Month: June 2022

Not throwing your political money away..

I’ve wondered w-ehat purpose political bomb throwers serve; by “bomb throwers” I mean MTG, Boebert, “Gym” Jordan, and on our side, “The Squad” (AOC, etc.), Bernie Sanders, etc.

They tend to come from “safe districts” (very unlikely to lose in the general), are very, very noisy, seek out cameras, but, ultimately, don’t do anything. Their legislative records are all but non-existent, at least in terms of bills signed into law (they may well “introduce” nonsense bills that never see the light of day).

Part of me thinks that all they are doing is taking up space that might otherwise be filled by a more competent politician.

BUT…there is this:

OMG, NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

That would be throwing money way. Boebert represents a “solid Republican” district (per Cook Report and just about every reputable political ratings source)

Sorry to say but outside money supporting the Democrat is basically throwing away said money.

It would be FAR better to take that money and give it to a toss-up race.

I know it is far sexier to feel you are a part of “taking down” some camera hungry blowhard but ..not only is the likelihood low, there are far less sexy but important races where said money would make a real difference, like this one.

Overall the Republicans lead the Congressional generic ballot by about 2.5 points, which is bad news since the D’s typically underperform (Democratic districts tend to be super D, R’s not quite as much)

12 days out

12 days from the injection. What I notice:

  1. day to day activities cause far less glute pain. No more limping home from the office, gym, etc.
  2. Walking: I have not been able to extend my distance, but the level of pain is well down; 2 miles is still reasonably pleasant; before, I had to start pushing through moderate pain in the final .2-.4 miles. Walking pace is faster; more “pop” in my legs.
  3. Post workout pain and night tingles are way down.

So, I’d say that it was worth it.

Still: today PT (full), 2 mile walk

This was my full 2 laps of my H course between Cooper, Laura, Rebecca.

Then 3 minute plank; did some online errands (bills)

Then 2000 yard swim. 700 warm up of side/back, 300 of 25 front kick, 25 swim

1000 of 250 swim, 250 pull in 18:34

4:44, 9:14, 14:04 were the splits: 4:44, 4:30, 4:50, 4:30

Weight: 204.7 after swimming; I am going to have to cut back on food. I have been stuck here for months.

Shoulders: slight soreness…holding up ok.

Weight: yes, some of it is butt and legs, but waaaaay to much is plain old belly fat.

Game changers

Potentially massive shocks to the system here. One of course, is the pro-life ruling from the Supreme Court (I think the pro “can lead prayer in public schools” ruling might have lesser impact).

Then today’s Select Committee testimony was..OMG.

Bottom line: Trump knew the people marching to the Capitol were armed and he WANTED them to go anyway. I did not include the video where Hutchinson said that someone else told her that Trump lunged at the Secret Service driver and had to be restrained; she was reporting what was told to her. I’ll suspend judgement on that part.

Now about the claim it is just hearsay:

Well, these things are coming along BEFORE midterms and can the Democrats capitalize? Maybe..maybe not.

Slow slog toward..what?

Another back progress: the injection seems to help a great deal with the day to day. As to the walking; pain is much less, and there is far less pain afterward, but it is not totally gone. Can I get back to 5K?

I had a bit of a detour as I heard the recycling trucks and realized I had not put ours out as yet. Still..ok, if not fast. Some dull pain toward the end that went away very quickly.

Then the strength part of it:

pull ups: 4 sets of 10, 4 sets of 5 (chin, wide, 2 of mixed grip)

Push ups: 30 incline, 30 decline, then 4 sets of 10 with extra banded walks

inside: deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 (felt it in the thighs), 10 x 270 8 inch.

curls: 3 sets of 10

high incline press (Swiss bar) 3 sets of 10 x 94

Then 4-5 sets of belt squats ..some with token weight..trying to learn the movement and experimenting.

Can Democrats survive college educated activists?

There is more to the clip than the title of the post, but it does appear that Democrats are finding it harder and harder to communicate to the average voter (addressed in the video: “Latinx”, “men get pregnant too”, “people with a uterus”, etc.)

So, I wonder…if I were hiring staff for my campaign, I’d have my best experienced staff go over how to communicate with the typical voter and explain the difference between this situation and what they experienced as a student.

But there is something else going on, I think.

Think about the younger college educated people. Many can emotionally manipulate their parents and colleges…yelling and throwing tantrums gets them listened to.

