Tom Faranda's Folly

In Maynmar, a Catholic nun steps up ...

Whew. Video below and here's more. We could use a dose of this from our own Catholic Episcopacy (dream on Tom).  Catholic nun saves young demonstrators

"The action of the nun and the response of the police who, upon seeing the nun's plea, stopped, surprised many of us. Sister Ann Nu Thawng is today a role model for Church leaders: bishops and priests are called to step out of the their comfort zones and follow her courage as an example". Many non-Catholics also praised Sister Thawng's brave efforts, whose entry went viral on social media. "More than 100 demonstrators were able to find shelter in her monastery. It saved them from brutal beatings and arrests by the police"...

 

Pope Francis gets big welcome to Iraq

Nice report.

Dr. Seuss and the book burners

The banning of six of Dr. Seuss (who was a traditional liberal) books is oh so ridiculous. Yes it was the Seuss Foundation who took the books down , but they were put under pressure by the usual suspects.

Here's one of them - the Southern Poverty Law Center - directly contradicting what Martin Luther King Jr. said in his I Have a Dream speech.

And the book burning is alive and well on ebay. Dr. Seuss bad, Hitler writings OK.

ABC: Prelude to Pope Francis visit to Iraq

This is part of a clip from Thursday evening, 3 minutes long. Sobering.

 

The Mongolian School Bus - seeing is believing.

YIKES! From my friend Dennis. Someone did count the #'s.

 

Feast of Saint Katharine Drexel

Here life is a great story. She is the Patron Saint of racial justice and philanthropists. If you read her story you'll understand why.

Katharine Drexel (November 26, 1858 – March 3, 1955) was an American heiress, philanthropist, religious sister, educator, and founder. She was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 2000; her feast day is celebrated on March 3. She was the second American to be canonized as a saint and the first one born a U.S. citizen. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2011.

Katharine decided she would give herself and her inheritance to God through service to both Native Americans and African Americans. She wrote, "The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored."

In 1915, Katherine founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for African-Americans.

By the time of her death, she had more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states.

Katharine suffered a heart attack at 77-years-old and was forced to retire. She spent the remainder of her life in quiet and intense prayer. She recorded her prates and aspirations in small notebooks.

Mother Katharine died on March 3, 1955 at the age of 96. She is buried at her order's motherhouse. Neither of Katharine's sisters had any children, so after her death, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament lost the Drexel fortune that supported their ministries. However, the order continues to pursue Katharine's mission with the African-Americans and Native Americans in 21 states and in Haiti.

Katharine was remembered for her love of the Eucharist and a desire for unity of all peoples. She was courageous and took the initiative to address social inequality within minorities. She believed all should have access to a quality education and her selfless service, including the donation of her inheritance, helped many reach that goal.

Gov. Cuomo assures public - he always kept his mask on while harassing women

A fearless protector of pubic public health!

Governor Cuomo did make it clear to the public that he always wore a mask and socially distanced during these interactions-- a fact that has some folks saying he should get off free.

“I have the greatest respect for my employees,” Cuomo explained during a press conference. “Especially the girls—we’ve got a lot of young girls on staff who do a really good job.” Cuomo paused for a moment and seemed to wink at someone offscreen. “And I can guarantee you right now, sure I might be a sexual predator, but not once did I remove my mask, never once broke the six-foot rule during conversations with my girls-- at least in 2020. Isn’t that right, Kelly?”

Cuomo went on to explain how some of his sexual jokes may not have landed with the women since they couldn’t see his facial expressions. He also claimed that the women may have misheard him since his words were muffled by his mask and they were standing so far apart. 

“Do I regret making those comments?” Cuomo asked as he stood up to leave the press conference. “No. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got some strip poker, er-- I mean poker, to play.”

 

On immigration policy, how the media sees things depends on who is President

Sent to me; will keep it anonymous to prevent repercussions.

Advice on Lent from St. John Chrysostom

Brought to you straight from the 4th century...

John Chrysostom, was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, and his ascetic sensibilities.

"The fast of Lent has no advantage to us unless it brings about our spiritual renewal. It is necessary while fasting to change our whole life and practice virtue. Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, avoiding all gossip, lying and swearing. To abstain from these things—herein lies the true value of the fast."

