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I love his coment. Politicians are not essential workers. I can appreciate that VP Pence and the President-elect and VP-elect getting the vaccinations as an example for the rest of us. But that should be it. 31 year old AOC got vaccinated (Her in the photo). Huh? That shot should have gone to a medical worker or nursing home resident.
Anyway here's DeSantis -
So trade with the European Union is worked out. And despite the fact that it was negotiated by the Tory (or Conservative) Party, the head of the Labor Party urged his members to vote for it. Note the Labor Party is very much the minority party, having been crushed in the last election.
In a statement on her website, Hayes, who was a shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “This is a bad deal which will make our country poorer. It will cost jobs, undermine our security, weaken our standing in the world, risk workers’ rights and environmental protections, and limit opportunities for our children and grandchildren.”
In total, 36 Labour MPs abstained in the vote, including staunch campaigners against Brexit such as Stella Creasy and Neil Coyle, and leftwingers such as Rebecca Long-Bailey and Diane Abbott.
Just one Labour MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the MP for Streatham, went further and voted against the deal.
During the debate on Wednesday, Starmer made the point forcefully that to vote against the deal would be to countenance a no-deal exit from the Brexit transition period.
He said: “The choice before the house today is perfectly simple. Do we implement the treaty that has been agreed with the EU, or do we not? If we choose not to, the outcome is clear: we leave the transition period without a deal. Without a deal on security, on trade, on fisheries. Without protection for our manufacturing sector, for farming, for countless businesses. And without a foothold to build a future relationship with the EU.”
The new guidelines do include the scientific committee’s recommendation that children under age 2 consume no added sugars at all. This is the first time the guidelines have included recommendations for babies and toddlers. Added sugars are those found in processed foods—in everything from soda to breakfast cereal—as well as honey and sugar itself. They don’t include sugars naturally found in foods like fruit and milk.
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The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services reviewed the committee’s recommendations, which were released in July, and decided not to include the lower limits because “the new evidence is not substantial enough to support changes to quantitative recommendations for either added sugars or alcohol,” said Brandon Lipps, deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the USDA. Mr. Lipps said that the new limits recommended by the scientific committee didn’t meet a “preponderance of the evidence” standard required by law.
This is great - commenting on a bookstore selling "books by the foot" to put in people's offices - and now for their Zoom set-ups - to appear to be sharp and cultured. The original article from Politico mentioned is below the video, and below that, my books by the foot. (Actually, my zooms either show my messy office or even more messy home office.)
And this year, the company has seen a twist: When the coronavirus pandemic arrived, Books by the Foot had to adapt to a downturn in office- and hotel-decor business—and an uptick in home-office Zoom backdrops for the talking-head class.
The Wonder Book staff doesn’t pry too much into which objective a particular client is after. If an order were to come in for, say, 12 feet of books about politics, specifically with a progressive or liberal tilt—as one did in August—Wonder Book’s manager, Jessica Bowman, would simply send one of her more politics-savvy staffers to the enormous box labeled “Politically Incorrect” (the name of Books by the Foot’s politics package) to select about 120 books by authors like Hillary Clinton, Bill Maher, Al Franken and Bob Woodward. The books would then be “staged,” or arranged with the same care a florist might extend to a bouquet of flowers, on a library cart; double-checked by a second staffer; and then shipped off to the residence or commercial space where they would eventually be shelved and displayed (or shelved and taken down to read).
Partial Faranda bookshelves - never in zooms - frequently read or on to be read list -
It might not have risen to the level of 2019, when 29 missionaries lost their lives throughout the world, but 2020 certainly had its share of martyrs.
Actually from last summer - Brigid stitched together four pictures from when we were eating & drinking in the backyard. I get the goofy look award... That's champagne the two characters have and my t shirt says "Got Shot Put?" An ode to one of Tim's field events.
The Fantastic Four? The Four Amigos? The Fearsome Foursome? The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
And the 2020 tree ...
Benedict XVI - the Pope emeritus is now 93 years old
"God has done everything; he has done the impossible: he was made flesh. His all-powerful love has accomplished something which surpasses all human understanding: the Infinite has become a child, has entered the human family. And yet, this same God cannot enter my heart unless I open the door to him."
