Didn’t see this coming. Spielberg blasts revising old films for modern audiences, admits ‘mistake’ in editing guns from ‘E.T.’
Legendary director Steven Spielberg recently blasted the idea of revising old films for modern audiences and their sensitivities.
During an interview with TIME Magazine, the “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park” director claimed that old films should not be updated for the modern lens and claimed that directors who do so are committing “censorship.”
Spielberg also expressed his regret for editing guns out of a recent release of his classic sci-fi adventure film, “E.T.,” claiming it was a “mistake.”
Director Steven Spielberg speaks to TIME Magazine about censorship. (Screenshot/Mediaite)
The director spoke with the outlet’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal during TIME’s “100 Summit” on Tuesday. The two discussed filmography, with Felsenthal eventually asking the filmmaker whether there are any films he would have like to have done differently or go back and change based on where he is now.
“Looking back at your body of work… are there films you would edit, that looking back at them, something you would’ve done differently? As an editor, I feel that way about some TIME covers – Not yours!” the journalist asked.
“But is there a sense of – I know at one point you took some guns out of ‘E.T.’ and then regretted it,” he continued.
Spielberg cut in, admitting that revising the beloved film was wrong.
“That was a mistake. That was a mistake,” he said, adding, “I never should have done that because ‘E.T.’ was a product of its era. No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are, either voluntarily or being forced to peer through.”
Stephen Spielberg attends the 95th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Getty Images)
He noted why he initially revised it, telling Felsenthal, “’E.T.’ was a film that I was sensitive to the fact that the federal agents were approaching a bunch a kids with their firearms exposed. And I thought I would change the guns into walkie-talkies.”
Spielberg claimed he made the changes due to his evolving views, but ultimately realized he should have left the movie alone.
“I should never have missed with the archive of my own work, and I don’t recommend anybody really do that,” he said.
He then voiced the importance of leaving the films as they are, saying, “All our movies are a kind of measuring – a signpost of where we were when we made them, what the world was like, and what the world was receiving when we got those stories out there. So I really regret having that out there.”
The Time editor-in-chief asked if Spielberg’s standard applies to other forms of artistic media. Felsenthal specifically mentioned publisher Puffin UK updating an edition of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory” to feature fewer offensive words found in the original text.
After mentioning it, Speilberg declared, “Nobody should ever attempt to take the chocolate out of Willy Wonka! Ever! And they shouldn’t take the chocolate or the vanilla, or any other flavor out of anything that has been written.”
He added, “For me, it is sacrosanct. It’s our history, it’s our cultural heritage.” Felsenthal asked, “Warts and all?” to which Spielberg replied, “I do not believe in censorship in that way.”
Roald Dahl, the author of several popular works, including Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Tony Evans, E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service)
Spielberg blasts revising old films for modern audiences, admits ‘mistake’ in editing guns from ‘E.T.’ | https://www.foxnews.com/video/6326205137112
You think with Tucker gone for now that your safe from Criticism Woke Military leaders? From maternity flight suits to diversity policies to Ukraine aid, the military was a favorite punching bag for Tucker Carlson. Now that he’s off the air, some Pentagon officials are quietly cheering his departure.
“We’re a better country without him bagging on our military every night in front of hundreds of thousands of people,” said one senior DoD official, who like others interviewed for this story was granted anonymity to discuss a politically sensitive topic. “Good riddance,” said a second DoD official.
Asked to respond to the news that DoD officials are pleased by his departure from Fox, Carlson responded by text message: “Ha! I’m sure.” He declined to comment further.
JD Vance had something to say to the WOKE crowd.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R) accused the officials who spoke with Politico of being cowards for “hiding behind anonymity.”
“Every ‘senior Pentagon official’ who commented on this story while hiding behind anonymity is a coward,” Vance tweeted. “Call me old fashioned, but senior military officials should maintain neutrality about hot button political topics. And they certainly shouldn’t run to one media outlet to gossip—anonymously—about another.”
“We have the worst health care system in the United States of America,” lamented Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. during his Democratic nomination bid announcement for President of the United States on April 19 to a packed crowd at the Boston Park Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts. “What do I mean by that?” he asked. “I mean that we spend more on health care by far than any other country, and we have the worst health outcomes.”
“We spend $4.3 trillion annually on health — $4.3 trillion. And about 84% of that goes to treating chronic disease,” Mr. Kennedy denoted. “Now, why is that?” he asked. “Because America has the highest chronic disease burden in the world, and we didn’t always [have it]. In [the] 1940s, 50s, and 60s, we had a really healthy population. We had only 6% of our people, of our citizens or children, had chronic disease. By 1988, that became 12.8%. So it doubled. Today, by 2006, it was 54%.”
