Tom Faranda's Folly

America Mag: "Pope Francis welcomes historic encounter between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un"

UPDATE: See video below of the Pope's remarks

So do I. At least one of the Democrat Presidential Candidates - Representative Ryan of Ohio - denounced it Sunday morning on one of the news shows.

Pope Francis today, June 30, welcomed news of the meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un and hailed it “as a good example of the culture of encounter.” Addressing pilgrims from many lands in St. Peter’s Square, he extended his greeting to “the protagonists” and prayed that “this significant gesture may constitute a further step on the path to peace, not only in the [Korean] peninsula for the whole world too.”

In his homily at that Mass, he invited everyone to “pray for the emergence of new opportunities for dialogue, encounter, and the resolution of differences, for continued generosity in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and for an ever-greater recognition that all Koreans are brothers and sisters, members of one family, one people. They speak the same language.”

Pope Francis will be near Korea again in the second half of November when he visits Japan. The South Korean President Moon last year brought him a verbal invitation on October 18 from Mr. Kim to visit Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Vatican sources then told America there is a willingness on the pontiff’s part to go there if the conditions are right, but North Korea has yet to formalize that invitation.

Baseball: important to catch the final out, before celebrating

Another amusing baseball video from the same guy I've been posting -

Baseball Craziness in London: Yankees 17, Boston 13 highlights

Wow. Yanks up 6-0 then Boston ties them in the bottom of the first. And the craziness continues - check the incredible game-ending double play. Crowd of 60,000 in London for first Major League Baseball game in Europe.

Harris on Biden: "You're not a racist. ... But ..."

I've never liked Biden, but he didn't deserve this. Kamala Harris is the ideological polar opposite of Ted Cruz; and like him very bright, very ambitious, and very quick in a debate format. And like Cruz, very easy to dislike. No doubt her whole rift was pre-planned.

Baseball: First he homers, then a bunt double! How cool ...

Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals defeats the shift two ways. Hits it into the seats and then the bunt.

WSJ: "Rachel Maddow Reality Check"

I didn't watch last night's debate, but I have seen some of the "highlights" up on youtube. From what I could see, this guy Delaney was the most sensible. Evidently the Wall Street Journal agreed. This is from their "Best of the Web" column.

A Democratic presidential candidate reveals that voters don’t share her agenda.

One of the wonderful things about America and the fragmentation of modern media is that it’s possible to be a highly compensated television anchor while speaking for a tiny sliver of the American electorate. But perhaps MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow didn’t expect this fact to be highlighted during a gathering of Democratic presidential candidates.

At Wednesday night's debate in Miami former Rep. John Delaney (D., Md.) attempted to inject some measure of reality into his colleagues’ discussion of economics. But he also provided an interesting response to Ms. Maddow on the question of prosecuting President Donald Trump for real or imagined offenses. It seems that the core of her nightly programming may be of little interest to many Democratic voters, never mind Republicans.

Following a pledge from former Rep. Beto O’Rourke that if elected he would have the Department of Justice pursue an investigation of Mr. Trump, Ms. Maddow pressed the topic with Mr. Delaney. Here’s an excerpt from NBC’s debate transcript:

MADDOW: Congressman Delaney, because of the accountability issues that Congressman O’Rourke was just describing there and the real political landscape in which Nancy Pelosi is saying that impeachment will not be pursued in the House, it raises the prospect -- and the Mueller Report raises the prospect that President Trump could be prosecuted for some of those potential crimes down the line. No U.S. president has ever been prosecuted for crimes after leaving office. Do you believe that President Trump could or should be the first?

DELANEY: I guess there’s always a first.

MADDOW: Should he be?

DELANEY: I don’t think anyone is above the law. I don’t think anyone is above the law, including a president. I support Speaker Pelosi’s decisions that she is making in the House of Representatives right now as speaker. I think she knows more about the decision as to whether to impeach the president than any of the 2020 candidates combined.

MADDOW: Conceded. On the issue of prosecution...

 

DELANEY: ... no one is above the law, and this president, who is lawless, should not be above the law. But I will tell you, Rachel, the one thing when you’re out doing as much campaigning as I’ve done, 400 events, all 99 counties in Iowa, this is not the number-one issue the American people ask us about.

It’s not. They want to know what we’re going to do for health care, how we’re going to lower pharmaceutical prices, how we’re going to build infrastructure, what we’re going to do to create jobs in their communities.

You know, last year in our country, 80 percent of the money for start-up businesses went to 50 counties in this country.

There’s [sic] over 3,000 counties in this country. That’s what they care about. They care about what’s going on in the public schools. They care about what’s going on with jobs in their communities, with their pay, with their health care, with infrastructure. These are the issues, these kind of kitchen-table, pocket-book issues...

MADDOW: Understood.

DELANEY: ... are actually what most Americans care about. They never ask about the Mueller Report.

(CROSSTALK) MADDOW: Congressman, thank you. Your time is up.

DELANEY: They never ask about it. They want to know how we’re going to solve these problems.

At that point Ms. Maddow interjected to say again that Mr. Delaney’s time had expired.

BB: Ahead of tonight's debate, "Joe Biden Promises His Followers Eternal Life"

This is even better than his promise to end cancer!

On a talk show Monday evening, Joe Biden promised his followers he would eradicate all disease, pain, suffering, and that he would even vanquish death itself.

"While my fellow candidates think they can cure cancer, the common cold, or smallpox, I myself will go one step further," he said, the audience of the late-night show on the edge of their seats. "I promise, here and now, to give everyone who votes for me abundant life, and life everlasting. For my yoke is easy, and my taxes are---well, they're gonna be pretty heavy. But still."

