CMRivdogs

I can usually tell by the unkempt beards, tacky tee shirts and NRA bumper stickers on their F-150s with loud mufflers

I saw Styx perform about three years ago at the Ryman in Nashville for an "oldies" show. They can still bring it. Ricky Skaggs was on the same bill. Don't discount the energy of the "retirement" gang. One of the local favorites here is a "horn group", shag band, Good Shot Judy. We caught them last year at a local winery. It was probably the venue's largest draw, mostly over 60. They had folks up and dancing from the start..

And critical thinking, despite what some people think

I have a neighbor who recently returned to 3 days a week at the office, his wife is at 4 days. They're basically doing the same work they've been doing the past two years with the commute or the ability to schedule things like doctor's appointments and such around working at home. My wife is permanently working remote and what I'm seeing it can be more stressful at times. Most of the times her day is filled with meetings (her position involves a lot of strategy meetings) with no real down time. Most of the staff is in the building one day a week and she says she misses that a bit. There a lot of issues that can be straightened out wit just a quick chat in the coffee room, or on the way back to the cubical. Before COVID her day might consists of meetings anywhere from Wixom to Ann Arbor, Downtown Detroit, Lansing, etc. The drive would give her time to unwind and digest the conversations from the meetings. Of course the 12 hour she makes it a bit tough now except for the trips to Michigan every month or so now. Bottom line I don't think there is a perfect solution. (At least she didn't have to go to Mackinac Island this week)

Teachers are already over stressed as it is. Especially at the elementary level. Between just having to manage 20 plus individual personalities 6 plus hours a day. This includes counseling, having to deal with kids who often come from two separate households, angry or even worse disinterested parents. Often with no real breaks during the day. That's even before having to make any lesson plans or evaluate the progress of the students in the classroom. This country already has a teacher shortage. It's going to get much worse if you add the extra burden of requiring them to be armed. (And what happens if an armed teacher breaks and decides to go postal?)

Just looking at this list. See the Cubs,,they have 16 listed. Madrigal expected back today.. https://www.covers.com/sport/baseball/mlb/injuries

I just looked it up. No info whether they use peach tree dishes..

This could lose him a fairly large portion of the Trump base as well as a few stray cat lady votes...

Adult males beyond a certain age and weight should never wear graphic tee shirts of any kind. Period.

How did you pend your weekend?

A little perspective

I did see a note on the ABC store that they were closing early. I was a bit surprised they were open (Thanks Youngkin) The bicycle shop in the same shopping area was closed. That said, I did get a couple of questions about fireworks at Colonial Williamsburg about fireworks, I told them they needed to go to Busch Gardens

Poster child for the George Carlin routine...

For once I agree with Trump All of his toadies are Pusssies...

TBH, I'm basically agnostic about it. As I've written I don't think there is any chance of even another amendment passing in the next 15 years or so. None of the latest proposals I've seen have any real traction. I spent my formative years in Virginia, so Jefferson is close to my political and philosophical thoughts a lot. I believe he was a good philosopher, showed a varied interest in new and marvel ideas especially considering his inventions and attempts to bring new agricultural products to Virginia. His religious freedom statute was probably his greatest document, and is ignored by many so called christians today. (I call myself a back pew Presbyterian). My wife was one of the first coed undergraduates at UVa and we've spent a bit of time there. I don't believe he or any other politician of the 17th century should be judged solely on 20 or 21st century believes. He was a man of the times, not a deity. He inherited Sally Hemings from his late wife (they were half sisters, and basically a surrogate to her daughters after she died). Who knows what arrangements Jefferson and Hemings made other that his agreeing to free their offspring. The fact that Virginia law did not recognize freed slaves may have played into the picture since he did free on of Hemings brothers while living at Monticello. (The man bought his freedom)

The Federalist Papers were basically 1780 something blogs written in support of the proposed constitution.

Rewriting the Constitution would require intelligent, thoughtful persons. Unfortunately there aren't very many of them around today willing to take on the task.

Besides, It's probably not necessary to scrap and burn the whole thing, just bring it into say the 20th Century. We do have the power to amend, but how has that worked in the past 60 years or so.

I prefer to call it retool. After all we've gone from a constitutional democracy to a corporate controlled oligarchy. Do you include states with you thoughts on constitutional change. Michigan, for example has changed its constitution 5 times since 1835. If you actually read my entire post (and the links in the Jefferson letter) you'd see that my final conclusion is be careful what you wish for.

So Thomas Jefferson proposed in a letter to James Madison that the US Government be overthrown every generation? Times change, and so has how a lot of things that the group of politicians that we have dubbed as the infallible "Founding Fathers" thought at the time no longer apply. Take National Elections and the Electoral College for example. The thinking behind it was the general electorate at the time (Land owning men only) could not be trusted to elect a Chief Executive directly. Now we do so and have done so for a few generations. but still use the convoluted method of voting for a group who supposedly makes our decision for us. At the same time a large percentage of the population's votes are basically cancelled with the winner take all system. Do you actually believe that is what Mr Madison intended. I could do the same with several of the Bill of Rights Amendments, many have been bastardized by politicized court interpretations. The only laws that were ever written in stone were the Ten Commandments, (and even that is probably questionable)

A bit more of his argument On the other hand I remember talk back in the '70s about the need for a new Constitutional Convention. The thought then was something akin to be careful what you wish for. Given today's political climate it's probably the same.

Gonna throw this out here. I came across this as part of a letter TJ wrote to James Madison while he was still Ambassador to France. Jefferson played no role in the writing or adoption of the Constitution, aside from probably a few remarks in letters. He and Madison communicated a bit since their plantations were relatively close. This was also written around the time that the French Revolution was brewing. https://oll.libertyfund.org/quote/thomas-jefferson-on-whether-the-american-constitution-is-binding-on-those-who-were-not-born-at-the-time-it-was-signed-and-agreed-to-1789 https://jeffersonpapers.princeton.edu/selected-documents/thomas-jefferson-james-madison The crux here is that TJ realized that times change and laws cannot remain stagnant as time goes on. With changes in technology and other factors. A 200 plus year document written by middle aged men (politicians) should not remain in stone forever.