The End Times; An Alternate View

For John, BLUF:  There is no doubt the earth will end, but when and how are open questions.  One point of view is that the Creator will end His crestion and msy well do it soon.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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End of Daze
Author:  Andrew Fox
Kindle Version:  265 Pages
Publisher:  Aggadah Try It
Language:  English
ASIN:  B0BYHC3YGM
Publication Date:  30 March 2023

I picked up this book on the recommendstion of Blogger and Writer Sarah Hoyt.

I am glad I did.  Recent events in the Middle East raise the question of if these are the End Times.  If we pay attention to the likes of Author Hal Lindsey (The Late Grest Plsnet Earth) we note the return of Jews to the land of Israel (1900 years ago the nation of Judea).  This is a possible sign of the fulfillment of Biblical End time Prophecy.

The perspective of The End of Daze is a combinstion of science Fiction and of Jewish prospective.  It is this second view, with its liberal sprinkling of Yiddish and Jewish practices and traditions that made it interesting. 

Another aspect of a fictoinal look is thst the writer can pose some interesting situstions, such as when a radical Muslim group acquires a nuclear artillery shell from a nation from the former Soviet Union.  Such a weapon can be a game changer. . But the story also deals with those who cannot accept what G_d is trying to do and fight Him.  That is a story as old as time.

A quick read, with an interesting alternative perespective.  Well worth the effort to read, and available on the Kindle.

Regards  —  Cliff

Books Live On—I Hope

For John, BLUF:  Some people are collectors of books and some aren't.  I doubt the two groups will ever understand each other.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Recently, I threw some books in the trash... well, the recycling bin... but you know what I mean: I threw books out.

From Althouose, by Professor Ann Althouse, 18 Decembeer 2022, 12:36 PM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Recently, I threw some books in the trash... well, the recycling bin... but you know what I mean: I threw books out.  I wanted to tell you to help you.  I'm prompted by "We’re drowning in old books. But getting rid of them is heartbreaking.  'They’re more like friends than objects,’ one passionate bookseller says. What are we to do with our flooded shelves?" by Karen Heller (WaPo).

Book lovers are known to practice semi-hoardish and anthropomorphic tendencies.  They keep too many books for too long despite dust, dirt, mold, cracked spines, torn dust jackets, warped pages, coffee stains and the daunting reality that most will never be reread.  Age rarely enriches a book.

“Nobody likes to throw a book away. Nobody likes to see it go into a bin,” says Michael Powell of Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore.  Owners never want to see their hardback babies pulped.  Bibliocide seems particularly painful in this fraught era of banned books.  Hence, the sprouting of Little Free Libraries everywhere, and donations to public ones for resale, which enable staff to purchase new books.

At the Memorial Service for my late colleague and friend, Mark Hemenway, his Wife told the story of Mark saying to her "The difference between us is you love reading, but I love books."  That immediately resonated with me.  I worry that, upon my passing, my books will not go to people who appreciate them, but rather to a pulping machine.

It is a tragedy  On the other hand, by that point I may be focused on other things.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Whither the West

For John, BLUF:  Civilization has been in decline since Eve's Sons were knee high to a grass hopper.  But, now it is serious.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Sustainable Decadence

From Commonweal Magazine, by Professor Andrew J. Bacevich, 9 March 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

I read The Decadent Society while on a weeklong cruise from Miami to Miami, stopping at various sun-bleached points in between.  Future historians may well classify such voyages back to the place where you first embarked as the very embodiment of early twenty-first-century bourgeois decadence, with food and drink, entertainment and diversions, all available in seemingly endless supply.  With chapter titles such as “Sclerosis,” “Sterility,” “Repetition,” “Comfortably Numb,” and “Kindly Despotism” (“No jeans in the dining room after 6:00 p.m., please.”), Ross Douthat’s new book, The Decadent Society, seemed particularly apt as I considered whether or not to make another pass through the buffet line before heading to the bar for the extended happy hour.

It is not my intention to have fun at Douthat’s expense, however.  He is, in my judgment, the only New York Times columnist regularly worth reading—this due in no small part to his sturdy refusal to succumb to Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Indeed, his new book pays refreshingly little attention to our forty-fifth president.  Donald R. Trump is “fundamentally more farcical than threatening,” he writes, a point with which I heartily agree.

The Decadent Society offers a fresh take on an old subject:  the decline of Western civilization, with the United States leading the pack.  Douthat writes from the perspective of a Catholic conservative Gen Xer at the top of his game.  To this semi-senescent Catholic conservative Boomer, the resulting critique is original, insightful, and largely persuasive.

