MONDAY, JULY 1, 2024
The Weekend of the Hunter: We've never cared for the 1955 feature film, The Night of the Hunter.
No one liked it—then everyone did. Here is the overview from the usual suspect:
The Night of the Hunter
The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American film noir thriller directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish...The plot involves a serial killer (Mitchum) who poses as a preacher and pursues two children in an attempt to get his hands on $10,000 of stolen cash hidden by their late father.
The novel and film draw on the true story of Harry Powers, who was hanged in 1932 for the murder of two widows and three children in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The film's lyrical and expressionistic style, borrowing techniques from silent film, sets it apart from other Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s...
Despite receiving negative reviews upon its original release, it has been positively re-evaluated in later decades and is now considered one of the greatest films ever made. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1992. The influential French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma selected The Night of the Hunter in 2008 as the second-best film of all time....
Those French! Inevitably, they decided that The Night of the Hunter was the second-best film ever made!
In large part, we don't especially care for the film because we see it as part of the counterproductive wave of anti-Southern films which emerged from Hollywood at this point in time. It joined films like Baby Doll and God's Little Acre in painting a portrait of the white South which has turned out to be politically counterproductive.
We've never cared for The Night of the Hunter. For all we know, Hunter Biden may be the world's nicest person, but we admire his endlessly counterproductive behavior even less.
Has anyone ever insisted on BLANKing up more than this later-day Hunter? It wasn't enough that he had his astonishing arrays of problems—he had to write a book about them! And so on, and so on, from there.
We don't recommend the search for villains, but Hunter Biden's endless squirreling really does take the cake. That said, President Biden can't seem to quit this determined cluck-up. Here's what the New York times has reported about the past weekend of the Hunter:
Biden’s Family Tells Him to Keep Fighting as They Huddle at Camp David
President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance, even as some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how he was prepared for the event by his staff, people close to the situation said on Sunday.
Mr. Biden huddled with his wife, children and grandchildren at Camp David while he tried to figure out how to tamp down Democratic anxiety. While his relatives were acutely aware of how poorly he did against former President Donald J. Trump, they argued that he could still show the country that he remains capable of serving for another four years.
Mr. Biden has been soliciting ideas from advisers about how to proceed, and his staff has been discussing whether he should hold a news conference or sit for interviews to defend himself and change the narrative...
One of the strongest voices imploring Mr. Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long leaned on for advice, said one of the people informed about the discussions, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations. Hunter Biden wants Americans to see the version of his father that he knows—scrappy and in command of the facts—rather than the stumbling, aging president Americans saw on Thursday night.
According to an unnamed person whose name may rhyme with Hunter Biden, Hinter Biden wants Americans to see a version of his father which may no longer exist.
He may also want his father to retain the power of pardons and commutations. At any rate, the president seems to be completely unable to quit this awful adviser.
In our view, President Biden has long had a strangely distorted set of ideas about the people he refers to as "the Bidens." In our view, it's insulting to see this creepy fark-up still sitting in a place of honor as "the Bidens" try to decide what to do with the current mess.
It's bad enough that our flailing nation suffers with such royal families as the Kennedys, the Bushes and the Rockefellers, and with the disordered behavior which frequently results from such royal status.
It's bad enough that we have to put up with the disorder emerging from such families. For some reason, President Biden has always seemed to think that his family represents some similar type of royal brood, working-class Scranton style.
Hunter Biden has been a rolling disaster for quite a few years at this time. His September trial—the trial which concerns his apparent grifting—will only make matters that much worse.
Uncle James seems to have been a bit of a grifter too. Whatever a person may think of President Biden, we can't say that we'd widely recommend the group known as "the Bidens."
In our view, it's insulting to read that Hunter Biden is one of the people engineering events. Will anyone deliver us from this meddlesome hanger-on, who reportedly still has the ear of his prime enabler?
For extra credit only: Was Hunter Biden the source for Maureen Dowd's poisonous column during Campaign 2016? We refer to the poisonous column about Beau Biden's alleged disparaging final words about Candidate Hillary Clinton.
This was Dowd's unsourced copy, which became the source of an otherwise unsourced Sunday morning, front-page "news report:"
Joe Biden in 2016: What Would Beau Do?
[...]
When Beau realized he was not going to make it, he asked his father if he had a minute to sit down and talk.
“Of course, honey,” the vice president replied.
At the table, Beau told his dad he was worried about him.
My kid’s dying, an anguished Joe Biden thought to himself, and he’s making sure I’m O.K.
“Dad, I know you don’t give a damn about money,” Beau told him, dismissing the idea that his father would take some sort of cushy job after the vice presidency to cash in.
