Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Book Review: The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020

 


This is a book by Jonathan Lemire, a reporter for the Associated Press, and one of the morning show hosts/contributors on MSNBC. The subject matter of the book is fairly clear from the title. It is focused on the 2017-2021 presidential administration. The book is about 300 pages (of substantive material) and then there is a bibliography at the end that accounts for the rest. About half of the book is about the lead-up to the 2020 election, and the other half focuses on the election and the aftermath, including January 6th, the second impeachment, and the fight after the election to get a new voting rights act through Congress.

Lemire basically excoriates the orange genital wart and does not come at it from a detached journalist. Lemire calls agent orange a liar, documents how he lied all his adult life before he was president and documents the biggest lies he told as president. Lemire argues that t***p's brazenness in lying opened the door for Republicans to lie their ass off to the point that the batshit crazy portion of the party that, heretofore, had been relegated to the fringes and tolerated as long as they voted for tax cuts for the rich, to take over the party. 

Not much of the information in the book is new, especially if you have followed the (reputable sources of) news for the past few years. But, Lemire crystallized just how t***p, and the Republican party's cult-like devotion to him, transformed politics and how it presents a danger going forward. It is definitely worth reading.

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