So, why wouldn’t the rest of society work like that?

There was a time when you were told “listen more, talk less.” “You are new here; learn first…THEN talk.”

Now…every parent thinks their kid is a genius and, too often, their egos are inflated at college.

The only reason I have hope is that this Supreme Court IS a bit behind the times. Their latest ruling IS unpopular and…there are some hopeful signs:

Now, this could be an outlier poll. BUT…if there is some truth to this..maybe all is not lost.

Not rainbows and unicorns

10 days after the injection:

  1. Night tingles reduced.
  2. Day to day “small stuff” pain greatly diminished.
  3. Swim pain (glute) mostly gone
  4. Ok, walking: 2 miles kind of feels like 1.5 used to and there is far less “after the fact” glute pain. But there are still tingles and duller pain..pretty dulled but still there. I also think that I get more “pop” out of my leg.
  5. Trying to learn how to squat: that still sucks.

Today: most of my PT

2 mile walk (slower)

Two months ago, this would have been exciting. Today is is “meh” due to the gorgeous weather.

More PT then 2000 yd swim:

600 of side/back

200 of 25 front balance kick, 25 free

50 alternating free/back recovery free (49, 48)

100 free, 50 back (1:41, 1:42)

100 back

100 of 25 free, 25 front kick

Then 500 of: 100 pull, 150 swim, 150 pull, 100 swim (9:36)

203.8 after swimming.

On one hand, this swim is nothing compared to what I once did. On the other hand, it is a major improvement from when I started (restarted swimming)

And the shoulder feels great.

Ok..sort of

Started with most of my inside PT, walked 2 miles (tried to decide between 1 and 2; did the “4 loop Rebecca course” ) and then finished the PT and went inside for lower body weights:

Deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 180, 10 x 220 low

Belt squats: 10 reps with 22, 44, 44 and it wasn’t pretty.

I lack the mobility to do a proper squat; way too “stripper like” (and a very bad angle)

Back/glute: it felt great during the deadlifts but..it seems that any sort of excess squatting sets it off..later. I might try a shallower squat.

The walk: what I felt at mile 2 was similar to what I used to feel at mile 1: “pre-pain”..not quite pain but a sensation.

I was told that injections would not take away 100 percent of the pain..but hoped the would. But the improvement is undeniable.

Shallow activism

If you are wondering: yes, there has quite a bit of social media traffic about the abortion ruling. But they TYPE of traffic depends on the type of person.

The “not usually political” type were mostly anger about men being trying to be too controlling:

There was the usual “STFU if you don’t have a uterus”,

“ban Viagra; your impotence was God’s Will too”, etc.

There was one anguished “I think Biden is a moron but I have to vote for him because R’s are so awful” video.

Side note: I LIKE Biden; anyone who thinks poorly of him should ask how he won a Senate seat at age 29 under his own steam. But this is the video:

Even a libertarian (gun loving), not even remotely liberal friend was steamed.

(Justice Jackson will replace Justice Breyer this summer)

The reactions were a bit different in my political circles.

Since the verdict, Democrats and liberals have mostly attacked each other and things have gotten tense. Common flash points: Hillary Clinton. Some feel we should have nominated someone better (or not as polarizing or someone better at campaigning) . Others are steamed that some didn’t make the distinction between her and Trump (“not my circus, not my monkeys”) and are now howling about the ruling.

People like me are angry about the purity tests that some on the left have, some are angry at moderates for not fighting harder (whatever that means).

What I honestly believe is that too much of our response is performative: go to a protest and say I AM MAD, I JUST HAAAAAATE YOU…..which does nothing at all.

Harsh reality: the conservatives have laid out a deep foundation starting at local levels and moving up..complete with a pipeline of judges.

This article is harsh medicine but I think accurate and well worth reading.

And performance it is…I had to scroll past and mute mentions of AOC who..of course, has the microphone but in reality hasn’t done squat.

She has sponsored 0 bills that have been signed into law, signed on to cosponsor 23, (with 100’s of others), and 17 of these were naming post offices, commemorative coins, medals, etc.

Check out her record.

I have little confidence that we’ll move forward as our side seems to need instant gratification ..the very idea of slowly advancing is just anathema to too many Democrats.

