Welcome to the weekend edition of The Mark Steyn Show. Mark looks at the accelerating Big Shut-Up, a transitioning courtroom, Hunter turned painter, and more. All this plus Longfellow, George Michael and Perry Como, not necessarily together.
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Mark will be back on Saturday evening to launch our Christmas season of Tales for Our Time.
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Concerning "The Odessa File," Frederick Forsyth points out, in his memoir, "The Outsider," that Eduard Roschmann, the nazi villain of the novel, was genuine, although the novel has him living under the radar in West Germany. In reality, he was one of those SS-men who had managed to escape the post-VE-day dragnet and enter a new life in Argentina, living eventually under his real name. While he wasn't quite as blatant as Klaus Barbie, who operated into the Eighties as a salesman in South America for the Belgian arms trade, Roschmann presumably felt he was secure in Argentina.
Instead, when the novel and the film appeared, he was identified and arrested. After Bonn requested his extradition, however, he was able to make a dash for Paraguay, which, he was confident, would not hand him over to justice. In the event, he didn't make it , but died suddenly on a ferry, midway between Argentina and Paraguay. Forsyth describes the macabre (and literal) to and fro which ensued between the two countries, neither of which wanted his body.
I've always preferred "The Day of the Jackal," both the book and the film, to "The Odessa File," despite the obvious problem that, when "Jackal" came out, most people were aware that Charles de Gaulle had not been assassinated (given the state of schooling today, that is probably no longer the case). In "Jackal,", Forsyth seemed better to draw on his encyclopaedic knowledge of things which law-abiding people are not supposed to know. While Jon Voight and Maximilian Schell are good in "The Odessa File," Edward Fox, for me, gave the performance of his life in "Jackal." The very fact that we never find out anything about his character provides the element of suspense which the basic plot lacks.
Mark replies:
I'm inclined to agree with you on that, Owen, especially re Edward Fox.
Dear Mark,
I hope to hear you comment on the story of the CDC saying the elderly shouldn't get the vaccine first because they're not diverse enough. Something about "leveling the playing field" as mentioned on Tucker's show. Very Third Reich in it's desire to get rid of the Untermensch in this country. Your thoughts.
"Christmas Dream". What an ear worm! It's crawling around and around in my head.
Please suggest something to replace it come December 26.
The problem Mark described about Vdare and the credit card problem is also being repeated with the National Rifle Association., except in spades. The NRA unfortunately is a registered organization in New York State and the Marxist NY Attorney General and Wall Street are raising hell by trying to revoke their charter, strip them of their bank accounts and deny them insurance. The corporate gigantism/financialization of our economy has put the Woke in a position of great power. The assault on the NRA kept them largely out of the fight in 2020.
Très drôle, Mark. French Presidents always speak such good French that even I can understand what they say. Garçon dinkee?
I believe the correct response in court as to your pronouns should always be, "conventional pronouns, of course!" Given with the facial expression that you find the question to be queer (yes, I said that) and that you think that the inquisitor is weak in the head. I have a large stockpile of conventional pronouns if anyone needs any.
Perry Como is so smooth and I have not heard him sing in such a long time.
PS. I've run up the Betsy Ross flag. More to come later.
"I have a large stockpile of conventional pronouns if anyone needs any."
Generous to a fault, Walt.
PS. Do they take up much room alongside the Sterno and green tips?
Nobody warms a seat like Rich Lowry and National Review.
One of the things I like about the Mark Steyn Club is Mark is one of the few conservative commentators who calls out the allegedly respectable conservatives for their complete lack of effectiveness. Keep it up!
Why shouldn't Hunter Biden be an accomplished artist? I imagine he would be quite adept with a metal straw from his days snorting, rather than blowing, through one. Reading the dismissive reviews of his work by the art critic snobs almost makes me sympathetic. Almost. Like any proud parents, The Big Guy and Doc Biden will have Hunter's work lining the walls of the White House, should they complete their theft of the election. Well, the White House fridge, anyway. Does The Big Guy demand ten percent of Hunter's sales profits, I wonder?
