Tom Faranda's Folly

Remember: "The Bad Popes"

Thanks to my correspondent Paul for sending this reminder that the Church has survived tougher times (check John XII!). Note that I am absolutely not comparing Pope Francis, who I happen to like, to any of these characters.

The Bad Popes

The Bad Popes is a 1969 book by E. R. Chamberlin documenting the lives of eight of the most controversial popes (papal years in parentheses):

• Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who had his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, tried, de-fingered, briefly reburied, and thrown in the Tiber.^[1]
• Pope John XII (955–964), who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife.
• Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who "sold" the Papacy.
• Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who is lampooned in Dante's Divine Comedy
• Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured.^[2]
• Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), a Borgia, who was guilty of nepotism and whose unattended corpse swelled until it could barely fit in a coffin.^[3]
• Pope Leo X (1513–1521), a spendthrift member of the Medici family who once spent 1/7 of his predecessors' reserves on a single ceremony^[4]
• Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), also a Medici, whose power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked.

"Liberal Activist Explains Notion Of Tolerance To Man She Just Called A ‘Worthless [!#&*]’"

From Croton? Ahhh, San Francisco... Off the Babylon Bee ...

liberal activist Amber Fernandez, 34, screamed a quick explanation of the notion of tolerance to a man she had just called a “Worthless [expletive],” sources on the ground reported.

“Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and decency, you [!#?@] [!#?@]!” she yelled, pumping her balled fist in the direction of the man who had taken issue with her cause. “You do not get to judge or shame people because of their beliefs!”

“Now get the [!#?@] out of here, you filthy [!#?@] [!#?@] [!#?@]!”

“[!#?@] [!#?@] [!#?@]!” agreed some fellow protesters within earshot of Fernandez.

“Love wins, [!#?@]!” she added, as the man walked away.

NY Archdiocese Director of Public Policy: " The Truth is Our Most Important Ally"

Another to the point, dead on analysis by Ed Mechmann. Takes six or seven minutes to read. The link is the last paragraph of Ed's posting.

One thing is perfectly clear -- in all of this, the truth is our most important ally. We are in a burgeoning crisis, and time is short. We have to get past politics, personalities, self-preservation, ideologies, agendas, fear of legal liability and personal embarrassment, and get to the truth. The truth is all that matters. After all, we have it on good authority that "the truth will set you free".

 

 

"Lady You Barely Know At Church Going In For The Hug"

HAHA.

You endured the hug bravely, smelling the faint scent of a unique concoction of Bath & Body Works fruit sprays on her person as she continued embracing you for what felt like 3 hours, but actually lasted a mere 15 seconds, according to sources. Since you had been ambushed, you didn’t have time to properly extend your arms, so they ended up awkwardly folded across your stomach, sandwiched in between the two of you for the duration of the assault.

The tragic event occurred just after the worship leader asked everyone to “walk around and shake hands with 5 people you don’t know.” You reportedly stood there smiling tightly at passersby and nodding at several acquaintances, looking down at your phone whenever possible.

But just when you thought you had weathered the brunt of the trial, this lady just blindsided you from 3 o’clock, arms extended. “Hey! Good morning, how are you!” she said shrilly as you shrank back, but realized with horror you had nowhere to run.

You endured the hug bravely, smelling the faint scent of a unique concoction of Bath & Body Works fruit sprays on her person as she continued embracing you for what felt like 3 hours, but actually lasted a mere 15 seconds, according to sources. Since you had been ambushed, you didn’t have time to properly extend your arms, so they ended up awkwardly folded across your stomach, sandwiched in between the two of you for the duration of the assault.

Wall Street Journal: "Pope Francis in the Dock"

An editorial today. It's short; only eight paragraphs - all below the link.  And I pretty much agree with all of it. And here's another posting Chicago Cardinal Cupich - major foot in mouth - does he really believe all he said?  on this horrible mess. 

The archbishop’s charges have split the Catholic community. Some defend his reputation for honesty and professionalism while others suggest he is motivated by dislike for Pope Francis, or that he disagrees with the pope’s liberal politics. Some secular defenders who like the pope’s politics, and are stalwarts of the #MeToo movement, want to excuse the episode.

For Catholics still reeling from a recent Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing decades of sexual abuse by priests and coverups by their bishops, the weekend brought another shock. A former papal nuncio (ambassador) to the U.S. claims Pope Francis lifted or ignored sanctions imposed by his predecessor on Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for the cardinal’s abuse of seminarians. The nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, also called for Pope Francis to resign.

The archbishop’s charges have split the Catholic community. Some defend his reputation for honesty and professionalism while others suggest he is motivated by dislike for Pope Francis, or that he disagrees with the pope’s liberal politics. Some secular defenders who like the pope’s politics, and are stalwarts of the #MeToo movement, want to excuse the episode.

But motives are irrelevant here, or at least they should be. The question is whether the archbishop’s claims are true, and that should be fairly easy to determine.

Earlier this summer, the Vatican stripped Cardinal McCarrick of his cardinal’s hat and restricted him after the Archdiocese of New York deemed credible an allegation that he had sexually abused a teenager. But among the bombshells in his 11-page letter, Archbishop Viganò reveals the cardinal had been put under sanction years before by Pope Benedict—until Pope Francis gave him a get-out-of-jail pass.

At least in America, most bishops have done a fair job implementing the 2002 reforms designed to hold abusive clerics accountable to the law and the church. Most Americans have thought the ugly subculture of priests abusing boys and girls was largely cleaned up. But if the archbishop is right, the lies continue.

Pope Francis did not help himself when asked about the charges on his way home from Ireland on Sunday, saying he would neither confirm nor deny the allegations. More encouraging was the reaction from the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo. Far from dismissing Archbishop Viganò, he asked for a Vatican investigation and issued a statement saying “the questions raised deserve answers that are conclusive and based on evidence.”

