Literary Life

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(A break from the election, for those who can bear to tear themselves away from contemplating Tuesday’s Presidential Election, and the judicial murder of squirrels.)

I was briefly nonplussed when a question for me showed up on my message stack on Quora last week – what did I think of Sally Rooney’s not allowing her books to be translated into Hebrew or be published and distributed in Israel, and demanding that other authors insist on the same. All because of Israeli treatment of the poor, poor, pitiful Palestinians in Gaza. My initial reaction was – who the hell is Sally Rooney?
(Subsequent brief pause for a look-up and a review of sample chapters of her books on Amazon.) Oh, that’s … precious. An Irish millennial with popular literary credentials, much lauded in the correct circles, describing the landscape of a generational navel with exquisitely elaborate original prose of the sort much favored by jaded teachers of creative writing. Four books with pretty much the same plot, it would appear, noted as a significant voice of her generation – a kind of literary Lena Dunham. Also a fashionably self-proclaimed Marxist, which is weird because that type never actually chooses to live in a place currently being run under strict Marxist lines. Curious, that. More importantly for this discussion, a raving antisemite, or as I prefer to spell it in the interests of bald accuracy, a Jew-hater. As an aside, it has always struck me as a peculiarly Irish quality, to rush into a full-body embrace with any movement perceived to be an enemy of their enemy, on the somewhat questionable grounds that an enemy of your old enemy must therefore be an acceptable ally to you. (This explains how Southern Ireland remained a neutral in WWII, while radical IRA members collaborated with Nazi Germany at the time, and decades later took funding from Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.)

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Those Assertions About Trump’s “Darkness”

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A Financial Times headline today refers to “Trump’s dark campaign.” This is not surprising coming from the FT, but even the WSJ today refers to Trump’s “dark pitch.” If one wants to look for Darkness, I’d suggest that it can be found in the rants of the Harris campaign and Democrats in general against Trump and especially against his supporters: ‘Fascists’…’garbage’…’anti-American’. I also see plenty of darkness in the ideology and policies of the Democratic Party…the divisive obsession with race/ethnicity…the casting of blame rather than solving problems, as with the blaming of grocery prices on ‘price gouging’ rather than government-caused inflation…the strange Democrat affinity with the Iranian regime…the tolerance of anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish violence on campuses and elsewhere…plenty of darkness there.

This video by a celebrity Harris promoter certainly sounds to me like a clear threat against Trump supporters. More darkness.

I haven’t personally attended any of Trump’s rallies, but those who have–such as this foreign student, who attended both Trump and Harris rallies–generally report an atmosphere which is positive rather than negative, and welcoming rather than hostile.

As an example of Trump’s ‘darkness’, the WSJ quotes from a rally speech in which he referred to ‘fighting against the most sinister and corrupt forces on earth.’ I wouldn’t have said it exactly that way, but there is no question that America is under threat by some trends that, if not interrupted and reversed, will destroy our society. And these trends are all heavily pushed by the Democratic Party and groups closely associated with it.  I’ve discussed these trends in my post Vectors of Societal Destruction–and the Growing Pushback Against Them.

Hopefully, the pushback will be strong enough to interrupt and reverse these trends before it is too late.

Justice to Monitor Voting Rights Compliance in Swing States

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Another part of the Democrats’ post-Election Day strategy taking shape?

Two predicates.

First, the power of the legacy media this election cycle lies not in who believes what they say, but in the ability to bring “themes” into the limelight. The media look for allies that can provide them with the proper hook, witness John Kelly’s Hitler comment that was reported in The Atlantic last week. The purpose of the article wasn’t to inject any new, credible information. Rather, it was to give an excuse for everyone to talk about Trump-as-Hitler (again).

The second is the Democrats’ upcoming reliance on the claim of “voter suppression” and other irregularities, to contest the presidential election result after Nov. 5th. This was part of John Podesta’s ploy to throw the table and deny Trump’s victory in the electoral college in “Game 3” of the Transition Integrity Project war game.

The Democrats have been playing the voter suppression card whenever and wherever possible, essentially claiming that any attempt to clean up voter rolls, have standards regarding ballot access, or have certain requirements for mail-in ballots (like, actually, the ballots actually have to arrive by Election Day) is akin to the return of the KKK. Think I’m exaggerating? In 2021 Georgia passed its Election Integrity Law which required the use of voter ID and tightened regulations on things like mail-in ballot requests and ballot drop boxes. All Hell broke loose. Joe Biden traveled to Georgia and called it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century” in part because it banned outside groups from offering water to voters waiting in line. Georgia was also sued by the Department of Justice, the ACLU, and the NAACP despite the fact that the new law made in-person voting more accessible, through longer early-voting periods and increased funding for more staff and locations.

Just as Hitler would have been confused by the Democrats’ calling Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally (that was festooned with Israeli flags) Nazi, Herman Talmadge would have been confused by his old friend Joe Biden’s characterizing a law that made it easier for blacks in Georgia to vote as “Jim Crow.”

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Halloween, Candy, and Confiscatory Fiscal Policy

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When I’m in Arizona for Halloween, as I was this year, the night is always a blast. Most of the houses in the neighborhood were in action and there was a great street presence both in terms of yard decorations and people (both kids and adults) in costume.

However, the big talk in the neighborhood among the adults is always about the candy. Everyone has their favorite and each has their own way of getting it.

Mark Antonio Wright writes, in The Top Three Candies to Steal from Your Kid’s Halloween Bag, his thoughts on the subject.

His top three candies to steal?

1) Twix and Snickers
2) Sour gummy candy
3) Twizzlers

His bottom three candies?

1) Milky Way
2) Candy Corn
3) Swedish Fish

This might be one of the few times since the Bush Administration that I have actually agreed with something in The National Review, though I would amend his list by removing Twizzlers and replacing it with the 100 Grand Bar. Furthermore I would remove Milky Way from the bottom and replace it with Dum-Dums.

Yes, I am old enough to remember actually getting candy cigarettes in my bag. When I told the kids about this they were horrified.

However, as far as a means of getting your hands on the sweet stuff, yes, much like Wright we would loot the kids’ bags while they were sleeping.

When they got older and they started to catch on, we had to up our game. So we taught them about taxation and tariff policy, by deducting an immediate 20% of all candy brought into the house with an extra 5% surcharge on chocolate and gummies. I would also teach them how to play cards and we would use their candy as chips. Good times.

Maybe there’s a treatise waiting to be written modeling government on parents and their kids’ Halloween candy; after all, just like we would take the candy and have the kids think they were getting something out of the experience, isn’t the government doing the same with you and taxes?