Tom Faranda's Folly

It's a New Year! So we look forward and not back

For Catholics, today is The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.

And this is the first Mass reading of the New Year -

Book of Numbers 6:22-27

The Priestly Blessing

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

²⁴ “‘“The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”’

²⁷ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

CNN: Coverage of the Texas Church shooting

The man who shot the assailant knew the two men who were killed. And the woman speaking at the end - heartbreaking. Here's more - CNN posted coverage - the Church Pastor knew the shooter.

More on Don Imus - a brief interview after he announced his retirement

Imus retired March 29th, 2018. This is a very good CBS interview with him around that date. Mentions he had emphysema, which I think is what ultimately killed him. I posted this Don Imus   a couple of days ago.

UPDATE: Not sure why CBS took this interview off youtube. Here's another one on their site that is pretty good. https://youtu.be/C46ET6q-kS4

 

Trump: "I have done more for Christianity than Jesus"

Always modest. From the BB newsletter.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In response to the Christianity Today editorial calling for his removal, Trump called the magazine a “left-wing rag” and said, “I have done more for Christianity than Jesus.”

“I mean, the name of the magazine is Christianity Today, and who is doing more for Christians today? Not Jesus. He disappeared; no one knows what happened to him. But I’m out there every day protecting churches from crazy liberals.”

While Trump admitted that Jesus did do some things for Christianity in the past, Trump said he was doing more now and it was more substantial. “I’m appointing judges to help protect religious rights,” Trump stated. “How many judges has Jesus appointed? He says something about judging people in the future, but I ain’t seen it.”

Furthermore, Trump asserted that he “saved Christmas.” “Look what I’ve done,” he said. “You can say 'Merry Christmas' now. In fact, if you say ‘Happy Holidays’ and don’t immediately make it clear you’re referring to Christmas, you go to prison. What has Jesus ever done for Christmas? Be born? He wants credit for that? Come on.”

British Army plans to use Kim Kardashian's butt as a recruiting tool

I don't quite see ... the connection. From the Daily Mail (UK). You'll need to hit the link to figure it out...

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the concept behind the Army’s new advertising campaign is that serving in the Armed Forces instils greater confidence than receiving ‘likes’ on social media. That message will be underlined with the use of a mock-up of the American TV star’s famous derriere which has helped her to build an Instagram following of 154 million.

A dubious honor: New York named rudest city in the US

In a Business Insider survey.

The rudest city in America, according to the survey, is New York City. It was rated rude by 34.3% of respondents, which was almost twice as much as the next highest city on the list.

After NY it was -

2. Los Angeles

3. Washington DC (surprising to me - always found Washington people very friendly

4. Chicago

5. Boston (well deserved - should be #1)

Don Imus

UPDATE: Here's a pretty good obit about his life.

We used to tape his show when he was on the Fox Business Network n the morning and then scroll through it in the evening to catch interesting pieces, especially his interviews. He had an eclectic group of men and women he'd interviewed, sometimes one off interviews, and other times he'd have a regular (like Senators John McCain or John Kerry) on. 

He was a philanthropist - he raised or gave over $40 million to charities, mostly to benefit disadvantaged children. The Imus Ranch which gave children with cancer a cowboy experience, was sold in April, 2018.

Considering the way Imus abused his body in his younger days, it's kind of a wonder he made it to 79.

 

Another stock market high - with a big Apple discussion.

FULL DISCLOSURE: A little end zone dance here - but interesting. Brigid bought Apple last December 24th, @$149. Undoubtedly the best Faranda stock purchase ever. 

So here's a good discussion -  with all the back and forth BS, some good points are made, and as usual the women are the smartest. And a little look forward.

 

VERY FUNNY: "The Most Exquisite Form of Torture"

Hilarious! Gets funnier and funnier. Standard four letter word warning ...

Sneak Peek at my walk/hike on Christmas afternoon

A 4.8 miler in familiar places on Croton Point. I took a lot of pictures - mostly known stuff to people who do walks at Croton Point. Will post more in a few days, but here are three.

The first one I took, looking from near the top of the Croton Dump infamous "cap" south towards Ossining. A cloudy day, with temperature around 41 degrees.

Then this one to prove I was there and these aren't old or someone else's pictures - moi outside the abandoned Croton Point wine cellar.