The crowd began screaming in joy, with several audience members fainting. Biden personally walked through the crowd and massaged several fainted women back to life.

"There will be no more debt, no more death, no more pain, for the former things will have passed away," he said tenderly as he took his seat once again. "I will wipe every tear from their eyes."

Muslims (in New Zealand) oppose euthanasia

Why? Because "Islam considers all human life sacred". True for the vast majority of Muslims.

FIANZ, the voice of New Zealand’s Muslim community since 1979, is opposed to euthanasia and the End of Life Choice Bill. We give voice to our concerns on behalf of our community. As New Zealand Muslims, we are worried that the vulnerability of our community members could be exploited if euthanasia is legalised by Parliament. Islam considers all human life sacred. Life is to be protected and promoted and not terminated prematurely. It is neither permissible in Islam to kill another human being, nor even to kill one’s own self. God Says, “Do not take life, which God made sacred…” (Qur'an 17:33), and “Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves...” (Qur'an 4:29-30). As a community we implore our elected democratic Ministers of Parliament to join us to also oppose euthanasia – and to instead focus our efforts on how to better support and care for every New Zealander. It is not for us or doctors to kill or aid others in destroying themselves. Our predominantly immigrated community will be made vulnerable under the proposed bill.

Cardinal Burke cuts ties with Dignitatis Humanae because of it's association with Steve Bannon.

Good. Bannon is a sleazeball. Excerpt below but hit the link.

U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke has resigned from the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, saying it has become "more and more identified with the political program" of Steve Bannon. In a letter posted on his Twitter feed, Cardinal Burke said June 25 he had urged the institute to return to its original purpose of promoting the respect of human dignity but "it has not done so," so he was terminating his relationship, including being the institute's honorary president.

"I disagree completely with a number of Mr. Bannon's statements regarding the doctrine and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church."

"Above all, I find objectionable his statement calling into question the church's discipline of perpetual continence for the clergy, in accord with the example and desire of Christ ..." he said.

Cardinal Burke said he had never worked with Bannon but had met with him "on occasion to discuss Catholic social teaching regarding certain political questions."

"In meeting with him, as in meeting with other political leaders, I have tried to fulfill my mission as a priest to teach the faith and morals for the common good," he said.

Biz Insider - "Why American Women Are So Good at soccer"

However, they only just got past Spain yesterday, in the World Cup. Their success has a great deal to do with Title IX, and that also has helped USA women in track and field.

 

Yesterday - Brigid and Tom's anniversary.

A big one - 4-0. This means - hundreds of years off purgatory for Brigid. And only the best for Brigid - Fat Sal's Bar & Grill in Buchanan for brunch! Brigid had never been, but I've been several times with the ROMEO's (Retired Old Men Eating Out - Mike, Dennis and Paul - I'm the only non-retiree...). Good value and bigger then it looks on the inside. We ate on the little front porch since it was a lovely day.

What the inside looks like - is Brigid thin or what?

Brigid had poached egg on crab cakes with home fries,

I had an avocado, bacon and cheddar omelette, Note mimosas as drink of choice - and all you want with brunch. We got our $$$worth.

Brigid took this of me, being an a**hole - as noted above time off purgatory for her -

For dessert we each got four mini creme puffs. Delicious!

We had a beautiful day.

Old Timers Day - Mariano Rivera homers!!

An inside the park home run. Yay! Check the video below. As one of the commentators said, he was the best athlete on the field, just like he was the best athlete when playing for the Yankees.

 

And here he is in a brief interview talking about his entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame in a month or so.

Oregon eliminates the 15 day required waiting period for assisted suicide.

And of course no one would ever by pressured by family (or beneficiaries) or the government to "get out of the way".

Senate Bill 579 eliminates physician-assisted suicide waiting periods for those diagnosed as near death. The Oregon House passed the bill 35-22 yesterday. It will now become law unless the governor vetoes it.

Oregon Bill SB 0579 which enables a physician to wave the 15 waiting period states:

Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, if the qualified patient’s attending physician has medically confirmed that the qualified patient will, within reasonable medical judgment, die before the expiration of at least one of the waiting periods described in subsection (1) of this section, the prescription for medication under ORS 127.800 to 127.897 may be written at any time following the later of the qualified patient’s written request or second oral request under ORS 127.840.

“The Legislature heard from highly qualified and experienced medical professionals who testified that this bill is not only unnecessary but dangerous,” says Lois Anderson, Oregon RTL executive director. “They voted largely down party lines to fulfill the ominous agenda of a handful of their colleagues.”

The journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, in a November 2005 article, printed that survival predictions were made, as part of a study, for 468 patients in hospice programs. Only 20 percent of the predictions were accurate.

“While it is incredibly hard for physicians to accurately prognosticate someone’s life expectancy,” says Anderson, “It is not incredibly hard for a person in a position of influence to bully a sick person into obtaining lethal drugs. Eliminating the waiting period will make this even easier.”

By waving the 15 day waiting period, a person who is approved for assisted suicide could die by assisted suicide without an opportunity, if depressed, to change their mind.

The assisted suicide lobby argues that assisted suicide laws have not expanded in Oregon, therefore there is no fear of expansion in other jurisdictions. Previous to this bill, Oregon had expanded assisted suicide by re-interpreting the meaning of terminal illness. In January 2018, Fabian Stahle proved that the Oregon Health Authority re-interpreted the meaning of terminal illness. Now Oregon has expanded the language of the legislation.

