Marmota monax again and again

Six more weeks of winter - thanks Punxsutawney Phil.

How this big fat squirrel grabs the headlines every Feb. 2nd is a marvel of the information age. Cable News breaks away for live coverage of Phil being yanked from his hidey-hole at 7:20AM every year so that "he can look at his shadow." He sees it = more winter or he doesn't = less winter and now we can take you back to our regular scheduled program. The smart set ridicules all kinds of belief but this one gets wall to wall coverage every year - why? Because it's harmless?

The woodchuck is a menace - digging holes, eating gardens and messing stuff up. Ground Hog Day is the inspiration for a fine movie of the same name, so I guess there is some good that's come out of the spectacle.

H'wood Reporter list 5 things you probably didn't know about the movie
USA Today lists the 7 best scenes from the movie
Jonah Goldberg wrote the definitive review (IMHO) a decade ago - still holds up.

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The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson

She was "sexy", but "too much hard work." I'm a regular Fox & Friends viewer (mostly in protest of the other insipid morning programs like Today and Good Morning America) so over the years I've gotten to know Gretchen Carlson pretty well. Stuck between Steve and Brian she always seemed a prudish scold with an irritating, self-righteous demeanor that I simply put up with because I figured some people in the Fox audience actually liked her persona. It was obvious that Steve and Brian did not, but they were stuck with her like so many talking heads and had to make the best of it - which they did. Besides, she was no worse than any of the other women on morning show TV - I mean, you're only going to find a certain kind of person to do this kind of work and that kind of person is the Gretchen Carlson kind. Then, one day, she was gone and replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the F&F ratings began to climb, and climb and climb - in two months view

Psycho Killer, qu'est-ce?

I came into this wicked world in the early 1960's and as a result I have born witness to America's 50 Years of Failure which includes the modern age of mass shootings by psychotic men who "go off" on a given day, for no reason at all (except "guns"), and kill scads of innocent bystanders. Back in August of 2019 a KOTCB blog post titled " Reciprocity City " explored a young gunman named Patrick Crusius who drove 9 hours through the west Texas flatlands to shoot up El Paso, TX The KOTCB has commented on many of these shootings, bombings and knifings over the years - The roots of the Boston Marathon Bombing , the Emanuel AME Church shooting , Syed Rizvan Farook and his bride Tashfeen Malik , Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooting , Nick Cruz lovesick Parkland shooting , the Iranian, PETA activist, Vegan Bodybuilder, YouTuber's attack on Google and now this very oddly timed and placed "lone wolf" attack on Walmart shoppers. This list

A Apolitical Blues

Well my telephone was ringing, and they told me it was chairman Mao. You got to tell him anything 'cause I just don't want to talk to him now. According to the brilliant troubadour Lowell George the Apolitical Blues are " the meanest blues of all" and who am I to disagree with this soul man now after all these years of living by his maxim. I first heard the song bursting from the 1972 vinyl of Little Feat's Alt-Rock-Country masterpiece "Sailin' Shoes" in the second story bedroom of my friend John's older brother Edie who, being about 3 years our senior, was instructing us on the importance of good music. This was circa 1975 and a formative time for my musical taste and overall aesthetic which, for better or worse, infuses every aspect of my existence including the KOTCB blog so a debt is owed this unforgettable "older brother" now that he has shuffled off this mortal coil and left us with smoky memories. A born rebel with the heart o

Keeper of the Clown Bell

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