Thanksgiving: The Thanks Of And For An Exceptional Nation

Monica Crowley offers her take on Thanksgiving in her column at the Washington Times. 

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

—Cicero

Today is a day of thanksgiving, and a day of reflection.

There are two particularly quintessentially American holidays: Independence Day, when we celebrate our declaration of independence from the British, which began the most successful experiment in human liberty ever conducted. And Thanksgiving Day, when we offer appreciation for the wondrous blessings in our individual lives and in the life of the nation. Thanksgiving and Independence Day, as distinct as they are, have always been sort of inseparable.

Thanksgiving carries with it a special communal joy that is rooted in that most simple but powerful human sentiment: Gratitude.

On this one particular day, millions of people are doing the exact same thing at roughly the same time: Cooking, preparing, sitting down at a shared table, praying together, eating together, watching football or movies together. Not everyone is lucky enough to have these blessings, of course. There is a lot of loneliness, despair, pain, division and violence in the country and the world, so I t’s vital to keep those suffering in your prayers today.

is part of a long weekend for most folks, jammed with leftovers, family, friends, parades, long walks in brisk air, even longer naps under cozy blankets, and the start of the manic holiday season.

Given the exceptional origin of this exceptional nation, Thanksgiving is the one holiday that binds us all together as Americans. It reflects our birthright, our legacy, our home. Thanksgiving is us. And only us.

The fact that it’s rooted in appreciation makes it even more important in an era of self-indulgence and incivility. As Americans, today we stop to give thanks for our families and friends, our faith, our Constitution and the many freedoms it guarantees, our great and good country, and the extraordinary United States military, our bulwark against tyranny, oppression and terror.

We are going through tumultuous times, but we are truly blessed. There is still no other nation like America. Never has been, never will be. God blessed this country from the beginning. And He blesses it still.

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/21/thanksgiving-is-a-holiday-rooted-in-appreciation-o/ 

Equipping James Bond: Guns, Gadgets, And Technological Enthusiasm

John Greenya at the Washington Times offers a review of Andre Millard’s Equipping James Bond: Guns, Gadgets, and Technological Enthusiasm. 

While this highly readable book will not tell you how to make exploding pens, shoes with hidden knives or shoot death rays out the back of the family Buick, it does tell you how and where Ian Fleming, the author of the 12 James Bond novels, came up with these “fiendishly clever” devices. In other words, this book resembles the old bait and switch: The title overpromises, but the subtitle is more accurate.

Along the way, the author (a professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who has written books on Beatlemania and Birmingham’s rock ‘n’ roll years) provides one of the best capsulized histories of technology in warfare I’ve ever read. It also traces the development of the Bond character from the books of the 1960s to the movies of the present day, or, to put it differently, from George Lazenby to Daniel Craig.

Andre Millard puts Fleming in historical perspective: “Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming were perfect representatives of two generations of Englishmen — the Victorians and the Edwardians — who saw their world transformed. Churchill (born in 1874) and Fleming (born in 1908) lived through the Second Industrial Revolution, which brought a host of wonderful new inventions that changed life in ways large and small … The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead argued that ‘the greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of inventions.

… While most modernists praised the positive possibilities of this new age, Ian Fleming, a British Navy commander-turned-high-level-bureaucrat-turned-journalist-turned-spy-turned-world-famous-novelist, chose to explore the dark side. Like Churchill, a gentleman born into privilege, Ian Fleming was, also like him, fascinated with inventions, fast planes, cars and boats, and was a known tinkerer. He was also nostalgic for the good old days of Her Majesty’s secret operations branch, which in the books Fleming called M16.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/21/book-review-equipping-james-bond-by-andre-millard/ 

Note: A small complaint: Ian Fleming never called British intelligence “MI6.” He called Mr. Bond’s intelligence organization the Secret Service, which he even used in a book title, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.     

How To Vanquish Antifa's Continuing Threat

Chadwick Moore at the Washington Times offers a piece on how to combat the continuing threat of the violent protest group Antifa.

On a Saturday morning last month, two dozen masked, black-clad individuals gathered outside the entrance to Boeing’s Museum of Flight in Seattle. Their target was a 28-year-old mechanic at Boeing’s Auburn plant named Nicholas Boling. The communist agitators unfurled a 12-foot banner with Mr. Boling’s name and picture accompanied by the words, “A VIOLENT MISOGYNIST WORKS AT BOEING.”

In the weeks leading up, Antifa groups operating in the Pacific Northwest flooded Boeing’s human resources department with scripted phone calls claiming Mr. Boling was a member of a “hate group” and had assaulted a bartender (Mr. Boling denies both of these accusations). Threatening text messages from anonymous numbers inundated his phone. Parts of Seattle became papered in flyers with his photo, claiming he was a “Nazi.” Then there was the murder attempt, when someone poked holes in the brake lines of his truck and it nearly crashed.

Local law enforcement was no help. “It’s undeniable this is all because of my role as a conservative activist,” Mr. Boling says. “I go to a lot of events, I helped organized a May Day counter-protest and was involved with the Patriot Prayer.” Days after the demonstration outside Boeing, he was fired.

