So it's hunting season (at least rifle hunting) and I have a tag. This is kinda my dad's thing, but he didn't get a tag this year. There are youth encouragement hunts on Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks and I have one for Thanksgiving.
I'm really not that great of a hunter. I'm loud and impatient. You can't really get much worse than that. Well...I guess I could be loud, impatient, and fat, but I can at least hike. So...you guessed it. We didn't get anything yet. We're going out again tomorrow and hopefully I shoot something, but you never know.
Today we hiked some ridges which was fun. Okay, it was fun going up and getting to the top. There's a principle of climbing that is always forgotten when going up--it's much easier to go than to come back down. The saying that if you can get down if you can get up is really a big misconception. I know. One of humanity's biggest flaw is the misconceptions that we all hold dear. Coming down those slopes was not so fun. I was terrified because the rocks were loose and it felt like I was going to fall down and die. I was also carrying a loaded gun, so that was another fear factor. Just not fun. I wouldn't recommend it.
We're leaving pretty early tomorrow morning...so if we don't shoot anything, I'm going to be pretty mad because that means I woke up early three days in a row for nothing.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Food for Thought
Today in class we watched a video about eight students in the national spelling bee. One of them was of Indian decent. He studied approximately 8,000 words per day. I thought he was crazy, but now I realize that he was just committed. One of the comments his dad made struck me as surprisingly accurate. He said that in America, if you work hard, then you can become something great, where that isn't true in any other part of the world. My theory is that this country was made of people who came from nothing, but wanted to rise to the top and that hasn't changed in 250 years. In other countries, there is a specific social structure and where you are born is where you stay, but in America, you can rise to the top or sink to the bottom. What puzzles me is that you make the biggest decisions that will most likely decide the rest of your life when you care the least. At age 18, you probably made some the worst decisions of your life and the best ones too, it's kind of a trade off. But it isn't impossible to get your life back on track if you make bad decisions at age 18--it just makes it harder. That's just some food for thought
Path to Term Limits
A term limit Constitutional amendment would never pass congress. Why would it? No one in their right mind would vote against their livelihood. But really, career politicians ultimately hurt the country, so it's worth it to push for an amendment.
Typically amendments are proposed by Congress and then ratified by three fourths of the states, but there is another path. It is significantly more extensive, but it is possible.
If two-third of the state-legislators call for a Constitutional Convention to be held, the Convention would be held in place of Congress. Then the Convention can propose one or more amendments, which need to be ratified by three fourths of the states.
It's pretty unlikely that we'll see a Convention in the near future and it's ironic that Trump's promising for a term limit amendment, but it's not impossible. Trump can't actually fulfill the amendment, but if it doesn't happen, then people will still blame him, even though it's not really his fault.
If there is a Convention, a lot more of the people's agenda can be pushed though because calling the Convention is the most difficult part of the process. Not only can we have amendments about term limits, but also things like tax exemptions and deductions and lobbying can be addressed. There are a lot of problems and hopefully we can begin to address some of them.
Typically amendments are proposed by Congress and then ratified by three fourths of the states, but there is another path. It is significantly more extensive, but it is possible.
If two-third of the state-legislators call for a Constitutional Convention to be held, the Convention would be held in place of Congress. Then the Convention can propose one or more amendments, which need to be ratified by three fourths of the states.
It's pretty unlikely that we'll see a Convention in the near future and it's ironic that Trump's promising for a term limit amendment, but it's not impossible. Trump can't actually fulfill the amendment, but if it doesn't happen, then people will still blame him, even though it's not really his fault.
If there is a Convention, a lot more of the people's agenda can be pushed though because calling the Convention is the most difficult part of the process. Not only can we have amendments about term limits, but also things like tax exemptions and deductions and lobbying can be addressed. There are a lot of problems and hopefully we can begin to address some of them.
Monday, November 21, 2016
Christmas is Coming! (with Snicker doodles)
Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite time of year because of all the festivities and most importantly, the food. I love all foods associated with this time of year, except maybe green bean casserole, which I can't figure out why anyone would invent.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and 1 ½ cups sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3–5 minutes. Then beat in eggs and scrape the bowl. Turn mixer on low and slowly add flour mixture until well combined.
Mix remaining ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Use a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop to measure out dough balls. Roll each ball in your hands to even them out, then roll in cinnamon sugar to thoroughly coat.
Place the balls on prepared baking sheets, 2 ½ inches apart. Bake for 8–9 minutes, until just barley golden around the edges. Cool for several minutes on the baking sheets before moving.
This year, I tried a new recipe for snicker doodles and they were really good! The recipe came from the Pioneer Women (one of my favorite food blogs!) and they were really crisp. If you like them a little softer, than just don't cook them as long.
It's a pretty quick recipe except that they need to be rolled in cinnamon sugar before they're baked.
