Tom Faranda's Folly

As we enter Advent - Archbishop Sheen on the Incarnation of Christ

The famous Archbishop - an excerpt from "The Life of Christ"

"Now man need not hide from God as Adam did; for He can be seen through Christ's human nature. Christ did not gain one perfection more by becoming man, nor did He lose anything of what He possessed as God. There was the Almightiness of God in the movement of His arm, the infinite love of God in the beatings of His human heart and the Unmeasured Compassion of God to sinners in His eyes. God was now manifest in the flesh; this is what is called the Incarnation. The whole range of the Divine attributes of power and goodness, justice, love, beauty, were in Him. And when Our Divine Lord acted and spoke, God in His perfect nature became manifest to those who saw Him and heard Him and touched Him. As He told Philip later on: Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father [John 14:9]."

— Fulton J. Sheen, p. 21

 

Amazon's Jeff Bezos donates $100 million to aid the homeless; gets criticized by leftist whacko Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn, the head of the Labor Party in Great Britain and currently in danger of finishing in 3rd place (behind the conservative and liberal parties) in their election December 12th.  Corbyn's political views make Bernie Sanders look like a free market capitalist.

 

USA (and Trump) rather popular in Hong Kong

Trump's more popular in Hong Kong than in Manhattan. Lots more...

Stepinac alumnus Jon Voight 2nd part of interview and his tribute to fallen soldiers

This is a continuation of this interview An interview with Stepinac alumni and major donor, actor Jon Voight   which I posted Tuesday.

Very worth watching -

Really dumb: Sliding down icy Grand Canyon Trail

This was sent around as a warning tweet by the National Park Service. Note the sneakers. I'm hoping to do a little hike in Fahnestock Park today (Turkey Day) or in the next two days. No ice (or stupidity) expected.

"Terrifying Photo Shows Hikers Sliding Down Icy Grand Canyon Trail"

 

Trump executes goose on White House Lawn!!

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Trump delighted a crowd gathered on the White House lawn as he participated in a beloved annual tradition: the execution of an extremely irritating goose.

The president went through the motions of the solemn ceremony, reading off the goose's crimes and then asking if anyone wanted the goose to be pardoned. "These United States find you guilty of honking really loudly, chasing poor, defenseless people who just happen to get a little too close to you, and just being a real jerk."

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Finally, the moment came: "Worst animal of all time!" Trump declared as he brought the axe plummeting down on the goose's neck. "No pardon for any geese, ever!"

Trump's poll numbers have skyrocketed since the execution of the goose, and he's since announced a daily execution of various animals including cats, honey badgers, and people from San Francisco.

An interview with Stepinac alumni and major donor, actor Jon Voight

UPDATE: There was a a Part 2 of the interview - very fascinating, as he talks about his role in the great movie Coming Home, among other things. Will post it if it goes onto youtube.

I like Jon Voight (and daughter Angelina Jolie); don't think much of the guy interviewing him. Voight turns 81 years old in a month.

PBS: Trump honors al-Baghdadi raid dog as stand in for Special Ops troops

Of course while Pence is patting the dog Conan on the head, Trump is patting himself on the back ... But still an interesting 5 minute video with good information. The Special Ops people couldn't be shown on camera; hence the dog for a photo op?

Note Mrs. Trump's Christmas coat ...

Genius Move: "Trump Supports Impeachment, Forcing Democrats To Oppose"

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The impeachment hearings have been thrown into chaos after President Trump announced that he supports impeachment, forcing Democrats to oppose their own impeachment inquiry.

"Impeachment? I'm for it. Great idea. Best idea, maybe ever," he said, adding that he's "getting kinda sick of all this winning anyway."

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Democrats quickly condemned his statements. Pelosi said, "It's clear that Trump wants to be impeached because he's not good at being president. Well, we're going to show him a thing or two by forcing him to stay in the White House and finish out his term."

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One pundit on CNN suggested that Trump is supporting impeachment at the request of Putin or the guy from Ukraine or "whichever conspiracy thing we're pushing this month, I forget."

At publishing time, Democrats had also withdrawn from the 2020 race to teach Trump a lesson.

Stepinac marks the tenth anniversary as an independent Catholic High School

Half of Farandaville (Tim and myself) are graduates of Stepinac. The other half - Brigid ineligible as a woman - and living in England for her HS years  - and Joe a Fordham Prep grad.

My impression of difference between Fordham Prep and Stepinac:

Fordham Prep - Chardonnay

Stepinac - beer and a shot

Here's the video - 90 seconds long -

Interview with NY Rep. Elise Stefanik - Adam Schiff's nemesis

We will know in a year if I am right in thinking that Adam Schiff was one of God's gifts to Trump. Interview is with Marie Bartiromo and I'm sure Stefanik hits all  the talking points Stefanik wanted to hit. Was she also on Meet the Press? I doubt it.

Pope Francis - at Hiroshima and Nagasaki - speaks on the gross immorality of nuclear weapons.

I am not sure where he stopped first (UPDATE - stopped at Nagasaki first) - these are each three minutes long. The first is at Hiroshima - 80,000 instant deaths and 60,000 later. 

