That’s “The Egg” above, from the excellent movie adaptation of “1776.” I’ve performed that number many times as part of the regular repertoire of my now defunct D.C. musical revue group, “The Music Lobby.” (Of course I played John Adams.)
“1776” is one of several movies I always watch this time of year, along with “Gettysburg” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Last night ,however, I took the advice of a friend and occasional EA participant and watched “Eddington,” a controversial 2025 movie that you probably haven’t seen, as very few people have.
Wikipedia describes “Eddington” as a “satirical neo-Western thriller,” which should tip you off that it defies easy labeling. The movie was a box office disaster: I would attribute that to terrible marketing and the fact that “Eddington” has something in it to offend just about everyone. Begin with the title, which reveals nothing about the movie: it sounds like an episode of “Downton Abbey.” In 1965, a satire about the funeral industry based on Evelyn Waugh’s “The Loved One” succeeded with the catch line, “The motion picture with something to offend everyone!” People went to see it on a dare. That might have worked with “Eddington.”
The film is the artistic expression of Ari Aster, the writer/director who is best known for his horror movies. “Eddington” is kind of a horror movie as well: it focuses on a small New Mexico town going especially nuts in 2020 when the rest of the country was going nuts too. It does not have a happy ending (neither did 2020); its protagonist (another fascinating performance by Joaquin Phoenix) is confused, inarticulate, and not very bright. I believe it is the first and probably the best possible embodiment of a “Great Stupid” movie—the term Ethics Alarms uses to describe the cultural, intellectual and political blight that spread its dark wings over the land in 2020.
You may have noticed that that blight is getting more ridiculous than ever in 2026.
The critics were divided over “Eddington,” usually complaining about Aster’s “lack of focus,” meaning that he mocked and denigrated all sides of the political spectrum and did not clearly take sides. That’s a virtue, in my view, as it takes on the Wuhan Virus lock-down and mask mania, social media and screen addiction, “influencers,” Black Lives Matter, the “white privilege” cant, anti-police rhetoric, the gun culture, the homeless, the Bidens, and much more. (I’m going to watch it again.)
Since much of themovie’s benefits lie in its unpredictability, I will not supply any more details except revealing the line that made me laugh out loud. A white teenager is seen lecturing his gobsmacked father at the dinner table about his generation’s determination to “eliminate whiteness,” parroting the now familiar gibberish of Ibram X. Kendri, the Black Lives Matter grifters, and Harvard professors. After listening to the rant, the father pauses a beat to gather his composure, and says, “Are you fucking retarded?“
I’ll publish the best reviews of the movie as guest columns.
But I digress! This is the place for you to choose the ethics topic. Please do so with wisdom, taste, passion and dispatch…
Ethics Alarms 
That adds two movies to my “To See” list. I have watched “Midsommar” and “Hereditary” from Ari Aster, and both are excellent elevated horror movies.
There is another movie I want to see “Citizen Vigilante” from Uwe Boll. This movie is forbidden in Germany, as it is a vigilante movie (like Death Wish and Dirty Harry), and the targets of the vigilantism are Muslim migrants. Probably a movie that may trigger ethics discussion at Ethics Alarms.
https://thefederalist.com/2026/07/02/citizen-vigilante-aims-wildly-popular-punisher-genre-at-migrant-invaders/
Here is something worth discussing.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/air-force-major-arrested-at-capitol-after-impeachment-call/gm-GM4125EC7C?gemSnapshotKey=GM4125EC7C-snapshot-2&uxmode=ruby
Can Major Watson explain why Trump should be im,peached and removed from office?
My goodness! Wasn’t that an elaborately staged event held where he was sure to be detained. Reciting nearly every Democrat party talking point.
I must have missed reading about when Jason Watson accused Obama of usurping Congress’s authority and violating the War Powers clause by bombing Libya.
Which was not wrong.
Like the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter, or arresting a man to support the “Blame It on a Video:” tour. Or Crossfire Hurricane. Or using OSHA to create a temporary emergency standard to require Americans to take one vaccine?
That’s not how it works, and you don’t even need to get into “whataboutism.” The President has the power to act in the best interests of the US as he sees them. That bthis guy referenced Venezuela is a real tell. That was legal through and through.
Boy, it’s DEAD around here, “here” meaning EA. I can’t imagine why a long weekend would take precedence over ethics discussions….
While many lurk, you know that all five [5] of ’em are reading, Jack, and unequivocally applaud your efforts to regularly confirm that ETHICS never sleeps.
That said; this caught my eye:
What Really Happened With The Somali Flag At Columbus City Hall In Ohio?
MONEY QUOTE: “City spokeswoman Jennifer Fening said the post, published by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department on July 1, mistakenly announced that City Hall would fly the Somali flag. SHE SAID THE MESSAGE WAS INACCURATE, WAS REMOVED AFTER THE ERROR WAS DISCOVERED and did not reflect the city’s plans.” (bolds/caps/italics mine)
Welp…it was posted, and the…um…error was discovered, am I right?
