Western Movies

. . . “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” A country without such larger-than-life legends is a land without a soul. It says something sad about America that Hollywood doesn’t make many westerns nowadays. It says something hopeful that so many of us still love the ones we already have.

National Review

"My wife and I watch a lot of old movies together, and we have in common what you might call a “default position” on choosing the ones that we see: Whenever we can’t make up our minds about what to watch, we’re more than likely to put on a western. In recent weeks, for instance, we’ve watched Colorado Territory, Hondo, The Man from Laramie, Seven Men from Now, Tombstone, and The Westerner, each of which we’d seen many times before and each of which satisfied us just as much the umpteenth time around.

"What is it about westerns that keeps Mrs. T and me coming back for more? Part of the pleasure they give arises from their clarity of conception. George Balanchine, the great Russian-American choreographer, also loved westerns, a taste that puzzled his highbrow admirers, to whom he replied that he liked them because “there is nothing superfluous in them. Simple things without pretensions. . . . You watch a western and think, Ah! There’s something to this.”

"But that “something” also has to do with the moral clarity of the Hollywood western. I’m talking not about black and white hats, but about the fact that the characters in every great western are forced to make moral choices that are always clear but rarely easy, especially since they live in a world in which sheriffs and jails are few and far between. In a world without laws or lawmen, we must all choose between the moral integrity of the old-fashioned hero and the moral cannibalism of the self-willed villain. Such stark choices are the essence of the classic western, which is why the genre and its three brightest stars, Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne, continue to retain their near-mythic hold on the imaginations of American moviegoers.

"I just used the words “mythic” and “American,” which brings us to the heart of the matter. Taken together, the best Hollywood westerns come as close as anything ever has to comprising America’s creation myth, a tale of brave men and women who rode toward Monument Valley to make better lives for themselves and their children. Of course we all know it wasn’t as clear-cut as that, which is what makes their story mythic: It’s what we want to believe about American history. But if it isn’t all true, neither is it all false, and there is something both beautiful and vitally important in the perfect simplicity of the story that these films collectively tell. An all-American tale, if you like — and I do.

"That’s what John Ford meant when he put these oft-quoted words into the mouth of one of the characters in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” A country without such larger-than-life legends is a land without a soul. It says something sad about America that Hollywood doesn’t make many westerns nowadays. It says something hopeful that so many of us still love the ones we already have." . . .

Does Joe Biden Want to Be Doing This?

ENMNEWS.COM  . . . "Mr. Biden’s campaign has been jackhammering home the premise that he is best suited to winning a general election against an incumbent who must not be re-elected.

“He doesn’t think you need a revolution here,” said Anita Dunn, a Democratic media strategist working for the Biden campaign. His enterprise is built more on a strategic bet: that given the possibility of another four years of Mr. Trump, Democrats will gravitate to the familiar and reach for this stitched-up old teddy bear of a candidate.

“There is a situation where the electability argument within the context of this primary becomes self-perpetuating,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a Democratic strategist who served as a top campaign and White House aide to Barack Obama. “Everyone thinks Biden’s the most electable, therefore voters tell pollsters that he is more electable — and therefore more people think that, and it sort of all goes around the circle.”

"Clearly, other candidates have far more identifiable “whys” attached to their enterprises. Supporters of Ms. Warren would readily point to her fight against a corrupt political system rigged in favor of moneyed interests. Supporters of Mr. Sanders have been hearing his protest against the scourge of economic inequality in America for decades. Supporters of Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year old mayor of South Bend, Ind., would extol him — as he does himself — as a force for the generational change that Washington begs for.

"Those are the rallying cries with which Mr. Biden’s “play it safe” selling point is competing. And as strong as that point might be, his superpower of perceived electability coexists with a lingering question about why, exactly, he has decided to jump back into this delirium pen.

"Asked another way: Would he be doing this if a more conventional Republican (a Mitt Romney or Jeb Bush) were in the White House?

