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.
Many others around the intertubes have been saying what I have been saying: The Republican Party is not a Conservative Party, just the more conservative party.
Conservatives are a faction, and libertarian/conservatives like me are a sub-faction.
Well, I used to identify as a ham sandwich and before that as a bird dog, but now I identify as a 32 year old, 6'2" tall, dark and handsome male with an IQ equal to my weight of 178 lbs of pure muscle and $40 million in my checking account. Call me crazy.
"Dedicated to public service." Barf. Just those words are a joke to the average American, who knows full well that public service is self-service. Mrs. Bill Clinton and Bill made $200 million in public service. Slacker Harry Reid only made $10 million. Fame and fortune.
Facing a free-wheeling Trump, she is weighted down by tons of baggage. This year was supposed to be Hillary Clinton’s “turn,” after her humiliating loss in 2008 to Barack Obama. She has paid her dues as secretary of state for Obama. And the apparent Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, is written off by most pundits as a buffoon without a chance in the general election. Yet, Clinton’s campaign continues to be dismal, and is getting worse — to the point where the socialist Bernie Sanders polls better against Trump than does Hillary Clinton. How can that be?
At least eight reasons come to mind — several of them relating to Clinton’s innate character flaws and past scandals...
The failure of the center-Left to transform its institutional and intellectual dominance into policy achievements that actually stabilize middle class life, and the failure of the center-Right to articulate a workable alternative have left a giant intellectual and political vacuum in the heart of American life. The Trump movement is not an answer to our problems, but the social instinct of revolt and rejection that powers it is a sign of social health. The tailors are frauds and the emperor is not in fact wearing any clothes: it is a good sign and not a bad sign that so many Americans are willing to say so out loud.
Those of us who care about policy, propriety and the other bourgeois values without which no democratic society can long thrive need to spend less time wringing our hands about the shortcomings of candidate Trump and the movement that has brought him this far, and more time both analyzing the establishment failures that have brought the country to this pass, and developing a new vision for the American future.
I am not sure how new it is, though. The masses of voters were never strongly ideological, just the pundits. Donald Trump is post-ideolological, which is why he could win an election.
Barry Goldwater and Rand Paul were ideological. Well, Reagan was too, in some ways, but he was more American Flag primarily. Like The Donald is. How much did Reagan do to advance the Conservative agenda? Not too much. He was handcuffed. I wish he could have accomplished more such as eliminating entire federal departments.
The world, in all its imperfection, will have empires of one kind or another. Not one will always be a force for good. But there is better and worse, and if we are sane, we will allow that in our time the American power has been a blessing
It's a good discussion. I have several problems with their conclusions, but by free will I have decided to put my tomatoes out instead of writing my thoughts. I guess you could claim that my genes and neurons made me make that decision.
Jumping is one of the best and most demanding calisthenic/cardio-endurance exercises. It is harmless to knees and hips because it is on toes.
Like most things, it takes practice to get to the point where it is useful. I am working towards a repertoire of jumps, but it is more difficult than it looks and I am not highly-coordinated. (If you think you are, try double unders sometime and let me know.) Also, I find just two minutes of speed rope to be quite fatiguing. That's why I embed a minute or two of rope in a circuit of calisthenics. Cardio and calisthenics are a waste of time without intensity.
This guy is an expert. It's like watching a dancer. His double unders are great. Three things to watch: 1. His body stays in a relaxed athletic posture with no tension 2) The rope usually maintains a steady pace regardless of what his legs and feet are doing (he is mostly not doing speed), and 3) His hands and arms remain in the same position.
NYC's City College is a great public school, (ten Nobel laureates, countless distinguished citizens, academics, and professionals) but it had a lot to recover from. So did the rest of the huge CUNY system which aspires to make higher ed accessible to aspiring New Yorkers.
Fridays are still mostly moving/calisthenics day for me. It's always a different mix.
After a five-minute elliptical warm-up:
- 4 sets of increasing wt leg press (to try to improve my barbell squats next week) - Then what I call a circus: 5 go-rounds of a circuit of ladder drills, heavy ball floor smashes, and jump pull-ups. Whew. I still can not get 10 regular pull-ups, but getting there. A goal. - Then 4 rotations of heavy ball wall smashes alternating with jump rope variations (singles, running man, and practicing one-footed jumps)
Total body fatigue in one hour, barely able to move. Good stuff, highly stressful and exertional. If I were not doing my program, my life would contain no extreme physical exertion.
Unlike most commenters on microaggressions, I view the entire concept as a joke. And I feel it is a joke that anybody takes the idea seriously. And nobody hardly does, outside of the peculiar testosterone-challenged administrators on American campi.
Here's the deal: Since no real aggressions are anywhere to be found, some people invented the micro. Next will come nanoaggressions. Why? Because the victim/oppressor narrative must continue. It's, like, you know, the System.
In sum, microaggression catalogs are a form of social control in which the aggrieved collect and publicize accounts of intercollective offenses, making the case that relatively minor slights are part of a larger pattern of injustice and that those who suffer them are socially marginalized and deserving of sympathy. [The social conditions that give rise to this form of social control] include a social setting with cultural diversity and relatively high levels of equality, though with the presence of strongly superior third parties such as legal officials and organizational administrators… Under these conditions, individuals are likely to express grievances about oppression, and aggrieved individuals are likely to depend on the aid of third parties, to cast a wide net in their attempt to find supporters, and to campaign for support by emphasizing their own need against a bullying adversary.
Money: 
How much of a 
Image stolen from 