Tom Faranda's Folly

Great: 86 yo woman hits hole-in-one, wins a car!

On a basketball court, at an Ole Miss game. And the crowd goes crazy ! ...

Bernie supporters fleeing capitalism putting a strain on Cuba

U.S.—After Bernie Sanders praised elements of Cuba's totalitarian regime, the presidential candidate's loyal supporters scrambled to cobble together makeshift rafts so they could paddle over to Cuba to experience the Communist island's renowned literacy programs, medical care, and other social services.

"We just have to get over there," said one "Bernie Bro" as he fashioned a raft out of discarded plastic straws. "I for one want to experience Cuba's literacy program so I can finally read a book. And I've heard that their healthcare is the best in the world, as long as you're among the elite. Which, I'm sure I'll be accepted as the elite and not one of the peasants, since I'm from a wealthy, capitalist nation like America."

The Bernie Bro feared he had made a mistake as his iPhone dropped out of cell range a few hundred feet from shore, but it was too late to turn back.

How Democrats get away with blocking the Infants Born Alive Protection Act

How profoundly sad. And I'm supposed to vote for these people?

This from Alexandra DeSanctis at NR Online

Earlier this week, 41 Democratic senators successfully filibustered the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require doctors to provide standard medical care to infants who survive attempted abortion procedures. Contrary to Democratic claims, the bill is neither unnecessary nor redundant. Abortion survivors are not a fiction invented by the pro-life movement. No law currently protects such infants. And the bill neither regulates nor limits abortion or women’s health-care options. All it requires is that doctors give “the same degree” of care to newborns who survive abortion that “any other child born alive at the same gestational age” would receive.

In more than a dozen states, it is not currently illegal for a doctor to allow a newborn who survives an abortion to die of neglect. Had Democrats not blocked it, this bill would have changed that.

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

But will Americans ever find out that Democrats disagree with them? Given the way prominent media outlets have covered the born-alive bill, that seems unlikely — and that’s what Democrats are banking on.

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

Here are a few sample headlines:

CNN: “Two abortion restriction bills that forced tough votes for vulnerable senators fail in the Senate.” Politico: “Anti-abortion bills fail to advance in Senate vote.” CBS News: “Two bills banning most late-term abortions blocked by Senate Democrats.” Newsweek: “Mitch McConnell faces backlash over bid to force Senate votes on anti-abortion laws.”

The content of most of these articles, and similar reports at other outlets, was even more inaccurate than the headlines.

The New York Times published an article that, as Ramesh Ponnuru has observed, got key facts wrong. It also framed the entire debate in Democratic Party talking points while offering only inaccurate strawman versions of the argument in favor of the born-alive bill. The Times’ congressional editor shared this article in a tweet claiming that the Senate bills would “curb women’s rights to late-term abortions.”

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

This type of routinely inaccurate coverage does a lot to explain why Democrats like Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) feel confident heading to the Senate floor to lie about the contents of the born-alive bill. Not to be outdone, NBC News published an op-ed by Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) packed with demonstrably false assertions about the bill. 

It is understandable that Democrats would prefer to pretend that they were not opposing a bill that merely requires ordinary care for infants. Why would they admit the truth when every prominent outlet is ready and willing to run coverage twisting the contents of the bill and parroting abortion supporters’ own talking points?

 

News flash (rumor!): "Trump names Ambassador to Wuhan, China"

Still awaiting confirmation... sent to me by my friend Ed, who is normally very reliable on this stuff.

Johns Hopkins Study: Mixed results on various gun control measures

Funny how this hasn't been more widely covered by the media -

Here's one perspective, with one spin:

A study released by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health declares there is no evidence “assault weapon” bans lead to a lower “incidence of fatal mass shootings.”

And here's another from the study, with a different spin:

Firearm purchaser licensing laws that require an in-person application or fingerprinting are associated with an estimated 56 percent fewer fatal mass shootings in states that have them, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The researchers also found evidence that laws banning large-capacity magazines, defined as those that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, were associated with significant reductions in the rate of fatal mass shootings with four or more fatalities and the number killed in those shootings. The size and precision of the estimated effects of LCM bans varied across many statistical analyses presented in study.

For some reason "their study omitted the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School in which 26 were killed". And that in a state (CT) with licensing regulations. Also left out - Illinois, which has strict gun control laws but plenty of gun violence in Chicago.

Most plastic bags in NY State will not be banned on March 1st

Thanks to my friend Maria for sending me this. Looks like about the only banned bags are at the checkout for your groceries.

New York plastic bag ban: Here are which bags will still be allowed March 1

Not banned:

Stores will still be able to package your meat, fish and poultry in thin plastic bags. According to the DEC regulations, the bag ban won't apply to any bags used to contain or wrap uncooked meat, fish, seafood, poultry, unwrapped or non-prepackaged food, flowers or plants.

Plastic bags can be used for other items, too, if they're necessary to be kept separate for purposes of avoiding contamination or moisture damage, or for sanitary purposes.

Bags for bulk purchases will still be allowed.

Pet stores and retailers will be allowed to use plastic bags for live insects, fish, crustaceans, mollusks or "other aquatic items requiring a waterproof bag,"...

Newspaper delivery bags, exempt AND NOT BANNED

ZipLoc and other food storage bags--The ban exempts bags that are meant for food storage, particularly those manufactured in "snack, sandwich, quart, and gallon sizes."

Dry cleaning bags are exempt

Trash bags are exempt

 

Restaurant take out bags are exempt

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says Trump should recuse himself from decisions involving Country's future

This from The Borowitz Report in the New Yorker -

Ginsburg enumerated a list of issues about which Trump should immediately recuse himself, including immigration, taxes, women’s reproductive rights, “and any other issues related to domestic or foreign policy not listed above.”

Speaking from her office at the Supreme Court, Ginsburg said that Trump’s oft-stated allegiance to himself makes it impossible for him to render unbiased decisions on issues affecting people other than himself.

“Since the United States is populated by three hundred and thirty-one million people who are not him, any decision regarding their fates would, by definition, ensnare Trump in an insoluble conflict of interest,” she said.

Ginsburg enumerated a list of issues about which Trump should immediately recuse himself, including immigration, trade, taxes, the social safety net, women’s reproductive rights, health care, the economy, the military, the environment, “and any other issues related to domestic or foreign policy not listed above.”

