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.
I wish someone could explain the moral difference between going to a NICU unit and injecting poison into a premature baby that is causing the mother emotional stress & injecting poison into another baby – same age; same reason– that's in the womb?
It's a docu-drama by Mike Cernovich about fake news. Scott Adams suggests that you have no distractions during the final 15 minutes (he appears in the film - as does Prof. Peterson who Scott says "totally re-programmed my brain about religion."
With the upcoming Super Bowl, is it any surprise that race politics dominate the pre-coverage of the game? At one time enjoying professional sports provided a respite from all the mind-numbing back-and-forth of politics. Those days have been stolen from us since former San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick disgraced our National Anthem in protest to a perceived injustice involving police use of force against black males—none of which is supported by evidence or data.
Fitter or younger people than I am have far more ambitious programs, but we all do what we can.
Not including my two calisthenics days (which are, say 60% HIIT or regular cardio), I fit in two pure cardio days partly as recovery days from my weight-lifting days. Those two days are constructed (all workouts have to be planned) for heart strength and hill-hiking endurance and speed. Something like this:
- 10-min elliptical warm-up - 5 mins misc jump rope drills. I'm working on one-footed, but it doesn't come easily to me - 45 mins treadmill drill - A5 min/1 min/30-second/1 min pattern, like this: 5 mins 3.2 mph walk at 8-10 incline; 1 min slow walk at 2 mph at 1.5 incline; 30-45 second sprint at 7-9 mph,;1 min slow walk; 5min jog at 4-5 mph with a 2 incline; 30-second "sprint" at 7-9 mph; then the 1 min slow walk. Rinse and repeat according to time availability. It's not boring because it is always changing. - Finish up with 10 mins on the stairmaster, not too fast, to make sure I am a wobbly physical wreck by the time I am done.
I'm sure some readers can handle a more intense program, but I think mixing it up like this at whatever intensity one can handle is far more effective than monotonous trudging along for 60-70 minutes - that's a waste of time unless in cardiac rehab. Ya gotta push it to improve.
"You know, it's kind of sad to see journos getting all pissypants about being yelled at to "learn to code" on social media because they've been laid off. Their attitude is, like, what did we ever do to deserve such calumny. Well, let me tell you: I think the reason you see so many commenters on my side of the aisle sporting such gigantic schadenboners because of the loss of jobs in "journalism" is the fact that modern journalism is nothing but a litany of failure, and it's chief perpetrators refuse to see it, or even see there that there even might be a credibility problem: The UVA rapes that never happened, Duke Lacrosse rape case, Covington Catholic, the NAACP "bombing" that wasn’t, church fires and swastikas painted on synagogues that turn out to be set by liberal activists, attacks by Trump supporters, that weren't, the Jewish cemetery vandalism, racist remarks scribbled on credit card receipts at restaurants, etc. And all reported with hair-on-fire urgency and hyped 24/7. And all fake news. And the bad actors never seem to suffer any consequences for their spreading of fake news. They just drop the fake story and go on to the next fake story. And it's not like they get a few things wrong, they seem to get everything wrong. And the more they screw it up, the more outraged they become when we sneer at them. It's like they're not real journalists. They've killed real journalism and they're now walking around in journalism's skin and demanding respect."
An old aphorism states, “Life is a series of lessons. Each lesson will be repeated until you learn it. At that point you will be given a new lesson.” There’s humor in that both dark and deep. I’ve had my share of lessons that are very hard to learn, lessons that I find I have failed at again and again. There have been lessons I learned wrongly, lives and people I have let go too lightly, and lives and people I have hung onto too long. I’ve been complicit in ending lives at the beginning and at the very end. Was I right to do so? I believed I was at the time I was called upon to make these decisions. Would I agree to these decisions now? I believe I would not.
"If I am unlucky enough to get Alzheimer's, and lucky enough to have my wife take care of me, feed me, clothe me, and clean me, I'm going to go ahead right now and..."
