Posts Tagged ‘datechguy's magnificent seven’

Review: Season 6 of Peaky Blinders

Posted: June 19, 2022 by John Ruberry in entertainment, media
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By John Ruberry

Earlier this month Season Six of the BBC gangster drama, Peaky Blinders, began streaming on Netflix.

The show centers on a Birmingham Romani organized crime family, the Shelbys, and the leader of that gang, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy). He’s a World War I veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, who manages to build a business empire, while getting elected to Parliament as a member of the Labour Party.

This will be the final season of Peaky Blinders, although a movie is said to be in the works.

The next two paragraphs contain some Season 5 and 6 spoilers.

During Season 5 a new major character, Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin), a Birmingham member of Parliament like Tommy Shelby, is introduced. He’s the founder of a British fascist party–and Mosley was a real person. Shelby’s relationship with Mosley is complicated, which fits the show as the plot lines are anything but simplistic. Shelby’s plot to assassinate Mosley–the real Oswald died of natural causes in 1980–is foiled by the Irish Republican Army. The IRA kills the would-be assassin and other member of the Peaky Blinders, the “muscle” end of the Shelby operation.

While Tommy is the leader of the gang, his aunt, Elizabeth Pollyanna “Polly” Shelby Gray (Helen McCrory), was the glue of the enterprise, formally known as Shelby Family Limited. But McCrory died at 52 of lung cancer in 2021, just as production of this season started. Other than Tommy Shelby, Aunt Polly was the most important character in Peaky Blinders. Her off-screen death was a tough blow for the show. To compensate, the role of Tommy’s sister, Ada Thorne (Sophie Rundle), is elevated, but Rundle is placed in an impossible position. Meanwhile, Polly’s son, Michael Gray (Finn Cole), holds Tommy responsible for Polly’s murder.

Also back in Season 5, another new character Gina (Anya Taylor-Joy), Michael’s wife, makes her debut. We learn in the new season that Gina is the niece of South Boston gangster Jack Nelson (James Frecheville). He’s a not-too-thinly disguised characterization of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Like the patriarch of the Kennedy dynasty, Nelson has anti-Semitic and fascist leanings. Calm down my liberal friends, it’s true about Kennedy. With Prohibition over, Tommy and Nelson hope to offset the end of it by smuggling opium into Boston. 

Mosley has a new lover, Lady Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson). She declares herself to Ada, in cruder terms, as a bisexual but she also has her eyes on Tommy. The real Mitfort was the first cousin of Winston Churchill’s wife, Clementine. Unless this plotline is being saved for the Peaky Blinders movie, I am stupefied why this angle wasn’t developed into the storyline. The future wartime leader, amazingly is portrayed by three actors over the six seasons, makes a cameo appearance in Season 6. 

Season 5 ends and Season 6 begins with Tommy wallowing in mud. And mud is fitting metaphor for this season, while good, falls short of the greatness of Peaky Blinders, although I didn’t care for the Russian diversion in Season 3. The final episode of this last season, nearly 90 minutes long, is the best, as Tommy’s older brother, Arthur (Paul Anderson), emerges somewhat from his alcohol and drug induced haze as the Shelbys face a two-front war. A third front of sorts is there too as Tommy’s marriage with Lizzie (Natasha O’Keeffe) faces challenges. 

In regard to Nelson, Season 6 would have been much more interesting if instead Joseph P. Kennedy was the Boston foil for Tommy.

Surprisingly, while the show continues with a dark and gothic soundtrack, the unofficial theme song, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand” is sadly missing. But arguably the worst song Bob Dylan ever recorded, “All The Tired Horses,” covered by Lisa O’Neill, is included.

All six seasons of Peaky Blinders are currently streaming on Netflix. It is rated TV-MA for nudity, drug use, foul language, and violence. 

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Why is Mitch McConnell trying to scuttle the midterm red wave?

Posted: June 16, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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Mitch McConnell is the poster child for everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. He is most definitely a Republican in Name Only, yet the Senate Republicans keep electing him to the top role in that legislative body.

I despise the Republican Party almost as much as I despise the Democrat Party, though for vastly different reasons.  I despise the Democrat Party because they are now indistinguishable from the socialist party that is destroying Venezuela.  I despise the Republican party because they constantly enable the Democrats’ destruction of the United States. 

