Tom Faranda's Folly

Two recent fine reads

Two great biogtraphical books I recently read, each of them about someone with the taken name of Benedict (coincidence or divine set-up?).

My friend Joe gave me A Friar's Tale about the late Fr. Benedict Groeschel, who Brigid and I knew and who I often referred to as  The official Guru of the Faranda family, featured in NY Times article .  And there are other posts about him if you type his name in the blog search box above.

The other is Last Testament: In His Own Words, a book length interview with Pope Benedict. I got the Kindle edition. Pope Benedict has done several book length interviews in the past thirty years, going all the way back to The Ratzinger Report in the 1980's. A man with a superb mind. He talks about his career, warts and all.

Both are wonderful. If you're interested hit the links and read the reviews - highly recommended.

Good short vid: In the WH situation room during the Bin Laden raid

By the White house photographer promoting his book on the Business Insider website. Everyone remembers this guy's iconic picture ...

 

NY Yankee - projected opening day line-up

Yes could easily look like this, unless they get another third basemen. Lot of home runs ...

 

BBC: "How to live like a 'superager'"

Very interesting - all but one of these active "superagers" are women. Which tells you something...

Sunday: 50th anniversary of the NFL "Ice Bowl"

As Green Bay defeated Dallas December 31, 1967 in the last 16 seconds one of the all-time famous games. With wind chill the temperature seemed way below zero - possibly as much as 50 below. I remember watching this game on television. Bart Starr's quarterback sneak at the end of the game, behind Jerry Kramer won it for the Packers.

Here's some interesting stuff, if you are into football.

And here are short (2 minute) highlights. The NFL doesn't allow embedding so hit the link if interested

 Cowboys vs. Packers: The Ice Bowl | 1967 NFL Championship | NFL Classic Highlights

Longer (5 minute) tribute video put together by a "Packer fan" and including most of the plays on the Packer final winning drive.

CBS: Woman goes into labor in a store; her butcher delivers the baby

A nice happy ending story.

Fidelity analyst - buy economically sensitive stocks (more half-baked commentary)

Buy stocks that will make money. Duh. And yes interest rate rise is not a disaster. Here's another analyst I posted a yesterday ago. Schwab chief strategist - stocks will do well in 2018 (like all such commentaries, it's half-baked)

 

Guggenheim: "Sell the News on Tax Reform"

I'm quoting part of their chief investment officer's email making the point that with tax reform a done deal, those who bought on the expectation of reform will look to take profits.

What is playing out is consistent with that old investing adage of “buy the rumor and sell the news.” Investors have been bullish about potential economic growth that will be driven by the new tax package, but now that the details and timing of the plan are known, they are starting to act in their self-interest. As we shift into a lower-tax regime in 2018, especially for corporations, we have been observing clients engaging in more aggressive tax-loss selling before lower tax rates kick in next year, because tax losses are more valuable in a higher-tax environment. There may be some market impact as we see this activity take hold on a wider scale. We have seen before how sweeping changes in the tax code had unintended consequences, and investors will need to be especially focused on the variety of ways the tax bill that President Trump has signed into law will create winners and losers.

They're also predicting the next recession for end of 2019, mid- 2020. No one really knows.

Schwab chief strategist - stocks will do well in 2018 (like all such commentaries, it's half-baked)

Half baked, but here it is, off the Business Insider website.

 

Anti-Catholic woman tries to steal the infant Jesus from the Vatican Nativity creche

Yesterday I posted this lovely piece of video - The Vatican Nativity Scene - a Corporal Works of Mercy theme!

Then there's this - and here's what the woman is upset about -

The woman, a member of the radical pro-abortion group Femen, said she was protesting the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion and contraception. Vatican police said they arrested the woman, identified as Alisa Vinogradova, before she could steal the baby doll, the Daily Mail reports. Naked from the waist up, she had the words “God is woman” painted on her back in black, the report states.

 Here's the 30 second video - not exactly the way to win people to your side ...

The Vatican Nativity Scene - a Corporal Works of Mercy theme!

And getting a good reception.

 

The Queen's 2017 Christmas Message

Required by Brigid or I'm out on the couch (again). But as always a fine and thoughtful presentation.

Nativity art - all from past postings - but still cool!

These are all from some of my past Christmas postings.

 

A Botticelli, Lifted from Michelle Malkin's weblog. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve, late afternoon at Half Moon (Croton waterfront)

Brigid and I did a quick walk from about 3:30 to 4 o'clock and got some atmospheric pictures. We didn't stick around for the 4:32 sunset, but could tell from the house that it was pretty good. May do a repeat Christmas day.

Looking west -

North and a bit east - completely different

The head of the "Sleeping Indian" across the Hudson is just to the right of dead in the middle here -

Senasqua Park and we were the only people there -

Totally different images, just looking a bit north of west and not at the sun - and there's that Sleeping Indian! in the second picture you can just see his feet...

