We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
These are not your grandfather's Marxists'. These are not the deadly, self-sacrificing, true believers of Lenin's time. Joe Biden is not Leon Trotsky, Hillary Clinton is not Rosa Luxemburg. Time has taken its toll on their movement. It has evolved into a stinking mélange of government corruption and crony capitalism and self-interest. Their hatred of traditional America is unabated but they are old and soft and have not had a new idea in fifty years. Their entire political base is on the take and is bought and paid for with our money. Tenured, overweight, overaged, academic leftovers from the 60's and 70's. Taxpayer funded race hustlers, the professional grievance industry, and all the other assorted thugs, criminals and perverts we see on TV every night. The beer drinkers and pot smokers sitting home living on your back. The young inmates of our university system, a bunch of overeducated, overindulged, overprotected, overmedicated punks who will vanish like the morning fog at the first drop of sweat or first pang of fear. Self-aggrandizing celebrity and media air heads who equate a tight ass with intellect.
Trump is not tapping into anger. He’s tapping into the sensibility of the great majority. The people look up and see an endless parade of frivolous parasites who defend nothing but their own prerogatives at the expense of everyone else. What’s the point of voting for one party or the other when both sides are colluding against your interests? Why do we have these parties?
The GOP electorate doesn’t trust the establishment on spending. It doesn’t trust it on immigration. It doesn’t trust it on, well, much of anything. And Jeb is the face of that establishment.
The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand; Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.
“Nations, as individuals, who are completely innocent in their own esteem, are insufferable in their human contacts.” Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were sinless, cognitively innocent and morally innocent. But after the Fall, with moral innocence shattered, this other innocence turns into a mode of obtuseness. It is sin-blind and self-unaware. It will not and cannot see itself addressed when Jesus looks upon sinners and says with authority, “go and sin no more.”
The original breakfast roll-up. McDonalds makes breakfast roll-ups, but they are not very good.
I like roll-up "sandwiches" for lunch of supper Especially with apple butter, turkey, mayo, tomato, lettuce. If I were a breakfast-eater, I'd try a jianbing any time.
Frankly, it isn't. We have been conditioned from birth to believe compromise is somehow 'good'. Even as I write this, I feel bad thinking that compromise isn't a welcome path for me anymore in my political views. Is it age? No, because this is a question I asked long ago in college while studying political science. Some friends would say I never compromised, forgetting my path to Libertarianism required years of questioning, change, and compromise. Even now, I am willing to compromise. Between the anarchist wing of Liberatarianism and the minarchist wing of the Republican Party. I fail to see much value in discussing policy with Democrats. They've spent too much time saying "You have nothing to offer." Well, actually there is a tremendous amount which has been offered, you've simply refused to look at the datasets that support our views. For you, it's always been "I want what I want, or at least compromise so I get a little of what I want while you get nothing."
For years, I've been taught that 'win-win' solutions are the best. They certainly are, and I try to find them whenever possible. But in this vein, how is compromise necessarily 'win-win'? It can be, certainly, but it is not always and definitely. In my day-to-day life, 'win-win' is what I live for. It's what keeps business running. But it is no longer useful in politics.
My friends who are Democrats bemoan the Republican stance saying "How can they block Obama at every turn? Why can't they compromise?" I don't doubt their sincerity of motive, their desire for what's best. I know they want to do well and good for themselves, others, and the nation. All they hear are flowery stories of 'curing cancer' or 'feeding the poor' and decide "Hey! That's a great idea, and politicians say we can do it by taxing the rich."
Great.
But I prefer shrinking the government. So do many people in this nation. When a Democrat says "I want to grow government infinity, and you don't, so let's compromise and only grow it 10%" I immediately start to get angry. Only growing it a little less than you want still constitutes growing it, and I am opposed to growing it. Where do we compromise?
We used to. We shouldn't anymore. It's time to say no. It's time to push back and take back. Which is why I don't particularly like the methods used in Oregon, but I support them. After all, Eric Holder took part in an armed takeover while at Columbia. How was his 'good' and theirs 'bad'?
