Hank Hill Takes on Andrew Tate and the Fake Masculine Ultras

I like this video. 

And I like the renewal of this show!

  

Big Win for Torrance: Traffic Commission Rejects Automated Parking Cameras

On August 3rd, 2026, the Torrance Traffic Commission held another meeting on automated ticketing scheme, specifically to discuss and decide whether to recommend automated parking enforcement cameras for the city of Torrance.

A large number of residents attending the meeting:

Staff had to set up more chairs, as more residents poured into the West Annex Commission room. At one point, it was standing room only. Lots of people were really incensed about this topic.

I would imagine every person in the room opposed this terrible scheme.

Here are some highlight comments from the Traffic commission meeting on Augusts 3rd:

Tom (or Ted) has been on the other side of every issue I contest before the city council. He's unabashedly liberal, to the point that he didn't want "One Nation Under God" displayed in the city council chambers.

He readily--and light-heartedly--admitted that he didn't agree with me on anything ...

EXCEPT shutting down these Orwellian cameras!

The discussion among the traffic commissioners was telling, too.

The state of California has authorized an automated parking ticket enforcement scheme, but the law expired without any reauthorization:

One of the commisisoners reminded the public that there is already a third-party vendor enforcing parking issues, so why bring in cameras?

Ultimately, the Torrance Traffic Commission staff recommended that the commission NOT recommend automated cameras for parking enforcement!

And all of this begs the question:

If the Traffic Commission staff has investigated all the potential costs and benefits to the automated ticketing schemes, why waste the traffic commission's time?

I asked as much during my comments:

The work is not done, however.

This commission meeting determined that the city should not pursue automated camera enforcement for parking violations.

As for speeding and running red lights, the Traffic Commission will probably hold separate hearings on those issues. This is all a waste of time. The commission should be focusing on high-impact intersections, increasing speed limits where there is hardly any traffic, and bringing in more traffic lights for busier intersections.

At least residents can rest asssured that the city commissions (and the city coucnil?) are listening to the public and backing away from these abusive, unconstitutional automated camera schemes!

As for the latest traffic commission meeting, what was particularly interesting was the widespread agreement on opposition, from the most left-wing activists in the city,  like Ted or Tom the atheist (I call him Larry David, since he looks like the comedian main character from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," to people like me, who have been speaking up for the conservative side of every issue that comes before the city council.

I spoke with a few residents after the meeting, and they appreciated my remarks. One of them admitted that she had not been paying attention to city politics all that much, but then she learned about bad proposals like the automated cameras, and she knew that she needed to get involved.

There are lots of issues that divide residents in Torrance, but pretty much everyone is united against automated ticketing schemes. Let's hope that the city focuses on positive issues that will generate more consensus among residents, like:

1. hiring more police officerss

2. reducing the cost of business

3. repealing the utility users tax (since the city wants to get as much of the sales tax revenue before LA County takes it and wastes our money on its own failed pet projects

4. Cleaning up and fixing the roads

Please contact the Torrance City Council, and tell them to "Get Back to Business" and "Get Back to Basics" and fix real problems in the city:

ALL OF THESE CAMERA PROPOSALS MUST BE REJECTED!

(310) 618-2801

BLieu@TorranceCA.Gov

Dkartsonis@TorranceCA.Gov

BLewis@TorranceCA.Gov

ASheikh@TorranceCA.Gov

SKalani@TorranceCA.Gov

JGerson@TorranceCA.Gov

Response to "The Causes Against Tyranny of the Orange King": No Case Against the President

 

James Preston Allen should be proud that so many Republicans read his newspaper.

If he’s angry, it means that all is well with the world.

The more that he complains about Trump, it means President Trump is doing a great job.

In his latest editorial, Allen weakly tied the “long chain of abuses” in the Declaration of Independence to President Trump.

Trump was duly elected, not a monarch installed by divine right and line of succession. In contrast, the Democrats installed Kamala Harris as the 2024 nominee, even though Joe Biden had won the primary (albeit losing primary contests and suffering “No preference” losses in liberal bastions like Minnesota).

Allen blames the President for Congress’ not voting on the War Powers Act. That’s the decision of Congress, not Trump.

