February 11, 2021

Agreed. It was the electoral college that got him into the Oval Office.

Trump lost the popular vote by millions and only won the electoral college because about 80,000 votes across crucial states went his way. Of course he just spent two months trying to undo Joe Biden's win electoral college win, and it's harrowing to think that it was entirely possible that Trump would again lose the popular vote and still eke out an electoral college win. That he pursued precisely that approach by trying to strong-arm state officials and disenfranchise voters ought to be a topic of national conversation, but of course some voters (and businesses) are only too willing to back Trump in his lies and even monetize them.

March 19, 2017

TCM Schedule for Tuesday, March 21: March Malice

Vile behavior is on display this March, and not just at the White House. Settle in with some Junior Mints for a truly outstanding exhibition of badness.

Tuesday, March 21st, 2017

12:00 AM
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, THE (1955)

A bogus preacher marries an outlaw's widow in search of the man's hidden loot.
Dir: Charles Laughton Cast: Robert Mitchum , Shelley Winters , Lillian Gish .
BW-93 mins, CC,

1:45 AM
FACE IN THE CROWD, A (1957)

A female television executive turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
Dir: Elia Kazan Cast: Andy Griffith , Patricia Neal , Anthony Franciosa .
BW-126 mins, CC,

4:00 AM
WESTWORLD (1973)

A future fantasy park turns deadly when robot workers go on a killing spree.
Dir: Michael Crichton Cast: Richard Benjamin , Yul Brynner , James Brolin .
C-89 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

5:30 AM
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)

Classic sci-fi epic about a mysterious monolith that seems to play a key role in human evolution.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick Cast: Keir Dullea , Gary Lockwood , William Sylvester .
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 AM
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1932)

Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of a scientist who unleashes the beast within.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian Cast: Fredric March , Miriam Hopkins , Rose Hobart .
BW-96 mins, CC,

9:45 AM
INVISIBLE MAN, THE (1933)

A scientist's experiments with invisibility turn him into a madman.
Dir: James Whale Cast: Claude Rains , Gloria Stuart , William Harrigan .
BW-72 mins, CC,

11:00 AM
M (1931)

The mob sets out to catch a child killer whose crimes are attracting too much police attention.
Dir: Fritz Lang Cast: Peter Lorre , Theo Lingen , Otto Wernicke .
BW-110 mins,

1:00 PM
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (1982)

A father returns to London after being deported to find out what happened to his wife and child.
Dir: Terry Hughes Cast: George Hearn , Angela Lansbury , Cris Groenendall .
C-141 mins, CC,

3:30 PM
ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)

An ambitious young actress tries to take over a star's career and love life.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Cast: Bette Davis , Anne Baxter , George Sanders .
BW-138 mins, CC,

6:00 PM
LITTLE FOXES, THE (1941)

An ambitious woman takes on her corrupt brothers and honest husband in her drive for wealth.
Dir: William Wyler Cast: Bette Davis , Herbert Marshall , Teresa Wright .
BW-116 mins, CC,

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MARCH MALICE

8:00 PM
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)

An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client's death.
Dir: Billy Wilder Cast: Fred MacMurray , Barbara Stanwyck , Edward G. Robinson .
BW-108 mins, CC,

10:00 PM
DETOUR (1945)

A hitchhiker takes on a dead man's identity only to face blackmail by an unscrupulous woman.
Dir: Edgar G. Ulmer Cast: Tom Neal , Ann Savage , Claudia Drake .
BW-68 mins, CC,

11:19 PM
CAVE EXPLORERS (1957)

In this short film, a group of Austrian speleologists explore a newly-discovered cave.
Dir: Heinz Scheiderbauer
BW-8 mins,

11:30 PM
CAPE FEAR (1962)

An ex-convict plots to destroy the district attorney who sent him to prison.
Dir: J. Lee Thompson Cast: Gregory Peck , Robert Mitchum , Polly Bergen .
BW-106 mins, CC,

1:30 AM
POINT BLANK (1967)

A gangster plots an elaborate revenge on the wife and partner who did him dirty.
Dir: John Boorman Cast: Lee Marvin , Angie Dickinson , Keenan Wynn .
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

3:06 AM
RELAXED WIFE, THE (1957)

A short industrial film that seeks to help working men and their wives deal with life's little problems.
C-13 mins,

3:30 AM
WHITE HEAT (1949)

A government agent infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic.
Dir: Raoul Walsh Cast: James Cagney , Virginia Mayo , Edmond O'Brien .
BW-113 mins, CC,

5:30 AM
LITTLE CAESAR (1930)

A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy Cast: Edward G. Robinson , Douglas Fairbanks , Glenda Farrell .
BW-78 mins, CC,

April 6, 2013

Unfortunately, it's a common enough position.

I've been ever haunted by the following quote from Barbara Ehrenreich's The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed: "They espoused clean living and admired war. They preached hard work and paid for it with nickels and dimes."

There's a harshness to passes for conservatism these days, a weirdly punitive and sentimental at the same time, making noises about protecting the babies while promoting policies that will in fact harm someone's baby, no question about it. It's not a new phenomenon, but thanks to right-wing media empires, lobbying, and of course the Internets, it's on constant display.

March 17, 2013

Poll: How you nurture/live out your faith

Lately I've attended two talks, one on the German mystic Meister Eckhart and the second on St. Francis de Sales, from the parish Lenten lecture series, and I got to wondering about what particular spiritual practices spoke to people here in the DU Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity group. If you are comfortable sharing, please answer the poll below and include any explanations you like.

What's most important to your spiritual life?