The Netherlands euthanasia law has expanding, not by changing the language of the law, but by changing the interpretation of the law. The latest Netherlands euthanasia statistics suggest that the euthanasia law was re-interpreted to include euthanasia for “completed life.”

WSJ criticizes Trump for not bombing Iran?!

This is a pathetic commentary as the Journal joins with idiots on CNN and MSNBC who also criticized him as weak. I think it's nonsense - Trump did the right thing.

Iran Calls Trump’s Bluff

President Trump called off a military strike against Iran in mid-mission Thursday, and his supporters and even some of his critics are hailing it as an act of restraint and courage. The question for American interests is whether Iran and other adversaries will see it instead as a sign of weakness and indecision.

*********

Squeezed by the U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign, Iran’s rulers are trying to pressure Mr. Trump in return. In recent weeks they have attacked oil pipelines, mined oil tankers, and this week brazenly shot down a $130 million U.S. drone monitoring shipping lanes over international waters. Iran’s bet is that Mr. Trump is so averse to military confrontation that he will ease U.S. sanctions. On the evidence of the aborted mission, they may be right.

The damage from Mr. Trump’s stand-down depends in part on how Iran’s leaders respond. If they agree to talks to revise the 2015 nuclear agreement, the restraint might pay off. Yet Iran’s leaders have shown no interest in talking as long as U.S. sanctions are in place. If Mr. Trump eases sanctions to get Iran to the bargaining table, he is back to the Obama nuclear deal.

On the other hand if the Iranians escalate again, Mr. Trump’s restraint will look misguided and weak. If Americans are now killed by Iranian proxies, his failure to use force to deter attacks will deserve some of the blame.

Laying out these potential stakes isn’t “war mongering,” as the new isolationists on the right claim. This is the reality of geopolitics in which credibility is crucial to deterrence. The more that adversaries think Mr. Trump’s threats of force aren’t credible, the more they will seek to exploit that knowledge.

********

On Iran he has adopted a policy goal favored by hawkish Sen. Lindsey Graham but wants to use only the means of isolationist Sen. Rand Paul to achieve it. He warned that “if Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran,” but he lets Iran shoot down a drone and interfere with international shipping.

If Mr. Trump’s real policy is Mr. Paul’s, then he should be honest with Americans and return to the Obama nuclear deal. In the meantime, Iran appears to be calling Mr. Trump’s bluff.

Pedro the Turtle has new wheels!

Courtesy the LSU Veterinary School.

Supreme Court says Maryland "Peace Cross" war memorial can stay on state property

Good. An interesting point - the Cross was originally built on private property n 1925, and the state took over the property in 1961.

Writing for the 7–2 majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that the cross did not violate the Constitution’s establishment clause, as was alleged by the plaintiffs, a group of humanists who argued the war monument represented a state endorsement of Christianity.

“The Religion Clauses of the Constitution aim to foster a society in which people of all beliefs can live together harmoniously, and the presence of the Bladensburg Cross on the land where it has stood for so many years is fully consistent with that aim,” Alito wrote. “The cross is undoubtedly a Christian symbol, but that fact should not blind us to everything else that the Bladensburg Cross has come to represent. . . . For all these reasons, the Cross does not offend the Constitution.”

So who dissented?  Usual suspects -

Liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented...

The cross was initially built on private land by members of the Bladensburg, Md. community in 1925 to commemorate the 49 Prince George’s County natives who died in World War I. The state took over the property, which is situated next to a major intersection, in 1961 and has since spent $117,000 to maintain it.

The American Humanist Association sued in 2014 to have the cross taken down. A three-judge panel then ruled in 2017 that the cross’s presence on state land violated the establishment clause, which codified the separation between church and state.

Attorneys for the American legion, which initially funded the cross’s construction, argued that the cross’s removal would lead to the destruction of hundreds of religious war memorials currently situated on public land across the country.

“This is a landmark victory for religious freedom.  The days of illegitimately weaponizing the Establishment Clause and attacking religious symbols in public are over,” said Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel to First Liberty, which represented the American Legion. “Our Founders would have been appalled at this attempt to make the government hostile to our religious heritage, history, and symbols. The attempted perversion of our Constitution is now over, and every American now has more freedom than they have had in decades, with a government no longer hostile to people or expressions of faith.”

WSJ: "S&P 500 Hits Record Close..."

The S&P 500 surged to its first record close since April, underscoring confidence on Wall Street that the U.S. economy and global markets remain healthy despite a fresh tumble in bond yields around the world. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped below 2% Thursday for the first time since late 2016, hitting 1.99% early in the morning in Asia and touching that level several times in New York trading before closing at 2.001%. Yields remained near all-time lows in Germany and France, reflecting rising bond prices. Traders and portfolio managers said stocks’ rally, marked by a 249-point gain in the Dow Industrials and a fourth straight day of gains in the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq Composite Index, is driven by expectations that an about-face this spring by global central bankers will keep the decadelong economic expansion on track and help avoid a potential recession.

Biden: 'Republicans May Have Standards, But We Have Double Standards'

huh? Thank you BB.

Biden pointed out that by having two sets of standards, Democrats are leading the race for having the most sets of standards.

"That's two times as many standards," he said proudly. "Double is a lot more than single. Anyone who's ever watched a baseball game knows that."

"Isn't that right, sweetie?" he said to a young girl in the front row of the crowd, asking her to come up and stand on the stage while he put his hands on her shoulders for the duration of the speech.

The presidential candidate then went on to slam Trump for his treatment of women, confident in the knowledge that no one in the Democratic Party would dare call him out for being a hypocritical little creep.

