This is the millionth time I’ve seen a headline of this type over the past years, and it is only the beginning of a brand-new campaign season. Get ready to go numb seeing it again, as in every two years.

Fill in the blanks:

[Musician]_________________ tells GOP candidate To Quit Using [Musician]_____________ ‘s Music

How awfully brave and politically edgy! Never been done before! That’s a line that you’re the first to cross, musician!

Most times, it’s from an artist who has sold the rights to play the song to a conglomerate; rights that the politician has then purchased. How the musician feels about that just don’t enter into it. But you will see more of these headlines. Like clockwork.

If I were a Republican candidate, I’d take a closer look at who’s selecting my pre-speech music. Because the media just dotes on generating these headlines.

Got It

What Seems Suspicious Is That It Was Not Until Twenty Days Later (Aug. 28, 2023) That the Electric Company Finally Released This Claim.

After All the Finger-Pointing, Threats of Lawsuits and Legislative and Legal Action, and Conspiracy Theories, Had Already Been Arrayed Against Them.

Wouldn’t you have thought they’d announce this right away?

Hawaiian Electric Says Power Lines Were Shut Off Hours Before Wildfire
Reuters/MSN / 8/28/23

(Reuters) – Hawaiian Electric’s shares jumped more than 40% on Monday after the utility said its power lines in West Maui had been shut down for more than six hours before wildfires started in the area during the afternoon.

… [Blame starts on the electric company from all the news and all the quotes that the press can find — it’s clearly the fault of that darned company. Everyone sees it. Their share price drops. “The electric company may even face bankruptcy!” Then someone pulls this *exoneration* out of their back pocket — and those who bought shares on the downturn will now profit by at least 40% — and climbing, once the Federal Government invests heavily in infrastructure improvements because it’s so darned urgent. “We’ve seen the disaster! Think of the losses! We must invest to fix it!” Billions, or trillions, are poured into the company by the federal government. The stock soars. Can’t be the first time this has happened. — Oppo]

Hawaiian Electric said on Monday that a morning fire on Aug. 8 caused by power lines that fell in high winds was subsequently reported “100% contained” and later declared “extinguished” by the Maui County Fire Department.

The utility said another afternoon fire started in the same area more than six hours after all of its power lines in West Maui had been de-energized, which could not be contained by the fire department and spread out of control toward Lahaina.

Three web comments I liked:

“Someone needs to check the clocks in homes that never got burned to see if they reflected a power outage.”

(i.e., six hours before the fires.)

“So the cops had to block the exit roads because of downed live power lines, and the power company said the lines had already been shut off?”

“They’re in a bit of a quandary … if they blame the fire on the electric company, it’s a man-caused fire and not a natural disaster.

“If it’s not a natural disaster, they can’t subvert the native Hawaiian sacred land laws (Lahaina is designated sacred ground), the historic district laws and rezoning laws. At least that is what I understand about the executive order that was written in July, which apparently stated that after a natural disaster, all those zoning laws were null and void.

“Interesting timing though.”

I’m Not Saying Who

Biden Tells DC School Kids on First Day It’s Hard To Return After ‘Not Doing Any Work’
NY Post | 08/28/2023 | NY Post

WASHINGTON — President Biden told middle school students on their first day of classes Monday that he understands it’s hard to return after “not doing any work” — after he received Republican criticism for spending most of the past month on vacation.

“I tell you what, the hardest thing, I think, is when you come back — what’s the matter, baby? You look at me like, ‘I don’t want to be in this math class’?” Biden told students at Eliot-Hine Middle School on Capitol Hill, breaking off to call out one young scholar. . . .

. . . whom he called “baby.” Kind of soft-peddled by the press, if you ask me.

Foreign National Sentenced to Over 21 Years for Mailing Ricin to President of the United States in 2020
justice.gov | August 17, 2023 | DOJ Office of Public Affairs

“Much as it pains the DOJ to have to report this, . . . “

Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 55, a dual citizen of Canada and France, was sentenced today to 262 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for sending threatening letters, containing homemade ricin (a toxin), in September 2020, to then-President Donald J. Trump at the White House, and to eight Texas State law enforcement officials.

“Stop hitting yourself!”

The “Pretty Please?” Approach:

“The Pretty Please” Approach:

The “I Am Leaning Forward Into This Internship” Approach

What . . . I’m not sure what this approach is called, but they have found that it usually works.

“I’m In!”

Oh, and an extensive curriculum vitae, work study history, list of goals, and essay.