The notion that Trump has refused to pass other laws for the “accommodation of large districts of the people” is nonsense. If the editor is complaining about the partisan redistricting, the blame falls on Democrats, who contorted the 1964 Civil Rights Act to force Democratic gerrymanders in Republican states. Turnabout is fair play.

Allen twists the Declaration’s section on dissolving representative houses, somehow connecting that to the DOGE efforts. Americans are grateful for the massive cuts to the federal bureaucracy. Why are so many people working for the government in the first place?

And of course, he calls President Trump’s enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws racist. Has he seen what black South Africans are doing to migrants in their country?

Letter to the Editor: Politicians Should Be Required to Read "Capitalism and Freedom" by Milton Friedman

 

The SoCal News Group republished an editorial urging readers to remember free market economist Milton Friedman.

I became a free enterprise conservative after reading his work!

From his advocacy for low tax rates, drastic spending cuts, and broad elimination of federal bureaucracies, California needs to adopt his principles and adapt to freedom.

Few know about him because of our failing education system. Teachers’ unions and contractors run California schools, rejecting free enterprise while demanding government command-and-control of the economy.

Sure, California voters want a voucher system.  School choice is one way for the next generation to break free of ignorance about (and hostility to) free markets, free enterprise, and free people. However, California voters have repeatedly rejected these proposals due to misleading ballot statements and political machinations.

What’s worse, voters on both sides of the spectrum are expressing doubts about free-market capitalism, convinced that only populist government intervention will solve their economic ills.

Now more than ever, everyone, especially politicians, should learn about Milton Friedman. I would support requiring elected officials to read “Capitalism and Freedom” before taking office! Most importantly, though, voters need to listen to pundits, advocate for policies, and elect politicians in line with Friedman’s freedom agenda.

Letter to the Editor: By George, Boy George Gets It -- No Genocide in Gaza

T

here is no genocide in Gaza. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize this.

However, as David Suissa wisely (because so simply) points out, it does take a genius to market the truth effectively to overcome the repeated propaganda of the pro-genocide Gaza Palestinian cult.

It certainly helps that major figures in entertainment tell the truth, who for all intents and purposes have no skin in the game or specific care about the outcome of the war.

At this point in the social media sphere, culture wars can cancel a celebrity’s career.

Yet Culture Club’s own George O’Dowd dares to tell it like it is.

There is no genocide in Gaza. It’s a shame and a travesty for anyone to claim otherwise.

His AI-generated song gets to the point.

“You say genocide. I say war.”

Then the song continues:

“Does it get ugly? You bet it does.”

By George, Boy George gets it.

For those who still don’t understand, of course there’s no genocide in Gaza. Israeli forces allowed Gaza's children to receive aid, to leave Gaza to receive care in Israel as well as Italy.

The IDF leaflets civilian areas in Gaza, warning that they will strike the region to take out Hamas terrorists, strikes which are determined after extensive analysis.

Israel could have dropped a nuclear bomb and wiped out Hamas (and everyone else).

It’s war—and even civilians die. When it comes to the evils of armed conflict, I remember this quote from Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, when he was describing the horrors of the American Civil War:

“War is hell … War is cruelty.”

Finally, Sherman added that the only way anyone can stop war, once the other side has started it: you make it so cruel that the other side never initiates war again.

California Schools Are Going Broke – No Surprise There!

 

California schools are going bust.

Is it any surprise? California government faces routine rounds of boom-bust deficits. The political class squeezes the rich for their money, and the high-end earners are expected to pick up the tab for most of the government’s services.

Tired of being fleeced, the rich are fleeing the state, and with that come the deeper cuts.

And they are deep.

Bay Area schools are closing, facing budget shortfalls. LAUSD schools are looking at insolvency, and fast. The wealthier suburban enclave of Manhattan Beach, CA issued notice for 60 layoffs to balance the district’s budget. Redlands Unified School District also approved another round of layoffs earlier this year.

Couldn’t the local governments take the helm and fix the budget problems?

In California, financing for schools does not go from the taxpayer right to the school district. All the money goes up to Sacramento, and then the politicians divvy up the money across all the school districts depending on need, diversity, reading scores, and other considerations. As expected, the schools in the bluer, more left-wing and that's failing schools tend to get most of the money.

