Mr. Marchand pedaled more than 14 miles, setting a global benchmark for cyclists age 105 and older. That classification had to be created specifically to accommodate him. No one his age previously had attempted the record.
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
26 | 27 | 28 |
« January 2017 | Main | March 2017 »
Tuesday, February 28, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Lymphoma. Two months after diagnosis - must have been a terribly rampant variety. Another reminder that I dodged a bullet.
Colmes was remembered by news colleagues – including those who didn’t agree with him politically – as a rare beacon of civility in a political climate that’s grown increasingly ugly. Colmes retained long friendships with colleagues he often strongly debated on television. For example, he had developed a close bond with conservative Sean Hannity, his fellow Fox News pundit and the man with whom he formed the warring debaters, Hannity & Colmes.
Hannity said in a statement:
The Fox family, Dr. Jocelyn Colmes, Monica Crowley and me personally have lost one of life’s most decent, kind and wonderful people you’d ever want to meet. When Alan and I started Hannity and Colmes, there wasn’t a day that went by where we didn’t’ say we were two most fortunate men in all television. Despite major political differences, we forged a deep friendship. Alan, in the midst of great sickness and illness, showed the single greatest amount of courage I’ve ever seen. And through it all, he showed his incredible wit and humor that was Alan’s signature throughout his entire life. I’m truly heartbroken at the loss of a dear friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jocelyn, Monica and his entire family. He will be dearly missed.
Hannity told People Magazine that Colmes tried to shield his wife from his illness. “[When] we first talked about it, you know, typical Alan style, his first statement to me was, ‘I don’t want my wife to worry or be upset,’ ” Hannity said to People. “He was thinking about her. He loved his wife, he adored her.”
Tuesday, February 28, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Monday, February 27, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Monday, February 27, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, February 27, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Most everyone remembers this horror. Hard to believe it was two years ago.
2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya
Who was the 21st person beheaded?
Monday, February 27, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
I've been saying this for months - but Buffett gets the headlines. It's in his annual shareholder letter.
Buffett: Stocks are ‘virtually certain’ to rise in years ahead
As is usual in the typically wide-ranging letter, the billionaire investor offered no specific market call. But the 86-year-old billionaire used the occasion of the annual missive to talk up the U.S. economy to back his view that over the long term, equities should continue to rise.
****
“American business—and consequently a basket of stocks—is virtually certain to be worth far more in the years ahead. Innovation, productivity gains, entrepreneurial spirit and an abundance of capital will see to that,” Buffett said.
Sunday, February 26, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Australia has loads of nasty, deadly creatures and here's one of them -
Boy survives bite from super deadly spider thanks to quick-thinking dad
A 10-year-old Australian boy has survived a bite from one of the world’s deadliest spiders after taking a record 12 vials of anti-venom, local media reported.
Matthew Mitchell was helping his dad clear out the back shed at their home north of Sydney when he was bitten on the finger by a funnel-web spider that had been lurking in his shoe.
“It sort of clawed onto me and all the legs and everything crawled around my finger and I couldn’t get it off,” he told the Australian Daily Telegraph.
His family used his shirt as a compression bandage to try to slow the venom’s spread and rushed him to a hospital.
He experienced convulsions but survived after being given 12 vials of anti-venom, which local media said was an Australian record.
The funnel-web spider is among the world’s deadliest spiders. Its venom attacks the nervous system, causing foaming at the mouth, muscle spasms and potentially death.
The spider was caught and taken to the Australian Reptile Park, where it will be milked as part of their program to develop anti-venom.
The 10-year-old was “as lucky as they get,” Australian Reptile Park general manager Tim Faulkner told The Telegraph.
Australia is home to a startling number of the world’s deadliest creatures, including snakes, spiders, jellyfish and octopuses.
The funnel-web is particularly feared, but no deaths have been recorded since the anti-venom was developed in the 1980s.
Sunday, February 26, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
UPDATE: Here is a one minute CNN video of Kasich discussing his meeting - his email to me is below it.
