Plot Twist

 Watched "Rules of Engagement" (2000), with Samuel Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, the other day. It was watchable and hit 6.4 on the IMDb Richter scale. Fair enough. Jackson plays a combat Marine officer whose squad is assigned to bail out the American embassy in Yemen after an angry crowd assembles in front of the building. Jackson is charged with getting the Ambassador and his family to safety. There are snipers on the roof across the street, and the crowd of civilians (men, women and children) is also armed and soon there is a shitstorm of gunplay. All the Marines and like 83 Yemenis die. It was a bad day. Back in the states, the National Security Adviser is incensed at the incident, the kids being killed and all, and he fears it could lead to war with Yemen. He wants to charge Jackson with murder and even seek the death penalty, despite Jackson being a very decorated Marine, there is to be courts martial to determine if the crowd fired first as Jackson claimed or not. 

Now, here's where you can drive an Abrams tank through the plot. The NSA director receives a video of the incident that clearly proves that Jackson and his Marines fired in defense of their lives. The Yemeni crowd was armed and dangerous. He throws the video in the fireplace. Huh? You show that video to the Yemeni government and, though sad about the attack and loss of life, they would have to realize that their people fucked up, based on that clear evidence, and war would be averted. When I saw him toss the video, I thought the plot would thicken, that there was an ulterior motive for him destroying the evidence and putting the screws to Jackson's career. 

There was not. The NSA was just a dumb motherfucker. He sure seemed evil and the actor portraying him was quite capable of playing evil. But it was not to be. With the tape, war would have been averted, and Jackson would have gone on with his stellar military career. Wouldn't make for much of a movie though. I'll argue that it wasn't that much of a movie to begin with, and it could have used a punch up with a proper motive beyond dumb fuckery. Jackson could have been banging NSA dude's wife., for example. Cliche, but it's time-honored in storytelling and explains most marriages.

So, what I'm getting at is, if the Epstein files would exonerate Trump, why not release them? Nobody threw them in the fireplace- which amazes me. If his name is not in them- like they say- prove it. End of story, right? They'll be others. With this criminal old bastard, maybe even better ones. So, why doesn't Trump have the files released, end the drama and own the libs? 

Well, because the demented child-raper is all up in those files. Everybody knows that. The most transparent administration and the most transparent scumbag ever. The last ten years have been an atrocious script, one that Hollywood would never accept even with Samuel L. Jackson's star power. But we live it every day. When the Hell is this shitshow finally going to end? The plot was lost years ago.