And this last picture of my reward when I got home -

Boeing replaces it's CEO

After the 737 MAX catastrophes; and a feeble response in all areas. In Monday's WSJ there was an in-depth and highly critical article about the CEO, David Muilenburg. There have been other articles in the financial press. The Boeing Board had made a unanimous decision on Sunday. Anyway here's a good wrap-up from Bloomberg  News.

Dennis Muilenburg was ousted as chief executive officer of Boeing Co., a once-unthinkable turning point for a U.S. industrial champion now engulfed in turmoil after two deadly crashes of its top-selling 737 Max jetliner.

David Calhoun, a General Electric Co. veteran who had served as chairman since October, will replace Muilenburg as CEO and president Jan. 13, Boeing said in a statement Monday. The move followed a rare public rebuke earlier this month by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Just last week, Boeing said it would temporarily halt output of the Max, which has been grounded since March.

Boeing’s directors voted unanimously to install Calhoun, 62, as CEO during an emergency session Sunday, said a person close to the board. Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO during the brief transition period, the company said. Director Larry Kellner, who once led Continental Airlines, will replace Calhoun as chairman.

Hit the link for the whole article. Boeing's stock (BA) is probably a good buy now. It's down 25% from it's high earlier this year.

 

From Simcha Fisher - "Mary and Jesus our castle entire: Mary the fireplace, Jesus the fire."

This is great with a lovely icon and a poem - but you'll need to go to Simcha Fisher's blog. She is a Jewish convert to RC, and has ten children.

Here’s a good poem which, as far as I can tell, is by Peter Kreeft and Fr. Ronald Tacelli. It’s from Handbook of Catholic Apologetics: Reasoned Answers to Questions of Faith. The image is Mary Panagia (“All-Holy”) icon from Cyprus via Needpix.

Some Christmas art from past postings

These are all from some of my past Christmas postings. Maybe I'm getting lazy? No, I just like them!

 

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

HNM's Christmas Eve Bilingual Mass - was great!

And the Holy Name of Mary Chapel was packed. The Mass started at 7PM and went til 8:10.

Before Mass, a procession getting organized.

Altar decorated

Part of the procession - the Star! Starbearer later ...

Kings and Santa -

Fr. Nelson gave his (excellent) homily to a packed house. SRO behind where I was standing, all the way to the entrance. Well over 200 people.

Fr. did his homily holding the baby Jesus from the Creche, with Lupe to the right doing the translating. Fr. ended his homily saying "You are loved, you are loving, you are lovable forever" and had the congregation repeat it. Very effective, the congregation applauded when he finished. 

Another procession, bringing the gifts up.

And then it was over -

The starbearer! Plus Kings, plus, plus, plus!

And the starbearer - carrying a star is hard work!

Wonderful service. the word is Fervor

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two articles -Worldwide it's been a great decade - maybe the greatest in history

Howzat? An op ed from the Wall Street Journal and an article from The Spectator (UK).

From the Journal -

The 2010s have been the best decade ever. The evidence is overwhelming. Start with the United Nations Development Report. Framed as a warning about inequality, it plays down the good news: “The gap in basic living standards is narrowing, with an unprecedented number of people in the world escaping poverty, hunger and disease.”

The World Bank reports that the world-wide rate of extreme poverty fell more than half, from 18.2% to 8.6%, between 2008 and 2018. Last year the World Data Lab calculated that for the first time, more than half the world’s population can be considered “middle class.”

Health progress has been remarkable. People have better access to water, sanitation, health care and vaccines than ever. The incidence of malaria in Africa declined almost 60% from 2007 to 2017, and antiretroviral therapy reduced HIV/AIDS deaths more than half.

Global life expectancy increased by more than three years in the past 10 years, mostly thanks to prevention of childhood deaths. According to the U.N., the global mortality rate for children under 5 declined from 5.6% in 2008 to 3.9% in 2018. A longer perspective shows how far we’ve come. Since 1950, Chad has reduced the child mortality rate by 56%, and it’s the worst-performing country in the world. South Korea reduced it by 98%.

Hasn’t this all come at the cost of a despoiled environment? No. At a certain point developed countries start polluting less. Death rates from air pollution declined by almost a fifth world-wide and a quarter in China between 2007 and 2017, according to the online publication Our World in Data.

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

Progress isn’t guaranteed. Look how wealthy Venezuela collapsed under the burden of crazy policies. A war between major powers, or a financial crash after a decade of easy money, could throw the world off course. So could never-ending trade wars and an unraveling of globalization.

