Tom Faranda's Folly

Comedian Louie Anderson's first appearance on Carson/Tonight Show

In 1984. Anderson had a long career - he recently died of lymphoma. A  deadpan humorist. This sent to me by my friend Dennis.

 

National Review: "We Never Took Roe for an Answer"

An editorial from National Review this past weekend. Excerpts below the link - so hit the link for the full article.

When Malcolm Gladwell worked for the Washington Post, he quipped that the newspaper needed a rule banning its employees from joining a pro-choice march, if for no other reason than because someone had to be left to staff the newsdesk. When National Review decided to put together a special issue on ending Roe v. Wade last fall, we had the opposite problem: So many of our writers wanted to contribute, or had ideas for essays, that we had to cull ruthlessly.

 

 

Roe is the site of the Left’s simultaneous assault on justice, morality, self-government, and simple truth. It is therefore no surprise that overturning it has long been a cause dear to our hearts. That’s why we wanted to assemble an all-star team of writers to make a thorough, reasoned, and powerful case against Roe as the Supreme Court prepared to hear arguments about it. Our special issue covered everything from Roe’s obsolete science to its shaky status as a precedent to its destructive assumptions about human flourishing.

With your help, we have been making the case against Roe and the abortion license for decades, in and out of season — even as powerful voices in our culture kept insisting that this matter was closed, this argument over. The day after Roe came down in 1973, the New York Times called it “a historic resolution of a fiercely controversial issue.” In 1992, the Supreme Court itself ordered pro-lifers to disappear: It was time for “the contending sides of a national controversy to end their national division by accepting” its edicts.

Millions of pro-lifers said no, and we along with them. If a magazine can be said to march, we’ve marched. When Republicans said it was time to move on from this issue, we argued it would be a moral and political disaster. When the press claimed that America’s women want abortion on demand, we pointed to the evidence that they don’t. When Democrats said that late-term abortion is “rare,” we explained that late-term abortions are roughly as common as gun murders.

The Court may finally undo the evil of 1973 this summer. But the argument over abortion – and related attacks on the sanctity of human life — won’t be over even if it does. And either way, we’ll keep making the case that unborn children should be protected in law and welcomed in life.

With power and emotion the NYPD Union President speaks out on the death and injury of two young cops

 

A 22 year old rookie killed and a 27 year old shot in the face. 

Here's the story NYPD cop killed, second officer clings to life after shooting in Harlem apartment

The video -  Patrick Lynch, President of the Police Benevolent Association -

Jason Rivera is the policeman killed - read a little about him - Rivera, a married father of one, joined the force in 2020, hoping to improve the department’s connections with the community.

Yay! Nuclear armed countries say they won't blow each other up.

Oh I feel soo much better. From Consistent Life weekly email.

While those that actually have nuclear weapons aren’t ratifying the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a statement has been issued: China, US, UK, France and Russia pledge to avoid nuclear war. Mere statements don’t get us very far, especially ones that don’t actually get that much publicity, but at least saying the right things is better than asserting the wrong things.

WSJ: Study shows booster shot strongly protects against omicron variant

Pfizer and Moderna booster shots offer strong protection against Omicron and are highly effective at preventing hospitalizations, CDC studies show.

Vaccines and booster shots offer the best protection from the Delta and Omicron variants, according to three new studies released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data back up earlier findings supporting booster shots and offer the first comprehensive insight into how vaccines fare against the Omicron variant. In one of the studies published Friday, a CDC analysis found that a third dose of either the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc. was at least 90% effective against preventing hospitalization from Covid-19 during both the Delta and Omicron periods.

During the Delta period, vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization from Covid-19 was 90% from two weeks until about 6 months after dose two, 81% from at least six months after dose two and 94% at least two weeks after a booster dose. When Omicron was dominant, vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization for the same periods were 81%, 57% and 90%, respectively.

An additional study published in Nature Thursday also supports booster doses, and backs up previous findings from Pfizer and BioNTech showing that a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine neutralizes Omicron but its two-dose regimen is significantly less effective at blocking the virus.

New pristine coral reef discovered off Tahiti

Interesting - shows how little we know about the oceans. It was a relatively deep reef; the divers had to be using special gas mixtures to go that deep.

Tom Friedman in the NYT: "Putin to Ukraine: ‘Marry Me or I’ll Kill You’"

Tom Friedman - who can be very insightful when not talking about American politics - nails the Russian dictator. Sent to me by my buddy Paul. Well worth hitting the link for the whole op ed.

