Hey Jack…Tel Me a Story

The Russian – Ben Coes (MacMillian Audio)

Lethal Agent – Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Simon and Schuster Audio)

My new daily work commute has me delving back into audio books to pass the time; the longer trip allows me sit back and have someone tell me a story. My two most recent jaunts into audio thrillers come from two of my favorite thriller writers; the late Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp character carried on by Kyle Mills, who I was a fan of in his own right, and a bit of departure from Ben Coes.

The Russian, tells the tale of Russians who are trying to impact and interfere in the U.S. Presidential election, but its not what you might think. The departure for Coes comes in the form of his normal tip of the spear character Dewey Andreas, taking a back seat to his second fiddle Rob Tacoma.

The Russians Tacoma goes toe to toe with aren’t hackers but, are members of the Russian mob who assassinate a high profile, Presidential candidate at a campaign rally and a powerful, mob-busting Senator by poisoning at a New York steak house. While the numbers are clearly lopsided, Tacoma is a man on a mission and that keeps that action boiling on the front burner.

Narrator Ari Fliakos deftly handles multiple Russian accents that really raise the production bar and the feel of the book.

Lethal Agent, once again finds Flynn’s Mitch Rapp character going at it with middle eastern terrorists hell bent on the destruction of the United States and the seemingly inevitable Washington, DC swamp dwellers hell bent on his destruction.

The lived in feel of the story, while comfortable, also ends up with a I’ve been here before and maybe one too many times tinge. Veteran narrator George Guidall even comes off a bit tired; his voice noticeably changes at points in the proceeding, moving from strained to strong and back again.

The bio-terror attack storyline is wholly believable, but ends up just short of the normal direct hit target.

A Wake Up Call for the NBA

Trump Vs. China – Newt Gingrich – (Center Street)

Given the recent uneducated and often down right stupid comments from NBA players, coaches and league officials – what better way to explain China’s worldview than by using a sports analogy. China is the equivalent of the New England Patriots; they will lie, cheat, steal or doing pretty much anything to win or give themselves an unfair advantage.

For the clueless money grubbers in the NBA - this really isn’t that hard – it’s as simple as understanding the difference between a murderous, totalitarian dictatorship (China) and a system based on freedom and free markets (the U.S.) Simple enough that even dopey libs like Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich should be able to get it.

If that doesn’t quite get to the bottom-line then I suggest picking up former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich’s new book Trump Vs. China, in which he lays out in straight forward terms, why China is an existential threat to the future of our country. Gingrich, as always, brings his insider’s depth of knowledge to this examination and breaks down the multiple layers of the threat and offers a detailed plan for facing it down. He keeps it simple enough that even a shooting guard or LeBron James should be able to understand, if they had someone read it to them.

There is a simple difference between those who are willing to sacrifice principles (NBA) and intellectual property, in the pursuit of money and those who are willing to stand up and push back against the tyranny of Communist dictators. Gingrich makes it clear that this is a battle where one side will win, and one side will lose; a true battle of good vs. evil.

No greater example exhibits this better than the protestors in Hong Kong who fly the American flag and see the U.S. as a beacon of hope. Are we perfect? No, but who is? As president Ronald Reagan famously said, “America is a shinning city on a hill, whose beacon light guides freedom loving people everywhere.” Put that in your bong and smoke Mr. Popovich.

The Future of Justice

Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court - Mollie Hemingway, Carrie Severino (Regnery)

In 1987 Federal Judge Robert Bork famously described the process of his Supreme Court nomination, confirmation hearing as a “public campaign of distortion?” Four short years later, in 1991, well before Al Gore invention of the Internet spawned Facebook and Twitter, Clarence Thomas called the process “a high-tech lynching.”

Just imagine what the process would be like in the era of multiple 24-hour news channels, social media outlets, countless news and political ax grinding platforms. Well we don’t have to work our imagination very hard we have witnessed in the form of the confirmation hearing for Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at the Federalist and Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, offer up an insider perspective of the highly combustible confirmation process.

While it’s not a new thing to see conservative Supreme Court nominees having their lives ripped to shreds – what was different was the nominee and the President’s willingness to stand up to the ridiculous liberal onslaught from a parade of hapless accusers, clueless democrat politicians and operatives and scumbag bottom feeders like the creepy porn lawyer, Michael Avanati.

Hemingway and Severino offer up countless interviews, coalescing in a behind the scenes look at the wrangling from both sides of the equation. While there were a number of true standouts that played roles in this drama, perhaps none was more steadfast, and strong than the nominee himself. Kavanaugh’s solid, direct response, while abhorred by easily outraged liberals, it was the right level of vitriol in the face of the ridiculous, unfounded claims brought forth by brought forth by Democrats.

Hemingway and Severino write with a clarity that points up not just the negative effects on this confirmation process, but those that will come in the future from Donald Trump and Presidents to come.