As you can see from this article, What the Hell Is Mitch McConnell Doing? (townhall.com), Mitch McConnell is enabling the Democrats’ latest attempt to eradicate the Second Amendment.

Well, it would seem the 60-vote watch regarding these bipartisan anti-gun talks could be over. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled that he is a ‘yes’ vote on the bipartisan gun control package that’s being hashed out up on the Hill.  It includes funding for mental health and school security, but also provides funds to incentivize expanding red flag laws. The latter is not good news as the guardrails for overreach have not been set. It impacts veterans at disproportionate rates, and some might argue they’re unconstitutional on its face.  Wherever you stand, there’s also, there’s the whole principle aspect of the matter. Forget that we elect Republicans to be the defenders of Second Amendment rights, if you give Democrats an inch—they’re going to be looking to take 1000-mile chunks in the next round.

Before Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the 10 traitor Republicans, who are helping to draft this deeply flawed pile of excrement, vote on this garbage, they should read this article: There Are Many Potential Problems With The Bipartisan Gun Deal (thefederalist.com)

10 Republican senators have agreed to bribe states into participating in passing emergency risk-protection legislation that allows courts to take guns from those deemed a threat to themselves or others.

When carefully written, red flag laws may have merit, but prudence is rare. In states like California, Connecticut, and Maryland, authorities can confiscate weapons merely on the strength of an uncorroborated allegation by family members, coworkers, law enforcement officers, or others without any kind of genuine due process. Will Senate Republicans guarantee that funding for state laws is contingent on laws that have protections for basic due process rights, penalties for bringing frivolous or false charges against gun owners, and assurances that those who receive the proper mental health treatment get their weapons returned, because in many places a “temporary” petition means a lifetime ban? Seems unlikely.

Not that long ago, Democrats wanted to pass a bill that would have stripped anyone on terror watch and no-fly lists — some 40 percent of whom have nothing even tangentially to do with terrorism — of both their Fifth and Second Amendment rights. Republicans have no reason to trust their devotion to due process.

Mitch McConnell will prove to be a much bigger villain in this destruction of the Second Amendment if this passes becsuse he helped to bring this legislation into existence. McConnell Urges GOP to Work with Democrats on Gun Control Legislation (breitbart.com)

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday “encouraged” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to work with Senate Democrats on gun control legislation in a reaction to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas this week.

If this odious bill passes it will anger the base of the Republican Party, which is sick and tired of being betrayed by the spineless sycophants who make up the leadership of the Republican Party. 

Report from Louisiana: Our Service Industry is Anemic

Posted: June 13, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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By: Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – I think I’m going to give up eating out for a while.

Working under the same theory I used when I stepped back from social media to avoid general aggravation and blood pressure spikes, avoiding the restaurants and fast-food joints in my area for a while will serve two benefits: 1) I’ll save a few bucks, and 2) I’ll be less aggravated when my order is screwed up, if I ever get to place an order at all, that is.

My husband is blaming the low level of quality service on the stimulus and extended unemployment checks that were doled out during the pandemic. He’s probably not wrong, but may not 100% right, either.

It just seems that lately, service sucks. Period. There’s no pride in a job well done and so many people won’t do one iota more than what is in their job description.

Example: we went to Sonic for a quick hamburger for lunch on the way home from church. The place is busy, but not overwhelmed. We pull into the parking slot, push the button to order, and wait. And wait, And wait. “Reb button is activated! We’ll be with you soon!”  Waiting. Eventually we see a carhop stroll out to drop off drinks to the car next to us. My husband gets her attention, with some effort, as she walks back by us and asks if the call button is working properly and explains we’ve been waiting ten minutes to place our order. She shrugs and says “We shorthanded. They’ll get to you.” And she strolls away.

We left and went to Whataburger, a regional hamburger franchise we like. Again, business is steady but not overwhelming. But we waited literally 35 minutes after placing our order to get our hamburgers and fries. Husband walked up to the counter to inquire, and our food was sitting in the back; nobody had thought to bring it out. It was cold, but we took it and left.

This happens in restaurants too; it’s not just fast-food places. I took my son out for a steak dinner the other night and the steak was not cooked to order (not even close). Inedible.