— Pope Benedict XVI
The painter is Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato who lived from 1609-1685.
"Sassoferrato's work was held in high regard through to the mid-19th century. His paintings were sometimes believed to be contemporary with the School of Raphael. However, by the late 19th century, reaction against sweet devotional art work was reinforced in England by the critical commentary of John Ruskin.
The late 20th century saw a revival of interest in Italian Baroque archaizing painting with Guido Reni leading the way in generating a surge of auction interest also in Sassoferrato."
Here's the whole picture -
Yes, here it is with Fr. Nelson the celebrant. Brigid and I loved it - but with the pandemic it will not be repeated this year. But next year ... !
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
The Guardian, the leading leftist, progressive, whatever newspaper in Britain. And the Guardian's website is still free (unlike the NYT). The Sulzberger family maintains control of the Times because there are two classes of stock, A and B. The B shares control 9 of the 13 directors and are controlled by the family. A shares - what you or I can buy - only vote four directors.
Where does the New York Times reside in the subconscious of news hounds across America? Paul Rudnick wrote this answer for a New York City mother played by Bette Middler in Coastal Elites on HBO this year:
I love the Times. I feel like it’s my child, or my parent. Do you know what the Times means to a liberal Jewish woman like me? On the census, when it asks for religion, I don’t put Jewish. I put the New York Times. Which I have delivered. The real Times. The newsprint Times. I know I’m old-fashioned, but reading the Times online is like having sex with a robot. I mean, it’s cleaner and it’s faster but you can tell the difference. OK, I’ll just say it. The New York Times online is the New York Times for the gentiles.
The former New Yorker editor Robert Gottlieb put it slightly differently to me, long ago: “The Times is in the same position as the Jews: it’s expected to behave better than everybody else.”
For a hundred years, for better or worse, no institution has played a larger role in American culture and politics. And no corporation with comparable clout has been continuously controlled by a single family since 1896.
All true. The NY Times is the Holy Scripture to secularist Americans. Hit the link above for the whole story (it's free).
This article is by Andrew McCarthy, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of NY and a Conservative Republican. And a Trump supporter.
As I've posted a few times, it's easy to understand why Trump supporters are very suspicious/convinced of a grand conspiracy to steal the election. Four years of dishonest, mistaken reporting and attacks by the media, impeachment (what were the "high crimes and misdemeanors"?), etc, etc. But as I've also said, Trump had nobody to blame but himself for losing.
Pointed out in the article are particularly ludicrous basic errors made by the self proclaimed "forensic analyst" Russell Ramsland. Not subject of the article - mail in voting.
If you have been following the Trump campaign challenges in various states, you may remember him as the “expert” who submitted an affidavit alleging that 19 precincts in Michigan recorded more votes — in one instance, he insisted, as many as 350 percent more votes — than the number of actual voters living in the precincts. There was just one problem with Ramsland’s findings: All 19 of the precincts he cited are actually in Minnesota, not Michigan.
Ugh. Hit the link for the whole story.
Amazing.Thanks to meanymom for sending me this. I went to the GetBidenBucks.com. website -link also below - see the text on the first page of the website which I've posted below along with the video off the site. Wonder how long the site will stay up online?
I don't mind at all modern (or post-modern) art. And I'm sure the decision to use this particular scene was made months or even years before the pandemic. But as the article - from the Jesuit publication America, quoting Art historian Elizabeth Lev - says, it would have been better to use a more traditional Nativity scene this year. Some pictures below the article, which is short and worth reading.
Here's a wide angle of the scene -
Here's Darth Vader - is he a shepherd? A Magi? And there's an astronaut...?
Here are the main players - the Blessed Family. It's not Christmas yet, so baby is not in the red manger. The figures remind me of lego figures, especially the angel at the back. At least the two animals are identifiable.
From the Wall Street Journal -
The projections show most officials thought they would hold short-term rates near zero for least three more years despite a somewhat more optimistic economic outlook than they had in September, before drugmakers had developed highly effective Covid-19 vaccines.