 

And here he's at Nagasaki - by the way, the center of Catholicism in Japan and a place where many were martyred in past centuries. The bomb landed on the edge of the Catholic enclave, killing 40% of the Catholics in Nagasaki. According to the WSJ "The pope also visited a memorial in Nagasaki for 26 missionaries and Japanese Catholics who were crucified during a crackdown on the religion in the 16th century."

 

Fr. Rutler RE: Feast of Christ the King

Which is today. Yeats quote is from the year after the catastrophe of World War I, making it even more poignant.

 

If from time to time you have a sense that all things held dear in both Church and State seem to be collapsing, you might find a comrade in the Irish poet William Butler Yeats:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. 

   Yeats wrote that in 1919, and we are now in 2019. Actually, things have been falling apart since the Fall of Man. Each age has to contend with that collapse, and each has had recourse to Christ as the solution. In 1925, Pope Pius XI proclaimed the Feast of Christ the King. Not King of various nations cobbled together, but King of the Universe. “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. . . . He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15, 17).

   Jesus Christ is the Word that brought into existence all that was in the mind of his divine Father. His kingship consists in the power of his Logos, which orders all things and is energized by the love between him and the Father, which pours forth as the Holy Spirit.  “In the beginning was the Word [‘Logos’] . . .” (John 1:1).

   In the logic of the Logos then, all things fall apart without Christ. Physically, all things hold together (sunestēken) in their elemental atomic structures. The compactness of matter requires gravity, electricity, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. The strong force keeps the nucleus together; otherwise it would come apart by the electrostatic repulsion between the positive protons. Christ the Logos prevents all things from collapsing, not only physically but morally and culturally. There will be a time when that happens, with a “loud noise” (rhoizedon), when all the elements, or atoms (stoicheia), dissolve (2 Peter 3:10).

   This dissolution happens as well in the human soul when the intellect and will tear themselves from the truth and will of God. This rupture is what is called sin. It affects cultures, too. So the philosopher Giambattista Vico described the transition of cultures from barbarity to civilization, and from civilization to hyper-civilization, and from that to post-civilization. The fourth stage lives off the detritus of civilization. Whether we are in the fourth stage—post-civilization—is disputed, but if and when it irrationally abandons Christ the King, whose power is not political but logical, it will be worse than the first barbarism because its disintegration is accelerated by the tools of its former civilization’s science.

   Every Christian is baptized to proclaim the Kingship of Christ, not just for personal salvation, but as a means of saving a culture in which “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”

Faithfully yours in Christ, Father George W. Rutler

"Impeachment Inquiry Canceled After 5 Episodes Due To Low Ratings"

It's true - almost nobody cares.

After just five rocky episodes that failed to deliver any major plot twists, producers pulled the plug on the impeachment inquiry due to lack of viewers.

"The showrunners promised all these big bombshells, shocking twists, and startling revelations, but they weren't able to deliver," said one reviewer writing in Hollywood Reporter. "When there are so many better options out there---rewatching The Office, checking out The Good Place, staring at paint as it slowly dries---why would people tune into this tepid, uninspired mess?"

22% of Americans said they were disappointed with the show so far, while 78% said, "Impeachment hearings are going on?"

An American history IQ test - Id'ing American historical figures

Which I did well on - 96% - because it was easy. Pictures where you chose one of two names to ID the person. Yes I know the difference between Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. As well as recognizing a person as either Ronald Reagan or Andrew Jackson. I said it was easy.

Here it is, BUT it is 100 questions so takes about 30 minutes.

Can You Identify These Famous American Historical Figures?

 

 

Bernie Sanders gives his thoughts on the President

Senator Sanders how to you really feel?

How a Biden Administration is likely to operate

By proclaiming victory hours before an event.

The Biden campaign ended up with egg on its face on Wednesday when they sent out an email about their candidate's performance in the Democratic debate several hours before it started.

The email's headline read, "Did I make you proud?"

"I'm leaving the fifth Democratic debate now," Biden's email claimed. "I hope I made you proud out there and I hope I made it clear to the world why our campaign is so important."

The campaign was mocked for the blunder on social media.

"Think the Biden team pulled the trigger on this fundraising email a tad bit early," reported Julia Terruso of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

 

Westchester Cty. sales tax rises 1%; lawmakers and department heads to get massive raises!?

From LOHUD. They are considering raises, it's not a done deal. This is particularly pathetic since the "position" of County Legislator is only part-time. And they have other benefits besides their salary...

Westchester County lawmakers are considering giving themselves 52% raises, part of wide-ranging salary increases planned in the 2020 county budget. Lawmakers' base pay would be boosted from $49,200 to $75,000 and county department heads and commissioners would see their pay increased 26% from their current level under proposed salary changes. Department heads and top aides to Westchester County Executive George Latimer would see their $155,425 salaries jump to $195,000 in 2020. They would also receive retroactive raises for this year that would bring their 2019 earnings to $175,000.

Eric the whistleblower

Actually it's George Soros son with all those upstanding Democrats. Last picture - with Biden - has been photoshopped. But still amusing.

Photoshop. But still funny.

Pope Francis message on trip to Japan: "Protect all Life"

Here's the full message:

Pope asks people of Japan to protect life, ahead of Apostolic Journey

 

WSJ: Study - "Limited Benefits of Stent Use for Millions With Heart Disease"

This is not the first study that says there are limited benefits - and there are definite benefits for some, depending on the extent of the disease.