The only compromise from here on in, as far as I'm concerned, is to agree to grow a Democratic program while cutting a larger one somewhere else - or not agree to growth at all. It's time for these people to choose what's important, and not throw shit on a wall to see what sticks. Nearly every article in the mainstream is heralding the idea that Joe Biden is going to cure cancer. This is, without question, one of the most laughably stupid concepts I've heard from anyone, anywhere, anytime. 'Cancer' isn't one single disease that a silver bullet cure can be created for, and chasing all the cures needed is absurdly expensive and outlandish regardless of what the mainstream journalists say.
Let's allow "Diamond" Joe Biden a return to pushing his copper business and let's start shrinking government by saying "No" to compromise that always has growth of government at its core.
Spending a few days at meetings in midtown Manhattan. Readers know that this ol' country boy does love NYC for a regular dose of the Big Time.
Details: Park Ave. Note the line for Grizzly's food truck on the left. Smells great. Flags are St. Barnabas. Next, on left, Waldorf-Astoria (now owned by the Chinese). Other buildings are mostly banks. All day and all night, streets filled with people bundled against the cold, cars zooming, limos waiting. Vitality. Attractive, put-together people. Great fun just to amble around and check things out.
Myron Magnet summarizes the history of the decay of the US Constitution. Even the founders thought that might be inevitable, given their wisdom about human nature, but they did their best to provide roadblocks. Securing the blessings of liberty (from government, of course) and securing defense from exterior powers...
There is always the excuse of a reason: Security, or To Do Good.
... we had better understand just what happened. There’s no single villain. As these books show, all branches of government conspired over more than a century to turn the Constitution that the Framers wrote in 1787, plus the Bill of Rights that James Madison shepherded through the first Congress in 1789 and the Fourteenth Amendment ratified in 1868, into something their authors would neither recognize nor endorse.
nb: I am no expert; just an 11-month beginner, sharing what I am discovering. I have been fairly athletic most of my life, but never especially strong. A runner's body.
We've said that physical fitness consists of 1. muscle strength, 2. cardio fitness, 3. physical power (strength X speed), and 4. muscle+cardio (ie calisthenic endurance) - plus minimal flab and sag.
We've asserted that beach muscles are not necessary at all for fitness, but that strength-building and maintenance are required for best efforts in all of the above to prevent physical deterioration and to maintain vigorous functionality after 40.
Strength is just one, but the key, component of fitness (unless you need diet too). Regarding the strength component, for efficient strength-building and maintenance, traditional Compound (multi-joint) exercises are best (their recommended program is ridiculous, tho, I think, because it is all strength). For many of us, it may take months of Isolation muscle work to be able to make the most of Compound efforts. For example, lots of men and women can't do enough pull-ups to make it useful at all and so have to work up to it. (Compound vs. Isolation strength exercises)
The King of Compound exercise is the essential Deadlift, aka picking up heavy things off the floor and then putting them down. I don't think any other exercise stresses as many muscle groups at once. Thus the efficiency. Some say the King is the Barbell Squat, but I disagree. Doesn't matter much.
Cosmetically, Deads are also the best thing for your posture. Mentally, Deads (and Barbell Squats) can be the greatest tests of will-power, of mind over matter. Proper technique is absolutely necessary for effect and to prevent injury. Man, these things are heavy - dead lifts = dead weight - and as soon as you can do 5 reps, they raise you 10 lbs.
They include "unwanted advances" as harassment. How is a fellow to know if it's unwanted, in advance? In workplaces with young women, romance is always in the air.
A TV station asked a guy in the Powerball line in a bodega in New York what he would do with the money if he won. He said he'd spend it on hookers and cocaine. Wonderful reply, but probably lying for the most part.
Do people focus too much about what they want, or too little? Well, everybody is different. I routinely disparage general discussions about "happiness." I never disparage people having personal life goals or direction, as long as they can be flexible in the face of harsh realities. But there is no generic definition of any universal details of happiness, and a large category of people is only happy when unhappy, upset, stressed, or in chaos because such things sort-of organize their thinking and thus help them feel "better".
