SubscribeStar Saturday: Rittenhouse Remains Free!

20 November 202119 November 2021 The Portly Politico12 Comments

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It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!—Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who expertly defended himself against a mob of Antifa rioters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was found not guilty on all of the spurious charges brought against him. After days of agonizing deliberations, the jury—facing threats of doxing from radical activists and even MSNBC—held steady and delivered the only verdicts that made sense.

Readers of this blog will surely know the pertinent details already, but the prosecution’s case against Rittenhouse was not based on any factual evidence, but instead on a hyper-politicized Left seeking to strip a young man of his rights to self-defense.

The hypocrisy of the Left was on full display: a group that views borders as “imaginary lines” on a map suddenly cared about Rittenhouse traveling twenty minutes “across State lines” to Kenosha, as if crossing that magical, imaginary line suddenly turned him into a bloodthirsty vigilante.

Pointing out the hypocrisy of the Left is useless, but here I think it is warranted: it nearly cost a young man his life. For defending himself—and Rittenhouse would have died that night had he not fought back—he was subjected to a politicized circus of a prosecution.

An important battle was won Friday afternoon.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Into the Woods

13 November 202111 November 2021 The Portly Politico3 Comments

After a very long week—the kind of week that was absolutely brutal—I am heading into the woods for two nights and one full day without electricity, Internet access, and other comfortable amenities.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Spooktacular 2021 Review

6 November 20213 November 2021 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Last Saturday was my annual Halloween Spooktacular, marking the third Spooktacular and the second hosted from my front porch. I hit upon the idea of doing a front porch concert around Halloween last year, when most venues were still closed to live music, or only very slowly bringing it back. I’d heard of other musicians doing outdoor gigs, and though, “Hey, why not turn my front porch into a stage?”

That first at-home Spooktacular was wildly successful—far more so than I thought—and I followed it up with my Spring Jam in May 2021. That event was also successful, though the turnout was slightly lower than the Spooktacular.

This year, I suspected that the success of the first two front porch concerts might be diminished somewhat, especially as the concert was on the Saturday before a Sunday Halloween, which meant most people were trick-or-treating and throwing parties that night instead of on Halloween proper. Several of my biggest patrons, who usually drop some serious coin at these events, were unable to attend due to other plans.

Still, I was excited for the evening, and while my concerns about lower attendance were confirmed—and the event resulted in a substantial but not debilitating loss, at least in the short-run—it was a fun night, one that also carried with it some important lessons.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Spooktacular 2021 Preview

30 October 202129 October 2021 The Portly Politico6 Comments

It’s hard to believe, but tonight is another Spooktacular. It’s technically the third Spooktacular, but it’s the second conducted from my front porch. The very first “official” Spooktacular was held at a coffee shop in Darlington, South Carolina, in October 2019. The following October, that coffee shop—along with many others—had shuttered during The Age of The Virus, or had not reopened for live performances.

As such, I decided to try something different: instead of finding a venue to take me in, I made my home the venue. I have a front porch that is just big enough to hold four musicians and their gear comfortably (albeit a tight comfort, like a college girl wearing yoga pants to her 8 AM class).

I’ve documented all of this elsewhere, but I will confess I am proud of myself for making it happen (with a follow-up front porch concert in May 2021, the TJC Spring Jam). It’s not a completely original idea, but I’m glad I was able to turn a bad situation into an opportunity for everyone to have a good time.

Well, tonight is the big night, and I’m not sure what to expect. Some of my major contributors are not able to attend this year, but my opening act, Jeremy and The Blissters (named in part for Jeremy Miles, no stranger to this blog), possess a dedicated following and should bring out a good crowd. I’ve also heard from a number of folks who are coming tonight, so I think we will have a good crowd.

All that said, I have the inside scoop on what’s going down tonight, and big crowd or not, it’s going to be a fun time.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Trick-or-Treat When You Want

23 October 202123 October 2021 The Portly Politico8 Comments

One of the more interesting aspects of serving as a Town Councilman is discovering the kinds of matters residents really care about. While they tend to worry about big issue things—fixing the water system, for example, and keeping their water and sewage bills low—most of their day-to-day concerns are smaller: getting lawn waste picked up in a timely fashion; being able to pay their water bill conveniently; requesting information about upcoming events.

That’s to be expected: people have busy lives, and one reason we have representative government is because most folks want someone else to take care of the delivery of basic services. Just as we expect the electric company to keep the lights on and our ISP to keep the YouTube videos piping in over high-speed connections, residents want their water to flow when they turn on the spigot. I don’t lie awake at night wondering how to generate electricity because a lot of other capable people are involved in doing just that, and I’m happy to pay them to do it.

But one thing that I have noticed is that there are some matters that people really can figure out for themselves, but they still want some official guidance or direction. I’ve noticed this most with questions about the time-honored Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating.

The issue is straightforward: Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, which throws everything into chaos. Here in the South, our relationship with Halloween is sometimes tenuous at best, although most everyone I know loves it and celebrates it in some way, including trick-or-treating. But Sundays are for church, not for dressing up as witches and devils and ghosts. Also, more practically, there is work and school the next day, and no one wants to be out too late.

The big question, then, is, “when do we trick-or-treat?”—or, as I have been asked by residents, “when does the town observe trick-or-treating?”

The Town of Lamar has answered that question: Saturday, 30 October 2021, from 4-7 PM. But I am still getting questions about trick-or-treating—more than about any other piece of town business.