Ginsburg stressed, however, that, even after recusing himself from those matters, Trump would still be allowed to weigh in on other important decisions, like “what to eat and which channel to watch.”

Health officials expect USA coronavirus outbreak: "It’s More of a Question of When"

Off NRO -

U.S. officials admitted Tuesday that the United States is likely to suffer a coronavirus outbreak, one day after the Trump administration requested $2.5 billion to help slow the spread of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that it now expects a large increase in U.S. cases, and urged Americans to prepare for “the expectation that this might be bad.”

Nancy Messonnier, the director of the Center DC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that “it’s not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen.” She also warned that “the disruption of daily life might be severe.”

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

Among concerns for health officials include the lack of resources needed to diagnose and contain an outbreak, with the CDC still trying to roll out a testing kit for state and local health departments. As of Tuesday, a total of 426 people in the U.S. have been tested for the virus, with 12 states and localities now conducting their own tests.

Article - "Stop the Death Penalty"

From Kathryn Jean Lopez in National Review Online. It seems to me that if you are a conservative, small/less government person, you certainly should oppose the death penalty. State-sanctioned killing This is a good article taking that position in the conservative National Review. His crimes were appalling but ...

... no one was asking for the man to be released. Instead, people, including prison staff and the sister of the inmate he killed, were advocating for his life. In the 34 years since he had been on death row, he had done what you would hope would happen in prison. He changed. He started caring about others. To judge from his last words, he became a man of faith. He even saved the lives of prison staff when inmates got violent. One former corrections officer whose life Sutton saved said in the plea to the governor that if Sutton were released from prison tomorrow (which was never under consideration, he was just making a point), he would welcome Sutton in his home and as a neighbor.

His crimes were evil. They were also committed by a teenager whose mother abandoned him and whose father abused him and went on to commit suicide. Reports indicated that his father introduced his son, as a child, to drugs, leading to Sutton’s drug addiction. One recent headline in the news cited the abused boys we send to death row. It’s usually not a happy upbringing that leads a man to such a place.

It’s all so miserable. And even more so, of course, for the families of those he killed all those years ago. On social media, I saw a lot of burn-in-hell, this-should-have-happened-years-ago kind of comments. I couldn’t help but think about mercy. Justice is crucial. But so is mercy. ...

Nick Sutton’s execution happened in Tennessee, around the fifth anniversary of those mostly Coptic Christian Egyptian men who were beheaded on the shores of Libya by ISIS militants. The witness of their families to forgiveness is remarkable. Of course, they have the consolation of knowing what noble deaths their loved ones died — such courage and conviction! These death-row situations are more like senseless violence. But there is a shared brutality (and the video of the Coptic martyrs’ deaths are on the Internet). And yet these families — they are praying for the conversion of the terrorists. They are praying for their peace. We do see this closer to home, too — we saw such remarkable forgiveness after the Charleston church shooting in 2015, for instance. But in America, when it comes to the death penalty, we have anger and argument. But there’s something about this spirit of mercy that we could afford to latch onto.

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

Sutton was the 1,156th person executed in the United States since 1976. You hear protests about racial disparities and other injustices. But what about the very concept of the state executing people in these times? It was probably good that Nick Sutton was a converted, peaceful element in prison. Needless to say, not everyone is. He wasn’t always. But these state executions are a poison among poisons in our law and culture. They insist that more violence and death are a good. We pretend that this punishment will be a civilizing influence. But it’s probably not on the next Nick Sutton born of similar circumstances.

Simcha Fisher: "Be quiet this Lent"

Good and amusing column by a Jewish convert to Catholicism who has ten children ...

What to do for Lent? That question reminds me of that old joke about the two seminarians. One of them asks the bishop if it would be okay to smoke while praying.

“No,” his excellency answered sternly. “When you’re praying, you should be giving your whole heart and attention to God.”

Seminarian walks out gloomily and sees another seminarian pacing up and down the courtyard with his breviary, puffing happily on a cigarette the whole time. The first seminarian tells him, “Don’t let the bishop see you smoking while you pray!”

“No, it’s fine,” the second one replies. “I just asked him if it would be appropriate to pray while I was smoking,” and he said, “Yes, my son. That would be most salutary. Pray all the time!”

There are a few different morals here. One is that many seminarians are punks, and there’s a reason they have to be in school for seven years before they’re released out into the wild. The second moral is that bishops . . . well, you don’t want to know what I think about bishops. Let’s move along.

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

Even on a lazy day, I’m busy busy busy, accomplishing this, working hard at avoiding that, distracting myself with this, putting a lot of effort into putting off thinking about that, praying this devotion, avoiding that one. I was scrolling through Facebook on my distraction machine this morning, and came across a short essay that smacked me right between the eyes: A Not-So-Radical Proposal for Your Lenten Season: Do Nothing.

The author, Jake Braithwaite, SJ, describes how his life was jam packed with busyness. And he was busy doing good things: working, studying, spending time with friends. But, he says:

“When the rare slow moment came I would be overwhelmed by the range of emotions that might overtake me: wounds I’d let fester, exhaustion I’d ignored, difficult moments I’d refused to process.

“Where had all this been hiding? Had it been here all along?

“When starting to discern becoming a Jesuit, I was forced to take more time outside of my routine to pray. For me, the revelation of silent prayer was that I wanted something different than the life that, on the surface, was quite satisfying. I realised that part of the reason I filled every waking moment with activity was that I didn’t want to listen to that voice that was calling me in a different direction.”

Oh dear.

Hit the link for the rest!

Donald and Nancy; more back and forth

A follow-up to this - Valentine's Day - Donald and Nancy

Warren Buffett on the stock market opening lower today

The major indexes are down about 3% at the opening - coronavirus fears.

Here are a couple of short videos from Warren Buffett's ("The Sage of Omaha") CNBC interview this morning.

 

Stocks v. bonds v. cash ...

 

Trump getting gigantic welcome in India

The Prez is there for a three day visit. He'll be luvin' this. DW News is a German organization.

WSJ: "Global Terror-Finance Watchdog Set to Sanction Iran"

A global terror-finance watchdog agency is set to blacklist Iran, broadening a U.S. effort to isolate Tehran financially and potentially straining the already sanctions-battered Iranian economy. Iran’s blacklisting by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force is expected to take place Friday and comes after European governments decided to join the U.S., according to American and allied officials.

