3. Speaking of “bite me,” Jude got himself banned by taking umbrage at my giving that send-off to a veteran commenter here who, in my opinion and that’s what matters, charged over several red lines to accuse me of hypocrisy. I had mentioned that as the one who labors about three hours a day to make this blog interesting, stimulating, current and useful, I reserved the privilege of being a jerk now and then when a commenter annoys me sufficiently. (This is right in the comment rules.) Jude insisted that I did not have that privilege, precipitating his exit. The analogy, of course, is my home. I treat guests with respect and kindness, until they abuse my hospitality, other guests, or me. They do not have leave to do that, but I do have leave to react however I choose within the law. In extreme situations, that reaction may be excessive, as in that of a jerk. It’s still my house.

4 Finally, regarding serial rogue banned commenter “A Friend,” I am through being nice. It wastes my time having to delete his posts, and if anyone has invited my jerk privileges to be unleashed, it’s him. I just posted another bit of smoking gun evidence showing how biased his favorite paper, The Gray Lady is, so I will expect an insulting rebuttal any minute. What to do? In the Thirties, the great humorist Robert Benchley served as a drama critic for The New Yorker. He hated the long-running show “Abie’s Irish Rose,” and yet had to write a thumbnail summary of the show for every issue while the comedy ran for years. Eventually, he refused to acknowledge the show at all, and in the space reserved for his latest summary, started copying in random sections from novels, poems, and other non-sequiturs. I’m open to suggestions regarding what to use to substitute for “A Friend’s” carefully composed pedantry after I delete his content and substitute mine. Proust? Henry Miller? Excerpts from the speeches of Grover Cleveland?