When I have ceased to break my wings
Against the faultiness of things,
And learned that compromises wait
Behind each hardly opened gate,
When I have looked Life in the eyes,
Grown calm and very coldly wise,
Life will have given me the Truth,
And taken in exchange–my youth.
–Sara Teasdale
Greetings faithful readers! Sorry for not posting yesterday, but the time just got away from me. Here’s a recap:
As usual, I was up before 5 a.m. That’s when I do my daily slog through my blogroll catching up on the news and views from voices I trust. This has gotten to be quite the chore of late because the news from my homeland is depressingly bad. It made me sick that the voters chose a senile old fool over a competent yet clownish incumbent. That the election was apparently rife with fraud is downright scary and demonstrates that the swamp creatures have no intention of letting the people have their say. So much for democracy. The icing on the shit cake was the Georgia Senate results. Just thinking about the adverse impact Dem control of Congress and the Presidency will have on our nation’s future is the stuff of nightmares. Bottom line–we are screwed. I’m thankful that I’m so far away and don’t have to experience this fiasco up close and personal. I do expect a wrecked economy will cause the dollar to lose exchange value making me a poorer man. I probably won’t live long enough to experience the worst of what is in store for my homeland.
But life, such as it is, goes on. Did my morning routines, fed and walked the dogs, then met up with my Friday walking group. We did a pleasant mostly urban and flat 8K hike. Finished at my house where I treated the guys to a lunch of beers, chicken nuggets, calamari rings, with chips and dip.
When we were done with that I barely had time for a shower before heading out to Queen Victoria for a Hash mismanagement meeting. The agenda included appointing folks to positions of responsibility. Demolition Derby was unanimously chosen to continue serving as Grand Master. I was selected to be the Circle Jerk Master. That’s basically a Sergeant-at-Arms type role, mainly helping to maintain order in the Hash circle by telling people to shut up and pay attention. Seems like my being an asshole made me qualified for the job.
There’s been a bit of controversy at the Hash from a few disgruntled members not satisfied with the way things are being run. Boo fucking hoo is my attitude towards these whiners who were still hiding in their basement afraid of COVID while the rest of us worked to resurrect the Hash under difficult circumstances. So I don’t give a shit if they don’t like the decisions we made to make that happen. We raised the entry prices and now the Gash (females) pay the same amount as men. Well, so what? Most of them drink as much as the men do too. We also changed the start time because of an early curfew. The disgruntled few wanted a return to the traditional 3:30 start. I was opposed to this because I think the earlier start works better. It’s no fun to still be up on the mountain when the sun is starting to set. Anyway, we voted to implement a compromise start time of 2:30 p.m. We’ll see how that works out.
Had a few beers during the meeting, then moved over to Alley Cats to play in the dart tournament. Of course, I was early so I had some more beer while waiting to play. And then of course I drank while playing (I call it aiming fluid). It was a good tourney and I was satisfied with my play overall even though my partner and I lost a tough match in the finals and settled for second place.
Needless to say, I was feeling no pain when I got back home last night. But today is a brand new start, right? Stopped at a hotel called Papagayo for breakfast. I was last there years ago for a dinner so wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought the menu was a little limited in offerings, but the service was good. And nice views from my table as well.
Here are the photos from yesterday’s hike. These are mostly from Scott:
All right, I do try and avoid politics on social media. Nothing to be gained from it. But I couldn’t help sharing this meme pointing out the hypocrisy of the left regarding “protests”:
Here’s an example from ex-wife #3:
You don’t know the difference between protests and insurrection? Well the former seeks change(s) in the law. The latter seeks to change the government.
To which I responded:
Yes, I know the difference. Do you know the difference between protests and riots? Do you know the meaning of the word hypocrisy? Where was your outrage when the Federal courthouse in Portland was being attacked? Where were your posts decrying the violence and destruction in Minneapolis, Seattle, and other cities last year? Make no mistake, I am equally disgusted by what happened at the Capitol this week. Once you engage in violent criminal activities in support of your cause, whatever that cause may be, you are no longer a protester. Rioters on the left or right are no different and are unworthy of support or sympathy if we are to remain a nation of laws. This post merely pointed out that people like you encouraged the rioters through silence and now are suddenly appalled by the same tactics being used by people you don’t agree with. Disgusting.
And of course, the ex immediately saw how wrong she had been and is now a committed Republican. Well, actually she doubled down, proving my point that these arguments or not going to ever lead to a meeting of the minds. Another commenter did chime in with this in response to the whole “insurrection” argument:
The right to overthrow the government is a right of the people. As of late, some people may feel that it is a course that needs to be taken. A fair bit of the population feels disenfranchised.Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. -Declaration of Independence, July 4th 1776
Hard to argue with that, so I’ll just leave it there.
Let’s cleanse the palate with this:
Alright, one more for the road:
More darts on tap for tonight. I’m starting to feel at least some of my game is coming back. I wore my old Columbia Singles League jersey for my Barretto Singles League match this week and came away with a 12-4 victory.
Okay, this post may not be twice as good as usual, but it is twice as long. Hope that makes up for yesterday’s absence.