He's earned it, with his prejudicing the investigation--criminal, not civil, mind you--into Junior's business dealings. Being "proud" of your son is one thing; a "President-Elect" expressing "confidence" that his son did nothing wrong during a criminal investigation is an uncoded message to the FBI to go easy (as if they needed telling) on the sprat. Hunter will skate, but we always have the Durham Report to look forward to. And always will.
PS: Kathy and Rush are in my thoughts a lot these days. They have meant so much to me since discovering them 15-20 years ago. Never mind their brilliance and wit (as if you could), their bravery is a guiding light to us all. They live in my heart as much as my mind.
Odd how the photos of Hunter abed with his crack pipe seem to have disappeared as fast as any allegations of sexual harassment by his father.
So, I guess that Tim Rice is not fearful that the estates of Bert Kaempfert and Ben Weisman will be suing him for copyright infringement with respect to Wooden Heart? As you note, Christmas Dream sounds remarkably similar to the Elvis' tune from G.I. Blues.
Speaking of your Song of the Week feature, I believe you once featured "I'll Be Home For Christmas" in this spotlight. Is that correct? Actually, you have featured a fair number of Christmas songs in Song of the Week that it might be neat if you reposted one of these a day as we head into Christmas week. Just a thought.
Great stuff, Mark! No retreat, no surrender.
Mark replies:
In fairness, Michael, the tune of "Wooden Heart" is from "Muss I Denn", a Swabian folk song at least two centuries old. So Bert Kaempfert didn't write it either.
My Mother was a very religious woman and a bit of a Biblical scholar. I remember she used to maintain that "peace on Earth, good will toward men" was a mistranslation and should be "peace on Earth to men of good will". I don't know if she heard that from some preacher or it was her own work, but I do prefer it.
My Greek is incredibly rusty, but Luke 2.14 definitely reads "anthrōpois," dative, meaning "to men," not genitive "anthrōpōn," meaning "of men."
That's made my day, Owen, and it's only 10:15. Thankyou. It's exciting to know that the bible is less inclusive than I have been led to believe.
Mrs Chalmers, the RE Teacher who switched me off with her constant emoting about "Cathy Come Home" and the imminent end of the world, was big into "Good News For Modern Man". I had a whole year of it before I could drop RE and I never understood why we were reading a children's book at age 14.
I have just now discovered that it was a more faithful translation from the Greek and Hebrew than the King James bible.
"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!"
If only there was a way to translate that back into King James-style Biblical language.
The Catholic Church's Gloria changed somewhat recently to "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will" ...
George Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Eve to wish the Hessians a mostly peaceful Merry Christmas.
I have my own saying that is not so Christian: Treat me with good will or you're gonna need a good will!
Best wishes for Kathy and Rush.
Hi Mark, thanks for playing a bit of 'Last Christmas', which is a great seasonal pop song, possibly my favourite of all-time, aside from Mr Blobby's Christmas song of course :) I always spare a thought for George Michael at this time of year, not only because I thought he was the hottest thing ever when I was a girl, but because he died on Christmas Day, in very lonely circumstances, four years ago now. He had retreated from the world, apparently unrecognisable due to weight gain, and was living in a cottage in some impossibly pretty, and no doubt very expensive, English village where his last act was to watch out the window as the traditional Christmas Eve parade wound its way past his front gate. Next day, the latest boyfriend found him dead and immediately began revealing inconvenient things and looking for money. A sad end for someone who had a lot of talent, both as a singer and a songwriter. Oh and I enjoyed the Longfellow poem too, can't believe anyone ever tried to denigrate his work, it's fantastic and stands the test of time well I think. I'd never heard of the critic and that says it all. All the best, thanks for all you do :)
Mark replies:
You're right to spare a thought for poor George Michael, Veronica. It was a sad end.
Mark,
Thank you for 41 minutes and 44 seconds of excellence.
I loved the choice of poem, Mark. Don't let anyone tell you that read aloud poetry is not where the money is. Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to all! Long live the Mark Steyn Club and its Ace team all its followers.
Xxxxooooo......
Well if you like all things French, even Macron who is not doing so well right now with Covid, I wish you would review History Boys the movie. The scene with the students practicing their French is hilarious.
Magritte of course was Belgian.
