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The answer is here:America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President.Copying and pasting in full.America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. PresidentWhen one observes President Obama’s unwillingness to accommodate America’s four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic. But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years. So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian. But that, too, would be inaccurate. He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general and Israel in particular. So perhaps the most accurate description of his antipathy toward Catholics, Protestants, religious Jews, and the Jewish nation would be to characterize him as anti-Biblical. And then when his hostility toward Biblical people of faith is contrasted with his preferential treatment of Muslims and Muslim nations, it further strengthens the accuracy of the anti-Biblical descriptor. In fact, there have been numerous clearly documented times when his pro-Islam positions have been the cause of his anti-Biblical actions.Listed below in chronological order are (1) numerous records of his attacks on Biblical persons or organizations; (2) examples of the hostility toward Biblical faith that have become evident in the past three years in the Obama-led military; (3) a listing of his open attacks on Biblical values; and finally (4) a listing of numerous incidents of his preferential deference for Islam’s activities and positions, including letting his Islamic advisors guide and influence his hostility toward people of Biblical faith.1. Acts of hostility toward people of Biblical faith:December 2009-Present – The annual White House Christmas cards, rather than focusing on Christmas or faith, instead highlight things such as the family dogs. And the White House Christmas tree ornaments include figures such as Mao Tse-Tung and a drag queen. [1]May 2016 – President Obama appoints a transgender to the Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships — an act of overt disdain and hostility toward traditional faith religions. [2]September 2015 – For White House and State Department dinners, the president deliberately invites guests that he knows will be offensive to the Pope and who openly opposed his message, but he and the State Department very carefully avoid inviting guests that oppose or would offended the dictators of countries such as Cuba and China. [3]June 2013 – The Obama Department of Justice defunds a Young Marines chapter in Louisiana because their oath mentioned God, and another youth program because it permits a voluntary student-led prayer. [4]February 2013 – The Obama Administration announces that the rights of religious conscience for individuals will not be protected under the Affordable Care Act. [5]January 2013 – Pastor Louie Giglio is pressured to remove himself from praying at the inauguration after it is discovered he once preached a sermon supporting the Biblical definition of marriage.[6]February 2012 – The Obama administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if the public service is related to religion. [7]January 2012 – The Obama administration argues that the First Amendment provides no protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis. [8]December 2011 – The Obama administration denigrates other countries’ religious beliefs as an obstacle to radical homosexual rights. [9]November 2011 – President Obama opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial. [10]November 2011 – Unlike previous presidents, Obama studiously avoids any religious references in his Thanksgiving speech. [11]August 2011 – The Obama administration releases its new health care rules that override religious conscience protections for medical workers in the areas of abortion and contraception. [12]April 2011 – For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring. [13]February 2011 – Although he filled posts in the State Department, for more than two years Obama did not fill the post of religious freedom ambassador, an official that works against religious persecution across the world; he filled it only after heavy pressure from the public and from Congress. [14]January 2011 – After a federal law was passed to transfer a WWI Memorial in the Mojave Desert to private ownership, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the cross in the memorial could continue to stand, but the Obama administration refused to allow the land to be transferred as required by law, and refused to allow the cross to be re-erected as ordered by the Court. [15]November 2010 – Obama misquotes the National Motto, saying it is “E pluribus unum” rather than “In God We Trust” as established by federal law. [16]October 19, 2010 – Obama begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on no less than seven occasions. [17]May 2009 – Obama declines to host services for the National Prayer Day (a day established by federal law) at the White House. [18]April 2009 – When speaking at Georgetown University, Obama orders that a monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name be covered when he is making his speech. [19]April 2009 – In a deliberate act of disrespect, Obama nominated three pro-abortion ambassadors to the Vatican; of course, the pro-life Vatican rejected all three. [20]February 2009 – Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011. [21]April 2008 – Obama speaks disrespectfully of Christians, saying they “cling to guns or religion” and have an “antipathy to people who aren’t like them.” [22]2. Acts of hostility from the Obama-led military toward people of Biblical faith:October 2016 – Obama threatens to veto a defense bill over religious protections contained in it.[23]June 2016 – A military prayer breakfast whose speaker was highly decorated Delta Force Lt. General Jerry Boykin (ret) was cancelled because Boykin was a traditional value Christian who has voiced his support for natural marriage and his opposition to Islamic extremism. (The atheist critic behind the cancellation had complained that Boykin as a “homophobic, Islamophobic, fundamentalist Christian extremist.”)[24]April 2016 – At the orders of a commander, a 33-year Air Force veteran was forcibly and physically removed by four other airmen because he attempted to use the word “God” in a retirement speech.[25]February 2016 – After a complaint was received, a Bible was removed from a display inside a Veterans Clinic.[26]March 2015 – A decorated Navy chaplain was prohibited from fulfilling his duty of comforting the family (or any member of the unit) after the loss of a sailor because it was feared that he would say something about faith and God. He was even banned from the base on the day of the sailor’s memorial service. [27]March 2015 – A highly decorated Navy SEAL chaplain was relieved of duty for providing counseling that contained religious views on things such as faith, marriage, and sexuality. [28]June 2014 – Official U. S. government personnel, both civilian and military, in Bahrain (a small Arabic nation near Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran) must wear clothing that facilitates the religious observance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. [29]March 2014 – Maxell Air Force Base suddenly bans Gideons from handing out Bibles to willing recruits, a practice that had been occurring for years previously. [30]December 2013 – A naval facility required that two nativity scenes — scenes depicting the event that caused Christmas to be declared a national federal holiday — be removed from the base dining hall and be confined to the base chapel, thus disallowing the open public acknowledgment of this national federal holiday. [30]December 2013 – An Air Force base that allowed various public displays ordered the removal of one simply because it contained religious content. [32]October 2013 – A counter-intelligence briefing at Fort Hood tells soldiers that evangelical Christians are a threat to Americans and that for a soldier to donate to such a group “was punishable under military regulations.” [33]October 2013 – Catholic priests hired to serve as military chaplains are prohibited from performing Mass services at base chapels during the government financial shutdown. When they offered to freely do Mass for soldiers, without regard to whether or not the chaplains were receiving pay, they are still denied permission to do so. [34]October 2013 – The Air Force Academy, in response to a complaint from Mikey Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation, makes “so help me God” optional in cadets’ honor oath. [35]August 2013 – A Department of Defense military training manual teaches soldiers that people who talk about “individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place” are “extremists.” It also lists the Founding Fathers — those “colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule” — as examples of those involved in “extremist ideologies and movements.” [36]August 2013 – A Senior Master Sergeant was removed from his position and reassigned because he told his openly lesbian squadron commander that she should not punish a staff sergeant who expressed his views in favor of traditional marriage. [37]August 2013 – The military does not provide heterosexual couples specific paid leave to travel to a state just for the purpose of being married, but it did extend these benefits to homosexual couples who want to marry, thus giving them preferential treatment not available to heterosexuals. [38]August 2013 – The Air Force, in the midst of having launched a series of attacks against those expressing traditional religious or moral views, invited a drag queen group to perform at a base. [39]July 2013 – When an Air Force sergeant with years of military service questioned a same-sex marriage ceremony performed at the Air Force Academy’s chapel, he received a letter of reprimand telling him that if he disagreed, he needed to get out of the military. His current six-year reenlistment was then reduced to only one-year, with the notification that he “be prepared to retire at the end of this year.” [40]July 2013 – An Air Force chaplain who posted a website article on the importance of faith and the origin of the phrase “There are no atheists in foxholes” was officially ordered to remove his post because some were offended by the use of that famous World War II phrase.