I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it. — A. de Tocqueville
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. — D. Hume
Next, Please
Always too eager for the future, we Pick up bad habits of expectancy. Something is always approaching; every day Till then we say, Watching from a bluff the tiny, clear Sparkling armada of promises draw near. How slow they are! And how much time they waste, Refusing to make haste! Yet still they leave us holding wretched stalks Of disappointment, for, though nothing balks Each big approach, leaning with brasswork prinked, Each rope distinct, Flagged, and the figurehead with golden tits Arching our way, it never anchors; it’s No sooner present than it turns to past. Right to the last We think each one will heave to and unload All good into our lives, all we are owed For waiting so devoutly and so long. But we are wrong: Only one ship is seeking us, a black- Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back A huge and birdless silence. In her… Read more →
Get The L Out
Get The L Out is critical of the trans ideology. They say, quite rightly, that it is erasing lesbians, both by transing young lesbians and turning them into ‘men’ and by saying that anyone can be a lesbian, even if you have a penis. So they turned up at Pride Cymru with banners saying ‘Lesbians don’t like penises’ – yes, this apparently needs to be said in 2022 . . . And what happened? They were ejected by police. By those Pride-enforcing cops of 21st-century Britain. This essentially means it has become a risky endeavour to publicly declare that you are same-sex attracted, that you are a homosexual. The idea of same-sex attraction runs counter to the post-sex, post-biology lunacy of the Pride religion, and so it is problematised, demonised, even censored. Gay rights? Pride is a threat to them, not the upholder of them. — “The Tyranny of Pride” Read more →
Even the Price of Getting Up is Going Up
A friend and former colleague is telling me about a recent trip to a massage parlor . . . “She offered to take her clothes off and give me a hand job for $140. A hundred and 40 dollars?!. “I said, ‘I can get a hand job for $60, if you’re gonna disrobe, I can add another $20, maybe $40.’ “‘Come on,’ she says. ‘Help me out.’ I told her to just massage my feet. “Is this inflation or what? I can’t get a naked woman to jerk me off for less than $140?! I’ve had full service for $120. Man, fuck Joe Biden.” Read more →
The Final Slur
Reports indicate that Her Majesty has bestowed a great honor upon Meghan Markle by requesting her to be the recipient of the “Final Slur:” a traditional rite whereby the British Monarch utters their final racist remark before death. Markle will be the first non-Irish beneficiary. https://t.co/Z9PmuG7X1M — American Gaeltep (@Carlists4Pete) September 8, 2022 Read more →
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist. — Salman Rushdie
Bye, Serena
Please please please let Serena Williams retire from tennis. Never cared for her at all. She’s a sore loser, ungracious . . . best example of this, go back and watch the 2018 US Open final where Naomi Osaka beats Serena’s ass, during which Serena’s conduct is so appalling that Osaka, rather than being able to jubilantly celebrate her first major title, ends the match sitting in a sideline chair crying with a towel over her head. Remember the time Serena verbally assaulted a linesperson (an older Asian woman, if I remember right) by threatening to “shove this fucking tennis ball down your throat”? Or watch any press conference after she lost a match. It’s all excuses, alibis, justifications. If she ever in her life said the other player played better than she did, I can’t remember hearing it. Contrast this with top male players — Nadal, Djokovic, Federer —… Read more →
Going
There is an evening coming in Across the fields, one never seen before, That lights no lamps. Silken it seems at a distance, yet When it is drawn up over the knees and breast It brings no comfort. Where has the tree gone, that locked Earth to the sky? What is under my hands, That I cannot feel? What loads my hands down? — Philip Larkin, “Going” Read more →
Private Eyes
Well, it’s time for another background check. The current background check company, Private Eyes, is not as bad as HireRight — yet! — but they still have time to catch up. To start with, they asked me to fill out and submit forms with all information regarding my education and previous employers, which I did. Annnnd here comes their first communication: Hello Paul, My name is Tiffany with Private Eyes, a pre-employment background screening company. We are currently working on your employment background check. We are having trouble reaching someone who can help us verify your employment and education. If you can, please assist us by providing a copy of your check stub or W-2 form for Company A, a pay stub or W2 form from Company B and your diploma/degree/certificate/ or transcripts from your school Harvard University [school name changed – PE]. Doing so will help us speed up… Read more →
Chess Game of the Day: French Defense Mangled
One of my online chess games. Some annotations below . . . 2. Nc3 A typical French Defense would go 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3. I like to play 2. Nc3 first just to see what happens. Usually Black plays 2. …d5 3. d4 and everything is back to normal. 3. …f5? Have not seen this but it doesn’t look promising. 6. …c6? Black may not have a really appealing move here. White is about to make hash of the Black kingside. 9. …c5 It might be in Black’s interest to avoid the check at h5 with 9. …h5 or 9. …Kf1 but this move need not have turned out as badly as it did. 11. …Bxf5?? Capturing the queen must have been tempting but leads to an immediate loss. 11. …Nc6 avoids the upcoming check at a5, and 12. dxc6?? does allow the bishop to capture the queen as… Read more →
