#i think this is the source of many of my recent digestive woes as well

[californiaquail]

i hate how efficiently phone calls can get things done because i hate making phone calls but i do need to get shit done

[barriesbestlife]

What I Eat Wednesday: Regulating My Chronic Illness!

Alright, everyone, today we are talking about Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or, as many refer to it: IBS. You might be asking, “but Barrie, why are you talking about IBS when we usually hear about your favorite foods or what outdoor activity you did this weekend?”

Great question!

That’s because IBS is actually the reason behind why I choose the foods I do. It’s a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the large intestine and is characterized by symptoms such as: bloating, constipation, cramping, diarrhea, and excess gas - and most people can experience one or any mix of these symptoms together. The upside to IBS: it can be regulated with a specific dietary lifestyle!

The reason I wanted to talk about this today, Wednesday, when I usually share what meals I eat throughout the day, is because of the relationship between IBS and diet. I also have recently learned that I am not a rare sufferer of IBS in my friend group - throughout the last 6 months I have learned that I have 4 other friends with IBS as well! One of my friends didn’t find out about it for years because she thought it was embarrassing to talk about. Once I discovered this I thought, “I need to talk about this on my blog in case someone else can relate to these symptoms and is too embarrassed to talk about them.” Have no fear! I will talk about them for you, share my experience, and share what I have found works in my diet to keep my unpleasant and uncomfortable symptoms at bay (if not gone completely)!

In my personal experience, I have a lot of bloat, and it hurts! At the beginning of my journey with IBS, my doctor advised me to keep a food journal and track what foods personally made me experience symptoms until I could figure out what to remove from my diet. This is a great strategy! This is how I discovered what foods I should avoid. 

I learned that if I stay away from brussels sprouts, dairy, processed carbohydrates, and gluten, I am able to escape the evil grasp of that uncomfortable bloat! I recommend keeping a food journal, as everybody experiences IBS differently, but if you think you may be dealing with IBS yourself some common foods that are known to exacerbate symptoms of IBS are in this graphic I made below:

The reason a lot of processed carbohydrates are to be avoided is because they are “resistant starches” - meaning they are hard to digest and by the time they reach your intestines end up fermenting in your large intestine which creates a lot of gas.Think about the fizzy nature of fermented drinks like kombucha and beer! That’s essentially the same thing that can happen in your intestines. And just as you can hear the pressure being released from a bottle of kombucha when you open it, your body is filling up with the same kind of pressure! That is where the bloating and excess gas can come from - and let me tell you, it hurts! 

Doctors call these bloat-producing foods FODMAPS - which stands for “fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and polyols.” Some alternatives to these and other “trigger foods” are listed below (and of course a lot of these are anti-inflammatory food choices as well):

Now that you’ve seen the common foods to avoid when you have IBS, why they contribute to the chronic nature of this illness, and how to solve most of your gastrointestinal woes through monitoring and being mindful of what you eat - I’m going to share with y’all my favorite IBS-friendly recipe!

I hope you enjoy and the next time you feel overwhelmed or embarrassed by any of these symptoms remember - more people may experience it than you realize! And nutrition makes all the difference. I love talking about this nutritional topic for that very reason - the fix can be so simple. 

Talk to you soon, my friends!

XOXO,

Barrie

Sources: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320876#alternatives

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/salmon-spinach-tartare-cream

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/irritable-bowel-syndrome/eating-diet-nutrition#:~:text=Eat%20more%20fiber,-Fiber%20may%20improve&text=To%20help%20your%20body%20get,may%20improve%20constipation%20in%20IBS.

[bigyack-com]

Everyone’s Resolution Is to Drink More Water in 2020

Water is pretty boring, as far as beverages go. It doesn’t have a catchy jingle, a secret family recipe or even a taste, really. Yet people can’t seem to get enough of it.“I get people in my office every day, every week, saying something like, ‘I’m concerned I’m not hydrated,’” said Lauren Antonucci, a nutritionist in New York City.Their concerns may be based on conventional wisdom. One well-known recommendation suggests drinking eight glasses of water a day; another warns that if you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.But anxiety about water consumption could also stem from a different, more philosophical source: Hydration is now marketed as a cure for nearly all of life’s woes.

