Wednesday, September 12. 2018
Don't Be Fooled, There Was Nothing 'Financial' About the 2008 Crisis
California Regulates Barber And Tattoo Shops Out Of Business
The Paris Climate Accord, Unravelling
Mike Rowe's Epic Response To Nike's Kaepernick Campaign Hits Home On 9/11
Tuesday, September 11. 2018
Maine photo from Salt Water New England, where everything is always perfectly charming
Why Was Disco Ever Popular? Blame Fake News.
Did The Village Voice Help Ruin Journalism? Advocacy reporting, once revolutionary and corrective, increasingly supplants the documentation of facts.
Harvard Prof: Merit-based admissions 'reproduce inequality'
The Academic Left’s Emerging War On Scientific Study
Closing Argument on Farm Bill: Work Requirements in SNAP Will Reduce Poverty
DRAIN THE SWAMP: EPA SHED 1,200 JOBS IN TRUMP’S FIRST YEAR AND A HALF
100 Bangladeshi Nationals Apprehended near Texas Border in 3 Weeks
When censorship is crowdsourced:
When I was a university student in the early 1990s, it always was assumed that the primary threat to free speech was government — especially government in the Big Brother form that George Orwell had taught us to expect and fear...
Tucker Carlson Reveals Explosive Email from Google Exec on How Company Actively Assisted Hillary in 2016
VDH: The Circus of Resistance
Trump Should Be a Better Boss
BOLTON TO ICC: BABY, DON’T YOU DO IT
Trump’s New Attempt to Push Palestinians to Negotiate With Israel. The administration has closed the PLO office in Washington, citing a lack of progress in the peace process.
Monday, September 10. 2018
Sunday, September 9. 2018
Angell is the guy who helped me see the beauty of baseball. From The New Yorker, 2014:
"I’m ninety-three, and I’m feeling great. Well, pretty great, unless I’ve forgotten to take a couple of Tylenols in the past four or five hours, in which case I’ve begun to feel some jagged little pains shooting down my left forearm and into the base of the thumb. Shingles, in 1996, with resultant nerve damage..."
The thing about the (past) New Yorker writers is that they were so engaging stylistically that you would read any long form article even if you had no interest in the topic - like golf course design. That's the sign of a real writer.
A highly-successful older pal and fellow parishioner who retired this summer (in his 80s) told me he asked our retiring pastor this week whether he could give him any advice on how to cope with being a "has-been."
Pastor replied "I was going to ask you that."
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
2:1 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
2:2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
2:3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet,"
2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
2:6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court
2:7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
2:8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
2:9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
2:11 For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
2:12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
2:13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?
2:15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,
2:16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
2:17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Saturday, September 8. 2018
 In addition to house-wide de-cluttering, I am facing a de-cluttering of my daily work space. It is on the order of The Management.
Some urgency to it too, cuz the place is being re painted. In one cabinet I went through, far more ammo than I knew I had. I had no idea how much I had accumulated in there, including all game loads, plus steel loads, Bismuth loads, and Tungsten loads.
12 ga, 20 ga. Just no 16 ga, which I have come to like the best since inheriting my grandpa's 16 ga. I only like 20 ga for grouse and woodcock, and you do not need much ammo for that game because they are so difficult to find.
I have too many firearms too. I love to play with firearms and to shoot birds, ducks, and geese, but I found that I have more than I can ever use. Only so many Saturdays left and, as I say, retirement is not in my playbook.
I would do the night shift in a minimart rather than be useless.
Friday, September 7. 2018
Hvar, Croatia. Our friends only stayed in Air B&Bs in Slovenia and Croatia. Said they were treated like royalty. Their hosts even picked them up at train, ferry, and airports. No extra charge. They were eager for good reports on Air B&B.
We rarely link postcasts, but this one is worth it. (h/t. reader)
Thursday, September 6. 2018
 The Five Most Overrated Beers
My Eight-Year-Old Daughter Walked Her Dog Alone. Then Police Came Knocking On My Door
What are the appropriate ages for things?