Beau was losing his nouns and the right side of his face was partially paralyzed. But he had a mission: He tried to make his father promise to run [in 2016], arguing that the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values.
There somebody went again, citing those "Biden values!" Even today, the gaslighting continues, whatever you think the president should decide to do at this point.
President Biden has said that he himself wasn't the source of that account. We'll try to walk you back through this extended, ridiculous journalistic episode before the week is done.
For the record, this is part of the way Donald J. Trump initially reached the White House.
Kevin gives up:
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/joe-biden-needs-to-resign-the-presidency/
Biden needs to cancel the Presidential election to protect the country from its enemies, both foreign and domestic.
Delete"Kevin..."
DeleteYAWN.
Come to this blog well rested and alert. Do not yawn.
DeleteCopy.
DeleteDon't vote for someone you wouldn't hire.
DeleteAn utterly stupid post from Bob today. This is what happens when you tune into right-wing propaganda for too long. Hunter Biden has no position in government. He is completely irrelevant. Bob tries to make him relevant by pointing to Biden's supposed conversations with his family about whether he should continue his campaign. Who cares? Of all of the things going on at this moment in U.S. and world history, Bob wastes his time with irrelevant, tabloid trash from the right-wing fever swamps. And by the way, Bob, you bled your bleeding liberal heart out with sympathy for Trump's mental afflictions; and yet when it comes to someone from the blue tribe with afflictions of his own, someone who hasn't done anything CLOSE to the things Trump has, doesn't even hold a position in government, all you got is scolding and moral outrage?
DeleteBiden reacts to Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ-8VXFBzG8
ReplyDeleteI am a simple girl, but I know one thing: advisers with big dicks advise better. My mother told me that.
How big is hers?
DeleteHer advisor is the biggest.
DeleteBefore the debate you were supposed to laugh at Trump for trying to lower expectations of himself by attacking the media. Now without blushing, a vocal group of Biden supporters are blaming everyone else but themselves just like he does for having no plan B. Ironic that a debate centered on abortion can't abort a dying candidate.
ReplyDeleteBut not really. Both elite parties know the second they do real working class movement building their time in the limo is over. The only replacement for a mass movement is a personality cult. Someone has to keep reminding us we are powerless.
If Biden were an honest person he could simply tap his vice president who is a union leader as his replacement and still to victory. This is not something that will happen because his vice president is only a token minority security state honcho kept around for advertising purposes.
Kamila can't abort Joe because roe v wade was overturned by fascists.
DeleteDems can't intentionally build a party that loses every other election when the "moderate conservatives I'm friends with also have a good point" then get upset when Trump grifts even harder than them. That's like starting a motorcycle gang and being shocked someone gets stabbed.
DeleteSince Reagan and his policies, there has been a $53 trillion redistribution of wealth from the 99% to the 1%.
DeleteBiden is the first president since Reagan to start to reverse that trend, Biden is also our most pro labor, pro union president in decades, a welcome shift from the neoliberalsim of Clinton and Obama.
But 1:50 does offer a decent point about Somerby wanting to keep us barefoot and pregnant.
Reagan followed through on the anti labor policy of Carter.
Delete@2:15 PM
DeleteBut a switcheroo between the two brands of the uniparty has been one of the main features of the system for many decades already.
Biden can't be both a career politician and a breath of fresh air. He wasn't hiding his cool guy side from everyone all these years. He's a more gentle hand closing the door on you than the other side.
DeleteCarter was nobody's hero, but Reagan was evil.
DeleteFalse equivalencies always weaken arguments.
Neoliberalism is the very system telling you that all politics is done through personality cult.
DeleteIt's funny how when Israelis are hurting nobody tells them just to wait for a better president. They tell them to stand their ground. But when we get robbed we have to wait for our bosses to tell us the appropriate way to respond.
"get educated" is an empty suggestion meant to end conversations, like "find God"
DeleteBiden has done more for labor than any president since FDR.
DeleteWould you keep your job after falling asleep at 4pm?
DeleteWhen they tell us we can bargain for lower medical costs but not for lower military costs, who benefits?
DeleteWhen medicine is still limited in supply to increase profits, who benefits?
When they tell us S Korea can invest here but refugees die in shelters, do they really put people over profits?
When your army of followers is afraid to talk to people outside of suburbia who do they most represent?
How is the world supposed to protect people from the abuse Biden talked about if everyone is running war economies that divert money from civil society towards a few military cults?
DeleteWhat do Repubs think Trump was doing during Exec Time? He slept through his trial! This idea that Biden sleeps is unsubstantiated and denied by White House. You shouldn’t believe obvious anti-Biden propaganda.
