Friday Musical Interlude - Amrik

Cartas de Amor, by Amrik.   Some lovely Spanish guitar.

Friday Musical Interlude - Christmas Songs

All month the Friday Musical Interlude Feature will focus on Christmas songs.

Thursday Hillary Bash - Of concussions, Benghazi and a slap

Two recent articles in National Review bring up some of the recent releases of  Hillary's (unsecured) emails.  In one, there's clearly a concern that her concussion caused her some subsequent bouts of confusion.

New Hillary Clinton e-mails released by the State Department on Monday show that the secretary of state was often confused about and unfamiliar with State Department activity in the wake of a serious concussion, relying on her staff to explain department policy and even help her remember her own actions.

Clinton suffered a severe fall in early December 2012, which gave her a concussion and put her in the hospital for several weeks, postponing her planned congressional testimony on her response to the Benghazi attacks. She returned to work on January 7, 2013, when State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she was “fully recovered.” But an e-mail released by Judicial Watch earlier this week showed top aide Huma Abedin admitting on January 26 that Clinton was “often confused.”

Yet another, shows her staff was worried about how she and the White House positioned Benghazi;

The latest trove of Hillary Clinton e-mails released by the State Department show concern among her staff over how she and the White House characterized the September 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, with a top aide coaching the secretary of state on how to explain earlier statements that the attack was caused by a YouTube video.

Just two more reasons to heed this advice.

Against Trump as the GOP nominee? Chillax.

The latest challenger rising to challenge Donald Trump for the GOP presidential candidate polling lead appears to be Marco Rubio.  Remember last month when it was Ben Carson? Good times, good times. Or how about Carley Fiorina had her surge?  But if you are worried about Trump carrying the day, or rather election cycle, I have some words of wisdom for you. Well, one word:

Chillax.

If you're too old to know it, that's an amalgam of Chill (out) and Relax. It became almost popular during the 2000's.

Here's the reason I say that.  There has not been a single primary or caucus yet.  After they begin to occur, candidates with poor performance will drop out of the race and the field will quickly narrow from about 15 down to about 5.  Then 3, and then 2.  As that occurs support will coalesce around the remaining candidates and you'll see some real surges occur and probably stick.

That does not mean Trump can't win.  But it does mean that if you are in the anyone-but-Trump camp, there's no reason to panic - you've got a real shot at this.

Just please, don't throw your support behind Jeb Bush.  He might have made the best Bush president, but that's not a very high bar.

CO2 emissions reduction should be a non-starter. So says NASA.

World leaders are in Paris to discuss climate change, and global warming.  They're hell-bent on doing something about Carbon Dioxide emissions, because that's  what they believe (or would have you believe) is going to save the taxes.

Not so fast, says...NASA?Really?

(NaturalNews) As advanced as modern science professes to be, it has taken a new study to reiterate what practically every child learns in kindergarten -- that plant life uptakes carbon dioxide as food, releasing oxygen for animals and humans to breathe. And this process, known simply as photosynthesis, helps balance atmospheric ratios of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and other gases in order to maintain a livable planet.

In terms of climate change, this means that trees and other plant life thrive from the carbon released into the atmosphere, and that man-made "global warming" may not be as big of a threat as is often claimed. Rather than portend to undo life on this planet, atmospheric carbon is actually helping to restore areas of dense flora such as tropical rainforests, which absorb some 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the Daily Mail.

This conference should just push pause for now. As Al Gore would say, the debate is over. "Science" has spoken.

Dr. David Schimel from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory found in a recent study that, contrary to popular ignorance, carbon dioxide isn't necessarily destroying the planet as we've all been told. Any carbon surpluses resulting from natural warming or cooling cycles are actually helping improve biodiversity in many of the world's most remote ecosystems, including in the great rainforests of South America.

Food for thought. 

C'est What?

In Paris, a mere three weeks after a terror attack in that city, president Obama says mass shootings just don't happen outside of the United States.  That level of out-of-touchness should immediately call into question every other statement this president has made. Ever.

That's not to say he's been wrong on everything, I'll let you come to that conclusion on your own.  But the mainstream media should simply be agog with incredulity at his lack of nuance, his lack of awareness and his simple inaccuracy on this and be saying to themselves "Hey, wait a minute..."

Alas, not going to happen.