First, I didn’t get the chance to respond to the comments on my Friday column, so I’ll do so here: you people are great!
When I go to the comment threads on most internet sites – which I try not to do very often — the results inevitably veer between laughable, depressing and horrifying, with lots of mouth-breathing ad hominem attacks, vulgarity and inanity.
But the community that CO has created here feels like an antidote to all of that. On Friday, the comments ranged from long and thoughtful (from Ellisa Mitchell, Bill Willcox, Jamie Galioto, Damian Cullinane and others) to pithy and witty.
Alan Paterson pointed out the irony of the bitter sourpusses from the View being named “Joy” and “Sunny,” and Lloyd Wilkinson summed up my main point better than I could: “We may not be perfect, but the other side is insane!”
People here consistently reveal glimpses of their eclectic backgrounds and differing opinions, but with an obvious undercurrent of good will and good cheer — though the latter is sometimes understandably dampened by current events. And I cannot say often enough what a pleasure it is to read this site, and to write for you all, and to engage in enlightening, virtual conversations with so many good souls!
Having said that, I’m hoping to be writing here more often. Because at the end of this week, I’m retiring from my day job!
I’ve been an English professor for 30 years, but last week I turned in grades for the last time, and I’m looking to the next phase of my life with great anticipation. I’ll be writing more about this soon, but for now I’ll just say that I feel lucky to have finished my career without receiving any professional blowback that I anticipated if any of my colleagues had discovered my politically incorrect ramblings at this site!
On yet another personal note, I’m still waiting to hear back from my insurer and a contractor about our Victorian house (Rosewood) that partially burned last month. I think I’ll hear this week — though I’d thought the same about last week! – and will share more when I know it.
In the meantime, I’ve posted another picture of Rosewood on my site, Martinsimpsonwriting.com. This one is of the scorched underside of the roof, shot from beneath where the second-floor ceiling had been, before it was destroyed. As you might guess, the roof is going to have to come off and be replaced, if we can keep the house!
But enough about heartbreaking, fiery destruction – let’s talk about the left’s weekend reaction Alito’s leaked Roe v Wade draft.
Um, let me re-phrase that: let’s talk about MORE heartbreaking, fiery destruction… of cherished American institutions, behavioral norms, and also a Madison, WI pro-life headquarters.
Yes, our leftist friends have shown their usual restraint when things don’t go their way.
By which I mean that they spent the weekend screaming at non-violent pro-lifers, vandalizing churches, and engaging in street theater that involved spittle, frightening hair, terrifying facial piercings, and doing unspeakable things to dolls that represented babies.
Oh, and they also tried to burn down a storefront pro-life HQ in Wisconsin. Thankfully, they apparently couldn’t find anyone who could properly operate a Molotov cocktail.
Which is a bottle full of flammable liquid, with a cloth fuse stuck into it.
That’s it. If there were an instruction manual, it would have two steps: 1. Light the fuse. 2. Throw the bottle.
Illiterate Russian peasants used to successfully burn stuff with these all the time. But you get a gaggle of Gender Studies majors together, and they are freaking stumped!
I picture three of them huddled around a strip of cloth, trying to light it with a vape pen. After 10 minutes, one of them finally tries it with a lighter; the cloth catches fire, and one of them throws it at the building, but it goes 8 inches, drops to the sidewalk, and goes out.
Pro-Abort (PA) 1: “What went wrong?”
PA 2: “I don’t know.”
PA 3: “The bottle!”
PA 1: “Oh yeah.” He rears back and throws a bottle with gas in it at the building, where it shatters.
They all look at the building, then at each other.
PA 1: “What went wrong?”
PA 2: “The fuse needs to be IN the bottle.”
PA 3: “Right! Good idea!”
Ten minutes later, they’ve finally managed to create a Molotov cocktail, and PA 3 lights the fuse while PA 1 holds the bottle.
PA 2 (holding up her cell phone): “Okay, make your speech and then throw it.”
PA 1: “What speech?”
PA 3: “The one we’re going to send to CNN.”
PA 1: “What should I say?”
PA 2: “We talked about this. A woman should have control over her body—”
PA 3: “Boo!”
PA 2 (confused): “What?”
PA 3: “Pronouns! You said ‘her’ body.”
PA 2: “You know what I meant.” (turning to PA 1) “Do the speech!”
PA 1 (holding the bottle with the lit fuse in front of her): “We represent Rachel Sent Us, and we—”
PA 3: “Ruth.”
PA 1: “What?”
PA 3: “It’s ‘Ruth Sent Us.’”
PA 1: “What did I say?”
PA 3: “You said ‘Rachel’.”
PA 1: “I don’t think so.” (Sees PA 2 making a frantic circling motion with her hand.) “Um, okay. We’re from Ruth, and our pronouns are—” (the bottle bursts into flame) “AIEEE!”
And, scene.
That’s not necessarily how it actually happened, but a humble roving correspondent can dream.
As infuriating as it was to watch the brainwashed loons losing it over the last week, I’m glad to see that the elite left is still completely clueless about how bad they look to normal people on this issue.
When the MSM and congressional Dems won’t even condemn the doxing and threatening of judges, they’re losing the mainstream of the nation.
And though I’m usually loathe to speak ill of the dead, Biden has reached new personal lows this week – which I wouldn’t have thought possible!
His angry slurs against “this MAGA crowd,” and his unhinged scare-mongering that the GOP will kick gay kids out of classrooms and forbid interracial marriages are really repulsive.
It’s enough to make me nostalgic for the good old days of a week ago, when Sleepy Joe was beclowning himself at the WH Correspondents’ dinner: Laughing uproariously at jokes about the terrible inflation he’s unleashed on the nation. Pawing at his bowtie – which you know a handler had fixed for him back stage, repeatedly slapping his hand away when Brandon kept picking at it – until it was cockeyed, and made him look even more off-kilter than usual.
And the way he mangled the most memorable quote of the last 50 years was pure Biden. Trying to evoke Reagan’s great line, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” he came up with, “Tear this wall down!”
And then he mumbled a lame Disney joke that made regular voters everywhere remember how much they like Ron DeSantis.
Keep it up, Joe. Keep giving speeches.
Tell us how Lincoln said, “Four years ago, I scored!” and how Patrick Henry said, “Give me Liberty Mutual, or Death by Chocolate!” and how Obama said, “If you like your doctor, you can keep Joe Plumber!”
It’s been a long 4 years, and it’s only been 66 weeks.
Avenatti/ Literally Anybody Else, 2024!
Martin Simpson 
Beclowned!!! That’s stunning. I’m like speechless.
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