" My nephew tried to school me on cultural appropriation. It didn’t end well”
Fisking Chuck Todd’s “It’s All Roger Ailes! He Made The Public Distrust The Media” Article
“A fossil-free future”… Real words from a real social justice warrior and author of The Parents’ Guide to Climate Revolution
Cleaning out cabinets for painters and found my old fossil collection. I will not have a fossil-free future. I love looking at fossils and hope to become an old fossil myself someday
A Facebook Engineer’s Plea for Political Diversity
Why Technology Favors Tyranny - Artificial intelligence could erase many practical advantages of democracy, and erode the ideals of liberty and equality. It will further concentrate power among a small elite if we don’t take steps to stop it.
The Prophet of Google's Doom
TEXAS DOCTORS at Kavanaugh Hearing Say They Saw Liberal Protesters Paid “With a Literal Bag of Cash” (VIDEO and PHOTO)
Fine writing by Althouse re Kavanugh's talk with Diane Feinstein:
K expressed empathy with DF's concerns. He was super-nice to her, and as things progressed, what I read in her face was pain — pain over wanting him to feel pain. But he's so heavily swaddled in judicial values that he's safe from everything. As a judge, he does what he must do as a judge, even when it pains him. He's pre-pained, inoculated to pain, and there's no way to further pain him. The children who die in school shootings... the women who would die from illegal abortions... these causes for empathy receive his empathy, but they do not change what he must do. His cold, dry judicial virtue is supreme and sublime, and he must, as ever, humbly submit. Feinstein was reduced to scoffing that K had learned (from Senators?) to "filibuster."
THE DEMOCRATS ARE CRAZY
The case that Trump is crazy
EU Enters "Final Stage" Of Crafting Bill Forcing Big Tech Censorship
Wednesday, September 5. 2018
Friend just back from trip to Slovenia and Croatia (and a bit of Istanbul). This is Lake Bled. I'll post some more of their pics later.
Tuesday, September 4. 2018
 I had a Dunkin with our roofer boss at 7 this morning when I got back from my calisthenics class. 64 year old Irish-Italian guy from Springfield, MA who needs no exercise classes because his entire day is physical. Physical, with lots of subtle skills too. Bending copper to fix a roof cricket is not easy geometry.
I asked him how he knew how to do so many things after he told me he had put new brakes in his ageing F-150 over the weekend. I have a special admiration for practical skills because I am a bit of a klutz with most machinery other than Farmall tractors and chain saws.
An American story. High school then 4 years in the US Army. They put him in a mechanical company, repairing broken things. After that, 6 years in a Massachusetts sawmill spending a lot of time, again, fixing broken things and maintaining machinery.
Got in too many fights with the boss, so got a job in a junkyard, retrieving good parts from junked trucks and cars. After 4 years of that, was offered an auto mechanic job by somebody he knew who knew him to be a hard worker. Became a master mechanic. Always did tree work on the side, and still does. Then his brother-in-law offered him a partnership in his roofing business. He had already done his own roofs, so he jumped at a chance to be a business owner. When that guy quit the biz because it was "too hard," the business was his. He has good crews to supervise but he does all of the tricky stuff and the copper work.
He is a perfectionist. This morning on a second story roof ladder he decided to add some aluminum edging under his new copper flashing to completely protect the crown molding on our dormers. Waterproof, paintable glue to hold it in. "That crown will be good for 200 years."
His life advice: Learn how to do as many things as you can. That way, you can always be useful.
His results: Bought his first house at 25. Has 5 kids who he likes. Bought two houses on his street, both as wedding gifts for his married kids. They are very happy to be near family. Married once. Also has a shack on Cape Cod that he is renovating, and a house in Florida. Grows tomatoes and fruit trees. Claims he will never retire but admits the day might come when he'll have to just be a boss instead of doing 3-story ladder work. Not yet, for sure. Says God blessed him.
Yes, he has a Trump 2020 bumper sticker. He is deplorable.
 Height, size, and tennis
Dozens of elephants killed near Botswana wildlife sanctuary
HERE’S WHY NYT’S LATEST ATTEMPT TO SCARE READERS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING IS A ‘WASTE OF TIME’
It's gonna be hot today. Climate change.
