Bonded in Bond

Before delving into other matters, let us get one item out of the way. In anticipation of No Time to Die finally being released into theaters after an overextended delay, I recently engrossed myself in a James Bond marathon from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan. Concluding with Daniel Craig’s masterpiece, Casino Royale, little time was left to binge the remainder of his entries before heading off to the theater. Although having seen all of them numerous times before, it nonetheless was an exhausting task watching twenty-one movies over several weeks; without spoilers, it nicely prepared me for the latest installment with those evocative and indelible scenes and plots fresh in my mind. As such, more so in chronological order than personal preference, here are my current top ten 007 films:

Dr No
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
The Living Daylights
GoldenEye
Casino Royale
No Time to Die

Now, you might be wondering about a few missing from this list or, perhaps, even some included on it. You probably keep staring at On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and, undoubtedly, The Living Daylights, perplexed by their inclusion. In regards to the former, I honestly was not a fan of it in my youth; George Lazenby was not, and still is not, Connery. Yet, I have joined the chorus in recent years of those who appreciate and believe it deserves a place among the pantheon, along with Lazenby’s laudable performance, for one simple reason: its presence is felt, both overtly and subtly, throughout the rest of the franchise that follows. As forgettable as A View to a Kill is, OHMSS is anything but forgotten by its successors. As for the latter, Timothy Dalton’s Bond simply was, at the time until Craig, the closest to Ian Fleming’s vision, thus TLD meriting a spot.

When Brosnan took over the role, he instantly shot to the top as a favorite. Nevertheless, the majority of his entries are a hot mess...which is not an exclusive opinion all my own. Although GoldenEye makes the cut, it suffers from the same issue as the subsequent movies: every villain and/or henchman increasingly more parody than plausible. Where Famke Janssen would be sufficient distraction in a good way, Xenia Onatopp is exhaustingly over the top in a bad way; megalomaniac Elliot Carver, enthusiastically portrayed by Jonathan Pryce, elicits nothing less than consternation over his middling “diabolical” plan…to control the narrative and increase his media group’s influence/ratings by igniting a war?! Actually, this preposterous scheme appears improbably prescient given the current state of the news industry combined with concerns over social media, thus the proverbial life imitating art. Other than to reference it, let us not concern ourselves with everything awful in Die Another Die.

While the all-too-brief Dalton era was intended to be more grounded than the preceding ones, this comes across as an attempt to maintain that level while simultaneously recalling the absurdities of the Roger Moore era, e.g. Moonraker and the aforementioned AVTAK, with mixed results.

Which brings us to Brosnan’s third film, The World Is Not Enough. This is a good, if not great, movie...except for one, albeit tiny, blemish that, in my opinion, ruins it more than anything in its predecessors. Unfortunately, neither the villain nor henchman is to blame in this instance; instead, it is Dr. Christmas Jones. Not Denise Richards’ portrayal, per se, but rather her character’s name. Perhaps if she had been introduced as “Chris Jones,” not only would Richards possibly come across more believable as a nuclear (hot supermodel) scientist but, as I can still recollect when seeing it the first time, one would not be detracted from the rest of the movie wondering about why that is her name and the assuredly terrible quip to come.

Again, this is not an exclusive opinion all my own.

Further, Jones even informs Bond upon their first meeting that she has heard all the jokes, implying that she not only dislikes them but also her full name. In that case, why use it if both obviously bother her? Simply to set up Bond’s dreadful closing punchline, which could have been framed in dialogue much differently, and possibly agreeably better received, if we find out her full name only at the end. Between that and Dr. Molly Warmflash (seriously?!), it is so groan-producing ridiculous that it triggers eye-rolling cringe rather than the typical adolescent response induced by the gloriously named Holly Goodhead or, especially, Pussy Galore.

All which leads us back to the aptly titled, No Time to Die. A film that, again without giving away any spoilers, embraces and homages the franchise's past, both recent and in its origins, while serving as an excellent conclusion to the Craig era that hints at the future. What Dalton almost had achieved if given better storylines and more time, Daniel Craig accomplished (this side of Connery) in his own time as Bond. James Bond.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

Great Seeger's Ghost

Not exactly Pete Seeger, but this is my pandemic protest ditty...

Fully vaxxed, now ready to relax,

Tyrant maskers keeping us taxed,

Living our lives over the Zoom,

Quarantine rooms, finely groomed,

No virus, feeling like a highness,

Operating same as the mindless,

Vaccination means life in reverse,

Deceit, hype, compliance perversed,

China not served, UN without nerve,

Only fifteen days to flatten the curve!

