Friday, November 30, 2018
Thursday, November 29, 2018
'You Dropped a Bomb on Me'
The station's definitely eclectic. (*Eye-roll.*)
I Ran
A Flock Of Seagulls
9:11am
Janie's Got A Gun
Aerosmith
9:06am
Ophelia
The Lumineers
9:03am
Don't Do Me Like That
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
8:54am
Take On Me
a-ha
8:50am
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana
8:45am
You Dropped A Bomb On Me
The Gap Band
8:41am
Gimme All Your Lovin'
ZZ Top
8:37am
It's Time
Imagine Dragons
8:33am
White Wedding
Billy Idol
8:21am
Paradise City
Guns N' Roses
8:14am
Love My Way
The Psychedelic Furs
8:11am
When Did Sports Become so Political? (VIDEO)
Michelle Malkin on Tijuana Border Invasion (VIDEO)
She's got a seminal book from 2002, at Amazon, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists Criminals & Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores.
And on Judge Jeannine's the other night:
"Every Sovereign Nation has the right and prerogative to exercise their ability to make sure that they are able to say who is able to come into their country or not."- @michellemalkin pic.twitter.com/jQKM58c4Vc
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) November 25, 2018
Migrants in Tijuana Regret the Caravan
At the Daily Beast, "Migrants in Tijuana Regret the Caravan: ‘I’m Done With the United States’."
After being gassed by the U.S. and held in a camp by Mexico, hope is running out for some who left Honduras with dreams of a better life in America.
Hope is running out for some of the migrants who left Honduras with dreams of a better life in America https://t.co/2Jc22qvk42— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Danielle Gersh's Storm Thursday Forecast
And it's going to be rainy tomorrow, it looks like.
Bundle up folks, and keep dry.
At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
Millennial Poll: America is Racist
46% of younger Americans agree that “America is more racist than other countries.”
— David Reaboi (@davereaboi) November 27, 2018
A nation cannot long survive if it’s institutions and elites propagate the idea that it is evil and unjust. We’re at a crisis point, and the future looks grim. https://t.co/DnGHcHdorG
The Ugly Departure of Max Boot
I think I blogged about him when he first said he was abandoning the GOP after Trump was nominated. He was over tthe top then, but he's gotten worse, much worse, apparently.
From Jonah Goldberg, at National Review, "Max Boot Decides Conservatism Was Corrupt from the Start."
A really acute and sad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Read it all at the link.
This @JonahNRO piece sums it all up about Max Boot. You can despise Trump but if he made you rethink every single position you once held, the problem might be you. https://t.co/2FAQKqTX6t— Karol Markowicz (@karol) November 28, 2018
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
You'd Think the Leftist Media Had an Agenda or Something?
Yep.
Shameless. Absolutely shameless. (*Eye-roll.*)
So predictable...and utterly absurd. pic.twitter.com/6QMzfQPPOo— Lisa Mei Crowley (@LisaMei62) November 26, 2018
Glenn Reynolds Protests Twitter's Targeting of Conservatives
At Instapundit, "TWITTER’S GONE CRAZY BANNING PEOPLE ON THE RIGHT, so I’ve deactivated my Twitter account."
#Instapundit protests inconsistent, unfair #Twitter targeting of conservatives. #TwitterPurge 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/cIvL5wTW4f— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 26, 2018
And he writes in an update:
I’ve never liked Twitter even though I’ve used it. I was a late adopter, and with good reason. It’s the crystal meth of social media — addictive and destructive, yet simultaneously unsatisfying. When I’m off it I’m happier than when I’m on it. That it’s also being run by crappy SJW types who break their promises, to users, shareholders, and the government, of free speech is just the final reason. Why should I provide free content to people I don’t like, who hate me? I’m currently working on a book on social media, and I keep coming back to the point that Twitter is far and away the most socially destructive of the various platforms. So I decided to suspend them, as they are suspending others...Previously: "Jessie Kelly Banned."
Monday, November 26, 2018
Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast
At ABC News 10 San Diego:
Cyber Monday
More promotions later. Meanwhile, you can check out all the Cyber Monday sales at my Amazon associate's links.
See, Cyber Monday Deals.
And especially, LG Gram Thin and Light Laptop - 15.6" Full HD IPS Display, Intel Core i7 (8th Gen), 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2.4lbs, (15Z975-U.AAS7U1).
Thanks for your support!
Jessie Kelly Banned
At the Other McCain, "Twitter Bans Iraq Veteran Jesse Kelly; Glenn Reynolds Quits Platform in Protest."
#Twitter Bans Iraq Veteran #JesseKelly; Glenn Reynolds [#Instapundit] Quits Platform in Protest: #TwitterPurge https://t.co/vxbT8hxjWb cc. @PatriarchTree pic.twitter.com/RLi1gIwYbV
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 26, 2018
I actually was not following Mr. Kelly, but I love the piece he posted at the Federalist, "Twitter Banned Me for Literally No Reason, But in the End They’ll Lose":
We have become a nation of sensitive losers who care about words. We care about how things “make us feel.” The exception these days is the man who just wants to put his talent and his thoughts in the marketplace of ideas and see if people will buy it.