I made them in my new kitchen! It was only partially done so I still did the dishes in the laundry room sink and used the kitchen aid on the floor because we didn't have outlets or water yet. The convention oven is so nice because I can bake three batches of cookies at once and they all cook the same. It also heats up really fast which is nice.
When I was making the cookies, I used our chicken's eggs and I was trying to crack one with one hand because the other one was dirty and it turns out, I'm not very good at that. I cracked the egg into the bowl. I found most of the egg shells because they're green, but I did bite into cookie and find some.
This is the recipe:
| Prep: 15 Minutes | Level: Easy |
| Cook: 9 Minutes | Serves: 20 |
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 teaspoons Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1-3/4 cup Granulated Sugar, Divided
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400ºF and line several baking sheets with parchment paper.In a large bowl whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and 1 ½ cups sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3–5 minutes. Then beat in eggs and scrape the bowl. Turn mixer on low and slowly add flour mixture until well combined.
Mix remaining ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Use a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop to measure out dough balls. Roll each ball in your hands to even them out, then roll in cinnamon sugar to thoroughly coat.
Place the balls on prepared baking sheets, 2 ½ inches apart. Bake for 8–9 minutes, until just barley golden around the edges. Cool for several minutes on the baking sheets before moving.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Election Protests
So even if you don't agree with my last post, hopefully we can agree on Trump Protesters. They are ultimately making the country vulnerable and undermining democracy. Not only are they insulting Trump (which I'm sure he is used to by now), but all Trump supporters. They are saying that the votes of his supporters shouldn't matter because Trump supporters are wrong.
Problems in democracy begin with disrespect for the opposite side's views. I understand that just under half the country is unhappy because their candidate lost. That was going to happen either way. There were going to be unhappy people and there are unhappy people after every election. It's the beauty of elections--you're candidate is not always going to win and you have to except that. If everyone in America needs to learn that both the Republicans and Democrats, and even the third parties, all have valid points and it is important to disagree peacefully both so all sides are represented and all sides are weighed when making decisions.
Trump protesters are also just creating violence, similar to the Black Lives Matter Protests. They will never amount to any change and just make life worse for everyone involved. There are ways to create change, but violent has never worked before and it won't work now.
Problems in democracy begin with disrespect for the opposite side's views. I understand that just under half the country is unhappy because their candidate lost. That was going to happen either way. There were going to be unhappy people and there are unhappy people after every election. It's the beauty of elections--you're candidate is not always going to win and you have to except that. If everyone in America needs to learn that both the Republicans and Democrats, and even the third parties, all have valid points and it is important to disagree peacefully both so all sides are represented and all sides are weighed when making decisions.
Trump protesters are also just creating violence, similar to the Black Lives Matter Protests. They will never amount to any change and just make life worse for everyone involved. There are ways to create change, but violent has never worked before and it won't work now.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
The Election
Since most of my current viewers live in France, I thought I'd take some time to go over the election and what this will mean for our country.
Trump won!!! I was a supporter of him from the very beginning. He's not very popular in my small town. There were many people against me. Since before the primaries, I've had people in my school coming up to me and asking, "Are you really a Trump supporter."
Here's why. I'm not saying that Trump is going to be the perfect president. There are times where he just needs to simply keep his mouth shut. But he has great policy and will be a strong figure on the world stage, something in which Obama is terrible. Currently, our economy is failing because companies are going offshore because the excessive regulations in the country and it's cheaper. This must stop. Trump will repeal the terrible trade deals that allow companies to do this and overall it will boost the economy, as well as start to attack the major national debt.
Trump will repeal Obamacare. It's a problem when premiums for health care have increased by fifty percent.
I do not agree with Trump's treatment of woman, but fortunately, I won't actually be dealing with Trump. He's not going to make the rape culture suddenly worse, so I don't really care. It's not really my problem.
So overall, I'm very happy with the election. My party won every part of the government, hopefully finally solving gridlock in Congress. I'm excited to see what our government can do the next two years.
Trump won!!! I was a supporter of him from the very beginning. He's not very popular in my small town. There were many people against me. Since before the primaries, I've had people in my school coming up to me and asking, "Are you really a Trump supporter."
Here's why. I'm not saying that Trump is going to be the perfect president. There are times where he just needs to simply keep his mouth shut. But he has great policy and will be a strong figure on the world stage, something in which Obama is terrible. Currently, our economy is failing because companies are going offshore because the excessive regulations in the country and it's cheaper. This must stop. Trump will repeal the terrible trade deals that allow companies to do this and overall it will boost the economy, as well as start to attack the major national debt.
Trump will repeal Obamacare. It's a problem when premiums for health care have increased by fifty percent.
I do not agree with Trump's treatment of woman, but fortunately, I won't actually be dealing with Trump. He's not going to make the rape culture suddenly worse, so I don't really care. It's not really my problem.
So overall, I'm very happy with the election. My party won every part of the government, hopefully finally solving gridlock in Congress. I'm excited to see what our government can do the next two years.
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