Among the ironies here is that, in the capitalist system Pope Francis so often attacks, no corporate executive publicly accused of covering up abuses like this could escape accountability. The Catholic Church is not a profit-making corporation, and the Pope is no CEO.

But when it comes to allegations of abuse and coverup against its leaders by a man who is also a senior leader, surely a church has an even greater interest in getting to the truth. Pope Francis will have to disclose and explain the truth or forfeit his moral authority.

Appeared in the August 29, 2018, print edition.

Chicago Cardinal Cupich - major foot in mouth - does he really believe all he said?

This is the local NBC station in Chicago. The link has an interview broken up into five short videos.

Cardinal Blase Cupich spoke to NBC 5 about the explosive allegations of a former high-ranking church official who claims the Pope knew about charges of sexual misconduct against an American cardinal and says that cardinal was responsible for Cupich's appointment in Chicago. "The Pope has a bigger agenda," Cardinal Cupich said. "He's got to get on with other things, of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the church. We're not going to go down a rabbit hole on this."

A series of short videos adding to a full interview. He also makes the rather colossal claim that there's a small group in the Church who don't like the Pope because he's a Latino and he wants more lay involvement in the Church. The first and last of the short videos are really sad nonsense to hear from a Cardinal.

Report: James Bond's car company going public!

Not sure if I'll have access to this IPO. It would be fun.

Aston Martin, the maker of the famed sports car favored by secret agent 007, is expected to announce as early as Wednesday plans for a stock-market listing later this year that would value the company at more than $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The iconic British sports-car brand intends to list about £1 billion ($1.29 billion) of shares on the London Stock Exchange , the people said.

Aston Martin Expected to Sell Shares

 

St. Augustine Feast today: "Late have I loved you"

This is a famous bit - poem at the end - from The Confessions, his autobiography  -

Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance the innermost places of my being; but only because you had become my helper was I able to do so. ...

Accordingly I looked for a way to gain the strength I needed to enjoy you, but I did not find it until I embraced the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who is also God, supreme over all things and blessed for ever. He called out, proclaiming I am the Way and Truth and the Life, nor had I known him as the food which, though I was not yet strong enough to eat it, he had mingled with our flesh, for the Word became flesh so that your Wisdom, through whom you created all things, might become for us the milk adapted to our infancy.

Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!

Lo, you were within,

  but I outside, seeking there for you,

  and upon the shapely things you have made

  I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.

You were with me, but I was not with you.

They held me back far from you,

  those things which would have no being,

  were they not in you.

You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;

  you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;

  you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;

  I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;

you touched me, and I burned for your peace.

BBC: Venezuela crisis - "We never thought it would come to this"

10% of the population has fled. Meanwhile, worth remembering what Bernie Sanders had posted on his website in 2011: These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger. Who's the banana republic now?

 

Research: Couples Who Occasionally Glance Up From Electronic Devices To Acknowledge Each Other Are Happiest

A recent study -

Researchers found that couples who put The Office on in the background and then settle in to browse the internet on their personal electronic devices can have a happy, fulfilled relationship, so long as they carve out a few seconds to look up and make some eye contact before resuming their internet surfing time. Experts also recommend asking your spouse “What’s so funny?” when they force air out their nose slightly more forcefully than usual, as they’re probably looking at a funny meme the two of you can share together.

Rugby: So. Hemisphere championship, New Zealand v. Australia, 2nd match

Played in Auckland, NZ

This is an interesting short read about the NZ fly half. Yes he's quick.

Croton's Black Rock Kitchen opening this Thursday the 30th.

In the Justin Thyme space. Thanks to Maria for sending me this.

Brigid and I really liked Justin Thyme and we hope this will be a worthy successor!

Suburban Guides - Black Rock Kitchen

 

More on Medal of Honor winner John Chapman

He had a family and two daughters. From the Catholic network, EWTN.

 

Neil Simon

Well, a great talent.

Playwright Neil Simon Dies at 91. The author of hits such as ‘The Odd Couple’ and “Plaza Suite’ was American theater’s most successful and prolific playwright in the second half of the 20th century

Playwright Neil Simon, a master of comedy whose laugh-filled hits such as “The Odd Couple,” ‘’Barefoot in the Park” and his “Brighton Beach” trilogy dominated Broadway for decades, has died. He was 91.

Mr. Simon died early Sunday of complications from pneumonia, surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, said Bill Evans, his longtime friend and the Shubert Organization director of media relations.

In the second half of the 20th century, Mr. Simon was the American theater’s most successful and prolific playwrights, often chronicling middle-class issues and fears.

Starting with “Come Blow Your Horn” in 1961 and continuing into the next century, he rarely stopped working on a new play or musical. His list of credits is lengthy.

Mr. Simon’s stage successes included “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” ‘’Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” ‘’The Sunshine Boys,” ‘’Plaza Suite,” ‘’Chapter Two,” ‘’Sweet Charity” and “Promises, Promises,” but there were other plays and musicals, too, more than 30 in all. Many of his plays were adapted into movies and one, “The Odd Couple,” became a popular television series.

For seven months in 1967, he had four productions running at the same time on Broadway: “Barefoot in the Park”; “The Odd Couple”; “Sweet Charity”; and “The Star-Spangled Girl.”

Even before he launched his theater career, he made history as one of the famed stable of writers for comedian Sid Caesar that also included Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.

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“I don’t write social and political plays, because I’ve always thought the family was the microcosm of what goes on in the world,” he told The Paris Review in 1992.

World's most committed Christians live in Africa, Latin America, and the USA

From Pew Research Center -

The study analyzed 84 countries with sizable Christian populations. In 35 of those countries, at least two-thirds of all Christians say religion is very important in their lives. All but three of these 35 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. (The three exceptions are the U.S., Malaysia and the Philippines.)