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The War on Halloween

16 October 202115 October 2021 The Portly Politico9 Comments

It has long been the position of this blog that Halloween gets a bad rap, especially from the Christian Right. The holiday’s association with deviltry, witchcraft, and the occult is, of course, difficult to deny, but the holiday’s name is an abbreviation of “All Hallow’s Eve”; that is, the evening before All Saints’ Day on 1 November.

Granted, the Internet atheists will claim the roots of Halloween in Samhain, the Gaelic festival of the harvest. They are not wrong, per se—the influx of Irish immigrants into the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought a peculiarly Celtic flavor to the holiday. But the holiday is a Christian, specifically a Catholic, one—the Irishmen bringing tales of Jack O’Lantern and his carved turnip (it would only later become a pumpkin) were not ancient pagans, but among the most devout believers in Europe.

Certainly the medieval Catholic Church had a habit of taking pagan holidays and replacing them with Christian observances. For some reason, Internet atheists always use these replacements as examples of Christianity’s secretly pagan roots. The argument is ludicrous.

When Hernan Cortez destroyed the Aztec temple at Tenochtitlan and built a cathedral in its place, was he honoring the bloodthirsty Aztec gods? Or was he symbolically noting that The Holy Trinity had displaced the false gods and idols of the Aztecs? It is almost certainly the latter. Similarly, when Christians took existing pagan observances and replaced them with Christian ones, they were symbolically and practically demonstrating the victory of Christ and His Church over pagan gods.

Indeed, much of the American Protestant objection to Halloween must have been due to its associations with the Papists, rather than the Devil. The mischievousness of the holiday in the twentieth century, especially the concept of trick-or-treating, probably has more to do with its more sinister modern associations.

But the latest assault on Halloween is coming from a different quarter. No longer are conservative Christians alone in hedging their bets on the holiday.

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Saturday Morning Update; SubscribeStar Post is Coming

9 October 2021 The Portly Politico3 Comments

Today’s SubscribeStar Saturday post is coming, it will likely just pop up this afternoon. I spent yesterday afternoon driving to Athens, Georgia, and did not have time to get the post done ahead of time.

That said, it was a beautiful drive. Due to a bad wreck on I-20, GPS routed me through the backroads, taking me through the Upstate of South Carolina into northeastern Georgia. One of the highlights was driving through Calhoun Falls, South Carolina, which is on the border of the two States.

More on that in a future post. Thank you for your patience!

—TPP

SubscribeStar Saturday: Another Election

2 October 202130 September 2021 The Portly Politico2 Comments

One month from today, my little adopted hometown of Lamar has another election. There is a competitive mayoral race, between a current Councilwoman and another resident. That should be an interesting race to watch. If the Councilwoman loses, she’ll maintain her seat on Council, as she is in the middle of her term and not facing re-election this election cycle. If she wins, it would trigger a special election—I think—to fill the vacancy. Either scenario is interesting, but either way she would remain on Council.

There are also two Council seats up, both with incumbents running—another Councilwoman and myself.

For the Council races, residents will be able to vote twice—once for each seat. Since there are no other filed candidates, it should be a fairly straightforward election.

That said, I lost my first run to a surprise write-in candidate (indeed, to the other Councilwoman running), so I don’t take anything for granted.

So, what is my approach this time?

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SubscribeStar Saturday: 1000 Days

25 September 202124 September 2021 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Well, here it is—the 1000th consecutive day of posting to WordPress (I hit 1000 posts about 114 pieces ago; now I’ve reached 1000 days of consecutive posting). It’s crazy to think, but this latest incarnation of The Portly Politico has been going for roughly two-and-three-fourths years, a fresh post every single day. I’ve written so much at this point, I’ve forgotten a lot of it.

Granted, some of those have been filler posts, saying, “Oops, I will have to post a real post later,” but I tried to avoid those as much as possible, and I have generally made them up (especially to you paying customers). I’ve also come up with some series, like Monday Morning Movie Review and Supporting Friends Friday, to help with ease the load a bit (not to mention Lazy Sunday and TBT, both of which let me off the hook with some reblogging of old material).

It being the 1000th day, I’ve decided to look back at this latest incarnation of The Portly Politico—where it was, where it is, and where it’s going.

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Celebratory Saturday; SubscribeStar Saturday Delayed

18 September 202117 September 2021 The Portly Politico2 Comments

This weekend I am celebrating some big family milestones, including my older brother’s birthday. As such, this weekend’s installment of SubscribeStar Saturday will be delayed. With all the fun this weekend, it’s hard to get the ire up to write “Decline, Part II” (read the preview of “SubscribeStar Saturday: Decline, Part I: Afghanistan” and read the full post here).

It’s been a very long week at work—not bad, just long. It was one of those weeks where I felt like I was working constantly, but never quite getting ahead on anything. Finding time to write is getting harder, unfortunately—there’s not enough time in the morning, and by the time I get home in the evenings, I am wiped out.

That said, all is well. I’m getting excited for the next Spooktacular, and should be placing an order for t-shirts soon. I’ll have the designs for those shirts uploaded once I place the order. I have two designs this year, so make sure to collect ’em all.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your support! If you’d like to subscribe to or view my SubscribeStar page, you can do so here.

Happy Saturday!

—TPP

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Category: SubscribeStar Saturday

SubscribeStar Saturday: Trick-or-Treat When You Want