Decadence, as Douthat uses the term, consists of “economic stagnation, institutional decay, and cultural and intellectual exhaustion” combined with “a high level of material prosperity and technological development”—not bad as a broad description of our current situation.  A vibrant society, Douthat believes, creates, discovers, and expands.  Until well past the midpoint of the twentieth century, the West generally and the United States specifically exhibited these qualities.  Around the time my fellow Boomers reached maturity, however, anomie and stasis set in, with the results now everywhere evident.  “Resignation haunts our present civilization,” Douthat writes, with “therapeutic philosophies and technologies of simulation” having displaced passion, conviction, and faith.  Overstated? Perhaps, but not wrong.

Yes, our society is drifting from where it was in the 1950s.  How do we go forward?  I guess I will have to read the book to learn the prescription.

Regards  —  Cliff

Thinking Woman

For John, BLUF:  A name from my youth.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Doris Lessing, changer

From The New Neo, Jane, 1 February 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

Doris Lessing was a well-known writer who died in 2013 after a very long life and many prizes, including a Nobel.  I confess that I’ve never read a thing she wrote, although I tried a few times.  It just didn’t grab me, and I don’t even remember why.  But this post isn’t about her novels – it’s about her political beliefs, which I find of interest.

Lessing began as a committed leftist, a Communist.  She also was a feminist, and I believe she remained so in one way or another for her entire life.  But in many ways she thought for herself and quite early on understood the danger represented by PC thought.  She left the hard left quite early on, as well.

Unlike Jane, I have read a couple of Ms Doris Lessings books, which I enjoyed, probably marking me as strange.  The woman has broad experience and nicely explores the human experience.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Eric Hoffer Remembered

For John, BLUF:  The book is a good read, and not too hard.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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ERIC HOFFER’S BIRTHDAY

From The InstaPundit, by Law Professor Gail Heriot, 25 July 2018.

Here is the Post, in part:

On this day in either 1898 or 1902, depending upon whom you ask, Eric Hoffer, the only longshoreman-philosopher ever to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was born in the Bronx.  Hoffer was the author of The True Believer, an inquiry into the nature of mass movements.  His other works include The Ordeal of Change and The Temper of Our Time.

Hoffer wrote one of the greatest lines I’ve ever read, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

He wasn’t thinking of the Southern Poverty Law Center when he said it.  But, alas, the shoe fits.

Here is his OBIT from The Old Gray Lady

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Book Reading by Age

For John, BLUF:  Are you holding down our numbers?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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TED: The Economics Daily

Here is the sub-headline:

People age 65 and older more likely than younger people to read for personal interest

5 March 2018.

Here is the lede:

March 2 was Read Across America Day and, not coincidentally, the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss. This annual program aims to motivate children and teens to read. Let’s look at the most recent data on the reading habits of Americans. On an average day in 2016, 38.3 percent of people age 65 and older read for personal interest. That was a larger percentage than any other age group. By comparison, 9.4 percent of people ages 15 to 24 read for personal interest on an average day in 2016.

So, is this because we have entered the age of on-line games or is this a natural progression as people age?

Regards  —  Cliff
-, Wed 3.0

Slavery of the Mind

For John, BLUF:  Don't let others judge you as inferior.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Slavery and Freedom

From Pajama Media, by Author Sarah Hoyt, 15 October 2017.

This opinion piece is a meditation on slavery based upon the writings of Robert A. Heinlein’s and his Science Fiction Novel, Citizen of the Galaxy.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The First Kindle

For John, BLUF:  Maybe books were thinner then.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Book-hoarding, 10th Century Style

I came across this little factoid while reading the Blog of (Retired) Law Professor Ann Althouse. It is from the Wonders and Marvels Blog of Ms Pamela Toler, back in 2014.

Here is the key section:

In the tenth century… the Grand Vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassem Ismael, in order not to part with his collection of 117,000 volumes when traveling…"
"... had them carried by a caravan of four hundred camels trained to walk in alphabetical order.

The larger discussion is here:

Recently, a factoid has begun popping up in my universe that makes me feel even worse. According to Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading,

In the tenth century… the Grand Vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassem Ismael, in order not to part with his collection of 117,000 volumes when traveling, had them carried by a caravan of four hundred camels trained to walk in alphabetical order.

Manguel goes on to explain that the camel drivers effectively served as librarians, each responsible for retrieving volumes from his camel at the vizier’s command.