The cake in my picture above? “Holy Eucharisp” was written on a cake my church ordered to celebrate Baptism and First Communion on Pentecost. WHAT is a Eucharisp?  The bakery thought this was acceptable. And sent this product out to us. #fail.

I’m not a picky customer. Not by a long shot. But quality of service is declining. Am I the only one seeing this? Labor shortages are bringing us the lowest levels of productivity. Are we really to the point where any warm body behind the counter will do? It’s one thing when we are talking about hamburgers but what about when it’s happening in your pharmacy or your auto mechanics or your other service areas? For the record, my pharmacy used to be open seven days a week but now it closes on weekends.

These are scary times. Our society and our levels of acceptance for poor performance have changed. We’re so grateful to finally get that cold hamburger we just take it and move on. Obviously it’s not just hamburgers we’re talking about here. Think of all the things that metaphor could apply to.

We’re in trouble.

“Centrist uprising” against Boudin in San Francisco shows how extreme the “Ultra Left” Democrats are

Posted: June 12, 2022 by John Ruberry in crime, elections, News/opinion, politics
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By John Ruberry

The big political news from last week, unless that is, your only news sources are MSNBC and CNN, was not the prime-time January 6 show trial masquerading as a hearing, but the resounding vote by San Francisco voters to recall radical leftist so-called prosecutor Chesa Boudin. 

Oh, he is a piece of work, this one. Boudin’s parents were Weather Underground terrorists, both of whom served long prison terms for their crimes, including murder. Boudin’s guardians were two other ex-Weather Underground terrorists, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, he attended an elite private high school, and he is a Yale law school graduate. Boudin was served a translator for Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. In 2019, campaigning as if he was a woke social worker, Boudin was elected district attorney for San Francisco. “We will not prosecute cases involving quality-of-life crimes,” Boudin the candidate said. “Crimes such as public camping, offering or soliciting sex, public urination, blocking a sidewalk, etc., should not and will not be prosecuted.” Well, I’ll concede this fact to him. Boudin honored his campaign promises.

And criminals received the message. Shoplifting soared under Boudin, as well as what one Nation writer, Sasha Abramsky, called other “low-end crimes,” including burglary and car break-ins. To me, a low-end crime is littering or jaywalking, but I am not a leftist. For many people, particularly renters and the poor, an automobile is their most valuable asset. Low-end? Really? Abramsky, you are quite out of touch, but of course you are, you write for the Nation.

The murder rate went up under Boudin. His misrule was a validation of the Rudy Giuliani’s “broken windows” policy of policing. Notice that I didn’t call it the “broken windows” theory of law enforcement.

I’ve only visited San Francisco once, in 2010, which residents of the City on the Bay probably look back on as “the good old days.” I was appalled by the level of homelessness there, and by all accounts, there are now many more indigents sprawled out on San Franciso sidewalks. Tellingly, during my time there I noticed the strong smell of urine even in the best neighborhoods. Boudin couldn’t smell the pee?

I’ve heard there are Republicans in San Francisco, albeit very few. The two Republican opponents of Nancy Pelosi–her entire district is within the city–collected 11-percent of the vote in 2020. But 60 percent of voters in San Francisco voted to purge Boudin last week. Earlier this month, another Nation writer, Christopher D. Cook, warned of a “centrist uprising” against progressivism in San Francisco. And all of this time, particularly from the left, I’ve been told we need more moderation in our politics, which of course to them means conservatives veering over to their side. In fact, as Democrat policies, from Biden down to Boudin, prove toxic, it’s liberals who are heading to the center, which is best exemplified by Bill Maher’s regular attacks on the far-left. 

Over at the Washington Post, Perry Bacon Jr. warns of centrist Democrats attacking far-left policies on crime. Writing for the New York Times, Shane Goldmacher commented, “Centrists and former law enforcement leaders hailed the successful San Francisco recall as a crushing blow to progressives.”

Oh, those evil centrists, they are taking America down a treacherous moderate path.

Boudin, true to form for any leftist, blamed “right-wing billionaires” for his defeat. Oh, what’s this? Radical leftist billionaire George Soros contributed to an anti-recall political action committee.

The Democrats of course don’t possess the right side of the political spectrum. And they are losing the center. Or perhaps it’s already lost to them. Which leaves the Democratic Party with the extreme left, or to channel Biden’s insult on conservatives which ricocheted against him, the Ultra Left.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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