The Crowhill Journal

• A new review of Eggs are Expensive, Sperm is Cheap.
• From Instapundit: While Mark Milley was reading books about ‘white rage,’ the Taliban were busy plotting to take over Afghanistan.
• Can you believe Tony Bennet is just retiring at 95!

Years ago, I was driving to work, listening to news on the radio. It wasn’t a good signal, and the news and a music station were somewhat on top of each other.

I could hear the days stories, with Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” playing in the background. It seemed so fitting.

This morning I checked my newsfeed and saw this.

The first story: “Kabul falls to Taliban: Joe Biden, Donald Trump trade blame amid American ignominy”

The second story: “New ‘All Things Must Past’ Reissue Shows the Communal Depth Behind George Harrison’s Masterpiece”

I’m finalizing my latest novel, which some of you have kindly read and reviewed. (It’s been revised substantially.)

The title will be “The Time Device,” and this is my proposed description.

A fit of rage sends Bill down a dark spiral into strange religions, madness, drugs, and a narrow escape from death. A kind hypnotist brings him back from the edge and sets him on a quest to heal the ache in his soul. Through deep meditation he discovers a device that enables him to travel through time and fix the fateful night when he lost the love of his life. But time travel is never simple, and his several attempts to fix the past land him in the middle of a conspiracy of galactic significance.

Would you want to read that book?

I was never very afraid of it — for myself, at least. I’m under 60 and fairly healthy, so the risk was low. Of course I worried about friends and relatives who were at higher risk.

But now I’ve been vaccinated and … I just had it myself.

My wife and I attended an event where several people caught it. Mrs. Crowhill had a fever and some flu symptoms. Not a bad case, but enough that she was under the weather for a few days. My symptoms were slim to none — and nothing worse than I often get simply from mild sinus issues. (I can feel like I’m sick for days after flying in an airplane — just from the change in pressure.)

So now we’re both vaccinated and both have natural immunity. Can’t get much better than that.

Some would say it was a fool’s errand to ever believe we could control the place. The British couldn’t. The Soviets couldn’t. Why would we think we could?

On the other hand, it’s discouraging to see it fall back into the hand of the foaming 14th century fanatics, and I’m sure the men who risked life and limb over there are disgusted.

But why is it our problem? Why should we spend our lives and treasure to prop up a system that they’re simply not ready for? There seem to be cultural prerequisites before a society can have a Republic, and they don’t have them.

Perhaps we need a strategy of containment. E.g., “you can be lunatics if you want, but we’re going to keep you in your country. Nobody gets out.” Although I’m not sure that’s practical, given the rough borders. We could hardly watch them all. We can’t even watch our own border.