DeleteYou shouldn't tell people one election is enough to stop rape.
Delete"Would you keep your job after falling asleep at 4pm?"
DeleteIf falling asleep at 4pm was an official act of my Presidency, I would.
The greatest critic of all time said The Night of the Hunter was a great film:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-night-of-the-hunter-1955
I can think of no better official presidential action to protect the nation from all enemies, than removing the freedom of religion right from the First Amendment.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure you want Kamala Harris? She is so bad she makes DEI hires everywhere feel superior. And she got started in politics by providing Hawk Tuah services to San Francisco’s Wille Brown.
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome. Her as the VP is yet another reason to vote for Biden. Thanks for the reminder.
DeleteAnonymouse 3:20pm, would that come before or after Anonymouse 1:28pm cancels the next presidential election?
ReplyDeleteEither way. Religion is the bigger problem, now. So I would probably start there.
Delete
ReplyDeleteSharp as a Tack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kKUye23KBQ
We don’t get truth and we don’t want truth. Look at all the politicians and media who knew Biden’s condition and didn’t tell us. Some even told us the opposite. Now some media and politicians are telling us that Biden should withdraw; others say he definitely should not withdraw.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that most media and pols say what they think they’re supposed to. And we put up with it. We continue follow our preferred media anyhow.
My wife's favorite TV show, the PBS Newshour. is less biased than ABC/NBC/CBS in terms of how the cover stories. However, the PBS was no better than the others in terms of how the didn't cover Biden's condition. What we saw at the debate must have been known to PBS reporters and other reporters. But they kept Biden's condition secret until his debate performance made his condition obvious to all.
DeleteBiden has released a full health history. Trump has released no valid information about his health. I would worry more about Trump's health than Biden's. Biden's speech at Friday's rally wipes away concerns about Biden that may have arisen during the debate, which is a highly artificial situation. David should worry more about Trump's inability to tell fantasy from reality. We need a president who inhabits the real world, not someone who told 50 major lies in 90 minutes.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteIn your humble opinion, why is it that corporations which own our media are liberally-biased? The over-whelming majority of people think it's because Right-wingers know absolutely nothing about economics, but you often have an alternative way at looking at things.
"My point is that most media and pols say what they think they’re supposed to. And we put up with it. We continue follow our preferred media anyhow."
DeleteWell then, Bob's your uncle!
I’ll operate under the assumption that Hunter Biden wants his father to stay in office because he thinks his dad is the best president ever and wants him to fight.
ReplyDeleteHowever, aside for Nixon, is there any other president who would suffer such a complete loss of power that Biden will experience the moment he steps out of office?
There’s not going to be any 250k post-presidency speeches. No big bucks on corporate boards. No books that aren’t utterly ghost written. No political campaign advisory positions.
Hunter’s bucks stop here.
"There’s not going to be any 250k post-presidency speeches. No big bucks on corporate boards..."
DeleteAnd why not? Do you think they're paying 250k for a speech because they expect some deep wisdom to be revealed in it? No, it's just a payment for services rendered. And an assurance to future presidents that their services will be rewarded too.
So, why wouldn't they pay 250k for a speech (or something else) to Joe?
non compos mentis
DeleteSpeech at JPMorgan Chase is neither official nor a public act. They can invite him and listen for a few minutes about his uncle being eaten by cannibals and how he was arrested in South Africa while marching in Selma.
DeleteAs to sitting on corporate boards, I don't think you even need a pulse for that.
Although it's also possible that all the accounts have already been settled via those beautiful abstract paintings. In that case, yes, not getting 4 more years is a pure loss.
DeleteAnonymouse 5:28pm, I’m sure that crowd shells out big bucks for the right confabulations at the right times,, but I assumed some actual influence had to come with it.
DeleteCecelia has no idea what the word confabulation means. Hunter Biden's art is good enough to stand on its own merits.
DeleteAnonymouse 7:21pm, I do know what confabulation means, but if I didn’t know, I could look it up.
DeleteBy contrast, you don’t know “good” art when you see it and that’s not a sensibility that you can google.
People are buying Biden’s art. No one has to do that.
DeleteI looked up “confabulation” and I still don’t understand it.
DeleteWhen someone is asked to remember something, but they realize they cannot recall it, they might make something up. For example, if someone asks "what did you have for breakfast this morning?" but you can't remember what you ate, you might say "scrambled eggs and toast". That would sound plausible to someone else, but may have happened if you actually ate oatmeal that day. So it is not a true answer (except by accident) because you couldn't remember but made something up in order to keep another person from knowing you couldn't remember, or to prevent embarrassing yourself. That act of fabrication of an answer is called confabulation.
