Up Too Early This Sunday

Charley horse in one's calf is an alarm clock without a snooze button.

I hit the email first. Three articles from The Guardian read.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver review – Dickens updated:

David Copperfield wonders “whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life”. Demon Copperhead poses a different question: what is heroism, anyway? When you’re a child born into a life without choices, this powerful reworking suggests, being a hero sometimes consists simply of surviving against the odds.

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino review – director’s cut, and John Banville: ‘There’s been a creeping retreat into infantilism’:

How has literary culture changed since you started out in the 1970s?
Old codgers always say this, but it seems there’s been a creeping retreat into infantilism. When I was middle-aged, you had a comparatively large group of people for whom a new novel by Iris Murdoch or a new book of poems by Robert Lowell was an event eagerly looked forward to. We don’t want difficult books now. A friend said to me: “You see supposedly grownup people on the train unashamedly reading Harry Potter books; they should be reading grownup books, not children’s books!” When I started reading as a little boy, of course I wanted an escape from the small town where I was living. But what I discovered was that the escape you get from art isn’t away from the world but into an infinitely wider one – into life.

I read Banville's The Sea while in prison. I have never been able to read the Harry Potter books.

The Anderson Herald-Bulletin came next, with Abortion access not enough for Hoosier Democrats to win women's votes:

As female voters hit the polls Tuesday, Democrats’ laser focus on abortion access couldn’t compete with record-high inflation, soaring gas prices and the still-strong support for former President Donald Trump that led many Republicans to vote straight tickets.

That was the case for Laurie Hamed, who stood in line for around an hour at the Zionsville Town Hall just before polls closed. The 56-year-old said she always votes Republican, but her party allegiance was even stronger this year because of Trump.

“I miss the Donald,” she said. “You know, not all his antics are good, but I do miss him. He made people think, and he ticked people off, but I like that instead of just being kind of told what to do and then putting up with it.”

President Joe Biden’s handling of issues like immigration and inflation were top of mind for older voters like Judy Cunningham. The Kokomo resident in her 70s used to be an independent voter but now believes Democrats are no longer the party of the people.

“Trump did a wonderful job and brought this country back to what it should have been to begin with,” Cunningham said. “Democrats come in and destroy everything that he’s done and try to put him in prison.”

Voters who said inflation was the biggest issue generally leaned more Republican. For Greentown resident Melanie Duchateau, the prospect of an economic recession worries her so much that she decided to vote a straight GOP ticket.

###

Heather Shrock, who voted at the Greentown Lion’s Club building, said she doesn’t support hateful speech in politics, but she would still vote for Trump and Republicans over Democrats because of their pro-abortion and racially motivated policies.

“I’m all about love one another,” she said. “Trump promoted his fair share of hate, but I’d vote for him again because what Democrats promote right now is disgusting to me.”

Well, I have yet to understand the fascination with Trump. I have family who sound like these people. Last night, talking to my sister, out of the blue she mentioned how no one cared about Hunter Biden. I blew her off. I do not care about Hunter Biden, either. Some of the comments above I will excuse as being due to poor messaging by Indiana Democrats. The majority is inexcusable.

But I have heard similar comments. At work, the week before last, we got a little chat going about politics. Two young guys championed Trump for telling it like it was. I mentioned his carnage in the streets inaugural speech, and they said that was not like it was. They kept going on as they had, adding that Biden was dull and didn't tell them what was going on, until I said they just liked being entertained. No more talk of politics out of them. I do think people in this country think the President is an entertainment figure, not the person who executes the laws passed by Congress.

I cannot figure out what he did to bring the country back to what it was. He got a tax cut for the rich. He did not get an agreement out of the Iranians to stop backing terrorist, or one from North Korea to stop shooting missiles. He withheld arms from the Ukrainians. He demoralized NATO. The Republican tax cuts ballooned the deficit. When Covid hit, he worried more about his poll numbers than the deaths caused by an inept quarantining; which left me glad he had not to deal with a worse crisis. Where was the much-touted infrastructure bill? Why could he not get a Republican government to back Medicare negotiating prescription medications? Is trying to overthrow a duly elected government getting the country back to what it was? 

I may know the Shrock woman. If I do, it is only in passing.  I would like to know what the Democrats were doing that disgusted her. Keep out racism? Keep out fascism? Keep out antisemitism? I would like to have her point to any Democrats who called Mexicans racists, who put down women, who incited armed rebellion against Trump, who refused to condemn neo-Nazis, who did not support her rights over herself, who did their best to undermine democracy in the U.S. of A.

Is not equal protection of the laws what made America great? If Trump committed a crime, then he should go to prison. (Sidenote: there was much discussion among my room at Fort Dix of if Trump could be sent to prison, for security reasons and not legal ones.) I do not know of any Doctrine of Trump Infallibility that places him outside the law. He is not a king beyond the reach of the law.

The Hamed woman sounds like the kids I work with, albeit much more articulate. I wonder what she thinks she was told to do and just put with. Is just ticking people off enough to make one a good President? I tick people off with every breath I am still able to take. Maybe I should be President.

But even more than not seeing much substance to Trump or his Presidency, what really irks me about the man is his incompetence. As of this morning, I think Mitch McConnell probably agrees with me. I suspect Kevin McCarthy could be a happier man.

I also read on the H-B, GOP takes full control of county council and Straight party voting benefits GOP candidates locally. I am baffled by The pipes are calling at Anderson High School, and I am not - Anderson High School stole the Madison Heights building, and now they steal Highland's band. Highland Class of 1978, here.

Last night's submissions: Perceptions Magazine ("Problem Solving"), Moot Point Magazine ("Colonel Tom"), Orca ("Problem Solving"),, Nixes Mate Review, and Scab ("Colonel Tom").

I had my rejection from Scab in this morning's email:

Thank you for your submission. It was an honor to receive it.

Though the piece, unfortunately, isn't a fit for SCAB, your talent is obvious, and I hope your work finds a better-fitting home somewhere else!

                     

Kind regards,

Dominik

Editor

From Thornfield Hall, I got today's post, A Reimagined Myth: “The Professor and the Siren,” by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa. This is the kind of review that makes one want to read the story.

Rex Early died. Always an interesting character - a Hoosier character in all the good ways of being a Hoosier.

I just noticed the Muncie Star-Press has a page with a bit more detail on Indiana's election results. Too lazy to check the Secretary of State's site.

The Democrats need to move to the right - cartoon from The Daily Kos. 

Musical accompaniment for this morning: Seger's Seven, Seger's Back in '72, and The Ramones' Rocket to Russia.

The sun is up. Snow is on the ground. I need a break from the computer.

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