— St. John Chrysostom

Jesuit America Magazine: How I left the Church, sort of, and then came back, kind of...

Haha. I follow the author of this brief essay (Simcha Fisher, who has 10 children and I think is a convert from Judaism) a little bit - I get her few times a week emails. I think her writing ranges from outstanding to mediocre (like mine) but this is pretty good.

This is just how we live, and it’s not new. Chaucer, anyone? Dante’s “Inferno”? The Gospels? This is just how we live. If there were no mess, there would be no reason for the church to be built to house it. If there were no sin, there would be no need for baptism and confession and the Eucharist. If there were no human misery and wretchedness, there would have been no need for God to become man. I know this, or I thought I did. At home in the Catholic Church, we are a mess, and we cannot seem to help opening the door to show all comers our own weaknesses and sins and hypocrisies.

 

Pope Francis: protect life "From conception in the womb until natural death"

Comment from three weeks ago, which didn't make the NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, NBC, etc, etc. Doesn't fit their narrative.

The pandemic “forced us to confront two unavoidable dimensions of human existence: sickness and death,” Pope Francis said. “In doing so, it reminded us of the value of life, of every individual human life and its dignity, at every moment of its earthly pilgrimage, from conception in the womb until its natural end.”

“It is painful to note that under the pretext of guaranteeing presumed subjective rights, a growing number of legal systems in our world seem to be moving away from their inalienable duty to protect human life at every one of its phases,” the pope said, noting how the so-called “right” to abortion destroys unborn babies’ right to life.

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

The pope said society must respect the right to life for every human being, born and unborn.

“If we deprive the weakest among us of the right to life, how can we effectively guarantee respect for every other right?” he questioned.

Every person “is an end in himself or herself, and never simply a means to be valued only for his or her usefulness,” the pope said. “Persons are created to live together in families, communities and societies, where all are equal in dignity.”

Many times, Pope Francis has condemned abortion and urged Christians to protect every human life. In 2018, he caused outrage among abortion activists after comparing abortion to “hiring a hitman” to kill unborn babies. He frequently describes aborted babies as victims of a “throwaway culture” and encourages society to recognize their value.

How to fall asleep in a living room chair - a tip from my friend Graham

New budget committee chairman Bernie Sanders caught googling "what is a budget?"

The man who actually does believe in Modern Monetary Theory - the idea that you (& government) can borrow an infinite amount of money as long you're borrowing it from yourself (Yes, that's it).

Bernie retreated into a quiet office to sit at the computer and quickly Google "what is a budget?" 

"I was shocked, quite frankly, by what I found," said the 79-year-old senator. "Budgets seem to be a way to limit your spending to keep it below your income--and that's just inhumane. A limit on spending is a limit on your humanity. My first act as Committee Chair will be to abolish these horrible things called 'budgets.'"

Sanders is proposing a new approach to congressional spending that will place a much more humane limit of "infinity" on federal spending until all America's problems are completely solved. AOC has proposed an even more humane spending limit of "double infinity." 

"I'm shocked no one has thought of this before," said Sanders. 

Senate Republicans have announced they are pretending to be shocked at Bernie's move to eliminate limits on federal spending, and promised to pretend to oppose it with everything they have. 

 

Clean Friday humor: "the Swish Machine"

The first video from my my ROMEO friend Dennis. The second, how he did it.

 

Done this way - took two months to perfect.

105 year old woman beats Covid with gin soaked raisins and "Pray, pray, pray"

We will give this a try at our house.

"I don't have a secret," DeClerck said. "All I do is pray, pray, pray. And don't eat junk food!" "She's outlived three cardiologists and three husbands," said her daughter-in-law Lillie J. Laws. "She's just an amazing person and she's just made of steel, I guess." Steel bolstered by her Catholic faith, the occasional See's Candy and her homemade boozy concoction: gin-soaked raisins.

And here's a one minute video where she talks about her secret to longevity.

 

Catholic League crushes Cuomo with his own words

Pending an investigation - step aside

Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to step aside immediately pending an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. In doing so, he would simply be taking the same medicine he has prescribed for the Catholic Church.

If a priest is accused of sexual misconduct, the Church’s zero tolerance policy insists he must step aside pending an investigation. Initially, this policy was directed at offenses committed against minors. However, in 2017 and 2019, Pope Francis said that zero tolerance must also be applied to sexual offenses committed against “vulnerable adults,” defined, in part, as those in a state that “limits their ability” to “want or otherwise resist the offense.”