That man is rare today, but it was not always so. The American man used to be one who threw his family in a covered wagon and headed West into the wilderness. The American man used to be one who found out the Japanese had attacked men he didn’t know in a state he’d never visited so he ran down to the recruiting office to enlist in the Marines. That American man still exists, but he’s an endangered species.
The American spirit of free speech has been replaced by people who want uncomfortable speech censored. Nowhere is this more apparent than the social media world.
As I have said before, social media is not a small thing. It is no longer three nerds with pocket protectors huddled in their dorm rooms dreaming about a day when a woman acknowledges their existence. Social media has surpassed the telephone. It is the means of networking and communicating with others: 2.5 billion people use Facebook and Twitter.
That is not a fringe thing that is going away. It has now become the way humans interact with each other. It is completely run by Silicon Valley leftists who know the power they hold. And they are using that power.
But power is a funny thing. Power, no matter how ominous it may seem at the time, is always finite. It doesn’t last forever. If there is one thing history has taught us, it’s that silencing voices will always be a temporary solution.
Kendall Jenner Trolls Siblings for Thanksgiving: 'All my siblings posting their babies and shit and i'm just like...'
At Instagram (click through).
And at London's Daily Mail:
Kendall Jenner did things a little differently than her sisters https://t.co/dPyCYbJ0jl— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) November 23, 2018
Oren Cass, The Once and Future Worker
At Amazon, Oren Cass, The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Leading Canadian Feminist Meghan Murphy Banned by Twitter for Speaking Out on Trans Ideology
She's been locked out of Twitter umpteen times and now her personal feed has been permanently suspended.
I'm not on other social media platforms (except Facebook, which I literally rarely check, like once a month if that), so for Twitter to continue its extremely rapid decline is depressing. I imagine soon I'll be spending less time on it, but for now I still like it as an entry point and rapid news feed for politics. That it's become the main platform for political correctness and thought control is now beyond dispute.
Jonathan Kay has one of the most thoughtful threads on Twitter's Ms. Meghan ban:
I have now learned that @MeghanEMurphy has had her account suspended again in the last few hours. @Twitter, this is absolutely insane: she is one of Canada's best known feminists, & one of the few voices fighting back against the insanity that's gripped Vancouver gender politics— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) November 24, 2018
And check the ever-excellent Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain, "Jonathan Yaniv Is Not a Woman and #IStandWithMeghanMurphy."
Someone coined a new term, "transcel," describing a man who can't get laid -- an incel -- who decides to become transgender in a desperate attempt to gain sexual access to women. https://t.co/PTOMONxyiN— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) November 25, 2018
And at the Daily Wire, "Progressive Feminist Suspended From Twitter After Criticizing the Transgender Movement":
Daily Wire: Has this experience with Twitter changed your perspective regarding online political life?Ms. Meghan's response is up at her website, Feminist Current:
Meghan Murphy: It’s blowing my mind how much power trans activists have. I’m not able to make my arguments. What they’re doing is ensuring I can’t talk about this stuff at all on Twitter.
It’s not, “you can’t say offensive things,” or “hateful things,” or “you can’t be mean,” because what I’m saying isn’t hateful or mean or offensive in my opinion. I’m trying to show that this ideology is incoherent and irrational. I’m trying to get them to explain their own arguments and defend their own claims.
If I can’t articulate my position, or ask questions – like “how can a man become a woman?” — then I can’t engage in these conversations at all.
The fact that there’s no accountability is crazy. Twitter doesn’t respond to my appeals; they just send me these form responses that don’t actually explain their policies or explain why I can’t say what I’m saying.
DW: Is there anything you want people to know regarding this situation that hasn’t been touched on?
MURPHY: Like I said before, the amount of power that trans activists have over public debate is incredible and kind of scary. It’s just a few people. There are a few people who have connections to Twitter or work for Twitter who are either trans themselves or allied with this movement who are just dictating these rules.
With the stuff that I’m saying, I have more supporters than detractors — not only online, but in the world. Most people in the world don’t believe it’s possible for a male to become female. Most people think this ideology is ridiculous. A lot of people are afraid to say so, and others are just regular people who aren’t aware this debate is going on.
This minority of people, who have an incredible amount of power, are claiming to be the most marginalized people on the planet. You can’t really be that marginalized when you’re controlling the entire conversation, and changing legislation and policy faster than anyone else has been able to do.
Meghan Murphy, founder & editor of @FeministCurrent, has been suspended from @Twitter for stating something outrageously radical: women are people who exist on our own right.— RaquelRosarioSánchez (@8RosarioSanchez) November 24, 2018
So, @jack, just want to check here:
MISOGYNY, RAPE AND DEATH THREATS: 👍
FEMINIST ANALYSIS AND FACTS:👎 pic.twitter.com/WdWTh4KxzI
Jennifer Delacruz's Cyber Sunday Weather
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind
At Amazon, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.
Jean M. Twenge, iGen
At Amazon, Jean M. Twenge, iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood – and What That Means for the Rest of Us.
A highly readable and entertaining first look at how today’s members of iGen—the children, teens, and young adults born in the mid-1990s and later—are vastly different from their Millennial predecessors, and from any other generation, from the renowned psychologist and author of Generation Me.
