The House of Love and Death

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An impulse pick off the "New Fiction" shelves at Portsmouth Public Library. I liked the previous Andrew Klavan book I read—whoa—back in 2012, Empire of Lies. More recently, I grew disenchanted with his lliberal political commentary a few years back, and as often happens, I lost interest.

But never fear, this is pretty good. The protagonist is Cameron Winter, ex-spy, current English professor. His previous undercover career involved him in some unsavory acts, and caused him ongoing psychological difficulties. He unburdens himself to an understanding shrink, but as another symptom, he finds himself drawn to investigate a multiple-murder, accompanied by arson. Along the way, he finds himself beset by gangsters, an obviously dirty cop (but is there more than one dirty cop?), and people that don't want to tell him the truth. And his own inner demons.

Klavan's fiction style is ornate, maybe not to everyone's taste. The first-person narration means we spend a lot of time inside Cameron's troubled head.

Consumer note: This is Klavan's third novel featuring Cameron Winter, but it seemed relatively stand-alone to me, even the flashbacks to his spy career. I'll probably make a point of reading the previous entries in the series.

Bye, Bob

Well, sad news. Bob Newhart passed away. Sharing a video that I haven't seen anyone else share yet:

And, even though I've seen it many times, I laughed once more.

Back in 2005 (19 years ago!) Cathy Seipp wrote a column celebrating Bob's 76th (!) birthday: No Sideshow Bob. (Gee, Bob was older then than I am now.)

Opening paragraph:

“One of the things you learn when you go on the nightclub floor is never show fear, because then you’re dead meat,” said Bob Newhart, recalling his almost overnight transformation from Chicago accountant to successful stand-up comedian. “So I’ve just pretended for the last 45 years I knew what I was doing.”

And speaking of great talents no longer with us, National Review provides a Cathy Seipp archive.

Also of note:

  • As Bob would say: "Stop it!" Robby Soave has a demand: Stop Blaming the Attempted Assassination on Heated Anti-Trump Rhetoric.

    A consensus is swiftly forming among Republican politicians, activists, and media figures that the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump can be blamed on the heated, occasionally violent anti-Trump rhetoric deployed by President Joe Biden, leading Democrats, and mainstream media pundits.

    This is a deeply cynical and misguided tactic—and Republicans are well aware of it, since they have rightly criticized their political opponents for doing the exact same thing.

    Soave has plenty of examples. And notes that people aren't making the (fair and valid) point about there being a double standard at play. But these guys (Republicans these days) aren't objecting to the double standard; they're wallowing in it.

    However, I don't think he'll go so far as to threaten pols with being buried alive in a box.

  • "Let's refute something you never claimed." It's a bizarre debating tactic, but Politifact tries it anyway. Ramesh Ponnuru looks at Politifact’s Latest Logic- and Evidence-Free ‘Fact Check’ on Abortion.

    Politifact pulls the same old bait-and-switch on J. D. Vance.

    “Donald Trump is running against a Joe Biden president who wants taxpayer-funded abortions up until the moment of birth,” Vance said.

    This is False and misleads about how rarely abortions are performed later in pregnancy.

    Vance supposedly misled people about the frequency of abortions late in pregnancy by . . . not saying one word about the frequency of abortions later in pregnancy.

    I've noticed people, mainly pols, doing this. I'm only slightly more surprised seeing it coming from "unbiased" Politifact.

  • Live by the DEI hire, die by the DEI hire. The Daily Caller is one of many noticing this: Biden Calls His Defense Secretary ‘The Black Man’ After Appearing To Forget His Name.

    President Joe Biden appeared to call U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “the black man” after forgetting his name during an interview Tuesday with Black Entertainment Television (BET).

    The now-viral clip shows Biden preaching about how best to treat others.

    “And so, it’s all about, it’s all about treating people with dignity. And it’s about making sure that — look, I mean, for example — look at [the heat I’m getting] because I named a, uh, the secretary of defense, the black man,” Biden says, though part of his statement sounded garbled.

    “I named Ketanji Brown, I mean, because of the people I’ve named,” Biden continued. It is unclear who was referring to when he made the accusation above.

    The clip in question:

    Biden can't even do racial condescension coherently any more.

  • Gold-plated anyway. Robert Graboyes reminds us: The Economics Nobel Is a Gold Disk, Not a Crystal Ball.

    For those who trust markets, businesses, and individuals more than government, there’s plenty to dislike in the economic policies of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. That said, the most unhelpful piece of campaign literature this year is from the Biden side, not so much for its content, but rather because it undermines the scientific reputation of economics and the integrity of its highest honor—the Economics Nobel. It’s a letter from sixteen Nobelists arguing that, “Joe Biden’s economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump’s.” The letter offers ideologically skewed ad hockery as economics and commandeers the Nobel’s prestige. (The letter is here.)

    The letter says Biden would bring Americans lower inflation, stronger growth, and greater stability than Trump. Biden repeatedly whispers of his endorsement by “Sixteen NOBEL prizewinning economists … … SIXXTEEEN.” His reverential tone recalls some clergyman proclaiming, “The Bible refers to God by SIXXTEEEN different names,” and the press plays the role of enraptured congregants.

    The Nobelists’ letter deserves no more attention than would a similar letter from sixteen winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, or sixteen dentists, or sixteen poets at a kombucha bar in Greenwich Village. I say that as one who has the highest respect possible for the Economics Nobel and confidence that all sixteen signatories deserved their prizes.

    Graboyes (who owns an Econ PhD) explains this shocking assertion, and convinces me that I'd rather get my political recommendations from those kombucha bar poets. At least they might rhyme.

    Fun facts about the Nobel disk:

    Up to 1980 the “Swedish” medals, each weighing approximately 200 g and with a diameter of 66 mm, were made of 23 carat gold. Since then they have been made of 18 carat recycled gold. The weight is set to 175 g for all medals, except for the medal for economic sciences. Its weight is set to 185 g.

    Another reason to go into econ instead of physics: an extra 10 grams on your Nobel!


Last Modified 2024-07-19 5:42 PM EST