Poor SP. She comes back from her trip and finds that the furniture is broken, the dog has been shaved and painted with spots (“We thought she’d make a cute Dalmatian. OK, we were wrong, it happens.”), the 55 gallon drum of personal lubricant is empty, and the car has a shopping cart and a bum embedded in the front grille. Not that any of this was unexpected. After all, I hang out with Swiss and he’s a notoriously bad influence.

Almost the end of September. And what an auspicious date! It is the birthday of Suzzy Roche (who we met a few years ago after a great show and who patiently posed for selfies with me), Stephanie Miller (possibly the dumbest human being ever allowed to have a radio show), and Les Claypool (poster boy for major weed consumption, amazing bass playing, and all around fun).

On to the news.

Really, there’s nothing more to be said about the Brett Kavanaugh debacle. One fun little twist is that his alkie buddy is now thrown into the mix.

Asked if Judge is also willing to cooperate with law enforcement officials to investigate Ford’s allegations, in addition to those made by Swetnick, [Judge’s lawyer] Van Gelder said he was. “Mr. Judge did not intend his comment to be limited in scope. If the FBI or any law enforcement agency requests Mr. Judge’s cooperation, he will answer any and all questions posed to him,” Van Gelder said in an email.

“Mr. Judge, are you familiar with the term ‘DP’? Which of you took the caboose?”

Of course, actual good news is buried.

The House on Friday voted to permanently extend the individual rate cuts in the GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax-cut law as part of Republicans’ “Tax reform 2.0” effort, saying the cuts are needed to keep the economy humming in the future.

“By making the new code permanent for our families and small businesses, the [bill] will keep America’s economy booming and middle-class families growing again,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, the House’s top tax-writer.

The vote was 220-191, mostly along party lines, with only a few Democrats backing the bill and about 10 Republicans voting against it.

It’s just another giveaway to the millionaires and billionaires, amirite?

Sometimes, it just ain’t your day.

Police told St. Louis Post-Dispatch that 20-year-old Charles Wood Jr. pulled up to the drive thru at an angle around 10pm. They say he needed to open his car door and lean out to grab his order. That’s when the car accelerated backward and pinned him against a tree. Wood suffered severe injuries to his head, neck, torso and legs and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

I always said that fast food will kill you. This vindicates me.

I can never resist global warming panic stories. Here’s one with a startling headline.

Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, the planet will warm a disastrous seven degrees by the end of this century.
A rise of seven degrees Fahrenheit, or about four degrees Celsius, compared with preindustrial levels would be catastrophic, according to scientists. Many coral reefs would dissolve in increasingly acidic oceans. Parts of Manhattan and Miami would be underwater without costly coastal defenses. Extreme heat waves would routinely smother large parts of the globe.
But the administration did not offer this dire forecast, premised on the idea that the world will fail to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, as part of an argument to combat climate change. Just the opposite: The analysis assumes the planet’s fate is already sealed.

Wow! Unfortunately, the lede is, as usual, buried.

The draft statement, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), was written to justify President Trump’s decision to freeze federal fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks built after 2020. While the proposal would increase greenhouse gas emissions, the impact statement says, that policy would add just a very small drop to a very big, hot bucket.

OK, so: climate ‘experts’ at NHTSA. Draft statement. Career bureaucrats looking for more funding. But that’s the same thing as “The Trump administration.” I think some low level highway engineer is about to get reassigned to studying sled dog tracks in Nome, Alaska. And NYT, please, please, never change. (Note: satellite temp data still show consistently a 0.13 degree per decade rise- but what would actual climatologists know?)

The Jefferson Airplane Reunion Tour has become a bit more difficult.

Marty Balin – the co-founder and vocalist-guitarist of the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane – has died aged 76, his family and publicist say. They did not specify the cause of death of the US musician.

Balin wrote some really memorable songs: Volunteers, Today, Plastic Fantastic Lover… One more bit of my youth disappears. Sigh.

Old Guy Music time. I was tempted to use some old Jefferson Airplane music, but instead got absorbed by birthday boy Les Claypool’s Pink Floyd covers. Especially this one.