Drugs and healthier lifestyle can be as effective for patients with stable coronary artery disease, research shows

The study is the largest and among the most rigorous research yet to suggest that while stents and bypass surgery can be lifesaving for people who are having heart attacks, they aren’t necessarily better than cholesterol-lowering drugs and other changes in health habits for most people with chronic, or stable, coronary artery disease, which affects about 9.4 million Americans.

“You won’t prolong life,” said Judith Hochman, chair of the study and senior associate dean for clinical sciences at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine.

But stents or bypass surgery work better than medicine and lifestyle changes alone in relieving symptoms for people who have frequent angina, or chest pain, the researchers found.

The findings, released Saturday at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific conference, should prompt more discussion between patients and their doctors about treatment, she said. “Statins and aspirin are critically important,” she said. “We need to understand better how to get people to modify their risk factors.” Lifestyle changes can be hard to make and sustain, she said.

The results add to an already heated debate between interventional cardiologists, who conduct stent procedures, and preventive cardiologists, who prescribe cholesterol and blood pressure-lowering drugs and changes in diet and exercise.

It is likely to change medical practice, some cardiologists said. “This shows the safety of not panicking when you see a positive stress test,” said Jay Giri, a practicing interventional cardiologist and associate director of the Penn Cardiovascular Outcomes, Quality, and Evaluative Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

He said he expects fewer patients to be referred to him who have a positive stress test, but mild or no symptoms.

Dad does a barbeque ...

Thanks to Ed for sending me this.

NY Representative Elise Stefanik takes on Adam Schiff - with his own words

UPDATE: Democrats have already raised a million dollars for her opponent in the upcoming 2020 election. She represent a Congressional District in Upstate NY.

As the Impeachment Circus continues. Her comments won't be covered by CNN.

Feast Today: St. Gertrude the Great

A Benedictine, and a scholar. Here is a more extensive bio -  St. Gertrude then what I've put below.

St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1302), also known as Gertrude of Helfta, was born on the feast of Epiphany in Thuringia (modern Germany). She was sent to be educated at the Benedictine monastery in Helfta at the age of four or five, possibly as an orphan or as a child dedicated to God by her parents. She proved to be an extremely bright and determined student who became engrossed in her secular studies, but was negligent of her prayer life. She remained in the monastery and made her profession as a nun. At the age of 26 she entered a time of spiritual crisis, after which she began to receive visions of Christ who chastised her for not leaving room for God in her academic pursuits. This caused Gertrude to abandon her secular studies in total devotion to Sacred Scripture and the works of the Church Fathers. These theological studies, along with continued visions and messages from Jesus, became the basis of her work as one of the great writers and mystics of the 13th century. St. Gertrude had a lasting impact on the Church in an age where academic and religious literature was dominated by men, and she is the only female saint to earn the title "The Great." She was one of the early saints who, along with her companion in the monastery, St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn, spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. St. Teresa of Avila chose St. Gertrude the Great, the patron saint of nuns, as her model and guide. Her feast day is November 16th.

 

Law Professor on "The Ongoing Decline of The New York Times"

Thanks to Maria C. for sending me this. I'd never heard of John O. McGinnis before but he certainly has a solid resume. Hit here - Law & Liberty   for the full website. This is a short essay - takes about seven minutes to read - but makes all the right points. I think point #2 as the reason for the decline is probably the main reason.

I have been reading the New York Times for over five decades. ... It is thus painful for me to watch the fall of a once-worthy institution. At one time, it had some claim to be the United States’ paper of record because of its objective reporting and the absence of a persistent agenda in determining what news was fit to print. A sensible center-left perspective generally drove its editorials. These were not my views then or now, but the paper offered a useful challenge to my enduringly classical liberal perspective.

In the last decade, however, editorials have moved sharply to the left to the point of abandoning economic rationality....

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More troubling is the bias on the news pages. To be sure, our democracy has survived periods where one could only find highly partisan sources of news. Lest we embrace nostalgia, we should remember that papers in the early republic were almost uniformly cheerleaders for one party or the other. But in an era where public policy is more complex because the government does so many more things, a common set of facts promotes good policy and tamps down on polarization.

While as a long-time reader I can only offer my general impression of increased bias, others have tried to catalog it. In Reason, John Stossel considered flagrant bias in headlines, like the ridiculous assertion that terminating net neutrality will kill the internet. Even a former managing editor, Jill Abramson, herself recognized that news pages have become biased where Trump is concerned. A recent example is the almost comical attempt to prevent the President from bolstering his standing after the elimination of the terrorist Baghdadi by suggesting that he almost prevented the raid from happening.

The editors further display their bias not only in what they do publish, but also in what they choose not to publish. The Sunday Business section, for instance, features very few stories on the innovations of important businesses in America. Instead, the section, which appears to be shrinking, looks more at how social issues that the editors deem important interact with business and thus provides an opportunity to criticize corporations for being insufficiently socially responsive. It is a business roundup for people who emphatically do not think that the business of America is central to America’s greatness.