Not to be outdone, Trump quickly took to Twitter to announce that the Republican Party would shortly be debuting its brand new triple standards.

One thing Trump sure got right: China "took us for suckers"

From his Orlando rally the other night.

Today is... National Martini Day!

If not THE favorite, certainly one of the favorites in Farandaville.

The gin-based drink isn't just James Bond's favorite; It's one of the most popular mixed drinks around the world. The original version is pretty easy to make. Take some gin, add vermouth, ice and an olive or lemon twist.

Baseball Rarity: An intentional balk!

This is off the same youtube channel as the one I posted a couple of days ago - Baseball: Textbook example of not hustling. - the guy specializes in weird baseball stuff. Watch and see why the pitcher would intentionally balk and move the runner up one base.

 

MSNBC's Chris Matthews says Democrats look down on working people.

True but a surprising comment from the super partisan Democrat Matthews.

TED talk: The literal brain changing effects of exercise.

Wendy Suzuki was doing completely different brain research when she totally changed her focus - a very interesting 13 minute talk.

Baseball: Textbook example of not hustling.

As the batter turns a routine infield pop-up into a double play. This was  couple of months ago. The player is still with the Angels.

Wall Street Journal: The Hong Kong protests

We follow goings-on in Hong Kong since Brigid and I were there for 11 days in 1990, about ten months after the Tiananmen Square massacre. And the situation looks ominous. Very tricky diplomatically, and if China cracks down...

HONG KONG—Protesters poured into this city’s streets for a second Sunday despite the suspension of a controversial bill to expand the government’s extradition powers, as a week of demonstrations appeared to be spiraling into a broader political movement.

The massive turnout, which organizers estimated at nearly two million, was the third mass demonstration in eight days. It was a rejection of a partial walkback by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who a day earlier indefinitely suspended work on the bill, which would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial, but stopped short of scrapping the proposal. Police estimated that 338,000 people had followed the official procession path. The sprawling nature of the protest made a precise count impossible.

Protesters chanted for the bill to be withdrawn and Mrs. Lam to step down.

The turmoil has thrown Hong Kong governance into crisis and threatens to spill over into problems for China’s central government in Beijing, which endorsed the proposal but had largely tried to distance itself from it. Fears over the law have grown into a mass defense of Hong Kong’s identity and the legal autonomy that preserves its culture and freedoms from those of mainland China.

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

“The scale of the turnout is stunning. This is historic,” said Antony Dapiran, a lawyer and author of a book on dissent in the city. “This is Hong Kong coming out peacefully and en masse to give their response to what Lam had to say yesterday. They’re saying: No.”

The march followed a week of sporadic protests, including a day of clashes on Wednesday, when police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators, and a massive but largely peaceful rally against the bill by as many as a million people on June 9. On Saturday, a man fell to his death after attaching a banner protesting the extradition bill to a scaffold at Pacific Place mall, near the legislature.

Sunday’s protests were broad, with students joined by families pushing children in strollers and elderly in wheelchairs. Shouts of “Withdraw!” and “Step down!” rang on for hours as protesters marched and could be heard in nearby skyscrapers and residential buildings. Participants clogged major streets for more than a mile. Even hours after it began, protesters were still streaming to the starting point, filling streets more than half a mile away.

Protesters on Sunday wore black T-shirts to express outrage at the police response on Wednesday, as well as at Mrs. Lam, organizers said. Many carried white flowers to lay at the site along the march route where the man who had hung the banner died.

The march route was wider than a week ago, and crowds were so big marchers spilled in four other roads.

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

“Carrie’s apology is totally insincere when there are no responses to the concrete demands of the people,” said Lee Cheuk-yan, general-secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. “If she really feels remorse over her handling of the bill, she should give in to our demands.”

Tom Fung, who said he participated in the protests on June 9 and June 12, came out again on Sunday to protest the bill with his friends from high school.

“Hong Kong is our root,” the 19-year-old student said. “We can’t dissipate our hope.”

First Mass at Notre Dame since fire; everyone wearing a hard hat

The Mass was mostly for workers and staff. This is from the Guardian (UK).

Heheh. Father's Day Card I was texted

By Joe, who is in England right now with Brigid.

Bill Clinton: 'I Thought #MeToo Was A Pokemon' (Any Pokemon fan understands...)

When the interviewer asked Clinton about the Lewinsky scandal in the context of the #MeToo movement, it quickly became apparent that the former commander in chief believed the term referred to a fictional character in the Pokemon franchise.

“I had no idea this #MeToo thing was about respect for women and stuff,” the confused president said during the interview, “I thought people were talking about that Pokemon you could catch at the end of the Unkown Dungeon, you know, the one everybody saved the Master Ball for.”

When the host explained to Clinton that women have been raising awareness of sexual harassment and assault through the use of the #MeToo hashtag, the wide-eyed President immediately became apologetic.

“I am so sorry! I would have been the first to voice my support for this movement and apologize for my actions while in office, had I known,” he said, wiping tears out of his eyes. “I just thought people were really excited about catching the legendary psychic Pokemon from Red and Blue.”

“Hoo boy, people probably think I’m a real jerk,” he added, shaking his head.

Going out on a limb: Op Ed by Robert De Niro

Speaking truth to power -

From time to time, fans, interviewers, and other liberal actors will ask me what I think about President Trump. I’ve dodged the question as long as I can, not wanting my extremely unpopular opinion about Trump to alienate my friends, family, and associates. But the time has finally come for me to step out into the sunlight and let you know how I feel about the man.

I know I’m risking my career saying this as someone who works with the liberal elite all day long, but sometimes, you just have to take a stand for what you believe in.