Yet we’ve lived through a period of populist revolts and geopolitical tensions, and wherever societies have been open and markets free, scientists, innovators and businesses persisted and made greater progress than ever.

That’s the case for optimism. Tin-pot strongmen, looting politicians and punctilious bureaucrats make mischief with societies and economies. But mankind creates faster than they can squander, and repairs more than they can destroy.

And from the Spectator - a British magazine -

We’ve just had the best decade in human history. Seriously Little of this made the news, because good news is no news

Let nobody tell you that the second decade of the 21st century has been a bad time. We are living through the greatest improvement in human living standards in history. Extreme poverty has fallen below 10 percent of the world’s population for the first time. It was 60 percent when I was born. Global inequality has been plunging as Africa and Asia experience faster economic growth than Europe and North America; child mortality has fallen to record low levels; famine virtually went extinct; malaria, polio and heart disease are all in decline.

Little of this made the news, because good news is no news. But I’ve been watching it all closely. Ever since I wrote The Rational Optimist in 2010, I’ve been faced with ‘what about…’ questions: what about the great recession, the euro crisis, Syria, Ukraine, Donald Trump? How can I possibly say that things are getting better, given all that? The answer is: because bad things happen while the world still gets better. Yet get better it does, and it has done so over the course of this decade at a rate that has astonished even starry-eyed me.

Senator Cruz on FBI dishonesty.

Two minutes into this, the lie the FBI sent to the DOJ to get a wiretap is described. Certainly criminal - somebody must be headed to jail - unless he plea-bargains to rat out others ...

 

Crazy: Head of British Labor Party, recently defeated Jeremy Corbyn, says American food is unsafe - maggots in our orange juice, etc.

Well this sort of thing explains why the Conservative Party crushed the Labor Party in the December 12th election. Corbyn's statement was a couple of days ago in the British Parliament and is 3 minutes long. FULL DISCLOSURE: I have never found "maggots in orange juice" or "rat hairs in paprika" at any time in my experience eating in America. Maybe I didn't look closely enough?  A one minute response by a Conservative Party member is below Corbyn's weird statement.

 

Here's a response -

 

Joe Biden debating: "Pong May Be A Gateway Drug To More Dangerous Video Games Like Asteroids"

Made up of course by the BB people. Still, not that far-fetched...

Joe Biden has come under scrutiny after suggesting that Pong might be a gateway drug to more dangerous video games like Asteroids, Galaga, Temptest, and Battlezone. Biden warned that lots of kids are getting addicted to video games when they encounter peer pressure to "just try Pong" one time at a local arcade.

"These young whippersnappers, they're just trying out Pong because it's the cool thing to do," said Biden at a Vegas town hall. "The next thing you know, you're pew-pewing centipedes and Pac-Manning the Marios, plunking in one quarter after another. It's a real problem with the kids these days. We've got to get them out of these deadly arcades and doing more productive things."

The former vice president suggested kids try sniffing hair as a safe, clean alternative to drugs and video games.

"It's just like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet tells you: Winners Don't Use Drugs," he added. "And video games are a heckuva drug. I know---I used to be addicted to Tempest back in the day. I had all the high scores." Biden snickered, adding that he used to spell bad words when entering his initials.

"We all had a good laugh. But still! Video games are dangerous."

Merrill Lynch is bullish on stocks

Quite bullish. For the record (not mentioned in this video) the average return of the S & P 500 after a year in which it has risen 20% or more (right now up 27% this year), is 11.3%. Which isn't bad at all.

 

"Inspector Clouseau and his Pipe"

Strikes again... From the 1982 film 'Trail of the Pink Panther

The Impeachment - in 30 seconds and five easy pictures

It Began Here -

 

The charges needed to impeach are tough -

The Democrats soldiered on - with success! it was exciting!

But here are the political result of their success (USA Today)

Or could the poll results have something to do with these Department of Labor #'s?

See! thirty seconds and five pictures.

 

Fun comparison of very expensive watches - which I will never own

Nor want to own. However modern mechanical watches are quite marvelous - and how about this guy's upper class British accent? It's enough to make you a socialist...

 

FISA Court rebukes FBI - demands reforms

Stinging. Wait for the indictments? I posted this Former FBI Director Comey: "I was wrong" (sort of) yesterday. And now this -

"The order follows the release of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report, which detailed 17 “significant errors and omissions” in the warrant application to surveil (Carter) Page."