Why is Vladimir Putin threatening to take another bite out of Ukraine, after devouring Crimea in 2014? That is not an easy question to answer because Putin is a one-man psychodrama, with a giant inferiority complex toward America that leaves him always stalking the world with a chip on his shoulder so big it’s amazing he can fit through any door.

Let’s see: Putin is a modern-day Peter the Great out to restore the glory of Mother Russia. He’s a retired K.G.B. agent who simply refuses to come in from the cold and still sees the C.I.A. under every rock and behind every opponent. He’s America’s ex-boyfriend-from-hell, who refuses to let us ignore him and date other countries, like China — because he always measures his status in the world in relation to us. And he’s a politician trying to make sure he wins (or rigs) Russia’s 2024 election — and becomes president for life — because when you’ve siphoned off as many rubles as Putin has, you can never be sure that your successor won’t lock you up and take them all. For him, it’s rule or die.

Somewhere in the balance of all of those identities and neuroses is the answer to what Putin intends to do with Ukraine.

If I were a cynic, I’d just tell him to go ahead and take Kyiv because it would become his Kabul, his Afghanistan — but the human costs would be intolerable. Short of that, I’d be very clear: If he wants to come down from the tree in which he’s lodged himself, he’s going to have to jump or build his own ladder. He has completely contrived this crisis, so there should be no give on our part. China is watching — and Taiwan is sweating — everything we do in reaction to Vlad right now.

Editorial from NR: "Fauci Must Go"

Yes I agree with this. I agree with below that he was a calming voice early on... but he's past his "Use By" date.

President Joe Biden should relieve Dr. Anthony Fauci of his duties at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as chief medical adviser to the White House, and as the public face of the American government’s response to Covid-19. It is past time for public-health policy to shift to acknowledging that Covid-19 is an endemic disease and, for the most part, a risk for individuals to manage. Fauci stands in the way of executing that shift and communicating it to the public.

Fauci’s own behavior has undermined public trust in the response to the pandemic: by sitting for celebrity puff profiles and documentaries, by stifling public debate about the origins of Covid-19 and the proper response to it, by responding in lawyerly and evasive fashion to questions about NIH research dollars supporting work at the Wuhan lab. In his nasty spats with Senator Rand Paul and other officeholders, he hasn’t simply parried criticisms but tried to land political blows himself.

It has always been bizarre that the head of an obscure agency has soaked up so much media attention. Over the past two years, Fauci has done so many interviews with so many outlets — from Sunday shows to obscure podcasts — that one wonders how he had time for his day job. Nearly everyone in Washington enjoys being in front of a microphone, but even the most shameless media hogs might blush at Fauci’s interview schedule.... How did the appearance of Fauci on the cover of InStyle, sitting by the pool in sunglasses, declaring, “With all due modesty, I think I’m pretty effective,” advance public health?

Fauci has been subject to unfair attacks and deranged threats, and made the subject of hysterical “plandemic” conspiracy theories. He deserved none of these. He arguably played a valuable role in the early stages of the pandemic, when many Americans found him a comforting voice. He was an experienced doctor and public-health official who had served every president since Ronald Reagan, and he had passed through and learned from the political storms and medical uncertainties of the AIDS crisis. When President Trump was inconstant, was inattentive, or seemed to wish away the crisis, Fauci presented a sober, reassuring confidence in the power of scientific inquiry to help us navigate this crisis.

But that was a long time ago. By his own admission, Fauci misleads the public. When trying to explain why, before he adopted them for himself, he had disparaged the use of cloth masks, he explained that people in the public-health community were trying to preserve masks for front-line workers. “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask,” he said in March 2020. “When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better, and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is...." Score this as a lie and a slur. This was a public that was already making wrenching, unthinkable sacrifices — with Americans forgoing the funerals of loved ones, surrendering their jobs, and closing down their businesses — in an attempt to meet the ultimately unrealistic task public health had set for them of stopping the spread of Covid-19. They deserved candor.

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

Fauci’s political dispositions shape his alarmism and discredited him with a large swath of the country that any viable public-health strategy has to be able to reach. ...

Fauci’s claim that he himself “represents the science” and his admitted deceptions of the public are incompatible with each other and intolerably insolent to boot. Most important, they subvert and undermine American self-government. He must go.

Free Covid tests; easy to order

A no brainer - takes one minute. Just hit the link.

 

FYI If you haven't seen it already: The Postal Service is delivering one shipment of 4 at-home COVID tests per residential address. Enter your name, address and email at http://www.usps.com/covidtest

to request a shipment. It is live now.

