Masks & Stuff
If Trump’s tax returns are reexamined and found fraudulent, wouldn’t that make the case for abolishing the IRS as an incompetent entity?
Here’s a no surprise headline from nypost.com that highlights maddening government waste: “Boxes of unopened coronavirus food for poor found dumped in Queens.”
If the election of a Democrat majority ends the violence and looting of leftists, would disgruntled right wingers take to the streets, start fires and damage property? Highly doubtful. I believe Corona is President Trump’s undoing, although, despite missteps, he has done about all a person can to address the situation. I also believe many mail-in ballots will be fraudulent. I don’t see how he can win unless there is a massive silent majority appalled at what is going on in America. Then again, many might blame him for that too.
Here are two excerpts from an article at foxnews.com: “While coronavirus cases increase in Europe, Sweden, which had called for its people to take personal responsibility instead of ordering government-mandated lockdowns, on Tuesday reported just two new deaths.” And: “… the curves over the seriously ill begin to be very close to zero.” It’s still unknown whether the country has achieved herd immunity but, at the moment, it seems as if its approach has been very intelligent.
I’ve finished the last of the paperbacks I’ve salvaged while cleaning out the basement of our old house. A Journal of Love by Edward Mannix, copyright 1964, is a bizarre concoction, a look at the lives of a triangle, a man and two women, one a lesbian, living in Greenwich Village. It is well-written, as this wonderful snippet from early in the narrative will attest: “Let’s languish in the anguish…” Unfortunately, it rarely approaches that promise. It raises interesting questions about love, such as if there really is such a thing. Told from the perspective of the male, who may be mentally ill (my take), it is a rambling journey, ultimately unsatisfying, often tedious. It includes Rorschach, Dianetics, numerology, and quotes from literature. I was often lost. Perhaps it is meant for the smartest readers. Here’s a part of one passage that I enjoyed: “…Everybody wears a mask. Or almost everybody. And the mask is worn not only to disguise your identity from others, but from yourself as well. From yourself most of all. And when you take off one mask, there’s another beneath it…” Maybe the passage of time has rendered the events, perhaps shocking back in the day, routine. Anyone in the mood for titillation will not find it here. This is not Henry Miller or Anais Nin. Because of the excellence of the prose and several section breaks, the 181 pages of the Pocket Books paperback read like considerably less. Unfortunately, there isn’t much biographical info on Mannix. Born in 1928, he wrote at least two other books. He did voice work in film, often dubbing spaghetti western star Bud Spencer. His one on-screen appearance was as an emcee in The Lonely Lady (1983). He passed away in 1995.
Having learned my lesson yesterday, I put out only a third of the wares today. It was another of those sessions of the floating book shop that prove weather is rarely a factor in terms of business. Despite the heat, a man and a woman donated about 40 books in Russian between them. My thanks, and also to the gentleman and lady who bought two books each in that language; and to the elderly Latina, who took Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons; and to the burly guy who selected the never-opened DVD of Purple Rain (1984); and to the young man who pounced on the massive H.P. Lovecraft collection as I was packing up; and to the young dad on the way to the park with his beautiful kids, who took a chance on my short works collection Billionths of a Lifetime, and was glad to accept four works of non-fiction as a token of my appreciation.
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