Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Friday, January 17. 2020Friday morning linksCall of Duty: ‘1917’ How One Librarian Tried to Squash Goodnight Moon. There’s a reason this classic is missing from the New York Public Library’s list of the 10 most-checked-out books of all time. Stephen King faces backlash for saying 'quality' should matter in Oscar nominees over 'diversity' Brett Sokolow criticizes live hearings and cross-examination, suggests there may be ‘clever work-arounds’ Finally. The Feds — including ICE — appear to be investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar. At least three departments are reviewing what could be the worst-ever crime spree by an elected US official Here’s All The Liberals Who Were COMPLETELY WRONG About Trump’s Trade War with China — It’s a Long, Long List… Kevin Williamson Moves the Goalposts in Judging Trump’s Presidency Markets Surge to New Record on Trump Trade News! Up Nearly 267 Points Sharyl Attkisson Refiles Spying Suit, Exposes Big Deep State Players MSNBC Anchor: ‘Bleak’ Future for Children, Grandchildren of Trump’s Defenders Impeachment Is Not the Issue, It's the 2020 Election Double Standard Much? Biden's Threat to Withhold $1B from Ukraine Violated the Law An after-action report: Trump, Soleimani and Khameni Our ruling class’s judgment that America’s killing of terror master Qassem Soleimani united Iran’s people behind its regime is characteristic of their incompetence. The nuclear deal with Iran was a charade right from the start.
Thursday, January 16. 2020Thursday morning linksEnvironmentalists Caused Australia’s Fires, Not ‘Climate Change’ This is inclusion Star prof Demoted and Placed on Probation Even when sober, frequent marijuana users are dangerous drivers, report finds Chemophobia: Nearly 40% Of Europeans Want A Chemical-Free World Why Hollywood’s Cozy Relationship With China Could Face An Ugly Reckoning In The 2020s Laws of evaluation of social programs: The Brass Law of Evaluation: “The more social programs are designed to change individuals, the more likely the net impact of the program will be zero.” Illegal Alien Crossings Down an Extraordinary 78 Percent Migrants Mass in Honduras to Try New Caravan A Little-Noted Trump Administration Success: Food Stamps Trump Signs Historic Trade Agreement with China – Here Is the List of Top Advantages from US-China Trade Deal All Dems’ impeachment moves now are about dirtying up Trump before election Wednesday, January 15. 2020Wednesday morning linksRoger Scruton: A Defender of Life on a Human Scale Spain's abandoned tiny villages for sale Some Rich Parents Are Giving Their Kids HGH to Make Them Taller The College Wealth Premium Has Collapsed Did you know that Star Wars is racist? Virginia Passes Four Gun Bills in One Day Can't believe this Pelosi tweet How Trump Derangement Syndrome Makes You Stupid Joe Biden's streak of being wrong on foreign policy continues, uninterrupted The Score: US 10, Iran 0 That's the wrong way to view it. This could be good for Iran too. We Can’t Trust the Media to Report Honestly on Iran Iran State TV Sees At Least 2 News Anchors Quit: ‘Forgive Me For The 13 Years I Told You lies’ Tuesday, January 14. 2020This 100 year-old guy with a strong sex drive may have saved his speciesDiego, the Tortoise Whose High Sex Drive Helped Save His Species, Retires. With the future secured, he’s finally going home. Good job, Diego. He's been away from home since the 1930s. It's encouraging to know that you can be 100 and still turn on the gals. I wonder whether he will figure out how to survive in the wild.
