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Nitwittery Update

 Check out the Rolling Stone/Eric Clapton story on Cultural Offering.

The would-be commissar pool in this country is disturbingly large.

First Paragraph

The manuscript of Kaputt is a tale of its own, and it seems to me that the secret history of the manuscript is the most appropriate preface for the book.  I began Kaputt in the summer of 1941 - at the beginning of the German war against Russia - in the village of Pestchanka in the Ukraine, in the home of a Russian peasant, Roman Suchena. Every morning I sat in the garden under an acacia tree and worked while Suchena, squatting on the ground by the pig sty, sharpened his scythe or chopped beets and cabbages for the pigs. The garden adjoined the House of the Soviets which was occupied at this time by a detachment of Hitler's SS men. Whenever an SS trooper came near the hedge, Suchena gave a warning cough.

From Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte

Is Western Europe Suicidal?

A serious turn-around is needed before it's too late.

[Photo by Arthur Osipyan at Unsplash]

Find Something Beautiful Today

 

[Photo by Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash+]

Starring Deborah Harry and James Woods

 

First Paragraph

At ten o'clock of a rainswept morning in London's West End, a young woman in a baggy anorak, a woolen scarf pulled up around her head, strode resolutely into the storm that was roaring down South Audley Street. Her name was Lily and she was in a state of emotional anxiety which at moments turned to outrage. With one mittened hand she shielded her eyes from the rain while she glowered at door numbers, and with the other steered a plastic-covered pushchair that contained Sam, her two-year-old son. Some houses were so grand they had no numbers at all. Others had numbers but belonged to the wrong street.

- From Silverview by John Le Carré

[This was his last novel.]

How Did I Ever Miss This!

 

President Trump Should Be a Lincoln, not a McClellan

In the 1864 presidential election, George McClellan, the Democratic nominee, favored bringing the southern states back into the Union without the abolition of slavery. 

Abraham Lincoln, the Republican nominee, favored both the abolition of slavery and restoration of the Union.

Since it was clear that slavery was a major cause of the Civil War, restoration of the Union alone would not have addressed the core problem.

A similar situation exists today in the war with Iran. Any solution that fails to replace the extreme and murderous theocracy that has oppressed the Iranian people; an odious cadre that has fostered terrorism since the fall of the Shah; will fall short of the necessary resolution of the matter.

President Trump should follow the example of President Lincoln and ignore those who would turn him into a McClellan.

[Getty Images for Unsplash+]

Paperback Writer

 

Nicholas Bate is working on a new novel.