Month: February 2020

Trumpism and Bible Thumping: Liberal Style.

Yes, I chuckled over this:

And yes, the Bible Beaters know that they are on the side of their deity:

Deviate from that, and you are either a fool, or morally lacking..or both.

But we have a version of that too:

And you see, the women who don’t support Warren: they are browbeaten by THE PATRIARCHY…and if you don’t see Warren as a front runner, well, you are “erasing her.”

The reality is: if one is going to be on the winning side of an election, it is necessary to have people that you do not care for on your side.

And you know: it really isn’t intellect. I know that there are many a lot smarter than I am. What really, really grates on me is how the sanctimonious bores are just so sure of themselves; the very idea that someone who doesn’t like their candidate might be seeing things from a different point of view or judging things from a different fram of reference escapes them.

And…with most things social and political, I have opinions, but I have doubts about my opinions. Do I have enough of the relevant information? Am I missing something? Is there another way to view it from that I just don’t see?

A way that wokeness poisons things…

First of wall: it is a very pretty day; mid 40’s and sunny for my “run/walk”; almost college spring baseball weather.

It took me 1:10 to do; I jogged the first and last mile, and all of the uphill sections of my 5.1 mile hill course. Ironically, it took only 3 minutes longer than a “100 percent run” on Tuesday (same distance, easier course). But the reality is that my legs were heavy from yesterday’s deadlifts and possibly from that little 2 mile “harder run” on Friday. Pathetic, I know.

But the “pure run” stuff was almost torture until the end.

Now about my topic:
Some time ago, a discussion about the use of the ACT/SAT came up. I mentioned that it was very useful for math placement; students with math ACT score lower than a certain threshold has a substantially lower probability of getting a C or better in calculus I. Of course, such effects faded after a year, as those entering a second year of post-calculus I mathematics have a year of calculus under their belt (the success rate of the second year is conditioned on having being successful in the first year)

In said discussion, the wokes were babbling on how the ACT was “denying opportunity” to some students. The idea that the score was statistically predictive of success did not matter to those people, AT ALL.

And now go to this morning.

I was talking about my decision to join Team Joe because I thought he had a better chance of stopping Bernie and…there came the “erasing of women and POC.” No, this person didn’t try to present evidence that Klobuchar still had a shot or that some other candidate would better able to fend off Sanders. There was no discussion about RESULTS…only about demographics.

Wokenesss poisons thought.

My geezer will beat your geezer: 2020 campaign

I apologize in advance for what will be a rambling post, but I lack the time and energy to write a tight, coherent one.

I saw the Nevada Caucus results. I can read the Super Tuesday forecasts (and South Carolina too).

Amy Klobuchar: I love you and you are still my favorite. But the math looks brutal for you. BUT you are young enough to run in 2024 (after a Trump second term OR after one of our geezers finishes a first term) or even 2028, and the next time, you’ll start with people knowing about you. And you might be a great addition to the D 2020 ticket (Biden/Klobuchar would be a dream come true for me).

Pete Buttigieg: you got your name on the national stage. Win some higher office (Congress? Governor?) and there might be no stopping you. You have talent, brains, courage. I like you too, even if you and Amy throw elbows at each other. But if the math looks brutal for Amy this year, it looks impossible for you, this time.

But the reality is that Bernie Sanders is the front runner for the 2020 D nomination. Period.

I did NOT say the prohibitive favorite.

So what do I not like about Bernie, other than he is a do-nothing windbag who just yells? Well,….I’ll say this. IF, IF, I truly believed that Sanders would beat Trump or had the best chance of beating Trump, I’d start writing him campaign checks, right now. For all of the bluster about this and that….when it comes to actually governing, one D will end up governing more or less the way the other D’s would.

But I don’t believe that.

The pain I am feeling right now is akin to the pain I felt about 4 years ago when it became clear that a promising friendship just wasn’t going to work out.
And Amy…it just isn’t going to work out for 2020, not at the top of the ticket anyway.

Until we meet again…either as Joe’s running mate or in 2024 or 2028, when you’ll have my backing from the get-go..and this time start with a higher profile.

Off to a run..and some work tasks..and then digging into my new Amy Klobuchar book.

Deadlift diary: main workout of the week

I am doing this to keep track of my progress since I started “Saturday deadlifts” (with form lifts on other days)
I’ll update this every time.