It’s not about achievement. There’s nothing fair about the process at all. Schools that fare poorly—and have poorer students, too—get more money. 

Hermosa Beach, California, is one of the highest-performing school districts in the state, and they get so little money in comparison to other regions. True, Hermosa Beach is also one of the richest cities in the state, so Ed foundations routinely fundraise to fill up the funding gaps for the school district.

Why should a rich area get punished just because it's rich? How is that fair? Should a rich district, where the students do well academically, be punished by receiving less money just because they're doing well? The whole system is perverse in its incentives.

And what do we find happening to school districts across the state, even as they're getting as much funding as they can claw into their coffers? Major school districts like Los Angeles Unified are losing students drastically. At the height of its enrollment in the mid-2000s, Los Angeles Unified School District had 700,000 students. Those numbers have plummeted by half. 

Where did all the kids go? They go where their parents are going, of course!

And the parents are moving away, for starters, because they can't afford to live in the LA area (or just about anywhere else in California’s urban areas). The housing prices and cost of living stem from a whole host of other left-wing problems, and that would require another three articles to detail!

Parents are also fed up with the crappy education that their children are expected to endure. I know parents in Bell Gardens (another suburb of Los Angeles), who are expected to enroll their children in LAUSD schools. No matter the background or status, parents know what is best for their kids. If they see local public school failure and they can do something about it, they will make the change. They pull every string, including false addresses, so that they can enroll their children in better schools.

I can attest to this.

My parents did the same thing for me! We lived in the LA strip, now known as Harbor City. My assigned elementary school was Myler Street School in Carson, California. That school didn't accommodate English-speaking students very well. This is all based on what my parents told me, by the way. To them, I wasn't getting the education I needed, and most of the students were English language learners. My parents filed a false address so that I could enroll in Torrance Unified schools, starting with my second-grade year.

I know: I’m writing about forty years ago. Student populations were much larger at the time in Southern California. Today, enrollment has plummeted, and understandably so. In fact, across the state of California, schools are dealing with serious cash flow problems. Hemorrhaging staff, declining enrollment, and a growing awareness from parents that the best education they can get for their kids is just not going to be found in the public school system. 

California’s educational collapse has become the norm, which the political class in Sacramento has no interest in rectifying. Politicians do what the teachers unions tell them to do. From the state senators I spoke to face to face (and they were democrats), to the pundits and pollsters who follow all the politics in the state capital, it's the teachers unions that aggravate and act out as the 800 lbs gorilla in the room 

They want their money—actually, yours and my money. They want more teachers with smaller classes. They want funding for their left-wing causes. They want their unrelenting, never-ending dominance in the state legislature. They don't care about kids, because kids don't pay dues! They care about their power, and they only care about unions. 

One has to wonder what unions are going to do when the very Golden goose that feathered their financial nest has been killed by their own rapacious greed? Where do they think they're going to get the money from? Do they really think that Sacramento's Democratic politicians will just keep shoveling money at a school district where there are fewer and fewer students? 

 

No matter how lunatic, woke, and left-wing the voter electorate has become in California, voters have signaled an increasing distaste for bond measures; they have shown consistent, credible outrage against bullying teachers unions, enough that former Democrat Senate majority leader turned Republican lieutenant governor candidate Gloria Romero dedicated herself to school choice in educational opportunities for all California students. 

And even with money going in, no student enrollment or engagement is going out. 

A few years ago, I was discussing education policy with a state legislator in Idaho. She shared what I perceived to be a very radical notion: public education cannot be saved or redeemed, so let it die. I thought that was giving up the fight too quickly. Don't we owe it to every generation to have access to the most qualified and quality education possible? Shouldn't we take every step possible to ensure, reform, and restore public education to the greatness it had enjoyed fifty, sixty, even seventy years ago? 

Improving education is a noble cause, but parents don't have the time, energy, or the patience to hack away at the corruption and incompetence of their local government schools. Your kid only has one chance at a solid second-grade education, as well as for all subsequent grades. Should parents have to wait for any improvement in their child's scholastic opportunities? 