I am on the Kasich email list and i got this yesterday. Posted in full.
|
||
|
Saturday, February 25, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Interesting 2 minute vid - the answer from Cotton should have been "yes". Watch til the end - It's revealing that the woman is not happy with Obamacare.
Saturday, February 25, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
I haven't posted much about Tim's college (St. Thomas Aquinas College) track career, since he was red-shirted as a freshman and in this indoor season it's been difficult to get good video or pictures. The picture above and video below are from The St. Joe's Invitational on February 11th and Tim came 12th out of 52 in the shot put. Tim's best event is the javelin, but that's kinda not an indoor track event.
So the East Coast Conference Championship is today on Staten Island and I'll be driving out for it. Tim will also be doing the weight throw - for the first time. It's the indoor version of the hammer throw.
Tim is 5'9" and weighs about 205 lbs. At the collegiate level in the shot put, he's often giving away 50 to 120 lbs. against other throwers. Yup - we've seen some throwers over 300 lbs.
Here's a 25 second video and below another picture which he'll love - his arm close-up - he's got the guns!
Friday, February 24, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
In fact FOX is #1 among ALL basic cable networks with TNT #2.
And despite Rachel Maddow on MSNBC having 2 million viewers, she still lost in her time slot to Tucker Carlson on FOX.
Thursday, February 23, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Amusing whether you like Trump or not. Hit the link for a few good shots.
Smith is not the first person to include the controversial 45th president in her obituary
In the midst of the presidential campaign last year, an American woman’s family wrote another entertaining death notice.
“Faced with the prospect of voting either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday.”
Noland’s sons said they wrote the opening line to carry on their mother’s excellent sense of humor.
More if you hit the link.
Thursday, February 23, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
It's posted on the Witherspoon Institute Public Discourse website. Here's the essay author - he's a professor at an Evangelical College.
Robert Carle is a professor of theology at The King’s College in Manhattan. Dr. Carle is a contributor to The American Interest, Public Discourse, Society, Human Rights Review, The Federalist, World, Academic Questions, Touchstone, and reason.com. Some of the material in this essay was posted on The Federalist on February 14.
I have excerpted the first six of the 25 paragraphs in the essay, all of which is worth reading. If you're wondering who John Witherspoon was (besides being a signor of the Declaration of Independence) go here.
President Trump’s executive order on immigration is deeply troubling ...
907 Jewish refugees were on board the MS St. Louis when Franklin Delano Roosevelt refused to let them dock in Miami in 1939. The captain of the ship, Gustav Schröder, wanted to run his ship aground, which would have allowed the refugees to disembark on American soil, but US Coast Guard vessels kept the ship away from the shore. Captain Shröder was forced to take his passengers back to Europe.
254 of the refugees subsequently died in the Holocaust.
Every January 27 is Holocaust Memorial Day, a day when Americans remember with shame our refusal to come to the aid of Jews who were fleeing the horrors of Nazism. January 27, 2017, was the day on which President Trump signed an immigration executive order (EO) that upended the lives of thousands of vulnerable people. The EO separated parents from their children, prevented patients from getting medical treatment, and jeopardized friends and allies in Iraq who have fought alongside us in the war against ISIS.
Among many others, the order barred entry to Iraqi Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi lawmaker whose speech in Parliament in 2014 prompted President Obama to take action against ISIS. Dakhil was en route to Washington to receive the Lantos Human Rights Prize at the US Capitol. The order also banned the Chaldean archbishop of Erbil in Iraq, Bashar Warda. Warda is an advocate for the 200,000 Christians displaced by ISIS. His church has sheltered thousands of displaced Iraqis.
Less visible to the public was the anguish suffered by the 60,000 refugees who are languishing in refugee camps. They have already been granted security clearances to come to the United States but will now be denied entry.