At first, I found the factoid charming: a lovely illustration of the importance of books in the early Islamic world. Then I felt a little jealous at the idea of owning 1117,000 books. Now I just feel inadequate at my inability to keep control over a couple of thousand books without the added complication of moving camels.

Perhaps it is the invention of writing that has led to Scientific progress and greater Economic wellbeing and, most important, Democracy.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Milo At Large

For John, BLUF:  Every age needs some controversialists.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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To Some, Liberty Is 'Dangerous'

Posted at Pajama Media, by Dr Helen Smith, this Independence Day.

The lede:

Milo Yiannopoulos's book Dangerous is out today and it is fitting that it is July 4th.  The fact that Milo can publish and sell his own book despite all of the abuse and criticism he has withstood over the past few years shows that some degree of liberty still exists in the U.S., and that is cause for celebration today.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Ignoring What People Want

For John, BLUF:  A tale about the Democrats not getting it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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When Reality Kicks Back

This is an interesting blog post by Ms Sarah Hoyt, a contributor at the InstaPundit. It is about publishing, but it is also about political life.  Here is the end of the Blog Post:

I.e. you can push and you can market, but in the end, if the readers don’t like your product, you’re hosed.

Sometimes the dogs just don’t like the food.

Look at this sad tale, and consider it is but a miniature representation of what is going on in society at large.

When a large segment of the population or the self proclaimed elite insists on ignoring reality, they are on a road to nowhere, with a really interesting tour of various historical horrors along the way.

And all we can do is build under, build around, build over, so we can take the weight when the structure falls.

Be not afraid.

By the way, I sometimes hear about how the "low educated" gave the election to President Trump.  There are two solutions to this.  One is to have an educational cutoff for the right to vote, the way they did in the old South, when the Democrats ran things down there.  The other solution is to learn to pitch one's arguments to all the voters, so the "low educated" don't feel as though they are being ignored, at best, or denied, at worst.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The West in Decline?

For John, BLUF:  The "West" is what it is because of people being Liberals (vice Democrats) and working to give everyone freedom to be who they could be.  But it depends on perpetuating that idea of the right to be wrong.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Two views of West’s decline

The Orange County Register (California, where I used to vote) has an opinion piece by Reporter Joel Kotkin, in which he examines two books:

1. Submission, by French writer Michel Houellebecq
2. The Family Mandible, by Lionel Shriver

I read the first book a few months ago.  Yes, I didn't do a review.  I had thought Camp of the Saints was enough.  But, it turns out I did a draft and never published.  I will try to correct that mistake.

Both books look at Western society collapsing, in the French case by an agreement between the French Left and Islamic parties, to fight the rise of the "Right" in the form of Ms Marine Le Pen.  The other case is a future (2029-2047) where the establishment collapses and the every increasing Latinos take over (but Mexico builds a wall).

From the Opinion Piece:

But these books are far more nuanced than orthodox Muslims or progressives might assume.  For one thing, neither book blames the newcomers for the crisis of their respective societies.  The collapse, they suggest, is largely self-inflicted.

In the Mandibles’ America, the starting point lies in the loss of basic values such as thrift; chronic dependence on borrowing to a debased dollar and eventually the disastrous renunciation of our own international debts.  Shriver describes her book in economic terms, chronicling “civil breakdown by degrees” as people’s savings and ability to earn money dissipates.

In Mandibles, Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, not Latinos, are to blame for the country’s descent into financial ruin.  President Alvarado is forced to play a poor hand, notes one character, because “the really big mistake was made long ago. You can’t unmake them.”

The decline insolvency also parallels a decline in national identity.  By 2047, Shriver notes, the Fourth of July is decidedly out of fashion.“In hipper cities like New York the holiday,” Shriver notes, “had become an embarrassment.”

In the second book we have an immigrant who experiences “the decline of what he genuinely believed was the greatest nation of earth” as “a source of sorrow.”

I do think that who is in Government doesn't count as much as what they think, what values they have.  It is our values, expressed in terms of what our society provides in material and spiritual benefits, that have made us attractive to immigrants.  I believe that applies to both France and ourselves.

The OpEd is an interesting read and I commend it to you.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Lessons for Children

For John, BLUF:  Will Children self organize?  The author thinks so.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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It appears a specter is haunting halls of The New Yorker.  This specter seems for all the world like Karl Emil Maximilian [Max] Weber.

First we had a piece by Jeannie Suk, about Title IX vs Title IX.

