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.
According to estimates and reports, the $2 million to $5 million event held in Rhinebeck, NY included:
$750,000 for catering, according to Brides magazine deputy editor Sally Kilbridge
$11,000 for the cake, which is reportedly gluten-free
$250,000 worth of jewelry for the bride
$109,000 for the tables and crockery for around 400 to 500 invitees
$600,000 in air-conditioned tents, complete with glass walls
$200,000 in extra security, paid for by the Clintons
$15,000 in high-class toilets, according to online gossip site TMZ
$500,000 in flowers arranged by Jeff Leatham, who’s worked with Madonna and other celebrities
Wine as a party favor from Clinton Vineyards (which has no relation to the presidential family)
A Federal Aviation Administration-enforced no-fly zone from 3 p.m.
Saturday to 3:30 a.m. Sunday over Rhinebeck, the small New York town
that includes Astor Courts, a picturesque mansion that’s hosting the
event and overlooks the Hudson River.
Is he any sort of thinker? Neither candidate is a thinker. One's ignorant and one is pure schemer. These are entirely normal political characteristics.
Spain is a great place to look at Moorish architecture. Sometimes it is referred to as Islamic, but Moorish is more accurate. The horseshoe arch, for example, was borrowed from the Christianized Visigoths who ran the various Spanish kingdoms before the Moslem Moors successfully invaded Iberia in the 700s.
Even after Christian kings had their long reconquista, but while Granada was the last Muslim outpost (until 1492), Moorish architects and craftsmen were in demand throughout the Iberian peninsula because the style was so popular. That post-Reconquista style is referred to as Mudejar, which often combined Moorish with some Gothic and Renaissance styles.
My pic of a courtyard in the Alcazar in Seville is Mudejar. In Moorish architecture, it was usual to use scavenged old Roman columns for their new buildings.
Ross Coggins composed "The Development Set" in 1976. Nothing has changed.
Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet I’m off to join the Development Set; My bags are packed, and I’ve had all my shots I have traveller’s checks and pills for the trots!
The Development Set is bright and noble Our thoughts are deep and our vision global; Although we move with the better classes Our thoughts are always with the masses.
In Sheraton Hotels in scattered nations We damn multi-national corporations; injustice seems easy to protest In such seething hotbeds of social rest.
We discuss malnutrition over steaks And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks. Whether Asian floods or African drought, We face each issue with open mouth.
We bring in consultants whose circumlocution Raises difficulties for every solution — Thus guaranteeing continued good eating By showing the need for another meeting.
The language of the Development Set Stretches the English alphabet; We use swell words like “epigenetic” “Micro”, “macro”, and “logarithmetic”
It pleasures us to be esoteric — It’s so intellectually atmospheric! And although establishments may be unmoved, Our vocabularies are much improved.
When the talk gets deep and you’re feeling numb, You can keep your shame to a minimum: To show that you, too, are intelligent Smugly ask, “Is it really development?”
Or say, “That’s fine in practice, but don’t you see: It doesn’t work out in theory!” A few may find this incomprehensible, But most will admire you as deep and sensible.
Development set homes are extremely chic, Full of carvings, curios, and draped with batik. Eye-level photographs subtly assure That your host is at home with the great and the poor.
Enough of these verses – on with the mission! Our task is as broad as the human condition! Just pray god the biblical promise is true: The poor ye shall always have with you.
I don't know how Z would categorize me politically. On paper, though, pretty much pure bubble-dweller from birth, and thoroughly elite and privileged even if it doesn't always feel like it. However, lots of reality snuck through my bubble because I wanted it. Part Dirt, part Cloud. Most of the time I have some dirt under my fingernails. I ended up sort-of Goldwater-Reagan-ish.
Politically, I expect little good to come from government and only hope that they do minimal harm. In that, usually disappointed. I have little-to-no respect for politicians, and can not understand political fandom any more than I can related to sports fandom. I have no operational concept of social Progress. I am not a Trump supporter, whatever that means, but I'll vote for him. I will vote for him because I think he would do less harm than his opponent. In the end, that consideration sweeps aside most other considerations.
Am I a Swamp Thing? I do love swamps and marshes...but I live in a pleasant neighborhood and I visit interesting places.
ObamaCare’s Chickens Come Home to Roost - Democrats, anticipating rage over huge premium increases scheduled for 2017, are already trying to blame Republicans
It was a convention of Moorish design to decorate the heck out of walls, with maybe 5-6' of colorful geometric ceramic tiles from the floor, then rising to the ceiling with intricate carved-looking walls which often have some Koranic verses in them.
This from the Alcazar in Seville:
I learned three things about Moorish upper-wall treatment:
- This is not stone. It is marble plaster. - This is not carved. It is made with molds while the plaster was soft. - These walls, now white, were generally painted originally so it must have been jewel-like. It reminds me that Greek statues and columns, and even the statues of saints etc. on the outside of Gothic cathedrals, were also painted.
This is my pic of a plaster wall in the palace in the Alhambra.
There was no official recognition that the calls to have us fired could be seen as illiberal or censorious. By affirming only the narrow right to air my views, rather than helping the community to grapple with its intense response, an unfortunate message was made plain: Certain ideas are too dangerous to be heard at Yale.