The task force’s decision will place financial transactions with Iran under additional scrutiny and escalate the pressure on the dwindling number of banks and businesses still dealing with the Islamic Republic to cut their ties.

The blacklisting marks a step forward in the U.S. campaign to use sanctions to compel the Iranian government to end its support for terrorist groups and eliminate its nuclear weapons program. Most Western banks have already severed links with Tehran in response to the U.S. sanctions, which have also drastically cut Iran’s oil sales—its largest revenue source—weakened its economy and helped fuel street protests against the government.

European governments declined to join the U.S. pressure campaign in an effort to save the multination Iran nuclear accord, from which the Trump administration withdrew in 2018.

In recent weeks, European officials have told the State Department that their governments will back the Financial Action Task Force in imposing the stringent new measures targeting Iran’s financial system, said the U.S. and allied officials.

Democrat debate: Bloomberg gets demolished

Now here is a true demolition, started by Warren. And Bloomberg looks very shaky.

 

Professor Victor Davis Hanson crushes Bloomberg

Mike Bloomberg - arrogant, pompous, twit. I hope Sanders destroys him.

Not Babylon Bee: "Bloomberg Enrages Trump by Buying Greenland"

Wow. Sent to me by my friend Damian.

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—In an apparently successful attempt to get under the skin of Donald Trump, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has purchased Greenland from Denmark.

In an official statement released on Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, would not disclose the price that Bloomberg paid for Greenland but indicated that it was an “all-cash offer.”

“Mr. Bloomberg has a lot of money,” Frederiksen added.

News of Bloomberg’s purchase of Greenland reportedly infuriated Trump, who immediately ordered his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to make an offer to buy the Faroe Islands from Denmark.

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

As for Bloomberg, his campaign released a brief statement about the historic purchase of the 836,330-square-mile landmass, saying only, “Mike gets it done.”

Bill de Blasio endorses Bernie Sanders

Yay! Yawn...

"I am standing with Bernie because he stands with working families, and always has," de Blasio said in a statement on Friday night. "New Yorkers know all too well the damage caused by Donald Trump's xenophobia, bigotry and recklessness, and Bernie is the candidate to take him on and take him down. I have called for a bold, progressive agenda, and that's exactly what Senator Sanders has championed for decades. I am proud to endorse a true progressive leader who will fight for working New Yorkers and families across the country."

De Blasio has also been a fierce critic of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a late and big-spending entrant into the primary, over his record on economic inequality in the city and the use of stop and frisk, the police tactic that Bloomberg defended during his three terms in office but more recently has apologized for.

De Blasio had made calls for overhauling the practice a centerpiece of his first mayoral campaign, in 2013. When Bloomberg apologized for his embrace of stop and frisk last year, de Blasio dismissed it as "a death bed conversion."

"Biden Campaign Now Offering One Month Of Free AOL For Rally Attendance"

From the BB -

U.S.—Joe Biden's campaign is struggling to motivate younger voters, but he has a plan: offering free AOL trials to anyone who shows up to his rallies

"Come on by, say hi to uncle Joe, and grab one of our free AOL CDs," Biden says in an ad for his campaign tour. "You know, the great thing about AOL is that you get so many hours of internets. Only squares use Compuserve, Prodigy, or MSN. We're keen on America Online!"

The campaign has warned that it's first come, first served, so you'd better hurry if you want to experience the lightning-fast speeds of AOL's 56K dial-up service.

"I love America Online," Biden continued as he booted up his Windows 98 PC....

His wife then screamed at him to get off the computer as she was expecting a call. "Well, I'd better go," Biden said, chuckling. "But remember, for the fastest interwebs in town, come see Uncle Joe. You won't regret it -- probably."

Rally attendees will receive their choice of a CD or 3.5" floppy disk good for a free trial of AOL dial-up service. Joe will then say hi and shake their hands "and maybe more if you're lucky."

School ring lost 47 years ago in Maine is found ... in Finland!

Kind of a cool story, in the Guardian, (UK).

Ring misplaced in US 47 years ago found in forest in Finland Maine resident Debra McKenna received item in post after it was unearthed by metal detectorist

“It’s very touching in this world of negativity, to have decent people step forward and make an effort,” McKenna said. “There are good people in the world, and we need more of them.”

A Finnish Ilta-Sanomat news organisation reported in January that Marko Saarinen, a sheet-metal worker, was using a metal detector in a park in Kaarina, a small town in south-west Finland, when he found the ring.

He noticed its inscription “Morse high school” and contacted the school’s alumni association. It identified Shawn as the owner because it also bore the 1973 graduation date and the initials “SM” .

 

Washington Post article on allegations against Bloomberg of sexual harrasment and job discrimination

Looks like there have been some private settlements. Not good for his campaign, for sure.

NEW YORK — As Mike Bloomberg celebrated his 48th birthday in 1990, a top aide at the company he founded presented him with a booklet of profane, sexist quotes she attributed to him. A good salesperson is like a man who tries to pick up women at a bar by saying, “Do you want to f---? He gets turned down a lot — but he gets f----- a lot, too!” Bloomberg was quoted in the booklet as saying. Bloomberg also allegedly said that his company’s financial information computers “will do everything, including give you [oral sex]. I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business.”

At the time, some Bloomberg staffers said, they laughed off the comments in the 32-page booklet, “The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg,” as a macho side of one of the nerdiest men on Wall Street.

Read the booklet, “The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg.” Note: The text in the booklet contains explicit language.

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

Several lawsuits have been filed over the years alleging that women were discriminated against at Bloomberg’s business-information company, including a case brought by a federal agency and one filed by a former employee, who blamed Bloomberg for creating a culture of sexual harassment and degradation.

The most high-profile case was from a former saleswoman. She sued Bloomberg personally as well as his company, alleging workplace discrimination. She alleged Bloomberg told her to “kill it” when he learned she was pregnant. Bloomberg has denied her allegation under oath, and he reached a confidential settlement with the saleswoman.

The Washington Post interviewed a former Bloomberg employee, David Zielenziger, who said he witnessed the conversation with the saleswoman. Zielenziger, who said he had not previously spoken publicly about the matter, said Bloomberg’s behavior toward the woman was “outrageous. I understood why she took offense.”