Beyond specific instances of reporting bias, the Times recently decided to promote an entire counter-narrative about American history—the 1619 Project, an attempt to see all of American history through the prism of slavery. It thus has left news reporting—something its editors are equipped to judge—and decided to usurp the function of professional historians. The results are absurdly presentist, skewing history to undergird the editors’ political imperatives. For instance, the introduction to that series makes the extraordinary claim that a prime motivation for the American Revolution was the colonists’ fear that Britain would abolish slavery. As one distinguished historian of the revolution told me, the problem with this proposition is that there is no evidence for it.

The Times has also taken to interspersing its obituaries with historical accounts of women and minorities who died in the long past but that its editors believe should have had obituaries. ...

Hit the link above for the three explanations for the decline - again, I think it's mainly #2.

As a result, today the Wall Street Journal has the better claim to be the paper of record....

I agree - the Journal is head and shoulders better newspaper than the NYT.

 

 

BB: "Airport Revenues Soar After Allowing Travelers To Pay To Turn Off CNN"

Yes ... should go towards the Federal deficit... I wish I could think of clever things like this ...

WORLD—Airports around the world are reporting record revenues after introducing a long-awaited feature: the ability to turn off CNN on television sets in their terminals.

For just one quarter, you can turn off CNN for a full fifteen minutes while you're waiting for your flight, leaving you with the "far superior" experience of just staring at a blank screen.

"At long last," said one man waiting for his flight at LaGuardia as he dropped a few dollars' worth of quarters into the "Turn CNN Off" slot. "Honestly, I might fly more now." He's not alone: airports expect a 426% uptick in traveling over the holidays as flyers no longer have to worry about having the droning words of CNN hosts pounded into their heads for hours on a layover.

The feature has been one of the most-requested by travelers along with the dismantling of the TSA and pretzel bags with more than 3 pretzels in them.

The money-making move has inspired moments of human compassion and unity as travelers lend each other money or leave quarters behind atop the television sets for future travelers to turn off CNN. One anonymous philanthropist at DFW prepaid for over a year of CNN-less travel throughout the terminal.

"It's great to see what humanity can accomplish when we unite," said one man at LAX as he rummaged through his pockets to lend a quarter to a woman who wanted to turn off the CNN screen near her. "Here you go, miss. Enjoy your flight!"

 

WSJ: "How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results"

This morning the Wall Street Journal has a huge article on this subject. Anyone interested in the whole article but who cannot access through the link, email me and I will get it for you.

The internet giant uses blacklists, algorithm tweaks and an army of contractors to shape what you see

Every minute, an estimated 3.8 million queries are typed into Google, prompting its algorithms to spit out results for hotel rates or breast-cancer treatments or the latest news about President Trump.

They are arguably the most powerful lines of computer code in the global economy, controlling how much of the world accesses information found on the internet, and the starting point for billions of dollars of commerce.

Twenty years ago, Google founders began building a goliath on the premise that its search algorithms could do a better job combing the web for useful information than humans. Google executives have said repeatedly—in private meetings with outside groups and in congressional testimony—that the algorithms are objective and essentially autonomous, unsullied by human biases or business considerations.

The company states in a Google blog, “We do not use human curation to collect or arrange the results on a page.” It says it can’t divulge details about how the algorithms work because the company is involved in a long-running and high-stakes battle with those who want to profit by gaming the system.

But that message often clashes with what happens behind the scenes. Over time, Google has increasingly re-engineered and interfered with search results to a far greater degree than the company and its executives have acknowledged, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

Those actions often come in response to pressure from businesses, outside interest groups and governments around the world. They have increased sharply since the 2016 election and the rise of online misinformation, the Journal found.

Google’s evolving approach marks a shift from its founding philosophy of “organizing the world’s information,” to one that is far more active in deciding how that information should appear.

More than 100 interviews and the Journal’s own testing of Google’s search results reveal:

• Google made algorithmic changes to its search results that favor big businesses over smaller ones, and in at least one case made changes on behalf of a major advertiser, eBay Inc., contrary to its public position that it never takes that type of action. The company also boosts some major websites, such as Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

• Google engineers regularly make behind-the-scenes adjustments to other information the company is increasingly layering on top of its basic search results. These features include auto-complete suggestions, boxes called “knowledge panels” and “featured snippets,” and news results, which aren’t subject to the same company policies limiting what engineers can remove or change.

• Despite publicly denying doing so, Google keeps blacklists to remove certain sites or prevent others from surfacing in certain types of results. These moves are separate from those that block sites as required by U.S. or foreign law, such as those featuring child abuse or with copyright infringement, and from changes designed to demote spam sites, which attempt to game the system to appear higher in results.

• In auto-complete, the feature that predicts search terms as the user types a query, Google’s engineers have created algorithms and blacklists to weed out more-incendiary suggestions for controversial subjects, such as abortion or immigration, in effect filtering out inflammatory results on high-profile topics.

• Google employees and executives, including co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have disagreed on how much to intervene on search results and to what extent. Employees can push for revisions in specific search results, including on topics such as vaccinations and autism.

• To evaluate its search results, Google employs thousands of low-paid contractors whose purpose the company says is to assess the quality of the algorithms’ rankings. Even so, contractors said Google gave feedback to these workers to convey what it considered to be the correct ranking of results, and they revised their assessments accordingly, according to contractors interviewed by the Journal. The contractors’ collective evaluations are then used to adjust algorithms.