©2021 Steve Sagarra

As the Days of Our World Turn

Independent astronomers are the first to detect the anomaly: the Sun, billions of years before its estimated time, is in the early stage of erupting into a supernova. A catastrophic incident that not only will hasten changes in attitude but, more importantly, the need to guarantee survival. Hereafter, ritualistic ceremonies are held monthly to commemorate life rather than the inevitable extinguishing of it; these are not funerals meant to exhibit somber farewell. Instead, people gather together with reserved pomp in celebrating the honored guests - everyone aware that they shall participate in a similar exulted sendoff in due course.

Interplanetary travel still in its infancy, engineers and scientists around the globe attempt to rapidly advance development. Nevertheless, there is nowhere to escape to absolute safety in the interim. With no means to reverse the imminent destruction, not only of Earth but the entire solar system, humanity seems doomed by natural causes beyond its control. Yet, elements of the population will attempt to survive, for a time, underground close to the planet's heated core before Earth becomes uninhabitable and loses all surface life. Meanwhile, those fortunate to embark at last into the outer reaches of space before the cataclysm ultimately will colonize another planet or solar system before it is too late for them as well.

In the meantime, world leaders concoct an alien invasion story to maintain a surreal level of hope and minimize any ensuing global panic. Under this guise, it is implemented with the assumption that people need an external agent that believably either can be challenged or scapegoated. Thus, as circumstantial evidence suggests confirmation of alien life, its intentions appear, at the very least, apathetic toward, if not outright hostile to, other living organisms. Conceivably, our very own interstellar probes undoubtedly, and with all probability, acted as bread crumbs for the aliens, utilized to backtrack to the originating solar system.

As has been theorized many times before, with no actionable conclusions, what could this planet’s inhabitants do if aliens did arrive to exploit resources beyond our reach? Absolutely nothing - without proper defenses and spacecraft, we shall watch helplessly as our life-sustaining star is gradually demolished by these visitors.

Except, as previously noted, there is a singular issue: it is a lie to conceal the truth. No extraterrestrial aliens are mining the Sun, which instead has gone supernova and will, in due time, wipe out Earth and the entire solar system. Faced with this situation, world leaders feel they are left with no option other than to obfuscate and mislead, rather than properly inform the global population in order for them to make their own choices reconciling the possible end of life on this planet. Fortunately, our species has been given a slim chance not afforded the dinosaurs to save itself from its own impending extinction.

This, of course, is a fictional scenario, and yet we are witnessing a comparable scheme continue to play out globally concerning several crises. All one has to do is substitute “aliens” and “supernovas” for any myriad of current issues and related terminology - most notably the ongoing pandemic, with its vacillating confusions and deceptions. Eventually, all of us must pay the price for our existence, with our deeds and sins weighed in accordance. Shall we all die together under the weight of these lies and manipulations? Or, shall we strive to live on in order to hold to account those who regularly perpetrate them and repeatedly betray humanity?

©2021 Steve Sagarra

Trickle-Down Absolutism for Communal Benefit

“An effective mass movement cultivates the idea of sin. It depicts the autonomous self not only as barren and helpless but also as vile. To confess and repent is to slough off one’s individual distinctness and separateness, and salvation is found by losing oneself in the holy oneness of the congregation.”

-Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

“Unvaccinated are not welcome” rapidly, and alarmingly, is becoming the new “[insert demographic group] need not apply” - both sentiments contradictory and objectionable to modern sensibilities. If fully vaccinated, why do you care about the status of those who have chosen not be? You either believe that vaccines protect you, and thus “trust the science” backing them, or you do not. Yet, walk into any place of business without wearing a mask and watch people fill with anxiety and indignation - an odd phenomena that does not happen with other, more lethal seasonal diseases like influenza and pneumonia. This amounts to nothing less than collective peer pressure, rather than being about personal responsibility and individual choice.

Discrimination in any form is ugly, but to single out those who are hesitant about these “emergency” vaccines - mind you, all still unapproved by certifying entities like the FDA - is truly awful. With little to no understanding of any long-term effects, they nevertheless are being used to brand and segregate those unwilling to participate as guinea pigs in this mass societal case study. We have witnessed this form of discrimination before, most notably with the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Could a Philadelphia-esque remake indulge the notion, with a main character instead portrayed as an unvaccinated “deplorable” in such a reimagining?