Back at Half Moon, the sun a little lower and no boats left in the water.

Yes, may try and do a repeat tomorrow, only at sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

King Size Bed

Sent around by my friend Joe.

Beautiful - "A Christmas Moment"

This is from Kathleen M Gallagher, who works the tough issues for the NYS Catholic Bishop's Conference. Thanks to Ed for sending it around.

AFTER THE UKRAINIAN MASS

Unexpectedly, this year my "Christmas moment" came in a church. Oddly enough, I don't believe I've ever experienced one there before.

It was a glorious day in September, and I was helping to lead a conference and retreat for the state's Catholic prison chaplains in beautiful Canandaigua, in western New York. The chapel in the retreat center overlooked the lake on a day when the weather was postcard-perfect: sunny and 75 degrees.

I admit that I was not looking forward to Mass on this particular day. A Ukrainian Catholic liturgy was planned, something I knew little about. What I did know was that everything in this Eastern rite Mass is sung -- everything -- and it therefore takes longer than the Roman Catholic Mass with which I am familiar. Ugh. On a day like this? Really?

Perhaps it was its novelty, combined with a large dose of incense, but I found the Ukrainian liturgy to be filled with profound meaning and reverence.

Keep reading - hit the link above, or here

CNN: The Republican Tax Bill Gives Working Class Families “Damn Good Money”

John King -

 

In 55 seconds, why socialism doesn't work

With humor - quite amusing. Has Bernie Sanders seen this?

 

Cardinal Bernard Law

The former Cardinal of Boston who unfortunately is best known for his egregious mishandling of priest sex abuse. Here's his wikipedia and below is a balanced look at his life from the Catholic League.

CARDINAL LAW R.I.P.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the death of Cardinal Bernard Law:
 
Cardinal Law was a champion of the unborn, a sincere friend of Jews, and a civil rights activist who embraced the cause of African Americans. Sadly, he will also be remembered for presiding over the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
 
Two of the most diabolical priests in the nation served in the Archdiocese of Boston—John Geoghan and Paul Shanley. Geoghan preyed on young boys, and Shanley had with sex with males of all ages, from children to adults.
 
It was Law's predecessor, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, who appointed Shanley his "representative for sexual minorities," a bizarre role for any priest. This occurred in 1970, at a time when homosexual priests were actively abusing young men all across the nation. Shanley took advantage of his post, arguing publicly about the merits of man-boy sex; he was also named chaplain to Dignity, the dissident homosexual Catholic group.
 
By the end of the decade, Medeiros put an end to Shanley's ministry, but the damage had already been done. Shanley would later criticize two new oaths issued by the Vatican: the Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity. The archdiocese did nothing about it. Indeed, it excused Shanley from taking the oath. It was delinquent decisions like this that created this monster priest.
 
Cardinal Law was a theological conservative, but he did not govern as a conservative. Indeed, it was his relaxed stance, allowing bishops subordinate to him to make decisions about molesting priests that got him into trouble. Had he confronted those who pushed for less stringent rules governing sexuality, there would have been no crisis. Ironically, those who promoted this agenda then blamed him when news of the homosexual scandal hit the news.
 
In taking the measure of any leader, we must weigh his strengths alongside his weaknesses. He had plenty of both.
 
Cardinal Law is now with the Lord. May he rest in peace.

 

Jill Stein (Green Party) being investigated for Russia collusion!?

This is absurd. The theory: if she hadn't run and Hillary got her votes, Hillary would have won! And it's a real investigation - years ago she had dinner at a Moscow event and Putin was at her table. Crazy.

 

GoPro - the Pole Vault - Allison Stokke

Pretty cool 80 second video, viewed 7 and a half million times.

 

Two NY Congressman go at it over the tax bill

Verbal fireworks.

 

Tavis Smiley interviewed, defended by FOX News host

Fair and Balanced. Did any of the other cable networks give Tavis Smiley a platform? He's a longtime super liberal PBS host with whom Tucker Carlson probably disagrees  on everything. But he give him a fair hearing.

African-American unemployment rate lowest in 17 years

More good economic news.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics( BLS), the unemployment rate for black Americans is the lowest it has been since the year 2000, 17 years ago. In November, the national unemployment rate for black Americans, ages 16 and over, was 7.3%. The last time it was 7.3% was in the year 2000, during the months September, October and November. During the Bush and Obama years (2001 -2016), the black unemployment rate fluctuated between 7.7% and a high of 16.8%.

Ice cream binging - bad for you?

From the NY Times health section - I must say I've never eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting ... but half a pint ... (not me in the picture)

Is an Ice Cream Binge Bad for the Heart?

