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.
For the few of our readers who are even bothering with cooking for 3 or four people (I know it's a beloved tradition but sheesh - at least just get take-out or go to the diner if you don't have a jolly crowd), Grandma's Corn Pudding is delicious and easy as pie.
Thanksgiving supper is not about gourmet. Grandma made pudding out of cans.
Joe Biden won crucial swing states fair and square — despite getting blown away in bellweather Ohio and Florida, despite being down by hundreds of thousands of votes until the mysterious shutdowns in counting, despite Trump outperforming Biden campaign’s own expectations, despite underperforming Hillary Clinton everywhere else in the country, despite not campaigning, despite having no ground game, despite having zero enthusiasm, despite losing support among minorities, despite pushing policies at odds with the desires of the public, despite aligning himself with BLM and Antifa. And despite having trouble executing a coherent sentence.
I suppose I had forgotten that only 23 of the 200 people on that boat were religious pilgrims, separatists. I had a separatist ancestor on that ship, but what does that mean? When you go back that far, how many hundreds of equal ancestors do you have?
Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
LOURY: It started a movement, didn’t it? The events that happened in Ferguson, Missouri had deep political resonance for the country as a whole. If it wasn’t Selma, what was it then? What exactly is the difference in your minds between the classic—the iconic—narrative of African-American struggle against oppression on the one hand, and what unfolded in the wake of Ferguson on the other?
S. STEELE: It’s not like Selma. You and I grew up in segregation. I know about segregation. I lived the civil rights movement, saw those noble fights against an enemy that was everywhere in the world I grew up in. So no one had any doubt about the moral integrity of Selma’s protests. But in Ferguson, Missouri, what was the argument? That because one cop killed a black that somehow racism is systemic? It seems to me that the elephant in the room is that racism is so minimal now, that it couldn’t really, in and of itself, get any movement off the ground. There’s not enough of it around. There’s not enough injustice. And what we had instead was a generation looking for power and looking to see how guilty white America would respond. And, in that sense, the movement was cynical. It mimicked the real movement—Selma and the civil rights movement in the ’50s and the ’60s and so forth. It was mimicry. It was theater. It wasn’t real.
Seriously: “Accountability” for what? A booming economy? Peace in the Middle East? Record-fast Covid vaccines? Well, the real sin is being a Republican, and worse yet, not one of the Gentry Class. As Obama showed, any sin is forgivable so long as you’re a Democrat and have sharply creased pants and an Ivy League pedigree.
We have natural gas heat, stoves, etc. Good stuff. Our only 35-year-old furnace system came to the end of its life in the past week or two (planned obsolescence?), and the water heater for the heat system leaked.
I don't know what our readers have, but we have 4 zones. It would be better to have 6, but whatever. We didn't get into that.
A new high-efficiency gas furnace is not cheap. And it is tiny. 48 hours with just fireplaces was a good reminder about how people lived in the past. A reminder of how good we have it.
The wonderful installers asked me whether I wanted a new programmable thermostat for my work space. Nope. The antique one is great. Just turn the dial up, down, or off. I can do that.
Readers know I am not a Trump-lover, but he has done a lot of good for the country and for the world. Lots more than most people with power, and surely more than any of us have done in our lives. I am grateful.
Cagey, foolish, inarticulate, or what? The interviewer is sort of stupid, but it's interesting to see Bob. He has a killer smile, when he can. I think this at at his house in Malibu.
Not brown enough? Why do people want me to think these ways? What's the point? Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I was raised to view people as individuals, while being aware of cultural and subcultural differences. Isn't that normal? Rightly or wrongly, I have a bias towards liking people unless or until they give me reason not to. Often enough, they do. I try to use discernment, but nothing to do with appearance.
Maybe wiser people use the opposite approach, but that's not me.
I am obliged to confess that I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University. Not, heaven knows, because I hold lightly the brainpower or knowledge or generosity or even the affability of the Harvard faculty: but because I greatly fear intellectual arrogance, and that is a distinguishing characteristic of the university which refuses to accept any common premise.
Don't Buy the Debunked Dominion Voting Machine Conspiracy Theory. Trump's campaign officials and attorneys are peddling this nonsense with help from credulous Fox News hosts, but their theories don't stand up to scrutiny
John Cleese Savages Transgender Orthodoxy
