to 9/11).

And yet they are no doubt involved.

On the wrong side.

Just like their appalling treatment of the Palestinians.

Notice I didn’t say Jews.  And I didn’t say anti-Semitism.

Pesci’s character nails it.

But we still need Gary Oldman as Oswald.

What’s on the gravestone?

Oswald.

Maybe it’s not rogue elements after all.

It’s the whole damn thing.

But who warned us?

They were inside the machine.

Eisenhower.

Garrison.

Kennedy.

Martin Luther King.

Go to Dallas.

Feel the evil.

Unsolved.

Covered.

Covered over.

Like a pothole filled with steaming shit.

Thanks Michael Ovitz.

Did you really convince Costner to take the part?

More importantly, thank you Costner.

Yeah, that’s some method acting.

And it’s far too important not to feel.

With every fiber of one’s being.

Stone took the right take.

There could be only one like that.

In the courtroom.

We don’t even notice the cuts.

Academy Award for editing.

Including a chap named Scalia.

Tommy Lee Jones as the incarnation of evil.

Dainty.  Subtle.  Shades of James Mason from NXNW.

Tommy Lee Jones from my hometown.

San Antonio.

I seen him at a Mexican restaurant.

And we hold out hope that the planet remembers us.

Ed Asner.

Ed Asner who stood up when the shit hit the fan after 9/11.

Where were these other fuckers?  Still basking in the glory of JFK?

That’s too bad because their words then ring hollow.

How about Field of Dreams?  Go the distance.

Back, and to the left.

Back, and to the left.

Back, and to the left.

John Candy as perfection.

A serious role.

Fuck all you motherfuckers!

Martin Sheen is for real.

Charlie Sheen, while not in this movie, put so many social activists to shame.

Real testicular girth.

Jim Garrison as Earl Warren.

The glasses.

The Coke bottle disorientation.

But the erudition.

The evil erudition.

Sean Stone is what we’re fighting for.

The kids.

That’s real shit.

Mohrenschildt in Pappy Bush’s pocketbook.

A directory.

Not the whole Rolodex.

Just the kind of thing you’d take on an ice-skating trip in a thunderstorm to Houston.

It’s always raining.

And a little hunting.

Parse that.

It comes back to Cuba.

Zachary Sklar.

Ellen Ray.

Enough to write a book.

And publish it.

Jack Lemmon.

The fear.

Naïveté.  Étouffée.

A lot of work for a little piece of meat.

Oliver Stone’s not the genius.  Jim Garrison is.

Always will be.

But Garrison needed Stone.

Counter gangs.  Webster Tarpley.

Frank Kitson.  Low intensity.

Critical mass.

Where Jane Rusconi and Yale University come in.

Impressive.

I take it all back.

A dick-measuring contest about how many books one has read.

Garrison.  Stone.  Rusconi.

Impressive.

District attorney.

Ok, I take it back again again:  Oliver Stone is a genius.

But we need it again.

 

-PD

 

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