Busy, cold night  at Stonehenge as they move the rocks back an hour

Many, like Van Gogh, felt he was a magician but in his lifetime his work became unpopular and less profitable, he made some bad investments, and died in poverty.

It seems that what we value most about Rembrandt today are his portraits, but he did all sorts of work in all sorts of styles.  The 17th C Dutch art show at the Met Museum now was interesting to me for a few reasons.

One was that Rembrandt was an outlier in much of his work. Baroque, and humorous/bawdy, were popular, money-making styles of his time. Franz Hals, for example. Also, landscapes of rich guys' estates.

Also interesting to me that this was going on during the time when the Pilgrims were in Holland, or planning to leave to New Amsterdam (but accidentally ended up in Cape Cod). Pilgrim clothing was conservative Dutch Reform dress.

My photo of one of Rembrandt's many self portraits. He was 55 at this time. He often used himself and his family as models. 

A repost from a past November -

A great hunt this morning at a pal's rod and gun club. Heavy snow flurries and a stiff breeze made things interesting. Had two good Labs working for us today. Had to break the ice in their water tubs. Being Labs, naturally one insisted on climbing into the water tub to play with the floating hunks of ice and was not eager to come out.

Before a late lunch we had some venison sausage and I fixed myself a Clamato Bloody Mary while we cleaned and oiled our weapons. For lunch, they made us rare roast beef with Onion Pie, with a nice Chateau Simard '86 (Simard remains an excellent wine for the price). I do not know whether it was just the effect of a long cold day in the field, but this onion pie was about the tastiest, most savory thing I have ever eaten. The cook made it with a plain white-cracker piecrust and maybe sprinkled cracker crumbs over the top. This pie is to a kiche as a Grizzly Bear is to a Teddy Bear. Rice Pudding for dessert, of course: what else would you serve at an old-fashioned guy's club where women are not allowed?

As my friends know all too well, it's great to have somebody else to drive so I can indulge a post-prandial, post-hunt snoring snooze. I do not know why my friends put up with me.

Prepare unbaked pie shell. Start heating oven to 400 degrees. Saute onions in butter and dump into pie shell. Toss the cheese with flour, sprinkle over onions. Beat eggs well. Stir in milk or cream, salt and pepper. Pour over cheese. Sprinkle crack crumbs on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then reduce oven heat to 300 degrees and bake 25 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve hot, in wedges.

That is soul food with a rare roast beef. Might be a good treat for a holday, too, as an alternative to creamed baby onions (which I also love).

Image is Currier and Ives' Autumn

Kimball:  A genuinely transgressive act - On the dedication of Christ Chapel at Hillsdale College.

Stunningly beautiful 

 Left-Wing Racial Grievance Merchants Want to Ban Honors Classes in Schools, Claiming They Only Promote "White Supremacy"

 America's religion of anti-racism reaches peak absurdity

Clinical insanity isn’t just a fashionable option anymore. It is becoming mandatory.

The Electric Car Fantasy - Senator Chuck Schumer’s ambitious proposal bucks basic economics—and science.

Huge October Payrolls Beat: 128K Jobs Added As Black Unemployment Rate Hits All Time Low

 New York Times: Airing National Anthem On TV Could Trigger Viewers Who Hear ‘Political Overtones’

 Tomi Lahren responds to left-wing backlash over her AOC Halloween costume: 'Calm down'

 California's Prop 47 leads to rise in shoplifting, thefts, criminal activity across state

 WAKE UP, IDIOTS! 453,000 New Yorkers Fled the State Last Year — And Now Trump!… And Cuomo and De Blasio CRACK JOKES?

 Aaron Sorkin, Who Built His Career on Making Up Stuff About Politics, Claims Free Speech "Assaults Truth"

Biden:   IT’S DEFINITELY TIME TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM

Former CIA Director On Trump Impeachment: ‘Thank God For The Deep State’

A stunning confession from a Deep State member subverting the constitutional republic

 Suspected ‘Whistleblower’ Ciaramella May Be CIA Spy Planted in Trump White House Identified as “Charlie” in Strzok and Page Texts

 Military Official Who Worked with Top Schiff Witness Alex Vindman Reprimanded Him for Inappropriate and Partisan Behavior in Military

 Andrew McCarthy: Trump impeachment inquiry's sneaky next chapter – Get ready for THIS

Finland Has a Sports Screw Loose - Swamp soccer. Wife carrying. Phone throwing. The country used to be formidable in traditional sports, but has pivoted hard to the bizarre side of competition.

