Capitulation and Treason

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Once again, I find myself forced to speak about politics in this blog. President Trump’s

disgraceful press conference with Russia’s Putin demonstrated a singular abandonment

of American values and policies. Trump has made it clear that the Russian dictator

controls him, and that he values Putin more than he does the United States of America.

He has buckled to Putin and capitulated to the former K.G.B. agent’s agenda.

I wish I were over-reacting, but I do not believe that I am. I quote from CNN Politics (7/16/2018):

“Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has consistently criticized the President,

said Trump’s comments were ‘one of the most disgraceful performances by an American

president in memory.'”

“Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, issued a blistering statement

just minutes after the press conference wrapped. Sasse rebuked Trump’s statement that

he held ‘both countries responsible’ for the deteriorated relationship between the United

States and Russia. ‘This is bizarre and flat-out wrong. The United States is not to blame.

America wants a good relationship with the Russian people but Vladimir Putin and his

thugs are responsible for Soviet-style aggression,’ Sasse said in the statement.

‘When the President plays these moral equivalence games, he gives Putin a propaganda

win he desperately needs.'”

I quote from nbc.news.com (7/16/2018): Former CIA director John Brennan, a frequent

Trump critic and a national security analyst for NBC News and MSNBC,   called

Trump’s performance ‘nothing short of treasonous.'”

It is now certain that Russia instituted and conducted a cyber attack against the United

States of America and our voting system, the sacred basis of our democracy, an action

that can be considered an act of war. Article Three of the Constitution of the United

States of America defines treason as “Treason against the United States, shall consist only

in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and

Comfort.” Russia clearly is our enemy, and giving aid or comfort to the enemy is, without

a doubt, an act of treason.

Americans need to put aside differences of being liberal or conservative, Democratic or

Republican, and recognize the clear threat to our democracy that is being shown by

President Trump. Congress needs to act, and Americans must keep pressure on Congress

to act.

We must preserve our democracy.

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Favorite Science Fiction Films of the 1950s: The War Of The Worlds

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I have been discussing horror films primarily in my blog, but I want to extend my examination to science fiction movies also. Certainly the two genres have much in common, especially in their examination of very real social issues through the motif of the creation of fantasy worlds. They also differ in their focus on monsters or unseen fears in horror and on the dangerous use of technology in science-fiction.

The 1950s was a decade  that saw the emergence of science-fiction films into the public consciousness, especially reflecting the twin fears of the Cold War: of communists and of nuclear annihilation. These were the kind of enormous social anxieties that played well in the genre of science-fiction.

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In 1953, H. G. Wells’ classic novel The War Of The Worlds was adapted into a contemporary American setting in their feature film. A previous incarnation had been the 1938 Radio production for the Mercury Theater on the Air by Orson Welles. This was the famous production that had sent much of the United States into a panic, thinking that the country was being invaded.

http://www.openculture.com

In post World War Two America, after having experienced an attack on native land by a foreign country and being one of the major forces in a global war of unprecedented scale, the time was correct for a newer adaptation of the novel. The world had suffered devastating losses with a conservative estimate of the dead at 56 million. Immediately upon the ending of that war, NATO and the Soviet Union faced each other in an often silent but still hugely dangerous new kind of conflict.  Fears of a new invasion and of complete destruction permeated the country. This 1953 movie, made by Paramount Pictures, produced by George Pal, and starring Gene Barry, addressed those concerns directly.

http://scifi.stackexchange.com

Shot in Technicolor and set in California, the film employs sleek new special effects, although dated by today’s standards, and shows powerful alien spaceships from Mars attacking Earth.  The planet’s powerful military defenses are useless against the superior technology of the invaders. (This point, which was a crucial theme against England’s colonizing of countries with lesser technological abilities, was dropped from this film.) Neither God nor the figure of the young scientist, who would save the world in other movies, had any impact on the invaders.  Even the atomic bomb, which had been used to force the surrender of Japan in World War Two, had no ability to break the Martians’ defense. The world is saved only by germs in the environment to which the Martians have no immunity.

It is a powerful film, and a reflection of the fears of that time. If you enjoy science-fiction cinema, take a look at this movie.