 

Pro-Democratic establishment CNN goes after Bernie on energy/environment

The last thing CNN wants is Sanders running against Trump, so their attacks on him continue. The fact is, everything Fareed Zakaria is saying is true, but they are only truthful when it serves their purpose.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sends me an email! To me - with my name on it. Yay!

Well, it's because I'm on the moveon.org email list.

"Send $$$" - what a surprise - Here it is -

email heading - Hi, Tom, it's AOC!

Text -

Dear MoveOn member,

This is Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and I'm writing to you today because I want to tell you about a powerful, progressive fighter who can shatter my record of being the youngest woman to serve in Congress. Her name is Jessica Cisneros, and her win would get us one step closer to a better, more just America. But, Tom, she needs your help.

Jessica is running to represent the people of South Texas. She's 26 years old, she's a human rights attorney, and if she's elected, I'll have a strong ally in the fight for Medicare for All, getting corporate money out of politics, and fixing our broken immigration system.

But I can tell you from personal experience that the pathway to power for people like Jessica is blocked every step of the way.

Jessica is running against Representative Henry Cuellar, an eight-term Democratic congressman in a deeply blue district, who votes with Donald Trump about 70% of the time.¹ He's known as "Big Oil's favorite Democrat," boasts about his "A rating" from the National Rifle Association, opposes abortion, and has referred to undocumented immigrants as "rapists and murderers."²

When we vote Trump's cronies out of office and instead elevate progressive leaders like Jessica Cisneros, we'll have the power to make transformative change.

Will you join me in helping to elect Jessica Cisneros by chipping in $3 now to her campaign?

Jessica is deeply connected to the problems and struggles facing our communities. She was born and raised in the border town of Laredo, TX.³ Her parents are Mexican immigrants. As a kid, Jessica saw families like hers torn apart by a broken immigration system. She saw her parents struggle to keep a small business afloat, while politicians in Washington protected large corporations.

While Jessica is fighting for a better future for all of us, her opponent wants to maintain the status quo. He's the single largest recipient of oil and gas PAC donations in the House in the 2020 election cycle.⁴ He calls the Green New Deal "a farce and a fairy tale."⁵

And he has received piles of money from the private prison industry, including from the GEO Group, the private prison company that funds migrant shelters where several migrants have died.⁶ In defending private prisons, he said, "Without them, rapists, murderers, and other offenders would not be incarcerated and instead present a clear threat to our communities."⁷

The people of South Texas deserve a Democrat like Jessica who is going to fight for the interests of real people, not of big corporate donors like ExxonMobil and the private prison industry.

Tom, will you rush a donation of $3 to Jessica Cisneros's campaign? Her primary is on March 3, so we don't have much time.

I am so grateful to MoveOn members. You were there early to endorse my campaign. You were there at the Women's March. You were there when we stood together to publicize the horrors of family separation. And every day, you're fighting alongside me for Medicare for All, debt-free college, and the Green New Deal.

Only together can we truly make progress on big issues. And that includes bringing more bold, progressive leaders to Washington. Jessica is the next-generation leader that we need, and I hope you will join me in lending your support to this critical effort.

Pa'lante!

–Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Sources:

1. "South Texas is known for its moderates. A primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar could test that." Texas Tribune, November 21, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/116722?t=17&akid=257201%2E5487158%2EMlL9Tf

2. "Conservative Democrat Gets $100k From Oil and Gas PACs in Bid to Fend Off Surging Progressive," The American Prospect, December 6, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/116723?t=19&akid=257201%2E5487158%2EMlL9Tf

3. "Jessica Cisneros TX-28," accessed February 10, 2020
http://act.moveon.org/go/116724?t=21&akid=257201%2E5487158%2EMlL9Tf

4. "Conservative Democrat Gets $100k From Oil and Gas PACs in Bid to Fend Off Surging Progressive," The American Prospect, December 6, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/116723?t=23&akid=257201%2E5487158%2EMlL9Tf

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

Want to support MoveOn's work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with MoveOn?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

 

Fifth anniversary of the 21 Coptic Christian martyrs

They were beheaded February 15th, 2015 for refusing to convert to Islam.

Fr. George Rutler has an interesting column referencing them - and the idea of sacrifice ...

The names of the Franciscan friars Berard of Carbio, Otho, Peter, Accursius and Adjutus, are not as familiar as that of Francis of Assisi, who said that they had become the prototypes of what he called the Friars Minor. After his own failed mission to convert the Muslims of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade in 1219, he sent them on a similar mission to Morocco where they were tortured and killed in 1220. That was exactly eight hundred years ago. Clearly, Saint Francis did not spend his days talking to birds. ...

   This  column is being published on the fifth anniversary of the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians. All martyrs believe, as did Saint Peter when filled with the Holy Spirit: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). This perplexes flaccid minds and scandalizes the morally compromised, but it is the engine of heroic virtue. Dietrich von Hildebrand wrote in 1967: “Enamored of our present epoch, blind to all its characteristic dangers, intoxicated with everything modern, there are many Catholics who no longer ask whether something is true, or whether it is good and beautiful, or whether it has intrinsic value: they ask only whether it is up-to-date, suitable to ‘modern man’ and the technological age, whether it is challenging, dynamic, audacious, progressive.” 

   About a century earlier, in his Grammar of Assent, Saint John Henry Newman had already explained: “Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us. Many a man will live and die upon a dogma: no man will be a martyr for a conclusion.” Saint Paul disdained rhetoric and mere speculation “so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5).

   By one estimation, and it is by necessity approximate, over the centuries there have been about seventy million Christian martyrs and, astonishingly, half of them have been in roughly the last century. It is also a fact that in our present culture, one in six 18- to 64-year-olds, and one in five aged 65 and over, depend on antidepressants. The example of the martyrs is better than any chemical cure for sadness, for they testify that Christ has made life so worth living, that living and dying for him makes sense. When the ransomed bodies of those five Franciscan  martyrs were brought from Morocco to Portugal, a young priest in Coimbra was so moved by their mute witness that he consecrated his life to proclaiming the Gospel as far and wide as he could. We know him as Saint Anthony of Padua.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Father George W. Rutler

Answer to: who said "It is better to be a hammer than an anvil"!