2020 Dems Stand With J Street, Hamas and ISIS Against Israel - Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders declare war on the Jewish State.

 Trump Admin Considers Adding More Nations To So-Called Travel Ban

Autumn morning at ye olde HQ

 Vladimir Bukovsky, hero of freedom

In-law issues are normal:  Prince Harry, Meghan reportedly have confrontation with Queen

 The Weird Psychological Theory behind Gym Class

 CNN: Asthma Sufferers Need To Change Their Medicine To Stop ‘Climate Change’

 The Female Sexual Predator

It’s Not Climate Change To Blame For California’s Fires And Blackouts. It’s Democrats - Thanks to Democrats, California’s large and heavily regulated public utilities prioritize wind and solar power, leaving little for powerline maintenance and upgrades.

 The ‘Farm Workforce Modernization Act’

 How 'mattress girl' changed her mind

End the Failed Renewable Fuel Standard Experiment - Why Congress should abolish the ethanol mandate.

 UMich nixes 'Bias Response Teams' amid free speech lawsuit

 CITIZENS OF NOWHERE

Results Are In: Common Core Is Making American Kids Dumber

California is nearing the logical limits of progressive adventurism in policy and politics.

 The Chicago Teacher Union vs. Charter Schools

 Trump Judicial Pick Breaks Down in Tears Over Horrible Far Left Smears During Hearing

Evil 

 Former Time Editor Wants Hate-Speech Laws, Thinks Trump ‘Might’ Violate Them, and Misses the Irony

 Trump Tweets Meme About Hero Dog, Journos Lose Minds.

Trump is a master troller. Funny, too

 UPDATES ON THE IMPEACHMENT FARCE

 The Adam Schiff Empowerment Act

House Impeachment Resolution Authorizes Fishing Expedition Probes that Go Far Beyond Ukraine

 Impeachment Has Been Their Plan All Along

 Anti-Trump Media Is Waging Psychological Warfare Against the American People

 The Deep State Isn’t a Conspiracy, It’s a Revolution

 NSC Official Tim Morrison To Schiff: ‘I Was Not Concerned That Anything Illegal Was Discussed’ In Trump-Ukraine Phone Call

 Adam Schiff Coached Alexander Vindman Throughout Impeachment Testimony

 Who could be in Durham’s investigative crosshairs? Obama-era figures have reason to sweat

Whistleblower Eric Ciaramella: Is this the best they've got?

Marxism Never Dies in Chile - Ongoing demonstrations have good cause, but the South American country needs more “neoliberalism”—not less.

About an influential book nobody reads anymore: The Columbian Orator 

 Motorcyclist Who Identifies As Bicyclist Sets Cycling World Record

Dave Chappelle Blows Raspberry at Political Correctness - "And I'm sorry if I hurt anybody. Etc., etc. Yada, yada, yada. Everything I'm supposed to say."

 Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle and more comedians weigh in, bluntly, on 'cancel culture'

Obama:  ‘Cancel Culture’ Is Canceled

 Pro-Palestinian college group is 'main driver of Jew-hatred on campus,' study suggests

 Title IX Has Spawned a Dangerous, Totalitarian Bureaucracy

 Can The Government Really Limit Marriage To Two People?

California Burning

I blame it on fire suppression 

So do the experts 

But Jerry Brown blames Trump for the fires 

 California Has the Nation's Worst Poverty Rate, New Census Data Shows

 Border apprehensions increase by 500,000 from 2018 to 2019

 Elizabeth Warren Pledges To Crack Down On School Choice, Despite Sending Her Own Son To Elite Private School

  Hillary Clinton Paid to Have Her Personal Conspiracy Theory Made Into Official US National Security Policy, and The Entire Nation Has Been Forced to Live Inside the Sick Imaginings of a Paranoiac for Three Years

 Nikki Haley Goes After The Deep State During AEI Event In DC

Speaking of which,   Anti-Trump Whistleblower’s Identity Revealed – Worked for Susan Rice, Obama, Also Helped Initiate the Russia Collusion Hoax Investigation!

 Brokaw To Mitchell: House Dems Don’t Really Have “The Goods” On Trump, Do They?

Trump’s praise for the dog that helped capture al Baghdadi was a psy-ops classic

 Would Baghdadi be alive if Biden was president? As VP, he opposed raid that killed bin Laden

 Prof: Trump ‘mentally impaired,’ experiencing ‘early onset dementia' as 'obese male’

From 1998, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World.