Tuesday morning linksLow-fat diet linked to lower testosterone levels in men A billion medical images are exposed online, as doctors ignore warnings New Zealand Schools To Teach Kids How To Be Deranged Over Hotcoldwetdry One State, Two Stories - In economic fortunes and political leanings, New York is split dramatically along regional lines. SCOTUS Rejects Appeal Of “Worst Girlfriend Ever” College May Not Even Be Helping Minorities Legal defeats trigger fresh look at US sexual misconduct rules What A "Moderate" Democratic Candidate Looks Like: Mike Bloomberg? Bloomberg Dismisses Texas Hero, Insists It Wasn’t His “Job” to Have a Gun or Decide to Shoot Now, THIS was embarrassing: Frank Luntz’s ‘joke’ proves the Left will fall for ANYTHING as long as they think it makes Trump look bad Trump’s Handling of Iran Deserves Praise Monday, January 13. 2020The Minimum Effective Dose of Training
He makes a number of good points, and not just about strength training. For one thing, he makes a useful distinction between exercise and training. Exercising is using or maintaining what you've got. Training is about steadily building ability, whether in strength, endurance, etc. I like his idea of the Minimum Effective Dose, which is pretty much what my trainer guides me through - just enough needed to show slow but steady improvement. QQQ"For real people, if something works in theory, but not in practice, it doesn't work. For academics, if something works in practice, but not in theory, it doesn't exist." Nassim Nicholas Taleb Monday morning linksAMERICAN TRASH - How an e-waste sting uncovered a shocking betrayal Say Bye Bye Trees: Climate Scientists Finally Claim We Passed a “Tipping Point” Climate Experts Suggest Trump Was Right When He Blamed California’s Wildfires On Land Management “By almost any measure this was one of the worst years in the history of commercial news media.”Yale Psychiatrist Bandy Lee Now Calling Alan Dershowitz Psychotic for Defending Trump Why Rush Limbaugh’s New Contract Is So ImportantJohn Kerry Claims Obama 'Never Had a Whiff of Scandal' So Let's Remind Him Of Some Republican voters have lamented for years over the lack of pushback from their elected leaders. FBI Director to FISA Judge: So Sorry We Screwed Up the Russia Investigation Pelosi: Trump, Pence, and McConnell are working for Putin Trump Has The Lowest Average Unemployment Rate of Any President in Recorded History PRESIDENT TRUMP TWEETS SUPPORT FOR IRANIANS Trump tweet in Farsi 'the most liked Persian tweet' in history of Twitter The GOP’s Endless War on Democrats.The Iran debate shows Republicans don’t believe in fighting tyrants. They believe in smearing their opponents. While you were focused on Soleimani, Israel became a natural gas superpower Sunday, January 12. 2020From today's LectionaryMatthew 3:13-17 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 3:14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 3:15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 3:16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Saturday, January 11. 2020Saturday morning linksScott Alexander: WHAT INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS DID I MAKE IN THE 2010S? Wow Glaciers refuse to melt at Glacier Park Progressive Minded Washington City May Ban Use Of Natural Gas To Solve Hotcoldwetdry US emissions are falling under Trump, thanks to fracking's war on coal "Despite a new imperative to be scrupulous about affirmative consent, young men are still subject to incessant messages that sexual conquest... remains the measure of a 'real' man..." Tucker Carlson Masterfully Debunks the Transgender Murder “Epidemic” Myth Once Again, Government-Subsidized Projects Fail to Deliver. Trump’s Foxconn failure shows that targeted subsidies don’t pay off. What is private equity, and why is it killing everything you love? Private equity led to the closing of Toys R Us and cost 30,000 workers their jobs — and it’s hardly the only example of a deal gone wrong. Willing seller meets willing buyer. Isn't that ok? More Chinese students arrested for photographing US naval base' Prof calls college a 'racket,' blasts diversity hires Is Fauxcahontas Sane? Texas Governor Announces the State Will Not Be Accepting Any More Refugees, Becomes First in Nation to Decline Them The Reagan Revolution Gives Way to the Trump Revolution - As with Reagan, Democrats and the media panic. New Lawsuit Claims Rod Rosenstein Led Task Force that Spied on Sharyl Attkisson’s Computers FBI Apologizes To Court For Surveillance Of Carter Page, Pledges Fixes Intelligence Community’s Inspector General Is the Link Between FISAgate and Impeachment Trey Gowdy Reveals Real Reason Democrats Impeached Trump How McConnell Outplayed Pelosi WE NOW KNOW: THE STEELE DOSSIER BACILLUS Under pressure, Iran admits it shot down jetliner by mistake The IRGC Just Admitted All The Terrorism/War Proxies They Are Working Behind Across Region Iran’s attacks against the US in Iraq accomplished what was intended. Behind the Lines: A large amount of noise and smoke Trump's Approval Rating Among Terrorists Hits All-Time Low Eliminating Qasem Soleimani was Donald Trump’s Middle East farewell letter. President Trump’s opponents cannot forgive him his victories. But it has become increasingly clear that it doesn’t matter No Senate Democrats Support Measure Praising Military For Killing Soleimani. All GOP Senators Supported Same Resolution About Bin Laden During Obama Years Five Obama Foreign Policy Messes That Trump Is Cleaning Up Democrats Are Out of Touch on Foreign Affairs, Too The new socialism, like the old, will not protect Jews Or Christians, or Muslims Friday, January 10. 2020Friday morning linksOOPS: Worship Band Accidentally Worships For Real During Rehearsal Virginia Ban On Woods And Backyard Shooting? An insane ‘feminist’ attack on Alcoholics Anonymous Climate Change Advocacy: Application Of Science, Or Religious Cult? Has Saint Greta become a joke? The Climate Decade that Was: Failed Predictions, Tour De Paris, and the Gretas Progressive Eco-Group Admits It: Renewable Energy is a Hoax that Benefits its Greenie Elmer Gantries like Al Gore California to Throw Another $1.4 Billion at Homelessness Brilliant Academia's Leftism becomes more aggressive and more stupid New York Bar Association Calls on Congress to Launch Investigation Into Attorney General Bill Barr Medical Journal Declares War on Natural Gas Idiots. That's not their expertise. The Big Farmer Bailout Was Never Debated TRUMP WINS IN COURT ON BORDER WALL White House unveils plan to speed big projects permits How Bernie Sanders Became Your Child’s Economics Teacher - Without proper education, it's demagogues who will teach voters about political economy, to the nation's detriment. Taco Bell Dangles $100,000 Salary Amid Tight Worker Market I blame Trump Why Warren Buffett is right to warn about Illinois: The state’s true retirement costs now total 50% of annual budget. At some point, you run out of other people's money Democratic Minority Voters Overwhelmingly Favor School Choice. Don’t downplay party’s racial divide on charter schools This Is The Washington Post On Crack Elizabeth Warren Gives Advice On Boyfriends, Pets; Gets Crushed Online New York Democrats Move to Register Illegal Aliens, Non-Citizens to Vote Trump's second term: Trump Unbound Trump wows the crowd at Toledo rally – and takes no prisoners. The guy's energy is impressive. In his mid-70s, right? MSNBC Katie Tur is OUTRAGED After President Trump Delivers Speech with “Stern White Military Men” Iran’s Fawning Western Apologists Democrats And The Media Are Blaming America Because Iran Shot Down A Passenger Plane. This Is Beyond Despicable. Trump reset the Obama Grand Bargain with the Mullahs by taking out Soleimani and staring down threats of retaliation The Chicken Littles got everything wrong on Trump and Iran: Goodwin Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe Still Faces a Host of Economic Problems Iran's Options in Showdown with America Are All Bad China: Beijing's Arctic Power Grab That's why Trump offered to "buy" Greenland. We bought Alaska, and it worked out well. U.S. congressional study urges sanctions on China over 'crimes against humanity' Thursday, January 9. 2020Deadlifts for 2020
Readers know that, for the strength-building and maintenance part of fitness, we prefer compound exercises to the isolated muscle exercises which many gym machines offer. We all see people going from machine to machine in the gym and wonder why they bother because they could get far more bang for their buck (and time) with compound resistance movements. Sometimes the machine-users are body-builders and body-sculptors, but that ain't us. Accessory strength exercises are fine if you have the time, but the compound ones are the priorities: Deadlift, Barbell Squat, Bench Press, Pullups (or pull downs), Rows and Dips, Overhead Press. Five or 6 sets of each of those once (or even twice weekly if young or very fit) will produce a good sturdy foundation for life whether male or female, young or old. No compound exertion stresses as many muscle groups at once as the Deadlift. Here's the list of the muscles challenged in the traditional Deadlift: Gluteus Maximus: Butt If you punch in gender and age, you can get some average Deadlift standards here. I am in the Intermediate strength range now, aiming higher. I can not move 300 lbs. two inches off the floor. Point is, do one's best and keep advancing by small increments.
