Month: June 2019

Two films by Paul Leni

Flicker Alley has released two new Blu-rays of silent films by Paul Leni, a German director who also worked in the United States. They are The Man Who Laughs and The Last Warning. DVDs are also included.

I recently watched The Last Warning and Flicker Alley has done a great job. The film has been restored as much as possible and the disc has excellent supplements. I haven’t watched The Man Who Laughs but I have seen the old Kino Lorber release. I don’t think The Last Warning has been available on any form of home video in the US before.

The Man Who Laughs is watched by characters in Brian dePalma’s The Black Dahlia.

Polls on Trump vs. potential 2020 opponents

Too early to read too much into these polls.

Trump sides with Kim over the CIA

Whose side is he on? He prefers a murderous dictator to protecting the United States. Kim knows flattery works with Trump. Sad!

Master recordings lost in a fire

This is an excellent article on what master recordings are and a large fire that destroyed thousands of them in 2008.

Trump is winning the message war on crimes and impeachment

Trump and the Republicans have done much better than the Democrats on getting their message out concerning the actions discussed in the Mueller Report. Trump and Barr have consistently lied and got their side out before the redacted report was released. They and Fox News (state TV) have consistently focused on “witch hunt” and insisted there was no collusion or obstruction. Except for Amash, the entire Republican party has fallen meekly in line to defend Trump. There are plenty of clips showing how differently Graham and McConnell behaved when Clinton was accused of crimes. These hypocrites think only Democrats can be guilty. Now, they’re going to investigate the people who began the investigation. This is another ploy to divert attention away from Trump’s crimes.

Mueller has not helped. He must testify publicly. He stood by meekly when Barr deliberately misinterpreted his report. I understand that he doesn’t want to make this political but it’s too late. Trump and Barr already have. Mueller is helping them by not saying much more than he has. He says it’s all in his report but few people are going to read over 400 pages. I haven’t.

Democrats have come across as divided, indecisive and unwilling to do the right thing. If Trump isn’t impeached, what is impeachment for? I would rather see indictments but now we are seeing nothing. Republicans are winning by stonewalling on witnesses and documents. They are dragging this out which helps them. Why would you have John Dean testify? This isn’t Watergate. We need public hearings on the evidence in the Mueller report so that the public can be educated on how serious Trump’s actions are. Over 1,000 former prosecutors say Trump would be indicted for obstruction if he wasn’t the president.

The media isn’t helping either. They assist the Republicans who claim that the Democrats are only focusing on impeachment, not legislation. The House has passed over 100 bills but Mitch McConnell will ensure that the Senate won’t consider any of them. I stopped watching cable news but still read a lot. I see very little on the bills Democrats have passed on issues such as election reforms and gun safety. The media is all about Trump.

The media is also giving the Republicans a free pass when they only focus on what the Democrats are going to do about Trump’s misdeeds. All of Congress is responsible, not just Democrats. Senate Republicans have made it clear they would not convict Trump no matter what the evidence is. The Senate is a jury. What kind of jury makes up their mind before the case is even presented? This would not be acceptable in a court and should not be acceptable now.

Update 6/12

Two polls and two excellent comments on impeachment.

Trump’s secret agreement with Mexico may be a blank sheet of paper

There is no additional deal according to Mexico. I believe Mexican officials instead of the liar in the White House.