The courts have stayed parts of Trump’s executive order, and the administration has promised to issue a new executive order that rests on firmer legal ground. Left untouched by the court rulings, however, was the refugee limit set out in the original order, which cut the refugee cap from 110,000 to 50,000. Because 35,000 refugees have already been admitted to the United States in fiscal year 2017, only 15,000 slots are open for the remainder of the year. The US State Department has directed embassies to slow admission of refugees for the month of February and suspend it completely after March 3.
The United States currently admits a fraction of a percent of the world’s 65 million refugees. The United States has far fewer refugees per capita than Canada, Britain, France, or Germany. Last year, the United States accepted 37,521 Christian refugees and 38,901 Muslim refugees. The largest number of those refugees were from The Congo (16,370), followed by Syria (12,587), Burma (12,347), Iraq (9,880) and Somalia (9,020).
Hit the link above for the last 19 paragraphs
Wednesday, February 22, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
I took this entirely from the Stepinac HS email that was sent around Tuesday morning. I thought it was nicely done.
A number of wonderful conversations, calls, emails and Facebook comments have been coming to us since the passing of our beloved "Fr. Pete".Wednesday, February 22, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
These boycotts have uniformly backfired.
I may have to buy some myself - although $34 a bottle? Guess I'll stick with Right Guard.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (2)
This is hard to believe but the Catholic League is a reliable source. And another example of $$$ talks.
Here's the press release - and if there's a follow-up or the professor was misquoted I will post it.
Two weeks ago today, a professor from Georgetown University publicly rose to the defense of slavery and rape, and not a single major media outlet—with the exception of a blogger on the Washington Post website and a brief posting on foxnews.com—has said a word about it. The absence of outrage is not hard to figure out: Jonathan Brown’s defense was limited to Islam.
Brown, a convert to Islam, holds an endowed chair in Islamic studies at Georgetown. The Jesuit-run institution has a wealthy benefactor in Saudi Arabia, a nation which bans Christianity. How sweet.
What did Georgetown get from this arrangement? Money, and a lot of it. Twelve years ago, Saudi Arabia wrote a check to the Jesuit-run institution for $20 million; it went to support the school’s Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, run by Brown. And what did Saudi Arabia get from this peculiar “understanding”? Legitimacy.
The fruit from this decayed tree is now apparent. Georgetown now employs a tenured professor who defends slavery and rape, provided the slavemasters and rapists are Muslims. This is apparently Georgetown’s idea of diversity. It also shows how phony the school is. Why all the handwringing about Georgetown’s ownership of American slaves in the 19th century when it employs defenders of slavery today?
Brown’s position was not made in the heat of debate. If anything his comments were well prepared: they were delivered at the Islamic Institute for Islamic Thought. After being criticized by some, he tried to walk it back, offering a lame Tweet that meant nothing.
“As a category, as a conceptual category that exists throughout states and trans-historically,” Brown said clumsily, “there’s no such thing as slavery.” It gets better. “I don’t think you can talk about slavery in Islam until you realize that there is no such thing as slavery.”
It is not certain what Brown would say to slaves in Mauritania and Somalia today—they are owned by their Muslim masters. Would he tell them to stop promoting fake news? Would he tell them that slavery is a mirage? Would he tell them that they are delusional? Better yet, would he switch places with them?
Brown is also incompetent. If slavery doesn’t exist in Muslim-run nations, why the need to justify it? “Slavery cannot just be treated as a moral evil in and of itself,” he opined. He really means it. “I don’t think it’s morally evil to own somebody because we own lots of people all around us.”
(Who he owns he did not say, but perhaps the Southern Poverty Law Center will look into it. Maybe I’ll convert to Islam and see if I can buy him. I’ll use my credit card—Mastercard for the Master.)
When someone in the audience challenged Brown, he became indignant, as well as inconsistent. “The fact that there was slavery is wrong [thus did he contradict his remark that there was no such thing in Islam]. Okay. If you’re a Muslim, the prophet of God…had slaves. He had slaves. There’s no denying that. Are you more morally mature than the prophet of God? No, you are not.”
