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.
The knowledge that all of human history, earth history, critters, human creations and thoughts, etc will all be instantly erased is a big thought, ain't it?
18:1 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.
18:2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground.
18:3 He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.
18:4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
18:5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said."
18:6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes."
18:7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.
18:8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
18:9 They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent."
18:10 Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.
18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?"
18:13 The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'
18:14 Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son."
18:15 But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."
21:1 The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised.
21:2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.
21:3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him.
21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
21:5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
21:6 Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me."
21:7 And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
No bugs, sea breeze, 57 degrees F at night, biking, boating, kayaking, hiking trails, running, day-fresh seafood, ocean beach, harbor beach, bay beach, and big ponds. Lots of fun family restaurants. The protection of the vast National Seashore.
If you squint, you can see Portugal on the horizon.
If you’re shopping at Walmart because you believe it’s one of the last big chains with mainstream American values, you might want to rethink that idea.
The current coronavirus pandemic appears more comparable in terms of overall mortality to the influenza epidemics of 1957 and 1968, or the British flu epidemics of the late 1990s. Of course, the United States and United Kingdom did not only not shut down for any of those epidemics, they received little attention outside the health care system.
City politicians are covering themselves in shame in the current crisis. Take this loony tweet from City Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan): “If there is a spike in coronavirus cases in the next two weeks, don’t blame the protesters” but rather “racism” and the NYPD: “Police are increasing covid risk by using tear gas and putting people in crowded jails.”
Let’s all pretend a Republican now serves as mayor of Minneapolis rather than for one day out of the last 59 years. Let’s all pretend Democrats do not enjoy a political monopoly over every big city plagued by the worst violence. Let’s all pretend white supremacists and Nazis and Russians destroyed American cities rather than the people who vote for the people saying white supremacists and Nazis and Russians destroyed American cities. Let’s all pretend that one cop’s inhumanity indicts the entirety of law enforcement but many activists’ violence says nothing about the protests.
And just like that, it became clear that the national torture of three years of the Russian collusion investigation simply should not have occurred. The problems were myriad. In Rosenstein’s words, the FBI “was not following the written protocols, and that significant errors appeared in applications.” What has emerged from the recent inspector general’s report and this testimony is that the Obama administration’s efforts to investigate and prosecute Trump administration officials wasn’t based on facts, but negligence or malice.
CNN last week, "How are we going to stop these sunbathers on California beaches?!!!" CNN this week, "Masses in the streets walking arm in arm. Good for them."
Once the violence began, any effort to “understand” it should have stopped, since that understanding is inevitably exculpatory. The looters are not grieving over the stomach-churning arrest and death of George Floyd; they are having the time of their lives. You don’t protest or mourn a victim by stealing oxycontin, electronics, jewelry, and sneakers.