Oftentimes first credited to Emily Dickinson, turns out it was first said by St. Dominic!

"A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them.

It is better to be a hammer than an anvil."
— St. Dominic

Valentine's Day - Donald and Nancy

Newspapers continue circling the drain; "Newspaper Publisher McClatchy Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy"

First, here's what Berkshire hathaway (Warren Buffet's Company) thinks of the future of newspapers - Buffett, a fan of newspapers since he was a boy, has lamented the decline of the industry as it suffered plummeting readership, ad competition from the web and newsroom cutbacks. He said last year that most newspapers are “toast.” “They’re all going to die,” Munger said Wednesday. “It’s a sad thing.” He named some exceptions, saying the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are likely to survive.

Here's the article about McClatchy - most newspapers just haven't been successful with their digital media arms.

McClatchy Co., the second-largest U.S. newspaper group by circulation, filed for bankruptcy protection, a move that comes as the nation’s newspaper industry is struggling to cope with a sharp decline in print advertising and the challenges of building a robust digital business.

The move is expected to put an end to the McClatchy family’s 163-yearlong control over the publisher, and turn the hedge fund behind the current owner of the National Enquirer into its top shareholder.

McClatchy, the publisher of the Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee, Kansas City Star and other well-known newspapers, has struggled under a heavy debt load since its ill-timed $4.5 billion acquisition of Knight Ridder in 2006—a stretch during which its stock price plunged from $496 to 75 cents.

McClatchy on Thursday said it initiated a chapter 11 restructuring in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. If a tentative agreement with creditors is approved by the court, the McClatchy family would lose control of the business it founded in 1857, while its main debtholder, Chatham Asset Management LLC, would become its primary shareholder.

A Chatham representative said the hedge fund “is committed to preserving independent journalism and newsroom jobs.”

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

Chatham, a New Jersey-based hedge fund, is also the primary stakeholder in tabloid publisher American Media LLC, which is in the process of selling the scandal-scarred National Enquirer. The fund also holds a large piece of Postmedia Network Canada Corp., a publisher of dozens of newspapers in Canada, and several big newspaper and magazine distribution companies.

McClatchy’s existing share structure will be canceled and it will likely emerge from bankruptcy as a closely held concern, the company said.

The News Guild, which represents 150 McClatchy employees at six of its publications, warned that the growth of hedge-fund and private-equity control of American newspapers would do little to save them.

“Continued financialization of local news will destroy our democracy,” said guild president Jon Schleuss. “It’s time for communities across America to stand up and fight to save local news.”

Yeah right. Dream on. How can the hedge fund make any money on this mess?

Two dozen blonde jokes - the good, the bad, and the ugly

From my friend Graham -

Best - 3, 8, 10, 11, 12, 20 and 21.

 

blonde jokes, including everything from dumb

blonde examples to plain silliness!

1. Blonde: What does IDK stand for?

Brunette: I don’t know

Blonde: Why doesn’t anyone know!

2. Why can't a blonde dial 911? She can't find the eleven.

3. How come it takes so long to build a blonde snowman? Because you have

to hollow out the head.

4. What did the blonde say when she saw the Cheerios box? "Omg, donut

seeds!"

5. Two blondes fell down a hole. One said, 'It’s dark in here isn’t it?' The other

replied, 'I don’t know; I can’t see.'

6. What can strike a

7. Why did the blonde stare at frozen orange juice can for 2 hours? Because it

said 'concentrate'.

8. Why did the blonde scale the glass wall? To see what was on the other

side.

9. Why were there bullet holes in the mirror? A blonde tried killing herself.

10. How did the blonde die while raking leaves? She fell out of the tree.

11. What do you do if a blonde throws a grenade at you? Pull the pin and throw

it back.

12. How do you drown a blonde in a submarine? Knock on the door.

13. Why did the blonde tip-toe past the medicine cabinet? So she wouldn’t

wake up the sleeping pills.

14. A blonde decided to paint a room. When her husband got home, he asked,

'Why are you wearing an Alaskan and a winter coat?' She replied, 'The can

said for best results apply 2 coats.'

15. How can you make a blonde go on the roof? Tell her that drinks are on the

house.

16. Three blondes walk into a building. You'd think one of them would've seen

it.

17. Why do blondes wear underwear? To keep their ankles warm.

18. How did the blonde try to kill the bird? She threw it off a cliff.

19. Why can't blondes make ice cubes? They always forget the recipe.

 

20. Two blondes are facing each other across a wide stream.

One yells to the other, 'How do you get to the other side?'

The other blonde replies, 'You are on the other side!'

21. How do you make a blonde laugh on Saturday? Tell her a joke on

Wednesday.

22. How do you make a blonde's eyes light up? Shine a flashlight in her ears.

23. How do you confuse a blonde? Put her in a circle and tell her to go to the

corner.

24. Why did the blonde put water on her computer? To wash the Windows.

 

Bernie Sanders 2nd State of the Union Address already posted online!

Here's how it begins: "My fellow Americans, We have run out of bread..."

This meme is all over the internet.

Amusing - WSJ video: "The Trump Trilogy"

Co-starring Darth Vader, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and Jerry Nadler. Entertaining!

 

New Hampshire Gov. on why Bernie Sanders doing well

Chris Sununu, who is from a longtime Republican political family. I'm sure he's right about Sanders being "Genuine."

Pope Francis in book on St. John Paul: "He was a great". Also, comments on celibacy, gender theory and the priesthood reserved to men.

This book is being published  on February 11th, but an English edition may not be out for awhile.

"In 2001, when I was made a cardinal, I felt a strong desire when I knelt to receive the cardinal's biretta not only to exchange the sign of peace with him, but to kiss his hand," Pope Francis said. "Some people criticized me for this gesture, but it was spontaneous."

St. John Paul II taught the world that truly great faith and holiness dwell in "the normality of a person who lives in profound communion with Christ," Pope Francis said in a new book.

The priest said he spoke to Pope Francis about St. John Paul several times between June 2019 and January 2020. A theologian and popular retreat leader, Father Epicoco is president of the Fides et Ratio Institute for religious studies in Aquila, Italy.

Pope Francis said there is "total harmony" between his thoughts about the meaning of ministerial priesthood and St. John Paul's teaching on priesthood.

