For your listening and viewing pleasure;
Yes, I know. It’s been a while since I exercised. Winter does that. Or, more appropriately, I let winter be an excuse not to run or exercise. Anyway, today I went out and ran. 42.31 minutes per my Fitbit. 32 minutes of that in the peak heart rate zone. 8 minutes in the cardio area. And 26 minutes in the field above cardio but not in peak. My highest heart rate was towards the end of the run. I hit 176, two beats above max. It was but for a moment.
I forgot to change the setting on MapMyRun from Treadmill to run, so it didn’t track my distance. But at this point, just getting over 40 minutes is more important than my speed or distance.
(ShareBlue) The end result of this, though, is that our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial, and will not be questioned.
The Founding Fathers’ declaring independence was an act of challenging King George’s authority. Our nation is founded on the principle of questioning and defying authority. You don’t get to proclaim you are above reproach, Donald Trump. You are but a 3rd of the government. You share power with the Legislature and the Judiciary. You are not a dictator. You are an elected servant of the people. We have every right to challenge and question your performance while you hold the Office of President.
So suck it up Buttercup. The Government is not a business.
So, I put in for a transfer to MCF – Lino Lakes and it was accepted. I will be working as a release planner. Currently, I am living in Duluth and will be driving for a bit from there until I can find a suitable place for Tina and me to rent. It appears to be about a 2-hour drive. Not exactly the ideal situation while I am also doing two online classes. But, like I said, I am looking for a place that is small enough so as not to be overwhelming to clean, allows pets, and is centrally located so Tina can find a job that is within a 20-minute drive.
Okay, all the years of the Bush II Administration and never was a lie called out as a lie. Even the vaulted New York Times failed to call a lie a lie.
(New York Times) WASHINGTON — President Trump used his first full day in office on Saturday to unleash a remarkably bitter attack on the news media, falsely accusing journalists of both inventing a rift between him and intelligence agencies and deliberately understating the size of his inauguration crowd.
In a visit to the Central Intelligence Agency intended to showcase his support for the intelligence community, Mr. Trump ignored his own repeated public statements criticizing the intelligence community, a group he compared to Nazis just over a week ago.
See those words there? The ones I highlighted? Yeah, that’s calling out lies.
Good on ya, New York Times!
Update: “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” – George Orwell
I believe we are about to find out what would have happened had Joseph McCarthy become President……….
Update: In fact, I expect there will be a resurgence of “McCarthyism,” but done in Trump fashion.
The story concerns a farmer who finds a viper freezing in the snow. Taking pity on it, he picks it up and places it within his coat. The viper, revived by the warmth, bites his rescuer, who dies realizing that it is his own fault. The story is recorded in both Greek and Latin sources. In the former, the farmer dies reproaching himself “for pitying a scoundrel,” while in the version by Phaedrus the snake says that he bit his benefactor “to teach the lesson not to expect a reward from the wicked.” The latter sentiment is made the moral in Medieval versions of the fable. Odo of Cheriton‘s snake answers the farmer’s demand for an explanation with a counter-question, “Did you not know that there is enmity and natural antipathy between your kind and mine? Did you not know that a serpent in the bosom, a mouse in a bag and fire in a barn give their hosts an ill reward?”
Because it seems lessons for the populous are usually not learned by the populous.
I’ve started Spring Semester. Two online classes. One for Psychology, the other through the Pharmacy School. Both are writing intensive. I really didn’t have a choice as I was late getting around to registering. So, basically the first three classes of my resuming my education are writing intensive. I’m a glutton for punishment.
Is the Reality Based Community up to the challenge? Is it up to holding the line against a presidency so blatantly, brazenly adept at lying without shame, without conscious? Is there enough left of this old community of bloggers to challenge the gas lighting that will spew doubt and deception as if it were Monopoly Money impersonating real tender? I don’t know. Many of the founders of the old blogs have moved on to higher more respectable platforms, blogging being a thing of the past for them. Other blogs have evolved beyond into social sites no longer capable of much more than being a part of the noise they once railed against so proudly.
I think the past is not the answer for the progressives of the internet. For one thing, there were still eight years of George W. Bush. Granted, there was the proud moment of not only electing but re-electing the first African-American President, Barack Obama. However, after eight years we find ourselves facing a Presidency worse than anything good ole’ George was ever capable of creating. And with an even more cravenly self-centered Republican party ensconced in Congress devoid of compassion and empathy.
And while we may look upon Barack as a source of pride, we are faced with Congress lost to us for quite some time. Gerrymandering, cronyism, and out and out corruption has kept the progressive from gaining any significant presence in the House of Representatives. And as for the Senate? We managed to increase our representation by what? One?
It is time to let go of the ideas of the past, be they noble or not. The fact is we managed only to elect a President for two terms. Otherwise, we’ve not managed to prevent the conservatives from holding an unequal share of power. Though I use the term conservatives with a bit of reserve, as the conservatives of old have been subjugated to the midden pile. But that is for another day.
For now, the progressives need to assess their goals, their tactics, and the outcome of the last 16 years and recognize that they have not been successful. We have railed against those who would proclaim the President a king, yet have we not treated it as just that? Have we not so totally focused on winning the Presidency that we failed to recognize the United States of America is not a dictatorship and the Presidency not the sole seat of power?
I’ve no doubt the incoming man who will hold the Office has not an inkling of what the Constitution even says. However, I believe that those of us on our side fail to recognize what the Constitution means, even if we know the words.
I do not have the answers to our dilemma. I don’t even have questions to help reach the answers needed to direct our future actions.
However, I do have hope. Change does not happen overnight. Indeed, it does not happen in years. It happens over decades, with losses, and failures at every turn. That is what we are in the midst of right now. Instead of pointing our fingers blaming each other for our current failure, let’s look at ourselves first. See how we failed to work with others, and forgot what it is we all have in common. Then and only then can we forge questions that will teach us answers, allowing us to emerge stronger, with more discipline and determination.
It’s simple, really. If your team fails to make the playoffs you always support the teams in your division, and then in your conference. So, with that said (and with a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth) Go Packers!