I won’t pretend that this was a normal week. But the hilarity seems to be slowly winding down, with the blowoff just 8 weeks or so away. Best take:

But just because there’s a circus doesn’t mean there aren’t birthdays. There are, including the original Captain Kangaroo; a woman with a very healthy glow; a guy who was picky right up to the end; a guy who always seemed to be a bit scattered; an exemplar of French windiness; the original televangelist, Billy Sunday without the antisemitism; a guy whom I wish modern pitchers would emulate; one of my favorite singer/songwriters who always gets negative reactions when I use her for Old Guy Music; and a child star whom we’ve seen naked.

On to news.

 

Starting with the essence of “no shit, Sherlock.”

 

The Times still loves pimping this vacuous grifter.

 

Oh noes, next there will be free speech near the polls!

 

Well, THIS is not going to last long.

 

But you’ll be seeing more of this, with US support.

 

I guess they’ve forgotten all about Pim Fortuyn.

 

Old Guy Music is what it is because it’s her birthday and I want it. What an amazingly agile voice, perfect timing, and incredibly creative chord patterns. It’s a much older Joni than when the original was done, the voice was a bit thicker, but it was all still there.