Asked if he thought the abolition of mandatory celibacy for most Latin-rite Catholic priests would be a way to address the priest shortage, he responded: "I am convinced that celibacy is a gift, a grace, and following in the footsteps of Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, I strongly feel an obligation to think of celibacy as a decisive grace that characterizes the Latin Catholic Church. I repeat: It is a grace."

Father Epicoco also asked Pope Francis about St. John Paul's insistence that women cannot be priests because Jesus chose only men as his apostles.

"The question is no longer open for discussion because the pronouncement of John Paul II was definitive," Pope Francis said. However, he said, usually the question betrays a misunderstanding of the role of ministerial priesthood and focuses only on people's function in the church, not their importance.

Like Mary, he said, women are the ones who "teach the church to pass through the night trusting the daylight will come, even when daylight is still far off. Only a woman is able to teach us a love that is hope."

Father Epicoco also noted how often Pope Francis speaks of evil, and he asked Pope Francis where he sees evil at work today.

"One place is 'gender theory,'" the pope said. "Right away I want to clarify that I am not referring to people with a homosexual orientation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church invites us to accompany them and provide pastoral care to these brothers and sisters of ours."

Gender theory, he said, has a "dangerous" cultural aim of erasing all distinctions between men and women, male and female, which would "destroy at its roots" God's most basic plan for human beings: "diversity, distinction. It would make everything homogenous, neutral. It is an attack on difference, on the creativity of God and on men and women."

Pope Francis said he did not want "to discriminate against anyone," but was convinced that human peace and well-being had to be based on the reality that God created people with differences and that accepting -- not ignoring -- those differences is what brings people together.

Speaking of his relationship with St. John Paul II, Pope Francis said he was in the car in Argentina when he heard that then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had been elected pope in 1978. "I heard the name Wojtyla and thought, 'an African pope.' Then they told me he was Polish."

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

"We cannot forget the suffering of this great pope," he said. "His refined and acute sensitivity to mercy certainly was influence by the spirituality of St. Faustina Kowalska, who died during his adolescence, but also -- perhaps, especially -- because of his having witnessed the communist and Nazi persecutions. He suffered so much!"

Pope Francis' homilies and pastoral letters as a bishop in Argentina in the 1990s were full of quotations from St. John Paul, Father Epicoco noted. "Yes," Pope Francis said, "I was perceived by many as a conservative. Some saw me that way, but I simply always felt great harmony with what the pope was saying."

"Study: Burning Money Far More Beneficial Than Donating To A Politician"

This is why I never donate to politicians. OK that's a fib. Last Presidential cycle I donated $25 each to John Kasich and Carly Fiorina. Now I'm on their email lists eternally...

Should you donate to the politician you think will best help the country? Or should you instead put all that money in a big pile and set it on fire? That has been the eternal question, and a new study aims to answer it. “The better use of your money is setting it on fire, hands down,” said Doctor Howard Ingram, an expert in the fields of both politics and arson. “Every time we set money on fire, we get the benefits of producing light and heat. We never see any such solid benefits from donating to a politician. In fact, it often has a detrimental effect.”

Ingram reported that donating to politicians often simply encourages their sociopathic behavior and leads them to forcefully take more of your money through taxes, which will then be wasted on government programs where, again, just burning the money would have produced more benefit.

There are some negatives to burning money, though, such as smoke inhalation. “You might want to consider getting rid of the money in other ways,” said Ingram, “such as buying a bag of chips. But I really like burning things.”

Some politicians have disputed the findings of the study, but you can’t believe a word out of their lying mouths.

 

Westchester Mag: "6 Delectable Places to Get Brunch in White Plains"

And I've never eaten at any of them. Some cool names though; "Freebird Kitchen and Bar", "Little Drunken Chef", "Brazen Fox"...

Here's the link - White Plains is known for its night scene, but these brunch offerings are sure to get you there before 3 p.m.

Trump Irritated - "some Jesus guy" Hogs The Attention At Prayer Breakfast

President Trump arrived at the National Prayer Breakfast in high spirits Thursday, having been acquitted of all crimes and immorality forever. But his mood quickly turned sour as the evangelical leaders and ministers continued to talk about "some Jesus guy" instead of discussing the "far more important issue" of his acquittal.

"I'm good with prayer and everything, but shouldn't today be about me?" he grumbled to Mike Pence, who just stood there and smiled. "I was acquitted! Found not guilty! Innocent forever! Most innocent president of all time! And they're all here going on and on about this Jesus fellow who apparently wasn't even acquitted. I mean, he was found guilty, fair and square!"

Pence continued to stand there and smile until Trump finally realized they had sent along Pence's robotic decoy to the meeting. "I hate it when they do this."

At long last, Prayer Breakfast organizers were able to coax Trump into leading everybody in prayer, though he chose an imprecatory psalm to pray against the Democrats.

WSJ: "James Madison 1, Nancy Pelosi 0. Impeachment achieved nothing but more bitter political division."

A Wall Street Journal editorial from a few days ago.

A sorry period in Congressional history ended Wednesday with the Senate acquittal of President Trump on two articles of impeachment passed by a partisan and reckless Democratic House. Chalk up one more victory for the Framers of the Constitution, who realized the dangers of political factions and created the Senate to check them.

Republican Mitt Romney broke GOP ranks to convict the President on the other article, “abuse of power,” making that vote to acquit 52-48. That’s still far from the two-thirds that James Madison and the Founders, in their wisdom, required for conviction.

Mr. Romney will now be derided as either a traitor or a hero, but we take his word that he voted his conscience. His explanation for his vote is another story.

The Utah Senator set up the straw man that the President’s lawyers said an impeachable act must also be a criminal offense. But Mr. Romney knows that isn’t the proper standard that other Senators used to judge impeachable conduct. He also claimed Mr. Trump “withheld vital military funds” from Ukraine, when the President merely delayed it and no investigation of the Bidens was ever undertaken.

“Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine,” Mr. Romney said on the Senate floor. But no election was corrupted, and no national security interests were jeopardized because other Senators and advisers persuaded Mr. Trump to release military aid.

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

In the bitter end, what has all of this accomplished? The House has defined impeachment down to a standard that will now make more impeachments likely. “Abuse of power” and “corrupt motives” are justifications that partisans in both parties can use.

