7/24/24
Newsletter #631
The Crack of Dawn
This last three weeks is the longest stretch that I’ve gone without writing a newsletter since June 6, 2022. Taking a break from the newsletter wasn’t my plan, that’s just how it came down.
I visited Haarlem, Holland about eight weeks ago. I had a swell time and kept writing the newsletter throughout. When I got home, I realized that I had left my brand-new voltage converter at the hotel. Oh, well. It’s cost $39.95. Instead of hassling with the hotel In Holland, I’d just buy a new one, which I did.
Now, every single time I’ve travelled anywhere in the past few years—and I’ve been travelling a lot—I always, and I repeat, always, set up my laptop before I leave, see if it’s working, and let it charge. This trip I did not do that. Why?
When I arrived at the hotel in Haarlem, I went about setting up my shit in the room. I plugged in my new voltage converter, plugged in my phone, then searched my bag for the power cable to the laptop — bingo! — it was plugged into the old, lost converter. Fuck. OK, what kind of cable was it? Oh, right, it was this wonderfully unique, clever magnetic plug with a tiny light on it showing that it was properly connected. How cool? Absolutely nobody was going to have one of those. I turned on the laptop, which was of course down to almost no charge, went to Amazon and ordered the proper cable to be sent to the hotel. How long would that take? It sure wouldn’t be Prime.
So, I decided that the universe in its infinite wisdom didn’t want me writing the Crack of Dawn for a while. I’d written 630 of them in two years—500 in a row—the world could probably use some time off, as could I, I guess, but I only write them because I like writing them, but maybe I needed a break anyway (as a note, the combined 630 newsletters presently equal 1,210 pages or 513,000 words).
In Haarlem, meanwhile, both times that was there I went news-free. There are news channels on the TV in the hotel, but in Dutch. Honestly, there was also CNN and BBC, but I easily managed to not watch any TV both times I was there, and some inner anxiety quieted down.
One bit of news that I did pick up was when Trump was shot. I arrived at my favorite coffeeshop, The Empire, and six or seven men in front were excitedly looking at their phones. I asked, “What’s up?” A man said, “Haven’t you heard, Trump’s been shot,” which he said with some intensity. Being a fan of presidential assassinations, I asked, “Is he dead?” The guy shook his head, “No, he was just nicked in the ear. Here, look,” and he showed me the footage several times. It sounded to me like an air gun, or a CO2 pellet gun. It turns out it was an AR-15 with standard NATO 5.56x45mm rounds — big bullets. The assailant, Thomas Matthew Crooks, an ugly, pimply, twenty-year-old, had a clear path to his target (which he’d already scoped out with a range finder), then he fired eight times, managing to kill a bystander, wound another, and nick Trump’s ear, before the Secret Service killed him.
My mind immediately flashed to the Manlicer-Carcano 7.5 military rifle (with a loose scope) that Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly used to kill President John Kennedy, all three shots from behind, and through the leaves of a tree. Yeah, right.
Anyway, in the pantheon of presidential assassins and assailants (I have one coming up on Charles Guiteau, assassin of President John Garfield), not to speak negatively of the recently deceased, but this Thomas Matthew Crooks looks like the worst would-be assassin in U.S. presidential history.
How could this schnook miss eight times with an automatic weapon? U.S. Marine Al Schmid held his position on a Pacific Island in World War II, blind, for twenty-four hours because he had a machinegun. You don’t have to be able to aim with an automatic, or even a semi-automatic, weapon—just point it in the intended direction. A BBC article reported, “He [Thomas Crooks] had a membership at a local shooting club, the Clairton Sportsmen's Club, for at least a year.” For Crooks to have missed that many times with that sort of weapon, he was obviously not only skipping classes at the sportsman club, he was in dire need of an eye exam.
Have a lovely day.
Hi Josh! I'm so happy that you're back! I missed you so so much. But I'm glad you got to spend quality time in Holland again. My day couldn't end in a better way than with you being back here! And oh well, I'm blowing you a kiss because I feel like it! (I admit I was a bit worried). Take care!