Last week, after an Antifa mob attempted to break into the home of Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host called the actions a concerted effort to silence dissenting opinions. “They weren’t protesting anything […] they weren’t trying to change my mind or advocate a position, they were threatening my family to get me to stop talking,” Mr. Carlson said on Fox News. “This has a chilling effect on people’s ability to speak and think freely. That’s the point. It’s totalitarian in its intent.” 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/20/donald-trumps-new-attorney-general-should-eradicat/ 

From The CIA With Love: A Look Back At Ian Fleming, The Man Behind The World's Most Famous Spy

While serving as the assistant to the director of British naval intelligence in WWII, Commander Ian Fleming (seen in the above photo) wrote a memo that served as a blueprint for the creation of an American WWII intelligence agency. 

And as we all know, Ian Fleming went on to write the James Bond thrillers.

In gratitude for his contribution to American intelligence, the CIA website offers a piece on Ian Fleming’s life, work and that certain memo.

You can read the piece via the below link: 

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2018-featured-story-archive/ian-fleming-the-man-behind-the-most-famous-spy.html 

You can also read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on Ian Fleming’s intelligence gathering commando unit via the below link   

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/11/look-back-at-30-assault-unit-british.html 

From Rolex With Love: Extremely Rare 1954 Stainless Steel Watch Made Famous By Sean Connery In Dr No Is Set To Fetch £250,000 At Auction

I’ve wanted a Rolex Submariner diver’s watch since I first saw Sean Connery portray Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond in Dr No when I was 12-years-old in 1963. My dream came true when a beautiful young woman gave me a Rolex Submariner for my 30^th birthday. 

I married her a month later.

Joel Adams at the Daily Mail offers a piece on the Rolex Submariner 6538 model, which has cult status since Dr No and its now known as 'the James Bond.'

An extremely rare Rolex watch made famous by the first James Bond film has emerged for sale for £250,000.

The 1954 Rolex Submariner 6538 acquired cult status after one was worn by Sean Connery in the 1962 classic film Dr No.

Bond subsequently wore the same model in several follow-up films, leading it to become one of the most sought-after Rolexes. 

The 55-year-old Rolex, valued at a quarter of a million pounds, has a black dial and a crystal reverse so the owner can see the finely-engineered Swiss movement.

The timepiece is generating furious interest under the hammer at auctioneers William George & Co, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.The auction house has estimated the watch will go for around £200,000 to £250,000.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6393075/From-Rolex-Love-Rare-1954-watch-famous-James-Bond-set-fetch-250-000-auction.html 

Happy Birthday To Martin Scorsese, Director Of Classic Crime Films 'Goodfellas,' 'Casino,' 'Raging Bull,' And 'Mean Streets'

As Biography.com notes, today is Martin Scorsese's 76th birthday. 

Although he has directed fine films in other genres, he is most known for his classic crime films, such as Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull and Mean Streets. I'm looking forward to watching his upcoming crime film, The Irishman, on Netflix.

You can read about the director's life and work and watch a video clip via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/martin-scorsese-9476727?et_cid=57335117&et_rid=704027439&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.biography.com%2fpeople%2fmartin-scorsese-9476727

 

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Martin Scorsese via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-to-martin-scorsese.html

My Washington Times Review of Michael Connelly's 'Dark Sacred Night'

The Washington Times published my review of Michael Connelly’s crime thriller, Dark Sacred Night.

In Michael Connelly’s crime thriller “The Late Show,” he introduced us to a new character, Renee Ballard, an attractive, 30-ish dedicated and smart Los Angeles detective who was working the night shift.

Renee Ballad was transferred to the night shift from the more prestigious Robbery-Homicide Division after she filed a complaint against her lieutenant for making a crude, physical pass at her. The complaint went nowhere, as her partner did not back her up, so she was sent to the night shift, an undesirable job called the “late show” by the cops.

In my review of “The Late Show” here, I noted that although I found Renee Ballard to be engaging and interesting, I missed his other, better known character, Harry Bosch.

So I was pleased that in his following crime novel, “Two Kinds of Truth,” Harry Bosch was once again front and center. Now, in Mr. Connelly’s current and 32nd crime novel, “Dark Sacred Night,” we see Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard team up.

… The books are written in actual time, so Harry Bosch has retired from the LAPD and in “Dark Sacred Night” he volunteers as a reserve officer for the San Fernando Police Department, tackling cold cases.

One 9-year-old cold case is personal, as he helped Elizabeth Clayton recover from drug addiction while pursuing the case of her 15-year-old runaway daughter who was brutally murdered and tossed in a dumpster. When he seeks information at his old LAPD station, he runs into Detective Ballard, who becomes interested in the case as well. She considers the murder a “hobby case,” something she can pursue when things are quiet on the late show.

As Detectives Ballard and Bosch look through files from the time of the girl’s murder, they discover the possibility of other murders. Many of the murdered girls were runaways and/or prostitutes. Was there, is there, a serial killer?

Harry Bosch is also working on the cold case of a murdered gang leader in San Fernando. The victim, a Latino San Fers gang leader, was shot while walking his dog. Although not as well known as MS-13, the San Fers are one of San Fernando’s oldest and most violent street gangs. Harry Bosch’s investigation leads to a clash with the gangbangers.

… I interviewed Mr. Connelly for my online Crime Beat column a while back and he told me that fiction goes down its own path from reality.

“My job here is to write a thriller — to be entertaining and keep the pages turning — but you always have an opportunity to say something or open up a window on something happening in the world,” Mr. Connelly said. 

You can read the rest of the review via the below link: 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/15/book-review-dark-sacred-night-by-michael-connelly/

You can also read my Crime Beat interview with Michael Connelly via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/04/killers-cops-and-crime-reporters-q-with.html