[41]June 2013 – The U. S. Air Force, in consultation with the Pentagon, removed an inspirational painting that for years has been hanging at Mountain Home Air Force Base because its title was “Blessed Are The Peacemakers” — a phrase from Matthew 5:9 in the Bible. [42]June 2013 – The Obama administration “strongly objects” to a Defense Authorization amendment to protect the constitutionally-guaranteed religious rights of soldiers and chaplains, claiming that it would have an “adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment.” [43]June 2013 – At a joint base in New Jersey, a video was made, based on a Super Bowl commercial, to honor First Sergeants. It stated: “On the eighth day, God looked down on His creation and said, ‘I need someone who will take care of the Airmen.’ So God created a First Sergeant.” Because the video mentioned the word “God,” the Air Force required that it be taken down. [44]June 2013 – An Army Master Sergeant is reprimanded, threatened with judicial action, and given a bad efficiency report, being told he was “no longer a team player,” because he voiced his support of traditional marriage at his own promotion party. [45]May 2013 – The Pentagon announces that “Air Force members are free to express their personal religious beliefs as long as it does not make others uncomfortable. “Proselytizing (inducing someone to convert to one’s faith) goes over that line,” [46] affirming if a sharing of faith makes someone feel uncomfortable that it could be a court-marital offense [47] — the military equivalent of a civil felony.May 2013 – An Air Force officer was actually made to remove a personal Bible from his own desk because it “might” appear that he was condoning the particular religion to which he belonged. [48]April 2013 – Officials briefing U.S. Army soldiers placed “Evangelical Christianity” and “Catholicism” in a list that also included Al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas as examples of “religious extremism.” [49]April 2013 – The U.S. Army directs troops to scratch off and paint over tiny Scripture verse references that for decades had been forged into weapon scopes. [50]April 2013 – The Air Force creates a “religious tolerance” policy but consults only a militant atheist group to do so — a group whose leader has described military personnel who are religious as ‘spiritual rapists’ and ‘human monsters’ [51] and who also says that soldiers who proselytize are guilty of treason and sedition and should be punished to hold back a “tidal wave of fundamentalists.” [52]January 2013 – President Obama announced his opposition to a provision in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act protecting the rights of conscience for military chaplains. [53]June 2012 – Bibles for the American military have been printed in every conflict since the American Revolution, but the Obama Administration revokes the long-standing U. S. policy of allowing military service emblems to be placed on those military Bibles. [54]May 2012 – The Obama administration opposed legislation to protect the rights of conscience for military chaplains who do not wish to perform same-sex marriages in violation of their strongly-held religious beliefs. [55]April 2012 – A checklist for Air Force Inns will no longer include ensuring that a Bible is available in rooms for those who want to use them. [56]February 2012 – The U. S. Military Academy at West Point disinvites three star Army general and decorated war hero Lieutenant General William G. (“Jerry”) Boykin (retired) from speaking at an event because he is an outspoken Christian. [57]February 2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei). [58]February 2012 – The Army ordered Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners that their archbishop asked them to read. [59]November 2011 – The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child, a program to send holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity. [60]November 2011 – President Obama opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial. [61]November 2011 – Even while restricting and disapprobating Christian religious expressions, the Air Force Academy pays $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans at the Air Force Academy. [62]September 2011 – Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen of programs and services available to them from chaplains. [63]September 2011 – The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center stipulating that “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials and/or facts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.” [64]August 2011 – The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory long taught by civilized nations across the world (except now, America). [65]June 2011 – The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery. [66]January 2010 – Because of “concerns” raised by the Department of Defense, tiny Bible verse references that had appeared for decades on scopes and gunsights were removed. [67]3. Acts of hostility toward Biblical values:October 2015 – The administration attempts to pick opponents for court cases dealing with Obamacare contraception mandate. [68]March 2014 – The Obama administration seeks funding for every type of sex-education — except that which reflects traditional moral values. [69]August 2013 – Non-profit charitable hospitals, especially faith-based ones, will face large fines or lose their tax-exempt status if they don’t comply with new strangling paperwork requirements related to giving free treatment to poor clients who do not have Obamacare insurance coverage. [70] Ironically, the first hospital in America was founded as a charitable institution in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin, and its logo was the Good Samaritan, with Luke 10:35 inscribed below him: “Take care of him, and I will repay thee,” being designed specifically to offer free medical care to the poor. [71] Benjamin Franklin’s hospital would likely be fined unless he placed more resources and funds into paperwork rather than helping the poor under the new faith-hostile policy of the Obama administration.August 2013 – USAID, a federal government agency, shut down a conference in South Korea the night before it was scheduled to take place because some of the presentations were not pro-abortion but instead presented information on abortion complications, including the problems of “preterm births, mental health issues, and maternal mortality” among women giving birth who had previous abortions. [72]June 2013 – The Obama Administration finalizes requirements that under the Obamacare insurance program, employers must make available abortion-causing drugs, regardless of the religious conscience objections of many employers and even despite the directive of several federal courts to protect the religious conscience of employers. [73]April 2013 – The United States Agency for Internal Development (USAID), an official foreign policy agency of the U.S. government, begins a program to train homosexual activists in various countries around the world to overturn traditional marriage and anti-sodomy laws, targeting first those countries with strong Catholic influences, including Ecuador, Honduras, and Guatemala. [74]December 2012 – Despite having campaigned to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, President Obama once again suspends the provisions of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 which requires the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the American Embassy there. [75]July 2012 – The Pentagon, for the first time, allows service members to wear their uniforms while marching in a parade – specifically, a gay pride parade in San Diego. [76]October 2011 – The Obama administration eliminates federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion. [77]September 2011 – The Pentagon directs that military chaplains may perform same-sex marriages at military facilities in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. [78]July 2011 – Obama allows homosexuals to serve openly in the military, reversing a policy originally instituted by George Washington in March 1778. [79]March 2011 – The Obama administration refuses to investigate videos showing Planned Parenthood helping alleged sex traffickers get abortions for victimized underage girls. [80]February 2011 – Obama directs the Justice Department to stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act. [81]September 2010 – The Obama administration tells researchers to ignore a judge’s decision striking down federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. [82]August 2010 – The Obama administration Cuts funding for 176 abstinence education programs. [83]July 2010 – The Obama administration uses federal funds in violation of federal law to get Kenya to change its constitution to include abortion. [84]September 16, 2009 – The Obama administration appoints as EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who asserts that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,” including religious beliefs, if they may negatively