Here goes:

I don’t like President Trump.

There, I said it. It’s out there. There’s no turning back now. I know I’ll be relentlessly maligned, slandered, and crucified for this. But I stand by my incredibly unpopular assertion that President Trump is not a good fit for leader of this country, no matter what my far-left celebrity friends will say about me. The cost to my career and popularity among my progressive associates is a small price to pay for being true to myself and finally saying what no one else was willing to say: that Trump is bad.

Bring on the hate—I won’t be shaken.

CNN: Joe Biden is going to "cure cancer."

That settles it, as a cancer survivor I'm voting for Biden. Didn't Nixon also promise to "win the war" against cancer? Another point - cancer isn't a disease; it's hundreds of diseases.

Great story: "World War II veteran meets family of friend who died on D-Day"

All the sisters, and a brother. What a nice tale.

Reporter tracks down 11 year old who told joke about Pelosi

NEW YORK, NY—A reporter for The Daily Beast tracked down and doxxed an 11-year-old kid who told a joke about Pelosi at school one time.

"Hey, if Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump are stranded on a desert island, who survives?" he asked his classmates earlier this year. "America! America survives!" he said. His classmates didn't really know who Pelosi was but laughed anyway because the joke had the ring of humor to it.

Not so fast, said The Daily Beast reporter Kevin Poulsen. "It was necessary that we track this kid down and try to ruin his life so Americans can see that Russians aren't responsible for all political humor," he said, though it wasn't clear that any Americans actually believed that.

A tearful Smith begged Poulsen not to publish his information and tell the world that he served detention last year for forgetting to do his homework, but it was too late.

"You should have thought about that before you told a joke that kind of made fun of a Democrat," he told the crying boy, shrugging. "Maybe now you'll learn your lesson."

AMA reaffirms opposition to assisted suicide

Good. Would have been VERY bad if they hadn't.

Despite a concerted effort by euthanasia advocates, the American Medical Association has voted to retain its long-standing opposition to assisted suicide. The AMA affirmed CEJA 2, the report which recommended that the AMA retain its opposition to assisted suicide. The vote was 65-35, a huge margin of victory for doctors who want the AMA to continue treating patient, not killing them.

The vote is notable because the AMA is one of the largest medial organizations in the country, and medical societies are influential when it comes to legislators making policy decisions and in shaping public opinion.

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

“We applaud the American Medical Association for maintaining their longstanding opposition to physician-assisted suicide. In doing so, the AMA sides with patients and people with disabilities who would be at risk for deadly harm through mistakes, coercion, and abuse, all the while carefully guarding the trust upon which the patient-physician relationship is based,” he said.

Vallière added: “Patients deserve care and protection, not a prescription for death. We trust that this decision will encourage states considering legislation to continue to reject assisted suicide.”

The AMA policy states:

It is understandable, though tragic, that some patients in extreme duress–such as those suffering from a terminal, painful, debilitating illness–may come to decide that death is preferable to life. However, allowing physicians to participate in assisted suicide would cause more harm than good. Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.

In the past year, CEJA has deliberated twice and concluded both times that the current AMA policy on assisted suicide should be maintained.

Who knew? German U-Boat in Central Park!

Interesting - if you're into this kind of stuff. This youtube channel has all sorts of similar items.

CNBC: "Generational Boom Lead to Market Boom?"

Ellen Zentner, Morgan Stanley Chief U.S. Economist on demographics. Interesting - #1 age in the US is 27. That's young compared to other countries.

Alec Baldwin quits SNL; tired of playing Trump

Of course a great spoofing imitation - but all good things must end.

St. Peter's Basilica - restoration of it's oldest Crucifix

From the 14th century.

Bloomberg: Socialist Paradise of Venezuela - where you can't even get a shower.

Unless of course you are President Maduro - I'm sure he smells wonderful.

On Thursday, Juan Guaido woke up and doused himself with a bucket of water. It was his shower. Like millions of Venezuelans, the man who dozens of countries recognize as the legitimate leader of his broken country can’t rely on the taps to run. “It’s one of the things I hate most,” the 35-year-old lawmaker said in an interview. “It’s a symbol of poverty, and during much of my life I had to do it.”

And yet, he was for the most part characteristically upbeat, exuding that can-do spirit that his followers love and his detractors find naive, as he talked about how Venezuela would have to tolerate much more suffering in order to topple Nicolas Maduro’s autocratic regime. Despite the pain, he said, the U.S. shouldn’t ease up on the sanctions that are deepening the worst economic crisis in the country’s history.

“It’s going to get worse” before things turn, he warned.

Ultimately, he insisted, the opposition movement, rekindled after he became leader of the National Assembly in January, would succeed. New elections could be held in six or nine months because the pressure simply won’t let up on Maduro’s closest collaborators to break ranks, he said.

 

Fr. Rutler on the "Catholic" Senator Gillibrand

Rutler's weekly email column that came out Saturday afternoon.

While experience cautions theologians against the quicksand of politics, politicians not infrequently rush in to theological matters where angels fear to tread. So it was on May 29 when our junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, announced on National Public Radio that the Church is wrong about abortion, homosexuality, and the male priesthood. This puts her at odds with all the saints and doctors of the Church, and with Jesus Christ. The latter sent his Holy Spirit on Pentecost to lead the Church into all truth, and it is hard to believe that he has reversed himself in our Republic’s recent years. Since it is “impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18), he would be at a disadvantage were he to run for the Senate from New York. This would be a trifling matter were it not for the fact that Senator Gillibrand tells Catholics that she is a Catholic.

