Tom Faranda's Folly

No surprise - Time Man of the Year is Trump

Like him or lump him, who else could they pick? No need to email or leave comments regarding some of the horrible people who've been Time's Man of the Year in the past.

Pearl Harbor - 75 years ago today

From CNN - 47 seconds

 

Time Warner CEO says Democrats bigger threat to First Amendment

Interesting commentary

Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes Says Democrats Were Bigger First Amendment Threat Than Trump

"The threat to the First Amendment came from the Democratic side," Bewkes said during a conversation with Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget at a conference in New York in a session that was webcast.

Bewkes made the comment after Blodget noted that Trump had criticized CNN for allegedly unfair coverage, and even threatened some sort of regulation in retaliation against CNN, owned by Time Warner.

"I don't think that's a serious thing," Bewkes told Blodget at the Ignition: Future of Digital conference. "If anybody is going to change the First Amendment — remember, the Democratic party had a campaign plank to change the First Amendment, and they were doing it in the guise of campaign finance reform."

The CEO, continuing his theme, even acknowledged that the news media does, indeed, lean left, as conservatives have long complained.

"That was worrying me more, because the press tends to miss that because they tend to lean that way, and therefore they were supporting what they were viewing, I think overly charitably, as something in cleaning up money in politics when in fact what it would do is restrain multiple voices," Bewkes argued. "So, I thought the threat to the First Amendment came from the Democratic side more. I think there won't be a serious effort on the Republican side."

Statement of the Croton Village Board regarding "discrimination, violence and intimidation..."

Read by Mayor Schmidt at last night's meeting and sent around by Maria Cudequest.

“In recognition of the increased challenges faced by ethnic and religious minorities in our nation we condemn acts of violence against these people and affirm that we, as a Village Board, condemn any acts of unlawful discrimination, violence and intimidation that target differences in national origin, race, gender, sex, religion, disability, or political viewpoint across our nation. Such acts run counter to the rights and freedoms upon which our country was founded and to the core values of the Village of Croton. Croton is committed to fostering welcoming communities and an equitable, diverse, and inclusive society.”

NY Times says Trump has been good for them

A surge in digital subscriptions.

The newspaper said it saw a net increase of 41,000 paid subscriptions in the week after the November 8 vote, including print and digital, calling it the largest one-week subscription increase since it started its paywall in 2011.

While the Times has been struggling financially as it tries to make a transition to more digital readership, Thompson said the recent election may have been helpful to the newspaper.

Can you see the irony in the following?

He said some of the reasons for gains include "anxiety about fake news" and a "belief that politicians are saying things that are not true and need to be held to account."

Yes, well check this posted a day ago. NY Times Public Editor Liz Spayd interview

Pelosi on CBS: Country doesn't want a change in direction

The Republicans must be sooo happy that she's the Democrat leader in the House.

Here's her comments starting at the 3 minute mark, and the full video below:

The California congressman appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday and instead said the issue facing Democrats is simply a failure of communication. 

DICKERSON: “The Democratic Party is in a moment of questioning about its identity. You were reelected to lead the Democrats in the House. What do you tell Democrats who want a new direction and then, go to you, what are you going to do differently?”
PELOSI: “Well, I don’t think people want a new direction. Our values unify us and our values are about supporting America’s working families. That’s one that everyone is in agreement on. What we want is a better connection of our message to working families in our country, and that clearly in the election showed that that message wasn’t coming through. But we are united in terms of the security of our country, which is our first responsibility. To be smart and strong and not reckless in how we protect the American people, strong in how we protect our economy.”

Pelosi also downplayed her party's losses in 2010 and 2016, telling CBS's John Dickerson "You're forgetting that we went up so high in 2006 and 2008."

DICKERSON: "Here's my question, though, Democrats since 2008, the numbers are ghastly for Democrats. Democrats are down 10 percent, in the House down 19.3 percent and in governors 35 percent. The Democrats are getting clobbered at every level over multiple elections. That seems like a real crisis for the party?" 
PELOSI: "You're forgetting that we went up so high in 2006 and 2008, and let me just put that in perspective. When President Clinton was elected, Republicans came in big in the next election. When President Bush was president, we came in big in the next election. When President Obama became president, the Republicans came in big in the next election."

 

NY Times Public Editor Liz Spayd interview

On Tucker Carlson's show. The NY Times "Public Editor" was a position created by the NYT about 20 years ago to act as a kind of Ombudsman or representative of the Times readers. So she's had to field much of the complaints by Times readers about bias in their news reporting. A very revealing & fair interview. She is honest.