Frolicking in the Rain
Maybe black creators invented "frolicking"? Is it different from dancing and singing in the rain? I saw Gene Kelly doing that in the 1950s. It looked a lot like frolicking to me. Granted, Gene Kelly didn't post to TikTok. Maybe black creators invented the TikTok part. https://t.co/FnjXU2ohtp — Paul Epps (@paulepps) August 28, 2022 Read more →
A Couple of Thoughts on Student Loan Debt
I’ve taken out mortgage loans, auto loans, acquired some credit card debt . . . am I forgetting anything? But I’ve never acquired debt and not paid it back. It never occurred to me to do that. Transferring student loan debt seems like subsidizing irresponsibility. What happens when you subsidize something? You get more of it. I saw the Secretary of Education being interviewed and although I don’t remember his exact words, he seemed to blame the whole thing on the COVID pandemic. He said it was his job (or the government’s job) to make sure that people can bounce back from that and not be crushed by their student loan payments. I’d like to ask him where he got the idea that it’s the job of the federal government to make sure that citizens don’t suffer financial hardships. In the early days of our country, many people… Read more →
Ring Them Bells
Ring them bells St. Peter Where the four winds blow Ring them bells with an iron hand So the people will know Oh it’s rush hour now On the wheel and the plow And the sun is going down Upon the sacred cow Ring them bells Sweet Martha For the poor man’s son Ring them bells so the world will know That God is one Oh the shepherd is asleep Where the willows weep And the mountains are filled With lost sheep — Bob Dylan, “Ring Them Bells” Read more →
Christmas Cake
From urbandictionary.com: A woman 26 years+ who is considered to be past her prime, undesirable, used goods and/or no good. The term originates from Japan where it is tradition to eat cake on Christmas. So a cake intended for Christmas that was not eaten or is left over is considered bad and should be thrown out. Japanese businessmen coined the term, once again emphasizing the Japanese desire for a young and virginal wife. Japanese women over the age of 26 most often have to rely on either a hastily semi-arranged marriage to a friend of the family or, more frequently, marry a foreigner as they are rarely aware of the stigma or don’t care. “If we wait until after grad school, I’ll be Christmas Cake.” “She just turned 26. She’s Christmas Cake now.” “She married her husband at 30, so you know he wasn’t bothered that she was Christmas Cake.” Read more →
The Jerry Hall Problem
Sylvester Stallone’s Wife Jennifer Flavin Files for Divorce After 25 Years of Marriage – people.com Women have got it made, my friends. No matter what you hear about sexism, glass ceilings, misogynist Republicans, etc., men can’t do what Jennifer Flavin (and others) can do, i.e., marry a rich, older spouse, get divorced, take a windfall profit, and still have a lot of good years ahead of you. Flavin is 54. Her soon-to-be ex-husband is 76. I read the other day that Jerry Hall filed for divorce from Rupert Murdoch. I didn’t even know she was married to Rupert Murdoch. I know she was Mick Jagger’s partner for long enough to have four kids with him. The child support from someone of Mick Jagger’s wealth, while I don’t know exactly what it is, has got to provide a very handsome income stream. Jerry Hall is 66 years old. She looks good… Read more →
Talk to Them on iPhones as They’re Dying
It became evident very early on that science didn’t speak with one voice on the subject. . . . The idea that our leaders are just following the science, following the algorithms, following the experts, and we’re not even going to look into the faces of people who are losing their jobs because we shut the economy down? We’re going to let our grandparents die in isolation and talk to them on iPhones as they’re dying? It’s obscene. — James Hankins Read more →
It’s a Short List
I keep a list. Whenever someone in Washington does something admirable, something not for political advantage but for the country, I write that person’s name on the list. It’s a short list. — James Hankins Read more →
We Are Led by Idiots
It’s hard to contemplate American public life in the 21st century and not arrive at the unhappy conclusion that we are led by idiots. The political class has lately produced an impressive string of debacles: the Afghanistan pullout, urban crime waves, easily foreseen inflation, mayhem at the southern border, a self-generated energy crisis, a pandemic response that wrought little good and vast ruin. Then there are the perennial national embarrassments: a mind-bogglingly expensive welfare state that doesn’t work, public schools that make kids dumber, universities that nurture destructive grievances and noxious ideologies, and a news media nobody trusts. — Barton Swaim Read more →
More Words and Phrases I’m Sick Unto Death Of: Assigned at Birth
As in, “He was assigned male at birth.” It sounds like other options were available, doesn’t it? Like a child being assigned a name or a house at Hogwarts. Is there any plausible scenario where the child would be assigned anything other than male at birth? Suppose the doctor said, “I assign this child as female.” And then the parents freak out and say “Are you fucking nuts?! He’s not female, he’s got a penis.” “Hmmm,” says the doctor. “Well . . . you’ve got me there.” If it wasn’t so easy to determine the sex of a newborn at a glance — it doesn’t require a medical degree — you could go with a DNA test, since every cell in the human body is marked male or female. That never changes, no matter how many hormones you take or how many surgeries you have. It’s biological and permanent. In… Read more →