A delightful read. 

A baked or broiled chunk of Cod is a good test of a fine kitchen. Sad to say, Cod have been overfished to the extent that their historic populations may never be seen again - and I mean both the European and the western Atlantic populations.

Same issue with Haddock. Not sure I can tell the difference on a plate but a good Cod has thick flakes.

What about Fish 'n Chips? That means Cod or Haddock. For me, it has to be done right which means crispy but succulent, almost undercooked and fairly thick inside. It's easy to find terrible Fish 'n Chips and I have found lots of them. Worst ones in the UK, best one ever on the dock on Block Island. Malt vinegar, and beer are right with it.

Photo from NYC: Behold, The Soul-Stirring Peregrine Falcon Who Watches Over Us All

He's not dead, just resting

Your Halloween Decorations Are Bad For ‘Climate Change’ Or Something

 'Cultural appropriation is cultural genocide,’ says Mo. school’s costume workshop

So my ravioli destroys Italian culture? 

 Vladimir Bukovsky (1942 - 2019)

1776, not 1619 - America’s Founding was not defined by slavery and white supremacy—quite the contrary.

 'Your Past Is Terrible, and Your Future Is Terrible': What the Left Tells Young Americans

 Bankers Fleeing New York

"The most knowledgable conservationists I’ve known were all hunters, quite unlike know-it-all urban hipster “environmentalists.” 

The first guy I hunted ducks with was the founder of our local Audubon Society 

 Elderly Vet Has Guns Seized After Criticizing School Resource Officer For Allegedly Leaving His Post

 The Export-Import Bank Shuffles Forward — Like a Zombie

Get rid of it. Crony capitalism 

 US detains record 76,000 minors traveling alone in 2019

It's incomprehensible. Parents send them?

Kanye West Claims Democrats Have ‘Brainwashed’ Blacks

Kanye West’s Conversion Could Be a Cultural Wrecking Ball

EX-BILL CLINTON ADVISER PREDICTS HILLARY WILL RUN IN 2020 IF BIDEN DROPS OUT: SHE THINKS 'GOD PUT HER ON EARTH' TO BE PRESIDENT

 U.S. Recovered Valuable Intelligence In Baghdadi Raid

 The left stumbles all over itself to praise al-Baghdadi

Sick and getting sicker. But I don't care about ISIS any more. Let the Syrians, Turks, and Russians grapple with them. Not my problem. 

Adam Schiff Accused of Witness Tampering in 'Soviet-Style' Impeachment Inquiry

 Dan Crenshaw challenges entire premise of Ukraine impeachment efforts

He is right. Crenshaw is a good one, also, Matt Gaetz. Both potential presidential material.

The Bell Is About to Toll - The real malefactors of election interference are soon to be exposed.

Maybe 

 “I’ll agree to let you outlaw hate speech if you agree to let me define hate speech.”

 NYT Writer Finally Admits It Feels Good To Hate Trump

Hate is fun, especially when it's self-righteous 

Why the 'Woke' Corporations Back China

The Enduring Value of Herman Melville

Academia and the Spirit of Fear - Suffering from want of courage.

Oxford Nixes Clapping Lest It Trigger Snowflakes

I don't even understand this 

 Training for Title IX investigators lacks tested, effective techniques

 Accomplished Charter-School Leader Fired for Publicly Worrying about Academic Excellence

Excellence is "problematic" 

VDH:  Our Bankrupt Nomenklatura - Take all the signature brand names that the Baby Boomers inherited from prior generations—Harvard, Yale, the New York Times, NPR, CNN, the Oscars, the NFL, the NBA, the FBI, the CIA, the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, and a host of others. And then ask whether they enhanced or diminished such inheritances?

 Teachers union instructs members how to push identity politics on students

You are either a victim or an oppressor. Did you know that? Hang the sign around your neck.

 The Real Climate Crisis Is Not Global Warming, It Is Cooling, And It May Have Already Started

 NYC secretly exports homeless to Hawaii and other states without telling receiving pols

 Brother of Sandy Hook victim blasts Joe Biden for 'lie', reveals family barred from Air Force One flight for opposing gun control

 The Bidens: "Stone Cold Crooked" (3) 

 John Kelly to Democrats critical of ICE: ‘Go to hell!’