Parents should not have to wait; so, parents are voting with their feet, taking their kids to charter schools, to private schools, or setting up homeschool programs. Technology has made it all too easy, and it's no surprise that public education faces nothing but economic collapse as a result. 

California funding for public schools depends on attendance. If the kids don't show up, then there's no money. If the teachers don't have any students to teach, then they're going to be out of a job. Perhaps in the long term this is the best outcome to hope for.

Letter to the Editor: School Districts Ask Parents to Front the Costs

 

(Response to California Schools Are Going Broke -- No Surprise There!)

Mr Schaper-

I read your article on California school financing today. and based on the content I felt I should share a couple of anecdotes from my past (although you may already be familiar with both these examples)-

My daughter attended the Palos Verdes School district for 11 years and graduated from Pennisula High in 2016. During that time I had two interactions with the district that clearly defined the district's overall priorities.

The first occurred when I called the District office to register my daughter as a new student. After a couple rings, the automated "phone tree" offered several options to choose from. The first option stated "If you are a teacher with a payroll issue, please press 1." I found it quite telling that the number one district phone priority was staff payroll issues.

The second occurred anytime my wife or I called my daughter's school to report her absent due to illness. Each time the answering machine provided directions on how to properly report our child's abscence, including a requst that we write a check to cover the lost revenue related to our childs abscence. I forget the exact amount but it was around $90 a day. I always laughed at this silly request, but once again it demonstrated the district priorities regarding my daughter's education.

As I said, you may have already heard these stories, but if not I thought it was worth my time to share these real world examples of California school district policies.

Thank you,

Dave Skinner

----------

Mr. Skinner:

Thank you so much for your letter.

The phone tree anecdote I have never heard before. It sounds par for the course, sadly.

Teachers' unions hold incredible political sway over school districts, which is a crime, since most of the teachers don't live in the district; therefore, it's not their taxes paying for the schools!

Regarding the school's arrogant request that you compensate them for your daughter's absence, I have heard similar stories, and they all need to be reported.

Of course, the wealthier, higher-performing school districts like Palos Verdes USD are getting the shaft when it comes to state funding, so of course the district has to ask parents to chip in. I live in the South Bay (Torrance!), so I am all too aware of the Ed Foundations needed to help districts cover costs.

It's so unfair!

Arthur Schaper

MassResistance Special 10-part Report: Why LGBT “GSA Clubs” must be banned from all public schools.

 

MassResistance Special 10-part Report:

Why LGBT “GSA Clubs” must be banned from all public schools.

Part 10: What you can do to remove GSAs from your schools

Even one person can make a big difference.

August 4, 2026

ALT TEXT These poisonous LGBT "clubs" targeting schoolchildren need to be removed everywhere!

As we detailed in our series, GSA clubs (“Gay Straight Alliance” or “Genders and Sexualities Alliance”) are major players in the LGBTQ indoctrination of America’s schoolchildren. Many children are being irreparably damaged by these poisonous “clubs” that must be removed from schools everywhere.

The recent huge increase in the percent of youth “identifying” as LGBTQ+ (and especially T, transgender, queer, or non-binary) is only partly due to social media and popular entertainment. The public school environment perhaps plays an even greater role. Schools promote and support this madness through LGBT non-discrimination policies, unchecked radical teachers, and venomous GSAs.

At a minimum, an open, candid discussion must begin about the GSA presence in almost every high school in the country – and now in more and more middle and elementary schools.

What can you do?

If you’re already part of a group of outraged parents in your school district or community, MassResistance can help you build it into an effective force for change no matter the local political landscape. That’s been part of our mission for decades.

But even if you’re just one person, there are ways that you can make a big difference:

First, don’t be afraid. The LGBT movement’s strategy includes scaring and intimidating people with traditional values from speaking out. But if you show strength and fearlessness, the opponents often back down.

Here are things even just one person can do to make a difference:

Gather information and get informed

Check your local school district website, newsletters, and posters or displays for GSA clubs (possibly under a deceptive name such as Diversity Club, Spectrum, Prism, Allies, Safe Space, Rainbow club, etc.). Even if nothing shows online or in the school hallways, insist on an answer from administrators on whether there are GSAs in the district.