The Answer to Everything

Water, in recent years, has been imbued with the powers of a mysterious elixir. The latest “it” celebrity’s skin care secret? Oh, just water. Feeling sluggish? You probably need more water. Uninspired and utterly hopeless about your career and romantic prospects? Well, have you had any water today?People hydrate as if their reputations depend on it. They dutifully carry water bottles with them wherever they go, draining and refilling them with gusto. Some go so far as to track their consumption in a journal, or with a mobile app. (There’s one that uses a plant as a metaphor for the user’s well-being. Depending on the volume of water one has consumed, it may appear to be thriving or wilting.) Hydration is the mark of a well-adjusted, successful person. On Jan. 1, Twitter flooded with resolutions to drink more water, including from Twitter’s brand account.But will more conscious hydration really make for a more productive 2020?“There’s no evidence that a little bit of dehydration really impacts anybody’s performance,” said Dr. Mitchell Rosner, a kidney specialist at the University of Virginia who studies overhydration in athletes, in a phone interview. He said that most recommendations for hydration come from studies of athletes, who lose fluid rapidly during workouts or competitions, and are at a much higher risk for dehydration than the average person. For those of us who spend all day at a desk, Dr. Rosner said, it’s best to drink only when we feel thirsty.Overhydrating, he said, isn’t helping anyone. At best, Dr. Rosner said, “You pee it out.” At worst, it can cause the sodium and electrolyte levels in your body to drop to dangerously low levels. The condition, hyponatremia, can result in hospitalization and death. (This doesn’t happen often, but … good to know.)If hydration is the goal, it’s also worth considering that water may not be the most hydrating beverage out there. A study published in 2015, of 72 male subjects, found that full-fat milk, skim milk and orange juice kept people more hydrated than still water did. So, could America be ready for a dairy revolution? Unlikely. That’s because water isn’t just a beverage preference that needs to be toppled. It’s a virtue.

How Did We Get Here?

In 2017, bottled water surpassed soft drinks as the top beverage in the United States by volume, with sales up 7 percent over the previous year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, a beverage consulting firm. Since then, sales have continued to rise.“It’s no accident that it’s No. 1,” said Michael Bellas, the chairman of the Beverage Marketing Corporation. “If you had to put together a perfect scenario and plan how to build a category this would have been it.”In the 1970s, ad campaigns by Evian and Perrier introduced the concept of bottled water as a high-end refreshment beverage, Mr. Bellas said. Before that, bottled water was sold as a tap water replacement.These new campaigns helped enable bottled water to compete with other grocery store beverages, like juice, coffee, soda and beer.By the early aughts, Mr. Bellas said, people weren’t just drinking bottled water while sitting down for a meal. They were drinking it all day. While consumers may have begun to curb their intake of caffeinated or sugary beverages, they had no reason to put a limit on zero-calorie, thirst-quenching water. And they were carrying it around with them, on the go. “It changed the way beverages were consumed,” Mr. Bellas said. If people were drinking water everywhere, it could be sold anywhere. And it was. Bottled water’s indefinite shelf life and readily available product made its expansion seamless.As single-use plastic water bottles proliferated, an environmentally conscious response emerged: reusable water bottles. Nalgene, which began as a plastic laboratory pipette maker before outdoorsy scientists realized they were perfect for camping, became an accessory for college students in the early aughts. They could pick a Nalgene color that reflected their personality and then plaster it with stickers for whatever they cared about: the college radio station, student government, the Dave Matthews Band.The rise of Nalgene coincided with Mr. Bellas’s observation that carrying bottled water took on a symbolic meaning during the early aughts. “It was cool to carry a water bottle around,” he said. “And it was healthy. It made a statement.” Reusable water bottles made the same statement with an environmental twist.In recent years, ever-growing environmental and health concerns have turned them into a gift-guide-worthy statement item. For the consumers with big budgets, there’s Yeti. For VSCO girls, there’s the Hydro Flask. Aesthetically discerning buyers may gravitate toward design-forward companies like Bkr or Hay. Any of them make for a gift that says, “I love you, and I want you to be hydrated.”

What About All Those Health Claims?

Water is a go-to remedy for a variety of ailments: exhaustion, headaches, digestive problems, inflammation, dry skin, acne.“It’s a popular idea among patients and a popular idea in consumer media that hydration equals healthy skin,” said Dr. Joshua Zeigler, a dermatologist at Mount Sinai in New York City. But that’s not exactly how it works. “It’s a complete myth that eight glasses of water are necessary to maintain hydrated skin,” he said. Still, many consumers treat water like an anti-aging potion.We think of water as so good for us that the bottled water industry doesn’t need to spend much money on convincing us to buy it, compared with marketing budgets for other beverages.Advertising expenditures in 2018 were $109 million for the bottled water industry, while the beer industry spent more than $1.5 billion, and the soft drink industry came close to $1 billion, according to data from Kantar Media. The truth is that for the most part, consumers don’t care what brand of bottled water they buy; the best-selling brand of bottled water, according to the online statistics portal Statista, is “private label,” which is another term for “generic brand.” Consumers don’t even know who manufactured it, or where.Water appears immune to claims that its benefits are overblown — we need it to survive, after all. Its benefits have even become a meme. There are social media accounts dedicated to berating their followers for not drinking enough water. But if you haven’t quite hit your quota today, don’t worry: Your 2020 isn’t already ruined. The tasty beverages you thought of as dehydrating, like coffee, tea and beer, are actually hydrating.“Coffee is a hydrating beverage,” said Ms. Antonucci, the nutritionist. “If you’re drinking it, let go of the guilt. Enjoy it.” Read the full article

[jonestowers]

Teenage Bishops, part twenty six

In a room at the top of Clarence House, three bishops met in private. While they had naturally attended the synod meeting the previous morning, none of them had so much as spoken a word during it, preferring not to draw attention to themselves. Here, in a private meeting arranged with no written or electronic communication, they could discuss things in private.

