Today is Monday, September 4, 2023, Labor Day 2023. I hope everyone had a decent Labor Day. Here it was hot, with the temperature reaching in the 90s, I believe. Tomorrow isn’t supposed to be any better: it’s predicted to be in the low 90s once more. And I have my book discussion group at 6:30, where we will discuss Aaron Foley’s first novel, Boys Come First. As of now, I’m going solo: Elliot says he doesn’t want to be riding the subway when it’s this hot. Who can blame him?

Today the old man, President Joe Biden, took a jab at his predecessor – finally – during a celebration around Labor Day and American workers and unions, when he mocked the Orange Menace for having not built “a damn thing” during his administration. This claim by the sitting president appeared in an online article for Metro.co.uk by Jessica Wong entitled “Biden says ‘great real-estate’ developer Trump ‘didn’t build a damn thing.'”

Biden made his remarks in Philadelphia today, by first stating that the U.S. had the best infrastructure in the world, but that it has since dropped to number 13. He then took aim at Dumpf, without naming him.

Drawing applause and laughter from the crowd of Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 19 members, Biden said, “But guess what? Guess what? The great real-estate builder – the last guy here, he didn’t build a damn thing.” This remark should make the thin-skinned “mogul” see red. I wouldn’t be surprised if this juvenile posts something as a retort on X (formerly Twitter) tomorrow to counter what Biden said of him. Biden added, “Under my predecessor, Infrastructure Week became a punchline.”

In contrasting himself from “the last guy,” Biden said that Dumpf “looked at the world from Park Avenue,” contrasting Biden’s own working class beginnings. Biden noted, “I look at it from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I look at it from Claymont, Delaware. Not a joke.”

Another area where Biden criticized his predecessor was in job growth. “It wasn’t that long ago we were losing jobs in this country,” Biden noted. On a roll, Biden added, “In fact, the guy who held this job before me was just one of two presidents in history who left office with fewer jobs in America than when he got elected.”

The jobs market did grow significantly during Trump’s term, but unemployment spiked dramatically near the end of it because of the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic that Dumpf mismanaged to the hilt, resulting in a million U.S. deaths over two years.

“Since Biden took office in January 2021, job growth has averaged 436,000 per month.” The country has seen four million more jobs than at the peak pre-COVID.

Despite the successes of the Biden administration, which the Democrats have a massive problem in communicating to the general population, Herr Dumpf is the clear frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination and challenger to Biden. By the way, all Dumpf did for Labor Day is post a picture of himself (Ugh!) on his inane Truth Social platform with the message: “Happy Labor Day” and his campaign logo. Pretty spare pickings, wouldn’t you say?

So this is going to be another brief blog since Elliot and I came home from having a late lunch/early dinner at Peter Luger’s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and watched a 2021 horror film on Netflix called Things Heard and Seen starring Amanda Seyfried and James Norton. Overall, it couldn’t distinguish between whether it wanted to be a ghost story or a tale about a contemporary marriage unraveling. The film was written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and is based on the novel All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage.

The plot, as it were, concerns a family moving into a large farmhouse in upstate New York where the husband, George, lands a job teaching art history at a local college, and the wife, Catherine, is an art restorer. They have a young daughter, Franny. Everything seems perfect on the surface until things unravel and the true nature of the husband is revealed in several significant scenes. We also learn that Catherine (Seyfried) is bulimic for some strange reason.

Once the young family settles into their new home, strange things happen: Franny senses a female spirit in her room, insisting on sleeping with her parents. Catherine and George smell mysterious fumes coming up from the garage. Lights appear on and off and an antique ring materializes in the kitchen for Catherine to espy.

Soon Catherine is seized by the mystery of the house and its previous owners and does some research at the local historical society. Other cast members include F. Murray Abraham as George’s employer at the college, Floyd DeBeers, who is the head of the art history department. Karen Allen who we don’t see much of anymore has a minor role in this film as the sheriff’s wife. It was Mare Laughton (Allen) who informs Catherine about the terrible history of the house and the various deaths that occurred there.

All in all, the film was slow in building to a climax and it didn’t really satisfy all that much as a ghost story. I did find the acting of Seyfried and Norton exemplary, though, especially that of the latter who eventually reveals his evil nature as time wears on. So my recommendation to you is not to go and see it. It’s better not seen! (A poor pun on the title, I’m afraid!)

If I’m not here tomorrow, have a good Tuesday. I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Stay safe and be well.