 

A fitting end for Castro: Jeep transporting his ashes breaks down

Maybe a message with this?

The Russian-made jeep ferrying Castro's ashes broke down and needed to be pushed on Saturday en route to the late leader's final resting place.

Italy referendum rejects further centralization of government power

And the Prime Minister behind the referendum is resigning.

Mr Renzi had staked his future on a "Yes" vote, vowing to quit if voters rejected his plans to reduce the role of the country's Senate and take back powers from regional authorities.

"The experience of my government ends here," Mr Renzi said in a televised address to the nation after early results suggested he may have lost by as much as 20 points.

Here's the Wall Street Journal -

The country’s rejection of constitutional reforms represents a significant victory for populists in Europe’s heartland.

 

NY Yankee stuff - article on Clint Frazier and other young prospects

From the NY Post. comprehensive - just hit the link.

The red-headed kid with the bulging biceps and five-tool skills, who shouldered an avalanche of praise prior to entering the 2013 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, was already stoking Yankees fans’ excitement after a 2016 summer deadline trade brought Indians outfield prospect Clint Frazier to the Bombers in exchange for stud southpaw reliever Andrew Miller.

 

Krauthammer: "the Triumph of the West Is Over"

An insightful column by Charles Krauthammer. I excerpted two paragraphs - but hit the link and read all twelve.

Repose presupposes a fantasy world in which stability is self-sustaining without the United States. It is not.

The West’s retreat began with Obama, who reacted to (perceived) post-9/11 overreach by abandoning Iraq, offering appeasement (“reset”) to Russia, and accommodating Iran. In 2009, he refused even rhetorical support to the popular revolt against the rule of the ayatollahs.

 

Donald Trump wants to continue the pull back, though for entirely different reasons. Obama ordered retreat because he’s always felt the U.S. was not good enough for the world, too flawed to have earned the moral right to be the world hegemon. Trump would follow suit, disdaining allies and avoiding conflict, because the world is not good enough for us — undeserving, ungrateful, parasitic foreigners living safely under our protection and off our sacrifices. Time to look after our own American interests.

***********
We may choose repose, but we won’t get it.

Coyote shot in Ossining had rabies

And it had bitten two people.

A coyote that attacked several people in Ossining this week did have rabies, tests by the Westchester County Department of Health confirmed Friday. Two residents of Mystic Pointe, a gated community off Route 9, were bitten while they were out walking their dogs. A third person reported having a run-in with the ailing animal, but was not believed to have been bitten. Ossining animal control officers finally managed to track down and shoot the coyote in a wooded ravine Thursday after several attempts to trap it failed.

Van Jones explains Trump and Rush Limbaugh all at once

 The guy who said the election was a "whitelash". Funny how he's just now figurin' it out.

Tim - first track meet of the year today

And in fact his first meet since high school as he was redshirted as a freshman. He'll be throwing  the shot put at the "Elm City Challenge" (Tim mentioned here)   at Southern CT. State College, in New Haven. Then next week his meet is at Yale. Both indoors of course.

 

Colbert: Trump to "Acquire Mass Text Capability"

Colbert with a 9 minute anti-Trump monologue. Less funny as he goes along. I did enjoy Stephen's election night meltdown. I believe his show is in 2nd place in the Late Night ratings. Slightly ahead of Kimmel (which makes no sense to me) and well behind Fallon. The only time I see any of this stuff is on youtube.

 

Trump on "There is no path to 270"

During his speech in Cincinnati. I saw this bit while I was in the gym on the elliptical. Trump-haters won't enjoy this ...

Rugby: New Zealand v. France

Played last Saturday in Paris with the New Zealand team in a mostly white kit shirt. Last game of the year for both of them.

 

Amazing story: Armando Valladares: Cuban Prisoner of Conscience, Poet, Artist

This is an profound story (7 minute video) especially in light of Castro's death and some of the favorable comments about him. Valladares wikipedia is here.

Trump on women workers: "generally speaking, better than" men.

 

In his speech last night in Cincinnati. He's right of course. A 52 second video.

2016 in Review: MSNBC greatest pundit moments

Of course an MSNBC "Greatest Moments" video could have been hours long instead of three minutes.

 

2017 Review: Great moments on "The View"

True brainiacs.