affect homosexual “equality.” [85]July 2009 – The Obama administration illegally extends federal benefits to same-sex partners of Foreign Service and Executive Branch employees, in direction violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. [86]May 2009 – The White House budget eliminates all funding for abstinence-only education and replaces it with “comprehensive” sexual education, repeatedly proven to increase teen pregnancies and abortions. [87] He continues the deletion in subsequent budgets. [88]May 2009 – Obama officials assemble a terrorism dictionary calling pro-life advocates violent and charging that they use racism in their “criminal” activities. [89]March 2009 – The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit. [90]March 2009 – Obama orders taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. [91]March 2009 – Obama gave $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that promotes abortion and works closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations. [92]January 2009 – Obama lifts restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, forcing taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations. [93]January 2009 – President Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary of state asserts that American taxpayers are required to pay for abortions and that limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional. [94]4. Acts of preferentialism for Islam:April – September 2015 – The administration negotiates a deal to stop economic sanctions of Iran because of nuclear power development, despite the warnings and concern of Israel. [95]February 2012 – The Obama administration makes effulgent apologies for Korans being burned by the U. S. military, [96] but when Bibles were burned by the military, numerous reasons were offered why it was the right thing to do. [97]October 2011 – Obama’s Muslim advisers block Middle Eastern Christians’ access to the White House. [98]August 2010 – Obama speaks with great praise of Islam and condescendingly of Christianity. [99]August 2010 – Obama went to great lengths to speak out on multiple occasions on behalf of building an Islamic mosque at Ground Zero, while at the same time he was silent about a Christian church being denied permission to rebuild at that location. [100]April 2010 – Christian leader Franklin Graham is disinvited from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer Event because of complaints from the Muslim community. [101]April 2010 – The Obama administration requires rewriting of government documents and a change in administration vocabulary to remove terms that are deemed offensive to Muslims, including jihad, jihadists, terrorists, radical Islamic, etc. [102]May 2009 – While Obama does not host any National Day of Prayer event at the White House, he does host White House Iftar dinners in honor of Ramadan. [103]2010 – While every White House traditionally issues hundreds of official proclamations and statements on numerous occasions, this White House avoids traditional Biblical holidays and events but regularly recognizes major Muslim holidays, as evidenced by its 2010 statements on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha. [104]Many of these actions are literally unprecedented – this is the first time they have happened in four centuries of American history. The hostility of President Obama toward Biblical faith and values is without equal from any previous American president.[1] Todd Starnes, “No Christmas in White House Holiday Card,” Fox News Radio, 2011; Todd Starnes, “White House “Holiday” Card Spotlights Dog, Not Christmas,” Fox News Radio, 2012; “White House Christmas Decor Featuring Mao Zedong Comes Under Fire,” Fox News, December 24, 2009.[2] Billy Hallowell, “Obama Appoints Transgender Leader to Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships,” The Blaze, May 19, 2016.[3] Jonah Goldberg, “Obama Respects Dictators More Than Popes,” National Review, September 19, 2015.[4] Todd Starnes, “DOJ Defunds At-Risk Youth Programs over “God” Reference,” Townhall, June 25, 2013.[5] Steven Ertelt, “Obama Admin’s HHS Mandate Revision Likely Excludes Hobby Lobby,” LifeNews.com, February 1, 2013; Dan Merica, “Obama proposal would let religious groups opt-out of contraception mandate,” CNN, February 1, 2013.[6] Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Minister Backs Out of Speech at Inaugural,” New York Times, January 10, 2013; Eric Marrapodi, “Giglio bows out of inauguration over sermon on gays,” CNN, January 10, 2013.[7] Audrey Hudson, “Obama administration religious service for student loan forgiveness,” Human Events, February 15, 2012.[8] Ted Olson, “Church Wins Firing Case at Supreme Court,” Christianity Today, January 11, 2012.[9] Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Remarks in Recognition of International Human Rights Day,” U.S. Department of State, December 6, 2011.[10] Todd Starns, “Obama Administration Opposes FDR Prayer at WWII Memorial,” Fox News, November 4, 2011.[11] Joel Siegel, “Obama Omits God From Thanksgiving Speech, Riles Critics,” ABC News, November 25, 2011.[12] Chuck Donovan, “HHS’s New Health Guidelines Trample on Conscience,” Heritage Foundation, August 2, 2011.[13] Chris Johnson, “ENDA passage effort renewed with Senate introduction,” Washington Blade, April 15, 2011.[14] Marrianne Medlin, “Amid criticism, President Obama moves to fill vacant religious ambassador post,” Catholic News Agency, February 9, 2011; Thomas F. Farr, “Undefender of the Faith,” Foreign Policy, April 5, 2012.[15] LadyImpactOhio, “ Feds sued by Veterans to allow stolen Mojave Desert Cross to be rebuilt,” Red State, January 14, 2011.[16] “Remarks by the President at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia,” The White House, November 10, 2010.[17] Meredith Jessup, “Obama Continues to Omit ‘Creator’ From Declaration of Independence,” The Blaze, October 19, 2010.[18] Johanna Neuman, “Obama end Bush-era National Prayer Day Service at White House,” Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2009.[19] Jim Lovino, “Jesus Missing From Obama’s Georgetown Speech,” NBC Washington, April 17, 2009.[20] Chris McGreal, “Vatican vetoes Barack Obama’s nominees for U.S. Ambassador,” The Guardian, April 14, 2009.[21] Aliza Marcus, “Obama to Lift ‘Conscience’ Rule for Health Workers,” Bloomberg, February 27, 2009; Sarah Pulliam Baily, “Obama Admin. Changes Bush ‘Conscience’ Rule for Health Workers,” Christianity Today, February 18, 2011.[22] Sarah Pulliam Baily, “Obama: ‘They cling to guns or religion’,” Christianity Today, April 13, 2008.[23] Roger Severino, “President Obama Threatens to Veto Defense Bill That Protects Religious Liberty,” Charisma News,October 28, 2016.[24] Todd Starnes, “Boykin bounced: Fort Riley cancels Delta Force hero’s prayer breakfast speech,” Fox News, June 2, 2016.[25] Debra Heine, “USAF Vet Forcibly Removed from Flag-Folding Ceremony for Mentioning God,” PJMedia, June 20, 2016.[26] Todd Starnes, “Bible removed from POW/MIA display inside VA clinic,” Fox News, February 29, 2016.[27]Todd Starnes, “Navy bans chaplain from ministering to family of dead soldier,” Fox News, March 24, 2015.[28]Todd Starnes, “Former SEALs chaplain could be kicked out of Navy for Christian beliefs,” Fox News, March 9, 2015.[29] Hendrick Simoes, “US personnel in Bahrain prepare for Ramadan,” Stars and Stripes, June 26, 2014.[30] Todd Starnes, “Bible controversy hits Air Force base,” Fox News, March 15, 2014.[31] “Nativity scenes removed from Guantanamo dining halls after complaints,” Fox News, December 19, 2013.[32] Todd Starnes, “Air Force removes Nativity scene,” Fox News, December 9, 2013.[33] Steven Ertelt, “Army Briefing Tells Soldiers Christians and Pro-Lifers are a “Radical” Threat,” LifeNews, October 23, 2013.[34] Todd Starnes, “Catholic priests in military face arrest for celebrating Mass,” Fox News, October 5, 2013; The Brody File, “Priest: Obama Admin. Denied Mass to Catholics,” CBN News, October 8, 2013.[35] Stephen Losey, “Academy makes ‘God’ optional in cadets’ oath,” Air Force Times, October 25, 2013.[36] Adan Salazar, “DoD Training Manual: ‘Extremist’ Founding Fathers ‘Would Not Be Welcome In Today’s Military’,” infowars.com, August 24, 2013.[37] Chad Groening, “‘I cannot answer your question:’ Air Force Sgt. says lesbian commander booted him,” One News Now, August 20, 2013.[38] “Military gives bonuses only to same-sex couples,” WND, August 20, 2013.[39] Melanie Korb, “Air Force Invites Drag Queens to Perform on ‘Diversity Day’,” Charisma News, August 19, 2013.[40] Chad Groening, “Attorney demands answers for Air National Guard sergeant punished for beliefs,” OneNewsNow, July 15, 2013.[41] Todd Starnes, “Chaplain Ordered to Remove Religious Essay From Military Website,” FoxNews Radio, July 24, 2013.[42] Hellen Cook, “Pentagon Censors Christian Art,” Christian News Wire, January 21, 2010.[43] Todd Starnes, “Obama ‘Strongly Objects’ to Religious Liberty Amendment,” Townhall, June 12, 2013.[44] Todd Starnes, “Air Force Removes Video that Mentions God,” Fox News Radio. June 7, 2013.[45] Todd Starnes, “Army Punishes Soldier who Served Chick-fil-A,” Fox News Radio, June 5, 2013.[46] “Liberty Institute Calls On U.S. Department Of Defense To Abandon Shift In Military’s Proselytizing Policy,” PR Newswire, May 7, 2013; Todd Starnes, “Air Force Officer Told to Remove Bible from Desk,” Conservative news, politics, opinion, breaking news analysis, political cartoons and commentary, May 3, 2013.[47] “Pentagon May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith,” Breitbart, May 1, 2013.[48] Todd Starnes, “Air Force Officer Told to Remove Bible from Desk,” Conservative news, politics, opinion, breaking news analysis, political cartoons and commentary, May 3, 2013.