Q. Is there a cardiovascular difference between eating a pint of ice cream in one sitting versus eating it over a period of time, such as a week?

A. Bingeing on ice cream has physiological effects that can potentially strain the cardiovascular system, “but let’s be honest, tons of people have eaten a pint of ice cream without consequences, including myself,” said Dr. Martha Gulati, chief of cardiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and editor of the American College of Cardiology’s patient education website Cardiosmart.org.

Still, while most people will “go on with their life” after an ice cream binge, she said, “we worry about people who are at high risk for heart disease or who already have heart disease — they should be careful about eating a calorie-heavy meal” or indulging excessively in high-fat, sugar-laden desserts.

One study from 2004 of 209 heart attack patients in Israel determined that people were more likely to sustain a serious coronary event in the several hours after eating an unusually heavy meal. That study, however, relied on patients’ recollections of what they had eaten on various days, memories that can be skewed or inaccurate after a serious health scare. A later study that analyzed data from the Israeli national survey of acute coronary syndromes found patients rarely identified a big meal as the trigger for their heart attacks, linking fewer than 2 percent of heart attacks to overeating.

Still, fat-laden and sugary foods have an immediate physiological effect that can potentially increase the risk of heart attacks or strokes, “especially if you have heart disease or underlying coronary disease that hasn’t pronounced itself,” Dr. Gulati said.

Aa couple more paragraphs if you hit the link.

Considering an Apple watch? Remember what watch Steve Jobs wore.

Seiko. Yup a Seiko. And Seiko is reissuing it.

Here's the story and you can see the "iconic" picture of him wearing the watch if you hit the link. And below the link one of many other pictures of him with the Seiko "chariot" model.

One of the most famous photographs of Steve Jobs is one taken in Jobs's home in Woodside, California, in 1984, by photographer Norman Seeff. The image shows Jobs sitting on the floor with the very first Apple Macintosh computer perched on his lap. On his wrist is a small, unfussy, unobtrusive wristwatch made by Seiko, originally from the Seiko Chariot series. That actual watch sold at auction last year for $42,500 and we've just heard that Seiko will be re-issuing the watch as a limited edition...

 

Wall Street Journal editorial: "A Tax Reform for Growth"

The proposed tax bill, reviewed by the Journal.

...the bill that seems headed for passage next week is—Minor Miracle Dept.—better than what either body first passed. ...The same economists who presided over the weakest recovery since World War II now say none of this is needed with the economy finally growing at 3%. But the faster growth never materialized when they were in power, and this expansion has been notable for slow business investment and weak productivity growth.

Some excerpts -

The bill’s biggest achievement is reforming at long last the self-destructive U.S. corporate tax code. The top U.S. rate of 35%—highest in the developed world—will fall to 21% on Jan. 1. Cash currently held overseas will be taxed at a 15.5% one-time “deemed” repatriation rate, and America will move to a territorial system that allows money to be taxed where it is earned.

******

This GOP tax reform—including five years of 100% immediate business expensing—is aimed directly at that weakness to keep the expansion going even as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. This isn’t a demand-side “sugar high.” These business tax changes are supply-side reforms that will increase the economy’s productive capacity.

Reducing the cost of capital should raise business investment and invite a capital inflow to the U.S. More investment means more hiring and more productive workers, which is what increases wages. Especially with a tight labor market, the share of income that goes to workers should increase. After eight years of trying to redistribute income through higher taxes and more subsidies, why not try a return to growth economics?

******

The individual tax reform isn’t nearly as ambitious. The GOP has rearranged some furniture to try to give everyone a tax cut while trying not to change the distribution tables of who pays taxes. The one bow toward simplification is nearly doubling the standard deduction to $24,000 for married couples, which means most taxpayers will elect not to itemize. 

******

the bill will repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate that punishes Americans for declining to buy health insurance that they can’t afford or don’t want. This chips away at ObamaCare’s command-and-control model, and may open the door for larger reform.

***

Republicans have been promising to reform the tax code for decades, and Speaker Paul Ryan deserves particular notice for years of intellectual and political spadework. The House campaigned on tax reform with its Better Way agenda, and Donald Trump made it a 2016 theme. This bill fulfills that promise.

For eight years the Democrats put income equality over growth and ended up with less of both. Now Republicans are poised to enact a tax bill that on the whole makes broad prosperity the priority. Next week the House and Senate will call the roll and we’ll see which politicians in Washington still think America is one of the world’s great underdeveloped countries.

NY Times: Ultimate White Male Old Boys Club

Ahhh, Nepotism. As in "do as I say, not as a do". The Times is a publicly traded company, but they get away with this by family members having the voting shares - the rest of us peasants can only have non-voting A shares (symbol NYT). To read the NY Times own spin on the change, go here.