At the same time, the United States remains an outlier among wealthy countries in terms of its relatively high levels of religious commitment. In the U.S., more than two-thirds of Christians say religion is very important in their lives, compared with significantly lower levels in other rich democracies. For instance, only 12% of Christian adults in Germany and 11% in the United Kingdom say religion is very important in their lives.

Christians in Africa and Latin America also tend to pray and attend church at higher rates than Christians in most of the rest of the world. For instance, at least four out of five Christians in Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Cameroon and Chad pray every day. Prayer frequency is just as high in six Latin American countries, including Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay.

Similarly, in every African country surveyed, more than 60% of Christians say they attend church at least weekly. In Latin America, more than two-thirds of Christians in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador also report weekly attendance.

Prayer frequency is lowest among Christians in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Malaysia, where fewer than 10% of Christians pray daily. Likewise, fewer than 10% of Christians report attending church weekly in nine European countries, including Denmark, Estonia and Russia.

The U.S. is again an outlier when it comes to frequency of prayer, though this is less the case when it comes to weekly church attendance. Nearly seven-in-ten U.S. Christians (68%) say they pray daily, while 47% say they attend church at least weekly.

John McCain

Megan McCain sent this around after her father passed. It's a heartfelt statement of Faith. I posted this picture of McCain - I believe this is his Annapolis graduate picture.

 

"Does hate have a home in Croton?"

Here's a pretty good letter that was in the weekly Croton Gazette and posted on the Croton United website (For outsiders, Croton United is a nonpartisan political group only interested in Croton issues; they'd done well in local politics, but both Trustees - one a registered democrat and one an independent - and the Mayor - a registered Democrat - were voted out in the last local election. All four Trustees and the Mayor are now Democrats. I've posted Croton United's "Who We Are" below).

I don't belong to a political party and don't get involved in local politics - but signs popping up in Croton - they've gotten a bit tedious. If you hit the link it takes less than five minutes to read the whole letter.

Much like Donald Trump’s need to constantly talk about how he has a high IQ, our need in Croton to constantly talk about how “Hate Has No Home in Croton” raises the question of whether we doth protest too much.

Croton has a problem with hatred and intolerance, and we can put up sanctimonious signs on every remaining un-signed patch of grass in Croton without changing that fact.

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There are things Croton can do to increase diversity, but those will take a serious commitment and time. The first step is simple tolerance: you can have tolerance without diversity, but you can’t have diversity in the absence of tolerance.

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Croton is full of love for abstract causes and people in distant lands. If we can love them, maybe we can at least tolerate Terrence Murphy setting foot within the Croton village limits. You might even say “Good morning.”

Here's the "Who We Are" off Croton United facebook page.

Who We Are

Croton United is a nonpartisan coalition of Croton residents of all political persuasions who have an interest in addressing issues of importance to our village and its future. We believe in the importance of building community through active citizen participation, and welcome diverse points of view.

Our organization’s core values include providing stewardship to the village that ensures its continued financial sustainability, bringing civility and courtesy to the public debate, and ensuring openness and transparency in village government.

 

How two guys in their 20's are selling their watch business for $200 million ...

Ok please ignore the four letter expletives. I guess this guy is upset he didn't think of doing it himself. A $6 watch sold for $95? That's capitalism and marketing for you.

John Chapman, Medal of Honor winner

Hit the link. This is an amazing story. President Trump awarded the MOH to his family a couple of days ago. It was for action in Afghanistan in 2002.

New Details Reveal Airman John Chapman's Heroism at Roberts Ridge

Shot several times already, Chapman attempted to halt the al-Qaida forces' assault on an incoming MH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying U.S. special operators.

He no longer had the cover of night, and exposed himself to the enemy as he ran. Dashing out to the ridge line in five-foot-deep snow, Chapman fired at the enemy fighters who were loading rocket-propelled grenades, helping additional American forces to enter the landing zone.

It would be his final bold act before two shots from a large-caliber machine gun cut through his torso, one destroying his aorta and killing him instantly.

But this, Chapman's final fight, occurred well after the special tactics airman had already been presumed dead.

Another ROMEO gathering!

Yes, it's the ROMEO (Retired Old Men Eating Out) group of which I am an honorary member.  Names will not be given to protect the guilty - but all Fairfield U. grads and one had the distinct honor(?) of rooming with me ...

At Fat Sal's on Tate Ave. in Buchanan. Great place for lunch in the outdoor area!

Still lookin' good -

Ok, get this over with !

 

Rugby: So.Hemisphere championship, South Africa v. Argentina

The second match from last weekend - first is here - Rugby: So. Hemisphere Championship Series- New Zealand v. Australia  and played in Durban, South Africa.

WSJ: Why Michael Cohen copped a plea

Forget "Crooked Hillary" (who's bad enough). Here's "Crooked Michael".

Why Michael Cohen Agreed to Plead Guilty—And Implicate the President

Michael Cohen had many reasons to play ball last weekend when his legal team sat down to talk to federal prosecutors.

The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office had testimony from Mr. Cohen’s accountant and business partners, along with bank records, tax filings and loan applications that implicated not only Mr. Cohen in potential criminal activity, but also his wife, who filed taxes jointly with her husband. Prosecutors signaled Mr. Cohen would face nearly 20 criminal counts, potentially carrying a lengthy prison sentence and staggering financial penalties.

Adding to the pressure, David Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, provided prosecutors with details about payments Mr. Cohen arranged with women who alleged sexual encounters with President Trump, including Mr. Trump’s knowledge of the deals.

This account of how Mr. Cohen went from a pugnacious defender of the president to turning on Mr. Trump is based on details provided by people close to Mr. Cohen and others briefed on the discussions with prosecutors.