Gov't Spends $18 Billion On Jobs Programs, But Can't Tell If They Work
Job training comes from getting a job. In this economy, jobs are going begging
Pretending Fragility To Conceal Aggression
One of the oldest mind games in the world
Uptick in Racism in Public Schools Is All Trump's Fault, Educators Say
What racism? All I ever see is reverse racism.
New York City Public Schools Discriminate Against White Kids
Corporate Suicide Watch, Nike Edition
PAPADOPOULOS COURT FILING REMINDS US WHY SESSIONS NEEDED TO RECUSE HIMSELF
OK. So Sessions was a bad choice for the job
Media Obituaries Didn’t Give Us ‘The Full McCain’
Why did he get the royal treatment? The US has lots of war heroes
Who’s afraid of Steve Bannon? Cancelling the former White House strategist might win back the respect of New Yorker readers — but it won’t help in their quest to explore ‘Ideas’
The primaries show that Trump Republicanism is still on the rise
U.S. DEFUNDS UNRWA
About time
PIGS IN PALESTINE: ANTI-ISRAEL LEFT SPREADS ANTI-SEMITIC BOAR LIBELS - Who let the pigs out? According to the Left, the Jews.
Czech PM: We don’t want to live in Africa or the Middle East here. We must fight for our values.
Monday, September 3. 2018
Is Safetyism Destroying a Generation?
Weight-loss pills can help. So why don't more people use them? (h/t Instapundit)
Why New York City Stopped Building Subways - Nearly 80 years ago, a construction standstill derailed the subway’s progress, leading to its present crisis. This is the story, decade by decade.
Netflix has spent years crushing movie theaters – turns out, it kind of needs them now
New York Alt-Weekly Publishing Legend The Village Voice Is No More
What the nonreligious get wrong about religious people
Pope Declares ‘Emergency’ Not Related To Pedophile Scandal
Williamson: The Psalmist And The Sex Doll
Prof touts 'ecosexuality' as 'environmental activist strategy'
Claim: Weather Catastrophes are “Pearl Harbour” Opportunities to Implement a Carbon Tax
University of Kansas Hosts 'Feminist Parenting Group' to Explore 'Strategies for Raising Intersectional Feminist Children'
DSA SOCIALIST CANDIDATE JULIA SALAZAR LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING
Editing out the American flag
National security goals in McCain's wake
‘OUTRAGED’ Americans Disgusted With Hyper-Politicized McCain Funeral
Is bashing Trump the fraternity's new secret handshake?
Roaring economy isn't lifting Donald Trump approval rating. He has only himself to blame.
President Trump Keeps Winning – Everything Else Is Just Noise…
Another kind of camouflage. Dazzle Ships
Sunday, September 2. 2018
James 1:17-27
1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
1:18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
1:19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
1:20 for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.
1:21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
1:22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
1:23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;
1:24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
1:25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing.
1:26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Saturday, September 1. 2018
As I toil towards my goal of unloading 2000 books from the Maggie's HQ, it's tough not to flip through each one in case you might change your mind. My books are part of me, it seems. That is stupid.
Take Emerson. I open a random page. No, dammit. I can not understand the guy and I never could figger out what he was getting at. Not blaming him because as far as I can tell he is a deep thinker and his essays remain widely appreciated. "It's me, not you."
My Dad loved him, but I have lower IQ than my Dad. I blame my mother's side: rich practical business people.
Just three of them jump to mind, but there must be many more examples where changing geography left cities built on sea-going commerce sitting on silted rivers, and further from the ocean.
I am thinking of Florence, Seville, and Pisa. Oh - Pompeii was a seaport too, which is partly why it was so full of whorehouses. Whorehouses and temples and fast food joints - that was Pompeii. Here's The lost harbour of Pisa revealed
Classic visit to Pisa (which is actually a charming antique town like San Gimignano or Siena): Grab a slice of pizza, take a selfie in front of the bell tower, then get back on the air-conditioned bus.
Other examples of cities which were once important seaports?