Over the course of the current global pandemic, the fluctuating and nonsensical extremism of political “leaders,” scientific “experts,” and general population of sheepish “activists” has progressively worsened. Deep into year two of “15 days to flatten the curve,” there is no fathomable end in sight of that misguided and deceitful proposition. Again quoting Hoffer, “Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for self-sacrifice if they are accepted as the sole, eternal truth. It is obvious, therefore, that in order to be effective a doctrine must not be understood, but has rather to be believed in.” In the beginning, temporary measures implemented made sense, and with majority consensus, to urgently confront the imminent threat of an unknown pathogen. Now, though, it has taken on the appearance of controlling and suppressing anyone who dissents from the extended agenda and narrative of the aforementioned conglomerate.

Speaking of control and mass studies, mask wearing is the visible yet subtle testimony to how average citizens and a society in general, both past and present, can be duped by the convictions of and fidelity to those in positions of authority. For these crazed adherents, they will not remove their masks until their sacrosanct masters tell them otherwise - and will attempt to intimidate and shun anyone who deviates from and opposes that absurd dogma. From childhood diseases to seasonal ones, we rely upon and trust vaccines to protect us from illness without any extra outerwear for protection. Yet, despite the hypocritical rhetoric to do our part and get vaccinated so that life can return to normal, why is the opposite - to doubt the efficacy of that modern-day safeguard - ostensibly the current standard? In that case, health officials should instead dole out placebos with lollipops and unicorns alongside their irresolute propaganda that continues to cause hesitation to “get the jab.”

Rather than creating a unified front, this state of affairs has devolved into one of friction and suspicion at every level. President Joe Biden and the duplicitous lackeys in his administration have been at the forefront of this circumstance, but, admittedly, they are not the sole culprits. China - a forthright bastion of righteousness and mutuality in its efforts to enslave minorities, silence citizens and overwhelm sovereign neighbors - still has not faced any significant punishment or sanction from the international community for its primary role in this worldwide upheaval, as Chinese leaders simultaneously attempt to place blame elsewhere and continue their push toward global domination with impunity. Meanwhile, China’s international co-conspirators - the United Nations and the W.H.O. - continue to evade and lay cover for its actions both in causing the pandemic and thwarting any serious investigation into an origin that points increasingly toward lab creation than any natural occurrence.

Tyranny, unfortunately, oftentimes does not announce itself with thunderous applause, preferring to seep in by incremental degrees and latent persuasion of the willing, and oblivious, populace. Right now, the issue, more or less innocuously, is about masks and vaccines, but it serves as the foreboding antecedent that potentially leads to further infringement and nullification of shared liberties and inalienable rights. This has happened before, and it can happen again; denial and deflection of that history by proselytizing sycophants is nothing less than foolhardy ignorance. Continued obedience to these authoritarian hypocrites will be the eventual, but hopefully not inevitable, collapse of civilization they pretend to want to save. To stand against corrupt, unelected autocrats and loathsome, petty tyrants is the true communal benefit in the long-term.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

After Dismantling Before Collapse

Currently, traditional and venerated mores are mocked and ridiculed while the bizarre and fringe are normalized and mainstreamed. In this vein, questionable attitudes and behaviors garner unflinching applause by society for fear of discrimination, thus allowing them to fester and run amok instead of receiving proper treatment from trained mental health professionals. Likewise, the majority of amateur and professional sports leagues are failing to understand, and live up to, the concept of their existence. Although hockey continues to be a tolerable refuge, current leadership, particularly in baseball and football, seems hellbent to implement changes disguised as innovation and “woke” policies diminishing any entertainment value.

Honestly, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and, especially, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) very well could be the latest hope for saving our constitutional republic from the radical left’s destructive agenda that enables these conditions. With no other Democrats caring or willing to stand up to Speaker Nancy Pelosi or “the Squad” in the House of Representatives, Manchin and Sinema stand out as Senate mavericks in the spirit of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Seems many, if not most, Americans do not even understand the concept of either a constitutional republic or federalism; sadly, this clearly includes the current administration. Blame our poor civic education in this country, replaced by diametrically-opposed ideological indoctrination curricula disguised as it.

In conjunction with this circumstance, an entire generation is being programmed for blind obedience as brainwashed and paranoid automatons unable to critically think or forthrightly act. All of it perpetrated by the cultist inheritors of the vainglorious self-esteem movement and the equally abysmal common core that afforded neither natural valuation or intrinsic congruity. When I once thought about pursuing a teaching career, the groundwork for this situation was in its nascence and certain prerequisites just then being implemented. Today, I could not imagine attempting to teach in such a chaotic and absurd environment, especially as a history teacher confronted by current events and cancel culture that subverts any modicum of education.