The Bishop of Warrington leaned back in his chair and dangled a pair of spectacles from his right hand. The cup of Earl Grey on the table in front of him steamed and outside he could just about hear vague military noises coming from Horseguards’ Parade. Looking at his colleagues around the table, he felt a frisson of fear. The three of them, he said to himself, were all that stood between the church they had served all their adult lives and total oblivion.

‘Gentlemen’ he began ‘I need hardly say to you that we find ourselves in extraordinary times. I had thought, during the course of the past tumultuous year that I had seen everything that life could throw at our venerable institution. It turns out I was wrong. From juvenile delinquents debasing our great offices of divinity, to any Tom, Dick or Harry suddenly being able to have a say in matters which they neither understand or have any business in, to that detestable individual profaning the sacred memory of one of our most venerable saints for personal gain, I am shocked anew every day by the depravity of what is happening to our church and, by extension, our country.’

The two other men at the table nodded sagely.

‘It all started with women vicars’ said the Bishop of Crewe & Alsager.

‘Oh, further back than that’ said the Bishop of Ely. ‘When church on Sunday stopped being a matter of social expectation and started becoming an issue of…conviction.’

‘True, true’ said the Bishop of Warrington, delicately dipping a piece of shortbread in his tea and taking a bite. ‘We are here, however, to discuss the future.’

‘You believe we have one?’ asked the Bishop of Ely gloomily.

‘We could have’ said the Bishop of Warrington carefully. ‘We could have.’

‘Go on’ said the Bishop of Crewe & Alsatger with mild irritability. He tired easily of his brother bishop’s love of mystery and intrigue.

‘Do you remember the meeting yesterday morning?’ asked the Bishop of Warrington.

‘No it’s completely left my mind’ said the Bishop of Crewe & Alsager with heavy sarcasm. ‘No, of course we haven’t. Get on with it.’

‘I am not referring to the theatrics and ballyhooing’ said the Bishop of Warrington acidly. ‘You remember the first item on the agenda?’

Two faces looked at him blankly from the other side of the table.

‘The…apologies?’ hazarded the Bishop of Ely.

‘No, not the apologies’ replied Bishop of Warrington with an elaborate display of patience. ‘Our visitor? Our…American brother in faith?’

‘That televangelist fellow?’ asked the Bishop of Crewe & Alsager. ‘Bit of a low-rent sort.’

‘Haven’t we got enough of that kind of thing already’ said the Bishop of Ely ‘What with that bloody woman up in Pontefract or wherever it is healing people left right and centre?’

‘She was on the news last night’ added the Bishop of Crewe & Alsager. ‘Maria Swift, her name is. Wouldn’t be interviewed but they still did a whole bit about her. I think…’

‘If I may continue’ cut in the Bishop of Warrington ‘I have received ...intimations from a colleague known to us all that the Reverend Buckley may be in a position to do us some…service.’

The other Bishops leaned forward in their chairs. They had not been men of the cloth for over a century between them without learning a few things about euphemism.

‘While it is undeniably true’ the Bishop of Warrington began ‘that Reverend Buckley’s ministry is conducted largely via the medium of the cathode ray tube, it should not be thought any the less real for that. His regular viewers in the United States alone number, I am told, in excess of thirty eight million.’

The Bishop of Ely shifted in his seat. He had not come here to hear encomia to televangelists he barely even knew.

‘Jolly good. Well done him. And?’

‘If you would allow me to continue;’ said the Bishop of Warrington equably ‘while the popular perception of television-based ministry is that of a product of the nineteen eighties, with old ladies sending in five dollar bills to cure their rheumatism, in the modern age it is a very different thing. For example, did you know that religious donations account for almost thirty five per cent of all online transactions in the United States? And that, of those transactions, Reverend Buckley’s church receives sixty seven per cent?’

The Bishop waited while his two colleagues attempted to digest these figures.

‘So you see’ he continued ‘The United Church of God is a very much greater concern than we had previously imagined. And a very much richer one.’

At these words the expressions on the faces of the other three bishops changed to ones of rapt attention. The financial travails of the church were a longstanding source of woe to them all.

‘Richer, you say?’ said the Bishop of Crewe & Alsager, with a hopeless attempt at sounding casual.

