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.
Just going to post a few pictures of my vacation, an off-season visit to Montana, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. We had to leave 2 days early due to snow, but it was still one of the best trips we've had as a family. Lots of hiking. Lots of driving. Lots of steak. Flew into Bozeman, drove down through Red Lodge and stopped at Cody. Nice towns to visit. We had to skip Livingston, too much snow and the road condition reports were not good. The next day, the drive from Cody to Yellowstone is magnificent, and we did it in the snow, again. Pictures of our Yellowstone Welcome Wagon below. Saw Old Faithful (the boys were underwhelmed, but it did go off right at the time we were told it would).
Spent 2 days in Jackson, hiked the Tetons and met some moose. No squirrel. Definitely need to return and do more hiking there. Amphitheater Lake looks wonderful, and the hike to 9,000 feet isn't horrible.
Drove through Idaho, where we ran into a cattle drive in Rexburg, to West Yellowstone. A tourist town, but in the offseason it has a charm all its own. Spent another day hiking and taking pictures of geothermal activity, waterfalls, and ran into Wile E. Coyote on a short hike to Clear Lake (which is really quite green and smells like sulphur).
The weather in Yellowstone changes on a whim. We had fog, rain, clear skies and snow all in a 5 hour period. The first few snow storms were pretty mild. Unfortunately, the snow kept getting worse. When 4 inches fell, the park closed and a larger storm was on the way. So we changed the flights and headed home. It was the right decision. Bozeman got 10 inches on Saturday, and we would have had to drive in that snow...
This is not a pro-Trump post, just an observation. The Biden family is as corrupt as it comes. Russia, China, everywhere. It's creepy. Find the Tucker interview if it has not been censored everywhere.
Trump has how many media colonoscopies, and still nothing, not even a minor polyp. Believe it or not, a NYC (and slightly international - Ireland) real estate developer, yet nothing at all on the guy except a weakness for females. I have always thought Joe was a decent fellow despite the expected political lying and bs, but not any more.
If you want money, that's fine. Everybody needs money, but get it honestly through work and not through politics.
Bob Dylan even claimed that ‘Norwegian Wood’ was so similar to his style that he even made a parody of the song called ‘Fourth Time Around’ which appeared to deliberately mock John Lennon. Listening to Rubber Soul, Dylan replied: “What is this? It’s me, Bob. [John’s] doing me! Even Sonny & Cher are doing me, but, fucking hell, I invented it.”
Bob has inspired many. By the way, Rubber Soul is still a good record.
If Hunter were named Hunter Trump, would the news be covering the story about the family money deals in China, Ukraine, and Russia? Not to mention the sex and crack. And the part about "holding 10 for the big guy"?
It's a class thing, or maybe an aesthetic thing, because few people tell you what Trump policies they oppose. Trump will win again. (This is an old snippet which is still timely)
It smells pretty bad. Does it matter politically? I don't know. People are inured to Dems finding ways to get rich through politics. Seems more typical for Repubs to make money first, then to get into politics as a hobby or as a give-back.
As Goodwin states, this is only China. No doubt the graft and corruption includes Ukraine, Romania, Kazakhstan and probably every other country where Air Force Two touched down between 2009 and 2016, or where a US government aircraft unloaded that gibbering, corrupt pervert and his son in the former's capacity as a Senator and official American envoy since 1973.
The RC Church has a long and ancient history of being politically-involved and taking sides. Politically, and financially. It's their strength and their weakness. Mind you, spoken as an olde-tyme Protestant.
However, after many years, even Protestants have gotten into political games. It is a shame, in my view, for church to become too worldly.
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Touching Down