SubscribeStar Saturday: Trick-or-Treat When You Want

23 October 202123 October 2021 The Portly Politico8 Comments

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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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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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Lazy Sunday CXXXI: Friends, Part III

19 September 202116 September 2021 The Portly Politico20 Comments

The celebration of friendship rolls on (read Part I and Part II), this week heavily featuring blogger buddies. One of the real joys of blogging is the opportunity to read other bloggers’ writing, and to build up a community of like-minded writers. These three writers definitely fit the bill:

“Supporting Friends Friday: Mogadishu Matt” – Mogadishu Matt at Free Matt Podcast writes some of the more interesting “slice of life” commentary I’ve ever read. He’s particularly humorous when writing his own, hard-boiled responses to letters sent to advice columnists. He’s a man who has lived a rich—if not always easy—life, and he’s learned and grown from those experiences. That really comes across in his writing.
“Supporting Friends Friday: photog” – Good old photog is the proprietor of Orion’s Cold Fire. I consider photog my closest blogging ally, and some of my writing for his blog got the juices flowing again for my blog. He writes on everything from politics to photography (thus the nom de plume) to Star Trek. Check him out!
“Supporting Friends Friday: Audre Myers” – Audre is a fun-loving, child-like, but wise writer who frequently posts for Nebraska Energy Observer, Neo’s blog (which features far more stuff about English and American history than it does about running electrical lines in rural Nebraska). Writing this tribute to Audre proved to be a turning point for my own blog: Audre has tons of fans in Great Britain, and now traffic to my site has increased five-to-ten-fold on a daily basis, thanks simply to Audre’s friends and well-wishers commenting on the blog. I’ve never had such lively comment sections, and that also means more comments from Audre herself!

Well, that’s another Sunday in the books. Enjoy your day and support your writers!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

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TBT: Music Among the Stars

16 September 202114 September 2021 The Portly Politico12 Comments

It’s been a musical week here at The Portly Politico, so I figured, “why stop now?”

I’ve dedicated more and more space on the blog to musical and cultural matters, especially in the last year. Among the posts I most enjoy writing—and of which I am most proud—are those I write about music.

This week’s TBT feature, “Music Among the Stars,” is one I really enjoy, and I think (humbly) it’s one of my better posts. It’s about the golden records aboard the Voyager I space probe, and about the true purpose of music—to worship God.

I’ll let the essay speak for itself. Here is 8 September 2021’s “Music Among the Stars“:

SubscribeStar Saturday: Decline, Part I: Afghanistan

11 September 20219 September 2021 The Portly Politico1 Comment

Events of the past few years give one the distinct sense that the United States—and, indeed, Western Civilization—is in a steady decline. As I wrote in an old post:

We’re no longer the Roman Republic, but we’re not the Roman Empire in the 5th century, either. We’re more like the Roman Empire in the 2nd or 3rd centuries: coasting along on the remnants of a functioning system, with a play-acting Congress shadowing the motions of republicanism.

We’re in what might be called the “decadent” phase of our existence: past generations forged a nation from their sweat and blood; their successors solidified and consolidated on those gains, creating a powerful economy and culture, and winning major wars; their successors are currently coasting along on the fruits of their ancestors’ efforts. But a culture, a nation, a civilization can only coast for so long before it loses all momentum entirely.

The recent unpleasantness in Afghanistan is a stark illustration of our current decadence—and our blind arrogance. We believed we could plant a functioning democratic republic in a land that has been war-torn and riddled with autocratic warlords since time immemorial with an investment of twenty years of blood and treasure. Instead, we botched a pull-out, abandoning American citizens and military equipment in the process, allowing the Taliban to seize control of the entire country in a leisurely weekend.

Ironically, The Pretender Biden was probably the perfect patsy for American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was about nineteen years overdue. Every administration has known we needed to get the heck out of a place known as “The Graveyard of Empires,” but no one wanted the bad optics of a withdrawal. Biden is so senile and mentally foggy that he probably still doesn’t realize what he did, and certainly doesn’t feel any shame about abandoning Americans to the Taliban.

But even given our incompetent, mentally hobbled executive, the withdrawal from Afghanistan—quite necessary, I think—was botched so terribly, it condemns the entire US government and our military leadership. Any ten-year old could have said, “Yeah, get all the weapons and people out first, then withdraw the last of the American troops.” Instead, we did the exact opposite. Ripping off the Band-Aid and getting out of Afghanistan was necessary, but did we have to rip the skin clean off the arm?

