Category Archives: Audio Books
A Review of Dinesh D’Souza’s Audio Book 2000 MULES
I use the library site, Hoopla, a great deal and was excited to learn that Dinesh D’Souza’s audio book, 2000 Mules was available for loan. Although I had followed the data presented in the trailer for the film 2000 Mules with great interest and thus knew the basis for the claims that were made in the film, I found the much greater level of detail in the audio book provided a wealth of new information.
In the audio book D’Souza provides the context for what happened in the 2020 election by reviewing the some 400 court cases launched prior to the election to weaken mail-in ballot laws across the US, weaken signature and ID laws, and broaden the number of mail-in ballots that were mailed out without voter request.
Then authentication of mail-in ballots was weakened further on the eve of the election and during the ballot counting when Secretaries of State set aside or refused to enforce existing laws to “speed-up” tabulation. All of this set the stage for “mules” that is to say “collectors and depositors of ballots into drop boxes.”
D’Souza makes a compelling case linking the geo-tracking data legally purchased by True The Vote in key swing states with very narrow margins of victory, to anonymous phone IDs which could be tracked to same drop box locations ten times or more. This data also linked visits to election NGOs prior to dropping off the ballots. Although, True the Vote could only obtain a fraction of the drop box video that should have been available, they were still able to use video to identify the “mule” dropping off multiple ballots and link them to the geo-tracking data.
In summary this is compelling audio book and I recommend that anyone who wants to consider this information, regardless of your views on the 2020 election, take the six hours to listen to this evidence.
Link to True the Vote: https://www.truethevote.org/about/
A Personal Note
As a Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy author, in some senses “I don’t have a horse in this US election race.” From that perspective I’m merely reviewing another interesting book. However, as America’s northern neighbor, Canada has a vested interest in what happens in the US. Furthermore, Canadians have their own serious concerns about our electoral system. Although I have no reason, at this point, to believe we suffer from widespread cheating, I could easily see our leading party, who seems to believe they are the natural ruling party because of their longstanding electoral success, taking steps to “fortify the Canadian vote.” I hope it never happens, but it is a concern to me.
Having said that, there is one point over which I disagree with Mr. D’Souza. As he reviewed the many critiques of the 2020 election put forth by others, D’Souza put great emphasis on finding evidence sufficiently strong to overcome the presumed innocence-imposed high conviction standard of “reasonable doubt” (a most worthy principle of democratic jurisprudence).
To me this analysis by Mr. D’Souza misses the point. From Plutarch comes the saying: “Uxorem Caesaris tam suspicione quam crimine carere oportet” (Caesar’s wife should be free from suspicion, as well as from accusation). I think the same must be said of elections in Canada and the United States. They must not only be free of compelling evidence that demands a conviction, but they must also be free of suspicion. If conduct by election officials and overseeing agencies is of such a character that the public loses confidence in the integrity of the election process, and begins to believe cheating and cover-ups are going on, then the damage has already been done. That destruction of confidence, it seems to me, happens long before one crosses the threshold of “beyond reasonable doubt.”
On Reading Ann Cleeves’ THE CROW TRAP while listening to Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN
I had the interesting experience of reading Anne Cleeves’ The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope series book #1) while listening to the audio book version of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
Alcott and Cleeves are both superb writers, but what struck me was the contrast between the hope and optimism of the one set against the dysfunction and hopelessness of the other. Curiously, the circumstances ought to have brought out the reverse.
Four girls, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, along with their mother, are trying to survive in Concord, Massachusetts with their father away in the Civil War and having to make due with very little money. They live in an era before antibiotics or vaccinations when almost any infection could kill you and are in the midst of the deadliest war America has ever faced. Furthermore, it is long before the welfare state and the only help the very poor received, sprang from the generosity of others. Yet the March daughters had a strong faith, a profound sense of obligation toward others in need even if they weren’t family, a bright optimism for the future, and relationships with each other and their mother and father that made them want to spend time with each other.
Jump from 1862 to the late twentieth century and we have five women in England in the North Pennines. In contrast to the Alcott girls they live in a time of modern medicine, the welfare state, and a time of relative political peace where starving to death or dying from an infection is an almost unheard of event. Yet, one of the women has already committed suicide (Bella Furness), the three educated women conducting an environmental survey, are quite different, but each is beset with her own troubles that so consume her, that there is little evidence that she can care about anyone except herself.
Finally there is Vera Stanhope, a brilliant detective who seems obsessed with her own homeliness, loneliness and the poor relationship she had with her deceased father, Hector. She seems to take out her frustrations on her assistant (Joe Ashworth) who has a happy family life, or would have if Vera didn’t take such delight in calling him out at all hours of the day or night to help with some aspect of their investigation. She’s clever enough to know exactly how far she can push Joe before he quits, or Joe’s beleaguered wife insists he change jobs.
It may be true that Ann Cleeves is an accurate reporter on our times, but it still tells me how far we have fallen from the hope, optimism, and selflessness of our past, and how extensively hopelessness and relational dysfunction seems to color our world. Cleeves writes well, but it’s hard for me to spend extended time is such a world colored a dismal grey. I enjoy it in small doses and then read something more hopeful before I dive in again.
A Review of Robert Jordan’s THE EYE OF THE WORLD, Book #1 of THE WHEEL OF TIME Series
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
After Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time is my favorite fantasy series. In The Eye of the World I particularly appreciate the wholesomeness and goodness of The Two Rivers society. The principal characters are unique, yet show a strength when faced with great adversity. They are clearly on the side of what is good and oppose evil. It’s a world in which I want to spend my time.
The plot is fast-moving and the characters grow as they face adversity. This story keeps bringing me back to read it again and again. I see something new each time I read it.
Bad News – The Audio Version of THE HALCYON DISLOCATION Won’t be Coming Out Anytime Soon
I received some bad news yesterday. I learned from my publisher that the vendor that was producing the audio version of The Halcyon Dislocation has declared bankruptcy (I don’t even know the vendor’s name). This is particularly unfortunate since the editing of the audio edition was 98% complete (as I understand it, even after the audio editing is complete, there was still a good deal of post editing processing to do before it would be ready for download and sale). The only significant piece missing was an audio list of the dormitories at Halcyon University that were all named after famous philosophers. Unfortunately many of the unusual names were mispronounced in the last audio mp3 and needed to be corrected.
In all of this, I must say my partnership publisher Word Alive Press has acted with grace and integrity. I appreciate this very much, since this was their loss as much as it was mine (perhaps more so). Going through this painful experience has underlined for me why I remain a loyal partner of Word Alive Press.
I’m going to go through my various bios and descriptions to look for places where I had promised that the audio version of The Halcyon Dislocation will be coming out soon so that I can delete those expressions of hope and avoid raising unrealistic expectations. I will do my best to be thorough, but if I miss one or two, I hope my readers will be understanding.
Peter Kazmaier - Author 