One would hope that all of us are more morally mature than Muhammad. After all, he was not only a slavemaster and an advocate of violence, he consummated his marriage with his bride Aisha when she was nine years old. That’s what we call rape.
Speaking of which, Brown went on to say that non-consensual sex—it’s called rape—is okay with him, at least if the offenders are adherents to Islam. He took aim at the Western notion of “consent,” maintaining that “It’s very hard to have this discussion because we think of, let’s say in the modern United States, the sine qua non of morally correct sex is consent.”
Continuing his defense of rape, Brown criticized Americans for making a big deal about individual rights. “We fetishize the idea of autonomy to the extent that we forget, again who’s really free? Are we really autonomous people?” In other words, since none of us is really autonomous, the difference between us and a rape victim is more contrived than real.
Brown and Georgetown would be on the front page of every newspaper in the nation if he had justified Christians enslaving and raping Muslims. It would be the lead news story of the night on television, and the Internet would explode. But because Brown was justifying slavery and rape committed by Muslims—whose real life victims are Christians and Jews—there’s hardly a peep.
This is moral relativism gone off the cliff. It is a direct consequence of multiculturalism run amuck. On campuses and newsrooms across the country, the Judeo-Christian ethos and heritage has been slashed and burned beyond belief, the rubble of which is Professor Jonathan Brown, Georgetown University, and the media.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (2)
This is guy is the real deal (UPDATE: Yes! he played rugby at West Point) and won't hesitate to "Speak Truth to Power". he wrote a famous (in military circles) book Dereliction of Duty:Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam. The book was written in 1998 as a result of his Ph.D. thesis and is considered a must read classic for military leaders.
Here's a quote from another General -
...retired Lt. Gen. Dave Barno, wrote, "Major General Herbert Raymond McMaster might be the 21st century Army's pre-eminent warrior-thinker. Recently tapped for his third star, H.R. is also the rarest of soldiers—one who has repeatedly bucked the system and survived to join its senior ranks."
Here's an interesting brief summary of his accomplishments from Cosmopolitan -
Who Is H.R. McMaster? 8 Things to Know About Donald Trump's National Security Adviser
Here are points 3 & 4
During the Gulf War in 1991, McMaster was a captain commanding Eagle Troop of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of 73 Easting. During that battle, he and his team were significantly outnumbered when they encountered the enemy by surprise. His lead tank and nine other tanks of Eagle Troop destroyed over eighty Iraqi Republican Guard tanks and other vehicles without loss, largely because the American tanks were higher quality. For his actions, he was awarded the Silver Star, and taught the battle as a military history professor at his alma mater, West Point, from 1994 to 1996. (And, fun fact, his success during the battle was included in the Tom Clancy nonfiction novel, Armored Cav.)
In Iraq, McMaster was commander of the unit that brought order to Tal Afar. He used classic counterinsurgency methods —"clear, hold, and build"— that would later be adopted by General Petraeus.
Seems like an amazing man.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (3)
A former teacher at Stepinac, a real character. I never had him as a teacher - he taught Russian - but he had positive influence on many students. He only retired in 2014, at the age of 85. He was at Stepinac from 1958 to 1993. This is from Catholic New York when he retired:
Msgr. Peter Gelsomino had been senior priest administrator of Sacred Heart of Jesus, Port Chester, since 2012. He served that parish as pastor, 1994-2006, and administrator, 2006-2012. He served as parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Shrub Oak, 1993-1994. He served at Archbishop Stepinac High School, White Plains, 1958-1993. He served as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Bronx, 1957-1958, and St. Lucy’s, Manhattan, 1955-1957. Born in New York City, he was ordained in 1955.
Monday, February 20, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Being in the minority (I'm mostly lefty), I've always been interested in this handedness stuff. A one minute video.
Monday, February 20, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
From my friend Nancy, who frequently sends me clever stuff.
Sunday, February 19, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Catholic intellectual. He was 83 years old. I enjoyed reading his columns and commentary although I never read any of his books.
