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.
There has always been national division about all sorts of things, from the time of the American revolution. Most Americans, or at least a large fraction, had no interest in separation from the crown. Disagreement is just natural but it sometimes seems surreal to me what people want from government. Like, everything they need including happiness. Good luck with that. Serfdom was a predictable life, but not something Americans wanted.
Socialism is immoral because it rests on a benign fantasy that masks a malignant truth. The fantasy is that a nation’s production, distribution, and wealth can be entrusted to a benevolent state dedicated to the common good. There is no such state. There are only people with power. Long centuries of constitutional restraints have schooled these naked apes in the habits of decency. But as the restraints weaken, the habits fall away. Not sometimes—always. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Socialism, which centralizes power, leads to oppression and human misery. Like the t-shirt says, you can vote your way in, but you have to shoot your way out.
Unlike real seamen, I do not trust anchors in bigger water other than daytime lunch hooks. There are too many things that can disrupt an anchor, such as wind shifts, big waves, condition of the bottom, etc. It is not unusual for recreational boaters to dive down and check the bottom situation of their anchor. Commercial fishermen use 2 anchors, but the olde time Cape Cod fishermen would often prefer to run up on a beach than sleep on anchor on a bad night when they could not reach harbor.
For large vessels, there are now global positioning systems which will keep you precisely in place without anchor or mooring.
This colorful species of the jay family is fairly common from the East coast of the US to the eastern edge of the Rockies. In winter here I occasionally find their feathers scattered around where a Sharp-Shinned Hawk has caught one for dinner.
Apparently some migrate and some don't. It is termed "partial migration." I have seen large flocks migrating south along the Hudson River. However, there are always plenty of them around in a New England winter especially if you put bird food out.
Factoid: they mate for life, like Canada Geese. How do they know who is who, because they all look the same?
... researchers are now digging deeper into the mechanisms that underlie the benefits of physical activity. They are finding that exercise is both powerful and wide-reaching, affecting not just muscles and the cardiovascular system, but almost every part of the body, from the immune system to the brain to the energy systems within individual cells. And as scientists understand more precisely which levers exercise pulls to improve our health, clinicians are on the verge of being able to change their practice. The goal is to think of exercise as a medicine — a therapy that they can prescribe in specific doses for specific needs.
I've read, and watched, quite a bit on this Facebook Whistleblower. I can't say I disagree with much of what she is saying, although I think you can apply all of it to most of our major media outlets today, not just Facebook. I began to question her motivations, in particular after she told her story of a friend who went from being a like-minded Progressive liberal to something other than this (implying 'lies' on Facebook turned that person into a conservative, I'm assuming). God forbid information should make you change your mind or your views - particularly if there's one less of these Progressives in the world!
I may agree with much of what she says she's seen or even believes. I'd even like to stop what she's hoping to stop (hate speech, misinformation, lies, bullying). I can't say she knows how to stop those things. In fact, I know she can't. She THINKS she can. After all, she writes algorithms for a living, and she believes algorithms can fix anything. She's clearly a socialist of some nature, after all, she points out that Facebook puts 'profit' before stopping 'hate speech'. I found that claim interesting, since all major media outlets do this. After all, what are CRT, Cancel Culture or Wokism if not hate speech? And the major outlets are sharing those ideas quite freely and openly. So yes, profit is put ahead of stopping hate speech.
The critical part here is that she seems to think it can be reduced or stopped. I suppose it can, to a small degree. But if you want to (as she does) rely on algorithms, which she writes for a living, then what she's really saying is "I'd like to be able to control what information is fed to people at all times, and limit it to what I believe is acceptable."
I believe in choices. And we all make them. We choose to be on (or off) Facebook, social media, the internet or TV. Once we've chosen what to engage, we choose what to believe or not believe in our information resources. Sometimes (whoops) it's a lie or misinformation, though most times it's probably not (though I suppose if you listen to Biden and Fauci and assume they are authorities on anything, you're welcome to believe almost anything is 'truth' or 'science'). Part of adulting is learning to use common sense and pursue productive, effective, and meaningful parsing of data and information. I'm not sure what the whistleblower is hoping to achieve, but if it is to 'save' Facebook (as she claims) then I'm likely to believe that she's hoping to engage more situational design leading to social outcomes she believes are 'best for society'. I doubt I share her views on what's 'best' for society.
This colorful species of the jay family is fairly common from the East coast of the US to the eastern edge of the Rockies. In winter here I occasionally find their feathers scattered around where a Sharp-Shinned Hawk has caught one for dinner.
The 
Mick Jagger had a beer at Charlotte’s Thirsty Beaver —