[49] Jack Minor, “Military Warned ‘evangelicals’ No. 1 Threat,” WND, April 5, 2013.[50] Todd Starnes, “Army Removes Bible Reference from Scopes,” Fox News Radio, April 22, 2013.[51] “Chaplain endorsers ask Air Force for equal time,” Alliance Defending Freedom, April 30, 2013.[52] Todd Starnes, “Pentagon: Religious Proselytizing is Not Permitted,” Fox News Radio, April 30, 2013.[53] Billy Hallowell, “Obama Opposes NDAA’s ‘Rights of Conscience’ for Military Chaplains & Members, Vows to Protects Rights of Gays,” The Blaze, January 4, 2013; Paul Conner, “Obama calls NDAA conscience clause for military chaplains ‘unnecessary and ill-advised’,” The Daily Caller, January 3, 2013.[54] “U.S. military insignia no longer allowed on Bibles,” CBN News, June 14, 2012.[55] Patrick Goodenough, “White House ‘Strongly Objects’ to Legislation Protecting Military Chaplains from Doing Same-Sex Weddings or Being Forced to Act Against Conscience,” Home | CNSNews, May 16, 2012.[56] Markeshia Ricks, “Bible checklist for Air Force lodges going away,” Air Force Times, April 16, 2012.[57] Ken Blackwell, “Gen. Boykin Blocked At West Point,” Home | CNSNews, February 1, 2012.[58] Geoff Herbert, ” Air Force unit removes ‘God’ from logo; lawmakers warn of ‘dangerous precedent’,” Syracuse NY Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather, February 9, 2012.[59] Todd Starnes, “Army Silences Catholic Chaplains,” Fox News Radio, February 6, 2012.[60] “Air Force Academy Backs Away from Christmas Charity,” Fox News Radio, November 4, 2011.[61] Todd Starnes, “Obama Administration Opposes FDR Prayer at WWII Memorial,” Fox News, November 4, 2011.[62] Jenny Dean, “Air Force Academy adapts to pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans,” Los Angeles Times, November 26, 2011.[63] “Maintaining Government Neutrality Regarding Religion,” Department of the Air Force, September 1, 2011.[64] “Wounded, Ill, and Injured Partners in Care Guidelines,” Department of the Navy (accessed on February 29, 2012).[65] Jason Ukman, “Air Force suspends ethics course that used Bible passages that train missle launch officers,” Washington Post, August 2, 2011.[66] “Houston Veterans Claim Censorship of Prayers, Including Ban of ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’,” Fox News, June 29, 2011.[67] Todd Spangler, “U.S. firm to remove Bible references from gun sights,” USA Today, January 21, 2010.[68] Samuel Smith, “Nun Too Crazy? Obama Trying to Hand Pick Opponent in Birth Control Battle, Little Sisters of the Poor Attorneys Say,” The Christian Post, October 14, 2015.[69] Steven Ertelt, “President Obama’s Budget Eliminates Abstinence Education Programs,” Life News, March 5, 2014; Jennifer Liberto, “Sex abstinence program among Obama’s targeted cuts,” CNN Money, March 5, 2014.[70] Patrick Howley, “Obamacare installs new scrutiny, fines for charitable hospitals that treat uninsured people,” The Daily Caller, August 8, 2013.[71] “The Story of the Creation of the Nation’s First Hospital,” University of Pennsylvania Health System (accessed August 14, 2013).[72] Wendy Wright,” USAID Rep Shuts Down Workshop on Abortion Complications,” Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, August 9, 2013.[73] “Obama Administration Ignores Outcries, Finalizes HHS Mandate Targeting Religious Freedom,” Liberty Counsel, July 1, 2013; Baptist Press, “Moore, others: Final mandate rules fail,” Townhall, July 1, 2013.[74] Tony Perkins, “Obama administration begins training homosexual activists around the world,” LifeSiteNews, June 6, 2013.[75] Ken Blackwell, “Guest Opinion: Take a Risk for Peace. Move our Embassy to Jerusalem!,” Catholic Online, June 5, 2013.[76] “Pentagon: Service members now allowed to wear uniforms in gay pride parades,” NY Daily News, July 19, 2012.[77] Jerry Markon, “Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups,” Washington Post, October 31, 2011.[78] Luis Martinez, “Will Same Sex Marriages Pose a Dilemma for Military Chaplains?,” ABC News, October 12, 2011.[79] Elisabeth Bumiller, “Obama Ends ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy,” New York Times, July 22, 2011; George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1934), Vol. XI, pp. 83-84, from General Orders at Valley Forge on March 14, 1778.[80] Steven Ertelt, “Obama Admin Ignores Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Videos,” LifeNews, March 2, 2011.[81] Brian Montopoli, “Obama administration will no longer defend DOMA,” CBSNews, February 23, 2011.[82] Steven Ertelt, “President Barack Obama’s Pro-Abortion Record: A Pro-Life Compilation,” LifeNews, February 11, 2012.[83] Steven Ertelt, “Obama, Congress Cut Funding for 176 Abstinence Programs Despite New Study,” LifeNews, August 26, 2010.[84] Tess Civantos, “White House Spent $23M of Taxpayer Money to Back Kenyan Constitution That Legalizes Abortion, GOP Reps Say,” Fox News, July 22, 2010.[85] Matt Cover, “Obama’s EEOC Nominee: Society Should ‘Not Tolerate Private Beliefs’ That ‘Adversely Affect’ Homosexuals,” Home | CNSNews, January 18, 2010.[86] “Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies,” The White House, June 17, 2009.[87] Steven Ertelt, “Barack Obama’s Federal Budget Eliminates Funding for Abstinence-Only Education,” LifeNews, May 8, 2009.[88] Steven Ertelt, “Obama Budget Funds Sex Ed Over Abstinence on 16-1 Margin,” LifeNews, February 14, 2011.[89] Steven Ertelt, “Obama Admin Terrorism Dictionary Calls Pro-Life Advocates Violent, Racist,” LifeNews, May 5, 2009.[90] Steven Ertelt, “Pro-Life Groups Left Off Obama’s Health Care Summit List, Abortion Advocates OK,” LifeNews, March 5, 2009.[91] “Obama Signs Order Lifting Restrictions on Stem Cell Research Funding,” Fox News, March 9, 2009.[92] Steven Ertelt, “ Obama Administration Announces $50 Million for Pro-Forced Abortion UNFPA,” LifeNews, March 26, 2009; Steven Ertelt, “President Barack Obama’s Pro-Abortion Record: A Pro-Life Compilation,” LifeNews, February 11, 2012.[93] Jeff Mason and Deborah Charles, “Obama lifts restrictions on abortion funding,” Reuters, January 23, 2009.[94] “Obama pick: Taxpayers must fund abortions,” World Net Daily, January 27, 2009.[95] “Netanyahu to Obama: Iran deal would ‘threaten the survival of Israel’,” Fox News, April 3, 2015.[96] Masoud Popalzai and Nick Paton Walsh, “ Obama apologizes to Afghanistan for Quran burning,” CNN, February 23, 2012.[97] “Military burns unsolicited Bibles sent to Afghanistan,” CNN, May 22, 2009.[98] “Report: Obama’s Muslim Advisers Block Middle Eastern Christians’ Access to the White House,” Big Peace (accessed on February 29, 2012).[99] Chuck Norris, “ President Obama: Muslim Missionary? (Part 2),” Conservative news, politics, opinion, breaking news analysis, political cartoons and commentary, August 24, 2010; Chuck Norris, “President Obama: Muslim Missionary?,” Conservative news, politics, opinion, breaking news analysis, political cartoons and commentary, August 17, 2010.[100] Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President at Iftar Dinner,” The White House, August 13, 2010; “Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero,” Fox News, August 13, 2010; Pamela Geller, “Islamic Supremacism Trumps Christianity at Ground Zero,” American Thinker, July 21, 2011.[101] “Franklin Graham Regrets Army’s Decision to Rescind Invite to Pentagon Prayer Service,” Fox News, April 22, 2010.[102] “Obama Bans Islam, Jihad From National Security Strategy Document,” Fox News, April 7, 2010; “Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as ‘Legitimate Tenet of Islam’,” Fox News, May 27, 2010; “‘Islamic Radicalism’ Nixed From Obama Document,” CBSNews, April 7, 2010.[103] Barack Obama, “ Remarks by the President at Iftar Dinner,” The White House, September 1, 2009; Kristi Keck, “ Obama tones down National Day of Prayer observance,” CNN, May 6, 2009; Dan Gilgoff, “ The White House on National Day of Prayer: A Proclamation, but No Formal Ceremony,” U.S. News, May 1, 2009.[104] “WH Fails to Release Easter Proclamation,” Fox Nation, April 25, 2011; “President Obama ignores most holy Christian holiday; AFA calls act intentional,” American Family Association (accessed on February 29, 2012).

A decade later and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is still the best film superhero cinema has ever produced.A decade after its release, the most evocative images of The Dark Knight in our cultural memory have little to do with what we anticipate in superhero movies. A lone hero standing in the rubble of a ruined building, mourning the dead while fires still rage behind him; an empty firetruck abandoned on the side of the road and engulfed in the flames it was intended to stop; and a maniac riding in the back of a stolen cop cruiser, relishing the pre-dawn air like a dog scenting blood. That and more will come too in a morning awakening to chaos.To be sure, The Dark Knight is d superhero film, as two of those three images include a hero in a bat-shaped costume or a villain encrusted in fading pancake makeup. However, it is how co-writer/director Christopher Nolan and his many collaborators put those pieces together that makes The Dark Knight’s mystique, even a full 11 years later, so enigmatic. The summer of 2008 ushered in both the height of superhero cinema’s artistic ambitions with The Dark Knight as well as its then-untapped full commercial potential as gleaned by Marvel Studios’ Iron Man. But even in this new age of gods and monstrous superhero blockbusters, none has come close to matching The Dark Knight’s enduring effect on the culture and cinema’s better angels. Few have even tried. That is because The Dark Knight’s lightning in a bottle is still a shock to the system 11 years on.Released as the sequel of Nolan’s reinvention of the Batman legend, Batman Begins (2005), there was no tangible reason