Olivia's no longer in Kansas (Review: 'Fringe' 1.20, "There's More Than One of Everything")

Not that she was ever exactly in Kansas in the first place. The Fringe Division is largely confined to the NE United States, it seems.

Murder in Minneapolis

No sense in mincing words here. ICE is rotten to the core, an army of masked thugs with no willingness to abide by the rules of common decency.

It needs to be abolished and those in charge of it criminally investigated.

Enforcing borders is important, but it must be done humanely. ICE is incapable of doing that.

Who Mourns for Maduro? The US attack on Venezuela

There are two words that come to mind when thinking about yesterday's events. "Outrageous" and "farce".

Firstly, this is a clear and brazen violation of international law. Venezuela poses no threat to the United States - it is not even a major source of narcotics for that country, with fentanyl largely coming from other places. Donald Trump's new doctrine of foreign policy twists the Monroe Doctrine, which was in its original form meant to be about protecting the independence of the countries that had just ejected the Spanish. Not about asserting US dominance in the Western hemisphere. It's abundantly clear that this is about getting hold of the oil.

Not that Maduro is exactly an innocent here. He was a dictator who rigged elections and jailed dissidents. He's run his country's economy into the ground and forced much of his population to flee. The narcotics stuff - well Biden didn't cancel the arrest warrant, did he? The fact that Maduro was like that has meant that all we'll be getting, even from China, is "thoughts and prayers". Well, just thoughts from China, which is officially atheist even as it is heading for the largest Christian population in Asia.

Second, the United States controls precisely zero territory on the country. They don't even have a functioning embassy in the country, with relations run from Bogota. Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez is in charge and she doesn't exactly seem willing to cooperate. If the United States wants to control the country, bar a coup, it is going to need ground troops. Quite a lot of them, possibly. Especially if an insurgency starts.

Does Trump really want hundreds of US troops coming home in coffins, like what partly did for George W. Bush's presidency?

"Short, victorious wars" rarely are.

Landing stuck. Mostly. (Review: 'Stranger Things 5')

 They came. They saw. They conquered...

(Spoilers galore below) 

Christmas 2025

About to head over to a Christmas Eve service at my church - possibly the only service that I'll be doing this year as I've had a whole bunch of other stuff that's stopped me going on the other days this month.

It's not exactly been a great year, especially for those living in the United States and the Middle East, with the return of one Donald Trump to the White House.

Jesus himself knew all about a hard life. He was born to an unwed mother (I can imagine that Nazareth would have full of gossip once Mary started showing) and became a refugee shortly afterwards. Assuming that he worked as a carpenter like his earthly father did until he started his ministry at 30, he'd have been faced with all the uncertainties of the building trade, not to mention a lot of toil in a world before power tools in a Mediterranean climate. He experienced all the hardships of life on Earth - and then death at the cross after a perversion of justice. But then he overcame that and is now preparing heaven for those who follow him - which will be easy in some ways and less so in others.

God knows of our sufferings and is there to help us. It might not be obvious how he does so, it might not be straight away, but help is coming and all will be set right at some point.

I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Not the Burning Man you normally attend (Review: 'Fringe' 1.19, "The Road Not Taken")

So, two episodes left of Season 1. I have used some of a work Amazon gift card to purchase Season 2 on Prime, because I can download the episodes and don't have to sit through the ads. Also ITVX has a nasty habit of losing your place in the episode.

Anyway, let's head back to Boston in 2009 and this show actually has some bangs.

Up to Eleven, or Some Comments on 'Stranger Things 5', Volume 1

I was planning to watch one episode of this a day, skipping Friday when I was in the office, finishing this on Monday. So, yeah... that didn't happen. I got this done on Saturday morning and managed to avoid any major spoilers. Well, except one.

I plan to do a fuller review once the final part has dropped on New Year's Day.

So anyway, here are eleven comments on Volume 1. Spoilers naturally.