Thursday morning links40-year-old tractors are now a hot commodity What It’s Like to Date After Middle Age Another Expensive Solar Scheme Bites the Dust If you say you care about the environment but you oppose nuclear power or fracking, then you’re an idiot or a liar. Bill Gates Calls For Instituting “Robot Tax” For Companies That Replace Workers With Robots… Don't all machines replace people? Like even washing machines? The Lost History of Western Civilization Is Coming Why the NY Times’ 1619 Project Fails the Truth Test Canada Touts How 'Assisted Suicide' Is Providing Human Spare Parts. So Hurry Up and Die, Already. The US Has the Least Poverty In the World Attorney General William Barr, ‘Adult of the Year’ - Kimberley Strassel has his critics’ number. VDH: What Is the Middle East In the Middle Of Anymore? The United States is trying to square a circle, remaining strong and deterring dangerous elements, but to do so for U.S. interests—interests that increasingly seem to be fewer and fewer in the Middle East. True Enemy of the Republic Media Now Openly Mourning That Iran Didn't Kill Americans & Thereby Damage Trump's Political Standing Joe Scarborough gets it wrong: Trump’s ignorance has created an international crisis No, an opportunity Defense Secretary Esper: Soleimani’s Attack on Americans Was Just Days Away CNN International doesn't mention guest was spokesperson for Iranian hostage-takers during 1979 crisis State Department Official Shutdown CNN Anchor & Leaves Her Speechless The right strategy for Iran isn’t regime change. It’s regime collapse. Venice mayor: Anyone who shouts 'Allahu Akbar' will be shot Wednesday, January 8. 2020A message from JerusalemThe Message from Jerusalem - American society faces a deep crisis of meaning to which the city, and the idea, of Jerusalem has an answer. It is needed by Jews, and as much or more by Christians.
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Wednesday morning linksTo Hell With the Perpetually Offended Unjust Deserts - Cities move to ban dollar stores, blaming them for residents’ poor diets. FT: “Democracies are ill-suited to deal with climate change” Who knew that earthquakes come from climate change? Race and higher education ORGANIZATION TRACKS LAWSUITS CHALLENGING COLLEGES’ SEXUAL MISCONDUCT POLICIES - FIRE’s Campus Due Process Litigation Tracker is a searchable database of Title IX litigation. CNN settles lawsuit with Nick Sandmann CNN fighting with Babylon Bee over who has the fakest news CA Dem: Let’s Impeach Trump Again Democrats Defended Soleimani In Life and Death - More Iranians than Democrats dare to criticize Iran and support President Trump. Nikki Haley Destroys Democrats for 'Mourning the Loss of Soleimani' LION TED UNLOADS: Missiles Fired At U.S. Troops By Iran ‘Paid For By The Billions Obama’ Gave Them Europe Under Siege from People-Smuggling Gangs Russia Takes a Big Step Toward Internet Isolation. Russia can't cut its internet off from the rest of the world yet. But a recent test foreshadowed more censorship and repression to come. Tuesday, January 7. 2020Protein shakesAs a guy who can not face breakfast other than coffee with the occasional cigar, I rely on a protein shake for after my 2 and sometimes 3 mornings/wk of powerlifting. I don't know anybody who can or wants to eat food after a morning workout. People ought to get about 20 gms of protein after a heavy weights session, so a good breakfast for heavy lifters (but not body-builders - not talking about them) would be a couple of hard-boiled eggs unless they are trying hard to put on weight. I can't stand solid food in the morning, so I do a protein shake (from Amazon) after a lifting hour and after a very tough calisthenics class too when they include more weights. I throw some frozen berries or a banana in the blender for a little carbs etc. I use the vegetable protein powder cuz I became lactose-intolerant. Funny, tho - I seem to tolerate ice cream just fine...but I do not need to lose any fat anyway since Mrs. BD says I am "cut". I suspect I am naturally pudgy like one of my grandpas, but that's not going to happen. My Dad was 6'4", lean, and hard as rebar, but I sadly didn't get that gene. Gotta work with what we get. With my daily workout plan (6-7 hrs/wk), I am supposed to have two slices of chicken or meat mid-day, and an apple or some raw vegetables. I try to do that too, but any mid-day food makes me sleepy and lazy. Not good for being productive and useful. Real athletes who workout 4+ hrs/day have entirely different nutritional demands. At Maggie's we just address us ordinary fitness folks. Sedentary people? They do not need much food at all but, curiously, they have greater appetites than active people. Probably recreational/boredom/ritual feeding. Something to do.
