Connections

Another Con Game

Group photo of financial supporters of the recount

P.T. Barnum is credited (most likely falsely) with the quip that "There's
a sucker born every minute." He might have added that many of them wind up supporting idiotic progressive temper tantrums like
Dr. Jill Stein's recount campaign.

After getting shut down in state court in Michigan, and in Federal court in Pennsylvania, Stein's only hope to save face was the recount actually undertaken in Wisconsin.



That recount, funded by several million dollars raised by Stein from gullible donors, was completed yesterday, and the final results actually increased Trump's winning margin by 131 votes. Money well spent, progressives!

And they wonder why we don't want people like them to run everything...

"Nitwits gonna nitwit, I guess."

Indeed...but while I can't deny the entertainment value, I do mourn the stupidity
of it all...our politics should be better than this...

Happy Birthday!

On December 13, 1915 Kenneth Millar was born in Los Gatos, California. Living much of his early life in Canada, he managed to overcome a troubled childhood and earned a PhD in Literature from the University of Michigan.

As many writers of the 30s and 40s did,
he began his career publishing stories in pulp magazines. His first novel was published in 1944, just before he entered the Navy.

While he published some works under his own name, he became best known for the mystery novels he wrote under the pseudonym Ross Macdonald. His fictional private eye Lew Archer became one of the most popular detectives in American crime fiction, played in films by Paul Newman.

I learned a great deal about good writing and effective storytelling from Macdonald, whose work I first encountered as a college sophomore in 1972.

"Was that the same class where you discovered Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett?"

It was...one of the best classes I ever took...

Never Go Pro Se in Grammar Court

From the indispensable comic strip Non Sequitur, by Wiley Miller, which you should read every day, as I do (even though Wiley is a squishy liberal).

Until Next Time...

During the Christmas season my mind just naturally finds connections between those joyful festivities and the rest of the world at large. This morning, for instance, I happened upon a little history snippet about how on December 13, 1577 Sir Francis Drake departed England with five ships with the intent to circumnavigate the globe. Interesting as that tidbit is, my first thought was of the popular Christmas carol "I Saw Three Ships."

One of my favorite versions of the song is the recording by the Irish band The Chieftains on their 1991 album The Bells of Dublin.

The album is a wonderful collection of traditional Irish and English Christmas music, performed with the help of great guest stars like Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello,
and the McGarrigle sisters.




What I like best about the collection is that while it includes a few familiar songs like "Wexford Carol" and "O Holy Night," it mostly consists of Christmas music I had not heard before. I always enjoy hearing new Christmas music, and this album quickly became a favorite listen this time of year.

Today's send-off is the band's sprightly rendering of "I Saw Three Ships," with a vocal assist from Marianne Faithfull. Enjoy...