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.
The Scots were easily defeated by the Redcoats at Culloden, after which Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped to Skye disguised as a woman. The Skye Boat Song which, somewhat modified, is the theme song of the Outlander series:
2:1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2:2 asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."
2:3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;
2:4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
2:5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
2:6 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
2:7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.
2:8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."
2:9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.
2:10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
2:11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
2:12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
1928, around Cape Horn. The ship is the Peking, now resting at NYC's South Street Seaport. Grew up on a Massachusetts farm, with the accent. Similar to Vermont.
The Beatles in Hamburg, many years ago. Some guy named Tony Sheridan is the singer. They rock this Scottish tune (which refers to Bonnie Prince Charlie).
I wonder whether Buffleheads can dislodge and eat Limpets. My photo is a beach of pure limpets (aka Slipper Shells). Something ate them, and I saw only Buffleheads.
... in the 21st Century, it’s been hopelessly compounded by layer upon layer of mass immigration from every conceivable corner of the planet. The Latino population in the US is now larger than the African-American one; and Asians, of many different varieties, are now immigrating in higher numbers than Latinos. Before too long, the black/white dynamic may disappear into the multi-colored, multi-hued background entirely.
I suppose one of the functions of education is to transmit the accumulations of a culture/civilization, but it's not that simple. If you can't do Persian arithmetic, or ancient Greek trig, you are in trouble in life. Western civilization has always been open to interesting new ideas. Case in point: Christmas tree.
In "modern times", ie, say, that includes other world cultures too. Perhaps "modern times" in the West sort of began with the Roman Empire.
Modern Western civilization has borrowed much from the entire world, and made something wonderful out of it all. Sometimes I wonder that Christianity could only have emerged from the Middle East with its hodge-podge of cultural and religious history. Mostly Jewish of course, but far more than that.
I think it's great to learn about other civilizations and cultures, but I think Western people need to know their own first. Like a language. Or, including the language.
My feeling is that Western civ contains astonishing wisdom and thought - more than anybody's brain can contain. I include Jacques Barzun and Einstein in that. Legal theory, math, literary adventures, philosophy, religion, etc. You can read about Canadian aborigine medicine on your own time but it's not so easy to get a grip on Biochem.
" One merciful upside to all of this is that there is no more talk of lockdowns. At last, even the experts are saying that society must function. Lockdowns are not even being considered. The whole country is fed up with the phony baloney enterprise of virus control. It did not and cannot work. "
It's a longer read, probably not of much interest to most but it is about politics. Rittenberg at Substack: On Utopian Thinking.
I have written about "Psycho-utopianism" (my term, I think). The Garden of Eden had just two people, one god - and a snake. Quote:
... we have seen that utopian thinking is characterized by the following features: failure of reality testing; implicit belief in the omnipotence of thoughts; tolerance of mutually contradictory thoughts. This collection of features will inevitably begin to seem familiar to teachers, psychologists, parents, anyone having to do with small children. For these are precisely the characteristics of infantile thought processes at a particular stage of development: the stage in which the infant mind conceives of itself as comprising the entire universe, and as absolutely perfect: the stage of infantile, omnipotent narcissism. Here, at last we have come upon Utopia! For it is to this lost, dimly remembered but never to be recaptured infantile bliss that the utopians long to return. In fact. such an infantile state is the only Utopia we humans ever have known or ever shall know.
Up until fairly recently, it was possible to get along with the crazy aunt or the old left-wing college buddy by avoiding certain topics. The cost of tolerating these mentally unstable people and keeping them from going berserk was to walk on eggshells around them in normal conversation. If you avoided their trigger topics, their insanity was for all practical purposes a private affair. It stayed in their head.
Incest
How Elizabeth Holmes fleeced the elites - 
It's a favorite of diving ducks, and of mine. The US lacks tiny European clams and cockles, but we have Cherrystones - small clams.
In winter, our diving ducks like shellfish and sea worms.