“The frequency with which representations made by FBI personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable,” wrote the FISA court. “Therefore, the Court orders that the government shall, no later than January 10, 2020, inform the Court in a sworn written submission of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application,” the order continues.

And this is interesting -

The publication of the IG report caused Senate Republicans to call for reform of the FISA application process, and several publicly acknowledged Utah Senator and FISA-skeptic Mike Lee as a leader on the issue.

“I wish Mike Lee weren’t sitting here two people from me right now, because as a national security hawk, I’ve argued with Mike Lee in the four-and-a-half or five years that I’ve been in the Senate that stuff just like this couldn’t possibly happen at the FBI and at the Department of Justice,” Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) said during a Senate hearing on the IG report.

“Because we’ve now seen the abuses we were warned about, you can smirk again, you were right,” Senator Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) told Lee.

Yankee stuff: Another angle on Gerrit Cole's nine year, $324 million deal

From my friend, the Great Sweat -

"WOW !  That means Cole will be getting $98,630 dollars and 13.7 cents every single day for 9 straight years (including every day of the off season)! ! !  Not bad work if you can get it. Frankly........if the Yanks offered me that deal, I just might be inclined to take it. I think I could somehow figure out a way to live on 98K per day."

 

The Yankees get their man; pitcher Gerrit Cole, 9 years, $324 million

 

My Church: God Squad makes News 12 for homeless sleepout - excellent report!

Thanks to Marie C. for cluing me in on this.

Croton-on-Hudson teens sleep outside to raise awareness for homelessness

Here's the video -

 

British Progressives horrified; Boris Johnson removes mask revealing he's Donald Trump

Nightmare!

LONDON—British progressives were already down from their huge losses in Thursday's election, as they lost pretty much every contest to the Conservatives, from Dublingtonampton and Worcestershiresauce to Hogwarts and the Shire.

But their depression turned to sheer terror as Boris Johnson removed his long-running disguise and revealed himself to be Donald Trump.

Classic Trump!

The shocking revelation came after Johnson's victory speech following Conservatives' huge wins in yesterday's elections. "Oh, and by the way, old chaps" -- he removed his mask and revealed himself to be Donald Trump -- "you're all part of the greatest country maybe ever. You're welcome!"

"We're making the UK great again!"

"You should have seen the looks on their faces," Trump said, laughing, later on. "I mean, it's a really good gag. I had them going for decades." Trump said he developed the idea of the Boris personality when he wanted to go slum it "among the people" abroad but didn't want any press attention. "Sometimes you just wanna be one of the boys." According to the ruler of both the United States and the United Kingdom, things "spiraled out of control" when he took on the Prime Minister job in July, but he wanted to keep the fun going as long as possible.

"It's pretty fun over here. Lots of golf. The food is weird -- even the McDonald's doesn't taste quite right -- but it's a nice change of pace from Washington."

Political commentators weren't sure what the implications were of this unprecedented development, but most agree the UK is now under American control, but it will kind of be one of those territories that aren't fully part of America like Puerto Rico or California.

Former FBI Director Comey: "I was wrong" (sort of)

This is a really good interview. I'm glad he went on FOX and just didn't use another network where he'd have gotten T-Ball questions.

 

But wait, there's more! A little bonus with Trey Gowdy and Kim Strassel.

Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich on supporting Warren/Sanders

Reich has an op ed in the Guardian (UK). He also makes youtube videos for moveon.org. I report, you decide.

Although there are differences between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, I’m putting them together for the purpose of making a simple point. These two have most of the grassroots energy in the 2020 campaign, most of the enthusiasm and most of the ideas critical for America’s future. Together, they lead Joe Biden and every other so-called moderate Democrat by a wide margin in all polls.

Average Americans know they’re getting the scraps while corporate profits are at record highs and CEOs and Wall Street executives are pocketing unprecedented pay and bonuses.

They know big money has been flooding Washington and state capitals to cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy; roll back health, safety, environment and labor protections; and allow big business to monopolize the economy, using its market power to keep prices high and wages low.

Most Americans want to elect someone who’s on their side.

In 2016 some voted for Trump because he conned them into believing he was that person.