I watch less TV than the average American, but more than a little. M*A*S*H reruns (it's on when I get home from work and it's still great television), sports, and movies. I was a regular viewer of The Sopranos and Mad Men. I never watched Breaking Bad (though I may since many people have recommended it), but I have gotten hooked on Better Call Saul. Most of this viewing has been done via binge-watching. Late at night, when nothing else is going on and I can squeeze two or three episodes in on VOD or Netflix.
Recently, the wife and I got a recommendation to watch Fargo. The original film is classic, thoroughly enjoyable. Coen brothers at their very best. I wasn't sure how telling fake 'true crimes' tales in serial format would play out. Despite my reservations, the show is fantastic. I finished the final episode of season two (because I can't get season one yet) this week and had a difficult time taking a break from viewing.
In true Coen brothers fashion, there is plenty of violence, dark humor, and outlandish twists of fate. The Coen brothers often have a theme of unstoppable and overwhelming evil running through their films. Fargo is no different, with several characters, who can only be described as psychotic, pursuing various goals. Each one meets a different end, some more surprising than others.
Without providing spoilers, there is one particular theme which caught my attention. It was mentioned early, and barely discussed until the very end. A secondary character is reading Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus for a class. This detail is brought up in conversation on occasion as the story progresses, several characters comment on the book. As the story unfolds, plot twists hint at the absurdity of life, how boring and difficult it is to live a life that only leaves you dead, without much to show for it. As you begin to think there can't be any redemption, the primary characters (the police) continue to pursue their goals, against odds that slowly stack against them.
Then the script flips. It becomes clear each character is Sisyphus, pushing their own particular boulder up a hill each day. A criminal seeking to make his boss or himself happy, a police officer engaging crime prevention and enforcement against increasing human stupidity and avarice, a mother dying of cancer trying to make life comfortable for her family, and a woman seeking personal fulfillment. Each day, they wake up and push that same rock up the hill again.
What becomes clear at the finish is the rock we all push, the thing we consider a burden, is in fact a privilege. It can be family, a job, any repetitive detail in our lives which we view with some level of disdain simply because it has to be done over and over again. Camus insinuates the reward for this seemingly useless behavior was death. Fargo alternately embraces this point in some cases, and rejects it in others. The characters point out our duties are what provide meaning and value. The show is full of death, and someday we will die. But on every other day, we will live. Living a life expecting nothing but an absurd finish is a fate for many, who don't expect much else. For others, death gave their lives meaning and highlighted what was good in the lives of those around them.
Fargo closes with a standard Coen brothers flourish. We're happy, but not completely so. Life goes on, happy enough for those we're pleased to see finish in good spirits, but it takes bizarre twists for others. Good has triumphed, but only barely, and evil continues in various, new, formats. It's not Hollywood. It's close enough to real life to relate to, but strange enough to keep your interest and make you think.
I look forward to watching the first season (no spoilers in the comments, please!).
Today, in the news links, Bird Dog linked to a post related to Bernie Sanders and his loathing of the successful. The questions pondered by the author are legitimate. But it's fair to say a good number of people, at some point in their lives, probably have a level of dislike for the success others. The basis of this dislike results from a variety of sources, and though envy is probably the most common reason, I know there are many others. For example, I never liked Al Dunlap, or "Chainsaw Al" as he was often referred to. He was successful, he was an often sought-after manager, and he grew wealthy from his success. Of course, his method of becoming successful was not admired by many (including me) and many of his 'successes' later turned out to be based on certain fraudulent procedures, not least of which was channel-stuffing.
I imagine this is Bernie's thought process. But if he's in control, he's the entitled minority.
I don't consider my loathing of Dunlap to be particularly unusual or unjustified. I don't know the man, but his behaviors were pretty transparent. It was easy to not like him, as opposed to a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, who have proven themselves astute and relatively even-handed businessmen (even if you don't necessarily admire their politics).