   On various issues, Gillibrand has boasted about her “flexibility.” This was evident when, as a Congresswoman representing a district populated by hunters, she enjoyed a 100% approval rating from the National Rifle Association, but when she became a senator, she got an “F” rating from that same NRA, which she has since theatrically described as “the worst organization in this country.” Such flexibility reminds one of Ramsay MacDonald, whom Churchill likened to the Boneless Wonder of Barnum’s circus, a spectacle that his parents judged “would be too revolting and demoralising for my youthful eyes.”

   This mendacity became more egregious in a Fox News town hall televised on June 2 when she said that “infanticide doesn’t exist.” The senator’s comments, aired by numerous media outlets across the political spectrum, ignored the “late-term” abortion bill signed by Governor Cuomo on January 22, as he sat next to Sarah Weddington, the attorney who lied before the Supreme Court during the Roe v Wade case. Gillibrand then defended the “right to make a life and death decision.” But if there is no infanticide, there is no death. This is not a mistake the Holy Spirit would have made, but it does reek of the Father of Lies. The senator’s rant was the rhetorical equivalent of a clumsy saboteur, like Claudius in Hamlet, fatally “hoist with his own petard.”

   Last Sunday in Romania, Pope Francis beatified seven bishops who were martyred after unspeakable tortures during the Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. They died in defense of the same Faith that Senator Gillibrand has said is flawed. During the beatification ceremony, the Pope warned against “new ideologies” that threaten to uproot people from their “richest cultural and religious traditions.” He said that there are “forms of ideological colonization that devalue the person, life, marriage and the family” and the faithful must “resist these new ideologies now springing up.” Because of their obedience to the Spirit of Truth, those beatified martyrs will never be known in history as Boneless Wonders.

Here is an extended version of his column.

https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/the-mendacity-of-public-officials

Why people ask for assisted suicide/euthanasia (and it's not for pain)

This is off the Mercatornet website - based in Australia and New Zealand. I'm sure this is true.

There is one fact about euthanasia which ought to be front and centre in debates, wherever they take place. Nearly everyone who requests it is not suffering from unbearable pain.

As one of the leading bioethicists in the United States, Ezekiel Emanuel, points out, existential angst is the main reason. “We should end the focus on the media frenzy about euthanasia and PAS [physician-assisted suicide] as if it were the panacea to improving end-of-life care,” he says. And Dr Emanuel, the brother of President Obama’s one-time chief-of-staff, is not in the pro-life camp.

This finding has been confirmed again and again. As Xavier Symons reports in today’s issue of MercatorNet, most of the victims of Canada’s new euthanasia legislation are affluent and educated and dread losing their autonomy.

If euthanasia is “needed” because people are lonely and dependent, surely the solution is solidarity and companionship, rather than a lethal injection.

‘Existential distress’, not pain, drives euthanasia. Euthanasia victims in Canada tend to be white and relatively affluent

 

Sebastian Maniscalco - funny 45 seconds - from "Stay Hungry"

About contractors

D-Day, Omaha Beach First Waves ashore; amazing essay from "The Atlantic" in 1960

This is so powerful. Pretty much just leaving the link - if you are interested, takes 15-20 minutes to read.

"Photograph of American troops approaching Omaha Beach, Normandy, on D-Day."

First Wave at Omaha Beach An account of the “epic human tragedy” that unfolded when Allied troops landed on the shores of Normandy on D-Day

Unlike what happens to other great battles, the passing of the years and the retelling of the story have softened the horror of Omaha Beach on D Day.

This fluke of history is doubly ironic since no other decisive battle has ever been so thoroughly reported for the official record. While the troops were still fighting in Normandy, what had happened to each unit in the landing had become known through the eyewitness testimony of all survivors. It was this research by the field historians which first determined where each company had hit the beach and by what route it had moved inland. Owing to the fact that every unit save one had been mislanded, it took this work to show the troops where they had fought.

 

Surprise! Tucker Carlson lauds Elizabeth Warren's economic goals and plans

The first five minutes of this are really interesting. Stick with it.

Latest Read (re-read actually): "The Longest Day"

The classic about the 24 hours of D-Day, June 6th, 1944. A great narrative. Of course it was made into a justly famous movie. But the book is so worth reading. The title comes from something the German General Erwin Rommel said to his staff months before the invasion; that the day of the invasion "Would be The Longest Day" both for the Allies and Germany.

If you do read it, google  "Normandy D-Day map" because the one thing the book lacks is a clear understanding of the geography; it's a narrative about the people. But one of the simple maps that pops up on a search is helpful .

 

 

Never Gets Old - Essex RFC: "The Story of '76"

Third Fourth year in a row I've posted this. It never gets old! Now 42 43 years ago...

Ahhh, 40 years ago - June fifth, 1976. In Downing Stadium, a Rugby Festival with four games. After three New York teams all get steamrolled by English sides, the England Champions Gosforth take on the NY champions - and my club - Essex. Along with Colin Kiley, I was co-captain of the team - in those days there were two captains, one for the backs and one for the forwards. We had won the NY Championship by going 5-0 in the first division.

The final score, Gosforth 17, Essex 8.

The following is excerpted from the Essex Rugby Club 1978 brochure - thanks to Brigid for scanning in the pictures and for my friend and business associate Judy for typing in the text.

