I just woke up with an upset stomach and was pleased to read this excellent piece. In spite of feeling unwell I am exceedingly amused and grateful for this wonderful grazing through the past and cheered at the thought of needing these epitaphs! Bless you. 🙏
Two things. Twickenham is the home of Twickenham Stadium, the most important rugby venue in the UK and home to all of England's Six Nations games. Just off the M4 about halfway between London and Heathrow. Have spent many enjoyable Saturdays there, lunch at the local, steak and ale pie washed down with Guinness then the game, then more Guinness at the pub topped off with a whiskey, then home and a big headache.
Queen Elizabeth
Long did she reign, monarch and mother to four
Anne the stoic
Edward the enigma
Charles who became a King and, well
Andrew, relegated to sulking in the back seat of a car then the Marsh at Sandringham
Greg if haiku’s are bones, I really like the form of Epitaph, particularly as you have written them. More like a rib with a bite of meat. Very satisfying. I have pup patrol on the 26th otherwise I would have tried to make my way to Woodstock.
I love this read for today. It reminds me that This too shall pass. Today I am grateful for this writing, and the interview of Paul Krugman with Lisa Graves. Also I appreciated vigil for peace yesterday by the Pope.
How did you and LB partner up? I want to hear that story. She was in L.A. back then, and you were in upstate NY. I remember when y'all went crossways with Narativ, and I asked you to just go on YouTube and talk. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Just listening to the two of you talk is comforting.
Lev accused LB of doing a catch and kill with a studio in L.A., so he revealed her real name. IOW, he doxxed her. From all I could gather Zev jumped to that conclusion without solid evidence.
He didn't dox her, he accused her of being a spy for Likud. (See above comment).
He doesn't know what "catch and kill" means. The story he accused her of doing the "catch and kill" was the Hoffenberg interview, which, as you can see from his archives, he ran with himself. He wouldn't have been allowed to, legally, if it were an actual catch and kill. So he's both a backstabbing liar and a moron.
It was a spy for Likud, and also for Weinstein, and Epstein, and maybe also for China. The story kept changing. But it didn't stop him from doing an ENTIRE EPISODE of slander and lies, claiming to be the victim of a foreign influence plot to SILENCE THE TRUTH. You know, because he's so big and powerful that foreign intelligence agencies teamed up to silence him. (As if.) He never called her to comment, and never called me to comment...violations of journalistic ethics. (If you're breaking a story on someone, you MUST call them for comment...is why you often see the "called for comment" line in news articles.) He betrayed journalism, friendship, his audience, and the truth. I hate to see the new reporters covering Epstein, who I like, appear on his show. It poisons their good work.
Generally I'm a pretty easygoing, forgiving, positive person. There are few people I know personally who I absolutely hate. He is one.
Thank-you for explaining this, Greg. Recently a friend of mine and I were discussing reporters that we trusted and enjoyed. She mentioned him and I expressed doubts, but did not know the actual story.
Thanks for listening. I hate spreading negativity like this, and I don’t like petty little Twitter wars. I feel like they just make everybody bummed out. But I wanted to set the record straight, which I probably should’ve done a long time ago.
Thanks, Sharon. We met on Twitter, and first started working together on the "Who Owns Kavanaugh" series. It was after that we went on the show of He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned.
I first became aware of LB on Stuttering John, oddly. I may have also been following He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned (HWSNBM) at the same time. Can't remember. I spent months trying to figure out who this mysterious LB, the screenwriter in L.A., was and never got close. Meanwhile, I'd made other acquaintances who also lived and worked in L.A. When HWSNBM did the thing, those other L.A. peeps all said HWSNBM didn't understand how studios work and his animus was likely motivated by professional jealousy. That's the conclusion I came to. You feeling on the subject are entirely justified.
The 90s...sigh. My business went belly up. I fell in love again, much to my surprise. I reinvented myself as a software developer and traveled the world. My kids thrived. Ten years of crawfish boils, trips up and down the bayou. What a life! The possibilities seemed endless.
The one for JD Vance made me laugh out loud. I’m a boomer but I was a child in the 60s and the assassinations heavily marked that decade for me, though I couldn’t fully understand them. I was raising five children in the nineties so I was busy worrying about what was impacting them, and mostly too occupied with them and a job to notice how relatively good things were, though looking back I see it.
Thank you, especially, for the tenderness of feeling toward your wife. That little line made me feel so happy.
Thanks, Katherine. I'm glad, because I felt a little bad about Vance, as he's more pathetic than hateful. But "upholstered" was too funny of a rhyme not to use...
It's funny that I've been thinking about the opening lines of the "Tales of Two Cities". The contrast between the Artemis mission and the ugliness and stupidity of this "administration" couldn't be more stark.
