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Author name: Ed Frey

Missive #520 Published 27 June 2025

93. Nasruddin and the Sugar

A mother brought her son to see Nasruddin. “My son eats too much sugar,” she said. “Please make him stop!” Nasruddin patted the boy on the head and said, “Come back in two weeks and we’ll see what we can do.”

The mother promised to return in two weeks.

At their next meeting, Nasruddin looked at the boy and said sternly, “You must stop eating sugar!”

“Why did we have to wait two weeks for you to say that?” asked the mother.

“I had to make myself stop eating sugar,” replied Nasruddin, “before telling someone else to do the same.”

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Missive #519 Published 23 June 2025

1812 to the Civil War"" has the stirring drama of a good historical novel. He ignores minor trivia, stresses key events and personalities. There are fascinatingly detailed portraits of such figures as the choleric Jackson, the treacherous Santa Ana, the moody Lincoln. And there are firm action accounts of the Battle of New Orleans, the Alamo and the Mexican-American War.

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Missive #518 Published 22 June 2025

Continuing The Anti-Federalist Papers

Centinel VI (excerpt)
by Samuel Bryan
To the Freemen of Pennsylvania

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Missive #517 Published 20 June 2025

92. Nasruddin and the Grapes

Nasruddin was on his way home carrying a basket full of bunches of grapes when he ran into some children along the way.

“Give us some grapes, Nasruddin!” shouted the children. “Please, Nasruddin, share your grapes with us!”

Nasruddin really didn’t want to share his grapes with the children, but the children insisted.

Reluctantly, he took some grapes from the basket and cut each grape in half. He then gave each child half a grape.

“Give us more!” the children complained.

“All the grapes in this basket taste the same,” Nasruddin explained. “Half of a grape is all you need.”

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Missive #516 Published 15 June 2025

Continuing The Federalist Papers.

Federalist No.49
Method of Guarding Against the Encroachments of Any One Department of Government by Appealing to the People Through a Convention
Author: Alexander Hamilton or James Madison
To the People of the State of New York:

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Missive #515 Published 14 June 2025

How far would you go? In the future, an artist specializing in historical records creates a piece of art based on three separate accounts of the Zombie Pandemic. What follows is a patchwork tale of survival and horror as two lovers struggle to survive the undying dead and the collapse of an America turned charnel house.

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Missive #514 Published 13 June 2025

91. Nasruddin and the Village Boys

Nasruddin met some boys from the village and decided to play a trick on them.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Did you know it’s the mayor’s birthday? There’s a party with music and dancing and all the food you can eat. You better hurry and run to the mayor’s house as fast as you can!”

“Thank you, Nasruddin!” shouted the boys, and they immediately dashed off towards the mayor’s house.

Then Nasruddin thought to himself, “You know, it really might be the mayor’s birthday after all…” and he began to run after the boys.

“Wait for me!” he shouted. “I’m coming too!”

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Missive #513 Published 12 June 2025

"[A] passionate, compelling, and disturbing argument that the ills of democracy in the United States today arise from the default of its elites." ―John Gray, New York Times Book Review (front-page review) In a front-page review in the Washington Post Book World , John Judis wrote: "Political analysts have been poring over exit polls and precinct-level votes to gauge the meaning of last November's election, but they would probably better employ their time reading the late Christopher Lasch's book." And in the National Review , Robert Bork says The Revolt of the Elites "ranges provocatively [and] insightfully."

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Missive #512 Published 11 June 2025

Dear Reader,
My SHADOW SOLDIERS have gone to extreme lengths to bury their pasts. But while it’s one thing to try and escape a deed, can one ever really run from oneself? This is the conflict faced by Rafiq Zayed, a mercenary who tries to hide the fact that the blood of ancient warrior sheiks pulses in his veins. But, in a bid to stop a global threat of almost incomprehensible proportion, Rafiq is forced to return to the land of his birth.

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Missive #511 Published 9 June 2025

Finley Peter Dunne was a Chicago-based U.S. author, writer and humorist. He published Mr. Dooley in Peace and War, a collection of his nationally syndicated Mr. Dooley sketches, in 1898. The fictional Mr. Dooley expounded upon political and social issues of the day from his South Side Chicago Irish pub and he spoke with the thick verbiage and accent of an Irish immigrant. Dunne's sly humor and political acumen won the support of President Theodore Roosevelt, a frequent target of Mr. Dooley's barbs. Indeed Dunne's sketches became so popular and such a litmus test of public opinion that they were read each week at White House cabinet meetings.

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