“We have the sickest generation in American history. We have the sickest children on Earth in this country,” Mr. Kennedy grieved. “And by chronic disease, what do I mean? I mean obesity, but more importantly, neurological diseases, neurodevelopmental [disorders], ADD, ADHD, speech delays, language delays, tics, Tourette syndrome, ASD (autism spectrum disorder), and autism. Autism went from one in every 10,000 people in my generation to one in every 34 kids today.”
One of the talking points of people who cast doubt that vaccines or other substances or medical practices have caused the autism epidemic is, “Now, we have better diagnostic processes.” However, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. argues that that explanation doesn’t account for the 29-fold autism rate increase because “missing autism is like missing a train wreck. So it’s an absurd [claim].”
Mr. Kennedy added, “There is study after study after study that shows that this epidemic is real. It is not the result of changing diagnostic criteria. It is not the result of better recognition. It is an epidemic. And it’s common sense because if it was changing diagnostic criteria, you’d see people my age with full-blown autism. [At] sixty-nine years old, I have never seen somebody my age with full-blown autism … And yet, in my kids’ schools, there are many, many children who look like that.”
“Why aren’t we asking the question” of what’s causing this? he asked. Because “there’s a report that came out a couple of weeks ago that shows that the cost of autism alone to the American economy will be — just of caring for people as this group now ages — it will be a trillion dollars a year by 2040.”
“So something happened in 1989,” Mr. Kennedy attested, based on an EPA report to Congress. “And we know that it is an environmental insult because genes don’t cause epidemics. And the only thing is we just have to figure out what it is. There’s a limited number of culprits of chemical toxins that became ubiquitous around 1989.”
“And by the way, it wasn’t just those neurological disorders that started, and all these autoimmune diseases started; if you’re my age, you never saw anybody with rheumatoid arthritis or juvenile diabetes when you were younger,” he added. “The allergic diseases, food allergies, peanut allergies, eczema, anaphylaxis, which now are ubiquitous. 27% of our school budgets are now going to special education. This is crippling to the middle class in this country, and we need to figure out what it is.”
Yes Virginia there is a Conservative God. Biden running in 2024. Republicans get a Christmas present early. Straight from the horses’ mouth.
Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours.
That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States.
https://youtu.be/ChjibtX0UzU
Joe has no choice but to run. The Democrats know that their hold is slipping and even with Joe’s bad poll numbers, no other Progressive even comes close to his horid numbers.
So where do Conservatives go now or do they? Say what you will, FOX still is king of the hill when it comes to Conservative media reporting. Have they moved closer to the middle? Are they now considered MSM? Yes to both.
Only one missing from the conservative photo I posted is OAN. So when you take the other top 10 Conservative websites, FOX has a bigger audience than all ten combined.
Only true Conservative website to really consider would be NewsMax. That doesn’t mean the others are less relevant, It’s just that they don’t have the money or viewership. In another article that I wrote, I wrote that Tucker should buy NewsMax and from there create a powerhouse of his own. Hopefully he reads this.
Now I left out Rumble, Gettr, Gab, Parler,Truth, etc. All great but TV media websites.
As you all know, Joe’s not playing with a full deck. With his mental issues, the DNC isn’t planning to host any Democrat 2024 debates. He right has two challengers and if the economy and world trouble spots continue to get worse, look for more challengers.
Even his planned announcement if running will be pre-recorded. You don’t think they trust him to make a national announcement live do you?
So it comes as no surprise that the Democrats would get rid of debates for the 2024 Democrats running for President. Democrats know that you don’t need debates when the election is in the bag. Why debate? What a waste of time.
Left, most recent search results for “Morell” in the New York Times. Right, Google News.
Progressives eating one of their own. Former Deputy CIA Director Michael Morel. How funny is this. One of the left wings own told the truth about how the fix was in with the MSM. Not so say Progressives. Claiming that Biden and Blinken are innocent.
Folks on the left are claiming that there was no attempt to keep the Hunter Biden story hidden or write phony articles or post a false Russian story.
In that letter, which is not easy to find, you’ll see three snippets of dialogue from questioning of Morell, who appears to have organized the open letter. In the first snippet, he explains that the idea originated with a call from Blinken, then of the Biden campaign, and that absent that call, Morell wouldn’t have done what he did:
In the second snippet Morell bluntly explains that he did it because “I wanted him to win,” him being Joe Biden:
Just putting this out there. The Last Kennedy Democrat.
In a sane world, RFK Jr would make a quality candidate for a political party. Today, however, we live in Clown World, in which RFK Jr might very well be the last Kennedy Democrat alive.
Robert F Kennedy Jr gave a well-reviewed two hour speech last night when he announced his entry into the presidential race.
Here are the seven mainpoints from the RFK Jr speech.
Ending the corrupt merger of corporations and the state
This trouble some system is what the feudalists and oligarchs at the World Economic Forum and BlackRock refer to as “public-private partnerships” or the paradoxically named “stakeholder capitalism.