Anywho, I call Bull $#!T; it’s (IMO) a flaccidly enfeebled, pandering gone sideways Schrödinger’s Douchebag attempt.
Within statutory and constitutional restraints, of course.
But none of the acts alleged by Major Watson would warrant impeachment. Certainly not going to war, and certainly not DOGE.
Thanks to Nancy Pelosi’s fake impeachments, the average member of the public has no clue what justifies a real impeachment. They think it’s just “if you don’t like the elected President, you impeach him.”
They think it’s just “if you don’t like the elected President, you impeach him.”
That is how impeachment works today; impeachment has devolved to a purely political instrument. And that means that no President can be successfully impeached ever, unless the party that brings articles of impeachment holds 67 seats in the Senate.
Exactly. And this is 100% on Pelosi and the Democrats.
What were they thinking?
What was Pelosi thinking?
She was thinking that she hated Trump, her radical fringe was demanding it, she knew it would interfere with Trump’s administration and harm his party’s popularity, and he had the votes.
“Citizen Vigilante” succeeds as a piece of (timely) propaganda, but it’s an abysmal film. The director, Uwe Boll, is an inept hack and only got his previous films made with some sort of German tax loophole (I can’t remember the specifics but you can find the info online). I seriously doubt the German government had anything to do with this one but the fact remains: it’s a terrible film.
Still, there’s so much discourse about it you may want to satisfy your curiosity and check it out anyway with highly tempered expectations. It’s barely 90 minutes.
The concept (I’d say “script” but that gives it too much credit) would have been better presented by a good right leaning director like S. Craig Zahler (if you haven’t already, check out his three films unless you have an aversion to strong violence) or Mel Gibson. Boll isn’t really right wing; he’s more an opportunist than anything. I don’t mind that part of him. He’s actually an interesting guy but a terrible filmmaker.
In contrast, “Eddington” is excellent. Aster nailed the zeitgeist and it’s easily the most prescient (and deeply cynical) film I’ve seen in decades. I’d put it alongside “Network”, “Ace in the Hole”, “The Sweet Smell of Success”, and “A Face in the Crowd”, to name a few.
As someone radicalized by the “Covid Years”, it was gratifying seeing the insanity depicted by an exceptional writer / director. The film isn’t political, per se (which I preferred); it just uses the Covid / BLM / and all the other elements mentioned by Jack as the backdrop. The film’s tagline was perfect: “Hindsight is 2020”.
Glad to hear that Jack is planning to rewatch as it only improves with subsequent viewings (think I’ve watched it 3 times, perhaps again tonight). I plan on commenting further later today but I have to think about what to say without spoiling anything.
Caitlin Flanagan: The Indivisible America
A nice piece, particularly the remembrance of first grade.
quite the gross article purporting to be about ethics in Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/for-the-love-of-wisdom/202606/the-ethics-of-microlooting
No doubt the brain surgeon author has made a connection with communities most likely to engage in such “fairness” and food deserts.
We have several lawyers who participate here. I’m really curious about the take some of you have on the recent SCOTUS ruling on geofence warrants? I read the majority opinion. One of the few written by Kegan.
They ruled that a geofence warrant violates the 4th amendment because it is not directed at a specific individual. In this case, it asked Google to search their user database of individuals who had location history activated. This meant 500 million people had their search history checked by the government, and overly broad. I will say I appreciate the courage of the court on this case, as they let a convicted back robber get away, as the perpetrator effectively avoided creating a trail, outside the possession of a cell phone. He didn’t even take the cell phone into the back, but had it with him when he scouted the location hours earlier.
My question is how much technologies like FLOCK are in trouble out of this? Something in the majority opinion that didn’t apply to FLOCK is that the Google search included people on private property since radio waves don’t respect walls, fences, nor property lines. The search intruded into otherwise private spaces, something that does not apply to cameras recording public spaces.
The counter is the opinion went into the overall privacy concerns with mass surveillance. They mentioned things like who went to a strip club, an abortion clinic, a lawyer, etc.. so they clearly are thinking of the personal intrusions people want private.
Don’t let the on going left wing media psyop and pop culture temper tantrum discourage you from celebrating the 250th.
They’re pouting losers doing what they can to get you to join the negativity train.
Most places are going big for our quarter millennium. Get out and join them and let the progressives rot.
I’ve never seen “Secretariat” before…
I’m 10 minutes into nothing but man hating feminist tropes and then John Malkovich shows up…
Am I going to keep hating this movie or will it get good?
It’s literally every single actor in every single role you need for subtle propaganda.
Someone talk me off the ledge. This sucks.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh
It almost recovered it’s downward trajectory and there we have of course the husband is an asshole.
Ok we paused the movie for bed time so I’m not sure how this resolves but I read ahead *the facts*.
So the wife has an affair leading to their divorce in real life. So she’s a villain. With John Malkovich’s character of all people.
I’d almost put money that the movie shows their separation/divorce is because the husband is unsupportive asshole.
We’ll find out soon won’t we Hollywood?