There is a not-at-all-famous movie this author recommends.
It predates the initially lively but gratingly tedious John Wick franchise but could be said to follow along the same theme…except my recommendation is artful, adroit and has the benefit of advancing a plot.
The title is Last Man Standing and stars Bruce Willis at a time on the downswing of his career – important, because that is typically when actors take a chance on films they would otherwise pass over.
In our fare Willis is a 1930s gangster whose car breaks down near a backwater town in which two rival gangs, Italian and Irish, are fighting it out for supremacy. Our man Bruce just wants to get his auto repaired. Needless to say, that ain’t gonna happen…with predictable results.
SPOILER ALERT: Again, the title is LAST MAN STANDING…so perchance one can decipher the ending…
All of this came to mind when a notice trailed across the screen Russian President Vladimir Putin was being called out for…SECOND SPOILER ALERT…”War Crimes”…(At this juncture, are there any other kinds of crimes being prosecuted these days!?!...Just kidding, we all know “Hate Crimes” still get top billing.)
Honestly it is a miracle Vlad keeps his cool the way he does. It’s incredible…If you didn’t see the man in action you would hardly believe anyone could remain so unflappable under relentless nonsense.
Yet, somehow Vlad abides.
(Aside to Mr. Putin…Bro, you’re putting us regular Joe’s to shame out here. Showing up in a Steve McQueen turtleneck?...Tooling around Mariupol in a Maserati?...Evincing a soft-side to entice the ladies at the local Philharmonic?...You’re setting a high bar for the rest of us, Vlad!)
In any case, this savoir-faire is reminiscent of the way Bruce handles antagonists in his reels above.
No matter how much provocation he endures, no matter how many times his enemies try to bait him, no matter how ridiculous the ways in which he is riled into losing his temper…Bruce smiles…and cracks wise.
The only difference? Putin is real…probably real tired…but real all the same.
Because Putin is too polite to lay it out directly allow this article to serve some of the dish on democracy.
That is, we’re going to review what “Evil Vlad” has done as compared to what “Sacred Rules-Based Order” would have done with the alleged “kidnapping victims” of the Ukraine Conflict.
All examples are from real life (even if you wish I made them up myself):
Evil Putin – When it became clear there were innocents in the zone of conflict he evacuated them to safe areas.
Sacred Democracy – In California in 2023 a mother filed a lawsuit against her local school district on the grounds that a Counselor had allegedly encouraged her daughter to transition her sex without any input from the family or even notifying the parent of this life-changing decision. The child was 11 years of age.
Evil Putin – When it became obvious there were thousands of youngsters in need of care he established summer-camp style resorts to entertain and educate the youth.
Sacred Democracy – In New York in 2022 a school teacher was accused of psychologically manipulating a vulnerable girl of tender years to transition her gender absent any inclination by the child to do so. This led to serious emotional consequences including suicidal tendencies. The youngster was in Fifth Grade.
Evil Putin – When it came time for the children to be reclaimed by their parents, some of whom traveled from Ukraine for that purpose, he eagerly reunited the kiddoes with their proper caretakers.
Sacred Democracy – In Texas in 2019 a trial jury ruled against a father who was attempting to gain custody of his children because their mother was transitioning one of the male twins into becoming female, possibly intending use of physically-altering pharmaceutical drugs. The child was 7 years of age.
None of this is to get into the nasty business of judging anyone for anything based on their private behavior (your humble correspondent is an American, after all)…only this permissiveness presupposes that those decisions are made by adults.
Bottom line – If a child is too young to legally engage in sex, a child is too young to legally change their sex.
Encouraging, Inducing or Suggesting to pre-pubescent children how to live a post-pubescent life is an intolerable transgression and far more indicative of the predispositions of custodians than their charges.
Yet let’s for a moment indulge the argument such little children would have been better being pumped full of drugs, physically mutilated and inculcated with all manner of “Sacred Democracy” values.
Even had Vlad wanted to send them away, what precisely should Putin have done with these tikes?
Had them marching off unprotected toward the setting sun in the middle of perilous fighting? Somehow transferred them to the Ukraine military in the midst of a battle? Given each a day of rations then wished them the best and turned his back?
Guaranteeing the protection of the vulnerable while evacuating them to a neutral site established specifically for their welfare would seem to be the most humane act to take under the circumstances.
If our “Sacred Democracy” had a more practical solution it should have been mentioned at the time.
No one is saying there were no missteps in the transfer across the Donbass. If that is the claim then it is more naïve than the tots themselves. Any “international court” making the assertion wholesale safeguarding of youthful citizens should never have unintended consequences is disingenuous at best.
Moreover, the fundamental thing which undermines the entire case against Putin is when Ukrainian parents arrive he does not have the applicants imprisoned but allows the children to be taken home.
Does this sound like any definition of “child-napping” you have ever heard before?
On the contrary, it can generally be said this enterprise – while no means pleasant – has been conducted with the utmost professionalism as is possible under the circumstances.
There is also the minor incidental that many of those same innocents, under custodianship of The West, would right now be in the act of receiving instruction gender does not exist, that they may be a different sex than they think and likewise pressured into taking drugs before carted off to a surgeon with an eager scalpel.
If teaching youth Arts and Crafts be the graver sin according to the “ICC” then so be it.
Thank goodness is at least one man standing athwart the abuse of children.