With generational divides wider than ever, parents, educators, and employers have an urgent need to understand today’s rising generation of teens and young adults. Born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s and later, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person—perhaps why they are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality. iGen is also growing up more slowly than previous generations: eighteen-year-olds look and act like fifteen-year-olds used to.
As this new group of young people grows into adulthood, we all need to understand them: Friends and family need to look out for them; businesses must figure out how to recruit them and sell to them; colleges and universities must know how to educate and guide them. And members of iGen also need to understand themselves as they communicate with their elders and explain their views to their older peers. Because where iGen goes, so goes our nation—and the world.
Bridget Phetasy Posts 'Tasteful Nudes' at Patreon for Money, and Responds to Her 'Haters' With Topless Photo on Twitter
But what constitutes "tasteful nudes"?
See for yourself, here.
And here's the photo as well.
And she tweeting quite a bit in response to her "haters."
It’s insane to me how crazy boobs make people in America.
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) November 25, 2018
Have you seen my mentions, bro? They aren’t feelings. The misogyny is a FACT right there for the world to read. https://t.co/LAVstl3IID
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) November 25, 2018
“Anonymous man babies hiding behind their screens, angry at the scary girls who show their bewbs.” ~an extremely short story
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) November 25, 2018
The self-owning happening in my mentions is some next level shit. One would think trolls would realize when they’re being trolled.
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) November 25, 2018
Well this has been a fun exercise in kicking a hornet’s nest. I’ll leave you with this: the hatred being fueled between the sexes is dangerous and goes both ways. Not all men who can’t get laid hate women. And not all women who get attacked online (and off) hate men. I’m proof.— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) November 25, 2018
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Cyber Weekend Sales
And especially, Bounty Hunter TK4 Tracker IV Metal Detector.
Also, Pelican 1650 Case With Foam (Black).
More, Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) Wireless Headphones, Noise Cancelling, with Alexa voice control - Black.
Here, uKeg 128 oz Pressurized Growler for Craft Beer - Stainless Steel.
And, Sound and Sleep MINI High Fidelity Sleep Sound Machine with AC and Battery Power, Real Non-Looping Nature Sounds, Fan Sounds and White Noise.
Plus, LG Electronics 55SK8000PUA 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2018 Model).
Still more, Sherwood DANISH DELIGHTS Butter Cookies, In a Nice Gifting Tin, box (340g).
More here, Black Rifle Coffee Company Complete Mission Fuel Kit, Coffee Rounds for Single Serve Brewing Machines (96 Count) Coffee Pods Cups.
BONUS: Roberto Bolaño, 2666.
Beautiful Kaya
A dream woman patriot!
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/wFNojAYhoG
— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) November 24, 2018
Peter Maas, Serpico
At Amazon, Peter Maas, Serpico.
Heartwarming Video of When Dying Chimpanzee Recognizes Life-Long Friend
A very special and beautiful moment!
— The Invisible Man (@invisibleman_17) November 24, 2018
This 59-year-old chimpanzee was refusing food and ready to die — until she received one last visit from an old friend.
📹ig: BurgersZoo/ Unilad pic.twitter.com/XjspzU55n5
You Gotta Love It: California Gun Owners Buy Ammunition on #BlackFriday (VIDEO)
This guy Walt Fetgatter, interviewed at the piece, speaks for millions of Californians. Our rights are being violated. People are fleeing the state. In addition to gun control, taxes are way too high (and all kinds of "climate change" emissions regulations are killing businesses statewide).
At ABC News 10 San Diego:
Friday, November 23, 2018
Black Friday Deals
See especially, All-New Fire HD 8 Kids Edition Tablet, 8" HD Display, 32 GB, Blue Kid-Proof Case.
Also, Dyson V8 Absolute Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner, Yellow.
More, Cuisinart SS-15 12-Cup Coffee Maker and Single-Serve Brewer, Stainless Steel.
Plus, Polaroid Originals 4725 Polaroid 600 Camera, Express, Blue.
And, Gotham Steel Titanium Ceramic 9.5” Non-Stick Copper Deep Square Frying & Cooking Pan With Lid, Frying Basket, Steamer Tray, 4 Piece Set - Graphite.
Still more, Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) Wireless Headphones, Noise Cancelling, with Alexa voice control – Triple Midnight.
Here, Toshiba 32LF221U19 32-inch 720p HD Smart LED TV - Fire TV Edition.
BONUS: Stephen B. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Blame the 'Culture Wars' on 1968
Most of the political and cultural agenda from that turbulent period — both the advances and the regressions — has long been institutionalized. The military draft, for good or bad, has remained defunct. There is greater transparency in politics, fewer smoke-filled rooms. Disabled children, once ostracized and/or dismissively labeled "retarded," are now far better integrated into society and treated more ethically as special-needs kids. The rights of women, minorities and the LGBT community are now widely accepted.RTWT.
Yet lifestyles have been radically altered — and often not for the good. Before the late '60s, most Americans married before having children; afterward, not so much. One-parent households are now far more common.
Other legacies of the '60s include couples marrying later and having fewer children. A half-century later, these social inheritances often mean prolonged adolescence, older parents, delayed or nonexistent homeownership, and more emphasis on leisure time than on household chores.
