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.
Good explanation about how regular people get screwed by the global elites. Rebel. Much smarter than reporters, and far more successful too. I enjoy the ways he calls out the NBC/Euronews reporter whenever needed.
When you take a walk on the High Line, at the northern end you can watch the construction of what is, in effect, a new city in itself. It's a sight to behold, a boom town. It will even have its own schools, parks, everything.
Will the 60,000 new apartments lower Manhattan rents? I'd guess no. And Brooklyn is a boom town too. However you may feel about NYC, a lot of people want to live there and I don't blame them because it's a high-energy place.
What are (or have been) your favorite places to get frisky au pleine air? It's the best fun, is it not?
- on a boat - in a wildflower meadow - in a sleeping bag by a campfire - in a pool or other body of water - on a beach - in the woods standing against a tree - Urban rooftop or balcony - Other
This is a Scientific Survey for purely research purposes so your responses matter. Please no facetiousness - this is Serious Science.
World Cup balls are designed anew for each World Cup. Adidas makes them. They vary especially in pattern, and number and size of the seams.
Pro balls are inflated to rock-hard levels, unlike recreational balls. That's one reason people are concerned about brain injury from heading in pro soccer despite the fact that more concussions in soccer are from collisions on the field.
What sorts of speeds are attained by balls in the highest levels of soccer? Obviously it depends on the purpose of the pass or kick, but most are in the 20-80 mph range. Free kicks and penalty kicks can reach 90-100 mph. The fastest recorded penalty kick was 131 mph. Those balls can bang up a goalie pretty bad.
The elites believe they should run my life, and the dependents want my stuff. As it is, governments take 42% of what money I make. I guess in a way I am a serf, or a tenant farmer. I don't mind paying taxes, but it never seems to be enough for them.
Mexico permits essentially no immigration - unless you come with plenty of money. Puerto Vallarta has been a bit of an American colony for many generations.
A friend just returned from a destination wedding in San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico. It's a World Heritage site. He loved it - said it felt like Seville but with lots of Central American Indians. Turns out it is popular for expats and American retirees - 20% of its population is non-Mexican. Due to its altitude, it is always Springtime there.
I enjoy Mexico, but not Cancun and Cozumel and all those drunks and college trash. I think I'll plan San Miguel for next winter, then maybe hop over to Puerto Vallarta for some water and beach.
It's a country formed in rebellion and built on freedom from government power. That's a healthy attitude. As Jefferson said, every once in a while you have to throw the bums out and get a fresh start. Well, Jefferson's terms were more bloody, but it's the same idea.
I love the "everybody's in grief and shock this morning."
What intellectuals don't get about MIGRATION is the ethical notion of SYMMETRY:
1) OPEN BORDERS work if and only if the number of pple who want to go from EU/US to Africa/LatinAmer equals Africans/Latin Amer who want to move to EU/US
2) Controlled immigration is based on the symmetry that someone brings in at least as much as he/she gets out. And the ethics of the immigrant is to defend the system as payback, not mess it up.
Uncontrolled immigration has all the attributes of invasions.
3) As a Christian Lebanese, saw the nightmare of uncontrolled immigration of Palestinians which caused the the civil war & as a part-time resident of N. Lebanon, I am seeing the effect of Syrian migration on the place.
So I despise these virtue-signaling open-borders imbeciles.
The Greeks understood these things, and VDH knows the Greeks.
Bill's wife's judgement has been poor most of her life. Arrogance has been a problem too. Blind ambition. Who is she, in her own imagination? Remarkable she got as far as she did, but she did manage to leave a trail of messes and corruption behind her while becoming a mega-millionaire in selfless "public service".
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissent, accused the majority of weaponizing the First Amendment — an unconscionable position for a person tasked with “faithfully and impartially” discharging the duty to protect the inherent rights of all Americans. The dissenters have perverted the intent of the Founders. It’s none of Sotomayor’s business how we use free expression. It’s her business to protect it.
The Gowdy clip is stunning. The arrogance of the bureaucrats is amazing to me. Who do they think they are? Rosenstein's smugness bugs me because he is my employee.
There appears to be little real self-reflection in Mexico about how and why such a naturally rich country — blessed with good soil, climate, natural resources, ports, and a strategic geography — remains so dismally poor.
Another:
Mexico plays the same role with the United States that North African countries play with Europe, except in the former’s case, it has a deliberate rather than chaotic emigration policy — and uses it as direct leverage over the U.S. Mexico’s sense of immigration entitlement is predicated on the assumption that corporate America wants cheap labor, that liberal America wants voters, that identity-politics activists need constituents, that a liberal elite expresses its abstract virtue by its patronization of the Other — and that until recently most Americans were indifferent...
and one more:
There has been much wild talk of the “servitude” and “serfdom” of impoverished illegal aliens. But the real moral travesty is that Mexico’s entire foreign and economic policy is based on exporting its poor people abroad to scrimp and save cash to send home to provide the support their own government will not.
The United States has many enemies in the world, but it is hard to find one that deliberately is trying to undermine U.S. law by exporting its own citizens to change the demographic and politics of its supposed ally.
I think Trump admired Putin only for being another alpha male who puts his country's interests first. Trump relates to alpha guys, so that's his preference. He does not care for weasley boys like Justin, and that's his choice. Not many alphas in the press corps, so there's that too.
Purely by accident, I watched about 20 minutes of Trump's rally in South Carolina last night. With no notes and no prompter, the guy was a brilliant and highly amusing speaker, interacting with his audience, spewing stats and numbers constantly, and light-heartedly teasing about his opposition. All upbeat and good fun.
He was not my choice, but my choices would have lost to Hillary. As a communicator, Trump makes Reagan and Obama seem like amateurs - and he just wings it. His job seems recreational to him.
As an uncouth outsider, naturally the establishment hates him. That's why he was elected. If it turns out that Trump really is a Russian agent, I'll gladly change my mind about the whole Trump thing.
However, it appears that many US government agencies were working hard to prevent Trump a year before the election, and to undermine him afterwards. If true, it would be the biggest political scandal in US history. Seven Mysterious Preludes of the FBI's Trump-Russia Probe
Sure looks like a CIA/FBI string to me. Who arranged that?
What are (or have been) your favorite places to get frisky au pleine air? It's the best fun, is it not?
World Cup balls are 
It's Hot Dog Day on Coney Island. Joey Chestnut ate 72 Nathan's Hot Dogs last year in ten minutes at the contest. 