There is plenty more if you access the entire piece.

 

WSJ editorial: "The Banality of Impeachment - The hearings are a pro-forma march to a foregone conclusion."

All true. I watched some of the lowlights highlights last evening.

House Democrats went public Wednesday with what the media are calling “historic” impeachment hearings, but what strikes us is the pre-cooked nature of the exercise. This isn’t a search for truth. It’s a set-piece production to promote a foregone conclusion. Democrats are turning impeachment into another partisan banality, and the country won’t be better for it.

The impeachment case—after the failure of non-collusion with Russia and the non-obstruction of Robert Mueller —now boils down to President Trump’s dealings over a few weeks this summer with new Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Readers who want to save time should read Mr. Schiff’s opening statement Wednesday because it offers the most damning interpretation of events.

Mr. Schiff’s claim is that Mr. Trump sought to “condition, coerce, extort or bribe an ally into conducting investigations to aid his re-election campaign.” He did this by having his Administration threaten to withhold U.S. military aid and deny an Oval Office meeting until Mr. Zelensky publicly announced a corruption probe. That sums up the case.

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Mr. Schiff says this is still an impeachable “abuse of power” because criminals can be prosecuted if their attempts fail. But there is no underlying crime here. Democrats have given up calling it a “quid pro quo,” which must not have played well in polling. Instead they are using “extortion” and “bribery” to suggest a crime without citing any specific statute.

The Justice Department has already dismissed the bribery claim because there was no “thing of value” exchanged. And the extortion charge is absurd regarding U.S. aid to a foreign government.

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In a healthier political culture, Democrats would be using the Ukraine episode as an argument against Mr. Trump’s re-election. How can you trust his foreign-policy judgment in a second term when he won’t have the check of another re-election?

Instead Democrats have pulled out the constitutional bazooka of impeachment. They are doing so in partisan fashion, contrary to their earlier pledges, and in a political rush to beat the 2020 political calendar. On the evidence and the process to date, they are turning impeachment into a routine political weapon, and future Presidents of both parties will regret it.

 

Piers Morgan on Democrat impeachment - "they’ve forgotten the golden rule of warfare: never start a battle you can’t win"

Should be obvious but I guess not. From the limited clips I saw yesterday, they don't exactly have a crime to pursue. Thanks to Jessica for sending me this article from the Daily Mail (UK).

There have been many great generals in the annals of history, often with very different ideas of exactly how to wage war. But there is one common principle that links them all. ‘If a battle can’t be won, don’t fight it,’ cautioned Sun Tzu, the revered Chinese warrior from 544-496 BC whose tactical treatise 'The Art of War' is now considered a masterpiece. ‘Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning,’ agreed Erwin Rommel, the Nazis’ most successful general in World War 2.

The same principle applies to political conflict.

‘Choose your battles wisely,’ said Frank Underwood in House of Cards, ‘do not start a war you know you’re gonna lose.’

...as the New York Post front page, featuring Democrat impeachment-drivers Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi in circus ringmaster roles, intimated this morning, will be the Greatest Political Show On Earth – a trial of staggering sensationalism in the court of public opinion.

But as the Post also suggested, this is a uniquely perverse case where the defendant is presumed to be guilty before any of the public testimony is even heard.

And therein lies the biggest problem for the Democrats.

They’re marched into the Congress casino to throw down all their chips on taking Trump down via impeachment.

But in doing so, they’ve raised the bar to potentially ruinous stakes – not for Trump, but for them.

For Croton: Here's the petition against the Municipal Place Gateway Rezoning

Why this is being pursued by the Croton Village Board of Trustees when their own survey results had 68% saying "NO" is hard to figure. I suppose the Trustees are just sooo much smarter than the rest of the residents - maybe I should be glad they are looking after my best interests?

After you hit the link, scroll to the bottom of the page and hit the 

• Petition  button. It's easy.

Say No to the Municipal Place Gateway Rezoning!

There's a meeting Monday evening at the municipal building where the Village Board (Croton is a one party town - all Democrats) will discuss and take comments from the locals. Here's additional info -

 

 

Love it: NY Post impeachment headline

Ain't it the truth!

WSJ: "Google’s ‘Project Nightingale’ Triggers Federal Probe"

I posted the WSJ expose on this yesterday - WSJ: "Google's Secret ‘Project Nightingale’ Gathers Personal Health Data on Millions"

Now this -

A federal regulator has opened an inquiry into Google and Ascension’s "Project Nightingale," a partnership amassing the detailed health information of millions of patients.

The Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services “will seek to learn more information about this mass collection of individuals’ medical records to ensure that HIPAA protections were fully implemented,” office director Roger Severino told The Wall Street Journal.

Deal with Ascension health system aimed at improving patient care provides Google with health-data gold mine

At issue for regulators and lawmakers who expressed concern is whether Google and Ascension are adequately protecting patient data in the initiative, which is code-named “Project Nightingale” and is aimed at crunching data to produce better health care, among other goals. Ascension, without notifying patients or doctors, has begun sharing with Google personally identifiable information on millions of patients, such as names and dates of birth; lab tests; doctor diagnoses; medication and hospitalization history; and some billing claims and other clinical records.