This is a press release from the Catholic league, and below is a short video from Fr. Robert Sirico.
February 17, 2017
Bill Donohue comments on the death of Michael Novak:
Michael Novak was more than a brilliant and dedicated Catholic, his range of scholarship was astounding. Theologian, sociologist, economist, political scientist—he was all of these and more.
I have many fond memories of my exchanges with Mike. He was courageous and kind, thoughtful and considerate, and always there when you needed him. His commitment to the Catholic League's best interests meant a great deal to me and to the organization; he served on our board of advisors for over 20 years.
God bless Michael Novak. He will surely be missed.
Saturday, February 18, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
The story of Foudouko, the former alpha male. Surprise! Had something to do with sex.
Chimps beat up, murder and then cannibalise their former tyrant
Saturday, February 18, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
This is a pretty good and balanced article - the writer has occasional thoughtful columns in the NYT. Hit the link, there's more to it then just my excerpts.
I don’t doubt that these experts believe they are protecting the country from a president whose behavior they — like many of us — see as dangerous. A recent letter to the editor in this newspaper, signed by 35 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, put it this way: “We fear that too much is at stake to be silent.” It continued, “We believe that the grave emotional instability indicated by Mr. Trump’s speech and actions makes him incapable of serving safely as president.”
******
First, all experts have political beliefs that probably distort their psychiatric judgment. Consider what my mostly liberal profession said of Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee for president in 1964, right before the election. Members of the American Psychiatric Association were surveyed about their assessment of Goldwater by the now-defunct Fact magazine. Many savaged him, calling him “paranoid,” “grossly psychotic” and a “megalomaniac.” Some provided diagnoses, like schizophrenia and narcissistic personality disorder.
They used their professional knowledge as a political weapon against a man they had never examined and who certainly would never have consented to their discussing his mental health in public.
Goldwater sued (successfully) and, as a result, in 1973 the A.P.A. developed the Goldwater Rule. It says that psychiatrists can discuss mental health issues with the news media, but that it is unethical for them to diagnose mental illnesses in people they have not examined and whose consent they have not received.
Contrary to what many believe, this rule does not mean that professionals must remain silent about public figures. In fact, the guidelines specifically state that mental health experts should share their knowledge to educate the public.
So while it would be unethical for a psychiatrist to say that President Trump has narcissistic personality disorder, he or she could discuss common narcissistic character traits, like grandiosity and intolerance of criticism, and how they might explain Mr. Trump’s behavior. In other words, psychiatrists can talk about the psychology and symptoms of narcissism in general, and the public is free to decide whether the information could apply to the individual.
It's a good article - hit the link for the whole thing.
Friday, February 17, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (2)
I still think it's a laugh that the Comedy Daily Show is "News". And the collapse of CNN continues. Trump is right they're fake news!? A screwball like Lawrence O'Donnell out-draws them?
CABLE NEWS RACE FEB 14 2017
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,758,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,928,000
FOXNEWS THE FIVE 2,918,000
FOXNEWS TUCKER 2,852,000
MSNBC MADDOW 2,541,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,534,000
MSNBC O'DONNELL 2,029,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 1,757,000
MSNBC HAYES 1,731,000
CNN COOPER 1,584,000
CMDY DAILY SHOW 1,027,000
MSNBC MORNING JOE 960,000
HBO VICE 274,000
Friday, February 17, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Apropos to our "Hike of the Month" club, whose hikes anyone can do. Our Feb. 4th "hike of the month" on the Croton Aqueduct.
"Hey Y'all".
Just discovered this youtube channel belonging to a woman - Jennifer Mills, trail name "Dixie" - who'd never done an overnight hike - and then did a hike-through of the Appalachian Trail! Her youtube channel is good - she's chatty allrighty - with lots of fun informational videos. She's pretty sharp, a graduate of Auburn with a bioengineering degree. Her next project - hiking the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail) that runs from Mexico to Canada.