Are obscene materials brought into the school (outside the official “sex ed” curriculum) by the local GSAs? Are outside “LGBTQ support groups” sending speakers? Document this by obtaining social media posts, school announcements, posters and flyers, etc.

Is your school district sponsoring or financially supporting GSA activities? Does it supply funds for special events, such as school-wide “pride” or “diversity” days? Does it provide school buses to take GSA members to outside events? Does the school counseling program or school library support LGBTQ messaging (by referring students to the GSA, for example).

Check your state education department for agencies supporting and funding LGBTQ student “identities” (including GSA clubs or “safe spaces”) through guidelines, teacher/staff trainings, grants, speakers, etc.

Review the terms of the Equal Access Act to see which of those are being violated. (See Part 7 of this series.)

Take some action – demand the GSAs get shut down

Bring any of the above violations to the attention of your superintendent, principals, and school boards. You can also send them emails or letters. Emphasize that obscene or sexuality-related materials and activities have no place in schools and are very harmful for young children and teenagers. (This is not a “free speech” issue!) Explain how GSAs are not protected by the Equal Access Act. Explain how the ACLU and other groups have been twisting the law to cite only part of the requirements of that law.

When you have compiled good documentation to challenge a GSA, contact a conservative legal aid group for help: Liberty Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom, America First Legal, Child & Parental Rights Campaign, etc.

Find like-minded citizens in your area (or across the state) to demand the GSAs be shut down. MassResistance can help with that.

Start a lobbying effort to get your state legislature to follow the example of the Texas legislature. A bold parental rights bill passed (June 2025) including a simple clause: “A school district or open-enrollment charter school may not authorize or sponsor a student club based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” (No lengthy argumentation needed.) Find a state legislator to file and lobby for a bill banning GSAs in your state.

ALT TEXT It happened in the Texas Legislature. It should be possible to happen in other states, too!

File a complaint with the federal Department of Education. (Be aware that almost every state DOE is part of the problem.) Parental rights are violated when there is no parental notification or opt-out option presented for GSA attendance. The sexual content of these clubs is covered by the federal laws and U.S. Supreme Court decisions that protect parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children, especially on matters implicating sex, mental health, and religion.

Confronting the larger issues

Too many conservatives now seem to be focused on just the transgender movement. But recall that it grew out of the “gay rights” movement which had started decades earlier. It’s necessary to understand that all the alphabet “identities” bring harm to individuals, whether L, G, B, T, or Q.

The whole alphabet “rights” movement must be challenged if the “trans” movement is to be defeated. The GSAs are a danger even without their recent transgender emphasis.

The entire legal apparatus erected by anti-discrimination laws must be dismantled. Parental rights and free speech on LGBT issues cannot be restored unless those laws are overturned. That includes revisiting laws at the state and federal level and various Supreme Court rulings.

Final thoughts

It will not be an easy fix. The radical agendas targeting us all can be daunting. But ending the GSA corruption of our children in the public schools is an important place to start.

MassResistance is here to help you make it happen wherever you are!

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MassResistance Commentary & Analysis

Special 10-part Report: Why LGBT “GSA Clubs” must be banned from schools

Redlands, CA school district attacked by leftists

"Gender" procedures being done to children

"Drag Queen Story Hours" targeting young children

Pornography & bad books in schools & public libraries

Graphic sex ed in schools

Medicine and therapy politicized by the LGBT movement

Radicals using laws and courts to subvert society

"Gay" marriage - US and beyond

International Pro-family Resistance

In Ludlow, MA: Fighting the explicit sexual and LGBT agenda in the middle school!

The laws passed in the Massachusetts Legislature's corrupt "informal sessions."

Bill Whatcott and the free speech crisis in Canada

Canadian father fights "transgendering" of daughter by state

Boston Children's Hospital

The infamous Fistgate conference

LGBT fascism

Transgender "Rights"

LGBT Youth Pride events

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Nolan’s The Odyssey Brings Out the Epic in the Poem

 

With all the bravado, complaining, and politicking over the movie, I decided to watch for myself.

The Odyssey is a foundational epic of the West, exploring themes of courage, overcoming hardship, dealing with moral failures, recognizing danger near and far, and understanding the consequences of one’s actions, even if you never learn from them.

