Bullseye!

Misfire

I almost feel sorry for the soul-less automaton going by the name "Hillary Clinton" these days. Despite repeated efforts by her staff to "humanize" her, make her seem "fun" and "spontaneous," etc., she's the same sour, narcissistic, imperious, self-absorbed patrician she's been her whole adult life.

"What? You were expecting someone else?"

As columnist Jonah Goldberg noted recently, "There is no other Hillary. This is her."

I have no doubt that she considers the whole process of running for president to be beneath her station, and simply can't understand why we don't just give her the job by acclamation. She hates meeting the public (mostly because it exposes her more robotic tendencies), avoids the press like the plague, and only comments on matters of public interest when her staff thinks it is perfectly safe for her to do so. She apparently believes if she keeps a low enough profile between now and November 2016 we will elect her simply because we desperately want a president with a uterus. Or something.

Anyway, I blame her staff of sycophants and handlers for the embarrassingly ill-informed series of proposals she has put up on her campaign website in the wake of the Oregon college campus shooting. (It is ironic beyond mere words that this farrago
of falsehoods is posted in the "fact sheet" section of her website.)

Do I exaggerate? In one section, Clinton talks about "closing" the non-existent "gun show" and "internet" loopholes: "This would ensure that high-volume gun sellers are covered by the same common sense rules that apply to gun stores--including requiring background checks on gun sales."

Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? There's a slight problem, though...

"...because that's already the law, you black-eyed skank!"

You know I love it when you channel Dean Winchester...

This sort of thing happens because Clinton herself has no idea what the gun laws we already have are, and can't be bothered to find out. Her staff believes the dominant narrative of the progressive left (i.e., guns are easier to get than cheeseburgers), because none of them has ever tried to purchase a gun. Therefore, when she tells them "We need to say something to capitalize on that school shooting in Oregon," this is the sort of nonsense that is only to be expected.

And, of course, on those rare occasions when she takes questions from reporters, no one will question her about her factual errors, because the press believes the dominant narrative of the progressive left, too...

Woot!

Joe in Sioux City, Iowa in 2014

The big news for me yesterday was the announcement of my hero Joe Bonamassa's Spring 2016 U.S. Tour dates.

That information usually comes out in September, so to say that some of us were getting a little twitchy in anticipation is an understatement. I vividly recall my abject disappointment when the 2015 dates were announced and there was nothing anywhere close to me.

So, did I find something to celebrate on the Spring 2016 list?





Indeed I did. As Peyton Manning would put it...

"Oma-HAW!"

Specifically, May 4, 2016 in Kiewit Hall at the Omaha Performing Arts Center. The show will start at 8:00 PM sharp (Joe's shows always begin promptly).

On Joe's U.S. spring tour in 2014, I was able to see him perform in Omaha, Sioux City, and Des Moines within the space of a week. If I want to do another trifecta this time around, I'll have to travel to Sioux Falls, South Dakota (May 5, three-hour drive from Council Bluffs) and Davenport, Iowa (May 10, five-hour drive from Council Bluffs). Seems unlikely, but spring is a long winter away, and who knows what might develop by then?

By the time the Omaha show rolls around, it will have been two years since the last time I saw him live, so I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Do you think you'll get to meet him again, like last time?"

Maybe. We'll see...

Why I Don't Worry About a Robot Takeover

From the marvelous comic strip Dilbert, by Scott Adams, which you should read every day, as I do.

Until Next Time...

This week's Music Recommendation is the latest release from Blue Heron, an amazing choral group dedicated to preserving and authentically performing vocal music from the Renaissance. One of the pieces on this album is a Mass ("Missa" in Latin), "Spes nostra" ("Our hope"). It is one of only three surviving compositions by Robert Jones, a composer and singer who was at court at the outset of the Tudor dynasty. To listen to this music is to be transported to early 16th century England. Blue Heron takes great pains to perform the music just as it would have sounded for Henry VIII, who undoubtedly heard this Mass at least once. It is an amazing effort, and their entire series of recordings is worth your attention if you are at all attracted to choral music.

Today's send-off is the group's performance of Jones's Credo, always the longest piece in a choral mass. Enjoy...