‘Absolutely’ said the Bishop of Warrington. ‘And I am talking here about cash reserves. Not like us.’

‘I wish people would stop saying we’re a rich church’ complained the Bishop of Ely, voicing a thought they had all voiced many times before. ‘Why can’t people realise that owning a lot – ok, an awful lot – of property isn’t the same as being rich. If you own it, you’ve got to maintain it, and staff it.’

‘And property’s only worth anything if you can sell it’ joined in the Bishop of Crewe & Alsager with gloomy relish. ‘That’s what they don’t understand. All these buildings, the cathedrals and palaces and suchforth, they might show up on our asset balance sheet, but it’s not like we can sell them off, if is?’

‘Synod’d never buy it’ confirmed the Bishop of Ely.

‘If we might return to the matter in hand’ said the Bishop of Warrington icily. ‘The matter of cash reserves. The rolling, bottomless, literally swimmable-in cash reserves of the United Church of God. Reserves which would, one imagines, become commonly-held stock in the event of a formal merger.’

The three of them contemplated this in silence for a while. The Bishop of Ely broke the silence.

‘And what does he get out of it?’ he asked.

‘The name’ said the Bishop of Warrington simply. ‘He gets to rebrand the United Church of God as the Church of England. He’s done something called ‘market research’ and apparently our American brethren are terribly keen on that kind of thing.’

‘And that’s it? He’s going to split a vast fortune with us just so he can say his tinpot…’

‘Young, vibrant and bracingly unconventional’ corrected the Bishop of Warrington.

‘…church can say it’s part of the Church of England?’

‘Basically, yes. Along with our centuries of experience and spiritual unimpeachability. Also, to return to recent regrettable events, it must not be forgotten that our Church has never been in sorer need of a friend than at this time.’

The other bishops nodded.

‘So what’s the plan?’ asked the Bishop of Crewe & Alsager.

‘There’s a formal luncheon tomorrow’ said the Bishop of Warrington. ‘The usual kind of thing; three line whip for all of synod to attend. It’s billed as a celebration of the new understanding between our two churches and so on. The Reverend, I’m told, intends to raise the issue of a closer, genuine, link during his speech. And he wanted a few vital members of the audience to be …primed in advance, as it were. And here we are.’

There was a brief silence.

‘To think’ said the Bishop of Ely ‘it’s all about to change.’

‘For the better’ the Bishop of Warrington assured him. ‘Very much for the better.’

[oldguardaudio]

PowerLine -> Worldwide Clown Show

Russia Hacks the Oscar’s – Is it Beatty or Kimmel? At HoaxAndChange.com

Oliver Stone agrees with Pres Trump and Putin – election intervention is FAKE NEWS

CNN FAKE NEWS RUSSIA Trump at HoaxAndChange.com

Daily Digest

Bringing literature to the masses, Mayor de Blasio Style

Don’t blame the media for the WNBA’s woes

A nasty habit at State

The Week in Pictures: We Want Tattoo Edition

The whole world is watching our clown show

Bringing literature to the masses, Mayor de Blasio Style

Posted: 22 Jul 2017 12:13 PM PDT

(Paul Mirengoff)

My conservative cousin from New York has been following New York City mayors since the days of Robert F. Wagner, Jr. I think John Lindsey remains his nominee for the worst of the lot, but the current mayor seems to be closing in fast. My cousin reports:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is an ardent admirer of Communist Cuba and the Sandinistas. He presides over a town whose economic success is powered by the kind of bare knuckled capitalism that, in the Mayor’s Marxist worldview, is consigned to the dustbin of history.

His city is filled with immigrant strivers, including many who have fled the Communism and Socialism that their Mayor longs to impose. The success of so many of these new Americans confounds the Mayor’s vision of a country bedeviled by racism, sexism, classism, and Islamaphobia.

For now, de Blasio must be content with small bore measures to promote his nefarious agenda. His latest is “The One Book – One New York” initiative which urges Gothamites to vote for a work of literature that they will all read together.

The choices include a group of anti-American screeds selected by a panel of show biz celebrities including Larry Wilmore and Danielle Broetz. Among the selection are works by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chimamamda Ngozi, and Junot Diaz. Bizarrely, the Mayor sees these purveyors of anger and divisiveness as helping the initiative’s goal of bringing New Yorkers together.

No word on how many folks actually voted in the Marxist Book Club contest which was heavily promoted on billboards in New York’s subways and buses. For what it’s worth, and it’s not a whole lot, Chinamamda Ngoze’s “Americanah” was declared the winner.

Apparently, New Yorkers reading habits are not in sync with those of the leftist elites. The top book borrowed from the New York Public Library last year was the thriller “Girl On A Train” by Paula Hawkins.

It seems the Mayor has a long way to go in his effort to raise the class and racial consciousness of his constituents. But you can be sure he’s working hard to achieve a Marxist world.