Punishment for Pedophile! "Britain Makes Example Of Prince Andrew By Not Washing His Rolls-Royce"

Harsh, very harsh.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE—Galvanized as Queen through wars, global instabilities, and numerous threats to the British royal family, Queen Elizabeth II has responded to scandalous evidence of pedophile billionaire Prince Andrew’s predatory behavior toward vulnerable girls with a royal edict declaring that no one shall wash his Rolls-Royce.

“Some may consider this too harsh a penalty on a member of the royal family,” said a spokesman for the royal family, Bartletonby Thorngraveburry, while adjusting his monocle and pulling out his snuff bag. “However, her royal highness insists Britain make an example of the man, to assure future princes do a better job of not getting photographed with underage girls on the luxury rape islands of creepy hedge fund billionaires.”

The spokesman listed additional punishments to the royal press corps, confirming the Queens pledge to make Prince Andrew wish he’d never become besties with Jeffrey Epstein, including:

• • No more gold-flaked crumpets unless he asks politely
  • Tea still allowed, but no biscuits
  • He may only play polo with the gimpy royal horse
  • Ownership of ski chalets reduced to three
  • All must say “Prince Andrew” with an aire of haughty disdain

World leaders have praised the Queen’s actions, and all are happy the nation of Britain, or England, or The United Kingdom, or whatever, is finally on the road to healing.

Two law scholars on the seditious conspiracy charges against the "Oath Keepers".

One is from Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School professor -

Oath Keepers indictment puts January 6 plotters on notice. Merrick Garland and the DOJ have charged Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers with “seditious conspiracy.” That crime is, in effect, treason’s sibling.

And this is from Andrew C. McCarthy, who as the NY Federal prosecutor successfully "prosecuted the last major, successful case of this kind." (the 1993 World Trade Center bombing).

"Seditious Conspiracy Is the Wrong Charge in the Capitol-Riot Prosecutions"

 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Here's his "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Certainly an important and famous document - it takes 20 minutes to read (I re-read it yesterday). A call to non-compliance and nonviolent civil disobedience in the face of evil. Here is a good discussion of the letter off wikipedia.

And here is the letter - a small excerpt below the link but the whole thing is well worth twenty minutes.

Martin Luther King, Jr..  From the Birmingham jail, where he was imprisoned as a participant in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in longhand the letter which follows. It was his response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. Dr. King, who was born in 1929, did his undergraduate work at Morehouse College; attended the integrated Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, one of six black pupils among a hundred students, and the president of his class; and won a fellowship to Boston University for his Ph.D.

... I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth-century prophets left their little villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns; and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Greco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown. ....

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.

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

IN ANY nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.

YOU express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask, "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all."

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. To use the words of Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher, segregation substitutes an "I -it" relationship for the "I -thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. So segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, but it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Isn't segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, an expression of his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? So I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court because it is morally right, and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances because they are morally wrong.

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

I MUST make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

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

... as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist in love? --"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice? --"Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ? --"I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist? --"Here I stand; I can do no other so help me God." Was not John Bunyan an extremist? --"I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a mockery of my conscience." Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist? --"This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist? --"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." So the question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?

Beautiful: "The prehistoric newborn called “Neve”..."

Here's a short, fascinating column about a 10,000 year old grave discovered in an Italian cave. And here are two even more fascinating links from within this article.  oldest burial of a newborn girl discovered so far in Europe.  And  "the remains of a two- to three-year-old child buried with extraordinary care by a community of early Homo sapiens some 78,000 years ago."

The Italian infant story -

They called her Neve (“Snow” in Italian) and she lived 10,000 years ago for just 40 days. The little bundle was discovered in a cave in Liguria (northwestern Italy) and is the oldest burial of a newborn girl discovered so far in Europe. And that’s not all. Her burial has left scholars amazed; the child was, in fact, wrapped in a shroud including seashell jewelry. More precisely, her bones (only a few survived the millennia) were found surrounded by more than 60 beads made of pierced seashells; four pendants, also made from pierced fragments of bivalves; and an eagle-owl talon.

The little bundle was discovered in a cave in Liguria (northwestern Italy) and is the oldest burial of a newborn girl discovered so far in Europe.

And that’s not all. Her burial has left scholars amazed; the child was, in fact, wrapped in a shroud including seashell jewelry. More precisely, her bones (only a few survived the millennia) were found surrounded by more than 60 beads made of pierced seashells; four pendants, also made from pierced fragments of bivalves; and an eagle-owl talon.

