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.
As a teacher of undergraduates, Ms. Paglia despairs at how “bad it is for young people, filled with fears, to be raised in this kind of a climate where personal responsibility isn’t spoken of.” Since her own youth, she says, college students have devolved from rebels into skittish supplicants, petitioning people in authority to protect them from real life. Young adults are encouraged to look for “substitute parent figures on campus, which is what my generation rebelled against in college. We threw that whole ‘in loco parentis’ thing out.”
All of the candidates’ plans would gut the US economy and lead to soaring energy prices, which would impoverish all of us. In return, their plans would have no measurable effect on the world’s climate. Zero. Nada. Zip.
Cortez’s Svengali-like former chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, took an expansive position when discussing the Green New Deal. “Do you guys think of it as a climate thing?” he asked. “Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.”
In a lifetime spent outdoors, I never knew that Yallowjackets stung. I just thought they bit. They only bothered me when getting in the way of my hamburger.
The yellowjacket is one of the most menacing insects known to man. These brightly colored wasps possess a fiery sting and bite seemingly out of proportion to their size. Yellowjackets are not 'bees', and they're definitely not friendly. So what makes them so dangerous?
1. They're aggressive. Yellowjackets are more aggressive than other stinging insects such as wasps, hornets, mud daubers or bees.
2. They can sting AND bite. Since yellowjackets don’t lose their stinger, they can sting numerous times, and will do so unprovoked. In fact, they usually bite your flesh to get a better grip as they jab their stinger into your skin.
3. They're defensive. Yellowjackets vigorously defend their nests. They will assign a "guard" to stand watch at the nest opening and alert the colony to a threat. Swarm attacks can occur when someone accidentally steps in, hits, or even comes too close to a nest. Attacks of hundreds of yellowjackets from underground nests can also be triggered by ground vibrations – thus, mowing lawns can be hazardous during the late summer season when colonies are large.
4. They sting you for no reason. Even if you're minding your own business and nowhere near a nest, yellowjackets don't care -- they'll sting you anyway!
5. They're scavengers. Yellowjackets are a common pest at picnics and other outdoor activities. They scavenge for meat and sweet liquids, which brings them into frequent contact with humans with ample opportunity to sting. (See #4.)
6. Their sting packs a punch. For people who are allergic, one yellowjacket sting can be deadly. But even if you don't have an allergic reaction, the sting is plenty painful. "Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue..." is how entomologist Justin Schmidt, creator of the "Schmidt Sting Pain Index", described a yellowjacket sting!
Democrats Blame Global Warming on Meat, Air Travel, and Business at CNN's "Climate Crisis" Town Hall, and Then CNN Airs Ads F the Decline of the Episcopal Church?
Mrs. BD and her pal had the best burger in their lives in Mississippi in a road trip to Houston last winter, in some redneck dive place with fancy burgers.(nb: Redneck is not a disparagment on Maggie's).
General rule of thumb: Always avoid disgusting chain places. The hole in the walls have the best stuff because they have to compete.
One of my cool daughters emailed me about the best burger she has ever had (visiting a college pal in Nashville): cream cheese, jalapeno jelly, and grilled jalapenos. I feel hungry now despite a filling lobster salad for lunch with a glass of chardonnay. Life is pleasant in the USA.
Yes, I make a mean jalapeno jelly from my garden each year. Good with cheese. My kids steal the jars from the pantry.
Most of us fitness buffs want all we can get of both. However, the training for each is different partly because muscle endurance/aerobic fitness is based on Type l muscle, and strength on Type ll - the power fibers.
High frequency, repetitive exertions train for endurance (eg jogging, biking, high-rep lighter weights, calisthenics), while heavy weights (things you can only do 4-8 times at most) train for strength.
The US TSA offers a few Trusted Traveler programs which reduce some or much of the annoyance of air travel.
The Pre-Check is easy to obtain. The Global Entry is a bit more involved, but worth it for regular travelers. You can do most of the processes at the TSA website, but a brief in-person interview is required for all of these. It's a vetting process.
Somewhat related, many states now offer "Real ID" driving licenses. It's a minor hassle to collect the info your DMV wants for this, but worth doing for some people. You can upgrade your license to REAL ID any time. Next year, REAL ID will be required.
Ideally, make a lot of money and fly private... no fuss.
A Democrat president inherits a full blanket of media protection that acts like air superiority protecting that president from any effective attack. Entertainers and professors bring in supporting fire like artillery from the hills, ensuring that everyone understands both the Democrat president's greatness and how terrible are his foes.
A Republican president starts on day one with a disloyal bureaucracy, a hostile media seeking to destroy him, and relentless fire from the entire cultural heights. Every day of his presidency is like Groundhog Day when it comes to this dynamic. Instead of his morning starting with "I Got You, Babe" blaring on the radio, it starts with incendiary headlines and stories screaming his villainy.
Within this context, President Trump's counterpunches are a real act of courage.