I’ll be back with more of something or other tomorrow.
UPDATE: I was surprised to see I used the “Mourning in America” title once before, back in September 2010. That post consisted of a link to this one-minute long anti-Obama commercial. I said back then that it made me almost dread my decision to move back to the USA. Well, maybe we’ll get through this too.
We’ll survive the Biden administration, although it’s not clear that Biden himself will survive the Biden administration. I’m expecting plenty of bleeding eyeballs, senior moments, and accidental wet farts while on camera. The pendulum will swing back eventually, and I’d like to think that, when it does, the flaws in our legal and electoral systems will be patched up, at least temporarily, by people who love their country.
Yeah, we’ll get through it. I expect there will be a backlash when people wake up and realize just how bad the policies of the Harris administration truly are. Perhaps the Dems lose both Houses in 2022 as a result. Nothing to do now but ride it out hope for the best.
I am an optimist and feel confident that things will chug along just fine. The Senate is too close to have the Dems force anything through (who would have thought that Joe Manchin would be one of the (if not the) most powerful people in Washington LOL), though I do think it would have been better to have a Republican controlled senate. It is best for the US if no one party (whether it be the Dems or the GOP) controls both the executive and legislative branches.
Anyway, I am comfortable where I am at in the world, and figure I will be in 5 years, regardless who is the head cheerleader is in the US.
Worry about things I have control over, and those things that I cannot control, I will go with it.
I like what Sara Teasdale had to say. Unlike you McCrarey, I was not disgusted by what happened at the Capitol this week. If any part of the so-called Insurrection disgusted me, it was the murder of a unarmed white female by VP Pence’s security detail. A patriotic woman who served 14 years in the military to include combat duty. Imagine if she had been a woman of color. Madame Pelosi and her ilk would have spewed their vitriolic nonsense to the nth degree. Remember McCrarey, this country was founded upon insurrection. Right overcomes Wrong and it is most often not pretty or pacific. I lack the specific words to display what i mean but please let me plagiarize the words of someone who is more eloquent then me in these ideas.
“No matter what your political belief, the hard fact is that protesting—sometimes violently—is ingrained in both modern American society, as well as in the foundational bedrock of our country.
There have been no less than 25 major insurrections since the founding of the United States in 1776. Native Americans, immigrant Americans, slaves and freedmen alike have protested and rebelled even over simple things like stamps and tea, corn, whiskey and coal.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died for something larger than themselves: for freedom—-first from British tyranny and then to end slavery. And more die every year in the continuous pursuit of equality, civil rights, and the ability to live without fear.
No one wants to condone, or be thought of as condoning violence. And while unchecked and chaotic violent protests can lead to more violence, IT IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO QUESTION WHY THIS PROTEST IS OCCURRING IN THE FIRST PLACE. because understanding—-and hopefully, emphasising with that action may actually be the only avenue toward true and lasting American change”
Peace Out!
Brian, I admire your ability to live the serenity prayer. Yeah, stressing over things outside your ability to control is pointless. I’ll try and do better.
Soju, I’m impressed and it is hard to dispute the logic of your words. I do not condone violence for violence’s sake, but if this is the opening salvo in the revolution, so be it.
I don’t comment often, think I’ve only left one other comment prior to this one but…
To this day, there still hasn’t been one single, verified, factual, proven instance of voter fraud (by the Dem side, that is). Remember, just because Trump says it’s so, doesn’t make it so, no matter how bad you want to believe him, Giuliani, Powell, or Lin.
IMHO, Biden won because most people voted against Trump, and rightly so.
Steve, I appreciate you taking the time to share your view on the issue.
Why not have a Congressional and/or Justice Department investigation into the fraud allegations? Seems to me these fraud allegations warrant the same level of concern that the Dems gave to claims Russian collusion.
Have there been Congressional and/or Justice Department investigations into past elections? If not, why not? Again, just because one man, Trump says it’s so, doesn’t make it so. You have to have facts. Evidence. Witnesses. Video. FACTS. And so far, aside from Trump’s rantings, there ain’t none. Not. One. Single. One.
A lot more people than Trump believe there was fraud in this election. It doesn’t matter now, it’s over. There will be a reckoning though.
To claim that there is not a single bit of evidence of electoral fraud is to ignore the mountains of testimony—and video—saying and showing otherwise (I’ll point you to left-leaning Tim Pool, who has been talking about this very topic for weeks). Of course, the left-leaning media aren’t interested in showing this evidence, which is why you have to consume alt-media sources; they tend to be a hell of a lot more truthful and fair in their reporting. Stick to the mainstream media—which is a naïve thing to do—and you won’t hear any of this. (BTW, the “alt” in “alt-media” has nothing to do with “alt-right.”)
Yep, my awakening came when I started surfing the ‘net and reading other sources for news. Prior to that, I relied on the Washington Post as my primary source of news. What shocked me the most about the bias I discovered was not so much in what was reported but rather in what was NOT covered. There is no question that the mainstream media promotes a narrative. There were blatant about that when they buried the Hunter Biden story just prior to the election. Shameless!