Chris and Peachy are suddenly important

Under normal circumstances, becoming an obscure monk to write coloratura noir romance is a thankless task. Old fashioned, Cass says. No hope of a movie deal which, believe it or not, was my sole purpose in writing the four-volume Case Files of Cable & Blount. Do I remember it correctly? Over 600 pages of comedy, mystery, steely resolve, gunfights, and some of the hottest boy-girl sex ever presented in frank language. For fun, look up coloratura. It does not refer to "persons of color" as the expression goes, which dimly implies that I'm as white as paper and that only Africans and mestizos have meaningful color. How silly. Negroes are inky black or mahogany brown, except for mixed race people like Barack Obama. If a caucasian is mixed race like I am (French, Prussian, and a dash of Norse) we're called mutts. Mutts are more surefooted and less fractious than thoroughbreds, which is why mules were important in the Old West, pulled heavy wagons in teams.

I pulled the heavy wagon of literary drama solo. It had to be that way for an authorial voice to emerge. Why is that important? Because voice infuses story with life, if the writer is a rebel in command of original work. When I worked in Hollywood, everyone religiously repeated a tired sermon "There are no new stories" because they were incapable of original work.

I mentioned Case Files of Cable & Blount in the context of tyranny. Chris and Peachy live in a world that no longer exists. I recommend that you read it. Something very important was lost recently, and it behooves you to experience an exposition of what liberty means. Chris and Peachy never heed regulations, never follow the rules of common sense. If they did, they would be no different than the folks next door, which other novelists endeavor to celebrate, especially people of color writing about their favorite aunt or antebellum hardship. Stephen King concocts malevolent ghouls, and P.G. Wodehouse laughs at Roaring 20s English pajama boys. I write about hard white American heroes and lovers, people in trouble typically self actualized as their professional duty. Private investigators know that cops do little and solve nothing. Chris and Peachy have the advantage of ample power and unbreakable devotion to each other, keenly aware of the palpable pulse of life on life's terms, male and female.

I may be the only contemporary writer who knows what liberty is.

In a nutshell, liberty means no handouts for Africa, no matter how many millions of women and children are starving, ignored and penalized by their governments and threatened with Wuhan virus on top of rising prices, food shortages, no sanitation, widespread HIV infection, malaria, and police orders to lock down, forbidding men to work. Liberty means a bright line between self and others, no matter how others exercise their powers, or whether they are doomed. Liberty is not fair or benevolent. It is a universal legal and moral right to thrive, to the extent that one can. What Africa needs is what America needs, less government, more liberty, pandemic or murderous gangs notwithstanding. America has murderous gangs that government has failed to eradicate. Gang threats cease in the Second Amendment liberty of personal self-defense, which Chris and Peachy consistently exercise with excellence. More people could and should defend themselves instead of remaining hapless victims, hoping that government will protect them, feed them, and make life happier. Every dollar that the state gathers to itself is a dollar taken from victims that they pretend to shelter. The truth of government is arbitrary power very thinly disguised as patriotism. That's why Chris walked away from his legacy as a sprig of institutionalized power, and won personal autonomy.

How well a man lives today is less important than his liberty because liberty is an open door to a freer life tomorrow, or a higher challenge, depending on what opposes his progress. In today's Covid-19 tyranny, the human right of liberty seems distant. Hah! -- an illusion, easily sidestepped. Buy a set of surgical scrubs, a stethoscope, and a pair of paper booties. Shazam, you're an overworked neurosurgeon. If an undocumented immigrant can get a fake ID in Los Angeles, so can you. A mail carrier outfit is not hard to fabricate. Learn a foreign language.

But all such disguises are unnecessary. Your search for liberty should have begun years ago, as a teenager, right? Liberty is not a new subject to any man or woman on Earth. Tomorrow is a blank page in an unfolding drama, of which you are necessarily the author and actor. There could be a pivotal choice today, if it's time to reclaim more of your liberty, independent of whatever chains of sorrow have kept you from the pursuit of happiness, a fundamental right that no government or family can legally abridge. I realize that there are moral ambiguities and impossible conflicts. Without difficult challenges, there is no story in your story.

I like the story of Chris and Peachy, both of them challenged repeatedly by government and family pressures. They have the advantage of long experience as self-reliant rebels, seeking greater liberty and personal happiness, neither of which is easily won. The first three Case Files novels are $5 in a Smashwords edition. Charity, my favorite Chris and Peachy adventure, is available on Kindle, and the concluding double mystery Finding Flopsie is at Amazon. All four Case Files novels were revised and published together in a collector's edition. The cover photo is a fictional "Treloar Building" in salute to Ray Chandler. Chris met Peachy on the 3rd floor corridor. He was drilling into a bomb. She became curious and wouldn't go away.

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Michelle Obama

Unanimous hooey on all channels, Joe Biden will be nominated to face Donald Trump. Some say he'll be chosen by superdelegates to lose gracefully. Nuts. The only reason that Pete and Amy stepped aside and endorsed Joe was on orders from Barack, to deny Bernie momentum and possibility of winning a majority of convention delegates. Why? Because there's a dark horse being groomed at the starting gate.

Expect Michelle to make a public appearance in Chicago or Baltimore, deliver a long cogent speech about American history, civil rights, and family values -- something that Joe can't do and Bernie won't. Better than even odds that Michelle becomes the Democrat presidential candidate, to mesmerize the media and clean Trump's clock, a proud, tall black female with sainted husband and daughters front row center, applauding respectfully.

Look under the hood. It doesn't matter how loudly old cars honk. No one wants Joe or Bernie on a debate stage. Trump could crush them with a laugh, no contest, and Barack knows it. But his wife is bulletproof, plenty of brains and social standing to flummox Trump and force him to blink. It's imperative for Michelle to defeat Trump, to prevent her husband, Loretta Lynch, Jim Comey, and the Clintons from going to prison. Pelosi's and Schumer's assignments are to kneecap Barr, coordinate a Deep State putsch, and throw subpoena grit in the DOJ gearbox.

Three cheers for Mark Steyn, subbing for Rush 3/5/20, answering a caller's question: Who's pulling all the marionette strings?  "Obama people," Steyn replied, missing it by a single word of dilution, but close enough to deserve congrats. Maybe there's hope that Trump and his allies will see through the shiny Vaseline gauze and perceive what's going on at Obama HQ. It's always good that intelligent people can spot a pile of stinking horseshit and deduce there must be a pony somewhere. Unfortunately, very little can be done to stop Michelle, if she gives a JFK-style political speech. The media will go ape shit, led by Hollywood, to draft her as the Dem's best hope to unite and kill Donald Trump stone dead. Even money that Joe will go with the flow and pledge his delegates. He knows he can't compete with Michelle.

It will start with something simple, photo op at a hospital or food pantry, a few words about income insecurity, Corona virus, or homelessness -- maybe all three.

Joe, Bernie, and the Seven Dwarfs were straw candidates, saved Michelle the indignity of a primary campaign and the horror of competition she could have easily lost by being a world class asshole. So much simpler and safer to be crowned at the convention. The Dwarfs did fine, plenty of face time and campaign cash they can roll into safe Senate sinecures, except Pocohontas, who the royal DNC staff sabotaged for the good of the party. Bernie got extra cash under the table to twist a shiv into her on national TV, good fun for all concerned. You think it was accidental that her "live mike" post-debate bitch was played far and wide? The moderator question was planted and the sound crew cued in advance.

Tulsi had to be shut out by changing the debate rules twice, because Tulsi committed the unforgivable sin of being beautiful and twice as sharp as Seriously Fugly Michelle.

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