Thursday, February 16, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
The leader of the Congressional Democrats. Of course she had to apologize for this later since Flynn never sent the tweet. Other outlets like the NY Times also bought into the fakery. Multiple Outlets, Politicians Duped by Fake Michael Flynn Tweet.
And there's this - When an aide told Pelosi the tweets were fake she reportedly turned to him and said “What do you mean it’s fake!?”
Thursday, February 16, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, February 15, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Great article from the NY Times Health and Fitness section. They had to set a new age level classification as he set a world record for people over 105 year olds. Mr. Marchand is the only one in the that group. Testing shows he's more aerobically fit then most 50 year olds. And his aerobic fitness has increased in the last several years, by raising the intensity of his training. Excerpts below, hit the link for the full article - it's about a dozen paragraphs.
Mr. Marchand pedaled more than 14 miles, setting a global benchmark for cyclists age 105 and older. That classification had to be created specifically to accommodate him. No one his age previously had attempted the record.
Mr. Marchand, who was born in 1911, already owned the one-hour record for riders age 100 and older, which he had set in 2012.
It was as he prepared for that ride that he came to the attention of Veronique Billat, a professor of exercise science at the University of Evry-Val d’Essonne in France. At her lab, Dr. Billat and her colleagues study and train many professional and recreational athletes.
She was particularly interested in Mr. Marchand’s workout program and whether altering it might augment his endurance and increase his speed.
Conventional wisdom in exercise science suggests that it is very difficult to significantly add to aerobic fitness after middle age. In general, VO2 max, a measure of how well our bodies can use oxygen and the most widely accepted scientific indicator of fitness, begins to decline after about age 50, even if we frequently exercise.
But Dr. Billat had found that if older athletes exercised intensely, they could increase their VO2 max. She had never tested this method on a centenarian, however.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Brigid on a hike last October - Castle Rock
One of my 2017 resolutions - you can check here - was for Brigid to get out for the first time to Australia, to see her brother Neville and his wife Gerry and their two (June and Samantha) daughters and their children. They've all - exception of Sammi but we'll get that fixed - visited us here several times, but we've not gotten down under to see them.
So Brigid flies out tonight and will also see her sister Libby and her family for six days on the return home, before getting back on March 6th. Overall 21 days with the trip out to Australia going through Frankfurt, and Singapore before getting to Brisbane - about 32 hours of traveling. Brigid is VERY excited about going! Meanwhile, Tom, Joe and Tim will be pining away here ... My hat in this picture says "Wallabies"
Monday, February 13, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (6)
A short hike - just over three and a half miles. And it was a fivesome - Jeanne Marie, Brigid, Karen, David and myself.
Also a day for funny hats - it was a bit brisk out!
Jeanne Marie took this picture, since she didn't have a hat -
Girls only
A few shots on the wide, easy trail.
A pleasant walk with great company.
Monday, February 13, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Sunday, February 12, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Sunday, February 12, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Saturday, February 11, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, February 10, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
HAHA. You have to read the text below the video. That's one well-trained, well fed rabbit. Harvey?
He is known as the "Russian hobbit". Once a big city lawyer in Moscow, Yury Alekseyev abandoned his career three years ago and headed 60 kilometres (40 miles) northeast. Picking a spot near the road and the woods, he dug an underground home that he shares with his faithful pet rabbit Petrushka.
"It's become clear to me that I live in Moscow, rent a one-room apartment with concrete walls, in order to be able to live between these concrete walls I every day go to the office over the past several years and it looks like there is no perspective of a bright future in front of me. What I am doing at work is not interesting for me, so why do I need all of it," Alekseyev asked, sitting in his underground house between piles of books.
After leaving his job, the next decision he had to make was what kind house he wanted to live it and where.
He decided to settle not too far away from Moscow - just above 100 km (62 miles) north of Moscow and turned a self-made dugout in his new home.
