Merlin Miller: Review of "Edge of Darkness"

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Merlin Miller: Edge of Darkness is an important and timely political thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Originally produced as a British mini-series, this story has been modernized and set in Boston.  Director Martin Campbell, who helmed the original, as well as several recent hit films, including, Casino Royale, brilliantly executes with a cast and crew tailor made for their roles.   

Mel Gibson Stars in Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson Stars in "Edge of Darkness"

The story is about a veteran homicide detective, Thomas Craven, who must solve the murder of his own daughter, Emma (who dies in his arms), and the conspiracy that led to it.  As Craven, Mel Gibson is back with a performance that reminds us why he is one of the all time greats. He hasn’t been in front of the camera since 2002’s Signs, but what a return this is!  His powerful performance grabs and doesn’t let go.  Even though his intense blue eyes have been intentionally muted with wardrobe and lighting to create a disheveled and distraught character appearance, he still captivates.  As a widower, who has now lost his only child, Craven has but one goal left and that is to find and exact vengeance on her killers.  

Initially believed to be the target himself, things don’t stack up for Craven and he discovers that his daughter led a life that he knew nothing about.  Throughout the film, use of memory flashbacks of Emma as a little girl, and apparitions of her lost spirit, provide love connections, which are beautifully and hauntingly effective.  The chemistry, between father and daughter, is wonderfully developed by Gibson and Serbian-Australian actress, Bojana Novakovic.  As a nuclear physicist intern, Emma worked for an energy and research firm that held government contracts.  She became aware of sinister efforts by her corporate employer (played with arrogant perversity by Danny Huston) to produce nuclear weapons that could be used and then blamed on Jihadists.  This future “false flag” operation had the secret support of elements of our own government.  Emma’s efforts to “do right” and protect our true national interests were betrayed by those she thought she could trust, including a US Senator. 

As Craven investigates with increasing despair, he uncovers key parts of the conspiracy with the enigmatic assistance of a government clean-up agent (and assassin), Darius Jedburgh, wonderfully played by Ray Winston.  Although his delivery was difficult to understand at times, Winston’s understated performance is central to the story and his scenes with Gibson are riveting.  At one point, Jedburgh philosophically states to an inquiring Craven, “…you just never can connect A to B.”  Craven responds “How do you know?” to which Jedburgh replies “Because I’m usually the guy that stops you from connecting A to B.”  But Jedburgh is “terminal” (as he says “we all are”), and this takes him through a soul searching process, where he will ultimately be tested to either do his assigned job or do the right thing.  This is a decision many of our government servants may be asking themselves today.  

The themes of honoring family (Jedburgh regrets never having had one and Craven has devastatingly lost his) and protecting our freedoms are tightly woven into this story’s tapestry.  A memorable and repeated line, “Everything’s illegal in Massachusetts”, speaks tellingly to current and historic patriots.  And Craven’s threat to the Senator, “You had better decide whether you’re hangin’ on the Cross, or bangin’ in the nails,” speaks to our unfortunate loss of faith and increasing corruption. 

One aspect of the film that may undercut its effectiveness was a dependency on the ultimate honor and integrity of the media. In sympathy for a female reporter, who showed respect and was less predatory than others, Craven sent her Emma’s secret discs, which revealed the conspiracy.  If we still trust in the mainstream media, then it could be a satisfying ending.  Unfortunately, trust in media today is justifiably even lower than trust in our politicians.  But this reporter was local and working for a less controlled media, so perhaps truth can prevail.  This truth dependency is somewhat reminiscent of “Three Days of the Condor” in which the Robert Redford character’s survival rests in the possible publication of his story in the New York Times.  If we had our doubts then, what are we to think now? 

The production credits for this revenge thriller are first rate, and give the film a realistic and gritty “film noir” quality.  The camera flows smoothly, with visual intensity, and the editing and scoring keep us on an emotional roller coaster.  With such a compelling script and top-notch performances, this film has broad commercial appeal, but also works on other important levels.  With its truth-seeking attitude and yearning for traditional values, Edge of Darkness, is an uncertain journey through evil and darkness.  And like Craven, Emma, and Jedburgh, we are left wondering if we, as a people and nation, can rediscover what is important and return to a world of light. 

Merlin Miller (email him)  is a motion picture producer/director and founder of Americana Pictures.  A graduate of West Point and USC film school, he is building a quality alternative to Hollywood. His article, “Americana Pictures: Restoring the Dream” appeared in TOO in April, 2009.

