Tom Faranda's Folly

Most powerful moment at Inauguration

A musical back up failure. So Carrie Underwood goes acapella, singing America the Beautiful.

 

WSJ poll: "Voters want 'MAGA lite'"

Yeah I agree with most of this.

 

Sunday wordle - a miss!

Ugh. just one of those things - the correct word is ROWER . Breaks a 25 day success streak. If there are six or seven options but only four lines for guessing, inevitably sometimes you miss.

 

"Trump Announces First 10 Executive Orders"

Here you go - the news before it is out.

With just a few days to inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to sign a slew of day-one executive orders that will begin making America great again. Here is an exclusive first look at what Trump has planned:

1. An executive order granting himself unlimited executive orders: How has no one else thought of this?

2. McDonald's must keep the McRib on the menu all year: We are SO BACK.

3. A 6-foot sign saying "you must be this tall to enter" will be placed at the southern border: Immigration, solved.

4. J.D. Vance has to stop wearing eyeliner: It's so distracting.

5. All current children's television programming will be canceled and replaced with Legends Of The Hidden Temple: Thank you, sir.

6. The U.S. will no longer recognize Norway as a country: Not for any reason, just because we can.

7. All women will be required to lose ten pounds by swimsuit season: Honestly, this one's pretty sexist, but okay.

8. In lieu of the National Anthem, everyone must do the "YMCA" before any sporting event: So much greatness.

9. Serving veggie burgers will now be a capital offense: Good-bye, low T.

10. Whoopi Goldberg will be separated from her husband and assigned a white man to marry: She tried to warn us.

Get excited, folks. This is just the first step in making America great again.

Saturday wordle

My (short) comments: What Biden got right & wrong

Got right -

(1) Pardoned the federal death row inmates - changed the sentence to life imprisonment. I am against state sanctioned killing, especially since I'm aware of the pathetic criminal  justice system and here's a good example. Sentences finalized on seven Washington DC prolife rescuers 

(2) Likes ice cream - Chocolate chip is favorite

Got wrong -

(1) Foreign policy in too many areas to list. The Secretary of State Blinken is talented but couldn't overcome Biden errors. For an alternate opinion - Biden advisor Jake Sullivan vigorously defends Biden foreign policy

(2) Domestic economic policy - which I suppose is what cost the Dems the election. A rising stock market (much to do with all the inflationary money in the economy) doesn't mean that the middle and working classes are doing well.

(3) The border

(4) 1,000% support for abortion, DEI and wokeness.

(5) Terrible choice for VP - driven by DEI and not by talent. Also terrible choice (Yellen) at treasury. "Inflation is transitory."

(6) Wrong ice cream flavor - Turkey Hill Black Cherry is the best.

 

 

 

Friday wordle

NY Times - How the Dems pushed Biden to drop out

It's an excerpt from a coming book - very fascinating - and kind of told from Senator Schumer's perspective. Only takes 7 0r 8 minutes to read the full excerpt if you hit the link.

"I'm urging you not to run."

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York sat in the foyer of President Biden’s Rehoboth Beach house, tired and tense. He had not slept the night before, and on the four-hour drive from Brooklyn to Delaware, he had rehearsed out loud what he planned to say, reviewing notecards as he prepared for what he thought might be the most high-stakes speech he would ever give, to an audience of one.

It was July 13, 2024, a humid summer afternoon just before four o’clock, and Mr. Schumer, the Democratic leader of the Senate, was about to make a blunt case to Mr. Biden that he needed to drop his bid for a second term.

If there were a secret ballot among Democratic senators, Mr. Schumer would tell the president, no more than five would say he should continue running. Mr. Biden’s own pollsters assessed that he had about a 5 percent chance of prevailing against Donald J. Trump, Mr. Schumer would tell him — information that was apparently news to the president. And if the president refused to step aside, the senator would argue, the consequences for Democrats and Mr. Biden’s own legacy after a half-century of public service would be catastrophic.