We will get through this mess if we collectively bring forth the requisite courage, focus, and ambition. These are internal qualities we all have but forget, ignore, and bypass out of fear.
The time is now to do what is right and what is needed. The increasing surge of electoral victories by the Democrats is concrete proof of who we are and what we can do. Never forget who we are and that we will defeat these freaks, frauds, and fools.
Thanks, Thornton. I appreciate that, because there are days when it all feels hopeless.
And also absurd. Like, he was an a UFC match, hitting on one of the fighters, with a drunk Marco Rubio, when Vance was doing the negotiations. I don't even know how to process that...
This time is more Tale of Two Cities than that time was!
Here's the deal. Despite our individual fear and disgust, we still live relatively well compared to people living in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and other places where people are being slaughtered in large numbers. Hell, we're not living in daily fear of ICE and BP goons grabbing and brutalizing us then deporting us to some country we never lived in.
I think about how people survived major wars and came through it all. I also think about black folks living through generations of slavery and Jim Crow ugliness. They were scared, they fought, they survived because they confronted their fears and did what was necessary no matter what.
We may have the luxury of time and space to have avoided these things, but we don't have the luxury to declaim that we're scared or in despair when we haven't had to face true evil and suffering. Too many people on too many newsletters like yours keep saying how fearful they are but we need to set that arrogance and narcissism aside and buck up to fight against tyranny and on behalf of the real victims in all of this.
I know what I'm saying sounds harsh, but those of us who are reasonably well off need to get over ourselves, get past our personal internalized weakness, and step up. When we show up, we win elections here and as we just saw in Hungary, the same thing happens elsewhere. Despair is not allowed. Courage and convicted are what's needed.
"The Sixties—an entire decade of momentous activity that changed the world forever." Damn right, those of us of a certain age will refuse to shut up about it!
A Clerihew for Putin:
Poor Vladimir
Left barely a smear.
But then his downfall
Was forty storeys tall.
On more serious notes, Greg, "Totally Killer" - written with flowing eloquence and framed with self-deprecating wit - is searing satire of its era. But "Fathermucker..." I mean, it's one thing to attempt, and pull off, the feat of writing a novel set in 24 hours (yes, what's his name set the bar high). What makes "Fathermucker" special, however, is its unvarnished honesty in describing love: the selfless love of a father for his children; for his wife; for values that matter. Brilliant!
As I write, Orban is making a speech conceding the election and congratulating his opponent! Dare we yet believe that this marks a major turning point away from authoritarianism? Yes, there is HOPE!!!
What immediately struck me about Orbán's concession, which the UK Guardian's reporter described as gracious, was that, well, it WAS a concession. The will be no Hungarian January 6, it seems. As for our wannabe king, he's not done a gracious thing in his life.
Orban lost by such a wide margin that he had little choice but to concede. What worries me, though, is the lesson that Trump will take away from the results in Hungary. I suspect that it will strengthen his resolve to call off our elections under some pretext or other. What then? Will we have the courage of the Hungarians to show up on our streets in our multimillions?
Thanks, Homi! The apotheosis of the 60s used to bug me when I was younger, but I don't mind it now. I was just jealous, generationally.
And thanks for saying so about the novels! It feels like another lifetime ago that I wrote those. I'm almost afraid to read FM now. It will make me too nostalgic. (Once, a woman from town knocked on our door to collect signatures for some local candidate. After I signed, she said, "You ruined Cat in the Hat for me." LOL.) I'm so glad you read and enjoyed them.
I have to say “Here: Lies” is my favorite. So succinct!
Thanks! Mine, too.
I just woke up with an upset stomach and was pleased to read this excellent piece. In spite of feeling unwell I am exceedingly amused and grateful for this wonderful grazing through the past and cheered at the thought of needing these epitaphs! Bless you. 🙏
feel better
Thanks, Patricia. I hope you're feeling better!
Many thanks 🙏
The advantage of epitaphs is that you get to have to last word.
Your essay brought me via a circuitous route to this page, containing both the death of a Queen Caroline ( a different one) and a short poem that could be modified as an epitaph. Enjoy! https://dvpp.uvic.ca/poems/templebar/1881/pom_17746_not_drunk_is_he_who_from_the.html
Such fun. Thank you!
Oh dear. And here I thought the royals were dull!
The version that I remember from a train station graffiti in the 70's:
"He is not stoned who, from the floor,
Can rise again and smoke some more.
He is stoned who prostrate lies,
Can not smoke and can not rise."
Greg, thanks, love your Sunday works.