Legend: C for conventional, S for Sumo, R for Romanian, SL for stiff legged, H for hex bar. Weights are in pounds (I WISH these were KG)
At the start: my bests were:
240 C
245 H

18 Jan. 2020

5 x 145 C
5 x 189 C
4 x 233 C
(miss 255 several times; “to the knees”)
5 x 211 S
6 x 167 R
6 x 176 H

25 Jan. 2020

6 x 132 H
6 x 145 S
6 x 145 C
1 x 233 C
1 x 233 C
1 x 255 C
1 x 260 C
6 x 233 S (some bounce)
6 x 167 R
6 x 220 H

1 Feb. 2020

6 x 145 C
2 x 189 S
1 x 233 S
1 x 255 S
1 x 233 C
3 misses at 266; Sumo couldn’t budge; some “off the ground”
1 x 260 S
6 x 233 C (some bounce)
6 x 203 H
6 x 167 R

8 Feb 2020

4 x 133 H
3 x 189 C
2 x 189 S
1 x 233 C
1 x 233 S
2 misses 266 (C, S)
1 x 266 C
5 x 238 S
6 x 189 C
5 x 220 H
6 x 145 R

15 Feb 2020
(tired)

6 x 145 C
2 x 189 C
2 x 189 S
1 x 233 C (hard)
1 x 244 S
4 misses at 270 (barely off of the ground, missed 266 S, no budge)
3 x 244 C (HARD)
6 x 189 C
6 x 132

22 Feb 2020
6 x 145 S
5 x 189 C (easy)
1 x 233 C (very easy)
1 x 255 C (very tough)
4 misses at 270; two were almost to the knee “I’ve got this” spot; sumo miss: didn’t budge
1 x 238 S (I was wiped out here)
6 x 233 C (full stop with each rep; one of my best sets..no bounce, at all)
6 x 220 H (only one rep was touch-and-go..all others: full stop)

Current Bests (NOT lifetime: my best was 425 back in 1980 at about 200 lb of bodyweight, and I was in the low 300’s in 1995 at 230 lb. of bodyweight; younger and heavier. 192 lb.)
266 C
260 S
245 H (handles DOWN)

Deadlift: easy progress is over

Once again, I couldn’t sleep that well. But I had time to deadlift and then do a 4 mile walk (Cornstalk 5.1 course, but skipped the part to the lower bridge and the last mile around Parkside to make it 4 instead of 5.

I felt ok during the morning (not as fatigued as last week) and my workout looked like this:

6 x 145 Sumo
5 x 189 conventional
1 x 233 conventional (easy)
1 x 255 conventional (hard)
Then 4 misses at 270; my last 2 misses were “oh so close”; almost got to my knee (my “I’ve got this” point); the sumo miss didn’t budge from the ground.
I have that “lack of acceptance with this one)
1 x 238 Sumo (very tired)
6 x 233 conventional (each rep: full stop on the bottom; no bounce whatsoever)
6 x 220 hex (handles down; one “touch and go”; rest were dead stop.

And so: my current max is 266…though dammit …that 270 is oh-so-close.

My “easy gain” days are over and progress will be hard from here on out.

Note: if one goes by the “strength calculator” my best exercise is the pull up…by far. My worst is any sort of non-goblet squat, by far. Shoulder press, bench press, and now the dead lift: in a similar grouping.

Now it gets hard. I think I know what my current max is (266) and now it is time to train for reps and test a max again sometime in the future.

One (of many) things liberals don’t get…

I didn’t see the last Democratic debate, but I did see some clips and I listened to what some said about some of the exchanges:

And liberals were all “OMG, Warren just GUTTED Bloomberg…she is sooooo gonna take it to Trump!”

Well, it has been tried before..like in 2015:

And that is what many “bubble” liberals simply do not get.

We live in bubbles. If a woman complains to HR, they are taken seriously. And in a college environment: OMG…they are listened to and administrators at least have to pretend to take their concerns seriously. And such attitudes get carried into Democratic debates.

Republicans don’t play that. Our “firework” debates are pillow-fights by Republican standards.

Trump would just make stuff up, call Warren “Pocahontas” and other names…basically just blow her off and ignore whatever she says. College educated feminists would cheer and exclaim how Trump has been exposed as a “misogynist, sexist pig” etc. Then their heads would explode when they find that Trump’s support hasn’t changed at all.

It is a bit like this old Brexit meme (Godfrey Elfwick)

We never learn.

Now THAT was humbling

Weight afterward: 193.

rotator cuff
pull ups (5 sets of 10: went very well)
weightless squats: several sets of 5 (see below);
bench press: very humbling. 10 x 135, 3 x 175 (hips DOWN), 6 x 165 (hips DOWN)..being strict about that really makes a difference.
clean and press: 4 x 95, 3 x 95, 6 x 85 (strict, full range even below the shoulder)
dumbbell press (usual wider angle, to parallel) 2 sets of 10 x 45
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 115
plank (2:30
headstand

Then 2 miles on the track: (lane 2) 9:58, 8:52 (18:57); first 4 laps took 5:05. Frankly, that HURT…almost race hurt. Cleaned out the lungs.

