Enola Holmes

[3.0 stars] [IMDb Link] [Enola Holmes]

A recently-released Netflix streamer. Amazon lacks a product for the movie, so the picture/ad/link goes to the kids' book on which the movie is based. I watched it because (a) I'm a minor Sherlock Holmes fan; (b) I'm also kind of a Millie Bobby Brown fan (but not in that way, I'm not just old enough to be her father, I'm arguably old enough to be her grandfather.); and (c) a rave review in the WSJ on Thursday.

But come on, it's not that good.

Enola is the sixteen-year-old younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft, still living at home with her widowed mother. Well, until the movie opens anyway. Because Mama Holmes has up and vanished. Both brothers come up to detect. There's no sign of foul play, all signs say she left voluntarily. Guardianship of Enola falls to elder brother Mycroft, and (since he's a traditional male chauvinist conservative) he decides that Enola must enroll in a finishing school for young ladies, run by the tyrannical Miss Harrison.

Understandably, Enola escapes to track down her mom, and to find out why she left. Which causes her to run into the young Lord Tewkesbury, who ascended to his Lordship upon the untimely death (via falling tree branch) of his dad. It turns out that he's being pursued by a murderous creep; he and Enola barely escape with their lives. So that makes two mysteries.

It's a certain amount of fun, but the plot turns on (spoilers follow) an unlikely device: the expansion of the franchise to most men and many women (which actually happened in 1918). The legislation is viewed by both sides as something to kill people over. The bad guys, of course, are the conservatives who want to maintain the status quo. But somewhat understated is the "good" side's willingness to go into Guy Fawkes mode (kaboom!) if they don't get their way. Really?

Millie is excellent as Enola, though. She brings a lot of intelligence and humor to the role.


Last Modified 2024-02-02 4:54 AM EDT

URLs du Jour

2020-09-26

[Amazon Link]
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  • Way back in January I took a look at the 17 candidates on the GOP ballot for the New Hampshire Presidential Primary. Good times. One of the candidates was Rick Kraft of (I am not making this up) Roswell, New Mexico.

    He didn't win.

    But he reminisces on the fringe candidate experience in the South Pasadenan, apparently a newspaper: I Will Not Be Our Next President. And it triggered our LFOD Google News Alert:

    On a visit to New Hampshire in the fall of 2018 my wife and I visited the state capital at Concord. We arrived just before a tour of the building began. We jumped in and learned about the history of the building and the state.

    When we visited the Secretary of State’s office, we were told the state takes pride in being the “first in the nation” primary every four years. New Hampshire law dictates their primary must take place at least seven days before any “similar election” in any other state. Recently it’s taken place the week after the Iowa caucus.

    The state also takes pride in allowing anyone with qualifications to pay a filing fee and be listed on the ballot.

    We enjoyed the tour and learning about the history of the Granite State and its “Live Free or Die” motto. As we walked out the front door of the capitol I looked at my wife of 34 years and told her I was going to run for President. She smiled figuring I was talking nonsense like I often do. I was not.

    Rick finished with slightly over 100 votes. He notes that was only slightly behind Kamala Harris's total. (Not mentioned: he stomped all over Marianne Williamson.) His website is still up as I type and his upfront pledge was "Returning to One Nation Under God". (He's a big fan of the creepy socialist-written Pledge.) I don't think I voted for him, but he wasn't my last choice.


  • At Reason, Eric Boehm notes the effort to remove a Presidential power I bet President Bone Spurs didn't know he had: Rand Paul, Tulsi Gabbard, Thomas Massie, Ron Wyden Join Forces To Unplug the President’s ‘Internet Kill Switch’.

    Civil libertarians on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress have joined forces to call for canceling a little-known executive power.

    Sens. Rand Paul (R–Ky.), Ron Wyden (D–Ore), and Gary Peters (D–Mich.), along with Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D–Hawaii) and Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), introduced bills this week to abolish the so-called "internet kill switch"—a sweeping emergency executive authority over communications technology that predates World War II.

