Apocalyptic Friday

• I'm waxing my longboard - I think the tide surge will be at Burleson by 4:00 p.m.
• Right after lunch, I think I'll head to Cabela's or Bass Pro to get a pontoon houseboat.
• Can you believe the left's nitwittery in the wake of the President's Paris pull-out?
• California's Governor Moonbeam vows that his state will honor the Paris accord, and that he is planning a new beachfront Governor's Cabin on Mount Whitney.  On the plus side: Southern California's water woes will be gone.
• Rather than just listening to idiot talking heads and celebrities' opinions, I decided to go to the source regarding the Paris accord:

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework. Further information on key aspects of the Agreement can be found here.

• Highlights mine.  The paragraph is the second of Essential Elements of the U.N. document describing the FOCU. Note the sidebar entry on the left titled Climate Finance. It describes the mega-bureaucracy to be created to transfer wealth from - can you guess who? - to...well, based on the current U.N. model, we can pretty safely assume that little or none of it would ever be constructively employed in mitigating any climate issues, real or imagined.
• The reason that world leaders are pissing and moaning about this action, is that the U.S. has, in one stroke, signaled that it will not strait-jacket its economy while simultaneously providing a huge piggy bank to tin-pot dictators and globalist bureaucrats.
• Fun irony: The former POTUS criticizing the action.  If the former's action had been ratified by the Congress, instead of executive fiat, the current POTUS could not have singlehandedly withdrawn it.  (IMO, even though I hold Congress in low esteem, I still think they'd have had the sense to reject this albatross, which is why the arrogant former POTUS joined by EO.)

 

Absolutely true.     

• And speaking of the Congress, the circus blogger suggests that Texas might be better served by a full-time legislature, apparently because that model seems to be working so well for the U.S.
• Every time I mow, I murder more than a dozen fledgling oak trees, formed from my ADD [hey, look, a human!] squirrels forgetting where they left their nuts.
• New Orleans recently removed several old statues because they were 'racist', honoring War-Between-the-States/Civil War figures. Now emboldened, the progenitors of such actions are now demanding that LSU remove the obviously racist tiger as its mascot.
• And the brain-eating amoebas seem to be emigrating west to Texas. Houston activists - or community organizers or whatever - are demanding removal of a statue of Sam Houston in that city. Hoss, this *stuff* is about to get real. This is Texas - you don't spit into the wind, unmask Clayton Moore, or *mess* with Sam Houston. Editor's update: The supposed protest action may have been fake news.
• Which President was governor of two different states? One of my favorite trivia questions.

  Embroidered back of a shirt I got recently for 25¢ - 'selfie-ing' over the shoulder is difficult.

•  Don't forget to Keep Austin We...irr...[bubble]...rr...[bubble]...

Once upon a time...

Olim

I'd like to find a chick - OK, a woman - who would like to go to church with me, kayaking, ride bikes leisurely (not hard-core mountain or road riding), occasionally go camping/glamping; an art fest, museum, or antique store (or Canton) from time to time, target shooting a couple of times a year.  A weekend here or there in Galveston (fishing off the pier), Caddo Lake (staying in a swampside cabin), Robber's Cave State Park, or Turner Falls.  MWSP would even make the list.



Although, I would not want her to be Liza Minnelli.

When I was thinking about this post, the voices in my head were debating between Christopher Cross and Stephen Bishop (although I never watched the movie that featured this song):



I was kind of a Bish fan back in the day, though.

Semper Iuvenis

My wish for my family:



I've long said that - with some notable exceptions - other artists coaxed the best from Dylan's compositions.  The definitive version of this song, IMNSHO, is from Baez' outstanding 1975 tour double album From Every Stage (following the release of Diamonds & Rust).  But the Youtube of it (that's on my bike riding playlist) just features some hippy-dippy still images and sub-titling.

Panem et Circenses: Die Kulturindustrie

•  Now, New and Improved, with Seven Whole Grains and the World's Smartest Trained Fleas!
• While I have the best hopes for MAGA, there's part of me wondering if we're not already to the bread and circuses phase of our nation's existence. Neither political party seems to have the citizens' interests at heart, and governance has become a farce.  Popular culture is little more than an open cess-pit.

No shame, no solution
No remorse, no retribution
Just people selling T-shirts
Just opportunity to participate in the pathetic little circus
And winning, winning, winning.¹ 

...
Ah, it's open season here my friend
It always is; it always has been
Welcome, welcome to the U.S.A.
We're partying fools in the autumn of our heyday
And though we're running out of everything
We can't afford to quit
Before this binge is over
We've got to squeeze off one more hit
We're workin' it

...

But, the barons in the balcony are laughing
And pointing to the pit
They say, "Aw look, they've grown accustomed to the smell
Now, people love that sh*t
And we're workin' it".²

• I may not be virtuous, but I try to avoid those things which I believe lack merit, and to live - as Socrates taught - an examined life.
• In other news, I am pleased that Justice Gorsuch has been confirmed, made all the more sweet by the protestations of the likes of Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein.  As many more intelligent than I have said, the SCOTUS picks are where the game's at for this administration. Sure, there are other important matters, but absent a Constitution-respecting Court, the Republic is as good as lost.
• John O'Hurley has a one-man ode to a time when society had standards.  I respect that.
• Flautist James Galway was on Carson show the other night with harp accompanist.  He is very talented, even if he didn't play Can't You See/Thick as a Brick/Sing Child, or even, I suppose, Stairway.
• Comes now news that Nivea, makers of skin care lotions and potions, is under fire from the snowflakes for alleged racism.

 Humbly recommended by introspective, cultured bloggers.