   Don’t blame the media for the WNBA’s woes

Posted: 22 Jul 2017 11:46 AM PDT

(Paul Mirengoff)

Ted Leonsis owns the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals. The hockey team has done quite well under his leadership, though a deep playoff run has eluded it. The basketball team has often been mediocre or worse, though it now is among the better NBA squads.

Leonsis also owns the Washington Mystics of the WNBA. The team, like the league, has struggled.

Leonsis blames the WNBA’s woes on the media. He says it doesn’t give the league enough coverage:

If you listen to sports talk radio, they are not talking the right way about most women’s sports. Those people will retire, or frankly a lot of them are getting fired or laid off — and we’ll get younger people into key media positions who are more egalitarian, more open-minded, more respectful.

(Emphasis added)

Note the authoritarian undertone to this pronouncement. Leonsis wants sports show hosts to talk about women’s sports “the right way.” They are supposed to be “egalitarian” and “respectful.”

Leonsis continued:

I think media helps to set agendas. I mean, you either get neglect or snark [about the WNBA]. And I don’t get it.

I think it’s bad business, too. That to me is so remarkable: As a programmer, you want to reach the widest audience possible. … If you’re only talking about what’s in front of you, and you’re talking to your peer group, and your peer group is dying away, it makes no sense to me as a media professional.

Leonsis may be a “media professional,” but his judgment is clouded by some combination of his stake in, and affection for, the WNBA and his liberal politics.

Sports talk hosts don’t talk about the WNBA for the same reason they don’t talk about soccer: listeners aren’t interested. I’ve often wished they would devote a ten-minute segment to soccer, at least during a major tournament like the World Cup. After all, what’re ten minutes out of, say, a three-hour show.

The reason they don’t — choosing instead to talk for the segment after segment about Lebron James, Kirk Cousins (in my market), and the over-hyped Mayweather-McGregor boxing match — is that they can’t afford to have listeners change the dial. Like me, many listeners consume sports radio in small doses, e.g. when we are driving. If we tune in a show for, say, half an hour, we want the host to be discussing the sports we’re highly interested in. If they aren’t, we will flip to another station.

Thus, it is silly for Leonsis to talk about sports show hosts retiring. In my market, most of them are years from retirement age. But even if they all were to retire tomorrow, their replacements would still confront the same audience preferences that are causing the incumbents not to discuss the WNBA (or soccer). And when audience members retire, they will probably want to spend even more time hearing about the likes of Kirk Cousins and Lebron James.

As for hosts being fired (a cheap shot by Leonsis), the fastest way to lose that job is to try to ram a not terribly popular sport down the throat of the audience.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg sides with Leonsis. He says:

I think there is some value in pushing Mystics coverage on an uncertain audience, because there is value in having a viable women’s league. . .It doesn’t bother me that, say, the Tour de France isn’t part of the local sports conversation. But it irks me that even a competitive Mystics team with brand-name stars still seems so tangential.

Steinberg doesn’t explain why sports coverage should conform to his view of what has value and what irks him. He may find the WNBA riveting, but most of us want to devote the time we allot to professional basketball to watching and hearing about players who perform at the very highest level possible, not the very highest level possible for women.

Steinberg’s column was inspired in part by an extraordinary WNBA game he happened to watch. The headline of his story is “If you refuse to pay attention to the WNBA, you missed something cool Wednesday.”

His use of the word “refuse” is telling, as it suggests something like a presumption that we should pay attention to the WNBA. It would be nice if more readers clicked on my soccer posts, but I would never say they are “refusing” to do so. Most just prefer not to.

But the WNBA has always presumed that people have some sort of obligation to pay attention to it, based on egalitarianism or respect, or something. When the league commenced, its slogan was“we got next.”

As things turned out, they didn’t. It was up to us to decide who “got next.”

I’m glad Steinberg thought the WNBA game that inspired his story was cool. I saw a cool minor league baseball game recently. I thought the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea was cool.

There is no shortage of cool sporting events from which to choose. Sports fans decide which ones they want to pay attention to and the media accommodates these preferences.

Egalitarianism and respect have got nothing to do with it, nor should they.

   A nasty habit at State

Posted: 22 Jul 2017 07:02 AM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

When it comes to apologetics and confusion about the endless campaign of Palestinian Arab terrorism against Israel, the Associated Press has nothing on the Department of State. See, for example, Adam Kredo’s two recent Washington Free Beacon accounts, “State Dept. blames Israel for terrorism, claims Palestinians rarely incite attacks” (July 20) and “Trump State Dept. unsure why Palestinian terrorists kill Israelis” (July 21).