Fashion remains '60s-influenced. There are few dress codes left. Even billionaires now dress in jeans, T-shirts and sneakers rather than slacks and wingtips. Wire-rim glasses of the 1950s were considered old people's spectacles. Then they became hip, and now they are standard.
The iconic drug of the '60s, marijuana, has been legalized in many states and soon may be decriminalized at the federal level.
Post-'60s movies routinely include the sort of profanity, nudity and graphic violence that was unknown in 1950s cinema. Big-screen romance is often no longer about courtship, romance and mystery, but lots of on-screen sex.
Promiscuity and hookups were redefined in the '60s as norms. They are now, too — but with lots of ensuing psychological, social and cultural damage.
Before the campus turmoil of the late '60s, there were almost no "studies" courses in the college curriculum. The ancient idea still persisted that the university was obligated to teach philosophy, literature, languages, science, math and the professions — along with the inductive method to use such knowledge to make sense of things.
Yet the impatient '60s threw out that disinterested notion as quaint, naive and a roadblock to utopia. The campus instead became a center of deductive progressive activism. Updated studies courses now train students to think politically correctly rather than empirically...
Ellen Pompeo's Call-Out Virtue
Go, Ellen, GO. @EllenPompeo pic.twitter.com/Oj1YS3cq5G
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) November 19, 2018
Pompeo married a black man to signal her virtue as a non-racist: 🤷♂️ Maybe it was about love, but an interracial marriage allows you to virtue-signal like there's no tomorrow: https://t.co/a5F6qY2SLG
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 23, 2018
Danielle Gersh's Black Friday Weather
At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
Jonathan Neumann, To Heal the World?
From Jonathan Neumann, at Amazon, To Heal the World? How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel.
Thanksgiving with Jennifer Delacruz
Happy Thanksgiving from Coronado! pic.twitter.com/rnHUIQiUKx
— Jennifer Delacruz (@10NewsJen) November 23, 2018
Kristen Van Dyke Biking in Southern Utah
A really cool lady. She's now the chief meteorologist at KSTU FOX 13, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
What a wonderful day in southern Utah 😍
— Kristen Van Dyke (@kvandykewx) November 23, 2018
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 🦃🍁 #southernutah #mtblife #utahisrad https://t.co/mf33P5JBkI pic.twitter.com/aGjBkV2nWZ
Caroline Glick: President Trump, Israel and Anti-Semitism (VIDEO)
And buy her book, The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East.
Perpetual War Over Political Culture
Both sides?
I don't think so, personally. It was back in 1992 when Pat Buchanan that America had entered a state of cultural warfare to determine the "soul" of the country.
What's different today is the breakdown of the old media hierarchy and the institutionaliztion of the demonizing, destructive, anti-American ideologies of the campus left inside America's top ranks of cultural, educational, and economic power.
But see Politico:
How Everything Became the Culture War https://t.co/01J8gAA398
— POLITICO (@politico) November 4, 2018
Thursday, November 22, 2018
New Interview with David Foster Wallace
Wallace is most famous for his novel, Infinite Jest.
At Electronic Literature, "A Brand New Interview with David Foster Wallace":
"The internet is almost the perfect distillation of the American capitalist ethos, a flood of seductive choices with no really effective engines for choosing." https://t.co/IPHPRMjtfV— Electric Literature (@ElectricLit) November 20, 2018
Eduardo Lago: I know you’re not teaching right now, but can you talk a little bit about the reading lists of your courses?More.
David Foster Wallace: Most of what I teach is writing classes where we’re concentrating more on the student’s own writing. When I teach literature classes, I’ve taught everything from freshman literature, where the department will buy an anthology and I will teach them John Updike’s “A & P,” and John Cheever’s “The Five-Forty-Eight,” and Ursula le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas,” “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a lot of very what I consider to be very standard stories that are in all the anthologies. I’ve tried teaching more ambitious or strange or difficult fiction, but with freshmen and sophomores their preparation isn’t very good and it doesn’t work well. Graduate literature courses are usually themed courses, so what the reading lists are depends a certain amount on how I design the course, as I’m sure you know. I’ve taught a fair amount of Cormac McCarthy, who’s a writer I admire a great deal, and Don DeLillo and William Gaddis. I’ve taught quite a bit of William Gass, but usually his earlier books, and I teach poetry … I’m not a professional poet but I’m an avid reader of poetry, so I teach most of the contemporary poetry that’s available in book form.
EL: Do you consider yourself an accessible writer, and do you know what kind of people read your books?
DFW: That’s a very good question. I think the sort of work I do falls into an area of American fiction that, yes, that is accessible, but that is designed for people who really like to read and understand reading to be a discipline and to require a certain amount of work. As I’m sure you know, most of the money in American publishing gets made in books — some of which I think are very good — that don’t require much work. They’re almost more like motion pictures, and people read them on airplanes and at beaches. I don’t do stuff like that. But of the American writers I know who do some of the more demanding fiction, I think I’m one of the more accessible ones, simply because when I’m working, I’m trying to make it as simple as possible rather than trying to make it as complicated as possible. There’s some fiction that’s very good that I think is trying to be difficult by putting the reader through certain sorts of exercises. I’m not one of those, so within the camp people usually talk about me being one of the more accessible ones, but that camp itself is not regarded as very accessible and I think it tends to be read by people who have had quite a bit of education or a native love of books and for whom reading is important as an activity and not just something to do to pass the time or entertain themselves.