Tuesday morning links25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites - Stumble into the looking-glass world of contronyms. Can Intermittent Fasting Reset Your Immune System? Three meals/day is long obsolete except for manual laborers. If you want to be healthy, a protein shake after morning workout, an apple and a coffee for lunch. Meat for supper, preferably cow meat. WHY DOCTORS THINK THEY’RE THE BEST Val d'Isere: The doctor who hid a Jewish girl - and the resort that wants to forget Irish Data Centers Are Killing Us With Carbon Pollution Police Working on Premise that Arsonists Started Bushfires in Australia – 200 People Arrested So Far – 85% of Fires Blamed on Humans Pre- & post-citizens by Victor Davis Hanson - On the meaning of citizenship in the twenty-first century. Chelsea Clinton Hauls In $9 Million From Corporate Board Position That's called the gig economy Judge halts California’s new “gig worker” law that’s impacting truckers "Gig workers" are basically the self-employed UC-Berkeley Threatened With Lawsuit For Mandatory Diversity Statements In Hiring 'Great example for the rest of this country': Bloomberg sees California as model for U.S. The New York Times scares its readers about Dennis Prager Fighting Fake News: Lessons From The Information Wars Wokescolds Return to 'Fake News' Smear Against Hilarious Satire Site Can't tell a real blonde from a fake CNN Reporter Complains About Satirical Article Getting As Many Engagements As His Outlet Washington Post rips CNN for its faulty reporting on Steele dossier, demands network 'come clean' Thanks to Trump, the Forty-Year Appeasement of Iran Is Over Dem Rep Suggests Trump Killing Terrorists Supports Dems Impeachment Argument Video Montage: Democrats Attacking Trump For Killing Terrorist Leader Soleimani Monday, January 6. 2020Monday morning linksA first-time flier who threw coins into a plane engine for good luck has been ordered to pay £13,000 to a Chinese airline. We missed this: Kanye Takes Sunday Service to Texas Prisons in Surprise Event The Collegiate War Against Men Ice Ages are rare in the earth's history. We're in one now PRAGER: Greta Thunberg: A Living Explanation Of The Left Maxine Waters’ Phone Call With ‘Greta Thunberg’ Was Apparently The Work Of Russian Pranksters Thoughts On The Latest US Census Data "We Cannot Stop Violent Crime Through Policing Alone" Says Mayor of Murder Capital Baltimore County Homicides Jump 85% To Record High Amid Spillover In City Murder Crisis Colin Kaepernick Blasts Racist ‘American Terrorist Attacks’ In Apparent Reference To Iran Trump Blamed For Causing Violence In Typically Peaceful Middle East Ricky Gervais Slams Elitist Celebs At the Golden Globes: 'You're In No Position to Lecture the Public About Anything' The United States killed the top terrorist on the planet Thursday, and Democrats were…upset. Perhaps “upset” is too vague, they were a combination of angry and scared. U.S. Media Says Iraqis ‘Mourning’ Death Of Terrorist, But Some Seem To Be Dancing, Baking Cakes In Celebration How Trump decided to kill Iran’s Soleimani - The U.S. strike against Tehran’s feared paramilitary commander followed months of Iranian attacks. Meet the Other Major Terrorist Killed in Soleimani Drone Strike BIDEN REWRITES HISTORY Biden Caught In 'Flat-Out Lie' Over Bin Laden Raid Democratic Impeachment Case Collapses Under Weight Of Time Iran Is Not Iraq For reasons not difficult to ascertain Hong Kong is dying. BoJo contemplates fulfilling a dream dear to half of Britain War With Iran? The United States has preferred toothless sanctions over victory. But sometimes the right sanctions are deadlier than atom bombs. Sunday, January 5. 2020Groundcherries
One of my daughters likes to give me cool seeds for Christmas. Connecticut Field Pumpkins, Heritage Cukes, etc. Of course, the hassle is starting them indoors without a greenhouse. (I need one. My friend's wife had a nice one with heat, light, etc and she kept tropical lizards in it too, to eat bugs and spiders. Problem was, the small ones tended to escape outside in the summer when the vents opened so they had a good adventure of freedom until the first frost.) We told you about Mouse Melons (aka Mexican Gherkins) in a past post. They are great, grow like weeds, perfect in salads or just to munch in the garden. It seems the fun trial for this year will be Ground Cherries. We'll see. I guess they are in the nighshade family.