This is from Bill Donohue at the Catholic League - excerpts below the link.

New York Times Ruling Class Continues

Arthur Gregg Sulzberger has been named as the new publisher of the New York Times; he was previously the deputy publisher of the newspaper. The appointment was made by Arthur Gregg’s father, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. He got his job because his predecessor, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, was his father. Thus does the white male dynasty continue.

A.G., as Arthur Gregg is known (it was confusing at the newspaper so they settled on his initials), represents the fifth generation of his family since the Grand Patriarch, Adolph S. Ochs, bought the newspaper in 1896.

When A.G. was named deputy publisher, the only two candidates for the job were white males, Sam Dolnick and David Perpich. The hiring process was a classic case of nepotism. Indeed, it was incestuous: the three men are cousins.

This time around, there was no competition at all. A.G. was simply anointed publisher by his father. A more stunning patriarchy would be hard to find, even in Third World nations.

No women were interviewed for the top spot. No blacks were interviewed. No Latinos ... Who needs affirmative action? Who needs to advertise? Who needs a head hunter? This is an old-boys club par excellence. Indeed, it makes glass ceilings look benign—this ceiling is made of cement, one that will never be penetrated by women or minorities. So much for diversity. ...

December 14th, Feast Day of St. John of the Cross

 

 

An interesting three minute video - the above sketch is by John of the Cross.

 

And a little quote -

“We must dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however deep we dig we will never find their end or their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered on all sides.”

 

Canadian Psychologist Jordan Peterson on having a sense of humor

This guy is very popular on youtube - my son Joe watches him, and now I've started.

 

Another big birthday for Brigid.

Yes, December 12th, feast of Our lady of Guadalupe. Seems like a very short ten years since I posted this, complete with pictures.

As of February, 17, 2018 I will have known Brigid forty (40) years... YIKES!

Below, picture(s) a year, 2006 - 2017. And  below that the link and all the pictures (why not?) that I posted ten years ago at the last big birthday.

2017 - At the USA-Ireland rugby match in June. That's our friend Denis Knox.

2016 -  August 10th, Brigid with Joe (when his hair was really long) before they set out for their 11 day trip to Peru.

From 2015, on the climb of Popolopen Torne, in May 2015. First picture at the bottom, second at the top of Popolopen. This was an awesome hike, which included hiking buddy Jeanne Marie and my administrative assistant and our friend Judy. Just a great and epic hike.  The cairns at the top honoring fallen soldiers from Afghanistan were sobering.

May 21st, 2015, as Tim graduates from Stepinac.

October, 2014

2013, and Brigid heading to The Tavern with Jeanne Marie. Brigid missed the hike but made the pub...

And here with Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, CFR at the January 2013 March for Life in Washington

IN April 2012 Brigid gave a very well received presentation at the Hudson National Golf Course in Croton,  about the history of the buildings. Here she is with two of the musicians who played at the event.

May 25, 2011 - all of us at Joe's graduation from Fordham Prep

Near Croton Point February 15, 2010 observing eagles.

At the Bonnie Brae 2010 fundraiser  - we are guests of Bill Connolly and one of Brigid's favorite evening's out. Bonnie Brae is a 100 year old comprehensive facility for boys 8-21.

August, 2009 and Brigid with our friend Betsy Kiley. We'd met up at Chuck's Steak House in Danbury, CT.

March 23, 2008, a couple pictures from the famous Gagnon Easter day festivities & egg hunt

Tim, Philip Gagnon, my mother, Jeanne Marie, and Brigid

And this duet -

And ten years ago August 8, 2007 going up Breakneck Ridge. A difficult hike and now one of the most popular in the northeast.

Brigid was with some fat guy ...

As well as Joe and Jeanne Marie.

Two more pix -

August 25, 2007, having recovered from Breakneck - hard to believe Judy and Bob Anderson's daughter Lee's marriage to Tony was ten years ago. That's my martini/Guinness face...

 

And  May 2006, with Paul and Mike at the Chartreuse restaurant in Yonkers -

Now - here are all the pix from the ten year ago birthday posting - if you can bear it and want to see Brigid - and anyone else - much younger!

In fact, I'm embedding the whole 2007 post below the link - couldn't help myself.

Brigid Birthday - 2007

 

Well it's a big one. Brigid didn't ask me to go to "The Source", or some other jewelry emporium. Instead - she wanted a kayak.

With thanks to my brother Jim for scanning in photos and slides.

Please feel free to leave a comment for Brigid.

Here's a little visual history of Brigid since I've met her, February 17th, 1978. That evening she crashed a party at my house in Mandeville, Jamaica.

This is Brigid in 1979, a bit before we were married in Jamaica. She's on the south coast at a place called "lover's Leap."

