The French government is reportedly considering a so-called riot tax that would add the cost of frequent unrest to citizens' insurance bills.
The post France to Impose ‘Riot Tax’ on Insurance to Pay for Damage of Islamo-Leftist Unrest appeared first on Breitbart.
Director Peter Berg can’t shake the memory of Gene Hackman dangling from a steam valve wheel in 1972’s “The Poseidon Adventure.” Hackman’s character, a man of faith on a doomed cruise ship, sacrificed himself so that the remaining passengers could live.
That image, that heroism, never left the future filmmaker.
'I’m drawn to the emotion that is generated when human beings are in dire situations.'
“It stuck with me,” Berg tells Blaze Media. “Since ‘The Poseidon Adventure,’ I’ve been trying to make human stories surround by action.”
Something biggerBerg’s film canon backs that up. He’s responsible for a crush of heroic tales, including “Lone Survivor” (2013), “Deepwater Horizon” (2016), “Patriots Day” (2016), and now “The Mosquito Bowl.”
The Netflix original, premiering in theaters today before its Nov. 25 streaming debut, follows four college football stars as they trade pigskins for rifles post-Pearl Harbor. The quartet (Ray Nicholson, Bill Skarsgård, Tom Francis, and Nicholas Galitzine) bond and bicker between battles, but they get a chance to flex their football skills in the titular bowl.
Berg previously directed 2004’s “Friday Night Lights,” also drawn from a book by author Buzz Bissinger (Berg’s cousin). The director leapt at the chance to helm the scribe’s fact-based tale.
“I could sense that, like with ‘Friday Night Lights,’ he was tapping into bigger themes than football or war,” Berg says. “I knew he was throwing a fastball with this book. His dad was a Marine in Okinawa. My dad was a Marine in Korea ... this was the kind of story I wanted to be a part of.”
'Inch by inch'Berg commits to serious research before any film projects. For “The Mosquito Bowl,” he visited Okinawa and toured the battlefield that plays a key part in the film’s third act.
He marveled at “the slopes and the mountains that had to be fought over and the caves that had to be entered,” he says, as well as the furious nature of the battles. “I wasn’t aware of how incredibly violent it was, inch by inch, bullet by bullet, flame thrower by flame thrower, these two militaries just went at it.”
His film is unsparing on that front, assembling some of the most unsettling war images since “Saving Private Ryan.”
To attempt to grasp the scale of death and destruction, he visited the Cornerstone of Peace monument at Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, Okinawa, where more than 200,000 names of those who lost their lives in the battle are etched in stone.
“You can literally feel it as you move through Okinawa. I’m glad I went out there. It seared that into my soul,” he says.
Brotherhood and braveryThe veteran director started his career as an actor (“Chicago Hope,” “A Midnight Clear”) before moving behind the camera without sticking to any one genre. Still, the obvious through line in his work is courage, bravery, and sacrifice, the very DNA of “The Mosquito Bowl.”
“I’m drawn to the emotion that is generated when human beings are in dire situations,” he says. “It’s an opportunity to explore character, strength, perseverance, heroism, cowardly behavior, complicitous behavior ... under the umbrella of action and intensity. I’ve always been drawn to that. I don’ t know why.”
He’s more dialed in about football’s eternal appeal.
“Football’s just the perfect sport. It requires 11 men on the sides to all be operating in perfect unison together. It’s completely unpredictable ... there’s an element of danger, there’s incredible athleticism, and there’s a brotherhood. The brotherhood is incredibly inspiring, and the emotion is real ... it transcends our petty human differences and unites us all,” he says. “Football is the greatest thing that’s ever been invented, and we need more football.”
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Paramount Pictures/JB Lacroix/Getty Images
Head downBerg has worked steadily for decades in Hollywood, including the occasional acting gig — don’t miss his inspirational cameo in “The Mosquito Bowl.” Unlike some of his peers, he doesn’t fear the rise of AI in La La Land.
“All you can do is control what you can control,” he says. “I’m not seeing AI coming at me right now as the death of my business. I’m seeing opportunities.”
His approach to an evolving industry hasn’t changed, something he advises to anyone eager to tell big-screen stories.
“You have to keep your head down and work,” he says. “Movies in theaters are doing very, very well right now. The [Paramount-Warner Bros.] merger is not going to change much. There’s still a lot of stuff being made.”
He’s even more optimistic about young filmmakers joining the business. Think 20-something director Curry Barker of “Obsession” fame, a movie that defied all Hollywood wisdom to earn more than $500 million worldwide. He’s delighted to note how rebel storyteller Nathan Fielder broke out via his documentary smash “You Can See Everything,” in theaters now.
“I think we’re just fine,” he says of Hollywood as 2027 nears.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Blaze News a shipment of counterfeit ultra-luxury watches was intercepted on the way to Texas.
The authentic timepiece is an ultra-luxury watch from a storied Swiss manufacturer and will burn a hole in your wallet, costing about $38,000 on average.
'Our officers are working hard to identify threats and shut down illicit suppliers.'