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Kevin MacDonald: Michael Colhaze on Art

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Kevin MacDonald: I want to welcome new writer Michael Colhaze to TOO. His current article — written with elegance and passion — is a worthy successor to Lasha Darkmoon’s earlier TOO articles on the pathologies of the art world. Colhaze points out that becoming a famous artist is like winning a lottery where only psychopaths need bother to enter:

Among thousands of candidates, both academics or naturals, all waiting eagerly for a hint from the established Modern art Mafia, now and then one is chosen. Since he is, just like his many contenders, about as gifted as a bedbug, nobody with a sane mind would assume that considerations of artistic merit ever played a part. What counts is a rigorous talent for self-representation, unfettered by the smallest grain of aesthetics or ethics, an inborn and unlimited vulgarity, and the stated objective to be the most ruthless Judas Iscariot to the Fine Arts that ever set foot on our sacred earth.

This lottery of the psychopaths has special import for Colhaze because his son is entering into the field of art. It must be especially difficult for a parent to deal with the prospects of a son entering a field where artistic talent is not rewarded and where success is determined by a whimsical elite whose only prerequisite is psychopathy among the lucky few whom they promote.

Similar thoughts, with slight variations (e.g., a son who wants to become a professor in the humanities or social sciences where cultural Marxism is de rigueur), must be on the minds of many parents who realize that the prospects of their children are severely compromised in a culture gone mad.

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Mel Gibson to Dean Richards: "I’ve moved on; You’re an asshole"

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Mel Gibson can’t avoid questions about his anti-Jewish comments. Dean Richards, a reporter for WGN in Chicago, brought up the topic once again, probably realizing that it was a great strategy for getting ahead. Gibson is obviously pissed off about it:

“That’s been almost four years, dude. I’ve moved on. But I guess you haven’t. …  That was a while back, and I’ve done all the necessary mea culpas, so … let’s move on, dude.”

Richards wrapped up the interview with a standard thank-you-for-coming, and Gibson, drinking coffee, gave the reporter a thumbs-up before muttering a loud-and-clear [“asshole”] right into his mic before the satellite feed was cut.

The mea culpas don’t matter. Apologizing doesn’t work and never has. This is the kind of realization that radicalizes people. One can only hope that Gibson, with all his wealth, his movie-making ability, his  fan base, and his connections in the movie industry will realize that there is no going back and that he will make movies that can change the world.

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Christopher Donovan: Trial By Ordeal — Not as Primitive as It Sounds?

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Christopher Donovan: An interesting article in the Boston Globe describes how the medieval practice of “trial by ordeal” might have actually worked pretty well. 

Basically, it came down to the social order created by widely-held beliefs — the logic or truth of those beliefs aside.  If everyone uniformly believed that God would punish them for a crime, fewer guilty persons would go through with an ordeal.  So you got a good sense of who’d been bad, and who was falsely accused.  It would have taken a stiffly anti-social European to fool the system. 

Today’s criminal jury trial system might even be less reliable than sticking a hand in boiling water as an indicator of truth.  In multiracial America, there are far fewer uniformly held beliefs.  A system in which a black or Hispanic defendant feels aggrieved by the pressures of living in a “White society” surely feels less moral compunction about lying or fooling the system.  If evil White police, prosecutors, judges and juries are staring you down, who cares?  You’re justified in lying. 

And, consistent with Prof. Robert Putnam’s observation that even intra-racial relations are harmed in a multiracial society, guilty White defendants might feel similarly.  If society is nothing but a crazy mishmash of clashing ethnicities, why not have a little party in the midst of the confusion? 

This is to say nothing of the craziness surrounding the racial makeup of the jury.  As O.J. Simpson found, having black jurors is very handy when the evidence against you is overwhelming.

As a civil litigator, I watched as race — of the plaintiff, defendants, witnesses and juries — absolutely obliterated anything else going on.  Like, say, the facts.  There was no widely-held belief that a barely-injured plaintiff should be denied a financial windfall — no, it was a fellow Hispanic woman looking to get a chunk of white society’s cash, so by all means, help her.  It was a capricious system that often had little to do with witnesses, cross-examination or persuasive arguments by attorneys.  It was a race racket. 

So, while the “trial by ordeal” had truth as its aim (and possible result) in racially homogenous European societies, the trial by jury’s truth-finding function is often subverted in multiracial America.

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The Failure of Head Start — Another Blow for IQ Realism

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I teach courses on child psychology, and every textbook has a chapter on IQ. It’s always a bit touchy talking about it — I’ve got to be on my best behavior. I discuss the data showing genetic influences and then I point out that most of the “environmental influences” on IQ could equally well be explained by parent-child genetic correlations: Smart parents are genetically inclined to high IQ and they talk to their kids more. This results in correlations between IQ and parents talking to their kids.

But the chapter always ends on an optimistic note for the environmentalists because of the Head Start data. The standard line is that Head Start has a positive effect on IQ for a while and then tapers off to nothing after a few years. But the good news for environmentalists is that there are lots of other great things Head Start does, like improve academic achievement, prevent school dropout, etc.