"I started thinking what kind of house should I make myself, there were some ideas, I thought them over but not for a long time and I've decided that I should build myself a dugout. From that moment on I took a shovel... because what does the man need to build a house in the ground? He needs to take a shovel, to choose a place where to make it. So I came, chose the place and started digging," said Alekseyev, who doesn't shy away from the comforts of civilization: he has a computer, a cell phone, an iPad, and thousands of followers on social media and through his blog. Not long ago, the 42-year-old built himself a steam bath, powered by electricity from solar panels. During the dark winter months he turns on a generator that runs off gasoline.
And he doesn't live like a hermit. Almost every day he has a visitor.
Friends and strangers drop by to exchange books from his library of more than 4,500 titles, or just to see how he lives. Some bring food or fuel. Others pay his Internet bill.
Outside the house Alekseyev placed the large sign reading "Navalny" with letters painted on large round pieces of wood. He is a supporter of Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption activist who announced his decision to run for president in 2018.
"Putin with his criminal team has literally destroyed the alternative; he destroyed the option for political alternative. And in this situation Navalny symbolises this alternative. We simply have no choice. In Russia there is no choice to such an extent that Navalny has become the only chance to have at least some kind of choice," said Alekseyev.
Despite his disillusionment with the current state of Russia, he believes that changes will come and one day Navalny might become a Russian president.
Friday, February 10, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (2)
A PR from the Catholic League Wednesday.
TRUMP RIPPED FOR RELIGION-FRIENDLY STANCE
February 8, 2017
Bill Donohue comments on a piece by Claire Markham of the Center for American Progress distorting President Trump's commitment to religious liberty:
Neither President Donald Trump, nor his competitor, Hillary Clinton, are known for their devoutness, but unlike the loser, Trump is a reliable friend to people of faith. That is exactly why he is coming under fire from militant secularists. The latest hit job comes courtesy of the Center for American Progress.
John Podesta founded the organization and George Soros funds it. They make quite a pair. In the Wikileaks email exchanges, Podesta was caught bragging about his efforts to subvert the Catholic Church. Soros, as anyone who has looked at the Catholic League's website knows, has a long record of lavishly giving to anti-Catholic groups. So it is hardly surprising that one of their own, Claire Markham, would rip Trump for being religion-friendly.
Markham's first salvo is so obtuse that it makes one wonder how low the hiring bar has fallen at the Center for American Progress. She accuses the Trump administration of wanting to "redefine religious liberty to only people who share its vision of faith." Vision of faith? No one save a dunce speaks that way. The administration has no "vision of faith," but it is committed to the defense of religious liberty, something Podesta and Soros have worked to undermine.
Repeating the lie that is so popular among Trump's critics, Markham decries his "Muslim ban." But there is no ban—only select Muslim-run nations with a history of sponsoring terrorism (as determined by the Obama administration) are under a temporary ban.
Markham makes a big deal out of the White House statement on the Holocaust that did not specifically mention Jews. This political attack reflects the desire to tag Trump with being unfriendly to every religion, save Christianity. Ironically, it is not Trump or his staff who has been tagged for being an anti-Semite—it is employees at the Center for American Progress.
Trump was also criticized for his desire to repeal the Johnson Amendment, the IRS rule that limits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from involvement in the political process. While there are legitimate grounds to question what a repeal might mean, the issue raised by Markham about a "dark money loophole for political donations" is pure demagoguery. Has anyone at the Podesta-Soros organization complained how this has affected the teachers unions and the Democratic Party?
What upsets Markham most is what Trump might do: He might issue an executive order protecting religious liberty. The draft that has circulated is magnificent, notwithstanding the need to do some tweaking. It clearly represents a commitment to expand the reach of religious rights, insulating religious individuals and institutions from being encroached upon by government. Astonishingly, Markham criticizes the draft for its "narrow view of religious liberty." That's Orwellian doublespeak. It is precisely because it has a broad view that she is going ballistic.
Trump's dedication to religious liberty stands in stark relief to the assault on this First Amendment right by the Obama administration. Religious leaders have a moral obligation to support him in these efforts.