 

The Story of ‘76

Training for the Spring, 1976 Season was hampered by late winter snow. The March 13^th opener against Manhattan was delayed one hour while players waited out a fierce hailstorm which left the field wet in some spots and ice-covered in others. This was not the type of weather in which to take on the seasoned Manhattan Pack. To make matters worse, U.S. Eagle Tom Selfridge had been installed in the back row by Manhattan and both experienced Essex fly-halves were unavailable for the match. Both sides felt each other out until the fifteenth minute when Mike Kenefick and newcomer Bill Gardner combined for a try in the corner. Early in the second-half Bruce Corrigan stole an errant Manhattan pass and raced fifty yards to score under the posts with Krenn converting for a 10-0 lead. From that point Essex held on for a 10-8 victory and the club’s first ever “big game” win.

Essex continued to improve as the season progressed to the point where it had won eight of its first nine matches and was looking ahead toward a showdown with Old Blue to determine the Met Union Championship. The new, young players were providing speed and enthusiasm and were meshing nicely with several of the more experienced originals who by now had developed some sense of what the game was all about. As the match which would determine the championship drew near, Essex was thinking and playing confidently.

Prior to May 8, 1976 Essex had never beaten Old Blue’s first XV. No sooner had the game begun than Essex spotted the opposition to a 0-6 lead and it looked as though they might never beat them. Winger Bob Piazza dummied two defenders and went in for a try from the weak side to get Essex rolling and the ever present Peter Cozens blocked a kick, scooped up the loose ball and turned it into four points as Essex rolled up 17 points before Old Blue was able to strike again. The 17-14 final victory assured the Essex Rugby Club of the 1976 Metropolitan New York Rugby Union Championship and some long awaited recognition. It also won for Essex the right to be the final opponent for England’s touring John Player Cup Champions, the Gosforth Football Club.

With one week to prepare for England’s finest club side, severe anxiety set in. Reports of the rugged Gosforth pack anchored by Irish and British Lion prop Ray McLoughlin filtered down from Boston where the tourists were manhandling some of the finest American club and select sides. In addition to hosting the party loving Englishmen for two days prior to the match, Essex had to witness a Fylde massacre of Old Maroon only minutes before taking the field. The eighty minutes that followed have to be considered the club’s finest hour. The Essex forwards contested the much heavier, veteran Gosforth pack at every turn. Tom Faranda was nothing less than outstanding in checking his opposite number, Steve Smith of Sale and England. Corrigan, Kiley, McDonough and Cozens covered by field. Mike Kenefick and Tom Crowley in the centers stopped every Gosforth rush, often well behind the line and penetrated the English defenses on any number of occasions. Bill Gardner and Peter Ferrara scored unconverted trys, the latter of which saw at least nine Essex players handling the ball. The 8-17 victory for Gosforth was the closest call that they had on their tour and unquestionably a victory for the Essex Rugby Club and the 2,000 or so New York area spectators.

Forty years later, thinking about why we didn't get blown out:

1. We were motivated to do well
2. We had good players at every position and a good bench - no weaknesses
3. Gosforth had been on tour for almost two weeks and this was their last game - and it was hot out!

My recollection is that the post-match party was pretty good!

D-Day 75th Anniversary - Medic on Omaha Beach

Another very young man in a terrible situation. And there is this - A Black Medic Saved Hundreds on D-Day. Was He Deprived of a Medal of Honor?

Louisiana Democrat Governor signs heartbeat bill into law

Here is a press release from Democrats for Life of America

Governor Edwards is a Real Democrat Who Courageously Stands Up for Women and Children

(From left to right pictured above, Executive Director Kristen Day, State Representative Katrina Jackson, Donna Edwards. Governor John Bel Edwards and DFLA Board Chair Janet Robert)

PRO-LIFE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS SIGNS HEARTBEAT BILL INTO LAW   STATEMENT OF KRISTEN DAY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DEMOCRATS FOR LIFE OF AMERICA   Democrats for Life of America congratulates Governor John Bel Edwards for his integrity and courage by signing Louisiana’s legislation to prohibit abortion once a heartbeat is detected.    Governor Edwards is a leader for the “pro-life-for-the-whole-life” movement by advocating for life in the womb, women with unplanned pregnancies, and support for families and for any person who needs assistance. We commend his consistent approach to governing.   In his first official act after his election in 2015, Governor Edwards signed an executive order to expand Medicaid, providing more than 450,000 of the state’s working poor with health-care coverage. As a result, new mothers have better access to prenatal and postnatal care, and Louisianans have better access to preventive and primary health care. Medicaid expansion has also been linked to more economic stability for families.   Governor Edwards has prioritized finding homes for children in foster care and children in need of loving homes. As a result, Louisiana set a record for the number of children adopted from foster care, increased the number of adoptions overall, and decreased the number of children in need of adoption; and abortions have dropped by 15 percent – from 10,211 in 2014 to 8,049 in 2018. The governor’s whole-life support includes funding for early childhood education, which was drastically cut by his Republican predecessor, and a living wage for families to support themselves.   Democrats for Life of America supports legislation to recognize the fact that life begins in the womb and the fact that a fetal heartbeat can be seen and heard at six weeks. However, we must continue to address the difficulty of our struggle to make the long-term commitment to that new life and the reality of the challenges that many women face, including poverty, pressure to abort their children, and news of a prenatal diagnosis. We urge states that passed, or are considering, reasonable abortion regulations to follow the lead of Governor John Bel Edwards by looking for opportunities and implementing meaningful support for economically vulnerable women and families.   The Republican Party’s efforts to pass abortion regulations that are unaccompanied by strong social supports will only cement the idea that "pro-life" people don’t care about the children after birth or about their mothers. The Democratic Party’s efforts to move away from the goal of making abortion “safe, legal, and rare” – the goal set by President Clinton –  along with an increased effort to exclude pro-life Democrats from the party, are only playing into the Republicans’ hands to reduce the effectiveness of the Democrats’ ability to protect both women and children.