Kelly is needed back in the WH 

 IMF chief applauds "bravery" of Trump tax cuts

The Real Reasons Why Legacy Media Are Freaking Out Over Trump’s Successful Baghdadi Mission

 NY Times thinks it found the real enemy in al-Baghdadi raid: TRUMP

Trump is Satan 

 James Foley’s Mother Thanks Trump and Brave Troops for Death of ISIS Leader

 Mother of Kayla Mueller: My Daughter Might Still Be Alive “If Obama Had Been as Decisive as Trump”

Impeachment pursuits began on the day Trump was inaugurated

No kidding 

 Italy: Mass Legalization Of Migrants Is Suicidal

 Media Frantically Reminding You That Trump Hasn’t “Defeated ISIS”

 Why this physician never tells anyone she’s a doctor

Fun hunting and fishing at Ace 

 Transgendering Children is the New 'Munchhausen by Proxy' Child Abuse

 Russian eagle with GPS collar runs up ‘astronomical’ data charge for scientists after flying out of country

Human Remains Found in S. California Burn Area; Power Outages to Impact 3 Million Northern Californians as Winds Ramp Up

California wildfires: Millions face blackouts and 50,000 evacuated as dozens of buildings destroyed by blazes across state. Electricity firm to cut power amid reports broken infrastructure may have sparked at least one outbreak

Living in fire zones is a lousy idea 

 WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH ANDREW SULLIVAN IS A VOICE OF SANITY

Our Unhealthy Addiction to Health Insurance - The hardest part of treating addiction to any substance or belief is that denial is a major part of the disease.

 What We Call National Health Care or Single-Payer Is a Crime Against Humanity

 Trump Administration Is Right to Eye Free-Market Health Plan Finders

Climate Stalinism - Today’s radical green movement demands submission to an elite governing class—and its views are entering the mainstream

 The Politics, Science, and Politicized Science of Climate Change

 Popular Freshman Democrat Katie Hill Resigns Following News of Failed Throuple Relationship and Naked Bong Parties

Seems like it was fun while it lasted 

 Busted: Joe Biden Intervened To Help Hunter's Lobbying Efforts On Multiple Occasions

Warren Took Thousands From Teachers’ Unions Before Charter School Flip-Flop - Warren in 2004: Education vouchers would 'relieve parents'

 Financial crisis forecaster says Trump is a ‘genius’ and his opponents have learned nothing since 2016

 GOP Has A Choice: Fight Anti-Trump Coup Effort Or Surrender Government To Democrats

 Update on the Star Chamber that is the “impeachment inquiry”

 Even Before Ukraine Uproar, 10 of 13 Democrats on Intel Panel Backed Trump Impeachment Probe

They'd impeach Trump for picking his nose

Multitasking the Intelligence Community Roundup - I am not the only one to notice that Schiff and Nadler are more and more playing to suburban dinner theaters with tiny audiences while the names William Barr, John Durham, and Michael Horowitz are front-page news wherever there is news (as distinct from propaganda)

Trump Probably Should Have Informed Congress About Baghdadi’s Raid

Didn't trust them not to sabotage a secret mission 

 CNN Senior International Correspondent Compares Trump to ISIS Following President’s Statement on Baghdadi’s Death

 YOU CAN’T MOCK THE POST ENOUGH

Ascetic religious leader:  Hostage Kayla Mueller had her fingernails pulled out before being repeatedly raped by ISIS leader: Yazidi sex slave reveals torment of aid worker's harrowing final months as the secret wife of al-Baghdadi

 Rep. Schiff: Durham Probe Into Russian Interference Investigation ‘Illegitimate,’ Suggests He’ll Reject Findings

 Reps. Schiff, Nadler Condemn Turning Durham Russia Probe Into Criminal Investigation

 Who will be the first to flip in spygate criminal investigation?

Why disaster relief still isn’t reaching regular Puerto Ricans

Can't we force independence on them? 

 Americans’ love of drugs may soon bring Mexico’s collapse

Trump Outsmarts Putin With Syria Retreat

 Putin Derangement Syndrome: Craziester And More Craziester

From a pal and reader skiing in Loveland, Colorado yesterday on a bluebird day. His comment: "Life is worth living."

From 1978.

Blake was one of a kind. He completed his formal education at age 10 and became an engraver. However, later he attended the Royal Academy of Art for a while. Contemporaries thought he was mad. He had a wonderful life. 

Via American Digest and Dinocrat,  ‘To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit’: Blake’s Visionary Imagination

Image is Blake's Ghost of a Flea 

Nice townhouses between Mad Ave and 5th in the 60s

Photo: The Leonardo sculpture is going on auction 

 Man Identifying As 6-Year-Old Crushes Game-Winning Homer In Tee-Ball Championship

 Who’s Afraid of Roundup?