But he’s given big corporations and Wall Street everything they’ve wanted: rollbacks of health, safety, and environmental protections, plus a giant $2tn tax cut that’s boosted stock prices and executive pay while nothing trickled down.

Trump is still fooling millions into thinking he’s on their side, and that their problems are due to immigrants, minorities, cultural elites and “deep state” bureaucrats, rather than a system that’s rigged for the benefit of those at the top.

But some of these Trump supporters would join with other Americans and vote for a candidate in 2020 who actually took on power and privilege.

This is where Warren and Sanders come in.

Their core proposals would make the system work for everyone and alter the power structure in America: Medicare for All based on a single-payer rather than private for-profit corporate insurance; a Green New Deal to create millions of good jobs fighting climate change; free public higher education; universal childcare

All financed mainly by a tax on the super-rich.

More on the British election - commentary by an anti-Brexit former Conservative Party politician

Lord Heseltine. I never heard of him but seems an interesting guy. He founded a publishing house and then was a member of Parliament for 35 years, ending in 2001.  He was then named a Lord and went into the House of Lords - an honorary thing with little power. He was against Brexit, as were a minority of the Conservative Party. Anti-Brexit people were called "remainers". Heseltine is now 86 years old and pretty on the ball. If you have any interest in British stuff, this eight minute interview is revealing.  

Feast Day today: St. John of the Cross - one of the great mystics & spiritual writers

Living in the 16 century (died in 1591), John of the Cross  was a co-worker with St. Teresa of Avila; as a young priest she recruited him to help reform the Carmelites.  He had planned to join the Carthusian order. He wasn't popular with all the Carmelites; some of them imprisoned him in a small cell for nine months because of his radical approach.

Here are a couple of quotes, which may explain his unpopularity with some ...

"Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of Divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly."

And

"However high be your endeavors, unless you renounce and subjugate your own will - unless you forget yourself and all that pertains to yourself - not one step will you advance on the road to perfection." ~ John of the Cross

A great poet and writer. Pope Saint John Paul II learned Spanish so he could read him in the vernacular.

Bill Gates: Five books he recommends

Bill Gates has an email list that I'm on (no biggie; it's called GatesNotes and anyone can get on it).

Hit the link for the five books. I've heard of one or two of them but haven't read any of them.

"The five books on my end-of-year list will help you start 2020 on a good note.""

British election - big win for so called "Conservatives". Not what Americans think of as Conservative.

So the Conservative party had a landslide win - they have something like 362 seats in the 650 seat House of Commons. The Labor Party is only around 200 seats. They are not conservative in the sense we think of conservatives. If you imagine a blending of the policies of current Democrat Presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar  and Elizabeth Warren, that's about where the British Conservatives are. And Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson is a sleaze ball (my opinion). Chronic adulterer, and has aborted at least two of his children.

The Labor Party was crushed for two reasons - they diddled about Brexit and their leader Jeremy Corbyn, was profoundly disliked by just about everyone. There was even a BREXIT Party that formed and only ran in traditional Labor Constituencies so that Labor Party members who were pro-BREXIT or disliked Corbyn, but would never vote Conservative, had an alternative. This really hurt the Labor Party; in many of these traditional Labor Party strongholds the Conservative Party vote barely went up, but enough voters chose the BREXIT Party instead of Labor, that the Conservatives won. 

So Brexit, the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union, will rapidly go through, Britain will forge there own trade pacts, and it's likely to work out well for them.

Here's Boris Johnson's quick comments following his win.

 

Yankee watch - Brett Gardner re-signs and Austine Romine moves to the Detroit Tigers

Well, both players very popular with the Yankees. Romine was a good back-up catcher and he'll probably start with the Tigers.

Couple of Brigid birthday pictures - a serenata and a full mystical full moon!

First one - about 4:30 in the morning at the church Serenata, celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A big early morning event put on by the Hispanic community at our Church with good attendance. Brigid always goes, since it's her birthday!

And here's a picture Brigid grabbed of the full moon! Not bad for a quick snap shot with her phone - pretty mystical - like Brigid!

 

Another Brigid Birthday!

Yes, same day as the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. OLOG pictured first ... then a quick dozen of Brigid ... some 2019, some much older ...

And here are some recent Brigid pictures

At our friend Doreen's birthday party as we waited in the dark to surprise Doreen -

Halloween 2019!

A cocktail at 105-twenty

And trying to catch the waitress' eye to get her beer refilled at the Black Rock Cafe! Do you detect a pattern?