It’s about the journey, not the destination.

Your identity must resound beyond your surroundings, your challenges, or even your accomplishments.

It’s no surprise that The Odyssey founds the Western Tradition, enough so that daring, visionary director Christopher Nolan insisted on composing his own adaptation of the epic.

And he doesn’t disappoint.

That’s not to say that I don’t have criticisms. Even the poem has detractors (“I get angry when good Homer nods off,” Roman satirist Horace slyly pointed out), but Nolan provides a fresh retelling, albeit with some dubious departures from the seminal text, somewhat like the protagonist of many turns in the epic poem.

First, let’s dispense with the woke criticisms.

I was not one bit disappointed by Ellen “Elliot” Page’s part. If an actor delivers a riveting performance, he—or she, and it matters that we recognize the truth of the actor—deserves respect for a job well done. Page gets it done.

Let’s not forget that female character actress Linda Hunt played a male Vietnamese photographer in The Year of Living Dangerously, and she won a well-deserved Supporting Actress Oscar.

Page, as minor character Sinon, plays a powerful role in the whole work. The politics of her moral and biological confusion off-screen didn’t matter to me.

(If Homer can detour, so can I -- For the record, conservative readers, if you insist on basing all entertainment choices on the moral standing of the artist, you will find life to be quite boring: Janice Joplin featured in Rush Limbaugh’s daily radio programs, even though she was a drug addicted and a single mother. His musical preferences never represented his politics, nor should they have cast a condemning shadow.  Elton John is a great musician, even if I oppose his private life choices (and their public consequences). Leonard Di Caprio and Robert De Niro are fine actors, even if I don’t care about climate change or I find De Niro’s anti-Trump rants petty and pathetic.)

Now let’s talk about the African version of Helen of Troy. The sleek black-skinned actress who played Helen of Troy AND her twin sister (not too many spoilers, although everyone should know the Odyssey from middle school or high school English, so there’s that) commanded every scene: tough, nimble, and capable in her capturing the character she portrays. When you watch Black Helen, there are no “Black Lives Matter” vibes shoved in your face. Helen of Troy is beautiful, no matter her melanin count.

In fact, throughout the movie, Odysseus’ crew is composed of men from all backgrounds. There are Southeast Asian, Indian, and even Hispanic actors playing the parts. Guess what? I didn’t care. They played their parts well, and once again—not once did I feel that Nolan was engaging in diversity lottery-lecture scolding to score woke points with Hollywood.

Think about it, folks: we have seen black men play Hamlet, white men play Othello, and women play the main characters in Twelve Angry Men (they just tweak the title to Twelve Angry Jurors). We don’t need to get hung up over skin color or ethnicity or sex when actors and directors are telling (or retelling) excellent, fantastic stories. In fact, the superficial diversity enhances the eternal dynamics of the legends! Works of art stand the test of time, and they can be reproduced by men of any background!

Now, to the movie itself.

Nolan does not disappoint with his innovative filmmaking. Instead of pallid statues of Pallas, and carved mosaics, ancient obsidian pottery, or flat, clean classical storytelling, Nolan gives us a raw, earthy, epic retelling.

He literally brings the many tales of the epic to life before us.

The scene with the Cyclops Polyphemus is gruesome, chilling, intense all rolled into one. When I read Homer’s passages in middle school, then studied them in high school and college, the suspense, the danger, and the intense drama never burst out to me. With Nolan’s direction and the superb acting of Matt Damon as Odysseus, I endure the pain and terror of the misguided Greek mariners.  How would you feel, what would you think, what would you do if you were trapped in a cave, about to be beaten by a vile behemoth? The disgusting brute of a cyclops frightens and enthralls viewers all at once. The incredible imagination of Nolan in his depiction of this ravenous brute not only revives Homer’s epic, but I would add that he brought life to the epic which centuries of academics and literary critics have failed to restore.

Circe transforming Odysseus’ remaining crew into pigs; the sacking of Troy—and the repeated flashbacks depicting destruction of the city after ten years of military standoff; even the terrifying account of Odysseus’ skeleton crew avoiding Charybdis, only to witness in horror as Scylla scoops up and devours six of his crew: all of it staggers our imagination, enhancing the great work of Western literature.

