TheGreat Stupiding Continues

Another 16 year old girl charged for child porn, of herself.  This law is ostensibly to protect 16 year olds. We had to destroy the village in order to save it.

NBC SOP

Jibbers Crabst this is bad.

Seriously, this shows how broken US politics is. Trump is running a monster deficit, fighting a huge and dangerous trade war, and the press has to make stuff up to criticize him!

Child Sacrifice in Peru

A new archeological find with over 200 child victims, presumably in a religious sacrifice.

And the Aztec tower of skulls.

An Amazon review

Most Amazon one star reviews are pointless, but this one is brilliant, and worth reading.

Lurking in the background is a subtle point about statistics. It is not enough to simply look at total production: a thousand bullets but only 300 percussion caps is really less that 400 bullets and 400 percussion caps. (And even those are less valuable if their assembly is disrupted.) It is not only total production which matters, but co-ordination. As Adam Tooze details in his book, German contemporaneous sources believed the bombing had a serious effect on war supply.

Mother Jones calls out fake news

Fake photos purporting to be of the Amazon fires.

Insider's View Of Reporting on Israel

An excellent essay on what drives most reporting on Israel.

Apotheosis of Skank Noir

From the way her buttocks looked under the black silk dress, I knew she'd be good in bed.

A while ago I came across a good list of the best private eye novels. One I had never heard of was Solomon's Vineyard. It was published in 1941 in England but banned in the USA. That opening line only hints at why.

It's derivative of Red Harvest but adds some daft plot points and a heavy dose of kink. Definitely presages Mike Hammer. It's not Hammett, but it's a good read. Recommended to anyone who likes hard-boiled detective stories.

As for the Thrilling Detective list ... I was especially pleased to see James Crumley there. His first three books, from the 70s, are the best since Ross Macdonald's.

QPQ Micro reviews

QPQ is my name for the ever shifting team of mystery writers behind the names Q. Patrick, Patrick Quentin, and Jonathan Stagge. I will collect here some brief reviews of mysteries by QPQ under various names.  Ratings like grades, A to D.

I will update as I read more. 

Latest: Murder By Prescription Oct 2022, The Scarlet Circle May 2022 

S.S. Murder Q. Patrick. An amusing tale on board ship in the form of a diary. A-

Puzzle For Fools Patrick Quentin. The first Peter Duluth. Takes place in a psychiatric ward. The weakest book so far. C

Puzzle For Puppets A later Duluth, like a screwball comedy. The solution is obvious but it’s the most fun of the books so far. A-

Puzzle for Pilgrims A very strange Duluth, more a chronicle of characters in an emotional pressure cooker than a mystery. Takes place in Mexico. A-

The Grindle Nightmare Another Q. Patrick, again very strange. Reactions vary; I liked it but thought the solution a let down. B

Return To The Scene Q. Patrick. A florid melodrama with a good mystery B+

My Son The Murderer Patrick Quentin. This is a re write of Return to the Scene! B+

Death's Old Sweet Song Stagge.  A variation on the nursery rhyme series of murders. A different feel than either QP or PQ. B+

Puzzle For Fiends Patrick Quentin. Peter Duluth has amnesia. Beautiful women tell him he is really Gordy Friend.  More thriller than mystery. A bit over the top but very vividly told. B+ 

Family Secrets Patrick Quentin. QPQ are always doing something different. In some of the Duluth books for instance the person who solves the murder is a surprise. Here they — actually he, it’s by Wheeler alone — give us a 50s noir pulp pot-boiler transferred to the Manhattan elite. Not the most satisfactory of their books to me, but it has its points and as ever the construction is skillful and the writing a cut above most mysteries. B-

The Scarlet Circle, Stagge. Dr Westlake finds himself on vacation in a New England seaside village, with his daughter Dawn in tow. Murders ensue! Not a difficult mystery to solve but very atmospheric and fast moving. B.

Murder By Prescription, Stagge. Dr Westlake finds himself suspected of several murders, mercy killings. But there is a more dastardly plot afoot! Once again pretty easy to solve but atmospheric and smoothly written. The good doctor is a bit clueless on a couple of occasions. Dawn has a birthday. B-

Facebook denies shadowbanning, gets patent for shadowbanning

The patent is here. The abstract is a perfect description of shadowbanning. which facebook lies about not doing.