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A Google spokeswoman said in a statement: “We are happy to cooperate with any questions about the project. We believe Google’s work with Ascension adheres to industry-wide regulations (including HIPAA) regarding patient data, and comes with strict guidance on data privacy, security, and usage.”

The spokeswoman said Ascension data wouldn’t be used to sell ads.

Project Nightingale was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Feast today: St. Josaphat, martyr for Catholic Unity

This is from Franciscan media -

Saint Josaphat’s Story

In 1595, the Orthodox bishop of Brest-Litovsk in present-day Belarus and five other bishops representing millions of Ruthenians, sought reunion with Rome. John Kunsevich—who took the name Josaphat in religious life—was to dedicate his life, and die for the same cause. Born in what is now Ukraine, he went to work in Wilno and was influenced by clergy adhering to the 1596 Union of Brest. He became a Basilian monk, then a priest, and soon was well known as a preacher and an ascetic.

He became bishop of Vitebsk at a relatively young age, and faced a difficult situation. Most monks, fearing interference in liturgy and customs, did not want union with Rome. By synods, catechetical instruction, reform of the clergy, and personal example, however, Josaphat was successful in winning the greater part of the Orthodox in that area to the union.

But the next year a dissident hierarchy was set up, and his opposite number spread the accusation that Josaphat had “gone Latin” and that all his people would have to do the same. He was not enthusiastically supported by the Latin bishops of Poland.

Despite warnings, he went to Vitebsk, still a hotbed of trouble. Attempts were made to foment trouble and drive him from the diocese: A priest was sent to shout insults to him from his own courtyard. When Josaphat had him removed and shut up in his house, the opposition rang the town hall bell, and a mob assembled. The priest was released, but members of the mob broke into the bishop’s home. Josaphat was struck with a halberd, then shot, and his body thrown into the river. It was later recovered and is now buried in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He was the first saint of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome.

Josaphat’s death brought a movement toward Catholicism and unity, but the controversy continued, and the dissidents, too, had their martyr. After the partition of Poland, the Russians forced most Ruthenians to join the Russian Orthodox Church.

WSJ: "Google's Secret ‘Project Nightingale’ Gathers Personal Health Data on Millions"

Pretty stunning really. Neither patients or physicians know this is going on (well they know now; thank you WSJ) - but it seems to be compliant with HIPAA ( Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Google ends up with all your health information? What could go wrong?

Search giant is amassing health records from Ascension facilities in 21 states; patients not yet informed

Google is teaming with one of the country’s largest health-care systems on a secret project to collect and crunch the detailed personal health information of millions of Americans across 21 states, according to people familiar with the matter and internal documents.

The initiative, code-named “Project Nightingale,” appears to be the largest in a series of efforts by Silicon Valley giants to gain access to personal health data and establish a toehold in the massive health-care industry.

The data involved includes lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records and amounts to a total health history, complete with patient names and dates of birth.

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Neither patients nor doctors have been notified. At least 150 Google employees already have access to much of the data on tens of millions of patients, according to a person familiar with the matter and the documents.

In a news release issued after The Wall Street Journal reported on Project Nightingale on Monday, the companies said the initiative is compliant with federal health law and includes robust protections for patient data.

Some Ascension employees have raised questions about the way the data is being collected and shared, both from a technological and ethical perspective, according to the people familiar with the project. But privacy experts said it appeared to be permissible under federal law. That law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, generally allows hospitals to share data with business partners without telling patients, as long as the information is used “only to help the covered entity carry out its health care functions.”

Google in this case is using the data in part to design new software, underpinned by advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning, that zeroes in on individual patients to suggest changes to their care. Staffers across Alphabet Inc., GOOG -0.93% Google’s parent, have access to the patient information, internal documents show, including some employees of Google Brain, a research science division credited with some of the company’s biggest breakthroughs.

Google Cloud President Tariq Shaukat said the company’s goal for health care is centered on “ultimately improving outcomes, reducing costs, and saving lives.”

Eduardo Conrado, an executive vice president at Ascension, said: “As the health-care environment continues to rapidly evolve, we must transform to better meet the needs and expectations of those we serve as well as our own caregivers and health-care providers.”

Google and nonprofit Ascension have parallel financial motives. Google has assigned dozens of engineers to Project Nightingale so far without charging for the work because it hopes to use the framework to sell similar products to other health systems. Its end goal is to create an omnibus search tool to aggregate disparate patient data and host it all in one place, documents show.

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Ascension, the second-largest health system in the U.S., aims in part to improve patient care. It also hopes to mine data to identify additional tests that could be necessary or other ways in which the system could generate more revenue from patients, documents show.

Ascension is also eager to have a system that is faster than its existing decentralized electronic record-keeping.

Google, like many of its Silicon Valley peers, has at times drawn criticism for not doing enough to protect user privacy.(My emphasis) Its YouTube unit agreed in September to pay $170 million in fines and change its practices in response to complaints that it illegally collected data on children to sell ads. YouTube neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.

Last year, the Journal reported that Google opted not to disclose to users a flaw that exposed hundreds of thousands of birth dates, contact information and other personal data of subscribers in its now-defunct social-networking website Google Plus, in part because of fears that the incident could trigger regulatory scrutiny. Google said at the time it went beyond legal requirements in determining not to inform users.