Outside Fat Sal's last June for brunch on our anniversary (#40!!) the past June 23rd.

But wait! There's more!

This is in April or May, 1979, in Jamaica on the south coast at a place called Lovers Leap. We were married in Jamaica that June. For those who don't know, we were both teaching there at the time.

 

This picture requires a bit of explanation - I've never posted it before. We were flying out of the Mandeville rinky dink little airport to Montego Bay to leave the Island for NY, and you may be able to tell that we had more than a few drinks the night before. On the left is our friend Paul Foster, whose son went on to play rugby professionally in England, and in the middle is Mick Paine. Mick, a more or less Communist atheist, was the best man at our wedding a week or so earlier.

After the next two years in the Cayman Islands, back to NY and here's Christmas in 1982, in our rented flat, 98 Grand St., in Croton. Brigid looking very serious...

I'm pretty sure this is September, 1996, with Joe in England! But maybe not - he looks older than three.

January, 1997 with two hot shots. Tim was six weeks old at the time.

Brigid with her Mom and siblings . Clockwise - Kate, Libby, and Neville. Not sure of the date on this. Sadly, only Brigid and Libby are left.

On a happier note - the Bronx Zoo. And we still use that LL Bean daypack.

More next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Yankees get their man; pitcher Gerrit Cole, 9 years, $324 million

A quick calculation - assuming a regular season, plus playoffs all the way to the World Series, that's over $9,000 per pitch. Nice work if you can get it. The most sought after pitcher in free agency, Cole is probably the best pitcher in baseball, under 30 years old (he's 29). Here's something I posted after the World Series ended - Safe Bet: Gerrit Cole won't be back with the Houston Astros since he took off his Astros cap and put on the cap of his agent, Scott Boras.

This from ESPN -

Cole, 29, the runner-up to teammate Justin Verlander for the AL Cy Young Award, was dominant in 2019, posting a 20-5 record in the regular season as the Houston Astros led the majors with 107 wins. The hard-throwing right-hander set an Astros record by winning his last 16 regular-season decisions and topped the AL with a career-best 2.50 ERA. His career-high 326 strikeouts were the most in the majors and broke an Astros franchise record that had stood since 1979, when J.R. Richard fanned 313.

 

Amazing: Chevron cites oil and gas glut and writes down it's reserves by $10 billion

This is really a big deal. How will other energy companies handle the issue?

Chevron, Facing Fossil Fuels Glut, Takes $10 Billion Charge. Oil giant cuts the value of its holdings, including shale, citing low prices caused by oversupply.

Chevron Corp. is writing down the value of its assets by more than $10 billion, a concession that in an age of oil and gas overabundance, some will not be profitable anytime soon.

In the largest write-down by an energy producer in years, Chevron said Tuesday that it was cutting the value of a number of properties, notably its U.S. shale holdings in Appalachia, by a combined $10 billion to $11 billion. Chevron is also restructuring its operations to focus on fewer prospects in the face of persistently low natural gas prices, and will explore sales of some assets.

The second-largest U.S. oil company lowered its forecast for future commodity prices, and said that as a result, it was reducing the value of production from one of its offshore oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico, called Big Foot. It also lowered the value of a planned facility to export liquefied natural gas from Canada.

Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth said in an interview that the company had performed well in a difficult market but wanted to focus on its most promising future prospects, including an expansion of shale oil drilling in Texas.

“We have to make the tough choices to high-grade our portfolio and invest in the highest-return projects in the world we see ahead of us, and that’s a different world than the one that lies behind us,” Mr. Wirth said.

Chevron’s shares closed up less than a percentage point at $117.90 prior to the announcement Tuesday.

The sobering reappraisal by one of the world’s largest and best-performing oil companies is likely to ripple through the oil-and-gas industry, forcing others to publicly reassess the value of their holdings in the face of a global supply glut and growing investor concerns about the long-term future of fossil fuels.

Particular pressure is falling on shale producers, especially those focused on natural gas in places like Pennsylvania, which are struggling with historically low U.S. prices caused by oversupply.

 

 

 

 

Fellow artist eats another's $120,000 art piece.

I wonder if this was all an attention-grabbing PR thing from the get-go - and the laugh will be on everyone who initially believed it.  The "art piece" is the one you may have heard about - a banana duct taped to a wall that supposedly sold for $120.000.