According to allegations made by Lindsey Boylan, she would qualify as a “vulnerable adult.” The former high-ranking official in the Cuomo administration has accused the governor of a series of sexual offenses, ranging from unwanted sexual touching to kissing her against her will. She has also accused him of intimidation, thus underscoring her vulnerability. “He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences.”

Boylan claims that other women have also been sexually harassed by Cuomo. We know that Karen Hinton, for instance, a former Cuomo aide, has accused him of “penis politics.” This would seem to bolster Boylan’s point that Cuomo “created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected.”

What makes Boylan’s accusations so rich is that in 2018 Cuomo said, “There must be zero tolerance for sexual harassment in any workplace, and we can and will end the secrecy and coercive practices that have enabled harassment for far too long.”

In 2019, he signed legislation to combat this problem. “There has been an ongoing, persistent culture of sexual harassment, assault and discrimination in the workplace, and now it is time to act.” He even lowered the bar as to what constitutes sexual harassment.

“By ending the absurd legal standard that sexual harassment in the workplace needs to be ‘severe or pervasive’ and making it easier for workplace sexual harassment claims to be brought forward,” he said, “we are sending a strong message that time is up on sexual harassment in the workplace and setting the standard of equality for women.”

In light of what Boylan said he did to her, her allegations meet this test.

Cuomo denies the charges and should be treated as an innocent man. It must be said, however, that he has a history of not affording a presumption of innocence to others accused of sexual offenses.

When Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice, the judge was accused by Christine Blasey Ford of a sexual offense that he allegedly committed when he was in high school. He denied the charge. But that didn’t stop Cuomo from calling her a “sexual survivor,” even though not a single witness came to her defense. “To Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and all survivors of sexual assault,” Cuomo said, “we believe you and we will fight for you.”

We can only imagine how Cuomo would react if I said, “To Lindsey Boylan and all survivors of sexual assault, we believe you and we will fight for you.”

For many years, Cuomo has treated accused priests the same way. When has he ever stood up for their due process rights? Two years ago, after making sweeping accusations against the Catholic Church, he closed his remarks by saying, “You can’t get a resolution without the truth and there are so many people and so many institutions that just don’t want to hear the truth.”

Well, Gov. Cuomo, it’s time for you to take another dose of your own medicine. The public wants to know the truth about the charges levied against you. You can facilitate this process by taking a leaf out of the Catholic Church’s playbook and step aside pending a probe of your alleged sexual offenses.

Relative of Winston Churchill and Princess Diana on road to canonization

Good short tale of conversion and commitment... Hit the link for the full story.

Venerable Ignatius of St. Paul was born George Spencer in 1799.

When George was born, his father, the second Earl of Spencer, was Lord of the Admiralty. Young George was raised in a home the size of a palace located on the upscale 13,000-acre Althorp estate. (This was the site of Princess Diana’s burial in 1997.) He was schooled at Eton and Cambridge and became a priest of the Church of England, ordained in 1824. He was a committed priest, and he worked hard to help others. 

However, he began to have doubts about the Church of England and started to pray very hard for guidance. He was attracted to the Catholic Church, and his initial thoughts frightened him. In 1827 he met several Catholic priests who encouraged him to pray and reflect and let the Holy Spirit guide him. George decided to convert to Catholicism, a decision that his family could not comprehend. Having rejected a life of immense wealth and comfort, he went to Rome and began studies in the English College. In 1832 he was ordained a Catholic priest.

The hits keep comin': Gov. Cuomo with charges of sexual harassment by former aid Lindsey Boylan

Actually a harrowing story. Hit the link. I bolded the the comment in the excerpt below.

A former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday provided new details to back up her claims of sexual harassment — including an allegation that New York’s top elected official kissed her “on the lips” without warning inside his Manhattan office. Lindsey Boylan — now a Democratic candidate for Manhattan borough president — made the stunning allegation in an essay posted on the Medium website.

“Let’s play strip poker.”

I should have been shocked by the Governor’s crude comment, but I wasn’t.