On October 23, CBP officers at the Port of Louisville in Kentucky stopped a shipment of 460 fake watches bearing the Audemars Piguet trademark.
The watches were on their way to a residence in Texas and had been shipped from Hong Kong, according to CBP.
Trade experts at the Centers of Excellence and Expertise determined the watches to be fake.
Had the watches been real, the combined manufacturer’s suggested retail price would have totaled over $66 million.
The watches were seized for "bearing counterfeit versions of registered and recorded trademarks."
Louisville Port Director Philip Onken said the incident showed trade was growing at "unprecedented" rates.
"In May, these CBP officers seized a shipment of counterfeit jewelry worth $14 million; in June, it was $54 million in counterfeit watches; in July, more counterfeit watches worth $28 million; and in August, it was 300 counterfeit watches worth $43 million," Onken said.
"As you can see, our officers are working hard to identify threats and shut down illicit suppliers," he added.
U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection
CBP said illegitimate sales are among the "most profitable" transnational crimes and that illicit trade "adversely impacts" the businesses operating legitimately in the U.S.
"These items, including fake medications, perfumes, cosmetics, children's toys and costumes, fashion, jewelry, luxury products, and unsafe electronics and automotive parts, can pose health and safety risks to American consumers as they are often made with substandard or harmful materials," the agency added.
CBP asks consumers to follow its e-commerce counterfeit awareness guide to avoid putting money into the pockets of criminal counterfeiters.
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While taking a break from our daily three-mile walk through a local park, my wife and I sat on a bench watching other walkers stroll by. One young woman passed wearing a plain, white T-shirt that read, in large letters, simply: “AND WE KNOW THAT.”
Underneath those words, in much smaller type, was the explanation of this enigmatic inscription: “Romans 8:28.”
Are we not called to be engaged in all aspects of life? Why would politics be out of bounds?
The full Scripture verse is incredibly powerful and should spring to mind whenever things in our personal lives — or even in the life of our nation — go kerflooey:
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.The midterm elections, already underway across America, popped into my head when I saw the T-shirt. Christians and true patriots alike worry about polls showing Democratic Party gains in key races. Some are moved to work harder; others throw up their hands and leave the results to fate — or, more piously, “Providence.” After all, if “all things work together for good,” even if Democrats regain power and go scorched earth on our country, that must be God’s will. Things will eventually work out “for good,” yes?
Otherwise well-meaning Christians can justify “sitting this one out” in any number of ways: “If God wants America to survive, the country will survive; if He wants her to go under, it will go under. I will just pray. I don’t get involved in politics.”
The idea that good Christians should stay out of politics because “Thy will be done” — or, as Doris Day sang, “Whatever will be, will be” — reminds me of that doctor joke about predestination:
After examining his patient, the doctor shares his diagnosis. “Joe, you are in terrible shape, and I am prescribing a series of pills that will help you live a long, healthy life.” But Joe shakes his head. “No, doc, I’m a Christian, and I believe in predestination. I’m not going to take the pills because I believe that if God wants me to live, I will live; if He wants me to die, I will die.”
The doctor responds: “Well, Joe, I too am a Christian, and I also believe in predestination. So I can tell you this: If you take the pills, you’re predestined to live. If you don’t, you’re predestined to die.”
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Danielle Villasana/Getty Images
Christians who don’t get involved in politics — especially at an obviously critical juncture in a nation’s existence — are like that patient, confident God will save the country with or without their involvement. That conclusion is certainly true, but are we not called to be engaged in all aspects of life? Why would politics be out of bounds?
Consider Romans 13:1: “Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
America was “established by God” more than 250 years ago. And in that establishment, the founders made it very clear that “We the People” were in charge, under the authority of “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Therefore, we must be involved in every way we can — voting, for example, is basic — to preserve the governing authorities to which we are subject.
Further along this political-involvement track, I believe an even more powerful declaration can be drawn from that one big, beautiful prayer Christians around the world pray daily. Much of the "Our Father" concerns, in a very real sense, both earthly and heavenly politics.
After addressing our Holy Father in heaven, Jesus prays, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Many Christians close the prayer with the words, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
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Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
Should we not then work for God’s Kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven, not only in our own lives but in the life of our nation and, through this nation, the world? Is God’s Kingdom not built on righteousness and holiness? Our kingdom here should reflect those noble, ethereal, and eternal goals as much as possible. Where it embraces vile and detestable practices — abortion, child mutilation, open borders, etc. — should we not work to abolish them? We also pray, “Deliver us from evil.” Should we not work alongside our Father to bring that about?
St. James wrote (1:22):
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.Finally, this reminder from St. Paul (Ephesians 5:14-16):
"Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.This is no sit-on-your-hands (or just pray-with-your-hands) moment in the shaky life of America. Scripture and our Lord and Savior give us our marching orders. Yes, pray. No question about that. But also vote. And whenever and wherever you can, and with whomever you can, be politically influential, always remembering to “speak the truth in love.”
Doing that can advance two kingdoms at once.
Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at American Thinker.