Unexpected Outcomes

Sore Losers

One of our nation's more tiresome post-election rituals is the tsunami of "explanatory journalism" we're subjected to whenever progressives don't win at the ballot box.




The most obnoxious of the pieces published in the wake of last week's presidential election is a story that appeared yesterday on BuzzFeed which puts forth the theory that black-eyed skank Hillary Clinton lost to asshat Donald Trump because more people were reading "fake" news online than "real" news.

Progressives have fallen for this malarkey hook, line, and sinker. Mainstream news outlets like CBS and The Washington Post are working hard to make sure it becomes Conventional Wisdom. Never mind that the original article is nonsense (that it is being called a "study" is VERY revealing of how badly progressives want it to be true),
the drumbeat about "fake news" (and the obviously addled voters who are falling for it) isn't likely to end any time soon.

After all, Hillary couldn't possibly have lost because she promised to put coal miners 
out of work, regulate political speech, and abolish the individual right to own a firearm.
It can't be because she was a historically awful candidate whom the public intensely disliked.  No, there must be some other explanation...

"You're thinking about throwing in that Mencken quote, aren't you?"

Not that one, this one...

Lesson Learned

The decisive fumble recovery

On November 17, 1968 one of the most famous games in the history of the American Football League (and professional football generally) was played.

It wasn't a Super Bowl, or even
a playoff game. It was a regular-season contest between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders.



Because the game was being played on the west coast, the fact that it was running longer than usual created a problem for the NBC network, which was broadcasting it.

As a result of some communication snafus, viewers in the eastern time zone (including Jets fans) didn't see the closing moments of the game because the network switched to its own made-for-TV movie Heidi. At the time the network switched away, the Jets were leading the game 32-29 with just over a minute left to play. The Raiders scored two touchdowns in that final minute to win the game 46-32, and east coast viewers freaked out when the network put up the final score along the bottom of the screen during the movie broadcast.

The so-called "Heidi Game" resulted in a number of changes in the way television networks broadcast professional football games. The most significant change was that
all games must now be shown to their conclusion in the TV market of the visiting team.

Although the Jets lost that game to the Raiders, they went on to beat them in the
AFL Championship Game later that season, and went on to defeat the Baltimore Colts
in Super Bowl III.

"Say, didn't the Raiders beat the Chiefs in a playoff game that season, too?"

Shut your pipe...

Democracy Bomb

From the pen of Henry Payne, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

Very few of the bands I enjoyed in high school and college lasted very long. A handful
of acts like The Rolling Stones and The Who managed to stay together for decades, but for the most part the late '60s and early '70s were all about finding groups I liked only to watch them dissolve after a few years. Cream (three years), The Mamas & The Papas (three years), Free (four years), Creedence Clearwater Revival (five years), and even
The Beatles (who broke up just six years after their first visit to the U.S.) were all huge favorites of mine who abruptly went away. Their members typically went on to other projects, including solo careers, but that didn't make my disappointment any less acute.

Faces, a group formed by former members of Small Faces and The Jeff Beck Group, were doomed from the outset by lead singer Rod Stewart's solo ambitions, but during their brief time together they made some of my favorite blues-rock music from that time period. Their most memorable project was a recording I listened to obsessively as my first semester of college was winding down. 

On November 17, 1971 the band released A Nod Is As Good As a Wink...To a Blind Horse, their third studio album and by far their most successful. It peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and produced the group's first Billboard charting single.

That single, "Stay With Me," was not only their first chart hit, it became the band's signature song, and remains a staple on "classic rock" radio stations to this day. Stewart (who co-wrote the song with guitarist Ronnie Wood) has been known to perform it during
his solo concerts as well.

Today's send-off is the 2015 remastered version of the group's biggest hit, from their YouTube channel. Enjoy...