We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost touched. His press aide was to my right and a state trooper behind us.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I responded sarcastically and awkwardly. I tried to play it cool. But in that moment, I realized just how acquiescent I had become.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected. His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you, that you must be doing something right. He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences.

That’s why I panicked on the morning of December 13.

While enjoying a weekend with my husband and six-year-old daughter, I spontaneously decided to share a small part of the truth I had hidden for so long in shame and never planned to disclose. The night before, a former Cuomo staffer confided to me that she, too, had been the subject of the Governor’s workplace harassment. Her story mirrored my own. Seeing his name floated as a potential candidate for U.S. Attorney General — the highest law enforcement official in the land — set me off.

In a few tweets, I told the world what a few close friends, family members and my therapist had known for years: Andrew Cuomo abused his power as Governor to sexually harass me, just as he had done with so many other women.

BB: United Airlines trying out new environmentally friendly Boeing 777

Laugh in the face More on the Boeing 777 incident with video of the engine  of near disaster. 

DENVER, CO—United Airlines announced the arrival of their new, environmentally friendly single-engine Boeing 777 at a press conference Tuesday. This comes after a successful test flight on Saturday at Denver International.

 

United said the new airliner, dubbed the "777 Eco," will be twice as energy efficient, due to having 50% fewer engines. In addition to lower carbon emissions, the plane will also provide a much quieter ride for passengers seated on the right side of the cabin.

“Turns out you really only need one engine to fly these puppies,” said a United spokesperson. “After a short test flight around Denver and an exciting fireworks show, we are proud to announce the brand-new Boeing 777 Eco!"

The spokesperson claimed previous reports that a normal airliner had suffered engine damage were false. “There was no emergency-- this was all planned in advance,” she noted. “We wanted to illustrate that the 777 Eco is symbolically blowing up the concept of twin-engine airliners and that we’re sprinkling the city with the symbolic shrapnel of lower emissions!”

Officials said safety was a top priority when designing their new plane, and that the single-engine design shouldn’t be of concern to passengers. “These jet engines are pretty safe,” the spokesperson noted.

The New Yorker magazine pounds Cuomo: "The Sound and the Fury of Andrew Cuomo"

I guess when you're obnoxious and think you're God, it can come back to bite you in the ass. The New Yorker is not exactly a member of the great right wing conspiracy... Just for a lark I posted the cover of their first issue, in 1925. Even then it was expensive - 15 cents. The article is not that long if you hit the link.

As recently as a week ago, it was easy to find people in New York politics who thought the outrage over the Post’s scoop would blow over. Sure, there were Republicans, members of the minority party in both the Assembly and the Senate, who were calling for Cuomo to be removed from office. But that was nothing new. Nine Democrats in the Assembly, including Kim, signed a letter accusing Cuomo of obstructing justice and calling for actions against him, including impeachment proceedings. Yet that seemed a distant possibility. Perhaps the legislature would work up the momentum to strip Cuomo of the emergency powers he’d been granted last March, when the pandemic hit, which had codified the governor’s authority to do everything from ordering shutdowns to setting mask rules and tweaking election laws. But those powers were set to expire in a few weeks, anyway.

... other lawmakers began to come forward with their own stories of being bullied by Cuomo. Three legislators told CNN that the governor and his staff had been threatening those who were considering voting in favor of stripping Cuomo of his emergency powers. On Twitter, former office-holders, consultants, and others involved in New York politics began describing run-ins with Cuomo or his staff as a common experience. “Every single person in NY politics knows someone who has gotten the same kind of call from @NYGovCuomo,” Monica Klein, the co-founder of the political consulting firm Seneca Strategies, said. Yuh-Line Niou, an Assembly member from lower Manhattan, tweeted, “I kid you not . . . .my text messages, my DMs, and my inbox are flooded with cuomo stories. So many people have been bullied, mistreated, or intimidated by him.”

“There have been so many instances of this guy doing this,” the state senator Alessandra Biaggi told me. “It has happened so many times to so many different people.” Biaggi described a meeting she had with Cuomo the week that she won election to her seat, in 2018. “Right before I left, he sat back in his chair and said to me, ‘So, tell me again how your grandfather’s career ended?’ ” Biaggi’s grandfather served nearly two decades in Congress before resigning amid a corruption scandal, in 1988. “I very much perceived it as a threat,” Biaggi said, adding, “People don’t speak out—people are afraid. And it goes unchecked.” (A representative from the governor’s office described the comment as “a reminder of the importance of integrity in government.”) In 2019, after Biaggi, Niou, and the state senator Jessica Ramos criticized Cuomo for inviting lobbyists and business executives to a high-priced fund-raiser with his budget director, Azzopardi told reporters that the three lawmakers were “fucking idiots.”