I think I’m one of the more accessible ones simply because when I’m working, I’m trying to make it as simple as possible rather than trying to make it as complicated as possible.
EL: I’ve read in a number of places that you intended Infinite Jest to be a sad book. Can you talk specifically about that aspect of the novel and what else were you intending to do when you started writing it?
DFW: I think what I meant by that was that there are some facts about American culture, particularly for younger people, that seem to me to be far clearer to people who live in Europe than to Americans themselves, which is that in many ways America is a wonderful place to live from a material standpoint, and its economy is very strong and there’s a great deal of material plenty, and yet — let’s see, when I started that book I was about 30, sort of upper middle class, white, had never suffered discrimination or any poverty that I myself had not caused, and most of my friends were the same way, and yet there was a sadness and a disconnection or alienation among I would say people under 40 or 45 in this country, that — and this is probably a cliche — you could say dates from Watergate, or from Vietnam or any number of causes. The book itself is attempting to talk about the phenomenon of addiction, whether it’s addiction to narcotics or whether it’s addiction in its original meaning in English which has to do with devotion, almost a religious devotion, and trying to understand a kind of innate capitalist sadness in terms of the phenomenon of addiction and what addiction means. Usually I would tell people I meant to do it a sad book because when I did a lot of interviews about Infinite Jest all people would seem to want to talk about was that the book was very funny and they wanted to know why the book was so funny and how it was supposed to be so funny, and I was honestly puzzled and disappointed because I had seen it as a very sad book, and that was my attempt to explain to you the sadness that I’m talking about.
EL: How would you define your literary generation?
DFW: Boy.
EL: If you believe in that.
DFW: Can you explain the question a little bit, say who are the writers of the generation?
EL: Perhaps I mean that you belong in a certain age group that has inherited a literary tradition that you are trying to transform somehow. In other words, what are young American writers today like yourself — in a certain type of fiction because there are many different approaches to literature — doing. Do you think you belong in a group where your original work plays a role, or something like that?
DFW: Well, I don’t know. See, when people would ask me that question before it was because I was very young and I was in the youngest generation, and I think there’s probably a whole new generation now. A generation in American fiction is probably every five or seven years. Usually when people talk to me about my work, the other younger writers they lump it in with are William T. Vollman and Richard Powers, Joanna Scott, A. M. Homes, Jonathan Franzen, Mark Leyner. Those are all — I think Powers and Scott are in their early 40s, I’m 38, I think it’s all sort of writers now in their later 30s and early 40s and I think we all started publishing books at about the same time. And that group of younger writers, as I’m sure you know, we’re only a small percentage of the younger writers who are out there. There are plenty of active, productive young writers who do what I think is called Realism with a capital R: the sort of traditional, third person limited omniscient, central character, central conflict, classically structured kind of fiction. I know a couple of the other writers I get lumped in with, whom I just mentioned to you, and if there seems to be something in common, it seems to be that we all, particularly in college, were exposed to a great deal of first of all literary theory and continental theory, and second of all, classic American postmodern fiction, which means Nabokov and DeLillo and Pynchon and Barth and Gaddis and Gass and all these guys. And both of those exposures, it seems, make it constitutionally more difficult to do traditional stuff, because some of the best classic postmodern fiction really, at least for me, exploded or destroyed the credibility of a lot of the sort of conventions and devices that classic realism uses. Nevertheless, I think that what gets called classic American postmodernism — which would be, you know, metafiction or really high surrealistic fiction — has a very limited utility. Its essential task appears to me to be to be destructive — to clear away, to explode a lot of hypocrisies and conventions — but it gets rather tiresome rather quickly. Now that’s being kind of general. I myself personally find John Barth’s first few books interesting and then it seems to me that all he’s done since is work out certain techniques and certain obsessions over and over and over and over and over and over again. I don’t think any of the writers that I’ve mentioned, myself included, are comfortable with the idea of simply doing more of that kind of fiction. On the other hand we’ve all been influenced by it a great deal and I think for a whole lot of different reasons don’t see and understand the world in the way that classic realist fiction tries to capture or mirror.
So I think what I’m trying to say, in a long-winded way, is [that] probably the group I get lumped in with has been heavily influenced by American postmodernism, and of course by European postmodernism too — I mean Calvino — or Latin American writers like Borges and Marquez and Puig. But nevertheless we are also uncomfortable with some of the self-consciousness, and for me in particular some of the intellectualism, of standard postmodernism, and are interested in trying to do fiction that doesn’t seem to be formulaic or “traditional” but nevertheless has an emotional quality to it; is not meant simply to be about language or certain cognitive paradoxes, but is supposed to be about the human experience, what it is to be particularly an American and yet not be a John Updike or John Cheever traditional story.
Hat Tip: The Young Hegelian, at the comments at Althouse, "At the Thanksgiving Café..."
Gerald Posner, Case Closed
See Gerald Posner, at Amazon, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK.
Misspent Conspiracism
A (rare) essay from me about how I became a JFK conspiracy theorist, why I am not one now, and why you shouldn't be one either.