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Educational Tyranny

4 September 20214 September 2021 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Apologies to readers for the delayed post. After a long but productive week and a drive to Athens—not to mention a late-night dose of NyQuil—I’m getting a late start on this post.

Education is a field that tends towards authoritarianism and centralization, especially when faced with a major problem outside of its usual scope. The field’s emphasis on safety—understandable given that teachers and administrators work with children—can become, in certain circumstances, pathological.

Schools, especially public schools, sit at the uncomfortable nexus of politics, liability, and conformity. Various political schemes to improve education often backfire, instead creating onerous additional tasks that rank-and-file faculty shoulder. Centralization of control at the State and federal levels, rather than aid classroom teaching, often merely force conformity on the profession, while creating unrealistic “benchmarks” that don’t align with local conditions or needs.

The ever-present fear of lawsuits reduces administrators to whimpering toadies, themselves often filled with silly pedagogical theories from bogus education programs. Educational dogma is fully onboard with social justice foolishness, and education programs are excellent at producing dedicated Cultural Marxists and “activists,” all eager to indoctrinate students into the prevailing cult of groupthink.

Within this milieu is the tendency for professional educators to possess a bit of an authoritarian streak. There are plenty of good teachers with an authoritative approach to both their subject matter and classroom management (the buzzword for “discipline” or control of the classroom), but some teachers and administrators relish control over their tiny little domains. Small people ruling small fiefdoms tend to possess rather inflated senses of their own rightness and righteousness.

The Age of The Virus, then, provided the perfect conditions for justifying all manner of policies and procedures that do little to help children learn, but do a great deal to empower administrators, district offices, and the like with the pretexts for depriving students, employees, and parents of any modicum of personal and academic freedom. The very same forces that would hawk abortions with the rallying cry of “my body, my choice” also gleefully mandate experimental mRNA vaccination regimens and literal muzzles—even for vaccinated employees!

Locally, the Darlington County School District has tied vaccination to COVID leave, an invention of the federal government that allows teachers quarantined or sick due to The Virus to receive paid COVID leave in lieu of their regular sick leave. Per the article at the News & Press (emphasis added), “‘Some people may think this is controversial,’ Education Superintendent Tim Newman said. ‘Sometimes, you just have to take a stand for what you think is right.'”

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Jakob’s Wife (2021)

30 August 202130 August 2021 The Portly Politico23 Comments

I am a great lover of vampire movies and stories, and am always interested to see how filmmakers and storytellers approach the well-worn vampire mythology. Every vampire story must take time to establish the “rules” of that particular vampiric universe, so the (sub?)genre lends itself to world-building. Some vampires can survive in sunlight, though uncomfortably; others can endure limited exposure; still others burst instantly into flames. Some vampires fear the sign of the Cross; others laugh at it mockingly; still others fear the faith in what the symbol represents, but the symbol is rendered powerless without that faith.

Vampire stories also offer the opportunity to explore interesting themes. Immortality is a common one: what happens when you have forever to live on Earth? Anne Rice’s novel Interview with the Vampire (1976) explores that idea in great detail, specifically the ennui and nihilism that come with earthly eternal “life.” The initial thrill of vampiric power and endless nights of bloody reverie gradually turn to centuries of self-indulgent, murderous moping, as the vampire passively watches the world he loved transform around him into something unrecognizable.

This month, Shudder released a new exclusive, Jakob’s Wife (2021), a feminist-inflected vampire story starring 80s scream queen Barbara Crampton. While the feminist themes were a bit heavy-handed at points, the film handled the subject matter with a surprising degree of nuance. Suffice it to say that, like tell-tale two-pronged mark of the vampire’s bite, this film has stuck with me.

Lazy Sunday CXXVIII: Civilization

29 August 202129 August 2021 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Civilization seems to be taking it on the chin lately, with anti-civilizational forces in various forms scoring victories against the civilized world. The Taliban’s rapid reconquista of Afghanistan following America’s hasty, disorganized withdrawal suggests that a group of motivated cavemen can topple a well-trained, well-equipped, but artificial regime in a brisk weekend.

Within the gates of the civilized world, we’re going in a decidedly Babylonian route, indulging in wildly hedonistic displays of decadence, while ignoring the fundamentals that keep civilization going. Even the gates are largely symbolic, as we’re allowing in every paleontological throwback, handing them government bennies and free housing in the process.