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

The investigation is continuing, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Although the plea deal doesn’t require Mr. Cohen’s cooperation, it leaves the door open for him to talk with both the Southern District of New York and special counsel Robert Mueller. The court restricted Mr. Cohen’s travel to New York City; Chicago, where he owns taxi medallions; South Florida, where his parents live; and Washington, D.C., where the special counsel is based.

The deal doesn’t preclude further prosecutions, including other charges against Mr. Cohen.

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

Mr. Cohen’s troubles increased in May, when Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, a New York City taxi mogul who managed taxi medallions owned by Mr. Cohen and his relatives, pleaded guilty to state criminal tax fraud and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in their probe of Mr. Cohen.

By then, prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service had focused on Mr. Cohen’s personal income taxes. In conversations with a potential witness in June and July, investigators asked “very pointed” questions about various tax filings, according to a person familiar with the conversations.

“They knew what they wanted, they knew what they had, and they went after it,” the person said.

In late June, Mr. Cohen openly broke with Mr. Trump.

A personal turning point for Mr. Cohen was a conversation with his father, Maurice Cohen, a Holocaust survivor.

Mr. Cohen’s father urged him not to protect the president, saying he didn’t survive the Holocaust to have his name sullied by Mr. Trump, according to a person who was told about the conversation. The elder Mr. Cohen couldn’t be reached for comment.

There's plenty more in the Journal article.

"Life expectancy declines ... in U.S. and other high-income countries"

Life expectancy is declining in high-income countries worldwide, driven in part by the effects of the opioid epidemic on younger adults in the U.S. and the impact of a severe flu season on older adults in other nations, two new studies suggest.

Out of 18 countries in the study, 12 experienced life expectancy declines among men and 11 experienced life expectancy declines among women.

**********

Most of these countries reversed their life-expectancy decline in the 2015-2016 period, but in the U.S. and the UK, the declines continued, the authors note.

In the U.S., the source of reduced life-expectancy was concentrated at younger ages, particularly deaths among those in their 20s and 30s, and largely driven by increases in drug-overdose deaths related to the nation’s ongoing opioid epidemic.

A second study in The BMJ suggests, however, that the problems driving life expectancy declines in the U.S. are broader than just the opioid crisis and may extend to a wide range of causes unrelated to drug use or substance abuse.

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

“A leading cause is fatal drug overdoses - fueled by the opioid epidemic - but we make a mistake if we focus only on the drug problem, which is just the tip of the iceberg,” said lead study author Dr. Steven H. Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

“Deaths from alcoholism and suicides have also increased, what some call deaths of despair,” Woolf said by email.

Washington Post & WSJ on Michael Cohen guilty plea

Pretty good summary. But - is paying off a porn star with your own $$$ a campaign finance violation? How?

Cohen’s claim about Trump may spark calls for impeachment but is unlikely to lead to charges

Those opinions have never been tested in court, and doing so would require a prosecutor to buck the department’s guidance and attempt to bring charges anyway.

In comments to reporters after Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felony counts in federal court in Manhattan, Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said prosecutors were sending a message that they are unafraid to file charges when campaign finance laws are broken. But he did not mention Trump or offer any indication that his office planned to pursue action against the president.

Likewise, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III determined months ago that allegations of campaign finance violations involving payments to women before the presidential election were outside the scope of his mandate to investigate whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia’s operation to influence the vote.

And here's the Journal -

We doubt Mr. Mueller will indict Mr. Trump as a sitting President, but the ultimate threat to Mr. Trump is political. Congress decides what is an impeachable offense, and if Democrats retake the House in November they will define “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The Cohen and Manafort convictions raise the stakes for Mr. Trump and his Presidency, but voters may want to see more than evidence about payments to a porn star to overturn the results of a presidential election.

A triple play turned 19 years ago in a more regular manner

Unlike this triple play  which I posted yesterday. Baseball Rarity: a triple play  This one below was against the Yankees - note Joe Torres in the dugout.

Art event at Mariandale! "The Art of Trees"

And my friend Karen is a main mover and shaker on this (an HNM parishioner). More information below the lovely poster. Farandas will definitely be going.

go here - https://www.facebook.com/events/325581247987329/

 

Rugby: So. Hemisphere Championship Series- New Zealand v. Australia

Australia the home team. Moral of the game; if you give the All Blacks an opening, you're screwed. Below the highlights is a column by former England player Jeremy Guscott talking about the result. There will be a rematch this weekend in Auckland, NZ. Last time Australia won in Auckland was 1986.

 

Former British & Irish Lion and England second five-eighths Jeremy Guscott said the All Blacks were playing 'a beautiful game to watch that must be a joy to play in'.

 

 

More good economic news: personal savings rate is rising.

This from the Wall Street Journal a couple of days ago.

A Surprising Bulwark for the U.S. Economy: The Personal Saving Rate. An upward revision in data is spurring optimism about consumers’ ability to weather the next economic downturn

On the eve of the last two recessions, American households were unprepared. Years of appreciating stock portfolios, rising home values and improving job prospects had convinced consumers that they didn’t need to save much of their income.

So when unemployment rose and asset prices fell in the downturns that started in 2001 and in 2007, consumers drastically reined in spending and the economy contracted.

Until a few weeks ago, some economists feared history was in the process of repeating itself. Official numbers suggested saving was again out of style as the current expansion enters its 10th year.

Recent data has altered the picture. Households have been saving significantly more of their after-tax income for several years, according to revised data released last month by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Take just the first quarter of this year: The agency more than doubled its estimate of the personal saving rate–the difference between disposable income and spending—to 7.2% from the 3.3% estimated previously.

The new number exceeds the 6.4% average rate recorded since 1990, and is almost three times the most recent low of 2.5% in 2005.

The first-quarter changes alone amounted to $613.5 billion in additional saving, at an annual rate, recovered from between the statistical couch cushions—enough money to buy more than 20 million Ford F-150 pickup trucks or more than 600 million iPhone Xs.

While slight adjustments to economic data are common, the revision to the personal saving rate was the biggest since at least 2002.