— Jamie Palmer (@j4mi3p) November 22, 2018
Includes a section on the shockingly inept and unethical Garrison investigation heroised in Oliver Stone's 1991 film "JFK." https://t.co/EjVS9oefC7
Unfriend Facebook
On Twitter:
Facebook is bad https://t.co/Cu2XNslxHg
— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) November 16, 2018
Margaret Walker, Jubilee
Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower
As a Ring of Fire Closes In, a Mother Calls Her Daughters: 'This is How I Die'
Harrowing:
.@MelissaTweets #CampFire #Paradise 🔥 https://t.co/WSynQAA6Ew
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 22, 2018
Megan Parry's Thanksgiving Forecast
I hope you have wonderful weather.
Here's the lovely Ms. Megan, for ABC News 10 San Diego:
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Rains Threaten Northern Californian Burn Areas
At LAT, "Approaching storms raise threat of mudslides in California burn areas."
Also, "Rescuers fear rains will wash away victims’ remains; 870 still missing in California fire":
Sorely needed rain coming tomorrow to help firefighters but, it will be heavy at times & could lead to debris flows or flash flooding. Flash Flood Watch WED PM-FRI PM. Hope all in area remain safe! @CAL_FIRE #CampFire #CaliforniaFire #CaliforniaWildfire pic.twitter.com/v3fXwu1hLQ— Sandhya Patel (@SandhyaABC7) November 21, 2018
The cadaver dog alerted to a corner of the charred metal frame, what probably was once the kitchen of a mobile home in Paradise, Calif. Searchers in white jumpsuits walked over, with shovels and gloves, to sift through the debris.
After about 10 minutes, they determined there were no bodies or bones in the rubble — just burned sausages.
For days, hundreds of searchers have been methodically working through the destruction left by the massive Camp fire, looking for clues that someone couldn’t escape, such as a wheelchair or a footprint. They scour places where people may have tried to protect themselves from flames: under a mattress, inside a bathtub.
So far they have discovered 81 bodies — people who died in cars and homes; people outside, probably trying to outrun the flames. But with 870 people still missing and more than 12,600 destroyed homes to comb through, their grim mission is far from over.
“We have so many souls unaccounted for, I believe that this search for remains is going to go on for a long time,” said state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber), whose district includes Paradise. “Could be weeks.”
And now, a pair of incoming storms are threatening to hamper recovery efforts. In a worst-case scenario, the downpour could flood the ruins and wash away human remains, leaving authorities unable to find and identify every victim of California’s deadliest wildfire on record. Authorities fear bones could sink underwater, making them harder to spot and drowning any scent that cadaver dogs rely on to find them.
Paradise narrowed its main road by two lanes despite warnings of gridlock during a major wildfire »
Deborah Laughlin last heard from her son and his pregnant wife just after the couple evacuated their Magalia home. It’s been almost two weeks, and she has no idea whether they survived.
“Please don’t tell me he died,” said Laughlin, tears in her eyes, from the cafeteria of Bidwell Junior High School in Chico. “Please.”
She said she is clinging to hope that they’ll be reunited soon. The 63-year-old lost her home in Paradise. She’s afraid of the approaching storms because she knows there are still people who are missing, people who may have died in the fire.
“I’m scared,” she said. “I’m scared they’ll be washed away and people’s remains will never be found.”
Meteorologists say the Camp fire burn scar — which is larger than the city of San Jose — could see up to 6 inches of rain through Saturday, with the heaviest downpour expected overnight Thursday. The forecast has triggered a flash flood watch for possible rock slides and debris flows. Light rain was beginning to fall Wednesday morning in the Sacramento Valley, with stronger showers expected later in the day.
“That rain is going to get in that ash, it’s going to turn into it a paste-like substance,” said Monterey County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Joe Moses, who is helping in the recovery effort. “It’s going to stick to everything and slow things down.”
Officials are preparing for an long, wrenching cleanup...
Miluniel Louis
Here, "Miluniel Bush of the Day."
Plus, Playboy photos of Miluniel Louis.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
'Close to Me'
The Cure.
Smashing Pumpkins
9:17am
More Than A Feeling
Boston
9:13am
How Soon Is Now?
The Smiths
9:07am
Brain Stew
Green Day
9:03am
Don't You Want Me
The Human League
8:52am
Lose Yourself
Eminem
8:48am
Here I Go Again
Whitesnake
8:44am
No Rain
Blind Melon
8:40am
Love Is A Battlefield
Pat Benatar
8:36am
Close To Me
The Cure
8:25am
When You Were Young
The Killers
8:21am
Sweet Home Alabama
Lynyrd Skynyrd
8:16am
Shout
Tears For Fears
8:10am
Alive
Pearl Jam
8:04am
'It's Only Rock 'n Roll'
Plus, the upcoming 2019 world tour:
See you in the US next year! 🇺🇸 https://t.co/TSFFpTUFPU #stonesnofilter pic.twitter.com/ULS4mTs4Gb
— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) November 19, 2018
It's great to be playing back in America. Feels like we're coming home. https://t.co/t2FnkLmIyb pic.twitter.com/TNuqi3YtYu
— Keith Richards (@officialKeef) November 19, 2018
The Rolling Stones have just announced details of their US Tour 2019: https://t.co/cimRWrDl07 🇺🇸
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) November 19, 2018
There will be a fan pre-sale Weds 28 Nov 10am (local time) - If you want access to the pre-sale then enter your details here: https://t.co/yQWLqONHsv by Tuesday 27 Nov 9am EST. pic.twitter.com/zobo3Po4y9
Monday, November 19, 2018
Shop Today
And especially, Nectar King Mattress + 2 Free Pillows - Gel Memory Foam - CertiPUR-US Certified - 180 Night Home Trial - Forever Warranty.
