Just got back from boxing class. This is my favorite sport at the moment, both to do and to watch. (Mayweather will win tonight, by the way.) I’ve always liked boxing, but I only took it up about four years ago, after running wasn’t quite doing it for me, and my wife teased me about needing to keep up with the ripped sailors at her Navy base (she’s in the reserves). I joined a fantastic gym called Gloveworx, which is run by Leyon Azubuike and his incredible staff. They endured through the pandemic — through shutdowns, riots, vandalism, you name it. It’s a place full of positive energy. The challenge is incredible. The regular workouts are hard enough, but sparring — which I haven’t done much of since COVID — is brutal. It’s you against someone at least as strong as you are, and probably stronger, pushing you to go beyond your limits. The key to survival is to rely on the fundamentals — keep your fists up, keep moving, remember your footwork, use your hips, and never turn your back. There are great people at the gym — including celebrities, actual boxers (active and retired), fitness professionals, and local moms from school. I am here about 2-3 times per week, usually after watching the White House press briefing or recording a podcast.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