Baseball Rarity: a triple play

This was a few days ago, and is really weird.

 

Remember David Hogg? He's one immature, jerk of a kid. As he attacks Pelosi.

I happen to think rather very little of Nancy Pelosi myself, but what is with this little twit?

David Hogg to 'Old' Nancy Pelosi: 'Move the F**k off the Plate and Let Us Take Control'

And here is more - "insufferable" is certainly the right word -

Hogg Wild: If your perspective on 18-year-old former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student and gun-control activist David Hogg is, “Why won’t he just go off and live a normal 18-year-old’s life, instead of becoming the insufferable permanent face of a movement aiming to repeal a part of the Bill of Rights?” then you probably shouldn’t flip out about the lengthy and mostly glowing profile of him in New York magazine. This is because Hogg very much wants conservatives and gun owners to flip out about him. Hogg’s role in what the piece acknowledges as “the celebrity-activist vortex” is primarily fueled by that outrage ...

Pope Francis letter on sex abuse issued this morning - with "sorrow and shame"

UPDATE: This might be easier to read:  http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html

Go here for the full text, just hit the link

“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor 12:26). These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons. Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike. Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated. The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults.

Pope Francis - The Kiss of Life!?

Who knows? Off Yahoo! Thanks to my friend Jessica for sending me this. Let's hope and pray it works out for the little girl.

A baby with a brain tumor underwent a miraculous recovery after a kiss from Pope Francis

When Pope Francis kissed baby Gianna Masciantonio in 2015, some saw it as an encouraging sign. The 1-year-old had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, Philadelphia’s Fox 29 News reported at the time. Doctors had not expected that she would make it to her first birthday, but she overcame the odds — and days after her birthday, Pope Francis kissed her head.

CBS Philadelphia reported that Gianna has histiocytosis, a rare condition that made it impossible for her to have surgery to remove the tumor. The blood disorder caused lesions on her brain stem, the outlet explained. Gianna was treated with chemotherapy, and CBS Philadelphia reports that now, Gianna is in good health and will begin preschool this year.

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“From what I thought at age 4 months when I operated on her, if you would have told me she’d be running around getting ready to start preschool, I would have told you you’d be crazy. It just wouldn’t happen,” Dr. Phillip Storm, the hospital’s chief of pediatric neurosurgery, told CBS Philadelphia.

Steve Hilton interviews super-popular psychologist Jordan Peterson. Part 1

Dr. Peterson is the hottest thing going on youtube and his book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (I read it, and it's excellent) is #2 on Amazon right now.  My son Joe originally put me on to Peterson; he's very popular with young people, especially young men. Peterson is popular with all sorts; Bill Maher had him on for a full hour a couple of months ago.

Gov. Cuomo organizes flag burning to win "Progressive" support

Fresh off his statement that "America was never that Great."

Governor Andrew Cuomo has apparently veered to the left in an attempt to not lose progressive support. Recently, he rebuked President Trump by stating that America “was never that great.” He later apologized for that remark since it implied America could be somewhat great, which he said it was “too awful to be true” because of “women not getting the same amount of pay as men or something.”

Cuomo followed that new statement up with a rally that consisted of his standing on stage with an American flag and a lighter. “You progressives are going to love this!” Cuomo said before lighting the flag and yelling, “Take that, you stupid country!” He then jumped up and down on the burning flag while shouting, “Look at me! I’m a left winger!”...

Cuomo seemed frustrated by the response and donned a black mask while saying, “I’m going to show you I’m progressive.” He then picked up a bat and started beating a random person in the crowd while shouting, “Take that, Nazi!” When someone told him to stop, he yelled, “You must be a Nazi too!” At that point, the rally quickly dispersed.

Undaunted, Cuomo has issued a press release stating that next week he’ll be part of a same-sex wedding ceremony in which he will marry an actor portraying Joseph Stalin.

Yankees hit four homers in yesterday's game - celebrating the 1998 Championship team.

Yanks still without Sanchez and Judge.

Archdiocese Director of Public Policy Ed Mechmann on the PA. Grand Jury report.

"Calling sin by it's real ugly name." Indeed. An extensive excerpt below the link but Ed Mechamnn's entire column should be read.

... I have been reading the Grand Jury Report from Pennsylvania. The Report documents the history of clerical sexual abuse in six of the Pennsylvania dioceses (excluding Philadelphia and Johnstown-Altoona, which have been the subject of other reports). It is truly horrifying reading, enough to make your blood boil with rage at the men who did these wicked evil demonic things and the foolish incompetent men who failed to properly respond to them.

The most horrifying thing about the report is not just the cold, clinical way in which these awful sins are described by the Report. That's somewhat understandable, because it's an official document and they should strive for a tone of objectivity. Rather, it's the cold, clinical, impersonal way that the internal Church documents discuss the offenses and how diocesan officials were reacting and handling them.
 
The Report singles one statement that is really beyond belief, but it is sadly not untypical:

In another case, a priest raped a girl, got her pregnant, and arranged an abortion. The bishop expressed his feelings in a letter: "This is a very difficult time in your life, and I realize how upset you are. I too share your grief." But the letter was not for the girl. It was addressed to the rapist. (6)

That kind of indifference to the victims and solicitude for the offenders is all too typical of the internal Church documents cited in the Report. It is incomprehensible to me that those diocesan officials did not die of shame when they read Matthew 18:6 ("whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea") and 19:14 ("Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven").
 
One of the hallmarks of the culture of silence and cover-up was the systematic use of euphemisms to describe what was happening. Terms such as "inappropriate sexual relationship", "boundary issues", "this difficult time", and priests being "reassigned" or "out on sick leave" were used to conceal the true nature of what was happening. Plain words like "crime", "sin", "rape", "sodomy", and "torture" were rarely if ever used.

