Apologies for the way I’m easing myself into this post.  And thanks to the Ricochet member (you know who you are) who read a comment of mine on this subject elsewhere and suggested that I post it separately.  You deserve what you get.

“Kamala,” I suppose, passes in an odd way for a first declension Latin noun.  When I was ten years old and going through my first Latin grammar lessons, the object lesson for first declension nouns (which generally end with an “a”)  was “Mensa,” meaning “table.”

The second declension example was always “Dominus.” Meaning “master.” (I don’t think the word conjured up any other connotations at the time, and wasn’t necessarily in opposition to any other term indicating servitude.)

“Haughty, shallow with an utterly mediocre intellect such that the increasingly error-filled zeitgeist of one’s peer group has entirely devolved into a kneejerk partisan creed.”

The above description is:

If you had to move away to any state in the country, which one would it be?  Many years ago, my wife and I had a decision to make: Do we stay in liberal Massachusetts, or start a new life somewhere else? It really didn’t take us very long to decide to stay where we were. I’ve never lived more than five miles from Podunk. This is where I will stay. This is where I’ll die. Family is everything.

However… (Yes, this sounds like a big BUTT.) But should I have to move out of state, there is only one place for me: western North Carolina. My job brought me all over this country. I have spent time in every state other than the Dakotas and Oregon, (Not organ). This area of the Southeast is truly a jewel of the country.

Tim Walz perhaps just turned himself into a viral internet meme as a result of that debate. The one line that absolutely cracked me up in disbelief was when he stated: “I’ve become friends with school shooters.“ Ooph, that’s a rough gaffe. And the expression on his face when he said it just enhances it.

I thought I might have misheard it, so I searched online and found the New York Post had already clipped it and put it in a post here.

“If blood, suppuration, and pus, were to pour from the husband’s nose and the wife licked it with her tongue, she would still never be able to fulfill his rights over her.” (This Hadith is repeated, also with great reverence, five times by commentator Imam Suyuti who is regarded as one of the greatest of all Muslim scholars.)

The West often sugarcoats cultures with whom we are not well familiar. My local newspaper will do anything to make Catholic schools a hotbed of the most vile crimes against humanity. But “natives” in other countries are perceived as noble savages, above all criticism or condemnation — even they happen to, from time to time, eat other people. Or just the odd household pet.

One of the differences between Christianity and Judaism is that Christianity is more prone to simply labeling things in this world as “good” or “bad” and acting accordingly. So, for example, alcohol, to many Christians, is “the devil’s drink.” But to Jews, everything in the world can be used for holy OR profane ends. Nothing is considered inherently positive or negative.

So we could, for example, look at the 7 Deadly Sins. Though, to my reading, they really ought to be considered “desires” or “temptations.” Nevertheless, I’d like to offer a quick Jewish defense of each of them.

It’s time once again for leaves to turn, nights to get colder, and me to listen to Roger Zelazny’s masterwork, A Night in the Lonesome October. It is RZ’s last novel, and some have called it his best; he was clearly at the peak of his writing powers. What’s not to love about a Lovecraftian battle against the Elder Gods, involving a Great Detective, a werewolf, a witch, a Count, a mad monk, a Good Doctor and his Experiment Man, all narrated by Jack the Rippers’ faithful dog?

The book came about because RZ and Gahan Wilson happened to have the same agent, and he took them to lunch in NYC one day. The idea of a collaboration grew out of the table conversation. This illustration is from the back cover of the book, showing RZ as the Great Detective and Wilson as his companion; I treasure it.

Zelazny recorded an audiobook version of Lonesome October weeks before he passed. He did it all in one take. There are other narrations out there; the one on Audible is acceptable, but once you’ve heard RZ’s performance nothing else comes close. He recorded it for a little company in his New Mexico home called Sunset Productions, and they produced a six-cassette set. There were plans for a downloadable version, but the fellow who owned the company was in a serious car accident and everything stopped. Years later the master tapes were discovered in a storage locker. Speaking Volumes has published the audiobook as downloadable MP3 files or on CD; I recommend the files. They also have most of RZ’s recordings of his Amber books, but be aware that the later volumes have missing pieces filled in by other voice artists, and RZ never had the chance to record the tenth Amber book.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota have boldly announced a “solution to the housing crisis” in the form of the Homes Act of 2024. Their new confection contemplates the creation of a nonprofit “community land trust,” whose mission is to “develop a stock of permanently affordable, quality, publicly financed, and climate-resilient housing that is shielded from market speculation” as a way to “stabilize” housing markets that serve families who cannot pay for market-rate housing. These organizations must be “democratically accountable to residents, the community, and the public, with residents having a direct role in management decision-making, such as through a tenant organization.” Furthermore, these organizations are required to meet a series of simultaneous (but often clashing) conditions on such matters as gender and racial balance, long-term sustainability, efficient energy, and long-term safety for residents in a healthy environment. The federal budget for this operation is now set at $30 billion from 2025–35, drawn from a mix of direct appropriations and government borrowing. No one knows what the true costs will be.

To make good on their innovation requires that AOC and Smith first make an accurate diagnosis of the malady to which they then respond with a sensible cure. In their recent New York Times op-ed, the two advocates come up short on both points.

The man with more hits in Major League Baseball than any other player in the history of the game is dead at age 83.

He was the guy you hated the most when he played against you and the man you loved the most when he wore your team’s uniform. And when he wore your team’s uniform, it was guaranteed to be covered in dirt by the bottom of the 9th inning.

Pennsylvania is obviously a battleground state in 2024. Trump won an upset victory in the Keystone State in 2016 and that is again a possibility. Western PA is a hotbed of campaigning for both parties.  A Pittsburgh-based food icon became an illustrative case of how each side campaigns and how they treat people. Primanti Brothers has been around since 1933 and has grown into an iconic Pittsburgh-area restaurant and sports bar chain. Prices are moderate for the generally plus-size portions along with its available mid-tier beers. Sports will always be on, especially if the Steelers are playing. Primanti’s is perhaps best known for its large stacked, meaty sandwiches with fries and slaw packed on. The original sandwich was known as the “Primanti’s Brothers sandwich.”

A Tale of Two Primanti Brothers visits:

(1) J.D. Vance, in a bit of retail politics, recently made a visit to a Primanti Brothers but was apparently refused service. Vance and his crew entourage were not all able to enter for a meal while meeting with supportive restaurant goers as part of their campaign. The details are still a bit unclear. Perhaps the visit was not pre-scheduled and he simply dropped in and took the staff off guard. Maybe the cameras and attention were a bit much and thought disruptive to regular customers. Or maybe the local manager simply didn’t like Vance and had the segregationist attitude of not allowing deplorables a seat at the Primanti lunch counter. The report states that a Vance staffer attempted to negotiate with the location manager and even call corporate.

All the fallout from Hurricane Helene, some of which has gravely affected those I love.

Followed by the death of Maggie Smith. And now, that of Kris Kristofferson.