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.

1 week check

It has been one week since the injection. I honestly think it has helped; tingles way down, pain way down; not much tightness during my swim.

Weight: 203.1 after swimming.

Swim: 600 of 100 side, 100 back

200 of 25 front kick, 25 swim

200 in 3:28

100 back

200 in 3:29

100 back

3 x 100 swim, 100 pull in 11:50 (9:47 for the first 500)

Maybe tomorrow I’ll see what I can do.

Testing it out.

Ok, there was some mild disappointment with my walk. I did most of my PT first, stretched and decided to do 2 miles all at once.
Ok, it was painless BUT there were some tingles and some post walk “almost pain” (similar to what I used to get with “heavy” deadlifts..after the fact) Pace was not that bad (13:21 for 2 miles) but I suppose I expected rainbows, unicorns..and to be able to 10 miles without any sensation at all

It was my best walk in over 18 months, but…expectations were unrealistic.

I finished PT and ended up with a very long workout: 2:40 or so total?

pull ups: 10, 10, 5-5, 5-5, 5 chin, 5 wide, 5 mixed, 5 mixed

push ups: incline: 20, 30, then 5 sets of 10 with a banded walk, 10 on a step.

bench press: 10 x 145, 10 x 145, 7 x 150 (tired)

deadlifts: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 260 (8 inch); very sloppy (too fatigued ..need to do this set rested)

incline press: 10 x 94, 10 x 94, 7 x 94 (lost the grip)

curls: 3 sets of 10 x 50

then the belt squat: 3 awful sets of 10 with a joke weight (22 lb) trying to learn the lift. I might try with a plate under my heels; limited mobility (too stripper like)

Reading this, I am surprised the workout took as long as it did, but I did get kind of tired at times.