“ 'Um, I’m not sure, to be quite honest with you,” Mr. Biden said. “I hadn’t planned on running again.' ” . . .

Here’s What People Who USED To Be TRANSGENDER Are TELLING The Supreme Court

Socio-Political Journal  "The Supreme Court will hear a pivotal case in October on sex, gender identity, and discrimination: R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 
As both sides build their cases, numerous influential organizations and individuals have filed amicus (friend of the court) briefs to aid the members of the Supreme Court in their understanding on this topic.
One brief in particular stands out. It’s so powerful, it should not only persuade the Supreme Court but influence people on both sides of the transgender debate, particularly the mainstream media.

Shupe and wife.

There Is No Such Thing as Gender Fluidity

"The brief examines the personal testimonies of the following people, all of whom identified as transgender at one point, then reverted to affirming their sex: Walt Heyer, Jamie Shupe, Linda Seiler, Hacsi Horvath, Clifton Francis Burleigh Jr., Laura Perry, Jeffrey Johnston, Jeffrey McCall, and Kathy Grace Duncan. While regular Federalist readers may be familiar with regular contributor Heyer, the other names may be unfamiliar. Yet their stories are just as powerful.

"For starters, each of these people now believes, due to counseling, therapy, and personal experiences, that there is no such thing as gender fluidity or transgender. They now believe it is a fantasy many people try to make real.

"Take Shupe, American’s first person to secure legal recognition of a nonbinary, transgender identity. He is a former hero of the left. His transgenderism “became the driver for over a dozen states to adopt an X marker in addition to male and female on driver licenses.” He first identified as a “transgender woman,” then as nonbinary.

"The brief reads, “Publicly acknowledging that he is male and that his sex changes were a legal fiction has led to Mr. Shupe being shamed by the LGBTQ community for his beliefs that sex is binary and that those who struggle with gender identity issues need therapy and compassion, not to identify as a third gender.”

"Laura Perry is a former female to male transgender person who underwent hormone treatment and a double mastectomy. “Ms. Perry enjoyed the transition process at first, and she entered into a relationship with another transgender individual,” says the brief. “They attended LGBT events together but stopped when the members of the community developed hatred for her partner who was conservative." . . . 

CNN on climate change; California schools will probably make it required viewing

Perhaps CNN could hold a town hall meeting to discuss whether Trump or global warming is the bigger existential threat to the planet. Bandy Lee and Joy Behar could lead the discussion.  Brian C. Joondeph

The Upcoming Democrat Climate Change Extravaganza that No One Will Watch

"Fair warning, industrious reader: You may want to request off from work now.  CNN has carved out nearly eight full hours for a climate change town hall featuring a smattering of the gajillion still declared Democratic presidential candidates.

"Scheduled for September 4, the event will run from 5 P.M. to midnight, when, presumably, viewers who tuned in for the entire spectacle will immediately commit felo de se.  That makes Senator Cory Booker's face the last many doleful viewers will see before the fatal act.  How fitting.  

"The event is called a "town hall," but it's not clear what town it refers to other than every habitable part of the planet.  It's also, by definition, supposed to take place in a "hall," despite the venue likely being a televised proscenium-lighted up with enough pin spots to illuminate a hamlet year-round.

"Let's see who the participants are.  The Latino former Cabinet official who can'tspeak Spanish; the "math" guy who can only talk in industry-manual argot about automation; Senator Kamala Harris, whose poll numbers have slid precipitously downward since everyone found out she's a trimmer with no beliefs; the Irishmanwho sees racism everywhere despite affecting his own Hispanic heritage; that lady who regularly clouts her own staff; Joe Biden, who probably thinks the climate crisis was licked when he and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Martin Van Buren marched arm in arm against the Blood Tubs.

"The Marxist twins — Grandpa Menshevik and schoolmarmish Warren — will also be on hand to remind us that for every Celsius degree the planet warms, a thousand rentiers must be euthanized.

