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.
He and his cousin Arthur McBride had an exciting Christmas Day walk. Dylan did a good cover of this Irish song but it's not on youtube. This is much better anyway.
If you're a Christian, when do you go to church on Christmas week?
It comes up because we "went to church" this morning with my father-in-law. We did indeed go, but they had canceled the early service today so we went to the diner instead and gave the waitress a big Christmas tip. We missed the memo. Mrs. BD and her Dad had 2 eggs benedicts; I had scrambled eggs and bacon.
When I was growing up (Congregationalist), we would often go on Christmas morning, sometimes to the candlelight service on Christmas Eve. Doing both is a real job for pastors, but they signed up for it. Our Congo church now only does Christmas Eve - 3 services. Pastor has a bunch of young kids.
I believe Roman Catholics still do a midnight Mass and a Christmas Day Mass.
A note at our favorite diner made it clear that they have planned a special Christmas Day meal, all day. That's really nice, especially for lonely people. Sweet friendly people work there. Greeks, mostly.
He is back to feeding on the sparrows at my bird feeder. Quite a sight to see him trying to swoop in low under the radar from his perch, then chasing a bird through the bushes with much thrashing around.
Most of his attacks fail, but clearly enough succeed to keep him around. I sometimes term my bird-feeder a Sharpie-feeding station. Somebody should call PETA, because if I did these sorts of things to little songbirds, I'd end up in jail.
People over 35 tend to prefer experiences over material stuff unless it's a fun new sports car. A few ideas:
- A rocky Mountain or European guided hiking trip. All sorts of good ones for all levels of fitness on the internet.
- A charitable donation to something good, in their name.
- 7 weeks of 3 day/week sessions with a trainer at a local gym. That's enough time to get the fundamentals of calis and weights, so the spouse can do it on his or her own daily, afterwards. Make sure trainer knows enough about nutrition to handle either muscle-toning or fat loss/weight gain, and is not a musclehead. A skinny friend gained 13 rock-hard lbs from lifting over 10 months.
- Tickets for the NYC Ballet always makes the female spouse happy. Happy wife, happy life. If remote, grab a hotel room. Fun. Just not the darn Nutcracker.
- A firearms class of any sort, whether for handgun permit, clays, whatever. Good fun. Guns are fun for guys and gals. My girls get a kick out of shooting (but this year they need/want more musical instruments). I heartily approve of home-made music. Ability without talent is good enough to make a house a home. Mrs. BD and my daughters have ability. My son, not so much it seems, to his sorrow. Vocally, all of us are zeros but that's what instruments are for. Just takes brains.
- Give a gift of a year of Maggie's Farm. It's free, all it takes is the gift of a link to us.
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
Make the wealthy poorer - statistical problem solved. If you have more than one house, let the gummint take the others. Then your IRA. Why not, if equality is sacred?
In the history of politics, there is no precedent for the media’s entire focus to be on undoing the last presidential election.
True, the left has wanted to impeach every Republican president, but at least they used to wait a decent interval between the inauguration and concocting some preposterous “impeachable offense.”
People capable of feeling shame would not have immediately followed up the Russiagate hoax fiasco with another transparently phony—and in “substance” nearly identical—attempt to remove President Trump from office, overturn the 2016 election, and shower deplorable-Americans with contempt and hatred. But our ruling elites have no shame.
That is not to say, however, that they are entirely cynical. The means by which they’ve so far tried to crush the Trump presidency may be nasty and illegitimate, but our overlords are 100% convinced of the righteousness of their cause, and of themselves. Hence they do not even need recourse to the cliché that the ends justify the means. The means are good because the end is sacred; they cannot countenance even the thought that the means might be suspect or (ahem) trumped up.
If progressives were truly to “interrogate the current structures of power,” they would only find themselves. Progressives have controlled Seattle for a generation, yet they pretend to be outsiders fighting forces of “institutional oppression” and “structural racism.” City government employs more than 10,000 workers, all subject to rigorous diversity training and politically correct thinking. Despite the occasional public-relations fiasco, the progressive grip on Seattle’s political culture shows no sign of loosening.
Dirty cops, not all of them for sure but maybe just some at the top. A sad, and frightening thing to see what the FBI did against the country for seemingly political purposes. Power corrupts.
Here are the problems, with which I am sure most people in my field would agree. First, most serious psychopaths rarely seek help, and then usually only when they get in trouble. Second, lying and manipulating are second nature to them, so they try to play you. Some are quite adept. Third, they tend to be unreliable with showing up or paying their bills.
There are others, too.
In my experience, when people come to me worrying about whether they have a cold or dark heart, or feeling guilty about some pattern of behavior, it's a good sign that they are far from psychopathic.
I will offer the opinion that there are full-blown psychopaths, very scary people. However, there are people with a range of psychopathic (ie sociopathic) traits which are worth being alert to. On the other end of the spectrum, most people have psychopathic fantasies which they never, or very rarely, act on.
No mortal is pure of heart. It's complicated. It's not a disease.
Microsoft Removes Santa Hat Icon
If you're a Christian, when do you go to church on Christmas week?
He is back to feeding on the sparrows at my bird feeder. Quite a sight to see him trying to swoop in low under the radar from his perch, then chasing a bird through the bushes with much thrashing around. 
People over 35 tend to prefer experiences over material stuff unless it's a fun new sports car. A few ideas:
A traditional, festive punch for holiday season and for winter days:
Lots more images from Liberty Arms 
Photo of holly on ice. We had a nice minor ice storm the other day 
This simple Holiday Wrapping Hack Is Blowing People’s Minds -