I’m in a bit of a food coma, having eaten about double my weekly cheese ration last night. With plenty of wine to wash it down. So I won’t dwell much on things and get right down to business; this way, I might get another chance to sleep it off.

Today’s birthdays include the electrifying Andre-Marie Ampere; blues pioneer Huddie Ledbetter aka Lead Belly; classical composer Walter Piston; half of a comedy team and sometimes God, George Burns; Mormon nutbag (but largely right about politics) Cleon Skousen; coiner of a thousand memes, DeForest Kelley; “I’m just a country yodeler” Slim Whitman; speaker of the most famous line in movie history, Patricia Neal; badass astronaut Buzz Aldrin; weird and fun filmmaker David Lynch; and best UN ambassador ever, Nikki Haley.

To the news!


Nutpunch from my new home state. What IS it about cops in Arizona? They’re as bad as Chicago.

 

And yet more “shutdown” kabuki.

 

Perforated pipelines? Omar Fayad? I blame the caravans. And Trump.

 

Assholes. It’s assholes all the way down.

 

“I said parsley, not pussy.”

 

“Heroic Mulatto to the white courtesy phone!”

 

Wasn’t this a Fredric Brown short story?

 

Well, it worked in Shawshank Redemption

 

Obama’s wars, keeping America safe. And I don’t see Trump trying to end this shit.

 

Speaking of which, here’s a news flash: Lindsay Graham is still a murderous asshole.

 

I blame Q.

 

Well, you have extra paid vacation. What do you do? Oh yeah, this.

 


The inevitable Old Guy music, today featuring the Birthday Boy. It’s a great piece, with Piston having feet in both Classical and Modern idioms. And this college ensemble plays their asses off.