DeleteThe answers people give, the confabulations, can be plausible or fantastic (unrealistic or even impossible) depending on whether a person has frontal lobe damage in addition to memory problems. If a person has a frontal lobe deficit, they may be unable to tell what answer might sound plausible but may instead say whatever pops into their mind, such as "goldfish and marbles". In either case, the manufacture of made-up "memories" (answers to questions asking people to remember things) in place of actual recall is called confabulation. The less plausible fabricationns occur frequently with chronic alcoholics who have Korsakoff's Syndrome, a severe memory deficit caused by alcohol coupled with a niacin deficit arising due to malnutrition. Homeless people sometimes have this.
This meaning makes no sense in the context of Cecelia's sentence, which makes it obvious she doesn't know what the word means. And now she is also lying about it. It would be funny if it were not sad.
may not have happened if you actually ate oatmeal (word not omitted) -- sorry for typo
DeleteAnonymouse 8:55pm, yes, I know you’re engaging in the usual anonymouse ploy of changing the conversation to quibbling over the right definition of a word, but confabulation is exactly what Biden does. He misremembers things rather than merely forgetting them.
DeleteShouldn’t you be engaged with the other anonymices in going over your talking points in order to hijack Bob’s blog tomorrow?
No, Biden does not do that, nor were you talking about that when you used the word incorrectly. You were talking about Hunter’s art. You are a total liar and annoying troll.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:01pm, and you’re thick as a brick. I wasn’t “talking about Hunter’s art”, I was making the point that Biden (and Hunter by default) will not have the usual perks of former presidents because of his condition. .
DeleteNow you are making up more shit. I am tired of you and your stupidity. Bye
Delete10:27,
DeleteHe'll have the same immunity as every other former President.
Anonymouse 9:27pm, immunity isn’t a post-office “perk” of a past president. It’s a presumption that comes with the office.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:53pm, I was talking about”Hunter’s art” in the context of your suggestion that anyone would shell out thousands for it based upon any thing other than currying favor with his extremely connected father.
DeleteThat’s not going to be in play with an impaired/sidelined ex-president.
Fifteen centimeters is just right. Not too long, not too short.
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with Hunter Biden. That Somerby focuses on him shows Somerby is right wing, shilling for Trump.
ReplyDeleteJoe Biden gave a competent, enthusiastic, coherent speech the day after the debate. A person as senile as you yokels keep pretending would not be able to do that. Hell, Trump can't do that any more. So this fantasy that Biden is too old to run is built on nothing. The top Democrats know that and Biden's family know that too.
ReplyDeleteThis frenzy on Somerby's part is disgusting.
Republicans seem to like to misspell Democrats' names.
ReplyDeleteIt is NEWSOM and KAMALA. That isn't so hard to learn, even for the inbred assholes on the right.
Biden gave a fine speech on Friday night, the day after the debate. That wouldn't have been possible if Biden were as senile as the right wingers and anti-Biden lefties have been claiming. Trump doesn't give competent speeches any more, compared to Biden. That's why this frenzy over nothing is obviously a cooked up attack on Biden's candidacy, financed by dark money and being operated on Trump's behalf to manipulate this election. We will find out later who Trump paid and how it was done, but in the meantime, Biden is the Democratic candidate and I plan to vote for him and only him.
ReplyDeleteThis hysteria over Biden's poor debate performance has been whipped up into a media narrative that Somerby is not examining, he is amplifying. This is coming from the NY Times and Axios and similar media, not from grassroots voters and not from within the Democratic party, which is supporting Biden. Somerby, predictably, is siding with those trying to push Biden aside. The upshot of this challenge to Biden's competence (which is no different than the fake videos of him being circulated by the right wing or the claims that Biden poops his pants made by Gutfeld) is that the focus has shifted from Trump's felony conviction and his lies to Biden's age (again). There is nothing new about that attack on Biden, just because there was a debate in which Trump did nothing but lie.
ReplyDeleteSomerby is being his same old asshole self, supporting Trump and attacking Biden for being old, and pretending he knows anything about politics when he himself is incoherent daily, except for his negative tone and constant criticism of Democrats (who he vaguely calls Blue America).
I am sick of Somerby's dissembling, his dishonest, his refusal to take responsibility for his opinions, which ultimately make no sense. He can take Pascal, lock himself in his bathroom, and no one will miss him out here in the real world, except his fanboys.