"What last words would you have for your loved ones after death? What if you were suspended in Limbo so that you could send them these words in dreams, advice that would release you from Limbo? This novel begins with a woman's ritual self-sacrifice, then proceeds through the advice she wished she had told her son about how to love a woman. Should her son be able to receive her dreams, she will be released from her Limbo. What does she say about loving a woman? What does her last lover recall about her? And what does her son dream? This novel tells you the tale.”
Inspector General’s Report Exposes Another ‘Collusion’ Myth - The Michael Flynn “thing” President Trump discussed with James Comey in 2017 wasn’t Russian collusion. It was the bogus Logan Act claim.
Two of my early childhood TV favs have stars on Hollywood Blvd. Andy Devine, sidekick to Roy Rogers and others, also had the Andy Devine Show, Andy's Gang, with puckish star Froggy, my example.
And, heeeeere's Froggy:
Another early TV fav was recycled vaudeviller Pinky Lee. Hello It's Me...
If you won't do weight training or HIIT cardio, the least a person can do to maintain functional fitness, energy, balance, and general athleticism is daily calisthenics for 50 minutes.
It's the best way to start the day with a good state of mind. Classes might be best because of the group spirit and energy, but, if disciplined, alone can be good too. Part of that discipline is limiting the rests between sets to 6-10 seconds to make the most of the cardio component.
Are Burpees the best all-round calisthenic? Maybe, in the same way that the Deadlift is the best total-body weight exercise. The usefulness and "fun" of calisthenics, though, is variety. There is some fun in doing them in 3 sets of circuits of 3.
Readers know our list of common calisthenics: Burpees, Jumping Jacks, Side shuffles, Heavy Ball throws, Sandbag slams, Body-weight Squats and Wall Sits, Lunges, Jump Rope, Box Jumps, Step-ups, Rowers, Mountain Climbers, Dips, Pushups, Pullups, Inclined pullups, Leg Lifts, Sled pushes and pulls, planks, combat ropes, kettlebell swings, etc.
Mix and match for an hour early each morning and you will feel great. It's not strength, but it's fitness.
NB: I am well-aware that far more people choose to do cardio (especially long, relatively slow endurance "cardio" like jogging and swimming) than those who do calisthenics, HIIT, and weights workouts combined. That is certainly better than nothing, or walking, but our readers know what is optimal: 2 days of heavy weight training, 2 days of calisthenics, and 2 days of mixed HIIT and endurance cardio with a good heart rate stress.
Mr. Kronman comes down on the side of addition, not subtraction—for building new memorials, not toppling old ones. He’d like more context. But essentially he asks: Why erase history? Why not face it? Are we really “disfigured by emblems of unrighteousness”? Must everything be leveled and scrubbed clean?
He quotes Milan Kundera ’s “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting”:
“You begin to liquidate a people by taking away its memory. You destroy its books, its culture, its history. And then others write other books for it, give another culture to it, invent another history for it. Then the people slowly begins to forget what it is and what it was.”
Spent the day yesterday with the sons grueling 88 degree hot uphill 3-miles to Hollywood sign.
view at 1000+ feet elevation over L.A.
Then a stroll down Hollywood Blvd to Graumanns Theater to stump the sons on mini-bios of the real stars of bygone era in Hollywood. This star they recognized (look closely). :-)
Then on to Santa Monica beach, good pastrami sandwiches, and returned older son to UCLA.
It is sort-of like Butterfly Bush, but in the northeast it lives mostly as a large perennial which often needs to re-emerge from the roots after a chilly winter, growing to 3'. Further south, it can become a large shrub/small tree.
It seems to be a very popular border plant on Cape Cod. It is a Mediterranean plant. I like it, and so do bees and butterflies.
"European pride or European self-consciousness depend on the rejection of European history and European civilization! We want nothing to do with the Christian roots and we absolutely want to be perfectly welcoming to Islam".
"It's around three years of the Trump apocalypse. How bad has it been thus far? Pretty good, right? How many things you were told to be afraid of happening actually happened"
Sure was. Of course, Nixon mishandled it badly and the media was out to get him before his election anyway. All he had to say was that these jerks did dirty tricks, and I denounce them for it. That's what clever pols do. What coverups did Hillary do compared with "Tricky Dick" Nixon? Via Instapundit.
Was Nixon even a Conservative? Not really. A moderate without a winning personality. JFK was the sleaze along with the rest of his disgusting family.
Elite Failure Has Brought Americans to the Edge of an Existential Crisis - 
In a lifetime spent outdoors, I never knew that Yallowjackets stung. I just thought they bit. They only bothered me when getting in the way of my hamburger.
Photo from a friend in Denver 
Photo: Mile 8 of Gwynnie's 11 mile driveway in the Sierras this week
view at 1000+ feet elevation over L.A.
It is sort-of like Butterfly Bush, but in the northeast it lives mostly as a large perennial which often needs to re-emerge from the roots after a chilly winter, growing to 3'. Further south, it can become a large shrub/small tree.