Also, Melissa & Doug Jumbo Extra-Thick Cardboard Building Blocks - 40 Blocks in 3 Sizes.
Plus, Chanasya Faux Fur Bed Throw Blanket - Super Soft Fuzzy Cozy Warm Fluffy Beautiful Color Variation Print Plush Sherpa Microfiber Gray Blanket (86"x108") KING.
More, Eddie Bauer Men's CirrusLite Down Jacket.
Here, BirdRock Home Snow Moover Extendable 50" Car Brush and Ice Scraper with Foam Grip - Auto Snow Removal - Car Truck SUV Windshield - Heavy Duty.
Still more, Great and British Knitwear Men's Lambswool Plain V Neck Sweater Made In Scotland.
And, Viper Shot King Regulation Bristle Steel Tip Dartboard Set with Staple-Free Bullseye, Galvanized Metal Radial Spider Wire; High-Grade Compressed Sisal Board with Rotating Number Ring for Extending Life, Includes 6 Steel Tip Darts.
BONUS: David Harsanyi, First Freedom: A Ride Through America's Enduring History with the Gun.
Women's March Founder Slams Group's Leadership, Calls for Resignations
At the Times of Israel, "Linda Sarsour rapped for appearing to accuse US Jews of dual loyalty to Israel."
And on Twitter:
This is a must-read for everyone, but especially anyone who ever supported the toxic leadership at the head of the Women’s March, and was duped into financing it with their hard earned money https://t.co/g9B4vSSpSj
— Milena Rodban (@MilenaRodban) November 19, 2018
Teresa Shook, the Women's March founder who literally created its event page on Facebook, calls for the March organizers to step down over having "allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform": https://t.co/PXvdt9IJVx pic.twitter.com/FnQUcMKco1
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) November 19, 2018
Women’s March Founder Calls for Current Co-Chairs to Step Down Citing Their Embrace of Anti-Semitism and Racism https://t.co/7BIHDHLY31
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) November 19, 2018
The Progressive Synopticon
The Progressive Synopticon https://t.co/dXWPVIhRBl
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) November 19, 2018
Sarah Silverman Checks Herself in the Mirror
Also here, "Sarah Silverman Nude Scene."
AnnaLynne McCord in Tank-Top Underwear
But this is nice, at Taxi Drive, "Anna-Lynne McCord in Wife Beater."
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Today's Deals
And see, ECOVACS DEEBOT N79S Robot Vacuum Cleaner with Max Power Suction, Alexa Connectivity, App Controls, Self-Charging for Hard Surface Floors & Thin Carpets.
Also, Greenworks 20-Inch 13 Amp Corded Snow Thrower 2600502.
More, Skywalker Trampolines 15-Foot Jump N’ Dunk Trampoline with Enclosure Net – Added Safety Features – Meets or Exceeds ASTM – Made to Last – Basketball Trampoline.
Plus, Gemmy 36707 Airblown Nativity Scene Christmas Inflatable, and Gemmy 39127-32 Deluxe Airblown Movie Screen Inflatable with Storage Bag, 144" Screen 12 FT TALL x 11.5 WIDE.
Still more, The North Face Men's McMurdo Parka III.
And, KIND Bars, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, Gluten Free, 1.4 Ounce Bars, 12 Count.
More, Black Rifle Coffee Company JB Just Black Coffee Rounds for Single Serve Brewing Machines (32 Count) dark Roast Coffee Pods Cups.
BONUS: Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge: A Novel.
The Premature Death of the Novel
At Quillette, "The Novel Isn't Dead — Please Stop Writing Eulogies":
Many novelists find it harder to make a living today compared to just a decade ago, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to monetize true writing talent with crowdfunding tools, writes @GabrielScorgie. https://t.co/rF3os7t3Pi
— Quillette (@QuilletteM) November 14, 2018
The 69th National Book Awards Ceremony will take place this Wednesday in New York City. Nominees for the Fiction award include Brandon Hobson’s novel Where the Dead Sit Talking, Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers and Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend—all excellent and acclaimed specimens of a literary genre that English novelist J. B. Priestley had called a “decaying literary form” even before Nelson Algren’s The Man With the Golden Arm won the inaugural National Book Award for Fiction back in 1950.
Two decades later, postmodernist American author John Barth argued in The Literature of Exhaustion that the novel may have “by this hour of the world just about shot its bolt.” He won a National Book Award six years later for Chimera. More recently, Zadie Smith discussed her “novel nausea” while paraphrasing David Shields’ description of the crafted novel, “with its neat design and completist attitude,” as being “dull and generic.” Her most recent novel, Swing Time, made last year’s National Book Award longlist.