However, the recent report on Head Start shows that there are no positive effects at all on academic achievement, social and emotional functioning, or health, even in the first grade. These are overwhelmingly poor non-White children — the future of America

As the Brookings Institute’s Russ Whitehurst notes,

The children in Head Start are overwhelmingly poor and minority. They are at high risk of starting school far behind their more advantaged peers, and falling further behind over time. They tune-out and drop-out at alarming rates. In a world in which nearly everything we value, from a long lifespan to financial wealth to family stability, is associated with educational attainment, these children’s lives are in danger.

So the ever hopeful left is back to square one. No positive effects at all. Indeed, things seem to have gotten worse: “In the critical area of vocabulary (a good measure of IQ), 3-year-olds entered the study at the 29th percentile in terms of national norms and finished first grade at the 24th percentile whether or not they attended Head Start.” They might as well have stayed home with grandma.

But because the ever hopeful educational establishment didn’t want the word to get out, they delayed the report for three years. During this time they sweated the data (as we psychologists say) to try to come up with some positive results. Not possible. And believe me, they were motivated. There are lots of private contractors and an entire bureaucracy to feed. They pulled out all the stops.

Actually, it’s quite surprising that they couldn’t come up with something positive, since, as Whitehurst points out, the same federal agencies that administer the programs are in charge of evaluating them. Short of  making up the data, they couldn’t come up with what they wanted. It’s something of a miracle that they didn’t falsify the data. All for a good cause, you know.

But, as Whitehurst notes, when the report was finally released there was absolute silence in the MSM. The New York Times did not think it was news fit to print, nor did the Washington Post. I am still waiting for an article to appear in the LA Times.

Reports like this are just not the sort of thing that the left wants to hear, because it does not augur well for the future of the impending multicultural paradise we are heading into. I wonder if the next edition of my textbook will even bother to note it.

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More Marriage, Less Rape

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Reginald Thompson: Research shows that remaining unmarried greatly increases the chances that a woman will be raped, while living with a husband greatly decreases her chances of being raped.

According to the FBI Crime Victimization Survey, the average unmarried female over the age of 12 had a 0.37% chance of being raped or sexually assaulted in 2006.

In contrast, the average married female over the age of 12 had only a 0.04% chance of being raped or sexually assaulted that year.

That’s a staggering risk factor for single women of being 9.3 times more likely to be raped!

Now you might think this is due to single women tending to be younger, and younger women being more likely to be raped. But that idea is refuted by the fact that divorced women, on average older than single women, are even more likely to be raped than single women are.

Divorced or seperated women had a 0.43% chance of being raped or sexually assaulted in 2006, which means they had a 10.8 times greater chance of being raped than the married women did, and a 16% greater chance than the Single women.

Intriguingly, single women are also 3.7 times more likely to be subjected to violent crime than married women are, while being 5.5 times more likely to be subjected to completed violence.

Also, they are 4.9 times more likely to be robbed, 3.1 times more likely to be subjected to aggravated assault, and 3.5 times more likely to be subjected to simple assault.

So single women are at an elevated risk for all kinds of violent crime, but none so much as rape and sexual assault.  This is doubtless due to the sexual nature of the relationship between a husband and wife, and the fact that by marrying a man, a woman provides herself with a physically stronger companion who has a profound evolutionary interest in protecting her sexuality.

But does it follow from these findings that if women spent more of their lives married, the overall rape rate would decline?

Or would rapists just compensate by raping the remaining single women at a higher rate?

To find out I got the rape rate for 18 years from 1960 to 2007, and checked it against the median age at first marriage for women in those years.  What I found was a very strong +.602 correlation between the rape rate and median age at first marriage for women, with a statistically significant P Value of .008.

This means that 36% of the explosive increase in rape from 1960 to 2007 is explained simply by the catastrophic trend of more and more American women delaying marriage until later in life.

In sharp contrast, variation in median age at first marriage explains only a paltry 3.3% of the variation in the overall crime rate. This shows that there’s something very special about the relationship between age at first marriage and rape, and that the correlation between them isn’t just a question of median age at first marriage corresponding with some other factor that has an influence on crime.

Given this data, it is clear that anyone who actually has the best interests of women at heart will encourage them to get married as early in life as is reasonably possible.

Reginald Thompson is the Pen Name of an Advisor to an International Software Company. He lives on the American East Coast and is proprietor/manager of a recently created Blog called Statsaholic.

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Kevin MacDonald: Patrick Cleburne on Jewish involvement in immigration

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Kevin MacDonald: I was going to blog on the recent news reports of Latino-Jewish ties, but I really can’t improve on Patrick Cleburne’s  blog over at Vdare.com. A must read. Cleburne agrees with the Kvetcher that the real motivation is “the mutual goal of making the majority population a minority population. We need to all be ‘The Stranger.'” It’s obviously a goal that is radically opposed to the interests of White Americans.

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