I will be honest with you: I was in the archives yesterday and decided to watch the video of the Thursday hearings over the weekend. But that gives me some time to discuss the significance of a new story about GOP criming. This is for subscribers only, but please: Share And if you are a non-paying subscriber? Subscribe, and tear down that paywall! Do you recall David B. Wheeler and Colonel Moe Davis, the founders of American Muckrakers PAC?

David Markson’s Wittgenstein’s Mistress (1988) is the loneliest of American novels. It is lonely in its premise (the last woman on earth meditates on language, history, and culture), lonely in its publication journey (Markson’s manuscript was famously rejected fifty-four times), lonely in its execution (a monologue of obsessive consciousness), and lonely-making in its ultimate effect upon the reader. Kate, the aforementioned woman, lives on an empty beach — no apocalyptic event is offered — where she composes a daily record of memories and loosely associated facts.

This week’s newsletter comes early, due to my schedule, and picks up on a story that has been is roiling publishing over the past week. For background, Catapult, an independent press, abruptly announced cuts on February 14; a few days ago, the New York Times profiled its CEO, and since then Catapult has changed its mission statement. Catapult was founded in 2015 by Andy Hunter, founder of the website Electric Literature, and Elizabeth Koch, who founded Black Balloon Publishing.

He who consumes meat obtained from the Turcs, (Guru) Gobind Singh does not consider that person a Sikh of his. -Tankhahnama, attributed to Nand Lal, 1718 CE An animal slaughtered in the Islamic fashion is considered forbidden for consumption in Sikh dogma, because a level of excessive cruelty is employed in slaughtering, as from the moment the zibah begins up until the last moments of life, the being writhes and suffers for some time before death.

On this Memorial Day, I wanted to share the most amazing story that I heard yesterday, when I was at a “community sing” sponsored by the Alexandria Harmonizers, an acclaimed men’s chorus. The Harmonizers were planning to sing in France for the 2014 D-Day anniversary, when they heard the story of Billie Harris, a dashing 21-year old American fighter pilot, and his lovely bride Peggy, an 18-year-old Rosie the Riveter who was working on airplanes at a military bases.