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You hear none of that plain language in the internal documents of the Church cited in the Report. Indeed, you get little sense that the gross immorality of the abusive behavior was even on the radar. Nor do you feel any degree of moral outrage at the evil behavior of the offenders, nor any effort to seriously discipline them. There is virtually no indication that any bishop ever seriously considered using the ample penal procedures of the Canon Law. All the priests were treated as if they had an illness to be treated quietly, not as if they had committed grevious sins for which they needed to repent and do reparation.

The only way that this horrendous scandal can be adequately dealt with requires first and foremost that we tell the truth. About the failures to respond to allegations appropriately. About the failures to bring law enforcement into the picture. About the failure to protect others from known offenders. And, to be fair, about the strides that we have taken in the last decade to improve things.

But more than anything else, we need to call sin by its real ugly name. And treat it with the revulsion it deserves. 

Great: "One song, six decades: Aretha Franklin sings (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"

Can't get enough of Aretha.

 

Youth unemployment at 52 year low

The unemployment rate among young Americans fell to its lowest level in more than 50 years this summer, though the share of young people looking for work remained well below its peak in 1989.

Of Americans between 16 and 24 years old actively looking for work this summer, 9.2% were unemployed in July, the Labor Department said Thursday, a drop from the 9.6% youth unemployment rate in July 2017. It was the lowest midsummer joblessness rate for youth since July 1966.

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Low unemployment among young people shows that in a tight labor market more opportunities are opening to groups that historically have struggled to find jobs.

Similarly, the unemployment rate among older Americans who don’t have a high-school diploma fell to a record low this year. The jobless rate also fell sharply for those who completed high school but never attended college. Among racial groups, the unemployment rate for Latinos fell to 4.5% in July, the lowest rate on records back to the 1970s.

Aretha Franklin

Very sad. This tribute is off the Wall Street Journal and I've excerpted part of it.

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, Dies The 18-time Grammy Award winner was 76

A church-trained pianist and organist who often accompanied herself on recordings and in concert, Aretha Franklin—thanks to her powerful, flexible voice and fierce delivery—was the most commanding and influential vocalist of her generation. When Ms. Franklin let out a gospel wail or added an “Oh, yes I am” as a spiritual fill, her songs became urgent messages and awakened the emotions of anyone with a heart.

Between 1961 and 1998, 88 of Ms. Franklin’s singles reached Billboard’s pop chart, with 17 rising into the top 10. She won 18 Grammy Awards, and five of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Yet only two of her singles hit No. 1, while just six of her 46 charted studio albums managed to reach the top 10, a trend that was due largely to Ms. Franklin’s reluctance to adapt to changing times.

Painfully insecure, fearful of flying and perennially distrustful of those surrounding her, Ms. Franklin never let her psychological challenges overtake her performances. With her head reared back slightly, her mouth open in a smile and her voice effortlessly rising to sing in any octave, she became transformed in front of a microphone.

**********

Born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1942, Ms. Franklin moved with her family to Buffalo, N.Y., at age 2 and then to Detroit two years later. Her parents separated in 1948, and her mother died just before Ms. Franklin turned 10, a hard blow.

Ms. Franklin sang gospel and played keyboards in her father’s Detroit church from an early age. When she turned 14, she signed a deal with JVB Records and recorded “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” in her father’s church. The single caught the ears of R&B record executives.

After she turned 18, her father began positioning her for a secular singing career, setting his sights on Columbia. In 1960 she signed with the label.

Ms. Franklin recorded nearly a dozen albums for Columbia, but most featured stale standards and stiff arrangements. By 1966, when her contract expired, producer Jerry Wexler at Atlantic signed her to a lucrative deal that paid off instantly.

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In 2009 Ms. Franklin sang at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, and in 2015 she played piano and sang “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” during the Kennedy Center Honors’ tribute to Carole King, where she famously tossed her fur on the stage floor midsong to free herself up at the piano.

Upon relistening to Ms. Franklin’s large body of work, one can’t help but hear a touch of melancholy in nearly all of her recordings—a hint of sadness from a lifetime of struggle. Remarkably, the Queen of Soul knew how to mask this sadness with a voice that electrified listeners.

 

 

How things change: The Wrangler company looking to exit the jeans business

This from a WSJ email alert - kind of interesting -

VF Corp. VFC 0.77% , owner of Lee and Wrangler jeans, is exploring strategic options for its denim business that could include a sale or spin off of the classic American brands, according to people familiar with the situation.

The apparel conglomerate has owned Wrangler and Lee for decades and they were once its core, but the company’s jeans sales have slowed in recent years as more women opt for yoga pants or premium denim brands like J Brand or Frame.

VF, which has a market valuation of $38 billion, has been paring back its wide-ranging portfolio to focus on its fastest-growing brands, such as Vans sneakers, The North Face jackets, and Timberland boots.VF’s denim business last year had $2.66 billion in sales and $422 million in profit. A typical multiple in the apparel industry could value the business at several billion dollars. It isn’t clear what other brands might be part of the company’s review.The overall U.S. jeans category had total sales of $16.2 billion in 2017, down from $18.8 billion in 2013, according to Euromonitor International. One big brand bucking the downward trend is Levi Strauss & Co., whose revenue increased 8% in its most recent fiscal year.

Cuomo foot-in-mouth disease

What's the point of saying "America was never that great". How stupid.

Missouri Democrats toss out pro-life Democrats

Thanks to Jessica for sending me this. UPDATE: See the two minute video at the end.

The Missouri Democratic Party made it clear pro-life Democrats are not welcome Saturday when it voted to remove platform language encouraging a “diversity of views on abortion.”

The Riverfront Times reports the state party approved the language in July, prompted by calls to be more welcoming to voters who think unborn babies deserve a right to life.