Supervisor Linda D. Puglisi on the cost to Cortlandt of the Indian Point nuclear plant closure

Thanks to Maria for sending me this. See the PR below - the hit to Cortlandt is very heavy. As mentioned in the PR, this was a surprise decision four years ago by Cuomo and Entergy with no local consultation.

$32 million in tax revenue lost ($24 million of which goes to the school district).

1,000 jobs lost.

I believe Linda Puglisi is retiring this year; she's done a great job for over 20 years.

We first learned of the upcoming closure of the two active nuclear plants located in the Village of Buchanan and therefore in the Town of Cortlandt, as well, on January 7, 2017 four years ago. Immediately once we recovered from this unexpected announcement from the CEO of Entergy and the New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo, we went into action forming a local task force.

AG nominee Merrick Garland on illegal border crossings; whether they are a crime

Huh? "I haven't thought about that question." And he wants to be the chief law enforcement official in the country. And here AG nominee Merrick Garland defines domestic terrorism against federal courthouses   he gave a similar answer.

AG nominee Merrick Garland defines domestic terrorism against federal courthouses

A bit of a shaky answer - "don't know enough about it" - but evidently terrorism only if the court is in session. Not terrorism after hours?

 

Guardian (UK): "People with extremist views less able to do complex mental tasks"

Well this makes a certain amount of sense. Not a big study but I wouldn't doubt the results. And it would apply to extremists of varying ideologies. Not defined in the article - what is an extremist?

The study, built on previous research, included more than 330 US-based participants aged 22 to 63 who were exposed to a battery of tests – 37 neuropsychological tasks and 22 personality surveys – over the course of two weeks.

A key finding was that people with extremist attitudes tended to think about the world in black and white terms, and struggled with complex tasks that required intricate mental steps, said lead author Dr Leor Zmigrod at Cambridge’s department of psychology.

“Individuals or brains that struggle to process and plan complex action sequences may be more drawn to extreme ideologies, or authoritarian ideologies that simplify the world,” she said.

She said another feature of people with tendencies towards extremism appeared to be that they were not good at regulating their emotions, meaning they were impulsive and tended to seek out emotionally evocative experiences. “And so that kind of helps us understand what kind of individual might be willing to go in and commit violence against innocent others.”

Participants who are prone to dogmatism – stuck in their ways and relatively resistant to credible evidence – actually have a problem with processing evidence even at a perceptual level, the authors found.

“For example, when they’re asked to determine whether dots [as part of a neuropsychological task] are moving to the left or to the right, they just took longer to process that information and come to a decision,” Zmigrod said.

In some cognitive tasks, participants were asked to respond as quickly and as accurately as possible. People who leant towards the politically conservative tended to go for the slow and steady strategy, while political liberals took a slightly more fast and furious, less precise approach.

“It’s fascinating, because conservatism is almost a synonym for caution,” she said. “We’re seeing that – at the very basic neuropsychological level – individuals who are politically conservative … simply treat every stimuli that they encounter with caution.”

NY Democrat Assemblymen wants Gov. Cuomo impeached

I think there's a saying along the lines "If you strike at the king, you better not miss."

 

"Rush Limbaugh did not go to Heaven"

This is from a breakaway "Catholic" group located in upstate NY, southeast of Buffalo. The name of the group is Most Holy Family Monastery and besides believing they are the arbiters of who goes where after death, they deny basic Catholic stuff like Baptism of desire. Another person they say has afterlife issues is Pope St. John Paul II and of course Pope Francis is not really the Pope. In fact, according to them there have been no true Popes since Vatican II. The term for this is Sedevacantism - "the chair is empty." Although, they don't like those folks either. It's pretty clear that in their view heaven will be rather empty; they'll be the only people there.

Anyway I'm posting this for instructional/entertainment purposes - and hoping I'm not suddenly struck down by lightning or the headless horseman.