Many officials projected such low rates would be needed even though they projected inflation would be at the Fed’s 2% target and unemployment would fall below 4% by the end of 2023. Those projections reflect a change in the central bank’s framework adopted this summer that took a more relaxed view toward inflation.
Mr. Powell said the central bank expected to see some one-time increases in prices of goods and services due to a rebound in activity from the pandemic next year but that they were unlikely by themselves to create self-sustaining inflationary forces.
“It’s not going to be easy to have inflation move up,” said Mr. Powell. “We’re honest with ourselves and with you in the [projections] that even with the very high level of accommodation that we’re providing…it will take some time.
What it most likely means:
With low interest rates and the rapid creation of money, barring a black swan event the stock market will continue doing well - until the inevitable rise in interest rates.
Get ready for inflation in a couple of years - with a Federal Reserve "more relaxed view toward inflation" expect it will be more then the 2% they keep mentioning.
Thanks to "meanymom" for sending me this.
Can you blame her?
"It's cruel and unusual punishment. Which, I guess, is allowed here, but still. It's not a good look," she said.
An international human rights board agreed, putting pressure on the Chinese government to stop forcing spies to date Eric Swalwell and other U.S. congressmen. "We call on the Chinese to resort to traditional methods of punishment like labor camps, torture, and just straight-up executing citizens rather than the cruelty of sending spies to America to date congressmen."
President Xi Jinping, ever a gracious ruler, granted her request, and she has been sent to a forced labor camp rather than having to go back to date a U.S. congressman like Eric Swalwell. Though several Americans have reported getting strange messages scrawled on the inside of their Nikes like "Christine Fang here please send help" and "Eric Swalwell really did fart on live TV."
Well, they could always go after Joe Hunter Biden. But that will never happen.
Here's an email Hunter was sent in 2017 by one of his business partners -
“In 2014, you joined the Burisma board and we still need to amend your 2014 returns to reflect the unreported Burisma income,” Scherwin reportedly wrote to Hunter Biden in a January 16, 2017 email. “That is approximately $400,000 extra so your income in 2014 was closer to $1,247,328.”
The NY Times article -
Now faced with a Trump-less future, top executives at the rival cable news networks have summoned star anchors and producers to private meetings in recent weeks, seeking answers to a pressing question: What’s next?
People at both networks know that viewers who abhorred President Trump may no longer need their nightly therapy sessions with Rachel Maddow or Don Lemon. And President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. seems unlikely to generate the 24/7 grist of drama and scandal that resurrected cable news, taking it from a dying medium to a focal point of modern politics.
So even as CNN smashed a 40-year viewership record last month and MSNBC notched its highest ratings since its founding in 1996, journalists and executives at the networks say they are uneasy about the year ahead.
“What happens,” asked one MSNBC on-air personality, “when you don’t need us?”
The disquiet extends to the highest echelons.
Hit the link above for the whole story.
I already posted the economy plan. COVID protection in your car - the economy plan
Now for those who can afford it -
Can be applied to anything difficult.
Great! Brigid owns Tesla stock! Oh, it's a joke?
The new firearm will look similar to a standard AR-15 but will in fact be a battery-powered railgun capable of firing 3 million rounds per minute. It will also feature a fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth capability, heat-seeking ammunition, and a chainsaw bayonet.
"We really wanted to re-think self-defense," said Musk. "This new firearm will be the go-to rifle for our SpaceX volunteers when they encounter hostile aliens. It's also a celebration of the Second Amendment. If any federal authorities try to confiscate it, the rifle will automatically connect to the internet and file a lawsuit for you!"
The Federal Government has requested that Tesla at least remove the AI-powered "self-driving" feature on the firearm before selling it.
Maybe there's a tie-in? From Yahoo!
On the other hand ...
The IFS’s analysis of census data also revealed that fewer people are getting married — in fact, the marriage rate in the U.S. is at an all-time low. “For every 1,000 unmarried adults in 2019, only 33 got married,” she wrote. “This number was 35 a decade ago in 2010 and 86 in 1970.” Wang did not respond to Yahoo Life’s request for comment.
That likely stems from the fact that there’s “less pressure” and societal “expectation” to get married than in years past, psychologist Barbara Greenberg, tells Yahoo Life. (In addition, per the report, the pandemic is forcing some couples to delay marriage: “The initial state-level data suggest that [there's been] a dramatic decline in marriage certificates filed during the COVID-19 crisis.”)