The source documents related to Kredo’s stories are the State Department’s just-released Country Reports on Terrorism 2016 (July 2017) and Rep. Peter Roskam’s letter to Secretary of State Tillerson (July 20). The State Department report blames Israel for prompting the murderous terrorism committed against its own citizens and turns a blind eye to the incessant Palestinian incitement. Rep. Roskam suggests that the department is not up to speed on the relevant facts.

The State Department is drunk on the anti-Semitic form of blaming the victim. It’s a chronic condition. The Trump administration’s failure to staff the department at the deputy level assures that it suffers from an Obama hangover in addition to the usual bouts of inebriation. The department is in the grip of a nasty, nasty habit.

Kredo’s second article takes us inside the State Department”s “thinking,” if it can be called that:

A State Department official, speaking on background, defended the report’s conclusions and said that it cannot precisely pinpoint the motivations behind Palestinian terror attacks on Israel.

“We recognize that in any community, a combination of risk factors can come together to create a higher risk of radicalization to violence,” the official said. “There is no one single pathway to violence—each individual’s path to terrorism is personalized, with certain commonalities. Therefore, it is difficult to pinpoint precisely what the sources of radicalization to violence are. What could drive someone to violence in one instance could vary significantly with someone else who is similarly situated.”

Stepping back, Kredo finds that Trump administration officials are not entirely happy about what’s happening here, though I’m not sure where Tillerson himself stands:

The State Department’s response prompted a fierce backlash among U.S. officials and Trump administration insiders, who said the State Department under the leadership of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has gone rogue and is out of line with the White House’s position on a range of sensitive diplomatic issues, including the Israeli-Palestinian impasse.

Sources pointed to the administration going into damage control mode last week after State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert stated during a press briefing that the U.S. was “upgrading” its diplomatic standing with the Palestinians, a declaration that came as a surprise to those in the White House.

The report singling out Israel is another clear example of the State Department pursuing policies that are well out of line with the White House’s stated agenda, which the sources said has been pro-Israel. One source who advises the White House Middle East policy described the State Department’s explanation to the Free Beacon as “spectacular bull—t.”

“The State Department report includes multiple findings that are both inaccurate and harmful to combating Palestinian terrorism,” Roskam wrote in a letter sent Thursday to the State Department. “This report wrongly insinuates Israeli security measures on the Temple Mount and a stalled peace process as key forces behind terrorism.”

Thanks to Rep. Roskam for taking note of this incredibly sorry state of affairs. Assuming Secretary Tillerson himself is on board with administration policy, it is way past time for President Trump to staff up the State Department with deputies in tune with the administration.

   The Week in Pictures: We Want Tattoo Edition

Posted: 22 Jul 2017 04:48 AM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

I’m dizzy from this week. Why does the news cycle in the Trump era seem more like a blender turned on high (and with the lid off)? Is the week Capitol Hill Republicans packed it in and ratified the old judgment that they are indeed the Stupid Party? If Trump pardons himself, will our political system go blind? One thing is certain: if Trump is driven from office, I expect O.J. will drive him past the Beltway in a white Bronco, which I think is in storage in the new Smithsonian museum of black history. And our new White House communications director is named Scaramucci? Wasn’t he The Man With the Golden Gun? If so, when is Tattoo showing up? Oh, wait—he’s on Game of Thrones now I think. Like I said, I can’t keep up.

            Oh what joyful reading! (I doubt this magazine will last very long.)

    Talk about a true dilemma?

  Notice where whiskey, wine, and beer turn out on this settled science.

  Headlines of the week:

  Not sure that’s the recommended way to shave, but when you’re James Dean. . .

And finally. . . It’s times like this I miss Jay Comeau:

   The whole world is watching our clown show

Posted: 21 Jul 2017 08:39 PM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

As I say — and do forgive me for repeating myself — the shooting of the unarmed and pajama clad spiritual healer Justine Damond by Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor opens a window onto the sick culture that reigns in Minneapolis. No sooner had idiot Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges fired number 22 World Leader and Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau than Hodges sought to expound on her deep thoughts for the benefit of her constituents. She is, after all, seeking reelection as the hometown crowd moves ever further to the lunatic left. Hodges is finding it hard to keep up.

Unlikely as it may seem, Minneapolis’s lunatic left means to turn the shooting of Ms. Damond by Officer Noor into an instrument of further radicalization in Minneapolis. Thus the takeover of Hodges’s press conference by the usual suspects this evening (video below). Like the old circus act, the little car in the center ring of the show in Minneapolis is unloading a thousand clowns.

Back in the day, the radical cliche insisted that the whole world is watching. Now the whole world is watching our clown show. For the local crowd, the Star Tribune reports here. For a national audience, the Hill reports here.

   PowerLine -> Worldwide Clown Show PowerLine -> Worldwide Clown Show Daily Digest Bringing literature to the masses, Mayor de Blasio Style…

[sherristockman]

Documentary Investigates the Causes and Ramifications of Stress-Related Burnout Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Unless kept in check, stress can wreak absolute havoc on your life, undercutting your health and depressing your very will to live. Around the world, "burnout" is becoming an increasingly pervasive problem, affecting people from all walks of life. Being successful per se will not insulate you from burnout. On the contrary, it may actually raise your risk. "The Day I Snapped" is a mental health documentary featuring five professionals who walked into the proverbial wall one day, "suddenly" unable to cope any longer. However, as noted in the film, while the crisis may appear sudden, that moment when a person "snaps" is really the culmination of an untenable situation that has been going on for a long time. Why the Modern Workplace Promotes Burnout The five individuals in the film suffered burnout due to work-related stress, which is the most typical scenario. But what is it about the modern workplace that pressures people beyond their limits? Key factors highlighted in the film include: 1. People are expected to work at a much faster pace than previously, while frequently having to put in longer hours and/or being closely monitored and evaluated based on a variety of performance metrics. In some workplaces, the pace is so high, they cannot even take a proper lunch break. As noted by one of the individuals in the film, it is the "having no choice in what you do" on any given day that "makes the stress unbearable" 2. Job duties are changing (and expanding) more frequently than before, and when combined with poor direction or guidance from management, it can cause a great deal of uncertainty and performance anxiety 3. Many jobs for which people are trained are being eliminated, thereby preventing many from fulfilling their skill-potential. This in turn can breed unhappiness and feelings of worthlessness 4. Deteriorating social support at home and at work Are You Headed Toward Burnout? In the U.K., work is the third leading cause of stress, trailing right behind bereavement and financial woes. In the U.S., work ranks second on the list of sources of significant stress.1 According to the film, nearly 7 million working days are lost each year in the U.K. to stress-related illnesses2 such as skin conditions, insomnia, heart disease, memory impairment, digestive problems, autoimmune disorders and depression, just to name a few. In reality, just about any ailment or disease can be triggered or worsened by stress. Symptoms of burnout include but are not limited to:3 Physical exhaustion, signaled by chronic fatigue, insomnia, forgetfulness, impaired concentration, inattentiveness, physical illness and loss of appetite Emotional exhaustion, a "feeling of internal collapse," loss of perspective, detachment, irritability, frequent anger, loss of enjoyment, pessimism, increasing isolation, apathy and hopelessness Reduced performance and productivity despite best efforts, loss of self-esteem, feeling like a failure Depression Frequently, people on the road toward burnout will turn to alcohol or other addictive substances in an effort to prop themselves up to avoid the inevitable. Sadly, one of the most serious side effects of burnout is suicide. If you are feeling desperate or have any thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a toll-free number: (800) 273-TALK (8255). Alternatively, call 911 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department. Preventing Burnout Is Easier Than Recovering From It If you recognize the warning signs of burnout in yourself or someone you care about, remember this: Preventing burnout is a lot easier than recovering from it. Recovery usually takes time — six months or more is not uncommon. The five professionals in the film all eventually recovered, through a variety of different means, which highlights the need to be flexible enough to identify your unique needs. Just as the circumstances that brought you to a crisis point will be unique, so will your recovery. That said, some basic guidelines can be given (see below). A key point that may initially be difficult to accept is that you need to change how you live. The way you've been living so far does not work, and merely taking a few weeks off, only to return right back to it, is rarely going to suffice. For the featured professionals in the film, all of whom suffered "executive burnout" or burnout brought on by chronic work stress, part of the answer was a change in profession. For three of them, this involved going into business for themselves and doing more physically demanding work, as opposed to working in an office. How to Reduce Work Stress and Prevent Burnout If you feel you might be headed toward the proverbial wall, please consider addressing the situation before you break down completely. Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter offers the following advice for those struggling with work stress.4 I've also added some of my own suggestions. • Take inventory. Write down all of the situations that trigger stress in your life: situations that make you feel worried, anxious, frustrated or helpless. Keep adding to this list as you go along. Next to each item on the list, write down what you can do to reduce the stress it's generating, and implement those solutions whenever possible • Just say no. Saying no is one of the best ways to protect your energy reserves. Avoid taking on new responsibilities or commitments while you're in recovery. If something must be done, see if you can delegate the task to someone else. Avoid the trap of thinking no one else will be able to do it as well as you. Sometimes "good enough" really is enough • Schedule breaks and take time to socialize. Make sure you take breaks between projects, to give your mind and body time to recover. Also, be sure to schedule breaks on a daily basis, and do not take work home with you. Cultivating a social life is an important aspect of a well-balanced life, so avoid the temptation to make work your sole focus • Manage your electronic devices wisely. Smartphones, iPads and computers can be an enormous time drain if you don't manage their use well. The constant barrage of message notifications can be a major source of stress in and of itself. Turn down the stress by turning off all notifications on your devices; batch process your emails, at most four times a day, and restrict social media to a specific time or place rather than trying to "keep up" on an hour-by-hour basis • Stop multitasking. Paradoxically, giving up multitasking is one of the key strategies of highly productive people. Focusing on one thing at a time will also make you calmer and less stressed out. To learn more about why multitasking doesn't work, and how to increase your productivity by doing one thing at a time, please see my previous interview with Dr. Theo Compernolle, author of "Brain Chains: Discover Your Brain, to Unleash Its Full Potential in a Hyperconnected, Multitasking World" The Importance of Maintaining Balance in Your Life Download Interview Transcript I recently interviewed Dr. Joseph Maroon on the topic of burnout. He is a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and author of "Square One: A Simple Guide to a Balanced Life," a book that grew out of his own struggles with burnout. I've included a condensed version here for your convenience. To listen to the full interview, please see "How to Recover From Burnout By Rebalancing Your Life." The recovery plan detailed in "Square One" is based on William H. Danforth's work, which emphasizes that you have not one but four lives to live, a: Physical life Spiritual life Work life Relationship life Maintaining balance between each of these four life segments is key. Each of these needs to be actively pursued and nourished on a daily basis. "We all know that you can't avoid stress in this world — divorce, our jobs; 40 percent of people have difficulty with job relationships," Maroon says. "What happens [is], you get an elevated cortisol level in your blood. What does [excess] cortisol do to the brain? It kills brain cells. What does it do to your memory? It reduces memory, our tissues and everything else. That's what excess chronic unremitting stress [causes], which is what I personally went through. It's incredible depression. Most doctors think depression is [treatable] with antidepressants. I have no doubt that physical activity is the most effective antidepressant we can use … [It] gets all the neurotransmitters back into order — your dopamine, your serotonin and your acetylcholine. The point is we can't escape adversity. We can't escape stress. But what happened to me is I didn't recognize how bad off I was in a unidimensional life." How to Regain Balance and Heal Burnout Based on these four life segments, you can see that to prevent or recover from burnout, you need: Exercise and a healthy diet that optimizes mitochondrial function and limits inflammation (physical nourishment) Mindfulness or some form of spiritual practice (spiritual nourishment) Ideally, work that suits your personality and gives you meaning and purpose; at bare minimum, strategies to control your day-to-day work stress (work-related pursuits) Family time and social contacts, and/or a hobby or volunteer work (relationship-related pursuits) In a nutshell, recovering from burnout (or avoiding it in the first place) boils down to finding and maintaining a balance between your work life, physical activities, relationships and spirituality or mindfulness. As noted by Maroon: "You need exercise. You need a degree of meditation and spirituality … If you look at people who live to be centenarians … They all have in common a healthy diet and work. They work hard, which is their physical activity … They control stress with, usually, a very strong family unit, spirituality, religion or church. All those things are mindfulness. All reduce stress, the excess cortisol, and try to keep our bodies in balance." To this, I would add a fifth life category that needs balance, and that is sleep. Sleep deprivation dramatically impairs your body's ability to handle stress, and has absolutely no redeeming consequences. Working rather than sleeping will not allow you to get ahead or accomplish more. It's only going to make matters worse. Treating your sleep as "sacred time" that cannot be infringed upon can go a long way toward managing your overall stress and maintaining balance in your life. Finding Work-Life Balance Is Worth Every Effort On the whole, leading a balanced life is not rocket science, but it can still be difficult to do. It's much easier, actually, to focus on work to the exclusion of everything else. Finding balance takes a bit of work. It may require finding and setting new boundaries, which may feel unfamiliar and maybe even a bit frightening at first. The alternative, however, is far worse than any discomfort you might experience as you strive for balance. Arianna Huffington is perhaps one of the most well-known public personas who suffered burnout — and wrote a book about it. In "Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder," Huffington, who is the chairman, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, details her downward spiral, and her journey back to health. Her self-reflection resulted in a new definition of success, which includes a "third metric" besides the two conventional ones: money and power. This third metric consists of four pillars: Health and well-being. If you sacrifice your health and well-being in the pursuit of success, you're really paying an insanely high price. The result of this sacrifice includes everything from diabetes to heart disease, and other stress-related afflictions like depression, alcoholism or drug addiction Wisdom. As Huffington says: "We have a lot of very smart leaders around making terrible decisions. The problem is not that they don't have a high IQ; the problem is that they are not connected with their inner wisdom. Taking time to connect with the source of our inner wisdom and strength is essential" Joy and childlike wonder. It's also important to bring joy into your everyday life and to connect with the sense that you are part of "something larger." This includes appreciating ordinary beauty and small everyday miracles Giving. No complete life is ever lived just for oneself. When you integrate giving, wonder, wisdom and well-being together with the first two metrics of money and power, you can really have a complete life, filled with meaning and purpose.