"That CNN is even hosting what is essentially a Democrat rally focused entirely on the Earth's changing clime is thanks to Washington governor Jay Inslee, whose entire presidential campaign was dedicated to raising awareness of what, we're told, is an existential threat to all human life.  Governor Inslee, for all his effort, can now celebrate the CNN spotlight by watching from his La-Z-Boy in his living room.  Maybe Al Gore has some extra space on his sofa for Inslee to park his behind at Gore's electricity-guzzling mansion." . . .

CNN falsely pushes claims that ‘climate crisis is making hurricanes more dangerous’
"CNN’s fall from a purveyor of news to pure propaganda organ of the Left was vividly displayed yesterday. " . . .

Colts backup QB search just latest reminder Colin Kaepernick not welcome in the NFL

NY Post  "Here are some of the quarterbacks with whom the Colts, now in search of a backup quarterback to Jacoby Brissett, have visited in the week since Andrew Luck shocked the football world by retiring:

• Brock Osweiler, such a crackerjack at the position that he once got released by the Browns after they’d traded for him because they liked DeShone Kizer better than they liked him.
• Matt Cassel, who is 37, who had his best year 11 years ago with the Patriots when Tom Brady got hurt, and whose last start was with the Titans two years.
• Brandon Weeden, on the verge of turning 36, no throws in the NFL in four years, sparkling lifetime record of 6-19 as a starter. You know who’s better than him? Everyone.

"But the Colts aren’t even interested in talking, at least so far, to Colin Kaepernick, who the last time he played for the 49ers threw 16 touchdown passes against four interceptions. Kaepernick is 31 years old and hasn’t played professional football in three years because he’s being blackballed by a professional sports league for political beliefs. That’s it, and that’s all. He’s been blackballed since he began taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem during the 2016 season as his way of protesting racial injustice." . . .

And, of course, the stalking of police officers who have been victims of assaults by many whom Kaepernick and flag-stomping soccer player Rapinoe ostentatiously honor.
Kaepernick has inspired others to follow in his footsteps who were honored to be chosen as the Democrat US Secretary of State to replace Mike Pompeo.
Who would she represent the interests of, the US or the Chinese? Here she is at right in one of her frequent "look-at-me" moments. TD

Woman Arrested for Burning American Flag on I-66 Overpass: Police.  I checked and it was not Inslee's Secretary of State. 

"Kayla Caniff, 22, was charged with property destruction after police say she burned a flag attached to a chain link fence on the N. Stafford Street overpass, north of the Ballston area, at about 11:55 p.m. Thursday. An officer saw the flag burning."The next day, the county fire department placed 16 flags on I-66 overpasses to honor 9/11 victims. They unfurled a giant American flag at their Fire Training Academy." . . .

BDS compromises Christian theology

. . . The Guardian published a report on the BDS movement that suggests the Palestinian cause has suffered because the movement shifts the resolution of the conflict from a two-state solution based on negotiation to older and deeper questions like the legitimacy of Zionism, that is, the very existence of Israel.

The Guardian photo

Hesham Shehab  "Some American churches and Christian organizations are unwittingly supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, even though it infringes on the Christian precedent of separation of Church and State.

"The BDS movement aims to discourage foreign investment and corporate involvement in Israel, isolate the Jewish state diplomatically, and undermine Israel’s legitimacy in the international arena. 

"In 2004, the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) voted to divest from companies doing business with Israel.

"The PCUSA were soon joined by other Protestant faith traditions. In 2016, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), convened and overwhelmingly approved two resolutions; calling on the U.S. government to “end all financial and military aid to Israel.”

"In addition, studies confirm that “the anti-­Zionist BDS campaign has encouraged anti-Semitism and intimidation of Jewish students on campuses in America and Europe…”

"On the other hand, according to theologians like Martin Luther, we are all citizens of two kingdoms. One is the kingdom of this world. Christian citizenship will advance the cause of movements that strengthen the guarantees of order and law while maintaining the separation of church and state.

