Greetings! Don’t read before bedtime:  Flame-throwing ultra-right-wing Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter has a new novel coming out July 17.  American Apocalypse: The Second Civil War offers a fictional look at America after the president is assassinated and left-wingers take control of the government.  The promo copy on Amazon says the novel “unsparingly describes the hell awaiting at the bottom of America’s slippery slope”... Speaking of books, NY Times columnist David Brooks has a particularly perceptive column about When Novels Mattered.  His central thesis, and I completely agree with him, is that “literature plays a much smaller role in our national life.”  In case you’re wondering, I read about 25 books a year on my Kindle and about 10 are novels.  Haven’t read on paper in more than 15 years....New Podcast Alert: Oliver Darcy and Jon Passantino, the brains (and voices) behind the excellent Status newsletter, launched their new weekly podcast today. It’s called “Power Lines.” You can listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or watch here on YouTube.  They are among the best media reporters and wordsmiths working today...Weekend Watch: I’ve just finished the first part of the Netflix four-hour documentary Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers and I’m hooked.  This week marks the 20^th anniversary of the 2005 terrorist incident in London that claimed 52 lives and injured hundreds others.  The fast pace and relentless tension often makes the program feel  more like a Tom Cruise thriller than a sober-minded documentary.  But it reminds us that the threat of a terror attack remains a constant presence in our lives...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard