“Ayn Rand Made Me a Communist.” Um … you’d probably have to be a regular New Republic reader and already know how Jacob Bacharach is one; he doesn’t actually explain, except in a vague-ish indirect way. It’s still an interesting essay, though. Question not asked: If this homeless guy can do all this, then why is he homeless? Not a bad analysis of how the R-Party is coming apart at the seams. Leaves out factors you and I know well, but seems right in its basics. Georgia state representative commits civil disobedience to get medical marijuana to sick kids. Yeah,…
Category: War on Some Drugs
Wow. But not surprising. The ATF and the Obama administration, via Fast & Furious, supplied drug lord El Chapo with .50 cal weaponry. Zombie ships ply the ocean in hopes of paying just the interest, not the principle, on shipowners’ debt. One more place all that central bank bubble capital has been going for the last eight years. Right analysis? But completely crazy proposed solution to global bubbles. With state legislatures in session, it’s become political silly season. Most of the goofy new bills will never pass, so you can stop sending me alarming emails about junk that might not…
Will people now have to start watching their “threat scores” the way they have to watch their credit scores? Given the notoriously bad and biased information that goes into marking us as “threats,” that could be a real challenge. Mental Floss tells the story of German teens who rebelled against Hitler. Another fascinating, little-known bit of history. To call it the gun issue even the NRA won’t touch might be an exaggeration. But the problem of non-violent ex-felons being denied gun rights does hit blacks harder than the rest of us. (Thank you, War on Drugs.) Funny timing. Last evening…
The five “best” drug scares of 2015. This year’s weirdest science stories. Fourteen — maybe 15 — ways to avoid the Obamacare tax. (Per A.G. in comments.) Thirteen things credit card companies know about you that might make you cringe. Well, thank heaven it wasn’t “gun violence.” Another Darwin Award nominee, courtesy of absorption in mobile device. How embarrassing to die of pure stupid. But hey — at least it wasn’t “gun violence”! In praise of Glock. Ross Douthat on cracks in the liberal order. Not meaning “liberal” as in that thing that “progressives” don’t want to be called these…
Of the new Omni-bust budget deal Jim Bovard sez: “Republican congressional leaders are like a football coach who believes the secret to winning is to punt early and often.” Rand Paul sez stop the bill — and he has some fairly decent ideas for alternatives. OTOH, Marijuana.com sez there are a couple of decent provisions in the 2,000 page monster sellout. On the other other hand, the USPS announces a completely unsurprising but curiously retro policy on carrying publications that contain — gasp! — ads for the dreaded Demon Weed. One wonders why they couldn’t have just kept their mouths…
The Miskatonic Manuscript
By Vin Suprynowicz
323 pages, Mountain Media, December 11, 2015
Available from AbeBooks.com $28.50 autographed, limited edition hardcover
or
Amazon.com $5.99 Kindle ebook
—–
When last we saw rare-book dealer Matthew Hunter and the beautiful, dauntless Chantal Stevens they were searching for the lost testament of James, a much-rumored scripture by the brother of Jesus, a document powerful forces would kill to suppress.
That was in Vin’s first Hunter-Stevens novel.
Now they’re back. Back at their shop, Books on Benefit in Providence, Rhode Island. Back with their distinctly motley crew of friends and associates (including a writer of vampire tales who may take his role just a little too seriously and a small person named Skeezix whose uncanny affinity with cats makes me wonder about his genetic heritage).
And of course they’re back to searching for another rare manuscript. This time there’s nothing biblical about it — unless you worship at the altar of H.P. Lovecraft, whose work the lost document is. Some of the characters in The Miskatonic Manuscript literally do worship at that altar, being members of the Church of Cthulu.
They shouldn’t have euthanized the alligator. Should have given him a medal. No, Colbert. The problem isn’t that you don’t have to show ID to buy ammo. The problem is that you do have to show it to buy Sudafed. This is how tyranny creeps its creepy little way into our heads. Barack Obama … um created Donald Trump. Two good ones from TZP: Bear Bussjaeger’s “Speaking Ill of the Dead” and William Lehman’s guest commentary, “Controlled Violence, or Pistols and Other Things that Go Boom”. Subscribers to TZP alerts got an early look at both of these. Guess you…
Jim Bovard tries to go home from making a speech and gets investigated as a terrorist bomber. Seems this adorable little drug “kingpin” learned her trade from her rough, tough, posturing DEA daddy. Yeah, I know there’s a difference between fantasizing and actually taking steps toward committing torture, murder, and cannibalism. But seems to me that when you use the power and tools of your profession to choose and track specific victims, you’ve crossed that line. I’ll bet the appeals court would have seen that clearly had Gilberto Valle been anything other than a cop. Washington, DC: 2161 pot busts…
The Miskatonic Manuscript by Vin Surprynowicz isn’t officially out yet. Release date is December 11, but I just received a beautiful hardcover review copy. The teaser on the dust jacket says in part: What if Rhode Island horror writer H.P. Lovecraft didn’t just imagine the “resonator” in his 1920 short story “From Beyond”? What if Henry Annesley actually built the machine that allowed him to see into the Sixth Dimension -– and allowed creatures from The Other Side to invade us here? … [And] “What if they fought a War on Drugs . . . and someone fought back?” Good…
For some reason, the NRA sat on its review of the notorious Armatrix iP1 “smart” gun and just recently released it. They probably didn’t mean it to be hilarious, but it is. Ten ways to lessen your chances of being killed in a terrorist attack. #BlackLivesMatter may get all the press, but Tommitrise Collins, college student and new mother, is a lot more impressive. Wendy McElroy found this one first, but it should be spread far and wide: thanks to asset forfeiture, U.S. cops now steal more property than all the nation’s burglars combined. What The Hunger Games movies say…