“We respect the conscience of each Missourian and recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing positions on issues of personal conscience, such as abortion,” the amendment read. “We recognize the diversity of views as a source of strength, and welcome into our ranks all Missourians who may hold differing positions on this issue.”

However, the radical pro-abortion groups NARAL and Planned Parenthood quickly expressed outrage at the move. And on Saturday, the state party reversed course and voted to remove the amendment, according to the local news.

In a statement after the vote, Missouri Democrat chairman Stephen Webber implied strongly that pro-lifers are not welcome in the party anymore. He said Democrats should display an unwavering commitment to abortion on demand (“reproductive healthcare”).

“Democrats will continue to fight defend the full spectrum of women’s reproductive rights ensured in Roe v. Wade, including the right to safely end a pregnancy, to safely carry a pregnancy to term, and the right to raise your family in a safe and healthy environment,” Webber said.

Here’s more from the report:

The July amendment, which was pushed by former state Representative Joan Barry (D-St. Louis County), had been a last-minute amendment to the work of the party’s platform committee. It was emailed to members one day before a scheduled vote on a new platform — and the vote ended up taking place on a day that many party activists had already committed to being at immigration protests. After its narrow 31-25 approval, anger ran high.

And perhaps that’s one reason the vote to strip the amendment’s language just one month later wasn’t even close. Even Barry voted in its favor. (An unofficial tally live-tweeted by Planned Parenthood staffer Sarah Felts listed sixty-one in favor, two abstentions, and none opposed.)

 

Here's the video

 

Fired FBI agent Peter Strzok raises $250,000 in one day

One thing for Trump-haters - they're willing to spend money to support their own... Strzok set his goal at 150K and now has raised it to 350K. Is this a great country or what? Article below from USA Today. I found the picture.

GoFundMe page for fired FBI agent Peter Strzok raises $250,000 in one day

Who says sending anti-Trump texts to your girlfriend doesn't pay? 

Sure, such texts cost Peter Strzok his 22-year career with the FBI, but they also seem to have garnered the disgraced former agent a lot of support – enough to raise more than $250,000 for his legal expenses in one day on a GoFundMe page. 

The page, launched Monday by "Friends Of Special Agent Peter Strzok," initally sought $150,000 to be "put into a trust dedicated to covering Pete’s hefty – and growing – legal costs and his lost income." 

But that sum was reached so quickly, the target amount was later raised to $350,000.

"Peter Strzok, a man who has spent his entire life working to help keep us and our nation safe, has been fired," reads a message on the GoFundMe page. "He needs your help."

Feast today - St. Maximilian Kolbe

I posted this last year but without his picture. One of the great Saints to come out of the terrible WW II period.

Who died in Auschwitz, substituting himself for another prisoner who was to be shot. I believe the prisoner survived the war and was at Kolbe's canonization in 1982.

St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941) was born in Poland to a devout Christian family. As a boy he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She showed him two crowns, one white for virginity and one red for martyrdom, and asked him which he would be willing to accept. He replied that he would accept both. He later joined the Franciscans. While studying for the priesthood in Rome, he organized a group of friars and founded the Militia of the Immaculata in 1917 to crusade for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to oppose the evil of Freemasonry. From it came the Knights of the Immaculate magazine that reached a circulation of 750,000, as well as a radio show, both of which became a resource for strengthening faith across Poland. He also established a monastery which grew to 800 friars, the largest in the world at the time. In 1930 he traveled to the Far East and founded another monastery in Nagasaki, Japan. He returned to Poland in 1936. During World War II, St. Maximilian Kolbe housed over 3,000 Polish refugees at his monastery. He was eventually imprisoned because of his effective work, and was sent to Auschwitz in 1941. There he endured special cruelty because he was a Catholic priest. St. Maximilian ministered to the prisoners, and offered his life in place of a father who was condemned to death by firing squad. After being starved for two weeks and still found alive, he was killed by lethal injection on August 14, 1941. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron of families, drug addicts, prisoners, journalists, and the pro-life movement. His feast day is August 14th.

Who died in Auschwitz, substituting himself for another prisoner who was to be shot. I believe the prisoner survived the war and was at Kolbe's canonization in 1982.

St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941) was born in Poland to a devout Christian family. As a boy he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She showed him two crowns, one white for virginity and one red for martyrdom, and asked him which he would be willing to accept. He replied that he would accept both. He later joined the Franciscans. While studying for the priesthood in Rome, he organized a group of friars and founded the Militia of the Immaculata in 1917 to crusade for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to oppose the evil of Freemasonry. From it came the Knights of the Immaculate magazine that reached a circulation of 750,000, as well as a radio show, both of which became a resource for strengthening faith across Poland. He also established a monastery which grew to 800 friars, the largest in the world at the time. In 1930 he traveled to the Far East and founded another monastery in Nagasaki, Japan. He returned to Poland in 1936. During World War II, St. Maximilian Kolbe housed over 3,000 Polish refugees at his monastery. He was eventually imprisoned because of his effective work, and was sent to Auschwitz in 1941. There he endured special cruelty because he was a Catholic priest. St. Maximilian ministered to the prisoners, and offered his life in place of a father who was condemned to death by firing squad. After being starved for two weeks and still found alive, he was killed by lethal injection on August 14, 1941. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron of families, drug addicts, prisoners, journalists, and the pro-life movement. His feast day is August 14th.

Amusing Headline: "Trump’s Honeymoon with Media Almost Over"

Haha. Yes they've sure been easy on him. Look at all the positive articles in the media about the economy - NOT!

From the Wall Street Journal -

For anyone who believes that the editorial pages of American newspapers have been insufficiently critical of President Donald Trump, the Boston Globe has a solution. Determined not to keep readers guessing, the Globe is urging editorial boards across the country to publish simultaneous condemnations of Mr. Trump’s rhetorical attacks on the press in their Thursday editions.