•  Although I carry the Nivea to work nearly every day, the Gold Bond Ultimate with Aloe, B, C, E and CoQ10 is probably a better restorative for my hands.
• Journey is being inducted into the Rock and Roll HOF.  According to my demographic, I should be a fan, but for some reason, other than owning a copy of Infinity (I think), and liking two or three of their songs, they never really turned my crank.  Chacun à son goût, n'est-ce pas?
• How 'bout dat?  I've now managed to use four languages in the creation of  this post.  And I've not even gotten to the Spanish yet.
• As a kid, I was probably in a Sears store 2-3 times a month, usually with Dad to get tools.  And, I think we always had a catalog in the house.  It's painful watching the once great company die a slow death.  I would love to have a reason to shop with that firm, but in the present tense, there is no compelling value proposition to do so, whether at their retail locations or online.
• I don't know if this is just Fox News whipping up stupid stories, or if the Left is really into this sort of mental onanism, but what possible talent does Chelsea Clinton bring to politics?
• Just last blog-post I mentioned Trading Places, then the next night on Carson, Eddie Murphy was a guest, with - wait for it - a clip from Trading Places.
• On the radio the other morning, Jody Dean said that his colleagues in the studio begged him to play Xanadu in connection with mentioning her appearance at Verizon that evening.  Xanadu, seriously?  His co-workers must be twits - Please Mister Please, or Have You Never Been Mellow, or even one of the Grease numbers would've better captured the essential ON-J.
• It would be the same as characterizing Neil Diamond by playing Forever In Blue Jeans, or maybe that stupid duet with Barbra Streisand.
• Wouldn't this sort of devalue the merits of a Stanford education?
• I've pretty much confirmed that the curators for MeTV choose Carson re-run episodes to coincide with current events.  For the past few days, they've run shows featuring Don Rickles. 
• I've mentioned before that as an adolescent, I was a fan of the likes of Redd Foxx, George Carlin, and Richard Pryor.  These days, I find I don't care to watch the old clips of Carlin (except in Bill & Ted) or Pryor (excepting the Wilder collaborations).  But Rickles' work seems to hold up well.
• Mystery woman absent from recent dreams, but a few nights back there was a very odd sequence in which I was attempting to secure the rights to publicly perform Words, an old Bee Gees song.  No earthly idea where that came from.  I don't think I've even heard that song in decades.
• Sometimes the juxtaposition of disparate art forms is pretty funny:

Starry, Starry Wars... 

 
¹/² The Garden of Allah, Workin' It - Henley et al

Well, which is it?

The [Satur-] Day the Music Died

•  The Grandfather of Rock-n-Roll has died, but what a legacy he left.
• As an avid, devoted reader of liner notes, I had apparently long since forgotten that (You Never Can Tell) C'est la Vie from Emmylou Harris' Luxury Liner LP was a Chuck Berry tune.

• On my day off this week, I went to Cabela's.  On leaving, I was about to open my vehicle door when I noticed a hornet under the door handle.  Being a stud macho kinda dude, I was unfazed and simply took my key and brushed it away from the door handle.  It flew away from me, and I got in the SUV without incident.
• I think even before the Presidential inauguration I wrote that we were in for a bumpy ride, and that has sort of been the case, although some of the crazy has subsided.  Still, there's the ongoing saga of the travel hiatus.  What's curious and puzzling to me is that we've seemingly arrived at the point where a relatively obscure appointed Federal district judge wields equal power to the elected Chief Executive.
• If nothing else, this administration's term should be a bonanza for political science departments and political junkies, as it explores the disruption of the status quo and possibly long-observed conventions that may or may not have been Constitutionally based.
• My personal view is that the judge's order will fail.  Having listened to some qualified legal minds, it appears that the jurist is extrapolating far beyond the scope of the EO to find a basis for stopping it.
• What's wrong with this picture?  Call me jaded, but I'm presuming an idiot millennial sourced that photo.

Yeah, my inner 12 year old chuckled...           

• There was a documentary on PBS last night about the composing duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.  Of course, their careers were intertwined with Dionne Warwick's, who came to their attention as a backup singer when the Drifter's recorded the duo's Mexican Divorce.  Having owned Nicolette Larson's eponymous debut album with that song on it (also featuring her Neil Young penned hit single Lotta Love) since it was released, I had no idea - or had once again long forgotton - that the song was Bacharach & David's.

• From the bullet points on #2 & #7, one might think I was getting old.  Nah...
• For a brief time in the mid '80s, I was a fan of   (not-quite-yet Mrs. Bacharach) Carole Bayer Sager's Sometimes Late at Night, mostly penned with her future (and now ex-) husband.  The album was kind of interesting as every song segued into the next, without a pause between songs.
• Note to self: Referencing the '80s probably not helping with the aging thing, yo.

Choking me stop you.

•   Coming home from Cabela's, I saw that one of my favorite resale shops had "All clothing $1".  I figured it'd be pretty well picked-over, but stopped in anyway.  A half hour later I left with a Tactical 5.11 heavyweight canvas shirt, a desert camo BDU shirt, an Orvis fishing shirt, Austin (Academy) short sleeve outdoorsman shirt, black mock turtleneck, and a goose down jacket - all for $6.  All the items were virtually indistinguishable from brand new.
• Even though as conservatives, we may think we're in the process of righting the ship, there's still plenty of mush-headed thinking going on out there.  Just waiting for them to subpoena Dr. Zaius.
• This past week I received perhaps the most surprising text ever, for me at least.
•  My dream woman did not favor me last night, but I had an interesting dream sequence in which I was riding in a pack of mountain bikes.  While riding is one of my regular activities, I can't recall having ridden in a group of bikers.

 Good use of old street signs...at least temporarily.

•  I’m supposed to respect my elders, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one now.