Theresa DiDonato, an associate professor of psychology at Loyola University Maryland, agrees, telling Yahoo Life: “We know that many couples are not choosing to enter the marriage institution, whereas perhaps in previous generations, the idea of engaging in cohabiting, committed relationships was not as socially sanctioned.” As DiDonato puts it: “A lot can change in 50 years.”
Brigid told me she had a great day yesterday - but I didn't get a picture. Here she is a couple of months ago, carving a special pumpkin for her job at The Blaze.
December 12th is also a big feast day - Our Lady of Guadalupe with the famous image on the tilma of St. Juan Diego. The image is on cactus hemp and after 489 years still exists. Brigid loves the fact that her birthday is on this day. Here is the image, and below is a four minute video of a small part of the canonization of Juan Diego in 2002 at the great Basilica in Mexico City. Near the end you see a view of Pope John Paul, not the vigorous man he was at the beginning of his papacy. He died three years later. Oddly enough, Tim's birthday is on the feast of St. Juan Diego, December 9th. Watch the whole thing - music is great. I would say, the Mexicans know how to do a canonization.
This should suffice, but there is a Premium Plan, which I will be posting.
Right. like Japanese soldiers who didn't surrender until 1954.
Some Republican emissaries have been sent to try to reach these holdouts. Bill Kristol ventured deep into one jungle to whine to them that it was over and that they needed to give up and embrace Biden. He was later found wedgied with a note taped to his shirt that said, “As soon as Sidney Powell presents all her evidence, you’ll look like a fool!”
It’s unclear if any message of the election’s end will ever be able to reach these Republicans, especially with their ringleader, President Trump, hiding out in the jungle with them. He hasn’t been seen in some time, though his last tweet read, “It’s all in the bag. Definitely got this. Holding a rally soon. And make sure to donate!”
UPDATE: Here's Tim heading out to golf today.
Cool. Tim is working with me and will eventually own the Company. That's the plan. Here he is at his STAC college graduation a year and a half ago.
And Juan Diego - the "Indigenous" who had his encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe over four days, from December 9th to December 12th, 1531. His tilma has the image on it - and it will be 500 years in 2031! He was canonized in 2002. I don't know if we could have named Tim Juan Diego - don't think he looks the part.
Thanks to my friend Theresa for letting me know about this.
In addition to the decree, Francis issued an apostolic letter Tuesday dedicated to the foster father of Jesus.
The pope explained in the letter, entitled Patris corde (“With a father’s heart”) and dated Dec. 8, that he wanted to share some “personal reflections” on the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“My desire to do so increased during these months of pandemic,” he said, noting that many people had made hidden sacrifices during the crisis in order to protect others.
“Each of us can discover in Joseph -- the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence -- an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble,” he wrote.
“St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”
Pope Pius IX proclaimed St. Joseph patron of the Universal Church on Dec. 8, 1870, in the decree Quemadmodum Deus.
In its decree Tuesday, the Apostolic Penitentiary said that, “to reaffirm the universality of St. Joseph's patronage in the Church,” it would grant a plenary indulgence to Catholics who recite any approved prayer or act of piety in honor of St. Joseph, especially on March 19, the saint’s solemnity, and May 1, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.
Other notable days for the plenary indulgence are the Feast of the Holy Family on Dec. 29 and St. Joseph’s Sunday in the Byzantine tradition, as well as the 19th of each month and every Wednesday, a day dedicated to the saint in the Latin tradition.
The decree said: “In the current context of health emergency, the gift of the plenary indulgence is particularly extended to the elderly, the sick, the dying and all those who for legitimate reasons are unable to leave the house, who, with a soul detached from any sin and with the intention of fulfilling, as soon as possible, the three usual conditions, in their own home or where the impediment keeps them, recite an act of piety in honor of St. Joseph, comfort of the sick and patron of a happy death, offering with trust in God the pains and discomforts of their life.”
The three conditions for receiving a plenary indulgence are sacramental confession, the reception of Holy Communion and prayer for the pope's intentions.
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