WSJ & NRO on the Texas power outage

Here's an excellent analysis from NRO as they ask 7 questions of engineers who know what they're talking about -

How big a problem was the interruption in wind and solar power? By one estimate, Texas’s wind-power output fell to 2 percent of its installed capacity. Even so, that problem was probably not a very big one, according to an engineer with a background in grid operations. “Wind doesn’t work in these conditions,” he says, “but they don’t expect it to work.” As he reads the numbers, electricity production from thermal sources (meaning natural gas, coal, and nuclear) ramped up at the beginning of the crisis to just about double its previous level, but then fell by about 25 percent as the weather interrupted generation in different ways in different facilities. When it is running at full output, wind can provide as much as 60 percent of Texas’s electricity needs, but the grid managers don’t count on that in a blizzard.

WSJ editorial (it's long; excerpts below the link) on the power companies failures ...it's not just frozen wind turbines. Another factor - power companies didn't want to spend the money to insure back-up power is available.

“The people who have fallen short with regard to the power are the private power generation companies,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explained. Ah, yes, blame private power companies . . . that are regulated by government. The Republican sounds like California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who lambasted private utilities for rolling blackouts during a heat wave last summer. Power grids should be able to withstand extreme weather. But in both these bellwether states, state and federal energy policies have created market distortions and reduced grid reliability.

Mr. Abbott blamed his state’s extensive power outages on generators freezing early Monday morning, noting “this includes the natural gas & coal generators.” But frigid temperatures and icy conditions have descended on most of the country. Why couldn’t Texas handle them while other states did?

The problem is Texas’s overreliance on wind power that has left the grid more vulnerable to bad weather....

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

In short, there wasn’t sufficient baseload power from coal and nuclear to support the grid. Baseload power is needed to stabilize grid frequency amid changes in demand and supply. When there’s not enough baseload power, the grid gets unbalanced and power sources can fail. The more the grid relies on intermittent renewables like wind and solar, the more baseload power is needed to back them up.

But politicians don’t care about grid reliability until the power goes out. And for three decades politicians from both parties have pushed subsidies for renewables that have made the grid less stable.

Start with the 1992 Energy Policy Act signed by George H.W. Bush, which created a production tax credit to boost the infant wind industry. Generators collect up to $25 per megawatt hour of power they produce regardless of market demand. The credit was supposed to expire in 1999, but nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program, as Ronald Reagan once quipped.

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

Wind producers persuaded former Gov. Rick Perry to back a $5 billion network of transmission lines to connect turbines in western Texas to cities. This enabled them to build more turbines—and collect more tax credits. Because the Texas grid is often oversupplied, wind producers sometimes pay to off-load their power, though they still turn a profit with the tax credits.

Coal and nuclear are more strictly regulated and can’t compete, and many coal plants have shut down in Texas and elsewhere. Over the last decade about 100 gigawatts of coal power nationwide has been retired—enough to power 60 million homes. Many nuclear plants are scheduled to shut down, including large reactors in New York and Illinois this year.

Renewables and natural gas are expected to substitute, but Texas is showing their limitations. In the Lone Star State, bad weather has constrained the supply of gas, but government policies do the same in other states. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey’s Phil Murphy have blocked pipelines to deliver shale gas from Pennsylvania to the Northeast.

Their pipeline blockade has driven up the cost of electricity. The average retail price of power is about 50% higher in New Jersey and New York than in Pennsylvania. They and other governors have also poured subsidies into wind and solar, though neither can provide reliable power in frosty weather.

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

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is supposed to ensure grid reliability, but under Barack Obama it promoted renewables over reliability. Democrats opposed efforts by Trump appointees to mitigate market distortions caused by state renewable subsidies and mandates that jeopardized the grid. On present trend, this week’s Texas fiasco is coming soon to a cold winter or hot summer near you.

More on the Boeing 777 incident with video of the engine

Video of the engine and falling debris. Boeing has grounded some 777's.

 

Guardian (UK) - "It’s never too late: elderly high-achievers"

Wow. Compared to these six people I'm a youth. The very interesting article includes a first time successful author at 97, a politician at 101, and a religious sister doing triathlons at age 90. Here's a funny one - a stand up comedian lady who's 89.

Below the link I've excerpted a bit about the religious sister. The link takes you to the whole article.

