'First Man' first weekend a box office flop--as it should be

As a young man in the late 1960s, I remember how the United States was in fierce competition with the then Soviet Union in the race for the moon. A few years before that, when, in 1957 the Soviet's Sputnik went into orbit, I was one of the kids who became interested in this race. I built model rockets from scratch, read "Satellites, Rockets and Outer Space" by Willy Ley, and was one of a million kids cheerleading our nation in this race to be the first country to put a man on the moon.

America launched our own satellites, sent monkeys into orbit and we went full bore into the race.

Then it happened. Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong's trip to the moon. We all sat around the black and white TV, tense, hoping and literally praying for the safe landing of Armstrong and the crew on the moon.

It was such an incredible moment for the country. We were so damn proud to be Americans when Armstrong planted the American flag. "One small step for man . . . one giant step for mankind," were his words, although it's possible he said "for a man," but that's not terribly important. What was important was that America was first.

Of course, they made a movie about it titled First Man. Directed by Damien Chazelle, First Man received a ton of rave reviews and huge profits were anticipated even after sinking anywhere between $100 million to $125 million to produce and publicize.

But it tanked at the box office, with a mere $16.2 million on opening weekend. It was projected to do at least $19 million to $21 million, but even those numbers are downplayed to avoid possible embarrassment and inspire free publicity if it should over-perform.

When moviegoers discovered that one of the most, if not the most iconic moments of the entire last century was not included in the movie--the planting of the American flag on the moon. In fact, they didn't even have an American flag on the spacesuits of the astronauts which, of course, were part of the uniform.

How arrogant and globalist of those woke producers for leaving out the one thing that every American who was alive and not in diapers at the time remembers.

The Apollo 11 mission was the single most important moment in the Space Race and a huge accomplishment in the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Before this mission, the Soviets were way ahead of us with the Sputnik launch and their other accomplishments. And it was President Kennedy who understood how high the stakes were and he directed NASA to put a man on the moon.

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," Kennedy said at the end of 1962. But he knew it was even more than that and he told Congress in 1961, soon after assuming the presidency, that the Space Race was bigger than mere bragging rights.

"If we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take," JFK wrote, at a time when Democrats were more like today's Republicans.

"Now it is time to take longer strides--time for a great new American enterprise--time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth," he said.

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth," he urged. "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

And we did it with a computer with less memory than today's laptop.

This is what makes the planting of the American flag on the moon one of the most important and iconic moments of the Twentieth Century. It was a choice between tyranny and freedom. It was about patriotism and pride, but pride in a good sense. And by winning the Space Race and beating the evil Soviet empire, we sent a clear message to the entire world.

That the movie did not include our flag reflects a total lack of understanding of Armstrong's mission, and their mindless explanations about the omission illustrates their tone deaf ignorance of the entire mission.

Ryan Gosling, who plays Neil Armstrong said, "I think this was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that's how we chose to view it."

What an idiotic remark. The entire mission was an American achievement requiring great ingenuity and yes, capitalism to fund it. I believe it was Truman Capote who once said that all actors are not very bright, and Gosling proves it.

Chazelle said, "I wanted the primary focus in that scene to be on Neil's solitary moments on the moon--his point of view as he first exited the LEM, his time spent at Little West Crater, the memories that may have crossed his mind during his lunar EVA."

Proof that Chazelle is clueless. Did he think that Armstrong's "memories" were devoid of what inspired the mission in the first place? The entire reason for going there? Chazelle may have won an Oscar, but he was in over his head on this one by not including the American flag being planted on the moon.

I will not watch the movie; not even after it's re-run on Netflix or elsewhere. I want to remember the mission the way it was to the American child whose patriotism and pride of country was branded in me forever.

If they don't show us truth in what we know actually happened, they don't deserve our consideration. And they can pretend their weekend flop had nothing to do with the flag, but of course we know the real truth.


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Hampshire College puts flag back at full staff

Amherst Mass. -- Hampshire College had lowered the U.S. flag to half-staff after Election Day and Donald Trump's victory over the incompetent Hillary Clinton after pissed off veterans protested their decision to stop flying all flags across campus.

That same flag that the so-called school lowered was found burned on Veterans Day so the snowflake administration decided to stop flying it a week later. To attempt at seeming fair, they also chose to stop flying other flags. I'm sure ISIS is upset along with the campus Green Peace petunias.

Jonathan Lash, who Jesse Watters of Fox News tried to interview but ducked it, said, "We understand that many who hold the flag as a powerful symbol of national ideals and their highest aspirations for the country--including members of our own community--felt hurt by our decisions, and that we deeply regret."

'Hurt' is such a liberal-ish word. Veterans and other patriots didn't feel 'hurt.' We were angry as hell and we're fed up with these protected little snowflakes burning the flag many of us fought for--yes, and even for their right to burn the flag. 

That doesn't mean we're going to sit and take it.

Lash added, "We did not lower the flag to make a political statement . . . We acted solely to facilitate much-needed dialogue on our campus about how to dismantle the bigotry that is prevalent in our society."

And how does that lead to a dialogue about bigotry, especially coming from a cupcake like Lash, who refused to take an interview on the subject of the flag controversy?

Once the "school" stopped flying the flag altogether, veterans and others held American flags and chanted "U.S.A.,"outside the campus in a rally the organizers called a "peaceful demonstration of freedom."