Now we have a piece by Jia Tolentino, "'THE BOXCAR CHILDREN' AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM". Here is the lede:

The second time that Gertrude Chandler Warner published “The Boxcar Children,” a tale of four orphaned adventurers named Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, the year was 1942, and the book was so successful that it erased Warner’s first version, published by Rand McNally in 1924 (with a hyphen in its title: “The Box-Car Children”), from public memory.  For the 1942 version, the story line and personalities of the main characters remained largely unchanged, but Warner abbreviated the text for younger readers, scrubbing it down to the simplicity of a fable—the vocabulary of the second edition was deliberately limited to six hundred words.  The book has never gone out of print, and it became the foundation for more than a hundred and fifty sequels, a dedicated museum in Connecticut, and, two years ago, an animated film.

The whole article is a nice read, and not too long.

Here is the Amazon page on Author Gertrude Chandler Warner.

"The Boxcar Children teaches hard work, hard play and independence.  It is the lessons we would hope all our children learn, but apparently some don't.

Regards  —  Cliff

St Patrick

For John, BLUF:  See you at the Dinner.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Today we celebrate Saint Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland, from where it was exported back to Italy.  See, for example, How the Irish Saved Civilization.

Regards  —  Cliff

Life

For John, BLUF:  Adapting and adjusting.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Being unready and ill-equipped is what you have

to expect in life….You never have the capacities,

the strength, the wisdom, the virtue you ought

to have. You must always make do with less than

you need in a situation vastly different from what

you would have chosen for your special endowments.

Charleton Ogburn, Jr.
The Marauders

Regards  —  Cliff

InstaPundit asks "Why does De Blasio Hate the Poor?"

For John, BLUF:  Here is another example of the Governmental Bureaucracy screwing over the poor to benefit the better off.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ms Megan McArdle, who is a Bloomberg View columnist who writes on economics, business and public policy, gives us Uber Serves the Poor by Going Where Taxis Don’t.

People talk about the ride-sharing service as if it’s mostly a boon for rich people, who have conspired with the titans of Silicon Valley to take food out of the mouths of hardworking taxi drivers.  And sure, what’s good for Uber is bad for taxi drivers — or at least, bad for the owners of taxi medallions.  But the assumption that the beneficiaries are rich is a little strange.

As I noted in the very first article I ever wrote about the company, the primary appeal of Uber for me has never been avoiding taxis, or even getting a cheaper fare.  If I’m in an area where it’s easy to catch a street hail, I’ll usually just stick my arm out like the old-fashioned girl I am.  No, the biggest benefit I’ve always seen is that Uber allowed you to catch a ride from places where taxis are scarce.

Five years ago, when we moved in, my neighborhood in Washington was one of those places.  I almost never saw available taxis near us. For taxi drivers, time is money — any time they’re not driving someone around, they are burning gas looking for a fare.  So no wonder drivers would rather head downtown, where there were lots of people looking for taxis, than cruise a larger area for the few fares that might need a ride.  Street hailing simply isn’t efficient without a dense population of taxi riders.  And while you could theoretically call a taxi to your house, this was a highly unreliable means of transportation.  More than once, I have had to press my retired mother into emergency service for a ride to the airport, because my car simply never showed up.

I’ve always thought that in terms of letting you do something you couldn’t do before, Uber provides the biggest benefit to people who live in lower-income neighborhoods, not in rich ones.  That’s where dispatch is often unreliable, where street hails are rare, and where many residents don’t have a car.

Then, adding insult to injury, the InstaPundit says:

But Uber offers insufficient opportunities for graft.  Negotiating the creation of those opportunities is what the controversy over Uber is really about.

Have I mentioned Mr Hernando de Soto's book, The Other Path?

Regards  —  Cliff

The Bin-Laden Library

For John, BLUF:  "If you think of Osama bin Laden as a thrifty, frustrated, nth-year graduate student, this all makes sense."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Here is a piece on the Osama bin-Laden books found when we went to take him prisoner (or as some would have it, assassinate him).  An excerpt:

[I]f there is a common theme to his English-language library, it’s great power war and imperial decline.  That fits both his conspiracy books and his more conventional selections.  Such a theme would be unsurprising for bin Laden, as he’d naturally be very interested in any insights into how to bring down what he viewed as the American empire.

What’s interesting, however, is the scattershot nature of these texts.  There were other quality books on empire that bin Laden should have had in his possession given that he was so invested in this topic.  Why this odd mix?

See the Bottom Line, Up Front.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Amazon Quarterly Report

TRIGGER WARNING:  Positive comments about Jeff Bezos and Amazon.