Happy le lendemain de Noel even if there is no Boxing Day in Quebec this year with the lockdown...
I second Nicola's request for a Steyn's-eye review of The History Boys. In addition to the hilarious French lesson, there's great music (except perhaps for the leaden rendition of "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered" during the credits) and poetry!
There being 12 days of Christmas, the Boxing Day/St Stephen's Day argument is a miss.
'Tis the Season...
Of course, American Christmas ends at midnight on 25th, and at first light the Chinese-made tree goes into the trash, complete with Chinese-made lights, baubles, Angel and tinsel, along with the love so tenderly given.
We're Americans, Christmas begins the day after Halloween and ends precisely as you said, so we can get on with the post Christmas Day super sales. Boxing Day would be bad for business.
Hold on a moment, Walt - you have forgotten the >> Boxing Day Sale!! <<
It would, of course, start on Christmas Eve, except at Walmart, where it would be a year-round event.
"Christmas begins the day after Halloween and ends precisely as you said."
My comment was truncated. Let's just say this is the kind of heresy that Sir Thomas More didn't countenance. And I'm inclined to agree with him.
PS. "Last Christmas" was well-spotted by Mark's friend from Norn Iron.
Love the new bumper music. Very "Steyn, Mark Steyn."
Ditto!
The insatiable apatite of the left. Shall we call it Audrey II after the plant from the Little Shop of Horrors. They say "Feed me" and every time the size of the tribute grows until you're next on the menu.
Government is now a law unto themselves and the law that applies to the citizenry only applies ex post facto but only if a judge says so. The Georgia laws say only those registered to vote for the general election can vote in a run off. The Secretary of State (party fluid... was Repub..now Dem) struck a deal with Stacey and Co to allow anyone up to and including election day to register to vote in the run off. Legal? No. File a suit before and it's ruled too soon and file a suit after and it's too late. The Pennsylvania Supreme court signed off on even more and .. of course ... and the Social Club io The United States looked the other way. Now Maricopa county refuses a subpoena to hand over voting machines. How does a citizen fare in that world... ask Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge where two family members were shot dead by US Marshalls and FBI because no judge was there to decide the issue according to authorities. Later on it was ruled that the shootings were unconstitutional. Wife and son were not available for comment. "Rule of law" is a cruel joke.
"Explain to me how Donald Trump had coattails but no coat" - Ken Blackwell.
See his no-holds-barred message to Republican-controlled state legislatures (on twitter), ahead of Jan 6th.
A lot can happen in 2.5 weeks! With mounting evidence of the stolen election - and China-collusion - the crowd will be yuge.
Establishment Republicans, the one's who've been in the game for decades like McConnell, only listen to the opinions and the pulse of the swamp, never of the people who voted them in. Such chumminess under any other circumstance would be considered a conflict of interest like having your defense attorney fist bumping the state prosecutor who's trying to land you in prison and they say "After trial, let's go out for brunch." Trump succeeded because he realized that the carrier politicians that have been in charge for decades have stopped listening to their voters and instead listen to either the people who run D.C. or some million dollar funded focus group that brings up matters to their attention in the form of dollar signs if they run on it. The Club needs to be broken up and the rules for how long someone can be in politics needs to change otherwise we will be stuck with another "Weekend at Bernie's" president like we have with Joe.
I guarantee you, if the Russian hack of Dominion voting machines resulted in the flipping of votes in one county, there would be fireworks. FBI would be arresting people left and right. The media would demand Trump be locked up for once again "allowing" Russia to meddle in another election. I wonder though if the left really hates Russia like they said. Given the "punishment" was incitements of foreign nationals that will never return to US soil in the rest of their lives should say something. If the Russians hack flipped votes in favor for Biden, then maybe what we have here is a new "Axis of Evil" in Russia, China, and Iran and all are supported by the Democrat Party.
Rule of law is more The Fasches these days, Robert.
The Ruby Ridge incident summed up the complete incompetence of our crack government agents: They stormed the home to take away Mr Weaver and ended up killing everyone in the place (if memory serves I think they even killed a pet dog) EXCEPT the intended target.
Don't forget ATF at Waco. They called in the FBI to drive tanks to peacefully resolve the situation - for the children.