The Guardian UK: It's never too late: elderly high-achievers

Sister Madonna Buder (also known as the Iron Nun. Here's her wikipedia entry)

To this day I’ve run 400 triathlons, 45 of them Ironman distance. I was nicknamed the Iron Nun way back; I’ve become something of a celebrity in our world. It’s strange, it wasn’t just sports which I lacked in my life for many years, but also self-confidence.

In 2012, aged 82, I competed in my final Ironman in Canada. In doing so I opened up the category for the 80-pluses. I might not make those distances now, but I’m still competing; my last triathlon – pre-pandemic – was in September last year.

I’m older, but I don’t want to be less active. I could do it before; why not now? Granted, I cover less ground than I used to. When the snow melts in Washington I’ll get back to my own regular post-mass exercises: a half-mile swim, 20 miles on the bike and a three-mile run. That final part is more of a shuffle now, but it’s movement nonetheless. And that circulation is what keeps your mind sharp, body tuned and spirit soaring.

Westchester Mag: Best breakfast sandwiches in Westchester

Unfortunately no mention of the excellent ones at Bagels on Hudson or the Croton Mini Deli .

The five mentioned - closest is in Tarrytown and one just over the Westchester border in Brewster.

"With classic, fancy, and vegetarian versions popping up on local menus, these go-to BECs make breakfast so much better in Westchester County."

 

 

WSJ: Six more "Oath Keepers" indicted for January 6th Capitol assault

From the Walls Street Journal. Conspiracy theorist whackos. Indictment says it was pre-planned.

Six more people allegedly affiliated with the right-wing militia Oath Keepers were indicted on charges of planning the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as prosecutors sketch out a portrait of a group preparing to disrupt the certification of President Biden’s election and developing a military-style plan to do so.

An indictment returned Friday afternoon charged a retired husband and wife from Warren County, Ohio, outside of Cincinnati, a couple from Florida, and siblings from Florida and North Carolina with conspiracy and other counts. Prosecutors said they worked with three others who were among the first to be accused of conspiring to engage in the attack.

The nine people were accused of attending or scheduling paramilitary trainings in advance of Jan. 6, coordinating their travel to Washington, preparing for the operation with military gear and moving through the Capitol in military formation.

Federal investigators have described the Oath Keepers as “a large but loosely organized collection of militia who believe that the federal government has been co-opted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights” and that focuses on recruiting current and former military personnel, law-enforcement officers and first responders.

Around 250 people already face federal charges in connection with the riot, on allegations ranging from trespassing to assaulting police officers to conspiracy. Investigators in particular have homed in on members of several right-wing groups as they try to determine what level of planning may have gone into the attack.

The new defendants, including Sandra Parker, 60 years old, and Bennie Parker, 70, of Ohio, were part of a tactical formation called a “stack,” the indictment said. A previous complaint described it as a maneuver used by the infantry in which members keep “their hands on the backs or vests of the person in front of them to remain together while entering a room or weaving through a crowd.” The group continued to use that formation inside the Capitol, according to photos included in the complaint.

Florida flags will fly at half mast for Florida resident Rush Limbaugh

This will cheer some people, and drive others apoplectic. 

In September, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the flags at public buildings to be flown half-staff to honor the recently departed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In January, he did the same for the police victims of the Capitol riots on Jan. 6. On Friday, DeSantis said flags would come down once again in honor of Rush Limbaugh, the divisive radio personality who died earlier this week. “What we do when there’s things of this magnitude, once the date of interment for Rush is announced, we’re going to be lowering the flags to half-staff,” DeSantis said at a political rally Friday in West Palm Beach.

Liberals disliked him, and the right loved him ...

“Rush busted through a media landscape in which a handful of media outlets served up pre-cooked, liberal narratives,” DeSantis said in a statement earlier this week. “Rush is the (greatest of all time) — of radio, of conservative media and of inspiring a loyal army of American patriots.”

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“Rush Limbaugh weaponized his platform to spread racism, xenophobia and homophobia across the nation. His constant hateful rhetoric caused untold damage to our political landscape,” Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz tweeted Friday. “DeSantis’ decision to honor him is an embarrassment to Florida.”

DeSantis has steered Florida relatively well through the pandemic. Compared to other states - with or without the mild lockdowns in effect in Florida - or strict lockdowns.