Lay Lines by Carol Lay for June 07, 2021

This is amazing. And true.

Excellent, Ms Lay.

Theodor was told by Satan:

“There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream – a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought, a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!”.

I know it was debatable whether Twain actually finished “The Mysterious Stranger” (or #44) but it was still a very moving piece of work that I read in AmLit 2000 so many years ago. Twain’s description of the hypocrisy, selfishness and greed by most in the village would still apply in 2021. Excellent strip Ms Lay!

Could groups yelling Defund the Police and BLM be considered the loud little handful?

Twain’s late writings were dark, reflecting the disappointments and failures in his life. Voltaire came to many of the same conclusions (well before Twain of course), but compare the attitude in Voltaire’s last writings.

I’m always in awe when literature (such as Twain & Shakespeare’s) and fictional novels (such as Orwell and Bradbury’s) become prophecy fulfilled.

Rinse and repeat but sometimes the little handful will push too far and the crowds will storm the castle. Right now in the U.S. we have the BLM and ACAB on one side and Trump cultists on the other, each seeing the other as the enemy. The reality is that neither side is a symptom of a functioning system.

Gosh, 2002. Crazy times.

Did not know they did waterboarding back then.

Old Sam knew a thing or two, more than just the Mississippi River.

It’s sad how little has changed since Mark Twain wrote this.

I always wanted to Produce Twain’s ‘The War Prayer’ as a theatrical piece. The above work is fantastic.