Is it any wonder, then, that people continue to believe, and be manipulated by, disinformation and outright lies spread concerning multiple current “crises” - and even more so about matters that should be labeled as such but are not - over the past year? They live in fear - exactly as desired by autocrats and martinets attempting to maintain provisional, and waning, control and power - rather than acknowledging the truth. The truth that they have been deceived and fleeced over that same period of time by these so-called “leaders” and “experts” claiming, without question or challenge, that the sky is falling. When the moment is reached, there is a necessity, if not an obligation, to no longer acquiesce to such charlatans.

For as Simon & Garfunkel vocalized, “silence like a cancer grows.”

To remain silent is no longer beneficial, nor obligatory, for the reticent plurality. Undeniably, it is beyond time to take back this world from those attempting to usurp it by deceit and graft.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

One Republic, Two Republic, Red Republic, Blue Republic

For all the latest blather regarding “civil war” and “insurrection,” President Joe Biden’s administration and its leftist enablers certainly are not doing anything to quell those growing concerns. In fact, it is only further intensifying and fomenting them with blatant attacks upon and disregard for the Constitution and liberties guaranteed every American citizen. In particular, free speech enumerated in the First Amendment and gun rights protected by the Second Amendment - the latter incontrovertibly securing the former. Yet, we are only in the early stages of Biden’s supposedly “unifying” presidency.

Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the United States indeed is a house divided along extreme ideological and polarizing lines. Perhaps, irreparably given the damage caused by hostile partisanship and tone-deaf politicization over the past several years. For leftists, the only way to heal these fractures, in their warped mindset, is to comply and heel to their authoritarian demands. Otherwise, one faces the prospect of cancellation, your personal life, career, etc, destroyed for no other reason than not acquiescing to and embracing the liberal mob and their radical agenda and policies with which you disagree.

Leftists currently are attempting a Soviet-style censor and purge of media outlets they accuse - without actual evidence or facts to support the allegation - of spreading disinformation and lies. In other words, conservative and other right-leaning news organizations that do not conform to and report leftist falsities espoused as the only prevailing truth. Any dissent from this perspective is not allowed in their delusional and hypocritical worldview, and will be met with exacting persecution. Maintaining “lines of communication” is vital in any conflict; propagandizing the narrative is as important in order to control the masses.

Speaking of control, Democrats, and liberals in general, have a longstanding inability to understand “shall not be infringed” when it comes to gun rights. Despite counterarguments, the Second Amendment does not cause gun violence; in fact, most statistics indicate a reduction in violent crimes due to legally armed citizens. Gun control measures are continually aimed more often than not at law-abiding gun owners and would make them criminals, while failing to address the circumstances that caused the violence. Naturally, the party of slavery and Jim Crow does not want anyone to have the means to defend themselves as inscribed in the Constitution.

What has been the response from conservatives and right-wingers? For starters, to paraphrase, some people did something at the thingy, you know, the thing with the government people weeks before Biden’s inauguration…but what difference did it make? Certainly, you heard about it in the predominate 24/7 news cycle. Never mind that it was a roguish mob intent on…what exactly? Overturning an election? Stirring up (un)civil war, pushing forward an (un)armed insurrection? Or, did a majority simply wish to have their voices, and concerns, peacefully heard, while a minority acted idiotically and in an ill-advised manner?

Well, who really knows, but rest assured that zealous Democrats undoubtedly will persist in pursuing yet another exhausting, wasteful investigation into the matter. Simultaneously, they fail to feign even the slightest interest in election integrity concerns and investigating conspicuous irregularities that precipitated the situation in the first place.

A proverbial line has been drawn in the sand between left and right ideologies. This is a perilous fight, but the banner still waves over the republic. For now. The task is to keep and maintain its principles and values against those committed to and intent upon tearing them down. Those who believe themselves our saviors, rather than instigators of their own folly. For if they prevail, it will be nothing less than the very dogmatic cultism and authoritarianism from which they have deluded themselves to believe we, the people, need saving.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

Nevermore When the Levee Breaks

Leftists, aided by their radical Democratic enablers, seek to institute, normalize and reward numerous bizarre, disturbing and fringe attitudes, behaviors and customs that are ruinous to society. Meanwhile, they simultaneously attempt to control, marginalize and purge ordinary, rational and universal ones. These people should be admitted to an insane asylum not Congress...but, to borrow from Mark Twain, I repeat myself. Yet, why should we be surprised? After all, The Jerry Springer Show et al have been playing out in real life for years, allowed to fester unabated until terminal malignancy has rotted our core.