    "No president from either party should have the sole power to shut down or take control of the internet or any other of our communication channels during an emergency," Paul argued in a statement announcing the Unplug the Internet Kill Switch Act.

    I wish them luck. I'd quibble about billing Tulsi Gabbard a "civil libertarian", as she's also behind an effort to restore the Fairness Doctrine.


  • But to see how times have changed, check this 2010 story from CBS: Renewed Push to Give Obama an Internet "Kill Switch".

    A controversial bill handing President Obama power over privately owned computer systems during a "national cyberemergency," and prohibiting any review by the court system, will return this year.

    That was from Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, only too eager to toss the Internet Off Switch to a President they liked. Nothing could go wrong there.


  • But let's move on. Drew Cline of the Josiah Bartlett Center writes sensibly on Mask mandates and the urge to control.

    Portsmouth’s City Council approved a mask mandate on a 7-2 vote last week. The city had fewer than five known active coronavirus infections the day the ordinance passed, meaning more councilors voted for the ordinance than there were active cases in the city, NH Journal pointed out. The city still has fewer than five known active cases.

    Manchester aldermen are considering a mandate that would carry an absurd $1,000 fine. City Health Department Director Anna Thomas told aldermen the point of the ordinance would be to educate the public about the importance of wearing masks.

    No, the purpose of a public relations campaign is to educate. The purpose of a mandate is to force compliance. The purpose of a fine is to punish.

    In addition to the "urge to control" among politicians, there are plenty of civilian folks with the "urge to be controlled". (Or, more precisely, the urge to demand others be controlled; nobody is claiming they're unable to mask themselves in absence of state/local coercion.)


  • So instead we have stories like this (with video!) from the NY Post: Woman tased, arrested for not wearing mask at football game.

    A woman at a grade-school football game in Ohio on Wednesday was reportedly tased and arrested by a police officer for not wearing a face mask in the stands.

    The woman was sitting in the bleachers with her mother when she got into an altercation with the cop about mask-wearing at a middle school in the town of Logan, the Marietta Times reported.

    So there's that. And although no tasing was involved…


  • … here, still the Free Keene youngsters are pretty irked about it: Parents Arrested Several Months After Bringing Kids to Concord Playground.

    It [sic] late April I shared some outrageous video of uniformed, masked Concord gang members threatening a group of peaceful parents who had come to a local playground with their kids during the “stay at home” lockdown. The masked bullies targeted the small group of parents but the same gang ignored mass anti-lockdown demonstrations at the state house with hundreds violating the “orders” of “HIS EXCELLENCY” Chris Sununu. The armed gangsters knew they don’t have the numbers to challenge 400 demonstrators, but picking on a few peaceful families when no one else was around, now that’s more their speed.

    Now one of the parents, Rochelle Kelley of Weare, NH says that even though she left the playground when the armed gang members ordered her to, several months later they issued a warrant for her arrest on charges of “Criminal Trespassing” and “Disorderly Conduct”. Two other parents from the same playground incident, Pamela Jewell and Tyler Workman were also arrested recently, according to WMUR. Curiously, WMUR was able to get the Concord police gang to comment on the story and actually provide information. The government lapdog media gets special treatment, apparently. When I requested the information about the case from the Concord gang records division on Tuesday I received a response back saying it could take up to ninety days. It wasn’t just me, Kelley herself requested records from CPD and was also given the same response. WMUR had no such difficulty, apparently.

    You can go to the linked WMUR story for a more statist take. While I won't go Full FreeKeene, this is a ridiculous (but also dangerous) overreaction to the actual Unmasked Menace. To go back to the Josiah Bartlett point about the "urge to control": the folks authoring these mandates, fines, and offenses do not appear to realize what they actually entail, making criminals out of (usually) law-abiding citizes.

    And enforcement is via cops who already have too much on their plate, generating interactions that are out of proportion to the offense, turning violent and dangerous. Just ask George Floyd.

    Oh right, you can't, he's dead.


Last Modified 2024-01-21 11:02 AM EDT