Treasure Beach, south coast of jamaica

And here she is on the north coast in Montego Bay, same year.

And at Negril having a nap.

 

Brigid's dog Feisty, in my flat in Mandeville. I have to show dog pictures, or I'll be in trouble.

You can't see much of Brigid here, but Dunn's River Falls on the north coast of Jamaica sure is pretty.

This requires some explaining. My brother Philip, with Brigid, on our honeymoon. Phil and my parents flew down to Jamaica for our wedding (Phil was altar boy), and we then took them with us to a house near Treasure Beach on the south coast of the Island. My father was always embarrassed by that...

More explaining! We were at the Mandeville airstrip, waiting for the island hopper flight to Kingston. Our friend Mick Paine was leaving the Island and there'd been a lively departure party the night before. Brigid is sitting with Mick just to her right, and Paul Foster next to him. Yes, it had been a pretty good party.

We left Jamaica in July of 1979 and stayed in New york for about two months, before going back to the Caribbean - the Cayman Islands. we had a number of visitors to my parent house where we were staying that summer, including John and Celia Pye, and Emma and Bryn. Our close family friends the Rimms lent us a trailor and the Pyes stayed in it in the driveway for several days. Note that Philip - in front of Brigid - loves to get in our pictures.

We lived on Grand Cayman for two years. Brigid taught first grade in the Georgetown primary school, and here she is in a group picture with the other teachers.

One of my all time favorite pictures - Brigid kitted up, as she prepares for a night dive on the reef. I posted about this picture awhile ago - here's the story if you're interested Tom Faranda's Folly: Here's Brigid before a night dive in the Cayman Islands

The summer between our two years in Cayman - the summer of 1980 - we were in Europe and among other places went up to Dublin to see a friend of mine from Fairfield, Bob Everlanka. He was doing a graduate degree in Dublin

 

The second year we were in Cayman my brother Paul came out to see us

After our second and last year in Cayman we spent that summer in Europe. Besides spending time with Brigid's family in Yorkshire, we drove around France, Italy and Switzerland for seven weeks, camping in probably the smallest tent in Europe. That's not our tent in the background.

Brigid in Switzerland

With Brigid's Mom in the Yorkshire countryside. Brigid's family lives in the beautiful city of York.

And then in September 1981 we got back to New York and settled in Croton-on- Hudson.

First Christmas in New York together - 98 Grand St -

We hadn't seen snow in awhile

 

Brigid at the 1983 Class reunion of my Fairfield class of '73.

On the escarpment in the Catskills with her friend Linda Knox in 1986. They are right at the edge with a straight drop of hundreds of feet behind them

Here we are again in the Catskills, in 1990 with Brigid's brother Neville, and his wife Gerry. That's North Lake in the background

Drumroll! Here's Joe's baptism in 1993.

And Joe with Brigid at three years old.

On the North Sea coast of England - Joe and Brigid flying a kite. We think it's the summer of 1996.

It's January, 1998 and Tim has just arrived a month earlier -

  Summer '98, a bigger Tim

The Bronx Zoo

The Zoo again, right where the Bears live. The two children in the background are Kathleen and Philip Gagnon

July 2000 in the backyard

In August, 2001 we went back to the "Old Country". Clockwise from the top are sisters Kate and Libby, Neville, and Brigid's Mom, Frances (Frank). She died in 2004 at the age of 91. 

Now a little jump to April, 2005, as we return to Jamaica for the first time in 24 years, bringing the boys down to show them where we met and got married.

Dunn's River Falls, seen at the top of this posting and now with Brigid and the boys - my all-time favorite picture

And here we are above Montego Bay - picture taken by the waiter

Brigid with Doreen Novotny in May, 2006. Imbibing before heading out to eat

And here's Brigid same night with my college roommate Mike, at the Chartreuse Restaurant in Yonkers. Just for the record, this was one of our going out nights with the Riners, Cannons and Novotnys.

This past August we were in Boston for the wedding of Lee Anderson, the daughter of our friends Judy and Bob Anderson. Brigid looks pretty good, but I have my Guinness face on ...

The 36th and last picture - January 13, 2006. Here's Brigid with me when I was in the midst of my 20 day stay at Sloan Kettering for my high dose chemotherapy... What's to say?

So as of February 17, 2008 I will have known Brigid for 30 years. Yikes! Will have to do another big photo spread.

If you got this far, why not leave a greeting for Brigid?

Anti-nuke bomb group wins Nobel Peace Prize

Yay! ICAN is a coalition group

Here's the Washington Post coverage -

 

Democrats take over the County & they couldn't wait to raise property taxes ...

Well, no surprise. It's what they're good at.

