Folks, this is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Extremely well-written, beautifully directed, and really well-acted. Of course, the director is Russian and so is one of the stars, so I’m not shocked.

The movie is a hymn to American masculinity. It’s a metaphor of the castrated, weakened American masculinity that is shattered by the destruction of manufacturing, brought to submission by the passive-aggressive American femininity, and harassed by the Hispanics who, while pathetic and disorganized, are mistakenly perceived as threatening.

Finally, the character who personifies this castrated masculinity realizes that the Hispanics are not the enemy. They are just miserable bastards trying to save their child. The real enemy is the transnational crime represented in the movie by the Russian mafia whose boss is played by a really famous Russian actor.

The castrated masculinity guy remembers his old glory as a really strong man, destroys paper money, adopts the gold standard, and begins to pummel the evildoers. In the end, he’s only successful because a moment of solidarity is reached by an old white guy (a representative of the old-school manliness), a middle-aged white guy, and a black guy who puts away his racial resentments and stands up for America. The evil Russians are defeated. And even the wife finally stops nagging and accepts the husband in this new, uncastrated version.

Yes, the trope of a lone hyper-masculine hero who pummels evildoers in a bunch of inventive ways is as old as Hollywood. But all stories are old. It’s all in the details, and the details here are so coherent and meaningful that the movie delivers the punchiest of punches.

A really great movie. Do watch. It stars Bob Odenkirk who is an amazing actor. You just can’t go wrong with this movie.

Stanley Payne, one of the greatest scholars of Spanish history, writes about the disturbing developments in the country’s current policies towards the discussion of history:

The proposed law in Spain, however, marks a new tendency to weaponize history on behalf of demonstrably distorted and falsified interpretations that are politically useful rather than intellectually credible. This tendency is the product not of ignorance but of intense partisanship. It reflects a millenarian mentality that seeks to purge society of influences and attitudes stemming from the past in order to achieve a kind of purified utopia. Fundamental to this quest is the unrecognized search for a substitute to religious faith. This new political faith seeks to build a world of perfect equality and harmonized values. It imagines that progress can be made toward this immaculate world by presenting politically correct figures as martyrs who died for the coming utopia. This requires, in turn, scapegoating and driving out their supposed victimizers, who are alleged to be authors of the evils that assail society in its present, unredeemed state.

The government completely mishandled COVID, tanked the economy, embraced austerity, and is busily trying to distract everybody from all this by demanding ideological purity. Note, however, how identical these policies are everywhere. Remove the word “Spain,” and this could be easily said about US, Canada, UK, etc. And still people take the bait instead of laughing in these bastards’ lying faces.

Here’s a description of how the authorities in Ontario are consciously manufacturing a wave of COVID mortality:

This is precisely the policy that resulted in thousands of COVID deaths in New York, Illinois, Michigan, Quebec, etc. A year ago, you could argue that nobody knew sending COVID patients to old-people homes would be the main driver of COVID mortality.
But today everybody knows. The only conclusion one can draw is that this is being done on purpose to justify continued lockdowns.

Now that Biden is in power, Russia is starting another invasion of Ukraine. The Sea of Azov has been effectively cut off as of today.

Here are some of things to observe:

1. This always happens under Democrats. Nothing remotely similar was happening during Trump. Reason #1 why I became pro-Trump? My relatives didn’t have bombs falling on their heads any more. Is that an acceptable reason?

2. Pro-Russian lies in the media have intensified. The blackout of Russia’s aggression started. This always takes place as if on cue and follows the same scenario. A Democrat gets elected. A media campaign of “Russia is not that bad” and “why can’t we all just be friends?” begins. Russia invades countries and kills a bunch of population. The US media calls the invaded and murdered people Nazis. Russia invades somebody else. The US media calls them Nazis, too. This all continues on a loop while the Democrat is in office.

Which one is your favorite?

Mine is over easy, and I lived most of my life not knowing it existed. We don’t have it where I come from, and no word for it exists. There is a word for poached but poaching eggs is considered very exotic.

“I know what a person needs to do to always be happy,” Klara says sagely. “You need to feel grateful for the amazing things you have in life.”

I swear she’s not getting this from me. I’m not a gratitude journal type of person at all.

________________________

“You like Daddy very much, don’t you?” Klara asks after I describe the gift I prepared for N’s birthday. “Well, I don’t blame you. He is a great guy.”