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 have long held ambivalent feelings about Lincoln. Freeing slaves, good. Overpowering the federal government, bad. Killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, bad.
I do not idolize any human. Monuments in Washington disgust me. We are not the Roman Empire.
Why It’s Delusional To Think Higher Education Is Free From Indoctrination. If academia shapes up to be the ideological opponent of more than half the population, conservatives will treat it as an enemy.
I have always found Rauschenberg's stuff interesting to look at. Long ago, when I dabbled in the journalism field while in college, I interviewed the guy. A friendly Texan, happy to talk. I wish I had had better questions for him.
I liked this piece of his at the Whitney last weekend. My photo lacks the detail and subtlety. It's a complex design, decorative.
I read it in a college course. It's a long novel. In retrospect you could call it a bildungsroman. Tom was a good guy, full of vitality unlike his sour "brother".
The Mormon Church Amassed $100 Billion. It Was the Best-Kept Secret in the Investment World.A look inside the vast but little-known fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: ‘We’ve tried to be somewhat anonymous.’
From TNR of course. Do they prefer Brutalist? I want no federal buildings of any style, but that's me. Put them in vacant shopping centers and spread them around the country. As it is, DC feels like an Imperial City.
" I think that people feel that for a variety of reasons—cultural, social, political—that Trump is not deserving of the respect that most presidents receive, and therefore any means necessary to get rid of him are justified. And for some, it’s the idea that he’s had neither political or military prior experience. For others, it’s his outlandish appearance, his Queens accent, as I said, his Rodney Dangerfield presence. And for others—I think this is really underestimated—he is systematically undoing the progressive agenda of Barack Obama, which remember, was supposed to be not just an eight-year regnum, but 16 years with Hillary Clinton. That would’ve reformed the court. It would have shut down fossil fuel exploration, pipelines, more regulations—well, pretty much what Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are talking about right now. That was going to happen. And so for a lot of people, they think, “Wow, if Donald Trump is elected in 2020”—and he will be, according to the fears of Representatives Al Green or [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez or Nancy Pelosi; remember, they keep saying this impeachment is about the 2020 [election]—“we’ve got to ensure the integrity.” That’s what Nadler said today.
But if Trump is elected, that would mean eventually in five more years, [we’d have a] 7–2 Supreme Court, 75 percent of the federal judiciary [would be] conservative and traditional and constructionist. … We are the world’s largest oil and gas producer and exporter, but we probably would be even bigger. And when you look at a lot of issues, such as abortion, or identity politics, or the securing of the border, or the nature of the economy or foreign policy, they think America as we know it will be—to use a phrase from Barack Obama—“fundamentally transformed.” So that’s the subtext of it. Stop this man right now before he destroys the whole progressive project—and with it, the reputation of the media. Because the media saw this happening and they said, “You know what?”—as Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times or Christiane Amanpour have said—“… you really don’t need to be disinterested.”
Trump is beyond the pale, so it’s OK to editorialize in your news coverage. And so the Shorenstein Center has reported that 90 percent of all news coverage [of Trump] is negative. So they’ve thrown their hat in the ring and said, we’re going to be part of the Democratic progressive agenda to destroy this president. But if they fail, then their reputation goes down with the progressive project. And that’s happening now. CNN is at all-time low ratings, at least the last four years. And the network news is losing audiences, and most of the major newspapers are, as well. So there’s a lot of high stakes here. And if Donald Trump survives and were to be reelected, I don’t know what would happen on the left. It would make the 2016 reaction look tame in comparison."
5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
5:15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
5:18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
5:19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
The USA is an exceptional country because of its freedoms and its constitution which protects them. However, Britain is our mother. Britain's exceptionalism, in its rebellions against state and government power, and its honoring of freedom was the inspiration to take the idea of individual freedom further.
The Swede Jonas Bronck is supposed to have been the first European settler there around 1630.
The Borough of the Bronx in NYC has 1.3 million souls. West to east, it runs from charming Riverdale with the lovely Wave Hill, to the unique City Island. North to south, it runs from famous Woodlawn Cemetery to Hunt's Point where most of the metropolitan area's food arrives. It's the most diverse political entity in the USA. OK, it has a ton of housing projects, including Co-op City, the largest residential development in the US with 45,000 residents. A city within a city, sort-of, and dreary to my way of thinking.
The Bronx has Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden, Fordham University, and Arthur Avenue (the new Little Italy), among other things like Pelham Park. The South Bronx has been notorious for crime, but not so much now. I would not wander around there at night. The history of The Grand Concourse, built to copy the Champs Elysee, is interesting. At one time, The Grand Concourse was an elegant escape from tenement living, mostly for Jews from the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Our hike route is in the development stage because we always have too many things to see, but it will not disappoint.
I have long held ambivalent feelings about Lincoln. Freeing slaves, good. Overpowering the federal government, bad. Killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, bad.
Growing 
Photo from walking around the West Side of Manhattan this weekend 