None of these obituarists seem to agree on the novel’s hour of death. According to veteran The New York Times writer Doreen Carvajal, the novel died in the 1980s, when books started to be valued less on their literary content and more on their sales. And yet over at The Guardian, Robert McCrum claimed a few years ago that the 1980s ushered in a golden age for writers and publishers alike. Meanwhile, Will Self, author of 11 books and five collections of short stories, claims the novel has been in a state of decay since the beginning of the 20th century, and is “absolutely doomed to become a marginal cultural form, along with easel painting and the classical symphony.”
While it is hard to argue with grand, subjective generalizations about the state of the novel, some objective facts are known: It is true that many novelists find it harder to make a living today compared to just a decade ago. A study done by the Authors Guild in the United States found that from 2009 to 2015, the average reported income of full-time authors decreased by 30%. Self-described part-time authors had their income decrease by 38% over the same period. However, this trend doesn’t seem to be affecting the best-selling literary novelists. Colson Whitehead sold 825,000 copies of The Underground Railroad. Emma Healey sold 360,000 copies of Elizabeth is Missing. Kate Atkinson sold 187,000 copies of A God in Ruins. These are strong numbers for literary fiction.
It is the “midlist” writer—the novelist who dedicates years of her life to writing a book that will sell perhaps 15,000 copies from Amazon and the deep recesses of Barnes & Noble—who is seeing her income disappear. Midlist writers frequently are having their manuscripts either rejected outright or accepted with a small advance. Rupert Thomson, a midlist author of over 10 novels, reports that an editor at Faber & Faber told him that he’d love to publish Thomson’s new work, but can no longer afford to offer respectable compensation. When Thomson asked what the editor could offer, he was presented with an amount so tiny that, by the author’s report, “I went home and sat at the kitchen table and drew up a balance-sheet. I thought: I’m going to have to change the way I live.”
Broadly speaking, there are two reasons commonly cited for the decline in sales and income. The first is what author Douglas Preston calls “the censorship of the marketplace”: Since midlist writers are no longer given advances large enough to survive on, many great books are simply never written in the first place because would-be authors are too busy working full-time jobs...
Teenage Juul Addiction
They're definitely addictive.
This is a great report, at NYT, "A Teenager, a Juul and Nicotine Addiction."
E-cigarettes may help tobacco smokers quit. But the alluring devices can swiftly induce a nicotine habit in teenagers who never smoked. This is the tale of one person’s struggle. https://t.co/NBLtSIS7pT
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 16, 2018
Why Trump is Right on California Wildfires
"Governor Jerry Brown would like to shift blame from faulty looney left-wing forest management policies to blaming global warming."
— Linda Suhler, PhD (@LindaSuhler) November 14, 2018
Pray for #CampFire victims. 🙏🏼https://t.co/QaQF55kcNW pic.twitter.com/IseAFZpURO
New Sophie Mudd Photos
Sophie Mudd’s Breasts Are the 8th Wonder of The World https://t.co/4iQwBW1wnT
— Hollywood Tuna (@HollywoodTuna1) September 6, 2018
The Paradise Fire Nightmare
It's like the apocalypse, man.
At LAT, "California fire: What started as a tiny brush fire became the state’s deadliest wildfire. Here’s how."
This minute-by-minute account of how Paradise burned is so harrowing that I couldn’t read it in one sitting. https://t.co/dnbbcPS8Zn
— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) November 18, 2018
Orange County Goes Blue
The Democrats swept all the so-called toss-up congressional districts in the county, plus a couple of other races that pundits had been watching. Republicans haven't been relevant in California for a long time, and while Arnold Schwarzenegger was Republican, he wasn't conservative. It's a blue, far-left California nowadays and I don't know what it going to take to swing it back the other way.
At LAT, "Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats."
And, "Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance":
For a party in free fall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that it's possible to plunge even further. https://t.co/kvKH2tl3nl— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) November 18, 2018
For a party in free fall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that it's possible to plunge even further.Yeah, "faith" in the system, of which there's none if you're conservative.
The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election — again, in blowout fashion — but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit.
After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) The GOP won’t even have enough lawmakers in California’s 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team.
“It’s dead,” Mike Madrid, a former political director of the California Republican Party, said of the state GOP. “It exists in small regional pockets, where there are enough white, non-college-educated working-class communities for there to be a Republican Party. But that’s not much.”
Other states tilt lopsidedly in favor of one party or the other. But never before has a state with California’s huge populace and enormous import — socially, culturally, economically — been so dominated by a single political party. The implications will take years to fully comprehend.
Jim Brulte, chairman of the California GOP, professed not to worry. He said the party has legislative leaders “whose job it is to give voice to Republicans in the state capital.” Also, he went on, substantial numbers in the U.S. House and Senate, where the GOP holds the majority, will speak for Republicans in Washington as well.
The leader of House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, hails from Bakersfield and enjoys a strong relationship with President Trump, which should help the state in its dealings with the administration. (If, as expected, San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi is elected speaker, she would also be well positioned to protect California’s interests.)
Still, many observers — not all of them dispirited Republicans — expressed concern about the effects of such thorough Democratic domination, both in terms of policy and, more broadly, faith in the state’s political system...
But keep reading.