“If you run and you lose to Trump, and we lose the Senate, and we don’t get back the House, that 50 years of amazing, beautiful work goes out the window,” Mr. Schumer said. “But worse — you go down in American history as one of the darkest figures.”

He would end with a directive. “If I were you,” Mr. Schumer said, “I wouldn’t run, and I’m urging you not to run.”

Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater, congressional correspondents at The Times, are the co-authors of “Mad House: How Donald Trump, MAGA Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby, and a Man With Rats in His Walls Broke Congress,” from which this article is adapted.

Today: Feast of St. Anthony the Great, father of monasticism

Today is the probable date of his death in 356. A very important Catholic Saint. Good bio here in wikipedia.

This is from the Magnificat prayer book. And got to love St. Anthony's quote below.

Saint Anthony                          Memorial

Renowned as the father of monasticism, Anthony was one of the first to lead an austere life of prayer and fasting in the solitude of the desert. Anthony’s biography, written by Saint Athanasius, became a classic text for western monasticism. Anthony’s wisdom was collected into the sayings of the Desert Fathers. To a fellow abbot, he gave the advice: “Don’t trust in your own righteousness; practice moderation in food and talk; and don’t worry about things done in the past.” Anthony died in 356 and was buried in a secret location by his fellow hermits.

 

Friday cocktail - The Monte Carlo!

This is really good - Brigid loves - and easy to make. And it's easy to build in your glass. You can vary the ratios between the benedictine and rye whiskey. Here's Anders with a bit sweeter ratio. And then how Farandaville does it.

 

Farandaville recipe

2 oz. Rye Whiskey

1/2 oz Benedictine

2 dashes Angostura Bitters.

We garnish with a cherry

If you are making one, just do it in your glass, stirring with ice (see link above). Making more than one, use a mixing glass and have it either straight up or on ice. 

 

Thursday wordle

Very funny - "Silent Letter Day"

Thanks to ES for sending me this - it gets funnier and funnier. A rare British comedian who is actually funny - which comment puts me on the couch tonight.

 

Wednesday wordle

Great stuff - Dems go after Hegseth; Republican responds

UPDATE: Here's Senator Kaine going after Hegseth for his infidelities

Two for one - both from Forbes News - a compilation of Democrat Senator comments, mostly about his character.

Then a vigorous defense by the Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin. I never heard of this guy, but when I read his wiki I remembered some incident at a committee hearing in 2023 where a senator suggested the guy appearing and he step outside and settle things man to man.  Mullin is a member of the Cherokee Nation.

Tuesday wordle .

Biden advisor Jake Sullivan vigorously defends Biden foreign policy

I report, anyone can decide...

 

Monday wordle .

Brigid photo caricatures!

Brigid belongs to a local photo group. They meet online every month. The moderator suggested they send him a photo and he'd use several apps to do a couple of caricatures for each person.

The picture of Brigid that was worked off is here.

And the two caricatures produced - here you go -

At least she's smiling!

Sunday wordle

"Why was Jesus Baptized" - great sermon on today's Gospel

This is great (my opinion).

 

Saturday wordle

WSJ: "It’s Biden’s Policies, Stupid"

From the Journal op ed columnist Bill McGurn.

"The president’s real messaging failure is that Donald Trump had a better message."

You knew it was coming. Ever since election night, Democrats from Nancy Pelosi on down have been blaming Joe Biden for costing them the White House. Last weekend Team Biden hit back. On Sunday the Washington Post reported that the president still believes “he could have defeated Trump.”

Which raises the question: Were Democrats and the press more dishonest before the election, when they routinely reassured the American people Mr. Biden was sharp as a tack? Or are they now, after the election, when they insist Mr. Biden’s decision to run for re-election—which most supported at the time—doomed Democratic chances for holding the White House?

Missing from the back and forth about Mr. Biden’s decision to run is the slightest recognition that his policies were the source of public dissatisfaction with him. ...  They created problems like inflation. And they damaged the Democratic Party’s credibility when its leaders tried to tell the American people that if only they were smart enough, they would appreciate how good they had it.