"Commenting on the BDS movement, the Reverend Nabil Nour, Vice President of the LCMS, said:  . . ."

“Men Have Forgotten God” – The Templeton Address by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Klaas Hendrikse:  MEN HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD – ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN
"As a survivor of the Communist Holocaust I am horrified to witness how my beloved America, my adopted country, is gradually being transformed into a secularist and atheistic utopia, where communist ideals are glorified and promoted, while Judeo-Christian values and morality are ridiculed and increasingly eradicated from the public and social consciousness of our nation. Under the decades-long assault and militant radicalism of many so-called “liberal” and “progressive” elites, God has been progressively erased from our public and educational institutions, to be replaced with all manner of delusion, perversion, corruption, violence, decadence, and insanity.

"It is no coincidence that as Marxist ideologies and secularist principles engulf the culture and pervert mainstream thinking, individual freedoms and liberties are rapidly disappearing. As a consequence, Americans feel increasingly more powerless and subjugated by some of the most radical and hypocritical, least democratic, and characterless individuals our society has ever produced.

"Those of us who have experienced and witnesses first-hand the atrocities and terror of communism understand fully why such evil takes root, how it grows and deceives, and the kind of hell it will ultimately unleash on the innocent and the faithful. Godlessness is always the first step towards tyranny and oppression!" . . .

The ‘Jersey Shore’-ification of the Elite  "Last week’s “Fredo” controversy, and President Trump’s response, has really driven home the point that U.S. politics is now just “Jersey Shore” for vain talking heads and self-serving politicos.

The president of the United States is a braggart with a bad spray tan who spends most of his day trash-talking on Twitter. Among his chief rivals are four first-term lawmakers who call themselves “the squad” without a hint of irony and a 79-year-old who, among other achievements, is lauded for her skill in “throwing shade.”

"These are among the chief characters in the “news” cycle, which has become a reality TV series about Twitter feuds between the rich and powerful while the country falls apart on their watch. In the latest episode, CNN’s Chris Cuomo berated a stranger for offending him with a Godfather reference.

"Yes, this is “news” in America today: America’s middle class is declining, wages are stagnant, nothing has been done to curb illegal immigration, and wars that started before smartphones were invented grind on interminably. But all of that is just a sideshow to the real story: that some overpaid, pompous news anchor with a sinecure lost his temper.

Clapbacks and Sassy Tweets 

"It used to at least be possible to pretend that America was governed by people of good character. For a brief moment, it was undoubtedly true. Twitter has dispelled that illusion once and for all. It has become clear that we are ruled by preening, moronic sociopaths, whose idea of governance is something like a “Mean Girls” drama, and whose notion of public speaking is entitled performance art.

"Politics has always been contentious, and some of history’s most memorable episodes were the result of elites struggling for power and prestige. But the characters in these stories had something of greatness in their stature. We are many days away from the conspiracies of the late Roman Republic or the fateful duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.

"Move over, Lermontov. This is not a time of bold, open challenges. Now is the time of the clapback, the sassy tweet, the passive-aggressive innuendo, the empty death threat." . . .

Revealed: What Trump Assistant Madeleine Westerhout Said That Got Her Fired From The White House

Hot Air  . . . "Per Politico, it’s pretty bad. It’s not a “leak” but it’s nasty.

Madeleine Westerhout, who left her White House job suddenly on Thursday as President Trump’s personal assistant, was fired after bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship with Trump than his own daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, and that the president did not like being in pictures with Tiffany because he perceived her as overweight…

Westerhout also jokingly told the journalists that Trump couldn’t pick Tiffany out of a crowd, said one of the people. “She had a couple drinks and in an uncharacteristically unguarded moment, she opened up to the reporters,” the person said…

“This was an off-the-record dinner and the media blatantly violated that agreement,” an administration official said.

