You may not like it but you should read it

UNMASKED

Big Media’s War Against Trump

By L. Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham

A book review by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, June 8, 2019

Reader Note:  Words appearing in BLUE mean they are links to web sites

Unmasked is disgusting, remarkable, informative, revealing and enlightening all at the same time.  I challenge everyone to FIRST put your political opinions aside and then read just Chapter 1 with an Open Mind.  This will be an impossible task for a great many people and to those people I would suggest you don’t even try to read the book.  Chapter 1 clearly demonstrates with factual quotes by noted so called journalists as to how deep their personal hatred for President Trump goes and what they will say and do to try to change the minds of the people who watch their television coverage and/or read their books, articles and Op-Eds.    To many who do read Chapter 1 they will unfortunately find no fault assessed to these journalists because they, the readers, represent the same beliefs as the journalists.  I ask everyone to replace Trump with a presidential candidate of your choice and one you would vote for. Then consider an extremely biased news media going AFTER YOUR candidate of choice. I used the word AFTER for good reason; the truth does not matter to them.  How would you feel and what would you believe should that happen to YOUR candidate?  You would not like it nor accept it.

SURPRISE!  If you are like me, we both have been very wrong in what we have believed “journalism” to be.  Here is how journalism is defined on the Internet/Dictionary:

Journalism refers to the production and distribution of reports on recent events. The word journalism applies to the occupation, as well as citizen journalists using methods of gathering information and using literary techniques.

Notice anything strange about that definition?  If you are like me, it is not what we have believed to be true about journalism?  There is no mention of TRUTH or UNBIASED REPORTING – NONE!  There is no mention of the “reports” being FACTUAL.  There is no reference to FACTUAL reporting on “recent events” at all!  Who knew?  I certainly didn’t.  I grew up thinking journalist pursued the truth about what has happened.  It has long since morphed into journalists predicting what is ABOUT to happen oftentimes as much as they report on what HAS happened if not more so.

The Book…I found it to be well written and well documented.  It made its point regarding today’s journalists specifically and journalism in general.  For the record, I STOPPED watching the news because I recognized the one sidedness of journalist almost a year ago.  I could not help but notice it long before that but it was about a year ago I made the decision NOT to watch them ever again or at least until they have changed to reporting FACTS instead of OPINIONS.  They have become news commentators; not news reporters.  This book clearly points out just how one sided the news media and Hollywood have become.  They will say and do anything to advance their personal agendas the facts be damned.

Normally I would recommend everyone read a book like this but it would be a waste of time.  Anyone left of the center on the political spectrum will NOT read this book and I am positive they will criticize its contents even though they have not read it because they “know” what it says and consider it to be all lies.  Ignore the facts if you like but politics is funny; what goes around comes around.  Those who believe the media and Hollywood are doing a good job because they have both openly taken your side will one day be on the other side of that equation.  The media and Hollywood HAVE become the number one enemy of democracy in my opinion. 

In 1958 The Communist Party USA, realizing that they would never militarily take over America, devised 45 specific objectives that would in their opinion lead to a peaceful takeover of America.  The following are just a couple of those objectives and why I wish everyone would read this book.  If YOU are one who chooses to ignore the obvious and the facts, you have become what Marx and Lenin described as their “useful idiots” who unwittingly do their calling without even knowing it.

#15.    Capture one or both of the political parties

#20.  Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.

#21.   Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

You can read them all by going to  http://www.rense.com/general32/americ.htm

Read the book and you be the judge and decide if you have been duped by the media and Hollywood.  More importantly, have you become a “useful idiot” supporting the media and Hollywood?

Would I read the book again?  No, there would be no need unless I was looking for a specific reference.

Would I recommend the book to others?  Absolutely

Would I give the book as a gift?  Probably not because it is unlikely most people would read it

Lucky Thirteen by Ken Wiley

LUCKY THIRTEEN

By Ken Wiley

A book review by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 22, 2019

Reader Note:  Words appearing in BLUE mean they are links to web sites

Disclaimer:  I retired from the U. S. Coast Guard so my opinion of this book may be a bit biased but even having said that, I do not believe for a second my Coast Guard career influenced my review of this book.

There are two titles for the same book.  The first one is Lucky Thirteen.  If you search for it on Amazon it will appear as a very expensive book but you can purchase a good used one for less than $6.00.  The second title is D-Days in the Pacific with the US Coast Guard and it is available as a book or a Kindle Read.  For the record I purchased both the book and the Kindle version.

Also, before I provide you with a review of the book, I did a little research to discover Coast Guard involvement during World War II.  The numbers surprised me.  From the Internet:

Source - US Coast Guard  http://www.naval-history.net/WW2UScasaaDB-USCGbyNAME.htm

241,093 personnel served in World War 2, including 12,846 women. There were 574 deaths in action including 1 POW,  wounded not known, and 1,343 deaths from other causes, e.g. crashes, accidents, disease or drowning etc., and 4 POW of whom 1 died

Links to the books on Amazon:

Lucky Thirteen, U. S. Coast Guard LSTs in the Pacific

https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Thirteen-Coast-Guard-Pacific/dp/193203353X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lucky+Thirteen+Wiley&qid=1558533754&s=gateway&sr=8-1

D-Days in the Pacific with the US Coast Guard; the Story of Lucky Thirteen

https://www.amazon.com/D-Days-Pacific-US-Coastguard-Thirteen-ebook/dp/B003YC2U04/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Lucky+Thirteen+Wiley&qid=1558534022&s=gateway&sr=8-2

This book reads like a Hollywood fictional thriller.  It is NOT Hollywood but it IS a thriller and it reads like a thriller.  This is one very exciting book to read.  I rarely spend so much time dedicated to reading a book as I did Lucky Thirteen.  I could not put it down and I didn’t.

As I read the book I could not help but examine my own convictions when I was a boy of just 17 had I been thrust into a World War.  How would I have reacted?  How would I have been able to handle the rigors of war?  How would I have been able to handle the death of war?

This book reads like a history book thriller.  Any one of the stories author Ken Wiley describes unto itself would be a great read.  But when you realize how many “close encounters” Wiley and his boat crew were involved in is just beyond belief. By war’s end Wiley was still only 20 years old and most of his stories occurred when he was just 17 to 19 years old.

I cannot do this book justice by trying to explain how overwhelmed I was reading it and proud to have served in the same branch of the military as Ken Wiley.  Suffice it to say I think it is very well written.  It puts you right in the middle of the action.  Why it has never been made into a movie is beyond me; it should be a movie and it would be a big hit at the box office once the word got out about its content.

Who should read this book?  Anyone interested in World War II, especially the War in the Pacific.  Anyone interested in reading about courage and determination literally “under fire!”  Anyone who enjoys reading about growing up and doing so under tremendous stress.  EVERYONE IN THE COAST GUARD!

Would I give this book as a gift?  Probably not because the subject may not be of interest to everyone.  It would nonetheless still make a great gift IF they would read it.

Would I read the book again?  Probably not but only because it was so compelling the first read I don’t think I could possibly gain any further insight into what Wiley and he crew experienced.