It appears Westchester residents will be paying higher property taxes for the first time in nearly a decade. The deal hashed out by the Board of Legislators Friday calls for a 2 percent property tax hike to balance a $1.8 billion budget — and they say they have the votes to override any veto from outgoing County Executive Rob Astorino. "It's not a good budget, but as good a budget as we could get under the circumstances," said legislature Majority Leader Catherine Borgia, D-Ossining.

Psychologist Jordan Peterson on Donald Trump's IQ

Jordan Peterson has a huge internet following. Here he's on The Rubin Report another big internet channel.

NY Yankee news flash! Giancarlo Stanton going to Yanks - the National League 2017 MVP and home run leader

That's the current word - details still being worked out. Well Yankee ticket prices will be going up - Stanton contract is for $295 million over ten years. Nice work if you can get it. Stanton hit 59 homers last year - imagine his production at Yankee Stadium - especially if they bat Judge and Sanchez behind him? "Home run derby every night in the Bronx" as the linked video below says.

Here's what it can mean for next several years  -Giancarlo Stanton trade: What it means for Yankees and MLB, in 2018 and beyond

YIKES - Tim turns 21

Haha. Here's part of him last February throwing the shot put in an indoor meet - nobody very likely to mess with Tim.

And here he is in the East Coast Conference Championship, April 22nd, getting ready to throw the javelin. It was a good day for Tim - 4th place in the javelin and 2nd in the shot put - despite his hernia which he recently (October) had fixed. STAC on his shirt stands for St. Thomas Aquinas College.

 

Quick excerpts from Aaron Boone's intro press conference as the new Yankee manager

Here is Boone's bio - Aaron Boone - and of course he hit a famous walk off home run in game 7 of the 2003 American League  Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox

Hal Steinbrenner explains why Aaron Boone was named next Yankee manager

They should have re-hired Joe Girardi.

Pope Francis suggesting slight change in the Lord's Prayer/Our Father

Doesn't matter to me, one way or the other.

More for dog lovers - German Shepherd says time to eat

You can't have better than a German Shepherd.

WSJ: "Judging Roy Moore"

An editorial from yesterday's Wall Street Journal. I agree with this.

Judging Roy Moore. A GOP victory in Alabama may be more costly than a defeat.

Republicans have an unusual political problem in Alabama: Their candidate may win.

We’re talking about Roy Moore, who is neck-and-neck in the polls against Democratic candidate and former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions. By now there cannot be a soul in America unaware of allegations that, as a 30-something assistant district attorney, Mr. Moore had inappropriate sexual contact with underage girls, including one as young as 14.

******

We find her evidence and the testimony of the other women persuasive, even if we are generally skeptical about trial by newspaper, especially four decades after events are said to have occurred. But this is an election, not a trial, and voters have to make decisions in these imperfect circumstances.

But as Alabamans decide, they should consider that there are strong moral and practical reasons to reject Mr. Moore. For one thing, Republicans have never embraced the idea—promoted by Bill Clinton’s defenders for more than two decades—that bad behavior in a politician can be excused if it’s “just about sex.” Now is no time to change a sound position that politics is about more than policy.

Of course I would never vote for his opponent, another Democratic party lover of abortion.

California commute or Dante's Inferno?

Wow. Brigid's niece June in Australia sent me this 45 second vid. The extent of California fires has gone worldwide.

25 seconds for dog lovers - Brigid's German Shepherd used to react this way - trip to the Vet

Very funny. Tears when the realization sets in -

WSJ editorial on "Mueller's Credibility Problem" and stonewalling Congress

Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday -

Mueller’s Credibility Problem. The special counsel is stonewalling Congress and protecting the FBI.

Donald Trump is his own worst enemy, as his many ill-advised tweets on the weekend about Michael Flynn, the FBI and Robert Mueller’s Russia probe demonstrate. But that doesn’t mean that Mr. Mueller and the Federal Bureau of Investigation deserve a pass about their motives and methods, as new information raises troubling questions.

********

While there is no evidence so far of Trump-Russia collusion, House investigators have turned up enough material to suggest that anti-Trump motives may have driven Mr. Comey’s FBI investigation. The public has a right to know whether the Steele dossier inspired the Comey probe, and whether it led to intrusive government eavesdropping on campaign satellites such as Carter Page.

All of this reinforces our doubts about Mr. Mueller’s ability to conduct a fair and credible probe of the FBI’s considerable part in the Russia-Trump drama. Mr. Mueller ran the bureau for 12 years and is fast friends with Mr. Comey, whose firing by Mr. Trump triggered his appointment as special counsel. The reluctance to cooperate with a congressional inquiry compounds doubts related to this clear conflict of interest.

***

Mr. Mueller’s media protectorate argues that anyone critical of the special counsel is trying to cover for Mr. Trump. But the alleged Trump-Russia ties are the subject of numerous probes—Mr. Mueller’s, and those of various committees in the House and Senate. If there is any evidence of collusion, Democrats and Mr. Mueller’s agents will make sure it is spread far and wide.

