I found the one prayer that seemed to serve the winter mood: O God, You’ve done enough, You’ve robbed me of enough, I’m too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone for ever. — Graham Greene, The End of the Affair Read more →
Author Archive: Paul Epps
Prevent trouble before it arises.
Put things in order before they exist.
Adam Carolla: White Privilege
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adam Carolla (@adamcarolla) Read more →
Melancholy hypochondria. It is a terrible disease: it makes you see things as they are. — Gérard de Nerval
Traveling Alone
Oh, If I had a son I would make him laugh, I would teach him something I’d say, “Son, you gotta hold your own And it’s good to have a taste for traveling alone” — Tift Merritt, “Traveling Alone” Read more →
Thomas Jefferson on Preemptive Pardons
My fellow Americans – In his final hours as president, Joe Biden pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the lawmakers and staff who served on the January 6 committee. He also issued pardons to a number of his own family members, in addition to the previous pardon of his son Hunter. These are all preemptive pardons, for unspecified crimes that those receiving the pardons have not actually been convicted of or even charged with. This is a cowardly act. After years of lawfare against President Trump, and after expressing his displeasure over his attorney general’s failure to put Trump in prison before the 2024 election, Biden explained the pardons by saying this: “Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.” Even making allowances for the man’s senility, that is one of the most brainless statements I’ve… Read more →
Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it. — Schopenhauer
All the High School Sweethearts
All the high school sweethearts from this year and last year and every other year are gathered in the gym. You remember her. You remember him. The band plays every couple’s honor song but nobody takes the floor except the King and Queen of Memory. Maybe a few sweethearts are still in love with each other but everybody else is just sipping nostalgia from a plastic cup. Funny how beautiful our scars become. After the band plays one last ballad, a few stragglers linger at the door, wanting more, please, a little more, but everybody else will say goodbye to their favorite ghost and travel home, fast or slow, to whom they treasure most. — Sherman Alexie, “All the High School Sweethearts” Read more →
2024: The Year in Books
These are the books I read in 2024, roughly in the order listed. The ratings are mine. They don’t represent a consensus of opinion. It wasn’t a great year. I didn’t read enough and what I did read wasn’t as good as I would have liked. That said, Bluets, by Maggie Nelson, is one of the most exceptional books I’ve read. My Library at LibraryThing Read more →
Half a Life
Do not live half a life and do not die a half death If you choose silence, then be silent When you speak, do so until you are finished If you accept, then express it bluntly Do not mask it If you refuse then be clear about it for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance Do not accept half a solution Do not believe half truths Do not dream half a dream Do not fantasize about half hopes Half the way will get you no where You are a whole that exists to live a life not half a life. — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet Read more →
Budget Cuts Are a Diversion from the Real LA Fire Incompetence
The budget cuts are a total diversion from policies that emphasize everything except competence and results. The cuts were $17.6 million. I've seen countless news stories on this, some of which describe the cuts as "slashing" the budget, but none of them mention what the annual… — Paul Epps (@paulepps) January 11, 2025 Read more →
Political Fallout from LA Fires?
Adam Carolla predicts the political fallout from the LA fires: You guys all voted for Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles. You all voted for Gavin Newsom, and now you fucking get what you get, now that your house is on fire. So here’s what’s going to happen. All these people who are deep blue Democrats are now going to have to pull a permit to rebuild, and they’re going to get the 28-year-old bitch from the Coastal Commission telling them to go fuck off, and then they’re going to vote for Trump or whoever’s Trumpian next. Read more →
Parent vs. School Board
Catholic Abortionists
This Catholic thing irks me. If you don't believe in the teachings of the Church, find a new religion. If you don't believe in God at all — and if you feel like you can flout Church doctrine with no consequences, you probably don't — be an atheist. You can't be a successful… — Paul Epps (@paulepps) January 4, 2025 Read more →
The Most Delicious of Moral Treats
The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior “righteous indignation” — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats. — Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow Read more →
The New York Post is the Paper of Record
https://t.co/M3RJ0ffo16 — Paul Epps (@paulepps) January 3, 2025 The article contains photos of Joe Biden meeting with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associates, as well as Biden’s multiple denials that those meetings ever took place. The New York Post remains the paper of record in my opinion. Why the National Archives couldn’t have released these photos before they became totally irrelevant, I do not know. Read more →
I’m Anti-Incompetence
"A $42 billion expansion of broadband internet service has yet to connect a single household. "Bureaucratic haggling, equipment shortages and logistical challenges mean a $7.5 billion effort to install electric vehicle chargers from coast to coast has so far yielded just 47… — Paul Epps (@paulepps) January 3, 2025 Read more →
Lie of the Year 2024
PolitiFact’s ‘Lie of the Year’ and its impact on the Ohio town caught in the middle | PBS News https://t.co/ICRRswZ3DE — Paul Epps (@paulepps) December 31, 2024 According to PolitiFact, the Lie of the Year is that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH, were eating dogs and cats. First of all, I’d like to see someone convince me that statement is a lie. I can’t prove that it’s true, but I have seen videos of Springfield citizens at city council meetings saying that it’s true. How can PolitiFact say definitively that it’s a lie? There aren’t any missing cats or dogs in Springfield? What happened to them? And secondly, even if it’s false, it’s trivial. Here are some candidates for Lie of the Year, selected by me. “I will not pardon my son.” This was said by Joe Biden, then propagated by other Democrats and the media to exemplify that Biden… Read more →
I Could Do It Then But I Can’t Do It Now
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michael (@false_prophet44) Read more →
Is There Even a Word for Fraud on that Scale?
America has seen incredible political deceptions in its past, from the Gulf of Tonkin to WMDs, but this real-world Dave script involves someone not named Biden steering presidential authority to approve billions for shooting wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, while handing out pardons in record numbers, among God knows how many other things. Is there even a word for fraud on that scale? A lot of people need to go to jail behind this caper. — Matt Taibbi Read more →