About the weightless squat method I was trying out

The idea as I understand it: don’t bring your butt forward from the bottom; bring it UP and keep the bent over angle the full way. The weightless ones were completely painless. Next project: do it with the bar.

And my frustration with Democratic politics mounts ..

For your pleasure:

For those unfamiliar with liberal Democrats in the US: if someone makes a critique, the first things many liberals do is to see what “demographic class” the object of said critique belongs to. THEN the critique is judged. You see, if Sanders is found to be “grating”, well, ok: old white guy. If Warren is found to be grating: that is MISOGYNY. More on that in a bit.

Now for the fireworks between Klobuchar and Buttigieg:

You see: Klobuchar is homophobic!

And Buttigieg is an entitled mansplaining male!

Personally, I do think that Senator Klobuchar probably sees Mayor Buttigieg as some young upstart who hasn’t paid his dues and really doesn’t know what he is talking about when it comes to critiquing what a Senator does and that it is nowhere as easy as it appears. And Buttigieg probably sees Klobuchar as a well intentioned dinosaur who is too set in her “old Washington ways.” And so a few rough elbows where thrown.

It is politics. And compared to Republican politics, this was a pillow-fight.

And we come to the woke attitude that I find oh-so-grating:

No Senator: maybe you THINK it *should* be disqualifying but you cannot make that determination by yourself. The voters have to. You can suggest, but this isn’t a university or a corporation where you can just enforce your opinion. That is simply so tone deaf, in my opinion.

And yes, I did read a tweet that suggested that Warren was channeling “all women.” Yep..that is what wokes do: they conflate THEIR feelings with the feelings of everyone in their demographic group.

Amusing note:

Yes, Amy Klobuchar (ok, her staff) followed me some time ago. Well now, Warren sent me an IM on twitter…seriously.

I don’t know how that happened…whether a friend suggested I might be a supporter or someone played a trick on me, or there was some sort of algorithm that turned me up based on who I followed.
Who knows..it is amusing though.

Braves squeak past Missouri State in overtime

This morning…I found out I could wake up early so I did. Yoga, then I walked 5 miles in 1:18:48 (roughly the course I “ran” in 1:07 two days ago..though I went from the door of the Riverplex to my car, which maybe cut off 1 minute.

It was 17 F..it felt cold but it was sunny.

Last night, I figured Bradley would handle business at home, especially with Missouri State’s best player at home.
But the Bears took it inside hard and often and forced the Braves into 18 turnovers (Bears had 10) and so a 10 point lead early in the second half was slowly eroded.

Toward the end of the game, I really believed the hard charging Bears would win; BU had a lot of foul trouble. But the BU forward hit a pair of free throws with 1:02 left to play to tie it at 72, and then the teams took turns turning the ball over..with Mo. State getting it with 3 seconds to go. They couldn’t get it done and we went into overtime.

There the Braves toughed it out; taking the lead with a few seconds to go. A stop with followed by a dunk with 5 seconds to go made it 83-79.
Most of the crowd (5700) was on its feet for the final 3 minutes of regulation and for the entire overtime.

Not happy but

Yes, there is a long way to go. But given Bernie’s lead in the polls, the way the Democrats allocate delegates (proportional) and his being one delegate behind Buttigieg in the delegate count, I don’t see how he doesn’t end up with a plurality. That means he is our nominee OR the “plurality winner” doesn’t get the nomination which will mean HUGE division among the Democrats.

And I am not sure I like Bloomberg better than him…my preferences, in order: Klobuchar, Biden, Buttigieg. Can any of them stop the Sanders express?

The silver lining is that Sanders MIGHT win the general..and if I were confident in that, I wouldn’t be nearly as distressed. I just want Trump gone, and my personal preference takes a back seat to getting rid of Trump.

And if Sanders is the one to do it, I’ll start writing campaign checks. In terms of policy, any D will govern in a similar manner to any other D.

Workout notes
Weights only.

I’ve got to get my legs stronger and, at my current age, that probably means running less. But running I will do (shuffle, or whatever you call it; I do enjoy those 5K runs and an occasional half marathon)

rotator cuff
pull ups: nice and strong today: 4 sets of 10, one of 8, one of 5
incline bench: 10 x 135, 4 x 150 (hard)
decline bench: 5 x 175 (tough)
dumbbell shoulder press: 7 x 50, 2 sets of 10 x 45
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 115 machine
weightless squats: several sets trying to align the knees and back
goblet squats: 6 x 25, 2 sets of 6 x 70 (second set was easier than the first)
leg presses: (assuming 45 lb. carriage) 10 x 135, 10 x 185 (full range of motion)
back squats: 5 x 45 (pathetic)
head stand and plank
Walk home
form deadlift: 6 x 189
Romanian deadlift 6 x 189
hex bar deadlift (form) 6 x 203

That finished me off.