Two things. Twickenham is the home of Twickenham Stadium, the most important rugby venue in the UK and home to all of England's Six Nations games. Just off the M4 about halfway between London and Heathrow. Have spent many enjoyable Saturdays there, lunch at the local, steak and ale pie washed down with Guinness then the game, then more Guinness at the pub topped off with a whiskey, then home and a big headache.
Queen Elizabeth
Long did she reign, monarch and mother to four
Anne the stoic
Edward the enigma
Charles who became a King and, well
Andrew, relegated to sulking in the back seat of a car then the Marsh at Sandringham
Very Good!
Ha!
Thanks for the info, Old Man, but I'm sure you had to sign some papers when you arrived in the UK to tell foreigners that Twinkenham is real... ; )
Greg if haiku’s are bones, I really like the form of Epitaph, particularly as you have written them. More like a rib with a bite of meat. Very satisfying. I have pup patrol on the 26th otherwise I would have tried to make my way to Woodstock.
Thanks, Sara!
I love this read for today. It reminds me that This too shall pass. Today I am grateful for this writing, and the interview of Paul Krugman with Lisa Graves. Also I appreciated vigil for peace yesterday by the Pope.
Thanks, Kimberly. The Pope's vigil sure did make the Orange King angry! And it's great to see Lisa get the attention she deserves.
I was especially missing the Five Eight and a Half last week, so I appreciated the interview. I also enjoyed the Orange Ego going nuts over the Pope.
As anticipated, a delightful read with perspective and historical resonance. Thank you Greg
Thanks so much, Judy!
We who laugh last, laugh best! Again and again I thank your multifaceted brilliant mind.
Thank you, Lisa! : )
On this beautiful Sunday spring morning with a shining sun and a sweet breeze, your writing made it perfect.
Thanks, CLD. I hope you enjoyed the rest of the beautiful day!
Oh, how I loved Dire Straits.
👍🏻👍🏻😎
Still do!
How did you and LB partner up? I want to hear that story. She was in L.A. back then, and you were in upstate NY. I remember when y'all went crossways with Narativ, and I asked you to just go on YouTube and talk. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Just listening to the two of you talk is comforting.
Yes. I remember the Narrativ thing. Didn't Lev Shalev attack LB and imply she might be a Russian asset or something? I remember it was weird.
Lev accused LB of doing a catch and kill with a studio in L.A., so he revealed her real name. IOW, he doxxed her. From all I could gather Zev jumped to that conclusion without solid evidence.
He didn't dox her, he accused her of being a spy for Likud. (See above comment).
He doesn't know what "catch and kill" means. The story he accused her of doing the "catch and kill" was the Hoffenberg interview, which, as you can see from his archives, he ran with himself. He wouldn't have been allowed to, legally, if it were an actual catch and kill. So he's both a backstabbing liar and a moron.
I meant he doxxed her in the sense he revealed her true name when she was scrupulously online as LB.
It was a spy for Likud, and also for Weinstein, and Epstein, and maybe also for China. The story kept changing. But it didn't stop him from doing an ENTIRE EPISODE of slander and lies, claiming to be the victim of a foreign influence plot to SILENCE THE TRUTH. You know, because he's so big and powerful that foreign intelligence agencies teamed up to silence him. (As if.) He never called her to comment, and never called me to comment...violations of journalistic ethics. (If you're breaking a story on someone, you MUST call them for comment...is why you often see the "called for comment" line in news articles.) He betrayed journalism, friendship, his audience, and the truth. I hate to see the new reporters covering Epstein, who I like, appear on his show. It poisons their good work.
Generally I'm a pretty easygoing, forgiving, positive person. There are few people I know personally who I absolutely hate. He is one.
Thank-you for explaining this, Greg. Recently a friend of mine and I were discussing reporters that we trusted and enjoyed. She mentioned him and I expressed doubts, but did not know the actual story.
Thanks for listening. I hate spreading negativity like this, and I don’t like petty little Twitter wars. I feel like they just make everybody bummed out. But I wanted to set the record straight, which I probably should’ve done a long time ago.
Thanks, Sharon. We met on Twitter, and first started working together on the "Who Owns Kavanaugh" series. It was after that we went on the show of He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned.
I first became aware of LB on Stuttering John, oddly. I may have also been following He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned (HWSNBM) at the same time. Can't remember. I spent months trying to figure out who this mysterious LB, the screenwriter in L.A., was and never got close. Meanwhile, I'd made other acquaintances who also lived and worked in L.A. When HWSNBM did the thing, those other L.A. peeps all said HWSNBM didn't understand how studios work and his animus was likely motivated by professional jealousy. That's the conclusion I came to. You feeling on the subject are entirely justified.