Using traditional indicators and factors for setting economic policy? Who needs such key markers, when gender, ethnicity...the climate change boondoggle...exist to utilize and take precedence! Get woke, fool! Radical Democrats, emboldened by their leftists conspirators, are as economically illiterate as a certain New York Times columnist/”economist” - who shall remain nameless, but who has been and always shall be an idiot despite what Nobel believes - when it comes to the economy. Then, there is the foreign policy that practically treats the United States not as a sovereign nation, but rather as the gullible host of foreign nationals hostile to the nation.

With all of this in mind, calls for unity ring hollow when actions and statements do nothing but further divide and escalate political unrest. Dictating one-sided and insincere terms that do the opposite are not the path to unifying, bipartisan cooperation. Yet, it is the fault of the electorate (yep..that's you, ya filthy animals!) for consistently electing politicians who persist in doing nothing other than maintain the constant back-and-forth status quo. They would rather consolidate and hold onto their narcissistic power than work together to solve issues beneficial for everyone.

Honestly, there would be nothing better than for Joe Biden, a once shrewd politician, to have orchestrated one of the great long cons in history. For months, he has come across as absent-minded and frail, raising concerns about his durability to endure the presidency. Could it all be an act? Suppose he recognized the threat the extreme leftist elements represent, yet realized the importance of their support? He presents the charade of a shell of a man, capable of winning but most likely unable to serve out his full-term as president. Then, upon his inauguration, he becomes miraculously coherent, thus blocking their radical agenda.

One can dream.

Then again, life is but a dream. An exceptional American dream. A dream that can only be destroyed by those who do not, and never will, believe in it. Many have tried to tear it down; all have failed. So, again to borrow, are you feeling lucky? If so, then call down that thunder and see what happens; guarantee, you will not like the outcome from that perspective. Shall we, the people, perish from this earth together forever, continuing to live in fear of that inevitable outcome no matter what, or shall we build a permanent, prosperous future for all?

The choice is yours.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

Last American Shrug

Rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol, inciting chaos and violence in supposed defense of democracy, only managed to hand Democrats yet another political, if not moral, victory. What they will fail to realize and understand is that they played right into the leftists’ playbook. Democrats and leftists now will lay claim to and advance the idea that they are saviors of the republic, holding back the right-wing mob from destroying it; even more, they will have a mandate to implement an agenda that erodes our Constitutional rights thanks to that circumstance. All at the behest of elitists, casting themselves as our betters, who want us fighting each other so they can further usurp power and exert more control over everyone and everything.

Some will point to, and possibly even prove, that leftists rogues infiltrated and goaded the crowd into rioting. This would not be a new tactic concerning benign protests that erupted into something far worse, as witnessed over the course of last year's rioting throughout the country. It does not matter. Americans, as well as a global audience, watched on national and international media outlets as a supposed peaceful rally of alleged supporters of President Donald Trump indisputably turned into chaos and violence in the nation's capital. Despite attempts to portray the rioters as patriots, this is more Reichstag fire than Lexington and Concord.

This begs the question of how, and why, the Capitol could be breached, especially on a day everyone knew for weeks undoubtedly would be contentious if not volatile. Reports and photos indicate certain local and federal agencies performed their duties admirably and in accordance with protocol to protect civilians and government officials alike from the mob. Yet, why, on this particularly important day of elector vote counting, was the Capitol not locked down tighter than many states during the height of the pandemic? Governors from surrounding states eventually did mobilize their National Guard units, but only after the escalation of events.

Despite the obvious extreme divisions that currently exist, even before Donald Trump ascended to the presidency, the belief is that the United States needed this moment in order to once again move forward truly as a united country. There must also exist the belief, and hope, that out of the ashes it will rise stronger, even if it may take time and considerable effort to reconcile and come together as a whole nation. This is not the first time facing such a dire precipice, and, certainly, it will not be the last. Where all of this leads is left either to those who care to work together to keep a republic, or to those wishing to continue on this extremist path and descend further into the madness.

By providence, may the latter never be allowed to prevail.

©2021 Steve Sagarra