The Hillary/Bill fortune — generated by pay-for-play influence peddling on the proposition that Bill would return to the White House under Hillary’s aegis and reward friends while punishing enemies — hit a reported $150 million some time ago, a fortune built not on farming, mining, insurance, finance, high-tech, or manufacturing, but on skimming off money. The Clintons are simply grifters whose insider access to government gave them the power to make rich people richer.
We ate a lot of tapas in Spain, partly because dinnertime there (9 pm) is a bit late for us. Also, we kept trying to find some really good ones. I concluded that none of them are all that tasty except with wine or beer, and we were not drinking booze. It's bar food. An exception was the tapas at the Madrid Ritz, but those were about 20 euros each instead of the normal 3 euros each.
I think we only did 2 real dinners, on the fancy side. At one, I had bacalao and at the other, suckling pig. Both excellent.
We broke the rule of Foods to Avoid in Spain, partly just because we wanted to see how they did it. We tried paella twice, once as a media ration with tapas and one shared for lunch. The latter was ok with squid, octopus, mussels, etc, but I just don't get the big deal about paella.
I also had to try a gazpacho, as in my pic along with some tapas. This one was creamy and delicious. We did try Salmorejo in Cordoba. Disgusting stuff, we agreed.
Anyway, the fun part of tapas is deciding which ones to try. That plate in the middle was fried eggplant. Not delicious at all - but it should be. Pic is the outdoor cafe at the Parador de Grenada.
I have not met Gerard but I feel like I sort-of know him. Naturally, I do not like him because he is more clever than I am, and a gifted writer. Reading that confession reminded me that this was perhaps just the first time he was saved from imminent death. The second time was when his heart (again) gave out on a sidewalk where he was rescued by passers by.
We took the high-speed AVE train from Madrid to Seville. 310 k/hr, smooth as silk, utterly quiet, large comfy seats, and with stewardesses serving drinks and snacks. Just one stop, in Cordoba. Reservations are required because these trains are always sold out.
Later, we took the same train north to Cordoba.
Madrid train station. It even has a turtle pond.
Andalusian countryside from the train. It is dry, and 90% olive orchards.
A big thank you to Roger and Bruce for keeping the daily linkies flowing here at Maggie's. Y'all deserve some Reeses's cups tonight. Steal them from the brats when they fall asleep.
Sad about Norcia, one of our favorite villages in Italy. We got an email last night from our friends, the monks of Norcia (Benedictines), that they are all ok and have moved into their mountain quarters.
The meteor that just slammed into the Clinton campaign thanks to the FBI
is one of those events that is both wildly entertaining, but also a bit
baffling.
I told my father-in-law tonight (a darn good sport to take care of our pup for 12 days) that the high point of our trip was the High Mass Sunday morning a week ago at the Seville Cathedral, the largest cathedral in the world. Second was probably seeing the gigantic Garden of Earthly Delights in the Prado. I did not realize that this altarpiece is about 12' wide and 6' high.
Delightful surprises were encountering two dear old couple friends by complete serendipity. First was a couple we have known from church and many other things. Mrs. BD said, as we were having cafe con leche in the garden cafe of the Parador de Granada (which is inside the walls of the Alhambra) "You won't believe this, but I think the ___s are sitting over there." They were two tables away. Good fun. Plus their room at the Parador was next to ours. The other one was Friday when we were having high tea in the garden at the Madrid Ritz. One of my closest pals and long-time confidantes ambled over past the fountain and said how fitting it is to run into the Bird Dogs having tea at the Ritz. I love things like that.
Anyway, we managed to catch two flamenco shows at tiny little venues in Seville. This was one (approximately) of the performances we saw at the Flamenco Museum. Good luck finding that amongst the crazy maze of medieval alleys where the phone GPS won't work. The dancing is mostly improv. The clapping styles are remarkable. Very strange, emotional stuff. Ole.
He was a prolific and graceful author too. A quote from the article:
Olmsted was thirty-six when his plan for Central Park was accepted, and he had no formal training in landscape architecture. Nor had anyone else, for at that time, parks were laid out by architects, gardeners, or surveyors. Up to that point, he had led a highly erratic life, filled with false starts and brave experiments that make for fascinating biography. Fortunately, there are two very good ones, one by Laura Wood Roper (1973) and another by Witold Rybczynski (1999), and they demonstrate that one cannot make sense of the second half of Olmsted’s life without understanding the first.
Budweiser Turned Around 
Stockman:
Male birth control study 
Tacky, nouveau riche wedding.
Clinton Foundation Is The ‘Largest Unprosecuted Charity Fraud Ever’
Nobody doubts that
The Clinton Foundation’s $20 million off-the-books mystery
What plagues Clinton in the final days: The Chicago Way
Klavan: Why I'll Vote for Donald Trump
Donald Trump: America's Junkyard Dog
Douthat sounds like he'll go with Hillary
Harvard Prof: “Riot in the Streets” to Block “Sociopath” Trump
I guess he prefers the other Sociopath
Is Donald Trump a conventional thinker?
Is he any sort of thinker? Neither candidate is a thinker. One's ignorant and one is pure schemer. These are entirely normal political characteristics.
The question is why do they hate Trump and his voters so intensely?