Missive #211

“Sebastian Barnack, a handsome English schoolboy, goes to Italy for the summer, and there his real education begins. His teachers are two quite different men: This edited customer review says what I would have said, only better. “I found this book to be very challenging to appreciate. There were elements of the novel that reminded me why I enjoy reading his works, but there were so many other aspects of this novel that I found overly difficult. I felt I needed to be a scholar to appreciate this novel. By the time the reader reaches the end of this novel, it is clear this is Mr. Huxley’s philosophy. Had he focused on telling the story so as to deliver the message, this would have been a more rewarding read.” Another one of his ‘fusing idea with story’ which I do not care for. Bruno Rontini, the saintly bookseller, who teaches him about things spiritual; and Uncle Eustace, who introduces him to life’s profane pleasures.

The novel that Aldous Huxley himself thought was his most successful at “fusing idea with story,” Time Must Have a Stop is part of Huxley’s lifelong attempt to explore the dilemmas of twentieth-century man and to create characters who, though ill-equipped to solve the dilemmas, all go stumbling on in their painfully serious comedies (in this novel we have the dead atheist who returns in a seance to reveal what he has learned after death but is stuck with a second-rate medium who garbles his messages).” — Book promo @ goodreads.com

Texas’ row with the federal government over the state’s border policies has evoked a specter of the civil war, Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the Office of the US Secretary of Defense, told Sputnik.
The migrant crisis has been increasingly haunting the US since President Joe Biden assumed office and revoked border restrictions implemented by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
However, some red states rebelled against Biden’s open border agenda, with Texas kicking off Operation Lone Star in March 2021, bringing together the Texas Department of Public Safety and the National Guard.
Recently, the Texas National Guard “seized” a section of the US-Mexico border, blocking federal border patrol agents from accessing it and raising legal disputes. The US Supreme Court ruled that federal agents may cut the wire barriers placed by the Lone Star authorities to deter illegal migrants from entering the state. Nonetheless, 25 Republican governors signed a letter supporting Texas in the border control fight with the federal government over the “invasion” of migrants. — Spector Of Civil War Biden’s Border Policy Could Lead To Huge Explosion by Ekaterina Blinova

The 2020s are certainly starting to rhyme with the 1850s. The presidential race in 1860 had four contenders on the ballot with Lincoln becoming president with 39.8% of the popular vote. This year we may see three candidates on the ballot that could split the vote three ways. There was the Dread Scott Supreme Court decision in 1957 and now we get their ruling that federal agents may cut the wire barriers placed by the Lone Star authorities. I don’t think this ruling will spark a Civil War unless the Biden administration does something very stupid — which can’t be ruled out.

But what would happen if Trump were to select Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his Vice President running mate for the election in November 2024? Would the powers that be then create a crisis in Texas, declare martial law, suspend the voting? What would happen after that?
Or maybe Trump would select Greg Abbott, Gov. of Texas as his VP choice, what then? Suppose that the October surprise would be an assassination of Trump, the voting goes on and he wins. Does Abbott become the President? Do the powers that be even allow there to be an election?
These are just some of scenarios that have come to my mind as I try to go to sleep at night; the were others.