From today's Lectionary: In the beginning was the wordJohn 1:(1-9), 10-18 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. 1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 1:4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 1:7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 1:11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 1:13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. 1:15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") 1:16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 1:17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 1:18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. Saturday, January 4. 2020Saturday morning linksMy question of the day: Why are Iranian troops, militias, and terrorists in Iraq? Amazon sale on workout clothing (h/t Helen at Insty) What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane? Five years ago, the flight vanished into the Indian Ocean. Officials on land know more about why than they dare to say. The Strange 21st-Century Sexual Marketplace No Sex, Please, We’re American All Weather Now Bears The Fingerprints Of You Eating A Burger For Lunch Or Something Rutgers student told not to quote Bible in essay because of 'separation of church and state' New York leaders’ lame excuses for the Empire State population drop NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s First 2020 Priority Was to Declare War on $30 Pizzas New York's Wind Turbine Catastrophe is the Green New Deal in Action Please America, take Meghan Markle back. She has dragged across the Atlantic a garbage truck full of the most emetic US wokeness 2019: The Left Goes Over the Edge Progressives' Greatest Hits of 2019 Team Trump’s big blow to the college cartel Trump Just Killed One Of The Most Dangerous Terrorists In The World, And Democrats Are Upset About It Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani From the one real news source left CNN Reports The Most Important Thing About Soleimani Attack: Trump Had Ice Cream After When Obama made a deal with Solemani Trump list shows 319 'results' and promises kept in three years Sharyl Attkisson chronicles 109 negative media Trump stories that turned out to be false A Scorecard on the First Decade after the Arab Spring Qassem Soleimani and Iran’s Unique Regional Strategy
Saturday Verse: Wallace StevensSunday Morning I Complacencies of the peignoir, and late Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair, And the green freedom of a cockatoo Upon a rug mingle to dissipate The holy hush of ancient sacrifice. She dreams a little, and she feels the dark Encroachment of that old catastrophe, As a calm darkens among water-lights. The pungent oranges and bright, green wings Seem things in some procession of the dead, Winding across wide water, without sound. The day is like wide water, without sound, Stilled for the passing of her dreaming feet Over the seas, to silent Palestine, Dominion of the blood and sepulchre. II Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams? Shall she not find in comforts of the sun, In pungent fruit and bright, green wings, or else In any balm or beauty of the earth, Things to be cherished like the thought of heaven? Divinity must live within herself: Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow; Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued Elations when the forest blooms; gusty Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights; All pleasures and all pains, remembering The bough of summer and the winter branch. These are the measures destined for her soul. III Jove in the clouds had his inhuman birth. IV She says, “I am content when wakened birds, Before they fly, test the reality Of misty fields, by their sweet questionings; But when the birds are gone, and their warm fields Return no more, where, then, is paradise?” There is not any haunt of prophecy, Nor any old chimera of the grave, Neither the golden underground, nor isle Melodious, where spirits gat them home, Nor visionary south, nor cloudy palm Remote on heaven’s hill, that has endured As April’s green endures; or will endure Like her remembrance of awakened birds, Or her desire for June and evening, tipped By the consummation of the swallow’s wings. V She says, “But in contentment I still feel The need of some imperishable bliss.” Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her, Alone, shall come fulfilment to our dreams And our desires. Although she strews the leaves Of sure obliteration on our paths, The path sick sorrow took, the many paths Where triumph rang its brassy phrase, or love Whispered a little out of tenderness, She makes the willow shiver in the sun For maidens who were wont to sit and gaze Upon the grass, relinquished to their feet. She causes boys to pile new plums and pears On disregarded plate. The maidens taste And stray impassioned in the littering leaves. VI Is there no change of death in paradise? Does ripe fruit never fall? Or do the boughs Hang always heavy in that perfect sky, Unchanging, yet so like our perishing earth, With rivers like our own that seek for seas They never find, the same receding shores That never touch with inarticulate pang? Why set the pear upon those river-banks Or spice the shores with odors of the plum? Alas, that they should