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.
As I predicted, as soon as Joe Biden became president, the narrative on COVID-19 would change. Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) proved me right.
What really was/is the point of COVID testing? Unless you are ill and your doctor needs to know?
As we are often reminded, the USA was founded as a democratic republic, not as a pure democracy. Many states would not have joined the deal without the original electoral college, or without the two Senators per state (which, as we recall, were originally selected by state legislatures and not by popular vote). They were supposed to be wise old owls to keep things rational - like the House of Lords.
But everything political ends up being power plays. It's a game, and a rough one because careers, money, power, and status are involved. Also, ideological passions which tend to be about power anyway. Politics in the US is not pretty and never has been.
Not by the election, but because he screwed up, finally, in his last week in office. Bad timing for a rally, some crazy people showed up. Expect Trump to be Nixonized by the media.
Just for a moment, let's think about what life will be like next month. Two weeks from Thursday, Donald Trump will no longer be in control of our nuclear arsenal. He will not have command of federal agencies or even, most likely, his own Twitter account.
The rest of us, and this is key, will still be here. We've got nowhere to go. So what is life going to be like for us on Jan. 20? Not many people seem to be thinking about that, up to and including the people we pay to think about it. Donald Trump thinks almost exclusively about Donald Trump, but so does almost every single Democrat and Republican in the Congress. Who's got your concerns top of mind? Who wakes up in the middle of the night worried about your family? As far as we can tell, no one.
Furthermore, I do not think Trump is doing himself any favors by talking the way he is. A graceful exit is the way to do it, and let history judge it all.
Clement Moore was a real New Yorker. His lifetime of scholarship is long forgotten, but his doggerel is a gem. His family farm was named "Chelsea", and it is still Chelsea. Moore's family church still stands, St. Peter's. Been there, amazing old woodwork inside.
Moore is buried uptown. We almost got to that cemetary on our last urban hike.
The German Christmas tree — a rootless and lifeless corpse — was never worthy of the day, and no one can say how far the spirit of rationalism which begins with the denial of Santa Claus, the supernatural filler of stockings, and ends with the denial of all things supernatural, has been fostered by the German Christmas trees, which have been adopted so widely in this country. … The Christmas tree, dropping melted wax upon the carpet, filling all nervous people with a dread of fire; banishing the juvenile delight of opening the well-filled stocking in the dim morning light, and diffusing the poison of rationalism thinly disguised as the perfume of hemlock, should have no place in our beloved land.
Not that either educational level or income are good measures of a good life, but they are commonly used. It's difficult to measure the amount of satisfaction or love in life.
He feels our republic is gone, due to news/propaganda. Despite being a Leftie, Scott explains how much he "hates f-ing Biden. This doddering old fool called me a Nazi."