There are still other reasons why people loathe the successful, and the death of flamboyant glam-rocker David Bowie reminded me of some. Many popular music stars have no problem speaking out against successful business people or businesses - even those in their own industry. I don't know if Bowie ever had anything bad to say about the marketers who helped turned him into a cottage industry, but plenty of his contemporaries certainly had/have very negative things to say about the successful. I have sat through more than one concert (Roger Waters in particular) which did nothing but complain about corporations and greed.
As a younger person, I used to complain about paying $X to go see a band. "The greedy music companies want to soak us." I still paid and saw the band. I never considered that the $X I paid covered a large number of costs which provided jobs to people. Sure the music promoters got wealthy, but these promoters were usually making money on the margins, and managed several events which also lost money. Whatever I ultimately paid for the ticket probably covered the costs for the show, as well as some losses on other shows.
As I aged, I realized even though I paid $X, jobs were created to service my entertainment needs. I also realized my willingness to pay $X meant I believed $X was a fair exchange for my entertainment. I no longer believed some wealthy promoter was ripping me off - I was engaging in a fair trade which left both of us better off. I enjoyed my entertainment and the promoter got paid for his ability to put together a show which thousands may enjoy.
I should have known better from my experience in hospital that when it comes to the forms of self-evident stupidity and self-destruction, man’s inventiveness is infinite.
I could not understand how the entire German mass media, on nominal “right” and “left” alike, and I assume with little cross-consultation, agreed to shut the story down as if it had not happened; consciously lying to report that there were “no incidents” that night. And in the same Germany whose motto, seventy years ago, was, “I did not know.”
This fit, skinny female is talking about fat-burning, but this is really about cardio fitness and leg conditioning unless you are overweight. Fat loss comes from diet, not exercise.
Whether your cardio includes rowing, treadmill, stair machine, biking, or outdoor running, it is the intense intervals which make a difference for endurance - thus Quality Work vs. Garbage Work. Variety is key. When people say "Walking is good for you," they refer to people over 80 or obese people. Hiking maybe, but not walking.
She talks about 20 mins on those stairs. No way I could do stair intervals for 20 minutes. More like 6 minutes. Anyway, it's a damn good and demanding thing to do once a week. My cardio workouts take longer because I cannot handle such high levels of intensity. Not ready to die yet.
Readers know that I am highly-skeptical of all reports of studies.
Everybody remembers being told, by the scientists, not to eat eggs and red meat. Of course, now that is all known to be bogus. Unless you do manual labor or are significantly underweight, there is no reason to eat grains or cereals for breakfast except for fun. Oats and cholesterol? All now known to be bogus too. And real butter is good for you.
Just one reason I distrust reports has to do with data-mining. I was once involved with a medical study which applied data-mining to a large amount of data. Inevitably, we found some correlations which passed the t-test. That's not science, but academics get papers published that way and papers can lead to grants and tenure.
Is social isolation a good or bad thing? It seems to me to depend on the reason for it. Many people do not enjoy a social life while many suffer from loneliness. It's probably a bell curve, like most things.
"No believer in force truly respects his fellow-men. He always slightly despises them, even while he serves them. They tend to become for him mere material for carrying out his views. His views may be honestly and sincerely held; they may be excellent in themselves; but when he uses force on their behalf he commits the capital mistake of exalting himself and his views into the first place, and of degrading his fellow-men, with an intelligence and conscience like and equal to his own, into the second place. Thus it comes about that the user of force loses all hold on moral principles; he becomes a law, and a very defective law, to himself; and thus it comes about also that politics – which are simply the method of force – are in every country not only the battlefield of opposed fighters, but the hotbed of intrigue and corruption."
That's a pic of Twenty, Ladder Co. 20, in the window
The loss of a dog can make grown men cry: Firehouse Loses a Spotted Symbol of Healing. What a great dog he was. Well-trained, too - never on a leash in downtown NYC. Never missed a fire call or a meal.
US Episcopalians 
The original breakfast roll-up. McDonalds makes breakfast roll-ups, but they are not very good.
Pic: Tree in New England this week 