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

We doubt this is what Nancy Pelosi hoped for, but it is what her partisan impeachment has wrought. She lost to a better statesman—James Madison. Now let the voters decide, as Madison and his mates intended.

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse offered a far more thoughtful argument in the Omaha World Herald for his vote to acquit: “You don’t remove a president for initially listening to bad advisors but eventually taking counsel from better advisors—which is precisely what happened here.”

"Nella's Nutri-Bar" opens in Croton

At 2 Maple St. An interesting story and if you're in the local Croton area probably worth looking into. Thanks to Maria for sending me this...

Nella's Nutri-Bar. Live a Fruitful Life

 

Today: Feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita

Yes, February 8th and I like to remember her on this date - a fascinating story - originally Sudanese - a country that needs a great deal of intercession! Josephine Bakhita is also an intercessor against human trafficking

Saint Josephine, pray for your homeland!

St. Josephine Bakhita (d. 1947) was born into a wealthy Sudanese family near Darfur. She was kidnapped when she was nine years old and forced into slavery. Her kidnappers named her Bakhita (“fortunate” in Arabic). She was sold and resold, beaten and tortured by her "owners" until 1883 when she was purchased by an Italian consul who treated her well. He brought her to Italy to work as a nanny. In 1889, the Italian courts ruled that Bakhita was enslaved illegally and declared her a free woman. She became enamored with the Catholic faith and chose to stay in Italy. Bakhita was baptized in 1890 and received her First Holy Communion from the future Pope St. Pius X. She took the Christian name of Josephine, and in 1896 entered the Institute of Canossian Daughters of Charity. She was affectionately called "Our Black Mother" by the Italians, as her amiable spirit and warm heart won the admiration of many people during her fifty years of religious life. She was known for her charity towards children and the poor, her indomitable spirit during the hardship of slavery, and her joy in religious life. St. Josephine Bakhita is the patron of Sudan, and her feast day, February 8th, has been designated the International Day of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking.

 

How Drudge views the economy

Yes and this is about it. But as they say on MSNBC, "it's the Obama boom".

 

JOBS SOAR...

WAGES ACCELERATE!

63.4%: Labor Force Participation at Trump-Era High...

How big a political edge?

"Blue Collar Logic" Explains CNN

Yeah Dude - a four bagger. Love the last half of this and poor old Wolf Blitzer (probably the smartest commentator on CNN!) on Jeopardy .

Interesting: "Where are All the Women CEO's?"

This is from the Wall Street Journal. Excellent long article. If you'd like a hard copy, I'm happy to email one to you if you leave your email in the comments section.

The traditional stepping stones to the chief executive position are jobs responsible for the bottom line—such as head of division—and those roles are still overwhelmingly filled by men

Why, when women earn the majority of college degrees and make up roughly half the workforce, do so few occupy the chief executive job?

Women today lead 167 of the country’s top 3,000 companies. That’s more than double the share a decade ago, but still under 6%.

For many, the barrier isn’t only a glass ceiling at the very top, but also an invisible wall that sidelines them from the kinds of roles that have been traditional stepping stones to the CEO position.

A Wall Street Journal study of executives at the top companies, the biggest publicly traded firms by market value, shows that men on the way up overwhelmingly get the management jobs in which a company’s profits and losses hang in the balance. So-called line roles with profit-and-loss, or P&L, responsibilities, such as heading a division, unit or brand, are what set executives on the CEO track.

Women promoted into C-suites—the “chief” jobs in companies—on the other hand, often fill roles such as head of human resources, administration or legal, according to an analysis for the Journal by Equilar Inc., a research firm that collects data on executives and boards. Though important functions, the jobs don’t have profit-generating responsibility, and are rarely a path to running a company.

“You can have a seat at the table and not be a player,” said Jewelle Bickford, a partner at Evercore Wealth Management and co-chair of Paradigm for Parity, a coalition of business leaders aimed at closing the gender gap at the top of American companies. “The way you become a player, that usually comes with a P&L role.”

Chinese whistle blower doctor on coronavirus has died

So we are supposed to believe a viral infection somewhat similar to a flu, and dangerous if you are old and/or debilitated, has killed a 33 year old otherwise healthy ophthalmologist?  Right.

“An all-out effort to save him was unsuccessful,” the hospital said. “We deeply grieve the loss.”

Pardon me for being just a bit suspicious...

 

The Onion: "DNC to ask Trump to run as Democrat to stop Sanders"

That may be the only way to stop him.

Democratic National Committee officials reportedly mulled Monday asking Donald Trump to run for president as a Democrat in an effort to stop Bernie Sanders. “He’s obviously not our first choice, but Trump has a track record of winning elections, not to mention he does well with the conservative voters we’ll need to swing some red states blue—if that’s who we need to ask to ensure Bernie doesn’t win, we’ll do it,” said DNC chairman Tom Perez, who had circled Trump’s name on a white board lising dozens of potential candidates the party could try to convince to jump into the Democratic Party primaries in order to obstruct a Sanders nomination.

 

Good analysis of State of the Union Speech and responses.

From NR online.

Last month the cover of Time magazine featured Nancy Pelosi, arms folded, looking defiant, with the headline “Her Gamble.” This was after she had delayed sending over the articles of impeachment for three weeks, convinced she could strongarm Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell into adopting rules that the Democrats preferred. I concluded that “the non-specialty press pays only intermittent attention to Congress, and when it does, the storyline is almost always the same. ‘The Democratic leader is bold and winning, the GOP leader is flailing,’ regardless of what is actually happening.”

On December 5, discussing the impeachment of President Trump, Pelosi declared, “If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty.” Two weeks later, she added, “It is a matter of fact that the president is an ongoing threat to our national security and the integrity of our elections, the basis of our democracy.” Earlier in the year, Pelosi’s allies in the Democratic House leadership accused the president in the most vehement of terms: “Massive coverup.” “Betrayal.” “Great danger.” “Totalitarian.” “Unpatriotic.” “Dictatorial.” “Disloyal.” In their view, nothing less than the fate of America was at stake.

And then the House adjourned for summer recess for six weeks.

You see the contradiction there, right? The Democratic argument was that the country was trapped in the grip of a dictatorial madman, but that the normal interactions between the president and Congress could still occur, with business as usual. They could still work out a North American trade deal with said dictatorial madman.