The Bizarre Story of Britain’s Last Great Auk
How a plan to save Kenya's rhino left 11 dead in historic blunder
New Zealand council plans to ban all pet cats in bid to protect native bird species
Let's hope the world follows that example
How America Killed Mass Transit - Streetcar, bus, and metro systems have been ignoring one lesson for 100 years: Service drives demand.
NYT: Overtourism’ Worries Europe. How Much Did Technology Help Get Us There?
Story of bombshell charges against Pope more surreal by the minute
David Warren: What to do about the Church
Postmodern leftism even lays waste to the Catholic Church.
When was the Church entirely pure and holy?
Dem Socialist Candidate’s Brother and Mother Say She’s Lied About Her Upbringing
She's a cute little liar
Good quote this week from Marco Rubio:
Politics today is a lot less about ideology and a lot more about the disconnect between the people who make our laws and the people that live underneath them. If you want to understand 2010, 2014, 2016, and I believe, future elections, you have to understand that there’s an enormous gap between what public policy elites – people in government, the media, and academia – are focused on, and what everyday people care about. And they’re not lined up.
So I think there’s a sense across the American political spectrum that the people in office spend all their time fighting for things that don’t matter in the real world. And the things that matter in the real world aren’t getting enough attention. And so, they want to send people that are going to blow it up, that are basically gonna force change in the status quo, and the more the established figures in politics attack you, the stronger it makes you in the eyes of people that want to see something different.
Weiner Laptop Scandal, the Mueller Witchhunt, the Clinton Foundation and China Hacking Hillary’s Emails All Have One Thing in Common
The Case for Sessions' Resignation Grows
“THE BIG MONEY IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS NOW ON THE LEFT”
Is South Africa quietly planning a genocide?
Friday, August 31. 2018
PETA Hopes To Build Memorial Where Lobsters Died In Maine Crash
More lobsters are killed in a day by Striped Bass than died there
Bear News: Black bear spotted in Davidson County for 1st time in more than 100 years
More: First Yellowstone-area grizzly hunt in 40 years blocked by federal judge
The growth of the world’s middle class may be the greatest story of our age
Brown U. censors ´gender dysphoria´ study, worried that findings might ´invalidate the perspectives´ of transgender community
Facts do have a funny way of invalidating perspectives
Archbishop’s shocking letter reveals scandal and priority schism in Catholic Church
I Sold My Soul on Twitter. Now I’m Trying to Win It Back
At campus orientation, speaker bashes Fox News, rugged individualism, says America not that great
Failure: The $1.7 Billion Federal Job Corps Program Doesn’t ‘Demonstrate Beneficial Job Training Outcomes'
Duh
California update: State Which Uses Lots Of Fossil Fuels Vows To Move State Off Fossil Fueled Electric Grid ‘Cause ‘Climate Change’
More on Suspicion and the Corruption of the Liberal Mind.
Elites still disconnected from voters
Kanye West Goes All In To Win Black Community Over For Trump
Kling: I wrote The Three Languages of Politics in part because I realized that most political statements are made for the purpose not of opening anyone’s mind but instead for the purpose of closing the minds of people on your side.
Democrat Threatens ICE Agents Conducting Deportations: 'You Will Not Be Safe'
Chuck Schumer: Illegal Immigration Is Wrong, Plain and Simple
Spectator:
The end game is to crush what they see as a peasant’s revolt. Mueller’s function is to provide a legal pretext for removing the President from office. The role of the media is to misrepresent everything he does in order to trick independent voters into giving the Democrats a majority in the House. This will prevent Trump from continuing to act on his 2016 mandate.
The Democrats will impeach the President if they gain a majority in the House, regardless of their chances of securing a conviction in the Senate. Impeachment will effectively shut down his Presidency either way. Fighting it would involve so much White House time that virtually nothing else would get done. And this is an important Democratic goal.
VDH: Mueller Is Looking At The Wrong Collusion Scandal
Is It Worth Cutting Global Warming By Tenths Of A Degree If It Means Millions Starve?
J-Post: An open letter to Jeremy Corbyn
Steyn: Danes, Davos and Denial
London Deplorables Strike Back: Bikini-Clad Blimp of Mayor Sadiq Khan Ready to Fly Over City
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