Opposing lockdowns under any circumstances
RFK Jr emphasized that in no way can we let Public Health psychopaths run society again.
Giving former President Donald Trump a fair shake on his record for each issue, but holding him accountable for his decision to give too much political power to Government Health bureaucrats
Trump is unfairly demonized by the corporate media, but there are issues like empowering the maniacal Fauci-Birx clan that deserve further scrutiny.
Supporting free market capitalism and limited government
This especially pays homage to JFK, a renowned president among American society and an ardent capitalist and supporter of classical liberalism,
Conquering children’s illnesses
RFK Jr’s thesis is that too many vaccines are causing childhood illnesses, though he didn’t mention this directly in his speech.
Bringing the troops home
This plays well to the very real perception of an overstretched, damaged empire, deeply wounded by the extensive war footing of the post 9/11 foreign policy regime.
Openly discussing the merits of war
Distances himself from the war-happy Uniparty in Washington, D.C.
Similar themes to the presidency of his uncle, whose clear-headed analysis in the face of the military industrial regime’s ultra aggressive demands may have saved the world from nuclear annihilation.
Unfortunately, RFK Jr might be the last Kennedy Democrat alive
I’m sure that there are many who really enjoyed this speech and support RFK Jr’s bold platform. Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute, who was in attendance, wrote a great review for the Epoch Times.
Unfortunately for RFK Jr, however, he’s running for the nomination of a party that is freakishly opposed to every single one of his staple items.
The modern Democrat Party is the party of Keynesian economics, transgenderism, Big Pharma obsequiousness, slavish devotion to expanding government bureaucracy, and endless war. It is an absolute statist freak show on every level. It’s not that the GOP is much better. But for a guy in 2023 to run as a democrat on a classical liberal, free market platform is quite something.
I very much admire RFK Jr, his charitable work, and his seminal book, The Real Anthony Fauci. He also seems like a total mensch, according to the people who have interacted with him.
In a sane world, RFK Jr would make a quality candidate for a political party. Today, however, we live in Clown World, in which RFK Jr might very well be the last Kennedy Democrat alive.
Introduction: The right to petition is a fundamental aspect of a Constitutional Republic, ensuring that citizens can voice their concerns and demand action from their government. However, on Inauguration Day, the Biden administration took an unexpected and concerning step, quietly shutting down the “We The People” petition platform. This article explores the implications of this decision and its impact on accountability, freedom of speech, and the rights of the American people.
A Brief History of the ‘We The People’ Petition Platform
The Creation of the Platform under the Obama Administration
In 2011, the Obama administration launched the ‘We The People’ petition platform as part of its commitment to fostering an open and participatory government. Designed to facilitate direct communication between the public and the White House, the platform allowed anyone to create and sign petitions on various topics, from policy changes to social issues. If a petition garnered a specific number of signatures within a given time frame, it would receive an official response from the White House.
The Purpose and Significance in our American Constitutional Republic
The ‘We The People’ platform served as a vital tool in promoting civic engagement and empowering citizens to voice their concerns and demand government action. By providing a direct line of communication with the White House, the platform enabled Americans to hold their government accountable and advocate for changes they deemed necessary. It also helped foster transparency, as official responses shed light on the government’s stance on various issues.
Notable Successes and Milestones Achieved through the Platform
Over the years, the ‘We The People’ platform played a role in influencing government policy and sparking national conversations on various topics. Some notable successes include:
The ‘Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act’ – A petition advocating for the legalization of cell phone unlocking received over 114,000 signatures, leading to the passing of a bill in 2014 that made it legal for consumers to unlock their devices.
Net Neutrality – A 2014 petition with more than 105,000 signatures called for the FCC to maintain net neutrality rules, contributing to the eventual implementation of the Open Internet Order.
Death Star Petition – Although not a policy change, a humorous 2012 petition to build a Death Star received over 34,000 signatures, showcasing the platform’s ability to engage the public and generate interest in the political process.
These successes, among others, highlight the importance of the ‘We The People’ platform in the American constitutional republic and its role in promoting civic engagement and government accountability.
The Disappearance of the Platform
The Removal of the Platform on Inauguration Day
On January 20, 2021, the day Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, the ‘We The People’ petition platform was taken down without prior notice or explanation. This sudden disappearance of a widely used communication tool between the public and the White House caught many off guard and raised questions about the Biden administration’s commitment to transparency and public engagement.
The Lack of Public Announcement or Explanation
What made the removal of the platform particularly concerning was the lack of communication from the Biden administration. No public announcement was made, nor was any explanation provided as to why the platform was taken down or if there were plans to reinstate it. This silence left users and advocates of the platform in the dark and fueled speculation about the administration’s motives behind the decision.