to expect The Dark Knight would be the cultural game-changer that it was. Batman Begins was a superb superhero movie that grounded the Batman character in relatively heightened realism (or what another superhero director happily labeled “verisimilitude”). After several years of superheroes becoming a new popular genre in the 21st century, Batman Begins was a more intelligent and adult variation on the familiar formula. Taking a page from Richard Donner, Nolan had assembled an all-star cast of acting heavyweights from large to small roles, including Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Liam Neeson. Yet Batman Begins was still very much the traditional superhero origin movie, even if it is arguably the best rendering of it, following the same narrative beats of Superman: The Movie, Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man, and many of the Marvel Studios movies that came afterward, including Iron Man.What Begins did bring to the table, however, was the elegant craft of a group of filmmakers aiming to create a superhero movie similar in style to the crime epics of the previous 30 years. Even so, the movie was a minor box office success, opening soft at $48.8 million and then grossing $205 million on sheer word of mouth. These were respectable numbers, but nothing in them could have foretold to Warner Bros. that the next Batman movie, even with its ampler budget, would be the first movie to open at over $150 million in three days, or that it would go on to gross more than a billion dollars back when that was not an annual event, and at a time when the Chinese box office could not be counted on. The Dark Knight did not even play in China after its less than favorable representation of the government’s extradition laws.Why The Dark Knight struck such a chord with moviegoers can still be quibbled over (and is by fans). Was it the dynamic viral marketing campaign, the macabre allure of a major star dying far too young, and The Dark Knight capturing his final full performance, or just people loving Batman vs. the Joker? Each of these aspects obviously played a role in the pop culture tidal wave that followed, but what made it more than just a big opening weekend or another superhero movie to fade from memory six months later is that The Dark Knight is a nigh perfect superhero passion play, one aiming to throw its winged crusader into a rarified air that most other action movie franchises simply avoid.As directed by Christopher Nolan, who worked from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jonathan Nolan (David Goyer co-wrote the story), The Dark Knight is the clearest rendering of the reason superhero movies have exploded in the American imagination with renewed vigor in the 21st century. It is no a coincidence that the first major superhero blockbuster of this era was the one about a hometown kid from Queens learning “When you mess with one of us [New Yorkers] you mess with all of us.” Released only eight months after the cataclysmic event that reshaped life in the West, Raimi’s Spider-Man was the first superhero movie and pure summer escapism to follow Sept. 11, 2001. It also was a needed bit of joyous daydream where instead of facing doom and despair, Manhattanites were left in awe of the nerdy, webbed avenger flying through their concrete canyons.It ushered in the appeal of someone simplifying an issue with his righteousness and saving us all from our world of uncertainty. It is a potent fantasy that continues to be attractive in our never-ending troubled times. Consider how much of Marvel Studios’ now dominant output engages that Raimi sense of gee golly glee, if noticeably less of the wonder that Raimi adored. But between the MCU and Spider-Man, there were plenty of superhero movies of varying levels of quality, with Batman Begins standing on the higher end.The Dark Knight, however, was the first superhero movie to unequivocally follow up on that social unease that Spider-Man cooed. Only rather than comfort, Nolan found something gruesome and real undergirding the entire power fantasy. While all three of Nolan’s Batman films deal with real fears of social collapse in the West—Batman Begins features a bearded man wanting to destroy an American city through fear and The Dark Knight Rises rather presciently predicts a loudmouthed faux-populist destroying institutions—The Dark Knight is the most sophisticated in its thematic working. Unlike its sister installments, it doesn’t rely on doomsday nuclear weapons or a grand scheme to destroy a city. Rather it is about how one lone man with a lot of firearms can terrify a community until its systems begin collapsing all on their own.Reimagining the Joker as more than a supervillain, the bad guy is now a personification of the very concept of chaos. He also takes The Dark Knight out of the abstract and allegorical and into moviegoers’ daily lives. We’ve seen this Joker’s tactics on the nightly news for years before and since the film, from videotaped executions to the specter of political assassinations that still haunts so many years after the 1960s. The Joker’s modus operandi is not a representation of evil in the real world; it’s a mirror to it.Thus moviegoers are invited to consider how they or their communities would react to what is essentially a supernaturally gifted terrorist who can strike wherever he wants. Suddenly the notion of a superhero becomes much less reassuring. The Dark Knight Trilogy’s Batman is perhaps the most noble and self-sacrificing in the genre’s entire canon, who over years and films eventually gives his all in the name of his city. But unlike so many other superheroes, this Batman can fail and can be eluded. Simply by placing two victims in different locations, the Joker damns Batman to choose only one. In troubled times, even a superhero cannot save all of us from fiery destruction.Only seven years after 9/11, and still during the Bush Years which were marred by hysteria and paranoia that led to the U.S. government invaded Iraq based on trumped-up intelligence and supporting “enhanced interrogation techniques” (i.e. torture), moviegoers felt their inarticulate sensation of helpless dread staring back at them as Gothamites bend and break to the Joker’s machinations. One by one, everyone, including the Batman, is tainted by a culture willing to sacrifice its liberties in the name of security. These citizens don’t believe “if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.” They believe there is a madman the government is failing to catch, and they react differently.Both Nolan brothers have remarked in the past how the Joker is almost not a character in the literary sense. He is more a force of nature, comparable to the shark stalking the shores of New England in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. He is a presence with no character arc, he just is—appearing in that moment with his back to the camera and mask in hand as if he had just materialized out of thin air. He’s a Rorschach test for the other characters in the film to project their fears or, in the case of the mob, hope onto.By putting as much emphasis on the young and dashing district attorney, Harvey Dent, and the budding Police Commissioner James Gordon as Bruce Wayne, The Dark Knight’s script echoes Jaws’ triumvirate of men in varying degrees of public life trying to do the right thing and slay the beast. But that fight has a price where no one in the post-9/11 War on Terror comes out looking fully heroic. The most vocally righteous of the three, Harvey Dent, carries the film’s emotional arc as he wears the death of his fiancée Rachel Dawes just as heavily as Bruce Wayne, and that combined with being physically scarred by an act of terror breaks him. He gives in to despair and cynicism, and to hide that fact—as well as the news that he killed several crooked cops—Batman takes the blame for Harvey Dent’s crimes.To stop the Joker from “winning,” Batman and Gordon must enter into a political conspiracy that taints both of them. There is much talk about what kind of hero Gotham (and America) deserves in the picture, as well as about white knights and dark knights. But it is the film’s ubiquitous tonal gray that is the most overbearing. The heroes win a pyrrhic victory based on a lie. It also casts Bruce Wayne’s dedication in a more stirring light, as this isn’t about beating poor people up with his bare hands; he’ll sacrifice the nature of his existence, and the solace he finds in being Batman, to protect Gotham. But he does so in a way that morally compromises him, just as much as how he reluctantly pushed Harvey Dent from a great height to prevent the disgraced DA from shooting a boy while lost in rage and delirium.Batman wouldn’t break his “one rule” of no killing to slay the Joker, because that would prove the Joker’s philosophical point that anyone can become as broken and nihilistic as himself, but Bruce will break it to save a child’s life. That irony is not lost on a hero who must compromise even his ethics to win the day.Such a nuanced view of a world gone to hell summarizes why we truly need the fantasy of one good man like Batman, or a handful in the case of Gordon, Rachel, and even the flawed Harvey Dent, making the hard choices we cannot make. And yet, the film is aware of the inherent limitation of such dreams, which other superhero movies blindly embrace. Batman and Gordon lie to defend the state, and Batman used cell phone surveillance to a degree that barely seemed fictional in 2008 after the PATRIOT Act, and not at all after Edward Snowden revealed how deep the NSA’s surveillance program had burrowed by 2013. Abandoning your belief for a hero like Batman can invite in darker forces, which Nolan’s next Batman movie manifests as Tom Hardy’s Bane.Still, all this