Anyway see the video and for more (amazing) info on this from Ben Shapiro hit the link below the video.

 

Man Eats $120,000 "Art" Banana

Not bad for a part-time job. Westchester legislators vote themselves a 52% raise.

So base pay goes from $49.200 to $75,000 annually. Of course they waited until after the election and bypassed the Compensation Review Board.

The proposed raises didn’t surface until shortly after local elections last month, when all 17 seats on the county Board of Legislators were up for grabs. That was a point of contention for some members of the community as well as lawmakers who voted against the plan. The increases will take base pay for the county Board of Legislators from $49,200 to $75,000 a year, and will also boost stipends for leadership positions. The raises will take effect Jan. 1. The vote was 10-6. It is the first raise since 2005 for lawmakers. By giving themselves raises, the board bypassed a Compensation Advisory Board that is supposed to convene on even numbered years — before lawmakers are up for election.

My Representative, Catherine Borgia, who is in a very heavily Democratic District and who made outrageous accusations against the guy who ran against her, voted YES to the pay raise.

 

Feast of St. Juan Diego (And Tim's Birthday!)

Yes it's also Tim's birthday. Tim's birthday today.   By a funny "Divine set-up" Brigid's birthday is on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and of course Juan Diego was her messenger!

He is the first indigenous Saint of the Americas, canonized by John Paul II in 2002.

St. Juan Diego (1474–1548) was a poor and humble peasant of the lowest class of Aztec Indians living in what is today Mexico. His native name was Cuauhtlatoatzin, meaning, "eagle that talks." He was baptized at the age of fifty by a Franciscan missionary priest and received the Christian name of Juan Diego. It was he to whom Our Lady appeared as a pregnant Aztec princess on December 9, 1531—at that time the feast of the Immaculate Conception—on the hill of Tepeyac, in present-day Mexico City, as he was on his way to Mass. To help Juan Diego prove to the bishop that she had truly appeared, the Virgin Mary miraculously left her image on his tilma. This image is now famously known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. St. Juan Diego's tilma still bears the image of Our Lady (miraculously, as the plant fibers normally disintegrate in 15-20 years) and it hangs in one of the most famous Catholic pilgrimage sites of the world, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Juan Diego was canonized in 2002 by Pope St. John Paul II as the first indigenous saint from the Americas.

Tim's birthday today.

Ooops this popped up a day early! But that's ok. Yeah who's the man! Some recent pictures; graduation and an April track meet at Lafayette College, throwing the javelin.

And on the Feast of Saint Juan Diego.

 

 

Pensacola Base shooting victim "saved countless lives"

UPDATE: More here about all three victims - all young men. The three young men who were shot dead on Friday morning at Naval Air Station Pensacola were hailed by U.S. Navy leaders as heroes who “didn’t run from danger” when confronted by the assailant but instead “ran towards it and saved lives.”

Family members have identified Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, as one of the victims of Friday’s shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola. “Joshua Kaleb Watson saved countless lives today with his own,” Adam Watson wrote late Friday. "After being shot multiple times he made it outside and told the first response team where the shooter was and those details were invaluable.

 

SNL Weekend Update: Pelosi prays for Donald Trump

Attention to detail: She even has Pelosi's necklace -

"Recommended Winter Day Hiking Gear List"

The guy who writes this newsletter, Philip Warner, gave up his day job about ten years ago to be a fulltime outdoorsman. The article is worth a look, or just scrolling through, even if you are an experienced hiker. With my knee in good shape now, and having done a four miler the day after Thanksgiving in Fahnestock Park, I'm hoping to really get going again.

When gearing up for winter day hiking you want footwear, clothing and traction aids that can be used across a fairly wide range of temperatures, wind speeds, sun, precipitation types, and surface conditions.

 

Feast of the Immaculate Conception is tomorrow

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the infallibly defined dogma of the Catholic Church that "God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate. This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church). Chosen by God to be the Mother of the Savior and the "New Eve," Mary Immaculate is a type of the Church and the perfect model of holiness for all Christians. Mary under this title is the patroness of the United States of America, and the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Pink Panther's Inspector Clouseau: "Does your dog bite?" A classic, 102 seconds long...

Awesome Peter Sellers.  Who thinks of this stuff?

WSJ - Jobs market booming: "What Would We Do Without Experts?"