All that said, I think civilization is worth preserving. I’ll write about that in a future post. For now, here are some of my past scribblings on the topic for this mildly gloomy edition of Lazy Sunday:

“Civilization is Worth It” – Here is my initial case for civilization. I think this line sums it up best: “Ultimately, I’d much rather live in a world that produced J.S. Bach than a Stone Age pit full of atonal grunting. It says something about the state of our civilization that the atonal grunts are back in vogue.”
“What is Civilization” – This post was based on a discussion between Milo Yiannopoulos and “groypers” Steven Franssen and Vincent James. The groypers argued that folks should abandon the cities and head to the country. Milo argued that cities are the heart of civilization, and should be defended. Both sides make compelling points, though I tend to side with Franssen and James on this one.
“Rebuilding Civilization: The Hunter-Gatherer” – This post was inspired by an essay by Stuart Wavell entitled “The next civilisation.” Wavell suggests that in the event of a cataclysmic, apocalyptic-level event, the isolated hunter-gatherers would be the ones to carry on the torch of humanity.

Well, there’s your dose of civilizational analysis for this weekend. Let’s all do our part to maintain the things that make civilization worth the effort.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Festivals in The Age of The Virus

28 August 202127 August 2021 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Just when we thought life was returning to normal—or, perhaps, when we thought life was being allowed to return to normal—a wacky new variant of The Virus has reared its viral head. We’re told it’s hyper-contagious, though the fact that it’s even milder than the original recipe is seldom mentioned. Just as New Coke wasn’t as good as Coca-Cola Classic, so the Delta Variant is a poor imitation of The Wuhan Original.

Well, the sequel is never as good as the original. Unfortunately, our public health overlords at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don’t see it that way. They and their lackeys in the media are going full-scale alarmist, now recommending even vaccinated individuals to wear masks.

But, wait, didn’t The Vaccine purchase our freedom from masks? Aren’t masks of dubious effectiveness, anyway? Well, never mind. The Cult of COVID holds sway among our ruling class, and they’re never wrong, and certainly never the architects of unmitigated disasters. Let’s all chant the necessary rites—“Two Weeks to Flatten the Curve!”—“Socially Distance!”—“Wear a Mask!”—and surely St. Fauci will make the necessary sacrifices of civil liberties to appease the angry god COVID.

Among the many casualties of our adherence to this death cult is the many public events, those places where we used to gather to celebrate our shared history, heritage, and culture, and simply have some fun. As the weather slowly hints towards crisp autumnality, it’s worth considering the fate of our beloved festivals.

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Supporting Friends Friday: Audre Myers

27 August 202127 August 2021 The Portly Politico40 Comments

I’ve been on a roll featuring blogger buddies on Supporting Friends Friday as of late, notably with my feature of photog last week. If photog is my avuncular ally in the world of under-the-radar right-wing blogging, then today’s featured friend, Audre Myers of Nebraska Energy Observer, is probably the doting aunt who “likes” every post and almost always leaves some kind of feedback and encouragement on the blog.

She’s also brought new readers to my blog, such as 39 Pontiac Dreamer, whose comments this past week have really enlivened the blog (and inspired Wednesday’s post). I’ve also noticed that since bringing 39PD to the blog’s comment sections, my page views have skyrocketed, thanks to the raucous back-and-forth between Audre, 39PD, Neo, and myself (feel free to join in, dear readers, and enjoy the fun!).

Audre’s encouragement and recommendations have shaped my own blog profoundly. Many of the film reviews on the site over the past two months have been from Shudder, and Audre is to thank—she and a colleague both recommended the service heartily, and it’s become pretty much the only streaming content I consume besides YouTube videos. Indeed, my review of The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot (2018) is a direct consequence of Audre mentioning the film!

More importantly, Audre is a skilled writer and thinker in her own right, though, not just a cheerleader and booster of my rambling scribblings. She brings a warm, almost motherly perspective to the issues of the day, without descending into hyper-feminized sentimentality (something I am probably more likely to do than her, truth be told). She employs literary and filmic allusions to highlight her points, making them easier to understand, without falling into the trap of the Harry Potter kids who use the popular book series as their entire frame of reference for understanding the world.

In short, Audre’s writing is fun, entertaining, and lively, while still retaining a sense of seriousness about the issues facing the world today.

The Portly Politico

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

Tag: analysis

SubscribeStar Saturday: Trick-or-Treat When You Want

Lazy Sunday CXXXI: Friends, Part III

TBT: Music Among the Stars

Monday Morning Movie Review: Jakob’s Wife (2021)

Lazy Sunday CXXVIII: Civilization

Supporting Friends Friday: Audre Myers