"Who burned Westerhout? Ed noted earlier that there’s always been speculation about her as a leaker, partly because she came over from the RNC rather than the Trump campaign and partly because she was superbly positioned to watch his activities during the day. But if Westerhout was an important leaker, it’s bizarre that reporters would have shared her comments about the Trump daughters and risked her getting fired. They’d be killing the golden goose, a prime source of material for their own dishy scoops about Trump.' 

. . . 

"What’s Westerhout’s move now? . . . "Keep her on the team and she’ll keep quiet, hopefully."   Emphases in the original, TD

Don’t be fooled by Bernie Sanders — he’s a diehard communist

NY Post  "As polls tighten and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders looks more like a serious contender than a novelty candidate for president, the liberal media elite have suddenly stopped calling him socialist. He’s now cleaned up as a “progressive” or “pragmatist.”
"But he’s not even a socialist. He’s a communist.

"Mainstreaming Sanders requires whitewashing his radical pro-communist past. It won’t be easy to do.
"If Sanders were vying for a Cabinet post, he’d never pass an FBI background check. There’d be too many subversive red flags popping up in his file. He was a communist collaborator during the height of the Cold War.
Rewind to 1964.
"While attending the University of Chicago, Sanders joined the Young People’s Socialist 
League, the youth wing of the Socialist Party USA. He also organized for a communist front, the United Packinghouse Workers Union, which at the time was under investigation by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
"After graduating with a political science degree, Sanders moved to Vermont, where he headed the American People’s History Society, an organ for Marxist propaganda. There, he produced a glowing documentary on the life of socialist revolutionary Eugene Debs, who was jailed for espionage during the Red Scare and hailed by the Bolsheviks as “America’s greatest Marxist.” . . .
. . . "Of course, even that wouldn’t cover the cost of his communist schemes; a President Sanders would eventually soak the middle class he claims to champion. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need, right?"
"Former mayoral advisers from Burlington defend their old boss. They note that Sanders was never a member of the Communist Party and deny he was even a small-c communist, even while acknowledging he named their city softball squad the “People’s Republic of Burlington” and the town’s minor league baseball team the “Vermont Reds.' ” . . .

Bernie Sanders is coming for your meat  . . . "He's also pandering to he vegan crowd, which has beeen trying to persuade Americans to give up meat and eat one of their bad-for-you plus bad-tasting meat substitutes, something that isn't taking off by persuasion, but might just gain traction by the force of taxes.  

"All this, after he takes away one third of your money through taxes to pay for all his handout programs, throws energy executives in jail, and then bankrupts your hospital to boot.
"If it can be taxed, he taxes. If it can be regulated, he regulates. Obviously, there are no limits on Bernie's sense of entitlement to what's yours."

Why Socialism, and Why Now? . . . "After Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 general election, Sanders is back, running as a socialist warhorse, promising endless amounts of free stuff, with those promises suddenly being taken seriously." . . .

Ian Macfarlane

Bernie Sanders’s TVA problem for his Green New Deal  "Senator Bernie Sanders has released his version of the Green New Deal.  His aims include "Reaching 100 percent renewable energy for electricity and transportation by no later than 2030...". Being an avowed socialist, he favors government owning the means of production, which means the electric powerplants." . . . 

Tony Branco

Seth Ator, 36, reportedly identified as Texas shooter

NY Post  . . . "When his gold Toyota pick-up truck was pulled over for a minor signaling infraction along a stretch of I-20 near Midland, Texas, on Saturday, Ator blasted approaching state troopers, seriously wounding one, authorities have said.
"He then peeled off, firing indiscriminately with his AR-style rifle out of the truck as he floored it towards Odessa, authorities said.
"Along the way, he killed a USPS worker and hijacked her mail truck, continuing the spree, officials said." . . .
Mary Granados was on phone with sister when she was carjacked, killed in Texas shooting  ..."As Rosie would later learn, her sister had been blasted and carjacked by a gun-toting madman, who used the USPS van to continue a gore-streaked spree that began moments earlier when he shot a state trooper and fled a highway car stop." . . .