Good 4 minute vid on Elizabeth Warren's attacks on mega-rich as they continue to send her big bucks

The comment by the woman billionaire is especially "rich." Why do they support her? Because they are convinced she'll never do wealth taxes, and the rest of the economic destruction she's says is part of he plan.

Quietly, the interest yield curve has uninverted

The inversion (short term interest rates higher than long term rates which sometimes indicates economy slowing/recession) was never large but now we're definitively back to "normal". This from the Wall Street Journal.

A closely watched barometer of economic expectations is encouraging investors to take risks again. Yields on longer-term U.S. government debt climbed above those on shorter-term Treasurys in recent weeks—a sign investors expect no immediate pullback in growth and inflation. That stands in contrast to earlier in the year, when longer-term yields fell below their shorter-term counterparts, a phenomenon known as an inverted yield curve. The yield curve, in fact, completely uninverted this week for the first time since November 2018, meaning shorter-dated benchmark Treasurys all yielded less than longer-dated ones.

The reversal gives comfort to investors, because an inverted yield curve has proved to be one of financial markets’ best predictors of recessions. Over the past four decades, when the yield on the 10-year Treasury has fallen below the yield on the three-month Treasury bill, U.S. economic growth has typically contracted within about a year and a half.

The 10-year yield dropped below the 3-month yield in May and stayed there for nearly five months. This past week, though, the 10-year yield climbed roughly 0.36 percentage point higher than the 3-month yield—the largest positive gap since January. The gap between the 10-year yield and the two-year yield, meanwhile, reached roughly 0.25 percentage point, its highest level since July.

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Many investors said that the change in the message sent by the yield curve is the product of recent interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and improvement in U.S.-China trade relations.

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“The curve did invert, but it didn’t invert long enough or deep enough to send a signal of a recession,” said Donald Ellenberger, head of multisector strategies at Federated Investors.

However, such predictions are always risky, said Mr. Ellenberger, who hasn’t added to holdings of more risky corporate bonds or sold safer government securities as longer-term yields have climbed.

“It’s dangerous to say it is different this time,” he said.

Fr. Jack Rathschmidt 50th Priesthood Jubilee

Fr. Jack is a Capuchin Friar (Capuchins a branch of the Franciscans) who has had an association with my parish of Holy Name of Mary in Croton for over 40 years. Because of various assignments with his province he has not always been with us, but he is a wonderful contributor and dear friend to our Catholic Community. In the last week there were two events honoring him; one the annual Benefit (on November 3rd) of the Capuchin Province of St. Mary where members with special anniversaries (25, 50, 60 ...) are honored and then a special Mass and luncheon yesterday (the 10th) in my own parish.

Here from the Capuchin event at the Glen Island Harbour Club - over 300 people attending -

Cocktail hour

One of the three tables of supporters of Jack

Neat - holiness beams coming from Father!

Then at Holy Name of Mary yesterday - part of the crowd - over 200 - ran out of food! Can you spot Brigid?

Having a brief chat with Brigid

Plenty of cake though...

50 years ...

 

 

Must see on women's athletics: Mary Cain, superstar high school runner and her disastrous relationship with Nike

Wow Mary Cain was a major talent, but according to her it all went downhill when she affiliated with Nike and their coach Alberto Salazar. She had attained national fame and is from Bronxville, NY.

Today: 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall - a nonviolent change!

This is from Consistent Life Network, a seamless garment group Brigid and I belong to.

Latest CLN Blog Post
 
        Coming up on November 9 is the 30^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is a good time to reflect on how well nonviolent revolutions can work. Wars that are designed for liberating people from tyranny actually have a poorer track record in achieving that goal than the large number of nonviolent revolutions over the last century.
        John Whitehead offers East Germany’s Peaceful Revolution: Remembering the Berlin Wall’s Fall.

 

NYC: The world's thinnest skyscraper is almost finished. A two minute video view

And for a mere $150 million you can own the penthouse. It is on "Billionaire's Row" - Central Park South.

Guardian (UK): " Sea levels set to keep rising for centuries even if emissions targets met"

I don't doubt this at all. Soo... the answer is to prepare for this. Here's a PBS Series which Brigid and I watched about four cities (including NYC) preparing for this.... Sinking Cities.

Generations yet unborn will face rising oceans and coastal inundations into the 2300s even if governments meet climate commitments, researchers find

Sea level rise is set to challenge human civilization for centuries to come, even if internationally agreed climate goals are met and planet-warming emissions are then immediately eliminated, researchers have found.

The lag time between rising global temperatures and the knock-on impact of coastal inundation means that the world will be dealing with ever-rising sea levels into the 2300s, regardless of prompt action to address the climate crisis, according to the new study.

Even if governments meet their commitments from the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement, the first 15-year period of the deal will still result in enough emissions that would cause sea levels to increase by around 20cm by the year 2300.

This scenario, modeled by researchers, assumes that all countries make their promised emissions reductions by 2030 and then abruptly eliminate all planet-warming gases from that point onwards. In reality, only a small number of countries are on track to meet the Paris target of limiting global heating to 2C above the pre-industrial era.

