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.
Rarely has so much changed within a lifetime. Yesterday’s outré and outcast recast as inquisitors; great nations in demographic collapse; primal human practices like marriage, veritable specie constants, condemned as iniquitous and beyond rational defence, and most surprisingly, all happening peaceably, with little alteration in surface political forms. No wonder elders scratch their heads, as do those few historically literate young. This essay proposes to settle their confusions by revealing the deepest drivers of these astonishing and revolutionary changes...
The problem is that the individual can not afford to fight them. Small businesses can neither afford the legal teams, the years, nor nor lobbyists to defend them. Wallach begins:
What sort of political system do we have in America? Why, republican self-government, of course. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, as mediated by our hallowed constitutional institutions. Doing our thing for 227 years now.
A great many people aren’t buying that story these days. They look at our actual manner of governing and see bitterly contested symbolic elections awkwardly joined to a powerful technocratic administrative state that makes most of the important decisions. The disconnect between the ideal and the reality has brought us a legitimacy crisis that has been often touched upon in these virtual pages lately.
Leviathan is now too big to fail:
We live in a democracy full of fellow-citizens who think that “crucial functions” are very extensive indeed. One libertarian tradition is simply to flip these fellow-citizens the bird and insist that a cadre of the right kind of rulers—anti-technocratic technocrats, more or less—will somehow gain power and make our government best by governing least. That is undoubtedly an applause line in many rooms, but it is the equivalent of not playing the game at all.
I am from the school of loyalty belonging in God, family, country, in that order. When it comes to voting, my loyalty does not belong to any individual or political party. My vote belongs to me. And, I have an obligation to behave responsibly and sensibly with my vote.
In that vein, whether I am a lifelong Republican or conservative is important, but only in so far as my deeply held beliefs are furthered or protected. Many Republicans or conservatives are disaffected or in pique by the apparent triumph of Donald Trump. However, for me, Trump does not get my vote because I am a Republican or conservative but because the alternatives are far worse in a continuation of the Democrats' ongoing literal destruction of our ethics, our economy, and our national security, while in actuality doing relatively less to upraise the unfortunate than to tie them into being lackeys of the central government instead of their own initiative, compounded by our citizen poor being undercut by uncontrolled inflows of foreign competitors for jobs and public funds. To not vote is to vote for the continuation of the past 8-years of the outright assault on the very fiber of the United States.
I cannot accept with any respect any Republicans or conservatives who will now support Hillary Clinton. They do not deserve it. They exhibit themselves as rent-seekers, to profit from her probable election to the presidency due to the lock that Democrats have on a near majority of the electoral college. Or, they exhibit their overriding loyalty to their liberal social circle in New York or Washington. They do not exhibit the judgment to choose the lesser of evils, and they increase the probability of loss of Republican control of the Senate and House, which only increases the damages from a leftist administration.
This is smart: Reform Week Part II/ Politics is the art of the possible. Trump should read that.
Trump has positioned himself brilliantly, as practical and mostly non-ideological. That's why he will win in November, for better or worse. Crazy like a fox.
Daughters and I are grilling lunch today for 3 moms in the family. Gave birth so God bless 'em.
Grilled things: eggplant, mixed-colored bell peppers, yellow squash, onions, portobello mushrooms, asparagus. Marinate with oil & vinegar, garlic, and herbs, salt and pepper and toss em on the fire. I use very large chunks or slices. That's Italian, or really more like Sicilian. To keep it traditional, I always throw some wood on top of the charcoal. I close the grill top so they cook before they burn, but I do like them a bit burnt.
London Broil, rare. My new Victorinox serrated meat knife can slice this thin enough to eat happily. 1/4-inch-or- less slices. Otherwise, I find London Broil inedible, meat-flavored chewing gum.
Mixed salad with walnuts and dried cranberries.
Mixed berries with creme fraiche (or sour cream, no difference really) for dessert
1:1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
1:2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
1:3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
1:4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me;
1:5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"
1:7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
1:9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
1:10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
1:11 They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
Unfinished artwork is great fun to look at. It's as much fun as watching a Youtube of craftsmen or chefs at work - or the late lamented Bob Ross' painting show.
Often, a finished product reveals little of what went into its production. It is concealed.
