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.
Offshore, blustery, big swells, very bumpy ride to make it fun, headed towards the Canaries on a close reach - just as Columbus used to do on the trip west. Sea legs. I love the days at sea when you can feel the power of nature. All wonderful, exhilarating. Hold on to your hat - and your wine glass.
Mrs. BD and I traveled from the port of Agadir up into the Atlas Mountains, took a 6-hour mountain hike, had a very late lunch/early supper, then headed back to port to sail out into the Atlantic towards the Canary Islands at dusk. That's what I call a full day.
People say we're adventurous, but we just want to live life abundantly, with variety.
The kasbah that Mrs. BD discovered, in the mountains (those are all Argan trees):
More photo travelogue below the fold - lots of interesting photos for those who have never been in the Atlas Mountains -
In a weird way, Trump is doing to the ruling class what Progressives have done to traditional Americans for fifty years. He swings the wrecking ball and says, “Tell me why I shouldn’t do it.”
There is nothing gender biased about this, it is what it is. You will never see a female Quarterback in the NFL, there will never be a female center on any NHL team and you will never see a female batting in the number 4 spot for the New York Yankees. It is what it is.
Women know about Argan Oil. It is made from the nut (seed) of the Argan fruit. It is in many beauty and hair products nowadays, often termed "Moroccan Oil."
In pure form, it is quite expensive and desirable (we brought some of the pure stuff home for the family gals). In Morocco, it is used like olive oil too. Nice, nutty flavor. The tree seems to be the main tree in dry southern Morocco. From our November hike in the Atlas Mountain foothills, these are all Argan trees (except the donkeys).
Are you feeling terrorized by ISIS? I am not. In some ways, I empathize with Obama's practical and political dilemma. Let me explain.
Jihadists pose no threat to the US as a nation. To some unfortunate randomly-selected innocent people, yes. That is evil at work in this dangerous world. I have little doubt that their efforts are designed to produce hysterical overreactions to add fuel to their bluster and threats and to magnify their importance in the name of Allah. This is neither WW 2 or WW 3. Jihadists, whether Taliban. Al Quaida, ISIS - they are all basically the same thing and their only significant threat is to their fellow Middle Easterners, and perhaps secondarily to Europe to some extent. Israel, rightly, fears no one.
In their delusions, they are at war with everybody, but I do not see them as America's problem. Beating war drums and ginning up popular emotion is cheap politics, but perhaps effective politics.
I've left a lot out to keep it short. My final point is that the Middle East is a tar baby, and takes up far more American bandwidth than it deserves. There are no real nations there, just tribal and religious warfare. It is a pre-national, semi-civilized part of the world. There will be no end to that in our lifetimes. And it's not our job. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire was a disaster.
and re Trump's idea re Muslims, I am in favor of a moratorium on all immigration to the US, legal or illegal, until the nation as a whole can debate and decide what makes sense in today's world.
As a seasoned Psychiatrist, he ought to know the signs but few can doctor themselves. Listen to the tone of this post: And Death Shall Have Its Dominion
Maybe he should not have retired, but that's what Brits do. It's their culture, to be pensioners. His post-retirement career, as commenter and thinker, has been a fine contribution to the world.
I know what he needs, and it's not pills. He needs to get to the gym and to begin working out hard. Rage, rage....One hour of intense physical effort daily is good for attitude and mental health, and fends off the feeling of aging along with some of its physical effects.
Pic is the gym at our hotel last month in Puerto de la Cruz after we disembarked: the comfortable Hotel Botanico. After we hiked all over town for four hours, I spent a "relaxing" hour and a half in there before dinner. Nice gym. No gym music.
This year’s calendar offers a way to think about two important dates in Judaism, the birth of today’s Israel and Chanukah. The two dates represent the importance of struggle to accomplish a Jewish state as well as the struggle to deserve a Jewish state.
Four days after I was born, the modern state of Israel was ratified by the United Nations partition vote on November 29, 1947. Here’s a video recollection.
In the video, a commenter says that with the UN resolution Jews were no longer the object of history, acted upon by others, but the subject, taking control over their own fate. Divine intervention may have helped but it was the struggles of man that fulfilled the two-millennia of prayers.
A humorous take is that at the beginning of a year G-d tells a pious man he will be rewarded by winning the lottery before year end. Months pass and come late December the pious man asks of G-d why he hasn’t won yet. The response: “Meet me halfway, buy a ticket.”
The creation of modern Israel is when Jews got the message.Similarly, the two books of Macabbees on the origin of Chanukah offer contrasts between struggles of man and divine intervention. The first book is a fairly straight-forward reputable history. The second book contains more of the divine. (Here’s an analysis of the books of Maccabees, and theories of why they are not included in the Jewish bible.)
