The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

Personal Information

Superpowers
Defies gravity Can spit really far Almost touch my toes Can cut a fly's legs off with a beer cap from 20 paces Know how to say useless stuff and prattle on in a dozen languages Don't know when to shut up
Favorite Quotes
To be for or against the Plague, it's much the same thing. Fiddledee, how a body shure do get around - just 2 weeks ago I was in Mississippi and now I'm all the way to Tennessee... Eat or Be Eaten Better to be pissed off than pissed on.
Biography
Born in swaddling clothes (designer, of course) at the confluence of big waters, my first recorded words were "Dad, can I have the keys to the car?" Raised a Southern Pedestrian, my musical talents were recognized at an early age, leading to my being exiled to the shed out back with a stack of books that became my eddykayshun - advanced readin', writin' & ritmytick, creating a major quandary of "what will I do, oh what will I do?" (Gunslinger) As an old black man advised in song, "You Gotta Move", so move I did, traveling the byways sideways even a lot of driveways, picking up sticks and psychological tics, even movin' to Beverlee through a quaint misunderstanding of the seriousness of TV series, until finally I blew up so big the carry nation incarnation tarnation couldn't hold me no more, so I fixed my sights on yonder sitar, and like Queequeg and Paul Bowles and one of those abducted kids by the Pied Piper of Hamelin, I ventured forth to the larger world, pickin' and grinnin', doin' me some reckonin' and naughts from naughts, occasionally rightin', building me some buildings and wiring and just trying to understand the babble comin' out of people's mouths and heads, I finally ended up in what Rummy quaintly calls "New Europe", which ain't so new from what I sees, but that pit in my stomach from lack-of-moving-sickness finally disappeared, and instead I sit behind a whopping big desk stacked with missives from all the chiefs with big whampum around the world telling me "what's going on". Which seems like a load of boolshit to me, but I guess that's what keeps me busy and entertained now, separatin' the weeds from the chapstick. So my name is Perry Keys, or Peracles to you, and since my mammy always said, "say please and thank you", I added the please, but I'm holdin' back on that thankee until I feel you've earned it. But do welcome, and I hope we's a gonna have a real good time. It all starts with, "I wuz born a poor young white chile livin' in the South..." and we cycle through again, like Nietzsche and his infernal regurgence. So enjoy, and let's spin a spell...

Campaign Thoughts (pt 1)

I got to thinking about Republicans being "strict constructionists" when it comes to the Supreme Court, and it seems true - by the time they finish obstructing Hillary's choices, the court'll be back down to its original 6 members.

Much as I love Michelle's speeches and support and her example as a fun and instructive First Lady, she helps draw attention to one key problem we have with politics, where people confuse giving a great speech with being a great representative.or lawmaker or administrator. Our contests are largely about speechifying, about exciting the masses - while governing is largely a closed-off office matter. The only exceptions are that occasionally some actual policies slip through in the campaign speeches so the public can vet these (if the candidates aren't lying or hedging their bets, the usual assumption), as well as some of the clever positioning between candidates gives an idea how they might deal with world leaders in office. Despite Michelle's successful singing, dancing and health programs, these aren't success factors for President quite yet.

Hillary's Watershed: Deplorables

It's been a pretty uninspiring campaign season, waiting from the end of the primaries to the convention buildup, then watching Hillary fritter her lead away on Clinton Foundation questions until it looked like she might be a goner - and then video by video, confession after confession, Trump melted down. Or is that how it went?

6 weeks ago Hillary let her "Deplorables" tag slip, and much of her fan base and hopefuls let out a collective gasp - it's one thing to attack Trump, but not his followers and independents she was trying to attract. After all, it was common knowledge that millennials were none too thrilled with her, so she'd be making good on that Republican Lite reputation - only here she was pissing in that stream too. And classic Hillary style - not "jerk", "low-life" or even "vulgarian" - she chose a word that half of America had to look up and the other half pondered whether it was even a noun. But most felt it was a way too risky move.

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