As if to underscore the point, when Kamala Harris ran on the exact same agenda, the policies proved just as unpopular.

Public disenchantment with the president began when he insisted the humiliating pullout from Afghanistan was “an extraordinary success.”...

The dishonesty continued when his homeland security secretary insisted “the border is secure.”...

Probably the most infamous example of Democratic deception concerned inflation. First there was denial. Then the American people were told it was transitory. Then they were told it was licked. “Bidenomics is working” wasn’t a winning appeal to workers who saw that their paychecks weren’t going as far.

***********************

Now it is all unraveling, and everyone’s dumping on Mr. Biden for not getting out sooner. Mr. Biden doesn’t see it that way, of course. He insists that the party’s mistake was ousting the only man who had ever beaten Mr. Trump.

But Democrats aren’t mad at Mr. Biden for staying in the race. They’re mad because he exposed how all those now turning on him, Mrs. Pelosi included, reassured Americans that the president was at the top of his game when they knew otherwise.

*********************

If Mr. Biden’s policies were working, the American people might have given him the benefit of the doubt and maybe even elected Ms. Harris. But they didn’t. And rather than reconsider the policies, Democrats complain that Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris had a poor messaging strategy, that Mr. Trump was far better at taking advantage of new media—e.g., his interview with podcaster Joe Rogan—to get his message across.

Which misses the obvious: Mr. Trump won because he had a better message—because of better policies that yielded better results when he was president.

Friday wordle

Gov. of California "We're out of water" ?

Thanks to JC for sending me this! Newsom for President 2028???

I love it!

Friday cocktail - the Rob Roy

Often referred to as the Scotch Manhattan. Some recipes call for only 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth and you can substitute orange bitters for angostura bitters. Video has a good explanation of where the name comes from.

Thursday wordle

Books I read in 2024

I did this last year  Books I read in 2023 and think I will make a habit of doing it annually. Just another way for me to pat myself on the back.

14 books. As I said last year "I have to do extensive reading in my business" but none of these books were directly related to my financial practice. (Full Disclosure: I am registered with the SEC as an investment advisor and have an LLC as my business shell.)

Give and Take. The author, Adam Grant,  is an organizational psychologist at Wharton. It's a good book on personal and organizational interactions; at some point I will have my two grown children who work with me read it. If someone reads the book, takes his advice and uses his website, all the better.

A Marginal Jew, volume 3. The third of the six volume series by the amazing Scholar, the late Fr. John Meier. He died in the midst of volume six, so no one is really sure if it will ever be published. It took me from February 22nd to April 8th to finish the book (Note I have a real job). The series uses the often misused historical critical method and Meier was praised by Pope Benedict XVI for his proper use of the method. Meier was born in NY and went to the NY Dunwoodie Seminary, although he was ordained in Rome. I know someone who attended seminary with him and says "He was one in a million." This volume titled "Companions and Competitors, looking at Jesus followers, Disciples and Apostles, and his competitors - Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Samaritans. The title of the Series, A Marginal Jew, does not refer to his impact on history (obviously) but rather to the fact that Jesus was a Tradesman from a small podunk town, probably with a population of about 200. As Nathanael says in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" And as Philip replies, "Come and see."

Pageboy. Elliot Page. Formerly Ellen Page. This was given to me by a friend of mine - I had never heard of Ellen Page but she's had a successful acting career from a very early age - born in 1987 so still young. Also from a broken family and was sexually abused by men and women from a very young age. I read the book in 4 days. Page has been heterosexual, bisexual and gay, now has gender dysphoria. Basically anyone who has been able to take advantage of Ellen/Elliot, has. A sad book.

