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.
Justice Brandeis notwithstanding, progressives have never been content to “experiment” at the local level and be judged by the results. In every way they can, they seek to push all policy decisions to the national level. There, with only the meager voting power to constrain them, they can impose their one-size-fits-all, “comprehensive” policies on everyone. They even hound those individuals and companies who seek to exit the jurisdiction of the United States for freer pastures elsewhere.
Highly effective. It never fails for weight loss, except for the bosses who always seem to be fat.
Humans will work hard for themselves, their families, and their friends. Somewhat less for their tribe. Further out, not so much. It's human nature. Warfare is in a different category entirely.
“I thought I was a Tahitian Eskimo Mexican until I sent in my DNA test kit, and boy was I flummoxed when the results came back! I’m really Croatian with a mix of sub-Saharan! I guess I’ll be turning in my furry hat!”
It's not so much fashion as it is that it has finally become acceptable for straight civilian guys. Minimal-to-no head hair means no shampooing, no combing, no hat-hair issues, no bed-head issues, no bald spot issues, no "What haircut?" or "Where is my part?" issues.
Men aren't women, so why should they have to bother with good hair? Women in my world need to look well-groomed and well-cared for, with well-cut and styled hair (and good nails) but men just have to look clean and neat. The only downsides for guys are sunburn potential and looking stupid, but that's a good trade for the hassle. On a dare, this weekend I am going to get it all cut off for summer.
Ladies, if you have unstyled hair or long hair over 35 most women look homeless, deranged, like a WalMart shopper, or like a refugee from Maine. Guys, if you have long hair over 35 you look dangerously homeless or mentally-disturbed unless you look Hollywood-glamorous-cool that way or are an eccentric billionaire.
Discuss -
(Note to commenter: Melania Trump is not "most women")
The media's "angry, ignorant mouth-breather" stereotype of the Trump voter is no more than Lefty media spin. Since they do not talk to Trump voters, they will never report the reality. While working class white voters, male and female, might have given Trump his electoral edge, clearly large numbers of all sorts of demographics preferred him over Hillary. I did, and I do not think I am a knuckle-dragger.
Megan McArdle has a half-decent piece, Trump Voters Want Respect. Here’s How to Give It to Them, but it falls into the same stereotyping: sophisticated, educated elites vs. ignorant, feckless plebs referred to as "them." It is condescending and inaccurate.
If Megan wishes to contact me, I would be happy to introduce her to a goodly number of sophisticated, highly educated New York elites who were Trump voters - some enthused, some in the (political) closet, and some holding their noses but ok with it given the alternative.
One by one, getting them done for better or worse. Business guys just try to get through their checklists as fast as they can regardless of nuances and sensitivities. Promised he would blow the shit out of ISIS.Had this chance to do it without civilian damage, and he just did it. That's a bigtime traditional NYC F- you from a rough New Yorker from Queens. Manhattanites can be refined and delicate sometimes, but people from the boroughs can be tough as nails. Just ask any WW2 vet if you can find one. I have.
I had thought we were done with Afghanistan. Must have missed something. Remind me where it is again. Z-man is right: it is today's Balkans. Nobody really cared about the Balkans then either, and nobody cares about the Middle East now. Or the Balkans.
However, it's a message to the world: Don't f- with Trump. With Trump, nothing is predictable so watch your back, as they say in NY. Anyway, this is the only language the Islamists understand clearly.
When you think about it, without 9-11 little or none of this Middle East involvement would have happened. So was 9-11 a success for them, or not? I want the USA out of there. And I want those baboons to leave me alone.
Exactly where is Syria? What is it? Why should I care? Well, I do care about any people who are being tortured, abused, killed, etc., but that is the way of much of the world. It pains me terribly and only increases my gratitude for living in civilization. Still, I had hopes that Trump would stay out of the Middle East messes and leave it to others. I guess not.
And, for the 1000th time, the UN proves itself useless for its supposed purpose. Why do we bother with it?
The new media is fearless, more like the hearty newspapermen (before there were "journalists") of old. Why were Woodward and Bernstein famous? Because they caught a devious Republican (actually, a RINO). Had they caught a devious Democrat, it would have all gone into the black hole of unreported news and W and B would have been back on the police beat.
This guy Cernovitch broke the Rice story. He is not a member of the Club:
The Swamp is filled with incestuous power and money relationships, while the regular citizen wonders why the heck they aren't listening to them. Hence Trump.
A friend asked me whether I have ever been depressed or considered suicide. I said of course I have, especially when I wasn't married by 23. But suicide? And miss a meal?