And then we come to the State of the Union. As Rich observed, “Democrats invited Trump to take advantage of this majestic setting for what’s basically a campaign speech at the same time they were saying he had to be removed from office, or the republic and Constitution would fall. This makes no sense.”

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

if you’re one of those millions of Americans who isn’t attached to either party . . . and you did happen to watch . . . Trump’s speech probably included a lot that you liked. This was a masterfully produced presentation, with a lot of tributes to ordinary Americans who proved, as that Budweiser commercial argued, that you can find quite a bit of the extraordinary in “ordinary Americans.”

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

And then Pelosi tore up the speech as soon as it was done, with the whole country watching.

Democrats can and will argue Pelosi’s act was some sort of three-dimensional chess, where the speaker ensured more of the discussion would be about her ripping up the speech than the speech itself, but . . . the cost–benefit analysis of that move has to come out pretty even. Sure, people already inclined to oppose Trump will find it defiant and bold, but I think a lot of Americans will find it childish and petty, an action more fit for an angry kindergartener than one of the leaders of the legislative branch of the United States. Pelosi lost her cool and came across as an unserious leader consumed by rage — exactly the kind of figure that the Democrats insist President Trump is.

NY Times demonstrates why almost all of us should leave our clothes on...

Sent to me by ... well ... a friend.

As the NYT does a deep study  - complete with carefully done photos (not the one here ->). The Times must be very desperate for readership but I don't think this will increase subscriptions. Just hit the link for an amusing layout ...

The Joy of Cooking Naked Despite the occasional splatter burn, nudists say their relationship to eating, at home or in restaurants, is better and healthier without all the clothing.

LUTZ, Fla. — Karyn McMullen is tired of being asked how she cooks bacon without any clothes on.

It’s one of those jokes people can’t help but make about nudists, and to Ms. McMullen, who has been cooking naked for more than two decades, it shows how misunderstood nudism is. Many people think only about the pitfalls — spattering fat, minor burns — and not the benefits.

“Embracing the nudist lifestyle has given me permission to feel my feelings,” she said one morning as she sautéed bell peppers while wearing nothing but a glittery manicure in her home kitchen at the Lake Como Family Nudist Resort in Lutz, about 20 miles north of Tampa. She lives here with her husband, Jayson McMullen.

CNN hones in on past displays of toxic masculinity!

"Oh the humanity!"

CNN Condemns D-Day Soldiers For Lack Of Diversity

While most people were really grateful that Hitler was defeated, despite the U.S. military's wider segregation issues at the time, most people are not as woke as CNN, who condemned the entire operation as racist and xenophobic.

"Ugh, look at all these cisgendered males," the CNN opinion piece read. "At some point, you have to ask yourself which is worse: living under Hitler's regime or getting rescued by straight, white males."

"The obvious answer, of course, is straight white males. They're always worse. Then again, you could argue that they're literally Hitler, and you're back to square one."

While CNN acknowledged that many minority soldiers fought both on D-Day and during the wider war, the piece argued that since the Allied task force did not meet CNN's modern diversity standards, the Allied effort should be condemned today.

"Other people focus on the minor things, like the fact that Hitler was ousted, but we've got the real story. Do better, Allies. Do better."

Macy's closing 125 stores - victims of e-commerce.

Once a retailing King, Macy's will still have 400 department stores.

The company is also cutting roughly 2,000 corporate jobs, or 10% of corporate and support staff, and closing several offices. It will abandon a dual headquarters in Cincinnati—a structure Macy’s has kept since 1994 when it was still one of the country’s biggest retailers—and put all headquarters roles in New York. Macy’s, which will keep running about 400 of its namesake stores, is ramping up its restructuring efforts after a yearslong slump. Cobbled together from various regional chains, the company has struggled even as it left the weakest malls and boosted spending on e-commerce.

Once the backbone of America’s shopping malls, department-store chains like Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Sears have been losing customers to the convenience of Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +2.27% and the discounts found at off-price chains like T.J. Maxx.

“Our goal is to reclaim and revitalize what a department store should be,” Macy’s Chief Executive Jeff Gennette said in an interview. “Department stores are still vital if they are done right. There is viability to having many categories and brands under one roof.”

The retailer is testing a new concept that will take it out of malls by opening smaller stores in strip centers, where more people are shopping. And it’s continuing to look for profits from its real estate, including an office tower that it plans to build on top of its Herald Square flagship in New York City.

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

Mr. Gennette is opening new stores that will take Macy’s out of the malls. He plans to open smaller stores called the Market by Macy’s that will carry many of the same products and brands sold in a Macy’s department store, including apparel, accessories, home goods and beauty products.

The appeal of the new stores will be their location in shopping centers, which offer easy access off main roads, and their smaller size of about 15,000 square feet, which is one-tenth the size of a typical Macy’s, Mr. Gennette said.

Mr. Gennette said he plans to have four or five of the new stores open by year-end, including in Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas, and Washington, D.C. The company will also open seven free-standing Backstage stores this year.

“Our brick and mortar strategy won’t be constrained by our mall presence,” Mr. Gennette said. “We have options to expand off the mall.”

Macy’s is continuing to divest and redevelop its existing real estate, the vast majority of which it owns outright or through ground leases. Over the past four years it has generated $1.6 billion in proceeds from real-estate transactions. The company expects real-estate proceeds to total roughly $130 million this year.

40 seconds - Not Satire! "Adam Schiff Warns Trump Could Give Alaska to Russians if Not Impeached"

OMG! He really said it... What a great mind...

British politics: Winners and losers with Brexit

Only interesting if you're interested in Britain.

 

Mary Higgins Clark

The famous mystery and suspense writer - she and her daughter were frequent guests on Imus in the Morning. Led a very fasinating and at times difficult life - a widow in her 30's with five children. This is from the Jesuit publication America.

Mary Higgins Clark, known as the "queen of suspense" to her millions of readers throughout the world, died of natural causes in Naples, Florida, Jan. 31. She was 92.

Prior to finding her niche as a suspense writer, Higgins Clark struggled to raise five children as a single parent in New York City. Widowed in her mid-30s, Higgins Clark wrote radio scripts and later found work as an airline flight attendant before striking success in 1975 with her first big-selling book, "Where Are the Children?" Buoyed by that success, Higgins Clark turned to full-time writing and enjoyed astonishing success.