Contact Claire Markham: cmarkham@americanprogress.org
Friday, February 10, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Thursday, February 09, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Here's a sad example as a woman dies making a clothing donation.
Thursday, February 09, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Wednesday, February 08, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
I've posted twice about her - canonized in 2000. Here's the original post from 2008 St. Josephine Bakhita - saint of Darfur and a video about her below.
Wednesday, February 08, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
A very stupid column - but several people emailed me, so here it is. According to the extensive article, Bannon and Cardinal Burke met in April, 2014. Below the link & excerpt is an excellent rejoinder by Catholic journalist Phil Lawler.
Here's what I emailed to a person who sent me the article -
"...yes I saw it but only read it when you sent it to me. They politicize everything - the only way they see the world ..."
Steve Bannon Carries Battles to Another Influential Hub: The Vatican
In one of the cardinal’s antechambers, amid religious statues and book-lined walls, Cardinal Burke and Mr. Bannon — who is now President Trump’s anti-establishment eminence — bonded over their shared worldview. They saw Islam as threatening to overrun a prostrate West weakened by the erosion of traditional Christian values, and viewed themselves as unjustly ostracized by out-of-touch political elites.
There are lots of problems with the report -
A Burke-Bannon conspiracy against Pope Francis? Nonsense!
Actually the unmaking of this promising conspiracy theory can be found right in the story by reporter Jason Horowitz—if you look for it carefully. Yes, Steve Bannon met with Cardinal Raymond Burke during a trip to the Vatican. But that meeting took place in April 2014. That was before Bannon joined the Trump campaign team—indeed before there was a Trump presidential campaign. It was before the publication of Amoris Laetitia, before the dubia.
At the time, Bannon was an executive for an upstart news service. Raised as a Catholic (although his current practice is a matter of some conjecture), he was keenly interested in religious affairs. As a conservative American visiting Rome, he was naturally interested in talking to an American cardinal known for his conservative views. No doubt they discussed some common interests; very likely they found that they shared mutual friends. But any suggestion that this meeting was the start of a grand conspiracy against the Holy Father is foolish.
******
Has criticism of Pope Francis become more pronounced recently? Yes, certainly. But that criticism is centered on a matter of Catholic doctrine—the teachings on marriage and the Eucharist—rather than on the political issues that are Bannon’s primary interest. (And by the way, the thrice-divorced White House aide is not likely to share Cardinal Burke’s determination to preserve the indissolubility of the marital bond.) I highlighted this - TF
American journalists tend to view all religious issues through political lenses, and consequently their view is distorted. No doubt Bannon sees possibilities for collaboration with some of the Pope’s internal critics; seeking out such alliances is, after all, a major part of his role as a political strategist. But insofar as he succeeds, he will be exploiting the divisions within the Church, not creating them.
Wednesday, February 08, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Gone at 102. I posted about him when he turned 100.
Here's a 2 minute Smothers brothers skit from 1966 - "The World's Foremost Authority" as he described himself...
Tuesday, February 07, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tuesday, February 07, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tuesday, February 07, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Monday, February 06, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (3)
"The long-range Boeing 777-200LR crossed 10 time zones on its marathon flight."
There were four pilots on board as well as 15 cabin crew who served 1,100 cups of tea and coffee, 2,000 cold drinks and 1,036 meals during the flight.
A longer flight then the whole Lord of the Rings Trilogy films.
Monday, February 06, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Really. (And my pick, which I posted last night - My Super Bowl pick - Atlanta to win)
Here's the text since it's in Spanish - video below it.
Welcome.
Great sporting events like today's Super Bowl are highly symbolic, showing that it is possible to build a culture of encounter and a world of peace.
By participating in sport, we are able to go beyond our own self interest - and in a healthy way - we learn to sacrifice, to grow in fidelity and respect the rules.
May this year's Super Bowl be a sign of peace, friendship and solidarity to the world.
Thank you!
Sunday, February 05, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Recent Comments