We watched a film on Netflix last night called “The Abandoned”.  You might or might not give it a passing grade as entertainment, but you would give it a fairly high grade for social commentary, and an absolutely top grade for weirdness. The movie was filmed in Taipei, and makes Taiwan look like a place to stay away from. It looks like such an awful place that if I were Xi Jinping and I saw that movie, I would call my generals together and say, “Let forget that island.”

As for social commentary, the film focuses on the lives of undocumented female workers from places like Thailand and Indonesia who lose their lives, and undocumented males who work in the places that, if discovered, will be raided by authorities. Deportation is the fear, but the situation is different from the current situation here. Families are not targeted, people with work permits are not targeted, children feel safe going to school.

It shows that undocumented immigrants are not only an American problem, but one worldwide. I was surprised it would be a problem on an island like Taiwan, where border control seems comparatively easy. But I have learned there are almost 100,000 undocumented workers on Taiwan, most of whom entered legally and stayed after their initial work visas have expired. They then enter a dangerous black market job market operated by dangerous individuals and organizations, with dangerous jobs, inadequate housing, and strong financial pressures.

I have no idea why I am writing about this movie at all. I am not even talking about how weird it is.

Is there nothing interesting going on for me to mention? There must be something. After all, the US military has captured a tanker filled with Venezuelan oil. Why did they seize the ship? The only reason I can think of is that it was too big to sink.

The talk now is that the goal of all of this Venezuelan nonsense is to take control of the oil fields and give them back to Chevron. Do I remember correctly that the Bush neocons were planning on controlling Iraqi oil after that horrendous invasion, and that profits from oil sales would pay for the war, and not the American taxpayer? How did that turn out?

This morning, after a presentation on what was called the Department of Injustice at my breakfast group, I have started to watch Congressional hearings on the Department of Homeland Security. I was amused (I think that is the right word) when Bennie Thompson suggested to Kristi Noem that she resign before Trump fires her. He then asked the FBI counterterrorism chief what the biggest threat to American security is. His answer was “Antifa”, so Thompson asked him some specifics about Antifa. The witness was totally tongue tied.

Nothing will come from these hearings, as the Republicans, both those asking the questions and those answering them, are simply blaming Biden for everything. In fact, Biden will probably be mentioned more this morning in this hearing than Trump is mentioned in the Epstein files.

And he wasn’t blameless. I blame Biden, too, for taking the border approach that he did. From the first year of his term, I was suggesting that he was setting the stage for what would be the return of Donald Trump. For both of these things, or I guess it is the same thing, I do blame Biden.

So there you have it.