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Monday links

  • In the “news that shouldn’t be news” department, Utah may legalize free-range parenting.
  • Data from fitness trackers may have exposed the layout of secret military bases.
  • Long read, but good one: In promoting the ideas of freedom we’ll get farther by telling stories than by making logical arguments.
  • The Dems have chosen they’re guy to rebut Trump’s state-of-the-union speech. He’s got minimal political experience. But he’s got the right face and right name. Are these people so completely out of steam?
  • “Life After Debt.” The experiences of one young couple who paid off their student loans and got on with living.
  • Yet another tiny home concept. Specifically for homeless people in this case. But it’s interesting how much can be done with so little. (H/T MJ)
  • Okay, I admit that this is the lightest of “lite” items. But with Hollywood being even more than usually packed with snotty jerks, it’s nice to hear about the good guys. Keanu Reeves is definitely one. So is Mark Hamill by all accounts. (Keanu also learned serious firearm techniques from the best teachers for his John Wick movies.)
  • Via Shel in comments: Dogs and a tennis ball standoff.

And for you cat people …

15 Comments

  1. david
    david January 29, 2018 8:40 am

    A Kennedy to rebut the POTUS. Really?

    Have the Democrat Establishment not learned that America has had enough already of dynasty politicians? Will it be Chelsea Clinton next year?

  2. MamaLiberty
    MamaLiberty January 29, 2018 8:46 am

    So glad I grew up in an era where no government was involved in our mud pie parties or lemonade stands. We climbed trees, walked to school and the park, played with large herds of children everywhere we wanted, and were darn sure to get home by dinnertime!

    Freedom and responsibility. What a concept…

  3. Joel
    Joel January 29, 2018 8:55 am

    Gotta love golden retrievers. They even fight over toys politely.

    Were they originally bred in Canada?

  4. Fred M.
    Fred M. January 29, 2018 9:07 am

    Keanu Reeves is definitely a natural shooter. His teacher is Taran Butler who has been shooting competitively for 25 years and has a range at his home on the west side of Simi Valley, CA. ( the local police use to come over and shoot plates in his front yard). In preparing for the shooting scenes Keanu would spend many hours a day going over and over a shooting run. He also had a martial arts teacher drill him on the fighting techniques to use when fighting with an armed opponent. It all came out well and unlike in so many gun scenes in other movies, the quality and tactical correctness shows through with Keanu.

  5. Shel
    Shel January 29, 2018 9:24 am

    I’m not sure the Kennedy choice was a bad one. Their appeal is subjective, not logical, and (I can’t remember the reference) less than half, I think, of a recipient’s rating of a message is the logic of the words. The voters they want to attract may well be very impressed by him, and the media will fawn over him. As long as the Dems don’t put him in a situation where he has to think on his feet, he’ll look good.

    Regarding getting out of debt, Wranglerstar has a few videos on YouTube touting the Dave Ramsey program. What was very interesting to me was that he and his wife put a chart on the wall with all their debts. Instead of paying the highest rates off first, they paid the smallest loans first, which gave them visible progress and helped them remain motivated.

  6. Desertrat 1
    Desertrat 1 January 29, 2018 9:30 am

    Utah’s taking a baby-step in the right direction.

    By age seven I was out in my grandfather’s pasture with his .22 rifle, instructed, “Now, don’t shoot a cow.” I didn’t.

    Overnight camping in his woods, by age nine.

    I and two friends would ride horseback some fifteen miles, pretending to be the
    Dalton gang, casing the bank in a small nearby village. Ages seven to ten. This would have been around 1943/44, with few vehicles on the roads due to gas rationing. Often rode four miles to a local village store for a five-cent Coke.

    In town? We walked or bicycled to elementary school; for me, some ten blocks.

    Our neighborhood included an undeveloped greenbelt along a creek. Impromptu playground as the mood struck.

    Home for supper or before dark, depending on the season.

  7. larryarnold
    larryarnold January 29, 2018 9:43 am

    [sigh]

    “Homelessness” is a symptom, not a problem. There are several reasons people are homeless, and until you fix the underlying problem, more homes isn’t the answer.

  8. jed
    jed January 29, 2018 10:06 am

    Joe Kennedy now? I had seen a couple reports claiming it’d be Maxine Waters. She would’ve been painful.

  9. ExpatNJ
    ExpatNJ January 29, 2018 10:31 am

    Sorry to disappoint you, Claire, but Mark Hamill is NOT a “good guy”. He is a Gun-Grabbin’ Ba$tard. He should be shunned, tarred/feathered, and all his movies incinerated:

    “Star Wars actor Mark Hamill urges US follow Australia’s lead on gun laws”
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3343801/Mark-Hamill-points-Australia-gun-control-San-Bernardino-shooting-California.html

    (I apologize for my strong words, I have been a victim of violent crime, including an armed home-invasion in the middle of the night before I could protect myself. I am passionate on 2A, and I will NEVER allow some fool SJW like Hamill to force me into any of those situations ever again).

  10. Claire
    Claire January 29, 2018 11:02 am

    ExpatNJ — I didn’t know about Hamill’s anti-gun views. (Never surprised by that, though.) But Hamill is known for doing very nice things for people and for having a good sense of humor. I’m not going to hate on him for his views alone — even if they are on that most important subject.

  11. rochester_veteran
    rochester_veteran January 29, 2018 11:16 am

    “Life After Debt.” The experiences of one young couple who paid off their student loans and got on with living.

    My younger son and his wife paid off a $70,000 student loan debt in three years after graduating from college and they did it by living frugally. It can be done!

  12. Comrade X
    Comrade X January 29, 2018 11:27 am

    I didn’t know I needed another reason to go to a Keanu Reeves movie but now I have one to add to my list, he’s a good guy! There are so few today (good guys or girls) to be found in Hollywood it seems.

  13. jed
    jed January 29, 2018 4:27 pm

    Well, I guess my memory isn’t completely faulty. The Dems are going to do multiple responses, including Waters.

    State of the Union Progressive Responses

    I guess none of those politicians can ever just shut up.

  14. fred
    fred January 29, 2018 5:21 pm

    Good on Reeves,just good manners on display.

    Tiny Houses? Looks like the new middle class coming to America.Plywood box,goody.

  15. Dana
    Dana January 29, 2018 5:33 pm

    Sorry to disappoint you, Claire, but Mark Hamill is NOT a “good guy”. He is a Gun-Grabbin’ Ba$tard. He should be shunned, tarred/feathered, and all his movies incinerated:

    That little one’s not worth the effort. Why not limit the incineration to all the copies where Han doesn’t shoot first? Let’s just say we’d prefer to avoid any imperial entanglements.

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