Yet none of this means the public shouldn’t also know if, and how, America’s most powerful law-enforcement agency was influenced by Russia or partisan U.S. actors. All the more so given Mr. Comey’s extraordinary intervention in the 2016 campaign, which Mrs. Clinton keeps saying turned the election against her. The history of the FBI is hardly without taint.

*******

Justice has floated multiple reasons for ignoring House subpoenas, none of them persuasive.

First it claimed cooperation would hurt the Mueller probe, but his prosecutions are proceeding apace. Then Justice claimed that providing House investigators with classified material could hurt security or sources. But House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes has as broad a security clearance as nearly anyone in government. Recently Justice said it can’t interfere with a probe by the Justice Department Inspector General—as if an IG trumps congressional oversight.

Mr. Nunes is understandably furious at the Strzok news, on top of the other stonewalling. He asked Justice to meet the rest of his committee’s demands by close of business Monday, and if it refuses Congress needs to pursue contempt citations against Mr. Rosenstein and new FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The latest news supports our view that Mr. Mueller is too conflicted to investigate the FBI and should step down in favor of someone more credible. The investigation would surely continue, though perhaps with someone who doesn’t think his job includes protecting the FBI and Mr. Comey from answering questions about their role in the 2016 election.

BBC - 36 second vid: "Daredevils jump from a mountain into a plane"

How do you practice for something like this?

 Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet from France jumped from Jungfrau mountain into a moving plane.
It was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Patrick de Gayardon's achievement in 1997, when he jumped from an aircraft into a moving plane

Leon Cooper, 98 year old veteran of Tarawa

According to the NY Times he died a few days ago. He had been working for the last ten years to recover the remains of American servicemen killed in the Pacific Islands in WW II, especially in the horrendous Battle of Tarawa.

Here's an articles from Stars and Stripes and below it a short excerpt of a video (with marine-style language) he made on one of his first return visits to Tarawa.

WWII veteran's effort to recover MIA remains in the Pacific bears fruit

Here's the four minute video -

 

The carried interest loophole - why isn't it being closed?

To put it simply, carried interest is a loophole that allows certain money managers - hedge funds - real estate partnerships - investment partnerships - that sort of stuff - to convert ordinary income into capital gains. It's been on the books for years, and everyone talks about ending it but nothing gets done. Trump is against it but neither the Senate nor the House version is eliminating it. Former Senator Al Damato was on television railing against it Sunday. Says it's going to cost $100 billion over the next ten years & is tax money that could provide breaks for the middle class

So why isn't it being eliminated? Obama and the Dems did nothing about it, and now it looks like the Republicans won't either.

Quite simple - these money managers are mega-rich and make big campaign donations to everyone.

If you're interested hit the link below for a description, off MSNBC. Stephanie Ruhle is pretty brainless and of course blames the Republicans (haha - ever heard Senator Schumer speak out against it? Champion of the little guy - but he gets big $$$ from Wall Street) but it's a fairly accurate description.

https://youtu.be/cjsSgBftk9I

WSJ on what sank the Argentine submarine

Terribly sad.

When the San Juan dropped off the map in mid-November, Argentina's navy, the U.S. and 16 other nations joined in what officials describe as an unprecedented international effort to find the submarine and figure out what went so drastically wrong. In recent days, Argentine authorities have gathered crucial evidence to piece together a theory of what happened after the San Juan left Ushuaia on Nov. 8, bound for its home base of Mar del Plata about 260 miles south of Buenos Aires. Top Argentine officials now believe a blast instantly killed the sailors and sent the vessel to the seafloor. While no one knows for sure what caused the explosion, the batteries are the likeliest culprit, Argentine naval officials and outside experts say.

Water enters the snorkel while sub is running its diesel engine on surface.

The water causes a short circuit and fire in batteries, which the crew manages to isolate.

Backup batteries kick in, but three hours after fire was out, vessel experiences what officials believe was a major explosion.

Most outside experts say the calamity likely arose from the batteries. Submarines like the San Juan use lead batteries that produce highly flammable hydrogen, which must be kept at low levels and closely monitored, said Ney Zanella dos Santos, CEO of Amazônia Azul Tecnologias de Defesa SA, a state company linked to Brazil’s navy and created to help the country build submarines.

Precisely how the battery problems may have led to an explosion isn’t clear, however. “It’s like in airplane disasters—normally it is because of a series of things that went wrong,” said Nestor Antunes de Magalhães, a Brazilian military researcher.

"John Paul II's Prescient 1995 letter to Women"

Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal a couple of days ago.. I've excerpted most of it. The genius of John Paul!

