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.
I believe that there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations
- James Madison,Speech in the Virginia Convention, June 16, 1788 (h/t Ace)
We go for natural or naturalistic plantings around here. Just a couple of perennial borders that we supplement with annuals. The fewer gardens you have, the less work.
Our best naturalistic plantings are a meadow hillside full of daffodils. At some point, you can just mow it with the tractor. We also have plenty of daylilies along walls. They make for an August delight.
Executive orders allowed the past administration to keep the program alive. They allow this administration to destroy it. Like his predecessor, President Donald Trump has been frustrated by lack of action in Congress on Obamacare. Like his predecessor, he has resorted to executive fiat to get around that obstruction. Only instead of frantically trying to save the troubled program, he is yanking out the life-support cords installed by President Barack Obama.
This week saw two executive actions. With the first, Trump is trying to expand health insurance options outside of the Obamacare exchange for individual insurance plans (which will have the side effect of making on-exchange policies less attractive to healthy customers).
The second is even more serious: After threatening it for months, the president has finally ended the cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers, which subsidize the provision of special policies with lower out-of-pocket expenses for people who make less than 250 percent of the federal poverty line. At the very least, this will probably mean a further increase in premiums, and growing instability in at least the parts of the individual market that aren’t eligible for subsidies to offset the increase. At worst, especially if it gets bogged down in lawsuits, it may cause insurers to say “enough is enough,” leaving broad areas of the country without any firm willing to sell individual policies through the Obamacare exchanges.
While the Congressional Budget Office has issued a delightfully counterintuitive forecast that ending the subsidies could actually increase insurance coverage, there’s little question in my mind that these policies are bad for the exchanges. 1 At the very least, I think we can all agree that they put the exchanges at greater risk. There is also little question that this is at least part of the reason that the administration is pursuing them. And yet, believe it or not, there are still arguments for both.
It has become evident that millions of uninsured Americans are uninterested in buying insurance on the exchanges, because it’s too expensive, or the “narrow networks” don’t cover enough doctors and hospitals. The new options the administration aims to create could be a genuine boon to those people. If you have spent years bemoaning the dire fate of the uninsured, you have to take that benefit seriously.
As for ending the subsidies … what am I, some sort of monster? Do I just hate the poor so much that I can’t stand to see them getting help paying for health care? Well, no. I have no particular objection to the payments as policy. Except for one small thing, which is that they seem to be sort of illegal...
In her first presentation at our 2015 Eucharistic Convention Leah Libresco spoke to her subject matter "Falling in Love with Math, Morality and Mercy - My Conversion Story. It's a witness, not a sermon.
I went through a deontology phase too. She's an obsessionally morally-interested joyful and charming mathematician whose intellectual adventures lead to Christ. Cool, but I wonder what she would say about cultural transmission of moralities and values.
Two men were sitting at the bar on the top floor of the Empire State Building.
One man says to the other, "You know, if you jump out the window here, the force of the wind will blow you back in through the window on the 90th floor."
The other man says "Get outta here, you're joking aren't you?"
The first man says "No, here, I'll prove it!" He stands on the window ledge, jumps out and comes back in through the 90th floor window.
The other man says. "That was just a one off. Do it again!" So the first man does it again and comes through on the 90th floor. He runs back up and says "See, I'm telling the truth!"
The second man says, "Wow, I'm gonna do it too then." He stands on the window ledge, jumps out and falls to his death.
The barman, who just caught the end of this says to the first man, "You know, Superman, you're a real jerk when you're drunk!"
Leftover pizza is one of the finest breakfasts or snacks that exist. It tastes better the next day.
Tip: Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
Is "unconscious racial bias", in other words, unconscious racism, the main cause of racial disparities in the US? I don't think so, not for even a minute. The article notes that the research that supported the oppression theory is turning out to be invalid, but because of its political usefulness the idea will no doubt persist anyway.
There are many reasons for individuals to be socio-culturally, or otherwise, "disadvantaged." There are many reasons for people to be stereotyped too. Everybody stereotypes until they know somebody.
In my opinion, "unconscious bias" is akin to "microaggression" because at some point the pursuit of oppression becomes absurd.
It is the rare male who is entirely lacking in barbarian fantasies and impulses of various sorts. Rape, murder, mayhem, etc are all part of the dark side (aka uncivilized side) of the human soul. The rich and powerful, like medieval lords, quickly discover that they can get away with lots of id-driven behavior. Thus the world of female pulchritude can become not a feast for the eyes but a literal feast. Lesser people who try it tend to get into trouble fast but in Hollywood it's just tabloid fodder.
I sometimes wonder how people would behave if they were guaranteed that they could get away with anything. Would I rob a Brinks truck, or lift a Cartier watch from the store? Have an affair with Brad Pitt? I would like to think not.
So when I read that Weinstein is headed for "rehab," it knew it was a pure PR stunt. Rehab for living the role of a dirty old predatory man? There is no "rehab" or treatment for rotten behavior outside the judicial system. And that rarely works either. Rules are for the little people, the bourgeoisie, where there are more consequences.
I'll say that being powerful in some way, like alcohol or cocaine or wartime, can be disinhibiting for some or even many people. Most likely, for people with a little sociopathic tendencies because of the evident absence of remorse. After all, the men in question here have daughters...
The Weinstein Co., reeling from the accusations against the co-chairman of the company, released a statement on Tuesday denying any knowledge of the accusations. "These alleged actions are antithetical to human decency. These allegations come as an utter surprise to the Board. Any suggestion that the Board had knowledge of this conduct is false," the TWC board said.
Remember—the mighty indigenous peoples of the Americas couldn’t even figure out the wheel. The WHEEL. The average lifespan for Native Americans before Columbus committed “genocide” against them was around 35. It is now more than double that. When Columbus arrived in the New World, the total number of indigenous Injuns in what is now North America was less than two million. There currently are 5.2 million self-identified “Native Americans” in the USA alone and another two million or so in Canada.
So they’re living more than twice as long and there are more than twice as many of them. That doesn’t sound like genocide to me. That sounds like an upgrade into the first-class section.
I hate these presidential libraries. Why doesn't some pres just hand over the papers to a history dept and call it a day? Why a monument? This is not Rome. These jackasses are not kings or gods.
They survived six hours in a pool as 
Leftover pizza is one of the finest breakfasts or snacks that exist. It tastes better the next day.
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