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.
We have had a Lab. Love them. Very hunt-trainable too, and also life-trainable. The only Chessies I have known were owned by a girlfriend's Dad. Tough as nails, bulky, unfriendly (often termed "protective") - but thrilled to chase a duck or a stick into icy water.
This 2020 nonfiction bestseller explores why people from Western societies
think and behave differently from the rest of the world. The title uses
WEIRD as an acronym for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and
Democratic.
It's a fat paperback, but readable in bits. Different cultures view reality and life very differently. There is a reason for tribalism.
I know, I hate the AI voice but this is good. Yeah, the IRGC has owned Iran in the same way that Hezbollah has owned Lebanon. Is it all religious, or what?
Where would they be without Jews or the Great Satan to hate?
Remember to thank your local rich people. The top 1 percent of earners
pay 40 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 10 percent pay 72
percent. The bottom 50 percent pay. . . about 3 percent. I want you to
find your local investment bank associate, the pharmaceutical company
VP, your local lawyer for Chevron, your local private equity bundler of
laundromats and say “thank you, sir, for the roads and the bus driver
salaries and stuff.” These are the men and woman holding America
together. It’s enough glorifying farmers and teachers. It’s time to
celebrate America’s true backbone: people making $700,000 a year and
paying half that in taxes. Yeah, that’s right: It’s time to celebrate
the rich.
Is our tax system skewed enough? Nope. Not at all. It must be more!
Foreign policy in the Middle East is what podcasters Jennifer Welch and
Angie Sullivan call a lazy susan of shit sandwiches: all the available
options are terrible.
As our Juncos and White-Throated Sparrows head to Canada to nest, for us in the northern 2/3 of the US the sweet tune of the Song Sparrow seems to be everywhere.
You can learn all about this common sparrow here, including the song.