Maccabees (left); Hasmonean Kingdom 140-37 BC (right)
The most accepted theory of why the books of Maccabees are not included in the Jewish bible is that the Maccabee Hasmonean dynasty was not of the house of David and that it was itself later corrupted by Hellenism, due to its failure to live up to its nationalistic founding, and because the Jewish bible’s canonizers avoided provoking the Romans after their destruction of Israel, murder of as many Jews as they could and the dispersal of Jews to relative refuge elsewhere.
With the creation of modern Israel, as well as Jews promoting Chanukah as a counter to the lures upon their young of Christmas festivities, Chanukah has risen from a minor to a major Jewish holiday and the books of Maccabees are read more often.
The same tensions exist for modern Israel as for the Hasmonean and succeeding Herodian and diaspora era Jews.
To what extent is the influence or antipathy of other powerful states to be accommodated or resisted? To what extent can the core nature of the Jewish state be compromised? To what extent are the survival of the state of Israel and the fate of Jews in their own hands?
History and current events are why the original Maccabees are today’s models. Those, within or outside, who counsel surrender of vital interests or defeatism would bring upon Israel and Jews another diaspora, at best, and another likely slaughter.
Naturally, he blames the guns. I know that Bird Dog and his friends had good fun with firearms this weekend, and not one of their firearms went postal. Also, Gopnick neglected to mention that they had bombs too. Everything they did and had was illegal and had evil intent.
On our sailing ship in November, there was an Open Bridge policy. You could go there any time -24 hrs/day - and hang out and ask questions about the sail-handling, ship-handling, collision-avoidance, and general navigation. Always one mate and one watchman on duty, along with the 15-minute buzzer-button to prevent on-watch sleep.
Aren't they sposta be our moral and intellectual superiors?
Today is the first day of Hannukah, and of course we are well into Advent now. These times have a large secular component (and Christmas, of course, a large pagan component), and can be enjoyed by everybody regardless of religion or lack thereof. Even atheists tend to love Christmastime.
Thus perhaps the great Cornell University is worried about the hypersensitivities and potential postal rages of the Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, Ba'hai, Confucian, Zoroastrian, Wikkan, and Muslim students and faculty, but naturally nobody has heard those hypersensitivities expressed because who could be or would want to be that much of a negative, obnoxious a-hole?
This is all to be laughed about without wasting any mental bandwidth on angry indignation: It's Holiday Season for all, so cheer up and lighten up, you university sillies and you university pantywaists.
My message to university administrators: Chill out, have an eggnog, and and go look for a pretty girl (or boy) under the pagan mistletoe. You will feel better.
3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,
3:2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3:3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
3:4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
3:5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;
3:6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
Yesterday was a bluebird day in Yankeeland. A couple of pals and I spent the morning fly-fishing with great results - a beautiful few hours that turned out to be practicing casting rather than catching fish. It matters little. Fly-fishing and catching are not the same thing. We know there are big trout there, but they weren't interested. It ain't shopping - it's outdoor life.
After take-out ham, brie, and honey mustard sammiches and Cokes, with some Cape Cod tater chips, we pursued pheasants for three hours with my buddy's 2 hunting Labs (barely seen in my photo). That pursuit was more productive in the meat department, and hanging out and hiking with hunt dogs in fields and brush is one of the finer things in life. Basically, joyful.
At least one reader is interested in the topic, so I'll tell you what I had to do Friday morning at 5 am for my Friday Fun heavy calisthenics day.
After my usual 3-minute elliptical warm-up, my master strapped a 20# weight vest on me (I call it the jihad suicide vest because it might kill me). With that on, I went through cycles of these, repeated until an hour was up, approx 1-2 minutes of each with minimal (30-40 second) but necessary breath-catching time, thus about 6 cycles:
Jumping step-ups Squat-presses Kettle-ball swings Heavy ball smashes Complex agility ladder games Rope smashes Planks
Like Crossfit. I was drenched and incapacitated. But not dead yet. Feeling strong now? Nope. Feeling like a wreck. As you can see, this sequence is more about endurance, explosive effort, and intense cardio than strength-building. It would burn fat too, but I don't have much left to burn. I could not have completed this hour's sequence 5 months ago.
Noonan: The First Amendment Needs Your Prayers - Jumping on anyone who publicly expressed a religious feeling after the San Bernardino massacre. Where are we heading?
Indignation is always selective, it cannot be otherwise; but because it is so pleasant and self-satisfying an emotion there is always the temptation to simulate it. It can be a genuinely generous emotion where it is in response to the outright injustice, cruelty, or neglect of others, but it can also be used to justify one’s own bad behavior (throwing bottles in the Place de la République) and to exile the locus of one’s moral concern from one’s own conduct to that of matters far beyond one’s personal control. In other words, purity in the world, libertinism in one’s life.
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
A 
Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog
The creation of modern Israel is when Jews got the message.
At least one reader is interested in the topic, so I'll tell you what I had to do Friday morning at 5 am for my Friday Fun heavy calisthenics day.
Heart disease 