Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Billy and Nancy

“It was Stagger Lee and Billy
Two men who gambled late
Stagger Lee threw seven
Billy swore that he threw eight
Stagger Lee told Billy
I can’t let you go with that. You have won all my money and my brand new
Stetson hat.”
“Stagger Lee“, also known as “Stagolee” and other variants, is a popular American folk song about the murder of Billy Lyons by “Stag” Lee Shelton in St. Louis, Missouri at Christmas, 1895. The song was first published in 1911, and was first recorded in 1923 by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians. This was based on the traditional blues/folk song, “Ballad of Stack-o-Lee.” According to Wikipedia, there have been over 170 recorded versions, including four by Taj Mahal and eight by Mississippi John Hurt, released over the past century. A version by Lloyd Price, recorded at the request of Dick Clark, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. This was the first rock ‘n’ roll record to hit #1 despite being censored.
Who was telling the truth? What number did Stagger Lee actually throw? Obviously, one of the two was lying, as the number thrown was either one or the other. In this particular situation it was not a matter of interpretation or opinion . . . it was either a seven or an eight. It did not appear that there was a witness who could verify what number was actually thrown. Basically Stagger Lee said that Billy was lying – not exaggerating, not merely mistaken, but lying!

Sometimes someone can be exaggerating, “The fish I caught was at least a foot long,” but when actually measured, it was only eight inches long. Is anyone going to say, “He lied!”? I would say that most everyone would agree that exaggeration is much different than lying. Likewise if I say, “That statue is a thing of beauty,” but Joe Blow disagrees and thinks the statue is ugly. We have a difference of opinion. He would not be justified in calling me a liar, as we merely have a difference of opinion. If I comment on the green flash that I saw last night as the sun was setting, someone should not call me a liar because he/she did not see the green flash for whatever reason. 

Now to the present day where the Democrats are in panic mode and sinking faster than a murder victim with rocks in his pockets. They are beside themselves over the recent conclusions of the Mueller report. In reality they have nothing so they are resorting to their typical fall-backs . . . name calling and innuendo!

From the Wall Street Journal: On 5/2/19 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat said of Attorney General William Barr, “He lied to Congress.” Now Ms. Pelosi did not say, “Mr. Barr and I have a difference of opinion,” concerning what he meant when he said ‘such and such’.” She did not say, “I believe that Mr. Barr did not speak the complete truth when he said ‘such and such’.” There should be no confusion here about what she said. She called him a liar. 

Apparently Ms. Pelosi does not appreciate the gravity of calling someone a liar! Even for Ms. Pelosi, being in Congress, and thus at one of the lower margins of respectability in our society, calling someone a liar today is a big deal, although not nearly as big a deal as it was in 1895. Luckily for Rep. Pelosi this is not 1895 as:

“Stagger Lee shot Billy. Oh, he shot that poor boy so bad. ’Till the bullet came through Billy and it broke the bar-
Tender’s glass”

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