Curmudgeon Emeritus
Author's posts
Jan 09 2025
Reading The Signs
A long time ago, a certain Theodore Roosevelt – you may have heard of him – owned a cattle ranch. At that time, this incident occurred: During his time as a rancher, Theodore Roosevelt and one of his cowpunchers lassoed a maverick steer, lit a fire, and prepared the branding irons. The part …
Jan 06 2025
Look To The States
On several important fronts, the political battles of the next few years will focus on the states rather than on Washington D.C. With a second Trump Administration coming on January 20, the agenda for the federal government is set. The states remain hotbeds of conflict. John Hinderaker reports from not-as-blue-as-you-may-think Minnesota: Minnesota …
Jan 02 2025
“King Kong” Mode?
Well, it’s back to the dreary crap: (CAUGHT ON TAPE) A special needs child has caused thousands of dollars in damages after destroying multiple televisions at Costco. The boy’s parents claim their son was in “King Kong Mode” and that they were too afraid to intervene. pic.twitter.com/gPRwLB9CRu — Victory News Network (VNN) (@VictoryNewsNet) January …
Jan 01 2025
A Beginning-Of-Year Summary
There are enough people composing end-of-2024 summaries, don’t you think, Gentle Reader? So let’s try something different: looking forward instead of rearward. Who knows? Maybe, if we summarize 2025 optimistically and enthusiastically, the Flying Purple Shaft will be grounded due to excessively good weather and Murphy will take that long-overdue vacation. Besides, if the …
Dec 29 2024
The Fabrication Of Unworth
Yes, yes, your Curmudgeon knows perfectly well it should be “unworthiness.” But essay titles are special around here. We use them to draw attention, to stimulate thought, and – on occasion – to elicit a laugh or two. Especially on those occasions when we’re striving not to be “stuffed shirts.” Say, how long …
Aug 14 2024
Some Music For Our Times… And All Others
Have a little music on your Curmudgeon: one of the most heart-wrenching songs in the Child Catalogue, from British folk greats Maddy Prior and Tim Hart: It’s fifty long springtimes Since she was a bride But still, you may see her At each Whitsuntide In a dress of white linen And ribbons …
Aug 14 2024
Relief
To hell with the news. To hell with the street violence. To hell with the collapsing economy. To hell with all the corruption and deceit. To hell with the conflicts in the Middle East. To the deepest pit of hell with the political campaign! It’s just suffering piled …
Sep 08 2023
A Black Liberation Movement Your Curmudgeon Can Get Behind
Of course, it’s a good distance from the usual sort: R&B singer Akon may have been born in the United States, but he wants to go back to his roots — which, to him, means constructing a city in his family’s ancestral home of Senegal, which he describes as a “real-life Wakanda.” …
Aug 12 2023
Ingenious!
Your Curmudgeon has kept the myrmidons of the Internal Revenue Service at bay through the expedient of doing his tax returns in Norse runes and Roman numerals. (Yes, this is legal.) However, other approaches have always been of interest. The following suggestion is exceptionally striking, and potentially highly consequential: If you’re ordered to …
Aug 12 2023
The Romans Understood This
So did the greatest science-fiction writer of the Twentieth Century: “To vote is to wield authority; it is the supreme authority from which all other authority derives….Force, if you will!—the franchise is force, naked and raw, the Power of the Rods and the Axe. Whether it is exerted by ten men or ten …
Jul 07 2023
People Of Hope
I recall recommending The Hope Line as a worthy charity earlier this year. Unlike most other charities, it doesn’t offer material or financial help to those who come to it. Rather, it offers a sympathetic ear and voice. Its workers will talk to you about anything, but an emphasis on…drum roll, please…hope. Within that …
Jul 07 2023
Hollow Laugh Dept.
There are days when your Curmudgeon suspects that, rather than a real world where rational people say and do rational things, he was born into a huge satire of such a world. We have an example today: MSNBC’s Jen Psaki comments blaming Republicans for concerns expressed by the Muslim community about LGBTQ curriculum …
Apr 22 2023
The Follies Of Experts
Your Curmudgeon is coming to believe that “experts” and the relentless promotion thereof exist solely to reinforce “official” BS and intimidate those who see through it. Perhaps he’s even a bit late to the party, as that seems to be a burgeoning recognition among Americans generally. Nevertheless, it’s a notion that deserves some exploration, …
Mar 25 2023
Money Today And Tomorrow
Good evening, and welcome to the Money Programme. Tonight on the money programme, we’re going to look at money–lots of it, on film and in the studio. Some of it in nice piles, Others in lovely clanky bits of loose change. Some of it neatly counted into fat little hundreds…delicate fivers stuffed into bulging …
Aug 18 2021
Defiance Or Gloom?
Your Curmudgeon isn’t sure what he’s hearing. Some voices are elevated in anger, furious about events in Afghanistan and seemingly resolved to expel the villains and incompetents in Washington who are responsible for the debacle. Many of these are persons who’ve expressed similar intentions for some time. But other voices speak in the …
Aug 17 2021
Data Points
Nations, like men, are best advised to heed one another’s actions rather than their words. A steady diet of diplomatic and strategic duplicity will nullify one’s ability to negotiate for anything – and that is what the American diplomatic and military establishments have fed the world since 1975. Vietnam. Iran. Libya. …
Aug 16 2021
The Obscenities Are Peaking
No, your Curmudgeon isn’t talking about Afghanistan. That particular obscenity already has enough commentators piling onto it. Our focus this evening is something closer to home: A group of 162 principals and assistant principals at schools in Minnesota issued a public letter calling for “de-centering Whiteness” and “dismantling practices that reinforce White academic …
Aug 16 2021
The Rats Are Leaving The Sinking Ship
The collapse of a regime is reliably preceded by the undisguised abandonment of its external allies. This is particularly visible among its former media supporters. Have a few links: From The Atlantic From Politico From CNN From MSN And a very revealing interview. As this will cost American lives and still more …
Aug 16 2021
This Man Is Your Enemy
…and he’s not troubling to hide it: “You have to get the overwhelming proportion of people vaccinated, but you also have to do mitigation, and that gets to the controversial issue of mask wearing, and the mandating of things,” [Fauci] said. “Mandating vaccines, for example, for teachers and … personnel in the school.”… …
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