 

“Sea level rise is going to be an ongoing problem for centuries to come, we will have to keep on adapting over and over again. It’s going to be a whole new expensive lifestyle, costing trillions of dollars.

“Sea level has a very long memory, so even if we start cooling temperatures the seas will continue to rise. It’s a bit like trying to turn the Titanic around, rather than a speedboat.”

Researchers used a computer model that simulates sea level rise in response to various emissions levels, looking both at historical emissions since 1750 and also what the emissions scenario would be from 2015 to 2030 if countries met their Paris agreement obligations.

Nice article about Rob Luntz Firm & neat contemporary Croton house

Thanks to Maria C. for sending me this - and you need to hit the link for pictures. Pretty cool.

In the river town of Croton-on-Hudson, about an hour’s drive from Midtown Manhattan, property is prized for its dramatic water views. Resolution: 4 Architecture (RES4), a New York–based firm founded by Joseph Tanney and Robert Luntz, has designed numerous modern houses in the river and oceanfront towns surrounding the city, but perhaps no location influenced the firm’s work so clearly from first sight as this one.

The overall tactic focused on lifting the house as high as possible, 9 feet above grade, to take advantage of the Hudson River views. The house is composed of a main volume, clad in metal siding, supported on steel columns, with a stair and elevator core on its south side faced in ipé wood. This larger form extends eastward to rest on a narrow bar-like structure, sheathed in white cement board, which encloses mechanical systems and storage space.

 

Is Sanders vs. Warren Socialism vs. Capitalism?

At least Sanders admits he's a socialist, which means he thinks all the items listed below are better run by the Government. Honesty in a politician is refreshing. But Warren, saying she believes in capitalism?

No wonder British PM Boris Johnson wanted to hold an early election

The election is scheduled for December 12th. This is from the Guardian (UK), no friend of Boris Johnson.

The Conservatives hold a 16-point lead over Labour ahead of the 12 December general election, according to the latest Opinium/Observer poll. With Boris Johnson set to launch his party’s campaign on Wednesday, the Tories are up 2pts on 42% compared with a week ago, with Labour, also up 2pts, on 26%.

The Liberal Democrats are up one point on 16%, while the Brexit party, which said on Friday that it would run candidates in all seats unless Johnson pulled his Brexit deal, is down one on 9%.

The Tories continue to attract Leave voters, with 66% planning to vote Conservative and only 17% saying they will opt for Farage’s Brexit party.

Although 59% of voters say the NHS is the most important issue facing the country, 40% say the parties’ policies on Brexit will determine how they eventually vote, with only 18% citing approaches to the NHS.

On the key issue of which party will handle the economy best, Johnson and Sajid Javid, the chancellor, had a clear lead over Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. Some 39% of voters believe Johnson and Javid will do the best job, against 21% who would favour Corbyn and McDonnell.

Ralph Martinelli, founder of Westchester Magazine and associated publications and operations

Ralph Martinelli, a local publishing luminary who over 35 years led a successful magazine and event business in the Hudson Valley, died on Saturday at a care facility in New Rochelle. He passed peacefully, surrounded by his brothers, fiancée, and family members. He was 57. For 16 months, Mr. Martinelli had been dealing with the aftereffects of a catastrophic brain injury and had battled valiantly to recover.

Professor Jordan Peterson is right about the Climate Change debate and "bringing us together."

No sense sugar coating it. I reviewed Peterson's great book here - Recent Read: "12 Rules for Life, an Antidote to Chaos"

 

Rugby World Cup Final: England v. South Africa

England having beaten the New Zealand All Blacks, 19-7 (a mild upset), while South Africa got by Wales, 19-16, in the two semi-finals.

The World Cup (Rugby World Cup is every four years) was very successfully held this year in Japan. In fact, Japan made the quarter-finals, defeating both Ireland and Scotland to get there.

England was favored to win the final over South Africa. Well worth watching the highlights and be patient, it isn't all penalty kicks.

Here's the short highlight version - the long version is below

 

and here the long highlight version.

 

Texas Luring Jobs From California With Promises Of Electricity

Electricity - very important to employers.

New billboards have been popping up in California with the slogan “Move to Texas: We have electricity!” Many see this as a play to lure jobs away from California, as many jobs rely on electricity, especially in the modern economy. This could especially be attractive to jobs in the tech sector.

Roy Rivera, a tech analyst with decades of experience in cutting edge technology, explained that “a lot of tech uses electricity.” He then pointed to a chart showing that tech businesses can be at least 300% more effective when they have power.

California Governor Gavin Newsom was dismissive of Texas's claims, though. “They’re making false claims of being able to deliver electricity 24/7,” Newsom said, “but it just can’t be done.” Newsom was also dismissive of the Lone Star State's other claims, such as affordable housing, plenty of water, cheap gas, plastic straws, and not constantly being on fire. “It sounds made up,” said Newsom. “I don’t even think there is a Texas.”

California plans to fight back. It’s now working on a wall to keep people and jobs from leaving California. The planned wall should extend along the entire California border, except for the southern part.

CNBC: “Game-Changing Jobs Report Demolishes Idea Economy Slowing Down"

Yes, economy continues to go great guns. And African American unemployment rate at all-time low.