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and others at the rally said the school was disrespectful of veterans and current members of the armed forces.

Lash said Friday "Hampshire staff and faculty have led facilitated discussions, I have held multiple focus group sessions, and all of our students, faculty, and staff have been invited to contribute their opinions, questions, and perspectives about the U.S. flag. This is what free speech looks like."

Lash is a cowardly liar who is now caught with his pants down and nothing to show for it. Take that any way you want.



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Former Marine fired for honoring the flag

If you honor the American flag, the chances are that you will have more legal problems than if you burn it.

Allen Thornwell, 29, a former United States Marine took it upon himself to lower the flag to half mast on Memorial Day in honor of the American war dead. He particularly wanted to honor his best friend and former Marine who, he said killed himself when he returned to the U.S. after combat, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Flag protocol says that the flag should be lowered to half-staff that day up until noon, at which time it is to be flown full-staff. 

The paper said that Thornwell was fired Tuesday from his job at Time Warner Cable, who said that they were disturbed by what was termed as "passion for the flag and (his) political affiliation."

How horrible--he must be a black conservative.

Murphy Archibald, Thornwell's attorney and Vietnam veteran himself, said that his client should have never been fired. "It's disgraceful. He didn't do anything wrong. He's a veteran working on Memorial Day who corrected what he thought was a disrespectful flying of the American flag . . . I would have taken it down myself."

It may not have necessarily been "disgraceful," but it certainly was at least very ignorant of Time Warner.

A Time Warner spokesman confirmed Thornwell's firing saying the former Marine "was no longer under contract" with the company, but refused to go into detail.

I suspect the Time Warner spokesman is not a military veteran, doesn't see anything wrong with the Trump riots where the American flag is burned and the Mexican flag is waved proudly.

And I honestly have nothing against Mexico--it's a "patriotic thing" I suffer from--and Time Warner should be ashamed.


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American flag flying firefighters compared to ISIS

Rhode Island -- a fire company is being told that they cannot fly the American flag on the back of their fire trucks because it makes them look like ISIS terrorists. 

Yes, I'm sure that if your home is on fire and you're stuck on the top floor and you saw a fire truck flying an American flag, you'd think twice about being rescued. Nobody wants to be beheaded by terrorist firemen.

Anti-flag liberal Fred Gralinski 

Fred-The-Libtard-Gralinski of the Central Coventry Fire District in a comparison that only a moron could make, compared the flying of Old Glory to the ISIS rag being flown while riding in Iraq or Syria.

Only a liberal can make that claim, just like they blamed Trump for the violence against Trump supporters. It's bizarre but the left believes this garbage.

Gralinski said, "They look like a bunch of yahoos. Like in the paper, like ISIS in Syria going to take over a city. I don't think they need that big flag on the back of the truck. That's not America to me. Those are a bunch of terrorists. So, I'm going to ask you to take the flag off that truck."

Truck rhymes with schmuck, which seems to suit this guy. He sees all flags as equal because he cannot distinguish the meaning of the American flag.

Obviously, America to Gralinski is a country that ought not to flaunt its pride. It's an Obama-esque place like all other places on the planet, no better, no worse, than the others. 

To Gralinski, there's nothing to see here.

But the coward caught hell for his anti-American orders and a spokesman for Gralinski said that he chose his words poorly and apologized. 

A firefighters union president said member are deeply upset by the hair brained request and firefighters have been asked in private, not to fly the flag. Many of those firefighters are brother veterans.

I believe they should fly the flag from the fire trucks and their private vehicles. They wouldn't get in trouble if they burned the flag, only if they flew it. 

Screw Gralinski and the camel he rode in on. There is no excuse for this, nor for comparing these brave men to ISIS terrorists .  .  .  unless they behead Gralinski, which I do not advocate. 


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What Obama Fails to Do for the USA

I solemnly swear my loyalty to the greatest nation on earth, and to the symbols that represent this nation. 

I further promise that I will, to my death, defend this nation, whose government is elected by the people through a majority, and containing colonies, which form one nation standing unified and will never be divided; and having an ecumenical spiritual understanding of a supreme being that guides our laws.

I will defend this nation of which I speak, to preserve its freedom from external or foreign rule; its freedom from control, interference, obligation and providing its people the right of doing, thinking, speaking and the like, in accordance with the notion of personal choice.

In other words: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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Hey, Take That American Flag Off: This is America

I believe the United States of America is the only country in the world so politically correct, that we subordinate ourselves beneath other countries when it comes to respect--at least where self-respect is involved.   

In California, the Supreme Court decided that school administrators can ask students to remove their  American flags from their clothing on Cinco De Mayo, a Mexican holiday.  This is to avoid offending Mexicans, both legal and illegal, I suppose, and to keep violence to a minimum.  Soon they will be thinking about having Christians remove their crosses on Yom Kippor, a high holiday for Jews, and Jews remove their Star of David and mezuzahs on Christmas. Of course, we will not be able to call it Christmas because that will offend non Christians, and perhaps we should stop openly celebrating Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and all other religions but Islam, as it will offend Muslims if we continue worshipping other deities than theirs. I can see a time come when atheists will ask all religions to cease and desist their religous practices--well, maybe not Islam--atheists tend to be short on testicular fortitude and would never tell a Muslim to remove a Koran from the room.

We all know California is flaky, but this is ridiculous and it's becoming the norm in other areas of American life, which, by calling it American life, offends immigrants.

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