Mrs. BD and I saw the show at the Met's new satellite gallery a few weeks ago. Worth a trip. You can travel the world, but olde NYC right here in little olde USA remains the premier fine art venue in the world. The tourists know that.
Let's assume that few people in the Western world are content to be "who they are naturally," ie without improving themselves by effort or training.
Thus many women wish to behave in a ladylike fashion, many men in a gentlemanly fashion. In the West, people have something we term an "ego ideal" to which they aspire. The ignorant wish to be more knowledgeable, the fearful wish to be more courageous, the cool-hearted wish to be warmer, the weak to be stronger, the unmannerly or boorish to be more civil or refined, the unpopular to be more engaging and interesting. Not all, but many.
Many people work on these aspirations through example or from books, etc. People do this because nobody's "natural self" is of much value or interest to others.
Ego ideals are, in part, culturally-defined. If a man's ego ideal is to be a tough wise guy with years of jail time, he studies that. If Bill Clinton's trailer park gals wish to learn charm and refinement, they read Emily Post or the modern equivalent.
Unless you are a genius, nobody cares much about your "authenticity." That is for your diary or your analyst but please spare the rest of us.
My point here is not really about becoming ladylike, however defined. It is that it takes practice, and some failure, to try to become who you want to be.
Not just for the Derby. This source, which explains why we can thank the Arabs for the basis of this refreshing adult beverage along with inventing Algebra, notes:
Mint Julep first appeared in print in 1803 described as a "dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning."
A breakfast tonic to tone ye olde brain. Healthy herbs. You can use either homemade sugar syrup or confectioner's sugar. Here's one. Use a chilled julep cup or collins glass. I grow a mint called "Kentucky Mint" which is quite intense, but close to Spearmint, just for this purpose, but I haven't made a batch in years. I should. Unlike Southern families, I do not own any heirloom Julep Cups. I am tempted by these on eBay ($500 for a pair). Nice Sterling cups seem to run between $100 to $1000 apiece. I am not in the market for these right now.
No One Has A Right To A Bathroom - If
the Obama administration is going to demand toilets be open to all
comers, the McDonald’s in Chinatown has some ‘splaining to do.
A Luxurious Adventure Vacation in a Place You’d Never Expect - Israel’s Negev Desert isn’t just home to Ramon Crater, a spectacular, otherworldly playground for biking and hiking, but it’s also where you’ll find one of the country’s most pampering resorts
For the last three decades, at least, it has been a closed system with no real competition. Both sides debated how much socialism and cultural Marxism they would inflict on the country. The Left would open the debate at 10 and the Right would offer 5 and they would settle in between. That’s how we went from telling AIDS jokes to jailing Christian bakers in the blink of eye. There was never a competition.
It's Folk with Rock-Blues drooped over it. That's Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar. Cool guitar, more flashy I think than the suave Robbie Robertson. Bob, always in motion, never stagnant, never staying put. Good stuff. 1965.
Mayor Giuliani cleaned Times Square of the crime and a lot of the porn, but left the gritty, raucous, random parts intact. Good choice.
Times Square is the colorful, crowded, tacky, lively tourist center of the city and the heart of the Broadway theater district. NYC is not Florence - a small antique town. Times Square will never be the Piazza del Duomo, thank goodness.
John Tierny (with whom I often agree) has another vision: Reimagining Times Square. He is being a party-pooper.
OK, but why are we still measuring things by race and ethnicity? Does it really matter? People are individuals. Why not measure people by height instead, or shoe size? Or, with the current meme, hand size?
Forget "gender," skin tone, ethnic background, etc. and just evaluate people on their individual strengths and character. How hard would that be? I am sick and tired of this ethnic-racial-gender-class neo-Marxist analysis which tries to put everybody in some labeled box based on the most trivial and superficial characteristics.
We all know that Jews and Asians statistically out-perform academically, and that African-Americans outperform in many athletics. So what? Many blacks are klutzes and intellectually-talented, and many Asians and Jews are not too bright. Cultural and societal averages might be academically interesting, but we are just talking about basic education here. With an undamaged brain and a decent teacher anybody can learn enough Trig and Calc to study Civil Eng in high school or after and never be unemployed.
Jane Austen’s 
A school that cares: Success Academy’s been awesome for our special-needs son
Image stolen from Ace 
Fresh truffles, black or white.
Not just for the Derby. 
China 
Look at Mark Rothko.