thematic density is not the only reason for The Dark Knight’s significance and popularity. Other filmmakers have attempted to emulate Nolan’s aesthetic both in superhero movies and in genres as wide as spy thrillers and space treks into darkness, and most of them have failed. The narrative element in The Dark Knight is only so cutting because all of the other pieces complement each other, like a snazzy purple suit accentuating the emerald in your hair.Heath Ledger’s death will forever be a stinging blow to his friends and family, and all those who knew his work on the big screen. However, the allure around his performance as the Joker exceeds any lurid implications. His hypnotic delivery of one of the most seductive and appalling visages of malevolence is the real draw. In a performance worthy of being held in the company of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, Ledger’s Joker is a powerful demon that mixes a grungy, punk look removed from the normal frills and polish of Hollywood blockbusters.There’s an appealingly slapdash and amateurish quality to his makeup design—which Ledger insisted he put on himself—causing the villain to resemble the addict on the corner who hasn’t slept in a week or showered in thrice as long, as much as any comic book panel. And there is a method to his madness too, with each little facial spasm or desire to lick his self-inflicted wounds—another Ledger improvisation—building up to be more than just a showcase for a performer to indulge in ham. It is a portrait that gives the Nolans’ personification of terror and random tragedy a human dimension. That is why the insidiousness is so unrelenting. It is the tour de force it was billed up as 2008. Nonetheless, the rest of the cast—even the admittedly underserved and underused Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel—rarely have gotten enough credit for bringing their A-game and providing the superhero genre with a film that is unapologetically earnest about its genre trappings, as much so as The Godfather seemed in 1972 about gangster pictures.Oldman’s genuine panic at seeing a gun pointed at his son’s head is unnervingly infectious, Caine’s self-loathing as he burns a letter to protect Bruce is palpable, and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent gives a career-best turn as the face of bitterness toward a cruel world. But perhaps most curious of all is how often Christian Bale as the Batman goes overlooked. Playing essentially one of several protagonists in The Dark Knight, and in a film that is overshadowed by one cinema’s greatest villains, Bale received a fair bit of criticism in 2008. Whereas Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises were Bruce Wayne’s story, The Dark Knight was just as much about the people of Gotham. However, in this broader ensemble context, Bale’s performance warrants a greater appreciation, especially in the wake of so many self-effacing and snarky superheroes becoming the standard in recent times.The first thing anyone notices about Bale’s Batman is his rage and anger (and the goofy voice he puts on to channel it). With the feral intensity of a lion about to strike, his Batman is perpetually pissed off. What is less immediately present is forlorn altruism. Unlike the wholly glum and resigned Michael Keaton, or Ben Affleck’s sadistic killing machine in the more recent Caped Crusader “adventures,” there is a reservoir of humanity and pain underneath the surface of Bale’s Batman. There is also fear.We saw that in a broader, more blockbuster friendly rendering in Batman Begins, but that sense of trauma and anxiety about losing his soul to the Joker’s social experiments, or losing loved ones like Rachel, is much more deftly handled in The Dark Knight. And it is his resolve to power past that dread, like Gary Cooper walking to his destiny in High Noon, which makes his Batman so operatic in his sacrifice, and so much more lasting than what’s usually followed. While other superheroes tend to have a tongue in their cheek, it is Bruce’s keeping his hat in his hand that lingers.The earnestness with which Nolan and Bale treat their superhero as a man who can and will lose, yet still wearily puts the weight of the world on his shoulders, is a nearly forgotten ingredient in The Dark Knight that matches the Joker’s nasty frivolity. When the two meet, and anger and nihilism come to ineffective blows in an interrogation-turned-torture sequence, the film experiences its true climax of tension that leaves no easy answers. The Joker “gets” to Batman as he ineffectively tortures a prisoner, and winds up with nothing to show for it but a ruined life and an ended one. The fallout that follows leaves Bruce and audiences alike to pick up the pieces.Luckily though, thanks to the craft behind-the-camera, those are some uniformly beautiful pieces. While Wally Pfister would have to wait until Inception to win an Oscar for cinematography, his and Nolan’s choices in The Dark Knight have been the most important in blockbuster filmmaking. The Dark Knight was the first Hollywood fiction to use IMAX photography, notably for only a handful of sequences including when they flipped a real semi-truck, rear-first, in downtown Chicago. And the way Pfister captured a cool, urbane aesthetic that was counterintuitive to the bleakness leaping outside of the sunny vistas proves far more effective than the glossy CG-sheen of so many tentpoles. Further, the vertigo Pfister can accomplish in IMAX during the Hong Kong detour has arguably had a more enduring impact on blockbusters than James Cameron’s 3D cameras in Avatar. To this day, blockbusters still can make an event out of sequences shot for IMAX 70mm, whereas 3D has receded to the margins of gimmicky surcharges.Similarly, Hans Zimmer’s score for The Dark Knight and its propulsive drums of dread became shorthand for many an epic, some scored by Zimmer and others not. Almost every aspect of The Dark Knight was deconstructed and disseminated into the broader culture. And yet, it’s fair to say that the film had less of an impact on its genre than Iron Man did from that same summer. Iron Man heralded shared universes and a happy-go-lucky self-aware, sardonic quality that’s become an expectation within the genre. There were a few attempts to emulate The Dark Knight, including in its sequel and the Zack Snyder directed DCEU movies, plus Marc Webb’s first The Amazing Spider-Man reboot. Perhaps the only one who’s come close though was when Sam Mendes used it as an effective inspiration in 2012’s Skyfall. Overall though, many of the imitators chased The Dark Knight's grim vice while missing much or all of its virtue.Be that as it may, the real reason we haven’t had a superhero movie as good as The Dark Knight, or even many on the same level as The Dark Knight Rises, is because few studios or directors in the current environment are willing to swing for the fences like that. Last year we received a wonderful exception in James Mangold’s elegiac Logan, yet that freedom was achieved due to Hugh Jackman successfully playing a beloved alter-ego for close to 20 years. For a new property? Most prefer landing a sure-thing single than striking out in the hopes of a risky homerun.For that reason, The Dark Knight continues to not only be the very best movie of its kind but to go practically unchallenged. It is the superhero movie whose snubbing caused the Academy Awards to go from five nominating categories for Best Picture to 10; the film that championed IMAX blockbuster cinema; and that offered the definitive rendering of a superhero and his arch-nemesis fighting for not only the soul of Gotham, but also the ones in its audience. That soulfulness is also what will likely always leave it peerless.David Crow is the Film Section Editor at Den of Geek. He’s also a member of the Online Film Critics Society. Read more of his work here. You can follow him on Twitter @DCrowsNest.

By Connie Wilson, Weekly Wilson, January 31, 2017, Film Critic since 1970 (The Movie Blog, et. al.)36 Greatest U.S. Political Films of All TimeBy Connie WilsonIn preparing a list of “the greatest” of anything, you are limited by your own exposure to the films (i.e., ‘Did you see these movies?”) If you did see them, do you remember all of them?Fortunately for those of you longing for a political fix that isn’t nauseating (but actually entertaining), I have personally seen every single movie on this list—some of them more than once.I concentrated on the American political experience, not that of another country. For that reason, films like “Z” by Costa-Gravas, or his equally impressive “Missing” (Chile) or Helen Mirren’s“The Queen” were deleted, as they focus on the political process in other countries. Warren Beatty’s movie “Reds” would have qualified if we wanted to open the list to Mother Russia.But my emphasis is on politics here in the good old United States of America. (Also known, recently, as the Divided States of America, but that’s a topic for another day.) Steve McQueen’s 2008 film “Hunger” about the Irish Republican Army prison inmates certainly deserves a place on a list of great political films, but not if we’re concentrating on America, American politicians, and American politics. Similarly “The King’s Speech” (2010) had to go. “V for Vendetta”(2005): out. “Metropolis” (1927): a classic, but not really a film about American politics.And that brings me to another criteria for my list. The primary focus of the film had to be on politics or the political process or a political candidate. One other list I consulted while researching my list included “Children of Men” (2006) and “The Godfather: Part II”.The second “Godfather” movie definitely brings politics into the plot.Nor was Coppola’s other masterpiece, “Apocalypse Now” a movie