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.
The options are risky because the White House knows the hacking story was made up to pacify the lunatics. They also know the Russians know it was made up. Creating a diplomatic crisis over something both sides know is a fiction – and a ridiculous one at that – is very dangerous.
We are not those - or at least hope we are not. Just people trying to stay fit and ready for all of what life sends our way. Some readers find our fitness posts boring and/or obnoxious, some find companionship in them. Same with everything. I can say that I carried ten 60 lb. bags of sand from Home Depot easily on Sunday afternoon (for anticipated driveway ice to be stored in my sand storage), and that I was happy to find that it was a quick and effortless task.
A year ago, it would have been more difficult for me so I am happy about that. If I can't be overly smart, at least I can be functional in practical ways.
Regardless of the above, whether you exercise hard or make lame excuses, we all need extra mental protein and if you need more today, peruse American Digest. And not just for the Melville.
I would never recommend purchasing Cuban cigars for use in the USA as it is, or used to be, against some dumb law. However, I did happen to notice that Top Cubans has some appealing Christmas and End of Year specials right now.
By the way, when are we going to take down that dumb cigar embargo? It just hurts the poor farmers - and us scrupulously law-abiding Americanos.
Photo is a Habanos Romeo y Julieta
BTW, where is the best cigar wrapper tobacco in the world grown? In my home state, Connecticut in the US of A. Also in Massachusetts in the Connecticut River Valley.
Feeling Grinch-like this morning, and so is my trainer. I told him this morning how good it was to walk into a place without Christmas music. He said that, as long as he is there, there will never be any. We agree that it is destroyed by overuse, and that 99% of the time you hear it, it is meant to induce you to spend money you don't have. Carols stay warm and sweet and rare in church during Advent, and Chrismas songs are good for a party song-along. Otherwise, if I hear Little Drummer Boy one more time in the supermarket I might go postal.
Fading maybe, but still the most popular participant sport in the US. A fine thing about bowling is that you can join in even if you are terrible at it. Where I grew up, bowling was a routine winter Saturday night outing. Very popular for kids' birthday parties too. In summer, old Italian guys would do their lawn bowling game in the parks.
1:18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
1:19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.
1:20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
1:21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
1:22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
1:23 "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."
1:24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,
1:25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
... there was never any serious argument for reelecting the Democrats, their whole campaign was to defame Trump as a sexist and a racist. There was never a jot of truth to any of it, as his cabinet appointments are showing. Trump’s popularity is rising steadily and most Americans think Obama has already gone as president. The president-elect is driving a bulldozer at 60 miles per hour toward the wreckage of decades of misgovernment and misinformation, while the departing incumbents crawl around on their hands and knees complaining that the lights have gone out. For them, they have.
Trump might be a wackjob, and I did think so, but I can't object to his employees who will do the real work. Even some of my ardent Dem friends are hopeful. Donald may have ADD or Bipolar Disorder, and is a Democrat at heart, but with Pence and Priebus in charge, and The Donald as larger-than-life figurehead, seems like a promising mix...We'll see.
“Lawmakers are overall the reason we have the problems that we have, because they think that they’re the smartest people in the world and they sit in D.C. and talk to themselves, and if you don’t sit on the cocktail circuit there you don’t know anything about anything,” said a senior transition aide. “I think they’re intimidated by a guy like this — they don’t know him and he doesn’t owe them anything.”
As far as I know, there was never any "hacked election." That is complete bullshit, a non-story. The story is the non-story. All I know is that Podesta got stupidly hacked from a phishing effort which resulted in some embarassment, and rightly so, to him and his team. All of the wikileaks info was true and accurate, and nobody disputes that.
Whatever went on - if anything - it's just ordinary spy games that all spies play. Putin is still reportedly pissed about the CIA messing with his last election. How's this:
As a rule, the Obama administration is staffed by the crème de la crème of academically trained policy and legal scholars. Harvard is the number one school represented. Columbia is second. Law schools and schools of public administration are the majority. A vast (and we mean vast) portion of the current administration’s work experience has been in politics and government. In other words, they are professional bureaucrats, trained by academics in the process of government.
The Trump administration is virtually the opposite. Military, medical, and business backgrounds are the norm. These individuals went to school all over the country...
Plutocrats in the top three dozen richest people in the country in 2014 who were publicly donating money to boost immigration numbers included Bill Gates, the Koch brothers, Michael Bloomberg, Sheldon Adelson, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, Rupert Murdoch, and the widow Jobs.
That’s a rather daunting list of opponents. Staring at their names just now, I realize I must have been nuts to devote my career to opposing the whims of people like them. What was I thinking?
The advice of a solid old Anglican priest — back when the Anglicans had a use for solids — was to retain one’s balance. “Don’t try to do everything at once,” he said, after my conversion on that bridge over Thames. In particular, “Don’t try to believe everything at once. It is bigger than you, you shan’t be able to do it.” And, “Never abandon your skepticism. If it doesn’t make sense to you, leave it and get back to it later.” And, “The trick to walking, whether you are a babe or very drunk, is: one step at a time. Those who get ahead of themselves tend to fall over.”
Grandmothers have known forever that many personality traits and styles run in families. If it is true that around 40% of basic personality traits can be attributed to genetics, the old advice to check out the parents of a person you are considering marrying makes good sense.
On December 15, Clinton is having a big party in Manhattan at the Plaza Hotel, once owned by Trump, for her campaign donors, as a sort of thank-you and keep-in-touch farewell. It is expected to cost more than $100,000 and be paid for with excess campaign funds. Clintonworld insiders will be interested to see if Abedin shows up or whether she chooses to skip the celebration to stay at home to nurse her wounds.
Got
are not those - or at least hope we are not. Just people trying to stay fit and ready for all of what life sends our way. Some readers find our fitness posts boring and/or obnoxious, some find companionship in them. Same with everything. I can say that I carried ten 60 lb. bags of sand from Home Depot easily on Sunday afternoon (for anticipated driveway ice to be stored in my sand storage), and that I was happy to find that it was a quick and effortless task.
What's for supper? Big 
Re today's image: Can I please have both?