wear our colors there, The silken weavings of our afternoons, And pick the strings of our insipid lutes! Death is the mother of beauty, mystical, Within whose burning bosom we devise Our earthly mothers waiting, sleeplessly. VII Supple and turbulent, a ring of men Shall chant in orgy on a summer morn Their boisterous devotion to the sun, Not as a god, but as a god might be, Naked among them, like a savage source. Their chant shall be a chant of paradise, Out of their blood, returning to the sky; And in their chant shall enter, voice by voice, The windy lake wherein their lord delights, The trees, like serafin, and echoing hills, That choir among themselves long afterward. They shall know well the heavenly fellowship Of men that perish and of summer morn. And whence they came and whither they shall go The dew upon their feet shall manifest. VIII She hears, upon that water without sound,
A voice that cries, “The tomb in Palestine Is not the porch of spirits lingering. It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay.” We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide water, inescapable. Deer walk upon our mountains, and the quail Whistle about us their spontaneous cries; Sweet berries ripen in the wilderness; And, in the isolation of the sky, At evening, casual flocks of pigeons make Ambiguous undulations as they sink, Downward to darkness, on extended wings. Friday, January 3. 2020Friday morning linksHigh-School Wrestling Was Fading. Then Came The Girls. Oxford Historian On The 1619 Project: ‘A Preposterous And One-Dimensional Reading’ Of American History From TNR: When “Biology” Becomes a Cover for Anti-Trans Bigotry - How an employment case in the United Kingdom revealed the ugly contours of anti-trans discrimination Expert: Half of UK Farmland Must Be Abandoned DeVos restores fairness to campus sexual misconduct cases - A survey suggests that attempts to address sexual assault on campus, although well intentioned, have done so at the expense of fairness, and, in many cases, the truth. U.S. jobless claims dip to 222,000 to end 2019 back near a half-century low Literally the first word that WaPo prints in 2020 is a lie. Joy Reid Calls Attack on US Embassy in Baghdad “Trump’s Benghazi” – Don Jr. Drops in and Sets Her Straight Joe Biden’s Latest Ad About Trump Is a Complete Lie MSNBC: By Bombing Hezbollah, Trump Is Bombing ‘War Heroes’… America just took out the world’s no. 1 bad guy This Is Not 1979, And Donald Trump Is Not Jimmy Carter USA Today Op-Ed: It Is 'Terrifying' Other Parishioners Were Armed During Texas Church Shooting The Fundamental Legitimacy of Donald Trump - The democracy-is-doomed crowd was wrong. Trump’s tyranny has never materialized. Even CNN Is Calling out Chuck Schumer’s Impeachment Trial ‘Impartiality’ Hypocrisy The United States as a Developing Nation Scandinavia: Can The New “Parental Team” Replace Marriage? Boris Johnson’s Victory and the Political Realignment Shaking Western Democracies Former Google executive Ross LaJeunesse blasts company’s work in China - ‘Just when Google needed to double down on a commitment to human rights, it decided to instead chase bigger profits and an even higher stock price’ 'This is the shareholders' money': Billionaire Warren Buffett argues that companies should stop making decisions based on their social beliefs Kim Jong Un, Choose Your Future He can't - he is China's pawn Maximum Pressure on Iran Is Working. That’s Why It’s Lashing Out. Let’s Keep It Up. With pro-Iran groups at helm, Iraq 'risks becoming pariah' Thursday, January 2. 2020Thursday morning linksIs Notre-Dame Too Fragile to Be Saved? The cathedral’s rector says there is a “50 percent chance” that scaffolding will collapse, causing further damage Policing Parents and Kids: The Year's 8 Most Paranoid Moments - And five examples of parents wisely letting their kids go—and grow. History Without Truth - The 1619 Project has been thoroughly discredited, but many professional historians remain reluctant to criticize it.
Two tribes aren’t recognized federally. Yet members won $500 million in minority contracts How Cognitive Bias Destroyed the Livelihood of California’s Gig Workers. We ignore the intelligence trap at our own peril.
Related, 2019 Was Another One Of Those Tough Years For The "Experts" The Most Absurd PC Moments of the 2010s Two Professors at University of Wisconsin – La Crosse Are Leading the Way on ‘Fat Studies’ If at least 1/2 of Americans are fat, it hardly seems like an oppressed minority. It's normal in the USA. Some commentators are telling us that we never had it so good. They are even saying that the world never had it so good. FREE STUFF, DEMOCRATIC PARTY STYLE Turns Out, Trump’s ‘Evil’ ICE Raids Benefited American Workers House Ethics Complaint Filed Against Rep. Omar Get Ready for a Nasty 2020 Presidential Campaign New York Times finally comes back to admitting Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US election Unable to find new fake news, Vox editor recycles old fake news Democrat Rep. Al Green Admits ‘Genesis of Impeachment Was… When Trump Was Running For Office’ The "Afghanistan Papers" and the delusions of nation-building Why It’s Time To Shut Down The Scandal-Plagued U.N. Palestinian Refugee Program
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