And, OF COURSE, the woke are going to woke. I talked about the ACLU’s stupid response. And you see this:

What about MEEEEEEE …just never ceases. And yes, many of my not-in-woke-circles have never heard of this, believe me, the Republicans will ensure that the voters in competitive races will hear of it.

From the right: I am seeing some spiking the ball.

Sure, this is the logically correct response but..in general people (myself included) are not that reasonable and if one wants to be good at politics, one has to take that into account.

The TL;DR summary: yes, people are angry and a united, competent political party could take advantage of it. But Democrats won’t; too many of the young ones want to cater to the tiny percentage of woke outliers and too many of the old ones don’t realize how right wing current Republicans have become.

Not what I was hoping for but

I walked at the end..kind of insufficient stretching and perhaps too long after I fired up the glutes. So while the walk was not a disaster ..in fact, would have been a huge success pre-injection, there was some dull pain..very dull toward the end.

And this gives me 12.8 miles for the week; much more than before.

Still, I was hoping I could do 12 miles today (no, I wasn’t going to try). And I have to remember that I need to build up walking again, slowly.

And yesterday’s swim went well in terms of swimming. So, it appears that my fall workout schedule will be something like 3-4 lifting sessions, 3-4 walks, 3 swims a week, plus a ton of PT

Speaking of PT: the loop/bands I ordered: way too flimsy; I need something heavier duty.

The rest: I started with full indoor PT (due to heavy rain) then outdoor: pull ups: 3 sets of 10, then 11 partial reps of weighted pull ups, 3 sets of 5 two chins chin), 2 sets of mixed

push ups: 5 sets of 20 (2 downstairs)

bench: 10, 9, 9 with 145
curls: 3 sets of 10

shoulder press 3 sets of 10 x 94

The Long Game: revenge of the Turtle.

Yes, that is the name of his book, which I reviewed.

Yes, McConnell failed in his attempt to limit President Obama to one term. Utterly. But he is riding high now.

And why do I harp on this? Well, I think this observation is spot on:

And that is how The Turtle did it. He fought dirty. He had an alliance with someone he could not stand. And he got his judges.

And there is so much here..so much that seems unfair and is totally frustrating.

The reality is that the Electoral College and the Senate is wildly skewed to the low population states. We can’t change that without an amendment to the Constitution which requires clearing a very high hurdle:

So given that isn’t going to happen, we need to win more Congressional races, especially in the Senate. And given how the states are, that means electing more red state Democrats..more Ben Nelsons and Joe Manchins.

But what do you see: cries of “primary them!.”

We hear “the Democrats need to take off the gloves.” Well…in my opinion, we are “nice” because not being nice …”offends other Democrats.”

Hell, when we even attempt to speak on an issue, the woke language police is right there to attempt to police our statements.

And the ACLU’s messaging was a complete disaster.

Really???? We can’t even say “abortion is a women’s rights issue?”

Yes, some biological females who transition to male can and do get pregnant but good lord, not everything is about the sensibilities of a tiny percentage of the population.

And of course, there is the idea that conservatives are more regular voters than liberals; liberals are prone to sitting out if they don’t get what they want (e. g. student loan forgiveness, or whatever).

So, where to go from here?

Well, we’ll get the usual “I am leaving the country” (psst: other countries won’t take you unless you have something to offer them..and IMHO most who say this are total losers)

Pussy hat marches? Yeah, that’ll teach them.
Hash tags? Sure…they are trembling.

Pack the court? How? You need the votes. We don’t have them. And remember you are the one who won’t vote for a D unless they are a Bernie or AOC.

Eliminate the filibuster! How? We don’t have the votes. Senate is 50/50 and dependent on a D from a Trump +39 state.

Oh…”they have pissed off the wrong generation.” Sure.

Today’s liberals are mostly product of higher education. Screaming, writing manifestos, occupying the college chancellor’s office might get attention..on a college campus. Off campus is very, very different.

You are MAD? No one cares..people only care to the degree that you have something to either offer or withhold from them. And too many of the loudest voices have zilch that anyone else wants.

If there is any hope at all, take a look at this:

In 2021, it was women 52-43 pro choice, men 50-45 pro life.

2022: women are now 61-33 pro choice, men 48-47 pro choice.

It appears to matter more. Silver lining, or wishful thinking on my part?

And there is economic power. Some of us have money to spend, and maybe let corporations know that we’ll favor businesses in good states over those in regressive ones? I see no other card to play.