For John, BLUF:  Amazon is pouring profit into setting up for future profit.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From The Wall Street Journal and Reporter Greg Bensinger we have "Amazon Swings to Loss Despite Jump in Sales".

Amazon.com Inc. finally revealed financial details about its secretive cloud computing division, but it was otherwise business as usual in the first quarter for the e-commerce giant.

The Seattle company reported a loss despite rapidly rising sales, as it continued to spend heavily to fund a variety of projects such as drone delivery and streaming-video deals, as well as warehouse construction.  And while some investors fret that Amazon is spreading itself thin, such as with the unpopular Fire smartphone, the company reaffirmed it is investing for an ever-distant future.

I think Mr Jeff Bezos is doing the right thing—investing in the future.

Hat tip to Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Frank About TARP

For John, BLUF:  Barney isn't always wrong.  Always brash but not always wrong.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From Salon, we have writer David Dayen talking about former Representative Barney Frank and his new book, Frank.  The focus of the article is TARP and how it failed to help the people with mortgages while it was helping the banks who were foreclosing on the mortgage holders who had fallen behind.  The headline is "Barney Frank drops a bombshell: How a shocking anecdote explains the financial crisis".

The anecdote comes on page 295 of “Frank,” a title that the former chair of the House Financial Services Committee holds true to throughout the book. The TARP legislation included specific instructions to use a section of the funds to prevent foreclosures. Without that language, TARP would not have passed; Democratic lawmakers who helped defeat TARP on its first vote cited the foreclosure mitigation piece as key to their eventual reconsideration.

What happened?  Per the article, the Bush Administration Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson said for tranche two he would pressure the banks to reduce the pressure if incoming President Obama asked.  The President balked.  Understandably, Representative Frank was and is not happy about that.

Read the article.  Maybe even read the book.

Hat tip to Memeorandum.

Regards  —  Cliff

We Need a New Word

For John, BLUF:  We should think about our words.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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I was checking my Facebook page and Doctrine Man had a link to a Stars and Stripes article, by Reporter Peter St. Onge of The Charlotte Observer.  The headline is "Paula Broadwell, in one word".  Author Paula Broadwell wrote the General David Petraeus biography "All In".

Mr St Onge starts with a question:

How would you describe Paula Broadwell?

She’s been in the news again, reluctantly so.  The man with whom she had an affair, Gen. David Petraeus, took a plea deal this month for giving military secrets to Broadwell, who was writing his biography.

The Observer has written about that case and that relationship, and we’ve published things others have written.  In those reports, Broadwell, who lives in Charlotte, is often referred to as the general’s “mistress.”

She doesn’t like that word.  She thinks it’s sexist and demeaning.

“I can deal with the repeated old news, but such non-stop chauvinism is reprehensible,” she said in an email to me last week.

Broadwell would prefer what CBS and NBC reporters have called her – a “biographer.” But “biographer” doesn’t capture the context of her relationship with Petraeus.  “Mistress” is more fully descriptive.

But is it fair? Mistress doesn’t have a gender equivalent.  It’s a word that’s tangled up in culture, history and how we see women who cheat differently than we do men.

Frankly, I am with Ms Broadwell.  To define a wife and mother, an Army Veteran, an author, by the single term "mistress" is demeaning and unfair.  Sure, she made a mistake.  But, if there is forgiveness and redemption then it should apply equally to Paula Broadwell as to any of the rest of us.  General Petraeus passed her information so she could fact-check the book she was writing, not for sexual purposes.  And ask yourself how the careless use of "mistress" impacts Ms Broadwell's husband, who has stood by her.  How does that focus help the healing in that family?

Beside, "mistress" is such a French thing.  These two had an affair.  They both did wrong.  One presumes they have both asked forgiveness of their own mate.  It is now time to move on.

Regards  —  Cliff

Overregulation Disincentivizing

For John, BLUF:  Nebby neighbors are the spark that lights this kind of fire.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From The Atlantic we have "The Danger of Being Neighborly Without a Permit", by Writer Conor Friedersdorf.  It is all summed up by this subhead line, "All over America, people have put small "give one, take one" book exchanges in front of their homes.  Then they were told to tear them down."

The power to require permits is the power to prevent something from ever existing. This lovely movement would've never begun or spread if everyone who wanted to build a Little Free Library recognized a need to apply and pay for a permit. Instead they did good and asked permission never.

I think the author captures the essence of the problem here.

This is what conservatives and libertarians mean when they talk about overregulation disincentivizing or displacing voluntary activity that benefits people.

Hat tip to the Althouse blog.

Regards  —  Cliff