John Paul II’s Prescient 1995 Letter to Women He wrote of ‘the long and degrading history . . . of violence against women in the area of sexuality.’

Sometimes you have to take a step back, remove yourself from the moment, and try to ground yourself in what is true, elevated, even eternal. Let’s do that.

The week has lent itself to a feeling of instability. The president has deliberately added to the rancor and tension of his nation’s daily life, lurching in his tweets from mischief to malice to a kind of psychopathology—personal attacks, insinuations, videos from a group labeled racist by the British government. You always want to say he has reached peak crazy, but you know there’s a higher peak on the horizon. What will Everest look like? He has no idea how to be president.

More men of the media have fallen in the reckoning over sexual abuse, most famously a bright, humorous, ratings-busting veteran anchorman, who reportedly had a switch on his desk that locked his office door so he could molest the women he’d trapped inside. He had no idea how to be a man.

Here is something to ground us in the good: Pope John Paul II’s 1995 Letter to Women, sent to the Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing. As a document it has more or less fallen through history’s cracks. But it’s deeply pertinent to this moment and was written with pronounced warmth by a man who before he became a priest hoped to be a playwright. Here is what he said:

You would never be so low as to abuse women if you knew what they are and have been in the history of humanity: “Women have contributed to that history as much as men and, more often than not, they did so in much more difficult conditions. I think particularly of those women who loved culture and art, and devoted their lives to them in spite of the fact that they were frequently at a disadvantage” in education and opportunity. Women have been “underestimated, ignored and not given credit for their intellectual contributions.” Only a small part of their achievements have been documented, and yet humanity knows that it “owes a debt” to the “great, immense, feminine ‘tradition.’ ” But, John Paul exclaimed, “how many women have been and continue to be valued more for their physical appearance than for their skill, their professionalism, their intellectual abilities, their deep sensitivity; in a word, the very dignity of their being!”

In a highly personal tone—the italics are his—he offers his appreciation: “Thank you, women who work! You are present and active in every area of life—social, economic, cultural, artistic and political.” You “unite reason and feeling” and establish “economic and political structures ever more worthy of humanity.”

He thanked women who are mothers, daughters and wives: “Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman.”

Women, he observed, have “in every time and place” suffered abuse, in part because of “cultural conditioning,” which has been “an obstacle” to their progress. “Women’s dignity has often been unacknowledged and their prerogatives misrepresented; they have often been relegated to the margins of society and even reduced to servitude. This has prevented women from truly being themselves, and it has resulted in a spiritual impoverishment of humanity.” Poor thinking and cold hearts have contributed to the conditioning; some blame “has belonged to not just a few members of the Church.”

Members of the Christian faith must look both back and forward. To free women “from every kind of exploitation and domination,” we must learn from “the attitude of Jesus Christ himself,” who transcended “the established norms of his own culture” and “treated women with openness, respect, acceptance and tenderness.”

There is “an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area; equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights.”

And listen to this alarm—again, from 22 years ago: John Paul hit hard on “the long and degrading history . . . of violence against women in the area of sexuality”: “The time has come to condemn . . . the types of sexual violence which frequently have women for their object, and to pass laws which effectively defend them from such violence.”

There is more, and I urge you to read it, but it is a very modern document, a feminist statement in the best sense. When a friend sent it this week and I reread it, what I thought was: If all the now-famous sexual abusers had ever pondered such thoughts (as opposed to parroting them on the air before flipping the switch and locking the door) and considered questions of true equality, they never would have done what they did. They wouldn’t have been able to think of women as things, as mere commodities to be used for imperial pleasure. They would have had to consider their dignity.

At the heart of the current scandals is a simple disrespect and disregard for women, and an inability to love them.

Noonan concludes with a discussion of the current situation. Here is the end -

My concern is something else. It is that young women, girls in high school, young women in college and just starting out, are going to have too heightened a sense of danger in the workplace, too great a sense of threat.

But there are more good men and women out there than bad.

There are more good ones than bad.

Know balance. Have faith.

Fake news; ABC suspends Brian Ross

Fake news rules as Ross bias comes through - again.

ABC News announced Saturday that it has suspended investigative reporter Brian Ross for four weeks without pay after Ross was forced to correct a bombshell on-air report about Michael Flynn.

"We deeply regret and apologize for the serious error we made yesterday. The reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process," ABC said in a statement. "As a result of our continued reporting over the next several hours ultimately we determined the information was wrong and we corrected the mistake on air and online."

******

"It's a major embarrassment," one ABC News employee said.

"It makes me cringe," echoed another. "This is not what any networks needs when people are so quick to say 'fake news' to you. It makes me sick to my stomach."

This is not the first high-profile mistake by Ross. In a 2012 piece for which he apologized, he suggested that the Aurora shooter may have had a connection to the Tea Party.