A column from the WSJ yesterday, on the news that employers added 266,000 jobs in November. 

There’s no recession in sight as the U.S. economy continues to create new opportunities and defy the expectations of professional forecasters. Yesterday, on news of another surge in hiring among small businesses, this column asked if anything can stop the great American jobs machine. Today’s Labor Department report on the whole economy adds an exclamation point to that question.

The Journal’s Sarah Chaney reports:

The U.S. job market strengthened in November, as hiring jumped and unemployment fell to a half-century low, adding fuel to the economic expansion.

Employers added 266,000 jobs in November—the fastest pace since 312,000 in January—and the jobless rate dipped to 3.5%, matching September as the lowest level since 1969, the Labor Department said Friday. Wages also advanced 3.1% from a year earlier.

“This is a ‘who would have thought moment?’” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of staffing company ManpowerGroup’s North America division. “No one would have ever guessed we could be sitting at 3.5% unemployment with 110 months of job gains.”

Certainly such guesses were rare among people paid to make economic forecasts. Neil Irwin notes in the New York Times the big lesson from the current robust labor market:

... the American economy is capable of cranking at a higher level than conventional wisdom held as recently as a few years ago. As the economy continues to grow well above what once seemed like its potential, without inflation or other clear signs of overheating, it’s clearer that the old view of its potential was an extremely costly mistake.

The mainstream view of the economics profession — held by leaders of the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Budget Office, private forecasters and many in academia — was that the United States economy was at, or close to, full employment.

In January 2017, for example, nearly three years ago, the Congressional Budget Office forecast a 4.7 percent unemployment rate as far as the eye could see, and it projected that the United States labor force would consist of 163.3 million in 2019. The jobless rate has averaged less than 3.7 percent through the first 11 months of the year, and the labor force now stands at 164.4 million people.

Donald Luskin of Trend Macrolytics writes in a note to clients that today’s jobs report was so good, it seems too good to be true:

This morning’s November Employment Situation report was a huge beat versus expectations for only 180,000 – and all the more so in that upward revisions of 41,000 to the prior two months’ reports raised the bar. Those upward revisions include 28,000 to October’s payrolls, which was already a blockbuster beat. 45,000 or so November payrolls are the result of automotive workers coming back from a strike, but that would have been anticipated in the consensus.

This report flies in the face of contemporaneous labor market data, which indicates in aggregate that employment increased only from 137,000 to 151,000 jobs – and indeed a tepid 81,000 new jobs reported in the “household survey” this morning confirms this. We have to think that these blockbuster payroll numbers are going to get revised lower. Nevertheless, they could get revised a lot lower and they’d still be strong – depriving those expecting a recession around the corner of a necessary argument.

Great short article: "How to Explain Anything to Anybody"

This is from a TEDx lecture - the 15 minute video is embedded in the link with the short (18 paragraphs) article and I've also embedded the video below the link, and excerpted the first four paragraphs. If you have time, watch the video (as with all TED videos it's excellent- note title of video "Quantum Physics for a seven year old") but definitely read the article. That is, unless you never have to explain anything to anybody.

If you read it, you'll think "Of course, that's common sense" - but do you - or I - actually do it?

How to explain anything to anyone: 4 steps to clearer communication

“Have you ever had this experience?” asks physicist Dominic Walliman in a TEDxEastVan Talk. “You’re having a chat with someone, and they’re telling you something about a subject they’re very interested in or they know a lot about, and you’re following along. Then, at some stage you realize you kind of lost the thread of what they’re saying … You realize you have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.”

When this has happened, you probably felt bad — like you just weren’t smart enough to understand what they were saying and you’ve wasted that person’s time.

Perhaps you’ve been on the other side, too. You were talking about something relatively complex and you could practically see the moment that your listener checked out. Not only is it uncomfortable but it’s also disheartening when what you’re saying is important, cool or valuable to the listener.

When you’re the speaker, “there are things you can do to improve this,” says Walliman. All you need to do is find a better way to explain your subject.

 

"15 Life Lessons from Peter Sellers" and the Pink Panther

Love Peter Sellers - 12 minutes long. And look closely at the end of #7 - actor on the left - and #9 - the woman starts coughing - neither can keep a straight face.

Also:

- But this is a priceless Steinway !
- Not anymore

New York's newest Bishop talks about his meeting with Pope Francis

Bishop Lucia is from Syracuse.