Seeing with the Heart - a Guide to Navigating Life's Adventures. This book is written by Kevin O'Brien, SJ who currently has a position at my University, Fairfield University. It's a book on Ignatian spirituality. I'm on several Fairfield mailing lists and when I saw he was giving a talk on zoom I got his book and read it in about two weeks. On the zoom I commented that some of his ideas were well worth utilizing as I facilitate OCIA in my parish, for people looking to enter the Catholic Church. For more on Kevin O'Brien hit the link to his wiki. He had been President of Sara Clara University in California. He also has a close personal relationship with the Biden family. He celebrated Mass for president-elect Biden  and many other officials before the Biden's inauguration.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. This book was a monster best seller when it came out in 2013 and is still #1 best seller on Amazon Business Decision Making list. The book is 500 pages and took me four months to finish (while also reading several other books). Kahneman co-won the Nobel Prizr in Economics in 2002, even though he is a psychologist.  He is that influential when it comes to economic, financial and business decision making.  To vastly simplify things, Kahneman models our brains as having two systems. "System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions." Reading the book is a wonderful, mind expanding experience. Daniel Kahneman died last year at age 90.

Why We Can't Wait by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King JR and written at the end of 1963. It's a 200 page paperback and is a quick but important read; I was 12 in 1963 and remember much of this. There's the inside story on the Birmingham Alabama protests, the church bombing that killed the four little girls, his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is included (all the rationals for non-violent civil disobedience). Also the March on Washington and his "I Have a Dream" speech. At the end of the book he makes note of the assassination of Kennedy and his hope for Lyndon Johnson.

Not too Late by Gwendolyn Bounds. A biographical book by a fairly prominent journalist journalist who decided in her mid-40's (midlife crisis?) to move out of her comfort zone. The sub-title of the book is "The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age" and she's gone from non-athlete to being a major competitor and award winner in her age bracket in those crazy Spartan Races or OCR's (Obstacle Course Races). She lives in the Hudson Valley - I think in Garrison - and the book is great fun as she recounts her training, all the ups and downs of her sport and of her life. I really enjoyed the book.

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance - soon to be the VP of the country. When the book came out in 2016 it was almost universally well received. But my thinking was "Hillybilly Elegy? Who cares?" And then they made it a movie in 2020 which I also didn't watch. And then he ran for the senate in 2022 as a Republican which of course turned off many of the people who'd appreciated his book and the movie. I still didn't know or care about the guy until Trump selected him as his VP running mate. That's when I got the book, read it in 3 days, loved it. Parenthetically, I thought he was a big positive for the Trump campaign (Full Disclosure: I did a write-in for president) and probably would have won by even more then Trump did if he'd been the presidential nominee. He's 40 years old and has a huge future.

From Christendom to Apostolic Mission by Msgr. James P Shea, the President of the University of Mary in North Dakota. When Shea was named president in 2009 he was the youngest (31) president of a college or university in the country. The book is short and a straightforward read, making the point that we are no longer in a Christendom age where biblical and Christian values were more or less accepted, but rather in an Apostolic age where much of the paganism which confronted the early Church is now mainstream in our culture. And it lays out the game plan to take on our age. It's a realistic and no nonsense book - no pie in the sky nonsense. Highly recommended.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. It is rather immodestly sub-titled "A Brief History of Humankind". But it is a really good book which took me ten weeks to get through - it was recommended by a close friend of mine. In return I gave him Thinking, Fast and Slow, reviewed above. While working through it I also read the two books below. He offers many facts and then his opinions - some thoughtful and some half baked - on the development of homo sapiens (that's us). To give one example, he feels that about 70,000 years ago a cognitive revolution occurred that enabled us to supplant neanderthals and other homo species. Then there's the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, etc, etc. It's a very good book whether you agree with all his thoughts or not - which I certainly don't. If you read it you need to seriously engage it.

Grace Slick by Grace Slick. Ahhh, Jefferson Airplane. the first album I ever bought was Surrealistic Pillow. Her book subtitle was "Somebody to Love." Which figures. She wrote it in 1999 and it hasn't been updated so if you want to know her current doings hit the link to her name. I read this while also reading Sapiens - so big change of pace and I enjoyed it. She came from a well off family. In the 60's, 70's and 80's she spent a lot of quality time with most of the big name male rock stars and also became known as the Acid Queen. She decided to have a baby -she planned it - in 1971, with fellow Jefferson Airplane member Paul Kantner. Grace was in rehab at least twice. She retired from music in 1990 and lives on the coast of California and paints.

