Woman of the Hour and also Brazil

Our daughter is back at home and yesterday I watched this film with her.  My wife was in bed unwell and my son was resting having had an eventful night when friends of his stayed over.  

The film was a good one. The description of it on Netflix, which is where we watched it, does not do this justice.  The film is not one for the faint hearted.  If you wish to watch the Anna Kendrick from Pitch Perfect, this is not the film for you.  I was not sure what to expect when I watched this.  I am glad I did and it certainly deserves the four out of five review that it has been given.  I doubt I will watch it again, but I am very glad I watched it, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to be reminded of how we have moved on with sexism, though it also shows that we still need to move on more.

As for Brazil, what a result!  The importance of voting has been shown here with Lula becoming President despite losing the first round.  This may be a feature in the USA where turnout for mid-term elections is not as great as it is for Presidential ones.  

I saw Americans Fighting

Pete Hegseth made a joke about how NATO forces (and those of other nations) acted in Afghanistan. Needless to say, this is not appreciated by nations who lost soldiers serving. In my job I have encountered many a former veteran who served in Afghanistan, including one who did so serving there for the USSR! One person I have met has major life changing injuries as a result of life there. Sadly, many Americans will believe this lie. 

As noted in the video below, a refusal to accept the sacrifices made will mean that nations will be less likely to help America again. The video is not completely accurate. Georgia was invaded twice by Russia the video forgetting the invasion of the 1990’s. And the reason that NATO members have not aided Israel and the USA in The Epstein War against Iran is because it has no proper goals (other than working to distract people from Trump being in The Epstein Files) and has no legal or moral basis. 

Dealing with paedophiles

Sadly, all organisations will be infiltrated by paedophiles.  Some will attract others more, notably ones where children are being looked after, as to put it simply, a lion hunts at the waterhole.  I work in an organisation which rightly has security checks to check for suspicious activity.  The same happens with political parties.  They become infiltrated, but it is how they deal with such matters which is important.

The Republican Party have been found wanting under Donald Trump, on more than one occasion.  At the moment, the main issue in the media is the attack advert of Vivek Ramaswamy. This features the mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, saying that she lied about being raped.  The step father of Amy Acton had previously been charged for incest, this being the man that Vivek Ramaswamy's advert appears to be defending.  The mother of Amy Acton, decided to stand by her man rather than her children, and from the advert, continues to do so.  That in itself is bad enough.  

However, there has been outrage in Texas as Ken Paxton had a plea deal with one predator who was offered a stay of one day in jail.  We do not know the full facts, and it may be that this was the least worse option of several terrible choices.  But the GOP also have had issues with Matt Gaetz who had been considered to be the US attorney general under Donald Trump.  He had accidentally had sex with a seventeen year old sex worker, the accident being that she was a minor under US law, but something he may genuinely have been unaware of.  To be fair, he has not been found guilty of anything which makes him just as innocent as Andrew Tate.               

But the elephant in the room is Donald Trump.  They man who went to war after he was named in The Epstein Files as having an intimate encounter with a minor.  It will be interesting to see if US voters and the media join the dots and fixate on this issue.  Sadly, I do not think that they will.

Back from Bristol

We are back at home after an enjoyable by exhausting long weekend in Bristol.  

Over our time there we had some great food. But sadly, I was not able to taste it and therefore not appreciate it like the others.  I suspect I have had COVID recently as my smell has also changed. But despite this, it was great for us all (without the dog) being together for a few days.

Masters of the Universe

I was expecting this film to be terrible. It was not.  However, I can see why The Guardian rated it two out of five, but I honestly think it was better than that. When it comes to the plot making sense it was overdone at times or just made little sense, an example of which is keeping a lot of prisoners locked up with a tiger for over a decade. But, at least for the first part of the film, it was fun. It was so much better than the version from the 1980’s, but I do like the link it had to it.

If you want to relax with a fun film where you switch your brain off, this is worthwhile. Despite the fact that it has a very generic story at times, I liked it. My son is interested in watching it and I am hoping I get to watch it with him. It may be appreciated more in years to come. 

Russia has helped Iran kill American soldiers. Should Trump thank Putin?

The USA has agreed a deal to buy Russian diesel and has cut the aid it gives to Ukraine, both by warning when Russia is launching a missile attack, but also placing limits on Starlink.

What is interesting is how the American public appear to be fine with the way that Trump is helping a nation that has aided Iran in killing Americans in the Middle East. 

Russia and Brexit

The Prime Minister spoke on The Rest is Politics, a podcast that I listen to, saying that Russia interfered in the EU referendum on Brexit.  Despite the outcry over this, he is right. 

This does not invalidate the outcome.  Russia has interfered in many elections, not just in the UK.  

In 2017, The Times reported that Russian Twitter accounts promoted Brexit ahead of the referendum.

In 2018, the Guardian revealed that the Leave.EU campaign met Russian officials as many as eleven times. The US Senate also prepared a report detailing how Russia worked to promote Brexit.  

In 2020, The Russia Report was published, which despite the allegations and evidence, deliberately did not look at Russian meddling in the Brexit vote.