"It just beggars belief that the same liberals who fret about 'micro-aggressions' for 20-somethings were able to see 16-year-olds absorbing the worst racist garbage from religious bigots..."
The irresponsible media did no due diligence or fact-checking. That is standard operating procedure for them. More disappointing was that some conservative writers and media elites ran after this shiny object seeing it as an opportunity to morally cleanse themselves of implicit bias by running to the well to drink of the water of moral purity and bathe in the fountain of virtue signaling. As a conservative, this phony self-righteousness should be seen not as an act of what is good. In my view, it is a display of a white guilt complex for an injustice (slavery) that occurred before they were born and that they or their ancestors had nothing to do with. It’s self-flagellation of the worst kind.
" The best argument in favor of Trump’s presidency is what Trump’s presidency has taught us about the character of the people who oppose him, and who would be wielding power if he weren’t."
Well, obviously. It almost worked. Boob-bait, "Russia Russia Russia". But wasn't she the one with the goofy and embarrassing Russia "Reset" button? The US should be cautious friends with Russia. Many common interests. Why look for enemies (except for political reasons)?
There isn't much to say about this, except what we all know. The press got it wrong by a long shot, is now incapable of winding it back, and the Progressives have latched on to a David Hogg-type character they can hate for a single reason. He smirked (no, really, that's their reason, it has nothing to do with a MAGA hat. I've already been told it has nothing to do with that hat. Nothing.).
Let's see where the basis of hating the smirk comes from.
"The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called."~George Orwell, 1984
I'll admit smirking can be criminal. I'm not sure a teen's confused smile is a 'smirk'. But if it is, it certainly can be criminal, as we've seen:
In the post-national world, that old definition of citizen no longer works. In a world where foreign people can just move in, claim the benefits and protections from the government, citizenship loses all value. At the same time, the state is increasingly alien to the people over whom it rules. In the European Union, the people are no longer ruled by their national governments, as all of the big decision are made in Brussels. In America, political offices are increasingly being filled by exotic weirdos with no connection to the natives.
The question then is what does it mean to be a citizen in a democratic empire?
...the roar of racist rage from the great and good directed at an innocent Kentucky boy is all about implementing the Democrats’ grand strategy, which is to assemble a coalition of the margins of American society: immigrants, welfare mothers, tech billionaires, transgenders, hedge-fund guys, black church ladies, gays, Jews, the unmarried, movie stars, felons, and so forth and so on.
In contrast, the more similar you are to a Minuteman of 1776, the more likely you are to vote Republican. The GOP appeals to Core Americans, the Democrats to Fringe Americans.
Mass immigration offers the Democrats good reason to hope to overwhelm their foes in the long run...
Seeming to equate maleness with sociopathic behavior is appalling to all normal people. I hated that disparagement of "boys will be boys" because, well, they will be. Sociopathic behavior is an entirely different topic.
Photo: My chilly Mockingbird, getting out of the wind. Doubt he'll survive the winter up here. About 30% of birds die each winter, whether by migration or by staying put.
The real and ongoing source of Democrats' outrage is that President Trump has continually and, it must be said, gleefully, skewered the establishment. He has challenged the conventional wisdom on nearly everything, revealing the shallowness of the group-think that has so long dominated our political discourse.
If the NYT understood infant mortality stats, they wouldn't make this claim. Most countries don't bother trying to save early premies or defective babies, so our stats look worse. It's like saying Memorial Cancer Hospital's stats make it look like the worst hospital in the US
The Day the Music Died: 60 years since that fateful plane crash,
Fitter or younger people than I am have far more ambitious programs, but we all do what we can. 
What the Press Missed About Vanguard Founder's Fortune: 
Photo: My chilly Mockingbird, getting out of the wind. Doubt he'll survive the winter up here. About 30% of birds die each winter, whether by migration or by staying put.