The Religion of the Day A follow up to the book above, From  From Christendom to Apostolic Mission. But not as good (my opinion - it does ave a 4.8 score on Amazon). Much better to just read the first one.

Heidegger and Theology by Judith Wolfe a philosopher and professor at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. She is young - probably in her mid 40's. My interest in Heidegger goes all the way back to when I was a student at Fairfield University. The book is brilliant as Wolfe presents much about Heidegger's thought from materials that have been reviewed (scholarly notes, letters, class notes from his teaching, etc) and lays out her program about Heidegger. His first book - Being and Time - written 1927 in areas of philosophy, theology, and psychology. Heidegger was an intellectual heavy hitter right up until his death in1976. I think I will do a further post on this book sometime later this year. There is a very troubling aspect of Heidegger - he became a Nazi party member in 1933 - evidently needed party membership to get the professorship he wanted. But in late years he never denounced the Nazi era. 

Last one -  He Loved us (Dilexit Nos) On the human and divine Love of the Heart of Jesus. Pope Francis Encyclical on the Sacred Heart. You can buy it in book form or as a kindle but I copied and downloaded it off the Vatican website for free. I read it over the space of about 11 days, 15- 25 minutes a day. Total time it took me was 2 hours and 15 minutes.  It is a wonderful meditation and I'm sorry this was not his first writing as Pontiff - many people would have a completely different view of him. I find it much more sensible to spread the reading of a document like this over several days - but that's me. I suppose a professional Catholic could get much out of it in a day or two.

Here are the fourth and fifth sections, to give a taste of the topic and his writings -

4. The Bible tells us that, “the Word of God is living and active... it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). In this way, it speaks to us of the heart as a core that lies hidden beneath all outward appearances, even beneath the superficial thoughts that can lead us astray. The disciples of Emmaus, on their mysterious journey in the company of the risen Christ, experienced a moment of anguish, confusion, despair and disappointment. Yet, beyond and in spite of this, something was happening deep within them: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road?” (Lk 24:32).

5. The heart is also the locus of sincerity, where deceit and disguise have no place. It usually indicates our true intentions, what we really think, believe and desire, the “secrets” that we tell no one: in a word, the naked truth about ourselves. It is the part of us that is neither appearance or illusion, but is instead authentic, real, entirely “who we are”. That is why Samson, who kept from Delilah the secret of his strength, was asked by her, “How can you say, ‘I love you’, when your heart is not with me?” (Judg 16:15). Only when Samson opened his heart to her, did she realize “that he had told her his whole secret” (Judg 16:18).

So 14 books counting the encyclical. I'm currently finishing Build the Life you Want by Arthur Brooks.  Then if will be volume four of A Marginal Jew subtitled Law and Love. That will be fun, and probably take two months!

 

Congressman Lawler rips MSNBC on NYC congestion pricing

Lawler is my congressman. He's ranked the 4th most bipartisan member of congress. The MSNBC panel actually did not interrupt him. And good point about the farebeaters. CNBC had a statistic a few days ago - said 30-45% of subway and bus riders don't pay.

 

Meta (Facebook) CEO Zuckerberg: ending fact checking, etc.

If he actually does all these things it will be virtual full surrender to free speech and truth. Worth watching the 3 minutes. AND moving part of operation from California to Texas.

 

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Tuesday wordle

AP: Nice interview young American women joining ranks of Catholic nuns

The woman being interviewed (24 years old - from another video) mentions she's an only child. Tweaked a memory about my wonderful 6th grade nun Sister Ann Therese - who has gone to her reward - I found out years later was also an only child.  Lovely to go through the comments section on this vid.

 

Monday wordle

Kamala certifies Trump election & speaks afterward

As both sides try to outclap each other. Never seen this done but as it's been handled for a couple of centuries.

 

And here is her brief statement after the certification.