The 90s...sigh. My business went belly up. I fell in love again, much to my surprise. I reinvented myself as a software developer and traveled the world. My kids thrived. Ten years of crawfish boils, trips up and down the bayou. What a life! The possibilities seemed endless.
That sounds amazing! And yes: sigh.
The one for JD Vance made me laugh out loud. I’m a boomer but I was a child in the 60s and the assassinations heavily marked that decade for me, though I couldn’t fully understand them. I was raising five children in the nineties so I was busy worrying about what was impacting them, and mostly too occupied with them and a job to notice how relatively good things were, though looking back I see it.
Thank you, especially, for the tenderness of feeling toward your wife. That little line made me feel so happy.
Thanks, Katherine. I'm glad, because I felt a little bad about Vance, as he's more pathetic than hateful. But "upholstered" was too funny of a rhyme not to use...
Hesr Hear King Lear
Howl howl howl howl
It's funny that I've been thinking about the opening lines of the "Tales of Two Cities". The contrast between the Artemis mission and the ugliness and stupidity of this "administration" couldn't be more stark.
We will get through this mess if we collectively bring forth the requisite courage, focus, and ambition. These are internal qualities we all have but forget, ignore, and bypass out of fear.
The time is now to do what is right and what is needed. The increasing surge of electoral victories by the Democrats is concrete proof of who we are and what we can do. Never forget who we are and that we will defeat these freaks, frauds, and fools.
Thanks, Thornton. I appreciate that, because there are days when it all feels hopeless.
And also absurd. Like, he was an a UFC match, hitting on one of the fighters, with a drunk Marco Rubio, when Vance was doing the negotiations. I don't even know how to process that...
This time is more Tale of Two Cities than that time was!
Here's the deal. Despite our individual fear and disgust, we still live relatively well compared to people living in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and other places where people are being slaughtered in large numbers. Hell, we're not living in daily fear of ICE and BP goons grabbing and brutalizing us then deporting us to some country we never lived in.
I think about how people survived major wars and came through it all. I also think about black folks living through generations of slavery and Jim Crow ugliness. They were scared, they fought, they survived because they confronted their fears and did what was necessary no matter what.
We may have the luxury of time and space to have avoided these things, but we don't have the luxury to declaim that we're scared or in despair when we haven't had to face true evil and suffering. Too many people on too many newsletters like yours keep saying how fearful they are but we need to set that arrogance and narcissism aside and buck up to fight against tyranny and on behalf of the real victims in all of this.
I know what I'm saying sounds harsh, but those of us who are reasonably well off need to get over ourselves, get past our personal internalized weakness, and step up. When we show up, we win elections here and as we just saw in Hungary, the same thing happens elsewhere. Despair is not allowed. Courage and convicted are what's needed.
"The Sixties—an entire decade of momentous activity that changed the world forever." Damn right, those of us of a certain age will refuse to shut up about it!
A Clerihew for Putin:
Poor Vladimir
Left barely a smear.
But then his downfall
Was forty storeys tall.
On more serious notes, Greg, "Totally Killer" - written with flowing eloquence and framed with self-deprecating wit - is searing satire of its era. But "Fathermucker..." I mean, it's one thing to attempt, and pull off, the feat of writing a novel set in 24 hours (yes, what's his name set the bar high). What makes "Fathermucker" special, however, is its unvarnished honesty in describing love: the selfless love of a father for his children; for his wife; for values that matter. Brilliant!
As I write, Orban is making a speech conceding the election and congratulating his opponent! Dare we yet believe that this marks a major turning point away from authoritarianism? Yes, there is HOPE!!!
What immediately struck me about Orbán's concession, which the UK Guardian's reporter described as gracious, was that, well, it WAS a concession. The will be no Hungarian January 6, it seems. As for our wannabe king, he's not done a gracious thing in his life.
Orban lost by such a wide margin that he had little choice but to concede. What worries me, though, is the lesson that Trump will take away from the results in Hungary. I suspect that it will strengthen his resolve to call off our elections under some pretext or other. What then? Will we have the courage of the Hungarians to show up on our streets in our multimillions?
If the vote is fair, Dems will win in a landslide. No matter who the candidate is. And if Vance runs instead of Trump it will be even worse ha ha ha.
Unlike Trump, he retained a small shred of dignity, it seems...
Thanks, Homi! The apotheosis of the 60s used to bug me when I was younger, but I don't mind it now. I was just jealous, generationally.
And thanks for saying so about the novels! It feels like another lifetime ago that I wrote those. I'm almost afraid to read FM now. It will make me too nostalgic. (Once, a woman from town knocked on our door to collect signatures for some local candidate. After I signed, she said, "You ruined Cat in the Hat for me." LOL.) I'm so glad you read and enjoyed them.