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Black Fried Egg
Cheap. Read more
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Gratitude: Pie with Beer
The six year old appears bedside in the dark, wants to know if he can go downstairs and write. “I’ll get up and write with you.” He’s written a war story called The Attack of the Red Army. It’s three chapters long. In chapter one Sam and Jacob are enjoying the last bit of summer Read more
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Billy Lynn’s Long Thanksgiving Slog
Thanksgiving. The most American day of the year. More American, perhaps, than the Fourth of July. Throw in a hyperbolically American venue—Texas stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys—and you’ve got Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (also now in theaters). For the heroes of Bravo squad, barnstorming the U.S. on a brief victory tour to rile up Read more
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The Anatomy of Political Implosion
Top 10 list requiring no preface or introduction— 10. Bubba. She enabled him. He enabled her. Until they didn’t. 9. BO. The Affordable Care Act. Its moral necessity was lost on the selfish many. 8. Vlad. Great spook. Spooky guy. Data thief. Exposer of secrets. 7. Gowdy (hair!) & Chaffetz. Drawn out hearings to reveal nothing again Read more
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Two Pumps for the Librarian
Six months back, guy walks into the library. Hands over his Foreign Service novel. “Here ya go.” “What’s this?” “It’s a book. Go ahead. Put it on the shelf.” “Not so fast, sonny. Two Pumps for the Body Man? Sounds dirty.” “You don’t want this novel for your patrons?” “We want four copies of that novel Read more
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The Literary Excellence, III
My nominations for The Stephen T. Colbert Award for The Literary Excellence continue. Boy, this effort is really lifting my mood! In Preston Lang’s The Sin Tax a female baddy flashes her gun at a male ex-con baddy: “You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a carry permit in New York. It’s insane. But once Read more
Ben East Books 