UK Daily Mail:  Odessa gunman who killed seven and injured 22 with AR-type rifle is identified despite the police chief REFUSING to name him to avoid giving him notoriety

Backlash: Actor Calls For Blacklisting Trump’s Hollywood Donors

For perspective, there was the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s:  The Hollywood Blacklist was a list of professionals who were not allowed to participate in the entertainment industry due to their suspected or confirmed political beliefs.
. . . "Many people on the Hollywood Blacklist were suspected communists or communist sympathizers. A large number of them were official members of the American Communist Party, making them easy targets, but others were blacklisted merely on the basis of association with known communists or public statements. Others were blacklisted for their involvement in liberal causes, ranging from the animal rights movement to humanitarian organizations.
 . . . "A number of famous and high profile people were blacklisted, much to the interest of their biographers, and some people have also been intrigued by the cases of lesser individuals on the Blacklist, looking at their fates once their careers were destroyed. The collapse of the Hollywood Blacklist started on television in the late 1950s, when blacklisted individuals were hired by sympathetic people like Alfred Hitchcock and Betty Hutton, and from there it snowballed, rapidly becoming untenable."

The blacklist failed because of courageous people in Hollywood who risked so much to stand against that principle. TD

Hot Air

Sen. Joe McCarthy, the namesake of "McCarthyism"

"RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, co-chair Tommy Hicks Jr., RNC Finance Chairman Todd Ricketts and Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale will host a fundraiser in Beverly Hills on September 17. The Hollywood Reporter noted that it will be Trump’s first trip to Hollywood since making some pointed remarks about the entertainment industry on the heels of recent mass shootings.

“Hollywood is really terrible,” he answered. “You talk about ‘racist.’ Hollywood is racist. What they’re doing, with the kind of movies they’re putting out, it’s actually very dangerous for our country. What Hollywood is doing is a tremendous disservice to our country.”

"Actor Eric McCormack responded to the article by calling for names to be published of everyone in attendance. He wants to “be clear about who he doesn’t want to work with”, you see."  . . . 

Eric McCormack

✔@EricMcCormack

Hey, @THR, kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with. Thx. https://twitter.com/thr/status/1167296709908729856 …

There go the shooters, here come the politicians

Deangelo Parnell, 17, has been arrested and charged with nine counts of attempted murder, Mobile Police Department spokesman Laderrick Dubose told ABC News Saturday morning.

Politicians, 2020 presidential hopefuls react to the latest mass shooting  "Speaking to a group of supporters in Fairfax Station, Va., on Saturday evening, the Texas Democrat and presidential hopeful profanely proclaimed outrage about the second mass shooting this month in his home state, even as details were still sketchy about what actually happened.

“Not sure how many gunmen, not sure how many people have been shot, don’t know how many people have been killed, the condition of those who have survived. Don’t know what the motivation is, do not yet know the firearms that were used or how they acquired them, but we do know this is f----d up,” O’Rourke said to applause from the audience." . . .

'What do you think? You know the sh**t he’s been saying,' O'Rourke said. 'He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. I don’t know, like, members of the press, what the f**k?'

Politician's quotes.

"A President Marianne Sparkleshine Stardust Williamson Will Crack Down on Guns and Whiteness with New Dept. of Peace"
. . . "Nine years is an awful lot to ask from someone to be a positive psychic energy warrior, even from the soyest of boys. As far as I can tell, Williamson plans on a massive expansion of the federal government to force everyone to be a touchy feely space cadet just like her. I wonder if dissenters will be sent to a “re-education” camps.
"The ball has now in the court of  Lizzy, Joe, Kamala and Spartacus to see if anyone can out-crazy Williamson. I have faith that not even they can top this."