On Friday the Associated Press reported:

‘‘We are not the enemy of the people,’’ said Marjorie Pritchard, deputy managing editor for the editorial page of The Boston Globe, referring to a characterization of journalists that Trump has used in the past. The president, who contends he has largely been covered unfairly by the press, also employs the term ‘‘fake news’’ often when describing the media.

Mr. Trump says that he is referring only to “fake news” purveyors—not all members of the press corps—as enemies. The AP report elaborated:

The Globe has reached out to editorial boards nationwide to write and publish editorials on Aug. 16 denouncing what the newspaper called a ‘‘dirty war against the free press.’’

As of Friday, Pritchard said about 70 outlets had committed to editorials so far, with the list expected to grow. The publications ranged from large metropolitan dailies, such as the Houston Chronicle, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Miami Herald and Denver Post, to small weekly papers with circulations as low as 4,000.

CNN said over the weekend that more than 100 newspapers have now agreed to participate. Organizing large coalitions of people to simultaneously express similar messages is generally the work of politicians and public relations executives, rather than journalists. Fortunately Americans are free to engage in such activity regardless of their chosen professions or how similar these professions may appear at any given moment.

HoHum.

Very interesting; A writer, on his 2012 near death experience

Published a couple of days ago in the Guardian (UK) and 13 paragraphs long. Seems to me, and while James Orr does not say this, he wouldn't wish for this but recognizes it's made him the person he is today.

The life-affirming legacy of my near-death experience. Before I nearly died I suffered from acute anxiety – but there’s been no sign of it since

My natural predisposition is not towards happy endings. I have written many short stories and none of them end well. I am averse to the idea of character building, growth through suffering, whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I do not want to seem glib or trite. But taking the long view – as I can now, six years later, with the memory of the long, often desperate days in hospital disappearing – it is hard to see it any other way: nearly dying was life-affirming.

Ocasio-Cortez on Sesame St.; debated economics with the Count

The Count, who is a numbers guy.

The congressional candidate got into a heated exchange with the legendary counting expert, fumbling her words as he calmly tallied up the trillions of dollars she hadn’t accounted for in her proposals.

“The number of the day is… 30 trillion dollars! Ah! Ah! Ah!” the Count began in his opening statement, as a number “30” puppet followed by a bunch of zeroes started dancing behind him. “Vhat is your plan for vinding this kind of money?”

“Like, we like, pay for other things and just like, invent money and stuff to pay for national security and stuff, so why can’t we invent trillions for making jobs and healthcare and education?” she responded, but the Count was ready with a helpful chart that pointed out that the existing programs she referred to didn’t total anywhere near the cost of her proposals.

“ONE failed politico-economic worldview—Ah! Ah! Ah!” the Count said, dealing a fatal blow as Ocasio-Cortez stormed off the set.

FBI fires Peter Strzok

Finally. But he'll get a nice job in the private sector - maybe as chief counsel at Starbucks or Ben & Jerry's... By the way, a Georgetown graduate.

FBI Fires Peter Strzok, Who Sent Anti-Trump Text Messages The agent said his views of Trump never affected his official actions

His attorney, Aitan Goelman, said Mr. Strzok was fired Friday. The FBI didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Strzok was the lead agent on the FBI probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state. He later served as the lead agent in the early days of special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Mr. Mueller removed him from the probe a year ago, after the Justice Department inspector general uncovered Mr. Strzok’s exchange of tens of thousands of text messages from 2015 through 2017 with a former FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair.

A priest: Catholic church and sex abuse

This is really a great short essay. - 16 paragraphs in toto.  It was only when i got to the end that I realized I'd been in touch with this guy a couple of years ago when I bought some lapel pins and rubber bracelets (picture at end) off this website nasarean.org which he runs to support persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

A few weeks before I was ordained a Catholic priest in the late autumn of 1994, my superior in the seminary told me that, in his opinion, it was probably the most difficult time in a century to become a priest. Yet, he went on, it was also the most exciting time. I really did not take much notice of what he said. In fact, in my overconfidence, I thought he was talking nonsense. The Nazis had a special section of the Dachau concentration camp for priests. The “evil empire” of the former Soviet Union tortured, imprisoned, and executed thousands of priests. And, of course, more recently, many faithful priests have been murdered by Islamists in multiple countries. To even speak of “suffering” priests in the West over the past 24 years would be absurd, histrionic, and untruthful. It would also be an insult to all those brave and faithful men who have truly suffered for their profession of the Catholic faith.

Perhaps it would be more reasonable for me just to describe the experience of being a priest, especially during 2001–02, and at this moment of crisis for the Church. I do this not to elicit sympathy. It is possible that having experienced what seemed to be the worst of times, and now experiencing them again, I might be able to collect some thoughts and shed some light on ways forward.

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Tacit acceptance of illicit relationships among the clergy, noticeably among those formed in the tumultuous years from the late 1960s to the late ’80s, allowed the abuse of power that seemed to have reached a peak with the revelations at the beginning of the century but now has reemerged both with McCarrick and the seminary abuses in Chile and Honduras. There is a feedback loop: Illicit behavior allows and encourages illicit power structures, which in turn allow the illicit behavior. The behavior cannot continue without the connivance or tacit acceptance of those in command of the structure. As in 2002, so in 2018, the most charitable explanation for the failure of the bishops to police themselves is naïveté, often coupled with mediocrity of character and intellect. The darker explanation is that some, certainly not all, were practitioners of the very things they were called to condemn.

Hit the link for the whole essay, which only takes five minutes to read. And here's the picture mentioned above.

 

NY Post: In NYC "Commuter Apocalypse"

Shutdowns looming for major subway and other arteries. Looks really bad. Glad I moved my office to Croton almost 20 years ago.

A perfect storm of subway repairs, highway construction, commuter rail woes and worsening gridlock is creating a commuter doomsday the likes of which the city has never seen before.