I feel like Somerby has made salient points about President Biden possibly having dementia. Why would Biden so often appear confused and incoherent? Democrats are having behind closed doors bull sessions about whether the President has a cognitive disorder. I feel like you should reevaluate your position and consider demanding President Joe Biden retire, effective immediately so he can get the help he deserves. He really shouldn't be doing any moderately important human task at this stage of his life. Let alone President of a country that is funding two wars and mired in debt. And don't tell me that things with him are not going downhill, little lady. Next year he will be worse than he is today. The year after that ... etc. Biden has been unpopular, yes. He is unliked. We all know it. But he has had a good run. He announced a ceasefire in Gaza and has only lost 20 percent of Ukraine for the 170 billion dollars he spent there. College student debt has been slashed and violent deaths have decreased. U.S. depression rates have reached new highs under Biden which is great news for the pharmaceutical industry and is projected to create 12,000 new jobs by 2028. More and more grade schools all over the country are supplying their male students with tampons to insert into their vaginas. There is a lot to be proud of. But life is dynamic not static. A man of his age has a 30 percent chance of dying in the next 4 years. But a man of his age with a mild cognitive decline, the chances of death go up to about 60%. I'm going to need you reevaluate your position. Let's give Big Joe a send off and send him to his summer home to look at ducks where he belongs. There are plenty of great Democrats to come in and continue his legacy that turned America around and made it the astounding financial, intellectual and moral sanctum of prosperity and happiness it is today. The feeling is palpable.
DeleteHe appears confused because you are seeing fake video created by Republicans to make him appear demented. Biden does not have dementia. Even Republicans have said he is sharp in meetings with them.
DeleteI have dementia, but I have no sympathy for Biden. I'm voting for Trump.
ReplyDeleteThat’s very sweet of you, Mr. President.
DeleteObnoxious trans asshole (you, not Biden)
DeleteOh, sure. Don’t try to deny it. I’m calling the Secret Service.
DeleteNone of us really knows the state of Biden's mentality, nor what it will be over the next 4 1/2 years. We don't know whether Biden or some replacement would be a stronger candidate. We don't know whether the country and the world would be better off if Trump is elected or some Democrat is elected.
ReplyDeleteThe value of these comments to me is to show a range of opinions and provide some vague idea of which opinions are more or less widely held. From the recent comments, I gather that Biden continues to hold considerable support, despite his debate performance.
Of course we know the state of Biden’s mentality. There is plenty of evidence that he is sharp and on top of his job. It even includes Republicans saying so, after meetings with him in the course of negotiations with congress, and observations by foreign leaders. There was the Friday rally and his back and forth eith individuals, including right after the debate Thurs evening. No one, any age, knows the future. Look at Fetterman’s stroke.
DeleteWe do know that whether in Biden’s hands or Harris’s should Biden die in office, the country is better off than under Trump (felon rapist treasonous thief con artist grifter Putin-puppet ignoramus) who is crazy, undereducated, surrounded by criminals, and who has announced plans that would hurt our country.
You cannot tell how widely opinions are held by sampling blog comments. Look at the polls — they haven’t changed since the debate. Look at the Dem leadership and pther candidates — they are still behind Biden. Look at who is behind ousting Biden — the media, Carville, Bill Maher, Somerby. No one serious. This is a big fuss about nothing.
Biden is not bragging about aceing that dementia test like Trump does. Biden hasn’t needed to take it and he would know it isn’t an IQ test, unlike Trump
DeleteMany Democrats have expressed concern and horror over President Biden's frail appearance and psychotic performance during the debate against former President Donald Trump. These comments highlight ongoing questions about Biden's fitness for another term in office.
DeleteBiden was not psychotic during the debate. Why do you guys come here and say stuff like that. Have you no shame?
DeleteAnonymouse 11:22pm, you’re becoming hysterical. Reality has hit you hard. You’ll get thru this. Deep breaths…
DeleteMany commenters here and elsewhere declare that Biden't poor performance in the debate is irrefutable evidence of his cognitive decline. Nevertheless, House Republicans are still pushing to get their hands on Biden's deposition tapes.
DeleteWhy? If the debate resolved all questions, why do they still want the tapes?
Here's my answer: They think they have a winning campaign issue with "Biden is feeble" and they want to keep piling it on.
"President Biden's frail appearance and psychotic performance during the debate against former President Donald Trump."
DeleteI missed it. What did Biden do, rant about the nation's imaginary post-birth abortion epidemic?
QiB - yes the Republicans want to find evidence of whether our President is feeble. The American people are entitled to know the state of health of our leader.
Delete"That said, President Biden can't seem to quit this determined cluck-up."
ReplyDeleteHis son. Our Host thinks Biden should throw his own son overboard? I shudder to think what the reaction would be if he did.