Author: Kim du Toit

Open Letter To The Republican Party

Advice, Politics

Dear Idiots:

I know you feel you have a desperate need for more and yet more money which you somehow think will further your cause in next week’s midterm election, and therefore the reason why I get several emails from you each day imploring me for same, using terms like “We’re out of time!” and “We face disaster!” when in fact neither statement is true.  What is true is that in reliably-conservative districts (e.g. most of Texas), the conservative guy is in no trouble at all — Ted Cruz is going to wallop “Skateboard Jesus” O’Rourke by more than 8 (and more likely more than ten) percentage points, so why does Ted need more campaign money when most Texan conservatives would rather sell their favorite gun than vote for any Democrat?

And by the way:  using Frequent Quisling Senator Susan Collins in your emails to appeal to me for money is a massive slap in the face.  This MDTR (more Democrat than Republican) bitch has been the proverbial turd in the soupbowl more often than I can count, so just because she did the right thing ONCE (in voting to seat Brett Kavanaugh) does not give you the go-ahead to use her as a figurehead for your fundraising.

The simple fact of the matter is that the Republicans are in little danger of losing in reliably-conservative districts except where they’ve allowed a total fuckhead to make it through the primaries (e.g. Roy Moore in Georgia Alabama* passim).  Where the Republicans are in danger is in marginal districts (e.g. in the aforementioned MDTR’s state of Maine) or where a few thousand illegal votes will have the effect of sending a Democrat to Congress (do I have to remind you of Senator Stuart Smalley’s victory in Minnesota?).  That is where the Republican Party needs to concentrate its efforts, but let’s be honest here:  most people have already made up their minds whom they will vote for, so any campaign money should be directed towards enlisting more poll watchers and oversight (i.e. to prevent voter intimidation and fraud) than on splashy TV ads which most people will ignore.

Yes, you will have my vote, as always;  in fact, voting for me seldom takes more than a few seconds while I punch the “straight Republican ticket” button.  (Primaries, of course, are a different matter:  there, I spend literally hours researching which Republican I think will be the best conservative and vote accordingly.  But the generals?  My voting choice is no longer an issue, by that point.)

So set your fundraising appeals accordingly, because I suspect that among conservative Republicans, I am probably part of the majority.  It may be too late for this election, but it may help you to do a better job with the money in future.

Sincerely,

Kim du Toit

*Sorry, they all look alike to me.

News Snippets

Good Stuff

Roger Simon finally wakes up and smells the coffee.  Now all he has to do is persuade his hoplophobe rabbi to allow him to carry his piece into the shul.

While the Usual Suspects are squalling once again about gun control after some anti-Semitic asshole kills Jews, they are absolutely silent when a good guy gun owner snuffs out a homicidal maniac.

Our troops are thirsty lil’ buggers.  Good.

Brazil looks set to pivot sharply to the right Sunday with the election of a Trump-type guy who wants to privatize state companies [in an ailing economy], liberalize gun ownership [in the face of ubiquitous violent crime] and mine the rain forest.  Needless to say, the Meejah are clutching pearls and forecasting the Apocalypse.

Some government employee brought several .gov systems crashing down with Russian malware after visiting 9,000 porn sites.

The Other Schumann

Music

I’ve always been a huge fan of Robert Schumann’s music.  I know all about his life story — the word “tragedy” comes to mind, and you can read all about it here — but while that knowledge provides some background, it doesn’t really matter because the music is beautiful beyond words.  In one of those extraordinary little coincidences which occasionally drive me crazy, when I discovered the linked article I just happened to be listening to Schubert’s Schumann’s First Symphony (“Spring”) in B-flat major, the second movement of which has one of the most most haunting melodies ever written (just after the 15.30-minute mark).  That the melody happens during a piece which celebrates the coming of the spring — traditionally a “happy” theme — is just one of the joys of listening to Schumann.

As for the “other” Schumann (his wife, virtuoso pianist Clara Wieck), the DM review of Judith Schernaik’s biography of Schumann pays eloquent praise to this extraordinary woman.  (The book itself has gone onto my Christmas list.)

Anyway, if  you want to enrich your life for a couple of hours on a chilly winter’s day or evening, you could do a LOT worse than listen to all four of Schumann’s symphonies, in order.  I’ve selected the performances of the Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by the incomparable Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Then, if you feel the need for more Schumann (and well you might), help yourself to a few of his Etudes…

No need to thank me;  it’s all part of the service.

Vanishing Tech

Bad News, Technology

This barely qualifies as news, I suppose:

The beginning of the end for the DVD player: John Lewis will no longer sell the gadgets as they are replaced by streaming services (joining VHS, cassette tapes and floppy disks in the dustbin of defunct technology)

As the owner of dozens of DVDs, I guess I’ll have to buy a backup (or two) DVD players for the inevitable time when you can’t find the blessed things anymore.  As it happens, I have a multi-format Blu-Ray DVD player at the moment — multi-format because I have both PAL- and NTSC-format DVDs:  a heritage of buying DVDs in Europe and Britishland during my various travels Over There.  Of course, Philips no longer makes the model I own, so I’ll have to pay the “Sony premium” for my backup.

Gah.

Look, I understand the March Of Progress and all that, and I know that technology becomes outdated after a while.  I just wish that the “while” would last a little longer.

And no, I’m not going to “stream” movies — at least, not the movies that I love and want to watch over and over again — because as any fule kno, what the “Cloud” giveth, the Cloud can take away (often without warning) and I refuse to be held hostage by the fucking movie studios (e.g. the horrible Disney Corporation, or Netflix).  The ordinary movies (i.e. most of them) I can watch once and never watch again without regret;  but the gems?  oh no, I wantssss them all, my Precioussss, so that I can enjoy them anytime I want and not when Global Entertainment MegaCorp says I can (or can’t, a pox on them).

Ditto books, by the way.  I’ve talked before about why I can’t use Kindle (see below* for the Cliff Notes version), so forget e-books of any kind whatsoever.  And I have hundreds of audio CDs, ergo I have a couple of backup CD players for the time when the poxy recording industry [50,000-word rant deleted]  decides that CD ownership is a Bad Thing.

Possession isn’t just 9/10 of the law when it comes to my viewing, listening and reading pleasure:  it’s all of the law, and I intend to keep it that way.

*I’ve never bought into e-books.  I tried a Kindle, but it might as well been kindling for all the appeal it has to me.  Here’s the reason why: my eyesight is failing [Old Fart Problem #4], which means I have to increase the font size to see the words properly.  Problem:  I read at about 2,000 words per minute (always have), which means that I get a blister on my thumb from hitting the “Next Page” button on a Kindle, and anyone in the room with me will eventually complain about the noise of the constant rapid-fire clicking.

And that’s the other problem, right there:  I love the feel of a book in my hands.  I love the ability to flip backwards to re-read a passage that turned out to be important later on.  I love the fact that once I own a book, it can’t be taken away from me electronically by some algorithm which decides that I’ve had the content “long enough” (as though there’s an expiration date on ownership).