30 years ago today: The Tiananmen Square massacre

Yes the man in front of the tank. What happened to him? Nobody can say.

Here is a really excellent article from NR online. Excerpts below but worth hitting the link for the whole story.

America’s Bad China Policy Since Tiananmen Square

On June 4, 1989 — 30 years ago today — the Chinese government decided it had been patient enough with the 50,000 to 100,000 demonstrators occupying Tiananmen Square. The protesters had called for democracy and liberty, but also denounced corruption and cronyism. What began as the Tiananmen Square protests became remembered as the Tiananmen Square massacre. Anywhere from hundreds to 2,600 Chinese protesters were killed, thousands more were wounded, and while many nations condemned the crackdown at the time, China and the world quickly moved on. The iconic “tank man” was never identified and his fate will probably forever remain unknown.

This morning Jonah shared a Twitter thread from a Chinese scholar, detailing how many of the protesters of that era adapted after the crackdown. The short version is that many who participated in the protest came to accept the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. The fight was unwinnable, those who went into exile were forgotten, and state-managed prosperity was arriving. He contends that most Chinese know exactly what happened at Tiananmen Square, but they see even acknowledging it to a foreign journalist as extraordinarily risky.

Helen Raleigh writes on NRO today:

While outside of China the world will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre that took place on June 4th, 1989, inside the country President Xi Jinping’s regime will continue its campaign of silence: not acknowledging the massacre ever took place; not apologizing to victims and their families; strongly condemning any commemorative activities outside China; and deploying its massive cyber-security force to vigorously scrub any mention of the incident from the domestic Internet.

The censorship will be so thorough that Chinese people won’t even be able to send a text message that contains any one of the numbers eight, nine, six, and four.

How overwhelming is Chinese censorship? They just banned 40 percent of numerals. If you lived in China, you wouldn’t be able to text the sentence preceding this one because of the “4.”

***********

The American government’s reaction to the Chinese government since the Tiananmen Square massacre was pretty underwhelming; some would call it a betrayal of our values. ... In the 1990s and 2000, both Bill Clinton and some prominent GOP Congressional leaders assured us that greater trade with China would bring them closer to democracy, freedom of expression, and respect for human rights. That argument was either wildly naïve, willful blindness, or ruthlessly cynical in its dishonesty.

...Year by year, American attitudes shift around about China, at least according to Pew Research, but Americans worry about debt to China, cyberattacks, China’s impact on the environment, loss of jobs to China, the trade deficit, China’s policies on human rights and aggression to its neighbors. It’s likely most Americans found the “one child policy” morally unacceptable. When there’s a dispute between a dictator and free people somewhere in the globe, China’s usually stepping in to help out the dictator. Oh, and the regime has put 2 million Uyghurs into concentration camps, complete with torture, squalid living conditions, and constant indoctrination. Modern minds look back at the genocidal regimes of the 20th Century and wonder how anyone could stand by as such brutality reigned. Then they shrug as every major country and government on the planet continues to do business with a government running concentration camps.

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

Now the Chinese government is establishing some of the most explicitly Orwellian policies imaginable — massive facial-recognition databases that allow the government to monitor anyone walking down the street, connecting them with the extensive government file kept on their activities. Who’s financing these enormous projects to expand the Chinese government’s control over their citizens? In some cases, Americans, as BuzzFeed found.

Chinese authorities have detained more than a million Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in political-reeducation camps in the country’s northwest region of Xinjiang, identifying them, in part, with facial recognition software created by two companies: SenseTime, based in Hong Kong, and Beijing’s Megvii. A BuzzFeed investigation has found that U.S. universities, private foundations, and retirement funds entrusted their money to investors that, in turn, plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into these two startups over the last three years. ...

Also among the diverse group of institutions helping to finance China’s surveillance state: the Alaska Retirement Management Board, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Rockefeller Foundation all of which are “limited partners” in private equity funds that invested in SenseTime or Megvii. And even as congressional leaders, such as Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, have championed a bill to condemn human rights abuses in Xinjiang, their own states’ public employee pension funds are invested in companies building out the Chinese government’s system for tracking Uyghurs.

Google refuses to work with the U.S. Department of Defense, but it worked with the Chinese government to develop a censored version of its web search. There are a lot of elites who seem to see the U.S. government, and in particular our military and intelligence agencies, as untrustworthy, dangerous, abusive, and a malevolent force in the world. But they’re completely cool with working with the Chinese government.

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

Amazingly, we still have lawmakers and potential presidents who don’t see any of this, and cling to some wildly outdated and naïve perspective that China is a still-emerging technologically challenged rising power that will play nice with just a little more trade and U.S. concessions.

Joe Biden’s full quote, about a month ago:

China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. They can’t even figure out how to deal with the fact that they have this great division between the China Sea and the mountains in the east, I mean in the west. They can’t figure out how they are going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system. I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks, folks. But guess what, they’re not competition for us.”

If Biden gets the Democratic nomination, let’s put China policy front and center in the 2020 election. Donald Trump is a man of copious sins and flaws and problems. But his reflexive protectionism has led him to see the leadership of China more clearly than a generation of elites going back to Tiananmen Square.

 

 

 

Great - Trump & Queen Elizabeth Commemoration at Buckingham Palace

"Dignity, Duty and Patriotism"

D-Day 75th anniversary in two days: "Landing on Omaha Beach"

Less than two minutes - another 19 year old - enough to make you weep.