Nolan’s most incredible re-adaptation occurs when Odysseus travels to Hades to speak with the blind prophet Tiresias. This scene I will not relate in detail in order to avoid spoiling the rich, dark, gothic clarity of Nolan’s invigorating retelling. It is chilling, amazing, and overpowering all at once, and provides the final scene for Ellen “Sinon” Page, which serves as a unifying element of the story.

The imaginative realness that Nolan and team thrust into this epic stands out in many forms. We behold only the imposing figure of Menelaus in black armor and his curly hair. We marvel at the ingenious Trojan Horse and the immense challenges of Odysseus and his men hiding in that equine trap. Far from degrading or detracting from the source material, Nolan’s Odyssey enhances the work—and makes you want to check it out for yourself.

The initial criticisms I had of the movie, the sense that it took massive departures from the original text, I found to be incorrect on my part. There were integral parts of the epic poem which students never cover in school, but Nolan includes them—and accurately—including the touching sub-plot of Prince Telemachus searching for his father, refusing to give him up or give up on him.

And who can forget Anne Hathaway as the wise, cunning, and beautiful wife Penelope in an Oscar-worthy portrayal? She invests her role with Hollywood emotion as well as Ancient Greek pathos; we admire this strong woman for her fidelity and courage, while also recognizing her inevitable frailty.

I disliked one considerable detour from the poem’s main themes. Odysseus as written has a pride problem and gets humbled. Odysseus on screen is wracked with guilt and struggles to overcome the trauma. That’s a departure I would not have chosen, but my detraction should not discourage you from watching it.

The Odyssey movie brings out the epic in the poem, and you should see it (and you won’t nod off. Promise!)

 

The Rise of Zionism in Latin America Signals the Further Collapse of Communism

 

In a previous article, I shared about the incredible conservative political victories across Latin America. I explained that these political reversals for good are on par with the Fall of the Berlin Wall, but with lasting effect across the entire continent. Conservative pundits have longed for these developments for years, and now they are here. President Trump deserves credit for helping this resurgence of freedom and prosperity to manifest across a region of the world which had fallen into the thralls of communist dictatorships.

With all the celebrations among conservatives, witnessing the incredible reversal of good fortune of our cause, I want to explore another political, cultural, and most importantly spiritual development sweeping South America: the growing realignment of Latin American countries with the Jewish State. This change is manifesting concurrently with conservative political victories, all declaring not only the rise of freedom, conservatism, constitutional rule, and a restoration of Law and order, but a massive defeat against abject communist tyranny.

Twenty years ago, left-wing commentators identified, analyzed, and celebrated the rapid rise of left-wing governments across Latin America, often referred to as “The Pink Tide.” Communist leadership took the helm in these countries, insistent on reestablishing the failed policies of the Soviet Union and of communist China. With these communist uprisings came increased hostilities toward the West, including Israel.

Far too many don't seem to understand this, but communist elements have had unrelenting hostility to the Jewish state from the inception of the country. While Israel initially considered relations with the Soviet Union, the nation strengthened ties with the Czech Republic, even while still under the Soviet Bloc, then ultimately shifted its alliances to the West. Many are not aware of this, but global communism has maintained an untrammeled hatred of Israel, despite the anti-Semitic naysayers who repeat false claims that Communism is some “Jew Scam.” Stalin and his Soviets smeared the creation of the Jewish State as a racist plot of colonizing Westerners. The Chinese Communist mass murderer and megalomaniac Mao Zedong defamed two countries in one hit: “Israel and Taiwan are bases of imperialism in Asia. You [Arabs] are the gate of the great continent, and we are the rear. They created Israel for you, and Taiwan for us. Their goal is the same.”

Israel is a strong standard-bearer for the West and its Judeo-Christian heritage. Islamic terror and Communist tyranny want nothing more than the country’s destruction. In fact, the Chinese Communist Party’s bigotry includes not recognizing Judaism as an official religion, refusing to grant minority status and protection to the Kaifeng Jews, who are ethnically Chinese but Hebrew in faith and tradition.