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

This discovery allows us to investigate an exceptional funerary rite from the early Mesolithic phase, an era of which few burials are known, and testifies to how all members of the community, even newborns, were recognized as full persons and apparently enjoyed egalitarian treatment.

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

The chronicle of this exceptional discovery makes us take a step beyond archaeology. Our ancestors left us a thoughtful message: even the smallest and most fragile life should be cared for attentively. The great value of this small person is testified by the devotion and care given to her, even in her burial. 

This happened 10,000 years ago, during “a period that probably marked great social changes in human populations, linked to the adaptations due to the end of the last ice age,” according to Il Secolo XIX.

 

  

My prep for today's freezing weather

Here you go. And see this - A nice sounding bourbon cocktail.

The founders

 

Former Democrat Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard on the Biden speech

I posted a CNN opinion here - CNN on Biden's voting law speech spin  I wonder who wrote President Biden's speech?

CNN on Biden's voting law speech spin

I report, you decide. As has been pointed out by many, Georgia's new voting law is in any ways more "liberal" than New York's.

A nice sounding bourbon cocktail.

I've been interested in bourbon since Bourbon Manhattans were introduced to us (thank you Mike and Karen!) about three years ago. So this looks interesting - may have to subscribe to his channel.... the guy looks like he knows his booze.

 

Media ratings - why Spotify paid Joe Rogan $100 million

Wow. What a demolition. Average viewers per show (millions).  FULL DISCLOSURE: I don't listen to Joe Rogan.

CNN not even averaging a million viewers. How the mighty have fallen.

 

ABC News on inflation at 7%, another 40 year high

Thank the Goddess I don't do as much driving on business as I did pre-pandemic.

 

Another reason why the football Giants fired their head coach.

Maybe a quarterback sneak on third and 9 isn't the ideal call?

 

CNN Jake Tapper kind of figuring out the election law reforms - 50 seconds long

As the lady says the "wheels turning in his head".

 

In case you missed it; Highlights of Alabama v. Georgia for college football national championship

An exciting game. Highlights 10 minutes long, Alabama in red.

 

Good NY Times op ed - "The C.D.C. Is Hoping You’ll Figure Covid Out on Your Own"

Sent to me by one of my MD friends who will remain anonymous. A very detailed column by Zeynep Tufecki. She's disappoined in the CDC and the Administration response.

The job these officials have is tough, given both the reckless political opposition even to vaccines and the inevitable criticism even from people who support public health measures. Still, it’s so disappointing to enter 2022 with 2020 vibes, scouring for supplies, trying to make sense of official declarations that don’t cohere, and wondering what to do.

The government can help us pull out of this fog, but it should always be based on being honest with the public. We aren’t expecting officials to have crystal balls about everything, but we want them to empower and inform us while preparing for eventualities — good or bad. Two years is too long to still be hoping for luck to get through all this.

Pope Francis (again) denounces Cancel Culture

He has indeed spoken out in the past on several occasions - here he is again. If you are unfamiliar with the term (think denial of free speech, personal harassment, pulling down statues, etc), see the info below the one minute video. 

 

Cancel culture or call-out culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those subject to this ostracism are said to have been "cancelled".[1][a][4] The expression "cancel culture" has mostly negative connotations and is used in debates on free speech and censorship.[5][6] The notion of cancel culture is a variant on the term call-out culture and constitutes a form of boycotting or shunning involving an individual (often a celebrity) who is deemed to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner.[2][7][8][9][10] Some critics argue that cancel culture has a chilling effect on public discourse.[11] Others argue that calls for "cancellation" are themselves a form of free speech and that they promote accountability.[12][13][14] Some public figures claim to have been "cancelled" while continuing their careers as before.[15][16]

 

 

Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer and Covid basic facts

Sotomayer loves to make up her own facts - she did so on the Dobbs case also. Sonia Sotomayor went to Cardinal Spellman HS in the Bronx. They must be shaking their heads...

 

A retweet originally from The Rev. Patrick Mahoney

 

"We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition, many on ventilators."--Justice Sotomayor. According to the CDC, the true number is 3,700. How can she POSSIBLY issue a ruling on vaccine mandates when she is so ignorant of the facts? #COVID19  

 

UPDATE: Here's what the White House Press Secretary had to say:

 

 

Horror. The first short video is the fire commissioner explaining what happened. Below it is more information from CNN.

 

Here's CNN -

Appalling Bronx fire started with a malfunctioning space heater

Horror. The first short video is the fire commissioner explaining what happened. Below it is more information from CNN.

 

Here's CNN -