Today, Spencer Klavan celebrates the return of “Glee.”
asserted
Klavan → celebrate → Glee
Liel Leibovitz on the new documentary that goes inside the Mossad.
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that → go → Mossad
Suzy Weiss on the rumors that the rapper whose ass Trump complimented is going to be the next press secretary.
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Trump → compliment → ass
But first: Is it safe to celebrate Halloween?
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it → celebrate → Halloween
But should you let your kids hit the streets to trick or treat?
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kids → let → streets
“I never wanted to be one of those uncool, Ned Flanders-like people who doesn’t celebrate Halloween,” writes Rod Dreher in his essay today.
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Dreher → want → essay
“But I became just that.
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I → become → ?
Here’s my advice: Never become friends with working exorcists if you wish to preserve your ability to enjoy the holiday.
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you → ’ → holiday
A Catholic priest once told him that for Satanists, Halloween is “their big holiday, their Easter, so to speak.”
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Halloween → tell → Satanists
An exorcist deep in the swamps of Louisiana explained that, on this night each year, the devil-worshippers of the bayou conduct rituals that sometimes involve human sacrifice.
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that → explain → sacrifice
When he fact-checked this with an occult crimes investigator at the Baton Rouge Police Department, the sergeant told him to believe what he heard.
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he → check → what
“It’s easy to sit in the well-ordered environment of a big city, all straight lines and grids, where the lights never go out, and think these are just tales,” acknowledges Rod.
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Rod → ’ → city
We live in an age where most of us are trained to believe from birth that everything can be measured and explained; there’s no such thing as spirits.
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everything → live → spirits
And yet, he writes, “human beings need a paradigm to understand dark and light, good and evil, and the paranormal things that many see.”
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many → write → that
In post-Christian America, some are turning to the oldest churches, the Orthodox and the Catholic, to make sense of it; others are turning to something darker.
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others → turn → something
“In our neighborhood, the feast of darkness has taken on more macabre tones, skeletons, horror, tombs, and fear,” an Orthodox exorcist in Virginia told Rod.
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exorcist → take → Rod
“Increasingly, over the decades of my life, it’s no longer about giving children candy; it’s more about desensitizing and normalizing evil.
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it → ’ → evil
Rod will be staying home tonight—because he’s just met too many people who’ve had brushes with demons to believe that they’re not real.
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they → stay → demons
Rod’s worried about your kids’ souls.
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Rod → ’ → souls
But online, there’s plenty of people who are worried about their mortal flesh.
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who → ’ → flesh
For example, did you know that a baby once got salmonella from raw pumpkin?
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baby → know → pumpkin
In our second spooky season offering, Lenore Skenazy, a big advocate of free-range parenting, rolls her eyes at this obsession with the worst-case scenario.
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Skenazy → roll → scenario
“Parents magazine warns that if you’re going to talk to your kids about candy consumption on Halloween, make sure to do it the right way or they will develop an eating disorder,” she observes—adding that this publication recommends telling your kid: “There are foods that nourish our bodies that we need daily.
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we → warn → that
However, there are other foods that we eat less often for pleasure or celebrations such as Halloween candy or birthday cake.
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we → be → candy
To quote Lenore: “That sounds like a totally natural and conversational thing to say to your child.”
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That → quote → child
Halloween was once the pinnacle of freedom for kids—the night of the year when they could walk off down the street unsupervised, dressed as their favorite film character.
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they → walk → character
When we stop them from doing this, in the name of safety, they lose something important: “their ability to be part of the big, wide, witch-and-Reese’s-filled world.”
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they → stop → world
Last weekend, the president told the crowd at a rally in Michigan that the rapper Nicki Minaj has “one hell of a beautiful ass”—then asked her to stand up, so everyone could admire it.
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everyone → tell → it
The latest episode of Second Thought asks: Does this mean she’s going to be the next White House press secretary?
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she → ask → Thought
Suzy, Dan Ahdoot, and special guest Matthew Broussard break down her prospects, plus the premise of the new movie Wicker, in which a spinster marries a man made of the eponymous substance.
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spinster → break → substance
This is a sign that we’ve lost faith in modern men, says Suzy.
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Suzy → lose → men
“Women would rather marry a basket.”
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Women → marry → basket
Click below to watch the episode, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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you → click → podcasts
This week, the YouTuber Casey Neistat wrote about running the New York City Marathon, year after year after year; Kara Kennedy wrote about the mommy bloggers who say you can’t leave your toddler with another adult for the night; and Kat Rosenfield wrote about yet another case of the media empathizing with a woman who killed her toddler.
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who → write → toddler
Knock Knock, It’s Cupid!
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It → knock → ?
Knock knock, it’s Cupid!
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it → knock → ?
If you’d like to take a chance at Free Press love, write a paragraph that defines you, including your age, where you live, and what you’re looking for, and send it over to Cupid@TheFP.com.
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you → like → Cupid@TheFP.com
How should you spend the rest of your weekend?
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you → spend → weekend
We asked our editor Rick Brooks for his recommendations . . .
📺
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We → ask → recommendations
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
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It → ’ → ?
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