about politics (as one list would have had me believe). Yes, Martin Sheen is traveling up the river to find Kurtz (Marlon Brando), but don’t most of us think of “Apocalypse Now” as a war movie? I know I do; I was surprised to see it on lists of “greatest political films” and I was equally surprised to see Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece “Citizen Kane” or Gregory Peck’s turn as Atticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird” listed as “political” movies.I eliminated documentaries, such as Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” because it isn’t a feature film. A great documentary like the Oscar-nominated “The Look of Silence” about the Philippines therefore lost out on two counts: it’s a documentary AND it is not about the United States. There are any number of great Errol Morris documentaries (“The Fog of War,” “The Unknown Known”) that would have been included, if I included documentaries. But these are all feature films on this list, made about the U.S. and being recommended to you for future viewing.For those of you still reeling from the election of 2016 who want to see good movies that will both entertain and enlighten you about politics in the U.S. of A, this is the list for you!I admit to having seen every single one of them, which demonstrates why I get so little real work done. After the thumbnail sketches of the films, I’ll list a few “oldies-but-goodies” that I admit woulda’/shoulda’/coulda’ made the list—if I had seen them. Or, in at least one case, if I remembered it, which, apparently, I do not, or I would have included it.Most of those films pre-date my movie-going career, (which has been very, very long).THE FILMS1949 & 2006: “All the King’s Men” – Broderick Crawford won an Oscar for playing Huey Long in the original movie (and then moved on to television, where he had a long-running role on “Highway Patrol.”) Sean Penn took on the part again in 2006. I’ll take the original over the remake, especially for the scene featuring Huey’s violent death as he exits the Capitol building. The film was based on Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and here’s what IMDB says it is about: “The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.” Amazing how these old movies retain their timeliness.1962 & 2004: “The Manchurian Candidate” – For many years, this was my All-Time Favorite Flick. Laurence Harvey as the hit man who was brainwashed and is now the pawn of the evil Angela Lansbury (his mother) is magnificent, and Frank Sinatra is racing against the clock to prevent catastrophe in this plot that involves putting a Russian pawn in the White House. After the assassination of JFK, the film was withdrawn from release for many years, but re-emerged and the John Frankenheimer (“Black Sunday,” “Seven Days in May”) version was re-shot with Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber in the title roles and the conflict updated to the Korean War. Direction in 2004 was by Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs”). Both are good films, but I vote for the original 1962 version.1962: “Advise and Consent” – Otto Preminger directed this film that starred Henry Fonda and Franchot Tone. The film was adapted from the Allan Drury novel that I once had to read for and with a young student from Chicago who was enrolled in a political science class at Augustana College and had been assigned to read the book for his class. The IMDB plot write-up: Senate investigation into the President’s newly nominated Secretary of State, gives light to a secret from the past, which may not only ruin the candidate, but the President’s character as well. (Nothing like this could ever happen in today’s world—right?)1964: “Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” – Stanley Kubrick’s film with Peter Sellers in multiple roles is so good that I once cornered my entire family and made them watch it on Christmas Day. After all, what is more entertaining than the sight of Sellers’ facing off against Sterling Hayden and George C. Scott. I’ll never forget the scene where Sterling Hayden is ordered to machine gun a Coca Cola vending machine and Hayden defiantly says, “Well, all right, but you’ll have to answer to the Coca Cola Company,” or words to that effect. The plot (IMDB): An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically try to stop. Oh! THAT could never happen in real life, now, could it? Slim Pickens riding the bomb. This film cries out for viewing in today’s political climate.1964: “Fail-Safe” – Henry Fonda steps up to the political plate once again, in a film directed by Sidney Lumet (“12 Angry Men,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Network”) that features a rogue attack on the U.S.S.R. (Remember the Cold War when Russia was our adversary and not our good friend?). The launch a mistake caused by an electrical malfunction and the question is: “Can we avoid an all-out nuclear war?”1964: “Seven Days in May” – John Frankenheimer directed the original film that starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner and Martin Balsam about a plot against the President of the United States by military leaders because the president supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and the military fears a Russian sneak nuclear attack. Nominated for 2 Oscars.1972: “The Candidate” – I still have a political button that says “Bill McKay: A Better Way.” The theater gave them out to advertise this Robert Redford starring movie about a candidate running for the Senate in California and his handlers. Real Senators Alan Cranston, Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern had cameos. Howard K. Smith of ABC News played himself. I always felt that this treatment of the run for office was probably more accurate than most.1974: “The Parallax View” – An ambitious reporter played by Warren Beatty gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator’s assassination. Everyone who knew anything about the Senator’s death seems to be dying. He discovers a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world’s headlines. Directed by Alan J. Pakula (“The Pelican Brief”) and co-starring Paula Prentiss.1975: “Three Days of the Condor” – A bookish CIA researcher (Robert Redford) finds all his co-workers dead. (You never know what you’ll find your co-workers up to when you return from a coffee run). He must outwit those responsible and figure out whom he can trust. Directed by Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford’s kidnapping of Faye Dunaway (he needs a place to hide out while he figures things out) leads to some moody cinematography of her photography and, ultimately, to the salvation that releasing facts to the media (i.e., the “New York Times”) used to mean. Ah, for those good old simpler days.1976: “All the President’s Men” – Starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as Woodward and Bernstein of the Washington Post, the two uncover the details of the Watergate scandal (primarily from informant “Deep Throat” played by Hal Holbrook) that leads to President Richard Nixon’s resignation from office. Again directed by Alan J. Pakula, based on Bernstein and Woodward’s books. I showed this to a class at Eastern Iowa Community College to illustrate “whistle-blower” films, and the credits are of an old manual typewriter banging out the information, so its credit opening seems very dated.1979: “Being There” – The great Peter Sellers plays Chance, the gardener, and Shirley MacLaine co-stars. I’ll never forget Chance saying, “I just like to watch.” Jerzy Kosinski wrote the novel on which the plot is based and also wrote the screenplay for the film, which was directed by Hal Ashby (“Harold & Maude,” “The Last Detail”). A poor simple gardener becomes an unlikely trusted advisor to a powerful businessman and an insider in Washington politics (These days, that phrase is redundant). Is Chance really dumb, or is he crazy like a fox? Melvyn Douglas won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, but the film also had another 13 wins and 15 nominations for a variety of film critics’ awards that year.1981: “First Monday in October” – This film starring Jill Clayburgh and Walter Matthau was about the appointment of the first woman to the Supreme Court. Jerome Lawrence wrote the play and the screenplay and Ronald Neame directed. Clayburgh is the Conservative (think Scalia) and Matthau is the liberal (think Ruth Bader-Ginsberg). It eventually leads to a romance not unlike that of the Ragin’ Cajun of the Democratic party, James Carville, and his Republican wife Mary Matlin—[before she bolted from the GOP, anyway].1992: “Bob Roberts” – Tim Robbins wrote it. Tim Robbins directed it. Tim Robbins starred in it. Here’s the IMDB plot summary: “A right-wing folk singer becomes a corrupt politician and runs a crooked election campaign. Only one independent muck-raking reporter is trying to stop him.”1993: “The Pelican Brief” – Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts are on the trail of who murdered a Supreme Court Justice of the United States and why. Based on the John Grisham best-selling novel. Alan J. Pakula (“All the President’s Men,” “The Parallax View”) wrote the screenplay and directed.1995: “The American President” – Aaron Sorkin wrote it, Rob Reiner directed it, and Michael Douglas and Annette Benning play the widowed President, who falls in love with a lobbyist. I actually knew the guy who made sure the dye in the carpet was the same as the real Oval Office. (He also dyed the Trump baby’s layette for a photo shoot for “Vanity Fair”, but that “baby” our current president’s second daughter, with Marla Maples, is now the young Tiffany Trump.)1997 : « Conspiracy Theory » – Mel Gibson & Julia Roberts. A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, Mel has to figure out which theory it is. Directed by Richard Donner (“Lethal Weapon”).1997 – “Wag the Dog” – Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor (Robert DeNiro) and a Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a presidential sex scandal. Directed by Barry Levinson (“Diner”) and co-starring Anne Heche. My favorite scene involved a young girl clutching a bag of potato chips to simulate a baby, which would be “green screened” into a touching war scenario that would distract from the REAL scandal. The movie is a hoot and a half and rings even truer today!1998: “Primary Colors” – A man joins the political campaign of a smooth-operator candidate for president of the USA, played by John Travolta and loosely modeled on Bill Clinton’s charisma. Directed by the late great Mike Nichols, who joins Alan J. Pakula in heaven as one of the best directors of a political movie since 1970. Based on the Joe Klein novel that hit New York Times best-seller lists as written by “anonymous.”1991: “JFK” – Oliver Stone directed from a script that he and Zachary Sklar co-wrote. The bio-pic explores the assassination theories that New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison believed to be true. Too many courtroom scenes, but a decent bio-pic about the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, starring Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald, Brian Doyle Murray as Jack Ruby, Sissy Spacek, Kevin Costner (as Garrison), Tommy Lee Jones, John Candy, Jack Lemmon, Ed Asner, Vincent D’Onofrio, Wayne Knight and Michael Rooker among a very large cast.1992: “Malcolm X” – Spike Lee directed from the book “Malcolm X” by Alex Haley (“Roots”). Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett and Delroy Lindo starred in this bio-pic about the Black Muslim leader who was assassinated in New York at the age of 39 on Feb. 21, 1965.1995: “Nixon” – Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen and Powers Boothe headed up the cast of this Oliver Stone bio-pic. I have to admit that I thought Hopkins was the wrong physical type to play Nixon, but he did his usual great job. Film was nominated for 4 Oscars. It got nominations for its screenplay, its original music, and both Allen and Hopkins were nominated, but did not win.1998: “Bulworth” – Warren Beatty wrote this, starred in it, and directed it, with Halle Berry as his co-star. Bulworth is a liberal politician, Senator Jay Billington Bullworth, who is so suicidally disillusioned that he puts a hit out on himself. At that point, he feels that he can now be completely honest with his constituents. I did not like this movie as well as most of the others on the list, which was because the plot had Bulworth embracing hip hop music and culture as he waits to die. But it’s a Warren Beatty film and deserves to be on the list as an examination of to what lengths (or depths) politics can drive a candidate.1999: “Election” – A very young (and obnoxious) Reese Witherspoon is Little Miss Goody Two Shoes in teacher Matthew Broderick’s classroom. A compulsive over-achiever, Broderick’s life becomes very complicated (and the film becomes very hilarious) when the campaign and run for Class President comes down to a vote or two against opponent Chris Klein (“American Pie”). I loved this movie and laughed out loud; it didn’t hurt any that the inexpensive film used the Midwest chain Younkers in the background of some shots, because you’re not going to see THAT every day! (Founded in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa, Younkers stores only exist in 50 Midwestern locations.)2000: “The Contender” – Joan Allen strikes again, this time as a Vice Presidential contender named Laine Hanson. Information and DISinformation threatens to derail her confirmation. What a cast! In addition to Allen, the co-stars include Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott and William Peterson. (I met Joan Allen at the Chicago International Film Festival a few years back, when she was being honored as a local girl made good. She is a Rochelle, Illinois native who attended both Eastern Illinois University and Northern Illinois University, my husband’s alma mater).2005: “Good Night & Good Luck” – George Clooney wrote, directed and was one of the stars of this film about Edward R. Murrow’s attempts to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy. Clooney admitted it was a passion project for him. David Straithorne played Murrow, with Jeff Daniels, Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, Matt Ross and Robert Downey, Jr., also in the cast. Nominated for 6 Academy Awards.2007: “Charlie Wilson’s War” – Tom Hanks portrayed Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, who attempted to covertly supply Afghan rebels with the weapons to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan. The film’s tag-line was: “Based on a true story. You think we could make all this up?” Co-stars were Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman (again), and Amy Adams from a script written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Mike Nichols.2008: “Frost/Nixon” – Ron Howard directed Frank Langella (Nixon) and Martin Sheen (Frost) in this film adaptation of the Broadway play that detailed the information that Nixon finally admitted during David Frost’s interviews of him on national television. It was essentially a two-man play, but the movie also featured such name actors as Kevin Bacon, Toby Jones, Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt and the director’s brother, Clint Howard.2008: “Milk” – Sean Penn beat out Mickey Rourke this year (in “The Wrestler”) to take home the Oscar for Best Actor in this drama about California’s first openly gay elected official. Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin (as the shooter) star in this Gus Van Sant project.2008: “W” – Josh Brolin portrayed George W. Bush in Oliver Stone’s bio-pic, with Thandie Newton as Condoleeza Rice, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney and Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld. Toby Jones portrayed Karl Rove, Jeffrey Wright played Colin Powell, Ellen Burstyn was Barbara Bush and Colin Hanks played a speechwriter.2011: “The Ides of March” – Ryan Gosling portrays an idealistic staffer for a candidate who learns more than he wants to about dirty politics. The play on which the film was based was written by a former Howard Dean staffer, Beau Willimon, who now helps helm Kevin Spacey’s “House of Cards” TV series. George Clooney, who directed and co-wrote, also played Governor Mike Morris. Others in the cast included Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Evan Rachel Wood (“Westworld on television now), Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright.2012: “Game Change” – Jay Roach directed from the book of the same name, in a film about Sarah Palin’s ascendancy to the vice presidential slot on John McCain’s ’08 presidential bid. The film starred Julianne Moore (as Palin), Woody Harrelson, and Ed Harris as John McCain. (These were “the olden days” when we thought Sarah Palin was the worst know-nothing candidate one could put on a presidential ticket.)2012: “Argo” – Ben Affleck both directed and starred (along with Bryan Cranston and John Goodman) in this film based on Tony Mendez’ book “The Master of Disguise.” The book detailed how a team posing as filmmakers scouting a location for a sci-fi movie rescued 6 of the Iranian hostages in 1980. Won 3 Oscars, including Best Picture of the Year.2012: “Lincoln” – Based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin book, Stephen Spielberg cast Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln and he won the Oscar this year as Best Actor for the bio-pic about Lincoln’s trials and tribulations as the Civil War raged. The film was also nominated as Best Picture. Co-stars were Sally Field (as Mary Todd Lincoln), David Straitharn (again), Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Tommy Lee Jones, Jackie Earle-Haley, Hal Holbrook and John Hawkes.2012: “Zero Dark Thirty” – Kathryn Bigelow helmed this story of the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by Navy S.E.A.L. Team Six in May of 2011. The film starred Jessica Chastain, Chris Pratt, Joel Edgerton and Kyle Chandler. It won one Oscar.2014: “Selma” – Ava DuVernay directed from a script by Paul Webb. The film documents the Martin Luther King civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965. David Oyelowe played Martin Luther King, and would later make his mark again in “Twelve Years A Slave.” Carmen Ejogo portrayed Coretta Scott King. Won one Oscar.2018: VICE - Adam McKay wrote and directed this film with Christian Bale as the Machiavellian VP of the U.S., Dick Cheney, under the clueless “W” (Sam Rockwell). Amy Adams co-stars as the power-behind-the-throne. Nominated for Best Picture of the Year. Won one Oscar.I’d just like to add that 1964’s “The Best Man,” as well as 1939’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and 1957’s “A Face in the Crowd” would have made the list if I had a better memory. I know I saw them, but they are lost in the mists of time, while I do remember all others on this list. Also, haven’t seen “Snowdon” (Oliver Snow) and perhaps “Dave” with Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver could make the list, but I was trying for films with the stature of “Argo” and “Lincoln,” so some (like “War Games”) were intentionally omitted. I highly recommend all of the Errol Morris political interviews, including “The Fog of War” (Robert McNamara), “The Unknown Known” (“W’s” Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld) and “American Dharma,” an interview with Trump’s master strategist Steve Bannon.)