Of course, Communism from its inception has always been hostile to the Jews. Karl Marx, despite his Jewish heritage, literally wrote: "The Jewish Question,” bashing religion as “the opiate of the masses. Communism insists on making itself the only religion, and any power taking a stand against its hegemony must be wiped out. According to Marx's warped eschatology, all ethnic, cultural, and religious conflicts will be phased out, replaced by the struggle of the victorious proletariat and bourgeoisie. The existence of the Jewish state strikes a blow to all of these deranged tenets.

Communism is anti-Freedom, anti-Capitalism, anti-Prosperity, and thus also anti-Semitic and thus anti-Zionist. Venezuela’s communist leader Hugo “El Pueblo” Chavez most vividly evinced this left-wing hatred. Immediately on taking power, he ramped up hostilities against Israel, and Venezuela’s Jews fled the country. When Jews flee a country, you can be sure that prosperity is headed for decline, and collectivist destruction is on the rise.

Over the last seven years, this communist, anti-Zionist Pink Tide has disappeared under the blue (as in conservative) wave of new leaders signaling their support for Israel, determined to repair relations with the Jewish State, and rejecting all concourse with the Palestinian cause.

Elected in 2019, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele was the first lasting Latin American conservative political (and pro-Zionist) victory. As mayor of San Salvador, he had established inroads with Israel. Despite his Palestinian (read “Mandatory Palestinian”) descent through his Christian grandparents, Bukele sided with the West and supported Israel's right to exist. He has not moved the embassy to Jerusalem, but he has developed a stronger rapprochement with the Jewish State, condemning Hamas’ October 7^th terrorist atrocities, signaling his country's commitment to law and order in a spiritual battle against evil and his abandonment of the failed policies of Communism and socialism, all to the feckless chagrin of left-wing critics within and outside his country.

In 2023, Argentina elected Javier “El Loco” Milei, a libertarian populist who determined to clear away the wreckage of Peronist-Kirchnerist socialism. During his campaign, he committed to realigning Argentine politics with Israel, breaking away from the communistic anti-Western BRICS powers. During his tenure, he has sought to build stronger associations among the Latin American countries with Israel, as well.

While following Milei’s incredible reforms and bold plans, I was confused and somewhat disappointed regarding his future hopes for Israel. For all his support for the Jewish State, Milei did not move his nation’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. At the end of last year, thankfully, he formally announced that the move would happen now that he has the support in the Argentine Congress to change the current laws.

Another political earthquake for conservatism shook Ecuador, with center-right leader Daniel Noboa winning the Presidency. Like President Bukele of El Salvador, Noboa trained his focus on public safety, cracking down on crime and ending the tyranny of the communists and drug cartels. He has also dramatically improved Ecuador’s relations with the Jewish State, including newly forged security and energy agreements.

In December 2025, Jose Kast of Chile also righted the ship of state, indicating an end to four years of left-wing experimentalism in the country. Media detractors and embittered political opponents labeled Kast a successor to brutal dictator Augustin Pinochet. No matter. In addition to enacting strong security reforms, ending illegal immigration and improving economic metrics, Kast restored Chilean-Israeli relations, appointing an ambassador after a three-year vacancy.

Peru’s recently elected President Keiko Fujimori just finished a meeting with the Israeli foreign minister. Her unlikely yet celebrated victory indicates a welcome end to repeated, violent dysfunction in Peru's governance as well as an end to communist machinations.

In the boldest move yet of all the newly-elected right-wing Latin American leaders, Colombia’s Catholic president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella announced that in his first act as president, he would shut down the previous left-wing government’s embassy plans in Judea-Samaria (to recognize a “Palestinian state”) and move the Colombian embassy to Jerusalem.

All of these moves in Latin America were unthinkable twenty years ago. Communism had established a fortified beachhead in the region, frustrating American interests and Western hegemony while bolstering terrorism, tyranny, and poverty, both material and spiritual.

Latin America’s renewed ties to Israel ensure less money for terror, no chance for Communist resurgence, and greater peace and prosperity for all the nations. With the growing international recognition of Jerusalem as the rightful capital of Israel, along with the inevitable illegitimacy of a so-called Palestinian state, Western commitments to individual liberties, natural rights, and the rule of law are winning around the world.