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.
Trump is such a narcissist he thought he could be a successful real estate developer. Then he was for decades. Trump is such a narcissist he thought he could be a successful author. Then he was, several times. Trump is such a narcissist he thought he could be a successful reality tv show host. Then he was, for many, many seasons. Trump is such a narcissist he thought he could be a successful national candidate, then he was, defeating 17 professional politicians, including Jeb! and $120 million.
As they might say in TX, it ain't narcissism if you do it.
Where is the evidence that a "majority" of Americans value "self-rule and freedom"? Thanks to several decades of poisonous and corrupting progressive propaganda combined with steadily increasing prosperity, I believe that most Americans now value security (i.e comfort) over freedom. Fortunately for them, it's a lot easier for the ruling class politicians to sell comfort than freedom, because freedom means responsibility and work. And they're not greatly interested in selling freedom anyway, because when you get right down to it, a free man really doesn't need much of a ruling class.
It sounds laughably ironic, but the modern progressive movement has argued itself into a position where people can be discriminated against on the basis of gender, skin colour and orientation.
That’s why you hear dismissive and in some cases even vituperative comments about “straight white males” in the media today: men are being ridiculed for things they cannot change about themselves. And it’s the political left doing the discrimination.
[R]arely has a presidency seen so many things go so badly for the U.S. in foreign policy. Obama’s track record is not looking good: at the end of his watch, the Middle East, Europe, and East Asia are all in worse shape than when he entered office, relations with Russia and China are both worse, there are more refugees, more terrorists and more dangerous terrorist organizations.
Cheery photo stolen from Pirate. I figger it's ok to steal from a Pirate. Technically, this is an abuse of the flag but we'll give them a pass for being so cute.
So claims the WaPo. It made me laugh because this is America's #1 barbecue weekend and only quite peculiar people are not grilling meat.
A few thoughts.
If cows and sheep and goats are killing the planet, what about all of the wild animals that roamed the globe before domestication? Should we kill all the farting deer, caribou, bison, wild pigs and Wildebeests?
Why do they always talk about Red Meat? What's so specially bad about it compared to pork or chicken? Not a thing, as far as I know. That old beef about red meat's health badness has long been disproven.
And how bad can red meat be, given that the human body is made of it? Are the cannibals worried?
Would Robert Reich be directing that warning to all new immigrants, or to the children and grandchildren of immigrants, who left everything behind to come to this lovely place for freedom and opportunity?
Lynch doesn't want her indicted. She doesn't want to be indicted. Bill Clinton doesn't want her to be indicted. The idea that rank partisans like this are going to let some process play out with no influence on it whatsoever and run the risk that somebody might actually indict Hillary Clinton, they're not gonna let that happen. That's not who these people are. And yet look at all the people who are holding all this hope out, thinking this might be the one. They say, "She is so guilty, they can't hide this. She's so guilty, they can't cover this up. This is so bad." What do you mean, they can't cover it up, they can't ignore it? They can do all of that, and they will. It's who they are.
Lynch’s plan to “remove herself” and “accept the FBI decision” over Clinton’s emails is probably a smokescreen
Anglo-American conservatism has never been a single thing. That was the whole point about conservatism, beginning with the British Glorious Revolution of 1699, which helped to define English rights and liberties against a power-grabbing royal house.
This is the drama we just saw play out again in Europe when the Brits revolted against the absurd new Juncker Class, trying to exert Franco-German power over Britain. That Sovietized political machine is not going to give up its drive to dictate the size of cherry tomatoes in Scotland: That is its only mission in life. Without those forty thousand regulations from Brussels, the Euro Soviets would have no function at all.
They are parasites. They do not produce anything useful, anymore than the Soviet Apparat did before the crumbling of the State. Vladimir Putin just pointed out the eerie similarities between the end of Soviet dominance and the end of the EU. That similarity is not an accident. It represents the eternal fight between self-serving power freaks and ordinary people trying to live their lives.
Ordinary Europe has wandered into the ancient trap of deceptive political con artists talking people into giving up their rights and powers. Obama has tried to do the same thing to us.
“Fundamentally, I’m a climate scientist and have spent much of my career with my head buried in climate-model output and observational climate data trying to tease out the signal of human-caused climate change.
Interesting topic. It usually only comes up when an establishment consistently deviates far from the majority. In the case of the UK, the politics are special: Cameron was elected in part by promising a referendum on EU membership. So their national election was, in effect, a referendum on a referendum. It seems to me that, if national sovereignty can not be held to a referendum of the citizens, then nothing can be presented to the direct will of the citizens.
Lyme, CT is a quaint little village, perfectly located on the Connecticut River but close to Long Island Sound. I love this 1789 farmhouse and its easily-manageable 6 acres. It's for sale. I want it. Good for boats and birds and plenty of hunting nearby. Perfect.
And, with our friends, church, kids, and complex lives, I would never have time to get there. A shame we can't have everything we like. Even billionaires can't, because time can not be purchased and it is a rare item.
This is not a vote against Europeans or even against Europe, nor will it divide the U.K. as the ungracious Remainers are saying. It is a vote for Britain to be governed by the British and to co-operate closely and fairly with the European countries. It is not really a vote to leave, but a vote to renegotiate for the next two years. Gove and Johnson are broad-minded, fair-minded modern Thatcherites, and they will strike the right balance between defence of British domestic interests and retention of good relations with the European powers. Prime minister Edward Heath threw Britain’s lot in with Europe, and put the Commonwealth over the side. Thatcher bet on the special relationship with the U.S., and she and Ronald Reagan were the principal victors in the Cold War, but that relationship couldn’t survive the last two American presidents. Britain has come full circle.
Sessions on Brexit: "The interests of powerful international corporations, media, special interests, and leftist international forces are not coterminous with those of our people.
Britain is leaving the European Union. But that reality doesn't begin to tell the story of the larger historical forces at work that are reshaping global politics, the global economy, and global culture and have been for much of the last decade...
How to
New book reveals
As a psychiatrist, I diagnose mental illness.
Cheery photo stolen
Photo: If you know what that is, you are old 
Photo: If you know what that is called, you're old 
If you are from New Jersey, do you term this food-like product