Comparisons to Previous Administrations’ Actions Regarding the Platform
It is worth noting that the ‘We The People’ platform remained active throughout both the Obama and Trump administrations. While the Trump administration was initially slow to respond to petitions, the platform was never taken down or disabled. The Biden administration’s abrupt removal of the platform without explanation stands in stark contrast to the actions of previous administrations, further raising questions about its commitment to the principles of civic engagement and government accountability.
The unexplained disappearance of the ‘We The People’ platform under the Biden administration has left many Americans concerned about the future of this important tool for public engagement and government transparency. It remains to be seen whether the platform will be reinstated or if a similar initiative will be introduced to fill the void it left behind.
The Impact on Accountability and Freedom of Speech
The Consequences of Losing a Direct Line of Communication with the Government
The removal of the ‘We The People’ platform has serious implications for accountability and public engagement. The platform provided citizens with a direct line of communication to the government, allowing them to voice their concerns and demand action on various issues. Losing this valuable tool hinders the public’s ability to hold the government accountable for its actions and decisions, making it more difficult to foster a transparent and responsive political system.
The Chilling Effect on Freedom of Speech and Public Discourse
The disappearance of the platform also has the potential to create a chilling effect on freedom of speech and public discourse. Without a dedicated platform for voicing concerns and mobilizing support for change, citizens may feel less empowered to speak out on important issues. This could lead to a decline in public debate, which is essential for the health of a constitutional republic.
The loss of the ‘We The People’ platform has raised concerns about the Biden administration’s commitment to government accountability and transparency. It is essential for citizens to continue advocating for the reinstatement of the platform or the creation of a similar tool to ensure their voices are not silenced.
Alternative Channels for Citizen Participation
Even with the removal of the ‘We The People’ platform, citizens can still participate in the political process and make their voices heard through various channels. In this section, we will explore alternative petition platforms, the importance of remaining engaged, and examples of successful grassroots movements and campaigns.
The Rise of Third-Party Petition Platforms
In the absence of the ‘We The People’ platform, several third-party petition platforms have emerged to fill the void. Websites such as Change.org, MoveOn.org, and Avaaz.org allow users to create and sign petitions on various issues, facilitating public engagement and advocacy. While these platforms are not directly connected to the government, they can still influence policy changes and raise awareness about pressing issues.
The Importance of Remaining Engaged and Proactive in the Political Process
Even without a direct line of communication with the government, it is crucial for citizens to remain engaged and proactive in the political process. This can be achieved through various means such as contacting local representatives, participating in town hall meetings, joining advocacy groups, and voting in elections. By staying informed and active, citizens can continue to hold the government accountable and promote positive change in society.
Examples of Successful Grassroots Movements and Campaigns
Throughout history, numerous grassroots movements and campaigns have had a significant impact on policy changes and social reform. Some notable examples include:
The Civil Rights Movement: Led by figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., this movement successfully fought for the end of racial segregation and the enforcement of equal rights for all citizens.
The Women’s Suffrage Movement: This movement, which spanned several decades, eventually led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote in the United States.
The Environmental Movement: Grassroots activism in the 1960s and 1970s led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the implementation of key environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
These examples demonstrate the power of citizen participation and grassroots activism in shaping public policy and promoting social change.
The Role of Honest Journalism in Upholding a Constitutional Republic
In a constitutional republic, the media plays a vital role in informing the public and ensuring that citizens stay well-informed about the actions and decisions of their government. By providing comprehensive reporting, the media can hold the government accountable and help maintain a system of checks and balances.
Transparency and accountability are essential components of political reporting. By offering unbiased and accurate information, the media can foster trust between the public and the government, ultimately contributing to a healthier political environment. However, the potential consequences of biased or misleading information can be detrimental to public perception and decision-making, leading to a divided society.
The removal of the ‘We The People’ platform is a significant event that should be thoroughly covered by the media. Journalists have a responsibility to investigate and report on the reasons behind the platform’s removal to keep the public informed about potential changes in government priorities and their impact on citizen participation.
Encouraging public discourse on the implications of the platform’s removal for citizen participation and government accountability is essential. Open discussion about the removal of the ‘We The People’ platform can raise awareness of its consequences and inspire citizens to seek alternative channels for engagement and accountability. Honest journalism plays a pivotal role in upholding the values of a constitutional republic and ensuring that the government remains answerable to the people.
A Call to Action for a Stronger Constitutional Republic
In conclusion, the removal of the ‘We The People’ petition platform raises crucial questions about accountability, transparency, and the rights of American citizens. It is more important than ever for citizens to stay informed and engaged in the political process and for journalists to hold the government accountable for its actions.
As concerned citizens, we must act to ensure that our voices continue to be heard. To that end, we encourage you to sign and share the Accountability Act petition on Change.org. This petition aims to promote transparency and accountability in the government, calling for the restoration of the ‘We The People’ platform, among other measures.