 Why Do Women Fake Orgasms?

 Listen to World’s Loudest Bird Scream for Mate

Judith Miller:  A tribute to my brother Jimmy Miller, who produced the Rolling Stones’ greatest records and heard the music in everything around him, on the 25th anniversary of his death

Is transgender a mass hysteria? 

 Study: Most People Who Overdose On Opioids Aren’t Using Prescription Drugs

 Mike Pence criticises NBA as 'wholly owned subsidiary' of China

 When Education Becomes Therapy

Capitalism on trial: Profit is a good thing — except to the political left

 THE WELFARE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX - Where does the money go?

 National Review Does The Unthinkable-- It Hires a Non-Never-Trumper, David Harsanyi, From the Federalist

 Ilhan Omar Condescends Voters: Democrats Know “Things Most People Can’t Understand”…

 Trump-Haters, Not Trump, Are The Ones Wrecking America's Institutions, WSJ's Strassel Says

The Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is a doomed and desperate time-buying ploy. They hope that talk of impeachment will buzz about Trump’s head like a cloud of horse flies

 CIA 'rattled' by DOJ inquiry into Russia investigation origins

 NYT: Justice Dept. Opens Criminal Investigation Of The ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ Russia Investigation

 Brexit: Could Britain’s Bid for Freedom End in Tragedy?

Avocado wars in Mexico 

 Italian police bust 'Mafia plastic recycling ring'

About David Ben Gurion's interesting life 

 Trump Gave Ukraine What Obama Withheld

 Hong Kong Government Formally Withdraws Extradition Bill That Ignited Protests

 What Trump Actually Gets Right About Syria

U.S. Withdrawal From Syria Was Inevitable

I have several full-size Audubon prints from the last "elephant" folio. Now you can get his pictures online. At Am. Digest,  The Plates of Birds of America, Audubon’s Masterpiece Are Now Yours.

Audubon had a great time in the USA. A hero of mine. He was a fine diarist too. He also became a heck of a shot. What many do not know is that one reason his bird images are often in awkward positions is that he generally painted them from specimens he had shot.

As an aside, Roger Tory Peterson's prints are excellent too. Audubon was, of course, an inspiration to him. No dead birds. 

Horror Films and Sexual Arousal

 The Best-Kept Secret to Staying Married (h/t Insty)

Anglo-Saxon?  Higher Education’s Medievalist Moral Panic

 Tech and finance experts are shocked by SoftBank’s 'stone-cold crazy' $1.7 billion golden parachute for ousted WeWork CEO Adam Neumann

The Religion of Climatism - A new faith emerges

Somebody to vote for in Alabama 

Planned Parenthood trial judge allows 20/20 aborted baby parts trafficking video to be shown

 Tulsi Gabbard To Hillary: It’s Time To Step Down From Your Throne

 The Pathocracy of the Deep State: Tyranny at the Hands of a Psychopathic Government

Speaking of which,  Hillary Clinton Mulling 2020 Run, Citing Weak Dem Field, Claim Of Email Vindication: Reports

 Durham's probe into possible FBI misconduct expanded based on new evidence, sources say

President Trump Cheers News of Peace Deal with Safe Zone Negotiated on Syrian Border with Turkey

I know that few of our fitness buff readers follow the Maggie's excellent fitness protocol, but that's fine. Whatever makes ya miserable and stressed while doing, but glad you did afterwards.

(Readers know, ad nauseum, that we recommend 2 days of heavy weights, 2 days of pure cardio, 2 days of calisthenics, and a day of some recreational sports or hiking, etc. We feel road-running is hell on joints.)

Gotta move, every day, with effort. Alternative is decay. Just our opinion, though. 

My "cardio"- dedicated days (about 2-2 1/2 hrs/wk) include random mixtures of HIIT and "long, slow" recovery. To avoid boredom, I mix it up a lot with elliptical, treadmill runs, jump rope, rower sprints, stair machine, etc. The episodic intensity is what makes it all time-effective. I do not swim because pools gross me out.

( For an unnecessary reminder, Cardio means stressing the heck out of heart muscle, enough to force it to strengthen, to grow new blood vessels, and thus to increase vigor and to help survive the first heart attack. Also for general endurance.)

Anyway, I'm interested in knowing what readers do for the pure cardio component of their fitness efforts.