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.
Is The Donald half-nuts? I sort-of think so. It's why he was elected. Overturn tables, rattle cages, slash and burn, etc.
I think I figgered it all out. His mom, Mary Ann Macleod, was a penniless immigrant from the Isle of Lewis, outside Stornaway. Lots of wild and crazy Clan Macleods up there - or used to be before most of them sensibly emigrated to America where the living is easy.
Trump's mom worked as domestic help in NYC before marrying Fred Trump, the real estate developer of German extraction.
As I understand it, the Hebrides islanders are like high-octane Highlanders. They had to be, to fight to survive the elements, the sea, the Danes, rival clans, and the Brits. Women as tough and stubborn as the men. A semi-civilized, fighting, reckless, ignorant, defiant breed.
Conan the Barbarian was modeled after highland Celtic warriors. Barbarians. America was fed up with its elite overlords who always knew better than us, the great unwashed.
There is a lot of college marketing going on. At some point, colleges realized that they were an industry with a large social and entertainment component.
Parsi’s cynical histrionics, like the incessant cries over a nonexistent “Muslim ban,” are symptoms of a larger problem with the left’s reaction to Donald Trump, who indeed poses a genuine menace to both this country and the world. Consider: In the months following his upset presidential victory late last year, three white men screaming Trump’s name assaulted a young Muslim woman on the Manhattan 6 train and tried to rip off her hijab, a black church in Mississippi was firebombed with “Vote Trump” spray-painted on its brick wall, a Jewish family fled Lancaster County in Pennsylvania after receiving threats for exempting their child from an elementary school Christmas pageant, and just last week an elderly Iraqi woman died awaiting medical treatment because she was barred from entering the United States due to Trump’s executive order.
Fortunately, none of these things actually happened...
What if time has passed the Left by? What if its future is the past? The frightening question must be faced. One solution says Harris, is for the Left to completely rearchitecture itself, starting with an abanonment of the proletariat by accepting that traditional work no longer exists. Having left the greasy workplace it should become instead a lifestyle party.
... I was bemused as I thought back to those halcyon male chauvinist days of the 1960’s and 70’s when I, along with virtually all American males, were berated because, per the feminists, we supposedly only viewed women as the sum of their bodily parts. It now appears, based on the words of that pillar of intellectual prowess Ashley Judd and others, that women are, in fact, the sum of their bodily parts. By the way ladies, congratulations: you have, in public, far exceeded whatever you think the banter regarding women is in the privacy of male locker rooms. So now what is the sequel to grab attention, as so much time remains in the Trump presidency? There aren’t many options remaining beyond an endless cavalcade of public nudity as these so-called feminist groups have pretty much plumbed the depths of verbal depravity. But the nation will be watching and waiting for the curtain to rise on the next act of the Feminist Follies.
A problem is that many of these people seem to lack the physical and personality charms which appeal to men, so I suspect that nudity is not a good political tactic. If men want to connect with harsh, cranky, or manly women who lack feminine charm, they can just link up with guys and get the real deal. Nobody cares nowadays.
Photo is the Maggie's Farm professional Tractor Traction Tester. Equal wages.
We consider planks to be a basic in the calisthenic component of a fitness program. While many planks are really isometric, I'll put them under the calisthenic umbrella along with more active planks like Mountain Climbers and Burpees.
Regular elbow or straight-arm planks are good uses of "rest" periods between weight-lifting, too. Planks are not really cosmetic, for creating visible 6-packs. You will never do that. They are core-strengtheners, which means torso. A sturdy torso is one's core.
I probably do 8-10 30-60-second planks of various types weekly, usually as part of supersets. Not much, but it fills the time. I do plenty of other calis that make demands on core, but all exercise stresses the core because...it's the core.
While I voted for Trump, I always suspected that he was a closet NY lefty. He is not. He is neither lefty nor righty, but a common-sense pragmatist with big balls and, while he acts thin-skinned, in many ways he is fearless and just doesn't care. Interesting character, for whom a political career is only secondary.
That was quite a game last night, wasn't it? Commenter at Gateway:
The Falcons plan to file a lawsuit saying the Patriots may have had the highest score but Atlanta should be declared the winner since they rushed for the most yards.
A note to you people who walk on the side of the road, or cross the road, between dusk and dawn in black coats, dark pants, and dark hats: One of these days I will hit you with my car, and it will ruin both of our lives.
Please stop it. You are invisible to me. When I am driving, I am not looking for people in the road. You road people have to make yourselves obvious to me. Cars have rear lights for a reason. I have already had a couple of close calls this winter and when roads are slippery it is even more dangerous. If you must wear black, all it takes is a strip of reflector tape or one of those light things to keep yourself safe and to keep me from a mess.
1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
1:23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25 For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
1:26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
1:28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,
1:29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God.
1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1:31 in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
I don't follow pro football, so it doesn't mean much to me. It does seem like a decent excuse for a cheery mid-winter party, though. Just spare me the revolting chips and guacamole.
Serious football fans seem not to like Superbowl parties. My father-in-law would never attend one. Too much noise and distraction. When it comes to football, he likes to focus like a laser beam, in solitude.
We linked a piece about the life of H A Rey (Curious George) a while ago. Rey also wrote Find the Constellations and The Stars. I learned the constellations from those books.
I can still look up and find the North Star as long as I can find the Big Dipper (which is low in the sky this time of year). Basic life knowledge.
Constellations illustrate an interesting cognitive phenomenon. There is no pattern up there in the sky, but if you invent some, you will see them for the rest of your life.
Is The Donald half-nuts? I sort-of think so. It's why he was elected. Overturn tables, rattle cages, slash and burn, etc.
An Eagle
From 
Study: 
Today's real headline: 
We linked a piece about the life of H A Rey (Curious George) a while ago. Rey also wrote